Ironman Cozumel, 2012 Review, Farewell



Ironman Cozumel

Ironman Cozumel, and all that it encompassed was a true adventrue. We loved it. The race didn't go as I hoped, but that is pretty much the norm for ironman distance races. I finished (PTL!) in just under 10hrs 36min. Here's how it went down in a sentence or two ...

Swim: A lot has been written about the swim in this year's race. It was epic. I was about 8 minutes slower than I hoped, which was a good bit less damage than many incurred ... 1:04:30

Bike: Tough ride. The lack of elevation change made it uncomfortable for me after about hour 4. The winds on the exposed side of the island were humbing. 5:21:19.

Run: HOT! Severe stomach cramps set in early at about 10k. Soon thereafter the race stopped being about time/placing and became all about getting across the finish line. Thankfully I made it.

2012 Review

2012 was one of my best years racing triathlon. I was able get the overall win in 2 triathlons and 1 duathlon and podiums in several other races, finishing no lower than 4th place in any race in the state. I finished the SCTS year-long points race in 3rd place. Winning the Lake Murray Triathon was perhaps the highlight of my racing "career", having been voted most popular race in the state series and the longest running triathlon in this area. As trivial and cliche as it sounds, it was a dream come true. I was also exceedingly pleased to go 4hrs 14min for the half distance in Charleston. That was 5 minutes faster than my previous PR for the half ironman.

Farewell

Now it is time to take on some new challenges and focus my energy more on the needs and desires of the family. I won't be racing in 2013. It will be an awesome year nonetheless and I'm very excited about the projects and excursions I have planned and the hobbies I'm rekindling. Send me a friend request on Facebook if you want to see what I'm up to.

Farewell for now - Nick

Wait ... what gear am I supposed to be in??

I jumped into the Dam Tri Sprinternational race this weekend. Yes that's right ... longer than a Sprint but shorter than an International. The distances were 1000 meter swim, 21 mile bike and 7k run (although I think the run was a bit short of 7k).

There was no rest for me coming into this race and I think I was a little flat, but mainly stuck in the wrong gear!!!

Given that I'd nearly hyperventilated during the swim of my last race I figured I better start a little easier and build into it. And so I did ... nice and relaxed ... the problem was I never lifted the pace. Never came out of that comfort zone. Maybe I've been dwelling too much on the upcoming ironman?? I don't know ... but one thing is for sure, I was in the wrong gear.

Once the damage is done in a short course race it's really hard to claw your way back. I tried to push the pace on the bike but actually lost 7 more seconds to 3rd place. I'll have to say that I didn't enjoy the bike route very much.  It was among heavy vehicle traffic which was a little unnerving for me. There was a bike lane that could be used but I stayed out of it, fearful of the additional debris and risk of a flat tire. I'm just not used to riding in traffic. For instance, yesterday (the day after this race :p) I rode a little over 3.5 hrs and can count on one hand the number of cars that passed me.

Onto the run I was able to pull back some time but never came close to overtaking 3rd place. Big props to "the kid" Tony Morales for the win and his CX coach Mike Wendt (50 yrs old) for landing that 3rd spot and keeping me at bay. It's not surprising that these guys have been the state cross country champs for past few years! Tony's teammate Eric (Mike's son) had the fastest AG time and 2nd fastest run of the day to his teammate Tony and placed 7th overall. So that's a father and son in the top 10 ... how freakin cool is that!! It so great seeing these young guys take the sport by the horns, I love that about triathlon ... age doesn't have to be a factor, old or young ... work hard, work smart and results will follow. Way to go guys.

Results: http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=3164

Back to the grindstone getting the work done for Cozumel. One more training race coming up in two weeks ... Hickory Knob International. Hope to see you there!

End of Summer Update

Wow, it's been a long time since I've updated the old bloggy. As far as triathlon goes here's what I've been up to in a nutshell ...

