I've Learned A Lot

I'm sitting on a plane flying back from an awesome fishing trip with my brother in law, father in law, and grandfather in law.  Missoula, Montana is an awesome town.  Parts of it remind me of Austin in some respects.  The fishing is world class and the guides made us feel very welcomed.  Here are a few pics.

A very nice rainbow trout!

My first northern pike caught on fly rod!

One of my favorite breweries.

On to triathlon and training.  Training has been growing well.  I thought I had a major setback mid summer at the Marble Falls Triathlon. I felt good and strong going into it.  This was the first race to travel alone to and without my typical friend/family support.  I thought I sold have a strong swim (1:40 or so per 100) given that my swim had been improving, a solid hilly bike, and fast run.  Well, like it always is, things don't go as planned.  I had the worst swim ever.  I cam out around 19 minutes for a 1000 meter swim.  Very bad,  I kept stopping and looking up.  It totally messed up my mojo.  Per coach Michelle and my buddy Sean, I had a massive lactic acid dump from going out too hard and not warming up effectively.  The bike was ok, very hilly given that it was in the hill country, it i felt good.  The is my strength, and I had the 2nd fastest run split of the day.  

In the end it was a learning experience.  First, I need to do better on warming up.  Now I warm before every swim with stretch cords.  Amazing how much better my swim practices have become. Second, traveling to races is not worth it alone.  There are so man races close to home that ill stick to those.  It's more fun to have family and friends around.  And third, my nutrition plan is working!

This summer, I really wanted to work on dialing in my nutrition since long course races are my preferred distance.   I performed a sweat/nutrition test via TheCoreDiet.com.  The results were pretty eye opening.  1st: I'm a heavy sweater and should consume 40-60 oz of fluid per hour in training and racing.  That's a lot since I've been doing 24 oz may e on the bike in training.  2nd: only drink sports drinks with calories and sodium...no water on bike!  3rd:  eat more!

So...the results:  I've started drink Perform only on the bike (1.5 to 2 24 oz bottles per hour).  Amazing ow much better I feel during workout and after.  My energy, hydration, and stamina have all increased.  My power feels stronger and has improved.  I'm stronger mentally.  Also, this keeps it simple.  I know now that the race course will provide what I need throughout.  No more will. Have to worry about making m own nutrition or losing nutrition on the course.  Keep it simple from now on.  I'm also eating g a bit more on a daily basis  and have noticed my strength go up.  For a while there I was worrying about exactly what came in and trying to not gain weight.  Now I. Just enjoying food more and trying not to skimp.  Less mood swings now.

Each of my disciples have gotten stronger from all of this.

Swim:  I am now swimming stronger by warming up properly, doing my strength training, and eating better.  I can not consistently hole 1:25 to 1:30 / 100 yards easy in the pool without killing myself.

Bike:  I did a follow up MAF test from the first one in February.  That's test I did 9.55 miles with an average pace of 19.2 mph.  Las week I did the same test and average 20.6 mph.  I was super pumped about that.

Run:  I did a MAF test last week as well and it improved slightly.  The run is my strength anyways.  However, on long runs in the heat and humidity I'm now ale to hold my pace much longer.  Also, I'm taking in more nutrition and this has helped.  My last long run of 12 miles average 7:20.  My heart rate averaged 135 to 137.   Attribute this to taking in more. I drank 60 oz of water, 4 gels and 6 salt tabs.  I basically took something at every mile just as I would in racing.  

So it's time to start training again after my little vacation.  My next race is Oilman, a nice 70.3 here on Lake Conroe.  I'm super excited about doing a race close to home.  The. Comes Galveston 70.3 in April. And Ironman Texas in May.  Cant wait.

2013 CB&I Race Report

Today was the CB&I sprint triathlon in The Woodlands, TX.  It was a 500m swim, 15 mile bike, and 5k run.  This was my first sprint distance race.

I have been training consistently since the Galveston 70.3.  The emphasis has been more on speed vs endurance efforts.  Volume ranged fro 10-11 hours per week.  So not bad.

Going into the night before, I made sure to eat a good breakfast Friday morning and stay hydrated throughout the day.  Dinner consisted of a couple of slices of thin crust cheese pizza with avocado with the family during movie night.  I had a banana and a scoop of peanut butter around 9 before bed.

Lights went out around 10 pm, but sleep was minimal.  For some reason I couldn't sleep well and neither could Jennifer.  I think it felt warmer than usual in the house and according to Jennifer our house got skunked.  It must have smelled bad.

Anyways, the alarm went off at 4:30 and I got up.  Brushed my teeth, put on my race kit and sweatshirt and headed out the door.  The car was packed and I had a Cliff Bar and Banana on the way with a bottle of water.  It was a cold morning.  The car temp read 46 degrees so I decided to keep my pajama pants on.  I think I was the only one that did this.

