It's been awhile since I've blogged. So much has been going on, I should recount some of the things. I spent February in California visiting my daughter, who got married and started a new job and move in the fall. I was able to get a ton of great sea level training in during this time, including 5 days of cycling 360 miles with over 6 mile of climbing. Oh, we also bought a house near my daughter and we'll be moving in May, after Ironman St. George. I'll also be going into semi-retirement at that time, which I'm quite excited about. So, I'm winding down at work, packing, spending time with my wife, and continuing to train for Ironman St. George. My training was going great until my wife and I finally got the respiratory virus going around about 12 days ago while driving back from California. It kicked my butt a few days, but hell, I showed it, running a half marathon on the fifth day of the bug, and then running another 15 mile this weekend! All at low to moderate intensity, there's a very fine balance between training/exercise and illness. My training and fitness are better than ever, and, I shouldn't admit this, I'm going to smash my previous times at St. George! Our new Internet business in California is about to take off. What else is new? I think that's enough. Of interest, we always have to remember that to some degree, stress is stress, when it comes to the impact on our bodies. Our system doesn't always appreciate the difference between good and bad stressors. So, this afternoon I get to rest, aside from dealing with an overflowed toilet and clogged plumbing. Seems like we've been dealing with one plumbing issue after another all winter. The new house looks good, though. I've also been enjoying the comedy channel, which is any channel showing the republican primary. I'm quit e tired of the people calling for the appeal of "obamacare", so, it wasn't the best bill, but the people condemning it have no clue as to what was wrong, or right, about it! Health care has been my business for the last 20 years, and, the Affordable Care Act isn't the end of civilazation as we know it! While this blog has historically been about my athletic pursuits, I may extend out a bit from that onto other issues in e future.
55 days to go before St. George. At this time last year, I put in about half of the long bikes and long runs as I've done this year. If I can bring this home over the next 8 weeks with some solid runs and bikes and swims, it will truly be fun to see what my body can do. 52 years old and getting stronger and fitter, I love it!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Monday, December 5, 2011
Confidence
In 2009, due to my hip socket fracture, I couldn't start running until January, then, did 6 long runs of 12-18 miles prior to St. George. I run/walked the marathon in 5:02, so this worked to a point. In 2010, I began my long runs again in January and did 10 between 14-20 miles (average of 17) prior to race day. Again, I did the marathon in 5:02, albeit after a bike that was 25 minutes faster. I also had GI problems that slowed me down, but my legs felt fine. This year, it's early December and I've already done 4 long runs. My coach has me aiming for a total of 16-20 prior to race day. I'm hoping that this is my year to have a breakout run. My 16 mile run today felt really solid, and I've had no soreness afterwards. My first long run last year didn't happen until January 16th. I've got six weeks until January 16th, and I've already completed 4 solid long runs. I'm on pace to do my 16-20 long runs. This gives me the confidence that I need to have a successful run at St. George this year. I'm excited and I'm confident. I'm ready and committed to the task before me.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Another Journey to St. George
Five and a half months ago I completed Ironman St. George for the second time. As I walk/ran the marathon, I can still remember feeling like I had accomplished everything that I had set out to accomplish. I thought to myself, "I don't need to try to qualify for Hawaii, I'm completing the hardest ironman in the world for the second time." That night I told my wife that I would not do another ironman until she told me it was ok to do so. Life took over this summer, my daughter had a wedding to be planned, we started a new entertainment business, it seemed like there was some new life stress every day! Training diminished to nearly non-existent levels, and I just never felt right. I knew that ironman training was an addiction of sorts, and I kept trying to fight this feeling. After all, I had made a promise to my wife. It seemed like there was never time to contemplate my next step, and I really focused on being there for my family and not let training get in the way. But the uneasiness persisted.
The weekend before last I watched this years Ironman World Championship on streaming live video. "I want to do that again", I kept thinking. Finally, I realized that I had to tell my wife. Which I did. Her immediate response was, "I never believed you anyway". Since that discussion I have felt a degree of calmness that I have not felt in awhile. My coach said that many of his athletes might show nervousness after making this decision. I'm the opposite. I know it's what I want to do.
One thing that I have learned from training for two ironmen is that this is something that suits me. I love the long runs and the long bike rides.. I love the feeling that my body has that there is nothing that I can't do. The level of fitness comes with a feeling almost of indestructibility. Are my competitive juices also engaged? Certainly, but as I have learned long ago in triathlon, I am only competing with myself. If I give it my best on race day, I will be happy, satisfied and proud. That said, I have asked my coach to prepare me for the best race I can do. I am only working 20 hours a week, so I have time to train without sacrificing the time I want to spend with my wife, while I love triathlon, I love my wife more. But I must do both. I will take off the months of January and February. This will allow me the opportunity to fully commit myself to doing the best that I can do.
I met with my coach yesterday. Some of my key goals this year will be to focus on my core and overall strength. More regular tie in the weight room. I will spend more time with more vertical miles training on the bike. I will do 15-20 long runs between now and St. George. From this coming saturday, I am 28 weeks away from the race. I have plenty of time to prepare myself. I am excited. I am ready.
The weekend before last I watched this years Ironman World Championship on streaming live video. "I want to do that again", I kept thinking. Finally, I realized that I had to tell my wife. Which I did. Her immediate response was, "I never believed you anyway". Since that discussion I have felt a degree of calmness that I have not felt in awhile. My coach said that many of his athletes might show nervousness after making this decision. I'm the opposite. I know it's what I want to do.
