Team de Jong

I am now a SPONSORED ATHLETE!  I am the official ambassador of Team de Jong.  Meaning, my parents gave me a check to help pay for my new bike, and in exchange I will put their (aka my) name on my gear.

This windfall certainly helps answer the question of if I should buy a new bike.  Unfortunately, it doesn't help answer which bike I should buy.  This issue is further complicated by the fact that, as mentioned in my last blog, I have actually already bought a new bike.  One would think that once several bikes have been tested and a new bike has been purchased the matter would be settled.  But due to Performance Bike's incredible return policy (I can return my bike for a refund for up to a full year after purchase!) the bike hunt is technically still on.  And at every turn I continue to be confronted by options.  For instance, I am finding bikes that are aluminum, but actually weigh less than my carbon bike.  And just yesterday I read a review in Triathlete magazine of the Felt B16 triathlon bike, which said it was very stable for a tri bike, which (trust me on this) is a huge deal.  Until now I have shied away from the idea of a dedicated tri bike because, 1. They are not versatile and, 2. They ruin my face.  But this thing sounds like the best of both worlds, and there is always the option of selling it if I don't use it after Ironman.

Of course, all of these issues are even further complicated by HOW BEAUTIFUL MY BIKE IS:

This picture doesn't even do her justice!  She is gorgeous!

I took the new bike for my 60 mile training ride last Friday to test it out.  Here is a terrible idea: Change every thing about your bike (size, weight, seat, position, length of training ride) and then try to figure out which one of the 20 things you changed is the problem.

The main issues on my ride were:

1. Overall fatigue
2. Excessive pain in my butt/personal seat-related region (to the point that coming to a stop actually hurt almost more than riding)
3. More comfortable riding in the upright position than on Cannondale, but less comfortable in the more aerodynamic position (lower down with hands in the "drops"-the curled part of handle bars)

The causes are most likely:

1. 60 miles is a long way.  I may be using different muscles in new position.  It was hot and humid and I may have fallen short of necessary re-fueling.

2. New seat.  Smaller bike, which puts me in a different position on the seat.

3. Smaller bike creates altogether different riding position, namely in terms of my reach to handlebars.

These are all fixable.  But what occurred to me on my ride, in terms of having just purchased a $1600 bike, was:

1. The overall ride was not noticeably smoother than on the Cannondale.  The Cannondale is all aluminium, which is supposed to be a much rougher ride than carbon, which the new bike is.  But it didn't seem any better, especially on the rough parts of the road, where the bumps were just as jarring as before.  Is it worth $1600 if the ride is not smoother?

2.  I did not go any faster than my last ride on the same route.  If I am not any faster, what's the point?

3. After Ironman I cannot imagine ever spending a day off riding 60+ miles just for fun.  I may ride 25 or even 30, but these monster rides will be a thing of the past.  Biking will never be my main activity.  And the Cannondale is fine for a 30 mile ride.  Is it worth a $1600 investment for a bike I won't need after November?

So these are the questions I have to answer, and I believe the answers can only be found on the bike, on the road.

The Hunt

It's  been a while since I shared any current training updates.  There is a reason for that.  I have been very busy...bike shopping!

You know what really gets in the way of training?  Bike shopping!

Each bike shop only sells a couple bike brands, and since each brand is different in terms of fit (much like running shoes...and we know how long that took me) I am forced to go all over the valley to try different bikes.  Not only does that take tons of time and gas, but it makes it impossible to really compare many bikes side-by-side.  After 12 bikes in 3 days you forget how one felt compared to another at another shop!  Not to mention Craigslist, which opens a whole new can of worms.

But let's start with WHY I am suddenly in the market for a new bike.  It's certainly not my style to upgrade. I think I have made it very clear that my style is to MAKE DO with the cheapest option available.

Last Friday I had an appointment for a bike fitting to get aero bars put on my bike and get fit to my bike with them on it, and to just make sure my bike was a good size for me and that the seat was in the best position. Well, it turns out I can't get aero bars put on my bike.  The head tube and stem (what the handle bars are mounted on) on my bike are all one piece, whereas on newer bikes the head tube and stem are made of several pieces, so they are more adjustable.

See how the head tube (vertical) and stem (horizontal) parts are
welded together?  Whereas on the newer bikes (below) they are
separate parts, which can be swapped out and adjusted for optimal fit.

