April was a fun month in terms of fitness. I swam, hiked, ran on trails, ran on the treadmill, ran on the beach, walked on the beach, RODE on the beach, swam in the ocean, was fitness tested, worked out on an elliptical machine, and took 1st place in a half IM relay. I even had a “4 a day” workout where I did 4 different activities during the course of a day. What were those four activities you ask? Well, here you go:
• 5:30 AM = 3400 yard Masters swim
• 4:00 PM = 4 mile hike with Champ
• 5:30 PM = 5k treadmill run at the YMCA
• 6:10 PM = Strength training/weight lifting at the YMCA
Looking at those four activities, and the month in general, I have to laugh when looking back to my April 2010 blog. Two years ago, I was frustrated trying to find the optimal 7 day workout plan that didn’t include the same discipline on consecutive days. I was averaging in the area of 11,200 yards per week in the pool, bonked on a road ride, my long runs were up around 10 miles, and I had two bricks. A far cry from hiking, walking, and 5k treadmill runs. I realize now that I was WAY over preparing back then. There really wasn’t any need for me to be firing on all cylinders and training like I was so far out from the event. I will say, however, I’m probably a bit off on my running base this time around, but that knee “issue” really had me spooked. I should be good to go now, and since the weather has changed (warmer and lighter out earlier) I should be logging more miles in my shoes. Our official IM training is just a month or two off and I feel that I’m right about where I need to be in terms of overall base fitness.
The last 5 days of April had me and Kristi in Amelia Island, FL for a work function. While there, we definitely enjoyed ourselves in terms of food and drink, but we also made an effort to keep active too. We ran on the beach, walked along the beach, and rode beach cruisers. Personally, I completed a reverse tri one day when I ran 3 miles, rode 12 miles on a beach cruiser (wearing a swimsuit and flip flops), and swam in the ocean. They very next day, I put 23 more miles on that cruiser wearing the same gear.
Anyway, here are the numbers:
APRIL 2010 TOTALS:
SWIM = 25800 yards
BIKE = 644 miles (All road)
RUN = 51.5 miles
GYM = 0 times
APRIL 2012 TOTALS:
SWIM = 30206 (+4406 yards)
BIKE = 135.79 (-508.21 miles) (88.28 tri & 47.51 road)
RUN = 18 miles (-33.5 miles)
GYM = 5 times (+ 5 times)
OVERALL 2010 Season (Dec 2009 – April 2010)
SWIM = 103650 yards
BIKE = 2222.5 miles (1182.75 tri & 1039.75 road)
RUN = 204.7
GYM = 14 times
OVERALL 2012 Season (Dec 2011 – April 2012)
SWIM = 103264 yards (-386 yards)
BIKE = 1327.91 miles (-894.59 miles) (946.41 tri & 381.5 road)
RUN = 29.1 miles (-175.6 miles)
GYM = 12 times (-2 times)
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Metabolic Testing With Universal Fitness & Ron Arroyo Racing
On Tuesday, April 17th, I visited fellow ONE teammate, Eric Pelcyger at Universal Fitness for some metabolic testing. The plan is to try and dial in my nutrition using the data gathered in two different tests. The tests will not only show my heart rate zones, VO2, etc, they will also tell me how/when my body is burning fat and carbohydrates. I arrived at Eric’s facilities around 6:00AM and was promptly set up for my Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) test. Eric put on a heart rate monitor and then fitted me for my mask before turning off the lights and reclining my chair. I quickly thought to myself, “Now THIS is the type of training that I can relate too!”
The machine that I was hooked up to monitored my breathing and CO2 output and created a gentle buzzing/humming sound that would change in pitch with every breath. These sounds were so hypnotic and soothing, I found myself on the verge of a deep sleep over the course of the next 10 minutes. Once that test was concluded, it was time to get on the bike. Enter Ron Arroyo of Arroyo Racing.
