Holiday surprise

Owing to an unexpected (and unexpectedly generous) Christmas bonus, I found myself able to purchase a Powertap Pro (wired) mounted on a DT Swiss 700c wheel. I kind of would have liked to wait to find one mounted on a Zipp wheel, but the price was right and a friend of mine’s BF is a wheelbuilder and can cut me a deal on getting the hub remounted on a Zipp wheel once I get one. This way i can start training with it sooner, rather than waiting until I have the money for the Zipp's

I didn’t think I’d be getting a Ptap until probably the end of January but now the setup should be shipping tomorrow at the latest and I may very well have it by the first of the year. I’m not sure who is more excited about the Powertap, me or Mark (though perhaps I should be worried that Mark is excited).

The first order of business, of course, will be to see how the Ptap readings match up to the trainer computer I’ve been using, that should be very interesting because if I didn’t calibrate it correctly then my TT results could be well over or well under the 212 average I established, though I’m pretty sure I got the setup right.

I can't wait!

Bike TT

I'm pooped...

40 minute TT on the trainer tonight. 10 minutes splits below...

10' 208W

20' 210W

30' 210W

40' 212W

That's what my pwer computer read at each point, not the split for each 10' period, it doesn't do that on its own, but a little simple math makes it not too hard to figure out.

0-10'  208W

10-20'  212W

20-30'  210W

30-40'  218W

I think I figured that correctly. In any case, the 40' average was 212watts, I really pushed it the last 10', and especially the last 5'.

And now I don't want to move... but I need food. Somebody come bring me some food!

Life is Good?

I wake up every morning and step outside my house to a view of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

I walk to work along  Boulder Creek or Pearl Street, which is basically a choice between a mountain stream or a much less crowded Pedestrians only Newbury Street back in Boston.

I work for a company that cares about its employees and their careers, in an office full of really cool, funny people, doing green design of healthy, healthcare environments.

I’ve come to know wonderful people who have amazing attitudes about the environment, training, architecture, and living life in general.

I bike up mountain passes just minutes from my front door and out onto the prairies. Half the roads have dedicated bike lanes, and even where they don’t the drivers respect cyclists so it doesn’t matter.

I run on paved trails along the creek and up dirt trails climbing hills and mountains with breathtaking views and clean air.

I come home to a comfortable house in a quiet neighborhood and comfortable room, with a fun flatmate who respects and appreciates my quirks.

Some people would say “Life is Good”. I say, “No… Life is Beautiful!”

Swim TT

My last swim TT was back in March and here were the results...

1. 9'22"
2. 9'41"
3. 9'46"
4. 9'42"
T. 38'31"

Today

1. 9'17"

2. 9'45"

3. 9'34"

4. 9'27

T. 38'04"

I started out too strong again and paid for it, but I think I was able to recover from it better than I did back in March. I've made some progress, but not a ton. 27 seconds off of a 2000 yard swim is jsut over a second per 100 yards. Actually, it's .675 seconds per lap. I was kind of hoping to take off a whole second per lap, which would have put me under 38 minutes total. Maybe getting my effort a little more even for the TT would help with that, I'm sure I wasted some energy in that first 500.

Benchmark Testing

I've got Benchmark testing for the swim coming up this week... should be interesting. Even though I feel like my swim has gotten a lot smoother and cleaner, I'm not sure I've gotten much faster. on the other hand, i don'te usually time my swims, I just do the distance and try to push myself appropriately, so maybe I have improved and I just haven't noticed. The bike TT is the following week, no idea when the run TT will be.

38'31" was my time in March for 4x500yards.

Black Friday

Most people think of shopping on Black Friday. I just think about the time I quit my job after showing up at work that morning and finding out I had FINALLY gotten my raise for my annual review (I was an assistant manager for a small bookstore chain) and found out my raise was a nickel. Considering inflation, it was actually more like a salary cut and I was making crumbs as it was.

Anyhow, I quit on the spot, with no dea what I'd do for a job. my boss and the big boss called to try to get em to come back, I said no. The next monday, still with no idea what I'd do for a job, a friend at school came up to me and said her company was hiring and she thought of me and would I like to come in for an interview. I ended up getting the job, working with great people, doing interesting work (particularly compared to retail) that was really helpful to my career and made 50% more an hour right off the bat than i had at my old job. She didn't even know I had quit my job, I just straight up lucked out.

Thank you Anne, I will always, ALWAYS, be grateful for the chance you gave me!

Howdy Strangers...

It’s been a while since I posted, I’ll run through a few things real quick.

 

Winter is coming here in Boulder. There’s a nip in the air most mornings and the scent of snow, though it’s only snowed once so far. I see ice forming along the banks of Boulder creek and I’ve turned into an utter wimp when it comes to riding outside. I may start going in to work early so I can take a longer lunch and ride at lunchtime.

 

I found out my office encourages employees to decorate their desk for the holidays…. This could be dangerous.

 

I was in the pool a week or so after my swim lesson with mark, focusing on driving from my hips, reaching as if I was punching when I noticed that the punch/reach was leveraging my other arm that was already in the water doing the stroke. I wasn’t sure that was supposed to happen as I didn’t recall Mark mentioning it, but as I thought about it, it made sense. Sure enough, when I asked Mark, that’s exactly what I should be feeling.

As I think about it now, I remember back when I took Tae Kwon Do, every punch you throw is balanced by snapping back your other arm (and shoulder) which prepares you to punch with the other arm as well as generating more power.

 

Training is going fairly well. I’ve felt particularly good running lately, though my bike on the other hand kind of feels like it has plateaued. The swim is solid, Mark has me doing a lot of sprints to focus on improving my form and getting FASTER. It’s generally kind of boring (it’s laps in a pool after all), though the occasional breakthrough like I mentioned above is very exciting and I know it’s all working to make me faster.

 

I’m still figuring out my race schedule for next year aside from the IDT. I’m thinking about doing Wildflower, but I think I might be better served doing that the following year.

 

Mark had a great race at IMAZ, putting up a PB and finishing 13^th among the pro men. Good on ya man!

Basking in the afterglow...

Last February I spent several jubilant hours waiting in the freezing cold of an Ohio winter on the University of Cincinnati campus to hear a man speak for hardly 15 minutes. A man who I had seen reach out and inspire the apathetic and give hope to those who felt hopeless.

Last night, I watched that same man address his supporters and the nation as the President-Elect of the United States of America while I watched from my living room. The fear that had crept over me the few days prior, born of memories of a cold November night in 2004 when I waited in a windy Copley Square for a similar speech that would never come had left me apprehensive and nervous.

But there he was…

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

An answer that I and so many others have been awaiting for so long. A man who is not just a President, but a leader… an inspirer. "All things are possible…"

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

Hail to the Chief, God bless America, time to roll up the sleeves and get to work.

For almost 40 years my grandfather has sold Christmas trees on his front lawn to raise money for the Jimmy Fund and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He started this tradition as a thank you for the treatment his youngest son, my uncle, received for Leukemia.  He wanted to give back and, not being a wealthy man, this was the way he found to do it.

My grandfather is in his late 80's now and it's likely that this holiday tradition will end this year since it's getting harder for him to do and there aren't as many people around to help him do it. It breaks my heart to see this happen, selling Christmas trees and raising money for the Jimmy fund has been an important part of my holiday season for my whole life. If I had the means to continue it, I would in a heartbeat, but I don't have a place to sell them, the money to get started, or the time to manage it.

What I do have is an upcoming Ironman triathlon and 10 months to fundraise, so that's what I'm doing. In the upper right hand corner of my blog you'll notice that I've added a logo/link to Running the Race Against Cancer. I've set a tentative goal to raise $5000 for the Jimmy Fund, but I hope to go beyond that.

I'm doing this for my grandfather, who can't do it anymore. For my uncle, who benefitted so much. For my great aunt, who lost her battle against cancer last year. For my aunt Pat, who won recently won her battle. And finally, for my father's mother, Phyllis Schareg Dillon, who lost her battle with breast cancer when I was so young that the only memory I have of her was sitting at her bedside not long before she died.

