Mayday’s IronBlog

17 1/2 more hours of training to report.  3300 meters in the pool, 109 miles on the bike and 38 miles of running.  Grand totals come to 115 hours, 55 minutes:  an even 45000 yards in the pool, 798 miles on the bike, and 216 miles on the run.

Last weekend I participated in the annual MS 150 charity ride with Team Disney.  Also there were Mike, Steve, Sara (Steve’s WIFE), and Jason made an appearance though it seems he’s not quite ready to get back in the saddle yet.  I raised a bit over $400 for the fight against MS, and a good weekend was had by all.

This week and next I’m focusing on ramping up for the SOMA long course race out in Tempe.  Mike, Steve, and I are all doing the race, and I think Jason, Kristy, and Sara will be tagging along.  Our hosts for the weekend will be Tom and Shanlee – looking forward to getting back out there in November for a training camp on the IMAZ course.  Shanlee conducts a wonderful blog of her own, availible at http://www.amazingzipperedwoman.com .  Check it out.

So…14 weeks down, 25 to go.  Never thought that I’d be involved in a training program or race this long.  I also never thought that I’d run a half marathon – but that event has just become just another Wednesday night long run.  I’m actually thinking about this upcoming half IM as short – only 1.2 miles in the water, 56 miles on the bike, and the aforementioned half-marathon 13.1 mile run.  IM training really skews perception.

Got some photos from the MS ride.  The bike position needs work – Trainer Brian and I are working on the core strength and flexibility needed to get lower, and the diet program to remove the rest of that gut:

Thanks to Photocrazy for the pic, and TaiGraphx for the custom wheel decals.  I think I just need to flip that stem.  And, I’ll have an aero helmet for the race.

I’ve been reading more and more blogs lately – they’re becoming harder and harder to avoid.  A trend I’d like to address is ‘the blog as fact,’ and it’s one I’m having a bit of a hard time with.  Without getting too Roland Barthes on the subject, here is my problem.

You see, to me, visiting a blog is a bit like going to church – you visit; you’re presented with information, which usually you have to take on faith since it’s not cited; and you’re presented with an opinion on said information.  It’s generally up to the reader to figure out whether or not the information on which the opinion is based is meritorious, and then whether or not the opinion is well founded.  Most blogs then have some sort of place where you can comment after having digested the essay.  Some, but not all, of these types of blogs have a disclaimer in small print somewhere that everything which is presented is the author’s opinion, and he makes no claims to the verifiability of which is posted therein.

Here’s where I think it gets messy.  There are quite a few blogs out there that are written in the style that, on face value anyway, the articles look like real news, or real fact.  To add on to the troubles, these blogs attract a dedicated following, ready to second anything posted on the blog as fact (to continue the church analogy, these folks are the choir to which the blogger is proverbailly preaching).  So, leave a comment questioning the merit of a particular post, and wham! you’re nailed to the cross in the forum by the dedicated readers who are outraged you dare question the posts of their leader.

I think if you’re the author of this sort of a blog that’s presenting this sort of infotainment, you have an ethical reponsibility to do away with the disclaimer, cite what’s fact, and label opinions as such.  The newspaper has an editorial/opinion page, and so should your blog, for the sake of your readers.

So, what to do?  I guess you just leave the kool-aid drinkers to be misinformed and take a pass on the Internet infighting.  Mostly, this is a warning to anyone who might come across this blog to take everything you read on the Internet with a grain of salt.  Since this blog is mostly just a reflective journal for me, and not directly intended for a live studio audience, I haven’t really felt a need to cite anything.  I will cite anything I feel I need to, though, and hopefully you can take me at my word that I’m actually performing the races and training that I post about here.  Chances are, if you’ve come across this site, you already know me and have passed judgement on whether or not I’m trustworthy.  If you don’t know me, well fell free to leave a comment and tell me I’m full of it.  There aren’t a whole lot of faithful readers around here to tell you you’re wrong.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was beginning to track all my meals in order to get a handle on my daily nutritional intake.  I have been doing it religiously since that time, and let me tell you, it did not paint a pretty picture of what’s been going into my mouth.

