program for more fitness

I've put a lot of thought into developing a great program that will increase my fitness level, raise my metabolic rate, and help me lose weight without fatiguing my legs for Olympic style weightlifting. I've decided I'll do Olympic style weightlifting and abs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll do the bench press program Shane builds for me, pullups, abs, and hit the heavy bag for cardio.

The abs program I'll be doing is from the book The Complete Book Of ABS by Kurt Brungardt.

Back in my glory years I had included his abs workout program into my triathlon training with great results (see picture below)

I know,  i post this pick a lot, but who doesn't still dream of their glory years? I'd like to improve my physique again so that my glory years are now rather than in the past. I'm hoping this program I'm starting will get me there.

bubba coffee mug

I'm broken hearted. I lost my big bubba coffee mug. I've had that thing for a little over 3 years. I used to ride my bike to work and my big bubba coffee mug lasted through bike crashes,  riots at work,  droped day on and day out,  etc. This is a very sad day for me. That was by far the best coffee mug I've ever owned.

Comfort Doctor heating, cooling, and plumbing Santa Fe New Mexico

On Tuesday the Comfort Doctor heating, cooling, and plumbing came and put the finishing touches on our air conditioner. They nailed a piece of plywood in between the swamp cooler and window, they also screwed a grate on the front of the swamp cooler. A few cuts on a piece of plywood, a total of 8 screws and they charged $608. I might be wrong, but I think they charged WAY to much! Consumer beware.

Chris's tree service Santa Fe New Mico

The tree in our front yard has been leaking a HORRIBLE smelling sap, it stinks bad enough I cant stand to be near the tree. It also and has MASSIVE swarms of black flies on it.

I contacted Chris Schaum, Owner of Chris's tree service. He spent almost an hour with me telling me what's wrong with the tree, how it got the disease, and how to treat it. He didn't charge me anything. Excellent customer service. His contact info is:

Phone: (505) 660-0698
Fax: (505) 757-6533                   
PO Box 1756, Santa Fe, NM87504

Armadillo tires

On my 1st day back to cycling outdoors I rode 56 miles and ran 4.5 miles. While riding the rubber on my Armadillo tire came off mid ride. I rode home with the rubber flapping off the tire. It was incredibly unstable, it felt as if my front wheel was riding on ice. I was glad to made it home alive!

I've put a ton of miles on those tires, I'm amazed they lasted so long. Even riding without the rubber protecting and riding on the wire tread the Armadillo tire still didn't go flat. Those tires are sound! Very heavy. But indestructible!

R.I.P. MIRRO-MATIC vintage coffee percolator

This week my grandfathers vintage MIRRO-MATIC 9652m coffee percolator from the year 1952 stopped working. He used it daily for decades, then I inherited it and did the same. A good strong cup-o-joe from that thing was often the difference of me getting off my lazy butt and motivated to train or if I took the day off and sat on the couch eating Cheetos. I was very sad when it died. I've made countless cups of coffee from it and it had a lot of sentimental value for me. I've decided to attempt buy a replacement cord from Amazon.com before I give up on it and forced to say a tear stained good bye. At this point I'm not sure if it's the cord that is malfunctioning or if the cord I'm planning on ordering is the right cord for my coffee pot, but I gotta try.

Last month my time trial bike was also totaled. That bike was my baby. I loved it so much my wife called it "the other woman". It was made entirely from carbon fiber, had an aggressive set up that I'd adjusted a thousand times until it was PERFECT! It was gorgeous, FAST, and fit me and my personality to a tee! My wife bought it for me as a bribe to convince me to let her quit her job and become a stay at home Mom. It worked.

Sad times here in the Former Clydesdale's household.

mistakes and losses

I did my LT run test at the NM state corrections academy. While I was doing my test the corrections academy class from Honduras was on the track working out also. Part way through my workout I took off my jacket and threw it on the ground. At the end of my workout I realized my jacket was gone..... I'm angry. Grrr.

