Phil's Triathlon Training Blog

Altho, this one is lifeless, well… until i make it move.

The road bike i have is about 16 years old with a hybrid of new and recycled components from other people and other bikes I have.  Some bucks came in unexpectedly recently and I got the “all clear” from the Mrs. to enjoy some of it. I put and RFC out on twitter that I was in the market for a new (but discounted) rig and CREWmate @gaider threw back a gem of a deal that I couldn’t pass up.

Grant, thanks so much man!

So it’s being built up, but here’s the link to the specs and some snaps of the frame.

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=PRODUCT&PRODUCT.ID=6949

Just wanted to throw out a big “have fun” to the crew that’s about to head over for week 2 of SLB (strong like bull training camp) over in Spain.

Here’s some of the crew that you can follow on twitter:

• @j_hirsch
• @seanjlangford
• @holisticguru
• @ironmanbobby
• @gaidner
• @david_pike
• @bobsonsir
• @billrisch

some of the tweets may be protected… but can’t hurt to ask.

these guys are going to have a blast. i can’t wait to hear the stories.

safe trip boys.

I usually listen to a LOT of podcasts while on the treadmill, on the running trails or on the trainer as it’s a way for me to get some learning in without needing to steady myself and flip pages. I’ve been using the podcasts as well as an Audible account to pass the time. I do this by using my iPhone, but I’ve already broken it a few times as the headphone wires always seem to get wrapped around something and send the phone slinging onto the ground, and like bread… it’s always the butter side down {smash}.

A while back (a year ago) i picked up some Motorola headphones and all of a sudden life was good. The controls are on the headpiece (altho not all of them work in controlling the phone – not sure who’s to blame on that, apple or Motorola). These were the style i had:

Now they were fine and all, but pricey and the functionality was, meh. Anyway, they died and apparently poking around Amazon this is pretty damn common with these… which is sad, because I may have bought another pair as these were great to run in almost to the point of being a little uncomfortable as they held on tight (but in a good way as you’ll see with the ones i have now).

So i ended up reading all the reviews on different models and ended up with the Nokia BH-503 Stereo Headset (below):

Now these are a bit heavier, but the sound is amazing in comparison, they were also about half the price AND all of the controls work. They are however going to be difficult to run in so maybe with a hat? or doing something funky with tucking them behind my ears? We’ll see as that comes, but they will certainly be fine for general mobility and for the trainer. Being only day 1 (I got them last night) there’s a few other things I notice in comparison:

Pro’s

1. They charge much faster than the Moto’s
2. The charge lasts much longer (barely put a dent in the charge so far)
3. They are cheaper
4. Sound quality is better (tho i haven’t tried outbound sound via the built in mic for calls yet)
5. Bluetooth signal strength is seriously stronger, you can walk further away from the phone.
6. More comfortable in everyday use (but can totally see where they will fall off on a hard run)

Con’s

1. Heavier and can’t adjust the tension – so not great for a hard run.
2. They make you look even goofier as they are larger ;) but that’s what i’m all about.
3. The ear pads don’t appear to be replaceable and I’m not sure how they’ll hold up after some sweat and activity on the trainer. But then again, i lost one on the Moto’s and didn’t see anywhere i could buy a replacement online either, which did make the moto’s very uncomfortable before they just failed.

Both of the above are available on Amazon for customer review (i live thru them) and I’m in no way affiliated with any of these guys. see: CMP.ly/0

There are some other products I’ve picked up lately and are beginning to love… i’ll write about those soon enough (i hope ;)

So this New years 4 day weekend brought the following firsts for the season (which started in November):

• first all day Kona race marathon on TV
• first indoor treadmill run of the season (at home)
• first 5hr bike ride
• first 2hr run
• first 17hr week
• first snowy run with the Mrs. & our new pooch
• first slug of hammer gel
• first bottle of perpetuem
• first spin with my pop ;)

It’s funny. Big efforts are cool. Epic days give you something to mull over a beer as you look back on em’ with accomplishment and fatigue. Hard intensive efforts that surprise you on the watch splits or on the wattage meter get you so jazzed… and you surely feel those efforts then and there. But, those days are far and few… and it’s those weeks where you eek in little nooks of training here and there, even where there really shouldn’t/couldn’t be… that gain this nearly unnoticeable or at least unremarkable days or weeks. You’re tired but not really sure why as each effort isn’t really of notice, yeah ya did it… but it wasn’t really stellar.

