Like most of the triathlon universe, I spent a good part of this past Saturday glued to my computer screen... watching the world's best long-distance triathletes race in Kona at the Ironman World Championships.
This race inspires me every year. Over the years, there are more memorable moments than I can list - Julie Moss's crawl across the line, Chris Legh's stumble and collapse 50 meters from the line, the Welch/Ingraham double crawl, Dick and Ricky Hoyt, the famous Jon Blais roll,... I could go on and on.
This year was full of drama once again, but this time I didn't have to wait for the edited NBC coverage to take it all in. Thanks to Universal Sports great online coverage, I was able to watch the drama of the race unfold in real-time.
Let's just say, I was hugely inspired by some of the performances this year. Chris Leito in particular put in a hugely courageous effort... riding off the front and hanging on his lead all the way until Mile 21 of the run. Let's just say I was yelling, "Come on, man, you can do it!!" at my computer screen, much to the amusement of my kids. Of course, many kudos to the winners, Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington. Alexander showed a champion's poise and ran a brilliant marathon to overtake Lieto and repeat as champ. And Wellington... well, she is simply on another level right now. Wow.
Also, some big-time props to Ian Mikelson, a fellow age-grouper that I had the pleasure of meeting at Wildflower this year. He uncorked a 9:09, 4th American overall. Sick. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my other Kona peeps... Mr. Fix and Darcy G who both rocked the course with some fantastic performances.
Starting the climb up San Elijo Road in San Marcos, CA.
This next pic was taken while descending Champagne Road/Old 395, just east of I-15 in east San Diego County. I was going about 35 mph. Not that smart..I was trying to get the speed reading on the Garmin and the road ahead in the shot... didn't work out though.
At the base of the climb up Old Castle Road near Valley Center, CA which is inland north county San Diego.
Yesterday, I wrapped a nice 4 week training block. I only have training log data since 2005 but I am pretty sure that it is the biggest 4 weeks of training I've done since I started triathlon. That's even counting back in 1997-1998 when I did two Ironman races. I was not a big volume guy then (and am not now), so for me this is somewhat uncharted territory.
some stats: swim - 14,650m, 4:20 bike - 523 miles, 29:01 run - 155 miles, 19:22 total time - 52:43 (13:10 avg. per week)
The good news is that I feel pretty fresh. There have been a few workouts where I feel flat and tired, but those are typically followed by sessions where things are firing on all cylinders and I feel very strong. I'm way ahead of where I was last year at this stage so I'm excited about that.
There is lots of work yet to be done, but I'm allowing myself to dream a little bit.
A quick summary of my race day. It pretty much sucked so I'll skip the usual preamble and get into it.
Swim, 31:04. My worst swim ever in a half-ironman. As normal, I lined up front right and made a beeline for the first buoy. My usual approach is to swim about 50 strokes (roughly 100m) hard then settle to a rhythm. I did that and as I got the buoy and started to dial back the pace, I felt my heart start to race and felt very out of breath. Even though I was breathing every other stroke, I just couldn't get enough air. I pulled up briefly and very quickly realized that if I paused for much more than a few seconds, I was going to get swam over by my entire wave. So I made a 90 degree turn and swam about 20 yards water polo style to get some clear water, where I just rolled over on my back and tried to gather myself. I was breathing like I was running a 100 yard dash and for the first time ever in a race, I started looking around for the lifeguard. After a minute or so, my breathing became more regular and I decided to press on. Every couple hundred yards or so, I would start to get short of breath again and when this happened, I pulled up... took a few deep breaths and continued. The end of the swim didn't come fast enough... I was glad as hell to be getting out of the water. I honestly thought I swam closer to 35 or 40 minutes... maybe I cut a buoy or something. I walked up the ramp and debated with myself whether to pull the plug or not. But, I seemed to be feeling a little better and what the hell, I paid my entry fee, might as well see the bike course. It was a very slow transition... I just calmly got out of my wetsuit and got my bike stuff on. No rush. Bike - 2:56. After the miserable episode in the water, I just got on the bike and started pedaling easy... about the same effort as a training ride. When I pressed the pace even a little bit, my breathing rate would speed up again so I said F that and just took it easy. I noticed about 20 miles into the ride, my shoulders were getting tired in the aero position, so I was shifting around more than usual. After the race, I noticed that my saddle had tilted down slightly (probably from a bump). Figures. Aside from that, I just tried to ride steady... no big efforts and took every opportunity to let the heart rate drop on the flats and downhills. No problems really going up Nasty Grade, I just rode it in my smallest gear (39x27) and spun. Run - 2:04. Two freakin' hours, I'm still shaking my head at this. It felt more like four. The wheels fell off completely. Ran the first 3 miles at about 8 min pace. Got to the big hill at mile 4 and my HR and breathing rate went through the roof. It wasn't a feeling of increased exertion, it was more like my body didn't know how to react to any change in effort level. Walked nearly a mile, jogged from mile 5 through Redondo Vista to mile 8. Walked (again!) up the little hill before the descent into the pit. Ran all the way down to the mile 10 turnaround and walked back up. Managed a weak jog/walk from mile 11 to the top of Lynch Hill and then ran the rest of the way home down the hill. Final result was 5:39. By far my worst half ironman result ever and 32 min slower than last year. 55 min slower than Oceanside just five weeks ago. I'm at a loss. While training has not been ideal, there was nothing that would have led me to believe that I would fall apart like this. Leading up the race, I was feeling more tired than usual, but I chalked that up to allergies. Now, I am suspecting there is more to it. Very disappointed in this.
