Bye Bye 2009, Hello 2010!

So if 2009 is gone, that means it's 2010? Really!? Wow, it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the passing of 1999 and the new millennium...hard to believe another decade has gone by. Whew!

Reflecting on 2009 I'm reminded of how blessed I am to have my health and the wonderful family that supports me in all that I do. For me, the year was filled with great memories too numerous too mention, but a few of the highlights include: watching Liya develop into the little girl that she is (at only 27 months...gulp!), completing Ironman Canada with Kyra, Liya, and my mom and dad cheering me on, and spending a long beautiful week with my girls in Hawaii. Great memories of a really good year!

Triathlon has been my "fix" for the past six years and it's also become the subject of most of this blog. It's my opportunity to get outdoors, push myself physically, and spend time with friends. Kyra can't believe I don't run or bike with my iPod, but I also find the long runs and rides a great time to mentally unwind or work through life's challenges. I'm just so fortunate that my family allows me to do what I do.

For the past couple of years I've been keeping a training log and while I don't go back and look at my workouts much during the year, I like to take a peek at what I've done at the conclusion of each year. This year's totals are below.

Swim: 138,404yds 44.50hrs

Bike: 4,539.2mi 246.31hrs

Run: 1,041.4mi 130.42hrs

Total: 5,659.3mi 422.05hrs

I'm not doing an Ironman in 2010, but am hoping to put in more miles on the bike in the new year. So far the race schedule is shaping up as follows: Surf City Half Marathon, Ironman California 70.3, Wildflower Long Course, Centurion California 25mi time trial + 100mi bike race, and Magic Mountain Man Half Ironman Triathlon. Throw in a couple of long weekend training camps and it should be a fun long season of California racing in 2010!

Ironman Canada Race Report (2nd IM, 1st Bike Crash)

Pre-Race:

Leading up to this race my training had gone quite well. Having raced the distance once before I knew I was ready and now just needed to execute. I was excited to finally be doing Ironman Canada, a race I'd heard so much about.

After almost missing our flight out of LAX (it's a long story...), Kyra, Liya, and I finally arrived into Kelowna Thursday afternoon. We waited a few hours for my parents to arrive and then the five of us made the beautiful drive south to Penticton.That night we met up with some of the other Endurance Nation athletes doing the race. It was fun to put some faces to names and also get some advice from those that had done the race in prior years.

I was amazed at how "busy" Friday and Saturday seemed leading up to race day...trying to get in a few workouts, picking up the bike, registering, dropping off gear bags, attending the mandatory athlete meeting, among other things took a lot of time and coordination, but by Saturday afternoon I was off my feet relaxing and feeling good.

Not surprisingly, I slept terribly the night before the race. At 2:15am I awoke for breakfast: two packets of instant oatmeal w/milk, banana, PBJ, and 16oz of Gatorade Endurance. I went back to bed, but didn't sleep much before my alarm went off at 4:15am.

I normally only do 3 to 4 races a year, so any race morning is always filled with lots of emotion and excitement for me, but particularly Ironman. It's the culmination of almost a year of hard work which requires sacrificing time away from my family and it's also my opportunity to push myself to the limit to see what I can really do...not against others, but against the goals I've set for myself. I truly love this aspect of triathlon and it makes all the long workouts 100% worth it!

After getting my transitions setup, I went into the changing tent and just mentally reviewed my day and tried to chill as much as possible. About 30mins prior to the start I warmed-up in the 70 degree water and then watched the pros start.

Swim: 1:02:56 (1:40/100m, 43rd in AG)

I decided to seed myself in the middle (left to right) and front for the swim start. I thought if I had a really good race I could swim close to 1hr flat and thought that this seeding would give me clear water yet avoid the really fast guys who would be going straight up the buoy line.