About the Jimmy Fund / Dana Farber Cancer Institute

The Dana-Farber Cancer institute is on track to conquering major forms of cancer within this decade. Home to many of the world's groundbreaking discoveries in cancer research and treatment, Dana-Farber is uniquely primes to transform this vision to a reality.

The Jimmy Fund Clinic at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a place where children and their families find hope.

For people in New England and around the globe, the Jimmy Fund Clinic is one of the world's premiere centers for pediatric cancer research and treatment. Starting in the 1940's, when the Institute founder Sidney Farber, M.D. used drug therapy to achieve the first-ever remissions of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Dana-Farber researchers have made strides against virtually every type of cancer that strikes children, from solid tumors that involve individual organs to those that effect blood or lymph.

Wii Fit

My roommate has a Wii and recently got the Wii Fit game. I found this kind of amusing and made a note to give it a try some day if I found some free time. Today was that day.

i find the concept kind of self-contradictory. To my mind, the best way to get people active is to get them outside, while wii Fit tries to get them healthy by having them play a videogame. At one level I can appreciate that ok, the time they are going to spend playing this game is game they would have spent plaing another game, so this is better than nothing, but that's about it.

The game begins by asking for your age and height, then weighs you and tells you your BMI. BMI is a terrible number but, I suppose, better than nothing.

The game then asks you to set a goal, without giving you any guidance on whether the goal you're setting is reasonable or not.

From there, you get a series of games to play in 4 different areas. Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, Balance Games. The Yoga was fairly instructive, giving a decent intriduction to a couple of poses, then rating your execution based on your ability to balance on the Wii Balance Board (it's pretty sensitive) and giving you a score. This of course feeds the competitive fuel and you can shoot for higher scores to unlock more poses. the more time you spend 'laying' the more poses and other games you unlock as well. I'm not much of a Yoga person, I have enjoyed it when i tried it though and it seemed to be a pretty decent introduction to Yoga.

The Strength Training seemed to work much the same way. I didn't try the Aerobics game... there was a hula hoop looking game and I just couldn't bring myself to try them. The Balance Games were actually the first thing I tried and some of them were surprisingly tricky, others less so, but still got the competitive fire pumping (there is a ski jump game that was actually kind of fun, if simplistic).

Overall, like I said earlier, it's better than nothing, which is what a lot of people do, nothing. It's no replacement for a real workout but I could see it being a good gateway for someone to get into Yoga. Thinking back, having seen some people get pretty darn sweaty playing Dance Dance Revolution, you could probably get a decent aerobic workout from the Aerobic games. I hope it leads to more people going out to work out rather than leading more people to think "Oh, I'll just stay in and play video games for my workout instead".

Fall in NH

I was in New Hampshire and Maine a week and a half ago for my brother's wedding (yes, there will be some pics of that eventually) and got some great photos of foliage. Since a few people have asked for them, I'll put one up today and randomly going forward (I got some good ones).

The Murphy's Law Half Marathon Race Report

"Everything that can go wrong, will"

The Denver Marathon and Half Marathon started this morning at 7 am. I awoke at 7:38. FRAK!

So, what were my options? I wasn't going to make it to the race, it had started and they would have closed the course before I finished. not doing the race at all was an option, but not one I liked too much. While I hadn't been too enthused about this race, I had started my season with a half and finishing it with one made sense. My final option was to do my own Half and that was what I decided to go with.

I grabbed a quick breakfast, as I normally would on race day, prepped a pair of bottles of sports drink and sat down to figure out my route (and let my breakfast settle and digest a bit). About an hour later I headed out with some sport beans in my jersey pocket and a pair of drink bottles. I decided to run along the creek since it provided consistent access to water. I had the bottles of gatorade, but I didn't want to rely totally on them.

I tucked one of the bottles away, warmed up a bit then headed up the creek with one of the bottles. After a mile, I took a swig, hid it away and headed on my way. At the two mile mark, I turned around and headed down the creek. When I got close to my bottle, I did a gut check to see if I needed anything, I didn't, so i kept going. When I got back to my starting point, I picked up the other bottle and dropped it off a mile later, so I wouldn't have to go more than 2 miles without access to a drink (plus having access to the water fountains).

Going into the 'race' my plan had been to start off running by effort, see how I felt and if I felt good enough, shoot for my PR from the Flying Pig. I decided to to stick to this strategy and I felt really good starting out.

Murphy's Law struck around Mile 5 though with a case of "I need to make a pitstop... NOW" unfortunately, I had to wait another two miles and the discomfort certainly slowed me down. Then the pitstop itself slowed me down even further. I got back on the road but two miles later... Take Two! Fortunately I was back in the neighborhood of the public toilets.

I'd had a lot of wind knocked out of my sails but powered on and felt pretty good up until mile 11. I started to feel a loss of intensity and enthusiasm that I partly attributed to fatigue but more to the absence of other racers and any kind of crowd, that energy and competitiveness can do a lot to keep spirits up and relieve the boredom, I definitely missed it today.

I managed to finish my Half in 1:59:56, a disappointing time in some respects, although I wouldn't normally expect to make two long pitstops so it's not too bad in that espect.

Once I had finished, I took a few minutes to sit in Boulder Creek (not next to... IN) for my 'ice bath' then walked a block home. There was no medal, no festivities and my postrace food was some chocolate milk and a trip to Chipotle. I think I made the best of the situation, but I still wish I had made it to the race on time.

Going Green - Pick it Up!

Today was a spectacularly beautiful fall day, one of those days when you're glad just to be alive and living in some place as beautiful as Boulder. Why then is it that as I was out on the creek path for my last tune-up run before the Denver Half tomorrow morning the one thing I kept noticing was the litter on the ground?

Candy wrappers, napkins, assorted bits of paper and plastic... it was everywhere. The Boulder creek path is well maintained, but still, I couldn't help noticing it.

Finally, I decided "I'm going to do something about this." I stopped and picked up the first piece of litter I saw and carried it until I saw a wastebasket and then dropped it in. Then I did it again, and for the rest of my run. Pick up one piece of litter and carry it until I saw a trashbin and threw it out. Such a simple thing to do really and maybe it doesn't seem like it would make much of a difference, but I bet if I did this every day when I'm out running on the trails, paths or roads of my home or while walking to work, it would make a difference.

How much more of a difference would it make if more people did it?

I had a swim lesson with Mark yesterday, my second swim lesson ever with my first being  the one with Mike Ricci when I first learned to swim freestyle.Some highlights and reminders to myself: 

1. I need to remember to keep my head down. Not so much tucked as facing down so as to lift my hips a little higher. I could feel the difference in my hips during the swim so that will hopefully make the adjustment (and catching myself when I don’t do it) easier. 
2. I’ve heard people say to swim from the hips before but didn’t give a ton of attention to it because I thought they were referring to the kick and I think I do a decent job of turning with my hips instead of… well, anywhere else. Mark also told me to swim from my hips, but for the stroke, not the kick. Use the hips as if I were throwing a punch to engage my lats in the stroke. 
3. Mark, Mr. Swimmer, thought the water was too cold in the pool. It doesn’t sound like something that would be that funny, but you’ll just have to trust me that it was. I was fine in the water, Mark had some trouble though. I still laugh sitting here thinking about it. Telling the coach to HTFU… Priceless. 
4. Fist drills are back. Joy to the world. 
5. As a personal thing, I really want to work on breathing on my right side. I feel like a duck with one wing only being able to breathe on one side.
   

Fruit Loops Ride

About two weeks back I went on a ride just north of Boulder with the BTC, what they called the Fruit Loop route. Here are some pics...

Haydee

I've had my bike since approximately May of 2007, over that time, I've tried several times to name her, but nothing I came up with seemed to fit.

Finally, i have found a name though. haydee, Edmond Dantes' princess from my favorite book of all time, the Count of Monte Cristo. If you have never read it, stop what you're doing and read it. not the abridged version either, the full thing. it's long, but it's 100% worth it. The movies are no substitute, they've al been terrible and mutilated the ending. Read it.

Decision '08!

I've had a tough time making up my mind on this over the past year. The field finally narrowed down to two candidates earlier this year and I really couldn't decide between the two of them. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. 

One is backed by far more experience, a juggernaut of sorts. The other candidate is a neophyte, inexperienced, but backed by an independent spirit and without the huge corporate ties. I know to some people, they're all the same, the only difference between them being a logo, but to me and to others as passionate about this as I am, this is a momenous decision.

Today, I finally reached that decision. I've chosen... 

The IDT at Plymouth Rock for my first Ironman.

Mayflower International Triathlon –The Race That Wasn’t

I had been planning on doing the Mayflower international Triathlon pretty much since the day the race was unveiled. It was held in my hometown on the roads I grew up on. The bike course goes right by the spot where I waited for my school bus in middle school as well as going past my high school.

Unfortunately, other occasions got in the way, my brother’s bachelor party was planned for the day before and eventually the party plan got extended into Sunday, which meant I couldn’t do the race. It was an unfortunate turn of events, especially since I wanted to use this race to audition the organizers and the course for potentially doing my first Ironman at the race next year.

As it is though, I couldn’t do the race. I swung by early on Saturday to pick up my packet and schwag (I did pay for it after all). Packet pick-up was at 9 but unfortunately, the registration people were running late. Normally I would have waited, but I had a bachelor party to get to and when it turned out the registration people wouldn’t be there until 9:45, we left, schwag-less.

As a result, I had no first had experience to evaluate this first year race on for next year. Fortunately, my good friend Nicole did the Olympic distance and was able to provide some trusted insight. 

The swim is along the jetty in Plymouth harbor, making for a very calm ocean swim. It also provided the added benefit of allowing for a spectacular spectator viewing area. Her mother was on the jetty and was able to watch her for almost the whole swim. The bike course she was surprised to find was very hilly. Plymouth is right along the ocean so a lot of people probably expected it to be less hilly. having grown up there, I know better and knowing where the course goes it's no surprise that Nicole said "If you weren't going up, you were going down". She didn't have a lot to say about the run course as I recall, but there was nothing particularly negative. Overall she had been surprised at the lack of shoulders on the road and the amount of traffic.

Being the type of person who wants as much information as possible, I've also been scouring the triathlon messageboards looking for info and race reports.

KathyG at BeginnerTriathlete.com posted a great race report from her experience doing the race as a relay, she did the bike leg.

Patrick on Slowtwitch.com did the full IDT, his race report was very helpful as well since he did all three disciplines. Apparently the bike course was short when police pulled an out-back spur. Nothing the RD can do there. JoeO also had a review of the run on that same link.

Now that i know a bit more about the race, I'm having a tough time deciding which race I want to do, IMAZ or the IDT. i'd like to make the decision before I get to Arizona. If I wait until I get there, I'm going to get caught up in the atmosphere of IMAZ and register for it.

Bonk! Oops!

Went out for my bike ride this morning feeling really, really great. It was a beautiful day, warm sun, cool breeze, the leaves are changing color... the type of fall day you dream about.

I didn't ride with the BTC today since I got a late start, but I don't mind riding on my own. Some days I really prefer it. I did see Owen Hammond out on the road just about two hours into the ride. We caught up a bit and chatted, he introduced me to his buddy Jay (whose last name I won't try to pronounce, much less spell) and then they were off (they held back a bit to chat with me. owen and jay are speedy dudes).

About 2:15 into the ride, after one of my 15 minute hard intervals, I got really tired. Somehow, I had bonked. I knew it right away, but how could I have bonked, I didn't bonk during a 6.5 hour half IM, how did I bonk 2:15 into a training ride... oops... no breakfast! Doh!

I had been planning on making the ride a 3.5 hour one, but in light of my stupidity, I headed for home, arriving just after the 3 hour mark where I proceeded to do my best Eggheads impression... consume mass quantities!

Oktoberfest Sprint Triathlon

After the Long Course, once I realized I wasn't going to be able to do the Mayflower Triathlon (more about that in my next post), Mark asked me "What next?"
What next was the Oktoberfest Sprint Triathlon in Longmont, CO. This was a new race and also my first sprint distance.
I got to Union Reservoir just before 7 and quickly got set up. There were no row assignments, it was essentially a free for all, but there seemed to be plenty of space so there were no problems. It was pretty cold so I lingered in transition as long as I could with clothes and a windbreaker on before pulling on my wetsuit and padding across the chilly pavement to the start.
The race was a little late in starting, but that's pretty much the only complaint that could be made about the organization of the whole day, and a very minor one at that.

The Swim - 750m
The water was a very comfortable temperature when we started. The sun was off to our right and was never a problem. In fact, I probably did better sighting in this race than I have in any other, including the Stroke n Strides, and I hope it's a good sign for the future.
I was wary of going too hard on the swim, I basically have three speeds in the water. Too easy, Normal and Too Hard. i tried to stick to 'Normal' for most of the race, and pushed it a bit harder in the final stretch. If I hadn't had to do a bike and run afterwards I could have pushed it further. but, of course, I did.
Time - 15:49 (official time 15:49, my actual swim time, 15:11, was from the sound of the horn to my actual exit from the water.)

T1
I had a little trouble getting my wetsuit off, but generally an uneventful transition. Only 16 men had faster T1's. This is definitely one area I don't need practice. Too bad it doesn't count for much :)
Time - 1:31

The Bike - 12.4 miles
The bike is essentially 3 loops of 4 miles each. The road was closed (my first race on a closed course) and this made for a much more comfortable race. The first loops I spent basically warming up (it was still cold), getting to know the course and trying to catch my breath. Apparently I HAD gone a little too hard on the swim. The second and third laps were much better and starting the third lap, I pushed it a good bit harder, quickly dropping another guy from my age group that I had been going back and forth with for most of the first two laps.
I felt really good leading up to the end of the bike course. Then I did something stupid.
When riding on my commuter bike, I often would do a rolling dismount. I never do this on my tri-bike because I have a Bento Box that gets in the way. Since this was just a sprint I decided not to bring the Bento Box. Coming down the road it occurred to me that I could do a rolling dismount from my bike. I got unclipped and got my leg over without problem. Once I hit the ground though I stumbled a bit, squeezed my hand... right on my brake lever, stopping it short and sending me and the bike flying.
I hit the ground rolling and popped up quickly enough that I wondered if I had hit the ground at all. Unfortunately I had and the people around gasped, asking if I was ok. I was, but was definitely embarrassed. I picked up my bike and headed into transition.

T2
I took T2 much easier as I was definitely shaken up from the header and didn't want to forget anything or do anything stupid in transition. I made sure everything was working and nothing was broken. i had some gravel burn on my hand and raspberries on the back of my shoulder and forearm, but nothing serious.
Time - 2:29

The Run - 3.1 miles
Once I got settled and knew I wasn't missing or forgetting anything, I headed out on the run. I was feeling good (aside from the injuries) but again, wasn't sure how hard I should go out. I had Mr Bleep Bleep with me (again) and settled into what felt like a maintainable pace. The course starts fairly flat as it goes around the edge of the Res, before doing a longish climb up to the first mile marker. There's then a subtle downhill to the turnaround, then back the same way.
The climb felt pretty slow and after the turnaround the more subtle uphill felt even slower.
I still managed to make decent time though and hold a solid pace any time I checked my watch.
Time - 26:41

Wrapup
My total time was 1:26:16. I definitely feel like I could have done better if I'd backed off a little on the end of the swim and not gotten stupid on my bike dismount, but not by a whole lot.
After the finish there was free pasta and beer, which was nice. I also ran into Jen Martinez, a BTCer who i hadn't seen since last year. I only saw two BTCers during the race, but I didn't know either of them, I picked them out only because they had the BTC gear on.

All told it was a very enjoyable race and probably just what I needed. After the Long Course, I got sick just as I was starting to get past being worn out from the race. Then, just as I was starting to feel better and starting to feel excited about training again I went away for my brother's bachelor party. I did very little training during the 6 days I was away for that
nd the race really kicked me into gear I think. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's workout.

Ironman Canada

I'm enjoying a relaxing Sunday morning (post run) and thought I'd check up on our BTCers in the great white north...

Mark Van Akkeren Swim 46:11 (current leader at the 100km bike mark with a ~8 minute lead, shockingly was THIRD out of the water)

Michael Stone Swim 1:11:41

Pam Schuckies Swim 1:44:58

Warren Schuckies Swim 1:04:16

Philip Mazza Swim 1:06:17

Klaus Stadtler Swim 1:22:49

No Water for You!

