Monday, October 19, 2009

Kona Pics

The most telling one here is the look on my face at the end of the
bike. They other would be how happy I was to finish.
Coble

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Race report

IM Kona Race Report

I am sure there is some proverb about preparedness and success but I
obviously did not follow. If anyone is interested in my excuses we can
do that in another email or over drinks.

Pre-race
At about 4:45 I packed my whole family in the car and headed down to
Kailua from the Mauna Lani (~30 miles) and arrived in to get set up.
They made you walk all over the place to get numbered and what not so
while I had plenty of and didn't need to set up the bike much I was
pretty much doing something all of the way till 6:45. Included was
getting my wrist taped. We did a wrap of stretchy tape and then a wrap
of water proof tape.

Swim 55:xx
I hopped in about when the PROs started so that I could get fully
warmed up. The new Sailfish suit felt good and the taped wrist felt
better than it had snorkeling on Friday. I found Matthew near the
middle in the front row. I seemed relaxed and was resigned to swim
slower than expected thanks to the darn wrist. I little pushing and
shoving as the few minutes counted down and then the cannon went off.
It was actually less chaotic than I expected. I could be that the
start area is rather wide; people know what they are doing and stay
out of the way of the fast people, or some combination. Either way I
started smooth and decided try a few open palm strokes in the first
few hundred meters. Since the pain was not as bad as I expected and
decided that kicked in the face hurt more than swimming with my wrist
I decided to just push through the pain. I found a good rhythm about
20 min in and found myself next to Chris Hauth. Right as we entered
the turnaround I noticed that Chris kicked it into another gear and
must have wanted to bridge a small gap.  I did not feel like swimming
any harder on my wrist so I let other people hold his feet. I probably
should have taking matters into my own hands since they were not the
strongest swimmers because at about the 40 min mark the rubber band
snapped and my group lost the leaders. I swam to shore with what was
the 3rd group about 2 min down of Matthew's group and maybe a minute
behind Chris. Albert and I hopped out of the water at about the same
time.

T1
Nothing special. I took my time and made sure to put the lip block in
my shorts. Smart move because I have healthy lips today. It wasn't
till mile 15 of the bike did I realize that I did not get any
sunscreen in T1. I did put my bike shoes on and rank with them. Little
awkward but no big deal.

Bike 5:19.xx
I felt rather strong on the bike. Comfortable on the Leopard I had
borrowed 4 days before (after one BS crash my Cervelo is jinxed). The
first quick out and back felt ok. And when I hit Pailani I knew my
power was a tad low and/or these guys were going hard. I decided not
to do much passing and would sit a legal 10 meters back of a group.
Problem was they were not sitting 10 back and/or I could not maintain
much power. I would lose a group and then holding on. I did this all
of the way to the 19 T, still feeling reasonable. The road up to Hawi
undulates and then climbs the last few miles. It is something that
could be done 100% in the big ring if you are in shape. As the road
trended up I lost more and more ground but still on pace for a sub 5
bike. Then the turn around at Hawi. My power was dropping like a rock.
And by the time I made it to the 19 T I was cooked. Just in time for
30 mile of blast furnace headwind. My decent pace became a snails pace
and I suffered back to the airport when the headwind subsided. I took
a relaxed last couple miles and got mentally ready for the run.

T2
I took my time and switched socks, got a full dose of sun block, and
set myself up.

Run 4:08.xx
I knew I was in for a rough one pretty quickly. The run heads up a
quick hill, over a few blocks, and back down, to Ali'I Drive. Feeling
ok I just found a tempo. It was slow but it was as tempo. But then at
about the 2.5 mile marker on Ali'I I needed to walk. Hips hurt; ankles
hurt, and was pooped. I decided to walk the aid stations for a while.
Then I decided to walk a mile which became 2 miles. After the
turnaround on Ali'i I was able to struggle to each aid station when I
snagged ice and made some sort of ice water Gatorade cocktail. After a
few more miles I needed to walk all of Pailini up to the Queen K
Highway with another 15 miles to go. Looking at the watch I was
resigned to a long evening walking in lava fields. My feet now have
blisters and I need to walk mile 14. Standard walking pace is 20 min
miles. I did not feel like making my remaining 11 or so miles to take
up to 4 hours putting me at 12:30-13:00. So I some how found a good
rhythm of decent trot between aid stations and then walking those.
Energy Lab is a 3.5 out and back in more lava fields but by now my
rhythm had improved and now had my sights set on 11:00. 10k to go I
was at 9:47 and figured that if I didn't walk much I could cruise
under 11:00 and as I got closer to 4 miles to go 10:30 was no back in
the picture. The last 3 miles (some of it is downhill) must have been
by far my fastest but I just ran out of real estate. I happily cruised
down Ali'I passed one more guy and then watched myself on the big
screen crossing the finish line. I was beat up, out of shape, and sure
happy to be down.

