Breakneck Geek

April Time Trial

2011-04-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Last night was the TCSD time trial at Fiesta Island. It's a 3 loop (12 mile) course that is pancake flat and occasionally windy. I'm supposed to be doing a bike fitness test like this TT once a month in order to determine my Functional Threshold Power (FTP), but I haven't done one in months. I have had a few days of rest following the Oceanside, CA 70.3 this weekend so I was feeling strong,

Weighing in

2010-12-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

I haven't written here since September 14th, wow. That's not a coincidence, since I haven't been training since then either. That's three months off, something I've never done. Additionally, I took about 8 weeks off completely - no swimming, biking, running at all. That was a bad idea. I've been slowly working back into things the last few weeks with a few short bike rides - but I'm out of

IMMOO: Taking the Good with the Bad

2010-09-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

I had a fantastic time in Wisconsin this weekend racing in Madison. Friendly people, beautiful weather, breathtaking landscapes - and lots of cows. The race itself didn't go as I wanted, or as I predicted. But I'll get to that in a minute, first I'd like to point out how great Madison was as a host city. I've done three IM races now (and a LOT of other races) plus spectated a few - and

IMMOO: What to Expect

2010-09-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to piece together in my mind how this next race is going to go. I'm taking a hiatus (sabbatical?) from the Ironman distance after this one, probably returning in 2012. That means this one is important - I'll have to live with this result for a long time. If I go away disappointed with my performance as I did in St. George then it's going to bother me for a long time. After St. G. I

Ironman by the Numbers

2010-08-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

I'm two weeks away from IM number two for the year, my third overall. I feel great, except for a back issue that might slow me down on the bike. I wanted to break down some of my numbers over the last few years, the result is the eye chart below. Stats from my three Ironman races What is all that? It's graphs of my weekly swim (green), bike (blue), run (red) and TSS (orange) for the six

Not Dead Yet

2010-08-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

Finish of the Carlsbad Sprint Triathlon I know, I haven't been around lately. I don't call, I don't write... mostly, I don't write. Nothing nefarious afoot, I've just been busy. I bought a house in May (two days after finishing IM St. George) and although it wasn't listed in the paperwork it came bundled with a lot of chores. I've spent my free time just trying to keep up with the mowing,

Dance with the one that brought you

2010-05-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

Ironman St. George 2010 is in the books, but my feelings on it are still up for debate. As advertised it was a hard race and I (like most everyone) struggled. In the end I finished uninjured, KT was there to console me afterward, and I had a lot of fun - and I am thankful for that. This is more of a race recap, I'll dig into analysis in a later post where I'll dissect the data from the race. I

The Ironman Cometh

2010-04-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

This is it, I'm off to Utah to race this weekend in St. George. A lot has been going on with me lately, but it's been all good news and somehow I've kept my stress level low. I've been busy. So busy that things at home have kind of taken a dive - my sink is full of dishes, my refrigerator is bare, and my laundry is strewn about the place. It's a dump. Why? Last weekend KT ran in the Los

My Limits?

2010-03-01T10:42:00.000-08:00

Last week I had a rest week with regards to training, but the previous weeks involved a weekly hill climbing session on Torrey Pines grade. These workouts consisted of progressively more difficult climbs, as measured in watts. For example one week I was supposed to do the first climb at 230 Watts, then next one at 240, then 250, 260, and finally 270. I worked hard to meet those numbers, 270

Jiminy's Baptism, and Questions Answered

2010-02-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

This weekend it rained in San Diego. I'm talking torrential downpour, God opening up the skies and really dumping on us kind of monsoon. Or, as people in other parts of the country call it, "rain". We're in an El Nino year, and it's been raining a lot lately. I've always been careful with my bikes not to get them wet. I was concerned about what water does to carbon fiber, and I don't want

Quandrant Analysis

2010-02-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

I just discovered quadrant analysis in WKO+. I've used WKO+ for several years, but QA is a new feature in the latest version, and I hadn't gotten around to looking at it until recently. It's pretty damn cool, but really it's a little more sophisticated than I need. The gist of it is that there are four ways you can pedal your bike: Fast and Hard: high cadence, lots of power (Sprints) Slow and

TSB, ATL, and CTL Oh My!

