Endurable Me.
Archive for May, 2006
May 26, 2006 at 11:55 am · Filed under General
Burrh, cold. Went for a ride this morning, 42 degrees and it rained on me about 15 minutes in. Ankles started getting real cold heading down hold hill. Then it started hailing on me. Geting pelted in face by freezing rain is no fun, and it actually stings. I cut the irde a bit short as I was getting just too cold to stay out there. The 30 minutes after the ride was almost worse than the ride itself. I itched my thighs raw and they thawed.
Finally got the photos from the PPP up -> View Here
I also took some photos at a local crit on Wednesday -> View Here
Going to a Ben Harper concert tonight. Hopefully it doesn’t rain on us. Should be good.
May 22, 2006 at 8:19 am · Filed under Cycling, General
So my follow up from Day 1 and 2 of the bike block. Saturday (Day 3) was the Pedal Paddle Pole here in Bend. I was up early to head up the mountain to watch and take some photos. Was a good race and Matt friend ended up winning. Just crushed it on the Skate Ski and Bike ride. I’ll post up some pictures later.
So after running around the course lugging my camera around I headed home to psych myself up for the last day of my bike block. I decided to change things up a bit and headed out for a 4 hour mountain bike ride. I figured it would be fun and I’d be less tempted to cut it short if the time was going by faster and I was really enjoying and pushing myself. The ride was awesome. Lots of climbing, up to the snow level, and some fun descents. Though the 1st mile down I ran into several snow drifts and had a hard time tracking the trail. Luckily someone else had riden the trail before I so I followed their tracks hoping they knew the trail better than I. After that 1st mile the snow subsided and it was a fun 15-20 minute zig zag down the mountain. It was a tough ride, some really steep sections that I ended up having to walk but for the most part it was a really good session. Definitely pushed the legs but I didn’t get as sore or fatigued in the saddle due to I think being in and out of the saddle more and focusing on just 20 or 30 yards in fornt of me the whole time. It made the time go by fairly quickly and was pumped by the end of the ride.
Yesterday was my scheduled long run. I was a bit worried going into the bike block that my run would be scrapped or not at least not as long as I would have liked. Sunday morning my legs were very heavy and a bit sore and it was raining out. I was very tempted to scrap the day as I almost convinced I’d done enough for the week. But at around 10 the rain subsided and I willed myself out the door.
Just go out and do what you can. At least get some running in.
I told myself.
So I headed out and the legs were heavy. I just focused on my heart rate and tried to keep it low. The first 10 minutes were tough but then I felt surprising good. I took a trail I hadn’t down before and the scenery was awesome. It dumped on my for about 20 minutes in the middle of the run, and I picked up a stray dog that ended up running 40 minutes wiht me before I decided to find his home. i think he would have followed me all the way home.
The trail was well packed dirt so it was a soft run. I didn’t really start feeling the fatigue and strain in the legs until I got back on the pavement for the last 15 minutes. Ended up getting in 2 hours at average heart rate of 139. Really good for me. My speed on my long runs hasn’t really improved yet, but my average heart is really coming down over the last 3-4 weeks.
Today is a needed rest day and catch up on work.
May 19, 2006 at 4:50 pm · Filed under Cycling, General
Well, started my 3 day bike block yesterday. Objective is to ride 4 hours a day for three days straight. The largest amount of time in that period of time that I’ll have riden. Hoping to push the muscles and build stronger cycling legs.
Day 1
Decided it was time to start climbing the mountain and that day 1 would be better than day 2 or 3. Not sure if that was smart, but did it anyway. So did 3 hours 45 minutes. I know a little short of my 4 hour goal but some serious climbing in some good heat so I was done. The main climb is about 17 miles long from my door to the peak before the ski area parking lot. Mt bachelor is the resort near by and the elevation at the base is 6,300. I live at about 3,400, so the main climb is about 3,000 feet in the 17 miles. From there I dropped down the side of the mountain toward Sun River. Only went to the bottom of that descent, about 8-9 miles. Then turned around and climbed back up. The climb is shorter but steeper in sections. I’d guess another 2,000 feet of climbing for those 8 miles. The dropped down those last 17 miles home. About 55 miles in total at a super slow pace, but by far the most climbing I’ve ever done, probably 25 miles.
