Triathlon Training Blog

Blog moving to new site

2008-03-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

I'm moving my blog to a new site where I have more functionality. Please follow this link to http://www.vandertri.com/ and save the URL to your favorites.

If you're currently receiving posts immediately when I post you won't receive these anymore but my new site offers RSS feeds so you can subscribe to the feed and get the feed directly to your outlook or via your RSS reader in your web browser by clicking on the RSS link in my new training or racing blogs.

I will be sending an email to all subscribers who has wanted been subscribed to immediate, abridged or summary updates monthly letting you know if I posted or not.

I appreciate your ongoing support and interest in my triathlon training and racing and am looking forward to sharing more stories, perspectives and experiences over the next few weeks and months building towards IM 70.3 Hawaii, IM Coeur d'Alene and hopefully IM Hawaii.

Tucson Camp Pictures

2008-03-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a few pictures from the Tucson Camp. I'm wishing I was already back there it was so nice to ride, run and swim in the nice warm weather. But I'm back in the reality of cool tempeatures and wet conditions here in Seattle. Picture below is me smiling at mile 14 of the Mt. Lemmon climb.

Sam McGlone

2008-03-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

I knew that there was a chance that Sam McGlone would be in Tucson as Cliff English was one of the coaches for the camp (and Sam's coach and fiance). Sure enough Saturday morning here comes this slender strawberry blond over to the group kickoff. My first thought was this is cool if she'll be riding with us. My thought as we were flying in the pace line with Sam pulling at the front on the backside of Gates pass on day two was crap this little lady is fast.

In all seriousness she's a pretty complex woman. Quiet and disarming and then she'll throw out a zinger out of no where that some could take as a little offensive (my sarcastic and slightly off color sense of humor found these hilarious). She's a small woman I'd almost say tiny but she's powerful (even though she won't admit it) and really fast. Above all when you get to spend a little time with her she is really cool and friendly.

I had the chance to chat with her on our run in Sabino Canyon. On the ascent up the telephone trail there wasn't much chatting as she and I really pushed the pace. I'm not sure how hard she was working to stay up with me but at least it made me feel good that I could lead her up the canyon. On the descent on the road I had the opportunity to chat with her about her run training, experience at Kona, and some of her hard training rides.

Specifically I asked her what she was thinking in the last miles of the Ironman Hawaii. I wasn't sure if she was thinking I just want to get to the finish line or I'm not going to catch this girl. She said it was a little bit of both. She was hoping that Chrissie would come back to her in the final miles but realized that she wasn't going to and was really just wanting to get to the finish. She also relayed the fact that if you get to Kona to really soak up the experience of running along Alii drive to the finish because there are few if any other experiences like it in the world.

We talked quite a bit about run training in particular how long her long runs are. Much like me she doesn't like to go much beyond 2.5 hours as that pushes you up around 20 miles and much more is really just too hard to recover from and really makes you prone to injury. We also like the long hard tempo runs. Six to eight miles at a hard tempo. She also talked about her transition runs off the bike which she does pretty consistently and are no longer than an hour.

I was very impressed with her bike training. She described doing 3 hour hard rides doing double loops up and over Gates Pass in Tucson. These just sound brutal but these are the efforts and workouts that make a champion. I can relate as when I was in my running prime I would hit the track and do 6-8 400's at sub 60 seconds and not surprisingly I would have great fast races in the following weeks.

All in all I was totally impressed by Sam and felt privileged to get the chance to spend some time riding (I won't go so far as to say training with her) and getting a chance to chat and get to know this talented woman. I was a fan before but now I'm definitely a fan.

Now just to see how close I can come to her in Kona in May. Yeah Sam I'm going to be gunning for you. If nothing else you can rest assured that you've provided motivation for me for the next couple of months of training. See you in Kona.

Peter Reid

2008-03-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

It's a rare opportunity to get to spend some quality time with an athlete of Peter Reid's caliber and that's exactly what I got the past week in Tucson.

My first impressions of Peter is his unassuming quiet demeanor. He's calm and quiet, tall and still in really phenomenal shape.

This past week was an amazing experience getting to have a chance to listen to Peter speak about his journey and experiences through his career in triathlon in formal presentation sessions and pick his brain on the little things out while out on the bike and run.

How did Peter become the great triathlete that he was (well still is)?

He was motivated. Motivated by the alteratives in his life at that point he decided to pursue triathlon as a career (working in a factory). The underlying reason was much more personal however and took him years to figure out. Peter's underlying message about motivation was that it's personal and you need to figure out what motivates you to train, sacrifice and participate in triathlons. The most amazing story about motivation was his description of walking off the course in Kona as he passed his condo with just a few miles to go in second place and with the leader walking. He didn't know why he was putting himself through this so he quit.

He was committed. Peter was willing to make triathlon the most important thing in his life, it was his life. Peter was willing to do what it would take to improve and be the best. He talked about joining a swim team when he was first starting out since he wasn't a great swimmer. The coach was willing to accept him on the team but pointed down to the end of the pool and said you'll have to swim in that lane. That lane had 10-12 year old boys swimming in the lane, he was in his early 20's. He said the toughest part was he would have to swim in meets with the kids and he said they beat him. The next season though he was coming out of the water with the leaders. He was committed and willing to put up with some humility to improve.

He was consistent and methodical. One of the big things that I took away from listening to Peter was that he would do the little things to improve. The two big examples of this were his focus on run drills. He said he would do the drills weekly (consistent) and would focus on executing them flawlessly. Peter contributed this to him going from a guy that could only run around a 42 minute 10K in the Olympic distant triathlons to being a 2:42 marathon guy in the Ironman. The other story that stuck out in my mind was his focus on diet leading up to a race. He knew he had to eat healthy for the weeks leading up to key races and he said he would put that as a priority leading to the race cutting out the "bad" foods and things like coffee.

What I took away from my time with Peter aside from some great tips on training and racing was that you need to find your own path in triathlon (why your doing it) and to focus on the little things in your preparation and racing.

With all of his success in the sport of triathlon and his great physical abilities, in the end he is just a man on a journey to find happiness and fulfillment in life. I get the sense that he's well on continuing that journey.

Peter when you're ready to hit the water for some sailing give me a shout and I'll be happy to get you nailing your jibes.

Tucson Camp - Day 5

2008-03-13T18:37:00.001-07:00

Today was the "big" ride of the week and it lived up to it's billing. This is no easy ride. The ride headed out of Tucson to the base of Mt. Lemon and then up to village of Summerhaven. The first hour we made our way over to the bottom of Mt. Lemon through the city at a pedestrian pace. After a quick stop at the base we started the climb. I was in a small group of three just behind Sam Mcglone, TJ Tollakson, and two other riders. We started up at a nice easy consistent pace and things just continued up and up and up. This ride pretty much climbs for 24 miles all the way to Summerhaven. This is a long consistent grind. After about an hour I dropped back to a group with Peter Reid and another rider after a refueling stop. Things were going great for a while then I started to feel the unmistakable signs of a bonk. I ended up dropping back about 100 meters for about 20 minutes where I didn't lose any ground and didn't make up any ground. Finally as we neared the Summerhaven I started feeling good again and started to catch the group as we arrived at Summerhaven.

The climb totaled 24 miles and we ascended 6300 feet over that distance. and according to my Garmin we topped out over 8000 feet of altitude. This is really a spectacular ride the roads are beautifully smooth, little traffic and spectacular views. The climb takes you from the desert and cactuses to an alpine forest we even had some snow on the edges of the road. Really great and I understand why it's considered one of the great rides anywhere.

We took a short break in Summerhaven and grabbed a slice of pie at the pie shop. I'm not a huge pie fan but it tasted pretty damn good after 2:50 of climbing.