I got an email today from the organizers of the Mayflower Triathlon that I was going to do next weekend (my brother’s bachelor party has eliminated it as an option). The email was last minute information about the race. Included in this information is the odd little fact that no regular water will be offered during the bike course. Participants will have a choice of Gatorade or Glaceau “Smart Water” which has electrolytes in it.

Maybe I’m just picky, but that wouldn’t fly with me. I don’t train with “Smart Water” (which I usually refer to as “stupid water”, see the movie Idiocracy for reasons why), I train with water and get my electrolytes from other sources such as gels, shot blocks or NUUN. I train with water because I know any race out there is going to have water available and I don’t have to worry about the possibility of being stuck with something new on race day. That’s got to be rule number one of racing, whether it’s running, biking, triathlon, whatever… never, EVER do anything new on race day. I don’t want to have to think about how the addition of extra electrolytes is going to affect my nutrition plan.

I replied via email to the RD and his response was that it tastes the same (regardless of the fact that it ISN’T the same) and that if I feel like I’d need water during the race then I should put it in my special needs bag.
WATER ISN’T A SPECIAL NEED!

If this decision remains in place, there’s no way I’m doing the IDT next year. I don’t want my options on the bike to be sports drink or sports drink.

A Cold and Food

I started feeling a little tickle in my throat early yesterday. I didn’t think much of it but by the end of the evening I was achy, had a sore throat and a headache. No congestion or dripping, just achiness. I opted not to do my swim yesterday evening since I usually feel worse after a swim if I have a cold, but I still got in an easy spin on my trainer just because I felt like I had to exercise, even a little.

On the plus side, I went with Kat and her sister to a great little restaurant called Sherpas that serves Indian and Nepali food. Great food, reasonable prices, nice size servings… I’ll definitely head back there again soon. I had the salmon tiikalla or something like that, I forget the name, but it was absolutely delicious.

What does it take to get your license as an architect?

This is a question that many of us, when we first enter school to become architects, really have little or no grasp of the true answer. For some of the people reading (assuming anyone is reading) what this entails may be painfully familiar. For the rest of the universe, I’ll lay out what exactly is involved to get your license as an architect.
1. A degree from an NAAB (National Architectural Accrediting Board) accredited school.
2. Completion of the IDP (Intern Development Program)
3. Passing grades on the 7 sections of the ARE (Architect Registration Exam)
There are some exceptions to these rules depending on the state you are getting your license in or when you first got your license, but those are the three basic criteria for a new architect in most states today. But what do they mean?

*Please note that this is my understanding of the rules as they currently exist. If you, dear reader, see something that might be off, please let me know, I would like my information to be as accurate as possible.

Getting an NAAB degree (http://www.naab.org/)
The NAAB certifies schools and programs as meeting certain standards for architectural education in order to grant what is considered a professional degree. While the NAAB grants accreditation to both undergraduate and graduate programs, there has been a shift putting preference on graduate degrees and the NAAB is no longer accepting undergraduate programs for consideration. A full list of schools accredited by the NAAB (140 total) can be found here (http://www.naab.org/schools/search.aspx?searchType=A).

If you don’t have a degree (B.Arch or M.Arch) from a NAAB professionally certified program, getting your license will be very, very difficult. In many places, it will be impossible.

My own education began at Massachusetts College of Art (www.massart.edu). After four years at MassArt I graduated with a BFA in Environmental Design with a concentration in Architectural Design. While this education gave me a very sound foundation in multiple facets of architectural design (design, structures, systems design, history, etc.) it was unaccredited by the NAAB. So while I could go and work for a firm, I could not get my license. With the NAAB’s move towards emphasizing graduate education, this was not something I saw as a problem or deterrent, I had always intended to get my Masters degree.
After MassArt, I attended the University of Cincinnati for three years and graduated with my M.Arch degree this past June.
One thing I should mention, as I was finishing up my undergraduate degree at MassArt, the department heads were beginning the long process of developing a curriculum for establishing an NAAB certified graduate program. They were approved for candidacy in January 2007 and will begin classes this September. I couldn’t be happier for the school and the fantastic staff who work there, they had a great program going when I was there and from what I’ve seen of the new program, it’s going to be really fantastic.

The Intern Development Program (IDP)
49 American jurisdictions currently require IDP participation for licensure. The only exceptions are Arizona, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Unless you live in one of those three jurisdictions, you will have to complete IDP in order to achieve initial licensure.
IDP is the program established by NCARB (National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Confused by the acronyms yet?) for tracking professional development after school. Basically, you track your time spent working in 16 sub-disciplines within architectural practice and must meet particular minimums in each section.
Each hour of work is valued as 1/8th of a Unit with no section requiring any less than 10 units (80 hours) for registration.
Just doing the minimum for each section won’t get you through the program though. The sum of the 16 minimums is 350 units (2800 hours) but IDP requires 700 total units. Some of those additional units have to be earned within certain groups (i.e. group A requires 350 units on its own, but only dictates where 275 of them must come from, the rest can be anywhere in the 10 sections in the A group) while others can come from anywhere at all. Confused yet? I certainly was at first. This chart (http://www.ncarb.org/IDP/idptraining.html) does a good job of explaining how the hours have to be divided up. There is a lot of ‘free time’, 235 units worth, that can be earned anywhere from developing construction documents to volunteer hours.
In order to get those units though, you have to be working under a licensed architect in good standing, you must have completed your architectural education to a certain minimum level. From the IDP website:
three years in an NAAB- or CACB-accredited professional degree program.
the third year of a four-year pre-professional degree program in architecture accepted for direct entry to a two-year NAAB-accredited professional master's degree program;
one year in an NAAB- or CACB-accredited Master of Architecture degree program for interns with undergraduate degrees in another discipline;
96 semester credit hours as evaluated by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) in accordance with NCARB's Education Requirement, of which no more than 60 hours can be in the general education subject area.
Prior to meeting the above criteria, any work done in an architectural office will not count towards IDP.
Once you do meet the criteria though, you have to begin documenting your progress and believe me, it’s as much fun as it sounds like it is!
Due to the Cooperative Education component of my graduate program, I was able to graduate with approximately 210 training units completed. That’s 30% of my IDP units already completed or just under a year’s worth of work, leaving me with 490 units (~1.9 years) to complete. Most of my completed hours are in SD, DD and CD’s… not surprising for a young architect who is going to spend most of his time drafting.

Taking the ARE
The ARE was recently updated from version 3.1 to version 4.0. It used to be that ‘back in the day’ you went into a testing center for 3 straight days of testing, including a day long hand drafted design portion. The ARE exam has been described by some as more rigorous than the bar or medical licensure. Why? Well, three solid days of testing is a pretty good reason. Because if you screw up as an architect, then someone is going to end up seeking out a professional who has taken one of those other two exams. An architect’s first responsibility is to the health, safety and welfare of the people who use the spaces we design. It’s not to our client, not to our design aesthetic or some complex conceptual/mathematical exploration (Yes, I’m thinking of you Mister Eisenman)… health, safety and welfare of the users. This is what we are tested on, this is our first duty. If we fail in that, then we fail as architects.
The ARE today is a 7 part exam with each section able to be taken separately. It’s administered on a computer, including the design portion which is done on a custom CAD program. There are no points for style, aesthetics or conceptual innovation, which isn’t to say such things aren’t important, simply that they take a back seat to our first responsibilities as architects. New to ARE 4.0 are ‘design vignettes’ for each section of the exam, so that your design skills are tested within each portion of the exam.
Some of the sections of the ARE get into details that many architects will never use. Much of the structural information is far more detailed than any calculation that I will ever have to perform at the firm I currently work for, but that’s because we have engineers doing that work, along with other sub-consultants. The ARE tests to show that you would be prepared to work as a sole practitioner (i.e. a one-person office) with minimal support from sub-consultants.
Some jurisdictions now allow you to take portions of the ARE once you have accumulated enough hours in particular sections of IDP, but this is the exception rather than the rule. In most states you have to complete the entire IDP program before taking any portion of the ARE although it was recently decided to make this rule flexible, dependant on the decision of individual states, so we can expect more states to soon not require this.

