The Bike: Setup Matters

The success of my bike leg in triathlon has resulted from everything but the power I am able to produce. I have been successful because of attention to detail. All the little things. They add up. Big time. I do have a few advantages. For one, no sponsors means I can pick the best equipment available. But it's also more than that. More than equipment. It's race strategy. How you apply your available power and when. So, how do you get to a sub-5 Ironman bike split on 2.67 W/kg? In no particular order:

1. The Helmet
An aero helmet is not just about finding the most aerodynamic helmet, it is about finding the helmet that matches your body shape and riding style best. For me, I move my head up and down often to relieve stress on my neck from the low riding position I utilize. Because of this, I wanted a helmet that would not penalize me when my head was down, but one that also still had a tail on it that would add some weight and pressure behind the head to also help alleviate weight on the neck with the head facing forward. The John Cobb designed Rudy Project Wingspan helmet was designed in the wind tunnel to fit well with many different back structures and the head facing up or down.
http://www.rudyproject.com/products/helmets/wingspan.html
The only thing it is missing is a hole on top to more easily dump water in without having to tilt the head in a non-aerodynamic position.

2. The Front Aero Bottle.
For awhile I played around with having an actual bottle here, but found for anything hot or longer than half-Ironman, I just would not drink enough. For me, the effort to get the bottle out of the cage not only kept me from drinking as much as I would like to, it also moved me out of an aero position while I had to tilt my head up to drink. This also prevented the constant sipping technique that is much more efficient for hydration that can be employed with a straw sticking directly in your face. When I went back to the simple, but proven, Profile Design aerodrink, racing in the heat became easy again. However, I might consider upgrading to something that might be a bit more aerodynamic, like this http://www.profile-design.com/profile-design/products/hydration---nutrition/all-hydration/aero-hc-system.html in the future.

3. Front Brake
While upgrading to the TriRig Omega front brake was probably just as much for looks as for time savings, an estimated 2W (from this article here http://www.tririg.com/articles.php?id=2012_07_Omega_Wind_Tunnel_White_Paper) is still 2W. And at my lower level of power production and speeds, quite important.

4. Cable Routing
One thing the Omega front brake allowed, was also a much more efficient cable route that sends the cable right in front of the bike and not out to one side. The other cables have similarly been routed behind the cockpit structure and into the bike frame, thoroughly out of the way.

5. Flat Repair Kit
I wanted a flat repair kit that could tuck up underneath the seat as much as possible and be small and compact. An Ironman race is too long to go without one.

6. Nutrition Storage
For nutrition, I wanted something easy to access, aerodynamic, with strong sidewalls that wouldn't let it fall to one side where my knees would constantly brush it and become irritated, while also holding 4-6 emergency gels (for when I miss grabs at the aid stations) and a cut-up Larabar to keep my stomach from growling. The DarkSpeedWorks Speedpack 483 met these needs perfectly.
http://darkspeedworks.com/sp483.htm

7. Crankset
While I had to give up the solid TT chainrings to go with the Quarq Sram Red powermeter, the tradeoff was well worth it. At Ironman Texas the course profile is rolling with a tailwind out and a headwind back in. I chose to hold a lower power on the way out with the wind as well and lots of people to pass, and then increased power by about 8% on the way back into a headwind with no one in sight except for a few athletes that had blown up in the heat and were just struggling to make it back in. With no one around to pace off of for a good 40 miles into a headwind on the back stretch, the only way I was able to keep the speed up was to simply keep hitting those numbers on the screen. The powermeter also allowed me to keep from riding over threshold on the few steep hills encountered, as well as to keep the power up a little on downhills with tailwind. All of which help to make for a more efficient ride where a strong run is possible.

8. The Components
Now why would these matter? Well an old chain and worn out components can cost several watts. Leading up to the race, the newest cassette was chosen, the rear derailleur cleaned, and a new chain installed. For the next big race though, I will have my chain stripped and re-lubed with this process here
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/friction-facts-measuring-drivetrain-efficiency-35694/

9. The Saddle
While not directly related to aerodynamics, the John Cobb V-Flow Plus saddle aids in allowing me to comfortably ride in a very forward position (sometimes referred to "on the rivet") where I am powerful and aerodynamic.

10. The Cockpit
While nothing too special from the stock felt cockpit has been done here, it has been lowered with an effectively shorter, horizontal stem to get as close to the top tube as possible for slightly better frame aerodynamics. The most important part here is that I am comfortable and low.

11. The Wheel/Tire Combo
Aside from body position, the wheel/tire combo is the most important piece of aerodynamics. Flo Wheels aren't the lightest, but they are some of the very best aerodynamically, which is what matters most (see this article for weight vs aero http://flocycling.blogspot.com/2014/03/flo-cycling-aero-vs-weight-follow-up.html). Next was matching the correct tire to the wheel for the fastest wheel/tire combination. For this, a 23c Continental GP4000S was chosen for the front tire because of test results from this article http://flocycling.blogspot.com/2013/04/flo-cycling-flo-30-wind-tunnel-results.html that show a much lower drag over the current Vittoria Evo Corsa that was being used. After that, rolling resistance is of primary concern. Rolling resistance test results can be found here  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-JYBb4ZA401SjJGYmRONTVVeGs/edit with information about why it is so important here http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/2013/04/why-tire-crr-matters.html. With that information on hand, Vittoria latex tubes were ordered and the Vittoria Evo Corsa was left on the rear tire for the lower rolling resistance offered by each. Eventually, the Evo Corsa will be replaced by another GP4000S or Michelin ProRace 4 for the aerodynamics these tires offer on the Flo Wheelsets, but with the leading edge of the rear tire being mostly blocked by the frame of the bike, it is not a current concern. Whatever wheels you use, it is very important that the front tire, at least, matches well aerodynamically with the wheel. Lastly, a wheelbuilder disc cover was also added to make the rear Flo 90 into a similar profile of the Flo Disc, which can lead to a large reduction in drag at higher yaw angles (see above link for Flo wind tunnel results).

12. The Bike
What I wanted here was very simple. A frame that had some aerodynamic testing, simply to ensure it wasn't a relative brick in the end. But, since frame aerodynamics are such a small part of the equation, the most important thing I wanted from the bike was the right stack and reach coordinates to provide the ultra low and comfortable fit I was looking for.

13. The Fit
The fit was designed to be a low, compact position that still allowed good leg turnover without challenging my hip flexibility and kept my chest open to facilitate breathing. I was able to do both of these with a retul fit that first put my hands together at the front, but angled my elbows to align with my hips to open up my chest without losing aerodynamics; and second, utilizing shorter 170mm crank arms to keep my hip flexors and calves from working too hard at the top of each pedal stroke due to a tighter hip angle than optimal with the stock length 175mm crank arms. The cockpit was also designed to be shortened 20mm with a 90mm stem in order to move center of gravity rearwards slightly for better handling characteristics and control.

Front Profile: Here you can see the cables are hidden, the front brake is seemless and the elbows are in line with the hips with the hands generally together.

Side Profile: Here you can see the flat back, the face forward profile of the helmet, the covered Speedpak, the tucked in flat repair kit, and the open hip angle allowing comfortable pedaling.

Head Down Profile: A common position during Ironman to relieve stress on my neck, and why I wanted the short, slanted tail of the Cobb Designed helmet to get optimal aerodynamics here.

Swimlabs- What I Learned

After much frustration from lots of swimming and little progress over the last couple years, I finally decided to have my stroke analyzed by someone who knows what they're doing. For this, I went to Swimlabs in Denver for a complete stroke analysis and video. What I found is this:

1. My catch is good. What I thought was the single biggest flaw in my stroke was perfectly fine. I was performing a good high elbow catch with decent starting hand position (need to go a little deeper) and getting a grip on a good amount of water.

2. What followed was not good. I kept my elbow high, almost to the very top of the water, and was thus not able to grab much water through the rest of my stroke. In order to get still water to grab onto I needed to pull at a much deeper level.

3. From there, it did not get better. Instead of pushing hard out the back with strong triceps I chopped my stroke short and exited the water with no final push. This is likely a throwback from my high school days as a sprinter where that final push wasn't necessarily as useful in my high cadence, no form thrashing that somehow wasn't slow.

4. The final problem with the pull phase was that I simply did not have the strength to accelerate through the swim stroke time and time again. Because of the good form of my catch, large paddles were recommended to help develop this strength (it should be noted, paddles, especially large ones, should not be used without proper form).

