The Process of Change

I'm training for an Ironman triathlon. This means 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running back to back to back. Because of the distance, nutrition becomes a big part of the success or failure of race day. I did my first Ironman at Ironman Coeur d'Alene in 2005. I had no idea what proper nutrition looked like. During training, I would deplete myself on EVERY bike ride and come home on fumes. I thought this was normal. I would eat sandwiches, pretzels, energy gels, sport drink....whatever I had at home prior to the ride. I wouldn't eat enough of it and suffered every ride. After finishing the race and deciding I wanted to keep doing Ironman, I learned that bonking during a ride is not normal and I would need to start practicing eating/drinking just as much as the physical part of triathlon. I tried a lot of things settling on a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein drink. It worked well for me and got me through the 2007 Ironman Coeur d'Alene and Silverman Full Distance Triathlon. I continued to use it but in 2010, it just stopped working for me. I would get stomach bloating, gas and sometimes a feeling of nausea. I fought change at first but eventually, my body won the battle and I started experimenting again. I found that I do not handle solid foods well. I tried different products, settling on PowerGel. These worked great for me and were incredibly easy to use. I have used these, almost exclusively, since 2009. This year, I haven't been doing great during races with my nutrition. I had made some changes in electrolyte timing during races and I wasn't eating as well in general in my everyday diet. This was the case at all three Ironman 70.3's I did this year and many long training rides. I have tried some different things since then. I tried a superstarch, I've tried solids and tried using sportdrink as my main fuel source. Nothing seemed to work. Along the way, I have cleaned up my diet and am seeing the changes in body composition. After trying all these different methods, I looked up my personal notes from the 2010 Ironman Coeur d'Alene. Starting 45min into the bike, I was taking a gel with 6-8 oz of water every 20-25 minutes. I also took an electrolyte capsule every 30 minutes. After reading this, I decided to go back to this formula with one change. In addition to what I mentioned above, I started my ride by taking a dose of X²PERFORMANCE®. 

I also took one 2.5 hours into the 5+ hour ride. This combo was absolute gold! I know, I know...it was just one training session but it was the best one I've had so I'm not changing a thing. I had gradually changed the timing of my fuel over the years and I think that negatively impacted my performance. Going back to what worked did the trick last week and expect it to do the same again this week. I sure hope so since Ironman Arizona is coming soon. I learned a valuable lesson here. Change is good but don't wait so long to make it. My race is coming soon and I'm not 100% dialed in nutritionally. That is a rookie mistake. I have some big goals in 2014. In order to reach them, I have to have my nutrition become so second nature that it's almost like breathing. I will try new things next year if I find that my current process doesn't work come race day or the sessions leading up to it. My point is, identify the problem and fix it early so you don't have to go to an important event with any questions marks.
 

Ironman 70.3 World Championship Race Report

On September 8th, I raced the Ironman 70.3 World Championship. The race is in Henderson, Nevada starting in Lake Las Vegas and finishing in the center of the city. This report has been along time coming. Part of the delay in this race report was due to me not knowing what to make of the day. As you'll see, I still haven't quite figured it out. This was not a race I was expecting to qualify for or even trying to. After what was a completely surprising race at Ironman 70.3 St George, I qualified for Vegas. My amazing friends, Glenn Strebe and Tim Parchinski made sure this event happened for me and I am so grateful. It was a great experience.

