Race Report - Ironman Coeur d'Alene

This past weekend, was a busy one for Vitality Multisport athletes.

Karyn Hoffman finished her 5th Western States 100 miler. She overcame adversity throughout the race, including a nasty fall 25 miles in and continued to chug along; she is by far one of the toughest athletes I know finishing in just over 27 hours!

Sheila Leard, who just 9 months ago broke her pelvis in a bike crash finished Ironman Coeur d’Alene in spite of a cold, cold swim and a flat tire within the first few miles of the bike ride. She persisted and ran her way from 10th to 4th AG during the marathon!

Bernhard Sturm was back in Idaho for another shot at an Ironman race and also had a tough swim, having to flip over and do some back stroke early on. With 2340 people, it was a doozy of a start! He overcame his “near-panic-attack” and cruised to a 1:12 swim. He rode solid and steady and had a good first half-marathon. However, his gut started shutting down in the 2nd half and in spite of that, hung on for an 11:02 finish. Ironman is about how you respond to adversity and not how things go when it’s easy… great performances!

And with respect to my race, here are the lengthy details…

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Last year’s race in Idaho was my first DNF. A few days after that race, I decided to go ahead and register for 2011 so I could go back to Coeur d’Alene for some retribution. Meanwhile, time passes and I changed my plan to just half-IM races in the first half of the year and a late build-up to IM Florida. I wasn’t completely sure I was going to be ready for the mental investment that IM takes. The last few off-seasons, I had worked hard on swimming and biking, but this past off-season, I decided to do some running races. I ran a lot over the winter and had changed my season plan to include a marathon in March. I hadn’t run one hard in several years and wanted to see where my run fitness was these days. Meanwhile, back in January, I had started working with a new coach. After the marathon, we started layering on the swim and bike training and I was feeling pretty good on the bike. In late April, I did a training ride with a friend who was doing it and felt pretty good (in spite of the pouring rain that day)… then that night my wife says “you might as well do CDA too!” How’s that for supportive (she is truly incredible ;-) !!! So the wheels started turning. I was considering it and let my coach know I was already registered. His opinion was to go ahead and do it for the experience (rather emphatically ;-), so I decided to give it a shot and the decision was made at the end of April to do the race on June 26th. I had already planned on doing Auburn, then Kansas 3 weeks later, and now I was adding a full Ironman just 2 weeks after that. So the “gauntlet” would be 3 races in 5 weeks – “World’s Toughest” in Auburn on 5/22, Kansas 70.3 on 6/12, and IM CDA on 6/26!

From a preparation standpoint, I had done the early season marathon and had some good running “in the bank” but after 3/27, I had exactly 1 week of running over 30 miles. I was doing some good biking, through April and May, but not much long stuff: only two 5+ hour rides in April and 1 ride over Memorial day weekend of 6.5 hours with some good climbing. That was about it for long rides. I did bump up the swimming after the marathon, too, but only got 1 week over 10k yds and my average week was around 6K yds. By no means am I making excuses because I did have 2 very good half-IM races in May and June to get me ready. Racing is, of course, the best training! Here are plots of the details on my training build up into this race.

Mentally, I was approaching the race to go out, give it what I had on the day, and gain experience. Just to face the hard parts on the run course and improve how I respond. That lasted until a week or two prior to the race, when I did start having some expectations brewing. I ran a 1:28 half-marathon in Kansas so I figured I could have a decent marathon off-the-bike in Idaho. Well, there is the small detail of a 112 mile ride with 5K feet of vertical to contend with. I had also had a good race in Auburn and my TSS (training stress score) for that ride was in the neighborhood of 230. At that race I ran a 1:31 off the bike, so I figured if I kept the TSS down in CDA to the 230 range, I’d be good. Just keep the pace of the run slow and I could keep running. No problem, right!?

From a stress standpoint, the trip was very relaxed. Fortunately, my folks were watching our kids so Emily and I got to travel on our own to Idaho. It was very easy - just do my daily business, whether it was a short swim and ride or checking gear in and then relax and try to forget about the race. We even got to see a movie! Plus, Sheila Leard and Bernhard Sturm, 2 of the athletes I’ve been coaching, were also racing, so it was nice to be there with them.

We didn’t spend a lot of time at the expo as I wanted to stay out of the craziness, but we did indulge in listening to the pros at the press conference and my wife managed to get this picture with Julie Dibens (who went on to win the women’s race and set a new course record).

We also saw other stellar athletes including Craig Alexander, who has 2 of the last 3 IM World Championships, and Maik Twelsiek who is another incredible athlete with 2 IM titles. Craig Alexander would win the men’s race with a 2:46 run and Maik Twelsiek set a new bike course record with a 4:29.

Craig Alexander before the race

Anyway, race morning finally came. I went about my business getting things going – made my breakfast and we headed to the race. Got there and transition was already buzzing… the vibe at these events is incredible on race morning: a huge amount of nervous energy! I pumped up my tires, put my nutrition on my bike, and then we looked for Sheila. We found her over at the band shell and got ready together. Here’s a shot of us on race morning.

Me and Sheila race morning

Here's a shot of Emily and me (no, Emily was not planning on robbing a 7/11)

I decided to use a different start strategy this year since I got pummeled last year. I know there is no secret to it; you always get in the mess, but I figured I would at least try to minimize it. I made my way toward the beach with my wife, gave her a kiss, then moved on down there. I kept going far to the right. My plan was to start wide right about middle depth. I made my way over there and then saw Emily again who had snuck her way into an awesome spot at the edge of the beach so we got to sit together to wait for the start.

