Wow, I can’t believe that I’ll be hopefully well on my second loop of the run in exactly two weeks (9/12/2010 16:14). My wife and I were talking about how it seems like I was just getting out of the hospital this past January after dealing with a ruptured appendix and a slight competition. I haven't gone back to look at my training log in detail, but I think I averaged between 50 and 60 hours per month of training. I will try to get some firm numbers after Ironman.

Am I excited about Ironman yet? Excited enough to check out the extended 2 week forecast guesstimate on accuweather.com to see a  high of 70 with periods of rain. As long as the wind is nil, I’d be fine racing in that. Also, the bib numbers were posted on Friday. If you’re interested in following my progress, keep an eye out for bib number 532.

All my gear is pretty much good to go, after getting one last race day test at Pigman. I finally got around to purchasing a new front wheel, based on demoing several wheels with Rocket Bikes this season. After going back and forth between the Jet 6, 9 and H3, I ended up going with a HED Jet 6 Flamme Rouge. Yeah, I paid a premium for the Flamme Rouge upgrade, but my long term plan is to get a road bike next season and use this for the front on both bikes. I’d like to get a matching rear wheel with power tap, but we’ll see.

I have a set or race tires I’ve been using for my races this year, which I will use for Ironman. And just for good measure, I also have a pair of latex tubes as well. The combination of the tires I will be using and the latex tubes is to help decrease rolling resistance. Although given how crappy the roads are on the IMWI bike course, I don’t know how much of a help it will be. Why not brand new tires for Ironman? Simple, brand new tires are too hard to put on. In the event of a flat, I can’t spend 10 minutes trying to stretch a brand new tire back onto the rim.

I also managed to put a new chain on my bike, and a new cassette. The cassette was easy, as I’ve been pulling the cassette off to get my wheel cover on. However, this was the first time I’d replaced a chain. Turns out, it wasn’t that hard. Using my newly purchased Park chain tool, I broke the old chain off, and then put the new chain on following the included instructions for determining chain length. For the SRAM chain I chose, to determine the length, you put the chain over the largest cog in the back and the biggest chain ring up front without feeding it thru the rear derailleur, and then add one link plus the power connect link. Three weeks later, no problems and everything is running fine. I do want to point out that I made a switch from my usual 12-25 to a 12-27 cassette, specifically for Ironman. I wanted to make sure I had a a little extra low end for some of the hills in order to keep my legs as fresh as possible for the run. As part of my road bike build this winter, I will most likely purchase a new compact crank with shorter crank arms for the tri bike, and then repurpose my current standard crank for the road bike. I would run an 11-23 on both bikes as well. 

Spectator Instructions

Want to come cheer me on. Want to come laugh at me break on the run? Use the following guide to help navigate around the Ironman course. Here is a link to a map I made on Bing.

Pre-Race and Swim

The swim starts at 7am in front of the Monona Terrace. I anticipate I’ll be walking down towards the water no later then 6:45am. So you have too choices for watching the swim. The first would be to pick a spot near the swim entrance/exit and see me walking down to the water, and then coming out of the water. The other option would be to get there really early and get a spot facing the lake up on the terrace. There is not much to see in the water during the swim, so I’m recommending the swim enter/exit view. I’m hoping to be out of the water by 8:05 am.

T1

After exiting the water we get to run up the helix (parking ramp) to the 4th floor I believe. Where we will change and then run out to get our bikes. If you decided to wait to see me exit the water, then you’ll need to run up to the 4th or 5th level to have a chance seeing me come out of transition or get on my bike. With the lake at your back, the bikes are racked according to our bib numbers with #1 (pros) on the far left and the 2000’s on the far right. We run out of a doorway on the right and then run from right to left to pick up our bike and head to the mount point at the far left, and then ride down the helix to John Nolan Drive, which is another good place to watch from. You will have to pick one transition vantage point, as I don’t think you could hit up more then one.

Bike

You can get the official course cue sheet from the Ironman Wisconsin Website, or take a look at the bike course on MapMyRide.com. The key to navigating the bike course is knowing how to avoid the bikers, as there are several intersections that will be shutdown or controlled causing traffic problems. I drove around last night and came up with 7 vantage points for checking out the bike course. Times are from seeing me come thru the last location, assume good weather and no mechanical issues. The times are also on the fast side of things to get you to the location in time to park and walk. 

Run

The run is pretty easy. We head out from the Monona terrace on Mt. Luther King Blvd and run around the square. So you can catch me heading out onto the run, and then head down to state street and wait for me to hit the mile 6 turn around point which is at State and Gillman. You can then either catch me at the half way turn around on MLK and Wilson, or wait for me to come back down State Street to turn onto Henry. After seeing me at the turn around at State and Gillman for the second time, you’ll want to make your way up to the finishing chute on MLK.

Last year I raced Pigman….in a monsoon. This year it was sunny and hot, very hot. Lets take a look at my result between this year and last year.

8/16/2009

                  Time               Overall Placing           Age-Group Placing

Swim          0:35:03             109

T1              0:07:04

Bike           2:44:12             82

T2              0:03:28

Run            1:56:16             141

Total           5:26:03             110/530 (20.75%)         15/38 (39.47%)

 

8/22/2010

                  Time               Overall Placing           Age-Group Placing

Swim          0:32:37             58

T1              0:03:16

Bike           2:32:43             48

T2              0:02:25

Run            1:56:24             53

Total           5:07:25             37/453 (8.17%)           2/33 (6.06%)

It looks like I wasn’t the only one affected by the heat. While my overall time was much slower then my previous two Half-Iron races this year, my overall place held the same, while I managed to crack the top 3 in my age group for the first time. It’s interesting to see me with a faster run last year. My slowing on the run last year was due to poor pacing on the bike, where as this year, it was the heat. A 5:07 last year would have put me around 57th overall for comparison. I was starting to wonder if I had improved on the bike at all, seeing as I haven't been feeling a whole lot faster this year. However, this race was a pretty good indication of my biking fitness.

My 2nd place age group finished (M30-34) netted me a dark blue Pigman mug. Next stop, finishing in the money ;) Given my performance in Iowa, does this change anything I wrote in my last post? Not really, I’ve always known that my performance at Ironman will depend largely on the weather.

Yesterday marked an important day in my Ironman Wisconsin 2010 training. It was my last long hard ride before Ironman. I have one half-ironman remaining, which is basically a long brick workout, and a few more longish rides, but nothing as intense. Effectively my training is officially over, and I’m just moving into a maintenance phase. I don’t believe in the three week taper that traditional triathlon plans stole from marathon training, which is why I am calling this a maintenance phase and not a taper.

I took a look at my power file, and I’m estimating somewhere between a 5:45 and 5:56 bike split. This assumes decent weather (light wind and hot, or windy and cool, but not both) no mechanicals and a full aero kit (aero helmet, Jet 6 front, and wheel cover on the back).

By the numbers

My current FTP based on my best 60 minute power output is 236/248 (average vs. normalized). 70% of this gives me my Ironman goal wattage values of 165/173. I sure wish those were higher, but the training doesn’t lie. I might sneak in one more power test before the race to see if I can give myself a little cushion, especially if I’m feeling good on race day, but I don’t plan on doing more then 170 average watts.

The ride consisted of 2 loops (Verona-> Mt. Horeb –> Cross Plains –> Verona), breaking the loop into 3 sections. The first time around I did hard, easy hard, and the second was easy, hard, easy. The hard sections were to get in a good sub-threshold workout, with the easy sections designed to get me used to riding the course at race pace.

While on the ride, I noticed a couple of things based on how I broke the course up. First, the section from Verona to Mt. Horeb is the most difficult. I think this is because: 1) Continuous rolling hills 2) Hwy 92 is a crappy road 3) No matter what the wind direction, it feels like there is a head wind on the 2nd half of Hwy 92.

The second thing I noticed was that the section between Verona and the bottom of Old Sauk Pass gave me the highest average speed. I was able to maintain almost 20 mph in easy mode. While the first part of this section has a couple of big hills, the second half you can take in cruise mode.

Reviewing the numbers shows that 2 of my easy efforts were well below my average power race goal, while one was slightly higher. The normalized values were right around race goal, indicating a high VI (average power / normalized power). The rule of thumb is that you want a VI of 1.05, but that’s a tough goal on a course like IMWI. I’d like to think that I can chance a slightly higher VI since I’ve been training on this course, and similar terrain for the last 6 months. The first time I went out on the loop this season I felt like I had regressed from the end of last season, even though I had 2.5 solid months of indoor riding. You just can’t simulate the course indoors on a trainer (well at least not my trainer, I don’t know how a something like a computrainer would compare). The comments I hear from first time riders of the course usually have the common theme of, “I wasn’t prepared for the hills”.

I took the times for my easy efforts and double them, then took my average speed over the easy efforts and accounted for the out and back from Madison. I came up with 18.69 mph average, and a estimated time of 5:56. The weather yesterday was warm and humid to start, and went to hot and humid by the end. The wind was nothing like it was at the start of the season, so it felt like there was no wind. I decided to set the lower end of my race day time at 5:45 based on the good weather we’ve seen the last two years, and the fact that I’ll have my full aero kit in effect. I don’t consider this to be cocky, but the best estimate I can come up with based on my training. The time estimates will also help me explain to my friends and family where they need to be on the bike course if they want to cheer me on. I plan on writing up a post in the next couple of weeks with instructions for navigating the IM course for spectators, so keep an eye out for that.

So what about the swim, run, and transitions? I just don’t have the same type of data that I get training with power on the bike to make any kind of firm estimate. I have some goals in mind, but since this is my first Ironman, I have to be pretty flexible with my expectations. Since I’m not fast enough to win the overall age group award, win my age group, or qualify for Kona, that leaves having fun, just finishing, and breaking X number of hours. If the best I can say is, well I finished, I would consider my training to be a failure this year. So I will say my bare minimum goal is to break 12 hours regardless of weather and mechanicals, with a stretch goal of breaking 11.

Well, at least this race report is being written the day after, as opposed to the month after for my last race report. Yesterday I competed in the Door County Half Ironman, finishing in 30th place overall, which includes the one female who finished in front of me. The first place male and female from High Cliff repeated their performances in Door County, so props to them.

Door County and Pre-Race

My wife and I stayed at the Door County Lighthouse Inn Bed and Breakfast, which I highly recommend. It was around $150/night and it includes an awesome home cooked breakfast (more on why this is such a great value below). The inn is a converted house I think, and has 5 rooms, plus quarters for the owners. There were three other couples there while we were there, and 2 of them were competing in the Triathlon (well the men were). In addition to breakfast, there were fresh homemade raisin cookies always available, which we took full advantage of. I felt guilty brining my bike into the room, because instead of the industrial strength, dark colored carpet you see in most hotels, this was very soft, plush off-white carpet. So I left my bike locked in the car for the first time.

Friday night we decided to go in search of a fish fry, and we didn’t have too much luck. We were pretty hungry and decided to just get a table at the second restaurant we tried. This resulted in a $40 bill and I was still hungry. So we went to get ice cream, and that was $10, and I got totally ripped off on my ice cream sunday. What a joke, we spend less then $9 at cold stone for a small and a medium and my $6 sunday consisted of 2 scoops of ice cream and some chocolate sauce. We happened to stop at a Culvers the following night to use the bathroom while we were driving the bike course and I noticed that the value baskets were $1 more then in Madison! Needless to say, Friday night, I had some of those raisin cookies.

Saturday morning we slept in until 8 and then went out to the main room for breakfast at 8:30 am. We got a generous serving of fresh fruit, a giant omelet and two home made muffins. It would have easily cost $15 a person at an area restaurant, which is why I said this place was such a good deal. After breakfast I went to work on my bike. I had rented a HED Jet 6 front wheel, which was brand new, never used. Unfortunately, the shop forgot to put rim tape on it and I blew the tube they had put in it the day before.  So on my way up I picked up some rim tape and got that all taken care of. Then I had to readjust my front brake to get the wheel to fit properly, and make some minor adjustments to get my wheel cover to turn without rubbing anything.

After the bike was good to go, we headed out to take in the sights. We stopped at Peninsula State Park and walked around a bit. My wife wanted to go check out the light houses, but the one at the state park cost $5/person for the tour, and the other 3 were in county parks you had to pay admission to get into as well. So we ended up just driving around door county a bit and ended up back at the hotel in the mid-afternoon. It was pretty warm out, and driving around made me sleepy, so I took a short nap, before we went to Murphy Park for race registration and packet pickup.

The first thing I noticed when we got to the park, was the ample, marked parking in the field across from the park. It looked very well thought out, and everything only looked more and more professional as we made our way thru packet pick up. This turned out to be the best run race I have ever attended (in my brief 2 years as a triathlete). A local bike store had a Speed Concept on display, in black, and size small, with a $500 store credit if you bought it that day. Had the owner been a little more willing to work with me on component selection, I would have bought it. But to be fair to the owner, it was at the end of a long day, he probably had a lot of “interested” people already, and I don’t look like the type who would/can buy a 9.8 speed concept on sight.

After packet pickup, we set out for dinner. During our earlier drive around door county, we found an Italian restaurant just north of Fish Creek on the right hand side (I’m forgetting the name). This turned out to be a pretty good value, and good food. Going for dinner at 5 turned out to be a good idea, because the place was packed by the time we left.

Next up was a another drive around door county, the part most people probably never see, in order to scout the bike course. We also drove up bluff pass, home to the infamous bluff I would have to run up the next day and was kind of disappointed. Given all the hype, I expected seeing this hill to give me nightmares, but it’s not the worse I’ve had to run up (well that’s what I thought the, lets see what I thought the next day). We got back to our hotel and got to bed pretty early. Even though it was a 8am start, they wanted us there by 6:30 and I thought it would be nice to get to a race early enough to warm up for a change. 

Race Morning

Woke up to a pretty dark room, but at least it didn’t sound like it was raining out. Looked out the window, ground was wet, sky was dark, but it wasn’t raining. I made my first trip outside to pack up the car and was greeted with warm and very humid air. I couldn’t decide what would be worse, rain, or sun plus high humidity. I figured it wasn’t something I could control, and after racing thru the monsoon at PigMan last year, I knew I could handle the rain.

We arrived at the park by 6:30 (or at least we were parked by 6:30) and I started to get my stuff ready. I aired up my tires, and proceeded to leave my crack-pipe adapter attached to my air pump and didn’t realize it until someone asked to borrow my adapter in transition. Thankfully the latest CO2 air adapter I have works with disc wheels (and wheel covers) without an adapter. With it looking like it was going to rain, my wife decided to just go back to sleep in the car.

I got setup in Transition and also managed to get in a little run and bike. There was a report of lightening in the area, so they delayed the start of the race until 8:30. 2 spots down from me in transition was the exact same green/white Speed Concept I tried out at Emerys in Milwaukee a few weeks ago. I wasn’t a fan of the green and white so I decided to pass on it for now. I saw a Red/White speed concept, and it looks better in person then online. It’s pretty similar to the red/white Cervelo P2C, so I might consider that color (yeah, I’m thinking about drinking the Speed Concept kool-aid if you can’t tell).

I should note that I got to setup in the rack closet to the water for a change. That was because I registered for the elite wave. The criteria for the elite wave was that you could swim 1 mile in 30 minutes or less, which I knew I could, so I thought why not? It would be a change to race starting at the front as opposed to starting in one of the middle waves for a change. It’s more fun to start a little later as you get to pass more people, but starting in the “elite” wave made me feel like I had to be more serious.

Swim and T1

Like I said, the race was delayed until 8:30 and we started pretty much at 8:30. The water was calm, clear and warm (72 I think). I tried my hand at drafting, but don’t have enough patience, so that’s something I have to work on. I noticed a couple of wetsuits at the beginning and at the end, which means I could have drafter off of them saving energy and still going just as fast. The trick is to identify those people early on next time. They had wet suit strippers, which is always nice, but I think this is where I dropped my GPS (old one I wear under my swim cap) and lost it. I do remember stopping it as I was getting out of the water with a time around 30:40 and my chip time was 30:56. This was the fasted 1.2 mile swim I’ve ever had, but it’s only been the second out of four half-iron events that has had a full 1.2 mile swim.

I had my usual slow T1. This time it was due in part to the chance of rain in the forecast. I figured it would be nice to at least start with dry shoes, so I put my stuff in a plastic bag and that slowed me down a bit. Although forgetting to put a sock on first on the right foot caused just as much of a problem. I’d go sockless but my shoes are old and the insides are starting to wear. I should probably stop drooling over a Speed Concept and buy a new pair of tri-shoes for the bike ;)

Bike

My plan on the bike was the same as High-Cliff, keep it nice and easy. My heart rate wasn’t as high, so I think I paced the swim pretty well this time. The bike was pretty uneventful, and that’s how its supposed to be these longer triathlons. A well paced bike, sets you up to be able to have a solid run (i.e. run, don’t walk the run portion).

I heard a weird sound coming from my back wheel around mile 18, but couldn’t figure it out. I stopped for a few seconds just to check things over and didn’t see anything. A few miles later the sound got louder and then I realized it was the sticker on the wheel cover that covers the value stem cutout. Stopped again and pulled it all the way off. Note to self, those things only last 2 races, not 3.

While the sky looked bad at times, we only got a couple very light showers. With the wet conditions, my drive train started to sound very rickety, but everything held together for the duration of the race.

