Indian Springs Sprint

Saturday marked another race on the calendar. With everything that has been going on mentally and physically I wasn't quite sure how to feel about the race. I was really run down so my expectations were low. I was also hoping that by racing it would once again remind me why I love doing this...and maybe change my attitude.

I departed around 5:30 after my typical peanut butter bagel and a banana. The race was about an hour south so the drive provided me an opportunity to zone in to the race. That didn't happen. I felt very sluggish and unenthusiastic. I arrived at the race venue and went through the motions of setting up transition and catching up with friends I haven't seen in months.

I managed to get in a small warmup before the race but my body was feeling a bit lethargic and resisted the temptation to move any quicker than what was required. I made my way down to the swim start and still found myself chatting with less than 30 seconds before my wave started.

I had no real goal for this race outside of a solid effort. I want to work on my drafting in the water. I want to continue to push hard on the bike. Finally, I want don't want to get dropped on the run.

I hit the water and had a solid first 100-150m as I navigated through traffic. As I made my way around the first turn buoy, I settled into a comfortable pace. I was very relaxed. More importantly, I was sticking to this guys feet perfectly. I could tell that it wasn't a super aggressive pace. I looked around and didn't see any other feet so I stayed with my fish until the end. I popped out of the water in 11:05, which is about 45 seconds faster than High Falls.

Swim time: 11:59 (includes hill run)

The run to transition was straight up hill. As I pushed up the hill, the body pushed back a bit and I realized I was lacking the pop in my legs to run up that hill. I made my way through the world's narrowest transition and to my bike and spotted Kirk a few seconds ahead of me.

T1: 58s

The first mile was a technical descent down and out of the state park. I took the opportunity to settle down and think through the bike. I wasn't feel good for the first few miles on the bike. At the last turn buoy I caught consecutive waves of water and my stomach was letting me know that it doesn't enjoy drinking lake water. To make matters worse the first few miles were uphill and my heartrate was not settling down. I was doing all I could to not get mentally defeated.

I caught Kirk a few miles in and try to motivate him to come with me on the bike. I began picking up the pace and taking aim at the next few athlets. Around mile 5-6, my heartrate finally came down a bit and I was ready to really begin pushing the bike. About that time Whitwell caught me and pulled ahead. I used him as a carrot to make me push. I passed Chuck, offering him a congratulatory good swim, passed Street telling him to quit being such a p*ssy. And then I repassed Whitwell calling him an old fart in an attempt to light an fire under him.

At this point I was finding a solid groove. I also could tell how tired I was. I definitely didn't have any pop in the legs today so my strategy became to just hammer the bike. My run was going to suffer either way. Whitwell came roaring back and took off (guess I did my job). And then I was stuck out in no man's land for a while. The course was fairly challenging. Not hard...but not easy. It had moderate rollers for the first half that prevented you from getting into a solid groove. The back half was F-A-S-T as I ran out of gears 3x and was spinning 36 mph.

Bike time: 39:53 (21.6 mph)

T2 really sucked. You had to hop off your bike on and incline, rack the bike and run straight up a hill to get out. I fumbled a bit here getting on socks. I still feel like such a clutz in transition this year.

T2: :55

I headed out on the run not knowing what to expect. My HR was zone 5 instantly and I just trotted along. I didn't quite know how challenging this course would be. Oh my. I came out of transition right behind another guy so I stuck to him as long as I could. At the first turn around I saw Kirk and Street. I waited for both of them to catch me.

At the first mile, I was only running an 8:15. Wow, I am slow. But oddly enough no one was catching me. That all changed a few minutes later when a group of guys, all in my age group soared past me. FAIL. I knew at the first turnaround that I was in 3rd or 4th AG place. Oh well...the story of my life.

I kept pushing through the challenging run and it was brutal. The loops through the campground were beating me senseless. After the 2 mile mark I tried to pick it up a bit and caught a few people. In the last quarter mile, two more passed me and I went with them before realizing that I am not going to fight it out over the last 200m just for 1-2 overall places. There was no one behind me so I just cruised to the finish line.

Run time: 24:18 (7:50)

Total time: 1:18:06

I felt like my performance was subpar. Overall, it ended up being a good race for me. I felt sluggish throughout but I didn't give up. I continued to push through the harder times and put together a solid effort. I am still pissed about how deplorable my running is right now but that is going to change soon.

