Dept of Corrections (How Poor Am I?)

More today on Andy Potts from Inside Triathlon and Competitor Sports. Plus a great article by Matt Fitzgerald on indoor training. Some very tasty details on his training, especially indoors. Corrections deportment: Andy does more than an hour a day on the CompuTrainer. I do considerably less. That will change.

Also is a wonderful list of cycling RULES from Velominati. I am especially fond of #74:

Cycle computers should be simple, small and mounted on the stem. Forgo the data and ride on feel; little compares to the pleasure of riding as hard as your mind will allow. If you are not a Pro or aspire to be one, then you don’t need a SRM or PowerTap. To paraphrase BSNYC, an amateur cyclist using a power meter is like hiring an accountant to tell you how poor you are. As for Garmins, how often do you get lost on a ride? They are bulky, ugly and superflous. Cycle computers should be simple, small and mounted on the stem. And preferably wireless.

Lastly today, as I take a long postponed trip into the Emerald City today in preparation for Hawaii, is this terrific short on the 1962 TdF. PLEASE note the paparazzi changing film in camera while on back of scooter. Folks I will tell you that this is a feat. I have changed batteries, lens', digital tape and auto-focus many times, but the thought of actually rolling out 35m film into the take up reels while riding makes me more than a little nervous. They, however, make it looks easy, as do the riders.

More later if anything exciting happens in Seattle today. Carpe Diem.

Pic is of Andy cruising on his CompuTrainer.

Would YOU?

For those of you wondering about how Professional Triathletes train, here is a wonderful video example featuring CompuTrainer sponsored athlete Andy Potts. As you can see from the stunning HD video, Andy has a pretty cool set up in his home. Every time they show him on the bike, a Kestrel, his bike is on the CT.

I know I put out nowhere near the wattage Andy creates, but the beauty is in the relativity. Consider: Let's say Andy splits Kona at 4:46:06 (his actual time in 2009), whereas my IM PR is 5:36:10 (Ironman Canada 2002). That is a whopping 50 minute differential over 112 grueling miles. Mr. Potts, in his pain cave puts in, on average, an hour a day on the CT. I, otoh, will do TWICE that today, one 60 minute session in the am (and I hope we get out of September soon), and another 12 hours later. If, all other training protocols being equal, I can cut my bike time by 10% and hammer out a 5:03 next August in Penticton, the relationship between our times dramatically shrinks. It is highly unlikely Andy can get 10% faster as he is already pretty much at the apex of his cycle game. I, however, could.

With effort. With determination. Staying healthy. And doing TWICE the work. And not just on Wednesdays.

Will I pay that price? Is it THAT important? Should I devote an entire year (sacrificing, perhaps, love and money) in the attempt? Would YOU?

Pic is from Slowtwitch.com

Give Us

This day. As many of you know this is the week of calm prior to the perfect storm of Hawaii. I have a HUGE proposal to script, edit, rewrite and perfect. There will also be accompanying video. These two could easily dominate my work plate until Alaska #865 is approved for take-off Monday. But there are other items on that plate as well, all needing attention. Most successful people will tell you that time management is a crucial component of GSD. Getting stuff done. I was reminded of this yesterday as I cleaned, swept, inspected and upgraded my roof. Upgraded in this usage translates to adding four tarps. I know exactly why I avoided doing this when the summer sun was smiling. And why it took the first storm, the first real steady downfall, to prod me into action.

Pretty simple. Because (and please remember that the person I report to is currently blogging instead of drafting the aforementioned proposal) I would rather run, bike, race, build a new deck and a pizza oven than muck around trying to repair a leaky roof, the source of which I cannot find. Not that I haven't tried mind you, but when you choose to build around a pair of 200 foot fir trees (instead of felling), that is the chance you take. When the wind blows we rock like the proverbial cradle. And this creates space. And water drips. Which I then collect. We even have a semi-colloquialism about it. A "four bucket night" means hard rain. A "five bucket day" is a Northwest downpour, clouds open, Puget Sound faucet wide open.

And I don't care. I'll get to it when I get to it. Today is yoga, creative writing, video production, shopping, a 10K in the park and if there is any time left over I'll get back up there and "fix" another section. Good, bad, indifferent, wet or dry, them's the facts.

As an update, got in another BF run last night. Did 1.5 through the puddles and then shoed-up and did 1.5 with cushion, support and motion control. The former was 12.50, the latter 12:50. Regardless of the irony, guess which lap was the most fun? Additionally, I can very emphatically tell how my proprioceptors react and regulate load, stride length, balance, hip movement and core stability. It is pretty amazing all that takes place when you lose the shoes. My calves are a touch sore but the new black foam roller unknotted them quickly before yoga. The testing will continue.

