I

IRONMAN ARIZONA - November 17, 2013

09:25:24 (swim 1:00, bike 4:46, run 3:32)
5th in 30-34 age group and 68th overall

I have heard over and over that Ironman is all mental toughness and that never felt more true than on race day.

In the end I fell short of qualifying for Kona by 95 seconds. This year there were only 3 spots in my age group.  Really sucks for the guy in 4th place. Just gotta go faster!

Although missing a Kona spot is disappointing I still feel proud of my effort.  There is always room for improvement and I'll keep chasing the Hawaii dream...after I have refueled with Thanksgiving goodness.

Swim 1:00:56  (~5 min faster than 2012)

Blue Seventy Helix 2nd generation, B70 Vision grey lens  (baby shampoo rinse)

Lined up 2nd row middle

Went out hard breathing every 6th stroke

Got some distance from the mob fairly quickly and it was easy to get in a groove of breathing every 3rd stroke

Older wetsuit felt great.  I have heard they "dont break in" but the new suits I have tried are not anywhere near as flex

T1 3:45 (~2 min faster than 2012)

Bike 4:46:39 (~4 min faster than 2012)
Cervelo P5-6
Front  Zipp 404 with 23mm Conti GP4000s and latex tube @100-105 psi, rear Zipp super 9   23mm Conti GP4000s and latex tube @105-110 psi 
Aerobar bottle holder, rear bottle holder 
Flat kit in bag between seat and rear bottle

extra tube under seat

Goal NP was 235 and I was considering this "holding back"

Lap1 went well  maybe slightly overbiked 

AP240 NP242 HR145

Lap2 AP222 NP224 HR148

Started having trouble taking in my nutrition 

I didn't start to drink Perform sports drink till lap2 because in IMC It made me feel crazy bloated.  I Still think this was a good idea to hold off on the Perform but need to focus on taking in more gels.  They sit better for me.

Lap3 AP203 NP207 HR149

Pee break down the hill (do everything while moving)

The wind picked up and my HR was going up and up

Decided to pull back on the power and try to get my HR down so I could take in more nutrition.  The higher my HR the tougher it is for me to digest gels and energy drinks.  By slowing down on lap3 I was trying to prevent a bonk early on the run

Power Avg 223 
NP 227
HR Avg 147
Cad Avg 89











T2 1:22 (~same as 2012)

Run  3:32:42 (~9 min faster than 2012)
Newton Distance w socks and silk dust 

Was aiming for a 3:20 at a 7:35ish pace

Miles 1-9 went surprisingly well and I was believing in my plan to take the last part of the bike easy.

Seeing my mom near mile 4 gave me a big boost then when I came up to mile 5 someone shouted out, "You're first in your age group!"

I made a strong effort to keep my pace near 7:35 despite feeling really frisky but as the run progressed my HR started to drop into the 140s and taking in coke became harder and harder.  I was bonking and was convinced my day was over. The pace bottomed out at 9:10 at mile 16. I was puking up bits of the sole bonk bar I ate 3 hours earlier on the bike in hopes of getting some dense calories. Shortly after making room in my stomach I came up to my mom again wich gave me a little lift but I was still struggling. As I came up to the TirForce aid station I saw Kevin Coady, the Man, the Legend. He screamed words of encouragement, "you're doing awesome just don't stop!"  Such simple words yet they were 100% spot on.  I was doing awesome and all I needed to do was keep going.  As far as I knew only one AGer passed me (in reality it was 4) so I said to myself "I'm not out of this yet. Keep taking punches and push on forward. They are going to have to rip this from my dead hands."  I forced down coke when I could and gradually tried to pull back some time without going over the edge. As much I as wanted to go sub 7 that last mile I had nothing more to give.

Crossing the finish line was awesome, but I could not help but feel disappointed in my run. I fought back but it was more like I was trying to just survive rather than hunting like a champion.  From now on I want to hunt like a champion!

