As Seen At Work

Next Tuesday, Garmin is hosting a triathlon class where people can get tips about triathlons. This is great in concept, but there was a little glitch in execution that got me. You see, for the poster, they decided to use the following photo.



That's me on the end, half shirtless and dorky pose. This has been circulated all around the building, and now plays on our announcement video screens next to the elevators. Tuesday can't come fast enough.

In other news, doing both triathlon training and master's swimming is kicking my ass. I'm both exhausted and hungry all the time. Beyond that, it's totally great. I'm also the Foursquare mayor of my gym!

Joined A Gym!

Once upon a time (circa 2001) I belonged to a fancy gym. It had personal trainers, racquetball courts, smoothie bars, and all sorts of other perks. Alas, once I moved back to Kansas, I gave up these things, as I didn't have a job that I could afford it anymore.

Well, it's 2011, and I'm back baby.

It's been a month since I signed up at the new fancy gym, and I've already forgotten how I ever lived without it. They have an indoor running track, weights, racquetball, swimming, smoothie bar (what can I say - I like the smoothies), and all the other perks, and I love it. I've signed up for two classes; a triathlon class and a masters swim class. I start the masters swim class tomorrow, and I'm very excited!

KCCC 2010 Swim Meet Highlights

Last one, I promise. Here's a video I did of all the participants from the team.

KCCC Swim Meet 2010

When I first started training for triathlons, I swam with some masters groups, but it was always in the slow lane. With triathlons you focus on swimming long distances, while swimmers focus on swimming short distances quickly. I find a very close parallel between sprinters and marathon runners; while both technically run, how they run is so different that they can't relate to each other. My swimming is all about the long haul, and usually I would never participate in a swim meet.

The one exception is the Kansas City Corporate Challenge, or as I call it, the "nerd-lypics". The corporate challenge is an athletic competition between companies of Kansas City. The events are spread out across a month and include everything from track and field to pool and darts. Companies are split into divisions based on their size, and points from the individual events contribute to your company's total. Individuals also compete against their age groups (grouped by 20-29, 30-39, etc) which evens the playing field as well. You get a broad range of participants, from those who are incredibly good to those who are trying for the first time. The corporate challenge is incredibly inviting. Where I work we often are low on swimmers in my age group and doing triathlon's qualifies me as a swimmer. I end up swimming a lot of events I would never do otherwise.



The swim meet was Monday through Thursday, and I had events Tuesday through Thursday.

• Tuesday - 100 IM
• Wednesday - 50 Freestyle
• Thursday - 50 Backstroke, 50 Butterfly

Since I never focus on sprinting, I'm at a disadvantage in all these events. I'm pretty good at freestyle, surprisingly not bad at backstroke, terrible at breast stroke, and painful to watch in butterfly. Those in the know will notice these distances are pretty short, and they'd be right - this is the nerd-lympics after all, not the Olympics.



The individual medley, or IM, is a combination of four strokes - butterfly, backstroke, breath stroke, and then anything that isn't the previous three. Here is some instruction on how it's done correctly.



For me, it was pretty painful, because two of the four strokes I really struggle with. I had an advantage with butterfly because the dive start meant I didn't have to start swimming until I was halfway down the lane, but on the breath stroke I didn't get nearly enough push off the wall. I was pretty happy with my 50 freestyle. Of the events it is the most competitive, because anyone can swim it. I came in with a personal best of 33 seconds which I was really happy with. I think my 50 backstroke went fairly well, but my 50 butterfly was just painful. If you watch, you'll see that I'm not getting much of anything out of my lower body; it's just my upper body pulling me through the water. I'm less of a racecar than a tow truck pulling a race car.



Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this years meet. As stated before I'm not a swimmer, but I don't mind I'm pretending I am one for the team.

KCCC Triathlon 2010

See GPS results of the swim, bike, and run, or see full results. Many thanks to Josh Eklund for his videography of the event.

Getting into Cycling - Part 1

I have a confession: I don't like cycling. It's a bias that has built up over a few years, but it all roots back to a few years ago when I purchased a road bike because I wanted to get into triathlons and I knew my mountain bike would not cut it. I saw that there was a bike club that met on weekends, and I went on a Saturday morning to see if I could learn some tips. The ride started at Broken Arrow park and went to Lone Star lake. We started and voom!! they were gone. There I was, biking alone on roads I never drive wondering where I was and possessing zero sense of direction. When I got back, I was told "Yeah, sorry, most of these guys only get one day a week to ride and they're not going to waste their time on a newbie."