Coming up to sit with Emily

Mass swim start

And wouldn’t you know, it wasn’t as horrible as last year! Sure, there is incidental contact, but I actually had a tiny bit of room every now and again. That is until you hit the turn buoys. When you have 2300+ people converging on one point, it gets pretty crowded. Just tried to make it around without incident. The swim went by fairly quickly except that I did have some cramps in both calves. This is a common problem for me and I think it just comes from being horizontal for so long. They came and went and I didn’t really have to do anything (i.e. stop and stretch them). However, my right calf was a bit sore coming out of the water.

The water was cold and a lot of people were having trouble, but the cold didn’t bother me much at all. I had to take my time getting my make shift arm warmers on, but other than that, I was fine. And for the record, my make-shift arm warmers were great – we had bought a 75 cent pair of tights from Kmart and cut them up. I even left a thumb hole and a hole for my Garmin to poke through (wish I had thought to take a picture). Worked awesome! (thx to my wife for the idea ;-) Coming through transition, saw my wife, and then headed out on my bike.

Sheila starting the ride

My plan for the ride was to take it easy the first hour, but not be a complete slave to the numbers. Keeping it under 200 watts the first hour and then settling into a rhythm around 210 watts for the remainder of the ride. I was hoping my HR would be in the high 130s or low 140s, but alas, it was in the mid 140s most of the ride. However, from a perceived exertion standpoint, it felt very easy. Everything seemed fine so I rolled with it. I felt pretty good and the sun was out, so the first part of the ride was quite nice. It was a little crowded, but I gradually made my way through the masses. My friend Bart caught me a few minutes into the ride so we rode together for a while. After the out and back on Lake CDA drive, I headed north towards the hills. I was going to ride the hills moderately trying to prevent any large power spikes over 300 as best I could. I continued along with my nutrition plan (1100 calorie bottle of EFS with CarboPro and one 400-cal flask of EFS liquid shot) sipping my bottle every 15 minutes and taking a hit of the liquid shot every 45 minutes. I broke the ride down into 45 minute segments to help facilitate this. It worked pretty well… I did make an effort to front-load the calories early in the bike and had been through about half my bottle after about 40-45 miles. It seemed to be going down easily and I only had to pee once in that time, so I knew the additional sodium was helping (or at least that’s the theory). I kept motoring and came back to town where I saw Emily again. She got this shot of me on the bike.

I ended up doing the first loop in 2:41. The second loop was OK – it definitely had thinned out and there were not nearly as many people. About 65 miles in, I caught up with Bernhard who told me he had a rough swim. He wished me luck and I rode on. Meanwhile he was lurking back behind me ;-) I felt pretty good at this effort level all the way through about 90 miles, at which point I started feeling it in my legs. Ironically, this is about the distance of ride that I had done in training. It was about this point that Bernhard caught me and passed me and rode away. On the way back to transition, he put about a minute or two into me. It was in that last 20 miles of the ride when I knew my legs were going to be tired for that run. I attempted to focus on being positive, knowing that I had ridden very hard in Auburn with 6K feet of climbing in that race and still had a great run. I just went on faith that I could do the same here.

It’s flat for the last 10 miles back into town and they really dragged on. My neck was tired and I was ready to get off the bike. My 2nd loop ended up being a 2:52 so I was 11 minutes slower. Didn’t know that at the time, but I knew I was pretty tired. Coming off the bike felt good… I went through transition smoothly, changed socks, got my shoes on, grabbed my hat and took off. I saw Emily again at that point and she told me Bernhard was only a minute or two ahead. It turns out Bart was behind me by about another minute (or less). I started running and just got my head in the game.

My run plan was very much the same as the recent half-IMs I had done: 30-minute segments. I jogged out of town and tried very much to keep things under control. I consciously slowed myself to try to run at 8 minute miles (or more) for the first 30 minutes. It took me the whole first 30 minutes to get my avg pace down (or up) to that level. Bart had passed me leaving town but I held back as much as possible to just stay within myself, knowing that it gets tough later on! I really held back on the 2nd 30 minutes also and made an effort to take in my calories and walk for 10 seconds every aid station. I was drinking mostly water at this point, but had some IM Perform, too. The 3rd 30 minutes came and I was still doing OK. I had made it up the hill to the turnaround and come back up the other side. Still chugging along. My pace was slowing towards the 8:30 range, but I was still running. I made it back to town to finish the first lap before the end of the 4th 30 minutes, but I knew that my pace continued to slow down. My HR was in the mid 140s still, but it was more and more of a struggle to keep the pace below 8:30. I ran the 1st half-marathon in x:xx. After I hit the turnaround, I saw Emily and took a short break. I kissed her and she wished me luck – I knew the tough part was ahead.

Me nearing the end of the 1st loop of the run

Bart finishing the 1st loop

Sheila finishing the 1st loop still smiling and looking great!

I was able to run for another 4 miles gradually slowing down. I had switched my nutrition plan to just cola by this time and had chucked my liquid shot. I just couldn’t get any more of that down. Once I got to mile 17, I lost mental focus and my “relaxed, calm, focused, strong” mantra was really tough to hang onto. It turned into: “dang, my legs are shot!” This is not good and was definitely the point where I lost control of my race. Then it turned into “I don’t care what my time is” and “I am only doing half-IMs from now on” and just plain “ughhh…” Obviously, I let my head go negative and I had a tough time bringing it back to the task at hand. I started walking at mile 17 and walked for about 14 minutes. It turns out Bart had stopped to hit the port-o-potty and I had passed him, but when I started walking he motored past me again. I told him to hang in there and keep going…. And then after a little pity party, I managed to gather myself and start running again. At least until I hit the hill for the 2nd time and decided another walk would feel good (Uggh again). I walked the whole hill for ~12 minutes. Once to the top, I started running again and made it to the turnaround point. On my way down the hill towards the turnaround, I saw Bernhard and wished him luck. After the turnaround, I did manage to keep running the rest of the way in. It was tough and not fast (marginally running) and not what I had hoped, but at least I was running. I had a hard time getting my HR elevated, but did manage to get it back to 139 for a while. The thought of getting under 11 hours slipped away and then I started doing the math to see if I could at least PR. I kept going, but still stopped at every aid station, but now for a count of 20 seconds. It got harder and harder to keep running, but I tried to keep focused on just to the next 30 minutes! The run through the neighborhoods again was a blur and small little inclines felt like mountains! But then, the turn onto Sherman avenue and a straight shot downhill to the finish!!! Wow, that felt great. Last year, I didn’t make it to that point, so I had finally gotten some retribution… it wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for, but it was what I had in me on the day.