Pace 8:07 
HR Avg 153
Cad Avg 96 

Splits

1	7:17.9
2	7:38.8
3	7:34.8
4	7:36.7
5	7:37.4
6	7:37.6
7	7:35.7
8	7:38.9
9	7:42.0
10	8:02.8
11	7:58.9
12	8:30.8
13	8:28.2
14	8:32.5
15	8:48.7
16	9:10.4
17	8:41.0
18	8:29.8
19	8:37.5
20	8:23.6
21	8:20.4
22	8:19.3
23	8:26.6
24	8:06.5
25	8:17.1
26	7:52.8

Total Time 9:25:24

Vineman 70.3 2013

Good lead up going into Vineman despite 6 weddings in 2 months (big workout weekends were off the table)
Started taper about 10 days out and did a good race prep brick Monday of race week (Race was on Sunday so still 6 days out)

Decent swim volume however my interval times seemed to be slow- endurance got better with Paddle work in the last 2 weeks

Bike miles way down to make room for running but focussed on  getting in 2 key workouts a week (FTH & HIM paced efforts) 

Month of running focused on speed work mixed in with moderate milage

Pre-race Dinner

Pizza with egg on it

Avoided salad

Dessert blueberry muffin

Bfast

1 ensure (350 Cal)

1 bagel (not toasted, no spread)

1 Starbucks mocha double shot expresso can (200 cal)

1 expresso love gel 10 min pre swim

Swim 31:27

BS Helix (3rd gen)/Aquasphere grey lens with baby shampoo

Disappointed with swim

Knew just before turnaround that I was off my goal of sub 30

Thought  "dont panic"  hold your pace rather than try to make up time in the water.  Make it up by having a good bike/run

*25/205AG when in 2011 very similar time got me 50/213AG (maybe swim was a bit long?)

T1 2:51

Started with arm sleeves on

Might be too tight and decrease feel of water on arms (but saves time in T1)

Not sure best approach

Started with shoes on per new rule. Biked up hill out of T1 (people were falling all over the place

Bike 2:18:20 (Avg Speed 24.1)

Same bike set up as IMAZ 2012 (with following upgrades: Di2, DA SRM, HED armrests- narrower, Keo Aero-Blades)

Avg Power 257 (NP 264)

Avg HR 152

Avg Cad 87

Steady effort from the start

Was aiming for around NP280 (which was no problem in training)

Also aiming for 2:20 bike. Got it!  Love to see what 280NP would give me

Lots of passing might have brought power down

Kept it steady on hills and kept in TT position almost entire ride

Gel q15min

1.5 bottles of Gatorade

1 bottle water

Zip tie on bottle cage broke- might be good to go back to velcro

T2 2:09

Sat down to get on socks and shoes

Cooler for cold Coke (flatted with blender)

Run 1:29:49 (avg 6:51)

Aiming for 1:30 run. Got it!

Struggled more on the back half but kept it together

"Keep the legs moving- Flow like water"

Avg HR 170

Avg Cad 99

Splits

1- 6:23

2- 6:27

3- 6:36

4- 6:53

5- 6:52

6-6:46

7- 6:49

8- 7:05

9- 7:07

10- 7:18

11- 7:08

12- 7:16

13- 6:57

Gel about every 2.5 miles or about every 20min

1.75 bottles coke

Total

4:24:23

6/205AG

Got offered a spot for  the 70.3 Championships in Vegas but declined
Given it's only 2 weeks after IMCA I do not think it's a realistic goal to race well.  
I'm going to Focus on giving a good effort to get to the Kona start line 

Keys to Race

#1 Nutrition and plan!  

WT 178 race week!!!!!!!!!!!! Loving veggie juicing, brown rice, no soda (other than running coke) This needs an entire post alone!

No supplements other than one scoop of protein after very very hard efforts. 
I love this!  Why put that crap in your body

Plan was the key to this race!!

Trained with Gels q15 in hard workouts on bike

Need to train with coke on run

#2 Speed work running

Consistent well executed speed sessions once a week for 4-5 weeks

Backed off bike miles to focus on running

Although I bike hard during the race my NP was 15watts below my goal and my run was a 5 min PR. (dont think taking it easier on the bike is ticket to faster time from this race)

#3 Rest

Smart training taper while keeping swimming up (might of accounted for sluggish arms on swim?)

Got good sleep race week

Rested overall more than in the past

#4 Bike

Race specific and FTH sessions.