Post race
A few hugs, pictures and some ice cream. I sat in an outrigger canoe
for 20 min. Some chatting to my great family of cheerleaders, but a
lot of thinking. We were all tired so instead of waiting around to
watch other finishers I was willing to head home with my family, they
did not want to stay. As I walked back up the hill, I had a moment of
deep sadness and/or relief and/or regret.


Post Post race
I thought to myself it could have been much worse. I should have been
better, but the way I prepared it could have and probably should have
been much worse. 4:08 was an hour slower that IMAZ, bike was ~35 min.
Should I have gone 8:52? No. Good shape, 9:30 is a good day. Is that
next year? Who knows? Let's get the sand out of my blisters, let them
heal up, and plan for 2010. All I know is, it will be better than
2009.

2009 Wrap up
Triathlon:
•       Wildflower – 4:37, too slow
•       Alcatraz – 2:25, 2nd, but slow
•       Donner – slow
•       Treasure Island – a decent win and decent race
•       Pacific Grove – only an ok race but 2nd ain't too bad
•       Kona – ok considering

Cycling
•       No results to speak (of except chasing down a PRO break at Merco RR)
– pathetic

Swimming
•       Decent Trans Tahoe
•       Decent Maui and Waikiki

Running
•       Pretty good Hood to Coast
•       Decent(1:25ish cruising) poached SF ½ marathon +
•       Not enough running races/training

Goals and Calendar for 2010 to follow

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Morgan Hill Tri

Better, not much better. But better.

Need to run more...

(A): 18:35:51
Swim(A)1:25:00
Swim(A)5801 yds
Bike(A)15:17:51
Bike(P)160.00 mi
Bike(A)317.96 mi
Run(A)0:53:00
Run(A)7.00 mi

Monday, May 18, 2009

5/11-5/17

Total(A): 10:51:54
Swim(A): 0:24:00
Swim(A): 2051 yds
Bike(A): 7:33:54
Bike(A): 156.53 mi
Run(A): 2:54:00
Run(A): 24.50 mi

Coble

Monday, May 11, 2009

Recharge

(A): 12:06:00
Swim(A)1:45:00
Swim(A)7700 yds
Bike(A)8:45:00
Bike(A)165.00 mi
Run(A)1:36:00
Run(A)13.00 mi

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Swim at OC
Wednesday: Run 5 miles treadmill and ride to Valley Ride and to Fremont
Thursday: Too hard track workout
Friday: Swam at CS on my own
Saturday: Mother's day breakfast and Crit in Pleasanton
Sunday: BHRR skipped last lap (off the back)

Planning a bigger week this week. But I need my feet to heal from
Wildflower and the Thursday track workout.

Coble

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Wildflower Lessons Learned

In no particular order:

- Never underestimate a race
- Never overestimate your fitness
- Be more consistent in training
- Sailfish suits are freaking fast
- My HED front hub sucks!
- I want a new bike but can't afford one
- If Kona is all that matters, then don't get upset about a bad race
- Get upset about a bad race to motivate you for Kona
- Run more
- Swim more
- Bike smarter

Coble

What a poor showing!

I got Wildflowered. Is that a word?

04:37:40.640 at Finish Line
Swim 25:44.980 21:27 min/mi
T1 02:57.380
Bike 02:30:30.690 22.32 mi/hr
T2 01:29.400
Run 01:36:58.190 07:24 min/mi

5th in the 25-29, 21st Amateur, 57th including PROs, 56th male. Yep, I
was "chicked".

