The End... of this Blog

I started this blog when I was on the road all-the-time. It was a great way to let you all know where I was, what adventures I was getting myself into, and when I'd be back in the US. I also had a lot more free time when I was traveling since the jetlag kept me awake at odd hours.

This year, I haven't traveled at all for work, so the posts have been about Ironman training and work... both pretty boring subjects if you ask me. And I definitely don't have as much free time.

So, this is the end of this blog. Thank you for being such great followers of my blog.

If you want to keep track of me, "friend" me on Facebook. mebeame@yahoo.com is my screen address or just give me a call!

A Fun Wednesday Evening with Ironteam

Last night, Ironteam did hill repeats at Mt. Eden. The hill isn't particularly long or steep, but our coaches added some difficulty to it. We started out the training with a short, 8-mile warm-up, then hit the hills. Here is the breakdown of the 7 climbs we did up Mt. Eden. Oh, and by the way, we were never allowed to use our lowest gear on our bikes.

1. Climb Comfortably, not in the lowest gear
2. Climb at level 7 (out of 10)
3. Standing climb the whole way up
4. Climb two gears harder than #1
5. Climb three gears harder than #1
6. One legged... 20 on right, recover, 20 on left, recover... repeat to the top.
7. Sprint to the top and 20 squats at the top

I was quite surprised on the one-legged drills because I always thought my right leg was stronger while cycling. And while the leg has more power, it doesn't pedal as smoothly, so I was consistently faster when only using my left leg.

I skipped the 15-minute run after the ride because my hip has been bothering me. And because I needed to be on a conference call too.

Moving 3-miles away

Well, our manufacturing facility in China has reached the end of the lease agreement. What does this mean? It means having to move everything from one facility into another facility and it all needs to be done by the end of the year.

This will not be easy since we have thousands of pieces of equipment (large and small) that will need to move and be validated. Oh, and all the plastics equipment, painting line, sub-assembly lines will need to be moved and qualified again too.

Sigh. Hopefully we have an endless lease on this new place. I'd hate to have to do this again.

Still not sleeping

I'm still not sleeping well and it is really wearing me down physically and emotionally. I've been supplementing with naps when possible and lots of caffeine. I'm sure neither of these are helping the situation resolve itself, but I need to be functional during non-sleep hours...

I haven't allowed myself any caffeine today and a nap really isn't possible, so I am down to what I consider "barely" functional. Hopefully this will resolve itself soon because I'm not sure how long I can keep this up for.

Countdown to Ironman

Only 100 days until I race at Ironman Canada!

This weekend is an 80-mile bike ride/20-minute transition run on Saturday and a 15-mile run on Sunday. We've been told that 10-miles of the 15-mile run will be uphill. I'm guessing I will experience "some level of discomfort" during this weekend... But that's all part of Ironman training.

Long Swim

Yesterday, our training calendar said 3500 yards for our team swim. When we showed up at the Gunderson HS pool, the lanes were set up in "long course"... so instead of lanes of 25 yards, they were set up in the 50 direction.

We jumped in the pool at 6:30 and started swimming. I warmed up, then the workout started. Drills, swimming at different levels, etc. I finally got out of the pool after 3900. Not sure if that is yards or meters. If it was yards, it was over 2.2 miles, if it was meters, it was over 2.4 miles. It's good to know I can swim close to the Ironman distance at this point in the season!

I'm surprised that I'm not sore today. Maybe I need to push harder in the pool?

Not One, Not Two, But Three Flats...

Yesterday, I had a frustrating day on the bike. I headed out from work on my usual 20-miler... up and over Sierra Road. Less than a mile from work, I had a flat in my rear tire. I pulled the wheel off and changed the tube. The rock that was stuck in my tire looked like a shark's tooth. I decided to keep going since the gash in the tire was relatively small.

Then, somewhere near the top of Sierra Road (yes, I made it to the top), I had another flat. This time, in my front tire. I couldn't find what caused the flat, but it was flat. I didn't notice it until I got to the top of Sierra though because it was really windy and I thought the difficulty in pedaling was from the wind and the hill.

I was concerned at this point because I only carry 2 tubes and 2 CO2 cartridges... and I had just used my last of both. I wasn't sure what I would do if I got another flat since there isn't a ton of cell phone service back there. Luckily, I made it down the hill ok.

The 3rd and last flat of the day was just as I pulled into the parking lot at work. Another flat on my front tire. I was very frustrated at this point and wanted to throw my bike... but I didn't.

I think it's time to get new tires for my bike and now I need to stock up again on tubes and CO2.