New saddle: ISM Adamo Racing

After several failed adjustments to the position of my Cobb V-Flow saddle I have decided to switch it up and try out a new saddle. The V-Flow was a lot better than my last saddle but I wasn't 100% satisfied with the overall comfort it provided me. Next up, the ISM Adamo Racing saddle.



Adam Racing saddle product description:

THE ORIGINAL – and still our top-of-the-line performance saddle for triathletes and time trialers. Designed for aggressive riding in the 0* to 30* hip angle position (aero bars). This seat offers superb comfort in a normally uncomfortable position. The Adamo Racing is completely UCI compliant for time trialing. It even sports a nifty transition rack hook on the back for racking your bike. Uses light weight foam and gel pads with titanium alloy rails. 245mm long and 130mm wide.

I'm really hoping the middle cutout works well for me. It's very similar to the Cobb V-Flow (I believe they have the same designer: John Cobb) but it's well suited for aggressive seat 'nose' riders. I find myself shifting forward on my saddle a lot when I ride in aero and therefore I need a saddle that has a comfortable 'nose'. Hopefully this will be the right saddle for me!

Galena post-race analysis

Dang, I checked my PowerTap file for Galena after the race… I only put out 80-85% of my max effort out on the bike, I need to put out a lot more power next time. I need to learn how to push it to my threshold limits, recover, and still have some left for the run. I guess I’m still scared of hitting my lactic threshold and being unable to recover properly from that point. It's still early in the season, so hopefully I can put out better performances this summer. Gotta keep pushing it!

Galena race report

First race of the 2010 season! I was really excited for the whole weekend to get here that it was all I could think about all week. I took Friday off of work to run some last minute errands and then it was time to head out. I drove down to Galena with a friend and we arrived at our rented cabin (CTC rents several cabins for the 50-60 members that race that weekend). We got there pretty early so we had plenty of time to drop off our bikes at T1 (Galena is a point to point race) and drive the course before it got too dark. Everyone else slowly showed up at the cabin and we settled in for dinner and an early night. I didn't sleep too well that night, which is not uncommon for me. I tend to get little to no sleep the night before any race or big event. I just get jittery and my mind won’t shut down. I’m working on ways to relax a bit more the night before but I still haven’t got it all figured out just yet. So I only got a couple hours of sleep but I felt pretty good in the morning.

We drove out to T1 in the morning, set up our gear, and then settled in to wait for our start times. The duathlon is run side-by-side with the triathlon so we would all be out on the course together for the most part. The duathlon started out with a 2 mile run (instead of a 660 yard swim for the triathlon), then a 17.48 mile bike and a 4.3 mile run. The duathlon starts off on a downhill, and last year I remember going out way too fast and then blowing up later in the race. This year I was going to start off slowly and take the first run easy, try to push it on the bike and finish strong on the run.

First run was pretty uneventful, I tried not to push it too hard and kept a pretty modest pace the whole way. The run starts off on a downhill but it’s an out and back run so we come right up the same hill we just ran down.

The bike course is pretty challenging and hilly (at least for the Midwest). This year I had a new weapon on the bike: my PowerTap. I kept an eye on my power the whole race and made sure not to spike too much on the uphills and tried to keep my wattage steady even on the downhills. I knew about halfway through the bike course that I was going to beat my bike split from last year, so I felt pretty good about that. What I didn't feel good about was the fact that pretty much everyone I was sharing a cabin with that weekend passed me on the bike. That stung a little. Well, actually a lot. But I had to suck it up and just run my own race.

Coming off the bike I felt good, but not great. I took a quick stretch in T2 and then headed out for my second run. I felt pretty good until I hit a pretty big hill. I felt my quads cramp up and I had to back off the pace. The flat parts of the course felt fine but pretty soon I found myself having to slow to a walk on the uphills. So much for not cramping on the run…. I was still able to kick it up a bit on the last half mile into the finish line to finish with a sprint.

Overall it was a so-so race. It wasn't the disaster I thought it might be but it certainly wasn't a strong start to the season. I had a rough time target which I beat, and I had a race plan which I stuck to so I was pretty happy with that. I beat my time from last year by about 15 minutes but I seem to remember the weather was a lot worse last year (very windy). It was a tough race but still a fun one.

The rest of the weekend was a blast. We relaxed after the race and watched Tour of California coverage (individual time trial!). Afterwards we headed over to the CTC party down the street (fun!). The next day we rode the race course backwards as a group. The smaller group I was riding with got lost and we ended up tackling on a pretty steep uphill climb (easily the steepest hill I've ever tackled). Wow, that hill was nutty, most everyone had to unclip and walk it up the hill but I was able to crawl/claw my way up to the top. After we got back on the course we headed back to the cabins to wash up before we made the drive back to Chicago. All in all a great weekend!

Ready for Galena weekend

I’m packing up and heading out to Galena this weekend, and I’m feeling ready to race, or at least as ready as I’m going to get right now. I've tried to cram in some last minute bike and run training these past couple of weeks but I know they won’t do me much good for this weekend. My fitness is where it’s at right now, and I can’t do much about it at this point. I really wished I was going into this weekend a lot stronger than I am right now, but I can’t let that ruin my weekend. I’m going to go out there Saturday morning and push it as hard as I can (hopefully without blowing up) and have fun with the Tri Club over the weekend.

New shoes: Nike Lunaracer+ 2

Aw yeah, check out my new running shoes, don’t they just look fast?

They’re the Nike LunaRacer+ 2, and I just picked them up this week from my local running store (Fleet Feet). They’re actually semi racing flats, but they can also be used as a lightweight trainer and that’s what I got them for. I plan on using these bad boys for my training runs as well as my races. They are ridiculously light, yet at the same time they offer a good amount of support and are super cushiony. I've slowly been working my way down to lightweight trainers over the past year or two, ever since I figured out I was wearing way too much shoe.

When I first started running many years ago I went shopping for running shoes and settled on a pair of New Balance 764s. I had flat feet, I was an over pronator, and I really wanted a supportive shoe. So for several years this shoe (and the future variations of this model) was my go-to running shoe. But over the past couple of years I've gotten a lot faster and unfortunately my shoe wasn't keeping up. Plain and simple, my New Balances were heavy and clunky. I was no longer a heel striker and didn't need that much rubber on my heel. Last year I switched to the Asics DS Gel Trainers which were a lot lighter but still offered a lot of support. I was pretty happy with these shoes but I wanted to see if I could go lighter this year.

That’s where these Lunaracers come in. I was debating between these shoes and the Saucony Fastwitch 4’s, but I've heard better reviews on the Nike’s so I went with the Lunaracers. First impressions: wow, these shoes are light! My DS Trainers where around 11 oz and the Lunaracers are only 6-7 oz. That doesn't sound like a huge difference but you can really feel the difference when they’re on your feet. I was concerned at first with how much support they would offer me but the padding is really cushiony and springy, it’s like bouncing on clouds. I’m really looking forward to putting some miles on these shoes and seeing how my body holds up on them. The only bad thing is that they wear down pretty fast, I guess since they’re racing flats. I think it’s recommended to replace them every 200 miles or so, which isn't a lot of mileage. Oh well, if they work well during that period I’ll gladly replace them as often as needed.

Gearing up

Alright, my training is finally gearing up as the season is about to kick off. Next weekend I’m headed out to Galena to do the duathlon and the week after that I’m planning on doing the Bike the Drive ride on Lake Shore Drive. I know it’s more of a recreational bike ride event but I like heading out there early that day and hammering a loop or two on LSD before the crowds arrive. It’s so much fun having the whole drive to yourself and having so much open road to ride down.

Training status check: On the bike, I've stepped it up a bit here and feel better about my fitness. My wattage doesn't show any improvements over last year but I think I have a better ‘feel’ for my power. I still back off too soon when I hit my lactic threshold and it still takes me a while to recover from hard efforts but that’s slowly improving. On the run, I know my times are slower than last year. Track workout last week was challenging and I’m looking forward to picking up some speed but for next week’s race I know I’ll need to dial back my run times if I want to make it through the race. On the swim, well, no status update here. Good thing next week is a duathlon!

Track workouts

Awesome, VQ is starting up track workouts on Thursday mornings. I love track workouts! Personally, I would rather run a hard short set of sprints than do a long slow run, but that’s just me. Anyways, I’m excited to start doing speed work again to see if I can recover some of my speed from last year. My fastest run times were actually two years ago, so hopefully I can get back to those levels. The only downside is that that the workouts are at 6:00 AM. Ouch!

I did a little bit of indoor track work this winter at a track inside of a Depaul University athletic facility, but stopped doing that after a few weeks. The problem there was that the track was a 1/8 mile track, and the turns were so sharp that it was hurting my inside leg a lot. My IT band on my inner leg started to really scream at me during and after those track workouts so ultimately I decided it wasn't worth it and put the speed work on hiatus. But now that’s it nice outside we can head out to a larger outdoor track and really put some speed down!

Outdoor rides

Now that it’s finally warming up here in the Midwest we’re starting up more outdoor rides at VQ. I’m planning on attending a lot of the outdoor triathlete specific workouts as well as the roadie workouts if I can. I’m actually not as comfortable riding in a group as I should be, and after several months of indoor riding I think I need to ease into large group rides. I should also bring my road bike out of retirement soon in anticipation of these outdoor group rides. I have an old GT Attack road bike sitting in my closet that needs a bit of work done before its road ready.

Saddle update: The Cobb V-Flow saddle I’m trialing right now is a lot better than my old saddle, but… well, I’m still not 100% comfortable on it. I can last longer in the saddle now without experiencing numbness or discomfort, but it’s still an issue on longer rides and it’s still a problem that I think I can work on. I think I’m going to head back to Get A Grip and ask for some adjustments on the saddle position and see if that helps out, otherwise I may have to look for different saddle options.