Get Fast

Don't Call It a Comeback

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:20:00 -0400

It’s been almost three months since I last posted an article to Get Fast. The biggest contributor to my absence was my DNF at Ironman Canada in late August. After nine months of seemingly endless swimming, biking and running, my body broke down on the big day. I was 13.2 miles from the finish line.

I’m not going to write a full race report here, but I will touch on one of the important details: weather. Conditions played a huge role on my performance as I had trained and fueled in the San Francisco area where it’s cool and foggy, and 75° is a hot day. Penticton, on August 28th, was dry and sunny with a high of 95°. I don’t mean to make excuses because everyone had to contend with the same conditions, but my inexperience racing in that type of weather coupled with a preexisting kidney condition resulted in rhabdomyolysis. Thankfully I wasn’t hospitalized, I just watched as my body deteriorated and eventually had to decide between walking the last 13 or pulling out.

I’ve since been advised that I made the right decision, but in the moment it was crushing. I had defined myself by this goal, which admittedly isn’t very healthy, so when I didn’t achieve it I was totally broken. Adding to the embarrassment and disappointment was the party atmosphere created by all the people who did finish, and who could blame them? Ironman is huge accomplishment and these people wanted to celebrate it. I did my best to be gracious and everyone was very sympathetic of how I must have been feeling, but ultimately I decided this was not the way to I wanted to end nine months of devotion.

Two days after the race I was looking for other iron distance triathlons in the next three months. I used a specific time frame because I knew I’d still be fit enough to compete, but didn’t want to train for too much longer for fear of burning out completely. Since most official Ironman races fill up within hours of opening I knew I needed a lesser-known alternative. There was the new Rev3 series, but no fulls coming up, the Challenge Family series, which are abroad in places like South Africa and New Zealand - too expensive, and the PPD B2B Iron distance triathlon in Wilmington, NC. Done and done.

Signing up again was a huge relief. Yes, I had work to do and yes, I was still disappointed, but at least I hadn’t given up. I spent the following week kicking around Canada and the Pacific Northwest recovering and eating like shit. Once home it was back to work again and training was hard. I was tired of my diet and schedule. I avoided friends and my old sessions in an attempt to forget my performance in Canada. But finally on October 29, 2011 I was once again waiting on a beach in the dark with my feet buried in cold sand.

Again, I’m not going to write a full race report in this article, but 10 hours, 13 minutes and 45 seconds later, I was standing at the finish line with a huge smile on my face. I’m still digesting the lessons I’ve learned from all of this, but right now the biggest relief is my renewed confidence. Not only can I complete such a grueling race, but I also know I am capable of reaching my goals however huge they are… it just might take a couple tries.

Counting Down

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:43:00 -0400

This is probably going to be my last article before racing Ironman Canada on Sunday, August 28, so I thought it’d be a good chance for me to talk about race planning and visualization.

Parents, coaches and mentors have long been telling me to visualize winning, but it wasn’t until I started racing triathlon that I really experienced the value of doing so. In team sports like soccer, it didn’t matter how many times I imagined scoring the game-winning goal, if I didn’t get the ball, or, more likely, I wasn’t as good as my imagination let me believe, it just wasn’t gonna happen. There were always too many variables for me to control, so while visualizing was confidence boosting, I’m not sure it was an effective means of preparation - I should have just practiced more.

However, in triathlon, where my effort is exactly equal to my result, there is no opposing team to dribble circles around me. Because of this, and because of the considerable length of Ironman distances, being mentally prepared is almost as important as physical fitness.

The one biggest things I do before every race is drive/ride/run as much of the course as possible. If you’ve been doing triathlon long you know this. This gives me a chance to see and feel road conditions and technical sections, as well as giving me physical markers of progress - “When I get to the yellow barn I’m 3/4 up this climb.” This is huge. Personally meaningful indicators of progress are much better motivators than nameless mile markers, every time.

Another one is creating a race day planner. I read about this in an article so it’s new for me too, but considering the long and relatively complex nature of Ironman, I thought the suggestion was a good one. Using sheet of paper, I ticked off a timeline, from 5am to 5pm. Above that I traced the elevation profile for the whole race, and above that I broke each discipline into distinct parts, each part corresponding to certain mileages with a few notes on how to approach it, mentally and physically. Below the profile and timeline are my nutrition notes, where I outlined what I should be eating when. I didn’t want to make it too complicated, as I won’t actually have it with me while racing, but naming my expectations and planning how I’m going to get there is the key.

