I don't even know where to start or even what to say. I have never wanted to be more invested and never have wanted to research so I can learn as much as I can before for a game till now. I also have never wanted to throw, shoot, destroy or burn my computer as much as I wanted to last night playing LOL for only the 3rd Co-op vs AI game in my life.
The starts out by giving you the oppurtunity to learn in the Basic Tutorial then the Battle Tutorial. In the Basic Tutorial, it teaches how to move and how to attack.....sort of. Left click attacks and right click moves to where the cursor is. Pretty simple right? BUT THAT IS ONLY THE SMALLEST PART OF ATTACK AND MOVEMENT!! Once you get into CO-op vs AI, left click doesn't really work well. Attack is really right click on someone but also move is right click on the ground. So if you miss clicking on the target, you will move to that spot. Also if you click on an Ability then click on the target, you will follow that target unless you click somewhere after you fire your Ability. Which means if you don't pay attention you will be behind all the minions and right in the middle of the enemy champions getting your butt handed to you. What they don't teach you is the different move functions that you can really do. Move toward your target firing everytime you are in range and stopping to fire when you do. You can stop and hold your champion while moving. Or you can click one movement toward or away from your target and shoot and run away at the same time with only one click or move forward and attack with one click instead of clicking away from what is chasing you then clicking on the target chasing you then clicking away. Even typing that out takes more time and doesn't make clear sense than just clicking one movement that allows you to walk and fire at the same time.
I made sure to do what I thought would be the best thing to learn and also not to hinder my human teammates when playing in CO-op. I did the Basic Tutorial, the Battle Tutorial then started the CO-op. NO!! I feel like now that I have read that there is all these other movement and attack controls that you have to stay in Battle Tutorial to try them out. Also I went from using Ryze to using Kayla. It takes time to learn a new champion. I did okay in my opinion with Ryze, but when I used Kayla in my 3rd game I got slaughtered! The learning curve on this is so high it make one want to flip over there computer desk.....which I almost did lol.
After a Google Search, I came across the website http://learntheleague.com. I read a some of the website and some of the comments about the e-book Learn the League 13th edition. So being someone that needs to have whatever I can find to help I purchased it and started reading it last night. I am going to read it all the way through first then go back and apply one thing at a time to help my gaming. So if you are starting out playing LOL or are an advance player, this e-book is very helpful to me. So thanks to Patrick O'Callahan (@ciderhelm) for taking the time out and making and updating this guide for lost players like me.
Check out my Twitch Channel www.Twitch.tv/bcutler2003 if you want a good laugh right now watching someone getting dominated in LOL....ie ME ROTFL. Again thank you for reading this and look for many more to come.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Clarification of Last Lionheart Series Post
First off let me say that I have completely enjoyed the racing in the iRacing Verizon Lionheart Series. Whether some non admin or non member racers kind of rubbed me a little wrong or I was just not in a great mood when I wrote it, after rereading it I realize I left out the whole purpose of the title. What the title meant was that the reason that we have practice races is to work out the kinks and issues that would come up during a official race. That way the Admin Team can get the kinks worked out and procedure protocals in place. Also to be able to work on the setup to get it so that it is not only stable but also competitive. So as far as any setup issues I said, I of course knew that this time is just a research and develop phase for the setup and its setting before the official race on July 2nd. I was just giving my personal opinion because that is what blogs are for. It is my blog so it is my personal opinion. I don't have to take anyone elses feelings or opinions in to account. I am going to be honest not brutal but honest. If my blog post came across as negative to the race series, that is not the case at all and far from it. I understand that all of the issues that I experience where: 1. it is practice and practice only. No championship points at stake, wins or loses matter. So people are going to be trying and testing what and where they can place the car. I completely understand and I understand that during the official racing series it won't or I am going to say hopefully isn't going to be like that. And the reason I say hopefully is cause we won't know who can and can't drive well. That is not a slam or bust on anyone, just a fact of any skill level sport. 2: the chatter during the practice races is not going to be what it will be during a race (again I hope). I have been in official races on iRacing and have had 2 people talk about other races and series the whole race. So I am guessing that it won't happen during the race. One thing I know for sure because of the great admin team that they have on hand, if there is unnecessary chatter during the race they will not allow it at all. However that being said, if what I said in the previous blog post hit close to home, you might need to reevaluate your use of the radio.
So I am ending this one by saying a couple of things again. This is a great group of admins that have a huge undertaking on their hands. Like I said in the previous post, I know on hand how big of an undertaking it is. Again just with real life, not everyone is going to get along with everyone. So far almost all the people that have joined the practice servers have been great. Now the ones that I have had an issue with or just their personallity did not mesh with mine could have not even been a member of the league so I can't say if they are or are not. But we are adults (or I sure say hopefully we are all older and not kids) and we will be able to race cleanly regardless. Once the season gets started the races will be password protected so that will keep non members out of the races. And let me say again and again, the previous post had somewhat of a negative feeling to it and that was not my intention at all. I am very happy with the admin, the series and the racers that are in the practice races so far.
HOWEVER AGAIN THIS IS MY PERSONAL BLOG WHICH I TALK ABOUT A LOT OF THINGS THAT I AM DOING AND ENJOY. EVERY POST IS FROM MY PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE AND THAT WILL NOT CHANGE. CAUSE THAT IS WHAT BLOGS ARE ALL ABOUT!!
So I am ending this one by saying a couple of things again. This is a great group of admins that have a huge undertaking on their hands. Like I said in the previous post, I know on hand how big of an undertaking it is. Again just with real life, not everyone is going to get along with everyone. So far almost all the people that have joined the practice servers have been great. Now the ones that I have had an issue with or just their personallity did not mesh with mine could have not even been a member of the league so I can't say if they are or are not. But we are adults (or I sure say hopefully we are all older and not kids) and we will be able to race cleanly regardless. Once the season gets started the races will be password protected so that will keep non members out of the races. And let me say again and again, the previous post had somewhat of a negative feeling to it and that was not my intention at all. I am very happy with the admin, the series and the racers that are in the practice races so far.
HOWEVER AGAIN THIS IS MY PERSONAL BLOG WHICH I TALK ABOUT A LOT OF THINGS THAT I AM DOING AND ENJOY. EVERY POST IS FROM MY PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE AND THAT WILL NOT CHANGE. CAUSE THAT IS WHAT BLOGS ARE ALL ABOUT!!
Friday, June 27, 2014
Lionheart Series: And this is why we practice races first/www.twitch.tv/zachttrull23
Almost everyone who has decided to take iRacing seriously has thought to themselves, Hey I wish they had this kind of series so I will just run one myself. Before the Road Warrior series I was going to run a League series myself that would mimic at the time ALMS, WEC and Grand Am series. I researched tracks so that I would have the same track that was begin raced in real life, running that weekend in the series on iRacing. I started working on sponsors, points system, rules, qualifying setup, everything you can imagine to make it as fun and exciting. Over 40 people said on the forums that they were going to race. Even going as far as picking their own numbers. I was so excited! This is going to become the most popular league series in iRacing. Now come the day of the first practice race to test out the setup of the hosted session, the qualifying session and race. I was already to just look at 40 people in 3 different classes ready to take on the first ever Endurance iRacing Series. 5 yes I didn't make a mistake 5 people showed up. I was devastated! I even went as far as purchase a domain name and setup up a crude website just to get something up then would work on it before the first race from GoDaddy.com. And that was just me by myself. So I can definitely understand what the group of admins for the Verizon iRacing Lionheart Series are going thru right now.
When you have a series with so many different people at different levels of experience of racing, you can not make everyone happy. But it is up to the individual to understand that there is many different factors that the admins have to take into account. I have been looking at the profiles of many if not all of the racers from last nights dual practice, qualify and single race. It was such a wide range of experience of drivers. Now I am using just iRating as a standard to base this part of off. And trust you me that iRating isn't always nor is Safety Rating a telltale sign of a persons driving ability, however it gives you an idea. (Trust me after lasts nights race, my SR would have taken a beating and like in my other post I will take responsibility for any accident but last night not one of the accidents that I was involved in was my fault). In the series, you have one person that raced last night that is in the 4000 IR and someone who was 900 IR. From a Safety Rating of 4.99 to right at 2.00. Then there is me right in the middle LOL. With such a diverse group of members in the League, how do you appease everyone. The easy answer is you don't. You will have the racers with the high IR that builds their own setups that will want to either be able to build their setups or have a fixed setup that is very loose. Which if you decide to do that then what you will have is the same as the official Open Series. Which means you will have 3 to 4 people fighting for the win and everyone else seconds off of them fighting for the also ran positions. Which will kill the series after just a couple of races cause there won't be a chance of anyone from 5th on back fighting to win the series. On the flip side, you have make a setup that is fixed for the lower IR racers (which is the safest but has it's drawbacks which I will get into) which means you make it with a ton of down force, you have kind of where we are now. And here is where it gets tricky, safe and stable is always going to be the best for the majority of the racers on iRacing. It will drive away the high IR racers cause they will say, "the car has to much down force, it is boring, you can't pass" etc. Now that is a minority of the racers on iRacing. What it will do is it will get the word out to the mid to lower IR racers that there is a series where you can race, fight for a win and get some great seat time. Now the drawback which is where I feel like is where we are right now. The setup is so stable and safe that you can run it anywhere you want which is what most racers you want but they also want to be close to the edge. So last night I realized very quickly, that if you go to the bottom of the track which is the shortest way around the track, you ALMOST can not be passed. Some people can pass on the outside but it takes the perfect scenario. And the admins can't spend all their time building a setup so you have to be understanding and just use what they give you to the best ability.
Now here are some things that I just observed. There is no malice toward anyone or the series just my observation of certain things that I saw. Somethings I say people could say I am sensitive others I think would agree with me. If you sign up for a series and it says "single file restarts" Don't bitch and complain about the single file restarts!! You signed up for the series already knowing there would be there. Which means that lapped cars could be mixed in with lead lap cars. Also lapped cars that are faster than the leaders are NOT going to slow down for the leader. They are fighting to get there lap back and since now the lucky dog is gone even more so. Also it is fun to talk about the race and small talk during the caution laps, but no one really wants to here if you have some much towing time, how much damage or if you are going to go away from the keyboard because of you tow time left or damage or anything like that. As you race with the same people over and over, you start getting an idea of how people race. Now that can be a good thing or a bad thing. What I have noticed is who is safe to race around or who I have to be worried about. And I have started seeing the same people cause the same wrecks over and over. Some give a sorry, some don't say anything at all. But they are the same ones that can't hold their line, still can't understand the draft or try and put the car into a spot that they shouldn't be trying to. Now I am not saying I am a perfect drivers, I make mistakes and will cause an accident from time to time, however I will tell you that even to a fault I will get out of the gas so I don't slam into anyone, I will give up a position to someone who is faster than me non draft. I would rather finish 4th than cause a wreck to finish 2nd. I have seen some people that are high up in the league come down so quick that if I didn't lift they would have just slammed into me. Hey that is racing and you have to be on the ball. However most people are not like that! They will try and pass under the white line, on the grass, bump you, intimidated you by acting like they are coming down on you to make you lift. Again that is racing but it isn't skilled racing to me. But many people have expressed that they can't wait till the season start so that the quality of racing improves as people don't have unlimited rests.
Last nights race was a little hard to stomach to me. I want to say I was in the wrong place at the wrong time but I think it is more like people where racing in the wrong place given their skill level. I have witnessed the same person cause 3 wrecks and not get a bit of damage and not say a word. I have seen another person cause 4 wrecks but each time say sorry, which doesn't really overcome that they are a cause of the wrecks. You see this in any racing in iRacing however you might race with that person once a week in the series but in a league race you know you will always see the same person every week in a very small group of people.
Again these are just observation that I have seen. I am not unhappy with the league, the admin or the series. It is a new car that we are learning right now. I have felt very welcome from almost every admin and member in the league. You will always have some people who just don't take a new person coming into their world of friends which you have to understand and just be yourself.
