I have been reading a lot about new gadgets and gear lately. It is the Spring thing to do with all the 2010 Gear Issues out on news stands.
What has really hit me of late is the cost of these new pieces of equipment, usually re-designed to cut weight.
Here is my quick take…before you go out and spend an extra $300 to $700 to replace your stock brakes (just one example) to save 200 grams, consider what you are carrying in the first place.
Do you carry too much water or gatorade on your bike? Chances are you have filled up a few bottles (to the rim) for a sprint triathlon or duathlon. Remember that 1 litre of water is roughly 1000 grams of weight added to your ride ( http://health.howstuffworks.com/question227.htm ).
Since most races have water stations out on the run portion, you really should not need that much liquid on the bike, unless it is a super hot day.
What else do you have on your race kit that you really do not need that would save you weight before spending a small fortune?
March 21, 2010
March 12, 2010
Friday Update
It's the weekend and, although they are calling for rain, the mild temperatures make it worth looking forward to. I also have the weekend away from hockey as the boys are on the road. This means lots of quality family time but also a few more hours to squeeze in some extra training. Hopefully, the roads will be in decent enough shape that I can pump out a nice, outdoor ride on Saturday. I really need to get the riding hours up soon and this may be the perfect time to start.
I took advantage of the great spring conditions all this week at lunch and my hour long rides are feeling strong so it is a matter of putting in some longer efforts, slowly leading into the larger distance races of mid to late summer. Looking at the competitors in the triathlon, I am going to need to build on last years bike times. This may be tough as I was up with the top age groupers last year, with the elites a few km/h ahead of us.
Since my swimming is bound to be slower than my rivals, it is very important to get faster on the bike and run even faster than last year. Thankfully, I ended up cycling and running beside many of these guys as I raced the duathlon. After the first leg of the du we all became mixed in with the triathlon event so I know what they have to offer. Unfortunately, for me, they are fast on the bike and on the run. If I want to stay competitve in the sport this year, I will have to really buckle down and train as hard as I am capable.
So now that I am finished my self motivational talk, I can get to the update...
At our weekly club swim last night, I was very happy with my training during our interval work. I picked a workout in the middle of the speed chart and was actually touching the wall early enough to enjoy longer breaks between intervals than expected. During this portion of the training we did 3 x 100m on 2:00, 100m easy, 4 x 50 on 1:00, 50m easy, 3 x 100m on 2:15, 100 easy, 4 x 50m on 0:55, 50 easy. I know this is slow to most but my splits were much quicker than I have been doing so, if this is a faster trend in my progress, I will be able to jump up a level and shorten the breaks.
Not bad for a guy that hit the water for the very first time in August. At least that is what I think. HAHA
Running has been very productive for quite a few weeks now and I am sticking with my plan for the 30k Around the Bay race a few weeks away. I believe I am where I need to be so it will be a matter of executing the game plan come March 28th. I know a couple of the guys in the club will be running quickly so we may all be sitting together in a group so I hope we can work as a team and push ourselves to the line in our goal time under 2 hours.
Cycling, as mentioned above, has not received the focus that I would like but I believe there is time. I have a great program I may use starting around 8 to 9 weeks out from Victoria's Duathlon. Very intense cycling on fewer days which may suit the extra time needed to swim. I have it on pretty good authority that this program can be manipulated into the triathlon plan but is only good for a few cycles (11 weeks per cycle) per year.
Well, that's it in a nut shell. Hope I see some of you out enjoying the mild weather this weekend!
I took advantage of the great spring conditions all this week at lunch and my hour long rides are feeling strong so it is a matter of putting in some longer efforts, slowly leading into the larger distance races of mid to late summer. Looking at the competitors in the triathlon, I am going to need to build on last years bike times. This may be tough as I was up with the top age groupers last year, with the elites a few km/h ahead of us.
Since my swimming is bound to be slower than my rivals, it is very important to get faster on the bike and run even faster than last year. Thankfully, I ended up cycling and running beside many of these guys as I raced the duathlon. After the first leg of the du we all became mixed in with the triathlon event so I know what they have to offer. Unfortunately, for me, they are fast on the bike and on the run. If I want to stay competitve in the sport this year, I will have to really buckle down and train as hard as I am capable.
So now that I am finished my self motivational talk, I can get to the update...
At our weekly club swim last night, I was very happy with my training during our interval work. I picked a workout in the middle of the speed chart and was actually touching the wall early enough to enjoy longer breaks between intervals than expected. During this portion of the training we did 3 x 100m on 2:00, 100m easy, 4 x 50 on 1:00, 50m easy, 3 x 100m on 2:15, 100 easy, 4 x 50m on 0:55, 50 easy. I know this is slow to most but my splits were much quicker than I have been doing so, if this is a faster trend in my progress, I will be able to jump up a level and shorten the breaks.
Not bad for a guy that hit the water for the very first time in August. At least that is what I think. HAHA
Running has been very productive for quite a few weeks now and I am sticking with my plan for the 30k Around the Bay race a few weeks away. I believe I am where I need to be so it will be a matter of executing the game plan come March 28th. I know a couple of the guys in the club will be running quickly so we may all be sitting together in a group so I hope we can work as a team and push ourselves to the line in our goal time under 2 hours.
Cycling, as mentioned above, has not received the focus that I would like but I believe there is time. I have a great program I may use starting around 8 to 9 weeks out from Victoria's Duathlon. Very intense cycling on fewer days which may suit the extra time needed to swim. I have it on pretty good authority that this program can be manipulated into the triathlon plan but is only good for a few cycles (11 weeks per cycle) per year.
Well, that's it in a nut shell. Hope I see some of you out enjoying the mild weather this weekend!
