my life and times

Nov 14-20

2011-11-21T13:30:00.009-05:00

Feeling a little under the weather today. I came down with a sore throat last night which somehow as robbed me of nearly all my energy. I stayed home today, working from the home office and front and back porches. That I love ... the run at lunch, not so much. But that's for next week's blog. I'm supposed to be summarizing last week.

The goal after last week was to start adding on some volume while keeping the intensity pretty high. Goal achieved!

Monday
Run: 1hr 23 min with 20 x 30 second strides on 30 second jog. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/128728672

Tuesday
Bike: 1hr steady
Swim: 40 min with my favorite main set (400, 4 x 100 desc, 300, 3 x 100 desc, 200, 2 x 100 desc, 100, 2 x 50 desc).
Run: 30 min hills

Wednesday
Bike: 1 hr w/8 x 4min intervals: http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/4054
Run: 55 min w/8 x 400m intervals: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/129474118

Thursday
Run: 30 min recovery

Friday
Bike: 1 hr w/ 6 x 5-7 min intervals: http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/4267
Run: 1 hr 16min easy but with the usual 2 mile time trial. Both J-Flo and I made big strides (pun intended) over last week. I shaved like 25 seconds off. My splits were 5:40 and then 5:46 for a total time of 11:26. No negative split tho (J-Flo was 6:01/6:00): http://connect.garmin.com/activity/129474123
Swim: 30 min technique focus.

Saturday
Bike: Usual CX dirt/asphalt mix ride. Rode pretty hard: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/129603905

Sunday
Bike: 30 min easy spin

Summary: Swim: 1 hr 10 min, Bike: 4.5 hrs, Run: 4.5 hrs, Total: 10 hrs 10 min

This week is Thanksgiving so we'll just have to wait and see if I can continue building volume back up.

Saturday was also a big play day for me and the girls. My son was spending the night with grandparents and Jennifer was at her dance practice. So first I took them to a birthday party at the skating rink / indoor putt-putt place (which was FUN) and then we came home and found some new toys had been delivered. Of course we played on them all afternoon - which was even funner! :p

Nov 7th - 13th

2011-11-14T10:38:00.009-05:00

This week was a pretty light with the need ease myself back into training following last Saturday’s half marathon. The last thing I want to do is push too hard and sideline myself while I’m just getting started! I think the biggest hindrance to performance right now is my weight. I’m a good 10 lbs over my prime race weight of 150 lbs. I need to get more disciplined with my diet (layoff the snickers) to kick start shedding some pounds.

Monday
Bike: 1hr w/ 5 x 7min @ +-92% FTP Intervals: http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/3201
Run: 50 min w/ 8 x 30 sec strides: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/127538992

Tuesday
Run: 35 min recovery

Wednesday
Bike: 1 hr w/ 3 x 12 min intervals at 90-92% FTP: http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/3384
Run: 10k trail run on my trails

Thursday
Swim: 30 min
Run: 35 min recovery

Friday
Bike: 1hr progressive ride building to 125% FTP (358 watts)
Swim: 30 min
Run: 1hr 10 min w/ 2 mile TT: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/128168309 I was a few seconds faster than 2 weeks ago with a 5:52 first mile and 5:57 second mile for an 11:51 for a modest improvement. J-Flo had a great improvement from 2 weeks ago by dropping 10 seconds for a 12:20 (6:04, 6:16).

Saturday
Bike: CX ride in the countryside! Once again the Garmin failed me (my own fault) by running out of juice 1.5 miles before the end of the ride: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/128168319

Here are some pictures from the ride …

A sea of cotton. It’s time to pull it in; many of the fields have already been harvested.

One of the fastest stretches of dirt in Lexington County

Heading out

Sunday: Off! I could’ve ridden a hard 90 min trainer session (which was my plan) but I opted for a 90 min ride on the John Deere instead :)

So it was another low volume week with plenty of rest coming off a race, but still had some good quality sessions.

Swim: 1hr; Bike: 4 hrs; Run: 4 hrs; Total: 9hrs. Hopefully building back in some volume this week and keeping the intensity high.

Today (Monday) is our 13th wedding anniversary! Counting the 3 years of shacking up, that’s 16 years together! Wow, how we changed since those early days. Many adventures lay ahead to experience together with the love of my life! For her gift she got horse riding lessons at the stable across the road from the house (Poole Training Center: http://www.pooletrainingcenter.com/). The thing is that she has to keep it secret from our youngest, Hannah. She’s already jealous because her sister Abby takes lesson and if she finds out Mom is also riding, we might just have a full blown 5 yr old meltdown on our hands!

For our anniversary date night we ended up at Home Depot after dinner since Tractor Supply was closed. What have we become??

In other news Caleb was selected along with 3 other students to read a letter to veterans on Veteran’s Day at his school. When I read his letter it literally brought tears to my eyes. I’m having trouble uploading the YouTube video from my phone so I’ll have to settle for this picture. Can’t you sense the excitement??

The girls have gotten really good at flying their kites:

Oct 31 - Nov 6 Rock N Roll Savannah

2011-11-06T19:50:00.025-05:00

The focus this week has been getting in some good all-around tri training before heading back home to Savannah for a visit with the family and to run Rock and Roll ½ marathon as part of the Lowcounty Down's Syndrome Society team. This year we had 21 runners and next year we hope to have 100! If you want to help support LDSS financially, please donate here: https://dsal.worldsecuresystems.com/Donate

The Garmin has been a real challenge this week so I'm missing data for some of the training sessions the Tuesday big gear ride which had to have had an average cadence in the range of 50-60 RPM!!

With the impending 1/2 marathon on the weekend, the volume was a little low this week ...

Monday

Bike: 1hr, intervals http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2617

Run: 8 x 200m with Ole Tender Nip along with some easy running

Tuesday

Swim: 30 minutes with the highlight being 50 meter repeats holding best average. Let me just say that I have a looooong way to go to back to where I need to be in the water!

Bike: 90 min ride smashfest with J-Flo and Scott in the Northwest (Peak loop). This was a BRO (big ring only) ride with the bro’s with me doing my best to ride them off my wheel and drop them on climbs while mashing the biggest gear possible. I was able to manage most of the route in 53 x 11 gear, which utterly shredded my quads. I had doubts about my ability to make it up the Mike Stuck climb in my big ring, but in the end I pulled it off (with the help of my 28 rear cog). The Garmin crapped out so no data for this one unfortunately. I'm thinking cadence would have been in the 50-60 range.

Wednesday
Run: 1hr, hill repeats on Carl loop

Thursday
Swim: 30 min longer intervals
Run: 30 min easy with hills

Friday
Bike: 30 min easy spin
Travel day!

Saturday
Run: Rock N Roll Savannah 1/2 Marathon, 1:25:00. I'll have to say that this race was a lot of fun! Running down Liberty Street with crowd's lining the course screaming and then hanging with friends and family in Forsyth Park afterwards was just awesome!

Mini race report:For some crazy reason I started in the 2nd corral instead of the 1st one where I was assigned. This made the first 2 miles a little slow as I navigated through the crowd. Also interesting to note is that my Garmin measured the distance at 13.2 instead of 13.1. I believe this is because I was unable to run tangents through most of the corners because of number of runners on the course. Evidently there were 14,000 running the 1/2 and another 5,000 running the full. I ended up 50th overal, 8th in M35-39. I had the time I expected but obviously would have like to have gone faster! You can't rush fitness though. It is one it's way though and patience is the key (and losing a few lbs). With any luck I'll be able to run this time off the bike at the Charleston 1/2 ironman in April. We shall see ...

finish line before it got really crowded

Me, my son and sis after the race

Post race in the park

Race spectating really wears the kids out!

cousins Ethan and Abby playing

Sunday

Bike: 1hr. Easy cruise from parents house down to River Street where I was able to ride some cobbles and then back home with a short detour through Ardsley Park to ride by some old stomping grounds. Here are some pictures from the ride:

Riding through town

Trump Square

Broughton Street

cobbles

River Street

Along the water

more cobbles

one of many squares

Totals: Bike: 4 hrs; Swim: 1hr; Run: 4 hrs = 9 hrs.

Something Different

2011-11-01T14:57:00.002-04:00

Tink basking in the sunlight on the front porch.

I’m going to try something new with the old bloggy, not just use it for race reports. At some point in the whirlwind of the summer of 2011 I stopped logging my training online, which has left me with a lack of hindsight. We all know hindsight is 20/20 ... so you either have a perfect picture or no picture at all. Right now I have nothing, which is not that big of deal since I did next to nothing as far as training is concerned during that time. Up until this summer I had systematically logged every workout since 2007. A bit OCD? Yes. But that’s me … all or nothing!

My logging tool was beginnertriathlete.com, which seemed appropriate since in 2007 I was a beginner triathlete. I appreciate this tool as it offers many fine features at a price that can’t be beaten (free). There is also a social aspect to the website that I rarely leveraged, but which seems popular for those seeking answers to common questions and those looking to provide answers to common questions :p So instead of logging each training session online, I’m going to use this blog to summarize the week’s work and share the data from a few key sessions each week. For in-depth analysis I’ll use my own tools. But the weekly discipline of summarizing the training will also give me a chance to document some highlights of family life for posterity. Now all that’s left to do is to do it ... week in, week out, just like the training!

Training

This week is really the second consistently solid week of all-around triathlon training in many months. It’s been like sitting in a really hot bathtub. At first it stings really bad but as you ease in deeper it gets more tolerable … until the water gets to that one spot … ouch that burns!!

Last week I swung the old leg back over the bike again and did an FTP test. It came back as 273. After spending some time getting my bottomside reacclimated to riding my time trial bike, I tested again this week and came back with 288, which puts me just above the magical 4 watts/kg level ... woohoo! Wait, why is 4 watts per kg important again???. I think more than any fitness gain, the hike in FTP shows the resiliency of hard earned fitness. It may drift away when you take a break, but it comes back much faster than it took to get there in the first place! Raising the FTP is bittersweet though … sure it gives you a confidence boost, ensures the training you are doing is making you stronger, gets you daydreaming of being able to go X for your bike split in your next race, yada yada yada, but it also means that your bike workouts are about to get that much harder!!

Swimming is coming back the slowest. I'm only swimming short sessions twice a week and keeping the intensity really high. I hope my times start coming back down soon or I may have to reconsider this minimal volume / maximum intensity approach.

Workouts

Monday
Run: 50 min with J-Flo, I mean "Ole Tender Nip", including 6 x 0:30 strides (+- 5min/mile pace): http://connect.garmin.com/activity/124442721
Bike: 1 Hour Ride. FTP Test which reset my FTP from 273 to 288: http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2211

Tuesday
Bike: 30 min spin for recovery
Swim: 30 min: short intervals
Run: moderate with hills: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/124442728

Wednesday
Bike: 1 hr. Ironman pace (IF: .77): http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2309
Run: include 4 x .5 mile at 5:40/mile pace on .5 mile easy: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/124460851 + a cool down run with my wife to measure her run loop. Jennifer rode her bike with me during the warm up and intervals and filmed this little video on one of the intervals. If you've never seen my crazy left foot, here it is:

Thursday
Bike: Hour of Power ... ouch: http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2361
Swim: 30 min short intervals
Run: 30 min recovery

Friday
Run: 1hr 10min with the Flowmaster (I mean "Ole Tender Nip"). Easy run 9.3 mile run. Well, except for the 2 mile time trial part in the middle and the huge hill at the end. I negative split theTT with a 5:58 1st mile and 5:55 2nd mile for a total time of 11:53. I'll be looking for 11 even before the season begins! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/124984539

Saturday
Bike: Dirt/Road mix ride on CX bike: Fun ride on a beautiful but windy day. I put some short videos from the ride on FaceBook and some pictures below

Sunday
Bike: 1hr30min on the trainer. Easy ride of varying efforts, annoyingly easy at times. NP 200w, avg HR 123. I would never ride this easy on my own, but I followed the program and did it.
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2585
Run: quick transition run off the bike

Totals: Bike: 6.5 hrs + Run: 4.5 hrs + Swim: 1hr = 12 hrs. Nothing impressive but glad to have a solid week of work under my belt.

Until next week ...

Some pictures from bike ride Saturday:

Fall Colors are here:

It's that time of year:

SC Sprint Race Report and Update

2011-10-06T16:58:00.003-04:00

Return on Investment

Result: 3rd place, splits not worth noting :p

I jumped back into triathlon racing last weekend with a little sprint race in Greenwood. The goal was to knock out a race as part of an effort to reach 5 setup series races (needed 3 more races) so I could qualify for series awards and hopefully win some money and get a new pair of cycling sock and technical tee. I knew I wasn’t fit to race, which is very evident if you look up my splits!

After the usual warm-up swim (and taking some crap for racing the sprint instead of the half from my friends) we were off. I’ve swam approximately 1800 meters in the last 2 months so I got out of this part of the race exactly what I invested, not much! I ranked 3rd in the swim but I’m not misleading myself into believing that it was anything more than what it was … an abysmal performance. For the bike I’d put in roughly 4 hours of training in September so it was no surprise that I couldn’t hang with my competitor on the hills. I ranked 5th on the bike … not good for me in a small race like this one. As disappointing and the first two disciplines were, then run took the cake. Over 20 minutes for a 5k!!! What else can I say … other than I ran a faster pace on the same course for the 10k run at FoF Olympic with a broken rib, torqued calf and knee and road rash all over in much hotter temps back in June!! It’s a sad state of affairs as far as fitness is concerned. Thankfully other parts of life are so totally awesome or I might be down in the dumps!!!

What I’ve learned is that I hold myself to a high standard when it comes to triathlon and to really enjoy the sport I have to be fit and fast. And if I’m not fit and fast I’m just wasting time and money by racing. While racing provides a good hard training session, I’d be better served to work on the high priority personal projects, obligations and obstacles that are keeping me from getting the necessary training done to be fit and fast and enjoy racing! If I didn’t have to pay entry fees it would make more sense to race regardless of fitness (if for nothing else than the training benefit). But since racing requires a monetary and mental commitment and time away from family and projects, I need to be prepared to race when I race … and right now I’m not.

If you’re reading this and don’t really know me very well you may be asking yourself why am I not prepared … in short, because I’m not putting in the time training right now. After breaking my rib in the bike crash at the Festival of Flowers race in June I was forced to take some time off to heal. Once healed we were finally able to purchase our new home which we’d be arduously pursuing for nearly 2 years (long, long story - it was a short sale). With it came the enormously taxing task of moving a family of 5 and settling in. The house is newer (built in 2005) and very well constructed both inside and out, but not being lived in for about 3 years and having 15 acres of property, it needed substantial work to bring it back to life. Triathlon, being a hobby and passion of mine, is important to me but it is not at the top of my priority list and therefore it had to be put on the back burner (and will have to remain there for several more weeks) while we work through the process of getting settled.

In the meantime I have a little marathon down in Savannah in 4 weeks that I’m well under prepared for. However I’m already chomping at the bit to immerse myself in the daily ritual of getting the work done to make myself fit and fast for 2012. I hope to have my best season of short course racing ever in the first part of next year and culminate that fast racing with a super strong showing at the Charleston Half ironman in May, and then follow that up with a sub 2 hr Olympic at FoF in June. Then I’ll shut it down for the summer while it crazy hot and perhaps build back up for a late season ironman campaign.

Hope all is well with all my friends out there in cyber land. Best of luck to my friends Chris Olson and Scott Woodbury racing the Ironman World Championship in Kona Hawaii this weekend!!! Make it worth the investment!!

Festival of Flowers Triathlon Race Report

2011-06-14T10:50:00.024-04:00

Wow, what a race ... crazy!! The misfortune continues. First the heat stroke/dehydration induced DNF at IMSG, then a bike crash on a training ride two weeks later, and now a second bike crash during this race. I'm lucky Jennifer hasn't pulled the plug completely on this whole triathlon thing! I'm well overdo for some boring old training and racing with no drama.

The result of this one was a 6th place finish in a time of 2:03:14 after taking a hard fall on the bike. Here are the results: http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=2438

Today I'm still sore especially my ribs which I think may have some cracks and my upper calf and knee which are preventing me from running (just tried it - hope it's nothing serious). I was able to get back on the bike this morning (Tuesday) and hope to get back in the water tomorrow. The road rash is annoying but managable.

j-flo and me before the start

So the swim went well I felt. I haven't felt fast in the water lately and swim training has been the least consistent for various reason so I was doubtful for a very good swim.
I was relaxed the whole time (as is usually the case when I swim no wetsuit) and found a good set of feet in the front bunch and stayed on them until the last few hundred meters. Came out of the water in 22:30 or so in 6th place and with the run to T1 the official time was 22:49 just at the back of the lead group.

T1 was pretty smooth and I managed to get out before Peter Kotland who came out of the water ahead of me, moving me up to 5th place.

The bike started well I passed one guy within the first 2 miles and moved into 4th position.
I was playing cat and mouse with Peter who I was looking forward to battling on the run and we swapped places for 4th and 5th a few times. I should have figured it was going to be an strange ride when I hit and killed a squirrel at about mile 7 or so. Lucky I didn't go down then. About 26 minutes into the ride a dog came out at me and in trying to avoid him I got onto a rumble strip on the white line and went down hard (it looks like I need to work on my bike handling skills!!). My bike ended up on the other side of the road and I got more road rash (road rash on top of the road rash from 2 weeks ago) on my legs, arms, back, shoulders, etc and got the breath knocked out of me. Also I did something bad to my upper gastroc just below the knee, not sure if I twisted my knee or what. We (Peter and I) were being followed by a draft marshall and police officer and the officer stopped to help me (I was lying on the side of the road near my bike). He asked if I needed to be picked up. Initially I said yes but after laying there for awhile I got my breath back and told him I wanted to continue the race. He offered to follow me and told me I could pull over anytime and he'd radio for help if I needed it. Only one person came past me in those few minutes on the side of the road. I determined the whole incident took a little over 2.5 minutes by taking the official bike slit chip time and subtracting my Garmin time (the garmin was is set to auto-pause so it stops recording when the bike isn't moving). The rest of the ride was uneventful except for pain from road rash on aerobar pads. Ride time was 57:12, official time was 59:56. Ranked 11th on bike which I'm okay with given the circumstances.

Bike data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/91884931

Onto the run the calf/knee was bothersome but I wanted to at least try to get back the spot I lost and put up a respectable run.
I started out fairly conservatively and then picked it up in the last few miles. I almost took back 5th place but came up 12 seconds short. I felt very controlled and probably should have pushed harder out of the gate. The result was 39:04. Looking at the Garmin file it is a dead accurate 10k (when does that ever happen in triathlon!?). Ranked 6th on the run.

Run data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/91884941

In the end I'm pleased with the 6th place result and 2:03:14 finish time given the difficulties of the crash. I'm proud of the fact that I pushed-on despite the pain and I look forward to getting back out there. Gotta take care of these injuries first ...

**** Follow-up ****

After trying to swim unsuccessfully I had this x-ray taken showing the broken rib. There's not much you can do for it, it just takes time to heal (6 weeks +-)

IMSG Race Report

2011-05-11T10:09:00.015-04:00

Yesterday, in talking through the race with my friend, advisor, supporter and sponsor, Paul Harrell (of Harrell’s Bicycle World), he encouraged me to write an honest assessment of the race including my race-day nutrition so that we can analyze the experience and make necessary changes moving forward. So here goes …

If I had to describe the experience of racing Ironman St. George is in 3 words, I would say, “epic learning adventure”. I did not achieve the outcome I’d hoped for, but also wasn’t surprised with the way things turned out. I knew it was a hard race and I went into it with a specific goal, both from a time and placing perspective, and I raced toward that goal as wisely as I knew how, until I could not physically continue. The result was my first ever DNF (Did Not Finish). The goal was to qualify for the Ironman World Championships racing in the M35-39 division. Last year’s division winner’s time was 10:04:12 and so my goal was 10 hours +- a few minutes (preferably minus!). Here’s how I planned to achieve the 10 hour time goal:

Swim between 55min and 1hour at a steady effort level

Ride 5 hours 30 minutes holding a heart rate around 140 BPM, which is a “steady” aerobic zone, about 75% of my max HR.

Run 3 hours 30 minutes maintaining a heart rate between 140 bmp and 150 BPM

Here’s are some of the attributes of the race, climate, and conditions

Considered the most difficult Ironman branded ironman, primarily due to the difficulty of the bike and marathon courses.

I recorded nearly 7000 ft of elevation gain on the bike using my Garmin with Elevation Corrections enabled (for those familiar with the Garmin). Here’s the data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84350103

I recorded nearly 2400 ft of climbing on the run before my collapse at mile 22.5 of the marathon: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84350131

The climate is extremely dry with no shade on the entire course. None!

It was hot with the temperature reaching 94 degrees at the time of my collapse around 4:30 PM in the afternoon

This area of southwestern Utah is fantastically beautiful

The residents of St. George are some of the nicest people we’ve ever encountered across the board. They make our supposed “southern hospitality” seem like utter rudeness.

The city is very clean, well manicured, and very easily navigated.

Pre-Race: Jennifer and I arrived in St. George Utah on Wednesday afternoon. With the race taking place on Saturday, this gave us plenty of time to get settled, perform all mandatory the check-in procedures, and preview / train on the course.

Sand Hollow Reservior where the swim is held

Pre-race training (Thursday)

AM: Run 2 x 5k (1st with Jennifer at her pace, 2nd by myself at steady pace)

PM: Swim +- 1300 meters / 18 min followed by

Bike: 27 min / 10.5 miles on race course

Pre-race training (Friday)

Swim 10 min / 700 meters. Did not feel comfortable in the water, very anxious, short of breath. I swam with friend and fellow M35-39 competitor Chris Olson.

Bike: 29 min / 10.4 miles with Chris

Run: 15 minute trail run, again with Chris, easy pace / talking the whole way.

Pre-race training

Following the workout Chris and I drove the bike course. Jennifer and I relaxed the rest of the afternoon / evening and then went out to dinner. I had soup, salad and 2 slices of chicken alfredo pizza from Olive Garden. Before bed I had an electrolyte/sports drink and decaf hot tea. We got to bed around 10:00 PM and I fell asleep around midnight and awoke at 4:00 AM race morning.

Race morning nutrition

Nutrigrain bar

Kashi mini-wheat type cereal w/ Almond Milk

½ Bagel w/ cream cheese

1 bananna

Another Nutrigrain bar

Electrolyte / sports drink (Powerbar lemonaide)

Water (24 oz)

3 cups of coffee

Swim: The course is rectangular in shape with all turns being to the left. This suits me perfectly as I breathe to my left side. I entered the water as soon as we were allowed, which was about 10 minutes before the start. I don’t know why but I didn’t do any warm up swimming. I just floated there, putting my head under the water occasionally to acclimate to the 62 degree water temperature. I lined up on the right side of the start line with the intention of spotting and merging left into a fast group and drafting on that group for the rest of the swim. I believe I was too far right as it left me an addition 100 or so meters to merge left before the first turn buoy. That alone cost me up to 90 seconds. The biggest problem that I encountered in the swim was a panic attack at about 250 meters into the swim. I found myself unable to get a deep breath and having very negative thoughts. I stopped and pulled the neck of my wetsuit to let a little cool water inside and calmed myself. I’m not sure how long I was stopped … maybe 30 seconds. Once I continued the swim I was able to find a decent rhythm and began steadily passing other swimmers. Eventually things got sorted out and I found myself swimming with 1 or 2 other guys and a girl. We stayed with each other for the rest of the swim.

Swim Time: 1hour 38 seconds. Not too far off my goal, but in an ideal world, with better start line placing and no panic attack I believe I had the potential to swim 58 minutes at my steady pace.

There is no doubt that my swim times are a bit off this year. Time to get to work in the pool and open water!

