Category: Ironman Training

I've never had an interest in doing the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, but lots of my friends have and many of them are doing it today, Sunday, June 3rd 2007. I think it's kinda crazy — it starts off jumping off a boat into the San Francisco bay waters.  Here's the story.

Anyway, the t-shirts and the cycle jerseys are nice. I would do it for that but overall not really interested. There's another Alcatraz triathlon but Escape from Alcatraz is supposed to be the better one.

I'm also in what they call the "no ironman zone". After four of these damn Ironman races I'm just not interested in training for this next one in Canada. I'm really not interested in doing much of anything right now.

Here's the wrap-up:

• This was my fourth Ironman. Finished.  I was surprised at the end, because it felt easy and I crossed the finish line feeling unsatisfied.  Scary…
• I finished in 14:39. IMAZ was my practice race for Ironman Canada 25th Anniversary so took it easy but there was a lot of things that went wrong.
• Some of those things include forgetting my wetsuit, bad nutrition (consumed like 800+ calories on the bike in the first hour and a half I only consume 200 calories an hour). I almost threw up.
• The wind was 30mph so 56 miles of 30mph winds was not fun.
• I would not do Ironman Arizona again. The 3 loops on the bike course was boring and depressing. Plus it was like doing a 7 hour spin class the course was way too flat. Suffice to say, my balls hurt. Also, the water was dirty but the run was nice and the volunteers were great.
• Staying at my friend's place in Scottsdale was great. High speed wireless and all.

That's about it. I was 1432 place. I was like 1755 on the swim and passed like 300 people on the bike and got passed by only 10 people on the run. That was kinda cool.

This is one of my routes, it's a 12.5 mile route. Here's a description of it and I think it's an interesting enough route. I'm sure CAL students who run would enjoy it.

Mile #1: From my starting point to mile 1 is basically the hood, the ol' Black Panther neighborhood. It's always quiet though and the houses are a mix of nice craftsman style houses to some rundown houses. I pass by a church, a couple schools, and a bunch of new lofts including Green City lofts which is a "green" building. If I make it to mile 1 alive, I'm in good shape. Wear your bullet proof vest when you run and you'll be fine.

Mile #2: I could go further down and pass by the mall and Pixar headquarters but instead I take a right on to San Pablo avenue and pass by the infamous Oaks Card Club. Along this stretch I'll also pass by an IHOP, Arizmendi bakery, Your Black Muslim Bakery, and a lot of people who aren't the most fortunate in the area. This is called the Golden Gate district or Three Corners where Oakland, Emeryville, and Berkeley intersect.

Mile #3: Lots of interesting stuff around here as I near University Ave including some of my favorites: Good Vibrations, Cafe Trieste, East Bay Nursery, LaneSplitter's Pizza, Everett & Jones Barbecue, EcoHome, and Fenton McClaren. There's a lot of garages and salvage yards and antique stores. It's a pretty neat area. There are a couple interesting restaurants that we haven't tried yet either.

Mile #4: I'll pass the Albatross pub, our snowboard shop, REI, Cafe Fanny, Acme bread company, and Tokyo Fish Market. If I go up Gilman which I'll sometimes do, I'll pass Lalimes (a yummy restaraunt much like Chez Panisse) and Monterey Market.

Mile #5 – 6: This is basically Solano Ave in Albany. Solano Ave I haven't explored much but lots of restaurants and they also have a Zachary's pizza here and a movie theatre. I think it's Albany's main street. The restaurants are all over the map, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, French, etc. Lots of stuff on this street.

Mile #7: This is Marin Avenue. It's about 680 feet of climbing in one mile, so from 300 foot elevation to 980 foot elevation. It's a 22% grade. I've yet made it to the top, about two blocks away. Jerry Rice would be proud.

Mile #8-9: Rather uneventful, it's all downhill through the million dollar homes in Berkeley to UC Berkeley.

Mile #10: Running through the UC Berkeley campus is interesting. It's funny to see how young college kids look. I didn't realize it, it's almost like they're in high school to me. Most kids are walking around with their iPods and the dress of UC Berkeley students ranges from Gap-like to scary strange.

Mile #11: I could run down College Avenue which would make this post even longer because of all the cool stores and restaurants on College Ave in the Elmwood and Rockridge districts. Instead, I make a beeline over to the Claremont Hotel and go downhill on Claremont Avenue.