I was totally Trashed last night. Legs were heavy, neck was sore, and just all around fatigued. Ate a bunch and had a protein shake before bed.
Day 2
Woke up this morning and my legs weren’t as bad as I thought they might be. Headed out early to get in today’s hours. The first 2 hours were great, I didn’t feel too fatigued and managed a steady clip. Then slam, turned South to climb out of Redmond and had a bit of a head wind for the next 20 miles. My legs were fried, definitely feeling the climb from the day before at this point. As usual the second half of my ride brought my avg speed way down. However I was able to get in the full 4 hours plus a 20 minute brick run and kept my heart rate at a good level. About another 65 miles today.
It’s a bit frustrating being so slow on the bike, especially when Matt comes home and says he did 105 miles 
. But my own fault for slacking through the winter. I still have 14 weeks to prepare for Canada and feel I’ve made good gains in lowering my heart rate and increasing my time in the saddle. I just need to keep at it. My new pump me up after a slow ride song is The Show Must Go On by Queen. Gets me pumped and lifts the spirits to keep on going. Never Stop Tri’n.
Tomorrow I’ll be taking some pictures at the local race in town. Pedal, Paddle, Pole. Basically atheletes ski down the mountain, then cross country ski, then fly down on a bike to town, then paddle the river, then run to the finish line. Very big race here and highly competitive. If you win this you’re a God in this town. Most of the past winners have been Pro Nordic Skiers. They open up a huge gap and hold on, not to mention those guys are super fit. Should be fun.
Then I need to squeeze in my 4 hours of riding later in the afternoon. Might do it on the mountain bike to switch things up a bit and get some more climbing in, my weakness.
Attack the weakness and make it a strength
May 17, 2006 at 4:15 pm · Filed under General
A little tired this week from the weekend’s long sessions. Feeling fine during the workouts, but going to bed earlier and tired in the mornings.
Monday I did 90 minutes on the mountain bike. Fun ride. Definitely going to work in more mtb rides. Good climbing and fun descends.
Yesterday was a run and swim day. I ended up running to the pool, swimming for 45 minutes and then running back. About 90 minute total session.
This morning I went for a run, 60 minutes. I’ll be heading to the pool soon to get in 45-60 minutes there as well.
Then the big stuff starts. i’m supposed to do a bike block this week. So riding for hopefully 4+ hours the next 3 days. I forgot there is a big event here in town on Saturday that I’m going to try and take pics at, so might have to do a late afternoon ride. Hopefully it cools off for me. Hit like 90 today, pretty warm and little thunder storms here and there. Wierd but kinda cool. Anyway tomorrow will be a big climb day. First real session up the mountain. Fingers crossed it won’t such too bad 
May 15, 2006 at 8:18 am · Filed under General
Mother’s day was good day. Was a little nervous about my long run following the 5 hours in the saddle the day before. I headed out at around 8 a.m. and it started out very slowly. Trying to keep my heart rate down and loosen up the muscles and joints from the previous day. The first 1/2 mile had me a little nervous. There was no way I was going to make it for 2 hours if it continued like that. The heart rate was up and the legs were heavy and stiff.
I kept it real slow to stay in my zones and hoped to work through the stiffness and heavyness. At about the 1 mile mark things started clicking. The HR dropped and the legs started feeling good. I ended up running trails and some extra around the block to get in a full 2 hours. Slow, but good. I kept my heart rate in the 140-142 range for the average, a couple incline sections that pushed the heart rate up and the speed down, but on the way back those sections where in the 130’s. Feeling like I’m in a good place with 3 months still to train. The duration and heart rate is going well, just the speed and strength a bit lacking. I’ll be focusing more on climbing and strength work over the next couple months to hopefully make some improvements and gains in both.
Spent the afternoon at Mom’s. Watched the Heat win game 4. Then watched the Giro on OLN. Didn’t get exciting til the last 5k or so. Group of 10-12 were up front but then split over the course of those 5k. Basso looked so comfortable and strong it was unreal. Hardly looked like he was working hard. Just gradually rode away from everyone without really putting in any hard efforts. Unfortunate that Salvidelli got dropped and lost so much time. Hoping he can make a surge back throughout the next stages to make it tight in the end. But Basso lucks awesome as does the CSC team. They have been on fire this year. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Basso win the Giro and the Tour this year.
