Bike Route Edgefield to Vista Point

Untitled by pucha11 at Garmin Connect - Details

Today I had a great training ride with the people form the Tour de Cure ride for diabetes Portland, Oregon. It was about a 22 mile ride with some climbs. I had never ridden in this area before so I was really looking forward to going on this ride with people who knew the route. I had a great time and I mapped the route out with my Garmin Forerunner 310xt so that if someone is interested in doing this great ride you can look at the map.

We got some typical Oregon weather for this ride, some sun, a fair amount of wind, some rain, and some hail. It was a great day with some fantastic views! I think that next year when I am training for the half Ironman I will come on this route for some training rides to get some hills in. In the summer I might even try Larch Mountain!

Can I eat chocolate while running?

Yesterday I was at Champoeg State Park where the Hippie chick Half marathon will take place so my workout was to do a 11.2 training run on the path and test out the half marathon route. The night before I had a terrible night sleep as it was very very cold in my tent and when I woke up I was really stiff. I convinced myself to even though I felt tired and brought a Reeses peanut butter bunny along with my trustworthy Nuun electrolytes.

At about 5 miles I decided it would be a good idea to start eating the chocolate for some energy. It is really hard for me to eat while running so I basically force myself to do it and when I took the first bite I could just not swallow it! I forced myself to swallow the chocolate and I almost choked. I coughed a little and then washed it down with some Nuun and carried on with my run.

I ate more chocolate the run was really hard but I am really glad I did it as now I have practiced most of the Hipppie Chick course close to the race itself. Another bonus was the wonderfull scenery of the Champoeg State Park.

Rudy Project Customer Service

I have been a fan of Rudy project and their glasses and helmets for a long time now so when I recently ordered a new helmet, the Slinger I was really looking forward to it. When the helmet arrived I unpacked it and unfortunately the padding from the inside of the helmet was not secured on the helmet properly. A couple of the pads were falling off. I reattached them as best I could and wore the helmet. Other than the pads having come off in the shipping process I was very satisfied with the Rudy Project Slinger Helmet. A few weeks later however when I went to get the helmet for my ride I noticed the padding had fallen off again.

I emailed Rudy Project telling them how I was a customer love their product but just want to let them know that the helmet I had bought a few months earlier was not 100% up to standard. I got a very quick response telling me that they would be able to send me some pads but they needed my order number. I no longer have my order number I told the customer service rep at Rudy Project. He asked for the credit card I had bought the helmet with and I told him that I no longer had it as it had been involved in fraudulent activity. I did give him all my other information and asked him if this was enough to send me the new pads for my helmet. He said no unfortunately I can't I need the order number or credit card number or it will cost you $5 for shipping. What?

I know $5 is not a lot of money but Rudy Project sent me a helmet that had pads that were falling out, why should I have to pay anything? And really they can't see that I ordered something by looking at my name address and phone number?! this does not seem right. The customer service rep at Rudy Project was very nice but he was unable to help me and if it is company policy to not satisfy a customer after they have received a defective problem then to me this is a huge problem. I am not sure if in the future I will recommend or buy form Rudy Project.

New Triathlon in Oregon t-shirts!

New Blog for these products is ForTheLoveOfOregon! Check it out!

I have been working on my design a little more to try and sell my Triathlon in Oregon t-shirts directly instead of through cafepress. So the image has been cleaned up and I have put the Triathlon in Oregon logo on a few long sleeve and short sleeve t-shirts. There are also women size t-shirts available for the Triathlon in Oregon t-shirts. If interested let me know, I might even be able to make hoodies. T-shirts are selling for $9.99 plus $3 s/h and long sleeve are $14.99 plus $3 s/h. I still do not have a price on hoodies but email me if you are interested in them. Here are some new pictures. My email is pucha11@gmail.com.

No more training with a coach

As most of you know I got a triathlon coach about 6 months ago with Personal Best Multisport coaching. The coach that got assigned to me was Larissa Herold and we were able to develop a good online training relationship. Over the months I was able to learn about heart rate, nutrition, and just training in general thanks to her. Unfortunately I have run into some financial difficulties and I am no longer going to be able to afford my coach even though I was on a sponsored program. What the sponsored program means is that I got 50% off of the price of coaching.