Bernhard finishing!

Me finishing!

From a number standpoint, I had averaged 182 watts with a norm of 205, just a touch higher than Wisconsin last year. Also probably a touch high with respect to VI (put out too much effort on hills and norm power was too much higher than avg power). My power dropped from 189 avg 211 norm 1st half to 177 avg 199 norm in the 2nd half of the ride. I continue to struggle with holding power over the duration of the ride. Perhaps just a matter of pacing, but last year, I really held back in CDA and ended up feeling worse on the run. Go figure.

My run numbers (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95381522) were:

Time / Distance / Pace

30:08/3.72/08:05

30:00/3.51/08:32

30:16/3.51/08:37

31:42/3.42/09:15

30:20/3.15/09:37

30:01/1.71/17:34

30:16/3.07/09:51

40:35/4.22/09:37

From a nutrition standpoint, I feel like it was good overall, but does need a little tweaking. I had a gel before the swim and then went through all my calories on the bike and even had about 6-8 swigs of IM Perform beyond that. I estimate I consumed ~1550 calories in 5.5 hours and took in about 3000 mg Na. On the run, I had 2 small hits of my liquid shot, but then chucked it and stuck with Perform (sports drink) through the 1st half and then switched to cola for the 2nd half. Love that cola! I wish it would’ve been “real” Coke (it was Sam’s club cola), but it still tasted good! Not sure how many calories I took in on the run. About 500-600 I am guessing, but that’s just a guess – my run fueling strategy needs some work.

I am really proud of Sheila, who made it onto the "podium" in her AG, coming back from a crash, not running until February, and finishing an IM in June. Amazing. Here are some shots of her at the awards banquet.

Overall, I was 877th coming out of the water, rode to 307 on the bike, and fell back to 319 on the run. In my AG, I was 117th out of the water (out of 353), rode to 53rd on the bike, and stayed at 53rd for the finish. Not my highest placement, but a finish nonetheless! I learned a lot from this race, including the importance of pacing, the relative unimportance of the time you do the swim in, expectations are the enemy, and that I need to work on my mental toughness. I didn’t have a conventional IM build to this race, but had some good races to go from. I plan on taking a short break now and then starting to build again for Ironman Florida in November!

Cheers!

Race Report - Ironman Kansas 70.3

Kansas 70.3 is a race my wife and I picked out to do together because it is a ~5 hour drive from where her parents live, so we decided it would be fun for it to be her first half. I consider myself very lucky that my wife is interested in triathlon also. The fact that we share the same interest in racing, challenging ourselves, and seeing what we’re capable of, is really nice. It is a time-consuming hobby, so working out ways to do it together is awesome!

The other thing I think is great about the sport is that the average folks like us can race on the same day on the same course as the elite pros. Some of these professionals are incredible athletes and to be doing the same races is way cool. This race had some great athletes, including Chrissie Wellington, who is the 2-time defending women’s champ and arguably the best women athlete around. Our run-ins with the pros started on the plane ride to Kansas, where we were in the row in front of a guy who was obviously going to the race. I noticed his Trek/K-Swiss jacket when he boarded and pretty much knew then that he was a pro on that team. I would find out later, it was Paul Mathews who ended up winning the men’s race in 3:49 with a 1:12 half-marathon. Yeah, that’s fast.

This was my wife’s first half-IM so my goals/targets for this race were, in order of priority:

1) Do what I could to help her and make sure she finished.

2) Practice my nutrition and race process in preparation for the rest of the season (IM CDA is 2 weeks away).

3) Go hard and see if I could qualify for Las Vegas, the 70.3 World Championships.

4) Break 1:30 on the run.

We spent the day before the race scoping out the venue, riding a little bit on the course to make sure our bikes traveled OK, checking them in, scoping the swim venue, etc. We were also trying to figure out how to get our family into the park without having to get up at the crack of dawn to get into the park – there was only one entrance and the bike course went out that way, so they would close it when the race started. It made for a long day and more walking than I would’ve liked, but my wife’s family were very supportive and I really appreciated that. Our kids were wiped by the end of it, too!

Race morning came and there was no sign of rain yet. We got into the park pretty easily and were walking towards T2 first (a half mile from where we parked) and the gossip was that the storm moved south and we might get off the hook. Regardless, as we were setting up T2, they announced they would compress to 3 minutes between waves to get people out there sooner and take advantage of the decent weather. So we set up our shoes/hats and then wandered down towards T1, which was another half-mile away.

Once in T1, we started setting up and when I checked on my wife, she was having trouble getting air into her front tire. I didn’t want to mess with it, so I just used the extra tube I brought that morning and changed it out. 1st drama of the day. While doing that, the woman next to her also said she was having some problems. I checked her tire and it turns out she was trying to put air into it with the valve closed. I politely explained what was happening and helped her get set up too. It actually was nice to focus on some other folks and just take it easy and relaxed. Next were the port-o-potties, which actually didn’t have as long of lines as I expected. We were pretty relaxed because my wife’s wave was #10 and mine was #12, so we had some time. Then we wandered back up to the swim start and my wife got in the corral while I watched the pros come out of the water. This is where I recognized the guy that was by us on the plane and noted he was bib #3 and 2nd man out of the water. I waited there until I saw Leanda Cave and Chrissie come out of the water and then got ready for my start.

