Always Show Up to the Roll Down! The Wife's Vineman Bike

The Wife raced Vineman 2 weeks ago. I wasn't there, but she did great without me due to all the pre race talks, sensitive guidance and instruction and coaching I've been giving her over the past 18 months. Check out her bike above. She's received some great coaching from the coaches at EnduranceNation along with her special cycling coaches at Team Wheelbuilder.

She ran/biked/swam a great race and will be focusing on her nutrition and her running endurance over the next 10 weeks CAUSE SHE IS GOING TO KONA. Hey , don't wake me up for that 3am pre race feeding, as I'll be sleeping off some Mai Tai's and/or Chi Chi's.

Check out the sweet Wheelbuilder Edge wheels and Power Tap combo.! Also, I picked out that seat for her so the Wife's sensitive areas would stay sensitive. You're welcome.

Anyway, in reference to the title of this post, let me just say that this year, the rolldown went way down. All you had to do was show up. They were giving away slots to Clearwater in the parking lot at the nearby Denny's. The Wife showed up, but SINCE SHE IS GOING TO KONA, didn't take a slot. One of our tri club peeps, who has gone the past two years to Clearwater and who would go every year till she dies, didn't show up to the Roll Down. And she wasn't going home till monday, so it's not like she had to be anywhere, "I was so tired and hot from the race that I didn't show up". Its rare that you aren't tired and hot from a 70.3, but show up to the damn awards/roll down ceremony. As the man at WheelBuilder says, "Don't be a Pussy!" WEAK.

Congrat's to the Wife. Rest up, you've got a lot of miles of cycling and running between now and October 10th. Maybe show up to the pool a few times. For me, I'll have a Tahitian Itch--make that a double...and make sure my chair is under the shade of a nice tree.

By the way, stay tuned for live race updates on Twitter. Username GoLongTriathlon.

Water Polo Junior Olympics Wrap Up

Fun day today. Only one game. We played for 11th and won our last game. To put it into perspectie, we lost to the teams that placed 2nd, 4th and 5th, and we lost by one goal to the team that got 5th. Tough for the boys, but they should be proud of playing really well. I had a great time watching our 18U team. Here's a picture of three players who were pretty happy and would agree they had a great year....That's Jack, Max and "Noch" (see prior post).

The ride home from Stanford was looooong. 111 degrees in Coalinga. I like that word. Coa---Linga. This was topped 25 miles later, closer to Bakersfield where it was 115 degrees outside at 5pm. Ridiculously hot. Africa hot. By the way, the Coalinga Canal was bone dry.

One last comment on this summer's water polo season. The parents and some of the coaches--okay two comments. Here is my rating of horrible water polo team parents--
Newport and Stanford (Tie for first)
Diablo (3rd)
By far, the most obnoxious parents of all time. They bring drums to games. They chant like college sophomores at Columbia University football games (circa 1981).

As far as the coaches go, there's an inland empire team and a south southern california team that take the cake. By the way and relevant to cycling, the the inland empire coach is a dead f'ing ringer for Floyd Landis (another whining cheater--in my humble opinion). I wish I would have snapped a pic for this post, but I'll have another opportunity some time. These two coaches bitch, moan, throw tantrums, berate the referrees and demean, criticize and verbally assault their players. One coach actually challenges his players to assault players on the other team. They are an embarrassment to coaching and being men for others. But at least the one of these coaches has a damn good win record :-). Just kidding. Sorry, can't justify the way they coach for any reason--I think they wish they were taller. So do I. I always wanted to be Clint Eastwood tall--ask the wife, she'll tell you she wishes I was Clint Eastwood too.

Heading back to work tomorrow. Will try to make swim workout in the morning and the club brick ride (sans the run) in the evening. I still need to recap The Wife's Vineman Race. Will try to do that tomorrow night. I want to show some pictures of her sick P3C ride.