The truth about long-distance triathlon (or any endurance sport, for that matter) is that you can't fake fitness. Sure, if you are reasonably fit and have some raw talent, you can go fast at a shorter distance. But a half-ironman is too long to fake it, no matter who you are. So, I started the race with a solid base of swim training, some good work done on the bike, but nowhere near the consistency I would have liked to have in my run training. Life, sickness, the occasional little injury... it happens. Based on the above, my race pretty panned out exactly how I thought it would. Swim - 27:41. My best split in a half-ironman by about 30 seconds and my first time under 28 min. My swim training fell off a bit over the last month, so if I can keep up the frequency that I had over the winter, I am sure I can get down in the 26's. The swim itself was uneventful, aside from getting once kicked in the stomach and again in the mouth when I swam over some slower swimmers (hey, it happens). The stomach kick actually hurt, I had to flip over and do a few strokes of backstroke to catch my breath. Got into transition, did the switch into my bike gear and was off. I still need to work on my transition speed. 3:58... geez, you'd think I stopped for a cup of coffee while I was in there. Bike - 2:36:42 (21.44mph). About a minute slower than last year... but about what I expected. The three climbs stung a bit more than I remembered, but I felt very good on the flatter sections. My recent bike changes (new Adamo Road saddle) and switch to S-bend aero bar extensions worked out great... rock solid in the aerobars for everything but the steepest part of the climbs when I got out of the saddle. Which is more than I can say for a lot of guys I saw on super-blinged out Cervelo's, Trek TTX's and various other super-bikes with deep Zipp wheels with aero helmets, sitting up with their hands on their bar ends on the flats. Seriously, just buy a damn road bike. The conditions were the windiest that I've seen the four years I've competed here, there were a few sketchy sections. Some of the other athletes running super-deep front wheels were getting blown around quite a bit. Even with a (relatively) shallow 50mm front wheel, a rear disc, and weighing 190lbs I was holding on for a dear life on Deadman's Curve (this is a speed-limited descent where an athlete died in 2000 when the race was a full Ironman). However the wind was a quartering tail wind on the run back into transition, which made the last 10 miles a lot of fun. Off the bike and into transition. 1:48 then off onto the run course Run - 1:34:16 (7:11/mile). Felt pretty good coming out of transition, but I was cautiously optimistic. 6:50's the first few miles. Just tried to stay relaxed. Water and gatorade at every aid station. Added Coke to the menu at Mile 7. Based on my overall lack of mileage, I had a feeling that I might run (excuse the pun) into trouble around mile 9 or 10. That's exactly what happened. Self-fulfilling prophecy? Regardless, I stopped to work out a cramp at around Mile 8.5, walked though the aid station at mile 10, drank two cups of Coke and got back on my way. The 6:50's became 7:30's... managed to hold it together and even put on a little surge to pass two guys on the final stretch. Overall time: 4:44:25, a whopping 34th in my AG... damn I'm glad to be aging up next year. For those who care about this stuff... here's my nutrition plan for the race... which despite my poor finish, was pretty on target. Good nutrition can't give you fitness that isn't there.. pre-race brekkie2 cups of coffee2 slice of wheat toast, pb and jellysipped on water bottle all morningimmediately before swim - 1 GU bike2 bottles with 2 scoops of First Endurance EFS + 1 scoop of CarboPro (roughly 300 cals each)1 bottle of water9 Thermolyte salt tablets (5 at 1 hr mark, 4 at 2 hr mark)2 GU's rungatorade and water at every aid station, Coke starting at mile 7. 3 more Thermolytes at mile 4
Just the mention of the word evokes vivid images in my mind. Camping with my family. Sitting by the campfire and making S'mores. The Energizer bunny pounding his drum at the top of Nasty Grade. Shuffling up the never ending Mile 5 hill. Running through the amazing crowds in Redondo Vista. Drinking ice-cold post-race beers (maybe the best part of all.)
It is my favorite race on the calendar, not just for epic nature of the race itself, but for the entire Wildflower experience.
This year was our third trip to Lake San Antonio for this event. In 2006, I did the Olympic distance race and in 2008 stepped up to the Long Course. This year, once again, the Long Course was on the menu. The Long Course is the event that truly defines Wildflower. It is a half-ironman distance event and as the saying goes, the only flat spot on the entire course is during the swim. Over 5000 ft of climbing on the bike, and over 1100 ft on run course that is 60% off-road trails and 40% pavement. Brutal.
Thursday morning, we got on the road early and after a few stops we arrived at the race site around 3. After entering the gate, we stopped by the AVIA booth where they were giving out free gelatos... a welcome treat. Kenny Sousa himself hand-delivered them to our car... pretty cool. We hopped out for a minute and another AVIA athlete, Saul Raisin, was at the booth signing copies of his book, "Tour de Life: From Coma to Competition". He has an incredible story and it was a pleasure to meet him and get a copy of his book. I just started reading it and it is amazing.
This year, we camped in Harris Creek once again with a crew of Cal Poly Alums that have been working the run aid station for over 20 years. We met them last year (through our kids) and had a blast. A great group of people and there were over 15 little kids in our area so our girls had a fantastic time the whole weekend.
