I should probably back up a few weeks and provide a little lead up to race day first. This was a year that I was able to hit a lot of big races and truly get to race like a pro. Big races, big destinations and huge training days. Great fun. About 5 weeks before Ironman, I had a race in Nansei, Japan. Went out there with a few other Americans (Garrett McCarthy and Becky (Gibbs) Lavelle to name a couple), along with some others from around the world. They put us up in pairs and my roomate was New Zealander Cameron Brown. Lots of great stories came from that week, but that’s another day. I had a rough day on a rough course and finished 7th overall. I was in the middle of my Ironman build and was trying to get my iron levels back to normal after a summer at altitude, so I wasn’t happy, but satisfied considering.

Back in Texas, training was pretty intense for me. I was basically doing a 1/2 Ironman every day of the week, and then hit a long run and ride on the weekend on top of that.  350 miles a week riding and 60 running was getting logged, along with swimming under Eddie Reese and the University of Texas men’s team a few days a week (nothing humbles you quicker than swimming repeat 500′s, holding 5min or under and worrying about getting lapped). I didn’t fully know what to expect with Kona, but knew that if I had any hope of playing along, I needed to hit some big volume. It was about as much as my 23 year old body could handle, and as it turned out, maybe a little too much. On too Kona…

Got up at 4:40am. Had 2 Ensure type drinks, a banana and a powerbar for breakfast. Emmanuel Millet, of one of my sponsors,  Aquaman Wetsuits, picked me up and took me to the start. Waited my turn to get marked and pump up the tires, then waited again to hit the port-a-potty. Ran out of time to get a run warmup, so I ran in place for a few minutes to get the blood pumping. Then it was time. So I got in and warmed up in the water.

Then the strangest thing happened. Everyone is trained in this sport to the air horn. Typical start for any race around. Ironman uses a cannon, but for some reason decided to use the air horn as the 5 minute warning. I think you know where this is going. For the first and only time in Ironman history, there was a false start. The horn went off and I nailed that start, broke free of all the pros and began gapping immediately. 150 yards later a wall of lifeguards stopped us. Bummer. So they backed up 1500 athletes and got them positioned again. The cannon sounds and I jump to the lead again, but this time some of the steam was gone and got a group right on my feet. I lead out to the turn with Wolfgang Ditrich right on my heels. On the way back I figured someone else should take a turn and Wolfgang moved up. As we approached the finish I could sense the excitement in our group of 4 and felt the pace quicken bit by bit. I knew that first out usually got big camera time and I wasn’t really interested. I wanted an even race. So I let them sprint to the dock and came out 4th in 49:39

Ran through transition and passed 2 in the tent. Only Wolfgang was in front of my now.  Rolled up Palani Hill, the enormous crowds and out on the Queen K (Slightly different course back then). Settled into my pace in 2nd place on the road. Sitting out there I had the company of 2 helicopters, and various press vehicles zooming by. Around 50 minutes into the ride, the first pack of contenders rolled by that contained Tim and Tony Deboom. Shortly after came all the big names. Jurgen Zack, Lothar Leder, (eventual winner) Thomas Hellriegel, Peter Reid, Christian Bustos, Cameron Widoff, Ken Glah and a couple of others. (note: looking back, this was one of those moments in your life that you look back on and smile.) I rode with the clan for a while and remembering thinking how the pace was not that bad. Out of my range for 112 at the time, but definitely attainable. Then the day started to turn it’s twisted turn for me. I began getting cramps in my left hamstring. Not that intense, but something that I needed to pay attention to. So I eased off a bit and kept stretching it out. Playing this stretch then pedal game spit me off the back of the group and there was now only 1 other rider with me. Lothar Leder. We rode in proximity of each other up the climb and headwind out to Hawi. At the turn in Hawi I somehow missed my special needs bag, which meant I had to improvise the rest of the ride and live off the aid stations. It pissed me off at the time, but it was a great lesson to learn.

We had a nice tailwind coming down from Hawi, but when we got back to the Queen K, it became a stiff headwind of 30 mph all the way home. This is where my next problems showed up. The bottom of my right foot began cramping pretty intensely and there was noway for me to stretch it (no, getting off my bike and taking off my shoe was not an option). Additionally, the course drink by MetRx was not sitting well with me. Felt completely bloated, so I switched to Coke. As the ride wore on, the foot was getting worse. The cramp had now spread and climbed midway up my calf. The pain was getting beyond intense and the horrible wind didn’t help. I clocked 12mph on a downhill in one of the nastier stretches. Just outside Kona I was about at my breaking point and actually began to cry briefly. Thankfully I arrived in town shortly after and was protected from the wind. T2 was about 8 miles south of the swim back then, so I still had a ways to go, but was happy to see faces. A good friend and fellow pro at the time, Tim Watson rolled up next to me about this point. We exchanged a few words and rode to T2 together.

I got off my bike and had trouble putting weight on my foot. One of the volunteers rubbed my foot while I changed and headed out with Tim (No idea of transition times as back then they were both added to your bike time). Steep climb out of T2 and then in and out of the “pit”. As I ran I felt better but never great. Pace dropped into the 7:20′s and then slowly crept upwards. 1:41 at the half, and began catching some of those who dropped me on the bike. Shortly after 13, I started running into problems again and the pace jumped about 1 min per mile. Held onto this pace until around mile 20 when the bottom just fell out. Pace jumped to well over 12 minute miles. Started stopping at every aid station and legs began stiffening. Started asking for potato chips at aid stations and people were digging through their personal belongings to get me some. Then I began peeing every other mile or so. Final miles were in a blurr. Very little memory of the run back into town to the finish. I crossed the line and walked over to my parents. We went over to the food and I began to try to eat. While talking to them I began to lose my vision. Everything was going blurry and I went from feeling bad to feeling like death. Some doctors came over and carried me into the med tent. Began to feel very cold and temperature began to drop. I overheard the doctors say that I was going into shock and then heard one yell at me to stop letting my eyes roll back in my head. Then every movement caused cramping. Even my jaw cramped. 3 I.V.’s and a shot of magnesium (for the cramping) and I came out of it. Bottom line: my sodium levels dropped too low and hyponatremia kicked in. I crept to the car and headed to the hotel, with my tail firmly between my legs.

