RC Triathlon and Adventure Blog

January in the books

2012-01-31T18:05:00.000-08:00

So the first month of 2012 is done. Damn--the advance of time scares me. does not seem to let up and I know what happens at the end....

I think it was a very effective month of training for me. Here are the aggregate stats:

Swim: 30,600 yards
Bike: 748 miles
Run: 166 miles
Time: 81 hours

Last year, the same totals were:

Swim: 35,250 yards
Bike: 733 miles
Run: 164 miles
time: 84 hours

So, pretty comprable. I'm psyched about this--despite how close the numbers are, I feel like I'm way ahead this year as compared to last year. Last year (2010), my "A" race was Kona which was in early October. After that race I took about six weeks "easy". I used December 2010 as a transition month and then I hit it pretty hard in January 2011. This year, my "A" race was right before Thanksgiving so I took it "easy" for a few weeks in Decembe 2011 and used January 2012 as an easy month recovery vehicle but also tried to get myself ready for the work of 2012.

I feel like I've been successful. I'm very motivated. I just completed my last knee injection cycle so I'm way ahead of last year and the major knee problem I had deal with last year. My shoulder seems to be recovered. I'm about 7 pounds ligher than last year at this time. My swim is very solid despite taking a week off in January for my new tattoo. My run is getting better by the day and could be a source of real improvement in 2012. I rode 46 miles today (it was 58 degrees) and I can still feel the love....

Could be setting up for a great year....

Ok--starting to get back in the game

2012-01-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

Very strong week of training. Probably a little more that I should do at this point in the season but I'm all there motivation wise. Good progress on my 100 swim intervals (under 1:30 now). I did two 2X20s (225/227 and 224/227 watts) so all good on the bike front. Big week of running. I want to get to hill training and up the anaerobic stress here shortly...going on a bit of a vacation with my bride next weekend so next week will be a consolidation week for me.

Here are the stats:

swim: 9000 yards
bike: 193 miles
run: 45.6 miles
stretch/weights: 2 hours
total time: 22:39

As a side note, I only had one week last year with more run volume--that week was during the meat of my IM build for IMAZ....I feel really good about my run now. Although I do worry about how slow my pace is....still, I think frequency and volume is what I need most so I'll stay on the program for the next few weeks at least....

Got this in my e-mail this morning.....

2012-01-27T08:42:00.001-08:00

Aloha Randy,

On behalf of Event Director Diana Bertsch, it is a great pleasure to extend to you an invitation to participate in the 2012 Ironman World Championship, to be held on Saturday, October 13, 2012.

Your invitation and registration instructions are attached. Visit our official website, http://ironmanworldchampionship.com/ for race information and updates.

We look forward to seeing you in Kailua-Kona in October.

With Aloha,

Erin Erickson
Coordinator, Athlete Services
World Triathlon Corporation

Sweeeeet!

Response to Pwickman question

2012-01-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

A week or so ago I received this question:

"I enjoy reading your blog, Randy. A lot of this stuff is useful for a newbie like me.

This post made me think about the benefits of a structured training plan and a coach. I'm a do-it-myself kind of guy. During the winter months I just make sure I'm doing a bit of everything without really structuring anything, and in the spring/summer I will plan out 3-4 week blocks. So a few questions to a more experienced athlete: do you build your own training program? And have you ever worked with a coach? Lastly, if you did, do you think it was worth it? And what benefits did he bring?

I appreciate any feedback you can give me."

My answer:

I do build my own training program and in 2007, I did work the whole year with Peter Reid as my coach. I also worked with a Masters swim coach for a time in 2007. I really benefited from working with them--especially Pete. Here is my current take on coaching vs. self-coaching:

- I think coaches are best for people who are pretty serious about triathloning. I'd say if you work out 12+ hours/week, race 10+ times/year, race IMs, then you proably are pretty serious. If you don't do these things and still want some guidance, buy a plan like Endurance Nation sells, read some books or ask others for advice (or all three).

- For DIY kinda guys, I think a coach is more valuable the less experienced you are. I definitely learned some things from Pete--things I still use today.

-If you're not a DIY person and you're serious, and can afford it--get a great coach.

-Swimming strikes me as the most technique dependent of the three disciplines and getting some help there (especially if you don't come from a swimming background) is wise.

-One of the biggest benefits in working with Pete was I was always motivated to work hard. As a result I got in great shape and raced a couple of my best ever races with his guidance.

-I also, towards the end, got burned out.

-My main thesis is that if: 1. you are very serious about traithlon; 2. you understand the science of triathlon training because you've worked with a coach before and/or you have read a ton and talked to lots of experienced triathletes and you continue to do so; 3. you've personally experimented with a fair number of training approaches and have a sense of what works and what doesn't; 4. you are in tune with your body and know when you are triathlon fit and not; 5. you think broadly about all the stress in your life and understand how it affects your motivation to train; 6. you are honest with yourself and are more than willing to back off when your body and/or mind tells you to do so; 7. you are willing to track what you do and be prepared to modify your approach if your analysis indicates that you should....

if most of these are more true than they are not then you should self coach....if not, seriously consider getting some help.

at a personal level, I did it myself for 6 years before I got a coach. I should have done so sooner. However, the bright side is after just 1 year I was pretty much good to go and now in my 12th year, I feel very solid that doing it myself is the only way forward for me.

Hope this helps...

Bicycle Symphony 2012: Movement One, Part II

2012-01-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

A couple of I owe ya's: Pwickman--I'll post a response to your comment from a couple of posts ago shortly. Also, I still need to post my 2011 recap/2012 plan. Life has been busy as of late and it's been eating into my blogging time!

I thought it might be of interest to comment on how I'm thinking about my bike training as it doesn't get much focus on this blog in January when the swim and the run are the stars.

Like last year, I have three Meso cycles to my training year: Jan 1-Mar 31 (where the principal focus is on building speed and getting in frequent swims and runs); Apr 1-June 30 (where I top up my speed and add enough endurance work to ensure I'm ready to train for an IM--this is where the bike moves to center stage); July 1-Nov 18 (IM specific training for Kona and Zona).

However, from the biking perspective--my training approach is less 3 distinct Meso cycles and more a gradually building symphony that moves from one stage to the other. Using the music analogy, I consider the first Meso cycle to be the first Movement of my bike symphony. The purpose of this Movement is to get my bike FTP up to within 5-10 watts of my 2012 peak. There are a number of parts in each Movement and I moved from Movement 1 Part I to Movement 1 Part II this week.

Part I took place over the first three weeks. Here, the key workouts each week were 2-3 one hour rides on my computrainer at a "cruise speed" (this worked out to be 180-195 watts). My rule was that I could not do them two days in a row and that I'd fit them in as best as I could given my life schedule and my focus on The Conservation of Motivation. I did 7 of these rides and decided this weekend that I was getting bored with them (ie--they weren't as motivating to me and I thought it time to move on).

Today i started Part II. This movement will consist of an one hour workout (10 min warm-up, 2X (20min @80-90% of FTP), with 5 min easy spin after each 20). This is a more challenging workout but since it's my H-IM race pace it's still comfortably uncomfortable. My rule is that I have to have either 3 or 4 days rest between each key workout. I'll do these for a while until I feel the need to move to Part III (which will of-course climb up the intensity scale).

Now, I didn't test my FTP because I find that I use up a lot of motivation when i do so since it essentially requires an A level bike effort. However, I've trained on a computrainer now for 10 years and I have a good sense of where I'm at. Everytime I've tested my FTP over the last 5 years it's been between 260 and 310 watts. I'm in pretty good shape right now and would guess my FTP is around 280 watts so I decided to do today's key workout targeting 2X20 @225 watts. I did 225 and 227 watts quite comfortably. This indicates that i guessed pretty well--if I can't deliver the 2nd interval at higher watts than the first then I have a problem. I'll do it again Friday and probably just look to repeat today's effort. I'll look to raise my output up to perhaps 2X20 @240 watts before I move on to Part III some time over the next few weeks....

I love good music!

Early pool progress

2012-01-24T03:57:00.000-08:00

One of the more satisfying effects of a return to training is the rapid improvement one gets in the early weeks from a return to swim training. Aftger IMAZ, I swam just one day (1000 yards) over the next 8 weeks. This is a little longer of a hiatus than is desireable or I normally take. This was a combination of a number of factors: a busy holiday season, a desire to let my elbow inflammation cool down, and the 2 week healing period post my Honu tattoo.

My first week back I did an initial 10X100 on 2:00 interval test and averaged 1:38/100. Last Monday, the same test yeilded an average of 1:32/100. Yesterday I averaged 1:28/100. When I'm really fit I can hit 1:18/100 going on 1:45 so I still have a ways to go. That said, it is really satisfying to get this early progress--it happens every year. I aslo know I'll begin to plateau a bit come the middle of March and will probably stay level until the onset of my IM specific training in July. Early on, I'm right on plan.

The elbow is definitely better but still something I need to monitor. Hopefully I can keep it under control with rest days here and there and ice from time to time. for the time being, I'm foregoing PT. Had my last knee injection and the knee feels awesome. I'm running well (although not that fast). I'd like to up the volume a bit as well as the intensity but am mindful of my tendency to get injured when I move higher than the 150-160 mile/month level I'm currently at....

one of those weeks

2012-01-22T18:50:00.000-08:00

Lots of work drama. Drive up to Boston for alex's BC visit ( in a horrible snow storm) killed the weekend's training. Good news is I'm rested and ready for next week!

Stats:

Swim: 9000 yards
Bike: 145 miles
Run: 31 miles
Time: 16:10

Planning on shifting to more structured interval work on the bike next week. Run will follow the week after. Building strength on the swim--really just want to lock in in on 8-12k of reasonably high quality swim work/week for the next 3-4 weeks.

Last knee injection tomorrow---all good!

The First Law: Conservation of Motivation

2012-01-18T13:57:00.000-08:00

I'm sure anyone who is a dedicated endurance athlete, especially a triathlete, knows of the January crowds at the fitness center or Y where they work out in the winter. It used to frustrate me that my early morning swim routine was thrown off by crowds of folks swimming 2:30/100 with a combo breastroke/freestyle. Or that, it was impossible to get a treadmill and if you did, you were limited to just 30 minutes due to people on the sign-up sheet.

I tend to take it in stride these days because I know, sadly enough, that by the end of january defections will begin in force and by the end of February, it'll be the same old crew of crusty die-hards.

A lot of friends of mine ask me how I keep in such good shape (they always seem to ask me when I'm actually not fit from a triathlon perspective--like this time of year--so i struggle with how to answer them) and what they are really asking me of course is how to lose weight. I tell them that losing weight is very easy--eat less, exercise more. If you do that you'll lose weight. Of course, the catch is that its hard to eat less and exercise more.

Similarly, people ask me how to get good at triathlon. I tell em it's easy. Just swim, bike, and run a lot and do it at a fairly high intensity. Of course, staying motivated to do that long enough to get good (think years) requires more motivation than most people have.

I struggled with this early on in my triathlon career (and still have to pay attention to it). I'd set a goal and start working towards it. I'd see some results and redouble my efforts and before long I'd be burned out or injured or both. Through painful trial and error I came upon my First Law of Triathlon: The Conservtion of Motivation. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to be reasonably good at this sport--you just have to consistently do the right things--for a long time (I've been at it now for 12 years). The Conservation of Motivation should be applied everyday, ideed every morning when you get up. It should be applied to planning for a season of training. If you get up and the morning and it's 5 degrees and windy and you don't feel like doing that 9 miler--don't. Cut yourself a break--just know you'll hop back in the saddle latter--maybe latter that day or maybe the day after. Or the one after that. From a season perspective, especially if you focus on an IM or other key race like I do, then just plan your training to go gung ho for a finite period of time leading up to the race (for me, this 12-14 weeks before an IM). The rest of the time, have fun, get some good workouts in, race a bit and don't sweat it too much.

Just make sure to obey the First Law of Triathlon! It took me 54 years to learn this!

Hitting the Groove

2012-01-16T08:34:00.000-08:00

Finished my first week of "standard" triathlon training last week. We are a long way from Kona so, as with last year, my training is fairly basic, more speed oriented, and not very distance oriented (especially on the bike). I jumped back in the pool after a six week hiatus and it went surprisingly well. My elbow seems fine and for now, I'm putting off any PT for it. I continue to try to emphasize my run but did elect to NOT race the Icicle 10-miler. It was 14 degrees and a bit windy and I felt that racing it would violate my first law: The Conservation of Motivation.

The weather has been surprisingly good so far this winter--much easier than last year for sure. It was 18 when I ran this morning but nice and sunny. Besides the last few days, it's actually been quite mild and the forecast ahead indicates continued pleasantness! I started my latest cycle of Knee injections and my knee feels great at the moment--I'm basically healthy, injury free and patiently motivated as I begin to roll into the work of 2012.

Work-work is quite a demand as there is a good deal of drama there but we are now past the holiday season so my family schedule should be easier to manage going forward. I plan to start my modest weight/flexibility work next week (time permitting) if I can firmly establish solid work in all 3 sports again this week....

Last week:

Swim: 8600 yards
Bike: 153 miles
Run: 35.7 miles
Time: 17:26

First week in 2012

2012-01-09T05:01:00.000-08:00

Pretty basic week--all bike and run:

Bike: 179 miles
Run: 37.3 miles
Time: 16:14

Back in the pool for the first time in 2012 today. Have been resting elbow and letting tattoo heal up. Doc thinks I should do 4 weeks on Physio on my elbow but I'm going to swim a few times this week and see where it lays.

I had 3 CT sessions on the bike--trying to do 2-3 1 hour tempo sessions (185-200 watts) a week for a few weeks and then will get into more ambitious FTP type workouts for balance of first macro cycle (up through April 1st)....

I feel good--lighter than normal this time of year, which obviously helps. Trying to push my running volume up in January. Had my first knee injection this week and knee feels fine so far in 2012. I also plan on racing the Icicle 10 miler on Sunday--not so much for time but rather as a good hard tempo run...

This week marks my return to regular triathlon training--although, certainly not of an IM type....it's good to be back!

Orthopod

2012-01-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

Saw Dr. Galinat today. Knee is really hanging in there--I ran a very solid 9 mile run earlier today. Received my latest (60+ I'm sure) injection--hopefully will avoid my issues from last year....

Elbow wise--I have a month long 12 session Phys therapy prescribed,,,I actually wanted a cortizone injection but my Doc is very conservative--thats why i love him (among other reasons). So back in the pool tomorrow---yeah--I'm a triathlete again! Start with rudy again next week....

Doc also suggested to me (again) that I stop after Kona....

Every day when I run I appreciate it for what it is....not much more time for sure--oh the glory of running 9 miles--I love it--No Doc--I'm not ready to stop yet!

Weeeeeee!

2012-01-04T11:28:00.001-08:00

Dave, Mac and I made the Tatnall News!!!

http://www.tatnall.org/page.cfm?p=2218

2011 Training Volume Analysis

2012-01-01T17:23:00.000-08:00

As promised, find below a fairly detailed review of my 2011 training volume and how it compares against the prior four years. This off course is top-line aggregate data and glosses over many of the important details so take it for what it is: annual summary data:

Swimming

Here is chart which shows my average monthly swimming volume (the average is a trailing three month average to smooth the graphs out a bit) for 2007-2011:

If you study the chart for a minute or so (you can click it to make it bigger) a couple of things jump out
-2007 was clearly my biggest swim year--that's the year I worked with Pete Reid and I made my big break-through in swimming. Pete had me heavily invest in swimming--I spent 16% of my training time on swimming vs. 10-11% for 2008-2011
-2011, although with lower volume than 2007, was a consistent year for me--I was for the most part just abocve 30,000 yards consistently each month
-2009 was my "off-year" when I skipped doing an IM
-2008/2010 had far greater variation from month to month. I purposely tried in 2011 to be more consistent across the year.

Here are the total yards by year and my average swim pace (min/100 yards):

2007: 472,207 (1:54)
2008: 303,076 (1:54)
2009: 253,964 (1:52)
2010: 356,556 (1:47)
2011: 358,725 (1:46)

Note how my average swim pace has been increasing and that 2011, despite a lack of emphasis on swimming this year, still was my 2nd most swim volume.

Biking

The above chart illustrates what I feel was my strongest training year on the bike this year. You can see how I steadily built volume through 2011 and the three months before IMAZ I was averaging over 1000 miles a month. 2009 was a gain the low year. Note how relatively low my biking volume was in 2007--it represented just 53% of my training time while I've been in the 60-64% area ever since.

Here are the totals (miles) and my average speed (mph):

2007: 8,586 (17.22)
2008: 9,185 (16.57)
2009: 7,753 (16.38)
2010: 10,017 (16.53)
2011: 10,363 (16.54)

So 2011 was my biggest bike volume year. I'd like to get my average back up above 17mph in 2012 and plan to try to put a greater emphasis on bike intensity.

Running

In 2011, I was able to get closer to my 2007 training volume than I had from 2008-2010. You can see the impact of my knee problem mid-year this year. Also, you can see how I was able to rebuild and was running quite a bit as I rolled into IMAZ. I have a nice base to build from and hope to increase my running volume by 10% or more in 2012.

Year totals (miles) and pace (min/mile):

2007: 1,511 (8:37)
2008: 1,228 (8:57)
2009: 979 (8:42)
2010: 1,348 (8:56)
2011: 1,495 (8:53)

2011 was my second biggest volume year but you can see how much slower I'm running on average than back in 2007. I would surely like to address this if I can stay healthy, knee-wise, in 2012.

Training Time

This chart shows that I was able to successfully implement my training plan in 2011. Note how I built my training volume through the year and had it peak right before my IM in November. Compare that to 2007 where I wasn't able to stay healthy/motivated enough and had steadily declining volume throughout the year. I plan to follow the same approach in 2012.

2007: 935 hours
2008: 864
2009: 791
2010: 984
2011: 992

I'll post a more conceptual review of 2011 shortly and use that to frame my 2012 strategy and plan....

And so it begins.....

2012-01-01T14:24:00.000-08:00

Dawn came a little too early for me after New Year's Eve but I walked down to the beach in Stone Harbor on an incredibly beautiful morning--in my shorts!!! the temp was already in the high 40s and climbing....I looked up and down the beach, said to myelf, "Let it begin", hit the play button on my iPod (Chemical Brothers) and started my 2012 season--a season best called the Kona/Zona Show....I love the process of physilogical alchemy that transforms my decidedly over the hill body into that of a reasonably competent triathlete, and that process began again in earnest this morning.

Since today is a Sunday, here are my stats for the week:

Swim: 0 yards
Bike: 182 miles
Run: 34 miles
Time: 15:39

My December totals were:

Swim: 1000 yards
Bike: 662 miles
Run: 119 miles
Time: 58:22

I'll begin swimming again in a couple of days as my latest tattoo (Honu) is just about healed. I feel real good about my run total this month--coming so soon after Zona 2011. I start my next cycle of injections on Thursday so I'm hopeful for a big run month in January.

I'll post a review of 2011 and my plans for 2012 shortly....

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T13:53:00.000-08:00

2011 draws to a close tonight. Jenny and Kara are up in New York. Anders is down in Rio. Alex is with his girlfriend in DE. My bride and I are at our beachhouse in NJ with Roxy and Rylie (Jenny's dog). We are meeting good friends Kristen and Joe in a bit for a 2011 toast and then Judy and I are having an early New Year's dinner in Avalon.

the weather here is spectacular--it was 61 degrees when Judy and i rode this afternoon on the Island--last workout of the year! 2011 was a great year in so many ways. I'll update you all on the nerdy tri stuff shortly. I have a nifty little analysis of 2011 vs. the prior four years which I'll post over the next day or two. For now, I wish you a Happy New Year.....

I'm really not political but.....

2011-12-29T16:56:00.001-08:00

Hey guys--I hope you are all enjoying the off-season! I certainly am! I will get nerdy from a tri perspective very shortly but thought you might like this pic fom a couple of weeks ago....I used to work at Bain and Mitt Romney hired me there....As I previously mentioned I went up to Boston for a number of reasons including to support Mitt. While, I'm not a political guy, I can say i think the USA would benefit from a Mitt presidency....

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T05:39:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas to all. Lots of fun here in the Christofferson household with all the kiddies here. They are just awakening and i can see by the tree that Santa thinks they have been good this year!

As you can see in the picture below, I am using the off-season to try to address some of the hydration challenges I faced at IMAZ--this is an advanced form so don't try it at home unless you are an expert:

Still puttering along!

2011-12-18T14:34:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the down time. Starting to think with some discipline about 2012 and its goals and training strategy. Will probably post on that shortly. Last week's numbers:

swim: 0 yards
Bike: 154 miles
Run: 25.3 miles
Time: 13:18

I may climb into the pool once or twice next week to get a sense of where my elbow is at....

Last week

2011-12-14T04:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry to take so long between posts! I've been up in Boston doing a whole host of different work/social things. Still nursing my elbow back to health--seems to be progressing, albeit quite slowly. My knee seemed little sore at times this week so I'll need to start a new cycle of knee injections in the not too distant future.

Here are the totals from last week:

Swim: 0
Bike:147 miles
Run: 28 miles
Time: 14:27

I feel pretty good and still quite motivated considering its only been 3 weeks since IMAZ. I probably need to keep a close watch on my training volume and skip a few days here and there....my prime goal right now is to recharge (and heal up my elbow)

Living the civilian life

2011-12-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

Continuing my non-structured transition from 2011 to 2012. I haven't been in the pool since IMAZ--my elbow continues to be sore--my ortho's initial thoughts is that I have medial epicondylitis but we'll probably need to do an X-ray/MRI to rule out some other issues....I'm just spining easy on my trainer and going outside for short rides when the weather's nice. I'm starting to run a bit more--though nothing long nor fast.

Totals for this week:

Swim: 0 yards
Bike: 110 miles
Run: 23 miles
Time: 10 hours

November

2011-12-01T03:27:00.000-08:00

November totals were (of-course) primarily driven by my taper for and then recovery from IMAZ on 11/20. My recovery is going very well. I've been spinning easy most days on my bike and have now run twice--yesterday was a very solid 6 miler where I ran comfortably at an eight minute mile pace....I think an unexpected benefit of my cramping at IMAZ is that my legs did not get beat up quite as much as they might otherwise had....still, just taking it easy, nothing structured for a while.

Here are November numbers:

Swim: 19,225 yards
Bike: 593 miles
Run: 82 miles
Time: 55 hours

IMAZ Slideshow

2011-11-30T19:11:00.000-08:00

Here is the You Tube version--crank it up to HD and full screen if you got the chops to do so!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD0gta1gzCU&feature=channel_video_title

IMAZ 2011 Race Report

2011-11-29T14:16:00.001-08:00

2011 Ironman Arizona
November 20th, 2011

Background

Location: Tempe, AZ
Distance: 2.4-mile swim/112-mile bike/26.2-mile run
2011 Triathlon Race Number: 14
Career Triathlon Race Number: 114
Conditions: Partly to mostly sunny. Mid 50s to low 70s. Wind up to 20 mph and a 61-degree water temperature.

This was my only “A” race for 2011--the race that I had focused my entire season around. I was racing with the XC group and hopeful of snagging the M50-54 XCAG Kona slot. I also wanted to race “fast” and reverse a trend of steadily increasing IM finishing times. I thought it might even prove possible to better my PR of 11:19. But my primary objective was to race intelligently and achieve an “as close to my potential fitness as I could”.

At a higher, more spiritual level, I had dedicated my 2011 triathlon season to the memory and honor of my father. My father passed away between Christmas and New Years last year after a heroic 10-year battle with four different types of cancer. One of the great things about my father was his constant support of my various sporting endeavors from Little League, to in my latter days, my triathlons. He, in particular, loved my IM races and came to every one his health permitted. Post race, he loved to pose with my medal around his neck and strike a “finisher’s pose”. As I look back on these pictures, I can see in his eyes that he was right there crossing the finish line with me. So it seemed right to dedicate my 2011 season, and especially, IMAZ, to his memory. I had extra incentive to achieve my goals because principally I was doing so to honor his memory—this added no pressure but in fact, energized me.

My training in 2011 was focused around this race. I waited until August 1st to start my final 16-week IM build/taper. I raced 13 races in 2011 prior to this race, winning 5 of them and finishing in 2nd in another 6 (AG). More importantly, my final pre-IMAZ race was a bit of a breakthrough for me. I raced the half-IM like (1.2/66/10) Skipjack Triathlon in September and finished 2nd OA—nearly missing an outright victory. I felt fit, mostly healthy, and very motivated to give IMAZ everything I had.

I flew out with Delaware friends Dave Spartin (Spartycus) and Mac Weymouth on the Thursday before the race. Judy flew out and joined us late on Friday evening. I did all of the normal pre-race activities with relatively little drama. I did have to replace my front brake caliper but besides that all of the pre-race preparation went very smoothly.

Race Morning

I awoke at 3:30 on race morning for a couple of PB&Js, a banana, and a Venti-Starbucks. Everything went smoothly and Spartycus, Judy and I were on site with everything ready to go shortly after 6 a.m.

The weather forecast for 11/20, in the weeks leading up to the race, was all over the place. However, race morning dawned clear and cool with only a modest wind. The water in Tempe Town Lake was announced as 61 degrees, which struck me as just fine.

2562 triathletes would start the race and there were 169 in the M50-54 YO AG. There were five in my XC group that were competing for the one Kona slot. My XC competitors were Bonjour (from France), Pasqual (from Italy), my buddy Spartacus (who was principally focused on trying to claim the Kona PR challenge slot) and Wight. I had raced and defeated all but Bonjour before and on paper I was probably a modest favorite to win the XC Kona slot. I had not raced Bonjour before but I felt he was a competitor to keep a close eye on. I had raced Pasquali at IMFL in 2007 where I had beat him by just 52 seconds on a day where we both set our Ironman PRs. Pasquali had completed 26 prior IMs and could very well prove to be a challenging competitor for me.

The Swim

The Tempe Town Lake venue is not the best place for an IM swim—and it certainly was the least appealing swim site in this, my 9th IM. The “lake” is a narrow run-off collection basin—quite shallow and very murky. The IMAZ swim course itself is a straight forward one-loop swim with a bit of a right hand dogleg on the way out and featured 3 left-hand turns (a counter-clockwise course).

I waffled a bit on which side of the course to start on but ultimately opted for the far left—on the buoy line. I made this choice in the belief that the swim would be less chaotic there. I knew that I was not swimming on my preferred side of the course (being a left-hand breather) and that I was swimming a longer course due to the dogleg.

I entered the race in good swim shape with the exception of a very sore left elbow—something that will need attending to in the off-season. I had routinely swum 68-71 minutes in my IM TTs leading up to the race. My swim PR was 66 minutes and while I didn’t expect to go quite that fast, I thought that I could swim comfortably and exit the water somewhere around 70 minutes or so. I expected (or at least hoped) that this swim time would yield me a 5-10 minute lead over my two main XC competitors, Bonjour and Pasquali.

Spartycus and I took our time swimming out to the swim start and arrived there around 6:55. We were inside of the left buoy line and very near the front and near a bunch of Kayakers. There were a good 50-75 other triathletes there as well. One Kayaker kept telling everyone to move inside the buoy line but we all just ignored him.

I had contemplated a “zero-to-hero” start for the first 300-500 yards but decided to just swim in a controlled fashion—believing that my course choice would protect me from most of the physicality of the IMAZ start. My swim objective was to achieve a “no drama” swim. Relative to getting to Kona, I felt that I couldn’t secure my slot on the swim, but I was worried that a hard kick to my jaw might deny me my slot….

At the gun, I was immediately pummeled by those around me. Being a pretty big guy (for a triathlete) I went into a vigorous “fend-them-off” mode. (I was very successful in doing so—I never really got in trouble on this swim.) However, no matter what I did, it was constant, hand-to-hand conflict over the first 1000 yards or so. A good 15-20 minutes of fairly constant contact.

Tactically, I knew what was going on. I realized that I had made a mistake in my starting position choice as I was in a constant scrum AND I was swimming a longer course. Still, I felt very good and I began to tactically accelerate here and there to diminish the punishment.

As I approached the Rural Road bridge things began to settle down. I went under the bridge and then swam a longer than expected swim out to the first turn buoy. I was, of course, concerned about a cluster there but I made the turn with ease. Same with the 2nd turn buoy and as I made that turn, I glanced at my watch and saw 35:06. Sweet! I knew I would tire over the last half but it was hard for me to imagine that I would face as much physical contact over the 2nd half of the swim. Also, I felt that I had swum a long course on the way out and I was optimistic I could swim a more direct course on the way back. At this point, I was expecting to hit 69-72 minutes for my swim, which was right in line with what I thought I could do.

Shortly after the turn I found some very friendly feet and just started drafting. The fellow I was drafting seemed to be heading on what I thought was the optimal line—heading to the far right of the buoy line to hit the Apex of the right-side shore. I was very happy with the draft and swam the whole way back on this guy’s feet—zero drama. I was swimming very easy and reveling in my “no-drama” experience.

Finally, we swam up under the Mill Street Bridge and soon enough I was pulling myself up on the swim exit stairs like a leopard seal (not a pretty sight). Upon regaining an upright stance, I looked down at my watch and saw a 78:20 swim split recorded there. I was dumbfounded and I actually think I stopped to look at my watch for a moment or two. Didn’t it really say 68 minutes? No. How could this be? There is no way I swam this slow! But I did! Here is a statistical analysis of my swim:

--XC50-54AG Standings

1. Christofferson ---------
2. Spartin + 01:12
3. Bonjour + 01:45
4. Pasquali + 06:23
5. Wight + 09:51

--I was 1067th out of 2562 OA on the swim…just 58.4 %-tile.

--I was 54th out of 169 in my 50-54 AG…just 68.4 %-tile.

--This was my 5th (out of 9) best IM swim time. Here are my historical IM swims:

1. IMFL 2007 66:16
2. IMAUS 2008 73:48
3. IMCAN 2008 76:22
4. IMFL 2004 77:26
5. IMAZ 2011 78:20
6. IMWI 2006 79:50
7. Kona 2010 80:21
8. IMGER 2010 85:04
8. IMWA 2005 85:47

As I headed towards T1 I was a little stunned. I certainly expected to do better than this!

Transition One

I heard people yelling my name and I snapped back into reality (or whatever it is that I get to see of it (reality) on this planet). OK. Bad swim dude. Deal with it! Let it go and stay focused on the here and now. Don’t judge yourself. I tried to take the arms of my wetsuit off and uncharacteristically, they seemed to get stuck on the “arm-coolers” I had underneath. I’ve never tried to take a wetsuit off when I had arm-coolers on underneath—oops! Wow—amateur show so far!

I saw Judy and tried to wave to here but I’m sure this was ineffective given the bind that my arms were in. A Stripper took pity on me and helped me disengage from my wetsuit and I was on my way running the long way around to the changing tent. Most people were walking here and I must have passed close to 50 people in the run over to the tent.

Competitively, despite my slow swim, I thought there was still a good chance that I was first out in the XC group. I knew if I really pushed it I could score some valuable time in T1—my hope was to have a 5-10 minute lead exiting T1. The rest of my T1 I felt I did very well and I could tell I was having a solid T1. I actually did most of my T1 stuff just sitting outside of the changing tent on the grass. I decided to not even bother trying to find a spot in the tent given my middle of the pack swim. This proved to be sound thinking as I subsequently ran through a packed tent and out towards the bike racks. I couldn’t see where to put my T1 bag and ran around a bit in a confused way. Finally, I was able to find a volunteer who took my bag from me. Whew!

I raced down the middle of the racks—still passing people right and left and found my bike in the 2nd row from the bike exit. I looked and saw Bonjour and Pasquali’s bikes and I knew I was at least leading the XC group at this point in the race. I heard Judy yelling encouragement and I ran pass the mount line and jumped on my BMC ready and eager to put some distance on my pursuers.

Is it turned out, I had an excellent T1. My total elapsed time in T1 was 5:16 officially (5:51 on my watch). I was 4th in my AG (98.2 %-tile) and 277th OA (89.2 %-tile). On a net basis, I passed 250 people in T1—moving up to 817th OA and up to 32nd in the M50-54 AG. More importantly, I was able to put significant time into all of my XC competitors, especially versus Bonjour and Pasquali. Here is where the XC race stood after T1:

1. Christofferson ---------
2. Spartin + 2:17
3. Bonjour + 5:58
4. Pasquali + 8:53
5. Wight + 15:57

The Bike

I jumped on my bike just past the “mount” line and carefully weaved my way up the narrow chute in Tempe Town Lake Park. I hit the roadway proper with no mishaps. I noticed that my Edge 800 had not started so I started the timer—probably 45-60 seconds into my bike. I settled into my aero bars for the long ride ahead.

As we headed away from transition there was a lot of bike traffic (naturally, given how tightly the field is packed exiting the swim). I was very intent on safely passing the folks who outswam me but were weaker riders. This quickly became relatively routine and I began to devote some mental capacity to reflect on my tactical situation. I knew I was leading the XC group. I also knew my swim was slower than I expected but with a 5 minute transition, I was likely to have gained some time in T1. I had hoped to be 5-10 minutes ahead coming out of T1 and I thought that there was still a good chance that I wasn’t that far off of that goal.

The first five miles of the bike were spent weaving through the outer parts of Tempe and entailed a mostly flat, although somewhat bumpy road. Stat-wise, my first five miles looked like this:

Miles 0-5
Average Speed: 21.3mph/Max Speed: 27.1mph
Average HR: 152bpm/Max HR: 157bpm
Average Cadence: 80 rpm
Average Power: 174 watts

After about 2 miles my HR began to steadily decline as my body recovered from the stress of transition. I saw the 174 watts average on my Edge 800 and decided to start picking up my effort. Back in 2007, I averaged 211 watts at IMFL. Recently, at Skipjack (September 2011), I averaged 225 watts over a 66-mile bike course and ran very well off the bike. Still, my plan was to try to ride this bike relatively conservatively. I envisioned keeping my power below 200 watts and sought an average between 190 and 200 watts for the whole ride. I though this would yield me somewhere around a 5:20 bike split and should allow me to open up a significant gap on my XC rivals. Of-course, I was prepared to modify this plan based on how my body felt and what my competitors were doing.

Miles 6-15 were mostly on the Beeline highway and featured a modest, gradual climb—about 165 feet of altitude gain. The wind was out of the east and into our face as we climbed. I settled in and began to hydrate (Cytomax to start) and eat my nutrition (shot blocks/gel) and Enduralytes (3 per hour). Surprisingly, I had to pee at mile 12—this was early, but I thought it was a good sign—I was clearly doing a good job at hydrating—something that I typically had troubles with in prior Ironman races. Here is the data from these ten miles:

Miles 6-10
Average Speed: 20.2mph/Max Speed: 23.5mph
Average HR: 146bpm/Max HR: 150 bpm
Average Cadence: 78 rpm
Average Power: 184 watts

Miles 11-15
Average Speed: 19.3mph/Max Speed: 24.1mph
Average HR: 142bpm/Max HR: 147bpm
Average Cadence: 78 rpm
Average Power: 184 watts

Miles 16-20 were mostly comprised of a steeper climb (216 feet over the 3.7 miles prior to the turnaround). Then the road leveled out and I made the turnaround and began to head back to town. I knew my average power was below my target but I felt very good, was passing a lot of people, and was comfortable being a little conservative on this first lap.

Miles 16-20
Average Speed: 17.7mph/Max Speed: 33.6mph
Average HR: 144bpm/Max HR: 149bpm
Average Cadence: 79 rpm
Average Power: 188 watts

Shortly after 20 miles, after downing some Ironman Perform, all of a sudden out of the blue I threw up! Almost no warning. Stomach felt fine both before and after. Weird. I can only attribute this to that god awful tasting Perform. I switched over to water for most of the rest of the ride.

The next ten miles were of-course downhill and with a tailwind so I was able to ride quickly and with a continuing conservative power output. I peed two more times during this section. I interpreted this as positive news—I was clearly on top of my hydration task!

Miles 21-25
Average Speed: 27.8mph/Max Speed: 31.9mph
Average HR: 142bpm/Max HR: 147bpm
Average Cadence: 80 rpm
Average Power: 174 watts

Miles 26-30
Average Speed: 22.7mph/Max Speed: 25.2mph
Average HR: 143bpm/Max HR: 147bpm
Average Cadence: 78 rpm
Average Power: 186 watts

As I headed back towards the race village and the end of the first lap, it became increasingly clear to me that I was having a pretty solid bike ride. My HR and power were very low but my speed was right where I felt it probably needed to be (competitively). I was passing a lot of people and felt very good. In fact, I officially split a 1:45:15 over the first 37.4 miles or an average of 21.32mph. I was on a sub 5:16 IM bike pace.

Miles 31-35
Average Speed: 23.0mph/Max Speed: 26.2mph
Average HR: 146bpm/Max HR: 149bpm
Average Cadence: 80 rpm
Average Power: 198 watts

Miles 36-40
Average Speed: 22.1mph/Max Speed: 27.4mph
Average HR: 147bpm/Max HR: 152bpm
Average Cadence: 82 rpm
Average Power: 194 watts

I hadn’t seen any of my XC competitors during the loop—in fact, I wasn’t even sure what Bonjour and Pasquali were wearing. As I headed out for the 2nd lap I anxiously looked to the right for Judy who let me know that after T1 I had a 6 and 9 minute lead on Bonjour and Pasquali respectively (actually: 5:58 and 8:53). I pumped my fist and nodded. This was very good news indeed—especially given how slow my swim was.

Before the race, I was talking to Troy from Ironman about the 3 principal generic race strategies for Ironman: Race For Time, Race Your Race, and Race Your Opponents. My approach to this race was to race my race unless I needed to respond to what my opponents were doing. As I headed out on the 2nd loop I saw no reason to change anything. I achieved the 5-10 minute gap I felt optimal on the swim/T1 combo. I had just finished a fast first bike lap and I did so with very conservative power. I felt it was likely that I had put 15 minutes on each of my prime XC competitors in the first lap. I especially felt good about my gap on Pasquali. In my pre-race analysis, I had determined that there was a strong correlation between his swim time and his OA time. When historically he was fast at the IM distance he had fast swim times. His swim time indicated to me that maybe he was not as fit as he has been in the past when he posted fast IM times.

The good news kept coming (or so I thought) as I noticed pretty early in the 2nd lap that it seemed like I was going faster than the first lap. I wouldn’t figure out until latter in the lap that this was a function of an increased wind speed and a close to 180 degree change of wind direction—indeed the wind was at my back as I headed out on the 2nd lap.

Miles 41-45
Average Speed: 19.5mph/Max Speed: 21.7mph
Average HR: 141bpm/Max HR: 146bpm
Average Cadence: 81 rpm
Average Power: 190 watts

Miles 46-50
Average Speed: 19.6mph/Max Speed: 22.9mph
Average HR: 138bpm/Max HR: 142bpm
Average Cadence: 79 rpm
Average Power: 186 watts

Miles 51-55
Average Speed: 17.9mph/Max Speed: 22.4mph
Average HR: 139bpm/Max HR: 146bpm
Average Cadence: 79 rpm
Average Power: 183 watts

I hit the turnaround and immediately noticed that the wind was gusting pretty hard up the hill and now directly into my face. Oh Oh! I knew then that my second lap was likely to be a fair bit slower than my first. Also, I continued to pee every 8-10 miles or so. It never registered with me that this might be an issue, but I was now very aware that I was peeing way more than I normally do. Notice how much slower these next segments (after the turnaround and heading back to the IM Village) were compared to the same place in the course in the first lap:

Miles 56-60
Average Speed: 22.2mph/Max Speed: 28.0mph
Average HR: 141bpm/Max HR: 149bpm
Average Cadence: 80 rpm
Average Power: 181 watts

Miles 61-65
Average Speed: 20.7mph/Max Speed: 24.2mph
Average HR: 137bpm/Max HR: 140bpm
Average Cadence: 82 rpm
Average Power: 179 watts

Miles 66-70
Average Speed: 20.2mph/Max Speed: 23.2mph
Average HR: 138bpm/Max HR: 143bpm
Average Cadence: 80 rpm
Average Power: 181 watts

Miles 71-75
Average Speed: 20.8mph/Max Speed: 24.1mph
Average HR: 139bpm/Max HR: 145bpm
Average Cadence: 80 rpm
Average Power: 181 watts

I completed my second lap (which was a little shorter at 37.2 miles) in 1:50:51 (20.14 mph)—over 5 minutes slower than the first lap! I also began to feel a bit fatigued and I noticed that my power numbers were still on the low side. In the first lap I felt conservative. In the 2nd lap I began to get concerned. I was looking for a +21/+24 gap after the first bike lap on Bonjour/Pasquali respectively. When I saw Judy, she informed me that I was +16/+25 ahead after the first bike lap. I had indeed put 16 minutes on Pasquali but only 10 on Bonjour in the first bike lap. While I looked solid compared to Pasquali (I mentally projected a 50 minute or so lead on him after T2), I was both surprised and concerned that Bonjour had stayed comparatively close—especially given my fast first bike lap.

I acknowledged Judy but gave no fist pump. Given my second lap was 5 minutes slower, I considered the possibility that Bonjour could be only 21 minutes behind me after 2/3rds of the bike. Given my run weakness, this was disconcerting. I contemplated going harder on the bike during the third lap to create more of a gap but decided against it. I thought (correctly) that the conditions were slower and that maybe Bonjour would also slow down on the second lap. I also felt good about my run fitness and told myself that if I needed to, I could always try to hold Bonjour off with a (relatively) strong run.

Miles 76-80
Average Speed: 21.2mph/Max Speed: 26.6mph
Average HR: 138bpm/Max HR: 143bpm
Average Cadence: 81 rpm
Average Power: 178 watts

Miles 81-85
Average Speed: 22.0mph/Max Speed: 25.8mph
Average HR: 138bpm/Max HR: 141bpm
Average Cadence: 80 rpm
Average Power: 175 watts

Miles 86-90
Average Speed: 20.9mph/Max Speed: 25.4mph
Average HR: 137bpm/Max HR: 142bpm
Average Cadence: 78 rpm
Average Power: 178 watts

Just before the turnaround, I saw a bunch of the XC guys from the younger AGs and decided to catch them. I hit the turnaround for the last time and was blasted yet again by the now westerly wind. I decided to push a bit more on the way back and hope that I had good run legs coming out of T2. I still felt pretty good although definitely ready to get off the bike. I continued to pee frequently and I noticed a slight “crampiness” coming on—although I did not put the two together…

Miles 91-95
Average Speed: 19.4mph/Max Speed: 28.2mph
Average HR: 138bpm/Max HR: 143bpm
Average Cadence: 80 rpm
Average Power: 179 watts

Right around 95 miles I lost my wireless connection and so have no more HR, power or cadence to report. I kept pushing down the stretch and passed several of the XC guys. I caught Mark Moses right around the same point I caught him at Kona—about 100 miles or so. I told him that we were going to have to stop meeting like this. We both had a good chuckle about that.

Miles 96-100
Average Speed: 20.1mph/Max Speed: 24.8mph

Miles 101-105
Average Speed: 19.3mph/Max Speed: 22.1mph

Miles 106-110
Average Speed: 19.5mph/Max Speed: 22.8mph

Last Segment
Average Speed: 19.8mph/Max Speed: 22.4mph

I completed the third lap (officially) 16 seconds faster than the 2nd even though it was 0.2 miles longer with the leg into transition. This meant that I averaged 20.29 mph over the final 37.4 miles.

According to my watch, I completed the bike in 5:26:12 and my official time was 5:26:41. My average speed was 20.57 mph. My average power was 183 watts and my average cadence was 80rpm. My HR averaged 141bpm. These are respectable numbers for me. I expected to be about 10 watts higher and probably could have handled an average HR closer to 145 but this is the effort that seemed right physically on this day and as we will see—it was the correct level of effort for me to take from a competitive standpoint.

As I rode in I was looking all around for Judy to get the key data point on my gap relative to the XC competitors after the 2nd bike lap but I didn’t see her. I suspected I would see her when I emerged from T2.

Overall on the bike, I had the 418th fastest bike split (83.7 %-tile). This moved me up 330 places to 487th OA. In the M50-54AG I had the 23rd fastest bike (90.5 %-tile), which moved me up 13 places to 19th. Although I didn’t know it at this time, from an XC perspective, I had a very effective bike—effectively knocking out all but Bonjour and opening a very large gap on him as well:

1. Christofferson ---------
2. Bonjour + 45:43
3. Pasquali + 70:05
4. Spartin + 82:05

This also turned out to be the 3rd fastest of my 9 IM bike splits. Here, for reference are my nine IM bike splits:

1. IMFL 2007 5:06:19
2. IMFL 2004 5:10:16
3. IMAZ 2011 5:26:41
4. IMWA 2005 5:29:24
5. IMCAN 2008 5:43:29
6. IMAUS 2008 5:59:19
7. IMWI 2006 6:00:41
8. IMGER 2010 6:07:59
9. KONA 2010 6:20:20

Transition Two

I handed off my bike to a friendly volunteer and stiffly ran into T2 and grabbed my gear bag. It occurred to me that I felt pretty good all things considered. I was intent on moving as quickly as I could through T2. This time I ran into the changing tent to take advantage of the chairs there. I executed a smooth and quick transition and was soon on my way.

I decided to make a detour into the porta-potty for my umpteenth pee since I had left T1 and ended up taking care of business for a good 30-45 seconds. I remember being amazed at how much I had peed during the bike—I guessed that at least I was well hydrated. I exited T2 in 3:44 according to my watch and 3:37 officially.

Competitively, this was a solid transition although due to my little detour not quite as strong as my T1. Overall, I had the 592nd (76.9 %-tile) fastest T2 moving up 9 places to 478th. I had the 23rd (87.0 %-tile) fastest in the M50-54AG, which kept me in 19th place. I continued to open up time on my XC pursuers as well:

1. Christofferson ---------
2. Bonjour + 46:56
3. Pasquali + 74:13

The Run

I exited the run and immediately saw Rob Holmes from Delaware. I slapped five and tossed him a tire tube that I had stuck in my tri top and had forgot to take out during T2. About 100 yards up the road; I saw Judy and she told me that after the second bike lap I was 30 and 45 minutes ahead of Bonjour and Pasquali respectively. I nodded and she asked me if I understood what she was saying (I guess I looked a little dazed at this point). I said yes I did and that it looked like they were fading on the bike. I had put 14 minutes into Bonjour and 17 into Pasquali so I knew I was getting relatively stronger as the bike wore on.

Mentally, I guessed this meant that I would have 45 minutes or so on Bonjour and over an hour on Pasquali at the start of the run. Given Pasquali’s run history I knew that barring a disaster, it was now just a two man race—and I had a very sizeable advantage. I wasn’t counting my chickens yet but I felt very good about my apparent gap on Bonjour—I thought that it could very well be good enough to get the job done.

I saw Troy and team underneath the railroad bridge and gave them the thumbs-up. Shortly thereafter, the good times came jarringly to an end when my left hamstring cramped up. I felt the bulge of my hamstring sticking out of the back of my left leg and stopped and tried to keep my leg from going into full spasm. Oh Oh! This was not good news at all. Apparently, I had over-hydrated on the bike and this caused the electrolyte concentration in my blood to fall below optimal levels. I don’t think I was hyponatremic, as I didn’t have any of the typical symptoms—in fact, besides the incipient cramping, I felt great.

I knew I needed to get some Enduralytes into me as quickly as possible but it would have to wait until I hit the first aid station as I didn’t want to ask for any outside assistance. I had 18 Enduralytes in my tri top, which I was concerned might not be enough. I thought about my friend John O’Brien who similarly had about a 50-minute lead exiting T2 and ended up DNF-ing and losing his Kona slot because he went too hard on the run. I decided that while I felt like I could easily handle a 9-minute pace, I needed to be conservative to keep my legs from locking up.

I hit Mile 1 in 9:36 and then stopped and stretched a bit. Mile 2 went by in 11:05 (I think this second mile was long). Here I was able to get some fluid and ate 6 of my Enduralytes—twice what I had planned for the first hour of the run. Strangely, I felt better immediately and began to run quite well. I hit the timing mat at 2.5 miles at 24:30 (9:48/mile average) and crossed Mile 3 with an 8:34 split (I think this mile was a little short).

As I crossed the bridge back towards transition I could feel my legs reacting positively to the Enduralytes. Still, I decided that I needed to still run very conservatively and if need be, bleed away my lead on Bonjour for a while. Effectively, I had switched from racing my race to racing my competition. I thought if I ran a 5:00-5:05 marathon, which would put me just under 12 hours, that I would be able to hold off Bonjour—even if he had a career best IM run. In the back of my mind, I knew a 4:08 would put me under 11 hours and that a 4:27 would yield me a new PR, and that I felt like I was quite capable of running that fast, but I was very mindful of what happened to John and I decided I just didn’t want to risk it.

As I wound my way back down along-side transition, I saw Judy and explained to her as best as I could what was going on and that it was critical for me to understand if and how quickly Bonjour was gaining on me. I wanted to run conservatively as long as I could. Judy told me that neither Bonjour nor Pasquali had jumped off the bike yet and that my lead was a good one and she told me that I could do it.

At the next aid station I decided to eat 3 more Enduralytes and tried to drink some Perform (yuck) along with Coke. I wasn’t able to drink any appreciable amounts of Perform for the rest of the race—even the smell of it made my stomach turn. I felt stable and decided to try to run around a 10-minute mile pace, which felt very easy. Here are some of my next splits:

Mile 4: 9:30
Mile 5: 9:37
Mile 6: 10:20
Mile 7: 10:32
Mile 8: 10:06

Towards the end of my 9th mile, I finished my first of 3 laps and saw Judy under the Mill Street Bridge again. She confirmed that I was 47 minutes ahead of Bonjour and 74 up on Pasquali after T2. She also said that Bonjour had run the same time as I for the first 2.5 miles (he was in fact 10 seconds faster). She told me that Anders said to run 12 or 13 minute miles and I would be fine. I told her that I felt better but I was going to slow down a bit to make sure I kept my cramping under control.

I waved to Rob and then Troy and gang again. I ate 3 more Enduralytes (only 6 left, which was a concern but I reasoned if things got bad enough I could always walk for a while). Indeed, I decided to begin mixing in walking to protect my hamstrings—I’d run 6 light posts and then walk 1 or 2. I passed Spartycus when he was at about 1.5 miles of his run. I shouted encouragement to him. He said he was baked and I mentally calculated that he was heading for a 14+ hour IM.

Mile 9: 10:25
Mile 10: 10:15
Mile 11: 10:36

I hit the mid-lap timing mat for an elapsed time of 88:15 for the lap (9:48/mile average if you believe the 9 miles posted on the Ironman website. I think it was actually 8.7 miles so this would have been closer to 10:09/mile on average).

I crossed the bridge again and talked to Judy right around 13 miles or so. She had no new data and I told her I was feeling crampy again and running low on Enduralytes, but I seemed to be managing pretty well by staying conservative. I decided to slow down a bit more by mixing in more walking. I tried to take 3 more Enduralytes but couldn’t get them down—no matter how hard I tried. Oh boy, my stomach seemed to be a bit upset…Hmmmm.

Mile 12: 11:19
Mile 13: 12:05
Mile 14: 12:59
Mile 15: 12:58
Mile 16: 12:51
Mile 17: 12:07

I came back to the transition area and Judy told me that I had gained 7 minutes on Bonjour between mile 2.5 and 11.5! I was now 54 minutes ahead at 11.5 miles. I ran the math and knew that I could afford to go three and half minutes per mile slower than Bonjour and still be ok. I also knew, that he was going to have to go well under 10 minutes per mile, maybe even 9 if he wanted to catch me.

As I headed out on my 18th mile I took stock of my situation. I was having trouble getting anything but coke down. My legs felt crampy when I tried to run at around 10 minutes per mile for any extended length of time. However, I found I could intersperse walking here and there when it felt like they were about to cramp and it seemed to keep it under control. I also had to be careful on turns and stepping up and down curbs/bumps to avoid setting off cramping. I felt very on top of my race tactically. I ran two more conservative miles:

Mile 18: 12:30
Mile 19: 13:27

At one of the aid stations they broke out Chicken Broth and I was able to gulp down 10-15 ounces. This seemed to revive me. I would have it several more times during the remaining miles—it always seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. As I headed back across the Mill Street Bridge for the 3rd and final time I began to feel I could run a little harder and longer. I saw Judy and told her that: “I have my MOJO back, I’m breaking 12 hours, and we’re going to Kona”. She laughed and looked relieved—I think in part because I was feeling better and also because she no longer had to stay on top of my relative competitive situation.

Mile 20: 11:22
Mile 21: 11:59
Mile 22: 11:47

As I made the long climb out in the Park, I decided to walk up the hill and had a very pleasant conversation with a young lady just talking about triathlons in general and Ironman in particular. At the top of the hill, which coincided with Mile 23, I started running again:

Mile 23: 13:30
Mile 24: 12:03

As I crossed the lake for the sixth and final time I caught up to Pasquali who was now a lap behind me. I stopped and we walked arm-and-arm together for a couple of minutes talking about how hard IM are on us old guys. He congratulated me on my race (as I did he) and I was on my way heading to the finish line.

Mile 25: 12:36

I picked it up down the stretch and thought about my father (I had thought about him frequently throughout the race). I told him thanks for everything and that we had done it--together! I recorded a 10:58 for the 26th mile and I cruised around the transition area, pointed skyward and hit the finish line just as the clock hit 11:52:00. Officially, my total race time was 11:52:01 and my marathon time was 4:58:07. This is my 4th fastest IM marathon time:

1. IMWI 2006 4:30:00
2. IMFL 2004 4:51:56
3. IMFL 2007 4:58:03
4. IMAZ 2011 4:58:07
5. IMAUS 2008 5:04:14
6. IMGER 2010 5:44:34
7. IMCAN 2008 5:49:03
8. KONA 2010 5:52:24
9. IMWA 2005 6:34:17

This turned out to be my 3rd fastest IM and the fastest that I have run that wasn’t at IMFL:

1. IMFL 2007 11:19:22
2. IMFL 2004 11:31:29
3. IMAZ 2011 11:52:01
4. IMWI 2006 12:05:07
5. IMAUS 2008 12:28:55
6. IMCAN 2008 12:56:40
7. IMGER 2010 13:33:35
8. IMWA 2005 13:40:31
9. KONA 2010 13:49:17

For the run as a whole, I averaged 11:22/mile. This was 1210th (52.8 %-tile) OA and dropped me back 267 places to 745th (71.0 %-tile). I was 67th (60.4 %-tile) in the M50-54 AG and dropped 17 places to 36th (82.2 %-tile).

As for the most important competitive stat, I actually ended up posting the fastest run split in my XC group beating Bonjour by 1:55 on the marathon. I ended up posting the fastest splits in my XC group for all of the SBR legs and both transitions. My final margin of victory was 48:51.

Post Race

Judy was there to hug me at the finish line and put my medal around my neck. She helped me gather my things and walk the 3 blocks back to our hotel. I showered and had about 2 ounces of beer. We rested for a bit and then headed back over to the finish line where I was able to eat some mash potatoes—yummy! We waited for Sparty to cross the finish line which he did a few minutes before 15 hours, improving his PR by enough to claim the XC PR Kona slot. Nice—two Kona slots for little ol’ Delaware.

My final thoughts about the race:

1. I set out in the beginning of this year to dedicate my season to the memory of my father and in particular to race this race well and in his honor. It is very satisfying to nail this goal!
2. Back to Kona! I’m thrilled. Kona 2010 was the best experience of my triathlon career. I’m looking forward to going back and really trying to race it this time and see how much faster I can go on that course.
3. I think my training strategy for 2011 worked very well. Delaying my intensive IM build helped me peak at the end of the year and maintain my motivation and enthusiasm for training throughout the whole year. While, I didn’t get my PR at IMAZ, my Skipjack race late in the year certainly showed I was very fit—fit enough to have the potential of doing so at least.
4. I think I raced a smart race at IMAZ. I was conservative on the bike and when I had cramping on the run I was able to race tactically and seal the deal.
5. I obviously still have work to do on getting my hydration nailed. My last few IMs have been in very hot conditions and I always left the bike quite dehydrated. Clearly I proved in this race that there could indeed be too much of a good thing.
6. It was a big plus for me, both mentally/spiritually and tactically to have Judy there, with Anders backing her up. It was a real lift to see Judy as many times as I did during the race.
7. I made real progress on my run this year—even if I didn’t get a chanced to show it at IMAZ—and I’m eager to see what 2012 will bring in that discipline.
8. Hats off to Ironman and the XC guys in particular for yet another fantastic and well-run race.
9. Looking forward to a little R&R now before I turn my attention to 2012.

Finish Line Pic

2011-11-29T05:57:00.001-08:00

I'm working on my race report and should have it up later today or tomorrow. Here is a pic of me crossing the finish line--feeling very satisfied!

IMAZ+ 72 hours

2011-11-23T17:25:00.000-08:00

Back home and it feels good to not have an Ironman Agenda at the moment. Spending my time on very pleasant household tasks, picking up kids at the airport, etc. Some work as well. all good.

I'm surprised by my fatigue at various points in the day. I can't be sure of course, but I think the impact of an IM is considerably greater at 54 years of age then it was when I was 47--yes I know no big insight there. anyways, I'm addressing the problem by napping and sitting a lot. Despite the fatigue, I feel remarkably good--not let's hammer good, but I have no problem physically acting as a normal citizen.

I spun easy on my trainer for an hour today. Felt good to flush the muscles out but I could certainly tell that I had a distinct lack of power...

I've assembled all of the computer data on my race and will begin the couple day process of writing my race report shortly. I'm also beginning to think a bit about 2012. What a luxury it is to be in November and to know that you are doing Kona the following October--it makes everything quite simple.

Early thoughts:

--I'll structure the whole season around peaking at Kona and trying to lay down as fast a race as I can....different than 2010 when I just wanted to experience Kona and get to the finish line. that's not to say that I'll be OK with not finishing--I won't, but I will RACE Kona in 2012 and try to get the best time I can.

--Because of that, and due to the success I enjoyed this year, I'll wait until late June or the first of July to get serious about real IM training--I think somewhere between a 12 and 16 week Kona build will be right again this year.

--I've signed up for Eagleman and am considering doing Mallorca with XC--just for the experience.

--I may also do IMAZ again next year--just 6 weeks after Kona...pros and cons to that...Kona 2013?...I need to think some more about that.

--I plan on climbing a couple of mountains with Anders and a couple of other folks next year--Baldy for sure.

--I plan on doing RAMROD--the Race around Mount Rainier--a 152 mile/10,000+ vertical bike race in July with my friend Bill.

--I'd like to do Cherry Blossom again if I can get past the lottery this year after two years of failure in doing so.

--I'll fill out the rest of the schedule soon....

all good--I love being at the end of a year having accomplished my objectives and having a whole new year to consider anything as a new objective...life is good!

All Hail Spartycus

2011-11-21T20:03:00.000-08:00

I know anyone that actually reads my blog knows that they are captive to 24/7 me triathlon news--so bear with me while I do something different.

I want to post about my friend Dave Spartin--Sparty--or I think we should all change his nickname now to Spartycus!

So I've known Spartycus for a long time. He used to work for the "evil empire" at MBNA. I worked for the "good guys" at First USA. Of course, MBNA was the greatest credit card company of all time. Part of the reason for that was Spartycus. He worked long and hard and always was the voice of reason. As a result, he did really well from a job perspective but couldn't devote the time he wanted to doing physical things.

Tht all changed a number of years ago when MBNA was sold to B of A.

Spartycus and I began to hang out and to do triathlons together. I was the "master" and he the "apprentice". (Obviously all that know me should take pity on Dave as a result). Despite my guidance, Spartycus overcame a couple decade history of sitting around and began to excel in triathlon.

Spartycus did a couple of IMs and then this weekend was one of 17 competitors in the IMXC competition at IMAZ. There he recorded the best improvement in his PR--despite phenomenal obstacles--in fact he passed out at the finish line and was a welcome guest in the medical tent afterwards.

Because of this incredible journey, he won a well deserved trip to Kona for the 35th and 2012 IM World Championship in Hawaii.

I am so proud of him and so happy for what he has achieved.

I'm looking forward to 2012 when Delaware will have at least two Kona competitors!

WELL DONE SPARTYCUS!!!

Tired but satisfied!

2011-11-20T22:06:00.001-08:00

11:52:01. Won the 50-54 XC Kona slot so we will return to the Big Island next October.

I'll provide more details in my race report but here are the headlines:

Swim: I'm a bit baffled by my 78 minute swim. I felt good and hit the half way point at 35:06 and then pretty much drafted the whole way back. I guess i did not swim the ideal line....

Bike: solid effort. Split 1:45 on the first lap but next two were slower when the wind changed directions and intensified. Still 5:26 was very satisfying as I opened a 40+ minute gap on my main competitor. I passed 600 people on the bike. Over hydrated on the bike which almost led to disaster on the run.

Run: cramped badly 800 yards into the run...difficult to walk. I consumed 2/3 of my salt tabs to get it under control. Difficult management of cramps with limited salt and inability to keep down the IM Perform. Ran/walked tactically as Judy and Anders were giving me great real time data on my pursuers and I basically maintained my lead with a 4:58 run.

Not pretty but got the job done. Real gut check for me at times. I'm pleased I was able to respond and work through the unexpected challenges. 3rd fastest IM of my career so not to bad from a raw time perspective and I'm thrilled to have the privilege of racing at Kona again.

Tired and sore...but content...more later.

On the ground here in Tempe

2011-11-18T14:45:00.000-08:00

Flew out yesterday wtih Sparty and another DE triathlete, Mac Weymouth--everything is hunky-dory and good to go at this point. A couple of items:

1. Sparty and I rode the furthest most 6 miles (out and back for 12) of the course yesterday--this is the "hilliest" of part of the bike course. It strikes me as a very fast fast bike course. I had no problem holding 18 mph/200 watts going up hill on the steepest portion and was doing 25+ on the downhill at that power. The pavement is excellent on the beeline--although less so on the 5 mile part ner town. All and all--it seems like a course to post a good time.

2. Weather looks to be a lot "nicer" than originally forecasted. This is not necessarily to my advantage--while the weather will be way better than what I've had in my last 4 IMs it might be a little bit warmer than I would ideally like and the wind doesn't look to be that bad--more wind probably helps me. The water should be around 62 degrees which is really not an issue at the end of the day. Looks like no rain now.

3. Had a brake issue--my Zero-Gs really aren't build for the new 808FC wheels as the tolerance is too close. Plus the brakes are 5+ years old so they don't snap back like they used too. I felt I would be running the risk of periodic brake pad rub if I didn't deal with it so i swapped out my front caliper for a 105 caliper--while this will cause me a 200 gram penalty I felt the peace of mind was worth it.

4. Ran a few miles yesterday evening--lots of concrete but I can endure 26 miles of it....legs feel pretty good although hard to tell with "taper funk" going on.

5. Met all of my competition--nice fellows.

6. Good to go!

All packed and ready to go

2011-11-16T10:26:00.001-08:00

Well, IMAZ time is drawing nigh...I head off to Tempe early tomorrow morning with my bud, Sparty. Certainly feeling a need to get this thing done!

Physically, I'm mired in what I think is a classic taper funk. All sorts of wierd little niggles. My elbow is a disaster and will have to be dealt with in the off-season, but I should be able to get around the course on Sunday without it being a major limiter--albeit, I'm sure it will be quite sore. I went for a run yesterday in NYC--3.5 miles and felt sluggish and crappy.

I know this is fairly typical, but not confidence building none-the-less. I do take heart in what my former coach, Peter Reid said about the week before an IM--you want to and should feel like crap--that's the way you know the body has shut down to effect rest and repair--I remember in 2007 I had an awesome run early in the week before IMFL and Pete was not happy about it--and sure enough, I had a very poor run there...so this must be good news right?

Weather looks cool, breezy and potentialy with some rain. While not necessarily conducive to a fast bike split, it is none-the-less probably a competitive plus for me--anything that makes the bike slower for everyone is generally relatively good for me--given my bike strength. The cool weather should be a real plus for me on the run. I don't think that it's a coincidence that my 3 fastest IM runs and IM overall times were during relatively cool events (IMFL04, IMWI05, IMFL07). The water is sitting at 60 degrees so I'll probably opt for my Axis wetsuit, which is a little bit slower than my Helix but considerably more comfortable in cold water.

So where am I at mentally? For an externally/objective point of view--I need to win the M50+ XC AG and secure a Kona slot. Anything less can reasonably be judged a failure on my part. I've only been to Kona once (although, my career objective was to get there just once--anything else is gravy) but I do have a real good chance this Sunday. The way XC works, as I age, I'll become increasing less competitive as the oldest AG has been 50+. I'll be 55 next year and I can tell you, those 5 years do make a real difference. On paper, I do look like the favorite. I've raced 3 of my 4 competitors before and have never lost to them. The other fellow has not posted IM/IM70.3 times close to my best. That said, my Italian competitor and I raced each other back at IMFL in 2007 where we both set PRs--we were very competitive with each other:

Swim: RC: 66:16 vs. PP: 66:48
T1: RC: 5:09 vs. PP: 5:06
Bike: RC: 5:06:14 vs. PP: 5:10:15
T2: RC: 3:33 vs. PP: 1:43
Run: RC: 4:58:03 vs. PP: 4:52:03
Total: RC: 11:19:22 vs. PP: 11:20:20

So I was just 58 seconds faster. Of course since then I have gotten progressively slower in MY IM times--but so has PP--here is a comparison of the 4 IM that we have each done since then:

RC: IMAUS08: 12:28:55 vs. PP: IMLP08: 13:58:02
RC: IMCAN08: 12:56:40 vs. PP: IMFL08: 12:47:39
RC: IMGER10: 13:33:35 vs. PP: IMAZ09: 14:06:36
RC: KONA10: 13:49:15 vs. PP: IMSWI10: 13:49:50

So I think it looks like a toss-up, with perhaps a slight edge to me....

I'd also, from an external validation perspective, like to race fast again--I'm not happy with the above trend-line and it sure would be nice to post something faster than my last 4 races....

But having said all of this, I've really come to the conslusion that qualifying for Kona and going fast at the end of the day, are NOT what is most important to me. I really am eager to get out there and race intelligently and when the pain comes latter in the day, stand up to it, surrender myself to it, not judge myself by the clock or my competitors--in fact not judge myself--but rather strive to stay in the moment--every moment--and find a new place where I master the pain and truly reach a place much closer to my true potential--whatever that is. If I can really do that--then whatever else happens I'll be OK with (although I wouldn't object to going fast and getting a KQ!).

To paraphrase Anatoli Boukreev--the great Russian Mountaineer: " The Ironman is NOT the Stadium in which I seek triumph and achievement, it is the Cathedral in which I practice my religion"

On wounded wing

2011-11-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of months I've had a modestly irritating and increasing pain in my left elbow. This pain was definitely affected by swimming volume--over 10k in a week or 3k in a session and it starts to get pretty sore. I've actully modified my stroke a bit--I usually do a "S" stroke but have, on my left side changed to pull mostly straight back--this puts less twisting torque on my elbow and seems to help a bit.

I don't think this will have any sort of significant impact on my race on Sunday--might slow me down just a little but I should get through the swim, albeit with a sore elbow. Come December though I'll need to see an elbow doc and find out what's going on and get it fixed--I'm pretty sure that it couldn't handle a full (300-400k yards) season of tri training the way it is now....

Inside of 6 days now--feeling some butterflies but will focus on finding my calm, centered place....

One week to go--tapering away

2011-11-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

Taper week went as planned. Here are the totals:

swim: 6500 yards
bike: 107 miles
run: 14.5 miles
time: 10:54

Satyagraha

2011-11-09T06:02:00.000-08:00

We went to the Metropolitan Opera last night at Lincoln Center to see the Phillip Glass Opera: "Satyagraha". This is an opera focused on the early years of Gandhi. The term "Satyagraha" was his name for non-violent civil disobediance....certainly a timely topic! I enjoyed the Opera, especially it's minimilistic score--it's droning, repetive scalar runs--I could imagine running to the score...very repretitive.

In any event, while the Opera was sung in Sanskrit, there were frequent visual translations into English. Several of the quotes spoke to me, especially as I think about my coming Ironman:

"Hold pleasure and pain, profit and loss, victory and defeat to be the same: then brace yourself ready for the fight."

"Whence comes this faintness on you now at this crisis hour?"

"Between theory and practice, some talk as they were two--making a separation and a difference between them. Yet wise men know that both can be gained in applying oneself wholeheartedly to one. For the high estate attained by men of contemplative theory, that same state achieve the men of action. So act as the ancient of days old, performing works was a spiritual exercise."

"Do the allotted task for which one is fit, for work is more excellent than idleness and the body's life proceeds not, lacking work."

'When he casts off attachment to his deeds, a man embarks on his work ever content, on none dependent."

"The world is not for the doubting man."

"Whoever gives up a deed because it causes pain, or because he shrinks from bodily pain, follows the way of darkness, knowing nothing of self-surrender."

OK--I know this is a little deep for a nerdy triathlon blog....but it worked for me!

"Tweapering"

2011-11-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

So, I'm now firmly committed to my Tweak/Taper or Tweaper phase. This seems to be a much maligned phase--everyone complains how out of sorts they feel, that they are getting "fat", etc. I've certainly felt that in times past.

The way i currently do this is a bit of an evolution. I've certainly incorproated a lot of what I learned from Peter Reid in 2007--in fact, many of my workouts over the next 2 weeks are exactly the same as I did in that two week period leading up to IMFL07. However, I have changed a few things. firstly, I don't "taper" for 3 weeks--just 14 days. Secondly, I don't give up coffee--life's too short!

In fact, I really don't think of this period as really a taper--which implies diminishing one's workouts. While, my volume certainly goes down--very substantially--I think of this period is one of gaining. Gaining readiness to race. I'm looking to add, not subtract over the next two weeks. I'm not looking to add fitness--that cake is baked at this point. But I'm looking to add to my readiness to get the most that I can out of the fitness that I've built.

This readiness involves building my confidence. Building my motivation to really go deep on the 20th. Resting, so I have loads of energy. Stretching and working a bit on my core so I'm ready to assume the position for 5+ hours on the bike. Eating well and not so I gain weight with a big cut back in hours. Working on a lot of short, higher intensity stuff so from a neuromuscular perspective I'm primed to be very efficient. Visualizing--all that can go right and all that can go wrong and how I'll react. Getting my gear together. Getting my team ready to support me.

It's really tweaking upward my ability to reach my full potential. Even while I taper my hours. Tweapering!

For example. Two workouts I did today were a 6.5-mile run that included two 10 minute segments at 7:00-7:15/mile and a 45 minute computrainer session that included 5 X 90sec at 315 watts/3.5 minutes easy as well as two 5 minute spins at 115-120 rpm. Both of these are high intensity (for me) but not that long--so I feel great (powerful) and not depleted at the end.

Anyways--another week in the books:

Swim: 8200 yards
Bike: 211 miles
Run: 27 miles
Time: 19:42

Next week the plan is for right around 10 hours of training--with 1 or 2 complete rest days.....bring it on!

Two weeks to go

2011-11-06T05:17:00.000-08:00

First extended forecast for Tempe: Hi of 72 degrees and low of 49 degrees. sunny. Lots can change between now and then but I'm down with that! Water Temp is 65 degrees this morning--which would be perfect!

At the Shore

2011-11-05T06:20:00.000-07:00

Getting the beach house ready for hibernation. Nice dinner last night with Joey and Kristen.

I swam yesterday in the bay. 57 degrees. There is a fine line between commitment and obsession....i may have crossed it!

Did a 4 mile run right at 9 min/mile and my HR stayed in the 130s....that is a very encouraging sign indeed!

So--why should I think its going to be different this time?

2011-11-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

I've completed eight prior IM races. My best was a 11:19 at IMFL in 2007. However, I've never felt that I actually raced any of them up to my full potential. I'm hoping that IMAZ will be different. Is there anything besides hope I could hang my hat on? I think so. The chart below shows a graph of my monthly training hours back to 2007. The chart shows a trailing three-month average (to smooth the chart out). Also on the chart, I've indicated where my last five IM occurred (IMFL07, IMAUS08, IMCAN08, IMGER10, Kona10). Note how in each of these races my training hours peaked long before the race and were declining significantly in the last few months bfore the race. Contrast that to the current situation where I have built over time:

Next you can see my monthly swim volume--note the same story as total training hours--a stronger trend for this year. While my agregate swim volume is lower in 2011, my recent swim volume is actually higher:

The pattern repeats with respect to my bike training. Note how much more bike miles I have coming into 2011 than I did in prior years--especially leading into IMFL07:

Finally, with respect to my run. You can clearly see the impact of mid-year injury in 2011 and how I've bounced back quite nicely since. My 2011 run volumes are comprable to 2007 and better than 2008-2010:

So this is no guarantee I'll have that breakthrough IM this time. But my training entering this IM is clearly stronger than it has been in the past--at the very least, this shouldn't be a negative!

sorta, kinda starting my taper now

2011-11-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

Put in 4 hours today--jack of all trades. Easy spin on the trainer. Weights/Stretching. Ran a solid 6.5 miles mixed road and trail. THEN, did a IM TT swim.

Fastest swim on the build. 33:40/34:58/68:38. Very challenging. I used the fact that this was the last of my big 30 workouts to drive to the end. I really muscled it. A friend of mine watched for a while and she told me my form was pretty crappy. All turnover and not enough length. I think this is very valid criticism. the fact is I'm tired from 75+ hours over the last three weeks--very big block at the end of a big build.

But hey, I did it! 10 swims of more than 1 hour--most at IM distance. 10 bikes of 5-7 hours--most at IM distance or longer. 10 runs of 2+ hours--the last 3 17 miles or over.

The cake is baked. Time to take it out of the oven and let it cool a bit--before we eat it!

I'm heading to the shore tomorrow and intend to do an open water swim in my wetsuit--at least a half-IM distance (water is 58 degrees.....). Plus I might race a 5k this weekend so not fully into taper mode but for sure I'll be there come Monday. Defintely into tweaking now--no more fitness to build!

I hope that I've built enough!

Final long ride before the dance

2011-11-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

On my BMC TT01 at 7:30 am this morning. Treated to a 33-degree start. Was basically an ice-cube until about 9:30....brrrrrr!

This was my 10th and final long ride of my 13 week IM build. As intended, this was shorter than the last 5-6 rides. I rode 92.6 miles in a little over 5 hours. Here is a summary of my avg. power by 5 mile segments during the ride:

1-5: 196 watts
6-10: 186
11-15: 182
16-20: 182
21-25: 181
26-30: 178
31-35: 183
36-40: 178
41-45: 187
46-50: 191
51-55: 188
56-60: 185
61-65: 170
66-70: 181
71-75: 186
76-80: 178
81-85: 178
86-90: 173
90+: 174

Average for the ride was 182.

Definitely ready for a taper!

October in the bank!

2011-10-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

Up at 4:33 am to SBR before my morning train up to NYC. October is in the bank:

Swim: 40,300 yards
Bike: 1105 miles
Run: 177 miles
Time: 108 hours

Obviously a very big month. This is the second highest training hours I've recorded over the 59 months that I've been keeping track--My high was 111 hours in March 2008 when I did a Tuscon training camp for 17 days with Peter Reid et al.

This is the most swim yards I've done this year and the highest since January 2010. My run mileage is my second highest--my high was 181 miles in December of 2007.

Of course 2007 was my best triathlon year and was the year I set my PRs at the H-IM and IM distances. Here is how my volume over the last three months compares to a similar period in 2007:

Swim: 111,000 vs. 129,000. Down 14 %
Bike: 3,123 vs. 2,262. Up 38%
Run: 434 vs. 355. Up 22%
Time: 286 vs. 242. Up 18%

Hopefully this will translate into similar or perhaps a better performance at IMAZ!

Last "big" week before AZ--no drama to report!

2011-10-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm now under 21 days to race day. As I mentioned, this week was designed to be modestly lower volume, in aggregate and on my long bike/run, than last week. I pretty much executed my training plan despite my nagging cold. I missed one swim workout as the pool was closed for "electrical" problems on Thursday. Anyways--here's the data for the week:

swim: 8700 yards
bike: 267 miles
run: 43 miles
time: 26:20

I completed my 10th (and final) long run during this IM build: 17 miles in 2:26

I completed my 9th long bike (102 miles) and 9th long swim (4200 yards) as well.

This week will see a further reduction--probably to around 20 hours with a long ride of 100 miles or so and one last IM TT swim. Then I'll jump into a proper 2-week taper.

My body feels pretty good given the volume this month. I've plateaued now on my bike and swim and definitely will benefit from the rest/consolidation that a taper affords. Strangely enough, I believe that my run continues to improve....who woulda thought it? No injuries to bother discussing.

On plan!

Swim today

2011-10-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Did my 9th IM TT swim today in 69:10. My splits were 34:07 and 35:03. Last week I did 34:04/35:14/69:18. so my last four swims have been: 71:10, 68:45, 69:18 and 69:10.

I detect a plateau here--which of course is fine and not unexpected. This is about as far as I can expect to get swimming 7-10k per week. I seem to be locked in to a 68-71 zone, which I would be completely fine with at IMAZ.

One more long swim next week--mostly trying to maintain and not tweak my tender left elbow--will mostly do modest volume interval work and technique focused swimming....Probably 10k this week and next then down to 5-6 2 weeks out and jusgt 3-4k race week....

Biggest week behind me--4 to go!

2011-10-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

My virus/cold continues to plague me--especially at night, but it really hasn't been enough of a bother to slow me down. I missed a couple of my w/os this week but by and large executed my big IM-prep training week this week. Totals for the week:

swim: 10,700 yards
bike: 349 miles
run: 42.5 miles
time: 31:02

My long w/os were:

swim: 4200 yards @ 69:18
bike: 120 miles @ 6:56
run: 20 miles @ 2:56

A couple of other comments:

-I've now completed 8 long swims/8 long bikes/9 long runs during this IM build--I should be able to get to my goal of 10/10/10 over the next two weeks
-My long w/os will be a bit shorter this and next week on the bike and run
-My swim splits were 34:04 and 35:14. My overall swim time was 33 seconds slower than last week, but I did this long swim on the 4th of 4 consecutive swim days and the prior week I did it after 3 days of no swimming--so, I'll take it. Also, I don't think I pushed quite as hard this week.
-My run was great. Also, I did the 42.5 miles in just 4 runs--I took 3 days off from running so my legs feel quite good this evening--should be able to hit another big run week next week.

Looking good at this point!

One Month to go--the time of risk and reward

2011-10-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

So a month from now, I will be 10 hours into my IMAZ journey. Hopefully, I'll be on my last run lap, but that could be wishful thinking. I'll probably know by now if I'm nabbing a Kona slot. I'll certainly know if I'm definitely not!

So these next three weeks: 5,4, and 3 weeks out are pretty critical for my Ironman build. They are all intended to be heavy workload weeks with multiple race specific simulations--either duration or intensity (and in the case of swimming-both at the same time). If done correctly, I can tweak up my fitness and hit that "mythical" fitness peak for my IMAZ race on November 20th. If I cross the line, and it's easy to do, I could get injured, sick or over-trained.

I had a very heavy week two weeks ago, 7 weeks out, and backed off last week to absorb it and due to lots of life obligations. I entered this week feeling a need to execute a very big training week. As luck would have it, on Sunday, I finally came down with the virus that has been plauging Judy for the last 10 days--aghhhh! Not great timing for sure, but I'm glad it's not race week.

I woke up very early on Monday with a decision to make--do I execute the day's workout plan (a long ride) or try to nurse my head cold, sore throat, achey body? I decided to give the ride a shot and headed out well before sunrise for what I hopped to be the longest ride of the year. As I rode, I felt better and better and decided to go for the whole ride--I hit the turnaround at 60 miles averaging 18.7 mph so I was satisfied. Then the wind came up--25+mph--and I slogged through challenging conditions taking 6:56 to complete the 120 miles. I was pretty whipped.

I made it through Tueesday's workouts fine and awoke at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday to get my 3 hours in before taking a train to NYC where I worked all day. I was quite exhausted Wednesday night and hacked and sneezed most of Wednesday night.

Despite this, I went after a pretty big day again today and as the day went on I felt really good--I think maybe I am turning the corner on my illness. I must say, I felt a real resevoir of strength in my workouts today....here is what I did today:

45 minutes of weights/stretching
9 miles of running at 8:15/mile--I felt really good on this run!
Half-Ironman swim at IM level of effort--took me 33:15
52.5 mile cruise interval workout on my Computrainer--putting aside my warm-ups and warm-downs, I repeated 15 minutes at 210 watts (a little above my IM power target) and 5 minutes at 130 watts as recovery. I averaged 191 watts for the whole affair. This whole effort felt very controlled for me--wouldn't call it easy--3 hours on a computrainer never is.

I have over 18 hours in already this week. I have my big swim tomorrow and my longest run on the year this weekend. Hoping to stay the course!

Week arear and ahead

2011-10-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

AS I mentioned previously--i really backed off this week to deal with a lot of competingpriorities and to let my body recover from and absorb the volume of the prior week. Here is what that looked like:

swim: 7700 yards
bike: 143 miles
run: 24 miles
time: 14:49

I wouldn't be surprised if my volume next week is double this--time wise at least. I'm reasonably rested and with 5 weeks to go I need to put in a very heavy 17-21 day block. I'm kicking things off tomorrow a bit before sunrise and hopefully completing the longest ride of the season....

In the red zone now!

The essence of Ironman?

2011-10-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

I've been reading Fitzgerald's "Ironwar" and keep coming back to this quote which really speaks to me about my experience when I am racing an Ironman--here it is---what do you think?:

"In the hardest moments of a long race, the athlete's entire conscious experience boils down to a desire to continue pitted against a desire to quit. He is no longer a son or a father or a husband. He has no social roles or human connections whatsoever. He is utterly alone. He no longer has any possessions. There is no yesterday and no tomorrow, only now. The agony of extreme endurance fatigue crowds out every thought and feeling except one: the goal of reaching the finish line. The sensations within the body--burning lungs, screaming muscles, whole-body enervation--exist only as the substance of the desire to quit. What little of the external environment that the athlete is aware of--the road ahead, the competitor behind, the urgings of onlookers--exists only as the substance of the desire to continue. The desire to continue versus the desire to quit--the athlete is this and this alone until he choses one or the other. And when the choice is made, he briefly becomes either persevering or quitting until, after he has stopped at the finish line or, God forbid, short of it, the stripped-away layers are piled back on and he becomes his old self again. Only not quite. He is changed, for better or worse."

Truth my friends--gives me chills!

cooling it this week

2011-10-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

Lots going on. Monday drive back from Boston. big Extreme Bocce tournament this weekend--which is a blast but a ton of work (and takes all day Saturday). Body also quite tired from last week's training load. Further, I slipped on one of my trail runs (lots of rain) and strained my right hamstring--nothing serious but I decided to be cautious with my running this week.

So this week will be quite light volume-wise...less than I planned and would like to have. But, I think its the right call and my guess is that I'll be able to deliver a heavy training week next week.

In the pool today

2011-10-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

Took an easy day yesterday, training wise. We all went up this past weekend to visit Anders at HBS and spent 6 hours driving home yesterday. I probably needed an easy day--in any event, I was very stiff getting out of the car when we arrived back in DE.

I did an easy bike/run today and jumped in the pool and swam an IM distance swim TT.

Last week I did 70:10 and today I did 68:45. I'm not sure that today's swim was indicative of more fitness/readiness to swim. The swim last week was very controlled--I felt very strong at the end. Today, I humped it. I was quite tired at the end--although, I was quite tired at the beginning as well. If I actually thought that I could "take it easy" and all it cost me was 1:25 I'd be in an a heartbeat! Not sure i completely buy it. I'm going to experiment a bit in my long swims over the next three weeks to really dial in my optimal race intensity for IMAZ.

One thing for sure is I'm more than fast enough on the swim--time to back off a bit. I'll still do my long swim--hopefully each week. I won't do the long intense interval w/os I planned down the stretch (such as 15X200 or 6X500) Instead, I'll do stuff like 3X500 or 6X200 or 15X100. I want to try to swim 4-5 times a week. One of these sessions may be primarily focused on technique. My long swims may go up to 5000+ yards to build strength . I think strength (over distance and paddles) and technique (frequency and drills) are what I need now--not high-end threshold speed....

Weekly stats

2011-10-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

Solid IM build week!

Swim: 10,200 yds
Bike: 245.4 miles
Run: 51.5 miles
Time: 26:01

I've had bigger weeks with respect to the swim, bike and training time totals, but it's been a long time since my body has been able to run that many miles. My prior biggest week this year was 44.8 miles--back in early March. In fact over the last five years that I have tracked my mileage, this week represents a new high water mark for me run wise. I've only been over 50 miles once before--back in March of 2007 when I had a week of 51 miles.

Very encouraging!

I was able to get a long workout of each flavor as well:

swim: 4200 yards (70:10)
bike: 112.1 miles (6:14)
run: 17.0 miles (2:26)

During m build I've now had 6 long swims, 7 long rides, and 8 long runs. I have a good shot at hitting my goal of 10 of each before IMAZ.

Next week will likely be a bit easier, especially run wise.....

Long ride-finally!

2011-10-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Lots of moving parts this week but Tuesday's long ride happened today. 112.1 miles over 6:14 (18.0 mph average). It was 41 degrees when i started and 75 when I finished. wind was blowing (in my face for the last 1.5 hours). Clothes and temp management was the big challenge. Just hit 17 miles in the first hour. Hours 3-5 I was solid in the 19+ zone. Good ride. No new data though. I'm in good IM bike shape and 112 miles is a very long way to ride--we already knew that! I'm spent tonight!

Go Phillies!

There's a party in my head!

2011-10-04T18:11:00.001-07:00

Laying into a big week now.

Yesterday did an IM swim time trial in the pool in 70:10. I had not swam in 4 days so I suppose I was well rested. I did about a 95% of race effort swim--very comfortable. My biggest issue in the swim was just staying focused for the 168 laps.... I absolutely think I can swim a comfortable 68 minute swim at IMAZ--and that my friends is all I need!

I was going to go 6.5 hours on the bike today but I decided with the very strong winds forecasted for today as well as some wotk obligations to switch out my Tu and Th workouts. So today I ran long.

I did my longest run since Kona (which was this time last year) and ran a very strong 17 miles in 2:26--could have easily done a marathon today! Over the last 7 days--since I had to take 3 days off with my blisters post SkipJack, I have run 51 miles!

I completed my 3 injection sequence yesterday and today was drama free from a knee perspective--yes!

I broke out my ipod for my long run today--I have been music free for the last 6 weeks--trying to save it for the big push ahead of me and I have to say the experience was amazing. The weather was midto high 50s. I parked my car in the middle of a figure eight trail run so i could hit the gatorade every half hour or so--beautiful. The music really helped.

I had my "Chemistry" mix on--which is a 6 hour chemical Brothers mix--which I put in shufffle mode. Brilliant experience! I'll give you a taste with some lyrics from "Galvanize":

Don't hold back...

Cause you woke up in the mornin, with initiative to move, so why make it harder...

Don't hold back...

If you think about it, so many people do, be cool man, look smarter....

Don't hold back...

And you shouldnt even care, bout those losers in the air, and their crooked stares...

Don't hold back...

Cause there's a party over here, so you might as well be here, where the people care...

Don't hold back...

Dont hold back...

If you think about it too much, you may stumble, trip up, fall on your face...

Don't hold back...

You think its time you get up, crunch time, like a sit up, come on keep pace...

Don't hold back...

Put apprehension on the back burner, let it sit, dont even get it lit...

Don't hold back...

World, the time has come to...

Push the button...

World, the time has come to...

Push the button...

World, the time has come to...

Push the button...

World, my finger, is on the button...

My finger, is on the button...

My finger, is on the button...

Push the button...

The time has come to...

Galvanize!

Week totals

2011-10-02T15:21:00.001-07:00

Decent given limitations:

swim: 9000 yds
Bike: 229 miles
run: 31 miles
time: 22:37

Heavy week coming up!

Thinking about my IMAZ bike split

2011-10-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

I know its very dangerous to set and adhere to time goals in an Ironman--overall or on any of the three splits. How I feel on race day, the conditions, etc may very well dictate a modification of my level of effort.

That said, I have enough data to make an educated guess at this point.

Back in 2007, I biked a 2:24 at Eagleman and a 5:06 at IMFL. I think these courses are similar and I think the conditions on race days were reasonably comparable. I averaged 223 watts for the half and 211 watts for the IM. I ran well off my H-IM bike but I had a disappointing run at IMFL. The ratio between my AP at IMFL and EM was 211/223=0.95. Most knowledgeable long-course coaching types say that your bike should be in the 80-85% of FTP range for a Half and 70-75%. This implies that your watts in an Ironman should be about 87.5% of your watts at a H-IM (all things being equal). This says I probably should have averaged 195 watts at IMFL and not the 211 I did average--perhaps riding 10/15 minutes slower would have saved me 30+ minutes on my run.

I just did a 2:29:30 H-IM equivalent at SkipJack (my average pace over 66 miles adjusted to 56 miles). SkipJack is predominantly on the Eagleman course. I think the conditions were a little slower at SkipJack than they were back at EM in 2007. I averaged 221 watts for the 56 miles and ran about as well as I could hope to run given my current fitness (8:10/mile). Also, I actually rode at a higher output (225 watts) over the last half of the race so i feel like 221 watts is a good number for my H-IM power traget.

so, if I take 87.5% of that I get an power target of 193 watts for the IM distance. Given the cubic relationship between power and speed this would imply that my average speed would be 4.6% slower than I did at SkipJack. I averaged 22.47mph at SkipJack so this suggests that if I averaged 193 watts for a similar IM, I 'd average 21.5mph.

Now, IMAZ has the long, gradual climb (and descent) that you take three times and it's logical to assume that it's a slower course than Skipjack/EM or IMFL. To determine how much slower, I took the 100th and 500th fastest times at both IMAZ and IMFL over the last three years and compared them (I was 245th at IMFL07). The snswer I get is the 100th fastest bike split was 3.2% slower at iMAZ (compared to IMFL) and the 500th was 3.4% slower. So, I'll estimate that IMAZ is 3.3% slower thn IMFL, all things else being equal. This turns my 21.5 mph into 20.8mph. This translates into an estimated IMAZ time for me of 5:23.

5:23 seems like a reasonable number and wouldn't kill my chances of getting to Kona. Of course, if raceday conditions are a lot worse then, this calculation is not valid. That said, it's possible that conditions might be a little better than we had at SkipJack and I could actully go a little faster.

The other thing I plan on doing is raising my FTP by 5-10 watts in October with a lot of Computrainer time--I think this is doable and this might give me the option of riding at closer to 200 watts on race day.

In any event, I'd say a best guess of 5:15-5:30 is probably pretty good right now....

I'll return to this topic in the last few days before the race.

September Monthly Training Volume

2011-10-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

September totals were depressed due to my need to back off a bit early in the month after a very big August and lots of non-Triathlon challenges. Also, I raced two long course races in September and this also affected my volume--most recently the blisters I suffered at SkipJack have limited my efforts this week.

In any event, here are the numbers:

Swim: 36,000 yards
Bike: 806 miles
Run: 110 miles
Time: 77 hours

Looking ahead--I plan for October to be a very big training month--high volume, perhaps not as much as August, but more intensity. No triathlons--all eyes are on IMAZ now!

The road ahead.....

2011-09-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

51 days....7+ weeks to IMAZ. Lots of miles over the transom--where do we stand, and what does the road ahead look like?

My body/fitness/injuries

I think I'm in a very good place now. I had a very big August. I crashed a bit during the first two weeks of September--big training volume was part of the issue, but large and persistant "life" stresses were perhaps even more so.

IM70.3WC was just a case of me scuffling through...that was 9/11...glad I did it (as an experience) but i was not in any position to really race....

recovered the week after and then had a very encouraging training week...

killed SkipJack--definitely a surprise how strong I was!

So...where are we?

Injury wise I think I'm good to go. My knee shut me down for 4-5 weeks in May and June but with the injection cycle in June and this new one (which will be completed this coming Monday) my knee has responded in a truly excellent way--right now, I do not have knee problems--nor do I expect them to be a factor at all in preparing for and racing IMAZ--at the end of the day, this is the most importnt thing on my fitness docket right now!

My Psoas muscle issues have dimisnished enough to take them off the list and my plantar fascitis seems to have recceded to the point of just being a minor irritant some mornings.

I spent 4 dys dea\ling with SEVERE blisters (post Skipjack)--I definitely had to cut back--no running and only light biking but hopefully, I'm ready to move on.

Summary: I have no limiting injuries right now!

My best, most objective analysis, tells me tht I am in better long course shape right now than in any time in my career with the exception of 2007. My race this past weekend was (from my perspective) a very big deal in terms of validating my fitness and my fitness building strategy.

My fitness is still improving. My motivation to improve is at an all-time high. I'm not at the peak I had in 2007 but this just might be a bettert scenario, given my hungriness to get better. We'll see...

I have a lot of work obligations and so am camping up in NYC for 2-5 days now.....bike and swim impacts for sure but hopefully i can run alot....I'm definitely behind my training plan--run wise so that would be good....we'll see....

I wanted to race this weekend or next but life commitments tell me no. so it's all training until the big event--probably for the best when you step back and look at the big picture.

Until I taper, here is how I plan to roll:

-big volume--probably in the 22-26 hours/week range
-3 key bike rides: long (6+ hours), hard (2-3 hours above IM race intensity), neromuscular training--efficiency--I'll ride every day but the other rides must not interfer with the three key rides....
-4/5 swims: 2 key ones--1 of 4000+ yards and one of 3000-4000 yards of long and hard intervals...the rest is optional--not doing them, but how hard I do them
-run--need to be in the 30-50 mpw zone--1 long run and 1 tempo/race/interval wo per week--the rest is filler
-lots of work but easier easy days to make sure I kill the hard stuff....
-Of course' my body or schedule may dictate otherwise....

we'll see but right now I like my chances!

20,000 views!

2011-09-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

Went through 20,000 page hits yesterday--exactly 200 days after hitting 10,000 back on March 10th. conveniently, that averages out to 50 per day--thanks for the interest

Skipjack Race Report

2011-09-26T07:14:00.001-07:00

2011 Skipjack LC Triathlon Race Report
September 24th, 2011

Background

Location: Cambridge, MD
Distance: 1.2-mile swim/66-mile bike/10-mile run
2011 Triathlon Race Number: 13
Career Triathlon Race Number: 113
Conditions: Overcast with periodic light rain, 10-20 mph wind, mid 60s-low 70s, and a 72-degree water temperature.

This is the inaugural version of this “Half-Ironman like” long course triathlon. It is part of the ChesapeakeMan Triathlon Festival, which includes an IM, an IM Aqua-Velo, and a sprint triathlon as well. The swim is a normal 1.2-mile affair. The bike however is longer (driven by the need to also stage an IM bike on the same course). The bike course was advertised as 64 miles but I had two GPS devices with me and they both had it as 65.94 miles. The run was GPSed at 10.02 miles—so pretty much spot on in distance.

The race was at the mid-point of my 16-week IMAZ build/taper Meso-cycle. I was at the tail end of a strong training week, which included a 100+ mile bike and a 14-mile training run (my total training time for the week was over 21 hours with about 8000 yards of swimming, 250 miles of biking and 32 miles of running). I certainly was not rested/tapered but I did feel pretty good on race morning. This was in sharp contrast to the prior two weeks where an aggressive 5-week build block (and a lot of life obligations) had left me quite tired. So much so, that 13 days prior I had just gone through the motions at a desultory IM70.3 WC race in Las Vegas (6:06 Half-Ironman).

On this morning however, I was ready to go for it and fact felt a bit of a need to “prove” to myself that I was indeed gaining fitness and was well positioned in my build for IMAZ.
The race had 120 people entered in it and 11 in my AG. In fact only 80 would start with 9 folks in my 50-54 YO AG. The weather was horrible in the days leading up to the race with a constant and frequently intense rain and the weather forecast called for more so I suspect many folks bailed as a result.

I drove down on Friday afternoon and went through all my normal pre-game activities for a LC triathlon and happily lay down by 10 p.m. and had a pretty decent rest. I was up at 4:30 for PB&J and all set to rock by my 8:10 a.m. mass start.

The Swim

T1 and the swim are located adjacent to the Eagleman site, but the swim had us heading off in the opposite direction from the park and is generally less susceptible to tidal influence than the EM swim course. I watched the IM race head off at 7 a.m. and decided I would position myself to the right on the buoy line (clock-wise course—not my favorite) so I could watch the other competitors. With only 80 folks in the race, I figured it would be a piece of cake to find clean water if I needed it.

At the gun I stayed hard right and felt that the other faster swimmers were drifting too far left (who knows if this is true or not, but that was my judgment based on my sight lines.) I could see I was in the top group of swimmers but that there were definitely some stronger swimmers than I. I tried to keep track of my placing and guessed that I was 7th or so but it was difficult to judge with the slower IM swimmers engaged in their second lap and with the modest wind-driven chop.

I basically swam the whole course by myself without any drafting benefit. This was not my intent, but it always seemed to me that the other folks in my race were too far to the left. So no drafting benefit in this race. On the plus side, I had a very relaxing and uneventful swim.

I felt like I was having a B+ kinda’ swim. I felt good, and very comfortable—I knew I could go faster but I did feel like I was having a solid swim. I navigated well and soon enough found myself heading towards the boat ramp, which is the exit of the swim.

Finally, I felt my hand hit the ramp and gingerly stood up. My pre-race recon told me that the ramp was covered in very slippery seaweed and I tried to grab the wall to the left to help myself climb up. This was for naught and I slipped and fell very hard on the concrete directly on my right hip (I have a nice bruise to show for it). It was a pretty violent fall but I think my wetsuit helped me avoid any serious issues—although I was concerned about my hip all the way until I hit the run course). I picked myself up finally and hit my watch at the top of the ramp and recorded a 33:16 swim split with an average HR of 151 bpm. This is a pretty solid time and only 31 seconds slower than my best ever H-IM swim time. My HR indicates I took in easier than I could have gone so it is a really positive result from a fitness perspective. In any event, it was a marked improvement from my 44+ minute swim in Las Vegas.

I had the 8th best swim OA (91.3 %-tile…which I believe is my highest LC swim %-tile in my career). Here is what the leaderboard looked like after the swim:

1. Adams --------
2. Joubert + 0:13
3. Hanna + 3:25
4. Saksa + 4:28
5. Courtney + 4:47
:
:
8. Christofferson + 6:36

From an AG perspective, I had the top swim out of the 9 competitors. Here is where we stood:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Peterson + 0:39
3. Jagoditis + 6:01

Transition One

As I ran away from the swim exit I tried to banish the thoughts of my fall and my hip from my mind. The T1 situation in this “festival” is way over-engineered. I understand why. CTA—which runs the race—puts on two huge events each year—Columbia and Eagleman—so they are used to dealing with tons of athletes and dealing with them in a “M-dot” way. That is not this race.

None-the-less, we had to wait for the volunteers to bring us our bags and then enter the changing tent—where we had to empty our bags, do our thing, and then re-pack our T1 bag with all of our swim stuff (the latter was necessary because T1 and T2 were 5 miles apart and they had to transport our swim stuff there for our pick-up after the race).

I had an OK T1. My helmet strap, for some unknown reason, got all tangled up and I wasted about 10 seconds (seemed like 5-6 minutes) getting it sorted out. Soon enough however, I was on my way. I exited T1 with an elapsed time of 3:20 and a HR of 151 bpm.

Due to my helmet mishap, this was only good enough for 12th OA (86.3 %-tile). I had the fastest T1 in my AG by a long shot. OA, there wasn’t much of a change competitively. In my AG, I was beginning to clearly separate myself:

1. Adams --------
2. Joubert + 2:29
3. Hershner + 3:07
4. Saksa + 4:16
5. Courtney + 4:38
:
:
8. Christofferson + 5:46

--------

1. Christofferson --------
2. Peterson + 2:55
3. Jagoditis + 7:53

The Bike

I exited T1 in a very motivated place. I thought I was 7th OA and I intended to get out and after it on the bike. I thought the bike course was 64 miles (in fact it turned out to be 65.94 miles) and I definitely wanted to go sub 3 hours—despite the rain and wind. I was hopeful to catch some of the stronger swimmers in front of me and hopefully open up a big enough gap to give me a good shot at the AG victory coming out of T2.

It was quite humid and overcast and my glasses fogged immediately. I decided to take them off and slipped them into my tri-top…where they remained for the rest of the ride. The bike course is similar (but different) than the Eagleman course. It featured an opening section of about 15 miles or so that differed from EM and then finished on a loop that was part of the EM course.

I felt very, very good right from the start. My first few miles were a bit slow due to all of the turns leaving T1 and me attending to all of the early ride nutrition things. That said I felt I was riding very well and I was passing a large number of IM and AV riders early on. Soon I began to pass Skipjack competitors as well and by 8 miles I thought that I had moved into second place OA.

I was racing with my revamped BMC TT01 rig for the first time—I had a new drive train, wheels and power management and recording hardware. I must confess that it all worked like a charm—I think it is probably faster than my old configuration and that I can make some tweaks to make it even faster. Further, I’m thrilled with my new data collection capability. Here is the summary of my first two 5-mile segments:

Miles 1-5…..13:29…22.2 mph…157bpm…88rpm…223 watts
Miles 6-10…12:51…23.3 mph…153bpm…88rpm…220 watts

This was obviously a strong start to my ride. I benefitted from less turns and a more favorable wind pattern in the second 5 miles. My target HR is 148-152 bpm so I was trending down to it after T1. I wanted to average above 220 watts so I was off to a good start. At 88 rpm, my recent high cadence Computrainer drills seemed to be working…all good!

I settled in for the long grind ahead. I felt very good and hoped that I was in second (although I felt it was likely that there was a number of better swimmer/bikers in front of me whom I’d never see—that said, my then current knowledge was that there was just one more person in front of me). I eased back just a bit (more than I needed to in retrospect) and just began picking off a lot of slower IM riders. At around 17 miles I was a bit surprised to pass another Skipjack racer (Saksa—a strong looking 31 YO). At this point, my on course data indicated that I was now leading the race. I of course wasn’t sure—for all I knew there were 3-4 guys who were very strong bikers easily pulling away from me. Here is what the next two five mile segments looked like:

Miles 11-15…13:35…22.1mph…149bpm…86rpm…215watts
Miles 16-20…13:10…22.8mph…147bpm…86rpm…215watts

My Edge 800 allowed me to have pretty good command of this data. I concluded that I was moving well above my targeted speed. My HR was on the low side of my target. My cadence was outstanding. My watts were a bit low but I felt great and thought that I was leading and pulling ahead. What to do? I decided to remain conservative for a while longer—My memory of my recent down-spell and my fairly heavy training load weighed on my mind.

Meanwhile, back on the road, I was passing everything in sight. It was nice to have the slower IM bikers in front of me—I didn’t have to worry about biking off-course like I did at Tuckahoe. I felt fantastic but I continued to keep a definite leash on my effort. Here are the next 15 miles:

Miles 21-25…13:09…22.8mph…146bpm…85rpm…217watts
Miles 26-30…13:00…23.1mph…148bpm…85rpm…216watts
Miles 31-35…12:58…23.1mph…147bpm…84rpm…216watts

At this point in the bike course we rounded a point and generally headed back into a net headwind. I felt this subjectively and feeling very optimistic about where I was and how I was doing in the race I decided to raise my game—I began pushing harder. The next 15 miles were noticeably tougher into the wind but I kept upping my effort:

Miles 36-40…13:14…22.7mph…148bpm…84rpm…222watts
Miles 41-45…13:08…22.8mph…147bpm…86rpm…228watts
Miles 46-50…13:27…22.3mph…148bpm…86rpm…227watts

As an aside, I was pretty workman-like in my attention to my nutrition throughout the ride. I drank 30 ounces of Cytomax, which I started the ride with and then another 3 24-ounce bottles of Gatorade (and one bottle of water). I ate one pack of shot blocks and had 4 Hammer Gels (from a flask). I’d guess that I consumed a total of about 1400 calories on the bike—about 450/hour, which is consistent with the approach I’ve refined during my long training rides. I ate a total of 9 Enduralytes—3 on every half hour of the ride. I peed three times during the ride so I think I did a solid job of hydrating as well. In any event, I didn’t feel any energy shortage during the ride.

As I rode on I became increasingly convinced that I was leading (although it would have been entirely possible for some one to be 20 minutes in front of me by now). The wind was quite noticeable now—blowing unrestricted out of the west across the nature reserve.

Further, the next five-mile section featured a 1-1.3 mile section that was substantially flooded. The road was frequently under 3-8 inches of water and when it wasn’t it was extremely rough (and slow). I tried to keep hammering away but at one point rode through 2 big pot holes (under about 8 inches of water) and unbelievably did not flat nor break a wheel—whew. I backed off a bit but soon we were on “dry” ground (it was raining). The road was uncomfortably rough as well during this section and it definitely cost us some speed as compared to earlier segments of the bike course. I kept driving all the way to the end and here is how the last splits looked:

Miles 51-55…14:38…20.5mph…146bpm…83rpm…225watts
Miles 56-60…13:24…22.4mph…146bpm…85rpm…223watts
Miles 61-65…13:34…22.1mph…145bpm…84rpm…224watts
Mile 66………….2:44…20.6mph…147bpm…82rpm…231 watts

I was surprised to find the course being two miles long but generally took comfort in that—the longer the bike course the better for me! It was a bit confusing towards the end because they were clearly not ready for a Skipjack racer when I approached T2. At a subconscious level I registered this as very good news and was very excited as I rolled into T2.

I completed the 66-mile bike spilt in 2:56:22, which equates to 22.5mph. I ended up averaging 221 watts, 85 rpm and a HR of 148bpm. This is very satisfying. My ride was over three minutes faster than any other cyclist and over 7 minutes faster than Saska. I was over a half hour faster than the next guy in my AG! Given the conditions, and given the competition I have to say I killed this ride.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, when I jumped off the bike I had a commanding overall lead Overall and an insurmountable AG lead:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Saksa + 5:31
3. Signore + 5:52
4. Clark + 7:43
5. Villanueva +12:06

--------

1. Christofferson --------
2. Peterson +32:28
3. Jagoditis +64:18

Transition Two

I handed my bike to a volunteer and they quickly gave me my transition bag. I asked how many where in front of me and they confirmed what I had been hoping—that I was in the lead! I ran into the changing tent and executed a very quick and efficient T2. My elapsed T2 time was 1:13, which ended up being the 4th fastest overall (149 bpm average). This translates into the 96.3 %-tile. Importantly, this was faster than any of the next four competitors. I picked up 5 seconds on Villanueva, 12 on Saksa, 15 on Clark and a critically important 1:17 on Signore. Here is where we stood after T2:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Saksa + 5:43
3. Signore + 7:09
4. Clark + 7:58
5. Villanueva +12:11

The Run

I ran out of the changing tent and across the timing mat carrying some more Enduralytes, my visor, my number belt and my glasses. I glanced back right to the bike course and didn’t see anyone. I put all the stuff in my hands where they belonged. The announcer let the crowd know what was going on and I received a nice applause.

For the first time in my triathlon career I was on the run and leading the race! As I ran out of the high school parking lot I noticed that I still had my glasses from the bike jammed into the top of my tri-suit. I found a convenient place along the road to chuck them (I came back for them later). I made the turn onto Egypt road and headed out by myself on the long, flat and mostly straight out and back run course. It was raining lightly and very comfortable to my heat acclimatized body.

It was surreal. I couldn’t believe I was actually leading and I was even hoping that maybe, just maybe I could hold the lead despite how much of a competitive liability my run typically is. I felt like I was running pretty well. I was definitely pushing it harder than I felt prudent and I was breathing heavily. So what—I decided that I was going all in on this run. I looked up and pointed to the skies and asked my dad to beam me some energy—I said out loud that this run was in honor of him. It was very cool running by myself with no one in front of me with only the sounds of my feet and my breathing.

I hit the first mile marker and hit a lap time on my new Garmin watch. I looked to see the result and realized that the numbers are so tiny and that my eyes are so bad now (without reading glasses) that I really couldn’t see the split—although I thought it looked like the first number was a 7. In fact, my first 1.03 miles passed in 7:48 (this is a 7:34/mile pace). My HR averaged 161 bpm, which is pretty much spot on for a LC run for me.

I wasn’t going to look back and just try to get to the 5-mile turnaround in the lead and then see where the competition was but I couldn’t help myself and I stole a glance just after passing the first mile mark. I was very bummed to see a runner just 40 yards behind me! I was shocked to be honest—this person must have had a fantastic T2! Oh well, I didn’t see anyone else so I thought I might as well keep going for it—you never know.

I went through the first aid station and slowed to drink a cup of water and one of Gatorade and was surprised that I didn’t get passed. I hit mile 2 and my Garmin recorded an 8:07 over 1.01 miles and my HR was steady at 161 bpm. There was an aid station right at mile 3 and there I was caught but the other runner turned down the fluid and told the volunteers that she was just out for a run and wasn’t in the race! Whoa! I was still in the lead! My 3rd split was 8:07 for exactly 1.00 miles and my HR remained locked on 161bpm.

Well, now I was really excited! I began to think that maybe I just could win this thing. I decided not to look back and kept pushing up to the turnaround. The next two splits were as follows:

Split 4: 8:07 (1.00 miles) 161 bpm
Split 5: 7:54 (0.99 miles) 165 bpm

I made the turn and looked up the road and was a bit disheartened to see another competitor. My initial judgment was that he was too close and running too fast for me to make my lead stick. Soon we passed and we acknowledged each other. It was Saksa, the 31 YO I had passed at mile 17 of the bike. I estimated that he was about 2 minutes behind me—although, with my vision issue, that is probably plus or minus 30 seconds. I shook my head and felt that I couldn’t hold him off. Another minute latter Signore came by and so I estimated that I had a 4-minute lead on him. The others were further up the road (Clark at 6 minutes and Villaneuva at 8 minutes) and I began to think that there was a good chance I could podium overall.

I hit the 6-mile mark with an 8:14 split (1.00 miles) and a 163-bpm heart rate. Around about 6.5 miles or so, Saksa caught me. He told me I had crushed the bike—I said thanks and told him it was nice to be in the lead while it lasted. I also told him to push home and win the thing. He encouraged me to keep pushing and get second. I sighed as he sped away with my victory dream. Oh well—I’m still doing great. I looked back and could see that Signore was closing fast. My 7-mile split was 8:33 (1:00) and my HR was back down to 161 bpm.

Now that I wasn’t going to win, I became very aware of how fatigued I was and I also noticed that my feet were killing me. I decided to not wear my socks to try to shave some time off of my T2 (which worked) but it looked like it might have been the wrong call as I could see big red splotches on both of my shoes—ouch!

I began to slow and hit the 8th mile with an 8:44 (1.00) and an average HR of 159. I still was in 2nd but feeling like it was any second before Signore caught me. Despite that, I was really enjoying the run—it was great to get the congrats from all the other competitors and they constantly told me I looked awesome (gee thanks!). About three quarters of the way through the 9th mile I decided to turn around and see where he was and I was surprised to see him still a good 100 yards or so behind me. What the heck—I decided right there that I was going to really give it everything I had—he was going to have to earn second place.

I hit the 9-mile split with an 8:47 over 1.01 miles (8:42/mile pace) and my HR at 160 bpm. I was clearly running a bit faster than that over the last few hundred yards of the 9th mile.

I could see the school and hear the announcer. I could see the turn just up ahead. My body was screaming but I kept pushing—come on RC--hold on dude. I hit the turn and glanced back and saw him about 40 yards behind me. I had about 250 yards to go and I dug down for one final desperate push. I could see the final turn and the finish chute and with about 60-70 yards to go I looked back and saw that he was at least 40 yards behind me—I did it, my kick had dissuaded him. I pumped my fist in the air and cruised home with a final split of 8:04 (166 bpm).

I finished 2nd—my best ever in a triathlon! Signore came in 15 seconds later and we embraced (by the way, in my AG, Peterson finished 45:20 and Jagoditis 67:40 behind me—I had the fastest run in my AG). I told Signore that another 100 yards and I was toast and he told me that he had given it everything he had but he just couldn’t catch me. My overall run time was 82:05 and my average HR was 162 bpm. I clocked the course at 10.02 miles so my average mile split was 8:11/mile. This was the 9th fastest overall (90.0%-tile). My overall time was 4:56:16. Fantastic!

I was going to go for a 3-4 mile run after the race to cool down and get another IM long run in but with the outcome of the race I said the heck with that. Also, my feet were really hurting now. I hobbled over to my car and took my shoes off and saw a total disaster zone—at least 15 places where my feet were bleeding—I was paying the price now for a quicker T2. I slowly made my way into the School and had a wonderful shower—although the water hitting my feet was not pleasant. I went to the EMS truck the medics kindly taped my feet up. I picked up a beautiful crystal award for finishing second and hopped into my car and drove home feeling very, very satisfied!

Observations

1. A great day for me no two ways about it. It would have been nice to win, but I’m thrilled with second. As I mentioned, this is my best OA finish place wise. I also picked up my 5th AG win on the year and this is only the second year that I’ve reached 5 wins in a season.
2. Its very important to me to bounce back after struggling recently and my slow and half-hearted effort at IM70.3 worlds. This race clearly demonstrates that my training is working and I’m in a good place in my build up to IMAZ in 8 weeks.
3. If I apply my average pace on the bike and convert from 66 to 56 miles and similarly convert from 10 miles to 13.1 on the run I come up with an equivalent H-IM time of 4:54:59. This is obviously an estimate but I think it’s pretty good. I would have biked a bit faster over 56 miles than I did over 66 and I probably would have been able to run a bit faster at the outset with a shorter bike leg. I probably would have faded more over 13.1 miles versus 10 (although, I did have a solid 10th mile) so it’s hard to say precisely, but I think the mathematical approximation is probably pretty good. If you take it at face value, then this was equivalent to my 3rd fastest H-IM ever (out of 20 or so)—my only two faster races being my two H-IMs during my peak year of 2007. For what it’s worth, Saksa did a 4:43 at Diamondman on 9/11 and he beat me by 4:41 in this race. He also told me that he raced better today than he did at Diamondman.
4. My swim was very solid. I probably could have turned in a PR had I been so motivated. I felt strong at the end so I’m feeling good about my swim for IMAZ—no reason for me not to go sub 70 minutes there.
5. My 221 watts in the bike ride is encouraging. For comparison in 2007 I did 228 watts at White Lake (bike split: 2:24:47) and 223 watts at Eagleman (bike split: 2:24:04). My calculated bike split for 56 miles in this race is 2:29:39, which is not surprising due to the wind and rough road surface and flooding that we faced today. In any event, I was able to reasonably comfortably hold a sub 5-hour IM bike pace through 66 miles today. I think it’s also significant that I averaged 217 watts for the first 35 miles but upped it to 225 watts over the final 31 miles—and still ran quite well. I believe it will be well within my capability to go sub 5:30 at IMAZ.
6. My first transition was solid but my second was outstanding and competitively important as well. Signore was faster than me on the S/B/R segments and my transitions were decisive in my ability to hold onto second. The 1:17 I picked up on him in T2 was crucial—especially when you consider he finished just 15 seconds behind me. Still, I wish I had worn socks because it’s going to be a few days before I’m able to run again.
7. My run was a revelation for me today. From an absolute perspective, I know its nothing special but it was a very good outcome for me—it was mathematically equivalent to a 1:47:19 H-IM run (radically better than the 1:59 I did at Oceanside and the 2:06 at Las Vegas). Indeed, I only averaged 8:02 in the Tim Kerr 7-mile run—three weeks ago. I think I learned that I’m a better runner than I thought and I need to go deeper in my key races.
8. Someday I won’t be able to do this, but Saturday was not that day!

Week totals

2011-09-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

Swim: 7962 yards
Bike: 250 miles
Run: 32 miles
Time: 21:22

With the great race of yesterday a very encouraging week!

Very Satisfying!

2011-09-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

Just arrived back home after completing the SkipJack LC (1.2/66/10) triathlon.

I had a very, very satisfying race. Probaby one of my top 3-5 triathlons of all time. It was very exciting and my best all-time finish in a triathlon. Most importantly, it confirmed that my training plan and execution are indeed working and that I'm right on plan in my bid for another Kona slot at IMAZ. After the prior couple of weeks and my race at the IM70.3WC on 9/11, I have to say my faith was a bit tested.

I am very sore tonight as I went very deep into the pain cave today. My feet are covered in blisters--I mean like 15 of them. But I am very happy about today's experience.

Race report to follow--and given how excited I am about this race--very soon!

Down in Cambridge tonight

2011-09-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Back in Eagleman land--I haven't been here since Eagleman 2008--which was the 4th year in row that I did that 70.3.

Tomorrow I'm doing a new triathlon called Skipjack. it's part of a 4 race triathlon "festival" tomorrow. The key event is the Chesapeakeman--a full IM distance race. There is an associated AquaVelo--which I did as part of a prep for IMFL in 2007. anders did it with me and finished 3rd OA and I was 6th (top Masters). There is a sprint race called Bugeye and then my race, which is similar to a Half-IM. The swim is 1.2 miles, the bike 64 miles, and the run is 10 miles. With the longer bike and shorter run it works in my favor.

There are only 108 people in the Skipjack race, with 11 in my AG. Looking at the AG competitors I should be right in there if I have a decent race. The swim is in the Choptank and when I felt the water it felt cool enough for wetsuits. The weather is terrible--it has been raining constantly and pretty forcibly. Tomorrow calls for more of the same. Humid and windy but temps in the 70s and low 80s so not so bad. Part of the bike course has about 3-5 inches of standing water on it so that might prove to be interesting....we'll see.

8:10 start so time for bed....

IM70.3WC Race Report

2011-09-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry to take so long and for the brevity of the RR. Given my approach to the race if felt appropriate.

2011 IM70.3 World Championship Race Report
September 11th, 2011

Location: Lake Las Vegas, Nevada
Distance: 1.2-mile swim/56-mile bike/13.1-mile run
2011 Triathlon Race Number: 12
Career Triathlon Race Number: 112
Conditions: Low 90s and sunny. Light wind. 81 degrees water temperature.

Background

My second appearance at this World Championship race—I did the first Clearwater race back in 2006. This was the first year the race would be held in its new venue in Nevada. I had a very challenging week leading up to the race and wasn’t able to fly out to Nevada until late Friday night. Also, my prior five weeks of Ironman build left me extremely fatigued coming into the race.

I arrived at my hotel a little after midnight (3 a.m. my time) and decided to unpack my bike and put it together. I gave up around 2 after I determined that my rear derailleur hanger had been damaged during the trip. I slept very fitfully as I was less than 30 hours away from the start of the race and it wasn’t clear my bike would be available.

I did a short practice swim and run on Saturday morning and noted that I felt sore and tired—not what you’d ideally like before a half-Ironman. Around 10, I found a mechanic who worked on my bike for the better part of two hours and was finally able to get my bike working well enough to give it a go.

I did a short warm-up ride and then drove the course—what a monster—more on that later. I checked my bike in and went to bed early.

The Swim

Race morning dawned clear and with the promise of heat later in the day. Last week it was routinely in the 100/110s but yesterday was a very pleasant overcast 80 degrees. Today it would be hotter—indeed reaching the low to mid 90s with a blazing sun.

The water was over 76 degrees, so no wetsuit. The swim venue was a long, curving loop in the main part of Lake Las Vegas. I was in the 3rd wave—just after the pros. As I sat in the water I decided to just swim real easy. I was just to fatigued to really hammer today, and I felt it more important to “preserve” myself for my more important task of building for my “A” race at IMAZ. Not to say that I would have been very competitive had I gone for it, as the race was stacked with many of the best LC triathletes in the world.

I stayed to the far left—away from the buoy line and just cruised around the course. It seemed like everyone was faster than I. It did not deter me as I swam very comfortably and exited the swim with a 44:41. My heart rate averaged 148 bpm, which is remarkably low given no wetsuit. This was my second slowest H-IM swim time—the other coming in a non-wetsuit swim back in 2004. In comparison, my Kona time, at twice the distance was 80 minutes.

Not surprisingly, this was not very competitive. I was 1332th out of 1503 competitors (11.4%-tile). Back at Clearwater in 2006 I was 53.4 %-tile and I was no-where near as strong a swimmer as I am now.

Transition One

The first transition entailed a very lengthy run around the bottom of the lake back over to the side of the lake we started on. I grabbed my bike and exited T1 with an elapsed time of 5:27 and an average HR of 147bpm. Although I don’t have the comparative data, I’m sure this was one of the slower T1s this morning.

The Bike

The race director said there was about 5600 feet of climbing on this course (and I believe him) and so I had brought my training/road bike and training wheels—no aero helmet either. I’m glad I did as the course was quite challenging with many nervous descents. I was very cautious and sat up a lot and used my brakes to keep my top speed to 40 mph—other folks were blazing past me on the descents at well over 50 mph.

The course was beautiful—this would be a great place to come train. It always seemed up or down and the most challenging part came from 42-46 miles—a demanding 4-mile climb. My PM conked out around 15 miles and at that point I was averaging 195 watts—which is pretty decent given my lack of pedaling on the descents. I was routinely in the mid to high 200s on the climbs.

Obviously not my cup of tea but I enjoyed the ride and finished with an elapsed time of 3:06:04 and an average HR of just 140bpm. This was my slowest H-IM bike split of my career. I was 1234th in the bike (18.0 %-tile).

Transition Two

I took my time in transition two—even hit the porta-potty and finished T2 with a 3:39 (131 bpm).

The Run

The run venue is a big let down after the majesty of the bike course. It basically is contested on about a 2.2-mile hill that you run up and down 3 times. It’s right in the middle of Henderson on some very busy streets with traffic blasting a few feet away. The course is L shaped with the middle being near T2 and the finish—there also is a short flat section there. Consequently, you are almost always either going up or down in the run—difficult to find proper pacing. The course had over 700 feet of vertical so it certainly wasn’t a fast run course (for me). The sun was out and it was very hot.

I felt pretty good all things considered and with the heat I just tried to run an easy run. I stopped at every aid station and drank a lot, put ice in my hat and poured water all over myself. Despite all of this, by the end of the run I was quite dehydrated. Still, I had no trouble jogging around the whole course. Here are my splits (the variable nature is in part due to the hills):

1. 7:53/150 bpm
2. 9:17/155
3. 10:00/153
4. 9:24/152
5. 8:37/149
6. 9:23/148
7. 9:59/149
8. 10:04/150
9. 9:20/145
10. 9:52/145
11. 11:03/148
12. 11:10/152
13. 9:51/152

My total run time was 2:06:21, which I was fine with. This was the 1249th fastest (17.0 %-tile). Overall, I finished 1274th (15.2 %-tile) (I was 22.9 %-tile in Clearwater and 14.3 %-tile at Kona).

Conclusion

I’m pleased with the outcome of the race. Obviously, I didn’t race it but more participated in it. This was the right call and now a couple of weeks latter my body feels up to the rigors of IM training again. It was a privilege to be in this race and I know even if I was 100% that I would have probably been in the bottom 30%. Clearly, at this race and at Kona, I’m punching well out of my weight class!

Trending Upward?

2011-09-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

So, as you know the last two weeks have been not so good from a triathlon perspective. I was very tired and had a lot of problematic soft-tissue issues. On the plus side, I still had the motivation but a huge amount of non-triathlon stressors combined with a big 5 week training block seemed to take me low.

So two weeks of recovery and repair--including being a tourist at the IM70.3WC--and this seems to have worked (I hope!).

anyways--this week I feel fantastic! I did a very strong 14 mile run on Monday. Yesterday I rode 100.7 miles @ 17.7mph--most of it in a driving rain storm. Had a great multi-sport session today. I'll take a couple of easy days and then race Skipjack on Saturday (1.2/64/10). I have a good feeling....

Knee feels great--started my latest cycle on Monday. Psoas much better and Plantar tendons hanging in!

Could be the beginning of a very good stretch!

week totals

2011-09-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

Lots of distractions! Recovering from Vegas. work. Two day road trip to Virginia to look at colleges with Alex--900 miles driving and no working out....

I have been trying to catch up on my sleep as well as i have been very fatigued.

Plantar f still a bother....next knee injection cycle starts tomorrow.

Net/net--another dismal training week (basically I had 5 great ones and 2 poor ones). Hopefully turning the corner soon!

Totals:

7000 yards swim
167 miles bike
21 miles run
16 hours training time

Heading home

2011-09-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

Recorded my slowest HIM at the 70.3 WC...6:06. Very slow swim...probably took it too easy. Cautious and conservative bike ride and a decent but slowish run. Very tough course...the hardest I've ever raced for sure. Probably could have gone 10-20 minutes faster if I had needed too but didn't see the point...5:46-5:56 is still BOP in this race. Feel pretty good today...had a spin this morning before heading to the airport. Probably will be able to jump right back into training hard by Wednesday or so. At airport now and hope to be home by midnight.

I had a great time...glad I did the race. My performance is not indicative of my fitness...I was fatigued and very conservative.....race report to follow in a couple of days.

Locked and loaded in Vegas!

2011-09-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

Quite an eventful past 18 hours!

Arrived at my hotel room at Lake Las Vegas just after midnight (3am my time). I unpacked and tried to assemble my bike. Problems with the rear der...I suspected a bent hanger....frustrating...went to bed at two and didn't sleep well.

Up at 5:45 and registered with the XC folks. Practice swim....15 minutes...felt fine. Short run...felt very tired. Breakfast with Lyndsey Corbin and Paul Ambrose. Pics with XC folks.

Off to the mechanic tent. Took over an hour...bent hanger fixed adequately to race tomorrow (I hope). Back to hotel (the two transition zones are 8 miles apart which is decidedly a pain). Rode bike for 30 minutes...very hilly. Incidentally it was pretty mild this morning....got up to 97 in the afternoon.

Prepared transition bags and checked in. Drove the bike course and run course. Bike course is a monster! Beautiful but challenging! Glad I have my road bike. Run course is very poorly designed in my view.....

Back in room with pasta in my tummy. Very tired and to bed very soon.

I'm bib #108. Hoping to be safe and have fun. Looking for a high quality brick. Not really concerned with outcome....focus on putting in a good effort...

IM70.3WC course

2011-09-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to the map course with topo data:

http://www.bikemap.net/route/998352#lat=36.13233&lng=-114.87373&zoom=11&type=2

Looks harder than I had previously guessed. 3608 of climbing is a lot for a 70.3 course. I'll be hard pressed to break 3 hours given that. Heck I may have trouble breaking six hours overall!

The run course has 690 feet of vertical--which again is quite a bit for a half-marathon.

Temperatures have moderated a bit with a high temp now forecasted to be just in the mid 90s....

YIKES!!!!!!

Ironman 70.3WC

2011-09-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

I'm heading tomorrow night off to Henderson, NV for the Ironman70.3 World Championship. I get in around midnight so i won't have much spare time before the race starts at 6:35 am on sunday morning.

I'm treating this race as a high quality brick. It's a fresh-water, non-wetsuit swim so it'll be slow for me. The bike course has 2000+ ft of climbing (I think), with a net elevation gain of 500 feet or so (point to point course) and can be windy. I'm bringing my road bike and training wheels and will mostly be interested in my power output. The run is all up and down with I believe 6 significant hills. The forecast is for the 90s....but it'll be a dry heat as they say.

So should be a slow day. If I had to guess I'd say 37-40 minutes on the swim, 6-8 minutes of transition time (T1 and T2), 2:50 or so on the bike and probably 2 hours on the run...probably a 5:30-5:45 kind of a day--my 4:43 PR certainly won't be threatened!

I've been giving my body a bit of a break this week to try to calm down some of my niggling soft tissue issues and I frankly needed it after a pretty robust 6-week training block. I'm looking forward to going hard on Sunday and then settling back in to the routine....

I'll update you from Nevada!

Just hanging on here

2011-09-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

So a number of items to report.

My body is struggling a bit. A mild case of plantar fascitis--I think I have it under control. My Psoas muscles--especially my right-- are giving me real problems--hard to generate any speed on the run (I discovered this in my race today). Most of my right foot is black and green from an Irene bruise--painful to walk. MY knee is starting to complain again--my next cycle of injections will start in a few weeks--thank god. Sucks to get old!

I did power down this week a bit--really took three days very easy. I also skipped racing a tri on Saturday--mostly due to family issues. Still, suprisingly to me, I was able to get all three of my key workouts in:

swim:4000 yards in 62:10
bike: 100.3 miles in 5:35
and today: run 13.3 miles in 2:04

The latter was bundled around the Tim Kerr 7 mile run which I ran faster than I ever have before--though still, objectively and distressingly slow....here were my splits in the race:

1: 7:16/153 bpm
2: 7:25/168
3: 7:57/168
4: 8:10/167
5: 8:04/170
6: 8:24/172
7: 8;17/175
7.1; 0:44/178

So a number of obvious conclusions;

-poor tactical management given my fitness--this was in part by design--I ran 3 miles before the race and decided to hammer for a while just to see where I was at

-I did manage to average 7:56/mile according to my GPS--the course was 520 feet long. I was 7 seconds faster than last year and so I won't be that hard on myself.

-still, my run sucks. 4 years ago I had no problem averaging 6:50/mile for 10 miles...gonna be an issue in these long course races in my immediate future

Still, I've managed to get 13 of my targeted 15 IM workouts in so far: 5 bike/4swim/4 run.\

The totals for the week were:

swim: 8000 yards
bike: 228 miles
run: 32 miles
time: 20:16

IM70.3 WC next week--need to respect it!

The week that wasn't

2011-09-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

So decided it was best to back off a bit this week. i did stick a 102 mile ride on Monday but my body was protesting on multiple fronts. The most worying and novel was a definite case of incipient Plantar Fascitis....I've been aggressively treating it since Tuesday and also allowing my body to generally recover from and absorb all of my training over the month of August.

On another front, i was finally able to get major progress completed on the revisioning of my race bike. I've completed the replacement of my drive train (upgrade to Campy Super 11), my power meter (SRM wireless with a Garmin Edge 800), new FSA/SRAM cranks/chain rings, and I've converted over to clinchers on my racing rig (Zipp Firecrest 800/Disc). I've taking it out for a couple of test rides, but I still have work to do to get it dialed in.

Lots of folks visiting us at the beach given the prior weekend wipeout due to Irene.

So, I've decided to not race my C race at Marlton tomorrow...I feel a bit cheated by this as I was ready to take down a few folks in my AG but racing there and being gone for 10 hours tomorrow just doesn't work.

I have the Ironman World championship 70.3 to head off to next weekend and I need to make sure my body can handle a half-Ironman...even if it's just a prep for my real deal in Arizona in November....

I think this is the mature and seasoned vet decision to take but I sure don't feel that good about it....

August--mission accomplished!

2011-08-31T06:58:00.000-07:00

Up in NYC yesterday and today. Last night was my daughters 21st birthday and we celebrated by taking her and her friends to The Monkey Bar in Manhattan. AT the end of the dinner they brought her out a big slice of cake and everyone in the restaurant sang happy birthday. Turns out Jimmy Fallon (host of Late Night and ex-Saturday Night Live guy) was there and he came over and sat with us to wish Kara well. Here is a pic:

Anyways, august is in the books--the first of my three month IM build. Here are the stats for the month:

Swim: 35,000 yds
Bike: 1212 miles
Run: 147 miles
Time: 101 hours

I also had 5 long bike rides and 3 long runs and swims.

So mission accomplished. Probably over-emphasizing the bike and may rebalance a bit in September. I certainly would like to run more but life (kid moves, hurricanes, job, etc) and my body are definitely limiting the amount of run work I can achieve right now.

I'm a bit concerned about my body's ability to hold up to this volume. I have little twinges in my left knee, my hip abductors, and my right plantar facia....all have to be closely monitored as well as making sure i don't overtrain. So, my plan is to stay on the plan but I wouldn't be surprised if I found it necessary to back off a bit in September. Also, with two long course races this month, I'll have to make some concessions so that my body holds together....

Always, on track so far!

Me and Irene

2011-08-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

Well the good news is we survived and our houses are for the most part intact!

Quite the experience for sure. I've basically spent the better part of the last four days lifting, dragging and moving things--probably have a couple more days to get things back to normal.

I'm at the shore on a beautiful Monday morning. yesterday afternoon, Alex and I took a break from the chores and went out and enjoyed a fantastic two hours of body-boarding in the Irene generated surf. A strong west wind (30 mph) and big swell sets led to a truly epic session. This morning, with all the moving work and getting thrown around in the big surf for a couple of hours leaves me feeling a little worked over.

Obviously, the hurricane impacted my training this past week although I ended up doing a pretty good job. Here are the totals:

swim: 7500 yards
bike: 246 miles
Run: 30 miles
Time: 20:57

I was also able to get in all three of my key workouts:

swim: 4000 yards in 62:30
bike: 101.9 miles in 5:41 (very windy so slow but veraged 176 watts again)
run: 13.5 miles in 2:00

for the first 4 weeks of my build, I've been able to get 4 long rides, 3 long swims and 3 long runs in--so I'm pleased with that.

Looking ahead, I'm feeling like I might have to back off a bit this week and maybe have a real easy week...we'll see how I feel once I get out there today....

Tuckahoe Race Report

2011-08-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

Tuckahoe Sprint Triathlon Race Report
August 14th, 2011

Background

Location: Beesley’s Point, New Jersey
Distance: 0.25-mile swim, 12-mile bike, 2.1-mile run
2011 Race Number: 11
Career Triathlon Race Number: 111
Conditions: Cloudy, breezy, with sporadic rain, temperature in mid 70s. Water temperature of 78 degrees.

Tuckahoe is a fun little sprint I’ve competed in the last two years. It features a shorter than normal run (which I like). I’ve finished second in my AG in both of the prior years. Overall, I had finished 9th last year and in 12th in 2010. There were 11 starters in my AG and 222 overall—down from 256 in 2010.

The RD is very likeable although I always find his races a bit quirky. This year was no exception as he decided to move the transition area, after five successful years in the previous location, which necessitated a different swim course, a much longer run from the swim exit to T1 and a different run course. Further, some construction on the bike route led to a bike course change so the entire course was different this year. He also has relatively few volunteers and in the past the bike course hasn’t always been clear—especially at the prior year turnarounds (there were no markings at all and no one to tell you where to turn).

I was amongst the first to arrive early on Sunday morning and registration was a mess. I’ll spare you the details. It took quite a while to get set up but I finally did so and was also able to get a decent warm-up in. I spotted Mercer Craft, whom I had raced against and beat at Jersey Genesis and surmised that he would most likely be my main competition in our AG. Prior to the swim the RD messed up the swim waves and announced the bike course change (first anyone had heard about it). The referee announced that it was our responsibility to know the course (which I chuckled about). At the last minute they discovered they had put the exit of the swim in the wrong place so there was a bit of a delay while they sorted that out. It started to rain some—business as usual at a City Tri event!

