iron eyes for the normal guy

dL Florida Half-Ironman

2007-05-22T18:09:00.000-06:00

There were challenges preceding this race that made it difficult to have the best of days. Approximately 1 month before the race, I started to have issues with my left knee. After having to stop mid run a few times I decided that maybe I needed some PT to see if they could help me solve the issues. I tried to see the great PT I had in the past, but he was all booked up. So, I just looked through the phone book and found one about a half mile from where I worked. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem very knowledgeable and after going there a few times, it seemed like they were really not doing anything to help me. So, I decided that I would just take it easy for run, stretch a fair amount and work on my balance, which was one of the issues that caused me problems in the past.

Another challenge was getting my new TT bike. I had planned on having it a month before the event so I could tweak and make any adjustments necessary. Then there were a series of issues; bike shipped later than expected, parts went missing in shipment at the UPS facilities, needed new parts shipped, delivered to bike shop, and then the zipp rear wheel had a shimano freehub body which needed to be replaced by a campy one that they had to order. So I didn’t pick my bike up until the day before we departed and I just prayed everything would work properly once I arrived in Florida.

The final challenge was work, I was working on a 100 page workbook that was taking long hours to complete. For nearly 2 weeks before the event, I was working 10-12 hour days and I had to work one entire weekend day before the event. Training was dramatically affected, but the training before this challenge had been good, so I was hoping that would be enough to propel me to have a good time.

Regardless of the event I always have my goals that I want to shoot for. For this event I was hoping to be around 2:15 for the bike, and 4:45 for the race. Perhaps they were a little too lofty of a goal, but I thought I might be possible.

We departed to Florida on Friday at the ass-crack of dawn. 6:30am flights are not fun. Arrived and put the bikes together to go out and see how the new ride feels. I must say I didn’t like the way it felt to begin with. The shifting wasn’t working well and my neck was already hurting after about 15 minutes, how was it going to feel after 2+ hours? I made a few tweaks, moved the seat a little more forward and rotated the bars a bit in the hopes it would feel a little more comfortable.

Pre race: Triathlons start way, way too early. After getting up at 4am, 2 days before, we had to wake up a 4am again, ouch… So, with everything leading up to the race, I was just going to give my best effort and see what happens.

Swim: Other than almost losing my timing chip as soon as I started swimming things went okay. I felt I was going pretty well. My sighting wasn’t as great as it could be. As I departed the water I saw I was at 44 minutes. It was what it was. Later on spoke with a few others and saw the time, and they all seemed slower than normal so maybe the course was a bit longer.

Bike: Now it was time to get down to business. Let’s see how fast this bike is going to be. The plan was to keep the HR at around 155 and I did that for the most part the entire ride. There were a few rollers where it would rise to over 160, but then I would settle it back down to my zone. So, in that zone, I was cruising 25-26 mph so I thought I could sustain that and have a good ride. Since I initially started in the 13th wave for the swim, there were plenty of people to pass. I always like passing people and I passed hundreds and hundreds of people. Of course, I liked that. Anyway, bike time ended up being 2:17. Pretty pleased with that.

Run: The course was 3 laps with a few miles on a grass and sandy path. As I first started the run, it was feeling extremely hot. Perhaps this was due to having plenty of breeze on the bike. I was thinking survival mode, just try to get into a rhythm and the finish will arrive. The first few miles were really tough. I wasn’t really keeping track of my pace, but it felt slooooooooooooow. There were lots of people passing me. Eventually after a few of the aid stations and getting enough ice on my head I started to feel I was going a bit better and started to pass people. Then the first lap was over. Yeah. Only 2 more to go. The following laps went okay, should have been faster, but with the heat, the slowness of the sandy/grassy, and the time at the aid stations to refill and cool down, the time ended up being a little less than 2 hours. Not great, but with the heat and the fact that I hadn’t been able to run much at all preceding the event, I was okay with it.

Overall: My time was 5:08, a few minutes slower than when I did Mooseman last year, but perhaps next time will be better. I was happy that my knee was feeling good. Hopefully, it will stay healthy and strong. So, for now, looking forward to Roth, a little apprehensive about doing the marathon, but I hope to get a few long runs in so I will have confidence in my run.

pam's fla 70.3 report

2007-05-21T16:33:00.000-06:00

70.3 Ironman Florida - May 20, 2007

Leading up to Roth, for my half-iron "race sim" training race, this year I picked the Florida Half-Ironman.

Mooseman is what I've done the past 2 years since it's local to Boston, but I don't do too well in the cold - and this year it's too close to Roth anyways. Daniel is heat-averse and I'm cold averse...I had done my time in the cold, so it was Daniel's turn to suck it up in the heat ;)

Expectations:

From what I'd seen from peoples' times the previous years. I knew the run was challenging for some reason and times weren't too fast. The swim would be without a wetsuit, so I expected it to be slower than the races I've done with a wetsuit.

The bike, on the other hand, was looking favorable. That is my favorite of the 3 disciplines, but I haven't been able to do as well as I've wanted in Half-Irons since I always pick the cold water/hilly ones. I've done well in olympics, but I've really wanted to clock a decent bike time in a longer distance race.

This year it took me a little longer to motivate as far as my training goes than in past years when I started my training enthusiastically in December/January. This year it took me until March to really get into it. In addition, my coach (Patrick McCrann) tried something a little different in my training plan this year. Instead of having me do long base miles earlier in the season, he had me working on my power on the bike and on my tempo work in the run and swim in February and March and started the distance in April. I was wondering how that would work. Turns out it worked very well! I had the speed on shorter distances and when I tried my longer workouts, I did them significantly faster than last year.

Pre-race:

I felt very excited - not nervous or anxious at all. I guess that happens once you do an Iron-distance race. At one point, a half-iron seemed eternal, but now I saw it as a training race for the Ironman. I felt stronger this year and finally felt like I had control over racing a 70.3 instead of it being about survival. Friday we got to the Orlando area. Daniel put together the bikes and we went for an easy spin to make sure everything was working. Saturday morning we swam at the training center in Clermont, and then we went to pick up our packets and drop off our bikes at the athlete's village in Disney World.

Swim:
It was my first open water swim of the year and my first race without a wetsuit. I seeded myself in the middle and I seemed to stay in the middle. I passed a lot of people in my AG at the beginning and then near the end some fast people from the next wave passed me. I figured I was in the middle of the pack like I expected. When I got out of the water my watch said 43 minutes. WHAT? I had done that distance the previous week in the pool and it took me 35! I thought about my friend Andrea's last race report and vowed to not be too hard on myself! Then I got back to the transition area and saw a ton of bikes still racked. Hmm - maybe it was long or tough for everyone. At the end I looked at the results, and I was smack in the middle of the pack for my division like I thought. I spoke to a guy who said he took several minutes longer than what he usually did, which was pretty much my case - so maybe it was a bit long or just choppy - oh well.

Bike:
I had the "magic wheels" on (zipp 404's courtesy of Landry's). No power meter this time, so I got an inexpensive bike computer and decided to go by heartrate (start in zone 2 do most in zone 3). My bike was feeling fast with the wheels, and I made it a point to eat and drink a lot on the bike since I knew that the run would feel pretty hot. My goal on the bike was to break 2:50 and I did! Ended up with 2:48 so I was happy with my bike time. I think I was 16th out of 96 on the bike.

Run:
Took me a few miles to find my running legs. I seemed to be doing 8-something min miles. They changed the run course from a few years ago. Two years ago it went through an ugly parking lot with trucks in it - it was 2 loops. This year it was 3 more scenic loops and approximately 2 miles of each loop was on grass-covered sand. It was comfortable on the knees, but definitely not conducive to a fast time! I also had to go into the porta-potty several times on the run so I prob. lost a few minutes there. Ended up with 1:54 which for me is a very slow time - hmm, I seemed to be passing a lot of people - so I looked at my rank in my division and it was actually higher than the bike! 13th out of 96...so I guess it was slowish for everyone.