I hope you take a look at this great League with some great people running it. I can't wait till the season starts on July 2nd. Also the race will be streamed live each race by Zach Trull his twitch channel is www.twitch.tv/zachttrull23! Also look out for a race streaming site doing reports Sportcenter style in the future.
When you have a series with so many different people at different levels of experience of racing, you can not make everyone happy. But it is up to the individual to understand that there is many different factors that the admins have to take into account. I have been looking at the profiles of many if not all of the racers from last nights dual practice, qualify and single race. It was such a wide range of experience of drivers. Now I am using just iRating as a standard to base this part of off. And trust you me that iRating isn't always nor is Safety Rating a telltale sign of a persons driving ability, however it gives you an idea. (Trust me after lasts nights race, my SR would have taken a beating and like in my other post I will take responsibility for any accident but last night not one of the accidents that I was involved in was my fault). In the series, you have one person that raced last night that is in the 4000 IR and someone who was 900 IR. From a Safety Rating of 4.99 to right at 2.00. Then there is me right in the middle LOL. With such a diverse group of members in the League, how do you appease everyone. The easy answer is you don't. You will have the racers with the high IR that builds their own setups that will want to either be able to build their setups or have a fixed setup that is very loose. Which if you decide to do that then what you will have is the same as the official Open Series. Which means you will have 3 to 4 people fighting for the win and everyone else seconds off of them fighting for the also ran positions. Which will kill the series after just a couple of races cause there won't be a chance of anyone from 5th on back fighting to win the series. On the flip side, you have make a setup that is fixed for the lower IR racers (which is the safest but has it's drawbacks which I will get into) which means you make it with a ton of down force, you have kind of where we are now. And here is where it gets tricky, safe and stable is always going to be the best for the majority of the racers on iRacing. It will drive away the high IR racers cause they will say, "the car has to much down force, it is boring, you can't pass" etc. Now that is a minority of the racers on iRacing. What it will do is it will get the word out to the mid to lower IR racers that there is a series where you can race, fight for a win and get some great seat time. Now the drawback which is where I feel like is where we are right now. The setup is so stable and safe that you can run it anywhere you want which is what most racers you want but they also want to be close to the edge. So last night I realized very quickly, that if you go to the bottom of the track which is the shortest way around the track, you ALMOST can not be passed. Some people can pass on the outside but it takes the perfect scenario. And the admins can't spend all their time building a setup so you have to be understanding and just use what they give you to the best ability.
Now here are some things that I just observed. There is no malice toward anyone or the series just my observation of certain things that I saw. Somethings I say people could say I am sensitive others I think would agree with me. If you sign up for a series and it says "single file restarts" Don't bitch and complain about the single file restarts!! You signed up for the series already knowing there would be there. Which means that lapped cars could be mixed in with lead lap cars. Also lapped cars that are faster than the leaders are NOT going to slow down for the leader. They are fighting to get there lap back and since now the lucky dog is gone even more so. Also it is fun to talk about the race and small talk during the caution laps, but no one really wants to here if you have some much towing time, how much damage or if you are going to go away from the keyboard because of you tow time left or damage or anything like that. As you race with the same people over and over, you start getting an idea of how people race. Now that can be a good thing or a bad thing. What I have noticed is who is safe to race around or who I have to be worried about. And I have started seeing the same people cause the same wrecks over and over. Some give a sorry, some don't say anything at all. But they are the same ones that can't hold their line, still can't understand the draft or try and put the car into a spot that they shouldn't be trying to. Now I am not saying I am a perfect drivers, I make mistakes and will cause an accident from time to time, however I will tell you that even to a fault I will get out of the gas so I don't slam into anyone, I will give up a position to someone who is faster than me non draft. I would rather finish 4th than cause a wreck to finish 2nd. I have seen some people that are high up in the league come down so quick that if I didn't lift they would have just slammed into me. Hey that is racing and you have to be on the ball. However most people are not like that! They will try and pass under the white line, on the grass, bump you, intimidated you by acting like they are coming down on you to make you lift. Again that is racing but it isn't skilled racing to me. But many people have expressed that they can't wait till the season start so that the quality of racing improves as people don't have unlimited rests.
Last nights race was a little hard to stomach to me. I want to say I was in the wrong place at the wrong time but I think it is more like people where racing in the wrong place given their skill level. I have witnessed the same person cause 3 wrecks and not get a bit of damage and not say a word. I have seen another person cause 4 wrecks but each time say sorry, which doesn't really overcome that they are a cause of the wrecks. You see this in any racing in iRacing however you might race with that person once a week in the series but in a league race you know you will always see the same person every week in a very small group of people.
Again these are just observation that I have seen. I am not unhappy with the league, the admin or the series. It is a new car that we are learning right now. I have felt very welcome from almost every admin and member in the league. You will always have some people who just don't take a new person coming into their world of friends which you have to understand and just be yourself.
I hope you take a look at this great League with some great people running it. I can't wait till the season starts on July 2nd. Also the race will be streamed live each race by Zach Trull his twitch channel is www.twitch.tv/zachttrull23! Also look out for a race streaming site doing reports Sportcenter style in the future.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
New DW12 League Series iRacing Verizon Lionheart Series has begun!
If you have read some of my previous posts, you know that I will be racing only the new DW12 next season. I will be racing this car in both Oval and Road. This is a car that just came out before the iRacing Indy 500 (which we all know was cancelled: more on that later). So I need to get as much time in the car as possible before the next season. I was going thru the Dallara forum and came across his league. And decided to do more investigation into this series.
This league is mostly an Oval strong league with only 4 road courses, however it would give me valuable seat time with no hit to my IR or SR. One thing that drew me to the league is that they will be having a setup that is designed with input from everyone. Which is good cause from what I have heard the baseline setups are terrible and if they let one person do the setup then if that person driving style, iRating and experience will come into play. So for someone like me who has just practice for the Indy 500 as his experience, that kind of setup would be WAY to loose for me. So I got a chance to jump in to the practice race (which they will be running till the first race on July 2nd), I joined the TeamSpeak Server and the fun began!!
I was instantly greeted by Jorge Anzaldo. He thanked me for joining the TeamServer and said enjoy. Told me to download the the setup and gave me the times that the race would start. Now I am use to being on my teams TeamServer with one only other person my teammate Jon Carrigan on there. So it was interesting to have at least 3 conversations going on at the same time plus the race chatter going on. I got about 20 or so laps under my belt. They did a setup change that everyone had to download and use. Then back out for some more practice.
So next was qualifying. Just you on a track for 4 laps. I dropped the fuel to only about 9.5 gallons, cause I didn't get any fuel runs in I didn't know what my fuel burn was so I was being very safe. Any way did my 4 laps had no idea where I was till I got out. I QUALIFIED 4TH!! I was shocked!! I felt great. But there was 1 guy who was a .5 second faster than anyone. And everyone was saying over TS, there is no way that is the same setup. Anyway we started and everyone was calm and curious. The guy in first place after about 7 laps had a 5 sec lead then they told him he was out for not using the same setup. Which just showed what a great race control they had planned to have in place.
I unfortunately was the cause of the first accident LOL. With the TS chatter, race talk and my spotter saying clear, I thought it meant that I was clear below since I could see the car to my right. NOPE! Came right down on someone inside me. Instantly felt bad about it and apologized for it. Unlimited resets and after the tow, I was back out.
Not going to do a lap by lap of the first race, but after running only Time Trials on the Road side for the past 3 weeks trying to build my SR back up after the Skippy debacle. It was great to get the competitive racing spirit back after just one race. They were so friendly and made me feel comfortable about being there.
Unfortunately the second race last night, I couldn't get in cause the way iRacing is once you fill up the pit slots no one can get in afterward even if people get out and don't race. It was very disappointing not to be able to get in and also due to the fact that we have 26 members in the league so my slot was not only taken up by someone not in the league but also didn't even race the race. But it was my fault as well as my triathlon training had me at the gym till about 9:30 plus eating dinner I couldn't get on till almost at Qualifying anyway. Jorge was very very apologetic and it wasn't even his fault. So I just watched the race and helped out watching the wrecks for race control.
They are a great group of racers. I am very looking forward to racing tonight since I don't have any triathlon training tonight. However I will make sure I am the first one signed in to get my slot LOL. Please check them out on the league page.
This league is mostly an Oval strong league with only 4 road courses, however it would give me valuable seat time with no hit to my IR or SR. One thing that drew me to the league is that they will be having a setup that is designed with input from everyone. Which is good cause from what I have heard the baseline setups are terrible and if they let one person do the setup then if that person driving style, iRating and experience will come into play. So for someone like me who has just practice for the Indy 500 as his experience, that kind of setup would be WAY to loose for me. So I got a chance to jump in to the practice race (which they will be running till the first race on July 2nd), I joined the TeamSpeak Server and the fun began!!
I was instantly greeted by Jorge Anzaldo. He thanked me for joining the TeamServer and said enjoy. Told me to download the the setup and gave me the times that the race would start. Now I am use to being on my teams TeamServer with one only other person my teammate Jon Carrigan on there. So it was interesting to have at least 3 conversations going on at the same time plus the race chatter going on. I got about 20 or so laps under my belt. They did a setup change that everyone had to download and use. Then back out for some more practice.
So next was qualifying. Just you on a track for 4 laps. I dropped the fuel to only about 9.5 gallons, cause I didn't get any fuel runs in I didn't know what my fuel burn was so I was being very safe. Any way did my 4 laps had no idea where I was till I got out. I QUALIFIED 4TH!! I was shocked!! I felt great. But there was 1 guy who was a .5 second faster than anyone. And everyone was saying over TS, there is no way that is the same setup. Anyway we started and everyone was calm and curious. The guy in first place after about 7 laps had a 5 sec lead then they told him he was out for not using the same setup. Which just showed what a great race control they had planned to have in place.
I unfortunately was the cause of the first accident LOL. With the TS chatter, race talk and my spotter saying clear, I thought it meant that I was clear below since I could see the car to my right. NOPE! Came right down on someone inside me. Instantly felt bad about it and apologized for it. Unlimited resets and after the tow, I was back out.
Not going to do a lap by lap of the first race, but after running only Time Trials on the Road side for the past 3 weeks trying to build my SR back up after the Skippy debacle. It was great to get the competitive racing spirit back after just one race. They were so friendly and made me feel comfortable about being there.
Unfortunately the second race last night, I couldn't get in cause the way iRacing is once you fill up the pit slots no one can get in afterward even if people get out and don't race. It was very disappointing not to be able to get in and also due to the fact that we have 26 members in the league so my slot was not only taken up by someone not in the league but also didn't even race the race. But it was my fault as well as my triathlon training had me at the gym till about 9:30 plus eating dinner I couldn't get on till almost at Qualifying anyway. Jorge was very very apologetic and it wasn't even his fault. So I just watched the race and helped out watching the wrecks for race control.
They are a great group of racers. I am very looking forward to racing tonight since I don't have any triathlon training tonight. However I will make sure I am the first one signed in to get my slot LOL. Please check them out on the league page.
League of Legends has sucked me in ROTFL!
Yes I have to admit I have finally decided to play League of Legends or from now on known as LOL in this post. I was watching the MLG Anaheim this past weekend. Watching my boys from Evil Geniuses dominate again in a tournament that actually means something to the gaming world not a shiny gold medal and no money ROTFL! And started watching the StarCraft II competition and just decided "Okay lets go ahead and see what this LOL is all about". It doesn't hurt that right now the prize purse for LOL is at $9.9 million dollars as of July 18th.
I have never downloaded LOL before so I had to download the game and all available updates. 1 hour and 30 minutes later, which on Sunday put it at midnight Monday morning I was ready to give it a go. Now I have a 3 monitor setup for iRacing and that is just not good for LOL. So after about 3 minutes I had to deactivate my Infinity setup with AMD so that I could see it. I am running the AMD Gaming Evolve and that lets you live stream on www.Twitch.com/bcutler2003 without any FPS hit. Decided to give this a try too! That worked great as far as I could tell. It doesn't work yet with iRacing so I am waiting for that.