I passed a few people, and got passed a couple of times as well. I thought I was pushing it harder by 10 watts compared to High-Cliff, but it turns out I had almost the exact same average power, work (kj) and training stress score. However, according to my last FTP test, I should have been able to push it another 10 watts, so I’ll give that a try at my next race.

T2 and Run

I got off the bike and stopped at the port-o-potties on the way to the rack. I didn’t have as bad of stomach discomfort as I did at High-Cliff, but I still had to go to the bathroom. I’m glad I did, as I was able to pass some gas which would have bothered me on the run. So once again, my T2 was slow, but I’m not going to worry about that until I can shave a few more minutes off my run and bike splits.

I saw Jessica from SBR coaching as I was leaving T2, or rather she saw me and cheered me on. I saw my wife sitting near the finishing shoot which we had to pass, and she cheered me on as well (of course). It’s nice having people that you know cheer you on.

I started out pretty fast on the run, with my pace at under 7 minutes/mile, which was a little faster then what I wanted to do. However, my heart rate was pretty low and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t slow down, so I just went with it. I was able to maintain this comfortable pace for about 3 miles, and then I started to slow down slightly while maintaining the same effort. Even thought I thought the bluff at mile 10 wasn’t the killer it was hyped to be, I was content to play it safe this year.

The run course takes you thru the main section of Egg Harbor, so there were tons of people cheering you on. Just after a turn around point near mile 6, I saw someone I knew (and that they are comparable to me time wise) coming up from behind and decided I needed to up my pace a bit. Right after the turn around we had a long up hill section and I was able to get up it pretty quick and no one was gaining on me. After the uphill we had an equally long down hill which was nice. I passed one person on the way down and then we were running back thru egg harbor.

I just ran my race for the next couple of miles, checking over my shoulder to see that no one was coming up on me. Then all of a sudden some guy appears out of no where and passes me with little effort around mile 8.5. I make the left hand turn onto Bluff Pass road around mile 9 and Jessica was there on her bike cheering people (and me) on. The hill starts at mile 9.2 and lasted until 9.6 I think. I just shortened my stride up and took my time getting to the top. I knew there was an aid station at the top and since I had a bottle with me I could grab some fluids and keep going. I think I was able to pass one person at the aid station, and then saw three more people on the long straight road in front of me. I told myself I got 2 miles to pass those three people.

I caught the first one at the aid station at mile 11, and the second shortly after. I had the third guy in my sights and was closing the gap, but it was taking a long time. I got within 10 yards by the time we hit the last aid station at mile 12 when some women ran up to him and started pacing him back towards the finish line, which did not make me happy. Thankfully she left and went back towards the aid station after a half mile or so, and I started closing in on those last 10 yards.

The last 1/4 mile, maybe a little more is all down hill. It starts gradual and then increases in steepness until it bottoms out at the intersection just before the finishing chute, and then you got 100 yards downhill to the finish line. So just as I start to feel the ground pitch down and pick up my pace and pass the 3rd guy I spotted after climbing the bluff. He stayed with me for a bit but I just started letting gravity take over, trying to just fall forward and let the hill do the rest. Just as I approached the really steep section, I caught a glimpse of another guy just in front of me. Would I be able to catch him? At this point I really try to just do a controlled fall down the hill. My pace exceeded a 5 minute/mile pace and I looked behind me to see the guy I just passed letting me go. I got to the intersection and was still picking up speed, but wouldn’t have enough distance to try to make a final pass. I crossed the line at 4:39:47.2 and the guy just in front of me was 6.9 seconds faster.

Post Race

I drank 40 oz of water and sat in a “ice-bath” for about 10 minutes immediately following the race. The water was cool, but probably could have been colder now that I think about it (anything would have felt cool after running 13 miles), but it still helped. It’s nice to see races supplying ice baths, and I hope its a trend that continues.

We hung around for a bit and talked to a few people that we knee, but then the sky started getting dark again. I figured it would be more enjoyable to load up the car before it started raining, so I headed back to transition and packed up. I don’t think it ended up raining, but it was still good to be on the road home, as it’s a decent length drive back to Madison.

Results

Swim: 30:55
T1: 2:09
Bike: 2:30:04
T2: 2:57
Run: 1:33:39
Total: 4:39:47

Male Division: 29 out of 545 (30 out of 546 with the one female placing ahead of me)
M30-34: 9 out of 83

Overall I am pleased with my results. Most of the time difference between Door County and High Cliff is due to the correct swim distance at Door County. My power meter says the bike was almost exactly the same. I’d say the run was pretty close to the same as well. Door Country might have been a little more difficult course wise, but it was a little warmer at High Cliff.

Next Up

I have five weeks until my next race, Pigman, and then three weeks until Ironman. I’m going to work my way slowly back into training this week, and then go hard for three weeks. This gives me a week off before Pigman, where I can try to atone for last year, go hard, and put everything I’ve learned into practice in order to build some confidence heading into Ironman. After Pigman, I’ll have a mix of rest and long rides (70 miles), plus one last power test to see what my goal wattage for the bike should be on race day.

I competed in the High Cliff half ironman about a month ago, but just haven't had enough time to sit down and right up a decent report. This one will be short so I have time to right up something about Door County while it’s still fresh in my mind.

The swim was short and choppy. This was the roughest open water swim that I have done to date, but was still disapointed in how short the swim was. My Garmin recorded it as being around 1500m, so not even 1 mile. Naturally all of the swim times were fast because of this, with my time being 24:41, which is pretty close to what I did the week before at Capital View. I think I had to work harder, but at least I know I can handle something other then calm water.

The bike was fairly uneventful, and it to was also a bit short (but I’m not going to fault anyone for 55.5 miles instead of 56.0). I started out a bit hot, and my heart rate was elevated from the swim I think. I went back and forth with a couple of riders, but decided to take it easy between miles 10 and 25. Around mile 25 I had enough of the back and forth and just decided to pass a couple of riders for good and stuck with that pace for the rest of the ride. The hill you have to climb coming out of the park at the start is much harder on the run then the bike in my opinion. My legs started to feel tired around mile 48 when we turned into the wind one last time, but it’s not like I was completely spent, just that for the first time my legs actually felt like they had to work. This indicates to me that I did a pretty good job pacing.

The run started out with a stop at a port-o-potty because I had to pee. It was a pretty warm day so this was a decent sign that I took in enough fluids on the bike. I had some stomach issues, which turned out to be gas, which passed (or rather I passed it) around mile 3 on the run, which made things much more enjoyable. After running up the hill out of transition, we were directed onto a series of trails thru the park. Most of the run was on trails, and a good portion was in the shade which was nice. I took it easy the first time around, and then started to pick up the pace on the second time around, knowing I got to run down that big hill at the end. I pulled away from a guy in the wave that started after me around mile 9 I think, and thought it would be cool if I could make up how ever many minutes I was down to him. I almost pulled it off, but was short by maybe 20 seconds. I was also trying to finish in front of this girl with a bib number that indicated she started several waves after me. It was a good goal that I accomplished, and it turns out she was part of a relay team anyway.

Overall it was a fun race and I enjoyed myself. With the race being on Saturday, it gave me Sunday to rest and recover.

Swim: 24:41
T1: 2:03
Bike: 2:30:46
T2: 1:36
Run: 1:34:44
Total: 4:33:52

Men: 26 out of 335 (1 woman finished ahead of me, so 27 out of 336)
M30-34: 5 out of 43

Today was my first triathlon of the 2010 season, the Capital View Triathlon held in Madison, WI. This is my second year competing in this event (you can read last years race report), and the events 3rd year overall. Coming into this race, my goal was pretty much race execution and gear shake down. I had a full week of training, including a 20.5 mile run on Wednesday, and a full 112 miles on Friday, and my legs were pretty cooked. This was to be expected, and was how my training plan was setup. Next weeks 1/2 Ironman, HiCliff, held in Appleton will be my first true test.

Even with the full training week, I still improved (and was hoping to show improvement) over last year, finishing almost 10 minutes faster. I had a much better T1 and run times. My swim was a little better, and my bike was marginally better. Even though I knew my legs were pretty shot from the week of training, I was still disappointed in my bike time. What time improvement I had was probably due to all the aero gear I was sporting. I only managed to put out 224 watts (average without zeros), but I’ve put out 260 over one hour 3 weeks ago during my last down week. I’m hoping to be able to do 221 watts next week for the 56 mile bike and still be able to put in a solid run.

My age group (M30-34) was a little more competitive then last year, seeing as I shaved 10 minutes off my time, but only managed 5th in my age group (compared to last years 4th). However my overall Age Group ranking was much higher at 11th, and my overall place (accounting for elite and collegiate) 22nd, compared to 25th and 40th last year.

