Tonynet Explorer

We wrapped up our sail racing season this week with a perfect evening: sunny, warm, and breezy. To top it off, we sailed really well, taking a 5th and a 7th out of 28 or so boats (and beating some of the top boats in the fleet).

Not sure what I'm going to do to scratch my sailing itch now that we're moving to Beijing. Hopefully, I'll be able to squeeze some in somehow.

The fleet on a downwind leg

Rico, the skipper/owner, smiling since most of the fleet is behind us.

Warren taking it easy after a race.

Well, I did it. As promised, I did the Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party (RSVP) last weekend with my friends Eric, Jason, Chris, Clint, Whitney, and Gregg. We had excellent ride support from Chris' wife Leslie and son Zack, Eric's girlfriend Sam, and our friends Kellie, Barbi, and Juli; they kept us well hydrated and fed the whole time.

To be honest, I didn't feel great the first day. Even twenty miles into the ride, my legs were bothering me. We separated into two groups for most of the ride: the "varsity" fast riders (Whitney, Clint, Gregg, and Eric) and the "JV" slower riders (me, Jason, and Chris). After a hot, thirsty start, a long climb to Lake Stevens, and then a brutal push into a heavy wind in the Skagit Valley, I wanted to quit, wondering why I was doing it. I rested a bit in Bow and then pushed on for the final ten miles or so -- a big climb up Chuckanut Drive in Bellingham. This turned out to be a highlight of the first day -- a great view and not nearly as punishing as I had heard (certainly better than windy flats) plus I rode by my favorite oyster farm -- Taylor Shellfish. At the end of the 105 mile/7:20 riding time first day, Michelle and the kids met me in Bellingham where we stayed at the very lovely Chrysalis Inn and had a nice pasta (gotta get more carbs!) meal at D'Anna's. I slept very well indeed.

I felt much stronger the next day for the next eighty miles. Jason and I caught a long line going through the countryside at a good pace for us with four pretty girls and a guy rotating the job of leading, so we just drafted along for the first twenty miles (drafting in a line cuts about 30% off your effort). We stopped in Lynden at the Dutch Bakery for a late breakfast. Jason has had a long, passionate affair with banana cream pies from this bakery. Apparently, they don't always have them so he ordered one ahead. We picked it up and bought another chocolate caramel pie, eating them both on the street in front of the store -- way better than Gatorade and Gu! (The whole crew at the pies, not just me and Jason...)

Shortly after Lynden, we rode to the Canadian border. At one point we were separated from Canada by a little ditch; there was a road running on each side (the Canadian side looked like it had much nice roads) and telephone/power poles on each side with the lines facing into the appropriate country. Odd. We had a painless border crossing at Aldergrove and then proceeded on our ride.

About twenty-five miles into the ride (just after the border), while I was drafting behind Chris, I bumped up against his back tire and went down. Fortunately, no bikes or cars were behind me. I got unclipped from my pedals pretty well and managed to roll a bit, so the damage was contained to two skinned knees, a frayed glove, torn up bar tape, and a smashed rear flasher. This was the first time I had really crashed; I feel lucky it went down as well as it did and that I didn't take Chris down with me. I brushed off my bike and ego, and we continued on.

As we rode, Chris' bike started acting up, dropping his chain and making a lot of noise. At a stop in Port Moody with about twenty miles left, a ride mechanic proclaimed Chris' bike dead and told him he was done. Jason and I rode on while Chris threw his bike onto his car and drove on. With the end near, Jason and I picked up the pace the powered along the Barnet Highway and into Vancouver. We climbed up and down through the residential neighborhoods in Burnaby (really? more hills?!) and then sprinted light-to-light in downtown Vancouver. Unfortunately, the finish line was a bit anti-climactic at the Coast Hotel; you sort of just pulled into the garage. The finish at STP was much nicer and more fun. Still it was great to finish. I felt really strong the whole second day. (I don't have accurate data for the second day, but I think the riding time was about 5:30 -- I forgot to turn my GPS back on for a little while.)

We had a nice group dinner at Glowbal Grill in Yaletown that evening -- lots of sangria and stories. I turned in after dinner to recoup and spend time with the family. The next day, I felt fine except for my knees which were bugging me after the crash (they're still giving me trouble as the skinned parts heal.)

RSVP was definitely a harder ride than STP despite being short; there's just tons more climbing. I liked that it was way less crowded (I think there were 1000 riders vs. the 10000 for STP); at times it felt like just another weekend ride with my friends (albeit a really, really long ride...).

I'm glad I did it. Time to find my next goal event...

(Check out Chris' account of the ride.)

Back on January 1st, I said I'd ride the RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party). Well, tomorrow morning at 6:30am, we take off. A bunch of us will be doing the 183 mile, two day ride together up there so it should be fun. I didn't ride nearly enough to prepare for this, but I think if I keep a good pace, I'll be alright. I am more concerned about the warm temperatures forecast - 85-90 degrees F (and maybe a little higher!) We'll have to drink a lot the whole way.

Anyway, much to do tonight before I leave, so I'll see you on the other side.

(P.S. Here's the route if you're interested. No, we're not riding up I-5.)

We had another windy night for our regular Tuesday night sail race. The wind was probably 20 knots/hour+, so all of the boats were carrying their jibs instead of the larger genoas. The deck of our J/24 and all of us were pretty wet, even before the first race, just from the spray splashing up.