Swim:
My Sailfish G-Range was awesome (http://sailfish.com/). Great balance,
incredible flexibility. I was out of the water with the top 2 guys
(Matthew Davie and another guy). I was in the lead but swam all over
the course. Probably a good 100+ meters extra. In fact, the boat had
to come get me and say I was over to far. How could I have been over
too far? The shore is over too far.
T1:
That hill out of the water is long and helped shoot my HR even higher.
I transitioned just fine and was 2nd on the road.
Bike:
Coming out of the bike course you ride along the shore for a mile and
then bang a right up "Beach Hill" which is not as long as Lynch, but
hurts like it. Average ~9%. I had only a 23, which was maybe not
enough for a couple hills. Spinning up would have been better. Some
guy zoomed past me on this hill putting me in 3rd. Just after leaving
the park I passed the original leader putting me 2nd on the road. For
the next 1:30+ I sat 2nd and could not even see the leader. I passed
chicks left and right and before the "Nasty Grade" I started catching
guys (PROs). The problem was, I was working too hard. 300-325 watts
often. When I got to the base of the hill I saw the leader on the
road. I caught him near the top and as that happened we were passed.
Back to being 2nd on the road already. The new leader could not
descend as he was too light. We yo-yo'ed for a bit until another pitch
came and he was gone. Finally I made it to Lynch Hill and into T2 in
2nd.
T2:
Good enough. Out in 2nd.
Run:
Ouch! My glutes were very tight the last 10 miles of the bike. And
that was not a good omen for the run. I was able to churn over ok but
the hills were killing me. I was in 3rd after about a mile and I
resigned to let those 2 battle it out for the win. I was in survival
mode. And then the real hills hit. And boom. I WALKED THE HILLS. Maybe
the worst I have felt in a race. Embarassed, in pain, slow. But I was
still in 3rd. Was my AG just chasing me down? The answer? YEP. At mile
6 I was passed to go to 4th. But I wanted to keep a top 5 to I started
chugging along. The steep hills were over so I was able to get into a
rhythm. Finally, after the turnaround, with about 1.5 miles to go I
was able to see my competition. They were coming. All I needed to do
was get to the top of Lynch. It is hard to catch anyone going down
that thing because it is so steep. One more guy caught me and I was
5th. Where I finished, in a slower than I hoped, worse place than I
hoped, and in more pain.

Coble

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Wente RR report

I always do poorly in this race. I think I have 9th place from 2005 as
a Cat 4, but that was when the race finished on the small hill by
LLBL. Since I have upgraded, just can't hang with the big guns very
long in this race.
This year was really no different:
1st time up the hill the top three got KOM. That's fine if we let 3
go, but the group romped up the hill at a pretty good clip. I was able
to stay attached while some went out the back.
2nd time up the hill I was able to hold on to the main group as a
large group went up the road.
as we approached the 3rd time up the hill Jackson personally brought
back about 1 min and we reached the large break at the base of the
hill. I was hurting at the back of Jackson's group and when we hit the
hill I was stuck behind some joker. I know him from the Marin ride and
he is a joker, but it's my fault for being at the back. I was able to
connect with a group of 4 AV guys and a few others. After the downhill
and before the second downhill I eased off a moment and lost the
group.
I was joined by the groupetto and did an "easy" lap for my fourth time
up the hill. As we passed the cars I pealed off and went to 7-Eleven.
I rode back up to the finish to see Hal and Jamie finish strong in
their race and see Nate English and the reigning US RR Champ killing
eachother up the finish. Not sure who won, but Nate was stuck in
front.

C+ for this race but actually did a tad better then I thought I would
do. After Wildflower I will get some 500+ watt efforts to get ready
for Alcatraz and that should help the road racing.

2007 Trek Madone , Sram Red, Reynolds DV46T, PRO handlebars and Stem,
Fizik Arione saddle

Coble

Not a bad tune up

I am running at about 80% heading into Wildflower.
- I trained poorly
- Was sick 2 weeks out
- Didn't swim, bike, or run nearly enough for my liking
- And have a few sore spots in my legs for no apparent reason