5430 Long Course - The Rematch

Last year I did my first half-Ironman race at the 5430 Long Course. To sum up the race report, I finished in 7:21:55, well off my goal as a result of a combination of factors, not knowing what to accurately set for a goal, going a little too hard on the bike and then making that worse by getting off my run plan and pushing WAY too hard on the first loop of the run. I was in pretty rough shape after the race.

I vowed that this year would be different.

It certainly was.

Pre-Race:

To start with, I was up at 4:30 am to head to the race. Transition was scheduled to open at 5 and I wanted to get there fairly early. I wasn't worried about sitting in traffic at the Res since I had a VIP pass... Well, ok, I didn't, but I was biking to the race (yeah, I'm Hardcore), which meant that instead of sitting in a line of cars, I cruised right on past all of them into the main gate of the Res and right up to body marking. Take THAT SUV drivers!

I got body marked, got my chip and headed into transition to set up. I managed to get a spot that I knew I could pick out well coming out of the swim without my glasses (an important feature). I hit the port-o-john, walked the transition routes, hit the p-o-j again, triple checked my set-up and headed over to the BTC tent to chill. I hung out with Dieter, Klaus, Richard, Alex, John and a few others, then at about 6:55, headed down to the beach for my wave.

The Swim:

There isn't a whole ton to say about the swim. Last year I did the breaststroke the whole way. This year, I actually knew how to swim freestyle. The swim is something that I feel like you kind of just 'do'. Or at least that's how I approach it. There's no scenery, there isn't a lot of interesting interaction with other athletes aside from the occasional kick or someone trying to swim over you and I don't have the sensitivity of effort that I do on the bike or run.

I did get off course a couple times, which was a little frustrating, but that's just part of the race.

I felt strong at the finish and got out in just under 45 minutes, just a hair faster than last year. more importantly, I got out of the water feeling fresher. The breast stroke involves a lot of kicking and isn't entirely kind to your knees because of the lateral torque involved. Swimming freestyle in my wetsuit, I barely had to kick at all.

T: 46:28 (the timing mat is at the entrance to transition, not the exit from water) / 2007 T: 47:11

Transition 1:

T1 was fast and easy. Strip the wetsuit… Helmet… glasses… bike shoes… go! My time was actually top 10 among my age group (Huzzah!) but really, it was just a transition. Still, small victories.

T: 1:22 / 2007 T:

The Bike:

It felt really good to get out on the bike. There was nice cloud cover for the entire ride, the BTC was manning Aid Station 1/4 and there were women in bikinis at Aid Station 3/6. I had been having trouble with my front dérailleur, basically, it didn't work, for most of the time since I had been in Colorado so I was stuck in the small chainring and did a LOT of high cadence spinning and even just outright coasting on the downhills. I finally got this fixed (really fixed) earlier in the week. After talking with Mark the night before, we agreed that I wouldn't use the larger ring at all unless I simply couldn't keep up in the small ring. I knew straight away that there were places this would happen, and where they were. When 36 turns north there's a big downhill that I had to coast previously, as well as some rollers later on 36, the big St Vrain downhill and one or two rollers heading south on 75.

As far as nutrition, I was sticking with Cliff Blocks on the bike and was taking mostly water from the aid stations. I started out with two bottles of water with NUUN as well.

So I felt good starting the bike. I got passed a lot, but I knew that was going to happen. I was in a fast wave, I'm not particularly fast myself and I intended to take it easy on my first loop and felt confident I would catch some of the people passing me on the next loop or the run. I got to the BTC aid station and sure enough, a swarthy crew of pirates was manning it. I hit the hockey net with my empty water bottle (GOOOOOAAL!) and picked up a new one from Meg and was on my way. The rest of 36 was pretty uneventful, aside from getting passed by pros as if I was standing still. St Vrain is one of my favorite parts of the course, you can just go bombing down the first hill and the momentum carries pretty well the rest of the way. The only catch is there is now a spur with a U-turn on 65th that really slows you down. Fortunately, no one seemed to be trying to take that turn too fast and getting through was uneventful. The rest of the loop was pretty uneventful aside from having to answer a call of nature which I was unsure how to address. Ultimately I decided not to stop and instead be grateful for the holes in the soles of my cycling shoes and my spare bottle of water.

When I passed the Res Road, which marked the end of loop 1, I checked my watch, did some quick math and realized I was on target for a 3:15 bike, which was what I had been hoping for. Per Mark's instructions I picked up the pace slightly for the second loop. Once again the BTCers were a great uplift, though the girls in bikinis at bike aid 3 might have had them beat (sorry mateys!). I was checking my watch every 5 miles and getting splits and comparing them to what I thought I recalled from the first loop and they seemed pretty dead on, if not a little faster, which was what I had been hoping for. Down 75th and the Diagonal I played leapfrog with another guy from my age group, I think we were both intent on beating each other, but we also were trying to stay within our race and not burn ourselves out to do it. I ended up passing him for good on Reservoir Road and dismounted at the line feeling really good, getting a little cheer from Andrew Halperin at the line.

Overall I was really pleased with the ride and felt great coming into transition, almost exactly 4 hours into the race.

T: 3:12:30 Avg Spd: 17.5 mph / 2007 T: 3:28:55 Avg Spd: 16 mph

Transition 2:

Racked the bike, kicked off the bike shoes, pulled on socks and sneakers, then ran out with my hat, bib and gels in my hand. I hesitated a bit before I left thinking "Is that everything?" but it was so off I went. Last year I had made an extended pit stop in the p-o-j during T2, but it wasn't necessary this year.

T: 2:10 / 2007 T: 4:30

The Run:

I started out on the run and thought "Ok, this is it. This is where the race starts. This is where I lost my head last year and blew my race, time to be honest with yourself." I spent the first hundred yards or so just trying to get a genuine assessment of how I felt. I felt great coming off the bike, but I felt great coming off the bike last year so that didn't necessarily mean anything. My legs were good, as they were last year. I wasn't breathing too hard and I didn't feel like my heart was pounding or racing which was a big change. In short, I felt exactly like I would hope to feel at this point in the race.

I got Mr Bleep Bleep up and running and went over my plan in my head. First loop, nice and easy, don't do anything stupid like push too hard on the hills, but don't walk them either, I knew from experience that none of them were really steep. Just get through it and conserve energy for the second loop which should be a little bit faster. Second lop, reassess how I feel. Ideally I'd feel like I could pick it up a little bit.

I had a couple packets of gel and one of sport beans with me. The plan was to alternate taking a gel and water or a cup of Gatorade at each mile marker. I bonked hard last year and didn't want to do that again.

I have to take a minute to give some props to Mark and Mr Bleep Bleep right here. This little gadget drives me bonkers, but it's almost impossible to allow yourself to stop and walk at any point with the little bugger beeping at you incessantly. I wasn't always able to stay on rhythm, but it definitely helped me keep going.

So, the run. I settled into a groove pretty easily and the first few miles really flew by. I got passed by my leapfrog buddy from the bike around mile 3 and ended up not seeing him again. I picked up a sponge from the third or fourth aid station, stuck it under my hat and there it stayed for the whole run. I also returned to my trick from last year of taking the ice from my water or Gatorade and sticking it in the pockets on my back. That felt SO good…

Before I knew it, the first lap was almost done. I passed the BTC tent and while I didn't see anyone at first, I got a cheer from Meg as I was starting to pull away. When I hit the halfway point I checked my watch. I was on pace for a 2:20 run. I took some Gatorade and water at the aid station, shook myself out a bit and gave myself a once over. I still felt really good, the sun had gone in and out a few times, but it was mostly overcast, realistically, I felt as good as I could have hoped just over 5 hours into a half IM. I was tempted to up the pace just a little bit right then, but decided to hold off. I didn't want to blow the race now. Instead I told myself to wait until mile 8, then make a call.

When I got to mile 8, I felt like I was still putting in the same amount of effort, but my mile splits were slowing slightly. Do I push it to

Somewhere around mile 9 my knees started to ache. There was no twinge or pain, just a persistent dull ache, like my knees were trying to say "Hey, remember us? We'd appreciate it if you stopped soon." My muscles were certainly getting tired, but I thought back to a year ago and how I felt at the same point then. I remembered how hot, tired and completely worn down I felt, then thought about how I felt where I was now and was reinvigorated. I was going to crush my '07 run. Crush.