I hear the Sirens singing....tie me to the mast

Goodness...I am really having a love/hate relationship with triathlon as evidence by my last few posts. What disturbs me is that I know what I need to do to get better at the sport but it requires tons of hard work. On the other hand, I don't mind putting in the work as long as it is fun. Enter Ironman.

I have blogged about it before. The pull of 140.6 miles is tremendous and overwhelming. I have fallen victim to it before. I understand its calling and why it steamrolls masses of people each year.

Well Ironman season is upon us and guess who feels left out of the party. ME. This past week kicked off the season which IM CDA. It still amazes me that it was only 2 short years ago that I was out there peeing in my wetsuit at the fear of the race. Or maybe I was peeing to stay warm. Or maybe you just pee in wetsuits because it is fun to stand next to your friend Steve and pee on his foot without him knowing. But I digress.

Competing in an Ironman is fun. The distance and reward is tremendous. So I am sitting here trying to be a patient little triathlete who is struggling with motivation and goal setting issues. I know it sounds contradictory. But you can't half ass train for an Ironman. It lingers over your head. I sometimes wonder if I should sign up for one (cough Battleship to Battleship) and that would put be back on the right track. Give me a steady 5 hour ride and I get excited. I groan at the thought of 3 hours at certain thresholds.

As the season progresses and I follow friends and foes through their journey the calling will only amplify more and more. I will likely journey up to Louisville for a race and the desire to race will be there. The line to register the next will be even more tempting.

Even more so, I am itching to do another race overseas. Hearing the stories from friends returning from Brazil, Japan, etc only feed that desire even more. I wonder how I would feel to moderate train for an overseas IM and compete in anticipation of enjoying a vacation after the race.

So Ironman season is here. I hear the song it is singing. People need to sign up for shifts to babysit me and ensure I don't do something dumb.

Changing the Approach

Things still aren't looking up for me right now. I went to the pool last night and walked out of the gym after only completing 3 of my 7 reps. My times were dropping and I felt like I was working way too hard to be going that slow in the water.

This morning, I did manage to run 6 miles prior to work. I kept the pace right around 9:00 miles and solidly in zone 1. It helped that it was a nice, cooler (relatively) morning. I didn't feel too taxed. My body was tired but the slower, steady rate came a bit easier than I thought it would.

Coach Dan and I are mixing things up this week. I am to not look at my power numbers on the bike. Instead, I am supposed to just go ride a couple of times. My effort should be solid but not hammering and not sandbagging. There are no interval sets this week. There are no long runs this week. Right now, there are no long rides. I might even go for a spin on my road bike this weekend.

The body still feels really beat. It doesn't help that I have been sick the last few days. I came home from work early on Monday. I can only assume it is some form of heat exhaustion from the weekend. I feel like I have hydrated well. But I am suffering from a piercing headache, suppressed appetite and a chronic feeling of being run down. I took some sinus medicine last night and that alleviated some of the problem but it returned this morning. I can't recall a time in my life when a headache lingered this long.

I am, however, still racing this weekend. Indian Springs Sprint. I don't have too many expectations for the race other than just having fun down there. It is always fun to catch up with people that you only get to see at races.

On Saturday, I will do what the body will allow....which hasn't felt like much lately. I am often pondering the notion that I asked so much of my body last year between Duathlon Worlds and Ironman Florida that it is taxed to the max. Sure I took some down time to recharge but not really. And probably not enough to overcome a really long season AND an injury. And then I stacked the early season.

I am working hard this season to listen to my body. And I think it is talking. Part of me says shut it down for the rest of the year. The other half just says back off from the HIM distance and focus on Olympics and Sprints. I am going to give myself until next week to make a few decisions about what I want to do with the rest of my season.

Pity Party, All are Invited

Someone asked me the other day why I haven't been discussing my training much in my blog. The answer is two-fold. First, it slips my mind. When you do the same thing week in and week out, it becomes difficult to blog about it in an exciting way. Secondly, I am in a training funk.

Right now, training is not going very well. I am uncertain as to the root of the problem. Some of the issue is the heat we are experiencing. Some of it is likely fatigue on the body. Some of it may be mental. I just don't think I have trained well since New Orleans. As I make another final build toward my next big race, things don't appear to be falling in place for me.

My running is not coming along like I feel it should. Instead of seeing gradual improvement over the past few months, I feel like I have barely held my fitness. My long runs in fact are a bit slower. After running 385 miles this season, I would like to see the results show up more often in training versus hoping they are there on race day.

The more glaring problem is how much I am struggling on the bike. My long rides are falling apart. Too often, I am not able to hold my prescribed wattage. I can't explain how demoralizing it is to plan for a moderate intensity 3 hour ride and have it fall apart without too much explanation.

Yesterday was yet another disaster. My ride called for 3h 25m with 3h at 70-75% of FTP and then the last 15m at 75-80%. In theory, this should be an easy ride for me at this point. What unfolded was sheer carnage...

Time	Speed	% FTP	HR
30	19.7	70.5	145
30	19.6	72.5	150
30	19.4	68.4	150
30	19	67.6	150
30	18.4	61.5	149
30	16.8	54.3	147
20	17.7	44.5	146

I finished my first 31 miles feeling pretty good. I knew my watts had dropped but as I restocked with cold nutrition, I was ready to go out and work the next 31 miles with more intensity. As demonstrated in the chart above, that didn't happen. I was completely flat on the second lap. I tried hard to pull it together and only became more and more frustrated. At 2:45, I just gave up. I saw my speed and watts sinking faster than the Titanic.

This is quickly becoming a frequent occurrence. At this point, I can only speculate the cause. I am under the impression that post NOLA, I was overtrained as an attempt to peak again for Gulf Coast. I can't help but to wonder if it is now coming back around to bite me in the arse.

Dan and I are sitting down again this week to discuss. As it currently stands, we have completely different opinions on the source of the problem. All I know is that I don't want to go down this destructive path any longer. Right now, I am leaning toward shutting it down for summer and just racing sprints. I just don't think I can optimally perform at the longer distance...so why push it.

Training and Racing in the Heat

It has happened to nearly all of us. We have a good swim, an above average bike and then we melt away on the run. We know we are trained for the race but the heat destroys us mentally and physically. The same thing happens on our long workouts...either we see performance declines or we are wiped out for the rest of the day.

Hopefully by now, you understand the importance of understanding your fluid loss and how a decrease in body weight can be detrimental. In addition to fluid loss, it is important to take proper steps to reduce your core temperature. The body loses heat from areas where there is more blood flow--hands, feet and head. Thus, you must learn to combat the heat lose through a series of heat reducing techniques.

• Heat Acclimatization--It takes time to get used to the heat. If you have an upcoming in warm conditions, then you should spend some time outdoors during the warmer part of the day. For most Ironman athletes, the run starts around 1:00-3:00. It is strongly encouraged that you try running during this time of day so that you can simulate race conditions.
  

• Get Outdoors--It shocks me how many athletes spend a majority of their time indoors. I have no doubt that running on the treadmill with your air conditioning set at 72 is a pleasurable experience. But on race day, you will not adjust. Your core temperature and heart rate will increase. You might actually melt.
  

• Proper Running Attire--This also amazes me when I run around my neighborhood. I am not shy person, so I will run shirtless and always in running shorts. Ditch the cotton t-shirts in favor of some wicking material or something mesh-like. You clothes need to be breathable. There is a reason running singlets are so unattractive. I am also a big fan of a hat or visor. It keeps the sun out of your face.

• Proper Hydration--Understanding fluid loss is just the beginning. Your body needs more than just water to stay properly hydrated. This is why sports drinks are served during races. Sports drinks contain glucose and sodium which increase the water absorption rate in the body. They also contain a number of vitamins and calories which aide in performance. In the summer, I carry a water bottle with me for any run longer than 30 minutes.
  

• Electrolyte Replacement--Similar to above, replacing electrolytes aides in speeding up water absorption. Potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium and chloride all can be packaged in a number of ways. While sports drinks provide a basic level of electrolyte replacement, many athletes use supplements. Personally, I am a fan of Hammer E-caps on the run and Nuun in a dissolved form.
  

• Recover and Rehydrate--It sounds like common sense but I imagine most of us shirk this responsibility. To recovery, you need to restore your body to its previous form. This means fluid, electrolytes, etc. A good recovery drink is always beneficial. I prefer chocolate mike or Endurox. But recovery goes beyond just that 30-60 minute window. It is keeping up the rest of the day. I am a huge fan of using Nuun as a recovery drink several hours later. I have learned that when I am still feeling wiped out, it is likely an electrolyte imbalance. I will drop a Nuun tablet in a bottle of water and enjoy.
  

