Why do I (we) do this kind of stuff??

I was having dinner with my wife, and her mother and father the other night...her dad asked me why I wanted to do an Ironman. Hmmmm...I wasn't sure how to respond to that question...I just said that it was a personal goal. Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy, but he probably doesn't get why I race bikes either. I was also asked if it was because someone was paying me a bunch of money to do it...for me, all things don't come down to the almighty $$. Yes, I want to be paid a descent wage for my education and experience in a work environment...but there's much more to life than just making money...I know some who have a different view, but that's jut me. There MUST to be balance in the force...uh, I mean in life.

While we're on the subject of money, when I race bikes I could earn enough prize money, and with the help of some generous sponsors, at least break even each season. That's bike racing...but in triathlons, you just dump money into this huge, cavernous, never ending black hole...never to be seen again. Yes, there are some Pro's that make money...but 99% of us don't. This means that folks participating must have a deep internal desire or reason to race...especially the Ironman distance. I suppose the rewards are more personal...it's hard to explain.

And on the subject of why do we do, what we do...right after the conversation with my father in-law, I received one of Shawn Burke's email's on this very subject. It was pretty ironic...anyhow, he included a picture from one of his associates, Rich McLaughlin...it says, "If you have to ask why, you'll never understand"...truer words could not have been spoken. I've "borrowed" the picture and put it below.

Shawn is one of the guys who I send workouts that I'm going to do...and how they turned out upon completion, and he does the same. His workouts are usually harder than mine...so, I think I'll have to start adding something extra each time. For instance, last week I swam with my wetsuit at the Brooks YMCA...it was a long workout, and the water was very warm. I ended up kind of sick from overheating...well, Shawn did a very similar workout earlier...was out quicker, and didn't mention feeling sick. Next time I'll tell him I spent 30 minutes with my wetsuit on in the hot tub beforehand, just to become better acclimated to the heat...think he'll buy it?

Sween

Qatar...we've got gas (natural gas & oil)

I read some facts about Qatar in Velonews the other day...they have a bike race there at the beginning of the season. I found it interesting how things are different in the gas rich countries in the middle east. The following is from the Velonews article...

Qatar by the numbers
Population: 350,000 citizens, about 1 million contract laborers
Independence: 1971
Ruler: Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani
GDP: $49,655 per person (7th highest in the world)
Wages: Each Qatari resident receives a monthly stipend between $1,000 to $15,000; laborers earn about $175 per month
Gas Prices: Free to Qataris, otherwise $0.10/liter
Laws: No alcohol for citizens; Foreigners can drink in hotel bars. Death by hanging for illegal drugs
Sports: Aiming to host 2016 Summer Olympic Games, spent billions building the Aspire Center, a world-class training center available for free to all Qataris
Cycling: Hosting Tour of Qatar since 2002; plans in place to build water-cooled, covered outdoor 35km cycling trail around Doha

It goes to show...tons of natural gas and oil can buy just about anything.

...just under 3 weeks to IM Arizona...

This past weekend was the end of what the training plan calles the "IM Hard" phase...and now moves on to what they call a "3 Week Taper". Coming from a single sport backround, it isn't the kind of "taper" you would expect. Tapers usually don't last 3 weeks, maybe 1-2 weeks maximum. It follows a similar structure, decrease volume and maintain or increase intensity...it just does all of this more slowly and over a longer period of time.

On Saturday, Greg "Gills" Carr and I headed South through the "Potato Fields" and past the batting cages, etc. My legs didn't feel great...kind of tired and a bit sore. The workout called for 5 hours, with a block at Ironman race pace, and then a 50 minute run. After about an hour we started race pace effort...ouch, I could tell I had bad legs that day. I was also trying to put down some extra calories to find out where my limits were...well, I found them. My heart rate was fine as well as the speed, but it took a lot more effort, and much more pain than it should have been. I wanted to turn off the gas after the first hour, but hoped it would get better...uh, it didn't. I was planning on 3 hours at race pace...so I pushed on for another hour. Once I got through that hour, and felt considerably worse, I told Greg that I wasn't feeling good. Nutrition may have had something to do with it...my stomach had shut down, and I felt nauseous...so I couldn't eat anymore. This is kind of an interesting scenario...if you can't take in more calories, then you REALLY pay for it on the run...if you get sick and throw up, then you have just dumped all the calories you've painstackingly eaten up until that point...not a great postion to be in. Anyhow, I could ramble forever...to make this short(er), I slowed a bit and made it back home, jumped off the bike and went for a 50+ minute run...and actually felt pretty good...strange. I ended the day doing the original scheduled 5 hours, with 2 hours at race pace instead of 3, and then the run.