Work to do

#1 Run speed

Great improvements in running by adding speed but still have a way to go to keep up with the skinny speedsters.  Keep up the good work

#2 Nutrition plays a key role. Practice race approach including coke

Keep moving in the right direction with wt and body composition

#3 Swimming!  100s and PwP

After trying out Tower 26 seems 100s and PwP is the best use of time for good results.  Swimming is still my weakness but the run is a priority at this time.  

#4 Endurance biking

Time to get some long rides in

DNS @ IMLC and wt watching

IMLC DNS

So close yet so far.

With just over one week to IMLC I caught a URI.

With 6 days to go I woke up with what felt like PNA prompting me to start abx and pull the plug on the race.

Training was nearly spot on with a wonderful build and terrific peaking!  I stayed healthy throughout the winter despite be surrounded by URIs

Did a 5hr ride that surpassed my IMAZ bike numbers with a HR 10 BMP lower than similar long rides.

The swim build was a bit low on volume but threw down some of my fastest intervals to date.

Overall in past few months I set training best with 5hr ride power avg 221, and 30x100 interval @76, Ran 3 weeks in a row >40mls

Watching the race lit a new fire in me!

I would like to think I had what it took to qualify for Kona however the bike elevation was 6x IMAZ.   If I was racing AZ then if I had what it took and then some, but this was different.

Hills and heat kill big men.

My wt came down nicely to 179lbs 8 days out, but here lies the elephant in the room.  I am a big guy!

IF I want to race fast I need to loose wt!  Loosing body fat will get me so far however it will not me the entire way there.

The plan

170!!!

Sounds crazy, however...

It is possible!!!

March 2012 I got down to 176.  Not that far off.

No Coke

Stopped drinking coke and the wt seemed much easier to control

Less Protein

I consume a lrg amount of protein.  Cut down from 2 scoops to 1 and (only after very demanding workouts where recovery for the next day is key)

Lots of veggies

This is nothing new and I think with the above improvements my regular diet but consuming less overall will get me there.

Consistently & Patience: A 2013 Road Map

"Carry Water and chop wood! "
More of the same but with Consistently & Patience

Great plan laid out last year and ended up with short season because of illness.
Learned a ton and made some great gains despite few races to so for it.

One big race that mattered more than anything I have done in the sport.
It was able to happen because of Flexibility, Patience, Resiliency!

So where to go from here.
Well it's more of the same.
Need to always keep in mind...  Patience!!!  You will get there, but do not rush it.
Consistency is key.  If you rush it you will not be able to keep the consistency.

Swimming
#1 25x100s keep these going once a week to keep your fitness
 Tower 26 to get to the next level

Gear: Snorkel, buoy, ankle bands. No Paddles!!!

Taught and straight- Swimming fast forces this

4x1000s once a week

1: 4x250 20sec rest 70%, 75, 80, 85 w/gear

2: 10x100 3-7sec rest Hard!!! 90%

3: 2x500 30sec rest w/gear

2: 10x100 30-60sec rest 95%Hard!!! Each swim session add in speed work: 50s, 25s if spent from other training or work Dry land Swim bands 2x 20 min sessions/wk *Be careful not to let over zealous SR ruin your pacing in the 25x100s

Biking
#1Maintain FTH on OLH and with 4x8-10 Trainer
#2MaccaX Overgearing to build race ready powerful endurance
#3Add in long rides

Run
#1 Run easy
#2 Run often
#3Add speed once a week as race approaches

4)Nutrition
-Good job on this last year especially leading up to IMAZ
-More likely to have an impact on race performance than any training so treat your diet the same way you treat the long rides and FTH workouts
-Discipline!!!
-Aim for 175lbs


The Plan 
Consistently & Patience
Key Sessions listed (the rest is short SS in pool and is easy riding at high RPMs)

December
-100s and T26 4x1000s
-FTH on OLH 2/wk
-Run E&O

January
-100s and T26 4x1000s
-FTH on OLH 1/wk & MaccaX Overgearing.  Late January build long Rides
-Run E&O

February
-100s and T26 4x1000s
-MaccaX Overgearing & Long rides
-Run E,O, & S

March
-Build to 35x100s
-Race pace bike and run
-Qualify!