2010-02-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I talked about the Training Stress Score and tried to convince you that you should be recording a TSS for each workout you do. Today I'm going to tell you why - the Performance Management Chart. First, if you are using a power meter on your bike you need to stop reading this blog and start reading Training and Racing with a Power Meter, which I swear I've been trying to read

Excellence is Opportunistic

2010-02-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

I rode an easy bike route this weekend with a friend from TCSD and met some new people. I was planning on doing a very moderate ride, but the group went pretty hard right out of the gate - luckily for me they were just starting their season and wore out quickly. By mile 20 I was keeping up without coming anywhere near my anaerobic wattage. Anyway, I ended up riding by myself a lot. Not really

Stressing Out

2010-01-29T10:19:00.000-08:00

Recently I was reading Chris Carmichael's book The Time-Crunched Cyclist: Fit, Fast, and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week. In it he hits upon the fundamental truth about cycling and endurance sports in general: In order to be able to perform our best on race day, we must prepare ourselves by stressing our bodies during training. Sounds simple and obvious, right? It is actually that simple, of course

PR on the Coast

2010-01-25T09:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the Carlsbad Half Marathon, and I had a good race. My previous best half marathon time was 1:53:52, and it was also done at Carlsbad. This is a good race for a PR since it's flat (see elevation below) and the weather is usually perfect - a little chilly. This year I set a new PR, 1:48:12 which is more than 5 minutes faster!I'm very happy with that performance for a number of

Why St. George?

2010-01-22T15:07:00.001-08:00

There are lots of Ironman races, and I could have chosen to do any of them. This year I'm doing St. George and Wisconsin. WI I wanted to do because it has a difficult bike course, my strength. Plus, since I dropped out of the race in 2009 I really want to finish that race in '10.St. George is a different story though. Originally I had planned to do IM Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands. Why?

Running my A$& Off

2010-01-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

As I've documented before - I am not a runner. In fact, I hate every minute I'm out there and I spend each moment thinking about how great it will be to stop. All of this means that over the last month I must have been a very unhappy athlete.I've tracked my training pretty meticulously since I began training for triathlon (specifically on Nov. 3rd 2006). My early data is in a raw but usable

On Saving Gas

2009-12-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

I'm not a crazy environmentalist, but I recycle - and I try to reduce the amount of driving I do. KT and I frequently plan our trips based on being able to drive together rather than separately, and minimizing the number of trips we make. Today I decided to see how much gasoline I've been burning. My current car is a 2002 Acura RSX - a small vehicle very similar to the Honda Civic. It gets

A weekend in Utah

2009-11-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

Me and JK from TCSD drove out to Utah this weekend to attend the Endurance Corner Ironman St. George training camp. This was organized by Gordo Byrne, a super nice guy, fantastic athlete, top tier triathlon coach, and co-author of the handbook for long distance triathlon. This was possibly the single most important thing I've ever done to improve my training. The weekend basically consisted of

2010 comes into focus

2009-10-05T21:14:00.001-07:00

I had some free time finally to sit and work on my training plan, it's much tougher than I anticipated. When you're first starting out things are easy - you struggle just to do the bare minimum suggested training. You ignore all the "fine points" and advanced topics, and just focus on getting yourself to the start line prepared to finish the distance. I'm learning that as your expected

No Easy Way

2009-09-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I race for the first time in 3 months, a sprint race put on by my favorite crazy people - TCSD. After taking an unplanned sabbatical from training this July, I'm finally getting back to normal. I rode the bike today. It was only 50 miles, but that puts me at 90 for the last 8 weeks - so it was a big deal. The rest of the afternoon I spent re-reading Joe Friel's books, and creating

2010 Training

2009-09-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

I signed the papers (technically I clicked on a LOT of liability waiver "I agree" buttons, and one "submit") and am scheduled for IM Wisconsin 2010. The date is in my calendar, I have a reservation for Jiminy with TriBike Transport, and I've got airline sites searching for plane tickets. I wish I had been there yesterday, but that's done and over with now - time to move forward. With most of

I've got a BUG

2009-09-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

I'm in sunny San Diego today, but my heart is in Madison WI. Today is my first DNF, and boy is it a doozey. Not only did I not finish, I didn't even make it to the start line - I didn't even make it onto the plane. Tomorrow is registration for the 2010 Ironman Wisconsin, and I'm going to be clicking madly to get my spot. There is one race I need to take care of before I get a second swing at

Save the Landreth's!

2009-07-15T17:25:00.001-07:00

When I started training for triathlon in the winter of 2006, I went to my local RoadRunner sports and hopped on their magic foot analyzing machine. I'm pretty sure I didn't run on it the way I normally run, but it spit out that I needed a "neutral" shoe, and the helpful sales girl put me in the 2007 Asics Landreth 3. I did not know it at the time, but this would end up being my favorite running

When is a good day a bad day?

2009-07-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

Participated in the Carlsbad sprint triathlon this Sunday, and I'm having mixed feelings about it. First, the good stuff:- It's a really well put on race in a beautiful city- Lots of fans to cheer you on- A good pro field, I've raced with Michellie Jones and Kate Major since 2007- A flat bike course!- A bike course that is two traffic lanes wide, making it MUCH safer with all the beginners that