5. After that, out of the water, form was good, but it was recommended that a straighter arm recovery could be beneficial for optimal higher cadence open water endurance swimming as it redirected the momentum of the arm instead of stopping it and starting in a new plane of motion. I had previously wondered why so many professional triathletes did this and now I know. However, since it deals with out of the water movement, it is last on my priority list to attempt to change. Though I am definitely not doing any more "fingertip" drills.

6. The final major flaw on my swim stroke was a tendency to occasionally flail the legs apart on my two beat kick. Though this maneuver is like a parachute for drag, simply swimming more seems to keep this from happening and is not currently a concern.

So with all those problems fixed or being worked on I now finally feel like I'm swimming properly. Now I just got to do a crap ton more of it...

A Few Swim Tips

So now that I'm in off-season with nothing to train for and a knee to heal up, what do I do? Go straight to intensive studying of the swim stroke and proceed to immediately jump to my biggest swimming week yet (just hit my 3rd straight day of a hard 5k swim off a 20k week). So with all this swimming, I've also been able to observe a lot of other swimmers in the pool. Upon seeing these mistakes made time and time again with more swimmers than I can count, I'd like to go over my top 3 common mistakes I see in the many novice swimmers at the pool.

1. Crossing over the body's center line. This is the big one. The most common by far, and the easiest to spot (or simply most common because it is the easiest to spot). I particularly see this on the opposite arm when the swimmer is lifting (should be rotating...) the head to breath. When their head lifts/rotates, the arm moves in, crosses the center line and pulls the body off its axis of rotation.

2. Straight arm catch. Not getting the elbow high on the catch to pull back on the water and instead pushing down on the water first, causing the legs to drop to react to the force. This move can also cause shoulder problems, particularly with paddles (I should know, I experienced it years ago).

3. Ultra low cadence. While getting cadence up to as high as an elite swimmer is something I am struggling with and working very hard on myself, a cadence that is too low can make it very difficult/almost impossible to get into any kind of rhythm. It also means less oxygen delivery to the muscles from opportunities to breathe. Wherever your level, you can likely benefit from working on getting more comfortable at a higher cadence.

If you know you do one or more of those, don't worry, in the next post I'll cover some of my own flaws I have recently discovered about my stroke upon Swimlabs video analysis.

2nd Ironman: The Fixes That Worked

Though my 2nd Ironman at Louisville this year wasn't much of a success due to the bike mechanical that left me by the side of the road for an hour and 20' waiting for the entire race to pass me, I was still able to finish and test my theoretical fixes I had in place for the problems I encountered at the first. (See May 2013 post "First Ironman: Mistakes and Lessons ")

1. Swimming easier. My form never broke down and I actually swam faster for a much, much easier effort with little to no swimming going into the race. Though the course was likely 6' faster from current, I was still 3' faster which suggests that very little time was lost from this strategy and that next time a balance between the two will yield not only the best time but the best result.

2. Waiting to pee on the bike. I skipped the port-a-potty in T1 in favor of a nice downhill stretch on the bike. When shooting for Kona, minutes and seconds count.

3. Leaving a bottle cage empty to place extra bottles from aid stations. This was a big one. It allowed me to keep much cooler by grabbing not only the Gatorade bottle I would need for nutrition but also a water bottle to use only to periodically douse my head and body with water. I had planned on finding a different flat tire setup to add a cage to the rear of my bike, but ended up just racing with no regular bottles and only some initial water in my front aero bottle. This worked perfectly. It allowed me to stash a regular bottle for cooling in my single frame cage and then grab a Gatorade bottle at the end of the aid station to refill the aero bottle (while still allowing some tweaking of the Gatorade concentration later on in the race with the bottle of water on the frame). I found no need for anything more.

4. Wearing a hat on the run. The hat I got from Vegas 70.3 last year was white and made of coolmax material so I decided to try that. The difference was big. While the heat was much less than Texas (about 5° lower, but the big difference was the amount of shade and an extra close aid station instead of one extra far apart), instead of feeling like I was melting for the entire run, I actually felt COLD. Being able to stuff ice inside the hat to keep the head cold was a major benefit in the heat.

5. Bending the head when pouring water over it on the run. This simple trick worked perfectly for keeping water out of the shoes. My feet stayed dry for about 18 miles, and by that time, I don't care if things are getting a bit wet and squishy. The Hoka Bondi S2's worked great.

Overall, it was a positive and very enjoyable experience. Can't wait for Ironman Boulder in 2014!

End of Season Update

Well everything after my first Ironman at Texas has, frankly, been very tough. There has been plenty to talk of, however, none of it very positive. Basically, I have bounced in and out of overtraining for several months and more recently a flare up of runner's knee that turned out to be much worse than originally perceived which have led to a LOT of either laying around doing nothing or going out to happy hour to stave off the disappointment of not being able to train.

It started about 18 days after Ironman. I didn't realize it then, but looking back this was the workout that did it. For two weeks I did next to nothing. Until it was time to race at Best of the US. An opportunity I could not pass up. Best of the US went, in large part, uneventful. For me, a low 23' swim for an Olympic was decent, however, it put me in DFL for the division. Luckily, there were other racers in the elite division of the Leon's Triathlon to come out of the water around me. On the bike, it was a slow day. Watts weren't great, but the course, being cold and windy with rough roads, did not suit my strengths. Still, I pushed as hard as I could on the bike and was just happy to find my legs didn't give out on me on the run as I barely broke 40' for the 10k, passing only 2 people in the division. At this point though, I figured, I was now on my way back to recovery. How wrong that was...

The workout started out as a nice easy ride back in Tulsa, OK, at the famous Wednesday Night Ride. And I did go easy. Until the legs started to feel really good. Really powerful. I started to ride tempo for a bit. It felt good. Really good. And that's when I saw them. The fast group. Forty to fifty Category 1-3 cyclists about to haul ass on the final stretch on Avery drive building into a massive finishing sprint. I decided to see if I could catch up. I was there quicker than I thought. But they were just getting moving. Once I had passed all but three or four, I became noticed, and they weren't about to let a triathlete have even a few seconds of glory. The pace got hot, and I was already maxed out trying to at least make it to the front for a second or two before dropping dead where I stood. Luckily, I had my race wheels and tires still attached from the previous race and was making it difficult. After what seemed an eternity, I made the pass; and promptly was swallowed up. With my heart in my mouth, I jumped out of the aerobars and tucked in for the ride, somehow surviving until the final sprint. Turns out, that 15' was the hardest I had ever rode for that time period and yielded a very good new 10' power. I was ecstatic.

That's when it all came unraveled. The next days' recovery runs became tougher and tougher, until that Sunday I tried to race a small aquathlon and found myself struggling to run a 9' mile for the 5k run. The next weekend was a sprint triathlon where I ran my slowest 5k in years and could barely hold Ironman watts for the bike leg. I thought I was simply out of shape, as it didn't feel the same as when I was overtrained last year. My resting heart rate was even still within parameters. But when I tried to breathe, it felt like I couldn't get oxygen. I decided this was a time to suck it up and push on. Two weeks later, I had built back up to a solid century ride with good power, but my heart rate was high the entire time. Too high. Things still weren't right. I had to rest.

After a few more weeks of rest just not doing what it should, I had started to finally realize it could be overtraining. Not the type I had experienced last year, but a different kind. Overtraining of a different nervous system. Until this point, I hadn't realized there were multiple types of overtraining. Last time, it was parasympathetic. This time, the sympathetic system. My only option was, sigh, much more rest.

Luckily, it hadn't gotten too bad. It was almost as if I had been bouncing back and forth across the line during the first half of the summer. It was mid-July now, however, and Ironman Louisville loomed just 6 weeks away. Three weeks later I had no idea where my fitness would be, but I was going to race the Boulder 70.3 because one, I had signed up and two, I had paid for it. It turned out to be the first day in months that I was finally healthy. I cruised to a sub-5 finish with ease, despite poor fitness and the atmosphere of a race making it difficult to treat the day as a training one.

