July 2005 Archives

The week was spent tapering and preparing for the Spirit of Racine Half-distance Triathlon. Easy swims, rides & runs paved the way for a very successful day under some awfully adverse conditions. The totals below include the race.

This week is a recovery week, getting the legs back in shape for the final push. So, I'll be swimming, riding and running easy again, just longer than last week. After that, it's three weeks of long distance stuff, averaging about 15 hours per week. That leaves me with a three week taper before The Big Day.

First, a HUGE thanks to Kris, Christina, Jamie, Tammy, Beth, Mom and Dad, who were BY FAR the best cheering section. You rock.

Second, I finished. It was hot: 99°F with heat index of 112°F, with hair dryer-like winds topping out at 20mph. Vigorous conditions to say the least.

Here's the specifics:
Swim (1.2mi): 26:34.43 (3rd in AG, 21st overall)
T1: 03:03.25
Bike (56 mi): 2:42:59.53 (22nd / 201st)
T2: 03:09.67
Run (13.1mi): 2:25:35.68 (35th / 538th)
Total: 5:41:22.56 (27th / 226th)

Pre-Race Day
We left for Racine on Friday night and checked into what was decidedly not the suite with the Sleepnumber king bed ad advertised and reserved. Instead, we found two doubles, and some crappy wall paper with a decent sized TV without OLN. I guess we'll make due. We're hear for a race, not a vacation.

We slept in on Saturday until 7, got up found some bagels and went for a swim and bike. (If only the overcast and relatively cool conditions would hold for the weekend...) Lake Michigan wasn't too wavy, and the wind was relatively calm; just about perfect conditions. Things were still being set up for the race, but I registered anyways, and bought two extra water bottles, and hurried back to listen to Chris Legh speak at the hotel. Ever courteous and downright friendly, it was a pleasure to interact with such an open and obviously all-around good guy.

Back in the room, I'd struggled with hydration given the devilish forecast of upper 90s and humidity for Sunday. I'm fueled by Endurance Gatorade and Gu, aligning with IMNA and their sponsors for the . InfinIT was to be served on course, something with 4-times the carbs & calories than the Gatorade. I didn't know how much and of what to bring on the bike. My wife, Kris, was the clear thinker of the group and suggested a winning strategy: install all my bottle cages (5 total incl. the aero bottle), fill three with Gatorade and leave two empty for water to be served on course. If the Gatorade ran out, I could mix the InfinIT with water to cut down on the calories.

Earlier, we parked back at the hotel, thinking we'd drive back to the transition area to drop off the bike and to get some bagels and yogurt for race morning. But, I couldn't get the car key into the ignition. The steering wheel didn't move. Explicative. Maybe it's just stuck. We'll try again later. I finished with my bike and we walked the 15 minutes to drop it off at the transition area. Walked back. Tried key again. Nothing. More explicatives. It was now 4 PM, and the local dealership service center said, "we're closing in 15 minutes, but pound on the steering column." Pound on it with what? Knowing this wasn't going to get solved until after the race, I put it out of my mind and concentrated on the next day. Kris boldly unknowingly walked through severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings to get what she could for breakfast. Hot dog buns & pre-packaged muffins were the closest to bagels she could find. That'll have to do.

Pre-race
We left the air conditioner going all night and I woke up with goose bumps. Not goose bumps from excitement or nervousness, but from the chill in the room. Foreshadowing what was to come, I said, "This is the coldest I'm going to be all day." I packed up, and we stepped outside into the sauna that was the City of Racine at 5:30 in the morning. There's nothing like 85 humid degrees to get you warmed up. By the time I got to my area and set it up, I was sweating. When I wiggled into my wetsuit, I was sweating. After walking the three-quarters of a mile to the swim start, I was sweating.

Swim
Lake Michigan was 72°F for the start. Jumping into the lake to warm up, it felt like running from the sauna and rolling in snow drifts. I was in the fourth wave after the pros and elites. Building on the confidence from top swims in my earlier races, I lined up right in the front. As the horn goes off, we run into the water. Everyone else dives in while I keep running through the thigh-deep water. Hmmm...maybe I'm cheating, so I'll dive in, too. After some dolphin dives, it was off to the first turn buoy. I made it with the first group, following the feet of two guys ahead of me. Turns out, they made the turn a bit sharp and sent us back towards the beach a bit too early. It was easy to do, as the lake provided for three foot swells that weren't spaced with any regularity to time your stroke with. I finally caught sight of the first buoy and made my own line. About two-thirds of the way through the swim, I finally felt comfortable with my stroke and the waves and made up some time. That's when I noticed some silver caps of the elite wave pass by, indicating things were going well. When I rounded the final buoy to head for the shore, I tried to body surf the waves in, but nothing grabbed hold. As I stood up to run in, I realized I was tired. Uh-oh. I just may have over extended myself.