In spite of my REALLY long swim in Auburn, I was reasonably confident for this swim. It didn’t look bad at all. However, the wind was really starting to pick up and it was way choppy. I just tried to roll with the waves and get into a good rhythm. I didn’t really have any drama during the swim – there was only 1 guy who got aggressive and grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back. Otherwise, it was just a process of trying to find a group and stay on some feet while trying to get into a rhythm with the chop. Once out to the turn buoys we headed back East, into the wind and into the chop. I felt like I was swimming in place. On the way back I just tried to keep plodding along, but it did seem like a LONG time. And once out of the water, it was a LONG time – 42 and change. Later on, I would see that the swim was hard for most people, but I did not expect that number. 90th AG out of 222 coming out of the water. My wife swam a 41 and change (yes, she is a better swimmer than I am!) and was 23rd of 78 in her AG coming out of the water.

I made my way through transition and just focused on the task at hand – working my way through the field on the bike. My plan for the bike was to go hard and stay around 250 watts as best I could. I was going to sip my “meal” bottle every 15 minutes and do a shot of my EFS gel every 45 mins and supplement with a Saltstick cap. I wanted to keep the sodium coming in to prepare for hot, humid conditions on the run. As I got rolling out of the park, I started passing tons of people. I was in the 2nd to last wave and obviously did not have a great swim, so I was basically riding through the field as I went. I would just ride up behind people and go around. On the road out of the park, which was straight East into the wind, I realized this was going to be a hard ride with pretty gnarly wind solid from the East. Once we turned South and headed towards the rest of the course, I was flying, but I knew it wouldn’t last long.

(don't have many pix because my wife and I were both racing, here's one of the race shots - you can see Kansas is not flat)

Then, about 10 miles in, I started up one of the many rolling hills (Kansas is NOT flat and this course is at least as hard as Vineman if not harder), I happened across somebody with a flat. Then I realized it was Emily!! I stopped and turned around. When I came up to her, she already had the back wheel off and was getting ready to change it. I told her to hand it over because I knew I could do it quicker. So I changed out the tube, now the back one, and then put some air in it with her CO2. It seemed to hold, so we got her wheel back on and then had to get her chain back on too. All-in-all, it took me about 5 minutes I think. I knew I was giving up some time here, but this race was more about her than me and I wasn’t completely sure she’d be able to use the CO2 correctly. And once you try that and the air is gone, you are stuck. As I mentioned, my #1 goal was for her to finish, so I was happy to help. Had I not come along, she probably would’ve been fine, but I get her rolling again and she lost only 7-8 minutes and I lost about 5. I spent the rest of the ride working hard on the hills and into the wind as much as I could knowing that I had to make up some ground on the folks in my AG. I worried some that she would have more problems, but rode on. There were large sections of the ride heading straight into the wind and times when I was pushing 300 watts and going 16-17 mph. In addition, my Garmin had 2500 feet of vertical. Usually, that seems to over-estimate a touch, but that is still more than Vineman, which has less than 2K feet of vertical. I ended up riding a 2:38 and estimate I lost ~5 minutes from the flat. Average power was 230 watts with a norm of 244. I was hoping to ride a little harder, but it felt like a solid effort – enough that I was irritable by the end and starting to get a little fatigued. And in spite of the flat, my wife still rode a 3:06. If not for the bad luck, she would’ve been under 3 hours for the bike, which is pretty good for your first time out!

Coming into transition was fun – the park road has some rollers and we had a strong tailwind for the last couple miles, so I was zooming by people still. A few hundred yards out and took my feet out of my shoes and rolled into T2. Racked my bike, took off my helmet, put on my shoes, grabbed my hat and was on my way.

The run is not super hilly but does have some slopes and one moderate hill. Everything is relative and the hills we run at home make this seem small, but I did hear people talking about how big it was. Anyway, I went on about my business and started my run “process” … 3 30-minute laps with target HRs and paces. I was shooting for a HR of ~157 on the first lap and going to try to keep my pace below 6:50 on average for the 30 minutes. I felt a little sluggish for the first few minutes, but the run legs showed up and I rolled along at ~6:4x pace. The course has 3 out-and-back sections and you repeat those on 2 laps. I hit the first out and back and then cruised back down toward the boat dock down the hill and towards the 2nd turn-around. I was moving well and felt good. On the way back up towards the campground, I was starting to get a little tired, but not bad. At the end of my 30 minutes, my average pace was 6:42 and my average HR was 158 – very close to target. My plan for the next 30 was to raise that 2-3 bpm and keep my pace up. I made my way around the campground and meanwhile started watching for Emily, hoping she had made it off the bike OK. By the end of the first lap of the course, I was still cruising along at a good pace and felt pretty decent. I started the 2nd lap and motored on. When I got down to the boat dock again, I was nearing the end of my 30 minutes and decided to extend it a minute or two… 2 reasons: (1) there was a small hill coming out of the boat dock and I didn’t want my average pace to show too slow on my watch when I started the next lap (a little mindgame for myself), and (2) if I let this one go a touch long, the last one would be shorter! By doing this, I made sure to set myself up for a good mental approach in that last 30 minutes and it worked really well. I got my avg pace down to the 6:50 range before hitting the small hill back to the campground and also knew unless the wheels fell completely off, I’d only have ~27-28 minutes to run on this last set! I let my HR come up a little and kept at it. My avg pace for the 2nd “30” minutes (actually 31:24), was 6:54 and my avg HR was 161.