Two and a half hard weeks later though and I had the majority of my fitness back and was ready to give it my all for my last shot at Kona this year. Ironman Louisville started out well enough, with a swim time 3' faster than at Texas despite no time in the pool for the last two months and swimming much easier (course was likely 6' faster with current). With a faster and more efficient transition I started the bike a solid 5' ahead of my Texas split and target power was feeling relatively easy. I was ready to blitz the course and hope my run fitness was good enough for a spot. Twenty-five miles in, on a steep hill, I shifted hard to my easiest gear and instantly regretted it. The chain had gotten stuck between the derailleur and wheel. It would be an hour and 20' before SAG finally was able to get into the area and get the chain loose. I literally had to wait for every single person in the race to pass me. My shot at Kona was gone for the year.

If there was an opportunity to quit the race right there, I would have took it. But I had to at least bike back to transition, so I figured I might as well take the long way in. From there, I rode endurance watts in and tested my new strategies for keeping cool in the heat. I figured I would walk most of the run. But after a few miles I joined up with some good company and decided to run him in for a 12:31 finish. My additional heat strategies worked well enough I almost felt cold in the 90 degree heat during the run. Heart rate stayed stuck at a 145 average the entire run, 30 beats below what I raced at in Texas! Overall, I was pleased to be able to finish around 11:10ish for an easy endurance pace and very proud of my mental strength for pushing through what was an extremely painful run and bike in a very different way. With a long ride of 3 hours and a long run of 1:20 as prep for the race, everything that normally doesn't hurt was incredibly painful. Back, shoulders, neck on the bike. FEET on the run. I was worried my feet might fall off after 15 miles. After 26.2...

After a dismal end to an otherwise successful season, I had to finish with a bang. Instead of training for Kona I figured I would train for a marathon. Three weeks away should be plenty of time, right? And it would have, if it wasn't for an old runner's knee flare up from two weeks of hard cycling, hiking, and trail running out in Moab and along the coast of California. The Denver Marathon became my first DNF from injury. It was too much too fast and I should have known, might have known, if I hadn't been having so much fun being able to hike, bike and run to my heart's content.

Lesson learned? It's not just knowing when to back off but also how much for how long and how to properly come back.

First Ironman: Mistakes and Lessons

After my first Ironman in the Woodlands of Texas this past weekend, I have begun to reflect on all that could have been improved upon during the race, as well as what went right. Luckily for me, the most important parts all went near perfect, however there were several mistakes made.

Mistakes:

• Not coating bike shoe hot spot(s) in Vaseline (not sure how I forgot this one...)
• Using the bathroom in T1. Took a very long time to get my one-piece suit down when soaking wet and then spent even longer loosing all the morning beverages.
• Not going over the new transition routine thoroughly enough beforehand. I not only left my speedsuit on when putting on my bike shoes and had to take them off and put them on again, but I also spent about 5 seconds staring at my bike trying to remember how to get on it with another 5-10 trying to clip my first shoe in (the flying mount has become second nature but take that away and I'm as clueless as everyone else in the post-swim race fog).
• Forgetting important things like all of the electrolyte capsules, taping some emergency gels to the bike, and a hat/visor to hold in ice and cold water while providing shade for the run.
• Not doing any riding in the backup tri shoes that actually vent air to cool the feet and have a drain hole so that the shoe doesn't just fill up with the fluids occasionally running down your leg. (Note: this required that these shoes, though better suited for the conditions, not be used)
• Putting sweet peach tea in the bottle that you would later decided needs to be used to douse the head and body in an effort to keep cool.
• Not having enough bottle cages (I had one plus my aero drink bottle). Without anywhere to actually hold a bottle, I almost wrecked when I tried to grab two bottles at an aid station.
• Not replacing the seriously worn grips and pads on the bike. When wet, it made it very difficult to grab the bike with one hand that is also holding a bottle at the same time (see previous mistake about almost wrecking).
• Wearing big heavy shoes (Hokas) that hold water on the run. With the heat index close to 100 or over on the run, I was actually making squishing noises from the first aid station on.
• And the most important, stop trying to taper by feel. A week before the race, my legs were trashed, and though I was good to go by raceday and my fitness was phenomenal, I was not nearly rested enough to peak.

Things that just hurt:

• The pain of swimming with tightly suctioned goggles for over an hour.
• The pain of swimming for over an hour.
• Wearing a speedsuit that is so tight it actually cuts into your chest.
• Biking alone for hours into a headwind.
• Running barefoot on pavement in transition that is so hot, it literally burns your feet.
• Running 26.2 miles on burned feet in wet, heavy, soggy socks and shoes.
• Running 26.2 miles on legs with a bit too much pre-race fatigue.

Things that went right:

• Swim position: I lined up on the far left, about 5 rows deep and had clean water the entire way.
• Bike setup: Flo wheels with disc cover, an Evo Corsa rear tire, GP4000S front tire, latex tubes, TriRig Omega brake and Wingspan helmet worked beautifully! With the majority of the roads being smooth, 184W average yielded 22.5mph on a windy day.
• Mental Toughness: Running from aid station to aid station, just barely making it before you collapse is no way to run for 20+ miles, but it can be done!
• Gameplan: After a slow swim, I decided to relax and enjoy the day as much as possible (and I did really enjoy the first half of the bike!).

And finally my Hydration/Nutrition Strategy, the single most important reason for my success. I went completely by feel, listened to my body, and never stopped drinking. It was near perfect. I started the bike and ended the bike with the first and last 10 miles or so being almost exclusively water with one gel tossed in. In between, I drank a progressively stronger mix of the on-course perform, with a gel tossed in occasionally when I felt it necessary. When my stomach felt in need of solid food, I ate a piece of the Lara Bar I cut into thirds. Of course, I had to pee about 4 times in the first 2/3 of the bike, however, this was absolutely necessary for staying hydrated. On the run, I went with mostly water until my stomach distress from all the Perform on the bike blew out. I listened to my body, and if I still had some discomfort from taking a gel a couple miles back, I took Perform and Coke instead. If I felt discomfort from those, I took a gel and water. It was almost too easy. Coming into each aid station, I grabbed what was most appetizing along with ice and additional water to keep cool and kept moving. My heart rate never budged until the last few miles. I stayed cool, hydrated and fueled and it paved the way to success on what would otherwise have been a bad day.

Ironman: The Toughest and Most Rewarding Event I've Done

It all started with the Friday before the race. Not immediately before, but a week before. I hit a wall. I couldn't make it through a simple recovery workout. I could barely hold 8:30/mi pace. Even fatigued, I still had no problem running sub 7:30 pace with ease until this point. I had gone too hard. In my quest for every last bit of fitness, I had upped the intensity with my decreased volume during taper. Only, I upped it too much and did not included enough rest. I was in serious trouble for my first Ironman.

Come raceday though, I was ready to rock. The day before I had felt good for the first time. Fitness was excellent, and I had enough rest to race. I would need another week of rest to actually hit form. However, with good fitness, racing fast with a good bit of fatigue is possible. It just hurts a lot more. And boy did it ever hurt...

The morning of raceday started just fine with a breakfast of oatmeal, a banana, chocolate muffin, yogurt, green tea, some electrolyte drink, and a Lara bar. I was getting transition ready, however, and realized they were closing it 15' before what I thought I had seen posted. Uh oh. A mad rush ensued, and I barely got the tires aired up and everything together in time. Upon getting back to the car to drive to swim start, I realized I still had my run visor and my electrolyte pills. This was not good. There was nothing I could do to add them now.

For the start I decided the inside (left) was the best position. It required treading water for 10 minutes before hand, but it was perfect. I started about 5 rows back (at the true swim start line) and had clean water for the entire swim. Occasionally of course someone tried (or did) swim over or across me or two people converged to sandwhich me, but all of that is part of open water swimming (what makes it fun). None of the turns were all that crowded where I was and several times large gaps opened in front of me making it difficult to keep a decent draft. However, because of the seemingly lack of people around me, I though I might be swimming well enough to post a decent time. Unfortunately, this was not the case and I should have known as I struggled to keep my cadence high for most of it and I could tell that I was having trouble keeping my body position as well.

Even with the swim being slower for most than normal, I was slow for me. Very slow. I posted a 1:10, 5' off my slowest estimate from my swim training in Florida. However, a week off swimming during travel had devastated my swim speed and I should have known that it would not magically reappear.

This turned out to be a good thing though, as I threw out my Kona aspirations, and changed the game plan to simply finishing and enjoying the experience. After spending seemingly forever in transition trying to figure out how to quickly put on bike shoes and then having to take them off because I still had my speedsuit on, I was on the bike and ready to roll.

