Team McAlister

Not a real update, just wanted to share this post from over at Cycling Tips. Pics so good they’ll make you want to go out and climb all day:

10 Coolest Roads to Ride

I rode to work. I RODE my BIKE to WORK . For some reason, after I used 70% of my iPhone battery to track the ride, Fitnio decided not to record it. But it was right around 45 miles, and took just over three hours. Pretty slow, but I’m happy with it since I haven’t done a real ride (or even been on a bike, really) since the summer. For anyone interested, here’s the link to the route. It says 42.5 miles, but instead of the Foster City route we took a bike path that added about two miles. Aside from being freezing cold until the sun came up, and completely worn out at the end, it was extremely pleasant.

I plan on doing this once a week for a month or two, and then moving up to at least twice weekly.

I am completely exhausted, so that’s all I’m writing.

Tags: bike, cycling, san francisco

Hey, remember last week when I said I was going to update every Sunday? Is anyone surprised that I didn’t stick to that even for just a week? No? Me either.

Anyway, I would have updated if there was anything to update about. The weather here has been horrendous. I’ve never seen it rain so hard for so long. When it’s like that, I can’t even make myself walk the block and a half to the gym. Gym clothes are just not suitable for cold, rainy weather.

The good news is we’ve gotten a little break in the rain, and tomorrow I’ll be riding my bike to work! That’s 42.5 miles from San Francisco to Mountain View. I have my Orbea, my Orbea has new pedals, I have a riding buddy, and I’m ready to do this. Wish me luck!

We’re supposed to get more rain over the weekend and next week but I promise I’ll take full advantage of every day that it doesn’t rain, so that I’ll have something to write about here.

But January’s as good a time as any to get this thing rolling again, I suppose. I’ve come up with a few blog-related goals that I hope will make training (and writing about training) a little more interesting, or at least more consistent!

1. I’m going to tweet about all my runs and rides. You guys will know if I’m slacking off. This could get really boring after a while, so we’ll just play it by ear.

2. I’m going to update this blog at least once a week. On Sundays I’ll post a summary of the week and how I’m coming along. Hopefully posting on a weekly schedule will keep this blog on my radar and influence me to post more often.

3. This is pretty hypocritical, at least for now, but I’m going to hassle everyone else to post more often too. Schuyler starts swimming soon, and I don’t know about you guys but I think he needs to write about it on the Internet.

4. More pictures! I got an awesome pocket-sized camera for Christmas and I want to put it to good use.

I don’t have any specific training related goals just yet, but I’ve laid out some vague ones. Once I work out the details I’ll start tracking my progress, but for now I’m just looking forward to riding my bike to Mountain View a couple of times a week!

If you like guitar music, this is a fun, fast-paced 1 hour playlist.  I usually listen to this while on my rollers riding at a cadence of 85-105 and gearing of 50/15-14-13-12.  It affords plenty of opportunities for sprinting as well as lighter, more relaxed spinning.

Deed I Do Chet Atkins & Les Paul  Chester & Lester

I’ll See You In My Dreams Dick Hyman Group & Howard Alden  Sweet and Lowdown (Music from the Motion Picture) [Instrumental]

Vivaldi: Concerto In G For 2 Mandolins, RV 532 – 1. Allegro Various Artists  Vivaldi: Guitar Concertos

Limehouse Blues / Mystery Pacific Dick Hyman Group & Howard Alden   Sweet and Lowdown (Music from the Motion Picture) [Instrumental]

Vivaldi: Trio Sonata In C, RV 82 – 3. Allegro Various Artists   Vivaldi: Guitar Concertos

Vivaldi: Mandolin Concerto In C, RV 425 – 1. Allegro Various Artists   Vivaldi: Guitar Concertos

Sheik Of Araby Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel & Herb Ellis   Great Guitars At The Winery

Vivaldi: L’Estro Armonico, Op. 3 – Concerto #10  In B Minor, RV 580 – 3. Larghetto Various Artists   Vivaldi: Guitar Concertos

Vivaldi: Lute Concerto In D, RV 93 – 1. Allegro Various Artists   Vivaldi: Guitar Concertos

The Talk Of The Town Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel & Herb Ellis     Great Guitars At The Winery

There’ll Be Some Changes Made Dick Hyman Group & Howard Alden   Sweet and Lowdown (Music from the Motion Picture) [Instrumental]

