Rain rain go away, don’t come back another day 12

Once again I went camping and watch a friend compete in a tri (her first Olympic Distance event just a few weeks after her first sprint). While the weekend was a blast – it would have been sooooo much nicer if it didn’t rain; this being the second time in less than a month for the rain/camping combo being served.

The only time it didn’t rain was for about 5 hours on Saturday afternoon, so any nice photos were from then.

Anyway, here’s the photo-recap:

(Priority Numero Uno was getting the campfire cooking, luckily she dealt with that while I made the cobbler – below)

(Apple Cobbler made from the apples we picked last weekend)

(The next morning it was blueberry pancake time!)

After pancakes I had to get in a sorta-long run. Lacking any idea where I was, I decided to check out some of the trails that were part of the state park we were camping at. The only trick as the longest trail was only 1.5 miles long, so I had a LOT of looping to do to get in 15 or so miles. Note the scale of the map is only .25 miles, thus I redid some of those little trails a gazillion times. I promise you that despite how the map looks I was not drunk…although I did have some wine the night before again.

After a run, we headed down to packet pickup.

(Yes, there were really two roads leading out from this sign, and they never met again)

I got in a short openwater swim in the nice cool 68* water…sans wetsuit.

Sitting on the dock after my swim enjoying the few hours of sun we had. If you look in the distance, there are thunderstorms approaching.

So we left packet pickup and packed up the car for another night of rain. My poor bike needed some serious cleaning by the end of the weekend.

The next morning the race started at a pleasant 9AM. On the way into the parking lot we saw this car plate/person combo (below).

And off they go! But I just had to sit around. Ahh…the luxury of not racing! Actually, I did briefly get to chat with Eric, who was down there watching as well! Cool guy!

They came out of the water pretty quickly. So after grabbing some swim exit shots I ran across a cornfield to get some cool blurred background shots.

(I have no idea who the guy below is, he was just a test shot of mine)

Oh, and I found corn…in the cornfield.

After that I ran to the other side of the bike course to get more shots of cyclists. Yes, the water did eventually cover parts of the roadway.

Then I ran back again across the cornfields to get shots of runners:

I ended up hanging out near some police folks while they did the watching people thing.

(Side note: If you are DCTRI, and you were wearing DCTRI stuff, then I likely got photos of you on the run. If so – just e-mail me and I’ll send you the high res ones. I only got photos female DCTRI runners…but I promise you that’s because those are the only folks I saw in DCTRI kits).

After she finished obliterating folks on the run and rocking the race and it was eventually it was time to go back to the campsite and pack up. This included trying to dry the tent out…upside down, which…actually worked pretty well.

It of course rained most of the day, including the way home. Here’s a rainbow just a few miles from home.

After all that, at about 7PM I had to go out and get in a 90 minute ride. Lacking anywhere to go when it’s dark and rainy out, I just circled my street a few times (8 mile loops)…and 32 miles later of wet and dark (yet oddly peaceful) looping I was done.

That’s my weekend in a nutshell. Good times! After almost 4,000 yards today in the pool, tomorrow its back to track! Woohoo!

Rain rain go away, don’t come back another day 0

Once again I went camping and watch a friend compete in a tri (her first Olympic Distance event just a few weeks after her first sprint). While the weekend was a blast – it would have been sooooo much nicer if it didn’t rain; this being the second time in less than a month for the rain/camping combo being served.

The only time it didn’t rain was for about 5 hours on Saturday afternoon, so any nice photos were from then.

Anyway, here’s the photo-recap:

(Priority Numero Uno was getting the campfire cooking, luckily she dealt with that while I made the cobbler – below)

(Apple Cobbler made from the apples we picked last weekend)

(The next morning it was blueberry pancake time!)

After pancakes I had to get in a sorta-long run. Lacking any idea where I was, I decided to check out some of the trails that were part of the state park we were camping at. The only trick as the longest trail was only 1.5 miles long, so I had a LOT of looping to do to get in 15 or so miles. Note the scale of the map is only .25 miles, thus I redid some of those little trails a gazillion times. I promise you that despite how the map looks I was not drunk…although I did have some wine the night before again.

After a run, we headed down to packet pickup.

(Yes, there were really two roads leading out from this sign, and they never met again)

I got in a short openwater swim in the nice cool 68* water…sans wetsuit.

Sitting on the dock after my swim enjoying the few hours of sun we had. If you look in the distance, there are thunderstorms approaching.

So we left packet pickup and packed up the car for another night of rain. My poor bike needed some serious cleaning by the end of the weekend.

The next morning the race started at a pleasant 9AM. On the way into the parking lot we saw this car plate/person combo (below).

And off they go! But I just had to sit around. Ahh…the luxury of not racing! Actually, I did briefly get to chat with Eric, who was down there watching as well! Cool guy!

They came out of the water pretty quickly. So after grabbing some swim exit shots I ran across a cornfield to get some cool blurred background shots.

(I have no idea who the guy below is, he was just a test shot of mine)

Oh, and I found corn…in the cornfield.

After that I ran to the other side of the bike course to get more shots of cyclists. Yes, the water did eventually cover parts of the roadway.

Then I ran back again across the cornfields to get shots of runners:

I ended up hanging out near some police folks while they did the watching people thing.

(Side note: If you are DCTRI, and you were wearing DCTRI stuff, then I likely got photos of you on the run. If so – just e-mail me and I’ll send you the high res ones. I only got photos female DCTRI runners…but I promise you that’s because those are the only folks I saw in DCTRI kits).

After she finished obliterating folks on the run and rocking the race and it was eventually it was time to go back to the campsite and pack up. This included trying to dry the tent out…upside down, which…actually worked pretty well.

It of course rained most of the day, including the way home. Here’s a rainbow just a few miles from home.

After all that, at about 7PM I had to go out and get in a 90 minute ride. Lacking anywhere to go when it’s dark and rainy out, I just circled my street a few times (8 mile loops)…and 32 miles later of wet and dark (yet oddly peaceful) looping I was done.

That’s my weekend in a nutshell. Good times! After almost 4,000 yards today in the pool, tomorrow its back to track! Woohoo!

The wheels on the track go round and round 10

After flying somewhere on the order of a 300-400 times in/out of SEATAC (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport), I’ve gotten really really good at figuring out which side of the aircraft to sit on on for the best views (outside the plane, not inside!).  So Monday night on my way back I had to connect in LAX, which meant a flight south past Mt. Rainier (if on left side of plane), but it also meant sunset if on the right side of the plane.  The evening was shaping up for an incredible sunset flight, so I swapped my left side seat for a ride side seat. 

Big mistake!  For whatever reason that’s NOT on a normal SEA-SFO/LAX flight plan route, the plane diverted to just a few miles west of Mt. Rainer with what was the most incredible close up view I’ve ever seen of it in those hundreds upon hundreds of flights.  And I was on the wrong side of the plane to get photos of it.  So…a sunset photo instead. :(

After my very brief biz trip to Seattle (22 hours to be exact), I caught the LAX redeye* back to DC for a day full of meetings downtown and then finally a track workout.

(One title I considered for this post was “I woke up and found a dude sleeping with me”, as on my redeye flight the seat next to me was empty and I woke up midway through the flight to find some random creepy dude had decided to come sleep next to me…weirdo…)

(Nah, I didn’t take a shortcut, I just stopped my watch after an interval and didn’t realize it until 100m+ later)

By the time I got the track of the local high school however it was quite full of people (plus the 100+ football players on the field).  Maybe some 20 folks on the track itself, and another group preparing off to the side.  No worries you might think, plenty of room.

Until I realized that they were running THE WRONG WAY.  Direction-Fail.

At first I think – okay, maybe just a few confused non-runners.  And then you listen to their conversations and you realize some of them are runners.  They have running race shirts on (marathons, 10K’s, etc..) as well.  Then I notice - oh wait…it’s a local running group (name being withheld to protect the guilty). 

Now this just starts to irk me.  Perhaps because I’ve had a long day at this point. Perhaps because I don’t want to look like an idiot running the wrong way as new people arrive at the track.  And perhaps because in my tired brain it was going to somehow screw up my track workout.

(I thought of the above well known sign (left), and re-worked it (on the right))

So…myself and my friend did the most logical thing.  We forced the issue.  We just ran the CORRECT direction on the track in the inside lanes and functionally forced everyone else to run the right way.  I’m sure they were unhappy with us – but really, I don’t care what their excuse was/is* – the track has little arrows on it for a purpose – so…umm…follow them?

*For the record, I Googled extensively trying to find a reason people would run the wrong way around the track…I found none – except for one group that did it as part of a beer run thing.  Hmmm…

When you watch the Olympics, do people run around the track backwards?  Nope.  When you ran around the track in high school did you run around it the wrong way?  Nope.  Good, that’s what I thought too.

At any rate, 7-some-odd miles on the track later and my workout was complete.

(It was actually dark when I finished, so I took this mid-way through and not at the end.  No lights here at T.C. Williams – despite being Home of the Titans – ya know, the movie – Remember the Titans) 

Btw - sorry for this random Rainmaker Rant…Redeye’s do that.

