great response

Quote from North Korea today:

“If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will … wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all,” a dispatch from the official Korean Central News Agency  said.

I am listening to the department of defense daily briefing right now and the press Secretary got asked to respond to this statement.

His response, “I don’t even know what to say to that. How? With what? I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.”

Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series Washington, DC

I went into DC to watch the Olympic distance triathlon this morning. Overall it was an interesting day.

Before the professional race they had age ground sprint and Olympic distance races that finished in the same area. So after getting off the metro and heading to the course I was watched age group racers finish up for a little.

The course was really neat because Pennsylvania avenue was closed for the race and went by the Capital building on each lap.

I didn’t go down to the river for the swim but hung out at the transition area and watched the swim on the jumbotron.

It looked there was an awful lot of debris in the river from all the rain we have had in the last week.  In terms of the race a group of five people got out of the water first that included, Andy Potts, Alistair Brownlee, and Javier Gomez.

They seemed to all work well drafting on the bike and opened up a lead of a few minutes on the rest of the field. During the bike leg I wondering the course getting some pictures at different spots.

The run course was up and back on Pennsylvania Avenue, and these guys absolutely fly along on the run.

I got some good really good pictures because I was able to stand in the middle of the road at one of the crosswalks and be right out on the run course.

While standing out of the course a women with two kids in a stroller came over and was watching the race next to me. She was cheering and seemed to know the names of almost all the racers, which I thought was odd but maybe she was a big fan. Then she started saying personal things to some of the runners. I saw Matt Reed coming down the road and veer off to the side of the road to drop out of the race.

Well it turns out that was Matt Reeds wife and two kids. He stayed off to the side right next to me cheering everyone on, he  seemed like a nice guy and really is very tall.

And here is Andy Potts cruising in for a fourth place finish and telling Matt Reed, who is still right next to me that it “it’s going to be a long time before I do another one of these again”.

And here are the leaders putting in the final kick

I got a lot of great pictures from the day that I still need to go through. The one thing that really surprised me was the lack of people at the race. I was really expecting big crowds, but that just wasn’t the case. I’m sure a big part of it was that the race started at 9:30 am on a Sunday. The other thing I was surprised about was that most of the people racing the amateur race earlier in the morning did not stick around to watch the ITU race which I was surprised about. But I did not stick around to watch the women’s race later in the day so maybe the crowds picked up.

I thought this one was cool because everyone has both feet off the ground.

and Unger is making a funny face in this one.

Eagleman Tri on Sunday

Sunday is the Eagleman half ironman triathlon. If you want to get updates on the race live you can go here:  http://ironman.com/

I am number 1664 and my wave startes at 7:55 EST. The weather looks like it should be perfect, in the high 70s with no wind. I’m shooting for sub 5 so I should be done with the race by 1 pm.

MCRRC Capital Crescant 5k

I did another MCRRC race on Sunday. It was a little out and back 5k along the Capital Crescent trail that I was using as my last speed workout before the big triathlon Sunday.

Not a lot to say. I warmed up by running the entire course and got back with a few minutes to wait before the start. The first half was downhill and I probably went out harder then I should have, I ran the first half in 10 minutes. Coming back I slowed down a lot and finished in 21:25. I was hoping to get under 21 and if I would have paced the race right I probably would have, but oh well.

Dollar Cost Averaging

I just came up on my one year anniversary at work. I took a detailed look at my 401(k) the other day and was reminded of why Dollar Cost Averaging in investing is good idea. The two funds I have been invested in are down roughly 40% since I started investing but the value of my investment is up 5%. How is that possible?

Dollar Cost Averaging, it’s basically pumping in money each month which changes your average cost per share. For example if I invest $1000 a month I am able to but 10 shares when it costs $100 a share but when the price of the stocks goes down to $50 shares I am able to buy 20. So I bought my 30 shares at an average price of  $67.  It works out really well especially for the long haul.

That’s why I was so confused to hear people saying how they stopped investing in their retirement funds or stopped investing in the market as stock prices where going down.

A couple other notes:

• It has rained an absurd amount this spring. In fact it’s raining again right now.
• Sunday is the Eagleman triathlon, my big “A” race for the first half of the year. I am cutting back on my training volume this week, and things are feeling really good.

Quality Weekend

This was another quality three day weekend.

