TRIals and TRIbulations

Checking In With Coach

2012-01-20T20:16:00.005-05:00

Today I had a need to get down to Boston for work, so I took an early detour to visit Coach Megerle. As usual, he was busy juggling responsibilities as the director of the Tufts Marathon Challenge and every inch of space on his walls was filled with pictures of former athletes. His passion for his athletes and their performances is contagious. I left his office energized as we're inside of three months before the race. I clarified a few questions and had plenty of other issues reinforced. Here are a few tid bits:

- It takes 30-60 days for training efforts to fully take hold. He shared a study that isolated certain key muscle fibers. The athletes in the study did ZERO exercise for three months. At the end of the time, those fibers were stronger.

- Around 1996, he had a swimmer (from Sanford, ME) who caught pneumonia in early January. For the next seven weeks, he swam every third day and hardly did any hard swimming. At New Englands in the first week of March, he won and set school records in five events. This is one of his classic stories that demonstrate how important rest and recovery are.

- My longest run should be no longer than 18 miles, and no closer than 5 weeks before April 16.

- Descending interval repeats shouldn't end at all-out efforts. On a good day, I can get hard 400m intervals down to about 1:22. There's no need to go any faster than 1:30.

- Coach doesn't like gels/shot blocks, etc. He believes in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which he will serve at mile 9 on race day. Since PB&Js are my favorite food, I'll practice eating them in practice so I can handle it on race day. Having said that, I'll still bring the Hammer Gel along for the rest of the run.

- He said one of the biggest detractors from performance is when runners have specific time goals. Guilty as charged. I'd like to match my time in 2003- 3:15. Given that was 9 years ago, he said that might prove to be difficult. He told me to go out in early February and do 6-9 miles at that race pace (7:25) and see how I feel. If I'm able to do it and feel fresh at the end, it might be fine.

I love visiting Coach. He's dedicated his life to helping athletes reach their potential with conviction, research, persistance and passion. Every one of his athletes has their own story and he works to make each one of those stories a success. Many of his ideas aren't mainstream, but when you hear them enough over the years and see the incredible results, it's convincing.

In Coach We Trust!

Three Months to Boston

2012-01-16T06:36:00.005-05:00

Assuming things fall into place the way I plan, I will toe the line at the Boston Marathon three months from today. I have a vague idea what to expect, but I'm sure that it will be "more" than anything I can envision. More people, more crowds, more excitement....more pain?....scratch that....more satisfaction at the finish line.

Boston has been on my bucket list for a very long time. It's the biggest mass participation athletic event in New England, and one of the biggest in the world each year. I qualified with a 3:15 back in 2003, however we are never home for Patriot's Day. But last fall when our calendar started taking shape, I saw that the week was open. I was also getting back into long trail runs after a summer of sprint triathlons, so I thought....maybe....

My Tufts Swimming Coach, Don Megerle, now runs the Tufts Marathon Challenge. For about seven years he has helped hundreds of students, alumni and friends of the school train for and complete the race. John Hancock, the primary race sponsor, gives 100 official numbers to many non-profits for fundraising. For Tufts, the beneficiary is the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition. They do great work on nutrition. Last fall I did a long run with the team and chatted with a current grad student at the Friedman School. She had just finished working with an elementary school in Cambridge to build a new cafeteria and redesign what food was offered and how it was offered. In other words, she was studying how the presentation of food can affect "sales". I think most would agree that 1) today's kids serve as the foundation for our future, 2) good nutrition is vital to their development, and 3) most school cafeterias do a lousy job. So I felt like raising funds for this type of work was something I could really get behind.

Coach organizes two workouts per week for the group- a long run and intervals. Given that I'm busy in Maine, I've only done one workout with the group. Coach emails the interval workouts each week, so I can do them on my own. Many runners would be shocked by the short distances we do. Generally, the sets have been 200s and 400s, all descending, and a total of about 8-12 in each workout. Coach has never been one to prescribe traditional workouts. He believes in quality, teaching your body to go fast(er), and recovery.

My long runs were proceeding very well. After building up to 10 miles, I did three weeks of 12, then 3 of 14, 3 of 16 and 2 of 18. Most of them were on trails, first at Bradbury Mountain, then in late November I shifted to the trails around Sugarloaf. Trail running is not speedy, but it does great things for the mind and all of the stabilizing muscles. I also find it shortens my stride. When I get on the road, the shorter stride reduces the chances of injury.

My two 18 mile runs were great, each in their own right. For the first one, which was the Monday after Christmas, both the trails and roads were in bad shape. That meant I needed to risk possible insanity...the treadmill. I showed up at the Anti Gravity Complex, the gym owned by the town of Carabassett Valley and CV Academy at 6. Above and open to the gym floor below is the "Beach". There is very little visual stimulation- like none. No TVs, and at that hour, there were no kids on the trampolines or in the skatepark to watch. Just me and an empty gym floor below. Ugh. I decided to go as long as possible before using my iPod which can get tiring after a couple of hours. That lasted about 20 minutes. Then I moved on to a couple of podcasts (IM Talk and Endurance Planet). That got me to about 2 hours. For the final 45 minutes, it was music. As for the workout, I slowly built up from a speed of 6.5 to 7.2 and just stayed there. It might sound crazy to avoid speed and pitch changes, but I thought that paying attention to intervals would remind me of how much further I had to go. I chose to get into a mental groove and try to survive. It felt really good to survive this insanely long treadmill session.

The other 18 mile run was from Sugarloaf to Eustis and back, all on Rt 27. There were some slick spots along the way due to freezing rain the day before, so I had to dial it back a bit, especially on the downhills. It turned into a beautiful day- it was in the high 30s by the end of the run. I was pleased with my pace- I was under 8s on most of the flats or downhills, and averaged 8:15 for the whole thing.

Now I've had two weeks of recovery, somewhat caused by a slightly pulled achilles/calf, and I feel great about the next two months. After that it's all down hill to Hopkington.

By the way, if you're interested in contributing to the effort, click here.

Finally...The Perfect Race...The Megerle Race

2011-09-10T20:54:00.009-04:00

The perfect race. Is it really possible? If it is, I think I just nailed it. It's easy to doubt. A race that goes for over two hours, involves three sports, each of which is multi-faceted, plus two transitions, is so involved that it's easy to think perfection is unattainable. But today may have been perfect.

Let's back up for a minute. My goal race all year was Sprint Nationals. My training was geared around it, I planned what I thought was a good taper.....and I had a "good" race. The environment was great as we were in the midst of likely the most competitive Olympic and sprint fields of the year anywhere in the country. I was rested, fast and focused. Yet the troubles started early. First, the race was at 12:30. Given that most of my training and all racing starts in the morning, this played games with my sleep and diet. It just felt strange. Next, it was hot- something like 83 degrees by race time.

I was in the second wave which included all men over 40, about 150+. I had a great start and was in third at the first buoy. While I maintained that position to the exit, about half way into the swim I felt like I was working way too hard. The negative chatter started. Sure, it's a sprint and I should go hard, but I was anything but loose. Then on the bike, my perceived exertion and watts from the computer were not in sync. I thought I was working my butt off, but I was being told that I was only putting out 240 watts- my threshold is about 275, and I was hoping to be above that. Again, the negative chatter was there. This carried on for the first 8 miles when I finally felt better and my power came up to where it should be. Too bad there were only 5 miles left. I think another issue was that it's impossible to warm up on the bike, and there's no opportunity to warm up in the water. My lower back down to my hamstrings were tight the whole way. The run started with a long steep climb. Given the run was just a 5K, I felt I needed to get after it early and hard. That damn hill nearly forced me to walk. And again, it wasn't until I had about a mile to go when I started feeling better. The whole time, I knew I wasn't performing as I should. In the end, I ended up 4th in my AG, which is pretty good. After today, though, I know I could win my AG.

Lobsterman, an Olympic distance tri, was today. It was a "oh, what the heck" race- I didn't focus on the distance in training, and certainly didn't work the calendar in its favor. I needed a couple of days to recover from Nationals, had a training build up for about two weeks, then another taper. I capped my training intensity around my threshold, eliminating the really high intensity riding and running. On the two Saturdays between the races, I ran for 90 minutes on the Bradbury trails in preparation for tomorrow's Bradbury Bruiser 12 mile trail race. I love it out on the trails, although I knew it wasn't race specific for the Lobsterman. If I were to summarize the last couple of weeks, I enjoyed the training, didn't obsess about the race, and gave my body additional rest.

Now I need to take another detour, this time to discuss my college swim coach, Don Megerle. When it comes to racing, he preached, and still preaches, rest, staying loose, negative splits, and positive thoughts. I recently talked with him about a possible race next year, and he sent me a bunch of stuff he has written. It served as a great reminder.

I showed up to the race today with no expectations and a desire to enjoy it. Many of the usual suspects were absent, and only 25% of the field was from Maine. So all I could do was take care of my own race. Remembering the lack of warm up at nationals, I ran around a bit, rode 4 miles, and swam about 800 yards. When the race started, I had a clean start, without so much as someone tapping my toes. That let me quiet down into a sustainable pace and drop my kick down to the point where it was just for a bit of balance. At the first buoy I saw one other guy in my wave but didn't change my pace. It seemed like the two waves in front of me swam to the next buoy in a big arc, so I was able to move through them- again, without coming even close to contact. At the final buoy, I did run over someone (sorry!!), so I can't say I made it the whole way without an issue, but I came close. The entire swim, I felt like it was fairly easy and I could go at that pace forever. And there was lots of positive chatter.

I was determined to start the bike at a pace that allowed me to ease into it, trying to avoid a tight back and low power. On the way up the early hills out of the park, I saw I was pushing 300w+ without too much effort. Hmmm... I continued on, kept the cadence on the high end, feeling loose and enjoying the beautiful day. I thought I was holding back, but saw that I was pushing 260-280w, and on the hills, closer to 320w. The chatter started a positive feedback loop. Not once in the 25 mile ride did I feel like I was turning myself inside out. It felt controlled, loose and fast. Perhaps another factor was that I passed my last person around mile 8. From that point on, I didn't see another bike other than those heading out in the opposite direction. And not a single person passed me then entire ride.

Another improvement was my nutrition. I changed my intake to something I've used on the trails- water, Heed, and two Hammer gels mixed in one water bottle. That was just the right amount of fluid to take in (no upset stomach on the run), and provided plenty of calories.

Towards the end of the bike, I began to plan the run. I decided to ease into the first two miles. The first long hill came soon after the start of the run, and I just stayed under control. Mile 1, 6:50. Whoa, that was easy! Let's stick with this! Mile 2, 6:50. That got me out onto South Freeport Rd, a long straightaway. The whole way I reminded myself to keep my hands and jaw loose and to enjoy it. I took a few sips of water at every stop, and a gel at the turnaround. Again, the nutrition was spot on. I was only passed once, around mile 3. Due to the lack of competitors, I figured I was well into the earlier waves (that had 3 and 6 minutes head starts), but was shocked when a spectator told me I was in 13th. Then someone else told me the same thing. More positive reinforcement. My plan was to push things once I got to mile 4, but I was content with the way things were going. I was still holding 6:50s or better. I will admit there were times I wondered, "This is too easy. Am I leaving something on the table?" Once I got to the top of the hill by mile 5, I put in a little extra and held that to the finish. I ended up 11th overall, 2nd in my AG. My splits were something like 23, 1:06 and 42:30. A final time of 2:14 is a fairly good time for an Oly, and this race typically has slower times. I'll take it.

I have never, ever, had a race like that. I have never gone so fast with so little effort. Before the race, someone reminded me that I once wrote about "turning myself inside out. I guess that's why you win and I don't," he said. I was wrong. Turning myself inside out inhibits fluid movement. It doesn't allow the race to come to me. It forces things. It makes me tight. And it prohibits reaching my potential.

This is the way I need to race. Positive thoughts, relaxed, let the race come to me, stay loose.

Thanks, Coach!

Infinite Loop

2011-06-26T10:14:00.004-04:00

Yesterday marked one year since I landed in the ER with bilateral idiopathic pulmonary emboli. That means a bunch of life threatening blood clots in both pulmonary arteries plus plenty of other clots in the lungs. You see, if blood can't get through the lungs, it can't pick up oxygen, and can't deliver said oxygen to your vital organs...like you brain and heart. Not good.

This past year has been full of reflections, but especially the last couple of weeks. I competed in the Pirate Tri a couple of weeks ago, which last year I did the day AFTER the PEs first struck. Not only did this race mark my return to the tri scene and the first one-hour-plus race effort, but it was the beginning of my "one year reflection" period. Leading up to the race, I seemed to be feeling all sorts of physical things that made me wonder what was going on. It was tough mentally to keep wondering if things were happening all over again, which would certainly mean a return to coumadin and the permanent end of bike riding and perhaps skiing. Even during the run section of the race, I developed a normal side stitch and thought it was happening again. I had and have no other symptoms, and can intellectually tell from my activities that I'm fine. But emotionally, it was hard.

As for the race, I came away from it feeling pretty good. I was 3rd overall in the swim, and much faster than last year. The bike was slow (although about the same as last year), but that's understandable considering I did no meaningful biking from June to April. And the run was 30 seconds faster than last year. In total, I was about 1:30 faster, won my AG, and was 8th overall. I'll take it. More importantly, it was great to see everyone again, knowing I was there to compete with them, not just watch and enjoy the environment. The comments and smiles I received were great. More on that later.

In May, I did the Cape TT. I wanted a max effort before the Pirate Tri to see how I would respond after about six weeks of more focused bike training. My good friend and great biker Bob- with a full year of Ironman bike training behind him- started 60 seconds behind me. I wondered how long it would take to make up the gap, hoping I could last at least a few miles. For those who know the course, which is the same as the old CELT tri course, I made it all of the way to the Spurwink church and the hill up to the dump before he flew by. He continued on to build a gap of an additional 30 seconds.

I was pleased with the race. But more importantly, what will stay with me is Bob's comment as he went past, "You still got it, Tenney." It was the perfect encouragement at the perfect time. It was honest and meaningful. And it is one of the many examples of how so many people have helped me get through this last year. Emails, notes, hugs, calls, visits, fruit baskets, good natured ribbing....the help came in many forms. I take two risks by listing certain individuals- first, I know I'll forget someone, and second, this sure isn't a very personable thank you. So here goes- Bob T, Scott M, Tom M, Julie N, Paul D, Cathy B, Jay E, Ed T, Angela B, Mary H-W, John S, Dave S, Mike L, John S, Andy S, John C, Rob S, Jeff S, Sue N, Coach Megerle, Marit C-L, the Winchester crew (Chip, Lara, Ned, Jill, Mike, Laura, Joe, Jan), and many others- thank you. Most importantly, thanks to my immediate and extended family.

As for my future racing plans...the goal race is the Sprint National Championships in Burlington VT on August 20. Based on past results, I should be top 5 in my AG, and would love to crack the top 3. It's likely I won't have another race before then. After, I'll likely do Lobsterman.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the training, especially the running. Other than a few short transition runs, it's all been on either the trails or the track, and never with a Garmin (Mary- remember the discussion around data?). There is a trail system a mile from the house, and another larger one a short drive away. Single track trail running is perhaps my favorite training of all time. There's a chance that if I had all other activities taken away from me and trail running was the only thing left, I'd be perfectly happy. Every single step is different than the last. On the one hand, I focus on every foot plant which keeps my mind occupied for long stretches, and on the other, I can get completely mentally lost when I'm out there. Every single run in the woods leaves me rejuvenated. Physically, it's also much better than pounding on the roads. I've labeled road running as "2-D," and trail running as "3-D." The constant ups and downs, uneven terrain, puddles, mud, trees, roots, rocks, and sharp turns of the trails strengthen my legs in ways that you can't get on the roads. As a result, I've been completely free from injury. Two weeks ago I went to Presque Isle and ran for two hours at the Nordic Heritage Center. That's without going longer than 1:15 since November, normally an unwise increase.

With a bit of track work, this doesn't seem to be affecting my speed. For the first time this season, I wore a watch to the track to see where I stood. I was able to descend quarters down to where I've been before, and then put together a solid, even-split, mile. Yesterday I did a transition run after a 2 hour bike and have never felt so good. I didn't blast out of the driveway, forcing the pace, but let the speed come to me. I have no idea how fast I was going, but it felt fast and effortless. I wish I could bottle up that feeling for a race.

Today I left the house for a one to two hour run in the woods. For those of you who follow specific training prescriptions, this is blasphemy. "One to two hours? There's a huge difference there. How does it fit into the rest of the week? What's the pace? Will the Garmin work in the woods?" Etc, etc, etc. I didn't care. I was just going out for a good run and I'd see what unfolded. At one point, I found a path that I soon discovered led to a circular path I'd been on before. I didn't know they were connected. So I went around, and around, eventually realizing I was stuck in this loop. I was looking for the trail to go back to where I came from, but missed it. I didn't care one bit. I was on top of the world, doing my favorite training, and I was alive.

D-Day

2010-11-16T21:35:00.005-05:00

Friday, December 3, 2010. That's the day that will determine a lot. On that day, I'll know which fork in the road I take. I recently talked with someone about how I will feel with either outcome, and they advised me not to think about it. It's impossible to anticipate my emotions, so I shouldn't waste mental energy toiling about the whole thing. But I can't help it. So here goes.

I'll start with the medical part of that day. In just two weeks, I'll travel to Boston to see my hematologist. She is one of 16 doctors in the US, UK and Canada who are part of a study looking at idiopathic clotting disorders- in other words, there's no good reason why the clotting occurred. As a population, there's a 10% chance of recurrence each year, and something like 40% over the subsequent five years. That's obviously way over acceptable. Honestly, given the choice of taking a drug the rest of my life or taking a substantial risk of another life-threatening clot in the lungs, it's a pretty easy choice.

Clotting happens in what is called a "cascade," or a series of events. One of the final steps has a byproduct called D-dimer. They can test for the presence of D-dimer. If negative, you're in the clear. If positive, there's a good chance (though less certain than a negative test) you are clotting. The study attempts to stratify patients into different risk levels using this test. In other words, they take this population of screwed up people, of which I am one, and use the test to identify those that can reasonably go off of blood thinners, and those who need to stay on medication.

So in a few weeks, I'll take this blood test and see the results on the spot. One of two things will happen. I obviously hope the test is negative. If so, I'll stop taking the medication right then and go back to Boston for another test in one month. That's because the medical community isn't sure if the medication suppresses D-dimer. If that second test is still negative, I'm good to go. I'll just go back to Boston every six months to check in. On the other hand, if either of the two test are positive, I'll be on medication for at least two years, if not the rest of my life.

So there you have it. Option A means I resume life and training as I choose. Option B means I keep taking medication, which prevents me from bike riding and therefore triathlons. Sounds pretty straightforward and obvious as to how I might react. But it isn't.

I really want Option A. It will allow me to bike, race, ski without concern, and otherwise put me in situations that are risky for someone on blood thinners. I've worked damn hard to get good at triathlon, and I think I have a couple more years of getting faster. Not just better in my AG (which is relative to others), but faster in an absolute sense. I have unfinished business in the sport. Someday I'd like to go to the World Championships and wear the USA uniform. Be a NOAD. New Zealand '12 might be a bit too far, especially for a sprint, but maybe it will be held closer to the US in 2013.

However I can make the argument that these athletic endeavors can be replaced if things don't work out. Although I qualified for Boston in 2003, I never did the race. It's on my bucket list. In hindsight, I think the perfect sport for me would have been rowing. I have the size, determination and enough athletic ability. There are masters boats in the Head of the Charles. That is also on my bucket list. And swimming is also an obvious choice, although I don't have a big goal in mind. I've spent enough time looking at the black line. There are other things I'd like to do that could satisfy my competitive desires.

But honestly, it isn't just about sports. In fact, while they are a big deal, they aren't biggest deal. It's all of the other life issues that come along with blood thinners that I don't want to live with. Currently, I have to be careful with how much Vitamin K I eat. That means monitoring my intake of green vegetables. I love a huge green salad. I can't have much alcohol. I have never been much of a drinker, but I do enjoy it now and then. I haven't had more than two drinks in one day in over six months. I have to wear a medic-alert bracelet. Every day, my watch alarm goes off at 6:00, reminding me to take my medicine. I have to get my blood drawn every month, if not more often. So there are all sorts of issues that come with the drug, many of which are in my face every single day.

To me, it's about being limited. I've always been a bit stubborn- I don't like to be told what I can and can't do. I want to be the one to decide. I don't like limitations. I want to do what I want to do. I don't like the concept of being "tied down" for somewhere between the next two years and the rest of my life. That's a long time.

So as I said earlier, it sounds pretty obvious. But let's consider the downside of Option A (and therefore the upside of Option B). Within days of going off of blood thinners, it's out of my system. My safety blanket is gone. I wonder if I'll forever be looking over my shoulder waiting for Mr. Clot to strike. And if he strikes, will it happen in the same way, or could it be more sudden? Is it possible that the clot makes it through my PFO (that tiny hole in my heart), travels to my brain and causes a stroke? I'm assured it's a very small risk, but that thought will be there. I'll be forever hypersensitive to chest pains. Given the choice of Option B or a life-threatening or altering clot, I'll go for Option B in a heartbeat. The docs don't have all of the answers. Hence the study. Like any study, their theory might work for some but not others. So there's a chance it doesn't work for me.

That's it. I go to Boston two weeks from today for a test I can't prepare for. I don't know how I will react to the result, whatever that is. We have all had deadlines and exams before that can have an impact on our futures. However I've always been able to do something to increase the chances of success. This test is not only out of my control, but is more serious.

Regardless of the result, I know this entire episode has taught me lessons I otherwise never would have learned. I appreciate life and those around me much more than before. I value what I have and my surroundings much more. And I also know I have friends and family that care a great deal for me and wish me the best. It's heartwarming. Those things won't change.

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You know the rules....keep yourself safe, put a little joy into your life and those around you who you think may merit it, and never ever- that's never ever- pass up an opportunity to kiss someone you love.

Running Naked

2010-10-07T19:15:00.004-04:00

Since this summer, most of my training has been naked. I run naked and I bike in the garage naked. Swimming isn't quite naked, but I do my best. This naked training is liberating as I just go with what's presented and enjoy the surroundings.

In this case, I'm not equating naked to without clothes. I'm equating it to training without a plan and most importantly, without DATA. I haven't uploaded data to Training Peaks, planned workouts on trainingpeaks.com, or recorded workouts there. For a few years, I recorded nearly every pedal stroke, lap swum and stride strided. Power, cadence, heartrate, pace, speed, intervals- all of it went into the computer. I dissected all of it, analyzed it, compared it to other sessions, and used it to plan future efforts.

Last week I actually ran without any sort of watch on at all (gasp!). I have no idea what my time was. And I loved every minute of it. What I do know is that it was 6.2 miles, and was the same route I had so much trouble with back in June that I had to walk three times. Two days later I was in the ER.

The epitome of naked running is trail running. On trails, there are so many ups and downs, twists and turns, rocks, trees and puddles that the data would be meaningless anyway. Last week I took Bob T out to Bradbury. We simply headed out into the woods without any idea of where we were going. After 45 minutes, we miraculously found ourselves back at the start, so we crossed the road and ran around and up the "mountain." The total run was 1:15, and a great workout. At one point, I asked Bob how fast he thought we were running. His response, based on effort, was "about 7:30." My Garmin, which I was wearing just in case we got really lost, told me we were closer to 10:00. It's just completely different. I am hooked. It's an incredible feeling to run in the woods as opposed to pounding the pavement on the same roads I've done hundreds of times.

Most importantly, I'm finding this naked training is introducing FUN into the equation. Previously, my satisfaction came from the results, rather than the workout itself. I enjoyed pushing lots of watts up a hill and turning in good intervals on the track or road. But my focus on data gave me tunnel vision. It put me in a frame of mind where, even when I wasn't in the middle of a workout, I was (too) focused on it.

I believe a shift to include more fun can help me to be a more complete athlete. Will it help me go faster? I don't know. That will be discussed another day. But with running, I think it's very possible. Trail running is easier on the body due to the lack of pounding, and strengthens the legs and body due to the "3D" aspect compared to "2D" road running. Constant hills will also make me stronger. As for technique, I find it's better than ever when I do a bit of road running after a long run on the trails.

On Saturdays at 8AM, I've been running with the Trailmonsters, a great group of folks. So far, it's been either Bradbury or Pineland. There are a couple of different paces and distances. The first day I joined them, it was hot and humid, and I struggled to make 6 miles. Most recently, we went about 10 miles in 1:35. The website says where the next run is.

Come join us. And yes, come fully clothed.

Race Report: CELT Sprint Relay- and a Poetic Full Circle

2010-09-26T11:54:00.005-04:00

Today was the CELT Sprint Triathlon, a local race that started in the pool that I spent many, many hours in in the 80's. Last year we entered a family relay. This year, Leah and I recruited Nate to take the bike leg. Like last week with Jeff, Nate's effort not only allowed me to participate, but he also gave it 100% knowing that for us, performance was taking a back seat to participation. That means a great deal to me.

Before the race, a woman came us to me and said, "You probably don't remember me, but...." I'm terrible with names, but I did recognize her face. I couldn't remember the context, however. "I was the CT scan technician when you came into Maine Medical." Bingo. Back on June 25, perhaps the worst day of my life, she was the one that ran the CT scan that showed I was in deep trouble with multiple and extensive pulmonary emobli, or clotting. I asked her what went on behind the scenes that day. Technicians aren't allowed to give evaluations to patients, but they do enough of them to know when to raise the red flag. Apparently, a great big red flag went up that day as they immediately called a radiologist in the hospital who was able to look at the scan, then ordered me to the ER. She was very pleasant, helpful, caring and professional on that day. The fact that we then bumped into each other today, at a race, seems incredibly poetic. That scan symbolized the end of my real season back in June, and here was the technician introducing herself as we prepped for a race.

My swim went fine. They sent all of the relays in the first heat. In this race, it's common to get some fast high school swimmers doing relays. I had no idea how it would play out. I was somewhere between "get near the front from the start and hold on," to "stay under control so you don't fade at the end." For nearly the entire 425 yards, a high school swimmer in the next lane over was the only one in front of me, about two body lengths ahead. When I got out of the pool, however, I heard I was the first one out of the water. Huh? Apparently, he swam an extra 100 yards. Whoops. Here's the run to T1:

While Nate was out attacking the 14 mile bike course and riding in front, Leah and I got ready for the run. We ran the first part of the course, then she threw in some stretching:

3 miles is a good distance for a 10 year old. I warned her about the adrenaline rush that we all get at the start of a race and to keep it slow and steady. She didn't exactly remember. This is Leah heading out as the FIRST runner on the course:

The run was all on a great trail system, and included a "bridge":

She struggled with side stitches and a knee she hurt in ballet this week, but kept fighting the whole way. With about 1/3 of a mile to go, a 12 year old girl passed us. According to plan, Leah then told me to run ahead to get a picture of her at the finish. So I ran up to the other girl, passed her, and glanced back. Leah was much closer than I expected. So I ran harder. And looked. She was still there. With about 100 yards to go, I looked and saw Leah with a huge lead on the other girl. Unbelievable. There was no way I could get to the finish line and prepare for a picture, so this is what I got:

It wasn't an easy run for her. She fought pain and fatigue, walking when she needed to, and beat it all to have a strong finish. I'm very proud of her! Here's the team:

So that's it for the 2010 triathlon season. It sure didn't play out the way I expected, and I have no idea what to expect for next year. But I do have great memories from these last two races, and am very appreciative of the support shown by friends.

Let the offseason begin.

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You know the rules....keep yourself safe, put a little joy into your life and those around you who you think may merit it, and never ever- that's never ever- pass up an opportunity to kiss someone you love.

Race Report: Lobsterman

2010-09-20T19:49:00.006-04:00

This RR should really be called a participation report. The goal wasn't to go fast, but to be there, see everyone again, and enjoy the whole experience. Check, check, CHECK.

To give a full story, I should back up a bit. Due to the coumadin (blood thinner to prevent clotting), I can't ride a bike on the road. If I crashed, I'd be in a heap of trouble because the bleeding wouldn't stop easily. So I decided to do a relay, and was fortunate to get Jeff Fisher to take the bike portion. We've gotten to know each other over the last couple of years, partly because we're very close in triathlon ability. He's a great biker. My swim and his bike cancel each other out, and we're similar runners.

Getting ready for the race was humorous. Everything was packed away from early June, so Friday night was occupied by digging all of it out. Later on, I discovered that I forgot a bunch of stuff, like my mixed water bottles in the fridge, etc. And that was without bike preparation which has the most stuff.

Driving to Freeport was filled with excitement and anticipation. The music was loud, the sun was dawning on a beautiful (and cold) morning, and I couldn't wait to get there. When I turned onto the access road, Rocky's Eye of the Tiger was playing and I could hardly hold it all in. I hadn't been a part of a race since early June- in other words, nearly all of the season.

The best part of the day was reconnecting with friends I hadn't seen for so long. I knew how they raced this summer, but that's weak. I wanted to really catch up. I was also touched by all of the concern ind interest people showed about my ordeal. The support makes a huge difference in how I deal with all of this uncertainty and change.

Going in, I told myself it was about participating, not racing. The docs have told me I won't have clotting issues, but warn me not to go to hard and get injured. It was also about a certain mindset. Call it a result of a new-found appreciation for the gift we have in being able to be a part of this great sport in the beautiful surroundings of Maine.

All of the relays and aquavelos started in the fourth wave. I figured it was better to try and stay wide of the crowds so I maintained the enjoyment factor. Normally I start in the front row and quickly get clear of the masses. This day I started in the second row and had to swim with my head up while the group got sorted out. Finally I was able to get to the right side and clear water. I maintained a comfortable pace, one I could stay at for a long time. I only accelerated around the buoys to get clear of the pile-ups. After the first leg, it seemed like everyone took each leg in a wide arc. While I could be wrong, I think I was fairly straight and in clear water the rest of the way. And I enjoyed every minute of it. As it turned out, my time, while not where it usually is, was better than I expected.

When I stood up at the end of the swim, my instincts took over. I started stripping my wetsuit off down to my waist while running up to T1. I know I didn't need to because I was just handing the timing chip off to Jeff, but it was reassuring that my instincts are still there.

As for Jeff and his bike.....whoa. Mr. Sandbagger had the fastest split of the day among all of the relays and triathletes. 25 miles (or so) in 1:00:19. He gave it everything he had, even though he knew that wasn't my objective. That's just the kind of guy he is. Thanks, Jeff!

I started the run nice and comfortable. Even though the first mile has a long uphill that I took my time on, I was very pleased to see my split of 7:35- about 35 seconds faster than I've been training. That pace held very steady for the first half. Finally, friends doing the triathlon started catching me. I sped up to run with them (6:45ish) for about half a mile, then would back off until the next one came along. This repeated three times, and I thoroughly enjoyed every single one. It felt great running shoulder to shoulder again. I was also really impressed with how hard Chris, Jared and Bob were working. They stayed strong, but there was nothing extra in their tanks. Now that I think about it, I saw that with many of the 800 athletes out there. They left everything out on the course. Very impressive. Hours after finishing (about 4 1/2 hours after the start), I saw a guy trying to finish the "run" and dealing with leg cramps. I stopped to talk with him, asked if he needed anything, and reassured him that he was close and there were no more uphills remaining. He worked just as hard as those who won.

If you can forgive a momentary detour from this feel-good report, I need to rant a bit about the drafting. As I was running out over the first two miles, I saw three different groups, each with 5-15 riders, tightly bunched together. Give me a break! They know damn well what the rules are, and blatantly break them. It's cheating. There's no other way to describe it, other than cheating. I'm not talking about a small bunch with a few folks passing others so there's a temporary overlap. These were two wide, eight long, a just feet between them. I was so pissed at them I yelled. I wondered if I was being a jerk, maybe I should just focus on the fun day and let it go....But I didn't. I've heard a few too many stories about races in Maine where this is happening. It isn't safe, and it's cheating. The other thing I don't understand is that as triathletes, we derive satisfaction from an inner feel of how we did on the day. How can they look at themselves in the mirror and give an honest assessment of their performance? Drafting is faster and easier. And it's cheating. I did see two official motorcycles out there, but not in the right place. Looking at the results, I see 11 athletes with penalties. The first male with a penalty finished in 107th. Sure, penalties will happen, and drafting sometimes happens. So my guess is these 11 fall into the category of what typically happens in a "clean" race. I'm not sure what needs to happen to stop this trend. More officials? Is there anything we as competitors can do? It's really frustrating.

Phew. Got that off my chest.

I finished the run in 47:46, a 7:42 average. I was thrilled with that. I know I can get back into good shape now. It was a great day, and I'm still filled with the great experience. We ended up 6th out of 62 teams. Given the objective, that's very satisfactory. It was also great to see so many teams entered.

Next week.......the CELT Sprint. I have Nate Smith biking and Leah is running. I'm not sure who else will be there, but I'm thinking there's an outside chance that Leah could start the run in first place. I can hold my own in the pool swim, and Nate's a strong biker. That would be fun!

Again, thanks for all of the good wishes!

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You know the rules....keep yourself safe, put a little joy into your life and those around you who you think may merit it, and never ever- that's never ever- pass up an opportunity to kiss someone you love.