My strategy worked out really well. I was surprised by how tame the entire swim was (I've since learned it was the largest mass swim start in Ironman history with 2600+ athletes starting all at once), but particularly during the first leg. Maybe I just expected it to be a complete washing machine, but it wasn't, at least not for me. The one hiccup that I did encounter was that my new Aquasphere Vista goggles started fogging big time half-way through the swim. This combined with sighting into the sun on the way back basically rendered me blind, so I just followed the masses and somehow landed back on the beach. I've never done anything more than spit in my goggles in the past, but this wasn't working on these guys.

T1: 4:34

Wetsuit strippers were awesome, I made a quick change into my bike gear and hit the road.

Bike: 5:45:45 (19.4mph, 79th in AG)

My goal for the bike was to ride my watts and keep my power in check on the climbs even if I felt I could ride harder. It was going to be a long day and following this plan would allow me to have a good run.

At mile 10 of the bike it happened. I've been saying "it's not a matter of if, but when" and it finally happened...in a race...in an Ironman race. After making a left on McLean Creek Road, I hit the first aid station and grabbed a bottle of Gatorade. As I was riding away with another rider on my right, I hear some guy yell "on your left" and all of a sudden he rams into me from the left side. I've gone over what happened a hundred times and what transpired still isn't completely clear, but I think our handlebars got tangled up and as he pulled back left I went down hard on my left side.

For several seconds I just laid there in complete shock as other riders rode around and past me. Only 10 miles into my Ironman bike I was laying on the ground, bleeding from my ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, and back. After peeling myself off the rough pavement, a nurse from the aid station ran up and started treating my worst wound, on my elbow. While she was doing this, another one of the awesome volunteers looked over my bike, which besides some road rash itself was still in good working order. About five minutes later I was on my way, but wasn't the happiest camper. I was really bummed. How could this happen? Why now? Fighting back tears, I told myself that it could have been much worse and that I was just extremely fortunate to be out here doing what I'm doing on this beautiful course. From that point forward I honestly didn't notice my injuries and can't (or won't) say they impacted my race in any real way.

After making my way over McLean Creek the next 30miles were pretty straightforward until Richter Pass. I just settled in and watched the hammer heads go by me. Yellow Lake was incredible as it reminded me of the famous Alpe d'Huez climb during the TdF with hundreds of fans (several in constumes and even more drinking cold Canadian beer!) lining the road leading to the summit. About a 1/4 mile from the summit my family was waiting and they went crazy upon seeing me. The way my 2 year old daughter's face lit up when actually seeing me (my wife said that she'd been yelling "Go Daddy!" to every racer that went by) was just priceless. And so was the descent!

I stayed on the watts and passed a ton of folks on the way back to Penticton which was a real rush. I hit 47mph on the descent which is definitely the fastest I've ever gone in a race.

Looking at my PowerTap numbers afterwards I probably could have pushed it more on the bike. I was shooting for a TSS of 300. So given my actual TSS of 268.5, I theoretically left 31.5 points on the table but given my run I'm not so sure using all of those points would have been in my best interest.

Bike by the Numbers:

Entire workout (173 watts):

Duration: 5:44:16 (5:47:16)

Work: 3567 kJ

TSS: 268.5 (intensity factor 0.685)

Norm Power: 181

VI: 1.05

Pw:HR: 3.43%

Pa:HR: 4.81%

Distance: 111.528 mi

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 497 173 watts

Heart Rate: 118 164 146 bpm

Cadence: 31 203 86 rpm

Speed: 2.5 47.2 19.5 mph

Pace 1:16 24:08 3:05 min/mi

T2: 4:39

Dried my feet, put on socks, and out I went.

Run: 3:50:48 (8:48min/mi, 24th in AG)

I followed the EN pacing guidance and kept my first 6miles to right around an 8:30 pace. I felt good and thought I could continue to bring down my pace during the rest of the run. The course was just stunning in it's beauty and I found a few other athletes to pace off of on the way out which was a big help. That said, I was surprised by the extent of the hills and how much they took out of me. At the turn around I showed a half mary split of 1:50 on my Garmin and at this point thought I could hold onto this and run close to a 3:40 marathon.