One thing that I have learned from training for two ironmen is that this is something that suits me. I love the long runs and the long bike rides.. I love the feeling that my body has that there is nothing that I can't do. The level of fitness comes with a feeling almost of indestructibility. Are my competitive juices also engaged? Certainly, but as I have learned long ago in triathlon, I am only competing with myself. If I give it my best on race day, I will be happy, satisfied and proud. That said, I have asked my coach to prepare me for the best race I can do. I am only working 20 hours a week, so I have time to train without sacrificing the time I want to spend with my wife, while I love triathlon, I love my wife more. But I must do both. I will take off the months of January and February. This will allow me the opportunity to fully commit myself to doing the best that I can do.
I met with my coach yesterday. Some of my key goals this year will be to focus on my core and overall strength. More regular tie in the weight room. I will spend more time with more vertical miles training on the bike. I will do 15-20 long runs between now and St. George. From this coming saturday, I am 28 weeks away from the race. I have plenty of time to prepare myself. I am excited. I am ready.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Crescent Moon Sprint Triathlon Race Report
Well, I guess no training had to catch up with me sooner or laterJ. Really, my training declined precipitously after Ironman St. George in early May, but I pretty much proved that you can maintain a pretty good level of fitness off solid ironman training for at least a few months. However, since doing the Boulder 70.3 six weeks ago, I’ve literally done next to nothing. I probably swam a few times (at the most), ran intermittently, and did get in several bike rides (all of them relatively short). So, today was about guts only. I planned to race as hard as possible, and just see what happened.
The swim was a beach start, which is always interesting. I knew that it would be a running start, and I had decided that from now on I need to start my swims as hard as I can, in order to keep up with the lead swimmers, at least until the turmoil settles. For an in water start, this is one thing, for a beach start, it’s double the challenge, but I was up for it! So, I started at the front, in the middle, and ran as fast as I could into the water, did one dolphin swim and then started swimming as hard as I could. If someone pushed into me, I kept swimming hard, no slowing down. I got past the first buoy (about 30 yards), turned right and kept swimming hard. Now, my swim fitness probably sucks, so sooner or later this was not going to work, but what the heck! At about 150 yards, I could still see the lead people right in front of me, decided to take a breath to my left to see what was there, and whammo, inhaled a mouthful of water. Usually, when this happens, I keep swimming and just let the breathing come to me. That idea lasted about 2 strokes, when I quickly realized that I was already anaerobic and not being able to breath was not very compatible with this. So, I did a couple of breast strokes, and the lead group quickly put distance in front of me. I actually felt a little panicky for about 30-40 seconds, but just tried to relax and start swimming easily. I figure that I lost at least a minute doing this. I then got into a nice relaxed rhythm and just kept that until I hit the half way point, I then tried to intermix some harder efforts, until I briefly inhaled a little more water. I actually realized somewhere along the way that my nose felt stuffed and it was affecting my breathing. I also knew that the run from the beach to T1 was all uphill and that if I came out of the water winded, I wouldn’t be running. So, I just kept a solid and relaxed effort for the rest of the swim. Got out of the water, felt reasonably good and started jogging up the hill and stairs. I never walked, passed a number of people and got to my bike and found the guy next to me, Allen, (in my age group and probably a better swimmer than me), still getting ready for the bike. My swim time (including the run up to T1) was 18:06, which was ~100th/470 people. I probably lost 1-2 minute due to my breathing issues, which would have put me much closer to the top of my age group. Considering my lack of swim fitness, have to be pretty happy with this. I made my usual quick transition (just losing about 10 seconds getting my wetsuit off inefficiently, and ironically my 64 second transition was 8 seconds slower than the fastest transition in my age group) and actually got out of T1 before Allen. Mounted my bike, got my left foot in my shoe and made my way as quickly as possible on the bike path to the rode, headed down the road and got my other foot in the shoe and got the straps on. I tried to start out reasonably fast and solid, and shortly thereafter Allen passed me. I stayed right behind him (3 bike lengths) and realized that it was feeling too easy and so I ultimately passed him. Not sure how close he stayed behind me, but he ultimately passed me again on the longest uphill. I kept a solid effort and pace, in fact no one else passed me, not surprising based on the timing of the age group starts and my lackluster swim. I hit the first short hill and hammered up it, and then stayed solid going up the longer hill that Allen passed me on. I didn’t get on his wheel this time, although I probably should have thought about it, but kept him in visual range until T2 (although he kept getting a little further ahead). At the top of the hill I wasn’t able to shift into my 53 front chainring for almost a minute, probably losing some top end speed coming down the hill. My battery was low, oops, my fault! Stayed aero the whole bike, tried to keep a solid effort, but didn’t want to blow up and be trashed for the run. Interestingly, my average power was only 145, and Normalized Power was ~155, less than my half ironman efforts, and probably ironman as well. Still managed to average about 22mph over the roads. My bike split was 33:46 (61st overall).
