Gym Jones - Power, Speed, Endurance, Suffering and Salvation
Freak Gym
A co-worker recomended I go to gymjones.com
This place is awesome! Check out the videos and quotes from these freaks! It takes a while to go through the site but is well worth it for the motivation.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
In Portland, Cultivating a Culture of Two Wheels
Hopefully, this will be Chattanooga, in a couple of years.
Check out the article here
Hopefully, this will be Chattanooga, in a couple of years.
Check out the article here
Friday, November 02, 2007
Doing what Detroit says is impossible
Doing what Detroit says is impossible
by kos
Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 11:50:06 AM PDT
This story is so incredible, I had to do additional research to confirm that it was indeed true. It centers on Kansas City auto mechanic and inventor Johnathan Goodwin.
Two years ago, Goodwin got a rare chance to show off his tricks to some of the car industry's most prominent engineers. He tells me the story: He was driving a converted H2 to the SEMA show, the nation's biggest annual specialty automotive confab, and stopped en route at a Denver hotel. When he woke up in the morning, there were 20 people standing around his Hummer. Did I run over somebody? he wondered. As it turned out, they were engineers for GM, the Hummer's manufacturer. They noticed that Goodwin's H2 looked modified. "Does it have a diesel engine in it?"
"Yeah," he said.
"No way," they replied.
He opened the hood, "and they're just all in and out and around the valves and checking it out," he says. They asked to hear it run, sending a stab of fear through Goodwin. He'd filled it up with grease from a Chinese restaurant the day before and was worried that the cold morning might have solidified the fuel. But it started up on the first try and ran so quietly that at first they didn't believe it was really on. "When you start a diesel engine up on vegetable oil," Goodwin says, "you turn the key, and you hear nothing. Because of the lubricating power of the oil, it's just so smooth. Whisper quiet. And they're like, 'Is it running? Yeah, you can hear the fan going.'"
One engineer turned and said, "GM said this wouldn't work."
"Well," Goodwin replied, "here it is."
And what's the bottom line for Goodwin's modified vehicles? Stuff like this:
Goodwin's feats of engineering have become gradually more visible over the past year. Last summer, Imperium Renewables contacted MTV's show Pimp My Ride about creating an Earth Day special in which Goodwin would convert a muscle car to run on biodiesel. The show chose a '65 Chevy Impala, and when the conversion was done, he'd doubled its mileage to 25 mpg and increased its pull from 250 to 800 horsepower. As a stunt, MTV drag-raced the Impala against a Lamborghini on California's Pomona Raceway. "The Impala blew the Lamborghini away," says Kevin Kluemper, the lead calibration engineer for GM's Allison transmission unit, who'd flown down to help with the conversion.
Remember -- Detroit tells us it's impossible to increase gas mileage without taking a hit on horsepower. Yet here's Goodwin -- with an eight-grade education -- able to design motors that blow the doors off the conventional (and obviously bullshit) wisdom.
His latest project?
Goodwin leads me over to a red 2005 H3 Hummer that's up on jacks, its mechanicals removed. He aims to use the turbine to turn the Hummer into a tricked-out electric hybrid. Like most hybrids, it'll have two engines, including an electric motor. But in this case, the second will be the [jet] turbine, Goodwin's secret ingredient. Whenever the truck's juice runs low, the turbine will roar into action for a few seconds, powering a generator with such gusto that it'll recharge a set of "supercapacitor" batteries in seconds. This means the H3's electric motor will be able to perform awesome feats of acceleration and power over and over again, like a Prius on steroids. What's more, the turbine will burn biodiesel, a renewable fuel with much lower emissions than normal diesel; a hydrogen-injection system will then cut those low emissions in half. And when it's time to fill the tank, he'll be able to just pull up to the back of a diner and dump in its excess french-fry grease--as he does with his many other Hummers. Oh, yeah, he adds, the horsepower will double--from 300 to 600.
"Conservatively," Goodwin muses, scratching his chin, "it'll get 60 miles to the gallon. With 2,000 foot-pounds of torque. You'll be able to smoke the tires. And it's going to be superefficient."
He laughs. "Think about it: a 5,000-pound vehicle that gets 60 miles to the gallon and does zero to 60 in five seconds!"
And here's the punchline:
Goodwin's work proves that a counterattack is possible, and maybe easier than many of us imagined. If the dream is a big, badass ride that's also clean, well, he's there already. As he points out, his conversions consist almost entirely of taking stock GM parts and snapping them together in clever new ways. "They could do all this stuff if they wanted to," he tells me, slapping on a visor and hunching over an arc welder. "The technology has been there forever. They make 90% of the components I use."
The problem with Detroit isn't the laws of physics, it's the fact that a guy who never even went to high school can do things -- with stock parts -- that Detroit's auto executives and their armies of engineers claim is impossible. Good ol' American know-how and ingenuity is alive and well, just not where we need it.
Update: From the comments, video of that Impala smoking the Lamborghini on MTV:
Link: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/30/14161/066
Doing what Detroit says is impossible
by kos
Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 11:50:06 AM PDT
This story is so incredible, I had to do additional research to confirm that it was indeed true. It centers on Kansas City auto mechanic and inventor Johnathan Goodwin.
Two years ago, Goodwin got a rare chance to show off his tricks to some of the car industry's most prominent engineers. He tells me the story: He was driving a converted H2 to the SEMA show, the nation's biggest annual specialty automotive confab, and stopped en route at a Denver hotel. When he woke up in the morning, there were 20 people standing around his Hummer. Did I run over somebody? he wondered. As it turned out, they were engineers for GM, the Hummer's manufacturer. They noticed that Goodwin's H2 looked modified. "Does it have a diesel engine in it?"
"Yeah," he said.
"No way," they replied.
He opened the hood, "and they're just all in and out and around the valves and checking it out," he says. They asked to hear it run, sending a stab of fear through Goodwin. He'd filled it up with grease from a Chinese restaurant the day before and was worried that the cold morning might have solidified the fuel. But it started up on the first try and ran so quietly that at first they didn't believe it was really on. "When you start a diesel engine up on vegetable oil," Goodwin says, "you turn the key, and you hear nothing. Because of the lubricating power of the oil, it's just so smooth. Whisper quiet. And they're like, 'Is it running? Yeah, you can hear the fan going.'"
One engineer turned and said, "GM said this wouldn't work."
"Well," Goodwin replied, "here it is."
And what's the bottom line for Goodwin's modified vehicles? Stuff like this:
Goodwin's feats of engineering have become gradually more visible over the past year. Last summer, Imperium Renewables contacted MTV's show Pimp My Ride about creating an Earth Day special in which Goodwin would convert a muscle car to run on biodiesel. The show chose a '65 Chevy Impala, and when the conversion was done, he'd doubled its mileage to 25 mpg and increased its pull from 250 to 800 horsepower. As a stunt, MTV drag-raced the Impala against a Lamborghini on California's Pomona Raceway. "The Impala blew the Lamborghini away," says Kevin Kluemper, the lead calibration engineer for GM's Allison transmission unit, who'd flown down to help with the conversion.
Remember -- Detroit tells us it's impossible to increase gas mileage without taking a hit on horsepower. Yet here's Goodwin -- with an eight-grade education -- able to design motors that blow the doors off the conventional (and obviously bullshit) wisdom.
His latest project?
Goodwin leads me over to a red 2005 H3 Hummer that's up on jacks, its mechanicals removed. He aims to use the turbine to turn the Hummer into a tricked-out electric hybrid. Like most hybrids, it'll have two engines, including an electric motor. But in this case, the second will be the [jet] turbine, Goodwin's secret ingredient. Whenever the truck's juice runs low, the turbine will roar into action for a few seconds, powering a generator with such gusto that it'll recharge a set of "supercapacitor" batteries in seconds. This means the H3's electric motor will be able to perform awesome feats of acceleration and power over and over again, like a Prius on steroids. What's more, the turbine will burn biodiesel, a renewable fuel with much lower emissions than normal diesel; a hydrogen-injection system will then cut those low emissions in half. And when it's time to fill the tank, he'll be able to just pull up to the back of a diner and dump in its excess french-fry grease--as he does with his many other Hummers. Oh, yeah, he adds, the horsepower will double--from 300 to 600.
"Conservatively," Goodwin muses, scratching his chin, "it'll get 60 miles to the gallon. With 2,000 foot-pounds of torque. You'll be able to smoke the tires. And it's going to be superefficient."
He laughs. "Think about it: a 5,000-pound vehicle that gets 60 miles to the gallon and does zero to 60 in five seconds!"
And here's the punchline:
Goodwin's work proves that a counterattack is possible, and maybe easier than many of us imagined. If the dream is a big, badass ride that's also clean, well, he's there already. As he points out, his conversions consist almost entirely of taking stock GM parts and snapping them together in clever new ways. "They could do all this stuff if they wanted to," he tells me, slapping on a visor and hunching over an arc welder. "The technology has been there forever. They make 90% of the components I use."
