David Hoffman's Blog

Christmas 2011

2011-12-24T12:20:00.000-08:00

Its cold and raining in Austin. This weather makes an old cat very sleepy.

Dalai Lama quote

2011-11-11T08:38:00.000-08:00

“When asked “What thing about humanity surprises you the most?”, the Dalai Lama answered:

“Man…. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

Longhorn triathlon

2011-10-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

I did the Longhorn half-iron triathlon last Sunday. The swim went well. I had a very strong bike ride, feeling good the whole way, even a the end of 56 miles. The run was a bit of a struggle, the second half of the 13.1 miles was pretty slow. I did a few short walk breaks on some up hill parts. I think the heat got me, it was in the 80s, sunny and hot for the last hour of the run.

Anyway, overall it wasn't bad. Finished 3rd out of 90 in the 50-54 age group.

Results below, click to enlarge.

san angelo triathlon

2011-08-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

The Wool Capital triathlon in San Angelo was yesterday. It rained during the race. The 10K run had to be shortened to 5 miles due to flooding on the course. So it was 1.5K swim, a very wet 40K bike, and a 5 mile run.

I placed 4th overall, first in age group. I actually crossed the finish line first, since the 3 guys who beat me started 5 minutes behind me (the start was done in 2 groups, 5 minutes apart, to prevent crowding). I also had the fastest bike split of the race. My run was not very good, I just can't seem to find the faster gear that I used to have for running. Oh well.

1.5K Swim: 23:16 (5th)
40K Bike: 59:05 (1st)
5 mile Run: 36:23 (15th)

Overall time: 2:00:54 (4th)

Results of top finishers (click to enlarge):

bike race - 40K time trial state championship

2011-07-31T09:27:00.000-07:00

The Texas state 40K time trial championship was yesterday, in Lytle, which is a bit west of San Antonio.

The weather started out looking good, but began raining at about the 1 mile mark, and rained hard for rest of the 40K ride. This was my first bike race under really wet conditions (I decided I prefer it dry).

My time was 57:23, average speed 26 mph. This just missed my best 40K time by 7 seconds. So considering the conditions, this was probably as well as I have ridden for 40K. I placed 5th of about 17 riders in the 50-54 age group.

Jon was 7th, so team "Lost Faculties" took 5th and 7th places.

summer teaching

2011-07-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I taught two biochemistry classes this summer, one of which I'd never taught before. It cost me some missed sleep, and was a lot of work, but overall it was enjoyable, and I learned a lot.

That was a very busy 9 weeks! Now for a few weeks of slower pace, before it starts again.

Waco triathlon

2011-07-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

I did a triathlon in Waco yesterday - 1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run.
Finished 9th out of 397, first in age group.

Swim time = 24:23 (7th fastest swim)
Bike time = 1:00:43 (3rd fastest bike split) 24.7 mph
Run time = 48:26 (41st fastest run) 7:48/mile

total time = 2:17:49 (includes transitions)

I'm swimming and biking very well, but running like a 53 year old. Perhaps I can work on the running. :-)

Results for top finishers (click to enlarge):

40K bike time trial, personal best!

2011-07-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

I was very surprised that I can still do a "personal best" in something athletic, since I am 53 years old! I did a 57:17 for a 40K bike time trial in Castroville TX yesterday, beating my old best of 57:24 from 3 years ago. The conditions were pretty good, very little wind, but hot and humid. The course was out-and-back, essentially the old state championship course that I've ridden a few times before, but never quite that fast.

So I can still ride a bike as fast as I ever could. I can't say the same about swimming and running, though. Swimming has slowed down a lot - 30 years ago I could hold a pace of 1:12 per 100 yards for 2000 yards, and now its more like 1:25/100 yards pace. Running has slowed down by about 50 seconds per mile.

I wonder if that was my last "personal best". Anwyay, I'm quite pleased (amazed!) that everything still works, and I'm pretty much injury free.

science news

2011-02-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

The Kepler planet-finding space telescope has provided the first strong evidence that habitable planets are common in our part of the galaxy. Some day maybe humans really will visit strange new worlds.

link to article in Science Daily

What would be even bigger news would be evidence of extra-terrestrial life on these planets. I expect this evidence to come within 7 years, when the atmospheric compositions of some of these planets are determined. An atmosphere that contains oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapor would be strong evidence for the presence of photosynthesis. Earth's atmosphere contained no oxygen until oxygenic photosynthesis evolved about 2.6 billion years ago; its the oxygen gas that gives earth away as a life-bearing planet to a distant observer.

Getting rich through blogging

2011-01-29T09:36:00.000-08:00

Six months ago, advertising started appearing on this blog, when I started using Adsense to make money. So far I have earned $1.87. When my earnings get up to $10, I am supposed to actually get paid. At the current rate, this will occur in about 3 years.

So for now, I think I better keep my day job.

Readers (all 3 of you), keep clicking on those ads!

Gruene time trial

2010-10-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

Jon and I (the team "Lost Faculties") had our last bike race of the season today. It was a 2-person, 27 mile, bike time trial on a hilly and technically difficult course. The team's time is determined by the 2nd finisher, so the best strategy is to work together (taking turns leading) to cover the course as fast as possible. Teams started 30 seconds apart. We were entered in 100-109 years combined age division (Jon has 49 years, and I have 53).

Last year in this race, I crashed on a turn, so I was more than a bit nervous about the course.

As it turned out, things went well this year. We had a plan, and stuck to it. Jon lead me for most of the first half (including the hilly curvy bits where last year I crashed). He set a fast and steady pace, and I mostly drafted behind him, trying to keep fresh for the second half. After one big hill, the last 12 miles were mostly straight and rolling, and I did most of the leading, while Jon followed me. We caught and passed several other teams that started ahead of us, and no one passed us, which was encouraging. We finished in 1:06:54, with an average speed of almost 25 mph.

We were the first in our division of 100-109 years! We got cool little medals, and had our pictures taken while holding flowers. It was great fun!

Getting ready to head home, with bikes!

Longhorn half-iron triathlon

2010-10-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

I did the Longhorn triathlon again this year, for the 4th year in a row. Its a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. It was a very large race, with over 2100 people. The race went pretty well for me. It was a "wave start" race, where the start was done in 17 groups, spaced about 3 minutes apart. The professional athlete men started first, then the pro women 3 minutes later. I was in the 3rd wave, with about 100 other over-50-year-old males. 14 more waves of various age groups started after us old guys.

The start of the swim was pretty rough; it took about 5 minutes to get clear of the crowd. Then I just settled in on some other guy's feet, and took it easy. I finished the swim in just over 30 minutes, in 3rd place in my age group. The bike was uneventful, with great weather. After about 15 miles I had passed the 2 guys in my age group who finished ahead of me on the swim, and I caught up with a few of the slower pro women, and I was the first amateur athlete on the bike for a little while. Later on the bike I got caught by a few other guys, and I just settled in about 50 yards behind them and followed until the end of the bike ride. I did the run at a steady pace, good enough to finish 3rd place in my age group. Averaged 8 minutes per mile, which I was happy with since about a third of the run was off-road trail, with not very good footing.

1.2 swim time = 30:05
56 mile bike time = 2:27:12
13.1 run time = 1:47:01
total time = 4:50:20

List of top finishers in the 50-54 age group (I'm 3rd):

Complete results of Longhorn triathlon.
(I'm 160th overall, out of 2100 finishers).

I got an email with some race photos of me:

end of summer update

2010-08-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

Here's what's new -

In bicycling news, the Texas State 40K time trial was today, in Floresville, near San Antonio. I was 5th in the 50-54 age group, out of about 25 competitors, in a time of 57:58. I rode well, but the course was not a particularly good one for my (lack of) bike handling skills. The first and last part was a bunch of turns in the center of town. I take corners like an old man (slow!), and much prefer the long straight sections where I can just grind away.

Summer teaching is over. I did the "Fundamentals of Biochemistry" course for a group of 125 undergrads, mostly pre-med, pre-dental, and chemistry majors. I like this course a lot, but wish the class sizes were a bit smaller.

Fall teaching starts on August 25th. I'm doing a big undergraduate biochemistry course for biochemistry majors (a new course for me), plus a graduate course in physical methods of biochemistry, which I've done once before.

savers propping up the banks

2010-07-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

Scott Burns wrote an interesting article, "Solvent seniors and the matrix of misery". He points out that the federal reserve's interest rate policy results in people with savings being used to prop up banks. Low interest rates cost retirees who live on savings thousands of dollars per year in lost interest, while increasing profits for banks.

So retirees living on savings account or bond interest are essentially paying for Citigroup's return to solvency, and the executive's bonuses. It seems to be an especially unfair transfer of wealth, that has not gotten much attention in the mainstream media.
Link to Scott Burns article

more bike time trials, and one triathlon

2010-07-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

I did a few more of the Tuesday night bike time trials. Getting a bit better!

July 13, 2010. 17:30 (average speed 27.4 mph)
June 10, 2010. 17:51 (average speed 26.9 mph)
May 24, 2010. 17:44 (average speed 27.1 mph)

Also, I did the Jack & Adam's "couples triathlon" at Decker Lake on July 11. It was an 800 meter swim, 11.8 mile bike, 5K run. I was 28th of 900, and the first finisher over 50 years old. Had a good swim, very good bike ride, and did OK on the run.

I definitely do better at sports when I'm not sleep-deprived, like I was during the spring!

8 mile bike time trials

2010-05-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

The Tuesday night bike time trials have started again. The first few weeks I was a bit sluggish, which I'll blame on being tired from teaching 2 classes on the day of the time trial. The most recent one was a bit better. All of these were done using my Hed3 wheels (no disc wheel).

April 13 (I'm 15th, Jon beat me on this one!):
Results of 8 mile bike time trial

April 27 (I'm 18th):
Results of 8 mile bike time trial

May 11 (I'm 10th):
Results of 8 mile bike time trial

May 25 (I'm 12th, at 27.1 mph):
Results of 8 mile bike time trial

Schoolwork

2009-12-25T19:11:00.000-08:00

Mom sent some old schoolwork of mine! I wonder if kids still do assignments like this in school. That's a blue star for me!

Astrobiology? Sure, why not!

2009-11-26T18:04:00.000-08:00

In what I think is a stroke of brilliance, I have figured out how to turn a bad habit (wasting hours reading astronomy web sites) into a Work Related Activity. I'm teaching an Astrobiology course this spring! I'm capping the enrollment at 30, so if I make a fool of myself, there won't be too many witnesses.

Now, time to see what's on Astronomy Picture of the Day.

zero percent credit card offers are back!

2009-11-26T17:34:00.000-08:00

I found a few new 0% credit card offers, after they had all but disappeared for the past few months. Good timing, since soon it will be time to apply for some new cards, in what looks to be yet another year of free money from the Big Banks.

There are some subtleties, but the basic strategy is: 1) get a bunch of credit cards with 0% promotional rates for 12 months; 2) extract funds from each card up to 89% of credit limit; 3) deposit funds in reward checking accounts; 4) make minimum payments every month using on-line bill pay; 5) pay off balances just before 0% period ends; 6) wait 30 days for credit report to show paid off balances; 7) rinse and repeat.

Its so easy I don't know why more people don't do it. But then, probably most people would spend the money from the credit cards, and therefore be totally screwed. Also, the 0% offers with no fees do require a bit of looking around to find.

With interest rates on savings accounts and CDs being so low, reward checking accounts are pretty much the only safe place to keep cash and get a good (5%) yield. These are FDIC insured, completely liquid, and offered by a host of small banks, mostly in the rural south. A pretty good list of these accounts can be found at high yield checking account deals.

Its good to have hobbies!

recovered from bike wreck

2009-11-26T17:30:00.000-08:00

I went for my first run since my bike wreck almost 4 weeks ago. Everything seems to be working. I'll probably run again tomorrow.

Although I hadn't run in a month, I have been swimming a lot, and doing lots of weight lifting the past few weeks. I definitely prefer running, so its good to be back at it.

Note to self: Do NOT fall off the bike again!

new post

2009-11-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

The triathlon & biking seasons ended with some mixed results.

I'd been having some trouble with sore hamstrings for several weeks before the Longhorn half-iron triathlon on October 25, so I hadn't been running much, and had been substituting lots of biking and swimming. In the race, I swam well, biked very well (top in age group), but bonked about half way through the 13 mile run, and had to do the survival shuffle for the last 6 miles. There is just no way to do a good triathlon without a good run.

On October 31 I did a 16 mile bike time trial in Gruene, TX, which went well, 37:46 on a fairly difficult course.

The next day, Nov. 1, I did a 2-person 27 mile team bike time trial in Gruene, with my biking buddy Jon H. We were going very well for the 1st 12 miles, then I took a turn too fast, and wiped out pretty hard. After taking a minute to make sure nothing was broken, I got back up and finished the last 15 miles. We still averaged about 24 mph, but were not nearly as good as we should have been. I ended up with a lot of road rash and 3 stitches on my hand. Two weeks later, I am still sore in a few places, but getting better every day, and I am pretty sure there is no real damage. That should be the last time I take a turn too fast on a bike, lesson learned.

Nothing to see here.

2009-10-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a scary graph that I found. Not only is the CO2 concentration increasing, but the rate of increase is increasing.

I also found these other scary graphs which I think are also quite interesting.

Surely this has nothing to do with human activity. :-)

Last bike time trial of the season

2009-10-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Just finished the last Tuesday night bike time trial of the season. It was a good one, 8 miles in 17:23, average speed of 27.6 mph. Weather was just about perfect, not too hot and not much wind. My time was the fastest by an over-50-year-old in the 6 years they've been having these time trials.

Complete results (I'm 5th):

Results of 8 mile bike time trial

Record heat in Austin

2009-08-26T14:41:00.001-07:00

July was the hottest month ever recorded in Austin. It doesn't look like that record is going to last long, since so far August is even hotter than July.

July's average temperature was 89.5 (average high = 102 ; average low = 77 F).

As of the 25th, the average August temperature is 90.0 (avg high = 102.5, avg low =77.5).

Tuesday night bike time trail (again)

2009-08-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Another Tuesday night bike time trial, 8 miles in 17:38, average speed of 27.2 mph. Weather was decent, except for it being 103 degrees.

Complete results (I'm 6th):

Results of 8 mile bike time trial

Tuesday night bike time trial

2009-08-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

I did my best time at the Tuesday night bike time trial, 8 miles in 17:28, average speed of 27.5 mph. Jon H. did his best time, too. There was very little wind, which made for good conditions, except for the fact that it was 105 degrees! I think we must be getting used to the heat.

Here are the complete results, I'm 5th and Jon is 9th:

Results of 8 mile bike time trial

40K bike time trial, and Wool Capital Triathlon

2009-08-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

A busy sports weekend! Saturday was the 40K bike time trial, state age group championship bike race. I rode well for me, with a time of 57:44. Jon H. rode well too, and finished under 1 hour, 59:55! Here are all the results:

Complete results of Texas State Championship 40K bike TT.
(I'm 48th overall, 5th in age group).

The next day, Sunday Aug. 9, was the Wool Capital Triathlon in San Angelo. So I raced 2 days in a row. I was 13th overall, in 2:11:06. The distances were 1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run. I've done this triathlon 4 times now, on exactly the same course. So here is the trend:

2006: time = 2:11:27 (22:46 swim, 1:03:08 bike, 43:35 run) age=48
2007: time = 2:11:52 (22:50 swim, 1:02:20 bike, 45:04 run) age=49
2008: time = 2:10:31 (23:00 swim, 1:00:09 bike, 45:30 run) age=50
2009: time = 2:11:06 (23:14 swim, 1:01:00 bike, 45:07 run) age=51

Harry Potter Movie (#6)

2009-08-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Lisa and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie, "Half-blood Prince". I thought it was pretty good, the best HP movie so far.

When we purchased our tickets, Lisa was charged $7, but just $6.50 for me. According to my ticket, I got the senior discount! I didn't even ask for it. I think the girl selling the tickets was a teenager, so I probably looked ancient to her.

My first senior discount -

Tuesday night bike time trial

2009-04-15T02:14:00.000-07:00

The first 8 mile bike time trial was last night. It went well, which was a relief since I was worried that I'd slowed down a bit since last fall. My time was 17:45 (27.0 mph), which is 13 seconds slower than my personal best, and pretty good for me. Weather was good, just a little headwind going toward the finish.

Several of the local fast guys were there. I was 14th overall, first in age group.

Results of 8 mile TT, April 14, 2009

Savings accounts & rate chasing

2009-02-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

It has been getting more challenging to earn a decent interest rate on savings. So I've had to use more creative approaches to earn interest on the promotional 0% money that I borrowed from my credit cards.

A number of smaller banks have recently started "Rewards checking accounts", the best of which pay interest of 6% on balances up to $25,000. The catch is that they require typically 10 to 12 debit card transactions per month, in order to get the high interest rate and no fees. I've recently opened a bunch of these accounts, and now I find that I need to make about 52 debit card transactions per month. To do this, I've been paying the phone bill on-line every weekday, $1.01 at a time. That gets me about 20 transactions. Pumping self-serve gas a dollar at a time is also good; this is best done when the cash register is staffed by an apathetic looking teenager, rather than someone who looks like they could be the actual owner of the store.

For some reason the best rates seem to be at small banks located in the rural south. I've recently opened rewards checking accounts at Southern Missouri Bank, Heritage Community Bank in Arkansas, and my favorite, "Redneck Bank" in Oklahoma, which has the motto "Where bankin's funner!". Their web site is pretty good. If you mouse over the outhouse, the door opens. Best experienced with the sound turned on.

