IMAZ Bike lap 1

Anders came through Lap 1 with an elapsed time of 2:50:34.  His bike speed is 21.07 mph which translates into a 5:19 bike split.  Anders passed 5 of the 10 guys in his AG who outswam him.  He has one guy, who exited the water a few seconds behind him, move slightly ahead of him during the lap.  as a consequence Anders has moved up to 7th in his AG (out of 79).  he was smiling when he went buy and he said something but I was too busy yelling for him to hear it.

It is now 83 degrees and sunny and the wind speed is now 22 mph--it's really, really tough out there......a lot of work ahead.....I'm not sure I could do it in conditions like this....

I expect him by again around 11:45 or 2:45 EST....

IMAZ Swim/T1

Anders exited the water in 63:45 which put him 306th OA and 11th in his AG out of the water.  This is a little slower than he did an IMFL but he is better placed (62:38/13th in AG) which tells me the swim here is probably a little slower than IMFL last year (which makes sense because IMFL lasgt year was as good as a swim gets).

His transition was 4:17.  I yelled to him as he went by but he was very focused on avoiding the other cyclists in a tricky ride out to the main part of the course.  He is now on the first of his 3 laps.  It is currently 74 degrees and very sunny.  The high is expected to hit around 93-95 sometime early in his run (most likely).  There is a fresh breeze--about 10 to 15 mph here but it will be more out on the Beeline highway.  The wind will be in his face on the outbound portion of the lap--this is also up hill with a total net climb of 400-500 feet.  He will do well to average 20mph through this part.  He will be flying on the return back to transition--certainly doing 30+ in stretches.  

Anders plan is average 200 watts on lap 1, 210 on lap 2 and 220 on lap 3.  this is below his capability but makes sense give the heat stress that he will have to deal with as the day grinds on.  I would expect him to complete his first lap somewhere around 1:40-1:50 which will be shortly before 10am local/1pm EST.  

Game on!  More latter.

IMAZ they are off!

well they are underway!  anders slept well and we awoke at 4am for bagels and coffee.  left for the site at 5 am.  sweet parking place.  i helped anders get ready and gave him a hug goodby/i love you.  he seems very on his game--so fit!  very emotional for me--first time i ever watched one in person.  i choked up--please lord let him have a great and safe day--he deserves one.....waiting near t1 now--more later!

IMAZ prerace

Yesterday and this morning Anders and i went down to the swim course and swam in Tempe town lake.  The water is suprisingly pleasant and quite chilly--about 66-68 degrees--perfect for an IM swim.  You swim directly into the sun so sighting is a little difficult.  The course is very simple.  One very big loop.

I actually swam the whole course yesterday--it took me 76 minutes and this included a couple of minutes talking to one of the life guards.  I think anders will have a god shot at swimming close to 60 tomorrow.

The weather is forecasted to be brutally hot--95 degrees with no shade.  going to be a tough day out there....

IMAZ

I'm off in Phoenix helping Anders get ready for sunday's IMAZ--which will be his 4th IM of his 21 years on this planet.  Race day is forecast to be 94 and windy--yikes!!!!

We arrived yesterday and got everything ready for him.  Nice meal last night at the Salt Cellar.  this morning we are off to swim in the Tempe Town "Lake"....

It's a different experience to be at one of these things and not have to race....I'm going to focus on being the best support crew I can be!

March Totals

With the tucson training camp, March 2008 was a very good month training wise.  My bike and swim are making excellent progress.  My run is still a disappointing despite my higher volume this year.  I'm starting to hit the track now and I hope that makes a difference soon.

March Summary (2008/2007/% change)

Swim: 42.7k  39.0k  +9%  (yds)

Bike:  1205  850  +42%  (miles)

Run:  131.5  144.9  -8% (miles)

Time: 111:29  90:19  +23% (hours)

YTD through March

Swim:  116  141  -18%

Bike:  2714  2365  +15%

Run:  407  363  +12%

time:  286  271  +6%

Epic Training Camp!!!!

Well I just returned from an epic training camp in Tucson, Arizona.  I went out on March 5th and returned yesterday, March 21st--16 days of hardcore training.  Five of those days were at Paul Cross' Endurance Specialists Advanced Triathlon Camp and the other eleven days were training with an assorted group of world class triathletes.  The last six days I was joined by my son Anders.

At the camp we had 4 coaches: Paul Cross (he runs the camp and is my son's coach--he is a fantastic triathlon coach and is also expert in swim technique and nutrition), Pete Reid (he of course is a 3x Hawaii winner and was my coach last year), Clint Lien (Clint is an outstanding coach who has worked with Pete for many years) and Cliff English (he is the national coach of the US Olympic Triathlon Team).  (Their website is: www.endurancespecialists.com).

As I mentioned, I was also able to train with a number of triathletes who were there during my 16 days including Sam McGlone (she finished 2nd at hawaii last year, won the 1st IM70.3 WC and was a Canadian olympian), TJ Tollakson (1st at Eagleman last year, 3rd at IMLou and Vineman...), several members of the US National Team and a number of elite Canadians who were around as well.

We stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn which was right next to a Trader Joe's and a Starbucks (plus a number of restaurants).  It was perfect.  We rode every day including some epic climbs up Mt. Lemmon and a lot of repeats over Gates' Pass.  Anders and I did a monster ride out to Kitt Peak.  The running focus was on transition runs and technique although we did get a fair amount of volume.  Swimming was in an outdoor pool that was about a mile away and was also technique oriented (we had video feedback from Paul).  The weather was generally fantastic, about 45 in the early morning and rising to low 80s by the afternoon with tons of sunshine and no humidity (we did have two pretty tough "cold" days were the weather only reached the low 50s with wind and rain).

At night we had a number of "talks" on nutrition, the mental aspects of triathlon and Pete and Sam on how to excel in Hawaii.  After the camp was over there was a lot of hanging around, going out to dinner and generally resting up for the next day's training load.  Here is a summary of my daily training (the format is Swim in yds/Bike in miles/run in miles):

Day 1: 0/34.0/0

Day 2: 0/65.5/8.0

Day 3: 1650/57.0/4.5

Day 4: 0/42.2/6.5

Day 5: 2500/50.4/5.5

Day 6: 1700/31.2/10.5

Day 7: 0/69.4/5.2

Day 8: 0/71.8/0

Day 9: 2000/28.0/0

Day 10: 3300/59.0/6.0

Day 11: 2250/71.4/5.0

Day 12: 0/107.0/2.0

Day 13: 0/40.4/11.3

Day 14: 5000/47.0/6.8

Day 15: 3000/59.5/10.0

Day 16: 1700/97.8/2.2

Total:  swim: 23,100 yds     Bike:  931.6 miles    Run:  83.5 miles

This was obviously a huge training load (over 5 hours/day on average) and especially jumped up my bike fitness.   I'm spending the next week in recovery mode to make sure I absorb all the training volume.

What the numbers don't tell is the intensity, which on the bike was many times right at my power limit.  We also had a ton of vertical elevation change on almost every ride.  Also, we had to deal with the elevation especially on the Mt. Lemmon climbs.  The numbers also don't tell all the great experiences like getting in a breakaway with Sam and TJ or the epic IM brick Anders and I did with Sam or the fun discussions we had with a universally talented group of triathletes who are also just great people.   I'll also post a blog with pics....