(another race-photographer shot)

At this point, I also switched to only liquid fuel. My gut felt a little heavy and I didn’t want to push my luck. Coke tastes like sweet nectar of the gods in the 2nd half of the run!! I started the last part of the course around the campground on my 2nd lap and finally saw Emily. She made it off the bike and was already nearing the end of her first lap of the run – AWESOME! I was relieved at this point because I knew she would at least finish. Plus she still looked pretty good, so I was hoping she would finish strong. Those last 2 miles were tough, but I was flying by people so fast, it felt great. I was also on top of my mental approach and stuck to my rhythmic – “relaxed, calm, focused, strong.” On that note, I had recently read the mental chapter in Chris McCormack’s book and had already some thoughts organized in my “folders” that could be called upon when needed. I was hurting by this point, but I was in control mentally and felt great about that. I wasn’t completely focused on “when do I get to stop!” I was focused on my process and that was a huge victory for me. Not only that, I was keeping sub 7 minute miles and a HR of ~163 so I was NOT blowing up by any means. I pushed my way to the finish and clocked a 1:28:02 run, beating my previous best half-IM run by 3.5 minutes. I finished in 4:52 overall and was pleased I had managed to get under 5 hours in spite of a 42 minute swim and stopping to help Emily fix the flat.

I downed some sports drink, recovered for a minute or two, and then wandered over to part of the run course to watch for Emily. She came by and started her campground final loop and only had about 30 minutes to go… Then I found my family and we all watched as Emily finished her 1st half-IM in 5:44, which included 7-8 minutes of fixing a flat tire!! She had gotten back down to 23rd AG out of 78. AWESOME! I ended up working my way back up to 16th in my AG out of 222 and was pleased with that given the circumstances.

(my wife and I with my father-in-law after the finish)

As I continue to mature as an athlete, my perspective on races has changed. In the past, I probably would’ve been frustrated that I missed a PR by quite a bit. However, I just got to watch my wife finish her first half-IM and finish 23rd AG at a big race. Not only that, I helped her do it, by stopping on the side of the road and fixing her flat. This is what sticks with me. There is a fair amount of being self-involved in this sport – lots of training time, etc. It was a great experience to see my wife share in my passion AND get to help her do it and be there on the side of the road when she needed it. This was just a small thing, but it reminds me that we all need to find ways to give back to the sport and keep the community feel/approach during races, whether it is with your wife or friend or a complete stranger.

With respect to my own race, I had a great run and broke 1:30, was in control of my head (almost) the whole time. I left it out there, but also stuck to my process. I also dialed in a good nutrition plan for the rest of the season. I am very much looking forward to things to come… next up: a “bonus” Ironman in Coeur d’Alene only 2 weeks after Kansas!

RRCA Coaching Certification

Back in March, I attended the Road Runners Club of America Coaching Certification Clinic. I did so for a number of reasons (in no particular order):

1) I love running.

2) I love learning and talking about running.

3) I need continuing education credits to maintain my USAT coaching certification and this was a good way to do it.

4) It was a good excuse to go away for a weekend with my wife (who also did the certification clinic).

The instructors at this clinic were Warren and Patti Finke, who are both 60+ and have both been running for decades. Both have experience at all distances and have been through it all in their careers; short races, long races, fast races, slow races. I really enjoyed their perspective on the sport and could sense their love of running, even after all these years. Being able to run after that long must be a sign that you are doing something right!

When you go to these things, you have to realize that there is no one right way to do things. Lots of different approaches can work, depending on the person, etc. The thing to focus on is what can I take away and learn from this and that’s what I was trying to do. So here are my main takeaways:

1) Almost all running is aerobic exercise.

Sounds simple, but what I mean is that there are 2 main energy systems – one which fuels us via our anaerobic system and another which fuels us via our aerobic system and most running is fueled aerobically. The anaerobic system is used for any activity that is short in duration – like very short, less than a few minutes. Think Usain Bolt. The aerobic energy system starts to kick in after a few minutes and fuels us for all long-distance running. It is not a binary switch, but rather a continuum; the aerobic system is dominant for anything 800 meters to a mile or above. What this means practically is that most of our training should be done at a low intensity (relative to target race intensity) for longer distances. For example, Chris Solinsky set the American record for the 10K while training for a marathon, not pounding himself over and over on the track. Success in all races down to the 5K is primarily related to our aerobic capacity.

2) Running volume should be built up carefully.

Running can create tremendous joy and most runner’s are familiar with the “runner’s high” that often comes with a vigorous workout. There are many positive effects to running, including weight-control and better overall health. However, it can be hard on the musculo-skeletal system. Research has shown that on every foot strike, a force multiple times your body weight is transmitted up through your feet, legs, knees, and hips. A runner’s form has an impact on how much force this is, but regardless all runners must absorb this impact into their bodies. Do too much, too hard, too soon and the body’s chassis (the bones and muscles) cannot absorb the forces and starts to break down. Build it up deliberately and the body can become stronger and stronger and handle harder running.

3) Consistency is key to performance.

Because of the fact that it takes longer to build volume and run strength (relative to other forms of exercise), it is important to remain consistent and not miss large amounts of running due to injury or burnout. One of the absolute keys to long-term increases in performance is consistency, day-in, day-out, week-in, week-out, month-in-month out, etc. Don’t get me wrong, performance requires recovery, but the point is that recovery is better when its planned into the program. Missing large chunks of training or taking months due to injury make it difficult to improve because you have to start back slowly and deliberately. Push things too hard and your body tells you its too much forcing you to take time off. It’s better to do less than you think you can and stay consistent then go out and do killer workouts and risk injury or burnout.