I spent Friday doing typical pre-race stuff... in the afternoon I went down to the festival area to get my race packet and went for a short swim to make sure the wetsuit still fit. Water temp was just touch on the chilly side (64 degrees or so), but not an issue. After my swim I cruised the expo and had a chance to catch up with Sebastian Linke from SLS3, who set me up with some of their new compression socks to wear on race day. Check out their stuff... the best compression gear on the market.
Saturday morning, I woke up at 5 to get an early start on some calories and coffee. Typical race-morning breakfast... cereal with soy milk (I am trying to cut back on dairy), banana, wheat bread with peanut butter, coffee and water. I caught the boat shuttle at 7:00 and got into the transition area around 7:30, plenty of time to set up for my 8:35 wave start.
Swim - 28:02 (10th AG). HR (156 avg, 160 max) Swim start was super aggressive. I lined up front and dead center, which was probably asking for trouble, but my swimming has been strong lately so I was confident in my ability to swim near the front of the group. After the mad sprint into the water, there was lots of contact and elbows the first 150 meters to the first bouy... guys were hammering! I was swimming just about flat out to try to stay in a good position. Fortunately, things settled down after the first turn and I was able to get into a rhythm. One thing I like about this swim course is that since there are no waves, sighting is super easy. Got back to the boat ramp and chuckled to myself, my swim time was identical to my split at Oceanside. One of these days, I'm going to break 28 minutes!!
T1- 3:29. I was racked in an ideal spot, dead center of the transition area on the end of the row at the center aisle. For some reason, I had a hard time getting my left leg out of my wetsuit and nearly fell over twice trying to get it off.
Bike - 2:49:56 (19.8 mph, 42nd AG) HR (139 avg, 172 max) The course is just hard. Coming out of transition, I just tried to get the legs moving by staying in a small gear on some rollers near the lake and up the Beach Hill climb. Once out of the campground, I pushed the pace for the first 20 miles out to the right turn on Jolon Road and maintained my HR between 145-155. At the turn, I dropped the intensity a touch and just focused on staying aero and maintaining a good rhythm. The miles between 20 and 35 are rolling with some long gentle descents so I used this opportunity to let the HR drop and recover slightly. Felt very strong going up Nasty Grade and the final hills into the transition. Total bike was much better than last year (2:56:59)... wanted to go under 2:50 so am happy with it.
At the top of the Nasty Grade nutrition 2 bottles of GuH20/CarboPro (325 cals each). 1 1/2 btls of water. Also took a few pulls off a Gu flask..but I didn't finish it (maybe had 1-2 gels). total cals on the bike. 750-800. 5 Thermolytes per hour.
T2 - 1:47 A bit slow. I took a few seconds to put on my new SLS3 compression socks. By having them rolled up beforehand, they went on quite easily.
Run - 1:43:57, 7:56 per mile (49th AG), HR (164 avg, 194 max) This course beat me again. I came out of transition feeling good and started out very easy. Mile 1 split was 5:50..so I knew the markers were off... I'd estimate I ran something around 7:15. Just tried to find a rhythm in the first 4 miles, but couldn't seem to get my HR under control. Got to the monster hill at mile 5 and had to walk a pretty long section. After going down the descent, my hamstring started cramping. Stopped to massage it and stretch it out. That seemed to take care of it, it didn't bother me again. After mile 6, I started to feel better and managed to maintain a decent pace. The markers were all off so I don't know how fast, but I would estimate low 7 min pace. Maintained a decent pace through Redondo Vista and through the pit (no walking like last year). I did walk through the final aid station at mile 12 though, but at least it was only for a few seconds.
suffering on the run course Nutrition. Carried a GU flask with caffeinated TriBerry GU, which I sucked on before every aid station. Alternated Gatorade and water.
Strange, I felt like I did a lot better than last year (much less walking), but my time was only a little over a minute faster. I am disappointed with this... 1:43 is pretty embarrassing. This course is slower than Oceanside, maybe 5 minutes slower. But not 14 minutes slower.
Next year, I am going to change my prep entirely for this. More run mileage, lots more hills and I will need to get a lot leaner.
A side note on the socks. It was my first time racing in compression socks. It's hard to say if they helped me on the run course. But the day after... OMG. Normally, my lower legs are trashed after a race. This time, my legs are only a bit sore. That alone is worth the few seconds to put them on.
Final time - 5:07:14 (36th AG, 158th OA).
About 10 minutes faster than Wildflower last year, but 28 minutes SLOWER than Oceanside a month ago. I have a few theories. My running has been inconsistent the last four weeks... my slower than expected 5K was an indication of that. I also had a lot of work travel this month so my diet was a way off. I am about 3-4 lbs heavier than when I raced Oceanside, on a hilly course those extra pounds are a killer.
Racewise, I am not happy with the result, I believe I performed way under my potential. Back to the drawing board.
The first big race of the season is in the books. This is my 3rd year racing at Oceanside. It's a great event that I look forward to every year.
My weakness has always been my cycling so my goal heading into the winter was to really work on my cycling and with improved bike fitness, put myself into a position where I could be top 10 in my AG and go sub 4:30 on this course.
Overall, I'd give my winter training an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. I certainly made some huge gains in my cycling ability, but I didn't get the mega-mileage that I was really hoping for. Most of this was simply less-than ideal time management and my other life commitments springing up from time to time. It was good, but not great.
On to the race report.