T1: Nothing notable here. Time: 2min 56sec

Bike: I was surprised at the pace and the way some of the guys were riding on the bike. Many guys would regularly power up climbs, standing, etc and then coast / recover down the other side where I would catch a pass them again. So there was a lot of yo-yo-ing going on. I use Perceived Exertion and HR to pace myself on the bike with the goal of not going over an HR cap of 160 while climbing and maintaining my effort on descents … almost exactly as others use power meters, just a lot cheaper! I was surprised at the number of guys who passed me on the bike, but I stuck to my pacing and nutrition plan nonetheless.

Bike Ride data: http://connect.garmin.com/splits/84350103

Average HR 140 (exactly on target)

Max HR 155 (@ mile 90 at the top of “the wall” climb)

Avg Cadence: 85

Bike Nutrition / Hydration:

Approx 300 calories per hour of EFS liquid shot. Taken as squirt from bike bottle every 20 minutes. Approx 1600 calories total

4 x Honey Stinger waffles (120 cals each) taken at min 30, hr 1.5, hr 3, and hr 4.5. 480 calories total.

Occasional GU Chomp (4 pieces total). 90 calories total

Total Calories: 2170. Too much??

4 Allieve + 2 ibuprofin to address low back pain from swim and to prepare for punishing terrain on run. Don’t think I’ll ever take NSAIDs during a race again … wondering if this caused the bloody diarrhea later that night.

Fresh water at every aid station (every .5 hr / 10 miles). Whatever was left from the old bottle was poured on
my head, neck, chest, back, shorts

Peed at mile 30, 40, 70 and in T2. Felt well hydrated.

Coming in on the bike

Bike Time: 5:29:13. Right on target. I’m wondering if I can run well off a 112 mile bike ride paced at 145 or 150 BPM?? I’ll need to experiment with this in training as that could potentially allow me to ride a good bit faster.

T2: Nothing notable here except 1 mistake which was not getting out of my shoes on the bike and therefore having to run to the change tent in bike shoes. T2 was a little slow b/c of the pee break also. Time: 1min 55 sec

Run: Getting to the run I believe I had set myself up really well to achieve my 10hr goal. Now I just need to run my planned 3:30 marathon to make it happen. Starting out the run my legs felt surprisingly well. My main concern was a lot of belching in the first mile along with some side stitches. You start running uphill so there’s really not a chance to just cruise for awhile. Soon those were gone and I was ticking along passing quite a few guys in my division …

First lap of run

Run Nutrition:

2 endurolyte capsules every few miles

A shot of gel from a hand held flask every few miles

Water at every aid station

Coke and Perform every once in awhile.

Run spits:

Mile 1: 7:22/mile @ 147 BPM

Mile 2: 7:48/mile @ 149 BPM

Mile 3: 8:39/mile @ 152 BPM (has a long steep climb to the Redhills Parkway)

Mile 4: 8:00/mile @ 148 BPM

Mile 5: 6:46/mile @ 150 BPM

Mile 6: 7:16/mile @ 152 BPM (HR is rising a bit now)

… more here: http://connect.garmin.com/splits/84350131

Starting the 2nd lap of the run

When I crossed the timing mat the ½ marathon turn around my Garmin read 1 hr 40 minutes leaving me 1 hr 50 minutes to do it again to reach the 3:30 goal. It was getting REALLY hot and I was starting to get tired. I knew the final ½ marathon was going to come down to a physical and mental battle so I was prepared for it and ready to take it on. With a 10 minutes buffer for this 1/2 of the marathon, I began slowing the pace a little and taking more time in the aid stations to get cool with ice and sponges and drink as much as possible. Soon though, I couldn’t stand the thought of anymore gel, water, coke, sports drink or anything going into my stomach and I started walking up the steeper hills. By mile 20 I things began to really come unraveled. Math was hard to do in my head and I was having a hard time walking straight. By mile 21 I was having a hard time walking. I could only go a few steps and then I would stop and hunch over with my hands on my knees. I finally neared the end of the Red Hills Parkway and staggered to the aid station at mile 22.5. I stood beside the Porto John contemplating stepping inside to purge myself. I had the thought that it was hot inside and I might pass out and I didn’t want to be found passed out in a toilet. So as I stood there with my hands on my knees hunched over a volunteer came over and led me to a pop-up camper and laid me down on a bed. The brought me some oranges and asked if I wanted to go to medical. I told them I thought I needed to and went sort of in and out of consciousness lying in the camper with a slice of orange in my hand. When they go me up to drive me to medical there were a few more athletes crammed in the camper. I borrowed a phone from one of the volunteers and called my wife and told her that I was being brought down to the medical tent. Race over.

After a few IV bags in the medical tent I was able to walk around by myself and we went back to the hotel. My stomach started moving again and that when I had the first bloody diarrhea. It happened again through the night. The next day I drank a good bit of Smart Water and regular water and was able to eat and wasn’t having anymore issues. By Monday I was totally back to normal.

My opinion is that I got severely dehydrated because I was taking too much gel on the run and not getting enough water. The gel wasn’t getting diluted to the 7% ratio and therefore wasn’t being digested and blocked water from reaching my large intestine where it could be absorbed. I’m not a doctor so this is all laymen’s speculation. I think the blood came from irritated stomach lining from the NSAIDs.

Obviously I was very disappointed to be less than 4 miles from the finish and unable to even walk it in, but I take some solace in the fact that I didn’t really have a choice to make.

Lying in that pop-up camper feeling like I might die I swore off triathlon all together. By later that night I’d decided I would keep racing but no more ironman distance until our 3 kids are grown (ages 9,6,5 now). By Sunday I would give it at least 3 years until I raced an ironman again (that’s how long it had been since my only other ironman). On the plane ride back home on Monday we tentatively decided on IM Cozumel for 2012. Tuesday at work I made the executive decision that I’m not traveling to another ironman and going for a Kona spot without a proven approach and therefore I need to race a late season regional non-branded (cheaper) ironman to test the changes I’ll make as a result of what happened at IMSG. So now I just need to figure out what those changes will be.

So far I’m thinking:

I’ll go to an all liquid nutrition strategy on the run

Cut back on the solids on the bike, especially if I train to ride at an additional 5-10 BPM.

Do more specific swim sessions so I’m not stuck with low back pain from swimming with a wetsuit for an hour (never do this in training as I train almost exclusively in a pool)

Never take another Advil or Aleve unless I have an acute injury and need to reduce inflammation.

Opinions Welcome!

Downtown Columbia Triathlon - Belated Race Report

2011-04-18T09:56:00.008-04:00

Disclaimer: Blinding hazard! You may want to wear your darkest sunglasses when reading this report. Due to the early-season nature of this race, there are pictures of severly untanned skin ahead:

The triathlon season kicked off for me last month with the Downtown Columbia Triathlon, which is a short and very popular (400 entries sold out) sprint race (500m, 10mile, 5k). I was the defending champ but didn't have a lot of confidence that I could come back with another win as I was just coming back from some run injuries and feelinig fairly slow with my training emphasis on preparing for ironman. Being a early season race, this is an indoor swim hosted in the USC Blatt PE Center’s 50 meter pool. The transition area is in the Blatt’s parking lot on Wheat St. and the bike course, which was changed from year’s past, was a 3 loop affair from Wheat St. to Main St. to Pendleton St. to Bull St. to Gervais St. to Harden St. to Blossom St. to Pickens St. then back onto Wheat St. There’s a bit of climbing (up Wheat St. and Main Street) but for the most part it is fast with a lot of turns, traffic, and pedestrians to navigate while at full gas in your aerobars! The run is just as complicated as the bike as it involves running on roads, sidewalks, multiple foot bridges, up flights of stairs and through narrow fenced construction areas. It’s really more triathlon’s version of an urban assault! This year the race was held at 1:30 in the afternoon (which added to the traffic problems) amid intermittent rain showers and temperatures in the high 40s (felt colder on the bike, wet from the swim).

The swim: It seems I may have made a stragic error here. I was seeded in the same lane as my friend Chris. Chris always out-swims me, usually by 1min in a ½ ironman and 20 or so seconds in a Sprint. But I’ve only ever raced him in open water events. I offered him the inside of the lane thinking that he would swim a slightly faster pace than me and I would draft him for a faster swim time. Well, I did draft off him the whole way but I was thinking, “Man, this feels too easy … should I pass? Na, save your energy, it just feels easy cause I’m drafting”. Well it turns out we weren’t going that fast. By the time we crossed the timing mat at T1 I was like 0:15 secs behind last year’s time where I didn’t draft. Talking with Chris after the race he mentioned that he felt like he couldn't get going in the water. But it didn't stop him from getting the win!!

T1 was slow. Getting bike shoes on was not smooth. I was trying to go too fast which made me clumsy. I blame it on not having raced a tri since last september.

Out on the bike it was cold but I was able to ride hard (but not hard enough) and stay out of trouble. This was the first year where I wasn’t almost hit by a car at this race (although I just about ran over a pedestrian that walked across the road into the course without looking). Unfortunately when I came onto Pendleton on my second lap I say a tt bike against a tree with and a few cars and ambulance tending to an athlete that had been hit by one of the cars. By the time the second lap had passed and I still hadn’t caught Woody (he started 15 seconds ahead on the swim), I knew I wasn’t in as good of a position as last year. Last year I passed him for the lead before the end of the first lap and never looked back. But once again the Scott treated me well delivering me to the 2nd fastest bike split of the day behind Chris, my lane mate from the swim. As I arrived at T2 Chris was leaving and Woody was also just arriving. Looking at my HR data from the race I can see that I didn't push hard enough for a sprint race; I must not have been in the right mindset to really suffer.

T2 was slow also. Having gotten out of my bike shoes before the dismount I slipped when me bare feet hit the wet timing mat and nearly wiped out badly. I got my balance back and proceed to get my run gear on. I had a hard time unfastening my helmet strap since my fingers were totally numb. The numb fingers also prevented me from fastening my bib number belt around my waist … I eventually just tucked the ends into the back of my shorts which worked fine.

Off on the run I had no feeling in my feet. I remember listening to the pat-pat-pat of my feet as they struck the ground but with no feeling with each thud … strange sensation. With no feedback on toe-off, foot strike, etc, I just concentrated on keeping my turnover quick and my aerobic effort high and closing the gap to Mark (he got out of transition way before me and put in about a 25-30 second gap). By the turnaround I’d closed the gap to Marc down to about 15 seconds, which put us dead even. Once Marc saw the gap at the turnaround he surged and opened it back up. At that point I was on the rivet so to speak and couldn’t respond to his surge.

Chris went on to win the race with Mark coming across the line next then me. One of the college team guys (Clemson I think) was able to beat both Mark and myself but due to the TT start neither of us had him on our radars during the race. It was a really fun local race and I look forward to getting back in short course shape next year after I live out some ironman dreams this year! Now with 5 local short course races (DT Cola, Lake Murray, Tri Midlands, Tom Hoskins, Dam Tri) I’ll have a goal of winning several of them in 2012. For this year they’ll just have to be hard training days with the ultimate goal of being long-course fast for Ironman St. George and Kona or Rev3 Anderson / Beach 2 Battleship if I don’t go to Kona.

Results: http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=2277

It's 2011

2011-01-05T10:02:00.002-05:00

and I’m really overdue for a post …

There’s not a whole lot going on here at the moment. The holidays were super nice. Having 11 consecutive days with my family and not having to go to work was the absolute best. I think that was my favorite gift!

The 8 week winter training block (Nov 1 – Dec 26) that I wrote about in my last post went off without a hitch. Training was frequent and consistent with just enough volume to get back into the swing of things without needing a day off for rest or recovery. Each week was only about 12 hours’ worth of work with almost all the bike sessions done indoors on the trainer or rollers (much to my wife’s liking) because of the unseasonable cold weather we had in December. The only downside was the 5k race at the end of the training block didn’t go that well. I ran a disappointing 18:23, 15 seconds slower than last year at the same race. Conditions were worse this year (sleet/snow mix) but I still expected a sub 18 min result.

On the plus side, I’ve started to lose some of the off-season pounds and I’m on my way to getting nice and lean. Also, I’m pleased that my swim volume is building back up, although I’ve yet to see the benchmark paces to give me confidence for the early season short course races. Hopefully the speed will come back around during the next 8-10 weeks.

So now my focus shifts to specific preparations for the ironman in May and all that entails. I have 18 weeks until race day to get myself ready mentally and physically for the performance of a lifetime. Both Jennifer and I are excited about the trip and we’ve already started planning our flights and hotel. The kids aren’t hiding the fact that they want to go to Hawaii in October to see flowing lava and go snorkeling and they’re expecting me come home with a Kona slot (no pressure, eh?). I’m really looking forward to my “Big Fridays” every other week where I’ll do the specific work to simulate the conditions I expect to face in Utah (as much as SC weather and terrain allow me).

I’ll try to blog a little more regularly with updates, pictures and video from my journey to St. George as well as race reports for some of the smaller races along the way.

Peace out -

Back in the saddle again

2010-11-01T14:40:00.013-04:00

Starting out ... feeling like a rockstar

I've put together a mixed up post with some pics from our recent trip to the mountains (which was an endurance event itself) intermingled with an update about my plans for Ironman St. George.

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway

Monday kicked off my return to formal training and quest a great race at St. George. I was just a little tiny bit anxious to get moving again so started training a bit more frequently last week. On Wednesday I was on my 4th run of the week on the trails of Harbison Forest when I sprained my ankle on a rock or root disguised under fall foliage. It's healed enough to run again now although the foot is still a colorful with purple/green/yellow hues. Ah, the colors of Autumn.

The crew at the base of a waterfall near Chimney Rock

During my 8 week hiatus from structured training I managed to put on 6 pounds!! And that was with still training about 5 hours per week (my sanity training I call it). So that shows you just how lax I'd become with my diet! When people (generally non-athletic folk) ask me about losing weight I tell them that (in my non-expert opinion) to lose weight and then maintain an optimal weight they need to commit to a moderate and balanced diet AND a minimum of 1 hr per day of aerobic work of some kind. I think I've just proven that theory correct.

Kids at a Lake Lure overlook

So now the work begins. The next 8 weeks will be "training to train" for St. George. The actual training for St. G will begin in earnest on Jan 1, exactly 18 weeks from race day. The next two weeks will be devoted to re-establishing frequency and consistency at a mostly steady effort level. I will sprinkle in some intensity here and there each week and will gradually increase the frequency of high intensity work as the 8 week block progresses. As the weight and pace come down (as they often do in parallel) I'll begin to do some of the local winter run races that I use each year as a measure of fitness with the hopes of setting all-time 5k and 10k PRs before the longer work begins. If I could break 17 minutes in the 5k I would be thrilled! The hope is that I'll carry a good deal of that speed all the way to the Ironman.

A triple waterfall

As for the ironman specific training, I'm going to experiment with completely different approach than any I've done before. In the past I've used a fairly standard periodization approach where I would build volume for 3 weeks and then recover for 1 week. Each cycle would build on the previous one until I had no more time available and I was good form. While I can't argue with the race results that have come from this approach, my complaint comes from the plateau I reached earlier this year. The level where I plateaued was good enough to win some races and generally be competitive every time I toed the line, but we're not really looking for "good enough" are we? No, we are hoping to become the best possible. My goal is to race ironman on the world stage against the world's best. And I'm not "looking for clues", I truly believe I can get more out of this mind and body (and also spend even more time with my family) by taking a different approach. That's the goal.

Here are the primary principles that I'm basing my St. George training on:

Consistency: Nothing new here, I'm a big believer that consistency leads to great performances, and as such, I like to operate on a "basic week", which is a repeatable weekly schedule. This year I'm calling it my "basic cycle" because it's a two week cycle that I'll repeat with the two weeks being quite different from each other.
Running Frequency: Nothing new here either, it builds durability in the body. I like to run just about every day even if only 20-40 minutes.
Specificity: This is where I failed in the past. If you know me you've probably heard me say that I usually race faster than I train. That's great, but what if I trained as fast as I raced? Then how fast would I race? For St. George, specificity means hills, hills, and more hills at race intensity. While it will be a challenge to duplicate the terrain of Utah on the bike a, I've already scoped out some very hilly run routes that will give me nearly the elevation change as the St. George marathon.
Recovery: This is another area where I've failed badly in the past. Not surprising since specificity and recovery tend to go hand in hand. Lack of recovery left me in a state of grey for many consecutive months ... unable to push as hard as I should in training (e.g. specificity)
Getting Lean: I'm 5'11" (180.3 cm) and spent most of last season at 158 lbs (71.8 kg) at around 9% body fat. Losing 5lbs from last years race weight (that's 11 lbs from my weight today) would put me around 153 lbs /69.5 kg and 6% body fat. I believe this would pay huge dividends on a course like St. George that has such a massive amount of climbing on the bike and run.

I'll get more into the specifics in a later post. For now it's back to "training to train"!

Resting on the trail. The hard work is done. I love that feeling!

Unplugged

2010-09-27T12:16:00.005-04:00

Yep, I've pulled the plug on the 2010 triathlon season. Since the SC Half ironman I haven't done any training ... only exercise. While exercise for me is still swim, bike and run, it differs in some ways from training: 1) There's not so much of it 2) it is not purposely focused on a race and 3) it's done when I want, for fun, with whatever equipment I choose. For the first week or two it was easy, but because I love to swim, bike and run so much I've had to force myself not do it so much!

With all the extra time I've mainly been spending loads of it with my family (which has been very special). And I've been eating lots of whatever-I-want and putting on some weight (or at least I feel like it). I've also been putting a lot of time, thought and energy into preparing to move. With a family of 5 with 3 little ones this is no simple task! I'm not 100% positive where that will be yet (only about 90%) but one thing is for sure ... we're movin'! I should have something more concrete on this soon and I'll let you know.

But there are a few other reasons besides time-with-family and moving that helped me decide to take an early off season ...

For one, I'd hit a plateau. I was in a rut and in order to bring my racing up to a higher level in 2011, I needed to take some rest mentally and physically and prepare for the work ahead. I believe I know what my program was lacking this year and look to address it for next year. But I can't do that without first unloading. When I look back I don't think I've taken any breaks except for 2 weeks after Clearwater last year and maybe 2-3 weeks after Beach 2 Battleship in 2008.

Secondly, I'm happy to have met the objectives (and exceeded some) that I set out for 2010. The foremost was actually winning some triathlons. So there's nothing that I feel is left undone with the 2010 season (which is a great feeling!). I've worked hard, learned some things, made memories, shared awesome experiences with friends and family, and managed to get the results I was after. That's what it's all about.

Thirdly, my next high priority race is Ironman St. George on May 7, 2011. This race will demand more of me mentally and physically than any other race to date. After all, it's being called THE most difficult Ironman. With my preparation for St. George beginning in November, if I'm going to take some down-time it needs to be now.

I'll save the 2011 goals for another post :)

SC Half Race Report

2010-09-13T14:25:00.012-04:00

It's been just over two weeks since I raced the SC Half so a report is overdue!

Result: 6th place overall in a time of 4:30:18

The day started out early at 4:00 AM and was a very peaceful morning. I made the 1hr drive to the state park in Ninety Six and arrived at 5:30 AM with plenty of time to get my packet, number my gear and body, catch up with friends, and warm up.

Swim: 30:26, rank 10th

Not a good swim for me; I expected to be at least 1 minute faster. The start was slow and easy. Too easy. At about 200 meters a small group switched gears and got a sizable gap. I was too slow to react and they were gone. I had one pair of feet until the first turn but let them go which was a big mistake. Once on my own I got terribly off course. By the time I made my way back on course to get around the final turn I joined with a group that included folks that I'm usually in front of at this stage of a race. A little stumble coming up the boat ramp and I was glad to put the swim behind me.

T1: 0:55

Bike: 2:24:22 Rank 9th.

The plan was to ride the bike at a conservative pace so I would have plenty in the tank for run when the temperature would rise. My strategy was to ride by heart rate, keeping it in the mid 150s, and take in 3 full bottles of fluid - each containing 220 calories and 200 mg of sodium chloride plus other electrolytes.

Heading out of the park Cameron and I were together and he waved me up to him to work together (legally of course) to try to bridge the gap to the front. This didn't fit my plan for the race so I let him go hoping he would come back to me later, instead focusing on getting my heart rate settle from the swim.

I never really felt good on the bike. I guess it was just one of those days. There was a section of about 10 miles where my HR actually fell lower than I wanted and I had to force myself to increase the intensity to get it back where it needed to be. This is typically not the case with me, especially in race! At some point before the halfway mark I started dry heaving. Sometimes I have this happen in Sprint races because of the intensity but that certainly wasn't the case today. But what can you do? Nothing but press on, keep trying to take in nutrition and hope things turn around

Then around the half way mark Jose Fuentes came past me. I could tell that he was riding above his ability and had no hesitation in letting him go assuming I would see him again on the run. Soon after that encounter the dry heaving turned to full-on puking. First it started out small but when we took the turn onto the bumpy cut-through road I lost a belly full. From there I stopped taking in nutrition for the most part. Soon after I was overtaken by Vavre and then around mile 52 I passed Mike Wendt who stayed with me for the last few miles coming into transition. As you can see from this picture taken on the way back into the park I still had a full bottle on the seat tube. Not good!

For the ride my average HR was 152 with an average speed of 23.27. This was exactly how I'd planned to ride.

T2: 1:00 (put on socks)

Run: 1:33:37, rank 8th

That steep hill at the finish is a killer!

The temps were starting to rise as we began the run and it felt especially apparent coming from the bike where you have the cooling effect of the wind. Fuentes had about a minute on me at the start of the run but I was able to run him down before the first mile. That put me 5th place with my sights set on the $$ and a podium spot. To make that happen I'd need to run down both Cameron who'd built a 4 minute lead over the bike and T2 (3:30 bike, 0:30 t2) and one other.

Again I stuck to the plan and tried to pace it evenly, starting out easy and letting the HR and RPE build throughout the run while maintaining pace. At mile 5 the lack of salt caught up with me and I got a major hamstring cramp just as I was crossing paths with Jeff Allums. He saw (and heard) the agony and yelled "Stretch it out" which is just what I did and was able to get moving again. I was able to close the gap to Cameron a little by the halfway turnaround and then by the turnaround at mile 9 it had come down a lot. Unfortunately around this same point I was passed by a flying Mark Render and pushed back to 6th place. As much as I hate getting passed, there is something cool about seeing a natural runner do their thing.

When I look at the data I see that the first mile was at 158 HR and it rose by 2 or 3 beats every few miles up to 171 giving me an average of 165. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to run down Cameron who managed to keep a 30 second gap between us. Upon crossing the finish line Cam looked awful and was taken straight to the med tent for an IV. Congrats to Peter for the win.

My thoughts on the race:

I'm mostly pleased with this race! This wasn't a PR or a podium and I didn't earn any money but it was a solid performance.

I'm most pleased with the fact that Peter Kotland (the winner) and I were the only two guys that ranked in the top 10 across all three disciplines. That shows a well-rounded and balanced approach to the sport that I can be proud of. Most of others either had obvious weaknesses in a particular area or paced the bike above their fitness level and blew up, sacrificing their run.

I'm most displeased with the swim. Had I swam how I should've I theoretically would have beat Cam by 30 seconds instead of the other way around. But that's all theory!

Thoughts on the course:

This is a fair course. I love swimming in Lake Greenwood! The chip-seal on the bike course is a little rough but the terrain is perfect rolling hills. The run is challenging, partly because of the terrain but mostly because of the heat.

I'm very thankful to God and my family for my health and the ability to do this sport and the support they give me. This sport is hard and it hurts but it is also extremely fun and rewarding and I'm very privileged to be able to participate.

2 for 1 Race Report Special

2010-07-20T15:14:00.007-04:00

First I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to my family for all they sacrifice and all the support they give me. Without their support it is impossible and without them it is meaningless. Y'all are such a huge blessing and I thank God for each of you!