I was itching to get back on the road as I was getting a little chilled so I headed out (can't get lost just follow the road back down the way we came up). You climb for about 15 minutes before really hitting the actual descent. Just as I was coming back to the true summit a rider was coming up the other direction (this guy was flying up the hill). We ended up heading down together which was wild. We were flying. This is the greatest descent you can literally fly down the entire way without hitting the breaks. This doesn't mean that it's easy. I was on the pedals the entire way looking for more speed and my average heart rate on the descent was just a tick below my average for the climb up. The descent which took me 2:50 to ride up took me just 50 minutes to descend.

There is one section where the road is cobbled sandstone but very rough and as I exited this section I noticed that my garmin was gone. Now I lost my first garmin just a couple weeks ago on a ride so I wasn't going to replace this one just a week after buying it so I turned the bike around and rode back up to the cobble section to look for it. Thankfully I found it.

I hit the bottom of the ride and pulled off to the side of the road to wait for a few other riders for the 10 mile spin back to the hotel. I ended up waiting 25 minutes for the next riders to arrive which included Peter Reid and Garth from Specialized who had raced down from Summerhaven. We did a casual spin (at 22 mph) back to the hotel through Tucson and headed out for a quick transition run.

This was the end of sessions for the week and we capped off the trip with a chat with Peter Reid and and a BBQ with all of the camp attendees and coaches. Overall a great week and I'm feeling energized and ready to keep the training going. I'm going to be posting a few other posts about the trip including my impressions and chats with Sam Mcglone and Peter Reid.

Tucson Camp - Day 4

2008-03-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today was supposed to be a longer ride of 5 or 6 hours with a plan to ride out towards the Mexican border. Things rolled along for the first hour as a group then we broke into small groups. I was in the "A" group and our group began to heat things up for a few miles with the group pushing 25-28 mph on the flats on the way out to the town of Vail. Due to some new road construction we ended up getting turned around a bit so we headed back a little earlier than expected. During the ride back I hung at the back of the whole group and then rode through the group to rejoin the "A" group which tested the legs a big on the hills. We ended up riding up to an overlook for a quick break. One the way back to Tucson the "A" group was flying on the tri bikes and I was doing all I could to hang on but ended up getting dropped by about a half mile despite maintaining my 25+ mph. After a short recovery I went after the group and was able to catch them as we hit the Tucson city limits. The ride totaled about 64 miles.

Immediately after the bike we headed out for a 20 minute transition run and I felt really good at the end of the run. Later that afternoon we headed out for some run drill training. Overall I felt like it was a pretty easy day. I think they were resting us up for the big day on the Mt. Lemon ride.

Tucson Camp - Day 3

2008-03-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

We got a break from the bike today with a longer trail run. We ran in the Sabino Canyon on the telephone trail. The trail is great. Probably one of the funnest trails I've ever run. The trail is technical but not too steep so you can really run up the trail. The views were spectacular unfortunately you couldn't take your eyes off the trail or you'd be rolling down the canyon wall through the cactus.

I led the group up the trail today and felt amazing today. Comfortable and very consist. Within a mile or so things separated a bit and we had a group of 4 with Sam McGlone, Harrison (young kid from Vancouver, BC) and Paul Cross. Towards the top Paul stopped at trail Y to give directions and when I looked back it was just myself and Sam. After cresting the top of the trail we headed back down on the road which goes up the canyon bottom. It was a fun, fast, comfortable descent back to the parking lot. The run was a little over 1:20 and about 9 miles. It was really fun getting to chat with Sam during the run and pick her brain on her run training.

We had a great afternoon session in the pool. It was great swimming in an outdoor swimming pool which I've never done. It was a relatively easy workout focusing on drills and a few laps which totaled probably 1700 yards. It was great to stretch things out after the morning run.

We capped off the day with great chat with Sam McGlone about tips for racing in Kona and then headed out for a group dinner which was really fun to chat with Paul Cross and Ian from Specialized at dinner. Off to bed now as tomorrow is the log ride to the border (or nearly to the border).

Tucson Camp - Day 2

2008-03-10T07:39:00.000-07:00

After a "easy" warm up day we got things going on our second day in Tucson with a ride to and over Gates Pass. We eased your way through the city on city streets and finally began the short 5 mile climb up to Gates Pass. This is a pretty easy grade for the first few miles then gets a little steep just prior to the summit (gate). I was in the second pack about 2 minutes behind the leaders up the climb.

After a short regroup we headed down the backside of gates pass which is a short steep technical descent before flattening with some rollers. My group headed continued on for a loop of about 10 miles. Everyone else was on tri bikes and things got rolling in the paceline which was smokin fast. The group was rolling along at about 30 miles an hour. I was at the back of of the group trying to hang on but it didn't last long. I was feeling the effects of my sinus infection still. I ended up a couple minutes back at the end but still holding 25-27 mph on my own.

The group I was in were no slouches. It included Sam McGlone (2nd at Kona this year) and TJ Tollakson who was 3rd at Ironman Louisville in 8:46 and 30th in Kona in 9:03 with a 4:44 bike split at the front. Sam was leading this group and this little woman can fly, really impressive.

We then needed to go back up to the top of the pass which wasn't long but it was steep most of the climb was over 20% grade with the last section topping out at 26%. We finished off the ride back down to Tucson and through the city streets including cutting through the University of Arizona.

After a little downtime and refueling we headed out for a short 45 minute run as we're going long the following day. It was a great little run and I had the opportunity to run and chat with Peter Reid which was really cool. I'll post separately about our chat later.

No pictures to post as I forgot my cable for my camera. More updates to come from Tucson.

Hello Tucson

2008-03-05T08:51:00.000-08:00

I made it safely to Tucson and have survived the first day. Despite the lingering effects of my sinus infection things went very well today.

We got things going today with a three hour ride. I got a flat after about 10 miles, so I drafted behind the SAG van (at about 28 miles an hour) for a couple miles before I called it and got in the van and we spent the next 15 minutes trying to find the group. The tough part of the ride was a climb 5 miles up Mt. Lemon (the entire ride is about 26 miles). I ended up being the fastest in the group up which surprised me but it was a good ride up and I kept a steady cadence and didn't bonk on the climb which was great.

The descent down is amazing. There are no turns you need to slow down for so you can literally pedal hard the entire descent. I went off the front and was having a blast until I needed to slow for a car ahead of me. I debated making the pass several times but decided it probably wasn't the best idea. In the end Peter Reid caught me right before the bottom of the climb where we were going to regroup. This was the quote of the day for me from Peter, "I had to go like hell to catch you". Anytime a rider like Peter says something like that it makes you feel pretty good.

Now my luck with tubes just continued as I got a second flat. Ian the rep from Specialized and Jay Prasuhn an editor with Triathlete Magazine were kind enough to stop and help me. We took a slight different route home than the rest of the group since none of us were sure of the route. This included some cyclocross action on the road and triathlon bikes including a creek crossing. We must have looked pretty funny but we managed finally to find our way back to the hotel.

After a quick shower and a re-fuel we had a quick seminar with Paul Cross on Nutrition which was interesting. Then we were off for our afternoon run. We ended up doing a 50 minute trail run in what I believe was the Saguaro National Park. It was really great to get to run in a different environment. Bottom line is running uphill is running uphill.... :)

We ended the day with a chat with Cliff English who is the US National Triathlon coach about day in and day out training.

I'm off to bed as tomorrow is another long day of biking and running.

Maybe some pictures tomorrow.

The flu bug hits home

2008-02-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well I had been so lucky this year with my health and not getting sick. It finally caught up with me this past weekend.

The previous weekend I had been up at Steven's Pass for an annual trip with High School friends. We were all crammed together in a lodge with many little kids and babies. I was really careful about keeping hands washed but alas I didn't survive and picked up a little bug (probably from picking up a little bugger).

Started feeling a little rough on Friday with a scratchy throat and Saturday morning I got up and dressed for my planned 2 hour run but then thought I'd be better off taking the day off and not risking really getting sick and having to be down for a week. Luckily things never really got fully involved and I was back training yesterday with a good 4000 yd swim workout. Now I just have some congestion in my head and chest but I seem to have plenty of energy so I'm going hopefully get back on track this week.

