I thought this was Oregon?

Everyday I am amazed at the weather... I know that any day now it's gonna turn to crap again, but I think I've been taking advantage of it as much as I possibly can. Last week was a recovery week, which was much needed. After my Tuesday night 18 miler I was toast. With a lot of sleep and only a couple light workouts I was good to go by Saturday. I rode with the Perkins' from their place out through Sherwood, Newberg and Aurora. I love that ride because we get to ride the Canby ferry. It never gets old! Amazing weather, upper 50's and sunny with no wind. Did 3.5 hrs and 60 miles with a hilly t-run after. I had planned to get my swim in the afternoon but we ended up at the vet. Murph pulled a tendon in his shoulder. Based on how much pain he was in I thought he tore something, but fortunately that was not the case. So after some x-rays and a lot of waiting we came home, ate and went to bed. Sunday was a 11.5 mile temp run in 1:20 with some zone 4 and zone 5 intervals at Forest Park. Felt great, and again the weather was outstanding! Finished the day with an ez spin to the pool on the single speed then to my Mom's. Looks like there is a few more sunny days in the week ahead...
Bike update: The new ISAAC frame was last seen in Hodgkins IL on the back of a UPS truck. Should be here by Wednesday.
That's all for now, it's Thin Mint time. I was ambushed by those damn Girl Scouts outside the grocery store this afternoon! I'm trying something new tonight though. Take a Cookies and Cream Skinny Cow and open it up. Place two thin mints inside and put it back together. I'll let you know how it goes.

When are you too old to throw a temper tantrum?

After a great weekend of riding on the new Isaac I was cleaning it up last night. I had plans to throw the race wheels on it and snap a couple of pictures to post. That's when I found it... A 3 inch crack down the back of the seat mast. "Son of a bitch" I believe is the first words that came out. My first instinct was to throw myself on the garage floor and spin around in circles while crying hysterically. Kind of like I used to do as a child when my mom wouldn't buy me Fun Dip at the grocery store. Instead I took a deep breath and calmly called Jennifer out to the garage. I needed someone to validate that this crack was real. It was. I do have to say that I stayed pretty calm the rest of the day. I was pretty concerned about how this was going to play out. I was scheduled to do the Jack Frost TT this weekend, so I knew that was out. Also, the Yucca valley camp is less then 3 weeks out. That was the biggest concern. I knew that Athlete's Lounge (Larry) would take care of me though. Just like I thought I was in AL when they opened this morning and Larry had a new frame on order and my old bike being torn down within 15 mins. If all goes according to plan the bike should be ready by early next week. I am so grateful to have a good relationship with such a great shop! If this was Gateway Bikes I would have gotten F'd in the a-hole for sure!
As for the last week and weekend, training is on track. Saturday was the 'Big Brick" which was run/bike/run/bike/run. Total of 15.5 miles of running and 61 miles of riding. Sunday was an EZ paced long ride which ended up being just over 100 miles in 5:35. This week is all recovery starting after my 19 mile run tonight. But even that is EZ pace. Everything is feeling great (knock on wood). I'm even starting to enjoy the swimming!
What else is going on besides training and bike issues... Today is Murphy's 8th Birthday!! He is an old man. Yesterday he got to go to Hagg lake to swim and run in the sun. This was followed by a walk to Starbucks and nap in the front yard while I washed the cars. Here he is with his Birthday present.

What happened to last week?!?