The last thing I do is a gear check. I physically lay out everything I will need on race day and go through the motions of using/putting on that item, then I pack it. There’s nothing worse than getting down to transition and realizing I forgot my Body Glide. Sure, I can always borrow from someone, but it’s a stupid mistake that takes focus away from the task at hand.

Once I’m all set up, I run through my plan a couple more times, visualizing those parts that are going to be particularly tough while grooving to some “pump-up” tunes. Triathlon is an individual sport, me vs. me. As a result, almost all the variables are in my control, and I’ve found that taking advantage of that by planning and visualizing gets me to the finish line faster. Everyone’s got a different style when it comes to race prep, but I hope some of my rituals are helpful in getting you to a successful finish too. Good luck out there.

Get On Track

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 14:45:00 -0400

Everybody knows you’ve got to run long when training for a marathon. It’s a given, but sometimes with all the long runs other types of training can get neglected. Unfortunately, as a result, lots of people experience burnout or end up plateau-ing before the big day. Running the same distance, on the same roads, at the same pace is a perfect formula for fatigue and stagnation. The solution is track work.

Four laps around the track are equal to a mile and even that gets repetitive, so it’s definitely not the place to do long runs. The most mileage I’ve ever done was a total of five, but that was split up into several different intervals, or working phases of a set distance completed for time. The shorter distances of a track workout give the legs a chance to build power and strength rather than endurance, and recording the time for each section creates a consistent marker for improvement. Below is a workout I did recently. The relatively long intervals make this session perfect for marathon training:

Warmup – 800m
Set1 - 2x1600m @ 10k w/ 400m recovery
Set2 – 2x800m @ 5k w/400m recovery
Set3 – 2x400m @ <5k w/400m recovery
Cooldown – 800m

The total working mileage is 3.5miles, and the recovery and warmup/cooldown brings it to six. Following each distance is the pace at which it should be run. This is important because it teaches your muscles how to run fast, just as valuable to a marathoner as it is to a sprinter. If you don’t know what your 10 and 5k pace is you can use the pace calculator from Runner’s World. They also have suggestions about how much of your training should be spent doing different types of running, including track time. Be sure to record each interval so that next week you can compare, and literally count how many seconds faster you’re going.

Speed work isn’t easy and it doesn’t feel good. Anyone that says differently isn’t working hard enough. But after it’s over, and the sweat from my forehead is dripping onto my shoes while I stretch, and I know next week I’m gonna be just a bit faster because of that session, then, yeah, it feels ~~fucking~~ really great.

Status Update: I'm falling asleep at my desk

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:57:00 -0400

So it’s been a while since my last post and I think that’s because I’ve entered the most intense part of training for this Ironman. With less than a month until race day, my weekend workouts regularly take upwards of 6hrs in addition to at least 2hrs/day during the week. As a result I’m mentally and physically tired…all the time. I’m spending more time resting, recovering and eating, so much so that if I’m not working out, I’m probably eating or sleeping. I realize that completing an Ironman does not necessarily require this level of commitment – I’m sure there are people who’ve been able to balance their priorities better – but, I chose to make this a top priority and I’ve seen that decision influence and displace everything around it, my writing being it’s latest victim. But good news though, there is an entry in the works. As in right now, like this paragraph was going to be part of it…

"If you’re under-eating during the day you will be hungry at night and then you kinda get the..."

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:35:06 -0400

“If you’re under-eating during the day you will be hungry at night and then you kinda get the Werewolf Syndrome happening and you end up over-eating. […] The key is to eat consistently throughout the day.”

- Emily Miazga, Creator of Power Cookies

Just doing some research for an upcoming article on nutrition and I really liked the term Werewolf Syndrome. Pretty sure I have that no matter what I eat.

Hawk Hill reps. 630am

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:30:00 -0400

Hawk Hill reps. 630am

Slow Down, You're Riding Too Fast

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 10:11:00 -0400

Inside Triathlon recently featured an article called “Becoming an Uberbiker,” by Torbjørn Sindballe. The guy is easily one of the strongest cyclists in the sport, but I couldn’t help asking myself, “Do I really need to be an Uberbiker?” Don’t get me wrong, I really respect Sindballe and of course I want to be stronger on the bike, but at the heart of my question was the assumption that triathlon favors runners, not bikers. So, I decided to do some research that would hopefully help me choose how best to spend the remaining weeks of my training.