Bike
Confirming the energetic swim, my heart rate was hovering around 155 as soon as I got on my bike, way over my average 135. I recalled what Chris Legh talked about the day before, "There's no way to continue working hard in a race like this over your threshold." So I took it easy and spun for about 10 miles and waited for my legs to warm up and heart rate to drop, (even though I was sweating the entire time). Unfortunately, the heart rate never really did drop. I haven't yet looked at the data, but a few glances told me I was maintaining 150 beats per minute most likely due to the wind.

The Wind. Combined with the heat, it made the day quite challenging. Imagine someone holding a gigantic hair dryer and running after you the entire day. Sometimes it was in front of you, sometimes behind. But never, ever was it cool. Include laser like rays from the sun beating down your back. Then ride 56 mostly flat miles. Welcome to your own personal version of hell. I tried to stay upbeat, waving to the locals sitting in the shade of their front lawn, clapping for us crazies riding bikes in this heat. My parents provided much needed energy, cheering at various spots for twenty miles, joined by rest of my family and friends carried me home from mile 40.

I didn't realize it at the time, but my hydration plan had a flaw. I planned to eat a Gu in T1, and then another when I got water at the first aide station (mile 15). Well, I forgot to take the Gu in T1, and didn't have any water to take one on the bike. So, the first 52 minutes on the bike were Gatorade only, with a Gu every half-hour after that. Because I didn't take water initially on the bike, I missed two important gel packs.

About mile 45, I felt a big bug hit my chest then a sharp pain in my thigh. I got stung. I hope whatever it was, died. Now my leg might be swelling up. Would it affect my run? I continued and told myself not to worry about it now. I finished strong - well ahead of Chris Legh's run finish - so I felt good heading out to my own run.

Run
I started out running. I intended to run the entire half marathon. I walked through the first aide station, drank a lot of water, and continued running. Soon after, I peed (Finally!) and continued running the first three miles. Each walk through the aide stations got longer and longer until I was walking long before, through and long after each water stop. I was taking cups of ice and putting them in the rear pocket in my new Oomph shorts, right at the small of my back. Some more ice would go on my bee sting, trying to keep that swelling down. About 4 miles in, my stomach started hurting, and I didn't chance taking a Gu for fear of upsetting it. By mile 10, I said what the hell, and ate one anyways. I felt fine. Then, I found some pretzel sticks at one aide station and gobbled them down. With all the water I was taking, I felt better. I ran for a while, took a long walk chewing ice, and then continued to run. Finally, I reached the home stretch, running most of mile 12, walked the first half of Mile 13, and ran to the finish line. My sister ran along cheering me the entire way in. She mentioned later that it was hard to keep up. I was floating, just knowing that the day would be over.

As soon as I crossed, I was brought to the ice tent and thankfully draped in ice-soaked towels and bags of ice. No one could wipe the smile off my face.

I entered this race to prepare for IM Wisconsin in seven weeks. I learned some major lessons:

1. I survived extreme conditions; now there isn't much I can't do.
2. Ease off the swim. I'll need the energy & heartbeats later.
3. Eat early and eat often. Then eat again.
4. I can easily get up to running speed after walking for extended periods.
5. My family and friends are the best cheering section. They will carry you a long way.

Post Race
After I cooled down, we made our way back to our car to see if any more banging would help. It didn't. Not even with a new rubber hammer. We gave up, ate dinner, and checked backed into the hotel. This time, we got the room we were supposed to get when we first arrived; a nice one with a king-sized bed and view of the harbor. I promptly passed out for two hours, woke up, ate the rest of my dinner and watched The Day After Tomorrow. (Bad, bad movie.)

Monday, we woke up, signed up for AAA, immediately got the car towed to the Ford dealer, and got it checked out. It needed a new tumbler for the ignition. A few hundred dollars later, we were on our way home and even made it back to work for a few hours at the end of the day.

