Quintana Roo pics

Here are good pics.

Another Half Iron DNF

Intro Last Saturday in Minnesota I attempted another Half Iron Triathlon. The day started bad as my bike had major shifting problems that even the bike mechanics could not figure out. Thus my easiest combination was 39x17 (16.1 mph at 90rpm) in the aero bars and 39x15 (18.3 mph at 90 rpm) standing. Needless to say I was redlining the hills and then coasting down. Swim The swim was 34 minutes which was only about 1-3 minutes off the competition due to drifting on only some bouys and the resulting sighting. Seemed long as I have not been swimming so took it easy. Bike Started great. Blasting through the field and passing 2:20 riders like nothing. Then the 20 mile section of road that was like crossing a train track constantly. I would never ride this even on a road bike for training. I would load up and drive somewhere. At mile 10 I decided just to easy pedal and try to have a good run. Then 20 miles later the road got better and I hammered again. Two big problems happened then. I thought there were three water stops and the first was at like mile 15 so no go there. Then the second had only 4 oz of water in the bottle and then no more stations. Suck. Second, I was riding on the right side of the white line and a car honked and tried to run me off the road. RED HOT LIVID RAGE ensued. Not good for me. 20 minutes later a truck passed me and then went through an intersection and I followed to the right in the bike lane and he cut right into me. Closest call I have had in over 6 years. More RAGE and only 3 miles to the finish. I have no idea what that guy was doing bc of where it happened. Run The problem with the rough road and having to stay aero to shift or sprint hills at 19 mph is that my hip went out again. It was hard to walk in T2 and I should have quit again right there and then. Hobbled a run for 6 miles and only got passed twice in the first 5 and then quit. My hip was just locked. Conclusion 1. I am getting rid of my tri bike and disc wheel in order to try and get a Kestrel with clip on bars. This was I can more effectively manage my back and have a much smoother ride. 2. Going to only do a half next on a road that I have ridden.

May Totals

Totals Swim 2:30:00 6400 Bike 26:04:00 519 Run 17:21:00 140.6 Weights 0:08:00 Total time: 46:03:00 Beginning weight: 172.5 Ending weight 167.8 for 4.7 pounds. Days off: 4 Workouts: 43 Key Workouts: Brick: Fast 50 (22mph) then 6:10 and 6:02 miles straight. Brick: 54 mile with 12:40 for 2 miles 100M in 1:08 400M in 62 secs. 2 SOLID 16 mile runs 10M TT in 24:14 headwind on return. Had Trizou at the beginning of the month and then did some bigger workouts with more recovery in order to try and maximize weight loss. My two 16 mile runs were solid 7:10 pace and even had some pick-ups with soreness not too bad. Fairly easy pace and had some solid workouts in the days before. Swimming is impossible with water warmer then I take showers in the winter just not an option unless 500 yards or so. Only one punch before open water is only option. Biking has felt very lackluster but I have the endurance. Pacing the half on June 9 is going to be critical. I also think I have been trying to go longer and the weight loss is creeping in. Very lean right now. Can't remember the last time I couldn't feel a slight giggle and even my pecks are not bouncing noticeably. Goal for June is to race hard and then take a week off with only swimming and some light biking and running in order to build for Rev3 Maine now instead of Muncie 70.3. This gives me time to tweek the results from the half and then continue or steady off the weight loss. 165 would be fine but 160 is the ultimate goal by August.