These are just a few basic tips to apply in your daily training. As you become accustomed to training in the heat, you need to start thinking about how you can better race in it too. Here are a few of my favorite tips:

• Cups of water--Use the aid stations to your advantage. I will douse myself in water whenever possible. The cooler I can keep my head, the better I feel.
  

• Sponges--I love these things. I prefer to place two in my tri top near my shoulders or pecs and one on the back of my neck. When I dump water on my head, the sponges catch some of the excess fluid and keep me cooler for the next mile.

• Holding ice--Races with ice at aid stations get the best reviews from me. At Gulf Coast, I experimented with this idea and it worked. I asked for a cup of ice and during the mile, I would pour some of it into my hand and clench it. What it did for me was forced my brain to acknowledge the cold sensation in my hand rather than the pain in my legs. Also, it helped keep me cool. When the ice melted, I would rub that hand across my face to provide it some cool relief.

• Cold towels--Similar to sponges, I strategically place them on my body--namely the back of my neck or I wipe my face with them.
  

As summer approaches, it becomes even more critical for us to rethinking our nutrition and hydration plan. As stated before, the plan begins before the workout. If executed properly, the body will recovery more effectively and efficiently thus allowing you to reach even higher performance gains.

Here is a picture of my Nike Dri-fit sleeveless running shirt 10 minutes after a 90 minute run.

Fluid Loss, part 2

As highlighted the other day, monitoring fluid loss is a critical part of training, especially in the warmer months. The reality is that as athletes we often shirk our responsibly to develop a comprehensive nutrition plan. Instead, we remain short-term focused and only think through the next workout. It is no wonder why we have a bad Sunday ride when we lost pounds of fluid the day before.

Thus it becomes even more important to regularly monitor your fluid loss so that you can adjust your nutrition plans. Most of us know what basic dehydration feels like. The concepts can probably be extrapolated into a basic understanding that dehydration affects overall performance. Take for instance the following study:

• A group of cyclists rode in hot conditions for 2 hours then undertook a simulated cycling hill-climb to exhaustion on an inclined treadmill. On one occasion they were well hydrated, and the other time allowed to lose 2.5% of their body mass prior to the hill climb. Despite having a lighter body weight (by nearly 2 kg), the dehydration made them stop riding 29% earlier and reduced their power output for a given speed. (Ebert)
  

Think about your last long ride and imagine you stopped 29% earlier. Was it a good workout? Probably not. The key here is that dehydration begins to significantly impact performance at a mere 2.5% change in body weight. Think about that for another minute.

In my last post, I conducted a basic fluid loss test. In just a 67 minute run, I managed to shed 3 pounds of body weight...or 1.8%. Another half a pound and I begin approaching the level of the cyclists referenced above. Now consider the following chart demonstrating the severity of fluid loss on a 150 pound athlete:

Weight Loss (150 lb athlete)	% body weight	Physiological Effect
3 lbs	2%	Impaired performance
6 lbs	4%	Capacity for muscular work declines
7.5 lbs	5%	Heat exhaustion
10.5 lbs	7%	Hallucinations
15 lbs	10%	Circulatory collapse and heat stroke

Fluid loss is inevitable on a warm day but minimizing the loss helps you maintain performance. As you can see, performance begins to decline at just 2% of body weight. For me that is roughly 3.5 pounds. But just as important, is how the weight loss impacts recovery.

I contend that recovery should never be limited to post workout. Instead, recovery is every bit integral to pre workout and workout nutrition strategies. Understanding the impact of fluid loss highlights the importance of being properly hydrated going INTO the workout. Endurance athletes can ill afford to be under hydrated on a warm day. It is like playing with fire.




Footnotes:

Ebert TR, Martin DT, Bullock N, Mujika I, Quod MJ, Farthing LE, Burke LM, Withers RT. 2007. Influence of hydration status on thermoregulation and cycling hill climbing. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 39: 323-329.

"The Maintenance of Fluid Balance during Exercise", International Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 15(3), pp. 122-125, 1994--chart

Fluid Loss and Heat Training

Summer is here. For those of us in the South, we were met with 90 degree temperatures a number of times over the past week. Just as predictable as heat and humidity to Atlanta, it is the time of year where athletes begin feeling less energetic and more fatigued. The reality is the heat beats you down.

To understand why, you need to look no further than a basic science book. The body is made up of water. Sweat is 99% water, blood is 90% water, muscle mass is 75%. This easily demonstrates why we weigh ourselves and find our weight often +/- a few pounds. Most of it is water loss or retention.