My Last Junior Olympics

Up here in San Jose at the water polo junior olympics for my son. Haven't been getting much in the way of workouts in, but did manage to ride up into the Los Altos hills. Would have liked to ridden Mt. Hamilton, but the timing of games every few hours made that logistically impossible. 3 games on saturday, 3 games on sunday, 2 games monday and one tomorrow. Our team is playing for 11th which isn't too bad since most of the kids haven't really played together--all come from different high schools, etc. We were one goal away from making the top 8 losing to Trojan 9-8 with my wonderful son scoring 4 goals and having an all around great game.

So, this is my last junior olympics for water polo - 3 trips to Northern Cal + 4 southern california tournaments over the past 8 years. That's a lot of water polo tournaments in between, many bad referees and a plethora of parents that provided a lot of entertainment.

Word of the weekend? It is noch, as in "notch". One kid in the car going back to the hotel on saturda asks the other two 17 year olds in the car, "how do you spell notch?" They both responded, "how do you think?" "N - O - C - H" was his answer. "Yes, that looks right to me," he continued. His new nickname is now noch. He obviously can't spell crotch or snatch, either. Two days later I convinced that same young genius that the ingredients in Red Bull will turn your tweener yellow (tweener, aka gooch). I'm sure he's got his head between his legs right now with a flashlight.

My training the past two weeks has been okay on the swim side, but I eased off the bike a little due to the knee getting a little cranky.

Week of the 13th - Swam 14,300m and Biked 65 miles
1.2 mile TT (1900m) 25:48 (pace 1:21.5s)
Week of the 20th - Swam 13,200m and Biked 50 miles
1500m TT 19:30 (pace 1:18s)

Although my weekly totals are kind of weak, the tour was on every night, and I had to cook for my wife's training entourage each night while watching the stages.

Should be back in the saddle more throughout the month of August. Plan on doing the Cool Breeze Century along with some other long rides.

Just need to get out of San Jose. I still have the final 2 stages to watch.

Rest day of TDF = swim day only

No stage today, which is good. Needed a break. Those stages are tiring. Too many commercials makes my finger hurt from hitting the FF2 button all the time.

Today was just a swim day. Hit the pool early before work. It was hot out early. Today was kind of a distance day set-wise, but not total work-out-wise.

1000 swim (warm up pace 14:05 = 1:25s)
800 swim (10:55 = 1:22s)
600 swim (8:08 = 1:21s)
400 swim (5:20 - 1:20s)
200 swim (2:36 = 1:18s)
All on 1:30 base, descend pace through each swim
200 easy warm down
Total 3,200 long course meters

In the next couple of weeks will have to work in a 1900m and 3800m for time. Those are so much fun.

...Looking good Billy Ray

It was a hot and long weekend. Friday was a tough day--avoided the internet all day so it wouldn't spoil the TDF stage. Got home and started preparing dinner for team Wheelbuilder and family--and they don't show up till after 8pm! The stages take at least 3 hours even when using the FF2 button on the remote. That made me cranky--people being late to my cooked meals--I'm getting used to it, but I don't like it.

Anyway, great stage, lots of controversy and a great dinner. Seared ahi steaks and spinach salad with brightly colored orange and yellow organic tomatoes, avocado, purple onion and fresh mushrooms. With dinner I served a both a 2000 Chateau LaFluer bordeaux and 2003 Chateau Leoville bordeaux. If Lance takes the yellow jersey in the alps, I'm going to have to go the good stuff. Can you say Lafite? I know I have a bottle of that somewhere.

Saturday was club ride day on the bike path. 40+ miles, a little over 2.5 hours.

Sunday was the Team Pakistan ride, 45 miles, 2:45 in total time, followed by a swim in the hot sun in the nice cool pool. 2500 meters (1,000 warm up, 1,000 pull, 10x50 easy).

On Saturday, I really worked the ride, did some strong pulls and put the hurt on. Sunday, the knee was a little cranky, but I was riding pretty good. Each week, things are getting better.

