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March 26, 2007
Humbolt Time Trial Photos
All the photo's are here - if you've never experianced a time trial, they are a lot of fun!!!
I'm the ONLY guy with the aero-bars, tights, armwarmers wrapped about the aero-bars, toolbag, etc......
Speaking of lots of fun, the Wildflower is less than a month away - April 22. You can sign up here.
Posted by Dennis at 08:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 21, 2007
Tired Legs!!!
Well, this is mid point of week number 3 of my 1/2 Iron Man training - holy smokes, this is gonna be hard!!! I've been overdoing my planned training on the weekends, as I'm trying to get my bike mileage ramped up so I do not die on the Wildflower Century in about 30 days. So that means Monday is a rest day, which compresses the rest of the week. I'm doing 2 a day's for the first time in my adult life, with either a run or bike ride in the morning, and then a swim or bike ride in the evening (switching off between the runs and bikes, of course). Combine this with a pretty full work life, and trying to occasionally connect with the family, and it leaves not much time for sleep.
The good news is that my swimming seems to be coming along nicely - I've dropped my 1000 yard times down from 24' 20" to to a pretty consistant 22 minutes - and I'm pretty sure I can drop it even further as I continue to progress. Biking is going well, just put a new set of hi-tech lights on my tri bike - so I no longer have to train on my MTN bike in the early morning hours. I seem to continue to get stronger on the hills, as my HoneyRun times continue to improve.
Totals so far this year -
Bike 374 miles
Run 147 miles
Swim 18,500 yards.
If my schedule holds together, Friday will be the first time I try riding my bike to work - it's only about 16 miles up Neal Road, but a pretty good elevation difference - along with all the other logistical things like darkness, a change of clothes, packing a daytimer, cell phone, and all the other things I need to get thur the day.
If it works, for at least one day a week I can tell OPEC where to stick their three dollar a gallon diesel.....
Posted by Dennis at 07:08 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 12, 2007
Dead Frickin Last
Did a time trial this weekend - with a group of "Roadies". Me, being a Big and Famous (Ya, right) triathlete, figured I'd smoke at least some of these guys up the hill - 6 miles up about a 5-10% grade, up to the little Hamlet of Cohasset. I've been a little light on the bike mileage this winter, but I figured training and running a 1/2 marathon would keep me in shape, right???
WRONG!!!! I finished DFL amonst the male riders, and second to DFL overall. Only redeeming factor was my buddy that I was riding with was almost as slow as I was!!!
I guess my first clue that these guys were serious should have been that most of them drove their cars with their bike in the back to the starting line - WHAT IS UP WITH THAT!!! I figured I'd get a 25 mile "warm up" by riding my bike there. Then the other riders started started ditching anything that weighted anything, like tool bags, clothes, etc... I figured, the heck with that - I'm running this the way I race Tri's.
Anyway, hats off to the Chico Corso Bike Club - they put on an awesome time trial, and they all collectively smoked me up that stinkin hill!!! Rumor has it they will have a "rematch" in September - I'll be coming off my training for Vineman, and we'll have to see if I can at least catch a few of them.....
All the results are here
Anyone care to share your DFL stories so I can stop feeling so sorry for myself???
Posted by Dennis at 08:03 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 06, 2007
Bidwell Classic 1/2 Marathon Race Report
What a great day for a race!! Beautiful weather, and a great race course (2 laps around Bidwell Park).
After parking, I walked into Bidwell Park, and then walked to the bathroom. Walking around, my right foot just didn't feel right, I was afraid that somehow my orthodic has gotten messed up. Took my shoe off (now about 5 minutes till race time) and what do I find - an Airsoft BB in my shoe (thanks, son). Really glad I found that before the race began.
The race started off well, my mile splits were just a little fast - averaging about 8'10" per mile. Lots of interesting people to watch during the race - one guy was hold one hand behind his back in a "peace" symbol, and the other arm outstretched above his head, at a 45 degree angle. He did that a lot!!! I have no idea what the symbolism meant.
One other gal, twice, nearly spit on me. She was on the outside, and could easily have spit off the roadway, towards the brush, but no, she spit towards the middle of the path (and me and the other runners). We gave her a wide berth after that.
One other pretty funny thing - I heard a runner come up along side me, and then heard them clear their throat, and let the debris go. I would have bet a $100 bill the person responsible for that rude noise would be a large, rather grotesque male runner. When I turned to look, what do I see, but a cute little blond, probably all of 130 pounds!!!
Anyway, the first 6 miles went really well - and then things started going downhill. Every mile, It seemed to get harder to keep my pace. I made lots to valiant efforts to bring my pace back up, but no real success with that.
I kicked it the last few hundred yards, as there was another runner trying to pass me. I dropped him, going into the chute, but in the process REALLY ramped up my heartrate. Warmdown consisted of finding a quiet spot, in case I "lost my lunch". Anyway, everything worked out OK, and just took a few minutes to get my stomach settled down.
I was really pretty happy with my race time - I was just a little over my goal - I was shooting for 8'30" miles across the board. My finish puts me about a minute and 6 seconds slower than my goal. However, this still is a Personal Best, as my previous time on this same course two years ago was 1 hour, 53 minutes and 37 seconds - So I cut almost a minute off my time. It's nice to see I'm still getting faster (at least in the longer races) even if the improvements are pretty hard-fought. I went from 158th two years ago overall down to 146th overall.
I believe this was one of my poorer "mental efforts". For some reason I was not really able to get psyched up for this run - and I believe that hurt my speed once I started to get a little tired. I was hoping my brother would be running with me, so we could resurrect the whole "runner vs triathlete" competition we've had going - but he was out of commission by a cold that he can not shake.
Alan, Susan and the Chico Running Club did a fantastic job - the chip timing was a great touch, and really simplified the awards and time-keeping.
All the results are here!!!
Posted by Dennis at 05:56 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack