244 Flippin’ Times

1) As I headed out this morning to run I had to make a game-time decision to not run my usual 20-miler.  This made me a sad panda.  Instead I bumbled to the pool and ended up doing 6,100 yards continuously  This resulted in 244 flip turns.  243 of which were completed with some degree of success.  One resulted in surfacing directly into/under the lane line, which was less than elegant.  I enjoy long-continuous swims, but I don’t know why given I don’t particularly enjoy indoor pool swimming.  This swim puts me at 17,600 yards for the week, which I’m happy panda about.  So…why was I swimming instead of running?

2) Well, that’d be because I can’t exactly walk.  My calves are incredibly sore. You know how you feel after a marathon where you waddle everywhere?  Well, that’s me.  So how’d that happen?

3) I had two track sessions on Thursday.  Yes.  Two.  One was a technique session with the coach, and the second was a regular session.  The first one is actually what left me so sore.  We changed a few things with my running stride – not significantly actually,  very minor.  But that resulted in using some portion of my calves that I apparently have not entertained previously.  And the second track workout probably didn’t help (but it was a blast – easy 800’s at 2:53 a pop – weeee!).  Everything is quite well on target for a 1:19 Half Marathon in three weeks.

Other random thoughts…

4) Yesterday at the pool there was in a dude in the lane next to me, clearly attempting to engage in silent lap racing.  Which is fine by me.  I’m always down for some fun, even if I am 3,000 yards into my set.  Nonetheless, he lost…repeatedly.  But the loss isn’t what counts.  What counts is he had his name written on the ass of his speedo.  There should be rules here – but essentially, if you are going to have your name written on your suit, you need to be fast.  As Ben Collins is.  And as this dude was not.  Oh, and he only swam about 10-12 laps and then went to the locker room.  Fail.

5) I cleaned my bike last night.  It was in the mid 60’s here yesterday, yet tomorrow it’s going to snow 5”.  Anyway, I spent over 90 minutes making it all pretty and shiny.  I even had it on it’s back.  Yeah…I’m wild like that!  By time my ride is done tomorrow it’ll be a mess again. :-/

6) I found a massive 3 lb bag of gummy bears at World Market yesterday.  It’s been awesome thus far.

7) Oh, I forgot – at the track technique session my coach said I need some “Active Release Therapy”.  Hmm…I can’t be the only one who’s mind wanders with that terminology.

8) This evening, the girl and I made cupcakes.  While all the previous cupcake photos on this blog have been from a place in Old Town Alexandria – these ones are MINE (and hers)!  Tonight begins my foray into cupcakes.  First I had to find cake flour, which turns out is more difficult to find that I anticipated.  Then I carefully followed a recipe from this book, and made the Black and White cupcakes.  My goal is to make one cupcake batch per week and eventually be able to create my own. Oh, and these ones came out awesome. Mmm…cuuuuppppcaaakkkkeees.

 

The girl also made a recipe from the book – Hazelnut Brown Butter with a Hazelnut Cream Cheese frosting, which came out equally as awesome!

She then gave the cupcake two nuts…

…before deciding that perhaps going up north a bit and giving it some additional assets.

Bye! :)

Review of Tech4O Trail Leader2 Sports Watch

Back in late December I was contacted to review a new sports watch that’s out - the Tech4O TrailLeader 2 Sports Watch. A couple days later it arrived on my doorstep – just in time for my various end of year trips, as well giving it an opportunity to test it out in various climates.

Unlike many of the GPS based watches out there today, this one is quite a bit more affordable (less than $100, with others in the series cheaper) and designed for a wide spectrum of uses. It also doesn’t require a computer. Though the watch is has a ton of features in it the major functionality pieces relevant to me are:

• Ability to track pace and direction (compass)
• Shows distance travelled
• Shows current altitude/elevation
• Stopwatch/timer functionality
• Temperature

With that, I unpacked the little box and found the watch inside. It’s rather reasonable and fairly normal in in size in comparison to my 305 GPS watch. It could pass for a normal watch if people weren’t paying close attention.

