Archive for October, 2011
Sunday Ride
Sunday, October 16th, 2011Finding your Groove | Newton Running
Thursday, October 13th, 2011Optimal Running Cadence
By Douglas Bertram, MTCM, L.Ac.. Director of Field Marketing at Newton Running
When out for your next run, experiment with trying to find your “Groove,” or optimal cadence (foot strike rate). Running can and should be largely a passive act. With good posture and a slight forward lean, all that is needed is relaxing into an efficient cadence.
Surprisingly, optimal cadence is about the same for all runners. Speed does not matter. It may be counter intuitive, but an efficient runner running 10 minutes per mile pace has the same cadence as an efficient runner running a 5 minute per mile pace. Check out the full article below
Kona Sunset
Monday, October 10th, 2011
Kona Wednesday
Friday, October 7th, 2011
I think I may have (Kona) coffee issues...
This cup definitely charged me up. What started as a 2 1/2 mile jog down to the pier to meet Mark for his swim turned into a mini fast progression run. Dang. The swim was great and the run back picked up where the run out left off. Made it back to the condo, threw on cycling gear and we drove out to Waikoloa to meet young stud PA/NJ local triathlon stud, Brian Duffy, who is here competing for the first time. He and his friend, Morgan, wanted to see and experience some of the Hawi part of the bike course. We started about 10 miles out from the turnaround which allowed for a brief ride on relatively flat road before starting to climb toward Hawi. The winds weren’t all that bad but they were steady, for sure. Pretty much a side/head wind the whole way out. The way back was that same wind and mostly at our backs and I was quickly reminded why I used to break out the 55×11 for this course. I must admit I enjoy the compact crank I am currently riding but it would have been nice to have a 10 vs 11 tooth cog to go with it. Even without it, speed was hovering around 45 mph for a good stretch.
Matthew and I followed up the ride with lunch at the Four Seasons with my old, long lost friend, Eben, mentioned in yesterday’s post. All I can say is – wow. That place is deserving of every star it likely gets in ratings and reviews. A great lunch and it was great to catch up. Eben, thanks again, you look as ready (more really) than you did 20 years ago and I am sure you will have a great race out there on Saturday.
Later in the afternoon, we made a stop at the Clif Bar party, and who do I see for the first time in (well) over 15 years, but Mr. Kenny Souza lounging on the front lawn couch. Dude – you haven’t changed a bit – well, maybe a little. For those who may not know, Kenny was the best duathlete in the world for quite some time. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to race against him many times – sometimes winning, sometimes getting left in his wake. So what did we talk about? Our kids, of course. Kenny – I have your number now – count on me bugging you every week until you start riding your bike and running again.
Kona Tuesday (Part 2)
Thursday, October 6th, 2011Well, in the past 15 years Kona has changed a great deal but at the same time it is also very much the same. We headed to the pier for an easy morning swim. It was a little later in the morning and there is currently a good sized swell, so the water was not quite as crystal clear as I remember it but following several schools of fish brought back some memories – like swimming with my friend Eben Jones (who it turns out is also back here for the first time in 20 years!!) and hearing him yell – dolphins! – and take off after them like he was really going to swim among them (for all I know he probably did because I held his feet for about 2 seconds – he says he’s not that fast any more at 50 years old but I don’t believe him).
The next item on the morning agenda was a run through the Natural Energy Lab including a few efforts right around goal race pace. It was duly noted how incredibly easy ironman marathon race pace feels when it has not been preceded by a 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles on the bike and over half of a marathon…. Being late morning, it had yet to really heat up it was definitely getting warm toward the end of the climb up to the Queen K. My memories of the energy lab are not all that fond as it was very often where my marathon went “south”, at least for a little while, but those memories all seemed to be washed away. Now I just needed to get out on the bike.
Rather than bring a bike on the plane, my friends at Kestrel Bicycles offered to ship the “Green Lantern” (Kestrel RT1000) along with the bikes they were shipping for the Ironman Expo. Thanks, again, Steve! And thanks, also, to the guys at Cycle Station for letting me use your bike stand and tools. Cycle Station is by the airport, so we decided to ride from there and head north for a while before heading back. Tailwind out. Headwind back. A lot of cyclists out riding in both directions. Nothing new there. A short 54 minute ride, so I am looking forward to getting out again for a bit longer today.
The Ironman Expo doors officially opened at 5pm. 15 years ago, there was nothing like this. Not the biggest triathlon expo I have ever seen but definitely night and day compared to what I remember in my previous trips to Kona. All in all, throughout the day I got to see and say hi to several of those faces from the past.
Plan for Wednesday is a ride out to Hawi at some point to re-experience and enjoy the Mumuku winds then have lunch with an old friend.
Kona Tuesday (Part 1)
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011After a minor (2+ hr) delay in LA, I finally arrived in Kona. I am staying with my good friends, Mark and Matthew. Mark is competing here for the second time and looking ready to improve considerably on an already very good first Kona race. Matthew, his brother-in-law, is also here for the second time as tri-sherpa extraordinaire. I was a little too late arriving for the cold ones Matthew had waiting but I did manage to get in an easy 30 minute run on Alii drive right around midnight. I had to do something to get things feeling normal and it’s not like it wasn’t fairly close to a normal amount of sleep (5.5 hr nap on plane), normal time (5:30AM EST) or amount of daylight (dark) for me to going out for a run.
Alii drive at night was very quiet, calm and actually somewhat cool and comfortable temperature-wise. I am sure that will not be the case by mid-day today.
5:44 AM Kona Time: troops are all up. On my second cup of some very excellent Kona coffee. Looking forward to a nice morning swim and run. More to come…
