After Christmas

            Merry belated Christmas! Christmas has come and gone, and the training is slowly getting back on track. Not because of anything other than the holiday season. The kids, the family, the general holiday stuff. I've been doing my best at not loosing my mind when I don't get consecutive days of work outs. Although I've gotten on the bike every day for the last 3 days which has been huge lately. I even got out to the pool for the first time since the big snip yesterday morning before work. I woke up late, and only had about 20min of actual pool time, but it was still so very nice. Nothing to hard in the water, and I was mostly just screwing around with the new Finis freestyler hand paddles. They seem pretty cool, and I'll get a full review after I've used them more. They do make you go faster and I got squished into the wall during flip turns since I had so much speed coming into the wall. oops.
            I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas. Shawna had the boys order me a new pair of custom goggles, and I'm super stoked to see what they will end up looking like. TYR has a custom goggle program that you can check out HERE At the site, they have 3 different goggles to choose from, but then you get to custom select every color on the goggles, from straps, to eye gaskets, to nose pieces. The boys designed them, and apparently Monkey had to tell Bubbee to settle down on the colors, and that not every color possible needed to be on the goggle. They should be here any time and I can't wait.
The other thing that I got, I didn't even know it existed. It's a transition mat that Tritown had made with their logo on it. It's a neoprene backing, and then the textile front that has the logo and a spot for your name. This is perfect to not only help you find your bike in T1, but also a place to stand and not abuse your wetsuit in the parking lot of T1 or during the open water swims in the park lot after practice. I was super surprised at that gift. Once the goggles come in, I'll post pics of both of them, maybe together.

            Winter has finally come upon us, and we even got a white Christmas in the afternoon on Christmas day. This means more trainer workouts, running on the treadmill, and of course the pool. I don't mind winter, but I just miss being able to get out doors to ride/run. But when it comes to running, I'm going to get outside as much as possible. If it's dry, I'll run. The treadmill just seems to suck the life out of me. I honestly don't think that I've gotten a single run in this entire month with the whole snippy snip procedure. I ran the other day while towing the kids behind me on the sled and used it as a great opportunity to work on my Pose running form from what I've read in the CFE book. It was actually starting to come together and make sense. Dragging the kids behind me was a great resistance and forced me to slow down, but also forced me to increase my lean forward and my knee pull. It was something that was spur of the moment, but I ended up learning a ton about how a really good Pose method feels. Now, if I can only keep it up for some distance with some speed........

Kinetic trainer

                After having multiple issues with my Cyleops magentic trainer, I finally broke down and got a new fluid trainer, the Kurt Kinetic "Road Machine". We get a pretty nice deal on these trainers, and I ended up getting a new bike computer through Kinetic that gives a power reading as well. The power meter is displayed based on your speed while on that fluid trainer. It has an algorithm that it uses to compute the speed into an approx watt reading "for the average cyclist on the average ride". I thought that it would be kind of cool to get and play with. My thinking being that so long as I consistently use that trainer, and that watt meter, any improvements in my training will show up in the watts. It's kind of like using the same scale whenever you weigh in if you're looking to really watch how much weight you've lost.

                  I've been using the Kinetic fluid trainers for a while now. We have permanently at the station, and the guys still bring there's in just to make sure that everyone has a trainer. Some of the guys have the upgraded fluid trainer known as the Rock N Roll trainer because the entire resistance unit is mounted to a rubber bushing before it mounts to the frame, giving you the ability to really rock your bike back and forth like you're sprinting for the finish line. The Rock N Roll is pretty cool, but I have issues with it. First, you need to get your bike pretty well centered on the unit, otherwise you feel like you're leaning to one side or the other. The second thing is that I feel like a bounce a bit on that trainer. As in the rubber bushing causes me to have my back wheel bounce around. Maybe it's because my pedal stroke isn't super smooth (I've been told that I'm a masher on the pedals) but it gets a little annoying. I feel that with the bouncing not all of the power I'm putting out is going to the wheel, it's instead getting eaten up by the bounce.