Speed Golf: Two Sports Collide

2010-09-06T20:16:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago I launched into an uninformed, impromptu game of speed golf. I ran around the 9-hole Castine Golf Club with a full bag of clubs in about 47 minutes. The next day was 42 minutes. Upon returning home, I looked up the rules of speed golf, and was pleased at what I saw. The score is the sum of your time in minutes and shots taken, you play with between one and six clubs, and you don't pull the pin.

Last weekend we returned to Castine, and I couldn't wait to try again, this time using the real rules. I gave a great deal of thought as to how I should approach it. Sort of like a triathlon, the right equipment is critical. The first task was to choose a pair of shoes-

The golf shoes have a better grip while swinging and stay fairly dry, while the running shoes are the most comfortable and possibly the fastest. I went with the train running shoes, figuring they would stay drier than my road shoes. Good choice. Speed golf happens early in the morning when there is a nice layer of dew.

Club selection comes next. I wanted to take a minimalist approach, figuring 1-3 clubs would be easy to carry. A critical part of golf is choosing the right club for the distance required. That's why most golfers carry something like 14 clubs. Using only three obviously gives you far fewer options. I went with a 5-iron, pitching wedge and putter-

My 3-wood, an obvious candidate, just isn't reliable enough. Or better said, the guy using the damn club isn't consistent enough with it. If I ever get comfortable with it, I think that's the next addition. For some good golfers, they should be able to reach a par-4 with two 5-iron shots. The club is fairly versatile, working well in the fairway and slightly longer grass. Also, it's my club of choice on the par-3 second. The other par-3, the 4th, is a 7-iron for me, so I just hoped I could take something off of my swing to make it work. As it turns out, it worked well.

As for other equipment, I decided to carry 9 balls because I'm really not very good at the normally dumb game of golf. I can easily lose a bunch of balls in a round. I don't always lose them to the woods or water, either. Sometimes I just don't pay attention or lose sight of the ball on an otherwise good shot, and can't find it. As it turns out, because I was playing with a 5-iron as my longest club, the ball pretty much stayed in front of me, and I only lost four on day one and one on day two. For calories, I took a banana, which was completely smushed when I reached for it after the first nine holes. I included a small towel in the hopes it would cut down on the bouncing fanny pack. I think it probably made it worse, so I ditched it on day two.

So I got everything ready, warmed up with a bunch of swings, an teed off. Here's a view of the first fairway. Those white spots are seagulls hanging out. They actually posed a problem due the the feathers they shed here and there. Due to my aforementioned inability to follow a shot, little white puffs on the course look and awful lot like little white golf balls, so I ended up going around in circles a bunch of times trying to find my ball.

So I whacked the little white ball around the course, and actually played fairly well. Most importantly, I had a blast. Normally it takes over two hours to play just nine holes due to all of the waiting around for others to hit, etiquette, club selection and shot preparation. I finished 18 holes in 1:10. Day two was exactly the same. As I ran up to the ball, I looked at the pin, slope of the lie, etc, knew what club I needed, whether I needed to choke up, got my feet set, paused and took another whack. I'd watch the initial trajectory of the short, pick up my other two clubs, start running, and try to pick up where the ball was landing.

Sometimes I think all of the deliberate work golfers put in is counterproductive. They get psyched out. This way, there was no time for that. There was also no time to get really frustrated with my game. I wasn't dwelling on how lousy the last shot was because I was on to the next shot so quickly.

Many pure golfers think this whole thing is a load of crap. Something about the purity of the game. You need to think of speed golf as a completely new sport. A whole new paradigm. Then you can appreciate the fact that it's a great combination of aerobic activity, interval running, and calm, precise shot making. It's a lot like biathlon where they cross country ski and shoot rifles in the Olympics.

On Monday, day 2, I made a few adjustments. First, I was tired of fishing for tees in my pack during the round, so I loaded up my laces with what I thought would be enough. You can see here I started with six:

Unfortunately, I lost or forgot three tees in just the first five holes, so I had to start scrounging for leftover tees, most which were broken. As it turned out, I made it to the end without a problem.

Other adjustments included swapping the banana for a Powerbar, ditching the towel, and going with just six balls. My golf game was far worse on day 2 as I added a whopping 12 shots. When you look at the card below, you'll see I am obviously not much of a golfer. I just don't understand how people can play 18 holes, multiple times a week while doing everything else in life. Sure, triathlon takes some time, but it's generally just 1-2 hours. Anyway, I only play a couple of times per year. Having said that, I wonder how many shots I give up without a full bag of clubs.

The 37:47, 31:56, 34:40 and 33:51 are my times. The 178 and 189 are my speed golf scores.

So if anyone out there is interested, I'd love to do some more of this around here. Just let me know.

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You know the rules....keep yourself safe, put a little joy into your life and those around you who you think may merit it, and never ever- that's never ever- pass up an opportunity to kiss someone you love.

Clearance

2010-08-31T19:54:00.010-04:00

Last week we had a great vacation on Peaks Island. The ocean has always been magical for me. I can just stare at the waves, currents, wind, boat and animals for hours on end. So the view from the house was great. For those of you that know Casco Bay, Cushing Is. is on the right, Ram and the Ram Is. light are on the left, and Cape Elizabeth is in the distance.

We loaded up the boat and launched it at Falmouth Town Landing. Now this is the way to go on vacation.....

We made rock towers of all sorts....

enjoyed sunsets looking back at Portland.......

and Nick made the jump off of the ferry pier.

Personally, I found time every day to nap, read, and play (occasionally too) ferocious games of spit with Leah. I also ran every day. That was six days in a row, starting with 4 miles, and ended with 5 miles on the last three days. The 5 mile race course is marked at intersections and mile markers, so it was easy to keep track of my pace. For a race that generally goes around the perimeter of an island, it's surprisingly hilly. Without too much straining, I got my pace down to 8:30, which is promising.

On Saturday afternoon, I got a pain in my ribs which made me a bit nervous. Was another clot lodging in my lungs? I took Sunday off from exercise, and the pain gradually went away. Today I went to see my doctor, as previously scheduled, and he said it's likely scar tissue in the sack around the lungs.

Importantly, I asked about activity levels. The message was pretty clear- he isn't concerned about further clotting as long as I'm on Coumadin. That means I can go hard. His only concern is doing too much, too fast, and ending up with some sort of injury. So I have clearance to get back at it! That's a great feeling.

I'm signed up for the Lobsterman relay, doing the swim and run, and Jeff F. will be my biker. He's a great guy, always friendly, and a fierce competitor. We've traded off "wins" for a few years now in triathlons. His strength is on the bike, and will go 100%. He also realizes I'm in the race to participate, not to race. I'm there to see friends, watch the race, enjoy the atmosphere, and thank volunteers.

On a more somber note....a friend recently had a serious medical issue. Like me, they were in great shape and very healthy. It's easy for some of us to feel invincible- we put ourselves under so much physical stress and break down mental barriers that we feel nothing can take us down. But that simply isn't true. We are all vulnerable. In the Portland area, I can think of four or five good athletes who have had serious to life threatening issues this summer. Pleeeease make sure your affairs are in order while you still have options available. Treasure what you have. And realize that we rely on many people in order to take on this sport.

I look forward to seeing many of you on Saturday, September 18th in Freeport. It'll be a blast!

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You remember the rules.....Keep yourself safe, put a little joy into your life and those around you who you think may merit it, and never ever- that's never ever- pass up an opportunity to kiss someone you love.

Still Wondering

2010-08-18T20:18:00.005-04:00

Like life and a training season, I’ve had a bunch of ups and downs for the last few weeks. The head games continue as we try to figure out why I had pulmonary emboli in the first place. Everything has come back negative, which is good and bad. It’s good that I don’t have the scary stuff they’ve tested for, but it’s bad that I’m left hanging.

I’ve met all sorts of people who either had something related to PEs, are or were on Coumadin, or know someone who is. After each conversation, I try to apply it to my situation. I then extrapolate that out into the future and think about how it will affect me. Will I be able to ride a bike on the road? Will I be able to put in hard efforts in any sport? Will I be able to work out for more than 30 minutes?

One person, a father in perhaps the most intelligent family I’ve ever come across, was a professor of physiology. He suggested effort caused the problem. The thought of not going for a long run or ride, or not doing hard intervals, was depressing. I love that stuff. I use to go to the track early in the morning, descend intervals, set a goal for the last one, and when I reached it, have a little celebration. I badly want to do that again, but don’t know if it will be possible. After further consideration of his theory, it doesn’t add up, but that doubt still lingers.

Another person broke her hip after doing three marathons in a month (!!), was on Coumadin for a year, and likely won’t get back to that level of running. She did most of her running on trails, loving every moment of it, and could relate firsthand to the possibility that I won’t compete like I used to. She had good advice for me, saying I need to mourn the loss if that is indeed what happens.

I got up early one morning while on vacation last week. It was stunning outside. Clear sky, the sun was just coming up, it was nice and warm, and it was quiet- the world wasn’t up yet. I really wanted to go out for a few hours and run or ride, leaving everything on the road (figuratively speaking). But that isn’t in the cards yet. I have been doing some shorter runs, however. I’m going about 3.5 miles at a 9 minute pace. I generally feel fine. In the pool, I'm up to 2600 meters.

After three days in a row of running, however, I had some chest pain, so I figured I should take it easy the next day. I went for a walk, and when I got back, realized I had time for some golf. We stay about 200 yards from the first tee, so I grabbed my bag and headed over. I kept moving along, only taking one warm-up swing at a time, and finished nine holes in just 1:07. When I was done, I was told I just missed the record- 48 minutes by a 60 year old (that doesn’t sound like “just missed” to me). I had no idea there was a record. You can take the man out of the competition, but you can’t take the competition out of the man. I showed up the next day, ran with a full bag of clubs, a finished in 47 minutes. It’s actually a great workout. Although on a very different scale, I felt like a biathlete- they cross country ski really hard, then need to calm down enough to take an accurate rifle shot. Two days later, I finished in 42 minutes. Since then, I’ve learned the real “speed golf” rules (the most significant being that you carry between one and six clubs vs. a full bag), and will give it another shot over Labor Day weekend.

I head to Boston on September 10 for the next phase of doctor work. I feel really good about the doctor I decided on. She’s experienced and has very good credentials. Importantly, she has also been an athlete herself. So she can relate to my desire to get back out there. “Coumadin for life” won’t be the easy way out for her. It might be the ultimate answer, but not until the traditional and cutting edge work is exhausted.

I’ve been told it takes six to eight weeks for clots to clear. This Friday is eight weeks. Something tells me that deserves a bit of a celebration.

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You know the rules....keep yourself safe, put a little joy into your life and those around you who you think may merit it, and never ever- that's never ever- pass up an opportunity to kiss someone you love.

Looking for Help in the 21st Century

2010-07-26T21:06:00.008-04:00

As I said in my last post, I'm headed to Boston for further analysis. The docs in Maine, while solid, just don't specialize enough. In Boston, I might end up with an academic-based doctor who can spend the time figuring me out. At this point, however, I don't know who I'm going to see. I have one recommendation from my hematologist, but I want to make sure we get this step right. As a result, I'm trying to leverage the internet. I'm calling on all readers and friends who know someone- or know someone who knows someone- to pass this along.

Specifically, I'm looking for a doctor who specializes in blood clotting disorders in otherwise healthy subjects- even better, someone who includes strong endurance athletes in their work- especially those who have no other freakin' symptoms.

Here's a rundown of what we know:

First, the short story. No other symptoms or risk factors- other than the clotting itself. In other words, a total mystery.

Now the long story. I'm a successful endurance athlete (triathlons), training 10-11 hours per week. Before the ER, had chest pain and felt like I was training at altitude. I occasionally spit up a small amount of bright red blood, generally after exercise. No family history or other typical risk factors (flights, dehydration, etc.). No DVTs. Lower right lung adalectisis. Both pulmonary arteries about 90% blocked, additional clotting, especially on the right side. Cardiac echos were fine. Mildly prominent prostate. Otherwise clear abdominal contrast CT scan. Pleural-based opacities within lower lobes. Upon arrival to the ER, thrombotic risk profile all within normal, including Factor 5 Leiden. Tested for PNH and to determine PSA, waiting for results, very doubtful. Currently on 12.5 mg. warfarin with an INR of 3.1. I'm happy to provide more details or doctors' files.

So for those reading this post who know a doctor who might have a suggestions, please pass this along. My future athletics may rely on finding the right person.

There's also a bigger picture here. First, if I have a genetic disorder, a day will come when my kids should know about it. Second, if this is a result of some sort of confluence of events or factors, there's a good chance other endurance athletes should know about it. Their lives may depend upon it.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Christmas Eve In July

2010-07-26T19:33:00.008-04:00

I think it's about time for some good news- which started coming in about the time I wrote my last post, and hasn't let up since then.

I'll start with the medical stuff. First, the abdominal CT scan, looking for tumors, came back negative. That was a major relief. Even though two doctors told me they seriously doubted I'd be positive, it was still nerve-wracking. Next came the latest INR reading, which was a robust 3.1. To put this in perspective, 3.5 is about as extreme as they go, which is for those who have mechanical heart valves. Now I get to have two weeks between blood tests instead of one.

The downside to all of this is that we still don't know what caused the clots. That's important because it can determine how long I'm on Coumadin. I know it will be at least six months. But if we don't find a cause, it could be a lifetime. That means no more bike riding on the road, which means no triathlons, and other activities could be eliminated such as skiing, ocean sailing and trail running. Needless to say, we still want to find the cause. As a result, I'll go to Boston for some far more advanced analysis. The search for the most appropriate doctor will be the subject of my next post.

When I saw the pulmonologist last week, I asked again about activity limitations. He said I could start back on the path to recovery, keeping my heartrate to no more than 60-80% of max. Excitement building. So I can go for a run? Yes. Great! "But I wouldn't do a road race until you've been on Coumadin for 3 months." Wahoo!!! I burst out laughing. Are you joking? The suggestion that I could do a road race two months from now gave me a huge lift. Not that I have anything planned, or will even feel ready for one by that point, but just having the prospect of being able to handle that kind of activity was a great moment. I decided then and there I'd go for a run on Thursday morning.

On Monday, I returned to the pool for the first time. It was great to see everyone, even though I received a few worried glances- Are you sure you can do this? Are you going to start bleeding all over the place? During the summer, we swim at an outdoor 25m pool in Portland. The water is crisp, clear and clean. I hopped in, swam down to the other end, turned, and pushed off. The feeling of streamlining off the wall was great. I only went 600m, but it felt incredible to be back in the pool. On Tuesday, I did a light spin on the bike, and on Wednesday returned to the pool for 1400m. The increase was after the doc said I could safely pick things up.

That night, we were hit by a series of huge thunderstorms. Leah freaked out, so she took my place in bed and I ended upstairs in the guestroom. Between the storm, stuffy air, allowing the dog to take shelter in the room, and sleeping in a twin bed (not great for someone who is 6' 2"), I didn't sleep very well. But the real reason for the lack of sleep was the anticipation for the run. It was like Christmas Eve as a kid. I finally got up around 4 and watched a bit of a movie. Then at 5, I headed out. I decided to alternate half miles walk/run, times three. It's a flat out-and-back, and I know the mileage markers. Those first running strides made my day. Sure, the legs felt heavy, slow and unstable. But I was running. I didn't care about the speed, and in fact kept it slow to keep my heartrate down. I had an ear-to-ear grin the entire way. The sun came up through the morning mist. The temperature was a perfect 70 degrees. U2's It's a Beautiful Day played. And I was running down the road. It's hard to accurately describe the feeling. I was on top of the world. It was the best Christmas in July.

Since then, I've had a few more runs and swims. It still feels great.

....................................

“You remember the rules. Keep yourself safe. Put a little joy into your life and those around you who you think may merit it. And never ever- that’s never ever- pass up an opportunity to kiss someone you love.”

"You Were Very, Very Fortunate"

2010-07-18T12:29:00.003-04:00

On July 4, 1939, at Yankee Stadium, Lou Gherig’s stepped to the microphone. Disabled by ALS, a disease that would claim his life two years later, he proclaimed, “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. That I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for.” Here’s a baseball and sports icon, thinking he’s lucky. He was giving up the game he loved, and knew his days were numbered. I’m beginning to understand.

Now don’t jump to any conclusions. At this point in time, I expect to be healthy and competing again. I don’t believe my life is in danger. However I’m beginning to understand just how close I did come to death. (It’s hard to write that word.) And this is helping me to look at my life in a different light, to appreciate and treasure and value that which is really most important.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been busy with medical appointments and plenty of blood draws. The major task has been to get my INR up to an acceptable level. The International Normalization Ratio shows how easily your blood clots. Most people are under 1. By taking Coumadin, my target is somewhere around 2.5, which should prevent further clotting. Given the extensive clotting and blockages, in particular in both pulmonary arteries, a further clot on top of what I already have could easily be fatal. The pulmonary artery takes blood from the heart to the lungs, splitting in two, one for each lung. Then the blood vessels keep splitting and branching out until they are tiny capillaries, at which point the blood absorbs oxygen, goes back to the heart, then out to the entire body. If blood can’t get through the lungs, no oxygen gets to the body and all of the organs- including the brain and heart. That isn’t good. My INR was taking its sweet time getting up to an acceptable level. It was only 1.2 when I got out of the hospital, then 1.6 around July 4th, 1.7, then it actually dropped to 1.6. Throughout, we kept increasing the Coumadin dosage. The dosing is taken very seriously- the drug is also used as rat poison. Take too much, and you bleed out.

All of the testing for genetic blood clotting disorders came back negative. That’s good, however the cause remains a mystery. As a result, my doctor referred me to a hematologist. In doing so, he warned me that outside of major metro areas that allow for medical specialization, hematologists are also oncologists, and the office I would be visiting was at the Maine Center for Cancer Medicine. He doesn’t think I have cancer, and didn’t want me to panic when I saw where I was going. I thanked him- without fully appreciating his warning.

When we returned from a weekend in Castine, I had mail waiting for me. It was a welcome package and forms to fill in before my appointment. I sat down. Wow. I’m filling in forms for a visit to a cancer office. Cancer. Cancer. What am I getting into? To make matters worse, I started Googling “cancer and blood clots.” I went from bad to worse. Then Christine started doing the same. Now two of us were in a tailspin. Then Nick walked in the room and saw the brochure from the Cancer Center. He paused, looked up and essentially asked if I had cancer. We explained that that’s just where the office was, and we’re just checking anyway. I’m not sure how affected he was- as a typical 14 year old, he doesn’t show excessive emotion.

So on Wednesday, I went to the hematologist. Walking in was tough. Here’s the sign that greeted me:

Checking in and going through the normal procedures was depressing. I prayed that I wasn’t going to become a long-term visitor of this office. They even took a picture of me for the computer file. I asked why, and she said, “we have a lot of people with the same name, so this helps.” Now that I think about it, I don’t buy it. That’s what birthdates, addresses and social security numbers are for. I wonder if it’s so they can see how patients’ appearances change over time- while they’re going through treatment. Not exactly a comforting thought.

To make a long story short, I’m going for another CT scan this week, this time for my lower abdomen- to look for tumors. As the doc in the hospital said, clots come from the legs and malignancies. I don’t have anything in my legs, so….. The hematologist really doesn’t think we’re going to find anything. At that point, we will probably do much more specific genetic blood work. My primary care doc completely agrees. Neither covers things up, so I trust their opinions. If I had a type of blood cancer, some of the earlier blood tests would have raised a red flag. And I still have zero additional symptoms. We just have to look for cancer so we can eliminate it as a possibility.

As we reviewed my CT scan from three weeks ago that showed the clots, the hematologist said to me, “you were very, very fortunate,” and explained that it’s very easy to die from what I had. That comment stuck with me. First, I began to realize how close I really came- something like 1.5 millimeters. That isn’t much. Second, and most importantly, I’ve turned around what he said. Instead of “were,” I say “are.” Or in the first person, “I am very, very fortunate.”

Being hit with significant bilateral pulmonary embolisms could prove to be one of the most influential experiences of my life. It has caused me to refocus back on my core values- my family, my health, and my work. In Christine, I have the best and most loving wife in the world. I have two great kids who are healthy. As a family, we are fortunate to live where we do and do the things we do. Nick and Leah will grow up and be great contributors to this world in some still to be determined way. By “great,” I don’t mean famous or monumental. I mean they will be positive contributors, even if it’s in a very localized way. And after all, isn’t that the most important thing we can leave behind?

I am incredibly fortunate to have done the physical things I have done. I love sports and competitions. Some of my clearest positive memories come from high school and college swimming. I don’t remember many times, but I do remember those moments- the great personal breakthrough races where I helped my team. As for triathlon, how many people even get to participate, much less achieve what I’ve done? Two Ironmans, tons of shorter races, all resulting in a spot earned on Team USA. I am incredibly fortunate to have progressed without injury. But honestly, if I had to choose between those accomplishments and all of the people I’ve met through the sport, there’s no doubt I’d take the latter. This is a group that wants to go faster than the next guy given every opportunity in the water or on the road- but when it’s over, helps each other out in any and every way possible. It’s a striking dichotomy and a great tribute to the sport. Triathlon can be a very lonely sport, and one that tests each individual almost daily during solo training sessions. It’s the unending support and camaraderie that gets us through to the next workout and race.

Again, don’t get me wrong- I have every intention of working hard and being competitive again. It will be done in a new light and in a new context, however. Greetings and conversations will be a bit longer and more sincere. There will be better balance in my life. I will look across the lake and view the road ahead with greater appreciation for how fortunate I am to be able to swim, bike and run at that moment and in that location.

And for my family, hugs last a little longer. I’m a better listener, especially for the meaning behind the words. And my life balance is better. I am incredibly fortunate to have had this scare, to have survived, and to have learned from it.

....................................

“You remember the rules. Keep yourself safe. Put a little joy into your life and those around you who you think may merit it. And never ever- that’s never ever- pass up an opportunity to kiss someone you love.”

Head Games

2010-07-01T20:42:00.003-04:00

First things first. In general, I feel better. I've been on blood thinners for almost a week now, and am told the risk of a further clot forming is extremely low.

That space between my ears, however, is messed up. I know it's normal, but that doesn't make it easier. I've become a hypochondriac, sensing every little sensation, wondering if something is going to go wrong. When I walked out of the hospital on Sunday, I felt like a ticking time bomb. Since then, I've begun to educate myself on what happened. Most clots come from the legs, and can first present themselves as tight or swollen calf muscles. What's that twinge in my calf? Is a clot about to dislodge, travel to my lungs and plant itself on top of my 85% blocked artery and kill me? I've learned that getting a massage, a perfectly normal solution, can help release them. Why is my chest tight? Airplane rides right after a race can also increase the chances of a problem. Why do my ribs hurt? I feel fine, I'd love to go for a run. I hope I don't drop dead. I can't wait to get back in the pool. I'm told this is much like post-traumatic stress disorder and is normal. Which in a strange way, is comforting.

I'm discovering that there are enough endurance athletes out there that have clotting issues and PEs that some work is being done on the topic. It's incredible how with several "life challenges/tragedies" we find they are more common than we ever imagined. I've made contact with two other triathletes- a 59 yr old male in VT who is still on coumadin but is back competing, and a 29 year old woman in CA who is currently in the hospital. Marit just had a few great workouts, went to the doctor, and landed in the ER with PEs and DVTs (deep venous thrombosis, or clots in the legs). Misery loves company. And given the lack of knowledge among many doctors, more awareness of the issues is a good thing.

A few seemingly small lifestyle changes serve as reminders of what happened and how things will be different. Two days ago I ordered medical alert bracelets. If I'm in some sort of accident, medics need to know I'm on coumadin. I'm not who I (thought I) was. Yesterday I walked to CVS to buy an electric razor. While a small cut won't be life treatening, it likely won't stop easily. I'm not who I (thought I) was. I can't ride a bike on the road as long as I'm on coumadin. A fall could either be life threatening (head) or a major problem (an other internal bruising or bleeding). I'm not who I (thought I) was. I need to really think twice before I go sailing, and certainly racing. Cuts and bruises can certainly occur, and it might not be easy to get to shore. I'm not who I (thought I) was.

Without a doubt, all of this has certainly helped put things in perspective. Family is number one. At the height of the crisis, I thought I might never be with Christine again or that I would see my kids again. Those are terrifying thoughts. Last night I acted, in a small way, on this new perspective. We went to a Winterkids fundraiser that had a silent auction and one item in the live auction- two hours of snowboarding with 2-time gold medalist Seth Wescott at Sugarloaf, followed by diner at his restaurant. It made zero economic sense, but I bought/won it with friends. Telling Nick he was going to ride with Seth and seeing his expression was worth every nickle. This will be an experience he will never forget.

As for workouts, I've walked about 2 miles every day. I can't go harder because my lungs can't absorb oxygen, and therefore my organs can't get the oxygen they need. As the clots start to dissolve, I'll be able to do more. I don't know how long it will take, but it will get better.

As for Budapest, the race is off. In fact, as I said, I can't take my bike out on the road for a while- at least until I get off of the coumadin. While crashes are very rare, they do happen. We've all seen them or been part of one. It became a very easy decision to make when I understood the risks. I don't have to like it, but it was easy. I worked damn hard to make the team, and badly wanted to wear the uniform and compete at that level. But living is more important.

Finally, I'd like to share with you something that I hear at 4:00 most days. I never get tired of it. Our head of operations on the floor of the NYSE, who talks to us every two hours (if we listen in), is a great man. He has had several family tragedies in his life, losing his wife and daughter. 9/11 also hit him very hard. Since then, he closes each day with the following. I suggest you take his suggestion:

"And you know the rules- keep yourslf safe, put a little joy into your life and those around you who you think may merit it, and never ever- that's never ever- pass up an opportunity to kiss someone you love."

I am either a freak or a post-menopausal, overweight woman who smokes and just returned from Australia

2010-06-28T05:56:00.007-04:00

There were moments when I feared for my life. That I wouldn't every see my kids again or live out all of my shared dreams with Christine.

So much has happened since my last post . At that point, I thought I would just live with the discomfort, see how things go, and gradually build up my training. But after this weekend, I'm grateful to be alive, see how things go, and look forward to taking a walk.

After encouraging training over the weekend, I took Monday off to go to Boston for work. On Tuesday I biked in the AM and swam at noon. Even did some good fly. On Wednesday morning, I went for an easy 6 mile run. The effort felt like a 7:15 pace, but Mr. Garmin said it was abut 8:40. I also had to walk three times. Walk. I walked not because of paid, but because I was gassed. [As a side story, near the end, I passed a guy who I see on the road many times a week. A little while ago we saw each other at an event, and realized we both know Angela. He was aware of her great achievements in triathlons. That morning, he said, "I saw you almost got Angela in that race (Pirate Tri). Nice work!" Sure, rub it in.] Wednesday noon brought a slow swim workout. All of these efforts made me feel like I was at altitude- I just couldn't get enough air in.

That afternoon, I had some sudden chest pain to the right of my sternum. Since it was to the right, I figured it wasn't a heart issue, so soldier on. I went out to dinner with my business partners. When I got home, it hurt too much to bend over to untie my shoes or even take a half breath. In addition, I have been spitting up more blood than last week. The next day I did a very easy bike on my trainer, being careful not to breathe so hard that I would cause pain in my chest. In the afternoon, Christine and I went to see our doctor, Jim. He was still thoroughly confused, but said he talked with a pulmonologist, who threw out the wild idea of a PE, or pulmonary embolism, or clot in my lungs. Jim said it didn't make sense, but was willing to try anything. He also said that in case it is, my exercise was now limited to tying my shoes until I got clearance to do more.

On Friday afternoon, we went to see the lung doc, who checked me out, performed some lung function tests, then sent me to another location for a contrast CT scan and more blood work. Last week's CT was to look for tumors. For this one, they injected a dye in my arm, at which point they had about 60 seconds to take pictures. It would allow them to see clots that wouldn't have shown up on last week's test. We did the test, and I returned to the waiting room. Minutes later, my world came crashing down.

The technician and radiologist came out and said they saw multiple clots in my lungs (I later learned 20+), and some were large. They had called an ambulance and were taking me to the Maine Medical Center ER. My brain immediately went to....clot, stroke, dead. My kids aren't with me, and I'll never see them again. This could be the end. I'll never be with Christine again. I can't be too dramatic here. Tears flowed.

There were times when I tried to stay calm. Panic wouldn't help anything. I remember the ambulance guy coming in and asking how I was doing. My response? "Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?"

As for the CT scan, both the lung doc and Jim were shocked by what they saw. It just doesn't fit. I have ZERO risk factors. The most common candidate for a PE? A post-menopausal, overweight woman who smokes and was just on a long flight. Yeah, that's me. I can't tell you how many times I was asked the same list of 20 questions in an attempt to find something that makes sense. Nothing fits. They drew a gallon of blood, some of which went to testing. We'll get results in a few days that might help figure this all out.

Back to the CT scan waiting room. They assured me that there was no risk of a clot going to my brain. You need a hole in your heart, between the left and right atriums for that to happen, and I had a clean echo last week. Fast forward to the ER. A very good friend, Ed, a cardiologist, was on site. It's normal for PE patients in the ER to get an echo, so the technician came in. As she was almost done, Ed arrived, and she pointed to one possible abnormality. He wasn't sure, but agreed to do a "bubble test" where they inject small bubbles in my IV. We watched on the screen as they filled one side of the heart, and sure enough, leaked through to the other side. A PFO is something that between 15 and 25% of the population has, most without every knowing it. When in utero, the lungs don't function, and there's a hole in the heart. That hole is closed by two overlapping flaps after birth, but not for me. PFOs are nothing to get worried about.....unless you have clots. Great. To make a long story short, it was another scare, makes me nervous, but intellectually is not a concern.

They moved me from the ER up to a room at 11PM. The next day, I saw Jim. He was incredibly relieved that we now know what's going on. I was, in turn, relieved to see his relief. I asked a bunch of questions and tried to remember the answers. The subject of Budapest came up. There are two primary risks with the trip. First is the flight- both the air pressure and the long inactivity. Second, a bike crash while on coumadin would not be good. Time has to go by for us to get a handle on this. At this point, I'd be thrilled to still go on the trip, put the uniform on, and just finish. It's funny to think I've had trouble coming up with a goal for this race. Now it's just to finish in one piece. As an aside, I dropped out of Urban Epic last week and Bethel last night. I'm leaving Fireman on the list in the event that we are able to go to Budapest.

On Saturday night, I had an echo on my legs. It was around 9PM, and my family had all gone home. As I lay there, she seemed to keep working on certain areas, pushing lots of buttons, etc. Given my recent track record, I was sure there was more bad news on its way. Fortunately, I tested negative for Deep Vein Thrombosis, or clots in the legs. While that's good, we're left wondering where they came from since 85% of clots come from the legs.

Most of my time in the hospital was spent in the waiting room or walking the loop around the floor. It was kind of funny how the nurses and doctors had to keep chasing me down to draw blood, take vitals, whatever. The whole time I had five leads taped to my front and a bulky wireless transmitter. This made sleeping rather difficult, in addition to the "just in case" IV sticking in my arm. At one point I was walking circles, carrying my transmitter and iPhone in the same hand. That caused some panic with my nurse as the phone caused my HR to read too high, setting off alarms.

Which reminds me of another funny story. While in the ER, I had all sorts of wires attached, and a monitor above my head that I could read. One of the numbers and graphs showed my respiratory rate. I found I could control the shape of the white line with my breath. So I slowed my breathing to 7 (per minute?), which would set off an alarm. I got a kick out of it during a pretty stressful time. Whatever works.

On Sunday morning, I learned I would go home that day. While talking with the doctor, I asked to see the CT scan from Friday. I wanted to visualize what was going on. Most of us have two lungs, and each has a pulmonary artery feeding it blood. My guess is they are about 2 cm. wide. Both of mine were/are about 85% blocked. Holy shit. That isn't far from 100% (not good). That visual will stick with me for a long time. So why was I able to function so well before, even on the day they took me to the ER? It's all about my training. To over-simplify, a "normal" person might use 30% of their lung capacity to walk down the road. If you take away 85%, they're in a deficit. I might need 10% to do the same. Take away 85%, and I still have room to operate. Training, however, also made things worse. We train ourselves to push beyond discomfort and previous limits. If we don't hurt, we aren't working hard enough. We feel something, and assume it will pass or we need to work though it. As a result, I didn't take all of this seriously enough. Now I know what it feels like, and I will not make that same mistake again.

Walking out of the hospital was tough. I felt incredibly vulnerable. The cord was being cut. What if? What if? Apparently, these feelings are very normal, and subside with time and as confidence rebuilds. I already feel better today. I can take a huge breath without pain, the first time in over two weeks. Physically, I know things will get better. Mentally, this is all pretty heavy now. It's life changing, but I realize it's too soon to know exactly how.

One final thing. Through the iPhone and Facebook, many good wishes were received. They were not only a great distraction, but also very comforting and greatly appreciated. Thank you all.

One Hell of a Week

2010-06-18T18:55:00.002-04:00

Whoa. My last race was one to forget, and this week was one that I hope to never repeat. It was scary, reflective, and painful. And frankly, I feel odd throwing it out there for all to read about. But given that it will likely have an impact on my season and partially explains last Sunday's race, it needs to be told. I won't include every detail, but you'll get the picture.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had to quit Saturday's brick run because of the widespread and intense pain/cramping all around my torso. Sunday's sprint tri was a lousy effort, but free of pain. On Monday night, I was feeling uncomfortable in my torso, and asked Christine for a short massage. It felt good when she was doing it, but caused considerable pain and discomfort during the night. It was hard to breathe- I certainly couldn't take a deep breath- and my ribs hurt all around.

