Endurable Me.
Archive for April, 2006
April 28, 2006 at 5:16 pm · Filed under Cycling
Went out for a nuun ride this afternoon. They have some new flavors and sent me some samples. The tri-berry is pretty good. I’ll submit a review (and enter the sock drawing) later.
So did my long ride today, as I’m heading out for the weekend tomorrow morning. Going to take some pictures at a time trial stage race BigMatt is doing. It’ll give me a chance to play around with some new lenses I just received. Trying to improve my picture taking skills and start building a body of work in documenting the endurance lifestyle. So, my Cervelo R3 turned out to be some investments in photography equuipment 
Hopefully I’ll hve some good shots to share next week.
Long 4 hour ride. Felt pretty good for the first 3 hours then got a little fried. By the sun and lack of nutrition, idiot didn’t put any sunscreen on - stupid! Lobster arms are stinging now I think I have to make some more adjustment to my shoes. My feet just never feel very comfortable. By the end of the ride my feet are pretty sore and uncomfortable, from the vibrations and pushing on the pedals I think. I’ve tried several different inserts and the current ones are better than the previous, but still not very comfortable. And I can’t imagine pushing for six hours the way they feel. Getting a little frustrating trying to dial this stuff in. I think I should just find a specialist that may be able to help me figure this out.
This is pretty much what the riding looks like around here. About 5-10 miles out and it becomes farm land, then rolling hills. But all high desert terrain more so on the East side. This is shot about 30 miles East of town. The West side is surrounded by forrest and mountains so there aren’t that many options to go out 30 miles. Most loop back around at about that, except taking Century up and over the mountain, but you can’t get through yet due ot snow levels. This summer I’ll do more climbing rides over and around Bachelor. They’ll be some great pics from those rides, can’t wait… kinda… it’s quite a climb
April 28, 2006 at 9:45 am · Filed under General
Ah, got to love when a plan starts coming together (knock on wood ).
Sitting in the yard on this warm, sunny morning, dog to my left tearing apart a stick, bird to my right churping and celebrating the sunshine. Now bird to my left and Streatley is keen to it’s existence. He’s getting ampted trying to pinpoint where it is. Streatley isn’t one to sit still, approaching five years of age and he still acts like a puppy bouncing around constantly trying to get someone, anyone’s attention.
Week’s like this confirm my decision to move to Bend and live a different lifestyle. This certainly beats my counterpart existence of a year and a half ago (wow, that long ago) where by 10 a.m. I’d have spent 60-90 minutes commuting in my car and now sitting behind a desk in a building full of cubicle mazes, coming up with excuses to get out of my chair and wander around the innards to get a glimpse of the outside world. Wishing I could get on the bike. Now I sit here debating whether today will be a long slow ride or a easy 90 minute spin.
The Plan -> To move away from the rate race and live on my own terms has begun to make the progress recently that makes the sacrifices all worth while. I talk about this often but it is my blog and the main driving force that keeps me doing what I do, the training, Trifuel, creating stuff. My finances are getting in better shape, though the recent check to Taxes hurts, I’m getting in better shape, my mom moved up here a couple months ago, grandma is here for the summer. I moved up here knowing noone and now half my family is here. Pretty cool!
This weeks workouts have been good. The new pool is awesome, huge Olympic size meter pool with like 8 lanes, so that’s 16 when they cut it to the 25 meter version. I always have a lane to myself. Eventually I’ll join in with the Master group, but still working on my own for now. I’ve been trying to run like a Kenyan since reading that article last week. Well, only in the sense of running early before breakfast. It was tough the first couple times, but now I like it. Takes a little while to get warmed up but it keeps me focused on low heart rate effort to conserve the fuel I have in the system. Rides have been good as well, the weather has been good and I think I finally have my foot/cleat position dialed in. Though the creaking is driving me crazy . But 2 hour rides that used to be a good workout now are fairly easy and I feel really fresh coming off the bike.
Well I should get some work done before heading out on the bike. It’s getting hot out here. Says it’s only 60 but feels like 80 already.
btw: Got my phone with the camera as seen in the Streatley pic above. Pretty cool, I just take shots and send them to my email. I wonder if they charge me extra for that? I’ll have to double check before getting too crazy.
April 28, 2006 at 9:15 am · Filed under Network
Just a quick note for those using the new Regulus theme. I just added a style to the imbedded images. For some reason hspace and vspace weren’t working so I added some margins and a thin border around images that are added to the guts of a post. 
You should still be able to control the alignment of the image with align=”left” or align=”right” within the “img src” tags.
See the two image thumbnails here for example. Your pics in your posts should automatically adjust, so now they don’t run up right against the text.
April 25, 2006 at 2:02 pm · Filed under General, Network
This is a new theme I just added called Regulus 2.1. It is now available for you guys to select within the Presentation tab in your Admin. Once you select the theme, you’ll see another tab option appear called Current Theme Options. Here’s where this one gets cool.
