Aside from a really cool talk on sports nutrition by Peter from Institute of New Medicine, held at Herriott Sports Performance, I didn’t, so I’m going to link to other people who did.

I took Greg’s recommendation and watched King of the Grizzlies, a 1970 Disney movie that is sure to put a smile on your face (when it finally ends). Actually, I think having a boyfriend that subjects her to 93 minutes of this monotony is probably why Courtney hates everything. Meanwhile, Greg wrote a follow-up blog post to Henning’s, which is worth reading if Henning peaked your interest in why some people quit after college.

Chris Tremonte has had some Gems on his blog lately, included his review of the Continental Cup in Nevis, and most recently a "How To Race Like  Chucklehead", in which he describes race tactics that will ensure you never upgrade from cat 4.

Meanwhile, Loren has aspired to mirror Greg’s blog by writing another follow-up to Henning’s post, while simultaneously trying to convince me to watch more crappy Disney movies like Monkeys Go Home and Incredible Mr. Limpet. (I actually kind of like Monkeys go home, but that dang theme song has been stuck in my head since last July)

Today’s the last day of a rest week, and I’m getting really ansy. Tomorrow I’m going to rock some hills so hard they tumble.

[ Unrelated: My friend Mark Webb (who works at Seattle’s Road Runner Sports store, which is a great place to go for shoes.) just sent me a link to this article in the New York Times. It’s a good read for swimmers of all levels. Nothing really revolutionary, but it shows that swimming technique is never "good enough".  Now on to my non-triathlon post: ]

This week is a rest week, so I’m pretty much sleeping as much as I can, doing maintenance workouts, and getting caught up on schoolwork. Last night was later than normal because I was playing Monopoly with Brian "road kill" Davis and his wife Marijana (I won for the first time in my life), so this morning I was keen on sleeping in as late as possible. Around 2am, my cat decided to join me, but he was in a hyper frenzy. He jumped into bed, head butted me awake, and flopped down next to me while I petted him. If I stopped petting he would go back to step 2 (head butting). 20 minutes later I fell into a miserable sleep, dreaming that I was riding the bumper cars and had been stuck with the crummy slow car that everyone else attacks.

Next I dreamt that I was hiking through the jungle and being attacked by mosquitos. I woke up several times to roll over, wondering why I was so itchy. I figured it was dry skin from the chlorine, but around 7am when the morning light made its way past my curtains I awoke to see that my   dear kitty was long gone, but his gift of miserable sleep kept on giving. There was a trail of dirt and grime from the floor to my pillow to the side of my bed, and where that trail ended there was a pile of cat puke sitting right next to my book (A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore – not as good as Lamb, Which was brilliantly funny, but still worth a few laughs).

"Troy!!!!!" I jumped out of bed, ran to the shower, ripped off my sheets and started a cat hunt.

It’s easy to find my cat in a hurry. You just walk to the pantry and do the tuna call: "Troy, you want some tuna? I’m making a tuna sandwich!!!! Troooyyyyeeeeeeeee!"  It never fails. On rare occasions I have to actually crack open a can of tuna before he shows, but before the can opener can make a round Troy will be there. My cat could be a mile away fighting raccoons or chasing Peppy Le Pew and he would make it to the pantry in time for first dibs on tuna (the dog always gets served second).

No tuna for the pukey kitty today. It was straight into a bath. I should probably also try to figure out why my cat is bulimic, but at least for now he’s clean, allergen free, and toasty warm wrapped up next to the fireplace.

He may be anoying sometimes, but at least he doesn’t have IBS like Shoes.

As soon as I change the sheets  I’m closing my door and going back to bed.

There is a lot of snobbery in sports when it comes to attire. Tennis and Golf are the most obvious examples of this (polo shirts, pleated skirts, and ugly plaid pants), but anyone who’s ridden a road bike on the trail with sweat pants and a cotton t-shirt knows "the look". "The look is usually given by Lance Armstrong look-alikes. That is to say they would look just like Lance in their US Postal kit and matching limited edition Trek if they were younger, skinnier, and much much faster. Ever show up to a Saturday morning run in basketball shorts? That’s "The Look".