Mile #12: Well this is the home strecth. Claremont is pretty uneventful. Lots of million dollar homes down to half a million dollar homes at the bottom of the street. I pass by the DMV, a couple of Eritrean owned coffee shops, go undereath an overpass (Highway 24) and head home.

THE END

It's no secret that training for an Ironman and racing an Ironman there's lots and lots of cool toys. I've written about my gear (bike, wetsuit, etc) already but haven't mentioned some of my other toys that keeps me going so here we go:

This is a group of stuff from TP MassageBall. It's a little pricey but consists of two rollers, a ball and this little foam block. I got this set up in Canada last year and had been eyeing it for a while. The large roller is for your IT band and quads (basically your thighs) and it gets in there deeper than a foam roller. The small roller is for that spot/tendon between your calf muscles and achilles. The smaller roller is also for your feet. The ball is for your feet for plantar fascia and can be used for your back or butt, but mostly for your feet.

I also use a foam roller. Megan is a friend of mine from IronTeam demonstrating a nice back stretch on the foam roller. You can do a lot with the foam roller for your back, shins, IT band, etc. People who do pilates use a foam roller a lot and lots of physical therapists or personal trainers have you exercise on a foam roller 1) to help out with balance, 2) it's a cheap massage tool. Because foam rollers are cheap, it's a definite must for Ironman training. Yoga places and I'm seeing them more in general sporting goods stores are places where you can get them.

I first tried out The Stick as we were doing a drive through of my first Ironman course in Canada. I was amazed at how good it felt using it for massaging out my shins, quads, and then also calves. It's great if someone else uses The Stick on you for your calves and hamstrings. The idea behind The Stick and also the TP Massage ball set of stuff is around trigger points and unblocking or stretching those out. I kinda call it "micro-stretching" because it's targeted to certain spots that are tight. They have multiple "sticks". I'd recommend the red (which I own) or the blue one (which is more flexible). If you're a runner, the Stick is a must have.

The reasons to have these tools are for faster recovery and injury prevention, plus they're actually kinda of fun to have as toys. In order, I got the foam roller first, then the Stick, and then the tp massage ball stuff — or cheap to expensive.

Sister Madonna is quite the triathlon legend. At 76, she just finished an Ironman, the Ironman World Championship in Kona. She was the last finisher, finishing just a few minutes behind a good friend of mine.

I can't necessarily mess with my friend because I only beat Sister Madonna by 10 minutes or so during my second Ironman (that's right, I beat a 75 year old nun by 10 minutes in an Ironman *race* and I'm damn proud of it too). After I finished that year, I sat next to her and watched the fireworks that happens a little after midnight at Ironman Canada. It was actually pretty special.

Anyway, Sister Madonna was at Ironman Canada too this year and I said hi and everything. She didn't remember me from last year. She had technical issues on her bike and didn't finish, but she's done enough of them. At 76, she's the oldest woman finisher of an Ironman ever.

She's pretty cool and it's a total blessing to see her out on the course. If Sister Madonna can do it, she's 76 years old, yeah your butt can run a mile or seven or run for an hour or longer or swim continuously for 10-15 minutes.

Ironman training for me starts this week. My two races are Ironman Arizona and Ironman Canada. My goal time for Ironman Canada is to get in under 12 hours which would be a 2 hour improvement from last year.

The plan is to: a) lose weight now and drop to 175lbs by December by drinking tons of water and eating lots of oatmeal (for real this time), b) run three days a week — an hour two days a week and an hour to two hours one day a week, c) focus on technique for swimming, d) bike when I can e) stretch and get more flexible.

That should do it. Game on.

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Some side notes:

People tired of reading about my Ironman training should go check out Kara and Sarah.  There are others on the team that have blogs, but these guys write more often and they're good reads.  You should also donate to their fundraising too.

• The Death Ride, a bike ride in California pretty wacky
• The Canadian Death Race, just wacky

Why is an endurance event with "death" as the marketing ploy so appealing to so many people? So you did a race and you didn't die? I'm not doing either of these races on principle and more importantly the event shirts/jerseys don't look very nice.