Ron entered the room reminiscent of an executioner leading the condemned to their ultimate destination. After the relaxing RMR test, this is the only way I could perceive him knowing what was next. He methodically set up my bike on the trainer and wheeled a cart with a laptop on it over beside it. Next to the laptop was the same doohickey that was monitoring my breathing in the RMR test. He didn’t really say much except to let me know that it was time to warm up. After some beads of sweat started to appear on my forehead, he told me to get the mph up to 25 and then let everything coast to a stop. It was go time. After securing my mask on again and making sure it wasn’t leaking, Ron told me to keep my cadence between 85 and 90 RPM throughout the whole test. We started off fairly easy. I’m not sure what wattage he had me at or what the increments were, but I was in a comfortable zone to begin. Once in a while, he would tap the buttons on the display he mounted on my bars to increase the resistance. The increases were hardly noticeable and I was able to keep my cadence exactly where it needed to be. In fact, the first thing that became uncomfortable wasn’t my back, it wasn’t my legs, and it wasn’t even my breathing. Nope, the first thing that became uncomfortable was my mask. The plastic part that was connected to the hose was rubbing on my lips and kind of interfering with the way I kept my mouth open to exhale. Nothing I could do about it now, so I just tried to ignore it. The problem was, the more I ignored it, the more it became a source of irritation. Just when I was going to tug on it, Ron increased the resistance again and my focus shifted to the work at hand. It was getting tougher now. Sweat was starting to drip, my breathing became heavier, and I could tell there was a load being put on my legs. Ron stepped it up again. We were probably 28 minutes into the test when he started to take my pulse manually. I thought that it was kind of weird, but didn’t make much of it. Ron stepped it up again, but this time I was only able to hang on for a few more minutes before my cadence was too erratic and the test was over. As I sat up and settled into a 70 RPM warm down, both Ron and Eric told me that the heart rate monitor must have had bad batteries, because it quit with 4 minutes to go in the test. What?!? What did that mean? I was hoping that they got the necessary data they were looking for, but I was told that they didn’t. You see, while the test, in its entirety, is important, it’s the last few minutes that are crucial. There are certain levels that needed to be attained and without the data that derived from attaining said levels, the test is basically useless. I climbed off my bike and sat down on the trainer’s table at the back of the room. Eric grabbed me a bottle of cold water and told me to drink up. As I twisted open the top, Ron asked, “So, are you available to come back next Monday to do this again?” Hey, no problems there, whatever it takes to get it done is fine by me. Next Monday it was. I polished off the water and then quickly eyeballed the fridge full of Muscle Milk protein shakes and asked if I could have one. Since I had to fast for 12 hours before these tests, this was the first thing I had to eat in a while. When I reminded Eric about this, he quickly gave me a banana too.
As I was enjoying my shake, we started to go over a few things that both Eric and Ron noticed during my tests. First up, Eric told me that the results of my RMR showed that my body burns 1485 calories by itself during the course of the day. This is the MINIMUM amount of calories that I need for my vital organs to function properly. My “lifestyle” is considered “very light” in that I have a desk job (as opposed to a heavy lifestyle of spending the day in heavy physical labor ~ construction). This burns an additional estimated 445 calories. Assuming I do a 600 calorie workout every day (some days will be more and some will be less), I need 2530 calories to maintain my current weight. Further results of the RMR showed that my body burns 50% fat and 50% carbohydrates for its fuel source. Some people, for example, may burn 70% fat and 30% carbs. Enter the meal plan. Eric put together a one day sample that has me consuming the 2500 calories needed along with about 95g of “good fat” in the form of flax oil, peanut butter, almonds, etc. Once I get everything figured out (where to buy protein powders, what type, how to cook meals, etc) the plan will become weekly and more diverse.
