Feeling Low

I'll start with the good news, Desmond's surgery went well and he's now well on his way to a healthy life! All his tubes have been removed and he's all smiles! Again, Lindsay's blog if you want to check in for yourself.

As for myself... I'm on my way to the Doctor, probably an hour or so after this blog post goes live. Since the 5k on Thanksgiving I can't seem to recover. Running at a very high rpe at a very slow speed, feeling lethargic in general... just run down. Usually a day off or so (at the most) solves this kind of feeling, but now it's been over a week since I logged a workout and I still feel about the same.

The best I can describe how I feel is like I have just done a 8-10 mile run at moderate pace. Not "hurting" or sore, just tired. I feel that way all day and have for the past week or so despite taking a clean break from training. I'm scheduled to meet with Dr. Kevin Sprouse (of Garmin Sharp) at Provision Wednesday... hopefully he has some insight into what is up.

As I've been getting ready for the appointment I've been mentally logging when I felt poorly. I didn't feel great at the 5k, and cut my bike ride short the night before, so that's a definite point on the map... but now I've started second guessing further back in the past. Have some of my "bleh" spots the last year been some underlying cause? What about my sickness at Nationals? What about when I was sick in Panama City a few years ago? Hopefully I'm just chasing shadows and drawing lines where there aren't really any... but it's a scary thing to think about.  Hopefully it's as simple as a virus I'm fighting off or something similar. I will certainly keep my thoughts on paper about it.

All isn't terrible however. I've had the opportunity (that is... time) to be in good company more often.

Me Jenny Jimmy and Sharon

So, there's a bright spot out there.

Fingers crossed, wish me luck for a quick recovery.

Thanks for reading,
Christopher Morelock

Important things (and a race report to finish)

So, first an important piece. This week one of my best friends son Desmond will be undergoing open heart surgery at Vanderbilt. I hope you could take a moment to send prayers, positive vibes, good mojo, whatever you've got to the family and to Dez. I am most certain that they will appreciate it, and I know I will.

Dez, isn't he cute!

Here is a link to Lindsay's (Dez's mom) blog... stop by if you've got a second.

The painting has begun on the Scott. I got a very rough layer down over the weekend but am currently waiting for the weather to break to really get the first "good" coating on. I expect it'll take a couple of layers to get it looking slick, and then it'll be sticker time. My excitement to finishing off this project is renewed, now that I'm so close to the end.

Base laying

As far as the Turkey Trot went on Thursday... well it went. I would say a mixture of poor pacing on the course (the back 2 miles was probably too up sloping and windy to have managed 6'/miles on... should have tried for an even 6:10 or so.) and some trollish wind led me to an unexciting 19:38. Still in no man's land, although it is a little encouraging that I may indeed be able to get into the 18's by new years on a more even course (with some better pacing and more suffering.) or at least that is what I will be telling myself every time I head to the track between now and then.

See me... I'm the idiot that's half naked.

Again, please give a thought for Desmond (and his parents!) if you can spare it. Thank you guys for checking out the blog, I appreciate it so much.

- Christopher Morelock

P.S. DID YOU SEE THAT STAR WARS TRAILER! Swwwweeeeeeet!

fancy flashlight :)

Winter Projects

Finally, after about a billion delays... The end of the CR1's rebuild is almost upon us. It's been a monster of a project that has spanned YEARS, been put off time and again, been plagued with unexpected setbacks and has just generally sat in the back of my mind (and garage) waiting patiently to be finished. It has also taught me an astonishing amount about carbon fiber, bike building in general and possibly most importantly... patience.

After finishing up with the carbon wraps and filler (getting it to an acceptable level of smooth/evenness. I'm sure a better body man would laugh at my feeble attempts) it was finally time to pick my tools for painting it.

I use the Vasa for more than a stand, I swear.

It came down to whether I wanted to put up the money for an airbrush, or go the rattle can route. Eventually I would like to have an airbrush, but since I should be saving for Black Friday (the missus wants an Xbox) I decided the CR1 would be getting the can job. It had turned out fairly well on my CAAD, so why not.