It was one of the worst experiences and best experiences I’ve ever been through. I decided that night that I would never attempt another Ironman again. It just wasn’t my bag. Olympic and 1/2 Ironman were more my thing.

Then I got on the plane to head home and noticed that if I had just changed my nutrition like this and adjusted my training like that, then maybe I could…..

And that my friends, is how addictions begin.

Got up about 4am after poor night’s sleep. Since I live less than 2 miles from transition, prerace was a snap. 3 hard boiled eggs and a small cup of coffee. Previously I have tried to stuff more food down my throat, but it seems to just make me uncomfortable. Mixed up all my race drinks (perpetum and pure sport) and headed over to transition. Being a local was a big help because we knew the good places to park that no one knew about. did my thing with the bags bottles and tires and started walking to the start with Amy.

Event warmup:

Because of the narrow boat ramp and the fact that they had to separate the wetsuits users from the non wetsuit users, they started letting people in the water around 6:40ish. I was sure to be right up front so I could get in and warm up some. Was able to swim easy for about 10-15 minutes before I had to go fight for positioning.

Swim

Since the water wasn’t wetsuit legal for any form of consideration other than being a finisher, there was a mix of wetsuit and non wetsuit swimmers. At first I didn’t really care because I didn’t think I would really be affected, but as the start got closer I noticed a number of wetsuits pushing their way to the front of the start. A quick glance at the equipment they were using told me they were about to get maimed when the gun when off. (Sounds a bit presumptuous I know, but just like seeing a cyclist in tennis shoes, it’s often easy to pick strong/weak swimmers out of a crowd based on their equipment choices). If they weren’t wearing the rubber courage, I guarantee they wouldn’t be in front elbowing me for space. Translate this through the entire field and I would say that this was probably a more congested/violent swim than it needed to be. I’m a big fan of the mass start, but if they’re going to allow 2 sets of rules, perhaps a two wave start would be safer.
Anyway, the gun went off and I hit the gas for a good 20 seconds. I Looked both ways and saw I was leading so I immediately throttled back and worked to settle into my pace. Because of a little mishap working on my bike, breathing to the left was a bit of a challenge because of some lingering soreness/swelling. For this reason, I did very little breathing to the left, and I paid for it. What I didn’t notice was that the two people I was looking for were about 20 yards to my left and slowly passing me. When I finally noticed I tried to move over and catch some feet, but it was too late. Stupid tactical error. I ended up swimming about 25-35 yards behind them alone for about the first 1.8 miles, give or take. At that point I started feeling a little tired, which is something I never feel in the swim. I knew then that my fitness wasn’t nearly where it should have been. Work leading up the race was extremely busy, and swimming is the first workout I cut when I’m pinched for time. So now I had to pay for it. The 2 in front of me started really gapping and I just focused on staying smooth through the canal. The swim course by the way was really great. The last half mile swimming through the canal, there are people on both sides cheering you on. Very cool. Time: 52:24

What would I do differently?Train more, plain and simple. And don’t getted jacked in the jaw with your bike the week before the race.

T1

My MO in transition is to keep it simple. More stuff to do/think about means more things to screw up. So I got out, ran to my bag and then to the tent. Off came the Torque and on went the helmet and shoes. Passed one of the swimmers that finished in front of me and a pro male in transition. Time: 2:10

Bike:

Hopped on the bike and passed a male pro in the first mile. Once he got adjusted though he took off and out of sight like I was just learning to ride a bike. Because of my limited time to train the bike and therefore relative weakness in this event, I expect to see stronger cyclists begin to pass me by about mile 5. I was riding a bit quicker than usual this time I guess. Not sure if it was more fitness, better set up or what, but mile 5 came and went and there was no one behind me. Couldn’t see anyone. Then came mile 10, then 15, then 20. Still no one. What the? The fastest swimmer was off the front, so I’m sitting second overall and rolling through mile 25. Then 30. Then 35. At this point there were 2 athletes rolling up on me. Ok, here comes the train of cyclists. As they passed I realized that it was a pro male with a pro female drafting him (blatant I might add). So I was still in 2nd. It wasn’t until right before mile 40 that the first amatuer passed me. I was surprised it took so long, but I was riding right at a 5 hr pace so I guess in hindsight it makes sense that it would take a little longer for everyone to catch up. A few miles later the second guy came by, and as he did he asked, “Do you want to take turns taking 2 minute pulls?” I looked at him like he just offered to lick my toes. He then quickly added “legal pulls”. Whatever dude. I might have a slow bike time, but it’s legit. Slowly the cyclists then began coming, most all clean, but a few wheel suckers. Somewhere around mile 50 we came into an area that had just received a heavy rain, and the roads were soaked. I train this stretch every weekend and knew that the tar/oil with the water was going to make this section extremely slick, so I slowed way down. (I later saw a few riders with some healthy road rash and torn clothes, so my assumptions seemed to be confirmed.) I crossed the halfway point around 2:34ish and in 7th overall. I kept a keen eye on my heart rate the entire way and made sure the I kept the legs well in reserve. Even on the few hills I kept the effort so that I had 2 gears left in me. In terms of nutrition, I was drinking 1 bottle every hour, a saltstick tablet about every 30-45 minutes, and drinking the perpetum bottle as needed. 6 months ago in Ironman Cozumel I drank 1 bottle every 30 minutes and ended the ride feeling bloated and struggled with stomach issues on the run a bit because of it. This seemed at first to work much better, especially because the first few hours of the bike were under an overcast sky. The clouds actually made me rethink the hydration a little as at times it felt downright comfortable outside. That turned out to be a bit of a mistake as I would find out later.
Coming back to The Woodlands there was a bit of a headwind, but nothing to complain about. I went through a few rough patches where the back/neck would get tight, but otherwise a pretty consistent ride. Felt pretty good once I got back in the Woodlands, and the crowds on every corner certainly helped. Hear rate consistant throughout, with about a 5 beat rise in the last 10 miles or so. That was a tell…