Sweet Georgia Brown Dick Hyman Group & Howard Alden  Sweet and Lowdown (Music from the Motion Picture) [Instrumental]

Air Mail Special Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel & Herb Ellis   Great Guitars At The Winery

Caravan Chet Atkins & Les Paul   Chester & Lester

Caravan (Alternate Version) Chet Atkins & Les Paul   Chester & Lester

Avalon Chet Atkins & Les Paul   Chester & Lester

Lover Come Back to Me Chet Atkins & Les Paul   Chester & Lester

The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise Chet Atkins & Les Paul   Chester & Lester

I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles Dick Hyman Group & Howard Alden   Sweet and Lowdown (Music from the Motion Picture) [Instrumental]

WOW!  I just realized that it’s been weeks since the last update, although Twitter has been a pretty active place for me.  Some good news on the training front – lots of good sessions – especially hill repeats and pace rides on the rollers.  Those two types of rides plus some on-the-road intervals are building good power.

In addition, there are no injuries and the gimpy MCL in my right knee is nearly recovered enough to start running again….maybe by the first of the year.  No significant damage from over eating at Thanksgiving.  Maybe the early morning, pre-lunch ride helped.

Not much else to add here, except thanks to those of you who are following us, encouraging us, coaching us, advising us, and cheering for us.  I’m dreaming of  organizing a Lance Armstrong Foundation Livestrong event for Arkansas as well as building a team to ride in the Cape Argus event in Cape Town (both in 2011) as precursors to our 2013 IM Tri.

This year, I promised myself that I would be better about riding in cool/cold conditions.  I have lots of gear to make it bearable.  My riding buddy for today has zero cool weather kit, though.  So, we punted on the morning ride.  How cool is it?  50 degrees, 12 mph N wind, 90% humidity.  For those of you keeping score at home, that’s a wind chill of about 35 degrees. In my book, that’s beyond cool (especially at the speeds I ride…..rofl, right).

Anyhow, we will ride and it will be fine.

I noticed that Colin said that running sucks.  I heard confirmation from the Amen Corner on that one!  I’m nursing a very slight MCL strain on the right knee.  Nothing to worry with, really.  It’s an old injury from teen age years.  It does nag from time to time, however, and takes care.  Of course, it only hurts when I stand, walk, or run.  Cycling is no issue at all.  :-)  So, the usual formula of R.I.C.E. helps.

There are now 3 out of the 4 of us sporting VFFs.  If you like going barefooted (and, hey, we’re from Arkansas, so what did you expect?  lol), you ought to try them.  I’m not sure the benefits outweigh the raised eyebrows of casual observers (not to mention the outright laughter of friends and acquaintances), but it’s pretty close.

Excepting the minor MCL issue, my running continues to improve (which I am sure is a result of abandoning running shoes).  Weight loss is coming along nicely.

btw, if you don’t know about ITBS, you need to check it out.  That’s Iliotibial Band Syndrome, and it is the main culprit in LOTS of knee pain.  Read and heed!

Apparently this has become my personal training blog.  I know the other guys are doing stuff, but we’re gonna have to talk about why there aren’t posts.

Today was another Chamber of Commerce day in Little Rock.  Days like this cry for a ride.  So, I gave in and hit the road about 4:30 or so.

 I did a different routine today to spruce things up some.  The neighborhood here has a nice bike lane on the main street and some good little climbs.  I planned out a loop that had good climbs to help build power and rode it completely 4 times with a hilly 3 miles home to finish.  1 hour 23 minutes.  Not sure how many miles, but the climbing was worth it.

It’s been a couple of days since the last post, but I wanted to jot down a few random thoughts.

The weather here has been northern California-like and almost unbelievably fine.  Never an August in Arkansas like this in my life that I can remember.  Temps below 90 F, low humidity, clear skies.  None of that summer haze or those temperature inversions that hit here in late summer.

Eating has become the main focus of my training program.  I’ve experimented enough now to realize how important pre- and post-workout nutrition are.  (Are those 2 things?)

Stretching is super important after any workout.  Period.  Why don’t we pay more attention to it?