All of that being said, I had a pretty good confidence boosting ride
last night. I rode out to Niles Canyon and after 40 min I did a good
(not super hard) ride up Palomares. 20-21 min, on a TT bike, with
heavy wheels? Pretty strong if I do say so myself. Check the stats
below:
Peak 20min (353 watts):
Duration: 20:00 (21:36)
Work: 423 kJ
TSS: 35.5 (intensity factor 1.032)
Norm Power: 361
VI: 1.02
Pw:HR: 10.82%
Pa:HR: -34.98%
Distance: 4.568 mi
Elevation Gain: 1093 ft
Elevation Loss: 7 ft
Grade: 4.5 % (1086 ft)
Peak 60min (306 watts):
Duration: 1:00:00 (1:01:23)
Work: 1101 kJ
TSS: 85.5 (intensity factor 0.925)
Norm Power: 324
VI: 1.06
Pw:HR: -6.92%
Pa:HR: 24.99%
Distance: 18.878 mi
Elevation Gain: 1631 ft
Elevation Loss: 463 ft
Grade: 1.2 % (1168 ft)

Feeling a tad better about myself for this weekend. But can I run?

Coble

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Sunflower?

What's the deal? The biggest race on the west coast (apologies to
Alcatraz, Vineman, and Oceanside) may get some rain on Sat. What a
bummer. At least it will be cool outside and not the 90+ that can
happen there. But kinda a bummer to race in the rain.

Coble

Monday, April 27, 2009

~Taper

Easy week before Wildflower. If I can do well here, imagine how I will
do when I train for Kona.

-Coble

Weak

(P): 17:00:00
(A): 12:33:01
Swim(A)2:00:00
Swim(A)8500 yds
Bike(P)17:00:00
Bike(A)8:25:31
Bike(A)171.99 mi
Run(A)2:07:30
Run(A)17.28 mi

Coble

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tuesday Vacation Day

I was bumping up against my max vacation time at work. (I guess I was working too hard. But could you blame me? We are in the worst economy since the Great Depression and there is less demand for everything except Treasuries. I work with mostly municipal debt so we didn't get wrecked as bad as the all equity guys, but everyone is scared about everything.)
So I took a few days off this week to train and get below my limit so I can still earn vacation.

Today's day was ok. I had an epic 120 miler on Sunday that forced my dad to pick me up in Menlo Park. Today was a 3 hour ride, just over 60 miles, and then an hour run. I had planned to run a tad more but the weather was up over 90 degrees.

The ride was only ok. Stopped at the Chain Reaction Los Altos and checked out a pretty sweet 2007 TTX. Pretty sharp bike, but I want them to take a tad more off the 2200 they are asking.

The run was hot, hot, hot. I was in a pretty dark place after only 40 min, but somehow I was able to plug along for another 27 min. Kinda happy about that. I did it sans shirt to get a litte color. Not sure if it worked, but...

Looking forward to Wildflower. Not super confident in my fitness, but I want to use it as a test. And Sunday will just be for fun.

I'll let you know how the rest of the "vacation"goes.

Coble

Monday, April 20, 2009

The week that was, or was it?

(P): 15:45:00
(A): 10:20:30
Swim(A)1:00:00
Swim(A)4374 yds
Bike(P)15:45:00
Bike(A)8:20:30
Bike(A)161.98 mi
Run(A)1:00:00
Run(A)8.30 mi

Coble

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Will it be a good end to a bad week?

I sure had a bad training week. Not really what I wanted three weeks out of Wildflower. Between you and me, Wildflower is a training race. Not to say I won't be racing to win, but given my focus for the year, May means nothing compared to October.

Back to my bad week:
Monday - Recover from 16 mile Friday run, 104 mile Sat ride, 113 mile Sun run.
Tuesday - Sick, help my mom figure out how to refinance both houses (the compound), Danny's B-Day.
Wednesday - Full on sick, had to walk out on dentist appointment.
Thursday - Respectable 4k meter swim, and 8 mile run.
Friday - Still sick, dinner with Dad (I am a weenie)
Saturday - Freak n' traffic school, 2 hour ride.
Sunday - ???

Tomorrow will be good. Next week will be great.
Coble

Friday, April 17, 2009

3 days down and out

Thanks Danny for getting me sick. Monday-Wednesday down and out.

Did 4k swim and and hour run yesterday. Hoping for a big week next week.