My new Loius Gareau aero helmet melted on the way home from my race. Considering the temperature to & from the race was never above 60 degrees, that angers me. I paid $160 for that helmet less than a year ago and used it less than half a dozen times. I should have been able to get more use from it.

I noticed during the Presadents Day duathlon that I was a much more powerfull cyclist when I was out of the aero position. Normally people are faster in the aero position. I'm fairly certain the reason for this is because during the winter I rode my indoor trainer exclusively. I wont put my triathlon bike on my trainer because it's a full carbon bike & I'm afraid of damaging it so all my cycling miles have been on a road bike & in the upright traditional riding style. I need to start training in the aero position to get more aclimated to riding fast, hard, & long in the aero position- train like you race, race like you train.

coffee thermos & comuting by bike

I commute to work on a bicycle & I love coffee. Not an easy combination. I could never find a coffee mug that could carry enough coffee & that would fit into my bike bottle holder. I used a coffee Thermos for a few years called a Bike Hothead Thermal Bottle IB-WB2 by Iberra. The company claimed this mug could carry 17 ounces of coffee, but it only carried about 8 ounces. It was poorly made. The plastic part that was designed to hold the coffee mug & bolt into the bike bottle holes broke the 1st week I used it. I tried to return the coffee mug & the company refused saying the problem wasn't their product, but improper use by me. Grrr. Thankfully I figured out if I took all the plastic parts off the Thermos it fit nicely into a regular bike bottle cage. I used it this way for awhile but recently it stopped pouring properly. Now the coffee explodes out of the top when I pour it & I end up wearing as much as I get in the cup. The only good thing I found about Ibera's Hothead Thermal bike bottle was it kept coffee hot for hours, but I always drink my coffee as soon as I get to work so that doesn't help me any.

I recently found another option I'm going to try. It's the Trek Soho Commuter Mug. It carries 20 ounces of coffee. All the reviews claim it's well made & durable. It fits into a bike bottle cage as long as the bike frame isn't small. The only complaint seems to be the coffee Thermos is top heavy. I'm going to order one. Once I get it I'll try it out & post my review here on my blog.

My little monkey girl & my taper

When my daughter was 2 years old I told her the way she came into our life & how we became her parents. I told her that her Mom & I were walking out in the forest & found the prettiest baby monkey we'd ever seen. We picked that baby monkey up, took it home, shaved it, & named it Belle. I even have a picture of a new born orangutan & I tell her the picture was her before we shaved her. To my amusement she has always believed this story.

Tonight out of nowhere my daughter asked me if monkeys bite? I said yes. She asked me in horror if she did that to me when I tried to pick her up in the forest & take her home. Ha! Then she told me the reason she can swing across the monkey bars by herself & the other kids in her pre-k can't is because she was a monkey & they weren't. Like a good Dad..... I agreed.

My pulled quad is completely healed up, but unfortunately my training isn't going well at all. I've been feeling exhausted & slow in training & I can't seem to get my diet back under control. I've gained 7 pounds in a little over a month. My A race is this coming Sunday. I'm thinking I won't have a decent race. The problem is I'm struggling with self coaching. I seem to be getting fast during my training, but when it's time to taper everything ends up falling apart.

I've always been told tapering is more of an art than a science, & I'm a black & white kind of a person, which is why I can't seem to get this whole supercompensation thing down. I've been self coaching since last September & have ended up messing up everyone of my A races. I'm not sure if it's the taper or the peak phase of my routine I'm having difficulties with. But regardless of what the problem is there's definitely a problem. & this problem is messing with my most important races of the year, which is a really big problem.

I purchased a pair of ZOOT triathlon specific shoes to race in at the Patriot triathlon.

My injured quad update & some training & racing products

Since injuring my quad last Saturday I've taken it easy & am trying to ensure I'm all healed up by my next race on September 7th. I took Monday & Tuesday completely off, then the next 2 days I just rode my bike since cycling doesn't seem to affect my quad at all.

