“The List” – I shall prepared #imcda

1. Wear tights Saturday

2. Get extra bike tube

3. Ibuprofin

4. Via for caffeine punch

Calorie math –> need 400 calories/hour

3 scoops Perpetuem = 405 calories

1 Clif Bar = 250 calories

Bike:

6.5 hours x 400 calories = 2400 calories = 13 scoops Perpetuem

1 Clif Bar per hour = 6 Clif Bars. Equals 1/2 Clif bar every 10 miles

1/2 PBJ at Turnaround, 1/2 PBJ at mile 100

Run: 2 bottles x 3 scoops each – Finish 1 bottle per leg (6 miles)

1/4 Clif Bar every 2 miles

Bike Special needs-

Tube

Perpetuem Mix in bottle

2 Clif bars

CO2

Lena on person at all times:

* Electrolyte pills

* Clif Bar

* PBJ

* Water bottle – full

* Perpetuem in bottle

* Espresso

* Extra Garmin

* Time of day watch

* Ibuprofen 

Saturday night:

* Make PBJ for race day

* Have Nurtition laid out on counter

* 

RACE PLAN:

4:00 – Wake up

Coffee

bagel & light PB/Jelly, Yogurt & granola with honey & BB

4:15 – Hot shower – stretch

4:30 – Nutrition bottles

4:45 – Leave house

5:00 – Drop special needs bags

5:05 – Get marked.  Then sunscreen & vaseline

5:10 – Check bike in transition. Pump tires

Put on Garmin

Fill nutrition bottles

Fill Water bottle

5:20 – Check transition bags

5:45 – Begin stretching on grassy area

6:10 – Relax, last stretch

6:15 – Begin donning wetsuit on grassy area behind start.

6:25 – Go to Chair 4 to timing chip with Clif bar and water bottle

6:30 – Move to inside left position.  

Get in water, face wet, a few strokes to warm up.  Breathe.  

Let suit fill with water.

Check goggles for fog and fit.

Eat half Clif Bar and sip on water.

SWIM:

7:00 – Boom.  Relief.  I get to race!

* Slow and steady to warm up

* Let aggressive swimmers ahead then draft. 

* Swim confidently and strongly. 

* Breathe and relax.  

* Smile – you're going to be a 2-time Ironman

* Be happy you're not a meathead or freak climbing over people

* Check the clock at the turn but do not push any harder than you are.  Gaining 5 minutes on the swim will cost me 20 minutes on the bike.

SWIM TO BIKE TRANSITION

* Find Strippers, get on ground, relax

* Call out number

* Grab bag and go to far end of tent where there is probably more room

* Run through gate, hug left-hand barrier fence all the way around to my row near the red TIMEX tent 

* 

SWIM-TO-BIKE Transition:

* Grab towel to dry torso

* More EZBalls. Wipe hands

* Glasses, gloves, arm-warmers in helmet

* Jersey with 2 clif bars, extra Perpetuem, and 2* (1/2) PBJ wrapped in celephane in pockets

* Chomp Clif Bar, put rest in Jersey pocket

* Swig Bottle with Perpetuem mix

* Electrolyte pills

BIKE:

* Relax

* Trust your training

* Get heartrate down to 120-125 range.  Spin up the hills with controlled intensity

* Drink, drink, drink water

* 1/4 Clif Bar every 15 mins, wash down with water

* Swig of Perpetuem in every 15 minutes off center with Clif Bar

* 2 Electrolytes every 45 mins (bring 15 for ride)

* Check clock at the 1/2 mark.  See how you feel.  Can you do an even split?  How about a negative split?  What will either cost you on the run.  Be patient – I'm going to be faster than last year.  Don't think you're going to Kona.  Stayed focused on the goal.

BIKE-TO-RUN Transition:

* Unclip 

* Dismount

* Grab Garmin

* Call number & grab bag.  Loosen Helmet strap on way

* Helmet off – Gloves off, armwarmers off, jersey off –> place in helmet

* Shoes off, place next to helmet

* Running shoes on

* Running Belts on – two full bottles of Perpetuem with 3 scoops each

* Electrolyes

* Run

RUN:

* Short strides, keep it light.  Slow to 8:30 pace within 2 miles

* Break run into 4 legs.

* Swig of Mix every mile

* Water at every aid station

* 2 Electrolyte pills every 30 (min)-45 (max) minutes depending of how I feel.