This becomes crucial for athletes who train in warm and humid conditions. As heat and humidity rise, the body begins to sweat as a cooling mechanism. In order to sweat, there needs to be an ample supply of water. As the body loses fluids in the form of sweat it becomes even more critical to replace the fluids to keep the body hydrated. Most of this is common sense. But have you really ever thought, beyond basic dehydration, about how fluid loss impacts your training?

Over the past year of training, it has come to my attention that I am a VERY heavy sweater. This seems to stand in face of conventional wisdom given my general fitness level and lean build. However, I often walk back into the house with a heartrate strap that will produce a small river beneath. I think this problem has the potential to become a major detriment in training...both during the workout and in the recovery process. My goal is to devote time this summer to determining my fluid loss rate and developing a better hydration strategy.

Your nutrition that worked in April might need a slight modification to meet your needs on a hot day. However, most of us still stick to the one bottle per hour rule of the thumb when training. Instead, we need to think past this general concept and begin understanding how much fluid our body actually NEEDS during the workout.

Calculating your fluid loss or need is a simple process:

1. Weigh yourself prior to the workout
2. Workout, 60 minutes at a moderate intensity is most ideal
3. Weigh yourself after the workout
4. Subtract the difference between the weights
5. Repeat often


The difference in weight can then be converted to fluid loss if you assume that 1 pound of body weight equals 16 ounces of fluid. Thus, the key becomes determining the proper level of hydrating to prevent significant weight loss. For example, I conducted this test on a humid morning run:

1. Pre workout weight: 168.4
2. Workout: 67 minutes, 7.5 miles, moderate intensity
3. Post workout weight 165.4
4. Total weight loss: 3 pounds or 1.8% of body weight.

So in theory, I needed 48 ounces (3 x 16 oz) of fluid to maintain my weight. Over the course of the workout, I likely consumed about 14 ounces of water....so I really needed 62 ounces (48 + 14) to offset my weight loss. Of course, consuming 62 ounces over the hour is improbable. Generally, the body is only able to absorb about 34 ounces (1 liter) per hour but the deficit illustrates the importance of maintaining proper body hydration, both before and during training.

So as the training and the heat begins to increase, I encourage you to give more thought to your hydration plans. The old rule of one bottle per hour may work for you...it may not. And unless you determine your fluid loss need, then you might be putting your body in jeopardy and setting yourself up for performance failure. Therefore, the question becomes at what point does weight loss become detrimental to training and recovery?

In the next few days, I will go into more detail about the detriments of fluid weight loss and what you can do about it.

Mid Season Status Check

We are at the midway point in the tri-season and the end can't come soon enough. I can't recall who I was talking to at High Falls when I mentioned that I am very ready for this season to be done with. The ironic part was that High Falls was the person's first tri of the season. They were just getting started.

I thought I was take a look at the past six months and figure out what has been going well and where I feel like I need to make adjustments. Each year is different so it is hard to compare to year's past. In fact, the past two years were marred with BIG races by this point. Two years ago, I would be tapering for Ironman Coeur d'Alene. And last year, I had just finished Triple T on my way aboard the injury train.

Swim: B-. I don't know what my deal is here. I came back from Hawaii with some good speed but I have seemed to let it fade away. One of my problems is that I have a default comfort zone in the water so I spend too much time training there. All in all, I don't feel like I am swimming well or where I want to be right now. A lot of this is mental. One of the things I am working on is to cut down on my rest intervals. I have long cheated here...taking extra time to gather myself before launching into the next set. I need to cut those out so that I am force to work through some pain. I think this will be my last ditch effort at swimming before I decide that the only way I will break through the plateau is individual coaching or masters classes.

Bike: B+. I am pleased with the progress that I have experienced. Cutting back on the volume allows me to increase the intensity...and it shows. I am certainly riding better than I have in years past. This past weekend was the first race that I clearly broke through the 22 mph barrier. The downside is that I am seriously struggling with adapting to power. I love having the numbers and conducting real time analysis. However, I am often NOT keeping my watts during my workouts. I seem to be consistently 7-10 watts below where I should be.

Run: C. I am not running well at all this year. This is a major source of frustration for me. I felt really good about my run going into NOLA but since the race, I feel flat. Part of it is that I am probably scared to reinjure myself so I am apt to backoff. I am trying to work on understanding where that pain threshold is for me but it seems that I am not pushing it mentally enough to get there. Dan keeps telling me to be patient as we will wrap up the season with a run focus and my speed will be there. I guess we will see.

