Weekly miles 297
Tuesday: 47 hard group ride
Wednesday: 70 tempo
Thursday: 19 easy
Friday: 40 Funk's hill repeats
Saturday: 101 endurance pace
Sunday: 20 recovery
The ride Saturday was an unexpected century. Caleb was supposed to play tennis at 1:00 and the forecast was for rain off and on. I headed out at 8:45 with the plan of riding 60 or so. At 1:00 Connie called to say tennis was cancelled. Looking at the sky I thought 100 was a possibility. I did not got very far from home and covered almost every road in western Muscatine county and some in northern Louisa. Lunch stop was at Grandview for Godfathers pizza at the C-store. I can't ever remember having pizza in the middle of a ride but it sat pretty well. This is a great option for RAW.
Friday was the first hill workout I had done in while. It as super windy and Caleb had tennis at 5:00 so my time was limited to 2 hours. Funk's hill is pretty protected so I decided to do five repeats of the hill, then go back in G28 and back out the Burlington road to the start of the hill. This loop is 3.75 miles and gives you two pretty good climbs plus the head wind out Burlington road. I wanted each climb to be faster then the previous for all 5. My times were 2:36, 2:32, 2:26, 2:19 and 2:12. The last time up the heart rate was 187. To finish the workout I went up Miller's hill (Fletcher street) on the way to the high school. Afterwards my legs felt pretty good as if I should have pushed it more.
I need at least one hard hill workout each week leading up to the race. I have attached a YouTube video of the Yarnell pass in Arizona to show why. This 8 mile climb is just out of Congress AZ on the way to Prescott AZ and comes at around the 300 miles mark of the race. Since the race starts at noon I hope to hit this part of the ride around 7-8 AM. The goal will be to get there before it gets too hot. Last year in the afternoon is was 110 at the bottom of the climb. In Prescott they had a wading pool in the shade for the rides to cool off. You will see some of the teams doing "exchanges" during the climbs. They are usally the ones going really fast. There are many You Tube videos from RAAM 2008.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
CREW Spotlight of the Week - Chris
--I (Chris) am writing this from a 15 passenger van on my way to Lubbock, TX for the Collegiate National Triathlon competition.--
I am 19 and a freshman at the Iowa State University. I am majoring in Diet and Exercise. There are probably people wondering... "Wow. Does it get any easier for a triathlete than a major in diet and exercise?" Well, to answer that there is probably some major I could have that is easier but there is nothing I enjoy more than what I am learning about. My main focus is going to be in sports nutrition and I hope to one day be either a personal nutritionist or become a nutritionist for a sports team. I think this is what I bring to the team. Even though Dad (Joe) usually knows what he needs to eat and drink, I have been doing some research on whast he really should be consuming while riding 20-22 hours each day. It might be a little different than what a lot of you probably have in mind.
One of my life passions is triathlons. I have done over 65 multisport races in the last 6 years. ISU has a triathlon club that is one of the largest and fastest growing groups on campus. Currently there are about 50 members and there are 33 of us on our way to race at Texas Tech against 1000 of the best collegiate triathletes from 100 schools from across the nation. Here are a few names you might recognize: Navy, Army, Air Force, University of Colorado, Southern California, UCLA, and our in-state rivals Drake (you see...Iowa really doesn't contest. Sorry!)
Two weeks ago (you know...the weekend of that mini-blizzard that came across the midwest?)10 of us from the ISU tri club went down to beautiful Galveston, TX to do a "warm-up" triathlon. 5 members did the sprint distance race on Saturday and 5 of us did the quarter-ironman distance race on Sunday. ISU was well represented. I ended up finishing 18th overall out of about 800 total in the quarter-iron distance (if you take out the elites it was 4th) and I won my age group. This was awesome to have my first experience in a new age group (20-24) be a win!
Another thing I think I bring to the team is I have inadvertently been practicing my long-hour driving by making numerous trips to Chicago/Milwaukee for my current job working for Jeff Castro and AccuSplit chip timing company. I am looking forward to crewing for Dad. He has trained many many hours and I cannot wait to see his dedication pay off. I am glad I get to be a part of his race.
-CHRIS
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The Big Dog 200K
Weekly miles: 304.5
Tuesday: 30 hard with group (running from Chad) Windy
Wednesday: 40 Endurance pace Windy
Thursday: 58 med with Mike, Wiford and Bill H
Friday: 30 easy Windy
Saturday: 126 Brevet 7:04 19.4 on bike avg
Sunday: 20.5 with Connie recovery Windy
The last two weeks had been pretty un-eventful until Saturday's 200K brevet in Le Claire. Chad joined Wiford and I for the ride. Chad had never ridden more then 115 but wanted to test his pain threshold. Lonnie Cook was also present wanting to put his early season fitness to the test.
A Brevet is not a race. They are very popular in Europe. It is an un-supported ride that requires getting your brevet card signed at the beginning, the end and designated spots along the route to verify you have completed the route. The check-in places (or controls) are usually located at convenience stores.