I decided to pick the very first character that they offer you our of the 3 that are available. Ashe is a Archer so I just thought to myself "okay stay away and just shoot shoot shoot". Now I am not going to go into detail about the different aspects of the game, however as I give up to date details of my journey to level 30 I will fill in on more and more about the game. There are 3 different lanes in which to go and destroy the other teams Nexus. So I start in the Battle Training mode to get started and learn the controls. In the Battle mode as with other modes, you have what are called Minions or Cannon Fodder ROTFL. So as soon as I leave my Fountain (or my Base) the minions form and start down the different lanes. Well I started at about 12:30, I am just going to fast forward 2 hours and 10 deaths later, I still hadn't come close to destroying the other teams Nexus. It was late as hell and I had to get up for work the next day so I quit in the middle (which mean nothing saved) and said I will try again tomorrow.
The next day I realize that it is actually a good thing that it didn't save. This time I decide to go with what I love from World of Warcraft and that is a Mage. So Ryze it is!! Finally felt at home with this character. In WOW I always played as a Warlock. Lets just say 25 minutes later, going down mid land instead of top lane I HAD CONQUERED THE NEXUS OF THE ENEMY!! And it was fun but I can see how it would be very detailed and a lot of research that can go into it.
After this I look at the Level of Ryze once I got done with the Battle Training and he is at Level 12. I thought to myself "this is great! Only 18 levels to go!!" NOPE! My level not my Champions level is Level 2 ROTFL! I have 28 levels to go not 12! The next step that I am going to do is Co-op vs AI! Now some people just jump straight into PvP, but reading what a lot of people post about this. I will learn and get more experience from the Co-op before jumping in and going with PvP. I won't get out of Co-op until I hit Level 30.
Stay tuned for more post about each battle that I have in....LEAGUE OF LEGENDS!! Also subscribe to my Twitch channel so you can get good laughs at me getting destroyed.
I have never downloaded LOL before so I had to download the game and all available updates. 1 hour and 30 minutes later, which on Sunday put it at midnight Monday morning I was ready to give it a go. Now I have a 3 monitor setup for iRacing and that is just not good for LOL. So after about 3 minutes I had to deactivate my Infinity setup with AMD so that I could see it. I am running the AMD Gaming Evolve and that lets you live stream on www.Twitch.com/bcutler2003 without any FPS hit. Decided to give this a try too! That worked great as far as I could tell. It doesn't work yet with iRacing so I am waiting for that.
I decided to pick the very first character that they offer you our of the 3 that are available. Ashe is a Archer so I just thought to myself "okay stay away and just shoot shoot shoot". Now I am not going to go into detail about the different aspects of the game, however as I give up to date details of my journey to level 30 I will fill in on more and more about the game. There are 3 different lanes in which to go and destroy the other teams Nexus. So I start in the Battle Training mode to get started and learn the controls. In the Battle mode as with other modes, you have what are called Minions or Cannon Fodder ROTFL. So as soon as I leave my Fountain (or my Base) the minions form and start down the different lanes. Well I started at about 12:30, I am just going to fast forward 2 hours and 10 deaths later, I still hadn't come close to destroying the other teams Nexus. It was late as hell and I had to get up for work the next day so I quit in the middle (which mean nothing saved) and said I will try again tomorrow.
The next day I realize that it is actually a good thing that it didn't save. This time I decide to go with what I love from World of Warcraft and that is a Mage. So Ryze it is!! Finally felt at home with this character. In WOW I always played as a Warlock. Lets just say 25 minutes later, going down mid land instead of top lane I HAD CONQUERED THE NEXUS OF THE ENEMY!! And it was fun but I can see how it would be very detailed and a lot of research that can go into it.
After this I look at the Level of Ryze once I got done with the Battle Training and he is at Level 12. I thought to myself "this is great! Only 18 levels to go!!" NOPE! My level not my Champions level is Level 2 ROTFL! I have 28 levels to go not 12! The next step that I am going to do is Co-op vs AI! Now some people just jump straight into PvP, but reading what a lot of people post about this. I will learn and get more experience from the Co-op before jumping in and going with PvP. I won't get out of Co-op until I hit Level 30.
Stay tuned for more post about each battle that I have in....LEAGUE OF LEGENDS!! Also subscribe to my Twitch channel so you can get good laughs at me getting destroyed.
Start 3rd month training/Staying in the Green with MIO Link
This week has been the beginning of the 3rd month of training. According to http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=730, the 3rd month adds swimming to the bike. However since I have already been doing the bike and I added run to it plus I have not been able to join the Y yet to start swimming, I have decided to just stay with the last week of the 2nd month increasing the resistance and I will gradually increase the time in the seat over each 2 weeks. I will also increase the resistance every month.
Man what a difference it was from resistance 4 to 5!! It was like I was pedaling uphill the first time on Monday. I had a 40 minute ride and by the end of 40 mins, I could definitely tell that I had pushed my legs more than I have. Wednesday was my 50 minute ride again at level 5 for right now. I always do a 5 minute warmup usually at level 1 just to get the blood flowing thru my legs. However after Monday's session, I found out that level 1 warm up isn't enough of resistance to get my legs ready for the level 5 constant ride. So Wednesday I did my warmup at level 3 to help with the change. Now I am checking my ego at the door, the http://www.lifefitness.com/commercial/grouptraining/lifecyclegx.html has up to 20 levels of resistance so I have many many levels still to go. At increasing the resistance at 1 level per month, I will be at level 14 by the time the 2015 Triathlon season begins in March. I just can't tell you how great I am feeling before, during and after each workout.
I know I go on and on about the MIO Link but I could not even imagine training without the use of a Heart Rate Monitor. And the Link is so great cause you can keep track of what zone you are in just by the color of the flashing light on your wrist. Don't have to slow down cadence, take hands off bars or any other unsafe practices to be able to see what you heart rate is. You set the training zones using MIO GO App then you don't have to worry about anything after that. The good thing about increasing the resistance is that it now is putting me in my Zone 2 or my MAF zone almost for the whole time in the seat. So I am training my body to burn fat first before using my glycogen storage for energy.
Speaking of MAF zone, it is also a great feeling to be in the Zone 2 the whole time now during my "run" LOL. Now I put run in quotation marks and added the LOL cause it really is a super fast walk. I am right there on the edge of a fast walk and starting to run. If I go to running then my heart goes to red, so I am walking fast as hell. It is an ego check for sure cause I so enjoyed running however the benefit is my Plantar Fasciitis has not been bad at all. I just keep saying to myself "I am building base and doing it the safest that I can to keep injuries to a minium.
Friday is my long ride. 5 minute warmup, 80 minute ride, abs then my run\walk. I just got down with yesterdays training and I am already looking forward to Fridays!! I AM ADDICTED!!!!
Again, thank you so much for taking your time out of your day and reading this posts. It does many a lot to me. If you would like please subscribe to that it will come to your email with every post I do.
Man what a difference it was from resistance 4 to 5!! It was like I was pedaling uphill the first time on Monday. I had a 40 minute ride and by the end of 40 mins, I could definitely tell that I had pushed my legs more than I have. Wednesday was my 50 minute ride again at level 5 for right now. I always do a 5 minute warmup usually at level 1 just to get the blood flowing thru my legs. However after Monday's session, I found out that level 1 warm up isn't enough of resistance to get my legs ready for the level 5 constant ride. So Wednesday I did my warmup at level 3 to help with the change. Now I am checking my ego at the door, the http://www.lifefitness.com/commercial/grouptraining/lifecyclegx.html has up to 20 levels of resistance so I have many many levels still to go. At increasing the resistance at 1 level per month, I will be at level 14 by the time the 2015 Triathlon season begins in March. I just can't tell you how great I am feeling before, during and after each workout.
I know I go on and on about the MIO Link but I could not even imagine training without the use of a Heart Rate Monitor. And the Link is so great cause you can keep track of what zone you are in just by the color of the flashing light on your wrist. Don't have to slow down cadence, take hands off bars or any other unsafe practices to be able to see what you heart rate is. You set the training zones using MIO GO App then you don't have to worry about anything after that. The good thing about increasing the resistance is that it now is putting me in my Zone 2 or my MAF zone almost for the whole time in the seat. So I am training my body to burn fat first before using my glycogen storage for energy.
Speaking of MAF zone, it is also a great feeling to be in the Zone 2 the whole time now during my "run" LOL. Now I put run in quotation marks and added the LOL cause it really is a super fast walk. I am right there on the edge of a fast walk and starting to run. If I go to running then my heart goes to red, so I am walking fast as hell. It is an ego check for sure cause I so enjoyed running however the benefit is my Plantar Fasciitis has not been bad at all. I just keep saying to myself "I am building base and doing it the safest that I can to keep injuries to a minium.
Friday is my long ride. 5 minute warmup, 80 minute ride, abs then my run\walk. I just got down with yesterdays training and I am already looking forward to Fridays!! I AM ADDICTED!!!!
Again, thank you so much for taking your time out of your day and reading this posts. It does many a lot to me. If you would like please subscribe to that it will come to your email with every post I do.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
702 Views in One Month! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT!!!/Product Reviews/Interviews
I am absolutely speechless and that takes a lot for me to be speechless lol. I started this blog a couple of years ago for a job that I had at the time and just posted 1 time. So after I started taking my triathlon training seriously, my iRacing seriously, Competitive Gaming Training I decided to start adding to this blog. However it was after reading Stephaine Johnson's RunTriMom and IronMummy's blogs that I decided to take this plunge. I don't stay on top of it everyday like I planned on doing. But even if it is just a couple of sentences I am going to post everyday. There will be tweaks and changes to the blog as I fine tune how I want it setup. But I just wanted to take this time and say THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! Please subscribe if you would like to get more my posts sent to your email.
I am also really going to try and see about doing more Product Reviews on here. I am trying to see if there is a way of creating different pages for different topics ie. an iRacing Page, Product Review page etc. I will be starting out by doing reviews of products that I have already purchased, however I hope as this blog grows even more that companies will see a benefit of me doing reviews for them. I will posting reviews of Triathlon Products, iRacing, Gaming, App all kinds of stuff that apply to what I am interested in.
I am also hoping as this blog grows to be able to send out email questionnaires to celebrities and very influential people in the industries that we are interested in just so we can get some idea of what is going on with the people that we take time out of our day to follow on Social Media.
Again THANK YOU SO MUCH for you taking your time out of your day and reading the ramblings of this man LOL.
I am also really going to try and see about doing more Product Reviews on here. I am trying to see if there is a way of creating different pages for different topics ie. an iRacing Page, Product Review page etc. I will be starting out by doing reviews of products that I have already purchased, however I hope as this blog grows even more that companies will see a benefit of me doing reviews for them. I will posting reviews of Triathlon Products, iRacing, Gaming, App all kinds of stuff that apply to what I am interested in.
I am also hoping as this blog grows to be able to send out email questionnaires to celebrities and very influential people in the industries that we are interested in just so we can get some idea of what is going on with the people that we take time out of our day to follow on Social Media.
Again THANK YOU SO MUCH for you taking your time out of your day and reading the ramblings of this man LOL.
Monday, June 23, 2014
End of 2nd month TRI training with my MIO LInk/MAF Training
What can I say at the end of the 2nd month of my training? Down 10 lbs, seeing abs that I have never seen before, feel absolutely great after every workout, mentally I have already embraced and caught the addiction bug of triathlon training. After 10 years of saying every January that I am going to do Kona Ironman, it is a great feeling to know that I am now in a very supportive group of triathlete competitors. Or I should say that I am a triathlon trainee lol. I am looking forward to the 2015 season to begin competing in March.
Friday's workout was an 80 minute bike with abs and run (speed walk lol). Felt absolutely great during the whole ride. My bottom is getting more and more use to being in the saddle for that long. However I will start looking into some chamois cream to help with the sore points that do form while sitting for that long. I have done a little research online about the different creams that are available. Once I select one to go with of course I will do a review of that cream. What type of creams have you guys used and which ones do you prefer?