Training: A. I would say that I am training well. I am often unhappy with my workouts and not hitting my targets but I am getting them done. For reasons mentioned above, it is just a bit of an adjustment to focus on intensity. I miss those long rides where you could zone out and cruise at an aggressive pace. For the most part, I feel like I am making it through my workouts.

Racing: B-. Eh. The sprints have been good but I can't recall the last time where I had a bad sprint race. We will see what the next few weeks hold for me.

Recovery: B. I have lost sight of how to properly recover. In the past, I was the king of ice baths. The gas station guy knew I needed 3 bags of ice everytime I entered. Last night I took an ice bath woke up feeling much better. I have also stopped taking recovery drinks. I don't know why. It just seems to slip my mind. On the positive, I owe a lot of gratitude to my massage therapist. I am able to see her every 2-3 weeks now which helps a lot

Overall, I feel like I am having a subpar season. I set my sights really high going in and haven't quite lived up to my own expectations. I think there is still time to turn it around and that is where I need to focus all of my attention.

Sportsmanship & Triathlon

This past weekend, I experienced something that I am not certain I have really seen in my years of racing. Blatant cheating. Every race has some degree of cheating but most of it is innocent and typically subjective. But what I saw this weekend certainly appeared to be concerted and steadfast.

The sport is governed by USAT who develops the rules for competition. Most of the rules concern safety--wear helmets, no headphones, put your stuff where it belongs. Others are directed at preventing cheating--people helping you, illegal equipment. Occasionally, you will here about blatant cheating--someone cuts the course or in the case of IM Florida, a guy using fins on the swim. But the reality, the logistics of a race make it kinda difficult to cheat and not get caught. Unless, we are talking about drafting.

There is no subject that gets athletes riled up more in this sport. The USAT rules clearly state that you must keep 3 bike lengths (21 feet) and must pass within 15 seconds. Otherwise, you are drafting. The benefits are substantial to the second rider as they aren't required to expend as much energy to hold the same pace. This is why the peloton often catches the sprinters in Tours. The stay fresh and alternate hard pulls before sinking back into the pack.

In a sport that doesn't end with just the bike portion, it becomes even more benefcial to the second rider. I would love to ride at 40 less watts but still maintain my speed. That would be a nice recipe for a quality run. While illegal, it is sometimes difficult to prevent. I contend that there are four types of drafting:

1. Inadvertant drafting--Sometimes you just find yourself within the 3 bike lengths of a competitor that is your same pace. You have no intention of drafting but due to the effort, you are unable to pass within 15 seconds. Or if you do, he passes you right back. You get stuck in a situation where the only option is to drop back but you certainly don't want to do so.

2. Too much volume--In large races (Ironman), sometimes there is too much traffic on the road to prevent drafting. Ironman Florida was this way for about 5 miles. There was NO way to avoid it minus dropping off the very back of 100 riders. It sucked and I hated every minute of it. We were riding 5-6 wide and 15-20 deep. You couldn't even maneuver your bike out of it. The sad part was that while my heartrate was in zone 1, I thought the pace was slower than what I would be travelling.

3. Paceline--You see this occassionally in big races. It starts with one guy latching onto the wheel of another and as they make passes, others climb aboard. Typically it is 5-10 people. These are less common mainly because they are hard to form and they are easily identifiable. In fact, my favorite thing to do when I see one is to yell "REF." It seems to break them up.

4. Direct drafting--Athlete "A" passes athlete "B" so "B" decides to suck wheel and go with him for an extended time period.

On Saturday, I experience a combination of #3 & #4. Around mile 8-9 of the bike, Tony, Marc, Doug and I were passed by two people who were a bit too close to one another. It is quite unusual to be passed by two people at the same time without thinking it is cheating. And to make matters worse, they belonged to the same triathlon group/club....so they were likely training partners.

Over the next few miles, what I saw shocked me. They stayed 25-30 meters ahead of me and it almost appeard to be one unit. They were clearly working together. I saw Tony and Marc move closer in hopes to break it up but they couldn't even hang with these guys. The teammates were trading positions more often then I change underwear. One would pull, then switch. This went on for the remaining 5 miles. All I could do was keep pushing the pace because I couldn't catch them. I am sure if all the EC guys rode like that we would have blown them away.