We sailed pretty well all night, managing to avoid the collisions, round-ups, and sail handling mistakes (with accompanying penalty turns) we saw on the other boats, but I did have one scary moment.

The boat was heeled over quite a bit when the skipper called for us to tack. When we tack, I duck under the boom over to the other side of the boat. I started moving a little too quickly and started sliding feet first across the wet deck toward the water. My feet and legs went under the lifeline and into the water. I caught myself on the lifeline with my arms and dragged in the water for a second. I managed to kick my legs up onto the boat, but now I was wrapped around the stanchion (one of the posts that hold the lifelines up), with my torso on one side and legs on the other. I was stuck for a bit until some of the other guys helped me back on board, and we continued the race.

Through all this I didn't even get wet (since I had my foulie pants and sailing boots on), but it was definitely a spooky moment. I never want to see the boat from outside the lifelines again. I promptly put my inflatable life jacket on after that (which, like most idiots, I wasn't wearing at the time.) Apparently, someone else on another boat wasn't so lucky and went overboard. Fortunately, another boat picked up the wayward crew member.

I managed to finish the evening without any other incidents aside from bruises on my hips and knees from scurrying around plus another briefly scary moment as I pitched into the cockpit spinnaker bag (just barely catching myself before dropping headfirst into the bag). It was perversely a very fun evening, exactly the kind of evening I love sail racing.

I'll just be sure to wear my life jacket from now on.

Andrew (10) is normally my nice kid, but he made a cruel, but accurate observation the other day.

Andrew [earnestly]: "Dad, you're big but not tall, if you know what I mean."

Time to diet and work out more, I guess...

As I mentioned earlier, I had hoped to ride my bicycle in the Chilly Hilly as part of my training for RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party). Well, it was today, but I didn't make it. I came down with a sinus infection and have been feverish, congested, and generally miserable for the past few days with no relief in sight. Too bad too -- it was a lovely day today -- not chilly at all. I did manage to get a few rides with friends; good to get an early start on the season. Once I recover, I'll need to get moving again. Oh well.

Welcome to 2008! I'm not really one to make New Year's resolutions, but I have been thinking about things I want to do this year. Mostly, I have a list of things I've wanted to do for a while that I never quite got around to. Over the past few weeks, I took some steps to get going on these. Here are a few things I want to do and the steps I've taken. (Blogging about them will also help create a little public accountability.)

Spend more time with the boys
I think the kids and I do quite a bit together already, but I think these are the prime years I have with them where they're old enough (7 and 10) to really participate and still don't mind hanging out with dad, so I want to double-down on our time together.

The kids have been bugging me to go camping beyond our backyard for some time, so I thought I'd start there. I haven't ever really camped (OK, we went once when I was two), so I've been dragging my feet a bit, but I really want to try it as well. I looked into camp sites last summer, but it was almost impossible to reserve one at that late date, and I didn't want to chance driving somewhere and not having a site. So, this week, I reserved a choice site at Deception Pass State Park (close enough to home that we can bail out if it sucks) in June. I'm pretty excited and will probably book a few more dates just in case we love it.

Incidentally, the Washington State Parks reservation system is pretty good. They show you the individual sites with descriptions and ratings of quality and privacy, have photo(s) of the site, and make it easy to see what dates are available. Good use of our tax dollars.

Work out more
As I've chronicled on this blog, I've been up and down with my working out. I definitely do best when I have scheduled events I'm working toward, so this morning (the first day of sign-ups), I signed up for the RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party). It's a ride like the STP (Seattle-to-Portland) that I did two years ago. I tried to sign up last year, but I waited too long, and the ride sold out. I'll do the Chilly Hilly again in preparation too, but I'll probably skip STP. Good to have the goals on the calendar now. I may do another half marathon (probably Kirkland in May instead of Mercer Island in March).

Learn to play an instrument well
I took piano lessons on and off growing up (mostly off) but never really reached a level of reasonable competency. I've always wanted to play well, so I started piano lessons last month, taking the half hour before Andrew's lessons (can't skip my lesson without making him miss his). We also just had a little Yahama grand piano delivered yesterday. It's been fun playing again, and my instructor has me working on theory as well to better understand what's going on. This had added an interesting new dimension.

I thought about starting guitar instead (which I've also always wanted to play), but I'm much closer to competence on piano, so I figured that was wiser. (I also played clarinet for six years, but I don't have much interest in picking that up again. Not too many social opportunities for clarinet...)

Learn to speak another language to adult fluency
I grew up speaking Chinese at home, suffered through eleven years of Saturday morning Chinese school, took a year of Chinese in college. I also took four years of high school German (enough to get by as a tourist). However, I can't really do business or carry on adult conversations in either language. Since I'm closer to fluency in Chinese, I decided to build on that base. Although I'm basically illiterate in Chinese, I figured I'd start with my listening and vocabulary skills. I started listening to Chinese language podcasts. There are a few good ones, but my favorite so far is by a guy named Serge Melnyk (really). More on these later.

I have lots of other things I want to do, but I figured this is a good start. Hopefully, I can stick with these and build some good habits. What are your plans?

I played a round of golf yesterday at the very posh and lovely Members Club at Aldarra. Chris bought a round at a charity auction for FareStart and invited me along. The course was easily the nicest I've played in the Northwest and our host, Doug, was really great. This was the first round I've ever played with caddies. Because of the rain, the carts had to stay on the path; it's a real luxury to just call out the desired club to the caddie and have him bring it out to you. Even in the rain, it was a super experience. The course is really gorgeous and in fantastic shape. It drains super well and wasn't muddy at all in spite of all the water coming down.