Time: 5:15

What would I do differently? Drink a more balanced mix of water and Perform. I drank about 90% Perform, and what I thought was a bloating feeling was actually a mild case of sour stomach. Next time I will probably alternate bottles so I can help fix the hydration challenge.

T2

Rolled in, handed off the bike and ran to the tent. When I sat down I thought to myself, “take your time and get everything right for this brutal run”. Was a little surprised that it was still a 3 minute transition. I thought I sat there for a while. oh well. Time: 3:00

Run

The heat and humidity hit me like a wall. This was my 5th Ironman, and each one I have done has been in temperatures above 90 degrees. Having said that, this run felt the hottest. I knew immediately I was in trouble. I kept slowing down and the heart rate kept climbing (even though RPE felt the same). About a half mile in, my breathing started feeling shallow, like an asthma attack was coming. It was at this point that my mind started debating whether I could finish. I immediately kissed Kona goodbye. This was my hometown race and I wasn’t about to drop out in my backyard. As I ran up to the mile 1 aid station, I kept telling myself, “this is the unplanned problem for this race, just figure it out”. Got to mile 1 in 7:40 and hit the port-a-can. Immediatley figured out problem #1. I’m dehydrated. So I stopped at the aid station and started taking in A LOT of fluids. Jogged very easy to the next aid station and repeated the hydration. Struggled this way through the 4th aid station. Then slowly I was able to run at a steady pace again. Things started turning, even if slowly. Ran through a couple of aid stations and then started fighting the overheating. So I dedcided that since a Kona slot was out, I would walk through the aid stations and get as much ice on me as I could find a spot for. Chest, back, groin, and held a handful in each hand. This run was frickin hot! I have never seen so many pro’s walking. I actually passed a few on the run (ok, ok, they were a lap ahead of me but I still passed them technically!) Somewhere around mile 13 I got an update from a friend. He told me that the last update showed that I was 9th in my AG. So I thought back to where the last checkpoint would have been that was already on the internet and it was a good chunk back (maybe mile 8 or 9?), but I did start noticing that I wasn’t really getting passed much out here. I really couldn’t believe it. I was having a horrible run and running at what felt like a snails pace. So I guess everyone was suffering too, and I’m still in this race. Of course heat management was priority, but now there was a little more urgency in my step. Started the 3rd lap and life started getting confusing. I had to try and figure out if the person that was passing me was on their first, second or final lap. (On a side note, the crowds on the run were fantastic, especially on the waterway. Huge props to the director for designing the run course.). When I got to the turnaround (at Landry’s) I forced myself to up the pace as I noticed I was closing in on a competitor in my AG. Made the turn into Market street and soaked it up best I could. Great finish area set up by the way! Time: 4:01

What would I do differently? Start the run well hydrated.

My warm down amounted to zero. Almost passed out about 10 minutes after the race while talking to friends and family, so I spent a few minutes with the docs, drank some chicken broth and then headed for home. On the way out I heard from a couple of people that I finished 11th. The prerace predictions were that 11 slots would go to my age group (the largest age group starting). So it was just a matter of waiting until morning to see if it would be official. Went home, had friends come over, drank beer and ate pizza. The next morning I got my confirmation that it was indeed 11 slots and got my golden ticket to Kona! This will be my 3rd trip there, and I haven’t had the best history in Kona (more on that another time) , so my goal is to actually experience the legendary Kona finish, even though I finished both times.

Of course if I trained for the swim a bit more I might be able to…well….we’ll have to wait and see

**Photo’s taken off of Facebook via firends who took the pictures. I would like to thank them and If any of the pictures need to be removed, just let me know.***

Almost every year I go down to watch our city’s marthon, the Chevron Houston Marathon, I inevitably see and hear first timers making simple mistakes that can, and often do, cost them their goal of a successful day.

I’ve made all of these mistakes and more in the various marathons that I’ve run. So I would like to pass on some advice in the hopes that I save some people some heartache this marathon season. Below are some simple tips that will hopefully make your day a little easier.

Nothing New - For most of those who read this site, the ‘nothing new’ rule is a common one. For the newer members of the endurance world however, this rule might not have set in just yet. “Nothing new” is in reference to your race day habits and equipment. Don’t wear a new shirt, don’t wear a new pair of shoes, don’t grab some gels you’ve never eaten or drink something you haven’t trained with. If you do, you are gambling with your day. Some of these things are obvious. New shoes can cause blisters, as can a new sports bra or pair of shorts. But the smaller stuff can be an issue as well. Same goes with your race day habits. A new hat might drive you crazy. Trying a new nutrtional product on race day might not work for you like it does your training partner. I’ve been in a race where the sports drink on the course wouldn’t digest for me. So I got a big gut full of fluid and got sick. If a gel has ingredients your not used to you could be logging some time in the port-a-cans along the course, or even worse, the dreaded and always feared ‘poo leg’. And no one within a 100 yard radius wants you to suffer poo leg.