* Check pace. Fall back to 8:45 if struggling at 8:30.  First 13 miles should feel like a jog

* Maintain 8:45 for Legs 2 & 3.  Drop to 9:00 if struggling

* For last leg, be strong and smart and strong.  Maintain 9:-9:15 pace – you can do this b/c you're fitter, stronger, lighter, with better nutrition

* Focus on the perfect stride.  

* Smile – you're almost there.

Considerably more organized than last year #imcda @kevincoady

Front bottom to top:

1. AM nutrition
2. Bike transition
3. Bike special needs
4. Run transition
5. Run special needs

No replays of last year…

The Science of Ironman #imcda

Making lists of things I need to make lists for…

One week to go. Why exactly do I do this?

“You know – got to go sub-12:00 now…“

That was 51 weeks ago, and here I am seven days before round two. Exactly one week from now, I expect to be at mile 15 of the bike checking my diagnostics and thinking about fuel, hydration, and heart rate. And why?  Just to see what I can do.

Triathlon is simultaneously both the most fair and unfair sport that I know.  You spend six months preparing for a single day.  Either you’re ready or not. You can’t get lucky. You’re fast or not. You’re prepared or not.  You put in the time and intelligent training, or you don’t. Your family sacrifices and a single day on the course consumes most everything you do for half the year. Anything can happen on race day – Mother Nature, biology, other racers.  On race day, you can only pray that you have the opportunity to perform at your personal best.  

It’s not just the training – it’s all the stuff in between.  And race day, it’s a persistent conversation with myself on how hard to push to the sub-11:59 and feeling accomplishment just by finishing.  It’s dangerous to obsess on time, especially for hobbyists like me, but I will because that’s the reason for losing 15 lbs this year, eating organic, doing yoga, and knowing the difference between soy and whey protein.

I bought a tri-bike in January.  It’s name is George.  I spent 15+ hours in fitting sessions at the bike shop since then. When I travel, I look for hotels with black-out window shades so I can slip in an extra 30 minutes of sleep.  I search for public pools in the cities I visit so I can get extra yards.  I pack my heart rate monitor and cycling shorts. I sprinkle tumeric on my salad because I hear it’s good for your joints. I brought my bike trainer and Pedro to the office so I could work in 2+ hour wall-staring spinning sessions at 5 AM. I have a pair of Five Fingers to strengthen my running muscles. I bought running tights. I’m renting aero-wheels and borrowing an aero-helment to save precious seconds.  I’m mapping out calorie consumption plans and practice nature calls while riding at 17 mph.  I made three trips to the running shoe store and tried on 15 pairs in March.

People ask if I’m doing the race in Hawaii.  No – I’ll never qualify there. Those people are 3 hours faster than me – I’m getting off the bike with a 26 mile run yet to go and they’re crossing the finishing gate.  I just want to go 11:59 or better – lop an hour off of last year’s time. I act like a serious triathlete, but I’m really just an obsessed hobbyist trying to go as fast as I can – all for my own personal vanity. 

With a week to go, it’s the foam roller on my calves and ice then heat then ice on my Achilles that never really healed from last year’s tweak. My knees and IT bands are creaky.  I’m wondering about nutrition and checking lake water temperatures.  I still need to affix my front hydration bottle because the velcro strap provided doesn’t work and shave my cranium down to a 2-blade for no reason other than mental preparation.

I rode from Davis to Winters yesterday on 3 hours of sleep.  (Travel delays from NYC forced my Friday night 7:30 flight to finally take off at 1:00 AM EDT, arriving to SFO at 4:15 AM PDT.)  The legs felt good and strong.  Aside from a 40 minute run in New York on Thursday, it’s the only exercise I had in six days.  I’m ready for this to be over.  As we drive into Coeur d’Alene next week, the excitement and focus will emerge for one last push of optimism and excitement.

I remember last year, as the cannon blasted, I felt a sense of relief that I was finally able to get the whole thing over with.  And a week from now, I’m looking forward to that same feeling.  This will be my last Ironman for a while.  There are other things to do – less structured and more important than a marketing company affecting my daily behavior.  

It’s a struggle to balance the pulling desire to reach your goals and retaining perspective that none of this really matters at all.  My wife will still love me and my family will still be proud of me. But for now, I’ll contend with one more week of obsessive vanity.

You know – got to go sub-12:00 now…

My Birthday Run

Ironman Houston results

Run a 2:49 marathon after a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike, and still not make up ground on the leader? These guys were absolutely hammering – 6:45s on the run.  Wow.