It would technically be possible to put aero bars on my bike as is, but it would not only be pointless, it would probably be worse than riding it as is, because there would be no way to get in the optimal position.  It would be possible to switch out some parts, but that would cost several hundred dollars, and still not be optimal, so it's really not worth it.

This is how they attach to a road bike.

These are aero bars.

This is how you ride a road bike with aero bars.

So that left me with the following options: 1. Ride my bike as is with no aero bars (an option I had not ruled out even before the fitting) or 2. Buy a new bike.

Felt

Thus I dove halfheartedly and noncommittally into the hunt for a new bike.  It started with a few test rides at Landis Cyclery, where I had my fitting.  I tried a Felt.  Didn't love it.  I tried a ladies' Trek.  Meh.  Then I tried a Trek Madone 2.3.  This is an aluminum version of the bike that the lying cheater Lance Armstrong rode in the Tour de France.  That bike felt great!  But one can't stop there!  One must try all the different types and brands to know what one watst.  Thus began the process during which I learned way more than I ever wanted to know about bikes.  Words like "gruppo," which is the set of moving parts like shifters, brakes, etc.  Shimano.  SRAM.  Campagnolo.  Tiagra.  105.  Apex.  These are the things one must consider when buying a new bike.

Trek Madone

Also, there is geometry.  Do you want speed or comfort?  Yes, please.  There is racing geometry and comfort geometry and every imaginable variation in between.  There are all kinds of measurements and their relation to each other is different on every bike, so you can't just walk in and say, "I need a 54 cm."  A well-fitting 54 in one bike could equal a 50 in another! Then all of a sudden you find yourself in the middle of a debate that, unbeknownst to you, has been raging in the cycling community: Is a high end aluminum bike better than an entry-level carbon bike?  Then you start discovering terms like BB30 vs. BB86.  This refers to "Bottom Bracket," something you have never in your entire life even considered as something that could possibly matter to you.  And right about then your head explodes.

Bike shopping makes me feel like the guy on the right.

It started out very fun and exciting, then as the amount of $$$ and details involved increased, it rapidly became very stressful.

Sunday was the last day of a big sale at Performance Bike, so after hours of talking and test riding and browsing I got this:

Isn't it beautiful???

Week 3 of training looked like this:

MON: 35 MIN. TRAINER RIDE
TUE:   45 MIN. SWIM
WED: 50 MI. RIDE
            2 MI. RUN
THU:  3 MI EASY RUN (A.M.)
            3 MI EASY RUN (P.M.)
FRI:    NO WORKOUT (Bike fitting/shopping...and 7:45 pm bedtime!)
SAT:    9 MI. RUN
SUN:   NO WORKOUT (Bike shopping)

I did no strength training, only one swim, and no effective trainer rides! But the worst part is, this week is not starting out much better!  The problem, quite simply, is LIFE.  It has no place in Ironman training.  Dates with friends, birthday parties, bike shopping, dropping bikes off for a tune up and hanging out with a friend at the bike cafe, working extra shifts; there is no room for these things during training.  Especially bike shopping! That took up most of my Friday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday.

Because the bike I bought on Sunday was not the end of it.  Turns out it felt way too big once I got it on the trainer and took it on an hour long ride on the canal path.  So I took it back to the store, where there was a completely different staff that day, and we basically started from scratch.

And that's when I got this:

To be continued...

Adventure Run

Before the run

During the raffle.  Not only are the shirts reflective but they earn
you DOUBLE raffle tickets

Thursday morning's planned 6 mile tempo run turned in to a 3 mile easy run, but fortunately we did the Road Runner Sports Adventure Run that same night, which turned out to be a little over 3 miles.  So I ended up getting in all my miles, just not at the pace I had hoped.

The Adventure Run is the 3rd Thursday of each month.  It is kind of a raffle/scavenger hunt.  At 7 pm they put up a big map with different businesses marked on it, and we have an hour to run to as





many as we can, collect raffle tickets, then come back and try to win free stuff.  I was surprised at the big turnout this week, since it is so hot!  It was actually worse sitting on the super-heated asphalt during the raffle with sweat dripping everywhere than it was actually running in the heat!  But a good time was had by all.  Even though none of us won anything.