Abs workout is so brutal but so rewarding! I am now at 20 reps per exsercise. I am thinking of adding 5 more reps which would make it 25 reps then instead of going to 30 reps, just adding another set on to them. So it would be 20 reps for one circuit then 10 reps for set 2. Also I think that I will add a excerise that aims for the upper abs cause it seems to me the workout is very lower and side ab specific.
Now on to my MIO Link and MAF Training since they are now going hand in hand. Using the MAF Training 180 formula, my zone 2 or aerobic zone is 140 - 130. Now according to Mark Allen http://www.markallenonline.com/maoArticles.aspx?AID=2 the add or subtract beats is based on how much you workout a week, which is a little different than from Dr. Maffetone's formula. So I used Mark Allen's base of how much a week I workout. Now some people will say that for Cycling you should use a different number for your zone 2 or Aerobic zone, but Mark Allen says to use this number for ALL cardio training. So that is what I am using. The great thing about the MIO Link is that it has 5 different zones you can set by using the MIO GO app. On the bike to keep it between 130 and 140 bpm right now is a push, but checking what my beats are it is so close to the 130 that I feel comfortable that I am still in the zone during my long ride. So seeing between blue and light green on my MIO Link during the whole ride was a great feeling knowing that my body is using fat first for energy before getting into fuel reserves. Now to the run! It has taken me almost a whole month to finally commit to leaving my ego at the door and shooting for green during the run. And let me tell you to go from running to a high speed walk is something that I have to tell myself we be very benefittal for years to come. If it wasn't for the ease of use of the MIO Link, I don't think I would be doing MAF Training. And for someone who is pretty vain to be honest, it feels real good seeing the flashing green light and knowing that for certain I am burning only fat.
Well there we be many more to come today. I have just figured out that I can't do post on the weekend so Monday's will be post a plenty LOL.
Friday's workout was an 80 minute bike with abs and run (speed walk lol). Felt absolutely great during the whole ride. My bottom is getting more and more use to being in the saddle for that long. However I will start looking into some chamois cream to help with the sore points that do form while sitting for that long. I have done a little research online about the different creams that are available. Once I select one to go with of course I will do a review of that cream. What type of creams have you guys used and which ones do you prefer?
Abs workout is so brutal but so rewarding! I am now at 20 reps per exsercise. I am thinking of adding 5 more reps which would make it 25 reps then instead of going to 30 reps, just adding another set on to them. So it would be 20 reps for one circuit then 10 reps for set 2. Also I think that I will add a excerise that aims for the upper abs cause it seems to me the workout is very lower and side ab specific.
Now on to my MIO Link and MAF Training since they are now going hand in hand. Using the MAF Training 180 formula, my zone 2 or aerobic zone is 140 - 130. Now according to Mark Allen http://www.markallenonline.com/maoArticles.aspx?AID=2 the add or subtract beats is based on how much you workout a week, which is a little different than from Dr. Maffetone's formula. So I used Mark Allen's base of how much a week I workout. Now some people will say that for Cycling you should use a different number for your zone 2 or Aerobic zone, but Mark Allen says to use this number for ALL cardio training. So that is what I am using. The great thing about the MIO Link is that it has 5 different zones you can set by using the MIO GO app. On the bike to keep it between 130 and 140 bpm right now is a push, but checking what my beats are it is so close to the 130 that I feel comfortable that I am still in the zone during my long ride. So seeing between blue and light green on my MIO Link during the whole ride was a great feeling knowing that my body is using fat first for energy before getting into fuel reserves. Now to the run! It has taken me almost a whole month to finally commit to leaving my ego at the door and shooting for green during the run. And let me tell you to go from running to a high speed walk is something that I have to tell myself we be very benefittal for years to come. If it wasn't for the ease of use of the MIO Link, I don't think I would be doing MAF Training. And for someone who is pretty vain to be honest, it feels real good seeing the flashing green light and knowing that for certain I am burning only fat.
Well there we be many more to come today. I have just figured out that I can't do post on the weekend so Monday's will be post a plenty LOL.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Legends of the Road wins 4 person team male under 50 in the Race Across America!!
3020 miles traveled non stop in 5 days 11 hours and 41 mins, that is 755 miles per person. That is what Dave Mirra, Ben Bostrom, Micky Dymond and Dave Zakriskie did starting last Saturday from Oceanview CA. Over the course of about 5 and half days, they dealt with high temperatures, strong winds, huge mountains, and blinding rain. Riding during the day and thru the night non stop, I can't even imagine what it would take to accomplish such an amazing feat. Even while I am typing this and they came in at 3:19 am this morning, there are still teams racing on the course. Please join me in congratulating this amazing guys on winning their division in the Race Across America. And YES by following them, it has sparked an interest for next year. Maybe can fill in for Micky Dymond next year since he is going to attempt it Solo.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
2nd month TRI training/MIO Link/SLS3/ZOOT Sports/Prime Nutrition/ALR/Pre & PostJYM/Sof Sole/RAAM LOTR
I have had this blog going almost everyday since May 24th 2014, and in that span of time I have had over 612 people that have taken the time to read my blog posts!! That is so humbling and amazing to me. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT HAS READ EVEN ONE OF MY POSTS!!
First off let me start by saying that I am truly sorry for slacking off these past 2 days. It has been a very busy week. I have my kids this week for the start of my summer time with them. So I am getting up at 6 am, getting them up, dressed, fed. At the same time I am getting in the shower, dressed, make my lunch then get them out the door. They get to stay at my mom's house during the day while I am working. So full day at work, then 45 minute drive to get them, take them back home. I fix or pick up dinner for them (I stopped eating fast food unless it is Wendy's salad which I will explain in another blog by itself.) Then on Monday Wednesday and Friday I go to the gym after they have eaten. They get some gaming in then it is showers then bed and do it all over lol. So I got behind from posting and I am going to get caught up now.
Tomorrow marks the 2nd month of Triathlon training with an 80 minute ride plus abs and my run. Mondays training was a real good session. Had a 40 minute ride then my run. I can tell you that it does feel so good to be able to run since having the attack of the Plantar Fasciitis on my left foot. Now this does not go away instantly so I had to stop running for 2 weeks, research methods to easy and prevent flare ups and I purchased a set of Sof Sole insert that is made specificaly for Plantar Fasciitis. I can tell you hands down that they make a huge difference while I am running and day to day. When I am not running I put the Sof Sole inserts into every single shoe that I wear now. Absolutely no pain what so ever during the day. 2 things that I have learned that I have started to do to help manage the Plantar is as soon as I wake up in the morning I pull my toes back toward me and rub right where the heel begins on the bottom of my foot. What I have learned is that during the night while your Plantar starts healing when you wake up and instantly place weight on your foot it retears the microtears that were created from running the day before. By rubbing your heel and Plantar as soon as you wake up, you break up any scar tissue and get blood flowing to the Plantar which helps warm up so it won't tear. The second thing that I have learned and have started doing was I took 4 Sprite bottles filled them almost all the way up with water then put them in the freezer. As soon as I get home while I am drinking my post-workout concoction of Gatorade + Prime Nutrition Glutamine and ALR HumaPro tablets, I roll the frozen Sprite bottle under my left foot for a good 15 minutes to control any swelling that can happen. Just doing these 3 things has helped tremendously. So if you have Plantar Fasciitis, please go and purchased some Sof Sole inserts. Only $19.99, I will make a huge difference.
What can I say about MIO Link that I haven't already said? What a great amazing device! And even though I am a guy, I tell as many women that I know that they have to get this. I can only imagine how uncomfortable a chest strap for women can feel. It is so convient to just be able to look out of the corner of your eye to see what zone you are in. So if you are not seeing green and are seeing blue, need to push a little more. If you are seeing red, need to back it down. I have a Samsung Note 2, I have downloaded the MIO GO app on my Android phone. It lets you set up to 5 different training zones which is great for many different types of training. The App links up by bluetooth with the Link seamlessly. However the iPhone app has so many more features than the Android app for right now. The additional features from the iPhone will be coming over to the Android app some time soon which I am very excited for. Please if you are tired of the rubbing and chafing of a chest strap, then pick up a MIO Link. Works with Bluetooth and ANT+, IPhone and Android phones, so here is no excuse not to run and get one.
SLS3 FXC Compression Sleeves in Lime Green I am seen when I walk into the gym lol. So far they have been great. As someone who is still a beginner in the Triathlon field, my long rides and running have made my legs drained and a little sore. So far I haven't felt drained or any soreness in my calves nor have I gotten 1 shin splint. I use to get shin splints all the time but since I have been wearing the Compression Sleeves I have not. I will do a SLS3 FXC Compression Sleeve review this weekend after my long ride plus run tomorrow.
I will be looking at getting a new pair of shoes from a running store here in the very near future. I currently have a pair of New Balance 690 right now. I do like them however I just purchased them off the shelf and with no expert to see how I run to pick the right shoe for me. I have been interested in what ZOOT Sport has to offer due to Dave Mirra uses them. Now I am not usually a follower of what celebrities use, but Dave Mirra has been an inspiration to me with his Triathlon training and races. He has interacted with me on Instagram many many times which is so rare nowadays. As soon as I get a pair I will be doing a review of them. Also ZOOT has interacted with me on Instagram as well which let me tell you is huge in my opinion. If companies take time to interact with people that takes time out of their day follow the companies it can easily make them a loyal customer for life just for that reason alone.
Prime Nutrition has been helping me with my nutrition both during and post training sessions. I use the EAA and Glutamine with Gatorade every training day. During my ride I mix Gatorade with the EAA to keep my going and hydrated. For the post workout, as soon as I get done I take Gatorade and mix it with their Glutamine. Also so that I get my protein intake right away, I take the ALR Industries HumaPro tablets. I take 6 tabs each time. Here is the link to exactly what makes HumaPro such a great protein source: http://alrindustries.com/products/humapro-tablets . By taking this combination of Gatorade/Prime Nutrition/ALR HumaPr, my recovery time and hydration while working out has been great. What I am looking for now is a good pre-workout supplement. Like I posted before I was sent a 4 day sample of X2 Performance. I tried them and I can not say if I experienced anything different than when I didn't take them. Dr. Jim Stoppani has a line of pre and post workout supplement line that I have been interested in trying. He is great with interacting with people on Social Media to. Now it might be a day before he responds but he is bombarded with question on Twitter all the time. If I decide to get his supplements I will review them on here like I do with everything that I use.
Finally again a shout out to the incredible team of Dave Mirra, Micky Dymond, Dave Zabriskie and Ben Bostrom for their effort in the Race Across America which is still going on. Currently they are in second place only 3 km behind the 1st place team. Also a huge shout out to Rick Tillery who is handling the support vehicle and helping to keep the riders going since there is no stopping until they cross the finish line. Follow them on Twitter at @LegendsoftheRoad and on Instagram they have taken over the Bicycling Magazine account. Also don't forget you can donate to their racing on GoFundMe.com.
Thank you guys so much for your patience and understanding of the slackness of mine lately. Stay tuned for more of my training, iRacing, and hopefully many more reviews of many different products for the viewpoint of a 40 year old gaming triathlete!!
First off let me start by saying that I am truly sorry for slacking off these past 2 days. It has been a very busy week. I have my kids this week for the start of my summer time with them. So I am getting up at 6 am, getting them up, dressed, fed. At the same time I am getting in the shower, dressed, make my lunch then get them out the door. They get to stay at my mom's house during the day while I am working. So full day at work, then 45 minute drive to get them, take them back home. I fix or pick up dinner for them (I stopped eating fast food unless it is Wendy's salad which I will explain in another blog by itself.) Then on Monday Wednesday and Friday I go to the gym after they have eaten. They get some gaming in then it is showers then bed and do it all over lol. So I got behind from posting and I am going to get caught up now.