The Swim

The sent the 40+ women out first and then the second wave was men 45+…much to everyone’s confusion—I wasn’t complaining although this would be a major factor in the outcome of the race. The course was visually (and physically) longer than the prior to years—good news for me. It was in the form of a counterclockwise box with the exit about 50 yards from the swim start.

I lined up to the right very determined to go as hard as I could—I wanted to see if maybe I could post the fastest overall swim—I felt very confident in my swim given my strong recent results. I started way to the right, away from the buoy, so I could watch the proceedings (breathing on my left). I went hard at the gun and in very short order I had pulled ahead of everyone with the exception of one swimmer to my left (turned out to be Guy Lanciano—a 46 YO). We paced each other as our paths converged and after about 75 yards I could see that he was slowing. I felt good and cranked it up another level and begin to pull steadily away from him.

I felt very strong throughout the swim and was able to navigate my way through the slower swimmers from wave 1 with relative efficiency. I could tell I was on a good swim and soon approached the swim exit. I exited the swim in 6:35 and my HR monitor did not function during this race, so no HR data to report. In the prior to years, my swim had been 6:12 and 5:23, but the 6:35 today was definitely a stronger and faster paced swim—just a longer course. In 2009, I was 21st OA (94.0%-tile) and last year I was 17th OA (93.8 %-tile). This year, I was 9th OA (96.4 %-tile). Everyone that was faster than me was in the last wave (young guys) and I was able to put a significant gap on my AG competitors (keep in mind that the “official” swim times were recorded at the entrance to T1—after I ran for 2:07—so given my relative running speed, my actual swim gap was probably considerably better than those depicted below). Here is where we stood in the AG after the swim:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Craft + 0:31
3. Gibbons + 1:27
4. Green + 1:40
5. Gimpel + 1:51

Transition One

The new T1 setup was appalling. One had to run over rough terrain with exposed roots and rocks and then alongside the road for a while and finally across a path. It took me all of 2:07 just to get to T1. Once in T1, I took another 49 seconds so my total T1 time was 2:56. This was a minute slower than prior years.

As I was finishing my preparations at my bike, I saw Craft so figured I probably had about a 30 second lead on him. I was only 4 seconds faster than him (on a longer swim course) at Genesis, so I knew that my swim is morning was relatively quite strong. Still, Mercer was able to make up time on my in T1 and here is where we stood after T1:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Craft + 0:17
3. Gibbons + 1:12
4. Green + 2:15
5. Gimpel + 2:25

The Bike

I powered out of T1 feeling pretty good about things. There were a few souls from the over 40 women’s AG but within a mile I passed them all and low and behold, I was first on the road. I kept looking up the road through the rain and couldn’t see anyone and I fairly quickly figured out that everyone was behind me.

I found this to be quite exciting. Normally, I’m in one of the latter swim waves, so I’m never first on the road. I looked down at my SRM and I saw some pretty good numbers flashing back at me. I was psyched! I came to the first major intersection and the cop just looked me. I guessed correctly and made the right turn. Hmmmm—wish I knew the new bike course.

About 4 miles in another cyclist (47 YO) came by me on a P3. I had left T1 about 16 seconds in front of him. This surprised me. I turned and looked and couldn’t really see anyone else behind me. Initially I was a little bummed, but soon convinced myself that this was actually a positive. I could follow him on this new bike course and use him to pace my effort. I settled in about 30 yards behind him (I know this is well beyond the draft zone, but I don’t like to get any drafting help, and after 110 draft free races, I never want to even be close to getting a drafting violation).

Soon, we saw the duathlon leaders coming back so I took some comfort in that. Then, we turned off the main road into a neighborhood and soon we approached an intersection. There was a cop car but the cop was in the car—apparently into donuts and coffee. There were no markings on the road. We were moving at over 25 mph. Decision time—what to do? I thought the correct course was left—I thought it had to be given the prior right turn we had made. However, the lead cyclist went straight and I had about 2 seconds to decide to follow or not. In my brain, I thought that the sporting thing to do was to follow him so I did.

As we sped up what sure looked like a cul-de-sac I had a real sinking feeling. We bent around to the left a bit and then sure enough it looked like a dead-end. The lead cyclist kept riding forward and I yelled at him several times to turn. For some reason, I kept following him. Finally at the end of the circle he turned and I dutifully followed him—we both swore as we passed each other.

With a bit of panic we cranked back. I glanced at my SRM—it turned out that we rode an extra 0.55 miles. We came back to the missed turn and I could see the first of our chasers just past the intersection—it was Lanciano. He turned around and as I passed him I yelled that he should turn around—he definitely rode some extra distance.

As we hit the intersection I could see Craft turning around to follow us. I knew that the lead guy should now go right but he went straight back the way we came. Decision time again! Damn—I wish the RD would just take care of business—this is ridiculous to spend $90 on this product! I thought what the hell and just followed him. I glanced behind and everyone was now following our lead (as they should).

Running the math, at my average pace of about 24 mph, the extra 0.55 miles cost me 82 seconds. I was probably more, given the need to decelerate and reaccelerate at the turn. I was pumping adrenaline as I was quite pissed by the episode. I cranked up and passed the lead cyclist and really put the heat down—I was seeing 300+ watts on my SRM.

I soon tired from this unwise surge, and the other fellow soon came by me again (we both cursed the RD again) and I settled back in 30 yards behind him. I was a bit deflated and I knew with Craft’s running capability that I was likely to be run down—I’m just not good enough to through away that much time to a talented triathlete like Craft.

I soldiered on and completed an elapsed 12.32 miles in 30:18—an average pace of 24.3 mph. My average watts were 261—which is quite solid and my SRM had my average HR at 161—I still had more to give!

The extra distance I rode was of-course a real issue competitively. Last year, I was 2nd OA (99.6 %-tile) on the bike and this year I slipped to 12th (95.0 %-tile). Darn, I wasted a really solid bike through poor logistical race management.

Worse, my extra 82 seconds turned a solid advantage against Craft into a very competitive situation since I was only 11 seconds faster today on the bike (vs. 56 seconds at Genesis). Here is where we stood AG-wise after the bike:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Craft + 0:28
3. Gibbons + 4:35
4. Green + 5:35
5. Kent + 8:09

Transition Two

My second transition was respectable—I even picked up three seconds on Craft. I completed T2 in 0:52. I saw Mercer in transition and I felt that I was toast—this was an inappropriate reaction but it was hard not to be down given my course miscues.

The Run

At Jersey Genesis, I was 61 seconds over 4 miles slower than Mercer on the run. I left T2 with 2.1 miles in front of me and a 31 second lead. By all objective measures, despite my course adventures, I should have expected to be very competitive with this lead.

Unfortunately, I was not in that mindset. I’m not sure why, especially given the upward ark of my run most recently, but I had a poor run today. It took me 16:40 to run the 2.1 miles—a 7:57 pace—which is way underperforming given my fitness and recent performances.

Not surprisingly, Mercer had no trouble running me down and easily beating me. He put almost two minutes on me today on the run and ended up beating me by 72 seconds. It would be easy to blame my course misadventures as the cause of this defeat—and surely that is true at one level, but equally true is Mercer’s much stronger run relative to mine—he went out and beat me on the run—good on him.
Obviously some of this is due to Craft’s great run—he was 23rd overall for the run. I was a very poor 64th (71.6 %-tile) vs. the 82.1 %-tile (2009) and 83.2 %-tile (2010) I had previously achieved.

I finished 20th OA (91.4%-tile) vs. 96.9 %-tile last year. Here is how we ended up AG wise:

1. Craft --------
2. Christofferson + 1:12
3. Gibbons + 4:22
4. Green + 6:56
5. Kent + 9:29

Good race—need to stay on course! Need to run faster! No major insights. Had fun. Good win for Mercer.

Onward and upward!

Last Week

2011-08-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

A little behind here--still need to write my last race report.....

Last week was a solid week. I did spend Sunday helping Anders move up to Harvard so I missed the LAF ride on Sunday but still a good IM prep week. I also battled a bit of an ear issue so the swim was a little light this last week:

swim: 6000 yds
bike: 297 miles
run: 42 miles
time: 25 hours

I missed my long swim this week but had a 14 mile/2:12 run and a 112 mile/5:58 ride so still on plan.....

Where we are on the bike--long ride wise

2011-08-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

Third week of my IM build and third long ride today. This is what the three rides have been:

1. 95.2 miles over 5:26 for an average speed of 17.5 mph
2. 106.2 miles over 5:47 for an average speed of 18.4 mph
3. 112.2 miles over 5:58 for an average speed of 18.8 mph//176 average watts

So nice steady progression--I went through 112 miles in 5:56:45.

To put this in perspective, here is the history of my build up to IMFL 2007--where I did a 5:06 split (211 watts):

1. 101.2 miles over 5:28--18.5 mph/180 watts
2. 107.5 m/5:28/19.7 mph/190 watts
3. 94.0m/5:00/18.8 mph/188 watts
4. 112.2m/5:58/18.8 mph/196 watts
5. 93.0 m/6Z:00/15.5 mph
6. 93.7m/6:07/15.3 mph
7. 133.1m/7:00/19.0/19mph
8. 78.2m/5:03/15.5 mph
9. 112.4/5:13/21.5mph (Chessapeake Man Aqua-Velo)
10. 91.0/5:05/17.9 mph/181 watts

Observations:

1. Very nice progress so far on my long rides--I'm starting to get up into the neighborhood where I want to be.
2. Way more power in 2007--I was in much better shape entering my IM build in 2007--but perhaps a bit burned out. In theory, I should see more progress through this build then I did in 2007 where I thought I was pretty level/stagnant.
3. In 2007, when Peter Reid was my coach, I was in by-far the best triathlon shape of my life. Looking at these 10 rides there are a few that are pretty much signature rides:
--112.5 mph@ 21.5 mpg at the ChessieMan AV--obviously a race situation without a run but that's a solid ride
--133.1 miles @ 19.0 mph and 190 watts--this was the biggest ride of my IM2007 build and I'd sure like to replicate it (or beat it) during this build.
--107.5m @ 19.7 mph and 190 watts--damn--that's pretty good!
4. I clearly have more work to do to get back to my 2007 level of fitness--but I don't think it's impossible--nor is it, at the end of the day essential.
5. Slow rides in 2007 were in DE/PA with tons of hills
6. I seem to be going faster on fewer watts in 2011 as compared to 2007--look at my ride today compared to ride 4 in 2007. It would be nice to think I'm more aero/efficient, but it was probably a weather (wind) issue. Today was windy, but not super bad....

My distances travelled per hour today were:

Hour 1: 19.3 miles
2: 18.3
3: 18.4
4: 19.3
5: 19.1
6:17.8 over 58 minutes (18.4 mph)

I worked hard today--I don't know if I can get back to 2007--but I'm really getting a lot fitter now--IM bike wise--just need to stay healthy and motivated--I'm sore but happy tonight!

The importance of race tactics and planning

2011-08-15T04:55:00.001-07:00

I raced at Tuckahoe yesterday and received an important lesson.

Firstly though, as you recall I had originally planned to race out in Michigan at the Steelhead70.3. After further discussions with Judy we concluded that given all the work and family things going on I should not take the 3 days away to do so. As it turned out, had I gone to Michigan I would have done just a bike/run as the swim was cancelled due to weather--so that was a fortunate call.

For some reason i thought the Tuckahoe race was Saturday but at about 10pm on Friday, Judy and Anders told me that in fact it was on Sunday--man I'm off my game! AS a result, my workout plan was disrupted a bit and I missed some volume this week as well as my long run. I also did a bigger day on Saturday--the day before the race--then I typically do--to avoid the week being a washout training wise.

Anyways, I had a pretty good race at Tuckahoe except that I found my self in 2nd on the road during the bike leg and followed the leader off-course and ended up adding 0.55 miles to my ride. This did not help my race competitiveness and I believe cost me the AG win--I settled for second. Oh well-one of the key tactical execution requirements of a triathlon is to stay on course! This is the first time this has happened to me in 111 triathlons.

My stats for the week were of course less than hoped for with my poor planning on the race date:

Swim: 9000 yards
Bike: 252 miles
Run: 21 miles
Time: 19:42

I only was able to do 2 of my key long workouts:

Swim: 62 minutes (4000 yards)
Bike: 5:47 (106 miles)

No races for three weeks now, so I'm looking forward to some high volume and quality workouts!

100 days

2011-08-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

Into the final 100 days before IMAZ. Working through my second build week--a little lower volume this week (as compared to last). Racing tomorrow at Tuckahoe--should be fun!

Walker Sprint Race Report

2011-08-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

Walker Sprint Triathlon Race Report
July 30th, 2011

Background

Location: Walker, Minnesota
Distance: 0.25-mile swim/17-mile bike/2.8-mile run
2011 Triathlon Race Number: 10
Career Triathlon Race Number: 110
Conditions: Low 70s, stormy, torrential rains, 30-40 mph winds. Water temperature around 73 degrees.

I returned to Minnesota, not far from where I was born to among “other things” compete in the 2nd edition of this sprint triathlon. The other things included my father’s memorial service, which we held later this day at 2 p.m. in the nearby town of Hackensack. As you may know, I’ve dedicated this season to the memory of my father who passed away last December. It was a year ago, when I did the inaugural Walker triathlon, that my father came out and watched me race a triathlon for the last time. It seemed fitting that I do this race in his honor and memory and I guess I’ll always associated this race with the passing and memory of my father.

Given I was racing for my father, I certainly wanted to do well and defend my AG title from last year. There were 294 individual triathletes entered this Saturday morning with 13 from my AG—the latter the same as last year. I was racing with my buddy Bill Price who had flown in for my father’s service. You might recall that Bill and I did Oceanside together earlier this year—it was his first Half-Ironman. I had about a dozen relatives come out to see what this triathlon craziness was all about.

Physically, I was coming off a relatively easy week—one I needed to recover from a very hard week the week prior and also, there was much to attend to with my father’s service and travelling to Minnesota. My legs were “dead” all week but I was hopeful they would be sufficiently recovered by this morning to give it a solid go. Bill and I rode down from our hotel (about a mile from the start) and did our pre-race stuff and were ready to go in plenty of time. Bill was “unofficial” as he was racing with Judy’s number (who decided not to race) and would disqualify himself at the end of the race.

The Swim

I was in third wave. The first was comprised of law enforcement and military folks—the official name of the triathlon is “Chase the Police”. Two minutes later, the under 40 men went and two minutes after them came the men 40 and over.

As I awaited the start standing on the beach of the pristine waters of Leech Lake, I noted that the wind was picking up quite a bit, some waves were forming and the sky was getting ominously gray—hmmm, perhaps I should of paid more attention to the weather forecast!

The course looked long (it was) and entailed an on the beach start and a counter-clockwise triangle. We were constrained between two relatively close together docks so it was quite tight on the beach. Bill and I felt that the right side of the start area was favored as the first leg of the course vectored to our right—the base of the triangle (2nd leg) was much wider than the starting area—so it seemed marginally shorter to start far right. This suited me fine given my predominantly left-side breathing pattern.

Since Bill is such an outstanding swimmer (he was the fastest swimmer in the 55-59 AG at Oceanside), I lined up right behind him and next to the right side dock. My plan was to try to draft off of him as long as I could and then try to pick my way through the slower swimmers in front of me. At the gun Bill charged into the water with me directly behind him. We both did a couple of dolphin dives and the swim was on. Not surprisingly we were almost immediately clear of the field. I found it easy to sit on Bill’s feet and had a clear view of the rest of my wave—an ideal tactical situation.

About 75 yards in I could tell Bill was swimming too far right—he was aiming for some no wake buoys as opposed to the turn buoy. I reluctantly let go of his feet as I figured I would ultimately have to do so and I wanted to minimize the distance that I swam. As I headed back towards the main field I could see one other swimmer who was close—I assumed this was Downare, who won last year and I had swam side-by-side with. To my right and ahead I could see Bill moving ahead—although not that quickly.

As I neared the first turn buoy I began swimming through the congestion of the slower swimmers in the first two waves—there was lots of breaststroke, backstroke and floating going on. I made the turn and it was a real mess in front of me. I lost track of Bill but was monitoring the other fellow from my wave. I was content to stay just ahead of him, as this would get me the official fastest swim in my wave.

I did a nice job of weaving through the traffic—I stayed mostly to the right. I felt very comfortable and strong. I could tell I was swimming below my potential but didn’t see any need to pick it up, as I was able to stay just in front of the swimmer to my left. Down the final stretch I put a surge on to make sure I had the fastest time in the wave and I was easily able to move smartly ahead of him.

I hit the beach with an elapsed time of 6:46 and an average HR of just 149 bpm. This was two seconds slower than last year, although last year my effort was greater as my HR was 155. Even though I was slower this year, the course was almost certainly quite a bit longer. In 2010 I was 14th/219 or 94.1%-tile. This year I was 5th/294 or 98.6%-tile! This is the highest OA %-tile I have ever had in a swim. Here is a comparison to the top 5 guys (OA) who did the race both years and how their 2010 and 2011 races compare:

2010 2011 %Change

Downare 6:53 7:26 + 9.4%
May 7:51 8:21 + 6.4%
Domogalla 8:19 8:52 + 5.7%
Dobrzywski 7:13 8:51 +22.6%
Manske 6:22 7:03 +10.7%

My 0.5% “slowdown” obviously compares vary favorably to the above. Indeed last year I came out of the water 3 seconds behind Downare and this year I was 28 seconds faster—and he would repeat his victory this year overall. If I had swum 5 seconds faster I would have had the 2nd OA swim time. Frankly, I took it pretty easy on this swim and I feel like I probably could have gone 20-30 seconds faster.

AG wise I had a dominant swim—here is where we stood after the swim:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Massey + 0:50
3. Baudler + 1:47
4. Janda + 2:13
5. Heine + 2:32

Of the 12 other guys in my AG, only Janda represented any real threat and with a 2:13 advantage after the swim, barring an unforeseen incident on the bike, I won this AG race on the swim.

Transition One

As I ran up the beach towards the transition area and ripped my goggles off I immediately noticed that the weather had changed significantly during my 7-minute swim. The sky was very dark, the wind was howling and the rain was coming down hard. Just in the 15 seconds or so it took to run to my bike the rain and wind seemed to pick up in intensity—oh boy!

I had what I thought was a decent, but not great transition. I ended up completing it in 1:48 with an average HR of 156. Last year, it took me 1:45 (169 bpm) but I had a better rack position so pretty comparable. My body was clearly under far less stress on this morning.

As it turns out however, my T1 was substantially better than everyone else in my AG—Janda was second best but he still lost 27 seconds to me. Here is where we stood after T1:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Janda + 2:40
3. Massey + 2:43
4. Baudler + 3:43
5. Otto + 5:20

The Bike

The first two miles of the course snakes through the small town of Walker and it’s immediate outskirts. We then head out of town on Highway 34, which is always up or down, but mostly up until about 9 miles into the bike whereupon we head back to town on a rails-to-trails path that is a long false flat with probably a fairly consistent downgrade of 1%. Then we retrace part of the first section. The course was slightly changed from last year—I didn’t record the distance in my race report last year so I can’t tell how much for sure the changes impacted the course distance. This year it came in at 16.98 miles and if I had to guess, I’d say last year was maybe 0.1-0.15 miles longer. This course had quite a few less turns and should have been faster than last year—all things being equal.

But all things were anything but equal. In just the first couple hundred yards I was hit by a sharp and startling side wind gust that made my 1080 front wheel choice look like a real liability. The wind was from the side and slightly from behind in this first section. It was strong enough that I sat up and put my hands on the “hoods” to maintain control. The rain was now almost biblical and I could barely see out of my Oakleys—where did this storm come from? —I was completely surprised.

About a mile in Downare came by me, which told me I had a great swim as I left T1 behind him last year—he is a fantastic biker and I quickly lost track of him. I hit the turn out onto Highway 34 and I could see my friend Bill up in front of me. He had left T1 about 35 seconds in front of me. As we climbed the very long first hill, the wind was now very strong (40 mph?) and in our face and from the left. It was also very gusty and unpredictable. A couple of times I almost went down—and this was on the climb. It was miserable! The rain was relentless and it was hard to even go 15 mph up the hill into the wind.

I caught Bill around 3 miles in and I commented to him on how hard it was to control my bike with my front wheel and disc. I couldn’t hear his response. Things went front bad to worse on the first descent. I was terrified. The wind was moving me 2-3 feet sideways at a time. I made the mistake of sitting up and braking and my bike immediately launched into a death wobble. I quickly lifted up off the seat and clamped my top tube with my legs to dampen the vibrations. This worked and I realized my mistake—I had to stay in the aero-bars or the unweighting of the front wheel would surely lead to a crash. I got back down in the aero position but had to keep one hand on the brake—which I had constantly engaged (rear wheel)—which seemed to have marginal effect in the rain with the carbon braking surface. I was trying to keep my speed under 20 mph on the descent—anything faster seemed uncontrollable. Several times the wind hit the tail of my aero helmet and literally yanked my head around—what a nightmare!

I’d pass guys on the climb, only to have them re-pass me on the descents as I fought for control. I was determined to be extremely cautious—I had a eulogy to deliver that afternoon and a crash was not a viable option.

At long last I hit the turn off of Highway 34 and onto the path. I glanced back and Bill was probably 15 seconds behind me—I had made up 35 seconds in the first 3 miles but only 15 in the terror-filled next 6. As I dropped down onto the path the thick tree stands around the path significantly dampened the wind. Also, the wind now was from behind and my bike felt quite stable again—the crisis had for the most part passed! I knew I had loss some significant time due to my equipment choice and I was now determined to gain some back over the next 5-6 miles—I lit the “after-burners” up even though it was still hard to see in the rain. I kept it in the 26-30 mph range over this next section. My legs felt great (as they should as I was so cautious over the first nine miles) and I was consistently in the 280-320 watt range as well. I re-passed all the people who had put time into me with my struggles and quite a few others.

I had a couple more minor side-wind scares in town but soon found my way safely back to T2—Whew! My bike split was 47:58 and my HR averaged just 154 bpm. Last year, I completed the bike in 45:37 with a HR of 161. My average power dropped from 246 watts last year to 231 watts this year. My cadence went from 81 to 71 rpm—none of this is surprising given the conditions and my equipment challenges. I know some of this slow down was due to the wind—and thus affected everyone, but I knew I had some problems that others didn’t. To get a rough sense of this, I again looked at the 2010 and 2011 splits of the top five guys who did both to see how their rides changed. On average these guys were 36 seconds slower (worse conditions but shorter, less “turny” course). Based on this, I’d say I probably loss somewhere between 1:45-2:00 due to my inability to control my bike with the wheels I had. Oh well—at least I was safe. (As an aside, I would say this was one of the 5 scariest triathlon bike rides I’ve had in my career—the others being: Annapolis 2011, Kona 2010, IM Austria 2008, and IM Wisconsin 2005).

Interestingly enough, last year I was 12th/219 or 95.0%-tile OA. This year I was 14th/294 or 95.6%-tile. It would seem the best riders were not bothered by the conditions as much as the majority of the field. I also was once again able to claim the top bike split in my AG and surprisingly put huge time chunks into everyone except Janda, who was just 51 seconds slower. Here is where we stood after the bike:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Janda + 3:31
3. Otto +11:50
4. Swee +13:02
5. Peterson +16:47

Transition Two

I came flying into T2 on a mission. I executed what I thought was a great T2 and completed my tasks in 0:48 and an average HR of 150 bpm. Last year I was 5 seconds slower. More relevantly, I had the fastest T2 in my AG. Here is where we stood after T2:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Janda + 4:01
3. Otto +11:50
4. Swee +13:11
5. Peterson +17:12

The Run

With the strong last 8 miles of the bike I felt pretty confident that I had the AG locked up (although I had no idea who I was racing against). Last year I left T2 with a 7+ minute lead. I figured with the bigger field and the second year that the competition was a bit tougher this year—say 2 minutes or so. Plus I felt like I lost 2 minutes or so on the bike so I figured I was 3-5 minutes up leaving T2.

With rain and relative coolness, I felt pretty good all the way through the run—my legs actually didn’t have that “dead” feeling of the last week. Only a few runners passed me. I saw a bunch of my family at the hotel and was surprised to see that the RD had lengthened the run course—adding a 0.2-mile out and back on the new bike course. Last year the official distance was 2.4 miles and this year it was 2.8.

After the turnaround I looked carefully at the guys coming up behind me and didn’t see anyone I thought looked 50+. I missed Janda but even if I had seen him I would have know that the win was mine.

I cruised at about an “8-9” effort all the way to finish and completed my run in 21:43 with and average HR of 160bpm—well below my threshold. This works out to 7:45/mile, which given the hills and my run fitness is not a horrible result. Last year I ran the 2.4 miles in 19:33 (165 bpm), which was an 8:08/mile average.

Comparatively, this year I was 61st/294 on the run, or 79.6%-tile. Last year I was 43rd/219 or 80.8%-tile so pretty similar. It was a lot cooler this year so that’s probably why I ran at a faster pace. I was 4th best in my AG and ended up with a comfortable winning time of 79:02 (which was good enough for 21st OA-93.1%-tile vs. 95.0%-tile last year):

1. Christofferson --------
2. Janda + 2:06
3. Otto +11:45
4. Peterson +15:58
5. Swee +16:12

Conclusion

A good race and a great way to honor my father—the service later was very special.

I had the best swim I’ve ever had at a triathlon and avoided some real challenges on the bike. I picked up my 4th win of the season and 33rd OA (which raises my career win % to 30%--33 out of 110). I’m ready for the critical part of 2011 now—building for IMAZ!

Today's ride

2011-08-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

Cranked out 106.2 mile ride today in 5:47--this works out to 18.4 MPH. A nice step up from the 95 miles @ 17.5MPH of last week. This is equivalent to a 6:05 IM bike split. Not bad considering traffic, stops (got lost twice and stopped for new fluids 4 times), road bike and non-aero wheels/helmets, warm-up, 95 degrees and lots of wind! I'm pretty sure I could do a 5:35-5:45 right now at IMAZ no problem.

I felt great--really strong--lots of 190-220 watt tempo work. I was in my aero position for over 4 hours. Plus, I just completed a 7 day stretch with 386 miles on the bike.

Can you hear me now?

LOL--I love to say that!

1st IM build week in the books!

2011-08-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

As you know, this week was the first week of my last Meso-training cycle for 2011. This is a 16 week build block leading to IMAZ. More specifically, I'll do 13-14 weeks of "building" and 2-3 weeks of tapering. I'm doing a bit of research right now and trying to determine how long my taper should be but I'm confident it will be in the 14-21 day range.

My build training plan is pretty simple and is built on a foundation of three key workouts each week: a continuous swim of at least 1 hour, a bike ride of at least 5 hours, and a run of at least 2 hours. There are other training objectives for each week of course but I feel if I can hit these three w/os each week I'll be pretty solid come IMAZ. Of course, I'll be flexible if my life/work schedule interfers or if I feel training overload at some point. I'll also be gradually increasing the intensity and duration of these three key workouts as the build rolls along. In terms of total training volume, I'm aiming for training time in the 20-30 hours/week range with a thought that I'll generally follow a bigger week with a lesser week, and visa-versa.

