doh
I sold my Wahoo and started riding my Marlin around, especially since the weather’s so nice these days. I got winded getting to school along a 1-mile or so ride. Oops. Time to hit the gym. *sigh*
Conjured Activism
conquering the world one oxymoron at a timeArchive for fitness
danskin pictures
I don’t look like I’m trying that hard in the bike picture. I also don’t look very happy to be crossing the finish line, but the cameraman did capture me in a moment of levitation.
LeMond du monde
Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond came to meet and greet people at the International Bike Center in Newton yesterday. So like the true bikers that we are (yeah right), we drove all the way out there in rush hour traffic worsened by a game at Fenway, just to shake his hand. He was such an incredibly nice guy. Jack said that Lance Armstrong is actually a big jerk, so we joked about telling LeMond, “Man, you’re so much nicer than Lance!” But we thought that may have been a tad inappropriate.
We do now each have Greg LeMond posters signed by the legend himself :)
me, obrad, greg, danilo, jack (we’re such groupies)
Jack being stupid with a chain lock
Danskin Tri
Well, we finished!! :) Here are the three of us after the race. Sarah and Kristen look genuinely happy; I look like I’m trying too hard not to look exhausted.
The swim was shorter than half-mile, and I had people slithering around me the whole way because the course was too short to separate people out completely. The end of the swim was still a good quarter/third mile to the transition area where our bikes were, so we all had to run on sand/gravel barefoot to our bikes after the run. Surprisingly, running with bike cleats wasn’t all that bad, especially after the whole barefoot gravel ordeal, and also because I no longer cared about clunking and wearing down my cleats.
There was a long stretch of NASTY hills (a mile or two?) in the middle of the bike. I pushed myself enough to make it up all of them, mainly by repeating “I didn’t come all this way to walk my damn bike up a hill.” Too bad I couldn’t similarly motivate myself on the run. I definitely walked for bits and pieces of the run, not really because I was completely exhausted, but really because I just didn’t feel like pushing myself that hard.
I did have a crash on my bike, right before the dismount during bike/run transition. The girl in front of me dismounted early, and I swerved, lost my balance, and couldn’t clip out of my pedals before I hit the pavement. There were many gasps in the audience because I’m sure the crash looked pretty bad; I slid a couple of feet after I hit the pavement, and I have the road rash to show for it. Lucky me, I picked the most spectator-populated stretch to crash. Nothing major was hurt besides my pride perhaps. My bike was fine, so I hopped up from the ground immediately and started running my bike back to the racks. The audience clapped for me; that was cool :)
So the end result:
Overall rank - 675 of 1981
Age group rank - 34 of 81
Final time - 1:36:12
I’m happy. Not competitive fast, but I finished! Yay!
More pictures are coming, and there were official race pictures that the Danskin people took too that we are all waiting on.
bike frenzy
Summer time makes me want to try something new, and I want to take up mountain biking this summer, at least get through some beginner basics. As such, I am currently on the market for an entry-level mountain bike. I love my Wahoo which replaced my Tarpon, but the extra-small frame is simply too small. I went to Belmont Wheelworks yesterday and test-rode a 2006 Gary Fisher Wahoo (what can I say? I am a brand-loyalist, andwahoos have a particularly special sentiment in my heart - an intelligent fish that can drink twice its weight in liquid substances, usually water :).
Anyway, back to mountain bikes. I fell in love with that 2006 Gary Fisher Wahoo at Wheelworks, and it is definitely still within my price range. I am still scouring craigslist, and there are a couple of leads. I prefer to buy a couple of years used because $300-400 will buy me a better bike (either Marlin or dare I dream for a Tassajara?). If no good leads come through though, I have my eyes set on that Wheelworks Wahoo I saw with the Metallic Black paint job in Belmont.
After I get the bike will come the shopping for clipless pedals … and then we will be in business
the triathlon diaries begin again
First day in the pool for serious in a long time. 500m time: 11:36. Yikes!!! That is 2 whole minutes slower than last summer. Maybe I was having an off day. I wanted to do 1k, but I was exhausted after 500, and I was going so slowly. Ugh, there is a lot of work to be done before Danskin at the end of July. The workout plan is as follows:
MWF: morning swim
TuSa: morning run
ThSu: morning ride
MWF: afternoon/evening weight room if time allows
This year, in addition to the physical exercise, I am also going to pay particularly close attention to what I eat. Lately, I feel that I have been eating to finish off the plate, and not eating to feel satisfied. Since my major leg injury this past winter made me rather immobile for a month or so, I did not do much besides sit, eat junk food, sleep, and watch TV. I need to get out of that habit, start working out, and eat until satisfaction and save what is on the plate for a later meal.