Eastwood Epoxy Primer

The problem there is finding a primer I felt confident in using. After a good amount of time scouring the internet I was led to Eastwood Paints. They make a 2k two part Epoxy Primer that comes to your door in a rattle can! I was skeptical, but after spraying down the Frame and Fork I have to say it was worth the price. There was just enough in the can to do the frame/fork with a light-medium coating, so if you were planning to lay it on thick you may need more than one can.  Anyways, here's what we were left with.

The fork is looking great!

The frame is a little spottier, but should look slick with the paint applied.

For the actual Paint I'll be using Dupont (matte black) from the local automotive store. Then some stickers I picked up from ebay, and finally some Eastwood Matte Clearcoat on the top. I'm excited to almost be done with this... what started with a small crack in the top tube turned into a nightmare and is finally coming back together as a great learning experience.  Hopefully I'll be back on the CR1 before Christmas.

Being that I can't work on the Scott all the time (between the weather cooperating and having to let primer dry.) and that both my other bikes and my Corvette are all in good shape... I needed something else to (right?) keep me busy. (It's not like I'm going to do housework.) So, I present you with my first try at building a Lightsaber.

Yet another fascination to spend time and money on...

I built this one (so far) for a little under $20 (and some random bike parts I had laying around.) not counting the internals I plan to add to it (battery, LED, etc) It's all good fun, so I suspect I'll be building some more in the future :)

/ End Star Wars Nerd Out

Thursday is both Thanksgiving AND my 5k. Hopefully I'll have a good race, I'm still not convinced an 18:5x is going to happen, but I'm confident I'm well on my way to it and that Thursday will be a step in that direction.

* less than a week for you to apply to the Cobb Mobb 2015 team! Last Chance!

Thank you all, as always, for reading. I really appreciate it. Have a Great Thanksgiving.

- Christopher Morelock

Well... it's cold.

I just can't resist a good Sean Bean post.

It's officially cold in Tennessee. Actually it's cold, rainy and all together nasty at the moment. Honestly, that doesn't bother me quite a much as it does most of the folks in the area, mainly because I do most of my riding inside on the trainer year round, so it's not such a shock of misery every time mother nature decides to dump on us. Running requires a little more planning in the early mornings (breaking out the gloves and jackets) but is actually kind of refreshing after a few months of running through sticky morning humidity. Of course swimming is unaffected other than getting strange looks from my neighbors when I make a mad dash to my car from the house in a t-shirt and shorts as I head to the pool.

IMAZ was Sunday, and that pretty well wraps up everyone's tri season. (if it wasn't already) This is the time of year I both look forward to and dread... running season. This year (after...knock on wood... having a streak of no run related injuries) I've started adding speed work back into my routine, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to break my streak of 19:1x 5k times by (or on) New Years. With all the Turkey Trots, Santa Hustles and whatnot there are going to be quite a few chances between now and then. I've had some track workouts that I'd consider "positive" in predicting an 18:5x, but nothing that makes it a foregone conclusion, especially given my tendency to go out too hard.

Speaking of Santa... yes I'm going to whine that the Christmas music is already playing. I get it, being first to roll out the deals / songs / whatever is worth something, but jeez, I walk in the mall on my Birthday and am already assaulted by Jingle Bells.

I know, right?

Finally in a break from my random bandwidth wasting post, I'd ask a moment of something less lighthearted.

The plans are in the works to do the Sufferfest Knighthood challenge  sometime in January. For those who aren't in the know (and are too lazy to click the link) that's 10 Sufferfest video's in a row (10' breaks between) usually done by the insane for a charity. Normally I'm not much on faceless charity, but a close friend of mine son (who is under a year old) will be having open heart surgery in December, and I'd like to try to set this up to raise money for them. I unfortunately have about 0% knowledge in this field, so if you've done any "personal" fundraising I would love to hear some input.

In my mind it would be a direct "donation" to his paypal, that way there's no middle man touching the money.