Swim-This was the part of the race I was most excited for. My friend Tim Parchinski had been working with me to gain some efficiency during the swim. I had seen considerable improvement in my overall swim times with less fatigue at the end of sessions. While I wasn’t expecting a fast swim compared to some of these fast guys, I did expect to race well for my ability. This race is a non-wetsuit swim so it’s slow compared to most of the 70.3 races that allow wetsuits and I was mentally prepared for this. I didn't want to be discouraged by my time if it was a minute or two slower than wheat I thought I'd do with a wetsuit. I started in the middle of the group as that is where I felt my ability level was. The gun went off and it was the usual aggressive swimming that you would expect at a World Championship event. Keep in mind, all of these people qualified to get here so they are all good. They aren’t the type to passively swim the early part until things even out. I got beat up on but it didn’t really impact me as I was totally prepared for this. I was swimming great, all the way out to the first turn buoy. I kept getting on faster swimmers feet, accelerated to get on others feet and was moving through the field. This NEVER happens for me. I don’t pass people in the water. Not only was I passing them, I felt as if I was getting stronger as the swim went on. After the craziness of the turn buoys, I didn’t have any feet directly in front of me. I kept swimming knowing I would come up on some feet with how good I was moving. After a couple of minutes of not finding any feet, I looked up and noticed I was way off course. There were no feet because there were no swimmers where I ended up. I swam back on course and started back in the right line. I was still swimming well despite the time I lost. There is a bridge a couple hundred meters before the finish. When I got within about 150 meters of it, I decided to put my head down and go hard until the bridge. After a minute or two, I hear this crazy yelling. It was one of the safety kayakers who was trailing me. Apparently, I swam almost directly right, all the way over toward the other side of the lake making no forward progress. He straightened me out and I went into the finish. I was very disappointed in my time because I felt the actual swimming part was pretty good. Sighting is just as much a part of racing and I had failed here costing me minutes. Swim time 35:33

T1-It was still pouring rain and it was a long run from swim to the bike staging area. I was a little apprehensive running on the slick surface, especialy on the mud and grass during the downhill part. I cautiously made my way to my bike. I had a few issues getting my gear going but got out of T1 and was ready to start what is my strength, the bike. T1 time 4:39

Bike-The rain was pouring so the roads were dicey. Lots of standing water. Add in a lot of people on the course and the first mile or two was pretty sketchy. The way out of Lake Las Vegas is either up or down and in the rain, I was nervous. I made the decision almost immediately not to pass anyone here as I was afraid of what they might be doing as I passed. This allowed me to relax and get my heart rate steady. Once out of

Early in the bike with a lot of rain

Lake Las Vegas, I started going harder. Due to the caliber of athlete at this World Championship, I found it a little harder to make passes in the flat sections that ruled the first 15 minutes after getting out of Lake Las Vegas. Once the terrain started changing, it got real easy to pass. The first hill had me passing a large group of guys. I was very much under control knowing that the hills would be nonstop for the next 35-40 miles. I continued on in the rain taking in my nutrition. I was focused on hydrating as the cooler temps and rain can make things deceiving. The bike was not very interesting for me. I wasn't very aggressive but held a steady pace that allowed me to pass many. Once the rain stopped, with about 10 miles to go, it got real humid so I knew the run was going to be a scorcher. As I rode those final miles on the flatter terrain, a train of people I recognized from some of my late uphill passes formed behind me and just kind of stayed there. This was disappointing as I was hoping to have left them behind. Being a light athlete helps on the climbs but those big fellas can really hammer on the flats!! Anyway, I completed the bike having moved up almost 500 places from my swim position and was feeling pretty good for the run. Bike 2:32:28

T2-As is my custom, I smoked through the second transition. As a result, that train that had formed behind me late in the bike were all well behind me to start the run so that was nice. T2 1:15

Run-I felt pretty good. It’s the only discipline on the day where I had an actual time goal. I wanted to run sub 1:30. I felt that based off of my effort on the bike, I had the legs and energy to knock this out. The first part of the run is a significant downhill. Leg speed was up immediately as a result. That along with the humidity due to the rain had me sweating buckets early. I knew within two miles that I wasn’t dissipating heat well. This is usually never an issue for me being a bit smaller guy. Today however, it was a problem (more on that later). I finished the first loop of the up/down run feeling ok but still struggling with the heat. As I got halfway

It wasn't my day on the run

through the second loop, I did something I have never done. I ran off to the far end of the course where the spectators are to give my wife a kiss. Spur of the moment and glad I did it. This sport is so self centered and in that moment in time, I was so appreciative of what she puts up with so I can enjoy this hobby. Now that I’ve said that, I don’t plan on doing it again at my next World Championship qualifier at Ironman Arizona. It cost me 4 age group spots and 15 overall spots in the results. After I passed my wife, I stuggled up the hill, focusing on form. At this point, I felt this was the only thing that could really help me. I continued to have slower splits but I wasn’t blowing up. The third loop was really tough but I managed to get through it. The final downhill had all all kinds of people blowing past me. I just had nothing left. Run 1:35:05

I consider the day as a mediocre one. It was a fantastic experience that I probably won't be able to experience again. I'm so happy to have been able to have done it. Without the support of Tim and Glenn, it wouldn't have happened. With triathlon being my biggest passion in life (outside of my family, friends), it means so much to have competed at this World Championship. I wish I would have competed better but that's how things are sometimes. I think I may know some of the reasons but I'm still working it out. One thing I know had an impact was my body composition. I have been making poor nutritional choices for the past 12 months or so. While I was still within 2lbs of my ideal race weight (145 vs. 147 on race day in Vegas), it was deceiving. Within that 147 lbs was less muscle and more fat than I have had the previous 3-4 years. I think this was a critical part of me not being able to dissipate heat as well as I'm used to. There are some other parts of the day that I'm just unsure about. That's not a place I want to be going into an Ironman but I've tried to work that out since then. My food choices have changed dramatically since Vegas which has helped significantly. We'll see where this leads me at Ironman Arizona. I'm really excited to be racing that as part of Team X²PERFORMANCE®  For now, I am just grateful to have competed with the best half Ironman triathletes in the world.

Boulder 70.3-My Race Plan

I'm really excited that I get to race for the first time tomorrow as a member of the X²PERFORMANCE® Triathlon Team. I'm racing Boulder 70.3 tomorrow. It's yet another opportunity to practice for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship that I'm doing in 5 weeks. I have some specific things I want to do tomorrow.

The race plan is simple. What I need is some valuable feedback. There is a new seeding system for the swim. You self seed yourself with the appropriate time you think you will swim for 1.2 miles. I expect to swim between 32-34 minutes so I will be in the 3rd wave of athletes to head out. I will swim a nice, hard effort. I know the swim is my limiter. That being said, I'm going to push the pace a little harder on the bike than I normally would for this distance. Why? Well, it all about Vegas. Vegas will be a non-wetsuit swim making my swim deficiency even more exposed to the good swimmers. I will be in a hole going into the bike. Knowing this and that everyone racing it is a good triathlete based on the fact that they had to qualify to get there, I have to utilize what I consider my biggest strength in triathlon. I only have a power meter for my training wheels so with me using my racing wheels Sunday, I will be basing the extra push on the bike on perceived exertion. I'm not going to do anything crazy but I will push it an extra 5% or so. I want to see what this effort will do to my legs on the run. I've never raced this way so I'm hoping to see little impact and make this part of my Vegas plan. If I see a big drop off on the run, I'll know I can't race this way in Vegas. Time to find out. Also, I will approach the run differently. In a past half Ironman races, I pick my expected race pace and start running that pace from the first step. Tomorrow I will build into my pace over the first 2 miles. That is the only place where there is any kind of climbing so I will build into that race pace as I plateau the only real hill then settle into my pace for the day. I have every intention of emptying the tank so I truly know where I'm at in my Vegas prep. I'm prepared to hurt. That being said, tomorrow is about the process. The time and my overall placing is just the outcome. I'm not focusing on that piece tomorrow. It will take care of itself.

Practice=Success

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote here about how I was preparing to "practice" at my upcoming sprint triathlon. This was the perfect event to see where I am for the non-physical stuff. By that, I mean things like getting in and out of a wetsuit, smoothly getting into my bike shoes while riding. avoiding dangerous situations on the bike, getting in my run shoes quickly, etc. I was able to execute pretty well across the board.

 

 

 

Getting ready to head out on the bike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The definition of success for this race was always going to be determined on how well I executed all the small things. Based on that, this was a very successful race for me. I was focused on getting in and out of the transitions quickly without doing something dumb. I did that. They weren't the fastest transitions in the race but they were very solid. This a big improvement on last year's event and the last triathlon I did in early June. I had let transitions slip over the past year when it was always a strength of mine in past years. I intend to keep on practicing to make them the strength that they have always been.

Getting ready to run

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The little things allowed me to execute the physical part with relative ease. No doubt, it hurt pushing myself but I didn't find myself beating myself up over a little mistake that had been make earlier. This all led to a 3rd place overall finish which I was not expecting. Results are here. I love this sport and how there is always something to work on. It constantly pushes me to find areas that will give me the biggest improvement.

Running toward a 3rd place finish

I will be racing the Boulder 70.3 this Sunday. I plan to do some more "practicing". This time, it's with the physical side of things to complement the small stuff I did for my last race. I will lay out my race plan in an update tomorrow.

I'll enjoy this while I can. Not getting any younger!

Practicing the Small Stuff

I'm racing the Rocky Mountain State Games Triathlon tomorrow. It's the only local, open water triathlon in Colorado Springs and a very low key event. It's the perfect opportunity to work on the small stuff in preparation for the big events down the road. This event is important to me because I did it last year and messed up LOTS of small things. Let's look at a few of last years mishaps with this years fixes:

#1 Coming out of the first transition, I jumped on my bike. It was a slight uphill start. I had left my gearing as I usually do for a flatter start. When I went to pedal, I could barely move the cranks since I was so over geared. I fell off my bike to the side, remounted and fell again. It was very embarrassing and cost me a lot of time.

The fix: This year, the start is flatter. That being said, I will err on the side of being slightly under geared and work my way through my rear cassette as needed.

Before crashing, life was good!

#2 This was a looped course with a 180 degree turn at the end of each loop. Once you had completed all loops, you bypass the 180 degree turn, stay to your right and ride towards transition 2. I had been riding well after the T1 mishap and was about 10 seconds behind a guy riding equally as well. He veered left and slowed to make his 180 degree turn. He then realized that he was done and didn't need to make this 180 turn, and cut back hard right, directly in front of me. He then inexplicably stopped after he had already cut me off from his turning error. I slammed into his back wheel, my shoe flew off tearing up my big toe and lost my chain. I guess my point is that no matter how well someone can ride, assume they don't know what they are doing and be cautious. This is even more true for this event with a large number of first time triathletes. 

The fix: I will focus on every person in front of me under the assumption that they are newer to the sport and could make a mistake at any time.

Every step hurt.

#3 I started the run with the skin from my big toe gone and bleeding profusely. I was in pain and angry at being taken out by that rider and started hammering on the run. I lost my cool and violated my number one rule of racing, patience. Of course I blew up after starting too hard and had my worst race in many years.

The fix: This year, I will run with patience. I will start fast but controlled knowing I have 18-19 minutes left in me to deliver a good result.

Bottom line is I need to "THINK" through this race tomorrow so things like transition become second nature in future races. After all, the big ones are in September at Ironman 70.3 World Championship and finally, Ironman Arizona in November. No time to screw up the small stuff.

Back in the Game!

I'm back! After I raced the Ironman World Championship in 2010, I thought it may have been my last Ironman race. This sport can be very expensive and it was just prohibitive for my family to keep having me do these races. I always had it in my mind that I wanted to get back to Ironman. I've done a bunch of 1/2 Ironman races since then and they are great but they just don't excite me the way Ironman does. In early June, an opportunity came my way that got me pretty excited. X²PERFORMANCE® team announced that they were putting a triathlon team together to race Ironman Arizona and Ironman Florida in November 2013. I had sampled their ATP enhancing supplement at the Ironman 70.3 St. George in May and was excited about the product. This seemed like a perfect fit so I submitted my resume and was recently selected to the team! I can not wait to get back to Ironman. I have very high expectations for the day so hard training has begun. 

This year will be even more special as I have the opportunity to race the Ironman World Championship 70.3 in September based on my result in St. George. I have many wonderful friends that have helped my with my journey but Glenn Strebe and Tim Parchinski in particular made sure that 70.3 Worlds happened for me. I was going to pass up my slot for worlds but they forced the issue on me. I wouldn't be able to do many of the things I do without the support so thank you guys! My buddies Kevin Dessart (who just qualified for Kona...he's amazing) and Jay Pino are going to be along for the ride as we push each other the make the end of this racing year a successful one for all of us. Finally, thank you X²PERFORMANCE® for selecting me to be a part of this team. This looks to be an amazing summer of training and racing. Stay tuned for frequent updates on my progress. You can can check back here and at my Facebook page that was created for the team. Please go in and like that page. I would really appreciate it. You can also see my personal Facebook page for my regular updates. Thanks everyone!

Progress

I raced the Boulder Sunrise triathlon Last Saturday. I did the olympic distance event and it went about as well as expected. I thought I could crack the top 3 on a great day and definitely the top 10 on a good day. I achieved the latter of the two.This ended up being a good race with a few hiccups at the beginning and end that I'll get in to. Let's start with the swim. I felt like I was swimming and sighting well but I didn't draft effectively and I lost feet too often to get that big advantage. I mucked around the water and came out in over 26 minutes. I was using more of the new technique I'm being taught. It felt very different in open water and a wetsuit. I have a LOTS of work to do in this area but I have no complaints about how it shaped up as I was faster than when I did this event the year before. While I certainly wasn't thrilled with being 22nd out of the water, I believe I'm on the right track. Transition was nice and quick. The problem was what happened as soon as I got out of T1. I had my shoes clipped on to to my pedals as I headed out of transition. Rookie mistake #1-I didn't open up the velcro on the shoe and was playing with them for a good 60 seconds trying to get the shoe open. Duh. Once on, I sped out of the reservoir and started picking people off. I felt pretty sluggish the entire ride but managed to not let anyone pass me. I took 2 gels during the ride and was fine with nutrition. It was a very cool day so weather was not a factor. The bike went on uneventful. Since I felt a little flat on the bike, I would kick in a few intervals to see if I would come good. Never happened. After the bike, I had a quick transition and was off running. I felt great right out of T1 and was motoring. I had a guy on me for the first 1/2 mile and then he fell off pretty quickly. I was now in chasing mode but I didn't know who to chase with racers from a sprint triathlon, duathlon and 5k all on the same course. At the turnaround, the leader came towards me ( I know knew who was in my raced based off their bib numbers) and I knew I was in 7-10th place. There were a couple right ahead that I knew I would pass soon. I held a nice steady tempo and ran through the field. There are 3 sections where you have to do a 180 degree turn on this course. That means you get to see your competitors 3 times. At the final 180 degree turn, there were 2 people ahead of me I knew I was going to pass and that this would put me in 4th place overall. The guy that ultimately came in 3rd was running well and a minute ahead of me with 1.5 miles to go so. I passed the two people in front of me but could not see the 3rd place guy. Rather than dig deep and see what I had left, I dialed it down a tad knowing my 4th place spot was secure and that I couldn't catch 3rd since he was out of my sights. Rookie mistake #2. ALWAYS keep racing. I ended up only 27 seconds behind 3rd place. For all I know, he stopped and talked to his family, friends which is why I made up over 30 seconds in that short period but I just don't know. Also, had I pushed and got near him, it's quite probable that he would have had a kick too as evidenced by how well he was running earlier. Regardless, I need to at least give myself a chance. Ultimately, I came in 4th overall and 1st in my age group. I was happy with the result and the hard effort I gave for the "majority" of my race.  My swim split was 22nd overall, bike 2nd overall and run 4th overall.

My takeaways:

Swim-I am in the process of doing a lot of swim training with an outside eye on my technique. This is still new and a work in progress but I like where it's going. I've proven that I can have a bike/run that competes with just about everyone in my age group but none of that matters if I can't get out of the swim closer to others than bike/run well. My ultimate goal is my September race so I've got time to put in a solid, focused swim effort for the next 3 months.

Transition-This was the 2nd time in my past 4 triathlons where things done in transition (not loosening my shoe straps for this race) tripped my up. Both happened in low key races so I took it for granted that I was all set up with my bike. I need to give these races the same amount of thought as I do in my priority races. No excuses for a bad transition. It's the easiest part of the day.

Run-I am running extremely well right now. I ran sub 6min pace for the run portion after a hard bike so I'm very encouraged.

I need a lot of work on my swim with some increased power numbers on the bike. My training in May was very focused and I have improved a lot in that short period of time. I have a 5 day triathlon camp in Crested Butte with some friends in mid June where I will be gaining even more fitness as I move towards my late Summer race. I've made a lot of progress in a 4 week period. I intend to keep pushing myself through the summer to meet my ultimate goal. Things are looking up!