NPR, Baseball & Brazilian Beats

Fun Fri. evening last night courtesy of Mark. 

Started with a tour of NPR - awesome for a long time NPR listener. Icing on the cake - watched a few minutes of the All Things Considered broadcast in progress.

Closed with a Nationals v Cards game on a comfortable 80F or so night, complete with NPR logo'd hat and souvenier baseball.

Planned Saturday hike turned into an afternoon at Columbia Heights Day.  Sort of a county fair day for the community. Live music.  Food and drink. Kid games. Petting zoo, where the camel and llama (I think) were popular.  Not the greatest pics.  I know, should've bulldozed thru the kids to get nose-to-nose, or camera-to-nose, with the animals.

And an impressive display of drumming. Crowd sources tell me it's Brazilian style.



Gas - $2.59 (yes) for the cheap stuff at one station.

Birthday, Baseball, Summer stuff.

Sunset after a storm.

The birthday dude and the veggie chef.  

Awesome people.  

A world full of folks like them would be a better place.

 Ireland trip a few years ago.

Half marathon in the park, also a few years ago.

(What? You want current stuff? Over here.)


I had a chance to volunteer for race support at the Achieve Kids Tri summer camp race day event.  Some amazing young athletes.  I served as a lap counter and personal race assistant for one racer.

The press showed up.  

Why are the cameras not trained on moi?

Oh. Him. Mayor Fenty giving pre-race talk.

Prep for the start of the 100meter swim.

10 laps on the bike.

And, the run.

Finish line arch.

 

 Nothing like a post-race smile.

 Theodore and Abraham joined us at the Nat's game 8-1-10.

Where I'll be sitting (and working!) M-Th for ... weeks? months?

Sitting in a cafe in Tuscany. 

Not.  

Firehook bakery rear patio, Connecticut Ave., NW DC. 

My new favorite coffee ride destination.

A New Local Tri for 2010

There's a new tri in town this Spring.  The Washington, D.C. Triathlon with Sprint and Olympic distance options was just announced.

(Note: there is another new event in October on the Columbia Tri course out in Ellicott City, MD. The Half Full Triathlon - .9mi, 56mi, 13.1mi.  Very appealing distances for a crap swimmer like me.  A definite maybe, October is a long way off.)

I hope the DC Triathlon is a success and an annual staple race on the local calendar.  Tough economic times to put on a new event.  I don't plan to enter this one, at least not this year.  The DC Tri Club will be providing volunteer support, so that may be the way I show my tri love.

Why not race it?  More cons than pros, for me.  If I were from out of town this would be a tempting destination/vacation race, the chance to race around the monuments would probably trump all the negatives.

• June date = good
• Sprint and Oly options = good
• Riding on closed roads in the nation'c cap = rare gift
• Early start. 5:30a for the Sprint, 6:30a for the Oly. Damn. = call it a push
• Sleep in my own bed (no hotel $) and enjoy a short drive on race morning = very nice 
• Must travel to and from the transition area at least twice -once Saturday to rack the bike and again Sunday for the race.
• Packet pickup is Fri. or Sat. only, no race day, so add that trip too.
• Loop course = meh
• Lots of turns on the bike course = double meh
• 1.5-2mi distance from finish line back to transition = hot steaming grande of meh.    The swim start and finish, and the transition area is along the river near the Lincoln Memorial, but, the race (run) finishes at 3rd and Pa Av.

And, the fee.  The cost involved with a race in downtown DC is unavoidable. It is what it is.  And, it's a fundraiser event. Not firing any arrows of blame at the RD.  But $175 is a bit of a poke in the age grouper eye ($150 off this for first 500 entrants).

It's all a bit like the 2010 Duathlon Nationals in Richmond this April but without any of the positives.  I had a poor race there in '09, but can honestly say that race is well organized.  I can also say the location stinks and the course is awful.  What would Dubya say? Fool me once...