My first test for the watch would be to take it to Whistler for a weekend of skiing and running. While skiing it did quite well in showing my current altitude. In theory it can track total elevation gain for the day – but in practice I forgot to bring the manual with me onto the chairlift to remember how to do it. Anyway, I eventually figured it out – see below for the example of how it looks.

Next up was a running test that evening. I put the watch on side by side with my Garmin watch and went off for a nice run (in the ice and snow with my Yaktrax).

I was fairly impressed with how exact it was compared to the Garmin while outside. They were within 1/100ths of a mile the whole time – regardless of if I sped up or slowed down pace, nor the fact that I was running in Yaktax. Conventional footpod based systems would likely have been all dorked up due to the new stride – but since this uses an internal accelerometer it seems to do a much better job at tracking my pace that foot pod only systems (non-GPS).

The only problemo though was that it was less than 10*F outside. Which meant that the watch was a little unhappy and kinda slow. Sorta like being in slow motion. Of course, I rarely run in weather this cold – so I don’t see it as a major blocker.

Oh – how did I know it was 10*F out? Well, the watch told me! Most watches don’t do that! You can see the temp in the above photo, except, it was switching displays when I took the photo, so it kinda blended together.

One item to note is that the watch uses barometric altitude instead of GPS based altitude. Barometric altitude is much more accurate than GPS based altitude in virtually all consumer-level applications (obviously military and aviation-spec is different). It appears to be a feature on a number of their watches.

On regular non-cold runs I’ve found it also works really well – always keeping pace with my GPS watch. And the buttons are pretty easy to press – such as start/stop. However, I have found the menu system does take a bit of getting used to – like all watches I suppose.

I did give it a short on the treadmill last night, and it actually works! Which, upon further reflection is logical. Given it is measuring inertia with your arm, it wouldn’t really matter if your inside or out. I found it accurate within 4/100th’s of a mile.

Lastly, size-wise it’s a bit smaller than some GPS based watches I have lying around. Of course, this is logical given it has a much smaller feature set than some GPS watches. For example – you can’t download it to your computer, nor do you have any charging functionality (although, not having to charge is kinda nice).

For size comparison here’s a lineup:

(Left to right: Nike Wristwatch, Trailleader2 Sports Watch, Garmin 405 GPS watch, Garmin 305 GPS watch)

Overall, I think it’s a great watch for hiking or other outdoor activities, or for a new runner or walker not interested in GPS. They have a full lineup of similar watches with different functionality, so you can find something that fits you best. Here’s a quick list of Pro’s and Con’s:

Pro’s:

• Significantly cheaper than most sports watches
• Very accurate, equivalent to my GPS watches for distance
• Small and lightweight
• No charging/recharging – works like a regular watch
• Cool features like temperature to find out just how darn cold it is outside
• Uses barometric altitude instead of GPS based – much more accurate
• Ideal for runners just starting out, or those more casual about their logging

Con’s:

• Menu system can be a bit confusing at first
• Watch did have some problems with the cold, that would be an issue in very cold environments
• Doesn’t have anywhere near the features of the Garmin 305/405 or other GPS based watches – unlikely to appeal to data-geeks who log everything (not that I’m guilty of that or anything)
• Can’t download the workouts to your computer

Hope this helps folks out there looking at the two. As always, if you have any questions – feel free to ping me via either the comments here or e-mail on the sidebar and I’ll try and respond within about 24 hours.

Jumping into the deep end

The last few days have been a nice change of pace as I’ve got a recovery week which started this past Saturday through Friday.

(The Pacers Running group getting ready to head out pre-run)

This change of pace gave me a chance to enjoy a short 80 minute three-territory slow-build tempo run on Saturday from Roosevelt Island (Virginia) over into Georgetown (DC) and then up the Capitol Crescent Trail (Maryland).  We made good time and had a blast coming back down into DC.  I love it when my long tempo-ish runs are short like this (compared to the usual 20 milers).