May 13, 2006 at 5:34 pm · Filed under General
Yesterday Matt and I played hooky for the first half of the day and went fishing. We tried a new area of the Deschutes that we hadn’t fished yet. Beautiful country, as usual, for out here. As a novice fly fisherman, yesterday was my first solo day. Solo in that Matt refused to help me tie stuff anymore, I’m on my own now. So, it took me a good 15 minutes of getting my line setup, about twice the time it took Matt. But, I did finally figure out the knot for tying the tippet (sp?) line onto the leader. Then tied the fly (I usaully do this this but had difficulty trying to learn the line to line tie.) After no luck where we started, Matt and I ventured up stream. Trying to find some rising fish but to little avail. After about a half mile and an hour of checking out different spots I ventured down the hill to see what was behind some thickets. It looked like a good spot, a little deeper water that slowed after some good rock overflow. I scoped things out and tried to figure out what fly might work best. After seeing some flies floating above the river and some skipping along the surface and decided to make a change and picked the closest fly from my fly box to what I was seeing. I’m still new at the terminology so can’t say exactly which fly I used. Just after I got rig setup I saw a fish surface on the opposite river bank. I wistled to Matt, who was upstream, to indicate that I saw something surface and this could be a good spot. He made his way down as I started casting into the general area I saw the fish surface. Snap, the fish rose again and took my fly. Fish On! I was so excited. Matt was working his way toward me trying to get his net free as he approached. I kept the rod tall and pull the excess line in bringing the fish toward me. The trout got hung up on some brush coming off a boulder just below the surface. I was getting a little nervous as you can’t count a fish until you have it in hand. Matt was struggling to get hsi net free and I was tenderly trying to work the fish free and bring him closer. I was at the end of the line and now needed to reach out to grab the taught line and bring the fish toward me, Matt and the net weren’t going to make it in time. Pop! the line snapped loose and the fish was gone. Exhale… What a bummer, a good size fish, the first strike of the day, and I couldn’t bring him in. Never-the-less, it was a breakthrough for me. I tied and rigged my own gear, scoped out the river for the best spot, chose my own fly, and hooked up the first fish of the day. A bit proud of myself.
Matt started fishing the area and switched to stonefly and started pulling them in left and right. My striked went dead. I tried a stone fly but didn’t have any luck. I went back to a fly and did hook up and bring to hand one fish. It was all of 3 inches long . Oh well, at least I wasn’t skunked and I did hook up a couple off a dry fly. All in all a good day of fishing.
Dog Run
Was supposed to ride, but decided since I had access to matt’s car, that I’d take Streatley to the trails for a run. Not having a car has been more of a burden on Streatley than me. And since Matt hasn’t been able to run due to his foot injury, Streatley and I are a bit bound to running from the house. Streatley, however, isn’t very good running on a leash. He’s a bird dog and loves to zig and zag and sniff out the birds. so running with him his best off leash and in the hills.
I jetted up the street and we went on a good 45 minute run through the trails. Streatly had a blast and was good and exhausted by the end. The trails are looking good, saw a few mountain bikers out and about.
LvSD Bike
Today I decided I was going to push myself on the bike. The distance/time that is, not effort. So I went out on my Long very Slow Distance bike ride. I stuck to my plan and route. The route was an out and back to assure I wouldn’t be tempted to cut it short. Out to Surprise Valley, about 39 miles out. The pavement ends at the 39 mile mark after a good descent. So that was the turn-around. Headed back up the climb and was feeling pretty good. Around 55 miles I started heading into the wind and things got very slow, not so much due to the winds being bad, they were’nt, really just a slight a head wind. But, after 55 miles and a couple decent climbs my legs were getting a little fatigued. I recouped a bit after turning and moving the wind the my side. That only lasted 5 miles or so, then it was another turn back into the wind for the last 12-15 miles home.
I was happy for most of the ride, excited I was going to put in the longest ride yet - shooting for 5 hours. But my duration success was dampened by the ridiculous decline in average speed over the last two hours of the ride. My neck, lower back, and butt were getting so tight, sore, and fatigued it was difficult to stay in a good cadence and maintain momentum. i had to get out of the saddle and move around often trying to offset my discomfort. This brought my average speed ridiculously low. Let’s just say Matt rode just under 5 hours and managed to put in 25 more miles than I.