Trizou Triathlon

Elite Wave at Trizou Triathlon in Columbia MO. 70 degrees and calm winds at race start. 400M pool swim in 50M pool. Long Transition 14 mile 2 loop bike with 2 good hills and a mile of technical cones at the start and end. 3 mile run. To preface I had lost 12 pounds in the past month and did not "reload" my calories properly. Four bathroom stops before race start and a nauseated stomach before the start did not bode well. Threw up less then halfway through the bike. Swim 6:53 (1:34 per 100 yards) I started ok and then fell off pace. Don't really know what happened. Must have just been off. That is just a terrible pace even given my training. Gonna have to think hard about this one. Bike 36:03 (23.3 mph) I threw up before the first lap was done and it was at the bottom of the big hill somehow. Race fell apart from there. I have only had this happen one under extenuating circumstances and can barely remember even feeling stomach problems while riding. I was going to go into 2nd within the next 2 miles as well. Still ended within 20 secs of 2nd best split of the day somehow so my take away is my training is fine. Run 18:24 (6:08) Plan was just to jog it in and see if I could nab 7th place somehow to get 50 bucks. Ended up catching up to a guy but my stomach wasn't letting me step on it. Thought I was going 7:10-7:20 pace. My first mile must have been around a 5:50 somehow. Take away from this is great. Easily felt like a half marathon pace. The weight loss is showing through here without a loss on the bike so far. Overall 1:04:42 5th place and $100 payday so I got my race entry and some more back. Plan now is too lose some more weight. 165 by June 1 is the plan.

April Totals

Well, April was the month of Counting Calories. Still have 3 more days until weigh in so I will update this then. I ended up having 7 days off of which 2 were planned and three were needed. So only 2 bad days. Weigts 0:25:00 Swim 2:20:00 7050 Bike 14:06:00 284 Run 12:16:00 86.5 Total 28:42:00 Key Workouts 10M TT 24:05(24.9mph) w/ 5:38 mile run off, poorly fueled and executed Track: 10x300 in 56-57 10x100 on 2min in 1:17 avg Track: Mile medley, 5:56, 5:59, 5:42 Way lower volume trying to concentrate on weight loss. Had a lot less binge days then I normally do. It was hard doing most of the workouts improperly fueled. I am feeling lean and already faster on the run and the bike and swim just feel fatigued. My times are just fine in both esp in the distance department on the bike. I have also been fairly agitated and angry which I think is just a side effect of losing weight but it has effected my training. New race plan is a big A race on May 6. Just a sprint and then a 70.3 in Minnesota on June 9 to prep for Ironman 70.3 Muncie on July 7. That will be my chance at a pro card which means I will get to race after July 7. With the move to the East Coast a lot of races are full or just out of our budget with me being a stay at home dad.

Olympic Triathlon: Drafting vs. Non Drafting

There has been a lot being said about the merits of drafting vs non drafting triathlon. One is supposed to be the race of truth and the other a swim/run.  The problem I believe is that they are both too gray. In ITU racing the quality of the field, size, and course play way too huge a role. In non-drafting you almost always still need to stay with "the pack."

How to improve ITU style possibly.
Lessen the field size.  Take the field size down to 10 or 20 and have Friday and Sunday races. This allows you to follow some people in the first race and root for them in the final.  There would be smaller packs and more breaks and generally more exciting.  The competitive races look like a shampoo, blow dry, and fast run to any viewer. The real problem is that almost NO ONE races this format. They grab a whole bunch of swim/runners and teach them to bike. Not to say that Simon, Gomez and Brownlee are freaking awesome and fast and would tear a new hole into non drafting races.

Shorten the distance. To do the aforementioned you would have to shorten the distance to maybe 1000, 20k, 5k.  You could mess with it quite a bit depending on the field or format throughout the season.

Messing with the field size could also make the courses more interesting. They already run loops for the crowd so this should be a no brainer. You could race from the swim onto a crit course and race by crit rules.  You could even have primes during the season to shorten the run course by 200m for prime winners. Would be exciting as hell.

I guess that is what I am really getting at. Since it is a conglomeration of different sports it is really hard to get the tactics and see the struggle especially since it is basically the most elitist of all sports as far as access goes.

Then there is the non drafting races which really should be time trial starts to be a race of truth. Or at least better drafting rules and enforcement. I also think the Iron format should be in the Olympics as well though.

March Totals a little late. (Biggest Month Ever)

Weights 0:40:00
Swim     2:25:00 7300
Bike     29:43:00 542
Run      24:17:00 183.7
56 hours 25 minutes
Days off: 3

Well, considering this was my biggest month ever I was expecting some weight loss. It didn't happen. (at least in April I went to counting calories and lost 10 solid pounds in 20 days so far).