Have a good, bland meal the night before. Or at the very least, a meal that you’re familiar with. Spicey indian food is not what I would recommend the night before a race. You want something that won’t irritate, cause heart burn, keep you up at night or having you spend more time than you planned waiting in line for the restroom. Often we travel out of town to race, so a home cooked meal is not always an option. If this is the case, find a restaurant that you know well and are comfortable with. In this situation eating healthy takes a back seat to eating a known food. I often will get a cheese pizza or a burger the night before because I know how my body will react to it.

Don’t let your enthusiasm ruin your race. I know this sounds easy to avoid, but most runner’s go by feel (or RPE) on race day as opposed to heart rate. Not a big deal, with the exception of that wonderful little drug known as adreneline. At the beginning of the race, excitement is in the air and your goals are at their height. So the gun goes off and you feel great. Yippee! All that training paid off and you are going to have a banner day. You feel like you are running an easy pace….until that adreneline wears off. No biggie at first because you knew the race would have it tough spots. By the time you roll through mile 16 though, you know that you’ve screwed up, but at this point it’s too late. Dragging home is the best option you have.

The best way to avoid this is to have a plan for the first half of the race. Pick a pace that’s conservative and stick with it regardless of what the rest of runners are doing. This can be harder than you might think though. It’s called a ’pack mentality’ for a reason afterall. It’s not always necessary to have a plan for the later miles, as at some point you shift from holding back to pushing through, and digging deep doesn’t come with a plan.

Don’t over dress. It’s 5 am and 31 degrees outside. You step out of your car and realize it’s dang cold. It’s only natural to throw on a jacket or some warmer tights so that you’re comfortable. The problem comes later in the day, when it’s 9am and now 48 degrees. You went from comfortable to overheating and sweating through all those warm clothes. So rather than start your day comfortable, trying toeing the starting line a bit cold. Even a little shivering. Your body temperature will elevate within a matter of minutes of starting and that cold air will feel pretty refreshing soon after you start. If the weather is too cold to do this, then start with an outer later that you can throw away as you get going. For instance, you might notice a number of people wearing gardening gloves at the start. The reason is that they cost about 50 cents and won’t be missed when they’re tossed in the trash at mile 5.

Breathe. I usually get a blank stare on this one, but it’s the most overlooked and perhaps the most important piece of advice I can give here. With the start of a race, with all the people and all the noise, racers get so distracted that they often begin a very shallow breathing pattern, even to the point of a pant. In a triathlon if you do this it usually ends up as an anxiety attack in the water. It’s certainly not as severe on land, but can wear you out in a hurry. Get yourself into a ryhthmic breathing pattern right from the get go.  Ask the top runners what they focus on while racing and the majority will tell you it’s their breathing. There’s a reason for that.

Take care of your business before you head to the starting line. Yes, that is what I’m referring to. This one takes more planning than you would think. I’ve never seen the cost analysis for this so I’m not really sure why, but one thing races never have enough of is port-a-cans. The lines can be enormous. Because of that, I do everything I can to avoid them. I really don’t want to stand in line for 30 minutes right before I race. My suggestion would be to do a little recon and see if there are any restraunts, hotels, etc. nearby that you can sneak into. If there are no options (like the Boston Marathon for instance), then get in line early and often. Better to take care of your business before the race then scrambling to figure it out at mile 15. 

Best of luck, and say hello to ‘the wall’ for me at mile 20.

Being one the first people to get into the water I had a few minutes to swim around. nothing fancy, just tried to loosen up best I could. As more people started getting in I swam over to the starting line to get a good position. While we waited I was able to notice the strength of the current. While it moved us backwards while we waited, it was clear that it wasn’t as strong as previous days, and seemed not nearly as strong as last year either. The swim splits eventually proved this. Good news for me!

Being a strong swimmer, I have a pretty simple strategy. I hit the gas for about 50 yards and then settle into a strong pace for another 150, or in his case, the first bouy, then I turn it off and settle in. The inital blast gets me away from any of the fighting and brings the group around me to about a 2 dozen. The next 150 shrinks the group down to a dozen or less. This is the group that I start paying attention to. Now typically this group dwindles considerably too, as some of these folks are swimming way too hard for this distance. Anyway, my first effort after the gun got me clear of the fighting in about 10 strokes. I kept the solid effort to the first buoy and was pleasantly surprised to be the first one there. I backed off a little as this point and started to settle into my pace. at the first turn buoy there was 1 guy on my feet, a small gap, and then a group of swimmers. I make the next turn a few meters later and settled in for the long stretch swimming with the current. about a third the way through this section the guy on my feet went to pass. Happy to take some time drafting, I let him go by. it gave me some time to get the lay of the land. behind us, the pack of swimmers were around 5 meters behind. Good enough for now but I didn’t want them to latch back on, so I kept an eye on them. I pretty much turned the engine off at this point. Sitting on this guy’s feet my effort level was considerably lower than what I normally warm up with in a workout. Drafting is great. After about 400 meters I looked back again an the pack was at the same point, meaning we had slowed down a little. In hindsight this was probably a mistake. I should have maintained my normal pace. So I decided to take over again and swam at a nice comfortable pace. The swim caps they gave us were pretty large and somewhere along this stretch my cap came off. I lead down to the turn buoy at the submarine and then a relatively quick turn again to head for home. On the second turn I looked behind and that group was nowhere to be seen. So now it was just me and him. Now I enjoy winning like the next guy, but I don’t kill myself to get out of the water first just ’cause. The race is way to long for that. As expected the other guy made a move. Not a big problem as it wasn’t a very strong move. The problem though, was that he didn’t see the final turn buoy to the stairs (we kept buoys to our left the whole way until the final right turn to the stairs)and so he begins to cut the course. I kept pace with him quite comfortably, waiting for him to realize his mistake. Sure enough, he did and started swimming back my way, but he saw that he wasn’t going to beat me to the turn and therefore the finish, so he CUT THE COURSE! Are you kidding me! People would throw a hissy fit if I just cut the course on the run, so why aren’t there penalties for this sort of thing?? OK so remember that thing I just said about not working to hard just to win the swim. Nevermind. That pissed me off. problem was I only had about 25 meters or so to get it done. He touched the stairs just a half stroke in front of me and then we ran up to the timing mats, at which time I beat him to the finish. We finished with the same time, but I don’t know why the results gave him the nod for place, as you can see by the photo how this actually turned out. Swim time: 48:59

