Pictures, Pictures, Pictures ...

Being that it is a Friday and most of us are beat down from a long week I will just post a bunch of pics so as not to tax our brains anymore than what is necessary.

But first, tomorrow is IronMan St. George  and a few of our fellow bloggers are going to be out there giving it the good fight.  So best of luck to Mike Russell (@ 26.2 is my Cooldown), Bob and his buddy Arnie (@OneHourIronman), and Fatty and his wife Lisa (@ Fat Cyclist).  Good luck guys and I can't wait to read the Race Reports!

I mentioned early that I won a Zipp 440 Front Carbon Wheel on Ebay.  It came today and here are the pics:

Very excited.  Quite the steal for around $100!  Going to take it to the LBS to get the tubulars put in and then I am going to order a rear disc cover from Wheelbuilder.com and place on my rear trainer wheel.

Here are pics from last weekends race:

Moody Gardens - Race Site

What OWS would have looked like if it had actually happened!

The Gulf and you can see why the swim was cancelled!

Early morning transition area.

Me leaving my "special place".

Starting the run.

Apparently, getting ready to take out a small child.

Coming down the finishing chute.

These next pics are all from the LoneStar Ironman 70.3 the next day.

Moody Gardens Run Course .. great location!

Much calmer Gulf on Sunday!

Overall winner Terenzo Bozzone - 3:49:06 (Super Fastie)

For the guys:

Desiree Ficker

Desiree Ficker

And .....

Desiree Ficker

Super cool cowboy hat finishers medal ... Gotta love Texas!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I have a 50 mile bike ride tomorrow and a 12 mile run on Sunday.  Sort of nice to not have a race or be in a taper!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

So What is Up .... ?

- I just did Week 6, Day 1 of the Push Up Challenge and I can barely raise my hands up to the laptop to type this!  That. Was. Brutal!

- Last week I wrote that I was considering purchasing a Computrainer or a PowerTap to really help me laser focus in on my bike training.  Well, the new bedroom furniture looks great and my wife really likes it.  And the new mattress  has made sleeping a joy! (note to self - repeat this until you believe it!)

- Watching the Biggest Loser now and I still cannot stand Michael.  He is working hard and losing weight but something is just not right about him. He just seems so fake every time he opens his mouth.  He will not be missed if he goes home tonight.

- Congrats to the Pens for advancing to the next round of the NHL Playoffs!

- The Pittsburgh Pirates might be the worst baseball team ever assembled.  On Thursday they lost 20-0 to the Brewers at PNC Park.  After losing 3 more games over the weekend to Houston they had a chance last night to get back at the Brewers for the ass whopping last week and promptly lost 17-3.  Wow, they suck.  Oh, and on Saturday I was wearing a Pirates hat and a seagull pooped on my head.  Even the seagull was letting me know how shitty this team is.

- I am wear testing a pair of shoes for Brooks right now.  They are the Defyance 4's.  I currently run with the Defyance 3's so it will be cool to have input into the feel of the shoes I will be running with next year.  So far I absolutely love how they feel and they are super-sexy.  I hope I get to keep them!

- Last night Annie and I were running in my neighborhood and we ran past a guy who looked rather suspicious.  Well, when I say "looked suspicious" I mean "carrying 3 ft iron tool used to remove sprinkler heads".   These sprinkler heads have large copper fixtures which can be stolen and sold. The price of copper is through the roof right now.  I promptly ran home and called the Sheriff's department and by the time I ran back outside they already had apprehended the guy. That is how we roll in Texas guys (and apparently Arizona).  He ended up showing the officers where all the tools were hidden and where he was hiding the fixtures.  This guys has cost the HOA some cash over the last few months.

- I enjoy "24" so much more when it is Jack vs The World.  This year is going to end very badly for some Russians.

- I'm still not over the swim being cancelled on Saturday.  The challenge for me in doing the Olympic distance was in how I would perform in the 1500M OWS.  My options are to either get the hell over it or to do another race, soon.

-  If I do another race (soon) then my little planned 6 week rest and relaxation time before I begin training for the Nov 7th HIM might have to turn into a 4 week rest and relaxation period.  Not sure what I am going to do.

- New Toy on the way!! I found a used Zipp 440 Carbon Front Wheel on Ebay last week and put a bid on it.  For $95 I am the winner!  Never thought I would win it for that cheap!  If it ends up being true and looks good then I will probably get a rear wheel disc cover from WheelBuilder.com for my current wheel and BOOM!  I have race wheels!

- LOST was a repeat tonight.  When I clicked on the TV guide and noticed this I was quite disappointed.  Damn you Network TV and your upcoming crappy Sweeps Week!!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Push Up Challenge Week 6 ... The End of the Road

Alright everybody, if you have followed the plan and advanced past week 5 then this will be your last week in the push up challenge!  If you were unable to finish up Week 5, no biggie, you can go back and repeat this week and then move on.  Good job to all of you that have stuck to the plan and if you happened to waiver some that is okay because you can pickup and start again.

After Week 5 you were supposed to do an exhaustion test to see which column you fall into for Week 6.  If you haven't done that yet then do it today and start Week 6 tomorrow.

Here is the Week 6 Schedule:

Personally, I have achieved to the 60+ column and am ready to give it hell this last week and hopefully nail 100 on Sunday.  If you are not there yet then just keep pounding away at it and you will do it.

