Nashbar Bicycle Trainer

With the advent of cold weather, investing in a bicycle trainer seemed like a good idea. A trainer allows you to turn your regular bicycle into a stationary bicycle. I ended up going with the Nashbar Fluid Trainer.

When it comes to trainers, there are two basic types: Fluid and Magnetic. Magnetic trainers use a magnetic flywheel to create resistance on the rear wheel. The fluid trainers use fluid chambers to create resistance on the rear wheel. As the fluid heats up, more resistance is added.

Both types of trainers are fairly quiet, but fluid trainers are generally a little bit quieter than magnetic ones. Fluid trainers also offer a more "realistic" ride and are considered to feel most like an outdoor ride. 

I opted to go for the fluid trainer for a few reasons. I liked the fact that it was quieter than the magnetic version; I have it set up in front of my TV and it makes watching shows while riding a bit easier. The fact that it was also the closest to riding outside was a large deciding factor, as was the price. While it wasn't exactly cheap, it was cheaper than some of the magnetic trainers out there.

Another big plus to the one I got is that resistance can also be controlled to a certain degree via shifting gears. This was apparently not the case with some of the magnetic trainers available. The ability to change resistance on the fly without having to get off the bike and adjust a lever was very appealing to me.

Overall I like the trainer. It's nowhere near as nice as riding outside, but it beats not riding at all, and I really enjoy doing it while watching TV. The resistance on my model seems decent and I always work up a good sweat when I use it. I currently don't know how "far" I ride in terms of miles as I don't have the computer needed to calculate that (it attaches to the rear of your bike and counts revolutions of the wheel and extrapolates mileage from that, as I understand it, but don't take my word for it; I've done no research on it), but I'm up to between 15 and 20 minutes at a time.

It is very different from riding outside as there is no coasting. If you stop pedaling on the trainer, the wheel stops moving, so it's a bit "harder" than riding outside. Of course, there are no hills on the trainer, so it likely ends up as a wash, but, as I said earlier, it beats not riding at all.

While I much prefer riding outside on the road, the trainer comes in handy too. As stated, I like watching TV while using it, and it's nice to be able to just hop on for 20 minutes and call it done without having to worry about any traffic.

                                 

Swim Workout

I just got back home from swimming 500 yards at the Liberty Community Center. I did much better than I thought I would, and finished 500 yards in 10:04. I had done no swimming since August (right before the Matt Mason tri was cancelled) and was expecting to be much slower than I was today.

The mere fact that I finished all 500 yards without stopping surprised me. When I first got back into swimming this summer, I was struggling to finish 150 or 200 yards without stopping and was expecting something similar this time since I'd been so long out of the water, but was pleasantly surprised to be able to finish all 500 yards.

The pacing was also a bit of a surprise. The last time I swam I finished 550 yards in 10:46. Today would have been a bit slower for 550 yards (I was averaging right around 1 minute per 50 yards today, meaning 550 yard would've take roughly 11 minutes), but after a three month break that's to be expected.

Overall I was very emboldened by my swim today. Yes, it was tiring, and yes I was a bit slower than before and yes my neck got sore from breathing. But I was better than I expected to be, and it gave me a good morale boost. I'm looking forward to doing it again.

68's Inside Sports Triathlon

I have offically signed up for my next triathlon: the 68's Inside Sports Triathlon, taking place on March 1st, 2015 at 68's Inside Sports gym in Overland Park, KS.

This tri is a bit different from most of the ones I've seen: not only is it a bit shorter than the typical Sprint distance tri, it takes place completely indoors (which is likely a good thing given the weather we get here in the Midwest in late February/early March). The swim is done in a 25-yard pool, the cycling is on a stationary bike and the run is on a track.

The fact that this tri is indoors is what convinced me to sign up for it. Since the Matt Mason tri was cancelled, I've yet to actually do my first tri. This one seemed like a good choice. As I said, it's shorter than a typical Sprint (500 yards swimming, 10 miles biking and 3 miles running versus 750 meters swimming, 12 miles biking and 3.1 miles running). 

