Monday, October 29, 2012

HC Video

Check it out!  Video that makes HC look really good, partially because of J who is the star of the show.  I make an appearance at about 3:23, 5:06, & 6:15.  I do not remember being filmed in any of those scenes.  B makes an appearance at 4:51 then again at 4:58.  How did TBW miss out on this?


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Tri the Rez Race Report

It was kind of weird not doing anything to facilitate the operation of Tri the Rez 2012.  Kind of nice too.  Since I left, Jennifer has taken over with the help of some great volunteers.  I really could not have picked a better successor for race director.  Jennifer has everything running so smoothly.  Last year I went to Capital City Runners for packet pickup and had one of the smoothest triathlon packet pickup experiences of my career.  I decided not to get my packet on Friday because I would have had to leave school earlier than I wanted and I'm comfortable throwing things together on race morning.

This race has grown a lot.  There were about 365 racers if you count relay teams as one racer.  I heard some people who were concerned that the higher numbers of people would cause a bit of chaos, but the behind the scenes team really thinks things through.  Jacob (RaceSmith.com) is probably the best timer in the area.  Jennifer does a great job.  Everything ran as smoothly as in the past.  I imagine the race can take even more growth and still run like clockwork.

I ended up hosting 10 members of the UCF tri team at my house on Friday night although I was only supposed to have 3-5.  Another host was out of visitor parking at his apartment complex and they didn't want to get towed.  In fact, some other people at another place did get towed and had to get their car out of the impound before the race!!!

I parked inside the Rez since I wasn't planning on leaving before the end of the race.  It's nice to be so close for trips to/from car.  I got in line to get my packet and everything went super smoothly.  Apparently, not many people picked up packets on Friday and I would never have known.  They had it down.  There were plenty of body markers and I only had to wait about 30 seconds to get my timing chip.

I racked my bike along the other collegiate athletes using a new technique (the seat hook on the ISM saddle...it works even though I have an under-seat bag).  I got my transition space set up then went to use the bathroom.  Not a long line because there were so many portapotties and a couple indoor toilets.  There's never long lines for bathroom use at Tri the Rez!

The water level in Lake Bradford was higher than last year but not as high as the 2 years before that.  I had a nice comfortable swim to the outside of the pack.  I sighted pretty well and the only mistake I made was a slightly too wide turn at the first buoy.  I lost my goggles at Bailey's wedding last weekend and this was the first time I wore my new goggles and I was happy with their performance...they didn't leak.

Removing my wetsuit took a couple seconds longer than I wanted but I made it through T1 in 48 seconds.  I feel like I had a weak bike.  The course was longer than in years past because Lost Lake Road is being paved.  The bike course was super well marked.  All the imperfections in the road (including one piece of roadkill) had been circled/outlined with orange paint.  There were definitely a few guys ahead of me doing some illegal drafting and I don't think they got busted.  I kept feeling like I wish I could get more power out of my legs.  I also had my bike shift on me without me asking it to shift on more than one occasion.  I need to figure out why that's happening.  T2 was pretty clean.

I was tearing it up on the run.  I passed plenty of people.  I made it to the 1-mile wooded section without being passed by anyone.  I was gaining on the guy in front of me and I heard someone coming up really fast from behind me.  Peter Wood went flying past and I decided that I'll never be upset if Peter passes me on a run.  I went on to pass a few more people, gaining a bunch of ground.  I tried to pass a couple guys on the Flastacowo homestretch but the one closest to me started to kick pretty loudly which warned the guy in front of him.  I wasn't able to catch the guy in front once he took off.

Post-race, I went straight to the massage table.  Got a nice massage then hit up food tent before taking a cool down backwards on the race course and cheering in the rest of my team plus other random people.  When it was time for door prizes, some were given to randomly chosen race numbers but others had contests.  I did a pushup contest and got worked by the winner.  Knew that would happen.  I came close to the other guys.  There was also a planking contest.  The winners went for about 9 minutes.  I knew that would happen and that I probably wouldn't be able to last through 4 minutes.

