Third Time's The Charm!

The end of September in the Pacific Northwest is a crap shoot, as far as the weather is concerned. It’s late for a triathlon. The Black Diamond half iron distance triathlon was the featured event on a spectacularly clear and warm Saturday September 24^th at Nolte State Park near Enumclaw, Washington. It is a small race that attracts less than 200 participants. I had slated this event in my race schedule to be my last race of the season. I wanted to turn in my best performance of the season, which included a sprint and three half iron distance races. Had it not been for a nasty bug early in the season, I would have completed four half irons, an Olympic and a sprint. All things considered, I had a successful season.

In late August I attended the QT2 Systems Vermont Training Camp in Ludlow Vermont. For three days, we swam, rode, and ran and enjoyed superb weather, company, and training; that is, until Hurricane Irene rolled through Vermont wreaking havoc and destruction. We finished camp a day early as Irene was forecasted to hit Boston and New York where many of the athletes live. Little did we know, we were literally at the bullseye of this destructive storm. YouTube has all the evidence you’ll need. Just type in Ludlow and you’ll see for yourself.

Training camp was instrumental in helping me prepare for the Black Diamond Half. I discovered that my heart rate training zones had changed and I had been training at very low heart rates – we call that base aerobic training! I had a ton of it this season. Upon returning from camp, I did a fitness test on my trainer and submitted my results to my coach. He promptly adjusted my zones at least 14 beats up from where they were. In a nutshell to the layman, that means my training just got a lot harder! It also means I could race with a lot more confidence as I can push myself to higher heart rates than I had been training in to produce faster results. And that is exactly what happened at Black Diamond Half. I set my goal to ride and run at a heart rate that I’ve never raced at. The result? I had the fastest bike split I’ve ever had in a half iron distance race. I shaved almost ten minutes off my bike split and swam and ran essentially the same as my last two races.

I finished the race with a top ten over all finish and a podium in my age group. I finished with a 4:37:54, less than thirty seconds from a seventh place overall. It’s a great reminder to hurry it up in transitions! I’m very happy with my final race.

So, what was the 2011 season all about? In 2010, I raced my first full Ironman at Coeur D’Alene. The first time at anything can almost always be improved upon. I decided that in 2011, I was going to concentrate on racing half iron distance races and just practice triathlon with the intention of taking that experience into my 2012 full Ironman distance race season. I can honestly say the confidence I have now after this season will help my mental game in 2012. I pushed limits I didn’t know I could push this season. And Ironman races force us to come face-to-face with our limits and our fears!

I have a huge goal for 2012. I’m going to train harder than I’ve ever trained and with some luck line up at Ironman Texas in the best shape of my life.

I’m deconditioning the entire month of October. Two weeks with practically no training or exercise and a couple weeks at the end of the month with minimal swim/bike/run volume. My 2012 Ironman journey begins November 1^st. I have some serious sleep and deep healing to catch up on. I’m going to nail this “training” block!

Triathlon is a lifestyle. Are you ready to take the plunge and enter your first race? You can do it.

Until next time.

Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3, 2011 Race Report - Mind Over Matter!

Sunday, August 14th, 2011. A perfect day to race! High 60's, calm, cloud cover - ideal race conditions.

My second half iron distance race, Lake Stevens 70.3 was my first true "A" race of the 2011 season. It was the crescendo of a season of intense training and preparation, as well as a couple setbacks. With the exception of a shiny new weaponized carbon bike (next year!!), I have never been more ready, physically or mentally, to race.

The energy around the transition area was electric with racers of every ability preparing for their own personal 70.3 journey. I was one of them. I had big personal goals for the day. I'd made some big commitments and verbalized them to some of my closest friends and family. I couldn't let them or myself down! It felt like I was setting up for a putt at the US Open! It felt like all eyes were on me to perform. Of course, we all know that this is an erroneous mental thought form. But, I feel it motivates us to do our best. I was feeling the thrill of my support team and community wishing me my best race.

I had executed my fueling (carboloading, etc) perfectly prior to the race and was 100% ready. Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens was to execute wave starts by age groups, which was much less stressful than the epic mass starts like Ironman Coeur D'Alene.  Instead of 2400 athletes to start, I only had about eighty. Easy enough. I suited up, did some light stretching, went over my plan mentally, and laid down on the grass and tried to keep calm. As is customary, the pros launched at 6:30 AM and my wave started at 6:53. It was a busy morning at the swim start as wave after wave started three minutes apart. The calm surface of Lake Stevens quickly came alive with the frenetic thrashing of arms and legs from about 1,300 athletes. When it finally came time for my wave to start, we jumped in the water and lined up. Knowing that it takes me several minutes to get comfortable in my stroke and for my heart rate to settle down, I lined up towards the back of the crowd, with the intention of maintaining open water and avoiding the all-too-common combat swim start. Boom! From serene calm to instantaneous activity that would last uninterrupted for the next several hours, we were off for the first turn! Like a thoroughbred, my body knew exactly what to do. The countless hours of training and preparing focused on this one moment in time. As expected, though, at first my stroke and breathing were labored and clumsy. I fought to not exceed my aerobic threshold. Finally, after about eight to ten minutes my body started to calm down and I leveled off and could feel the efficiency of my swim stroke starting to settle in. My next goal was to identify an athlete in my age group who seemed to be swimming at a good pace, hop in behind him and follow his kick bubbles to T1. That's exactly what I did. We were passing people from previous waves and I thought the swim was going perfectly as planned - my goal was to finish the swim as close to thirty minutes as possible.