The problem with Detroit isn't the laws of physics, it's the fact that a guy who never even went to high school can do things -- with stock parts -- that Detroit's auto executives and their armies of engineers claim is impossible. Good ol' American know-how and ingenuity is alive and well, just not where we need it.
Update: From the comments, video of that Impala smoking the Lamborghini on MTV:
Link: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/30/14161/066
Friday, October 12, 2007
A devotion for inspiration
Iron Man
by Jon Walker
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10 NIV)
Although I don’t recall anyone ever specifically teaching me this, somewhere along the way I embraced the idea that “You have to play hurt.” It’s the philosophy in sports that your commitment in competition is such that you don’t let the pain from injuries – even some of the major ones – keep you from playing, and playing to win.
Brett Favre, the long-standing quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, who we discussed yesterday, is an extraordinary model of this “play hurt” mentality. Often called an iron man, Favre has played through broken bones, sprains, concussions, and a myriad of other injuries – major and minor – making him one of only two NFL players to start every game his team has played over the last 15 years (and the other guy is a punter, not the heart-and-soul quarterback of a team who plays on every offensive down). And Favre is still at it even though he just turned 38, which in the dog-years of 9-to-5 work is like 68.
He certainly doesn’t stay at it for the money because he’s made plenty of it, and he doesn’t do it for the records because he’s already broken most of them. You get the sense from Favre that he’s chasing one more championship, but that he also stays in it for love of the game.
In a similar way, Coach Paul (of Tarsus) teaches us to push past the pain of becoming like Christ. For now, we carry this eternal treasure in fragile in jars of clay as we learn to be wholly and fully dependent upon the all-surpassing power of God.
Therefore, Paul sees our pain and heartache – the difficulties in life – as a way to identify with the pain and heartache Jesus faced when he died on the cross for you and me. It is a suffering as close as skin that allows us in a small way to experience, through the glass darkly, what Jesus experienced when he took in all the brutality, ridicule, and abandonment that was meant for you and me. This is how we carry the death of Jesus around in our bodies, allowing the life of Jesus to be revealed. (2 Corinthians 4:7-10 NIV)
No matter how well intentioned we are – no matter how Brett-Favre-Iron-Man-like we are – we incapable of carrying this death of Jesus within us without being desperately dependent upon God. But the Good News is that our pain, our heartache, our confusion, our doubts, our mountain-sized difficulties can push us – if we allow it – into the very center of God’s all surpassing power.
And this supernatural strength allows us to say, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10 NIV)
What now?
• Your problems help you become like Jesus – When you experience pain or heartache, talk it out with God, but also thank him that he is making you more like Christ. Let God encourage you – that this pain has a purpose: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV)
• God has his Father’s eyes on you – Yes, your pain and heartache are real. In fact, the increasingly complex struggle to keep you family together, pay your bills, and live out your faith can be overwhelming. Paul’s message of pressing on is not meant to minimize the challenges you face; rather, it’s to give you perspective: “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (Hebrews 12:4 NIV)
• You’re weakness opens the door to his strength – Even as you feel yourself hard pressed on every side, crushed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, you can boast all the more about your weaknesses, allowing Christ's power to rest on you; for when you are weak, then you are strong in his power and protection. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV)
• Ask God for a vision of what you would be like if you were more like Christ – Ask him to show you his purpose and his plan for your life. Ask him to make you more sensitive to the difficulties of those around you. Ask him to show you how to encourage them as they feel hard press, crushed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down. Finally, pray for Brett Favre, who appears to be a very good man, but still a man in need of a Savior.
Iron Man
by Jon Walker
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10 NIV)
Although I don’t recall anyone ever specifically teaching me this, somewhere along the way I embraced the idea that “You have to play hurt.” It’s the philosophy in sports that your commitment in competition is such that you don’t let the pain from injuries – even some of the major ones – keep you from playing, and playing to win.
Brett Favre, the long-standing quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, who we discussed yesterday, is an extraordinary model of this “play hurt” mentality. Often called an iron man, Favre has played through broken bones, sprains, concussions, and a myriad of other injuries – major and minor – making him one of only two NFL players to start every game his team has played over the last 15 years (and the other guy is a punter, not the heart-and-soul quarterback of a team who plays on every offensive down). And Favre is still at it even though he just turned 38, which in the dog-years of 9-to-5 work is like 68.
