It was a pretty windy day down in Cannon Falls, but my gang all survived and did well at the Cannon Falls Duathlon:
Here are some Redneck "ALMOST" fixes (from Ebaums World):
Here are some funny "March for Science" signs from last weekend (from a picdump site, buzzfeed, and good.is). Some of these make funny points:
My family and I have done this race a lot in the past (2 mile run, 14 mile bike, 3 mile run), but it’s been 4 years since we’ve been back. We raced it with a big group of family members in 2009 which was a pretty nice year, except my brakes were rubbing for part of the bike. Then in 2010, it was pretty windy (24.3 mph average at the turn-around, 19.4 average once back at T2). In 2011, it was damp and rainy (my pregnant wife was there to cheer me on!). And finally, in 2013 we had a nearly perfect morning to race, and I set a big PR because of that.
1. Finish without getting injured. Always the first goal.
2. PR on the bike. This is partly dependent on the day, but it’s also practically a given. I’ve logged sooooo many more miles this year prior to this race than I did in past years. Unless conditions are just horse crap, I should be able to set a personal best on the bike. My Gamin said 21.2 mph in 2013, and the official results said 21.5 mph. If the wind isn't too crazy, I'd love to be a full MPH or 2 faster. (That'd be 1:45 - 3:30 faster, which is substantial.)
3. Set a race PR. In the 4 years I’ve done this race, I’ve only gotten faster: 1:18:03, 1:13:14, 1:12:56, and 1:08:56. Let’s try to keep up that tradition.
4. Place in my age group. I’ve only placed in my age group 1 out of 4 times that I’ve done this race: I’ve been 5th, 2nd, 4th, and 6th in my age group. With so much bike time recently, I really hope to place here. (But it’s been a few years since I’ve raced here, and I don’t know if their level of athletes registering for this race has changed.)
5. Crack into the top-10 overall. Again, this is more dependent on who shows up to race. Even though my race times have gotten faster (see #3 above), my overall place has hardly moved. I’ve placed 12th, 12th, 12th, and 11th overall the 4 years I’ve raced Cannon Falls.
6. Don’t set any “personal worsts” on the runs. My run splits have been a bit all over the place at this race in past years as my bike split has only gotten faster. In the first 2 mile run, I was pretty consistent the first 3 years at this race, and then I was a lot faster the last time raced in 2013: 11:32, 11:35, 11:27, and 11:04. My final 3 mile run split has been a bit more all over the place: 18:14, 17:39, 18:19, and 17:26. I’m not in the BEST running shape right now having done VERY little speedwork (and no bricks or two-a-days), so I expect that final run to be a tough one. Let’s see if I can keep my runs faster than current PWs of 11:35 and 18:19.
7. Hit 5:45 pace for the first run, and sub-6:00 for the second. That would make my last goal possible.
8. Set PRs on the run. Now I’m just dreaming. Yeah, that’s not going to happen. But here’s something to shoot for if all else is going well!
First, I tried something new. Someone named Audrey (who noted she was a year-round swimmer since age 8) commented on a post from last month where I talked about mixing up swim training. She made a good point. I thought I was mixing up my workouts by doing 100s, 200s, 500s, or ladders, but she said:
You need to do speedwork and endurance work (and tempo sets) if you want to improve. It looks to me like your ladders and 100/200 repeats are a lot of the latter and less of the former two. So for greater muscle confusion and progress, I would work on mixing in some speed with your endurance.
Do this set 3 times through:
4 x 50 descend, pick an interval with 10-15 seconds rest (I do 1:00)
5 x 100 free on 1:30-1:40 (an interval with 0-10 seconds rest)
2 x 75 back on 1:30
4 x 25 free sprint on :40
About 2 weeks ago, I shared this post that noted I had just had a PR on my "go to" bike loop. Two weeks ago, I did this loop along the Mississippi River, up Ramsey Hill, and along Summit Ave with a 21.0 mph average. My previous PR was from 2 years earlier, and it was 20.6 mph.
Well 2 days ago, I went out to do that loop again between classes. It was 39 degrees, everything was wet, and it drizzled a bit during part of the ride, so I wasn't expecting it to be fast. But I got up Ramsey Hill with a 21.4 mph average. I kept it as strong as I could into the wind down Summit Ave for the last 4 miles, and ended with a new PR: a 21.3 mph average! The ride was 0.03 miles farther than 2 weeks earlier, and 29 seconds faster.
Here are 13 funny captions for "old-timey books" from SnideOctopus on Imgur:
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