Link: http://www.redneckbank.com

Yes, they are a real bank. More frugal tips to follow!

Painted gourds

2008-12-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

"Capuchin with Clementine" was completed in December 2008 by Lisa Hoffman, and was created to resemble the paw of a Capuchin monkey holding an orange. The sculpture was created from a winged gourd, three-dimensional and acrylic paints. This is one of only a few pieces that have been released from the artist's vast personal collection. The gourd currently resides in a private collection, in a location that will remain undisclosed for security reasons.

Bike race: Lost Faculties vs. Lance Armstrong

2008-11-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Jon and I (of team "Lost Faculties") competed in a bike race in Gruene, Texas. It was 16 mile time-trial, on River Road which follows the Guadalupe River. There were about 150 entrants, including Lance Armstrong, as well as many of the top state and local riders. Riders started at 30 second intervals for about an hour and a half, except the last few riders started a minute apart, and Lance started last with a 3 minute gap. The out-and-back course was more difficult than previous time-trials I've done, with a lot of small hills and turns, so it was hard to get going fast and easy to lose speed. Lisa came to watch, and also Jon's wife Sylvie and daughter Coralee.

Sylvie took pictures!

Team "Lost Faculties" before the start, clearly not intimidated by Lance's presence:

Lining up for the start, with my "sunflower wheel". My start time is 30 seconds behind Jon. We didn't plan it that way, it just happened.

Jon in the starting gate:

Me in the starting gate. Always aware of safety, notice that I only clip in one pedal before the start signal. :-)

Lance approaches the start line on his white "Trek" bike, surrounded by fans:

Lance tried to intimidate the Lost Faculties by wearing a black skin suit and scary looking helmet:

Lance in the starting gate:

A picture of me, somewhere out on the 16 mile course. Remembering to keep my head down:

Lance finishing:

Results are posted! Lance won the day, but both members of team "Lost Faculties" made the top 20 overall, and made the first page on the results list along with Lance. I was 10th, in 37:06, which put me among several of the top local riders, and less than 4 minutes behind Lance. Jon was 20th, in 39:05. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers were the top two in the Texas state 40K time-trial championship earlier this year, so Lance is in good enough form to hold off the top riders in the state.
Click the image to enlarge and make readable.

Lance may have been the overall winner, but I did manage to win the "age-group prize" for first old guy! They didn't let me keep the flowers, what's up with that?! But I did get a cool medal.

Other statistics: Lance averaged 28.9 mph, and I averaged 25.95 mph. I noticed that most of the top local riders were about 2 mph slower here than in the state 40K championship, so this was not a fast course.

Here is a link to an article on the race in Cycling News, with full race results and more pictures: Link to article

Also, here is a link to an article about the race in the San Antonio paper: Lance getting back in gear

Longhorn triathlon

2008-10-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

The Longhorn triathlon was last Sunday. This was a huge race, with over 2000 participants, which is amazing for a half-iron distance on a hilly course. I finished about 68th overall, in a time of 4:40:35. I was the first over-50-year-old.

The swim went fine, I took it pretty easy, and came out about 65th overall, and first in age group. On the bike I just rode comfortably for the first 20 miles, then gradually picked up the pace, and rode from miles 40 to 56 very hard. The course was a single long loop, which kept it from being crowded. I could usually see 1 or 2 other riders, but that was it. Average speed was 22.5 mph for the 56 miles, which I was very pleased with, given the difficulty of the course. The run was two loops of 6.55 miles each, with 6 hills per loop (yuk!), one of which was very nasty and steep. I ran well and did not walk one step. I even ran through all the water stops, so I actually went the last hour and 44 minutes of the race without drinking. This seems nuts now that I think about it, but I did drink a lot on the bike, so I guess I was pretty well hydrated before starting the run. I averaged a little better that 8 min per mile on the run.

Results for men 50-54 age group. (I'm first)

Link to full results. (over 1900 finishers!)

I felt good the whole way on this race, so I am going to write down what I ate, in case it is useful in the future:

3 hours before race: 2 cups coffee and 2 chocolate Cliff bars.
Before start: Plenty of water.
During the 56 mile bike: 16 oz. of cold coffee in my bike bottle, then lots of water.
During the 13.1 mile run: nothing.
I was very thirsty at the end, but OK. Temperature was about 70 at the start, low 80s at the finish, windy, partly cloudy, with low humidity.

PS - I received some race photos. Below are: On top of big hill at mile 55 of bike; bike-to-run transition; mid-way through the run.

Rate chasing news

2008-10-01T12:47:00.001-07:00

The yields on Fidelity's and Vanguard's tax-exempt money market accounts have recently increased dramatically, especially in the last few days. For example, the yield on the Fidelity tax-exempt municipal money market fund (FTEXX) is 5.88% (!!) compared with 2.70% on Select Money Market (FSLXX). FTEXX has, in principle, a stable $1.00 share price, although this is not guaranteed.

Here is an excellent article on the Vanguard web site, explaining the very high current yields on tax-exempt money market funds: Link. If the Vanguard article is correct, it looks like FTEXX should be safe.

So I shifted our savings that were in FSLXX into FTEXX. I guess I'll see how that works out. I think Fidelity will be very reluctant to let the share price drop below 1.00; I think their reputation practically depends on it.

Tuesday night bike time trial

2008-09-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

The last bike time trial of the season was Tuesday, and team "Lost Faculties" did pretty well. I did the 8 miles in 17:43 (27.1 mph) and my training buddy Jon did it in 18:17, which were good rides for both of us. Next up for me is the Longhorn triathlon on October 5th.

Results of 8 mile bike time trial (I'm 5th place)

Investment comment

2008-09-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

The recent stock market ups and downs have caused me to think about our investments. I've decided not to make any changes for now. So this means that we remain invested in a fairly diversified way, but with an overweighting in international stock mutual funds. Because of the rules of our 401K and 403b retirement plans, we are mostly restricted to Fidelity mutual funds (largest holdings are FEMKX, FSIIX, FICDX, FSTMX), but we also have a Vanguard REIT index fund (VGSIX) and some CREE stock, which is a semiconductor company involved in LED lighting. With our regular (non-retirement) savings, we are "rate chasing", taking advantage of various promotions and bonuses at a variety of banks and credit unions scattered around the US. This gets us a high and safe yield on our short-term savings.

A good source of information for rate chasing can be found at the Bankdeals blog. This is where I found out about the Wachovia way-2-save accounts (9% yield for the year if opened last Feb.), WaMu savings-for-success (6.5% yield if opened last March), a Patelco credit union 7% CD special, and several others. I check Bankdeals a few times a week, the web address is http://www.bankdeals.blogspot.com

Its been a pretty rough ride lately, but I am cautiously optimistic that if we just stay the course and don't sell into panics, then things will eventually work out.

Anoli lizards

2008-09-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

Our yard is almost filled with native plants, with very little regular grass. So we have lots of butterflies, spiders, bees, anoli lizards, and the occasional possum and raccoon. I particularly like the anoli lizards, which hunt insects. The males sometimes display pink skin on their necks.

Prairieman half-iron triathlon

2008-09-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

After a couple of good races in a row, I had a tough one that did not go entirely as planned. The 1.2 mile swim and the 56 mile bike went fine, and the 13.1 mile run started out OK. But I wilted badly on the last 9 miles of the run, I think due to not coping well with the heat. I struggled to finish in 4:59, 15th place out of about 175.

Positive things about the experience were I had an excellent bike ride, doing the 56 miles in 2:25, riding easy and finished the bike with fresh legs. Also, I was first in my age group. I am realizing that it is not easy to put together a good half-iron triathlon on a hot day. So I will be sure to appreciate it when I do get it to work next time, hopefully at the Longhorn triathlon on October 5.

Results of the Prairieman half-iron triathlon

Tuesday night bike time trial

2008-08-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

I did my best time at the Tuesday night 8 mile bike time trial last night. The conditions were very good, almost no wind. My time was 17:32, average speed of 27.4 mph. So things are looking good for the triathlons coming up, at least on the bike. My training buddy Jon also did his best time (18:14.9), so it was a good night for the team "Lost faculties".

Results of 8 mile bike time trial (I'm 2nd place)

Wool capital triathlon

2008-08-11T06:49:00.000-07:00

I did the 2008 Wool Capital Triathlon in San Angelo yesterday. It was a 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run. I really like this race - it has a nice open water swim, scenic bike route, and the run is on what the race director calls "the dirt road from hell". This is a dusty road with no shade, hills, and not very good footing. So the 10K run times tend to be a bit slow.