Shifting gears: Literally and metaphorically

Monday was supposed to be my rest day.  I worked till 2 pm and had plans to meet my friend Jon at 5. Karin was bummed that I was spending my rest day (basically my one free evening) with Jon.  It was certainly a valid point, and when I realized it, I decided to change my rest day to another day.  So I hopped on my trainer and started a hill interval workout.  The workout ended 35 minutes later when my chain decided it no longer wanted to shift onto the big ring (ie. into a harder gear).  I stopped the ride and got out my little Allen wrench set, which is conspicuously missing one wrench.  Guess which one I needed?  I had a wrench that I think came with some bike part I bought at some point, and fortunately it seemed to fit the little thingy (Screw? Nut? I don't know.  I'm no mechanic.).  I thought I knew what needed to be adjusted but that turned out not to be the case.  Not only did I not fix it, I made it worse.  And then I kept going...until the thingy no longer moved at all!  Not righty tighty.  Not lefty loosey.  Nothing.  I believe I had stripped the thingy.  Of course I was trying to squeeze this workout in between work and Jon, and I certainly did not have time to try and fix it worse.  And even if I had the time, I didn't even know what else to do at that point.

Attempting to fix my bike mid-ride.

So I did the only thing I could do.  I left the bike and went out with Jon.  When I came home, my bike had magically been fixed!  Karin had taken it to our friend Carol, who played around with her tools and the moving parts till she fixed it.  All the while cursing me for having such a dirty bike.  It is true that my bike has not shifted smoothly or easily for months now.  I know that I need to clean all the moving parts regularly. But I also need to clean my room.  Who has the time?!  But it goes beyond laziness.  I feel like I don't really know how to clean my bike.  For example, I have "cleaned" and oiled my chain twice within the last month, and it is still a mess.  So clearly I don't know what I am doing.  But after Carol cleaned up some of the moving parts, along with fixing the gear shifter thingy, my bike changes gears perfectly with only a whisper! Carol suggested de-greaser and a toothbrush.  I have now vowed to clean it every week!  Or, at least, every 2 weeks!  No less than once a month!  I swear!  ( My room will remain dirty until after Ironman.)

Earlier in the week the tire guys put 2 wrong-sized tires on my car, and when I borrowed Karin's car to get to work the next day (her car having all the same sized tires) she took my car and got the tires switched!  Go to work, my tires get fixed!  Go out with Jon, my bike gets fixed!  Clearly the solution to all my problems is to leave the house!

So my bike is fixed and I had a fantastic 50 mile ride yesterday!  Followed by a slightly-less than stellar 2 mile transition run.  That was to be expected, as I started my ride a little after 11 am and finished about 3 pm, which left me running the 2 miles at the hottest part of the day.  I got a last-minute overtime shift on Tuesday, my only day off this week, which then left me with no days off this week, which then made it difficult to squeeze in a 50 mile ride.  So I had to do it on my short workday on Wednesday.  It was very hot, but it turns out I couldn't really tell how hot it was on the bike.  But whenever I stopped, or worse yet, ran, it was very clearly very hot.  But I couldn't turn down the overtime, because Ironman is not cheap!

But all this shifting around of long rides and rest days has left me in rest day limbo.  Monday was not technically a rest day, since I did 35 minutes of hard riding, but it certainly wasn't a full training day.  So I will not have an actual full rest day this week.  I am not sure if it is that, or the long hours at work in the hot sun, or yesterday's long workout, but this morning's scheduled 6 mile tempo run was a disaster.  My legs felt like lead and I had no rhythm.  That's how Sunday's run started out, and it ended up being a great run, so I stuck it out for 2 miles, but it just wasn't getting better.  So I walked for a few minutes, then started running again, but it just wasn't happening.  I couldn't hold my form or pick up the pace.  It's possible I didn't refuel enough after yesterday's ride.  Whatever the reason(s) I scrapped it after just over 3 miles.  Some workouts are just like that.  Two months ago that exact same scenario would have left me in tears and super frustrated.  Today I thought: Well that sucks, but I haven't had a bad workout in a very long time so I was due.  Then I used the extra time before work to go buy a breakfast burrito.

How fat am I ?

My new Body Fat scale (That is not my weight.  I wish!)

In order to track my progress as I try to lose body fat and get closer to my ideal performance weight I bought a scale that measures body fat.  It does this by sending an electrical signal through your body and measuring the degree of resistance.  The signal travels through fat more quickly.  It is not known for great accuracy, but it gets reasonably close.  But for my purposes, I don't need to know my exact body fat percentage as much as I need a consistent indicator of said body fat, so I can make sure the number is, in fact, getting smaller.