So I entered transition pissed off. I asked the guys if they saw it the same way, all were in agreeance that it was blatant cheating. I offered $20 to any of the EC guys who tripped either of the guys on the run (jokingly). I ended up running down the guy at mile one. As I approached him, I debated what to say if anything. I chose to speak my mind and basically tell him that was bullshit cycling and he was an f'ing cheater. Needless to say he didn't take to kindly to that and had a few choice words back. Fortunately, he was somewhat reserved but I could tell I got under his skin. He came back up to me after the race trying to provoke me and I stood my ground. I had 3 others that saw the same thing. He just didn't want to admit that he was cheating.

So the question is what do you do about blatant cheating like that? I don't believe in complaining about the officials. While it IS their job, they can't be everywhere at once. It does no good to talk to them after the race because the official can't do anything about it. Do you just suck it up and let it go? Or do you confront the person? How should situations like this be handled in the future?

And don't worry, I got his name and tri club. I will certainly be watching for this in the next few races.

Tri the Parks: High Falls Sprint

Back on to the race scene. This was a big volume week for me that included a couple high intensity rides plus my long run occurring prior to the race. I was definitely feeling the training on the body but remained ready to redeem myself on the race course.

I left the house around 5:30 making the 50 minute drive south. I end up arriving with more time than needed. I picked up my race packet and found my way into transition. It was a late race start (8:00 am) which provided plenty of time to take the bike for a spin as well as jog. I hit the water about 20 minutes before the start and swam our for about 5 minutes. I was feeling loose.

Swim: 600 meters

My goal for the swim was to push as long as I can and draft as much as possible. I initially seeded myself in the front middle, about 3 deep. As the race director counted down from 10, I began looking for seems and made a move to a better position. I instantly took off and found good feet. I didn't site all the way until the first turn buoy. The guy in the front of me had a solid half stroke on me but I stuck to his feet and didn't move.

I got a little turned around coming around both turn buoys and went a bit wide on the course. I quickly found a new fish and attacked. It was also clear that everyone's pace was slowing a bit. I found a good set of feet and spent the next 2-3 minutes irritating him. With every stroke of my left hand and made sure to hit is feet. And just as expected, he fluttered and tried to speed up. Keep expending the energy while I glide. I made one last adjustment and made my way to swim exit.

Swim time: 11:50


I was a bit dazzed in transition. I found Tony and Marc. I am not quite sure what took me so long. I must have started to think. I remember getting to my bike and being confused. This resulted in a slow transition for me

T1 time: 1:03

Bike: 13.7 miles

I did the course two years ago and I remember it being a bit challenging while a number of rollers. My strategy was to push the first few miles, establish a steady pace and then pick it up for the last few. Marc, Tony and I played leapfrog for the first few miles. I was using them to push me a bit harder. I finally settled into a solid pace and began pushing a bit more.

The course was as I remembered. It was a lot of uphills and a few very steep downhills. The last 1.5 miles were down hill. My watts started to suffer around mile 9. I was still able to hold a reasonable pace. Doug caught me in the last couple of miles and gave me someone new to use as a carrot.

Bike time: 36:42 (22.4 mph)


I was pissed off entering transition due to a pair of major cheaters that caught us in the last few miles (blog forthcoming). Tony, Doug, Marc and I all came in at the same time.

T2: 47s

Run: 3.1 miles

The plan was to hold on as long as I could. I went out hard and felt like I wasn't holding much back. I new I was moving and kept telling myself that I only needed 20 minutes out of the my legs. I caught one of the cheaters and had a few choice words for him. He mouthed back and I honestly thought we were going to throw down in the middle of the 5k. I just cleared my mind and took pride in the fact that I was passing him with ease.

The course was a rolling out and back. As the leaders came back, no one looked good....everyone was hurting. I was there too. I finally got caught around the turnaround and I tried to go with him but there wasn't much left in the tank. The part that pissed me off most was getting caught in the last half mile. I tried again to push and I couldn't. I was barely keeping it together.

Run: 22:59 (7:25)

Overall time: 1:13.23

I am pleased with the race. I felt like I pushed and gave it all that I had to give on that day. I feel like I had strong showings in all three disciplines. I would always like to be faster but I will take what I can. I did manage to take 6 minutes off my time from two years ago. While I was slightly injured at the time, not all of the time came from the run. My bike was significantly better.