Overall:
I ended up with 5:36 which is a PR for me by 9 minutes. I kinda wanted to break 5:30, but I'll take the PR. I do want to do another half-iron this year - maybe in August - so I can try again! Overall, feel pretty good and ready for Roth, though. Post race, I saw my friend Audrey and her boyfriend Ryan who came up from West Palm Beach - they were around the finish line cheering. I went into the lake to cool off, found Daniel and then we all went to eat. Figured I burned around 4000 calories so I could have that pizza, mac&cheese...and dessert too!

back from hiatus

2007-04-24T08:16:00.000-06:00

wow - i've been dormant here huh? and roth's 2 months away! what have i been doing?

after a slow(er than usual) start this season, i finally feel like i've gotten with the program, so i'm feeling a bit more motivated to write :)

it took me awhile to get started this year..why? a few reasons:
- back in november, i was supposed to do the philly marathon. 2 weeks before, i got really bad patellar tendinitis. so, i was off running entirely for december. january i did short sets on the treadmill only 45 mins was my "long run"
- the weather has not been great in boston - especially for outdoor riding. january was nice - i was outside riding my bike as a matter of fact, then february had a ridiculous number of sub-freezing icy snowy icky days...so did march - april too. and yes, i'm a bit sick of the trainer!
- in addition, the weather wasn't too conducive in helping me motivate!

how did i "get with the program?"
basically, i had a reality check that my racing season was not too far away...that motivated me pretty quickly. i would speak to jorge and he told me about his 100-mile rides (yeah, plural) - while my longest ride outside in 2007 had been 3 hours or so a month ago

in addition, i went to dc to visit my friends mariana and andrea - they were really strong from training. i went running with them and did my training run at what was previously my race pace. so, i made a "note to self" that i needed to push myself racing. back in boston, i ran a 10k, PR'ed and broke the elusive (for me) 45 minute mark. (44:48 or something)...ok so i felt pretty good about my running so that helped.

so, for the past few weeks, my training's been going pretty well. patrick (my coach) bumped up my hours, which put my mind more at ease as far as preparation. i've also been looking forward more to my workouts.

so, my hopes for this season: stay healthy so i can start my races healthy. for both of my a-races, i will try my best and will be happy to finish - will be even happier if i improve upon last year. there are always factors that one can't control (weather, some mechanicals etc etc) so whatever happens happens, i'll just hope everything goes well and and try for the best and enjoy it :)

-pam

back again

2007-04-24T07:58:00.000-06:00

it's been a while since we last posted but we are still alive and training. we are signed up to do the ironman distance quelle challenge race in germany again. training has been going well. my swimming is feeling much better. the running varies, a couple months ago i was feeling pretty good, but now, i've been feeling kind of slow. the bike is probably the same. i guess after riding 20+ years, you're not going to get much faster, but i do have a new bike coming this weekend that should help me go faster. anyway, that's it for now. we will start posting on a regular basis until the race.

dL

from ironmaiden to ironman

2006-07-28T13:58:00.000-06:00

here's the lowdown my first iron distance race a few weeks ago in roth. first of all, I'd recommend this race to anyone from iron vet to newby, as the whole expereience was top-notch from race organization to fan support. so if you're looking for something besides a kona slot, look no further. this is it.

combining a race with some family time and some sightseeing gives you a dual pupose too. so if everything doesn't go as planned with your race, it's not like a failed mission. there is life beyond ironman.

i was fortunate enough to have shred this experience with my ever supportive wife yolanda, my sister pam and her boyfriend daniel (who both raced their first too), and my sister-in-law beatriz. what a better way to celebrate a great race than to be surrounded by family in a beautiful place you've never been before.

race morning, july 2, 2006 Roth, Germany

hold back, hold back, hold back...
these were the only words ringing thru my head and the only thing that i needed to remember all day. as a virgin at this distance, i'd have to live by these words for the following 10 hours that would follow, not knowing how the body would react and trusting that things will get tough at mile 20 of the marathon no matter how easy you went all day.

so that's what it really came down to for me, geting to the final six miles of the run as fresh as possible by holding back all day. this strategy would (almost) guarantee me a finish. my only true goal as a first timer at the distance.
i approached the 3800m swim as a warm up for what was to come, just focusing on each stroke at a time, slow steady strokes and just staying relaxed. 1:13 later i was ready to saddle up.

once in the saddle, i knew my geatest limiter would be to hold back on the bike for the marathon, never having raced beyond th half marathon distance ever.

holding back again here was the name of the game. on training rides this spring i'd regularly do the 112 mile bike leg in the low 4:50's. today however, the motion of each pedal stroke would serve a greater, less immediate purpose. increased energy for the run, not a faster bike spit.

so as most sprinted up rollers, hammered hills and raced each other, i just swallowed my pride and just held back in zone 1 for most of the day, all in anticipation for the last six miles of the run. i just tried to stay focused on my nutrition and even enjoyed some of the sights. it was actually pretty comfortable, feeling the best after mile 100.

5:18 or :19 later it was time to run (can't remember).
i tried not to think about running a full marathon, instead focusing on each step as it presented itself. hold back, hold back.. sure enough mile 20 of the run came around, this is when i started gritting my teeth till the end.

overall i guess it was like a really, really long warm up to a slow and painful 10k run.
I was happy to finish in 10:40 or so but next time i'd like to actually race the distance a bit more and see what happens.
til next time
jrod

Quelle(quel-la) Challenge Roth(ruott)

2006-07-07T15:36:00.001-06:00

Pre-race thoughts: Before I start, I want to say I only started running and swimming in September of last year, so doing an iron distance race only 7-8 months after that is a pretty big jump. Hopefully the 20+ years of bike racing was going to make up for my lack of swimming or running skills.

As for this particular race, I was just going into the race trying to stay as calm as possible. With all my racing experience, getting too nervous / excited, thinking about all the different possibilities and scenarios before a race does no good. The plan was just try and eat as much as I could on the bike and get something at every aid station on the run and hopefully things would work out okay, but this being my first iron distance race, one never knows how the body will react after 10+ hours of racing. Regardless of this being my first iron distance race I had goals in my head that I wanted to accomplish. Obviously, finishing was one, but I did believe I should be able to fall under the 11 hour mark if things went as planned. 1:10-1:15 in the swim, 5:00-5:15 bike and around 4 for the run. I was mostly worried about the run since racing mooseman I had picked up some tendonitis in my ankles and they were feeling really sore after any training runs and would need lots of ice and recovery before the next effort. My coach informed me that once you are in the run, you are hurting in so many other areas the ankles would be the least of my worries.

Race: Have I said before that tris start way too early?? Wake up at 3:45 so we can arrive by 4:50 as the race instructed. I’m a morning person and to me, it’s totally redonculous. On the autobahn doing 200 kph to the race and we make it in no time.