All of sudden last week is over. Where did it go? It's a blur! Like I mentioned in my last post I don't want to get hung up on hours or distances covered in training, but last week is kind of an exception. In this case the time and mileage were the result of a great week of training that really helped me realize where I am in my progression. Also, once added up I realized this was the most training I have ever put in in one week. So the fact that I was able to run 15 miles yesterday @ a 7:15 pace in zone 2/3 and feel really good after a 27 hr week is a big step for me. The whole weekend in general was a big mental boost. Saturday I was up early on the trainer then out the door by 7:30. I met up with a couple of Iron heads and we hit the hills. About an hour into the ride my bike started shifting on it's own. I pulled over to check it out. Grant circled back to find me. We pulled the rear wheel off and the cassette feel off the wheel. With some MacGyver like thinking Grant was able to get me up and running enough to make the 12 miles to Athlete's lounge. Along the way my front derailleur cable pulled loose. Also my rear wheel became so out of true that it started rubbing on the frame. Needless to say it was a long 12 miles. Once there though Larry fixed me up and I was back on the road in 30 mins. From there I was able to finish up my ride for a total of 7 hrs and 123 miles. Did I mention the weather? Oh the weather. It was amazing how nice it was, mid 50's, no wind, a little sun. It was a GREAT ride! Totals for the week:
Swim - 10500 yrds
Bike - 280 m
Run - 50 m
Total Time 26:52
16 workouts
The first half of this week will be recovery focused. Wednesday will be the first bit of intensity with some Z5 hill repeats. This Saturday will be another funky workout that should mix it up a little. It's a 40 min run/2hr bike/40 min run/2hr bike/4o min run all back to back. Then a 5:45 ride on Sunday. Right now there is hope for another dry weekend... Just over 3 weeks until the Palm Springs camp. After that it's less then 4 weeks until the race, I can't believe I may have survived the winter!! Spring starts on April 5th for me this year (The day we fly to AZ for the race). After that the weather can do what ever it wants in Oregon and I won't care. At least not until I have to start training again for Canada (or Kona?).

Life as a "normal" person

Last week was a good recovery week. Actually did some things that normal people do. We went to a movie, the auto show, and bowling. It was nice to get out and do social things that didn't involve working out. Bowling was an adventure. We checked out Grand Central Lanes with my Aunt and Uncle. It is a newly renovated bowling alley that is now a restaurant/bar/bowling alley. The lanes have big leather couches and coffee tables to put your beers on. It is a very cool place. The crowd on a Saturday night was mostly mid thirties and after 11:00pm everyone is hammered! We got there about 7:30 for our dinner reservation and were told we couldn't get on a lane until 11:30. So through out dinner we continually hassled our waiter and the girls running the bowling lane reservations. My Uncle was able to get the waiter to hook us up and we were told at about 10pm that the next available lane was ours. Some how in the all of the confusion we went from the "Thompson Party of 4" to the "Norm Thompson Party". Apparently at Grand Central it's all about who you know, or who they think you are. As it turns out our original lane reservation was called (to my cell phone) at 11:45pm. So to summarize, it's a very cool place to bowl, but if you go on Friday or Saturday make sure are ether with or pretend to be someone famous.


Now back to reality... This could be the biggest volume week I've ever done if everything goes right. So far I have 4.5 hrs done with 23.5 to go. That's right, 29 hrs total! I think I am going to be able to get most of it done, it's the 7 hr ride on Saturday that will be the biggest challenge due to the weather. We'll see what happens. But like Dave C. says, "No one cares what your log looks like." He's right, big deal if I throw down a 29 hr week if I can't buck up on race day. It's your race results that count. For that reason I'm not hung up on reaching the magic number as much as I'm focusing on quality workouts. If along the way this week I need to make adjustments based on how I'm feeling then I will do so. I think that's one area I am starting to get. Making those key workouts count and keeping the recovery workouts light. I am much more aware of how I'm feeling now and I have enough confidence to allow myself to recover even if it means missing a workout here and there. I think the plan is working. I did a threshold run today (3x10 min zone 5 w/ 4 min rest) and was able to avg a 6 min pace. This is about where I was going into Soma, but the big difference now is my HR. Before this pace produced ~175 HR avg, today the avg was at 169. The hardest part right now is not being able to race. I have this fitness, I want to go use it! Winter sucks, I can't wait for the season to pick back up in a few months so I can see if my times improve at all.

Pro Triathlete career on hold yet again...

