Author Archives: Al

IM LP Training Update: 4 Weeks to Go

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Al

I had a little scare this morning. I call this the “silly season”, meaning in these two weeks before taper, every little twinge or niggle in my body gets magnified all out of proportion. First, at the end of my … Continue reading →

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Ironman Lake Placid Update: Race Rehearsal #1

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Al

My past six days have been tough, but reassuring. Friday, 15.2 mi run in 2:14. Instead of trying to hit the MP exactly, after the first six miles, I tried to work each successive mile a little harder. Especially the … Continue reading →

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The Performance Management Chart (In English)

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Al

I promised an explanation in English of the post I wrote about my Performance Management Chart for the year 2011. Where does the data come from? Every swim, bike ride, and run I do, I’m wearing my Garmin Fenix 2 … Continue reading →

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The Boys In The Boat

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Al

The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown I’m a sucker for a good athletic success story, no matter what the sport. I’ve devoured and drooled over accounts of Seabiscuit’s exploits, the travails along the Iditarod dog sled race, … Continue reading →

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Final Push: Lake Placid 2015

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Al

I just completed what’s probably my biggest month of training ever – which, since I go back to 1999 with an average of 2 IMs a year, is saying a lot. I view the training process as a series of … Continue reading →

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PMC 2011

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Al

  The following is a detailed analysis of my Training Peaks Performance Management Chart for the year 2011. If the above sentence seems obscure, I advise you to stop reading right now, as the following might as well be written … Continue reading →

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The Mental Game

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Al

Endurance Nation has a thread running now about mental training, as if it were a separate discipline, like nutrition. Here is my contribution: I’m a big believer that the conscious mind is only a very small part of what controls … Continue reading →

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Tour of California, Part IV

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Al

Stage 6: Santa Clarita Time Trial – The weather was turning foul, at least for South California. We had dodged clouds and rain during stage 5; the actual racers finished in a series of deluges into Santa Clarita. An unseasonal storm … Continue reading →

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Tour of California Part III

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Al

OK, where was I … Stage 3, heading out towards Monterrey (Do you know the way from San Jose?) It’s either over the spine of the peninsula, or down south through Steinbeck country – Gilroy, Watsonville, hints of lettuce and … Continue reading →

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ToC 2015: Stage 3 – Mt. Hamilton (San Jose)

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Al

Stage 3: San Jose (Mt Hamilton) – Our first real climbing day. The west coast of California is only tenuously attached to the main continental tectonic plate. Basically, San Francisco is sliding very slowly towards Los Angeles (or is it … Continue reading →

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