I finished 2nd overall, and was the first masters (over 40) finisher. My swim was good, bike was surprisingly good, and run was a little slow. So I guess I could work on my running a bit more before the half-iron races that I plan to do in September and October. My total time of 2:10:31 was a minute faster than the last two years, so that was encouraging. The bike course was windy this year, I was 32:10 at the 20K mark on the bike with a headwind, and came back in 27:59 with a tailwind.

Results, 2008 Wool Capital Triathlon (I'm 2nd place)

A photo of me starting out on the bike appeared in the San Angelo local newspaper. Clicking on the picture enlarges it enough to make the text readable.

Texas state championship - 40K bike time trial

2008-08-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

I did a bicycle race! It was the Texas state time trial championship, which was a 40K race in Pattison TX (near Houston). There were several hundred riders, all starting individually at 30 second intervals. It was a mostly flat out-and-back course, with a few small hills, and a fair amount of wind. I was hoping to finish under one hour, but I surprised myself and finished in 57:25, which was good enough for 2nd place in the Men's 50-54 age group.

Here are the results for the 50-54 age group:

Link to Results Men's 50-54 (I'm 2nd place)

And here is a link to the complete results for all riders: All results.

I was surprised to see that my time would have ranked among the top cat3 riders. I really like this time-trial riding!

PS - Craig Prejean Sports took pictures, and here are a few of me. The first one is just after the start, and the last two are approaching the finish. I go for the bright colors to be visible to cars.

Artifacts from 1972

2008-04-07T18:17:00.000-07:00

I have two artifacts from the 1970s. The first one was found by my neighbor Ceci when she was playing frisbee golf last weekend. I hadn't seen one of these in quite awhile:

The next one is more difficult to explain. First, think of who ran against Nixon in 1972. George McGovern, of course. And McGovern's running mate was Sargent Shriver. So can you explain this "McGovern Eagleton" button?

The story of Lefty the butterfly

2007-11-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

Lisa found a butterfly in our yard that was unable to get free of her chrysalis. So she helped the butterfly out. But the butterfly had only one good wing (her left one). Her right wing never did unfold properly. Since the butterfly could not fly, Lisa moved her from flower to flower so she could get food.

Lisa discovered that Lefty likes to drink juice from apple slices. Especially when they are on a plate with a flower pattern. So Lefty is a well fed butterfly.

Lefty stays inside our house at night, on a plant in the kitchen. During the day, Lefty stays outside by herself. She can always be found at the end of the day, near the flower that she was put on, since she only travels by walking. Sometimes during the day, Lefty is visited by other butterflies.

Lefty has now been with us for 6 weeks, and she has become a very old butterfly. Her wings are a bit tattered, and her colors are not quite as bright as they used to be. But she does still enjoy drinking from a bright yellow "flower" that was made from a grape that has been put on a kitchen scrubby.

Update, December 24, 2007. After a seven week stay with us, Lefty passed away yesterday. She spent her last day on a favorite plant in the kitchen.

Longhorn Triathlon

2007-10-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

This was the last triathlon of the season for me. A 1.2 mile swim, 56.7 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. In Austin for a change, so that was convenient. This was a tough course! The swim was in Decker Lake, in 85 degree water, its been warm here lately. Rolling hills on the bike ride, not too bad. The run was hot and very hilly, up and down the whole way, with almost no flat ground. About one-third of the run was on trails. I think this course was tougher than Buffalo Springs.

I was first in 50-54 age group, in 5:01. I don't turn 50 for another 3 weeks, but this race used USTA rules, so its based on age on Dec. 31. I had a good swim, a good bike ride, but was kind of slow on the second half of the run.
Link to results for my age group (50-54 male).
Link to complete results.

Tueday night bike time trial

2007-08-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

A pretty good ride for me at the Tuesday night bike time trial. 8 miles in 18:08 on a hot day, with some wind. Average speed of 26.5 mph. I was 4th place, and the first of the moderately old guys. Jon did his best time, 19:02.

Results of 8 mile bike TT (Aug 21, 2007)

Wool Capital Triathlon in San Angelo, TX

2007-08-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

I did the Wool Capital Triathlon again this year, a 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run. I really like this race. Its small (only about 110 people), and a nice course, mostly in a park. The drive out to San Angelo from Austin is nice, very little traffic, and a lot of small towns. The drive went pretty quick, Lisa and I just talked and played CDs the whole way. I was worried I might be miserable during the race, since I had a cold all week, but it turned out OK.

The race started in three groups, 5 minutes apart, as is usual for triathlons now. The old people (over 40) started first, with the younger competitors in the latter two groups. The swim is in a typical Texas lake, which is a dammed river. I was in second place for the first half of the swim, then moved into first and finished with a small lead. I started the bike first, and rode pretty easy until I got caught at about the 15 mile mark. For the next 10 miles I followed about 100 yards behind the first cyclist, and finished the bike in 2nd place, with an average speed of 23.9 mph, which is pretty good for me. The 10K run was not fast (45:04), but steady. I did get caught by a couple of the younger guys who started behind me, but at least I didn't completely fall apart.

My final time was 2:11:52, just a few seconds slower than last year. 5th place overall, first in my age group.

Results of 2007 Wool Capital Triathlon

Buffalo Springs Triathlon

2007-06-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Buffalo Springs Lake triathlon was on Sunday June 24. It was a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. I was 8 minutes faster than last year on the bike, but paid for it on the run, where I was 4 minutes slower than last year. Placed 3rd in the 45-49 age group, in a time of 4:53:20.

One person from each age division at Buffalo Springs gets to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman triathlon. The winner of my age group didn't want to take the slot (he'd been several times before), so it passed to 2nd place. The 2nd place guy had already qualified, so it passed to me. I said no thanks, so it passed to the 4th place finisher, who seemed happy to take it.

Here is a link to the results (with splits) for the top finishers in male 45-49 age group.
Results for the first 28 of 60 finishers

And here is a photo that Lisa took of the top 3 finishers in my age group. We are all laughing because none of us would take the Hawaii slot. That's me on the left, Tim Terwey in the middle, and Rob Chance on the right.

Tuesday night bike time trials

2007-06-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

Last night I did the Tuesday night bike time trial. 8 miles in 18:24, which is OK for me. Placed 6th overall, but pretty well among the old guys. It was pretty tough conditions: 94 degrees and humid, heat index of 103.

8 mile bike time trial, June 19, 2007: Results (I'm 6th)

And last month's results:

8 mile bike time trial, may 15, 2007: Results (I'm 10th)

Triathlon season approaching

2007-05-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

Triathlon season gets started in about 5 weeks. As of now it is difficult for me to tell what to expect. I am injury free, which is good. My running seems a bit slow, and I did a dreadfully slow time at the Shoes for Austin 5K, 19:46. I seem to be swimming pretty well. Biking in training seems a bit slower than last year, but then I just did my best time at the Tuesday night 8 mile time trial a few days ago: 17:53 for 8.0 miles, average speed 26.8 mph, which is the fastest time by an over-45 year old since they started the time trials a few years ago. So that is certainly encouraging. But I felt pretty sluggish in the local Cactus Challenge triathlon.

The first "real" race of the season is the Buffalo Springs Lake half-ironman triathlon on Sunday June 24. Its a 1.2 mile swim + 56 mile (hilly) bike + 13.1 mile run.

Aransas wildlife refuge

2007-03-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

Lisa and I went to Aransas wildlife refuge last weekend, at the gulf coast. We rode our bikes all around the refuge, and saw long-legged wading birds (herons, cranes), and we found an armadillo who stopped digging for long enough for us take his picture. While eating lunch by a pond, we watched some coots swimming, which are sort of like ducks. Suddenly one coot disappeared with a big splash when a large alligator attacked it from below. I thought it was sad because the coot's mate kept paddling around where the alligator was. I guess I prefer romantic comedies over tragedies. But I suppose alligators have to eat, too.

Fresh laundry

2007-02-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

Upcoming races

2007-02-05T11:31:00.000-08:00

I made a list of races that I may do this year.

April 15, 2007. Austin Cactus Challenge triathlon. 1500 m swim, 26 mile bike, 10K run. Last year this was low key and a bit disorganized, but its close to home.

May 5, 2007. "Shoes for Austin 5K". I like the course, it finishes with a nasty hill. In the past they have had good prizes for age-division winners (Mizuno sports bags).

May 20, 2007. Open water 5K swim at Lake Travis. I've done this one the past 2 years.

June 24, 2007. Buffalo Springs Lake triathlon. Lubbock, TX. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile (hilly) bike, 13.1 mile run. This race has lots of top athetes from all over, lots of very fast people. I hope to improve on my time from last year.

July 15, 2007. Ironhead Dallas triathlon. 1500 m swim, 40K bike, 10K run.

August 12, 2007. Wool Capital Triathlon. San Angelo, TX. 1500 m swim, 40K bike, 10K run.

Sept. 9, 2007. Prairie Man triathlon. Grand Prairie, TX. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run.

Oct. 7, 2007. Longhorn triathlon. Austin. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run.