There was lots of good discussion and I learned a lot from this course that I can use in my coaching and with my own running, but these were some of the over-riding themes on the weekend. Happy running!

Race Report - Auburn Triathlon (a.k.a. World's Toughest Half)

One of the best things about working with other people on their triathlon adventures is that for a local race, you can not only be nervous for your own day (OK, I wasn’t that nervous), but you can live vicariously through your athletes! This past Sunday was the Auburn Triathlon; the half-iron distance event is known as the “World’s Toughest Half.” I don’t know if that claim is true as there are plenty of tough half-iron races out there, but this one is definitely not a race for somebody looking for a PR as there is close to 6K feet of climbing in the bike ride. The run is not easy either – with several substantial hills. It is, however, a really great race on a great course, so I decided to partake and race along with several other athletes I work with. Racing with everyone was a ton of fun but the downside was that I didn’t get many pictures at all. Regardless, there were numerous impressive performances!

Highlights of the day included:

Rich Bach: 3rd overall in the long-course duathlon and that was in his first attempt at any multi-sport race of this distance! Talk about a doozy for your first race!

Rebecca Reichardt: 4th AG and another impressive half-IM finish on one of the hardest courses around in 6:35!

Sheila Leard: 1st AG and a new PR for the course, even though the swim was ultra long. She took 9 minutes off her bike time on this course and 10 minutes off her previous run time. Not too shabby for deciding to do the race somewhat last minute. I don't have pictures of everybody, but I did get this one of Sheila from a friend. She will kill me for putting it up, but what the heck?

Bernhard Sturm: Bernhard blazed to a 5:26 and 10th OA / 2nd AG finish on a very, very tough course. In spite of having to swim 9 additional minutes compared to last year, he still beat his previous time by 5 minutes with big chunks coming off his bike and run splits!

Justin Waller: He turned in the most impressive performance of the day. He has been dealing with a lingering hip/knee issue and so our plan was to do the swim and bike portion of the race, run one lap, and then call it a day. Justin, being the guy he is, refused to DNF and we decided he would walk the last 2 laps. For a motivated triathlete, this takes serious discipline and self-control, but Justin stuck to the plan and not only that, carried a cow-bell and cheered on all the other athletes while he finished his half-marathon. In spite of walking 2/3rd of the half-marathon, he finished in 6:49… awesome performance!

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And with respect to my race, overall I had a good day. I can honestly say I didn’t really have any time expectations. My only hope was to beat my previous time from 2 years ago and see if I could move a step closer to the top of the age group. Plus the run course was a little different as they changed it last year to a 3-looper. I hadn’t run a 3-loop half-IM before and was looking forward to it.

At the beginning of the swim, I ran into Tom Murphy, a friend/acquaintance and we tried to figure out exactly where the swim buoys were and what to do for the 2nd loop of the swim. In a few more minutes the horn blew and we were off. As I made it out into the main portion of the lake I realized the 1st buoy was not where they had it 2 years ago and tried to follow the group. It was not all that crowded – nothing like an IM start, so I felt like I was swimming fairly well right away and focusing on not dropping my left elbow. Rounded the 1st buoy and headed toward the 2nd turn buoy. Again I think I was a little off course, but plodded along, trying to keep focus on my own rhythm and breathing to both sides about every 3-4 strokes at a time.

Once around the 2nd buoy I headed back towards the start for the 2nd loop. I looked at my watch briefly and saw a 23:xx – wow, that is incredibly slow! I immediately had many frustrating thoughts in my head, but then worked to “change the channel” and just worry about sticking to my plan for the day. In some ways, I think seeing such a slow swim time helped because I really let go of any expectation whatsoever and just worked on working hard. The 2nd loop was much the same – started getting a little fatigue towards the end, but nothing too bad. I also felt a slight twinge in the calf right before I got out of the water and was glad I didn’t cramp up, which has been a problem for me in long swims in the past.

Made my way through transition and started focusing on the bike. Took me a little long to get my wetsuit off (need to keep working on that) and get things arranged in the transition bag for pickup, but otherwise uneventful transition. Headed out on the bike and started working right away – the first 6-7 miles of this course are uphill into Auburn. I just focused on working the climbs and getting into a good rhythm and shooting for the power numbers I had planned prior to the race. As far as I could tell, I think only 1 person passed me on the bike and I’m not sure I didn’t pass them back. I tried to get my HR under control in spite of the climbs and kept it in the high 150s up the climbs as best I could while keeping the pedal stroke as smooth and strong as possible. Early on in the bike, I knew I felt good and the legs were there. A very nice thing after the ultra-long swim, which ironically, helped me to focus more on my race process and less on what time I would finish in. After I made my way back up to town, I took my first gel and kept rolling out towards the foothills. I continued to pass people and found Justin around Bowman… had a nice chat and kept rolling. Next I caught up with Tom Murphy, which surprised me a bit because he is an incredibly strong biker. This was at Applegate and so I still had to make my way out to the campground. Around this time, I started trading back and forth with a 27-year-old guy which was kind of nice. We kept each other moving and played a little cat-and-mouse. Heading up the climb toward the roller-coaster section I saw the leaders, which was the same place I saw them in ’09. Then one more little steep climb and on down to the campground… this was the place in ’09 where I started having some bike trouble, so I took mental note and appreciated the fact that those fork problems are now a distant memory. Brand new frame and fork took care of that ;-) I started back up the climb out of the campground and started passing people. It wasn’t a crowded race, but I think I passed 5-6 guys heading up this climb and when I looked at the numbers afterward, I averaged 300+ watts, which was nice. I knew I was putting out a steady effort, but I still felt really good, so I pushed onward. The ride back towards town is pretty fast. There are a few short climbs but generally you are heading back downhill. It’s pretty fast, so I just put my head down and stayed down out of the wind as much as possible, still trying to keep putting power into the pedals when possible. The spur section was next and is, quite possibly, the worst part of the whole race. You are on your way back to town and you have to turn back towards the other direction for an out-and-back section. It’s demoralizing because you have to head back away from the finish; plus the road is gnarly with those little bumps every few meters or so. And it’s uphill. It was here where I caught Bernhard who, it turns out, had 8 minutes on me coming out of the water. Ouch. (need some work in the water) I told him I was going to keep pushing hard and to come with me if he wanted. I kept going, hit the spur turnaround, and headed back towards town. I thought I may have a shot at breaking 3 hours for the ride, so I kept going hard. Made it through town again and pulled into transition in 2:57 and change. I did have a bit of a loss of focus, though, and forgot to take my feet out of my shoes. Not the most graceful dismount. Need to work on staying on top of that. Saw my wife at this point, who conveniently was in a relatively empty transition waiting for me. (It’s a small race, so pretty laid back). Turns out she had a good race so that was a BIG relief after the last fiasco and I had a clear mind heading out onto the run.