Stalking the stalkers
Yesterday, someone googled “triathlon boston 2005 results shan wu.” They live in Ashdown, on-campus grad housing at MIT. Specific identity? Unknown. I’m flattered; I really am.
If any of you ARE interested in the triathlon results, see Boston Triathlon 2005 results. Do Ctrl-F “Wu” to find me. We technically got disqualified, but it was only because our runner was so fast, that the race officials didn’t believe our times.
triathlon diaries continued …
With about a week to go until our triathlon, here is my current condition:
- 500m swim time: 9:33 minutes. This time is a WHOLE minute faster than about a month ago! This also means that I am averaging <2:00 per 100 meters.
- bike average speed: 17 mph. This speed is sustainable, and includes hills, whereas I could barely keep this speed on the flat minuteman 1.5 months ago.
- run average distance: 2 miles. Running still remains my weakest. However, now I can confidently run 2 miles at a pace of ~8.5 min/mile. At the beginning of the summer, I could only run 5 minutes at a time.
So the progress is good. I feel okay going into this triathlon. There is DEFINITELY room for improvement, but I feel like I have already come a long long way this summer. The rest will be harder as the slope for improvement increases in steepness … but we’ll just have to take one day at a time.
workout schedule
Sundays: AM run
Mondays: AM swim, PM chest+arms workout
Tuesdays: AM bike, PM volleyball
Wednesdays: AM swim, PM legs workout
Thursday: AM swim
Friday: AM run, PM back workout
Saturday: AM bike
Everyday: Abs workout
the triathlon diaries
For the first time since I really started working out this summer, I feel absolutely exhausted. I think it is not entirely physical exhaustion as it is more sleep deprivation. Despite waking up at 7am or earlier every weekday morning, I still only go to bed around 1am or later. This level of exercise must be met by a similar level of rest, which means 7-8 hours of sleep every night, which I have not been getting. I think the lack of sleep has finally caught up to me this week.
Aside from that, I feel really pretty spectacular about my fitness level right now. I honestly think that this is the most fit that I have ever been. Back when my mom used to make me swim 1000 meters every day at the pool, I was fit, but I could only swim breaststroke at a pretty moderate pace. No running, no nothing. High school was a bit different in that I was playing basketball and doing a little bit of swimming, but never at the intensity that I am doing now.
This morning, I did a few 100m time trials at the pool, and completely shocked myself. Just yesterday, I was telling my friend Kristen that I would be happy if I could bring my 100m time below 2 minutes. My fastest 100m this morning was 1:41, and this is after only about 3 weeks of swimming regularly with no coach. It made me pretty happy thinking that with this as a starting point, I can improve my stroke efficiency with a coach this fall and hopefully get to a point where I can keep a 1:50/100m pace for 500-1000m.
On the cycling front, 12 miles for the sprint distance should be no problem at all. I need to focus on training to keep my cadence high, especially when I am already very tired.
And finally running, my weakest. I have come to realize that running is mentally challenging for me. First off, I have this mental barrier that I can’t run more than a mile, and second, I just can’t push myself as hard in running as I can cycling or swimming. I give up much more easily running than I do the other two sports.
With that said, Hector and I ran about 2 miles yesterday morning at a 10min/mile pace. That for me is such an accomplishment, even though I felt that I was holding him back. What is even more amazing is the fact that I ran those 2 miles cold. The last time I ran was about 3-4 weeks ago, and then I could barely complete 1 mile. What made the difference? I serioulsy think that my endurance (lung & cardiovascular capacity) has significantly improved over the past month due to the regular swimming. That makes me pretty happy because I enjoy swimming a whole lot more than running, so even as I dodge running to go swim, I can feel that I am still remotely contributing to my running fitness.
The ultimate short(er)-term goal is the Boston Triathlon on Labor Day. Hector, Phil, and I plan to do a relay, though I think that I am ready to do the whole sprint distance by myself. Never in a million years would I have ever imagined myself ready for a triathlon at this point in my life.