So that got me to my doctor, a great D.O., who I've been with for a long time. He poked and prodded front and back, all around my ribs, and tried to see if he could trigger the pain- without success. He drew blood, then sent me for a chest x-ray and said I'd also get an echocardiogram.

That night was the worst of my life. The only position without serious pain was my left side, but my shoulder became very uncomfortable. I took Tylenol or Advil every two hours. At about 2 AM, I tried to roll over, and got stuck. I couldn't move and could only take short, shallow breaths. It was frightening to think of all of the things that could be wrong and what they would mean. While irrational, I kept picturing Lance Armstrong's chest x-ray with all of the golf ball tumors. And triathlon, while on my mind, was WAAAAY down on the list. Sitting or standing was tolerable, so I messed around on the computer for 90 minutes. At that point, I was able to get another hour of sleep.

Wednesday night was a little better, and Thursday was much better. The further away I get from the massage or prodding, the better. Today I had a CT scan in the beautiful new Mercy facility on the Fore River. (By the way, I was in the waiting room for just 2 minutes- I was amazed by the efficiency).

So after blood tests and three diagnostic tests, what's going on? No idea. With only a couple of very minor exceptions, everything looks great. As my doc said, "The good news is we don't know what's going on. The bad news is we don't know what's going on." I have another blood test next week to see how one particular reading has changed. Other than that, his orders are to be my own judge of effort. After taking Mon-Wed off completely as planned, I swam a really slow 1,000 yards yesterday and ran a really slow 2.3 miles today. Both times it took a while to be able to breathe normally. Tomorrow I'll sit on my trainer in the garage (I'm SO excited!) and go for as long as I can tolerate it mentally.

As for Urban Epic, I'll make a judgement at the end of next week. At that point, I'll have two weeks to go and I'll know if I can train up to the level I need to. I don't want to do the race if I'm not in good form- I'd rather wait for Bethel.

In the very remote chance something is really wrong, I don't want to be one of those black swans who is incredibly healthy and keels over. And if this is just going to take some time, that's OK. The big race is in September, and my base is so strong that I can afford to go through this down time.

I look forward to getting past this week.

Race Report: Pirate Tri- One to Forget

2010-06-13T14:59:00.007-04:00

It bothers me to write this report, but it needs to be done. I learned something today, but it had nothing to do with the race. It has to do with training and rest.

Today was my sixth race in four weeks. Week one had two tough bike time trials. Week two had a TT and then a 4 mi road race one hour later. Week three was Mooseman, which turned into a 17 mi bike and 10k run. I've done a descent job sticking with my mid-week training, but the races did have an influence, especially this week. I just didn't have the speed or power that I'm used to. At the same time, I've been sleeping very little for several weeks, partially a result of racing (tough to turn the brain off), partially due to training (early mornings), and partially due to stress at work (wondering what the headlines would be when I wake up).

Then this past Friday, I went for a massage to help with recovery and injury prevention. My mistake was going to my #2 LMT because #1 wasn't available. He beat the crap out of me. That night, I was tossing and turning all night long, unable to get comfortable or even take a really deep breath. The next morning, I was sore getting out of bed. I went out on my scheduled 90 minute ride, which was fine- not great, it seemed a bit tough, but good enough. Then I attempted a 4.2 mile run. I wanted to hit the first 1.5 at race pace because that was my focus for today's race. After just a few strides, my entire torso was cramping up. I made it about 200 yards and had to stop. Hands on knees, deep breaths, try again, this time slower. After 50 yards, I stopped, made a 180, and walked home. I quit. I can't remember the last time I did that. I've cut workouts short, gone slower than planned, but I always did something. I could not have even run 8 min miles, so I bagged the run. Due to a forgiving family schedule, I was able to lie down for about 2 1/2 hours, including an hour of sleep and some World Cup soccer. I felt a little better at that point.

Last night, it still bothered me to take a deep breath. Getting out of bed this morning was better, but I still felt it. I got to the race early so I could get in a short bike and run and probe my body to see what was going on. It was certainly better than yesterday, but my overall energy wasn't there. As the time wore on, my torso felt better.

I swam the course for warmup and felt OK. Then we had the prerace meeting on the beach. As I was wallowing in self pity, a mother and daughter from Camp Sunshine addressed the crowd. The little girl, age 7, was diagnosed with something that sounded like cancer in the retina of her eye when she was 3 months old. She's been through so much in her young life, including having her eye removed. It was a heart wrenching story to begin with, but here's the kicker- her name was Leah, the same as my 8 year old. Life isn't fair, and that easily could be my little girl up there. We are so fortunate to have two healthy kids. That was a big wake up call for me. Who am I to complain about being tired and sore when she's been through so much more?!

The waves went off every three minutes, with the women 30 seconds behind the men. There were a bunch of people I wanted to be competitive with (beat), including Bob (my wave) and Ange (30 seconds back). I hit the first half of the swim pretty well, not seeing any of the lovely pink caps that our wave wore, which frankly, I expected. I got into the prior wave before the first turn and made it through them. At the second turn, heading back to the beach, it was far more crowded, so I took a wide berth. It added distance, but allowed me to swim without dodging nearly as many swimmers. At one point, I passed someone and basically caught their head in my armpit as I recovered my left arm, pushing them underwater. I felt terrible, but there wasn't much I could do about it. The entire return trip, the lower half of my body (which shouldn't be working), was incredibly tired and uncomfortable. I badly wanted to just take it easy getting back, but knew I couldn't. I finally finished in a long 7:53, which I'll take.

Out on the bike, the power just wasn't there. Going into the race, I wanted a more controlled effort so I could leave something for the run. My recent races have had very hard efforts, and I learned at Mooseman I need to control it better. But I couldn't even get respectable numbers. My breathing was very heavy and my HR was through the roof. My power numbers confirm the lousy results- normalized power was just 258w, compared to 274 at Polarbear and 281 at Mooseman. Bob finally caught me as we hit the access road and we had a little fun on the way back in. He ended up with a gap of 10+ seconds at the end, which I was able to make up in T2.

Out on the run, Bob put a quick 10 yard gap on me and then very slowly extended it to about 20 yards over the next 2 miles. Then at the water stop, he grabbed a cup, slowed a bit, and the gap was cut in half. I thought for a bit I'd be able to get him, but that didn't last long. Soon after, I hear someone behind be yell, "Go Ange!" Damn. There she was. Our wave started 30 seconds ahead of hers, so I knew she was going to be inside that gap. That took what little life I had left out of me, and she passed me with about 1/2 mile left to the finish.

For a small local race, the field had some great competition. Many did a 70.3 last Sunday, and to go fast for this race is impressive. I ended up 12th OA, and 2/41 in my AG. Looking at the splits, my bike should have been about 2 minutes faster, and the run at least 30 seconds better.

Those of us that are interested in training schedules know that periodization is a cornerstone. And it's a concept I've ignored. You need to rest and cut back on training every 4 weeks or so. In general, since I got back in the pool in February, I've been around 10-11 hrs/wk. Low weeks are 8 hours, and generally due to scheduling issues. There also haven't been many of those.

As a result, I'm going to take the next three days completely off. No training at all. To put that in perspective, I've taken three days off over the last four weeks. On Thursday and Friday, I'll do some light training, then go long and easy on the weekend. I get caught in the same trap that many do- we start good training in December, get to peak form for early May, and then expect to perform well through September. It just isn't realistic. My big race is September 12, so taking a few days won't hurt that- in fact, it could help. I'd like to have a really good showing at Urban Epic on July 10 to atone for today. It's a more competitive race and fun venue. So this little break will allow for a 3 week, logical, thoughtful training period.

Congratulations to all of those who are putting up some great results in local races as well as races that attract huge international talent. It's great to see Mainers doing so well. I still hope we can get a strong contingent at the USAT National Championships next year in Burlington, VT. Qualifying for the Oly race isn't too tough, and I don't think there's a standard for the sprint. Put on your schedule!

Race Report: Mooseman Olympic Tri..errr...Duathlon

2010-06-05T19:25:00.006-04:00

As the title suggests, we had a curveball thrown at us. Thunderstorms rolled through at about 4 in the morning, then again at 7. Had they started with a swim at 9, as opposed to the scheduled 7:30, people would have been out on the bike course too late, so they cancelled the swim and started at 9. They also shortened the bike, I think due to an unconfirmed washout situation.

I looked at this weekend as opening day for the regular season. The one sprint tri, three bike TTs and one road race were all in preparation for this. Last year I was 13th, so I hoped for a top 10. However when you take away my normally strong segment, that becomes a tall order.

It took a little while to get over the disappointment of a cancelled swim and shortened bike leg (17 vs. 27). The whole reason for making the trip was washed out, and I don't have another Oly race on the schedule. Then I heard how this duathlon was going to start- one person at a time, every THREE seconds. Are they joking? Don't they realize how congested it will be out there? I figured the only approach was to be aggressive and pass as many people as possible in the first five miles. At that point, the course hits the BIG hill and I figured people would start to get spread out. Between that strategy and my recent TT events, I hit it hard right out of the gate. I was actually surprised it wasn't more congested, but I was passing people hand over fist. Twice I had to deal with cars on the course travelling in the same direction. I passed one to the left and one to the right, nervous both times. They slowed me down, as did the few times when I had to yell at folks who were slowly "passing" other riders. I don't think it's illegal to go three abreast, as I learned at nationals last year.

I continued to work hard the whole way, with little regard for what followed. My normalized power was 281w, 18 higher than last year. Speed went from 22.3 to 23.7 this year. And my peak 5 minutes showed how aggressive I was at times- 285w vs. 315w this year. I probably wasn't as consistent as I should have been, but that was tough with all of the traffic out there. Liking to dissect results, I found there's a guy in my AG who has beaten me now three years in a row at Mooseman and the '08 and '09 nationals. Last year he beat me on the bike by 1:44. This year I beat him by :05. Good stuff. In fact, I ws tied for first in my AG. OA, I was 18th on the bike last year, and 10th this year. I consider this a huge accomplishment, and am thrilled. The hard work and racing has paid off......

.....but at a price. My run wasn't so good. I started out feeling pretty sapped, and it took forever to get to mile 1. I didn't wear a watch, so I had no idea what my splits were. At that point, I was in a groove that seemed like a fair pace, leaving a bit for the return trip. However I never got out of the groove. The speed just wasn't there. I also didn't have someone I knew, in my AG, who was trying to run me down like last year. I ended up with a disappointing 44:51, far slower than I should be.

So does that mean I biked too hard, or that I need more work on my run, or both? My hunch is it's a bit of both. If I went too hard on the bike, I'm willing to accept that. You can't find where your limits and targets are until you go past them.

As for the transition, I nailed it at 0:55. Only one person OA was under :50, and a handful under 1:00. It was funny, actually. I was out of my shoes at the dismount, and ran to my rack which was close to the bike entrance. I racked it, took my helmet off, pulled on my shoes, and then actually thought to myself, "that was too easy- what am I forgetting?" Turns out nothing. The best transitions are simple.

I ended up 30th OA with about 700 competing, and 5th of 86 in my AG. With a swim, I think I would have picked up at least one spot, and perhaps get as high as 2nd in AG. So while it isn't what I signed up for, I'm pleased with the results.

Pirate Tri (sprint) next Sunday, then I can get back to a more regular training schedule.

Race ReportS: Cape TT (Disaster Averted), FCP 4 mi., and Overeating

2010-05-30T16:58:00.014-04:00

Today started with my third time trial in two weeks (and last for the season). After the Freeport TT last week, I suspected that my threshold might be higher than I thought. So I decided to cover up the Powertap display and just go hard. My friend and friendly rival Bob started right behind me, just 30 seconds back. We both had solid training days yesterday (I biked 2 hrs. and ran 45 min), so I think we entered equally fatigued. He can reach levels in training I can only dream about, especially on the hills. Last week, however, we saw our TT efforts are fairly even- I out touched him by 10 seconds. I knew he wanted to take me down, and by starting behind me, I was afraid I would be a rabbit for him.

A couple of days ago, I said I would ride harder than normal and risk blowing up today. It's funny how easily those words come in front of a keyboard- when it's time to do it, even though there isn't much on the line, it's tough to look into that abyss.

Most of the course was flat with really long, gentle rollers. It consisted of a small 5 mile loop, then you repeat the first 3 miles of the loop as you start a larger 9 mile loop. The backside had three good hills, but they were short enough that I was in the big ring the whole way. There were also very few corners and intersections, so overall, it was pretty fast.

At the start, I jumped out and went for it. Within a mile, it felt like my heart was going to jump through my chest and I could barely take in enough air. At the same time, I realized I hadn't started my Powertap, so hit the button to wake it up and swore at the operator. What an idiot. I don't think I let off the pace much, but things seemed to get under control fairly soon after that.

Here I am on the first loop. Notice the slow shirt and race number holding me back. I need to change those for next year.

Here I am the second time through, obviously struggling.

I stayed consistent the whole way, even working the downhills. I was afraid to look, but expected Bob to come flying by the entire time. The race went by fairly quickly, and at the finish, figured I had done well. I waited for Bob, hoping it would be more than the 30 second gap- it turns out I beat him by 22 seconds, which is a victory in my book. He's a very solid competitor.

I finished 9th OA. As for the data gathering, the numbers were good. Compared to Freeport, my cadence was identical (89), VI went from 105 to 102, speed from 23.6 to 24.4, and average power went from 279 to 286. What's incredible is that my normalized power was identical- 293w. I guess I know where my threshold is.

From the finish, I made my way to the end of the first loop to see Nick and ride with him. That's where we nearly had the worst family disaster you can imagine. For those of you that know Cape Elizabeth, the course turned right (more than 90 degrees) from Fowler Rd. back onto Route 77. We both rode the first loop as warm up, and I explained he was to turn right at that point. He rode the course last year as part of the CELT sprint tri. This time, however, he shot out through the intersection and crossed both lanes as if he were turning left. When I realized what he was doing, I yelled, at which point, right around the double yellow line, still in aero bars, he turned back to the right, going up Rt. 77 on the wrong side of the road. He then crossed safely and proceeded onto the second loop.

This could have been a complete disaster. There were no officials slowing traffic coming in the other lane. And the one marshall directing racers was less than obvious. She was also handling traffic, for both cars and bikes, coming from two different directions. What many race organizers don't realize is that marshalls have no idea how hard we're working and what that does to our ability to think. Subtle waving isn't enough. They need to be out there with big orange flags that are impossible to miss (like the Freeport TT), and be LOUD. I've been to many other races where they fall short. I've even made wrong turns myself. We need to accept partial blame here for our mistake. No question about it. However we're talking about a life and death situation, and there need to be additional safeguards. I could go on and on with my frustrations. I just hope the organizers can learn something from this and improve for next year. Fortunately, we're all in one piece.

Anyway, Nick had a good race and upped his average speed to about 18. Here he is:

After the race, I drove back to Falmouth for a 4 mile road race hosted by Community Programs. I'm on the town advisory committee, so I wanted to support them. I ran around the field a few times for warm up. At the start, I was on the shoulder of the leader for a few hundred yards, and thought, "Uh oh. If I'm near the lead, I have to work hard. And I'm not sure I want to do that." After a couple hundred yards, Mr. Garmin said I was going at a 5:56 pace. Not good. Thankfully, another guy came along, and they left me. It was a great sight to see the leaders move away from me. The last thing I wanted to do was empty an already depleted tank. At about mile 3, I fell to 5th place, which was fine. The course was flat and slight uphill to a turnaround. I split 6:39, 7:00, 6:43 and 6:39 for a total time of 27:10 (or so). I'm very satisfied with the effort.

To cap the day off, my 9 year old Leah and I went to the Sea Dogs game, sat 7 rows behind home plate, and had a great time. We also ate way too much- sausage roll, french fries, chicken nuggets, Sea Dogs biscuit and fried dough (my favorite).

Now I need to recover and fine tune for Saturday. Mooseman is a big deal, my only "B" olympic distance race of the year beside Worlds. I obviously feel good about my bike. The swim could be marginal, but I need to remember that that's pretty good. The run should be fine, but I have some questions about it. This is the race that starts the serious part of the season. I'm looking forward to it. Good luck to those doing the Sunday 1/2 Mooseman and also those going to CT for Rev 3. It's a big weekend all around.

Blind and Fast

2010-05-25T21:09:00.005-04:00

I had two good races last weekend. Saturday in NH was a hard uninterrupted effort for 1:12 that produced some of by best power numbers ever. Sunday in Freeport was a surprise. I had a poor warmup, was tired from Saturday, but let it fly when they said "Go." A switch was flipped- racing = fast. Someone says go, I go. Early in the race, I was surprised at my power output. It required looking for small sections to rest, but overall, I beat some career efforts.

I'm really curious about something. I think there are times when we can be held hostage by our data. Powertaps and Garmins are great tools, help regulate efforts over long races, but maybe...just maybe...they act as a cap. Mary had a good post a while ago that defended the use of these toys, as opposed to those who say they we should race and train by feel. I agree with what she wrote, but Sunday showed me that maybe my ceiling is higher than I thought.

I'll use my Powertap in every other race this season. But as an experiment, I'm going to put tape over the computer for the Cape TT. I don't care too much about the place or time (again, other than vs. a few select individuals ;-)), I care about the data. This race is to 1) do something with Nick, and 2) get better for triathlons.

So I'm going to ride blind. No data at all. No power, no speed, no cadence. I know the roads, so I don't even need to see the distance. I'm going to blast out of the start, go hard up Route 77, Fowler, 77, Spurwink, and 77 to the finish. Everything will be all out. If I blow up, big deal. That might actually be a good thing- you can't really know where your limit is until you go past it. We're only talking about 14 miles and 36 minutes in a "C" race.

This should be interesting....and painful....and valuable.........and fast.

Race ReportS: Crank the Kanc TT and Freeport TT

2010-05-23T05:20:00.006-04:00

Yesterday started a string of four consecutive weekends of racing- three bike TTs, one 4 mi. road race (all of those in 8 days), the Mooseman Oly and Pirate Sprint Tri. It wasn't my intention to cram so many races into a short period, it's just how it worked out. I also threw in two of the time trials so Nick could join me. He loves riding my former TT bike, and let's face it- any time you can get a nearly-14 year old to do something with you, you jump at the chance. He did the bike portion of a sprint tri last fall and did great despite the pouring rain.

Crank the Kanc is clearly the best test of bike fitness each year. There isn't a swim before or run after to muddy the waters and affect the effort, and it's length really sets it apart from other TTs. Yesterday was the third year in a row for me. I didn't care about my place- there are many more biker-only types there who are faster. I didn't care about my time- weather conditions make a huge difference. For example, the entire race travels approximately west, so even a slight breeze can make a big difference. The only thing about time and place I cared about was how I did relative to the many folks from this area that raced. It's an ego thing, you know. We all know how prior years went, and we're all looking for improvement. What I really cared about was DATA. It's hard to come up with a more pure test of fitness. There are no corners, intersections, or meaningful downhills. It's point the bike west, start pedaling, and go hard for more than an hour. Find the red line, and try to stay right there, especially when it hurts.

The course is rolling for about 16.6 mi, slightly up, all big ring, with only a couple of downhills that you can glide- but really shouldn't. Yesterday I only stopped pedaling once, and for about 10 yards. I also stood up a couple of times to loosen up my back. Then the road turns up for 4.9 mi, all small ring. There are a few spots where you can shift out of the easiest gear, but in general it's a long hard grind.

Last year I made great improvements over 2008. My average power went from 262w to 276w, and I was consistent- I was just 3w higher on the hill compared to the lead-in (as opposed to a 12w difference in '08). I didn't feel my bike conditioning was up to last year's level, but I decided to target the same power- 275w. At the start, I easily pedaled at 300w+, constantly telling myself to back off and searching for the right power / cadence / feel combination. The first 20 minutes flew by. I knew I'd hit the hill around 45-47 minutes. The second half of the lead-in was uncomfortable, especially in my lower back and crotch. In a strange sort of way, I was looking forward to the hill just so I could sit up and change positions. Again, this is a straight shot, so there's no opportunity to change positions or stretch out. Last year I averaged 275w for this portion. this time when I hit the hill, I looked at my average power and saw 279w. Great!

There isn't much to tell about the hill, other than it's tough. I averaged 283w, so again it was consistent with the first part and an improvement (5w) over last year. At the end I let it all out, crossed the line, was able to get my shoes out of the pedals, but couldn't move. Luckily Mark B was there to help me dismount- thanks Mark! In the two prior years, the ride back down was torture. My ass hurt the whole way, and the last thing I wanted to do was sit on my bike. This year it didn't hurt at all, and actually had a pleasant ride back down. I knew it would be important to have a good recovery so I could race the next day.

The results still haven't been posted online, but I have analyzed the data. My peak 60 min. was 281w, and 20 min was 291w. When I compare those numbers to all rides and races over the last 12 months starting June 2009 (248w and 283w), I'm thrilled. In fact, I have NEVER put up numbers like that.

Turn the page to today. Nick and I got up early for the Freeport TT (18 mi). I had everything timed out just right. We went out for a warmup, and about 2 miles from the start Nick got a nice piece of glass in the rear tire. I called Christine, who was just arriving to watch, and she came and picked Nick and the bike up. I pretty much sprinted back to the start because we had about 15 min to our starting time. Luckily, I had my training wheels with us. I put on the rear, telling Nick that it's a 9-speed bike and a 10-speed wheel, so the gears might not be smooth. We then went over to the start line and had about 2 min to spare. That isn't what you'd call an ideal warmup period. I had figured, well, given yesterday's race and what just happened, the pressure's off. Don't worry about the results.

Yeah, right. When I started, I just let it all out. I attacked the course, and the adrenaline kept up a strong effort (normalized power of 303w) for the first 5 miles. That seemed fine so I figured I would keep it up and see what happened. There were a few downhills where I coasted to recover, which made a huge difference. At mile 14, I figured there were only 4 miles to go, not too long to suffer, so I kept up the pace. I ended with an average power of 279w and normalized 293. My peak 10 minutes was 298w, compared to 295 on Saturday. For a race that was a very low priority, and on a day that didn't start well, I feel great about the numbers.

As for Nick, he started 30 seconds behind me. Soon after the start, the road makes a 90 degree bend to the left, crosses RR tracks, and goes up a steep, short hill. He threw his chain at that point, and had to stop to fix it. He then had trouble clipping back into the pedals on the hill- also, yesterday was the first day he had ever used proper bike shoes.

After I finished, I rode the course backwards until I found him. As we made our way up the final hill before the finish, he said "THIS SUCKS." Music to my ears, as long as he felt good about the race after the finish- which he does. TTs, or most any race, is supposed to suck. If it didn't, you didn't go hard enough. His time was 1:05, had an average power of 180w, and speed of 17.0. That's for someone who, while athletic, does zero sustained effort training and hasn't been on a TT bike in 8 months. He finished in 2nd place in the under-18, and walked away with a $30 gift card for Beans! That's more than I can say! As for next week, he definitely still wants to do the Cape TT. That's good news.

Very proud Papa here.

Unofficial Maine Sprint Triathlon Series: Race 1 (Polarbear)

2010-05-08T20:36:00.004-04:00

Congrats to all of those who competed today at the Polarbear, the first race in the series. I've figured out the first edition of the scoring system:
1. Races must have a run of shorter than 4 miles.
2. To be ranked, you must do at least four races (currently 11 on the schedule). You also need to place in the top 10 in at least one of the four races.
3. Your top four scores will be used.
4. The season is worth 1,000 points times the number of races. The points awarded to each race will be determined by the level of competitiveness. This can't be determined until the end of the season, so values will change. The more competitive a race, the more points it is worth.
5. Now we get complicated. Finishing times matter. First, for each race, I'll calculate the average time (down to the second) for those finishers in the rankings. That time is awarded points based on the points awarded to the race divided by the number of participants in the race who are in the rankings. (1,000 points divided by 10 participants = 100 points) Second, I calculate the standard deviation of the same group of times. One SDev away from the average is worth two times the points awarded (200 points). I then calculate the point value of each second by dividing the average points by the SDev (100 / 92 = 1.088).
6. If a participant's resulting score is negative, they get a zero.

Again, this is subject to change.

After the first race, Polarbear, here are the standings:

Women
C Sterling 279
Y White 200
A Cox 179
A Bancroft 162
J Mahoney 70
K Abbott 70
E Jacobson 46
S Cimino 30
A Viara 0
E Hatton 0

Men
M Caiazzo 315
O Lisa 171
B Hellstedt 145
D Welling 139
J Huckins 95
J Fisher 69
T Mitchell 59
S Tenney 50
D Vaillancourt 0
J Small 0

Today, Caiazzo and Sterling blew away the fields, winning by 2:12 and 2:53 over the second place finishers. As a result, threw the curve. That caused the 9th and 10th place men and women to not gain any points.

Race Report: Polarbear Sprint

2010-05-08T13:12:00.006-04:00

Triathlon is like a box of chocolates- you never know what you're going to get until you bite into one.

The season got underway today with the Polarbear at Bowdoin College. It's always great to see all of the familiar faces you haven't seen since last fall. And it's funny how, even after all of the races we've done over the years, the butterflies were very apparent for everyone. Everyone else looks to be in great shape and we hear training has been going well. So even with a short race like this, you know it's going to hurt. If you don't turn yourself inside out, you can easily lose a bunch of places.

One of the big stories for me today was all of the mistakes I made. First, I got up plenty early this morning, but was late picking up Nick, who slept over at a friend's house last night. So that put me about 20 minutes behind where I wanted to be and caused me to limit my warmup. Second, I was late getting down to the pool, and ended up in the very first lane, against the wall. Knucklehead. I hate swimming against a wall, and having someone in the other half of the lane made it even worse. And third, I racked my bike on the wrong side. I started out on the correct side, but it seemed a bit crowded. The other side was wide open, so I swapped over. Idiot. When I came out of the pool and into T1, I couldn't find my bike- it seemed like an eternity to find it in it's correct spot, but in reality was probably just 10 seconds or so.

Now to the race- The swim almost seemed too comfortable. Was I working hard enough? Am I just slow today and there isn't much I can do about it? Is my day over? Dealing with the side wall was a pain. I didn't want to get too close, but had to look out for the other guy in my lane, even though I lapped him around the 300 ys mark. It seemed like every turn was awkward. Sighting the end was also difficult. Even though the Bowdoin pool isn't 50 meters long the other way, they have lanes painted on the bottom with crosses to mark where turns would be. I was swimming directly over the crosses, and for some odd reason, they threw me for a loop. Anyway, I just tried to stay smooth. I had no idea where others were because I was so focused on all of the walls around me. I also lost count at about 200 yds. Then probably around 400, I saw Mike C, who was on the far side of the next lane, coming into the wall as I was pushing off. He easily leads me in practice these days unless it's a real sprint set. I figured he was about to lap me, which would have confirmed a really lousy swim. Instead, he was actually just behind me, which I discovered as I entered T1. Good stuff.

After the above noted terrible transition, I set out on the bike and actually felt pretty smooth. The watts were there- I seemed to be around 280 to 310 most of the time, which I was pleased with. I also was able to put in extra power coming out of corners or up the shallow hills without it wearing on me. The bike is about 11 miles. Early on, I thought I easily passed Catherine Sterling. She's one of the real hot shots around here, and our times are generally pretty close. So I was pleased. I also knew I was chasing Jeff Small who's been working real hard at IMLP training and is a very strong swimmer. I kept looking and looking, but didn't see him until somewhere in the middle. When I caught him, I wanted to put him away so he wouldn't have a chance of catching me on the run. Remember, he ran away from me a couple of months ago in a 5K. As I passed, I saw the real Catherine, and knew at that point I might see her again later in the race. Boy, was I right. Doug Welling passed me, and I did a pretty good job staying with him for a good 5 miles or so. Then Brett Hellstedt passed me and they took off.

As I was slipping on my sneakers in T2, Jeff Fisher racked his bike just opposite me. This guy has had a great winter of training. Even though the focus has been on the bike, he recently went under 19 for a 5K. Knowing this meant a tough run, I said, "Oh Jeff, why do you have to do this to me?" I ran out of T2 and caught up with a guy (Ted Mitchell) I didn't recognize. He was 39, looked fit, and was obviously on my level when you combine the swim and bike. I didn't force the run like I usually do and instead tried to stay smooth. The turnover was pretty good, and although I was working hard, it felt reasonably comfortable. I figured I would really need something in reserve for when Jeff came up. I stayed on Ted's shoulder for about a 1/2 mile, then took the lead. He stayed right on my shoulder, until just before we entered the woods when he passed. Soon into the woods, Jeff passed us and looked really strong. He put about 10 yards on Ted, who had about 5 yards on me. We exited the woods (we're a bit past 1/2 way), and Ted took some water. At the same time, he slowed a bit, and I thought he might be suffering too much. I closed the gap, and stayed just a couple of yards behind him for a while.

As we entered the woods again, which is a sweeping 180 degree turn, I saw Catherine just behind. Damn. Damn. Damn. Then the psychoanalysis started. Wow, she's running well. I've outrun her before, so do it again. She must be in good shape. Can't be girled. You know, there's no shame in losing to her- she's one of the best around. That chatter continued the length of the woods, and I thought I started hearing her behind me. When we came out of the woods for the final time, with just 200 yards left, I peeked and saw I had about 8 yards on her. Fine. I'll go. I put in a surge for about 15 seconds, peeked again, saw she wasn't any closer, so I kept up the speed and finished six seconds ahead of her.

At this point, the results seem to have many errors- too many to list here. I realize triathlons involve many logistics, and things can go wrong, but it sure is frustrating when the timing is wrong- especially when we had chips on! I think I ended up 8th OA and 1st in AG. I feel good about the effort and execution, other than the stupid mistakes I already mentioned. Strangely, the one word I would use to describe it is smooth. The effort was very even, and I think fast enough given where I am in training.

The next race is in two weeks- Crank the Kanc TT. Then the next day is the Freeport TT which I'll do with Nick. The following weekend, the Sunday of Memorial Day, we will both do the Cape TT at 7:30, then I'll drive back to Falmouth to do a 4 mi road race at 10. The next week is a biggie- Mooseman, the only Oly distance I'll do other than Worlds.

It's good to be underway again.

Introducing the Unofficial Maine Sprint Triathlon Series

2010-05-02T19:15:00.005-04:00

I recently wrote an admittedly fatigue induced post that included a missive on the discrimination that exists in our sport against the sprint distance. It's generally used as an introductory stepping stone, or by the more recreational participants. Let me get one thing absolutely clear- I admire both groups. Those that go on to longer and longer races and training devote a great deal of time and energy to the sport, and may be more naturally inclined to succeed at the longer distances. I also admire the less serious among us. I'm an advocate of any type of exercise. It's great for many, many reasons.

This series, however, is geared towards a narrower population. It's for those folks who want to excel at the sprint distance; those who want to go really hard for about 60 (+/-) minutes. It's a pace faster than you'd consider for an Oly distance race- one that is near 100% for the entire time and pays attention to the little things that might save a few seconds here and there.

At this point, I'm very open to any and all suggestions. For a race to qualify, the maximum run is 4 miles. I'm aware of the following- Polarbear, Bethel, Urban Epic, CELT, Pirate, Fireman, Pumpkinman, Colby and Norway. What am I missing? I'm happy to include other races if that's desired. For an athlete to qualify, they need to do at least four races, and place in the top 10 overall for men or women in at least one of the races. I know that narrows the field, but I don't want the recordkeeping to become a second job for me. As for scoring, I haven't thought about that yet. But I'll try to incorporate the following:

1) It will place greater emphasis on those races with more competition- which means that the "value" of races will likely change during the season.

2) It will try to account for times, not just places. If triathlete A beats B by 30 seconds one day but loses by 2 minutes another, B has the advantage.

3) Top four races count. That's a significant commitment, but is also generous enough to allow for different schedules- it's less than half of the races offered.

Notice that this is an Unofficial series. I have no affiliation with any of the race organizers, and reserve the right to change the makeup, methodology or scoring system at any time. For that matter, if it's too much to do, I might just drop it altogether. That isn't my intention, but I need to leave myself an out.

Again, the purpose here is to bring more attention to those who are fast, like to go fast, and work at going fast. Pacing, endurance and nutrition have little to do with these races. If you're concerned about your heart rate, this isn't for you. This is for those who are willing to throw caution to the wind for one hour.

There's one other important component. In 2011 and 2012, the USAT National Championships will be held in Burlington, Vermont. They will have both Olympic and Sprint distances, both of which determine the teams for the World Championships. It would be great to have strong contingents for both races. I can easily see how the "better" athletes will do the Oly race. So if we get really good at the sprint, we could have a great showing in the Sprint race.

Fast is good. Fast is fun.

Training Rethink- Follow Up

2010-05-02T15:46:00.004-04:00

I was blown away by the thoughtful responses to my post last week. It was really interesting to see that people picked up on so many different aspects of it. I even had a couple of folks send me thoughtful emails. So here were the takeaways-

1) I will feel lousy in training in the week after a vacation, so shouldn't make any really important decisions during that time.
2) Having said that, I've been thinking along these lines for several weeks now. It's also consistent with my overall training beliefs.
3) It's critical that I enjoy what I'm doing.
4) I need to throw down a GREAT race in Budapest. And have fun doing it.
5) A change in the future is probably a good idea- at least for several months- starting after Worlds.
6) Sprint triathlons, because they are still about 60 minutes, can't be considered true sprints- there is still an endurance component.
7) Doing sprints takes much less training time, involves more intensity, and is more fun.