I settled into a 8:30 pace on the way back, but at mile 18 started to hurt. Thinking it might be due to a lack of calories or even dehydration (I'd been in the sun all day long and the forecast was for the high-80's), I started walking aid stations to make sure I was taking in enough nutrition. The last 3 - 4 miles of the marathon were tough, as they almost always are.

With a mile to go I saw my family and they went crazy which was great motivation to start the kick for the finish. After a quick kiss for my wife and daughter I headed for the finisher's chute, savoring the moment, remembering all that went into this day, and finally crossing the line an Ironman again.

Summary:

I finished in 10:48:41, 38th out of 220 in my age group and top 10% overall. This was a 6min PR over the Full Vineman I did last year and IMC is known to be a more difficult course. While I had really hoped to have a better marathon, I just didn't have the mojo down the stretch.

It is what it is and overall I'm very happy with my day. I had a great time racing a beautiful course with amazing volunteers and those closest to me supporting and sharing in the experience.

The Road to Ironman Canada - Bib #467

According to that little counter on the upper right of the page it's just a little over 11 days until Ironman Canada (IMC)! Bib numbers went up today and I'm number 467. You can follow my progress on race day (Sunday, August 30th) via ironmanlive.com.

It's hard to believe it's been 363 days since I registered for this race, so it's been a long time coming and I'm ready! Since the beginning of this year I've logged 3,100 miles (168hrs) cycling, 738 miles (92hrs) running and 110,100yds (36hrs) swimming. That equates to just a little over 9hrs per week YTD and it's obviously been more like 12 - 15hrs/week the past few months during my ramp-up to IMC. And that doesn't include drive time to the pool, stretching after workouts, or any of the other activities required to just get out there and train. It's a selfish endeavor, there's no way around it, but that's what it takes to prepare to compete on race day.

Beyond my training the ones who have sacrificed the most are my family. Kyra and Liya have allowed me to spend many early mornings at the pool and a good part of our weekends getting in my 6+ hour bike rides. In doing so they've allowed me to chase my dreams and see just how hard and far I can push this body that God gave me. I couldn't do this without them and I'm so blessed for all of their support and encouragement along the way.

This will be my second iron distance race and without a doubt the biggest (in terms of both participants and stature) I've ever done. IMC is one of the grand daddies of all Ironman events (many folks think it's the most beautiful IM course in the world) and has been held an amazing 27 years in a row. IMC's home is the small town of Penticton, British Columbia about 165miles east of Vancouver and 165miles north northwest of Spokane, Washington.


It's located in the Okanagan Valley known for it's pristine lakes, fruit orchards, and increasingly it's vineyards.

So it'll be a beautiful place to race and hang with the fam. We'll spend a few days after the race in the region before heading to Vancouver for a couple of nights. My parents will also be joining us so it'll be a blast to have the extended fam in tow for the entire trip.

As far as expectations for race day, I really just want to experience the magic of this legendary race, take it all in, and leave everything I've got out on the course. If I do that I will be happy. And I wouldn't complain a bit if I finished in under 10:30 hours!

Wildflower Long Course Race Report

The Avia Wildflower Long Course Triathlon is one of two “A” races for me this year (the other being Ironman Canada on August 30th). It’s known to be one of the tougher half-iron distance courses in the country due to a lot of climbing on the bike and also on the run which is mostly on trails. Leading up to this race I felt like I had a good off-season and looking back at my training log for January thru April, my training volumes (based on distance) were up by 22% on the bike, 55% on the run, and down by 15% on the swim vs. the same period in 2008. Overall I spent about 8% more time training this year vs. last. Between considerable work travel and all the other priorities in my life I averaged 8.4 training hours/week.

I used Ironman 70.3 California as a prep race and had a good day considering I had my first flat ever in a race. Based on this performance, if I improved my times similarly at WF I’d go somewhere around a 5:03, but my goal was to go sub-5 so I knew I had my work cut out for me.