Tri the Midlands Race Report: 5th overall

In my last race report from the Lake Murray Triathlon I stated, "So I ended up in 5th place with a pretty sloppy race really. I need to be a little more focused on the details – which I will"

Obviously I didn't learn my lesson because the exact same statement applies to this race.

As much as I hoped to discontinue the streak of sloppiness demonstrated at the Lake Murray, it only grew worse. Way worse.

It started with a forgotten timing chip which I realized just minutes before the start. In a mad dash sprint I reached the chip distribution area just as it was being torn down. Luckily I had bib #2 which made my chip fairly easy to find in the stack of chip containers. A sprint back to the lake and all was good apart from my jacked up HR.

The swim was pretty good. I came out of the water about 20 seconds down to a lead pack of 4. Running to transition I peeled my Xterra .02 suit down half way and hurriedly went about T1.

Here I present sloppiness example Number 2:

Yep, I forgot to take the suit all the way off. Oh well, might as well ride with it.

My bum got a little hot and it wasn't very aerodynamic but the real damage was done mentally.

And then as I was battling someone on the bike whom I usually drop fairly readily, my chain came off. It wasn't a chain drop the could be remedied while riding (didn't drop off the chain ring) but rather dropped off the rear cassette.

So after stopping and getting the chain sorted out and watching my opponent ride away I was mentally over it. I had to make a decision whether to relent or push on. I decided to push on and make the best of it.

I was glad to get to T2 so I could get the stinking swim suit off. I was getting hot and was it was rather embarrassing riding back to transition through the crowd-lined street with it dangling around my waist.

Setting out on the run I made it a point to pass my bike opponent (and friend) quickly and make a gap between us.

From there it was just hanging on and making sure I held on to 5th spot which I did.

I was really disappointed after this race and determined to actually tighten things up for my next race.

Tom Hoskins Memorial Triathlon Race Report: 1st overall

This was a first-year sprint race and seems to go by many names (Tom Hoskins Memorial, NW Columbia , Irmo YMCA ...) It was being directed by a friend and coworker of mine and I thought he and his team did a great job.

This was to be my redemption race. I was determined to dot my i's and cross my t's, make no stupid mistakes, and let the chips fall where the may.

That's exactly what I did and ended up with the win. My biggest competition for the day was two friends Jeff Brandenburg and Chuck Hiers. I wasn't concerned too much with Chuck as we train together and I know his strengths and weaknesses. Next year may be a different story as he's taking a very serious approach to his training with the guidance of Team Kattouf.

My biggest concern was JB. I haven't raced him yet this year so wasn't sure what to expect. My plan was to put some time between us on the swim and then ride hard and try to hold onto the gap. I figured in the worst case scenario it would come down to a run race.

It was a 350 yard pool swim and I had the fastest swim of the day. Looking at the results I put about 35 seconds on Jeff and another 10 seconds in transition.

The bike was 14 miles out and back over some challenging rollers. After crossing paths with JB after the turn around I estimated my lead at around 1 min. I continued digging deep to the point of nausea. I had the fastest ride of the day at 33 min and change for a 24.8 mph or 40km average which I was pleased with.

The run was darn tough, especially after that hard ride. My pace coming out of t1 was pretty good at 5:40/mile until I hit the two hills. Getting to the turn around was a relief and I soon got another time check on JB and knew it was game-over between us for this race. The run was about 1/10th of a mile long which, along with the challenging hills, made for some slow times. Mine was the third fastest at just under 20 minutes.

In the end I had JB and Chuck by 3 min and 3:30 respectively. It was a really nice touch get $50 from Inside Out Sports for my efforts! I'll put it to good use.

bringing it in

cool down run around the course with JB

Getting the 50 clams

1st, 2nd, 3rd: Me, JB, Chuck

Summertime Fun

2010-07-09T15:20:00.007-04:00

It's been awhile since my last update so I thought I'd share some pictures of non-triathlon related summertime fun. I'm training hard and raced a few weeks back so I owe the blog a report, but that's for another post. Here's some pictures of the family fun we've been having

Lake Murray Triathlon Race Report

2010-05-13T19:14:00.005-04:00

Well, it was the 3rd race in 3 weeks and I was as excited as ever to race. I just never get tired of it. I think I could do it every weekend if my body and family would allow it! But my body and family are telling me it’s time for some rest and rehab.

Back to the race: This weekend was a family affair so we got early (overslept nonetheless), quickly packed up the kids and gear and headed off to the race site. I got setup and took care of all necessary business with just enough time for quick swim warm up.

Being a sprint (750m swim) the whole race can be decided on the swim, so the plan was to go hard from start to finish. This race always draws a very strong field of athletes and Sunday was no exception. Floating in the unusually calm water I had a look around and surveyed the swim talent … Mike Wendt, Woody, Dan Moss, Chris Olson, Herbie Reeves. All these dudes can put time on me in the water; the plan was to try to limit the damage to put me in a good position to pass Wendt, Herbie and Woody on the bike. I figured I wouldn’t be able to catch Dan Moss or Chris on the bike. I thought I’d out-swim Parker but he’d pass me early on the bike. I intended to out-swim Cameron and hopefully keep him behind me. Last year Cameron and I swam stroke for stroke and then he flew past me on the bike.

Anyway, back to the race …

I took it out pretty hard and quickly got to that almost-uncomfortably-hard level and kept it there. Sighting was great, I stayed on the back of the front pack until sometime after the first turn and then swam the rest solo. Exiting the water someone from the crowed shouted out that I was 30 seconds back to the front. I looked down at my watch and saw 10 minutes something. I hit the lap button as I crossed the mat into transition right at 11 minutes. That was over 1 minute faster than last year. I was pretty stoked. The thing I was wrong about was out-swimming Parker; he really improved his swim which WAS his only weakness.

Running into transition I saw the lead swimmers at the rack getting wetsuits off and helmets on. I think at this point I was too concerned about the “race” and lost concentration on what I needed to be doing. When I got to my bike I hadn’t even begun to take my wetsuit off. That was a big mistake and cost some major time. Last year my t1 was 28 seconds, this year was 1:09. That’s HUGE in a sprint race!

Once out on the bike I pretty quickly made my way past Herbie and a few miles later, Mike Wendt as planned. It wasn’t long before I could see Woody up the road. It took nearly to whole ride to catch him but I eventually overtook with less than a mile to the finish.

I rode strong but regret taking the disk cover off which I think would have been advantageous. The wind was really strong the day before the race so I made the call to pull it off. I ended up with the 4th fastest bike split behind Parker, Chris and Dan.

Joe took this video on his handy iPhone

As you can see from the video my lead on Mark was minimal coming into T2. Again, it was a poor transition on my part. You can’t really hammer coming back into the park but I didn’t take advantage of that by getting out of my shoes on the bike. Well, Mark did and was able to pass me in T2 to take back 4th place and get about 40 meters ahead starting the run.

Once out on the run I wasn’t bringing Woody back at all, in fact he was expanding the gap. We looked to be close at the first out-and-back with Cameron chasing about a minute behind me but by the time I reached the turn around Mark had gained a good bit of ground and seemed to be running down the hills very fast.

Nearing the end of the run I checked to see if Cameron was in sight, which he wasn’t much to my relief. I finished with a good kick … perhaps too good. I’m thinking I left too much in the tank for that kick! I ended up with the 8th fastest run in 18:47.

Joe caught me looking back for Cameron on the iPhone

So I ended up in 5th place with a pretty sloppy race really. I need to be a little more focused on the details – which I will. But the swim was really good, the bike was good, and the run was so-so. I have a bit of an injury that’s kept me from running (except for racing) over the last few weeks so I attribute my not-so-stellar run split to diminishing run fitness.

There still seems to be a sizable gap between me (as well as a few others) and the top 3 guys in the series. But it’s closing! I love the process … I love the challenge. Slowly but surely I’m closing in … I know what needs to be done to get to the very top and (I hope) I’m figuring out how to do it. I’m already excited for the 2011 season of racing.

‘Til next race - Nick

Try Charleston Half Race Report

2010-05-05T16:02:00.007-04:00

Try Charleston Half Race Report

Result: 7th place, 5th Open, 4:31:34

I learned at lot from this race. And as the saying goes, you learn from your mistakes. While I’m somewhat disappointed in my placing and finish time, I know I’ve made gains because of it. It’s also important to note that many people were in the same boat as me … caught off guard by the difficulty of the conditions and course and therefore suffered badly on the run. I was in good company!

In contrast, seeing how Peter Kotland’s race unfolded was very insightful. He executed really well and I learned a lot seeing how he approached this race.

Overall Jennifer and I had a great time and it was nice to take a break from the daily routine of mommy and daddy. Chris Olson rode down with us and his wife, Laura, drove down a few hours later. Once at the race site we met up with Chuck Hiers and had a few beers at his camper. After a fairly average seafood dinner we headed back to the two bedroom suite we’d rented with the Olson’s and hit the sack.

On to the race:

We had a pretty large wave of Open and Masters Open men starting the swim together. I lined up behind a few guys including race favorite and eventual winner Kevin Lisska. I figured Lisska, Chris Olson, David Hall and Mike Wendt would go off the front and open a bit of a gap to a second group with me and Peter. I was right, by the first turn a gap had opened that couldn’t be closed and Peter and I stayed close through the first lap.

Once we hit the turn for the second lap I was right on Peter’s feet but all bets were off. By that point other waves had started their race and the traffic was heavy requiring careful navigation between and around bodies. I came out of the water in 26 and change with Peter 15 seconds ahead, although I made it out of transition first.

Once out on the bike I quickly settled into a pace that felt strong but comfortable. My HR stayed pretty jacked up for awhile in the 170s but after a few miles started to come down into the 160s. I looked back after about 5 or 6 minutes and didn’t see anyone.

By mile 11 I could see a group of 3 riders ahead. By mile 13 I’d passed David Hall. Soon after that I passed Mike Wendt and then around mile 17 I passed another guy I didn’t know. Once I gotten past the group of fish, I figured I was sitting in 3rd place but didn’t know for sure. The last guy I passed increased his pace and stayed on my wheel for about 5 miles before fading away.

Soon enough I was nearing the turn around and could see Chris leading with Lisska a few meters behind him. This confirmed that I was in third place which made me very happy! Shortly thereafter I was at the turn around and heading back into a cross headwind. This gave me the opportunity to see how much lead I had on the guys behind me. There was a group of 4 or 5 about 3 minutes back with the rest strung out behind them. At this point I decided to put as much time between myself and them as possible on the bike and see if I could hold them off on the run (mistake!!).

The rest of the ride continued to be a very lonely affair. I couldn’t see anyone ahead or behind and apart from passing group of roadies out for their Saturday morning group ride I didn’t have contact with anyone. At exactly mile 35 my Garmin 310xt locked up. I fiddled with it a little bit and then resolved myself to finish out the ride on perceived exertion not knowing HR, speed, distance etc. It didn’t bother me too much as I don’t rely on technology very often in training. It is quite possible though that I was riding harder than I should have from mile 35 – 56 with nothing but my thoughts driving me to get a big cushion of time. The last 6 miles of the ride were very difficult mentally and physically due to a steady headwind. I ended up with the 4th fastest bike split behind the two leaders Chris and Lisska and a hard-charging G-Man coming from behind. Thanks again Harrell's for the super-fast setup.

Getting off the bike I felt pretty good. The turn over was great and the crowd support in the fist ¼ mile was awesome. Running without the Garmin I’d have to rely on mile markers and my watch for splits. The first split I was interested in was my lead-time on the group behind me. A few minutes into the run and along comes a group of 4 or 5 on the bike. Kotland was in the group and flashed a big smile as he passed by. I figured I had about 5 minutes on them and knew I needed to have a strong and steady run to keep them behind me.

The first 4 miles clicked off pretty well at about 6:30 per mile. When I crossed paths with Lisska I could see that he’d opened a pretty big gap on Chris. A few minutes later I crossed paths with Chris. Shortly after I tried to stretch my quad by kicking my heel high and instantly the hamstring locked up in a cramp. That gave me the realization things were starting to turn south.

The first turn around was near mile 5 I think. Coming back the other direction I could see that Kotland and a few others were closing the gap to me and I was starting to really struggle to keep the legs turning over. Around mile 6.5 Peter caught me and went flying by. I had no illusions of trying to keep pace as he seemed to be running very strong and I was really beginning to suffer. Things started to get a little fuzzy at this point. I wasn’t all there in my mind … I was saying “good job” to the police officers and volunteers instead of “thank you” and was having a hard time doing the mathematical projections for my run slit, time left and finish time. I crossed paths Joe Dannelly and he said he was “praying me up”. I remember being very grateful because I certainly needed it!

From there it was pure survival mode. The rest of the run seemed to drag on FOREVER as the temperature was rising. From mile 13 to the finish was especially hard because it was actually like 1.4 miles, a cruel twist of fate. My pace had dropped to a near 8 minute shuffle. In addition to Kotland, 3 other guys came past me between mile 8 and the finish, dropping me back to 7th place.

Chris had an even worse run than me but had such a big lead coming off the bike that it only cost him 1 position and left him with the 3rd place podium spot. Peter had run his way to 2nd place by making up and erasing the 13 minute lead Chris had on him coming off the bike and putting another minute between them. Amazing! That’s a lesson in pacing the bike.

After the race we had a great time hanging out with friends, talking, eating and drinking. Unfortunately Chris was in a bad way and ended up in the ambulance getting IV fluids before he started to feel better. Jennifer and I went back to the hotel for a little R&R before heading out for a nice steak dinner at Longhorn and a few hours of shopping. What can I say, we’re troopers!

A recap of mistakes I made and things I’ve learned:

- Hydrate well before a long race. Don’t drink just coffee the morning of the race and lay off the beer the night before.
- Pacing on the bike is very important. Ride hard enough to put myself in a good position to start the run but easy enough to run near my best.
- Do more long rides in training so I’m not so fatigued coming off the bike
- Possibly lower my heart rate range for half iron racing.

Langley Pond Sprint Triathlon Race Report

2010-04-26T16:36:00.012-04:00

This is a super fun race that I’ve done twice before and I was so stoked to get to overall win. This was the second win of the 2010 season in only my second race. I have a feeling the streak ends next weekend at the Charleston Half where the competition will be ON!

Back in 2007, it was my very first triathlon ever. At the time I was thrilled to not be last in my age group and instead finished right in the middle. The following year (2008) I raced the international distance on a very stormy day where the bike course was shortened due to flooding. Last year I raced the sprint distance again and finished 2nd overall. This year it was once again rainy but without the thunder and lightening of 2008.

Pre-race went pretty smooth even though I let the family sleep-in to the very last minute before rousing them to get on the road down to Aiken, not giving myself much time to do all the pre-race stuff. But I finished setting up with plenty of time for a swim warm-up.

One of the things I like about this race is the beach start. I love running into the water and doing a couple of dolphin dives until the water is deep enough to start swimming. Once swimming I easily found a good rhythm with my breathing and was at the front of the group. There I sat with no one in front of me for about 250 meters before I was passed by Katharine Welling at which time I promptly got on her feet and tried hard to stay there.

Rounding the second turn back to shore she took what seem to me a strange line off to the right. At that point I decided to follow my own line to shore. I’m not sure if mine was better, worse or indifferent but by the time we reached the shore she had 20 seconds on me with everyone else several minutes back. I was 3rd fastest in the water. Gotta give big props to Katharine, she beat all the men and women with the fastest swim of the day!

Off on the bike I made my way up the 2 mile 4% grade and onto the rollers where I passed a few age group guys from the international distance race. I knew I was in the lead at that point but didn’t know by how much so I just kept pushing. I took the turns very carefully hoping not to get loose on the wet and somewhat sandy intersections. Once again the Scott Plasma did me really well with the fastest bike split of the day (thanks Harrell’s!!).

The crowd support was awesome coming in and out of T2. I made my way around the field and back onto the main road where I was able to get an assessment of my lead as the rest of the guys were coming in from the bike. It looked to be several minutes so I just set a solid pace until I could get another time check after the first turn around.

The turn around wasn’t where I expected as it had been pushed back quite a bit. Heading back towards the park I crossed paths with my competition once again and it seemed my lead had grown some. At that point I knew the win was in the bag and that I'd gapped the rest of the field by several minutes so I just enjoyed the rest of the notably-longer-than-5k run. 3rd fastest run with a moderately hard effort.

As I came down the finishing shoot I saw my wife, kids and mom standing out in then rain to cheer me in. I'm really blessed to have such supportive family and friends.

As for the athletes I train, I’m so proud of these guys. Every one of them puts in solid training and just keeps getting better and better.

Chuck Hiers: 5th overall in the sprint, 2nd place Open

Jason Thomas: 6th overall in the sprint with the 2nd fastest run and 3rd place in his age group.

Joe Dannelly: 2nd place Clydesdale, 18th overall in the sprint

Chip Edgar: completed his first International distance in 2hrs 45min with the 18th fastest swim.

Downtown Columbia Triathlon Race Report

2010-03-27T21:52:00.025-04:00

My friend Jason Thomas spent the night with us and we got to the race site fairly early, around 7:00 Am, to set up the FCA-E booth in the expo area. As we were carrying the ez-up down the flight of stairs that leads to the intramural field beside the Blatt PE center I had a bit of an accident. Somehow I didn't see the last step on the stairs and kinda stepped on it halfway. The ankle gave way quickly and down I went. Graceful!! Jason put it best when he said, "Not a great way to start the day"

At first I thought it wasn't too bad and wouldn't bother me too much. As time went on it just got worse an worse. The swelling was getting larger by the minute. I rounded up some pain meds and Biofreeze from Chuck and Jason and, after setting up transition, went back to the truck and set about trying to do what I could for it.

I sent an update to twitter about my misfortune and got to praying. "Lord, this is crazy ... what's going on here?" "Is it just a weird accident?" "Should I race? Should I pull out?" "What if I can't run?" "I expected to do well at this race .." "I wanted to podium at least ..." "This sucks!" "Maybe this is for the best ... maybe I was going to get run over by a car and this is saving my life" 'Maybe not ..."

I decided to just do the best I could and see what happens.

Chuck and I went out for a cruise on the bike around the course with a few pickups and then a short run. The foot felt fine on the bike but was pretty painful on the run, especially downhill.

Thankfully I had plenty of time to do a swim warm up. The foot was quite painful in the fully elongated position while swimming and my toes went numb.

I swam beside one of my competition and noticed I was faster. Good. Flip turns under lane lines were solid.

The start came quick and I was too discombobulated to reset and start my watch so I was racing without knowing my splits. My lane mate was a no-show so I wouldn't get or give any help ... fine with me.

And I was off. "I’m gonna fight ‘em off. A seven nation army couldn’t hold me back …" ringing in my head.

People lining the wall. I wonder what they are thinking? Find a rhythm. Strong a steady.

First flip turn under lane line ... perfect.

After a lap or two I start looking for my competition. Someone is gaining on me. Strong and steady. Someone is on my feet. Someone's tapping my feet. Be polite, do a touch turn at the next wall and let 'em go and then get on their feet and stay there.

Last lap already? Get out quick and get the suit halfway down before you get to the bike.

Dang, what's Herbie doing? I'll pass him in transition, that'll work!

Running out of transition with my bike I see David Hall up ahead. That's who passed me in the water. He's stopping at the mount/dismount line and mounting his bike . Flying mount for me and I get back few of those seconds he took on the swim.

Onto the bike and straight into some climbing. He's not climbing that well. I'll get him quick.

"Another one bites the dust …"

Sitting in second place now. I tried hard to put some time between David and myself on the climb. Once onto the flat section heading towards Gervais I can see Woody up the road a ways.

I noticed I'm gaining on him on flat part of Gervais into a headwind. I'm turning a big gear, head down, grunting with lots of snot and slobber coming out of my nose and mouth.

On Harden heading into 5 points I gained even more time on him. I'm not far behind him by the time we make the right onto Blossom. Cool, there's a motorcycle leading the way. I pass him on Blossom and tell him "good job". Now I'm in the lead. Looking down at the speedometer, it reads 31.5 mph on the flats. The headwind on Gervais is a cross/tailwind on Blossom.

Back by the Blatt for lap 2 and the motorcycle pulls off. Some age group athletes are coming onto the bike course now. I blast past them and up the hill again. This is fun!

Onto the flat section heading to Gervais, Woody has matched my pace and is not too far back. An SUV nearly runs me over as it pulls into the closed lane. I pass it on the right and waive my arms like lunatic. Woody is still back there.

Back to the flat section of Gervais with the headwind. Between here and Blossom is where I made time on him on the first lap. I'll put some time on him here again. By the turn back onto Wheat I don't see him back there anymore. Cool! I'll have a lead going into the run. But first I have to keep the throttle on for one more lap.

I wonder how Bryan is riding? He started 40 seconds behind me I think which makes it really hard to figure out how the race is unfolding at the time.

The last lap was blur, just trying to go as hard as possible, avoid traffic, and get as much lead-time going into the run as I could.

Coming back into transition the volunteers didn't see me until I was right there. Quick dismount and I see my father-in-law and son cheering me on as I run to my rack. My son is screaming and cheering ... very excited. That gives me a big boost of energy as I head out on the run.

The run starts out with an uphill section which doesn't feel great on the legs coming off the bike. It feels like I'm running really hard but very slow. I have no idea what pace I'm running - I need to get another Garmin!

Once I got up the hill and onto walking bridge I started to settle into a rhythm and began accessing how much of a lead I had on Woody. I could see him behind me about 20 seconds back. But he started 10 seconds in front so I figured I was 30 seconds ahead.

Foot was hurting with every stride but wasn't intolerable. After the turn-around I got a little better assessment of the field. It looked like Woody was gaining back some time but not much. I figured I could hold him off. I expected to see Bryan and David sooner, but it looked like Bryan was moving really fast. I figured I had done enough on the swim and bike to hold him off too.

Back at the Blatt I once again caught the volunteers off guard. Thankfully Al from Go Tri Sports popped out the booth and kept me on course up the stairs and over the last foot bridge and around the block. I cruised it home and when I entered the intramural field my son was waiting to run it in with me. He kept the sub 6 pace for the remaining 100 yards or so and we crossed the line together. What a feeling!! Simply awesome.

What a start to 2010 ... first race and first win!

It IS about the bike

2010-03-12T16:05:00.007-05:00

Well, this post at least. With all this talk about running lately it is easy to forget that my strongest discipline has historically been the bike. We'll see if that holds true this season! I've done an awful lot of work on my run and it's undoubtedly brought me to whole "'nuther level", which was the goal for the offseason and preseason.. And the past few weeks my swim partner and I have been seeing our benchmarks drop steadily in the wake of bringing big intensity to our workouts. Anyway, back to the bike. A true work of beauty ...

A HUGE thanks to Harrell's Bicycle World!

Matching color schemes for the boys' race bikes (excuse the messy garage):

PreSeason Update

2010-03-08T19:44:00.023-05:00

Is once a quarter too infrequent to blog? Are there still any readers out there?? Lol. I wish I could commit to a weekly post but I fear I couldn't hold to the promise as busy as I seem to be all the time. It's crazy ... a true balancing act.

The priorities are:

1. Faith: This is the glue that holds it all together. Everything falls apart if I don't maintain certain level of closeness with the Lord.
2. Family: My #1 love and responsibility is being Hubby and Dad. The "Dad" part is challenging at times! My only hope is that my kids look back on on their childhood with fondness and know that I've always loved them more than anything.
3. Triathlon: my passion. It drives me to strive to excellence.
4. Work: provides for #2 and #3. I enjoy the creative side of architecting software but abhor the political side of corporate life.
5. Friends / Coaching: I love my friends and really wish I had more free time to devote to spending time with them (especially training together). For the ones who are also dedicated to triathlon I provide triathlon coaching / training at no charge. I enjoy the process of getting fit for racing and like sharing this experience with my friends.