Well it's official, I'm officially NOT unemployed (at least until the next round of layoffs). At 8:30 yesterday morning I was pulled into a conference room and informed that I was not impacted by the current head count reduction. So I guess I can hold off on selling my kidney for now. I wasn't sure how to react when my boss broke the news. I had assumed I wasn't impacted so I wasn't surprised. Hearing it from him though was both a relief and a disappointment. Relieved that I don't have to worry about the stress of deciding what to do next. But disappointed that I'm not being forced to explore what else is out there. I also felt a little bit of guilt as some of those I work with that actually need and/or want to work here found out they were loosing their jobs. It made me grateful that I'm in the situation that I am. As far as timing goes it's probably better to not have the stress right now since AZ IM is so close. I found that with CDA IM last year when we decided to close on our house the week of the race and had to move the week after. I think the stress related to the whole buy/sell/move process had some impact on my race. So I am back to business as usual. Training, eating, sleeping, and more training. Just over 5 weeks until Palm Springs training camp. I think I am looking forward to that just as much as the race. The weather has been so bad this year I can't remember what it's like to ride in shorts.


Training is going very well. My running has really improved in the last month. I've gotten to were I can do my long runs (15 to 16 miles) at a sub 7:30 pace while keeping my HR below 150 avg. This is about 30 sec per mile faster then I was able to run 11 weeks before IM CDA. I think a big contributor to this nutrition. I think I finally have it dialed in. The bike is the mystery to me right now. With the weather being the way it is I am having a hard time telling were I am. If I am able to ride outside it's ether really cold, really wet, or both. This usually impacts my energy level and my ability to ride for longer then 3 hrs (because I get sooo cold). Now that I have a power meter though I should be able to start getting a better idea from ride to ride on how I'm doing. This week is a recovery week so things are light. Only 10 workouts totaling just under 11 hrs. It's been nice mentally to have some extra time to get some domestic duties taken care of.

Well.... back to work!

First ride on the new whip.

I picked up the new Isaac on Tuesday night from Athlete's Lounge. I couldn't wait to ride it so I threw it on the trainer for an hour and half. It is soo comfortable! I also got the new Power Tap installed and working for the most part. It seems a little temperamental especially when subject to below freezing temps (more on that in a sec). While riding on the trainer I did notice some flexing of the bottom bracket while pushing the bigger the gears. The Isaac frame is designed to be pretty thin to keep the weight down. For this reason I don't think it's ideal for a trainer since the trainer locks down the rear stays increasing stress on other areas especially during harder workouts. So Jen had a brilliant idea! Build up the old Guru frame for trainer use only. I have most of the parts needed, I just need to dig up a crank and some derailleurs. I think this will be a good use for the old Guru, and if the frame breaks the worst thing that can happen is a little carpet burn.

Yesterday I was able to get the Issac out on the road for a couple hours. I'm still amazed at how well it fits me and how light it is. I wasn't able to tell how fast I was going as the Power Tap was only working intermittently. Once I was home I went to do some trouble shooting and it was working fine. Upon further investigation into the owner's manual I found the a note that mentioned that the PT may not function properly in temps under 32 degrees. It was definitely colder then that yesterday at 11am in North Plains! All and all though I think the Isaac was a good choice. I'm looking forward to the next dry opportunity to get it outside!

Colder then a witch's teat

Wow is was cold this morning. In two hours I am heading outside for my tempo run (5 x 3 min zone 5 with 2 min recovery). One hour total with warm up and cool down. Should be nice and chilly. My fingers are crossed that the Isaac will be ready to come home tonight. My road bike doesn't fit on my trainer so I have been very limited on my riding for the past week. Larry at Athlete's Lounge has been diligently working to get it put together and ready to go. I have 90 min spin tonight and 2.5 hours tomorrow. Based on the outside temp I would rather not have to do all of it outside. Of course if the new bike is ready I will have to ride it for as long as I can outside since tomorrow could be the last dry day for weeks.

With the bike "issues" last week I unfortunately missed a significant amount of time in saddle. Scott had me scheduled for 12.5 hrs of riding last week and I only managed to get in 6 hrs. The Saturday ride that was supposed to be 6 hrs ended up as only 3. It was a tough one. Mid thirties and rain made it very challenging. It was nice to have a group to suffer with though. If I had been by myself I would likely have pulled over to the side of the road for a good cry. Knowing I was only going to get in half of the time I tried to push the pace and effort a little more. After the ride I was definitely tired and my legs were done. Because of this I'm not too worried about the time missed. I think the quality was there. Total for last week was 15.5 hrs with 48 miles of running, 13k yrds in the pool and 107 miles on the bike.