Unfortunately, it’s hard for me to give "the look" when I’m wearing a swim cap and goggles, but every time I see a guy swimming in a racing jammer, trunks, or – and this last one is the worst of all – a one-piece tri-suit I want to push their head under water. Does that make me a snob? I think it makes me a purist. You’re not doing your stroke any favors if you wear trunks (which would more appropriately be called hip anchors) The racing jammer is a high cost way to hide your tan line from a bunch of people who really don’t care that you wore short-shorts into the tanning bed, and the unitard is most often worn by men who are embarrassed to be shirtless in public. (Note to the lap swimming men: please be advised, the uni – no matter what the fabric design, or how tight it fits – will not make you look thinner. Furthermore, just because you hang out with anorexic triathletes all day, does not mean that you are embarrassingly fat. Nobody at the pool cares. Save your modesty for the track where the extra pounds actually make a difference.)

Goggles are a personal preference. I don’t recommend swedish style goggles to anyone that didn’t grow up swimming in them (those of us that did may never give them up), but I also don’t recommend a giant snorkeling face mask with built in nose plug. You want to get a sleek pair of goggles that fit your nose (I recommend adjustable nose pieces, but if a fixed one works, go for it). You want minimal padding (rubber gaskets work better than foam). My favorite goggles are TYR, but I know plenty of other people that hate TYR goggles (like Brian Davis, who laments that Northwestern would only provide TYR equipment). Speedo makes good goggles too, though I’ve never bought them for myself.

 Swim caps are all the same. Silicon or Latex? It doesn’t matter, whatever you’re comfortable with. Just wear the cap from your last race. If you run out of swim caps you aren’t doing enough races.

Now, back to the suit. (This is mainly for men, women can pretty much wear any competition style suit. Two piece suits may look out of place in-doors, but they are never unappreciated. I asked Herriott Sports Performance Triathlon Coach Teresa Nelson and she recommended the standard polyester speedo, it all depends on what causes the least shoulder/neck chafing)

  Fabric: polyester suits (like the speedo) last forever. By far the best suits for training in terms of comfort, modesty, longevity (of the fabric) and performance (of you) are the Nylon drag suits (like the TYR polymesh trainers). Without doing anything special, one of these suits would last me a full year of college level swimming (the stitches start coming out after 52 weeks of 10-15k a day). I’ve had my current suit for three years and it still looks new. If you like a more traditional brief, get a the waterpolo cut so it doesn’t look quite so skimpy. Also, buy it big enough size that it’s not a struggle to get into. a little loose is fine.

Swimming is about gaining a feel for the water. You want to be aware of how the water interacts with your body. If you are wearing anything too loose it will pull your hips down, and covering your legs with a jammer will take away the feeling on your upper legs, leading to improper kick.

Ok, so I’m a bit of a snob, but the proper swimming attire will actually help you achieve a better feel for the water, create less restriction, and lead to far less chafing (whereas proper cycling equipment provides extra pockets). I hope this advice is helpful.

Herriott Sports Performance is in on the front page of the Seattle PI today! That’s right, not the sports section, not the business section, the FRONT PAGE!!  That’s pretty cool. The article is about how cycling is the new golf among business professionals.

Check it our here.

Heads Up: I’ll be at Mason Lake #3 tomorrow racing Cat 5, and what’s more scary, I’m driving a support car for the Cat 1/2’s. My strategy for the race? Haven’t decided yet, but the early break is getting boring, so it’s going to be something new. Todd Herriott has been prepping me with the pro strategy.

 Chris Lieto, (3 time Ironman Champion, 7th at Kona last year after leading the race for 6 hours, plus a father of one (soon to be two)  – what’s your excuse?) was in Seattle for two days to visit Peter and William at the Institute of New Medicine (inewmed). He stayed with my family for two nights, and I was able to drag him around Seattle with me to a couple of swim workouts. It was a great chance to rack his brain for tips about nutrition and strategy, and to get the scoop on his new product, Base Performance.

He came in pretty late Sunday night, so we decided to skip the 5am practice Monday morning, and instead swam at my old high school pool (Garfield). It’s built like a bomb shelter under mounds of concrete. It’s dark, the pool is hot, and if it weren’t for the pool lights being covered in blue lenses the water would be yellow from all the chemicals.

