IronMan Preparation

Let me first start this little blurb with what I want out of the exercise of sharing a few electrons all over the interwebs:

1) express myself
2) stimulate some deeper thinking about IM preparation

This is a long one, so buckle up...

FWIW, I had a couple goals for my IM experience last year:

1) explore the limits of my own capacity to "suffer" during the last half of the marathon
2) learn from the whole deal

Anyway, drafting off my last blog entry, if I were to ask myself the question "what would you do differently about your IM preparation if you had to do it again"? How would I answer that?

I read somewhere that people like short bulleted lists - cuz that makes it easier to remember things and all. Well, here's a bulleted list that summarizes how I would answer that question above:

* shorten the "fill the right" preparation period -> probably down to 8 wks or so from 14

* shorter runs with higher frequency -> maybe 3 one-hour runs rather than one long run and a couple thirty minute jobbers

I don’t really know if the way I went about things is typical or not. If I had to guess, I'd say it's not super typical... And, I reckon it's more towards the "new school" approach side of things than it is towards the "old school" approach of IM preparation. i.e -> I spent maybe 10 hours a week training for this - and incorporated some goin' hard/intensity during that time.

But that is neither here nor there...

From a more global perspective, I'd characterize my prep as two to three years of "raising the left" by doing 20 MP and above focused efforts followed by about 14 weeks of "filling the right".

Huh?

Yeah, that's a long way of saying that I spent a lot of time goin' hard, and a little bit of time making sure I figured out how to meet the KJ demands of the effort. In the end, as noted above, the KJ demand/burn rate adaption deal took way less time than I planned for to meet/figure out.

Flexibility

My initial plan was very detailed. I wrote it all out and made a sweet, neat looking excel calendar - y'know, it probably looked like one of those canned training plans an interwebs coach might dole out...

Workouts were planned for the final 14 wks leading up to the event...but yeah, that plan didn't work out - If I stop and really consider the kind of person I am - I reckon I'm not really a big "plan" guy... There's just too many distracting details and whatnot. The way the whole "plan" thing that I put together actually worked out is a pretty interesting look into some of my internal workings. I mean, there is a definite part of me that wants to be able to control thangs and then just execute when necessary. There's another, probably overriding, part of me that is completely comfortable goin' with the flow, and taking things day by day.

When it came to the IM preparation, in the end, it was a global plan that was put into place with a lot of day-to-day flexibility. I never trained "fatigued" - if it felt like I needed an extra day of rest...well, then, I took it. That carries over into my general bike racing training as well - if I'm tired, I rest. Ride Hard. Rest Hard. That's my deal.

I had a pretty simple set of goals on a weekly basis -> one long run, one long bike, swim technique development, and one day of "raising the left" via a "classic vo2" bike ride.

That was it. Pretty simple.

Here's how things kinda went on a weekly basis, with a couple deviations when necessary:

Mon: complete rest

Tue: AM swim for 45 minutes doing drills. Noon hour vo2 bike workout 60 minutes

Wed: run 30-45 minutes

Thurs: swim for 45 minutes doing drills

Friday: complete rest

Sat: "fill the right" bike ride (3200kj in as little time as necessary -> about four hours) followed up by a 30 minute "run". This bike ride was pressure on the pedals, drillin' it for the duration. Hardest workout of the week by far!

Sun: EZ bike ride with no real KJ goals for 1:45; followed by a long run that progressed to 14 miles or around 2 hours

I had estimated that the IM bike ride would take me ~3200KJ to complete, so I targetted that KJ level in my "long" Saturday rides. Though, I frickin' drilled it to burn that 3200KJ in my training. Interesting to note that it only took me about 3-4 rides to go from doing 1600 KJ rides at a nearly maximal pace to routinely hitting 3200KJ at a nearly maximal pace - these rides topped out at around 4 hours or so. Here's an example of one of those 3200KJ rides that were the cornerstone of my bike ridin':



About 5 weeks out I tried my hand at going "long" as some folks like to say:

October 11

During this effort, I'd get up and swim for an hour continuosly, go home and eat a bit...then ride at what I figured would be my IM bike watt pace for 100 miles, followed up with an hour run.

In the last three weeks or so, These style of days were mental slogs, but they did give me some confidence and allowed me to figure out how to fuel things.

November 1 was my second "long" day.

And this effort really drilled into me what things might feel like if it was a stinkin' hot/windy day, and I forced too much of my chosen fuel down during the bike ride. That was a really good learning day for me. I spent that hour run after the ride feelin' bloated and pretty crappy - too much crap sloshin' around in the ol' belly...lesson learned - if it's stinkin' hot, pull back on the reigns a bit and relax...

Another of the deviations from the general week schedule outlined above include my issues with the running aspect. I'm not a runner - never really ran long distances at any point in my endurance sport career - though, I'm pretty sure I ruined my knees while playing lots of youth basketball (I can remember being a "gym rat" during the fall/winter time playing pick-up games all day long for the better part of my youth)...and those basketball knees have always been my limiter when running "longer" distances, it seems.

I really did try and plan for this...I actually started preparing for the run sometime in July or thereabouts... I progressed over a three-four week period starting at around a 30 minute EZ jog for my long run of the week and building it up 10 minutes a week. Well, like an idiot, I felt really good on one of those days and figured I'd see how fast I could run that last 15 minutes of a 45 minute run. I went pretty fast for me - laying down a sub 6 minute mile for the last little bit...I kinda felt a bit of a twinge in my knees when I was doing it, and sure enough, the next time I tried to run, I couldn't make it more than 5 minutes before the pain in my knees was too intense to continue.

Well, yeah, that was a pretty stupid thing to do in hindsight...and, as it turned out, I could not run for a couple weeks...and then I followed that up with walking 2-3 times a week for 20 minutes at a time for a few weeks... that put me into late august or so before I was able to "run" again without pain. I worked back into things and was able to string together five days of 30-45 minute runs with family up in p-town - which was a great way to kick the last 14-ish weeks of preparation off!

My long run progressed well up until the end of september, where I completed a long run of around 13.5 miles... but, I could feel my knees barkin' the last 20 minutes of that sucker, and it pretty much freaked me out...so I went with the flow, and tweaked things a bit.

How'd I tweak things? Well, I cut back my long run to 1:30, and then in late October, early November, I started doing multiple one-hour runs during the week -> i.e, I upped my frequency in order to make up/compensate for my fear of not getting in a longer run.

So, yeah, if I were to do it again, I'd forego the long run for quite awhile, and do more frequent shorter runs of 1-1.5 hours. That might have saved my knees for race day...then again, maybe not!

Taper?

I'm not a real big believer in this kind of deal when it comes to long duration events such as an IM. A two week long "taper" - where one actually tapers off their KJ expenditure might be good for shedding some prolonged, avoidable, unecessary fatigue though...but, since how I approached things never really left me carrying loads of physical fatigue, well, there's no real point in doing a long confusing tapering off of KJ's. I just made sure my legs felt good on the big day!

This approach, and respecting how my body was reacting to things, is why I kept the KJ train rolling all the way up to the long day I laid down 8 days out from IMAZ:



Y'know, honestly, I wonder how fast all those guys who carry six weeks+ of serious, significant, fatigue and then taper off their KJ's in the two weeks prior to their IM effort might go if they tried a different approach? Maybe one day, we'll find out, eh?

Lightin' it up

Here's what I did four days out from the effort (after fully recovering from the 8 day out big KJ day):



Yeah, I lit it up pretty good in the week preceding IMAZ. Above shows multiple efforts at 2+ times what I was going to target for an IM power target - sometimes, crazy physiological/hormonal things can happen when you lay into a series of crazy high intensity efforts on the bike just before a big event. I recovered from this sucker really quickly, FWIW. Did it help? Well, maybe, but it sure didn’t seem to hurt things.

There are some other nuggets I haven't mentioned above, that you might be interested in reading about...

Did you know that I rode my TT bike less than 6 times during the 14 weeks I was focusing on IMAZ? Yeah, I did the bulk of my riding on my road bike... the three long days described above were on the TT bike, and a couple more rides in the last week (including the shakedown spin up the beeline hwy on the day prior to IMAZ) were on the TT bike. That's it.

I targetted 170W for my IM bike power and rode to an official 5:16:xx split including 3 honey-bucket stops. This watt level was roughly 55% of my 20MP at the time. Here were my SRM time and watt splits for each of the three laps of the bike course:

Lap 1: 1:42:33 @ 170W
Lap 2: 1:43:19 @ 172W
Lap 3: 1:43:35 @ 168W

I was well within myself, there, eh? ;-)

I took down about 1100 calories +/- during the bike ride -> which was about 200 calories per hour.