April
-Ease into it
-Oly for fun

May
-Wedding!!!
-Have Fun
-Take inventory

Not a lot up there because in the end it is what I always do but with some Consistently & Patience

2012 In Review

This years review is a bit different.  Only 2 races but some of the best training, some hard lessons, and one awesome day!

"Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it" 

I said this last year and it applies this year as well.

Big goals for 2012, as always.   Needed to revise goals along the way, which is good!
Constantly reevaluate!

2012 Goals
1: Complete first IM
2: Run smart
3. Swim 1.2 sub 30

2012 Achievements:
9:44:48 IMAZ!!!!!!
11AG

84OA

Missed Kona by about 8mins

Sep

Big K

-Sub 30 swim

-Very conservative bike

-Conservative on Run

-Kept it conservative because I did not know what to expect given lack of a build and so much family awesomeness (Toni time!!!)leading up to the Big K

-Felt so good to get back into it.  It was a full year between my last race and this one

-Stay away from fiber the 3 days before (this proved big in IMAZ)

Nov

IMAZ

See RR for race details:)

Race Nutrition

Hold race wt in weeks leading up

Bike

-1 gel every 20 mins doubled up on some

-Preform 1 bottle

-Banana (missed a gel)

-Bottle of water per aid station

-Double up on water!

Run

-Tried gels at first

-Half way through swapped to coke

-Dont forget to take in calories
-Coke!!!! Might be trying Coke only run in race prep and next time around

2012 Goals Check!

1: Complete first IM!

2: Ran smart- good start!

3. Swim 1.2 sub 30- Got it!

Weakness

-Entered season with awesome fitness

-Swim mostly on own in races (need to improve swim drafting skills) and poor sighting skills

-Run pacing and speed

-Consistent functional nutrition

-Poor short course speed

-Took months to get to reasonable weight

-Setting limits

IMAZ Race Report

Race Week 
Prioritized sleep and held race wt (178lbs at 5'10... Beefcake Baby!!) 
Workouts were short race intensity sessions
Followed Friel’s Your Best Triathlon book Race Week plan minus 3rd and 4th run sessions (didn't really follow the rest of the book but liked his race week approach) 


Race Day 
3:30am up to eat
2 ensures, bagel, banana then back to bed. 4:30 Woke up then left hotel around 5:15ish with Mary and Mom 


Swim Blue Seventy Helix, Aqua sphere kaiman grey lens (sun wasn't an issue because I was following feet till the turn around) 

Lined up in the middle about 2 rows back 
Breathed mostly to the right (every 2 strokes)
Took a kick to the right goggle but was able to readjust without a water leak! The way back was lonely. It was hard to find feet to follow and I felt like I was all over the course.
Overall tried to keep a steady effort. Felt Good:) 
Swim time 1:05:20 

T1 5:29
Wetsuit ripped off (literally in half) by wetsuit gorillas. RIP Helix 

Bike
Cervelo P4
Front H3 with 20mm vittoria corsa evo cx and latex tube @100-105 psi, rear Renn 575 Disk 23mm vittoria corsa evo cx and latex tube @105-110 psi 
Aerobar bottle holder, no rear bottle holder 
Flat kit in P4 bottle, extra tube and CO2 under seat
Spent most of the first 30min trying to pass people so I could settle into my goal power, pushing way too many watts in the process
When I tried to settle into my goal power I felt like shit... my quads were achy, tight, and heavy.
I thought “Oh No! I’m in for a long day”. Next thought was “Yes it’s a long day so back off and take in some nutrition”. After few gels, some sips of perform, and about 20min I was feeling good. This was a key moment in the race for me. The beauty of a long race was I felt like I had the chance to set things right with some patience. 


Lap 1 (217avg watts, 89avg cadence, 137avg HR)
Eased off the watts going down the B Line and once I hit the flats I was settled in.
Lap 2 (226avg watts, 87avg cadence, 145avg HR)
Picked it up a touch as I planned.
Missed a water bottle pick up on the last aid station and felt dehydration kicking in 
Lap 3 (209avg watts, 82avg cadence, 146avg HR) (Last leg around 200watts)
Got to the first aid station and stocked up on 2 bottles (2nd bottle in my butt crack bottle holder (copyright Faris Al Sultan). Kept it steady up to the the last turnaround then began to ease off the watts. 

