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.