10/21/2012 - 10/27/2012

Sunday, October 21st

SOMA 1/2 IM Relay and 3 mile Brick (see my last entry for a race report)

Monday, October 22nd - SWIM

Did the following 3100 yard Frank Sole swim workout:

 W/U-2x200S (:20RI), 6x50S (:15RI), 6x50S(:10RI) M/S-2x400S (:30RI), 2x300S (:30RI), 4x100S (:20RI)C/D-6x50 EASY

NOTES - Typical swim results. M/S done at a MOD pace.

Tuesday, October 23rd - BIKE

WU: 15-20 minutes MS 1: 3 x 90 seconds at Max effort with 3 min ez MS 2: For the next 45 min, you will raise wattage to 70.3 pace and hold: Every 2 minutes do (Power Burst for 10 seconds). Alternate power bursts with 80 rpm and 90 plus RPM. 80 rpm works on muscle tension, 90 plus rpm trains cadence. CD: RPM 85+ for remainder of the time.

NOTES - GREAT ride! Felt strong and aero. Seemed effortless today. No leg fatigue and a good ave HR.

Wednesday, October 24th - SWIM & RUN & MASSAGE

Did the following 3600 yard masters swim with typical swimming results:

W/U-750S, 750P M/S-8x50S (1:00SI), 8x25K, 8x50S (:55SI), 8x25K, 8x50S (:50SI), 8x25S MAX EFFORT C/D-300S

After work, Carlos wanted me to do a 1:10 run with the following instructions:

10 min easy: Remainder of time at steady aerobic pace on a rolling course: This should be at 8 min or close to 8 min pace

Here are my notes:

"Actually felt pretty good. You can tell when the terrain turned slightly uphill after the turnaround as my pace fell. No knee area issues at all!"

I was able to go 8.24 miles in 1:11:16 (8:39 average).  Here are my splits by mile:  9:02, 8:31, 8:12, 8:16, 8:36, 8:49, 9:09, 8:43, 8:26.

After my run, I showered and headed up to Mike's place for some more work on my leg.  Once there, he started poking around my upper back and asked how I was feeling up there.  Funny he should ask, because after Tuesday's ride, I was real tight.  When I told him that, he got right to work.  With in seconds, he was finding spot after spot that was all knotted up.  He did the ol' "OK, I'm going to apply some pressure, tell me when it's too much"  Once my happy place couldn't provide any more happiness, I had to tell him.  He would then hold it for a count of 10 and move on.  After utilizing these pressure points, he covered my entire back with steaming hot towels and got to work again.  He found some more spots on my lower back too.  Eventually, he made his way to the troubled knee area and asked how it felt.  When I told him it actually felt pretty good, he said that we were going to leave it alone this time around.  If it's good, don't mess with it.  He did get after my calves and feet though.  To wrap things up, he did some solid work on my neck too.  When we were all done, I confirmed a weekly meeting up until IM.  I am now seeing that these type of massages are a necessity and should be incorporated into training.

Thursday, October 25th - RUN & BIKE

I was supposed to do the following 2 hour ride: Warm up: 45 min MS1 3 x 90 sec at 90% (sprint effort) with2 ez. Ride steady for 30 minutes IM PACE MS 2 2 x 10 at Olympic pace with 20 sec boosts at 2, 4, 6, and 8.. (5 ez). After a 30min run. 

The night before, I had already determined that I wasn't going to run before hand.  I would have to be running by a little before 4:30 so that I could squeeze in everything and get back to take my son to the bus stop.  Actually, I was toying with the idea of scrapping it all and having a day off, but when morning came, I couldn't do it.  I got up with the intention of "riding how I felt" instead of the prescribed intervals.  Once outside, I noticed that it was a bit cooler than I had anticipated, so I ran upstairs to grab my leg warmers before setting out.  My two hour goal kept dwindling in my mind.  "Maybe just an hour" I thought.  I got about 20min into my ride when my buddy Kyle pulled up next to me. We made some small talk and I found a new sense of rejuvenation.  We picked up that pace and started to get after it.  I was back in the game!  Well, maybe for about 10 more minutes.  That's when I spoke up and said, "You know, this is gonna sound silly, but if I turn left here, I can head home" and that's just what I did.  I just did not have the mental state to get it done.  I ended up getting a whopping 15 miles in about an hour.  I should have stayed in bed.

Later that afternoon, I new I had to at least get after that "frequency run", so after picking up my son from the bus stop, he grabbed his bike and rode alongside of me while I ran.  This was the first time that we've done it and I gotta tell you, I don't know who was more excited, him or me!  2.97 miles in 26:01 (8:45 pace)

Friday, October 26th - SWIM

Another great Bartlett open water swim!  Here are my notes:

"Was on cruise control and only gave it a "real" effort on the way back in. 2.51 miles = 4417 yards. 1:22 per 100yd pace. This would equate to a 57.44 - 58:25 2.4 mile swim"

Saturday, October 27th - RUN 

Originally,Carlos had me doing a combination of a 1:15 "spin in little gear" ride and then run after.  When I asked him what the purpose was, here is our text exchange:

CARLOS - "It's volume.  Since you can't run for 2 hours, I want you out there for a total of 2"

ME - "Let my try 2 hrs. Slow & EZ"

CARLOS - "OK, if you feel anything act up, shut it down and hop on your bike for volume"

ME - "Deal"

Here is what I ultimately wrote back after my 13.45 mile run in 2:01:19 (9:01 pace):

"An absolutely great run! Was comfortable the whole time and had no knee area issues at all. Was faster on the second lap. Nutrition=1 gel before run, and 1 gel at miles 3,6,&9. (400cals)"

I was so excited, I also fired of a text to Mike telling him that he was a magician.

SOMA 1/2 IM Relay Race Report

When fellow teammate Klas Kuntz asked if I wanted to do a relay with him, I jumped all over it.  We agreed that I would do both the swim and the bike while he took care of the 13.1 mile run.  At this point, considering the knee area issues that I’ve been having, Carlos and I agreed that the only thing I stood to gain by running was injury.  They idea of doing an “aqua-bike” was also very exciting since they are my strengths.  Here is how it went down:

On Saturday, I went up to Carlos’ house so that I could borrow his front tubular Zipp 404 to go along with the tubular disc that I still have from the state TTT.  I was questioning on if I should carry a spare tubular or if I should buy some Vittoria Pit Stop (a flat repair/inflator canister for tubular tires).  Ultimately, we decided to put some Stan’s tire sealant in there instead.

Coach’s instructions were simple:

1.    Swim like you know how

2.    Bike the bike as you would on a regular 70.3

My start time was approximately 6:45AM, so that meant that I needed to be eating breakfast by 3:45AM.  Here is what I had:

·         1/2C egg whites

·         1 egg

·         2 pieces of whole wheat toast

·         2T Peanut butter

·         Coffee

·         Water

Kristi signed up to volunteer, so once the transition area was closed, I was able to hang out with her and my son before I got in the water.  As luck would have it, ONE Multisport was supplying the volunteers, so K was able to request to hold up the starting sign for the silver caps (my wave).

I got into the wetsuit legal water (74) and found my way to the front.  After two bad swims in this very lake, I was determined to get it right this time.  I was aiming for a goal time of 28 with a stretch time in the 27s.  I was able to quickly find a nice rhythm that allowed me to break away from the group with a few others.  At this point, I wasn’t pushing it too hard, but felt strong.  A new problem started to appear….or disappear in this case.  The sun was blinding.  At one point, I couldn’t see any sighting buoys, nor could I see any other caps in front of me.  I was literally swimming blind.  Finally, I saw a huge round, yellow, marshmallow like buoy and started sighting off of that.  After a bit, I picked up my head again and was surprised to see a kayak in front of me.  The lady in said kayak was pointing to my right and yelling something inaudible.  I look over and, sure enough, I had gone off course.  Why in the world did the event organizers put this random buoy in the MIDDLE of the course?!?!  As I set off, I noticed that a few people had followed me too.  Sorry about that!  Finally, I find the turnaround buoy and make it around cleanly.  Now it was time to make up for the mistake I made, so I gave it a bit more gas.  Since the sun was behind us now, I was able to sight efficiently the whole way back.  I round the corner and make it up the stairs where I promptly stop my Garmin.  Kristi was there to help strip off my wetsuit before running into T1.  Again, as before, I slowed down to a jog/walk to bring the HR back down.  As I turned down my row, I passed all of the other relay cyclists waiting for their swimmer to come in.  Here is where they had a distinct advantage.  I had to do a full transition while all they had to do is take the timing chip off of the swimmer and put it onto the cyclist.  In the past, when doing 3 person relays, our transitions are about 40-45 seconds.  This time around, my T1 2:10….YIKES!!!!

