SwimLabs

I went to Swim Labs the other day to have my stroke analyzed and it's official. I can't swim.

They put you in an endless pool with three different video cameras, one above the pool, one underwater from the front and the other from the side. You swim, they film and then they show you what you look like. I look pathetic. It was really evident when they showed the demo swimmer who has a perfect stroke. It's not like I can't swim, I did a 1500 open water swim in 23 minutes the other week. Compared to the swim model, I'm a thrashing, flailing mess.

At least I have things to work on now. The first things for me to correct are my head position (too high) and my pull (need to bend the elbow and drop the s-pattern). It was funny watching my stroke and talking to the coach. We both learned to swim back in the 70s and he commented that everyone from back then swam like that.

Day 2

Out for the second ride on the P2 and it's still handling great and impressing me. I took it back north to loop around Broomfield and it just wants to fly. I took a right at a light and there was a group of ten or so riders waiting for the light to change. I took off and they formed up to chase. After eight miles, I hit the turn around with over a minute gap.

I'm working on staying aero up the hills and with the compact cranks, I think I can up to six percent grade. I don't think I can stay aero up Old Stage or the Lake to Lake hills but everything else so be ok.

After finishing the ride, I hit the trail for a quick nine mile run. The legs felt pretty good. It was around ninety degrees without any shade except for the underpasses. Still, after the bike, I managed to hold 7:30 and that's with dialing it back to talk with some other runners.

Cervelo P2SL

I finally upgraded my ride to a Cervelo P2SL. It's not the top of the P2SL line but it's all mine. Ultegra components all around with the Profile Design saddle and T2+ aerobar.

I went for the first of many rides today. It took a while to get used to the handling. Since you are positioned so far forward, it's a little squirrelly compared to a road bike. By spending time in the aero position, your center is more narrow than on a road bike riding on the drops.

It has a compact crank which means the big ring is only 50 teeth. It allows you to spin at a higher rate than a 53 tooth ring. I was able to spin up most hills and stay tucked.

All in all, I'm really happy. It's a great ride at a great price. Hans at BikeSource did a great job getting me fit to the bike. I didn't have any problems staying aero for most of the ride.

Honesty

While hanging around after Rattlesnake, I overheard a guy talking about the race results. As he looked at the results, he noticed that his overall time was different than his watch time by about two minutes. His friend looked at the official's penalty sheet and noticed that he had been penalized for overtaking. The first guy then said that he didn't care and he was going to tell everyone how he did without the penalty.
It may not seem like a big deal since it was just a local race and not the USAT Sprint National Championship that was held the next day. What's interesting is what it says about him. Prior to the race, the USAT head referee addressed everyone and warned everyone about what the officials would be looking for and how many there were. I think they were using the Saturday race as a practice for Sunday's championship.
Here was a person who thought what his friends might think is important is how he finished in a race. In his age group, he was in the middle of the pack and the penalty didn't change that. It might have moved him up a space or two but he wouldn't be in the top ten.

Rattlesnake Triathlon

Prologue

It's back to Aurora Reservoir for another triathlon but this time it's Olympic distance and not a half-iron. This will be the third Olympic and fourth open water triathlon this summer.

ACT 1 - The Swim - 1500 meters - 21:55, 1:31/100

This swim has two unique features, the course and a time trial start. The swim course is straight out, straight back, out again and then a turn towards the beach. It looks like an inverted "V" where you do the first part three times.

The start is time trial style which I've never done. Everyone lines up and then every 5 - 10 seconds another person starts. When you start, you also have to watch for the earlier swimmers who are coming back to start their second loop.

I wasn't sure if I would like the start format but after experiencing it, I really do. You didn't have to worry about the mass mob start with the elbows and knees flying everywhere.

Without the crowd, I was able to settle into my rhythm quickly and started passing people. I finished the first loop pretty quickly and headed out on my second loop. Everything on the swim when perfect. I passed quite a few people, my siting was good and I swam pretty straight. Exiting the swim, I stopped at the wetsuit strippers and ran through T1.


T1: 2:03 watch


ACT 2 - The Bike - 40 kilometers - 1:08:34, 21.4 mph



If there's one thing you can say about eastern Aurora, it's not flat. It's continuous rollers and this bike course was no exception. After the race I heard someone say the only flat part was the swim.


Like Harvest Moon, Rattlesnake exits the reservoir and heads east on Quincy. I stayed aero on the descents and most of the climbs. The bike felt good and I kept the pressure on the pedals the whole way. I think the level of effort was having an effect on my stomach since it wasn't draining and was feeling full the whole time. Like the swim, I kept passing people and was only passed by one person.