Coble

Monday, April 13, 2009

Week of 4/6/09

(P): 17:15:00
(A): 17:17:32
Swim(A)0:06:30
Swim(A)547 yds
Bike(P)17:15:00
Bike(A)13:11:32
Bike(A)271.34 mi
Run(A)3:59:30
Run(A)32.00 mi

Week of 3/30/09

(P): 6:45:00
(A): 14:06:13
Swim(A)1:50:00
Swim(A)6827 yds
Bike(P)6:45:00
Bike(A)9:51:13
Bike(A)197.66 mi
Run(A)2:25:00
Run(A)19.00 mi

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Monday, Rest Day

I took yesterday off after a 11.5 hour weekend that included 2 smokin'
hard races. They were made so thanks to the 3 hours I had in my legs
before the crit Sat and the 2:15 I had before the CR on Sun. In fact,
I needed pops to pick me up in Mountain View as it was dinner time and
I was wasted.

Yesterday was a rest day to watch the great CBS Monday night line-up,
4 pretty funny shows.

Saturday's 1 hour stats:
Peak 60min (251 watts):
Duration: 1:00:00
Work: 903 kJ
TSS: 78.2 (intensity factor 0.884)
Norm Power: 310
VI: 1.23
Pw:HR: -0.63%
Pa:HR: 2.12%
Distance: 24.589 mi
Elevation Gain: 52 ft
Elevation Loss: 39 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (13 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1205 251 watts
Heart Rate: 113 176 160 bpm
Cadence: 20 121 94 rpm
Speed: 10.6 33.6 24.6 mph
Pace 1:47 5:41 2:26 min/mi
Altitude: 56 69 65 ft
Crank Torque: 0 1133 216 lb-in
Temperature: 77 86 79.3 Fahrenheit

Sunday's 1 hour stats:
Peak 60min (262 watts):
Duration: 1:00:00
Work: 942 kJ
TSS: 86.2 (intensity factor 0.929)
Norm Power: 325
VI: 1.24
Pw:HR: 5.12%
Pa:HR: 1.77%
Distance: 24.005 mi
Elevation Gain: 1657 ft
Elevation Loss: 1631 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (26 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1063 262 watts
Heart Rate: 95 162 142 bpm
Cadence: 20 118 89 rpm
Speed: 12.1 41.7 24.0 mph
Pace 1:26 4:59 2:30 min/mi
Altitude: 13 141 79 ft
Crank Torque: 0 1025 244 lb-in
Temperature: 68 71.6 70.2 Fahrenheit

Coble

Monday, March 30, 2009

Slow start but good weekend

These numbers are deceptive, but still a pretty good week.

(P): 13:45:00
(A): 18:53:49
Swim(A)1:00:00
Swim(A)3700 yds
Bike(P)13:45:00
Bike(A)15:28:49
Bike(A)288.29 mi
Run(A)2:25:00
Run(A)20.30 mi

Hopefully a few more run miles this week.

Coble

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

Dear A.I.G., I Quit!
The following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an
executive vice president of the American
International Group's financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the
chief executive of A.I.G.

