As of the 2007 cycling season, Omega Pharma will replace Davitamon by Predictor as the main sponsoring brand of the Pro Tour cycling team with top cyclists like Robbie McEwen, Cadel Evans, Leif Hoste, ... In conformity with the current specifications the official name of the team will become Predictor-Lotto.

...

Just as Davitamon, Predictor is one of the seven Star Brands of Omega Pharma, i.e. the international brands of the group. The Predictor assortment of home diagnostics represented last year a turnover of EUR 23 million. In the course of next year, a number of line extensions are scheduled to be launched. Similar to the objective for Davitamon at the beginning of the sponsoring program, Omega Pharma has the ambition to double the turnover of Predictor in five years’ time, thanks to the introduction of line extensions and the investments in brand awareness. The first designs of the team wear will soon be finished and will also feature the names of the co-sponsors like: Brustor, Q8 and Creyf’s. The main color will be the salmon pink tint that is used for the packaging of the best known product in the Predictor range, i.e. the pregnancy test kit.

Somehow, I don't think it will be as cool as it sounds to cruise through the Alps in salmon pink trying to out-hustle the other riders. Another big minus would be the giant pregnancy test kit image on the front/side of the jersey. That being said, it would be much better marketing to dump McEwen and Evans (sprinters) and try to replace them with climbers... the maillot à pois rouge would appear to be more brand friendly for a company who's products main positive/negative indicator is a (pink) dot.

Actually, I've been running in 20-minute spurts for the last week. Then, last Thursday I got the results from my MRI and the report stated, "no evidence of a stress fracture or soft tissue injury."

This is a Good Thing.

Today I went out for a slow paced, 60-minute run. It went very well. Covered just over 6.5 miles! (imagine this run, but only go half way). Hell yea. And, it felt good. No leg pain. A little winded, but that was expected.

I'm very, very stoked.

I've got 10 weeks to get into "fighting" shape... or at least good enough shape to get me through the Goofy Challenge. I'm not looking for land speed records, just a relaxing run with friends and the Loving Wife™.

I've even gone a little nutz and have been thinking about IM-Ken-sucky (/me makes dueling banjos sounds.) even though I've been saying I wouldn't be doing an IM next year. It's hard to a pass up an inaugural event when you have a chance. I've also been to Louisville and it wasn't that bad... time will tell on this one.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes on getting better. The good vibes helped get me moving!

This (happy) Monday marked 6 weeks since I was diagnosed with a stress fracture of my right tibia. I've not run in 7 weeks since it took a week for me to get an appointment to see the doctor (which is not too shabby, really).

Walking around for the last 2-3 weeks has been pain free. No problems on stairs. The whole body felt pretty good. I have put on about 5 lbs since I stopped running.

With the follow up appointment this afternoon I decided to take ye olde leg out for a jog. I thought it would be migthy dumb of me to walk into the doctor's office saying I felt fine and then have the leg collapse or something the first time I went out. Out the door at 6:00 AM for a 20-minute out-and-back along the recently repaired D&R Canal.

The run itself felt pretty good. Leg didn't hurt. My hamstrings have lost more strength than I realized or expected. Lung power felt okay, but I was clearly a little more winded than I'd like to be. Not pain per-say in the lower leg after 2-miles. Felt more like a classic shin splint than anything else. All discomfort went away within 15 mins of ending the run and while there wasn't pain, I was aware than the musles in that lower leg had been used.

Confidence was high.

The appointment didn't go as well as I would have liked. Doctor asked me how it was going. I told him about my run and the resulting discomfort after the run and that while it didn't hurt, it didn't feel like the left (injury free) leg.

He then proceeded to feel up my leg and jam his thumb into inside shin about 6-8 inches above the ankle. "Does this hurt? You're making a face." Well, yea, it hurts. If you did that to the other leg, it would hurt too.

He thinks the stress fracture may not have healed. Wants me to get an MRI and continue to not run until we have a chance to look at the films. &^%$#!!!

Personally, I do not think this is a stress fracture. It feels like a muscle injury. What really pisses me off is that if I'm going to be able to complete the Goofy Challange in 13 weeks I need to get out there on the road. With about a weeks time between now and when I can schedule a MRI... and when they have an open slot at the MRI machine... and a trip to China some time around the 23rd... it could be well into November until I get a chance to see the MD and find out what is actually wrong. Never mind how long it takes to actually heal the injury.

This is bringing me down. I think as long as the pain doesn't rise above what I had this morning, I'm going to try and slip in a 30-minute run everyday in addition to spinning and swimming. How unwise does that seem?

]]> http://www.ayerd.com/triathlon/archives/2006/10/still_stressed_maybe_shouldnt.html http://www.ayerd.com/triathlon/archives/2006/10/still_stressed_maybe_shouldnt.html 0Transition Area Mon, 02 Oct 2006 16:20:46 -0500 This weekend was the Skyland's Triathlon. Just a wee sprint race. But a local race and I had been signed up to compete in it. Then the injury. No impact = no run = no race. So I watched while many friends and the Loving Wife™ partook.

It was a great day for the race. Highs in the upper-70s. Sunny. Low humidity. /sigh. It is harder to spectate than I thought it would be. Man, I just wanted to be out there.