I swam a 1:24:xx - which was way faster than I had done for the full distance 10 days out while swimming in a pool without a wetsuit.

I "ran" the first half of the marathon at just over a 9 minute/mile pace - which was my targetted run pace.

I walked 8 miles of the marathon, cuz my body broke... :-(

I waddled across the line in 11 hours and 35 minutes.

I didn't bonk.

I didn't "suffer" like I wanted to "suffer", and thus, felt like I "failed" to achieve one of my IM experience goals.

I don't know if I'll do that whole deal again! :-o

Hey, I don't think there's any rocket science here in my approach, or any approach that you'll read about out there. I raised the left for a really long time (2-3 years), then astoundingly quickly filled the right. Then, on race day I "run what I brung" so to speak. Though, as I mentioned in that neat bulleted list up above, I think I would tweak a few things if had to do it over again:

* shorten the "fill the right" preparation period -> probably down to 6-8 wks or so from 14 wks

* shorter runs with higher frequency -> maybe 3 one-hour runs per week rather than one long run and a couple thirty minute jobbers.

Eager to hear how you prepared for your IM,

-k

If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?

The title of this blog entry is probably my second favorite question I like to ask folks who have recently completed a goal event/project...y'know, it's a good question for us curious folks to pose to people who have spent some time and energy striving to achieve a goal that really means something to them. It's an opportunity for us all to learn, so to speak.

Though, really, it's not a very good question to ask someone who, on a whim, decides to give something a go at the last minute. These style of folks probably didn't give what they did (their "execution"), or how they approached the goal (their "process") much thought - so, the answer that these folks might give doesn't really mean much, I reckon...

but...the folks who put some effort into the deal...well, I reckon I'd be a bit curious about what I could learn from them and their experience. So, yeah, I think the title of this blog is a good question for these folks.

Case in point: Jordan Rapp - recently crowned 2009 IM Canada champ. I haven't asked him this question after his IMC effort. Nor do I expect that I'll get the chance to. Who knows, though, about that...I mean, I did get a response from him after this blog entry:

http://www.biketechreview.com/kdublog/2008/11/ironman.html

so, maybe he just might indulge me! lol! :-)

But really, I reckon the more interesting time to have asked "the question" to Rapp might have been after his second attempt at IMAZ last fall. Here's how I would have expected him to answer "the question" after IMAZ 2008: -> "focus more on the run".

If, indeed that would have been how he answered that question last November (2008), his result today in Penticton (August 2009) wouldn't be that surprising.

FWIW, I'm not too surprised.

Though, I am curios to see what he might be able to do in the future if he ever explored the "faster is faster" process, rather than the "optometrist" process (which Mr. Rapp is obliged currently to promote) as it relates to how one ought to sit on a bike.

The topic of how to sit on a bike has evolved over a hundred+ years, and the modern day tools - such as a power meter and a wind tunnel - have suggested that history has gotten things pretty much "right".

Well, that's what the demand side data from n=100+ athletes in the wind tunnel (and n=1000+ runs) has suggested to me anyway. Granted, this is only the demand side of things, but once one considers how much "supply" is necessary/targetted for an IM effort, well, that sort of thing becomes secondary, I reckon.

Though, really, in the grand scheme of things, I'm open to all sorts of ways to play around with how one might try and sit on a bike...and, believe me, in individual cases, I've seen things that buck the trends. Which is why I sort of chuckle to myself when I hear the "certainty" and "precision" of some folks out there on the interwebs when it comes to how one "ought to sit on a bike"...

Hence, "faster is faster" is the process I prefer to promote.

All of this, as it pertains to Rapp, is pure speculation on my part, of course, but hey - dood just won IMC, so congrats to him on a fine performance.

To personalize this a bit on my end...if I were to have asked myself "the question" (and believe me, I've already done this a number of times! :-) ) after my IMAZ performance last fall, I reckon I'd have said: "focus more on the run".

so, yeah...What's my "caveman" summary about the whole Ironman deal?




More often than not, on the day of the event, long course triathlon isn't really about the bike.




Next week, I think I'll jot down some of the specifics of what I did for IMAZ 2008 and what I'd have done differently knowing what I know from experiencing the whole deal.

elites might find these thoughts irrelevant...but then again, non-elites might also find them irrelevant! :-D

Regardless - the IM deal last summer/fall was "my" n=1 experience...and I guess my big hope would be that someone reading can learn, or better yet/more importantly - think about their approach a bit more deeply.