As soon as I got my scale a few days ago I tried it out and it said I weighed 145 lbs. and had 23% body fat. I was fully clothed in the middle of the day.  Yesterday, first thing in the morning, naked, I tried it again.  I wanted a starting point so I could compare consistently under identical conditions.  I had eaten very healthily the previous day and done 90 minutes of total cardio, plus working, plus some weight lifting.  I now, apparently, weighed 140 lbs.  Not bad.  Except that my body fat was still 23%.  And that is exactly why I need a scale like this!  Normally I would get on the scale and be down 5 lbs. and be thrilled.  And yes my clothes would be looser for a day or so.  Until I drank more water or ate a cookie.  But I wouldn't perform better, because the weight I lost was not fat.  Which means it was either muscle or (most likely in this case) water.  Needless to say, muscle and water loss do not help performance.  Since my main goal in losing weight is to be a better triathlete, I want to make sure I am losing fat.

My plan is to implement the information and ideas I learned in the book "Racing Weight" and track both my weight and my performance concurrently.  I will likely check my weight and fat % once a week, just for reference.  But once a month I will check my weight and fat % and perform a standard workout (such as a 6 mile run), and I will keep track of that data for comparison.  As long as my weight, fat, and performance times are all going down, I am on track.  If my weight continues to drop but my performance improvement stalls I will know I am close to the best performance weight for my body.  These workouts will be a concrete yardstick to measure progress, but I will also pay attention to how I feel.  I may get faster in a 6 mile run, but if I feel weak during it or can't do other training because I pushed too hard I will have to pay attention to changes in my weight and body composition and decide if it negatively affected my performance.

So now I have another fun toy...I mean, um, useful tool, to motivate me on my triathlon journey.

Week 2 in the bag

Week 2 of my training program didn't turn out exactly like it looked on paper at the beginning of the week. There was the abbreviated long ride on Wednesday; then a shortened trainer ride on Friday, because I couldn't squeeze my whole workout in between work and an evening baseball game.  In my head it should have worked: home from work by 2:45, leave for the game at 5:30; that gives me 2 hours and 45 minutes to do a 90 minute workout and then shower and get ready for the game.  Except...I can't jump on the trainer the minute I walk in the door...I have to greet Riley and put my stuff down and change and get water bottles...and my 30 minute swim requires a 20 minute round trip drive to the gym, plus rinsing off and changing afterward...and suddenly there is no way to fit 90 minutes of working out into a 2 hour 45 minute window!

I am finding this to be the case quite often.  I added up the minutes and my total training time this past week was 10.5 hours.  Sure, that is a lot of training time, but not a huge chunk of time spread over a whole week. So why do I constantly feel like I just don't have enough time?  I realized that in addition to actual time spent training, I spend an enormous amount of time driving to the gym, driving to areas for quality long rides, preparing fuel/hydration for long workouts, rinsing myself and my gear after swims,  and taking my bike on and off the trainer or in and out of the car.  For 10 hours of actual training there is at least an additional 3 hours just for preparation and transportation.

But this was a busy week after all.  I worked 48 hours, had a doctor appointment, a dentist appointment, a flat tire, a subsequent purchase and installment of new tires, and a baseball game.

My training week turned out as follows:

MON:   45 MIN. SWIM (Steady pace "endurance" swim)
TUE:     REST DAY!
WED:    27 MILE RIDE (outside)
             1 HR RIDE (inside)
THUR:  9 MILE RUN
             FULL BODY STRENGTH TRAINING (including plyometrics)
FRI:      30 MIN SWIM (drills + 10 x 50 yard sprints)
             30 MIN. TRAINER RIDE
SAT:     1 HR. TRAINER RIDE (speed intervals)
             45 MIN SWIM (drills + 4 x 200 yds, 4 x 25 yds)
SUN:    6 MILE TEMPO RUN (2.5 miles @ "comfortably hard" pace)
             30 MIN TRAINER RIDE (to make up for the missed 30 min. on Friday)
             STRENGTH TRAINING (Kettlebell circuit)

Ideally I would have gotten in a short transition run after my long ride, but all in all, I am extremely pleased with this training week!  Especially yesterday, when I ran 6 miles in the morning, worked 11 hours, then came home and did an intense 30 minute trainer ride and strength workout.  There were plenty of times this week where, in the past I would have found excuses to bail on workouts; I would be "too tired" or I would just give in to the desire for pizza, beer and brownies before a workout, then be too full and tired to go workout.  But that doesn't seem to be happening anymore.  Maybe it is the big motivator, FEAR, or maybe it just feels good to be fit, but something has shifted.  Not only am I more disciplined about training but, as Karin pointed out, I have a whole new attitude now.  There was a good stretch there where I was coming home discouraged or frustrated after virtually every workout.  But for this last month or so I have been enjoying my workouts, even my long rides, and feel great after all of them!