I helped Jacob the timer clean up a bit although he had just about everything under control.  Traffic had cleared out by that point.  I don't think that traffic was ever an issue.  I got inside the Rez pretty easily in the morning and I didn't hear anyone complain about parking or waiting in traffic.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Allow Steroids in Professional Sports

Everybody's on performance enhancers, especially pro athletes.  Even if it's not "drugs" or "doping," cyclists can sleep in altitude chambers or go train in the Andes mountains.  Same thing...trying to gain an edge over the competition.  We should come to expect this from our athletes.  All the guys Lance beat were doping.  All those homerun sluggers are doping.  Maybe they're not on "banned substances" but you can bet they're at least taking protein powders and creatine.  Why stop there?  Let HGH be legal.  Right now we are penalizing pro athletes who want to "play by the rules."  Let the rules say that anyone can take steroids or whatever else...then the honest people don't have to worry about getting left behind.  It would level the playing field and make the players a bit bigger.  I think it would make sports more spectator friendly.  And athletes could get legitimate medical advice and attention with respect to these chemicals.  Players would not be forced to take anything so anyone opposed to a particular substance can abstain.  Who loses here?  Nobody.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Old Field Cycles Test Drive

I ran into Justin tonight at Bread and Roses and he was on his "dirt road commuter."  He mentioned that it's up for sale for $2,000.  I admitted that I don't have the money or need for an extra bike, but asked to test drive it.

The paint is beautiful and the lines on the tubing are so clean.  It's got some innovative features.  The cable for the front drum brake is routed through the fork.  Drum brake in the back too.  The tires give great traction and the cotton wrap on the handlebars make them feel SOLID.  Speaking of solid, Justin build the wheels by hand with heavy duty spokes and a 29er rim.  I've never ridden a Campy shifter/Shimao derailer setup before, but it was pretty neat to downshift AND upshift 3 gears at a time.

The generator light isn't as bright as my DiNotte XML-3, but it's always on if you're riding and there's no worry about batteries.  It will stay for a while even if you're stopped.  Speaking of stopping, the drum brakes are a whole 'nother world.  They don't quite have the stopping power of my hydraulic disc brakes, but they do a damn good job.  They're also silent and are not exposed to the elements, so they should perform the same in wet conditions.  The tools clanking around in the bag in the front were not so quiet.  However, the front storage is huge and secured very well.  The saddle bag was not attached when I rode it.

My only complaints: 1. Brooks saddle...I would convert to ISM if I bought it, but some people love the Brooks.  2. I wasn't clipped in so I couldn't test drive it really hard.

Overall, this would be a great multi-purpose bike.  I think if I were forced to have only one bike, this might be the one.  You can commute on it, you could race it if you don't mind being a bit slow due to weight and knobby tires (and no aerobars), you can ride off-road, you can go shopping, and just about whatever else you want.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Friday, October 12, 2012

My Updated Bio Stats

I learned some things about myself as a result of participating in a research study.  The study is trying to determine the effect of a supplement product on delayed onset muscle soreness.  The focal point of the study is making me run downhill for an hour (on a treadmill) then measuring how sore I am the following three days.  Before we get there, they are doing some blood work and made some biometric measurements.

...I'm 6'1" tall!  Thought I was 6 feet flat.

13.9% body fat!   I have about DOUBLED my body fat since the last study I did.  I used to be at 7.3%-7.5%.  Perhaps this is due to a different person testing me.  All three readings were performed with the caliper method, which has a fairly wide variance.  I doubt that I was ever really down at 7.5%, probably closer to 9%.  I'd like to think that I'm not at 14% right now but I've not been training so much and my diet is pretty crappy compared to other times in my life.

My VO2max went from 77mlO2/kg body weight/minute a few years ago to 64 today.  I have to do another VO2max test and I hope to get at least a couple points higher.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Unappreciated for Tri the Rez

I had requested free entry to Tri the Rez this year, but the Triathlon Club at FSU has declined my request.  We had a little meeting tonight to discuss why.  Basically, the club does not think that I deserve a free race entry just because I founded the race and served as race director for two years.  The race earned $100 the first year, $1,000 the second year, and $5,000 last year.  I was not race director last year, but much of that money is due to the reputation that I built in the first two years.  I did race for free last year and it was amazing.  I got race number 1 and the best spot in transition.  It was the most fun I've ever had in a race because I got to see my course in action.  I think it is completely fair to get  a free race entry at a minimum for each year I was RD.

Let me also mention that I took a big gamble on this race.  The club did not have any money at the time, so I financed Tri the Rez the first year on my credit card, hoping that I could attract enough entry fees to cover the costs.  My gamble paid off and the club was the beneficiary.  I cannot believe that they told me that I should not be rewarded for this past gamble.

The club sees this race as a fundraiser and thinks that letting me race for free will detract from the profits the race earns.  They're right about that.  I predict the race will make $8,000 this year.  It would have made $0 if I had not started it.  When I asked what they would do with the extra money they made from my entry they did not answer.  When I asked again, the question was evaded again.  The race would not be harmed in any way by giving me free entry.