As we finished we ended up on a small pedestrian bridge over a portion of the Potomac River.  We were both tired and warm (despite the temp being 26*) and my running pal turned to me and said:

“Wouldn’t it be nice to jump in?”

I pondered for a second.

I looked at the ice on the banks of the river and pondered for another second before responding.

“No…no…not at all, thanks though”

Following a post-run core and weight room workout I swung briefly by a new Rec Center that opened up in Old Town Alexandria on Saturday.  It has a pool, so I was trying to find out when it might open (the pool is outdoors) as well as the length.

Best of all – the Rec Center is actually free.  Four nice new treadmills and weight equipment, as well as a gym and the pool.   All free to city residents. It appears the pool has two designated 25y lap lanes.  But I’ve got an e-mail into some city folks to find out the deal (the people at the Rec Center didn’t know since the pool wasn’t opened yet).

Anyway, moving on.

I did my usual post-run spin and went to check out a new trail extension they are building a few hundred yards from my house.  I’m pretty excited about this.  It’ll be along the river and extend the trail about half a mile connecting to the remainder of the trail that goes a few more miles.  Functionally speaking it’s duplicate with the trail across the street, but it basically keeps you from having to cross the street.

Sunday…

Rumor was that Sunday actually started with snow in the morning.  But given I was comfortably in bed until quite a bit later, I wouldn’t know anything about that.

But I do know is that by time 2-3PM came along, it was in the mid-30’s and sunny with no sign of wetness on the roads.  So we headed down to Prince William Forest Park for a incredibly nice looping and hilly ride.  Given there was only a handful of people in the entire 15,000 acre park (perhaps 7-8 peeps), it was great to just enjoy the quiet outdoors via bike.  And the deer only nearly trampled me once while I was riding…it was their way of reminding me who’s boss.

After the ride we did an ultra-fast transition to formal wear and headed downtown for a really nice dinner at Il Mulino.  It was the last official night of DC’s restaurant week (three course meal for $35.09), and we decided to hit up this otherwise rather expensive location.  The food was very good, I’d highly recommend it.

Also – a ton of places have extended the $35.09 deal through the end of the month (including Il Mulino and the place I went last week Farrah by Olivia).  Here’s the full list.  Note that the ‘general concept’ with restaurant week is to eat at places that you otherwise might not pay for.  Meaning…sort the Opentable list by price ;).

Since I didn’t take any pictures during dinner (maybe I will on Wednesday when we go out again for $35.09), I did take a picture of some BBQ Chicken Breasts I made inside over the weekend.  So I’ll leave you with a photo of that instead…

A few random tips for new (or old) bloggers

Over the past 18 months or so I’ve figured out all sorts of little random things about this whole ‘blogging’ thing.  Aside from finding out that it takes a fair bit of time, I’ve also picked up on a number of little tidbits along the way.  These are sorta random – but may be helpful to anyone who has a blog or is considering blogging.  Of course, these are just from my own little world, I’m sure everyone has really good tips as well.

1. If you post photos ensure that when someone clicks on your photo in your post, it actually gets bigger, either in a second window or the same window.  Oh, and if you don’t have the photos clickable – it’d be really cool if ya did.  People like photos! For a long while I didn’t realize mine weren’t functionally clickable.  Now I have WLV (see later item) do it all magically for me.
2. Change your blogger commenting e-mail address to something useful (this goes for really anyone leaving a comment).  By default whenever you comment the person on the receiving end receives an e-mail from “NAME [noreply-comment@blogger.com]”, which…roughly speaking – isn’t too useful if you’re asking me a question that you want a reply on. ;)  You can change it to any e-mail address you want.  I created an e-mail address in 3 seconds on GMail just for commenting/my blog.  Super easy!  To change your commenting address, go to the Dashboard, then click Edit Profile.  Check the box that says “Show my e-mail address”, but then change the e-mail address listed a few lines lower to whatever you want.
3. This ties into #2 above, but place a contact e-mail address somewhere on your blog.  This allows folks to e-mail you with questions or other random things.  Again, it doesn’t have to be your normal/real e-mail address, just some e-mail account you actually check.
4. Remember, what you post is there…forever.  Within a few minutes of your posting, numerous caching services pick it up.  Like Google Reader for example.  Even if you revoke your post – it’s still there…forever.
5. Use Microsoft Windows Live Writer (WLV) to write your posts.  This is the coolest application on earth – and it’s FREE!  I draft all my posts days, weeks…ok, even months in advance.  Here’s a screenshot of some posts I drafted this summer (and have yet to post).  It works with all major blogging services, and also does stuff like resizing of photos, etc…  Just drag and drop – no tedious uploading.  Again, free and no ads.  Saved up draft posts are great for times when you may not be in a writing mood.
   