Bike time 4:50:16 
Power Avg 216 
NP 222 
HR Avg 143 
Cad Avg 88 


Coming into T2 I loosened up the kicks and out of nowhere cramped my right hamstring. Another “Oh No” moment. 


T2 1:50 


Run
Newton Distance 

Started off strong and right hamstring felt good (despite almost locking up when putting on my kicks). Actually I felt great and it was a struggle to focus and slow down the pace. 
I was concentrating on keeping my cadence up rather than on my pace (>100-105 for the first 5-8mls), naturally cadence came down to around 95 for most of the remainder of the run. Up until around mile 18 things were uneventful, but slowly I was having trouble taking in my gels or even water. Without holding down any nutrition my day was going to come to a screeching halt so I flipped to plan B, which was to walk the aid stations to help stomach nutrition. Even with this gels and perform weren't working so I tried cola (never worked for me in 70.3s). The only thing I could keep down and not cramp on was cola. OMG I F'n love Sam's cola!!!! Each aid station I walked and pounded the cola then off I went, no cramps, back to sub 9min miles. I was shocked... it was working! 
Something I noticed while looking at my Garmin data after the race was that my heart rate dropped from the 150s to 140s after I started walking the aids stations and stayed there for the rest of the run. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing but I was able to hold it somewhat together so I guess it's a good thing. 

Soon enough I was along the lake coming home! A shout-out to my Girl and my Mom in the stands, the Blazeman-Roll and "You Are An Ironman"!!! 
Run Time 3:41:53 
Pace 8:28 
HR Avg 149 
Cad Avg 96 (including walking aid stations) 

Total Time 9:44:48 

Overall I'm crazy happy with my day. I was aiming for 9:30, but truthfully it was more of a dream than anything else considering this was my first IM. 

A Big THANK YOU to all the volunteers, you guys were amazing! A Bigger THANK YOU to my Mary and my Mom, you guys are even more amazing! 

March Madness DNSx2

3 weeks ago I was stoked to kick this season off with MTS and Oceanside 70.3 when what started out as sniffle turned into a nearly 3 week debacle.   The exhaustion was so extreme I questioned my long term heath and even went to have blood work, a cxr, and took antibotics. Looks like it was some nasty viral illness.  My training came to a halt.  I ended up loosing a tremendous amount of fitness and gaining 10lbs!  I would like to have thought with a little rest (which I took, but likely too late) and self control (which I lacked) I should have been able to kick this thing in a couple days without such a drop in fitness and gain in wt.  Instead I had a pair of DNSs, a big setback in gen prep, and a shit load of wt to loose.

Shit happens and there is not much you can do about it.... Although I might not have been able to prevent this given training hard, working hard and in an ED all place me at crazy high risk for catching some nasty bugs, there were things that certainly contributed to this mess.

1) Overtraining.  4 weeks of >20hrs probably not the best idea.  My TTS was getting high and quickly.

2) Taking on too much!  Should have stuck with my plan and not given into peer pressure and ride Mt Hamilton on little sleep, when what I needed to do was sleep and then get a shorter FTH work out in.

3) Ran in the cold without cloths on!  Long run day before I got sick it was cold and windy followed by going out to dinner.

4) Pushed it to hard when I thought I was getting over it.  Ran 13ml with Alec and also road in the rain:( WTF was I thinking!!!

5) General poor sleep habits.  I know this is my "norm" but I specifically remember thinking "I am not getting enough sleep and this is bad"

Overall a combination of things brought this on but clearly things to work on and in keep in mind as "life goes on".

Power outage TT Torpedo

As mentioned before trying to transition my power into a TT Torpedo.  It's been a bit more challenging than I anticipated. PR OLH power 360 and Canada TT power 310.  Big drop off!  I was expecting to be able to pound out >330 fairly regularly but this is far from reality.  With some rest, practice, and continued improvement in the flexibility department I hope this will get closer to my climbing power.   I do feel one with the bike on a positive note!