It’s very cool when you improve cycling power!  :-)

If your bike shifting feels funky, and making a little adjustment in the back doesn’t fix it, get to the shop!  You may have a frayed cable in your shifter.  Replacing a frayed cable before it breaks off in the shifter can save having to replace the entire shifter. (UGH!)  I was experiencing the symptoms of maladjustment in the back and couldn’t get a good reset at home.  The worn cable that they replaced (just in the nick of time) was the ugly culprit.  Do you have a good mechanic?  Better either have one or be one.  My guys could be the TdF crew for any team out there!  Thanks fellas!

Have I mentioned that running sucks?

that the goal is achievable.  Although there are still countless hours of training ahead, set backs, injuries, plateaus, and lows to be overcome, I am convinced that a complete Ironman length tri is possible.  I pretty regularly complete sprint lengths in training at various intensities.  The running is coming along, even if very slowly.  My cycling is in an improvement zone that amazes me right now.  (I am NOT looking forward to the next plateau in cycling.)  My swimming conditioning is improving steadily, as are the kick and stroke techniques.

This is an interesting evolution for me.  While still not absolutely certain that I’ll ever complete the event, I am beginning to to develop a clear vision of what is possible.  That may be a function of reading extensively about triathlons and triathletes; perhaps, of timing and testing myself during training.  Whatever is helping create the confidence, the fact that the progress is there contributes to the cycle.

Yesterday’s logistics led me into a run with a ride to follow.  As running goes, it was a banner day so far.  I did a bit over 3 miles while following the “run 30 seconds, walk 30 seconds” regimen.  The good news is that the running seemed easier, there was no immediate pain after the run, and even today there was no lingering pain.  WOW!  However, I didn’t manage to get the ride in.  :-(

So, I went out today to get a quick ride before the predicted T-storm moved in.  The ride was good and strong even though I had to stop short of the plan due to heavy lightening.  Kathy came along and insisted that I get in the car.

No swimming since Saturday because of this massive allergy to chlorine (at least I guess that’s what it is).  In spite of taking allergy medicine, I have very itchy, watery eyes, and sneezing etc.  Nothing new; been dealing with it for years, but 2 days out of 7 in the pool (and for no more than about 35 – 40 minutes) seems to be all I can stand.  I need a swimming treadmill!

only 52 to go!  As of yesterday, I’ve lost 8 pounds!  Down from 265 to 257.  That leaves a mere 52 lbs. to hit the target 205 lbs. The workout program and proper diet are working.  A few years ago, when I started cycling, my weight was 282 lbs.  It went down very quickly (maybe too much so) to about 230.  During the last 18 months though it crept back up to 265.  To have a chance of completing an Ironman length tri, a bunch of that has to go.

I know this is repetitive…sorry.  To see this progress is very pleasing though.

Today I swam 1 mile.  That’s the farthest I’ve swum in years and it took 44 minutes.  Back in the day, I could swim 2 miles in a bit under an hour. Many pounds and many years ago.  Then, my planned 2 hour ride became a 1 hour affair due to continuing mechanical issues on the machine.  

So a priest walked into a bar…..oops! wrong story….I walked in to the bike shop and told Kevin what was going on and he just said, “I can fix that.  I know what it is.”  About 10 minutes later I was test riding it and it was whisper quiet!  Thanks, Kev!  He IS The Man! (Tech note: toxic sweat messes up carbon fiber components.  It makes them bond to each other in ways that are probably Biblically forbidden; and, requires them to be forcibly separated, cleaned, and re-assembled in a way that will preserve their dignity, assure their performance, and keep them separate but equal.

Last week, Jett and I were talking and I said something about needing to swim the 2.4 mi in about 1:15, ride the 112 mi in about 5 -ish, and run the 26.2 in something like 4:30.  Target time of 10:45 to 11:00.  All of that seemed reasonable to me.  Then I started researching what sorts of times guys in my future age bracket  (60-64) turn in.  I almost predicted a top end performance in my chat with Jett!  That kind of time would qualify me for Kona in 2009! (We’ll see what 2013 has in store for us.)

2013 and those times are still a very long way off, but I feel confident about the swim and cycle times.  Once again, it’s the running that presents the biggest challenge.

Training can be pretty hard, right?  There should be some balance between plain old hard work and fun in a training regimen.  That balance does not mean though that pain and pleasure will necessarily coexist in any given workout.  Often, pleasure comes after the pain in the form of a sense of accomplishment.  Or a cold drink. Or maybe just the absence of pain.  All pain is not equal, either.