Tomorrow marks the 2nd month of Triathlon training with an 80 minute ride plus abs and my run. Mondays training was a real good session. Had a 40 minute ride then my run. I can tell you that it does feel so good to be able to run since having the attack of the Plantar Fasciitis on my left foot. Now this does not go away instantly so I had to stop running for 2 weeks, research methods to easy and prevent flare ups and I purchased a set of Sof Sole insert that is made specificaly for Plantar Fasciitis. I can tell you hands down that they make a huge difference while I am running and day to day. When I am not running I put the Sof Sole inserts into every single shoe that I wear now. Absolutely no pain what so ever during the day. 2 things that I have learned that I have started to do to help manage the Plantar is as soon as I wake up in the morning I pull my toes back toward me and rub right where the heel begins on the bottom of my foot. What I have learned is that during the night while your Plantar starts healing when you wake up and instantly place weight on your foot it retears the microtears that were created from running the day before. By rubbing your heel and Plantar as soon as you wake up, you break up any scar tissue and get blood flowing to the Plantar which helps warm up so it won't tear. The second thing that I have learned and have started doing was I took 4 Sprite bottles filled them almost all the way up with water then put them in the freezer. As soon as I get home while I am drinking my post-workout concoction of Gatorade + Prime Nutrition Glutamine and ALR HumaPro tablets, I roll the frozen Sprite bottle under my left foot for a good 15 minutes to control any swelling that can happen. Just doing these 3 things has helped tremendously. So if you have Plantar Fasciitis, please go and purchased some Sof Sole inserts. Only $19.99, I will make a huge difference.
What can I say about MIO Link that I haven't already said? What a great amazing device! And even though I am a guy, I tell as many women that I know that they have to get this. I can only imagine how uncomfortable a chest strap for women can feel. It is so convient to just be able to look out of the corner of your eye to see what zone you are in. So if you are not seeing green and are seeing blue, need to push a little more. If you are seeing red, need to back it down. I have a Samsung Note 2, I have downloaded the MIO GO app on my Android phone. It lets you set up to 5 different training zones which is great for many different types of training. The App links up by bluetooth with the Link seamlessly. However the iPhone app has so many more features than the Android app for right now. The additional features from the iPhone will be coming over to the Android app some time soon which I am very excited for. Please if you are tired of the rubbing and chafing of a chest strap, then pick up a MIO Link. Works with Bluetooth and ANT+, IPhone and Android phones, so here is no excuse not to run and get one.
SLS3 FXC Compression Sleeves in Lime Green I am seen when I walk into the gym lol. So far they have been great. As someone who is still a beginner in the Triathlon field, my long rides and running have made my legs drained and a little sore. So far I haven't felt drained or any soreness in my calves nor have I gotten 1 shin splint. I use to get shin splints all the time but since I have been wearing the Compression Sleeves I have not. I will do a SLS3 FXC Compression Sleeve review this weekend after my long ride plus run tomorrow.
I will be looking at getting a new pair of shoes from a running store here in the very near future. I currently have a pair of New Balance 690 right now. I do like them however I just purchased them off the shelf and with no expert to see how I run to pick the right shoe for me. I have been interested in what ZOOT Sport has to offer due to Dave Mirra uses them. Now I am not usually a follower of what celebrities use, but Dave Mirra has been an inspiration to me with his Triathlon training and races. He has interacted with me on Instagram many many times which is so rare nowadays. As soon as I get a pair I will be doing a review of them. Also ZOOT has interacted with me on Instagram as well which let me tell you is huge in my opinion. If companies take time to interact with people that takes time out of their day follow the companies it can easily make them a loyal customer for life just for that reason alone.
Prime Nutrition has been helping me with my nutrition both during and post training sessions. I use the EAA and Glutamine with Gatorade every training day. During my ride I mix Gatorade with the EAA to keep my going and hydrated. For the post workout, as soon as I get done I take Gatorade and mix it with their Glutamine. Also so that I get my protein intake right away, I take the ALR Industries HumaPro tablets. I take 6 tabs each time. Here is the link to exactly what makes HumaPro such a great protein source: http://alrindustries.com/products/humapro-tablets . By taking this combination of Gatorade/Prime Nutrition/ALR HumaPr, my recovery time and hydration while working out has been great. What I am looking for now is a good pre-workout supplement. Like I posted before I was sent a 4 day sample of X2 Performance. I tried them and I can not say if I experienced anything different than when I didn't take them. Dr. Jim Stoppani has a line of pre and post workout supplement line that I have been interested in trying. He is great with interacting with people on Social Media to. Now it might be a day before he responds but he is bombarded with question on Twitter all the time. If I decide to get his supplements I will review them on here like I do with everything that I use.
Finally again a shout out to the incredible team of Dave Mirra, Micky Dymond, Dave Zabriskie and Ben Bostrom for their effort in the Race Across America which is still going on. Currently they are in second place only 3 km behind the 1st place team. Also a huge shout out to Rick Tillery who is handling the support vehicle and helping to keep the riders going since there is no stopping until they cross the finish line. Follow them on Twitter at @LegendsoftheRoad and on Instagram they have taken over the Bicycling Magazine account. Also don't forget you can donate to their racing on GoFundMe.com.
Thank you guys so much for your patience and understanding of the slackness of mine lately. Stay tuned for more of my training, iRacing, and hopefully many more reviews of many different products for the viewpoint of a 40 year old gaming triathlete!!
Monday, June 16, 2014
Mirra, Bostrom, Dymond & Zabriskie Race Across America/ Legends of the Road/ Yield to Life Y2L
This is going to be a little shout out and support post for these amazing guys and all 130 teams that are competing in the Race Across America. I will start out with what the RAAM (Race Across America) consist of. This is directly from Legends of the Road website:
The Race Across America (RAAM) is a 3000 mile transcontinental race considered the pinnacle of endurance cycling around the world. The race has been around for 32 years, and draws competitors from over 27 different countries.
Right now as of 2:00 pm EST 6/16/2014 they are in Colorado with a 36 km lead over 2nd place on Highway 160. They started the race at 3:00 pm EST time on Saturday 6/14/2014. I would personally like to thank all of their sponsors for helping them achieve this great task at winning this presitgious event THIER SPONSORS . Also you can help them by donating to them thru http://www.gofundme.com/LegendsoftheRoad .
I will be adding updates thru out the next days till the race is over in all of my blog posts to let people know where they are in their ride and where they are placed. Thank you again for reading this and hopefully they inspire you to donate to their attempt.
The Race Across America (RAAM) is a 3000 mile transcontinental race considered the pinnacle of endurance cycling around the world. The race has been around for 32 years, and draws competitors from over 27 different countries.
Beginning in Oceanside, CA, relay teams have just 9 days to complete the race to Annapolis, MD. The racers experience the true Americana culture, landscape, and varying climates.
As a comparison the Tour de France is about 2300 miles long and is spaced out over 3 weeks.
Now about the team:
Ben Bostrom is an AMA Superbike, Supermoto, and Supersport Champion. He has been successful both on the national and international motorcycle racing scene. In the last few years, Ben has been racing mountain bikes professionally for Specialized, including an 11th place finish at the 2013 Leadville 100. Ben will be joining forces with his good friend, Micky Dymond, to race RAAM 2014. He will also be competing at the 2014 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb as part of the Ducati Factory Team and will again take part in the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race.
Micky Dymond is a two-time AMA Motocross Champion and an AMA Supermoto Champion. He was a pioneer of freestyle motocross and was instrumental in getting freestyle motocross into the X Games . He has also held the record and has been a class winner at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. After becoming an avid cyclist over the years, he has set his sites on racing RAAM on a 4-person relay team in 2014, and solo in 2015. Micky will also be competing in several supermoto races and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 2014 as part of the Ducati Factory Team.
Dave Mirra is the most successful X Games athlete of all time, competing in BMX and RallyCross. He is considered to be a true icon in the sport of BMX and making it a staple of the X Games. In addition to continuing RallyCross racing, Dave has recently turned his intense competitiveness to triathlons, finishing 4th in his first Half Ironman. He will be competing in Global RallyCross and more Half Ironmans in 2014.
David Zabriskie is one of the world's most popular cyclists not only for his raceresults , but also for his multifaceted ventures and his off-the-wall personality. Dave has posited himself as one of the best time trialists in the World. Recently retired, Dave still spends many days on the seat of the bicycle. Zabriskie was seriously injured when a car struck him during a training ride in in 2003. This prompted him to start the foundation Yield To Life, which he devotes much of his time to today.
I found out about this Race Across America by following Dave Mirra (GET IT!!) on Twitter and Instagram because of his training in Triathlons. So being someone who supports people in the community when I can I started to get information on this and I am following them on TRACTALIS. Not only are they competing in this race they are also riding for Dave Zavriskie's organization Yield To Life which brings awareness to safety on the road between cyclist and vehicles.
I will be adding updates thru out the next days till the race is over in all of my blog posts to let people know where they are in their ride and where they are placed. Thank you again for reading this and hopefully they inspire you to donate to their attempt.
My 24 and half hour 24 Hours of LeMans Journey Grind!/Dempsey Racing/Allan Simonsen Honored by win!
As I said in my blog http://40yroldgamingtriathlete.blogspot.com/2014/06/iracing-using-f1-williams-to-recover-sr.html , I have been watching the 24 Heures du Mans for the past 15 years or more. I would get up and swap out VCR tapes in the middle of the night so I would have the whole race recorded. But this year I would do something that I have never done before, stay up 24 hours and watch the whole race on Fox Sport 1 and 2!!!
Their coverage of the race started at 8:30 am on Saturday and ended at 9:30 am on Sunday. They had a break in coverage between 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm. So in between this time I switched over to RadioLeMans.com to listen to their coverage. So I got up at 8:15 am on Saturday to begin my Racing Grind. I completely forgot about the 30 minute pre-show before the flag waved at 9. SO THAT WAS 30 MINUTES THAT I COULD HAVE BEEN SLEEPING LOL. Fernando Alonso Ferrari F1 driver was the Tricolor waver, which in layman terms mean he waved the green flag. I was sitting up on the couch so excited for the next 24 hours of nothing but racing on TV. Now I can go on and give a some what detailed description of what happened every hour but instead I will just give my thoughts and impressions from the race.
The Toyota Driver of the #8 should not have been going that fast in the rain. I was a stupid mistake that took out the third Audi and come definitely have been avoided with a clear head. It is such a long race to be thinking that you could have gained that much in those conditions.
It was so good seeing Dempsey Racing sitting on pole of the GTE AM class at the start. Patrick Dempsey, Joe Foster and Patrick Long make up such a good team. Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster have been partners for a long time. Adding Patrick Long to the team for the second year is a no brainer. Do to an unfortunate penalty for spinning the tires the team dropped down to 6th and fought hard and steady to finish 5th this year. I look forward to seeing them there again next year. I think the strategy they had this year combine that with some good luck and we could be seeing the Winners of 2015 LeMans GTE AM class. Speaking of that class, it was very nice to see Allan Simonsen's team from last year win this year and honor he in doing so. In case you don't know Allan died last year on only the third lap of the 2013 LeMans driving for Aston Martin Racing. Aston Martin went on to withdraw after his death. So it was great seeing them on the top spot of the podium this year.
Having Porsche race in the LMP1 class this year brings more competition to Toyota and LeMans dominating Audi. The car looks great, unfortunately had some very bad luck at the end with Mark Webber's team car and lost the drivetrain. Can't wait till next year when Nissan joins back and racing in 2015.
So back to me and my Grind. At about 2 am I decided to get online and try and get some more of my SR back on iRacing. I was so jonesing to race after watching so much quality racing on TV. So I booted up the computer. Threw on my Piloti Lmp PRO 17 racing shoes, my Alpinestar Tech 1-ZX gloves and my Turtle Beach X12 headsets and I was ready to go. This is where I learned that I can not listen to the race on RadioLeMans.com and race a F1 car at Silverstone cause everytime I would hear the noise of the race in the background, I would think it was my car. Plus it made me realize how much I use sound to drive on iRacing. But it was still fun to get those laps in finally get back over 2.00 in SR. So after doing the math I realize that I would have to do 10 more time trials to get to 4.99. This is a learning experience and punishment at the same time. So next season season me and Jon have decided that, if we lose SR in a race that we will jump on the time trial to recover what we lost instead of thinking we would race our SR back up like we did this season. It is going to be long and tedious but a good learning experience. We are also contemplating using the Star Mazda practice to work on car control to get ready for the DW12 road series. I was very happy I watched the whole race and I also recorded it on my DVR. As soon as the cars crossed the finish line, I was asleep 5 minutes later. I am hope that next year I will be able to make a trip back to France and watch the race in person. If not I think I have found my 24 hour of LeMans tradition now, and that is Grinding out for 24 hours of Racing Bliss.