 

Immediately, the power was there, but it wasn't easy. And the heart rate was too high. It was at half-Ironman HR and not dropping. So I backed it off 20W or so with the idea to just enjoy the ride. However, this was still much more uncomfortable than it should have been, though the legs had no problem making it with ease. It was actually quite fun passing people for the first 50 or 60 miles, but that's when I ran out of people to pass and found myself stuck going back into the wind with hardly a soul in sight. Things got tough. Very tough. However, the legs still made power easily (it was simply very uncomfortable to ride, possibly more due to the heat than anything else) so I upped it to target watts around mile 70 and held for the remainder.

Magically, after I hit the century mark in the fastest time ever for me (4:26!), I started feeling really really good. Until I got really hungry and realized the last gel that I thought I had was not there! With 5 miles left to ride, I got desperate and started hitting up the riders that I was now passing again for anything they could spare. I lucked out when a woman with a foreign accent understood me enough to pass off a gel containing writing I could not read. Soon I was back on the power blazing toward the run that I was certain that I was going to decimate. For an incredibly windy day (more so on the way back in of course...), I was surprised and exhilarated with the time, especially for the conservative wattage I held. I hit 4:58 which was what I had estimated for target wattage (about 10w higher than my normalized wattage for the ride). The new setup with the Flo wheels, disc cover, conti gp4000s front, Evo corsa rear, latex tubes, Rudy Project helmet, TriRig Omega brake, and my normal slammed position worked out very well!

In transition, the pavement was hot. Some I heard got up to 2nd degree burns. All I know is my feet still hurt from it days later. I shrugged it off and coated the feet in Vaseline though because I had a marathon to run! But I didn't feel good like I thought I should have. It was more of a struggle than I expected and I felt like I was running quite slow (though it turns out I split sub 7 for that first mile). After a long bathroom break (the 6th I think after the one in T1 and the 4ish times on the bike), I was feeling better. For about a quarter mile and then the legs decided they just didn't want to work properly. Not to mention the bloated feeling and gas from all the Perform on the bike. I was soon struggling just to make it to the next aid station and forced to a quick shuffle in order to simply keep moving. I knew right here it was going to be an even longer day than I had thought, but I was determined to finish and holding out hope that if I kept moving I might catch a resurgence somewhere down the line.

While I did finally blow out (literally...) all of the indigestion problems I was having, I was able to pick up the pace slightly for a few miles, but I never did get that resurgence. It was a struggle the entire way. It was just like my first half-Ironman I did, except when I got to 13.1 miles, I still had another 13.1 to go. But I do not give up. I do not quit. I do not stop moving. Tough races where I can outlast, out suffer, and shuffle past the faster athletes who stop moving is where I shine. And suffer I did. More than ever before by a factor too high to estimate. Only a few really know where the body's limits are (Julie Moss to name one) and most are not prepared to push them there, especially when things are not going perfectly to plan. But I am. Though I thankfully didn't hit them today, it was not for lack of trying. For the last six miles, every other step, a muscle in my upper calf, lower calf, or hamstring threatened to buckle me if my core was not strong enough to keep my balance. The cramps were so severe, I wasn't sure if I could finish until a half mile to go. But the body will keep moving if you will it to.

In the last few miles I tried electrolyte capsules I bummed off another competitor. Unfortunately for me, the cramps were from overuse. They weren't going to stop until I did. With my 3 long runs this year at 15-16 miles (why I was able to come into this race uninjured), it was no surprise that these muscles were rebelling particularly when, mistake #onetoomany, I thought it a good idea to wear my Hokas to run in. While they were, in fact, fantastic in many aspects, with the temperature in the 90's and humidity bringing the heat index up much higher, they were also soaked and making loud squishing noises from mile 2 on. It must have been comical to all that I passed!


Now as an engineer, I normally prep for races much better than this, but this time, I let myself get distracted and completely dropped the ball! However, a tough as nails mentality and a near perfect nutrition/hydration strategy got me through the day in what was to be the most unbelievable result I could have imagined. I was beyond ecstatic to post a sub-10 time at my first Ironman when I crossed the line in 9:53:15 with a brutal 3:35 run. Even more so when I realized that because of the tough conditions, this year it was good enough for 5th in AG and 24th amateur! This race will definitely be a race that I will always remember and cherish, not just for the time and placement, but for the wonderful suffering it took to get there. The greatest accomplishments always involve the most sacrifice, the most work, and the most pain. For me, this was one of them.

Great Clermont International Triathlon

Traditionally, I have always raced faster the day after a sprint triathlon. No matter how hard I push, it just seems to warm my body up to smash it the next day. Unfortunately, this was not quite the case on this day.

The previous day had gone quite well. Followed feet for the short swim and the legs were making good power on the bike the entire time. When I got off to run, only my recent lack of running to heal up a knee injury held me back. I expected, as usual, for things to be even better the next day. However, rough waters, residual fatigue and tight hamstrings made it quite the struggle.

The swim started out well, as I got a jump on the beach start and was off in front until we started swimming. I tucked in and found feet and settled in quick. However, with no swim warm-up, the arms were a bit sluggish, and I quickly found myself swimming all alone with noone around me by the first turn. And that's when I really started to feel the chop of the water. It wasn't much, but it was enough to occasionally obstruct vision on a sight and throw my rhythm off just enough to keep my off balance. I soldiered on though, and on the way back to shore, my arms came alive allowing me to finally get a strong pull on the water as I forced it back behind me with as much acceleration as I could muster.

Surprisingly, I came out of the water in decent shape (a testament to my rapidly improving swim fitness), and after a quick transition was out on the bike working hard to catch everyone I could. Since we were one of the last waves to go, I had a lot of people to pass. I worked flat out, as hard as I could the entire way, not knowing if the legs would last or not. Hitting target power was a struggle though, and the steep hills of the course were taking a toll on my tired and tight hamstrings. Overall, I ended up about 10-15 watts under goal power, but it was enough to catch up to and pass all but one who started in my wave.

Out on the run though, the tight hamstrings and lack of running were really affecting me. Less than a mile in, the plan became to just keep moving, running as hard as I could maintain for one more mile. Despite this, I was getting run down and passed. A lot. I did what I could though, and just kept moving at the fastest pace I could maintain for just a little longer. And then, just passed the halfway mark, when I thought I wasn't going to make it the whole way, my legs woke up. Like a switch, they were on. I felt normal. I pushed the pace up. And up. I was passing again now. Not just the collegiate athletes in the waves ahead struggling to run. I was now repassing the athletes in my wave who had caught me. Faster and faster I ran. I saw the guy leading my age group way up ahead and knew I had to catch him. And do it while we were still running into a headwind. I put on a surge when I got close to discourage him from following. It didn't matter. He was dwindling, as were several others who had blew by me earlier. Either the heat or the tough bike course, had likely caught up to them. I was picking up speed, however, and gaining on the rest of the quicker runners, way up ahead. The course stretched on and on, but it only served to give me more time to catch up. Finally, with the wind at my back, I had caught all but a few, who were still running fast. With a half-mile to go I had run out of room for two up ahead, but there was one more left to catch and he hadn't let up a bit. I was running almost flat out now, as hard as my legs could physically move at this time. I had no more speed to surge, but I tried anyways and my pace kicked up again. The finish line in sight, I held that surge, showing no mercy. I was going to break away now and not leave any chance of a finish line sprint. It worked. I got clear and ran hard into the finish, never slowing up. Turns out, my run fitness was still there, just hiding, waiting for the moment when I needed it most.

It was good enough for 4th in the male under 40 wave, with two over 40 guys and 3 collegiate athletes finishing faster and bumping me to 8th overall and 1st in age group. It was a fun, competitive race and a good gauge to really see how my fitness is coming along. Even now, I am faster than I was last year, which is going to make it fun to see what happens when I get that race where I hit target power on the bike and come flying off of it for the entirety of the run.

Great Clermont Sprint

This week marked a return to running and biking after I decided to take 5 days off from them last week to swi  due to a knee injury that wasn't healing well. It was rough, being that my only goal here in Clermont is to do precisely those things, but thankfully, the time off worked, as I've ran and biked the majority of this week and seem to be fully healed. However, most of the week something was off. The hamstrings were so tight on the bike that they were preventing me from riding even as close to as hard or as long as I should have. This was a time where I decided I needed to break through whatever the problem was, as I already had plenty of rest from cycling the previous week. So Thursday, I went out for a long ride. Solo. Two hours in felt like four hours, and it only got worse. Overall, I made it the 4 hours, but just barely, and not without a LOT of struggle. After a 30' run off the bike to see how things felt, I, well... felt really really bad. Terrible in fact. So I went for a swim. And afterwards, all was right.

