Race Report Soon!

The recovery process and getting reintegrated into normal life is taking more time than expected. However, I have started on writing up the final report and hope to use the up coming holiday to get everything completed.

Until then, I've found the pictures of the Nun from St. Anthony's Triathlon last April! The last couple of years I've seen her out on the race course and have always gone out of my way to throw a hi-five at her. This last year a friend of mine, also named Jeff, saw her after the race hanging out and went up to talk to her. She was very friendly and even agreed to take a couple pictures with him. When he told her about this blog all she did was laugh. Fantastic lady and a class act all the way.

The Nun Has Been Beaten

On a tough, but fun, Sunday in Arizona I finished my first Ironman with a time of 13:13:27. Successfully beating the Nun. More details in the race report which should come tomorrow.

Ironman Arizona 2009 Race Plan

Ironman Arizona 2009 Race Plan

This Sunday is the day. The day I've been training for since December '08. In some ways I can't wait for the start of the race, can't wait for the return to non-triathlon activities, but in others I can't believe it's already here. I've been in Tempe for a day and a half and am trying to soak it all up. As a friend said "Ironman is Disney World for adults"

Race day Plan:

Pre-Race
Wake up at 2 AM and chug an Odwalla High Protein Smoothy and get back to sleep for another 2hrs. Up at 4 to shower/shave and eat a bowl of Cheerios w/whey and coffee.

Swim
Get in the water and get used to to the temp and try to loosen up my arms some. I'm not an overly strong swimmer so I'm going to place myself mid-back and count the strokes. It's a straight 2.4mi swim so just focus on form and let the distance take care of itself.

Bike

On the bike drink 3hr bottle of Infinit from seat tube, gulp every 5-10min, and water as thirsty from aero bottle. Refill the aero bottle at every aid station no matter how low it is, take 2-4 Enduralytes an hour as needed, and pick up second Infinit bottle from Special Needs for second half of the ride. Follow the EN power pacing from chart and to hell with what everyone else is doing!

Bike Pacing:

Gear	Ironman Wattage Guidance		Max
1st	0-.5hrs, slight downhills	GW - 5%	144
2nd	Goal Watts (GW)	GW	152
3rd	Long hills (>~3')	GW + 5%	159
4th	Short hills (<~1-2')	GW + 10%	167

Run
On the run drink Infinit Run Mix and water at each aid station and walk for just long enough to take in the nutrition. Follow the EN run pacing based on VDot and try to hold that pace at mile 18. The plan is to walk for 30 steps/seconds after each aide station to reset the heart rate and give my body a bit of a break. If I'm feeling great then maybe after mile 20 see if I can't add a little something to the pace. After mile 18, start counting the people passed (roadkill) but jog the chute. You only have one first IM. :)

Run Pacing:

Miles	Half Ironman VDot Guidance	Pace
0-6	Recovery Pace + 30sec	10:00
6-18	Recovery Pace	9:26
18-26	Recovery Pace (maybe)	9:26
26-26.2	Whatever I have left!	xx:xx

IMAZ 09 Race Rehearsal Report

IMAZ 09 Race Rehearsal Report

Ten days ago I did my last race rehearsal and while I should have posted this sooner, some times life gets in the way. For those who don't know, my coaches and on-line team (Endurance Nation) have us do race rehearsals in preperation for our "A" race. The idea is to mimic everything you will eat, wear, and do on race day to minimize the number of surprises that pop up and get used to any new equipment.

Got up at 2 AM and chugged a bottle of Odwalla High Protein Smoothy and went back to bed. Got up at 5 and ate a bowl of Cheerio's + scoop of whey and a Cup o' Joe. Was still a little hungry but at this point there's rarely a time when I'm not hungry.

The plan was to ride up and down on the Chicago lakefront bike path with the hopes that it wouldn't be too crowded due to the time of year. However, the weather was unseasonably nice (mid 60's, sunny, but windy) and more people were out than I would have preferred. I was trying out my new wheel cover and aside from a couple gusts of wind early on I was able to hold the bike steady without any issue. The wheel really helped as I was able to hold 18.5mph with out much effort but the number of other people on the path throughout the day made it hard to stay at this pace for too long. I ended up averaging much lower watts with a much less steady effort than what I wanted. For those who are interested, here is the breakdown:

Entire workout (117 watts):
Duration: 5:57:24 (6:17:37)
Work: 2517 kJ
TSS: 197.3 (intensity factor 0.576)
Norm Power: 128
VI: 1.09
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 95.044 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 358 117 watts
Cadence: 30 212 83 rpm
Speed: 2.2 24.8 16.2 mph
Pace 2:25 26:49 3:43 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 700 119 lb-in

I was drinking a concentrated 3 hour mix of Infinit and stopped half way through the ride to grab a 2nd bottle and refill my water bottles. This worked out great and is something I'm going to plan on doing race day.

After the ride, I dropped off my bike at home and strapped on my running shoes. I was out of my run mix of Infinit so I grabbed a gel I had laying around, ate that, and was out the door.