Festival of Flowers Olympic - June 2012

It was a rainy day and I got off course on the swim, coming out of the water behind where I'd hoped to be (time-wise) but still managed to emerge in 3rd place. I got passed by Chris Olson early in the ride which bumped me back to 4th. I then passed #2 out of the water moving me back up to 3rd. He stayed with me and then passed me back! We can into T2 together and would have to fight for the 3rd place podium spot on the 10k run as the other two guys were a little out of reach barring a catastrophic blow-up. I was out of T2 first but he was right on my heels (picture above). We ran that way for about 1.25 miles until he passed me, but I didn't let him go and ran on his shoulder through the turn around at 5k. I noticed he was struggling on the uphills so I attacked hard on the final hill near mile 4 and got a sizeable gap. I proceeded to push hard and gained 36 sec over the next 2 miles, securing 3rd place. It was the selection race for 2013 Best of the US race so the top 3 guys and girls got the invite. I'm not sure if I'll put it on the race calendar next year or not. I didn't crash my bike and break a rib this year so it's all good. Results: http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=2968

Tri the Midland - June 2012

I've never really raced well here for some reason. I came out of the water in a good spot but had a pretty slow T1. The bike was hard as always. The run was extremely hot and hard as always with the massively long hill up to the turn around. The result was 3rd place again: http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=2979

Tom Hoskins Memorial Triathlon - July 2012

I only use 1 eye after a bad swim

This is a fun little local race out of the YMCA in Irmo. I was the first to go off in the time trial start. I had a horrible swim nearly hyperventallating and took a fist to the google which meant I had to stand up in the pool and fix it ... that's a first. I hammered the bike and built a solid lead. I ran hard the first half of the run to the turn around where I was able to get an assessment on my lead. I didn't feel compelled to suffer too badly on the return trip and finished in 1st place with a 1.5min lead over my next competitor. Results: http://www.onthemarksports.com/results/2012/2012_07_28_oa.htm

After the Tom Hoskins race I developed a bad case of tendonitis in both my lower legs and one ankle. It's taken me until now to shake it, nearly 2 months. I'm coming back into form now and started my build up to ironman Cozumel 2 weeks ago (10 weeks out).

My next race is this weekend at the Dam Tri, a "sprinternational". This will be a new distance for me (1000m/21m/7k) and will be a good test of fitness. 2 weeks later is the state series finale at Hickory Knob International with the fun banquet that evening where hopefully I'll pick up a decent check. But the main focus right now is getting the work done for Cozumel over the next 8 weeks which means I will be a very tired boy!

Lake Murray Triathlon 2012

Impromptu podium: Peter Kotland (2nd), me, Mark Woody (3rd)

I'm very happy to have come away with the win this weekend at Lake Murray. I haven't managed a "W" in a (sizable) race in nearly 2 years and for it to come about at this race is a huge bonus. This race is staple in the SCTS and is longest running triathlon in the midlands area and was definetly one that I'd dreamed of winning. It's also about the longest "sprint" distance I know of in that the swim is 750m and the bike is 16 miles instead of the standard 20k (12.4 miles).

After the half ironman in Charleston there was no question what my strategy against Peter needed to be. During the ride in Charleston I could sense that I was stronger on the bike but I also knew after Charleston that I didn't want to run shoulder to shoulder with him. The dude is tough as nails and holds the double marathon course record at the Ultraman World Championship and has won tons of races. He doesn't give up when the race gets hard (take a look at what he did two weeks ago in Charleston, repassing a competitor to take back 2nd place with .5 mile left). I had to come off the bike with a cushion. In talking with Paul Harrell last week I think I said I would need a minimum of 20 seconds - he outran me by 25 seconds ... thankfully I had 90 seconds coming off the bike and was able to stay out of striking distance.

Mark was also on my pre-race radar as he consistently does well here ... 2nd last year, 4th in 2010, 5th 2009, 4th 2008 ... I consider these longer sprints distance events his sweet spot because of his super fast swim and good run. In 2010 I didn't catch him on the bike until the very end and then he was out of T2 before me and I wasn't able to catch him on the run. So I knew I wanted to get him early on the bike and put time on him before the run.

So the plan was to swim on Peter's feet, pass he and Mark early on the bike and hammer, hammer, hammer and hopefully get enough cushion and have enough left in the tank to hold out for the win.