It's too bad I played like an absolute idiot. I barely made contact with the ball and had a few swings where I missed entirely -- a problem I haven't had for years. I've played three times so far this year and have sucked beyond measure. I had been doing pretty well the past few years, improving steadily. However, last year, I pretty much stopped as I spent my time biking and running instead. I'm going to have to decide to stop pretending to be a golfer or start spending more time on my game. I have too darn many hobbies and am not spending enough time to be great at any of them. There's a fine line between being a well-rounded renaissance man and a dilettante.

It's been three days since I ran the Mercer Island Half Marathon. Monday (the day after) my calves were a bit sore; I felt pretty good to have gotten by so easily. I had spoken too soon; Tuesday was worse. My thighs hurt a bunch. I could still go up and down stairs and sit down/get up, but I felt every step. Fortunately, today was much better.

The race organizers posted the results. I finished 1032nd out of 1406 half-marathon runners, 634th out of 765 men. Even though I was really just aiming to finish, these results bummed me out at first. I was used to finishing at or above the mid-point in the 5K runs I've done previously. However, I realized that there are probably fewer casual runners in a half-marathon than a 5K. That made me feel a little better. Need to stroke my fragile ego in any way possible. I would have needed to run over a minute a mile faster to finish in the top half; that's pretty close to my 5K pace. No way. (Not yet, anyhow.)

Hooray! I ran the Mercer Island Half Marathon today, finishing in 2:06:23 (this is my watch time - actual gun time will be about 2:08 since it took me two minutes to get to the line after the start). This works out to be 9:34 minutes/mile on average. I'm very happy with these times; they're way faster than my goal times (I was shooting for 2:15 overall.)

I'm also happy that I didn't feel any real discomfort during the run and feel good now (we'll see how tomorrow is.) Somewhere around six or seven miles in, I got a small stitch in my side, but I managed to work through that. I was actually mostly concerned at the start about being cold and wet. We started out in a pretty heavy rain, so the waiting around part basically sucked. Fortunately, it cleared up during the run, so I wasn't uncomfortably cold, wet, or hot.

As with most races, I started out quick and kept having to hold myself back to keep on my target pace. I did an OK job following my plan of slowing on the uphills and speeding up on the downs. I walked through the water stations, taking Gu gels every forty minutes or so. I also walked a bit on the uphills in the last few miles as my heart rate was starting to get high (like 195). With maybe .8 miles to go, I caught up to Eric, and we both sprinted to the finish. Well, I should say he sprinted to the finish. I sprinted to about 50 yards short of the finish and staggered across the line. (I like to think I let him win. He has a fragile ego...)

The biggest issue was the hills; this is not a flat course (my GPS says it +323/-494 which is a lot of up and down when you're running). Worse, from 10.95 miles to 12.21 miles, there's a 150 foot climb that sucked the life out of me. (Fortunately, the last .9 mile is downhill.)

I must say, one of the nice surprises were the little kids cheering by the side of road. They'd hold their hands out to high-five the runners. I always got a charge out of that and found new energy. Thanks, kids. It was also great to have Kellie and Kristen come out to cheer us on at the finish. Bruce, of course, was already at the finish too and was very vocally supportive.

After the race, my calves cramped so I had to stretch for a while. I had hoped there would be Gatorade or something at the finish, but they just had water. (The run was well organized, but they certainly were not extravagant with perqs for the runners.) A bunch of us went out afterwards for lunch at the Seattle Yacht Club. Nothing like a Bloody Mary, a bacon cheeseburger, and fries and onion rings to celebrate an accomplishment like this.

All in all, I'm really happy with how things worked and feel good about having done this. Not sure what's next, maybe the Issaquah Sprint Triathlon. Right now, a nap sounds good...

Three months ago, I signed up for the Mercer Island Half-Marathon to motivate me to work out. I have mixed feelings about it now that I'm facing the run tomorrow. My eleven mile run two weeks ago was a big confidence builder, but I have some pre-race jitters as I think about the hilly course and all of the random things that can happen during a run.

Just to get my excuses out into the public light in case I need them later:

• My calves and shins feel a little tight.
• I pinched some skin on my toe last night playing Dance Dance Revolution in my socks at Kellie's last night: not heroic, I admit, but very fun. (And yes, Kellie, I will keep linking to that photo that you hate until you put up some online presence.)
• The weather looks iffy for tomorrow.
• My horoscope suggests I'll have a bad day tomorrow. (However, it looks like I'll be peaking physically tomorrow according to my biorhythms.)

Still, the race has already accomplished its goal: it got me to work out more regularly and longer. I wasn't as diligent as I'd hoped, but I'm certainly stronger than I was three months ago and have lost a few pounds.

So, with any luck, I'll finish the race tomorrow without injury. With a little more luck, I'll actually run this in pretty good time (anything sub-2:30 would be awesome). I'll be running with Eric and Bruce plus some other friends like Kristen will be there to cheer us on, so I'm sure it will be fun no matter what.

As my runs get longer, I'm getting bored of the music I'm listening to. Any ideas for upbeat songs to keep my mind occupied?

There's just two weeks left before the Mercer Island Half-Marathon. I've been having a little trouble with my shins; at first I thought it was the increased mileage, but then I had the same realization I had given Bruce grief about: it was time to replace the shoes after so many miles (about 250 running plus a bunch walking). So yesterday, I bought a new pair of Saucony Grid Omni 6, the updated version of the Grid Omni 4 I had been using.