I exited the lake and ran to my bike, which was very close to the swim finish. I made quick work of T1. In triathlon, transitions always seem like they are going faster than they really are, but my respectable 2:16 T1 got me on the bike course without losing too much valuable time. Once on the bike, fuel management took priority. Ten minutes, forty minutes, one hour twenty minutes... every forty minutes, my plan had me eating - preparing me for the run ordeal. I couldn't miss one single fueling. I rely on my QT2 Systems Fueling Plan as much as I do any one piece of gear! It is that important to me. The last thing I want as a limiter on race day is fueling when it's something I can, for the most part, totally control. Cycling is my first triathlon love. The bike leg is where I make up for lost time in the swim (more on that later!). I roped in almost two hundred-fifty cyclists on my way to T2. In fact, I didn't notice getting passed by one person in my age group.

The Lake Stevens bike course is very challenging. There is a thirty minute gradual uphill climb that seems like a fairly flat road. The course profile proves otherwise. A two loop ride, the ascent is more taxing than it seems. The reward is a few very fast descents. The bike leg turned out to be non-eventful. I borrowed a friend's disk and Zipp 404 tubulars. I've never ridden tubulars and, although I studied a couple YouTube videos on how to change a tubular during a race, it was not something I wanted to undertake on race day! I crossed my fingers and hoped that the tire puncture gods would show favor upon me for the day. They did. I finished the bike leg strong in 2:34:59 with an average speed of 21.68 mph with plenty of high octane gas in the tank for the run. 

I blazed through T2 in 1:30 and started the run well fueled and with a great attitude. My mom, girlfriend, and one of my buddies were outside T2 clanging cowbells and cheering me on. Gosh that feels good to have support at a race. Shortly after starting my run, the urge to urinate was once again upon me. As part of my fueling plan, I intended to urinate only once during the race. Since it was a cooler day than normal, my sweat rate was lower. Consequently, I ended up urinating a total of four times during the race. This might sound like trivial information but this is an indication that I drank too much on the bike and could have afforded to drink one less bottle of sport drink for the cooler conditions on race day.

As I've indicated in previous posts, since May of this year, I've been battling plantar fasciitis in my left foot. In the four plus weeks of heavy training leading up to race day, I was able to manage the injury and it didn't keep me from getting in all my training volume. I used the "recovery" week prior to Lake Stevens to really allow the PF to heal. But, as it turns out, it was not ready for the cumulative abuse from the bike and run on race day. About five miles into the run, I could feel the injury become more and more acute. By mile seven, just after starting the second loop, I experienced a severe jab of pain in the heel area of my left foot. I yelped like a crippled dog, limp-ran for a few hundred feet, and tried to settle into my normal stride. I was cooking off the miles at a 6:48 pace and felt durable otherwise. A couple times during the run, I actually wondered if I'd be able to finish the race with the increasingly painful PF in my foot. I commanded the thought out of my mind and commanded my legs to keep turning over. I refused to quit! I'd come this far and sacrificed so much. There was NO WAY I was caving in to this inconvenience.

By half way though the run, the sun had broken through the marine layer and we were being soaked in much warmer air temperatures. I walked through every other aid station, dousing myself with water and downing a cup of Powerbar Perform. I didn't let up at all during the run and managed to stay on task with keeping my heart rate pegged at my goal heart rate. All was going according to plan.

Here is where the story gets a little more interesting. Remember when I said my goal was to get the swim done in around thirty minutes? Well, the entire time I'm on the bike and the entire time on the run, I'm thinking that I had a really good swim and had gotten out of the lake in around thirty minutes. I was doing all the math in my head based on the cumulative time on my Garmin. And, since I hadn't had anyone in my age group pass me on the bike or the run, I thought FOR SURE I was going to get on the podium or even win my age group. That thought was fuel to keep running like a man possessed! I knew I had to finish  the race somewhere around 4:35:xx to 4:40:xx based on 2010 results. According to my math I was heading for a 4:37:xx finish! I was so excited at the possibility!

It's amazing how the mind works. I really thought I "got 'er done" in the lake! Not so much! I crossed the finish line with a PR run of 1:31:21 and when I slumped into my girlfriends arms I asked her if she saw anyone else in my age group cross. She said there had been several in the last few minutes. NO! I was devastated. As it turns out, I was nowhere near thirty minutes in the lake. I was actually out of the water in 36:21! Those six minutes were the difference between eighth and third overall in my age group! This is exactly why you'll hear, if you're around triathlon for any length of time, that "you can't win a triathlon in the water, but you can sure lose it." I lost my chance for a podium because of my less-than-impressive swim. My math had been all wrong. I was about nine minutes off the top step of the podium. I finished with solid 4:46:27 and had the third fastest run split in my age group; good, but not good enough to podium.

OK, before anyone thinks I'm not thrilled with my overall performance, I am! But, I know I can improve and I know exactly where I need to improve the most. This is a halmark of a champion mindset. I've come a long way with my swimming in just two years, but I have some big goals and my swim leg simply must improve.

With a few days to reflect on my race, and especially the swim, what could I have done differently? The one thing I could have done and didn't was get my body warmed up properly for the ordeal of the swim leg. I was simply too cold. The metaphor I thought of the day after the race was "you wouldn't take your million dollar F1 Ferrari that's been parked in the garage, start it and immediately take it to red line, would you?" Of course not. Well, that's what I was expecting of my own priceless body! From now on, I will warm up my body, even if it's on a trainer in the parking lot for 30 minutes or so before I ask it to go red line. I believe I lost valuable minutes off my total swim time simply because I had not warmed up properly. It certainly was not from having to swim in a pack with no open water. Sure, my stroke can improve and it will. But a proper warm up will pay dividends in subsequent races down the line.

The other interesting little fact about my finish time of 4:46:27 is it was exactly FOUR SECONDS slower than my finish at the Portland Rev3 Half on July 10th! Portland was a very flat course. Lake Stevens 70.3 was a very hilly course. I WAS stronger and faster at Lake Stevens, but the sheer closeness of the finishing times is somewhat comical.

Once again, I learned a great deal in this race. I've improved my transitions. My running continues to improve. In fact, it feels as if I'm becoming a better runner than cyclist! I came into triathlon as a strong cyclist. To be truly competitive as an age grouper, one must be highly accomplished in all three disciplines.

Next stop: QT2 Systems' Triathlon Training Camp in Ludlow Vermont next weekend, August 25th - 28th. One of the weekend's highlights for me will be an underwater swim video analysis. This should be a real eye-opener for improving my swim.

In the meantime, ice, Ibuprofin, and mild stretching to get this PF calmed down. It's angry, but it will heal and I will be racing again soon. It was worth the pain.

It Takes Discipline

Have you noticed that when you tell someone you do triathlon, especially long course like full iron and half iron distance races, people are usually amazed and say things like, "wow, that's amazing. I could never do that..." or something along those lines. What they are really saying is they just don't think they have the discipline or athletic ability to race and finish. True, it's a big goal to train for and compete in half and full iron distance triathlon. But, I believe just about everyone has the ability, both in terms of physical ability and discipline if they really want it badly enough! This has been proven time and time again by the myriad physically challenged athletes like Scott Rigsby, whose book "Unthinkable," has inspired us as to the sheer limits of  human determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It's self discipline and determination that propels individuals to greater and greater heights of achievement, in spite of any real or perceived limitations!

One of the goals I have for this blog is to tell the real story of what it's like -- the training, the sacrifices, the nutrition requirements, the fatigue, the injuries, and the triumphs. Most age groupers, like me, don't have the luxury of a large residual income, trust fund, or sponsorships to allow adequate time for training and rest. We've got to get all of it in before or after work, somehow hold our families together, and get enough sleep to insure the training is actually making us stronger and faster rather than crushing us in debilitating over training. There is a very fine line between the two. It's self discipline that gets you out of bed when it's still dark outside or when you'd rather go to the family function instead of riding your bike on the trainer in your garage for five hours. It's not easy. Plain and simple. Ironman training is mentally and physically very challenging! And that's why I do it! I do it because it's tough. Because the tougher it is the sweeter the reward. Why do we idolize the SEALs or Tour de France level cyclists? I believe we idolize them because we know that, in spite of their innate athletic/physical gifts, they have dug deeper than the rest of us. They've sacrificed more, worked harder, and determined to realize their goals more than we have. They haven't settled for mediocrity. I believe these individuals give us a mirror of greatness we can look into to see our own greatness.

Triathlon is the current vehicle in my life that gives me the opportunity to realize some level of greatness. Does "greatness" sound like arrogance? It's anything but that. Greatness is the desire to be the best we can be. To not settle for playing small. It's about "going for it." It's the "Just do it" slogan that Nike has immortalized. It's Usain Bolt crushing another world record. It's Michael Phelps shaving a millisecond off a former record. Or maybe it's the forty something father of three who has lived a sedentary life who one day gets a negative diagnosis from his doctor telling him if he doesn't make some changes, and fast, he'll be dead in five years. It's this same father who radically changes his life and moves in the direction of greatness. Perhaps he comes home from the doctor and signs up for an Ironman triathlon and has only twelve months in which to train and prepare. His next step is to find out what it will take to finish the race. And finally, his journey of greatness begins. For all these people, it's not the race, whether breaking a record or finishing a race as grueling as a full Ironman, it's the daily determination to do what has to be done when NO ONE is looking or holding a gun to your head. Life is a "do it to yourself project."

So what's a week in the life like for me lately? As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been training seriously since January for the 2011 season. Since my first "A" race was a wash due to illness, and the Portland Rev3 half was only maybe a "B" race, as I hadn't had enough time to train from having the flu, my race this coming weekend in Lake Stevens, Washington (70.3) is really my first true "A" race of the season. The past four weeks have been load weeks. Other than Monday recovery swims of only twenty minutes, I've had no days off from training in the last thirty days. I'm now finally in my taper week. As they say, the hay is in the barn. There isn't anything more I can do to influence my fitness now. I can only recover and flush the fatigue out of my body as much as possible before Sunday. This past week was particularly difficult. I've been tired. I haven't been super motivated to train. But, I got it all in! Determination. Also, I've been fighting plantar fasciitis for the past few months but always manage to keep it at a level where I can still train effectively.

Most people think I'm crazy because I do 100% of my bike training on my indoor trainer. I just don't like to cycle in traffic. It's just "easier" to plop on and plop off the computrainer where I can keep my watts very consistent. What's really hard is sitting on the bike cranking out watts for four hours with a fan in my face looking out at the gorgeous Pacific Northwest afternoon.  This is the sacrifice. My family was at the beach, I was training. This is what it takes to be competitive. Sure, I could have blown off some of the eight hours of training this past weekend. No one (but ME) would have known.

I'm proud to say I've done all I can to prepare for this race. I've turned myself inside out during hill bounding sessions running and during all out bike strength training workouts. I've consumed gallons of sport drink and countless packets of energy gels. Now I rest and add just a couple more passes of the knife on the soap stone to sharpen the edge just a tad bit more.

If you're reading this and wondering if you can do it, the answer is YES. Only you can make it happen, though. Only you can get yourself out of bed to train or ride your bike for five hours instead of go out with your friends and family. Long course triathlon training, to be competitive, is a demanding mistress. It feels good knowing I've done all I can do to prepare myself.

My next post will be a good report from the race!

Lake Stevens IM 70.3 coming up!

It's been quite a season so far. Seems like all I've done is train, train, train, since the beginning of January! Which is a good thing, but now it's time to RACE! I had to cancell the first two races of the season due to a wicked virus that wrecked my lungs for racing. The flu came on just before my first race, an Olympic distance race in Walla Walla, WA over Memorial Daw weekend. After raising the white flag at Onion Man (I actually started the swim--- dumb!) I settled into recovering from flu and getting ready to race Boise IM 70.3 only two weeks later. Three days before Boise, the virus came back with a vengeance and knocked me out for the next two plus weeks. No training at all for most of the month of June!

The flu was winding down by June 26th, the weekend of Ironman CDA, where I met up to cheer on my teammates from QT2 Systems - many of whom were ready to bring it to the CDA course. I resumed training in earnest the day after, June 27. That next Saturday, July 2, I raced a local sprint triathlon, still coughing occasionally. I won my age group! One week later, I raced Portland Rev3 Half on July 10th. I went 4:46:23 in my first 70.3 and ran a 7:03 pace 1:32:xx run split, second fastest in my age group! Hey, maybe a month of "recovery" did me some good! I was very surprised the fitness was still there to a large degree.

We triathletes tend to get pretty twitchy if we're on the couch for any length of time not able to train. What I learned from that experience is there is a very fine line between breaking the stress budget and staying healthy! I was shattered from having just completed my two weeks of critical volume and not allowing enough time for sleep! I paid the price and I've learned. I now protect my sleep like a pitbull on a tenderloin. 

It's been over three weeks since racing Portland Rev3 Half. I've sustained a very agressive high volume training regimen under the watchful eye of pro triathlete and QT2 Systems coach, Tim Snow. I'm now just over a week out from racing my first true A race of the season, Lake Stevens IM 70.3. It's exciting. Just one more weekend of huge training volumes then a taper week. It's exciting.

I'm proud to be racing on QT2 Systems' advanced team. It's a huge motivator for me to do my best out there on the course. I want to put them on the map! You'll soon learn I'm a QT2 disciple. I've embraced their training protocols and want to put them on the map out here in the Pacific Northwest.

Stay tuned for a race report from IM Lake Stevens 70.3.

Greg