T2: 56 watch


ACT 3 - The Run - 10 kilometers - 42:11, 6:48/mile

Like the bike course followed the Harvest Moon course, the run also followed the Harvest Moon run course. You exit T2 and head out on the bike path. With my iffy stomach and the rapidly climbing temp, I wasn't sure how the run would go. By this time, I was catching the women who started around thirty minutes earlier than me. I decided to count the men coming back since the course was out and back. I only counted twenty-five men by the time I reached the turn around. The only problem was that with the time trial start, I didn't know what position I was in. I passed a couple more men on the way to the finish but it was a struggle the entire way.
Run Split: 42:11
Epilogue
After sitting in the shade and cooling down, my stomach started to feel better. In hindsight, I might have been dehydrated. After the race I drank three bottles of water and a couple pepsis and I still was thirsty. I finished first in my age group which is the first time I've done that in an open water triathlon. It felt really good to win against the tough competition that always shows up. Although my run was slower than I wanted, the increase in bike speed has paid off. With the rolling hill run course, I'm not sure I could have run faster.
Total Time: 2:15.42, 1st Men 40 - 44

Outsourcing

A friend who is a software developer told me he was concerned his company was going to start buying off the shelf solutions or outsourcing development. He was rightfully concerned about his job.
Outsourcing rarely occurs in a vacuum. There is usually something that causes a company to consider it. Occassionally a company decides to move IT to India or somewhere else but there is usually a reason behind it.
At my friend's company, the IT department has consistantly missed deadlines and has failed to deliver a service to the rest of the company. When software is completed, it has failed to meet the expectations of the customers. Although the IT department is part of the company, project overruns still occur and deadlines are missed.
As we talked, I realized that if my friend's IT department had a better customer service ethos, outsourcing might not looming. If the IT group could start to meet deadlines and deliver quality products, the rest of the company might be more willing to support them.

Trust

Trust is a strong concept that is extremely fragile. When we are young we trust our parents because we aren't able to do things for our selves. Over time that trust grows and gets stronger.
We need trust in order to live and work with others. When meeting new people, we tend to trust them until we learn otherwise. When we get hired, our new employer trust us to get our assignments done.
When trust is broken, it usually doesn't happen over time. Just as we nurtured and grew trust over time, when something betrays that trust, it doesn't collapse immediately. We want to believe that our trust was well placed and what happened was an abberation and if we just give trust another chance, it will come back. Eventually, the trust has been betrayed so many times, it can't recover and is finally broken.
Can it ever recover? For most of us it can but it takes time to be rebuilt. Just like it didn't die over night, it won't come back immediately.

Environmentalism

I heard several times that the ancestral Puebloans of Mesa Verde were environmentalist and I found that comment very interesting. While I agree that they cared about the land and respected the land, I don't think they were environmentalist.

One needs only examine what we know of their lifestyle to reach this conclusion. Current climatologist believe that each family used a tree a week for heating and cooking. The population estimates suggest that up to 50,000 people were living in the area at its peak. If a family had ten people then up to 5,000 trees were being harvested per week.

I think one of the primary causes for the abandonment of Mesa Verde was depletion of natural resources. The ancestral Puebloans were primarily farmers and they planted up to two crops a year. The only way for the soil to be replenished was for winds to carry new top soil to the area. I think over time, the nutrients in the soil diminished and crop yields began to drop forcing the area to be abandon.

Sacred

While visiting Mesa Verde a couple weeks I was told that the sites were considered sacred by the decendants of the ancestral puebloans. I found it interesting since at the time the dwellings were occupied, they didn't consider them sacred.

The people living there would take apart existing buildings to use the materials to build new structures. It makes sense since there were materials at hand and it's easier than having to find and transport new bricks.

They would also build over the existing structures. Again this is pretty practical since Mesa Verde has limited space. At the time, if they left the old structures standing, they would have to move miles away and eventually they would have to leave the area.

I wonder if the sacred designation came about when the Europeans started moving west as a move to save the sites. When the ancestral Puebloans left Mesa Verde, I don't think they had any intention to return.

Vacation - Telluride

I took some time off last week and we finally made it to Telluride. We were going to go in August but I hit my vacation max at work so I had to either use it or lose it.

Telluride is absolutely beautiful. The town is set at the end of a valley and surrounded by mountains. The town is around 8700 feet above sea level and many of the surrounding peaks tower over 13,000 feet.

If you need to relax and decompress from the every day, this is the place to be. It was good to not have to do anything or be anywhere at any time. So much of my day is running figuratively here and running there. It was nice to have nothing to do and no where to go. We just did whatever we felt like doing. I know I have to do this more often.