Funny signs

Bri pointed out some funny stuff on the internet to me.  Well meaning signs that people have run away with.  Here is my favorite. View the entire series at Happy Place.

There was a movie named 300 that you might need to watch if you don't get it.

The uselessness of names

Once upon a time in triathlon world, there were 4 major distances in racing:
Ultra /Ironman  - 2.4m swim / 112m bike / 26.2m run
Long / Half-Ironman or "Half" - 1.2m swim / 56m bike / 13.1m run
International / Olympic - 1.5k / 40k / 10k
Sprint - Meant to be 750m / 20k / 5k but a lot of 400meter-10m-3m in Florida racing

These days there are races all along this spectrum as well as above and below.  I am happy about all that as it provides variety, and if you want to stick with 250 yard pool swim - 8mile bike - 2 mile run you can find a few. 

What I am tired of is seeing races use the terms above for races that don't stick to the distance.  The worst are International and Olympic names on races.  If you have a 1 mile swim - 30 mile bike - 5 mile run, it is not an International triathlon, at all, in any way shape or form.  It is just a mid-distance triathlon.  There is no real one "International" distance - all distances are International since any nation can hold any distance.  Duhhhh-huhh?    It is Olympic distance or it is whatever you want distance if it is not Olympic distance.  If you do a 1k swim - 17 mile bike - 3 mile run, it is not an International Sprint Distance triathlon, it is just a shorter-than-Olympic-distance -distance in your backyard triathlon.  

All standardization has gone out the window.  The technical guy in me demands some standards or it is chaos, man, total chaos. Give up the "International," "Olympic" and "Sprint" monikers on distances you know aren't codified in some fashion.  Just give your race a name like the Tomato Man Triathlon or the Big Banana Triathlon and let people R-E-A-D the distances. 

(Btw, there is a Tomato Man Triathlon that can call its distance a Sprint because it adheres to the more or less standard 750m swim - 20k bike - 5k run.  I just looked that up.)

Kure Beach 2011

We had another fun weekend of racing and training at Kure Beach.  The sprint triathlon is a funny format 375m swim - 1.5m run - 12 mile bike - 1.5m run - 375m swim. I really enjoy the race although am always in a great deal of discomfort during the race itself. 

The day before Bri and I put on an open water clinic and that was well received.  We get to teach people to dive through the waves and body surf, which is hellacool.

After the clinic I ran into Wilmington to invest in a new stand up paddleboard (SUP).  This is money well spent as we will use this for additional water patrol/safety during our swims and aquathons.  But it will also be fun.

During the race I felt good went hard and ran pretty fast on both splits. 5th overall and 1st Masters.  Here are a couple pictures.

I false started a bit

This cop was making fun of my haircut

Combined age = 130

Hard to believe I am in the old guy race now, but I still feel good!  The recovery after a hard race like this does take longer than 10 years ago, that is for sure.

Next up is the Old School Aquathon #2 at Vista Point, check it out.  The race is a 300 meter swim then 1 mile run, done 3 times.

Blue Ridge / Boone camp 2011

We hosted our 2nd Blue Ridge training camp over the weekend and it was a lot of fun.  This is an essentially unadvertised camp that Bri and I put together for our athletes, friends and training partners and it is billed as a train and have fun camp, not a train and then talk more about training and sit for lectures on training then go to sleep so you can train more camp, which also have their time and place, just not here. 

We rent a large house on the side of a mountain and then fill it up with food, people, and adult beverages.

Thursday ride - 47 miles with 4,000 feet elevation gain + The Viaduct

Thursday run - 5 miles flat on Boone Greeneways (these are nice if you're ever in the area)

Friday ride - ~40 miles, with washout bridge crossing, 3,500 feet elevation + Shoals Mill pass

Friday swim - between 3,000 to 5,000 meters

Saturday run - up from Bass Lake to Moses Cone Park to the Firetower - 1,100 feet elevation gain in ~5 mile climb

Saturday swim - stormed out, we did try to get this in but not too many complaints

Saturday night - brawling with the Roller Derby girls (here is one happy camper before he was tackled to the ground by seven sweaty roller girls)

Sunday morning - ride rained out, 2.4 or 4.6 mile flat run around Julian Price Lake just off mile 296 on the Blue Ridge

Sunday cleared out by 11am

The end!  Recovering from the effort this week and then the Kure Beach double sprint this weekend.

3rd annual Jordan Lake Open Water Challenge 1 mile swim

Another week in the books.  It has become pizza oven hot around here.   I would write more about it being hot but most of you know what that's like.  In trigeek training news my highlights for the week include:

6 x 800s at a hot Tuesday track workout at under 2:55 average, I haven't been able to do this in 3-4 years

9 x 200 meter swim set on 2:50, 2:45, 2:40 sendoff with the gang at Wednesday Masters

5 x 6 minute Thursday evening bike threshold intervals with one of my athletes

Sunday will cap off the week with the Jordan Lake Open Water Challenge 1 mile swim and then a 2-2.5 hour bike ride with friends, athletes, training partners.  Good times!

So my summer racing plans are really slim this year.  A few weekends are pre-booked with clinics or travel.  It looks like when all is said and done I will compete in:

Kure Beach Double Sprint June 26

Triangle Triathlon July 10
Nothing in August

Wilmington YMCA Tri September 17

Lake Royale Sprint October 1
B2B Half October 29

I already did four so that makes nine races total, which is more than enough unless you just can't get enough or are pursuing a series title of some sort.

Life is good

Busy week, but things are good.  The first ever first annual Old School Aquathon went well, it was dog days of summer hot as we had a heat wave move through here, but everyone dealt with it.  Next up is July 6 at Vista Point Jordan Lake.

We were going to go to Virginia Beach area this weekend to catch up with my in-laws and nieces as well as race in the Breezy Point Triathlon up there, but I got a bit bogged down with everything so we are sticking around town (have stuck / are to stick around town).  I had been top five overall the last three years but you can't do everything!

Next weekend is the Jordan Lake Open Water Challenge + several athletes I coach are racing the Eagleman 70.3 triathlon.  Eagleman is sort of a must do event, having been around forever.  I had my best run-off-the-bike there in 2007. 

This morning we hosted our 2nd open water clinic of the year.  These are low key and pretty fun for me as an instructor, I basically get to show people how to conduct organized play in the lake or ocean.

Here is a random picture of the lake: