15 June 2007 – Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Cycle, Cycle Too

Terramuggus Tri 2007 #1

Ah, ladies and gents, life is good. I raced again,and, once more, I avoided the dreaded DNF at the first Terramuggus Tri of 2007.

In fact, I set a PR for the course! Shocked, shocked!

Let’s roll back the clock and look at my overall results (and get a chance to use the cool HTML “Table” tag, which I haven’t yet attempted!)

Race	Swim	Bike	Run	Overall
2005 #1	11:14, 61/74	40:29, 55/74	26:34, 41/62	1:18:17, 52/62
2005 #2	11:02, 90/104	39:15, 90/104	26:48, 76/104	1:17:05, 83/104
2007 #1	08:47, 78/114	38:40, 77/114	25:11, 58/114	1:14:37, 71/114

How this happened, I don’t know. I don’t exactly feel powerful, like I did during the 2005 races. Maybe it’s just that my baseline expectations for feeling “good” about running and cycling have increased over three years of relatively consistent training. Or it could be that I’ve got a better engine than I’ve ever had.

My personal theory is that I’ve become more accustomed to suffering, so I’m able to push further into the red.

Oh, and the huge improvement in the swim is probably mostly from having used a wetsuit this time around. Sure, I’ve been swimming more regularly, but two minutes is a LOT of time. I still would have PR’d, though…

I will admit that my pre-race routine was a little bit off, but for good reason. On the way to the race, I stopped off to have beer with one of the guys I’ve worked with in the Reserves. F’n awesome guy – he made First Class Petty Officer in the last exam cycle, and this week got notified he’s been accepted into a commissioning program. Couldn’t happen to a better guy. Since I’m in class up in Hartford, I had absolutely no moral choice but to buy him beer.

I got to the race later than I’d wanted, and had to head to the car three times – forgot wallet, forgot license, and then to carry my stuff to the Transition. Got set up, and got into the wetsuit just in time to get to the start.

The swim – Well, open water swimming still sucks. Within 100′ of the start, I’d gotten both run over and swam into someone’s leg, losing my goggles. So, I kept well to the outside during the swim. Saw a bunch of perch – it was kind of funny to see them looking up at me and the 100+ other people thrashing up the water.

T1 was good – I unzipped coming out of the water, and it was much easier getting out of the wetsuit than getting in. Socks, shoes, shirt … And I had to go back for my bike helmet. Could be worse, I suppose.

The ride was – well, not the greatest. I was winded from the swim, and my legs were cold. I got passed by about 5 people heading down the first hill. But steady wins the race, right? Despite re-tasting beer, chips, and salsa for the first big hill, I started reeling in people on the second lap. Felt good.

Off the bike and onto the run – no problem; and fiddling with the iPod (got to get credit for Michelle’s challenge) gave me the chance to catch my breath and get into a good stride.

Again, I got passed a couple of times in the first half-mile, but then got my rhythm and had negative splits the rest of the way in. 8:30 for the first mile, 8:00 for the second, and forgot to stop Nike+ at the end of the run, so I’m not sure what the last mile was. (looks like less than 8, as the run time includes T2).

I hung around at the end, and got a free C02 cartridge. The ride home? Wonderful, thanks to the VDub’s heated seats.

Doping Update

I’ve been chewing on this Velonews Article about the toll of doping, and thinking about it in terms of economics (darned education – I cannot help but avoid looking at everything as either an engineering problem or via business terms). The problem, as The Doctor lead to, is one of incentives – the biggest incentives come with winning races. Doping comes with both health and potential loss of income incentives (or disincentives), but not doping also comes with the disincentive of not winning races.

And now, after coming clean about attempted doping, the UCI is recommending a 2 year suspension for Ivan Basso.

Let’s see, now – if Basso actually had popped positive, what would he have gotten? 2 years suspension, just like Tyler Hamilton, probably. And then, if the Hamilton model holds true, it’s going to be nearly impossible for Basso to come back.

(as background, Hamilton’s just completed his 2 year suspension. However, as he’s implicated in the Spanish doping investigation, Operacion Puerto, for evidience that he was doping at about the same time he got busted at the Vuelta Espana, he can’t get work with a top-level team. Meaning, even if you serve your time, you’re screwed)

So, let’s examine a couple of scenarios:

1. If Basso hadn’t confessed, he’d still be riding right now – the lack of positive tests in or out of competition, and the glacial process of the Spanish investigation haven’t provided any evidence on which to hang him.
2. The current one, in which Basso confessed, and is looking to get screwed.
3. The scenario in which he stops doping activities quietly. The risk of positive tests in competition is mitigated, but he’s still got his past hanging over his head, and hasn’t done anything to change the climate.

Is it time for a “Truth and Reconciliation” commission in cycling? An opportunity for dopers to confess, get clean, and resume competing with little or no sanction? As it stands, any confession or attempt to get help gets the rider nailed, so, from a rider’s point of view, why quit?

Update

Basso got whacked for two years, retroactive to late last year when the charges against him were identified.

Basso’s 29. He’ll be 30 when he’s allowed to come back, unless he gets whacked again like Hamilton. Neca’s right – there needs to be a better solution

Life Instructions

Completely ripped off from this guy via Merlin Mann.

The one change I’d make is that good shared assumptions are critical to timely execution, which is likely semantics over “Assuming is stifling”, which I assume refers only to non-shared assumptions.

I suppose I should RTFA instead of just digging on the picture.