As for the bike, other than the “scientific” numbers, Ron noticed that my left side (the glute area) was dropping when I was pedaling. He had Eric take a video of me to show what was going on. Apparently, I need to massage, stretch, and strengthen those particular muscles to become more balanced when I ride. Once I start seriously strength training, I don’t think this will be a problem. As for those scientific numbers, I didn’t get the full results until my second go at it today:
Heart Rate Zones:
ZONE 1 = 132 - 141
ZONE 2 = 142 – 160
ZONE 3 = 161 – 179
THRESHOLD
ZONE 4 = 180 – 189
ZONE 5 = 190 - 200
Before I go any further, let’s compare those zones to the ones I obtained in October of 2010:
ZONE 2 = 145 – 162
ZONE 3 = 162 - 171
ZONE 4 = 171 – 182
ZONE 5 = 182 – 187
I really can’t comment as to why the difference other than this test was completely different than the one I did in October and the one in October also came almost immediately after my 10 minute run test as well. That being said, I will use this data, and these zones, as base for my training this year. Ron sent me some info about zone training and how Joel Friel calculates them. Essentially, he uses a percentage of the results listed above to derive more training specific zones. I’ll read up on it and have some conversations with Ron as the season progresses. Ultimately, it was discovered that my sweet spot HR is around 174bpm (I have the corresponding watts, but since I don’t use a power meter….yet….no need for me to list that data). At 174bpm, my body stops utilizing fat (most efficient energy source) as a source of energy and starts using carbohydrates (less effective). Hopefully this knowledge, along with Eric’s meal plans, will have my Ironman fitness completely dialed in this summer and for the race itself. Oh, one more note about Eric, he doesn’t want me using gels on the bike anymore. No more Gu and no more PowerBar gels. He wants me to use natural, whole, foods like bananas, peanut butter sandwiches, raisins, and/or almonds for my on bike fuel. Of all the things I’m going to begin incorporating this season, this will probably be the toughest.
The machine that I was hooked up to monitored my breathing and CO2 output and created a gentle buzzing/humming sound that would change in pitch with every breath. These sounds were so hypnotic and soothing, I found myself on the verge of a deep sleep over the course of the next 10 minutes. Once that test was concluded, it was time to get on the bike. Enter Ron Arroyo of Arroyo Racing.
Ron entered the room reminiscent of an executioner leading the condemned to their ultimate destination. After the relaxing RMR test, this is the only way I could perceive him knowing what was next. He methodically set up my bike on the trainer and wheeled a cart with a laptop on it over beside it. Next to the laptop was the same doohickey that was monitoring my breathing in the RMR test. He didn’t really say much except to let me know that it was time to warm up. After some beads of sweat started to appear on my forehead, he told me to get the mph up to 25 and then let everything coast to a stop. It was go time. After securing my mask on again and making sure it wasn’t leaking, Ron told me to keep my cadence between 85 and 90 RPM throughout the whole test. We started off fairly easy. I’m not sure what wattage he had me at or what the increments were, but I was in a comfortable zone to begin. Once in a while, he would tap the buttons on the display he mounted on my bars to increase the resistance. The increases were hardly noticeable and I was able to keep my cadence exactly where it needed to be. In fact, the first thing that became uncomfortable wasn’t my back, it wasn’t my legs, and it wasn’t even my breathing. Nope, the first thing that became uncomfortable was my mask. The plastic part that was connected to the hose was rubbing on my lips and kind of interfering with the way I kept my mouth open to exhale. Nothing I could do about it now, so I just tried to ignore it. The problem was, the more I ignored it, the more it became a source of irritation. Just when I was going to tug on it, Ron increased the resistance again and my focus shifted to the work at hand. It was getting tougher now. Sweat was starting to drip, my breathing became heavier, and I could tell there was a load being put on my legs. Ron stepped it up again. We were probably 28 minutes into the test when he started to take my pulse manually. I thought that it was kind of weird, but didn’t make much of it. Ron stepped it up again, but this time I was only able to hang on for a few more minutes before my cadence was too erratic and the test was over. As I sat up and settled into a 70 RPM warm down, both Ron and Eric told me that the heart rate monitor must have had bad batteries, because it quit with 4 minutes to go in the test. What?!? What did that mean? I was hoping that they got the necessary data they were looking for, but I was told that they didn’t. You see, while the test, in its entirety, is important, it’s the last few minutes that are crucial. There are certain levels that needed to be attained and without the data that derived from attaining said levels, the test is basically useless. I climbed off my bike and sat down on the trainer’s table at the back of the room. Eric grabbed me a bottle of cold water and told me to drink up. As I twisted open the top, Ron asked, “So, are you available to come back next Monday to do this again?” Hey, no problems there, whatever it takes to get it done is fine by me. Next Monday it was. I polished off the water and then quickly eyeballed the fridge full of Muscle Milk protein shakes and asked if I could have one. Since I had to fast for 12 hours before these tests, this was the first thing I had to eat in a while. When I reminded Eric about this, he quickly gave me a banana too.