I set out for my long run today with my new shoes. It was raining pretty steadily (I know, hard to believe it's raining in Seattle in March) and I considered bailing. Fortunately, it was pretty warm (58F). I was aiming for two hours and at least ten miles - both new records for me. I finished the two hour run with 11.28 miles, an average pace of 10:12/mile. If I run my half at that pace, I would finish in 2:13 (that's two hours and thirteen minutes); I'd be super happy with this time, especially since the Mercer route is so hilly. I felt good through the whole run with only the hint of cramps in my thighs at eleven miles; I know could have run two more miles. I'm feeling much more confident about the upcoming race.

Today was the day to try things out. In addition to the new shoes, I had a new Amphipod RunLite TrailRunner belt; this belt lets me carry two 10oz water bottles and a pouch for Gu gels and other stuff. It's much more comfortable than my old water belt and it has room to carry the gels I need for the run. However, my iRiver Clix player doesn't clip on well to the belt (sizes don't match); I discovered this when my Clix took a dive off the belt and skittered across the sidewalk. I carried it in my vest pocket the rest of the time. (Fortunately, the Clix survived.) I won't be carrying my water for the race, but I need it for my long runs. I may carry my own gels; we'll see.

I was also trying out a pair of Smartwool socks and Pearl Izumi Infinity shorts. I like them both, especially the shorts. I didn't think I could tell the difference between shorts, but these were really comfortable; the liner is especially nice. Nothing like trying out a pile of new stuff just before a race.

I still need to settle on a playlist for the race. I had my Clix on random shuffle, going through everything on the player. I forgot I hadn't taken my Christmas music off the player, so I had a bunch of random holiday tunes playing for much of the run.

What did I do? With two months before the Mercer Island Half-Marathon, I'm starting to freak a bit and am worrying about the upcoming race.

The lousy weather we've had lately has made it difficult to get a lot of running in (it was even hard to walk), and work/kids have made it hard to get to the gym. I've been riding my bike indoors on a trainer a bunch, which should help my cardio (and which let me finish watching the The West Wing Season 7 - I'm sad that's the last set). However, I really need to get some run time in.

I did manage to get out for a six mile run this weekend (tying my longest run to date); I ran some hill sprints at the end for a little strength workout too. I felt pretty good through the run, although my legs are definitely sore today. My pulse is still way too high though.

I kind of wish I'd picked the 8K run instead, but since I've committed to the half-marathon, I'll keep aiming for it, but I'm spooked. I'm definitely going to need to turn it up if I'm going to finish this thing.

After riding the Seattle-to-Portland (STP) bike ride back in July, I seriously fell off the work out wagon. I've worked out sporadically, but nothing consistent. I realized fairly recently that I need a scary event to which I've publicly committed to work toward. The first 5K I ran and STP both served this purpose. It's time to up the stakes again.

I just signed up for the Mercer Island Half-Marathon, set for March 25, 2007. I have just under three months to get ready. Even though I've never run more than six miles (and have been slogging through my recent three mile runs) this should be plenty if I'm diligent.

I don't really have a firm goal time. Based on my best 5K, the Runner's World finish time calculator estimates I should be able to do the run in 2:02 (that's two hours, two minutes, btw...).Breaking two hours would be fantastic, but frankly, just finishing would be a big accomplishment and is really the goal.

I thought about taking on a 10K instead, but since I've already run six miles before, it didn't seem as scary. 13.1 miles is scary. I'm definitely going to need to stay focused to get this done.

Just to head off the inevitable question, I'm not sure if I want to run a marathon. The MI Half will be a good milestone if I want to run a full marathon later this year (maybe the Portland Marathon on October 7 or the Seattle Marathon on November 25. It occurred to me that if I want to run a marathon before I turn forty (April 2008), I probably need to do it this year. Now that's really scary.

Anyway, I'm kind of looking forward to this. Who's in?

Thanks to a generous loan from Bruce of his bike trainer (a stand you put your bike on so you can train indoors), I've started working out at home. It's been hard to go to the gym with the kids in school (and staying up later) plus Michelle working (and getting up earlier). I've enjoyed exercising at home, watching DVDs on a laptop while I pedal away.

Building on this small success, I decided to expand my little home gym to include a few dumbells and an exercise ball. I picked out the Reebok StayBall, because it had some zippy patent pending method to keep the ball from rolling around (a problem I saw at the gym). According to the website, "The StayBall's breakthrough design enables the ball to stay in place..." How could I pass this up?

So, I got the thing out of the box and hooked up the cheapo pump that came with it. I think the real intention is to have you work out filling the damn thing up because this little pump only put a puff of air into the ball each time. What's more, there are two holes in pump; one for the output and an inlet. The inlet had a flimsy rubber flap that hangs over the hole to keep the air from rushing out. Every so often, this little flap would pop out and start venting my hard-earned pressure back out. I had to use a nail to push it back into place.

It took me a long time to the folded up piece of rubber to start to look even vaguely spherical, and my ankles were dying from the forced march Reebok put me through when the little rubber valve gave up the ghost and tore completely. I realized then (admittedly very belatedly) that my bike pump has the right attachment to work here, so I started using that. This worked much better but it was still a lot of work since the volume of the ball (4637 cm^3 by my calculations) is a lot more than a skinny road bike tire. Anyway, I get thing filled up.