                 But, back to the road machine version. I really love this trainer. It is very user friendly, and the legs have 4 different hole positions to get the correct, and most stable, position for your bike based on the wheel size. A 700c, 650c, and then 2 other holes for mountain bike with a trainer tire on them. It's a very well thought out design. Once I had the bike on the trainer, getting it locked down and secured is a breeze, and the turn knob to move the resistance unit against the wheel is smooth and very easy to use and tighten. The other awesome feature about the fluid trainer is the silence. The Cycleops trainer was a magnetic, and it was loud. This trainer is quiet. Meaning that we don't have to blast the tv super load just to hear what is being said. I would recommend the Kinetic fluid trainer to anyone.

               The new computer that I bought to give me the watt readings is a fun little toy to have. I've played with the computer on several rides, and it has a few more features than my Cateye Strata computer had. Not only does it have the power meter, it has a separate lap feature so you can time different intervals or rest periods if you'd like. It also has a temp gauge and an indigo light on it. GT now bugs me when we're riding at the station about what his watts are at a specific speed. So now I get to speed up to his speed just so his curiosity is fixed. For the most part, I've been just using the watt meter to see where I'm at, and then I go back to the cadence portion. I'll dial in my cadence and look at my speed, then I'll switch to the power reading and speed. Now I know my power reading and then go back to the cadence. At the end of it all, the computer will tell me my max and average watts, although I don't think that it will separate it into more detailed info like watts per lap. Overall for the price, the computer is pretty good. It's a wired unit, so I know that some people wouldn't bother, but I have an opinion about the wired units. They don't get any interference from outside sources like tv's or heart rate monitors. I had a terrible time with the Cateye getting frozen up from the tv or my heart rate monitor it was ridiculous. No problems now. The wires really aren't that big of a deal for me, I just used electrical tape on the frame to streamline the wires and you don't even really notice it.

If you're in need of an indoor trainer, look no further and buy the kinetic, they rock.

It's the end of the world!

Dec 21, 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar, and some people thought that it meant the end of the world. Of course, nothing actually happened today. The world didn't end, and the zombie Apocalypse hasn't begun either. Instead, enjoy a video from REM.

Back in the saddle

           It's been 10 days since the ol' snippy snip. Yesterday was not a good day down below for most of the day. I don't know if it was the jeans I was wearing or what, but it just wasn't comfortable. I'll spare the main details, but as a guy, you never realize how much your junk moves around during the day doing just the regular things like standing up from a sitting position until something like this happens. Then it's every little movement seems to make them rub the wrong way, or get pinched between your leg and pants. There wasn't a ton of pain, but more of a constant ache and cramp. Every day seemed to be better than the previous day until yesterday. Last night I took some Motrin before we left to go see some Christmas lights at the botanical gardens. By the time I got home, I was feeling really good. Today was the first day that I felt 100%. The only workout I did since the procedure was 3x 5:00 on the swim halo 5 days ago.

        Since I was feeling great, I figure it's about time to get back on the bike and see how it goes. I didn't want to over do it today, so I climbed on with a 30min goal, keeping the heart rate aerobic, and playing with the new cycling computer. The 30 min breezed by and I felt great! Hopefully I will feel great tomorrow too, because I plan on an hour long trainer session tomorrow.

          I've decided that I will take the next 2-4 weeks rebuilding my aerobic base since the last 8 weeks have been all over the place for me work out wise. Once the scab down below falls off, I'll get back in the pool. I thought I'd be courteous to all the other pool users and not go in the pool while I still have a scab on the sack. Call me weird, but I'd be grossed out if I knew that someone else was in the pool with that on there body. So for now, it's going to be some halo work, bike base building, running form drills, and some weights. My goal tomorrow at work is the hour long trainer session and then hopefully get through the programming chapter on the Crossfit Endurance model so I can then plot out my next course of action for training. I got distracted with reading the chapter on run form, but now I'm on track for the programming chapter. I'll let you all know how tomorrow goes, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Club V

Holy cow, it's been 3 weeks or so since I last got on here to talk about how I was still alive. I am still alive, but now I belong to a super exclusive club. Sorry ladies, but this is a guys only club. Like I said, it's an exclusive club, although I know a ton of guys who were in the club before me, so joining was not a huge deal. Well...... it is a big deal, but isn't at the same time. "So what is Club V?" you ask. Well it's the vasectomy club! haha