So thank you again for reading this post. I am still on the fence if I am going to do 1 or 2 more about this weekend. Definitely 1 more but possibly 2. Until a couple hours later for the next one LOL.
Their coverage of the race started at 8:30 am on Saturday and ended at 9:30 am on Sunday. They had a break in coverage between 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm. So in between this time I switched over to RadioLeMans.com to listen to their coverage. So I got up at 8:15 am on Saturday to begin my Racing Grind. I completely forgot about the 30 minute pre-show before the flag waved at 9. SO THAT WAS 30 MINUTES THAT I COULD HAVE BEEN SLEEPING LOL. Fernando Alonso Ferrari F1 driver was the Tricolor waver, which in layman terms mean he waved the green flag. I was sitting up on the couch so excited for the next 24 hours of nothing but racing on TV. Now I can go on and give a some what detailed description of what happened every hour but instead I will just give my thoughts and impressions from the race.
The Toyota Driver of the #8 should not have been going that fast in the rain. I was a stupid mistake that took out the third Audi and come definitely have been avoided with a clear head. It is such a long race to be thinking that you could have gained that much in those conditions.
It was so good seeing Dempsey Racing sitting on pole of the GTE AM class at the start. Patrick Dempsey, Joe Foster and Patrick Long make up such a good team. Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster have been partners for a long time. Adding Patrick Long to the team for the second year is a no brainer. Do to an unfortunate penalty for spinning the tires the team dropped down to 6th and fought hard and steady to finish 5th this year. I look forward to seeing them there again next year. I think the strategy they had this year combine that with some good luck and we could be seeing the Winners of 2015 LeMans GTE AM class. Speaking of that class, it was very nice to see Allan Simonsen's team from last year win this year and honor he in doing so. In case you don't know Allan died last year on only the third lap of the 2013 LeMans driving for Aston Martin Racing. Aston Martin went on to withdraw after his death. So it was great seeing them on the top spot of the podium this year.
Having Porsche race in the LMP1 class this year brings more competition to Toyota and LeMans dominating Audi. The car looks great, unfortunately had some very bad luck at the end with Mark Webber's team car and lost the drivetrain. Can't wait till next year when Nissan joins back and racing in 2015.
So back to me and my Grind. At about 2 am I decided to get online and try and get some more of my SR back on iRacing. I was so jonesing to race after watching so much quality racing on TV. So I booted up the computer. Threw on my Piloti Lmp PRO 17 racing shoes, my Alpinestar Tech 1-ZX gloves and my Turtle Beach X12 headsets and I was ready to go. This is where I learned that I can not listen to the race on RadioLeMans.com and race a F1 car at Silverstone cause everytime I would hear the noise of the race in the background, I would think it was my car. Plus it made me realize how much I use sound to drive on iRacing. But it was still fun to get those laps in finally get back over 2.00 in SR. So after doing the math I realize that I would have to do 10 more time trials to get to 4.99. This is a learning experience and punishment at the same time. So next season season me and Jon have decided that, if we lose SR in a race that we will jump on the time trial to recover what we lost instead of thinking we would race our SR back up like we did this season. It is going to be long and tedious but a good learning experience. We are also contemplating using the Star Mazda practice to work on car control to get ready for the DW12 road series. I was very happy I watched the whole race and I also recorded it on my DVR. As soon as the cars crossed the finish line, I was asleep 5 minutes later. I am hope that next year I will be able to make a trip back to France and watch the race in person. If not I think I have found my 24 hour of LeMans tradition now, and that is Grinding out for 24 hours of Racing Bliss.
So thank you again for reading this post. I am still on the fence if I am going to do 1 or 2 more about this weekend. Definitely 1 more but possibly 2. Until a couple hours later for the next one LOL.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
MIO Link Green lights Ride+Run/SLS3 Compression Sleeves/Planet of the Apes Podcast 2
So again I have failed all of you over the weekend by not posting each day. I say to myself on Saturday I will post about my Friday long ride and run and half of the 24 hours of LeMans. But then I am like well I don't want to post about LeMans till it is over. So then Sunday comes along and I realize 24 hours of LeMans is a post by itself. So here we are another 3 piece blog post spread out over 2 days lol.
I have been waiting all week to get my SLS3 FXC Compression Sleeves and on Friday they came in. I got them in Lime Green to go with my Lime Green New Balance shoes and my MIO Link shirt with the logo in lime green. Yes you have to coordinate your attire lol. So off I go to my 70 min ride with a run after the abs workout out. I didn't make it half way into the gym to someone was stopping me asking me about my Link and the SLS3 Sleeves. It feels good hopefully helping companies that support their community. I thought to myself that I would really push this ride to see if the Sleeves work. So I did 45 mins of the workout at 95 rpm rather than the normal 83. My MIO Link looked at me smiled and gave me the green light the whole time I was keeping it at 95 rpm. It is so easy to keep track of which zone you are in. And no uncomfortable chest strap to worry about. Women take note of you are using a chest strap and how annoying it is. This is the answer. Felt so good on the ride, didn't get any of the micro cramps that I got before on my long ride. Still too early to definitely say the Sleeves helped. I will have a more specific detailed post just about the SLS3 Sleeves after next week's workout. But that was the best I felt getting off the bike.
On to the run after another one of my brutal ab workouts. Thinking next week I am going to push it to 20 reps then after that go to 2 sets of 20/10. Run was great, getting better with managing my HR and keeping it some what in the green. Still saw a lot of Red Flashing at me from my Link. Left foot was great. Ice rolled it with the magically frozen jelly jars of recovery lol.
And finally before I go for this one, which thinking about it might be 4 post this time I wanted to give another shout out to my Brother and his friend with Planet of the Apes podcast. If you have iTunes it is in there to download but here is the link to episode 2 http://goapepodcast.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-first-official-episode-of-pota.html?m=1 please just take a listen just to support upcoming Podcasters.
Stay tuned for the next ones coming tomorrow.
Friday, June 13, 2014
iRacing: Using F1 Williams to recover SR/ 24 hrs of LeMans 23 hr Weekend Grind!!
So after taking a huge beating in Safety Rating (SR) by racing the Skippy at Brands Hatch, We have decided to use the Time Trial to build it back up to A4.99. Now in order to do this, Jon and I are going to have to do almost 200 laps in the F1 car at Silverstone this weekend. If we don't get all the Time Trials done this weekend, then we will have to do the F1 car next week at Suzuka (which I love and Jon hates LOL). I did my first Time Trial last night. The Time Trials are 30 minutes long and you need to get at least 4 clean laps to get on the leaderboard for Time Trials. However we are using this as a way to build our SR back up. So we are having to look at this as punishment for trying to race our SR back up. Also from a mentality stand point, I am now a test driver for a F1 racing team LOL. It is going to be at least 13 to 15 Time Trials to build up to where we need to be. The good thing is that once you hit a whole number on SR ie. 2.00, 3.00, 4.00 you gain .5 instantly. So when you hit 2.00, you go to 2.50, 3.0 goes to 3.5 etc. That will definitely help make the jump to 4.99 and keep my A license. If your SR goes below 1.00 you will lose your license and drop from A to B, B to C etc. F1 is the most detailed time consuming series in iRacing. It is the series that you can actually get a pro license in and compete for $10,500 each year. So needless to say all I did was make a setup that would be very stable and let me run lap after lap. 8 secs off the leaders time from last season is okay with me to build my SR back up. Most people who start racing the F1 start out anywhere from 6 to 10 seconds off the fastest time. It is just how it is with this series. Then each season you take off a couple of seconds. Well I will be having 2 grinds this weekend. First one I will be doing tonight will be the F1 SR Grind, the second one will be something I have never done.
The 24 hours of LeMans weekend grind will be attempted this weekend. Now a little bit of information about me and the 24 hours of LeMans, I have been watching this race for over 13 yrs. Back when VCRs where still being used, I would record the whole thing on Speedvision. I would set my alarm to go off a couple of times in the middle of the night so that I can swap out VCR tapes before they ran out. Yes that dedicated LOL. But what I have never done was watch every minute of every hour of the race that was televised. But this weekend between Fox Sport 1 and Fox Sport 2, I am going for the 24hr of LeMans 23 hour grind! The only hour that is not going to be on TV is the 5 to 6pm time slot. I am excited to see if I can do this. That means if I go anywhere during the day on Saturday, I will be wearing my headphones and listening to RadioLeMans to make up for not being able to watch it. I am excited to get up at 8:00 Saturday morning and watch this great event for 24 hours. Seeing Porsche race again is going to be excited. Of course I will be checking Twitter as well as watching just to get more detailed information about all the teams I follow on Twitter. I will let you know who I am doing on my Saturday and Sunday blog post.
Again I can't say enough about how much it means to me for people all over the country to take their time and read my blog post. Thank you and many more to come.
The 24 hours of LeMans weekend grind will be attempted this weekend. Now a little bit of information about me and the 24 hours of LeMans, I have been watching this race for over 13 yrs. Back when VCRs where still being used, I would record the whole thing on Speedvision. I would set my alarm to go off a couple of times in the middle of the night so that I can swap out VCR tapes before they ran out. Yes that dedicated LOL. But what I have never done was watch every minute of every hour of the race that was televised. But this weekend between Fox Sport 1 and Fox Sport 2, I am going for the 24hr of LeMans 23 hour grind! The only hour that is not going to be on TV is the 5 to 6pm time slot. I am excited to see if I can do this. That means if I go anywhere during the day on Saturday, I will be wearing my headphones and listening to RadioLeMans to make up for not being able to watch it. I am excited to get up at 8:00 Saturday morning and watch this great event for 24 hours. Seeing Porsche race again is going to be excited. Of course I will be checking Twitter as well as watching just to get more detailed information about all the teams I follow on Twitter. I will let you know who I am doing on my Saturday and Sunday blog post.
Again I can't say enough about how much it means to me for people all over the country to take their time and read my blog post. Thank you and many more to come.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
MIO Link gave me the green light :-)/Legends of the Road tackle RAAM
What a great workout yesterday. Had a short 35 minute ride, then abs and run so I decided after last week's short ride that I would incorporate sprints into my short ride but still make sure to keep it in the green zone on my MIO Link.
So I did more reading about MAF training. I came across the www.philmaffetone.com website who is considered the creator of MAF training plus in my search I found out that 1 of Phil's students was Mark Allen 6 time Kona Ironman champion. And on Mark's website I found this article http://www.markallenonline.com/maoArticles.aspx?AID=2 which really goes into detail some what on the training. Phil Maffetone has a great book from what I have heard called The Big Book of Endurance and Racing. Which I will be getting very soon to help me with my training. Now according to the article on Mark Allen's website this can be used for all endurance training. So with keeping my heart rate the same both bike and run is great. On the bike 5 minute warm up, then into the sprints. 3:30 minute sprints with 3:30 rest period between sprints. By using the formula my zone is 140 to 130 bpm again both for the run and bike. So for the sprints I doubled the resistance from 3 to 6 then back down for the rest periods. 100 rpm during the sprints and my normal long ride pace of 80 rpm during the rest period. Man what a blast it was! Pushing my body to a place where it hasn't been before while keeping it in my Maximum Aeorbic Factor training. Seeing the light on my Link flash green to light red but making sure not to push it past to solid red. It felt great to push my body to this area where it hadn't been before. Sweating and a tad out of breath during each sprint was amazing. I would get down into the tuck position during the sprints which actually help keeping the cadence at 100 rpm. Friday will be my long ride of 70 minutes. I will make sure to take my X2 performance to see what difference it will make since I didn't get a chance to last ride.