Swim: It was one lap up and back of a 40 meter wide canal I had swam in a couple days before the race. Being that the location is really further north than Boston, I was expecting the water to be just as frigid, maybe even more so, but I guess because the canal is never over 30 feet deep the water had warmed much warmer than I had expected and was pleasantly surprised and happy that it felt comfy. Anyway, I was in the 4th wave which started 45 minutes after Pam and another 5 minutes behind her brother, Jorge. Plan was just to get in a groove and get to the finish of the swim. Thankful the left shoulder was not bothering me as I had experienced in mooseman and some training open water swims. I felt like I was going okay, but I must say ¾ of the way through, I was ready for it to be over. As I got out of the water and I saw 82 minutes, I was a little surprised because I thought I was going pretty well. At mooseman, I felt like I couldn’t get out of my way and I finished that in 37 minutes some how. (1:22:14)

T1: This is a long race, sprinting to the changing tent is not really going to matter and I didn’t want to irritate my ankle before I even started running. Volunteer helped empty my bag and got me going onto the bike. (6:47)

Bike: As I got going I was trying to settle the heart rate down, but keep the speed at a decent pace. The first half lap I was passing boatloads of people, Obviously still feeling good. Loved the descent with 4 switchbacks. The euros are much better bike handlers than most US triathletes. If this descent was in the US, there would be people going 5 mph around the corners totally getting in the way. Nearing the 80 k point we have the climb out of Hilpoltstein with thousands of fans lining the roads. It was really cool and it just pushed you up the climb. In the next day’s newspaper, it said there was a total of around 130,000 people watching the race. WOW. Near this point, the riders around me were near the same level and things were staying status quo. With the amount of athletes, it was impossible not to be using other people’s drafts. Still feeling pretty good as I was heading out on the second lap. Average was 21 (.) something at this point. Passed Pam around the 140k point and we encouraged each other that we were doing great. The second time up the 2k long climb out of Greding, I saw our host Ingrid waving as I went by. Near the overall 5 hour point I started feeling a little fatigue in the quads so I started to be a little more cautious. All throughout the bike I had been really good about eating and gels approximately every 15 minutes and drinking plenty. Getting in the last 20 k of the bike ride I noticed some on the verge cramping when I stood up. I was thinking, this could be a problem for the following run. I had also been taking a pair of salt tabs every 1.5 hours. Then about 10 k from the bike finish I had one of my quads lock up for about a minute. Thankfully, it was on a down hill so I could just keep rolling. So, until T2 I just tried to spin the legs really easily and hope for the best in the run. (5:20:06)

T2: The volunteers at the race were absolutely great. She unloaded my bag, asked what I wanted from it and even applied some suntan lotion to my white farmer’s tan shoulders to prevent the scorching that would occur without that. (4:26)

Run: The thought was to jog the legs and hope for no more cramping. Out of T2 took some more salt tabs plus some Ibroprofen to hopefully assist me to the finish. The first k was not good. I had a calf cramp and had to walk already. WTF? After that initial cramp I got going pretty well. A couple days before I heard from my coach that ¾ of the run was along the canal with hard pack which my ankles were extremely grateful for. For about 15 k, I ran constantly while walking through the aid stations to refuel. Saw Jorge after about 8k, I think he was at 10 or 11k at that point. Then I barely saw Pam around 12 k for me. At the pace I was going I thought 10:45 might be possible. Unfortunately, the wheels really started to come off after here. I would get a serve cramp in the calf, quad, or hamstring and all I could do was walk. Between 15-30k, the frequency just increased as the distance continued. On the final out and back loop I saw Jorge & Pam and knew Pam was getting closer. Since, I was where I was, I knew she would catch me in time and hopefully my mind & body would work together and maybe we could finish together. That would have been really cool. Before she finally caught me, I had to take a pit stop in the woods. Then finally she caught me at 33-34k and she gave me some more salt tabs since I was out and then I tried to follow. That lasted about .5 k, a serve cramped followed in the calf and I told her she should just go on. I didn’t want me hindering her from having the best time possible. Pretty much from here out, I was mostly walking. With all the people cheering for me, I felt bad I wasn’t running. So, every couple minutes I would attempt to run again, but after 30 seconds or so, something would seize up and I had to walk. From 36 on I was in dire need of a porta-let but there were none to be had. Thankfully at one of the aid stations there was a workshop and I asked if there was any toilet I could use. Thankfully there was. After reliving myself I felt pretty dizzy so I sat on a bench a couple minutes before continuing. While sitting there, I thought I might not make it to the finish, but I got up and started again. Even though the crowds really started getting bigger, I just had no more run in me for the last couple of k’s. I was afraid I was going to have to walk through the very big crowds in the stands at the finish. But, I was able to barely run the last couple hundred meters to the finish line. (5:11:21)

Total Time: 12:04:57

Post race: I was in a world of hurt. I felt dizzy, nauseous, just out of it, and I meandered around for a while getting a little something to eat but mostly sitting down / laying down just waiting to feel better. Eventually found all the peeps and we gathered all our crap-o-la and we eventually made back to Greding after trips to pick up the car and bikes from the different transition areas. I think we arrived home near 11pm. Man, what a long f^&*ing day.

Post race thoughts: I think my body runs a little warmer than most and for me to have a successful race I would really have to amp up the salt & liquid intake. In bike racing, 6 hours is about the max time you spend on the bike and at that time of my race, I was still okay. The heat as well made it tougher on me. When I lived in Florida I would weigh myself before and after a ride and I would regular loose 10lbs in which I was drinking as much as I could. It would have been interesting to see what the difference in weight before I started and after I finished. So, after my ankles get a good recovery I’ll think about doing and ironman next year. My feet were already a little tweaked before I began run training all together and I will just have to wait and see how they feel in the future.

Finally I want to thank everyone for their support, my coach Olaf Sabatschus for his workouts, which I tried to follow as religiously as possible and his guidance, coach Patrick for master swimming, teaching me how to run correctly and so much more, and Pam for realizing if you work hard, good things happen.

Until next time,
dL

da 411 from pam

2006-07-06T17:15:00.000-06:00

On Sunday July 2nd, I completed my first iron distance race. Thinking about it, 10 years ago, this is the LAST thing I thought I would be doing with my life.

Anyways, this is my fourth season training for and racing triathlons. It all started when my brother suckered me into doing the Wildflower Olympic since I had recently discovered exercising/going to the gym. I raced, finished, loved it, and stuck with the sport. The first year I raced was great because I took that summer off from work, so I had all the time in the world to train - I primarily did olympics and sprints - I loved the "speed" and "all-out-effort" aspects of the races, but being a novice, I still wanted to try the other distances to see what I would like best.

The next two years were a bit more challenging. I got into racing longer races, including a marathon and a few half-irons. Endurance was very challenging for me - as was balancing longer hours of training since I had since started working. I felt that my race results were mediocre - stress from work would sap my energy on a regular basis, I couldn't quite nail some the workouts prescribed in my training plan, and I struggled with anxiety and having problems eating before races, which did not help my performance. When I would do olympic distance events, I would do well, but I still didn't feel I had the control I wanted over the longer events.

Well, 2006 it seems like things have taken a turn for the better. Last fall, I committed to an iron-distance race: the Quelle Challenge in Roth (Bavaria), Germany. I vowed to "not let 2005 happen to me again" and to do everything in my power to be as prepared as I could for racing. Sure, there are some factors in a race that I would not have control over (weather, flat tires etc etc) but as far as the factors I had control over, such as training properly and assigning priorities to things in my life to make that happen, I committed to make the best of them. I was also looking forward to Jorge and Daniel racing alongside me in all of our first iron-distance event.

I changed some things in my life, like setting up a work schedule that was more conducive to training, starting practicing bikram yoga to help me with focus and relaxation. I signed up for two races before the big event - hyannis half marathon and mooseman half iron. I pr'ed on the first by 8 minutes and on the 2nd I finished 26 minutes faster than 2005. Things were looking good. I was able to follow the training schedule that my coach (Patrick McCrann of PTS) set up for me. I had done the work and I felt prepared. I enjoyed a week and a half of vacation time in Germany before the race. I was relaxed and in a great mood. No anxiety, 'cause I felt I had prepared well - so as long as I focused on what I knew/had control over as well as on smiling and having fun, the rest would fall into place.

The days leading up to the race, it was very hot. I remembered the marathon I did in the hot weather and how things went quite smoothly due do following nutrition closely...and I also remembered the races where I didn't do well due to poor nutrition. So, I knew nutrition would be important - I increased my salt intake the days before the race. We ate dinner with Daniel's coach Olaf, who said there was a lot of climbing on the bike course and that it was by no means fast - you were either going up or down and there were two "big" hills. I guess the 2800 we had estimated was meters and not feet, so it would be closer to 8000+ feet of climbing. I rode the challenging hill on the course. For some reason before going there, I didn't think it would be so hilly so it was good I did. I swam in the canal and checked out the transition areas.

