First Half Ironman Training; Sunday Long Ride and Daytona Frogman Triathlon Training

Sunday had a long training ride on the schedule. Due to our weekend weather lately, this was the first outside ride in the last 3 weeks. I was very glad to be off the trainer for this weekend. We planned a 3 hour ride and as always, it turned into a 3 hr 45 min ride and 70 miles.

This was sort of a test run, as it was the first ride since having my flat problems. For two weeks in a row, I had multiple flats and one ride I had to make the call of shame and have the wife come get me. I was using a new rear tire,Continental Gator,and hoped it would be the end of my flat streak, at least for awhile. I also put some tire liners in both tires to ward off the flats. I have been using the Continental Gator on the trainer and it has been great. No problems and I felt confident going back out on the road.

The ride went well and since I raced on Saturday, my legs were pretty well fried by the end. I am now focused on the first olympic tri of the season next month. The Daytona Frogman Triathlon is having its inaugural race on March 21. The race director has put on a sprint series for the last few years and has now added this distance. Tigershark Endurance Events puts on a great race. I am excited because it is a local race and I will be riding the course for the next few weeks in training. I can get to the course from my house, on my bike in about 15 minutes, so it will be a good warm up.

Port Orange YMCA 10K

I ran the Port Orange YMCA 10K today and ran a PR of 44:22. It got me 3rd in my age group and 8th overall. My first podium finish since I started racing a couple years ago. I ran the race last year and came in at 51:30 so I'm happy with the progress.

As I get more training under my belt for Florida 70.3, I am realizing the difference between real training and the working out I use to do. I was in shape last year when I raced but this year I feel more like I am trained to race. It is alot of hard work but as I race this season, I am seeing new PR's and realizing that it is all the hard work that makes the difference.

Looking forward to my 3 hour ride tomorrow with a small group. Our weather has been bad the last three weekends, so it will be nice to be outside for my long rides instead of on the trainer.

Sufferfest "Fight Club" Video Review and Brick Workout

Sunday I planned a 2 hour trainer ride with a 5 mile brick run. I did the sufferfest video on Friday night by itself for the first time. It was a tough workout (in a good way)and it definitely lived up to its name. It is a tough hour long session that takes you into the heart of a real cycling event.

The Sufferfest "Fight Club" training video is the one I purchased. It focuses on time trial efforts with some climbing at the end of each lap. There are attacks that are thrown in to keep you paying attention and your heart rate elevated. I found the time passed very quickly (which usually does not happen) on the trainer. For my brick session, I rode a tempo effort for 30 min., then I did the video, followed by another 30 min. that ended with some higher spin efforts to get the legs ready for the 5 mile run.

I had a great sufferfest training ride and a decent run after. I wanted to hold a pace that allowed me to finish under 8 min/mile and I did with a 7:50 pace. Not a race pace effort but I finished feeling good knowing I could have pushed harder for a race.

I have a 10K this weekend and I have not ran an open 10K race since last year, so I am hoping for another PR like I had for my 5K a few weeks ago.

Wheelbuilder.com Aero Disc Wheel Cover Review

**Updated**
2/4/2010
I have a few more hours with the cover on the trainer and still fits snug. No strange rattles or anything as of yet. If the weather cooperates this weekend, I will have a 3 hour road test and post how it went. Our weekends for the last month or so have been extremely windy so I hope it lets up some for this weekend.

1/4/2010

Happy New Year! I have about 4 trainer hours with the wheel cover on and it has not loosened up at all. The weather has been unseasonably cold here in Florida so I have not been on the road with the aero disc yet. I will continue to train with the wheel cover on the trainer and monitor if it loosens up or if there are any other problems.

12/29/2009
I received my aero wheel cover from wheelbuilder.com today. I was excited to try out and review this product. I have heard many people like the product and wanted to know for myself how it works. I needed to stop at my local bike shop and get the necessary tools for installation (chain whip and lockring removal tool).

I know the aero wheel cover is only for racing, but I wanted to install it and ride a little to get a feeling for it and make sure when it comes to race day, that I know how to install and feel comfortable putting it on.

When I opened the box, all the installation pieces were there and I was ready to give it a shot. Let me first say that I am not very mechanically inclined when it comes to my bike, or anything really. Removing the cassette was not all that hard and the biggest trick was getting it off without losing the order of the cogs and the spacers. I accomplished this without a problem.

I then put the wheel cover on and it was fairly easy. It did take a little adjusting back and forth once I got the fasteners on and this was a little frustrating. I put a fastener in every other hole at first, then I installed the others. I kept them loose at this time so that I could do the adjusting. After a few minutes of moving the disc around, I finally felt like it was in the right spot.

I tightend the fasteners and checked the fit. There seemed to be some warping of the cover so I loosened up the fasteners a bit and it seemed to take care of the problem.

I reinstalled the cassette and went to put the wheel back on my bike. I don't know why, but I have the hardest time putting my back wheel on. I messed with this for a little while and finally got it. I put the bike on my trainer and made sure nothing was rubbing. It seemed fine and I will go for a short neighborhood tour tonight after work. I will post updates on the durability of the product as time goes on.

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