In any event, my three key workouts for this first week were:

Swim: 65 minutes--2.4 miles
Bike: 5:26--95.2 miles
Run: 2:06--13 miles

My aggregate volume for the week was:

Swim: 10,560 yards
Bike: 280 miles
Run: 41.4 miles
Time: 25:00

So all in all a pretty solid first week--especially considering that Monday was a travel day and I only had a 30 minute run on that day. I feel pretty good and it seemed like a reasonable workload for my body. I'm definitely getting fitter now.

Looking ahead, I'll probably do a bit less next week as I need to be up in NYC and I'm planning on racing again this weekend (this will be my only race in August)

All good so far!

Whew--time to move on!

2011-08-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

So, I went with my family to Minnesota last week and we had the memorial service for my father. It was a meaningful and special experience. The focus was on celebrating his life. We had relatives and friends from all over the country attending. I'll continue to miss my father but this weekend was a good basis to move forward.

I did do the Walker, Minnesota triathlon on Saturday as well. My good bud Bill did it with me. A really intense storm/squall line blew through during the race and I certainly had my hands full with my 1080 front wheel and 40 mph winds! I did win my AG and had (by any reasonable measure) an awesome swim. I did what I had to do on the bike and limited the damage on the run. I'll post a race report in a few days.

With the end of July, I've finished the 2nd of my 3 meso-training cycles for the year. I'm now officially beginning my IMAZ 16-week build. (Today was a slow start given the 14 hours of travel time, but I did get a short run in).

MY last week in July was a recovery/consolidation week--here are the totals:

9500 yds swim
155 miles bike
14 miles run
13:27 total time

The totals for the month of July are very satisfying:

29,200 yds swim
1124 miles bike
127 miles run
91:40 total time

More importantly, I enter my IM build phase very ready to do IM-level workouts--beginning this week. I'm very motivated and Physically sound and stable. I won my last two races in July and I have Anders, my training bud around for a few more weeks--look out baby! It could be good!

Making it happen!

2011-07-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

So, a good solid "let's prove it"--that I'm ready to start training rigorously for my IM in november-- kinda week. My focus this week was to do a key w/o in each discipline that would clearly indicate I was ready for IM level training AND to heap a lot of volume on the week to see how my body held up. I was successful in both regards.

My key workouts included:

-1.8 mile swim
-104 mile bike
-14 mile run

The total training volume for the week was:

7400 yards swimming
354 miles biking
42 miles running
29 hours of total training

So, all good as my body is hanging in there....I'm a little whipped for sure but I'll back off a bit this week and then after next weekend dig in and begin the quest for IMAZ--I'm psyched!

The other good news was I picked up Anders today as he returned from his Africa trip.....

All good now!

News of the day

2011-07-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Anders, my eldest, called and reported that he had successfully summited kilimanjaro and was now safely back down at the base and savoring his first shower in 7 days....wish I was with him!

Back on the home front i rode 103.5 miles in 5:53 with temps hitting 102 degrees on my bike computer. Felt pretty good--wasn't focused on pace although did hit the 4th hour pretty hard and basically rode at my IM pace (21-21.5 mph).

Good ride.

Sunset Sprint Race Report

2011-07-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

Sunset Sprint Triathlon Race Report
July 16th, 2011

Background

Location: Pittsgrove, New Jersey
Distance: 0.25-mile swim, 12.1-mile bike, 3.1-mile run
2011 Race Number: 9
Career Triathlon Race Number: 109
Conditions: High 70s/low 80s, sunny and pleasant with a light breeze. 79-degree water temperature

Sunset was to be my third sprint triathlon in 22 days. I was coming off a heavy training week and a lot of work including late nights up in NYC on Thursday and Friday. By the time I returned to the shore and readied my equipment it was time for bed. I didn’t sleep that well and when the alarm went off at 4:45 I had only managed about an hour of sleep. I was very tired and felt very fatigued. Oh well, time to put my game face on!

Sunset is usually held near Bridgeton but was moved to Parvin State Park this year due to water quality concerns at the usual race site. With the new location came a different race distance. What stayed the same was a well-run race with strict attention given to USAT rules and so the 79-degree water disallowed the use of wetsuits.

The no-wetsuit ruling, given the heat we’ve endured over the last few weeks, didn’t surprise me. Still, this was clearly to my disadvantage—no wetsuit swimming seems to impact my swim stroke more so than the average triathlete.
The turnout for the race was relatively light with only 150 triathletes entered and with just 8 in my AG.

The Swim

All the men went in the first wave. It was a simple counter-clockwise box so I lined up way to the right, away from the buoy line. I was mostly interested in a no-contact swim given the lack of a wetsuit.

At the gun I swung even further out right to ensure clean water. As I looked to my left, I was struck by how many guys were surging ahead of me. This was not a shock but it sure was a change from what I’ve become used to with my wetsuit. I settled in and had a relatively drama free swim. I never felt comfortable and I could tell my swim stroke was off. Only as we swam the last section towards shore did my stroke even out a bit.

I hit the beach with an elapsed time of 7:03 and an average HR of 146 bpm. This HR is a shock. I can’t remember ever being under 150 bpm in a sprint. It indicates that I really didn’t work that hard on the swim—maybe I was still asleep or at the very least, too timid.

Competitively, I was 46th OA (70.0 %-tile), which while 20+ points lower than where I have been placing with my wetsuit, was about what I would have expected. Surprisingly, I was 2nd in my AG (87.5 %-tile). Here is where we stood after the swim:

1. Conger --------
2. Christofferson + 0:07
3. Vanocker + 1:13
4. Wilson + 1:26
5. Raines + 1:58

Transition One

I was happy to be done with the swim and tried to run fairly fast up the beach and through the park in this very extended transition zone. I must of passed Conger very early in the transition because I never saw him at the bike rack, even though the guys in my AG were all racked together.

I completed my transition quickly (no wetsuit) and my total T1 was 2:27 (HR of 158). This was the best T1 in my AG by over 30 seconds. Here is where we stood after T1:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Conger + 1:08
3. Wilson + 1:59
4. Raines + 2:22
5. Vanocker + 2:31

The Bike

I knew I was in the lead as I headed out onto what for me, was a new bike course. I tried to crank it up and start pushing hard right from the start. However, it soon became quite apparent that my legs did not have the snap that they typically have. I was having trouble sustaining power above 250 watts. I could also see that my HR was mired in the low 150s so I pretty quickly surmised that my legs were not that recovered from the training load of this week.

I tried to make the best of it and kept trying to mentally urge myself on—this was tough given how my legs felt and how dispiriting the data was that I was seeing on my SRM. After what seemed like a very long time, I reached the end of the bike with an elapsed time of 31:21 and an average HR of only 155 bpm. The HR number—being a good 10-13 bpm below my sprint target clearly shows the fatigue that my legs were feeling this morning.
My average speed was 23.2 mph and my average power was 248 watts. This was a good 1-1.5 mph and 20-25 watts lower than my fresh legs would have been expected to deliver and not surprisingly, this showed up in pretty mediocre comparative results. I was only 13th OA on the bike (92.0 %-tile) but was considerably faster than the other gentlemen in my AG. Here is where we stood after the bike:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Mumman + 4:27
3. Vanocker + 5:36
4. Wilson + 6:54
5. Procida + 8:57

Transition Two

Had I known that I was this far ahead, I would have just mailed in the run. As it was, with a loop bike course, I had no idea how far ahead I was. I was a bit concerned given how labored my bike was. I very quickly sped through transition with an elapsed time of 0:55 and an average HR of 154bpm. This was once again the best in my AG (clearly, this was a relatively weak AG in this race) and here is where we stood after T2:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Mumman + 4:53
3. Vanocker + 5:57
4. Wilson + 7:36
5. Conger +10:13

The Run

I expected my legs to be a real problem given how my bike went. I was very uncomfortable but afraid to back off. In spite of the discomfort, it seemed like I was running pretty well (for me). The run was a very nice, shaded loop around the lake on a mix of roads and nice dirt trails.
I hit the first mile split and was surprised to see a 7:02 (162 bpm). My immediate reaction was that the first mile was short (in retrospect, I do think that the overall 5k was accurate but that the first mile was a bit short and the last mile a bit long). However, it definitely lifted my spirits a bit and I decided to ease off the throttle just a bit.

Younger runners were passing me here and there but not that many. I was encouraged to see the second mile pass in 7:44 (162 bpm) and I began to think that maybe I was having a pretty decent run.

I kept pushing all the way to the end and finished the run with an elapsed time of 23:55. This works out to an average pace of 7:43/mile. I’ll take that all things considered. It’s still a good 20-30 seconds/mile slower than before my knee problems but a step in the right direction after Philly and Lenape.

My run was 62nd OA (59.3 %-tile) and was 2nd best in my AG (87.5 %-tile). Overall I finished 25th (84th %-tile) and here is how my AG finished up:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Mumman + 3:08
3. Vanocker + 6:35
4. Wilson + 9:56
5. Conger +11:34

Conclusions

Well I probably should not have raced this morning. My body was too tired to really have a go at it. Still, I’m glad I did. It was a good character builder for sure and I am pleased with the way I gutted it out. Nice to grab my 32nd AG victory as well.

Looking ahead, I have a heavy-up training block over the next 10 days and then I’ll back off for a few days and race in Minnesota of the 30th.

Week that was

2011-07-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

Raced yesterday at Sunset Sprint Tri. I was pleased with my effort and the race was a good character builder. My legs were very fatigued from a heavyish training week and a big load from work--I was up in NYC late on Friday. None-the-less I was able to win a comfortable AG victory--race report to follow.

Here are the training numbers for the week:

swim: 6600 yards
bike: 263 miles
run: 32.4 miles
time: 22:11

Lake Lenape Race Report

2011-07-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

Lake Lenape Sprint Triathlon
Race Report: July 9th, 2011

Background

Location: Mays Landing, New Jersey
Distance: 0.25-mile swim/10.4-mile bike/3.3-mile run
2011 Race Number: 8
Career Triathlon Racer Number: 108
Conditions: Mid 80s, sunny and humid. Moderate wind. 78 degrees water temperature.

My last race was the Philly sprint, two weeks prior and I was hoping to rebound today from what was my worst triathlon of the year. While I swam strong at Philly, my bike was inexplicably off and my run was almost as bad. I took the week after Philly easy and in retrospect I sensed I was run-down at Philly from my training and a lot of work stress. In any event, I felt ready to go on this steamy July morning.

I was returning to Lenape after a four-year hiatus. I raced here from 2002-2006 and I was able to get my first AG win here in 2003. The race is more of a runner’s course with a very short bike and a slightly longer than normal run. None-the-less I was eager to race and very interested to see how my effort today would compare with my races from the earlier days of my triathlon career. There were 320 individual triathletes competing with 28 in my 50-54 YO AG. Unfortunately, the RD bailed on official USAT status and so my bud Wes Burns bumped down into my AG (he’s 55 next month)—oh well, time to focus on getting second.

The Swim

The swim is held in this very typical Pine Barrens lake. The cedar stains the waters a bit but otherwise, it is a very pleasant fresh water venue. In my 5-year run here in the first half of 2000s my swim time varied from 6:42 to 9:25. This variation was principally driven by imprecise course measurement. I was pumped to get good comparative data but assumed that my relative performance to competition would be a better measure of the changes in my swim capabilities over the last four years—which I believed were significant.

I was in the 6th and last wave with everyone else over 50 and who was Male—some 66 of us. The course is a counter-clockwise rectangle—my favorite given my propensity to breathe on my left side. I lined up way right, with just 2 guys further out from the buoy line. They seemed quite timid so I thought I would be able to start clean and have the best tactical perspective all the way to the first turn buoy.

At the gun I quickly broke free from all those in my immediate vicinity. I looked across and saw two other swimmers out with me: Wes and someone else (turned out to be Zeke Hill—who was the early leader). After 50 yards or so (and during which I swerved pass a lifeguard saving someone who had the wrong idea about this race), I decided to put my head down and swim 15 strokes focused on efficiency. After these 15 strokes, I looked over and saw that I was 5+ yards clear of the two guys in closest pursuit. John Boyle would latter tell me that he thought I had a motor on my butt, the way that I surged forward. Truth is I just focused on the 4 key stroke fundamentals that have radically improved my swim performance.

After the first buoy I just focused on swimming comfortably strong and tactically weaving my way through the mass of slower swimmers in front of me. My sense is that I did this pretty well, although, not perfect by any means. I was aware of Zeke over the last 100 yards but was able to pull steadily away from him and I hit the beach first in my AG (and wave) with an elapsed time of 7:03 and an average HR of 152 bpm. The HR indicates it was a relatively easy swim for me—152 is my target HR for an IM distance swim.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Zeke and Wes several yards back and pushed up the sizeable beach to the timing mat and claim the top AG swim split. Here is where we stood after the swim:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Burns + 0:00
3. Hill + 0:01
4. Flourney + 0:47
5. Green + 0:56

As I mentioned above, I think the %-tile rankings are better indicators of my swim performance year-to-year than my time (course length differences). That said, here are my time, OA %-tile, and AG %-tile rankings over the 6 times that I have done this race:

Time

2002: 9:25
2003: 8:23
2004: 8:22
2005: 6:42
2006: 9:00
2011: 7:03

OA %-tile

2002: 72
2003: 63
2004: 80
2005: 81
2006: 85
2011: 93

AG %-tile

2002: 79
2003: 71
2004: 81
2005: 75
2006: 83
2011: 100

I now have a ton of data that say’s that I’m right there in the mix in my AG on the swim. I’m thrilled to be here—especially give the very limited training investment I’ve put into it this year.

As for the race, I’m very pumped to be entering T1.

Transition One

I do a reasonable job in transition but Hill and Burns are much faster. I complete my T1 in 1:49 with an average HR of 165 bpm. This was the 4th fastest in my AG (89.3 %-tile) and I was 46th OA (85.9 %-tile). Here is where we stood after T1:

1. Hill --------
2. Burns + 0:03
3. Christofferson + 0:19
4. Flourney + 1:17
5. Eisen + 1:36

The Bike

Although I know I can’t hold Wes off on the run, I am intent on running him down on the bike as quickly as I can. Unlike Philly, my legs feel pretty good—I can sense the fatigue from our big ride on Wednesday, but all in all I feel like I can do some damage this morning. I catch Hill in the first mile and I can clearly see Wes up ahead—he seems to be riding well but I am slowly reeling him in. The bike is an out and back with several modest hills. There is also a slight wind that is noticeable.

I finally catch Wes around the 4-mile mark, which means I’m going 4 seconds per mile faster than him. I hit the turn at 5.2 miles and am surprised to find Wes right behind me. I put my head down and lift my effort a bit—my average wattage was higher over the back half of the ride.

I finish the ride with a bike split of 25:49 and an average HR of 161 bpm. I hop of my bike and Wes dismounts immediately after me. (I’ll refrain from editorial comments). My average power was 259 watts and I averaged 24.2 mph. This data tells me that I was power limited as opposed to CV limited. The training related fatigue in my legs inhibited me from taxing my aerobic capability as much as I might if I was rested and tapered. For such a short ride, I would have expected an average HR of 165-168 bpm.

In any event, I had the 5th fastest bike split OA (98.8 %-tile) and here is how my time compares to history:

Time

2002: 27:20
2003: 26:22
2004: 25:49
2005: 25:11
2006: 25:52
2011: 25:49

OA %-tile

2002: 90
2003: 99
2004: 99
2005: 99
2006: 98
2011: 99

AG %-tile

2002: 93
2003: 100
2004: 100
2005: 100
2006: 100
2011: 100

So this is a very encouraging result for me. My time is comparable to my results of the 2004-2006 timeframe, during which I believe I was at my peak fitness on the bike. I also feel I had a bit more speed in the tank and was a bit fatigued to really race at my full potential this morning.

Here is where we stood after the bike in my AG:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Burns + 0:00
3. Hill + 2:36
4. Eisen + 3:18
5. Kuo + 3:43

As an aside, I was in 5th place OA in the race at this point.

Transition Two

I cruised through an uneventful T2 with a time of 1:35 and an average HR of 161 bpm. Wes was 4 seconds faster and I had the 74th fastest T2 OA (77.2 %-tile) and 5th fastest in the AG (85.7 %-tile).

Here is where we stood after T2:

1. Burns --------
2. Christofferson + 0:04
3. Hill + 2:36
4. Eisen + 3:22
5. Kuo + 4:02

The Run

My legs felt heavy as I settled into the run. I watched Wes run away from me in his graceful (and fast) style. With the swim and bike that I had I was pretty confident that I had a big enough lead to be able to stay in 2nd, but of-course, you never really know for sure.

I hit the first mile with a split of 7:58 (163 bpm). Uggggh! Not quite as bad as Philly but still so slow—I have yet to regain the even limited speed I had before my knee problems in May and early June. The next mile “flashed” by in 7:59 (164 bpm).

The 3rd mile is an out and back so when I hit the turn at about 2.5 miles I looked carefully at the runners coming the other way to see if anyone from my AG might be close. Sure enough, I recognize a guy (Eisen) that I had noted in my swim wave. He was about 55 seconds behind me and he has a smaller runner’s body and sure looked like he was moving faster than I.

I quickly ran the math and figured that he had to be about 70 seconds per mile faster than I if he was going to catch me over the final 0.8 miles. This meant he needed to be running 6:50s, which I didn’t think was likely—possible but not probable. I didn’t know who he was (he had just aged up this year) and didn’t remember racing against him in the past.

I decided to pick it up just a bit to be safe and hit the 3rd mile marker with a 7:54 split (166 bpm). I looked behind and saw Eisen there but my sense was he was going to run out of real estate. I tried to kick hard over the final 0.3 miles, which I covered in 2:05 (172 bpm)—this is a 7-minute per mile pace. I finished the run with an elapsed time of 25:56 and an overall time of 62:18, which was 14 seconds faster than Eisen.

Historically I have run 23:16-24:08 here so I was 2-2.5 minutes slower today. I think this is an accurate reflection of the current sorry state of my run. I had the 102nd fastest run OA (68.4 %-tile) and 6th fastest in my AG (82.1 %-tile). Historically, my OA %-tiles has ranged from 74-83% and my AG from 78-91%.

I finished 25th OA, which was at the 92.5 %-tile. My historical finishes have ranged from 84th to 94th %-tile, so this is in line with what I’ve done here historically—despite my very weak run.

Conclusions

Happily, it appears that Philly was just a bad day for me. From the gun to T2, this race confirms that I am probably faster than I have ever been. It also confirms that my run is at an all-time low. It is what it is.

I’ll race again next Saturday and then throw a heavy 10-day training block in.

Easy Week Totals

2011-07-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

Executed a "rest" week:

Swim: 3500 yards
Bike: 199 miles
Run: 22 miles
Time: 15:51

Next three weeks are an important transition training block for me with rides reaching 5+ hours and runs of 2+ hours. I won't be focused so much on pace, just the distance. Volume wise, this next week will be around 20 hours as I race on Saturday again. Next week will be 25+ hours--a real heavy week. and the following week will be hard for 3/4 days and then ease up for a race and my trip out to Minnesota.

After that, it's IM training time and Macro Cycle III of this year's training plan...

Good race today

2011-07-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

Raced Lenape for the sixth time today--but the first time since 2006. Top line conclusions: I'm now better than ever in the swim, my bike is close to my historical peak (and Philly was just a bad day!), and my run does well and truly suck!

Oh well--I had fun and finished my 108th triathlon. Met some new friends. Good bounce back race. I'm on the right track.

Run is going to remain a problem I fear but I'll just have to do the best I can...

Race report to follow in a few days...

I stand corrected....

2011-07-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

Actually ran 29 miles last week--neglected the 4 mile transition run after my long ride. Anders and I hammered out a pretty demanding 4 hour ride this morning, in brutal heat (and 3 flats) and then struggled through a 3 mile transition run (dewpoint was 76 degrees--yuch)....

Riding with Anders really challenges me (and him)--we can definiteluy push each other...

On my way to Cinci tonight....business is booming!

Week totals/injury updates

2011-07-04T06:14:00.000-07:00

Last week found me up in NYC working late for 3 nights but I was still able to fit in a pretty decent training week:

swim: 6200 yards
bike: 259 miles
run: 25 miles
time: 22:12

My recent knee flare-up seems to have subsided. It still hurts on occassion but I sense that this recent incident has passed. I'm hopeful and expecting to be able to train as hard as I can during my IM build starting Aug. 1st. I've started running in Vibram five-fingers a couple of times a week and that seems to further help my knee. I had a 10 and an 8 mile run this week.

My hip flexor and foot tendon injuries of last year are definitely in the past. I rode 77 miles this week and had no problem holding my aero position for most of the ride.

I've had a few big weeks and my body is complaining a bit this morning. My back is very tendor and my HR is elevated so I'm going to dial it back a bit this week. i will try to hit a big ride and a 10+ mile run but otherwise will take it easy this week. I plan to race this weekend.

Its June and its where we're at!

2011-06-30T17:42:00.000-07:00

OK--June's totals:

swim: 29,000 yds
bike: 1010 miles
run: 101 miles
Time: 85 hours

Assessment:

1. Given where I was at the end of May (unable to run and coming of a 50 mile run month) this was a strong step forward this month.

2. Most important was my progress with my knee and a return to semi-normalcy run wise. Obviously, 101 miles is still 50 short of where I need to be and the quality of my runs is quite low but hey, it's a start! I was able to get two runs in at 90 minutes or so! If I can continue this momentum in July (say 130 miles and more quality I'll have a decent shot at a quality IM run build for IMAZ).

3. Very strong bike month--best of the year so far. Over 1000 miles and growing quality. Having anders to train with is a real plus. I've had solid racing results up to the disaster at Philly. Still, I see no reason why I can't build on my momentum in july.

4. a maintenance month swim-wise but good enough. I continue to rock my swim splits despite my lack of emphasis on swim training. I'll probably role the dice another month coming up here in July.

5. Racing was a disappointment in June--only two races and a very poor performance at Philly. I understand why but I have an unease about it. I'll race again next weekend and I'll really want to see a bounce back.

6. Lots of outside stress right now. Work is a killer--I'm writing this from the late night train from NYC ro Wilmington yet again--killed a couple of key workouts at least. Also, my lack of sleep, poor nutrition and basic stress are not helpful. The good news is the game really doesn't start until August.

7. I have a big personal month ahead as well with my dad's memorial service coming up at the end of the month. I'm looking forward to honoring my father but there is a lot to do and I won't tolerate doing it any less than the best I can.

Onward and upward!

Philly Sprint Tri Race Report

2011-06-30T11:13:00.001-07:00

Philadelphia Sprint Triathlon Race Report
June 25th, 2011

Background

Location: Philadelphia, PA
Distance: 0.5-mile swim/15.7-mile bike/3.1-mile run
2011 Triathlon Race Number: 7
Career Triathlon Race Number: 107
Conditions: 80 degrees and sunny. Little wind. 78 degrees water temperature.

After missing St. Andrews last week (family/work) I was anxious to return to racing on this beautiful Saturday morning. I stayed in Stone Harbor the night before to celebrate my 54th birthday with Judy and my two sons. I awoke at 2:30 a.m. and hit the road shortly thereafter. I arrived at the race site just as it started to get light around 4:45. I overdid it on the departure time but since this was my first time doing the race, I thought it best to be safe.

My two primary concerns pre-race were whether or not this was going to be wetsuit legal and how hilly/technical was the bike course. The water was announced as 77.5 degrees so wetsuits were legal—this was good news for me. I watched several hundred bikes rolling towards transition and saw maybe two discs. I bumped into Wes Burns and Midge Kerr and they both were without discs as well. Midge’s friend said the course had “very nasty” hills. So at the last minute, I made the decision to sacrifice some speed for safety and I changed out my 1080/disc for a pair of 404s (my training wheels). This was a decision I would come to regret.

This is a big race and in fact 959 individual triathletes would start (plus another 80 relay teams). 61 souls were entered in my AG but ultimately only 49 would wend their way into the murky waters of Schuylkill River. With Tom Dillon and Johnny King-Marino entered, I knew with the work in progress state of my run, that I was racing for a 3rd place finish at best. There were two other fellows (Fabrizio and Patterson) and perhaps some others I hadn’t heard of that I also needed to worry about. I wasn’t pre-occupied with this as I was here to do the best I could and have a high quality “brick” workout. Still, I wanted to get to the podium. My legs were a bit heavy and tired from a 5+ hour training day on Wednesday as well as the 20+ hour training week I was in the midst of. I was training right “through” the race but I’ve been able to race well when I’ve done that in the past and saw no reason why I couldn’t turn in a solid performance today.

The Swim

Tom and I were racked right next to each other so I spent much of the pre-race chatting with him. We went down to the water together and jumped in as they called our wave (the 3rd). We both (independently) chose to swim over to the right, which was on the buoy line. Our wave was pretty large (at least 150) as we were paired with the 40-44 AG. Just before the start Dan Fabrizio swam over and started talking to Tom. This was awesome because as far as I could tell, Dillon and Fabrizo were the two strongest swimmers in our AG. On the fly I decided I would start behind them and draft the two of them or pick one if they separated.

Moments later the horn sounded and we were off. Tom and Dan went at it aggressively right from the start. Tom was to the right and wanted to drift left while Dan seemed to want to hug the buoy line. They crashed into each other 5-6 times and I was just swimming easily behind them waiting for them to sort things out. Soon they crossed as Dan fell a bit behind Tom. I was on Dan’s feet and now I had a tough decision to make and I needed to make it quickly. Do I try to go after Tom who I think is the best swimmer or stay with Dan, who is a bit bigger and seemed to be taking the more direct line? I decide to stay with Fabrizio, ultimately because I didn’t think I had a chance of beating Tom overall today and if I can just stay close to Dan, I’ll be in very good shape. (When I beat Dan at Genesis two weeks prior he had outswam me by 27 seconds).

I was able to stay right up on his feet—in fact I probably hit him 10-15 times—which I’m sure was annoying. The water was very murky and I was trying to just feel for the bubbles. There were lots of other swimmers on the buoy line and as we picked our way through the back-end of the wave in front of us Dan would have to change course and speed and that’s when I would hit him.

I felt very relaxed and like I was really taking it easy. Every now and then a slight gap would open up as we wove through traffic but I was going so easy a short burst to close the gap was never a problem. A couple of times, my brain tried to convince me that I should be going harder and I should swim by him. I tried to resist the urge but one time I had swim off to the side a bit and then I realized how hard Dan was actually going—I quickly got back on his feet.

I stayed on his feet for the whole swim! First time I’ve ever done that. I resisted the urge to swim past him at the end as it didn’t seem quite right—given he had done most of the work on this swim. (When we climbed up on the shore, he was moving a little slower than I and I wanted to go by but I held back and directed him in front of me as we reached the timing mat. It did not seem like good karma for me to snake him at the end like that! As soon as we crossed the mat I did run past him).

I didn’t know where Tom was (although my guess was that he was already out of the water) and I didn’t know how any of the other guys in my AG did but I knew I had just completed a fantastic swim. Fabrizio is a great swimmer and a direct competitive threat and to be right with him was very good news indeed.