Now, on this particular ball, there's a black plug that surrounds the filler hole, and a little white plug that goes into the filler hole. When I pulled out the pump, the black plug came out with the pump nozzle. In my rush to insert the white plug, I didn't see this and just put the darn thing into the hole! So here I am looking into the middle of the ball, where I see the plug at the bottom of the inside of the ball, air rushing into my eyes the whole time. I also discover then that Reebok's great innovation in the StayBall is to put sand inside the ball (did they really patent that?!) This means I can't simply turn over the ball to get my plug out since the sand will dump out.

The only solution was to deflate the ball enough to reach the plug. At this point, I muttered to myself out loud (which I almost never do). I pushed on the ball to get the air out. As I got close to the bottom, I started to get excited when WHOOSH - I got a face full of sand that shot out of the ball!

Ugh. After I stop swearing, I got the plug and pumped the damn thing back up. My back and shoulders now ached on top of my ankles, but eventually everything worked out. I almost dropped a lead plate from the dumbell onto my head shortly thereafter due to my failure to tighten the ends properly, but that's another story for another time...

One of the things that the organizers of the Seattle-to-Portland (STP) bike ride emphasize is the importance of learning to ride in paceline. A paceline consists of two or more riders in a line riding close together in order for the riders behind the lead rider to benefit from the draft of the riders ahead. Apparently, the benefit can be up to a 30% savings in energy for the same speed. I can attest to the benefits.

There are lots of places on the web that will teach you the basics, so I thought I'd share some of the less obvious pointers I gleaned from my STP ride last week.

• The riders in front have to communicate because the riders in back can only see the leaders' butts. There are a series of hand signals and calls that are used to indicate a danger ahead, e.g. pointing to a pothole or yelling "car up"). There were a few instances of leaders ahead forgetting and me hitting a big bump by surprise. Not happy. I'm not naming names, but his name rhymes with "truce".
• When the rider in front is looking at the fields on the side of the road, chatting with someone, or seems otherwise preoccupied, he is not looking at the road and hence will not warn you of impending danger. Yell at them to get them to pay attention. The guilty party's name rhymes with "flint".
• When the rider ahead of you lifts a butt cheek, jam on your brakes -- he's about to fart. Let me tell you that riding six inches off the guy's tire is not far enough to avoid the stink, even at twenty miles per hour. I think the gas gets trapped in the draft or something. Truce and Flint were both guilty of this and both had a big smile when they did it. Bastards.

Anyway, if you keep these things in mind as well as the normal tips (like "pay attention" or "don't ram the guy in front") you can easily be a successful paceline rider too.

Yippee!! Bruce, Clint, and I finished the last fifty or so miles of the Seattle-to-Portland bike ride yesterday, completing just over 200 miles over two days. I'm thrilled and more than a little relieved. I honestly wasn't sure how this ride was going to go given the time and distance and the fact I didn't train as much as I'd hoped.

The amazing thing about the second day was the ride felt awesome. While my hands and butt were still a bit sore from the day before (although not nearly as much as people had warned me about), my legs and back felt great.

We left our hotel in Kelso around 9:20am and rode the few miles to the Lewis and Clark bridge that crosses the Columbia River into Oregon. We waited for a few minutes there to be escorted with hundreds of other STP riders across the bridge. It was pretty exciting to climb up the bridge, see the "Entering Oregon" sign, and then do a fast descent down the other side. (On one big expansion joint, you could see a dozen water bottles that had bounced off of peoples' bikes on the side of the road.)

Once we got going, Clint took off again. Bruce and I were also riding a lot faster than the day before, feeling very strong. We only made one stop early on to use the bathroom and then rode continuously all the way in. For a while, we rode with a older lady on a triathlon bike. As Bruce talked to her (I call him "Chatty Cathy" because he talks to everyone we bike past) we discovered that she's completed four Ironman races in the last two years, but is taking some time off since her grandson was born. Well, we couldn't get dropped by a grandmother, so the three of us bombed along at 21-22 miles an hour for a while in a nice pace line until she pulled off at a rest stop. Both Bruce and I breathed a sigh of relief and slowed down a bit after that.

I enjoyed riding into Portland. We had nice views of Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood plus the city as we pulled in. The only downer was that we seemed to hit every red light in Porland for the last few blocks. The worst was that we hit the red light across the street from the finish line. After 200 miles, we had to wait a minute for the light to change so we could go the last twenty feet. Bruce kindly let me finish first so the photographer could get a shot of just me. As I crossed the finish line, the announcer called out my name, which was kind of fun too.

In Halladay Park at the finish line, the organizers had set up a big party, so there were food booths, a beer garden, and bike equipment/clothes booths. We checked in our bikes and then looked around for Clint, who showed up about 15-20 minutes later. He had been waiting for us at one of the rest stops and missed us as we went by. So, as it turned out, I finished first...

Anyway, we hung out at the party for a while with Bruce's wife Theresa plus Kellie and Chase (who went shopping in Portland since we didn't need support for the shorter ride today). We then headed over to the Heathman Hotel (one of my favorites) where we were staying the night. I had a wonderful shower and then a great massage. More on rest of the afternoon and evening later.

Today I'm barely sore and am walking just fine. I was surprised how strong I felt through the finish. In total, I rode for 12:30 on the bike at an average speed of 16.1 miles per hour over the 200+ milles - faster than the 15 mph I'd expected. The second day was closer to 19 mph average. I think our overall elapsed time was about 15:20. (Note, my data isn't quite perfect because I left the GPS on for the mile+ from the trail to our hotel in Kelso and the mile back to the line, but then I forgot to turn the GPS back on as we crossed the bridge into Oregon. It's close, anyway).