He certainly doesn’t stay at it for the money because he’s made plenty of it, and he doesn’t do it for the records because he’s already broken most of them. You get the sense from Favre that he’s chasing one more championship, but that he also stays in it for love of the game.
In a similar way, Coach Paul (of Tarsus) teaches us to push past the pain of becoming like Christ. For now, we carry this eternal treasure in fragile in jars of clay as we learn to be wholly and fully dependent upon the all-surpassing power of God.
Therefore, Paul sees our pain and heartache – the difficulties in life – as a way to identify with the pain and heartache Jesus faced when he died on the cross for you and me. It is a suffering as close as skin that allows us in a small way to experience, through the glass darkly, what Jesus experienced when he took in all the brutality, ridicule, and abandonment that was meant for you and me. This is how we carry the death of Jesus around in our bodies, allowing the life of Jesus to be revealed. (2 Corinthians 4:7-10 NIV)
No matter how well intentioned we are – no matter how Brett-Favre-Iron-Man-like we are – we incapable of carrying this death of Jesus within us without being desperately dependent upon God. But the Good News is that our pain, our heartache, our confusion, our doubts, our mountain-sized difficulties can push us – if we allow it – into the very center of God’s all surpassing power.
And this supernatural strength allows us to say, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10 NIV)
What now?
• Your problems help you become like Jesus – When you experience pain or heartache, talk it out with God, but also thank him that he is making you more like Christ. Let God encourage you – that this pain has a purpose: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV)
• God has his Father’s eyes on you – Yes, your pain and heartache are real. In fact, the increasingly complex struggle to keep you family together, pay your bills, and live out your faith can be overwhelming. Paul’s message of pressing on is not meant to minimize the challenges you face; rather, it’s to give you perspective: “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (Hebrews 12:4 NIV)
• You’re weakness opens the door to his strength – Even as you feel yourself hard pressed on every side, crushed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, you can boast all the more about your weaknesses, allowing Christ's power to rest on you; for when you are weak, then you are strong in his power and protection. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV)
• Ask God for a vision of what you would be like if you were more like Christ – Ask him to show you his purpose and his plan for your life. Ask him to make you more sensitive to the difficulties of those around you. Ask him to show you how to encourage them as they feel hard press, crushed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down. Finally, pray for Brett Favre, who appears to be a very good man, but still a man in need of a Savior.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
My good friend Chris just finished The Four Hour Work Week. I read it a couple of months ago, but just found the guy's blog. I highly recommend it as it will help all of you triathletes and commuters with time efficiency which is the main struggle for all of us.
I found an awesome commuting story on his blog. You can read it here
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Combining my two favorite hobbies - skiing and cycling!
A 33-year-old Austrian hit his prime last week when he smashed the world bike speed record by 14mph and set the new one at 130.7mph. Apparently snow makes an ideal surface for these kinds of downhill runs. The whole thing reminds me of the year they had speed skiing as an Olympic exhibition event. The guys would dress up in speed suits with mushroom hats and get in a tuck until they either blew apart halfway down or threw the brakes on at the bottom. They all had the same equipment except for the guys from small countries who would outfit their skiers with bike helmets.
via Wired
By Rocky Thompson
A 33-year-old Austrian hit his prime last week when he smashed the world bike speed record by 14mph and set the new one at 130.7mph. Apparently snow makes an ideal surface for these kinds of downhill runs. The whole thing reminds me of the year they had speed skiing as an Olympic exhibition event. The guys would dress up in speed suits with mushroom hats and get in a tuck until they either blew apart halfway down or threw the brakes on at the bottom. They all had the same equipment except for the guys from small countries who would outfit their skiers with bike helmets.
via Wired
By Rocky Thompson
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
Motivational Quotes for the next year!
Yes, I know it's early but you should at least be thinking about them right now in my opinion.
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action
always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.
- Frank Tibolt
Genius is one per cent inspiration; ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931), Harper's Monthly, 1932
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Jack London (1876 - 1916)
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change
the outer aspects of their lives.
William James (1842 - 1910)
The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter
his life by altering his attitudes of mind.
William James (1842 - 1910)
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
Things do not change; we change.
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), Walden (1970)
They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change
them yourself.
Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987), The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
Change your thoughts and you change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)
Turbulence is life force. It is opportunity. Let's love turbulence and use it for
change.
Ramsay Clark
You have to recognize when the right place and the right time fuse and
take advantage of that opportunity. There are plenty of opportunities out
there. You can't sit back and wait.