Sunday I woke to sore legs, and a couple pretty bad spots. The day's 2 hour run forecast looked bleak! I only drank a Boost shake, so that I could practice getting down calories on the run. I packed up the car and headed out to the Baldwin Rails to Trails...so that I could get some accurate mile splits. It was perfect weather, and the run felt good. I did the first 8 miles at heart rate zone 1 in 1:02:29...and then pushed it into zone 2 on the return trip with a 57:29 for the last 8 miles. I'm very happy with how the run went, so that helps with the confidence. I ended the day with a short swim to loosen up the legs.

The ride on Saturday was good...I don't remember the last time my legs actully "hurt" that bad on the bike...it was extremely painful, I can't even put into words the feeling...but, I know that it won't be any worse than that during the race...so going through that will mentally make me stronger.

Miami International Triathlon results

Several Jacksonvillians went down the the Miami International Triathlon this past weekend...and cleaned up!

Shawn Burke and Steve Petitt both won their age groups! Now the good part...Shawn and Steve both worked at the Expo the prior days leading up to the race...and Shawn rode 5-6 hours on Friday, ran 2 hours on Saturday...and then race on Sunday! You've gotta be kidding me...jeesh, I need to HTFU!

Also, Chris Lieto (Adopted Jacksonvillian) and Brian Fleischmann took 3rd and 4th in the Pro division. Chris had the fastest bike split of the day, and Brian had the fastest run split! The swim course turned out to be really short...which wasn't so great for Brian, who is an accomplished swimmer and came out of the water 1 second off first place. It was a classic battle between an ITU and an Ironman triathlete. Brian is stronger in the swim and run, while Chris is strongest on the bike. They both did well, and picked up some $$ in the early season opener.

Here's a short report from Brian:
"Yeah, I was a little bummed about the length of the swim, 450 meters short. Nevertheless, I got my ass kicked by those boys on the bike. Lieto rode 55 minutes for 41+ K, it was a tad long. It was a decent race and well run for the most part though. I will have to focus on the bike and run over the next month prior to trials. I am actually in Tucson now for a training camp leading into trials." - Brian Fleischmann

Each are incredible athletes with matching personalities...I wish them luck on their main objectives this season; Brian - Olympic Trials, Chris - Ironman Hawaii.

Sween

Four weeks to Ironman Arizona!

This last weekend was a pretty tough one. On Saturday, Greg, Danny and myself ventured North (North-West really) to do the "Georgia Ride" with the added pleasure of the double secret, slightly inclined, direct headwind, kick-you-in-the-crotch, Lacey's Place loop. Danny and Greg did this loop a year or two ago by accident.

It was a very windy Saturday as we headed to the Georgia border in our tri-geek non-drafting style. The wind was pretty much at our backs (or sometimes a cross wind) on the way out. We crossed the Georgia border, and then made a left turn by the Shack By The Tracks country store. This put us into a direct headwind...and believe it or not a slight incline that seemed to last the whole way?!? Danny was in front hammering out a painful pace into the strong headwind...but, we were only going 17-18 MPH! Greg wasn't feeling well, so moved up to draft off Danny, but Danny thought he was going too slow...so kept getting faster. Yeah, that was a lot of fun...not. We seemed to head in one direction forever, and I was wondering if we were actually on a loop...or were we going to end up in Atlanta. We finally made it to Lacey's Place and refilled our fluids. We then started back home into a headwind, and at best...a cross wind. The day ended with a little over 123 miles and a 50 minute T-run afterwards...about 7 1/2 hours total.

On Sunday I met up with Dr. Pain (Lyndon) to do an easy 2 hour run doing loops over the downtown bridges. It was a beautiful day and we had a good run traveling along the St. Johns river. Once back, we had some biscuits smothered in his mom's homemade pear preserves. I've never had pear preserves...and they tasted great!

Next week the long ride & run are shorter, but at a slightly higher intensity. Each week the length of the key workouts become shorter...except for the swim...there are some pretty long swim sessions planned the next couple weeks, so we'll see how those go.

Sween

...the day after River Run...

I was planning on going to a triathlon down in Gainesville, but the weather report said it would be low 30's at 8 am!! I wasn't too hip on getting out of the water, taking off my wetsuit, jumping on my bike, and hauling ass in windy 30 degree weather...so I bailed.

Instead I did an hour swim in my wetsuit with Gregg...then rode 2.5-3 hours easy with Gregg, Danny, and Jennifer...then jumped off for an easy 20 minute run. My legs were still pretty sore from the day before, so it's probably a good thing that I didn't race hard again.

Next week starts the last hard 3 week block before I taper for Ironman Arizona. I'll be doing more race pace specific training...and it all begins with a 7 & 7 (Lyndon loves these) on Saturday...7 hour bike ride into a 7 mile run, it should be fun. The next day's long run is scaled back a bit, and is 2:15 for about 16-17 miles...