Speaking of tri spending, Runningwarehouse.com may be my new go to for shoes.  Great prices, free 2 day shipping, free returns. Sorry RnJ.

Training:

Thur. 1-28-10

Run 55mins, ~7.3mi, 40F and windy

10min trans to Bike

 Easy trainer spin after run, 53mins

Fri. 1-29-10

Run 45mins on RC path, ~6mi, inserted 10:30 of tempo at 6:40-:45 pace.  Can't remember the last time I did anything resembling speedwork. Plan to add it to the regular mix, gradually, it's an essential ingredient for a BQ.

Core/Lift – 30mins – crunches, ball, pushups, plank, curls, etc.

Sat. 1-30-10

Run 49mins easy-steady, ~6.2mi.  Snowing!  Gorgeous.

Bike QR on the trainer a few hrs after run

62mins - warm up, steady ride, cool

Distance:             21.272 mi

                                    Min      Max     Avg

     Power:                  0           283      173      watts

     Heart Rate:         73         154      133      bpm

     Cadence:            48         98         90         rpm

     Speed:                 3.9        23.9     20.6     mph

Sun. 1-31-10

Easy day. Bike – QR trainer, 50min spin

Rested or Rusted, it's Race Time

Gotta love the cycling fans.
(pic from Feb. 2009 Tour of California)

April!? Those races entered months ago are now, gulp, here.

4/5 - Cherry Blossom 10 Miler
4/26 - Duathlon in Richmond
5/22-24 - Three days of Tri at the Triple T in OH

Just as training takes on some urgency - illness. Doh! Almost escaped the cold season untouched. Almost. Employing the unpleasant Do Nothing approach this week has successfully kept it in check and above my neck. No progression to the lungs.

I'm painting a silver lining on this sinus situation, calling it a taper for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler this Sunday. This was to be a pure, no taper, training race, a "C" race. Now it's a C race with an involuntary taper. Come Sunday the legs could be rested, or, rusted. Either way, it's a new course, so a PR is guaranteed.

Later this month: Duathlon Nationals on the 26th in Richmond, a "B/B+" level race. In a perfect world I'll manage a top 10 finish in my AG and nab a slot to the Duathlon World Champs this Fall in North Carolina. Mostly, it's a long intensity session (10K-38K-5K) going into the final prep for the Memorial Day weekend of racing the Triple T in Ohio.

The Triple T is absolutely daunting, and exciting. It's an "A "race, but it has nothing to do with a fast time or high AG placing. Simply managing the 4 races in three days and reaching the finish line Sunday afternoon is sufficient challenge.

It's been a long time since I've toed a start line unsure whether I'll make it to the finish. That's a helluva buzz. Just what I signed up for. I'm looking forward to it.

Triple T Schedule
Fri. 5/22 - 5pm - Prologue - 250meter swim; 5mi bike; 1mi run
Sat. 5/23 - 7:30a - Oly distance - 1500m swim; 24.8mi bike, 6.55mi run
Sat. 5/23 - 3pm - Oly disorder - 24.8mi bike; 1500m swim; 6.55mi run
Sun. 5/24 - 7am - Half Iron - 1.2mi swim; 55.5mi bike; 13.1mi run

Prior to the head bug hitting me this week, training has been pretty solid. A little slacking on the swim, which will change asap.

Weekly Training Time 2009
click to enlarge

My training is oh so bland compared to some. Did you catch this NYT spotlight of the young Canadian fella whose backwoods soul searcher old school ways landed him in the Beijing games and now on a pro cycling team bound for the TDF? At 18, he was riding across Canada on a $40 bike with a homemade trailer attached. In the trailer? Some camping gear and his 80lb. dog (!) named Bear. Balboa punching freezer beef and chasing chickens has nothing on Svein.

I'm going for a strong visual close here with more, um, nutty cycling fans. I like the two piece style, but the dudes...

The Borat Compression Sling.
Yeah, I ride like this. Draft me if you dare.