Time to get at that sales pitch. And then the vid. Very much looking forward to our run and by the looks of this morning's cloud cover at sunrise over the club, this day will not require a bucket.

Give us this day.

We Win

Draw inspiration from every corner. See metaphor in everything that moves. Connect the dots of what is and what should be. Learn by watching. Through success as well as failure. Timeless words echo in the warrior's heart: The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Class is here. The ABC's. School is back in session. Books are open to page one. Life, as professor, speaks authoritatively. One voice.

She suggests that we all desire to belong. We long to be a part of something of value, to fight for a cause, to dial-up drama, to test ourselves. We seek ways to do this. We want to be part of a team, in colors and with purpose. She speaks of growth, courage, self sacrifice, teamwork, mission, leadership, commitment, struggle, suffering, and finally, the transcendent emergence into the light. She also intones that the light doesn't care about anything other than the experience. She has the audacity to present the theory that score doesn't matter, that the difference between winning and losing is an illusion. That time, like a single inhale of oxygen, is here one breath and gone the next. Clinging to one, making it your goal, allowing it to define you, is human folly, just numbers, stats, a marketing ploy to quantify quality (go ahead and try to define it). For there comes another breath, and another and another. She finishes with the thought that the secret is to experience each one to its fullest, deepest, most aware, dynamic and challenging, then let it go. And start over. Making…..

…..every workout session, every pedal rotation, every (sometimes barefoot) foot strike, every meal, every day, a unique opportunity for improvement, acceptance, growth. This often means failure in order to experience the sensation and manage the ways and means to correct, adjust, tweak, improve, mature. We lose (gasp) for similar reasons, appreciating the ride, examining the performance, dissecting the whole into parts to find the "culprit". That AH HA moment that totally refines and restructures our game, and takes us to into the illuminated and glowing victory circle. That is the thrill of victory, it is sweet, tasty, satisfying. It is all the more so if we have struggled and paid the price of effort and determination as prerequisites.

I enjoy this process. I like the struggle. I admire the magic of nuance. Individual moments, like snapshots along the way that define turning points. Sometimes it's feeling your second wind on a long run, gearing up to a powerful groove zone in the saddle, watching body mass change (this one takes patience). Sometimes it is much more subtle. Sometimes it's the sparkle in your lover's eye, a teacher's turn of a phrase, a client's comment, a competitor's compliment. Sometimes it's the visage of a warrior athlete after battle, or the way that your legs feel after a hard effort. Sometimes it's the rain.

Seek. Experience. Awareness. Challenge. Life. Met head on, helmet to helmet. In battle. Give. Compete. Love. Grow. Make it your best. Always. Rest and reflect.

After that I don't care what label you apply. You win.

Pic: The visage of the warrior athlete after battle. The Huskies Keith Price with mentor Steve Sarkisian after another last play victory. We live to fight another day.

BF Walks into a Bar

Mr High Wind goes into a neighborhood and orders a power outage. No joke. First storm of the fall and BOOM BOOM out go the lights. I am sitting in the darkness of the studio typing on my MacBook as dancing shadows from the broad-leaf maples frolic and filter the late afternoon sun. If it wasn't for the fact that I make my modest living manipulating digital media and mangling metaphors, I would relish the opportunity to read by candlelight, use the hand tools or cook with fire. But there are things to be done.

One of the things done this morning was an lsd run. Caught a break in the wind and rain and headed out for an early one. YOU TELL ME what the ironic significance is when you pass a guy with one leg walking his dog on the out and a discarded (and decent looking) postrepedic mattress on the return. Then again maybe I read too much into gratitude and recovery. Bob, who you will be hearing lots about down the road as he has also signed up for Ironman Canada, slugged out a twenty miler. I wimped out (not having gone long for three weeks) and logged 13. I could still feel the effects of the BF run in my calfs and it was interesting to note the difference in "spine angle" running back in traditional padded footwear. I run way more upright, hamstring/glute dependent, with shoes compared to without. Part of the point I am told.

To test this therapeutic theory further, the running partner and I are going to do a twice a week minamilistic run with those silly looking 'fingers on your toes' gloves, er, shoes, beginning unpon my return from Kona. She suffers from a hip aliment that we cannot diagnose. Could be this or it could be that. I haven't the pay grade to tell. After two tears of training and racing all I can do is suggest professional intervention. An MRI. Or..…..

If the intelligence is legit, and the success stories are valid, can using the bodies own inherent self regulation system to identify the weak kinetic link by eliminating the band-aids that mask the very source of the problem, identify it?