Results

• Official results available from Its Race Time (there website is flaky today)
• Total Olympic Distance Participants: 15 elite + 28 collegiate + 303 Age Group = 346
• My Age Group Ranking (M30-34): 5
• Overall Age Group: 11
• Overall: 22

Graph from Its Race Time, showing the relation between segment/event placement and race placement.

Last Thursday, I found out about a time-trial (TT) taking place on Sunday (today) from the UW-Cycling mailing list. Since this is my off week I figured there wouldn’t be any hurt in giving it a try. I’ve been itching to get out and compete anyway.

The L’Alpe Bl’Huez TT, described as Wisconsin’s Toughest Time Trial (I don’t know if that’s true), consists of a 10 mile course ending with 2 miles of climbing into Blue Mounds State Park. The first 7 miles is rolling hills and very fast, including a section of downhill that people hit close to 60 MPH on (I topped out at 49.5). The fun stops at mile 7 as you turn off a nice paved road, onto a crappy back road with small hills that just seem to suck the life out of you. After a short downhill to give you a bit of a break, you hit mile 8 and it’s all uphill from there.

I ended up 12th overall and 3rd in my age group with a finishing time of 31:37.2, or 4:08.3 behind the leader. I was riding my Argon 18 E-114 and wearing my aero helmet (which seemed to help), so I was in the aero category. However, the category only counted for the overall winner, but even so, the overall stock rider beat me by 45 seconds.

I was a little concerned wearing the aero helmet with the face shield given the heat, but I figured this was an excellent time to give it a try and see what happens. With the race only being 10 miles, I figured I could HTFU and make it thru even if my head was a little warm. In the end though, it didn’t turn out to be a big deal. My head didn’t feel uncomfortably warm, and I was able to push the visor up once we started climbing to get some ventilation in. 

Overall, the event was extremely well run, and with a fall version scheduled the week after IMWI, I might give it another go. I’d like to give a shout out to Pete and Jeff from Rocket Bicycle Studio who also did the event, and to Jessica from SBR Coaching who cheered me on during the final climb into the park.

I’m finishing up my rest week for March before kicking it into high gear for a bike focused month in April. I will have finished March with over 60 hours of training, with even more scheduled for April. With over 5 months until Ironman, I am really starting to get excited about the possibilities. Last year, my first year of racing, I did not train nearly enough for how fast I was trying to go in my two half-iron races. This year, I’m close to doubling my training, and I have started much earlier then last year.

I just realized that the Pigman half-iron race is  week later this year, which means I might be able to fit it in as a final race check-up before Ironman. If I race Pigman, I’ll still have two full weeks of rest and recovery before Ironman, and I can always back it off a little during the Pigman race if need be. That’s how excited I am right now, looking for a way to fit another race in to take advantage of this huge investment in training. I’m already planning my off season or winter training routine. My wife and I both took advantage of the end of the season sales and picked up some cross country ski gear (skate style). I managed to get out 3 times before the snow melted and wow, it’s a lot of fun and a great work out.

Gear

What fun would it be to train for Ironman without buying lots of gear and toys? I know in my last post I said I had most everything already purchased, and I do have the big ticket items done, but there are so many little things out there. My Garmin Forerunner 305 started giving my problems last week. The start button was sticking, and it always took way longer to acquire satellites then my wife’s 305. I wanted to upgrade to a 310xt to get power meter support, so I went ahead and purchased that tonight. I already like it over the 305 in the few short minutes I’ve had it out of the box, although the clip charging cable is kind of finicky.

While I was at my favorite store, Endurance House, I also picked up a pair of Tifosi Scatto sun glasses. These sun glasses have the variable tint lenses, and are a smaller frame size to fit my small narrow face/head. I think I’ll really like the variable tint, as I do a lot of my workouts in the evening, where you have the setting sun hitting you right in the face followed by an increasing dark sky. However, I still like to have the glasses on, especially on the bike to cut down on the wind in the eyes.

I’m looking at another piece of high tech gadgetry to help with training which will be the subject of a future post. I found a local shop that is an Authorized Argon 18 dealer, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to get a few replacement parts I need. Also working on sizing up a set of race wheels.

Training

Swim, bike, run, what else is there? Swimming is going pretty well, I’m about as fast as I have ever been but I’ve discovered the occasional session with good form. For me, good form doesn’t mean faster, but less work. Not that I’ve abandoned all hope of going faster in the swim, but this year it’s more about endurance then speed.

On the bike, I feel like I’m doing really well, but it’s hard to tell since I didn’t have a Power Tap last year. I did manage to get outside once when it was warm (yeah, I’m a fair weather rider only) and recorded a NP of 217 which matches up with my FTP of 215 from the trainer, so I’m pretty happy with that. Once I can get out on the IM loop I’ll be in a better position to gauge how my fitness really is since I rode it so often last year. One thing I have noticed is that my heart rate is much lower on my longer rides compared to February which is a good inidcator that my fitness level is improving.

Surprisingly my running is going really well, on account of all the biking I’m doing I guess. I’ve only been running 3 times per week (45min and 2x1hr) and I’m up to running 8.5 miles in an hour, and 8.3 in an hour off the bike. I’m still having little bits of pain, not while running but afterwards that have me a bit concerned. I was hoping to run the Madison Marathon with my wife, but I think I will stick with the half marathon to keep the total miles on my legs down (yet I want to sneak in an extra half-iron race).

I just started my 3rd week of training (week 6 on my training plan) and am starting to feel fully recovered from my ruptured appendix incident. My power and endurance is still not where it was before my hospital stay, but I’m on a definite upward trend. I suffered a running injury around the area of my right knee, due to going out to long too soon. This has prevented me from doing my running workouts. I’ve been substituting in the elliptical trainer to at least get the cardio aspect. I think I’m making some good progress though, as the pain is showing up less and less, and some activities that used to bring the pain on, no longer do. We’ll see how Friday’s run goes.

As I mentioned in my year in review post, I’m training with a Powertap this year. Last year I had an iBike iAero, but was not very happy with it. The iBike power meters don’t measure power directly (and I guess the Powertap doesn’t either, but it’s a lot closer), rather it calculates all of the opposing forces working against you (wind, gravity, etc). I was never happy with the numbers I got out of it until they released a major firmware update. maybe I didn’t do the calibration correct early in the season, but I don’t have to second guess my self with the Powertap.

So what does training with power give me? It allows me to set specific goals, track progress and adjust my workouts based on the power data collected. I’m currently reading thru “Training and Racing with a Power Meter” by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan, which is the book that is always recommended on the forums. I came across another book that is supposed to be targeted towards triathletes who are training with power, and will probably take a look at that. The Allen/Coggan book has a lot of references to road racing which don’t translate directly to triathlon.

One of the first rides I did with my new Powertap was to do a Functional Threshold Power (FTP) test. I used the testing protocol in the Allen/Coggan book on my Kurt Kinetic Trainer. My result, an abysmal 190 watts. While I didn’t have the Powertap pre appendix rupture, I did have some ride files with my average speed on the KK trainer. Based on this I can tell that I dropped almost 30 watts due to my appendix, surgery and hospital stay. I’ve been hoping that I get some of this back for “free”, and with a jump in FTP of 4 watts in just one week, I think I will get some of it back for “free”. With around 7 months of training left, I’m not all that concerned right now. I know what I was able to do last year, and I’m already exceeding my weekly training volume from last year and it’s only February.

Last week I had about 12.5 hours of training, and this week I should be closer to 14, even with a busted swim session thanks to a little kid throwing up in the pool. I’d like to bump up the bike hours a bit on my training plan, and I’m working in some VO2max and threshold workouts to help make up for my current FTP. I have a very ambitious goal of raising my FTP to 275 before Ironman. I don’t know if this is a realistic goal, but you need to have something to shoot for. I will re-evaluate this goal once I can get riding outside once again.

With the power tap purchase, I’m pretty well set on all the big ticket items. I want to get a wheel cover for my rear wheel, and will probably look to rent an aero wheel for the front. I’ll go thru a couple of pairs of shoes I’m guessing, and could stand a new set of bike shoes and pedals. I may trade in the Garmin Forerunner 305 for a 310xt. The increased battery life and the ability to record power data is very nice.

I’ll also be trying various nutritional products to satisfy my race day fueling needs.  My plan is to try to be able to hit 300 calories an hour on the bike using a highly concentrated “sports” drink supplemented by gel. I’d like to be able to get 6 hours worth of calories into a single 24oz bottle, but I’m not sure it can be done. I think the long bike rides are as much about figuring out your race day nutrition as it is for fitness.

Until next time.

Today I competed in the Peregrine Charities Olympic Distance Tri, the last race of my 2009 season. I hadn’t done any research into the race, such as previous years results or checking out the elevation, so I was pleasantly surprised last Friday when I finally got around to seeing that it’s a flat fast course. According to MapMyRide.com, there was around 200 feet of climbing, compared to around 500 feet of climbing at the Capital View Tri, my first race of the season.