Got to T2, good dismount and got to my rack, Allen was still getting his shoes on and actually just headed out of T2 several seconds in front of me. My transition was 55 seconds, again, just 10 seconds slower than the fastest transition in my age group. My legs felt good, my breathing was ok, but, per my usual recent M.O., I just wasn’t very fast. I got into a rhythm and kept it the whole run, trying to keep my breathing about every 3rd step, which meant that I was going as hard as I possibly could. Passed half way on the run by John, who never beats me, and he looked fresh, so I just kept pounding away. Hit the finish line, I was tired, as usual, felt like I gave it everything I had, but I didn’t really have that muchJ. My run split was 26:26, 8:32 pace, the slowest sprint tri run I’ve had in a very long time (ranking me 160th overall). My final time of 1:20:16 was 5th in my age group (out of 19) and 70th overall (out of 470 people). Still, not bad for 52 years old, but not up to the standards I’ve been setting for myself. Imagine what I can do if I actually train!
Just as I realized as I finished Ironman St. George that I needed to reduce my training and focus on my life, as I finished the run today, I realized that it is time to fully reengage in training. I needed to focus on life, but that’s under control now, and I want to focus on training and getting back into shape, or at least the kind of shape that I want to be in!
The swim was a beach start, which is always interesting. I knew that it would be a running start, and I had decided that from now on I need to start my swims as hard as I can, in order to keep up with the lead swimmers, at least until the turmoil settles. For an in water start, this is one thing, for a beach start, it’s double the challenge, but I was up for it! So, I started at the front, in the middle, and ran as fast as I could into the water, did one dolphin swim and then started swimming as hard as I could. If someone pushed into me, I kept swimming hard, no slowing down. I got past the first buoy (about 30 yards), turned right and kept swimming hard. Now, my swim fitness probably sucks, so sooner or later this was not going to work, but what the heck! At about 150 yards, I could still see the lead people right in front of me, decided to take a breath to my left to see what was there, and whammo, inhaled a mouthful of water. Usually, when this happens, I keep swimming and just let the breathing come to me. That idea lasted about 2 strokes, when I quickly realized that I was already anaerobic and not being able to breath was not very compatible with this. So, I did a couple of breast strokes, and the lead group quickly put distance in front of me. I actually felt a little panicky for about 30-40 seconds, but just tried to relax and start swimming easily. I figure that I lost at least a minute doing this. I then got into a nice relaxed rhythm and just kept that until I hit the half way point, I then tried to intermix some harder efforts, until I briefly inhaled a little more water. I actually realized somewhere along the way that my nose felt stuffed and it was affecting my breathing. I also knew that the run from the beach to T1 was all uphill and that if I came out of the water winded, I wouldn’t be running. So, I just kept a solid and relaxed effort for the rest of the swim. Got out of the water, felt reasonably good and started jogging up the hill and stairs. I never walked, passed a number of people and got to my bike and found the guy next to me, Allen, (in my age group and probably a better swimmer than me), still getting ready for the bike. My swim time (including the run up to T1) was 18:06, which was ~100th/470 people. I probably lost 1-2 minute due to my breathing issues, which would have put me much closer to the top of my age group. Considering my lack of swim fitness, have to be pretty happy with this. I made my usual quick transition (just losing about 10 seconds getting my wetsuit off inefficiently, and ironically my 64 second transition was 8 seconds slower than the fastest transition in my age group) and actually got out of T1 before Allen. Mounted my bike, got my left foot in my shoe and made my way as quickly as possible on the bike path to the rode, headed down the road and got my other foot in the shoe and got the straps on. I tried to start out reasonably fast and solid, and shortly thereafter Allen passed me. I stayed right behind him (3 bike lengths) and realized that it was feeling too easy and so I ultimately passed him. Not sure how close he stayed behind me, but he ultimately passed me again on the longest uphill. I kept a solid effort and pace, in fact no one else passed me, not surprising based on the timing of the age group starts and my lackluster swim. I hit the first short hill and hammered up it, and then stayed solid going up the longer hill that Allen passed me on. I didn’t get on his wheel this time, although I probably should have thought about it, but kept him in visual range until T2 (although he kept getting a little further ahead). At the top of the hill I wasn’t able to shift into my 53 front chainring for almost a minute, probably losing some top end speed coming down the hill. My battery was low, oops, my fault! Stayed aero the whole bike, tried to keep a solid effort, but didn’t want to blow up and be trashed for the run. Interestingly, my average power was only 145, and Normalized Power was ~155, less than my half ironman efforts, and probably ironman as well. Still managed to average about 22mph over the roads. My bike split was 33:46 (61st overall).
Got to T2, good dismount and got to my rack, Allen was still getting his shoes on and actually just headed out of T2 several seconds in front of me. My transition was 55 seconds, again, just 10 seconds slower than the fastest transition in my age group. My legs felt good, my breathing was ok, but, per my usual recent M.O., I just wasn’t very fast. I got into a rhythm and kept it the whole run, trying to keep my breathing about every 3rd step, which meant that I was going as hard as I possibly could. Passed half way on the run by John, who never beats me, and he looked fresh, so I just kept pounding away. Hit the finish line, I was tired, as usual, felt like I gave it everything I had, but I didn’t really have that muchJ. My run split was 26:26, 8:32 pace, the slowest sprint tri run I’ve had in a very long time (ranking me 160th overall). My final time of 1:20:16 was 5th in my age group (out of 19) and 70th overall (out of 470 people). Still, not bad for 52 years old, but not up to the standards I’ve been setting for myself. Imagine what I can do if I actually train!