On the training/racing front things have been good. My last post was over a month ago and I'd just ran the state 5k champs race in Greenville with a fast (for me) sub 18 min 5k and beautiful, hard and epic Caesar's Head ride. Unfortunately I turned up injured shortly thereafter with a sprained ankle.

I did the typical "wait a week and give it a try" thing with no luck. Reluctantly I went to see an orthopedist where I learned what the injury actually was and that I would need to take 2-3 weeks off running. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise as I really needed to put some focus on my bike fitness! In addition to my typical trainer riding, and as yukky as the weather was, I made a point to get out for a really solid 70 mile ride with some friends over challenging terrain during this time.

Luckily, with the week I'd already taken off, it only took another 1.5 weeks before I was back to running again. That gave me a whopping 2.5 weeks to get ready for the Lexington Race Against Hunger 10k. LRAH is a challenging race with a ton of short and steep hills. So much so that most people I've talked to consider it 1+ min slower than your typical 10k. It is also the team showdown against the dreaded Blue Cross Blue Shield and Westinghouse.

We (Colonial Life) had won the past 4 years and intended to make it 5! But I also had an ulterior motive I was calling "operation coup d'etat". A little background ... About 3.5 years ago I decided to put down the smokes a try to get in shape. Just today I was thinking back to 3 years ago on my 32nd birthday when I ran 4 consecutive miles for the first time. Anyway, since then I've always been considered Colonial's #3 runner behind a couple of friends that are talented runners ... true runners, dedicated runners, collegiate team runners, not triathletes. These guys typically win or podium at every run race around here. But my aim was to take them both down ... to become Colonial's #1 runner (and a triathlete at that - a hard pill for most pure runners to swallow).

When all was said and done we failed to win the team race (placed 2nd) which was a shame, but I was still smiling inside because operation coup d'etat was a success!

Not that I had a stellar race (38:16) but it was enough to get the job done (by 4 seconds - Steven and I pictured) and good enough for 7th overall and 2nd in M35-39. It was a hard race. My friends and I ran together for the first 3 miles before I surged to get a gap on the guys. I should say that one of them, Randy Finn, has run well under 38 minutes twice on this course but just didn't have the goods this year. But it's all about what you have on the day, and for now I'm the reigning king of Colonial! Lol, how ridiculous that sounds!! But you have to celebrate the little victories in life! Yep, I'm competitive.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that I'm ABSOLUTELY LOVING my new Scott Plasma. Thank you so much Harrell's!!! That is one awesome ride! I could never afford a bike of that caliber for myself. I just had my Zipps re-badged to match better so I'll post pics of the whole setup when I get them back from the shop.

Can't wait for the tri season to kick off later this month. I'm getting really swim fit and running should be better than ever, still some work left to do on the bike . Only 3 weeks until my first race!

Winter Update

2010-01-23T21:27:00.012-05:00

Thankfully the end of the winter is sight and racing season is on its way. I'm so ready for the warm morning rides, outdoor swims, and running in the bare essentials!!!

But I do appreciate the winter season and the time it allows us as athletes to get some rest and somewhat reinvent ourselves for next season. For me it was back to the drawing boards for a look at what aspect of my racing could be improved upon to give me the best bang for my training buck so to speak. After ending the 2009 season with a not so great race at 70.3 world champs due to a running injury, I decided that it was high-time I focused on my running. I'm determined to make running a reliable asset instead of a potential liability.

So is it working? Yes, I think so. I'm running fairly big volume without aches and pain and I'm doing well in the run races I've done this winter

- 18:08 @ Cold Winter Day 5k
- 17:48 @ Greenville News Run Downtown 5k
- Expecting good race at a 10k in late Feb (hoping for sub 37 min)

But the running project is not complete. I have yet to set foot on a track for speed work this year. That part of the training will begin soon.

While improving my run may make me more competitive next year, I'm well aware that there is still a bit of a gap that needs to be closed on the bike between me and the top guys in the Open division of the state series and the AG podium positions at 70.3 races. So that's phase 2 of the project (which began last week). I'm kind of doubtful that I'll be able to totally close that gap this year and I'm okay with that. I'm a pretty patient person as long as I can see progress, and I enjoy the process. But nevertheless, I'm all about "free-speed"! This should help ...

DA equipped 2010 Plasma 2 compliments of Harrell's Bicycle World (best shop on the planet) !!! (White decals for the Zipps on order)

And this may help a little too, new Wingspan from Rudy Project

This may not make me faster, but it sure will be more comfortable than my old QR full sleeve:

Okay, enough of the equipment pics, back to what really makes you fast ... the training.

I had an AWESOME weekend of training last weekend. It was my first chance to ride the new Plasma and I put she and I through the ringer. First I must send out a huge "Thanks" to Joe Dannelly for hosting me in his home as well as Rick Kattouf, Team Kattouf, and Chris Olson for inviting me to join their Caesar's Head ride after the 5k.

Friday was 4.5k of swimming followed by a ride up and over Paris Mountain in Greenville with Joe and a friend. That was a really cool ride and a great way to break-in the bike. I got to test it all ... tt, climbing, descending.

Saturday was 5 mile warm up run, the Greenville 5k race, 3 mile cool down run, then the ride from the Kattouf's home in Greenville to the top of Caesar's Head and back (60 miles or so with tons of climbing and descending). It was a pretty epic day in pretty epic conditions with a great group of athletes on a spectacular route in a beautiful area of the country. Can't ask for more than that.

And that's how I kicked off my cycling focus. I look forward to getting back to the upstate for some more killer riding soon!

Wandering thoughts

2009-12-11T09:42:00.007-05:00

Sitting here getting ready for my mid-morning green tea I had the impulse to post something on the blog so I'm going with it ...

First let me make that tea and gather my thoughts a bit.

Okay, I'm back. This probably seems very scatterbrained and I guess it is.

I was both inspired and saddened when reading the latest installment of Riding the Wind . It is inspiring to read about the pleasure that running to the top of a Colorado mountain in -10 degrees Fahrenheit brings the author. It saddens me though as I'm forced to reflect on my own training venues of late ... indoor pool, indoor trainer, treadmill, and gym. Depressing and disappointing! But that is the beginning of inspiration.

It's not that indoor training doesn't have it place; it certainly does. It brings a level of structure and control which are key when training for specific goals using specific metrics. The reduction of variables introduced my nature, weather, terrain brings a certain clarity, sterility and efficiency to the training and analysis thereof. A necessary evil I suppose.

In case you can't tell I'm again feeling that internal struggle between freedom and structure, faith and will, nature and civilization, real and artificial. If you read this blog you probably know that I much prefer the left side of those antonyms.

But ultimately to be happy I need to know I'm performing at my best. And to do that I need implement a specific structure to bring me to peak fitness at a certain point in time. Which leads me back to controlled training. I've recently revised my running "philosophy" into a formal method which implements 5 types of running (defined by pace range) and takes in two input variables (yes, I develop software for a living), and prescribes 6 runs per week with the option for more. It conforms to the basic guidelines defined by the running gurus but is specific to triathlon, and specifically a season with the priority races of the long course variety. Not that I don't expect to be faster than ever on the short course races, but perhaps not as fast as I could be if I focused entirely on short course racing.

I'm trying it out on myself and an athlete that I coach (brave soul). We'll see how we respond.

Awesomeness For Sale

2009-11-21T21:27:00.008-05:00

The 2009 triathlon season has ended for as of last weekend and it’s time for me to sell the Scott Plasma that I’ve been using for the last two seasons. I’ve had this bike as part of a sponsorship deal with Harrell’s Bicycle World here in Columbia, SC and it is a well maintained 2008 Scott Plasma Pro and has been a really awesome bike.

Before my fall races I had a complete overhaul done with cables replaced, the headset replaced and all the bearings replaced with new ceramic bearings in the bottom bracket and Zipp hubs.

I’m posting this in hopes of finding a buyer for this bike without having to list it on Craig’s List, Slowtwitch Classifieds, or eBay. If you know someone who may be interested please send along this information.

Specs and Pictures:

Size: Medium (54cm)
Grouppo: Shimano Ultegra 6600
Saddle: Fizik Arione Tri II
Aero Bars: Profile Design T2+ Cobra
Base Bar: Profile Design T2
Brake Levers: Profile Design QS2
Pedals: N/A
Wheels: Zipp 606 (tubular) w/ titanium skewers, Mavic Cosmic Elite (clincher)
Tires: Zipp 404: Conti GP 4000, Zipp 808: Conti Sprinter, Mavics: Conti GatorSkin

Price w/ Zipps: $3500
Price w/o Zipps: $2000

2009 Ironman 70.3 World Championship et al

2009-11-18T15:36:00.023-05:00

Hey guys. It's been a long time since I updated the blog so I'll try to put together a quality post that summarizes the lead-up to 70.3 Champs, the race, and the vacation in Clearwater.

Post Augusta, training block, and taper

I definitely made some mistakes in this period that I'd like to mention so perhaps I won't repeat them in the future. First I'll document what I did and felt and then take a look at what worked and what didn't.

The first week after Augusta was a "recovery week"
After the recovery week, the intention was to build volume over the next 4 weeks while also bringing up intensity in last two weeks. But in reality I was totally spent after 3 weeks of building volume and couldn't build for the final week. My mind and body were done.
The final week of the 4 week build period was lower in volume but also contained my longest run of 15 miles which included some hard tempo running.
3 weeks of taper with the final week having no running and no core or flexibility work.

Even though the week after Augusta was supposed to be a recovery week, I can see in my logs that all I really did was take Monday and Tuesday off running and cycling. From there I ran the next 5 days straight building intensity throughout. For the bike that week I also did too much, too hard, too soon, by heading out with JB for a 46 mile ride at 21.5 mph average with 2300 ft climbing. By Sunday of this "recovery week" I was doing a progressive run with the final two miles below 6:50 per mile pace. Looking back I think my decisions for this week sabotaged my 4 week build block. A proper recovery would have allowed me to have the 4 week build block with a 2 week taper instead of 3 week build with a 3 week taper.

Pre-Race

We drove down from Lexington to Clearwater on Thursday. We left just in time to hit 5 o'clock traffic in Tampa, just minutes from our destination. Once there we checked into the hotel (Fairfield Inn), and headed down to the race site to pickup our friends, the Olson's, to go out for Mexican and beer.

Friday we woke up to breezy and cool weather. We had a great free breakfast at the hotel and then drove back down to the race site to meet back up with Chris and Laura. Chris and I went for quick swim in the Gulf, which was extremely rough but soooo much fun!! On the walk out of the water I decided that I should take some Dramamine that night, but then we noticed that the corrals on the beach were being dismantled which meant that the swim was going to be moved from the beach to the calm waters of the harbor. Bummer.

After the swim was the athlete check-in and then an awesome lunch at Crabby Bill's. And then it was back to the hotel to prep the bike and bags and then back down to the race site for a quick spin with Chris and then bike and bag check-in. While we were doing all that serious pre-race triathlon stuff the girls rented a miniature green convertible three wheeled car-like-thing and drove it around laughing and honking its little horn at game-faced triathletes. They created quite a stir at the race site. After that escapade we met up at Carrabba's for some pre-race pasta and wine.

On to the race (4:19:28)

We overslept slightly on race morning and quickly were off to the race site. It was a calm morning with a perfectly clear sky. Chris and Laura had given us a key and parking pass for their race-site hotel parking lot which is where we parked. From there we had a short walk to transition to pump tires and put drinks on the bike. Then we went for a little warm up run and walked to the swim start. Chris and I split up at that point with me joining my swim wave in the corral and Chris heading off for a warm-up swim.

Swim (28:08)

The line moved very quickly and soon enough I was jumping off the dock and swimming. The water was cool at first but quickly became comfortable. Immediately I knew my borrowed wetsuit wasn't zipped up correctly as I could feel a scrape on the back of my neck with every breath. I knew I would have a nasty raw spot by the end of the swim (which I did).

With the swim being moved to the harbor we were now swimming due east into the morning sun. It didn't take long for my goggles to fog since I didn't wipe the insides with spit while in line. The combination of glaring sun and foggy goggles made visibility very, very poor. The only time I could see buoys was when I was almost next to them. Luckily I was swimming straight without sighting.

Every minute or so (it seemed) I would run into feet or find myself halfway on top of another swimmer. It seemed like they were sitting still in the water. I remember telling myself not to think that I was going fast because these people were probably going very slowly. Also my RPE level was pretty low for most of the swim. I should have put a good bit more effort into it.

T1 (3:17)

There was a lot of ground to cover in T1.

Bike (2:11:20)

This bike course is fast. Maybe it's one of the fastest in North America?? Before getting into the details of the ride I feel like I need to offer some sort of evidence that I did not draft. It's unfortunate that I feel this way for several reasons. 1) I don't draft and I've never incurred a penalty. Not one ... ever ... for anything. 2) This is a world championship race and one would like to feel like it's an honorable thing to race here. But with the current climate in the sport there is a lot of skepticism for fast bike splits at races that take place in the state of Florida (and Arizona). And rightfully so ... we've all seen the videos and read the forum threads.

I've received a lot of comments about my bike split. Not accusatory or with innuendo, but some with a tinge of curiosity. So I decided to compare my bike splits from Augusta and Clearwater to someone's who also raced Augusta and Clearwater. I chose professional triathlete, and fellow blogger, Andrew Hodges because 1) he's one of the few that I know that raced both races 2) our splits were similar at both races 3) I know he didn't draft at Clearwater because he says so explicitly in his race report (and I believe him) and the pros start ahead of the age groups and have drastically fewer athletes on the road to form packs 4) he won the SC Half in 2008 in under 4 hours (I just think that's cool).

Andrew's bike split at Augusta: 2:25:45
My bike split at Augusta: 2:27:48

Andrew's bike split at Clearwater: 2:10:35
My bike split at Clearwater: 2:11:20

And my bike split wasn't all that fast! It may seem fast compared to racing in the rolling terrain and chip seal roads of South Carolina, but it was pretty standard for this race. Actually I feel like I left a good bit out there and could've ridden harder and faster. Next year I hope to.

It's a cryin' shame that I felt the need to justify my ride! It just seems that the feeling about racing in Florida is that if you have a "fast" bike time then you drafted to get it. That sucks, plain and simple, especially at this race.

There are no lottery spots, there is no general entry, and there is no community fund entry. Everyone there qualified for it, and it's a fast course. That's why I can't understand why there is drafting. It's just pride and greed I suppose because the simple fact of the matter is that there was drafting, and even more blocking. And Drafting + blocking = peloton. I respect and understand Gordo's view on the matter of finger pointing, but it was my simple observation that the majority (not all) of the drafting and blocking culprits (peloton members) that I witnessed had names on their bibs that indicated a foreign nationality.

Rant over. On to the ride ...

From the beginning I felt really strong on the ride. In that regard I think the taper was a success for my cycling. The ride started out fairly typical. I passed a lot of people in the first 6 miles and wasn't passed by anyone. That's until the peloton came past me. The rest of the ride was comprised of either sitting 10 meters off the back of the pack, surging past the pack and riding hard to "get away", or sitting up to allow the pack to pass me as quickly as possible once they caught me. There was a little yelling involved and some smiling and cheering when the Draft Marshalls came by and issued penalties to pack members.

The only other notable event on the ride was losing my Garmin 305 while trying to move it from the bike mount to the wrist strap while descending the final bridge into transition. Major bummer!!!

T2 (2:10)

I put on socks for the run.

Run (1:34:33)

I had really high hopes for this run that just didn't pan out. My preparation over the last 10 weeks or so has been just awesome ... nearly perfect. My suspicion is that not running the final taper week was my undoing. Also the lack of core and flexibility work in the taper didn't help either.

By the time we were out on the run it was really heating up. I'm not sure the temperature but it felt very, very hot and the sun was much more powerful than back home. In contrast to the bike course, this run course is HARD. There is a bridge over a river that is long and steep (12% grade) that must be crossed 4 times.

The first 6.5 mile out and back went well and I was right on a 6:50 pace for the sub 1:30 run that I was targeting. But things started to go south quickly on the second lap. Firstly my IT band tightened up a lot causing me to have to shorten my stride, eliminate heel lift and increase turnover. It was sort of a shuffle run and caused me to drop my pace into the 7:15 per mile range. But the heat was also starting to get to me. I had to begin walking the aid stations to make sure I took in a full cup of water and to put cold sponges on the head and neck. This walking of the aid stations was costing me another 15 - 20 seconds per mile. In between the aid stations I would eventually start feeling the cold chills which is my indication that overheating is just around the corner. It was a real mental struggle ... it had me closing my eyes, blocking everything out, and just praying several times. The third time across that bridge was the most difficult. It felt sort of like a death march up that thing! But once I traversed that bridge for the 4th and final time I picked up the pace and started gaining back positions I had lost by walking the aid stations as other competitors were succumbing heat and distance. I finished strong.

Post Race

After crossing the line and making my way out of the finish area to my wife I learned what happened to Chris. While my race didn't go exactly to plan, his race totally derailed after we split up.

When I went to get in the corral to start my race, he went for a swim warm-up and when he jumped in the water feet first he landed on a clam or oyster shell which left a gash in his foot. He decided to race anyway and finished the swim in 27 minutes even. After getting on the bike and making his way past a peloton to some open road, he put his head down and began hammering away only to look up and see a traffic cone pushed out into his course of travel. He hit the cone and went over the bars traveling around 28 MPH. He got up and couldn't bend his arm and was in severe pain. He lay down in the grass on the side of the road and was spotted by a police officer and volunteer. An ambulance arrived shortly and took him to the hospital where he was treated for road rash and had stitches put in his foot.

The WTC called Laura who was eating breakfast with my wife to let her know and then sent a car to take her to the hospital. They then sent another car to bring them back to the hotel after Chris was released.

In the meantime while waiting on them to get back from the hospital I hobbled down to the ocean to stand in the cool water to try to get the inflammation out of my IT Band. It felt good but didn't really help. We then went to get a bite to eat and gather my race gear. Once we finished that we hooked back up with the Olson's. Chris and I had a few beers while the girls went to get his prescription filled. When they got back we loaded Chris up in a wheelchair and went to check out the sunset from Pier 60 and then back to Crabby Bill's for more seafood and a few more beers :p. I really admire Chris' ability to keep things in such a good perspective even while dealing with pain and disappointment.

Racing here was a great way to end the season and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The area is beautiful and the energy and atmosphere was fun. I would recommend the race to anyone and I plan to come back next year to see if I can go under 4:10.

Augusta 70.3 Race Report

2009-09-28T14:35:00.013-04:00

Finish time: 4:28:28

Pre-Race
Going to the mandatory pre-race meeting, picking up my packet, getting parking passes for me and the family, and dropping off my bike was a huge hassle/ordeal. What I estimated as a 90 minute process ended up taking around 4 hours and involved several miles of walking and a lot of standing. Not ideal the day before the race. By the time we were done (my son was with me) I was SO ready to get out of there! Not a good first impression.

Race Morning
I woke up around 4:30 AM at my family's lake house about 30 minutes outside Augusta. My dad and stepmom also got up and made me a nice breakfast. I was out of the house by 5:30 AM and at the race site around 6:00 AM. They would come to the race later with my son and my wife and two girls would be driving in from Lexington later in the morning.

I drove straight to transition and was able to park within a half mile. I loaded up a backpack and hauled the rest of my gear to transition and set it up. Then I drove to the parking lot and walked to the swim start where I picked up my chip and got in line with the rest of my swim wave.

Pretty hectic morning!

Swim 22:35
The water was 69 degrees and felt a little cool at first. There was a lot of debris in the water from the recent rains and the current was moving fast. I seeded myself in the front right by my friend Chris Olson (who placed 3rd in our AG) and tried to stay on his feet as long as I could. I think he must have gotten annoyed with me tapping his feet because he made a few zig zags and was gone :-) . Without a swim warm up it took me a few hundred meters to find my rhythm and get my breathing steady. By the halfway mark I was all up in the M30-34 wave that went off 4 minutes ahead of us. The swim flew by ... before I knew it we were at the boat ramp. When I looked down and saw 22 minutes I was a little shocked.

T1 2:57
Wow, my lack of racing recently (since June) really showed here. I thought I was at my bike and started stripping my wetsuit only to realize that I was on the wrong row. Lost some time here for sure

Bike 2:27:48
The bike course was very nice with a mix of all kinds of terrain except really steep climbs. It was fast going out with a nice tailwind and produced a 25+ average speed over the first 20 miles. Once we hit the rollers the pace started to slow a little. I stayed with a few M30-34s for pretty much the entire ride. Unfortunately once we started heading back to Augusta the wind was in our face and although it was mostly flat and downhill, the average held steady. I rode this ride very conservatively ... sort of between ironman and half ironman pace. The nutrition worked very very well ... just Gatorade + maltodextrin (Cytocarb) and electrolyte tablets. My average HR for the ride was only 151 and the average speed was just under 23 mph. Had I known how far up front I was in the AG I would have ridden more aggressively for sure!

T2 1:31
Again, it took me a little while to find my spot ... what's up with that?

Run 1:33:37
Coming out of T1 the legs felt good and ready to run. The first couple of miles were just under a 7 minute pace as I waited on my body to adjust to running and find my rhythm. I ran by HR keeping it just at or below 160. On miles where I would walk a little in aid station to get fluids my mile spits would be slightly higher. The run felt smooth and easy through 9 miles and then it took a more focus to finish it strong. The crowd support was amazing and I was able to see my family several times during the the run. My nutrition of gel + water worked very well also. I was able to meet my goal of negative splitting the run ...

RUN SPLIT 1: 7 mi 7 mi (3:46:29) 7:22/mi
RUN SPLIT 2: 13.1 mi 6.1 mi (4:28:28) 6:52/mi
TOTAL RUN 13.1 mi. (1:33:37) 7:08/mile

My average HR for the run was right on target (160) with a max of only 169 which was during mile 13 as I was bringing it home. The cheerleader squad along the finishing chute doing the cheer as I came through was an awesome touch!!

I ended up finishing 6th in my age group of 531 athletes. I'm sure I could have taken 5th with just a little more effort on the bike as he was only 38 seconds in front of me.

There were 5 spots for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and I was able to get the first roll down which changes my plans for the rest of the season. Instead of racing the B2B iron distance race I'll be heading to Clearwater to race the 70.3 world champs. Fun stuff ...

In the end I'm very pleased with how this race turned out as I achieved all my goals (although some of which are now moot with the change of race plans). So now I will focus on building some speed over the 70.3 distance and see if I can PR in Clearwater and get that run in the 1:20s.

Augusta 70.3 Race Plan

2009-09-23T10:57:00.002-04:00

Well, it’s not really a formal “plan” like this-is-what-I’m-going-to-eat-at-4:36-AM-after-2-minutes-and-34-seconds-of-light-hamstring-stretching-while-using-the-bathroom-for-the-second-time type plan. More of a general outline really.

The overarching goals of this race are:

Pacing, pacing, pacing. No sustained riding above 160 beats per minute and no running above 160 for first half of the run.
Test Nutrition. Nutrition needs to be tested for the ironman. I have a new strategy for long course racing this year and I need to make sure it works in a race scenario. The problem here is that a half ironman is raced at a higher intensity level than a full ironman. But if I can digest it during a half, I pretty sure it will also go down for the full.
Run well off the bike and finish strong.
Gather heart rate data for a well executed half ironman. Use this to tweak my ironman target HR zones
Leave some in the tank. I need to pick back up with ironman training right after this race without missing a beat. I’m not willing to spend a week to recover.

Swim: Start controlled; find a rhythm and hopefully some feet at the sharp end of the pack. Swim fast and exit the water at the front of my wave.