The race was very well organized, and started out with an informational e-mail sent out on Wednesday. I really like getting a communication the week of the event, as it actually makes you think the race director is working. All bikes had to be checked out by a on-site mechanic the day before, and they also put the race number on. With many first timers coming into the sport of triathlon, I think this is a really good idea. We also got to check our bikes in the day before if we wanted to, and I took advantage of this.

Pre Race

Transition was open from 6:00am to 7:15am with a race start of 7:30. The transition area seemed a little cramped, and I feel they could have opened it up a little bit more. Another option would be to use assigned spots, as everyone was trying to fit into the spots closer to the transition exit, with more openings further away. Even though there were only about 115-120 people starting the swim (includes some relay teams), we had a wave start due to the narrow entry into the water at the boat launch. This was another chance for a small improvement. The elite men (about 10 athletes) and women (4 athletes) got their own waves, while I was in wave 3 with about 40 people. Combining the elite men and women, and shorting the time between waves from 4 to 2 minutes would allow more waves and less congestion at the start.

Swim

The swim was 1 mile, out and back. Thankfully they had a rope line all the way out so that you didn’t accidently drift into on-coming swimmers. It also made it easier to site by just checking your position to the rope line when you breathed. Of course it wasn’t a straight line, so you still had to do some straight ahead sighting. I had a goal of 24 minutes for 1500m, but the swim was 1600m, so my time of 25:50 was pretty close.

T1

This was the closest swim to bike transition, so my T1 time was going to be (hopefully) a lot less then my previous three (of course this benefit was not limited to me). I ended up with a 2:13 T1, which was still one of the slower times, but I was only about 1 minute slower then the average.

Bike

Starting out on the bike, I had to spend some time getting my gloves on. I decided to put my gloves on, after I got on the bike to save on T1. This was the first time I did this, and had put them on the end of the aero bars, which could have worked better. I think I’ll attach them a different way next time.

There was a stiff south/south west wind of 10-15 mph, which gave us a nice tail wind starting out (about miles 2-6). I averaged around 25mph, but in hind sight, I should have pushed it a little harder with that tail wind. After the long north/south portion, we had some east/west riding, which wasn’t too bad. Again, riding west, I could have pushed it a little harder. Coming back into park we were shielded from the wind. I ended up passing one rider, but backed off from passing a second as I felt it really wouldn’t help my time that much and I wanted to be fresh for the run. My bike time was 59:43, which met my goal of finishing under an hour.

T2

T2 was the same deal as T1, slower then most people, but not as bad as the past. I probably lost 45 seconds in T2, part of which was grabbing my amphipod belt for hydration.

Run

I started out around a 7 minute/mile pace, and was able to maintain that for most of the run. I ended up with a 6:50 min/mile pace and a run time of 40:59, which was just a touch off my 40 minute goal. The run course was almost completely flat, with just a few very gradual slopes.

Post Race Thoughts

My final time was 2:10:05, and I pretty much met my time goals, but came up short on my other goals. One of my major goals was to work on my transition times. Considering this is a goal, I’m ashamed to say I just haven't put in the time to practice these. I really should, I know I should, and hopefully next year I will. I think I will go watch some triathlon’s next year and see what other people are doing different. I have some good ideas, but seeing them executed by others will help reinforce them I think. 

My second major goal was to not leave anything on the course, give it my all and really put forth a race effort. The wind on the bike threw off what little aggressive pacing strategy I had. I also started to feel a little gassed around the 1/2 mile mark into the run which made me back off just a little bit. Looking back, I think I could have pushed it harder with the tail wind (riding north and west), and picked up my run pace a the 3 mile turn around point instead of between mile 4 and 5.

This was my last triathlon of the season, as I don’t want to bike in the cold, and I don’t think there are many in the area left. I will try to fit in some running races, such as the Berbee Derby 10K on Thanksgiving. I’m thinking about shooting for a 6:30min/mile pace for that race.

Final Results (Online Results)

So after much debating, reading, and research, I acquired my new Tri Bike, an Argon 18 E-114. I picked it up used off of the Slowtwitch classifieds, and was a little worried conducting such an expensive transaction, but everything worked out in the end. I had it tuned up at Machinery Row Bikes, which included new cables, new chain and a new cassette. The cassette was a change from an 11-23 to a 12-25, which is a little nicer for the hills, and this required a new chain.

I’ve done a couple of spins on the trainer, and had the first real road ride tonight. The seat slipped back on me, but other then that, it felt pretty good. There will be a period of adjustment going from a road bike to a tri bike, but I have a long winter ahead of me to get used to it. After the ride tonight, I went out for a 4 mile run, and ran probably the best I have ever done, coming in at 28:14, after a 1:09:00 bike (25 mile), so the bike seems to be doing it’s job. I’m hoping that after I get fitted to it professionally that I’ll be able to get the most out of the bike, and be comfortable for the 5+ hour bike I will need to do for Ironman 2010.

My first impression is that I’ve lost a couple of watts in term of raw power output (which might be fixed with a proper fit), but my net speed is about the same thanks to improved aerodynamics. The route I took tonight didn’t have too many hills, but I didn’t feel too bad on the short climbs. The real test will be this weekend when I take it out on the IMWI loop and follow it up with a long run.

All of the reviews mentioned how stiff the bike is, but I haven't had enough experience with bikes to really know what that means. I do get the feeling that there is less power loss between the crank and the wheel, and it does ride as smooth, if not smoother then my road bike.

You’ll notice in the pictures that I have a nice bright yellow saddle. It’s a ISM Adamo Racing Saddle, and it came with the bike. Now at first I was not happy with the yellow, but then I realized two things, first, you can’t see the saddle when I’m on it, and second, it should help me spot my bike in the crowed transition area.

On Sunday, August 16, I competed in the 2009 Pigman Half Ironman, which turned out to be my first bad weather event. How bad was the weather? 20mph winds gusting to 30 with rain. I’m pretty sure I saw a couple of people attempt to ride out on the bike leg, only to turn it around and call it a day.

I woke up at 5am to see it dark and drizzling. My the time I made my way down to the car, it had stopped raining. I got dropped off and proceeded to wait in line to get body marked and chipped. I would have preferred it if I could have put my stuff down in transition and then go get marked and chipped.

I had just finished getting setup, which thankfully included getting my stuff in plastic bags and covered, when the first down pour hit. At least it was 70 out. The rain let up while I was waiting in line to use the bathroom. I headed back to finish my last minute preparations when I heard that transition was being closed, so I pulled on my wetsuit and headed down to the beach.

Then down pour number two happened, and made the first down poor look like a light drizzle. I ended up hiding under/behind a large tree with others, so I could finish putting on my wetsuit. The mandatory pre-race meeting was going on, but I didn’t feel like leaving the shelter of my tree to go stand on the beach. I guess nothing too important was said as I managed to finish the race without incident.

The second down pour subsided and I decided to go warm up in the lake, which was warmer then the pool I usually swim in (although the event was still fully wetsuit legal). I don’t know why, but I really don’t feel like warming up much. I think I’m too excited, but I still probably got in at least 100m. Since it was so warm, I didn’t have to get my face used to the water for a change, which was nice.

The swim was a time trial start, after the pro’s had a mass start. My first two races had me going soon after the pros, but this time around, I was in one of the last waves to go. When a wave was called up, everyone lined up, and started at 3 second intervals.

I was feeling pretty good in the the water, especially in the first 400m or so. My GPS backs this up, as that was the fastest I swam. I don’t know what happened after that, but I did slow down. I didn’t feel too tired, and my arms were not feeling all that bad either, but I was going slower, but still passing quite a few people. The waves in front of me were black, pink, red, and then purple, and I know I passed a couple of purple swim caps. I ended up finishing the swim around 35 minutes, which was 109th overall. I would have liked to see my time closer to 30 minutes, but I’ll take my time.

The theme of slow as molasses T1’s continue with this race, although the monsoon was a contributing factor. I got my wetsuit down to the waist, and was able to run most of the way to my bike, which was a marked improvement. I also got my wetsuit off in short order, and threw it into a garbage bad and off to the side (I was on the end of the transition rack). The first thing that took a heck of a long time, was putting on a long sleeve shirt to act as a base layer. It was next to impossible to pull it down over my wet body, in the rain, but eventually I got it on after hopping around on one foot turning a circle a couple of times. After that I tried to dry off as I put my shoes on (what was I thinking, it was raining out), and get the rest of my stuff together, while trying to keep everything else dry. At a point I think I stopped caring about speed, and given how wet I was, I should have stopped caring about keeping things dry.

