Category: Ironman Training

I've got one more post re: Ironman 2006 talking about my team. This one is about all the cool gear I have and/or want to have. So here we go, Ironman head to toe:

Wear throughout the race

• Sugoi race singlet or tri-top: Sugoi is a Canadian company and they have pretty good stuff
• Oomph! Lava compression shorts: these shorts are awesome, dries quickly from the swim, just enough padding for the bike, and nice fit for the run, I like Oomph! Sports a lot

Swimming

• swim cap: usually collect this from a race, I don't buy swim caps
• Speedo Optic googles: I like the tinted ones
• Ironman Instinct Wetsuit: the company changed names and they're now called Blue Seventy, I recommend getting an Orca wetsuit though

Bicycling

• Giro Atmos bike helmet: blue and white, this is what Discovery team uses
• Oakley sunglasses: best sunglasses around
• Trek gloves, Sidi Genius 5.5 HT Carbon bike shoes
• Bike, Trek SL Madone 5.2 – Carbon Stryke Ironman aerobars, Cane Creek headset, Shimano Ultegra 10 speed, rest are Bontrager parts: Looking to upgrade this year to Look Keo carbon pedals, Chris King headset, and maybe HED 3.0 race wheels, Dura Ace components eventually
• Other bikes I like are from Specialized, LiteSpeed, Serotta, Guru, Felt, and Iro Cycle
• Ironman socks, ultimax: The right pair of socks are really important for an Ironman. For training, I also like Assos bicycling shorts, one of the most comfortable bike shorts out there, and Hincapie bike jerseys, Craft undershirts

Running

• ASICS Nimbus running shoes: ASICS is one of the best running shoe brands around, New Balance is good too

Food and miscellaneous

• Carbo Pro, Thermolytes, Cytomax (peach or tropical fruit), GU gel (chocolate, vanilla, banana blitz)
• Body Glide, Assos cream, race belt, race chip strap

Short Story:

I finished my third Ironman Canada triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 run). I came in at 13 hours 59 minutes and 39 seconds, about a 2 1/2 hour improvement from last year which was a 16:37 time. My swim was 1:27, my bike was 6:35, and my run was 5:44. It was more or less a good day, it was hot, about 90 degrees, but I had a good time. As usual, the folks from Canada were great. Oh, and I made the official video again! :)

The Long Story:

The Start

I started the day off at 4am. I ate a big 'ol bowl of steel cut oatmeal with raisins and maple syrup. I got my bags ready, headed over to Alex for some Peet's coffee went to the hotel lobby to chit chat, went back to the room, went to the bathroom, kissed Katina good bye, and took my bags out to the hotel lobby to get out on 5:15 van or so to get to the start. I actually got a ride w/ Debby, Marin, and Maritza and we went and dropped off our transition bags and got body marked. We went to the hotel bathroom and then headed to our bikes to pump our tires and last minute inspection. All was good, I was able to empty my bowels twice which is important since you really don't want to do that during the race.

The Swim

We got changed into our wetsuits and headed over to the beach to get ready for the swim which started at 7am. I did a little warm-up, found my friend Jeff (we were supposed to swim together) and we headed out for the swim. I lost him immediately and I just started swimming. I got into the middle of the pack so I could take advantage of the "draft" and it was a long, long swim. I "rolled over" someone's back which was cool, a technique we were taught when someone is trying to get into your swim space. Rolling over someone's back is a pretty cool method, it's not like the person can do anything when you're on their back. After the second turn around heading back to shore, it was cool, I felt like swimming with a pack of dolphins. When I got out of the swim, I saw my teammates cheering me on and I saw Katina and gave her a kiss before going into transition.

I finished the swim in 1:26, about 12 minutes faster than what I swam two years ago. My transition time from swim to bike was only a little over 5 minutes, about 5 minutes faster than last year.

The Bike

The bike was kind of uneventful, pretty as always, but still uneventful. I got onto my bike after a quick transition. I smoked the first 37 miles, it was flat and mostly downhill, I was averaging about 20mph or so. I kept it relaxed and tried to breathe through and not push too hard. When I got to the first challenge, Richter pass which is a fairly major hill, I attacked it as hard as I could and saw Alex and gang.