So now what? Tomorrow I start the new routine. It's pretty much what I laid out last time, except I'm moving the Wednesday swim to Thursday. That will be my only double of the week. Last Friday, I didn't work out in the morning, just a noon swim. And guess what? I had all sorts of energy, swam much faster than earlier in the week, and had staying power to do the entire workout as planned. Funny how that works. By the way, the main set was a good one-
12 x 2 min- 4x150, same times (1:52ish); 1 min rest; 4x125 descend (1:36 to 1:33, not great); 2 min rest with a 50; 4x100 hard, holding the same time (1st 3 were 1:10, #4 was 1:08). I still have a long ways to go, but it felt good.

Yesterday I rode with three others who are way over my head, including Bob and two guys from OA. It hurt at times, but that's how you get better. The hills were ridiculous. They absolutely left me far behind. At one point, I was side by side Scott going the same speed. He was at 280w, about 30 below FTP, and I was at 300, about 25 above my FTP. So it took more work in absolute and relative terms to go the same speed. I guess that means it comes down to body weight- I'd guess I'm about 10 lbs. heavier. I don't think anyone would call me overweight, however. I read a story that said the best climbers in the world weigh 2 lbs. per inch of height. That means I need to lose about 30 lbs. Yeah, right. Maybe I just need to find a course that's all downhill. By the way, the Budapest course is flat.

Polarbear sprint on Saturday. The goal is to have fun. I hope I can remember that as I chase and get chased. It'll be great to see everyone again.

Thanks again to those who responded last week. It helped!

Training and Racing Rethink

2010-04-28T19:07:00.006-04:00

I need help on this one, especially from all of you who are coaches or have been serious about designing training patterns. Even those of you have been on the receiving end of training plans can pitch in. Thank you in advance.

I started out as a swimmer, but more specifically, a sprinter. I was strong for 100 yards, but would typically fall apart at 150 yards. Sure, in the world of triathlon, I can swim well compared to others, but I'm really a sprinter at heart. Back in 2002, when I was focused only on swimming, I did a 500 at New Englands. I didn't know the guy I was next to, but decided to go out with him. I hit 300 in 3:05. My final time of 5:19 shows it was not a well balanced swim.

I like going fast. Fast is fun. Go all out, leave nothing in reserve. Feel like you can't move when you finish because there's so much lactic acid running through you.

No here's the problem.....the sport of triathlon discriminates against the sprint distance. Have you ever seen a sprint on TV? Do you know anyone who is really good and does only sprints? Do you read about sprints in magazines or online? We have slowtwitch.com- is there a fast twitch.com? (Actually, there is, but it doesn't cover sports news.) Let's face it- if you're good, you go long. When most people first get involved in triathlon, they start with a sprint. Then they do some more. Then there's a fork in the road. Some, for various reasons, stay right there. But they don't stay there because they're really good at it. They stay there because they're satisfied, don't have time to train, or have other limitations. The other group moves on to Olympic races. Then you find the same fork. One group caps out there, but again, they don't stay there because they're really good at it. The rest move on to 70.3. No fork here. Once a 70.3 is done, IM is next. Look at the people who do well in Kona. Many of them were on the ITU circuit, then 70.3, then IM. That's everyone's goal.

I was an inconsistent dabbler in the sport from 1989 through 2002. That included my first IM (Great Floridian) in 1999. Six months prior, I couldn't bike 20 or run 5. Things were better for IM Wisconsin in 2004. I didn't get serious until about 2007 when I realized, "hey, I'm pretty good at this." Then the 2008 and 2009 seasons have been really good. Admittedly, there's a "big fish, small pond" syndrome here, but I'm at or near the top of age group most of the time.

The last two years were focused on making Team USA at the Olympic distance. It took a great deal of time, energy and attention, and was a challenge for the family. Making the team and qualifying for the World Championships in Budapest this September is great, but it's more of the same this summer. I'm getting a little worn down physically, but also mentally. I'm tired. And now that I made the team, I don't have a clear goal for the year. I'm going to be in the middle of the pack at Worlds. Does it really make a difference if I'm 40th or 60th? I work better with well-defined goals, and that's lacking.

So even though it isn't even May 1st and we haven't had this season's first race, my mind is already on next year. I received an email from a friend encouraging me to do the New England Swimming Champs next year. That got me thinking. I haven't been even the shell of the swimmer I used to be for a long time now. I like swimming really fast for 52 seconds or so. I like having a fast 100 fly or IM. I used to have a good 50 fly. That would be fun. Fun is good. Fun is really good. Fewer yards in practice, but really high quality. Power, speed, details.

I mentioned in my last post the book "Born to Run." Early in the book, a US coach goes to Western States to watch the Mexican tribe runners who are so good to find out why. What stands out is they are all enjoying running. That reminded me of Chrissie Wellington who smiles throughout the run. If something is enjoyable to someone, they'll be better at it. Distance training isn't always fun. It takes considerable mental effort to put in a good effort for every session.

Back to the pool- No slogging through 3500 yards hoping the fast (distance) guys don't run me over. No more sets thinking, "damn it, I should be faster than that guy." But that's exactly what happens when I'm swimming at noon after a morning bike or run. I'm going for 10-11 hours per week (I know, that isn't much compared to many of you), and I'm tired. I just don't have the physical or mental energy to stay with them. I also think the work on other muscle systems is a disadvantage when compared to those who only swim. I should be able to do sets with send times that are a multiple of 1:20, but I dread them.

Parallel to that thought was the realization that the triathlon world is skewed towards the long distances. Those are all about pacing and nutrition. Our sport misses something here. Sure, physiologically, we are better suited to back off on the intensity as we age and go longer. But if I was better suited as a sprinter when I was 20, why aren't I still better suited as a sprinter relative to others my same age?

So my thought process then moved on to next year. I'll do only sprint races, and more importantly, train appropriately. Shorter distances, less time, much better quality. If I'm only going to run a 5k, there is no need to ever run more than 50 minutes. If I'm only going to race 12 miles on the bike, there's no need to ever go more than 30. With that, I can cut my training hours down to about 8 per week, doing 7 workouts in 6 days- three swims, one bike, one run, two bricks. Only once per week do I work my legs on back to back days, giving them plenty of rest to focus on the next session. Only once per week do I have a morning workout before a noon swim, making that much stronger. And very importantly, my energy level overall should be higher with the family.

The goal race would be USAT Sprint Nationals in Burlington. Due to the skewness in the sport, I imagine much of the talent will do the Oly race the day before. Other races will be sprints only and stay in the great state of Maine. And before that, I might be a real swimmer for much of the winter, only doing one bike and one run per week until March or so- just enough to keep the feel. I'd swim 4-5 times per week, and also likely do some really good dryland training. Oh, and Alina.....maybe I'll find my way to Harvard.

This all sounded so good to me that I began wondering why I couldn't do much the same this year, although in 10-11 hours, not 8. So I've put together a weekly schedule that I'd love to get feedback on:
M- B 90 min
Tu- S 60
W- (AM) B 60, R 45 (PM) S 60
Th- R 70
F- S 45
Sat- B 2.5 hrs, R 45
That totals 10:25 per week. The Monday bike and Thursday run would include lots of intervals and hill repeats.

I think this would give me more energy, speed, quality.......and fun. And if isn't fun, why do it? Fun is good. Speed is good.

Vacation, a great book and a training update

2010-04-26T20:02:00.009-04:00

I feel like I barely have time to write anything. Maybe it's because I have too much to talk about and I don't know how to get it all out. But I'll give it a shot, using a bunch of pictures to help tell the story.

We had an incredible trip to the BVIs. We were four families, each with a boy and a girl. Nick was the oldest, but there was another boy on our boat who is just nine months younger. There were two other girls a year older than Leah. Then there were two boys who are in second grade, and a girl in kindergarten. Everyone got along famously- at least until one boat stole the other boat's water balloons. We had two catamarans, so each family had a hull. I grew up with two of the other three dads sailing summers in Castine.

When I think about it, the trip was full of potential problems- there easily could have been problems with the flights, weather, boats or personalities. We talked with someone who was in St. John who had three solid days of rain. We saw the rain down there, but never had a problem. The only rain we had came at night (plus our return to Road Town, Tortola at the end of the cruise). The first time, I awoke in the middle of the night to light rain coming through the hatch. When I looked out, I saw nothing but stars. Strange.

Our route took us from Road Town to Norman, Peter, Spanish Town, Bitter End, Cooper, and back to Peter. Each place was great and full of stories. So here are just a few highlights...the last day, like I did three other times, I want for a short (20-30 min) open water swim. On this one, I nearly bumped into a shark (about 3 ft long), then saw a sting ray....

Peter Island

The whole group

Deadman's Bay, Peter Island

Cooper Island, perhaps the best snorkeling I've ever had.

Weeeeee!!!

An amazing sunset-

Saba Rock, off of Bitter End, Virgin Gorda. The entire island is one acre, taken up entirely by this restaurant and resort. One of the most spectacular settings I've seen.

Richard Branson's island, where you can stay for a cool $5,000 per night, per person.

We found a gap in the rocks at the Baths that the surf would drag the kids in and out.

Dragging the kids off the transom while sailing-

If you've made it to the bottom of this post, good work. As for triathlon......I didn't bike or run for eight days to give my knees some rest. In the last three days back home, I've done two bricks (20 & 3, 41 & 6) and run 7. I think I've overdone it a bit. When I got back in the pool at noon today, I was mentally back on our trip and tired from the last 2 1/2 days of training. I crapped out at just 1500 yards. I figure it's far better to get out and come back with some real energy in a couple of days as opposed to hating it.

On the trip I read "Born to Run." If you haven't, get a copy. It covers personal stories, anthropology, ultra racing, physiology, the sneaker industry and more. It's a great book, and could possibly change the way you run, train and race. Seriously, it's that good.

Mentally, I'm also working on a plan for next year already. It includes triathlon, but from a very different angle. More to follow.....

The season-opening race in Saturday, May 8. The Polarbear sprint includes a pool swim, which helps. I have no idea how it will go. Parts of my training have been very good compared to prior years. But then there's a week's layoff, how I feel now, and what I see others doing in training. I guess we'll see.....

Fits Like a Glove

2010-04-10T19:32:00.005-04:00

I ride best in my aero position and on my P3. And it's been a very long time since I've done that.

Last night we went to a wine tasting / birthday party that went way too late. [And why is it that we can run/ride forever but standing up for three hours is completely exhausting?!] We got home at 12, then Christine stayed up talking with our babysitter until after 1 at which point I woke up. Then for some reason my mind latched onto a presentation I'll make in front of the Town Council in a few weeks on something I feel strongly about. I could NOT fall back asleep.

All the while, my 5:00 wake up loomed. I was going to meet Jeff S. for a ride a little after 6, and had to prep my P3. So after a cumulative three hours of sleep, I got up. It was all about mind over body. I was excited to ride long again, but was very sluggish. With the bike, I had to swap the cog on my training wheel (powertap) so it would work with the 10-speed P3, and a bunch of other items. It took way too long, and wasn't ready to go until just before 6. There goes my 30 minute trainer warm up.

But then it happened. I turned out of the driveway, settled into the aero bars, and it felt great. Fast, aero, easy to shift, all of it. I hadn't been on the machine since Nationals, but it felt like I never got off. It was just so easy.

Jeff and I had a good ride through Cumberland, up to Pineland, over to Freeport and back. It was cold, but clear and not nearly as windy as forecasted. We picked out a few sections to work, and blasted along. They were about 10 minutes each, and felt great. For me, the ride was just short of 50 miles- Jeff, who's training for IMLP, probably did about 70.

At this point, I was pretty sapped and not looking forward to my run. I debated whether I should do it later in the day after some rest. In hindsight, I definitely made the right decision and went right out for a hard two (6:40 ish) and easy 2.5. With the way I felt the rest of the day- dehydrated, sluggish, basically like I'd been run over- I never would have done it. Finally, I HATE getting into ice baths. I've done it two weeks in a row now, ice cubes and all, and that first 60 seconds is terrible. But I can tell they are good to do.

In general, training is going well. Six of the last eight weeks I've been over 10 hours. The last two were 11 and 11.5. But my knees are feeling it, much more than in years past. Even simple steps or sidewalks, if not approached deliberately, can cause a jolt. So I really feel like I could use some time off just to let my legs recover. And I don't mean just a day or two. Which leads me to...on Friday, we fly out of Boston with three other families of four to Tortola, BVI for a week of cruising. It's going to be an absolute blast. And I won't run or bike for eight days. It should set me up well for the early season. And I like the idea so much, I'm trying to think of another time to do it this summer so that I'm at my strongest in early September.

Elbow Room

2010-03-17T19:37:00.005-04:00

Some may think elbow room means extra space. Others will remember it as a bar in Ft. Lauderdale that college swimmers frequented. In my case, it means time since I broke mine. On December 20, I fell on my stupid snowboard, broke my elbow, and put a serious dent in my swimming. After a great run of 13 weeks with over 10,000 yds/wk, I went 6 weeks with zero yards. Zip. Nada. My bike and run made great improvements, which are far more important, but my "ego" sport took a major hit.

I finally got in the first week in February and did a whopping 500 yards. Then I gradually built up yardage so I could do 1500 yrs 3x/wk, and picked that up by 500 yds each week. This is the second week in a row of 3x3000 yds. And most importantly, I'm finally able to put in some effort. For the longest time, I had zero speed. I didn't feel tired, but there was nothing I could do to go under 1:20 for 100 yds. Last Friday, we did a single hard 200 at the end of the workout, and I was happy to go 2:25. Today we did a bunch of swims 200-400 yds long, and I was able to bring the average speed down from 1:19 to 1:12. That isn't much compared to where I should normally be, but I'll take it. I can tell I'll be back at it pretty soon.

I've been working on my race schedule for the summer. Other than Budapest, my only Oly race is Mooseman. That isn't ideal, but I'd really like to cut back on the travel time compared to last year. It just took too much time away from home. I added the Fireman Sprint in late August- two weeks before Budapest. Normally I'd like to have it three weeks out to ensure full rest, but there's nothing else that works for me after Bethel. Other than Crank the Kank, I'd like to do some other time trials- three possibilities are Kennebunk, Cape and Freeport. The problem is that they all fall either the day after another race or are the same day. For example, on May 30, there's a new 4 mi road race in Falmouth, Pineland has a running festival with all sorts of distances on the trails, and there's the Cape TT.

Finally, on the drive home tonight, I saw about two dozen bikers on the road. In shorts. In March. I'm really looking forward to a good long ride outside this weekend- the first one of the season. I hope the forecast holds.

Race Report: Irish Rover 5K

2010-03-09T20:26:00.007-05:00

54 degrees. On March 7. No wind, clear skies, and 54 degrees. Did I say it was March 7? It was an incredible day, allowing me to go with shorts and a t-shirt without a chill. The race also started at 11:00, allowing for a very gradual morning of eating, stretching, warming up, etc. I could get used to these late starts.

My approach to the race was to be a rabbit for Jeff. He's been 20:20 to 20:40 the last three years, and really wanted to go under 20. I beat him at the Cape 10 mile race after running with him for the first seven miles. He's been training really well, and I wanted to see him break that barrier.

And that's all a load of crap.

I wanted a good time, something under 20, but I also wanted to beat him- in a friendly, ego-driven, collaborative rivalry sort of way. At the start he asked me how fast I would go out. Knowing we had to be under 6:25 average, and adrenaline would get me going, I said somewhere around 6:10. The horn blew, and I got caught up in the surge. At about 1/4 mile, I looked at my Garmin and just about fell over- the current pace read 5:15! Whoa, there! Sure, the buildings could be friggin' with it, but even allowing for 30 seconds, it was way, way too fast. So I eased up a bit, actually feeling pretty good. At the 1/2 mile, I was at 2:53. I hit the big hill at .7, and all of these short, skinny rabbits flew by. One guy was in bare feet. Damn that gravity thing. Mile one came in at 6:05. With a big, slow hill, that was fast. It was around that time when I heard Jeff huffin' and puffin' behind me. We continued on shoulder to shoulder to the turn around and back. The whole time I was wishing he would just surrender. I hurt all over, and had little interest in a battle. But I continued on. Mile 2, 6:23.

Then we got to go back down the hill. You'd think we would have an advantage going back down given our size. But Mr. Garmin doesn't show that. We barely went any faster than on the flats. About 1/2 way down, we heard this rumbling herd behind us. They gobbled up up, spit me out the back, and Jeff tried to hand on. To his credit, he didn't let up at all. Mile 3, which included the down hill, 6:23.

Jeff came in at 19:13, crushing previous times. I finished in 19:27, my best by about 25 seconds. Granted, I've only done a few of these, but I'm pleased.

Takeaways? I really need to work on my hills, especially my downhills. I need to find a flat 10K in the next couple of months. I've never broken 40 min, and know I can do it now.

And as for the post-race nutrition, courtesy of Brian Boru and Allagash....

A Mackinaw Peaches Day

2010-02-20T18:38:00.008-05:00

I had a great day, and I've come up with a term for it- it was a "Mackinaw Peaches Day." Seinfeld fans know what I'm talking about. For those that don't, or those that want to see the skit again, click here:

The day started with a two hour trainer ride. My goal was to include a one hour TT effort and average over 240w. I took that from TrainingPeaks WKO+ which showed that my best one hour effort since August was 235w. Now don't get me wrong- two hours on the trainer and a one hour TT both fit squarely in the category of serious misery. But after lots of intervals recently, I felt a desire to crank this out. After 25 min of warm up, I started in. My countdown timer went off every 10 minutes, getting me to stand up for about 2 minutes. This went on...and on....and on.... for an hour. I hated it after 15 minutes. I moved the towel to the side occasionally to check on my effort, and generally saw it between 240 and 260, so I thought I was doing fine- not feeling fine, but doing what I set out to do. As it turns out, I averaged 247w. The only single day that was better since 1/1/09, including races, was the Crank the Kanc TT last May. Three other days were within a few watts, including Mooseman which registered 246w. So this was one of my best long steady-state rides ever. Given that last week was my first week this season with more than 2.5 hours of biking in a single week, I'm thrilled. Woot!

After the ride I went for a short 3 mi. run with our weimaraner in the warm weather (38*). I didn't worry at all about the pace, and didn't hit the first mile until about 8:15. But near the end, still without effort, I was down to about 7:10.

I then moved on to a great breakfast sandwich- two eggs, salami and american cheese on oatmeal bread. While I'm on the subject of food, I finished my smoked mussels for lunch, and had a great homemade clam chowda' for dinner.

This afternoon I caught lightning in a bottle when Leah asked to "build something" out in the garage. We had a great time designing and building a rack for Nick's snowboards. I got her to use her math, taught her about countersinking, and she was a master with the drill. After a while she moved on to her own project- I'm not sure what it is, but it was all hers. We both had a great time.

Then the two of us went to the basketball game between the school where I grew up, (Cape) and where we live now (Falmouth). This was the third game between them this year, splitting the previous two, which were each other's only losses of the season. Falmouth won, sending them to the state title game. While I won't admit it too loudly, I was pulling for Falmouth. I will say, however, the Cape fans are far more enthusiastic.

Today wrapped up a huge training week for me. For a couple of years now, I've made this week a sort of "training camp" with lots of volume. I find it vaults me to a new level. I'll probably put in a few more this year, but always 6-8 weeks apart. I started on Monday, a holiday, with a two hour ride and 3 mile run. My elbow and swimming are improving, and I put in three 1,500 yard days, still without any intensity. I've also "graduated" from PT. Total hours were 10:45, about 50% more than what I've been doing. Biking went from 2.5 hrs to 6.2 hrs. Next week I'll take the volume back down, somewhere between this week and what I was doing.

To be honest, this electronic age (blogging and FB) acts as an incredible motivator. It seems like everyone around me is training really hard and already putting up some good early results. I feel more pressure from folks around here than I do thinking about Worlds.

"The Mackinaw peaches, Jerry, the Mackinaw peaches!"

Race Report: Mid Winter 10 Miler- Welcome Back

2010-02-07T12:57:00.007-05:00

The 2010 race season kicked off today, and I'm thrilled with the results and how I got there. But to get the full story, lets back up for a minute....

1. My broken elbow got me out on the road much more than last year, starting about six weeks ago. In the last nine weeks, I've logged 205 miles, including snowshoeing. That compares to 137 miles last year. That's all good, except for the possibility I have an injured achilles tendon. 2. On Tuesday this week, I had an exhausting two day, one night trip to Orlando. I was up at 4 AM Tuesday, and back home at 11:30 Wednesday night. I did get one warm run in outside, which felt great. 3. On Thursday, the mass of airport germs beat my immune system, and I went downhill. I briefly wondered if I should race, especially considering it was 10 miles, but come on, it's just a cold. 4. Our dog Jasmine woke me up at 3 yesterday morning, and I couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up at 4 to get all kinds of work done. So in summary, this has been a tough pre-race week- I'm tired, didn't train much, sick, but the last two months of training have been good. Needless to say, I wasn't quite sure how this would all work out.

Last year I hadn't run more than 6 miles at once before this race. I used the first 2-3 miles as warm up, and proceeded to descend each mile, finishing in 1:14:53. At the time, I was happy with the time considering my base. My competitive spirit, however, noticed a slew of friends were all tight together, and about 3 minutes ahead of me. It seems like everyone has been working really hard, 3 minutes is a lot to make up, so again, I wasn't sure how it would work out.

Given it's early February, the weather was about as good as it could be- somewhere around 15 degrees and a bit of a cold NW wind. Once the race started, the entire bunch I wanted to stay with shot out and had 50+ yards on me within the first 1/2 mile. A peek at my Garmin told me I was going 6:50 pace. Way too fast for the start, but I didn't want to give up too much distance. So I backed off a bit and tried to relax. A bit later, I noticed Jeff behind me, and I happily dropped back to join him for what turned out to be seven miles. We hit the first mile in 7:05 and agreed that was plenty fast enough. The second mile got into some hills, but we stayed around 7:20. These hills were by no means huge, let's call them four big rollers, and my HR was well over 160. Given my HRmax is about 174, I knew I shouldn't go any harder so early.

I should also note I have never raced with my Garmin (I bought it last March), and haven't raced with a HR monitor in several years. I just don't need it for Oly (or shorter) triathlons. The data really helped, and I feel I was still able to run my own race using feel- the watch was a guide, not a dictator.

Jeff and I continued on, likely each thinking the same thing, "Man, I'm working hard, I hope I'm not holding him back, I really should slow down." We saw Mary about 50 yds. in front of us, and she stayed right there. Bob and Mark were together, about 200 yards further up. My plan was to stay at this pace, and not worry about running them down until mile 7 or so. Starting with mile 3, we split 7:16, 6:54, 6:52, 7:04 and 6:51. I'm willing to bet that if the course was flat, each mile would have been within 5 seconds of each other. We are similar runners- swimmers, really- big for runners, not a lot of experience, overstriding and heel striking.

Just before the crest of the last meaningful hill, just before mile 7, I saw I was catching Mary. I kept up the pace and figured it was time to start to move up in the field. After the top of the hill we had a long gradual downhill- perfect for me- not too steep, not too shallow. Then the road was flat until another long down hill just before mile nine where I caught Mark and Bob who were still shoulder to shoulder (mile 8 was 6:36). It took considerable effort to catch up given the pace and headwind, so I decided to tuck in and stay behind these two for as long as possible. Ideally, I didn't want them to know I was there, but that idea didn't last long. I stayed tucked in behind them as we headed back up a gradual hill, and planned to stay right there until we reached the Fowler Rd. intersection, about a 1/2 mile from the finish (mile 9 was 6:55). Just before that point, Mark started moving out, so I got up to his shoulder. I couldn't afford to give him an extra step at this point. At a 6:33 pace, I knew I was at my max. We turned into the High School, and Mark was able to accelerate away through the three turns enough so I knew that race was over. Now I just had to worry about Bob. I couldn't hear him, that was probably due to the headwind. I actually wondered if he was willing to turn himself inside out for this. With 50 yards to go, I heard the announcer say Mark's name, then mine, then someone else- the guy I just passed. That told me Bob wasn't close, and I thankfully backed off just a tad. The last mile took 6:38, but the last half mile was 3:00. I had nothing left. And as it turns out, Bob was willing to turn himself inside out- he vomited just as we turned into the school.

With a finishing time of 1:09:25, I improved by 5 1/2 minutes over last year. My average HR was 163, much higher than I thought I could handle. I was very consistent, with the difference between my fastest and slowest miles just 44 seconds. I owe a great deal to Jeff who kept me consistent for the first 7, Mary who had a lovely target on her back, and Mark and Bob who dragged me to the finish. It probably would have been a different story without those motivations. It felt great to have those pre-race butterflies again, see and chat with all of my friends, and dig deep at the end. I can't wait to do it again.

Showshoe Heaven

2010-02-01T18:29:00.010-05:00

While I don’t recommend it, breaking my elbow has its benefits. Sure, I haven’t been in the pool at all, and it’s going to really suck getting back in. However, my combined run and bike volume has expanded from about 4 hours to almost 7 over the last six weeks. On the bike, I doubled my time from 1:15 to 2:30 per week, and my results are showing it. For running, I went from 20 to 28 miles, which is perfect timing for the Cape Midwinter 10 mile race this Sunday.
Even better, I’ve been out on my running snowshoes a bunch of times. These shoes are made for running- they’re narrow, shorter and lighter. Here’s a picture from the internet:

So far, I’ve been up to Sunday River, Blueberry Lake and Ole’s in Warren, VT, and the Mt. Washington Hotel. I’ve found I enjoy trails much more than open fields, which tend to be tedious. Trails are constantly changing. I head out with a Camelback waist system that holds a water bottle on my left hip, and has three pockets that separately hold keys, iPod and a gel flask. I typically stop about every 15-20 minutes for nutrition- it’s awkward to drink while on the move. These frequent stops also allow me to go for a pretty good distance. Three of the runs have been between 1:30 and 1:45. At an average speed of 6 mph, that’s 9-10 miles, a worthy workout. I also have a feeling that this is doing some good for my run mechanics- my stride tends to be shorter, and I’m striking the front part of my foot.

Importantly, the trails are just a great place to be. Nearly all of the trails are groomed, which lets me move along at a good clip. It’s all new, quiet, changing, and there are only a few others out there- just enough to keep things interesting. I’m surprised I haven’t seen any other snowshoers- they’re all on XC skis.

Last weekend we went to the Mt. Washington Hotel with three families from Winchester, MA. On Saturday, I headed out on the trails around noon, after waiting for the temperature to finally get over minus 5*. Even with that cold, I only had on a thin long sleeve shirt and my Team Nor’Easter biking jacket. For gloves, I have a fleece-like underglove and shell-like overglove. On the bottom, I wore compression tight shorts and pants that are looser and thicker than tights, but aren’t baggy. On my feet, it was just short socks and trail running sneakers, topped by gators. This was all topped off with a beanie hat. In other words, even though it was frigging COLD, I don’t need to wear that much. It’s probably a sign that it’s a good workout.

As I headed out, my f-ing Garmin told me the battery was dead. Typically, I like to know how long I’ve run, and want the data uploaded to the computer for tracking purposes. So I stated the stopwatch on my iPod and resisted throwing the 305 into the snowbank.

If you haven’t been to this resort in the winter, put it on your list. The trails are great, and there are many views of the mountain- which is spectacular on a clear winter day. Here are two:

Near the end, things started going downhill. I was gassed and had a bad blister on my toe. I finally got back, and had this view of the back of the hotel-

Along the way, I noticed my jacket collar was frozen solid and my earphones seemed to be iced to my ears-

The next day was even colder- by 10 AM, it had warmed up to minus 9*. That didn't stop the kids from enjoying the outdoor pool-

Beating Boredom- Part 4: Run

2010-01-16T13:46:00.008-05:00

I love long runs. I love hard runs. Both present a challenge. They also have changing scenery, beautiful sun rises, other runners and different routes. My winter rule is 10 degrees and clear roads. So far, this winter has been great for running (jinx). But there are always those days when I have to hit the treadmill and I lose all of those great attributes of an outside run. Still, stifling air, other people controlling the TV remote, and the threat of a 30 minute time limit suck. The treadmill certainly has the potential for some serious drudgery.

The keys to actually feeling good about it are really no different than the swim and bike- it's about attitude, intervals and variety. The one additional variable that a treadmill offers is the pitch. So along with varying the times and speed, also change the pitch. Also make the intervals easy to remember- like every even minute or every multiple of 5. As a point of reference, my best 10k at the end of a tri is 41:10.

1. Strides. Pick a comfortable/easy cruising speed, say 6.5. At the beginning of each two minute interval, throw in a harder 30 second effort. Start at 7, then increase it by 0.5 on each one until you hit 10 (or feel like you're barely able to stay on). Then repeat the set at a 2 degree pitch. 28 min set.

2. Progressive speed. Once you've warmed up at 6.5, up the speed by 0.3 every 3 min. That's a small enough increment so you don't really notice the difference from the previous 3 min, but it doesn't take long to go from 6.5 to 8.9 (24 min). If you have more time, drop it back to 7 and start over, or 6.5 and add some pitch.

3. Progressive time. Using an easy base of 6.5 and a high end of 8.5, go 2 min easy, 1 min hard, 2/2, 2/3, 2/4, 2/5. 25 min set.

4. Progressive pitch. Keeping the speed constant, and higher than the base speeds mentioned above, say 7, make your easy intervals flat and increase the hard intervals by 1 degree each time- 0/1, 0/2......0/8. Play with the times so you can finish the set- the last run at 8 degrees should be pretty tough. If you change every 2 min, it's a 32 min set.

5. Long run. If you are trying to run for more than an hour, the above sets might be a bit much. Set the speed at 7 and change something every 5 min for 1 min. Up the speed or pitch, or both. This will help you stay out of a rut.

6. Roller coaster. Go 4 min each 6.5, 7.5, 8.5, 7.5, 6.5, back up & down again. Or keep the speed at 7 and change the pitch- 0, 3, 6, 3, 0, back up & down. 36 min.

7. Anchored yo-yo. With the "anchor" set at 6.5, take three steps forward and two steps back, returning to the anchor each time. 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 6.5, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 6.5, 8, 8.5, 9- 3 min each is 36 min. Or take the same idea with pitch, keeping the speed at 7. 0, 2, 3, 4, 0, 3, 4, 5, 0, 4, 5, 6.

8. Floating yo-yo. Just remove the anchor. Go 6.5, 7, 7.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 7.5, 8, 8.5. 4 min each is 36 min. Again, the same can be done with pitch. For both #7 and #8, you can change it so it's 4 steps forward and three back. Essentially, this is a way to "sneak up" on faster running.

9. Pyramid. The faster you go, the less time you put in. 3 min at 7, 2 @ 8, 1 @ 9, repeat a few times. Or keep the speed at 7 and go 3 min at 2 degrees, 2 min @ 5, 1 @ 8.

Now let's get silly...

10. Floating pyramid yo-yo. 3 min @ 7, 2 @ 7.5, 1 @ 8, 3 min @ 7.5, 2 @ 8, 1 @ 8.5, 3 min @ 8, 2 @ 8.5, 1 @ 9. Repeat for 36 min.

11. Progressive compound roller coaster. All intervals are 2 min. 6.5, 7, 7.5, 7...pitch goes to 3...6.5, 7, 7.5, 7...flat...7, 7.5, 8, 7.5...pitch to 3...7, 7.5, 8, 7.5...flat...7.5, 8, 8.5, 7.5...pitch to 3...7.5, 8, 8.5, 7.5, 7. 50 min.

I think you get the idea. You spend so much time thinking about what's next with these sets, and you're focused on the clock for just a couple of minutes at a time that it's impossible to get bored. Enjoy!

And the road is always better than the treadmill.

Beating Boredom- Part 3: Bike

2010-01-14T19:47:00.004-05:00

Pretty much 100% of my biking in the winter is alone. I also do it at about 5:30 AM, and the temperature in the garage ranges from about 35 to 42 degrees at the start. So it's early, cold, I have no company, and the scenery doesn't change as I crank out the miles. Plenty of reasons to get bored and skip a workout. But being the sicko trithlete I am, I actually enjoy it. Other than what was mentioned in Part 1, here are some specific workouts that get me through. I use watts to guage my effort, but I guess you could use mph or heartrate (although a big lag effect) also. For a reference, I race an Oly at an average of about 265w. My average power for the Crank the Kanc TT was 276. I should also mention that I'm SURE certain coaches (in Brunswick) will say I could be doing better workouts. But in my mind, I'm just trying to get some time in on the bike, work hard, and have variety. I also find it really helps to write the workout down on paper the night before and leave it right next to my bike. As you know, it can be hard to think or remember where you are in a set when you're working hard or your mind wanders. You can also write down the total elapsed workout time next to each set, and keep a stopwatch going.

1. FTP test. This is one serious grind. The point is to go to failure. After a 32 min. warmup that includes some intervals, the set starts at 160 watts. Every 4 min, I add another 20w. This week I matched last year's effort, where I failed after 2 min @ 320w. I think I could go a bit further if I had company (competition). At the end, it's not only a real physical struggle, but mental as well. After a recovery, the workout takes 1:20. I definitely use my countdown timer for this one.

2. Long grind. Most of my rides have a bunch of intervals, but I'll occasionally throw in a 45-60 min effort at 200-230w. Every 5 min, shift to a harder gear and stand up for a minute. That loosens up your back and fanny, and is a good mental break.

3. Over / under. This is a great effort set. The idea is to split the time between easy and hard in equal amounts of time, but the easy ain't so easy. For example, do 4 min at 280w, then 4 min at 240w. The midpoint is close to race pace. Repeat 5 times.

4. Ladder the hard. Start at an easy rate, say 180w. This stays as the easy interval. The hard interval starts at 200w and adds 20w each time. To make things interesting (and to keep your mind occupied), change up the times. Try something like 1 min ez, 3 min hard or equal times for each (2/2), but take the ladder up further.

5. Ladder the easy. As opposed to #4, your base is 270w for the hard, and you keep increasing the "easy." It would look like- 160, 270, 180, 270, 200, 270...and so on. Again, play with the times. The total set should be somewhere between 30 & 45 min.

6. Combination ladder. Combine sets 3&4- Start at 160w and work the hard intervals up to 270. Then without a break, keep 270 for the hard, and start increaseing the easy. If you go 3 min hard and 1 min easy, the whole set should be something like 48 minutes.

7. Time ladder. With this one, keep the hard and easy efforts the same, but change the times. You can either keep increasing the hard while keep the easy the same (1 hard/1 easy/2/1/3/1/4/1/5/1), or keep decreasing the easy while keeping the hard the same (5/5/5/4/5/3/5/2/5/1).

8. 3 min base. Each set has 3 min of near maximum effort (I was well over 400w for the first 3 sets), and has an equal amount of time for very easy spinning. Start with 9 x 20 sec with 20 sec between each. Then proceed to 6 x :30, 4 x :45, 3 x 1 min, 2 x 1:30, and 1 x 3 min. Spin for an additional 2 min between each set. So it looks like- 9x(20 hard, 20 easy), 2 min easy, 6x(30 hard, 30 easy), 2 min easy, and so on. Very tough set, especially if you bust hump. Set the countdown timer for 8 min.

9. Beat the computer. With TrainingPeaks WKO+, you can easily see your previous max power outputs for various lengths of time. A few weeks ago, I did a 30 min effort with the goal of exceeding all four times- 1 (304w), 5 (266), 10 (240) and 30 min (211). As it was still early in the season and I hadn't put in any really hard rides, these hurdles were relatively easy. I did a straight 30 min ride with the goal of riding over 310w for the first minute, then over 270 for the next 4 (cumulative time is now 5 min), over 250 for the next 5, and over 220 for the last 20 min. By definition, if I do this, I will beat all of the benchmarks by a good bit because the big 1 min effort is also reflected in the 5 min effort, and so on. (I ended up at 354, 294, 271 and 243.)

As you can see, most of these sets involve constant changing. Long intervals are only 5 minutes. That way, you're only focused on the next few minutes, not the next hour grind. Just take one step at a time. Sure, we need to put in some longer, steady state rides, but the idea of this post is to keep your mind engaged and work hard.

Beating Boredom- Part 2: Swim

2010-01-05T19:57:00.005-05:00

In Part 1, I reviewed a whole bunch of things that apply to the swim as well as the bike and run. This will focus on sets that are specific to the pool. Two things to keep in mind- first, you need to adjust swim times and intervals for your own ability. Second, I am of the less yardage / more quality school. As a sprinter at Tufts, under the tutelage of the great Don Megerle, it was all about race-specific, high quality training. I got good at 100 yards (:49 free), but typically crapped out at 150 (never under 1:52 for the 200). As a result, many of the distance ideas here are from seeing what "Lane 2" was doing, talking with Coach, experimenting, and the Y group.

1. The long, straight swim. Like riding over 80 or running over 18, different things happen when I go more than 1,000-1,500 yards straight. My core hurts all over and my technique falters. So it's obviously something that needs work. But a long time trial is incredibly boring and easy to bail out of. Two things help. First, get someone willing to do the same in the lane next to you. Notice I said in the next lane. This is best done when you and friend have lanes to yourselves, or at least can lead the lane. Friend can help with the pacing and provide a little competitive energy. Second, wear a watch with a countdown timer that you can hear underwater. I set mine for 2:36, and pay attention to where I turn every 200 yards. Not only does this keep me at an even pace, I'm also able to count yards. Otherwise I'd lose count after 150. Wondering how far you've gone is a sure thing for losing interest.

2. Rotating strokes. Often during warmup, I'll cycle through 100 free, 50 back four or six times. Again, it makes counting easier, and I'm always close to some sort of change.

3. Blasting. Swimming really fast is fun. Every now and then I'll dedicate a workout to swimming a couple of 100s at max effort. The entire workout is only a little over 2000 yds. Warm up for 500, descend 6x100 on 1:30, then 8x50 on 1 with 25 at max. That 25 can be the first 25, last, or middle, which incorporates the wall. The main set is 3x100 on 4. We do this so everyone gets a lane to themselves and clean water. Every swim is FAST, trying to break 1:00. The last 30-40 yards of the last one is pure hell. There's also time in there for an easy 50 inbetwen each one.

4. Tricking the body. Some fast 50s can trick the body into swimming a faster "controlled" pace. For a main set, do 3 x 4x200 on 3 with 6x50 on 1 (2x(ez, med, hard)) between each group of 4 200s. Drop your times on each set.

5. Use thinking as a distraction from the boredom and pain. Make the set so involved, with lots of changes, so that you really have to think to figure out what's next. Go 6 x (50, 100, 150), on a 45 sec per 50 yd. base interval, rotating easy, medium and hard- easy 50, medium 100, hard 150, medium 50, hard 100, easy 150, etc.

6. Turn it off. Occasionally, it's OK to tuck in and draft. Turn the mind off, let someone else do the counting, and enjoy the ride.

7. Know when to work. Instead of slogging through an entire workout at an even pace, alternate hard / easy. A great set is to alternate 8 x 150 with 8 x 100, all on 2. Descend the 150s. An interval of 2 forces you to at least put in some moderate work, even on the first one. The 100s are really slow, allowing you to focus on the 150s.

8. Start a challenge series with the group. On Wednesdays this fall, we did 30x100, 3000 mixed, 40x100, etc., up to 8000. Everyone knows what's coming, and in a sick way, looks forward to it.

Variety, from one set to the next, and one workout to the next, is the key. Enjoy!

Beating Boredom- Part 1: Overall

2010-01-04T19:28:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I sat on my bike in the cold garage for 1:25, working fairly hard, then drove to the club for an hour run on the treadmill. This morning, I got up at 5 to drive to the club (2 minutes away) so I could get on that same damn treadmill for 1:15. It's time to start ramping up for the Cape 10 mi which is in 5 weeks. Early on, I realized I'm engaging in potentially incredibly boring activities. Add staring at a black line on the bottom of a pool, and you've got a recipe for committal. So it got me thinking....what is it that allows me to engage in this insanity, especially during the winter when we are inside and don't actually travel for many of the workouts. (Just to clarify, I actually run outside more than 1/2 of the time.) In no particular order:

1. Dream up blog postings. This one will deal with training in general, then I'll do one for each sport. I'll even throw in some specific workouts that I find interesting and productive. I should also include one big fat disclaimer- like many triathletes, I'm probably a bit off my rocker. I also have certain buttons, that when pushed, work well for me. I'm sure others have additional solutions.

2. Beat past workouts. Obviously, this needs to be done in moderation. You can't just keep beating previous efforts and not expect to get injured. I use Training Peaks WKO+ to upload data from both my Powertap (bike) and Garmin (run). With the software, you can see things like what your best 1, 5, 10, and 30 min efforts have been at any point in a given time range. This works especially well for the bike. These observations frequently lead to specific workouts, which I'll list in subsequent posts.

3. Competitors. For me, just thinking about Jeff, Rob, and Bob keeps me going. I know they are working their tails off. I need to do the same.

4. Competitions. Early season competitions are a great motivator. They also may lead to modest changes in the routine, which can be refreshing.

5. Music. The iPod is perhaps the greatest training aid to come along in recent history. Set it to random shuffle so you don't know what's coming next. You might even hear a song you haven't heard in a while.

6. Vary time, distance and intensity, within the workout and from one workout to the next. Vary the gearing on the bike and pitch on the treadmill. more on this later. It's critical to mix things up- not only mentally, but also physically- you end up working different energy systems.

7. TV can work well, especially if it's a lower intensity workout. Personally, I find music to work much better when things ramp up.

8. Nutrition. It's easy to get bored if your performance trails off, which happens easily if you don't replace calories and liquids. For a 1:15 ride, I'll go through 2 full water bottles and a nutrition bar.

9. Company. Our swim group can be up to 20+ strong. It's a great group, and very competitive. I may be a good swimmer in the world of triathlon, but on a good day, I'm somewhere in the middle of this group.

10. Podcasts. I like IM Talk, The Competitors and Endurance Planet, all from the iTunes store. IM Talk is two guys in New Zealand who cover triathlon training and racing, spending more time on the IM distance. They can be a bit goofy, and one of them (Bevin) has one of the highest pitched voices I've ever heard. They can also get good interviews. This one is weekly. The Competitors are Bob Babbit and Paul Huddle. They get one good interview per episode, and do it once or twice per month. They do more triathlon than other sports, but also cover biking, running and other special interest stories. Good stuff. Endurance Planet has evolved over the last year or so, and is now a weekly one hour call with three interviews each. More endurance running, but also triathlon and other sports.

11. Have a plan. Knowing what you will do, and committing to that idea, can help to get to the finish. It's even more helpful when you have a weekly plan that this workout is a part of. If you just show up with no daily or weekly plan, it's easy to get off early because you aren't failing.

12. Break the time up into manageable chuncks. Focus on just gettign to the next time threshold. Intervals work for this. You can also eat a 1/4 bar every 15 minutes. Or stand up on the bike every 5 minutes for 60 seconds.

I'm sure there are other things that help fight off the boredom. Bottom line, do whatever it takes to stay engaged. So what works for you?

I sold it

2010-01-03T17:08:00.002-05:00

I sold the snowboard today. No more of that foolish sport for me. Now I just need to find some skis....assuming the doctor says I can ski. We have a whole bunch of skiing planned, probably at least one day for 3/4 of the weekends from now until early March. My arm hasn't been improving much lately, making me think it's something more serious. It's the extremes that hurt- either a full extension or curl. Gripping and twisting, especially a strong handshake, really hurts. I was able to get in the pool last week, although only for 2000 and then 800 yards. I see the doc tomorrow afternoon...

Now that the new year has come, I can see my totals for 2009:
Swim 145 hours, 464,400 yards
Bike 136 hours, 2,485 miles
Run 143 hours, 1,042 miles
Other (mostly lifting) 14 hours

So that's a total of 438 hours. That's pretty low compared to many triathletes, but I'd suggest the main difference between 438 and the other totals I've seen is junk or recovery miles. I didn't race longer than an Oly, and trained accordingly. Most of the hours, especially once spring rolled around, were high quality. 2010 will likely be more of the same. Why mess with something that works? Sure, I'll make some improvements, but that's just tweaking.

Happy New Year to everyone! May your plans and dreams for 2010 come true...as long as you don't plan on finishing in front of me. ;-)

I QUIT!!!

2009-12-22T18:43:00.008-05:00

I can be stubborn. I don't give up easily. That certainly wouldn't be consistent with a triathlete, especially one who has finished two IMs. I've only quit one sport in my life. Freshman HS baseball. Let's face it- swimmers aren't coordinated, and don't excel at ball sports. Baseball is the antithesis of swimming. It's all about coordination, and often has nothing to do with conditioning. What kind of sport has it's players sprint just a few times over the course of a three hour game? A sport where George Scott, Mo Vaughan, David Ortiz, David Wells can excel...is it a real sport?

I've skied my whole life, and am pretty good at it. Two winters ago, my downhill skis delaminated. I tried to get them fixed three times, but they wouldn't hold. So a friend suggested at a party (drinking may have affected my judgement) that I give snowboarding a try. Our sons, who are good friends, both do it, and he picked it up the previous winter and loved it. The simplicity, lower cost and adventure were appealing. I also thought it would be a good bonding experience with Nick. So on December 26 2008, I took a lesson. I stayed on the bunny hill with the magic carpet. Traverse hill, sit down, flip the board over, traverse, repeat, repeat. The last run before lunch, I took the beginner's chair up for a longer run, and did fairly well. So I went into lunch full of confidence and pronounced, "We're going up!" Holy shit, was I wrong. To make a long story short, the next morning I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck.

Numerous people told me it takes three days for snowboarding to click. So I went up to Sunday River with Nick and friend and rented a board again. It went a bit better, barely, but well enough for me to come home and buy my very own board & boots. Cool. I'm a shredder. Then towards the end of the next day, this time at Sugarloaf, it clicked. I got it.

Fast forward to Saddleback in March, where I has a slow-speed crash, forcing my elbow into my ribs, cracking one or more. That was the end of my season, and caused a serious dent in my training schedule.

This past Sunday was our first day of the season. I was a little nervous starting out, hoping I didn't forget it all. I actually thought about starting on the magic carpet, but went with Ed (the same guy who suggested I get into this GD sport in the first place) and his other son up the lower chair. I started nice and easy, slowly regaining form and confidence. It was going really well, and was fun.

Around 1:30, we went up the Barker Chair to the top, and headed for an intermediate trail. The first half is a narrow trail, and the covering was thin. I was ever so slightly out of control, nothing ridiculous, had my back facing downhill, caught my downhill edge, and went down very hard. In hindsight, I think I started my turn too soon because of the width of the trail. I hit hard just above my tailbone, about belt level, then whipped down to the ground, with my head hitting really hard. If I didn't have a helmet on, I'd be somewhere between badly hurt and dead. I instantly knew I'd pay for this. After lying there for a minute or two, I tried to get up and move to the side. My right elbow wouldn't support my weight. Shit, that hurts. I moved to the side, and tried to gather myself. I didn't think I had a concussion or that anything was broken, so we slowly headed down. I figured I would see how everything progressed before I headed out again. The pain all over got worse, and I got pissed.

Yesterday, the day after the fall, I was on the road for work. I could barely turn the key in the ignition or move the gearshift. I tried to swim today, but only lasted for 50 yds. of swimming and 300 yds of kicking. Shit, shit, shit. I was on a streak of 13 weeks in a row of a minimum of 10,000 yds/wk, and was swimming really well. There goes the streak. The good news is I ran 4.5 this morning and was fine.

So back to the title of this post....I QUIT. I'm going to sell the snowboard & boots and buy some skis. I have good boots and bindings, so I shouldn't have to empty the bank. Now I'll be able to do an entire mountain, be more aggressive (within reason), and have more fun.

The next two weeks are a bit lighter for training due to family schedules, then it's into 5 weeks before the Cape Midwinter 10 mi roadrace. I'm really looking forward to mixing it up again.

Motivation

2009-12-04T19:01:00.007-05:00

The mornings are now pitch dark when I hit the road. I need the reflective vest and headlamp. It's also colder, so I have a couple of light layers and a hat. This is just the start- it's going to get really really cold soon, and I won't see any daylight for these runs until at least March. It's a small, cold, occasionally numbing, uncomfortable world, and I'm slow. It isn't a whole lot of fun, but the only reasons I don't hit the road as scheduled is if it's below 10 degrees or there's snow or ice on the road.

As for the bike, it's in our back garage on a trainer, next to a workbench, with a fan and TV. Soon enough I'll need the portable heater on full blast so that the temp goes from a toe-numbing 38 to a balmy 45 by the time the ride ends. So while I have the TV and music as a distraction, I wouldn't exactly call it paradise.

I get out there and put in the time and miles. And miles and miles. Why? Why do I do this? This past Tuesday, I went out for my scheduled run at 5:40. About a quarter mile into the run, I get to a place that's wide open fields. In the western sky, an incredible, enormous full moon was setting. Just a few wisps of clouds added depth to the picture. It was one of those moons you feel like you can reach out and touch. It was beautiful.

On that day, for that run, that was my motivation. And it got me thinking about all of the various sources of motivation that push us.

1. The event. The "A" race that although it's months and months away, you can't stop thinking about it. It's always there. Everything you do- or don't do- you think about how it will impact your race. For me, last year it was the USAT Nationals. I missed qualifying for Team USA by a measly 45 seconds the year before, so I wanted it BAD. I wanted to be a NOAD. This year, it's Worlds.

2. The competition. When you put two competitors next to each other, they will want to crush the other. You dissect race splits to see where you did well compared to them and where there's room for improvement. You become very aware of everything when you're around them, even if it isn't at a race. OK, it sounds a bit psycho and self-centered, I know. Locally, I have several folks who are in my vicinity, and I want to beat them every time. I don't want to show up for even a "C" race and let them finish in front of me. And seeing good results from races I don't go to revs me up. It makes me think they are going to be even better next year. Which means training and racing even harder than last year. Seeing Jeff F's pictures from ITU Long Distance Worlds got to me. Seeing the Thanksgiving Day 4 mi results for Jeff and Rob F got to me. Reading Bob T's new blog got to me. He has no idea he just handed me some race time- thanks, Bob. Keep it coming guys, you're stoking the fire.

3. Sights. Scenery can be invigorating. The full moon, a rising sun, and great scenery can push me. One of my favorite roads is Flying Point Rd. in Freeport. It's beautiful there.

4. Challenges. I'm a fan of Rocky. I love a challenge. Hill repeats on the bike and run, track intervals, or really long, punishing tempo rides are exhausting, but it feels great to get through them. Some of my most memorable sails were solo efforts in Penobscott Bay in our 18 foot sloop in 25 knots. I wasn't quite sure if I'd make it back, or if the boat would stay in one piece. But I made it back and couldn't wait to do it again.

5. Music. My shuffle is my friend. It's loaded with songs that keep me going- Rocky theme songs, lots of stuff from the 80s, and a smattering of other stuff that's either upbeat or has some special meaning to me.

6. Anger. This one is pretty rare, but when I get pissed at someone and can't get it out of my mind, I take out my frustrations on the road.

7. The Feeling. Rolling out of bed, sore from head to toe feels good. I know I've worked when I feel like that. And I know I'm headed in the right direction. Then I can't wait to get out and do it again.

8. The Family. I'll never forget talking with Nick on the phone after Nationals this year when he said, "We're proud of you." I want my family to think well of me. I want my kids to look up to me, which might help drive them to accomplishments later in life.

9. Clothes. Fast clothes may not make a huge difference in themselves, but if I'm going to wear a fast uniform, I better not disappoint. Pulling on the USA uniform will be the ultimate rush.

10. Data. The powermeter doesn't lie, and shows exactly where you stand compared to last week, month or year. For the run, the Garmin does the same thing. All of this data goes into WKO+. It's very easy to pick out previous peaks and attempt to better them. A classic for me is an FTP test on the bike. That's basically a stair-step, drop-dead bike set.

11. The perfect race- the love of the sport. I want to be able to look in the mirror and know I did everything I could to go fast. There are so many components to a good race that there's always something to work on. But as for physical effort, I know if I did what I was capable of. And it really bugs me when I didn't reach my potential.

Now I sit here imagining a race where I have on the USA uniform, my family is there, I push and push my limits, the powertap is silently screaming my output, well-known, tough competition is all around me, the course is in a great location, music is blaring, and there's a lot on the line. Whoa. I guess that's why we have power meters and heart rate monitors to keep us under control.

Gotta go get ready for tomorrow's run in the dark. Gonna kick some ass.

What's your motivation?

Next up...

2009-11-29T17:02:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow morning I enter the next phase of my training. I'll keep bike, swim and strength time the same, but throw in another run of one hour. Total training time moves up to 8:45 per week. November was supposed to have just two runs per week, but I was able to squeeze in an extra run the last two weeks. Weekly mileage was 11, 13, 16, 17, and moves to just under 19/wk in December. This increase in mileage is partially in preparation for the Cape Midwiter 10 mile race in early February. There will be plenty of folks around me in the 1:10-1:13 area. I was struggling with my running speed until the last few runs, where I felt a little lighter (while not technically correct- I'm up about 8 lbs. in 3 months), stronger, and my base pace moved down to about 7:45. Overall in November, I put in 32.5 hours, compared to 26.5 last year.

Away from the data, I feel like I'm coming out the other side of my off-season low. It's been three months since Nationals, so it's about friggin' time. Physically, while not trying to push my limits, I do feel like I'm able to work harder each week. The nagging injuries don't nag quite as much. I'm looking forward to some long, exhausting snowshoe runs. I want to mix it up again. I want those butterflies again. Admittedly, it's a little hard to see my main competition turning in good results in road races. I know June-September is the time to perform, but still, put me next to one of these guys and I want to GO. Knowing I can't right now is tough.

Details about Worlds are starting to trickle in. That's added fuel to the training fire. My race is on 9/12/10, 286 days from now.

Everest, All Wet

2009-11-25T21:00:00.005-05:00

Something weird happened today...I finished an 8,000 yd. pool workout, as scheduled, and actually enjoyed it. That's just wrong.

Let's put this in perspective. First, I am a sprinter in the pool at heart. I went 49 in the 100 in college, and still went 53 last winter. But a 200? Forget it. A 500? Pathetic. Back in 2002 at New Englands, I went out in 3:03 and finished in 5:19. It isn't supposed to be done that way. You should have seen that piano fall from the ceiling. I have always believed, and will continue to believe, that quality is far more important than quantity. As one wise man once said, "if you practice swimming slow...you'll get good at it." I learned to teach my body what it felt like to swim FAST. For example, we trained with fins doing all-out 25s from a dive. With stretch cords, we would work returning from the far end just as much as getting there in the first place.

Since Nationals in August, I haven't done more than one ride per week, and never more than 22 miles or so. Running has been better, but I'm still only doing 2 runs/wk for about 12 miles (I'll add a third run starting next week). Swimming, on the other hand, has been going very well. I've been in 4 days/wk, for a total of about 12,000+ yds. And the intensity has been there. I am putting in times- and repeats- that I haven't done in practice in a long time. I'm also using paddles once per week, which has made a huge difference- until I did 19x100 on 1:20 with them last week. My left shoulder has felt a bit screwed up ever since. So I came to today a bit concerned that I might do further damage.

The noon group started a campaign a while back. Every Wednesday we alternated between all 100s and something else. Week 1 was 30x100, week 2 3,000 mixed, week 3 40x100, etc. I made it to the 50x100 and 5,000 mixed, but the last 5 weeks I've bailed early because I didn't want to put in junk yards, and frankly, I found it terribly boring. I typically got out around 4,000.

So today was the finale, 8,000 yards. Work was slow, I felt pretty good, ate a little more for breakfast, worked on hydrating and salt while at the office, and opened up to the idea that I might finish the whole thing. Here's the workout:

4 x (400, 300, 200 ,100)- First time through on 1:30/100, then 1:25, 1:20 and 1:20.
16 x 125 on 1:50, descend 1-8, ascend 9-16
4 x (1x100 on 1:20, 2x75 on 1:15, 3x50 on 40, 4x25 on 25)

My lane set up a great rotation in the first set so we shared the lead and also got lots of incredible drafting. The first 2,000 took zero effort. It was like sledding downhill. Even the next 2,000 was only harder when leading. That entire set was devoid of thought. I just turned the brain off, stayed in line, and took it easy. I knew I would need to if I wanted any hope of finishing.

It was around 3,000 when a few others started dropping of the pace a bit. And at 3,800, the calf cramps started. I hate calf cramps, and get them in most harder or longer workouts. Good push offs are impossible, and I end up swimming with at least one foot completely flexed so my toes are pointing up until I reach the wall. Not fast. The cramps continued to get worse for the rest of the workout. By some miracle, I never had to stop. I also swam fairly well the entire time, and stayed mentally engaged in the effort the whole way. I never got bored.

Somewhere near the end, I began thinking about how far 8,000 yards really is. I know Mt. Everest is 8,000+ meters, but at the time, I figured I had swum almost as far as Everest is above sea level. That's pretty cool. Grant me a little leeway on this one.

Anyway, it feels great to have finished this. And it's fine if I don't do something this stupid again in a while.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Planning 2010

2009-11-15T13:41:00.006-05:00

Planning for 2010 started on 8/22/09 when I qualified for the ITU Age Group World Championships, to be held in Budapest on 9/11/10. The rest of the training year will point towards that race.

This year's plan has the usual suspects, but I've dropped two out of state races I did last year. I also added two early running races in February and March- it will be good to get the competitive juices flowing at a point when I've been inside for a few months and still have a couple of months of crappy weather. Finally, there's still a hole in my plan. I need one more olympic distance race somewhere around late July or early August.

So here goes...

February- Last year I did the Cape 10 mi race "for the heck of it." I used the first few miles as warm up and had no pressure for a quick run. I ended up descending every mile, finishing at a 6:30 pace. Oh yeah, I hadn't run more than 6 before that. This year I'll try to put in a better effort. There are a few folks that beat me last year that will make good targets (Jeff, Ange, Mary....). I went 1:15 last year, so if the conditions are comparable (doubtful), maybe a 1:10-1:12 is possible. One week later is the Polarbear 5k.

March- I'll do my first snowshoe race ever, a 5k at Pineland. I have a good pair of under-used running snowshoes that I love. There are a whole bunch of trails near the house that I love to use on the weekends.

May- The tri season will kick off with the Polarbear sprint. It's the first chance for tri egos to see how the winter training went. Two weeks later is a fantastic bike time trial, Crank the Kanc. It's a one-way race from Conway to the top of the Kancamagus Highway. The first 17 are rolling, the last 5 UP. Red-lining for about 70 minutes. It's a great data-gathering race. I can compare the power files to 2008 and 2009.

June- In my mind, the season really kicks off with the Mooseman Olympic distance race. I was 5th in my AG last year, and 13th overall. It can be a very competitive race and you never know who will show up. This year, there's more competition for Mooseman due to the 70.3 the next day and the popular Rev3.

July- Urban Epic is a good race to do, even though it's just a sprint now.

August- I'll try to defend my title at the Bethel Tri. Winning overall last year from wire to wire was a thrill last year.

September- World Championships. 'Nuf said.

As for specific goals for the season, I'm having some trouble. I made Team USA, and I know I don't have a chance at the podium in Budapest. Top half of my AG would be good. So there's no "next step" race on the horizon. Locally, I'll always want to do well against my local rivals (Jeff, Rob, and 70.3 man Bob T.).

While it's not very specific, perhaps my big goal is to wear the uniform with pride. Having my name on my ass means there's a target on my back. Let's face it- people will want to knock me off simply because I have USA on my chest. They should. I certainly did the the same the last two years. So now it's my turn to be the target. And it's my job to move that target as far away as possible.

I'm Cool!

2009-10-24T10:51:00.003-04:00

Last night after the 7th/8th grade dance, I picked up Nick and took him home to get stuff for a sleepover. Then we got back in the car to go pick up the other two boys. On the way, my iPod played Dire Straights' Money for Nothing. You know, it has that great opening drum solo, followed by a guitar solo. Upon hearing it for the first time, Nick says, "That's awesome!" I burst out laughing. "Why are you laughing?" "Because I NEVER said that about the music my father played." Which is true. However the real truth was that I was bursting with a great feeling of acceptance. My son thinks I'm cool!!! Well...maybe he thinks the music is cool. No...I like the former. We payed the opening another three times. Then we picked up the other boys and played it again. Those two are in the back yelling, "That's sick!" and playing air drums and guitar. Btw, "sick" is really good. In fact, better than "awesome." My son's friends think I'm cool! I still laugh at the scene and my reaction. I guess most parents have an innate desire to be friends with their kids. Made my day.

As for training, it's been a bit all over the place. I've been dealing with a host of injuries- hamstring, quad, knee, SI joints. So I've been on my bike just four times in the last two months. Running has been better, about 2-3 times per week. I can still build into a good run, to the point where I feel I could hold 7:15-7:30 forever. However I haven't been longer than 5 miles in the last month.

My big focus has been in the pool. I've done 65,000 yards in the last 5 weeks, with the max at 17,000 yards three weeks ago. I've been using paddles for the first time in decades, just once per week, not too hard, and no more than 1000 yards. As long as my shoulders hold up, I think the added strength will make a big difference.

In total, I'm at just 5-6 hours per week, and there are no double sessions. I'm just now beginning to add some strength work and weekly structure. I realized I needed a break from the training grind, especially considering I have 10 months to my target race. I'm going to build weekly hours gradually, without hitting my max until May or June. Last year I did 11-12 hours from November through March, then cut down to 10. It was too much. In the next few months, I'm also going to go through phases of focusing on certain sports. Lately, it's been swimming. I'll soon ramp up the running with a focus on the Cape 10 miler in early February. Then I'll back off on the run and have a two month bike focus. I think this plan will keep me fresher for the season without sacrificing results.

Congrats to those who raced Kona last week, and good luck to those @ the Great Floridian this weekend. That was my first ironman, 10 years ago this week.

Race Report: CELT Sprint- Family Relay

2009-09-27T12:46:00.005-04:00

Thankfully, no other bummers yesterday. I had enough yesterday morning to last a few weeks. Today started with my rustling the kids out of bed at 6:30 in an (unsuccessful) attempt to get everyone out the door by 7. As it turned out, the timing worked great, especially considering I didn't have a transition area to set up. It was great to see the group again, possibly for the last time until the Polarbear in May.

Because I was only swimming, I put in a longer warmup than usual, about 12-1400 yds. I was seeded in the first heat which was made up entirely of relay swimmers. For some strange reason, I had more butterflies than any other race this season. Maybe it was the fact that it was just a swim, so there was no excuse to hold back. Maybe it was all of the people inside watching- they can't watch that easily in the open water. Maybe it was swimming next to a guy who beats me in practice....or the chance that some high school swimmer is there I don't know about...in other words...ego. Yeah, that's it.

Now let's see how interesting I can make a 425 yd swim sound- The first 100 felt great, 2nd not so much, work hard on the 3rd, and hang on for the 4th. That's about it.

I was the first out of the water, ran out to Nick, tagged him, and watch him ride off in first place.I later learned that he actually stopped twice- once due to a puddle-covered pothole that rattled him, and another because there was no one around and he was afraid he was off course. He even started taking his cell phone out of his baggie, until someone came by. What he didn't know is that his dumb parents didn't have their phones with them so we couldn't have answered anyway. Without looking at the results, I'd guess he came in with a split of about 49 minutes for 14 miles, which comes to about 17 mph, including stops. Given that it's his first ride ever over 8 miles, first race, it was raining, he's 13, stopped twice, and had the big black pedals with sneakers, he did a fantastic job.

Leah took the handoff and charged into the 3 mile trail run. Chirstine went with her to help her confidence. I heard she stopped to walk about six times, for only 20 seconds each. When she emerged from the woods, headed for the finish, she looked great. Strong the whole way. Check out her form:

All done!

It was really fun to involve the whole family. After they warmed up and had a bit to eat, they were actually enthusiastic about the experience, and have asked to do it next year.

A Helluva A Day

2009-09-26T12:59:00.003-04:00

I've had a lot of fun with my training lately. Nothing has been planned, I haven't done any doubles, and the quality is fine. I tend to ease into my runs, keep building, and end up somewhere around a 7-7:15 pace. I'm also getting back into the swimming groove. Wednesday was the third week of big Wednesdays, which will finish the day before Thanksgiving. The first two weeks were 30x100 at various intervals, then 1x1000, 2x500 and 8x125. Every two weeks we increase the yardage by 1000, and keep the same basic structure. So this week was 40x100. It's been several months since I've gone that far, so that feels good.

Back to today. I unintentionally woke up really early, couldn't go back to sleep, so got up a bit before 5. I started with my first trainer ride of the season, which strangely felt good and ominous at the same time. there are many, many hours to come on that trainer. That went for 1:05, then I headed out for a good long run. I headed out past the West Falmouth Hannaford, crossed the river, and found the start of the Portland Trails Trail. It was fantastic running alongside the river, through the woods, up, down, left right, constantly changing. I came out on Allen Ave. extension and headed home at a 7-7:15 pace. The whole run was about 9 miles in 1:15 (obviously slow on the trails). It was a great START to the day. Then the rest of the day happened.....

- Before the bike, I felt some tightness in my hamstring. It didn't bother me much on the bike, and I didn't notice it on the run. But it's killing me now. I obviously pulled something back there.

- So then we had someone take a look at our roof due to the leaks last winter. The whole damn thing needs to be replaced. Very, very expensive.

- Upon calling Toyota, where yesterday they replaced the brakes (expensive), they said they also need to replace the parking brake cable and it won't be ready until Monday.

- Then we went to replace our mattress (the two yr old one was under warranty), causing us to throw in another $400. I hate shopping for mattresses. How can you honestly tell how something is going to feel after a full night's sleep, much less 10 years? I also hate going to the Mall.

- Returning to the house, I was reminded that we just replaced the axle on the boat trailer, and the riding mower is at the shop getting new belts.

And it's only 12:30. I know we are more fortunate than many, and I am thankful for what we have. But I've had better mornings.