Just as I realized as I finished Ironman St. George that I needed to reduce my training and focus on my life, as I finished the run today, I realized that it is time to fully reengage in training. I needed to focus on life, but that’s under control now, and I want to focus on training and getting back into shape, or at least the kind of shape that I want to be in!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Let's run Medicare like a business!
I've spent the last 22 years of my life trying to deliver the best care to seniors. I've also tried to develop new and innovative programs during that time period. I have evidence that the care I deliver as a Geriatrician is less costly than the average physician. Yet, all I hear from our legislators when it comes to our Medicare program is "we want evidence". Do you think that Steve Jobs asked for "evidence", or a 5 year pilot program, before putting out the first Mac or the first I-pad? Do successful businesses run tests for 10 years before deciding to roll out a new product? Of course not! They hire the best and the brightest and they let them do their jobs.
We Geriatricians understand that less is often more in the care of our patients. Listening to patients and families will often supply us with important clues as to the best course of action. Reducing or stopping medications that haven't helped, but are producing side effects, often helps patients feel better. How do I know this? I've been doing these things for the past 22 years. I have cared for thousands of 80 year olds during that time period. If we put together a room full of Geriatricians with years of experience won't we get better answers on how to care for the older population than by doing a five or ten year pilot program on a limited number of patients? I've been part of such groups and we have developed our recommendations. And our government keeps asking for more "evidence".
We hear daily about the unmanageable costs of the Medicare program. If we're serious about fixing the problem, we don't need any more studies. Let's run Medicare like a good business. Get the best Geriatrician's in the country together and let them tell us what to do. I've offered to share what I know with my legislators on numerous occasions. I have many colleagues that would readily do the same.
It couldn't be worse than the way things are now, could it?
We Geriatricians understand that less is often more in the care of our patients. Listening to patients and families will often supply us with important clues as to the best course of action. Reducing or stopping medications that haven't helped, but are producing side effects, often helps patients feel better. How do I know this? I've been doing these things for the past 22 years. I have cared for thousands of 80 year olds during that time period. If we put together a room full of Geriatricians with years of experience won't we get better answers on how to care for the older population than by doing a five or ten year pilot program on a limited number of patients? I've been part of such groups and we have developed our recommendations. And our government keeps asking for more "evidence".
We hear daily about the unmanageable costs of the Medicare program. If we're serious about fixing the problem, we don't need any more studies. Let's run Medicare like a good business. Get the best Geriatrician's in the country together and let them tell us what to do. I've offered to share what I know with my legislators on numerous occasions. I have many colleagues that would readily do the same.
It couldn't be worse than the way things are now, could it?
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Boulder 70.3 Race Report
Going into this race I tried something different. Since this summer has been quite hectic and my training has been somewhat limited (6-8 hours a week, with little swimming time), I did a “crash week” the week prior to the race, putting in close to 15 hours over one week with some serious intensity. Again, it was mostly biking and running, with a very small amount of swimming. Since my swim is mostly form anyway, I wasn’t that concerned about losing more than a few minutes on the swim without affecting the rest of my race. While I had hoped to bet three solid days of rest prior to the race, Thursday was a 17 hour day with 5 hours of driving, Friday included a solid 45 minute bike and 25 minute run with intensity, and then registering and running errands for my family the whole day (so much for keeping my feet up). Saturday was a little better, but started with buying my daughter a car in the morning (really), then went to lunch and the movies with my family in the afternoon. I did get a good night sleep on Friday and even last night, going to bed around 8:30pm and getting up around 3:30am.
I started right at the front, with my age group and the 20-24 year old men and women. This made for a very hectic start at the front, which I proudly handled pretty well, finally settling into my stroke and focusing on my form. At around 500 yards, a group passed me and I decided to try to draft off them. I got too close and got kicked flush in the nose! It was my mistake and my fault. It hurt! I checked to make sure that there was no bleeding and that I wasn’t about to die (it was at the angle that people doing karate use to try to kill people by pushing the nasal bone back into the brain, ok, I’m a doctor, I can’t help but analyze these things). Didn’t really slow down too much, got back into my groove and continued to swim comfortably, finding people to draft off of for about 50% of the swim. Came out of the water feeling pretty comfortable, in a time of 36:33 (27th in my age group 499th overall). This was about 3 minutes slower than last year, but still my second fastest swim on this course. I felt fine coming out of the water, taking off my wetsuit as I made my was into transition. My T1 was 2:11, which was pretty solid and I quickly got on my back and out. I made a solid push up the one short hill coming out of the Reservoir and then settled into a very solid effort. I actually had my Disc wheel with powertap and monitor on and I set my monitor for wattage and average speed. My goal was actually to maintain 22 mph, and I knew that initially, coming out of the reservoir onto I-36 that my speed would be considerably lower than that, as it it a gradual uphill. That said, I didn’t stress over this and my average speed gradually picked up from about 16mph to 17mph and then, I think, 18 mph. I focused on gaining speed on any downhills and really dialing it in coming up the next hill, staying strong and maintaining my momentum. For one of the few times ever, I was passing people going uphill! In fact, very few people passed me on the uphills today. As I got onto the backside of the course, I could let loose with the speed and by the time I turned to head south again I was getting close to 22 mph average speed. For a change, I was hanging with a number of people as they passed me, and realized that even staying just outside the 4 length draft zone, I was able to get some draft. My wattage was lower and I was keeping up with guys who passed me. Unfortunately, I decided to try to pass one of these guys going up a hill, which I did, but clearly popped up my wattage to do so, and in a way that felt like I had just “burned” one match too many. I settled into a comfortable effort in order to regain my pacing and effort. I got to the half way point in 1:17:50 (21.5mph), and felt reasonably good at this point. Turns out my average power for the first half was 167 watts, with normalized power of 189 (coasting the downhills). Peak 1 minute power was 295w, Peak 10 minute power was 233w, Peak 30 minute power was 186w.