Swim - 28:01 (15th AG, 126th OA) Oceanside is notorious for having a cold-water swim, there is always a lot of angst in the transition area with people wondering exactly HOW cold is it? The posted water temp was 58.5 and the race director was allowing booties, but in all honesty, it wasn't that bad. I wore two swim caps to help keep my head warm and I was fine. Once the gun went off, I quickly got into a pretty good rhythm. Unfortunately, there were no good feet for me to draft on, though I did feel the occasional hand on my foot. Someone was catching a ride off of me for a while... I hate it when that happens. Oh well. After the 2nd or 3rd buoy I started to catch some of the slower swimmers from the waves in front of me which forced me to zig-zag a bit to get around them. Before I knew it, I was at the turnaround and heading back into the harbor. There were some slight swells near the harbor mouth, but again, it wasn't bad at all. I do have to mention that I picked up some new googles at the Expo, which I absolutely love... the TYR TRacers. They are great... visibility was perfect, no leaking and no fogging. I usually have to clear my goggles at least a couple times during a race... these were perfect. Anyway, I made it back with no issues and climbed out the water feeling pretty good. My time of 28:01 is a PR for me, but not by a big margin. I seem to always swim close to the same time... (2007 - 28:31, 2008 - 28:59).
Transition 2 - 3:43 This race has a very long run from the swim exit to the far end of the transition area and around again. I was running pretty fast to get to my bike and probably pissed some guys off that were jogging slowly when I pushed passed them. Sorry dudes. Got to the bike and briefly considering putting on the arm warmers on that I had laid out. But, despite the fact that air was cold, the sun was out and I skipped them. Got the bike and got on the road quickly from there.
Bike - 2:35:39, 21.6 mph avg (34th AG, 158th OA) New bike, new position and a focus on cycling for the winter... I had made the investment, this is where I was hoping to see the big improvement from last year. Nutrition on the bike was two bottles of my GuH20/CarboPro mix, 2 scoops of each which equates to approximately 325 calories. This is a proven mixture that I've used a lot in training which my stomach handles easily. One bottle on the downtube and one in my aerobar-mounted bottle cage. I also had a flask with 14 Thermolyte tablets in a small bento box. No solid food. Once out on the course, my legs came under me pretty quickly and I started to roll through the field, passing lots of guys right away. I race without a HR monitor, but I could tell that my adrenaline was pumping and I was being too aggressive. After the first little climb on San Mateo (about 4 miles in), I dialed it back and just kept it steady. The first 20 miles of the course is mostly flat with just a couple little rollers, its very tempting to hammer and put lots of time in the bank. But after having done the race a couple times, I know that it's the back half where the race can be made or broken. Even so, I felt really good and was keeping a nice pace... I hit the 20 mile mark in 52:32 (22.8 mph avg). After the left turn at around mile 23 onto Christianitos, the course gets more challenging with a series of rollers until the first major climb at mile 28. By this time, I had finished my first bottle of nutrition and at the first bottle exchange I swapped it for a bottle of plain water. I also took 1/2 of my electrolyte tablets. From this point on, I alternated between taking drinks of plain water and my drink mix. Just after the aid station, I caught up to a guy with nearly the same exact bike set-up as me (same model Cervelo P2C, same wheelset) in this section who I ended playing cat and mouse for about 15 miles. He would pass me on the uphills, I would catch him on the downhills and the flatter sections, back and forth. It made the time go faster and we ended up working our way past a lot of riders as we passed and repassed one another. I managed to get away from him on the final climb and that was the last I saw of him the rest of the race. Once over the final climb, I caught another guy on a black Guru and we did the same thing on the descent and on the final approach down Vandergrift. I passed him, he repassed me... I fell back to 10 meters... repassed, repeat. All the way back into transition. Rolling back into the Harbor, I finished off my second bottle of nutrition, took the rest of my electrolyte tabs and was feeling really good and optimistic for a good run. I was really hoping for a ride closer to 2:30, but after seeing how my relative performance improved this year, compared to prior years (2007 - 224th, 2008 - 386th ), I was pretty happy.
Transition 2 - 1:47 A pretty quick transition. I had my feet out of my shoes as I rolled in. Got the bike racked quickly and was into my running shoes. Grabbed a flask of TriBerry-flavored GU (w/caffeine, natch) to carry with me and my sunglasses and was off.
Run - 1:29:53, 6:52/mile avg (19th AG, 107th OA) Last year at Vineman, I had my best run ever in an half-ironman (1:25) by running the first 5 miles very conservatively then slowing picking up the pace the back half of the course. My intention was to use the same strategy and I kept telling myself to take it easy, get the HR under control and let the legs get loose before trying to make any moves. The only wrinkle I hadn't really trained for was the 1/4 mile sand section which was re-introduced this year. We had to run over the sand section at the beginning and end of each loop, so there was about one full mile of running in semi-soft to soft sand. However, my first mile was 6:47 even with the sand section and I was feeling pretty good. Mile 2 was 6:45. I took sips from my gel flask and got some gatorade and/or water at each aid station and I kept the pace right around 6:45-6:50 range for the first loop. I tried not to pay attention to the other athletes or worry about catching anyone, I simply concentrated on keeping a steady, strong pace. Once out on the second loop and through the 3rd (of 4) sand sections, I tried to pick up the pace. I started looking ahead at the runners and worked on reeling them in, one by one... especially if they were in my age group. Despite my efforts, my pace was not improving and even slowing slightly. At the aid station just before mile 9, I started taking cola to try to get a boost from the sugar and caffeine. After doing some mental arithmetic, I realized that I couldn't afford to slow down at all if I was going to break 4:40, I needed to maintain nothing slower than 7:00 pace. That was my motivation the last 2 or 3 miles. Finally, once through the final sand section, the finish line and crowd was in sight and I even managed a slight surge to pass one last guy in my AG in the final straight.
