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".