I left for Lake San Antonio with two training buddies, Andy and Jeff, on Thursday around noon to avoid making the 5hr drive on Friday, the day before the race. We arrived at our campsite early evening and got settled.


We woke up early on Friday morning planning to go for a swim, but upon checking out the lake the algae was so bad we decided we’d greet the water for the first time on race morning. We registered and then hung around the expo checking out the vendors, listening to some live music, and just relaxing between intermittent showers throughout the day. That evening we headed down to Coach Rich’s RV where he and a few friends had a grill waiting for our meat and pasta. After dinner we headed back to our campsite to pack our transition bags, get our bikes ready, and get a good night’s sleep.

Race day morning we around 6am, lathered ourselves in sunscreen, double-checked our pre-race check lists, and headed down to the monster transition area. My buddy Andy and I were both only three spots apart in transition so we walked the bike in/out and run in/out to make sure we could find our way amidst what has to be one of the largest transition areas in all of triathlon.

Contrary to what the forecast had said all week long, it looked like it was going to be perfect racing conditions.

Swim: 31:12 (1:37/100m)
Given significantly less swim volume than the prior year and knowing that I’m still not in peak swim shape, I was just hoping to go close to a 31 flat. The swim was pretty uneventful. I found some fast feet to draft off for the first half of the out and back course, but lost ‘em at the turn.

T1: 2:32
Upon exiting the swim there’s a decent little climb up the boat ramp to transition. I slipped on my shoes, put on my helmet, grabbed my nutrition, and was off.

Bike: 2:50:09 (19.75mph)
My goal for the bike was just to sit at 85% or 225 watts which meant taking it easy on the climbs and pushing the downhills and flats. Unfortunately, the bike didn’t start so well for me. The first part of the course is fairly technical as it winds up the hill above Lake San Antonio. I knew this and should have taken it easy on this part of the course, but I didn’t. Stupid mistake. My speed combined with less than clean roads (no doubt because of the showers the past few days) caused me to crash about a ½ mile into the bike. I was coming around a tight right-hand turn when my rear wheel started to fishtail. I tried to recover, but there was debris on the road and I lost it and rammed into the inside embankment. Fortunately, I was fine (just minor scrapes on my shoulder and arm). After a quick inspection of my bike to make sure everything was working, I got back on and went to work.
If you look at my power numbers, I rode the bike almost exactly to my plan:

Entire workout (214 watts):
Duration: 2:51:54
Work: 2204 kJ
TSS: 207.6 (intensity factor 0.852)
Norm Power: 226
VI: 1.05
Pw:HR: -2.35%
Pa:HR: 1.76%
Distance: 55.4 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 529 214 watts
Heart Rate: 112 178 155 bpm
Cadence: 33 244 81 rpm
Speed: 2.4 47.7 19.4 mph

However, after the first 30 or so miles I started to feel a lot of tension in my hips and just never felt as strong as I did on my long training rides. I was out of the saddle stretching a lot more than usual and just never felt great. I’m not sure what happened, but my guess is I just didn’t incorporate enough climbing into my training. It also appears that my average cadence was quite low so I probably need to work at spinning at a higher cadence.

T2: 1:37
I was a little worried about getting out of my shoes on the steep descent into transition, but did so a couple of hundred yards before crossing the dismount line without any issues. I bolted into transition, put on my running shoes, grabbed my visor and nutrition, and was off.

Run: 1:36:42 (7:23min/mile)
Despite (or maybe because of) my bike, I had one of my best runs ever. The course is relentless and just keeps throwing punches just when you think you’re going to get a reprieve. I started out feeling strong, but around mile 3 or 4, I was hurting and walked a few of the very steep hills. I also started to get some leg cramps, but kept taking my nutrition including SaltStick capsules and this seemed to help greatly. I didn’t start to do the math on whether or not I could get in under 5hrs until about mile 9 of the run. At that point I needed to run the final 4.1 miles in under 32 minutes. I knew I could do this and stayed under this pace until mile 12. I was taking my splits at each of the mile markers and mile 12 had to have been almost 2 miles long. I thought I only needed to run the last 1.1 miles under 12 minutes to come in under 5hrs, but I gave it everything I had and it seemed like eternity before I saw the finish line. When I finally did it was too late. 5:02:14.