As I was enjoying my shake, we started to go over a few things that both Eric and Ron noticed during my tests. First up, Eric told me that the results of my RMR showed that my body burns 1485 calories by itself during the course of the day. This is the MINIMUM amount of calories that I need for my vital organs to function properly. My “lifestyle” is considered “very light” in that I have a desk job (as opposed to a heavy lifestyle of spending the day in heavy physical labor ~ construction). This burns an additional estimated 445 calories. Assuming I do a 600 calorie workout every day (some days will be more and some will be less), I need 2530 calories to maintain my current weight. Further results of the RMR showed that my body burns 50% fat and 50% carbohydrates for its fuel source. Some people, for example, may burn 70% fat and 30% carbs. Enter the meal plan. Eric put together a one day sample that has me consuming the 2500 calories needed along with about 95g of “good fat” in the form of flax oil, peanut butter, almonds, etc. Once I get everything figured out (where to buy protein powders, what type, how to cook meals, etc) the plan will become weekly and more diverse.
As for the bike, other than the “scientific” numbers, Ron noticed that my left side (the glute area) was dropping when I was pedaling. He had Eric take a video of me to show what was going on. Apparently, I need to massage, stretch, and strengthen those particular muscles to become more balanced when I ride. Once I start seriously strength training, I don’t think this will be a problem. As for those scientific numbers, I didn’t get the full results until my second go at it today:
Heart Rate Zones:
ZONE 1 = 132 - 141
ZONE 2 = 142 – 160
ZONE 3 = 161 – 179
THRESHOLD
ZONE 4 = 180 – 189
ZONE 5 = 190 - 200
Before I go any further, let’s compare those zones to the ones I obtained in October of 2010:
ZONE 2 = 145 – 162
ZONE 3 = 162 - 171
ZONE 4 = 171 – 182
ZONE 5 = 182 – 187
I really can’t comment as to why the difference other than this test was completely different than the one I did in October and the one in October also came almost immediately after my 10 minute run test as well. That being said, I will use this data, and these zones, as base for my training this year. Ron sent me some info about zone training and how Joel Friel calculates them. Essentially, he uses a percentage of the results listed above to derive more training specific zones. I’ll read up on it and have some conversations with Ron as the season progresses. Ultimately, it was discovered that my sweet spot HR is around 174bpm (I have the corresponding watts, but since I don’t use a power meter….yet….no need for me to list that data). At 174bpm, my body stops utilizing fat (most efficient energy source) as a source of energy and starts using carbohydrates (less effective). Hopefully this knowledge, along with Eric’s meal plans, will have my Ironman fitness completely dialed in this summer and for the race itself. Oh, one more note about Eric, he doesn’t want me using gels on the bike anymore. No more Gu and no more PowerBar gels. He wants me to use natural, whole, foods like bananas, peanut butter sandwiches, raisins, and/or almonds for my on bike fuel. Of all the things I’m going to begin incorporating this season, this will probably be the toughest.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Marquee 1/2 IM Relay
Well, the Marquee Tri went off as a tri (not a duathlon like last year) so that meant that I was able to actually do the swim leg instead of a 5k. The weather, for the previous two days, ways uncharacteristically cold and wet as a storm moved through the area. The overnight low just the night before the race was 39! Luckily the front moved through and we had absolutely gorgeous conditions on race day. Our usual runner, Ben Gherardi, wasn’t able to join us this time because he was in Boston for a small marathon they hold every year. We tapped fellow ONE teammate, George Galindo, to run in his place. George is also an Ironman finisher and an accomplished runner as well.