Oct. 28, 2007. Ironstar triathlon, Conroe, TX. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run.

Ice storm in Austin

2007-01-17T07:47:00.000-08:00

We've been having freezing rain, sleet and sometimes a few snowflakes, with temperatures below freezing for a third day in a row. UT has cancelled classes for a second day. Yesterday I jogged slowly into campus, and went to the gym, which is about the only thing open at UT.

More painted gourds

2007-01-03T18:54:00.000-08:00

Lisa has painted some more dried gourds. I think the last one was influenced by a tree frog.

Investing for retirement

2006-12-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

Around this time of year I think about our investing plan for retirement. We don't have traditional pension plans. Our retirement savings consist of 401K (and 403b) plans, which we can invest in mutual funds, plus IRAs. This means we have to make all of our own investment decisions, which seems like a potential disaster. So far its gone (mostly) OK. I really hope I don't screw it up.

Anyway, the asset allocation has been pretty consistent since November 2004 (starting the day after Bush was re-elected), and is currently as follows:

62% foreign stock funds (divided between Fidelity emerging markets fund, Fidelity spartan international index fund, and Fidelity Canada fund).

13% Cree stock.

25% cash, earning an average of about 5% yield.

That's it.

For the last 2 years the foreign stock funds have done great, about 30% gain two years in a row, while the Cree shares have gone nowhere. So overall, its done OK.

I'm just going to stay with the same allocation until I see a reason to change it.

I really hope I don't screw this up!

Gourds

2006-12-24T19:41:00.000-08:00

Lisa has been painting gourds. Here is a picture of a typical gourd, dried and ready for painting:

And here are some gourds after they have been painted:

Injury seems to be gone

2006-12-24T08:58:00.000-08:00

I think I recovered from my calf strain. It feels normal, anyway. I'm going to wait until January 1 before starting the running again, just to make sure. Meanwhile, I've been amusing myself with lots of biking and swimming, so I haven't lost fitness. I think the most important thing for athletic training at my age is to avoid developing injuries.

Minor injury

2006-12-16T13:22:00.000-08:00

I think I have a minor calf strain. At least that's my best guess, after researching on the web. Got it running, very suddenly. After a couple of days it feels fine walking around, but I can feel it if I jog more than a short distance.

Biking feels fine, so I think I will take the next 2 or 3 weeks off from running, and just bike and swim. I'll start running again in January. Hopefully that should take care of it.

Ironstar triathlon, Conroe, TX (October 29, 2006)

2006-10-30T12:05:00.000-08:00

Link to Ironstar Triathlon results
(I'm the 6th individual)

Yesterday I did the Ironstar triathlon at Lake Conroe, which is in eastern Texas, about 3 hours drive from Austin. Lisa and I went there on Saturday the day before the race, and stayed at the hotel that is right at the race site. Lisa really liked this, since I could get up early and get to the race site at 5 am, and she didn't have to get up until just before the start at 7 am. We were lucky enough to have a room that had a view of the swim start, so Lisa watched the beginning of the race right from the hotel room. If we go to this one next year, this is definitely the way to do it.

This was a 1.2 mile lake swim, 59 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. The bike ride is 3 miles longer than the usual half-iron distance. I suppose this is because the course was a loop, and that's just how it worked out.

This race felt very different from my previous triathlons this year, since I had been so busy at work the last 2 weeks that I had hardly thought about it. I was able to get in my usual training the last couple weeks, but I was pretty tired from having long work days. I hadn't had time to go throught my usual ritual of checking out the bike course on google maps, or even thinking about how I was going to pace myself. I just kind of showed up, and made it up as it went.

This was a pretty big race, about 600 people. The start was in 6 waves of about 100 each, 5 minutes apart. I was in the 4th wave, with the over-45 males. I started the swim 5, 10 or 15 minutes behind the young guys, making it very difficult to tell what place I was in during the race. The women and relays started in the waves 5 and 10 minutes behind me. My wave had black caps (the other waves had the bright colors). I've never had a black cap in a triathlon before. Usually I have a yellow or orange or white cap, and I use a marker to put spots on it, so Lisa can tell which swimmer I am. But this doesn't work with a black cap, though Lisa can now recognize my swimming stroke anyway.

I started the swim pretty slow, and a bunch of swimmers quickly got ahead of me, maybe 10 or 15 seconds. I think most people start fast on the swim to try to get clear of the crowd, which seems sensible, but I was thinking about the nearly 5 hours of racing I still needed to do. After 5 minutes I ran into the slower swimmers of the wave ahead, and things really got chaotic. I accidently swam over a few people (oops, sorry about that!) and got kicked a few times pretty good myself. After swimming through that group, I overtook the slower swimmers the 2nd and first wave, and ended up finishing the swim surrounded by people all going different speeds who started at different times. I think I did the second half of the swim faster than the first half, and I came out of the water about even with another guy in a black cap. I heard Lisa yell "go David!", and I heard a few people shout "first black cap!", so I must have caught those other swimmers in my wave that started fast. So I was off to a pretty good start. My time for the swim was 27:57, which seems about right for me.

The weather was very cool, sunny and dry. It was about 48 degrees at the start of the bike, which is a bit chilly to be riding in wet clothes. I wore gloves, which kept my hands warm, and that was enough to keep me comfortable, and the weather warmed up quickly anyway. The bike course was rural roads through National forest and farms. The roads were not flat at all, rolling hills the whole way. But no big climbs, just rolling up and down. The road surface is bumpy chip-seal most of the way, which is slow to ride on. I did the first half of the bike at a fairly comfortable effort, passing lots of people who started the race before me. One or two people passed me in the first half of the bike ride. At about the 30 mile point, on a downhill part, I stood up on the pedals, stretched my legs, emptied my bladder (which mostly ended up in my right shoe), and had a good drink of water. Then I settled down and really started to ride hard. For an hour and twenty minutes I was passing people pretty fast, including one guy who had passed me earlier. It seemed like I was the fastest cyclist out there, but I know that the fastest riders had started the race 10 or 15 minutes ahead of me so I never saw them at all. I rode hard right up to the bike finish line. My bike time was 2:40, and average speed 22.0 mph, which is a bit slower than I have been doing in races lately, but not bad considering it was chip-seal roads, hilly, and pretty windy on the second half.

I started the run very slow, thinking I'd just kind of ease into it, and then hopefully get going after my legs recovered from the bike. My first mile was 7:45, running with a water bottle filled with diet coke. There were several long gradual hills on the run course, nothing too steep, but they were kind of long. During the first 6 miles, I took about 5 very short walking breaks, on the up hill parts. For these breaks, I would speed walk for about 20 or 30 seconds, and then start running again. I think the change in rhythm makes my legs feel better running, and it doesn't cost much time. I planned to run the last 7 miles, and hopefully finish the run faster than I started. I averaged about 7:35 per mile for the first 6 miles. Between miles 6 and 7 I got passed by a guy in my age group, who was running very well, and he gradually got away from me by about 30 seconds. I went by the 10 mile mark in about 75 minutes. I was running reasonably well at this point, and thought that if I kept my pace I could get under 1:40 for the half-marathon run, which was a goal of mine. Between miles 10 and 11 I noticed that I was gaining on the guy in my age group who had passed me earlier, and this really got me going. I ran the 11th mile in about 7 minutes, and caught up with my age-group rival. After running right behind him for a short distance, I passed him as fast as I could, while trying my best to maintain a facade of being perfectly at ease, pretending that this is the way I always run. But I was hurting pretty bad at this pace. I ran the 12th and 13th miles in about 7 minutes each, and was in too much of a daze to even look behind me. Fortunately that was good enough. My half-marathon time was 1:36:44, which is my best in a triathlon. I won my age division (45-49), and was also first masters (over 40) male. I was 6th overall, behind 5 young guys who I never saw, since they started the race ahead of me. My total time was 4 hours 49 minutes and 29 seconds.

That was a very satisfying way to end the season! I got a pretty good prize, a plaque and $100 gift certificate for a Houston bike shop, who can send me something that I pick out.

Today (Monday) I feel OK, a bit sore but no injuries. I think I'll go to the gym, but just take a long hot shower instead of the usual workout.

Here are the results (I'm listed 8th, but 2 of those ahead of me are relays):
Ironstar Triathlon results

Here are a few pictures from the race (just a small file):
Ironstar Triathlon photos

Prairie Man triathlon (Sept. 10, 2006)

2006-09-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

I raced in the Prairie Man triathlon, a half-ironman held in Grand Prairie Texas, on Sunday Sept 10. It was a 1.2 mile swim, 55 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run.

I think this was my best triathlon so far, at least at the half-ironman distance. My time was 4 hours 38 minutes, and I placed 6th out of about 260 finishers. Excluding the relay teams, I had the 10th ranked swim, 10th ranked bike time, and the 8th ranked run. That's pretty good balance!