I was starting to feel better from my previous transgression and began getting focused on giving the second loop a very solid effort. Again, anytime a younger guy passed me, I would try to stay just outside of his draft zone and hang with him for a long as possible. The second loop ended up going just about like the first loop, although as I came onto the Diagonal I tried to relax a little, sit/stand up a few times and stretch, and make sure that I came into Transition feeling good. My time for the second loop was 1:18:36 (21.5mph), so I absolutely had the same speed for both laps! I am very happy with my consistency today, I don’t think that I could have done much better. My power data would suggest the same. My average power for the second half was 161 watts with normalized power of 182 (so just slightly lower than the first lap). Peak 1 minute power was 282w, Peak 10 minute power was 216w, Peak 30 minute power was 178w. Again, very similar to first lap. Of note, these are amongst my best 1/2 ironman power data ever. In fact, they compare to my sprint power data, go figure. My bike split was 2:36:26, which was 18th in my division and 320th overall. These numbers were very similar to my numbers last year, and was very close to my 2nd/3rd fastest bike on this course.
Of note, my nutrition on the bike was 5 gels and 200 calories of EFS drink, in addition to about 3 bottles of fluid, so about 700 calories. With about 40 minutes left on the bike, my stomach was feeling full and I was feeling a little uncomfortable, so I backed off the nutrition for about 20 minutes and then started taking some small sips.
I had my usual quick Transition in 1:35, and was quickly out on the run. I immediately settled into breathing every 4th step and keeping a comfortable and solid pace. I walked briefly on a few of the steep uphills, but otherwise ran the whole way. I felt fine, and didn’t know my pacing without a watch, but it didn’t really matter, I was going at the effort that I could go at. Turns out that I did the first lap in 1:02:01, or 9:28 pace, which was similar to last year when my legs were cramping. It was quite hot out, and I did put ice in my shorts at every aid station, and sponges under my top. I actually stayed pretty cool despite the heat. When I got to the end of the first lap, I immediately upped my effort to breathing every 3rd step. I did the second lap in 1:01:12, or 9:20 pace, so I actually did negative split the course. At mile 9 I began to have a slight side stitch, so I worked it while running and it was fine until about mile 11, when it acted up with a bit of a vengeance. I grasped my right ribs under the diaphragm and pushed as hard as I could and managed to stave off the side stitch. I kept pushing my effort with breathing every 3rd step and forcibly, and loudly, exhaling with each breath. I also kept trying to visualize my long run in San Diego two weeks ago, where I kept 7:50 pace for 40 minutes at the end of a 15 mile run. It’s a shame that I could only keep 9:20 pace at altitude for what was a similar feeling effort. As I got close to the finish line, I was able to pick up my pace for the last 200 yards and finish strongly. I really don’t think that I could have given the run a harder effort, and ironically, my run split of 2:03:13 was 16th in my division and 348th overall. I took in one gel and 100 calories of EFS during the run, as well as grabbing some coke during the second loop. I never felt like I was bonking, so I think that my nutrition was fine.
My final time of 5:19:58 placed me 16th overall in my division and 348th overall. Pretty close to last years race. Even though my run was slower than I’d hoped, my run placement was my best placement in my age group, not something that I usually do! In talking to some other guys, they’re run times were slower as well, so maybe not so bad.
I had hoped for a time of 5:08 (that included a run goal of 1:54), so I swam and biked pretty much what I wanted to do, but couldn’t do the run pace that I had hoped for. Interestingly, I was 4 minutes behind 15th place in my age group and 10 minutes ahead of 17th place! That was a bit crazy. Just 12 minutes out of 10th place, who was Kevin Edwards, who has won the age group in previous years. Of course, the winning time in the age group today was 4:37:07 (27’ swim, 2:28 bike, 1:38 run). In terms of my future, clearly I still have to run faster, though my coach would probably say that in order to do that I need to get even fitter on the bike! If I ever have time to swim more, I could probably bring my swim times down as well.
I was actually 2 1/2 minutes slower than last year, which included by far my best swim ever, a solid bike, and a run that was hampered by leg cramps. Ironically, the difference was almost entirely in the swim. Still, I’m not sorry about my recent decrease in swimming, as I used the time to work on both biking and running.
All in all, another race where I can hold my head high, knowing that I gave it everything I’ve got. I really don’t think that I could have gone much harder or much faster. In fact, if I’d tried to go faster at anytime during the race, I probably would have ended up going slower in the end. I gave this race every ounce of energy I had today. That’s always the goal. I also passed a lot of people on the bike and even passed some people on the run. No one older than me passed me today as well, so I had the luxury of passing people 20-30 years younger than me throughout the day, always a nice feeling.
