When I was down in Panama, after bailing on the run part of the race, I decided I needed to get “back on the horse” as quickly as possible. 2 races seemed possible based on location and timing: Syracuse and New Orleans. Syracuse much closer, but really badly timed with respect to my full Ironman Mont Tremblant race in August. New Orleans, much better timed in mid April, but much further away and, as a result, more costly.
I’d talked to Kim about it and resigning myself to closer and poorly timed, I went ahead and registered for IM70.3 Syracuse… or so I thought.
Turns out the net in Panama was flakey enough that my registration never actually made it into active.com. Pain in the butt, but all is not lost!
Today, Kim and I visited with my folks, who said that, provided they can get travel insurance post my dad’s recent bout with GBS, they’d come to New Orleans with us! So now, New Orleans may be looking possible!
I’m cautiously getting excited about this possibility. Clearly there’s a lot of leg work to get done: dog kennel, flights, accommodations, vacation time from work, etc. Nothing that isn’t pretty easily managed but 1st things 1st. See if my folks can get insurance and confirm I can get the time away from work. Those are definitely the largest hurdles, neither I expect to be issues. Once they’re out of the way, then it’s a big green light for IMNOLA and I’m ONE HAPPY CAMPER!
Rode a new road today, no speed bumps on this one and closer to home. It’s a nice road, a little narrow, but not heavily trafficked and with very few potholes. It climbs from the highway up into the nearby mountains.
No, I didn’t go bike mountain climbing today, that’s not what a taper is made of, but I did ride down and up the foothills… twice. The 1st time down was lotsa fun! Fast! Oh my fast. The 2nd time, I got stuck behind a tractor trailer pulling a massive backhoe and belching black diesel death clouds as it went. Course, I still had to do the climb, but didn’t get the super-fun of the descent. Oh well 🙂
I rode with the GoPro again, some nice scenery on this ride and the camera angle is a bit better. I’m uploading now, but it says 5 hrs to go (yea not great bandwidth down here). I’ll post a followup with the youtube link when its done (probably in the morning).
Some things I’ve found about the Torhans 30oz system that I have:
the lids need a way to secure them to the bottle or straw in case they pop off the top (yea it happened today, check the video)
the straw needs a bite valve – until the fluid level is down 50% you risk wearing a spray of your hydration whenever you take a drink
the aero cowling on the straw needs a dab of glue to stay on the bottle
don’t fill it until you’re planning to immediately put it on the bike (or fill it after you install it) because there’s no way to stand it up
(but with all these “issues”…) having a straw in my face is way more efficient and probable way to for me to onboard hydration. I’m using the Torhans for fuel and the speedfil for water. I’ll probably put about 800 calories in the Torhans and have a bottle behind my saddle with another similar 800 calorie bottle to refill the Torhans with.
Did some speed work in the pool today. Didn’t get to swimming until later in the day and the ocean was crazy, the pool was definitely a winner. Had it to myself and it was easy to judge sprint lengths, etc.
Mid-day today was groomin’ time. Went in and got plucked like a Christmas Goose. I’m now all smooth, aero and hydro-dynamic. LOL. No really… I felt smoother and “slicker” in the water tonight. Maybe its psychosomatic, but I’ll take every edge I can get 😉 Today was also the day that I had planned and scheduled my toe nail trim.
I scheduled my toe nail trim?! You bet! Ever trim your nails a bit too close and have a tender toe for days? Ok, imagine having that tender toe, trapped in a cycling shoe, or running shoe for hours. Not fun? You bet! So, what do you do? You trim your nails early so that on race day, if you were too aggressive, you’re not suffering. Yea this is me leaving little to chance. But hey! Be prepared, eh? 🙂
Posted on Feb 04, 2012 under Chuckles, etc... | Comments are off
As promissed, here’s the vid of yesterday’s bike ride.
Today’s swim was much like yesterday’s: open water, fighting chop and wind on the way out, faster and easier on the way back. Life was pretty grand until I swam straight into a jellyfish! At first I thought I’d hit a piece of seaweed, and then my arm lit up. That was no seaweed, that was a fully jellyfish!! Fortunately not a Portuguese Man-O-War 🙂
Anyhow, other than my arm feeling like I’d slept in a bed of stinging nettles for about 2hrs it was all good.