I'll make this shorter than my last few race reports. Not really much to say about it, other than it went according to plan, and was a steady effort the whole way, with no fading at the end. I was first in my age division (45-49), by a pretty wide margin. It was pretty tough around miles 8, 9 and 10 of the run, but I didn't slow down, and then I perked up at the end. The run was hot, sunny and humid. I think the "heat acclimation" training that I've been doing paid off on the run (I've been doing my running on the Clark field track at 5 pm, in over 100 degree temperatures).

Here is a link to the complete results.

This is the third triathlon in a row where I've been first in my age group, so I guess I have a streak going. Just one more triathlon for me this season - the Ironstar triathlon in Conroe, Texas, which is another half-ironman on October 29th.

Penny-pinching news

2006-08-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

In my continuing effort to excel at frugality, I discovered that it is possible to find some very good deals on cash-back credit cards. We now have two cards (a Citi Visa and a Mastercard from Chase) that each pay 5% cash back on groceries, gas and drug store purchases, and 1% on other purchases, with no fees. In less than 6 months we have received $300 cash back. I was skeptical until we actually got our first check in the mail, but the credit card companies will actually send us money. There is one thing to watch out for: The best (5%) cash-back cards may have a maximum cash-back payout of $300 per year. We are working around this by getting a new card each time we hit the maximum cash back per year. But I think its well worth the trouble, since I expect we will get about $600 to $700 back this year, for maybe a couple of hours of work.

One place to start looking for cash-back credit cards is to Google search for best cash back credit cards. I think the credit card companies expect that we won't pay our balances in full every month, but we are proving them wrong, and taking their money for a change.

Wool Capital Triathlon, San Angelo, Texas (August 13, 2006)

2006-08-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

Wool Capital Triathlon, San Angelo, Texas, Sunday August 13, 2006.
1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run.

This was the first trip to San Angelo for Lisa and I. Its about a 4 hour drive west of Austin. We drove out on Saturday, and stayed at the LaQuinta Inn. Picked up the race packet, and went out for a pasta dinner on Saturday night. Got a good night sleep after taking the usual ambien, and got up at 4:15 am on Sunday morning.

This was a fun race, in a nice park. Its the oldest triathlon in Texas, 19th annual, wow! Overall, a well organized, fun and safe event, as is usual for any race put on by Ironhead Race Productions, with timing being done by Run-Far. It was a fairly small race, with only about 120 entrants. The race started in three waves, four or five minutes apart. The over-40s got to go in the first wave (yeah!), followed by the younger age divisions. The swim was an out-and-back in a dammed part of the Concho river. A new experiment for me: I swam without goggles, which really helped in sighting the marker bouys. A good idea! During the swim, I started slow and then moved into first after a few minutes, and finished the swim first. I focused more on swimming straight than swimming fast. The bike route was a simple out and back. It was windy, mostly a head wind out of the south on the way out; I got to the turn around in 33 minutes, and returned in 30 minutes. I was leading on the bike until Richard Freer and Phillipe Kozub caught me about 3 miles before the end of the ride; they eventually finished 2nd and 1st, respectively. The bike route was pretty flat, but not all that fast, since a lot of it was a bumpy chip-seal surface. The 10K run was an out-and-back on a dirt and sand road, which I found out is affectionately known as the "dirt road from hell". It was dusty and dry with almost no shade, and in some places it was like running on a beach, the sand was so loose. It was hot, but I think I was pretty well prepared for the heat, due to my habit of doing my training runs at 5 pm. I ran in 3rd place the whole 10K, I didn't pass anyone and no one passed me. I crossed the finish line 3rd, but was 4th overall, after the corrections were made for the different starting times. I was the first finisher over 40 years old.

A few thoughts: Doing the swim without goggles was a good idea; I was able to see over the water quite well, and swam straight. It was interesting that I didn't see anyone else without goggles. My transitions were slow, as usual. I rode pretty hard on the bike, breathing hard enough so that it was difficult to drink. I didn't drink at all on the bike until after the turn around, when I finally had a tail wind. I think I did a pretty good job of keeping my head down, and keeping a good aero position. I started the run very easy and relaxed, running the first mile in 7:36, and drinking about 16 ounces of diet coke during the first mile. The last 3 miles of the run were my best (good!). I got to the run turn-around in about 23:10 (this was 3.2 miles), and came back in 20:26 for the last 3 miles.

Here are the results (I'm 4th overall):
Wool Capital Triathlon results

Bike time trial (July 18, 2006)

2006-08-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

Just two days after racing a triathlon, I didn't expect to do very well at the Tuesday night time trial. The high temperature today was 103, and it was still about 101 degrees at the 6 pm start. The wind was out of the southeast, maybe 10 mph, so it was a tailwind for the uphill part on the first half, and a head wind on the way back. Somehow I managed to do my best time, 17:58.3. First time under 18 minutes. So that was pretty good for me.
8 mile time trial results

Ironhead Triathlon, Grand Prairie, Texas (July 16, 2006)

2006-08-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

Triathlon in Grand Prairie, Texas, Sunday July 16, 2006.
1.5 K swim, 26.0 mile bike, 10K run.

The 9th annual Ironhead triathlon was yesterday. Lisa and I drove up on Saturday, and stopped in to visit Lisa's grandmother in Irving Texas, which was pretty much on the way. We went out for lunch, and had a little visit at her house. Lisa's grandmother is almost 92, and seems to be in excellent health, and gets around very well.

We then drove to pickup my race packet, and then to the Days Inn in Arlington where we stayed. The Days Inn was OK. Adequate and inexpensive, but with a bit too much furniture in the room for easily storing the bikes. I rode my bike around the parking lot a little, and then finished organizing my stuff for race. We watched the end of "Shrek 2" on TV. Took ambien and went to sleep around 11 pm.

I got up at 3:45 am and loaded the bikes (my racing bike and Lisa's trail bike) onto the car, and drank my usual race morning diet coke (a coffee substitute). Lisa was up at 4:30, and we were off to the Lynn Creek Park race site at about 5:10 am. I am very grateful that Lisa so cheerfully tolerates this craziness. Lisa helped me pump up my bike tires. Got my transition area set up, got my timing chip, and waited for the start.

It was a pretty big race with about 450 competitors. We started in 4 approximately equal waves (divided up by age), with the waves starting the swim 4 minutes apart. I was in the first wave, with the males over 45 and the 20-24 year olds. I have no idea how they decide to divide these things up. I have mixed feelings about these staggered starts. Its good that it reduces the crowding at the start a bit, but its annoying not knowing what place you are in the overall ranking. But since the groups are divided by age, at least I know how I'm doing in my age division. The 4 minute gap between the start of each wave is small enough that the fast people in the later waves catch up pretty quickly anyway.

I almost did something pretty stupid - I was not paying attention to where the swim start line was, and was cheerfully talking to someone about nothing much when I heard Lisa yell from a distance "Hey David!!!" I looked around and realized that if I didn't move, I'd be starting at the back of the pack, and I had only a few seconds to move to the front. I just barely made it! Actually, I was a little out of the best position for someone of my swimming speed, but it probably only cost me a couple of seconds. If Lisa hadn't yelled to wake me up, I would have had to swim through the whole pack and it would have been a mess.

Once I got started, the swim went pretty well. I got to the first turn in the triangular course in probably about 8th place, and moved up a couple more places before the second turn. The water was warm, and not very clear, so it was difficult to see underwater to find feet to follow. It got pretty choppy when we were farthest from shore, but that was OK, since if it bothered me, it would probably bother most people even worse. I made the last turn in about 6th place. After making the last turn, we had to look directly into the sun (which was still very low over the water) toward the finish line, and I couldn't see a thing. So I flipped my goggles up on top of my head, and found this was much better for sighting over the water. So I swam the last 500 meters without goggles, and went straight for the finish line. I moved all the way up to second place at the swim finish. Lisa took a video of the last few minutes of the swim, where you can see several of the swimmers in front of me zig-zagging in wrong directions, while I passed them by, being the only one without goggles and can see when looking into the sun. Pretty clever of me, I think! I didn't even lose my goggles, they stayed stuck on my cap.