I started right at the front, with my age group and the 20-24 year old men and women. This made for a very hectic start at the front, which I proudly handled pretty well, finally settling into my stroke and focusing on my form. At around 500 yards, a group passed me and I decided to try to draft off them. I got too close and got kicked flush in the nose! It was my mistake and my fault. It hurt! I checked to make sure that there was no bleeding and that I wasn’t about to die (it was at the angle that people doing karate use to try to kill people by pushing the nasal bone back into the brain, ok, I’m a doctor, I can’t help but analyze these things). Didn’t really slow down too much, got back into my groove and continued to swim comfortably, finding people to draft off of for about 50% of the swim. Came out of the water feeling pretty comfortable, in a time of 36:33 (27th in my age group 499th overall). This was about 3 minutes slower than last year, but still my second fastest swim on this course. I felt fine coming out of the water, taking off my wetsuit as I made my was into transition. My T1 was 2:11, which was pretty solid and I quickly got on my back and out. I made a solid push up the one short hill coming out of the Reservoir and then settled into a very solid effort. I actually had my Disc wheel with powertap and monitor on and I set my monitor for wattage and average speed. My goal was actually to maintain 22 mph, and I knew that initially, coming out of the reservoir onto I-36 that my speed would be considerably lower than that, as it it a gradual uphill. That said, I didn’t stress over this and my average speed gradually picked up from about 16mph to 17mph and then, I think, 18 mph. I focused on gaining speed on any downhills and really dialing it in coming up the next hill, staying strong and maintaining my momentum. For one of the few times ever, I was passing people going uphill! In fact, very few people passed me on the uphills today. As I got onto the backside of the course, I could let loose with the speed and by the time I turned to head south again I was getting close to 22 mph average speed. For a change, I was hanging with a number of people as they passed me, and realized that even staying just outside the 4 length draft zone, I was able to get some draft. My wattage was lower and I was keeping up with guys who passed me. Unfortunately, I decided to try to pass one of these guys going up a hill, which I did, but clearly popped up my wattage to do so, and in a way that felt like I had just “burned” one match too many. I settled into a comfortable effort in order to regain my pacing and effort. I got to the half way point in 1:17:50 (21.5mph), and felt reasonably good at this point. Turns out my average power for the first half was 167 watts, with normalized power of 189 (coasting the downhills). Peak 1 minute power was 295w, Peak 10 minute power was 233w, Peak 30 minute power was 186w.
I was starting to feel better from my previous transgression and began getting focused on giving the second loop a very solid effort. Again, anytime a younger guy passed me, I would try to stay just outside of his draft zone and hang with him for a long as possible. The second loop ended up going just about like the first loop, although as I came onto the Diagonal I tried to relax a little, sit/stand up a few times and stretch, and make sure that I came into Transition feeling good. My time for the second loop was 1:18:36 (21.5mph), so I absolutely had the same speed for both laps! I am very happy with my consistency today, I don’t think that I could have done much better. My power data would suggest the same. My average power for the second half was 161 watts with normalized power of 182 (so just slightly lower than the first lap). Peak 1 minute power was 282w, Peak 10 minute power was 216w, Peak 30 minute power was 178w. Again, very similar to first lap. Of note, these are amongst my best 1/2 ironman power data ever. In fact, they compare to my sprint power data, go figure. My bike split was 2:36:26, which was 18th in my division and 320th overall. These numbers were very similar to my numbers last year, and was very close to my 2nd/3rd fastest bike on this course.
Of note, my nutrition on the bike was 5 gels and 200 calories of EFS drink, in addition to about 3 bottles of fluid, so about 700 calories. With about 40 minutes left on the bike, my stomach was feeling full and I was feeling a little uncomfortable, so I backed off the nutrition for about 20 minutes and then started taking some small sips.
I had my usual quick Transition in 1:35, and was quickly out on the run. I immediately settled into breathing every 4th step and keeping a comfortable and solid pace. I walked briefly on a few of the steep uphills, but otherwise ran the whole way. I felt fine, and didn’t know my pacing without a watch, but it didn’t really matter, I was going at the effort that I could go at. Turns out that I did the first lap in 1:02:01, or 9:28 pace, which was similar to last year when my legs were cramping. It was quite hot out, and I did put ice in my shorts at every aid station, and sponges under my top. I actually stayed pretty cool despite the heat. When I got to the end of the first lap, I immediately upped my effort to breathing every 3rd step. I did the second lap in 1:01:12, or 9:20 pace, so I actually did negative split the course. At mile 9 I began to have a slight side stitch, so I worked it while running and it was fine until about mile 11, when it acted up with a bit of a vengeance. I grasped my right ribs under the diaphragm and pushed as hard as I could and managed to stave off the side stitch. I kept pushing my effort with breathing every 3rd step and forcibly, and loudly, exhaling with each breath. I also kept trying to visualize my long run in San Diego two weeks ago, where I kept 7:50 pace for 40 minutes at the end of a 15 mile run. It’s a shame that I could only keep 9:20 pace at altitude for what was a similar feeling effort. As I got close to the finish line, I was able to pick up my pace for the last 200 yards and finish strongly. I really don’t think that I could have given the run a harder effort, and ironically, my run split of 2:03:13 was 16th in my division and 348th overall. I took in one gel and 100 calories of EFS during the run, as well as grabbing some coke during the second loop. I never felt like I was bonking, so I think that my nutrition was fine.