I cruised through the next 30 miles, saw Mary, Judy, and Paul w/ their outfits. I saw a bunch of folks on the "out and back" portion of the bike course, and then headed towards Yellow Lake. After the "out and back" is when the race really starts. People pretty much hit a wall around mile 70 or so of the bike ride. I just started feeling a bit of a cramp in my legs and I geared down and took it easy for the next 20 miles.

I started up Yellow Lake and cranked all the way up. It wasn't as hard as previous years at all. I was hoping for Katina to be at the top but they left a little late and got stuck in traffic. It's alright though. After I got to the top, I descended into town and started cranking home on the descent and flats. I thought I was going to burn out my legs for the run but I had strong legs still and was able to pass a bunch of folks on that last burst.

I finished that bike in 6:35, about an hour faster than I biked the first two years. That was pretty good.

The Run

I was hoping to run the whole marathon. I was able to run the first 7 miles only stopping briefly for water at each aid station. After mile 7 and catching a friend of mine on the team (who was recovering from a torn meniscus), I started a run/walk. The run is fairly brutal, slightly uphill for the first 13 miles. Thankfully, on the way back it was downhill. Michelle, a former IronTeamer, caught up with me and we started running together for a while. It was funny because our Coach Wayne sent out her race plan (a planning guide for the race) to the team. She caught up to me at the lake and I would run ahead and she would catch up and I would stop, and I would catch her until mile 22 or so when I didn't see her again. If it wasn't for her, I would've had a 14 hour time.

I was picking some steam coming into town and finally saw Katina. We ran in together, I didn't ham it up as much as I would've liked as in previous years but it was still good. I always run into people after I cross the finish line. Same happened here.

My final time for the event was 13:59:39.

Post-Race

After the race, we took the official finisher photo, I got some food, got a little massage (not so great), and then headed back before the finish to watch the rest of my teammates finish the race. We had a bunch of people from IronTeam/Team in Training do the course this year and it's quite an amazing group. One person who finished has leukemia, another is a pediatrician who's had patients with leukemia, and many more all different body shapes, different backgrounds, different challenges cross the finish line.

My goal this year was simple — get faster so I can finish faster and head back to where everyone is so I can watch them finish. While I'm not nearly fast enough to watch everyone on the team finish (our fastest guy came in at 11 hours 15 minutes), I was able to see a bunch of folks finish their first Ironman. It's pretty cool to watch.

I've made it safe and sound to Penticton, Canada for Ironman Canada 2007.  The race is on Sunday, should be fun.

