I’m still paying for that little practice tri from a couple of Saturdays ago. The nagging tightness in the MCL and some other pain in the knee area are hugely annoying. Discouraging. Not to mention taking a toll on other training. I’m not throwing in the towel on running yet, but I am really, really close. I’ve received some swim coaching, but still need lots of technique work to master what I’m learning.

But get this. I’ve been thinking about a new bike and while simply moving the wheels from my bike to a test bike yesterday, the guys at the bike shop discovered that my bike frame is broken! I’ve been riding that bike quite a bit lately and doing a lot of hill climbing and DESCENDING on a frame with a broken chain stay! I’ve had a sixth sense about something being wrong, but I certainly didn’t think that.

One positive note is that the test bike is a 3/2.5 titanium in a standard configuration and geometry. With my wheels (but none of my other components), it is a fine, fast, stiff ride. Very responsive. Very strong. Gonna have to work on fit now and get my stuff off of the old frame. Not sure yet exactly what ti frame I’ll get, but even if it’s the one I rode today, it’d be a significant step forward.

Another exciting development is that I’m building a strong consensus for creating a signature road ride locally that I hope will be as fine an event as any in the country. Still, just a dream, but sneaking up on being a goal.

So, no more running between now and the big day. Just lots of swimming and cycling. I think I’m beginning to look forward to this.

I had never attempted either of these before today, but wanted to see if I could do both of them back-to-back. The beginnings of the climbs are about 25 miles apart. So I drove to Havana (that’s pronounced “Hey! Vanna”) to begin the Mt. Magazine climb. The first 4 miles took 25 minutes. Not bad considering that the next 6 miles took 59 minutes.

The most fun part was seeing the little old ladies at the visitor center who Would remark about the heat of the day and then ask where I had been riding. When I told them that I had ridden up, they pretty much always exclaimed “Up!?!?” Yes ma’am….up. It only took 24 minutes to descend.

So then I hopped over to Dardenelle to get a roll on the other climb – Mt. Nebo. This little guy is shorter and lower. It’s about a 7 mile ride and only about a 1000 ft. climb. But, the differences are pretty severe. Mt. Magazine is mostly in the 7-8% grade range with some nice stretches of less and not many of much more. It also let’s you work gradually into the serious fun. Mt. Nebo has about 3 miles of rollers on a narrow, rough road with fast busy traffic. This forces you onto an even more narrow and rougher shoulder that is studded with huge mail boxes. Today’s treat was a pack of 6 fast, aggressive, persistent, large dogs that forced a 100 yard sprint that had me on the red line right up to the climb’s first pitch. That first pitch hits you at 6% and is at 9% before you know it.

Well, I was cooked! I had wanted to sort of meander into Mt. Nebo – not sprint my butt off into it. I was really glad that I was using the incline indication on the computer. I was really struggling when all of a sudden it jumped to 10% and proceeded to increase steadily to numbers I’m not used to seeing. Long story, short the whole thing got ridiculous fast hitting 15.5% and topping out at 17.8%.

The reward? On the way down, the pack of dogs was leashed….until just at the top of one momentum-sucking roller, another fast, aggressive hound bolted into the road. WTF?

All-in-all the Magazine ride was a joy and deserves a repeat. But Nebo is No-mo for me. And before you ask, no Cyclemeter on this ride. I removed the app because I’ve been really unhappy with the inconsistency of my results. I know, bummer. But I found that interrupting rides to stand in the road and curse at my iPhone made me look a bit eccentric, even by cycling standards.

I went in again this morning tor two x 3 minutes and improved even more. I plan to stop tomorrow morning for another visit and then hit the road for a run and some cycling. Naturally, I hope to be beyond the cramping, but even if the workout is successful, I plan to get on the VibraFlex after it’s over as a recovery step.

This thing is so bad that I only did about 50 minutes of easy spinning on the flats. Any sort of pumping, digging, accelerating were completely out of the question.

This is frustrating. The last time this happened (same leg), it took several weeks to get over it. I’m going to be much more aggressive this time around in getting massage, Vibraflex, rest, and low-stress activity to knock this out.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I’ve been using a little app on my phone called Couch to 5K to help with the run training. The idea is that it runs you through a 9 week program using 3 runs per week to slowly condition you to the 5K distance in a 30-minute run. I’ve just finished Week 3 and so far so good! Still using the barefoot running style and wearing my Vibram Five Fingers for all running. I hate running, but I’m loving how this is working so far.

And to top it off, I usually cycle for at least 1 hour after the run. The heat is so intense that I’m not riding nearly as much as I should, but this regimen seems to be a good one for me. There are still days when I only run (like yesterday) or only ride (like 2 hours on Friday afternoon). But I’m liking the reward of a ride after the run and cycling seems to help me recover from the run. When I get better at running and start doing bricks for real I’ll reverse the order.