I don't know. But for the cost of two pair of these ugly thingamajigs, we are going to find out. My test and my treat.

As always we invite you to join us in the testing adventure and training fun. Or I suppose you could sit around in the dark and wait for illumination. See ya Monday. Let's power up.

Pix: Calm before the storm sunset looking west to the Olympics. Two young and happy Husly fans. BIFD puts up the DO NOT CROSS ribbon in front of the cabin, thereby giving the afternoon off.

BF

Did another barefoot (BF) run in the park yesterday. The autumnal equinox provided a spectacular setting, warm, sunny, peaceful. The route is a mix of surfaces, primarily hard-pack scrabble lined with grass, some brown and dry with short stretches of soft, verdant, cushy green. There are several poplar trees who's root system presents a foot strike challenge and a few stretches where one must travail over asphalt. It is my home course and over the past three decades I am quite confident that I lead the neighborhood in laps completed. Each loop is 1.5 miles. For the first time yesterday I ran it unshod.

And it was fun. Took about a minute longer than our normal pace but I could feel my feet, ankles, hips and knees adjust to the change. Feeling every step, making slight changes in landing, leaning, watching. It was also a great workout, as all this micro movement challenges the proprioceptors to ensure stability, fluidity and efficiency. AND, to make sure that no injury results. Chew on THAT one for a mile or two. The body (being smarter then we are) can make real time adjustments to regulate stasis and prevent injury to itself. Let me editorialize with a single word:

WOW!

Here are a few relevant links to the BF "phenomena":

How to Run Barefoot.

Christopher McDougal on Born to Run

Slow Motion of Shoes vs No Shoes

Heel Striking explained

The embed video is from our 'staggeringly popular', "Move The Rock" series filmed in SoCal last year. Just to show you that I have experience in the BF arena. It is also glaringly obvious that the 17 pounds I lost from the date of filming and today was energy well spent. Also my comedic trimming leaves Mel Brooks without worry.

We'll will begin weekly BF sessions in the park effective immediately!!!!! Off for a HoM 90. Enjoy the day (and move that shell).

New Jerseys IN!!

COMPUTRAINER MULTI-RIDER JERSEYS HERE!

Bainbridge Island, WA.

The Bainbridge Athletic Club (powered by CompuTrainer) announced today that their eagerly awaited and highly anticipated new line of cycling jerseys are now in-stock and ON-SALE.

The custom high-tech garments arrive in conjunction with the grand opening of the Multi-Rider Center in the BAC facility. "Now, our cyclists not only have the tools to get fitter and faster at the Multi-Rider Center, but to take our colors with them outdoors when they ride as well", says CT MR operator Kevin (RCVman) Lynch.

The team wear was designed and produced by JL Velo of Seattle. Additional sponsors include:

Bainbridge Athletic Club

CompuTrainer

B.I. Cycles

Eagle Harbor Winery

Pane d'Amore Bakery

Bernie Baker Archeticts

CycleVidz.com

The limited edition jerseys are $80 and come in S,M,L,XL sizes, Mens and Womens. If you are interested in obtaining one, or more, please respond immediately via the comments tab below for layaways. The units officially go on-sale "live" tomorrow at 0730 in the HoM. Better Hurry.

The second round of jerseys will offer new sponsors the opportunity to display their logo, More information via comments. Thanks.

Pix: Michelle and Kelsey professionally model the new jerseys. Portal to the HoM. BTW, that is Oceanside 70.3 RCV on the big screen.

The Slate

The slate is wiped clean. Time now to plot, plan and create anew. The setting will be Kailua-Kona, Big Island of Hawaii, Oct. 3-10. Yes, that will encompass the 33rd annual running of the Ironman World Championships on Saturday, Oct. 8. It will be my tenth trip to this spectacle staged in close tropical proximity to Paradise. I really like Kona. The organic olfactory waves of sensual delights, the colors, feeling perfectly dressed in shorts and a T, fresh papaya. Not to mention hanging with the fittest athletes on the planet for a week. It always seems to provide an ideal motivational stimulus to keep me focused upon return to the gray and rainy mainland. This year will be different however, as I need to pack some of the energy and attitude in my gear bag (trusting I can sneak it past the ultra-high TSA in Kona) and keep it alive for the eleven long months that will precede Ironman Canada in August. Then (Lord willing) when I post this time next year it will be about my RACING in Kona, not merely working.

Won't that be fun?

There is a lot to do, tons to accomplish, miles to log, calories to burn, bridges to pass, in preparation for both those big events. I look at it as Canada being the main-entree goal (I need to go sub-11) and Kona, the desert. And what a sweet treat that will be!