It was tough not working out this weekend both because those are my long run and ride days and because it was beautiful, warm (well....above 50 degrees) and sunny. It was killing me to be inside and laying low.

I'm headed off to Tucson in just 10 days for training camp and very much looking forward to the warmer temps, training partners and coaching.

On other fronts I've decided to upgrade my bike for this coming season (you know that old I need versus I want question). I wanted to upgrade my bike. I've ordered a Cervelo P3 frameset and will switch all my components over to the new frame when it arrives in April. Apparently this still remains a very hot bike for 2008.

I was looking at the Specialized S-Works Transition but the earliest availability for that locally was going to be in May which would be too late to get any quality time in the saddle before Hawaii 70.3. I will get a chance to ride the Specialized in Tucson as I understand the Specialized reps will be there as they still sponsor Peter Reid. If I ride it and I love it I might need to see if I can work a deal but then again I know that I'm happy with Cervelo as I've been riding my Cervelo Soloist Carbon for the past 8 months and really love it.

Look for pictures and and updates from Tucson in the coming weeks.

Lots of news and a big training month

2008-02-03T17:20:00.001-08:00

It's been a big couple of weeks with lots of interesting news. I've had some great workouts, I picked up a team sponsorship and there is a very good chance that I'll be getting some coverage on Ironman.com Live on race day.

I'm going to be competing for Team Zoot GU. Zoot is a major triathlon apparel company and GU makes the gooey stuff that keeps you moving during training and racing.

My coach Shawn Skene who does web development for several triathletes websites also does race day coverage on the web for Ironman.com at some events. He's confirmed that he'll be doing the coverage for Ironman Coeur d'Alene and that I should expect to get coverage on race day (win, lose or melt down), no pressure right. I'm also stoked that he'll be at the race.

I just finished off a great week of training. It was a lower volume week this week, but that is all relative however. It was a little over 9 hours of training this week. My leg has been feeling much better, it's still a little stiff after my hard run days but in general I'm remembering how it feels to train without pain and it's nice.

I'm already starting to understand how this year is going to differ (or already differs from last year) and all I need to do is look at the numbers. Here's the breakdown. This past month I completed 38 workouts totaling 40 hours. In comparison the same month last year I did 25 workouts totaling 26 hours. Actually I did more workouts and hours of training last month than I did in any month leading up the the Ironman last year. Did I mention it's only the beginning of February!!!

In particular I logged 311 miles on the bike and/or trainer which is less than last year but unlike last year my long rides have been outdoors which are so much tougher (not too mention colder and wet, especially this winter). I ran 117 miles last month compared to 86 miles last year and I'm running faster and doing much more focused running than last year. The big one is the swim last year 2.9 miles of swimming, this year 16.4 miles. I don't even want to know the difference in speed, but for reference today I did a short swim workout with 2 x 800 yds. With a moderate effort I was swimming a pace that would put me in around one hour for the swim (last year 1:15), and yes we still have 4 1/2 months till the big race, I'm so excited about the potential in the water.

I'm putting my final plans on fund raising for Charley's Fund for this year, looking forward to a few more cold and wet weeks of training before my trip to Tucson for training camp.

I'll post again soon.

5 months till Coeur d'Alene

2008-01-21T15:51:00.000-08:00

Well January is flying by and my training is continuing. My leg has been feeling pretty good although there is still some lingering discomfort especially after long or hard runs but it's not hampering my training much. I've decided to stay off the track and focus on tempo's and such as most of the track guys that I was running with this fall are all 5K to 10K distance runners and I don't need to have that kind of speed in the Ironman marathon. It should also reduce the chance of hurting myself or aggravating the tendon. Had a good run on Saturday 90 minutes at right around 7:20/mile and it felt really comfortable.

I've managed to get outside for a few rides between the snow, rain and wind and it's been great but the roads are covered with debris. You don't realize what kind of havoc that causes until you ride in it a bit. I've had several flats all attributed to debris. It's so nice in the spring and summer that the street sweepers are out and keep the bike lanes and shoulders clear of glass and other debris that will puncture a tire. I was starting to get a little worried about the amount of riding in particular long rides with my week long camp coming up in early March and whether or not I'd be up to the high volume and length of the rides. After thinking about it I guess I shouldn't worry about it. If I suffer during the camp that's all part of getting ready for the big race in Coeur d'Alene, the camp isn't the focus after all.

My swimming is really where I'm noticing lots of improvement (not surprising since there wasn't really anywhere to go but up from where I was). My coach added a third swim workout this week very short and sweet, warm up 300, 1000 yd tempo and 200 cool down. Most of my workouts are 3400-4000 yards. He wanted me at around 1:30 pace per 100 yards during the 1000. I finished the 1000 in 14:40 or right at 1:28/100yd and my splits were really consistent. The best part of all is that I felt like I could have easily kept swimming at that pace. Given that I've got 5 months till IMCDA I'm feeling really good about my opportunity to go sub 1 hour in the swim. Time to start thinking about swim race strategy - never thought I'd hear myself say that!!!!!

I've been averaging between 8.5 and 10.5 hours of training a week recently and next week my coach is cutting my training back significantly for a little more rest and recovery. Then I'll start of my 4 week rotations with build ups. The other thing we agreed on was that I'll definitely be training through IM 70.3 Hawaii, no big taper the week leading up to the race while I'm over in Kona. I'll be training every day getting a taste for the heat and humidity.

I'll post again in a couple weeks.

Reflections on 2007

2008-01-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

As 2007 has come to an end I thought I'd reflect on last year with some observations, accomplishments and areas for improvement for making 2008 a great year for triathlon.

I improved a lot this year. This was my second year of competing triathlons and I made huge improvements. I remember laughing at myself in August of 2006 in my first sprint triathlon at my transitions, pathetic swim, suffering ride and slow run. Last year I did my first half finishing in 5:35. This year I finished a half in 4:57, a 38 minutes improvement and finished my first full Ironman in a respectable 10:45.

The swim in an Ironman is crowded, violent and maybe just a little scary. The Ironman Coeur d'Alene swim was rough this year which just added to how physical the swim was. It may have been the toughest swim in an Ironman in 2007 so it's all flatter water and faster swims from here on out.

Last year was a big year for training. 104 miles of swimming. 4,400 miles of biking and 1,050 miles of running in 324 workouts. I can't wait to see what next year brings.

The cause of the pain is not always what it appears. I spent lots of time with my physical therapist this year and the one thing I've learned this year is that just because the pain is in one spot the cause of that pain may be originating somewhere else.

I need to swim more. While I always thought that I could get by on my biking and running in the endurance triathlon races but this year I learned that having a good swim may make the difference between meeting my goals in the Ironman or not.

2008 is getting off to a good start as my sore leg is feeling better, I finished the year with a big volume block of training and am excited about the prospects for the upcoming year. Happy New Year!!!

Holiday Greetings and leg update

2007-12-17T13:32:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays!!! The holiday season is upon us and I'm way behind on my gift shopping which is not my style, usually I'm on top of the gift buying but this year it hasn't happened. The tree is up, wreaths hung and garland strung about the house however.

Training has been going as well as can be expected given the continuing saga of my tendinitis. The good news is that it's getting better. I'm getting physical therapy treatments at least once a week which involves deep tissue massage and ultrasound and am doing many stretches and strength exercises daily. At this point the pain and stiffness is mostly after my run workouts so I've cut back the distance, intensity and am not running two days in a row for now (still logging about 20 miles a week). It's on the mend as the pain and discomfort isn't as great and subsides quicker after my workouts so all in all things are improving.

On the swim front things are going very well as I'm still in the pool twice a week (6000 - 7000 yds)focusing on drills. This past week however I did 8 X 100 yds averaging around 1:28 which is a vast improvement from where I was two months ago (at about 1:37 for 100 yds).