On a different note I have a terrible confession to make. I am hooked on a new TV show that is some what embarrassing. No, it's not American Gladiator (although this is a good show to watch on the trainer). It's Celebrity Rehab on VH1. The only reason I am publicly admitting this is because I found some relevance to training and nutrition while watching the show recently. The show is about a group of B list celebrities that come into rehab for various addictions all while being filmed. What I found interesting is how they talk about the drugs and alcohol. Describing how they would take the pills or what they would drink with so much enthusiasm. It reminded me how I am with sugar. I LOVE sugar! Nothing better then a big piece of Pumpkin Cheese Cake or a big 'ol hot fudge sundae. When I talk about it I am reminded of how some of the people on the show describe taking a handful of pills with a Jack Daniels chaser or smoking a big fat blunt. Granted you can't compare a piece of cheesecake to a line of cocaine, but I think the addiction part is pretty similar. There are times of the day and certain situations when I crave sugar. It's like this part of my mind takes over and I can rationalize it with no issue. Whether I tell myself I can have a piece of chocolate because I am running in couple hours or maybe it's the Snicker bar on the long ride that's ok because I've been riding for 3 hours. For the most part I eat pretty healthy compared to the average American. Even when I do splurge I'll have frozen yogurt instead of ice cream or a Skinny Cow instead of a real ice cream sandwich. I just found it strange that I was able to relate to these hardcore addicts at some level and see some of the same traits. Not really surprising I suppose, as I've have a history of addictions. I guess it started with food, which is how I got so over weight early one. Then there was smoking. Now it's caffeine and exercise in addition to sugar. All things considered it could be much worse, I guess I'm lucky I've made the decisions I have (triathlon over meth). With that being said I'm off to finish my coffee and go for my run!

Guru - The final chapter

Motherly instincts are a little scary sometimes. After my last debacle with the Guru (my Tri bike) being damaged on the flight home from AZ I had it inspected to ensure there were no hair line cracks anywhere. Cracked carbon is a very bad thing. From what I've read and heard Carbon doesn't slowly come apart once cracked. Instead it explodes like a 1977 Ford Pinto that's been rear ended at a stop light (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcNeorjXMrE). Ok, maybe it doesn't actually catch on fire, but it is still supposed to be pretty dramatic. Anyway, I was having issues with the headset continually coming loose even thought the bolt was tight. I took it in to have it fixed and they found the spacers in the head tube were oval'd. It appeared it was caused by some sort of impact to the front fork. Well... my bike case is the fork mount type and based on the previous damage the impact occurred at the front of the case. So this issue was also likely caused by the same incident. Upon further inspection they also noticed a pretty big crack on the down tube behind the front wheel just below the head tube. Based on were the crack is it also appears to have been caused by the same impact. I typically keep my bike pretty clean so I think I would have noticed this in the past. This is why I think the crack through the paint is relatively new. So... I think the Guru saga has come to an end. I am going to test ride a new bike tomorrow. Fortunately I can salvage most of the components so I only need to replace the frame. I think it will be cheaper and much easier then trying to get the Guru fixed. So back at the beginning when I mentioned instincts... After the Guru was damaged initially my sister ( the mother of my 2 year old niece) told me she had a very bad feeling about the bike and wanted me to get a new one. I figured she was just paranoid because my brother-in-law's new steel road bike had broken causing him to crash pretty hard just a couple months earlier. Guess she was right. So what am I looking at as a replacement? Well, Athlete's Lounge has an Isaac (made in the Netherlands) http://www.isaac-bikes.com/uploads/pics/Aerotic_white-Kopie.jpg. If that doesn't workout then I will look at the Scott Plasma http://www.scottusa.com/us_en/category/71/plasma or the new Wilier Cento http://wilier-usa.com/#id=bikes&bike=centoc. Kind of a pain in the ass so close to the race and to have to have to spend the money. But much better then face planting into the pavement at 22 mph in the middle of nowhere. Since I'm a trophy husband I've got nothing if I loose my looks!