Beyond that, the fact that it took place indoors appealed to me for a number of reasons. The swim takes place in a pool, which plays to my strengths. I swam competitively for almost a decade, so swimming in a pool is something I'm very used to. Practice with the various teams I was on accustomed me to swimming in crowded pool conditions, which I'm sure will come in handy on March 1st. I practiced one open water swim before the Matt Mason tri, and it is worlds different from swimming in a pool. There are no nice lines on the bottom of the lake to help you keep going in the proper direction, forcing you to look forward frequently to assess if you're still on course. There are actual real waves to deal with (beyond those created by swimmers in neighboring lanes). There are no lanes to seperate the swimmers, leading to people clumping together in large groups reminiscent of spawning salmon. The water temperature is highly variable. The entry and exit are natural, sandy/gravely beaches. In other words, open water swimming is typically much more difficult than pool swimming. The fact that this swim takes place in a pool was a huge point in this race's favor in my eyes.

The biking portion takes place on stationary bikes. Whereas there will obviously be no real hills to climb on a stationary bike, I'm expecting them to have every bike set up to run the same work-out program that will simulate the hills and flats that you'd find on an actual course. Everyone will climb the same "hills", which is as it should be. The exciting part for me regarding the biking portion of this tri is that I don't have to worry about flatting or some other mechanical failure on my bike. I've only changed the tube on my bike a few times and it's something I'm not very good at yet, and I'm not exactly a do-it-yourself kind of guy, so any other mechanical failure during a race would be disastrous for me. It's one less thing to worry about during my first race, which is for the best.

The run will take place on an indoor track, which means no hills at all, period. I currently run .6 miles at a time, with a .1 mike walk to catch my breath after. I'm confident that I'll be up to running all 3 miles at once come March 1st.

I know my training has slacked recently. I've been lazy and have been using the fact that the Royals are in the postseason for the first time in 29 years as an excuse to skip working out. I think part of my lethargy came from not having a tri to train for; now that I'm officially signed up for my next race, it's more real and I hope I'll begin training consistently again. The last game of the World Series is tonight, so after tonight I'll have no more excuses to skip training. 

Kansas City Marathon Relay

This morning my wife and I ran as part of a five-person relay team for the Kansas City Marathon. Our team was one of two sponsored by Rock & Run Brewery, the same restaurant we run to and from during our Wednesday night runs.

The marathon was obviously split up into five segments, one for each runner. I had leg number one, which was 3.4 miles. I felt I did very well. It'd been over a week since I ran, mainly because of laziness and the Kansas City Royals amazing postseason play, but I stuck to my intervals the whole time (.5 miles running, .1 mile walking) despite some serious hills. Overall I was very pleased with how I ran.

This was the first race I've done that I've actually taken seriously. Looking back on it, if I had to choose one word to describe it, it would be: Cold. It was only 45 degrees out when we showed up a bit before 6, and I was dressed only in a tee shirt and shorts. Alot of people (mainly my wife) tell me that this is the perfect temperature for running half-marathons and marathons in because as you run your body heats up. While I can attest to this as I did heat up during my 3.4 miles, I'm a summer kind of guy and would have much preferred temperatures to be a bit warmer.

But, nothing is ever going to be perfect and when things don't go as you'd like, all you can do is deal with it. So deal with it I did and ran my mileage. Both R&R sponsored relay teams ended up crossing the finish line at the exact same time, and I have to admit that was a pretty cool feeling (those of us that had already finised our legs met the last runner .2 miles from the finish and ran in together). We were all dressed in identical shirts and spread out to take the whole road. It was quite the rush.

The relay was a good experience, and is a good way to get introduced to racing if you don't want to do a 5K by yourself. You have someone waiting on you to finish so you have to keep going and can't simply quit, but those other people on your team are there to pick you up and help you through. It's something I'd consider doing again.