For me, swimming does not involve pain at all.  I’m not fast enough or good enough to get into a place of pain in swimming.  Maybe I just take the build up of conditioning in swimming so slowly that I’m avoiding pain.  I do get my heart rate up and make my breathing elevated during intervals and such.  But there’s not “real” pain.

Cycling can be another story.  I can, and do, create some pain on some training days.  The climb up RMR in my big ring, for example.  Some interval training is very tough.  All of that pain is predictable and manageable; desired and pursued; expected and enjoyed.

BUT running SUCKS!  At least for me, running must be what my personal hell will be.  Every step, every second, every minute, every thing about that discipline is miserable.  If I can conquer this issue, I will reach the tri goal.  Although it may not work, the only idea I have for conquering running is to keep at it.  Old-fashioned persistence in the only idea I have for dealing with the pain.  Well, persistence and a plan that a good coach set up to help.  If literally taking it one step at a time will work, then I have a chance.

Yesterday, I continued on the Hal Higdon program for runners over 40 and today I can honestly say that I’m encouraged, for a change.  So many factors figure into conditioning that I don’t know exactly what to credit for this feeling.  More strength; weight loss; better diet; anti-oxidants; anti-inflammatories; better overall conditioning?  All of the above?  Regardless, yesterday I managed to finish the workout exactly on Higdon’s plan and last night and today feel okay.  No swollen joints.  No lingering pain or discomfort.

So, I’m ready for today’s 1 mile swim and 2 hour bike ride.  :-)

I’m trying to really focus on some training.  Eat right.  Workout consistently.  Cross train.  You know the drill, right?  So, yesterday was time for my regular Mon/Wed tri training routine.  I swim at lunch time.  Then, go for a ride and run after work.  The swim ended up being an intervals session.  600 yards total.  Warm-up and cool down of 100 yards each with 8×50 on 45 sec in between with 15 sec rest.  Not awesome, but I was feeling it – lack of good oatmeal breakfast hitting me?  Anyway, then the afterwork ride was also an interval session 3x 6 minutes at just under threshold with 6 minute recovery.  Just for good measure at the end of the workout I decided to ride up 1 of my fav climbs – River Mountain Road.  It’s about 1 mile end-to-end (flat at both ends though) with an average gradient of 7%  - call it 3/4 mile of actual climbing.  Now, I remember clearly the first time I even made it up to the top; and, more clearly how miserably I failed in attempts to climb it before that initial success.  This is a routine climb for everyone around here and something that many of us do on hill repeat days.

For some reason yesterday I decided to climb it in my big ring (50), or at least to try to climb it.  I decided early on that I would just bail out rather than down shift and mark the spot where I stopped.  I was completely surprised as I kept going and going, until I finally thought, “Hey!  I’m gonna make this!”  I definitely alternated between wanting to puke and thinking I might have a heart attack.  And, I actually PASSED one guy that I consider a pretty good cyclist and athlete!  I don’t know if it was the endorphins or what, but I immediately felt super strong and powerful for having done that climb.  I was feeling very tired after those workouts and am in recovery mode today, but I’m stoked for the next session also.

The good news is that I’ve been training more than it may look like on this blog.  The bad news is that I haven’t been doing nearly enough training or writing.  

Have been getting in some quality rides, but not much else.  Even so, the riding has not been adequate.  However, I went out today and had a nice, albeit short ride….1 hour…and a nice little 30 minutes on foot…mostly walking, but a little bit of easy running.  

I’ve decided to get serious about food…and to forego all riding events this season to develop my running and swimming.

This past week took its toll with work, travel, and odd weather.  However, it began with a little training time on the rollers on Monday, followed by a nice little 24-miler on Tuesday.  The trip to DC was brutal though and killed 3 days and included one night with 2 hours sleep and one with about 4 hours.  Friday and Saturday were spent trying to sleep and re-gain some energy.  Today, though, ah yes, today – 53 miles; 3 hours 30 minutes, inclusive of everything imaginable – high cross- to head- winds the entire ride; a couple of stops; and, some stretching.  The ride went well and felt good.  I have no statistics at all since I had no cycling computer mounted.  I actually liked the freedom of not being tethered to the electronics and just enjoying the riding.

Just a quick update on the shoes: still awesome. Calves hurt worse than when I first started running, but strangely not WHILE running. Did a half mile yesterday and a mile today, keeping the distance short as a precaution which may not be necessary. Not even the slightest sign of shin splints or any other injuries!