Bike: Ride “within myself”. Start out easy and let the perceived exertion increase steadily throughout the ride. Try to average above 23 mph if the course, effort and HR allow it. Manage nutrition well. Practice peeing on the bike and maintaining speed should the opportunity arise. Here’s a picture of how I have the bike setup for this race.

The position is the same as it will be for the ironman race … very conservative compared to the position I use for short course racing. The effective seat angle has been slackened back to about 77 degrees and the bars have been raised by 2 cm.
Spare tubular tire mounted behind the seat
Blue bottle on seat tube hold 2 C02 cartridges, 1 C02 valve, 1 tire lever, and one can of Vittoria Pitt Stop along with a poker to tamp the valve stem through the valve extender.
The clear bottle on the down tube will have 250 calories of Gatorade + maltodextrin
The Aero Drink bottle will also hold 250 calories of Gatorade + maltodextrin.
The Profile Design “bento box” attached to the steerer and top tube hold Endurolyte tablets and a gel packet.

Run: Negative split the half marathon. I want those last 6.55 miles of the run to be faster than the first 6.55 miles. I also need to make sure gel and water still works well for me during the run. And I want to finish strong but also feel like I still have some in the tank.

So that’s the plan. I didn't explicitly set any time goals as the course is totally unknown to me, but I know that if I do these things I've outline I'll put up a good number. I’ll write a report shortly after the race and analyze how well this plan was actually executed.

For now I still have some running to get done this afternoon before I bring the volume and intensity down to attempt to get somewhat fresh for the race.

Hummingbird, vacation and surfing

2009-09-15T14:37:00.022-04:00

Yep ... it's been a long time since my last update. I'm not sure why it's so hard to get around to this !??? It seems to be a common dilemma in the blog world, so it's not just me!! I find it much easier and more convenient to just tweet instead (see above). So moving forward I think I will only plan to update the blog once and month along with race reports, unless I have something important to say that can't be said in 140 characters or less.

So here's the low-down with my happenings ...

A hummingbird flew into our screened porch and got trapped. I had to help it out. It was cool getting to see one up close

Some people are constantly buying shoes or switching cars or things like this. For me, it's bikes. Here's my new beach cruiser

In action. I love the simplicity of single speed!

It's a popular mode of transportation at the beach. Some are even rigged to carry surf boards and skim boards.

Speaking of the beach ... we just got back from a week's vacation in the Outer Banks. It's a unique place and very different from the other beaches I've lived on/near (Hilton Head Is., Tybee Is., Folly Beach). I was able to do some surfing but it's not like surfing at those beaches ... there are barrels and the waves are way over head.

Try to find the surfers in the next two images

The kids love playing at the beach but the water was too rough for them to swim. My son was able to body board on the shore break though

Caleb finds a big conch shell

If you ever get the chance to go to Corova Beach I would HIGHLY recommend it. It's where the wild mustangs roam and the only way to get there is with a 4x4 as you have to drive on the beach and through the dunes.

I did manage to squeeze in a little training everyday :-)

As far as triathlon goes things are moving along according to plan. I had a good 4 week block where I rebuilt my running coming off an injury before the vacation week which I used as a recovery week. I'm such a creature of habit ... as fun as the vacation was, I'm happy to be back to my 3 hours of training per weekday schedule. Not so much for the corporate job though!!!

My bike fitness is coming around nicely and my speed in the water reached an all time high and is holding steady. Running is also shaping up really well as I'm getting my volume up in preparation for the ironman. I've found that running nearly every day suits me best.

My next race which is the Augusta 70.3 is about 10 days from now and I'm getting really excited to get back to racing . This isn't an "A" race for me since I'm using it as preparation for the ironman which happens six weeks later. I can't afford a proper taper for Augusta nor can I afford much recovery time as the weeks following are critical to my ironman buildup (4 weeks build + 2 weeks taper). So I will have to take this into account during the race and not get too exuberant. I'm still expecting to go well below 5 hours nonetheless. I'll most likely publish a formal plan before the race to compare with my actual execution.

Life is awesome. We are blessed beyond what we deserve!!!

weakness = strength

2009-08-17T15:03:00.005-04:00

When I'm quiet on the blog and twitter there are only three possibilities.

1) I'm out of town
2) I'm too tired from training to think or write
3) I'm injured

Unfortunately it's number 3 that has me quiet lately. Like a recurring nightmare the IT band has gone again, almost exactly 1 year from the last time. Last year it took me until December to get past it and I raced an ironman "through it" (which was not pleasant to say the least).

But now I know the things that need to be addressed to get through it. There are a few possible causes and I'm trying to address each one as quickly and methodically as possible. The frustrating thing about IT band injuries is that once the IT band "goes" it takes some time to get it under control so that it doesn't flare up when running. This involves a lot of rehab, testing, rehab while waiting a few days, then testing again and so on. And once running begins again it is a slow process to get back to longer sustained runs.

So what does this mean for the rest of the triathlon season? Well, Nationals is out. Augusta 70.3 is iffy but I'm holding out hope that I'll get back to form in time to race it. If I am able to race it I will train straight through it with only a few light days leading up to the race. For the ironman ... if I can race Augusta and then back it up with a 2+ hour run then I'll go for it and still expect a sub 10 hr outcome. I told Jennifer that I wouldn't race it injured as I've done that once already with the goal of completing the distance and don't care to do it that way again. If I'm on the start line this year it is to see how close to 9:30 I can come.

In other news ... I'm no longer being formally coached. This was a decision I made based on finances and the needs of the family. I improved as an athlete and learned a lot working with Jonathan and hope to work with him again in the future. In the meantime, there are higher priorities that must be addressed. The lessons I learned I will continue to carry with me and believe my best days of racing lay ahead.

From working with Jonathan I now understand how I need to train to hold my own in Open / Elite. It's pretty simple really ... get in as close to 20 hours of training per week as possible. Train a minimum of 3 hrs a day, 6 days per week, and have one day with light training. Swim at least 4 times per week and get in at least 10,000 meters with some arm and lung searing intensity. Run 4 or 5 times and try to get more than 30 miles in distance. Ride at least 7 hours, but 10 or more is preferable. And most importantly, get to know your body (I'm still in the very early stages of learning my body). Take care of the details (must get better at this!!). Have a lower volume week (12 - 14 hrs) every 4th or 5th week. Have fun.

We'll see how it works out over the next few years ...

I'll leave you with this awesome verse that keeps me moving forward with a smile:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Reprimand and Advice

2009-08-04T08:32:00.006-04:00

After explaining to Jonny that I had been doing some running drills (butt kicks, high knees) just before I felt the tendon strain, here's what he had to say (with some advice from Brett Sutton):

nick......grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr dont do anything that hurt the tendon...give them a rest...dont push it...your fitness wont go away....

and drills...are not a good investement in your energy...running is the best drill there is...

here s a little peice of wisdom from one of the greatest coach of the history of this sport.,..

brett sutton
yes we do a lot of running drills .

we first put the shoes on make sure in this drill we dont tie the laces too tight
2nd we make sure we stretch before leaving the house ,this drill is done by pushing the door open and walk down the steps carefully .
3rd drill is we jog easy to the corner , as to help warming up
4th we run , and this is the magic run drill , we do lots of it .
we run past many people in parks doing run drills , we find that , we dont have a lot of time to waste , so we like forrest gump , just run and keep running .
conclusion ,
we dont do drills , we find them counter productive , and injury intense .
we do howevr try when we run for some to keep the heel low on the recovery ,
no arse kicking drills for us
errr except on race day , then we go out and kick every body elses arse , who spent too much time thinking of how a drill is going to give them free speed .
my tip
run forrest run .

July 27 - Aug 2

2009-08-03T09:37:00.002-04:00

Hey guys,

Just a quick note to let everyone know how things are going. The past 6 weeks of training have been very good with 4 weeks of build then a recovery week. The recovery week had less than 13 hrs training and left me feeling very fresh and fast. Last week I was back at it with 18 hours of training but unfortunately I ended the week on Sunday with a bit of a running injury which will require me to scale back the run training somewhat this week to recover. It's nothing serious, just a tendon / muscle strain on the backside of the knee. There's not much on the Internet about this one so I don't think it's common.

I'm very excited to have finalized the race plans for the rest of the season:

- Nationals in Tuscaloosa on Aug 22 (Olympic distance)
- Augusta 70.3 in late September
- Beach 2 Battleship 140.6 on Nov. 7th

Good times ahead! I'm also REALLY looking forward to a week in the Outer Banks hanging out with the kids and family and seeing how well I remember how to surf. It's always a scary thing when I go on vacation (especially to the beach) because I come back ready to sell the house, rid myself of the corporate job, and get back to a more relaxed and natural way of living.

Train well and have fun!

Lake Placid roll down

2009-07-27T15:59:00.008-04:00

I was looking through the results of Ironman Lake Placid and noticed something very strange. In the M30-34 division Kona slots rolled all the way down to 46th and 161st finisher in the division!!!! So either the recession hit the young 30s pretty hard or there are a lot of guys kicking themselves today for not going to roll down to claim their entry!

26	09:48:56	M30-34	3/210
35	09:53:43	M30-34	4/210
40	09:57:34	M30-34	6/210
250	11:08:48	M30-34	46/210
1336	13:47:25	M30-34	161/210

In my division (M35-39) it was another story ...

OVERALL PLACE	TOTAL TIME	RACE DIVISION	DIVISION PLACE
13	09:32:56	M35-39	1/312
23	09:46:29	M35-39	2/312
24	09:48:04	M35-39	3/312
31	09:51:40	M35-39	4/312
36	09:53:56	M35-39	8/312
46	09:59:20	M35-39	9/312
56	10:08:06	M35-39	10/312
58	10:08:44	M35-39	11/312

But back to the M30-34s, at CdA the slowest qualifier was 9:34:24 ... that's a completely different stratosphere from 13:47:25 or even 11:08:48. Pick your race wisely!!!

MEGA POST!!!

2009-07-20T09:37:00.007-04:00

Wow, I know it's been a long time since my last post and I offer you my apologies for fading off the blog radar a bit. Unfortunately blogging is low enough on my totem pole of priorities that when time is scarce, very little trickles down that far. But I will make up for it with this MEGA POST!!!!! MEGA POST!!!!! MEGA POST!!!!! MEGA POST!!!!! MEGA POST!!!!!

Yep, it's been crazy here lately. Work has been really intense getting my projects ready for 4th quarter, our most busy time of year. The projects I've been working on are going to have a significant impact on the company's bottom line this year so I am dotting my i's and crossing my t's to make sure everything is in order. Being the único proveedor for mi familia, I have make sure that I capitalize on the opportunities presented me to bring home more tocino entreverado (yes, that was a strange tipping of the hat to Contador for his awesomeness yesterday). And since I have a very weak stomach for the ways of the corporate world, I rely on tangible results to further the old careerski.

But even moreso than work, THE TRAINING has been grinding me down to a limp blob of bone, muscle, soft tissue and brain matter bubbling on the hot Carolina asphalt like the urushiol on Toby's arm. Last week finished off a big 4 week block of training that, coupled with work and family, brought me to the edge of my capacity to keep moving forward. At the beginning of last week I could feel the grump trying to come out. Once I got over that, every workout was a internal argument with the whining little wimp that kept trying to talk me into cutting my workouts short, going easier than prescribed, or skipping sessions all together. But the better side of me held the course and finished strong. At end I had some questions for Jonathan that I thought I would share ...

Q: As you know I don't ride with power and haven't used heart rate monitoring in a long time. As a matter of fact, my Garmin is dead and I haven't wanted to spend the money to ship it off for a new battery, so I'm very low tech at the moment. Without numbers of any kind, everything has been totally on perceived exertion and time. I'm not too worried about just going on rpe for the half, but I'm a little nervous about relying solely on this for the ironman distance. Do you have any thoughts on that?

A: No hr no powermeter not problem! I will give you some hard set on the bike with hard time trial in the last hour of a 5h ride...and the goal is to kick ass at those... If you dont kick ass, you rode too hard in the first 4h... you will learn quick... Ironman is all about holding back on the swim and first 4h of the bike and get into it at the 5-6h mark.... so i will train you to be scare of riding hard! to be smart and hold back.... trainign will do this for you....

"I will train you the be scared of riding hard" hmmmm ... sounds, well, scary!! What's interesting is that, although I used a HR monitor last year for the ironman, this is the same strategy I employed. I capped my HR at 148 for the first 90 miles, the upped it to 151-152 for the last 22 miles. Doing that was enough to drop the pack a 4 guys that rode with me for the first 90 and put several minutes into them by T2. Of course with the IT band injury they made it up really quickly on the run ... but it was fun while it lasted!

Q: Also, I'm comfortable with the CHO strategy on the bike, but what about nutrition on the run since I will just have what's on the course (Hammer Heed, water, coke, gel etc.)? What do you use on the run? Do you get enough calories in on the bike to just hydrate on the run?

A: Nutrition: simple, you need calories but you dont know how your body will fell in the marathon. You might get sick of gels...or gatorade (hammer) or anything else so you will have to take what your body wants at that time... And we will make simple guide line... it s all calorie...you just need to get some.. Coke for sure... on of the best thing at ironman...1 or 2 cup at each aid station If you need more, you take a gel with water.... every 30-45min.... we can work simple strategy like this but in your case... i think coke and gels every 30-45min with water only will be the way.... if you like hammer..you can drink it but coke is more dense in calorie and low volume so you dont get bloated out of it...

Last year I used gel and water mostly on the run and it worked fairly well. This year I will be running at a higher intensity so we will see.

Q: Also curious about where you think I am in terms of my goals, if you are satisfied with our progress, and what's ahead in the training and build up the rest of the year.

A: for goals and your developpement. I cant ask much more. You add a bit of a injury and deal VERY well with it. You PR at most races in times or placing... you are improving and i cant ask for more. I m happy to see you progress and if you enjoy the process, that is the most important. For the ironman, it s going to be a great challenge and something new... the build up will be about 6-7 big week of training with a 3 weeks taper. The taper isnt a holiday... it s still some good work but you will be rested and fresh on race day. so..that is why we arent doing the build up right now.... if we do it too long...you will burn out and i dont want that. You are getting fitter right now with some solid aerobic work and i could get you to do a ironman almost now with a few more rides and long runs.... but we will build properlky...keep it not too long and have a go at it. We will evalute after that we goal you want to set. The ironman will show you were you are at in longer distance but the training will give us a good idea of your final time...you will know before the race ... After the race...we should go into a transition phase... unstructure...more rest...for 3 week...we can talk about that later but that is what i look like. How are you feeling right now? tired? ready for a bit of rest!!!

A: LOL ... you guess it, ready for rest.

So apparently we are not even in the build-up yet. On the flipside, I'm pretty close to being race-ready now. I can't wait to see how it feels to be truly fit to race this year.

On the home front things are well. Yesterday was National Ice Cream day (thanks President Reagan!!) so we celebrated by making our own waffle cones, which we filled with ice cream, and enjoyed with some neighbors and friends.

My little brother was recently married!!! We made the trip back home to Savannah Gee A to celebrate this most momentous occasion. I haven't seen the wedding photos yet, but I'll be sure and post them as soon as I can so y'all can check out my tux. In the meantime take a look at their engagement re-enactment photos - beware, it gets a little steamy at the end ;-) He and Allison make a great couple and have an awesome story as they have been dating on and off since high school!

Jennifer and kids are doing great and enjoying the summer. It took Caleb a few weeks to decompress from 9 months in school, but he's now back to himself. We really wonder if home school isn't the best approach!

They are growing so fast! Soon I will have two fashion chicks and a MMA bada$$ on my hands ..

.

Training update

2009-06-29T16:30:00.004-04:00

Training goes well. I love the day-in, day-out training. Both last week and this week are transition weeks from the lower-volume racing weeks of late to the buildup for half and full iron distance races coming this fall.

Last week: 15 hrs 15 min

- 11,400 meters swimming
- 7 hrs 45 min on the bike
- 3 hours of running
- 1 hr 45 min strength

This week's plan: 16 hrs 50 min

- 12km swimming
- 8 hrs on the bike
- 4 hrs 50 min of running
- 1 hr strength

Also I've been trying to choose a race as a lead-in to the Augusta 70.3. I think I've landed on the USAT National Championship as my only option. Unfortunately it's like 6 hrs away in Tuscaloosa, AL. Originally I thought one of the Hartsville races would be an option but that conflicts with the much anticipated annual surf trip / family vacation to the Outer Banks.

My brother-in-law may be coming over from San Jose to join us so he can show me how they do it out west. Sadly any surfing skills that I once had are long gone now that I live over 100 miles from the coast. So I fully expect to get schooled by the b-i-l as well as give the local obx-ers a good chuckle (at least I hope that's their reaction!!) It's all good ... I wouldn't have found triathlon if I hadn't moved inland (kinda strange?!). Anyway, I'll have a bike with me and there are tons of well paved, bike laned roads to ride. There aren't any hills, but the wind there is ridiculous (think Wright Bros) which should be plenty to make for some hard workouts. Swimming will be all open water in the ocean and I can't wait to run barefoot on the beach at sunrise!!

Tri the Midland Race Report

2009-06-25T11:02:00.003-04:00

A little belated, but here’s a quick report from Tri the Midlands:

Swim
The swim was awesome (apart from the hot water). I swam in the Xterra Velocity speedsuit again … I LOVE that thing!!!! The Open division had ITU-style swim start where we lined up on the dock and had a dive start. That was a lot of fun, but I did take on a little water in the goggles. No biggie. Felt strong in the water, but never latched onto any feet. I think we were all pretty much strung out. My arms burned but my breathing was calm and steady. I was the 5th Open male out of the water (of 10), and ranked 8th overall among the men (255). Until I typed this I didn’t realize how much swim ability drops off outside of the Open div … I was top 3% overall, but only 50% in the Open division. Swim time (with run to transition) 7:40. Still so work left to do here …

T1
Running into T1 I could see Woody and Mike Wendt at their bikes so I knew my swim was pretty good. Parker is one speedy dude all around. He came into transition after me and was out well before me. I think getting out of the Velocity cost a bit of time here. For reference, Parker was in and out in 44 seconds to my 1:03.

Bike
Before we made it out of the Lake Carolina community I had a school of fish in sight (Mike Wendt and Ryan Payne). I was gaining ground on them and watching the battle ahead. Soon enough Mike passed Ryan and was on his way down the road. I caught Ryan around mile 4 pushed past him pretty hard. This was right after the turn on Langford Road, which was the fastest and most fun part of the course. By the end of Langford I had almost bridged the gap to Mike. I made my move on him around mile 10 on Mickle Road. Mike hung with me for the final mile 4.5 miles which had a lot of turns, traffic circles, etc and he entered T2 behind me by 7 seconds. Bike time was 36:44, 3rd Open, 6th overall

T2
Jerking my feet out of the bike shoes my calf locked up with a cramp. Not a good sign but what can you do? Time, 49 seconds.

Run
Starting out the run I felt good. The calf cramp seemed to be totally gone. It was getting hot and I need to open the jersey a little to get some air to my core. The zipper on the Craft jersey is just like the Xterra Velocity in that it is a break-away zipper if the zipper is flipped up. Somehow in trying to open it up a bit the zipper broke away and all the sudden I was running with a wide open jersey. I tried to fiddle with it for a bit but gave up as I had to sacrifice some pace to mess with it. Oh well, who care how I look anyway … let’s just concentrate on this run. This is a brutal run course. It is very undulating until all the sudden it goes straight up to the turn around, and then straight back down, then undulating again. This year the course was changed such that we ran on the road on the way to the turn around and then on the bike path on the way back. Theoretically you are covering the same amount of elevation gain and loss, but the run this year seemed way harder than last year. I think running on the road isn’t as gradual of a climb and increases the grade in certain sections. Perhaps last year when I raced in the age group, having people up ahead to run down made it go by quickly?? Whatever the reason, this little 5k was one of the hardest runs I’ve endured. I knew there were fast runners coming for me and I could see that I was losing some ground to Woody and that long hill seemed to go on forever. I think the hardest part was hitting the undulating part the second time, after climbing the hill. I was tapped out. I gave it what I had (which wasn’t much) and ended up running a disappointing 20:45, 6th Open, 13th overall.

In the end it was 1:06:59 for 6th place overall.

Coincidently JB also put up a 1:06:59, but apparently his was some 10th or 100th of a second faster than mine, which gave him the 5th spot. Unfortunately since he’s not racing Open it didn’t come down to a sprint finish between us (which would have been AWESOME). Instead we have to let the clock sort it out and it is what it is. Oh well, next year he’s racing Open Masters so we’ll be going head to head. Fun stuff!

June 8 - 14

2009-06-15T09:03:00.003-04:00

Back to the training grind I love so much ...

Total: 17 hrs 7 min
Swim: 10,000 meters
Bike: 8 hrs 33 min
Run: 3hr 28 min
Strength, etc: 2 hrs 15 min

Training last week was good after taking it pretty easy Monday and Tuesday to absorb the work from the race last Sunday. By Tuesday the legs were feeling good and ready to put in some harder efforts. As for swimming, I was totally spent by Wednesday after swimming 4 days straight with no lack of intensity. So Thursday was no swimming and then back in the pool on Friday for a great session with my friend Chip Edgar. For the main set, which was 2000m continuous negative splitting the second half, we worked on drafting with each of us pulling 500 meter segments. This was a great learning experience for me as I haven't been able to draft well in races (and had just about given up on trying). Now I can see the true amount of rest you get when being pulled and know what to feel for with my hands to know I'm in the right spot. Hopefully I'll get to try out my new found awareness this weekend.

Which brings us to the upcoming race on Saturday. I can't wait ... this is a really fun race just across town. It's a great little sprint race that was established last year, but this year there have been some changes made to the bike course to make it a little longer and avoid a busy intersection. So times won't really be comparable to last year. The downside of racing is that training volume for the week goes down (unless you're just "training through it" - which I am not). It's a local race so I want to do my best to represent my sponsors and supporters well.

I think the reason I'm looking forward to the race so much is that it is a kind of celebration of the culmination of the short-course season for me. After this race my focus will shift to preparing for the 70.3 race in Augusta and B2B iron distance race. I'm tossing around the idea of going to Tuscaloosa for the USAT Age Group National Championship race but haven't decided yet. Actually I'm a long way from deciding as I haven't yet mentioned it to Jennifer.

On the family side it was a big weekend of dance recitals. We had family come in town from Savannah to watch the kids and Jennifer do their thing on stage. They all did great! Hannah (3 yrs old) was hilarious ... at one point she covered her eyes (so no one could see her) and then laid face-down on the stage during the performance with the other "babies". It didn't help that the whole place was laughing at them, but it was just too cute and funny not to laugh! The next night she did much better with the stage fright, but did end up getting mad at one of the other 3 yr olds and chased her around the stage trying to whack her with her wand. That's my girl!!

Abby (almost 5) on the other hand was the consummate professional. She had here routine absolutely mastered and really was in another league from the other 4 and 5 year olds. Everyone was so impressed and we were EXTREMELY proud of her! I would say that she has a gift for ballet.

Have a great week and train well!

Festival of Flowers

2009-06-09T09:27:00.009-04:00

I had two goals in mind for this race. 1) top 10 overall. 2) take 6 minutes off my time from last year which would be about 2:07:high.

I was hoping for a non-wetsuit legal swim as to separate the sharks from the fish from the minnows, and I got my wish. Also I was anxious to try out the new Xterra Velocity speedsuit. The water felt great during the swim warm-up and I was more relaxed than I have been all year. The buoys were setup in a awkward jagged line going out to the first yellow turn buoy which could barely be seen for the fog. On shore Chris Olson and I plotted our line to yellow turn buoy on the left side of the orange buoys. Here I made my first mistake by picking a target of the canoe on the left of the first orange buoy (a moving target) since I breathe on the left side. The gun went off and the plan was to stay controlled and relaxed until the second orange buoy and then pick it up. Everything went according to plan and there was a little jockeying for position in the beginning. The canoe I was sighting on evidently drew further to the left close to the shore the closer I got to it which pulled me away from the pack and too far left. I had to make my way back to the right to make the left turn around the first yellow buoy. Once here I picked it up a bit and found a really good rhythm. Coming out of the water I looked at my watch and was shocked to see 24:16. Worst case scenario in my mind had me under 24 minutes, I guess I'm not a shark yet ... The upside is that it was 3+ minutes faster than last year.