As soon as the horn sounded I was on Peter's feet. The pace felt hard for the first 200 meters or so then it was full on cruise mode. After we made the first turn we were swimming directly into the sun and I was really happy not to have to sight the buoy. I felt like I was conserving energy which was great! When we got out of the water I quickly ran to transition passing Peter along the way and actually crossing the timing mat first. I couldn't help but think back to two weeks ago when he essentially did the same thing to me coming off the bike after he sat behind me for 55 miles ... it's just racing.

Mark was up the road a little and Peter made it out of transition before me, but I passed him while we were mounting our bikes thanks to my running / flying mount! I pushed the pace out of the gate to try and get a gap as I set out in pursuit of Mark. I managed to get past Mark before we made the left off the park entrance road. From there it was just a matter of pushing hard and and getting as much time as possible. My quads were screaming and I really didn't know if I'd have any legs left to run with. I managed a 25.25 mph average speed on that course which I was pleased with. The Orbea rode excellent once again. I think Mandisa likes going 25!

Rarely do things go exactly to plan, but that's exactly how it played out with the exception that I had much more time than I thought I would coming off the bike.

Not much to report about the run ... just a matter of hanging on and managing an abdominal cramp.

Thanks to big John Wellens for giving me splits to the others on the run! That took some of the pressure off at the end and helped me enjoy the final stretch knowing I had it wrapped up.

Thanks also to Harrell's Bicycle World for all their support and of course my family for all their support and encouragement and embracing the triathlon lifestyle. My kids are looking forward to their race in a few weeks!

Results are here: http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=2883

Next up is a big block of work ahead of Festival of Flowers Olympic in June. I need to develop some foot speed and raise the threshold power on the bike to achieve my goal there.

Happy training!

Bringing back the blog

in a big way … life update and 3 race reports all in a single post!

2012 got off to a late start after little break from sport where energy and attention was focused on getting the new homestead setup. 2011 was pretty much a total disaster from a triathlon perspective which left me wondering if my best days were behind me. After the DNF at Ironman St. George and then the 2 bike crashes, I knew it was time for a break.  The real estate transaction that had been in the works for nearly 2 years finally came to pass which gave and great outlet to focus on.

It also left me 10 lbs overweight and slow … but rested!

Winter Challenge Offroad Duathlon Race Report

So 2012 literally started with 30 minute runs, 30 minute trainer rides, and a couple of short easy swims a week. After a few weeks of that I decided to see where I stood from a fitness perspective and signed up for the Winter Challenge Offroad Duathlon in February. It’s a super-fun 2.5 mile trail run followed by an 8 mile offroad ride on a mix of dirt road, double and single track, followed by another 2.5 mile trail run. It was a first year event and there were only a handful of us competing, and with so few in the field I managed to win by 13 minutes. http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=2747 I really enjoyed this race and hope the multisport community around here embraces it next year. I wasn’t very fit at the time and it gave me just to boost mentally and physically that I needed to get me excited to try and get some speed going before the tri season started 6 weeks later.



Downtown Columbia Triathlon Race Report

So after a pretty good block of training with more consistent s/b/r came the Downtown Columbia Triathlon. It’s a time trial start, pool swim, sprint distance race in the heart of the city with plenty of action from hills, cars, pedestrians, and spectators to add to the excitement. In the past I’ve placed 4^th, 1^st, 4^th, so naturally I was hoping for another 1^st to keep the pattern going. One obstacle to overcome was the fact that I had yet to receive my race/tri bike from Harrell’s Bicycle World (the greatest bike shop on planet Earth). All my training this year up to that point had been done on my trusty cyclocross bike. My friend Chip did me a huge favor and lent me his Quintana Roo Caliente for the race.

The race went pretty well with the exception of a near head on collision with a Honda Civic. These short races just HURT ‘cause you go all out. Check out my facial expression in these run pictures and you’ll see what I mean: https://birdseyeview.net/cgi-local/ImageFolio42/imageFolio.cgi?search=001&cat=Triathlons%2F20120325_CDT&bool=and
My thought is that if you don’t look ugly in a sprint race you aren’t going hard enough!  I ended up in 3^rd place and was happy to have made the podium in my season opener: http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=2804



Try Charleston Half Ironman Race Report

That left me with a 3 week training block plus a taper week to get ready for Try Charleston Half ironman. And I got my new bike!