By Saturday morning the legs were light. And loose. My body had possibly figured out things were not getting easier and so it was going to have to adapt. And it did. It was raceday at the Great Clermont Sprint, and despite some early morning rain and lightning, the air was clear for the start. Despite the extremely short 440yd swim, I decided on a wetsuit because of the 68°F water temp during my warmup swim and then left it on for the extra transition practice. Glad I did, as I had it off in seconds, and it helped me stay ahead of everyone in the small line of swimmers off the front. The first few guys gapped us, but I stayed on the feet of another guy who pulled me all the way around and in with noone else in sight.

Transition went as smooth as ever as I was in my shoes and hammering away in no time. Albeit, up a very steep hill that was not part of the course, as volunteers sent the first few of us on the bike out on to the run course which had us doubling back up a steep section once the mistake was realized. And just like that, the swim advantage we had created was gone. This was now a bike race. However, I had people to work with and we were working hard. A guy in a Subaru kit and race wheels and a former D1 runner from Iowa I had met the day before on a road bike with aerobars. Soon, as the road opened up, I could see the pace car and a small paceline at the front working to try to keep us away. The power went to upper Vo2 max as I poured it on in an attempt to bridge the gap. I knew if I didn't catch them soon, I wouldn't and the whole race would be affected. The guy in the Subaru kit made it. But I didn't have faith in my legs to get me there, and they didn't. I was forced to watch as the rest of the race I did all I could to keep them in sight and from gaining, and surprisingly they stayed right there. They had overcooked the first part of the bike and had settled in a bit. It was only when we got to the hills though that I started to reel at least one of them in. However, that's when the D1 runner caught up.

A quick transition put me in front of the two I was now with to start the run and quickly I could see the leaders weren't far off. We reeled in one, and then another, but I had fallen off their pace when we hit the hills and was now just trying to hold the gap. By the halfway mark we had caught all but one, however, they were pulling further away and I was unable to hang on. Turns out the guy in the Subaru kit who made the break was able to hold them off, while I cruised it in with noone in sight for a solid 1st in Age Group finish and feeling very good about racing again the next day.

Shaking the Rust Off

Today marked the first outdoor triathlon of the year for me and it didn't disappoint. I somehow got it in my head that the race started at 8:30. It started at 8:15. So at 8:13 I was casually walking through transition down to the beach when I realized my error. Quickly I had a volunteer zip up my wetsuit as I sprinted off towards the water. Only to realize my goggles and swim cap were still stuck in my jersey pocket. With no time to unzip the wetsuit, I tried yanking them out with it still on. It almost worked. Unfortunately for me however, this caused the rubber fitting on my goggle to come off! Luckily they had just started the national anthem and I had another minute or so. When the lens came out as well! Calmly I figured out I could snap it back in and shortly after by a stroke of pure luck (this took me 30' later...) I somehow got the rubber piece back on and aligned just good enough to mostly seal the water from coming in... Seconds before the gun goes off!

Like a shot I'm off. Heart rate is already good and up and I'm off sprinting (as much as one can in 2-3 feet of water) down the shallower right side of the beach with the lead group. Soon though my arms become jello and I fall off the pace and, as usual, end up leading the chase pack. I don't realize this until the turn though because I can't see anything going straight into the sun. Another guy comes around from the outside though, and I jump on his feet for the remainder.

Transition is strength sapping with a fast run up the long, sandy beach. However, I fly through with a flying mount better, quicker and smoother than the vast majority of the ITU pros that raced the previous day. But this is the first race of the year, and I struggle to get in a groove on the bike. My power and cadence constantly surge too high from adrenalin and I end up averaging a wattage far below my goal. To make up for it though my turns are tight as I fly through the transition area at 20mph and stay down pedaling in aero for all but one S-junction and the U-turn for each of the four loops. Average was 23.8mph total which I was quite happy with considering the actual watts averaged. The one lap where I was able to hit my target watts I went 24.5mph, which isn't too far off the fastest guys at just a hair over 25mph.

Dismount from the bike is smooth and fast and though my legs are toast I hit my running stride immediately. From here I don't know what to expect so I keep it at threshold the whole way and only let one guy pass me. I'm off the pace here a bit as well though as the plan was for a 19 flat 5k and I come through that mark about 30 seconds back (run course was a bit long). For a first race though I can't complain as I started on time and the fitness was there, it was just a bit rusty. I got a feeling it's going to be quite fun this season as I start to hit my stride in the races ahead.

Photo Courtesy of Duncan Productions.

Ironman training has begun!

After my 3 month hiatus to replenish funds working in Tulsa I am now back in my favorite winter training destination of Clermont, Florida, to pick up where I left off and resume full-time training in preparation for my first Ironman in hot, humid Texas. I wish I could tell you all that work sucked and I couldn't wait to get done with it and move on, but the truth is... I loved it. I was surrounded by a great group of knowledgeable engineers that were a pleasure to work with and I got to learn a ton of really cool engineering stuff as well as relearn and finally understand a lot that I had forgotten in college. On top of that, I picked up latin dancing in the form of Salsa and Argentine Tango. Knowing myself as well as I do, that could be the next big thing I get really competitive with and go all in to.

Some things have changed over the winter. On one hour per day average training, I have gotten faster in the pool and on the bike. Quite significantly so. All of the rest I was getting finally caught up with me and has allowed my body to recover and lock in all the gains made from training hard full-time all last year. It was something I knew was possible but did not consider probable because of the mentality of more is always better that gets stuck into the head of an endurance athlete. The run is even not far off my peak and is something I know will come back even faster with the increased volume, as it always does every year.

Another thing that is new... Journey To Go Pro is now an officially registered Wyoming LLC! The business is currently funded through my engineering consulting work but may incorporate fitness and triathlon consulting as well on down the road. Also planning to give back and create a team at some point to sponsor whenever I find a few likeminded individuals who are doing something similar (crazy) and trying to make that jump from elite AG to pro (or regular AG to pro like me...), yet do not quite have the resources I have to make it work without help. Because of this, though I am personally still not accepting sponsors of any kind, I will soon be considering sponsors for this team whenever it starts to get off the ground.

Back to training, I am going very swim/bike heavy for the moment, as the race down in Texas will require some good swim speed to have a chance at getting away from the chaos before the first turn of the narrow mass start at Ironman Texas. The goals for improving swimming involve consistency, master's swims, and more power. The plan is to swim every day, even if it's just 30' easy, hard masters swims twice per week, and to continue to work on pulling harder and faster through the water to gain the strength needed for faster swimming.

Since I believe running off the bike at the level I am at is more about bike fitness and general endurance (along with nutrition) than run fitness, I will keep my run mileage relatively low until the summer months in Boulder where all those great running trails are, and really focus on the bike workouts here in Clermont. I am currently transitioning from the shorter intense threshold/interval focused workouts of winter to longer endurance/tempo focused workouts to gain the endurance I will need for Ironman.

That about wraps it up. Look for more posts soon, as I have time to write again.

Spin Classes

I see a lot of discussion about spin classes, so since I'm back to the grind of winter training with my new job I thought I'd share my top 10 tips on the subject

1.       Keep yourself as cool as possible. Overheating just makes your heart work harder and will slow you down. Sweating more does not burn more calories. Amount of power produced over time determines how much energy is burned, and the hotter you get, the harder it will be too keep putting out a certain power output. Making your body work harder to cool itself is generally only a good idea when heat tolerance is desired (which should be done sparingly and close to race day).

2.       Do not go too hard. Most spin classes I have done tell you to go at a specific intensity based on RPE that is generally way too hard. Proper triathlon training consists of riding at Endurance, Tempo, and Threshold. There are times for VO2 max work as well, but with a particular interest in increasing threshold power. Anaerobic and Neuromuscular should be done sparingly. However, these top three zones are typically where spin classes will try to have you working at if you listen to them.

3.       Do not go too easy. Riding in Recovery is only acceptable after a hard/long interval. If you are fit and only have a short amount of time doing intervals that switch between Tempo and Endurance could be too easy for a short workout that is only done a few times per week. Longer intervals (10-20’) at Sweet Spot (right between Tempo and Threshold zones) are highly recommended.