Friday:

I woke up early and got my swim out of the way and then went to play some golf. There is a course near work that was designed as an upscale private course that companies would by memberships to. But they picked a horrible time to try that business plan with the economy going the way it is so after a year of sitting around another company bought the course and it is now a public course called 1757. I was very excited to play here and was not disappointed. The course was in very good shape but you could see some spots that the grass had not fully grown in yet. The course was on the shorter side in terms of yardage but was narrow and had interesting greens that made you hit some quality shots. The thing I was most impressed with was the practice range, it has actual greens and fairways on the driving range to hit to, a large putting green, and an area to hit pitch and bunker shots at.

Saturday:

Today was a “race rehearsal” ride, which means 56 miles at my goal wattage and then a brick run afterwards. To make this as real as possible I drove out to Cambridge to ride the actual course for the race.

Here is the link to the: Workout File.  The first two and last two miles went through town and part of a road that was closed to traffic that required stopping and going around some barriers. So when I was actually out on the course riding at my goal wattage I was going between 21-22 mph the entire ride. So when I put the race wheels and aero helmet on, it should bee between 22-23 the entire way which puts me close to a 2:30:00 bike split, which makes my goal of under 5 hours very realistic.

The weather for the day was absolutely perfect. It was in the high 70’s when I started and got into the low 80’s during my ride. It started to get a little windy the last 10-15 miles and if the weather picks up I can see it being slow going on the way back in on this course.

Hydration wise I think I did a decent job, I ate all my gels at the right intervals which is the right amount of calories. I don’t think I had enough water with me though, I probably needed one more bottle and I would have been fine. But if the weather does get hot then I’ll have to make sure to drink a little bit more.

Also the water bottle holder between the aero bars that I made worked out good. It was to get bottles in and out and should work great for the water bottle handoffs during the race.

After the ride was a run along the course at race pace. I was planning to do 6 miles but after the first mile I realized I didn’t bring any water for the run and six miles would be to far to go without any hydration after my ride so I cut it short and just went three miles. I felt good during the run and if I get my extra water during the bike I should be able to have a solid run after that level of effort on the bike which was the main point of the workout today, to make sure that planned effort on bike left enough gas in the tank to have a quality run.

After the workout I drove the last hour to Ocean City MD to get some crab cakes and spent some time at the beach.

 

I don’t go the main Ocean City beach but to Assateague National park because it is usually less crowded and you can see the wild horse that roam through the park and they occasionally head up to the beach.

He they are yesterday right when I was getting ready to leave.

Running towards the beach:

Heading over the dunes:

At the beach:

  And then it was a drive back home and across the bay bridge:

Sunday:

I had a short run to do in the morning and then just took it easy the rest of the day. I put a new chain on my triathlon bike and cleaned it up, and then grilled some turkey burgers for dinner.

New Favorite Things

Here is my new favorite website: BetUS. You can even bet on the Scripps National Spelling Bee!

Personally this one stands out to me:

Length of Winning Word

Over 9.5 Letters 13/17

Under 9.5 Letters 9/10

I’m going to take the under because they usually go with short words that have a trick that requires know country of origin. The only bet I was disappointed to see was that they don’t have a line if the winner will homeschooled or not.

 

I also found out Lou Dobbs is hilarious. I have satellite radio in the new car and was listening to his CNN show while driving home yesterday. He really does not give a shit what anyone else thinks. In one segment he talked about Sonia Sotomayor and if race was involved in the decision, then he brought on guests and talked about cures for erectile dysfunction and made penis jokes for 5 minutes, and went to commercial break with “Next we will discuss the void in leadership within the Republican party, and once they find one what exactly will that person be leading because right now it’s nothing special”.  It seems like he hates everything.

 

I also did my last power test on the bike before my big race in a few weeks. The test isued to determine how many watts you hold for an hour and that information is used to pace the bike portion of the race correctly. I knew the results would be better because it has two months since the last one I did but I still surprised with the results, I saw about a 10% improvement and am now at 290 watts! Check it out here: http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/3QGD43SF22LK3LEIFODRVLJBVQ. This is very goods for my race. Based on some of the online calculators riding at my race wattage on the flat course at Eagleman should net me somewhere between 2:30-2:25 for the bike ride, which is exactly what I am hoping for in my goal to finish the race in under 5 hours.

2009 Columbia Triathlon Race Report

Overall (2:39:44, 22 AG, 331 Overall)

This was a really fun race to do, it’s one of the bigger Olympic distance races on the east coast and draws a very competitive field. It is also know for a very tough course so I was looking forward to the challenge.

Swim (29:24, 42 AG, 769 Overall)

I was one of the last swim waves to go off for the day, almost an hour and half after the pro race started. So I just found a pavilion on the hill the by the lake to sit at and stay out of the drizzle.