Posted on Feb 04, 2012 under etc..., Raves | Comments are off
I’ve been here for a few days and have done some training, hit the grocery, and visited with my friends, Richard and Jamuna, but haven’t really been out exploring yet. Tomorrow I’ll be in Panama City for a 10k race in the morning and take in some of the city sites and sounds in the afternoon.
What I have seen of Panama, I’ve really liked. The people are friendly and industrious. The economy is booming, signs of crazy growth are everywhere, but the cost of living is still pretty low. Best, for me, is the climate. Sunny, warm, breezy, a bit humid but manageable. So far, absolutely loving my stay here.
I’ll post more “Impressions of Panama” toward the end of the trip as I have a chance to see, do, and experience more of what Panama has to offer.
Heat acclimatization has been going well. Swam in the ocean yesterday at the beach off Playa Coronado (where I’m staying). Here’s a youtube vid of the beach:
I’m back there today and pretty much daily until Friday.
Yesterday I did another training ride out to Punta Chame along a country road. It’s a nice ride and cranking along on the bike you don’t feel the heat or humidity. I wore a GoPro camera as a helmet cam and shot the ride, unfortunately the camera’s angle is a bit low so the scenery isn’t as well depicted as I’d like. I edited the 1.5 hrs down to about 12 minutes. I’ll post the youtube link once it’s finished uploading.
This morning I did my 1st shakeout run since arriving. Just a quick 30 minute run. I went early in the day (8am) and OH MY GOD! Heat management during tomorrow’s 10k and the 12th’s 20k is going to be SUPER important. I was a bit surprised, having been misled by the cooling effect of the wind while cycling, just how hot it was. Sponges, hydration and nutrition are going to be key on both Sundays.
I’ve also had a chance to do a shakeout of the Sportiiiis. I took them on yesterday’s bike ride and this morning’s run.
On the bike, I had it monitoring primarily my power and during my quick run this morning, pulse. Just a teaser for now, more detailed review to come, but quckly: ME LIKEY! This device is everything it’s promised to be. It seems to work very well and is quite configurable (I need to spend some time, having now used it a bit, to tweak it more to my liking). Like I said, just a teaser for now. Stay tuned.
Posted on Feb 02, 2012 under etc... | Comments are off
Today was my 1st day of training in Panama. Oh my it was wonderful!
The focus today was really to just burn off yesterday’s travel and to start, for real, my heat/humidity acclimatization. I have been doing regular steam bath sessions in Toronto, but being surrounded by, and exercising in, inescapable heat/humidity is pretty different. Fortunately we are very adaptable creatures and I have 9 more days to get my body primed for the 12th.
Today’s shakeout was an easy swim for 45 minutes and an easy ride for ah hour.
Did the swim in the Playa Coronado pool, a 32 meter pool that was completely empty except for Richard and I (awesome!)
Did the bike ride, starting about 4pm, on a nice quiet country road not far from their place with quiet rolling hills, a few chickens, and some dogs. Fortunately most of the dogs weren’t interested in lending chase, but of course there were 2 that decided chasing a bike would be fun. I barked at them and they gave up though, so it was ok. Having real road under my wheels and the tropical breeze in my face today was absolutely amazing. After months on the computrainer in my pain-cave with fans blowing on me, it was just so nice to be in a real™ environment. 🙂
The weather here is roughly the same as Toronto in August. Yea it’s warm, and humid, but there seems to be a persistent breeze and it’s all pretty easy to take. I have to tell you, I’ll take this over February in Toronto ANY DAY!
The only glitch today was that my Garmin910xt just shut itself off about 60% of the way through my ride and then couldn’t re-establish GPS lock… it was odd. Gonna have to keep an eye on that over the next few days. Brought my 310 as a backup (yea I know – freaking boy scout), but hopefully I won’t need it.
Tomorrow’s a 1:20 ride. Gonna try to do it during a little warmer part of the day and also going to try to use the sportiiiis to give them a shakeout ride. Should be fun. Stay tuned 🙂
Posted on Feb 02, 2012 under etc... | Comments are off
Hydration! So key when traveling, especially so when traveling by air. In my short 2 hr flight from YYZ->EWR I pounded back 2L of water (and 1 Nuun electrolyte tab) and I’m STILL THIRSTY! Worse than that I feel dry. Ah well… I had 3 hrs in EWR to cool my heels, hydrate, eat, stretch, walk about and write.
