Carolina Half Ironman 2014 vs 2013 Splits

Yesterday was the second, or the first, Carolina Half Ironman distance race, depending on how you look at it. I did much better in 2014 than 2013 and I wanted to understand where because, frankly, I didn't feel as ready as I did in 2013. This is a quick comparative analysis of my splits.

In 2013, the race was produced by Setup Events and took place in September. Benji Jones, who was with Setup Events, left to form Jones Racing Company in late 2013 and took several events with him, including the Carolina Half. For 2014, the race was moved to May 4th, which worked out better for the planners and town. 

The swim was 100% the same but the bike and run courses were modified slightly. In 2013 the bike course featured too many turns and short legs; this was corrected for the 2014 event resulting in a much faster course. The run course originally was a one lap out and back which included the cross country course at Davidson College. The 2014 course was changed to mainly streets and paved greenways but still featured some pretty tough hills. 

In 2013, I did not strip my wetsuit off fully until I got to my bike, which was a mistake because the swim to bike run is about a quarter-mile! So in 2014 I made sure to take my suit off completely at the water exit. There is a large concrete driveway at the swim exit so plenty of room to strip. So the best way to see if I improved at all from 2013 to 2014 is to look at both my swim plus T1 times together:

2013: 42:53 vs 2014: 44:01

So I actually lost 1:08 in the 2014 race which makes sense because it felt a little slower. I didn't draft as many people as I did in 2013. I also struggled to get my suit off...did not bring any cooking spray!

In conclusion, most of the difference was on the bike and probably due to the more straight course. However, I think my run strength has also improved. So, I'd attribute half of the better time to the course and take credit for the other half :)

The Rule of 3

There are too many experts publishing advice lists that are just too long.

What good is a list of the top 12 things you can do to be happier, or the top 21.5 questions you should ask a prospective customer, if you can only remember the first handful?

Life is too busy and hectic to be able to truly focus on more than a few things at a time!

You can make consistent, measurable, progress just by focusing on a few things at a time. Do a few things every day, or even several times a day, and you will accomplish a lot more in less time!

Follow the rule of 3! Make a list of the 3 most important things you want to do right now. Fight the urge to make a longer list. Get those 3 things done as fast as you can...then think about making a new list of three. I guarantee you will feel a greater sense of accomplishment than you would by making a list of 20, 30, or 100 urgent things and only getting 1 or 2 of them done.

For example, if you really want to get healthy, remember this list of 3 at restaurants (that is, if you have to eat out at a restaurant).

The 3 things I should eat:
1. Vegetables
2. Fruits
3. Lean meats (substitute if you are a vegetarian/vegan.)

Clear out the distractions! Keep your lists simple! Get more done!

Gmail Contacts Sync to iOS7 Device Problems and Solution

I wasted the better part of yesterday afternoon and evening in frustration. My 2200 or so odd Google GMail contacts stopped updating on my iPhone 5S and iPad (both on iOS7.)

First, let me just state that I have multiple email accounts on my devices. Second, let me state that I've set them up myself. Third, I'm not a programmer, just a middle aged engineer and mobile aficionado with pretty good technical skills, but not an expert at IP lingo and software configuration.

The accounts on my phone are:

• Personal GMail
• Work GMail
• iCloud
• Side business iMap email

I was using my personal GMail to manage all my contacts. I decided to go this route due mainly to GMail's ability to find and merge duplicates. On my work PC, I use Outlook to access my work GMail and it created a separate Contact database...another source of frustration causing some duplicate contacts.

Long story short, let's focus on the problem and solution. My GMail contacts weren't synching. I tried deleting and adding my GMail account multiple times following the instructions on Google's page: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/2753077?hl=en  

Here's what I didn't realize until about 10pm that night - My work GMail was not set up correctly. 

I set it up as a Google type of Account under Settings>Mail,Contacts, Calendars>Add Account

What I should have done is set it up as an Exchange Account using these instructions: 

https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/138740?hl=en

To my surprise, once I set up my work GMail account as an Exchange Account rather than as a Google Account, my personal GMail contacts started synching properly.

No, I don't understand why. I assume there was some kind of conflict inside my devices as a result of having two differently configured GMail accounts set up as Google accounts. All I know is when I fixed the work account, then my personal contacts started synching again. Perhaps the order in which the accounts were added was part of the problem as well. 

Hope this helps!