A surprisingly great day

Yesterday's training session was supposed to be a 45 mile ride, and I had planned to ride the IMAZ route again. Unfortunately  I was unable to talk myself into getting up at the crack of dawn...or another couple hours after that.  It is easier to procrastinate a workout when the hourly weather forecast tells me it will not even reach 100 degrees until noon!  Basically my goal with summer training is to be done with long runs before it reaches 100, and be done with long rides by 105.  But the real key with workouts in the heat is how it feels when I start.  You're gonna get hot during a workout even on a nice day, so as long as I don't walk outside and begin the workout in a blast furnace, I can handle the slow creeping up of degrees.

The problem with my late start yesterday was that I had a 1 pm dentist appointment.  By the time I got myself together the IMAZ route was out, since it is across the valley in the opposite direction of the dentist. There was no time for that.  So I got out  my

METROPOLITAN
PHOENIX AREA   
BIKE MAP  

and tried to build a route near the dentist office.   That was actually easy since one of my favorite canal rides is right near there.  So then I checked locations for LA Fitness, my gym, and found one just a few miles from the dentist.  So I would do my ride then shower at the gym.  By the time I parked and got my bike and myself together I only had 3 hours to ride.  That means 3 hours total; including water refill stops, traffic, and...

Flat tires!  Yep, I got a flat around mile 20.  If there is one bike skill I am actually confident about it is changing a tire.  If I focus I can have the whole thing done in a few minutes.  Today took a little longer because I tried to get away with just filling it first and hoping it would seal.  But then I changed it, and proceeded on.  Right away I noticed this really loud sound, like a rubbing sound, and the faster I went the louder it got.  I could not tell where it was coming from, so finally I got off my bike and started turning and spinning all the parts that turn and spin, and eventually I figured out the rear tore was rubbing against the frame.  So I fixed that and carried on, but then had to stop twice more because the rear brake was rubbing on the rim, which results in less speed for more effort.  Then I stopped to buy some cold water.  When all was said and done I only got in 27 miles.  But they were a great 27 miles!  I am a whole different rider than I was a few months ago!  This was, after all, the very same canal path that I abandoned in frustration after only 8 miles a mere few months ago!  My comfort level on the bike has increased 10 fold.

After my dentist appointment, on the drive home, I got another flat tire.  This one on my car.  I have never changed a flat by myself before, so I got out the jack and the owner's manual and went about figuring it out. I had the car jacked up and was struggling to get the hubcap off when a nice little older guy named Leon pulled up and said, "What happened here?"  He then proceeded to jump in and help me.  We got it changed very quickly, at which point we realized the spare was flat too!  Luckily I managed to get to a gas station less than a half mile away where I could pump up the spare.  Which I proceeded to do...but it wouldn't take air. Argh!  Foiled again!  Long story short, between the suggestions of yet another helpful gentleman and Karin, I decided to jack the car up next to the air pump and then put air in while it had no pressure on it.  It worked! And I was on my way again!

Later that night I hopped on the trainer to ride another hour to reach my goal distance for the day.

Surprisingly, it was a fantastic day!

Look how shredded my tire is!  I had to keep driving for a mile on it to get off the freeway!
Of course I had to take my bike out of the trunk to get to the spare!

REST DAY!

Today is a rest day!  A legitimate, scheduled, deliberate rest day.  I was so excited all day at work knowing that when I got home I didn't have to do any training at all!  This seems strange, because I take a rest day (or 2 back in the old days!) every week.  But I think this may be the first time that I have actually chosen a rest day.  It seems all my other rest days have either been accidents (Oops! 10 pm and I didn't work out!  Rest Day!) or have been dictated by other schedule concerns, like traveling or working double shifts.  This week I have a very tame work schedule, with almost every night off, so I could just choose a day, any day, as my rest day!