I did my usual not-particularly-fast transition, and started the 26 mile bike in 4th place, but not far behind at all. I passed Lael Martin right at the bike start while he was still messing with his cycling shoes; he's a very strong cyclist and was one of the zig-zag swimmers. I figured he'd be coming up behind me again soon. After about 2 miles on the bike, I moved into second place, and could see the first guy about a quarter mile in front of me. By mile 5, I was shocked to find that no one had passed me yet, and I was gaining on first place, which made me worry that I had started too fast. Then it occured to me that I would see Lisa at mile 13 when the the course looped back near the start, and I thought it would really impress her if I was near the lead, even though I'd probably regret it later on the run. So I picked up the pace, and really concentrated on keeping my head down as low as I could. I caught the first guy at about the 8 mile mark. Being in the lead, I then got to have a personal police motorcycle escort, which was really cool. I zoomed by Lisa at the 13 mile (halfway) mark, first cyclist. Very exciting! At my age, I don't expect I'll get too many more chances to lead a race. I think I slowed down a little at this point, figuring that I was about to get caught anyway (the fast cyclists must be somewhere, I thought). Drank my water bottle, and my diet coke bottle. Kept on pedaling, and no one was coming behind me. After a few more miles, it occurred to me that I might be able to hold onto the lead until the 26 mile mark, where I could impress Lisa yet again. So I decided to ride hard until I got caught. But I didn't get caught, and I came back into the park first, with no one close behind me. Later I found out that I had been the fastest cyclist in my age group, and I had the 5th fastest cycling time of everyone in the race.

The run didn't go as badly as I had feared. Between the 1 and 2 mile mark I got caught by the eventual race winner, who was just a 30 year old, so I was still leading my age division. It was sunny, hot (already in the 90s) and almost no shade. But it felt very much like running on the track on a hot afternooon, which is something that I'm familiar with. The best parts of the run were seeing Lisa at the 2 and 5 mile marks. The mile markers were pretty funny, and appropriate for the weather. I checked my watch at every mile marker - a little over 7 minutes for the first mile (drinking a lot), and the rest of them under 7 minutes. I ran the last 3 miles a little faster than the first 3, and was the second person to cross the finish line. When the final results were posted I was 6th overall; a few of the younger people starting in the later waves had faster times than me. There were 417 finishers. I was the first over-45-year-old by about 10 minutes.

It was terribly hot waiting around after the race, but I finally got a "first in age division" award. Lots of people commented that they liked the "sunflower" wheel on my bike. Lisa got some good movies, which were fun to watch later. Lisa said she liked riding around on her trail bike while I was doing the race. The trip home was uneventful, but hot. The high temperature that day was 101 in Austin, and 102 at the race site in Grand Prairie.

Overall, a big improvement over my previous triathlons, especially on the bike.

Total time: 2:14:48
Swim: 24:04
Bike: 1:04:48 (24.1 mph average)
10K Run: 43:24 (6:59 per mile)

Overall results: 6th of 416 finishers, including relays
Age division: 1st place

Here's a link to the complete results (I'm 6th):
Ironhead triathlon complete results

Trip to South Llano River State Park (July 10, 2006)

2006-08-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

Trip to South Llano River State Park, Junction, Texas.

Lisa and I went on a one-night camping trip, 150 miles west of Austin, on a mission to see some birds. We found some painted buntings, they are small birds but very colorful. We also saw lots of lots of hummingbirds at a feeder at the park headquarters, and a male woodpecker showing his young one how to find food. A nice park, and we hope to return soon.

Wild Parrots of Austin (July 2006)

2006-08-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

A parrot visited our front yard today and ate some of the sunflowers, and Lisa got a good picture. There is a colony of perhaps a hundred parrots living on top of some of the light posts at the UT intramural fields on 51st street. They are monk parrots, which are native to South America. I don't think anyone knows where Austin's parrot colony came from, but they have been breeding and the colony seems to be growing.

Lisa got a good picture of the parrot, which you can see at: parrot

Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon (June 25, 2006)

2006-08-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

Race report: Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon, Sunday, June 25, 2006.
1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run.
Swim in Buffalo Springs lake, bike and run in Buffalo Springs Canyon and Ransom Canyon.

Lisa and I drove to Lubbock on Saturday. It rained for about half the drive, so it was slow going. Took about 8 hours to get there. Picked up my race packet at the Holiday Inn, then found our hotel and checked in. We went out to get dinner at an Italian place, and ate pasta and bread. Biked a little around the hotel parking lot, and then I had some oatmeal, and then to bed at about 10 pm.

The day started early, up at 3:15 am, and out of the hotel at 4 am. I just had water and diet coke for breakfast. And then more water. And diet coke. Disgusting I know, but it seems to work for me. No food for me before the race. Got to the lake at 4:30 am and set up my transition area. Then just hung out in the dark, waiting and talking to people and drinking water, and going to the porta-potty every 15 minutes or so. There was a thunder storm off in the distance, but fortunately it went away from us.

The swim was a staggered start, with the professionals going in the first wave at 6:30 am, and other groups going in waves 5 minutes apart. I started in the 5th wave, at 6:50 am, with the other old men plus the 25-29 males. The water was cold enough so that wetsuits were legal, I guess the lake is spring fed. I planned to just follow people on the swim, but a small lead group of swimmers in my wave seemed to not want to swim straight. So rather than follow them, I headed straight for the bouy marking the first turn, and actually got there first. The course was sort of rectangular, and by swimming just about straight, I ended up being the first swimmer in my wave. So I was off to a good start! The swim to bike transition went OK, except I ran past my bike and wasted a few seconds. Oh well.

The course here really favors good bicyclists, which I am not. There were about eight major hills on the 56 mile course, some of which had switch-backs that I found technically difficult. Especially going down. The really good cyclists were just flying on the downhill parts. I am a total wimp on downhills, especially downhill curves, and tend to use my brakes much more than the good cyclists do. I was passed a lot on the downhills. But at least I stayed on the road. It was quite scenic on the hilly parts, with a fair amount of flat over the last 20 miles. It was moderately windy, but not too bad. I passed quite a few people, who were probably from the waves that started the swim ahead of me, but I also got passed by a lot. There were many very strong cyclists here, who I could not stay with at all when they passed me. I took it kind of easy on the last ten miles of the bike, thinking it would be best to save something for the run. Drank a lot on the bike, since the humidity was low. Averaged 20.5 mph for 56 miles, which is about what I expected.

I thought that if I had a really good race, I could finish under 5 hours. When I started the run, my time was 3:14, so I needed a 1:45 half-marathon, which works out to 8 minutes per mile. I ran really easy for the first mile, drinking a bottle of diet coke while I ran. Its weird, but I get diet coke cravings on these long races, so I keep a bottle of it in my transition area, which I drink on the run and drop at the first aid station. Anyway, I expected my first mile of the run to be pretty slow, but it was about 7:30, which was a pleasant surprise. I was passing people pretty steadily. Sometimes I'd run with someone for a little while, and talk a bit. There were some pretty steep up hills at miles 3 and 4.5, and I took a short walking break on the steepest part of each one. I didn't really need to walk, since I was feeling good and running steady 7:30 per mile. But I wanted to be sure I kept feeling good, since I still had a long way to go, so a few seconds of walking seemed a conservative thing to do. The run course was a simple out-and-back, with almost no shade. It was sunny and dry, but fortunately not too hot. Probably about 80 degrees. I ran through almost all the water stops, and sometimes took a cup of water on the run. Had a cup of coke at the turn-around at 6.55 miles. I kept running along and passing people, and very few people were passing me. So this was much better than on the bike part of the course. One guy who passed me at mile 8 was in my age division. Oh well. I walked one more time, for a minute or less, on the last steep hill at mile 9, and then went back to my 7:30 per mile pace for the last 4 miles. So I finished in 4:54, and under my 5 hour goal. My half-marathon was 1:40:15, which I am very pleased with. And I finished in good form, with no staggering across the finish line!

My overall time was 4:54:44.
I was 121st overall out of 777 finishers. I was the 99th in the amateur division.
I was 5th out of 54 finishers in the male age 45 to 49 division.

My splits were:

Swim: 25:09 (ranked 50th overall, including pros, 1st of 54 in my age division)
Bike: 2:44:08 (ranked 197th overall, 12th of 54 in my age division) 20.5 mph average
Run: 1:40:15 (ranked 115th overall, 4th in my age division) 7:39 per mile average

There sure were a lot of fast people here! The race had cash prizes for professionals and Hawaii Ironman qualifying slots for the age-grouper winners, which probably explains the very fast field. In my age division I did pretty well, 5th place. I was just 11 minutes behind the leader in my age group, which isn't very much for a race this long. The people ahead of me are among the best in the country. I had never been in a triathlon where such a large fraction of the field was so fast.

I definitely enjoyed this race, and would like to do it again next year. Hopefully I'll be stronger on the bike by then, but I don't believe I am likely to get technically good enough to ride the downhills well. I just don't enjoy going over 40 miles per hour downhill on a bike. The race was very well organized, and I liked the course. Although I think I would place better on a course that required less bike handling skill. I think my plan to walk for about a minute on each of the 3 hills of the run was a good idea, since it helped me finish strong. I was no worse than about 8 minutes per mile on the run, even on the miles where I walked a little bit.