The wheels on the track go round and round 0

After flying somewhere on the order of a 300-400 times in/out of SEATAC (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport), I’ve gotten really really good at figuring out which side of the aircraft to sit on on for the best views (outside the plane, not inside!).  So Monday night on my way back I had to connect in LAX, which meant a flight south past Mt. Rainier (if on left side of plane), but it also meant sunset if on the right side of the plane.  The evening was shaping up for an incredible sunset flight, so I swapped my left side seat for a ride side seat. 

Big mistake!  For whatever reason that’s NOT on a normal SEA-SFO/LAX flight plan route, the plane diverted to just a few miles west of Mt. Rainer with what was the most incredible close up view I’ve ever seen of it in those hundreds upon hundreds of flights.  And I was on the wrong side of the plane to get photos of it.  So…a sunset photo instead. :(

After my very brief biz trip to Seattle (22 hours to be exact), I caught the LAX redeye* back to DC for a day full of meetings downtown and then finally a track workout.

(One title I considered for this post was “I woke up and found a dude sleeping with me”, as on my redeye flight the seat next to me was empty and I woke up midway through the flight to find some random creepy dude had decided to come sleep next to me…weirdo…)

(Nah, I didn’t take a shortcut, I just stopped my watch after an interval and didn’t realize it until 100m+ later)

By the time I got the track of the local high school however it was quite full of people (plus the 100+ football players on the field).  Maybe some 20 folks on the track itself, and another group preparing off to the side.  No worries you might think, plenty of room.

Until I realized that they were running THE WRONG WAY.  Direction-Fail.

At first I think – okay, maybe just a few confused non-runners.  And then you listen to their conversations and you realize some of them are runners.  They have running race shirts on (marathons, 10K’s, etc..) as well.  Then I notice - oh wait…it’s a local running group (name being withheld to protect the guilty). 

Now this just starts to irk me.  Perhaps because I’ve had a long day at this point. Perhaps because I don’t want to look like an idiot running the wrong way as new people arrive at the track.  And perhaps because in my tired brain it was going to somehow screw up my track workout.

(I thought of the above well known sign (left), and re-worked it (on the right))

So…myself and my friend did the most logical thing.  We forced the issue.  We just ran the CORRECT direction on the track in the inside lanes and functionally forced everyone else to run the right way.  I’m sure they were unhappy with us – but really, I don’t care what their excuse was/is* – the track has little arrows on it for a purpose – so…umm…follow them?

*For the record, I Googled extensively trying to find a reason people would run the wrong way around the track…I found none – except for one group that did it as part of a beer run thing.  Hmmm…

When you watch the Olympics, do people run around the track backwards?  Nope.  When you ran around the track in high school did you run around it the wrong way?  Nope.  Good, that’s what I thought too.

At any rate, 7-some-odd miles on the track later and my workout was complete.

(It was actually dark when I finished, so I took this mid-way through and not at the end.  No lights here at T.C. Williams – despite being Home of the Titans – ya know, the movie – Remember the Titans) 

Btw - sorry for this random Rainmaker Rant…Redeye’s do that.

How to download workouts/race plans into your Garmin Forerunner/Edge 6

Just for the fun of it back a little while ago I decided to input my Nation’s Tri bike race plan into my Garmin device.  It was a super-simple two step plan, so I didn’t have to worry about a potential technological disaster.  Plus, given it was an Oly – and my last one of the year and just a ‘fun’ race, at the very worst I’d just ignore the beeping if incorrect and just simply race my race.

Not knowing how to do this I just started fumbling around in Garmin Training Center.  Turns out – it doesn’t take much fumbling, and only a couple of seconds.  Here’s how ya do it (I did instructions for the 305/405/705).

1. Open up Garmin Training Center (GTC)
2. On the top toolbar click on “Workouts” and then right click either Running/Biking/Other, and select “New Workout”
   
    
3. It now opens up a little window.  Go ahead and give your workout a name – such as “Track Workout” or “Nations Tri”
   
   
4. From there, you simply click the + or ++ to add steps.  Just like instructions.  When you add a new step, you then select the drop-down boxes below to change what happens on each step.  For example, in the below step I can specify what HR zone I want after I’ve gone 15 miles.
   
   
   
5. Once you’ve added as many steps as you’d like click “OK” to close the workout (but not GTC).  Then simply click on the little “Send to Device” button on the upper toolbar.  That’s it!
   
   
    
6. Now, just start your little device up and navigate to the ‘Workouts’ area, to do so:
   
   • Within the 305: Mode > Training > Workouts > Advanced > (then select your workout you just created) > Enter > “Do Workout”
     
      
   • Within the 405: Menu > Training > Workouts > (Scroll Down) Advanced > (then select your workout you just created) > Enter > “Do Workout”
     
     
      
   • Within the 705: Menu > Training > Workouts > Advanced > (then select your workout you just created) > Enter > “Do Workout”
      

So there ya go!  That’s it!  Just a couple of quick steps.