Today I'm scheduled to do a brick. I intend to bike as planned, then do 30 minutes of the elliptical to ensure I'm not losing any run fitness. I don't want to try & run for the 1st time on my quad after a bike ride, I'm afraid that would stress the quad & make me more likely to reinjure it or make it worse. On Saturday I'm going to try & run a little & see how the pulled quad is.

Yesterday I did a 2 hour bike ride with 1 hour 30 minutes in zone 3. I got a couple free packets of Hammer's HEED at a race not long ago & decided to use it during yesterday's ride. It had been about 3 years since I'd used a Hammer product. Just like last time when I used HEED I bonked HARD! Shortly after drinking the HEED I simply fell apart! This happens to me every time I use any Hammer hydration or nutrition products. I'm not saying Hammer products aren't good, because I think they are an amazing company, but for some reason my body just doesn't perform well at all when I use any of Hammer's nutrition or hydration. Particularly when I use their Perpetuem! From now on if I get any free Hammer nutrition I'm going to just give it away. There's no reason to ruin a workout just to save a little $!

If any of you out there are relatively new to endurance athletics I highly suggest you try using different brands of hydration & nutrition. Take detailed notes on how you feel during your workouts, how your speed & endurance holds up while using them, & how you recover while using that product. Make sure to use each product for a few weeks. Just a workout or two doesn't give you enough detail to compare products.

Not only have I taken a lot of time trying out different companies, but I've also done a lot of experimenting with gels versus bars versus Protein Bites. I find I feel just about the same during workouts when I use gels compared to bars, but I find I seem to heal a lot quicker when I use bars exclusively than I do when I use just gels. I seem to recover the best using Protein Bites. Cliff also has a protein bite type product out there that tastes like Whoppers & works great! Seriously delicious!

I've experimented with a lot of different hydration & nutritional products & out of all the brands I've tried the one that works best for my body is Powerbar. I seem to feel best & recover quickest on particularly hard or long workouts when I use their Powerbar Protein bites! Awesome product!

Speaking of experimenting with products geared for racing. I'm going to buy some Race Day Boost & try it out during the Patriot triathlon. Apparently I'm supposed to start taking Race Day Boost 3-4 days before my race & it helps an athlete go harder, fatigue less, etc. I've heard a lot about these little pills for a long time, so now I'm going to cave into the hype & try them. If I think they work for me I'll let you know, & if I think they don't work at all I'll post that too.

http://www.google.com/gwt/x?site=universal&oe=UTF-8&q=hammer+race+day+boost&hl=en&ei=O4N3TJjEOtudtweQvOzAAg&ved=0CAgQFjAA&source=m&rd=1&u=http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/race-day-boost.rdb.html

I won a free $25 gift card to the running hub here in Santa Fe at the AtomicMan duathlon in April. I've narrowed what I'm going to buy to 2 products:
Another pair of Brooks Adrenaline, which is my favorite shoe to train in. Or
A pair of Zoot Ultra Speed triathlon specific racing shoes!

Right now I'm leaning towards the Zoot Ultra Speed's since I'm training & racing for sprint distance triathlons. In sprint distance triathlons knocking off just a few seconds is HUGE because the races are so short. I can't count the number of times that I've finished 10 seconds in front of or behind someone in my age group at a sprint triathlon, where as in Olympic to Iron distances I've only finished within 30 seconds of someone in my age group once.

The Zoot Ultra Speed (in theory) will increase my speed in transition because they are built to get on & off so quickly, & to be raced in with no socks. They are also supposed to increase run speed because they are so incredibly light. If I end up buying the Zoot's I'll let you Peeps know what I think of them after I race in them for the 1st time.

http://www.google.com/gwt/x?wsc=yq&wsi=fcdd9353b8cf03e2&source=m&u=http%3A%2F%2Fzootsports.com/spring2010/product/m-ultra-speed%3Fcategory%3Dmens%253Atri-footwear&ei=LmZ3TPi2KZrawAWSoKiLDQ&ct=pg1&whp=30