When I hit mile 10 I thought "Just 5k to go. It's a stroke n Stride!" I picked up the pace a little bit more.

When I reached the turnaround point for the SnS run I grinned to myself and turned off Mr Bleep Bleep and picked up the pace again, knowing I had just over a mile and a half to go.

As I got closer, the finish line area in sight, I saw I had 2 minutes until I hit 2:20 for the run. "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" I took off. I started passing other racers and spectators cheered, "Way to finish strong!" I pounded toward the chute, feeling nothing, thinking nothing.

With the chute near, I took one last peak at my watch, wondering how much time I had… Fifteen seconds to get across the line! I didn't consider picking up the pace, I didn't think about it for half a second, it simply happened and I took off like a shot… gotta get there… gotta get there… I flew around the last corner (or at least I felt like it) heard "Here comes Brendan Dillon of Cincinnati with a strong finish!" and dashed up the hill and across the line, almost knocking over the little kids handing out water and finisher's medals.

I looked down at my watch, 2:20:09! I was so close! I wanted those 9 seconds dammit! After 6 hours 22 minutes and 55 seconds and 70.3 miles, I wanted those 9 seconds!

As it turns out, it wasn't really 9 seconds. My official run time was 2:20:27. I had forgotten that I had started my watch a while after I crossed the starting mat. Oops. First loop was done in 1:10:20 so second loop was 1:10:07... just barely a negative split.

T: 2:20:27 10:44 pace / 2007 T: 2:59:07 13:40 pace

Post Race:

My final time was 6:22:55, which means I take just a hair under an hour off my time of 7:21:50 from the previous year. And to say I felt better at the finish would be a vast understatement. I always feel a little bit lost at the finish to long races, even this year at the Flying Pig half-marathon and I felt the same after the 5430 this year "What should I do now?" I got my 'medal' a pretty cool keychain/bottle opener that combined with the pint glass from last year has convinced me Barry is trying to turn us all into drunks. Then I wandered around for a couple minutes, drinking water and Gatorade and trying to decide what to do next. I ended up heading to the rest room for a pit stop then ducked my head under the shower to get the salt off my face.

Kat was working the massage tent so I swung by and said 'Hello', grabbed some food and headed over to the BTC tent for some shade and a comfy chair. Dieter and a few others were in residence and congratulated me on taking almost an hour off of last year's time. While there were one or two moments as I ate when I wondered if my food might come back up, for the most part I felt really good considering what I had just done.

After relaxing a bit, I headed to the massage tent for a massage from Kat which felt REALLY good. Once that was finished, I was pretty much ready to go. I headed over to the transition area, packed up my stuff and cruised home on my bike (yup, I'm Hardcore).

Home involved an ice bath, chocolate milk (the ultimate recovery drink), a little unpacking, some more water, Gatorade and food then passing out on the couch cuddled up with a bag of chocolate chip cookies (I only had 3, I swear!)

Recovery:
Things are going well. The achiness in my knees ended with the race and there was never anything I'd describe as 'pain'. Monday my legs were sore and tired and walking around, while not difficult, was definitely something I thought twice about. Tuesday was a lot better, the soreness was gone but they were still tired and today, I feel great. Mark has had me doing short recovery swims and spin sessions on the bike, and I feel today like I could tackle a short run.

Final Assessment:

So how do I think I did? I think given the training I did and having the big interruption I did with grad school, I couldn't have raced much better than I did on Sunday. Could I have raced 27 seconds or a minute five faster? Maybe, but I think I executed the plan and the race about as well as I could have. I still have a lot of things to work on, but looking back, I know I've come a very, very long way since last year.
I look forward to taking off another hour next year ;-)

Random Thoughts

Two days until the race and I feel pretty good. I’m sleeping well, no muscle or joint achiness or tenderness and I’m pretty relaxed about the race. I am certainly eager to start and to see how I do, but it’s more like a child’s “I wonder what’s inside that present?” than a freaking out “Oh god, how am I going to do???”

If you were born with webbed fingers, would that be an unfair advantage in the swim of a triathlon? At a swim meet? Could you still place/medal? What about gills? Flippers for feet? What if you were Aquaman? Or the Flash?

The Beijing Olympics start today. I LOVE the Olympics, it’s one of the great athletic treats. This year however, I won’t be watching the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony or anything in between. Not triathlon, the marathon, Michael Phelps or USA Basketball. I’ll even be avoiding stories about them. To give the hosting honors for the Olympics to a nation as oppressive as China is nothing short of abominable. This isn’t about politics, it’s about basic human rights and that China get’s most favored nation status while Cuba, which is certainly no worse than China, is embargoed, tells you exactly where the government’s real priorities are.

Looks like the forecast for race day is going to have a high in the low to mid 80’s. To some people, this may seem hot. For us here in Boulder, after more than 3 weeks of 90+ degree weather and after finishing last year’s race in 100 degree heat, it’s going to be positively chilly. I might need to pack my windbreaker ;-)

There are a few things that are guaranteed to elicit expressions of admiration from fellow triathletes during a group ride. A new bike is one, a Kona slot is another. Also on the list apparently is telling your ride mates you’re dating a massage therapist (or massage therapy student).

I had a conversation with Mark about “What next” the other day. I think I’m going to sign up for a sprint in September (I forget which) and maybe do the Boulder Backroads half marathon. Beyond that I said I’m probably done racing for the year and just wanted to focus on getting faster (he liked hearing that). I also said I’d like to do some 1 on 1 swim sessions to try and make some headway into cleaning up my stroke. He liked that suggestion even more (not surprising, I suspect he’s half-porpoise). We also talked very fleetingly about races for next year, including my thoughts on IMAZ (which I’m signed up to volunteer at this year) v. The IDT @ Plymouth Rock.

Stroke n Stride

After last week's Stroke n Stride I wrote "Next time, I’m breaking 25:00 on the run." Damn right. I didn't break it by much, but 24:54 is definitely sub-25. It's also a new SnS 5k PR (formerly 25:05 after a 750) and took almost a minute off my previous best after a 1500 (25:45). My swim wasn't quite as good as last week's but it seemed like there was a LOT of wake-related chop on the water. I also got well off course a couple times.
Still, I felt good coming out of the water and just as I went to stand up,wham!, charlie horse in my right calf. Not happy. I limped a bit coming out of the water and fortunately it seemed to loosen up really fast. I took my time in transition (0:21 slower than last week) though largely because I had trouble getting my wetsuit off, and booked it out onto the run with good old Mr Bleep Bleep.

Side Story: a couple weeks ago, mark had a bunch of his athletes meet him at a trail to go over running form and cadence. I think I mentioned it briefly here, but I'm pretty sure I didn't mention Mr Bleep Bleep. Mr Bleep Bleep is what I call the tempo trainer that Mark has had us use for cadence (180 strides per minute). Mark called it Mr Beep Beep, but when you've got this thing beeping at you 3 times a second, every second... you eventually end up cursing it. Especially if you carry it on a long run. It certainly helps with the cadence, but it really drives you batty.

So I hit the run and was able to find a comfortable stride and pace pretty quickly. I got the first mile done in 8:08 and the second in 8:09. The last mile was brutal, especially the little uphill from the levee to the boats, ugh, and as the finish line came in sight, I saw I had 0:35 to get there under my 25:00 goal. my spirits dipped a bit briefly as I figured I wasn't going to be able to cross the needed distance in 35 seconds... but then i told myself "Well, I sure as hell won't make it if I don't try!" grit my teeth and went for it. I didn't think I was going to make it as I approached the line, but sometimes that whole feeling of time slowing down can actually work in your favor and when I checked my watch, sure enough, sub 25.

My overall time was 1:02:54 and I'd love to shave those 3 minutes off to get under an hour for the whole race, but that's a lot of time to trim with just one race left and it being the Thursday before the 5430 Long Course. I don't know what Mark will have me doing that day, but I have a suspicion I won't be trying to close the gap on a 1 hour SnS.