Garmin time = 28:26

Official time (includes wetsuit strip and short run to timing mat) = 29.22

The bike course was three loops of curvy streets around downtown Tempe.  It was almost identical to the Nathan’s tri and the Rio Salado Tri I did months back.  Right out of the gate, I felt STRONG!  I kept pressure to the pedals and was constantly passing people.  In fact, I only counted being passed 2 or 3 times myself.  Whether that’s accurate or not, I don’t know.  I seem to be HORRIBLE about assessing my position on the race course.  In fact, at this point, I calculated that I was sitting 3^rd and had a chance at a podium finish.  The aero wheels felt awesomely fast and I was comfortable.  Here is my nutrition on the bike:

·         200 cals EFS

·         400 cals EFS Power Shot

·         200 cals Gu

Official time = 2:25:56 (23 mph average)

Garmin Data

Our T2 transition was closer to that 45 seconds I was talking about earlier as all Klas had to do was take the chip off of me and put it on him before taking off.

I made my way over to my bike rack and saw Kristi and my son waiting for me.  After letting my “vomit line” retreat from my throat, I switched out of my kit and into some more comfy clothes.  I fully remembered that Carlos wanted me to do a 3 mile brick after the ride, but I wanted to spend some time with them and to take in some additional fluids.  After putting in what seemed to be a gallon of Perform and water, I texted Carlos to tell him my results.  He indicated that he was in the parking garage and was heading over.  “I haven’t run yet” is the last text I sent him before he showed up.  Once he did, he said, “Well, what are you waiting for?”  With that, I kissed the fam goodbye and headed back to the transition area to don my kit again.  Looking back at the Garmin data, I started the bike at 7:22 and it took me almost 2 ½ hours.  That means I came into T2 around 10.  I didn’t start my brick until almost an hour later at 10:51.

I headed out of the same gate as the other runners, but I ran in the opposite direction so that I could stay on the softer dirt path on that side of the course.  I received a few oddball looks and a few people even made comments about me going the wrong way.  It did feel kind of odd.  On the way back, I was going with the runners and was passing quite a few.  I thought to myself, “So this is what it’s like to pass people on the run instead of being passed”  Anyway, I bagged a quick 3 miler in 26:59 (8:59 pace) before my day was officially done.

Just before heading out on my brick:

Here is how we finished:

SWIM – 29:22 (5/73)

T1 – 2:10

BIKE – 2:25.56 (23mph ave)(6/73)

T2 – 00:39:01

RUN – 1:35:17 (7:17 pace)(12/73)

OVERALL – 4:33:26 (6/73)

Just for fun, here are the top 5 relay times and, if I’m not mistaken, they all had 3 participants:

1.    4:19:12

2.    4:22:54

3.    4:24:54

4.    4:31:14

5.    4:32:44

Great OWS & Knee Update

Did my weekly Bartlett open water swim this morning (my 12th this year) with the following notes:

" Wetsuit swim. Didn't really need it, but wanted the practice for IM. GREAT SWIM! Felt efficient, comfortable, and STRONG. Came out of the water ready to take on 112 on the bike! 2.5 miles = 4400 yards. 1:21 per 100yd pace. This pace would result in an approximate time between 57:02-57:43 for 2.4 miles."

Here is what I was supposed to do this afternoon:

• Run ez in recovery mode for one hour. You are your own coach. If knee hurts, do the remainder on the cranks

Instead of heading outside, and getting 30 minutes away from home, only to realize my leg muscles were acting up, I decided to hit the treadmill at the YMCA.  Not only would it be softer for running, I could also shut it down if anything flared up.  I wouldn't be stranded miles from home and have to walk back.  With that in mind, here are the results:

"Kept it very EZ to test the knee muscles. No problems."