Next week will be a bike focus week so I'm expecting longer miles on the bike next week during the week off from work. I'll be stocking up on tubes as I had two flats on my ride yesterday which was a bummer.

I'm also got confirmed for the training camp in Tucson in early March which should be a good push into the big mileage and intensity months leading up to Hawaii 70.3 in May and Ironman CDA in June.

I'll be posting my year in review before the end of the year so you have to look forward to. For now however I hope you have a very happy and safe holiday season.

Sore Leg

2007-12-02T20:13:00.000-08:00

After the good run last Sunday this week was tough. My tendonitis continued to bother me and a sore shin got much worse. I recovered pretty well from the 1/2 marathon but during my recovery run on Monday my tendonitis got really bad. I decided to cut back on the swimming and running the rest of the week to rest the tendonitis.

I swam Friday and and the leg felt pretty good during and after the swim. Saturday was supposed to be a long run (1 hour and 50 minutes) but in discussions with my coach we cut it back. I ended up running 1:10 during which my sore shin got much worse. I actually think I tore or strained the shin muscle but it got to the point where I was limping pretty severely at the end of my run and could hardly walk afterwards. The run was fun as it was in a snowstorm, yep it's cold and snowy in Seattle. I got acupuncture later in the day which reduced the swelling but the shin was still really sore, I'm now on a regiment of rest and ice for a few days in hopes of it healing. This will also hopefully give my tendonitis a chance to heal as well.

Funny enough it was this weekend last year that I crashed on my bike and broke my hand so it's a bit of deja vu. Better to rest now and get to the race though. It's always tougher mentally than physically to not workout but I'm sure it will be the best in the long run as I actually need to be healthy enough to train to actually get to the race.

My previous post about the Ironman World Championships I noted the great performances of a few of the pro's who despite not having good days still finished the race no matter how long it took in the spirit of the Ironman. The NBC coverage of the race was on yesterday and they highlighted these performances was great to see.

Here's to rest and icing this week. Hopefully I'm on the mend.

Seattle Half Marathon - Good Day

2007-11-25T12:49:00.000-08:00

Today was a long hard training run at the Seattle Half Marathon. It ended up being a good day.

This race is notorious for it's bad weather but today was clear, windless and cold which was a blessing. The plan with my coach was to focus today on effort and running negative splits.

I got to the race 40 minutes before the start and got stretched and headed out for a little 20 minute warm up run. I ran into a guy I used to run with in high school during my warm up which was fun he was hoping to run low 1:20's so that would be the last I'd see of him for the day as he would be ahead of me all day. I got to the start about 5 minutes before the gun and worked my way towards the front.

I got started out at a pace which felt very comfortable but I knew it would be a little faster than I'd like as it always is. I hit the first mile in 6:25 and backed off to the mid 6:40's. I focused on really holding back a bit through the next couple of miles and continued to roll along with mile splits in the 6:40's.

At mile 7 I started to increase the effort level a bit and started moving up on some of the other runners just ahead of me. This is also where we hit the tough hills on the course. After a 7:10 mile in mile 8 which included a steep long hill, I got into a pace pushing sub 6:40's which included a 6:27 in mile 12. I finished strong with a good sprint in the final 300 meters to finish in 1:28:00.

I was happy with the performance as I ran negative splits as planned which is tough on this course with some serious hills in the second half of the race. First half split was 44:09 and the second half split was 43:50 with an average of 6:43 per mile. Best of all my tendinitis didn't bother me too much and I felt like I could have kept going at this pace. All in all a good day.

Overall things are progressing nicely with training. It looks like I'll be headed to Tucson in March for a 5 day training camp with Peter Reid and Peter Cross. This will be a bike focused camp so I'm expecting some serious ride mileage over those couple of days and a planned long ride weekend in April in Coeur d'Alene.

November Update

2007-11-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy month and a half since beginning to work with Shawn Skene. The focus has been on swimming and running. My running is going pretty well and I'm feeling good while running despite a little resurgence in my hip and back pain which I'm managing day to day. We'll get a test of where I really am this next weekend as I'm planning on running in the Seattle 1/2 Marathon next Sunday. The more troublesome thing lately is tendonitis in my hamstring tendon. I've got the go ahead to train through it from my PT but it's still painful particularly when I swim.

My swim is really improving with the drills and workouts that Shawn has me doing. I feel much more comfortable in the pool water and I might just turn that swim leg from a "lets just get through this" to "let's set the tone for the rest of this race". A few weeks ago I would have been ecstatic with doing 100 yard intervals comfortably in around 1:40. This week I was comfortably completing my 100 yard intervals in 1:28 - 1:30 which is very encouraging given that we still have 7 1/2 months until Coeur d'Alene.

Looking at heading south this spring for a camp with Peter Reid in Tuscon which will kick off the serious bike training. More to come....

Kona Ironman: Spirit of the race

2007-10-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my previous post about several pro athlete who didn't have a great day in Kona but continued on and finished the race despite the adversity of the day.

Rutger is a top 5 finisher each of the last 4 years in Kona and this year he had to walk most of the marathon and finished in 898th place.

Here is a great article about Rutger Beke's day in Kona which embodies the spirit of the Ironman.

Thoughts on Ironman World Championships

2007-10-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

Well it was quite a day on Saturday in Kona. No I wasn't there but I was glued to my computer watching the streaming coverage of the race, I was going to go and watch but decided to save my money for my trip to Kona in May for the Ironman 70.3 race and hopefully a trip to Kona next October. Here are my thoughts on the race.

First they are amazing both on the Men's and Women's side. There was something like 140 pro's starting the race, that's quite a few very fast humans and there was endless evidence on the day that they are human. The pro's aren't the only fast ones my time at IM CDA this year (10:45) would have placed me 650th in Kona.

Macca finally got his win which was great. I've been a fan of his for a few years now and it was great that he finally won. I wish that some of the pre race favorites had been able to start or not be knocked out due to illness, but even with Faris Al-Satan and Normann Stadler out of the race with illness I don't know that they could have beaten Chris on Saturday. His bike wasn't amazing but I think it was a carefully measured effort knowing that the big pre race threats were out. What can you say about a 2:42 marathon after the swim and the bike in all of that heat and humidity. Simply amazing. I loved the fact that he looked back with 100 meters to go as if to say "seriously no ones going to pass me, I'm really going to win."

Chrissie Wellington was simply awe inspiring. Only her second Ironman (the first was just 8 weeks before in Korea where the temps were stifling hot and humid). She literally looked like she was out for a training run during the marathon. Taking the lead on the bike and never looking back on the run. Posting a sub 3:00 marathon. I think it was a bit of nothing fear but fear itself and she didn't know what fear is. I loved the high fives with some of the age groupers at about mile 20..... c'mon that just not fair I could barely crack a smile at mile 20.

The pro's are human. Yep.... pros get sick like everyone else (Normann Stadler, Faris Al-Satan, Michellie Jones). Yep.... pros crash like everyone else (Natasha Badman). Finally and thankfully pros blow up like everyone else (highlights.... Desiree Ficker, Rutger Beke). Desiree dropped a 4+ hr marathon to finish in 10:40 after finishing 2nd last year and Rutger suffered home to a 5:35 marathon to finish in 11:13 and I think he was 6th last year.

This last category leads to another topic.....spirit of the race. Despite absolutely self destructing in the marathon the pro's that didn't have a great day truly embodied the race by continuing on to the finish despite imploding. They could have just as easily said I'm out of contention and things are not going well but they continued on to the finish and that is cool. It's a demoralizing and mentally difficult thing to have people passing you that you should handily finish ahead of but they didn't quit. I highlighted the pros but there were probably hundreds of these stories out there on Saturday.