Using the foam roller to massage my super tight hamstrings on my
REST DAY!

1st week of the training schedule

This is what a triathlete's bathroom looks like.  All the time.  I cleaned the
whole bathroom 2 days ago and it looked like this again within a few hours.

Well, week 1 is done.  This is what it looked like:

MON:  40 MILE RIDE
            2 MILE TRANSITION RUN
TUE:   REST DAY
WED:  6 MILE TEMPO RUN* (2 miles easy, 2 miles "comfortably hard", 2 miles easy)
            30 MIN. OPEN WATER SWIM
THU:   8 MILE RUN**
FRI:    40 MIN. SWIM (combination of drills and speed intervals)
            55 MIN. TEMPO RIDE ON TRAINER (20 minutes "comfortably hard")
SAT:   30 MIN. SWIM ("descending ladder" intervals--200 yds, 100 yds, 50 yds, 25 yds.)
SUN:   45 MIN. TRAINER RIDE (including 10 x 1 min. FAST intervals)
            10 MIN. TRANSITION RUN

*This is the run where I spontaneously developed the mantra "You can work harder."  It's a good mantra.  I may use it again.

**This is the run where I stopped 2 miles in to hunt for a turtle to enter in the turtle race at the 4th of July festival we were going to.  I did not find a turtle.

I hit all my key workouts!  I did not get any strength workouts in, but I don't feel too bad about that, since this is my first week of full-on structured training, and I was traveling.  Yesterday I worked a 13 hour day at the airport then came home and did my ride/run.  I mean, not that I am bragging.  I mean, it's not like I have a blog dedicated to my training exploits.

During tonight's swim I discovered something.  My feet!  I need to kick them!

Let's back up.  I have been kicking my feet, but because I am a triathlete as opposed to just a swimmer, my kick is deliberately conservative because I need to save my legs for 138 miles of biking and running.  A few months ago a guy at the pool asked me how I swim so quietly.  I didn't even have to think about it.  I knew the answer immediately.  I swim quietly because I swim slowly.  I barely break the surface; there is minimal splashing; because there is minimal speed of movement.  When I come out of the locker room into the pool area I can hear if there are people swimming before I get there.  But if it was just me swimming, no one would even know I was there until they were practically in my lane.  Mainly this is because other people's legs break the surface while they kick, like little foot-shaped jack hammers.  My legs, meanwhile, tend to drag.  This is a very bad thing for a swimmer.  It is ideal to keep your legs horizontal so your body is streamlined, reducing drag in the water.  I try to focus on it and do the tricks that are supposed to lift my legs so I am more streamlined, but it is hard for me.  Today I decided to try being a LOUD swimmer, and make an effort to break the surface with my kicks.  Well, that was exhausting!  It was a lot more work, and it was only a few seconds faster.  Most importantly, there is absolutely no possible way that I could kick like that and then go bike and run afterward!  So I went back to the conservative kick.

But rest assured, it was not a total loss.  (Because I know you are thinking--oh great, another blog about failed attempts at improvement...)  What it taught me is that if I think about breaking the surface with my kick, even while keeping my kick conservative, it helps me keep my legs high in the water.  So it is a useful technique.  Since it is a new position for my body it is taking some getting used to; and it is just one more thing to try to pay attention to while I swim.  There are so many pieces to an efficient swim stroke!  It is hard for me like everything involving technique and coordination is hard for me.  That is why the 2 sports I did in school were track and cross country!  One foot in front of the other.  Repeat.  That I can handle.

The good news is I will be wearing a wetsuit for IMAZ, which helps significantly with buoyancy, thus helping to keep my legs up.  So it is very likely that on the day of the Ironman I will magically transform from a back-of-the-pack swimmer to a wetsuit-clad torpedo.  Though I do wonder how buoyant wetsuits really make you; they can't be keeping people too much on top of the water, because I have heard from numerous sources that, with the simultaneous start of 2000 swimmers, people actually swim right over you!  Also they kick you in the face.  I may kick some faces; but if I do, I will do it without breaking the surface.

Racing Weight

One would think that with the kind of training I am doing I should be able to eat whatever I want and not gain weight.  Well, I can certainly eat a lot more than other people!  But there is definitely a limit; and that limit comes a lot quicker than one may expect.  Between leaving for Nicaragua and leaving for Minnesota I managed to pack on about 4 extra pounds.  They all seem to be in my belly.  I didn't actually gain weight on this last trip--despite a diet heavy on beer (Light beer though!) and cheese-filled beef sticks!  But I certainly didn't do myself any favors.