I’m writing this from the long leg of the journey: 5 hrs from EWR to Panama (PTY). It’s gonna be a whole lotta no fun. Hopefully I sleep a lot of it away. That’s my plan anyhow 🙂
So new products? Oh yea 🙂
So I have one of these with me, to train with for the next 10 days, and hopefully race with on the 12th. The other stayed home and will get reviewed when I return.
Item 1: From 4iiii.com the Sportiiiis.
These are such a great product. I fell in love with them when I first read about them at CES last year. Sportiiiis are a device that attach to your sunglasses arm and position a heads-up-display of programmable LED lights just barely in your field of view at the bottom of your sunglasses. You program the LEDs to light in different colours based on ANT+ data received from power meters, heart rate monitors, and cadence sensors. With some setup this means you never have to look at your training watch during an event or training. In fact, if you aren’t concerned with collecting and reviewing data, you don’t even need a watch!
I had this idea years ago, but had no idea how to get it to market. I’m so glad that 4iiiis did what I wasn’t able to, to be in their beta program and to be testing and reviewing this product.
Item 2: Finis Positive Propulsion Fins
These fins look… well funny, but because of their design they are billed as useful training aides for all swim strokes. I swam 50m in them on Tuesday just to give them a super-quick test and from my very early first impressions, I can say they definitely seem to work as promised. Further, the design is said to supinate the foot a bit to get a better propulsive kick, which I noticed. Finally, the design is a “foot pocket/heal strap” design rather than a moulded full-foot design. I found this design much more comfortable.
I’ll be working up a full comparative Zoomers vs Propulsion fins review. Once I’m back from Panama.
I’m writing this entry during my YYZ->EWR (New Jersey) flight, the 2nd leg of my 4 leg journey today.
1st leg was home->YYZ which was pretty flawless. Driver showed up early, and helped Kim and I load all my gear. Said “Bye” to the dogs. Had a nice, cheery (no tears) g’bye moment with Kim was away. At Pierson I picked up one of the luggage carts and managed to sherpa myself to the checkin.
At checkin I was told that my kit box was 5 lbs TOO HEAVY. Fortunately my carry-on was well underweight, so I moved my case of Clif Builder bars and tub of EFS Sport Drink (Grape flavour in case you were curious) to my carry-on and all was good. $225 in baggage, and bike handling fees (expected and not crazy – only $50 extra handling fee for the bike).
After checkin I got to whiz thru immigration thanks to my Nexus pass. I loaded all my checked baggage onto the oversize conveyor and with a tear and a wave sent my bike to parts unknown. Parts unknown that is, hopefully ended in Panama, intact and complete, with me tonight at 10pm 😉
Then off to security theatre. I truly question the value that this “service” offers, but if it keeps the sheeple flying because it makes them feel safe, ok.. whatever. Today it was a breeze, no line, friendly competent staff, in and out faster than I could doff and don my shoes (and they have speed laces)!
Next stop Starbucks and currency exchange. Starbucks for a decaf Americano (yea there’s a little caffeine in it, I know, but its going to be a long day, so shoot me!) and to the currency exchange to have some US$ in my pocket for misc expenses, groceries in Panama, etc.
1st glitch (and hopefully only one) of the trip… I try to take out funds and the ATM tells me my card has been cancelled. WTF?!!! So I’m on the phone to the bank, on hold, waiting, transferred, waiting more, security questions, transaction history questions, et voila! Card fixed. (Phew!) Seems that my attempt to withdrawal a larger than normal amount of money in the airport tripped their loss prevention systems and locked down my account. On one hand, awesome that they’re so efficient, on the other hand – AAAAH STRESS!!!! At least dealing with that helped pass the time at YYZ. 🙂
A little while sitting in the boarding area waiting to board, consuming some of the free airport wifi (thanks Boingo and Rogers) and here I am. Sitting in 15A, looking out the window at the sea of cotton-batton. Just woke from a power nap. Life’s pretty rough.
More from EWR… I have two new products that I’m going to be reviewing that literally just arrived as I was packing yesterday. I’ve had almost no time to even look at them. But I’ll tip my hand a bit and show you what’s “coming soon”.
Oh my goodness, I’ll be happy to be out of this plane and stretch my legs a bit. Wonder if I’d get strange looks doing a yoga routine on the floor of the waiting area in the airport. I doubt I’d be the 1st 🙂
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