Running up to transition Jeremey tells me I'm 6th. T1 wasn't that great, for some reason couldn't get the helmet strapped. Racing Open has the advantage of the best rack spots which mitigated this some. I opted not to clip the shoes on the pedals which further slowed down t1.

Off on the bike felt pretty good. I passed position 5 and 4 within the first few miles and could see 3 and 2 up the road. I was very slowly bringing them in some. About mile 10 I get passed by Dan Moss. I knew it was just a matter of time. Around mile 14, here comes Parker just absolutely smacking it!! Of course I can't ride with these guys so I just settled into my rhythm back in the 6th spot. I knew there were guys who would beat my time that started in waves behind mine, but to keep my head in the game I was pretending I was actually 6th. I changed my position around a little last week and had only ridden 12 miles on the changes which had and additional 1 cm of drop. Nearing the end of the ride I could feel my lower back a bit. I kept reeling in the two in front of me but never closed the gap fully and they entered T2 just ahead of me. Ride time was 58:48 for an average speed of 24.5. I was happy to have broken the 1 hr mark.

Mistake number 2 was forgetting to get out of my shoes on the bike. So the once advantageous rack spot was now a hindrance as I had to run the entire length of transition on cleats. I ran out of t2 just behind 5 and 4.

Setting out on the run I saw my family at the top of the first little rise coming out of transition. I slowed down a bit to high five my wife and kids and then proceeded to get about the business of finding a good rhythm. The guy in front of me, bib 139, was running what seemed to be a pretty good pace. I thought I would just run his pace until the mile marker and then reassess and see if I could attack on the first big hill on hwy 702. We hit the first mile marker and I looked at the watch ... not good ... 6:32. By the feel of things I was pretty sure we were running low 6s, but that just wasn't the case. Shortly after mile 1 we both passed position 4. About this time I noticed the audible slapping sound coming from my left foot with each foot strike which didn't do anything for the mood. Also 139 (David Hall) was either picking it up or I was slowing down. Not much going on after passing number 4 until just after mile 4 when some dude (Mark Render) with 44 on his calf comes flying past me and I watch him fly past 139 up the road. Geez, this run has gone from bad to worse! In the end it was a terrible run ... my goal was sub 40 and this wasn't even close (41:40). Still 2+ min faster than last year, but c'mon!!!! My running form just feels so awkward to me right now.

In the end it was 9th place in a time of 2:06:37. So my goals were accomplished and I took 7 minutes off last year's time and finished 10 positions higher. Sitting here today though I'm seething over that run! My suspicions are that my training after getting past the calf injury was just too little too late. 56 miles run in all of April due to the injury and then ramping it up in May but without any threshold work just didn't setup well for a good 10k. Maybe next year ...

Energy galore

2009-06-05T13:53:00.002-04:00

I almost posted again yesterday but figured it would overload y'all with too much Nick so I delayed it until today (you're welcome). The recovery week has left me with more mental energy than usual ... hence the many posts and massive amount of code being written a work.

Physically I'm feeling pretty fresh also. My little tune up run went well this morning with my race pace intervals coming and going smoothly. In the pool today I did a 1500 meter distance set in 21:32, so feeling pretty sprightly there also. I'm not sure if this speed in the water will translate to open water, but if it does my sub 24 minute swim goal should be a given.

The downside of a recovery week before a race is that I'm left with too much and knock out tasks I've been meaning to get around to. Namely the task of making position changes on the bike based on the advice of my coach after seeing the pictures from Lake Murray. Reading Scott's latest post and talking with him about his bike-fit changes and viewing the video he sent over inspired me to give a go. This probably wasn't the wisest thing to do just days before a race. Hopefully I didn't sabotage myself!! I'll have to try to get some pictures up of the refined position. In short, it's lower in the front and my arms are now parallel to the ground instead of being slanted down. I achieved this by removing 1 cm risers from between my aerobar cuffs and the extension to which they attach.

peace out!

Expert Coaching

2009-06-03T08:21:00.007-04:00

Being a recovery week I have some extra energy for posting, so here is another! On the flip side of that coin, it is the week of a race so naturally I have a sore throat and congestion :-(

In case you hadn't seen these, I thought I give you a glimpse into the expert coaching and mentoring I receive from JonnyO. Enjoy!

Tip of the Week #1:

Tip of the Week #2:

More on Health

2009-06-02T11:52:00.006-04:00

Paul’s recent post on Health and Fitness got me thinking (as his posts often do). It was strange that we posted on the same topic within hours of each other. His post was a continuum of a set of posts with the common theme of Health, Wealth, and Happiness … these being the pillars of his long term goals and with each pillar being linked to each other. I believe this is a common set of fundamental goals for many of us in the “western” world. In his writings, Paul does a beautiful job of illustrating each pillar with a slant to make the topic relevant to the endurance athlete.

But specifically his post dealt with a dimension of Health that mine did not, which is the mental aspect of health. This brought me to ponder the importance of spiritual health since, in my opinion, the three (mental health, physical health, and spiritual health) are undoubtedly connected.

So the premise thus far is that spiritual health is a necessary ingredient for the larger pillar of Health, and the pillar of Health is directly connected to the pillars of Wealth and Happiness. But what is spiritual health? How is it related to physical health? How important is it? How can it be obtained and maintained? And what impact does it have on the other pillars?

What is spiritual health?

Instead of providing a definition from some internet source, I’ll write the attributes that I believe embody spiritual health.

- Hope
- Eternal assurance
- Absence of fear
- Maturity
- Selflessness
- Contentment

How is spiritual health related to physical health?

I grabbed this from FamilyDoctor.org (a “secular” website), which was the first result in the Google search “spiritual health”:

“No one really knows for sure how spirituality is related to health. However, it seems the body, mind and spirit are connected. The health of any one of these elements seems to affect the health of the others.

Some research shows that things such as positive beliefs, comfort and strength gained from religion, meditation and prayer can contribute to healing and a sense of well-being. Improving your spiritual health may not cure an illness, but it may help you feel better, prevent some health problems and help you cope with illness, stress or death.”

And this is simply a confirmation that the medical community recognizes the importance and connection between spirituality and health. To me, the most intriguing part of this statement is the acknowledgement that spiritual health can “contribute to healing”.

How important is it?

Okay, so here’s where things begin to transcend …

Until now the premise has been that spiritual health is a vital component of Health, with the understanding that spiritual health contributes to physical and mental health. But, in truth, spiritual health not only affects the temporal (the mind and body as they exist now), but the eternal … specifically the spirit, which is not temporal. So in this regard, spiritual health transcends all other health since its implication reaches beyond the natural and into the supernatural.

If you are not of Judeo/Christian theology you may be saying to yourself, “this guy is Looney … I don’t believe that there is eternity … there is nothing that is not natural, everything is finite, including us, the world, and all of existence. We have no spirit; we are simply animals whose minds have evolved way beyond that of other animals”.

To that mindset I don’t really have a response. It’s like a blind man and a man who can see sitting on a bench in a park. The man who can see says, “Hey there’s a squirrel over there”. And the blind man says, “No there’s not. There is no such thing as squirrels.” The man who can see says, “Yes there is, I’m looking at one. It’s right over there.” And the blind man says, “Yeah right … you’re a fool. Like I said, there is no such thing as squirrels.” – A pointless debate that goes nowhere.

So, moving on …

How can spiritual health be obtained and maintained?

There is only one answer and it is the same for both obtaining and maintaining spiritual health. Christ … believing in Christ, receiving salvation and redemption through Christ, and being sanctified through Christ. Christ is the only way. Every other path is false and will never bring you to spiritual health.

And what impact does spiritual health have on the other pillars?

Well … unfortunately for our desire to be comfortable, Christ does not call us to a life of wealth and happiness. He puts a greater calling on our lives; He calls us to a life of sacrifice! The truly best part is that He promises that through this we will find something better than happiness … we will find contentment, which transcends both health and wealth.

This shouldn’t be a problem for endurance athletes like me since we are very accustomed to sacrificing comfort to gain fitness and performance. So I should do this more. I should sacrifice my wants and my needs for others. I should love my neighbor as myself. And I should do this as a willing sacrifice to the Lord.

Another wise man named Paul once wrote these (I think it is obvious that Paul was an athlete, perhaps a runner, and a fan of sports):

...train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. - 1 Timothy 4:7-8

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. - 1 Corinthians 9:22-27

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. - Galatians 5:6-8

...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. - Hebrews 12:1-3

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. - Romans 15:1-2

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. - 2 Timothy 4:6-8

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Health and Fitness + Training Update

2009-06-01T08:51:00.014-04:00

I haven't done much posting lately so I thought I would catch up in one massive post ... grab some coffee, cause here goes ...

Like many athletes I tend to let the two (health and fitness) blur together in my mind. The latest event to rattle this ignorance-is-bliss mindset for me was the death of a legend, Steve Larsen at just 39 years of age. This one really threw me for a loop because Steve was the picture of fitness ... a world champion poised to see how far he could take it, one more time. Even more so however was the fact that he left behind five small children which hits very close to home for me, having 3 little ones myself.

If you follow my blog you may remember that late last year I set a plan in place to have my body composition measured every quarter this season leading to the ironman in the late fall. My goal was to reach a high level of fitness in June for two races and then again in November. Well June is here and today was the day to check the numbers and let the chips fall where the may. The items that are in bold are the ones I'm concerned about most (from a fitness perspective).

Date	6/1/2009	3/2/2009	1/9/2009
Height (in)	71	71	71
Weight (lb)	160	159	161
Waist (in)	30	29.5	29.7
Hip (in)	36.5	36	36.7
Waist/Hip Ratio	.82	.82	.81
Blood Pressure	121/74	N/A	118/82
Resting HR	52	52	48
Max HR	186	186	186
Body Fat %	6.2	8.1	7.8
Fat Weight (lb)	9.92	12.88	12.56
Lean Weight (lb)	150.08	146.12	148.44
BMI	22.3	22.2	22.5

Things have made a very big shift since March in the right direction. My weight is up by 1 pound, but for very good reason as my fat weight is down nearly 3 pounds and my lean weight is up 4 pounds. This simply means that I've put on muscle and lost fat. I was very pleased to have reached my goal of 6% body fat for June.

I should say that I did not diet AT ALL to reach 6%. As a matter of fact most days include 2 breakfasts, mid morning snack, lunch, copious amounts of chocolate, more afternoon snacks (lots of fruit), and large dinners with multiple helpings and several pieces of bread, and of course desert. This leads me to believe that I can become even more lean for November by incorporating a smidgen of willpower when it comes to food.

So that is my fitness and I am pretty fit at the moment. But what about my health?

I afraid it is not such a positive note here ... I had an evaluation last week (blood pressure and blood analysis) and the results have come back. The areas for concern are my systolic blood pressure number (121) - which is at the bottom of the "High Normal" range, and my cholesterol numbers. My total cholesterol number was 218 mg/dl which puts me in the "Borderline high" range. The HDL ("good cholesterol") number was fine (50), but the LDL ("bad cholesterol") was in the "Borderline high" range with a 141.

Jennifer has made an appointment with my doctor so we can figure out the right approach for getting my blood pressure and cholesterol back into normal ranges. Hopefully this won't involve drugs!!!

Last week capped off a solid block of training leading into some races this month. I've been very consistent and hope it pays off in my performances. Here's a picture of training over the last few weeks. The first week shown there is the week following the Lake Murray triathlon and then the remaining weeks until now. This week will be much lighter as I'm hoping to realize the fitness gains from this block going into the upcoming races.

The basic structure has been 10-12km of swimming (4 sessions per week), around 8.5 hours on the bike, with the run building to just over 30 miles last two weeks, and as much core strength work as I can squeeze in. Had I not crashed at Mt. Mitchell the cycling time for 5/18 week would have been quite a bit higher. Unfortunately I won't get the boost I was hoping for from Mitchell, but other than that, it's gone off without a hitch.

I have some ambitious goals for Festival of Flowers. Last year I finished 19th overall with a poor swim (27:48) and terrible run (43:54). This year I'm hoping to shave at least 6 minutes off my time from last year (2:13:47) and place in the top 10. Last year a 2:07 would have put you in 10th place. Maybe I'm being optimistic but I'm seeing 6 minutes on the swim and run alone with just a steady effort. I think 24 minutes on the swim is very realistic and I will be very disappointed if I run over 40 minutes!! Last year I rode just over an hour (1:00:23) for a near 24 mph average ... so obviously I'm aiming to redeem myself by going under an hour! The one thing to watch out for here is the heat. This is the first race on the circuit where the heat starts to play a role and, in the past, it has caught me off guard (hence the dismal run last year).

I'll leave you with this picture from last Monday. Me a my girls, relaxing on the boat and lovin' it.

Where's the sportsmanship?

2009-05-29T13:31:00.001-04:00

I really wish triathletes were more like golfers ... especially this one.

Been a slacker

2009-05-27T14:48:00.003-04:00

with the blog (not with the training!!). I'm at the tail end of a 3 week block following lake murray tri before bringing it down a bit heading into Festival of Flowers and Tri the Midlands. The calf injury is healed and I'm back to 30+ mile run weeks. Not quite at the volume I was before the injury but building to it and so far the intensity has been very minimal but is building as well.

After the June races it will be time to begin building up for Augusta 70.3 and B2B. I have a hole in the calendar between late June and late September and need to fill it with some longer races. Perhaps Hartsville Oly, and maybe AG Nationals in AL, but I would really like to find a late summer half. I don't know of any off hand ...

I should have some video to post soon of my top secret training hideaway. Speaking of which, I need to plan a weekend mini-training camp getaway. The biggest problem is that it's so darn relaxing there that it's hard to "get the work done" as jonnyo would say.

2009-05-18T08:45:00.001-04:00

Pile up in 1st few miles. Broken spoke on 808. Im out ... Major bummer!

AOMM

2009-05-17T05:44:00.003-04:00

Looks like I'll be heading to Spartanburg on Monday morning to take part in the Assault on Mt. Mitchell ride. It's 103 miles and ends with a climb of Mt. Mitchell, the highest mountain east of the Rockies.

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Getting into this thing on a whim at the last moment and not having prepared in the least (apart from my normal tri training) my plan was to take it super easy until we hit the mountain (around mile 83 I think) and then suffer my way to the top. But .... since I'll riding in the 1st wave with JB and the other top cyclists, there is a very high probability that the pace will be very brisk getting to Marion. I have a feeling this will put my bike fitness to the test. I'm considering going old school ... almost primal ... with no computers, GPS, HR, etc. Totally by feel. I think this will help me get to know my body a little better. I have no time goals as this will be my first time riding Mitchell. I just want to get to the top without suffering so bad that next week's training is jeopardized. Here's a picture of my road bike outfitted for the ride (12/27 cassette included!).

Fuel

2009-05-15T13:37:00.003-04:00

Every year on your service aniversery the company gives you a $5 gift card for the restaurant downstairs. Lucky for me they have my favorite food in the whole world ...

Quick Update

2009-05-11T16:20:00.004-04:00

Just a quick update to let the world know I'm still alive and well.

Last week was the beginning of building back up the volume after two weeks in a row of racing - and it felt great to log some solid training time (14.25 hrs) without worrying about being semi-fresh for a race.

The week culminated on Friday with a long 75 mile bike ride followed by a 30 minute transition run. The first two hours of the ride I was joined by Woody. After cruising and chatting for a while and climbing Little Mountain, we laid down some good temp efforts.

The lower legs have still been a bit of an issue with running but are slowly coming around. I ran 5 times last week with 4 days consecutively from Wednesday through Sunday. The sessions were all very tempered, but I really enjoy the frequency. This week only has 4 run sessions with a long run of 90 minutes. I'm actually looking forward to getting back to some tempo work ... hopefully soon.

Still no day off training since Nov 26th. I'm not doing it as a goal ... coach just never schedules an off day. Recovery is built in and I haven't found the need to take a day off.

Next race on the calendar is Festival of Flowers olympic distance on June 7th, although I have yet to register. I've slacked so long that the entry fee is up to $80.

As I write this I'm bouncing emails back and forth with JB about riding Mitchell on Monday. I'm toying with the idea of trying to arrange it and he's telling me that "it is the premier SE mountain century. people come from all over to do it. maybe not as cool as Boston but still carries some weight when u say u did it." Doing it would take a lot of clearance ... wife, work, coach, etc. Maybe I'll have a ride report next week ...

That's about it in my exciting life. Oh, I forgot to say that we had a yard sale this weekend. I laid some sod (glad I don't do that for a living). We also went to a party at the Blashka's on Saturday, took some friend out to lunch on Sunday, and had my mom, dad and stepmom visiting at various times throughout the weekend. It was a very busy and fun weekend. Happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Pictures from Sunday

2009-05-07T06:20:00.016-04:00

the sign says it all, lol

Lake Murray Triathlon Race Report

2009-05-03T15:44:00.017-04:00

It was a tough day at the Lake Murray triathlon this year. I'm a little disappointed with my 10th place finish and rather flat performance.

Here's my looooong list of excuses/encouragements to make me feel better ... 1) I'm not focusing on short course triathlon 2) my run volume has been super low in the last 4 weeks as I've been getting over an injury 3) I finished 10 places higher than last year 4) it was a very deep field today 5) I was less than 30 seconds off 7th place.

I said in my prediction post that I'd be happy to be in the top ten ... and I'm trying ... really, I am (it's just not working that well). Speaking of the prediction post, I was very correct in some areas and VERY incorrect in others. I must apologize to JB and Woody as I underestimated their abilities in a big way. Great job guys ... I'll be the first to admit that you put me in my place!

I arrived at the race early enough to get a sufficient warm-up swim this time which made a big difference in my comfort level. Starting out the swim there was a little contact which put some water in my sighting-side goggle, but other than that it was pretty calm. I felt relaxed and in-control throughout the swim and was glad to be in a small pack the whole way. We stayed pretty much side-by-side the entire time and didn't take turns working at the front. When we exited the water I saw it was Cameron Dorn and Parker Roth that swam in the pack with me. This was a sign of a decent swim for me but also meant I would get a chance to see how I staked up to these guys on the bike. The official time with run to transition was 12:07, ranked 16th overall.

Here are some pictures of Cameron and I doing T1 (0:28):

It didn't take long for Cameron to come past me on the bike. A short time later Parker also made his way past. Then another guy. Hmmm ... I'm not really used to getting passed like this. By the third time I had resolved myself to ride my own ride and not get caught up in the "race" within the race, although I kept hoping I would make my way up to Mark. Looking at the results, Mark and I were riding the same speed but he was already 1.5 minutes up the road. I just kept turning the pedals and held on to this position for the rest of the ride. The coolest part about this ride is that Paul and Lucas from Harrell's were out on a scooter taking pictures of me and encouraging me along the way. I should have some good photos of my position on the bike to post to the blog soon. Official split was 39:21, 24.4 mph avg, ranked 11th overall.

Coming off the bike I had a quick T2 (0:55) as you can see here, unfortunately there were too many bikes (6) on the rack!

Immediately starting the run I knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant one as I could feel the calf with every foot strike. Much to my surprise I pulled within sight of Cameron before we reached the first offshoot and I started closing the gap. I found out later that his hamstring had cramped which slowed him down quite a bit. Apparently seeing me close to him at the turn around got him going again because I wasn't making anymore progress on him by mile 2. As we closed on mile 3 Aubry came flying past me and I had absolutely no response for him. It wasn't a good run (19:04) and was my worst ranking (23rd) of all three disciplines today. I am most disappointed with the run! Here's a video of me coming into the finish line ... you can tell that I'm protecting my right side.

In the end it was a fun day, as always, but not everything I hoped it would be as far as the result goes. I gave all that I had on the day and have to be content with the effort I put forth. Next year hopefully the result will be better. I just need to figure out how to ride at the level of these guys (and for that matter, swim and run too). I can say for sure that the fire is stoked and that I aim to be more of a factor in the races to come!

In my mind the most impressive performance of the day was Parker Roth who exited the water with Cameron and I and then posted the fastest bike split and ran his way to 2nd place and within 50 seconds of Dan Moss.

I'll leave y'all with some pictures of standout performances from the day (obviously not of me LOL):

Here's a picture of Mark Woody after he absolutely butchered the swim in 10:33

Another flawless (from my perspective) performance from Dan Moss. The guys on the scooter commented after the race on how smooth and fast Dan was riding off the front. Here he is coming in for the overall win.

More pictures from the race

Caleb's First Triathlon

2009-05-02T15:23:00.005-04:00

Lake Murray Prediction

2009-05-01T10:53:00.007-04:00

This is probably not a very wise thing to do, but here is my prediction:

1. Daniel Moss (just placed 3rd at Du Nationals)
2. Chris Olson
3. Parker Roth
4. Peter Kotland
5. Cameron Dorn
6. Me
7. Mark Woody
8. Jeff Brandenburg
9. Joe Sroka

There are a couple of wildcards in there ... Chris Giordinelli, Ryan Payne, Mike Wendt, etc. and always some fast age group athletes (like JB) that may break into the top 10. So I will be happy to be anywhere inside the top 10 for this one since there are some many talented athletes racing, the including pro / elite guys.

New Stuff

2009-04-30T18:58:00.007-04:00

Just received this cool new stuff ...

Xtrerra Velocity 0.02 speedsuit, custom Craft tri top, 2009 Hincapie Road Kit

front

back

Some new sponsors of the team include: BioMet, Carolina Honda Powerhouse, and Data Network Solutions with returning sponsors Garmin and Lee Transport Equipment. If you get the chance, show some love to the Harrell's team and support our sponsors ... don't forget to mention the team!

Langley Pond Race Report

2009-04-27T10:02:00.017-04:00

This was a special race for me because two years ago this was my first ever triathlon and the event that marked a fundamental shift in the course of my life. It was great to come back and race well! Originally I was signed up for the Olympic distance but decided to transfer to the Sprint because I'm just getting past a calf injury and didn't want to risk re-injuring it ahead of the Lake Murray race this upcoming weekend. In the end I made the podium (2nd), had a blast, apparently broke the previous course record, and didn't re-injure the calf. So I'm very glad I made the switch.

Here's what Setup Events had to say about our race:

"For the Sprint the Top 4 men and Top 2 women broke the previous course record. Anthony Wallace of Savannah, GA led from the gun posting the day's fastest swim split and Top 3 bike and run splits to take the men's title. Nicholas Brunson of Lexington, SC was second on the day and Jeff Brandenburg of Columbia, SC was third."

That is the condensed version ... here is how my race played out from my perspective:

My wife and son and I arrived at the site with plenty of time to pickup the packet, setup transition and get marked. Before I knew it the RD was ordering everyone out of transition and down to the water for the start. I hadn't yet done a warm up swim or even put on my wetsuit. So I quickly put on my suit and went down to the water. As I was getting in the RD was ordering everyone out of the water, but I was able to sneak in maybe 200 meters. The athletes racing the Olympic distance went off first and then it was our turn.

