I Heart Xterra!

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.

Don’t Bike to Work

 

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.

Death, Dogs, and Dodgeball

It's back to the Training Farm for more epic workouts. Join me for a crazy show as I play some killer music, try to max out on a downhill ride, and much more. How fast can I run the last hour of a a four hour workout? Listen in and find out!

• Getting psyched for the Training Farm.


• Here's a picture of the last non-residential building left near the Training Farm, built in 1880.

• Tri-News.


• Voicemail from some longhairs.


• Email from some haters.


• Luke Envoy's "Honour Kill". You can buy it HERE.


• THE HORNET JUICE CONTEST IS ON! Get your free HJ!


• Some Zen thoughts (Get some great Zen podcasts HERE).


• Picture of my ghetto-fabulous pull up bar.

• I played dodgeball and got the smackdown from a NCAA quarterback.


• How to use music to make you run faster.


• Next episode - I do and off-road tri and also get to be a time trial judge.

Surf and Turf

I go for a beautiful bike ride across the Texas countryside as I talk tech, Zen, and throw in some fun audio tidbits. I also tack on the end a 25 minute "driving with Brett" piece where you can get a glimpse into my scrambled brains. Enjoy and make sure you check out the shownotes below!

• EOF from MC plus +


• Taking pictures along my ride. Check out the coordinates at the bottom of the pix! You can drop them into Google Maps, Flickr Map, or locate on Google Earth. Try out the software at Robogeo.com. Click on my Flickr pictures to the right and then pick one with coordinates, then click on "map" on the right side to see where it is!


• 


• Support Zentri by going here!


• Check out Hulu.com, Netflix Video, and FuelTV!


• Some hippie Zen stuff.


• Car ride.


• My ghetto-fabulous navigation system.


• Rant about crazy wicked surf witch.


• Rant about redneck Texans.

4 Ways Ultra Running Can Help You Tri Better

I purposefully tackled ultra running (running events more than 26.2 miles) this year to make me a better runner. Wow, has it paid off. I've noticed some cool side-effects:

1. Running 4 hours at a time makes a 65 mile bike ride seem short. I just cranked out my favorite epic ride like it was a stroll in the park. I train for ultras by running 4 hours. Running. 4 hours. 4 hours on foot makes 3.5 hours on the bike seem like laying in bed. There's a few sections of that ride that used to seem to drag on forever. Now they just fly by.


2. The higher effort level of running, applied at extended periods of time, trains you to bike more like a pro triathlete. Simple fact - running requires a higher heart rate than biking. Ultra Running puts you in a higher HR bracket for hours and hours on end. When you get on a bike, you'll find that you can sustain a harder aerobic effort than ever before.


3. Stuff that seemed hard is now much easier. Wandering around the woods with horrible pains and no aid station for 6 miles takes some getting used to. Endurance sport workouts come with highs and lows. The lows of Ultra Running can be really low. Only running really drives your legs into the ground, much worse than being able to switch up sports and swim/bike/run. Learn to survive it and the lows of triathlon don't seem that bad.


4. Ultra Running Translates Well into the Bike. Some sports assist you at doing others. Swimming helps surfing, biking helps swimming, weight lifting helps wrestling... on and on. I found out that going long on the run can really help you out on the bike. I can feel much more power coming through my quads and calves. I haven't been biking much at all for several months and then hopped on my bike and popped off a long ride at a decent speed and incredibly low heart rate.  I bet you can, too!