DEAR Mr. Liddy,
It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from
A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you
take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the
details of my decision, I want to offer some
context:
I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity
divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no
way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap
transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G.
Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of
A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have
left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.
After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which
A.I.G. reassured us many times
we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit
have been betrayed by A.I.G.
and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to
this, I will now leave the company
and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering
from the global economic downturn.
My intent is to keep none of the money myself.
I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to
A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform
my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do
so. Like you, I was asked to work
for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the
company and to the public officials
who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no
longer justify spending 10, 12, 14
hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.
You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I'd like to tell
you about myself. I was raised by
schoolteachers working multiple jobs in a world of closing steel
mills. My hard work earned me
acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute's generous financial aid
enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my
American dream.
I started at this company in 1998 as an equity trader, became the head
of equity and commodity trading
and, a couple of years before A.I.G.'s meltdown last September, was
named the head of business
development for commodities. Over this period the equity and commodity
units were consistently
profitable — in most years generating net profits of well over $100
million. Most recently, during the
Op-Ed Contributor - Dear A.I.G., I Quit! - NYTimes.com Page 1 of 4
dismantling of A.I.G.-F.P., I was an integral player in the pending
sale of its well-regarded commodity
index business to UBS. As you know, business unit sales like this are
crucial to A.I.G.'s effort to repay the
American taxpayer.
The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated
clearly supported my compensation. I
never received any pay resulting from the credit default swaps that
are now losing so much money. I did,
however, like many others here, lose a significant portion of my life
savings in the form of deferred
compensation invested in the capital of A.I.G.-F.P. because of those
losses. In this way I have personally
suffered from this controversial activity — directly as well as
indirectly with the rest of the taxpayers.
I have the utmost respect for the civic duty that you are now
performing at A.I.G. You are as blameless for
these credit default swap losses as I am. You answered your country's
call and you are taking a
tremendous beating for it.
But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial
products unit had nothing to do with
the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack
of support for us. I and many others
in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the
face of untrue and unfair accusations
from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press
over our retention payments, and
that you didn't defend us against the baseless and reckless comments
made by the attorneys general of
New York and Connecticut.
My guess is that in October, when you learned of these retention
contracts, you realized that the
employees of the financial products unit needed some incentive to stay
and that the contracts, being both
ethical and useful, should be left to stand. That's probably why
A.I.G. management assured us on three
occasions during that month that the company would "live up to its
commitment" to honor the contract
guarantees.
That may be why you decided to accelerate by three months more than a
quarter of the amounts due
under the contracts. That action signified to us your support, and was
hardly something that one would do
if he truly found the contracts "distasteful."
That may also be why you authorized the balance of the payments on March 13.
At no time during the past six months that you have been leading
A.I.G. did you ask us to revise,
renegotiate or break these contracts — until several hours before your
appearance last week before
Congress.
I think your initial decision to honor the contracts was both ethical
and financially astute, but it seems to
have been politically unwise. It's now apparent that you either
misunderstood the agreements that you
had made — tacit or otherwise — with the Federal Reserve, the
Treasury, various members of Congress
and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of New York, or were not strong
enough to withstand the shifting
political winds.
Op-Ed Contributor - Dear A.I.G., I Quit! - NYTimes.com Page 2 of 4
You've now asked the current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. to repay these
earnings. As you can imagine, there
has been a tremendous amount of serious thought and heated discussion
about how we should respond to
this breach of trust.
As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to
surrender our earnings. We have
worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid
as promised. None of us should
be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated
after he has fixed the pipes but a
careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.
Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job
offers from more stable employers,
based on A.I.G.'s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They
are now angry about having been
misled by A.I.G.'s promises and are not inclined to return the money
as a favor to you.
The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear.
Mr. Cuomo has threatened to "name
and shame," and his counterpart in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal,
has made similar threats — even
though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to
conduct trials in courts and not the
press.
So what am I to do? There's no easy answer. I know that because of
hard work I have benefited more than
most during the economic boom and have saved enough that my family is
unlikely to suffer devastating
losses during the current bust. Some might argue that members of my
profession have been overpaid, and
I wouldn't disagree.
That is why I have decided to donate 100 percent of the effective
after-tax proceeds of my retention
payment directly to organizations that are helping people who are
suffering from the global downturn.
This is not a tax-deduction gimmick; I simply believe that I at least
deserve to dictate how my earnings are
spent, and do not want to see them disappear back into the obscurity
of A.I.G.'s or the federal
government's budget. Our earnings have caused such a distraction for
so many from the more pressing
issues our country faces, and I would like to see my share of it
benefit those truly in need.
On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40,
after taxes. In light of the
uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this
payment, the actual amount I donate may
be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House
bill raising the tax on the retention
payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will
immediately receive a list of all
recipients.
This choice is right for me. I wish others at A.I.G.-F.P. luck finding
peace with their difficult decision, and
only hope their judgment is not clouded by fear.
Mr. Liddy, I wish you success in your commitment to return the money
extended by the American
government, and luck with the continued unwinding of the company's
diverse businesses — especially
those remaining credit default swaps. I'll continue over the short
term to help make sure no balls are
dropped, but after what's happened this past week I can't remain much
longer — there is too much bad
Op-Ed Contributor - Dear A.I.G., I Quit! - NYTimes.com Page 3 of 4
blood. I'm not sure how you will greet my resignation, but at least
Attorney General Blumenthal should be
relieved that I'll leave under my own power and will not need to be
"shoved out the door."
Sincerely,
Jake DeSantis

Well put Jake. Well put.
Coble

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Day off...really

After my fantastic post yesterday. I took a day off. Really? What a
weenie huh? Today will be a big day so I can make all of the excuses I
want.

Heck, off to run now.