The swim start here is from the beach and so there is a few steps of running and then 2 dives and you're off swimming. The first few hundred meters were nerve racking with trying to balance pacing myself without getting hypoxic with not losing too much time to the lead swimmers. I was sighting on every 12th stroke and was drifting each way quite a bit as I tried correct my line to the first turn buoy. I must have been over-correcting. By 300 meters out I was on the edge, trying to relax, and trying to find some kind of rhythm. The first 90 degree turn is at 350 meters then there is 50 meters until the other 90 degree turn that points you back to shore. It wasn't until rounding this second turn buoy (approx 400 meters) that I found my rhythm, felt powerful, and began enjoying the swim. With on 350 meters left to work with there was only so much I could do in such a short distance. Getting out of the water I had 10:45 as the split. There is a long run to transition included in the swim time which gave me 11:42 (1 min 1 sec behind the leader). I was ranked 7th overall, 3rd Open.

Brooks Keys beat me out of the water by 14 seconds and was out of his wetsuit when I arrived at my bike. I could tell it was taking him a while to get through transition which gave confidence that I could get back some time from him. My transition felt quick and looking at the numbers, I took back 6 seconds from Brooks.

For this race I put my cycling shoes on in T1 but still managed a flying mount on the bike. Brooks was just ahead and I was determined to get him quick and come past him really strong. I was able to get past him before the railroad tracks and turns that take you out onto the main loop. The loop starts fairly flat and then goes uphill for several miles. I just tried to find a good rhythm and churned up and up. Once on top of the ridge line it is kind of rolling before it turns back downhill. On the rolling section I could see the leader up the road but it didn't seem like I was reeling him in any. I just kept the throttle on and tried to put as much time between Brooks and myself as possible. I know that Brooks is a really good runner and if I was going to beat him, it was going to be on the bike. The other thing I was thinking was that it would be nice to have the fastest bike split of the day. Unfortunately JB took fastest bike split, edging me out by 28 seconds. Bike split: 31:56 - ranked 2nd overall, 1st Open.

I came into T2 and I saw the leader's bike on the rack. My wife let me know that I was in second place. This transition felt quick also and I was soon off to the run.

After T2 the leader had me by 49 seconds. The run actually has 3 turn arounds, the first of which is only a few hundred yards into the run. The next turn around is somewhere near 1.5 miles and his lead was down to 47 seconds, so we're pretty much running the same pace. That's a lot of ground to make up in 1.6 miles but it "felt" like I was gaining on him. Here I also got the chance to see how much time I had on Brooks. It was well over a minute. This gave me confidence that 2nd place was in the bag. Then ... oh, wait ... who's that coming? It's JB and he's running strong. Let's see ... he started how many minutes back? Crap ... who knows?? ... this is too complicated. Up the hill and back into the park area and I hear the RD say some things about me to the crowd which was something new. Heading out along the levy the leader is in sight. At the turn around the gap is still about the same. At this point there is only maybe 1/8th of a mile left and I knew there was no chance of catching him and also there was no chance of me being caught by anyone else. Cruised it on in for a time of 18:27. Ranked 3rd overall, 3rd Open

So the final result was 2nd place with a time of 1:05:02. Brooks crossed about a minute and a half later and then we started watching the clock ... waiting to see how soon JB would arrive. When he did arrive, Brooks was not happy to learn that he'd been taken off the podium from behind by JB ... again. We then gave JB crap for not racing Open ... again.

The questions that are Langley

2009-04-23T09:19:00.002-04:00

I'm getting mentally and physically prepared to race this weekend but there are many lingering questions that won't be answered until race day.

Which race will I race?
I asked to be switched to the Sprint and was told it was no problem. My name is still on the start list for the Olympic however. This could be an advantage I suppose :-) So we will see ... I'm not totally opposed to the Olympic but have some real concerns about running a hard 10k on this calf.

How will the calf hold up?
Running has been absolutely minimal this week. Only a 30 minute trail run. At the end of which I felt a very strange sensation in my calf ... a cramp ... high up below the back of the knee on the inside of the leg. I don't usually get cramps, even when racing in the heat. I have felt this before though when doing a hard push off in the pool after not having hydrated well before the workout. Only 3 times that I can remember and I used it as my cue to end the session and gets some electrolytes and calories in me. I was able to invoke the same cramp this morning on the bike by pointing my toe straight down and flexing my calf as I hard as I could. I rubbed it out and tried it a few more times, each time getting less severe until I couldn't get it to cramp anymore. Strange stuff going on down there. So my course of action is ice, rest, vitamin I, water running, stretching, and massaging the area.

The good news is that the tendonitis along the bone has pretty much disappeared on both legs as I knew it would with lower volume for a week or two. If I could just get this crazy cramping to go away I think I can pull off a decent 5k. 10k ... maybe not ... so hopefully I will get out of the Olympic and into the Sprint.

Will I have a good swim in the wetsuit?
Swimming in the suit has been an on-again, off-again problem for me in the past. Sometimes it doesn't bother me at all. Other times I feel like it's trying to suffocate me. The one thing I know is that it makes me fast! So hopefully that speed won't be negated by me stopping to tug on the neck to get more oxygen during a hyperventilation frenzy.

Okay, think positive ... I'm going to hammer the swim. Stay calm and controlled through the first 150 meters, asses where I'm at in relation of the lead, find some feet, pickup the pace, come out of the water within 1 minute of the leader. Quick transition, drop him like a bad habit on the bike, come into t2 with a minute to spare, pray my calf holds up the task, run the 5k in 18 flat.

I keep envisioning how it's going to play out. Everything goes just how I said above and I'm in the lead out of T2, but at the turnaround i see second place and I don't have but a 40 sec gap from my 1 min at the start of the run. By the second turnaround at the end of the levy he is really close. I put in a surge and hold him until we make the right turn into the park area and head for the chute. He comes alongside me. It's a sprint finish. I dig deep and cross the line just a fraction a second before him and collapse in the grass. My wife and kids run over to me and jump on me like a big dog pile, yelling and screaming! It's awesome.

Hey, a guy can dream right? We'll see how it really plays out. I'm hoping for this kind of drama!

My new jersey from Harrell's won't be back from the screen printer until early next week so it's debut race will be Lake Murray next weekend.

Best of luck to all racing this weekend!

April 13 - 19

2009-04-20T09:26:00.002-04:00

Total: 16 hrs 10 min
Swim: 12 km
Bike: 9 hrs 30 min
Run: 1 hr 50 min
Strength: 1 hr 45 min

It was another week rehabbing the calf injury and putting in some solid time on the bike. Not a whole lot of running (very little actually) but my run last night was encouraging in that I was able to hold a respectable pace without much discomfort. I have to give major credit to Dr. Renick for diligently working on my calf and helping me get back to running.

With all of 41 miles of running logged for the month so far I decided to ask if I could move my registration from the Olympic distance to the Sprint for the upcoming race this weekend (against coach’s wishes). I feel like I could fake a decent enough 5k, but a fast 10k … not so much! Well, at least not without significant suffering and lasting repercussions. With the Lake Murray race the very next weekend, I don’t want to risk further injuring my calf this weekend. Lake Murray is a big local race with steep competition where I hope to represent my sponsor well. Besides, it looks like the Open division field has grown quite a bit in the Langley Sprint race since the last time I checked the registration. There are some solid athletes racing with some being very talented swimmers. If I’m able to switch to the Sprint my goal will be to not lose too much time in the water (maybe even stay in the lead pack) and then bring it hard on the bike and hang on for dear life in the run (and try not to hurt myself). If I end up racing the Olympic it will be the same strategy. Come to think of it … that’s always my strategy!

This week has very light training. So much so that it will be a challenge to train that little! In fact I’ve already trained over plan by riding this morning. What can I say? I’m a creature of habit. It just doesn’t feel right not to ride my bike in the morning.

Train well.

Run in the Spirit!!!!

2009-04-15T10:52:00.002-04:00

April 6 – 12, ROP

2009-04-13T10:29:00.004-04:00

Total: 16 hours
Swim: 9km
Bike: 11 hrs 21 minutes
Run: 1 hr 35 minutes
Strength: 45 minutes

This was different than my typical week of training in that I was nursing an injury to my lower legs and needed to reduce my running volume. Unfortunately running wasn’t the only thing that was low on volume as I missed one of my swim workouts and only managed 45 minutes in the gym working on core strength. On the flipside, cycling was the focus for the week and I got in some of the best riding ever.

I’m happy to report that my lower legs are healing up nicely with the rest, ice, massage and a little vitamin I. I was tempted to stray from the plan and put in a little run this morning (but didn’t) which would have given me 4 days in a row of running. We’ll ramp it up slowly though the first half of this week and then end strong with some faster running and a 90 minute long run at the end of the week. I’ve been a little apprehensive about my run fitness going into Langley on the 25th since there will be some very fast runners in the field.

I actually managed one swim last week in my wetsuit in the pool. I didn’t look too foolish since the heater and pump have been on-again off-again broken for the last few weeks. Regardless of the heater situation I’ll be wearing it a few times this week and next to get ready for racing in it. There was a noticeable amount of fatigue in my shoulders from the added resistance on recovery and I’m hoping to build a little specific fitness in that area. I must confess that I missed a swim workout last week. We went to visit my folks on Friday at there lake house outside Augusta and I just didn’t have the cajones to get the water to do my distance workout.

I had an awesome ride on Saturday with JB and some of his crew from the North East (part of Columbia). With this being a cycling focused week I jumped on the opportunity to ride a hard century with tons of climbing called the ROP (Ride of Pain). Unfortunately my Garmin’s memory reached capacity at mile 86 since I hadn’t cleared out the history in a while. I have another computer on the bike but didn’t start it until about a mile into the ride when we got out of the neighborhoods. So no complete data from me, but from what I have … Garmin: Distance 86 miles, time 3:59:57, Average Speed: 21.5, Average HR: 140, Climbing: 7097 ft. … Other computer: Distance: 101.46, Time: 4:42, Average Speed: 21.55. Jeff sent out some numbers (that I used for my log) which were: Distance: 103.6, Time: 4:51, Average Speed: 21.36. Jeff also advertised the ride as 5000 ft of climbing which actually seemed a little shy to me. There were rollers, rollers, and more rollers … big rollers, small rollers, long rollers, short rollers, mentally-challenging rollers, scenic rollers. Needless to say we KILLED the Ride of Pain! I’d say we have the right to call ourselves the “Pain Killers”. There was definitely some pain involved but mostly from a silly oversight (haven’t ridden long since November) like failing to use chamois cream, body glide or other type of friction reducer on the nether regions. Those last 14 on the rough pavement weren’t the most comfortable miles of the ride. We finished it off strong and jogged two miles on the cushy trails behind Jeff’s house. Nice!

If you have ability to make it to Spartanburg on Saturday I would encourage you to run the Zebra’s Do Exists 5k to help support a local family in need.

Train well

Where it hurts

2009-04-06T10:12:00.004-04:00

Coach wanted some more information on where I was having pain in the lower leg so I thought I would put these up here in case anyone else had some thoughts (sort of like an amateur Web MD type thing). Seems to be isolated to only the right leg which I tend to produce more power as I toe-off.

This first picture is where it is sore if I press into the bone. There is a small knot of inflammation or scar tissue. When I rub it out it feels better. I think this is where the soleus attaches to the bone.

The second picture is where it hurts when I toe-off when walking or running or coming down stairs. It is near the other place but more on the backside of the leg near the Achilles.

So as I mentioned in the last post, this week will be heavy on the cycling and light on the running. I'll have a short, easy run on Wednesday to test out how the rest is helping this issue.

March 30 - April 5

2009-04-05T17:28:00.002-04:00

Total volume: 17 hr 40 min
Swim: 12,200 meters
Bike: 8 hrs 47 min
Run: 2 hrs 56 min
Strength: 2 hrs 45 min

Well, it was another solid week but not all that it should have been. Today I had to bail part way into my 1 hr 40 min run because of the pain in my lower legs. It looks like I'm going to need a few days off running for the first time all year to let the inflammation subside a bit. It's not ideal but there is nothing I can really do about it - well, except use this as an opportunity to boost my cycling and swimming. Under the direction of the coach I'll take tomorrow and Tuesday off running and then pick back up with a short run on Wednesday to see how things are coming along. I'm hoping he sends me 5 swims this week and more like 10-12 hours on the bike. It's spring break week for the kids so not only will I have some extra training time in the morning (not taking my son to school), there will be much less traffic on the road. This should make for a good bike-focused week.

My only concern is how I will run at Langley on the 25th without a solid week of running this week. Hopefully a strong bike will make up for a weakness in my running if that is the case. If I was doing the sprint I wouldn't worry about it because a) the run short b) the depth of the field is quite shallow (only 1 open division male so far!). The olympic will be quite the opposite with a very strong field coming out. For some (like Chris Olson) this will be the season debut so I'm sure it will be quite intense ... no room for weak running!

Train well.

March 23-29

2009-03-30T13:31:00.003-04:00

Total: 17 hrs
Swim: 12km
Bike: 8 hrs 30 min
Run: 4 hrs 28 min
Strength: 1 hr

Last week started off pretty strong on Monday with 90 minutes on the bike and then a double run totaling 2 hours of running for the day. I was getting all my work done and feeling fairly strong through Thursday and then Friday the wheels started to come off. After my swim on Friday I was totally spent - no energy, starving and my lower legs were t-rashed. Thankfully I only had some light work on the bike and 1 hour of running left for the weekend. So apart from that little bit of training I laid very low with the family and slept and ate whenever I had the opportunity. Well that's not totally true ... I did finish up the big flower bed I've been working on in the back yard by laying in the border / edging material. But I also got lots of little naps and snacks. Our friends Kelley and Greg had us over for dinner last night and could probably tell that I was extra mellow, even more than my usual laid-backness. Our kids love to play together their new house has a nice big back yard and dedicated play room where the kids can wear themselves out.

For the lower legs, luckily I had an appointment on the schedule for this morning with Dr. Renick for my ART treatment. Also the heater in the pool is still broken today so it's a bit like taking an ice bath ... great for recovery! Additionally last week I ordered a pair of the very stylish compression sleeves for my calves. Hopefully these things will help make running a little more enjoyable this week.

This week has another pretty big run block and even a Team TBB Special swim workout. It sounds cool but I have a feeling that lifting myself out of the pool afterwards will be a challenge.

I'll be tuned into IM Live on Sunday as coach is racing IM Australia.

Train well!

Downtown Columbia Triathlon Race Report

2009-03-23T10:03:00.017-04:00

This was my first triathlon of the 2009 season and it was a bit more rough around the edges than I anticipated it would have been. However, the overall result was better than I had hoped or expected. I ended up finishing in 4th place after a series of unfortunate debacles.

The Swim
I was seeded to start with Daniel Moss (the overall winner) in the 4th set of two. My plan was just to fall in line on his feet and let him pull me through the course. Well when we started the pace felt really easy and I thought, "I'm not slowing down!". We reached the end of the lane at 50 meters and I did my flip turn and I was way too close to the wall which made for a very awkward turn and by the time I came up in the other lane I was in oxygen debt. I tried to hold the pace for a while then I thought, "I'm slowing down!". From here it was a hypoxic state for the next couple of lanes and until I started to feel my chip coming off my ankle. What was going on? This swim was not going according to plan!! I reached back and pulled off the chip and thought for a minute about swimming with it. It was impossible to swim with my hand in a fist so I just let it go. In hindsight I should have stuffed it in my shirt or shorts. After that I was able to find a good rhythm but Daniel was gone and I was getting caught by Parker Roth and one of the female athletes. Great ... losing time already! Out from the pool and run to transition I told anyone who looked official that I had lost my chip and my number was 7. Looking at where I ended up in the field after the swim and based on Cam's Scott bike next time mine in the below picture (he started 10 seconds behind me) and his swim time of 8:05, I would guess my swim with the run to T1 was around 8:00 +-.

Getting to my bike my lane mate was on his way out. Great, didn't lose too much time afterall. Getting onto the bike was my next mishap. As you can see above my shoes are clipped in. When I did the old flying mount and went to strap my right shoes on my foot my left one somehow hit the ground and popped off. Crap!!!! I had to turn around and go back and get it. Thankfully I came to a stop and a volunteer tossed it to me. I then had to lean my bike against my body and put on both shoes and then do another flying mount (this time with shoes on) and get going. This cost me some MAJOR time and during this debacle Cameron came past me.

The Bike
The bike course on this one was a bit hectic. It was 3 x 3.something mile loops with 7 right hand 90 degree turns and 2 left hand 90 degree turns ... so 27 corners! I felt strong on the bike but at start of the second loop I wondered why I hadn't dry heaved yet and if I should be going harder. Not long after I got to the climb and the heaving started. Yep, I'm going hard enough! The second lap also brought on a steady stream of other athletes which made the course a bit crowded. There were a few issues with cars but overall I made it though the course . My Garmin said I rode it in 24 minutes so about 23.5 mph. Not great for a time trial but not too bad for a "crit style" course like this I suppose. I'll have to say that I like having multiple loops on the bike course as it was a easy way to mentally break up the ride. I never saw or caught anyone from Open division nor was I caught by anyone.

The next debacle happened as I was coming back into transition for T2. i was coming in a little fast and the lanes going in and out of transition were very narrow and the volunteers were yelling at me to make a hard left and I jammed up the brakes and flat spotted my rear tire (again!!!). I'm sure the boys at the shop will get a kick out of this one! With bike handling skills like these I don't deserve (nor can afford) to ride GP 4000s - I'm going back to Sprinters.

The Run
The course was just about as crazy as the bike course. I never really knew where I was going until I got Mark Woody in sight and could follow him. Before then every time I got to a volunteer I would just open my arms up and ask, "Where am I going?" and they would point me down a sidewalk, around a corner, over a pedestrian bridge, or up a set of stairs (yes, stairs). Nearing the turn around I was able to get an assessment of where I was in the field. I saw Daniel out in front with Parker really moving fast behind him and then Cameron not too far behind Parker. Then closer to me was Mark. So my goal was just to reel him in as much as I could (I knew I wouldn't catch him) and by the last bit of the run I had brought myself to within a block of him. The run actually felt really easy and was probably the least intense part of the race. Based on Mark's time of 17:21 I would guess mine is somewhere in that ball park which would have been a HUGE PR for me had I had an official split.

In the end Mark had me by 1 minute on the swim, then I gained about that much back on the bike, and then we ran similar 5ks but my overall time happened to beat his by 3 seconds giving me 4th place even though he crossed the line 4th (because he was the 1st to swim - 30 seconds before my swim start). My total time was 51:34 which was 1:50 seconds behind 3rd place. Even without the shoe incident I don't think would have closed that gap. Next time maybe!

My two oldest kids came out with Jennifer to enjoy the race and were super proud of dad!

*******Updated*******************************************
I had to include this video from the race Saturday that shows Mark Woody getting caught and passed by a female Open division athlete. If you look closely you can see me at several points. Just look for the yellow jersey or the one armed windmill:

Response to the Windmill

2009-03-18T10:01:00.002-04:00

Since I shared the video of the one armed windmill I figured I should share the response from coach:

"for the swim.... ABSOLUTLY no concern about the straigh arm, you have a good rythme in you, and that is key. Your swimming is actually very nice from outside the water. The weakness might be in the catch phase and power/strengh related but i do beleive if we work really hard at paddle work and specific fitness, we can get you to a solid ironman swim

my goal with you is to make a good ironman swim out of you.... not get you to the olympic in swimming. So, i need to work with some limitation. To make a swimmer out of you is impossible as you are too old and your partern as set in you. We cant change them. What we can work on is finding rythme in your swimming...having a style that is dynamic....and making you strong... with this, we can hope to get you to a 50min ironman swim on a long term project. That is plenty for you to win most races...But to take on the challenge to change you to be a swimmer would be so complicated and would required so much swimming. you dont need to be a swimmer to get out in 50min....

Now, realise that a 50min ironman swim is acheivable for a non swimmer as it s simply not fast.... a real swimmer, Thorpe, phelps, etc..could do that 2.4miles in 40min..... but for us.... a bit slower will jsut do so we have to work with what we have.

from what i see in the video, there is no reason that we cant acheive good triathlete stardards at ironman level. I will check the video some more to see if i can see a bit more of what is happening under water but so far, i m happy with what i see....lets get you strong, fit, and keep the rythme.... ( we have a few swimmer with exactly the same arms straigh recovery as you and they do swim very fast!)"

The part I like best, "we can hope to get you to a 50min ironman swim on a long term project. That is plenty for you to win most races..."

The part I like least, "you are too old"

:-)

The one armed windmill

2009-03-17T15:52:00.002-04:00

It has been recently pointed out to me by friends who haven't seen me swim in awhile that I have developed a change in my form. After discussing it with my coach he was interested to see it, so here it is. Rumor has it that having a straight arm isn't deemed such a bad thing by some folks in the triathlon world.

Coach,
I should tell you that a friend of mine who's husband shot this video and who is a former compatriot of yours and former member of your national Olympic swim squad (1980 - the one that boycotted the Olympics), and future swim coach of my son (when he joins the Drew Sharks) emphatically does not like the flying arm. She thinks I will hurt my shoulder. However, my shoulder does NOT currently hurt during or between workouts.

This video was shot during the back half of a 2 x 1500 meter set in a z2 effort. I swimming fairly easy at a 1:28 per 100 meter pace.

Behold the one armed windmill:

March 9th – 15th

2009-03-16T10:52:00.004-04:00

Total: 17 hours +
Swim: 11,700 meters
Bike: 7 hrs 20 min.
Run: 4 hrs 51 min.
Strength: 1hr 55 min

It was a bit of a crazy week, but gladly I made it through. The illness that I blogged about in the last entry turned pretty nasty over the weekend and I ended up with laryngitis, which is a first for me. I wondered if it would take me out of training or not, but thankfully I felt well enough to finish my work for the week which was 90 minutes on the bike Saturday and a 90 minute run Sunday. Coach had me limit my HR for these sessions to 130 as to not drain my body of the resources it needs to fight this thing off for good. Today I’m feeling much better and have returned to work despite not being 100% (I’m a hypocrite I know).

It was a rainy weekend so all my training was done indoors. We also had my son’s 7th birthday party on Saturday which was a lot of fun. It was a science experiment themed party so the kids got to make exploding, bubbling, and otherwise messy concoctions in my garage. After the experiments were done, the fun and colorful messiness continued when they were able to devise there own color of icing and decorate their cup cakes. This worked out perfectly with the weather and I’ve never seen so many 6 and 7 years maintain their attention like that! The funniest part was probably when it was time for my son to open up his presents, the kids were like bees around a hive … he hardly had room to pull the paper off for all the little people gathered around him. And apparently the recession hasn't hit Lexington as these parents were doling out big money for the boy. I think he walk away with like $100 in cash and gift cards besides all the toys. The party was a lot of fun and we receive many compliments from kids and parents. Jennifer does a great job orchestrating these kinds of things!

Wow, thanks for all the comments regarding my last post … lots of wisdom in there! Some highlights that really stuck with me:

If you are already training to your maximum workload, and you line up on race day and give 100%, then it's up to you to feel fulfilled by that or not. I am at my maximum workload (at least for this time of year) and I will undoubtedly give 100%. I truly believe I’m as well prepared as possible (for the early season) given my current level of athletic experience, fitness, available training and recovery time. Yes, I could probably be a little leaner (2-5 lbs), but I’m sort of saving that for June (first peak) because I know how not enjoyable it is to maintain that level. So I think I’ll be okay with the result whether it’s top 5 or top 20 … but really hoping for a top 8 at these short course races.

What motivates you to keep doing that which you love? A couple of things … I LOVE the sport and have a burning passion for it! Beyond that though I believe the Lord is doing something in me and through me and using triathlon has His artisan’s tool. If you could have only seen me some years ago … had someone told me what I would be doing today I would have dismissed it as nonsense. Given that, I am VERY interested in the outcome of this “work”. I believe it will be beautiful and I hope it has a lasting impact on me, my family, and beyond. It’s an interesting sub plot in the story of my life (and lives of my family) and I am eager for it to unfold, but also very much enjoying the journey.

Do you want to be the big fish in the small pond or the small fish in the big pond? - I like the open water … I just don’t want to get eaten!