Final time 4:39:02 (14th AG, 95th OA)
I'm happy with the performance. It's not the 4:30 I was looking for, but it's a solid improvement from previous years. Execution was solid, there isn't anything I'd do differently and it's a lifetime PR for the distance (though not by much... I went 4:39:4-something way back in 1999 at Eagleman, a far easier course). Both the swim and bike splits were PR's. The thing I'm happiest about is that my relative performance in all three sports was much more consistant than it ever has been. I still have a lot of work to do on my cycling, but now my ability on the bike is at least somewhat on par with my swimming and running.
I was in Tuscon last week for the Gorilla Multisport Winter Training Camp. My original intention was to blog every day while at camp to give the daily update on the experience. But, frankly, I was too tired to manage it. So, now I am typing this from home in San Diego after a few days of recovery and decompression.
I had been looking forward to this for a while... five days of nothing but training, learning and hanging out with some other like-minded triathletes.
We arrived on Tuesday, I'll call it Day 0. After the long drive I was pretty wired, so I went for a quick run before some grub and bed. Our hotel was about 2 miles from the Kino Sports Complex, which is where the Arizona Diamondbacks do their spring training... made for a nice turnaround for the out and back route. Workout #1 in the books.
Day 1 - Wednesday The other campers were not due to arrive until mid-day, but since we were in town and had some free time, my friend and Gorilla Multisport Coach DeeAnn and I went to a Masters workout at the University of Arizona. They run a nice program over there and the pool is amazing. With the week of heavy training ahead, I was glad to find out that the workout was an easy one. Lots of fast 100's and 50's with lots of rest, along with some technique work. I ended up with just over 3000 yards for the workout. After some coffee, breakfast and a short rest, I headed out for a run out to the Kino Sports Complex again. One of the campers from Florida, Joseph, had arrived, so he joined me. We ended up with just over 4.5 miles of easy jogging. After lunch and "registration", the entire crew convened for the first ride of the camp, Gates Pass. The ride began with a flat stretch through urban Tucson, which was not great due to all the stoplights. But once we were out of town, the scenery was amazing... spectacular views of the desert and endless miles of cactus and beautiful landscapes. The highlight of the ride was the climb up and over Gates Pass, which has a section at the top that rivals some of the steepest roads I've ever climbed on a bike. Out of the saddle in the 39x26, just trying to keep the pedals turning over. After a photo opp at the top, we bombed down the backside and back into town. Total ride was 38 miles. After getting back to the hotel and cleaning up, we were treated to a nutrition presentation from Bob Seebohar (www.fuel4mance.com), elite coach and sports nutritionist for the 2008 US Olympic Triathlon Team. I learned a lot about metabolic efficiency and picked up some tips that I will definitely incorporate into my own training.
Day 2 - Thursday AM - 50 mile ride out to Colossal Cave Mountain Park. Coach Bob and Seton Claggett from TriSports.com joined us for the ride. Both are great guys and strong athletes. Overall, an moderate ride with lots of false flats and gentle inclines. The best part was that all the climbing was in the first 30 miles and the entire 20 mile return trip was a gentle descent. Immediately upon returning, our group headed out for a quick 20 minute transition run. Coach Bob rode and ran with us and gave us some great tips on run cadence. After a quick bite to eat, I put my legs up for an hour to rest up for the afternoon ride. PM - 38 mile ride, the bottom half of the El Tour de Tucson route. By this time, the day had turned hot and windy... so we were treated to a pretty tough ride, starting out in urban Tucson, than out to some less-traveled roads in the north part of town. As soon as we could get our bikes in the hotel rooms and showered up, we headed over to a strength workout with Coach Bob. We focused on a concept he calls neuromuscular activation... essentially a series of pre and post-workout movements that activate the key muscle groups. Again, I learned a lot... great stuff.
Day 3 - Friday AM - The Shootout is a regular Saturday hammerfeest that has been taking place in Tucson for over 30 years... its a fairly challenging route famous for attracting the most competitive cyclists and is typically full of attacks and counterattacks. We choose to do The Shootout ride on Friday on our own to get a sample of the route without the blistering pace and a big peleton. Seton Claggett from TriSports.com rode with us again. It started out with an easy 15 miles in town than a long 15 miles of false flat... nearly dead straight... before it finally kicks up with a final short steep climb. I was feeling pretty strong so I kept the pace high on the false flat, but once the hill came Seton dropped me like a rock as he disappeared up the steep incline. The local knowledge proved to be pretty handy! After regrouping, we headed back into town at a pretty good clip (22-24 mph) thanks to the mostly flat and gently descending route. PM - Late Friday afternoon, I had a swim analysis and video scheduled... but beforehand, for the first time in three days, I had a couple hours to relax. So I napped by the pool. After my nap and a shower, I headed over to TriSports for my swim video. They have a sweet two-lane Endless Pool set-up with underwater and above water cameras. The instructor told me that my stroke was pretty solid (I hope so!), but gave me a few suggestions that I think will be helpful. In particular, one thing that I discovered is that I tend to pull up short with my right arm on the pull. So I need to concentrate on finishing my stroke on that side. Good feedback and something I probably would have never figured out on my own without the video feedback.