Coble

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

I am back!!!

It's been a couple weeks since my last post. 6 weeks to Wildflower, 12
weeks to Alcatraz, 29 weeks to Ironman Hawaii.

I give myself a C+/B- for the month of March so far:

Week of March 2nd"
(A): 9:35:44
Swim(A)1:00:00
Swim(A)3281 yds
Bike(A)5:55:44
Bike(A)116.56 mi
Run(A)2:40:00
Run(A)21.00 mi

Week of March 9th:
(P): 15:15:00
(A): 10:20:41
Swim(A)0:40:00
Swim(A)2187 yds
Bike(P)15:15:00
Bike(A)5:18:40
Bike(A)92.06 mi
Run(A)4:22:00
Run(A)35.90 mi

Week of March 16th:
(P): 15:30:00
(A): 10:04:34
Bike(P)15:30:00
Bike(A)8:49:34
Bike(A)174.49 mi
Run(A)1:15:00
Run(A)10.00 mi

5 hard weeks then a recovery week for Wildflower. Same for Alcatraz.
And then 15 hard weeks for Ironman.

Coble

Monday, February 9, 2009

9 months

And counting.

242 days, 21 hours.

I am thinking of behaving like a pregnant lady. Seems like a healthy life...

Coble

SRM for sale

$1800 starting price on ebay. But you can get it here first.

Coble

It has begun..

Cherry Pie was yesterday. With all of the hype of the Garmin team
showing up there was a good field of locals. While some big guns did
show up such as Roman (Ouch) a BMC rider, and a couple of lowly (in
pro terms) Bissell Riders.

Race was fast and while we started with 115 I think we ended with 75
or so. That means it was fast but not hard. Wind had kicked up quite a
bit so there were hard parts of the course. Not to make up any excuses
but I was on heavy, training wheels and I could definitely feel that
they were lacking snap. As the season ramps up I will start taking
these races a little more seriously.

As you know there is only one race that matters. So the rest of these
are for fun and some intensity training.

1 hour of racing, came out to 1193 kJ. That is a pretty hard hour my
any measure.

Coble

Monday, January 12, 2009

Miles and Sun

Its been a cold but relatively dry 2009 (knock on wood) which has
allowed the well equipped to get in some good miles. For Christmas,
Santa brought me some nice LG gloves. These are good cold to cool
level gloves. They can be worn during rides in the 30s and the 50s,
which is about the range we get in Northern California. Also I picked
up some DeFeet wool socks from Sports Basement. They are the thickness
of cycling socks so I can wear my normal shoes without discomfort.
Finally, I was able to get my hands on a Olympic Club winter riding
jacket by Capoforma. This jacket is perfect for everything under 50
degrees. Any thing warmer and you are riding around sweating like
Frank Rollo (who is perpetually overdressed).
Then comes this weekend. I was able to pick up my repaired OC vest for
the weekend, which was good because most of my miles happened above 50
degrees.

100 miles to Petaluma and back on Sat (with a second place in Nicasio)
85 miles to Early Birds + on Sun.

Its about time to ramp the running back up since I have been ignoring
that pretty much since IMAZ. That being said, I think the one legged
leg presses are helping me sprint. I seem to have good power. Now I
need to set my PT back up (or get my hands on a SRM) and get a little
more focused. Its probably a good idea to spend some time on the TT
bike, given that I am a triathlete (at least according to Garrett W.)

Coble

Monday, January 5, 2009

Feed the Beast

Coble

Track my rides

I have gotten off the couch and gone on 3 rides in 2009. And I have
the Garmin 305 back on the road bike to track my rides. One think that
riders tend to do is over estimate their rides. Heck, I can ride 20
miles and hour and if I am out for 5 hours I must have gone 100 miles
right?
Sorry, wrong, maybe 75? Even if you hammer. Stops, lights, coffee,
flats all slow you down. So getting the Garmin back on the bike keeps
you somewhat honest, even if its just honest to yourself.

All of this being said, if I can get my hands on another SRM I would
like to put it on my road bike. Or maybe I will swap it of the TT bike
for a few months.

To view my rides check out www.motionbased.com
Then search for "bcp2usc". That will take you to my activities.

95 on Thurs
85 on Sat
82 on Sun (with Early Birds mixed in)

Coble