Ellen Metcalf
There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.
General Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964)
Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.
Henry J. Kaiser (1882 - 1967)
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work.
Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)
Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.
George S. Patton (1885 - 1945)
The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964)
There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than
the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.
John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)
If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.
Milton Berle (1908 - 2002)
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of
strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
Vince Lombardi (1913—-1970)
If you think you have things under control, you’re not going fast enough.
Mario Andretti 1940—-
Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal.
E. Joseph Cossman (1918—-2002)
Atomic Man Results
The results are in:
I finished 105th overall and 8th in my age-group. By way of reminder, I would be just as happy being last overall and last in my age group as my goal is just to finish the race in an honest manner.
Swim Time: 41:48 - not bad considering it was the first time I have ever swam in a wetsuit
Bike Time: 3:23 - not the worst, but definately not the best - I can do better going forward
Run Time: 2:56 - Ouch! This is my goal time for a marathon - NOT a half-marathon time. Obviously I was not acclamated to running in the heat like I should have been. This is definately the place for improvement.
Total Time: 7:06:24
The results are in:
I finished 105th overall and 8th in my age-group. By way of reminder, I would be just as happy being last overall and last in my age group as my goal is just to finish the race in an honest manner.
Swim Time: 41:48 - not bad considering it was the first time I have ever swam in a wetsuit
Bike Time: 3:23 - not the worst, but definately not the best - I can do better going forward
Run Time: 2:56 - Ouch! This is my goal time for a marathon - NOT a half-marathon time. Obviously I was not acclamated to running in the heat like I should have been. This is definately the place for improvement.
Total Time: 7:06:24
Cold...
It was cold outside this morning on the bike ride in. At one point I was biking up a hill with my hands in my pockets so they could be protected from the wind. I will definitely be starting the traditional "transition" from biking to work (summer) to running to work (winter). The reward of-course is this is as easy training as it gets for marathons and maybe an ultra-marathon?
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Quote to live by:
"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
- Jack London
"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
- Jack London
FINISHED...
Yesterday, I completed the longest event I have competed in - the Atomic Man Half Ironman. My lovely wife and best friend & his wife were all there to see me in probably the most pain I have ever been in. I finished in 7 hours - my personal goal was 6 - but at the end of the day I was looking for the big finish and I got it.
Swim
The swim wasn't that bad. I obviously should have tested the wetsuit out before I used it in a critical event, but it definatley helped more than hurt. I did get a massive headache from my goggles, but that's ok, this is the first triathlon I have competed in where they didn't leak!
Lesson Learned: Do an all out test (even that nasty swim cap) with all your gear at least twice
Bike
Bike was fun. The rolling hills didn't provide any monotony which I was a big beneficiary of. Everyone competing had awesome bikes which kept me entertaining myself wondering how much each bike costs.
Lesson Learned: I need to be riding with the fast group here in Chattanooga - as they all had awesome times.
Run
DEATH - the first 6.5 miles were tough steep hills. The last 6.5 miles were long-straight and had no shade. There was a brief interuption on mile 10-12 where it was a trail next to the river which was awesome.
Lesson Learned: Do at least a couple hard-core BRICK workouts and even suck it up and run in the sun in the afternoon. I know I would have trimmed at least 30 min. off my time if I was acclamated to to running in the sun - and not the nice shade that my 5:00 a.m. training runs provided me with.
Summary
Great race. Organization with the officials was a little scarce but I was fully expecting this from the web-site and how many people competed in it, so no worries. The volunteer support by the boy scouts was awesome. Special Note: I am a proud Eagle Scout and even got a couple of "hooh-rahs" when I told them at the aid-stations.
Hopefully I can post some pictures up tommorow.
Yesterday, I completed the longest event I have competed in - the Atomic Man Half Ironman. My lovely wife and best friend & his wife were all there to see me in probably the most pain I have ever been in. I finished in 7 hours - my personal goal was 6 - but at the end of the day I was looking for the big finish and I got it.
Swim
The swim wasn't that bad. I obviously should have tested the wetsuit out before I used it in a critical event, but it definatley helped more than hurt. I did get a massive headache from my goggles, but that's ok, this is the first triathlon I have competed in where they didn't leak!
Lesson Learned: Do an all out test (even that nasty swim cap) with all your gear at least twice
Bike
Bike was fun. The rolling hills didn't provide any monotony which I was a big beneficiary of. Everyone competing had awesome bikes which kept me entertaining myself wondering how much each bike costs.