I hit the shore with an elapsed time of 15:42 and an average HR of 151 bpm. The course had looked longer than a half mile and it obviously was with this time. However the most important take away from this data was my HR. I had averaged 158 bpm at Genesis when Dan had beaten me by 27 seconds. The difference between 151 and 158 is huge. 152 is my IM target HR and 158 is just about the max that I can handle on the swim. I know this is no real insight, but the light has finally gone off in my head about drafting on the swim. If I could do this at IMAZ in November it would be a huge advantage—might be worth as much as 5 minutes and/or much less stress on my body. If I were able to find a similar situation there then this race would have been a huge benefit for me.

Competitively, a fellow named Evans actually outswam everyone in the AG—albeit by just a few seconds. As it turns out, Dan was second and I third. We were actually able to put a nice gap on Tom and a sizeable one on the rest of the field. Here is where we stood after the swim:

1. Evans --------
2. Fabrizio + 0:05
3. Christofferson + 0:06
4. Dillon + 0:21
5. Patterson + 2:02

I was 96.0 %-tile in the AG and OA I was 62nd (93.6 %-tile).

Transition One

I climbed up the steep “sandy” landing area and after crossing the mat I sprinted into the large transition area. My rack was at the far end, near the bike in/out. I was very surprised to see Tom’s bike next to mine (and no Tom). I figured there was a good chance that I was leading the AG. I busied myself with my transition and Tom came running up several seconds later. He yelled at me to take my hands off his bike (I was lightly leaning on his seat as I did my stuff).

Tom soon finished his transition activities and was off. I yelled to him to be safe but he did not respond—I guess you don’t have time for small talk when you are so fast in transitions. It was very humbling watching Tom do his transition—he was a full 37 seconds faster than I. However, I actually did a pretty good job, as I was the 2nd fastest in our AG! I finished my transition in 2:22 with an average HR of 151 bpm.

Here is where we stood after T1:

1. Dillon --------
2. Christofferson + 0:22
3. Fabrizio + 0:30
4. Evans + 2:19
5. King-Marino + 3:17

The Bike

I ran out of T1 intent on running Tom down as quickly as I could. Frankly, I didn’t harbor any illusions about holding him off on the run but I knew I needed to open up a gap on the folks behind me if I was to sneak into the top 3. After mounting up and settling in, I glanced down and noticed that my SRM was not registering. Gee whiz—this is the 3rd race in a row I’ve had a PM problem. I had tested it before the race and it worked fine. I hit one of the buttons and it started registering my power and HR, as well as elapsed time but no speed. So somehow, my speed sensor wasn’t picking up a signal. I knew from experience that this also meant whenever I stopped putting power through the BB (when I was coasting) that my timer would stop. Given the descents on this course and my unfamiliarity with it, I knew my average power was likely to be overstated. (As an aside, I have an upgrade project underway, which among other things will address my continuing PM problems).

The first part of the bike course is a very flat out and back of about 1.5 miles. As I neared the turn-around I saw Tom and was able to calculate that I was losing ground to him. Oh-oh. I checked my average power and it showed 255 watts, which was probably a reasonable number since I hadn’t been coasting. The problem was it felt like 290 watts and probably should have been at least 280 watts (the last time I raced Tom I averaged 271 watts for 12 miles). I was worried about losing some time due to my wheel choice, but now I had a new worry.

I made my way (relatively conservatively) around the first lap and came to the conclusion that the technical difficulty of the course was way overblown—there were a couple of tricky parts but my training rides in DE are way more demanding than this bike course—I had blown the wheel decision. I rolled through the first lap near 22 minutes (vs. the expected split of 20:30—this based on prior year performances) and I also saw that Tom had opened up a further gap. I was now very aware that I was not getting it done on the bike.

I plugged along and finally hit the end of the 15.7-mile course with a time of 44:07 and an average HR of 156 bpm. This translates into an average speed of 21.4 mph. This is the speed I ride IM bikes at! Obviously, the speed was affected by the climbs and turns but it is very evident that I had one of my worse bike splits of my career. At 156 bpm, I was a good 7-10 bpm off where I should have been—my legs were just too fried to push my CV system hard enough. This poor showing was very evident when I look at how I did competitively. I was 2:34 slower than Tom (I believe this is the first time he has out-rode me in a triathlon, which is ironic as today was also the first time I had outswam him!). I was only 6th in my AG (a very disheartening 89.8 %-tile) and I was 56th OA (94.3 %-tile). More importantly, I lost valuable time to Marino and Patterson behind me and missed an opportunity to put Fabrizio away. Here is where we stood after the bike:

1. Dillon --------
2. Christofferson + 2:56
3. King-Marino + 3:22
4. Patterson + 3:27
5. Fabrizio + 5:12

Show what happened? One possible explanation is that Tom had a phenomenal ride. Clearly, he had an awesome ride and the analysis below is not intended to deflect from that fact—Tom won this race on the strength of a great bike ride. However, when I look at how my time compares to some other riders, it’s also clear that my poor performance was a major contributor to the above results. Basically, I believe there are two primary drivers: my low power production and my lack of aero wheels. Below is an attempt to quantify those two components.

At Bassman, I was 0:24 faster than Tom. Philly is longer (15.7 vs. 11.8 miles) so all things being equal, I should have been 0:32 faster than Tom today. Tom was 2:34 faster so there is a total gap of 3:06 to explain.

As it turns out, Wes also did not ride with his disc today but did when we raced at Genesis (I used my race wheels there as well). Therefore, I can hypothesize that the difference in my performance today vs. Genesis (as compared to Wes) is solely due to my lack of power. At Genesis, I was 1:08 faster than Wes and today, Wes was 1:16 faster than I. Since these two races are essentially the same length, my performance shortfall was 2:24.

If this is true, then I can hypothesize that I lost about 0:42 due to my wheel choice—which strikes me as a reasonable estimate. Now my average power was recorded as 254 watts. As I noted above this is an inflated number given my SRM issues. I can use the cubic relationship between power deltas and speed deltas to estimate what my implied power today was. My performance shortfall is 5.7% compared to Tom’s time. This implies an 18% power shortfall from the 271 watts I had at Bassman. This translates into an estimated power today for me of 230 watts—which again seems reasonable.

Of course, the broader question was why did I have such a poor bike split—one of my worst of all time, especially given how strong my bike splits have been this year? I did have a very heavy training week including a 5+ hour training day on Wednesday and a long ride and long run mid week. But I’ve raced well on heavy training volume before—it’s part of my “C” race strategy. No, today was just a very bad ride for me—maybe I was a little sick but for sure I was a lot slow.

Transition Two

My heart wasn’t fully into it as I went through my T2. I knew I was in trouble given my bike. My legs felt like lead. I certainly wasn’t giving up but I knew I was very vulnerable. My total T2 was 1:42 with an average HR of 157. This turned out to be the 8th best T2 (85.7 %-tile). I didn’t hurt myself as most of the folks chasing me weren’t much faster and here is where we stood after T2:

1. Dillon --------
2. Christofferson + 3:15
3. King-Marino + 3:39
4. Patterson + 4:03
5. Fabrizio + 5:30

The Run

I put on my brave face and tried to make a go of it. However, right away my legs felt very heavy, tired and sore. I had no zip whatsoever. Oh oh! I’ve seen this movie before. I was trying to do my best but I knew it was probably only a matter of time before I was passed.

Sure enough, not far up the road (well under a mile) Marino came speeding by in a desperate (and almost successful) attempt to make up over 3 and a-half minutes on Dillon. I was now third and the only thing I could do was hope that no one else was close. However, right near mile 1, Patterson streamed by and I was off the podium. My first mile was 8:00 with an average HR of 161bpm.

At the turn, I saw that I had about 1:15 on Fabrizio and figured even with my legs being as they were, that I was likely to hold him off. My second mile was 8:08/163bpm. I checked in the rear-view mirror several times but as I neared the finish line I could tell I would hold on to 4th. My third mile was an 8:07/165bpm and I crossed the finish line with a very disappointing 25:02. Certainly one of my slowest 5ks of all time.

My run was 14th best in my AG (73.5 %-tile) and 262nd OA (72.8 %-tile). I was 4th in my AG (93.9 %-tile) and 65th OA (93.3 %-tile).

Conclusion

Great race for Tom—congrats! Very poor race for me—clearly the worse of the season and one of my all time poorest showings. On the plus side, I gutted it out and finished safely. I tried pretty much as hard as I could—I just didn’t have it. I also had probably the best tactical swim I’ve ever had and I think I learned a very important lesson about the swim for IMAZ. I’ll take that plus, get back to training and hope to bounce back in a couple of weeks when I race again.

Weekly update

2011-06-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Finished up a pretty good week, training wise. here are the stats:

Swim: 6400 yards
Bike: 256 miles
Run: 23 miles
Time: 20:13

I hit a coiuple of key workouts which were encouraging: a 90 minute run and a pretty hard 70+ miler on the bike. I also had a 5+ hour training day this week. Would have liked a bit more swimming and running but I raced in Philly this weekend and my legs were pretty shredded for much of this week.

My race was disappointing (although the swim was awesome). My legs were very sore this morning and my body is pretty achey. A bit of an upset stomach as well so maybe I have a low-grade virus of some type. anders also felt a little sick this morning on our ride. In any event, no race this weekend so I'll try to focus on some quality training over the next 10 days and hope my body bounces back pretty quickly.

A "perfect" day

2011-06-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Well, it obviously wasn't--I mean, who would even ever want that behind then as oppossed to in the days ahead?

Still...pretty darn good today when viewed with a triathlon eyeglass.....

Early morning rise,,,,35 miles with anders before he went back to DE to get ready for his KJ cimb. then I tacked another 36 onto that--all pushing, pushing, pushing....much 200-250 watts.

Back home hanging with the fam. Roddick triumphs....Out on the beach for a very strong 5 miles all to an One Republic sound track. Coming after the ride and the 9 mile run yesterday this strikes me as a very good sign.

Then off with my lovely bride for a 1.5+ mile open water swim--she on the SUP.

Yes--a major day for sure. I know more will come when I flip into IM mode but today was sweet.

Need to back down the next two days as I plan to rumble in Philly on Saturday morning....

NJ Shore Training Life--the best!

"Rest" week

2011-06-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

A heavy work week afforded the opportunity to dial back the training load a bit last week. My prior two weeks were 23 and 20 hours respectively. This week I backed off the cycling for most of the week, did a maintenance week in the swim but did continue to focus on rebuilding my run training. I was able to have a "normal" run week for the first time in 7 weeks. My knee seems to be stable and my intention is to run 30-50 miles/week out through the end of July when I'll start my ironman build. Stats for the week:

swim: 6300 yards
bike: 170 miles
run: 32 miles
time: 16:45

new normal

2011-06-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

So, I will not be racing tomorrow. Family (Jenny visiting for the weekend--up from Baltimore--to help celebrate Father's day), work (spent the week in NYC and just came to NJ yesterday), and my recent run problems made it seem like a bad call all the way around to leave NJ tonight and travel to DE to race at St. A tomorrow morning. I'm not without regrets as I love that race and have done it the last 7 years in a row (a father's day tradition) but this was the better call.

From a tri perspective, I really need to run a lot. My knee is getting a lot better so I'm starting to do my normal thing running wise--should be up over 30 this week. From a cycling perspective really getting psyched to ride regularly with anders. today we did a 51 miler and we were alternating 1 minute pulls--my pulls were in the 260-320 watt range and we were over 22 miles in the first hour. This is awesome training for me. Planning to do a lot more of it in the days ahead....

Jersey Genesis Race Report

2011-06-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

2011 Jersey Genesis Sprint Triathlon Race Report
June 11th, 2011

Background

Location: Port Republic, New Jersey
Distance: 0.5-mile swim/15.5-mile bike/4.25-mile run
2011 Triathlon Race Number: 6
Career Triathlon Race Number: 106
Conditions: Hazy and humid. Mid 70s. Modest breeze. 78-80 degree water.

I returned to racing after a three-week hiatus at this venerable Jersey Shore triathlon. I had to take a racing break due to an exceptionally bad flare-up of pain in my left knee. Even with another cycle of Syn-Visc shots the pain caused me to suffer through three weeks of limited run training followed by a nine day complete break from running. Beginning June 1st I started running again every other day. The pain was still quite noticeable but it seemed to be manageable and I decided it was time to race again and hopefully in the weeks ahead return to a more normal training status.

This was the 4th time for me racing at Genesis. I did it twice (2002, 2003) back when it featured a 20-mile bike and I also raced here last year with the shorter bike leg. I won my AG last year but had two guys who aged up as well as a competitor I’ve raced in prior years (Mercer Craft)—all of whom were definitely able to outrace me on this morning. One fellow, Ray Campeau beat me by 3:42 last year and the other, Dan Fabrizio, I finished just 36 seconds ahead of. I knew I was unlikely to win my AG today and frankly was worried about just getting on the podium. In total there were 28 in my AG and 247 individual triathletes overall. This was an unusually large and deep M50-54 AG field.

During my pre-race activities I discovered two things that were not helpful. First, my SRM died. I had charged it the night before so I’m not certain what the issue is. Secondly, I noted that they had changed the run course and had added a 0.28-mile (I clocked it before the SRM died) loop at the front end of the run. Given my run problems, the latter was not welcome news at all. Still, I was in great spirits and just happy to be racing again.

The Swim

In the days preceding this race it had been very warm—close to 100 degrees and so I wasn’t surprised to find the water felt close to 80 degrees. It probably should not have been wetsuit legal but they were allowed none-the-less. Last year, the water was also warm here and I overheated in my full wetsuit so this year I decided to go with my sleeveless wetsuit—I knew it would be a little slower but I thought I would be in better shape post swim by staying cooler.

I was in the 2nd wave and lined up way to the right. I was near my buddy, Wes Burns, whom is very similar in swim capabilities to me so I thought he would give me a good way to gauge my progress as the swim unfolded. The course is basically a big box with 4 turns. It looked to my eye to be similar to the year before and fairly accurately measured.

At the gun I went very hard to try to gain some separation. This was not as effective a tactic as it has been for me in recent swims. There was a fairly large group that seemed to have relatively little problems matching my pace. I felt pretty good although it seemed like I was having trouble breathing—perhaps due to the very humid air. The water was indeed quite warm and I was thankful for my wetsuit decision. My HR seemed high so I tried to manage it by slowing down and lengthening my strokes. I focused on relaxing and this seemed to help quite a bit.
The swim was basically uneventful. There was quite a bit of contact since I seemed to be mired in a group throughout the swim. I also saw Wes the whole way so I knew I was probably having a decent enough swim. Finally, I exited the swim with a time of 12:31 and an average HR of 155 bpm. This was 16 seconds faster than last year. As I stood up on the beach I noted Campeau directly in front of me. This was quite a surprise since he had outswam me by 1:21 the year before. I really didn’t know what to make of this development but I was certainly encouraged. Further, there were three people who were faster than I (overall) in both 2010 and 2011 (Lovett, Otto, and Campeau) and they were on average 22 seconds slower in the swim this year. From this perspective, I had a strong swim this morning.

However, what I didn’t know was that Fabrizio was 27 seconds ahead of me, whereas last year I had outswam him by 8 seconds. (I’ve raced Dan 8 times and he has swum faster 7 of those times so maybe last year was a fluke). Had I known this, I would have been very concerned as pre-race, I had really focused more on Fabrizio than Campeau (I didn’t think I could make up almost 4 minutes on Ray). Also, as fate would have it, just 4 seconds behind me was Craft. The race was on!

Here is a comparison between 2010 and 2011:

2010 2011

Time 12:47 12:31
Heart Rate 158 bpm 155 bpm

AG place 2 5
AG %-tile 95 86

OA place 22 46
OA %-tile 89 82

What became very evident to me as the race unfolded and as I analyze the data, is that the 2011 field was much stronger and deeper than 2010 and the %-tile comparisons above are probably a misleading indicator of my relative performance—2010 vs. 2011.

In any event, here is where we stood in the AG after the swim:

1. Fabrizio --------
2. Baker + 0:07
3. Grout + 0:15
4. Campeau + 0:23
5. Christofferson + 0:27

On balance, it seems to me that this was an “almost there” swim for me. Perhaps a “B+” performance. I was faster than last year. I worked hard and I was well positioned competitively, but perhaps on another day, with my current fitness I might have been 20-30 seconds faster.

Transition One

I sprint into T1 on Campeau’s heels. I’m intent on having a fast transition and in fact I have an outstanding one. I have the fastest transition in my AG (and 23rd OA—91.1 %-tile). Just before I finish up I see Fabrizio run by and I realize he outswam me this year. Oh-oh, time to get moving! (Relative to 2010, I’ve lost 35 seconds on the swim to Fabrizio and last year I beat him by just 36 seconds).

I finish T1 with a sparkling 1:37 and an average HR of 165 bpm. This is 17 seconds faster than last year. I put 26 seconds on Campeau, 17 on Fabrizio, and 48 seconds on Craft. This transition has been hugely important to me competitively and I’ve now moved into 3rd place in the AG:

1. Fabrizio --------
2. Grout + 0:03
3. Christofferson + 0:10
4. Baker + 0:18
5. Campeau + 0:32

As I run out the transition exit I can see both Fabrizio and Grout just ahead of me—game on!!!

The Bike

I immediately crank up the effort. I have no data coming from my SRM so all of my reporting data will be subjective. I feel very strong on the bike and in relatively short order (less than a mile) I pass both Grout and Fabrizio. My working assumption is that I’m now in 2nd place with Campeau somewhere up ahead of me but in reality I have taken over the lead of my AG.

I feel fantastic. I’m passing a lot of younger riders and it seems to me like I’m putting out a lot of power. We have a tail wind on this outbound section and I can tell that I’m riding well over 25 mph. I’m very energized and desperate to open up a gap on Fabrizio—I figure I’ll need perhaps as much as 3 minutes given my recent run training (or lack therein).

As I near the end of the outbound leg, I am surprised to have Campeau come by me. It frankly takes me a while to process this. I wasn’t even looking for him among the guys coming back after the turnaround—I’ve been focused on trying to gap Fabrizio. Right after he passes me we reach the turnaround and I glance at my watch so I can get an estimate of my lead on Fabrizio. I note that I am on a sub 39 minute pace and since I did 40:10 last year, this is very encouraging to me.

After the turn, Campeau decides to hydrate so I re-pass him and then I see Fabrizio on the other side—my lead is only 60 seconds, not the 80-90 that I was looking for. At this point in the race, I’ve put 70 seconds into Fabrizio and Campeau has put 24 seconds on me.

In short order, Campeau re-passes me. I sit-up and hydrate and then when the gap reaches about 25 yards I decide that I’ll try to pace off of him for a while. (BTW, I love that my dad is looking down and seeing how respectful I am of the drafting rules!). Campeau is a machine on the bike. It is very difficult for me to hold the pace. I glance at my watch and note my HR is 168 bpm. Not a disaster but pretty close to punching over the edge for me. I have a decision to make. Do I try to hold onto Campeau and risk blowing up on the run and getting passed by the guys behind me or do I focus on Fabrizio (and the others) and ride in a way that conserves more for the run.

I’ll always wonder if I made the right decision but I tell myself that Campeau is going to outrun me (I mistakenly recall his run advantage from last year as 1-2 minutes—it was 34 seconds) anyways so why put 2nd place in real jeopardy. I basically convince myself that Campeau will beat me. I watch Campeau slowly edge away and with the haze I soon lose sight of him.

The return segment is into the wind so I know it’s slower. I also sense that I’m putting out a little less power. I’m still passing people but it just seems a little bit off from the out-bound leg. I finally hit transition with an elapsed time of 39:03 and an average HR of 162. Objectively, this is a solid ride for me. Last year, I did 40:10 with an average power of 236 watts (161 average HR). So a rough estimate of my power this year would be 257 watts. It was definitely windier this year so probably my actual wattage was a bit higher. If you believe the advertised 16 miles, this works out to an average speed of 24.6 mph. However, I clocked it at 15.5 miles last year so I’ll use that distance as the correct measure and this translates into 23.8 mph. Again I have to conclude this was an almost there ride. Given my HR I believe I had more to give on this ride.

Competitively, I end up losing 63 seconds to Campeau—so I lost 24 seconds on the outbound leg and 39 seconds coming back. On the plus side, I lost 1:44 to him last year. Versus, Fabrizio, I gained 70 seconds in the first half and another 1:41 on the way back. Last year I beat him by 2:51 and this year by 2:41. What I didn’t know was that Craft had passed Fabrizio and now was just 2 minutes behind me.

Relative to the field, the top three guys were on average 19 seconds slower than last year but the depth of the field lowered my %-tile comparisons:

2010 2011

Time 40:10 39:03
Heart Rate 161 bpm 162 bpm

AG place 1 2
AG %-tile 100 96

OA place 12 23
OA %-tile 94 91

Here is where we stood after the bike in my AG:

1. Campeau --------
2. Christofferson + 0:41
3. Craft + 1:48
4. Grout + 2:26
5. Fabrizio + 2:31

Transition Two

If I had known the above competitive situation, I probably would have reacted a bit differently when I entered T2. Campeau was out of sight, out of mind. He executed an AG best T2 and was already gone when I entered the transition zone. I was so worried about the folks behind me that I didn’t even look for him.

I thought I had an excellent T2 and I completed it with a time of 51 seconds and an average HR of 161. This was an 18 second improvement over last year, even though we had to run further to reach the transition exit this year. This was the second best in our AG and 51st OA. Unfortunately, I lost 12 seconds to Campeau but gained 13 on Craft and 29 on Fabrizio. Here is where we stood after T2:

1. Campeau --------
2. Christofferson + 0:53
3. Craft + 2:01
4. Grout + 2:52
5. Fabrizio + 3:00

The Run

As I exit transition I try to keep an eye out for Fabrizio. I run the new part of the run course and when I get to the end of the extra portion I hit my timer and see 1:55. This will allow me to compare my time this year to last. It also tells me, I’m running about a 7:40/mile pace. Right at this time I also see Fabrizio running into transition. I do the math and estimate that I have about a 2:35-2:40 lead on him after the bike (actually 2:31) and that news makes me more nervous. He put 2:04 on me last year and with the way my knee has been it was easy for me to believe he would do better than that this year.

As I left the park I actually felt pretty good running. My HR was settled in at 165, which is very sustainable for me in a run of this distance. I felt like I had a good cadence to my run—I was surprised by how good I felt given my lack of recent training. During the first mile I only had one or two folks pass me so I seemed to be holding my own. My first “mile” passed in 7:51 and my HR was 164. (These mile splits should be taken with a grain of salt given the course change).

Mile 2 passed by at 7:51 with a heart rate of 165. I felt very in control and was running comfortably. Every now and then a younger runner would pass me by. Up ahead I noticed I was running about the same pace as a small group of guys. One of these guys was probably Campeau although this never registered with me.

Mile 3 came (7:43, 167 bpm) right before the bridge and I used that occasion to turn and see if I had anyone from my AG on my tail. I was pleased to see that there was no one that was that close that I had an immediate worry. This gave me some tactical flexibility as I knew I had another gear that I could hammer the last ½-1 mile but I sensed I should just hold that in reserve.

I hit the final straight away and looked back again and I knew that no one would catch me. I cruised home (final mile: 7:43 and 169 bpm) and recorded a total run time of 31:08, which is 14 seconds faster than last year. If you subtract out the extra 1:55 tacked on this year, my time would have been 29:13—a full 2:09 faster than last year. I was thrilled with that result. Here is how I stacked up against the rest of the field:

2010 2011

Time 31:22 31:08
Heart Rate 163 bpm 166 bpm
Avg Pace 7:51/mile 7:20/mile

AG place 8 11
AG %-tile 68 64

OA place 75 96
OA %-tile 62 62

The top 3 guys were on average 2 seconds slower. I ended up losing just 9 seconds to Campeau (vs. 34 last year) and 1:41 to Fabrizio (vs. 2:04 last year). My final over all time was 1:25:12, which was 2:13 faster than last year and good enough for 42nd OA (83rd %-tile). Here is where we stood at the finish in my AG:

1. Campeau --------
2. Christofferson + 1:02
3. Craft + 2:03
4. Fabrizio + 2:20
5. Flourney + 2:22

Final Observations

On balance a very positive race for me. I was faster in all five components of the race as compared to last year. Relative to my competition that raced last year, I did a great deal better this year than last. That said, I finished 2nd in a race that I can visualize myself winning. I wonder what would have happened if I had swum 20-30 seconds faster and if I had stayed with Campeau a little longer and perhaps rode 20 seconds or so faster. If I had, I would have left T2 right with Ray and that would have led to a real fun run for sure. Oh well. Sometimes you don’t get what you want—but I’ll settle for getting what I need!

On the comeback trail!

2011-06-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

So continued my running "comeback" this week--logged just over 20 miles. So will now begin again a more rigorous running component to my training. The near-term goal remains to get myself ready to be able to clock a 2+ hour run each week beginning August 1st. Totals for the week:

Swim: 8100 yards
Bike: 242 miles
Run: 20.8 miles
Time: 19:43

Two further positive developments. First and foremost, Anders has returned home for the summer and in addition to the general all around goodness of having him back home, I have regained my training partner! We have already logged 3-4 tough bike sessions and a couple trips to the pool. The last time I was able to train with him for a whole summer was 2008 and I'm hoping that his return will allow me to regain some of that timeframe's fitness.

I also raced at Jersey Genesis. Jumped into this race due to family logistics and a much more competitive field than the Try-It beginner's triathlon. I had a very positive race and ended up finishing 2nd out of 28 in my AG. i'll file a race report shortly.

this weekend

2011-06-08T04:14:00.000-07:00

Going to have a go at a short sprint this weekend. Run is still in early stages of rebuild but what the heck--it'll be a good training brick.

On paper I'll be lucky to get third and with Dawson there victory is out of the questions so I'll train straight through the race and treat it as a training activity....

Devilman Finish Pic

2011-06-05T14:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic from my finish sprint at Devilman:

It was all about the bike

2011-06-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

Ran 6 again today and the knee felt much better--I think I may have dodged this bullet...could be back to normal run training in a week!

Stats for the week:

swim: 6000 yds
bike: 301 miles
run: 15.3 miles
time: 23:05

Obviously, the focus this week was the bike--given the initial comeback on the run. I was looking to jump up my bike fitness a bit. I'll need it for a tough race this I have shaping up for this weekend....we'll see if it worked!

Training to get fit enough to train

2011-06-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

Ran 6 miles yesterday. The knee is still not "normal" but seems to be fairly stable. Will keep to the every other day approach for another week and go from there.

My main focus over the next two months will be sure that my training is sufficient so that beginning Aug 1st I can do the work necessary for my IMAZ build. During that 16 week build there will be 30-40 key IM workouts that I need to hit. These are swims greater than 4000 yards, bikes of 5-8 hours, and runs of 2+ hours. I have some work to do on the swim but it will come naturally when I shift over to open water swim training in another week or so (down at the shore). I'm pretty much ready right now for the bike (I rode 4.5 hours this morning). The run of-course, with my injury, is where I have to make the greatest progress--and I need to do so with no more injury setbacks.

Race-wise, I'm skipping the sprint I had scheduled for tomorrow but am hopeful to return to racing nexgt weekend...

we'll see