So far, so good regarding the muscle work that I received from Mike on Wednesday.  Hopefully we have found a solution and I can get back on track with what little time I have remaining until race day.

Power Crank Report & A Leg "Massage"

Last week, Carlos wanted me to call his massage therapist since he specializes in pressure point therapy and thought that he would be able to help with my knee area problem.  It wasn’t until I started using that foam pad and roller that I actually thought that there might be something to this.  So, as a result, I gave him a call yesterday and set up an appointment for today.  When I called and introduced myself, he told me that Carlos had filled him in on the problem and asked if it was on the outside of my leg.  When I told him that it was, he immediately concurred that it was most definitely a muscle issue.  Before heading up to Anthem to pay him a visit, however, I had to knock back a 3700 swim in the AM and a Power Crank/Run in the afternoon. 

Before I get into the workouts of the day, let me just reflect on the Power Cranks a bit.  Today was only the second time using them.  They seem to mimic running real well and definitely let you know that there are some other muscles in the legs that aren’t getting much use.  I would like to use them more, but Carlos said we have to be especially cautious.  While they aid in running, they also help with cycling, and since I’m doing plenty of that (approximately 11 hours last week alone), he didn’t want to overdo it.  The idea is to use them along with actual shorter runs.  With that being said, here is how I used them this afternoon:

·         20 minutes on PC

·         20 min run

·         10 min on PC

·         20 min run

·         10 min PC

·         10 min Run

Here are my notes:

“Everything felt great until the last part of the 2^nd 20 min run when my knee area flared up.  It came back on the first 10 min run and became very uncomfortable.  It was less uncomfortable on the 2^nd 10 min run, but still unpleasant.”

After the workout, I took a shower and headed out to get my leg worked on.  When I got to Mike’s house, I explained the whole thing over again, showed him where it hurt, and answered a few questions.  He went on to explain that the muscle tightness could also be originating from my glutes and/or IT bands.  He also said that I may not realize it, but I might have a slight imbalance that makes me run with slight asymmetry.  This is now the THIRD person that has explained that to me.  Don (from the FMS test at Frank’s), Chris (the bike fitter), and now Mike have all seen it.  I work on it when I can, but honestly, it’s tough.  I’ve been stretching more, but the volume of training doesn’t allow for any type of downtime for the muscles to relax.  I keep beating them up over and over with the asymmetry.   

Mike started to get to work.  Tell me if it’s too much pressure and I’ll back off”  “You can’t hurt me!” I said.  Um, as I soon found out, that wasn’t entirely true.  While he did say, “Man, I would never want to tango with you, cause you can take some pain!”  I did have to find a “happy place” a few times to escape the pressure he was applying.  No sooner did I find that happy place, he would say, “OK, now I’m going to go deeper”  YIKES!  Next came the hot towels.  Mike wrapped a steaming hot towel around the affected area and started to massage right through it.  I’d say that about 45 minutes, of the hour, was dedicated to my lower leg area and 15 was on my glutes and IT bands.  Finally, when he came to “the spot” just below my knee, he said, “OK, I’m going to strum this muscle like a guitar, are you ready?”  Before I could say anything, he was strumming the exact area/muscle that was causing my pain.  Back to my happy place!  Overall, when I was done, I was as loose as a goose and told him that I felt like I had Jello legs.  “Good” he said, “then it worked”  When I got home, I was telling Kristi about the experience and was showing her what he did when I saw that I was bruising already.  He told me that it might happen, but I didn’t know it would be so soon!  At this point, I will probably have to pay Mike a visit once a week until the race.  I’ll report back and let you know if it worked.

SAG Supported Run/Ride/Run

Carlos and Sue held a SAG supported event today for their athletes that was intended to simulate portions of the actual IM race.  Before I go any further, every time I told somebody about this event, they inevitably asked me, “What does SAG mean?”  You know, I’ve used the term hundreds, if not thousands, of times and never really knew myself.  Well, thanks to Wikipedia, here is what I found out:

"SAG" (most commonly written in all uppercase in the United States but without capitals elsewhere) comes from a 1930s British expression about riders "sagging" off the back of a group.  It was adopted in the 1940s when road-racing restarted in Great Britain to mean a following vehicle into which riders sagged when the effort became too much and they dropped out of a race. SAG is sometimes described as an acronym for 'support and gear', 'gear' referring to: mechanical support.”