The water was 70 but it did not feel bad at all because it was so cold outside. I lined up towards the middle and a couple of rows back at the start of the swim, and like most races it was a little rough for the first few minutes but then it thinned out and I got into a nice rhythm.

I was able to draft off someone for a little bit but lost them going around one of the buoys  and just cruised back in on my own. My time was a little bit better then my last race but not by a whole lot. I’m still having trouble pacing swim by taking it to conservatively because based on my pool times it should quicker then this.

Bike+T1 (1:20:25, 15 AG, 250)

The timing mat going out of transition got messed up in the rain so T1 got lumped in with the bike time. By my watch I had a  bike time of 1:14 for a hilly 25 mile course which isn’t to bad. Based on my run from the Olympic distance race last month I wanted to take this bike a little bit easier to have a good run. This was a very good time to have the powermeter so I was able to make sure I was not pushing to hard on the hills and false flats on the course.

Speaking of the course, it was very challenging, testing every part of your bike skills with technical turns, climbs, and descents. Like all my races I drove the course the day before to see what all the turns looked and familiarize myself with the terrain and I am very glad I did. If you aren’t ready for the course of mispace your ride it will make for a very challenging run. 

 

Overall I would consider this an ok ride. Looking at the powerfile for the ride it’s  a little lower then I was targeting but that’s mainly because I coasted down most of the larger hills instead of pedaling and picking up more speed. The course was wet from rains earlier in the day and was very crowded since I was one of the last waves on the day which added to my conservative approach on the bike

 

 

Run (48:25, 23 AG, 351)

I took a quick bathroom break right out of the transition area so this was more like a 47:30 run which is exactly what I was hoping for. Right at the start of the run was a steep hill that I worked my way up and I was still feeling good. I cruised down the hill and around the back of the lake until the next hill up towards the park.

 

Just like the bike course the run had a lot of hills but I was feeling good so I was just cruising along passing a lot of people. I was really surprised to not see anyone in age group except for the person that was right behind me pacing off me the entire run, but I managed to drop him in the last mile and a half. I did not see or pass anyone else in my age group the entire run.

 

After coming down the last hill back to the lake I really kicked it up at the end and came into the finish at a good pace.

 

The last quarter mile was lined with people on the both sides so it was like running through a tunnel of cheering spectators which was neat.

After I got across the finish Chrissie Wellington gave me my finishers medal which was really neat and then I stuck around to watch the pro award ceremony.

And then I headed over to pack up and leave.

2009 Columbia Triathlon Quick Recap

Quick recap on the Columbia triathlon from today. I did a 2:39:44 good for 22 in the age group and 331 overall. I would consider this an OK result. I wanted to go easier on the bike so that I could have a good run but I think I went to easy and left a lot of time out on the course.

There was also a big pro field at the race with Terenzo Bozzone and Chrissie Wellington being the biggest names. I actually got my finishers medal handed to me by Chrissie Wellington.

 

Random Swim

Today was an interesting swim. I had a 3,000 yard workout on the schedule today so I was swimming for longer then usual and I got to see a couple of interesting things.

1) There was a shark in the pool. While swimming my first lap I noticed a small plastic shark at the bottom of the pool. I guess a kid left after swimming on Sunday.

2) Because my swim was longer then usual I wasn’t out of the pool before the old lady water aerobics class at 6:30. They rope off a couple of lanes for the class and I wound up in the lane right next to the class.

(not from my pool, from the internet)

Why is it that all the old lady feels the need to drench themselves in perfume and hairspray at 6:30 in the morning to go to a workout class. I just don’t get it. It was absolutely amazing how strong the smell was when I got to the end of the pool the class was at.

3) Because the class took up half the pool I had to share to a lane for the last part of my workout. The first person I shared a lane with was crazy kick breast stroke guy. He would take some wide, wide kicks with that breast and I had to work to avoid getting kicked in the face. Next was stretching guy. This guy stands at the side of the pool stretching for ten minutes, hopes in the pool and swims 200 yards, hops out and calls it a day.

4) I had a solid track workout in the rain this evening. I did 4×1 mile at 10k pace and felt very good during this workout. It’s nice to see how much my running has progressed since this time last year.

5) Random sport thoughts. I love watching playoff hockey. What the hell happened at the Kentucky Derby? The favorite scratches, and then the long shot wins the race. Watch the clip on the YouTube, it’s amazing how far behind he was earlier in the race. The Hatton vs Pacquiao fight was good, Hatton got his ass kicked so I’m looking forward to the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight which is sure to happen. I might even pay for that to see it live instead of waiting for it to be on HBO the next weekend.