What would I have done different? Nothing. Well…. maybe used some less than civil behavior in the last 25 meters, but I’m sure officials would have had a problem with that. Cutting the course is just fine though apparently.

I ran down the long pier while taking the torque off to the bags and off to the tent. Threw on my stuff and jogged out to the bike. Transition time: 2:37

I hopped on the bike and immediately started taking tabs on the heart rate. (This is where RPE is completely useless) All the fun and excitement of cheers, transition and starting the ride bring the heart rate up, so I wanted to get it down as quick as I could. The bike is very flat and the wind doesn’t kick up until the east side of the island so I had some time to do some easy pedaling. As things got into check I started to settle into my pace. My main goal was to get off the bike. Yes, I know. Not very ambitious, but I didn’t have a great deal of time to ride leading up to this race, so I knew I wasn’t going to set the world on fire. I planned on a nice steady pace and would be satisfied if I came in around 5:20 or so.Nothing to set the world of fire, but fast enough to set up the run. I got to the coast and the wind was mild relative to the nightmares I had about this section. I still got tossed around a bit but I was expecting Kona type wind and that just wasn’t the case. I focused on my hydration and salt stick schedule. I’ve learned with heat that I just don’t eat as much, so kept a looser schedule for the food. As we approached the turn away from the coast, the crosswind turns to a nice tailwind. It was about this point that I started feeling some cramping. the pain started where the hamstring connects around the buttbones, and slowly radiated out. The hips slowly started to cramp as did the gluteus muscles. At first I just thought that if I stood on pedals for a few seconds the problem would disappear. But it didn’t. So while we had the tailwind I sat up and soft pedaled, trying various things to get the cramping to stop. Nothing I did helped and it got excruciatingly painful. I could barely sit ont he seat. What the hell? I’ve never had this problem in training. I always tell people that when you do an Ironman you will plan for A, B, and C. Then D will happen. I guess this was my unplanned problem. I was running out of ideas though. After about an hour of this, I decided that maybe getting off the bike altogether might help. If I take a moment to really stretch, maybe I can fix this. So a little ways into lap 2 I pulled over and just got off. Again I tried everything and nothing worked. I climbed back on the bike and rolled on. I had no more ideas. All I could do was pedal and try and find the least painful way to do so. Slowly the pain reduced from almost unbearable to a duller, more tolerable pain. I also kept trying to think of what would cause it. It wasn’t until much later in the ride that I noticed my stem looked different (stem is covered with a gel flask by the way, so it’s kinda hidden). I couldn’t remember right off hand but it looked like, based on the number of spacers, that my stem was lower. I had the mechanic at the resort help me put the bike together since he had the space and the tools, but I don’t take the stem off in transit, so why would he have moved it? And would it make enough difference to cause this kind of cramping? Apparently so as this is the only thing I could find. Anyway, I kept rolling along, and kept up the gatorade intake with perpetuem for calories. I also had 2 flasks of gel but ended up not using either. The stomach was full enough. The final loop felt the best of the 3 but I was ready to get the heck off the bike and get on with the run. Other than gatorade, perpetuem, and stalt stick, I had a half a powerbar for the entire ride. Meager in comparison to what I had on paper for nutrition, but my energy levels were high so I wasn’t worried. Bike Time: 5:34.58

First steps off the bike were very painful. Did a bit of a shuffle to try and get the hips to loosen up. Got into the changing tent and couldn’t sit down at first as the hips/butt/hamstrings hurt so bad. Eased into the chair and got to work. While I did that a volunteer put sunblock all over me. Slowly stood up and headed out. Transition Time: 2:11