Still we managed to get in a solid workout before the 85 degree water finally got to us and we decided we needed to get out. I was drinking Base Water, a product intended to increase the absorption of the water you drink, and amazingly enough I was able to stay hydrated! (normally after a longer, hot workout I would have to work all night to get enough water in).

After a quick stop at Whole Foods to sampling of face lotions (chlorine is nasty on the skin), we stopped by Herriott Sports Performance to eat and say hello (they made the mistake of telling me to make myself at home, so I spend all my time there.). Todd Herriott was pretty busy, so we headed home, cooked some white king salmon, bok choy, wild rice and carrots.

Chris was hesitant about swimming at 5am with me, and gave me a lecture about how professional athletes should have a more regular sleep schedule. I reminded him the only reason I was up until 11pm the night before was because somebody (a word I emphasized while pointing in his direction) had missed his earlier flight.

Chris unenthusiastically joined me at 5am for what turned out to be a middle distance/sprint workout, not dissimilar to what we had done the day before. The difference was that the pool was in the 81-82 degree range (still too hot, but not as bad), and there were some 15 year old kids giving us competition. Chris is used to doing long course, and like most people that didn’t grow up swimming 12,000+ yards a day, his flip turns are atrocious. (I’ve actually tried to mess up my flip turns so that I carry less momentum through the turns and get more out of each length, but the motion is ingrained.) My guess is that in a long course pool (and certainly in open water) Chris would be whooping on the 15 year olds. Problem is, Seattle’s only 50 meter pool is only open three months a year.

After practice we went home and made a big breakfast. (Oatmeal, blueberries, eggs and toast.) I was supposed to be off until the Club Northwest workout tonight, but Chris convinced me to join him for some hill intervals at Pike Place Market (left) near inewmed. I felt pretty good, despite not having had an easy day in a week. Chris attributes this to this being the first week I’ve been consistent in using Base Amino and Base Water during workouts. Honestly, I’m beginning to think he’s right.

The run was cold, and I wore shorts and a t-shirt. My hands are still thawing, and it was totally worth it. We ran up to the fish market, then down along the waterfront. I’ve never actually done any training downtown, so it was pretty cool. Afterwards Chris went in for a second day of testing / acupuncture, and I headed off to the Seattle Public Library.

Here’s the map off my Garmin Forerunner 305. (Speaking of which, there’s a new Garmin Forerunner 405 out, that is way smaller, less red, and doesn’t require a cable to download to your computer. I’m getting one as soon as possible, so I’ll let you know if it’s as great as the hype.)

View Larger Map

I just realized that all the comments from the last week have been sitting in my inbox waiting for approval. Not sure how that happened, but they’re all up now.

(which really means I’m feeling a lack of creativity with the titling part of my brain.)

This weekend has a lot happening. Tomorrow is the Mason Lake Road Race #2 (there are three). I decided last night to skip it, however, in favor of going to the "Tour De Dung". I hear it’s a better race (dry) because it’s in the shadow of the Olympic Mountains, and it’s also 48 miles, rather than the 36 at Mason. Besides, take a look at the directions below.

Follow US Hwy 101 past Sequim, stay on Highway 101 until you reach Kitchen Dick Road, take a right onto Kitchen Dick Road. Continue on Kitchen Dick Road, past Woodcock when you will be on the race course, all the way to Lotzgesell Road Rd where the parking area and Start/Finish location.

Those names are pretty funny to me.

Saturday is also the Seattle Bike Expo. I’ve never been, but I hear it’s nothing like Interbike. With the Seattle scene, my guess is that I will see many many guys on fixies with empty waterproof cycling backpacks (left) to fit free stuff into (like Cool Mint Chocolate Clif Bars)

Herriott Sports Performance will be there as well, and rumor has it they have a couple pictures of yours-truly from a little photo shoot we did last week.

Other booths to check out if you’re going – Cyclists Helping Cyclists/First Rate Mortgage, Full Speed Ahead (FSA),

King County Dept of Transportation (tell them what their doing right, before you start criticizing – i.e adding bike lanes has ben good, fighting Lake Forest Park to give cyclists right-of-way was good, etc.), and SDOT City of Seattle (I used to work there.).

Lastly, Chris Lieto is staying with me at the beginning of next week while he’s in Seattle to see William and Peter at Institute of New Medicine downtown. I’m going to bust out the underwater camera and see if he’ll let me give him some stroke pointers.