6. If you want to be truly anonymous – a sports blog is not the way to go.  This may be obvious, but if you post such things as a race report – it’s usually pretty easy to figure out who you are in real life.
7. Show who you are as a person – it makes reading blogs soooo much more enjoyable.  All my favorite bloggers write both about their primary interest, as well as their life.

Ok, that’s it. :)  I know return you to your regularly scheduled something or other.  Oh, and have a good weekend!

Reading the cell-phone-treadmill lady the riot act

Do not be surprised.

Do not be surprised when I read you the riot act.

Do not be surprised when I read you the riot act in the middle of my 5th elevation-interval pyramid, 68 minutes into my workout.

Do not be surprised when I read you the riot act in the middle of my 5th elevation-interval pyramid, 68 minutes into my workout because you’re now about to leave the treadmill for the 4th time to go talk on your cell phone and increase your current total of 21 minutes of talk time.

…perhaps we should start back at the beginning…

I’m normally a very calm and reasonable person.  It takes a lot to really tick me off.  You have to try very very very hard to get my angry.  It only happens a couple times a year at most.

See, my gym has a 30 minute limit on the treadmills if others are waiting, but most times this isn’t an issue because there’s enough turnover that I can sail through a 90 minute workout.  And, should someone need it – I will heed the rules and let someone have my ride.

So…This middle-aged headband wearing book reading cell phone wielding walker lady was on the treadmill and constantly getting on/off while still ‘owning’ the treadmill with her stuff.  And she was going in and out of the weight room to talk on her cell phone.  At 6-8 minutes a shot.  Seriously.  This was really stressing me out because now I had the ‘high count’ on the treadmill – as every time she’d walk out her treadmill would reset.  Never mind the fact that she had a book covering her numbers.

So, in the middle of my 5th pyramid set/interval at a 5:55 equivalent pace and 68 minutes into this hellish workout this lady’s cell phone rings and she stops her treadmill to answer it and walk out and talk again.

And as she steps behind my treadmill (with her cell) I let into her. 

The exact linguistic details of what I said aren’t fully important.  For a full minute I read her the riot act.  I recalled to her exactly how many minutes she’d been on, exactly how many minutes she’d spent outside talking, exactly when she spent time outside talking, and how her treadmill would reset the numbers and she was hiding it with her book.  I explained to her that it was one or the other – not both.  Everyone turned around to watch, as I was pretty pissed and making a fair commotion.

She attempted to sputter out a slew of excuses, each of which I shot down faster than a machine gun without missing a step (or falling off the treadmill while busting my butt mid-interval).  I just had too much data against her case – I had nothing better to do than count the minutes she spent away or doing other things. She had nothing.

Suffice to say, she did not end up answering her cell phone after all and went back to walk-reading.

I ended up giving up my treadmill at the end of that set and went outside to finish my workout.  When I returned she was still on the treadmill, and stayed there for over 2 hours (when I left the gym). 

So, let this be a warning.  If you elect to utilize a treadmill as a ride where you get on and off and talk on your cell phone, then…

…do not be surprised when I read you the riot act.

Cycles and Cupcakes

There are few things I like less than waking up early.  I define early as any time before the sun rises, or any time before 10AM, whichever happens to occur first on that day.