15 riders stared this group ride from Le Claire with the route heading to Bellevue and back. Much of the route was TOMRV roads that I had ridden many times. There is not many flat stretches but only a couple killer hills. We haeded out of Le Claire as a group but soon broke up after a big climb at the 3 mile mark. Chad, Wiford, Larry Ide, Dennis Grelk, a Cedar Falls rider and myself formed the "front" group. 10 miles later the Cedar Falls rider dropped back and after 40 Larry fell behind on the rolling hills. The four of us rolled into Bellevue pretty close together after 3:36 total time fighting head/cross winds with an avg of 18.7 mph.
After Lunch the four of us headed out as the second group of 8 rolled into the stop. Lonnie was with them and they had picked up Larry. For the next 20 miles they had to slow up for me at the top of the bigger climbs. I did not eat enough on the way up and was paying for it in the hills.
Chad, Wiford and I slowly pulled ahead of Dennis as we left Mcausland for the final 15 miles. The three of us rolled into town together with a total time of 7:04, with a 19.4 avg on the bike, followed by Dennis at 7:18 and then the second group (including Lonnie) at 7:41.
I was hoping there would be more riders to form the front group. I ride with Chad and Wiford all the time. I guess we could have waited for the second group but on a long ride the sooner you can get off the saddle the better. I wanted to push myself a little to see what pace I could handle for that long of a ride. I had to push a little harder then I wanted on the climbs but recovered pretty well on the flats. I drank plenty and did not cramp at all. I forgot my hammer gel flask and I could have used it on several occasions.
Next week I will be in Lubbock from Wednesday until Sunday so maybe I can get some warm weather riding.
Tuesday: 30 hard with group (running from Chad) Windy
Wednesday: 40 Endurance pace Windy
Thursday: 58 med with Mike, Wiford and Bill H
Friday: 30 easy Windy
Saturday: 126 Brevet 7:04 19.4 on bike avg
Sunday: 20.5 with Connie recovery Windy
The last two weeks had been pretty un-eventful until Saturday's 200K brevet in Le Claire. Chad joined Wiford and I for the ride. Chad had never ridden more then 115 but wanted to test his pain threshold. Lonnie Cook was also present wanting to put his early season fitness to the test.
A Brevet is not a race. They are very popular in Europe. It is an un-supported ride that requires getting your brevet card signed at the beginning, the end and designated spots along the route to verify you have completed the route. The check-in places (or controls) are usually located at convenience stores.
15 riders stared this group ride from Le Claire with the route heading to Bellevue and back. Much of the route was TOMRV roads that I had ridden many times. There is not many flat stretches but only a couple killer hills. We haeded out of Le Claire as a group but soon broke up after a big climb at the 3 mile mark. Chad, Wiford, Larry Ide, Dennis Grelk, a Cedar Falls rider and myself formed the "front" group. 10 miles later the Cedar Falls rider dropped back and after 40 Larry fell behind on the rolling hills. The four of us rolled into Bellevue pretty close together after 3:36 total time fighting head/cross winds with an avg of 18.7 mph.
After Lunch the four of us headed out as the second group of 8 rolled into the stop. Lonnie was with them and they had picked up Larry. For the next 20 miles they had to slow up for me at the top of the bigger climbs. I did not eat enough on the way up and was paying for it in the hills.
Chad, Wiford and I slowly pulled ahead of Dennis as we left Mcausland for the final 15 miles. The three of us rolled into town together with a total time of 7:04, with a 19.4 avg on the bike, followed by Dennis at 7:18 and then the second group (including Lonnie) at 7:41.
I was hoping there would be more riders to form the front group. I ride with Chad and Wiford all the time. I guess we could have waited for the second group but on a long ride the sooner you can get off the saddle the better. I wanted to push myself a little to see what pace I could handle for that long of a ride. I had to push a little harder then I wanted on the climbs but recovered pretty well on the flats. I drank plenty and did not cramp at all. I forgot my hammer gel flask and I could have used it on several occasions.
Next week I will be in Lubbock from Wednesday until Sunday so maybe I can get some warm weather riding.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Caleb is a Junior in High School at Muscatine High School. He spent his entire Spring Break this year in Quetzeltenango Guatemala. This was a Missions Trip with Calvary Church in Muscatine. The team spent many hours sanding desks for a couple of schools in the City so the schools could salvage the desks. Our high school kids also spent time playing with the children of the school. Caleb enjoys being around kids and has been very active throughout his high school years volunteering with the Kids Zone program every weekend at Church. His passion for children is incredible.
Caleb's next "training trip" is to Liberia May 14-22 as part of a missions trip. He once again gets to hang out with kids and help out at a school that our church supports. Watch for updates and photos the end of May.
Caleb brings lots of enthusiasm, energy, and creativity to the team. He looks forward to "crewing for Dad" and claims he will be a great "Pumper and Filler" (pumping up tires and filling water bottles). I'm sure he will also have a crack at updating the web site for your viewing pleasure.
Caleb's next "training trip" is to Liberia May 14-22 as part of a missions trip. He once again gets to hang out with kids and help out at a school that our church supports. Watch for updates and photos the end of May.
Caleb brings lots of enthusiasm, energy, and creativity to the team. He looks forward to "crewing for Dad" and claims he will be a great "Pumper and Filler" (pumping up tires and filling water bottles). I'm sure he will also have a crack at updating the web site for your viewing pleasure.
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