Other plans I'm going to try to iron out between now and then include
- live stream (twitch maybe?) of the 10 hour session
- Frequent updates/communication on FB/Twitter/Here/etc.

I'd also love to hear other opinions/suggestions on this.

Thank you all for reading, as always. I'll have more information on the challenge as things become a little more clear to me.

- Christopher Morelock

Birthday FTP test + quick thoughts

So Friday was my birthday, and despite usually not making a "deal" out of such things, I figured it would make a good day to do an FTP test. It's been a good while since I've done one, I've had my "break" after September to get lazy, and I figured I'd need a solid "grounded" number to work on over the winter.

Expectations, as you might imagine, were not very high. The last test I did was in the midst of a bike focus, where I was riding 4+ days a week. No way that's happening on my 2-3x current training. Nonetheless I have had some ok days the last little bit, so I was hoping to not embarrass myself too bad. It was also a good chance to play with my GoPro camera... I've actually had this thing for almost a year, but have never taken the time to learn the software so I have been hesitant to use it. Well... time to learn!

As for my actual test, I used a slightly modified version of Coggan/Allen's protocol. Since I had been training through I had a longer than normal warmup before my 5' "all out" to shake out the legs, then 15' instead of the usual 10' to spin/recover. After that it was time to go after it... conservatively. I started at something I knew I could hold (260w) and just held that for the first 5 minutes, slowly increasing for the next 10 minutes (I think I ended up around 274 or so by the 15' point) and then giving everything I had left for the last 5'. Of those last 5' I present this short clip of my suffering (and my cluttered trainer cave)

Excuse my poor excuse for editing skills... I've only had a quick crash course in the software, and even less experience with how Blogger deals with it.

I ended up with 285w for 20' or a 270w FTP. Still 4w/kg, but a pretty good drop (about 20 watts) from where I was. I do think I started a little too conservatively, but I was more interested in negative splitting than risking blowing up at 15' in.  I'll test again in a month or so and start a little more aggressively.

The video (assuming it actually works, which I guess is a big assumption) stuff was neat, and it possibly opens up a few more avenues of working on this blog. I definitely WON'T be moving to an all video type format (I personally don't enjoy them) but I can definitely see it being something I implement on certain occasions, especially for reviews where pictures + description won't totally convey what I want.

Anyways, the rest of my birthday consisted of me getting a little dressed up, eating lots of sushi, drinking a little too much sake and eventually ended with me ordering the parts to build a lightsaber... That's what happens when the missus goes out of town and I'm left to my own devices on my birthday.

With the hat to help hide how out of control my hair currently is.

Sorry that this post has primarily been useless to you guys, but it helps me (an incarnation of "chaos theory") structure myself if I actually put my thoughts down on some form of media. Next week I *hope* to have something interesting to show off, so long as I don't get distracted and actually get it finished. I'll also post some pictures of my lightsaber when I finish it!

I added this to last weeks post after Wednesday so in case you didn't see it (and just to put it out there again) Applications are open for the 2015 Cobb Mobb Team. Apply at this link!

Thank you guys for reading, I really appreciate it!

- Christopher Morelock

Just some thoughts on what's new

Vasa

I'm excited. It's (almost) my birthday and since I skipped going on vacation at the end of the year I figured I should get myself something nice...and useful. So here's a new addition to the home gym... the VASA Ergo trainer

Perfect fit...kinda...sorta...

I've only had it set up for a day or so, and only got to use it once (for a feeble 500m... this thing is tough) but I'm very stoked about this thing and the (hopeful) benefits for me. Being able to just go into the garage and bust out 500m before my bike ride of the day was/can be huge. My commute to and from the pool from my house/work has always been a "limiter." It can eat up over an hour traveling on a good day, sometimes up to 2 if traffic is bad. That means every time I hit the water it's got to be a "serious" workout... going to swim 1k doesn't make much sense.

This thing changes that. It lets me get some small time in that I can really focus on my pull/push (the parts of my stroke that need the most work anyways) without any more hassle than walking out into the garage.

