Alameda Runners – Get After It!

This post is a list of things on my desk as I clean up.  First thing on my desk is my cool Vineman 70.3 medal.  Since I am so proud of it, I had Jasmin at Brazen Racing engrave the medal.

It took a lot of work to complete a half ironman triathlon.  I am proud of that medal.  Brazen racing charges $10 to engrave a medal at the race and $15 to engrave a special medal.  The price difference is because the machine is set up to engrave all of the race medals on race day.  Different medals require a different machine setup.  It also cost about $2 to mail the medal out.

Most of my medals wind up in a drawer.  Special medals make it to the wall.  Really special medals get engraved.

Strutz Sole Angel arch wrap with cushion support.  I am not reviewing these for an article but I love them.  I have high arches that can be protected with orthotics but it is really hard to get something for the metatarsal area up by the ball of the foot.  These things wrap around the foot and stay where you put them.  There is something about the feet that can cause the whole leg to ache.  These supports help alleviate that pain a little.

Arctic Ease.  Another one of those cool gadgets that work.  It is basically a gauze pad that you wrap around a sore part of the body and it magically cools it off.  I don’t know how it works but I know that it does.

When the wrap starts to dry out, you add a teaspoon of water and return it to service.  I don’t use it very often but it is nice to have in my work locker for when I get sore during my morning or lunch time workouts.  If you use seran wrap to hold it in place, your clothes won’t get wet.

Earbuds.  I had enough ear buds on my desk to fill up a zip lock bag and have some left over.  I only write about the stuff I like.  If I’m not a big fan, I simply tell the company and move on with life.  Mike’s Note:  I have some neat earbuds and audio products that should get some attention sometime here in the near future (hopefully).

Chap Stick Classic.  All people who spend a lot of time outdoors should protect their skin.  Soft lips and soft skin are important if you want to get a hug and a kiss.

Moving up from international (Olympic) distance to half Ironman distance triathlons is a big leap.  It can sometimes mean going from 2 ½ to 3 hours for the event up to 6 to 7 hours for the event.

When you are training for a half Ironman or 70.3, you can do an international distance triathlon on Saturday and still have to go do a long training day on Sunday.   To maintain a happy family life, I had to make a deal with my wife that Saturdays would be my training day and Sunday would be my day for her.

The time commitment is huge.  I had to invest a lot of time and effort to finish in 6 ½ hours.  If I want to finish in 5 ½ hours, I would have to make another huge time investment.  Make sure your significant other and family understand the time and dedication required to successfully complete a 70.3 event.

Finishing in 6.5 hours was a big success for me.  I started serious training six months before the triathlon.  When I started training, I could do all of the events individually.  I could not do them back-to-back but I could do them.  I started out by building for three weeks and resting for one week.  The rest week would be about 50% of the total workout time of the training week.

Swimming – A typical week would entail of mornings swims four or five times a week varying between distance and speed work for a total of four swim miles per week.  I would occasionally add a weekend long swim in the bay to keep the open water swimming skills up.

Running – I would run at lunch from Monday to Thursday varying the distances from four-to-eight miles per day.  Some weeks, I would forgo the long run and do a faster tempo run instead.  On Saturdays, I would do a long run of 6-10 miles followed by a short bike ride of less than 50 miles.  Some weeks, I would do a half marathon with no bike ride after.

Cycling – I am a reluctant cyclist, so I always looked for an excuse to get out of riding but I forced myself to do a long bike ride on Saturdays.  I usually did 50-100 miles per week on the bike.  I never did speed work.  I just got on the thing and rode.

There is a lot to training for a half Ironman.  I woke up before 6:00 AM, almost every day of the week.  Some Saturdays, I would leave my house at 8:00 AM and get home at 8:00 PM.  During the week, I was in bed before 10:00 PM.

To learn how to train for a long triathlon, I read a lot of books on training and nutrition.  My physiology likes to stop eating while I am doing long distance training.  Poor nutrition on long training days has bad side effects.

Congratulations to Cadel Evans, the first Australian winner of the Tour de France, as he overcame a brilliant tandem attack from Andy and Frank Schleck.

Here are the top five overall:

1 Cadel Evans — (Aus) — BMC Racing Team 86:12:22
2 Andy Schleck — (Lux) — Leopard Trek 0:01:34
3 Fränk Schleck — (Lux) — Leopard Trek 0:02:30
4 Thomas Voeckler — (Fra) — Team Europcar 0:03:20
5 Alberto Contador Velasco — (Spa) — Saxo Bank Sungard 0:03:57

I’ve criticized Evans in the past for being a rider that is too hesitant to go on the attack — but he played every card right during this Tour de France. In addition, his BMC Racing squad showed they had the ability to help keep him in the right positions when any type of issues popped up on the road.

The Schlecks will be back in 2012 (and beyond) to continue fighting for the top podium in Paris, both brothers confirmed. Spanish rival Alberto Contador’s fate related to a failed doping test will determine whether or not he’ll play a role in any immediate races.

(Image courtesy of brilliant race photographer Graham Watson.)

We finally get a Safe way to cross into Oakland.  Most of the routes from Alameda into Oakland are really tough.  The most bike friendly route into Oakland is through Bay Farm past the Oakland Airport into Oakland on the south side.  We will soon have a good way to get into downtown Oakland.  Please read the following post, compliments of www.bikealameda.org.

The City of Alameda is pleased to announce the establishment of a new, no cost shuttle service to commence operation on Monday, August 15, connecting the west end of Alameda to Oakland/BART. To celebrate this exciting new alternative transportation option, the public is invited to attend an official ribbon cutting ceremony at 10:00 a.m., on that day, at the Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway shuttle stop in front of the College of Alameda.