Saturday - Day 4 AM - This was the big day. Mt. Lemmon. A 26 mile climb rising from 2500 ft to a peak over 8200 ft. I've ridden San Diego's big climb, Palomar Mountain... which is tough. But the top of Palomar is at just over 5000 ft. When climbing Mt. Lemmon, the 5000 ft mark is not even halfway up the climb. Palomar is steeper, but it is the length of Mt. Lemmon that is killer... over 2 hrs of consistent work going up the mountain. We started the ride with an easy 15 miles of riding through Tucson and regrouped at a coffee shop about 2 miles from the Mile 0 marker at the base of the climb. After some pics and a double shot of espresso, we started up. There were 5 of us (myself, Norm, Manny, Joseph, and Greg) in the group that agreed to ride the whole mountain... the rest of the campers would climb for 90 minutes as far as they could go and then turn around. The summit team (sounds cool, eh?) all exchanged numbers and arranged to text or call each other if for some reason we needed to turn around. Otherwise, we would all meet up at the top. We got going and could see the road twisting up the mountain ahead of us... it was pretty intimidating. About 50 yards past the Mile 0 sign, Norm informed me that my rear tire was flat. Crap. He stayed back to help me get it changed while the rest of the group proceeded ahead. Once I fixed the tire, we proceeded again. The first 5 miles of the climb were tough, there were some killer headwinds that made it tough just to stay upright on the bike. I thought to myself that if the entire climb was this windy, it was going to be a very, very difficult day. Fortunately, as the road twisted and turned up the mountain there was some shelter from the wind and it got easier. I made a concerted effort to keep my HR in high Zone 2 (130-140) and just stayed on my 39x26 gear keeping the cadence high. This netted me a blistering pace of about 10-11 mph. Ha. Every few minutes, I shifted up to my 25 or 23 and climbed out of the saddle to give my hamstrings and lower back a rest. At Mile 7, I caught Manny and Joseph and we all took some pictures from the Seven Cataracts viewpoint. Spectacular. After the short break, I continued up the climb and quickly separated from the other guys. The views up the mountain were simply unbelievable, incredible rock formations and of course, the view of the valley falling further and further away... the closest thing I can relate them to is the Grand Canyon. It's hard to do them justice with words or even pictures. The rest of the climb went pretty well. Every time my legs were screaming for a break, the slope softened a bit and I was able to recover just enough for the next tough stretch ahead. Finally, I got to the first peak at Mile 21 and was treated to a descent. A descent? Wait, I'm not at the top yet! The final few miles of the "climb" were a bowl that drops about 400 ft before re-ascending to 8200 ft at the village of Mt. Lemmon. At the base of the final climb, I caught Greg whom I hadn't seen since I flatted two hours before. We laughed about how tough the climb was, and rolled into town together. A great sense of accomplishment that we indulged by getting some hot chocolate (it was cold!) and huge pieces of banana cream pie. About 10 minutes later, Norm rolled in and about 30 minutes later, Manny arrived. Shortly thereafter, we got a text that Joseph had turned around. So we finished up our good, got some pics and then headed back down the mountain. It was about 30 degrees cooler at the top, so I put on my arm warmers and shoved some loose paper (the cafe to-go menus!) in my jersey front to block the wind. It took about 25 minutes of work to get back out to the first peak, which after the long break and food was tough. But once back to Mile 21, it was literally all downhill from there. The descent is somewhat technical and super-fast. By the time I got to the bottom, my hands were cramping from constantly being the brakes trying to moderate my speed. On several occasions I was touching 40 mph and that was trying to be conservative. Finally, after regrouping again at the bottom, we headed back for the final 15 miles toward home. The full day was 85 miles, about 8000 ft of climbing. A great day on the bike and one that I will remember forever. PM - Once we rolled back into the hotel at about 3pm, we slammed our (late) lunches and got ready to head over to the University of Arizona pool for a swim workout. I was tempted to bail and just relax, but the idea of splashing around the pool for a drill workout sounded good. Finally at 5pm the tough day was over and we all gathered around the hotel pool for pizza and beer. Good times.
Sunday - Day 5 Final day of camp... no cycling. After four tough days of riding, it was nice not to be getting on the bike first thing in the morning. Besides I was running out of clean cycling clothes. Actually, I ran out of clean stuff on Friday... but was able to make do with some Woolite and the hotel room sink. Anyway, I digress. After a quick breakfast, we piled into the cars and headed out to Saguero National Park for an amazing trail run. There is a 8 mile loop that is simply spectacular. Everyone was on their own to decide how far they wanted to run, we simply had a two hour time limit. Most choose to do one loop. My legs were pretty toasted from the riding, but I wanted a little more than 8 miles. My lower threshold for a "long" run is 12 miles, so I ran one loop and did a 2 mile out and back to bring it up to the requisite dozen. The quads were not happy with me as I climbed back into the van for the 20 minute drive home. After some more breakfast and a shower, we packed up the gear, said our goodbyes and got on the road back to San Diego.
Overall, it was a tremendous few days. Training wise, it was my biggest week ever... with over 270 miles on the bike, 30 miles of running and about 7k of swimming. To think that pros do that every week!! Aside from the training, the other campers were awesome... good people all of them. It was great to spend some time hanging out, we had a blast.
Here are some pics from the rides.