I got marked, got my chip, and set up my transition area.  Shades, race belt, and shoes.  Helmet was on the bike and thats it.  Next time I will bring an extra pair of shoes to wear around transition.  Then it was off to warm up by running a bit to loosen up and get those muscles going.

For some reason, they kept delaying the race start by 15 minutes, then 15 more, until the Elite wave went off at 7:15 or so (45 minutes past normal time).  This was somewhat ok in my opinion since it allowed the sun to come up a bit more and warm the air for the bike.

The water temp was about 69-68 degrees (last year the temp was around 80 degrees!) so it was definitely wet suit legal and I wore my Xterra Vector Pro I bought my from my buddy Sean (super fast swimmer BTW).  The horn sounded and off we went.  I made sure to tell myself to relax on this swim and not freak out like Galveston.  Luckily it worked and I kept moving never stopping to breast stroke and get my bearings.  Just stroke after stroke and buoy after buoy.  Man it went by fast.  After the first buoy or so I felt I was alone.  I think I came out 2 in my AG at 7:57.48 or 1:35/100 m.  I was super pumped about this.  Swimming is improving well!

Coming into T1, I was a little worried about stripping the wetsuit off since I had never practiced this quickly before.  So 1 arm and then the 2nd as I came out.  When I got the bike I did the wetsuit removal dance and it came off easily.  Put on the shades then helmet and off I went.  My T1 was the fastest in my AG.  I hopped on the bike and kept my feet out for about 2 minutes pushing out.  Once in I began picking up the pace (or at least I thought I did).  The bike felt slow over all to me.  I averaged only about 1 mph faster the Galveston, but the effort felt greater.  Maybe it was the cold morning and cold air.  I don't know.  I kept going from 102-107 rpm to 94 and back to keep the legs fresh.  Then 40:48 later I came into T2.  I pulled my legs out of the shoes and did a flying dismount and boy were my toes numb from the air.  I thought they would never warm back up.

In T2 I racked the biked, removed the helmet, and went down to slip the shoes on and a massive cramp hit my right calf on the way up.  I got worried thinking it wouldn't go away, but it soon left and I was on my out of T2 onto the run course.

I didn't know what to expect so I saved a bit in the first mile to make sure my legs came to me.  I did the first mile in 6:02 and then decided to push it.  Mile 2 was 5:48 and 5:46 in mile 3.  So at least I kept getting faster.  My HR though was lower than what I thought.  I peaked out at 171-172 or so.  Maybe I had a bit more and could have started the push earlier.  18:17 later I was across the finish line.

Not bad for my first sprint.  Overall time was 1:09:41 on a cold morning and took 4th place in my AG and 9th overall outside of the Elites..  Looking forward I need to work on my bike.  When looking at the times the bike is the differentiator for me.  I am happy with my first sprint and will enjoy getting ready for my next race in July (Oly distance).

Thanks to all for coming out.  It was great seeing my brother and sister in law John and Jessica out supporting me.  Also, Outrival Racing had a great showing.  I'll post some pictures as soon as I can find some.

Born to Run

I just finished Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  What an AMAZING book and story.  I'm not going to give a complete summary since it would give the story away...but there are some very interesting points in it.

The whole thing revolves around how we as humans were born to run and quote..."we don't get old because of running, we get old because we stop running."  That is awesome.  For someone doing endurance sports this book is a must read.  The science behind running and why as we get older our endurance improves is eye opening.  It should give hope to all who think they are too old to start.

At 32, I can't wait to see what I can do at 40 and then 50.  The book talks about individuals into their 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s who ran with the best.

What I especially liked was the talk around running efficiency and how we were untaught (is that a word) how to run starting in the 70s and how we have to relearn the ancient art of running correctly if we want to do this correctly and injury free.

I get lots of flack from friends and family who say that I'm going to blow my knees up and be hurting the older I get.  However, I disagree based on the principle of running better and more efficient.  Since about October of 2012 I changed my entire approach...shorter strides, quicker strides, straight back, land mid to for foot, and go more minimalistic in my shoe (I wear Newtons and love them!).  I feel as though this has made me stronger, faster, less injury prone, and enjoy running more!

So there you have it.  I do have to say though that doing and competing in ultramarathons is now something on my bucket list for the future.

One last thing...the book kept mentioning how the ancient Tahramura indians (the world's best ultra-distance runners) rely on iskiate and penole for much of their fueling.  As for me, I am always looking to try something new the best do.  So, I made some iskiate this week (water, chia seeds, and lime).  I felt great after it.  I'll keep experimenting with this drink as time goes on.

