******************
David Hoffman's other web page
******************* I'm no longer maintaining
this page: New posts are now being put on my "Blog" page at this ink.
********************************************************************* Penny-pinching news. In our
ongoing efforts to excel at frugality, Lisa and I found that by
searching around the internet, it is possible to find some very good
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 the last 7
months we
have gotten $350 cash back. I didn't believe it until we actually
got the checks, 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 get 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 back this year, for maybe a couple of hours of work.
One place to start looking for cash-back credit cards is: http://creditcards.com/cash-back.php
(This site is frequently updated, so keep checking). Also, Google
for best cash back credit cards. Now I won't settle for less than
5% cash-back. 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.
********************************************************************* Bike time trial (August 15, 2006).
I did the monthly 8 mile bike time trial today. It was not my
best time, but I have my "excuses" which are: I did a swimming
workout in the afternoon, just before the bike TT. I was tired
from the triathlon in
San Angelo 2 days ago. It was 103 degrees at the 6 pm start, and
it was
windy. Anyway, my time was 18:35 and I came in 4th. Here
are the results.
********************************************************************* 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.
********************************************************************* Bike time trial (July 18, 2006).
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. Results, 8 mile bike time trial
********************************************************************* 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)
********************************************************************* Trip to South Llano River State Park,
Junction, Texas. July 10,
2006.
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 (picture, picture), 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.
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.
********************************************************************* 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!
Here
are my statistics:
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.
Also, I would recommend staying at TownePlace Suites on loop 289 in
Lubbock, since that worked out well.
*********************************************************************
On a completely different subject ....
Retirement investments as of June 23,
2006: 3 %
in domestic stock mutual funds. 0 % in domestic
bonds. 59 % in foreign
stock mutual funds. 0 % in foreign
bonds. 20 % in CREE
stock. 18 % cash (avg
yield = 4.76%) Emigrant
Direct raised their
yield to 5.00% on their no-fee no-minimum savings accounts. A good deal!
********************************************************************* Bike time trial (June
20, 2006).
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, 8 mile bike time trial
********************************************************************* Bike
with sunflower wheel (June 6, 2006). My "disk wheel" 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.
Lisa took some photos: looking
very aerodynamicsunflower bike in front of sunflower yard
********************************************************************* 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. 5K swim results
********************************************************************* Tuesday night
bike time trial results (2006): April
15, 2006 18:16.9 for 8 miles. Beat last
year's best by 38 seconds. 9th place. May
16, 2006 18:33. Headwind at the end,
ugh. A little slower than last time. 9th place again.
********************************************************************* Shoes for Austin 5K
(May 6, 2006). 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. Resultsfinish photo
********************************************************************* 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. Results
And a few pictures: finishing
swimon the bikefinishing bikefinishing run
********************************************************************* My 3 hour marathon story. Previously
on the UT Marathon club web site.
*********************************************************************
To
get to my science Hoffman lab
web page, you can use this link.
*********************************************************************
FYI,
my email address is dhoffman@mail.utexas.edu
if you want to contact me.
************************************************************************** "Twenty years from
now, you will be more
disappointed by the things you didn't do
than the things you did do".
- Mark
Twain **************************************************************************