In the meantime, the first item on the slate is an Urban Time Trial on Wednesday morning, Oct. 5 at sunrise (0611). The course is mapped above. If you have ever been to Kona, you know this route, the avenue of Kings, Alii Dr. We'll start at the official T1 point, the Pier at the KIng Kam and cruise all the way south to the top of the hill at the Keauhou Shopping Center, and back. Eleven of the coolest miles on the planet. I will be posting this on the CompuTrainer site later today asking for volunteers to ride, but if any VBA are going and game, here is the first shot. The RCVman blog has its perks!!!

Also, the new jerseys are here! Yay! I will be doing a photo shoot this morning at the Club and will have the promo and sales info posted tomorrow at the latest. There are only 36 garments this (limited edition) round, at $80 per. That is cost. Hopefully on the next round I can add some quantity to reduce the price. It is all about demand. Writing numbers on the blackboard.

Having a clean slate to work with. Go.

Popcorn at the Videos

How to Time Trial (with Christian Vande Velde)

Sacony Running

No Excuses

Macca wins Kona

Five videos designed to inspire, motivate or stimulate the gray matter into action. There are countless others but my surf time is limited these days. As demonstrated by last nights popcorn session and this mornings 0845 sub. BTW, for those of you scratching your head over my use of the fatty (with butter and salt) movie staple, please allow me to outline:

A popcorn session is simply a indoor cycling workout that turns the tables on convention, and hence, provides additional value, unique entertainment and a monster hour of cardio, speed and stamina. I Karate Kid a set (highlight last night was Lucinda Williams' "Are You Down", to which we sit for one tune at an ever increasing RPM at low resistance, and then stand for one tune (upcorn) to the time signature of the backbeat. One down fast, one up groove. The idea is to turn it around and make the seated effort the "work" phase and the stand the "recovery". Try this for 60 minutes next time you need a change of genera. I would post the set list like yesterday's All Country IV, but I indulged in an extra hour of sleep this morning and now need to Bruce Lee today's set. That extra hour brought resting HR to the standard of 44.

So get yourself some popcorn and enjoy the videos. This afternoon I will be doing a Jackie Chan spot for the CompuTrainer Multi-Rider Center at the BAC.

You get it all here folks: Martial Arts (as it applies to video editing and cutting set lists), junk food as metaphor, killer tuneage and fat-free indoor cycling. Oh yeah, and Lance.

Return of the Waco Kid

As promised, here is the set list from this morning's rocking HoM rodeo. I have to postpone the "name the artist" contest due to the volume of work necessary between now and tonight's session at 1830. Sorry. You know already that Cross Canadian Ragweed are from Stillwater, OK and named for their frontman, Cody Canada. Everybody else on the list you should recognize. Really, really good spinning stuff. After the day's endorphin-fest I am quite certain that a video accompaniment would be fun. Let's take a few of the (traditional) song themes and imagine the images:

The lonely cowboy

Looking for love

Love found

Love lost

The lonely cowboy

Hollywood calls this (in non-country terms) Boy meets Girl, Rain turns to Sunshine, Rains return, Boy loses Girl. Anyway you shake it, that is the outline, be it 3:10 to Yuma, Good, Bad and Ugly or Blazing Saddles.

Throw in the occasional sound of a horse's foot in gravel, a black bandana, one chase scene, one gun fight, beer and whiskey in a smokey saloon, the high chaparral, a campfire and a six string flattop and there ya go. Cut, wrap and deliver.

Bye Bye 3:21 Jo Dee Messina

One Thing 4:15 Jack Ingram

I Love You Too Much 3:43 Steve Earle & The Dukes

This Is Country Music 5:12 Brad Paisley

51 Pieces 3:42 Cross Canadian Ragweed

Sideways 3:04 Dierks Bentley

Mr. Right 2:01 Garth Brooks

I Run to You 4:16 Lady Antebellum

Somebody Like You 5:23 Keith Urban

Idabel Blues 4:25 Stoney LaRue

Suicide Blues 4:36 Cross Canadian Ragweed

Chattahoochee 3:57 Alan Jackson

Country Girl 3:17 The Ozark Mountain Daredevils

I'll Fix Your Flat Tire, Merle 2:12 Pure Prairie League

Frank And Jesse James4:38 Warren Zevon

Lonesome L.A. Cowboy4:03 New Riders of the Purple Sage

Real Love 3:45 Lucinda Williams

Oh Lonesome Me 3:09 Kentucky Headhunters

Melissa 3:56 The Allman Brothers Band

Bad Moon Rising 2:20 Creedence Clearwater Revival

My Walkin' Shoes 2:50 The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

There Goes Another Love Song3:04 The Outlaws

Polk Salad Annie 3:47 Tony Joe White

Searchin' for a Rainbow3:49 The Marshall Tucker Band

Now if I could just figure a way to fit in the spinning part we'd have us a screenplay!!