In short, I was right. An article on 2peaks.com, which actually uses Sindballe’s own power readout from Kona 2008, explains that, “minutes ‘won’ on the bicycle cost more energy than those gained at running speed.” The article continues, “The reason [for this] is the disproportionate increase in aerodynamic drag on the bicycle. The energy required to counter [that] increase in drag, increases with the square of the speed.” So when Sindballe speeds up on the bike, he’s not only increasing the watts required to go faster, but he’s also significantly adding to the amount of drag he now has to overcome. If you’re interested in the math of all this you should read about drag equation and bike performance on Wikipedia, however, for our purposes understanding the exponential relationship between velocity and drag is enough. This relationship explains why the caloric costs, i.e., energy costs, of going faster cycling are much higher than that of running. The article concludes:

It is better to invest the energy saved in the run, where usually the outcome of a triathlon is decided. The best chance of gaining a good overall time is when your running potential can be fully realized. […] The faster you run, the less energy you need overall.

All of this is not to say that running is the only leg that matters and there’s no need to do anything else. On the contrary, if I’m going to have a good run, I need at least enough fitness to get through 112miles with something left in the tank, and that’s no simple task. But, in the past I have been guilty of thinking, “I’ll just smack it on the bike and deal with the run when I get to it.” This research clearly illustrates that that philosophy is wrong. Instead, it shows that I’d be better served turning in a relatively conservative ride and winning back any ‘unrealized minutes’ in the run. So long story short, I’m headed out for a run tonight.

Long Miles and Big Lessons

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:51:22 -0400

With The Race less than three months away I’m entering the most intense part of my training. As a result, a few friends, also Ironman athletes, and I decided to log some big miles last Saturday. In an effort to change it up we settled on a loop that would start in Redwood City, take us over some mountains, out to the ocean, down to Santa Cruz and then back. All told the route was a bit over 115miles with 13,000ft of elevation. It was awesome, but I had a seriously close call and learned a valuable, albeit unanticipated, lesson about nutrition and hydration.

I mention the route because on familiar roads a “close call” is much more manageable: just come up with an excuse, let the pack ride off and stumble your way home to tend to your wounds. But, when you’re halfway into a 100-and-something-mile ride on roads you’ve never heard of, much less seen, and you have an issue, things get much more complicated.

At mile 60, feeling good, we made a left to start a climb. By mile 68 I was done. I felt like quitting. I seriously considered sitting down on the side of the road and telling them to come back for me with the car. It was amazing to watch myself deteriorate so quickly and since I had never dealt with dehydration before, I wasn’t immediately aware of what was happening. At the top of the climb, where everyone was waiting for me, I explained, in what I later learned was barely coherent sentences, that I was feeling light-headed, disoriented and emotionally beat, but not muscularly fatigued. Brent, having recently had experience with this in Kona, immediately identified the problem. He told me to eat, drink and take two salt tablets. I did. We rested for another few minutes then started riding again.

Within 10 miles I was feeling significantly better. I rode behind Brent for the remainder of the loop, taking squirts from my bottle whenever he did, and while I never fully recovered, I did come most of the way back - at least to where I wasn’t holding the group up. When we chatted about it later we laughed at some of the incomprehensible things I had said. I didn’t remember any of them. Then Brent made an important point: “We’re all going to come to a place like that during Ironman, hopefully not as bad, but today you pulled yourself out of a nose dive. Our ride was good, but yours was priceless.”

IMTalk

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:13:00 -0400

IMTalk:

So… I just discovered podcasts. I realize I’m a bit late to the game - my mom has been listening to these things for years - but IMTalk is one of my new favorites. Hosted by two kiwis, this show features interviews, discussions and triathlon news every week. The guys are super knowledgeable and pretty damn funny too. I never thought I’d be listening to a podcast while running, but this show proved me wrong.

In June, as a part of my Ironman training, I spent two weeks in...

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:54:50 -0400

In June, as a part of my Ironman training, I spent two weeks in Arizona. I recorded this trail session in the White Tank Mountains outside of Phoenix to give friends and family back in California an idea of what one of my workouts looked like.