In a sudden flash of sanity, I think we’ve agreed that a 70.3 or Half Ironman is probably more of a realistic goal for us.

I’m also thinking that I should create a new category of athlete. The are normal triathletes. There are triathletes that are Clydesdales – those guys over 200 lbs. I’m thinking maybe a new category the trifathlete – well over 200 lbs and a BMI that’s crazy by real triathlete standards.

Briefly, cycling along some, but not enough. The big event was last weekend in San Francisco where I decide to swim in the Bay with Schuyler. OMG! DON’T EVER DO THAT IF YOU DON’T HAVE TO!

The water was 55 degrees; the wind was blowing in shore; the tide was making. I thought I was prepared to swim in there… but not true! It took probably 10 minutes to get acclimated to the water. Then I started swimming, made it maybe 50 yards, realized that I was completely out of my league and wasn’t going to finish the distance. I turned to head back in to the beach which was only maybe another 50 yards and discovered that I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t raise my arms out of the water to stroke.

I was trying everything I knew to do – side stroke, getting on my back to relax and kick, turning on to my stomach to doggy paddle, anything. I pulled up once to catch my breath and that didn’t work either. So… I started calling for help. Really calling for help. For what seemed like a long time, but was probably a few seconds, I wasn’t sure anyone heard me or was responding. Finally, Kathy did hear me and she got Colin moving. Schuyler even heard me and turned around to swim back to help.

As it turns out, Colin got to me pretty quickly, we hooked up and he pulled me in a few yards until we could stand up. Fortunately, I never went under or swalllowed any water or panicked.

Someone called 911 and the response team got there in time to have recovered the body, but not in time to prevent there being a body. In fact, we were all sitting on benches, dried off, and having a laugh when they showed up. I think they were disappointed by the whole thing.

There is much work to be done.

I set out on the route below fully expecting to ride a new personal best.  Not only did a personal best not occur, I didn’t even finish the route. Ouch!  Was it the wind?   Was it the nearly crushed testicle about half way up the penultimate (as it turns out the actual ultimate) climb?  Was it the powdered sugar doughnuts instead of a banana for my mid-morning snack?  Was it the fact that I ate only peanut butter and vanilla wafers for lunch? Or, drank only coffee all morning and not really any water?  Excuses abound.  The fact remains clear, though.  I came up short and was totally wasted at the end.

It was one of those rides that makes you fell like you’re gonna puke at the end.  And, puke you would, except for pride.  It’s been a long time since I was so toasted after a ride that it took several hours to recover, but this was one of those times.  I was too tired last night to even attempt posting this.  Today, is better than I thought it might be and I’ll go out again today, only for something a little shorter and easier.

http://j.mp/blr6sA

http://j.mp/cGDXiH This was my birthday ride.  I was going to jump on here and post it from Macs, but I’ve given up on that for the moment just to get it on here.  It was a beautiful day, although a little breezier than ideal.  It was such a beautiful day that I didn’t even put on a playlist to push me along.  And, I got a tweet from Colin via Cyclemeter during the ride.  Very cool!  I got tired at the end and shortened up, skipping the last climb in the interest of getting home and having some birthday dinner.  All-in-all this went pretty well and the best thing is that the 2 “big” climbs were easier than usual.  Payoff for extra training?

I feel like I’m falling behind.  Jett’s ahead on the running of course—and maybe the swimming.  Colin’s ahead on the running and probably the cycling… and he’ll always be ahead on the swimming.  Schuyler is ahead on the running and, now that he swims IN THE BAY—YIKES!—he’s ahead on that too.

So, today I went for a 500 yd swim and will cycle for about 2 hours this afternoon.  I’m looking forward to being in SF in 3 weeks.  Schuyler is taking me to swim in the Bay!  We’ll see how that goes—at least I’ll be in some sort of swimming shape by then.  And, we’re going in trunks only – no wet suits.  There’ll also be a good bike ride in there somewhere.  I can’t wait.

The third climb though in the next higher gear was another story.  That guy was hard!  About half way up, I decided that if I hadn’t already gone to the trouble of being half way, I’d just call the day a success and head home.  By the time I made it to the top I was pretty pleased with myself.  And, I wasn’t even that tired.

That made me think that making my pre-ride goal of 4 trips in successively higher gears might be possible.  I enjoyed that third descent, made the turnaround, and went in for the fourth attack – this time in 34 x 17, a first attempt.  That halfway thing got me again.  You know, by the time you’ve invested in 50% of a climb, the thing to do is just go ahead and finish it.

The good news is that around here, the climbs are almost all short, power-type climbs.  Maybe this will make me a better climber.

http://j.mp/dmnS84