I first saw Scott Rigsby in Coeur d'Alene this year a couple days before the race walking around town and thought that was nice that this guy is out here supporting a friend or family member competing. It was only at the Welcome Banquet that I really felt like a jackass. You see Scott Rigsby is a double amputee. Scott didn't finish the race in Coeur D'Alene but he did finish on Saturday in 16:42. Enough said.

Watching the race got me excited at the potential of getting a chance to race at Kona next year. I have a much better idea of what it takes to get there now. For now I'm going to just keep focus on my training through the fall and winter. Beginning to work with my coach has already been good my swim workouts are already harder than I did all of last year and I'm starting to get some more consistent run mileage in. It's good to have someone watching to keep me honest.

On to Coeur d'Alene and then hopefully on to Kona!!!

High Pass Challenge

2007-09-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

So after a tough half iron race last weekend I was signed up for a nice casual ride with some buddies a week later. Yeah right.

The High Pass Challenge is billed as a challenging and beautiful ride up to Windy ridge through the blast zone adjacent to Mount St. Helens. The description should just be "A cold, windy, hellish survival fest".

I arrived at the Packwood starting line at 6:45am for the 7am start, got my bike prepped and found my buddies. Now this is late September which is normally a beautiful time of year in western Washington. Not this year. It was overcast and cold with the tempeature in the low 40's at the start. Our goal was to get the gold medallion which required that you finish the 114 mile ride by 3pm.

Our group of 7 headed out from the start in a casual paceline for the first 22 miles or so at around a 20mph average. The first climb wasn't long but it was telling as our group imploded within the first minute of the first climb. We regrouped at the first rest area at around 27 miles and fueled up and headed out.

The ride continues to climb from here for several miles and it was evident that this was not going to be a fun group ride with buddies as our group was already spreadout all over the climb and it was quickly becoming every man for himself.

I climbed well not pushing the pace much slowing moving up through the riders ahead of me. The ride rolls steadily over the next 19 miles or so to the next rest stop with a lot more uphill sections that averaged about 5% grade. I waited a few minutes for others in the group and realized I may be there a while so I continued on alone. It still hadn't warmed up.

This is where the fun really starts. The ride is pretty much a steady climb from here to Windy ridge. Now I know why they call it Windy ridge, as you climb out of the trees into the blast zone the wind was howling and swirling and it was cold. This section seems to go on forever. I finally made it to the top of Windy ridge to the rest stop but there was no stopping as there was no shelter, the wind was blowing around 30mph and the temp was in the mid 30's so I refilled my bottle grab some food to go and headed back down.

On the way back down I saw several of my buddies that I had started with still climbing and was glad I hadn't waited for them as they were anywhere between 15 and 30 minutes behind me. The decent back down was a screaming fast descent. Just after the mini stop I caught a group of 7 riders and we got into a tight group decending back to the last major rest stop. This was touch and go at times with 8 riders bombing down hill on tight roads going at an average speed in the mid 40's topping out at 52 mph. It made it interesting as there were spots in the road that were torn up and gravel and dirt. We'd come around a corner at 40 mph and everyone would hit their brakes to slow and negotiate the unpaved road surface. I'm surprised no one went down.

I though things were going to no problem at the last major food stop so I headed back to the finish line over the last 34 miles on the "nice country roads". This was the roughest part of the ride. It was hilly and the roughest chip seal road surface I've ever ridden. I rode with one of the others from my group of 7 that I had started with who I had caught at this last stop. We rode together until I finally bonked with about 8 miles to go. I struggled to the finish about 5 minutes behind him at just after 2pm to take home the gold.

It was a long tough day. I'll be better prepared for the weather next year.

Grand Columbian Half Ironman Race Report

2007-09-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

I survived the Grand Columbian Half Ironman on Saturday.

I arrived at Grand Coulee mid-day on Friday and quickly noticed the smell of smoke from the nearby forest fire. I went for a quick dip in the lake before heading off to drive the bike course. As I drove the second half of the course it felt like I was heading directly into the fire with the dark grey sky and horizon.

As it turned out given the proximity of the fire to the Grand Coulee Dam and prevailing winds the race director make the decision to change the course of both the bike and the run. So instead of finishing the bike by the dam and running on the jeep trail below the dam along the river, T2 was changed back to Banks Lake where T1 was and the run was an out and back on Highway 155. My initial thoughts were great the bike will be easier as we don't have that long 10 mile climb, unfortunately I hadn't really thought much about the run (but it was much more difficult with several hills).

Now I was making the race time decision on whether or not I'd complete due to my strained calf. I decided on Friday night that it felt good enough to at least start the race.

I awoke about 6am (9:30 am start time) and choked down some food and got ready to go. I got the start just before the full Ironman distance competitors started and prepped my bike and then headed down along the lake to watch the swimmers head along the shore. It was pretty surreal as the smoke had drifted back over Banks Lake and the sun was heavily filtered by the smoke.

The start was a deep water start with the men starting 5 minutes before the women. I swam in my sleeveless suit and the water felt great. I had promised myself to go out harder than normal to try and better position myself in the pack. I pretty much did what I had planned and things worked out well as I finished the swim in 34:30 in 66th place which was 2 minutes faster than last year. My swim time was probably also aided (probably more so than my swim speed) by the fact that I pretty much swam a straight line the whole way around the course which made me feel good about my swim.

Transition from the swim to the bike was uneventful and I completed the transition quickly. Now this is a tough bike course. The first tough part comes just about 2 miles or so into the ride where you hit Almira Grade. This is a roughly 2.2 mile climb with approximately a 1000 foot elevation gain. For me this is a grind....grind...grind and the real bike leg starts when I get to the top. I was passed by about 10 riders up the grade all flyweight bike riders.

Once I got to the top I started to get into my rhythm over the next few miles of gentle rollers. Now on the original course there is an out and back before heading to a few more rollers then a nice descent into the town of Almira. With the course change we continued on the out and back road to what I will now affectionately refer to as the "uphill" rollers.

This is pretty much about 10 miles of stair step climbing which I think was harder than the long sustained climb on the original course.

Finally we hit a short downhill where we descended to Hwy 2. This is really where I started to feel good on the bike as I was finally in my element. This section along the hwy flat and smooth and I was flying along at near 30 miles an hour average picking off lots of riders ahead of me in a hurry.

At the end of hwy 2 we turned onto hwy 155 which takes you back along Banks Lake to Grand Coulee. Right about here my computer stopped working so I had no clue how fast I was going or what my cadence was. I think I eased up on the intensity. About 5 miles into this section another rider came up from behind and low and behold it was the lead woman. I took up the challenge and we traded places back and forth all the way back to T2 picking off about 6 more riders. I ended up finishing the ride (57 miles) in 2:47:02 with a 20.5 mph average in with the 26th fastest bike split.

T2 was uneventful and I headed out onto the run course. I was feeling good except for my calf which was now very painful with each stride. As a result I was compensating for the pain and about mile 2 my quad started to cramp from the change in stride to the point I was brought to the ground. At this point I was pretty much thinking my day was over. I spent a few minutes massaging the quad to stop the cramp and spasm and began running again. I kept rolling along and the cramp hit again around mile 4 so I was forced to stop and work out the cramp before continuing on. I kept moving but was frustrated as I felt great except for the pain in my calf which was significantly hampering my stride. As I headed back into Grand Coulee I knew I was going to make it and started to catch a few other runners in my age group and I pushed past them to the finish. I ended up finishing the run in 1:42:00 with the 27th fastest run split on the day which was both a positive and a disappointment. Positive as it was by far my fastest run leg in a half ironman which means I'm starting to get the nutrition and hydration figured out. It was a disappointment as I felt so great, that if I hadn't been bothered by the calf I felt I could have probably run 1:30 or so which would have probably put me under 5 hours overall.

In the end I finished up the race in 5:08:18. I was 26th overall and 7th in my age group. Overall I was very pleased given the very tough course and my sore calf. In comparison that time would have placed me 16th in this race last year which I think is a testament to increasing popularity of this race and the fact that it's attracting some really good athletes from around the country and other countries. Despite being a small race it had competitors from many states and Canada.