The big workouts were a 6:53 500y TT in the pool. It was paced bad as well so getting better off of 5000 yards a month is always a sweet thing. Also a 42mile Z2 "TT" (141hr @72cad) at 21.8 mph was pretty sweet.  I do these fairly often as just a solid ride that keeps me focused on going a little harder without going too hard. The last thing I did was a 5 hour ride until 10pm with all my camping gear, slept, woke for a 1:28 half marathon and biked 6 hours home in the heat. I was unhappy with my race at first but the times were all slower and I faded after 5 miles in 32 and came back on after 10 miles. First time doing that so I can call on that. The ride home was looming too big in my mind as well once it started to hurt at mile 2.

April has been billed as weight loss month with everything else a bonus. I have planned to go from 182 to 172 by the end. Only a week to go to find out.

Feb Totals and thoughts.

Weights  0:20:00
Swim     0:30:00 1600
Bike     22:10:00 419
Run      12:29:00 96.9
Total     35:29:00

Days off: 7 (sick days)
Workouts: 28
Key Workouts: 10x100 on 2min avg 1:16
 8x300 in 58sec after 2:30 bike, 18:45 5k.

The one swim workout was epic bc a year ago it was only 1:25 that I could hold and I have not been doing any swimming lately.  The 5k was super cold and had a big week lead in that I overdid a bit bc I had been sick for almost two weeks. The sickness totally derailed my steady weight loss but I am starting it back up today.  Gonna slowly start to work on swim endurance while trying to get the running back up and keep up the good work with the bike. Can't wait to get out and hammer a couple TT's soon. Gonna be rusty but thats alright. Signed up for the Elite Wave at the Trizou triathlon on May 6 as my first big race. Still eyeing Muncie 70.3 as my big race of the year since we are moving to Newark Delaware on Aug 1 so that is gonna take some adjustment time.

January Totals and thougts

Weights  1:35:00
Swim      0:35:00 1700
Bike      34:27:00 665
Run       14:48:00 113
51 hours 25 minutes.
5 days off, 33 workouts.

Well, another good January.  Almost all the biking was on the trainer pushing 65-70 rpm for 2-3 hour sessions at about a 19 mph outside effort.  This is one of my key tactics every year. I can't do a treadmill so I have to make up for it somewhere.  My one swim had two 50 yard efforts in 32 and 31 and then a 5x100 on 2min in 1:22 and that was after 3 hours on the trainer earlier that day so I decided to keep focused on base until I need to hone that swim a bit more.

Looks like Muncie 70.3 is gonna be my only shot for a pro card this year so I am working toward that right now with a May 5 sprint being my other A race.  Gonna try and race more and have fun.  Weight is still over 180 so gonna have to deal with that but I went from 186 to 178 before getting sick and packing on a little more.

Feb is going to see an increase in running if the weather holds.

2011 Year Totals

2011 Year Totals
Weights 4:10:00
Swim   38:07:00 109400
Bike  148:33:00 2772.5
Run   135:18:00 1027.35

Total 321:58:00

Averages

0:53:00 workout per day.

6:18:00 workout per week.

Weeks over 10 hours: 11

Biggest week Jan 22-28 : 15:31:00

Swim 2103 yards per week. 9100 a month

Biked 53 miles per week. 231 a month

Ran 19.75 miles per week.  85.6 a month

Days Off: 126 (2.4 per week)

Workouts: 356

Triathlons: 3

Running Races:5

Well, swimming was about the only thing to improve this year and while I feel more confident, my execution in the water was lacking.  Biking felt strong but always on the cusp of something great. 2012 will be a banner year for both the bike and the run.  If I can bring the swim around everything should be good.  It was a very stressful year with going from working 60 hour weeks and going on crazy awesome hikes to being a stay at home dad with a 3 year old and not knowing out future but I think I have things worked out.  The mental side of things has always been a weakness/strong point for me and this year was a roller coaster.  

The main goals this year are to just get out there and hit it every day.  One regret of the past year was the finish and thus the total days off.  126 days is a lot of room to make improvement bc many of those days I was just lazy or feeling sorry for myself and not from over training or injury.  

The biggest regret is only getting in 8 races and only 3 triathlons. This will come up this year at least.  The only problem with the new year is planning until July 30th with the possible move.