Not enough calories, too many calories at night, coupled with not enough calories in the morning, not enough carbs, and too much fat, oh my.

I now have a personal trainer and nutritionist on the payroll.

The first thing we’ve done is to come up with a nutritional plan.  We sat and figured out how many calories I burn per average day.  After figuring in exercise and daily maintenance requirements, that number came to 3400.  Then, we figured out how much of a caloie deficit I’d need to run in order to safely take off the pounds I need to get ready for IMAZ.  We decided on trying to consume around 2900 calories a day, which using the math that says 3500 calories equal a pound, I would be taking off about a pound a week, more or less.  Then, he threw me a curveball – with the amount of endurance exercise I’m doing, I should be consuming a mix of about 75% carbs, 15-20% protein, and the balance fat (a ‘normal’ distribution would be 60-20-20).  Since carbs have about half the energy density of fat (4 calories per gram of carbs or protein, as opposed to 9 for fat), and I had been eating 20-30% fat before, I feel like I’m eating waaaay too much.  And I’m always full.  But I’m losing pounds like they’re going out of style (admittedly, extra pounds went out of style sometime around the renaissance).

I’m also trying to target my intake to two or three specific periods: 1) the morning.  a big breakfast (or two) along with a morning wokout is , well, a huge boost for your metabolism; 2) carbs before workouts to keep working muscles happy; and 3) carbs/protein after workouts to make tired muscles happy enough to work out well the next day.

So far, I’ve been really happy with this addition to the team.  He also regularly kicks my ass in the gym with various stretching and core work.  We the ’300′ workout yesterday (named after the movie with the ridiculously ripped actors who played the Spartan army at the battle of Thermopylae): 10 mile run followed by an ab workout that left me unable to sit up at the end.  I literally had to roll off the bench and get up from all fours.

Good stuff.

Back into the swing of long, slow volume this week.  8:25 total trianing time: 5600 meters in the pool, 74 miles on the bike, and 14 miles of running.

That brings the grand total for the last twelve weeks to 98 hours 25 minutes of training: 41,700 meters in the pool (that’s a full marathon: 26+ miles!), 689 miles riding, and 178 miles running. 

Two weeks to go until the yearly MS ride.  I’m doing the century again this year, so that will be 150 miles in two days, hopefully with some running thrown in.  I was hoping to have afew longer days on the bike by now, but things are busier than usual.

SOMA is looking more and more like a realisty for the last weekend in October.  This 1/2 iron distance race takes place on the same ground as IMAZ, so it’s very appealing in a dry-run sense.  After SOMA, it will be time for training camp as school lets out and I’m a free man.

Other scheduled events include a week of on-course training in November (I’ll be crashing at Kristy’s aunt and uncle, Tom and Shanlee’s place), the OC Marathon after the new year, and perhaps something else before the Big Race.

Days like yesterday make me glad that my school schedule allows me to have extended time off during autumn and winter here in southern california.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and I had already taken the day off so Steve and I could go see Dave Matthews at the Hollywood Bowl, so I used the morning to tackle one of my favorite bike routes – the Palos Verdes ‘washboard.’

If I want to ride in the mountains, I generally go up to the Angeles Crest Highway, and if I want to ride flatland, I head for PCH or any one of the river trails that extend inland.  But for rolling hills and moderate climbing, you can’t beat the Palos Verdes peninsula.  There’s a 22 mile loop that winds around the perimeter of the peninsula, offering both challenging riding and spectacular views.  I stopped to snap the above photo with my phone near the tip of the peninsula looking north – you can see Redondo and Hermosa Beach, extending north across the bay into Manhattan Beach and all the way across to Malibu.  On an exceptionally clear day you can also see the channel islands.

So after two nice laps around the washboard and an equally nice nap, I picked up Steve and we headed up to the Hollywood Bowl for the DMB show.  It was amazing – only my second time seeing them (as opposed to “fifty-something” for Steve) but it was heads and shoulders above the first show I saw with Kristy in Chula Vista a few years ago.  Their new music is so versatile: it can be backed up by strings, brass, banjo, electric guitar (all were used last night, with heavier emphasis on the banjo and electric guitar) and sounds great any which way.  The extended jams between Dave and the guest banjo player last night were worth the price of admission on their own.  And, as a bonus, they played my favorite song of theirs, Everyday (#41).  If only every day were like this one!