Besides not wanting to be a triathlete running around town with a floppy little beer belly, there are more important reasons for me to lose these new pounds (not actually new pounds; more like old pounds that came back for a visit) and in fact lose more weight beyond that.

Studies have shown (I love studies!  Remember, I believe everything I read!) that body weight, and more importantly body composition, are very accurate indicators of triathlon performance.  Basically, they tested a lot of high-placing triathletes and found that without exception, the highest performers had the lowest body fat, and of course low body weight overall.  This is true to the point that, for example, in a race 1st place had 8% body fat, 2nd place had 9% body fat and 3rd place had 10% body fat.  The correlation is that clear and definitive!   I mean, the actual results are more technical and much better worded, but for our purposes the bottom line is this: Triathletes who weigh less and have very little body fat are the most successful.

The fact that lighter people move faster may seem obvious, but there are a few surprises.  First of all, I was surprised how much faster they move.  Statistics indicate that if I lose 10 pounds I can run 6% faster with the same amount of effort!  That means I could run more than 30 seconds faster per mile just by losing 10 pounds!  Do you know how much work and training it takes to cut 30 seconds per mile off race pace?!  Simply put, weight loss (specifically fat loss) is the easiest way to get faster.

Secondly, there is an art (or science) to losing weight effectively for performance gains.  I could lose 10 pounds pretty quickly by significantly cutting calories and maintaining my heavy cardio load, but I would likely lose a lot of muscle and keep a lot of fat.  That would leave me skinnier, but also weaker.  The key is to keep lean body mass and lose only fat.  Fat is just extra baggage your body is dragging along on rides and runs.  It contributes nothing, whereas muscle, while it weighs more than fat, is of course, what powers you through runs and rides.

I have been putting in the time and effort to improve my performance for months now, and while my overall fitness is significantly better, my performance gains seem pathetically minimal.  The simple fact is that losing a good deal of body fat would do as much, if not more for my performance than possibly any other single factor in my training.

That is where this comes in:

I will be implementing the things I learned in this book to attempt to reach what I feel is my ideal performance weight; which is the body weight (and body fat %) at which I perform best.  It is different for everyone, and is determined by losing weight in a healthy way while monitoring performance gains, until you reach the body weight and composition where you reap the most performance benefits.  Basically keep losing fat as long as you keep getting faster, then when you stop getting faster, stop losing weight.

4th of July

I spent the last 3 days in Waterville, MN, with Karin's friend Crystal.  We spent 3 days on the lake by her house, grilling, relaxing, cruising the lake on the pontoon, and in my case, swimming and running.  On the 4th we went to a small town 4th of July celebration with fireworks and a live band and food and a dance floor.  Since it is miserable outside in Phoenix in July, and the 4th of July is a hard time to get time off work and standby seats on flights, it's been years since I actually did anything for the 4th of July.  This year we wanted to do something.  So Karin called her good friend Crystal to see if we could crash her party.

It is always so fun to run in new places, and there was a great paved path not far from Crystal's house.  I got in a 6 mile tempo run on the 3rd and an 8 mile run on the 4th.

Paved trail in Waterville

Open country roads are a welcome change for this runner.

I also got in a training swim in the lake.  That turned out to be great practice for the Ironman swim in Tempe Town Lake, because I couldn't see anything in this lake!  There was a lot of seaweed on the surface that I tried to avoid, but at one point I popped my head up to check where I was going and I had seaweed haging off my face and draped from my goggles!  I couldn't see myself, but I felt like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and based on how long and hard Karin laughed I assume I looked like I felt.  Karin was kind enough to paddle a kayak next to me to "block" me from boat traffic on the lake.  I say "paddle" but I think she only paddled a few times during the 30 minutes I was swimming.  I am not hard to keep up with!

Karin kindly "blocking" for me while I swim

I didn't get up early on any morning, as I had planned, while I was in Minnesota.  The plan was to workout early, while it was cool, then have my days free.  Fortunately, because our schedule was basically wide open, I still managed to get in my workouts.  And I still had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the great scenery and weather.