After I've had it for a while I'll have a review up. Like I said, excited to use this thing. Price is pretty steep, but I nabbed this one used from ebay and put it into the realm of "justifiable," especially if I end up using it a lot... which I plan to.

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Ironman Florida

It seems like it's been a super hot topic. For some reason I just feel like sharing my opinions on it, despite knowing better.

The swim was cancelled due to current. A lot of people were up in arms about this, that Ironman has gone soft...etc..etc. The question then becomes how you balance an "extreme" event with common sense. Despite the call for a damn hard race, using a venue that is obviously unsafe for the competitors is foolish from a business and moral standpoint. Double red flags means the water is off limits to the public in Panama City... as a race director how do you put athletes in the water in those conditions? If your safety personnel can't be where they are supposed to be because they keep drifting out, how do you put athletes in the water? Just hope nothing goes bad? Would I be bummed out if the swim was cancelled at a race... hell yeah. Would I understand in situations like this...yes.

Looks can be deceiving

Whether you call yourself an Ironman or not... it's up to you. I've always thought these discussions were odd. If you do a 140.6 at Rev3 are you an Ironman? What if you do an IM70.3... what if the swim is cancelled and you don't get but 138.2... what if you go off course and go 142.7. The key here is, 99.9% of the people that will ever see your tattoo or hear you say "I did an Ironman" will have any clue what the difference is between any of those. Call yourself what you want. A name won't change what you have done.

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Just a shoutout

I don't usually just sing the praises of a company, but I felt I needed to give a special shoutout to Powertap, who despite having a reputation for some of the best customer service in the industry, went above and beyond to help me out recently. I won't go into details about it, but suffice to say, if you're on the border of deciding which kind of power meter to go with, this is one of those times I'd say go with the company that will stand behind their product and try to do you right.

Good product, great service

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So, Friday I turn 31, nothing to do but get a little older I guess :) Fortunately as of so far, I've been getting faster as I've been getting older!

Thanks everyone for sticking around and reading, or at least skimming through. I really appreciate it!

- Christopher Morelock


*

It's that time... Application time! Join the 2015 Cobb Mobb team!

First year was a success, and only better things to come!

Apply here!

The Devil is in the Details (pt2)

But you could also say God is in the details. So, depending on whether you are an optimist or a pessimist, this post is either going to be a pain in the butt or omnipotent. (ok... it probably won't be omnipotent, but I'll try.)

This week let's talk about the details in your equipment. There are LOTS of guys that are giving up free speed for no good reason other than laziness and/or some common misconceptions. So hold on to your Gatorskins, this is going to get hairy. Let's dive right in. (I'm going to blatantly take some info from the internet here... I'll try to give all credit due)

Coggan suggested this formula (to keep in mind)
0.1 lbs (50 g) of drag (at 30 mph) = 0.5 s/km = 5 W = 0.005 m^2 CdA = 0.0005 Crr

Tires and Tubes:
Somehow, despite all of the efforts put out by Biketechreview and Tom Anhalt (Bikeblather, an extremely good read.) there are still a plethora of "serious" cyclists / triathletes who don't pay any attention to what rubber hits the road.

Let's say you're riding a Pro4 Service Course Michelin (CRR .0043) and I'm riding Conti GP4000s' (CRR .0034) a difference of .001. Not such a big deal you might think. But what if I said it was eating up 9 more watts of your power output to go 25mph? Over a 40k... that's the kind of time differences that don't just win (or lose) races, but can separate the podium from "mid field." Now imagine if you were on a "bulletproof" tire like a Gatorskin... I shudder to think.

The argument of course is one of durability. It's going to (maybe...) be slower to change a flat than it is to ride on an indestructible tire. For the most part I think this is BS. Considering your race tire is in great shape (it should be, it IS your race tire, not your trainer) it should be able to stand up to most of what you're going to find on a tt/tri course. Tacks/Glass/Thorns/etc are going to flat most tires, race or not.

Some of those runs are using latex tubes as well. For the most part from what I've seen, switching from butyl to latex in both tires is worth about 5-7 watts.

