Ironman Tips

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

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

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

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!

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"

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"

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.