I'm Cheap

A post over on 'Go Outside' reminded me of my brief brush with fame 4 years ago when i was featured in an article in the education section of the Boston Globe. The article? The art of living cheaply. Like the article Rory mentioned "How to Afford Anything" I consider myself frugal rather than cheap, but prefer the term 'cheap'. I don't waste money on crap, I research my purchases
one important difference, I won't buy from someplace like Wal-Mart. Particularly Wal-Mart. Principles have to come first. Living a frugal life to save my money for what is really important to me is one principle. Not buying from one of the single most consumerist and labor abusive companies in the country is also one of those principles. Plus, I don't buy crap, and more often than not, the stuff you get at Wal-Mart is cheap crap.

As the Architect Interns

Chasing the ARE
I’ve found blogging to be a useful tool in my training as a marathoner/triathlete, it provides a means of focus, an outlet for expressing frustrations as well as successes and a fun way to share the lessons that I’ve learned with the broader world.

So, as a recent alumnus of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning’s School of Architecture and Interior Design (UC DAAP SAID… yeah, it’s a mouthful when you put it all together), I have decided to produce a blog about my pursuit of my professional licensure as an architect.

This isn’t quite as exciting a process as marathon training or Ironman training, but it’s an important process and part of life. With a little luck I hope the information that I cover there will be helpful not only to myself for organizing my thoughts and what needs to be done, but also may be helpful for others.

So if you like what you read here, or just want a good laugh, check out my new blog "As the Architect Interns". I'll still be posting here at Chasing Boston, about my training, but As the Architect Interns will be a forum for me to cover my path to licensure and to occasionally stand up on my soapbox in an architectural mode.

Chasing the ARE

I’ve found blogging to be a useful tool in some of my other endeavors, particularly my training as a marathoner/triathlete, it provides a means of focus, an outlet for expressing frustrations as well as successes and a fun way to share the lessons that I’ve learned with the broader world.

So, as a recent alumnus of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning’s School of Architecture and Interior Design (UC DAAP SAID… yeah, it’s a mouthful when you put it all together), I have decided to produce a blog about my pursuit of my professional licensure as an architect.

This isn’t quite as exciting a process as marathon training or Ironman training, but it’s an important process and with a little luck I hope the information that I cover here will be helpful not only to myself for organizing my thoughts and what needs to be done, but also may be helpful for others.

If you happen to have any questions about what I’m covering or suggestions for future topics, by all means, drop me a line and I’ll try to cover it!

Chastened Boston

One thing I’ve always been pretty bad about (ok, really bad about), is logging my workouts. I’ve kept notebooks, journals, blogs, used websites, downloaded spreadsheets, created my own spreadsheets and even tried logging it on my palm phone… I just always end up falling off the proverbial wagon. I’m not sure how to get into a more consistent, enduring, habit of logging my workouts. I’ve tried every media I can think of. The Google docs spreadsheet I have now has probably been my most reliable tool. It’s omnipresent (though I wish I could update it from my phone) and impossible to lose (I’ve lost a lot of hardcopy logs) and has all the information I want, the way I want it (unlike a lot of websites)
I mention this now because Mark has pointed out that it’s been a while since I updated mine. Like about two and a half months…. Yikes! I think a big part of the problem is that once I fall behind, I feel daunted about trying to catch up. Right now, I’m not going to worry about catching up, just focus on logging my workouts each day and when I find the free time, I’ll work on pecking away at the backlog.

Stroke N Stride and Catching up...

Friday post:
I did the Stroke n Stride last night and I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with the results. It was my first 1500m SnS of the season… except it was actually an 815m course, which made it a 1630m swim. My best swim time for a 750 at any point was 16:43. I did the first lap last night in 17:16, which prorated from 815 to 750 put my at a 15:53 pace, almost a whole minute faster! My second lap was slower, 19:46, but that also includes a run along the beach between the end of Lap 1 and the start of Lap 2. From looking at the rest of my age group, it looks like everyone had at least a 50-60 second difference between Lap 1 and Lap 2, including the pros. If anyone is even splitting, it’s them, so the difference between my first and second laps as far as actual swim time is probably closer to 1:30 rather than 2:30.
My best time last year on the 5k was 25:05, and that was following a 750m swim. Last night I did a 25:45 after the 1630 swim… and I definitely feel like I could have pushed harder. Next time, I’m breaking 25:00 on the run.

Thursday Post:
I’ve got a streak going…. Two day in a row of training before work! Woohoo! Then, today, even though I didn’t have a workout to do in the morning because I have the Stroke N Stride tonight, I still woke up at 5:30 (out of bed at 6). This was probably the biggest day as far as trying to become more of a morning person. I wasn’t getting up early for a race, I wasn’t even getting up early to train, iw as getting up early to reinforce the habit of getting up early. There was no real
I was up at a little bit past 5 yesterday morning and the first thing I did was pump up my tires a bit. When I did the front one though, the seal between the valve and the tube tore, deflating the tube… nuts! This is the second time that has happened, although the tubes were over a year old so both were due for replacement. A not-entirely-quick tube change (I think I may need a new pump as well, unfortunately) and I was out the door at about 6:15.
I decided to try and do the Lee Hill/Olde Stage climb and then loop back to my house from there and see how much time I had.
It really is a whole different world so early in the morning. Boulder is cool, the air has a wonderful freshness to it and so few people are up that it feels like a land abandoned by man to its true inhabitants. On my way up Broadway I spotted a doe (a deer, a female deer) grazing on the sidewalk opposite me. It’s really amazing to see something like that, wildlife living so close to people.
Then as I climbed Lee Hill/Olde Stage, I saw eleven more. Eleven. Three bucks, three fawns and five more does.
This is the kind of stuff you see at six o’clock in the morning…

No Worries

The 5430 long Course is in less than 3 weeks.
This was pointed out to me several times at the BTC Party on Sunday and normally would have been something to cause me some, if not alarm, at least a little worry. Am I going to be ready? Have I been training enough? Did I schedule enough swim time? Bike time? Run time? Too much? Am I over-training? How should I taper? Did I go long enough in my longest workouts?
Instead, I said “Wow, that soon?” and didn’t think about it again. I certainly didn’t worry about it. This time last year, you can bet your butt I was worried.
So what’s the difference? I’m not trying to set up my own training schedule anymore. I’m not flipping through books, magazines and websites trying to figure out what will work best. Should I be training by heart rate? Pace/Power? RPE? I’m not concerned about whether I should be doing drills in the pool. I’m not worried about how my training for the next race works into my long term goals of doing an Ironman and qualifying for Boston.
The difference, simply put, is that I have a coach; Mark Van Akkeren. Mark’s a smart guy, an incredible athlete and most importantly, he’s someone I can relate to and trust. He guided me to taking almost 10 minutes off my best half marathon time in May and he’s been open, honest and available. Having a coach, one I trust like I do Mark, has made training so much easier and more enjoyable. I don’t worry about the big picture like I used to, I just focus on getting my workout done for that day (and enjoying that workout!) and I believe that as long as I hold up that end of the deal and keep my commitment level up, that I can trust Mark to lay the right course to get to those big goals.
One of my favorite expressions, courtesy of Mick ‘Crocodile’ Dundee and the Aussies, is “No worries”. It also happens to be one Mark uses a lot as well.
No worries indeed.

Early Swim and baring a little soul

I’ve been in Boulder for about 4 weeks now and today was the first day that I got up early enough in the morning, on a work day, to get in a swim before I headed to work.
Huzzah!
It really is the small victories in life that matter. I could look at this as an “it’s about time” type of situation because I’ve been trying for a while, but I know I’m not a morning person, I knew that making that adjustment to being out the door at 6 am or earlier would be a very difficult one for me to make. It’s one thing when it’s a special event like a race or something like that. There’s a subconscious sense of urgency that we, or at least I, seem to keep through my sleep so that once I wake up, I’m really awake, and often before my alarm goes off, even if it’s hours before I usually wake up.
It’s another thing entirely when trying to make such early morning a part of your daily routine. Especially when you’re used to being up until 1 or 2 am and sleeping until 10 (on those days when I was able to get sufficient sleep, which was very few the last month or so of school).