Nishiki Maricopa

For my biking I ride a Nishiki Maricopa. It is an entry-level road bike sold at Dick's Sporting Goods. For a road bike it's a steal for the price Dick's is asking. It costs about half of what an entry-level road bike would cost at a biking store, so if you're looking for a cheap road bike and don't mind buying from the big box store it's a great deal. I would advise you to take it to a bike store and get it tuned after buying it, though. I noticed a huge improvement in the way mine road after I got it tuned.

I'm very pleased with the bike. It rides well and the shifts are generally smooth. There is a bit of chattering on some gears and sometimes the shifts are a bit rough, but overall it's a pleasant ride. 

I'm also a fan of the way the bike looks. It's black and orange, both colors I am fond of. The orange isn't overwhelming and looks nice against the black frame. 

Overall it's a very good entry level bike. I'm planning on using it for the next year and a half or so. I might look into upgrading to a mid-level road bike from one of the bike stores a few months before my first half-Ironman in the summer of 2016, but until then this one will work just fine.

My workouts and blog posts will likely be sporadic for the next few weeks. The Royals have finally made the postseason for the first time in 29 years (and only the second time in my lifetime) and I want to watch every game. Unfortunately we don't get the channel they're on at our house so I can't record the game and watch it later; we have to go out somewhere to watch them play, and the postseason schedule (and my own laziness) have recently put a huge damper on my workouts. 

  

Running Workout 10/8/14

Ran 4 miles tonight in 52 minutes and 38 seconds.

Every Wednesday night my wife and I run with the KCTC Rock & Runnerz run group. It starts at 6:00 PM in front of Rock & Run Brewery and Pub in downtown Liberty. It's a great group with very diverse runners. Some people run 7-minute miles, some run 12-minute miles (that'd be me). You can find someone willing to run any pace in this group.

The courses vary every week and are marked with flags to help people avoid getting lost. The routes are typically out-and-backs (meaning if you're running four miles, you go out two miles and then turn around and retrace your steps) and the courses are marked for both four and six miles. There's always a water stop at the two-mile mark.

If you come out and run with the group and stay for dinner afterwards at Rock & Run, you get 15% off your total bill (including alcohol) for you and one non-running friend. As Rock & Run is a brewery, they obviously serve beer. Lots of beer. Lots of really good beer. If you can't find a beer you like here, you're not trying hard enough. And the food is good too.

If you're looking for a good weeknight run group in the Northland area, you can't go wrong with this one.

Garmin Forerunner 910XT GPS Watch

As most of you that have been in or around the running world likely know, Garmin makes GPS watches that can be used in training and racing. I use the Garmin Forerunner 910XT and it fits all needs nicely.

This watch is designed for triathlon. It has three modes: swimming, biking and running. The swimming mode can be set to open water or pool swim. When choosing pool swim, you're prompted to input the yardage of the pool you're swimming in. 

The display is nice and easy to read in all light conditions (after dark, you need to press a button to activate the back-light). The buttons and functions are fairly intuitive, and it's easy to switch between modes (just press and hold the "Mode" button). And best of all, it's comfortable. It's slightly larger than the watch I wear to the office every day, but no more uncomfortable.

I've used my regularly and have never had a problem with it in any of the three disciplines of triathlon. It does occasionally take quite a while to find satellites, but I gather from talking with others that this is a fairly common issue with most GPS watches. 

The only downside to the watch is that I cannot connect it to my smartphone and upload my statistics for the activity that way. My wife's Garmin (a running-specific model) has this feature, but the Forerunner lacks it, meaning I have to sit down in front of the computer to sync the watch. Overall it's not a very big deal and it certainly wouldn't keep me from recommending the device to anyone, but it is a slight hassle.

Overall though, the watch has been an absolute blessing and delight. I don't look at it much when swimming or biking and mainly use it there to keep track of my yardage/mileage, but I rely on it when I run to get my splits right. It's very nice to be able to simply glance at my wrist instead of having to fumble for my phone to find out the info.

If you're a triathlete looking for a GPS watch, this is the one you want. I can't recommend it highly enough. Below are two images of the watch itself, as well as what comes in the box.