The interesting part is that I thought physically I had a good race, but on paper, I look horrible:

	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Total
Fastest	8:20	0:35	33:27	0:28	17:00	1:03.21
Benchmark	9:55	0:52	35:07	0:39	19:26	1:06.01
Andrew	11:50	1:03	36:42	0:47	22:59	1:13:23
Overall Rank	51	47	29	64	77	39
Age Group Rank	6	5	2	9	10	29

May 09 Totals

I haven't been inspired or motivated to blog this week so I will just post my totals. If you have an idea for a topic, please leave a comment and email me. I have a few blogs in the queue...but not too many. I need new material.

May's totals:
Bike:	13h 10m 07s - 261.2 Mi
Run:	10h 04m 36s - 69.9 Mi
Swim:	4h 22m 12s - 13910 Yd
Strength:	1h 19m
Kayaking:	1h 30m
Yoga:	1h 20m

I feel good about this month especially since it included a week of recovery and vacation. I feel like it was a solid month of training. I have a feeling that the June numbers will be big.

2009 totals
Bike:	67h 56m 02s - 1261.54 Mi
Run:	49h 37m 59s - 343.75 Mi
Swim:	27h 02m 07s - 81766 Yd
Strength:	10h 21m
Boot Camp Conditioning:	30m
Kayaking:	1h 30m
Running Drills:	1h 00m
Yoga:	6h 30m

I would say that this is on par for the year. I am not swimming near as much as last year but my bike and run seem to be in the ballpark for where I want them.

Vacation, Shark Attacks and Humidity

Sorry for the general updates lately. I promise to resume blogging this week and hope to unleash a series of blogs in the very near future.

I have now returned from vacation. This was my first vacation in several years that did not involve a race or taking my bike with me. I am the King of short vacations but I never return relaxed. I am quick to jump on a flight to go watch an Ironman or take my bike to another city for 3-4 days. This was different. I left it all behind. Well, I took my running shoes and goggles, in case I wanted to train.

I left Atlanta Wednesday morning for Fort Lauderdale with Jessica. We were appreciative of the opportunity to check into our hotel really early. We stayed two nights at the W Fort Lauderdale. Apparently it had just opened. We both really liked its trendy nature. The down side was the the weather sucked. Wednesday we decided to go to the pool and no sooner than we put down our towels it began raining. This became a theme for the rest of the vacation. Everyday at 12 it became cloudy and by 1:00 it was pouring. Sadly, the storms didn't just pass, they lingered and we never saw the sun again.

On the brightside, we ventured out and had some delicious dinners. Wednesday night I had one of the best pieces of tuna, despite it being overcooked. Thursday we splurged for sushi. We ordered so much that they had to put it on a boat to serve. Our waiter delivered it to us and said let him know when we needed a to go box. At this point, I was determined to put a hurting on. And sure enough, Jess held her own and I devoured the rest.

Friday afternoon we departed for Key Largo and got stuck in the pouring rain for 2 straight hours before arriving at the Ocean Reef Club. We were attending a wedding there so our afternoon mainly consisted of relaxing and then getting ready for the reception.

On Saturday morning, we joined a group and went on a 90 minute kayaking eco-tour through the mangrove forest that encompasses the resort. It was a really cool perspective of the living ecosystem that helps define the area. It was also a great opportunity to see the native wildlife that included crabs, jellyfish, sand dollars and eels. About an hour into the journey, we spotted a pair of 15 foot, man eating nurse sharks. Ok...maybe there were only about 3 feet. I guess they felt threatened as they turned into vicious animals and darted right towards us. In fact, one attacked me directly, hitting my kayak trying to toss me into the shark infested waters. Fortunately, my keen sense of awareness allow me to remain afloat. I suppose I survived my first real shark attack.

We decided to spend the rest of the morning by the pool trying to soak up all the sun possible before the storms arrived. That afternoon was the wedding ceremony and dinner reception followed by dancing. We decided to retire early and not participate in all the late night shenanigans. We got up Sunday and hit the pool a bit longer before driving back to Fort Lauderdale to catch our flights.

All in all it was a good trip. I did manage to run a couple of times. I went out on Wednesday for 45 minutes and then tried run on Friday. My interval run turned into a survival run. I am not ready for that level of humidity. I was completely drenched by 20 minutes. I even got in the ocean to swim Thursday morning but got so chaffed that after 15 minutes I was done. Instead, I took the oppotunity this week to let my body relax a little bit. I did cross train in the form of kayaking, pool and beach volleyball. Hopefully, I will bounce back this week and resume a high level of training.