Long time no see, huh? Yeah, I haven’t been doing a whole lot of training, to be honest. I do make it to the gym 3-4 times a week, but now that I’m terrified of shin splints I keep the running pretty short. I can do a mile in 7:30 now! So I’m improving, in spite of things. My Lombardi’s coupons expire soon, so I’m gonna go ahead and get some running shoes before that happens… then maybe I’ll have some more activity to update on! The weather is getting nicer all the time, so I’d really like to take the running outside and get away from that treadmill.

I hope to be doing a lot of tinkering with the site in the coming weeks, so if anything looks weird or broken it’s my fault. I’m working on my personal site (no link, because it still sucks) and some of what I learn might apply to this one as well. So yeah, there’s the news.

So, I’m still not really training, but it’s not like I never move. I’m keeping up with Krav and TRX, and now that the sun is visible once again, maybe I can get out for some bike rides.

While my training is still relatively slow compared to the family, I stumbled across something interesting today and thought I would share it with everybody.

NutritionData.com is a website that gathers information from the USDA, restaurants, and food manufacturers to make it easy to find the nutritional value of nearly any food.

My favorite features of the site are the graphs for each food. They show how balanced the food is, the quality of the proteins it contains, how filling vs. how nutritious it is, and what makes up the majority of calories (carbs, proteins, or fats).

If you can’t find a food on their site, you can customize one using the My Recipes and My Foods tools (these require creating a profile). When you add things to your foods, you can then tell the site what you ate in a day, and it will give you all the previously mentioned graphs for each food combined so you can see how balanced your daily diet is.

It’s all pretty sweet, and since diet is an important part of an exercise regimen I thought it might be worth trying out.

Tags: diet, eating, food, health, nutrition

Man, school is keeping me busy. I’ve pretty much put the training on hold, although I try to make it to the gym a couple of times a week. Still no running—I’ve tried a few short, 1-2 mile runs here and there and completely given up until I can get running shoes.
The weather has turned, so there may be some bike rides in my near future! Assuming, of course, that I can get my homework under control. It may be Spring Break before I get outside again.

I traded a couple hours of sleep this morning for a workout. 20-minute 2.02-mile run, and some weights. It was much needed, and I feel a little bit better about my week now. Exercise is truly habit-forming, and once I’ve gotten into the habit it is not pleasant to break it.

I got some gift certificates in the mail from Lombardi’s, so I may be able to splurge on some real running shoes in the near future. I used to sell running shoes there so I have a little bit of a customer loyalty thing going on.

No sign of shin splints or any other sort of injury today, so that’s good news. Maybe keeping the mileage low is a good idea for now.

For the next few weeks, or months, my training is going to have to take a back seat to schoolwork. Already, midterms are sneaking up on me like a ninja in the night, trying to catch me asleep in my Bed of Unpreparedness and murder me with a Sword of Harsh Grading after battering me senseless with Nunchuks of Innumerable Assignments. The regular workload of 12-15 class hours and 8-10 hours of homework for each of three studio classes isn’t too bad in and of itself. But in addition, I have to write, draw, and produce a full-length comic book within 8 weeks, and I’m trying to build a portfolio site where I can show my work. The comic book is going to kill me—last semester in my Comics class the pace was 1-2 pages a week, and that was tough enough with only one other class that semester.

So, I’m not going to make it to that half-marathon in April, but I will do my best not to backslide from where I am now. The main thing is to keep my grades up, otherwise I won’t graduate before we do this thing. Thanks for putting up with my bitching, I’m off to study some art history.

So, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted, but it’s also been a long time since I’ve made any serious progress in my training. This is not the post to change that.

This is a post asking for help from our kind readers so that I can have my dream job. I need everyone to go to islandreefjob.com and rate my video highly. Every view and every star will bring me that much closer to getting the best job in the world.

Thank you for all of your support, I look forward to training with the Makos in Australia soon!

P.S.- Though my training hasn’t really moved to a new level, I have gotten better at the training I’ve been doing. TRX never gets easier, but I’ve been increasing the resistance a little each class. I’ve also been getting more confident in Krav Maga and can endure a little longer with each class.

Tags: australia, dream job, help, Krav Maga, mako shark, TRX

I’m gonna start running again as soon as it stops raining. So like, probably in May or something.

Tags: san francisco, Weather