Entrance to Colossal Cave Mountain Park
Joseph, Manny and Me - The Shootout Loop
Heading toward Colossal Cave Mountain Park
The Mt. Lemmon Summit Crew - Manny, Norm, Me, Greg, Joseph... before the climb
At the base of Mt. Lemmon, right before I flatted.
Somewhere near Mile 10 of the Mt. Lemmon climb
Mt. Lemmon - Looking down, around Mile 14.
Banana Cream Pie and Hot Chocolate at the top of Mt. Lemmon - delicious.
Taken while descending at 35+mph. Not recommended.
It's Friday night, the house is asleep... all except for me. This happens to me occasionally. I'm very tired, but for some reason my mind won't shut off.
It's been a solid last 2 weeks of training to kick off the year. In the last 12 days, I've managed 23 hrs of training including 235 miles on the bike, 59 miles of running and 6.5K swimming. Ok, so the swimming is an afterthought... but the bike/run totals are decent, no? After this weekend's workouts, I should end up right around 29 hours.
Anyways, for me that's pretty solid volume. Tomorrow, I going for a group ride with one of the local racing teams here in San Diego, Celo Pacific. It's billed as a low/medium intensity ride... but I have a feeling I'm going to be struggling to hang on. It should be interesting. Sunday, I have a 16 mile run on the schedule.
Tomorrow is 12 weeks out from Oceanside, so these next 6-7 weeks are very critical for laying down as much volume as I can handle. I will probably need one recovery week in there somewhere, the exact timing is still to be determined. About 4-5 weeks out, I'll start to up the intensity a bit with longer race-pace and faster-than-race pace efforts and then it's taper time. It will be here quick so I can't slack off now.
As long as I can avoid getting injured and stay healthy, things are right on track. I am racing in a hilly half marathon on Feb 9 (San Dieguito). That will be a good measure of my fitness. All my training data put me far ahead of where I was this time last year, but the race will be an even better indicator.
Recently, I've been religious about wearing my SLS3 (pronounced SLS-tri) compression socks. My friend from track, Sebastian, owns the company and sold me on them. While the looks are questionnable, they feel fantastic. I've been wearing them after nearly every long bike ride or run and my recovery between workouts has been excellent. While, I'd like to think that all of that is due to my fitness... I will give the socks a bit of the credit.
I also recently picked up a pair of Skins compression tights. After the 120 mile ride last Saturday, my legs were feeling pretty wobbly. So I decided to wear them for my long run the following day. I managed 12 miles and again, the compression seemed to help. My legs never felt sore and afterwards I had very little DOMS. Quite surprising considering what I had put my legs through in the previous 36 hours.
So, yeah, I'm a fan of the compression gear. It is working for me.
Now I'd better get some rest for that ride tomorrow.
I should be getting my gear on for lunchtime Masters swim as I type this, but it's raining sideways outside. Atypical San Diego weather, you might say. I wouldn't typically mind swimming in a bit of rain. What's the big deal with rain when you're already wet? But when it's coming down this hard, the pool gets closed. It's hard to complain though, elsewhere around the country people are without power due to ice storms... so all things considered, missing an outdoor swim workout is a incredibly minor inconvenience
Can't say I mind too much, I'm bundled up in my home office with a hot cup of coffee, catching up on my blog and about 50 other things on my to-do list today. So, I'll keep this fairly short.
Training is coming along. I'm ramping up the run frequency and staying consistent on the bike.
The best workout of the last couple weeks was my long run on Saturday. I did 15 miles on the coast, Carlsbad south to Leucadia and back, my longest run since the Long Beach Marathon last fall. There was a weather system moving in and the wind was howling... sand was pelting me in the face the entire way back. A gut check, I suppose. Not typically the makings of a great run, but I was able to keep a nice even pace (7:45's) at a low HR (145-150) despite the weather. A good confidence builder.
Someone started a thread on Slowtwitch asking for a triathlon haiku. Here's my contribution:
must get off the couch go ride my bike, run or swim you know, this is fun
I’m no poet.
My training has been coming along. My goal right now is to build base for next year and compared to last year, I’m way ahead of the game.
To compare:
Nov ‘07 - swim 29k, bike 170.4 miles, run 128 miles = 34.5 hours.
Nov ‘08 - swim 9k, bike 427.2 miles, run 121.6 miles = 43 hours
I'm pretty happy with that.
December is starting off pretty well also and I managed a decent week of training. Wasn’t without some juggling though. The wife and I decided at the last minute to go visit my mom for her birthday and ended up staying the weekend, so my original plan of riding on Saturday and running Sunday were out the window. I ended up running Saturday morning and doing my long ride Sunday night on the trainer after we got back.
Map and HR chart from long run:
Some people hate riding on their trainer... but for some perverse reason, I kinda enjoy it. One thing that I like is the fact that the time is precise. I can plan a 3 hour ride and I’m done in 3 hours. If I go for a 3-hr ride outdoors, three hours of ride time ends up being 3:30 door to door with stops, etc. And if I go with a group, I’m usually gone for 4 hrs or more to manage the same three hour effort.
So when we got home on Sunday evening and we got the girls down to bed, I filled up my bottle and I hopped on the trainer for a 3 hour session. Thanks to Coach Troy Jacobson, his Spinervals Tough Love DVD and a good iTunes playlist, the time went by pretty quickly and I had a very solid workout.
We just got back into town after a killer weekend up in Sonoma County. We stayed with my cousin and his family in Sebastopol, it was great to have some local support for the race. And, of course, the local knowledge of the area wineries came in handy for the post-race festivities on Monday!