I’m gonna have to go light a few candles at the local church, or sacrifice a goat or something.  Maybe both.

I took my second DNF in a row at the Long Beach tri this past weekend.  Which really sucks considering I had an extended taper due to my bike mishap in training a few weeks ago and had been posting some really good numbers the last few weeks.  I decided to put the long slow stuff on hold and really tune up the speed since it had been so long since I had raced, and I really, really wanted to go fast at this race.  Like, top 10 clydesdale fast. I was figuring I could go 1:15 without much problem, maybe 1:10 if I could HTFU and take some pain on the run.

Well, suffer I did.  I went to bed the night before with a little stomach discomfort – this worried me, as I had dinner at Steve’s and he was not feeling the best either.  I woke up at 4:00 AM without the alarm clock, slugged the ensure and vitamins I had set out, and laid back down for another hour, stomach still rumbling.  Woke back up at 5, loaded the truck, picked up Steve, and headed down to the race.

The GI issues got a little worse as I set up in transition.  This race is always fun since there are so many newcomers, and I love introducing people to the sport.  I met Ally, who was doing her first tri, we chatted about her wetsuit, about how the various T1/T2 entry/exit points worked, the timing chips, and her expectations for the race.  She thought, like most folks, that she might just stick to sprints for her tri career.  I remember thinking that too, I told her, and here I am getting ready for IMAZ.

I went off in wave 6 of 8 – after everyone save the oldest competitors (50+ men and women).  In this race, that means slugging through lots of bodies. Sure enough, the first waves had people hanging on the first buoy and on kayaks no more than 200 yards from the beach.  My planned tactic was to use my new-found swim speed to stay with the front-running swimmers in my group, catch a draft out around the first buoy, then go wide to minimize contact with folks who might be breststroking or floating in the water.  This worked out well – I rounded the first buoy with the first two or three in my group, then went wide. A little too wide perhaps, as I found myself about 40 yards outside the buoy line. This ended up being ok as the course makes a slight outward turn just before the last turn buoy back to shore, and i just sighted straight for that.  And, I only hit two folks – one guy got a pretty hard recovery stroke to the back of his head, and the other got a bit of a goosing.

As I turned the last buoy, the stomach decided to let loose.  Puked twice, and I somehow managed to swim through it – on this particular day after the first rain of the year, I probably improved the water quality with my deposit.  By Kristy’s count, I was among the top 10 in my wave out of the water, with an 11:35 swim for 1/2 mile – a huge PR, and an 8 minute imporvement over two years ago.

I stumbled across the beach back to T1, where I dry heaved a few more times and tried desparately not to load my pants.  Ultimately I decided to try the bike leg, but I only got one leg in before that too became unmanageable.  I spent the rest of the race in the port-a-john.

Steve had a huge day – 1:15, 181st overall.

So, what does it all mean? Well, I’m still getting over the stomach bug, and I’m down 10 pounds from Saturday evening.  It’s been tough to stay hydrated through workouts this week.  And, it also means that I’m most likely in for SOMA and the San Dimas Turkey Tri – I’ve got to do well at a race soon just for my psyche.  But I can take some consolation in the swim performance – an indication that more is really more.

In my case, it hasn’t been “what’s for dinner?”, it’s been “how much is for dinner?”

I have an ideal race weight goal of 205 pounds in my head, as this would be a) the weight that would allow me to drop the most and still compete as a clydesdale, and b) the same wieght at which I graduated high school.  Since the race was 40 weeks away when I started training , I figured I’d have to drop a little more than a pound a week, which is completely doable.

Eight weeks in, I’ve dropped a grand total of……10 pounds, despite eating like a horse most nights.  Which would seem right on target, right? Weirdly enough, I dropped those ten pounds in the first week and a half and have been stagnant in the loss column ever since.