Drop a comment and let us all know how you are doing.  James and Boomer have already surpassed the 100 rep barrier .... has anyone else yet?

Thanks for reading,

Jeff

Lone Star Olympic Triathlon Duathlon Race Report

Swim canceled due to high winds .....


Yep, that is what happened.  The wind was so bad in Galveston that the swim buoys would not stay in place and the poor guys on the kayaks were unable to hold still in the bay.  So, they scrapped the swim and had us do a bike and run race. 


The way the race was originally scheduled was that Sprint Distance was to begin at 7am and then the Olympic Distance was scheduled to go off at 8:30am.  I am not sure how many people were racing but my guess is that over 2000 were there.  Being that I am a below average swimmer you would think I would be cool with this!  BUT I was disappointed because I have been working hard at my swim and was excited to measure my gains in an actual race.


However, the RD made the right call because if the conditions were unsafe and someone would have got hurt then that would have been awful.  It is always right to error on the side of caution in these situations.  And the wind was crazy -- easily had gusts over 40-50 mph!


Anyway, we started the race on the bike.  The Sprinters went off first.  After they were done we waited about 30 minutes until the course cleared up some and then they let us go.  We did a Time Trial start with 3 seconds in between each rider.  It was different but okay.


The bike was extremely difficult because of the high winds and it was hot out.  By the time I hit the course it was well over 80 degrees and even with the wind, very humid.  The "back" portion of the bike ride was brutal with a headwind just crushing you the entire time.  I completed the 24.85 mile bike in 1:17:26 for an average pace of 19.22 mph.  Not bad with the wind.


My transition was a little slow (1:53) because I decided to run with new Brooks shoes that were sent to me on Thursday for wear testing (The Defyance 4).  I had to tie them instead of using my Yankz, but that probably only cost me 10-15 seconds.  They were extremely light and comfortable.


I hit the run course and I could feel the last portion of the bike in my quads.  My first mile was done right around 7:00 minutes but I was really starting to feel the sun and the heat and I decided to slow it down a little.  Damn it was hot!  My quads really didn't loosen up until about mile 5 and I tried to make up as much time as I could on the final mile.  My time ended up being 48:40 for the 10K.  Which is an average of 7:49/mi - not my best time but I'll take it.


In my 35-39 Age Group I finished 34/97.  The overall results are not up yet so I am not sure how I did compared to the entire field.


Overall, I was okay with my results.  I wish I would have pushed a little harder on the first half of the bike and the first half of the run.  It sucks that the swim got canceled but it was still awesome to be out there on a beautiful day doing what I love.  Annie volunteered at an aid station with our Tri club.  I was really fun to have all of them out supporting those of us racing on Saturday.  Many of them did the 70.3 Distance today!


Annie and I spent the day at the above mentioned Lone Star Ironman 70.3.  We took a ton of photos of all the ridiculously fast pros and many of the super-inspirational age groupers out there giving it their all.  We are both completely exhausted from the busy weekend and the camera is still in the car.  But tomorrow I will do another post with these pics, along with the final week schedule of the Push Up Challenge.  


I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!


Thanks for Reading,


Jeff

Pre-Race Plans ...

This is a taper week for me leading up to Saturday's LoneStar Olympic Triathlon.  The plan is for Annie and I to leave on Friday and head on down to Galveston and check into our hotel.  It is only about a 70 mile drive but we have to go through Houston traffic so it will probably take about 2 hours.  This is an officially sponsored Ironman event (70.3 on Sunday) so it appears there is going to be a ton of cool things to see.  I will race on Saturday and then we will stay an extra day and cheer on the triathletes doing the HIM on Sunday.  Should be a fun weekend and we'll take a bunch of pictures and I will put up a long race report on Sunday night!

Here are the MAPS for the Olympic distance race.

This will be my first time doing a distance longer than a Sprint and I am feeling pretty good about my training and my overall conditioning for the Olympic Distance. Being that this is my first time doing this distance I want my goals to be both modest and conservative. My goals for the race are as followed:

Swim:  1500M - 30 to 34 minutes:  This is an ocean swim in the Gulf and it is wetsuit legal.  I am not sure what to expect in terms of waves and overall chop for the ocean so I am hopeful it will be calm but prepared for it to be rough.  If I can average around 2:00 to 2:20/100M I will be happy.

Bike:  24.8 Mi - 1:18 to 1:22 minutes:  This bike route runs right along the Galveston Seawall and according to the weather forecast we should be expecting some 20+ mph cross winds.  This is pretty much the norm along the seawall in Galvestion.  And my age group wave doesn't take off until 8:34 am so by the time I am on the bike the wind will be kicking up. With the cross winds I will be happy to average 18-19 MPH.

Run: 6.21 Mi - 46 to 48 minutes:   A 10k on a nice flat route.  If I can keep myself from blowing up on the bike I could make up significant time on the run.  This is about a 7:30-7:50 pace.  I can do this pace and possibly better if the wind doesn't drain me.

Transitions:  6 minutes.  Looks like T1 is quite a distance from the swim exit so a 3+ minutes T1 time is probably going to happen.

Total Time Guess:  2:40 to 2:50 Overall.

Wish me luck and I'll be back on Sunday with my Race Report.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff