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Entries by ZenTri (1081)

Wednesday
May142008

Time Trials are Wicked Fresh

DateWednesday, May 14, 2008 at 9:22PM

Remember how people say that you should do hard workouts and easy workouts?  If you want a hard workout, check THIS out:

My local bike club holds summer time trials every Wednesday night.  It's 20K (12.4 miles) of all-out, break-your-freakin'-cranks, kill-yourself-because-it's-only-20k racing. Riders are sent out at one minute intervals, slowest first, fastest last.

My fitness testing at Trivantage last year put my MAX heart rate on the bike in the low 170's.  I cracked that glass ceiling at my first TT last week.  I hit that with about 10 minutes to go and maxed out at 176 bpm.  It was the hardest I'd ridden in a long time.  I'd call that a hard workout.

I showed up today, sore as hell again (ah, the woes of a triathlete) and the crowd had tripled.  A Kona contender was there along with even more roadie geeks.   I didn't go any faster, but my HR maxed out at 179, averaging at 171.  I was averaging last year's max for 33 minutes!

Here's my strategy - ride the time trials every week as my hard bike workout, everything else on the bike is base mileage.  The motivation of the crowd, trying to beat people, trying to catch the guy in front of you and not get caught from behind... that's hard core.  If you got time trials in your neck of the woods, you should check them out!

At some point, my stars will line up and I won't be completely fatigued and sore at the starting line from all the other running training I do.  I'm guessing I can up my average speed by at least 1 mph.  Ah, goals.

AuthorZenTri | Comment24 Comments | in
Tuesday
May132008

I Need Help!

DateTuesday, May 13, 2008 at 7:57PM

I now remember what was wrong with this template - page errors when jumping to certain links (Like the "Support Zentri" one at the top). I found some vague instructions on how to fix it, tried, and failed.

Can a coding wizard check it out and give suggestions? Here is the link to what is wrong. Below is the offending section of code. Whoever helps me fix it will get a HUGE shout out on the show! I've tried several variations of that suggestion and I'm stuck. Post short answers in the comments or send your code suggestions to texafornia at the gmails.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<script type="text/javascript" src="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/nicetitle.js"></script>

<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/nicetitle.css">
<head profile="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11">

<title><?php bloginfo('name'); ?> <?php if ( is_single() ) { ?> » Blog Archive <?php } ?> <?php wp_title(); ?></title>

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=<?php bloginfo('charset'); ?>" />
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress <?php bloginfo('version'); ?>" /> <!-- leave this for stats -->

<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?>" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="print" href="<?php echo get_settings('siteurl'); ?>/print.css" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="<?php bloginfo('rss2_url'); ?>" />
<link rel="alternate" type="text/xml" title="RSS .92" href="<?php bloginfo('rss_url'); ?>" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom 0.3" href="<?php bloginfo('atom_url'); ?>" />
<link rel="pingback" href="<?php bloginfo('pingback_url'); ?>" />

<?php wp_get_archives('type=monthly&format=link'); ?>

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</head>

<?php require('navigation.php'); ?>

<div id="page">

<div id="header">
<div id="headerimg">
<h1><a href="<?php echo get_settings('home'); ?>"><?php bloginfo('name'); ?></a></h1>

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<body onload="liveSearchInit()">

AuthorZenTri | Comment15 Comments | Reference1 Reference | in
Monday
May122008

Site Redesign Underway

DateMonday, May 12, 2008 at 9:42PM

I'm thanking the Zen stars for the blog trend to be veering away from the jammed, narrow, cluttered-as-hell look that was popular for a few years. Things are starting to spread back out and make more use of the page space, and I couldn't be happier. Take a look at Zenhabits.net for an example.

I dug around for an updated theme to install and came across my old favorite. In fact, when I reactivated it, it put back some old sponsors and other jazz that we hadn't seen on Zentri for quite a while.

It will take a bit to re-org things and make them look right. I have a slight fear that this theme won't work and that's why I left it in the first place, but we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, enjoy my list of why I changed:


  • The old theme was cramped and the font was too small. This one is just more "Zen".

  • I had to shrink the pictures to make them fit, making them pixelated.

  • Black is more environmentally friendly. Uses less watts. Check out Blackle.com to learn more.




  • The default banner for this theme is strikingly like a photo taken of myself training on a fixie while riding with Triboomer and Trigreyhound. I'll eventually change the banner image to the classic "Zoned out tri-geeks wandering like lemmings to the water", but something about the stock one rings true with me. BTW, Trigreyhound is giving the local police hell for harassing a cyclist. Check it out here.

AuthorZenTri | Comment2 Comments | in
Friday
May092008

I Heart Xterra!

DateFriday, May 9, 2008 at 8:14PM

Triboomer came down last weekend and helped record my first off-road triathlon for a podcast. I ended up getting 5th overall, 1st in my age group, and second place in the swim. I had an absolute blast on the bike portion, wringing everything I could out of a hybrid 29er with flat pedals and commuter tires rescued from a dumpster. The only person happier than me is the bike, surely feeling stoked to be used to it's full potential.