While I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t go sub-5, I cut almost 20 minutes off of my overall time from last year (over 13 minutes on the run alone). That and I had an absolute blast during the weekend. After the race I had a beer with Coach Rich and replaced all of those calories and carbs at the LA Tri Club dinner which is always amazing.




This is such a fabulous event and one I hope to compete in for years to come (hopefully going sub-5 next year)! I’m sore as I’ve ever been after a race, so it’s time to take a couple of weeks off before getting back onto my Endurance Nation training plan to prepare for Ironman Canada.

Ironman 70.3 California Race Report

After 5 previous attempts on 4 different courses, I finally went sub-5 in a HIM...barely, but I'll still take it: 4:59:33! That's a HIM PR for me and almost 15 minutes faster than last year on the same course.

This race was a "B" race for me and as such I only tapered for one week going into it as I wanted to get in a solid training weekend the week prior.

Swim: 32:18 (1:42/100m)
A little faster than I expected given I'm just getting back into swim shape.

T1: 3:28

Bike: 2:46:42 (20.2 mph)
First time racing with power and it was awesome! I chatted with Rich on Friday at the expo and he suggested I target 82 - 83% of FTP or 219w. I mostly just sat on this number and tried to stay under FTP on the hills. IF was .852 so a little harder than plan. Right after I went by Coach Rich who was chillin' at the side of the road on the moto at mile 44, I had my first flat in a race. The front just popped out of nowhere. I only had one tube, so was extra cautious which cost me 5:13 (note to self to practice doing this FAST!). Needless to say I took some of my frustration out on the road as I headed back into transition.
Duration: 2:41:29 (2:46:17)
Work: 2109 kJ
TSS: 195.1 (intensity factor 0.852)
Norm Power: 226
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: -4.59%
Pa:HR: 3.66%
Distance: 56.242 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 762 218 watts
Heart Rate: 116 180 159 bpm
Cadence: 36 188 84 rpm
Speed: 3.1 40.5 21.0 mph
Pace 1:29 19:19 2:52 min/mi

T2: 1:58

Run: 1:35:07 (7:15/mile)
Leaving transition, I did the math in my head and knew I'd have to fully empty the tanks and have my best HIM run ever to get in under 5hrs. I felt strong so set out on a 7:00 pace which was fine until the sand...not only was it hard to run on, but the lanes were narrow so it was difficult to get around slower folks. I got into a rhythm and was motivated by the fact I was passing lots of peeps and getting some shout outs from fellow LA Tri Clubbers. I also ran into fellow Endurance Nation teammate Steve Cramer who was looking good on his second lap. Around mile 8 my quad started to cramp. I didn't want to stop and stretch so instead exaggerated my run movement in order to actively stretch my quad. This and a banana or two seemed to put the cramp at bay, but was a concern for the rest of the race. At mile 10 I really began to suffer. My watch read 4:36 and I wasn't sure if I had 3 sub-8 minute miles left in me.
My grandfather passed away on Wednesday and instead of flying back to Ohio for his funeral I was doing this race, just as he would have wanted. As such, I dug as deep as I ever have and just kicked it to the finish line hoping it'd be enough. After I crossed the line I checked my watch.

I made it...barely, but I made it. Sub-5 hours baby!

Christmas Morning 2008

We really enjoyed Christmas this year because Liya is starting to "get it", at least as much as any 15-month old can!

While both Liya's visits with Santa was greeted with screams of terror, she enjoyed most everything else including her gifts, "Frosty", the Christmas tree and ornaments, and of course the wrapping paper and bows. Below is a video of Liya first seeing her gifts under the tree on Christmas morning:



And here are some photos from the big morning...

IMC 2009 Countdown Begins!

Get this widget!