Three scenes I saw that made me smile:

1. At the airport, I waited at the bottom of the escalator that delivers arriving passengers: moms, daughters, dads, sons, sisters, brothers, business associates, and so on. There were many reunions of families, and one amicable business relationship. All who were greeted were treated with smiles, hugs and firm handshakes. My favorite (besides Kris, of course) was the Indian family. Grandma & Grandpa in town for a visit, obviously excited to see their granddaughter and son. You could feel the warmth from fifty feet away.
2. At work, we establish relationships with clients to pave the way for winning projects. After two and a half years of effort, my boss found out that the company won a major project. He was so happy that I said, "If we don't tie a string to you, we'll never keep you from floating away."
3. The pool can be lonesome at times. It's just you, the water, and a black line on the bottom. Today, the guy sharing the lane asked, "How do you do those flips? I can only get half way around." I told him to tuck his chin and go after your feet, don't stop until you get there. He understood and watched me flip as I went by. I even did a couple extra laps and did my best to keep proper form so he could take mental notes. Then, I passed him on his way to the other end. I finished, and waited for my next interval, when I hear this "WHOOOP! I did it!" from the other end. I turned to see him pumping his fist, flashing a big grin. I pumped my fist back in congratulations.

Sweet, sweet recovery. Just like tapering in swimming, my body wasn't really liking doing any work at the begining of the week. Even though I was keeping it easy and relatively short, my body was still sore. But after Friday's easy swim, Saturday's bike ride was a small taste of the final taper yet to come. Because of the head & humidity, I was set to be well hydrated with three bottles. I even brought three Gu energy gels, and rather than forgetting to take them as in workouts past, I used them and it made a huge difference. The course was crowded with a large supported ride of at least 40 people. They were leaving as I was starting to get ready. I ended up passing everyone by the time I was done, recieving one comment: "You're sweating!" "Umm...yeah...It's HOT!" The bank in Verona said 90°F as I was finishing.

I was so tempted to go around again because I was feeling so good, but I held back, knowing I was recovering. I did promise to myself that further rides around the loop will either leave from our house, and/or be twice around.

This week continues the recovery, tapering for the Racine Half Ironman. It starts at 7 AM on Sunday 7/24. (Let me know if you'd like to come, I'll forward you details.) Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well. After that, I jump into a final push of hard training and a final three weeks of taper.

I consider myself a good tipper, always rounding up to at least 20%, even more when the service deserves it. Thankfully, Kris is the same way, sometimes even more so. But that's not always the case. The Wall Street Journal discusses the different view points on the hotly contested value of tipping. The following quote sums up my reason for rounding up:

"In the end, the difference between a 15% tip and a 20% tip really only amounts to a few extra dollars out of my pocket, but it can make a lot of difference to the person receiving the tip. If you're dining at the restaurant, chances are you make more money than the people waiting on you. As a percentage of income, those few extra dollars make a far bigger difference to a waiter or waitress than to you -- especially if other patrons adopt the same strategy."

So there you have it. If you make sure my glass it topped off, clear my place when I'm finished, and just be friendly, I will make sure that you know you earned it. Bonus points for establishing a connection through a conversation or offering a particular menu item you enjoy. However, being directly rude or cruel will make me keep the extra bucks in my pocket.

Tired. I never really knew the feeling. Sometimes you wake up, and you're tired. Not really - you're just sleepy. Sometimes you stay up too late and you're tired. Not really - you're just tipsy. Tired is working out for twelve days in two weeks; a total of eighteen workouts including a sprint triathlon. Twenty-seven & one-half hours total, averaging 2.3 hours per day (not including the two rest days). If you need to see it to believe it, check the current training log.

To counter the tired muscles, I've got two recovery weeks ahead of me, followed by the Racine Half Ironman. After that, another couple weeks of hell (read: big time hours) leading up to three weeks of tapering and then the big day. That fact that it's now exactly two months away is a bit frightening. (Yikes!)

Summaries from two weeks this week. I was too busy working out to get last weeks up in time.

I started following Odin's amazing entry into life just about a year ago. His journey through micro-preemie life, and and now age-adjusted life as been special to watch. Monday, he celebrated his first birthday. Happy Birthday Odin! I wish him and his family all the best.

Times:
Swim (1/4mi): 4:49 (1st overall by 30sec)
T1: 2:02
Bike: (15mi): 41:39 (55th)
T2: 1:15
Run (5K): 23:05 PR! (88th)
Total: 1:12:49
Overall: 36/276
Sex: 35/173
Age Group: 4/15 (1st three were "elite")

This was my second triathlon, and after the success of the first, I didn't know what to expect. On Friday, I reviewed my times from riding the bike course earlier in the week and set a goal of 1:17:30. I didn't publicize it because I trained through this one, not resting one bit. I didn't know what kind of shape I'd be in on Saturday. I told myself it was OK not to go all out. "Just enjoy the race," I said.