Here's the race report.
Pre-Race:
3:45am alarm. Shower, change and pre-race breakfast consisting of a cinnamon-raisin bagel with schmear (aka cream cheese), 1 vanilla-flavored Ensure and 2 cups of coffee. Final gear check and we are out the door by 4:45. Arrive at in downtown Guerneville at 5:20, park and walk down to transition. We are among the first to arrive, I set up my gear, hit the porta potty, get bodymarked and relax until 6:20 or so. Sip on a bottle of Gu20 sports drink. The official water temp is 71.5, so wetsuits are legal. I don my trusty blueseventy helix and get in the water with my fellow 37 year old green-capped comrades and do some light swimming to warmup for my 6:46 wave start.
Swim:
I've been swimming virtually zero the last few weeks, so despite the fact that I'm a strong swimmer... I'm feeling a little nervous about my ability to swim a decent 1.2 miles. The gun goes off and I immediately get on some feet. I swim with a group of 4-5 other guys to the first turn around. The water gets very shallow after the turn and my hand is hitting bottom. I opt to walk and porpoise my way forward for about a hundred yards or so. Some guys chose to keep swimming though. Start swimming again and once I do, I start feeling pretty fatigued. I am at a pretty high effort level to stay with my group. Now, I question my thinking of choosing to stay with the group versus swimming solo... but at the time it seemed the right thing to do. Get back to transition and exit the water in 28:09. A decent time, but I wonder if I emptied the tank a bit too much.
Bike:
Get to the rack, rip off the wetsuit and get my shoes, helmet, sunglasses and race number on. I promptly drop my bike and spill the contents of my aero bottle on the ground. Rookie mistake!! Another athlete gave me a heads up about a steep little hill coming out of transition, so I had my bike in my 39-23. This was a good tip as I got on my pedals and easily spun out onto the course, while several others weaved and struggled to stay upright in their big chainring on the sharp incline.
The nutrition plan: 1 Gu every 20 minutes and 2 Thermolytes every 30 minutes, alternating sips of water and sports drink every 5 minutes. Since I spilled most of my sports drink, all I had was my frame bottle with water and had to wait for the first aid station at Mile 15 to get some Gatorade. Fortunately, the weather was quite cool so I wasn't too worried about dehydrating.
Kept the effort steady through the first 15 miles or so. At one point, I heard a faint flapping and discovered that my spare tubular, inflator and C02 cartridges were no longer strapped to my saddle. (the flapping noise was the strap moving around in the wind). I guess they came loose somewhere on the rough pavement of Westside Road. Now, if I flat, I'm done. Put that aside, I tell myself, and try not to worry about something I can't control.
At around Mile 20, a race official rolls up next to me on his motorcycle and informs me that he is giving me a yellow card for blocking. WTF? I guess I was riding in the center too much. In my defense, I was passing a series of slower riders, trying to cut the corners of the curvy, technical course and avoid the rough pavement on the far sides of the road. But, the rules are rules... so I bit my tongue and as instructed, stopped at the penalty tent. There was no time penalty, but I did have to sign an acknowedgment and get my race number marked with a big 'P'. That stop cost me a minute or two. Again, try to put it aside... just keep rolling. From here on out no big spikes in effort, just keep the intensity at a moderate/steady level.
The rest of the bike course was uneventful... other than the spectacular scenary, of course! The 'big' hill on Chalk Hill Road (Mile 45) was not too bad at all. The rest of the ride went according to plan until I got back to Windsor HS. There was a lot of traffic on Windsor Road and somehow I missed the left turn into T2 and ended up riding past about a 1/4 mile past the HS to the next stop light. Very confused, I realized my mistake, turned around and finally got back into transition, glad to be off the bike and getting onto the run course. Bike split was 2:44:44. My goal pre-race was to ride under 2:40, so with the 4-5 minutes I left on the course due to the penalty and wrong turn, I was still pretty much on target with my goal.
Run:
Got my shoes on, grabbed my Gu flask and visor and go! The out and back run course was flat for the first 1.5 miles and than is rolling out to the La Crema Winery turnaround. I typically come out of T2 with guns blazing and in my two earlier 70.3 races this year, have blown up spectacularly on the run course. A repeat of those incidents was not in the game plan, so my strategy was to keep the effort level 'easy' the first 6 miles, than pick it up coming back from the turnaround. For fueling, I sipped on my Gu flask and took water at every aid station. I definitely remembered to pack the running legs for this race, because my first three miles was all under 6:45 and I was feeling very strong. Still, I held back... chatted a bit with a fellow athlete and held the 6:40-6:45 pace through the turnaround. At Mile 7, I started to feel the ever-so-slight hint of a muscle cramp in my left hamstring, so I start taking Coke along with water at the aid stations. The pure sugar/caffeine boost is like rocket fuel. The dreaded bonk never comes, I hit Mile 10 in 1:05:51 and run the last 5K in 20:06... certainly my strongest finish ever in a 70.3 distance event. Final run split is 1:25:57 (17th fastest of the day, not including pros)
Final overall time is 4:44:37. 18th in my AG and 86th OA
I'm esctatic about the day... a beautiful course and perfect weather for racing. Despite leaving some time on the bike course with some dumb mistakes, in my third 70.3 this year, I finally nailed my nutrition and pacing and ran the run split that I've known I've been capable of.