Grand Columbian Half Prep

2007-09-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Just two days out from the Grand Columbia 1/2 Ironman. This wil be my second go at this race. This was my first 1/2 ironman a year ago when I finished in 5:35 with an ok swim, strong bike and a complete meltdown on the run.

I've been feeling pretty good until this week when I strained my calf. I've been off the leg since Tuesday. It's feeling better but I still don't know if I'll be good to go on Saturday. The swim and bike should be fine but the run is in question, it'll be a game time decision, I figure I'll start and see how if feels after the bike.

The weather is looking good with forecasted sunny skies, relatively light winds and highs around 80 degrees. It may be a little surreal as there are several forest fires in the area which has a the sky looking a little hazy. Early reports from Grand Coulee is that while you can smell a little smoke but it isn't affecting anyones breathing.

On a separate note I've signed up a coach to help me reach my goal of qualifying for Kona next year. So I'm looking forward to having Shawn Skene from Alberta, Canada. Shawn has lots of experience and coaches with Peter Reid and he's got an old school training methodology which is basically swim, bike and run long and hard. I think we'll get along just fine.
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I'll be posting my results from this weekend which I'm hoping is a top 10 finish.

Ironman Coeur d'Alene on the schedule for 2008

2007-08-31T13:16:00.000-07:00

After lots of trying to get registered for a 2008 Ironman I've finally secured a spot in an IM for 2008. I'll be making a return trip to Coeur d'Alene next June to take another shot at a Kona slot. Make your reservations now for a trip to Coeur d'Alene to experience all the excitment of an Ironman.

Also tentatively on the calendar is a trip to Kona in May for hte 70.3 race.

One more race this season at the Grand Columbian. I'm feeling pretty beat up with a sore knee, and the leg and back soreness that I struggled with most of this year is back so training has been pretty limited but we'll see how things go. I'm still pretty positive about my potential performance in the race and I know the course and would like to improve on last years performance of 5:35 which should be no problem.

Troika 1/2 Ironman - Pretty Good Day

2007-08-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

I did the Troika 1/2 Ironman this weekend in Spokane, Washington. This was my first time at this race and first race since IMCDA and I haven’t done much training since the IM so I didn’t have particularly high expectations for this race.

The swim is in Medical Lake a few miles west of Spokane. The water was warm in the low 70’s and clean and the air temp was in the low 60’s at the start. I’ve apparently got one speed in the water no matter how far I’m swimming so it was a typical swim for me and I was done in 36:03 in 77th place.

I was pretty disappointed by what I would consider to be a significant amount of course cutting on the swim. At the far turn buoy there was an aerator machine which was inside the turn buoy by about 15-20 yards. As I went around the buoy I looked right and there was a train of people going around the aerator machine instead of the big orange buoy. With this being a modified triangle course we’re talking a 1-2 minute advantage. Pretty disappointing that there was no boat or referee in the area. In the end it probably didn't sigificantly impact my time or overall place in the race.

It took me about 5 miles to get into my rhythm on the bike which is normal but then I started picking people off at a pretty good rate. There are some nice long flat sections in the first half of the race with some very gentle rolling hills which you can power up and over. In the second half of the race there are a few small steeper hills (not my strength), then some short descents before back to some rolling terrain as you come into downtown Spokane.

I've been training and racing with a strained quad for several months and it hadn’t gotten any better or worse with racing and physical therapy but it finally gave at about mile 45 so the last 10 miles or so were not what I was hoping for as I wasn't able to generate any power from the quad and really slowed down. I finished the bike in 2:31:23 with a 22.2 mph average and had moved up to 26th place.

I took my sweet time in transition to the run as I was trying to decide if I could run with the quad or not. I decided to give it a shot and just take it easy. I headed out at a very easy pace and just kept rolling through the run. The temperature really jumped up a bit in the second half of the run for me into the mid 80’s but with no wind it felt warmer (however it could have been much hotter). I gave up one place on the run in the last mile but ran pretty much consistent splits the whole way to finish the run in 1:47:17 which is very pedestrian ½ marathon for me. I don’t think I did any more serious damage to my quad on the run which probably would have been the result had I pushed it.

I finished in 27th place overall in 4:57:56 which was only disappointing because had I been up to my normal self on the run I should have been 15-20 minutes faster but you take what the day gives you.

I've got to figure out if I'm going to be able to complete in the Grand Columbian in mid September or not given my leg but I'm planning on it.

On the Ironman front I'm probably going to do Ironman Coeur d'Alene again next summer via the Charity Fund spot as Canada isn't a possibility, Lake Placid is totally sold out, Wisconsin is too close to Hawaii to allow for adequate recovery and Arizona is too early in the season. More to come as I get signed up.

No IM in 2008?

2007-07-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

So I had planned to do IM Canada in 2008 but found you can only register in person. No big deal, I'll just register for Coeur d'Alene again. Five days after the race and the race is sold out for next year??? Ok next plan is to do IM Kona 70.3 next May and then IM Lake Placid (IMLP). Great plan, right? I managed to get registered for Kona and went to register for IMLP the day registration opened only to find registration has closed (it sold out in minutes!!!!). Next plan to was pay extra money and register via the Community Fund (registration fee and and charity donation for local charity) only to find this appears to already be sold out. Aaarrrgggghhhh!!!! I'm still verifying whether it really is sold out but it looks grim.

Now I'm looking to look at community fund for Canada or possibly IM Wisconsin. I'm not sure what will come for next year. I'm going to need to go all out in Kona in May to try and get slot for Kona even though there are only 20 slots.

More to come........

"Michael you are an Ironman".......

2007-06-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

.....oh those sweet words.

This will be a lengthy race report.

I didn't sleep well the night before the race which is pretty typical for me after big races (marathons and such). I was awake at about 3:30 on race morning having my final solid meal before a very long day.

I arrived at the start area to 20mph winds coming directly in to the beach with 1-2 foot waves and whitecaps.......oh my! I got my race number marked on me and then went to do final prep on my bike. I then found a nice sheltered spot to stay out of the wind as it was still an hour and half till the starting gun. At this point I was beginning to rethink the whole thing.

6:30 and time got get suited up after wiggling myself into my suit I joined the throng of athletes shuffling towards the start line on the beach. As I was in line the shuffling an important announcement came across the PA system. Due to the conditions on the water and concerns by the life safety team they were giving people the options of doing a duathlon instead of the triathlon and skipping the swim although you wouldn't contend for the Kona slots or placement in your age group...... hell no!!!

I was well positioned about three rows back when the cannon went off signaling the start of mass chaos. The only way I can describe the swim is as the most violent sporting event I've ever experienced. Constantly getting kicked, hit, swam over and in the same turn doing all of this to others as well. As I approached the first turn bouy (which by the way is a long way from the beach) I found myself in what can only be described as a major traffic jam. I was 30 yards from the bouy which I had to make a left had turn around and I was treading water, moving forward a yard and treading water it was completely crazy. After the first turn things were a little better but still pretty violent. After the first lap of the swim (1.2 miles) you have to exit the water and run around some markers before heading back out for the second loop. All I could think is do I really have to go back in? I did and it wasn't so bad. I finished the swim in 1:15:24 in 589th place. My goal of completing the race in 9:30 were pretty much gone at this point.