The Estuary Crossing Shuttle service will be available for passengers to board and alight at the College of Alameda’s Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway frontage, at 860 Atlantic Avenue, and in Oakland, on Madison Street near the Lake Merritt BART station and Laney College.  The service will operate at 30-minute intervals from 7:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and will utilize a 36-foot, compressed natural gas (CNG) bus with capacity for 24 passengers and 13 bicycles. The project is funded by a one-year grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and, depending on the success of the shuttle, will be eligible for a second year of funding.

“Providing pedestrians and bicyclists with an alternate access to the Posey Tube has been a goal of the City of Alameda for many years,” said Alameda’s Mayor Marie L. Gilmore. “I am very pleased that the Public Works Department was able to bring this shuttle to the west end without using any General Fund monies and by successfully partnering with the City of Oakland, the Peralta Community College District, BART, and Bike Alameda.” Further information can be found at www.EstuaryXINGshuttle.org.

Things are slow around Alameda Runners this weekend — but that’s because Ted will be rocking his way through Vineman 70.3 shortly.

We have reviews, interviews, and post-Vineman thoughts planned for this week, so follow along!

Wool-based manufacturer Woolmark wants to make a bigger clothing splash by helping generate new interest in Australian Merino wool.

Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), Woolmark brand owner, has a great website that describes the growing, harvesting, and manufacturing of clothing. I’d highly recommend browsing around

You know, wool seems to fly under the radar when compared to other materials, though Woolmark, SmartWool, and other companies are sharing knowledge. It has advantages over traditional tech clothing materials, but still has a long way to go before it’s more widely accepted.

Have you ever wondered how to properly clean your water bottle or hydration pack? Proper cleaning and storage is important, so we wanted to chat with some specialists about this tricky subject.

We recently caught up with Hydrapak, an Oakland-based hydration company, that helped give us a great new idea about how to clean our reservoir.

Sometimes you’re going to buy a bottle or hydration reservoir that has a plastic taste that is rather unpleasant the first time you use it. Some people rinse it out several times, while others may even try to use bleach or hydrogen peroxide to clean packs.

“The lemon and freezing is the best for those sensitive to plastic taste that can be most prevalent on the first use. Citrus is great because it won’t stain like a sugary drink, like Gatorade. There may be other concoctions that could be attempted, but I haven’t tried them since the lemon works so well.”

Trying to figure out how to properly clean your water bottle could be an entirely different issue. Hydrapak offers three general tips you could use if you want to wash your water bottle – hand washing, dishwasher, and cool mountain spring.

Cleaning (and more importantly) drying your reservoir is important to reduce the possibility of mold and bacterial growth. This is most important for those using mixes or sugary drinks that accelerates the ‘grunge factor.’ The Hydrapak reservoir reverses and is therefore superior because of its ability to dry.”

If you have a specific question for Hydrapak, I’d recommend following the company’s Twitter account. Despite being a relatively small group of dedicated athletes, the staff wants to help and make sure athletes are using their products safely.

Alameda Runners plans to catch up with other companies, and will help you learn more about properly cleaning your water bottles, hydration packs, and similar products.

A rider from the Katusha pro cycling team riding in the Tour de France has tested positive for a banned substance after stage 5.

The rider in question, Alexander Kolobnev, reportedly had hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic that also is used as a masking agent. In a rather confusing mess (just like usual from pro cycling organizers), it’ll be up to Katusha management to send Kolobnev home.

From the UCI press release:

The UCI Anti-Doping Rules do not provide for a provisional suspension given the nature of the substance, which is a specified substance.

However the UCI is confident that his team will take the necessary steps to enable the Tour de France to continue in serenity and to ensure that their rider has the opportunity to properly prepare his defense in particular within the legal timeline, which allows four days for him to have his B sample analyzed.

Hopefully this is an isolated case, and we won’t end up with multiple doping controversies like in years past.

Alameda Runners and Alameda Tech are both fun sites to write for, but I’ve had previous tech stories shared on major news sites. As such, I like to mix it up and want to share a new publication where you can find my sometimes witty comments on technology.

I recently started to write articles for The Inq, a well-established tech news website.

I’ll hopefully cover a variety of different topics, but my first two articles have been related to online file sharing. My first article focused on new BitTorrent research being done that could help uploaders receive a speed boost, and about a recent agreement between ISPs and copyright groups that is bad for file sharers.

I’ll always want to continue writing for Alameda Runners and Alameda Tech — but it’s fun to branch out and try something new again.

The US Army has banned its military personnel from wearing toe shoes, such as the popular Vibram FiveFingers minimalist shoes, because it “detracts from a professional military image.”

Straight from a tricky military document with a crazy acronym (ALARACT):

“Only those shoes that accommodate all five toes in one compartment are authorized for wear. Those shoes that feature five separate, individual compartments for the toes, detract from a professional military image and are prohibited for wear with the IPFU [Improved Physical Fitness Uniform] or when conducting physical training in military formation.”

Until regulations change, or manufacturers develop military-specific minimalist shoes, then it looks like soldiers will lose out.

Since the US government absolutely loves working with contractors, it’s very possible military branches are working with these companies to develop new products.  Not surprisingly, VFF supporters haven’t taken the news well — and this picture has been circulated:

The above image is an Army soldier from the 10th Special Forces Group jumping out of a CH-47 Chinook during training exercises while wearing minimalist shoes.