K. Todd Storch

What a Great Birthday!

  Birthday Loot! 
  Originally uploaded by K. Todd Storch.

What a great birthday!  I am so thankful for so many great friends and of course, my wonderful family.

I got to eat lunch with Tara today at a favorite place called Thai Chili.  Went to dinner with the family at our favorite mexican food restaurant, Guero's.

Had to wear the big sombrero while Happy Birthday was sung by the entire restaurant; the excitement on the kids faces was priceless!

Tara and the kids got me the awesome swim .mp3 player, a 2006 Discovery jersey, a new cycling mag, suntan lotion for my tri bag and one of funniest gifts, a "big bag of nothing" (family joke with the kids).

Also received a very cool book, a cycling statue and race wheel bag from Matt and Beth and the $'s from family will go directly to the new carbon race wheels (info coming soon).

Family and friends definitely have me pegged for gifts.

I'm very blessed and thankful!

These Commercials Slay Me

Maybe because it is a slap at culture; maybe because they blatantly take themselves so seriously, but I give the new Volkswagen "V-Dub" commercials a huge thumbs up.  Of course, I'm not interested in the cars, but it is great entertainment!

Can you name what mainstream movie with Tom Cruise the main German "engineer" plays a doctor?

1)  "Say Vot?"
2)  "What Time is It?" - My favorite
3)  "Futchamacallit"

Cold and Sluggish

Wednesday nights rides during this time of the year are at the Exxon loop in Las Colinas.  A cold front blew in and wow, was it cold last night.  Temps were in the 40's and wind was 10+ mph out of the North.

We did 3 warm up laps and then 14 laps, 1 "on" and 1 "off".  Or in other word, 1 at a hammer rate and 1 recovery for 7 sets.

I don't know if it was a combination of the cold weather or if I started out too quick on the first "on" lap, but I felt pretty sluggish the rest of the night.  Lactate build up?  Not warmed up sufficiently?  Not sure.

I'm sure Lukanich will be able to dissect it, but it was the first time I've felt like this on the bike all season.

Oh well.  Every day isn't the best training day ever.  I chalk it up to that.

Heart rate and Speed graph below (yes Curt, I have a higher/better HR than you do...)

Team Hoyt!

I'm sure most of you know the Team Hoyt story of Dick and his son Rick.  If you are ever needing an inspirational story, just watch this video (6 min, 45 sec).

Curt and Todd got a chance to meet them at IM Kona last year and said they were the most down to earth and genuine people they've met.  I hope to shake their hand in person someday.

Read This Book! The Tour by Dave Shields

Back in June of 2005, I interviewed Dave Shields, the author of The Race.  I found Dave through an article in a cycling magazine about his book, found his website and I was hooked on his writing.

Dave has finished the sequel to The Race, aptly titled, The Tour.

Why you should be interested in this book:

- you've read The Race
- you are a cycling fan
- you are interested in the Tour de France
- you are a Tour de France freak!
- you would like to know about the behind the scenes activities of a pro cycling team
- you enjoy reading "page turner" books

The Tour continues the story about Ben Barnes and his quest to win the Tour de France.  The way this book reads, you feel like you are in Ben's shoes the whole way.  The battle to make a name on the team, the in-fighting between coach and owner, the struggles and pain of the stages; it is all here.

I nearly read the entire book in one night and I wouldn't be suprised if you end up finishing it in one sitting.

As you can tell, I highly recommend this book.  If you haven't read The Race, pick them both up; you won't be disappointed!

Be sure to check out Dave's blog as well here.

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tags:  dave shields | the tour | the race

Recovery Week is complete

With the Gulf Coast 1/2 Ironman about 2 months away, and this week being Spring Break; this was a recovery week.

What I did do:
Monday AM swim:  2,000 yards
Tuesday PM brick:  rode 19 miles easy and ran 12 minutes out and back, easy (8:26 miles).
Wednesday:  nothing!
Thursday:  one hour run easy.  Ran 6.5 miles at 8:51 pace (nice and slow!)
Friday:  nothing!
Saturday:  2 hours on bike trainer.  Did Have Mercy 2.0 with Luther, Curt, Matt and Dave
Sunday:  nothing!

I'm interested to see how I feel picking back up into heavier training this week after all the recovery.  Stronger and faster...I hope.

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tags:  triathlon | triathlon training | recovery week

Spring Break!

  Horse riding time 
  Originally uploaded by K. Todd Storch.

We had a great time for Spring Break this year.  Tara found a ranch West of Ft. Worth called Dancing Oaks Ranch.

We went out for Wednesday through Saturday morning trip and totally enjoyed ourselves.

Horseback riding, kids driving around on a golf cart, fishing, roaming and exploring and cooking outside.

We did come back on Friday afternoon instead of Saturday due to the rain that was moving into the area, but what a great family trip!

Pictures are ->here<-.

California 1/2 IM

Congrats to all the athletes that completed today's race!  Potential bad weather turned out to be a beautiful California day for most.

Big congrats to Dallas Athlete's Kathi, Erika, Bennett, Sam and Bart.

So awesome to see your training pay off.

Can't wait to get all the first hand info about the race!

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tags:  triathlon | california half ironman | dallas athletes

TriScoop.com!

Zen and the Art of Triathlon podcast creator Brett has teamed with his tech buddy "ERich", to start a great triathlon forum and resource site called Triscoop.

Brett has been using the forums, articles and shoutouts to help fuel his weekly podcast.

Check out:

Triscoop.com and Zen and the Art of Triathlong blog and podcast

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tag:  triathlon | zen and the art of triathlon

Learning My Lesson

Saturday was a 2 hour ride/40 minute run brick for me.  Ride went well, especially with the pretty strong South wind and the temperatures in the upper 80's.

My plan for the run was to keep my HR just below LT for the 20 minute out and back.

Starting the run I felt great.  No issues.  Flying.

I was able to keep my HR under my LT while running 7 min/miles and sometimes looking down at my Garmin I would cross over into the 650/645 min mile range.

Then, it caught up to me.  I would describe IT as "starting out too fast and not repecting the heat".  At the 20 minute turnaround I noticed that I really began to sweat and my HR started to climb without any additional effort on my part.

There I was, slowing down on a 40 minute brick because of a very simple mistake:  starting out too fast.  Stupid, but this is what the training is all about.  Test, learn and make mistakes.

I needed this workout.  I needed this "failure" to bring my focus back.  Make a plan and follow it.

I am very glad I just didn't have a 3 mile brick following this ride because I would of felt successful and on track, but in reality for my 1/2 IM, I needed this to get my mind in the right place.

Motionbased links:

Bike, Run

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tags:  triathlon | triathlon training | brick workouts