When the alarm went off, I was supposed to get up and have my traditional pre-ride/race breakfast, but for some reason, I had absolutely no appetite.  Instead of forcing down calories, I elected to hit the snooze button and grab a few more Z’s.

With that in mind, my schedule for the day was going to be a 40min run, 3 loops on New River Road, and another 40min run.  New River Road is about a 6 mile ride from where camp was set up and is approximately 10 miles long.  There is a slight downhill when heading east and the wind is as unpredictable as the Beeline Hwy (Ironman bike course).

When I arrived, I quickly learned that the majority of the other athletes were doing a ride/run only.  After Carlos sent them off, he brought over a foam block and a roller.  He told me that he thought my “injury” could be tight muscles in my calf.  The tightness could be the cause of my pain or the tightness could be affecting nerves in the surrounding area.  Either way, he wanted me to use this roller on my calves.  He put the roller on top of the foam block, had me sit down, and place my calf on said set up.  I slowly rocked my leg back and forth over the contraption while he, and Sue, looked on.  “Can you feel that?” he asked.  Could I feel it?  HOLY COW!!!  Talk about some pain!  I’m talking about the “good” pain that is associated with a deep tissue massage.  After hooking up both sides, it was off to run.  I ended up putting in a pain free 4.72 miles in 41:21 (8:45 min/mile).  Run Before Long Ride 

Stock pics of the contraption and how I used it:

Carlos now wanted me to warm up on the bike before the other athletes returned from their warm up ride.  Around this time, I got a glimpse of all the goodies he had in his van.  Gels, Blocks, bananas, Perform, you name it.  My appetite suddenly kicked into gear, so I asked for a PowerBar.  After downing just about the only nutrition of the morning, I headed out onto the blacktop to warm up.  I got in about 10 miles before they came back.  Before I knew it, we were all rolling towards New River.

I was in front, all alone, from the start.  Once on New River, I got into IM mode.  I had my aero helmet on, the necessary calories on board, and kept a steady race pace effort.  Just like in 2010, on the Beeline, I quickly noticed that there was a pretty good tailwind.  On several occasions, I ran out of gears while hitting speeds of 39 mph.  This only meant one thing….the return trip was going to be S-L-O-W with the headwind.  I was right.  On my three laps, I averaged 31.1, 31.2, & 28.8 heading west and 15.5, 14.2, & 14.0 into the wind.  Occasionally, Carlos and Sue would pull up next to me and ask if I needed anything.  I was trying to be self sufficient, and was doing a pretty good job, so I declined every time.  The only time I took them up was at the turnaround where Sue had her truck parked.  I got a refill of water for my last loop.  Overall, I felt pretty darn good.  I took in 1100 calories in the form of:

·         400cals EFS in 56oz water

·         400cals in Powershot

·         300cals of Gu.

Here is the links to my ride (STRAVA) and (Garmin)    

After the three loops, we cruised back to camp for a brick run.  Sue had set up an aid station that had the exact same stuff we’ll see on the IM course.  It was pretty cool for sure.  As I made my first lap around the designated course, she asked what I wanted.  I wanted both Perform and water.  “Water goes here” I said as I dumped it over my head, “And Perform goes here” has I shot it back.  It was getting hotter now.  I’d say it was low 90s.  Towards the end of my second lap, I started to feel those twinges in my knee area that were all too familiar.  Once I told Carlos what was going on, he had me shut it down.  I sat in the shade with an ice pack on the area.  I put in 2.38 miles in 21:33 (9:04 pace that included that aid station stop).

After it was all over, Carlos told me to keep his roller and wanted me using it 3x a day.  What the heck, nothing else has worked, so let’s just throw this at it as well!!!!

Oh, and that groin pain?  It wasn't even a factor today.  It took exactly 2 weeks to subside and nobody knows what the hell it was.