Things I did notice:

• It was a sprint, but, whoa, the folks watching with me were fairly uninformed about triathlon. Swim, then bike, then run?! Why are they not swimming right in the middle of the course? Can that person really hang on to the kayak?
• Transitions look a lot slower when you're watching. I knew a few of the folks racing and know my transition times are about on par with theirs. They moved so slow and seemed unfocused. I wonder if having a tape of my transition would make me better at it. I've had my swim stroke, bike position, and run taped. All led to improvements. Why not the same for transition?
• To the woman who effected the most complete swim-to-bike transition I've ever seen. Thank you! Whoa. Where most larger (cup size) women will wear a sports bra under/over a swim suit, this lady didn't go in that direction. She wore a bikini top under the wet suit. After bouncing into the transition area (and no, I wasn't the one who noticed her — the guy next to me pointed them... er, her out) she pulled off the wet suit, put a towel around her neck so the ends covered the front parts and let out a "don't look" loud enough to guarantee anyone close by would look in her direction. The then undid the bikini top, bent over looking for a sports bra undoing all the goodness the towel was providing, took her time putting that puppy on, and then pulled on a bike top. Did I say "whoa" yet? While I didn't mind at all, I can only hope someone pulls her aside and suggests wearing the sports bra under the wet suit next time. It would have been faster, if less enjoyable to watch.
• There was the woman who got carried from the water to T1 and then placed on the ground next to her bike... and her bike leg. Looked like a mid-thigh amputee. She wasn't last out of the water and wasn't the last on back from a very hilly bike course. Didn't see her run, but, I'm pretty sure she finished. Very inspiring!

Overall a great day to race. Friends and Wife all finished. Spectating makes you just as tired, if not more so than racing. Lesson learned and I now really understand why it is extra special when the roads and start/finish area are full of people cheering for the racers.

Check it out, you can see my finish on IronmanLive.com. I hope they keep that up there for a while. It is very cool.

The taper is going well. I've gained a bit more weight than I wanted — up to 194 according to the scale this morning. That is around 3-4 pounds more than I'm hoping for during the race. It happened when I cut the exercise for the taper but failed to cut the down the calories in. I'm hoping I can push it down a little before the gun goes off... but being extra careful to make sure I still get enough food-stuff in my maw.

The bike was dropped off at the LBS that deals with Tri Bike Transport yesterday. Pretty painless. It is a somewhat leap of faith that it will make it there. I'm sure it will, but I'm still a little stressed about it. What is they lose the bag with my helmet and pedals? What if aliens abduct the driver and the bikes don't get delivered on time? So many concerns and unreasonable fears, so little time!

One big down-side to the early bike drop off is that I still need to get in a ride or two this weekend. Hummm. I thinking I could (1) blow off the rides or (2) see about catching a spin class (or two or three) at the gym. I need a 2-hour ride on Saturday before a short 30-minute run. Since the usual Spin class is only an hour, I'll need to sneak in way early and get moving. Blowing off the ride sounds like a winner, but my legs are starting to get "twitchy", if you know what I mean.

Weather looks like it might be okay on race day. Dry Day.com claims maybe rain, but Weather.com is claiming (via the highly iffy 10-day forecast) for awesome weather. Here's hoping Weather.com has their shit together. Know what I'm saying?

More later.

Today was a 48K TT that included a Cat 4 climb and then another climb before finishing up with a bit of downhill. CSC's Dave Zabriskie unleashed a honking does of whoop-ass: 52.48. Damn. That works out to just a bit over 30.5 mph (52.48kph).

Tomorrow starts the moutains and I'm pretty stoked to see it unfold.

This year will better. I have a plan. More importantly, I have a better list based on what did and didn't work so well.

True, I still need to decide on clothes and what-not, but, hey, that should technically be the easy part.

Taper time! Feel the Real Life™ start to come back. I'm all tingly... and I'm not talking that feeling you get after you ease out of the saddle after a long ride. Oh yea!

Only 26 days left until Ironman. Gasp. I think I'm ready.

Had two big swims over the weekend. 5K in the pool on Saturday morning (before jumping on the bike for a couple of hours). Then on Sunday there was the Nav-E-Sink swim: a 2.4 mile Ironman format swim. Ready for the 2.4 time? 57 minutes. Oh yea! I was still a little tired from the workout on Saturday and put almost no effort into the swim. 57-minutes! I think my goal of a 55 minute IM swim is really possible.

Special note here: Loving Wife™ also did the swim in a personal best 1:14. I know she said Ironman was a nutz distance to race, but I think she is finding out that as you do more, the distance starts to seem more reasonable.

Monday was a hot, hot, hot with temps in the 90°s. I celebrated with a 2:30 run along the canal path. It was indeed hot, but the 14+ miles I got in didn't feel that bad. This was my first run in real heat since Florida. The body remembered what do to... fluids "in" is the key.

After the run, Bretta and I went out to a local Chinese place for lunch. After my second order from the "lunch" menu we cracked into the fortune cookies. I got a great one:

You have great physical powers and an iron constitution.

I even got some lucky numbers out of the deal. Hell yea.

It was a great weekend. Now to work on my taper. Lots more speed work.... and hopefully more posts!

Another 'Half in the bag. A good race! Maybe could have been a tad faster, but still a good race.