I had a good transition from the swim to the bike in 4:03 and was glad to be on the bike. I had a lot of ground to make up and I didn't waste any time as I got out hot and started making up ground on all those good swimmers who frankly suck on the bike. I figure I passed 300 people in the first 15 miles and was flying up a long 3% grade hill at 25 mph. We came back through downtown Coeur d'Alene (CDA) and headed out towards Hayden lake and the "hills". Now I rode the course in late April but I don't remember the hills being so tough. They were tough. By my count there were 10 hills not necessarily long but there were steep and we got to do them all twice. They were made tougher by the fact that my cleat had come loose from my shoe and despite getting the bike wired earlier in the week I was having rear derailuer shifting problems in the low gears which made climbing even tougher. The good news was that after the last hill it's flat and slightly downhill back to CDA which was my strength although it was into that stiff 20mph headwind. I felt great after the first loop and headed out for the second loop still feeling good. The second loop on the hills were tough and I slowed a bit but finished strong. I ended the bike leg in 127th place in 5:27:35. I felt great making the transition to the run as I had done a great job of taking in fluids, electrolytes and calories during the bike. I had done such a good job I had to make a pit stop which slowed my transition from the bike to the run to 4:45.

Finally I was on to the run and feeling pretty good (well as good as your going to feel after 6:45 of violent swimming and hammering on the bike). I headed out on the course and began to get in my rhythm at this point I was really just hoping to finish around 10 hours and thought I still might have a shot at a Kona slot. The first few miles were great I was averaging 7:20/mile and rolling, things began to slow a little as I headed back towards CDA but I was still on pace for a 3:30 marathon at the halfway point. It was around mile 15 that the wheels began to come off and I began walking through the aid stations at every mile pretty much drinking and eating anything they would hand me gatorade, orange slices, gel, cookies, cola, water. I was a good customer at the all you can consume buffet. I would walk for a minute or two then begin the Ironman shuffle to the next aide station. Somewhere around mile 22 I got a second wind and began running at around 7:20 per mile again and running through the aid stations grabbing a cup of cola or gatorade.

As I passed the mile 25 marker I knew I was going to make it and I just dug down deep and the crowds really helped motivate me to keep going. As I came down the main drag I was pretty much by myself and I would raise my arms to get the crowd fired up it was great. Finally I crossed under the Ford archway with 100 yards to go to the finish line and began high fiving spectators as I ran down the chute and across the line to the announcement "Michael....you are an Ironman". I finished the run in 3:53:26 and finished in 174th place overall in a time of 10:45:13.

I was very happy to be done, satisfied with my time and proud of my accomplishment. Ironman pictues have been posted here.

Thanks to everyone for their support, well wishes and good vibes on race day it definitely helped me keep up my spirits while out on the course and complete the Ironman.

7 Days......and counting

2007-06-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

We're down to the last week and as expected the last week was difficult mentally. I cut back on workouts to one a day and of a shorter duration. I'm feeling great heading into this last week.

My body feels good and I'm getting there mentally. In addition the weather looks like it's going to cooperate. The current forecast is for tempeatures in the low 70's which is a relief after the past two years with tempeatures in the mid to upper 90's.

I got my bike tuned this week and spent part of today taking few of a few minor improvements; ensuring my rear bottle holder was locked down tight as I it had been loose and rattling, I replaced the grip tape on the drop bars and added non skid to the brake bars. The bike is ready.

I spent part of the day beginning to go through my checklist of items I need for race day. Triathlon pretty simple right you swim, bike and run well think again;

Bike Shoes
Bike Helment
Arm Warmers
CO2 cartridges (air for tires)
CO2 inflator
Spare tires
Spare tire tubes
Valve extenders
Tire levers
Water Bottles
Electrolyte mix and tablets
Salt pills
Energy Gel
Powerbars
Wetsuit
Swim Cap
Goggles
Anti fog spray
towel
Socks
Timing chip strap
Advil
Sunscreen
Body Glide
Baby powder
Running Shoes
Sun Glasses
Race number belt
Hydration belt
Hat and Visor
Race clothes

.......did I forget anything? I'm sure I'll be double checking my list this week. A couple more short workouts this week to keep the body loose and my muscles firing. I'm hoping I'll have more posts this week from Coeur d'Alene.

Final Hard Week...Taper to race day begins

2007-06-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

I finished off my last week of hard training this week and am feeling good heading into my final two weeks of taper before the race. Tapering is effectively reducing the amount and intensity of training to rest your body before the big day. I posted a picture from the Issaquah Tri last weekend.

This week I spent more time running and swimming than riding. I had some good swims and for the first time this year I had company for my morning swim with a number of other triathletes who were all getting ready for the Lake Stevens 1/2 Ironman in my private pool. It was nice to have company and see others training hard. I ended the week with roughly 45 miles of running and had a good 15 mile run on Saturday (although it was very wet) with a very comfortable 7:00 min/mile average.

I headed out Sunday morning with expectations to ride about 70 miles but got two flat tires in the first 12 miles so I decided that my biking mojo wasn't happening and headed for home (not too mention that I had no more spare tires). Both flats came when riding over broken glass. I'm not sure why people feel compelled to throw their empty bottles out the windows of the cars but judging by the amount of glass on the roadway there are either a lot of inconsiderate people out there or a lot of people drinking and driving. In the end it's really disappointing and a major bummer for cyclists.

I debated heading out for a late afternoon ride but decided to start my taper early.

I'm sure the next two weeks are going to be very tough mentally trying to fight the urge to train. I'm sure there will be some posts which will probably focus more on the mental aspects and look forward to photo's posted from Coeur D'Alene the week after next.

Decent Performance at the Issaquah Triathlon

2007-06-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

I competed in the Issaquah Triathlon this weekend to get my competitive fire going. There were about 850 competitors in the race. The sprint tri's aren't really my thing as they are too short for me to even get warmed up in any of the events.

The race is 1/4 mile swim, 15 mile bike and 3 mile cross country style run. The race was sold out with 850 participants. I opted to start in the elite wave which was the right choice. I ended up finishing 17th overall in 1:07:37 and 3rd in my age group.

The swim was the typical chaos but overall it went really well I started to feel like I was getting in a rhythm in the last 50 yards (alot of good that was). There was a long transition (about 100 yards) from the water to the mat which marks the end of the swim. I had the 23rd fastest swim split on the day which wasn't too bad considering the only other sprint tri I've done I was the Beaver Lake Triathlon last summer for comparison I had the 175th fastest swim and there was half the number of competitors in that race so I've made significant strides in my swimming. It's still my weak event in my mind but I have a lot more confidence in my swimming than I did a year ago.

I had a quick transition from the swim to the bike and got out and rolling. My bike split wasn't as fast as I had hoped but it was still really good. I had the 10th fastest bike split on the day for the 15 mile ride with a time of 37:30 which as best I can tell is about a 24 mph average. This was slower than I had expected but I really didn't begin to fell comfortable until the last 2 miles. I was a bit ticked as the race was supposed to be a non drafting race (means you can't ride in a group which is more efficient and much faster). There was a group of 6 riders that were a minute back at the turnaround and they caught me in the next 3 miles which they wouldn't have had they not been drafting. I put them in their place by going to the front of the group and then putting about 10 seconds on them in the last 3 miles.

My transition from the bike to the run was a little rough. I had thought about taking my feet out of my shoes while they were still attached to the pedals so I could just run barefoot with my bike to the rack. I ended up not doing this because of the single file lane and speed bumps in the last 1/4 mile in the park. I ended up turning my ankle running across the uneven grass with my bike shoes. The rest of the transition went well.

I headed out on the run and quickly got into my running rhythm without a hitch. I passed a few runners early in the run but was tentative in the run as it was a cross country style course and every so often I'd come down funny on my twisted ankle and this hurt. Needless to say I didn't feel like I ran as fast as I could due to being tentative due to the ankle. I had two runners pass me in the final mile but overall it went well. I finished the 3 mile run with the 31st fastest time on the day in 18:44 which was 6:15 per mile. I felt fine at the finish and wasn't exhausted so I don't think I ran as hard as I could have.

I finished up the weekend with a 70 mile ride with lots of climbing and it was hot so that was good news. Three weeks to go till race day. One more week of hard training then I start my taper. I think I'm ready and now I start hoping for a cool day. The forecast for the next two weeks in CDA is mild tempeatures with highs in the 60's and low 70's which is just perfect but what that probably means is that it's going to heat up for race week. Till next week.........