March 7, 2010
Chilly Half Marathon LeaderBoard
Wow, what a results board for todays Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington! Just looking at the first few pages, I can see so many great times by people I know, train with or have chatted with at some race over the past few months.
Seeing all the impressive times by the likes of Greg McNabb, Adrian Lawson, Tyler Lord, Marko Durbic, Mike Bosch, Brian Hastings, Jowenne Hererra, Richard Westwood, Bill Vieira, Jim Dalzell and Tommy Ferris has me wondering where i would have landed at this point in time. Great running everyone!
When I first looked at the results I was a little bumbed out that I could not run today, due to work. Also, I had been to the bike show earlier in the day and walked away from an amazing deal on a carbon frame for a road bike that would have stretched the budget these days and would not have been a smart spend at this time. House work (garage door) is priority right now and I really had to remind myself that the dog house is very cold at this time of the year.
There were so many other great deals to be had, even mid-way through Sunday. Even the Dura-Ace components in some of the booths were going for 75% off. So what if they are a year or two behind in the model number, to save that amount on quality parts to put on the bike you train with is quite a deal. As you can imagine, the "what ifs" of the day had me a little down at night.
Thankfully, I pulled myself off the couch and suited up for a solid, long run with hills. I ended up doing 22 km and even held the pace as my final 12km were into the wind and mainly uphill. The wind was pretty chilly at this point of the night so I am now just trying to warm up and relax enough to hit the hay.
Anyway, just wanted to say Congrats to all the solid runs put in today by those I know! Can't wait to read all the reports.
Keep up the great work!
Larry
Seeing all the impressive times by the likes of Greg McNabb, Adrian Lawson, Tyler Lord, Marko Durbic, Mike Bosch, Brian Hastings, Jowenne Hererra, Richard Westwood, Bill Vieira, Jim Dalzell and Tommy Ferris has me wondering where i would have landed at this point in time. Great running everyone!
When I first looked at the results I was a little bumbed out that I could not run today, due to work. Also, I had been to the bike show earlier in the day and walked away from an amazing deal on a carbon frame for a road bike that would have stretched the budget these days and would not have been a smart spend at this time. House work (garage door) is priority right now and I really had to remind myself that the dog house is very cold at this time of the year.
There were so many other great deals to be had, even mid-way through Sunday. Even the Dura-Ace components in some of the booths were going for 75% off. So what if they are a year or two behind in the model number, to save that amount on quality parts to put on the bike you train with is quite a deal. As you can imagine, the "what ifs" of the day had me a little down at night.
Thankfully, I pulled myself off the couch and suited up for a solid, long run with hills. I ended up doing 22 km and even held the pace as my final 12km were into the wind and mainly uphill. The wind was pretty chilly at this point of the night so I am now just trying to warm up and relax enough to hit the hay.
Anyway, just wanted to say Congrats to all the solid runs put in today by those I know! Can't wait to read all the reports.
Keep up the great work!
Larry
March 2, 2010
Is spring coming?
Well, we have had a little bit of every thing weather wise of late. Some snow, some sun, some mild temps and some cool temps. It was only 8 days ago that I saw so many riders out enjoying clear roads and plus 6 degree temps in our area. I had so many things on the go that week that I needed to focus on family so I passed on a long ride with the guys. Hoping last weekend would turn out similar, I was disappointed when all the snow came down leading into the weekend and spoiling the clean roads and ruining my riding plans. Oh well, it looks like we are in for some spring like weather here shortly.
Putting in all the training and seeing the run results (on the web) coming along has me itching to race. I am signed up for the Around the Bay road race at the end of the month but I would really love to get in a 5k run to see where I sit these days. I feel ahead of last yeat right now on my run and even on my bike, which is very nice considering I am also making time to swim. This is dipping into my time allotment and something I did not have to schedule in the past but I am really starting to enjoy the learning process involved.
I have talked about my running and swimming in the past few weeks but I am just starting to see some cycling comparisons. It may not be on the actual roads but between the trainer and the life cycle, it is looking like my sprint distance conditioning is a little further along at this point of the off-season. I am pushing more power on the life cycle (still have not built a budget for a power metre on my real wheels) in very comparable test year over year so it is now time to start building the length of the rides with sustained power. With a nice base in place, I am starting to get confident that my triathlon cycling speed will increase this season.
Well, time to get out and run. Sorry nothing too exciting to write about but just wanted to put a little pen to paper this week.
PS - I will miss Poni's class! He may have not been the greatest Leaf but nice guys like number 23 made work so much easier back in the day. Good luck Poni!
Putting in all the training and seeing the run results (on the web) coming along has me itching to race. I am signed up for the Around the Bay road race at the end of the month but I would really love to get in a 5k run to see where I sit these days. I feel ahead of last yeat right now on my run and even on my bike, which is very nice considering I am also making time to swim. This is dipping into my time allotment and something I did not have to schedule in the past but I am really starting to enjoy the learning process involved.
I have talked about my running and swimming in the past few weeks but I am just starting to see some cycling comparisons. It may not be on the actual roads but between the trainer and the life cycle, it is looking like my sprint distance conditioning is a little further along at this point of the off-season. I am pushing more power on the life cycle (still have not built a budget for a power metre on my real wheels) in very comparable test year over year so it is now time to start building the length of the rides with sustained power. With a nice base in place, I am starting to get confident that my triathlon cycling speed will increase this season.
Well, time to get out and run. Sorry nothing too exciting to write about but just wanted to put a little pen to paper this week.
PS - I will miss Poni's class! He may have not been the greatest Leaf but nice guys like number 23 made work so much easier back in the day. Good luck Poni!
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