So as of May 1st I will no longer have a coach and I will have to use what I have learned in the past 6 months to create my own workouts. I am sure this will workout fine but it was so nice to be able to check in with someone and have my workouts emailed to me every night. It was also nice to be able to ask questions about training. Anyway Larissa will get me trained up until the Hippie Chick half marathon and then it is all me by myself again. They did tell me though that I can come back to them in the future if I am interested, which was really nice of them. Anyway that is the update on my triathlon training life.

Bike Ride on Marine Drive Path NE Portland

Today's Morning ride took me on one of my favorite rides on Marine Drive in NE Portland. This path is closed to cars for a long segment and is right next to the Columbia River and right behind the Portland Airport. It is a nice ride and entertaining as you are able to watch the plans land and take off. The only problem with this is that sometimes I get so distracted watching the airplanes I have almost ridden off of the path a few times!

Todays triathlon training bike ride went well. I did 16 miles in one hour. Marine drive was a little on the windy side but it was pretty warm. It felt great to just go ridding in my bib shorts and short sleeve jersey. I was even a little warm at one point. Now it is raining so I am glad I went in the morning. On the triathlon training menu for tomorrow a run and and some strength exercises. The Hippie Chick half marathon is only a few weeks away!

Untitled by pucha11 at Garmin Connect - Details

Triathlon and Tree in Oregon products

Today is Sunday so it is my day off from triathlon training so I am taking some time to give you guys some updates on the products I am trying to sell that I have designed myself triathlon in Oregon t-shirts and tree in Oregon t-shirts. So far the response has been good. I have been able to sell two items in one week so that is not bad at all. Also I was able to download a lot of my designs onto CafePress and they can print even more of my designs on lots of other products. So far on CafePress I have Triathlon in Oregon, Tree in Oregon, Runner in Oregon, Bike in Oregon, Swim Bike Run, I run Portland, I run Oregon, I run Seattle and I run Chicago and these can be printed on t-shirts, sigg bottles, and so much more. I will put the links below so you guys can check out these cool designs!

Click here for:

Triathlon in Oregon t-shirts and more!

Tree in Oregon t-shirts and more!

Bike in Oregon t-shirts and more!

Runner in Oregon t-shirts and more!

I run Oregon t-shirts and more!

I run Portland t-shirts and more!

I run Chicago t-shirts and more!

I run Seattle t-shirts and more!

Tri it t-shirts and more!

Tri it with logo t-shirts and more!

So Check out these unique designs for runners, triathletes, cyclists and Oregon lovers! Email me with questions!

7 mile run with no nutrition

On the menu for today's triathlon menu was a 7 mile run. Now as most of us now 7 miles is a good distance but today when running I made a mistake. I have been running longer distances so running for about an hour seems like a "short" run now. unfortunately today I underestimated the 7 mile training run.....

I woke up had a cup of coffee and some chocolate (weird I know I am not sure what I was thinking about today) and headed out for my run. After a mile I realized wait, I have not had any food and I have no water and still have 6 miles to go this is not going to be fun. My workout called for the three miles in the middle to be at a faster pace and I felt it for sure. I am pretty sure it was the lack of breakfast. I started to feel a bit dizzy when I was forced to stop at a red light with only about 1 and a half miles to go. I powered through it and when I got home I was lucky to be done. I cannot believe I made such a rookie mistake. Seven miles, is seven miles.

Riding to the Tour de Cure in Spring!

Yesterday I went to my monthly Tour de Cure Ride For Diabetes meeting in Sellwood. Its about a 11 mile ride to and from the meeting so about a 22 mile ride total with a big break in the middle. The weather was wonderful and the Springwater Corridor and Esplanade were packed with cyclists, walkers and runners spring was in the air! The preparation for the diabetes ride is going well and we seem to be on track and meeting our goals which is excellent news.

One of the goals we talked about last night was to try and at least one person registered for our teams or just for the diabetes ride in general. I feel like I have not been able to meet my goals this year, I am reaching out to everyone I know I am not getting a great response. I am not getting enough donation or people to sign up for my Team Tony's Riders.

The ride takes place on July 31, 2010 and will start and finish in the Hillsboro stadium just outside of Portland, Oregon. There are many distances available to ride ranging from 10 to 100 miles. So please please join my team or just give me a donation any amount would help! Click on Tour de Cure Portland, Oregon below to link to my donation and team page.

Tour de Cure Portland, Oregon link.