Tomorrow I head to a local sprint tri. The swim (425 yds) is in the pool where I grew up. It's always fun to go back there. Even better, I'm only doing the swim. Given the condition of my leg, that's a good thing. Nick will bike (14 mi) and Leah will run (3). It will be fun doing this as a team.

T - 365

2009-09-11T18:53:00.004-04:00

Let the countdown begin. Three hundred and sixty five days until the ITU Age Group World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

I'm not quite sure what to make of it at this point. Don't get me wrong- I know it will be a great trip and a rush to race with some of the best in the world. But to be honest, I feel a bit like a dog that just caught what it was chasing after. The chase was to qualify.....now what?

I guess this is all a good sign. A sign that my priorities are where they should be, especially at this point. I have purposely tried to detach myself from the intensities of the sport for a while. I need to direct energies to family and work. And after Nationals, I was mentally exhausted from the pursuit. I also had no desire to turn myself inside out again.

Back in the fall of 1990, I was sailing for Tufts. I wasn't nearly good enough to compete with the multiple All Americans on the team in dinghys, for various reasons, but I did find a spot on the "Sloop" team. For you sailors out there, we were in J-22s and 24s. My size helped instead of hurt, and my experience was also a plus. We qualified for the National Champioships on the equivalent of a three-point basketball heave as the clock expired. No exaggeration. And it was my call in the last race that made the difference. To qualify for the National Collegiate Championship was a big deal. As it turned out, the trip to Navy for Nationals was a huge disappointment, something that still eats away at me. Largely because of, shall we say, extracurricular activities by a few on the team, we ended up 9th out of 10.

This time around, I am the one in control. I won't let the the same thing happen. I'll go to Budapest, wear the uniform with pride and perform well. Obviously, I won't be in the running for a podium spot. I'm not quite sure how I will judge my performance, but there is plenty of time for that.

It wasn't until a couple of days ago when I started to draw some broad outlines for next year. I can feel some of the excitement for the sport and Worlds beginning to creep back into my bones. This is an opportunity of a lifetime- the race, event, and travel with the family.

At some point I'll take a retrospective look back at 2009 and figure out what lessons should be learned, thereby shaping a plan for 2010.

Summer, We Hardly Knew You

2009-09-07T08:43:00.002-04:00

I went out on my first ride since Nationals this morning. A quick check of the thermometer on the way out stopped me in my tracks- 43 degrees. Sixteen days ago, I was racing in 80+ degree weather, worried about dehydration. Now I'm worried about frozen toes and hands. I opted for the full gloves and long sleeve Nor'Easter jacket, but stubbornly did not cover up my peach-fuzz legs. I had a good ride, about 30 miles, without pushing too much other than a few short hills. Upon returning home, my feet went through that painful cold weather thaw. But it's early September....my feet shouldn't be this cold....

Motivation From Money

2009-09-02T15:59:00.002-04:00

No, I'm not that materialistic. But when I send in an entry fee (boy, that dates me...I mean when I put my credit card into Active), I'm committed. Come hell or high water, I'm going to do the race.

I just signed up for the CELT Challenge, a local sprint on Sept 27. But I didn't just sign up myself. I'll do the 425 yd pool swim, Nick will bike 14 on my old Javelin TT bike, and Leah will do the 3 mile trail run. This should be tons of fun. I hope there are some other families that sign up....anyone?....anyone?.....Bueller?....

Speaking of Nick, he hit a milestone last week. He's 13, in 8th grade, and a smidge away from 6 feet tall. We went to Olympia Sports for some soccer cleats. They didn't have any large enough. Size 12 wasn't even close. And he's not even close to done growing. I'm going online to see how we can put some webbing between those toes of his.

There's a chance we might take him to Sugarloaf for the weekend CVA snowboarding program. Which means all sorts of things, including renting a condo and tons of driving for four months. If anyone knows of someone who wants to share condo space or has one available, let me know. This could also mean I get into XC skate skiing, which could be great. I've always thought XC skiers are the best athletes in the world.

Finally, a big congrats to those who did IMCDA, IMLOU and the local races. While you put in all of that hard work on Sunday, I ate TWO big sausages at Fenway Park. Onions, peppers, the works. Then an ice cream bar. I could get used to this off season routine.....

Tuscaloosa Ramblings and a Look Forward

2009-08-29T06:32:00.005-04:00

First, a few final ramblings from Nationals....
....I discovered Fritos makes Baked Cheetos. Healthy Cheetos. Cool.
….Dinner on race night was a big ol’ mushroom, cheddar and bacon burger, preceded with fried pickles. They are sliced cross sections and fried. You dip them is some kind of special sauce. I’d never hear of them, but they’re really good. I was also pleased to see Sam Adam’s Summer Ale served.
….Tuscaloosa isn’t like anything in the northeast. It isn’t terribly attractive, and you wonder what these people do, other than go to or serve the University.
….Alabama football is everything. Saturdays must be nuts. Bear Bryant is god, and the stadium is the church.
….I introduced myself to a guy from NH in my AG who I knew I had raced against (and lost to) at Mooseman the last two years and Nationals last year. When he didn’t pass me until about mile 2 or 3 on the run, I thought I was probably doing well overall. He beat me by about 6 min on the run, last year was 1:30. Yikes. He’s a NOAD and is going to Gold Coast next month. He said, “It took getting divorced and nine tries to finally make it.” Hmmmmm....
….At the awards ceremony, they gave awards for the fastest swim, bike and run splits. The swimmers got new $600 wetsuits. The bikers got $5,000 Blue bikes. The runners? They got screwed- Fuel Belt, gel, and some other crap.
….The guy who won my (M40-44) AG was 9th overall. Go old guys!

Now it's time to move forward-

Triathlon training is hard work. But it’s also hard on the family. I’ll train hard next season, but it’s time to take a step back now. I need to spend time at the soccer field and on date nights. My family is far more important to me than the sport, and they’ve been somewhat neglected by a lack of time, attention and spirit. So I need to return back to what’s important.

I’m also mentally tired from the grind. Every workout for months and months has been planned and recorded. Every heartbeat, pedal stroke, watt, yard and mile is on the computer. I’ll keep recording workouts, but for a little while now I won’t have a structured plan. I’ll try to sleep in a bit, especially on the weekends. So far, I haven't set my alarm clock for five days straight.

For workouts this week, I have done four two-mile walks with the dog and three shorter swims. It has been liberating not to plan anything.

Finally, I’m done with racing for the season. I’ll skip Lobsterman and the Maine Marathon (I wasn’t too sure of that anyway). I have no desire to get ready for a race and then turn myself inside out on race day. I did that eight times this year. I don’t think I can “just show up and do it.” It’s called a race for a reason. You go fast. My ego would also seriously get in the way when I saw my rivals or anyone else I “should beat.”

It will be another long, cold winter soon enough. Hours on hours on the trainer in a 40 degree garage watching dumb TV, trying to work hard with no one around to push me. Finishing runs while it’s still dark. I want to get out and enjoy the good weather while we still have it. Maybe I’ll go for a hike or two. Trail running would be fun. Maybe some mountain biking.

My competitive juices can be satisfied in the pool with the noontime group. Which brings up the one exception to the above. The CELT Challenge, a local sprint, has a new category- family relay. The kids have expressed some interest. I just need to swim 425 yards (in my HS pool, always fun to go back), Nick can do the bike (maybe on my old TT bike given that he’s nearly 6 feet tall), and Leah can do the run. I could do it with her to keep her company. It would be a good challenge for both of them.

So that’s it. I’m done for the season.

Elite National Championships

2009-08-25T20:06:00.010-04:00

After the AG race, the women went at 12 and the men at 2:15. If you ever get to see an ITU-style race, don’t miss it. You see the athletes every 8-10 minutes, and they fly.

The swim course was different, but faced the same current. The bike was a six lap course, including our first (big-ass) hill on the run. The run was four laps and all flat. I went back to the hotel to change and lie down for a few minutes, so didn’t arrive back at the course until the women were halfway through the bike. I heard one of them had a 2 minute lead in the swim. She held it for nearly the entire bike, but came in with a small group into T2. At that point, I moved over to watch the men’s race, so I have no idea what happened on the run.

Last year I watched Matt Chrabot and Matt Reed ride together then battle on the run until Reed pulled away with about 1000m to go. Both were back for this year’s race. Also there was Tim O’Donnell, who I wasn’t familiar with, but heard he was a very strong runner. Here’s a picture of the men’s start:

Early in the swim.

Have I mentioned the river current? It was incredible to see even these pros go practically nowhere against it. These guys typically average 15-16 minutes for a swim. On this day it was about 20 minutes.

Here's a picture of the men starting another lap on the bike. You can see the line behind the front two:

The transitions were blazing fast. Fast and simple.

Women’s T2:

Men’s T2

Back to the men’s race….Two of them came out of the water a fair bit ahead, then were joined by the next pair. This lead group of 4 included Chrabot. Then there was a group of 4 about 1-2 minutes back, with Reed at the back of the bunch. For the bike, I stationed myself near the turnaround, which turned right, went up a good hill, did a 180, back down the same hill, then back out on the course. It was incredible watching Reed singlehandedly pull his group up to the other. This guy is really strong and determined. The 8 rode together for laps 4 and 5, then left for the last lap. I moved down to the transition area. When they came in, Chrabot and one other guy had a 60 second lead on the others. That’s a pretty big escape late in the bike. It must have happened on that hill. Reed did his best to catch up and got to within 25 seconds.

This is the end of the third lap:

By the third lap, Tim O’Donnell had moved into third and was trucking along. At the finish, Reed had dropped well back into third. While I feel for him, it was nice to see another big guy labor in the heat. He looked absolutely gassed. Chrabot and O’Donnell are probably 6-8 inches shorter and 20-30 pound lighter. It’s also worth noting that Reed is focused on the longer distances, while the others stick to ITU racing.

Again, don’t miss an opportunity to watch one of these races. Chances are good Burlington will host this event in 2011 and 2012. It would be great to get a strong contingent from Maine over there.

Race Report: USAT National Championships- BUDAPEST BOUND!

2009-08-22T22:25:00.003-04:00

I'm going to Budapest for the ITU Age Group World Championships in September 2010!

So that's the bottom line. If you want more details, read on....

I got to transition really early- like 5:15. The first wave didn't start until 7, and I went at 8:09. I didn't want to have a parking problem, and I was up anyway. Since the bike was already there and we weren't allowed to take it out, there really wasn't much to do.

When the first wave went off, it soon became VERY clear that a current had miraculously appeared overnight. One bit of evidence was watching a dead and bloated catfish float by. Why was it dead? (Later, a local told me there are water moccasins. Yikes.) As I heard later, they released water from the dam above, perhaps due to the recent rain. I need to buy those guys a beer. The swim was an elongated rectangle, parallel to the shore, starting in the middle, going clockwise, and ending at the "corner" upstream. Note I said upstream. The story of the day was the current. The first four waves went off for the 50+ AGs. When they went around the second corner and proceeded to try to swim upstream, they nearly stopped. I don't mean slowed down, I mean stopped. I had to look hard to see if they were moving at all. Apparently, some 20 swimmers dropped out.

Coming from Maine, and being very familiar with currents, it was easy to come up with a strategy. The current should be stronger in the middle, and the swim would be longer (go a bit easier). I started to the right, closer to the middle of the river. We were crammed in there like sardines. I was able to clear the group fairly easily. At the first buoy, I made a wild guess that I was somewhere between 5th and 8th in my wave. I took the buoy tight and immediately angled 20 degrees to the right, allowing the current to correct my course. With the change in direction, I could feel just how strong the current was. I also noticed everyone else swept far wide of the buoy. As I approached the second corner, from a 90 degree angle, everyone else was already swimming upstream because they swam a "bow" shape. Then things got tricky. I wanted to go left to get in lighter current, but there was a huge pile up to my left. It took about two minutes of swimming over and around people to get over there. The next leg took FOREVER......This was the long leg of the rectangle, parallel to the shore where the older folks stopped. I probably didn't get far enough left, but I don't think anyone was further left. Grind, grind, grind. Finally the last corner came and it was the reverse of the second leg. I went wide around the buoy and only turned 70 degrees, again, allowing for the current to correct. Everyone else got swept onto the buoy, then started their "bow" track. At the exit, I came in straight, and the others were nearly swimming straight upstream to get out. The watch read 28 minutes. Twenty-eight! For a"one mile" swim! I was 8 minutes slower than last year. I would guess my better training helped by at least one minute, the lack of wetsuit hurt by two minutes, and the current added about seven. The day was starting out just fine. It was also interesting to note that only about 10% of swimmers wore a skin suit.

Out on the bike, we started with a short out-and-back. The entire course was on a divided (50 mph) parkway with three 180 degree turns on each lap. At the first 180, I saw an older biker flat on his back on one side, and a pedestrian on his back the other, both with neck braces on. Turns out the racer had a broken femur. In general, I worked the flats near threshold, up hills 20-30 watts over, and rested as much as possible going down. At the end of one lap I checked my averages: low watts but an average speed of 23.6 or so. Great. Just do it again, not being afraid to really be aggressive on the hills. And I did. I found myself just below threshold on the flats going 26-27. What a great feeling. The course was very crowded on the first lap, as I expected. It was completely closed to traffic, so we were three abreast at times. I'll say it was very difficult to completely avoid technical drafting, but I didn't see any serious offenders. With about 1 mile to go, I got a small cramp in my right hip area, something that never happens. I should have known that was a sign of things to come. I came in at about 1:01, very pleased, even though it was about 1/2 mile short.

Then everything came apart. Even before I got out of T2, I realized it was really hot and I was sapped. My legs didn't feel strained like they do when I push the pace out of T2, I was just tired all over. The steepest hill came near mile 1. After seeing how slow I and others were "running," I decided to go with an up-tempo walk.

Yes, walk. In a 10K. I friggin' walked! Never happened before, and I sure hope it never happens again. I knew I was beat up, I'm sure my heart rate was high, and I wanted to conserve. I probably walked 1/2 of the hill. About a mile later came hill number two. Same thing. I walked the top half. Hill number three, walk. In total, I probably walked 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Oh yeah, that includes a few paces of walking at a couple of the water stops.

There were no mile markers out there. But by the time I came down the third hill, still feeling sapped, I know I was more than half way. That helped me pick it up just a touch. To me, it felt like I went from 8:30s to 8:20s. Seriously, it felt that slow. Due to my reconnaissance, I knew about where mile 5 was. That's when I started thinking about the unseen 39 year olds. I picked it up a touch. Half way from there, another small pick up. Then I stayed as strong as I could to the finish.

As it turns out, I went 43:31, a 7:02 average. Frankly, I'm stunned. That means that outside of walking, I ran somewhere around a 6:40 pace.

Swim 28:36- 107th
T1 1:59- best in AG was 1:18
Bike 1:01:08, 123rd- USAT says I averaged 24.4, I say 23.4. Either way, good.
T2 1:06- best in AG was 0:45
Run- 43:41- 381st- 7:02/mi
Overall 2:16:29- OA 156/1070, AG 19/77

Given my state for a good 90 minutes after the finish, I know I put all I had into the race. I had zero appetite, was so hot I filled my shorts with ice three times, and had a tight throat that I get when dehydrated and can't breathe.

Finally I went over to get my results. 2:16, 19th place. OK, I have a shot. Remember for Worlds qualifying, I had to remove any 44 year olds that beat me, and add in 39 year olds. Finally I saw a list. Four 44 year olds beat me.

AND NO 39 YEAR OLDS. That puts me in 15th. 18 qualify. I DID IT.

I called Christine and cried. I could hardly talk. Think about how you feel when you watch Kona on TV, or the national anthem at the Olympics. This was my moment. I'm sure my physical state affected my mental state, even well after the race, but I was completely choked up. I went against some of the best in the country in my age group, and did well enough to wear the USA uniform next year.

Oh yeah, it'll have my name on my ass. I'm a NOAD.

Ready to Go!

2009-08-21T17:36:00.003-04:00

I got all of the stuff done I needed to do today, and in general, was fairly lazy. I was even able to watch a movie (including a 15 minute nap) before lunch. The day started with a 30 min bike ride on the course. That covered most of it because it's two laps. There are three hills, and one might require the small chain ring. But they are very manageable. The hills are really long and strung out. I even found some good spots where I'll be able to coast while going well over 30 mph.

Then they opened the swim course, so I got in for 10 minutes. The water is warm, but not ridiculous. I think the rainfall has helped. The rain has also brought in a bunch of mud, so to say the water is murky is a gross understatement. At least I hope it's mud. I literally could not see past my elbow. I felt like Michael J Fox in Back to the Future, near the end, when family started disappearing from the photo because he had disrupted the space-time continuum.

I'll go for a 10 min jog with pickups before dinner.

I am not a good bike mechanic. In fact, there's quite a bit about this stuff that makes me nervous. I'm always suspicious that something is wrong. So leaving the bike in transition always makes me apprehensive. And to do it the night before is even worse. Here it is, in its designated parking spot, waiting for me to show up early tomorrow morning:

And here you can see many others that have done the same. There's a good chance of rain or thunderstorms in the next few hours and into the night, so some folks covered up various parts.

The final weather forecast for the morning is partly cloudy, 70 degrees at 8:00 and 78 degrees at 10:00. The "RealFeel" goes from 77 to 89. So most of the race should be fine, with it getting hot late in the race. But it could be far worse.

So that's it. I've done all I can. Now it's time to put it all together.

Shaving Off Time

2009-08-21T07:29:00.004-04:00

I’ve done it about 15-18 times in my life, and every single time, it feels great. It feels slick, clean, uninhibited…and FAST. I did it again last night….a full body shave. I read advice on a whole plethora of issues, but never shaving. Realizing that some of this is better suited for the guys, here goes:

1. Why is shaving fast? I used to think it was because of the lower resistance. Then I learned from Coach Megerle, who was one of the shaving pioneers, that it has more to do with neurological responses.

2. Don’t mask that feeling- Many have shaved, dived in a pool, and felt that incredible feeling of a slick bod. You might think it’s best to shave as late as possible or to mask the feel of a shave until right before your event. Swimmers still wear panty hoes while warming up at their championship meet. At Tufts, we shaved Wednesday, traveled Thursday, and the 3-day meet started Friday. In between, we got our bodies accustomed to the feel. And I dare say that collectively as a team, we typically had some of the best swims of the meet. In 1998, I went to the Masters Swimming Nationals in Indianapolis. (By the way, if you haven’t been to swimming’s “Mecca,” don’t pass up an opportunity. It’s incredible.) At that meet, I shaved Thursday for the meet that started the next day. I was disappointed in my Friday swims, but then got better, and without a doubt had my best times on Sunday.

3. Only shave one or two times per year. Shaving MUST be accompanied by full rest. A fatigued, shaved body won’t perform well. Realistically, you won’t go through a full taper any more than 1-2 times. There have been experiments to see if shaving for every meet would work- and it didn’t. The exception to this rule would be if you shave for your A race, then qualify for an even bigger event.

4. Use a foam cream, not a gel. I find the gel slides right off.

5. If you do a “touch-up” shave a day or two later, be very careful to go “with the grain,” especially on the quads.

6. Clip first. This will get rid of 90% of the hair, making the shave much easier.

7. Be ready for a terrible night’s sleep. Rubbing your own slick legs together just isn’t a natural feeling for some of us- on top of the fact that we’re keyed up for a big race.

8. Don’t plan on gettin’ any for a bit. Slick legs don’t just feel weird for you.

Settling In...And One Unbalanced Woman

2009-08-20T17:17:00.006-04:00

The trip down and drive to Tuscaloosa went fine. Then begins a hilarious exchange:

Upon driving into the hotel parking lot, I found myself next to a woman who was obviously here for the race (tending to a Cervelo, wearing race gear and knee-high compression socks) and was building up her bike. The hotel wasn't ready for people to check in, so I figured I'd do the same. Thus begins the conversation.

A: So are you here to do well, or is this just another race?

Knowing she's from NJ, I had to work not to show my disbelief at the question. I felt like saying, "You must be joking. Why would you spend all of the time and money getting down here if it wasn't a big deal?"

S: Yeah

A: I'm here because a bunch of friends are also. I'd also like to qualify for worlds because I've been to every other world championship that the sport offers.

S: When did you do Kona?

A: 1999 and 2002. I've qualified every year since, but don't want to go back because I'm too light for the winds.

(Cue gagging)

S: Yeah I'd love to do Kona, but the training just takes too much time at this point.

A: Time isn't a problem for me.

I didn't dare go any further. She went inside, discovered they had a room for her, and came back out to get her stuff.

A: Are you here alone?

S: Yup.

A: If you want, come out to dinner with the group. I'll leave my card on your windshield later.

S: OK, thanks.

A while later, I went out to the car to go to the grocery store. There's the card. Under the name- you can't make this stuff up- is:

"All-American Ironman Triathlete"

Wow. This sport is an important part of what I (and many of you) do, but it doesn't define me. I get the feeling that if she permanently blew out a knee she whither up and disappear.

Anyway.....I drove the bike and run courses. The run is 90% flat with two meaningful hills. The first one will be a real kick in the gut. We're done with both after about 2 1/2 miles. The bike is a mix of flat and really long rolling hills. Nothing too steep. I'm not sure if they will call for the small chain ring or not.

Bit over 36 hours to go......

On My Way!

2009-08-20T10:51:00.002-04:00

Sitting here crammed into a US Airways flight to Charlotte. I had a “solid,” taper- and next-day-flight-induced four hours of sleep last night. The coming race went round and round in my head as I peeked at the clock to see it was only 1…2…3…4 o’clock.

Anyway, I’ve done some scouting to see where I stand in the field. My AG has 86 competitors. (There are three other AGs with between 85 and 90.) Ignoring the 44 year olds and including the 39 year olds, it seems like there are 12 others who should comfortably beat me. Then there’s a group of five who I labeled as “Better, close.” Two of them were ranked higher in the All American rankings last year and also beat me at Nationals last year by no more than 90 seconds. While they’re probably thinking the same thing, I feel like my improvements this year should make up the gap. The other three were just behind me in the AA rankings and had some pretty good race results. So that’s 17 total so far. Then there’s a group of 9, one of whom was ahead of me in the AA rankings, who seem like they could be very close. That makes a total of 26. It’s interesting to note that of the 86 in my AG, only 9 others were at Hagg Lake last year. I’ll count that as another slight advantage.

Team USA comes from the top 18, rolling down to 25. So I’m certainly in the mix. Thank you to those who have offered encouraging words. Knowing people are “watching” helps on race day, especially during those low points. One comment in particular stuck with me- “Take some risks.” We’re only talking about a bit over 2 hours here. It’s too short to DNF due to too much early effort. Sure, going bananas on the bike could sap some running energy, but it won’t end the day. I need to be smart, but if I’m ever going to push the envelope further than ever before, this will be the day. This isn’t a “B” race in the middle of the season. This is it.

One tweak to the race plan, especially on the run, is to pick up the pace for 30 seconds or so at the points when I feel like backing off. It worked at Crank the Kanc. On the steep section, there were times when I saw my power fade. I stood up, picked it up for 30 seconds or so, then settled into my target pace again. I repeated it all the way up the hill. I’ve heard of others doing the same thing. This should work especially well in the second half of the run.

As I mentioned earlier, the weather forecast still looks about as good as possible for Alabama in August. The humidity should come down, and the high temp is supposed to be “just” 86.

I’ll check in later.

The Final Countdown

2009-08-16T16:06:00.001-04:00

Six days to judgement day. The day that I've been shooting for for 12 months. All of the workouts and races have been done with this day in mind. It's the day when many of the best Olympic-distance triathletes knock heads in perhaps the most competitive race of the year. It takes dedication and some talent just to go. Even more to do well. And to be in the top group...well, we'll find out if I have that.

Last year I learned about the danger in judging a performance based solely on my place, which is dependant upon how others perform. It isn't like swimming or track where you can have a great time, not place well, and be completely satisfied. I tried all year to figure out what the criteria would be to judge my performance other than my place- and failed. I want to make the team. It's fairly bottom-line.

So let's tackle this from another angle. I'll lay out what I need to do in order to reach my goal:

1. Follow my pre-race plan. That should be easy.
2. Have a very solid swim. I have confidence in that. The key will be to stay focused on the backside of the course, which looks like it's more than a half mile straight shot. Head position, roll, be strong. Final turn, keep it together to the finish.
3. Simple, quick transitions.
4. Speed on the bike. Sounds obvious, but notice I'm not saying big effort or power. I'll push hard early and settle down in the first 5 miles. Power the flats and hills. Find spots to take short rests. Turn it into an interval workout. Stand up and power out of the six 180 degree turns. After the first lap, check my average speed and power. Finish my drink and increase cadence with a few miles to go.
5. I'll break the run into three sections, 2 miles each, and have a saying to repeat over and over again. First, it's "turnover." Ease into the run and be quick at the same time. I'll also need to gauge the heat and my fluid/salt intake. This is the time to make adjustments. Start the cooling process early. The two out-and-back hills are done at about mile 2.5, so this bit of caution will fit well. Second, it's "smile." Miles 3 and 4 are like the fourth 100 in a 500 swim. Not much fun, and the finish is still a ways away. It's also where races can be won or lost. So I need to keep my spirits high- keep my head in the game. Again, work to stay cool. Now that the hills are done, it's flat to slightly downhill the rest of the way. Don't pound, keep the stride together. Third, "empty the tank." This comes from Mel Stottlemyer's comment to Roger Clemens in the 2003 playoffs when everyone thought the seventh inning would be the last of his career. [Important note: I hate the Yankees and Clemens, but it works.] There's nothing to hold back for at this point. I can recover tomorrow (KP). I'm racing that unseen 39 year old that wants my spot on the team. Let's call him Pete. We're shoulder-to-shoulder. Stride for stride. Both hanging on for dear life, just trying to stay with the other. Mile 6, .2 remains. The finish is right there. I've done tons of 1/4 mile repeats. Just one more remains in my season. That's when I leave Pete. Strong to the tape.

I've done all I can. I executed my training plan and race as well as I could have. Now we'll just have to wait and see where we stand....

The Last _________ Before Nationals

2009-08-10T19:42:00.007-04:00

I love taper periods. Both my high school and college swim coaches were masters at piecing together workouts to get us to peak exactly at the right time. Coach Megerle, especially, customized things nearly to every person. Tapering was not to be done overnight. We eased into it over many weeks, to the point where in the last week, we (figuratively) just had to smell the pool water to get in our workout. He also took a wholistic approach. Watch your weight, hydrate and take care of all outside responsibilities so that there is nothing to do other than focus on the event.

All season, I've done a 10 mile run every Monday with a max HR of 148 (HRmax is about 174). Two weeks ago I cut it to 9 miles, last week was the same. Today It was 7.5 miles, and included some intensity to take care of the typical Tuesday track interval workout. Today was also the last 60 min swim. Tomorrow will be the last ride over 60 min. I've stayed at just about 10 hours per week for the last six weeks as you can see on the graph below that shows total hours by week since June 1:

For you periodization believers, there are some cycles and variety inside of these weeks. However given my time limitations, I chose to be much more consistent than in years past. The fewer hours allowed for more intensity and reduced the need for full recovery weeks.

This week is 8 hours, and is focused on two things- race pace and recovery pace.

I can't help but look at the VERY extended forecast for 8/22. Right now, that day is the coolest (high of 84) with the lowest humidity. I've made this mistake before. The forecast for IMWI in 2004 was for the low 70s, and it ended up in the high 80s. I know it's foolish, but there's not nearly as much risk with a two hour race.

I feel like my body is right where it should be. My run is better than ever. My swim is better than any other tri season. My bike is as good as last year. I know how to put together a complete race better than ever. This is gonna be fun!

Race Report: Bethel Sprint...My First First

2009-08-02T13:39:00.012-04:00

Things are starting to come together. This was my final race before Nationals. Last year I also did a sprint (Pumpkinman) three weeks before Nationals and it worked really well. It's far enough away to allow for a hard effort and recovery without affecting my taper.

First, a disclaimer- the Bethel tri is a bit of a throwback. As a part of that, the competition is not extensive. I knew heading in that Kurt P would not be there, but two rivals, Jeff F and Rob F would be. The three of us have swapped places several times the last two years. I excel at the swim, Jeff at the bike, and Rob at the run. My swim and Jeff's bike pretty much offset each other, and our run times are the same. Rob's a bit behind me in the water, close on the bike, and then kills the run. Typically, the winner among the three of us is determined by which leg is relatively longer. Just two weeks ago, it was Rob, me, Jeff. One week earlier, it was Jeff, me, Rob. Polarbear, it was Rob, me, Jeff. I should also note that they are both in the next older age group, and we never seem to start together. So we never know where we stand until the results come out. Bethel is a 1k swim, 25k bike and 6k run. So the swim is slightly favored here. Driving up to the race, I figured I would need to go strong early and just try to hold on.

Upon signing in, I saw that all of the men started together in the first wave. Ooooh, yeah. Now we'll know where we stand. Uh-oh. This is gonna hurt.

I saw Jeff and he mentioned he hasn't done much in the last two weeks because he's resting before he starts his big push before long distance (about 1/2 IM) Worlds. Knowing he's a strong competitor, I translated that to..."I'm rested."

The swim was a clockwise triangle with the start and finish in the same place. We started in waste-deep water, so I moved way left to shorten the first leg (Jeff & Rob were also there). People were much calmer (remember, it's a much less cometitive race), and there was minimal jostling. At "Go," I dove in and went strong. Not once did anyone touch me. No bumps, slams, not so much as a toe touch. The bouys were small 18" orange mooring balls. From my vantage point, I could hardly see them. Sighting the entire way was tough. I also had no one to follow because...well...I was leading, and we were in the first wave. I wanted to get after this swim and try to stay strong the whole way. I was pretty much successful, having to force myself to focus a few times. I came out of the water in the lead, and for the first time in many, many years, heard the excited cheers for the leader. That was cool.

In T1, one other guy came in before I left. That was the last time I saw another competitor the entire race.

As I started the bike, a pickup truck with hazards on pulled out in front of me. We all have have little goals, and one of mine was to have the escort vehicle with me. Very cool.

The course is fairly flat with some very tame rollers for the first 12 miles or so, then there are some more significant hills near the end. The bike started out pretty rough. I couldn't get my power up at all. I pushed, pushed, forced it, but it wouldn't come. My lower back and butt hurt. Effects from the last week of training? Will this go away after a taper? I found myself constantly shifting to find a power-cadence combination that worked. I looked for a few spots to glide for 10 seconds at a time, hoping my legs would reset. I stood up a couple of times on small hills to mix things up. It didn't start feeling better for a good 10-15 minutes. It felt like I was mashing the bike, moving around a lot, hardly smooth. But eventually, I returned to the simple "hard effort" feel of a race. It felt good to work through those problems. It's funny what happens when you think someone's chasing you. I didn't look back the entire ride, but pushed out of fear that "they" were gaining. Near the end, in the hills, there's one long and moderately steep one. I said to myself, "OK, this is where the race is decided...," and pushed a hard 295w. As it turns out, my normalized power and speed were:
1st 12 minutes 251w, 23.6
2nd 12 min 251w, 25.6
3rd 12 min 269w, 22.8
Total 256w, 23.6
Although the power should be 10w higher, I got better as the race progressed and that's the best average speed I've ever had. In the end, I don't care about power- the name of the game is to get around the course as fast as possible. Power is for training. Speed is for races. I'm satisfied with this effort.

The run was fairly flat, with two-thirds on a dirt road. It was actually a great course, other than the huge camber in the road for the first mile. It felt like my left foot was a good six inches lower than my right. On the dirt road, I was off in the woods all alone. I occasionally saw a race directional sign, so I knew I was going the right way. There were no spectators or volunteers out there, other than one water stop. A few people wandered out of their cabin and probably thought, "what the hell is this guy doing in that funny looking suit?" I didn't look back for fear of what I might see, and because there were no straight sections for me to see more than 100 yds or so. Finally I came to the marking for one mile to go. I was working hard, again, because unidentified people were chasing me. Then the half mile marker. I finally looked back, and saw...NO ONE. My mind said, "OK, push in the clutch a bit." My body kept going, feeling strong and smooth. I crossed the line in 1:17, then waited more than two minutes for Rob to finish second and another two minutes for Jeff to finish third. Woot!

As an aside, I'm not sure what Woot! is. It seems like an internal celebration for those from the midwest or northwest. Assuming I'm right, Woot!

The award was a huge glass inscribed mug worthy of about 3 beers, plus a two night ski & stay package at Sunday River. Woot!

As for my splits:
Swim 15:21, 1st
T1 0:54, 4 were under :50
Bike 36.47, 3rd
T2 0:33, 4 were under :30
Run 23:36 7th
Overall 1:17:08, 1st

Jeff's bike was :50 faster, compared to 2:37 faster two weeks ago over a similar distance. Rob's run was :34 faster, compared to :57 faster two weeks, same distance.

After the race, I had a really interesting conversation with a guy who happened to notice my Nationals shirt from last year. He was there too, and he qualified for Worlds as part of the CEO Challenge. So he's going to Gold Coast next month. He also did Kona last year, buying the slot through a charity auction. It cost him $45,000. Now that's some entry fee! He's coached by the same guy that coaches 2008 winner Craig Alexander. However he wasn't quite as fast. In fact, he was the LAST guy to finish, in 16:58, just before the midnight cutoff. If you have the video, they highlight him for a few seconds at the finish. Also very noteworth, he's says WTC is going to announce an Ironman for Burlington, VT. Not sure if it's for 2010 or 2011.

Next up....USAT National Championships in hot & humid Tuscaloosa, Alabama on August 22. I want to be a NOAD.

I'm in for it

2009-07-28T20:25:00.003-04:00

Great track workout this morning. Like a typical Tuesday morning, I started with an easy 45 minute bike to warm up. Unlike most days, I did the entire thing in short sleeves. Then it's a 1 mile run in about 7 minutes to the track. I did 12x400 with 50 walk/50 jog in between which took about 45 seconds. I was able to split 1:36 x 2, 1:35, 1:34, 1:33, 1:32 x 4, 1:29 x2, and 1:27. My target race pace is more like 6:25, so I'm really happy with that.
Upon returning, I thought to myself, "boy it seems pretty warm." Then I discovered the truth- 65 degrees. Tuscaloosa will be 85. Yikes.
On top of that, the USAT website says the water down there is 84 degrees. EIGHTY-FOUR! I've never swum in water that warm.
I've started my scouting for the race. Using the entry list, last year's results, All American rankings and Google results, I can get a pretty good idea of the competition. Last year I was within one or two spots of my prediction. Right now I see 15 that could beat me, but I have some more work to do. There are far more 39 year olds than 44 year olds, so I will be racing against a whole slew of folks I can't see. USAT has changed the cutoff- now it's 18, rolling down to 25. Last year was 16 rolling down to 20. That change could make a big difference.

Dialing it in

2009-07-26T19:54:00.003-04:00

27 days to Nationals. Training and racing have gone well to this point. Now I have about two more weeks of work, followed by a two week taper. Yesterday I went on a great three hour, 58 mile ride in the White Mountains with Scott M. We had one big 4.5 mile climb up Bear Notch and several good tempo efforts that were a bit over race pace. I followed that up with a 4 mi. run, the first half about 20 seconds slower than race pace.

My swimming is really coming along nicely. I'm putting in some efforts in the pool that I couldn't do a month ago. At Nationals, the swim is where I'll pick up at least a minute on the field compared to last year. First, it's a no-wetsuit race. Wetsuits help non-swimmers much more than me. Second, swimming was an afterthought in training last year. I was mentally tired from the other training to work hard in the pool. This year, it's been a focus of mine- without overdoing it.

Probably the biggest variable for me will be the heat. I don't know if I've done more than two or three workouts in temps over 70 degrees this year. It could easily be 90 and humid down in Alabama. Other than the normal hydrating and sodium intake, the only adjustment may be to run out of T2 carrying a fuel belt bottle and take an extra Lavasalt.

I was psyched to see how well folks did at IMLP! I can't wait to hear the details.

Next up- Bethel sprint on Sunday.

Race Report: Urban Epic, Another AG Win...and a 2 Day Marathon

2009-07-19T06:42:00.009-04:00

Urban Epic was my fourth race in four weeks, made up of 2 sprint tris, one modified (shorter) olympic distance tri, and a 5K run. I felt good going into this race, not too tired, but like last weekend, the butterflies didn't show up and I had no specific goals or plan...other than go hard. I guess this is a good sign...am I getting this race stuff under control?

The race started from the beach, but instead of going out at a perpendicular angle to the beach, we went out at about 30 degrees. In other words, you wanted to be far to the right. I joined the crowd and actually ran for 50-100 yards along the beach before diving in. I later heard a race official said you just need to be in ankle deep water and that running in it is perfectly legal. The swim was smooth and uneventful. After exiting the water, I stripped off the wetsuit and threw on my backup racing flats to run the half mile to the indoor transition warehouse.

The 13 mi. bike was treachorous due to the overnight rain and drizzle we had early on. It took me a good 50 yards for my brakes to even begin to engage. I took corners very conservatively- no need for a wipeout just 5 weeks before Nationals. Anyway, they closed ost of the course off to traffic, which was a great feature. The bulk of the course was a flat twice-around out-and-back around Back Bay, 1.8 miles each way. This is where I tried to crush it, other than the turnarounds. The return to the start featured two hills, with just a 20 yard flat between, the second one at an intimidating 12 degrees. I was able to go well beyond threshhold for that. Overall, I'm happy with bike especially when you consider how conservative I was. I definitely worked it, and the power numbers reflect that. I had the best numbers out of any triathlon I've done.

The 3.5 mi. run was flat, straight up, flat, back down, and flat. The mile markers were way off (seems like a simple task), so my splits were meaningless. It wasn't terribly eventful, other than like most races, I ran hard enough to the point of internal debate over how much harder I really should go.

Results:

Swim (with long run transition) 15:48, 3rd

T1 0:52, fastest was 0:41

Bike 35:54, 8th

T2 :50, fastest was 0:36

Run 23:28, 15th

Overall 1:16:50, 6/300 OA, 1/26 AG

Now to the marathon...more of a figurative one. I decided a while back to hold a surprise 40th birthday party for Christine. Friday started at 5 for a 2 mi lake swim and 3 mile run...rush home, pick up some goodies for breakfast (her actual bday)....change for work....WalMart for initial party supplies.....work for 2 hours....drive to Cumberland to drop the car off, get a ride back to UHaul- at which point the guy erroneously said I wasn't supposed to pick up the truck until 3:00- not a good way to start the marathon- but we worked it out....to South Portland to rent a tent, tables, etc....Falmouth Shaws for nonperishable food and drinks....30 min drive to Topsham to pick up the dunk tank....back to Cumberland to spend 90 min making Sangria (it was great!), leave the truck and dunk tank, get in my car....then back home around 4...breathe....the four of us then went out to dinner where I told Christine the two of us were going away, passport required, but no other details-this sent her into a complete tizzy for the next 20 hours, but successfully served as a mental diversion away from the possibility of a party...awake at 3:30, up at 5, then the easy part- the race....fly home without even looking at initial results...Christine then went to the barn to get ready for the next day's horse show and we went into HIGH gear...back to Cumberland to get the sangria and "party in a truck"....at one point on the drive I hit successive potholes, sloshing a good inch deep of sangria all over the truck...unload said truck, Shaws for food and balloons while "helper" picked up the flowers, cake and ice....at one point in Shaws, as I'm flying through the isles, Nick (at 5' 10" himself) yells, "hey, wait up, I can't walk that fast!"...Back to the house, set up the tent, fill the dunk tank and deal with everything else over a frantic 2 hours...world record shower and shave....final details for 10 minutes...guest arrive, so have to deal with the food they bring....call out for more ice....get text from the barn that she left and will be home in 20 minutes....after 15, I go out to the road, flag her down, causing a terrifying look, move her to the passenger side, blindfold her so she won't see the cars, say "we're not going on a trip, but I had something delivered." "Are there other people here?" "No." Drive in, walk around to her side, immediately in front of everyone standing silently, take her out, blindfold off, "SURPRISE!!!!"...Mission acomplished....we had a great party...the dunk tank was a huge hit....the weather cleared beautifully....I finally stopped around 10.

Oh, and if you see some drunk squirrels walking around Falmouth...the sangria was left out on the front step overnight.

Surprise!

What do you need a ball for?......

Race Reports: Catching Up- 5K and Black Fly "Int'l"

2009-07-11T20:10:00.013-04:00

The 5K in Castine hardly involved any catching up. This race is very much a family, small town affair on 7/4. Very low tech and low budget. It's much more about seeing friends for the first time since last summer and getting some exercise. A whole bunch of people walk or run slow. A few of us work it hard.

The race started with the typical sprint, then began to sort itself out. It's flat for the first 3/4 mile or so, and (thanks to my Garmin) I knew I was holding a 6:05 pace- plenty fast enough for me, although there were about 8 people in front of me. Then the hills started. By the time we got the the highest point in the race, I had picked off two more. I gradually pulled in another, then had another in my sights and eventually within a few yards. But then we started going down hill, and my largest running weakness was revealed. I stink going downhill. He gapped me, and the race was pretty much over. I kept my heart rate up, but decided not to turn myself inside out. As it turns out, I had my highest average heart rate over 18 minutes for the season (other than tris where I don't wear a monitor).

According to Garmin, it was exactly 3.0 miles, and I finished in 19:25- fine. After finishing, I grabbed a water and started doing the race in reverse to find my eight year old. I was amazed how soon I found her, and heard she had run nearly the entire way. She ended up winning the kids division and came away with some good loot.

This week was one of my heavier training weeks- including the triathlon, a bit over 12 hours. The big highlights came from my wife's and my family visiting for her 40th birthday. On Thursday, we went out on Lucky Catch, a lobster boat run by a HS friend. Everyone had a great time even though we didn't catch any legal lobsters. He generously had five waiting for us to take home by the time we got back to the dock. In a major departure from recent weather, we had a beautiful afternoon. Big birthday dinner with lobster and steak. For a guy who likes nearly all food, including all seafood, and is from Maine, it's weird how I don't like lobster. Hence the steak. On Friday, we took the boat out to one of the outer Casco Bay islands to enjoy a great beach day. Then dinner was at a Japanese restaurant.

I mention all of these details not only because it was all great fun, but also as a backdrop to Saturday's race- that started at 7:30, 2 1/2 hours away. I was generally tired from the week, then got up at 3 AM to drive over. I wanted to leave plenty of time in case something went wrong. Big lesson learned....don't trust Google maps implicitly. They sent me over the Sandwich Notch pass. I'm going along, following the directions just right, then turn onto a rough dirt road- it's about 4:45 at this point. I figure it's some short term paving project. But after 2 miles of single lane weaving and bouncing through the forest, I start to question the road, wonder if I've made a terrible mistake, and think about what to do. So I stopped to check a map book I have with very local roads. Sure enough, it gets me to where I want to go- it's also labeled, "Summer traffic only." That's New Englandese for a lousy unmaintained road. The psychological phenomenon of loss aversion kicks in, and I continue on. This road was barely wider than my car, was full of potholes, had boulders and trees right on the sides, and went up and down like a roller coaster. After 8 miles of torture, I finally pulled out onto the beautifully paved Rt. 49 that also served as the race course.

The setting for the race was spectacular- Waterville Valley, right in the heart of the White Mountains. Upon arriving, I soon learned that the water was a reported 53 degrees (holy crap!), and as a result, they shortened the swim from two laps to one. [What is it about me and shortened swims?] In my opinion, it was actually better than Mooseman last year, and easily could have gone the full 1/2 mile. It was probably about 425 yards in total...which took up the ENTIRE body of water. It was like swimming in a bathtub. At the same time, it was a time trial start, with folks going every five seconds. In hindsight, a second lap would have been a logistical nightmare and incredibly crowded as first and second lap swimmers mixed it up. Good sighting and a sprinter's background gave me a good swim.

The bike was about 8-9 miles down, a small lollipop, then back up the same road. I did the first 10 miles in 21 minutes and continued to catch tons of people that started ahead of me. I was pleased with my power output on that first half- it would have been easy to cruise the downhill portion. The second half also went well. I went to my small chainring twice, and only came out of my aerobars a couple of times. I loved this course- the pavement was in great shape, and we had two long stretches with no turns. Just put your head down and go.

I had a bit of a brain fart coming into T2 and forgot to take my feet out of my shoes before the end. Won't make that mistake again. This race was a "B" race for me, and only the second Olympic distance other than Nationals. But I didn't have much of a plan going in. I was actually surprised/concerned by my lack of focus. As I started the run, one goal came to me- keep a high turnover to start the run, shorter strides, don't pound, work into the run, and try to descend. I have been able to nail the first mile in most races, putting in lots of effort, but wanted to finish strong. The strategy worked well, and I was able to avoid the torso discomfort I've had in prior races. The first mile was a gradual uphill, and I split 6:46- fine. Mile 2 had more pronounced hills, including one very steep one, and I split 6:31. The mile that included the turnaround was fairly flat, and I got it down to 6:26. Mile 4, 6:24. Then I saw a NOAD. That's all I needed to have a good push to the finish- 5:53. I was very happy with those splits. It comes to an average of 6:24, which is right on what I want for Nationals. I've never broken 40 in a stand alone race, but that's my goal for the tri. It's a flat course in Tuscaloosa, so that should help.

As for results:

Swim 5:51, 6th

T1 1:31, too slow, fastest was 1:10

Bike 54:38, 23.1 ave, 10th

T2 0:55, fastest was 0:37

Run 32:00, 6:24 ave, 21st

Overall 1:34:54, 7/419 OA, 1/50 AG

After changing up, I enjoyed a good meal- pasta salad, clam chowder, bagel with cream cheese, crackers and cheese, honey yogurt, banana and soda. With that, I only got a couple of snacks for the way home, just enough to stay awake. Soon after getting home, however, I thoroughly enjoyed some leftover birthday carrot cake. Dinner was an open faced steak sanwich with cheese on top. Yum.

Next up...Urban Epic sprint on Saturday.

Cohasset Results

2009-06-28T19:20:00.005-04:00

Swim 5:17, 11th OA- includes two 70 yard runs
T1 1:24, best pro was 0:43- that needs work
Bike 31:13, 18th OA
T2 1:02, best pro 0:48
Run 21:07, 24th OA
Overall 1:00:00, 13/728 OA (winner 56:26), 3/116 AG (winner 58:54)

I'm pretty satisfied with these results. Details...and a rant...are below.

Next up, a local 5K on July 4 in Castine. Generally a family race. Flat start, big up hill, flat, big up hill, long flat, down, long flat, down, up, steep down to finish. In other words, a wicked hilly course. It'll be fun to take the Garmin with me. Usually a couple other good runners show up. Never won this one.

Race Report: Cohasset Sprint...and a rant

2009-06-28T13:38:00.006-04:00

Let me get a few things out of the way before giving the race report....

progress: n. advance toward perfection or to a higher or better state; improvement. Totally lacking in the Boston area.

Legend has it that the roads in Boston and surrounding towns were a result of cow paths in revolutionary times. Winding and illogical. You would think that at some point the guys back then would say, "You know what? I think we're smarter than cows. Maybe we should put some thought into the design of our roads." But noooooooo. They're crazy. But for a second let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say they just wanted to confuse the invading British forces. Fine. But after the war of 1812, when the all-clear was sounded, there were about 9 decades to get things right before the automobile came along. To make matters worse, once they realized it was too late to change the cow-paths-turned-roads due to property rights, you would think they would post helpful traffic signs. Wrong again. On what should be a fairly easy route, I got turned around going to and returning from the race.

OK, that isn't new news. However the same moronic gene pool that produced those roads thought it would be a good idea to hold a triathlon in Cohasset. Dumb, dumb, dumb. We can swim and run just about anywhere, but you need good routes to hold the bike portion. This was the third annual race there, so you'd think they'd realize their mistake and hold it somewhere else. Wrong again. Sure, you couldn't call it the Cohasset Triathlon anymore, but I'm sure another town would step in. Preferably somewhere far away from these same roads. The bike was only 12 miles. The pavement was some of the worst I've ever seen. At the beginning of the race, the organizer said the town had promised last year to pave before this year's race. Given the economy and tight municipal budgets, it's no surprise it didn't happen. But even if you paved the entire route, it was ridiculous. It made Polarbear seem like a straight freeway. It seemed like we didn't go more than 100 yards before another bend in the road or corner. All of this while it's a fairly overgrown area, so there was zero visibility through the turns. The crowning blow came as they were light on volunteers and those that were out there were not nearly as proactive as they should be. I approached many intersections not knowing where I should go. On top of all this, USAT called this a special qualifier for the National Championships. Obviously zero due diligence went into that decision.

Back to the race....

The swim was supposed to be a half mile with a beach start and a three sided rectangular course- short leg out, longer parallel to the beach, and exit down at the other end. With a heck of a fog bank and good surf, they brought the buoys in closer to the beach. During the interminable 30 minute delay to the start of the race, the visibility improved dramatically, but they never moved the buoys back out. On top of that, the tide was going out, making the swim even shorter. I honestly thought it looked like a 300 yard course. It was so short they had the Elites go around twice. I warmed up on time, 25 min before the scheduled start, then froze for the next 45 minutes. Meanwhile, we were watching the so-called "Elites" swim the course. We had to wait for them to go around the first buoy for the second time before starting. There were these two stragglers that were probably 10 minutes behind the others. How in the world did they get in that wave?

We finally started- with a 70 yard dash down the beach towards the water. I had a few people around me as we dove in and quickly cleared them. I was first to the corner, then really struggled with the wave action. The suft made finding a good stroke nearly impossible. Two guys came up on either side of me, but I was able to stay with them. By the end, one was a bit in front of me and the other passed me as we left T1. As I was running my bike out of the incredibly long path to the mount line, I looked at my watch- 6:30. In other words, there was probably less than 4 minutes of swimming.

For the rest of the race, I passed two "Elites" on the bike, and one passed me back near the end of the run. I didn't see another soul the rest of the way.

Other than being physically rattled by the lousy pavement (see above rant) and nervous about all of the blind corners, I had a strong bike. Power was 7w higher than Polarbear, VI the same, and speed was 23.4 vs. 22.9.

The run started like most- with a tight and moderately cramping torso. It took about 3/4 mile to loosen up. The course had all kinds of quick little hills that broke up the rhythm, but in general it went well, especially considering how hard I pushed the bike. I split 6:16, 6:25 and 6:35. I'm plenty fast out of the gate, but I need to work on staying strong at the end. Some good descending sets should help that.

I left early to get back to a horseshow. As I was gathering my stuff, the last swim wave was starting...to me, another sign of poor race management.

I was looking forward to my "no limits" meal during the drive home. It was too early to stop before going through Boston, so I waited for Rt. 1. Not one sandwich shop on that northbound strip. But there were about eight Dunkin Donuts (not an exaggeration). Either these franchisees have a poor sense of business or there's enough demand there. And if that's the case, it's a sad commentary on the health of commuters in the area. So I drove through to the Kennebunkport rest stop and picked up a fairly good turkey and provolone on wheat, ice cream sandwich, Snackwell cookies and Doritos.

I didn't wait around for the results, and they aren't online yet. I'll report back later.

Race Eve

2009-06-27T20:47:00.002-04:00

Sitting here in the lovely Braintree, MA Sheraton. Tomorrow is the Cohasset Sprint. I chose this race because it seemed like lots of fast folks will show up and it fits well into the schedule. It's a qualifier for USAT Nationals- top 1/3 in each AG if you haven't qualified yet. There's a large elite/pro field, including Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker. Gary Hall Jr. is doing a relay with a mother and son who also have Type 1 Diabetes.

We took the kids to Block Island earlier in the week. The beauty of the Garmin Forerunner is you can run anywhere and know what you're actually doing out there. I did my typical 10 mile easy run on Monday and an 8 mile interval run on Wednesday. Both had fantastic ocean views.

Last Saturday I went for my season-long ride, a whopping 58 miles. Sounds funny to say that. I worked each hour progressively harder, and returned in just about 3 hours- very happy with that, and feeling good. Scary thing is, the thought actually went through my head to go for 100. After about a five minute transition, I went out for a hard 3 and easy 3 recovery. I hit the first 3 in 18:20, and had very even splits. Even though it is slightly downhill, I was thrilled with that. It was about 20 seconds faster than I've had on the same route all season.

So tomorrow is the Cohasset Sprint. I've never seen waves organized like this- after the Elites go off, I'm in the second wave 5 minutes later. Funny thing is, it's for men aged 39-41. It spans just three years, and involves two age groups. That should mean I won't have to navigate through slower swimmers. My plan is to work the swim pretty hard, than absolutely blast the 12 mile bike, and finally see what happens on the run. Like every race this year, I need a strong finish right through the line. I figure it's a great time to take some risks.

Ironman Tips

2009-06-19T20:20:00.003-04:00

Voompah, voompah, voompah ding!
Noah...I want you to build an Arc.
Yeah, right. -Bill Cosby

Today is Friday, so that must mean rain. It rained even harder than Friday last week. I met Mike and Jeff for a 2 mi. Crystal Lake swim at 5:30, then Jeff and I did a short run, dodging the really big puddles, instead opting for the smaller ones. Like last week, what a great morning! Tomorrow I go on the season's longest ride, a bit over 50 mi., at a good effort, followed by a race-pace 3 and easy 3 run. I'm looking forward to the test. Then next weekend starts a string of four races in four weeks. Bring it on!

The sport of triathlon is great for many reasons, including the sharing of experiences and advice. While everyone has unique experiences, there's enough in common to benefit from others' ideas. In that spirit, here are some thought and pointers for Ironman.

First, I can't state strongly enough that these are my thoughts, and they may or may not work for others. I'm sure there will be items folks will disagree with.

Preparation

- Before leaving home, create a list of all of the crap you will need and where you will need it. Write it down. It will relieve plenty of stress on race-eve. As long as everything is checked off the list, you're all set.
- Write on water bottles what goes in them and where they go- for example "Heed - Aerobottle" or "SE - Seat." You're not getting them back anyway.
- Plan each day you're there before race day, and leave lots of free time. You'll probably want to do all of the busy work ASAP and get it out of the way.
- Don't chat too much with other racers- they're just as nervous as you, which won't help.
- If you have young kids, make sure the last song you hear isn't the Barney theme song...the day is long enough.

Nutrition

- This is very person specific, and it's a big deal.
- I found it hard to carry my nutrition "practice" over to race day. It was hard to swallow all of the foods I had practiced in training.
- Try to stick to a plan, but be willing to abandon it if things don't go well. In my first IM, I couldn't swallow Powerbars or the turkey wrap I had prepared. I ended up eating a bunch of bananas, which actually slide down very easily.
- You need blood in your stomach to digest. However most of the blood will be in your legs. So go slow and gradual. Try setting a schedule where you take in "x" every "y" miles. Something like 1/2 of a Cliff Bar every 10 miles. If the water stops are at regular intervals, they can serve as good reminders.
- Try eating more "real" food earlier in the bike that takes longer to digest. Be creative- PB&J, turkey wrap, figs, who knows. Then in the last hour or two go to gels and/or carbo drinks so you can start the run in good shape.
- Put a variety of stuff in your bike special needs bag (and run for that matter).
- Personally, I've never thrown up due to exercise. However I've seen plenty of folks get sick who lived on gels/Gatorade all day. All of the manufactured calories just get to be too much.
- Remember electrolyte replacement tabs. It's a critical part. On the run, have them in a rubber change purse. And take them at regular intervals- on the bike perhaps one Lava Salt every 10 miles/water stop, and on the run one every three miles.
- If you haven't tried cola, practice with it. After miles 15 or so, that might be all that you can take down, it gives you quick energy, and I've heard it can settle upset stomachs.
- One of my favorite drinks is warm chicken broth. It tastes totally different than everything else you have taken in all day, and it's loaded with sodium.
- Bring some insulated water bottles for the bike. Load them with ice, then water, then the right amount of powder. The should be cool for a couple of hours. Remember you will put them on your bike about 45 minutes before the race starts, and may not get to them until 1-2 hours into the bike, or up to 4 hours later. Warm SE sucks.
- For IMLP, be ready for ANY weather and how that might affect your nutrition. Think about everything from 90 degrees and humid to 50 with a cold driving rain. If you're prepared, the nerves will go away.
- If you have a carbo powder drink, put two bottle's worth dry into a zip lock and tape it to the bottom of your seat or rear cage. I did this at IM Wisc, and sure enough, at about mile 2, I hit a bump and lost a water bottle with my carbo mix. [Btw, on the return, I saw about 50-100 bottles on the side of the road.] So 15 miles later, I stopped at a water stop, put the dry mix in an empty bottle, used their water, and I was off. I really don't think it weighs much, and doesn't affect your aero much. It's a nice insurance policy. You might also try a bit of duct tape to keep in one of the rear bottles. You won't need it for about 1 1/2 hours.

Swim

If you're a decent swimmer, like around 1 hour, get right up front for the start. IM Wisc had 2200 people on the line, and I had some minor bumping for a couple of hundred yards. It was far better than I feared.

Bike

Be steady, don't blow it early, remember you have a marathon to run. Really pay attention to your nutrition. Make sure you pee. Alternate types of fluids and solids. In T1, be sure you put sunscreen on your back between your shirt and shorts. It's a prime place for a burn. Also arms & shoulders. Body glide. Wear socks. Mentally, break it into 20 mile chunks to 60, then 10 mile chunks from there on. 100 to 112 is easy. It's the 70-100 that was rough for me.

Run

The last third is the critical part. So take it easy early on. Eventually, you will likely hit "survival mode." Just figure out what works for you. Something like walking every water stop and the 50 yards before and after so you can take in your nutrition. Whatever it takes. Put on fresh socks and shorts. Reapply Bodyglide generously, especially in those certain spots.

Emotions

You will experience incredible highs and lows, so be ready for it. Everything from "This sucks and I'm quitting the sport," to "I am Superman/woman!." Just keep your effort nice and even. The tight throat, quicker heart rate and lighter stride will hit somewhere around mile 24 Crossing the line will be one of the most incredible experiences of your life. You'll hear....

"YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!"

A Jumbo Goes to MIT and Harvard

2009-06-12T20:45:00.004-04:00

We Jumbos of Tufts look down upon our Cambridge neighbors. I mean, really....who would rather live in Cambridge over Medford and Somerville? No academic challenges there either. Those who can't cut it at Tufts end up down the Red Line of the T.

I spent the night in Boston, close to Fenway...as the Sox were beating the Yankees for the eighth straight time this season. Up at 5 to hit the road...in the rain. I crossed the Charles, headed out Mass Ave, past "those" campuses. At 35 minutes I made it to Central Square and turned around, taking a different bridge over the river so I ran along Storrow Drive for a couple of miles. I always love to see the crew shells out there. That was a sport I could have been good at. At the end of the run, it was 9.5 miles at an average of about 7:30. Outside of warm up and recovery, I just let it fly, dodging puddles and streams, watching for the occasional delivery truck, all generally at tempo. It's liberating to head out without too much structure and just see what happens. A great morning in the rain.

Here's a picture of the finish last weekend.

Race Report: Mooseman- A New Rival Revealed

2009-06-06T17:16:00.000-04:00

Let's go back to last Tuesday. I passed Al on my bike at 5:30 AM as I started the first half of an easy brick. About 35 minutes later, as I looped back to the house, I passed Al again, this time heading out of town. As I learned this morning before the race started, he was on a 15 mile run. This guy is a good runner- ran the Cape Midwinter 10 miler in 60 flat. For those of you who are mathmatically challenged, that's an average of 6:00/mi- in February in 25 degrees. More on Al later.

I love the time before races start. There's a certain magic about the atmosphere. Music, the constant announcements, preparing transitions, nerves, reviewing strategy, wondering how you stack up against the guy with the super-fancy bike, meeting friends, chatting with new folks, helping rookies, etc- quite the cornucopia. The bigger the race, the stronger the feeling. I'll never forget my first Ironman. The stakes were much higher, and all of this took place in the pitch dark with spotlights.

Back to Mooseman- I'm not sure the water was as high as the 63 degrees that was announced today- it was still cold, but far better than last year's head-crushing temps. After "warming up" for a few hundred yards, I got out and waited for the start of the race. I was in the third heat, and stood there shivering uncontrollably. Finally we headed out. The swim was generally uneventful, other than seeing an enormous mass of swimmers in front of me at the turnaround. I thought it would be impossible to work through them, but it worked out.

After exiting the water, I moved to the strippers. I hadn't removed my sleeves, and they just grabbed and pulled hard. I nearly yelled, "Hold on...don't you know this thing cost $450?"

I found it hard to get the power up early in the bike, but after a few hills and 5 miles or so, it got better. This is a fairly hilly course, so I approach it like an interval workout, going harder than normal up hill and coasting at every opportunity. In retrospect, I probably could have been a bit more consistent. My power was 5w higher than last year, and the time about the same. Somewhere around mile 18, the course follows a nice rolling rural road. For about 15 minutes, I saw no other racers. No one. I began wondering if I made a wrong turn somehow. Finally a young gun came by and we yo-yo'd to the end.

The run is an out and back with the first two miles flat. Mile one was uncomfortable with cramping all though my torso. I backed off of the pace a bit to get it under control. First mile- a surprising 6:25. I think I let my concentration down a bit for mile 2 and split 6:45. The hills from 2 to 4 had me split 7:05 and 6:56.

But back to Al. I didn't see him on the bike or run...until about 150 yards after the turnaround. Hmmm....150 yds x 2 = 300 yds, 3 miles to go. That means Al only has to pick up 100 yds per mile, and he's a hell of a runner. I thought I had no chance. Then I remembered I need to work on finishing races strong. I faded at nationals last year, and missed making the team by just 45 seconds. I will also have to "run against" the 39 year olds who I won't even see. For the purposes of making the national team, they move into our age group. So I can't rely on just responding to those around me. Then I saw one- a NOAD. About half a mile later, I saw another. I even turned around to look at the NOA. Nice inspiration. Mile 5, 6:36.

I did what you're not supposed to and took a quick peek behind me. Didn't see him. At the turn off of the road just before the finish, a spectator says, "he's 20 yards back." Oh shit. I flew down the short hill and onto the beach where we had about 50 yards. I moved to the tiny strip of sand right next to the water that seemed firmer. Then the finishing chute wound around a few corners, so it was easy to see him right behind me. We finally hit the straightaway chute and I put everything I had into it. Got him by 2 seconds. I split 7:11 for the last 1.2 mi, a 6:00 pace.

As it turns out, we had identical bike splits- 1:13:38. I look forward to meeting him again.

Overall, my splits and placings were incredibly similar to last year:
Swim 15th vs 16th in 2008
T1 1:33 vs. 1:34
Bike 18th vs. 16th
T2 1:00 vs. :50
Run 33rd (41:01), split 20:36, 20:26 vs. 40th (41:15), split 20:15, 21:01
5th AG / 103 vs. 4th / 65
13th OA / 486 men vs. 14th / 409

I think the swim can still be improved, as well as the bike, but both were OK. The run was 15 seconds better, the splits were great, and the finish very strong, so that's my success of the day.

Finally, I lived by my "no quality or quantity rule" for food. The organizers of this race do a great job. Right after the finish, they had, among other things, cheese and saltines...and even better....TOOTSIE POPS and ROLLS. Anybody can offer bananas and bagels. Later I had part of a free margharita. I didn't get to the cookout because I had to head out. For the drive home, I had a Subway roast beef, Doritos, said Tootsie Rolls, chocolate chip cookie, Coke, Pepsi, White Cheddar Cheese Its (one of the best and most adicting snacks out there), and Snack Wells cookies. Right now it's a glass of Shocktop (belgian white beer) and heavily battered onion rings. While happier than a pig in shit, I think I'm going to be sick.

Mooseman on the Horizon

2009-05-31T06:53:00.000-04:00

Mooseman is in 6 days. While it's a "B" race, in my mind, it's the most important one of the season after Nationals. The only other Olympic distance race I will do is Black Fly, and that's 1) only 5 weeks before Nationals, and 2) the second race in three consecutive weeks. The way Mooseman falls on the calendar, I can do a bit of a taper. I need some rest in my training anyway, and there's lots of time to build back up.

This race is a bit different with a 27 mi bike. And last year, due to thick fog, the swim was only about .6 mi. So for a swimmer-turned-triathlete, it didn't set up very well for me. My friendly rivalry with Scott M. will be renewed. As a biker-turned-triathlete who isn't exactly Michael Phelps, last year's race set up perfectly for him, beating me by 3 1/2 minutes (that was the only time all season). He passed me around mile 8 on the bike. At Nationals, with a "where-the-hell-did-you-pull-that-out-of" bike, I left T2 about 2 minutes ahead of him. So assuming the swim is the right distance, I'd like to hold him off until at least mile 18. That means I'll need to run him down, which is possible given our respective run training, but not likely based on our history.

To taper, I took the edge off of my training this week, but still did about 90% of the time. Pretty much every Saturday for the last five weeks, I've either had a race or put in a fairly intense brick. This week I turned my track workout into a tempo run on Tuesday and laid off the brick yesterday. I made the bike much easier. The first 1/2 mi of the run was a relaxed race pace, but it was still 3:05. Then after the next 1/2 mi easy, I held a tempo pace for a mile. Funny thing is, my comfortable running is down to about a 7:10 pace. I guess that's a good sign when I can feel relaxed running at that speed.

This week I'll cut back on the total time, putting in just 6 hours in five days. My long run goes from 10 to 7, and track intervals are replaced with an easy 4. The bike also gets cut back. I won't change the swimming too much. I really need to work on my race pace in the pool. In a set of 100s on 1:25, I'm working to hold just 1:15. But then on Friday, the group's sprint day, I put in a :58 100. That gap between :58 and 1:15 is way too much.

I've been exchanging emails with my college swimming coach. He's the BEST at formulating a taper. He's coaching a 49 year old for the Mooseman 1/2 IM. If you're at the race and see a stocky guy, about 5' 6" covered in Tufts paraphenalia, say hi. He's the best. Anyway, the following notes are for his guy, but they're basically the same rules we had as swimmers.

1. You cannot cram training ... and you cannot cram rest.
2. The longer you have been training = the longer your taper period should be. Nothing fast or long 8 days out of the event.
3. Avoid placing any subjective analysis/evaluation on 'how you feel' from day to day. The less time one spends dwelling on the past the better off they are for having improved results in the future.
4. Maintain weight ... hydrate often ... review your race strategies 2-3 weeks from the event (clothing...transitions...food/water...tires filled..etc. etc.) .. have chain in low (easy) gear before your ride... and then avoid 'thinking' about the event 5-6 days prior to the competition. Trust 'the wisdom of the body'... it knows best and in a subtle way is getting you ready naturally and unconsciously.