Saturday however brought a 10K race for the girl, so that resulted in me getting my long run done before her race started at 8:30AM.  I headed out my door a minute after 6AM and came back 2 hours later covering about 17 miles.  It was nice out, the weather not too cold, no winds and just peace and quiet for 17 miles.

With that out of the way, it was time to go watch the girl kick ass.  The good news is I didn’t have to go too far – cause the race went right in front of my house!  Woohoo!

However, I hopped on my little ole mountain bike and bumbled around the 10K course for 40 or so minutes.  This doubled as my post-long-run easy ride.

Here’s some pics I took of the race.

Of course, being Valentine’s day that meant there’d be good food post-race.  Not at the end of the race of course, but at the end of the day.  I managed to secure a reservation to Farrah Olivia in Alexandria.  Chef Morou is the head chef and also an Iron Chef competitor.  The place is consistently on the list of top restaurants in DC.  So I was pretty excited to go there.

While I grabbed a few pics, none came out too well.  But here’s one of the dishes we had from a photo on their site.

The food was ‘good’, but not as great as it’s reputation.  I found the service a bit sub-par given my expectations (which perhaps were too high).  There’s of course a difference between ‘food I do/don’t like’ and ‘incorrectly prepared food’, thus you always have to balance that.  But there were some dishes served at the wrong temperature (where our identical dishes would be different in temp) and some meats overcooked.  There were also some very well thought through and prepared dishes as well.  Don’t get me wrong, we both had a great time but I’m not sure I’d go back again given how many other incredible places there are to eat in the city.  Plus, this week starts restaurant week in DC - $35 for the full meal!  Farrah Olivia is on the list as well, so maybe I’ll give them another shot – they’re extending it to the end of the month.

Anyway…moving onto Sunday…

Sunday is my long bike day.  And starting this week I begin the slow progress from what’s been 90 minute ‘long rides’ to what will eventually be the 7-9 hour summer rides.  Sunday was also just simply a great day to get out and cycle.  The day before we swung by Spokes (bike shop) where they have all their winter gear 30-40% off.  We got some incredible deals on really good Gore windproof stuffs.

I ended up creating my own little route using a mix of roads I had either ridden before, or never before at all.  Then I loaded it into my Garmin 705 and set off.

I had a blast!

The route was surprisingly fast for being so close into populated areas, although there were some sketchy roads on a few sections.  In the little 705 I trust.  It was the perfect type of ride for it.  I passed by the home of George Washington, and eventually his private distillery as well.  In total I did about 40 miles in about 2 hours including stop light time.

Sunday also meant cupcake time.  It’s seemingly becoming a little tradition.  This time I was picking them up for dessert though later in the day.

(Clockwise from the top left: Smores, Devils Food Peanut Butter, Vanilla Bean Lemon Curd, Triple Belgian Chocolate)

Yum-yum. :)

As for today…today I had the day off and was lazy.  I swam a few thousand yards and did nothing otherwise.  Woot to laziness!

Thoughts on triathlon coaching

A get about an e-mail a day from someone asking for advice on topic XYZ or gizmo ZYX.  I’m always happy to help anyone who e-mails me – so feel free to keep the questions coming!  Every once in a while that e-mail triggers fodder for a post…

Thus...a while back I got this e-mail from a peep:

“I'm in the midst of searching for a training coach this winter and would be interested in a finding out a bit more about your selection process. And if you can recommend any coaches in the DC area. Might make for an interesting blog now that the season's ending and you've hit all your goals?... “

So, how did I choose my coach?  Well, first we have to go back to the coach before the current coach (around Feb 2008).  We’ll call him Coach #1. 

Coach #1

I chose him after I stumbled upon some of his posts on Trifuel.com – a forum for triathletes.

After reading Coach #1’s website I contact him and eventually met up with him for a session to discuss the upcoming season.  After discussing it with him he seemed really on top of things and had numerous books/DVD’s/etc to back it up – along with some very reputable accolades.  And he talked a good game.