That'd be pretty cool, huh!? Thinking more deeply about process stuff, and whatnot?!

Ironman Arizona: My Experience

Sunset on the drive home

Me and the Mrs

mmmm... Taters and pizza!

I've read a few Ironman Arizona race reports in the past few days and they tend to all sound pretty similar… y'know, something like: "I woke up early and ate some food, and then I swam, biked, and ran some". So, I reckon I'm going to write this a tiny bit differently. I'm going to start at the end, and work my way backwards – generally – though, I reckon it might just randomly skip around!!! LOL!

I don't know if you are at all like me, but, I've got this huge "cookie tooth" so to speak. I love cookies – especially good ol' fashioned, homemade, straight up chocolate chip cookies. For me, I imagine that experiencing the first bite of a slightly warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie is not too dissimilar to a crackhead taking that first hit. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but, hopefully you get my point – I really like cookies! :-)

In my exuberance to recreate that first bite of a cookie experience, I generally wind up eating a second one. Every time, though, that second (or third) cookie never quite tastes the same as the first. I'm sure there is some fancy psychological terminology for this type of effect. Nonetheless, as I hobbled across the finish line at IMAZ in just under eleven hours and thirty-five minutes, this particular triathlon experience wasn't quite the same as my first long-ish course tri experience… It was kind of like the first bite of that _second_ chocolate chip cookie…

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_photo.asp?PID=&EVENTID=32045&PWD=&ID=59065995&FROM=photos&BIB=622

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to sound as if this was no big deal – y'know, finishing an Ironman has been known to change lives and prove that everyday folk can do more than they think possible. It's an inspirational event to be sure.

To see folks overcoming huge obstacles and personal tragedy or disease is a pretty emotional and inspiring thing for me. In a moment of weakness last December, my right index finger hovered over the enter key on my keyboard. If I hit the enter button I would be entered in Ironman Arizona 2008. I think I sneezed, and inadvertently hit the enter button… Well, that's what I keep telling myself… I mean, who'd do this sort of thing out of their own free will, right?

Back to the inspirational thing… I've seen the devastating effects of illness firsthand… and that experience took shape over decades. Y'see, I've seen a perfectly healthy woman, my mom; go from playing ball in the front yard with her sons in the late 70's early 80's to being confined to a wheelchair and ultimately succumbing to Multiple Sclerosis some 25 years later. That kind of thing stays with you; changes you, even.

Eleven hours plus by yourself in your own little world gives you plenty of time to think about things, and I thought of my mom just prior to finishing. I had seen the backside of someone's t-shirt that said "competing for John Doe". I can't remember the exact name on the back of that shirt this guy was wearing as he ground out the last miles of the marathon, but in that moment, I did think of my mom.

And smiled out loud.

But really, I'm not that guy who overcame any real adversity to make it to the finish line of an ironman. I'm not going to be featured by Al Trautwig on NBC , or have Mike Reilly or Bob Babbit speak about me at the annual competitor awards ceremony at Sea World here in San Diego – I'm just a dood that five years ago was 10 kilos heavier than he wanted to be, and really liked chocolate chip cookies. And beer… mmmm…. Yeah, come to think of it, I like beer! :-)

Anyway, about 11 miles prior to crossing the finish line, things went about as far south as they could. I had to start walking. I had been ticking off pretty regular 9 minute miles (that was the plan) up to mile 13 or so, when I started to feel my old nemesis rearing its ugly head in my left knee. I always have struggled with ITB issues (as I have self-diagnosed it), which basically sends sharp, stabbing, pulses of pain up the outer part of my knee with each footstep. And I could feel the early stages of this happening at about the half mary point.

I ground out the next couple of miles, but after the downhill into an aid station after running through the park on the NE part of the run course during mile 15, I cracked. I had to stop running. That pretty much sucked, to be honest. I allowed myself to feel sorry for myself for about half a mile, then power-walked at 12 min/mile pace pretty much all the way to the finish. I did try and run again a couple times, but I just couldn't make it happen, and honestly, my power walking wasn't much slower than when I attempted to run. I probably only ran 18 of the 26.2 – disappointed in that to be sure…

For the first time on the day, I saw my wife, Selene, on the third lap as I was reduced to walking – I felt a little disappointed and embarrassed, but she had supportive words for me, so I kept on movin' forward.