I'll blog more about STP lessons, quotes, and stories later. For now, sufficed to say, I'm very happy.

I'm very happy to report that Bruce, Clint, and I (and especially I) made it all the way to Kelso on the first day of STP. We rode all the way up to the lovely Red Lion in Kelso, not needing our sag wagon that our friends Kellie and Chase were driving (how funny -- Chase driving the chase car. I'm low on blood sugar. Everything is funny...) You can see the route map here to get a sense of where we are.

What's more, I feel great, even this morning, the dreaded day after. I'm not sore (well, not really sore) except that my ass feels like, well, ass. This, however, was to be expected.

We started at 6:20am, a bit later than we had hoped, but we settled into a good pace after we cleared out of the starting line mess. The first 50-70 miles felt pretty good, so I equalled my longest ride pretty easily. The fact that it wasn't very hilly and the weather was pleasantly cool and overcast helped no doubt. I made the mistake of trying to keep pace with Clint, however, who was booming along, so I started to feel pretty tapped and sore as I limped into Centralia, the 100 mile point (see the image on the above documenting my first century - I forgot to take the photo at the end). I wasn't really sure if I could keep going, but Clint and Kellie advised me to eat some real food and sit for a while. After a big plate of spaghetti and sitting for about 30 minutes, I felt like a new man. The last fifty miles (well forty miles) felt super good. We pulled into Kelso just before 6:00pm, after 148.8 miles and 9:20 riding time.

The one lowlight was that my heartrate monitor was acting up, so I didn't have reliable heartrate data most of the ride. This is important because I was largely setting my pace via the heartrate to keep myself from dying. Bruce did a good job reminding me to slow down. It's good to have the voice of experience to keep you in line.

The ride definitely reminded me that, like Lance Armstrong said, it's not about the bike. There was one very clear moment of this as a line of people who were riding the same Trek 1500 (same year even) as I do came flying past me. I hit an even lower point when the woman on the Trek 1000 (a lower end model that I have) went by. Of course, I passed people on $3000 carbon fiber bikes too, so turnabout is fair play, I guess.

There was an amazing range of bikes. Early on we passed a guy on a Big Wheel, a guy on a unicycle, and a skateboarder. Later, we rode with a dude and a woman from New Belgian Brewing Company (makers of Fat Tire Ale and one of the sponsors) riding heavy single speed coaster bikes. Of course, there were also the teams of racers flying past too. Most everyone was pretty nice along the ride.

Last night, we had a nice steak dinner and a few beers and then crashed. Lots of fun.

Anyway, time to get ready, I'll have more later. See you at the finish line party!

Eek. Two days to STP (the Seattle-to-Portland bike ride I signed up for back in February.) I'm still nervous about my ability to do this, but I've done what I can do to prepare. Now, I just need to ride smart and get through it.

Honestly, I'm looking forward to it. I've never tried any physical activity of this length, so we'll see what happens. Hopefuly, the weather will be good Saturday and Sunday. Should be interesting anyway. Who knows, maybe the leaders will get thrown out on a drug scandal or someone will get a red card for head butting. I'll be sure not to insult anyone's mother or sister.

As part of my panic preparation for the Seattle-to-Portland (STP) ride in a few weeks, I did a 70 mile ride today with Bruce, Todd, Clint, and Whitney. We followed the Flying Wheels 70 mile route (the longer version of the ride Bruce and I did last week.)

This was easily the hardest ride I've ever done for several reasons. First, it's the longest (albeit by about five miles) and was very hilly. Bruce sold me a bill of goods; the extra twenty miles were supposed to be a flat loop around a valley. Instead, big hills (I swear I'll kill the next person who says, "this is the last hill!"). Second, we were hauling ass. All of my colleagues are in far better shape than I am, so our average speed was even faster than last week's fast ride. What's more, when I dropped out of the line, I had to work 30% harder to keep up since drafting is such a big help. Finally, it was really warm today (high 80's), easily the warmest weather I've ridden in.

The result was major cramping at a few points (including one very exciting locked up leg) and a sore everything. I feel good for having finished though and just hope I can walk tommorow (I feel OK right now.) I clearly need to drink more fluid; I thought I was drinking enough, but I didn't need to pee the whole five hours, so I understand that means I need to drink more. I also learned that I can't start at a sprint. As soon as we started, we hammered at 22-23 mph and then hit a huge hill. I was dizzy by the top and really considered quitting there, less than ten miles into the ride. Fortunately, once I hit my stride it got better. Finally, I learned that I hate really sweet stuff when I'm hot and thirsty. I had energy drink in my bottles; they were almost unbearable until I cut them with water I bought along the way. I also hated the Hooah! energy bar I ate along the way. I'm sure it was quite tasty, but it seemed cloying during the ride. Everyone else said it was a hard ride too (harder than the first day of STP and about the same as the second said Todd), so I didn't feel quite as stupid. Some of the others cramped too (including Clint, who I heard screaming behind me as he jumped off his bike with locked legs.) Misery loves company, as he pointed out later.

There were a few highlights of course. Much of the ride through the Sammamish River Valley was lovely, and it was nice to enjoy it with my friends. I also love the new gloves and shorts I picked up this week. My hands and butt felt much better than last week, despite the longer distance. I also was amused by the turnout of stupid drivers who feel the need to yell obscenities and insults at cyclists as they drive by. Interestingly, they seemed to be centered in a five mile radius around Duvall, a rural town near Seattle. I've never had a problem with drivers before, but today at least four or five people decided it was important to share their views with us. I guess they're mad because their jetskis and dirt bikes were broken or something.