Within the Options of the theme, you can:
- Select from multiple header images
- Link to your own header image (as I’ve done currently)
- Select from multiple accent colors
- Decide on several Sidebar options which include showing the latest posts, shortcuts to your admin, show a calendar, align sidebar to the left or right
- You can also fill out a short text about field that will then display that in the sidebar
I haven’t thoroughly tested this one out yet but it looks to work fine so far, if you run into any issues let me know and I’ll try to track down some answers. I’ll also periodically be adding images up on Trifuel if you want to select some Traithlon specific headers for your blog.
If you need help creating or sizing you own personal header let me know.
Enjoy
April 24, 2006 at 7:44 pm · Filed under General
Went to the club today for an afternoon swim.
Back at the locker I noticed my wallet had been swiped. Crap, how niave to think my stuff would be save in the locker room. My bad I suppose. Cancelled my cards when I got home, nobody tried to spend anything on them yet so I guess that’s good.
Late afternoon ride and the squeak on my bike is back. I’ll have to live with it since everytime I get it fixed it starts up again real quick. More reason to save those pennies for the Cervelo.
April 23, 2006 at 10:53 am · Filed under Cycling, General, Run, Nutrition
Ya, now I remember why I have a hard time eating healthy. It’s so darn expensive. I’ve spent probably $150 bucks on groceries this week alone. Fruits are expensive. No more blueberries at $8, I think I need to stick to Apples and Bananas. Lean meat and Salmon is ridiculously priced, almost as bad as gas these days. The upside is I have dropped a couple pounds focusing on the fruits and vegies, but my bank account is slimming down as well
On the diet/nutrition plan, I think I’m getting it more dialed in (at least for my purposes). My energy levels during training are back up, I think I had a couple bad days early last week because I tried to cut out carbs from gains all together. Now I take in plenty in that training session window and recovery seems to be better. I still need to focus on getting a little more protein outside the window to help build muscle. I’ve always had a very difficult time putting on muscle, one of those body types with super skinny limbs but put on extra weight in the torso area. So I’m realizing to step up to the Ironman distance I absolutely must put on muscle mass, specifically in the legs to carry me through the event. Current chicken legs aren’t going to do it. Unfortunately more protein means more food/supplements and more expense. Man it’s cheaper being unhealthy, what’s up with that. The government should give healthy people a tax break to incent them to eat good foods and reverse the health issues we have.
Yesterday’s ride was brutal. Strongest winds I riden in since being here. Weather says 16 with gust of 30. It totally drained me and I didn’t get as far as I would have liked. Ended up doing about 3 1/2 hours.
Todays run was better, longest run yet of the year. 95 minutes and felt pretty good through 80 of them, then my legs got a little heavy and I could feel my form slipping a bit. I think it was mostly due to running into a friend at about 60 minutes and ran the next 15 a little too hard to keep up with him, then settled down again for the last 15 as he went his way and I mine.
April 20, 2006 at 3:01 pm · Filed under General
Looking for more theme options to work with this new blogging system. I just added this one, Emire, as it seems to work well straight out of the box and looks good. You can go into your Admin >> Presentation >> Then select Emire if you want to give it a try.
Also looking at another theme that will have some photo masthead options, one size, but a few different options to choose from including an option to use your own photo. This one need a little tweaking so give me a couple days to fix a couple things and swap out some good swim, bike, run photo options.
April 19, 2006 at 9:04 am · Filed under General, Run, Nutrition
Last night run sucked. I think primarily due to this new nutrition plan. I don’t think I’m getting enough carbs so bonked and was fried very early into a 45 minute run. I re-read portions of the Paleo book last night so will be making more adjustments and see if I can get this nutrition stuff dialed in. I need to reread a couple chapters tonight. Basically the carbs from grains are taken in pre and post workouts, and post workout broken into a 30 minute window immediately after workout and then a secondary window which is the duration of the session. So, my understanding, take in the 4/1 carb/protein ratio within 30 after to workout to get that immediate replenishment. Eating foods or supplements that are more quickly digestible. Then the second window would extend to the duration of the workout. So a 3 hour ride means a 2 1/2 window beyond the initial critical 30 minutes. In this window you can continue taking in grains as carbs for recovery but focus on the slower burning stuff, as well take in proteins, etc. But I believe this should be more meal based foods, not supplements/shakes/etc.
Anyway I’ll re-read the pre/during/post sections again tonight and clarify/fine tune some of this. At any rate, going through this process has definitely help me recognize the importance of nutrition and some of the no-brainer mistakes I’ve been making. Increases my awareness of what I’m putting in my body and what it does or doesn’t do for me.
April 18, 2006 at 9:37 am · Filed under General, Nutrition
Man, time flies. Haven’t blogged in a while, so another catch up post.
Let’s see, sick a few days last week so missed a couple training days. Decided to take my bike in to get the crank creak fixed. Missed a couple ride days during the week as it took a while to get it back. Then rained on Saturday and snowed (yes, dumped on Sunday night) so rode the trainer yesterday. Bike sounds good. Breaking in some new shoes, I like them but I’m making some minor adjustments to my position (feet angles mostly) so a little tight in the IT Band on one leg. Think maybe I turned my foot too much. Weird how the slightest adjustment can really tweak your ride. So a little more adjusting to do I think.