           Over this last 4 day I went to the doctor and got the snippy snip as I commonly call it. It was just supposed to be a meet and greet with the doc about the procedure and all that stuff. Shawna almost didn't go because it was just the meet and greet. I told her that we should both go so we would hear the same info and we would both be able to ask questions if we had any. We didn't have any questions, and at the end of the talk with the doc, he asked when I wanted to get it done. I said today, since if I waited until next week I would only have 3 days off of work to recoup before having to come back. The doc looked at me "Seriously?," Yeah buddy, if you got time, lets get it on. I turned to Shawna, who was a little shocked, and she was like, ah yeah, I guess. We had talked about getting this done since we found out about the last pregnancy, so it wasn't a shock. Just the timing and the pace of the appointment was kind of shocking. The doc checked the computer schedule and said that we were a go if we could do it right then. After paying my copay, and insurance payment I was in the room getting a shave down.

          The entire procedure went down fairly smooth. The only drugs that I was given was the numbing drug down below (I'm assuming it was Lidocaine) before the procedure started. The only 2 times I had pain, or even any feeling down there was that initial needle stick for numbing me up, and then one other time. The doc had already finished work on the right testicle and had moved onto the left one. He clamped a hemostat on the left side and I felt that one. "Oh," I said. The doc asked if I felt that, and I said yeah. He told me that it was the hemostat clamping onto the Vas Deferens. I told him that my Vas Deferens didn't like it. He removed the clamp, numbed me up some more and then finished his work. I gotta say, it is a little disconcerning to smell the burnt flesh and see the smoke coming from your crotch. First off, the smell of burnt flesh is absolutely horrible. Secondly, the amount of smoke that was coming up was a little alarming. I joked with the doc and Shawna that usually when I see that much smoke I want to suit up and go to work.

         The procedure took maybe 20min, and 5 stitches to complete. I got home and told the kids that they were not allowed to jump on me, or wrestle with me for a week. I also can't pick them up for the first few days following the procedure. I'm now at day 5, and it's slowly feeling better. The original day of the procedure had me walking very gingerly around the house and keeping ice on the area and 800mg of Motrin every 6 hours. Day 2 was better, but still sore. Day 3 and 4 were consecutively better than the previous day. Now at day 5, I'm still feeling it; but it's better. I'm at work today, and trying to just not think too much about it. My left testicle is the sore one, and I'm not sure why. I don't know if it has anything to do with the hemostat or not. Doc said I can't work out for at least a week, and while I feel pretty good, I'm keeping to the 1 week off, and will go from there. I got on the bike today and did some soft pedaling for maybe 10 max while I was trying to get the new bike computer to work and connect with the sensors. There was no pain, but it wasn't comfortable either. Didn't matter that I had my thicker chamois bibs on, or that I was soft pedaling. It just wasn't comfortable.

        So while I can't work out, I've been trying to catch up on some reading about working out. Namely my newest book, "Power, Speed, Endurance: A skill-based approach to endurance training. It is written by the Crossfit Endurance founder, Brian MacKenzie, and basically goes over the basis behind his programming for endurance events and the skills/drills to help you become a more efficient athlete.

          I'm thinking that with how crazy my schedule has been as far as getting workouts in, I should do the intelligent thing. The smart thing would be to really work on form over this off season, knowing that form will ensure longevity in the sport. Being more efficient will ultimately make me a better and faster athlete. The frustrating thing though, is in the short term, it will mean going slower. Slower now, and possibly slower for the next season. Granted I have 25 weeks until the Ironman Boise, which is the official start of the season for me. That's 6 months. I'm thinking that if I take the next 2 months to really work on the skills, I'll still have 4 months to get after the speed and volume of training to be successful. From what I've read so far, the emphasis is on: form, intensity and then volume (in that specific order). Which goes against the standard endurance programming, but funny enough, is how virtually every other sport trains. You don't move into intensity until your form is spot on. With the intensity ratcheted up, you go until your form starts to break down, and then you back off. Then you can increase the volume of your training.

     I'm not saying that I will use every single thing that the book goes into, but it will still be the basis of how I'm going to train. I still need to be functionally strong for work. My emphasis on this off season will be with the swim and bike portion, as I feel that I have the biggest opportunity to make up time there; but in reality, all 3 sports will be improved upon. Even if it's just my form for running.