4.       Do not stand up. The only reason to stand up in a triathlon is if you are not strong enough to climb seated or if you need to stretch your legs on a long race. Because of the latter, I do practice standing for a minute or so occasionally at Ironman watts, but that is the extent.

5.       Avoid ultra low cadences. These sessions are typically too easy and not effective at building specific strength. If you’re goal is to simulate climbing, keep your cadence up!

6.       Avoid too much ultra high cadence. These sessions can be great for improving muscle efficiency specific to cycling and increase your comfortable cadence range which can help find your optimal cadence. However, it is likely that for most a very minimal amount of this training is necessary.

7.       Do train with the opposite sex if possible. For males, at least, RPE goes down for the same power output when females are present. Always trying to impress…

8.       Do go to cycling specific spin class. The classes bike shops offer where you bring your own bike and trainer are typically great. They usually keep you in the proper training zones and you are able to train in your exact aero position with correct hip angle. Over time, this can make a difference in ensuring fitness gains are made in the correct areas, particularly if your hip changes when riding a spin bike or road bike. There are a few roadies out there with good TT fits who see a drastic difference in their TT position power.

9.       Do go early and stay late. Extra riding time in Endurance zone is always a good thing. STAY out of recovery!

10.   Make sure you feel good after. If you feel trashed, you went too hard (I.E. too high intensity/wrong training zones). You should feel good immediately after, however, if you went hard enough, you WILL feel it in your legs an hour or two after. If you trained in the proper zones and still feel trashed, then you likely either need recovery or to build more fitness in easier workouts first. You should not be sore. Rarely ever, in endurance training, should you be sore from any workout. There are a FEW exceptions, but not many.

Hope these help! And as always feedback is always appreciated.

Back to Work!

So... if you read the last post, it had a twist at the end. Turns out, I've been overtrained. But, a few weeks of easy workouts, and all of a sudden my energy has returned like the Apollo 11 spacecraft crashing through the atmosphere down into the Pacific. Fast, fiery, and wondering if I should be quarantined for others safety, lest I release too much of it at once.

In comparison to how I felt before, it's as though lightning is coarsing back and forth through my veins looking for a way out. But it can't. It's trapped. And no matter how much I release, it comes right back. Oh, the incredible feeling of being healthy again!

Fitness is coming back as well. Much quicker than I thought. In fact, based off my power data, RPE, and heart rate, it's likely I'm every bit as strong on the bike as when I was fully tapered. I suspect I might have been training this discipline a bit too hard and the forced rest has done me very well.

Along with the prep phase beginning for my first Ironman build, I have also returned to work in another sense. I recently took a contract position in the aerospace industry in Tulsa. I am not sure how long it will last, but it couldn't have come at a better time. I will, of course, now have to fit the large majority of my riding into the weekends now, but what better way to spend a weekend than a solid 8-10 hours of good riding?

The major benefit to this will of course be the replenishing of funds. No longer will I have to cash out stocks on a monthly basis and wonder about how I will be able to afford to go to Kona if I am able to qualify or live and train in the mountains of Boulder again this summer. But the more hidden benefit includes not having the time to train so much that I send myself right back to an overtrained state as well as fully rehabbing a stubborn Achilles. Done right, I should be able to build much more smoothly this time around and be ready and waiting to hit it hard full-time again once I am no longer needed.

So, though I will have to suffer through the cold and wind once again for the time being, I couldn't be more excited about what winter has in store. Ironman Texas will be here soon enough and I will be ready!

Stay tuned for a next installment detailing the training mistakes I made that led to this dark and frustrating period of my athletic career.

Battling with Anemia

The last couple of months since Redman have been rough. So many ups and downs. So much struggling. Too much rest. No desire to write. No desire to read. Or do anything, at all.

The week after Redman was a struggle, mentally, to move. At this point, I think I simply needed rest. Racing the Sprint and Half back to back took a lot more out of me than even I thought it would. For awhile though, I couldn't understand why I couldn't get myself off the couch. Motivation was non-existant.

I tried after a couple days, but literally failed. Two workouts had my legs feeling fatigued to the bone and I was back on the couch for another couple days.

This time I started slow and tried to build even slower. By day 3 of easy workouts, I was struggling just to finish a slow, 4 mile run. Something was very wrong.

My first guess? Anemia. Since easy training was not making things better, but instead worse, I popped an iron supplement to see what it would do. The next day I had the best run interval workout I've ever had. I thought for sure I had things figured out. I mean, problem solved, right?

Well what happened is I listened to everyone else tell me that I was simply overtrained and that it was a coincidence and taking iron supplements was risky. So I stopped. I figured if it was iron deficiency, I would just cut out the enormous amount of fine Japanese green tea that I brew and drink every day and focus on a high iron and vitamin C diet to help it absorb.

Well it didn't exactly work, as I had a terrible race at the US Open, and then proceeded to run my body into the ground for the next couple of weeks with a lot of hard run training. Though I was able to do quite a bit more work on the high iron absorption diet, I still wasn't close to right. By the time, I was getting prepped for my next race, the Fall Classic Duathlon, I knew something was very wrong. This time I ascribed it to overtraining.

Surprisingly, I still raced fairly well at the duathlon, taking 3rd for the state championship event. However, I felt like I had been racing for 5 hours afterwards, and not the hour and a half that it took. I decided to try a week off and see what happens.

After struggling to keep myself indoors for a solid week of good weather, I couldn't wait to get back to training. But when I did, it felt like my fitness had completely deserted me. I felt very fresh, but I was very slow. My watts were down about 10% on the bike and my run pace had slowed by more than a minute per mile. And I simply wasn't really recovering from the easy workouts I was doing. How could I expect to qualify for Kona, much less Vegas again, like this!?

By the next week, I wasn't just back where I was a month ago, struggling with slow, easy 4 mile runs, I was even starting to get sick. I never get sick. Not without so much training stress, work stress, and lack of sleep that my entire body breaks down and finally succumbs to illness. No way I could get sick while resting and sleeping all the time without something being very very wrong.

The illness also did not go away in a day like normal. So for three days I suffered along, until, finally I decided I had to revisit the anemia hypothesis and go get my blood tested. Well I decided not to wait on those test results. There were just too many signs. My systolic blood pressure had magically dropped 10-15 points consistently. I got a slight headache. I never get headaches. I felt tired during and after recovery workouts. My body was even starting to ache in a way that was dull, but constant and uncomfortable enough to make getting to sleep difficult.

It was time. I was ready to try anything. I again popped an iron supplement, and the very next day I was miraculously not sick anymore and running 20 seconds per mile faster for the same heart rate while actually feeling good during and after the run. The next day I rode half-Ironman watts at the same heart rate and effort as I did while in taper and racing at Redman! A few days of iron supplements later and another 20 seconds per mile had dropped off my run pace!

It was unbelievable. The energy started flowing back. In a matter of days. I'm now even writing again! Turns out that my fitness hadn't completely deserted me after all.

Now here's the kicker. The blood tests show that my iron levels are good, and that my hematocrit is actually 2% higher than when I was tested last year. I'm not anemic. Am I now completely and utterly confused? Absolutely. But as long as I'm on track to getting my training back to normal, I'm at least happy.

My First Win!

After the Redman Halfmax National Championship was done and over, I immediately got to eating and drinking as much as I could stand in the hopes that I could get my weight and glucose stores back up enough that I might be able to race the Redman Sprint the next day.

Possibly, it was a good thing that I felt tired, sluggish and like my legs could seize at any moment, becuase, I had no expectations on race day morning. During the pre-race meeting at the swim start, I realized I didn't have my chip. No worries, I simply jogged the half mile to transition and back to get it. If I missed the start, oh well. No expectations. Just start the race and enjoy it.

As soon as the gun went off though, my body was moving. I was off to a great start by lining up on the shallower end and next thing I know I'm sitting in a small front group with only a few off the front. It gets shallow again in the middle and I dolphin dive for a bit, but realize I have nowhere to go as the guys off the front are way off and not remotely catchable, so I settle back in and let myself get pulled to the swim finish. Without my heart exploding through my chest.

Transition goes well and fast as usual despite struggling with coordination quite a bit more than normal. That is until I jumped on my bike and somehow managed to slip off the top of my shoe and have to come to a complete stop for a second before getting to speed again. At the time though, I wasn't worried, I could feel it in my legs and they just were not there. For the first two miles, the half-Ironman watts I had easily put out yesterday were a struggle.