Another tough weekend of training in the Gorge

2007-05-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

It was another great of training and having fun in the Gorge this past Memorial Day weekend. After a long trip down on Friday evening I kicked things off Saturday morning with a 95 mile ride (picture is of the old Highway - one of my favorite stretches of road in the Gorge to ride). My bike riding is great as I had a 20+ average with lots of climbing on the day. After the ride, lunch and a quick nap I headed out for a quick 8 mile run which also felt great.

Saturday evening was a very late one by my recent standards stretching late into the evening at the River City Saloon with some friends (new and old). Sunday morning was a rough one but I got up got breakfast and headed to the Syncline for a trail run up the Coyote Trail. It was a great run since it's not too steep but it was challenging trying to avoid the poison oak.

After the run and a quick bite to eat I headed east to Rowena to get a little windsurfing session in. This was despite my intent not to do anything stupid with only 4 weeks until the race and windsurfing is a good way to do something stupid. I headed out for a session in what I can only describe as wild wind. It was seriously some of the strongest wind I've ever sailed in. At one point I was literally pinned down in the middle of the river just holding my rig as the wind was too strong to waterstart. So after a few minutes it subsided just enough for me to get started and make a run for the beach. The gusts ended up being into the mid 50's. I survived without getting hurt.

Next weekend is the Issaquah Sprint Triathlon so I'm ready looking forward to a fairly mellow week of training. I'll post how it goes.

Tough week for training but great 1/2 Marathon result

2007-05-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

It ended up being a tough week for training. Work was exceedingly busy and this cut into my training time this week which was frustrating but the week ended well.

I managed to get a few swims, rides and runs in this week which culminated with the Capitol City Half Marathon today as planned. I had planned to test the legs today and see just what kind of run shape I'm really in under a controlled pace. Things went much better than I had expected. Going into the race I had expected to be able to run in the low 1:30's around 7:00/mile. I got out quicker than expected and felt great so I just went with it.

I ended up finishing in 1:27:51 with a 6:42/mile average and I still felt really good at the end which is really a positive heading into the Ironman in just 5 weeks!!! I ended up in 20th place overall and really felt great from miles 3 through 10 where I was picking off a large number of runners who went out a little too fast. I ended up giving back a couple spots in the last three miles. Mile 10 is a long uphill and this was my slowest mile at 7:04. I regrouped after this mile and closed out with a couple good miles including a final mile of 6:47.

Given my performance today I feel like I have a very good shot at averaging between 7:10 and 7:20/mile during the marathon in Ironman to be in the 3:10 to 3:15 range.

HR Weekend.....good for windsurfing not for biking

2007-05-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

Headed to Hood River this weekend for a change of scenery for my long ride and training.

Awoke to filtered sunshine, mid 50's and west winds gusting to about 20mph. I headed east on the old Columbia Gorge Highway. Plan was to cross the river at The Dalles and continue east on Highway 14. After crossing the bridge the wind was blowing me 4-5 feet to the left and right and at that point I decided to abandon my trip on highway 14 due to the exposure to the wind and sketchy situation with the number of semi's that frequent the highway. I rerouted and rode a road that heads east from the The Dalles called 8 mile road which winds through this canyon and ends at Highway 197 and is great fun for riding as it's pretty sheltered from the wind, I did the out and back on this road twice which was about 50 miles (it's not actually 8 miles). It's really deceiving as you head east it looks like the road is going downhill but in reality your going uphill which just messes with you mind. The good news is that the return trip is really fast. Heading east I average about 18 mph heading west my average was around 26 mph.

As I headed back through The Dalles towards Hood River I knew it was going to be a white knuckled sufferfest. I was riding into a head/side wind that was blowing 30 mph gusting into the low 40's. Where I would normally be averaging in the low 20's for mph I was only managing 15 or 16. Things got really intersting after climbing up the Rowena butte as I was now riding completely unprotected downhill at 30 mph with swirling 40mph gusts getting tossed around the road a couple of times I got whipped 8-10 feet across the road and it was all I could do to keep the bike upright. This riding sucks physically and more unexpected mentally because your concentrating so hard to keep the bike upright and trying to predict and repsond to the gusts. It was a true white knuckle ride. Ended up riding 126 miles in just 6 1/2 hours.

Closed out the weekend with a nice 50 mile recovery ride (still a lot of wind) and followed that up with a 12 mile run with a 7:15 avg/mile on Sunday before heading back to Seattle.

Overall a good week of training 250 miles on the bike, 38 miles of running and 7 miles of swimming. Just 6 weeks to race weekend and about 4 1/2 weeks till I begin my serious taper. Next weekend the Capital City 1/2 marathon.

Rest Weekend (well sort of)......and Cold Water

2007-05-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

On my run Friday night I ws feeling tired and went back and looked at the last few weeks of training and despite having planned a long ride and run this weekend I decided to take the weekend off (well mostly......) and recharge.

Being so active all the time I feel like I have to continue to be working out and I actually feel sore and stiff if I take a day off but I know that my body needs it.

I decided to hit the lake again this evening and I swam like a madman!!! I think the water tempeature dropped five degrees since earlier this week with all the rain we'd had this week. Needless to say I wanted to get out of the water as my fingers and toes began to get a little numb. Still a good swim and I'm looking forward to a good week of training.

First Open Water Swim of Season

2007-04-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

I had my first dip in the lake of the year this evening. I was a little nervous as I jumped in but the water wasn't bad. I figure it was in the mid 50's and quite comfortable with the wetsuit and skull cap.

All the swimming this winter has paid off. I did the same loop around Beaver Lake that I was doing last summer in the mid 50 minute range in 42 minutes.

Really enjoyed being in the open water again now to try Lake Sammamish at the end of the week. I suspect it will be a bit cooler.

Coeur D'Alene Training Weekend

2007-04-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

I headed over to Coeur D'Alene (CDA) this weekend to ride the course and get a lay of the land.

Saturday I headed out to ride the bike course armed with food, drink and a very small map of the course. It was supposed to be 70 degrees on Saturday but as I headed out it was overcast, cool and breezy.

The bike course is a two loop course so my only challenge was figuring out the first loop then it would be smooth sailing. As I headed out I passed a couple organized group of riders on their way back from the short out and back along the lake. The first part of the course was easy as I headed back through CDA I headed towards Hayden Lake and managed to follow the tight series of turns to stay on track. I missed a turn and ended up going about 2 miles on the wrong road before back tracking to find the missed turn. After another 20 minutes I caught one of the slower groups and got some general directions but it didn't help as I continued to make wrong turns lots of back tracking to get back on course. Finally after a few more miles I caught another group of faster riders who I rode with for about 15 miles despite a very pedestrian pace. I was riding next to a woman and realized it was Paula Newby-Fraser former IM world champion and also in the group was Michael Lovato who is one of the top US IM triathletes who were providing coaching for this organized camp. It was with this group that I found out that they had put tape down on the road to mark the course as I moved ahead of them I managed to stay on course the rest of the day. I was also plagued by a temperamental rear derailleur when in the small chain ring but I ended up riding in the big chain ring the whole day which made things challenging and really worked my quads.

With all of my wrong turns however my version of the course was 118 miles instead of 112 so at this point I decided to just keep riding and make it a long ride day. I ended up riding 132 miles for the day in just over 7 hours. Not all that fast in my mind but based on the way my legs felt Sunday it was a pretty tough workout.

I had planned to ride and run on Sunday but I opted to just do half the marathon course given my tired legs. It turned out to be a good plan and I had an enjoyable sunny albeit cool 1/2 marathon in 1:35.

Overall I'm feeling good about the progression of my training to date just 8 more weeks till race day!!!

Welcome!

2006-07-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog about training for the 2007 Ironman Coeur d'Alene. My plan is post at a minimum weekly about my training over the next few weeks leading up to the race.