After my 7 minute T1 (which looks to be the 16th slowest), I was out on the bike, and heading directly into the monsoon. The iBike was reading 25mph winds, plus there was the rain. The visor on the aero helmet worked wonderfully, and I only got rain in my eye once, which was due to a cross wind. Wind is not my friend I’ve decided. It completely demoralizes me riding into a head wind. Even with a north bound section on the first half, I was still able to pull a negative split (19mph vs. 20.9mph), although I didn’t have much left in me for the run.

Trying to avoid the melt-down I had from my last race, I set my pace goal of 8:00/mile, as was able to maintain that with a little bit of effort. Unfortunately, I realized that I was only able to do that pace because of a tailwind as I turned around and the half way point. I immediately dropped to an 8:30/pace. I had been walking every aid station to make sure I was getting enough fluids, but now I was looking forward to taking a break from running.

Final Results

Up Next

I’m looking at two Olympic distance events to finish out my season. Considering how much training I have been doing, I should do pretty well in those two events. I now realize that the amount of training I have been doing in preparation for the half-iron events has not been enough to meet my goals, which is an important lesson. Hopefully I can look back in 13 months and say, I’m glad I learned that in 2009 instead of 2010.

The Spirit of Racine Half Ironman, held on Sunday July 19th, 2009 was the second Triathlon of my season (and career). This was my first Half Ironman, and quite a different experience in terms of the required effort. I finished in 256th place overall with a time of 4:48:59, which was a little slower then my realistic goal of 2:45 (which assumed an actual 1.2 mile swim, see below).

Registration and the day before

I arrived at the race expo in downtown Racine around 3:30 PM on the Saturday before the race. The registration process was pretty straight forward, although they were out of small and medium size shirts, which didn’t bother me. However on the forums and the blog sphere, several people were acting as if they had been defrauded, with one guy talking about filing a complaint with his credit card company. People, relax, it’s a T-Shirt, hardly something to get worked up over. I also read that you could contact the race director and get a shirt mailed out to you.

The expo was pretty decent, but all I have to compare it to was the tiny expo for the Capital View Triathlon. After hearing that the water temp was a balmy 59 degrees, I opted to pick up a neoprene swim cap. I also came across some good deals on Triathlon/Transition bags, and figured it was time to upgrade from my small duffle bag to something more practical. I also stopped and talked with a Comp-u-Trainer rep for a bit, as I’m thinking about getting one, but they are kind of pricy.

My parents are from Racine, so I have allot of family down there, which was awesome because I got a free place to stay and a really good dinner. A special thanks goes out to my Aunt and Uncle for letting me stay, and the spaghetti feast they prepared. I am thinking about eating my big meal earlier in the day to avoid certain issues I will talk about below.

Pre-Race

Woke up at 5:10am, grabbed my stuff and headed to the race. It took a couple of minutes to find some parking, but I didn’t have to walk to far. I was able to hit up the port-a-potties on the way in to transition, and then started getting setup. It seems like I got stuff setup quicker then my last race, which I guess is a good thing. I remember the announcer saying that they were going to do the National Anthem, and the pre-race meeting in about 5 minutes, so I went to go use the bathroom (again). When I stepped out of the port-a-potty I heard the announcer say they were closing transition in 5 minutes. That was the first mention I heard about closing transition, but I had plenty of time to grab my wetsuit, cap and goggles and start the walk to the start area.

The swim course was point to point, and we had to walk close to a mile down the beach to get to the swim area. I put my wetsuit on just outside of transition, and made the long trek down the beach. Some people were smart and started jumping in the water when they got closer to the start area to take care of the warm-up. I haven't had too much difficulty with the swim, and only need a very short warm-up so I continued to walk along the beach. When I finally got in the water, it didn’t feel too cold, but as soon as I put my head in, I thought I was going to die of shock. Wow! My warm-up was more for getting my face used to the water then anything else.

One interesting thing I’d like to point out, is that aside from my face in the water, I was never cold at all. I was wearing my sleeveless tri-top and shorts before the race, and obviously during the race, and was never cold, although the air temperature was no more then 65 (until the sun came out on the run). Usually I’m looking to wear long sleeves on the bike at 65.

Swim

I was in the 3rd wave to start, 6 minutes behind the first wave. The announcer gave us a good countdown, and then we were off into the water, as this was a beach start. I actually put forth a little bit of effort to run into and thru the water. I did a couple of really lame dives to get me going, and then started swimming. As with my last race, it took me about 200 meters to get my rhythm (so maybe I do need a warm-up). This time however, things didn’t feel as crowded for some reason. I felt like I was wandering a bit on the swim course, but reviewing my GPS data showed I had a fairly decent track.

The swim only turned out to be .99 miles according to my GPS, which is disappointing. I guess they moved the buoys in closer to shore which cut out the distance you used to have to swim to get out to, and back from the buoy line. We speculated this was because of the drowning at another triathlon the weekend before. So I swam the .99 miles in 24:11, which I am happy with, and would have put me at 29 minutes for 1.2 miles, as I know I could have kept my same pace. If anything, I could have went a little faster I think, but it’s so hard to know how fast you are going. I even had the speed alerts programmed into my GPS, but it’s still a rather broad indication of how you are doing. I think I will up the speed alert from 2.4 to 2.5 mph for the next race.

T1

So if you read my last race report, you will know that I lost a good two minutes to most everyone else in T1. I guess I didn’t practice enough, because I still took over 4 minutes in T1, but at least I wasn’t as alone this time. At least as an age-grouper in a half iron man, an extra two minutes in T1 isn’t the end of the world. I still had the light headedness out of the swim as I did last time, so that didn’t help. I think I got my wetsuit off faster, but I could still do better. I decided to ride barefoot, but took too much time drying my feet off I think. I also walked most of the way to the mount line, as I was putting on my gloves. I need to remember to worry about the gloves after I get going.

Bike

My plan for the bike, which I decided as I was heading out of transition, was to take it easy for the first half, and try for a negative split. I rode the course the week before, and found it rather flat and boring. I had difficulty staying focused during the first half, which is why I decided to start out slow and then be able to look forward to a challenging ride back. I flipped the switch around mile 25, so a little earlier then expected, but I felt like people from the later waves were catching up to me too much, or allot of other people had the same strategy as me.

Things were going well, until about mile 35, when I was swallowed up by the peloton. I guess with the Tour de France going on, people wanted to get into the sprit of things, even though drafting is illegal. I made an attempt to pass the pack two to three times, as it would always slow down going up the “hills”, but was eventually passed up again after the hill. One the one hand it was satisfying to out climb (I use that term very loosely, as there were no real hills on that course), on the other hand, I had to spend too much energy trying to get around 30-40 riders.

I finally decided to just let the group go by and slow up for a bit. With about 5 miles to go, one of the Marshalls finally rode by and we all pointed up ahead to the group. They went up there, and were riding along side for awhile, but I don’t know what became of it. I do know there were about 130 penalties (10% of the racers) given out, and quite a few for drafting.

I finished the bike in 2:27, which was a couple of minutes faster then the 2:30 I was hoping for. I had rented a pair of Bontrager Aeolus 6.5’s, and also purchase an aero helmet for this race. I think these helped me, but it’s hard to say how much. Unfortunately, the wattage reported on my power meter seems allot lower then it should be, so it’s hard to get a feeling for how well I truly did on the bike.

T2 + Run

After my surprising well run at my last race, I was looking forward to having another successful run. Had the run only been 6 miles, I would have had a really good run, but alas, it was 13.1, and I did not do so well. The run was a two lap out and back, with two good sized hills at the start of each lap. I came off the bike and had an ok, but not stellar T2 (I don’t think I like running in my biking shoes). I had to go to the bathroom really bad, but the port-a-potties were not placed between transition and the run course. Thankfully I had found the bathroom’s located in the beach concession stand the week before, so I deviated from the run course slightly to use the facilities, and I was not the only one.

I went out strong and hard on the first lap, and that was my mistake. I had gotten some notion in my head that I could run 7:30 miles, and I can, just not for 13.1 miles after a bike ride. I think my average pace was actually around 7:45 for the first lap, but I had already started to feel fatigued on mile 5. Thru the turn-around I went, opting to skip the bathroom this time, which turned out to be a big mistake. By the time I was coming up on mile 7, I had re-adjusted my pace alert to 8:00, and by mile 8, I didn’t care about the pace alert anymore. I think my pace dropped as slow as 10:00 at one point, and ended up with an average pace of 8:20. Usually I try to sprint to the finish, but I just couldn’t.

Post Race

Figures, as soon as I was done, and got the timing chip off, the severe pain from having to go the bathroom was gone, but I still made the bathroom my first stop. The sun had come out for a bit on the run, but then dark clouds started moving in, and the wind was picking up, so I went back to transition to grab my long sleeve jacket. I then went in search of some food, and found a much better menu then what was at my last race. This time around they had P&B and BBQ sandwiches, fruit, cookies, and soda. P&B never tasted so good before, and I’m usually not a big fan of BBQ, but it too tasted quite well. After getting some food, I headed back to transition to pack up. The new transition bag worked great and held all my gear and my still wet wetsuit.