I dragged my sister Beth to be my lone supporter, but she was more than enough. She's a trooper for getting up before dawn and riding the hour to the site in Pardeeville. Easily, she was the loudest one there, and I appreciated every decibel of it. Nelson's parents were there cheering on friends, and also offered encouraging words as I ran by.

The morning was perfect. Sixty-five degrees and calm...little clouds..is this great, or what?

 

SWIM
It was a point to point and short. It was a knee deep start, and I learned from the last race to be near the end of the wave in front of me to ensure a spot up front in my wave. And there I was first in the water in wave three with every other male from 25 to 39. I figured I'd sprint to the first buoy, make the left turn and ease up a bit until the end. Well, I got to the buoy first, kept sprinting and didn't stop until I hit the boat ramp. I crushed my wave, and ended up splitting the best swim by 30 seconds! Damn that felt good.

     

T1
There was a long run from the water to the bike, and I almost fell over taking off the wetsuit, but got situated and finished the long run to the mounting point.

 

BIKE
I biked the course four times in two different workouts over the past two weeks. That allowed me to know that I needed to stay in the little ring up front until after the biggest "hill" about half way, and crank it up back into town in the big ring. But, I apparently wasn't as aggressive enough, many passing outside of yellow and cutting off other, slower riders on tight turns. "Just enjoy the race," I said. Still, it was tough to swallow when anyone in my wave passed me. I tried to stay as close as possible, but sometimes you just have to let the guys with the disc wheels go. On one pass, I did get complimented on my new tires, installed just the night before. "Love the yellow..." Sweet. I passed him on a hill later.

T2
Again, it was a long run back in. I had to throw off others' stuff that ended up on mine, find my shoes, change and then complete long run back out to the course.

RUN
My legs felt really heavy starting out. My shins were tight, and it took about 3/4 of a mile to get the legs used to running. I eventually passed a couple of people, some from the first wave (elites), and finished strong to the screams of Beth, yelling from the moment she saw me come around the corner. You just can't ease up on the finish when you've got someone yelling so hard for you. Total: 1:12:49, most of the time came from the blistering swim and the minute PR on the run.

 

We hung around for the awards, hoping for some hardware. I didn't get any finishing fourth (by three minutes). But, I did take comfort knowing that the first three places were "elite" competitors.

 

Active.com sent me a newsletter special covering the Tour de France. They look to have some blogs that will cover interesting angles of this year's Tour. The name links to the blog directly.

But, if you want one source for all TdF news, be sure to look at the Tour de France blog.

Kevin Livingston
Livingston, whose racing career included stints on Motorola, Cofidis, U.S. Postal Service, and Team Telekom, will offer insightful commentary on every day's action with emphasis on American Tour cyclists such as Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Freddie Rodriguez, George Hincapie and Bobby Julich. Livingston will be in France for the final two weeks of the Tour as a cycling-tour guest rider, so he'll be able to give a front-row perspective and unique personal insight into the Tour.

Martin Dugard
Martin Dugard, a New York Times bestselling author, will be providing us with a behind-the-scenes account of the 2005 Tour de France. His full media access to the teams and riders will help us understand life inside the pro peloton. Martin's blog dispatches will also serve as the foundation for a new book, Chasing Lance, which will be published in December by Little, Brown.

John Robson
John Robson has been covering cycling and triathlon for nearly 20 years, writing extensively for Florida Sports Magazine and numerous other publications. A self-proclaimed Tour junkie, he's followed every Tour for the past 25 years and, as is the case again this year, planned trips to France to witness key mountain stages first-hand. Robson will enlighten us with dispatches from the Tour's front lines -- chronicling the ins and outs of getting around this three-week spectacle.

Phil White
As usual, Phil will travel with Team CSC for the entire Tour, making sure that all the equipment remains in tip-top shape, and advising the team about equipment choices for each individual stage. But this year Phil is equipped with cameras, voice recorders, a videographer and cell and satellite connections. Whenever Phil can connect to the outside world, he will post to this blog with text, photos, audio files and even video. With his all-access pass, he can go places even the journalists aren't welcome.

Alex Trautwig
Alex Trautwig, 14, is the son of OLN Tour de France host Al Trautwig. The Long Island, NY native will be attending his second consecutive Tour in 2005. Last year, he was at the finish line every day and his daily photographs were published on Chris Carmichael's Web site, trainright.com. This year, he'll use that experience and include his thoughts about what life is like on the Tour in France.