Here's a sweet pic in all my walkin' glory:

Not my best moment, eh!?

===================================================

Yeah, so how was the bike?

Hey, where did everybody's bike go??? :-)

The bike was pretty boring, to be honest. I think there are three things that I hold onto from this portion:

1. I was well hydrated!
2. Am I going too fast?
3. Sore Throat
   

Hydration: I stopped three times to relieve the unbearable pressure building in the ol' bladder. I briefly considered pissin' myself rather than stopping, but damn, I wasn't in contention for any glory or slots to Kona and whatnot. Yeah, I'm not a "true Ironman" ;-) for this decision, but at least I can give a pretty good review of the interiors of some honey buckets out on the bike course!

The Honey Buckets were pretty much like every one I'd seen prior to this past Sunday. Plastic injection molded. There were foul smells emanating from within its depths. There was a line of folks on the outside waiting to git 'r dun. These three pee stops only wound up costing me around five minutes or so, and honestly, that was the best five minute investment I've made recently– especially in this difficult US economy! D'oh! ;-)

Just prior to my first port-o-let experience as I was cruisin' out of town with my head nice and low, I heard someone screamin' my name from what seemed like 100m up the road… huh, that's odd, I thought. As I passed, it was my friend Jen Santell yellin' words of encouragement. As I rolled off up the road, I gave her the rock 'n roll sign (think ozzy osbourne) and kept on movin' forward. I saw Jen and Steve several more times on the day – thanks for the support, guys! :-)

The ol' belly didn't feel quite right for the better part of the first hour – it was in a bit of a knot and the legs were tight, but after that first leak, damn, things sorted out straight away. I had made room to begin taking on some fuel. MMM… liquid fuel for 11 hours – sounds like fun!

Am I going too fast? When you swim as slow as I do, you get the opportunity to see a sizable portion of the field as you ride 112 miles. I was kinda freaked out as I dialed in my perceived effort and occasionally checked out the SRM power meter. I felt like I was going easy, and the PM confirmed it. But damn, I was flying past people like they were standing still… This being my first ironman, I doubted myself for a second and asked the question: Am I going too fast? Will I pay for this speed in the marathon? Hmmmm…. I've never gone this easy in my training, so I reckon we'll just have to find out.

In hindsight, knowing what was to transpire at mile 16 in the marathon, and given a chance to do the bike over again, I'd have gone harder and basically "sold out" as Chris Horner liked to say back in his Prime Alliance days. I don't feel as if my pacing on the bike hindered anything – I mean, really, how hard can averaging ~55% of one's 20MP for a little more than five hours be???

Sore throat: my vocal chords got a bit tired chiming out "on your left". I kind of felt like I was back in the 80's playing Defender in an arcade. For the most part, folks did a nice job (from my perspective) of staying to the right side of the road. I did see a few packs out there, where I had to sit up and even grab a fistful of brake a time or two in order to navigate through the mayhem. I'm not saying these folks were illegally drafting out there, but I am saying I had to navigate through some packs that did cause me to elevate my power for a minute or so after grabbing a fistful of brake.

Uneventful bike – I think that's how it should be?

=====================================================

After flopping around in my wetsuit for more than an hour and fifteen minutes (using what can be best described as a swim stroke that looks like a spastic monkey humping a football) I passed under the Mill Street Bridge and sighted onto the final red buoy. Once I make that sucker, I told myself, it's home free! With my head underwater, I actually let out a big yelp of joy – yeah! I'm gonna make it through this swim. I sure hope no one heard that – sound doesn't travel far underwater, does it?? :-)

I sat on the first step of the steel grate that marked the exit of the swim and for the first time in the race looked at my Timex watch -> I went way faster than I expected based on swimming laps in the pool. A great way for me to start the day! I felt good about myself at that moment – it was one of those rare times I've allowed myself such self aggrandization - but it felt right at the time.

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_photo.asp?EVENTID=32045&ID=59077913&FROM=photos&BIB=622

Swimming in open water is not like swimming in a pool. In my preparation, my swims had been pretty sucky. Starting at about 14 wks out from the event, I spent three days a week in the pool working on nothing but technique/drills. In those first swims, I could barely last twenty minutes before my arms gave out.