On Sunday, we went to Team Pakistan's house for some dinner and the tour. So many people in the room, couldn't hear Phil and Paul (good thing I watched it already on the couch at home). Great food, though, with grilled prawns, salmon and carne asada. Some great wine too.

This week is Vineman week--the wife is racing and I am sidelined. Damn. Not sure if I'm going to go up, or stay home and make sure the 17yr old doesn't turn the house into party central.

Stay tuned for gear review on thursday blog. Will review the wife's new tri-bike to be debuted at Vineman in her preparation for Kona. Yes, she's going to Kona, and I will be cheering for her with a mai tai in hand. More on that event in the weeks and months to come. Can't wait for her IM specific training weeks--welcome to the house of pain.

Feeling good Louis...

Finally, starting to get back to normal. Into regular workouts (no running of course), quarter end at work is ramping, and all would be great if the dog would stop getting skunked.

10pm last night, went outside to see some friends off after watching the tour, and I heard her growl by the side of the house; then she came running back diving her face into the grass to wipe it off. Got 3 cans of tomato juice and soaked her up good. Washed her down and then shampooed her twice. She didn't get nailed as bad as last time, so she's clean but has that musty skunk odor when you get up close. Nonetheless, she spent the night outside and was very sad. I'll do a repeat tomato/shampoo tonite and maybe take her to my folks for a swim in the pool. Last month, it took a good 4 weeks before I didn't smell skunk every time I came in the house. It drove me friggin' nutz.

Anyway, got in my swim practice yesterday morning and this morning. Stroke and speed are about 90% of where they were before surgery 3 weeks ago. Probably another 8-10k and will be back.

Thursday am swim workout (Total 3600 Long Course Meters):
800 Warm up
21x100 (6 on 1:40, 5 on 1:35, 4 on 1:30, 3 on 1:25, 2 on 1:20, 1 make it home)
Held 1:18s-1:19s
1x600 pull with paddles and pull buoy
100 easy

Shared a lane with Forrest, our resident champion of the English Channel (among other ridiculous channel swims around the world). He's doing the 6 mile santa barbara open water swim this weekend and hoping for above 60 degree water. Good luck Forrest. That ice cream you've been eating will keep you warm.

Friday am swim workout (Total 3500 Long Course Meters):
500 Warm up
9x300 swim on 4:30 - descend in sets of 3 and descend 3, 6 and 9
300 easy swim with pull buoy

Should get some club riding in this weekend, some hills and some flats, and maybe another swim workout. And watch a lot of the tour.

Armstrong Apologizes to Sastre about calling the 2008 Tour a Joke.

After staring into the abyss, Armstrong came back and won 7 tours. After 4 years away from the cycling, he's returned, probably because he missed competing, missed his friends, missed pressure, the pain, the fun of destroying yourself out on the road. I think Lance is getting sentimental and starting to be Mr. Nice Guy. I've heard he's very generous with his time for those in need, so it won't be hard for him. Event the french are loving him, even the french press. Now he's burying the hatchet with all those he's not been the most tolerant of in the past.

Before this Tour started, Sastre was asked what he thought of Armstrong’s comments.

“It’s his point of view, his words, his life. I’m not interested in anything about that. I think he’s a great champion, he won seven Tours, the world championship, he’s a great rider,” Sastre said. “But behind every rider must be a person, and in that respect, maybe he needs to learn something more.”

Sounds like he has.

Anyway, this post should be all about ME.

Rode the club brick tonight. Felt pretty good. Pushed the hills hard and the knee was good! Time to start getting back into shape. Still going to miss Vineman, though. I will post my power numbers later this week after I download the PowerTap. It will be interesting to compare the brick ride 2 days before surgery with the one from last night, less than 3 weeks after the surgery. Hopefully, its promising.

Tuesday Workouts 7/7/09

Swam at lunch to avoid the crowd. Short course yards again!!! Friggin' swim camp. Friggin' summertime pool people. Friggin' floaters. Better get in the pool and cool off.