Bike Ride Through North and Northeast Portland

I woke up this morning and the sun was shinning! Yes the sun was shinning and the ground was dry! Spring is here and its going to be a good day for triathlon training! On the menu for today a bike ride through North and Northeast Portland. I have to ride for an hour so when I factor in the few traffic lights that I will have to stop at it should be about a 16 mile ride.

The ride I am going on today is one of the reasons I like Portland for bike riding I will be going through the city but the whole time I will be riding on nice safe roads. I will ride on one of my favorite streets for running nad biking Ainsworth I will also be on Willamette ave which has a very nice bike lane. So time to eat some breakfast get so riding clothes on and enjoy a beautiful ride in PDX! Training for triathlons can be so fun sometimes!

Triathlon in Oregon Products!

New Blog for these products is ForTheLoveOfOregon! Check it out!

In a post a couple of days ago I let you know about the hand made triathlon and tree in Oregon t-shirts I was making. Well now I have managed to get some of these products on cafepress. To link to cafepress triathlon in Oregon products click here!

The triathlon in Oregon t-shirts and products through cafepress are designs that I hand made but they will be printed on the product that you choose. If you prefer to purchase one of the actual handmade t-shirts that I mentioned in my previous post contact me and I will let you know what I still have available. Happy shopping!

11 mile Portland Training Run

On the menu for today's triathlon training was a 100 minute run. The run went well and I am thinking I am getting more and more ready for the Hippie Chick half marathon, it is coming right up! I am not going to say that the run was easy but I felt really really good during my 11 miles. My coach will probably not like this but during the last three miles I got over excited and my pace was faster than it should have been, about a minute a mile faster.

A couple of interesting things happened to me while I was running today. The first was that when I left to go running it was rainy and then it was just cloudy with a hint of sun. When this happened I thought to myself wow its a beautiful day. I then thought I must have been living in Oregon for a long time to be so happy to see a little bit of sun! Only Oregonians think this way!

The second thing I was thinking while running today was that I think I am fit enough to complete a Half Ironman. Now I don't think that I would be great at it but I think I would be able to complete it which I think is a great accomplishment. So I think I am seriously going to consider a 70.3 Half Ironman for 2011.

Long runs, they give you so much to think about!

Tree in Oregon Triathlon in Oregon T-shirts

New Blog for these products is ForTheLoveOfOregon! Check it out!

For all my Oregonian blog friends out there I am trying to get a new product going that is hand made by me! It is a tree in Oregon t-shirt and a triathlon in Oregon t-shirt. As I said these are made by me and they are the first prototypes so I am selling them cheap! I am also working on more designs but these are the only two Oregon t-shirts I have right now. I have short sleeve t-shirts and long sleeve t-shirts that for some reason are hard to find. I am selling them at an introductory price of 9.99 for short sleeve and 14.99 for long sleeve cotton t-shirts. Shipping and Handling is only 3 dollars!

The two t-shirts are pictured here! What do you guys think anyone interested?!

Volunteering for the Tour de Cure, Portland

Today I went to the Portland Bike Show and Expo to volunteer at the Tour de Cure booth. The idea was to try and recruit some bike lovers to sign up for the Tour de Cure which will be happening on July 31 at the Hillsboro Stadium in Oregon.

I feel like it went well. Some people were not aware that this ride existed so I am glad that at least now they know about the Tour de Cure. I was able to get some people who have been diagnosed with diabetes or have friends or family with diabetes to become interested in participating in the ride or being a volunteer for the ride.

So a very successful day! Again if you live in the Portland area think about signing up for the Tour de Cure on July 31, 2010. Also if you are interested in joining my team Tony's riders or supporting me with a donation click here.

Thanks again!

Endorphin Warriors Products!

I was reading the April issue of Runner's Magazine when I came to the last few pages where they have all the advertisements. I always look at all the advertisements in Runner's Magazine and Triathlete Magazine because among all those little squares of products in the last couple pages of the magazine one can sometimes find some real interesting and good products. For example this is how I cam across the great safety product www.RoadID.com.

Anyway I came across something called Endorphin Warriors. I went to their website to check it out and they have lots of great products with inspiring messages on them. T-shirts and hats that relate to messages about endurance, triathlon, half marathons, and marathons. They also have really cool bracelets and other sort of jewelry with inspiring messages. Its a great place to get a gift for yourself or for someone who is inspiring. Check it out!