I reviewed my race plan over and over so on race day, when I would potentially feel delirious at mile 18 of the marathon, I would have no questions as to what my plan/task at hand was. I had to "close the deal" after all this preparation.

The day before, I checked in/ covered my bike and handed my run bag to the appropriate peeps to be taken to T2. There were 2 different transition areas in the race and the finish was in a third location. But, this being the best-run and organized race I have ever seen and/or been to, everything went smoothly and seamlessly.

Race Morning, I was to relax and eat. That went smoothly - downed a cup of coffee and a bowl of muesli with Jorge and Daniel at 3:30am. I headed to the race start - we had to be there by 4:50 AM. I was going to be in the first wave at 6:20. In European long distance triathlons, I had been told that a - the ratio of men to women was much higher and b - the competition was tougher (and tough-looking) - probably due to the status of the race (oldest iron-distance event in Europe) and the 15 hour cutoff time. All the women, since there were 230 of us out of a field of almost 3500 athletes, got to start with the Pros and Senior men. I handed my remaining bags to the appropriate people, did some light stretching with J and D, listened to some tunes, laughed (we were betting they would play "The FInal Countown" and they did) and checked out Faris as he did some funky stretching routine.

My plan on the swim was to take it easy and do as little work as possible, I had really worked on my swimming for the past year, so I felt good about it. I wasn't going to go fast - this was just to get the blood flowing for the rest of the hours to come. I was able to execute it pretty well. I warmed up for a few minutes swimming to the swim start. When we were off, I seeded myself in the middle of the pack and found some feet to draft off of - the person might have gone a bit slower than I would have liked, but better safe than sorry - I'd take the "a bit slower" over the "pushing too hard". Time was 1:21

T1 - Got my bag, went to the changing tent, the volunteers were awesome and extremely efficient, sat down in the middle of a sea of nekkid men (yes, the euro tents are co-ed and yes, nudity is allowed) changed into my bike clothes, got my bike, and jogged out of T2 singing along to what they were playing (Crazy by Gnarls Barkley)

On the bike, I was to really stay focused. I was using my friend Mo's power-tap device and Patrick had loaned me his power-tap-equipped bling bling race wheels. In addition, he had crunched some numbers and come up with wattage for my race. This was schweeeeet. The first hour and a half, I was to take it very easy. Patrick, Ironman-guru-extraordinaire, had also advised me to NOT lose my patience as people zoomed past me during this time - and instead to trust him that I would see many of those people at the end of the bike and on the run. As I started the ride, I was very impressed with the fan support. I later read in the newspaper that 130,000 fans had watched the race!!!! I seriously felt like I was a Tour de France racer instead of an age-grouper. Every town along the course had come out to watch and cheer. Anyways, lo and behold, a bunch of people - lots of guys with scary-looking legs with names like Thor and Wolfgang - zoomed past me autobahn-style. Patience, patience, I thought. After an hour and a half, I went up to speed. There was some wind, but it seemed bearable. I finished the first loop in around 3:05. On one of the climbs, it was like the tour - fans were on either side of you about a foot away cheering - it seriously didn't feel like a hard climb this way! There were also 4 hairpin turns down hill - so I did as daniel taught me to work the brakes and apex the corners, so I got some good speed and didn't fly off the mountain. Anyways, the second loop was much slower since it seemed like there was very strong headwind the whole time - but I stuck to my wattage and did not force the issue to try to hold the same speed. Patrick was right - I ended up passing several of those people who had zoomed past me at the beginning. I was also meticulous about my nutrition - including taking extra salt tabs - in order to minimize the House of Pain I would potentially experience on the deathmarch...I mean, marathon. Bike Time was 6:26 - figured that was decent for 8000 feet of climbing and I didn't want to go too hard because I knew the fun would begin running the marathon in 90 degree heat.

T2 - Again, very efficiently run by the volunteers. I sat down for a few minutes to massage my feet since they swelled up on the bike and were hurting a bit. Pain subsided, and I was off once again.

On the run, I wanted to keep my cadence high and my vertical movement to a minimum. Baby steps. My goal was to try to hold around 9-10 minute miles. I really concentrated on my form and on my nutrition. I noticed a lot of people hurting bad and walking (including some of the ones who had zoomed past me on the bike) The first 28 kilometers were ok - i had reached the half marathon point at 2:05. After mile 10, coke tasted very good. I noticed that relay teams here were serious business - yup, saw a few Kenyan relay runners zoom past to finish under 2:20. Anyways, saw Jorge and Daniel twice along the run course which helped me get some energy. As is usually the case, the last 8 miles were very tough - even though I was jogging most of the time, I did stop to walk all the aid stations. My heartrate was very low b/c I was hurting so bad that my legs wouldn't go any faster. Finished in 4:26 - only 11 mins slower than my only stand-alone marathon.

Finished in 12:27 - I was pretty happy since it was my first iron-distance race and my goal was primarily to finish. I did have a thought in the back of my head that if I finished between 12 and 13 hours I would be even more psyched, which I did, so I was :) I think I was able to have a good race because I stayed focused on the factors I could control - preparation, nutrition, being mentally relaxed, focusing on the task at hand during every moment of the race, and having a good time.

After the race, I hit the massage tent for a nice 30 minute massage, found my family, and headed home. Called Patrick and Maura to report the good news back to Boston - and eventually, when I came off my sugar high, I went to sleep. (yes, even though I had been awake since 3:30am and it was 11pm, since I had been eating primarily sugar the whole day, I was more wired than tired!)

The following morning, I was a bit sore, but that all got taken care of when I went to Baden Baden where I met with friend and fellow-Iron-woman Heather Shand who had raced the same day in Ironman Switzerland and PR'ed (yay!!!)

I highly recommend Quelle Challenge Roth if you are thinking of an Iron-distance race. Unless you are trying to qualify for Hawaii (it isn't Ironman Corporation, so it does not offer Hawaii spots), this is a great race to do. It is the best-run and organized race I've been to and seen, the course is beautiful, the roads are smooth, the volunteers are great. The fan support is absolutely amazing. I also recommend recovering in the Baden Baden spas the following day - I swear the water there has some magical powers. I was able to do a lot of walking when I went to see the Tour de France the following day relatively pain-free. I also recommend working with Patrick McCrann or the other coaches at PTS if you're thinking of working with a coach. They're experts at racing smart. Not only did Patrick set up a great training plan for me that worked with my schedule, he also advised me on nutrition, race strategy and execution - all of which helped immensely.

Finally, I'm so proud of Daniel and Jorge who did an awesome job in Roth in their first iron-distance race - and helped inspire and motivate me to do the same :) (Y gracias a Yolanda y Bea por apoyarnos durante la carrera y haber tomado fotos!)

numbahs

2006-06-28T13:31:00.000-06:00

looks like i get to start with the pros - that makes it easy to know where to seed myself hehe - sure as hell not in the front of the pack!

i guess for the race they have the fastest people starting with all the women (not too many of us) and the oldest men at the a** crack of dawn - 6:20 am - then the general starting time is at 6:55 and every 5 minutes after that - jorge goes on the third wave at 7:05 and daniel goes on the 4th wave at 7:10 - i guess it will be pretty cool since i'll see them on the bike course...passing me, that is!

our numbers:
1490 daniel
964 jorge
191 pam

for the race website click here

hopefully i'll be able to get online once more before the race - otherwise, see you on the other side!

hallo aus deutschland

2006-06-27T03:49:00.000-06:00

we are finally getting acclimated to both the german language and the time difference. not that my german is any good on the best of days, i finally feel like i can get around, order things, ask questions, etc... regardless, we always have the phrase book and german dictionary very handy.

as for the training, we went out on sunday for a 2 hour ride outside of augsburg through very beautiful country side. the only thing is, it's been very warm. around 90 degrees daily and we were looking for a starbucks (j/k!) or really any store where we could get something nice and cold, but none were to be found. unfortunately with our american ways, we are so used to most stores being open at all times. so, we made it back. a little dehydrated, but good. caught germany opening a can of whoop ass on sweden in the round of 16. it was pretty funny, whenever germany scored you would hear yells coming from the neighboring houses. they love their soccer.

yesterday we had a rest day and we took the train to munich for a little sightseeing, but mostly shopping. saw all the italians visiting germany going nuts as australian got robbed on an invisible penalty in the last minute of the game. the italians were driving around honking horns, waiving their flags and very excited.

anyway, it's tuesday morning and we are about to head off for a little bike ride followed by a short run.

until next time,
dL

greetings from augsburg

2006-06-25T04:54:00.000-06:00

so we made it in one piece (and so did our bikes!) - the flight from amsterdam was short and sweet with a bunch of heavily-tattooed english soccer fans (my friend - you know who you are - would have loved the flight hehe) - anywho, we got to the munich airport and daniel's bro, gerhard, was waiting for us - thankfully he had a minivan where our bike boxes and luggage fit nicely

we drove (about 40 minutes) to augsburg, where we's be staying until thursday. daniel was very psyched to have taken our turbo 6-speed vw golf plus rental car on the autobahn since we were hitting speeds of 140-160kph - the further out you are from a big city, they have "no speed limit" signs where you can go as fast as you want. the only thing is when there is an accident here, it's usually pretty bad.

anyways, augsburg. this is where daniel's mom is from and where a lot of his family lives. our lodging is at a fire station (daniel's bro works there) where it costs 5 euros/day - we have a clean private room and a swimming pool to use whenever we want - it's also located across the street from a river with a nice path for runners, walkers and bikes alongside it - the weather is great - a bit hot, but not too humid - so yes, very conducive to training!

anywho, yesterday we put the bikes together and went for a short spin. the roads are very nice here - no potholes - and there are bike-friendly lanes everywhere. many people ride bikes here for both transportation and leisure - cars seem to be used to them 'cause we haven't been yelled at once by any motorists :)

this morning we went out to a very nice clear lake - freiberg see - it seemed a bit shorter across than walden pond, but we swam 2 laps and it was great. we were the only nutcases wearing wetsuits...i guess people here are used to swimming in 65 degree water in speedos. other sightings included many more speedos including one on a very hairy 350-lb man - and various instances of full frontal nudity while changing into and out of swimming gear - all genders and ages - we were the only prudes utilizing the towel method

now we're off for another spin - this one a bit longer maybe 2 hours - one of daniel's friends who used to ride b4 having his 2 kids mapped it out for us.

photos coming soon (we forgot our card reader so we'll have to go get one tomorrow when stores open back up) - until next time!

pam (and dan)

we'll only fly if our bikes are with us!!!

2006-06-23T01:49:00.000-06:00

just landed in amsterdam :) our flight from boston was delayed standing around in logan for an hour, so when we got here, our connecting flight to munich was very close...we made it to the gate, but apparently our luggage (and thousands of dollars in bike paraphenalia) would not share our luck. the next flight to munich is at noon which is only 2 hours away, so we figured better safe than sorry...so we called up daniel's bro and we'll be in munich just a few hours later

so here we are...on the internet (surprised?) enjoying some very strong coffee - which we need after that redeye flight -purchased with our delayed-flight courtesy of KLM vouchers

outie!
pam and dan

noah's ark day 41

2006-06-14T15:16:00.000-06:00

less than three weeks till QCR - and one week 'till i go to germany! my bro left for spain yesterday and will be meeting us in roth thursday before the race - i am quite excited to finally have my first longer-than-a-week-leaving-the-us-of-a vacation in 5 years :)

with the weather lately, it seems like pretty much any conditions in roth will be bearable. i hope that it's 70 and sunny, but at this point i feel like i'm ready for anything

this past weekend, i went to a training camp in lake placid - both days were cold, rainy and windy - for the first time in my life, i got blown off my bike by a crosswind gust (twice) - had to call search&rescue (daniel) to come fetch me because by the time i would have gotten back to the hotel at my speed of 3 miles an hour (yes i was practically standing still with the headwinds that came with the crosswinds) i would have to pay for an extra night of staying there - anywho, the rest of the camp (aside from the weather) was lots of fun - got to hang out with cool peeps and got some good workouts in.

monday showed some mercy - it was perfect weather out and i felt great - went for a ride with daniel and he cranked it on 225 and i was able to stay on his wheel yay! ...and then this morning, for the first time on any open water swim this year i actually got to sight the sun! yes, the sun! so i figured, hey, this is looking cool for training this week!!!

jinx.

i just went out to bike hills around 4 - it had rained a bit before, but it looked like it had stopped - i looked at the radar and it looked safe to go out. so i set out on a loop (new, longer, gnarlier loop that makes my regular arlington hills one look like a cakewalk), got lost even though i had a map with me (big surprise there), eventually found my way (added on a bit but then cut out a bit so it ended up being the same mileage) and when i was furthest from home, the thunder, lightning and downpour started up!!! so i hightailed it back home - got half the workout in (1:15) - ok now gonna go wash off myself and my bike...and then it's looking like an iPod/trainer evening again for part deux of the workout :)

outie
p-Rod

pics from mooseman

2006-06-05T17:55:00.000-06:00

hey - here are a few pics of us racing mooseman yesterday (thanks maura!) - you can click on each picture to make them larger

Daniel, Pam, Nick and Patrick pre-race

Pam on the bike after the 1st loop

Daniel coming out of the T1 Mud Puddle

Daniel running to a PR in a half-marathon - Robin cheering him along

moose-ie part deux

2006-06-05T10:36:00.001-06:00

the mooseman half-iron is basically my 4-weeks-out race simulation for QCR - although i didn't have any concrete performance goals, i did have some expectations based on my training to gauge how i should pace myself for the big race

pre-race:

i felt more relaxed than ever before the race - thankfully no jitters - i had gone to a bikram yoga class on thursday night to de-compress from a stressful workweek and to do a "system-check" on my body

friday before the race patrick (my coach) helped me analyze my power tap data to determine how to push on the bike based on power - not speed - so that i could be more efficient and have fresher legs for the run

the days before, i spoke with family and friends who offered me their support, "fast vibes" and good-luck wishes

drove up the day before to the mud-fest that daniel outlined in his report, signed in, ate a delicious dinner at a great restaurant, the italian farmhouse, with kerry, dave and daniel (highly recommend it!)

came back to the hotel, slept for a bit, woke up to the f-bomb fight (see daniel's report below) and went back to sleep. woke up surprisingly HUNGRY at 5 and immediately had a bagel with pb - whew - passed the first test of the day (last year i could not eat before the race) - felt pretty relaxed - went to the race, parked far away, and rode our bikes to the transition area

at transition, was happy to see familiar faces including the PTS and TE gangs - i suited up and went to the beach where i saw even more familiar faces

the race:

the swim was decent - was hard to get into a rhythm - i think my body had a shock b/c of the cold water so for the first 1/4 of the way, it was hard to breathe - then on the way back i got decked by someone in the hand - and it was very choppy - it was 9 mins better than last year, so i'm happy with that

t1 took FOREVER - i got out of the water very dizzy and then i was very cold and my hands had limited mobility since they were so cold and had gotten kicked hard - was difficult getting my wetsuit off and the other things on - definitely the longest transition i've ever had - brain wanted body to move but body wouldn't and had to hold on to railing to not fall

the bike was rough - as soon as i got on my heartrate was very high b/c i was freezing and i think my body was working hard to keep warm - i was still really dizzy. i had a jersey on, but even so, having wet clothing did not help. on the first loop i was able to eat ok and was able to keep my wattage to what it was supposed to be, but on the second loop, the wheels came off - i didn't feel good AT ALL - i think i got a bit hypothermic - i felt like half conscious and kept wanting to fall asleep - i had a splitting headache and was kind of barely rolling along - cycling is usually my strongest and i usually love hills, but yesterday it was definitely my weakest and i swear my powertap read "negative watts" on the second loop - could not seem to get my heartrate out of zone1 for most of the time on loop2 - on loop 2 i was by myself most of the time and i couldn't wait to get done - it was a bit disappointing because my bike training has actually been going really well lately - oh well

the run ended up being the best - after not feeling good on the bike, i thought the run would be very slow and in "damage control" mode - BUT i think that since i didn't really use any energy (my average watts and my heartrate dropped a lot on the second loop of the bike so i didn't do much work), i guess that saved my legs and gave me energy for the run. i also think my body warmed up back to normal, so i was able to move ok - i was able to run around 8-minute miles without slowing down did 1:46 - i came within a minute of my stand-alone half-marathon PR - it was fun to shout-out jokes to my friends - "crush and destroy", "beefcake", "post-race bahgain shopping", "no pansy-asses" etc etc :) - i followed mariana's "stay focused no matter what" advice, kept up a high turnover, took "baby steps" on the hills and somehow managed to not crap-out

overall i did end up PRing in a half-iron (5:45) - i did this course 26 minutes faster than last year - so i was happy about that - my swim was right where i thought it would be, my bike was about 20 minutes slower, and my run was about 10 minutes faster - so i guess they sort of cancelled each other out

post race comments:

congrats to all who raced - am proud of all of you!

thanks to daniel for inspiring me to put in a good effort and being so supportive in my training - thanks to jorge, nisha, mariana and andrea for sending me "fast vibes" - they seemed to work! - thanks to patrick for all the great coaching advice - thanks to maura, joni and robin for cheering and taking pics - thanks to lisa c. for the "SUCK IT UP" mantra - helped me push through a tough bike leg to make it to the run - thanks to beth, tania, mary for well-wishing - congrats to nick for his win - and to friends/teammates who waved/cheered along the course - and thanks to kerry and dave for a great dinner and for providing your house post-race to clean ourselves and our bikes :)

:)
pam

moose-e

2006-06-05T04:02:00.000-06:00

prerace thoughts: this was going to be my third tri ever and first half iron distance race. i always put pretty high expectations on myself so i was hoping to be under 5 hours, but under 5:15 would be okay. i’ve been feeling good on the bike so i thought i should be really able to have a great time on that segment.

prerace: we drove up saturday afternoon and it had been raining since friday afternoon so i was a little worried on how the transition area was going to be since it’s in the woods next to the lake. we picked up our race packet and meandered over to the transition area and there was mud and gigantic puddles everywhere. can you say MUD BOG RACING? i was thinking, this is going to suck, but i had a little optimism because the forecast said it should be dry with a few sprinkles on sunday. after that, we headed to the motel we stayed at for timberman last year which is about 20 minutes away and then met up with one of pam’s bike racing teammates who lives near by for a nice dinner.

arrived back at the motel around 9 and we went to bed 45 minutes later awaiting our 5am awakening. unfortunately though, because our motel has very thin walls you can nearly hear everything in our hallway to right outside our window and around 1:30 in the morning there were what i think 2 guys have an extremely agitated conversation. it was like f*&^ this f &^ that. i’m going to f*&^ing kill you. every other word had it. they were using it as nouns, verb, adjectives, you name it. and they were screaming as loud as they could. since we were in new hampshire whose state motto is live free or die, i was expecting to hear a gunshot or a loud smack as one of their faces connected with the other guys fist and that would be the end of it. after a few minutes pam called the front desk, no answer. she tried a second time, and still no answer. by this time it seemed that they had calmed down and it was over. so, we headed back to sleep.

woke up at 5am and looked outside and the roads were dry. sweet! as we arrived and looked over the transition area, still a little muddy, but way better than yesterday and they also put down some mulch to absorb some of the wetter spots which seemed to help. during prerace announcements they said that they were going to have a hose to rinse your feet after you got out of transition if you wanted to wait and put your cycling shoes on there. so, i decided i would do that as opposed to have mud caked cleats the entire ride. headed over to the start and since i haven’t had a chance to swim with this new wetsuit before, i thought i should splash around a bit with it and see how it feels. as i got into the water, it was COLD. my body with the suit felt okay, but my hand and feet were immediately freezing. i’m not sure what the exact temperature was, but for me growing up in florida, this was something only crazy people would get in to.

race: started near the front, i know i’m still not that fast, but i feel like i have improved so i should be fine. and we’re off. i’m sort of holding my own, but still being passed by many folks, just trying to be long and steady and follow other people. shortly after starting and for some reason my left shoulder is starting to hurt a tad. i don’t know if it’s from the cold, new wetsuit, or what, but i haven’t really had any sort of pain from any of my shoulders from swimming. eventually i do finish. i wasn't keeping track of my time so i had no idea how slow or fast it was. swim time: 37:21 (it's what i would expect to swim, but it felt like i was going slow)

T1: feel a bit groggy as i get out of the water. take it pretty easy into transition. as i’m attempting to take my feet out of the wetsuit, nearly fall over because i’m feel dizzy, but grab bike rack to save my fall. grab my things and put them on, grab shoes and socks and bike and head out. T1 time: 4:00, but felt like hours...

bike: go over the timing mats and wash my feet off, sit down put socks and cycling shoes on. i think i lost another couple minutes just doing that. head out on the bike, now, and the plan is to spin it for the first couple of miles to get the legs warmed up a bit before getting it rolling. after about 2 miles there is the first climb of the day and as i start to put a little effort to get over the hill, the legs feel empty. i'm thinking COME ON, i’ve been feeling great on the bike lately, why are my legs not feeling it today. there is nothing i can do now, but just keep on pedaling. so, i just try to really spin up the climbs and just try to roll as fast as i can on the flats and downhills. during the first lap, i pass around 150-200 people. it always helps me a bit to have all the carrot food in front of me. the other thing i noticed is that my heart rate is totally jacked. it’s in the 150-160’s and i’m really not going that hard. it seemed to be 20 bpm above training levels so i’m concerned i will be totally done by the time the run comes around. as the second lap arrives i just keep in rolling as before. as you would expect, it gets harder to pass people as you get closer to the front. at around 40 miles as i’m taking it pretty easy on a climb, this guy passes me. i’m thinking, do you know who i’m am??? as it flattens out, i re-pass him and i smoke it for awhile until the next hill where he passes me again. well, i guess he’s pretty strong. so, after that, i just use his pace for the next 10 miles or so. staying 3-4 bike lengths back. then it feels like he is slowing down too much in the last 5-6 miles and i just go off on my own from there. bike time: a slow 2:35:21, if i was feeling like i have been on the bike, it would have been 15-20 minutes faster.

T2: after feeling like crap on the bike, i think, the run is not going to be good. just finish is my motto. T2 time: 2:03

run: ¼ mile into the run and i realize i forgot my hr monitor on the bike. oh well. to begin with i’m being passed like i’m standing still. i actually feel okay, but many of these guys are just flying. after around 2 miles or so i kind of get in a groove and i think i’m finding my stride. see my teammate nick who looks to be in 4-5 overall at the moment, flying (he actually ends up winning the overall with a time of 4:19. way to go nick!!). see another teammate, patrick a little back from nick but doing very well too which helps me to just keep in going. see other people i know, lisa, joni, robin, maura all cheering me. a big thank you. on the second loop, i see my girlfriend pam going the other way and she yells, you can break 5 hours. i have no idea overall what my time is because i just wanted to do the best i could and whatever it was, was what it was, but the goal was to be under 5 which after the bike, i didn’t think was possible. so, i’m still feeling fine as the miles click by. i see pam for the last time around 10 miles and she says i’m doing great and if i keep going i’ll be under 5. as i get around 11 miles i’m starting to really hurt, but i think maybe around 14-15 minutes if i go fast enough. last couple miles were tough the whole time, but i could feel the end was near and the pain would end soon enough. as i finished, the time on the clock was 5:15 but i knew that was from the first wave. i didn’t know what the time between waves were, but i knew i was in the 4th wave so i thought my time was going to be a little over 5. run time: 1:45:35

total time: 5:04:19
i was pleased with the time, but it could have been much better, though. the swim was not good, also, the bike was way slower than i should have gone, but the run went as well as i could have hoped for. so, 4 weeks and we have the big one. quelle challenge in roth. a full ironman distance...

until next time,
dL

up to speed

2006-05-28T16:49:00.000-06:00

in the past couple weeks, i feel like i'm getting up to speed on the bike. as i've been doing some of the 30-45 minute intervals in zone 4, i'm starting to feel a little like jan ullrich. i'm able to churn a very large gear at 30+mph from time to time in the intervals. the running seems a little hit or miss. some days, i go out and feel great during a 2+ hour run. other days, i feel like i'm on the verge of hurting myself. as i run, i feel odd, the knee feels a little funny, can't get into any sort of rhythm and sometimes i have to cut the run short. i go between should i tough it out and continue or should i cut it short. i usually choose on cutting it short. since i began last september and i had a couple early injuries, i'm a little cautious. i've heard too many stories of people hurting themselves running and i don't want to be one of those. as for the swimming, i'm no dolphin, but i've gradually improved since beginning. i haven't been in open water since late last summer and i wonder how all the chlorine filled days will translate. hopefully good. next sunday is the half and we'll see how the form is coming along. after that, there are 4 weeks before the big event. we'll see how things go.

i also wanted to give a shout out to my coach olaf sabatschus for kicking ass today in ironman brazil. he had a solid 3rd place overall. great job!

until next time,
dL

5 weeks out from QCR

2006-05-28T08:18:00.000-06:00

5 weeks out from QCR and all systems check. One more week of race intensity volume and then, taper time. As an iron-virgin, I'm opting for a more conservative, longer taper. Better to be a bit too rested than a bit too tired at the starting line. I'm mentally prepping myself to not act like a typical type-A triathlete, and doing less training these next few weeks without freaking out about loosing fitness. At this point, what's done is done.
Yesterday was my last 112 mile ride/brick run. Race pace, race wheels, race food etc. I took off easy (too much red wine the night before) and just settled in and braced myself for a hot (over 90 degrees!) day in the saddle. My goal was to hold back a bit the whole time, as if a marathon awaited me. The temps soared, the wind kicked up. I just just tried to not fight the hills or the wind, stay small, aero and most importantly, hold back and show respect for the run that follows.
112 miles, 3000 ft. of going up, and 4 hours and 51 minutes later I was home again (T2 is in my garage) and on went the running shoes. Wow, for the first time I was feeling like I could put together a solid run! Finally.
Just hope everything comes together as nicely on those last six miles of the marathon. Yikes.
Jrod

let there be LIGHT!

2006-05-16T18:35:00.000-06:00

after a week and a half of thinking about a song i listened to as a kid

...standing there on freedoms shore - can you feel it now that spring has come...

as i stepped off the bus after work today, i looked up at the sky and saw a stranger peeking its head through the clouds

...waiting for the sun...

the weekend before last was training weekend for my triathlon club - despite feeling a bit sick the first day (allergies probably), i was still able to get some good training in - especially on the bike. the weather was great and so was the scenery and hilly terrain in the white mountains. it was a nice break to see and train with people i normally don't get to see much due to the crazy-busy existence i've been leading lately.

upon coming back, the dark clouds moved in and overstayed their welcome until this afternoon. i believe they came last monday. was a bit hard to motivate to ride and run...not only that, but it seemed as though my body decided to go into shutdown mode. i think that all the pressure of work and training caught up and i basically hibernated between 9 and 10 hours for several nights in a row. i did adjust my training schedule to accomodate this, but managed to get in my key workouts.

i think the thought of going back to the trainer after a few months of training outside was not too appealing...although saturday, after waking up feeling sick and resting the whole morning, i managed to suck it up...after all, i really doubt the ironman will give a rat's a** that the weather sucked in my area during crunch-time

have you ever heard "all athletes from new england...you have a 15 minute head start due to your lousy training weather" at the start of a race?

um, no.

so i calibrated daniel's trainer to my weight, hunkered down on my aerobars, warmed up watching Quality Television for 45 minutes - i then put on my iPod, closed my eyes, and cranked it up until the 3 hour mark...all in all, i ended up getting 56.3 miles - all in the comfort of my own living room - wasn't half bad and i felt much better after the ride than before

tomorrow morning, i'm sure my bike will be very happy to be able to play outside after more than a week of being grounded

:)
p-Rod

almost over the hump

2006-05-06T17:47:00.000-06:00

As I wrap up the second biggest base week of the year, I'm glad to say that everything is going as planned. No injuries, no feeling of burn out, and no major fatigue plagues me so far.
The first of the big workouts this week consisted of a 17 mile trail run at Hall Ranch with 1,500 feet of climbing at slightly above race pace(ugh!). I still felt some soreness 3 days later, but I guess that's expected since I'm starting to throw in some speed into the long runs these days.
Number two was a mind numbing session in the pee-pee puddle. Warmed up then did 8x500 yard reps at an easy sustainable pace for me, without slowing down throughout the workout at about 8:45 each one. I figure I don't have any speed in the water so may as well get some endurance and take it easy.
Today (Sat), I did 96 miles on the bike. Started off easy for the first hour and a half and just ate like a pig, then inserted a 56 mile (half iron) time trial in 2:17:48 and spun easy home. Did a 45min transition run afterwards and felt surpisingly good. Too good. I guess that means I should take it easy.
Well that's it for the big workouts this week. Just hope I can take another week of this stuff before my weekly volume drops a bit.
jrod

back to bike racing

2006-04-30T19:51:00.000-06:00

well a little change of pace today. did a bike race in and around warren ma. when i signed up a bikereg.com there was a course profile that seemed pretty hilly. i thought i had done this race before and but the profile seemed different so i thought they changed up the course or something. well, i was wrong, it was the same course. so, on the agenda today was 3 loops of 21 miles per lap with about 1100ft of climbing per lap. so for you non-math majors that's 63 miles and 3300ft of climbing. since i knew the course and knew what to expect, i thought no problem because in the past, this course was always good to me. but, i guess the problem is, bike racing is way different than ironman training. so, i was chilling near the front to begin with when a group rolled off and i was just following wheels and then i was in a breakaway with 7 other guys. i'm thinking, this is not good. my hr rate is in the the 160's which for me is pretty high and i knew i couldn't sustain this for the whole race. i was just rotating through, not doing anymore work than i needed to. thankfully, we got caught after 5-6 miles than hopefully i could get some recovery in the pack. i could tell i wasn't having the best of days so after that my mission was to just chill and see if the legs would come back to me. felt fine for the rest of the first lap. the 2nd lap i had to dig a little deeper on the tough sections to stay up. then on the final lap, i knew this especially tough climb was coming up again, but there was a lot of attacking before it and the pack was virtually single file coming into this section. the writing was on the wall and i got popped along with a bunch of other dudes. i ended up riding with a group of 6 guys the rest of the way. once my hr settled down, i actually felt better than the rest of the people i was with. so, i worked with them pulling a lot of the time. actually one of the guys i was with is doing ironman lake placid. his first ironman too. i guess he was in the same boat as i was. being able to maintain a sustained, but not faring too well in responding to repeated attacks. overall, it was good interval training for this part of the season and a little break from the usual routine.

later,
d

in the thick of it

2006-04-25T21:23:00.000-06:00

With less than two and a half months left till my first iron distance race (tick-tock-tick-tock), the mega workouts are finally here. The meat and potatoes, the beef, the goods. The 4000-plus yard sessions of marinating in chlorine, soul-searching six hour big ring solo missions, and last but not least, the 3 hour death-marches in mountain lion habitat (here kitty kitty).
It's hard to believe that your body and mind can adapt to this sorta stuff, but it happens.
Here I am, five months into my plan looking forward to the next few weeks of getting out and doing it, just thinking about the next big sesh, and finally beginning to wrap my thoughts around the iron distance.
jrod

what's up w/ swimming - by d

2006-04-22T16:06:00.000-06:00

swimming in new england is a total racket. yeah, there are a fair amount of pools, but each have their own crazy schedule and ticks. the jfk pool in somerville is where i do master swimming w/ coach p tuesdays and thursdays. other than those times you almost never know when this pool will be open. a couple saturdays ago after i had a good ride i was going to go swimming that afternoon where their schedule said they would be open. it was closed, maybe it was too nice of a day and the lifeguards wanted to enjoy the weather. the past 2 saturdays the pool have been closed as well. it seems like whenever there is any holiday that week, the pool seemed to be closed randomly. i meet up with coach p this past wednesday after he was planning on having a coaching session, but the night before he realized it was a spring break and the pool was supposed to be closed. as we meet their, you guessed it, it's open. you have the bargain of the mit pool which is 12 bucks a pop. yeah it's nice, but who has $12 to pay every-time you go swimming. there is arlington boys & girls club, brookline, watertown all have their pools, but you need to be a rocket scientist to figure when they are open for regular lap swimming. i was visiting my friend ken in austin and there was a pool about a quarter a mile away that was totally nice and totally free - why are there no free pools w/ laps in taxachusetts?

dL

my boys - by d

2006-04-22T15:36:00.000-06:00

as i was running with one of my old riding buddies this past friday who i hadn't seen in months, i wonder where all my boys have gone because it seems like they have all gone away one way or the other:( first off there is t-dog who i was running with. he has a 1.5 yr old, going to school full time during the week combined with studying and takin care of the little dude, plus he works a crazy weekend schedule which starts friday afternoon and goes through sunday afternoon. in a 48 hour time period, he works for 32 hours. he's a waiter in which he is pretty much on his feet the whole time. ouch. so, obviously there isn't a lot of time for much else. thankfully though, he has a little over a semester to go and then he should have a little more time. there's dille who last spring moved back to austin, tx where he had gone to school. texas john bolted after the force wanted to transfer him to some shi&*y location. hoon who still lives locally has gone off the deep end. he was always very black and white on every issue got this girl knocked up and i really haven't seen him around in some time. i don't think he's really riding the bike at all. i'm really not sure why this happened, but it did.

so now, since i'm not really training for bike racing this year, have the big ironman this summer as the goal, i have been doing a lot of my riding hans solo. i ride with p and coach p from time to time which is always much more enjoybale, but for the ironman you must get used to lot of riding alone, because when you are out there on race day, there is no one but yourself.

dL

A Few Small Bumps in the Road (by P)

2006-04-21T16:41:00.000-06:00

Nah, I don't mean the crater-sized potholes found in New England roads every spring that we all love.

The past few weeks have been a bit challenging - not only did my training volume go up, so has work volume. Not that it's a bad thing, just that the timing of these two changes happened to conincide this time around which is not conducive to high energy levels. In addition, part of my work involves a new role in an agency doing creative a few days a week. It's great, but the pace is fast, and a lot of the work involves things I haven't done in a few years, so there's a bit of a re-learning curve. I also have a lot of other work to catch up on the days I'm not at the agency - I do the catching-up in the evenings after I get home, sometimes weekends and on the one day I work from home. Anywho, at the end of the day, especially during the week, I've been sapped of energy. It's taken a bit of a toll on my workouts (not to mention my sanity hehe).

My mantra this year has been "don't let last year happen to me again" (my race results last year left much to be desired due to lack of preparation). Although there are things one cannot control in a race (IM New Zealand for instance), as for the things I can control, preparation is pretty high on the scale. At the beginning of the year, I committed to being consistent with my workouts. After all, I'm training for an iron-distance event - can't exactly take my bike out for a leisurely ride, jump in the water to splash around a few times, take a leisurely jog around Fresh Pond and expect to do well. Well, maybe some Ironman Veteran with 20 years experience can get away with doing that one season and still get by but certainly not a long-time couch potato like me!

So I gotta do what I gotta do to get out there. I'm lucky to have family and friends who also happen to be training partners :)

Daniel is great - he feeds me coffee in the morning - especially on the days of early morning swims. Gave me a good swift kick in the a** to get out and run with him the other day. He's also very patient with me on the bike - he can totally go much faster and drop me in, like, half a second whenever he comes out riding with me, we have a great time and he waits for me if I fall back.

My favorite part of triathlon training is the bike training. Even when I'm not too motivated, I can always look forward to rides. No matter how I feel before, after I go out and ride my bike, I usually feel much better. Nothing beats going for a ride with friends who also happen to be training partners. Not only do you get a great workout and explore new routes, but it's nice to chit-chat at the same time. Learned a new way to get back form Concord when I went on a ride with Carrie and Rebecca last week. Saturday, when I rode with Daniel, I finally felt comfortable going out towards Sterling without having to look at a map and I lasted 4.5 hours without crapping out :) Yesterday morning, I wasn't the happiest camper, but in the afternoon I rode with Patrick and felt much better after (and learned a new loop too!). Already looking forward to my next 2 long rides - tomorrow I'm riding with Nisha and Nancy - and next Saturday is a six-hour ride to Wa-Wa-chusett with my friend Beth - I'm already determined to make it up that hill in Princeton Center without crapping out! Just gotta remember to slap the 25 on my bike and bring a few extra Lara Bars :)

riding around w/ d & p

2006-04-17T09:40:00.000-06:00

let's see. me and p went for a 4.5 hour ride this past saturday. just steady, to get the miles and time in the legs. we headed out toward sterling mass but in a roundabout way. the turnaround point ended up being in lancaster mass. it was a good ride and felt pretty good afterwards. the training has been going well. recovery quickly after workouts and feeling nice and fresh the next day. ran 2 hours on sunday and really only in the last 15 minutes did my legs feel beat. so... that's it for now, sorry it was so boring. i promise next time will be better.

later,
d

P's VO2max test

2006-04-08T10:18:00.000-06:00

When I started exercising 4 years ago after many years of sitting on my a** and fourteen years of smoking cigarettes (DON'T try this at home!), I knew I was making a healthy desicion. What I was unsure of, though, is whether or not my not-too-healthy lifestyle had left me with the aerobic capacity of a sewer rat.

Recently, my triathlon coach got some cool new equipment to measure metabolic info including aerobic capacity (VO2max) and other neat things like resting metabolic rate. Being a numbers geek, I decided to be a guinea pig for the VO2max test, which involved me pedaling my bike on a computrainer hooked up to a heartrate monitor and a breathing tube. I started off at a low resistance, and the wattage would be increased every 15 seconds until I reached a hard effort, at which time I had to sprint all-out for 30 seconds. All this equipment was hooked up to a computer which plotted different charts explaining heartrate, fat burning, carb burning, and finally AT and VO2max. AT (point at which your body can no longer intake enough oxygen to supply the muscles) is a number that influences what heartrate I should be training in - turns out on the bike mine is 158 beats per minute. The number I got for VO2max was 70.8 which is supposedly high for a woman of my age - so I guess I was happy to find out that I could take in more oxygen pipe-dwelling rodent. I must say that during the test I was making an effort to breathe like they teach in Bikram yoga (to expel all the "toxins" by fully exhaling before taking in fresh oxygen) - I think that has helped me in general since I started doing it while cycling, running, swimming etc.

Overall, the test was quite helpful and I feel it's motivated me to train diligently now that I realize I have physiological potential in endurance sports.

J's 100-mile TT

2006-04-03T17:29:00.000-06:00

Am morphing the body from climber mode to TT mode. Did a 100 mile TT today in 4:21 - the legs are good and I feel like I could run now. There was some wind but not too bad. 2800 feet of climbing. Felt it was key that I never stopped eating or drinking the whole time.