So I started training under him.  My workouts were hard – and thus I thought that I was on target.  Training hard = results, right?  However I soon noticed I didn’t get very fast/frequent feedback from him.  He wasn’t actually looking at my workout data – but rather just sending me workouts.  And it often took him days to answer e-mails or phone calls.  My patience grew thin.  I was paying a fair chunk of change to have a coach and he wasn’t responding.  So after a while…I fired him.  I won’t name names, because that would be rude.  You know – kinda like the same kinda rude as not responding to e-mails or phone calls.

Here’s what I learned from this.   Just because a coach has a few pros and some DVD’s released, it doesn’t mean they care about current athletes.  In this case I was simply a low-effort stream of revenue.  A name on a checklist.  Despite his website saying he’d respond instantly – he didn’t.  Days would go by.  In the ‘workout world’ – that’s a long time.  In my profession, that would be considered absurd.

Coach #2:

So, about the time (April 2008) I was getting fed up with Coach #1 I stumbled into a dude at the pool I swim at that used to be coached by Coach #1.  He asked how I liked him and I relayed my issues.  He once was coached by #1 as well and agreed, and suggested a new guy that he was working with.  So I gave #2 a call.  #2 also knew #1 and had once worked with him.  He understood all my issues.  After talking with him on the phone for more than an hour, I started filling out some of the paperwork on my flight out to Wildflower (Half-Iron) last year.  I hadn’t technically started with him yet.

I knew he was a good coach though when about 30 minutes after I finished that race I had already received a call and e-mail from him regarding my finish time at the race.  Again, I hadn’t even started with him yet.  Seriously.

I started with #2 a few days later – and in many ways started over.  I had to accept that the workouts went from ‘hard’ to ‘not as hard’.  I had trust him in revamping my schedule and my weekly routine.  But I did.  And he communicated.  EVERY DAY I receive e-mails from him.  I upload my workouts to Training Peaks every day, and within a few minutes or hours I’ll receive detailed feedback on the workout including where I went wrong – or right. 

He’s not afraid to say things like:

 “:40 Z3 versus :05 Z3 is a lot more than a bit and was time not spend towards achieving your goals.”

But also more than happy to send feedback like this:

“Workout looks really good. :):):):):)  Your heart rate on the 800s looks very encouraging for a PR half…”

They key thing is constant communication.  He watching my daily resting heart rate, sleep and workouts and adjusting the schedule as required.  He’s available for a phone call or e-mail.  And most importantly – he understands the sport at an incredibly in-depth level.  He’s taught me that going hard all the time isn’t valuable (as you can see above).  And the importance of recovery and rest.  And how to race.

For every race he gives me a detailed race plan calling out each section of the race with where I should be in HR/speed/etc.  And that’s led to some very solid results for last year.

Of course, that takes time.  He started off fairly cautious with race plans.  But as he gathered (and stored) more and more of my data he’s been able to really refine a race strategy that leaves nothing left at the end of the race (depending on the schedule of course).

In the end – I can’t be happier with my coach.  He doesn’t have a fancy website – or a website at all for that matter.  He’s purely by referral and a small USAT bio (Coach Alan in Springfield, VA).  He rarely mentions his other athletes (he doesn’t have many, and is full for this year), so I don’t feel like I’m just ‘another body’.  He doesn’t have a fancy newsletter or advertisements.  None at all in fact.  But he does have a hell of a lot of triathlon experience.

