It was all about the bike today: big ride, testing new rides, and retiring an old friend.

So far, I have felt like all season with my three disciplines, Swim, Bike, and Run, that the biking has been lacking in comparison to the swim and run, even though I do spend the most amount of time on the bike. I guess it has a lot to do with most of my bike miles this year have been on the trainer where its much harder to motivate yourself to go harder, like you can do so easily on the swim and run. Maybe that's why I feel like the biking hasn't been coming along as well?

That started to change, TODAY.

The stars aligned this morning! The sun was out and shiny, the temperature hit the low 40's and there was a little wind (which was fine). So I got outside for my first "real" long ride of the season for an almost 41 miler. I of course took out the time trial bike and tried my best to stay consistent and conservative, while trying to keep up a little speed. I think it worked! My legs were shot by the end of the ride, but mostly my shoulder and butt hurt the most. I did my new favorite time trial route:

Look at all of those flat sections! It was haul ass city!

But after the ride ended, the day was faaaar from being over involving riding bikes. I headed over to the local bike shop and tested out some Cervelo road bikes that I have had my eye on for awhile. I tried the S2 and R3.

I first want to say that both bikes are phenomenal. Probably the nicest road bikes I have ever ridden. They are both super light (like around 16 pounds!!!), both the same price and ride sooooo nice. But I did find some differences:

The S2:

A much stiffer ride = more instant acceleration. I hit the gas first going up a hill and BOY did the bike respond. I actually had to shift into a harder gear to maintain the same cadence. On the flats (good thing there was a traffic speed checker thingy right there) I easily hit 25+ mph. This bike just wanted to go FAST. There was no "softness" in the frame or pedals upon acceleration. It also handled sooooo well. Going around a sharp turn was effortless and felt like I was carving on my snowboard. The frame is very aero and the top and downtubes are similar to my P2.

The R3:

Not as much of a stiffer ride. However, its a much more leisurely ride. I immediately wanted to call the bike the Relaxing 3. Going over bumps felt like butter. The bike was a bit lighter, but upon acceleration on the hills and flats I felt this "softness" like all of that energy I just put into the pedals kinda evaporated. It still went fast, but there wasn't that "crispness" that I felt with the S2.

Overall, it was the stiffness of the S2 and the softness of the R3 that made the biggest difference. I can liken it only to splitting wood. It was like splitting a red oak log vs a poplar log. Splitting a red oak log is this super satisfying "crack" and instant split whereas splitting a poplar log is like hitting a sponge that will only bounce an ax back at you, which is VERY UNsatisfying. However, if you were to ride 50-60+ miles I guarantee you your body is gonna feel more wrecked on the S2 rather than the R3.

If you can't already tell, I much more prefer the S2 because I would be hitting the hills and sprinting the flats HARD on that bike. I am done with soft frames! haha!

And now for some sad news:
My Trek 5000 has been a great bike to me. I went up Mt. Ventoux in southern France two times on it in the summer of 2005, but unfortunately the bike frame has been too big for me (hence the chronic back pain over the years). Currently there is a super short stem on it which is not ideal for proper bike handling. It is my first carbon fiber bike and has been a great joy; it's just time to retire it. Now the bike isn't going anywhere. I will always have the bike and will use it as a backup. Can't get rid of something that took me up Ventoux two times! Those are cherished memories!

What did you learn today?

*Cue 5 year old inner self* I learned that I can blow snot rockets outa my nose a lot easier than I can drink out of my Speedfil straw while pedaling on the bike in the aero position. Top that one!!!

Seriously, I learned that riding indoors on the trainer only does so much and that riding outdoors, even for 17 miles, does a lot more on your legs than riding inside. I actually got outdoors today on the bike for the first time in about a month. The temp hit 40, and that meant OUTSIDE.

Nothing replaces riding outdoors! (other than riding outdoors in Provence....its a different kind of riding outdoors)

You could tell it was going to be warmer today. This morning for my 6 mile run I was out in 32 degree, dare I say, warmth? and the birds were chirping. You know, that "its almost spring" birds chirping song. I learned that running up hills has gotten a TON easier lately. I guess running up hills more helps with running up hills? Duh!

And finally, I learned, or rather relearned, that a frozen chocolate covered banana just tastes AWESOME!!!


Soooooo, what did you learn today?

Lance vs Lieto, TT in Hawaii

The triathlon world (and probably the cycling world) was abuzz this morning over tweet's from Lance Armstrong and Chris Lieto's twitter accounts about a head to head dual TT out in Hawaii. They raced 14 miles, 1 min apart. Who do you think won?

Pre race vid:


Post race vid:


So something REALLY REALLY baffles me here. Lance won in 18:35, 15 seconds faster than Lieto. Cool. I get that.

But Lance said that he averaged 56 km/hour = 35 mph. If you did 14 miles in 18:35, you would HAVE to maintain an average of 45 mph. I am confused!!! If they did 10.83 miles in 18:35, then yes, they would have maintained a 35 mph average. This is simple math, right?!?!?!?!

Regardless, really cool stuff to watch!