I would like to thank my Mom, Aunt Suzy, Aunt Janet and Uncle Kevin for coming out and cheering me on.

Final Results

What's Next?

My next race is the Pigman 1/2 Ironman down in Iowa in August. I have about 4 weeks of training (including a bit of tapering the week before), and plan to focus my efforts on my running. I know I can’t start out at a 7:30 pace, but would like to some day, so I need to start training for it. Next race I plan to start out at a 8:00 pace, and then pick up the pace in the 2nd half if I am still feeling good. I’d like to shoot for 4:45 (with an actual 1.2 mile swim), but it will be close. I know Pigman has a bit more climbing then Racine, and I figure I’m due for a hot day in August. If not 4:45, at least do better in my overall placing then I did in Racine.

I still need to work a bit on my transitions, but it’s hard to simulate what it’s like on race day. However, this year was my practice year anyway, so getting real experience doing the transitions on race day is part of what this year was about.

I tried out a new nutrition plan for this race, opting for about 900 calories from a mix of Gatorade (150 calories) and Carbo-Pro in 24oz of water. This worked well from an energy standpoint, but I still felt some discomfort in my stomach. I think it was because it was so cool out, that I didn’t drink enough plain water. Although during this past winter, I’d down a 32oz Gatorade without any problems at all while working out. I like the form factor of the Cliff Shot Blocks, but I think it’s too much sugar. I may try to make a paste out of the Carbo-Pro to cut down on the amount of liquid I take in as part of my fuel.

Since my last training update post (Indoor Triathlon), I’ve had a couple of rough weeks. Immediately following the indoor tri, I was out of town in Las Vegas for over a week. Biking was non-existent, I got a little bit of swimming in, and also some running. The running was really slow as I didn’t know how long my route was ahead of time, and my new Gamin Forerunner 305 was waiting for me at home.

Back from vacation, I set about picking up where I left off. My biking performance was the most impacted, with running and swimming close to wear I left off. This makes sense since I got no biking in, running was focused on base building, so not much to loose, and swimming was focused on technique, which I didn’t seem to forget. However, by the following week, things were back to normal, at least for a couple of days.

About a week and a half after my return from Vegas, I came down with the stomach flu, which sidelined me from Wednesday to the following Monday. Once again, my biking was shot, and running was about the same. In addition to the stomach flu, our community pool was closed for a annual maintenance and I lost out on 3 swim workouts. However, I’m still doing pretty good on the swimming. My 200m intervals are a couple of seconds slower then they were before, but today I swam 1000m and then did 8x75m on 1:15 (actually a little faster). I’m also starting a 4 week master swim program in a couple of days, and I’m really looking forward to some instruction/coaching.

With the unusually warm weather we had this past week, I decided it was time to switch over to biking outdoors instead of on the indoor trainer. I forgot how much wind resistance plays a roll in outdoor riding, and I’m really thinking a tri-bike would make things easier ;) I got in 21, 24, and 30 mile rides and I am looking forward to the most riding I’ve ever done this season. The 24 miler, was supposed to be 43 miles, but unexpected rain and an unsure forecast forced me to cut my ride way short. I did however complete my brick workout by doing a 30 minute run after the bike, and that went really well. While the route was a little flatter then what I have been running on, it was still a great confidence builder to feel as good as I did on the run after 24 miles on the bike.

This season, starting sometime in may, my goal is to ride to/from work at least 3 times per week. I will be incorporating a specific bike workout on the ride home at least 2 times per week in order to continue to build my bike skills. This will be in addition to my long Saturday endurance ride, which will feature quite a few attempts at the Ironman Wisconsin bike course. A co-worker of mine also gave me some info on local coach who offers bike classes 3 times per week, but at $20 per class, I’ll probably only do a few this season just to try them out.

What’s a training update without some new gear? I mentioned earlier that I picked up a Garmin Forerunner 305, and could not be any happier with it. The constant knowledge of how fast your are going is great for training. I was a little worried the Garmin software wouldn’t work on my 64bit Windows Server 2008 install, but it installed and runs great. It’s not crappy software either, it actually has a decent UI with lots of meaningful data. I think one of the coolest features of the software and watch, is the ability to program in workouts, like interval sets. Using the software, you can program something like, warm up in zone 3 for 10 minutes, then do a 30 second sprint in zone 7 followed by a 30 second cool down, repeat 10 times. If you are looking for a wrist mount GPS for running or biking, look no further then the Garmin 305 (I think it’s better then the 405 even). The price on the 305 has been slashed. I got mine off E-Bay, new, for around $130. I just saw Bet Buy advertising it for $149 as well.

Next up is the iBike Aero power meter I purchased for my bike. After training with a power meter on the stationary bike all winter, I just couldn’t see switching to outdoor riding without one. Not only that, but the data I get off the iBike and the analysis provided by Training Peaks is worlds better then the average watts I’d get off the stationary bike. I picked up a used iBike Gen 2 Aero for $314 off E-Bay, and then used the iBike upgrade program to get a brand new Gen 3 unit for only $249. So instead of paying $799, I only had to pay $563. Getting the wireless sensors mounted turned out to be a longer task then I had anticipated. You need to have at least 12 inches, if not more, between the cadence and speed sensor, or you will get whack readings. The speed magnet that goes on the wheel also gave me a good deal of trouble, as I couldn’t seem to get it tight enough to keep it in-place without deforming it.

The iBike is a little more complicated then the Garmin, but I don’t consider that a con in anyway. The calibration rides were pretty easy, at least easier then mounting the wireless sensors. The amount of information available from the iBike is overwhelming, and I will need to finish reading the instruction manual to learn all the features and how to begin to interpret the data. Thankfully I also picked up a book, “Training and Racing with a Power Meter” which has a lot of good info on how to interpret, and act on the data provided by a power meter.

With the acquisition of the Garmin Forerunner 305 and iBike Aero, I’ve gone back to TrainingPeaks.com and signed up for a premium account. While BuckeyeOutdoors.com is free, and has some nice features (Interval and Race specific workout entry), the analysis features in TrainingPeaks is too much to give up. Also, you can upload workouts from the Garmin and iBike to TrainingPeaks, and this saves on a lot of data entry. I had only wished I would have made the decision earlier, as not only did I spend an hour moving the last 8 weeks worth of workouts over to TraininPeaks, but now I’m in the middle of   my training plan, and can’t very easily switch over to the virtual coaching (training plan) that Training Peaks offers. I think I’ll wait until after my first race in June and then look to make the adjustment over to the TrainingPeaks virtual coach.

Until next time.

This week was a pretty good week for training, in that I achieved two milestones, all before even starting my formal training plan. I have to admit that I’ve been doing “training” for the last couple of months, where the rest of the tri-community are all doing cross training. I was doing cross training last fall until it started to take a toll on my legs (interior shin splints), and then switched over to biking, followed by swimming, and then decided, why not try running a triathlon. 

Anyway, about those two milestones I archived this week. First, I averaged over 230 watts (232 watts) for the first time on my two hour endurance ride. All of my winter training is done on a Keiser M3 stationary bike wearing my normal biking shoes. The workout consists of 120 minutes of tempo work, divided up between a base gear (~90 RPM to hit target wattage) for 40 minutes, 20 minutes of a higher gear, then 60 minutes of the base gear. The gearing really won’t mean much to anyone else, but I did 13, 16, and then 14. I was doing 13, 15, 13 for a 8 weeks, but switched up to 13,16,13 a couple of weeks ago, and this week was the first time I was able to push gear 14 for the full second half of the workout.

The second milestone, was a 1500m time trial in a pool, in which I broke the 30 minute mark, setting a new personal best at 29:26. When I first started swimming back in November I think, I was able to swim 1500m in around 38 minutes, so in about three months I’ve shaved off over 8 minutes. Now if only it would be as “easy” to shave another 8 minutes off. I think the biggest impact on my swimming has been improving my technique, although I do feel my swim endurance getting better, and I feel less out of breath.

I am really looking forward to starting my actual 16 week training plan next week, in preparation for the Capital View triathlon. I still have to work out the details of the plan, and am trying to decide between a couple of different “levels” as defined in the book I have. Some of the starting distances for the swim, and bike duration seem awfully low, but instead of stepping up a level, I could just try to increase the intensity. Most of the reading I have done indicates that higher intensity workouts pay greater dividends then lower intensity but longer workouts.

Given my 1500m time of 29:26, I figure I could have increased my pace for a 20 minute test by 10%, so my 100m pace would be 1:45. I will use this number to figure out my different training zones for swimming, and based on some training sets I’ve done in the past, this will be a very good pace for me to shoot for. At this point, I’m hoping to break the 25 minute mark in the pool by June, which should hopefully equate to a 30 minute open water swim, although I have nothing to base this on.