In all the service that I did for the club, Race Director was the toughest.  It's way harder than president or treasurer.

I don't care about the money, but a nice gesture would be great.  Turns out that I ended up with a $15 discount versus what everybody else pays right now...how generous.  I told the officers never to ask me for anything else to help "the club."  I will still help individual members as I always have, but this feels like a giant stab of betrayal from a club to which I have given so much.

I really wish I could go on a run and think about this/cool off, but I'm a participating in an exercise research study tomorrow and I'm not allowed to run! #firstworldproblems

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Battle of the Bridges Race Report

Got a bit of free time so I'll give a race report from this morning.

Although Battle of the Bridges has sprint and "olympic" distances, the olympic bike is 26 miles (but Jimmy said his cyclocomputer read 27 miles!!).  I finished 3rd in my age group, 15th overall (out of about 160 men who did olympic distance), and 2nd for FL State.  Jimmy beat me by about 36 seconds...most of that coming from the swim.  I saw him on the run and tried to catch him, but he stayed strong.

Age group results.  Overall results.

I got up early and my mom made me breakfast :). We left on time and got to the race with plenty of time to spare.  Unfortunately, I had to rack my bike by the seat.  The swim start was gentle at first, then bottlenecked and I got sandwiched between a few guys.  I swam a bit off course because it was hard to sight on the buoys before the sun rose.  I also must have completely missed a sight buoy because I thought I was supposed to go straight at the first turn.  I had a bit of difficulty in T1 because my helmet buckle went in funny and I had to get it out then re-buckle it properly.  I also wiped the condensation from my sunglasses while I was there.  I flew on the bike course...well, it looks like I averaged 21.9mph, but there were some bridges on the course.  I left my legs on the bike course and my glutes hurt a lot for the first 2 miles of the run.  I ran in 45:12 which I thought was terrible, but the winner ran in 41:35 so I don't feel too bad.

After the race, I went on a service call with my mom &; dad then to lunch at Long Doggers, where we had a $10 coupon.  After that, we went to the beach and I transferred all the pictures he had taken to my computer.  Got dropped off at Alison's house and we're carpooling back to Tally in maybe an hour.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Fine the Candidates

I decided while watching the debate last night that presidential candidates should be fined for every provable falsehood that escapes their mouths.  They can be given some leeway with percentages, maybe a +/- 5% band...for instance, no fine if they say something decreased 30% and the actual figure is 34%...but there is a fine if they say it decreased 80%.

The fine schedule would have to be written in a firm way, but somehow account for the size of the misinformation.  The fines collected could be contributed to something that all candidates agree on like medicaid for the current candidates or "education" for everyone ever running for office.  Maybe it could be applied to our national debt.  Whatever the case. they appear to need incentives other than looking foolish upon review to keep their tongues in check.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Body Image

I just saw a flyer about a course that "will trace the evolution of the 'ideal' American woman from the pre-colonial period to the modern era..." and talk about "the pervasive cultural pressures stressing conformity to a single norm."

I'm certainly not an expert in the field, but I will argue that there are currently cultural pressures stressing conformity to multiple norms.  Take a look at "hipster chicks" with their tattoos, piercings, and atypical hair styles versus "sorority girls" who all need to be tan with blonde hair.  "Guidos" from Jersey Shore follow a different aesthetic than the "girl next door."  Athletes have different ideas of ideal, even among themselves: swimmer girls have wide shoulders and runners are thin.  Triathletes fall in the middle while roller derby girls try to get bigger.  "Nerdy girls" wear glasses and cardigans and "rich girls" wear expensive clothes and jewelry.  There is obviously not one standard.  In fact, there is a scene in Scrubs where JD is dating a black girl and asks Turk for advice.  Turk says that the only thing different about dating a black girl is that when she asks you if her butt looks big you reply "hell yeah!"

Any woman can be beautiful.  Self confidence is a major factor in projecting that beauty for others to see.  I think that each girl should do whatever makes her feel the best and most beautiful without trying to adhere to a single norm.  "Hippies" won't want to dye their hair blonde and wear expensive jewelry...in fact, that might not be the best option for them.  However, some girls will want to pull a mix-n-match of things that are found to be appealing by other groups.  A girl who is nerdy, athletic, and has tattoo sleeves can be very attractive.  I don't believe that there is a single norm, nor should there be.  Everyone ought to pursue their own path to beauty, even if that path does not lead very far.  Those without interest in beautification need not invest much time or effort in pursuit of physical appeal to others.