My plan for the run was to run off HR for the most part. I was going to break it down to 3 laps, which matched well with the fact that it was an actual 3 lap run, and shoot for an average HR of ~155 for the first one and then let it get a little higher for each, if possible. My goal for the last lap was around 160 or a touch over that. It worked perfectly. I felt a little sluggish at first (that normal feeling coming off the bike), but after a mile or so, I felt pretty darn good. That 27-year old who I had been riding with before came off the bike just behind me, so we ran together for the first few miles. The first part of the run is through the woods on a small trail so we rolled along and finally found somebody to pass before we turned onto the park road. We ran together a bit more, but then he apparently decided to move ahead. Nonetheless, I caught him and passed him for good about a mile or two later. The new course wasn’t bad… after the section through the woods, you turned on the park road for some nice downhill and then another spur down further to a little loop around a makeshift trail. It was tough to pass people on this small loop, so I just used it to recover a bit before heading back uphill for the next mile or so to the end of the lap. I stayed pretty steady throughout and felt great most of the way. I continued to monitor HR and tried to focus on staying smooth and quick with the turnover, using my mantras to keep me going. I also got to see my family each lap and on the 2nd time around, I gave my son a kiss for an extra boost! I had no idea where I was in my AG at this point, but I knew I was a good way up the field. I also knew Bernhard was not really gaining much on me based on when I saw him during the lap. I just kept with my plan and kept working. I tried to push it a bit up the last long hill towards the end, but the legs were finally starting to fatigue. I made it to the field to finish and crossed the line in 6th overall and 2nd AG. The one guy that beat me in my AG was a pro who finished like a half-an-hour before me! I gave up 15 minutes to him in the swim alone! Anyway, I was very happy with the effort and then got to enjoy seeing every one else come in for the finish… a great race!

From a number standpoint, I hit my power target almost exactly and had a norm power of 270 for the ride. Based on my current FTP estimate, this is about an intensity factor of 0.86 – just about right for a half-IM. I was even hoping for something closer to 0.9, but I think 0.86 was pretty good and got me back to transition in less than 3 hours on one of the hardest bike courses around. And on the run, my avg pace, HR and time for each lap were:

7:07, 155, 29:59

7:15, 157, 30:19

7:30, 159, 31:16

I thought that was pretty good pacing overall and it yielded the 4th fastest bike split in the field and the 5th fastest run in the field. And oh the swim… well, that was 103rd out of 161 finishers of the half. Yeah, not so good. In Ironman, I had worked my way up to like the top 30-40% overall, but this was not a good swim. Nonetheless, I had a great bike and run combination and ended the day on a very positive note. Now I know my fitness is pretty good for the next couple of races which are quickly approaching. Tri season is now in full swing! Happy training and racing!

Spectator Report - Parkway Half Marathon

This past weekend was the Parkway Half Marathon and I was out there as a spectator, coach, and spouse. Spectator because my Mom decided to raise money for the Heart Association and run a half-marathon!!! Coach because Richard Hunter was looking for a new PR. Spouse because my wife was guiding a visually impaired runner.

I am more nervous at these things as a spectator than I am when running myself. It’s fun, but is a different experience when you are not in control yourself of what’s going on. Anyway, it was an early morning for me and the kids. We got to the parking lot to catch the shuttle and made it to the start in enough time to see everyone off. Here’s my Mom at the start.

She had been a walker for years, but recently taken up running a few miles at a time. Then a few months ago, she told me she wanted to run a half-marathon and I was stoked! She has worked very hard, been very diligent and it paid off on Saturday. Not only that, she was the (I think) 3rd highest fund-raiser in the group at over $3000. Needless to say, I am very proud of her.

I also caught up with Richard at the start. He has run several half-marathons and marathons and also done triathlon. He is an excellent runner, but has never been able to go under 1:30 for the half marathon and was eyeing a new PR. His guide (Richard is visually impaired) was an elite runner named Austin Weaver, who I knew would have no trouble “keeping up”! Here’s a shot of Richard through the crowd just before the start (red shirt, white hat).

My wife was also running, but not for herself. Another visually impaired athlete was running and needed a guide for the occasion. He was hoping to do it in roughly 2 hours, so I knew Emily would not have any trouble with that. Here’s a shot of Emily and her partner, Arther.

The race was very well organized and they even had some bagpipes and the National Anthem at the start, very cool. After that, the runners were off! And for me, it was 2-3 hours playing with my kids ;-) It was fun, we read, played in the bounce house, climbed trees, etc. Here’s Luci in the tree and Luci and Lance together.