draft
Ironman Race Plan

Date/Time	Physical Game/Food	Mental Game	Additional Notes
Thursday, August 24 – Travel day	Travelno red meatbreakfast lunch dinner	Register if possible	Relax and Stretch
Friday, August 25	Restno red meatbreakfast lunch dinner	Register, Pack transition bags	Hang out at hot tub Take epsom salt bath Relax and Stretch
Saturday, August 26	Restno red meatbreakfast lunch dinner		No hot tub Relax and stretch Go to bed at 8 – 9pm
Sunday, Aug 27 – Race Day
Wake up: 3:30 – 4am	oatmeal, maple syrup, raisins, coffee, hardboil eggs	relaxed take pictures of teammates coffee w/ Alex	wearing: _ sweat pants _ IronTeam jacket _ crocs _ Oomph! Lava _ IronTeam jersey _ socks _ race chip _ glasses
Morning: 4 – 7am	head down: 5:30am _ go to bathroom _ drop of transition bags _ body markings _ check bike tires _ sunglasses in transition bag _ change into wetsuit _ body glide up _ go to start _ hand glasses to Katina	relaxed listen to iPod
Swim Start: 7am; 1:20 – 1:45 min	swig of cytomax/carbo pro draft, draft, draft	swim like Joanna – steady and strong – find draft – breathe rhythm – focus on over the barrellswim like Susan Pope – effortless – focus on rotation, body roll
Transition 1: 5 – 10 min	_ put on sunglasses _ put on socks and bike shoes _ put on helmet _ put wetsuit, cap and googles in bag _ apply assos cream
Bike: 3pm – 4:30pm; 6 hrs – 7 hrs 30 min Ideal finish time: 4pm	nose breathing get in aero positionFood _ 4 endurolytes every 15 min _ one gulp every 15 minbottle 1: Cytomax, Carbo Pro blend, x calories bottle 2: Cytomax, Carbo Pro blend, x calories bottles 3 – 6 Clif bar	bike like Wayne strong and anal about nutritionsteady: 1 – 37 milesbike like Tom spin, spin, tough it out37 – 70 Richter and rollers – moderately attack Richter stand under 5mphrecover through 70 – attack Yellow Lake stand hard 70 – 100 recover, coast 100 – 112	special needs bag:tube, co 2, clif bar, turkey slices, 2 frozen water bottle w/ cytomax, bag of endurolytes
Transition 2: 5 – 10 minutes	_ put on running shoes, race belt _ get water bottle _ put bike shoes, helmet, gloves in bag
Run: 8:30pm – 10pm; 4 hrs 30 min – 6 hrs	nose breathing patternFood 1 endurolyte every even mile GU every third mile sip water throughout	run like Charlie only 26 miles (say bye as you leave say hi as you return)run like Mary lean forward, no effortslow: 1 – 5 miles med: 5 – 13 miles pick-up: 13 – 20 miles kill: 20 – 26 miles
Recovery	eat whatever is available Denny's w/ the gangchocolate milk shake or chocolate milk

I'm winding down with Ironman training, we've got about 18 days left before the big day. Just this last Saturday I did the Marin century bike ride which I did the past two years and this year I felt unusually strong. We're in the taper phase now where we rest up from the 10 months of accumulated training.

One of my other benchmarks other than the Marin Century is the Claremont avenue ride. Last week, I went up Claremont, down South Park, back up South Park, down|up and back down Claremont avenue. Fairly excited since last year I was only able to go up Claremont w/ the new bike. My toes and feet are healthy so I'm able to run, my shins no longer hurt, and running an hour or two isn't such a big deal now. 4-5 hours will be rough but 1-2 hours not so bad.

Swimming is ramping up a bit though, doing 4-6 miles of swimming a week. It's about an hour and fifteen minutes plus worth of swimming in a pool which is really quite a long time to be in a pool. About 45 minutes to an hour is good, anything more than an hour is a bit too much.

I've figured that sane distances for regular exercise for regular people is: 1 mile swim or 30-45 minutes of swimming, 3-5 miles of running, and 25 – 45 miles of bicycling. Anything more than that is really kind of dumb.

I'm six weeks away from my third Ironman Canada and this year I'm feeling great, much better than last year and I'm in a much stronger and better mental state than in my first year. The next three weeks is the final push of training which will include a triple brick workout (a 2 hour bike ride, 1 hour run 3 times through) and then the Marin Century ride the week after.

This year, if I run I should be able to shave off at least an hour or so off my total time from last year. I'm looking at staying within the 14 hour range this year, if all goes well. It should, I'm in better shape, healthy, and I'm in a much better groove w/ my nutrition.

I'm on a strict six week diet which is oatmeal for breakfast in the morning, all the fruits and vegetables I can eat, chicken breasts, eggs, lean deli meats, fish, and tofu. No bread, no cheese, no sugar, no coffee. I'll get all my carbs mostly from the training ride food I use. I'm still hovering at about 180-185lb but I'm in the 8-10% body fat range (versus 12-15% from a couple months ago) so something is going right. I should drop to at least 175lbs when the six weeks is up.

In the "thicket of the devil" is a bit dramatic for describing me riding to the top of Mount Diablo this weekend. Not a big deal at all except that it was crazy hot this weekend and going to the top of Mount Diablo is considered a Category 1 – 2 climb (e.g. how climbs are measured in the Tour de France) — it wasn't that bad.