Some pictures of the new ride:

Unfortunately work reared its ugly head, rendering me some of the most stressful weeks ever. One week required that I work 82 hours! That’s the kind of PR I hope never to beat.  But somehow I was able to maintain a pretty good training load throughout that time and I felt pretty well prepared. You always wish you could’ve done more but that’s the plight of the weekend warrior I suppose.

Taper week went well and I came into the race quietly confident that I could beat my ½ ironman PR of 4hrs 19minutes set at the 2009 world championship race in Clearwater Beach, FL (a notoriously fast course). We brought our 3 kids down to Charleston hoping for a beach day after the race on Sunday and split a suite with our friend (and fellow competitor) Chris Olson, his wife Laura and their 2 youngest girls … the youngest of which is just 13 weeks old. Unfortunately the day after the race was rainy and we didn’t get to go to the beach but we had a fun time with the Olson’s nonetheless.

This race seems to have really gotten popular triathletes coming from North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia along with South Carolina natives.  It’s also become very competitive with the top 5 last year all going 4hr 18min and under. It seems like this is quickly becoming the unofficial regional long course champs!

Onto the race … the swim was uneventful for the post part. One kick to the face by a breast-stroker on the second lap as we ran into age groupers that had started after us. I didn’t have any feet to follow so I just set a steady pace and tried to stay on course. I came out of the water 27 minutes and change (28:10 with run to transition) just a few seconds behind Chris and Peter Kotland.

Chris was out of T1 first from our group then Peter then me. Chris set a high pace out of the gate and opened a massive gap. I pinned the HR at 165 and tried to drop Peter without digging too deep. I figured there were some fish up the road like Mike Wendt and David Hall that would need catching so I kept the effort pretty high for the first few miles. Soon I caught and passed those guys but then I was caught also by someone. I decided to stay with him and soon enough we brought back Chris as well. Peter evidently had the same idea as me when he was passed, as did Chris when we caught him. So now we had a group of 4 rolling along.  The pace was high but not too uncomfortable. Once we got to the turn-around we could see that there was just one guy ahead of us by a little bit … maybe a minute?

I sat second wheel (legally of course!) for almost the entire ride with Peter and Chris behind me.  The guy setting the pace wouldn’t let me take the lead and honestly he was stronger on the bike so I was happy to let him set the pace. I felt most comfortable turning a big gear (alternating between 53x11 and 53x12) at a cadence of 70 and my HR sitting in the high 140s. Eventually Chris dropped off and not too much later we hit a section of road where the surface had deteriorated and the traffic got really heavy with aggressive drivers. I let a gap open to the guy ahead of me and so Peter and I rode into T2 together in +-2hr 15min with an average speed for the 56 miles of around 25 mph! I wasn’t sure how I would run off such a hard effort on the bike. Certainly I haven’t been riding like that in training. I was ranked 3^rd on the bike but I think I was 4^th since the winner’s splits didn’t get recorded.

I had a crappy T2 and Peter made it out well ahead of me. Somehow though I managed to get out ahead of the guy that came in before me.  I didn’t grab my Garmin off the bike for the run so I was running with just a stopwatch. I went through the first mile comfortably at 6:30/mile and had cut Peter’s lead nearly in half. Soon I was caught and passed by the guy behind me who went on to pass Peter also.

So there we sat for a good long while just trying to run strong and keep moving toward the finish. I developed a major hot spot on the bottom of my foot and after trying to tolerate it for a few miles I had to stop and remove the sock. By then the damage was done and so every step was pain. I wasn’t passed by anyone else nor did I pass anyone (other than age groupers on their first lap of the double out and back course). Peter managed to repass the guy ahead of him with just a ½ left to go to finish 2^nd. I came in 4^th in a time of 4hours 14minutes setting a new PR for the distance!!

Results:  http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=2843

Pictures: https://birdseyeview.net/cgi-local/ImageFolio42/imageFolio.cgi?search=105&cat=Triathlons%2F20120421_TCH&bool=and

I really enjoyed racing here and hope to come back next year and move up a few places and see if I can go under 4hrs 10min ... that would be nice!

Nov 14-20

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!