My final time of 5:19:58 placed me 16th overall in my division and 348th overall. Pretty close to last years race. Even though my run was slower than I’d hoped, my run placement was my best placement in my age group, not something that I usually do! In talking to some other guys, they’re run times were slower as well, so maybe not so bad.
I had hoped for a time of 5:08 (that included a run goal of 1:54), so I swam and biked pretty much what I wanted to do, but couldn’t do the run pace that I had hoped for. Interestingly, I was 4 minutes behind 15th place in my age group and 10 minutes ahead of 17th place! That was a bit crazy. Just 12 minutes out of 10th place, who was Kevin Edwards, who has won the age group in previous years. Of course, the winning time in the age group today was 4:37:07 (27’ swim, 2:28 bike, 1:38 run). In terms of my future, clearly I still have to run faster, though my coach would probably say that in order to do that I need to get even fitter on the bike! If I ever have time to swim more, I could probably bring my swim times down as well.
I was actually 2 1/2 minutes slower than last year, which included by far my best swim ever, a solid bike, and a run that was hampered by leg cramps. Ironically, the difference was almost entirely in the swim. Still, I’m not sorry about my recent decrease in swimming, as I used the time to work on both biking and running.
All in all, another race where I can hold my head high, knowing that I gave it everything I’ve got. I really don’t think that I could have gone much harder or much faster. In fact, if I’d tried to go faster at anytime during the race, I probably would have ended up going slower in the end. I gave this race every ounce of energy I had today. That’s always the goal. I also passed a lot of people on the bike and even passed some people on the run. No one older than me passed me today as well, so I had the luxury of passing people 20-30 years younger than me throughout the day, always a nice feeling.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Giving it everything I've got
I had been visualizing this race for the past week. My plan was to swim hard, bike harder and then run as fast as I could.
I had planned on getting to the race site early and getting in a very long easy warm up. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. My daughter got her driver’s license today and we went to the DMV, where it took 2 1/2 hours! So, instead, I had just about 15-20 minutes of easy biking and then 10 minutes of swimming before the race.
The start also didn’t go as planned. There was actually no organized start, people were milling about in the water and on the beach when the horn went off! I was just at the edge of the water, realized what was going on and turned and just swam as fast as I could. I imagine that the guys who happened to be about 20 yards in actually got a good head start. I actually felt like I did a good job getting to the first buoy in what appeared to be the front pack of swimmers. I swam the whole swim as hard as I could, to the point where I needed to walk a bit coming out of the water on the way to transition. My swim time was over a minute slower than last year, but most everyone swam slower and I’m pretty sure that the course was long. I typically do this 1/2 mile loop at the Res in 12 minutes, and today it took closer to 15. It seemed like the last turn buoy kept drifting further away due to the current! Still, I was only a couple of minutes behind the fastest guys in my age group getting into T1. Since the route to T1 was uphill about 50 yards, I figure that my swim was very solid.
I had a very quick transition and headed out onto the course. There is an immediate hill that I had planned to go hard on. Because of the swim, I couldn’t quite go all out, but I still attacked the hill as hard as I could, getting off to a solid start. I got up to speed, kept a fairly high cadence (I’d guess about 90-95) and just kept in my head Phil Ligett’s favorite repose about cyclists “turning themselves inside out”, that’s what I tried to do. I was breathing every 2 pedal strokes and for a change, when faster cyclists passed me, they didn’t put a lot of distance on me right away, I was really maintaining a good pace and effort. There were the usual headwinds at the Res, wind conditions were 15-20 mph; and on the way back, I had hoped to attack the hardest hill, which I did, but couldn’t quite give it the kind of effort I’d hoped to give for fear of completely blowing up. I could feel the lactic acid building up in the form of incipient side stitches, but continued to press hard. As I came down the long downhill (with yet another headwind) and saw guys coming back up the same way, I realized that I had misread the course map and that the course was about a mile longer than I’d thought, and finished with a long mild climb. As I hit the turnaround at the end of the road and came through it, I saw the top woman (she started 5 minutes behind me) and made it my goal to stay ahead of her until the run. I was able to do that and completed the bike in just under 35 minutes, which was a minute faster than last year at a pace of ~ 21 mph, not bad with the headwinds.
I had another quick transition and started out on the run. My plan was to start running as fast as I could, but I couldn’t completely ignore the side stitches and the obvious fact that I’d bike as hard as I could. I tried to focus on good turnover, massaged my diaphragm, focused on grunting hard with every exhalation, and just going as fast as I could. I was breathing every 2nd to third step and to anyone standing on the side of the road, probably sounded like I was near death. But I was committed to running as fast as I could. When the top woman passed me, about 1/4 mile into the run, I stayed fairly close to her for another 1/4 mile, my legs felt absolutely great, but my breathing was holding me back. The faster I would run, and I tried to pick up my pace multiple times, the more difficult my breathing became. Still, I kept pushing, hoping that it would get better. In fact, during the last mile I felt a little more comfortable in terms of my breathing. Instead, I began feeling a bit light headed! But I still continued to push, to turn the legs over, to keep grunting, and to keep breathing hard. As I got to about 100 yards from the finished I turned back and saw someone gaining on me, he was about 20 yards back, so I just picked up my leg speed and went as fast as I could to the finish. Good thing, the guy behind me was in my age group! I got a podium spot in the age group (officially 2nd, but really I was 3rd--they screwed up the aging up numbers and another friend of my should have been first in our age group instead of 3rd in the younger one). My run time was about 8:13 average per mile. My heart and lungs would have rather I did 9:00 pace, my legs wanted to run sub-7:00 pace.
