Re-evaluating the season. Again......

It's been fun competing this year. I achieved most of my goals or came very close. So now with all of my goal races for the year finished, I started to consider how best to use the rest of the season. Since running was a weakness I decided to focus on running for a while. I have probably run more in the last two months than I did in the last six. Hopefully this will pay off on Sept. 14th when I attempt my first half marathon. So far my speed work has been encouraging and my endurance has been OK. If I can stay consistent for the next 5 weeks, hopefully my goal of a sub 2 hour race will come to fruition.

Looking back on the season is often overlooked as a means of improving your FUTURE performance. By reading over my training journal, I realized that one of the main reasons I suffered such a poor 10K at St. Anthony's triathlon was because I failed to take in enough fuel. I also didn't adequately hydrate on the run. Part of that was due to the fact that the swim and bike took place while it was relatively cool. However by the time the run rolled around the temperature had risen 5 - 7 degrees. This was enough to significantly increase my water intake needs. By carefully scrutinizing my diary I was able to correct this when I did the mountains of misery and I never felt drained for energy the whole ride, despite the fact that it was a significantly longer event. I also realized that scheduling a race so early in the season was probably, if not a mistake, then an over estimation of my ability to train adequately during the cold Maryland winter. Accordingly I have schedule my first Olympic distance race a month later next year. If I can train more diligently during this winter I will consider returning to St. Anthony's in 2010.

Having reviewed my training for the year, and still possessing a fair bit of fitness, I plan to try to participate in a few bike races or duathlons just for fun to finish off the season. However, before I begin to focus to much on next year a few acknowledgments are in order. So without further ado, I present the Rob's Training Awards for 2008 (hell everyone else has an award show, why not me?....)

Best Training partner: Jeff - Aside from his ride anywhere, anytime, mentality, he's a good friend to boot and since I can't drop him any more he pushes me just as much as I push him.

Best Non-training partner: Lisa, my wife, has been very supportive , what with the long hours in the pool, on the bike etc. That said, next year I want you to take the Best Training partner award HONEY :-)

Most missed training partner: Miguel, I know you had your first born, but we MISS you man! Drop all the running and get back on the bike!

Most improved: Mike M. Very impressive Mike, now if you can cut down those 8 minute transitions you may just win your age group!

Of course I enjoyed training with everyone, remembering the funny stuff, and trying to forget the suffering.

One pet peeve for the year tho..... no one wants to come with me on the Sunday fast ride, c'mon guys, I know it's fast but hey we've all been dropped before, no shame OK?????

Gadget review:

As I mentioned in a earlier blog this year I purchased a Real Axiom trainer. Over all I have been pleased, but since the weather has been so nice I haven't used it that much. I have used it more than the last time I blogged so here are a few more things of interest.

I dropped $40 on the Alpe D'Huez DVD. Now I have actually ascended the Alpe twice. I must say the actually climb is MUCH HARDER! Now this shouldn't really be news. Its hard to completely and accurately reproduce any real climb on a trainer. One of the more obvious limitations of the Real Axiom trainer is it only reproduces grades up to 8%. Of course the Alpe has grades up to 12% and has an average grade of 8.5% so that explains some of the discrepancies. The course is easy to install and the video is of very good quality. It's a bit amusing watching the "real riders" who are struggling up the climb. In fact, watching some of the video riders will give you an impression of just how hard the climb really is. At 8.5 miles it a good hill climbing workout. On the Real Axiom sight some people have posted times in the 32 to 33 minute range for the climb, which is impressive and makes me think they don't really need the trainer! On little thing I missed are the switchback signs. On the climb up to Alpe D' Huez each switchback has a sign that tells you what number it is and they counts down all the way to 1. This was a great source of motivation as I got closer to the top of climb when I did it 1994. Unfortunately the signs are not really visible on the video. I did, however, see the grass I laid down in when I bonked on my first attempt in 1993. I have to admit, I had to chuckle as I zipped by it on the video. Since Alpe D' Huez is such a monumental climb and such an icon of the Tour de France, after the season winds down I will be throwing a ride the Alpe party featuring French wine, cheese, baguettes, and an opportunity for those so motivated to ride the Alpe (on the trainer of course). Best time wins a bottle of wine!

I'm still working on a full review of the Real Axiom, probably to arrive sometime in September so stay tuned. And if anyone out there has done any LAN racing with it yet I would like to know. I tried a preliminary setup but couldn't quite get it to work. I'm stubborn though and I haven't given up yet.

Peace and keep training.....

Rob

Chaffing, Kickboards, and other training gremlins...

I know it's been a while, and ironically enough it hasn't been because I've been TOO busy. Actually quite the contrary, I have gotten in some quality time training the last few weeks. I have gotten some helpful training aids (more on that later) and I have had mostly productive training sessions. Despite all the good fortune, there is always a training gremlin (like those buggers in Bugs Bunny or the Progressive commercials) lurking, ready to pounce. Mine caught up to me last Sunday on my first run over an hour. It was a little chilly and I threw on the first pair of tights I could find. Bad idea. They were kind of old and a bit tight, I ignored it. About halfway through my run I felt a sharp stinging in my groin area. Not really pain, just kind pin pricks so I ignored them like all guys do..... Another bad idea. I got home to find my base layer blood soaked and my skin chafed to the bone (ok not quite but it certainly felt that way!). To make matters worse I had swim class the next day and of course we started out just kicking. Nothing like a tight swimsuit and constant kicking to give the raw groin area some stimulation!

OK but enough of my problems, outside of that bad one two punch I have started to feel pretty good with my progress. My hundreds in the pool have started to fall, and my running is certainly stronger. My only laggard at the moment is my cycling which is traditionally my strongest discipline. Mostly due to the weather, I haven't spent much time on the bike. It has been my intention all winter to get a CompuTrainer. This highly recommended training aid however, was somewhat out of my budget at almost $1700. So I decided to get a cheaper alternative. The Performance Travel Trac Real Axiom trainer. This trainer has alot of the same features that the Computrainer has, but with the 20% discount Perfomace was throwing in it turned out to be about a third of the price. So far I have only played with it, but my initial impression so far is favorable. I plan to do a full review in a future tri-ing Times blog.

Notes:

A blog or two ago I was chatting up Polar's personal trainer FREE web site. So far I still approve, but recently the website has been unavailable for no apparent reason. Being in the IT field I know this happens but I was still surprised at the frequency it was happening to polar's site.

A number of my tri buddies have been sick lately so I'm sending out my best wishes... Get well everyone and get back to training!

I made a couple of new tri buddies in swim class so hopefully I will have some new riding partners when the good weather finally rolls around.

Peace and keep training......

Rob