As I started running the pain from my hips started to diminish. I kept a close eye on my heart rate as I wanted to start the marathon conservative. I changed my stride some as well to compensate for the hips. Ran through the first mile in 7:11. Heart rate was right on, RPE was fine, but I still felt this was a tad hot considering the conditions. It was freakin hot. So I eased off a bit. Next few miles were in the 7:30′s and more in line with where I thought they should be. As a side note: One of the pro men passed me in the first loop, and as he got  ahead by about 60 yards, he ran off the road to a grassy spot next to the sidewalk, dropped his drawers and took a monster dump right there for the world to watch. pulled up his shorts and took off. all in the span of about 5 seconds! haha!). On my way back I noticed a couple of things. 1st: keeping cool was going to be a major challenge as it was 94 degrees now, and 2nd: my legs were falling apart quicker than they should be thanks to the bike problems. I also noticed a sunburn setting in. So every aid station I dumped ice and water all over myself. My stomach was not cooperating as I could feel it was full of fluid, so I skipped drinking for a few aid stations (they had them every kilometer afterall). coming through town, which was great as the crowds were large and loud!, and onto lap 2 I started feeling better and could feel my stomach issues disappear for the time being. Didn’t think I was ready for gatorade and solid food wasn’t going to happen, so I opted for Coke. Glorious Coke. Quite possibly the greatest invention for Ironman racing ever. This became my method for the rest of the run. water on body, ice in the clothes, a little coke and drink some water (along with a salt tab at every turnaround) No gels for the entire race. So for those keeping track I had no gels for an entire Ironman, and only Coke for a the marathon. Go figure. My pace had slowed a bit as I hit the halfway point at 1:44. I knew I was going to miss any goal times for the run, but I was still content with what I was doing considering the circumstances. I went through the highs and lows with both my legs and my stomach like everyone and needed to walk through a few of the later aid stations to keep it together. The last 4 miles the legs were really not cooperating anymore and it took more and more effort to keep a steady stride. I was pretty adamit though that I didn’t want a glow stick (aka night finish) and knew the sunset was at 5:06 pm (or a 10:06 finish time). The last few miles I could see the sun slipping into the ocean. At this point though I was back in town with the huge crowds (They actually parted as you ran like the Tour De France!! It was second to none!) and knew that even though I was going to miss beating the sunset, it was only by a few minutes, so I was going to finish while it was still light out. As I came up to the jumbotron I could see Andy Potts standing on the podium while they played the National Anthem. Nice! I made that final left turn to the finish line and soaked it up. One thing was missing though, the announcer! I guess because they were doing the awards ceremony for the pros, they stopped calling out the finishers. Small bummer (Let’s face it. I’ve had MUCH worse finishes, let’s not relive the damn bum in Kona), but I was not going to think twice about it. As I finished I needed some medical help walking as the change in stride made my legs wobbly. A few minutes sitting down in the med tent and I was able to steady my legs. Run Time: 3:44.10

Kissed my family at the finish, got some pizza and a massage. Then headed for the hotel. Total Time: 10:12.55

So what most effected my performance? The cramping in my hips/butt/hamstrings were an absolute gamechanger, not only for the bike, but for the run. I did a 3:12 marathon as a training run one morning building up to this, so the 3:44 was way off target thanks to the bike.

All in all, I’ll take it. Ironman racing always seems to throw a few curve balls. For those thinking about doing this race I would highly recommend it. The best Ironman swim in the world, scenic ride and great crowds on the run. Just bring some sunblock. The forecast was for low 80′s. 94 was not part of my thinking. I have a feeling I will be back to do that one though anyway.

On a side note: I prepared this 1 week after the race and my hamstrings/hips are still sore. Hopefully I didn’t screw something up!

If you haven’t heard, The Woodlands, TX and the World Triathlon Corporation are in discussions about putting a full Ironman in Texas.  Most of the issues have been worked through and it seems that all that’s left is the vote. Click below to listen to the township discussion. The vote comes June 23rd. I will post that as well if I have the audio/video. Keep your fingers crossed.

wdlndsironman

This is the time of year in which athletes and non athletes alike take some time to endulge in all the wonderful things that the holidays have to offer. With that brings a bit of guilt, and that rolls right into New Year’s and the infamous New Year’s Resolution. Year in and year out the number one resolution in this country is to workout more or to get in shape/lose weight. For many (including myself), this means committing yourself to an event such as a marathon (or an Ironman).

Gone are the days that you could decide to enter a major endurance event such as a marathon 30 days before the race. Marathons are filling up 6 months to a year out and Ironman races can sell out in as fast as 25 minutes, a full year in advance.

The drop out rate for the very popular marathon training programs are ridiculusly high. People sign up with great intentions, hit the ground running with some big runs early on and then burn out just as fast. The success rate would be much higher if people just approached it differently. They’re trying to eat an elephant in a few bites and we all know that’s not how  it’s done.  If you want to finish a marathon, you need to do it one mile at a time.

Here in the Houston area, where I live, most of the marathon programs start in early to mid July for the Chevron Houston Marathon that takes place in mid January. For the average recreational runner, 6 months is plenty of time to ramp up for a marathon, but many of those signing up are starting from stratch in July. Not a good idea, because you have to start covering some pretty big distances in a hurry, and that can be quite overwhelming.

I would suggest that if you think you want to run a marathon, start the training now, but start in very small doses. The key to success in any endurance event is consistency in your training, not how early you can go big. So, instead of trying to kill the world right away, spend the first few months just getting into a habit. Telling you to get out 3 times a week and run 1-2 miles each time for the first 4 months sounds a lot more palatable than to tell you that in just a few weeks you must be able to run 8 miles.

Same thing goes for intensity. There is no reason in the world that you need to hit the track and do wind sprints or interval work if you are trying to finish your first marathon. No one out there walking/jogging in the final miles on race day is wishing that they had done more speed work instead of endurance work. Plus, the rate of injury goes through the roof when you add intense workouts to your training program.

The same philosophy holds true with any endurance event, not just a marathon. If you decide you want to do the MS150 or local 100 mile bike ride, an adventure race, or the Ironman, take small bites from very early on. Because if you start too big, you are going to start to hate the training and there’s a good chance you won’t even make it to the starting line. What ever ‘mountain’ you decide to to climb, remember that it’s small steady steps that get you to the top, and that, “Joy is found in not finishing an activity, but doing it”.*

Happy Training.