At about 1:10 into the race, we wandered over to the finish to see the winners. The winning guy did it in 1:15 and change. But there were only a few guys who broke 1:20, so it wasn’t a particularly fast field. At about 1:25, I started watching for Richard. He’s a bigger guy and it was fairly windy, but I was still confident he was going to have a good day. He was fit and ready and had a good plan. And sure enough, around 1:29, I saw him coming. Crossed in 1:29:22 for a 2nd AG finish... very nice effort for a Clydesdale ;-)

Then it was over to the bounce house, which was a little crowded for my kids’ taste. So we played some more prior to Emily finishing with her athlete. Then, we found a good spot near the finish and I sat at the edge of the path with the kids. And my Mom made it in 2:45! I was really happy for her and quite proud.

It was a great day out at the races with my Mom finishing a half-marathon, my Wife guiding a visually-impaired runner, and a friend/client knocking substantial time off his PR and cracking the 1:30 barrier!

Degrees of Freedom

Triathlon is a single sport consisting of 3 components: swim, bike, and run. (Some would say long course triathlon has a 4th component - nutrition; and some might say transitions are even another component; anyway, you get the idea...)

Getting better means continually assessing where you are in those 3 components and working on your weaknesses. In my case, my weakness is swimming. I come out of the water mid-pack (I'm slowly moving up) and then start passing people on the bike and then more and more people on the run, which is my relative strength. Sure, I was a lifeguard as a kid, but I quit swim team after like 1 year because I didn't really enjoy it and I wasn't that good at it. However, I continued to play land-based sports because I loved them and was good at them. Now, in my 30s, and wanting to continue some form of sport and competition, I find myself working on getting faster in the pool.

So what is it about swimming that makes it harder to get better, at least for me. There are several reasons:

1) Water is orders of magnitude more resistant than air - Slicing through the air at 20+ mph requires a certain amount of energy applied to forward motion (in our case, it's the power we put into the pedals that is transferred to the road). But moving through water is WAY more difficult.

2) Human beings are not fish - We are simply not designed to be fast swimmers. Almost nothing about our shape and dynamics as human beings lends itself to moving quickly through water.

3) Too many degrees of freedom - When we are running, there are 2 fixed points, i.e., when each foot hits the ground. When cycling, there are 5 fixed points on the bike that restrict the motion our bodies and limbs can have - 2 pedals, 2 hands (or arms), and 1 seat. However, when swimming, we have nearly unlimited degrees of freedom, i.e. our arms and legs can move and articulate any direction, untethered in the water.

4) That brings me to #4 - it takes A LONG time to develop the muscle memory and patterning to create the optimal motions to move us through the water. This is why a 100 lb female can swim circles around a big strong guy if the girl has been swimming since she could walk and the guy is a relative newbie. It's not about shear power or strength; it is about the correct motions with our arms, legs, shoulders, and hips in a concerted, finely tuned way that minimizes resistance and maximizes forward propulsion. This is why HS and college swimmers have a huge advantage - there simply is not enough time for an average AG'er to invest in "catching up" to the folks that have been swimming all their lives.

So, what CAN we do to get better in the pool? Well, you hear about people talking about the "feel for the water" ... but to those of us that are just not natural or experienced swimmers, we don't really understand that. What is a good catch supposed to feel like? What should good body roll feel like? Well, the best way to understand this and your own swim form is by getting some direct visual feedback. Having a coach tell you is one thing, but SEEING it for yourself is something different.

At the risk of large amounts of embarrassment and ridicule, here's a video I made recently of my swim stroke.

Though I'm not a super-fast swimmer, I do have a good understanding of what a good stroke should look like and mine has some significant flaws. Can you say dropped elbow? Holy cow. Check out my left arm in the side-view. And I really didn't think I had much, if any crossover either, but in the front-on view, you can see my left arm crossing over the center line. Not good. Now that I've seen these things, I can work on them in the pool and start to make corrections. Then, in a few months, I can make another video and see the improvements. I will also see improvements in my times (in the pool and in races) throughout this process. The other great thing is that you can find any number of great swimmers and video of their strokes on the web. You can get an idea of what good swimmers look like and compare your stroke to theirs and work to improve.

This is what I love about triathlon, there is always something to work on and a way to get better, stronger, faster and beat our previous selves.

Early Season Results

Vitality Multisport athletes are off to a great start of the 2011 season with some very strong performances:

On 3/27, Justin Waller took more than 33 minutes off his marathon PR with a 3:23 and change at the River City marathon. He overcame some adversity during training and still delivered on race day with a 3rd place in his age group. Being a triathlete from a swimming background, this definitely bodes well for his impending race season! I will definitely be looking for some strong results from him this season…

On the same day, Bernhard Sturm took to the road biking scene and raced in the Bariani road race, a 30 mile jaunt with 40+ of his closest friends. Turns out it was quite windy (quite the norm for the Central Valley in CA) and there was some confusion early on in the 1st lap when he attached for the KOM (there is one small hill). He ended up in a breakaway with one other guy and they stayed away for the entire race!!! I knew he was strong, but what a result! He ended up 2nd on the day, but not bad for a triathlete.

Then, on 4/2, Rebecca Reichardt raced the extremely competitive IM 70.3 in Oceanside, CA. This race always draws a stacked pro field and since it’s one of the few half-iron distance races left that has spots for Kona, it is always VERY competitive from an AG-stand-point, too. Rebecca faced some tough wind on the challenging bike course, but still clocked a fantastic 3:05 bike split and then proceeded to take almost 20 minutes off her previous half-IM run split to demolish her PR and come in at 5:56 and change. A great result on a tough course! She will have ample opportunity to improve on that as she is planning several other half-IMs throughout the year.

Race season is upon us and everyone is off to a great start!!!