The part where I could improve the most is the bicycling. Even if I don't ever get the technical skill to ride well down hill, I think I should be able to get stronger so that I can ride better on the flats.
Overall results, amateurs (I'm 99th)
Age group results, male 45-49 (I'm 5th)
Pro division results

Bike time trial (June 20, 2006)

2006-08-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

My first bike time trial with the new wheels. It was somewhat windy, maybe 10 mph out of the southeast, so it was a head wind on the downhill part of the course. I did my best time, 18:05 for 8.0 miles. I think I have pretty well figured out how to do an 8 mile bike time trial, but I'm not sure what this says about whether I'm ready for the bike section of a triathlon.
Results of 8 mile bike time trial

Sunflower bike wheel (June 6, 2006)

2006-08-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

The "disk wheel" on my bike is actually a plastic wheel cover from Wheelbuilder.com. (just $85, and legal for triathlons and bike time trials). The sunflower wheel was painted by Lisa, using a stencil and Krylon fusion yellow spray paint. I used orange spray paint on my previously silver helmet, to make me more visible. Always trying to be safe! With the HED3 wheel on the front, I think this is probably the best aerodynamic benefit per dollar spent on equipment. The bike is a Cervelo Dual, not too expensive either. Now I have just 3 weeks to learn to ride on the new wheels before the Buffalo Springs Lake triathlon. The new wheels feel pretty twitchy in cross winds, and will take some getting used to. I'll get to try the wheels at one Tuesday Time Trial before the triathlon.

5K Open Water Swim (May 21, 2006)

2006-08-25T19:43:00.001-07:00

5K Open Water Swim (May 21, 2006). At Lake Travis. It ended up being sort of a "tactical" race, which was a new experience for me. After the first few hundred yards, the really fast swimmers had gone ahead, and I settled in with a group of five guys. The pace seemed a bit slow for me when I was following the group, but I wasn't fast enough to break away from them. So I just settled in and drafted for 2 miles. With about one-half mile to go, I tried to cut to the right and take off from my little group. Only one guy stayed with me, and he followed my feet until the last 100 yards, when he sprinted away. I ended up finishing in 1:21:23, 7th place. This was 4 minutes slower than last year, when I was in a faster pace group and working harder. But I was pretty happy with this effort, since I had a good last half mile. I have been doing mostly just short swims lately, focusing more on biking and running.
Results of 5K open water swim

Shoes for Austin 5K (May 6, 2006)

2006-08-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

I hadn't done a 5K in over two years. Or any running race, come to think of it. And hadn't done any real speed work in ages. So I was worried that this would be really slow. It ended up not too bad, an 18:59. My mile splits were 6:03, 6:06 and 6:09, which was OK since the first mile was downhill and the last mile was seriously up. I was in about 20th place at the 2 mile mark, and finished 11th. Good prizes! I got a New Balance sports bag for an age group prize.

Cactus Challange triathlon (April 7, 2006)

2006-08-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

Cactus Challenge Triathlon (April 7, 2006). This was approximately a 1.5K swim, ~ 42K bike and ~ 10K trail run. The race used a staggered start, with athletes starting in waves about 5 minutes apart. I started in the "35 & over" wave of the swim, and was the 2nd swimmer to finish in my wave, taking it easy and following the feet in front of me. The bike was 4 times around a loop of a little over 10K. I worked a bit harder on the bike than on the swim. One guy passed me on the bike. I ran well, a little under 7 minutes per mile, which isn't bad for me considering I'm not a very good trail runner (I prefer roads). No one passed me on the run. The results were a bit screwed up, since a lot of the swimmers in the 35&under group turned at a bouy marking the way back, rather than the way out, and cut the swim course short by about 5 minutes, which was pretty easy to do since we were looking straight into the sun and couldn't see very well. Anyway, I was the first in masters (over 40) male, and the results have me listed as about 12th overall out of about 220. Not bad for a 48 year old! I think I would have placed a bit better in the overall if everyone did the same swim. My total time was 2:19:35, and the overall winner was 2:07.

My 3 hour marathon story (February 2004)

2006-08-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

My Marathon Story (February 2004) by David Hoffman

First some background:

Two and a half years ago, just before my 44th birthday, I saw my doctor for an annual physical. I definitely felt like I was approaching middle age. I didn't have much energy, my cholesterol was a little high, and the doctor said I should lose some weight. I distinctly remember walking away from the doctor's office feeling really down. Then, I decided I had reached a fork in the path of my life - I could continue on the road to becoming a chubby old man, or I could do something about it. That same day I decided two things - I would exercise every day, and I won't eat junk.

I had been a pretty good runner when I was in my 20s. I had almost broken 3 hours in the marathon twice - I ran a 3:00:43 marathon in 1980 in Lyme Connecticut at the age of 22, and a 3:00:39 a year later (Nittany Valley Marathon, 1981), and also a few others under 3:10, but never under 3 hours. Later I had gradually given it up as pressures of career took too much of my energy. My weight gradually increased, especially as I passed 40 years old. It had always been a regret of mine that I had never run a sub-3 hour, since I probably could have done it when I was younger. But I figured that chance had long since passed by.

Well, after two years of exercising again, I went from a 44 year old that was barely able to run mile, up to the point where I could think of running a 3 hour marathon again. After a year of training I ran a 3:02:30 at Austin (in 2003), so I figured I had a shot at a sub 3 hours in 2004.

Now for the race report - Austin marathon, Feb 15, 2004:

The weather was just about perfect, 37 degrees F at the start, and almost no wind.

I started the morning at 4:30 am - two cups of black coffee, no food. Not too much water yet, so I don't have to pee every ten minutes. Head for the start at about 5:45 am, with my wife and sister (my sister is doing the half-marathon). Mostly sit in the car for an hour to keep warm, only venturing out for a short jog to get my legs moving. At 6:50 am I head to the start line, carrying two 20 ounce bottles of water, which I drink about 5 minutes before the start. I see lots of familiar faces, from the Distance Challenge race series, and the 30K five weeks ago.

The Austin course is pretty fast, its point-to-point with about a 300 foot elevation drop. Unfortunately, all of the elevation drop is in the first 14 miles. The last 12 miles are rolling, not flat, but no monster hills, just little ones.

I got across the start line in 7 seconds, and went through the first mile in 6:35, a bit fast but not too unreasonable. 40:10 at the 10K split, which is a bit fast for me, but its downhill. I see my wife Lisa with a sign saying "Go Dave Go" at 7 miles (I didn't know she made me a sign!). 1:25:13 at the half marathon mark, which is way too fast for me, but it didn't feel too fast. No real fatigue yet.

I see my wife again at 14 miles, and she hands me a 24 ounce water bottle, which I completely drink over the next half mile. There is a long gradual uphill heading for the turn around at the 17 mile mark, where I get my first hint of tired legs. This is the only part of the course where I can see the really fast runners heading back from the turn around, which is amusing. They sure are fast! After turning around at mile 17, I start heading back myself, and see the crowd of runners behind me (hi Noah!). There is a big pack a few minutes behind me, which must be the 3 hour pace group. I hope I don't see them again until the finish!

My legs are feeling a bit tired at 18, but this is normal, right? I haven't slowed down, still running around 6:40 per mile. But the splits are getting a bit harder to figure, my brain is getting a bit slow. I do a PR for 30K. And 2:12:02 at 20 miles, also a PR for me. My wife has another sign for me at 20 - "Run Baby Run". It seems silly, but it really does perk me up!

Mile 21 is 7:00 minutes - but I figure I can run 7's the rest of the way and still hit 2:56.

Mile 22 has a little hill, which really slows me down. A 7:20 for this one.

Mile 23 is a 7:40, uh-oh!

Somewhere in 24 there is a little hill (or maybe slight upward slope) and it nearly stops me. My legs are absolutely burning now, but the most frustrating thing is they won't do what my brain tells them to! An 8 minute mile. I am doing OK on the flat and downhill, but an uphill slope on mile 25 nearly kills me, my legs just won't move. A little hill at the bridge over the interstate slows me down again, and makes me dizzy. Over 8 minutes for mile 25.

My mile 25 split is 2:50:10 - all I need is to do 8 minute pace for a little over a mile, and I will break 3 hours. Unfortunately, I can barely move my legs, and any slight irregularity in the road surface threatens to send me sprawling. But I am still running (though not very fast). I think I can do an 8 minute mile!

I see Palmer auditorium, the finish line, and my watch says 2:57 and some seconds. I am running as fast as I can, but it is pathetic. Then I can see the digital clock at the finish line, it says 2:59 and something. But I'm not there yet. The finish line announcer asks the crowd to cheer for those trying to get under 3 hours - but the next time I look at the finish line clock I see 3:00:10. I'm across the line at 3:00:41.

But I'm not really disappointed. I know I would have been disappointed if I hadn't given it my best effort. But I fought every step of the way, and never gave up. That was all I had in me.

Now, a few days later, I am pretty much recovered, and I am just amazed at how much better it feels to be 46 years old, compared to when I was 44.

PS - I wonder if I am the only person in the world who has run 3 sub 3:01 marathons without ever breaking 3 hours. That sure is weird!