For people who might be interested in what my ab workout is: bicycle, corkscrew, double crunch crossover, hip raises, jackknife crossover, Heel touches, Side plank rotations. No rest, start out with 10 reps each and then add more reps as it gets easier in groups of 5. So 10 to 15 to 20 reps etc. This will cause you to go into your green zone or even higher lol. From there it was on to the run.
Now again I CAN PROUDLY SAY I AM A RUNNER CAUSE I LOVE IT! But I am still starting from no base so I have not got to very far distance yet but I am still proud cause everyone starts from the ground level. However, I have got to learn on check my ego at the door with my run. And it isn't really that. I love to run now and want to run. But in order to stay in the zone, I have to pretty much walk at a fast pace to stay in it. So I am up in the air about what to do regarding the walk or run tell my Aeorbic base is built. More than likely I will use the training to keep my running in the zone and just check it at the door. Love the changes I am seeing inward and outward in me. I am starting to see abs in places where i have dreamed of having them :-).
Now on to a huge shout out to: The Legends of the Road! Ben Bostrom, Micky Dyamond, David Zabriskie and my friend Dave Mirra will start this Saturday in the Race Across America or the RAAM. Please if you have a chance check out the website http://www.thelegendsoftheroad.com. It is a race from coast to coast of the USA. This the 32 year of the race and to give you an example it is 30% longer than the Tour de France. Thanks to their many sponsors for allowing them to do this.
Again thank you for reading my blog and following me on this journey.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Spawn trap: how to play with no skill COD:Ghost.
Yes this is another rant about players (not gamers) in COD Ghost. I have recently started switching up my game type from drop zone to try some tactics at Blitz. Having watched the top 8 teams in the country play at XGames in Austin Tx, I have seen many games of Blitz to think to myself I can incorporate my defensive style of gaming to help out the people score while I clear out our base and try and hold them back from scoring. So as I always have done, I think about each map that you can play Blitz on and try and come up with load outs that would be best for different situations. So a very in your face map to a map that is wide open. Which perks will a person defending a base do best with? They won't sprint a lot but will need to be fast to cover the different lanes. Which lethal or tactical equipment would be best? Which killstreaks etc? So after building what I think it the best loadouts for 5 different scenarios. Here we go! First game start out at Warhawk. Not bad go even. Drop a perk that didn't really do anything add one that might help. Next whiteout, trade 1 for 1 re spawn take 2 steps killed. Re spawn take 4 steps get killed. I think to myself game is spawning me real close to the other team for some reason. That game I go a little negative. Next map Sovereign. Defend is a good little distance away. Sprint, lay out lethals, start covering corners take out 2 then die. Re spawn no steps killed, re spawn killed, re spawn killed. Think to myself where is everyone else oh wait I respawned with someone both killed instantly. What the cap is going on. Then I check to see how bad my kill ratio is in game. It is only me on my team. I am not a quitter! 6 kills 41 deaths later. Never taking more than 2 steps after respawning. I think to myself how does a team that can lock down all the spawn points and just shoot people when they spawn say they have skill? How can that be fun for them? I look at this game as a game of skill and tactics not padding your K/D ratio. That again is why I still feel like the K/D ratio is not a good way to judge someone's skill. You need to go for the caps in Blitz but you also need someone to defend. So if you spawn trap and go 41 and 6 that is almost an 8.00 K/D but put them in SnD and see how they do!! Oh and don't even try to play on Freefall and the other players (I don't say gamers cause a gamer plays with the intention of playing with skill not padding stats) have the spawn trap. I have always said "I would not just leave in the middle of a match if we were losing" even though I don't know the people I am playing with I still look as it as a team and you don't leave your team. But once I realize the non skill players have trapped the spawns I am out cause it isn't fun anymore. And how can it be fun for the other team? It takes no skill what so ever to do that. Just run straight to the points and start shooting. I stuck it out and had some really great games just playing defense. Usually because of kills, killstreaks, and defense bonus I finish in the middle while letting others get the glory for caps. So I have stuck it out, still hoping for the day when I get with 4 other people that play seriously on a regular basis. Till that day comes, I will stick with the way I want to play. To play in a way that could make it on a competitive team.
Again thanks again, if you feel the same way please let me know. If you think I am crying or complaining, I might have hit a nerve. If this is how you play, I would bet you have C4 in your loadouts as well.
KEEP GRINDING ON!!
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Treadmill how I have missed you/Mio Link all I saw was red flashing lol
A little background about me and running. I USE TO HATE IT!! It probably comes from having to get up at 4:30 Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning at The Citadel when I was a freshman. Mandatory knob PT was the worst. So you associate punishment to running very quickly. So a huge major part of Triathlon is running go figure lol. So what did I do to change my mentality?
Honestly I just said to myself this is part of what I have to do so suck it up and do it! And the strangest thing happened, it worked. After about a month of running I got hit with the wonderful Plantar Fasciitis and took 2 weeks off but added additional 5 miles to my bike rides to try and keep up whatever endurance I gained with my running. I was absolutely shocked what the mind can do. I missed running so much. I would walk into the gym and walk passed all the treadmills and would actually be a little sad cause I wasn't going to be able to run. Don't get me wrong I love being on the bike. I think that comes from years of watching The Tour De France both on TV and twice in person. But for me to actually be sad that I couldn't run was just against every fiber of my body. So when yesterday 2 weeks had past and I felt like my left foot had recovered from the plantar, I was smiling ear to ear when I got off the bike. I did my ab workout as soon as I got off the bike and went to the treadmill.
Old treadmill how I have missed you so much! I felt so good to start that up and watching my bright green shoes going in a little blur lol. Heart pounding, breathing hard and sweat pouring down lol. When I got done left foot was great, absolutely no pain what so ever. Now while I was letting the foot heal, I did purchase a set of insoles for plantar fasciitis which I have been using everyday in every shoe I wear. Plus when I got done and got home I went right away and grab a jar of frozen strawberry jam in a glass round jar and rolled in under my foot for 15 minutes. Before you ask the jar of jam was so old it wasn't good lol. Feet feel great today and I am so looking forward to Wednesdays workout especially the run. When I realized so much I missed running I realized at that moment, I AM A RUNNER!!
Now on to the red light flashing at me the whole run lol. Like I have said before, you use the Mio GO app to set your training zones for what you are doing. And on the bike for me that is 117 to 135 for an aerobic zone workout. Which is used to build endurance. MIO Link set and off we go. I will say that that was the first time that I kept my ride in that zone the whole time. It felt so good to look on my wrist and see the little light flashing green. You can check it out of the corner of your eye and see how you are doing. Which I am only a month and half into my triathlon training, I am not trying to break any kind of records just building up a base. The stationary bike that I am using to get my seat time and miles on is more than your usual stationary bike. It has multiple adjustments so I have the bike configured for me. But the main thing that is very beneficial is that you can't coast cause it is actually a spin class bike. So for like my long ride when it is 70 minutes plus 5 miles when I couldn't run, it was an hour and 41 minutes of non stop pedaling. I won't know how that breaks down on a road bike when you can coast as rest.
Anyway back on to the flashing light lol. So I got done with the bike and went to the treadmill. Using my MAF training zones, I figured my aerobic zone to be 135 to 125 to be safe. I changed my training zone on my MIO Link and since I was just coming back from my plantar problem I wanted to go slow. So I set it for almost 2 minute pace slower than what I was running before I got hurt. 15 steps into the run. BRIGHT RED FLASHING LIGHT LOL. Okay I have exceeded my zone and have to back it down. So I started slowing the pace down to get in my zone. Now the best thing to do when you go to the gym is CHECK YOUR EGO at the door. However that is so hard to do. I already couldn't wait to get back to running but in order to get into my zone I had to walk. I just couldn't do it for my first day back. So I realized that I needed to get more information regarding MAF training which I have started doing more research by joining the MAF training group on Google+ thanks to Fred Lechuga which I follow on Google+. So what I did was try to keep my heart rate as close to the top of the zone as possible. Which was still 20 beats per minute more than it should be. So I am hoping to have more information by my next run on Wednesday. But I can not say enough how good it felt to run again.
Again thank you so much for taking valuable time out of your day and reading this blog. Please like or share or re tweet if you like it. Till tomorrow with iRacing and COD: Ghost grind.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Final part 3: COD GHOST at XGames/Why Evil Geniuses is still the team to beat.
The last part of the weekend was glued to my phone watching MLG.tv stream of the COD Ghost invitational at the XGames. I am not going to cover each team just the ones that stuck with me or struck a nerve with me.
It was great seeing Team Kailber make it to the final medal round. Like they said you don't see them much up at the very top. They played well together and really celebrated as a team when there was a victory and when there was a defeat. It was the first time I have watched them play and I will be looking to watch them again to play again on MLG.tv.
Team Envy was very calm and collected and played some very good plays in the tournament. It shows why they are always in the top tier of the major tournaments. I will watch them as well when I see them on MLG.tv.
My boys of Evil Geniuses! Did they win, no. Did everyone think they would? People thought they would be in the finals but here is where it gets crazy. Who people thought would win came down to just popularity not skill but more on that later. @EGCrimsix @EGDKarma @EGTeep @EGAchespp still are the destiny that they have created. You don't win one tournament and you become the best.....oh wait you do if it is the COD Championship which Evil Geniuses did. They should not hang their heads in shame or defeat. They will still be the ones to beat at Anaheim. I think that when you are on the top for so long that it takes a little coming down to earth to get the fire going to take your game to an even higher level. I will still support EVIL GENIUSES!
And finally Team Optic, The Green wall or wall of unwarranted arrogance. Yeah they were predicted to win cause they are the favorite team cause they are always on MLG.tv playing some COD, Mine craft, Mario kart etc. They have figured out how to make the world of eSport into a popularity contest overlooking skill for likes. If it took you 4 yrs to win a tournament there is a reason. Everyone will have a bad tournament, if the planets align and you have your best tournament while everyone else had bad tournaments then you will leave. Now let's see if they back it up with another win this year. I am hoping and predict they won't.
For me it is back to the grind. Drop Zone, increasing my K/D ratio but playing for the objective. I still feel like if you take 4 people and come up with sound tactics that you practice and practice over and over you can compete competitively against the top teams. I am just looking for that group of people willing to take on the challenge. Thinking of maybe incorporating some Blitz into my gaming. I think with the way I play Base Defense would be best. So I will be trying out different load outs while playing Blitz and only play cover for my base.
This weekend part 2: iRacing To some it is more than a game/Netcode & Terrible drivers
I am going to go ahead to say, I have been with iRacing for 2 years. I love it! I am unfortunately at this time not able to race real cars so this is the second best thing that is out there. If you are not familiar with iRacing there is a quick overview: it is a online simulation using both oval and road cars and tracks. From the Legends cars to F1 they have it all. Computer generated cars taken from CAD files, manufacturers telemetry, and pictures that they actually take of the cars. Adjustments from just the shocks all the way to differential settings, transmission settings to every single aerodynamic wing on the car. Unlike other racing sims, they actually take laser scans of the tracks instead of taking GPS points like the other ones. The laser scan is so detailed that if there is a moth that flies in front of the scanner it copies that. So the tracks are the most detailed there is.
So let's get to the title of this blog. Skip Barber Formula cars were at Brands Hatch. Indy oval fixed was at Texas which keeps it in line with the real Verizon Indy Car Series. Me and my teammate Jon Carrigan are always in the top 10% fastest drivers overall. So this race we decided to race together, I started on the pole and he started second. Great start for both of us. As always one of the faster ones who didn't qualify was in this race. Not really go to do a turn by turn cause by the time I raged quit I couldn't remember anything except for what caused me to get out. I am in 3rd position fighting to get back to second. Coming into turn 4 coming up on last racer who was always a lap down. Now in most situations, the lapped person either brakes early or lifts or lets the ones who are still on the lead lap pass them. But not this guy!! Going into turn 4 he decides to slam the door on me, hitting me in the front left wing and spinning me out. I lose it! "You aren't even on the lead lap or racing anyone!" I yell. His reply even now just amazes me that someone could be this stupid "I was racing so and so who is 10 seconds ahead of me. I am trying to catch him". After that my race was crap. I couldn't even concentrate. Couple of laps later again a lapped car spins in turn three I go high but the car in font of me goes low clips the spun car which pushes it into me and I just quit. Absolutely disguested! And on top of that since both cars where overseas and their ping was so bad, no damage to their cars but mine is destroyed. Teammate Jon fighting for 4th having 2 cars behind him that can't pass him on the finally lap. Instead of them just finishing the race in 5th and 6th, one takes it upon themself to just run into the back of him and take him out. Now on to Indy!