I also discovered how cool it is to break the speed limit on a bike. I hit 42 mph in a 35 zone going down a big hill. There was something a bit heady about the whole thing; of course, I was terrified I'd be road pizza if I hit even a pebble, but it was super fun.

Anyway, I haven't decided if today's ride gives me more or less confidence for STP. Glad to know it was as hard as it gets for STP, but I'm not really excited to repeat the experience soon. Guess I'll have to keep working out so STP is easiier.

The last few weeks have been bad for my exercise routine between my trip to New Zealand, family travel, Strategy Conference, and the Business Problems class. I did a few runs in there, but largely, I fell off the exercise wagon. With only four weeks or so until my crazy 200+ mile Seattle-to-Portland (STP) bike ride, I started to freak out a bit.

This weekend I decided it was time to get serious and get back on the bike. So, I went on a fifty mile ride Saturday with Bruce. Now, fifty miles is a good long ride for me, but this ride was especially tough. First, it's been four+ weeks since I've been on a bike. Second, the ride we took from Marymoor Park in Redmond to Carnation and back was pretty hilly (we did the Flying Wheels fifty mile loop). But most of all, I let my Ironman-finishing, somewhat sadistic friend Bruce dictate the pace of the ride. Instead of my typical 15-17 mph in the flats, we were doing 19-21. Even drafting behind Bruce, I was working hard. The hills were especially brutal, sapping my remaining energy. My back and neck were super sore and tired by the end of the ride, and my rear end wasn't super happy about sitting on a post for four hours.

Still, it was a fun ride. I'm happy that I felt pretty good the next day (and could walk). My gear feels pretty good now (although gloves with more pad would be welcome). I just need to put in a bunch more miles in the next few weeks.

Bruce Morgan, my friend, colleague, and exercise mentor, completed the Ironman Arizona this weekend, his first. He finished in 13:21, well under his goal time of fourteen hours. He also completed it with no major injuries -- his other goal. His blog entry describes his experience.

I, on the other hand, showed up to work today with my shirt inside out. QuornFlour had to point it out to me. I even argued with her for ten seconds before realizing it myself. Not a high competence moment for me.

Anyway, congratulations to Bruce on his huge accomplishment!

I did a 44 mile ride today solo, out the Cedar River Trail to Maple Valley. This is the same distance coincidentally as my longest ride, but I was on my own, and I didn't take any breaks. Even though a lot of the ride was flat, it was pretty windy, so I'm beat. As it turns out, it really does make a difference riding in a pace line with others. I worked a lot harder today than in my previous rides. Sucking down two Gu packs along the way seemed to help. 3:07 ride time.

I'm also still dialing in my gear. I've been trying out a new saddle; not sure if I like it yet, but it's definitely better than my old one. I also installed SKS Race Blade Fenders last week; good thing since it was raining for part of my ride. I'm not all muddy now (well, not as much).

Anyway, still lots more miles ahead and time in the saddle before I feel confident about successfully completing STP.

After my long ride today, I weighed in at 169.4 pounds. I haven't seen this side of 170 pounds for probably 10+ years. Undoubtedly, dehydration played a small role, but I'm still excited.

So far, since I started exercising and eating a little better, I've dropped about fifteen pounds and three inches from my waist. Just this weekend, I opened up a box with old pants that didn't fit anymore; I pulled out a bunch of great pants that fit well again (even a little loose!) It was like Christmas!

I still have a lot of fat to loose, but it's nice to see progress.

In the last two weekends (really today and last Sunday), I've ridden 77 miles, basically doubling the number of miles I've put on my bike since I got it in December.

Last weekend, I did the Chilly Hilly ride (one of the top rides in the country according to Bicycling Magazine.) This is a 33 mile loop around Bainbridge Island (click to see our route) and sort of formally kicks off the bicycling season. While it wasn't very chilly, it was, in fact, quite hilly. I rode with my esteemed colleagues Bruce, Clint (and his wife Whitney who kicked all our butts), and Todd (who rides for the Zoka bicycling team and is way out of my league). I did my best to keep up, but all these guys killed me climbing the hills. Still, it was a pretty ride and something of an accomplishment, even if I did have to walk halfway up one of the last hills. It took about 2:20 of elapsed riding time.

Today, I just came in from a 44 mile ride with Bruce and Todd around the north end of Lake Washington and back across the I-90 bridge (click here for a map of the area -- my GPS was out of battery today, so no ride map). As I rode to the meeting point, it was raining and very windy. The road was covered in fallen branches; I kept thinking "this is a bad idea". Fortunately, the rain stopped (the wind never did).

These guys were moving pretty fast (20-21 mph, which is fast for me) for the first part. We slowed down a bit as the path got bumpy and traffic picked up, but it was still a good tempo. A short break at the University Zoka coffee shop for a latte (still my favorite place for a latte) and a little pumpkin break helped pick me up. The hills at the end climbing toward the I-90 bridge, going over Mercer Island, and then coming back up Eastgate Way did me in. My legs were shot. I made it and feel proud, but I'm tired and sore now. 3:05 elapsed riding time.