I admit too, that I was slightly intimidated by the morning swims. In part I expected them to be very crowded, but also to find a lot of really, really good swimmers there. I'm not in Kansas (Ohio) anymore Toto, there are some SCARY good swimmers out there. That can be very intimidating at times, especially if you end up having to share a lane with one. To go and just watch someone who swims like Mark does for instance, doing 1:05’s per 100 meters would be really cool and I’ve definitely hung around after workouts and watched some of the better swimmers, especially when the swim team was practicing at UC (I swear it wasn’t for the girls in bathing suits… ok, maybe it was a tiny bit). But getting in the pool with them is a little different and sharing a lane would be very different. it's also a little different competing at a Stroke N Stride or a race than having it there every day while you train.
I suppose that sounds like an insecurity, and I think in some ways it is. More than that though, I feel liek I should be a better swimmer than I am. I grew up in the water, I'm very comfortable and at home in the water and it's a little frustrating sometimes that I essentially had to start from scratch last fall.

But, to my relief, I had no trouble finding an open lane and had a largely positive 3100 yard workout. I started out a little strong I think and the last 500 wasn’t pretty as far as time, but I didn’t feel bad or anything. I was slightly sore, but not tired. Although I wouldn’t say no to a nap right now…

Weekend Recap

Lessons on Suntan Lotion
Lesson 1: There will always be a spot you can’t reach and end up missing. Sometimes this spot will be very small (see my thin red line post). Other times you won’t be so lucky. Like my left shoulderblade on Saturday… holy… cow…
Lesson 2: A 2XU one piece tri suit will not necessarily stop the sun from getting through the outfit and giving you a burn and leaving a silly looking pattern on your back. Just like the one on my right side during my ride on Saturday.

I volunteered with the BTC at the Bike Aid Station for the Boulder Peak this Sunday, which was a lot of fun, although I’m thinking of complaining to organizer Barry Siff about some smart aleck pro who squirted me with a water bottle and rode off laughing like Bugs Bunny (what a stinker!)… ;-)

After the race I got in my swim for the day, which was pretty close to a disaster. I felt tired in the pool and sure enough I was 5-10 seconds off my normal pace per 50 yards. Yikes! Why was I dragging butt? My first thought was being over trained, though the prior Sunday I had a great swim the day after a 60 mile ride, whereas this time it was after a 48-50 mile ride. I excluded that for the moment. I had been cycling quite a bit that morning as well, out to the Aid station and back was close to 28 miles, but I hadn’t felt weary in my legs and took it pretty easy on both trips and was certainly well hydrated. I think the big thing was that two of the last three nights I hadn’t gotten sufficient sleep. Thursday night I had gone to a midnight showing of the Dark Knight at IMAX and Saturday night I had tossed and turned for most of the night for some reason, then had to wake up early to get out to the aid station by 7.
So, for the time being, I’m putting the poor performance down to that, but I was mid-workout, what should I do? I didn’t think trying to force the workout was a good idea, but I didn’t want to just give up on it either. Finally, I decided to just accept that my pace was going to be awful and just try to keep my form as clean as possible and finish up the workout. There are going to be race days when I feel sluggish in the water, this was an opportunity to prepare for that eventuality. So, I stopped my watch (just knowing it was running would cause me to push, at least subconsciously) and finished up the workout. I can’t say I felt great when it was over, but I didn’t feel awful either.
I’ll certainly bear the sluggish workout in mind for the next few days and if it happens again, talk to mark and see what he recommends (which would probably be trimming back a little).

The weekend wrapped up with a BTC Barbecue featuring Bison burgers, bocce ball and booze.

Monday

Last Tuesday was a bear of a day. Long day at work…. BAD day at work… and I ended up not working out that day because of it, and that cost me. Not just because of training, but mentally and emotionally.
Going into this Monday I knew I had another deadline for that same project so I went in a little early, 7:45 instead of 8 or 8:30. I ended up not leaving the office until 8:25pm. Very, very, very long day.
Last Tuesday, I was so drained that when I got home, I basically ate dinner and vegged/recovered. It felt too late in the day to work out.
This monday night I got home, set up my bike trainer (finally!), grabbed a bagel, banana and some water and hopped on the bike to get in my 90 minute bike ride. Lesson Learned and Lesson APPLIED!
What made it even more interesting was when my roommate came home a little while after me (having worked a torturous 5 hour day) and made brownies. Fortunately she’s the kind, considerate and compassionate sort and brought a couple in to me along with a glass of milk. What a saint! Health food it wasn’t, but damn it was good for my soul!

The Thin Red Line... and some workouts

No, I’m not thinking about the movie, I’ve never actually seen it. What I’m referring to is the 12-14 inch long, half inch wide sunburn I got on my lower back on Saturday. Apparently my bike jersey inched up on me during my ride, exposing a small gap between the jersey and my shorts. It’s not large enough to really hurt a lot, but when I brush something up against it, I sure feel it.
Plus, it looks really, really ridiculous. I’m tempted to take a picture and post it if not for being so close to certain posterior anatomies. There’s a valuable lesson learned.

I had a tough run yesterday. My legs felt really heavy at the start, I think this was due to two factors. The first was a really big breakfast that I didn’t give quite enough time to settle, though I think that was less of a factor on my legs than on the occasional stomach upset I felt through my run. The bigger factor, I believe, was the longer than intended bike ride from the day before. Plus there was the hills, I started out with a ‘run’ in Settlers’ Park. Really it was more like trying to run up the hills and all too frequently it became a hike. After fleeing the park, I headed up Boulder Canyon, which felt like a Breeze after Settlers’ Park.
The swim on the other hand went great. How great? Well, my 2000 yard TT was 38:31. That same pace, projected over 2500 yards, like my swim yesterday, makes for a 48:08 swim. I did it in 48:16. I wasn’t trying to set a new personal best by any means, but I did go into the swim with a little bit of an edge to my attitude, I wanted to push it a little more than I had been, I was concerned that maybe I had gotten lazy, that maybe I had let the altitude become something of a crutch to excuse less intense workouts. I certainly don’t think that is true on the run or the bike, but I hadn’t been feeling the altitude much, if at all, on my swim and I decided I needed to challenge myself a little.
Also, my first 2000 yards was done in 38:26. That’s 5 seconds better than my TT, on top of which I did another 500 yards and didn’t push myself to exhaustion like I did in the TT. ROCK!
Now, if only I could put up similar results in the other two disciplines…

Sun Dried Sundry

Scheduling Adjustments

I had been planning on going to IMLP this year to watch, to cheer, to potentially volunteer (though I didn't get accepted) and to sign up for next year.
Unfortunately, that's no longer in the cards, the fiscal realities of the conclusion of grad school plus getting paid on a monthly basis at my new job (which means I have almost three more weeks until my first paycheck) means no go on the trip as well as trying to register for IMLP 09. It's a bummer for certain but perhaps I'll be able to get down to IMAZ in November, it's closer (definitely bus-ridable at 13 hours away), would give me time to save up some money and I would have more training time (by about four months) until My First Ironman.
I still haven't excluded doing a non-M-dot race, the Great Floridian is still an option and I want to see how people review the upcoming Iron distance race in Plymouth, that would be really cool, doing my first IM in my hometown with loads of family and friends watching... but at the same time, to cross the finish line at IM Arizona or IM Florida or someplace like that and hear "Brendan Dillon... you are an Ironman!" would be Really. Freakin. Cool.

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I got kind of lost on my bike ride today.

I went out on the group ride and ended up following the wrong group from the BTC and getting dropped by that group. one guy held p and rode with me but I didn't think to ask where he was going. Instead of going on a 40 mile ride I get to Carter Lake, a 30 mile ride north of Boulder and realize I'm stuck for it. I told the guy I was riding with that I didn't intend to go out that far and turned back. I had very little idea where I was, but fortunately, a very good innate sense of direction.

But that doesn't really matter, that's just kind of "Here's the circumstances of what happened". What does matter is two things. One, I had great ride in spite of going WAY farther than I intended to. The second was just being out in Boulder and the surrounding area, riding through rolling hills and farms, the welcome view of the foothills and the flatirons as I was cruising back to town...

God I love it here...