*Author Greg Anderson

Another bonus to this race was that I got to stay with an old friend/teammate from college and meet her family. It was great to catch up and meet her husband and little kiddo. It made the trip very enjoyable. Anyway, the race..

The race is point to point and they bus everyone from the finish in Boston to the start in Hopkinton. I’m not sure how it takes a bus on a highway an hour and a half to go 26 miles to the start, but I’m sure glad I used the restroom before we left. They drop you off in the ‘Athlete Village’ which is basically the school grounds near the start. They have a little food, a few announcements and a ton of port-a-cans. Most people seemed to be doing one of two things, either waiting in the longest port-a-can lines I’ve ever seen in my life, or sitting down trying to stay warm. For those who plan to do Boston, be aware there are no seats, so bring a blanket or something to sit on and you’ll be fine. After about an hour or so, it was time to head to the start. 

I lined up in corral #6. They have about 1,000 people per corral and it’s seeded by your qualifying time. I learned later that the time difference for my corral was about 2-3 minutes, So essentially, we all had the same time. The race starts and it takes a few minutes to get to the starting line, something I’ve never experienced before. Kinda a hurry up and wait sort of thing. We got running and it was shoulder to shoulder for about 4-5 miles. Saw lots of people peel off into the little sections of woods to pee. Since I didn’t know how populated the rest of the course was, I did the same so I wouldn’t be looking for a port-o-can later on. I also didn’t realize it at the time, but I tied my left shoe too tight. I had to stop twice to loosen it up. Not a big deal but an annoying interruption. Legs felt good early on. My strategy was to be ultra conservative until I got to the top of heartbreak hill. Then I was going to hit the afterburners and destroy the last 5 miles. The reality was that the downhills destroyed my legs over time, so by the time I got to Newton for the 4 hills, I was actually looking forward to an uphill. At the top of heartbreak hill my legs here pretty much finished. So I shuffled the last 5 miles into the finish. My time was about 12 minutes slower than my qualifying race, but I was pretty much expecting that.

 The real story though is the race itself. What an experience. I have never seen crowds so big for a race. There isn’t a spot on the course without crowds of some sort. I really tried to soak it up. Each town you ran into, the crowds tripled and the noise level was fantastic. The noisiest spot without question is Welsley College. I could here those girls screaming from a quarter mile away. They were all holding signs like ‘kiss me, I’m a senior’ or ‘free kisses’, etc. One of the runners next to me decided to take one of the more striking girls up on her offer. Instead of the typical peck though, this girl grabbed the runner and went to town! the guy stumbled off with a big smile. While it was great fun to watch, I decided not to partake. As I mentioned before, I was about 6,000 people back, so I wasn’t too jazzed about the thought of the hundreds of others this girl had already kissed. Not into sloppy 2nds, let alone sloppy 300ths. At the bottom of heartbreak hill, I decided to take a group up on their makeshift ‘beer aidstation’. Why not? Legs were shot, time was no longer an issue and beer tastes great. The last 3 miles entering town the crowds got progressively larger until the final left turn to the finish. There is about a half mile straight to the finish line and it is just solid people. Good fun. I finished and began to freeze my butt off. I figure the locals didn’t think anything of the cold, but I thought I was going to die. The walk to get my warm ups might have been tougher than the race itself with that cold air and strong wind.  My legs tightened up so much that it hurt to take every step. I spent the rest of the day walking around like a 98 year old man.

When it was all said and done I was very happy that I got to experience this event. I know there are many out there who try every year and still can’t qualify, so I feel blessed to knock it out on my first try. For those considering this race, I give it two big thumbs up. Will I go back? Hmmm. Not sure, but I doubt it. I didn’t grow up a runner, so I went to soak up the experience, mark it off my bucket list and move on. But who knows, maybe I’ll get the itch again someday.

I know that in our perfect, robot-like, utopian Ironman race it seems to make sense to put the biggest focus on the bike ride. It is longest event of the three afterall, so by improving your time on the bike will yield the best improvement overall.  To some degree I can buy into that theory. It’s the biggest chunk of the race, so training for it should take up the biggest chunk of time.

The theory starts to fall apart however, when it’s greeted by the reality of the day. Unfortunately, the Ironman is not performed in utopia, so things will start to deteriorate at some point in the race. Even the overall champions admit that at some point they are out there surviving and not racing anymore. Often you drop into survival mode a few times during the race.  So with that mindset, which event do you want to be most prepared for?

Many people I have listened to point out that the stronger and more prepared on the bike you are, the fresher you will be for the run. I won’t disagree that you need to be prepared, but I’m not sure that this translates into fresher legs on the run. People who prepare more for the bike still exert the same effort as they would with lessor legs, they just finish the ride a little sooner. (And if that was truly how this whole thing worked, why wouldn’t everyone prepare like crazy for the swim, as that really will set you up to be fresher on the bike, and then so on). Look at some of the top pro’s in Hawaii. Almost every year we see some of the strongest cyclists in our sport melt down on the run and finish well back of the leaders. Not exactly fresher legs from their bike preparation. This leads me to my point of the importance of the run.

 Let’s say you didn’t prepare as well as you would have liked on the bike ride and have some rough stretches. If  you are averaging 20 mph on the bike,  hit a wall and drop to a 15 mph average, you will lose 1 minute for every mile. While this isn’t a good situation to be in, you know your focus has been the run and just need to get off your bike to turn your day around. We get to see this often on tv. Someone has a tough day on the bike, but they are able to run themselves back into the race. Remember Dave Scott in the 1996 Ironman? He got off the bike in 26th place and ran his way into a 5th place finish. There are dozens of examples just like Dave.