The pacing guidance from my coaches is that the first 6 miles of the run should be at your recovery pace + 30 seconds. In my case, I should run the first 6 miles at a 10min/mile pace. Others on the team have reported that pace as feeling way too slow and I finally understood exactly what they were talking about. On top of forcing myself to stay slow I had to stop and walk just to keep the pacing. I did two 3 mile loops by my house that include a couple of "Chicago hills" which are really overpasses. From what I hear, the Tempe run course is made up of a similar terrain. Not having my nutrition with me I was getting pretty hungry but my legs felt great and I could have run all night at that pace.

Now to put the finishing touches on the Race Plan and execute as close to the plan as possible. Just a couple more days and I'll be an Ironman.

Race Rehearsal IMAZ Raundas 2

This is my second, and last, attempt at a Race Rehearsal. The idea is to mimic everything you will eat, wear, and do on race day to minimize the number of surprises that pop up and get used to any new equipment. After the rehearsal I'll write a report the same as a race report and review with my coaches to create a complete race plan.

Saturday 11/7
Weather: High 63-70 / Low 52 deg, Sunny, hazy, windy. Wind from the West/SouthWest around 21mph with gusts up to 30.

Breakfast Plan:
Wake up at 2am: Drink an Odwalla or Ensure
Get up at 6:00 am: 1cup Multi-grain Cheerio's + scoop of whey and a Cup o' Joe


Bike
Course:
Ride 6hrs or 112 miles mostly on the Chicago lakefront bike path. The ride to/from the bike path will make for a great warm-up and cool down but I am concerned that the path will be busy Saturday. This is the first nice Saturday we've had in a month and probably the last one of the year. I'm viewing this as a positive though. Hopefully it will get me a little more accustomed to riding on a busy race course.

Bike Setup:
Three Bottles plus Aero Bottle
One bottle of concentrated Infinit with 750cal
Aero Bottle filled with water plus two water bottles in rear seat cage (will remove cage for the actual race)
Will bike home to grab replacement water bottles and Infinit bottle for second loop
No race wheel on the front but I'm riding with my rear disk
Areo helmet

Bike Plan:
Start Time: 6:30 AM
End Time: 12:30 PM
Total Time: 6:00 hours

Power & Gearing:
The bike portion of the race is based on wattage. The wattage numbers below are based on the number of Watts I'm able to sustain for a 60 minute time trial. That's 60 minutes all out, pushing yourself until you are dry-heaving. Over the summer I had a higher number but for various reasons I've lost a bit of that speed. It sux but there's nothing I can do about it now.

Current FTP: 222 watts
Goal IF: 69%
Goal TSS: 286
Race Gears:
1st - 144w - This is my target for the first hour
2nd- 152w - These are the target Watts for the race
3rd - 159w - Wattage for any hills that take longer than 3 minutes to climb
4th - 167w - Wattage for any hills that take less than 3 minutes to climb


Nutrition/Hydration:
Infinit
250 cal/hr
~600mg Na/hr
6 hr = 1500 cal
2 Bottles at 750 cal/bottle
Endurolytes 1 - 4/hr depending on race day heat

Run
Course:
Two loops of a 3 mile run through my neighborhood which includes a couple Chicago "Hills". From what I hear about the IMAZ course, these should mimic what I'll encounter pretty accurately.

Run Setup:
Shoes
Socks
Garmin
Gloves?
Visor
Fuel Belt with bottle of 1hr Infinit (not a concentrate for this workout because there are no water fountains on this path)
Endurolytes (1 - 4/hr depending on heat)

Run Plan
Current VDot: 44
Run 6 miles @ 9:26 (Zone 1) + 30 = 9:56 rounded to 10:00 for ease
VDOT is a measurement of an athletes ability to run fast. It's used as a predictor of run performance at various distances and takes into account more than a VO2 test would.

Last Long Thursday Long Run

This is folks! Next Thursday is 90min and the following 60. Today is the last really long run before Ironman.

The weather here is much cooler than the report has you believe:
Temp: 55
Wind: From SSE at 9 mph
Humidity: 77%

I dressed for that with a long sleeve base shirt, t-shirt, and shorts. Jogged to the Chicago lakefront and headed North. I knew there would be a head wind coming back but figured I could always use some mental toughening. Going out it was hard to stay anywhere close to my EZ pace and I often found myself a minute faster. A quick turnaround at 75min and smack in the face with the 10mph wind. OK, I knew this was coming. Continued on now only 10sec faster than EZ pace. The further South I went the stronger the wind became (I guessed 15 – 20mph) and I ended up bailing on the intervals in favor of just keeping the EZ pace. Made it 16mi in 2:33min and am still shivering a little at my desk.

A quick weather check of a landmark along the lakefront:
Temp: 55
Wind: From SE at 15 mph
Humidity: 79%

Race Rehearsal IMAZ - Report

Despite all my plans for the weekend like swimming race distance on Friday and doing my race rehearsal on Saturday, I ended up sick. So instead of a 112 mile bike and a 6 mile run it ended up being a day filled with naps, video games, and Theraflu. Not nearly as fun as it sounds. For the most part I'm better and am now working with my coaches and team to structure the last couple weeks of training before the taper.