Start of My Build (7/28/08)

Last week, I focused on my rest, recovery, and stretching. I was also very relaxed on my diet because you have to have those weeks occasionally or you will go crazy. I worked hard and was very disciplined, so I deserved all of the good/bad food. After a race, it is always important to stay well hydrated and stretch every day. Also, you are better of doing too little, rather than too much, when going through a recovery week.

Last weeks stats:
2 Off Days
Run: 2 times. 10 miles.
Bike: 3 times. 140 miles.
Swim: 3 times. 8,000 yards.
Total Time: 10 hours

I have put together a weekly template for my training for my Base Months. August and September will be focused on high volume and low intensity. By the end of September, I hope to
have done a few training session that exceed the Ironman Distances.

This week, I hope to put in around 18 total hours of training, and add two hours each subsequent week. I will have no problem increasing my swimming and biking volume. However, I need to be careful of my running volume.

As for my diet, I went to Whole Foods yesterday to load-up on all of my organic produce, lactose free dairy products, and gluten-free products. I am going to try and eat organic as much as possible, which I have heard is important when you are training as much as I do. Dairy free is not too hard for my because they make so many soy alternatives. All of my dairy alternative products are also organic. I believe that humans were not made to consume as much dairy products as we do. As for the gluten-free, this just means I do not consume as much wheat products. Gluten, which is in wheat products, is know to disturb the digestive track, which causes GI issues. In other words, it gives you an upset stomach and sends you to the toilet when training. I substitute wheat products with rice products. This means I will start eating rice cereals, instead of oatmeal, and rice and rice pasta for dinner. There are plenty of alternatives!

Until next time, here are some more videos to keep you all interested.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vuRlLMUg0Qs

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Bh1yMnrby3w&feature=related

Vineman 70.3 Race Report

Total Time: 4:44:06

Swim: 29:05

Bike: 2:33:38

Run:1:36:40

I had by far my best race of the year, which is great as I go from my half-ironman training into my ironman training. I have seen my times get better from a 5:06 at California 70.3 to 5:01 at Hawaii 70.3 to 4:44 at Vineman 70.3.

The week leading up to my race went well, and my knee ended up being around 90% on race morning. However, during the race, I never had any problems with it. Race morning, I left my beautiful Motel 6 in Santa Rosa at 5:30, and downed a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, some OJ, and some iced coffee, which I got the night before at S-Bucks. It looked as though it was going to be a nice mild weather day.

Everything went well before the race. I racked my bike, got all set-up, stretched, and got ready to GO!

Swim: My swim wave left at 7:42 ( first wave was at 6:30). The water was a perfect 71 degrees. I had a good start and found myself in the top 1/4 of the swimmers at the start. My easy start paid off as I started to pass a lot of the swimmers that started too fast, around the half way point. I found a swimmer that was the same speed as me and drafted off him the rest of the way. I got out of the water and Kim yelled my time was 29 minutes. I was really happy because I felt really fresh leaving the swim, and I was aiming for a 30 minute swim.

Bike: After getting through the rocky and dirt transition area, I headed out onto the bike. The bike is really scenic as it winds through the vineyards. However, I had never been on this bike route before, so I took it conservative. In the technical and down hell parts I went easy because I didn't know if there was danger lurking around the corner. I was happy to have dodged all of the water bottles people had lost after hitting the pot holes. I did not loose anything. In the flats and open areas I would pound away and make my move, since I could see where I was going. The bad part about having such a late start time is having to pass the lesser bikers. The only bad part of my bike was when I went up a hill and downshifted too fast, which caused my chain too come off. I got off and put it back on. However, I then had to get my momentum back to go up the hill. This didn't cost me more than a minute. I had some stomach problems on the bike, but was able to overcome them in time for the run.

Run: I got off the bike feeling good and thinking to myself that I had a chance to maybe get below the 4:45 mark. I took the first 4 miles nice and easy. However, I still averaged a 7:15 mile. I drank water and/or cola at every aid station. It was not too hot, so didn't need a ton of fluid. The coke was great in settling my stomach and giving me a great burst of caffeine and sugar. I had never tried it in a race, but was told it is great at settling the stomach. Was a risky choice to try it, but paid off. I am a big fan of coke in races. FYI: I have not had coke in 2 years. I got passed by one person on the run, in my age group. However, I was able to run down 3 others my age group. Interesting to see my once weakest sport (running) turning into my strength. At mile 9 I caught somebody in my age group and played a little cat and mouse. I followed behind him for 2 miles and made him keep looking back at me. At mile 11 I put down the hammer and he had no response. I ran the last 2 miles all out, and it was great to go through the finishing shoot all alone and hear my name over the speakers.

I had no idea how I did compared to others in my age group, but I finished feeling great about my performance. That is all you can control. I got fifth in my age group, which I was excited about. Here I am after 1.5 years in triathlons, and I just got fifth in one of the most popular half Ironmans in the US. A special thanks to Edge Cycle Sports for hooking-up my bike with a great set-up!! Also, thanks to my girlfriend for being there to support me and put-up with my pre-race mood swings.