The only way for you to get better is to race with people better than you. Agreed! Also, training with those better than you can do wonders to improve your performance. I need a training partner who can take me to the mat every now and then!!!!

Life is too short to go through it wondering what if. Yes, this brings to mind something my coach wrote on ST … (paraphrasing) Better to have remorse than regret.

Really pondering these thoughts has given me peace about racing Open. I’m just not used to the idea of being in the mid-back of the pack. Maybe this won’t be the case, but I have to prepare myself for it because it is a definite possibility. Regardless, as mentioned in the comments above, racing head to head with the best of the best is what I need to push my performance to its potential. And that’s the real goal … to race the fastest ironman I can and qualify for Kona in 2010. This will help me get there.

I should say that looking at Paris Island results, there is still a really high level of local competition in the 35 – 39 division from the likes of James Busby and Turner Boone, finishing 16th and 17th overall. I should have not implied that winning there would have been a given. It certainly would be a challenge!

Quick Update

2009-03-13T10:30:00.005-04:00

Here's a quick update of what's going ...

Fighting off a cold

This had left me a little (lot) low on energy this week but I'm continuing to train through it. I feel better during a workout but the low energy is affecting motivation to get out the door. I'm feeling it more on the mental side than the physical! Why oh why do office workers feel compelled to come to work sick???? For some it takes a fever and chills to get them to go home and admit that they have the flu, meanwhile infecting the rest of the department! It's like a daycare for adults but instead of a busy parent forcing their sick kid to go to daycare (infecting the rest of the kids) these people force themselves to go to work and then spread their germs to the rest of us. Can you tell I'm fed up with it? A hazard of an occupation in the corporate world I suppose ... stuck in a world of grey fabric, artificial lights, white noise, tiny cells, I mean cubes - with germs waiting to pounce. At least the pay is good! The thing is that my family and I are RARELY sick, but I've noticed that the general sedentary public are very often afflicted with something. And so in order to get life done, they do it sick. Okay mean and biased rant over ... I don't like having a cold!

Spent some time here this week

Owens Field Track

Still on the fence

I'm still going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth in my mind about racing in the Open division this year. Here some pros and cons that are driving my internal debate:

Pros of Open division:
- Start race in wave 1
- Best rack in transition
- Know where you stand amongst your competition
- Race against the best athletes
- Can leave race site earlier (probably won't need to hang around for awards)
- Some prestige to racing here
- Will be proud that I stepped up to the challenge

Cons of Open division:
- Potentially look like a fool
- Less t-shirts, beer mugs, bottles of wine from Age Group winnings
- When the kids ask if I won, I'll have to say "No" most likely.
- Race against the best athletes

Pros of Age Group:
- More t-shirts, beer mugs, bottles of wine from Age Group winnings
- Get picture taken on podium (my kids don't know or care that it's not the overall podium)
- When asked by family how I did I can say, "I won my age group"

Cons of Age Group
- Will know that I backed away from the challenge of the Open division
- Weed your way through lots of swimmers and cyclists on the course
- No idea where you competition is amongst the 150 people that started in your wave.

Feedback welcome!!!

March 2-8

2009-03-09T10:36:00.002-04:00

Total: 15 hours 25 min
Swim: 10 km
Bike: 7 hrs 30 min
Run: 3 hrs 30 min
Strength: 1 hr 40 min

Last week was pretty much identical to the previous two weeks in terms of volume and intensity. We are now entering a new training block and I'm told that the month ahead will be a challenging one with lots of threshold work. Looking at this week's plan, the running volume is back with 4 hrs 50 minutes planned as well some longer rides and more meters in the pool than the previous few weeks. With my first race falling right in the middle of this block I don't expect to be very fresh going in but this is okay since my primary focus is my racing in September and November.

Train well!

2 days in the life

2009-03-07T21:07:00.013-05:00

Well, it's been an interesting few days. I was able to get in some really good training with my friend Big John who's in his build-up for IM Coeur d'Alene. It's interesting how I met John. We met on the during the bike portion of Beach 2 Battleship last year. Out on the course he recognized my Harrell's jersey and we rode together for a while and chatted a bit. John is definitely an accomplished endurance athlete, having competed in triathlon for many years with multiple ironmans but also 24 hour races and adventure racing!!

I laid down some solid efforts on the bike because my plan called for time in z3 and z4, but also to see how his fitness is progressing since our last training session together. I'm happy to say that he held up quite well. I can see that he has been steadily raising his level of endurance and speed. Here's a picture of John after our climb to the top of Little Mountain (in the big ring for me I might add :p)

I would say that Little Mountain is really just steep hill. Maybe it's 3/4 of a mile to the top at about a 10-12% grade along a narrow little road. Climbs never looks as steep in pictures ...

When you get to the top of the hill you are rewarded with this beautiful view of a cellular tower

From here we rode a steady effort for a while and then went to ride good old Mike Stuck, which is a 15% grade I'm told but not as long as Little Mountain. Thankfully the Chow Mutt of Death (some of y'all know what I'm talking about) wasn't there to greet after getting through the climb.

After 2.5 hours on the bike we headed over the Harbison forest to run the outer loop. I thought this was 15k but turned out to be a little less than 9 miles. The outer loop is very curvy and undulating and hilly and rooty and is the staple weekend run of all the ultra trail runner nuts around here. I guess they do it twice though!

After this I had to wait for the pool to reopen after closing for a mid-afternoon 2 hour cleaning (every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!!!!) I was tired and encrusted in salt. Here I am before a short nap in the truck. Click on the picture if you want to see the gory details ...

After a mentally challenging (despite it's shortness) 2 km swim, it was time to switch focus to becoming Superdad. My wife went out of town for the weekend leaving me to take care of the three kiddies (scary, huh?) Thankfully my mom came over to help out which made it easier. Also the fact that it wasn't bath night and we went to eat at San Jose made for a pretty simple evening. The next morning after making pancakes for the crew we drove out to my mom's house in country with the hope of wearing the kids slap out!

Now I will have to tell you that my mom is the queen of the front porch. Dare I say no one does front porches like my mom does front porches. I don't even want to call them porches ... they are more like hybrid rooms that bridge the gap between the outdoors and the indoors. Her latest custom porch is larger than her house I think. It has at least 12 foot ceilings - if not 14 on the enclosed portion. There is Sony surround sound, a dining room table, rocking chairs, day bed, ancient Native American pottery and arrowheads, petrified wood, feather collection, various rocks, driftwood incense holders she made from when we lived on Hilton Head island, shells, huge rugs, candles, floor to ceiling drapes, antique chest of drawers, many stools, wicker this and wicker that. On the un-enclosed portions there's a wood burning fire place, rigging from ships holding hanging plants ... it's hard to describe. I love it though ... it reminds me of my childhood and my time with her. It was so relaxing to listen the Eagles latest album with the sound of the wind and the smell of incense that I fell asleep on the porch in the day bed. If there's one thing Mom knows how to do well it's RELAX!

Here's a picture of the house ... or rather, the porch with a little house in the background :-)

I'll leave you with this picture of the kids in a rare moment of unity strolling down the dirt road on the way back to Mom's house from our walk to the lake.

They are going to need me early in the morning ... better get to sleep. Later!

Answers

2009-03-03T09:40:00.005-05:00

To follow up on my post yesterday, I asked the questions as I mentioned. I thought I'd share the response as some of you may be curious ...

nick

some VERY VERY good questions.

the good thing for me is, i m working with a very motivated athlete(you) The problem is, if i leave you on your own, you rush things and cramp up crazy session together because you want to get really good and really quickly. You get injured, miss a few weeks and end up losing fitness and progress....

The thing is, on a long term approche, you can reach levels you didnt suspect IF we can put consistancy over 1-2-3 years. You have that right now, than that will show in your racing this summer but it s only the beginning.

It s the same with all the driven athlete, we complain to brett that i should ride more,. get one more hill repeat on the bike.... get a extra run in the week.... blah blah blah!!!

It comes down to me looking at you, and seeing what your body can take without sacrifcing consistancy. Spectacular results come from very steady and uneventfull but consistant preparation.

so at this point, we are in march.... we are in the ''hurry slowly'' phase... i dont want to burn you out...I want you in peak form late in the year...so, i m making you go along conistantly. Yes, after this week, we are building up again for a month...you might not like me as much in 3 weeks :)

Finaly, you arent ready to handle the bigger training, right now, the main goal is preparing you to be able to handle the ironman build up that we will do at the end of the season... it s going to be hard... and i dont want your body to break down under that hard load so that s what we are doing right now, building the fondation for your body to take on higher and harder training.

At this moment, you are doing shorter work, steady and consistant...we will gain a bit in term of speed, but mainly a strong fondation for the build up as you focus on long distance.

it all comes down to patience... that hardest element with consistancy for very driven athlete like you!!

jonathan

My favorite part "you can reach levels you didnt suspect" ... this hits on my "tipping of the scale" theory that I've mentioned before. I'm so intrigued!!! And anxious to solve the mystery ... but that is the thing, the mystery only gets solved with patience and consistency.

Feb 23 – March 1: Steady as she goes

2009-03-02T10:10:00.005-05:00

Total: 15 hrs 40 min
Swim: 8700 meters
Bike: 7 hrs 12 min
Run: 3 hrs 50 min
Strength: 2 hrs 15 min

As mentioned last week, there wasn’t tremendous volume this week but I did have some welcomed variety. Swimming was very low with only 3 sessions (including one short recovery swim) because of travel and the other disciplines were par for the course. The highlights had to be 1) riding in the upstate and 2) double run day. The terrain, roads conditions, and scenery all add up to an unmatched experience for cyclist in South Carolina. I had a few invitations to come back and take on some of the legendary climbs and rides in the area and definitely plan on taking up the offers.

Next week will be another week of steady work. Nothing legendary in terms of volume … just getting the work done as the coach would say. Running seems to be exceptionally low for a week without a race (although there is another double run day), but I’ll trust Jonathan’s judgment and stick to the plan, however I curious so I’ll ask about it to get understanding. Swimming also seems low with 2 of the 4 sessions at only 2km … I’ll ask about this as well. As you probably notice, if left to my own devices I train too hard too fast and jeopardize consistency and sometimes end up nursing injuries. It’s hard to hold back as I feel fairly fit, strong and motivated at the moment!

I had my second quarter body comp this morning which kept the theme of “steady” going. Not much change going on here:

	3/02/09	1/09/09	5/23/08	1/21/08
Height (in)	71	71	71	71
Weight (lb)	159	161	159	160
Waist (in)	29.5	29.7	30	30.3
Hip (in)	36	36.7	36	36.5
Waist/Hip Ratio	.82	.81	.83	.83
Blood Pressure	N/A	118/82	126/82	122/73
Resting HR	N/A	48	-	52
Max HR	N/A	186	187	187
Body Fat %	8.1	7.8	8.7	8.9
Fat Weight (lb)	12.88	12.56	13.83	14.24
Lean Weight (lb)	146.12	148.44	145.17	145.76
BMI	22.2	22.5	22.2	22.3

My lean weight has gone down (meaning I have lost some bulk muscle) as has my overall weight – both of which are good, however, my bf % has gone up slightly. There is a margin of error in these tests; however the trend doesn’t seem unreasonable. In all honesty my diet has been pretty bad lately. Not that I’m eating fried foods or things like this, but it is my weakness for chocolate that I believe has kept my bf % from dropping along with my weight and extra muscle mass. When I say I have a weakness for chocolate I don’t mean a piece or two a day I’m mean the equivalent of several candy bars per day (although I don’t *usually* eat the bar variety). So the time has come with the season fast approaching to go old school … one rule of thumb I have found … if you want to lean down you have to go to bed hungry. No more refined anything for a while!

In other exciting news I’ve begun making preparations for the upcoming season such as refining my position on the bike a little by narrowing and lowering my frontal area slightly. The other thing that I’ve had the pleasure of working on is the process of “toughening” my feet in preparation to race sockless. Look close to the swoosh and you can see what soaked through as a result of this morning’s 30 minute run …

Train well!

Rainy cold fun ride

2009-03-01T18:45:00.005-05:00

It was a great weekend in the mountains with the FCA-E group. We learned a lot and got to meet and reconnect with some awesome friends and athletes. Two other guys braved the elements with me for 2 hours on the bike on some of the best riding in the southeast. Here are a few pics from our ride ...

My partners for the ride Brock and Larry

Awesome roads with good pavement and plenty of climbing

A waterfall we came across

Raining in the mountains

2009-02-28T08:29:00.001-05:00

It's raining here today but hopefully it will stop long enough to climb Cesear's Head

Feb 16-22 week review

2009-02-23T10:45:00.005-05:00

Total: 15 hrs11 min
Swim: 11 Km
Bike: 7 hrs 20 min
Run: 2 hrs 56 min
Strength: 1 hr 55 min

Last week didn’t have all that much volume but sitting here on Monday morning I can tell you that I’ll still feel the effects, specifically from the running. Although it was low in volume, the 8k race on Saturday was definitely high intensity! And running hard on hilly cantered asphalt and brick roads took its toll on my lower legs. I’m sure I gained some fitness from racing as I haven’t done much speed work lately and I was pleased with my time and 2nd place result. You can read about the race here.

Should I really be pleased with 2nd though?

I was talking about this with a friend recently … when it comes down to the end of race and if you have a shot at winning … do you feel yourself worthy of the win and therefore willing to REALLY suffer for it, or is coming in 2nd good enough? For me age-group or division winning is something different entirely; but when it is the overall race, I wonder if I have that confidence to go for the win or if 2nd place will always be good enough. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to have that experience in triathlon this year. I’m not really much of a straight-up runner (and probably won’t do anymore run races this year - correction ... I will run Zebras Do Exist!) so I doubt I’ll be in that position on the running side of things. Even yesterday … while I came in second, the winner had me by a lot, there was no chance of winning. But triathlon is the great equalizer … I LOVE IT!!!!! BUT …while this approach works in the AG ranks, these guys in the Open division (with the exception of a few) are very consistent across the disciplines. They don’t leave you any room for weakness even if you are exceptional in one area. This is why I have the stipulation I put on myself for racing in this division this year was that I gain speed in the water and with my running. I’ve done these things so now I have to be true to myself and step up (can you tell I’m second guessing and lacking confidence?). Good grief I just need to race and get it over with!!!!

A BIG congrats to our puppy Bailey for graduating from Beginner Level training at PetSmart this week!! Such a smart dog we have!

It's officially official

His graduating class. Can you tell who is the honor student?

Proud mom and her graduate

This week won’t have all that much volume but will be interesting in other ways. Yay! While I do enjoy routine and consistency, especially in training, I’m ready to get out of my comfort zone, break the routine, and get inspired. A that’s just what I’m hoping for this weekend as my wife, son and I travel to Table-Rock State Park to spend the weekend at the 1st ever FCA-Endurance training camp. While the focus will be growing in faith, there will also be a solid dose of training to be done in the mountains. I’m hoping for warm temps so I don’t get too cold on the bike coming down the mountain. The trail running should be awesome and Jonathan has a double run day scheduled which is certainly not the norm for me.

Train well!

Quick cleanup

2009-02-22T13:09:00.004-05:00

Since I'm going to be on the 08 Plasma for at least some of my races this season I decided I better start getting her race ready. Took her to the beauty shop to get her hair tied back nice and neat, ready for action. Evidently the Cd0 of cylindrical objects such as cables is expensive ... and I need every watt I can get. Looking at the front of the bike there is a big difference in the width of the surface area. I didn't take a before picture so you'll just have to take my word for it!

Tied back in a nice pony tail routed between the Garmin cradle and the other computer

From the front it is nice and clean - no cables increasing the surface area.

Run For Books 8k

2009-02-21T18:06:00.008-05:00

It took me awhile this morning to get enthused about heading out for this race. I'd never run an 8k before and wasn't exactly sure of the exact distance in miles (and didn't bother to look it up). Turns out it is 5 miles, well 4.97 miles. This race was to be and a two lap route, each being 4k. It was in the mid-20s, dark and cold, and I was flat-out tired! I got myself to the race site with plenty of time before the start, picked up the packed and headed out for an easy warm up run. I got a little turned around trying to find my way back to the State Library but made it back in time to catch the procession of runners walking to the start line on Senate Street.

1-2-3 and we were off. I guess I started off a little fast because I had the lead for good half mile at which time a guy with the Ritz/Hall Olympic trials look came alongside me. We ran shoulder to shoulder for for the rest of the first mile and then he began pulling away. My Garmin confirmed it, 5:40 for the first mile (didn't feel like it), and the results show that this is the pace he kept for the entire race ... not so much for me! So I guess I started out too fast, but in my defense it was mostly downhill.

Mile two had most of climbing including one short and steep brick-road hill that had you wondering if this was some kind of a sick joke. By the top of this thing there were two thoughts going through my head 1) can't breathe - need more oxygen 2) THIS HURTS!!! Second mile split was 6:17, which would turn out to be my average pace overall.

By the end of mile two the leader had a sizable gap on me and any thoughts of a courageous fight for the win were long gone. Mile 3 was more rollers and brought us back by the start line at 2.5 to start the second lap and then into some of the downhill section. This was a hard mile! The split for this one was 6:22.

Mile 4 included more ofthe downhill section but also the brutal uphill part. This time I knew the hill was coming and knew the recovery section I would have after it, which gave me the confidence to attack it pretty hard. Overall it was a fast mile at 6:12.

Bringing it home I knew I had 2nd place in the bag as no one was in sight behind me. I think this knowledge was a bit of a hinderance as I am one to race off fear instead of fight. This was my slowest mile at 6:26. In the end I came accross the line in 31:14 for an average pace of 6:17. This is the same pace I ran for the 5k last month (which shared much of this course) but I held it out for 3k longer.

After reading Scott and Paul blog about vDot scores I got interested in where I stood on the scale. I don't currently subscribe to pace-based training philosophy but having a quantifiable "score" to mark progress and also the projected races times for given distances (especially marathon) is very intriguing! So before this race I was a 51 and now I'm a 52, so that is progress!

After getting home I let my kids work out who got to keep the trophy and the rest of the swag. They really wanted to be there this morning but it was just too cold. They would have been miserable. Once it warmed up my wife and I took them out for a healthy lunch and then to Finlay park to enjoy the beautiful sunshine.

New and newer

2009-02-20T11:07:00.010-05:00

Paul Harrell (shop/team owner) contacted me earlier in the week and said that Hindcapie had sent over some samples of tri kits for us to try out as the baseline for our team kits and that he would like me to come try on the apparel and give him feedback. A few teammates have decided to move over to the ranks of the banana sack wearing tri world (common stereotype it seems – not that I’m opposed to Speedos per say) so I’m no longer the sole tri guy on the team. This (along with my nagging for a kit) may or may not have played into the decision to produce the tri kit. Regardless, I am eager to represent Harrell’s on the race course as I believe they are hands-down the best shop in town and have been integral in progression as a triathlete. I wouldn’t even flinch at wearing a blue Speedo with the Harrell’s logo stamped on the arse … but thankfully this is not the route we’re headed with the kits. So here’s the sample kit. This one is size Medium top and bottom. The Large was a little too large and the Medium is nice and snug.

One of the things I really like about the top was that it was full zip. At first I was unsure about this but once I put it on I was digging it. For one it was WAY easier to get on and off then a half zip. And when it’s in the mid 90s with 95% humidity and we’re out on the run at FoF along that stretch with no shade, that zipper will be my new best friend. It’s hard to tell in the picture but the fabric on either side of the center the fabric is a mesh material to allow for max ventilation. While the sample may look rather hot in black (the custom kit will be blue and white I presume), this thing was made for keeping the racer cool. Another aspect of the jersey that I really liked was the design and location of the pockets. They were located on the back of the jersey but not in the center of the back. Instead they were rather narrow and placed on either side of the lower back in the indention area above the hip. This would seem to be an ideal location when thinking about body position in the water and accessibility on the bike. Of all the jerseys I’ve worn, I can honestly say this one felt the best and seemed as if it would be the fastest.

The shorts had an equal amount of emphasis placed on keeping the athlete cool … more so by far than any short I’ve tried. Again hard to see in the picture, but the entire section along the outer quad is a mesh material. The chamois was there but not-there if you know what I mean. And the inside of the front of the chamois was void of seams close to center, which is an absolute must in my book. I once only discovered an “injury” that I sustained during a race to the head honcho after a beam of water made a direct hit in my after-race shower. This left me instantly breathless while dancing around in little circles with tears coming to my eyes. Never again I say … never again. Now the first thing I look for in a short is solid dose of design and engineering around the front of the chamois. Every else about the short seem very good in my opinion. I like a low hip line and full support for the quad seemed perfectly adequate for a long day of racing.

I also tried the skinsuit/trisuit which was almost identical to the separates except it was a single piece. I don’t have any experience racing in these and therefore had nothing to which to compare. It seemed nice, although I personally prefer the two piece setup. Can you really go wrong with something from Big George?

The other new item that showed up yesterday was my new pair of Nike Zoom Skylon II’s. I went with the black and white color scheme instead of the red/silver/white of my other pair. My wife then informed me I am indeed a fashionista dude since black and gray are the in-colors right now (I elegantly paired the back and white shoes with a pair of dark gray speed laces not show here).

On the newer side of things, unfortunately Scott has delayed (yet again) the shipment of Plasma 2 based tri bikes until April. In the words of Paul …

“On the Plasma-----------Scott keeps pushing the bike out so instead of playing the waiting game, I suggest we (or you really), plan on racing the current plasma for the remainder of this year and if and when they come out with the new one we can make the change. I don’t want you to invest too much thought into your bike; you need to stay focused on the training! The current Plasma is a great bike and I think you can have a great season on it. I’ll stay in touch about the new one when I get any new info about it. They are currently saying sometime in April but with the previous push backs I’m a little reluctant to believe them.”

This is one of the reasons I love riding for Paul so much … his main goal is for me to be able to focus on my overall race without having to put a lot of time and worry into my bike setup, mechanical issues, etc. I’m in 100% agreement … the 2008 Plasma served me quite well last season helping me get many age-group podiums and wins and I’m positive it will continue to serve me well this year. No more age-group podiums since I’m racing Open, but maybe I can sneak on the overall podium once or twice :-)

Have a great weekend!!!

More on consistency

2009-02-19T10:12:00.002-05:00

Snagged from the TBB forum (Sutto talking) ...

"Well like the newcomers ,they are seeing the truth every day sometimes 3 times a day , and after the intitial depression , they indeed are seeing the positive .If i can train like this ,i too might become a winner .What is the big difference ?,what seperates the old hands from the newbies?The answer is simple CONSISTANCY evry day they have their routine , both at training but in their life style , its clock work and its day in day out "

Kindzia may enjoy this next excerpt given his latest post ...

"I have also observed how frustrated the newbies get when i say yur going to be flying in 18months , instead of being so happy that i see them becoming very good , it seems like a let down as they all want it in 18 days ,some understand a little more and want it in 18weeks .there again is the difference , between the older members and the newbies,they were prepared to put the 18 months in ,indeed i ask for 3 yrs , this type of talk sorts out those that really want it and thosewho want the quick fix , again if we" hurry slowly " we will get a quicker fix .So it not so easy to motivate people for a 3yr outcome ,"whats in it for them" sort of filters thru, why so long?i then point out ,that some of the older members used to start on this pace and could not do more ,they seem incredulous as they watch them hammer around like a swiss watch , not just in the pool or track but on the bike as well ."they could not be that slow ,and blow up that early at that speed , i can do that now"the answer from ole doc , is standard EXACTLYthats my point . its not ability you lack but consistancy to work to a plan that allows you to lap at the same pace as these do now .In triathlon at any level , its just the same as keeping physically active .The more consistant , the better you are !"

Read the whole thing here. There is a ton of wisdom here that even I can recongnize!