---aside on latex installation---

A lot of people are turned off by latex tubes because they think they are more likely to flat. With proper installation I believe they would find this is actually the opposite. However, proper installation takes a little more effort than butyl tubes, and improper installation DOES lead to popped tubes, so this thought process lives on. Here's the steps I take when installing mine. (I prefer velox tape as opposed to an actual rim strip that can move for most rims. I use veloplugs with a layer of packing tape myself.)
- shake the latex tube in with some talc powder.
- bead it and the tire as normal (might help to have a few lbs of air in the tube)
- BEFORE YOU START AIRING run your hands along both sides of the tire pushing the tire back to see if any of the tube is caught under the lip. If it is, a couple of "flicks" of the tire should move it back under. Do this step on both sides and take your time. This is where probably 99% of the errors come from.
- Once you are satisfied that the tube is under the lip of the tire, start airing it up.
- Profit! (or get the crap scared out of you when you hit about 90psi if you did it wrong.)

/aside

It's also important to understand that certain tire widths match up better with certain rims. Especially the older aero wheels (non-dimpled zipps, similar era HED's, Trispokes) that were designed on the "narrow is aero" philosophy, you can go from a great wheel to a terrible one when you throw a 28mm tire on it. On that topic, generally a wider tire has better rolling resistance, but a worse aero profile. That's where things can get tricky in picking a tire... Trading RR for aerodynamics is often a profitable tradeoff on the front wheel, where the RR is usually positive on the rear (especially on a modern tri bike that will "hide" a lot of the tire.

TLDR; Tires and tubes... pick wisely.

Cable routing:
This is another one that is not only costing people some speed, but also just killing the aesthetics of the front end.

Here's the difference between my old Felt and the current Cervelo's front end. (Sorry the Felt isn't a head on shot, I didn't know I'd need a head on picture 5 years later... I also didn't know about clean front ends...)

Lots of stuff sticking out around the front. Oh the good old days.

Very little for the wind to see cable wise. 

Now if you believe this

Famous aero dork picture!

Then you can see that having a bunch of cables hanging out and about is NOT a good thing. I use Nokons and/or Alligator links to get the really tight bends, but you can certainly emulate 99% of that with some smart/creative routing of your own. As great as di2 is, I have seen some nightmarish setups (see Andy Potts before his Tririg makeover)

Clothes:
Oh so easily forgotten. Clothing choices can do a lot to help (or hurt) you in a race. If you've watched Kona this year it would be easy to wonder if Ryf couldn't have saved 2 minutes over her bike split if she had worn a little bit more aero top. (along with an aero lid) Not saying that even if she had gained the time she would have won, but it's something to wonder.

Did the wrinkles make the difference?

The last few years we've seen the shift to the "aero top." The Castelli and the PI really kicked it off, but now most places have their athletes with sleeves, or at least with the option. Jim Manton's recent ST thread is an excellent read. An easy takeaway for this quick read "Skin is slow, wrinkles are worse."

I've had my own experience with the Castelli T1, and I'm still with mixed feelings. Some things I'd suggest everyone consider.

- Are you going to swim in it? (if applicable... no sleeves allowed in a no-wetsuit swim)

- Is it restricting your stroke if so? (I felt like it definitely was)

- How fast can you get it on (wet) in T1 if you aren't wearing it for the swim.

- Are you going to wear a tri jersey underneath? 

- How much time will it save on the bike?

- Are you going to wear it on the run? (a lot of tri's require *some* top for men)

Besides the aero top, when I was in the tunnel I found a onesie to be a couple of watts faster than my two-piece kit. I expect a lot of that was both the "rising sun" of my exposed lower back and the bike jersey'ish pockets on the two piece. Those big pockets can also be a source of drag in the water.

Hair:
You've almost certainly seen Specialized's Win Tunnel report on shaving your legs... and while other credible sources have NOT seen anything as impressive as 10+ watts... it's really a no-brainer to shave your legs unless you have a good reason not to.



That's a good place to stop this week. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to read through. Hopefully you've found something useful, or at least a little enjoyment. Thanks for reading!

- Christopher Morelock