...only 5 more weeks to Arizona...

River Run weekend...wild & windy!

As usual with a "rest" week...I feel like "Bantha Fodder"! As the body builds back up from the last cycle of training, you usually feel very "flat", the legs feel heavy and you are a bit sluggish. This would seem counter-intuitive, especially since the training volume and intensity are backed down...but, that's how it works. Shawn Burke also speaks about this in his latest blog entry.

Be that as it may, I was signed up for the River Run for the first time ever! The River Run has quite a history, and has had a world class field for years. Some of those competing and winning over the years include Bill Rodgers, Pat Porter, Wilson Waigwa, Mike Musyoki, Simeon Kigen, Arturo Barrios, Steve Spence, Ed Eyestone, Todd Williams, Dan Browne, Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Shay, Ryan Hall, Keith Brantley, Grete Waitz, Lynn Jennings, Cathy O'Brien, Gwyn Coogen, Joan Benoit, and Denna Kastor just to name a few. This race has always taken place during my bike race season, so I have never had a chance to participate. This race is labeled the "U.S. 15k Championships", had 14,000 people registered, around 12,500 finished, and the wind was crazy! It was the windiest run I have ever done. There were 20+ MPH sustained winds, and 40+ MPH gusts...plus we had to cross 2 bridges over the river...ouch! Drafting was the word for the day.

The start...

Kicking up the waves along the river...

I've never run a 15k, so figured 3 x 20 minute 5k's = 1 hour (~6:26/mile)...so that was my goal...but, without all the wind. The Main Street bridge had everyone pushed over to the far left hand side by the cross wind, I even had to put my hand on some guys back in front of me to keep him in place and not run me into the bridge railing...but that was just a brief prelude to the Hart bridge...which is much higher and steeper. Everything was going smoothly, even with all the wind, until the Hart bridge...there was a massive cross wind from the left...and I mean MASSIVE. The gusts had to be 50 MPH...crazy stuff. By this time the runners were pretty spread out...so I got into a little group of about 5 and tried to draft up the bridge. We were going incredibly slow, and being pushed against the far right barrier wall. In retrospect, it was pretty comical...me trying to draft off all these fly weight runners getting blown all over the place...very surreal. Once over the top we curved down to the left directly into the wind...to the bottom of the bridge, and then into the Jacksonville Jaguars home stadium to finish on the field. As I ran into the stadium I caught a view of the clock...59:55...yikes, I sprinted like an Ethiopian chicken all the way through the line to finish as the last person to break an hour on the official "gun" time...59:59. My chip time, which begins when you actually cross the start line, was a few seconds faster...but the official time is when the gun goes off at the start, and that is how your placed overall.

What the heck is Lyndon (in tights) smiling about?!?

Lyndon "Dr. Pain" Box dealing me some punishment in San Marco...

Shawn Burke Laying down the law...

Greg "Gills" Carr in full flight to a 52:45...and feeling fortunate Double D was injured ;-)

Me doing the "Ethiopian Chicken" to the finish line...

After reviewing the results, my last 5k in the race was about 30-45 seconds slower than those earlier in the race...it looks as though the finish times were about 1 minute or so slower this year than previous versions. I met up with Greg "Gills" Carr at the finish...and he ran a 52:45...for second in his age group! He was beaten by some guy from North Carolina named Jason Bodnar who ran a 48:56. It turns out Bodnar at one time was on the U.S. National team for the 1998 World Cross Country Championships, was an Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier, and had a whole host of other results...so "Gills" shouldn't feel too bad about getting beat by this guy!

Danny "Double D" Domingo was taking the day off with a sore foot...he's still battling his foot injury, but has taken some steps to hopefully get back in the action...of course when he does, that's just another guy ahead of me! Speaking of guys ahead of me...Shawn Burke also kicked my butt and ran a PR of 58:36, great job! I ran with Lyndon "Dr. Pain" Box who kept me motivated the whole time...he just missed breaking an hour by a few scant seconds, and had a great run.

Here's the results.

Thoughts so far, and some of the facts...

A few of you have already trained for and competed in an Ironman (or several!), but I have received a lot of questions about the training. I'll try to answer some of them...and give you my view on how this type of training compares to what it takes to compete in bike racing.

The number of hours training depends on the week, but it averages 15-20 hours. Sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. Below is a rough breakdown.

