Instant Speed

Here you go. I'll take "Things That Go Fast" for 200 please Alex. This week seems to have miraculously centered around gaining that extra bit of speed. Early in the week I took my tri-bike out onto the roads for the first time... Even with heavy, non-aero, training wheels on it, the thing simply flies. No joke. And I can hardly wait to get my race wheels on it and tear things wide open.

Life just kept on getting better mid-week when my racing flats showed up in the mail. For those who don't race in flats, you should seriously consider it. It's sorta like riding training wheels and then switching out to race wheels on race day. They're low, they're light, and they're super fast. My choice are the Asics DS Racers because I need the slightest bit of support, even in a flat because of my whack-a-doo flat feet. This year's are bright, bright red - there's no chance you'll miss me in the pack with these ruby slippers, that's for sure.

And then there's this, the epitomy of fast. I bought one of these this weekend because I had the opportunity to get it at 50% off, and because I've read that it's the absolute best single-cup coffee brewer on the market. Green Mountain Coffee, one of my roasters of preference, basically owns the company, and as such, produces all of their coffees for use in this machine. How does it work? Well, you fill the tank with water, and you plug it in. Any time you want a hot cup of perfectly brewed coffee, and I mean any time, you pop in a little pre-packaged "cup" of grounds, and press the button. Voila, 30 seconds later you have a piping hot cup of coffee. No mess, no cleanup, no additional water. Instant gratification for the addict. You're probably saying: "But, Joe, just how good could that coffee be from a little pre-packaged grounds cup?" Well, let me just say that, despite this little wonder removing all the passion and magic from the brewing process, the taste of this insta-cup is simply the sum of all earthly bliss. Cup, after cup, after cup. Thank you Keurig. Thank you for rounding out my need for speed, and feeding my fix.

I think I mentioned after my last speedwork session that I was running a little bit sub-par on the speed. Well, that's in the past. In the last several weeks I've really made some good progress on the run (the glory of this time of season - big improvements) which culminated with today's 10k Fartlek workout. Basically, I went out for 10 minutes of warm-up, and then ran 30 minutes as 2 minutes on, 1 minute off (10k race pace, recovery pace, respectively), followed by 5 minutes of cool-down. The results were beautiful: right around 6:30s for my 2-minute pieces, meaning that I'm right on track, and right where I want to be for the start of this racing season.

Thanks for reading.