Of the sports I've done, cycling is the only one that seems to have a class system. Cycling is one of the few sports that you can get massive improvement from equipment upgrades. Running shoes and swimming body suits can be expensive, but you get far more speed from technique than you do from the latest Nike's. However, a carbon fiber bike is much lighter than a aluminum bike, but is also about $1500(!) more expensive. Racing tires can be $500 a tire. A fully equipped racing bike can cost in the $4000 range. With that much money being spent, there are haves and have nots, and in most cases expect to be in the have nots.

It can also be hard to learn the important tips. Runners are all to ready, often to a fault, to tell someone new tips to get started, what works best for them, what their diet is, how many K they ran this week... honestly, if you get a runner talking they'll never shut up, but they want to help new people out. I've swam in morning master swim classes that meet at 5 am and have a lane specifically for new people. Cross country skiers are some of the nicest people you will ever meet, though I suspect that is partially because you cross country ski in Minnesota, Canada and other incredibly nice areas. But cyclists? Assholes. Okay, that's unfair. Cyclists can be very nice; I've just been passed by so many during triathlons that I'm bitter.

All that been said, I am coming around on the sport. Over the winter I used an exerbike to try to get my legs in shape for this year. I had my bike tuned up, and it's made a world of difference. I'm beginning to enjoy longer and longer bike rides, and now that I have a Forerunner I can actually watch myself improve. I'm not great, and when someone on a carbon bike with zipp wheels making that "zzzzz, zzzzz, zzzzz" noise passes me I get frustrated.

So, with all that, where to start? It all depends on what you're looking to do.

1. If you want use a bike to get around town, get some exercise on paved trails, and ride around a city, a hybrid bike might be your best bet. These bikes have wider wheels than road bikes but are less rugged than mountain bikes, making them ideal for city riding. Be prepared to spend in the $600 for a solid, high quality bike.
   
2. If you want to take your bike off road, you'll need a mountain bike. These have fat wheels on front and back, usually have a front shock, and are designed to take a beating. While they're heavier than hybrid or road bikes, they still can handle city riding. My starter mountain bike was in the $400 range, and it still works well.
   
3. If you plan to participate in triathlons or bike races, or plan to ride for more than an hour on a workout, you'll want a road bike. Road bikes are designed to be light and fast. While they're sturdy, you don't want to abuse them as you can easily break or bend components. In this category the sky is the limit, but I got my starter for about $900.

Find the nearest bike shops and shop around, and don't be afraid to ask questions. You might mistake the salesmen at bike stores with hippies, but don't be fooled; they know what they're talking about and they can put a good pitch in for spending $1000. Most bike shops usually only specialize in one or two brands of bicycles, so to really compare your options you'll need to look go to many bike shops. As far as bike vendors, Giant and Trek are great and their websites are good resources to learn what you're looking for. Be sure to talk to the store owners and have them figure out what size of bike you're looking for (as opposed to a "professional fitting" which can cost hundreds of dollars). Usually bike stores have pamphlets of the trails around you. With road bikes the entire street network is your trail, but you'll be riding the roads with cars. Many state parks have off road trails to ride also.

I'm going to follow this up with two more posts - one for getting started in road biking, and another for getting started in mountain biking. They're so different I think they deserve coverage. Until then - happy shopping!

Swim Caps

I was cleaning out some of my gym bags this morning when I stumbled across this



The reason this is special is that I've only ever bought one swim cap which is the one on the right. All of the others are the ones they give you in your packet for triathlons. For those who don't know, swim caps are used in triathlons to mark which wave you are swimming in. When you are all just a bunch of athletes in swim gear, the swim cap is the only identifier you have to know your group.

The first triathlon I did was the KC Corporate Challenge Triathlon in 2005. Having never done one, I worked very hard so I could fill one of my employer's two slots for the 25-30 age group. Since then I've moved into the 30-35 age group, had some good years, and some bad years. This was a nice visual reminder of all the work I've been doing. I hope it's been worth it.