When I got to the finish line I stopped and it was a good thing. I don’t think that I stopped breathing hard for several minutes.
A couple of post mortem thoughts. My legs felt fantastic! If I was at sea level, I could have run faster. This is clearly an issue for me and I need to figure out how to work on it. My heart and lungs and ability to clear lactic acid are holding me back. My legs are capable of running faster. That said, I am just 4 weeks post-ironman St. George. I don’t know how much influence that has on me at this point. I was able to go out first thing this morning and run an easy 10 miles (didn’t wear a HRM or garmin), not sure of the pace but probably in the 9+ minute/mile range
I had planned on getting to the race site early and getting in a very long easy warm up. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. My daughter got her driver’s license today and we went to the DMV, where it took 2 1/2 hours! So, instead, I had just about 15-20 minutes of easy biking and then 10 minutes of swimming before the race.
The start also didn’t go as planned. There was actually no organized start, people were milling about in the water and on the beach when the horn went off! I was just at the edge of the water, realized what was going on and turned and just swam as fast as I could. I imagine that the guys who happened to be about 20 yards in actually got a good head start. I actually felt like I did a good job getting to the first buoy in what appeared to be the front pack of swimmers. I swam the whole swim as hard as I could, to the point where I needed to walk a bit coming out of the water on the way to transition. My swim time was over a minute slower than last year, but most everyone swam slower and I’m pretty sure that the course was long. I typically do this 1/2 mile loop at the Res in 12 minutes, and today it took closer to 15. It seemed like the last turn buoy kept drifting further away due to the current! Still, I was only a couple of minutes behind the fastest guys in my age group getting into T1. Since the route to T1 was uphill about 50 yards, I figure that my swim was very solid.
I had a very quick transition and headed out onto the course. There is an immediate hill that I had planned to go hard on. Because of the swim, I couldn’t quite go all out, but I still attacked the hill as hard as I could, getting off to a solid start. I got up to speed, kept a fairly high cadence (I’d guess about 90-95) and just kept in my head Phil Ligett’s favorite repose about cyclists “turning themselves inside out”, that’s what I tried to do. I was breathing every 2 pedal strokes and for a change, when faster cyclists passed me, they didn’t put a lot of distance on me right away, I was really maintaining a good pace and effort. There were the usual headwinds at the Res, wind conditions were 15-20 mph; and on the way back, I had hoped to attack the hardest hill, which I did, but couldn’t quite give it the kind of effort I’d hoped to give for fear of completely blowing up. I could feel the lactic acid building up in the form of incipient side stitches, but continued to press hard. As I came down the long downhill (with yet another headwind) and saw guys coming back up the same way, I realized that I had misread the course map and that the course was about a mile longer than I’d thought, and finished with a long mild climb. As I hit the turnaround at the end of the road and came through it, I saw the top woman (she started 5 minutes behind me) and made it my goal to stay ahead of her until the run. I was able to do that and completed the bike in just under 35 minutes, which was a minute faster than last year at a pace of ~ 21 mph, not bad with the headwinds.
I had another quick transition and started out on the run. My plan was to start running as fast as I could, but I couldn’t completely ignore the side stitches and the obvious fact that I’d bike as hard as I could. I tried to focus on good turnover, massaged my diaphragm, focused on grunting hard with every exhalation, and just going as fast as I could. I was breathing every 2nd to third step and to anyone standing on the side of the road, probably sounded like I was near death. But I was committed to running as fast as I could. When the top woman passed me, about 1/4 mile into the run, I stayed fairly close to her for another 1/4 mile, my legs felt absolutely great, but my breathing was holding me back. The faster I would run, and I tried to pick up my pace multiple times, the more difficult my breathing became. Still, I kept pushing, hoping that it would get better. In fact, during the last mile I felt a little more comfortable in terms of my breathing. Instead, I began feeling a bit light headed! But I still continued to push, to turn the legs over, to keep grunting, and to keep breathing hard. As I got to about 100 yards from the finished I turned back and saw someone gaining on me, he was about 20 yards back, so I just picked up my leg speed and went as fast as I could to the finish. Good thing, the guy behind me was in my age group! I got a podium spot in the age group (officially 2nd, but really I was 3rd--they screwed up the aging up numbers and another friend of my should have been first in our age group instead of 3rd in the younger one). My run time was about 8:13 average per mile. My heart and lungs would have rather I did 9:00 pace, my legs wanted to run sub-7:00 pace.
When I got to the finish line I stopped and it was a good thing. I don’t think that I stopped breathing hard for several minutes.
A couple of post mortem thoughts. My legs felt fantastic! If I was at sea level, I could have run faster. This is clearly an issue for me and I need to figure out how to work on it. My heart and lungs and ability to clear lactic acid are holding me back. My legs are capable of running faster. That said, I am just 4 weeks post-ironman St. George. I don’t know how much influence that has on me at this point. I was able to go out first thing this morning and run an easy 10 miles (didn’t wear a HRM or garmin), not sure of the pace but probably in the 9+ minute/mile range
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