I took the next 2 days to do some wine tasting and eat some great food. Food that I don't eat when training. Had a lot of cheese and desserts. I will take the next week to get healthy and plan out my Ironman training plan. Thanks for all of your support!!!

Vineman 70.3 Race Week

Well, it is almost time. As most people do, I get really anxious before a race. To overcome this, I write down any questions I have about the race, and I write down my nutrition and race strategy. I got my bike from Edge Cyclesports yesterday. It is all tuned up, few new parts on it, and some super fast race wheels. I will post pictures of the amazing set-up they put me on.

On Friday, I will leave to go up North and will return next Tuesday. I am going to take a few days to enjoy the Napa Valley, and potentially some wine and cheese. On Saturday, the day before the race, I will stay as far away from all of the pre-race activities and crowds because I want to stay as calm as possible.

Unfortunately, this is a wave start, and the youngsters get hosed on the time. My wave does not start until the 7:30, which is 50 minutes after the pros. This is unfortunate because I have to deal with passing a lot of the slower people in earlier wave, and it will only get hotter as the day goes by. However, everyone in my age group must deal with this.

My knee is feeling much better. I have been able to do a few smaller runs. I have been making sure to ice my knee whenever possible and stop as soon as my knee starts to bother me. I should be good to go for the race, or as good as I will be.

My boys Mills and Chuck both finished the Austria Ironman last weekend in amazing times! Mills went sub 12 hours and Chuck went sub 11 hours. Not too shabby for being Ironman rookies!

I have been following Mark Allen's 2 week tapering plan to a T, which worked well for my Hawaii race a few months ago. Last week I ended up doing around 9 hours of training, and this week I will do around 6. This type of taper will allow my body to be completely healed, rested, and ready to rock. I have been able to get some of the best sleep I have had in a long time, since I do not need to wake up as early for a long training session.

For those interested in my Nutrition plan for a race, I will lay it out for you.
3-4 days before: Reduce fiber intake, increase percentage of calories that are from carbs (i.e.carbo loading), and reduce fat intake. I will drink fruit juice, rather than eating fruit, because it does not have the fiber, but still is nutritional. My carbo loading food of choice is obviously pasta.
Day before race: Big breakfast with carbs and little fiber. I will eat a big lunch of pasta when I am next hungry. For dinner, I will eat early and eat a small portion of pasta. Doing all of this allows my body to digest the food before I race. It takes anywhere from 8 -12 hours for your body to get rid of your meals. I will drink lots of water all day, and be sure to take on a lot of sodium. I do this by drinking Nuun and adding salt to my meals.
Morning of Race: Wake up around 4:30 and eat a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, and soy chocolate milk. This will give me around 600 calories. I eat early so the food will digest. I have chosen this food because it is easy on my stomach, low in fiber, and good carbs.
Race time: I will drink some Nuun and have a GU 30 minutes before my race. This will hit me just in time for the bike to start.
On the bike: I will shoot to consume 1,000 calories. It's a mix of gels, carbo pro, and Gatorade. I also take a few Nuun tabs, which is great for sodium. I also drink enough water. I can tell if I drink enough because I will pee at least once on the bike, around mile 40.
On the run: I have a magic potion I start the run with that has some sodium and carbs. I will take water or Gatorade at every station. I will also take 1-2 GUs. This all depends on how I feel.

I think I have bored you enough. For those of you that want to track me on race day, Sunday, July, 20th, you can go to ironman.com and click on the link track athlete, under the Vineman 70.3 sign. Thanks for all of your support and I will report on how it all goes.

2 Weeks Until Vineman 70.3

This is my first post on my blog. I decided to do this for a few reasons. One, I have followed a few other triathletes blogs and found them very helpful and interesting. Second, I am currently tapering and have a knee problem, so I have time to do something like this. I hope to update this blog at least once a week, detailing last weeks training, the upcoming training week, race updates, and new information I learned about triathlons that I think would be useful for others. Occasionally, I will write about something that may not be directly involved with triathlons.

I have 10 days until I race Vineman 70.3 in Sonoma, CA. This will be my third 70.3 race in the last 4 months. Hopefully, I will show my continued improvement. In Hawaii, I went a 5:01, but that race is know for rough conditions and there were 20 -30 mph winds. Also, my training load has increased compared to what I was doing before Hawaii.

Unfortunately, I am having an issue with my right knee, so the last few days have had very little training. Hopefully, this will allow my knee to be close to 100% for the race. Also, I don't want to possibly cause worse damage to my knee. Tapering is hard by itself because I am used to training more than training wants you to, but add in the time off because of my knee. You can only imagine how crazy I am going. However, I am sure it is actually good for me to recover right now.

I am really excited for this weekend because 2 of my close friends that I do triathlons will be participating in Ironman Austria. It will be the first Ironman for both of them, and they sure have chosen an exciting one to do!! Here is to Mills and Chuck!!

I will give an update next week as to how my knee and taper is going, how my buddies Mills and Chuck did at Ironman Austria, and give any pre-race details I can share.

In the meantime, here is a great video from last weekend's Ironman Europe Championships. This has to get you pumped!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hD8pYFBYPRk&feature=related