Some Last Minute Bike Tweaks

Completed some last minute bike tweaks today. The first was to replace my XLAB rear bottle holder with a new carbon Beaker Concepts hydro Tail. The theory (supported by wind test results) is that if you lower your bottles the wind flows off of your back cleaner. Results in wind tunnel = .5 mph faster over 112 miles, which is huge. Not sure I am completely drinking the koolaid on this one, but even .25 mph faster is over 4 minutes (.5 mph is almost 9 minutes). Either way that is serious time. Here is a picture of it. Notice how low the bottles are. My XLAB, the bottle were about 6 inches higher.

For those of you who read my Ironman Florida race report and several other race reports for that matter, you may remember my issues with salt tabs and my lack of a good system to store them. Well I've solved that. I added something called a "salt stick". I have one on now and another later today. Each holds 6 salt tabs. You just simply turn the end of the unit and out pops a salt tab for you to grab. I used it during my Half Ironman last weekend and it worked perfectly!

May's in the book's

The month of May was a huge training month. Swimming and running was nothing special, but it was my biggest month on the bike by over 350 miles. I raced 2 weekends in the month, which normally cuts into my training time as I typically train more hours on the weekend than a race takes up. These races were 'no taper" races so pretty much normal training resumes the next day. My Friday long run day's suffered though as I just can't race after a 24 - 30 running day the day before. This is why the running miles were not that great for the month. Here were the totals:

May's totals:
Bike: 60h 04m 56s - 1200.18 Mi
Run: 23h 11m 05s - 196.86 Mi
Swim: 9h 27m 03s - 35982 Yd
Strength: 3h 15m

I'm hoping the big bike month will pay dividends at Couer d'Alene! First week of June is a big training week, then I taper for the next 2 weeks (taper week 1 = 50% normal volume, week 2 = 25%). This sharp drop off in volume should have me climbing the walls for sure. Over eating will be a major concern. The amount of food I eat when the training is big like this is ridiculous. I have to try to pair the eating down with the volume, which is VERY hard to do.

Rock N' Rollman Half Ironman

First Half Ironman of the season. It wasn't quite as hot as it has been in recent years for the this race. It was about 85 degrees, where in the past it had gotten up in the low 90's. Ended up 12th overall, 2nd age group. I beat my personal best for this race (5th time racing this one), by 18 mins and last years time by 20 mins. Last year I won my AG (go figure 20 mins slower). I was fighting to catch a guy the last 2 miles. I didn't know if he was in my age group or not because he was about 100 yds ahead of me. I saw him keep looking over his shoulder so I knew that he knew I was coming, which isn't good. You want to sneak up on them and catch them off guard. I could tell he was fighting to keep the gap. I closed it to about 50 yds, but was running out of real estate as it was mile 12.5 (13.1 miles in this run). There was a hill coming up at about 12.75 and I was watching him for signs of weakness. If he struggles up the hill, I would put the hammer down the last 1/4 mile and get him. Well he powered up the hill. He was a smart runner! That sent a signal to me that if I pushed, he would just push and we'd be in the same place, only with a ton more pain and potential for injury. I was already running on the verge of hamstring strain as I could feel my right one tightening. The announcer said his name when he crossed the line, "John Stein". Could that be John from Eau Claire, whom I swam with for aver 10 years on the YMCA swim team? Well he was in my AG and it was John. I went over to him and re-introduced myself as we hadn't spoken in over 25 years. We chatted for over 30 minutes and plan on getting together during the Augusta 70.3 (Half Ironman) in September. What a small world. Was disappointed about taking 2nd, but was happy to behind John.

Overall I am happy with my race. This was a no taper race, which mean you train hard right up and through the race. My "A" race is obviously Ironman Couer d'Alene, so I couldn't taper twice so close. Fresher legs would have lead to a different result for sure.

First Tri of the Season in the books

So my early season running has had some success this year. I started my Triathlon season with an International Distance race (basically the distance raced in the Olympics), .93 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. I beat my time from last year at this race by about 6 minutes, which I am pleased with, but some pretty fast folks showed up this year. I was 10th overall (8th last year), and won my Age Group (Masters Champion last year). Funny how that works, 6 mins faster and placed lower. I was happy with my swim and actually a little surprised. I was 1st in AG and 6th fastest. I haven't done a lot of speed work in my swim so I was happy with this time. My bike was disappointing. I was faster than last year by missed my goal. The bike was hillier than I remember and I just didn't have any juice in the legs. I ran a 38:03 10k, which was the second fastest run, which I was very happy with. I ran a bunch of people down on the run. Overall a good race and pretty much where I had hoped to be at this point in the season. Bike was disappointing and will be the focus over the next 3 weeks leading into Ironman Couer d'Alene.

Peachtree International Distance Triathlon

First Tri of the season for me tomorrow. I raced this race last year and won the Masters Division (also would have been 1st place 30-34, 35-39, 40-44). I think I was 8th overall. This year may be a different story as I don't have any speed with all the of the Ironman training and the fact I haven't been able to do any speed work on the run due to my calf. This weeks training has been a bust. The past 2 weeks volume has finally caught up to me. Last week was 24 hours and the previous week was 25 hours. Wednesday's workout I cut short and didn't even do the run. Thursday's workout I cut about 30 mins short due to lack of daylight. I'm trying to get some rest on the legs as workouts where I am just pushing to "just get it done" are not quality workouts and lead to injury. You don't get faster that way. It's better to rest a little and get quality training in. The race on Saturday will be a good quality speed workout (2:10 speed workout). I am still hoping to beat last years time, always looking to improve. I plan on focusing on the bike. Last year I averaged 21.7 mph on the bike and am looking for 22.5 mph this year. I may fry my legs for the run, but I want to see where my bike legs are at. Yeah, I plan on being one of those guys who potentially leaves nothing left on the bike and suffers through the run. I normally avoid this like the plague because I see so many ppl go out too hard on the bike, but I want to test it out. I may find I can still run after a really tough bike. Don't know if you don't try right. We'll see how it goes. Oh, I am super nervous about how the calf is going to hold up on the run. I hope I don't have to stop and massage it. That would SUCK!

Another Soggy Day on the Bike

Got caught in the rain on the bike again this past Sunday. 4.5 hours in the rain just wears you down. If it weren't 41 day's until IMCDA I can guarntee I wouldn't have been out there, unless it was a mistake. See how lovely my bike looked.Grit and muck in the gears grinding away for 75 miles. What a lovely sound.

On a separate and awesome note, I opened the mail on Monday and noticed an envelope from The ING Marathon. In it was this certificate that I actually was 1st place in the 40-49 Age Group. I thought I was 3rd Masters, but who knows how they place Masters, sometime they only take the 1st place Masters, which has me puzzled because then were would the person I thought got 2nd place Masters have gone? He wasn't over 50 and the Masters Division is 40 and older? Oh well, I'll take 1st AG.

what it Takes

Many of us, especially athlete's, ask ourselves "what does it take to be the best"...pictures say it all. Team Astana (the team Lance is now on) training for the Tour of Italy, called the Giro. A 3 week race in Italy starting today. GO ASTANA!