This is the first video of a series of previews I hope to produce. Eventually I’d like to create a longer documentary of all the training that went in to Ironman Canada, but for now I’m happy doing shorts like this one. I’m still learning a lot about how to film, edit and produce engaging videos, and this one is based heavily on “48 hours of training with Tim Don” (youtu.be/0BaDYnpTA2Y?t=1m56s).

Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Hell Week

Sat, 28 May 2011 15:29:00 -0400

For the next two weeks I plan on significantly stepping up all aspects my training. I’m going to be logging longer rides and runs, more yardage in the pool and have a more consistent nutrition and recovery schedule. So that’s the first reason this is Hell Week (or Weeks). The second is I’ve temporarily relocated to Phoenix, Arizona and it’s scorching. I’ve been informed that in order to beat the heat local athletes just start a bit earlier - you know, around 4:30am. HA!

I wasn’t quite ready for that, so this morning, for my first ride, I got rolling around 5:30. The sun was just up and the roads were empty so it was a great time to be headed out, but by the time I got back, just three hours later, it was already over 90° and climbing. I added a swim afterward, and on my way back to the house I was crossing the street without sandals and the pavement was hot enough to make me power-walk for the grass.

I plan on getting a run in this evening, so I should have more to report soon, but I’m really looking forward to training through these extreme conditions. I figure as long as I’m hydrating properly the added environmental stress will only make me faster and stronger at Canada.

What do you think? Got any ideas on how to train in the extremes, be it cold or hot?

Forget the Numbers for a While

Thu, 12 May 2011 12:11:00 -0400

Like most sports, the deeper you get into triathlon, the more you start to hear people talk about numbers and data. As triathletes we measure everything, and in most cases that data provides a reliable, objective measurement of performance. However, this pursuit can turn quickly into an obsession, and when it does we lose touch with perceived exertion. An important concept in training, perceived exertion represents the feedback an athlete gets from his body based on output. In some phases of training that feedback is more valuable than the numbers.

Having completed Wildflower and analyzed every split over and over again, I’m ready to get back to working out because I like it. I’m not saying I want to slow down or ease up, I just want to make a clear shift back to logging hours without worrying so much about pacing, power, thresholds and calories. I see my training in waves - peaks of intensity built on troughs of base - with each cycle getting a little stronger and faster. I thought about drawing a picture of it, but that seemed like overkill.

With that in mind, I went for a 90min out and back this morning and really enjoyed it. I wasn’t concerned with miles, and the only thing I wanted was to run a bit faster on the way home. Otherwise I kept a comfortable pace, ran without music, and repeated the Born to Run mantra, “easy, light, smooth,” to keep me focused on staying relaxed. It was awesome. The moral of the story: if you’re starting to burn out or your sessions don’t seem as productive as they once did, take a few weeks, ignore the data and get back to enjoying your workouts.

Getting Faster Every Day

Tue, 03 May 2011 01:30:00 -0400

On May 1, 2010 I raced Wildflower 70.3 for the first time. I was very happy with my time, but it was clear that I wasn’t fully prepared for the distance and the unrivaled beating that the Wildflower course dishes out. Last weekend I got the chance to race the same course, in near identical conditions and objectively gauge the effect of a year of training. As it turns out, this year was worth fifteen minutes.

Overall I’ve improved across the board, but after breaking down my splits it’s easy to see what areas are still a bit underdeveloped. Below is an image of both year’s splits. I was surprised to see a relatively small improvement in the swim, especially given my emphasis earlier on in the season. The bike too, seemed a bit more underwhelming than I would have liked, but this could have been due to the intense head and cross-winds on course. Clearly the run is where great strides have been made. I improved my average splits by over thirty seconds per mile. Finishing top ten in my age group in under 5 hours was a really big accomplishment.

The run course is brutal. Generally, it’s the piece the breaks even seasoned triathletes. Mostly on trails, it winds over steep pitches and through exposed grasslands. I took at least two cups of water and a splash at every aid station. Then there’s The Pit: a mile long descent, completely devoid of shade, where once you reach the bottom you must turn around and climb right back out. Physically and mentally draining. By the end of the run I was convinced that my feet would be blistered and burned from the intense heat of the road and trail, and to be honest I had it easy. The conditions only get worse for athletes racing later in the day. Long story short, having a more complete running base paid dividends.