But then, instantaneously, everything changed. My legs woke up. I mean really really woke up. All of a sudden, I was putting out more power with ease than I ever had. I caught a first guy and then a second and looked to the next, so far ahead I could barely see him. Within a mile he was mine. And then another one bit the dust. And another one, until finally, the last one was in sight.

But he was moving. I had been barely gaining the whole time. I made the pass, but we were too close to transition, there was going to be no time to gain additional ground on the bike, I was going to have to do it on the run.

I flew through transition as fast as I ever have and immediately surged out onto the run course at a pace I knew I couldn't keep for long. After a few minutes, I chanced a look back. No one in sight. I stepped it down to threshold and held on as I blazed through the run course with my first lead in a race ever.

The whole time my legs were threatening to seize up and stop me from moving, but I couldn't risk slowing up, I had no idea who might be behind me. At the turnaround, I saw the gap I had on the others and knew I had it, as long as I could hold this pace. I kept the pressure on and held it all the way with a determination I'd never felt before. The legs held up, and I flew into the finish with a big lead. That feeling, of running into the finisher's area past all the triathlon clubs and spectators, is one I will never forget. My first win in an outdoor triathlon!

Redman Halfmax National Championship

After dehydrating and struggling just to run at the World Championship in Vegas, I was determined that this race would be different. Well it was. I made the opposite mistake. Two miles into this run, my legs were fresh, I was well-hydrated, I was running relatively fast, but I was already battling horrendous side stitches from running with a stomach too full of fluid.

Two weeks ago, I had recovered surprisingly well from my disastrous and tough race in Vegas. But as soon as I arrived in Oklahoma, I was immediately battling allergies worse than any I'd ever had. Which, once again, put a hamper on the intense, finishing workouts I wanted to get in before race day. However, on race day, it didn't matter all that much, the fitness was once again there.

After a long (literally, it was a long course), but solid swim, I was again on the bike and feeling very strong. Surprisingly though, this was a much faster national championship than I had thought, and I had to hold myself back as I was passed by several riders at the start. For most of the first half of the ride, I was mostly alone, riding at my specific power output. However, at the turnaround, I was caught and passed by a paceline of riders. At first I thought it to be a draft pack, but closer inspection showed that they were mostly riding legal, if maybe taking a bit long to pass each other at times. It was perfect. I picked the power up a bit to latch on and make sure I wasn't going to be left behind.

This is when I realized exactly how much a benefit a paceline can have. Sitting around 5 or 6 bikes back, each bike at a legal distance apart, my power went way down. However, when passing, I was often having to put out over 50% more power than my target at times just to make sure I could pass everyone in the required amount of time (to stay legal). After awhile, I started to realize it was probably a good idea just to sit in somewhere if I could.

Unfortunately, it was at this time that I could no longer hold it in. I had been overcompensating for underhydrating two weeks ago, and now I had reached a point where I could no longer stand it. I had to go. So for the first time, I stopped pedaling, and watched as a stream gushed out of my shorts and down my leg and all over my bike. And the paceline disappeared in the distance.

I was now in the last hour of racing though, and still felt very fresh. Heart rate was very low this time, and I felt it was time to bump the power up and see what happens. It took miles to catch the paceline, but once I did I soon left them behind as they started to drop off. In no time, I was back on the edge of the lake, racing around it in anticipation of a blazing fast run.

And there it was again. Except way worse since I was running. My stomach was not only too full of fluids, but my bladder as well. As I blazed out of transition, I started to realize the mistake I had made. There was no bathroom anywhere in sight. I had just left it behind. I was going to have to run quite a ways before I was going to find one.

I did, of course, but I barely made it another mile before the side stitches started to get really bad. At this time, I made the decision to stop taking in fluids, except for a few sips at each aid station. Since I was also getting my nutrition from aid stations I knew it was going to be dicey if I could make it to the end before I bonked. However, the side stitches were keeping me from dropping under a 6:30/mi run pace, and I did not want them getting worse.

It turned out to be another mistake. The last several miles I slowed considerably from the lack of nutrition, and of course, still had to battle side stitches. Still though, at least I wasn't hot and extremely dehydrated. In fact, with temps under 90 and plenty of ice and cold spongues it felt almost cool at times. I was likely still very dehydrated at the finish, but it was nothing like my experience two weeks ago. Overall, it was a solid race that taught me yet another lesson about race nutrition and ended with a very positive 2nd in age group placement and a PR of 4:36:01 (not bad considering the long swim and rough roads).

Still though, like always, for more than an hour after the race was over, the pain was almost as bad as it had been during the last few miles of the race. Fairly normal for me after a race of this distance. But, how the heck was I going to get up and race again tomorrow!?

World Championship 70.3

After more than 9 months of training full-time, the day was finally here. The day I would race the best from all over the world at the half-Ironman distance. A day I would learn something more about the importance of not quitting. Never giving up.

Two miles into the run course I knew I had messed up. I had severely underestimated the heat. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to run through every aid station. I knew that soon I might not be running much at all. I had tried to go to the bathroom. Nothing could come out. I was already past the point of no return on the hydration scale. It was going to be a long day.

A week earlier, when I first arrived in Las Vegas, it was hot. Though it had gotten over 100 degrees Farenheit several times over the summer in Boulder, it had cooled off some recently and I had forgotten how hot it could be. But more than that, the heat felt more intense here. The air felt much warmer. And I couldn't just wait for cool morning or night temperatures to run in it. Particularly if I was to be racing in it right in the middle of the day.

The good news is my fitness was good. Very good. I had overdone things quite a bit three weeks ago with my last big training week, but now I was finally recovering and feeling strong. Very strong. After each workout, and throughout each day, I was meticulously loading up on fluids and a full spectrum of electrolytes. The heat had started to feel not so bad again. I was ready to race.

Race morning was hot. As soon as the sun could be seen, I was sweating. After setting up transition, I went to my car and hit the A/C to stay cool while I waited for my 8:00 AM start time. The last wave to go. An hour and a half behind the pros.

The sunrise over Lake Las Vegas on race morning.

Waiting around to enter the water, I was sipping water. I should have been sipping more. I was already losing hydration and the race hadn't started yet.

After entering the water, it was a solid 5-10 minutes of floating around at the starting line, trying not to get kicked too hard by others as we bunched up for the last few minutes. When the gun finally went off, it was almost a relief to be in the grinder of a couple hundred elite swimmers, all vying to be out front. At most races, I end up in the chase pack of swimmers that get left behind by the much stronger lead pack. Here, it was a simply constant stream of fast swimmers with no gaps for much of the first part of the race. I was somewhere at the back.

In most races this size, you can expect to get jammed up after a few minutes with all the slower swimmers from the waves in front. This was not a problem here. Almost noone was a slow swimmer. I exited the water a couple minutes slower than expected, but everyone else in the wave seemed to be a couple minutes slow as well.

On the bike, I immediately felt good. And strong. The legs were there. But I had to do what I could to contain myself and not put out too much power in the first part of the race. Especially with it being a 20 minute climb out of the transition area before heading into the monstrous hills of Lake Mead. For the first 30 minutes, it was a struggle not to go harder. I was being constantly passed, yet I was riding around threshold or higher. I had to remind myself that this was a world championship. These guys could ride.

Once into Lake Mead, I started to get a feel for exactly how tough this course was going to be. The elevation profile is quite misleading. I was often putting out 250 watts or more in my smallest gears and spinning out on the way back down. Luckily I had done a lot of riding in the mountains over the summer and was very comfortable with climbing, particularly in the aero position.

After the turnaround, it was a tailwind most of the way back, past Lake Las Vegas and the swim start, and up into the town of Henderson for the run, close to 1000ft above the bike start. If the wind had been blowing the opposite direction, it would have been a much slower day. Around this time, it was starting to get really hot. Most of my water was going on my head in an attempt to stay cool. I was hydrating by feel like I normally do for training and racing. For this heat, it wasn't enough. Not even close. Though I went thru 4 bottles of fluids, I calculated later that only around 2 had been drunk, since each bottle had been thrown out with fluid left and a lot of it had gone on my head. My normal fluid intake for 80 degree temps is around 3-4. For this race, I probably needed at least 6.

Still, I felt good getting off the bike. It was a struggle to keep the power up around my target watts for the last hour of the bike, but only a small one. My heart rate had been relatively high all day as well so when it moved to 7-10 beats below max for that last hour, I didn't think much of it. It was only after that I realized this was a huge warning sign of my increasingly severe dehydration.