Tonight I made some penole.  Amazing how simple this is, but it is their energy food much in a way that we use gu's and bars.  It consists of corn meal (cheap and good for you), water, chia seeds for super power, and some cinnamon for flavoring and...YUMMY!  My kids love it too.  I made it into little cookies and so far love them.  I will be looking forward to trying this on longer runs, bikes, and workouts.  It's basically an organic homemade energy bar.

Here is a picture of one batch.

Special Delivery

I was very excited on Thursday.  I left to help the kids out at school with their Fairy Tale Feast.  I find it pretty cool to be able to jet out of work to help the kids out at school.  This way I do not miss any of the activities.

When I got back my deliveries arrived.  After careful research and discussion with several people I decided to add Klean Athlete products to my nutrition.  In particular I am taking their Klean Athlete Multivitamin and Klean Athlete Probiotic.  I am already eating pretty well, taking protein supplements, and figured this will only help.  Also, they offer Outrival Racing a good discount so I am all in.  BTW, the people at Klean are supper helpful and will answer all of your questions!

I also received two books that I have been looking to read for a long time:  Born to Run and Eat and Run.  The first one is of special interest since it is award winning and Pete Jacobs (2012 IM World Champion) claims that the book helped him find a better more efficient way to run.  He is one the best at the IM Marathon segment.  Running is my strength so I figure why not find a way to think about improving my run efficiency (I like to think I already am somewhat efficient).

The other is written by Scott Jurek, an ultra marathon legend.  The story behind him is that he relies on a complete plant diet to fuel his needs!  For 99% of the population this would sound crazy, but I am finding the best at ultra distance are super clean eaters.  I try to eat super clean and shoot for 50-60% of my calories from fruits and vegetables (as often as I can).  I also eat 0 to very little red meat.

I have to give credit to my improvement to better and smarter training, but also to diet.  I am a firm believer that diet is 70% of the equation and anything I can do and apply in this area to my daily routine I am all for it.  One of my secrets is lots of beets and spinach on a weekly basis!

Can't wait to learn and get Klean!

Morning Rides in the Pain Cave

Just thought I would share how I spend my mornings several times per week.  It is hard to put in the miles and time on the bike when you have a limited amount of time to hit the roads.  Therefore, I have set up my pain cave in my garage for the early 4 am rides.

It can be tough getting out of bed in the morning.  1 full glass of water and then its time to go at it for 1 to 2 hours.  A fan is a big necessity in the morning especially as the temperature warms up.  Water and some sort of sports drink is a must have at arms reach.

I admit I have learned developed some mental toughness staring at the wall most of the time.  Recently I have made the steady rides pass more with some reading.

Notice the pool sweat under me.

Nothing like a big breakfast after this.

Planning ahead

I have to admit Triathlon has become a very big addiction that I am trying to control.  Slowly we are getting there.

Training is going well and I am in the process of trying to add some strength training to get the old core stronger.  Everything I read says improve the CORE.  However, I have learned that basic crunches and planks (what I have been doing) are not the best.  I should focus more on core movements since the core is more than rock hard abs.

So I will begin working on this and using the TRX at the gym.  All the pros I follow say that it is a great way to strengthen.

Another thing...it has been a BEAUTIFUL weekend here in The Woodlands!  Saturday was a rest day and it was well needed (actually slept 9.5 hours Saturday night).  I decided mid morning that it would be a lot of fun to take the family to the park about 3 miles down the road for a picnic.  I took Andrew & Ellen via bike to the park and Jennifer met us there with Ben and Sophie and the PBJ sandwiches.  The neat thing was that the kids pointed out the berries growing the bushes and I found out they were wild Blackberries!

I've never picked berries in my life and Jennifer said they were fine to eat.  So...I decided to eat them and they were AWESOME!  So good that I couldn't stop eating them.  I must have eaten a pound or so.  It is very hard for me to sit here and not go to the park and pick more for breakfast!

Another week is starting and today started with a nice 10 mile run after getting the kids some breakfast!

First Sprint

It is now roughly 2 weeks from my first sprint triathlon here in The Woodlands.  This will be the CB&I Triathlon held every year.  It is a pretty big race and I am looking forward to it.

My coach has been working in more speed/lactate work in my routine since most everything has been aerobic/tempo work.  So we will see how it all plays out.  Today was one of the LT/VO2 bike days.  I have to say I was a bit intimidated at first since hard workouts are..HARD!

Afterwards though I felt great!  Was able to hot about LT for a while and bring the heart up and down very well.  So I am glad we did this and can't wait to do more of these.

Hopefully this will build power going into my next 70.3 (Austin in October).  I need to take some time off the bike to move up.

So not a bad week of real training again after a slow recovery week last week from Texas 70.3.  Tomorrow is a rest day and then Sunday I have about 10 miles withe the last 3 at tempo/race pace.