The elevation at the top of Mount Diablo is 3,800 feet. I had been up there once before but with a triple chain ring (as opposed to a double chain ring which I have, or a "compact crank" set which is double chain ring but w/ smaller gears so acts more like a triple.) With a double chain ring, you're supposed to be a stronger rider and you can go faster. I do feel much stronger on the bike than the past couple of years. Let's just say I didn't fall at the very top, where the % grade is fairly ridiculous and pretty mean considering you've climbed all that way already.

The views from the top are good but frankly it's the same as the views from 2,400 or 3,000 feet. The climb is pretty challenging and the descent from the mountain is epic.

I'll probably look to climb Mount Diablo again before this season is over. It's really a slow, slow climb. I much prefer the East Bay hills where it's a 20 minute climb, a bit of a descent or flat, and then climb some more.

This is my third year doing Ironman (2 more Ironmans next year) and I've condensed everything down to a few tricks. There kinda has to be a few tricks in order for normal people like me to swim a couple miles, bike a 100 or so miles and then do a marathon.

So here they are:

—

Swimming

The trick to swimming long distances freestyle is body roll and position. You kind of just move (twist) from one side to the other and try and keep your body shaped like a canoe (versus a rowboat) and slice through the water moving side to side. You don't have to kick at all because the side to side movement propels you forward and you use your hips|stomach|core muscles to power you through not your legs and not necessarily your arms. The concept of this can be found in the Total Immersion book.

Focusing on body roll and position makes swimming so much easier. Not having to kick allows you to go much further.

—

Road cycling

There are really no tricks here, you just have to get out on the road and get time in on the saddle. But two things, if you buy a really, really light bike like one made out of carbon fiber or titanium, and you focus on spinning 90+rpms (rotations per minute) on lower gears, you're going to be in good shape.

Focusing on spinning makes your cycling much more efficient since lower rpms and higher gears will blow out your knees and will get you hurt. Other than that, there are really no tricks to cycling unfortunately. Road cycling is pure power, leg strength. During the offseason, doing leg presses and squats will help a lot or riding a bunch of hills will get you stronger and faster.

—

Running

There is, however, a trick to running. With running, you have to do the forward lean as if you're falling and catching yourself. You're not leaning from the hip down, but leaning from the ankles. The feeling is like falling forward and catching yourself on a wall. What happens then is that you're striking the ground with your mid-sole (or most of the foot) versus hitting the ground with your heel and rolling over on to the balls of your feet. It's almost like your running flat footed. This means that where you get sore gets shifted from your shins to the lower back of your calves where you have more muscles.

They call this Chi running just to sell you a book. They'll tell you what I just told you in a few pages and then pad the book w/ nonsense like running is all mental, you have to be in tune w/ your body crap.

Practice leaning forward from the ankles, practice 90 foot strikes per minute (so fast rotation while running too), and practice striking the ground w/ your mid-sole versus heel. With those things you can run pretty far w/ out feeling it. It doesn't feel natural at first because that's not how you would run when running a sprint. But it is a good way to run long distances or for casual running.

Ironman Canada is in August so I've got a good 4 1/2 months of training left (most of August will be tapering). The real training starts and it'll be pretty intense — where weekends are shot, and we're essentially doing a century bike ride a week.

All good stuff. Can't wait.  I'm feeling hungry this year.

What a difference a week makes. Last weekend, I couldn't finish my Saturday bike ride, only 35-40 minutes, and on Sunday, I stopped short of finishing my swim and walked a majority of a 6 mile run (I was hurting after a mile). I think it was mostly mental but my shins were still bothering me.

This week, I got all my workouts in except for one. On Saturday, I ran from my house to my parents ~ 8-9 miles, and stopped only once to stretch out my shins which still hurts. On Sunday, we did a "double brick" or an 80 minute spin workout, a 40 minute run, a 29 mile bike ride, and then a 40 minute run (that last one, I only did 15 minutes and ran/walk another 15).

It's still only February, so I've got another 6 months to go before my race. Things are looking a little better, and it's coming back to me now.