Did my taxes last week, so no new bike anytime soon 
. Decided couldn’t afford it and also ended up making some business purchases so need to hold off on any more purchases. Joined the new pool this weekend. Awesome facilities, or Olympic size pool. The rest of the facilities are lacking but they are renovating the whole thing so should be really sweet this summer. In the meantime, the new pool just opened and it is pretty stellar. Currently at the 25 setup but they’ll open up the full Olympic distance this summer I’m told.
Busy with work, did some things to help Chris get his charity stuff up and put together a portfolio for his trip to Japan.
BigMatt had some bad news last week. Stress fracture in his ankle so he’s on a crutch and not supposed to run for a couple months. He’ll be doing more of that water running he loves . He takes it in stride so his attitude is good. He’s focusing on his riding and doing a stage race this weekend and a time trial race next week.
Let’s see what else…
Starting a new nutrition plan, not diet I don’t like to use the word diet as people assume it’s some lose weight fast plan or calorie deficient plan. For me it’s trying to change my eating habits to support my training and healthier living. No question I put on extra pounds this winter so I do need to shed some, but I’m trying to learn how to eat better in general for long term, not just to lose weight. So I picked up a couple books, one is more vegetarian centric and the other is the Paleo Diet for Athletes. For the most part they both suggest the same thing. Primarily eat more fruits and vegetables, lots of them. The vegetarian suggests more beans, no animal products. And the Paleo suggests lean meats and fish to get the protein. Both seem against Dairy and Grains (pasta, rice, bread, etc). Though the Paleo for Athletes discusses the need for grains to get the carb replenishment and stores needed for training. Still reading through it, but I believe it tries to limit those starchy grains to pre and post workout and then focus on fruits, vegies, and lean meats the rest of the time.
About half way through Paleo nutrition plan book, so more to come on that. I think I’m basically going to combine the two diets. So trying to eat tons of fruits, vegetables, beans, some raw nuts, based on the vegetarian plan, but then take in proteins from eggs, lean meats, possibly some supplements. For carbs, getting much of it from the fruits and vegies but then will supplement with brown rice and maybe some wheat pasta - still need to do some more research on that end. Primarily though I’m cutting out dairy, white rice, bread, pasta, and fatty meats. So no more sandwiches and fat burritos.
Only being focused on it for a few days now so we’ll see how it goes and how my energy and recovery is during some of the longer training sessions. Will most likely continue to make adjustments as training volume increases, I get leaner, and general experience with what works and doesn’t work.
I think that pretty much sums up the last week. I keep you posted on my training and meals and progress/adjustments.
April 7, 2006 at 9:45 am · Filed under Cycling, General
I’m so trying to figure out how to swing some new bikes into my arsenal. Basically some replacements. I’ve been riding my Look361 for about 4 1/2 years and I’m starting to get a little tired of it. It’s more mental than anything but it’s starting to creak alot and I hate my Spinergy wheels. So my thinking, of course, is why just get new wheels and fix the creaking. Just go further into debt and buy a new ride
Well, going into debt is certainly not what I want to do, so trying to come up with options to get some new bikes. Contemplating paying off the little I have left on my Van and then selling it for the cash for a new road and tri bike. I’ve yet to buy a tri specific bike, but if I had to buy one bike I’d still go with a road bike as I’d ride that more often. Went down to Bend Bike ‘N Sport, where BigMatt works, and checked out their latest stock of Felts and Cervelos. The F3C looks like a pretty cool road bike, but the Cervelo R3 is ridiculously sweet. A bit more expensive and a little longer in the top tube, but a very nice bike.
On the Tri-specific side, I’ve had my eye on the P2C (shown here) for a while now. I’ve only read about and haven’t seen it live yet. BigMatt’s has the Felt B2 and says the S22 is one of the best deals around. Same frame as the B2 just different wheels and fork and some components. So, being the S22 is cheaper I was starting to move in that direction. Until yesterday, I guess the P2C’s just showed up at the shop and Matt says it’s an awesome bike. Now I’m leaning back to it. I have to head over and take a look.
Of course the two I prefer of those mentioned are the more expensive Cervelo’s Two bikes is a ridiculous thought. I shouldn’t even be considering it, but I feel like a little kid in a candy store stomping my feet! I wan’t that one, and that one! Waaa! I think the only way to swing it would be to sell the van (which I don’t drive much anyway) and maybe try to sell the Look. The frame may not be desireable, but I do have Campy Record on it which could get me some money for my upgrades.
Anyway, we’ll see. I’ll probably come to my senses soon. If I do decide to buy however, I should do soon so I can get properly fit on it and get my training on it while I’m still a long way out from Canada.
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The endurance life and blog of Tribro. My journey to a more endurance lifestyle and Ironman WI ‘07.