Day Off::No Day off

No work today! Yay!

Definately no day off workout wise, though. Yay!

So I was more so busy buying stuff than working out.

Since I have chewed through about 4 tires (yeah, tell me about it!) on the trainer so far this season turning each into a shrieking squeaky tire, I finally had had enough and went out and bought a nuclear bomb proof trainer tire.

(The rubber is REALLY thick!)

And ever since December when my run volume pitched upwards quite dramatically, I realized that I may be chewing through shoes about every 4 months. I went proactive and bought a brand new pair since with my busy running race schedule this spring I don't want to fall into a trap where I start new shoes on a race day. I'd rather get a few miles on a brand new pair.

(New color! I think they look badass!)'

While buying shoes I started to think about how long I have had my current running socks. I have a pair that are easily going on 18 months. Maaaaaybe its time to retire that pair and replace them. I only run in Thorlos and they have always been good to me, and they last FOREVER.

After stimulating the US economy for a few hours, it was time to actually use some of this stuff. So I hopped onto the trainer for a recovery ride. Did just 13 miles in 48 mins. Nothing too fast. My legs feel really good after yesterday's 11+ miler.



After scarfing down some leftovers, I was off to the pool for 3000 yards. Nothing complicated, just 2 X (500, 400, 300, 200, 100). I added some speed into the 300's and 200's. I was HUNGRY after the swim, so I rewarded myself for a hard day's work:

(My friend Venece's apple strudel with some vanilla ice cream. Yum!)

V is for....

VOLUME!!! hahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Yes, I know its Valentine's Day today. We have been celebrating all weekend, including having a bunch of people over last night to celebrate the uncorking of some nice Belgian Blonde Ale. We made some pulled pork, baked mac & cheese, salt pork green beans, corn bread, apple pie, apple strudel, vanilla ice cream and LOTS of beer!


Now getting back to volume, yesterday I did almost 34 miles on the trainer in about 2 hours. I did a lot of 4 mins in the small ring, 4 mins in the big ring to work some different muscles (i.e. climbing) and to push some more watts at a lower cadence. It kept me preoccupied and made the 2 hours go by painless.



Then the REALLY big volume occured this morning, where I went up to Wilton, CT to run with my ironman buddy and coworker, Stewart. We belted out 11.27 miles while holding an 8:39 pace over some hilly terrain. We did the top loop of my upcoming 25K race. Our splits came out to be:
Mile 1: 7:57
Mile 2: 8:28
Mile 3: 8:46
Mile 4: 8:52
Mile 5: 8:35
Mile 6: 7:49
Mile 7: 9:08
Mile 8: 8:42
Mile 9: 8:59
Mile 10: 8:57
Mile 11: 8:57


Here is the route:

Beat down in the pool

James @ Daily Trainings posted a really good speedy swim workout the other day on his blog. I thought I would give it a try. I modifed it slightly and it came out to be this:

400 warm up

2 x 100 @ 2:00
4 x 50 @ 1:00
8 x 25 @ :30

2 x 300 Recover

3 x 100 @ 2:00
6 x 50 @ 1:00
12 x 25 @ :30

200 cooldown

Lots of short distances with some rest, but because of the short distances and rest, it basically said one thing: GO FAST! I was breathing pretty hard towards the end of each set, but I felt REALLY good and FAST! It was a good 2700 yarder to call it a week in the pool.

I was averaging anywhere from 1:37 to 1:34 on the 100's, ~45 seconds for the 50's, and I'm not sure for the 25's since I only had one clock on each side and had to guess how much to rest on the odd lengths. This was a nice beating in the pool.

Bring thee hills and lets talk 25K

I firmly said NO to the dreadmill this morning and went outside @ lunch @ work today since it was in the low 30's and BRIGHT sunny. The snow on the driveway was already melted by noon. Score! I did the hill outside of the office 2X as part of a 5 miler. For those of you NY area triathletes who are considering doing the Westchester Triathlon @ the end of September, this is the hill known as "Claire's Climb." Its really not that bad of a hill, just big enough to get you breathing pretty hard and making the legs burn. This is the profile:

(Its not really 10%...prolly more like 7-8% max)

This hill reminded me of my upcoming 25K. You know how you sign up for a race that is weeks or months away but you still haven't mentally "checked in" to it yet? Well today I checked into it considering the 25K will not only be the longest run I will have ever done, but it will also be a hilly one:

(The graph is not normalized, so its not THAT steep, but it will still be kicking my @$$!)

So basically you climb for 8 miles, then descend for 7.5. I'm not worried about the up, I'm actually worried about the down. By the time I start going down, my legs will be getting shot and the constant pounding really does a number on your quads. You really have to train those downhill resistance muscles just like you have to train those uphill muscles! Go run a downhill marathon lemme know if it was "easy."

Just so happens a coworker and fellow triathlete of mine happens to live 1.5 miles from the top of the course. Oh how convenient! So I will be heading up there this weekend to put in a short 11.72 miles on the upper loop of the course :)

Speaking of the course, here it is: