A Bad User Experience

This week I started adding some supplements to my diet. I ordered several products from bodybuilding.com. I purchased some Optimum 100% Whey Protein, BSN NO-Xplode, and BSN CellMass. I spent some time reading a lot of articles on the site, but I was still left not knowing what I wanted to try. I ended up looking at their top selling products, then researching those items, and I ended up selecting some of them. I figured these would be the products other people find useful.

The NO-Xplode is taken pre-workout, on and empty stomach, and the CellMass is taken 1 serving post workout (and a second daily serving also on an empty stomach). At fist I really didn’t like the taste, I was mixing just the product in water. I have since started adding ice to chill the water, and it is much more pallet able. One problem I have run into is my meal times. I have to time it so that I can take the NO-Xplode a few hours after eating, an our before training, then I can’t eat for another hour after my workout because the CellMass is taken on an empty stomach.

Since I have started these supplements about 5 days ago, I have gone up on the weights I am lifting, and also the frequency that I am going to the gym (4 full workouts in the last 5 days). I am a little sore from my workouts, but not a lot. When I jog I feel some soreness, but when resting or stretching I feel fine. I think these products are having a positive effect.

I’ll post some more after a little more time with the products.

Today was my first real jog with the Garmin Forerunner 405. I set the pace I wanted at 12 minutes 30 seconds per mile. As I was jogging I stared to get tired at about .75 miles. When I looked at the training screen, it showed me that I was ahead of the 12.5 pace by 30 seconds. This allowed me to slow down for about a minute until my pace was right with the 12.5. When I hit the 1 mile mark, I was right at 12.5 Minutes. On my second mile I was tired, but looking at the watch let me know how long I could slow down for, and I feel like it really pushed me.  I was able to finish the 2 miles in the time that I wanted. I do not think that I would have hit it without the watch. I’m looking forward to this device helping me out with my training.

I am in Toledo Bend for the weekend. I decided I wanted to ride some of the bike route for the Holy Toledo Tri and map it out using my new Garmin Forerunner 405.  This was my first time riding my road bike here, or anywhere for that matter with hills. It is a lot more challenging than I had thought. At times it is deceiving because it doesn’t feel like you are going up hill, it just feels like it is hard to pedal. I really wish my bike had a tripple crank set to make some of those climbs easier.

Next time I come I plan on riding the whole route. I just need to make sure to bring enough water for the full 40 Miles. As soon as I get the whole route mapped out, I’ll post it up on map my ride.

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Today was the T-Gator #3 Triathlon. This seemed to be a pretty big event, and was well organized. I had a bit of trouble in the swim, just taking longer than I would have liked. At the end of the race I had a burst of energy and ran the last 100 meters or so. When I passed the finish line I felt like I could have kept going. I should have started running sooner. It’s hard to determine how much energy you are going to have. The scenery was great. I may go to it again next year, but I definitely will not do all 3 races. I had to wake up at 4:45 AM to get there on time, and even then I still felt rushed.

My Results

I just got 2 new upgrades for my bike

I bought a Profile Design set of Carbon Strike Areo Bars. These are my first set of Areo Bars. I road around a few miles with them so far, and I really like them. I am not riding in a really straight line yet, so I’m not ready for a group ride with them. One thing that is nice about Profile Design, is that they sell several pads and accessories. The photo on the profile design site and some etailers shows the bars with an optional fold up pads allowing you to still use the handlebars for climbing. I thought that is what I was getting (instead the pads are in a fixed down position). I’ll have to purchase those separately. One other note, my handle bars are tapered,  and in order to make the areo bars fit, I had to reverse the bars (so they were sticking out the back) then turn the bracket 180 degrees. The net effect of this is the bars are on the outside of the bracket, the same side as the pad (moved about 1/2 inch).

I also purchased a pair of Michelin Pro Race 3 tires. These tires just got a really good review in the August issue of Bicycle Magazine “Our Pick> Best for Racing”. In watching some videos on YouTube in wind tunnels, it was mentioned that tires can make a bigger difference than wheels. I figured I would try some good tires and see if I notice a difference. At the end of my last Tri, I also got a flat, that seemed to tear up my tire some. I must have had a slow leak from the tube, I finished the race fine, but when I got home, it was completely flat.

I purchased these items from Tri-Zone. This was my first order from them, and I was happy with it.  It shipped out timely, all items I ordered were in stock, and the prices were really good. Most of the etail triathlon stores out there sell at retail prices. Lately I have not been too impressed with Nashbar and Performance Bike.

Photos of my bike with the mentioned upgrades.

Well I finally decided to join a health club. I decided to go with Red’s for a few reasons. One of the main reasons is because of all the instructors there that will help you develop a plan at no additional fee. Yesterday I had my first session with an instructor and it didn’t quite meet my expectations. I am really new to weights, and the instructor didn’t mention breathing during the exercises or go over the adjustments on the machines (seat height, ect). I’m planning on going through the exercises she recommended and then get a new instructor to show me some stuff on free weights so I can do some exercises at home in the morning. Depending on how that goes I may have them go over the machines with me once more.

I was hoping that I could get by with lifting some weights 2 or 3 times a week, but they are suggesting that I go more, like 5 times a week. I figure that I’ll start with that, see how it goes and how I feel after the workouts. Just trying to figure out where I can fit that in with my normal running and swimming.

I’m going to have to develop a routine involving doing some things in the morning. We will see how things go. I also ordered some supplements to help with the lifting. I’m not looking for shortcuts, just trying to make the most out of my time. I’ll have more posts on the specifics as things progress.

Things have been going pretty good with my training. I decided to sign up for the New Orleans 1/2 iron man. I was hoping to sign up later, just to make sure I’m going to be able to finish it, but I’m affraid that it is going to sell out pretty soon.

I have already registered for the following events (except for the 1/2 marathon and the 10K)

Yesterday I ran in a 5K in Erath. All the other 5K’s have had a few people waling most of the course, but this one didn’t. I think it is a newer event with less people. I finished very close to the last few people, but I did beat my personal best. It took 36 Minutes, 45 Seconds, so about 12:15 Miles. I’m still having trouble getting my pacing right so that I can jog the whole distance. I think I may start to jog on a track to help with that pacing.

As a fan of Walton and Johnson with bad radio reception in my office, I had been looking for a way to stream it for awhile. I don’t like relying on keeping a pop-up web browser open, so with a little digging I found the URL one of the affiliate radio stations streams from.

http://wmc2.liquidcompass.cc/WKBU?MSWMExt=.asf

That is it, you can book-mark and stream that to windows media player or winamp. Enjoy all you 10%’ers.