The first mile of the run felt normal for getting off of such a long, hard bike. I thought for sure that after another mile or two, I would come alive and be blazing the run course. Instead, things got bad. Very bad. And the temperature continued to increase.

With aid stations running out of ice everywhere, spongues that were barely cool, and no shade in sight, the run course became a walk course for those that hadn't properly hydrated or paced the bike. And from the looks of things, very few had.

I have never seen so many people walking on a run course of any race I've ever done. And I was right there with them on the dehydration scale. Any other race, and I might have decided the damage I was about to do to my body by continuing to run would not be worth it, and I would stop at an aid station until I could properly rehydrate to jog in or quit. But this was the world championship. There was no question, I was pushing on.

As slow as I was running, I was glad to see that my form never broke.

And on I went. Running from aid station to aid station, getting just enough hydration in to make it to one more aid station, until finally, I had made it thru all 13.1 miserable miles to the finish. But though it was one of my slowest runs ever, and I wasn't able to showcase the particularly good run fitness I had developed over the summer, I still moved up almost 20 spots in my age group to hit my goal of finishing in the top half. Simply, by not quitting.

Mid Season Race Report: Getting My Butt Kicked in Boulder!

Coming up to race in Boulder from Oklahoma has been quite the experience! The average person here is way faster and the level of competition is extremely deep. This is where all the athletes are that bridge the enormous gap between a top Oklahoma age group athlete and the professional ranks.

6/17 Boulder 5430 Sprint Triathlon: 39th OA, 10th AG

This is the race where I first experienced what a 1000+ people at a sprint is like. I had only been at altitude for a day, and so heeded the caution I got from other athletes in making certain to be careful not too go too hard on the swim. I had been working a lot on fast starts and settling in to a comfortable pace and getting very good at it, but for this race, I went easy from the start. It worked brilliantly. It seems people here can swim much straighter (probably from many more chances to practice open water swimming), and I got a great draft all the way back in and straight as an arrow for a very solid swim split.

Next was the bike, which is a nice incline for the first several miles and then downhill after that. Not used to riding any kind of prolonged climbs, even at a low gradient, I struggled a bit to keep the pace up as high as I should have here. But once we hit the rollers, I made up time. Big time. Coming from Oklahoma, I know how to ride rolling hills well. Very well. A guy in my age group that had caught and passed me was left in my dust. Only to catch up again on the last steady incline though of course. But I hung on after that. Until the run started and he ran away. Overall, it was my fastest bike split to date though at 24.5mph for 17.2 miles. Not bad, but it needs to be much faster.

The run was where I really started to feel the altitude. Even at only 5300ft, I could tell my race pace had slowed drastically. With the tough and slow run course going over the rocky trails around the reservoir, I wasn't even able to break 20 minutes for the 5k run on this day. A solid race though for my second day at altitude.

7/8 Boulder Peak 5150 Triathlon: 90th OA, 11th AG

Now if I thought the last race was fast and competitive, this one was on even another level! When I first biked the course, I couldn't believe it. I had heard it had a good little climb in it, but I was totally unprepared for what I was about to experience. By the time I finally made it up, I thought I was going to puke! The crazy thing about this area is how many old ladies I see going up it on a routine basis! If this were in Oklahoma, no one except the more competitive road racers would ever be seen going up it by bike. And certainly no race director would ever dream of sending a triathlon up it! I was seriously daunted. No way was I going to race up this thing.

But I kept climbing it in training every chance I got. And each time it got easier and I got faster. Then the pressure came with all the guys I was training with. They were all doing it. Why not me? Ok, fine, I'm signing up!

By the time race day came, and I, once again, missed the front pack on the swim and settled in around the lead of the chase pack, I actually felt ready for it. And I was. For the first time, I got all the way up the section where it turns to 15% grade for about 2/3 of a mile WITHOUT getting out of the saddle. I was stoked! And a good thing too, because I accidentally put my dry, smooth road tire pressure in and the road where the climb was on hadn't dried out yet, which meant my tire slipped like crazy if I did try to get out of the saddle. From there on, it was all downhill, with more rollers. My specialty. And I crushed it. Enough to get a nice lead on, the same guy from the last race, who caught up big time on me on the climb and grabbed a nice gap before the rollers started. This time though, I had enough of an advantage to hold him off on the last gradual uphill section and start the run with a bit of a cushion.

However, it wasn't enough. And my running wasn't quite up to his level. He blew by me about a mile in and I couldn't hang. I stuck to my pace though, and at the turnaround, kicked it into gear to finish with my first sub-40 10k at altitude! For that slow and slightly hilly off-road run course, I was extremely pleased! With the way my run fitness is developing, I hope to soon be able to drop a 37 minute run split on a course like that and be able to hang with the likes of my new found local nemesis!

Overall, the main objective of this race was to compare myself to the top pros on a very difficult course. My goal at this point was to be within 20 minutes, and well, if you exclude the first place guy (Cameron Dye) who absolutely tore it up with an ITU level swim and by beating the old bike course record by a minute or more, I was within 21 minutes of the 2nd place pro behind him, who is also a former Olympian (Matty Reed). Close enough.

7/15 Evergreen Sprint Tri: 10th OA, 3rd AG

Finally, a smaller race like I'm used to. Only a couple hundred here, so maybe I even have a shot at the modest prize purse, right? Ha! Not in this area!

The swim was supposed to be cold. Luckily, for my sake, it wasn't. Though the race was located up in the mountains at 7000+ft, the general warm temperatures had the water temp up enough that while swimming I felt fine in my sleeveless wetsuit (coming from Oklahoma, I never thought I'd have use for a full!). Again, I hung with the front group for the first couple hundred meters or so, and then fell off the pace to lead the chase. Some guy came up on my heals on the way back so I moved over and let him through so I could jump on his instead and he led me all the way back in. Coming out of the water though, we got stuck in mud that almost felt like quick sand. There was no way to walk through it. So as he struggled I got the bright idea to try a few dolphin dives and hope I didn't hit any rocks. It worked. I flew through transition as normal and got a nice cushion to start the bike.

It wasn't enough. He caught me within a few miles, and proceeded to drop me on even the relatively flat sections. On a road bike no less! However, I was riding with power now, and from pre-riding the course a couple times the day before knew that I needed to be a bit conservative at the start.

If I thought the previous race up Olde Stage Hill in Boulder was crazy, then this was legitimately insane! 1200+ft of climbing for a 12 mile bike course! The first 7 miles climbed up into the mountains and the next 5 descended back down to the lake. It was brilliant! By far the most beautiful triathlon bike course I've ever experienced, and at close to 8000ft, by far the highest!

I paced myself well, and kept my new nemesis, who was again in my age group as well, in sight. When we hit the really steep sections towards the top, I tapped into a couple reserve bursts of power to get as much momentum as possible to start the next downhill as we got closer and closer. Finally on the last big climb, I got enough momentum started, along with my TT position to fly pass him on a sharp, blind corner that, because of my pre-ride I knew I could take flat out if I just trusted myself and stayed in it. It worked and I continued to develop a nice gap on the descent, flying past another rider along the way.

I started the run feeling a few of those power bursts, however, my legs came around quick enough. Considering that the run, like the bike, climbed like crazy for the first part. I seriously thought I should stop and start walking at the pace I was going, but my heart rate was as high as if I was sprinting! I could see my nemesis behind me, and knew if he had caught up this much already, he was bound to come flying past me any second now.

He didn't. But he did catch me and we ran side by side on the descent as I struggled to get my breathing under control. I eventually did. But when we hit a flat section again, I was left in the dust, as I again could not hold a faster run pace. I kept at it though hoping he had gone too hard to leave me behind and that I could catch him at the end as he burst, but it was not to be. We came in 2nd and 3rd in AG and with no long straights or turnarounds, never even saw another athlete on the course.

I was very pleased with my performance though, as I hit 20 flat on what was by far the toughest and slowest 5k course I've done, after the hardest bike, and at the highest altitude I've ever raced! An incredible experience along an incredible course. And even a great AG prize to boot, as I received a hand-held water bottle from Ultimate Directions to carry on long runs or trail runs with no water spots. No longer do I have to stumble through a trailer park like a zombie with an unquenchable thirst when I mistime how long I can run in extreme heat without water...