James, me, and George in the transition area before the event:
Race morning was crisp, yet beautiful. Since the swim started by heading east, the overcast skies eliminated the possibility of having the sun in my eyes when trying to site buoys. The first wave of swimmers was the red caps and went off at 7:00 AM. The second wave was green and went off at 7:03AM. I was wearing a white cap and was in wave three that started at 7:06AM. The announced water temp was a very comfortable 65 degrees. While this may be a bit chilly for splashing and playing around, it’s perfect for long distance swims. I still wore my wetsuit, but only because it was a wetsuit legal swim and it would be to my disadvantage NOT to wear it. Essentially, it makes swimming “easier” by keeping you buoyant in the water. When the starter yelled, “GO!” (He didn’t have a gun, horn, or bull horn) I took off at a full sprint. The idea is to get distance between me and everybody else in my wave so I’m not bumping into anybody or dealing with the group. Once free, I started into my rhythm and 1.2 mile “pace.” After settling in, I sensed something to my right, so I took a breath on that side to see what was up. To my surprise, there was another white cap matching me stroke for stroke! I immediately thought to myself, “Oh, it’s on now, chump!” and gave it some more effort. A hundred yards later, and he was STILL with me. At this point, I knew he was a solid swimmer and made the tactical decision to let up, get behind him, and draft. Let him do the work of sighting the buoys and moving the still water. I was able to keep this up for several more hundred yards and it was great. That is, until we came up on the green caps! Since he was in front of me, he could see them approaching and got out of the way. I, on the other hand, didn’t react in time and swam up on top of some poor guy. After moving over, I swam up on another before getting clear. When I looked for my swimming “buddy”, he had stretched a lead too big for me to gap without spending precious energy. I settled into my rhythm again and headed for the big yellow triangle buoys that signaled the turnaround point. As I was approaching, I saw something during one of my breaths that looked like a white cap, so I decided to go “Tarzan style” (head up) for a few strokes to see if it was my lead out….it was, I caught him!!!! I entered the turnaround from a wider angle, so I was able to cut him off and start the voyage home in the lead. After this, I lost sight of him for good and concentrated on brining it home solo. The trip back home was a bit more intense than the swim out, but nothing that put me over the edge. I was taking good, full pulls, but started to become sloppy. I wasn’t stretching out my stroke and started to get out of rhythm. I quickly stepped off the gas, refocused, and settled back in. In hindsight, this move might have cost me the overall fastest time in our wave…more on that later. I rounded the last buoy and headed in to the stairs. I was pulled out of the water by a ONE volunteer, and started running up. I was a bit light headed, but kept it together without slipping or falling….a bonus! I ran through a sea of more ONE volunteers stripping wetsuits while giving the signal (a flat hand waving back and forth at my neck) that I will not be needing their services on this day. After I found my teammates, George took the timing chip off my left ankle and quickly put it on James. James headed back to the bike rack and then ran to “Bike Out” to start his 56 mile ride. At this point, I knew that we had approximately 2 ½ hours of waiting (barring any type of mechanical problem or flats) before we would see James again. To keep busy, I wandered through the transition area and tried to find everybody I knew and give them some encouragement (the sprint and Olympic distances had yet to start). Once they were off, I came back to hang with George to make sure he was calm, comfortable, and “in the zone” for his run. Based on this photo, I’d say he was:
Right around the 2 hour mark, I told George that we needed to start thinking about preparing for James. I said that there is a possibility that he absolutely crushed the ride and would be back sooner than what we were anticipating. With that in mind, he started some stretching, light jogging, and began to fill his fuel belt. Around 9:50AM, we headed over to the chip exchange area and waited. No more than 5 minutes later, George yells out, “I see him! Here he comes!” What? Really? Some quick math indicated that he killed the anticipated time by about 10 minutes….good thing we were ready! I grabbed the chip off his left ankle, put it on George, and helped roll his bike back to the rack. Once back to our spot, I grabbed his Garmin and brought it over to him to see what the results were. We weren’t quite prepared for what we saw…..56 miles in 2:20:08! That was good enough for a 24 mph average and the fastest bike of the entire event!!!!