So here’s my consolidated advice on getting/picking a coach:

• Coaches can be useful for all levels, but in particular if you’re trying to push your limits some or just starting out.
• While I’m very techno-focused and a website would normally be considered a requirement for me – I’ve found that word of mouth is much more important.
• Sit down with the coach and talk about your goals, his/her current schedule of other athletes, and where you fit it.
• Shoot e-mails to them at random times – how quick do they respond?  When are they available?   Can you call them at 6PM on Friday and say “My pool just closed early, what should I do instead?” and get an answer?  I can (and have).
• Don’t be afraid to cut the cord if they suck.  I waited about 3 months.  I should have cut it at two weeks.  Give it a few weeks – but people don’t change behavior beyond that.  It’s just the reality of humans.
• More expensive is not better.  I now pay 1/3rd of what I pay before.
• Having a former pro doesn’t mean better either.  Some of the best coaches were never super-competitive in their sport – but rather they understand how to coach vs how to race.
• Internet coaches can work really well.  While mine is local and I spend a lot of time with him in the pool – almost everything else is virtual.  I upload data to Training Peaks, and he e-mails or phones me back.  Determine what you want out of a coach.
• Some coaches blog – read those blogs, understand who the person is.  You can tell a lot by a blog

Finally, you can look for coaches here – but I’d recommend asking around.  When you go to the pool, most coached athletes have workouts printed out at the end of their lanes.  Ask them.  Post on your local tri boards or go to a few happy hours with folks.  People are more willing to say “John Doe sucks” in person than in a post somewhere.  And conversely you can chat with someone for quite a while about a good coach.

Hope this helps!

A three hour tour

At the gym last tonight for three hours.  Seriously.  I arrived at 5:30PM and left shortly after 8:30PM.

Over 11 miles of treadmill incline interval hell.  There’s not much fun about that 4th or 5th set at 5* incline and a 6:18 pace.  Nuttin fun.  Although at least on the 5th set you can sorta see the light.  Assuming you can ignore the set of darkness that is the 4x35sec @ sub-6 that comes next.

Then a bunch of weights and core exercises for a while.

Followed by a bunch of laps for drills in the pool for a while longer.  Thank god for the pull buoy (little floaty thing between my legs).  That kept me at least somewhere near the surface.  I don’t recommend swimming post incline intervals and post weights/core.  Unless your goal is to entertain those around you – in which case I succeeded on that count quite fabulously.

Now…I shall fall asleep.

SEA to Ski

(Somewhere over the eastern US at sunset on the way to SEA) 

Last week was rather busy.  I was out in Seattle all week speaking a number of times at a large conference.  In addition, I was also balancing all of the workouts I normally do with the crazy busy conference schedule.

One place I managed to knock out a few treadmill runs at was the Sheraton downtown Seattle – and the workout room there was amazing – double-decker room up on the 35th floor with huge windows overlooking the Cascades and Olympics – including Mt. Rainer.

Being Seattle, you can’t be terribly surprised when you see stuff like this – in downtown.

The good news here is after all my speaking sessions were done I was able to get in a great night of skiing Thursday night up at The Pass (about 45 minutes from downtown Seattle on I-90).  The weather was fantastic – albeit a bit warm (34*F at night), but the snow was nice and quite quick.  Our chairlift/run cycle time was 7 minutes round trip per run, no lines.

After returning Friday night I headed out early Saturday morning for a nice run, part long-slow, part tempo.  Wandered around the major monuments – Lincoln, the Capitol, Washington Monument, White House, and a number of museums – before crossing back over the Potomac into Virginia.  The inauguration viewing stands in front of the White House that you saw during the parade are almost taken down, and the stuff in front of the capitol is almost gone as well.

Saturday night I made up some seared tuna, served with sweet chili sauce and wild rice.

I was looking forward to Sunday all week long, as the weather looked fantastic here in DC – at 66*F – perhaps even hotter in some areas.  I went out for my weekly ‘long ride’ (I say it in quotes, because it’s actually fairly short right now) and had a great time just tooling around some back roads nearby.

Finally…this evening, after my swim the girl and I made some fresh tortellini – using ricotta, fresh herbs and pork as a filling.  We actually made a tortellini soup using the tortellini’s with chicken broth and spinach, and a touch of parmesan cheese.  Turned out quite well!

That’s it for now.  Back to another build week of workouts with a nasty track workout on Thursday coming up (10x800 at 5:53/mile pac)…although only to be followed by a more nasty workout next week – 12x800.  Grr…