So many of us just do road races. I'm here to tell you to get a mountain bike by hook or by crook and do an off-road race! Mine was technically not a true Xterra (This was a sprint distance and Xterras are more like Olympic), but it gave me a taste of what the real thing is like. And I'm sold! There is a rush of pure adrenaline as you bomb down a rough trail at breakneck speed, constantly keeping it on the fine line between control and race pace. Not to mention running through the woods as fast as you can, constantly turning around to see if the competition is catching you, like a deer running from a wolf.

Of course, I always throw in lots of other goodies in a show. I've also included audio from me helping out as a time trial judge at a local Senior Games bike race. As a bonus, Drew sent us audio from Oregon as he tests out a home-made mountain bike with a 29 inch wheel in front and a 26 in the back.

SHOWNOTES!


  • At the race site, hiding in the woods, freaking out at all the poison ivy.

  • Description of the course by the race director.

  • Start of the swim, T1, and taking off on the bike.




  • Triboomer interviews the owner of a local bike shop.

  • I freak out the crowd as I roar into T2.

  • Finishing up, post race interview, and getting my award.

  • Kai won a helmet!

  • Quick run-down of News and Stuff...

  • Tips for swimming - windmill your swimsuit and tie your goggles in the string

  • Xterra is AWESOME - thinking about doing the one in Austin.

  • Been running to work - leave car, split the days.

  • Did some local time trials. bike there, race half an hour, bike home.

  • Lost only to a badass, but still slow. Must improve!

  • Confessions of a Runner podcast is good.

  • Hornet juice contest is still going on - hornetpower.wordpress.com

  • New bike needs new shifters.

  • Selling my Cycleops trainer.

  • Twitter is a mess. Witness the non-trigeeks vs. trigeeks.

  • Dukes of Hazzard theme song by Weezer.

  • BONUS AUDIO - Drew mountain biking in Oregon.

  • Audio bits of me helping judge at some local time trials. Walkie-talkies sound cool.




  • Biking with Triboomer.

  • Voicemails!


Don't forget that you too can call in at 512-CRY-DELI or send me audio at texafornia at gmail dot com.

AuthorZenTri | Comment1 Comment | in , , ,
Friday
May022008

Don’t Bike to Work

DateFriday, May 2, 2008 at 9:46PM

 

Run!

Biking to work is sooooo last year.  If you're a triathlete and live within 10 miles of work, why aren't you running?

I just ran to work today instead of driving or biking and it was a revelation.  The simplicity!  The workout!  Here's my pluses and minuses:

Biking -


  • Faster.

  • Easier.

  • Saves gas.

  • Risk of a breakdown.

  • All kinds of equipment to carry (helmet, lock, pump, clothing layers, etc.)


Running -

  • Slower (This is better.  More time in the aerobic zone.)

  • Harder (Again, better.)

  • Saves gas.

  • Zero chance of breakdown.

  • You can only bring what you carry.  The simplicity was a real treat!


I drove and brought a change of clothes and showering stuff to work on Thursday.  I worked all day and then threw on my running clothes and jogged home, leaving my car at work. I ran the 6.2 miles in 1:05.  If I had driven, it would have taken me 20.  All I had on me was the door key to my car.  I got home and had no cell phone, no car, my workout out of the way, all my clothes for tomorrow already at work, and an incredible sensation of a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.   I can't say enough about how awesome that felt.

I woke up the next morning, threw on my jogging clothes, and got to work in 1:03.  Used my single key to get my stuff out of my car and then hit the showers.  I was at my desk and ready to rock the punch clock by quarter til 8.

You'll notice that I ran home one day, then ran to work the next.  This was a cool trick I read about once.  This way, you have a car at work if you need it and you've broken up the run over two days.

Through all of this, I realized that biking to work can be a little complicated with all the equipment and risk of a breakdown.  Because you can carry some stuff, you carry a lot.  When you run, you can barely carry anything.  You leave a lot of junk behind that you really didn't need.

And that's OK.  Your shoes aren't going to break down.  A car probably won't hit you.  If you need help, every single car passing by has a cell phone.  With a little bit of planning the day ahead of time, you're clothes are waiting there for you and that's all you need.

Let's be serious folks.  You're triathletes. That means there are two facts about you:


  1. You are already running like crazy and always looking for ways to get in some decent workouts.  Replace driving/biking to work with running.  Done.

  2.  You enjoy the extremeness of the sport.  I hate to tell you this, but biking to work?  Anybody can do that.  My wife's grandmother told us she used to ride a HORSE to school 80 years ago.  Biking?  Not impressed.  If you really want to stun that coworker that's grown numb to your constant claims of awesomeness, try dropping this bomb on them -


Susie - "I didn't see your car/bike/fat-inducing-SUV in the parking lot. You bike to work again?"

You - "Naw.  Ran."

Susie - "WTF!? You RAN here? OMG, that's crazy!"

You (wave of the hand) - "Eh, it was nothing.  I run that far all the time anyway.  Just thought I'd do it to work instead of around the 'hood."

Susie - (Secretly to self) "What a real man!  Much more manly than Bob.  I wonder if he's married?  Oh, he's so sexy!"

And that's exactly the truth as I remember it.

AuthorZenTri | Comment15 Comments | in
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