However, that’s not to say that fitness was the only variable in the equation. Course knowledge also played an undeniable role. Last year’s experience gave me an idea of what to expect and the opportunity to customize my training accordingly. Additionally, the unique combination of traveling and camping adds a stress that, armed with a six-man tent and two blow-up mattresses, I was better prepared to deal with this year. Let me explain:

The Avia Wildflower race series is known as the “Woodstock of triathlon.” The main reasons for this comparison are the dirt, nudity and camping. The race takes place in a National Park, 20 miles from the nearest hotel so most people camp in tents and RVs on the grounds. This means porta potties, fire pits and mosquitoes. Then there are the volunteers - students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo who are generally great but gradually slip out of their clothes and into drunkenness as the day wears on. And finally there’s the dirt and it gets everywhere. I’m still finding some at the bottom of my bag… from last year. So needless to say, being ready for some of the more extreme elements of the Wildflower experience is a huge advantage.

Again, it was a great weekend and I couldn’t be more pleased with how smoothly everything went. Tyler Clark gets a huge thanks for making another year possible. I’m so glad that my dad and step-mom could make it - thank you both - but I’m also grateful to all the people who support me every day from afar. Triathlon can sometimes be a lonely sport so I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Enough with the soft stuff, with only four more months until Ironman Canada it’s back to the grindstone.

Are you a stayer?

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:02:00 -0400

With Avia Wildflower right around the corner, I spent a lot of last week getting myself psyched up. I’ve been training for a while and was starting to feel burned out, but I wanted to go into this race in a really positive mindset, so I’ve been reading, watching and listening to anything I can find on the subject of Ironman and triathlon.

Chris Mccormack is on the latest issue of Inside Triathlon, so I thought a trip to his blog might be a good resource for inspiration. He’s writing a book on his racing experience, specifically 2010 Kona; it’s called I’m Here to Win. I’ve had some discussions with friends about this, and while the guy is a bit cocky and the title is over the top, I think I’ve decided that a certain level of confidence and swagger is required when competing at that level. He is the best. Anyway, in one of his posts he mentions a radio show called IMTalk and specifically a podcast with the well-known triathlon coach Brett Sutton. Here’s the links to part 1 and part 2.

The interview covers a bunch of topics, with Sutton meandering all about, discussing whatever pops into his head, but there are some gems. One point that stood out to me was the question of whether or not you’re a stayer. He says, in no uncertain terms, that there are athletes that are not made for Ironman. Physically, with enough training anyone can do it, but mentally it’s a slog, it’s boring, it’s a battle.

It’s just one long, tedious conversation with yourself.

While I don’t know if I am a stayer yet, I do know that after August I will have raced the three big distances of triathlon in less than 6 months: Olympic, Half and Full. Being able to compare those back-to-back like that, will help me decide what race I’m best suited for, both mentally and physically. I look forward to finding out if I can endure.

2010 Ironman World Championships

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 22:24:00 -0400

2010 Ironman World Championships:

A 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run never looked so good.

One of the best documentaries about Ironman I’ve seen. I think it aired on NBC a while ago, but still totally relevant and informative. If you’re thinking about an Ironman, know someone who’s doing one, or just want to learn what it’s all about, watch this now. Not to mention, Chris Mccormack, the 2010 winner, gives a little insight into his race strategy, a strategy you can learn a whole lot more about in his new book I’m Here to Win. Gotta love that title…

"You can do all the training in the world and be perfectly prepared, but if you mess up your..."

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:23:33 -0400

“You can do all the training in the world and be perfectly prepared, but if you mess up your nutrition then it will all be wasted.”

- Mirinda Carfrae, Ironman Athlete

Open Season

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:39:00 -0400

It’s a good idea to start your season off with a tune-up race. It should give you a chance to assess your overall training, what specific legs of your triathlon could use a bit more attention, and work out some of the race-day kinks. My racing season officially kicked off last Sunday with the Black Butte Triathlon, and sure enough I learned some valuable lessons.