I'm not an elite runner, this is just for the average person who wants to start running as exercise, to lose weight etc. I've picked up a few things when I started running again several years back.*

Here's what I've learned:

• Ease into running. It's tough to get started and to stay consistent, but try to get it to a point where NOT running feels weird like not brushing your teeth feels weird. It's a little easier if you have a training program or set your sites on a goal like a 10k, 1/2 marathon or a full marathon as far as staying consistent.
• Get running shoes. I recommend ASICS shoes. If you can go to a running shoe store, you'll get good advice from the salespeople there and recommend you a good shoe based on your natural running gait. If all else fails go for the ASICS Cumulus shoes.
• If you're running for performance, you only need to run 3 days a week and can be broken up as "speed" or track workout, tempo or mid-distance work out, and a slow long distance workout. Breaking it up into those three workouts makes running less boring.
• 10 minute mile run pace is a good/acceptable goal. Elite is like 6-7 minute miles and fast is 7-9 minute miles. If you can get to 9-10 minute miles over 6 miles or longer, you're in good shape.
• Don't run on concrete/sidewalk. The surface is too hard. It's better to run on the street/asphalt, but other surfaces like dirt are preferred.
• You can run without it hurting. The trick is slightly leaning forward and feel "falling forward". What happens is your foot strike occurs with your mid-sole versus your heel. When you "heel-strike" you roll heel to toe which causes you to overwork your shin muscles which aren't strong at all. Mid-sole strike shifts running over to your calf muscles and your tendons which are much stronger.  Know that running with a mid-sole strike is not a natural way to run. You have to learn/practice how to run this way.
• You should run for at least 30-45 minutes at a time. There's really no point running any less than that and if 30-45 minutes is hard think 10 minutes of warm-up, 10 minutes of actually running, and 10 minutes of cooling down.
• Run outside and find good routes to run. It makes running a lot more fun.

That's about it. You don't have to eat before, during, or after in terms of what should I be eating. You should be drinking water throughout though.

Running is about the easiest way to lose weight and it can be fun, especially if you run with people or train for an event.

Some cool sites:
Runner's World | Jeff Galloway

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* I'm not a personal trainer or a coach or anything like that. This is just some things I've picked up and maybe people find it useful. I'm not a nutritionist either but people seem to want to eat oatmeal after I've posted my now infamous Oatmeal Diet and unleashed on to the webosphere.

I'm at it again.

Skip the story, if you know the drill/need the tax break, and donate (https://rebron.org/TNT/donate.html) to my fundraising for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, IronTeam 2007. I'm looking to raise another $7,500 as I train for Ironman Arizona AND Ironman Canada in 2007. First deadline is Sept 15.

Donate: https://rebron.org/TNT/donate.html
What I'm doing: https://rebron.org/TNT/ironman.html

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My first Ironman in 2004, done in 15 hours and 52 minutes while raising over $7,500 for the Leukemia Society, was to prove that I'm a little crazy. The second Ironman in 2005 done in 16 hours and 37 minutes was to reinforce just how crazy. And the third Ironman Canada, finished in 13 hours and 59 minutes just a week ago, and now over $13,000 raised for the Leukemia Society removes all doubt. I'm not sure what 2 Ironman races in one year will mean but it doesn't look like I'm stopping the insanity anytime soon.

An Ironman triathlon is a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run accomplished all in one day and it's actually pretty hard. There are many Ironman triathlons set around the world and the winners from those races compete at the world championships in Kona, Hawaii where the first Ironman was held (I'm not going there anytime soon). The three Ironmans I've done so far were in Penticton, British Columbia/Canada, a very beautiful place.

I've done all my Ironmans with Team in Training. Team in Training (TNT) is a division of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and is a cool organization. I started up with TNT in 2003/2004, urged by a friend to join because I could have been a little bit healthier. I didn't know anyone affected by blood related cancers when I first joined, and then just about everyone I knew was affected including my wife's cousin diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma in early 2005. Because of the advances directly attributed to donations like yours, our cousin is doing well. However, there are still some people who aren't so lucky.

There's a handful of people I do this for including Cole Regan who passed away in 2004, Louie Bonpua a Filipino sports hero, an Ironman/IronTeamer who passed away in 2002, Lesley Mansford, my teammate who's diagnosed with CLL AND finished Ironman Canada in 2006, Laura Warren, a cancer survivor and good friend of mine, and sadly I can keep going.

Back to the fun stuff. Ironman Arizona is set for April 15, 2007 and the 25th Anniversary of Ironman Canada is set for August 26, 2007. I'm looking to improve my time by a couple more hours but more importantly have fun with IronTeam 2007. Every year our team has raised over $750,000 for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We not only attempt probably the hardest event that TNT offers, we fundraise the most too.

Thanks for all the help, you can follow along with my training (or train with me vicariously or for real) at www.IronTeam.net or here at rebron.org.