I did the 5 hours so I’m building up my time in the saddle and distance I suppose, but I feel like the last hour shouldn’t even count I was going so slow and so frustrated. With brothers so strong on the bike, I don’t understand why I suck so bad. It’s definitely more work ethic than genetics.
Patience and persistence my friend. Keep at it and the eventually it will all click and maybe a sub 7 hour Ironman ride will be a possibility
May 11, 2006 at 9:09 am · Filed under General
Yep. slacker has been missing in the blogosphere for a couple weeks now. I need a ruler to the hand. I’ve been training and working, but not blogging. Habits are too easy to break and the NBA playoffs had dragged me away from the computer earlier than usually these past couple weeks.
Training has been good. Last week was a recovery week so volume and intensity was low. I didn’t feel like I needed it but stuck with the plan, knowing that it’ll catch up with me if I don’t take the rest time. This week training has been good as well. A few 40-45 minute runs and 2-3 hour rides. Swimming has fallen off a bit, my ride to the pool hasn’t been around. I need to get a little cruiser bike to take to the gym. After getting my wallet stolen I don’t want to take anything of significant value.
Work has been busy. Trying to find some additional solutions for new features and maybe sites for us endurance fanatics.
Well that was short a sweet, but back to work.
May 2, 2006 at 7:26 pm · Filed under General
Today was a good day of training. Headed out for a run at around 7, started out a little off. My heart rate was high, in the high 150’s. This was frustrating considering the progress I thought I made on my last run (see previous post). I stopped to re-group and let my heart rate drop, a 20 seconds later after it dropped back to normal levels I continued the run. Good news, I was able to keep it between 134-137 for the next 20-25 minutes out, then I kicked it up a notch on the way back, high 140’s with a couple sections in the low 150’s. I seem to have a habot of turning it up a notch when I know I’m on my way back home. Anyone else do that?
This afternoon I walked out to the pool and swam for just short of an hour. Should have swam the whole hour but wanted to hitch a ride home.
Matt thinks my gains in lowering the heart rate are probably due to finally putting real time in the pool and thus improving my overall fitness.
Spent several hours this evening going through all the photos I took and put them in two batches. I took probably around 500 shots so it took quite some time. One batch of 75 for the racers to check out, tried to create a sample including shots of everyone. And batch two being a slideshow of the better few dozen shots.
View Gallery
May 1, 2006 at 8:46 pm · Filed under Cycling, General
So, got back last night from a trip to Maupin, OR. It’s a very cool little town about 90 minutes North of Bend. Population I think was just under 500. Despite the small town in the middle of no where, it’s a cyclist/fly-fisherman’s haven. I headed up with BigMatt as he was participating in a time trial stage race and I wanted to take some photos with my new lense. The town is tucked into a valley along the Deschutes. 
The local market proudly displays a stuffed mountain lion, and one of the locals won 21 million from a lottery ticket he bought at the store. Still lives in town, just a bigger ranch.
The Time Trial consisted of 3 stages. A 26 mile loop on Saturday morning, followed by an 8 mile climb that afternoon. Sunday’s final stage was a 46 mile out and back. I followed in the car, pulling on and off the road to snap some shots. Here are few, I still need to go through the rest of them and pick the best. The Maupin chamber of commerce requested a few pictures for their site as did OBRA. Good exposure, should be cool.
My LSD run on Sunday morning went well. I took off early, around 7a.m. in order to get back in time to shoot the days stage. It was cold and I ran the Kenyan way, before breakfast. It was a cool run along the river. The interesting part was I was able to hold 134 avg. heart rate heading out, and 142ish heading back. Now 134 is my 70% number, but I’ve had a really difficult time getting it there until Sunday. My runs are usually in the high 140’s to low 150’s despite trying to kep it lower. I think this is a result of a few things. Maybe the altitude? Bend is at 3,500 and Maupin isn’t… And I usually run trails, rolling… vs. Sunday’s relatively flat route. At any rate I was able to hold the comfortable pace and lower heart rate for 95 minutes. Progress is being made. Feeling good. Recovery week this week. Will probably do some extra swim sessions.
The endurance life and blog of Tribro. My journey to a more endurance lifestyle and Ironman WI ‘07.