On the run however, if the goal is to hold 8:30 per mile and you hit the wall, you’re walking, which is typically around 18+ minutes per mile. Now you are losing 9:30 per mile. If a good placing was the goal, your competition will eat your lunch in a matter of a couple of miles. If a good time was the goal of the day, tacking on 9 and a half minutes every 5280 feet will kill that personal best in a hurry. To put it another way, in the hour and a half it takes someone to put up 30 minutes on you on the bike, you will only need about 31 minutes to get all that time back on the run.

Of course the key to any race is to prepare for all aspects, so I am not suggesting that you slack off the other sports and just go run. What I am suggesting is that the greatest swing in performances comes on the run. When people wither on the run the impact is exponentially greater than the other two sports. The fact that the run is last, which increases the probably of hitting the wall on the run course over the other two legs of the race only strengthens my arguement.

Training for an Ironman is a long and grueling process. Whatever your goals may be on race day, make sure that all that training is done in a manner that is well thought out and in step with your raceday plan.  Even if that means you still want to focus on the bike.

Good Luck.

I see the base phase of training much different. I think base building is the most important phase for endurance athletes. It is a very focused training period in which you train almost 100% of the time in a very narrow window of aerobic effort. This window doesn’t include easy aerobic training nor does it include anything at anaerobic threshold or above. Basically (outside of warm up and warm down) you keep your effort right at or just below your aerobic threshold(AT). For those who use a heart rate monitor this means constantly keeping your heart rate in a range of 10 bpm where your upper ceiling is your aerobic threshold and you never get to your anaerobic (or lactate) threshold . So lets say your AT is 155bpm, then you want to train between 145-155 for your entire workout. Note: this doesn’t mean that this is your average for the workout, this means that if your heart rate hits 156, you slow down. Likewise, if you heart rate drops to 144 you must pick it up. For those who train without a heart rate monitor, this is roughly your Ironman race pace.

Now some (especially those who love interval training) will disagree, as they don’t want to forego the winter track workouts or swallow their pride and get dropped on rides. Science can probably prove either side of the argument as well, so I usually look to who applies any principal and their results.  If you look at the training of endurance athletes, it’s pretty easy to see that the majority of those who are successful implement a targeted base building phase. Take Mark Allen, the winningest triathlete of all time, who began his career running a mile aerobically at over 7min per mile. Toward the peak of his career he could run a mile at 5:25 without ever going anaerobic. Mike Pigg, another one our sports all time greats, once stayed in his base phase of training until September because of the improvements he was making. Legendary running coach Arthur Lydiard preaches the same, stating that one should train between 70% and 100% of your maximum aerobic effort during this time. Even Chris Carmichael, who coaches Lance Armstrong, talks at great length of the benefits of training just below your lactate threshold to build your aerobic foundation.

Here are just some of the benefits you’ll see by training more specifically during the base phase.

Aerobic economy – 99.9% of our racing is done aerobically which is almost 20 times more efficient at producing energy than anaerobic exercise. Chris Carmichael has said, “Endurance cycling” means any event lasting longer than one minute. Even the kilometer time trial on the track is an endurance event because, although much of the early power is produced anaerobically, the event is won or lost in the last eight seconds as competitors with the best aerobic system slow down less.” Just as the best way to be a better sprinter is to sprint, the best way to improve your aerobic economy/ability is to train aerobically. We as endurance athletes need to increase aerobically produced power. This means burning more fat for our calories and not accumulating lactic acid. The more you train aerobically the greater the recruitment of slowtwitch muscles, the better they become at using fat as a fuel source, the faster you get at the same effort level and the more efficient you become at burning fat for your caloric needs.

Stress acclimation – This applies slightly more to the age-grouper and newer athlete than a seasoned vet, but the base phase is the time to slowly increase the volume and therefore stress levels on the body so that it can adapt and later be able to do high intensity with out becoming overstressed (i.e. injury and or overtraining). Bloodflow really determines the rate of how fast different body parts adapt. Your heart and lungs receive a great deal of blood so the adaptation to stress is relatively quick. Muscles adapt a little slower but still adapt in a timely manner. The limiters are the tendons and ligaments. They receive very little blood flow, so when they are stressed, it can take a while for them to adapt. I that they’re also the most important to get built up for the season because when you overdo it and tendons or ligaments get injured, it takes forever for them to heal. So a long and consistent base phase to build up the tendons/ligaments is important in order to have an injury free season.

Muscle memory – This applies to all sports but more specifically to swimming. Repetition helps the nervous system “remember” specific movements so that those movements require little thought to repeat over time. The base phase offers a time to hone in technique and break bad habits. If you are always adding intensity in your workouts then your body will revert back to previous habits ,or “memories” in order to accomplish a performance goal that you have set for the day. If you remove the high intensity you are able to focus exclusively on the desired technique until it becomes the default habit. This is why stroke drills are never done at a high intensity. Once the season kicks in, you should be able to apply the new and better technique to the high intensity workouts without reverting back when you get fatigued.

Not everyone will agree, but like I stated in the beginning, I look at how the best of the best train, and what themes are recurring among that group. The other side to this coin is enjoyment though. The base phase can be very boring, so if some speed work keeps you interested and motivated, then go out and do it. The need to enjoy the journey can far outweigh the need to follow a strict schedule if you end up losing interest in the sport.