Phew!

2009-05-24T20:01:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned yesterday (http://mainesport.blogspot.com/2009/05/that-call.html), Leah had her first show of the year today. She started out great and won a first place blue ribbon for her first class. She was fifth in her second class. The last two were a real challenge because Wizard was acting up. She was nearly thrown several times, but held on. We're so proud of her!

Warm ups.

In action.

She just learned she won a blue ribbon. Working hard to keep her game face on.

Done!

"That Call"

2009-05-23T11:36:00.000-04:00

As you may have heard, Steve Larsen died this week while doing a track workout in Oregon. The autopsy is inconclusive, but ruled out a heart issue or blood clot. For those of you that didn't know of him, he was a great biker who made his way into triathlon. He helped Lance Armstrong in the late 80s win a World Championship, was a 2x World Champ in mountain biking, won IMLP in his first IM, and led Kona at one point. He swam like a rock, absolutely blasted the bike, and ran something like a 3:10 (?), too slow compared to the other elites in Kona. Most importantly, Steve seemed like a great family man. He leaves a wife and 5 children, the oldest 13 and the youngest are twins at age 2. I listened to an interview with him on a Competitor Radio podcast (btw, one of the better ones out there) about 6 months ago. He was gettng back into serious training as an age grouper and beating all sorts of pros. However it was more important for him to make it to a kid's soccer tournament than put in a 5 hour ride.

I mentioned this to Christine last night. I could see in her eyes that she was nervous about me pushing so hard, so long, for so many days. Will she get "that call" sometime? Back in the summer of 1990, we were living on Cape Cod while I taught sailing and she worked at a camp. One beautiful morning on a long 20 mile ride (my, how things have changed!), while down in the aero bars, I came to an intersection. The crossroad had a stop sign, I didn't. The car stopped, never saw me, and pulled out right in front of me. I hit the left front wheel, dented the hood, and fell to the ground. The bike was wrecked, and the helmet cracked. She got "that call," that morning, and met me at the hospital. Fortunately I was basically fine, other than soreness for a few days that prevented me from starting an outboard engine.

Think about all of the things that can go wrong when we're out there. Swimming is probably fairly safe. The bike has all sorts of things that can go wrong. Traffic, high speed flats, potholes, rider to rider contact, sand, ice, etc, etc. Running problems are probably confined to personal physiology, although maximum effort sets may bring those issues to the surface.

So there are risks in what we do. Are the risks greater or less than if we don't train like we do? I suppose the risks are different.

Leah (8) rides horses and is preparing for tomorrow's first show of the season. Last year, she competed in "lead line," where there's an adult holding a line to the horse. This year, she's on her own in the ring with other horses, presenting all sorts of additional variables and complications. We think riding a bike can be hard- try competing while sitting on a 1000 pound animal that has it's own damn ideas as to what it wants to do while everyone stares at you. On Thursday, she was thrown from the horse three times. I would expect maybe one per month, but this was three in one day. Obviously, that didn't help her mounting performance anxiety. Christine saw the last two falls firsthand. It's amazing that she got back on Wizard, but she did. Yesterday, she went up to the barn and just walked. Today it was some walking and trotting. Both were fine, so there's hope.

Nick (12) skateboards and snowboards. Obviously all sorts of risks there. Christine herself rides horses and has been thrown.

Holy shit. Until writing this, I had no idea the four of us took so many risks. It isn't consistent with the fact that we're a fairly conservative family.

There's a gentleman at our firm that is widely respected in the industry. He talks to us every couple of hours from the floor of the exchange. 9/11 was devistating for him. Since that day, at the end of every day, he says,

"You know the rules. Keep yourself safe. Put a little joy into your life and those around you that may merit it. And never, ever...that's never ever...pass up an opportunity to kiss someone you love."

Make sure you kiss your family as you head out the door.

Race Report: Crank the Kanc...or..."In Search of the Red Line"

2009-05-16T14:28:00.000-04:00

Crank the Kanc is a 22 mi time trial on the Kangamangus Highway from Conway NH to the top, in the Presidential Mountain range. The first 16.5 miles are rolling with a total elevation gain of about 500 ft. In other words, all big ring. The next 4.5 mi gain about 1500 ft. In other words, all small ring. Imagine a hockey stick where the shaft is at a slight incline, then you go up the blade. Riders go off every 15 seconds. 90% are on road bikes. Now that you have the facts, let's go to the color commentary....

My goal for the race had everything to do with my power output, as measured by my Powertap. It had nothing to do with my place or time. I'm a triathlete, not a biker. After Polarbear, where I was a bit disappointed not to see more improvement in my power, I really felt I needed to show myself that my bike was stronger. Given that I had last year's power file from the Kanc, this would be a good test and comparison. I wanted to get after it.

Before the race started, I saw some friends of my parents who live in the area and were volunteer traffic controllers. They bike a fair amount, and I actually saw them later going up the highway as I was returning. So before the race, she said very appropriately, "Have fun!" Externally, I did my best to thank her, but inside, I thought...this is going to SUCK. Even if it's successful, it will SUCK. Especially if it's successful, it will SUCK. It won't be successful if it doesn't SUCK. In different ways, we each look for that fine line between leaving something on the table, and going too hard and blowing up. To make matters more difficult, the friggin' red line can move year to year. It seems to me that to find the line, by definition, you need to go past it. You need to really suffer and possibly fail. That kind of failure is a success.

Last year, I averaged 261w for the first part (16.5 mi), and 271w for the final 4.5 mi climb. I thought I could probably go about 10w higher. So off we go....I felt really good to start, and had to keep backing off because I was 300-320w far too often. After 10 mi of the aero position with no breaks, I started feeling it in my legs and back. My wattage dropped a bit, so it took quite a bit of focus to keep it up. Maybe my mind was telling my body to save it up for the big climb. As I hit the inflection point between the two parts, I looked at my average power and saw 277, 16w higher than last year. Cool. The second part was a battle. It was really hard to keep my power up. It kept falling back to 250w. So I got into a pattern of standing up whenever the power dropped, raised my output for 30 seconds or so, then sat back down. I found the power stayed up at 280ish for a while, then dropped down, so I repeated the process. After analysis, I averaged 279w for the second part, 8w higher. For the ride as a whole, I was at 278w vs. 265w last year. I think I know just about where that red line is now. I feel great about these results, and more confident about triathlon racing. Total time about 1:14. After I see the results, I'll do some comparisons vs. others around me who raced both years.

A few other tid bits...

On the final part, a pace line of about 20 Corvettes came down.....Like last year, I could hardly get off of my bike due to soreness or cramping below my butt. When I got back on, I fell over sideways. Pretty pathetic looking. Nearly the same thing happened this year.....The ride back down should be beautiful, descening along a river in the White Mountains, but as they say, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. After the TT torture, I just want to get back to the car. The ride seems to take forever...I have a rule that on race day, there are no rules about what or how much I eat. Today for the drive home it was Pepsi, a big Gatorade, big bag of Nacho Doritos, Nutterbutters, and a big Slim Jim. Yum....Gorgeous weather for the race, about 55 with occasional sun. The view from the top is amazing. The only difference was a slight tail wind vs. a head wind last year....In a nod to DC Rainmaker (http://dcrainmaker.blogspot.com/2009/05/kinetic-2009-sprint-tri-race-report.html), I want to be NOAD. That's the goal for the year.

Mid week update

2009-05-06T19:11:00.000-04:00

First, a few comments on the video. I have no idea who Mr. Straight Arm is, and I'm amazed he was so fast. My first 100 was 1:08, and he had me by a fair amount. Second, the two guys on the other side were Kurt P. (2nd OA) and Mike C. (1st). Kurt clearly needs to work on his streamlining. And third, if you saw the whole 300 yards that was recorded, Jeff S., on the other side of Mike, had me by a bit at 100 yards. He's a very strong swimmer. At 150, I was ahead. Let's just say the shorts had fallen far enough.

As others have seen, the annual USAT rankings were published. I came in at #131, making me an All American. You need to be in the top 5% of your age group to qualify, which for my AG was the top 183. I try not to toot my own horn, but this is pretty cool.

Check out Macca's report from Ironman China 70.3. Sounds absolutely brutal. http://xcelsportsgroup.typepad.com/chris_mccormack/2009/04/ironman-703-china-toughest-triathlon-day-of-my-career.html

Had a great morning on the track yesterday. I used to struggle to descend 400s, getting the last one under 1:30. Yesterday I did 8, with the last 6 all at 1:28- 1:29. It's got to pay off eventually.

Polarbear Video

2009-05-03T11:32:00.000-04:00

Thanks to my trusty son and videographer Nick, here's a quick video of the race. Plenty of things for me to work on...

Polarbear Race Report: Big win, and not why you think

2009-05-03T07:10:00.000-04:00

The first race is in the books. The day started with a lousy forecast and light rain on the drive to Brunswick, brining back bad memories from last year's numbing 45 degrees, rain and wind. However by the time we arrived to a full parking lot, the sky was breaking and it was at least 55 degrees. It turned out to be absolutely perfect weather. I brought Nick with me to do some video taping. He's really into the computer and I bought him some video editing software. As it turns out, and not because of the video work, bringing him was the big win of the day.

It was great to see everyone again in our chosen environment- Kurt, Mike, Ange, Catherine, Jeff F., Jeff S. and many others. Everyone was clearly eager to see how they stood vs. the competition. Lots of nervous energy.

I thought the swim went very well. I base this on the fact that Mike Caiazzo has been kicking my butt in practice, but on this day, I steadily pulled away from him, beating him by 16 seconds over the 525 yds. By watching the video of the first 300 yrs, I got my splits of 1:08, 1:13, 1:14, which seems fine. I felt very relaxed the whole way, more so than last year, and ended up with an identical time (6:51, timed as you exit the pool and enter T1). Without getting into too much detail, this was the first year they used timing chips. So my swim was probably about 5 seconds faster this year.

Both transitions were fantastic. I usually give up all kinds of time here. This year, the only items at the bike rack were my bike, helmet, mat, sneakers, race belt and bike shoes. No other crap there- to the point I was nervous I was forgetting something. In T1, I was only 4 seconds slower than the fastest split, and in T2, just 6 seconds slower. Granted, I was the first bike on my rack, but that's still a huge improvement.

The bike is a bit of a mystery. My power file says I was only about 2 watts better. The Powertap doesn't lie. I thought I would be 15+ watts better, based on my training results. I was 0.5 mph faster, but that might be due to the better weather. My variability index was 0.02 lower, which is good. This is a tough course to settle into a good tempo because it's only 11 miles, and there's a corner to slow down for at least every couple of miles. Overall, it felt good, but it seemed hard to maintain a high output.

The run started out feeling terrible. I took in no solid calories on the bike and only about 8-10 oz. of fluid, and I still had a heavy stomach running out of T2. That stayed with me for about half of the run. I guess I'm a bit disappointed with the run, again, considering how I've been training. I was 19 seconds better than last year (3 mi), but the weather must be worth that much. However, when I compare run splits for those around me both years, there were only two folks who picked up meaningful time on me (:35 and 1:25), and I put time into several others (between :31 and 1:18). Who knows.

I ended up 5th overall and 1st in AG (7th and 2nd last year). At 58:06, I was 1:33 better than last year. Relative to others around me both years, only Rob Fast had a better differential. So I think I'm doing well, but there's still room for improvement.

Getting back to Nick, I thought he would be bored out of his skull. As it turns out, he had a great time. He thought it was cool that Mike C actually wins money at this sport. He saw him on the run, and was blown away by how fast he is (5:45 is tempo work). Nick even started talking about doing a race himself. The crowning comment came as we drove back into the garage. He looked up to see my old TT bike hanging from the ceiling and asked if he could use it for a race. The scarey thing is at almost 13 years old, Nick might just fit the bike.

The video turned out to be very revealing regarding swim and run technique. I bury my head after breathing, and my upper body moves way too much on the run. We're going to try to piece something together to post here.

Congratulations to all those who raced yesterday, especially the rookies who made up about a third of the field. It's great to have the season underway. Next stop: Crank the Kanc, a 22 mile TT in the White Mountains.

A good ride ruined...almost

2009-04-26T13:08:00.000-04:00

Training and racing is a great escape from the rest of the world. Typically, it's no problem leaving it all behind and focusing on the ride and the races ahead. Today was different. I returned from vacation to learn of an "unfortunate event" at work. Admittedly, I'm still seething, so I may not be thinking clearly. However my perception is that, while no guidelines or rules were broken, a moral code was. And that burns me up. Even though I learned about it four days ago, the feelings are strong enough that I could think of little else on my ride. It was hard to appreciate the warm temps, 5:30 daylight, lack of traffic, and first long ride of the year on my TT bike. Shit, shit, shit.

After two hours, and ending with a good effort, I had a very quick transition to a run. It felt good to put on the racing shoes for the first time. I ran hard for the first mile to get that "race" feeling for the first time this year. And oh, did I feel it. We all know that feeling...heavy and huge quads, shakey legs, tight upper body, etc. I didn't look at my watch until I hit the mile marker, and thought I was probably around 7:00. I came in at 6:16. I WIN. Not the events at work, but ME. I WIN.

While I can't expand on the events any more, suffice it to say a certain individual is signed up for Polarbear on Saturday. Toast.

Speaking of Polarbear, it's the season opening sprint at Bowdoin College. 525 yd pool swim, 11 bike, 5k run on road and trails. Last year at this time I was just coming back from "daddy prevention surgery," and did well. This year I'm coming off a great 8 day, but far from relaxing, vacation. I did some running in Florida, including a 9 miler. And thanks to a stomach issue, I didn't stuff or drink myself silly. So I think things are falling in line.

My races this year are sprints and olympic distances, so every one of them is intense. No better way to improve than to go to the mat every time. A long winter, big end of the year goals and lots of training with a lack of racing have me keyed up. Oh, yeah...and there's that other issue.

Bring it on!

Snap

2009-04-11T19:29:00.000-04:00

For those of you with families and a few years of triathlon under your belt, you'll understand. We get so friggin' wrapped up in ourselves that we cheat the really important things and people in our lives. Every year or two I need to "get my suspenders snapped" to get back to the way things should be. That happened about 10 days ago, and it was very appropriate. Sure, I've learned and improved over the years, but it's still an issue. I spend so much time and mental energy doing and planning for workouts and races that even when I'm home, I'm on the road.

So something(s) had to change. For training, I'm cutting back to a maximum of 10 hours per week. [Keep in mind my target race is USAT Nationals, an Olympic distance, not an IM.] Think about that. 10 hours. How can you pack in three sports, varying distances and intensities, plus lifting, and do it all in 10 hours? It's actually a facinating exercise. It forces you to focus on making every workout have a specific purpose. It gets rid of the empty miles and yards. It gives you more rest during the week, allowing for a higher intensity. The big risk with this is the possibility of injury due to fewer recovery miles. I'll just have to be careful with that. My default schedule is to have Wednesday mornings and all day Sunday off. Tuesdays and Thursdays only have one workout. I'm sure that my best coach ever, Tufts Swimming Coach Don Megerle, would approve. He believes in quality, not quantity.

This was my second week of track intervals. Last week was 6 x 1/2 mile, then this week was 10 x 1/4 mile. If you have a chance, read Running With the Legends: Training and Racing Insights from 21 Great Runners by Michael Sandrock. The two big takeaways are track intervals and trail running.

Today I had a great brick, and I could feel the benefit of the track intervals, even if it's mental at this point and not physiological. I started with a 1:45 bike on the trainer (I'm getting tired of this.........). The last hour was supposed to be race pace-ish. I averaged 246 watts, a hair better than Mooseman last year, and a whole lot better than any workouts before mid June. Cool. After a long transition, about 8 minutes, I hit the road. I have a 6.2 mile loop from the house, and know right where 3 miles is. To be fair, it's an overall decline of about 150 feet. I pegged it from the start, and hit 3 miles at 19:09. Double cool.

While I still occasionally feel my rib injury, I can swim hard without a problem. This week went much better, so there's hope. On Wednesday we head to Orlando to visit Mickey and then we go on the cruise ship. No biking or swimming for nine days. Just a few laps around Seven Seas Lagoon- in 70 degrees! I'm not too concerned about the missed time, as long as I don't eat and drink twelve times the calories I burn.

For those of you in the Portland area, we discovered a great restaurant in Freeport- Buck's Naked BBQ in Freeport. Great food, quantities, beer and prices. It's also very friendly for kids. Maybe we should have lunch there after Polarbear.

Wins and Smiles

2009-03-29T14:17:00.000-04:00

I heard a great story on my trip from a guy who was one of nine that attempted a climb of Mt. McKinley. Before the climb, each of the nine were videotaped separately. One of the questions was, “what do you think it’s going to take to make it to the top?” The four that didn’t make it all said, “we need to stay focused on the goal.” The five that did make it to the top of North America all said, “find joy in each day.”

Training can be a lot like climbing a mountain. We struggle to find enough time, fight injuries, deal with equipment, go through emotional highs and lows, and try to eat right. It can all be a bit overwhelming. Because it takes so long to train for a target race, it can be a slog. Simply focusing on the end goal can be overwhelming.

I try to find little wins with nearly every workout. Sure, there are those shorter, easy recovery runs and rides where we aren’t challenged. But there are plenty of workouts where we have specific goals and we get challenged. Today I rode for 2 hours on the trainer, keeping it at 65% the whole way. Then I hit the road for almost nine miles. Getting down to a 7:30 pace was easy. So today’s wins are…only my second two hour ride this season, my first long brick, the realization that my running has reached a whole new level, and that I did it all in 40 degrees and rain.

Look for small victories.

We can all get a bit too serious out there. We “gut” it out. Take a look at these two pictures:

Other than dominating Kona for the last decade, what do Natash Badmann and Chrissy Wellington have in common? They have reputations of smiling their way to wins. I’m not sure, but I think I’ve heard that there’s actually a beneficial chemical reaction when you smile. Try smiling during your next tough workout or race. See if you have some sort of lift. It seems to work for me.

Last night we went to Nick’s last indoor track meet- the regional “festival”…they avoid the pressure of calling it the season ending championship. He placed fifth out of 19 in the high jump (he was one of only five 7th graders, the rest were in 8th grade). He also ran a great 240, coming from way behind to win his heat, just nipping his best friend at the tape. Here’s a video of one of his jumps.

From S.F.

2009-03-27T21:24:00.000-04:00

Waiting to fly home from S.F. I have been comletely seduced by the weather and the Stanford campus. Wednesday morning's run turned out to be very similar to Monday's. Total run was about 8 miles in about 1:05 and had to keep slowing down because I was under 7:30 pace, and occasionally got under 7:00.

The highlight of the trip was swimming in the OUTDOOR 50m pool. The pool was a perfect temperature and there were only about 3 people in my 50m lane. My ribs felt quite a bit better, even after 2000m. I'm looking forward to regaining my swimming shape over the next couple of weeks. The only problem was that the sun was too bright. So tough.

Yesterday I put in 11.5 in 1:30. That's the longest distance and time this year. The legs felt good. Today it was another 5.5. After Sunday's run, this will likely be the most miles I've ever done in one week (38-40). I'll do two more of these by the end of April, then it gets scaled back to a high of 32 for the rest of the season as I add more intensity.

While I'm not looking forward to the redeye tonight, I am looking forward seeing the family again.

Strange Bunch

2009-03-24T23:57:00.000-04:00

Somewhere between D.C. and S.F…..I normally only blog once per week…yes I have other things to do…but given this painfully long flight and the last two days, I thought I would check in.

For some reason I woke up around 4 yesterday. Out of bed at 4:45, and out the door at 5:15. It was spectacular. Sure, it was still cold (25), but the starry sky was beautiful. I noticed it as I waited for my Garmin to synch up. I hit the road thinking I would stick to my plan for 6 mi. Early on, I felt much lighter and looser than normal. It probably had a lot to do with using the roller last night. I need to do much more of that. By mile 1, and without effort, I was already down to an 8:15 pace. As the run progressed, I felt better and better. So good, in fact, I entertained adding a bit on. By the time I got to the decision point, I was cranking along at 7:30-45, felt great, but realized another mile or so could hamper future workouts. So I decided caution was in order and stuck to my planned route. The next ½ mile was generally up hill. It took a bit more effort, but I didn’t slow down much. Around mile 4, the endorphins were really flowing and I got the pace under 7. Keep in mind that my 10K race pace is somewhere around 6:20. At mile 5, I slowed down to bring it home...It turned out to still be under 8:00. What a great run.

I followed that up with an hour on the trainer. I knew I had a threshold test to do today, so I didn’t want to blow it. After a warm up, I alternated 5 minute periods, 220w seated and 260-280 slower cadence (75-80) standing (FTP is about 275). That went for 35 minutes.

Today I woke up at 2 friggin’ 30 thinking about the FTP test the same way I think about races. It was impossible to go back to sleep. I probably got another 30 minutes of sleep until I got up at 5. After the K.P. warm-up protocol, I dove into the test, stepping up 20w every 4 minutes, starting at 160w. I did this in January and failed after about 30 seconds at 300w, about the same as last year. After I hit 220w, I was sick of the TV, so I put on the iPod and turned the TV off. At 280w the volume went up. Bottom line? I failed after 2 minutes at 320w, a huge improvement over January. That’s my “win” for the day. Total ride 90 minutes.

Afterwards, Christine and I had a good laugh. Now keep in mind I am a total morning person, and she is far from it. I alluded to my win this morning. I said, “What a great ride. I sat on my bike in the garage, it was 39 degrees (yes, inside the garage), I was alone, pushed myself to failure, and all the while didn’t travel an inch.” We triathletes sure are a strange and driven bunch.

I’m looking forward to unleashing this energy on the competition.

ITPRDYL?

2009-03-22T17:14:00.000-04:00

Sitting here in the Shawnee Peak base lodge while Nick and friends ski all day. It would be incredibly boring without my laptop, projects to work on and my iPod. [Phil Collins playing] I’m actually making all sorts of progress on multiple fronts. It’s rare that I get free time like this. This coming week I get even more time as I fly to San Francisco for work. While there, I hope to swim in one of their three 50m outdoor pools with temps in the high 60s! I’ll also get in a bunch of running.

One of my projects is figuring out my training schedule in much greater detail for the rest of the season. When you figure in all of the progression and periodization, 22 weeks to my target race really isn’t that much. That’s especially true when you figure adaptations take several weeks [The Fray] at a time. For those of you aiming for IM LP, in training terms, it’s right around the corner!

Two thirds of my training was great this week. Biking was strong and included a good ride OUTSIDE yesterday. On the run, I’ve just started to add some quicker paces which feel great. It’s amazing how much faster the easy running gets after a few quicker strides. My latest tool/toy is the Garmin Forerunner 305. Even though I have more to learn (S.F. trip), it’s already met my expectations. On Tuesday I ran 10 in Hartford on streets I had never been on. Eventually I found a good out-and-back, making the turn when the watch read 5 mi. [Elton John] It’s amazing how a Garmin or Powertap on the bike can keep you honest or make you more competitive. The numbers don’t lie. The downloads don’t lie. And the analysis is what it is. If you want good and improving numbers, you have to put in the work.

The one third that wasn’t so good was my swimming. My injured ribs caused a good deal of pain on every left arm pull and flip turn. I got in 4 days, SUPER SLOW, for a total of about 6k. Yesterday, after running 6, swimming 500, and kicking 500, I had to get out due to the pain. Damn.

The whole situation with B2B filling up is ridiculous. I read countless stories about those who were on the computer at the designated hour and the connection wouldn’t work. I feel the worst for those who use B2B as their target race and have done it every year since its inception. It seems like the organizers have plenty of ‘splainin to do. [Def Leopard] I understand why organizers have registration limits, but it’s a shame they can’t figure out a way to get more people in. Let’s take Polarbear as an example. That race is limited due to the pool swim and the fact that they have to wait for all of the slow swimmers to finish before starting the next heat. They should organize it so half of the pool is for slow swimmers, half for fast. The fast ones could [U2] run two heats for every one of the slow ones. I bet you could increase the field by 30-40%. The idea here is to get more people racing, whatever the sport. [Axel F]

I get a kick out of the texting language Nick and other kids his age do. You’ve probably seen the “BFF” commercial, so you know that one. How about a few other basics- BRB [Bill Conti (Rocky)], IDK, JK, or JJ? We should develop verbal texting for races. Air is at a premium, so we should economize. [REM- OK, I know I’m slow- I’m distracted] Let’s try:
YLG- You look good.
TFTP- Thanks for the pull (running only).
QDYA- Quit drafting, you asshole.
IGKYA- I’m gonna kick your ass.
YS- You suck.
IH- I hurt.
IFLS- I feel like shit.
TWS- This weather sucks.
[Doobie Brothers]
OYL- On your left (my favorite!)
G- Gatorade
ITPRDYL?- Is that pee running down your leg?
[John Melloncamp]
[Jim Noir]
YBCYS- Yeah, but can you swim?
ITTTS- I’m training through this race.

Now accepting submissions for the Triatlete's Guide to Texting.......

Love it! Hate it!

2009-03-15T18:05:00.000-04:00

I love this sport because of all the stuff. Sure, it sounds materialistic, but let’s face it- it’s fun. There’s always more gear we can go out and get. It keeps getting better, so there’s always a gadget that will make training or racing better, faster or more comfortable. My latest target is a Garmin Forerunner.

I hate this sport because of all the crap you need. Trying to plan and pack for a race never ends. God forbid I forget my electrical tape, salt tablets or allen wrench. Long winter runs take short tights, long pants, shirt, jacket, gloves, fuel belt, bottles, gel, iPod, body glide, reflective vest, head lamp, sneakers, hat, and probably something else I’m forgetting.

I love this sport because there’s always something going well. Three disciplines and something is always feeling good. I love basking in the internal glory of a great workout . Maybe the run wasn’t so great in my brick, but that’s because I kicked ass on the bike.

I hate this sport because something is always suffering. If I bust my ass in the morning on the road, it’s a losing game in the pool at noon when I’m with the masters swim group. [These wimps are only doing one workout today.] It’s tough for my ego to have people pass me who have no right doing so. And have you ever done a race where all three parts were spot on? Maybe the race overall was good, but there’s always something that wasn’t as good as it should be.

I love this sport because I have no trouble falling asleep at night. Up at 5 for a 1-2 hours workout, go to work, swim at noon, back to work, home for the night, head hits the pillow, and GOOD NIGHT!

I hate this sport because I have no problem falling asleep...anywhere or anytime. It’s a struggle sometime to get through work in the afternoon. And it isn’t exactly good for marital relations when my head rolls off my shoulders at 8:30. I end up trying all kinds of things just to stay awake until 9:30.

I love this sport because of the satisfaction I get after pushing my limits in races. I tend to focus on the Olympic distance which requires red lining for two hours. Finding that extra gear at the end of a race to pass (or prevent from being passed (A.B.)) feels great. That kind of effort stays with me physically for a day or two, reminding me that I did something few other people even attempt.

I hate this sport because of the anguish we go through while red lining. “This sucks.” “Why do I do this?” “I’m going to pick up curling next year.” “I wonder if my kids are out of bed yet.” “Come on, give me better directions.” “Come on, be ready with the Gatorade.” “My crotch is killing me. ” “I’m never doing an Ironman again.” [By the way, for those of you going into your first one, you will say this repeatedly. Then within 5 minutes of finishing, you’ll want to sign up all over again.]

I love this sport because of the positive stress it generates. I think about training and racing constantly. It’s a great diversion from the negative stress in life, in particular my work. It’s fun to design the next workout, training paces, average power or whatever. Then I get to download the workout data to the computer and analyze it even more. I’m a dreamer, and it literally gives me shivers to think about running down Alii Drive. Or pulling on a USA uniform. Life would be boring without dreaming about reaching new levels.

I hate this sport because of the attention it requires. It’s nearly year-round and permeates so many parts of life, including diet, sleep and the calendar. I know I haven’t given my family as much mental attention as I should. I think I'm getting better.

I love…eating without limits after races, staying fit, breaking down barriers, sharing ideas, camaraderie, rolling out of bed and feeling yesterday’s workout, hill repeats, surging out front at the swim start, and winning.

I hate…chlorine, cold hands and toes, poor etiquette, pain in certain personal areas, poorly organized races, drafting, toe tapping in the swim, injuries, stretching (duh..think there’s a connection?), hill repeats, and losing.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

My ribs wouldn’t let me run until this weekend when I hit the trails on snowshoes. After a few minutes, the endorphins masked the pain. Included a run/hite to the top of Ragged Mtn. I didn’t even sniff the pool all week. I was fine on the bike, so pushed that pretty hard. The highlight was meeting with Coach Kurt and coming to the realization that I’m setting myself up for a great season. I thought as much, but it’s nice to get confirmation. Although there’s plenty of physical refining and work to do, mentally, I am so ready to bust out a good race. Polarbear won’t come soon enough.

Found a good weekly IM podcast on iTunes from a couple of guys from New Zealand- IM Talk. In particular, check out the 5/26/08 podcast with Dave Scott and 5/7/07 discussion on training with power. In particular, he talks about eliminating the power spikes in an IM bike. They really sap your energy for the run.

Finally, I signed up for Crank the Kanc. I strongly suggest others do the same. It's a great test at a good time of year. If you do, maybe we can do a bit extra on the end.

Fall Down, Go Boom- Parts II and III

2009-03-08T19:16:00.000-04:00

We went to Sadddleback Mountain for a weekend of skiing with my parents, brother and his family. Saturday morning I capped off a good training week with a great 1:15 snowshoe on the XC trails. I've been out several times this winter on my shoes. It's a great aerobic workout, and I'm not getting the typical road damage.

To put the rest into context, I became a snowboarder on December 26. I've made tons of progress, but I still have a ways to go.

On Saturday, we tried a really steep, narrow and icy trail from the top. I figured it was best to take by board off and walk down the side until the snow was better. I promptly slipped, fell, and slid about 150 yards at warp speed. Lots o' fun.

Today, while valiantly trying to avoid hitting Leah, I fell with my elbow digging into my ribs. Long story short...no damage to my spleen, probably just a cracked rib or two. Most importantly, the doc said there are no specific restrictions on training other than my own discomfort. I'll take tomorrow off, try the bike Tueday, try to run Wednesday, and try to swim Wednesday or Thurday depending upon how I feel. I don't think flip turns would feel very good right now.

Target thresholds

2009-03-01T19:52:00.000-05:00

Mary- I remember working towards Eagleman (70.3) which is incredibly flat, so the idea was to hit my target wattage in the race and stay right there. Kurt P. gave me a formula where I targeted about 225 for the race while my FTP was somewhere around 270, which is below failure in a test (300?). I am far from being a coach, but my memory is that you shouldn't be doing much target race pace riding at this point. 1) Do an accurate FTP test- let's say you fail at 210 and FTP is 190. 2) Determine your IM wattage, say 160. 3) Design workouts at this point in the season to work above and below 160w. A good one is "over-unders" where you ride 3-5 min at 180, then the same time at 140, repeat several times with no break inbetween. I think as your season progresses, your acutal work will get closer (narrow) to the target wattage. Something else to keep in mind- you might consider doing long sections (20 min) at 180w to simulate the hills. In the race, those are followed by long down hills where you'll rest as much as possible. Last bit of advice- don't spend much time doing the course- it may not be the right kind of training at this point in the season, and you'll get stale.

Fall Down, Go Boom

2009-02-28T20:19:00.000-05:00

It was strange not training as much this week, but I could tell I needed it. I ended the week at a bit over 9 hours, and most of it was fairly easy. The highlight, and lowlight, came today. I went for a ride OUTSIDE with Scott Marr. It was about 38 degrees, windy with bright sunshine. We went for about 1:45. It's amazing how much easier a certain wattage is outside vs. inside. On the trainer, 250 watts is a good amount of work. Outside, I feel like I could go forever at that effort. It felt great to do some work on the bike and actually make forward progress!

Just an hour earlier, I walked up the driveway with Nick and Jasmine. We saw her slip and fall on some ice that looked like water. When I met Scott, I told him about it and that we'd have to be careful. See where I'm going with this? We went through plenty of streams and puddles on the ride due to the melting snow. Getting near the end of the ride, going up a hill on Greely Road in Cumberland, I took the lead. There was a section in the shadows (think cooler), I saw the "water," and went right down. Scott was on my left hip and glanced off my head as it hit the ground (not too hard). The most pain came from what I thought was a calf cramp, but seems like a pull. A few hours later, it's still hard to walk after sitting idle for a while. I also got some good scrapes on my hip and knee.

Back to training...I came up with a good swim set that has a few variations. 6 x (6 x 50 on 45), taking the first four at a long distance race pace, the 5th one is fast, then the 6th very easy. Take some extra time before starting over. Today we did the same structure as 6x100, 6x75 and 6x50. The 1350 yds goes quickly, and it's a high quality set because the repeats are short.

The other high point this week was when I headed out for a run about 20 minutes later than normal because I was only running 4 miles. Right off the bat, I didn't need my headlamp because there was just enough light. Spring is coming!!! Then about half way, when I turned down Field Rd., there was a beautiful sunrise. We can all get a bit too focused on our efforts that it's hard to enjoy our surroundings. This was a great start to the day.