Screen shot (pun intended) from Blazing Saddles, the funniest "Western" ever made.

The Brain of Metal Man

Interesting article this morning from the NY Times reaffirming what we already know. Specifically, that the most important muscle in the sport body is the brain. That mysterious upstairs grey matter that makes the glutes, quads and hammys look like noodles. I was thinking about this yesterday, prompted by a number of stimuli, some internal some external. About absolutes. Our best. And how we get there, if indeed we truly can, and if we are able, how to keep it. Because, I wondered, if we get to our best, what then? Is the popular adage about improvement versus perfection based on fact or fantasy? Let's please be clear on one thing: Nobody is perfect. There, got THAT out of the way. Leaving us with the quest for improvement. Seeking best, today. Because, and here is where I faded, our best today is not necessarily our best. We can always do better. We train to get fitter, faster, stronger, more efficient, more graceful, more balanced, more aware. The acme of that big picture I anticipate with great joy. It is a road, a path, a process. I am at my best when focused on that process, riding, running, loving down (or up) that trail. I fail when I lose sight of the need for now. When the results, the goals, the end game seems improbable and obscure. When my brain says I might be better off making more money or putting that $702 entry fee into my retirement savings account. When the thought of a serious crash and subsequent medical costs spell catastrophe like graffiti on a brick wall. When my brain says slow down when my heart says speed up.

We have quoted Timothy Noakes here on many occasions. One of my favorites, "50% of what we know is wrong. But we don't know which 50% it is.", is so profound and brilliant that is seems more suited for astro-physics than sports physiology. The truth of this statement resonates throughout all that we do. We know that high intensity is the gold standard of training. We know we need flexibility and speed training, We know the need for the long and the steady. We know we need rest and recovery. We all seek our best in competition. What gets us there is the Noake's 50% idiom. The testing. The faith. The choice.

The article uses one of our oldest training paradigms, that of racing against yourself. Just when you think you have obtained your objective best, the guys in the lab coats throw you a Pavlovian bone and WOOOSH, you find another 1-5%. So it really wasn't your best, was it? Deception, chancery, slight of hand, smoke and mirrors, the pre-frontal cortex all in alignment like the planets gets you an all new PR best. Today.

What about tomorrow?

The infamous CompuTrainer Metal Man has been providing this exact laboratory replication for a quarter of a century. Today, in the BAC Multi-Rider Center, you can ride a time trial, and then in a week or two return for a re-test assigning your prior performance to the iconic avatar known as The Metal Man.

50% of the time I can predict the amount of improvement. The other 50% it is greater than my estimate.

And that, dear friends, is getting close to best, and good enough for me. Today.

Pic is a screen-shot of the, soon to be replaced, CT3D software featuring Mr. Metal Man (on the right). Think of him as your brain.

Mondays

Mondays. I love Mondays. A chance for renewal. A fresh start. Beginnings. The commencement of a new and improved now. A weekly opportunity to better the bike, up your game, dial it in.

You can always wait till next Monday. But then you have to live for six days with the knowledge that you caved in to procrastination, sloth, laziness and fear. And guess what? After that it makes it so much easier to skip the next Monday, too. You have given yourself permission to slack. And it becomes habitual. It's so easy. Stay in bed, eat fatty foods, make excuses. Who cars about all this fitness stuff anyway? I am happy being fat and lazy like my cat, curled up on the chair sleeping till dinner.

Sorry, not good enough. Around here we don't do fat and we don't do lazy. We do fit, we do fast and we do strong. We are also fond of sustainability and intensity. We push. We go all out. In a contemporary phrase applicable to all generations, we rock. And as Mick once shouted, "It's only rock and roll, but I like it."

This morning the question was asked, "How do I know if I am losing power along with weight?" I answered, after a ten minute verbal preface, with a CompuTrainer Time Trial. It takes the P (perceived) out of RPE and replaces it with another E. EXACT. Rate of Exact Exertion. The power you are able to generate NOW, HERE, THIS COURSE, THIS DISTANCE. That is the difference between feeling like you are going hard (or not) and a measured reaction to the load in watts (or not). It is one or the other, there is no hiding, what you do is counted, graphed and charted. You do or you cry. You ride or you hide. Anything in between is curled up on the chair waiting for supper.