Swim 3 times a week, 3-4 hours total, 9k-12k yards
Run 4 times (including bricks) a week, 4-6 hours total, 30-50 miles
Bike 3 times a week, 8-10 hours total, 160-240 miles

Total hours spent training is similar to what is needed to race bikes, but not all workout hours are contiguous. You have to drive to the pool or to the run, etc. This all adds up to a lot more hours to get ready, and return from working out. Also, an hour running or swimming is a much different effort than cycling for an hour...so the total energy & calorie expenditure is MUCH higher. For example, since I switched over training to triathlons, I've dropped 15-20 pounds. Some pounds were fat, but many of the pounds were muscle from my legs and upper body that were needed to compete in cycling races. In cycling I had much higher intensity intervals and operated at a much higher heart rate...at least 20-25 beats higher on average for the week. With that training I was able to generate high wattage for short periods of time, but now I can sustain a medium level wattage for a very long time. I've traded my "jet fuel" for "diesel" to power my engine.

It takes up a lot of time, especially with a full time job, etc. But, what does it really take to compete at the top level (obviously not me, the real guys)? As a comparison, Brian Fleischmann is on the U.S. National team and races ITU races. The distance he races is approximately a 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and a 6 mile run...and he trains about 25 hours or so per week. He's not training for an Ironman, but an event that takes around 2 hours to complete! There is much more intensity in his training, so most of those hours have a LOT of quality to them...ouch! It makes my schedule look tiny in comparison. I think for a professional triathlete training for Ironman events probably is around 25-30 hours per week, but much less intensity than Brian's. I read one time that Mark Allen trained 38 hours a week during his peak volume!

Ironman training puts an emphasis on doing long workouts at a lower intensity. This teaches your body to use fat for fuel in an efficient manner, and save your glycogen stores. When you go harder (high heart rate) you burn glycogen which I think is enough for about 2 hours...then your empty...obviously not enough for an Ironman. Your body has a much larger store of fat energy, so you want to keep your heart rate in a certain zone so that you can use fat energy as long as possible...and burn glycogen as needed (toward the end of the race). When I first started training I would do my runs at a low heart rate and feel like I was really crawling, probably 9-10 minute miles. Now, I can keep my heart rate low and run 7:30-8:00 miles. The same is true for the bike training.

I know a lot less than most about this, and the people that really know about his are Gregg Carr, Danny Domingo...and especially Shawn Burke at the folks at Velocity Multisport.

I've rambled too long...
Sween

"The Push"...week #3

The final week of "The Push" is over...now I have a rest week. There are six weeks left before Ironman Arizona...and now I can see the "light at the end of the tunnel".

After this rest week there are two "IM Hard" weeks that have similar workouts as I've been doing, but with higher intensity. My longest ride is coming up, and it consists of 7 hours with some race pace efforts...then a 6-7 mile run after. That's going to make a long day. The next day I'll do 2:00-2:15 run. After this week my long ride and run start to become shorter, but introduce more intensity (eg: 4.5-5 hour rides above race pace).

Saturday
I didn't feel real "spunky" today...legs were sore, and just didn't have it. Anyhow, I met up with Greg, Danny, Dave and one of his friends to do the long ride. I've been babying my right knee, and have had some trouble with my left Achilles and ITB...so I was wondering how it would feel after today. We rode South and hit all the big towns...Switzerland, Orangedale, Mill Creek, Hastings, Molasses Junction, Elwood, Picolata, Bass Haven, Palmo, and Florence. Through the wind swept potato fields, past the convenience store in the middle of nowhere that has batting cages (yes, batting cages), along beautiful sections of the St. Johns river...and then battled some good winds on the way back. I finished the day with a little over 106 miles, and then did an easy 30 minute T-run to nurse the sore knee.

Sunday
Today was my longest run of the training schedule...20 miles, and I wanted to do it in around 2:40 (8:00/mile). Nice and easy, and keep my heart rate low. I ran at the Baldwin Rails to Trails in the afternoon. So I wanted to fully test the stuff I was going to use in the Ironman, so I used the tri shorts, tri singlet, hat, shoes, socks, sunglasses, gels, and hydration/fuel belt I planned on using in the race...needless to say, I was tri-geeked out! This also gave me the opportunity to find out where my clothing selection would chafe me, so that I could try and fix those hot spots before/during the race.

I ran the first 10 miles mostly off the asphalt and on the dirt beside the trail, some of which is used for horses. Spots of it were hard packed, some was pretty sandy, other places were mushy, and some had big patches of horse dung...I tried to avoid those. I went 5 miles out, turned around and went back to the beginning to meet Double (Danny Domingo) to do the last 10 miles with me. The majority of my running, probably 99%, is alone...so running with someone really made the last 10 miles go by rather quickly. Danny kept me motivated and I ended up under 2:40 for the run...but, also with some blisters on my feet from running off road. My running shoes have elastic laces to put them on and off quickly, so they don't hold as tightly as regular laces...this made my foot move around in the shoe and gave me some blisters...and pretty dirty feet from all the sand getting in my shoes!

Sween