Gorgeous sunset on Lake Tatonka

Found plenty of time to relax

Previously I was trying to explain the difference between my new phase of training and what I have been doing for the last 6 months.  I think one major difference is that workouts no longer feel optional.  It feels like "no excuses" time.  I went out of town and overslept daily and quite frankly, drank more beer and a lot less water than I usually do, but my 6 mile run and 8 mile run and open water swim were not things I tried to squeeze in.  They were things that needed to get done.  Just like today, when we flew home, we took late afternoon naps, but I still got up around 7 pm and went to the gym to do my 40 minute swim, then came home and did my 55 minute trainer ride.  I used to have to talk myself into workouts.  It was often hard to get motivated to just get out the door, or get on the bike.  As if each workout was a choice between doing it or not doing it.  But it no longer feels like a choice I am constantly making.  It is not a matter of if I will train but when.  It is not a matter of trying to train but just training.  

THERE IS NO TRY IN TRIATHLON. 

Off to a great start!

DAY 1: 40 mile bike ride + 2 mile "transition" run.  DONE!

I planned to start my ride no later than 5:30 am since it was supposed to get up to 113 degrees today.  Well...I just didn't want to get out of bed!  So I started my ride closer to 8 am.  Honestly, 100 degrees....105 degrees...what's the difference?  It was gonna be hot by mile 30 no matter what.  It was about 93 degrees when I started my ride, and about 105 by the time I finished my run.

I did the previously "spirit-crushing" ride again.  And I did the 12 mile spirit crushing part twice!  I feel like I have made huge strides in both my physical and mental fitness.  I am not any faster on this route, which is definitely cause for concern!  Although it was about 30 degrees hotter today than when I rode it several months ago.  I know people run slower in the heat; I assume it is the same with cycling.  But I definitely felt better.  I think it is easier to push through a challenging workout when I am fit enough to not feel like it may actually kill me!  Also, I am way more comfortable on the bike!  A few months ago I was worried about dehydration and lack of energy because I was afraid to take my hand off the handlebars to reach for my water bottle.  In fact, today I had given myself permission to just ride the 35 mile route because it was challenging and hot, but when I got back to the main road, I felt so great that I went the extra 5 miles!  Then I did a super quick transition into running shorts and shoes and did my 2 mile run, averaging 9:30 per mile!  In this heat, and after a 40 mile bike ride I would be thrilled with 10 minute miles.  To run 9:30 miles, and feel great doing it was a huge confidence boost.  It also tells me that my nutrition and hydration on the bike was spot-on; no small feat on a hot day like this.

All in all, it was a great start to "real" training.  It gave me confidence going forward, but it also made me feel like I have made real progress in my fitness and that all my months of training is paying off.

It hit 118 degrees on Friday and 117 on Saturday, but now it is supposed to "cool down" to around 108 later in the week.  When it is 118 degrees outside and I have been working outside all day, it makes me very happy that swimming is part of my training!  Nothing feels better than jumping in the pool after a day like that!  I am also glad that when I am on the bike I make my own breeze, so it really isn't that bad until I stop, at which point it feels like I stepped into an oven.  In years past I haven't trained in the summer, because it sucks.  I don't do fall races, because running in Phoenix when it is already 100 degrees at 7 am is miserable. But I knew what I would be dealing with when I signed up for a fall Ironman, and I think like with everything else regarding Ironman training, fear is the best motivator.  Not training is not an option.  So I just do it, and do what I can to mitigate the misery.  And make sure to stay hydrated!

Fortunately, I will have some relief.  Karin and I are going to Minnesota for the next few days for the 4th of July, so I will have somewhat cooler temps for my runs this week, and a lake for open water swimming.  Hmm, it seems my "vacations" lately have an unusually large emphasis on exercise opportunities.  Such is Ironman training!  Then we hope to spend most of August in San Diego, where Karin's extremely kind sister and her extremely kind boyfriend let us stay with them for weeks at a time!  San Diego is kind of the birthplace of triathlon, after all, and a fantastic place to train.  So really, I just have to survive July in Phoenix.  I mean, September sucks too; but I think it sucks mostly because I always expect it to not suck, so I am never prepared when it does.  If I recall correctly, it is still well above 100 degrees into October, but I think it at least starts to cool down at night in September, so early workouts are bearable.  Though the weird weather we have been having the last couple years makes me think maybe all bets are off.

Whatever happens weather- and location-wise, it seems that a looming Ironman has made me willing to workout in conditions I previously considered unbearable; and actually enjoy myself!