This is as close of a photo finish as it gets on an Ironman course.

Dead Legs Day

Planned to do a 5.5-6.0 hour ride to cap of a 3-week build period.  But alas, my legs would have none of it…

Started from home and on the way to Winters, realized I forgot my electrolyte pills.  Steady Eddy’s served as an early rest stop for an espresso (which never hurts) and a to-go cup of salt (see picture).  Not sure which was most interesting about the transaction – the fact that the woman behind the counter asked if I wanted more than what she first poured into the cup, or the fact that no one seem to bat an eye when I asked for a bunch of salt to go…

Out past Lake Solano to Cardiac.  Figured I’d go right to Cardiac, then up and into Napa and if I was feeling good, I’d tackle Pope Valley or head over past Lake Hennessey  to Silverado Trail.  Got atop Cardiac feeling pretty good, but not great.  Worked my way to the 128/121 interchange, where a closed-up restaurant re-opened! Nice – convenience store plus cafe.  Filled up with water and started out north to 128.  About 1/4 mile down the road, realized that my legs really were dead.  Salt and fuel wasn’t helping, so did a U-turn and headed back towards Winters.

For as much as Cardiac is a challenging climb on the way out, the back side can be equally challenging – maybe its just that you forgot how much descent there was.  I pulled over and dumped the rest of the salt in with my drink mix.  Yes, it was a disgusting and it sounds and I regretted not thinking to pour a little at a time for taste.  Oops.

Got back to the 128/Pleasants Valley interchange and stopped again to top off water.  Ran into a friend, chatted a bit, and figured that I might do Cantelow as a way to get some extra miles.  I was at ~55 so far and hoped to do 85-100 today, so added this loop would put me squarely in the 85-90 mile range. Crossed past Lake Solano along Pleasants Valley and the way and more dead legs, so u-turned again back to Putah Creek and headed home. 

Did get in some relatively higher paced work along Putah Creek Road where Wheel Works holds its bi-weekly time trials.  Back home and finished at 75 miles.  Not terrible for a tough day, got in some climbing on George, but hoped to do more.  I have a rest week in my plan this week so the timing is good – I figured dead legs means I’m pushing as hard as I can and with 8 more weeks to go before the taper starts, I’m still in plenty good shape for two more solid build periods.

So that’s my ride – salt and dead legs.

The “where am I at?” weekend

11 weeks to go until Ironman-CDA.  Seems this year’s training calendar is going so much faster than last year. I’m already feeling self-inflected pressure to hit targets for myself, most of which are a product of sheer paranoia vs. reality when I compared last year to this year in terms of miles, heart rate, and fitness.

I took it easy during the week to gear up for a big three-day push this weekend.  4500 swim on Friday, 85 bike/3 mile run Saturday, 16 mile run this morning.  Status?  Good.  Very, very good (for me anyway).  Feeling a few more nicks and strains that I’ve been able to manage and recover from.  My tweeked Achilles seems to have cleared up (I attribute this to ice + Five Finger shoes that I wear during the week.)

Dropping weight from 204 on Jan 1 to sub-190 now is working really well too.  Diet has been more focused on lots of winter and leafy green vegetables plus quality protein.  Fewer Clif Bars during the week as snacks – replaced with apples, nuts, and other fruit. Dropped refined sugar altogether minus the occasional yogurt and dessert, vs. last year with regular helpings of ice cream at night.

I’ve had a few conversations with myself about race day – what if it’s rainy, cold, windy, or all three?  What if I just don’t have a good day? Will that all be disappointing? I’m aiming at 11:59 or under this year – 6 months of training for 60 minutes of time. It’s difficult weighing respect for Ironman – how every race and day can differ – and achieving a very specific public goal for myself.  In the end, it’s a journey.  Don’t know how many more Ironmans I’ll do after this one. IM-Canary Islands is very intriguing for its difficulty, IM-Australia and IM-New Zealand for their locations.  But there’s other stuff too – riding across the country in 2012, Ultraman, 50- and 100-miler runs.  

But for now, I’m 11 weeks out, feel good, and will have my next “where am I at?” on April 30 at the Napa Valley Half-Ironman.  I finished at 5:52 last year. I figure if I can get sub 5:30 this year, the > 11:59 is indeed in sight.  Fingers crossed.

10 mile run: today vs. 1 year ago

:–)

Gettin' there…

If I could just keep this pace all the time…

Heel is mostly healed from the December blow out, and seems to like having 12 fewer lbs on my frame.