James after his ride:
James channeling his inner Darth Vader. The Force was strong on this day:
After refueling with some grub at the ONE tent, we started speculating as to what my swim time was. James said that he started his Garmin 30 minutes after my wave went off at 7:06. That meant that I had to do the 1.2 mile swim, climb the stairs, run over the timing mat, find my teammates, and make the chip exchange. James then had to run to his bike and run with the bike to the exit area. We figured that the process (after I hit the timing mat upon exiting the swim) was approximately 2 minutes. Doing some quick math and we thought that my swim time was in the area of 27 or 28 minutes. Foolishly, I was walking around with my chest out telling anybody that asked that my time was about 27 minutes. Well, it wasn’t until we saw the preliminary results that we realized that my swim was 29.28. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with this time, but after thinking I did it in 27 for a few hours, it was a bit of a letdown. On the positive side of my final time, it was the fastest of the 16 other relay teams and the 7th fastest overall. Now we were waiting for George to come in. James and I slowly made our way down the run course to see if we could see him. I ended up walking about a half a mile before he appeared on the horizon. I could see that he was putting in a serious effort and was in the hurt locker. In an effort to help bring him home strong, I ran that last half mile with him while encouraging him the whole way. Ultimately, George pushed through the pain and stopped the clock with a 1:41:44 (7:46 min/mile average). Our time of 4:33:02 was good enough to grab 1st place by over 32 minutes! As we were hanging around the finishing area, James recognized a 6+’, lanky, man that was battling him on the bike course and went over to congratulate him on an excellent final time. It was then that he realized that it was the man in the white cap from my start wave (half iron distance men 45-54 and relays) that I was eyeballing. As it turns out, he was a swimmer/water polo player from UC Santa Barbara many years ago. His final swim time? How about 27.34.
Team "ONE Multisport" on the podium accepting the medals for 1st place:
James, me, and George in the transition area before the event:
Race morning was crisp, yet beautiful. Since the swim started by heading east, the overcast skies eliminated the possibility of having the sun in my eyes when trying to site buoys. The first wave of swimmers was the red caps and went off at 7:00 AM. The second wave was green and went off at 7:03AM. I was wearing a white cap and was in wave three that started at 7:06AM. The announced water temp was a very comfortable 65 degrees. While this may be a bit chilly for splashing and playing around, it’s perfect for long distance swims. I still wore my wetsuit, but only because it was a wetsuit legal swim and it would be to my disadvantage NOT to wear it. Essentially, it makes swimming “easier” by keeping you buoyant in the water. When the starter yelled, “GO!” (He didn’t have a gun, horn, or bull horn) I took off at a full sprint. The idea is to get distance between me and everybody else in my wave so I’m not bumping into anybody or dealing with the group. Once free, I started into my rhythm and 1.2 mile “pace.” After settling in, I sensed something to my right, so I took a breath on that side to see what was up. To my surprise, there was another white cap matching me stroke for stroke! I immediately thought to myself, “Oh, it’s on now, chump!” and gave it some more effort. A hundred yards later, and he was STILL with me. At this point, I knew he was a solid swimmer and made the tactical decision to let up, get behind him, and draft. Let him do the work of sighting the buoys and moving the still water. I was able to keep this up for several more hundred yards and it was great. That is, until we came up on the green caps! Since he was in front of me, he could see them approaching and got out of the way. I, on the other hand, didn’t react in time and swam up on top of some poor guy. After moving over, I swam up on another before getting clear. When I looked for my swimming “buddy”, he had stretched a lead too big for me to gap without spending precious energy. I settled into my rhythm again and headed for the big yellow triangle buoys that signaled the turnaround point. As I was approaching, I saw something during one of my breaths that looked like a white cap, so I decided to go “Tarzan style” (head up) for a few strokes to see if it was my lead out….it was, I caught him!!!! I entered the turnaround from a wider angle, so I was able to cut him off and start the voyage home in the lead. After this, I lost sight of him