Here comes the sun!

After a much better then expected weekend with regards to weather I am anxiously awaiting more sun and dry weather this week. I am heading into my biggest week since spring and am ready to hit it. This last Saturday was forecasted to be a day full of crap (rain). Jen and I decided we needed to get outside as we had spent too much time on the trainer during the week. Expecting the worst we headed out after a swim. It was one of those days when that big patch of blue sky follows you. We managed to get in just under 3 hours with no rain at all. It was a Christmas miracle.

Yesterday was an 11 mile run in the fog and an EZ spin in the afternoon. Good stuff! This week looks sunny and dry. 18 mile run tonight, 5300 yrd swim tomorrow, and a 4 hour ride Wednesday. I'm obviously not going to be working much this week... This weekend will be a 4300 yrd swim, 6 hr ride and a "hilly" 14 mile run. Oh ya, and some Football!!
Nothing much else going. I'm starting to get that car "itch" again. It's almost two years since I bought the GTI, that's usually the amount of time it takes me to get bored. I still love the GTI, but am ready for something totally different. Trying not to think about it too much right now since we have no free time go look at anything. Also, if I do end up getting laid off I will be looking at having no car... Good thing I like biking so much!

When old enemies become friends.

Last night's tempo run was a good one. It was 1 hour broken up into a warm up, 15 minutes in HR zone2/3, 20 minutes in Zone 4, ending with 10 min cool down. Since it was cold, dark, and raining (Again) I decided to do it on the treadmill. I have always HATED the treadmill (this would be the enemy I mentioned in the title). But this year I've turned over a new leaf. I'm starting to find some benefits to running on it. Over the past few weeks I've done my tempo type runs on the treadmill and have noticed a few things:

1. I'm not as sore or tired the next day since the surface is more cushioned then running on the road.
2. When running at faster paces I am able to really focus on form, stride, and breathing. I've found that if I really concentrate on breathing and keeping my form relaxed I can drop my HR up to 5 beats without changing the speed at which I am running. Being able to focus on this with the real time feedback of my HR in big read numbers on the treadmill is great. I'm finding I am able to hold a more constant relaxed stride for longer periods of time since I've been focusing on it.
3. I also find that I am more likely to push myself a little when there is 50 other people around me on treadmills and stair climbers. Realistically I know no one is paying attention to what I am doing, but when I start to get tired I tell myself that everyone is watching so don't slow down.
4. When I'm done I have a whole area right there designed for stretching with all of the tools I need. So I usually get in some really good stretching. When I run outside and get home I am usually cold and wet and the last thing I want to do is stretch. Not to mention the dog is usually waiting at the door expecting his evening exercise. He's not very patient.

So, I am pretty surprised that the treadmill and I have worked it out. Granted it's only one run a week that I'm on it, but that's one more then I have been able to do in the past. Now if the indoor bike trainer and I could just be friends... We are still trying to work out our differences.



Also, last night while running at the gym I had a "moment". There was a husband and wife working with a trainer in front of the treadmill I was on. It looked like their first session. They were both middle aged, some what over weight and seemed unfamiliar with many of the things the trainer was having them do. This got me thinking back to when I first started working out and trying to loose weight. I realized it's been 9 years this spring... Wow how time flies. But damn am I glad I did it when I was young. Seeing this couple now in their early 40's made me realize how fortunate I am that I fixed things when I did. The longer you wait to change the harder it is to actually make the change. Even by changing my lifestyle when I did it still took me 9 years to get to where I am today... I still feel like I have a long way to go. Ok, so I will probably never actually "Get" to where I want to be. The goals always seem to stretch as you make progress. I guess that's what keeps me going. Personally I would have a really hard time having an active lifestyle without some kind of goals to work towards. If there is anyone reading this that is thinking about making big changes, Get On it! The clock is ticking...