For the drills, I used a DVD that Roch Frey from multisports.com made for guidance. They helped! As I transitioned into making sure I could swim the entire distance I would do great for the first 45 minutes, but then would suffer from these hideous calf/foot cramps. I was pretty freaked out, since I never was able to conquer these – I always had it happen to me, including my last 4000yd swim 9 days out from the day I toe'd the line.

In the pool, I finally managed to cope with the deal, simply by dragging my feet and letting the sensation pass – I'm sure I got plenty of looks from the fast swimmers in the lane next to me, though! I'm pretty sure that these cramps were brought on by pushing off the wall in the pool, cuz, on race day, I never had any issues. What a relief!

Never in the swim did I get into a groove, or feel comfortable like I did in the pool. While in the pool, I could settle into a rhythm and bilaterally breathe every third stroke. All was good. On race day, there always seemed to be some person hammering on me, or zig-zagging in front of me (it's not possible that an accomplished swimmer like me was the one zig-zaggin! ;-) ), such that I couldn't settle down. I was pretty much a mess, but kept on moving forward.

I'd never really done a mass start triathlon before with 2000+ starters. The three tri's I had under my belt were all wave starts, so they were pretty tame. For this race, I seeded myself at the back and basically did the "water polo" swim for the first ten minutes. The key for me was to not panic – I told myself that I've got this big life preserver stuck to me, and things will be alright if I just keep on movin'. It all worked out.

Just prior to the swim start.

Thirty minutes till the start, I mosy'd over to where my wife, Selene, was standing, dropped off my gear bag, and got a big ol' smooch (I think she tried to slip me some tongue!) and words of encouragement.

Fifteen minutes prior to the age grouper start, I stood crammed next to a bunch of strangers all geared up in their black wetsuits and pale blue or hot pink swimcaps. I was a rookie at this distance, I didn't really know what to expect on the day or during the mass start swim, but I was calm and confident in "runnin' what I brung".

I had no nerves, or butterflies in my stomach. I was at peace with the situation.

At 6:55 AM or so, I jumped into Tempe Town Lake and cruised up to the start line.

I tread some water for a minute or so positioning myself in the middle of the course. I was full of hope, and pride for making it this far uninjured and healthy. I had a big smile on my face. I was thankful for the opportunity that this day would present me – an opportunity to explore my limits once again in a seemingly new way.

The start of the swim...

The starting cannon went off.

I put my head down, took my first swim stroke, and whispered on the inside: "You can do this".

Ironman

Well, I don't know what to say, other than I exercised pretty much continuously for a little more than eleven and a half hours this past sunday.

It went as well as I think it could have gone - I mean I finished the thing - though, I reckon the marathon portion could have been a bit better! Weather was perfect, and the day was fast.

More details on my day later, but here's a quick photo for your consideration:



this is a comparison of the positions of the guy who posted the fastest bike split of the day, and myself. hey, do I get style points for having a sweet roadie/farmer tan!? LOL! ;-)

The guy on the left, Jordan Rapp, is a member of the BTR forum and he has a big motor, I'll say! Nice work, Jordan! I wonder how much faster he could go on the same watts if he tried something different? That would be an interesting exercise.

Another quick observation on long course triathlon from my perspective, is that I don't think power in the aero position is a limiter -> most of these guys (me included) go really easy on the bike portion, and I believe it comes down to experimenting with a couple points when working on a tri position...

1) being able to sit square on the saddle in your aerodynamic position for the duration of the effort without adverse consequences

2) satisfying #1 above, find the fastest position/setup for your targetted effort

I don't think supply side issues are a real limiter/constraint from a practical perspective.

That's just my opinion, though! :-)

What's everyone else think about how one ought to go about setting up their long-course triathlon bike?

Kona, Ironman... why not?

I knew Ironman Hawaii was happening this weekend, but honestly, I thought it was on Sunday (today)... Not that that scheduling would have affected anything I had planned for yesterday (Saturday).

Here's how my day started:



which is of the sunrise on my way to a 24-hour fitness pool, where I've been spending some early morning time over the past couple months. yeah, I swam, for a little under an hour yesterday morning. Boy, I sure am slow in the water! :)

Then, seeing as how there was still lots of time left in the day, I decided to go ride my TT bike in the crazy (for socal!) 20 mph winds yesterday for ~160k and five hours:



That ride left a little bit of a mark, but I reckoned, hey, why not go for a quick hour long run? y'know to find out how much of a mark that ride left. I managed 8:20 pace for that hour, but definitely would not have been able to run at that clip for 18+ more miles...