Lesson Learned: I need to be riding with the fast group here in Chattanooga - as they all had awesome times.
Run
DEATH - the first 6.5 miles were tough steep hills. The last 6.5 miles were long-straight and had no shade. There was a brief interuption on mile 10-12 where it was a trail next to the river which was awesome.
Lesson Learned: Do at least a couple hard-core BRICK workouts and even suck it up and run in the sun in the afternoon. I know I would have trimmed at least 30 min. off my time if I was acclamated to to running in the sun - and not the nice shade that my 5:00 a.m. training runs provided me with.
Summary
Great race. Organization with the officials was a little scarce but I was fully expecting this from the web-site and how many people competed in it, so no worries. The volunteer support by the boy scouts was awesome. Special Note: I am a proud Eagle Scout and even got a couple of "hooh-rahs" when I told them at the aid-stations.
Hopefully I can post some pictures up tommorow.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Tapering...
Atomic-Man is only a couple of days away so for the first time in a long-time I didn't ride in and had my wife take me into work.
It's funny - every time I don't ride in - it makes me appreciate my rides even more. Driving to work I dealt with - 1)having to wake my pregnant wife up; 2)listening to all of the wrecks on the interstate and ads on the radio) and 3) dealing with traffic - With riding I really don't deal with any of these
Great article on a whole family in L.A. who ditched their car for bikes.
Read it here
Atomic-Man is only a couple of days away so for the first time in a long-time I didn't ride in and had my wife take me into work.
It's funny - every time I don't ride in - it makes me appreciate my rides even more. Driving to work I dealt with - 1)having to wake my pregnant wife up; 2)listening to all of the wrecks on the interstate and ads on the radio) and 3) dealing with traffic - With riding I really don't deal with any of these
Great article on a whole family in L.A. who ditched their car for bikes.
Read it here
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Personal Navigation Assistent For Cyclists By Garmin
It used to be such an elitist technology that was either deployed by rich people in their expensive luxury vehicles or by geography buffs who needed the tech for work purposes. Garmin has become the number one personal navigation device seller in the United States and they pushing along for an even bigger market share with the Garmin Edge 705 and Edge 605, both of which designed for cyclists.
Both units get 2.2-inch color displays and standard turn-by-turn directions, as well as detailed street maps, topography of the region (seek out and/or avoid major hills), and the company's ANT+Sport technology. This last bit is meant to interface with fitness devices like heart monitors. What sets the two devices apart is the fact that the Garmin Edge 705 gets a barometric altimeter. It's also includes a wireless heart rate monitor that delivers real-time data to the on-screen display.
The Garmin Edge 605 is priced at $400. The Edge 705 starts at $500, getting bumped to $550 if you want the heart rate monitor and speed/cadence sensor, and getting bumped further to $650 if you want the ANT+Sport bundle. Look for these to drop in December 2007. Just in time for prime-time riding season?
It used to be such an elitist technology that was either deployed by rich people in their expensive luxury vehicles or by geography buffs who needed the tech for work purposes. Garmin has become the number one personal navigation device seller in the United States and they pushing along for an even bigger market share with the Garmin Edge 705 and Edge 605, both of which designed for cyclists.
Both units get 2.2-inch color displays and standard turn-by-turn directions, as well as detailed street maps, topography of the region (seek out and/or avoid major hills), and the company's ANT+Sport technology. This last bit is meant to interface with fitness devices like heart monitors. What sets the two devices apart is the fact that the Garmin Edge 705 gets a barometric altimeter. It's also includes a wireless heart rate monitor that delivers real-time data to the on-screen display.
The Garmin Edge 605 is priced at $400. The Edge 705 starts at $500, getting bumped to $550 if you want the heart rate monitor and speed/cadence sensor, and getting bumped further to $650 if you want the ANT+Sport bundle. Look for these to drop in December 2007. Just in time for prime-time riding season?
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Just a couple of places I was swimming at last week...
I can't believe in a couple of weeks I will be a half-ironman. CRAZY...
My vacation just ended unfortunately. I had an awesome vacation, spending time throughout the entire southern caribean. I swam a mile pretty much every day. I do see now why everyone likes the ocean for swimming in triathlons. First off, the buoyancy is a major advantage and weirdly it's a little cleaner to me than the freshwater back in the states.
O well, I'm going to be doing a little riding and running this week and do a major tapering next week. Honestly, I'm ready for this thing to be done with and start training for the real thing next year!
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