The time for testing is at hand. It is the end of September. The summer is over. We had loads of fun, but it's time to set our sights on a new season, to rebuild, renew, recommit, rejuvenate. Already there are red circles on the 2012 calendar. Mine has two, Ironman Canada on August 26 and Ironman Hawaii on October 7. I need a solid, effective plan to rock Penticton in order to roll to Kona. EVERYTHING I DO FROM TODAY FORWARD WILL AFFECT THAT. EVERYTHING!

It is time to test. With that data we build power programs to augment leg strength, core strength and endurance. You already know of the tangential value to heart, lungs, nerve and vascularity. All these components comprise your motor. What you bring to the show come race day. It's time to test. The CompuTrainer Multi-Rider Center is open for business. You can get this crucial information in less than an hour. For ten bucks. That is not a typo, $10.00. I might be crazy for giving this away, but I want you to be the best you possible, to better the bike. Be your best. Today. Monday.

Or you can stay curled up on the chair. Hey there, howdy.

Here is a great story about a gal who did her first Ironman with only 20 months of training and how she did it. I found it very inspiring and useful. Hope you do too.

Pic: The CT MR facility at BAC. Steve, Vicki in the back row and Stephanie and Carrie up front ride demo to the Ironman Arizona course. As disclaimer it was a Wednesday night.

Have a day lads

I know you are dying to see the back of the postcard, so here it is. It not only represents the graphic counterpart to the front of the card, mainly used as a menu to list the CompuTrainer Multi-Rider entrees, but finally gets as close as we have ever come to the successful definition (in one line) of what the CT does. I will replay it for you here to allow cerebral penetration of all that it represents:

COMPUTRAINER MULTI-RIDER AT BAINBRIDGE ATHLETIC CLUB IS AN

ADVANCED FOUR-PERSON INDOOR CYCLING FACILITY COMBINING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY WITH MAXIMUM MOTIVATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT VALUES.

Whoa! All that on a bike, with a big screen, four speakers, 100 watts of power, in friendly two-person team competition for spectacular prizes! Did I mention it is advanced?

How you gonna top that? (You ain't)

So please be sure, all you locals, to get your teams ready. We'll kick off the league competition on Thursday night, October 13. I will have a sign up sheet posted next week listing the age groups and divisions. This will be fun. There will be sweat.

Speaking of fun and sweat, our 90 minutes in the HoM this morning was all of that. My left hamstring is knotting a touch but I am quite sure that by halftime of today's (12:30 PST on ABC) Huskies/Huskers rubber match, that it will be fine. The line is 17 points. A ridiculously generous amount. This is a good UW team that keeps improving every week, they are young, exciting, talented and motivated. They are well coached. They like to hit and they like to play fast. Look in their eyes today on the ABC close-ups and you will see the dearth of fear. You cannot play football (at this level) with timidity. You must trust your skill and the commitment of your teammates. Everybody has everybody's back side. It is war and the stakes are high. There will be blood.

Mine is purple and gold. Have a day lads.

Always That

Excellent session (again) this morning in ye olde House of Mirth. I had a rare Friday up front subbing for Tony. Please let it be known that we will not sit idly about waiting for positive change while doing the mindless and the routine. We go, we go hard and we go hard often.

Providing results.

Actually staged a grand opening of sorts last night, conducting the first of many power to weight TTs. Vicki was the inaugural lab rat and pounded out a "Moderate" ten miler at a 1.5 ptw, which worked out to a 51:45 clocking. She later confessed to having done a 7 mile run yesterday morning. Folks, when we are TT'ing let's make sure we hit the gas WELL RESTED. Her test was in conjunction with our CompuTrainer Multi-Rider photo-shoot where Stephanie, Steve, Mimi, Carrie and Vicki (multi-tasking) posed for the pricing postcards. Rough draft number one, front of card, is pictured. Your comments, as always, are most appreciated and welcomed.

Big weekend coming up. Tomorrow is our 90 minute HoM festival of suffering, followed by a fixed gear frolic to the Taste of Lynwood, followed by the Huskies and Huskers at 3:30 (ABC). If you have important business to discuss that is non-Husky related I highly recommend that you call me early. Unless of course the Dawgs put ANOTHER hurt on Big Red, in which case I can usually be talked into just about anything.

Sunday is just another couple of runs, one long, one not. And some brick work. And I gotta clean up around here. Always that.

Nation's Vid and StarScope

Nation's Triathlon video. Five minutes to show some of the bike, run and post event festivities from last Sunday in DC. Some old stuff, some new and some monumental. Coming soon to a CompuTrainer Multi-Rider Center near you!

