Victoria 70.3

So the Dimond arrived about 2 weeks ago.  I must admit that I was nervous racing with only about 60miles of training on the new set up.  Folsom long course aqua bike, a week out, was a good final prep to nail down the seat height, other small adjustments, and nutrition to make sure things were good for the race.

The decision to race Victoria half ironman was a bit last minute.  Once I got the bike I got really motivated to get out and race. Victoria happened to be the only championship qualifying race that fit my work schedule prior to our trip to Spain in July. Having a sponsor is super cool but it also adds pressure to get out there and kick ass and race against the best. 

Leading into the race I wasn't sure what to expect.  My training this past spring was absolute rubbish.  With getting sick multiple times, wife's family visit, and working way to much I wasn't able to build up the fitness I usually have going into a race.  Last time I ran more than 10 miles before race day was in Arizona 7 months ago.

My goal was a top 5 in my age group(check) and to qualify for the half ironman championship(check).  I knew I wasn't going to set any records which in a way helped keep me from going out way too fast in each leg of the race.

The Ruster Sport crew came up with an amazing bike case, The Hen House, for traveling so I can just fly with my bike rather than shipping it around.  This is great because in the past I had to ship it out at least a week before and it usually cost $300.  The Dimond packs better than any bike I have ever had, leaving tons of room for other gear in the Hen House.

So here we go…

Pre-race Nutrition
No salad and minimal fiber starting 48hrs out

3hrs before race

Banana, Boost, 2 Rice cakes

2hrs before Starbucks double shot

1hr out sipped on Gatorade 

Air horn sounds!!

Swim 27:36

The swim was my fastest to date and the new Roka wetsuit fit great!  It really helps coming out of the water near the front.  Based on my Garmin distance and pro times it looks like it wasn't a "short swim"

Bike 2:29:xx
NP 265, Avg HR 144

The Dimond bike is ridiculous!  It is crazy fast but more importantly I feel really comfortable on it.  Biking is my strength but I didn't want to over do it and have nothing left for the run.  The course consisted of 2 hilly laps and being a beefcake (particular beefier than usual) I knew my weight would be a big limiter with all the climbing. I held back on the first lap, got in a groove then picked it up for lap 2. I passed tons of people on lap 2 that went out way to hard at the beginning.

Run 1:32:xx

The run was tough as expected but I tried to keep  6:50min miles which felt good till mile 10. I suffered through the last 3 miles and just missed out on 4th place.  

Looking a wee bit soft in the middle

Total 4:32:xx

Overall I am very happy with my day. Given my current fitness I couldn't have asked for more. It's kinda cool that smarts and experience helped make up for my less than ideal fitness. 

Key Points


Swim Keys

- good wetsuit fit

- training with sim shorts

- pull with paddles to keep arm muscular endurance up

- 100s for time to keep speed up

Overall my 2 HIM swims this past week we improved from priors despite considerably less pool time

Bike Keys

- comfortable fit

- drilling race power leading into the race

- holding back the first half (this will be super important going forward)

- nutrition: gel 20-15 min (start and end with less), 2.5 bottles water (go with feel. Don't take in to much)

Run Keys

- Newton Distance with Dust (lots) and Silk spray.  No socks

- Coke sips. Nutrition wasn't a limiter this time around!

- drilling race intensity leading into race

- will add box jumps to try and improve last race leg fatigue/aching

Now time to get back to solid training.  Pumped to bring the ruckus come 70.3 Worlds!!!

Billy Jean King on Visualization

Billy Jean King is a tennis legend and champion of gender equality

Below is an except from an NPR interview.

"Visualization I really used a lot. I use - I use to think about everything that could go wrong and then try to picture myself how I would react to it or how I'd respond to it. For instance, with the wind blowing, like last week at the U.S. Open it was really windy, and it was so hard on the players. So I always thought about the wind. I thought about the sun. I thought about bad line calls. I thought about rain if we had to wait, things that were probably out of my control, and how would I respond to them.

And I would think about how I wanted to act. Like they teach in acting, act as if, it's the same thing in sports. Do you stand up straight? Do you have your body language speaking in a confident way? Physically do you - how do you think - because 75 percent of the time when you're on the court, you're actually not hitting a ball, and I think that's where the champions come through.  So I would visualize all these different possibilities."

Her words struck a cord in many ways... in my life as a physician, as an athlete, and in my family. The first thing I thought of was my life in the emergency department.  Each day is something new and I never know what will come through the sliding doors next. Visualization is one of the most important ways we as emergency medicine physicians learn and prepare. As resident physicians we constantly had algorithms drilled into our heads to help visualize real situations in the ER.   

Attending: "Ventricular tachycardia!" 

Resident:  Stable or unstable?

Attending: "Unstable!"

Resident:  "Shock!"

The list of split second decision drills goes on indefinitely and their importance cannot be stressed enough.  Being a ER doctor is not just memorizing algorithms but we use them because quite simply they save lives.

In triathlon goggles get knocked off, tires go flat, and thighs chaff.   Make no mistake shit happens.  The phrase "don't worry about things you cannot control" goes out the window.  How we prepare for what we cannot control allows us to succeed when things go wrong or are unexpected.  Just as I cannot control what illness or injury my next patient might suffer from I can control how I treat them through hard work, constant learning, and diligent preparation.

My wife often talks about how her mother did her best to teach her children the importance of body language.  My wife every once in a while shares this with me.  "Stand up Straight" my mother in law would often say.  "Look your best at all times because you never know who you will run into" is one of my favorites.  My usual reply is "who cares who I run into", but this is short sighted and misses the point.  The point is true excellence is a habit and must be practiced with each movement and each decision.

Yes there are things we cannot control but it's how we respond to what happens that make us who we are.

The entire King interview is powerful in ways well beyond what I have discussed above touching on topics I don't dare dive into in a triathlon blog.  Well worth a listen if you are so inclined.

Fueling Window- Busting up the Bonk

Puking up a Bonk Break (ironic) on the IMAZ run  has become a theme

All 3 Ironmans I have done were slowed down by run bonks

If I'm gonna race to my potential I need to work on fueling!

Below is an excerpt from THE TRIATHLON FUELING WINDOW by Jesse Kropelnicki

"We’ve proven this concept year after year with some of the fastest run splits across the age group, and PRO levels, including multiple athletes running sub 3:00 and over 27 Kona qualifiers last year. Our athletes have trained themselves to hit the run better fueled than almost all other athletes on the course…..this is the “secret” to how we do it. This is one of our most important concepts used to get results. The primary issue that athletes have with the higher carb approach, if they have any, is that they don’t practice it seriously enough. This would be like doing an Ironman without training at all, and then after DNFing the race saying, Ironman isn’t for me. To be done right, fueling needs to be practiced day in and day out, every single session from 30 minute recovery runs to 6 hour rides – EVERY SINGLE TIME! If it’s a warmer weather race, and you are a heavy sweater, you should likely be drinking 3 to 4 24oz bottles of Powerbar Perform every hour in training. Yes, this is overdoing it, but it takes nutrition off the table as a limiter on race day – you’ve trained yourself to handle more than your body requires, thereby improving your “fueling window”. I can honestly say that I have never seen an athlete who practices their fueling properly have lingering issues on race day. Some need to practice harder and longer than others."

Things I have done to tackle this / Things I need to do to get better

Coke on the run and training leading up to race / Drink more coke (when running!) Can also drink water to get stomach used to liquids.  

Gel every 15-20min on MXOG and long rides/ Take gels while going hard and drink Perform

Summary of things to work on

-Drink with every run

-Gel every 15min and sports drink while going hard on bike (not between sets.  Smack in the middle)