for good and concentrated on brining it home solo. The trip back home was a bit more intense than the swim out, but nothing that put me over the edge. I was taking good, full pulls, but started to become sloppy. I wasn’t stretching out my stroke and started to get out of rhythm. I quickly stepped off the gas, refocused, and settled back in. In hindsight, this move might have cost me the overall fastest time in our wave…more on that later. I rounded the last buoy and headed in to the stairs. I was pulled out of the water by a ONE volunteer, and started running up. I was a bit light headed, but kept it together without slipping or falling….a bonus! I ran through a sea of more ONE volunteers stripping wetsuits while giving the signal (a flat hand waving back and forth at my neck) that I will not be needing their services on this day. After I found my teammates, George took the timing chip off my left ankle and quickly put it on James. James headed back to the bike rack and then ran to “Bike Out” to start his 56 mile ride. At this point, I knew that we had approximately 2 ½ hours of waiting (barring any type of mechanical problem or flats) before we would see James again. To keep busy, I wandered through the transition area and tried to find everybody I knew and give them some encouragement (the sprint and Olympic distances had yet to start). Once they were off, I came back to hang with George to make sure he was calm, comfortable, and “in the zone” for his run. Based on this photo, I’d say he was:
Right around the 2 hour mark, I told George that we needed to start thinking about preparing for James. I said that there is a possibility that he absolutely crushed the ride and would be back sooner than what we were anticipating. With that in mind, he started some stretching, light jogging, and began to fill his fuel belt. Around 9:50AM, we headed over to the chip exchange area and waited. No more than 5 minutes later, George yells out, “I see him! Here he comes!” What? Really? Some quick math indicated that he killed the anticipated time by about 10 minutes….good thing we were ready! I grabbed the chip off his left ankle, put it on George, and helped roll his bike back to the rack. Once back to our spot, I grabbed his Garmin and brought it over to him to see what the results were. We weren’t quite prepared for what we saw…..56 miles in 2:20:08! That was good enough for a 24 mph average and the fastest bike of the entire event!!!!
James after his ride:
James channeling his inner Darth Vader. The Force was strong on this day:
After refueling with some grub at the ONE tent, we started speculating as to what my swim time was. James said that he started his Garmin 30 minutes after my wave went off at 7:06. That meant that I had to do the 1.2 mile swim, climb the stairs, run over the timing mat, find my teammates, and make the chip exchange. James then had to run to his bike and run with the bike to the exit area. We figured that the process (after I hit the timing mat upon exiting the swim) was approximately 2 minutes. Doing some quick math and we thought that my swim time was in the area of 27 or 28 minutes. Foolishly, I was walking around with my chest out telling anybody that asked that my time was about 27 minutes. Well, it wasn’t until we saw the preliminary results that we realized that my swim was 29.28. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with this time, but after thinking I did it in 27 for a few hours, it was a bit of a letdown. On the positive side of my final time, it was the fastest of the 16 other relay teams and the 7th fastest overall. Now we were waiting for George to come in. James and I slowly made our way down the run course to see if we could see him. I ended up walking about a half a mile before he appeared on the horizon. I could see that he was putting in a serious effort and was in the hurt locker. In an effort to help bring him home strong, I ran that last half mile with him while encouraging him the whole way. Ultimately, George pushed through the pain and stopped the clock with a 1:41:44 (7:46 min/mile average). Our time of 4:33:02 was good enough to grab 1st place by over 32 minutes! As we were hanging around the finishing area, James recognized a 6+’, lanky, man that was battling him on the bike course and went over to congratulate him on an excellent final time. It was then that he realized that it was the man in the white cap from my start wave (half iron distance men 45-54 and relays) that I was eyeballing. As it turns out, he was a swimmer/water polo player from UC Santa Barbara many years ago. His final swim time? How about 27.34.
Team "ONE Multisport" on the podium accepting the medals for 1st place:
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