Jeff's thoughts on Software Architecture, Large Scale Services and the Technical world at large : Training

Tour De Peaks

jcurrier — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:08:24 GMT

This is a non-SSDS related posting today :-) I did the Tour De Peaks today with my wife and Stan another member of the SSDS team. It was a great ride, though it didn't start off the way. After a brief stint of rain and wind the weather let up and we had a great ride. We decided to do the metric half century (34 miles) and I think everyone agreed in the end that it was a great ride. I'm really looking forward to doing the same race again next year.

Hitting the 1/2 mile mark

jcurrier — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:32:00 GMT

Today I passed the 1/2 mile mark in swimming... Whew! That's the distance I have to hit for my Triathlon. I had been planning on using this as my end of Feb goal (perhaps I'm being a bit too conservative in my goals). Anyway, that's it for today.

More Swimming...

jcurrier — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:48:00 GMT

A couple of days ago I hit the 1/4 mile while swimming (this was on 1/29). This is effectively twice the number of laps that I had originally set out to be able to do by the end of the month. I'm very happy about this needless to say. I did have some slight leg pain that's concerning a bit but I think this may just be due to poor technique (I may have snapping my legs too quickly rather than the movement being more fluid). That's it for now. Just a brief entry so that I keep track of the milestones that I hit along the way to the Triathlon.

Triathlon Training

jcurrier — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:32:00 GMT

Okay,

So, as I mentioned before I'm training to do my first Triathlon. I had a stated goal to do 4 complete laps by the end of the month using the breast stroke. I hit this tonight. I think I may have went a little soft on my target as I haven't focused as hard on swimming as should be and I still managed to hit the mark.

Anyway, this wasn't like a sure thing. It took me about 20 minutes of doing single laps before I could, "break through" to do the full 4 laps. It felt really good. In fact, I'm almost sure I could've hit 5 tonight but my right shin was hurting (need to figure out why that is). More on this whole thing later but as I mentioned earlier I want to track my progress here on the blog so stay tuned for updates.

Training - Cycling

jcurrier — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:35:00 GMT

This weekend I rode with a friend around Mercer Island (for those of you not from the Puget Sound area this is an island within Lake Washington which lies just between Seattle and the Eastside of the city). It was a nice (but cold) ride. I believe the total distance I travelled (including getting to the Island) was 17 miles. I'm quite pleased because I was able to make it up the last big hill on the Island (on the west side) without having to stop..

I haven't been cycling as much as I like to this winter so this made me feel quite good. My thighs still burned afterward (not sure if this was due to the cold ride... basically, not warming up quite so fast) but it was good to get up the hill without stopping.

Triathlon - first steps

jcurrier — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:04:00 GMT

So, when I first relocated to the Seattle area from my native Michigan I changed a few things in my life. First, I (along with my wife) made a deliberate decision to be much more health consicous. Now, what this means exactly in one's life is entirely dependent on the person. My wife, for example, began by doing Triathlon's. She's since done several (some here) and others back east near NYC.

The form this awareness (or comittiment) if you like took in my life was much less dramatic. I began by buying a cheap Trek hybrid bike and committed to at least attempting to commute to work frequently from our home to Redmond.

Frankly, that first year I wasn't nearly as committed as should have been. I started commuting pretty late in the year and managed to talk myself out of riding by bike several times. However, having said this I really enjoyed cycling and realized I just need to spend more time doing it.

Earlier this year I stepped up my cycling comittiment by buying what would I consider a real bike. I also have since moved from my original house (which was closer to the office) to a distant which is much further away. This meant longer commutes (roughly 26 miles round trip if I believe my bike computer) and I've thus far been able to keep at it much better than I had previously. So, I'm pleased with this.

However, time doesn't stand still and my wife decided after partaking in several Triathlon's to form her own club here in the town we live in on the Eastside. It was with this move by her that I felt comitted to step up a bit more than I had in the past to doing some bigger (perhaps this all a bit to soon... more on that later). Anyway, so I committed to do at least one sprint distance triathlon this year... What I'll try to record is my training for this (along with my normal blog entries).

Now, that I'm doing this Triathlon thing I decided to take a swim technique course along with my wife. Swimming is my biggest concern with the Triathlon. The logic for this concern goes something like the following: if you tire while cycling you can always slow down or just walk the bike. The same thing applies for running. However, stop while your swimming and you sink.... Not good....

Anyway, I'm at this swim technique class (my wife suggested that I take this to help improve my swimming) and the first half is a sort of lecture like you might recall from college. It's all focused on technique, not wasting energy, and what have you. Very interesting actually (in particular if you like Physics as I do). Once the lecture completes we move to the water and this is where the himulation begins...

We begin by attempting to focus on shaping the body so that it floats easier in the water. I can't seem to do this to save my life. I can't relax, can't make my body do what the others are doing (and by the way seem to be doing without effort). I chalk this up to something that, "I just need to work on and it won't matter tonight". We then begin to do laps. Again, exercise in himulation #2. I can't seem to do more then a lap or two without having to stop. My breathing is totally off and holding my breath while doing the freestyle. My wife, of course, is a good swimmer and doesn't seem to struggle what so ever with this... Ugh....

Now, fast forward 1 1/2 hours later... We've moved to using a kick board. I'm still pretty much out of breath for nearly every exercise and now am acutely aware of that fact that I'm the, "slow guy" amongst the group (which oh by the way includes some very senior people... I won't mention ages to avoid futher humilation)...

Anyway, class ends now (it couldn't end fast enough for me). I'm talking with wife about this moment later and am told everyone has this moment. The moment when you realize precisely how far you have to go. I'll tell you, with swimming it's some distance.... I hope that by recording the journey I'm taking here it will make it all fall a bit less far if I record my steps to see the progress.

So, with all that said, my goal for this month is to be able to do 4 complete laps (breast stroke). I started yesterday at the pool again and managed to at least get the hang of the breathing elements for the breast stroke (thanks Katie!). I'm going to just stick with that for awhile until I feel like I do at least 9 complete laps (by the breast stroke) then I can consider moving to the freestyle.

Keep watching the progress and wish me luck.. I need it!