The knee is feeling much better. Flip turns are no problem and now pushing off the wall firmly with both feet--what an accomplishment.

Did a quick mindless workout 3,400 yards.
800 warm up
500-400-300-200-100 descend swim on 1:20/hundred base
100 easy
3x300 pull descend on 1:20 base
100 easy

Now, time for some lunch...

Screwed by DirecTV DVR on the Tour

All day monday, I tried to avoid looking up the results of Stage 3 of the Tour. I made it till about 3:00. Based on the write up on velonews.com, it was going to be a great stage to watch. I was recording it on the Directv DVR at home......

But, before going home to watch it, I thought I'd better go to evening masters workout. I wussed out in the morning. Dog barking all night, 17 year old son coming home after midnite, it was hot and I was tired from the long weekend.

I showed up to evening masters practice and the competition pool was set up for short course yards. Damn! I hate yards. Too many turns and the knee is still not ready to push off all those walls. Making it even worse was the fact that 50+ people showed up for 6 lanes--other lanes taken for floaters and water polo workout. I think we eventually got more lanes, as we only had 5 in the lane I was in. I did about 2200 yards and got out--wanted to get home, stretch and watch the TOUR.

To make a long story short, I'm 2 1/2 hours into the 3 hour telecast, and there's still 50 miles to go in the stage--no way they're riding that in 30 minutes. Sure enough, Juanita says, its going to cut off right when George Hincapie catches the breakaway and Team Columbia creates their own breakaway with Lance and FabCan. Damn, she was right (that fact noted in the book).

The only saving grace was that VS was still playing the evening version, so I DVR'd that and went to bed. I wasn't staying up to midnite to wait for the last hour. Anyway, I'll watch the finish and the next stage tomorrow.

BTW--I now went in and manually had it record the next show after the tour episode each day.

Getting Back on the Bike and Into the Water

The nice long July 4th weekend afforded me the opportunity to get back on the bike and back into the pool.

Thursday - Swam 2,000m (1000 warm up, 16x50 on 1:00, 200 easy). Couldn't do flip turns, so swam a lot of 50s that day. After work, joined the ladies who were doing a 75 minute recovery ride. Like flip turns, couldn't get out of the saddle without feeling it in the knee. I did feel pretty good after getting off the bike, though.

Friday Swam 3,500m later in the morning (200-400-600-800 swim, 500-300-100 pull all on the 1:30 base, 6x100 swim on 1:40 easy/stroke drills). This was my second swim after being out of the water 13 days; flip turns were back, but pushing off the wall with the left leg was a little iffy.

Saturday - 90 minute bike ride. Rode a little harder than the previous day; watts were up, etc. I could get of the saddle for the easier climbs without too much discomfort and towards the end of the ride, felt pretty good.

Sunday - 2 hr bike ride. Was able to pick up the pace a bit, did more short hills, got of saddle without too much issue, etc.

Overall, for the 2nd week after surgery, swam 5,500m and rode about 80 miles. Got in some easy workouts 4 days in a row with no swelling or pain after the workouts. All good so far, but definitely could not run yet (going to hold off running until late august/september). Goal for next week is to get in about 15k swimming, 125 miles of riding along with two PT appointments.

Visit to the Physical Therapist

First PT visit was today. My therapist knows his stuff. Former Olympic decathlete. We're about the same age, and his brother just became the head Track and Field coach for the UK-and he's not a brit. He said if I did things right, and slowly built my mileage up over the course of the next 1-2 years, I would be running distance again. Damage happens when ramping too fast, e.g. "all those Team in Training Nuts who sit on a couch for 20 years and then try to run a marathon in 6 months," he said.

He didn't make me do any exercises (this time), just stretched and deep massaged my knee and calf. Didn't hurt too bad. He told me I could start riding right away--just low resistance to start. I will try a little swim tomorrow morning and then get on the computrainer for a little while after work and see how it feels.