After 200 laps go practice plus 2 laps of qualifying, I feel that I am ready to race Indy Fixed at Texas. That is how I get ready for a race. Many many people take this type of racing seriously and I don't want to be the one that ruins their race. So I sign up, get a couple of warm up laps then grid. On the WARM UP lap I get hit from behind by someone obviously not paying attention to what is going on. I am so shocked that I can't even say a word. Rear wing bent up I find out after looking at the replay. Again he has a terrible ping, no damage to his car. We start the race going into turn 1, I witness the worst netcode that I have ever seen. The car in front of me "hits" the car below him it throws him up the track right into me and moron behind me doesn't even try and avoid me and plows right into me. I lose it again. "How can you hit someone on the warm up?!" All I get is "sorry". "if you can't handle paying attention at 70 miles per hour just go back to legend" His response " it is just a game". I am going to cover the "hit" before my rant lol. There was a whole car width between the lower car and the car in front of me but the game coded that they hit each other! It was unbelievable to say the least! Now to rant!
To most people on iRacing it is more than just a game. They put in hours and hours of practice, use programs with telemetry to get the best setups possible (using the same programs that top tier professional race teams use, it cost us money every month to race not even the fact that every track and car that we have we had to pay for that as well. To race against people who don't take it seriously is just a disservice to us commuted iRacers. If you just want to play a game get Forza or Grand Tourismo and have fun. But not come in and ruin someone who is racing for a championship against 400 other racers!! Even if the wreck isn't your fault your Safety Rating takes a hit. So now because of a hand full of idiots, me and Jon have to do a ton of Time Trails to get our Safety Rating back up to a level that can withstand the moron drivers. So what we have decided to do is to run Time Trails in a car that we feel like it will be the best for us to up our SR. For me this will be the Skippy. I feel like this is the best car to learn car handling and car control. And we will race Indy Fixed Oval for the rest of this season. Next season the Indy cars goes from the 2005 version to the DW12. So we will be racing the DW12 in both road and oval. I think this is the car that we can both fight for the championship in our division. With Jon's huge engineering background and the great telemetry analysis programs we can do it. But iRacing needs to fix it's netcode issue with people overseas joining an American server. And some of the racers use this to their advantage.
Again thank you guys for reading this one as well. I will have one more to cover one last thing that I did this weekend then on to today.
Longest ride yet with Mio Link/Thank you to these people/Planet of the Ape Podcast
So I am sitting here on the couch thinking to myself, how do I cover this whole weekend in my blog since I didn't do it one day at a time. I decided that I would cover each thing that happen this weekend with its own post. So the first one will be about my training on Friday night.
It was my long ride of the week and also the longest so far of my training 75 minutes plus 5 miles (still making up for not being able to run). I strapped on my Mio Link, had my Gatorade + Prime Nutrition EAA Watermelon all mixed up in my bottle and completely forgot to take the X2 Performance. So I will have to wait for next Friday to take it with my next long ride. Got on the bike at Pivotal after making sure everything was set up, plugged in my training zones into the Mio GO app so that I would stay in Zone 2 for the whole ride. And off I started pedaling keeping my cadence between 80 and 85 rpm. One thing that some people might not think about is sitting on a very skinny seat for almost 2 hrs and not having a lot of natural padding lol. I have built up the tolerance of riding in the saddle to about 45 mind now without any kind of discomfort. But at about 45 to 50 minutes it begins. So I had another issue with sitting on a skinny seat that I finally found out a fix for. Not to get to detailed let's just say sitting on a bike seat for awhile can make a certain male specific area go numb lol. Now by going from a seated position to the aero tuck position has fixed that interesting issue. And from what I also found out was that it can help with the saddle soreness of long rides. Stayed in the target zone, took nice swigs of the Gatorade + EAA every 10 mins to stay hydrated and just got into a rhythm while listening to Pandora. Once I hit the last 2 miles of the +5 miles, I was struggling for sure. I don't know if the X2 Performance might have helped or not. It wasn't an energy thing, it was small little cramps in the back of my legs and just being so uncomfortable in the rear area from sitting for that long. But rides like these is what pushes our body to go further and further each time. 19.2 miles was the farthest I have gone so far and felt so proud and excited for going that far. Starting Monday I am going back to riding then going straight to the treadmill for a run. I am amazed to say this but I can't wait to get back to running. Again I am taking that very slow to not get injured and I will incorporating the motion of slower is faster training. So I will be using the Heart Rate Training by Dr. Philip Maffetone. It is used to develop the Aerobic system first before working on the Anaerobic system.
Many of people that I would like the thank for motivation and inspiration!
Stephanie Stephens Johnson is such an inspiration and motivated person. Mother of 2 who is also training for Triathlons, Marathons, and UltraRunning. Find her blog under her tag on all social media RunTriMom! Glad to call her a social media friend.
Tammy Hassenpflug is another great woman that shows amazing strength and will to compete in Triathlons and brings motivation to many people.
Dave Mirra is another one that most people know already from BMX competition, XGames, Global Rally Cross and Rally Racing. He has been training and racing triathlons as his new sport to take on. Following his Twitter and Instagram accounts have been keeping me motivated. And it doesn't hurt that he liked a couple of pics that I posted on Instagram lol.
Rowena De Belligny (I hope I got that right) and Mio Global together!! She is also a mother and Mio Global brand ambassador ( which one day I hope I get that title) and a top age grouper in the Pacific Asian triathlon races. Such a great blog to follow like RunTriMom's. Rowena's blog is ironmummy.com. Please look at her blog too.
And now something completely off topic. My brother @savagegm and his best friend @aberandall have started a podcast about The Planet of the Apes whole lineup of movies, books, comics, and TV show. You can find them at
http://goapepodcast.blogspot.com/2014/06/episode-0-dawn-of-podcast.html?m=1 listen in if you liked or still like anything that has to do with Planet of the Apes both old and new alike.
Well thank you so much for taking the time and reading this again. I will be posting other blogs with what else happened this weekend and of course stay up to date from now on so this doesn't happen again lol. It is a learning process.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Getting stopped twice @ gym cause of my Mio Link/ X2 Performance does it work?/ Prime Nutrition Recovery/RunTriMom
UYesterday's workout was a short 25 minute plus the usually 5 miles that I have added to make up for not being able to run. So I didn't get any blue the first workout with the Link cause I had my zones set on Running Zones. So after figuring out mathematically my max HR (I know I should do a true test but I am still learning), I decided to add sprints for the 25 min part. So I did 2 minute 30 second sprints at 95 cadence then 5 min "rest" at 80 cadence at half the resistance as the sprints. One thing that was very interesting was when I was bent over in the aero tuck position the Link would be showing that I was in my target zone but if I kept the speed the same and sat up with my arms straight on the bars it would go to the red. That was very interesting. It was great being able to just catch out of the corner of eye the light blinking letting me know what zone I was in. I was stopped by 2 people at the gym asking me about the Link cause they have heard it but never seen one in person. They loved it and said they would be picking one up. Women if you are reading this and want to get started in HR training, PICK one up. No chaffing under the chest region. I am friends on Facebook, follow on Twitter, Instagram, and her Blog Stephanie Johnson (@runtrimom), she is such a motivational person. I told her about the Link and how it doesn't rub the sensitive area on women and she sounded like she jumped all over it. So good to spread the word of a great company to people. Today ride will be 75 minutes plus 5 miles and will be at the lower zone so I will see blue today lol. I will start on Monday tracking my resting HR by putting the Link on as soon as I wake up.
It has been a little hard to judge if X2 performance is working or not. I definitely feel like I have more energy while I am working out but they have been short workouts. Today's long ride should give me I very good idea how it works. There are two good things that I know for sure. I am more focused during training and it doesn't not keep me awake with the natural caffeine. Can't wait to try it again tonight. I have 1 left from the samples that were sent to me. On their website it did say that some people have to build up taking it to feel it's full effect.
I can't say enough about the great people at Pine Nutrition. Even though their products and their backgrounds are for the fitness/bodybuilding area. You can use them for endurance training. Since I have been mixing their EAA with my Gatorade during rides, then taking their Glutamine with Gatorade, I have felt hardly any DOMS the day after. Since today will be the longest ride that I have done Saturday will be a huge test. But I have faith in their products. Go to their website www.primenutrition.com and check out what they have for you.
Again thank you so much for reading this, it means a lot for you to take the time out of your day and look at this.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Why I subscribed to EGCrimsix/iRacing at Brands Hatch in Skippy/COD:Ghost
If you look at my other post EGCrimsix shows why he is on the World Championship Team Evil Geniuses! http://40yroldgamingtriathlete.blogspot.com/2014/06/egcrimsix-shows-why-he-is-on-world.html, you can see that I am very impressed with Ian and his interaction with his followers on Twitch and Twitter. I have been watching his stream on Twitch now for a couple of days. Great content, again interaction with his fans and he is dedicated to constantly improving his gaming skill. Last night was 2 days away from the XGames in Austin and while Ian and Evil Geniuses where trying to get a Scrim games going for some practice (which they couldn't which tells me other teams are not practicing) another team was streaming the new Mario Kart game. So it is that kind of dedication to improving the teams skill that also has me impressed. And people wonder why EG is the reigning Champions. I watched and liked about 5 YouTube videos that he has on his YouTube channel. They were very informative and i can't wait to get home tonight and add what i learned to my practice. Please stop by there and subscribe to it. And go to his Twitch channel and support him with a monthly subscription like I did. You will not be disappointed at all. Can not wait till tomorrow and the live streaming of the first time ever COD:GHOST will be at a major non eSport Sporting event like XGames.
Let me tell you about iRacing. Me and my teammate Jon Carrigan did some more practice and then qualified at 9:45 pm so we would have a time for the 10:15 pm race. Got the 4th fastest time in my division so far so I am very happy with my time. Had 2 other people that were higher division than me and qualified a little faster than I did. I watched one of the drivers laps to learn from that was just .3 secs faster than me. So into the 10:15pm race, the 2 guys that were faster than me and my teammate from qualifying were ahead of me. I started 3rd with Jon starting 4th and behind Jon was someone that we know is overseas so has a terrible ping and has run up the back of a couple of drivers a few times and doesn't get any damage from doing it while taking the driver he runs all over out. So get the start fighting for 2nd coming out of 2nd, I was generous and gave way for turn 3 going into turn 4, gave him some room behind him. Now I watched at least 5 laps of his from qualifying and he took turn 4 very smoothly, how ever this time he decided to get hit the brakes in the middle of the turn which he never did before and the first place guy didn't even slow down. Very interesting and convient since it made me have to slam on the brakes which caused me to spin. Can you say brake check? So I spin Jon has to slow down, then here comes Mr. Drive all over you. He slams into the back of Jon and just destroys his car. And the damage to the rammer......NOTHING! I HATE HIGH PING DRIVERS! All of them use to as an unfair advantage. So I get towed and fixed and back out 1 lap down. Out of 11 I finished 8th. And ironically stayed ahead of the second place driver who brake checked me in turn 4 and actually pulled away from him. So ironic if you ask me. Oh well put him down on the studied list and move on. Some people race with honor someone people have to drive dirty to overcome lack of skill.
Didn't get to the gym yesterday, wasn't the greatest day for me so just wanted to move my workout 1 day just to relax and chill out. But will definitely get to the gym tonight. It is a missing feeling when I do something like that. I am getting my cycle zones to out into my MIO Link. Stay tuned for more to come.
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