You can view my online training log at Buckeye Outdoors (yeah, I think it’s a weird name for a training log site as well).

Last week, I registered for my first Triathlon, the Capital View Triathlon, held here in Madison, WI. I will be competing at the Olympic distance, which is a 1500m swim, 24.85 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. I’ve been spending about 6-7 hours per week getting ready to start my 2009 annual training plan (which I still have to finish creating). Following the guidance of “The Triathlete’s Training Bible” by Joe Friel, I’m looking at some weeks requiring 14 hours of training, or double what I’m used to. I don’t know if I’ll be able to fit in all that training, but we’ll see how it goes. I would like to start doing some workout before work, but waking up before 6am does not seem like fun, although I better get used to it, as I can’t just wake up at 5:45am on race day after months of waking up closer to 7.

I’ve been pretty happy with the stats in the various disciplines. I’ve had a couple of spinning sessions were I have had 255 watts over 40 minutes, and I’ve been averaging 8.6 mph (7:00 minute mile) over 30 minutes running. I’ve recently begun altering my running style/technique in an effort to increase my cadence (number of times my foot strikes the ground). So far that has been going pretty well, I’m able to keep a higher cadence without counting all the time, although on my last run I brought a metronome, and realized I have a lot more work to do in keeping that cadence where I want it (180-190 foot strikes/minute).

I’ve been getting to the pool once or twice a week for about an hour each time. I’m still a complete novice when it comes to swimming, so after doing 1500m in my first couple of workouts just to make sure I could go the distance (note: just swimming 1500m in a pool, grabing the wall each time and getting that extra breath does not equate to 1500m in the open water), I’ve been trying to work more on technique. I think I’m making some good progress on this front. Today after my drill set which consisted of 1350m, I swam another 250m in 4:51, which is a new personal best for me. It’s sad comparing my times to those of actual swimmers, who are almost twice as fast as I am. Oh well, gives me something to shoot for.

I’m creating my shopping list for the event in June:

• New Bike Helmet (my current helmet was a fairly cheap one, and is almost 6 years old. Looking for something a littler lighter and comfortable)
• Sun Glasses (My current el-cheapo pair won’t stay on while running unless I have a head band on, and all scratched up)
• Wet Suit Rental
• Power Meter (the stationary bike I use has one built in, and I’ve really gotten use to using it.)
• New Heart Rate Monitor
• Bike Fit (I switched cleats and pulled my seat off to use the stationary bike, so I need to get everything set back up once spring comes along).
• New Bike Seat
• Aero Bars (Maybe)
• Areo Wheels Rental (Maybe)

I recently ordered some training gear for swimming, including some freestyle stroke/pull things (yeah, not sure how to describe them), freestyle snorkel, underwater metronome (help work on stroke count). The coolest thing in my order, a large, underwater stopwatch/lap counter. As a techie, my motivation for training usually involves gadgetry of some sort. Speaking of gadgets, my list above lists a power meter and new heart rate monitor. Not sure what I’ll get, as I don’t have an unlimited budget, and would like something that will work on the bike and run portions. I’ve been thinking about the iBike Pro wireless with a Garmin Edge 305 or 405, as it should all work together. However, people have been giving mixed reviews on the Garmin stuff. The other option are two completely different systems, one for the Bike and one for the run.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to post some reviews of the gear as I get it.

Did a 1500m swim test today and set a new personal best of 34:17, shaving another 45 seconds off my previous best. To put that into context, top pros swim 1500m in open water for the Olympic Distance Triathlon in about 18 minutes. So while that is probably outside my reach, getting down to 30 minutes seems like a reasonable goal, with a 25 minute time a stretch goal. Today, after watching my wife swim a couple of laps, I as able to better visualize what I was feeling in the water. Sine we are both starting out, we are making allot of the same mistakes. After my 1500m, I swam a couple of laps where I forced myself to go slow, and really try to focus on my technique. To my surprise, even though I thought I was going really slow, I was doing 25m in 30 seconds, which is the pace I need to hit my 30 minute goal.

You read allot about technique over raw speed, but most of the time (at least for me), I don’t believe it until I have some first hand experience, which I think I got today. It’s a fairly large psychological breakthrough, and I believe it will help me focus during future workouts. Some key points in my technique that I was able to put together for the first time today were: Full extension, shoulder rotation, smooth hand/arm entry setting up for my s-stroke. The pool is closed on Wednesday (my usual swim day along with Sundays), but my parents have an indoor pool at their condo and I’ll be on that side of town anyway. It’s probably closer to 10-15m, so I’m thinking of technique drills followed by lots of short sprints for the intensity component. Maybe I’ll swim around the edges to get more of a feel for a long distance instead of laps, as I always touch and stop at each end (still haven’t learned the flip turn).

Biking and running are coming along nicely as well. While I had a DNF during last weeks two hour endurance training (had to stop at 1 hour 47 minutes), I was averaging 227 watts. This week was a little better, as I finished very strong, but I had to stop at the 1 hour mark to use the bathroom. I’ve slacked off a bit on the intensity component for biking, while training to squeeze more running in, but I think I’m going to limit my running to one time per week until these shin splints clear up. Even though the shin splints are annoying, I was able to set a pretty good pace on Thursday, running on the treadmill for 30 minutes covering 4.5 miles (6:40 mile, 9 mph average). I would do 1 minute of 9.5-9.6 mph followed by 30 seconds of rest at 8.1 mph. This worked out really well, and I think I’ll keep working with this format to build up my speed and endurance.

I’m really looking to getting back outdoors for biking in the spring. I didn’t do any biking last winter, and my workout routine was sub-par compare to what I have been doing since April. I remember getting on my bike the first time and taking so long to bike to work that I was really disappointed (although it was maybe 50 out, and I had a strong head wind). I was able to build myself back up during the summer, but still couldn’t do much better then 21 mph average over my 12.5 mile route from my office to home. I’m really looking to a 24 mph average over that 12.5 miles in the early spring, and then keep that pace for 24-25 miles for the triathlon. I don’t know if that will be possible without more aero tires and at least clip on aero bars, but I’ll give it a try.

Yesterday I attempted my first bike to run activity. I started out with a 10.5 mile bike ride (which I wasn’t too happy with in terms of performance), followed by a 5 mile run. I had about 10 minutes of rest in-between, because even though I had “planned” this, things just didn’t work out for a quick transition.

While the bike ride was a sub-par performance, and my quads were really tight, I actually completed the 5 mile run in about 42 minutes, or about 2 to 2.5 minutes off my best 5 mile time (without riding the bike). The 42 minute time made me feel pretty good, and gives me something to shoot for in terms of improvement.

I am working on resolving two issues with my legs. The first is an IT band condition around my right knee, the second is medial tibial stress problems (shins) on both legs. Surprisingly running isn’t all that bad on the shins, and is only painful during the exercises at Monkey Bar’s (I guess that is a little unfortunate). Like I said, I’m working to get these issues resolved with the goal of being able to run 15-20 miles per week pain free by the end of January.

After establishing a good base for running, I will be working to ramp up for the Madison Marathon, as well as train for running at least one Olympic Distance triathlon in 2009. Speaking of triathlon’s, I really want to trade my bike in for a Cervelo P2C ;)

I’ve decided to add a new non-technology related category to my blog, simple titled Fitness. I plan on blogging about various fitness activities I do, such as running, biking, swimming, general workouts at Monkey Bars, Ju-Jitsu, and race training. I should have started this in the spring, as I’m not sure how much interesting stuff I will do over the winter, but I have to start sometime.

Today I did my second 40+ mile bike ride, basically to set a baseline for next season. Like last week, I did one time around the Ironman Wisconsin loop (Verona –> Mt. Horeb –> Cross Plains –> Verona). You can view this route on MapMyRide by clicking on this link.

Today’s Status:

Time: 2:25:07
Miles: 42.8
Avg Pace: 3:23 min/mi
Avg Speed: 17.7: mi/hr
Avg HR: 139 bpm
Approx Calories Burned: 2072

This weeks ride went allot better, although it’s hard to say why. It was about 10 degrees cooler, and cloudy this week, I’m two weeks past the head cold I had instead of one, and of course I have the experience and training effort from the previous week. I didn’t ride the early hills as aggressive in an effort to save the legs, and I think it paid off.

Last week I could barely make it back to my car, and was extremely sore, this week, I feel like I could have made it around a second time, albeit slower. I think this will provide a good baseline for when I start up again next season.

I also ordered a RoadId for me and the wife. While I bring my drivers license with me, I can’t really attach it to me like the RoadId, so I have a lot better chance of it staying with me in a really bad crash or accident (knock on wood). One thing I really took away from being an Eagle Scout was “Always Be Prepared”, and for $19.99, this was just something I couldn’t pass up on.