What has changed though, is body composition.  I’ve consistently lost about 1% of my body fat every week, 7% so far.  It seems that in a lot of respects I’m trading fat loss for muscle gain (mostly in the shoulders and upper back from increased pool time) and bone density gain (mostly in the leg bones from running stresses).  If I go strictly by the scales, and hydration screws these numbers up a bit, I’ve lost 17.5 pounds of fat, and added 7.5 pounds of ‘other’ stuff.

So….to kick things up a notch, I’m starting to rather obsessively track calorie input and outputs, along with body composition and a few other measures of bodily fitness.  To check out my daily diet and energy requirements, you can click on the ‘Nutrition Log’ link in the sidebar.  What gets measured gets done, and if I think someone is watching, which by looking at the traffic data for this site I doubt, I’ll be less likely to slack off on it.

It’s high time to introduce you to my fellow partners in crime.  These are the fellows who will be racing with me in Arizona.

Firstly, me:  I’ve been participating in triathlons for the last five years or so.  After I graduated college and finished with baseball, I needed some sort of outlet for my competitive side.  And to maintain my fitness, too, since I tend not to hit the gym if there isn’t some sort of ultimate goal in mind.  So, I bought a road bike and started commuting to work on it, thinking I would start racing at some point.  At the same time, I was dating a swimmer and spending a decent amount of time in the pool.  I decided that it would be a lot more fun to be mediocre at three sports instead of just one, so I threw some running into the mix, and off I went.

For me, Ironman has been a goal since I first saw the Kona Ironman World Championship telecasts in junior high.  This will be my first attempt at the distance, as it’s taken me several years to build up the sort of aerobic base where I could even think about finishing.  The training program has been really enjoyable for me so far, and I think I’ll turn in a pretty decent time on race day, though I’d be thoroughly pleased just to finish this first time out.

Next, we have Steve:  I don’t think Steve would be doing this race if I hadn’t met Kristy.  Kristy is my fiance, and Steve is her older brother.  Steve and I have enjoyed a “keeping up with the Jones’” relationship ever since we met three years ago and first did the Long Beach Tri together (when he used to say he had no interest at all in an Ironman).  I have yet to beat him at any distance, and even though I keep making the distances longer, he keeps signing up right along with me.  Steve has a marathon to his credit, and had a solid race at the Baja 70.3 this June, finishing in 6:01.  Steve is also an instigator, and has a lot to do with why the other two members in our group have signed on.

Third is Jason.  Jason helps run the Disney Tri Team, and is a stalwart in the Super Clydes division every year at the Malibu Triathlon.  If you’ve ever been out on the roads in Orange County, and asked yourself “why is that guy riding a bike when he could be playing linebacker for the 49ers? And where did he get a 63cm bike with 650 wheels?” You’ve probably just seen Jason out training.  Jason didn’t have any real designs on Ironman either, content with a good finish at Baja, but Steve got him on board for Arizona with constant badgering at work.  Unfortunately, Jason destroyed his shoulder in a bike accident two weeks ago, and is on the shelf for the next few months.  We’re hoping he and his new cadaver parts can get physical therapy started soon and log enough training to join us on April 13.

Last, and certianly not least, is Mike.  THe most experienced among us, Mike has completed multiple Ironmans, inlcuding the big daddy in Kona.  He’s also the current poster boy for the MS 150 Bay-toBay charity bike ride – see this month’s issue of Competitior magazine, the monthly SoCal active lifestyle tabloid.  When I first met Mike, he said he’d never do another IM, but he’s signed up, I htink mostly due to Jason and Steve’s persistence.  Look for him to do really well.

Big week this week, the biggest so far actually. Lots of long, slow volume before the testing and recovery week to come.

Weekly totals: 12:05 total training time: 1:45 swimming, 6400 meters; 5:50 biking, 81 miles; and 4:30 running, 27.5 miles.

Totals to date: 66 hours, 5 minutes training time, covering 26,900 meters swimming, 480 miles biking, and 108.7 miles running.

Managed to salvage a pretty decent week despite all the distractions.

Weekly Totals: 10 hours 20 minutes training.  Swim: 2:45, 6,000 meters.  Bike: 4:30, 71 miles.  Run: 3:05, 17.2 miles.

Totals to date: 54 total hours, consisting of 22,500 meters swimming, 399 miles biking, and 81.2 miles running.