By the time I was home and showered, Craig Alexander was done working his way to the front of the field during the marathon, and Chrissie Wellington was still showing the world how dominant she is.

Anywat, I learned some good stuff during my own personal long day. Useful stuff too, as I come closer to toeing the line at IMAZ in November:

1) at my pace in the water (2:15 100's SCY), I've got some things to work on - primarily mental ones!
2) @69kg maybe I really only do need to take down 300-350 cal/hr (I sure hope so, cuz things aren't very happy at a rate higher than that at a variety of intensities and external temperatures!)
3) my bike position is fine for 5+ hours at the intensity I will need (2 rides on the TT bike since May)
4) 26 miles is a long way to run!

I debated with myself about writing anything about this new project I've undertaken (tackling an Ironman), but here it is. I have modest goals for this whole deal - the first of which is to toe the line uninjured. The second of which is to simply delay the true suffering on the big day for as long as possible! ;-)

Me? Do an Ironman using a stripped down approach to training?


why not? :-)

Ironman Thoughts

Wow!

I am totally intrigued by the whole ironman thing. I've gotten my feet wet in the scene, having done a couple half ironmans - all you google freaks out there can probably google my results and have a good laugh at how slow I am! LOL! :-) But, the difference between a half ironman and the real deal is like the difference between a half-pull and a full-pull -> fer all you non tractor-ites out there, this here is a full-pull:


Tractor Pull Full Pull - The best bloopers are a click away

;-)

Anyway, yeah, an ironman is just about like that - ya know, a bunch of Miller Lite drinkin' rabid fans hootin' and a hollerin' on the sidelines watchin' their favorites rip it up on Ali'i drive at 10pm, eh?

Seriously, though - whaddya reckon Macca's favorite brew of choice is? I reckon it ain't Miller Lite - or Foster's for that matter. But, damn, after a performance like that, you gotta believe that that fella was hoist'n his favorite after he ran his way into the top spot on the podium, eh?

Nice job, Macca!

I caught the first bit of the swim online on Saturday morning before goin' out on a nice ride with fellow BTR forum contributor, Neal for a nice ride down to the pacific ocean and back - thanks for the ride, Neal!

When I got back from that ride, Torbjorn had Lieto in his sights - just a matter of time before Sindballe overhauled Lieto, I reckoned. When I saw Torbjorn at interbike a few weeks ago, that dude looked like a completely different person compared to the last time I had seen him at the wind tunnel (http://www.lswt.com/):



That's Torbjorn on the trainer outside the tunnel test section - bonus points if you can identify the guys to my right and left in the image above!

Yeah, so, Torbjorn looked really lean when we chatted with him at Interbike - this pretty much tipped me off to the idea that he was taking his running pretty damn seriously... Overall body mass is a pretty big contributor to running power, I reckon - I've modeled that in the past and body mass is definitely in Pareto's 20% of the variables that effect 80% of the results.

Torbjorn seems to be a smart guy - methodical in his approach, and diligent in his application of what he has learned to the task at hand. Got a problem with heat and running speed? Take a cue from the big guy Torbjorn - drop some kg's and figure out how to keep the core temp down. Nice, disciplined, pacing by Sindballe this year, eh? Damn straight - totally cool to see him grab a spot on the podium.

It also seems as if some of the ideas that the folks at Argon-18 have are producing better results on the run for the "Thunder-Bear" - Torbjorn. From what I recall during my chat with the folks at Argon-18 at Interbike this year, a major change in saddle position was implemented some time ago. They moved him backwards relative to the BB - and guess what, the big guy ran 2:57:XX at the big show.

Nice work fellas!

As a last little nugget, it's worthwhile to note that of the top 6 men's overall finishers at Kona this year, 4 of them have worked with the crew at lswt.com.

On the women's side, yours truly, has worked with one of the top three at lswt.com.

On a personal note, one of these days, I'd like to complete an iron-distance event - why? I think one learns a bunch about themselves when they are forced to test their limits. Whether it be during a 20 minute "au bloq" effort up couser canyon road, or an all day effort climbing the highest point in the lower 48:



so, get out there and run what you brung - you'll learn something about yourself along the way! :-)