The tune-up race is generally shorter than the rest of your races and should be thought of more as a high-intensity workout. I didn’t taper into it because A) I wasn’t concerned about placing, and B) at this point in the season I can’t give up a perfectly good long Saturday because of a Sunday race. So, after Tyler Clark and I had arrived and laid out some GU stuff for the race expo, we suited up and rolled out for a bike-course preview. After riding the full course we turned around to do it again, and after that we did it once more. Although doing the course three times is a bit overkill the bottom line is the same: take a look at part, or all, of the course. This will help with visualization and pacing on race day.

Back at the hotel I discovered that there were a couple things missing from my race preparation, including: Body Glide, quick tie laces and my morning nutrition. As Clark and I headed into town to pick up these items, I realized that this is exactly what a tune-up race is all about. It’s the forgotten items and unforeseen needs that make for a stressful pre-race, and if you can use the tune-up as a checklist, you’ll find yourself much more relaxed going into your bigger races. The more relaxed you are, the better you will race. Guaranteed.

Meals on and leading up to race day are a huge consideration for me. I never eat something new and try to have everything at about the same time that I normally would. I’ve found that a good time to eat is between transition set-up and when I need to start getting warmed up. I try to leave an hour between my main meal and the start of the race. After that, it’s GU fifteen minutes before. I also leave GU and Clif Bars in my transition area, depending on the length of the race. Be sure to race the tune-up as similarly to your actual race as possible. Ask yourself what and when you plan to eat, then act accordingly. Since my race wasn’t as long, I didn’t have time to consume everything and that was fine, but at least I learned how I’d be keeping those energy levels up.

Pacing and transitions should be your focus during the actual race. If you have a tendency to go out too strong, remember that and focus on holding back at the beginning. This is a chance to hone in on finding that perfect balance between power and reserves, your highest efficiency. And there’s nothing like a frantic race-day transition to throw you off. I tried something new last weekend and it didn’t work (putting arm warmers on, wimp). My transition was three minutes long. I won’t be doing that again, but at least I had the chance to try it. Transitions are free time, meaning no extra power output is required. Make these count.

Once the race is over relax, but don’t stop taking notes. Grab a towel and find a place to stretch out, have your favorite post-race drink on hand and make sure you replace glycogen levels. These are important components of every race and the tune-up should be used to help you reduce recovery time.

After it’s all said and done, be happy with the result. It was just a tune-up and now you should have a whole list of things you’d like to work on before the real thing.

Sharpening the Edge

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:14:56 -0400

This season’s “A” races are fast approaching and I’m really starting to feel like I’m ready for them. Racing is the fun part. It is the culmination of a season full of long hours, hard training sessions and skipped desserts. All of that is what gives me a physical edge on race day, but there are a couple of things I do to ensure I get a psychological edge too.

Some people think that fractions of seconds don’t matter, and unless you’re a pro they probably don’t, but shaving down, wearing an aero helmet and running in a pair of racing flats that are only ounces lighter than my trainers isn’t about fractions of seconds. Well, it is, but it’s also about the confidence that those differences give me. When I step out onto the course I want to be sure that I have taken advantage of every opportunity available to me to be faster than the rest of these guys. Here’s why those three edges work for me:

Shaving Down.
I do this before every race. I did this before my most recent marathon. I know…that makes no sense, but for me, that streamlined feeling is one of the most powerful edges I’ve got. Mostly I think it makes me feel like a triathlete, like someone who doesn’t give a sh*t what other people - people who don’t race triathlon - think because, well, they’ll just never understand.

Aero Helmet.
Let’s be honest, aside from the bike, this one piece of technology is hands-down the coolest looking accessory on race day. Watching pros whip by in perfect aero position, a position they spend hours in the wind tunnel tweak-tweak-tweaking, with a helmet that is an extension of their race suit, is a wonderful thing. It’s one of the things I’ve looked forward to being able to justify, and now I can at Ironman Canada.

Racing Shoes.
This is a relatively new one for me. I’ve recently spent a lot more time honing my run and as a result I want to feel fast, nevermind if I am or not. Luckily for me, Brooks makes a race shoe that is almost an exact copy of my normal running shoe, sans a few ounces. I picked these up before my marathon, had a great race in them, and am now officially hooked.

My F350

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Two weeks ago, at the cycling camp in Arizona, Troy Jacobson, the creator of Spinervals, gave a talk about training for endurance sports, specifically cycling and triathlon. He spoke about the benefits of base building and how muscular and cardiovascular fitness builds up over weeks, months and even years of training. He likened the importance of a base to the difference between a lawnmower engine and an F350. Since then I’ve been working on building my engine, and this Sunday I had a chance to take it for a test drive at the Napa Valley Marathon.

I finished the marathon with a time of 3:08:16 - almost 9 minutes faster than my Nike time and good enough to qualify me for Boston. While I’m proud of my accomplishment, I don’t mention this just to gloat. I think what’s interesting about the result is that I did far less marathon specific training for this weekend, but what I did manage - paired with my cycling and swimming bases - resulted in a higher overall fitness level. I think this is a clear example of the compounding effect base building has on speed and strength, especially where endurance is concerned. Every workout and every ride taught those muscles how to conserve and maintain power for the long haul. Basically, I’m just stoked to see how I fare at Wildflower this year.

Two months. Gentlemen, start your engines.

Living Like a Pro

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The thing the separates the professional athlete from everybody else is that his job - what he gets paid to do - is be an athlete. That means he doesn’t have to fit his workouts into lunch breaks and weekends and his rest doesn’t depend on how many emails he has sitting in his inbox. Don’t get me wrong, I know being a pro isn’t an easy job, it takes extreme dedication, often at the price of a more ‘normal’ life, but for someone like me, it’s a lifestyle that would at least be cool to experience. And, this weekend I got a chance to live like a pro.

On Thursday, after a week of planning and packing, I left on a plane for Scottsdale, Arizona were I took part in the Lifetime Fitness Cycling camp. GU energy labs is the official sponsor of the Lifetime Fitness gyms, so when my good buddy Tyler Clark said he was headed out there to give a little presentation, I decided to tag along. So, that evening was a meet-and-greet where Tyler made his presentation, then dinner on our own, then we crashed at the hotel in preparation for Friday’s ride.

The morning started with a breakfast of coffee, fruit, granola and yogurt - which is what I ate every morning while there - and the realization that the lifestyle changes had already begun. My schedule and food were a reflection of the new priority: training. At nine we rolled out for a 65 mile ride through Arizona’s Tonto National Forest. The weather and road conditions were great and the views unbelievable. I had a chance to chat with Troy Jacobson and Bryson Perry, both really successful cyclists, about technique, training and racing. After the ride, Tyler and I ditched our bikes at the hotel and jumped in the pool for an hour cool-down. Then came a bit of yoga to stretch out the muscles. All said and done, we had spent 6 hours training. We grabbed some dinner, saw a movie and again hit the sack early - a perfect day.

After breakfast on Saturday, I rolled over to the gym for what would be our biggest ride of the camp. Myself and 80 other cyclists were about to roll out for a century - 100 miles. It would be a long time in the saddle so I grabbed a few Clif bars, a bunch of GUs, and a banana. The availability of a SAG vehicle, another amenity that gave the weekend a professional feel, meant I could bring a rain jacket and only carry it if I needed it. One of the coolest things about Saturday’s ride was the chance to ride in a paceline with Bryson Perry. A paceline is like ‘indian runs’ for cycling. There are two lines of people, all drafting off the person in front of them. The line on the left is constantly overtaking and switching into the line on the right, while the line on the right is constantly dropping back and into the line on the left, creating a rotation of pulling and drafting. We used this technique to catch and pass several riders during the day, all while pulling 25 mph.

After the ride, which took a little over seven hours with all the stops, Tyler and I went out on a little run to shake out the legs. It felt good to get a solid brick workout in and we returned just as the weather was starting to cool off. Dad and Cindy picked us up for dinner at BJ’s that night and we stuffed our faces. The food was awesome, but the company was better. I didn’t worry about work, I just got to enjoy family, friends and Arizona.

On Sunday I had breakfast, a spin class because the roads were a bit wet, and a short run after. Back at the hotel, I packed up my bike, threw all my dirty clothes in a laundry bag and went downstairs to check out. Dad and Cindy picked Tyler and me up again and we all got lunch. Sitting on the plane I realized I was headed back to reality, back to being a lowly age-grouper, a guy with a job who does triathlon as a hobby, but at least for a weekend I felt what it was like to be a pro. For now I’m happy being a weekend warrior, but someday, I’m not sure how or when, I think I’ll go pro again.