Where we will be grabbing promo media tonight at seven. So please all you local VBA, stop by for a shot and a beer. Be sure to be appropriately attired, which means jersey and bike shorts, not coat and tie.

Speaking of jerseys, I got the ship notification (and invoice, whew) yesterday and they should be here by next Wednesday. Please have your credit cards ready as operators will be standing by. This is a limited edition run of only 36 units. I need to get them into circulation asap so we can start the next batch.

Lastly today is this succinct and succulent Starscope from the New Connexion paper. Done by Emily Trinkaus, she calls it Restoring Balance in September and October. I am all for that. To wit:

VIRGO: Revision your dream for the future and imagine allowing an increased flow of pleasure and abundance into your life. Examine your beliefs about what you deserve and make a new start in valuing yourself, your work and your time. Trust that if you expand your base of support and actually take what you need, you'll be more effective and productive in serving others.

LIBRA: The cluster of planets in your sign puts you in the spotlight and invites you to step more into a leadership role. Your power as a leader arises from your foundation of inner balance and self-love. At the Libra new moon on Sept. 27, you've got cosmic support for initiating a major new life direction. Making a new start could require sacrifice - release what you've outgrown to make space for what excites you.

Sweet.

The Chinese Dentist

Back in the saddle. A most successful trip now in the books. The only thing we missed was the UTT shoot and that was optional. Render is about half way complete and looks decent so far. The only soft area is in the fog along the Clara Barton Parkway. The Canon is very susceptible to low light when set to auto aperture. I remember the old days when I used to try to shoot full manual, adjusting both focus, depth of field and the iris settings on the fly. Talk about a challenge. Look Ma, no hands! Now we let the camera do the lighting work automatically and all I have to do is hold on and keep the camera steady. Some of the sequences from the Nation's will get you to asking, "how the heck do they get those shots?" Which, of course, makes me smile broadly. And smiling broadly is what we are doing today after the seriously rocking 60 minute "Can I give more?" session in the HoM.

Which brings us to the joke portion of today's post (just in case you need a toothy grin and a chuckle:))

What is the favorite time of day for a Chinese dentist?

Tooth hurty.

Between spin sessions today is the Nation's video work and design of the BAC Multi-Rider brochures. Tomorrow night is photo shoot for the media as well as some initial time trial testing. And not to worry folks, I haven't forgot about the pizza oven. I will try to throw a couple more rows this afternoon before the evening spin.

As always, being out of town for a weekend was illuminating. Culturally, you would be hard pressed to find a greater concentration of knowledge, art, science and diversity. I am very fortunate to be able to do this. One of my many take-aways was in seeing and talking with some of the exhibitors at the expo. As a result here are a few of the tweaks we will make to the fall training program:

Add: Barefoot running in the park once a week.

Add: Hip, abductor, aductor strengthening exercises.

Add: Swim analysis.

Delete: Empty calories after sunset.

Delete: Guilt (more on this later).

Delete: Non productive web time.

Video tomorrow by tooth hurty. Have a great day.

Pix: TCD and another arty shot from National Airport.

Group One & Fun

Ronald Reagan airport in Virginia. Connecting via Phoenix. I am going to be in the air today. Maybe I'll write another tome on a US Airways cocktail napkin. That was fun on the flight out. Glad there is a Dunkin Donuts here because I am quite sure there won't be much of nutritional value to eat on the flight. I'll take a muffin over Cheese-its any flight of the week.

Hoping to get the race video downloaded and start the color-correct and smooth-cam process tonight. Should be done sometime tomorrow when we'll add another sampler. I am toying with a split screen approach with this one, the left POV straight ahead, riders perspective, and the left POV from behind. Could be interesting. Or I could do an inset with the rear view POV in a window box. Maybe I'll do both and let YOU decide! Won't THAT be fun!

Very much looking forward to tomorrows two spin sessions. Since departure last Thursday I have logged a total of, maybe, 6 miles of running. Yesterday was a decent one, in the sun, before the photo tour. But not nearly enough. Undecided on a half or Oly in two weeks. I would like to close out the season on a positive note heading into the fall and winter training sessions. Friday is deadline.

Announcing Group One seating. Have a great Tuesday. See you back home later today.

A few more random shots from The DC. Name them and win a Nation's Triathlon T-Shirt. Aren't we fun today!