Before Chilly Hilly, my longest ride had been a flat 20 miles, so these last two rides really increased my saddle time. I'm feeling pretty good on the bike, although I have a long way to go before I'm ready for STP. I need to look into different gloves and maybe a new saddle too; my hands and butt don't like the current set up.

More than anything, I'm grateful to have knowledgable friends to ride with. It's been a great help as I get started, and it's more fun and motivating to ride with others. (Drafting is nice too...)

In a fit of madness and with the poorly optimized decision to save the Active.com registration fee by doing it person, I signed up for the Seattle-to-Portland (STP) bike ride at the Bike Expo this weekend. (The cute woman at the sign-up counter egging me on in front of my two sons didn't help, but hey, I got a low number - 358 - and I saved $5.25!)

This is a 200 mile bike ride between Seattle and Portland (as evidenced in the name of the event. I'm doing the somewhat more sane two day ride; the real crazies do this in a day. Of course, since I've never ridden more than twenty miles in a stretch, I have some work ahead of me to get to back-to-back centuries before the July 15 date.

Who else is in?

After my long run yesterday, I figured I shouldn't run again today, so I went for a bike ride instead (yes, a bike ride on a real bike, outside and everything!)

I took my Trek out for an hour-long spin, riding over the I-90 bridge from Bellevue to Mercer Island, about twelve miles in all. It wasn't a particularly long ride, but it's pretty hilly.

So, it turns out that hills matter. This is obvious, but especially so when you're at the bottom of a big hill. After my first ride, which was twenty miles, I figured twelve would be easy. Well, that first ride was flat; today's wasn't. As I rode down this huge, mile-long hill (Eastgate Way) on the way to the bridge, I thought to myself, "Self, this is going to suck coming back up." And so it did.

I have a lot more strength training to do. My legs are a wreck now between the run and the ride. I was thinking about doing the Chilly Hilly ride next month, but now I'm not so sure.

Still, it was great to get outside and the ride felt good, feelings of near death notwithstanding. I may learn to like riding yet...

I did my first run over an hour today (1:02:43 to be exact.) This worked out to be 6.18 miles, easily my longest distance as well. The previous longest run/distance was around :40 minutes/3.5 miles. Average pace works out to be a little over ten minutes a mile -- not too bad for me.

I was afraid that boredom would be an issue, but I had tunes, which seemed to alleviate most of those concerns. I also ran with a water bottle in a hip carrier (first time I've need to carry water.) The weight and the sloshing didn't bug me.

I felt strong through the whole run, even sprinting up to a blistering (for me) 6:20 pace for the last .2 mile. I wasn't sure I could go for an hour/six miles, so I'm actually kind of proud of myself for getting this done. Hopefully, my shins won't fall apart now...

I did my first swim/bike brick yesterday; this is a swim workout followed by a bike ride. I did a pretty intense swim. My main set was 400m, 200m, 100m, and 50m at my fastest pace (albeit with a lot of rest in between). I haven't swum that fast for a long time.

I had a few moments of "flow", the semi-nirvana state of everything working right; my stroke felt fast and efficient and my turns were crisp. Inevitably, my arms would get tired and my lungs would ache, disappating the "flow". I'm still a lot slower than I was during my high school swimming days, still, the swim felt good.

When I went to the locker room to change for the biking, I found myself a little dazed. I made a bunch of big mistakes like putting my biking pants on backwards and then my shirt on inside-out. I had a hard time concentrating. I had read about the difficulties people have during their transitions in triathlons, but this was my first real experience.

Once I got on the bike (a stationery spinning bike, actually), I found my legs didn't work quite right and everything seemed harder than normal. I don't normally start my rides already tired, so I suppose this is to be expected. After a few minutes, things settled in, and I felt OK. Watching TV (Seahawks game highlights -- go Hawks! -- and the first part of Total Recall) helped pass the time. I threw in a bit of weight lifting afterwards for good measure.

I wasn't sure I could swim for 30min and ride for 60 so it felt good to finish it without feeling like I needed to die. Those will be longer than the times I need to sustain for a sprint triathlon. I just need to be able to run 5K after doing the swim and bike... And I definitely need to practice transitions.

To start off the new year right, Bruce, Malcolm, and I ran in the Resolution Run 5K at Magnuson Park, an old naval air station here in Seattle on Lake Washington. It was reasonably warm for January in Seattle (high 40's) with no rain, but it was bit windy -- in our face for the outbound leg. The course was flat (a nice change), so there was really no excuse for a slow race (other than being fat, old, and slow with aching shins).

Bruce and I both ran personal bests today. I finally crashed through the 27 minute barrier, running 26:35 (actually 26:24 if you subtract the 11 seconds it took to get from where I started to the starting line.) I felt pretty good through the whole race, although my average pulse is still higher than I'd like (183 actual).

This was Malcolm's first run with us and his first 5K in a long time; he came in all humble thinking he'd run nine minute miles and wound up crushing me by 20-30 seconds. Sandbagger.

We skipped the optional "trip-n-dip" into Lake Washington at the end. The 47 degree water didn't sound very inviting. The beer and chili afterwards, however, was very nice. All-in-all, it was a great start to 2006.

I'm laying out my goals for 2006 now and will post them here shortly. I think they will include a sprint triathlon, the STP (Seattle-to-Portland bike race - 200 some odd miles over one or two days), and a bunch more running races. I may move up to 8K and 10K races; I'm not sure if I really want to push for a half-marathon. We'll see.

Click for a larger view of the route. Ignore the finishing time. Not sure why it's so much shorter. Cool image generated by SportTracks.