But this is where I love to train. More often then not, you’re training days aren’t breakthrough nor epic, nor well… anything but training. This daily grind of getting out and doing it, and doing it a few times a day is more of a win for me than most of the races I’ve been in. I would even argue that I’m not really racing others and only racing myself even during those bigger events. But getting back to these nondescript weeks of training… I love them. I find them invaluable and the reason why I like this sport (or buncha sports rolled into one ;). It’s also the reason I still want to go long. When you meet up with people you generally ask each other, “so what have you been up to?”. I personally never really have anything good or interesting to say as it’s usually these training weeks or the daily grind of the day job. But, you can look back over what you have executed on, be it blog, pen & paper, online/offline training software, whatever you log against… and there it is. You’ve taken your time and made it a little bit richer. This is why you are tired.

All of those 30min based 5k’s with the pooch in the AM and PM add up come weeks end. Conference calls while sitting on the bike? Sure why not… maybe I’ll extend it into the next checkpoint call that’s in 2 hrs… and then, it’s training in the bank.

The consistency reward is really only in the tally as far a semi-immediate gratification goes… but i think it pays dividends for going long. This is why I love winter and the base training it brings. The slow burn here and the seeds of consistency seemed to have made it easier as things get busier and the big pushes come around in summer. The goal is to keep moving, and hopefully it’s in the forward direction towards the line or sometimes just getting back home. ;)

Time for another cup o’ java and then it’s out and to it for me… another one for the bank.

Been up in Mass for the Turkey day and Mr. Wizard (@seanjlangford) lives up in these here parts. Sean in the other half of the SLB tour guide and the tech man behind J’s site. Every time I’m up here I give him a ping and see if he wants to link up for a ride, food, drink or what have ya. I also need to mention that every time we try and link up… some sort of nasty weather kicks up to test if we really want to go out and ride. Yesterday was no different.

So I’m sitting in my car tweeting as I’m there a bit early for a CCB team base ride post-turkey-day and thinking to myself… “this is gonna be cold… this is gonna be really wet and cold” :(

When guess who shows up already wet and cold…

Yep… no backing out now… ;) we rode for about 3 hours and about 40miles covering some great scenic parts of Mass (altho Sean did keep saying that , “it’s a lot nicer without the driving rain”). I get so excited to see the guys that I know, but rarely get to train with, that I probably jabbered on for the first hour straight. There’s nothing like base and miserable New England weather to make for a good story telling morning.

This was the loop we covered and with huge thanks to his CCB brethren for plotting out a really nice route:

(I’ve even left in guru’s plum island with the shutters ;)

On a side note, it’s actually been a good couple of days of training… been getting in rides and runs and such all slow and mellow. I ended up doing a 2hr ride to 5++k brick on Thanksgiving and even won the local run (which was not as mellow as I wanted it to be, because I got roped into the actual race portion of the run). oh yeah, and resting… a lot of resting… it’s been good to catch up on that as I’ve been just exhausted going into this holiday even needing a day off of work after sleeping all last weekend.

It has been a great and rewarding offseason. I've completed and learned a huge amount of technical schtuff at home and at work with all of the added time gained back on a daily basis. Tomorrow we plan and tomorrow will start the new season. The march back to 140.6 miles takes thousands of miles and hours to get there, and it all starts with a plan.

Much as the quote mentions about legal self-representation, I feel applies to serious training... "a fool for a client" is not what I'm willing to gamble at that level of exertion. So I'll be again placing my SBR counsel in John and dietary counsel in Christine.