DC Out

Today was the photo gig in DC. Trying to capture some supporting cutaway shots to provide texturally enhanced added visual value (TEAVV) to the RCV. There are enough interesting sites in this towne to keep even the best shutter-bug busy for days, but we had but a single afternoon. Hopped on one of the trolley tour busses and shot over 250 local nouns. Persons, places and things. Out of the 250 there might be 10 keepers. How I love digital media. Ended with another great meal at Chef Geoffs, I with a chantrelle pizza and Kathy with mussels. Key lime pie and sorbet for desert. Feeling pretty mellow on my last night in DC. Mission accomplished and we hit the return trail tomorrow, beginning at 0400.

Successful, creative, important. Not to mention fun and adventurous.

Even got in two runs. WOW.

Pix: Portals, tables, fixies, waterfalls in DC. Four of 250.

NT Sampler Vid

Three minute sampler from today's Nation's Triathlon. More to come, we're off for beans and rice.

Freedom Rocks

Second time's a charm. Made it through the bike and run legs of the 2011 Nations Triathlon relatively unscathed. No rain, but patches of fog and some blinding sunlight, which turns even perfect focus to defused mush. But we navigated all 40K of the new and revised course, through Maryland and Virginia, around the Lincoln Memorial (see pre-dawn photo at left) and back. We pulled off a rare two camera shoot with the trusty Go-Pro HD mounted atop the Canon, facing backwards. I snuck a sneak peak of the MP4 files and they look crisp, even capturing a crash behind us that I normally would have missed. I can only review the taped media from the A cam on the viewfinder, so the RCV media will have to wait until Tuesday to download and grade. I think it will be OK. GPS captured in redundancy.

It was a long day, 0400 wake-up call, head still spinning from the 40-32 Husky victory over Hawaii just hours prior. The moon over the Potomac looked like a perfect circle of honey and orange as the 3K competitors began their day in time trial fashion, 8 at a time. Remember the swim was cancelled due to the water level, unsafe currents, flood debris and stretches of unsanitary conditions. I am being kind with the last of those four. A 40K ride and a 10K run was the day. It got hot hotter as the day wore on, competitors happy to finish and get some fine post-race grub, an ice-cold bottle of water and a massage.

The post race highlight was capturing a gentleman tri-geek proposing to his tri-geek gal friend at the finish line. Drew a huge round of applause from the crowd and even had the grizzled veteran video hack RCVman a touch moist around the eyes.

And yes, she accepted. It was a great way to wrap up the day. We would like to take this rare opportunity to wish bride and groom the happiest of lives together, and all finishers today the happiest of recoveries.

Pix: Bikes this way. The Lincoln Memorial, pre-dawn. Run course with WAMO behind. At the finish line at the Nations Triathlon, 9.11.2011. Ten Years Later, Freedom rocks.

DC 2 - Carry On

DC2

Wet, gray clouds slide right to reveal a robins-egg sky of blue. The sun shines warm and inviting, busy with the task of vaporizing the rain pooled from the storm. Steam, hot moist air, floats upward like campfire smoke. It is September 10th, 2011, Washington DC. Mixing with the steam and smoke is an odd combination of jubilation and apprehension. Joggers jog, cyclists navigate the overcrowded streets as best they can, the locals head to farmers markets. Life on this sunny September is sweet. But there is that nagging feeling that we are being watched. The big eyes are on us. Radios, cell phones, radar, internet are all powered up. The intelligence community are wearing their game faces. If ever there was a day for special ops, this is it. It has been ten years. There has been noise. There are rumors. America, especially here at its heart, is on high alert. We don't need another reminder of the vulnerability that comes with freedom. Tomorrow we will cross bridges and enter tunnels over and through terrain that could easily be classified as off limits, ground zero. DO NOT ENTER. Danger. But then we would lose. And they will have won. Keeping 3,000 Americans from competing in the Nation's Triathlon would be the equivalent of an unconditional surrender. "Here, my freedom is yours, you win."

And folks that just ain't gonna happen.

Freedom is too important to allow anything to stand between.

Tomorrow we will go out and exercise. We will bike and run. There will be good-natured competition, camaraderie and effort. There will be sacrifice, a little pain and some suffering. A lot of us will remember where we were a decade ago. I will never forget the scratchy voice of the Base CO over the PA on a tiny Navy Support Facility in the Indian Ocean who concluded his all-hands announcement with the chilling words, "This is not a drill, repeat, this is NOT a drill."

Freedom is an exercise. Tomorrow we will exercise our freedom.

My sincere thanks to all those who have made this possible. LIke the Navy slogan pledges: Life, liberty and the pursuit of all who would threaten it.

It is that important. Here's to tomorrow, carry on.

Pix: Boo stands by her man. Big red local pomodori at $1.69 per. RCVman gets a buzz.