TT Bike Position

Ironman Lake Placid 2010: Race Report

Ok, so here it is:

Swim: 59:09.  HR: 148

I didn’t know if I should start from the sides or be right in the middle of the action. Thankfully I chose the latter, as I am a strong swimmer and only had to fight for my space over the first 5-10 minutes. After that it was all great.

I was able to pace myself how I wanted and even enjoyed some long strokes. I completed the 1st loop in 29min and went for the 2nd loop as fresh as I could be. For a split second I thought about doing a negative split, but decided against, as it was way too soon for that. I continued my pace and over the way back from the loop I even relaxed a bit. When I got out of the water I could not believe I was done sub-1 hour and feeling so relaxed and fresh.

T1: 8:42

My transitions during an IM race are not fast, as I am not proficient enough to be fast and still make sure I got everything I need. I rather take my time and make sure everything is ok.

Bike: 6:03:14   HR: 147

The bike was the biggest surprise for me. I was hoping to do around 6:40, or even 6:20 if I was feeling really strong.

I drove the course Friday and realized that it is very tricky, the kind of course that fools you in letting you think that you are going strong, but in reality

it really GRINDS you and when you have to go through the rolling hills at 86 for the second loop your legs will call for help…  So my strategy was to go easier during the first loop and then keep it steady during the second loop. I read that 80% of the people who do IMLP do the bike course wrong, so I knew that if I was doing what everybody else was, I should stop… lol.

To my surprise I completed the first loop in 2hr 58min, and that’s including my stop for the Special Needs Bag. As I got caught-up by the crowd excitement and also by seeing my wife cheering for me (blew her a kiss!), for another split second I set the goal to complete the bike under 6 hours, but again I decided against it as I know that during the run I would go by a lot of people who were sub-6 hours on the bike…The second loop was really good, not as many people riding together as the first loop, and I was able to take advantage of the downhills at Keene (clocked 50 mph+ top speed, and I did use the breaks a bit), and the flats on 9. After a couple of “nature calling breaks” I got back to the rolling hills at 86 feeling strong and got by a lot of people. I could see their faces saying: “Why did I push so hard earlier today?”.  When I was at the Baby Bear, Mamma Bear and Pappa Bear “climbs” section I really relaxed and started focusing on my marathon. Completed the bike just over 7 hours total time, and feeling good.

That’s when I first thought about my chances of breaking 12 hours.

T2: 6:27

Same as T1, but no run from Mirror Lake to the transition zone, that’s why I as a bit faster… lol

Run: 4:34:24  HR: 151 during the 1st loop and a lot higher during the second loop.

So NOW I understand why everybody tells me that the Ironman starts on the run… The first half of the first loop was actually not too bad, I was able to keep a decent pace and still control my HR. I only walked during the Aid Stations, as I had planned, and I was really glad with the pace I had set. But then, the turn-around came and the way back to town is not that easy. My legs were still feeling ok, but my HR was starting to go north, so I had to slow my pace a bit. It worked at first, but then I realized that sooner or later I would have to make a tough choice: Either HR or Pace, as one of them would have to give.

After walking through the second and steepest climb getting back to town (IGA climb) I was thinking “Gotta know to pick my battles” and then I remember that Mark (my coach) said I could let the HR “loose” close to the final 3 hours. So that was it. From that moment on I only glanced to my watch to check the total time. I completed the 1st loop in 2hr 16min and if I wanted to finish it under 12 hours I would need to have a sub 2hr 30min 1/2 marathon next. It would be easy if I haven’t been racing for 9.5 hours already. And THAT’s when I said to myself: “SIU baby!”, now is time to prove if all that training is going to pay-off. I kept with the strategy of walking over the Aid Stations, but in between I was pushing really hard. “So, this is what an Ironman feels like, eh?” I remember thinking out loud.

During the second loop there were no more waiving to the crowd, talking to fellow racers, etc… I was in the zone and had to keep in it if I wanted to finish under 12 hours. The only thing I kept doing was thanking every single volunteer I saw, all the time. I even ran through the same IGA climb I walked during the first loop, and felt great! Within 3 miles to go I knew I had it, as I had almost 40 minutes to spare, so I then got in “control mode”, trying not to push too hard and have cramps or pull a muscle.

The last mile was all a big celebration… I was giving high-fives to everybody and anybody, there were about 10 of us running together and up to the last 200 yds we were still trying to beat each other, but without anybody saying anything, everybody relaxed at the end and gave each other some space so we all could enjoy the last moments.  I crossed the finish line with both arms raised and remember yelling as loud as I could. No words, just a loud sound… lol.  I was thrilled, I was tired, I was almost crying, but above all, I knew I had left everything out there. I did my best, from planning to training and racing, and that’s what an Ironman is all about to me.

Total time: 11:51:53  Avg HR: 153

What a race (the course is the fairest I’ve ever been, and the organization was great), what a town, what an amazing group of volunteers and how about the crowd support!!! Sometimes I felt I was in the Tour de France during the bike and the Boston Marathon during the run. I won’t be doing Lake Placid again anytime soon, as I want to try other IM races around the world, but I will certainly come back one day and I will tell anybody looking to do their first IM to seriously consider Lake Placid. It will be awesome, I guarantee it.

Final thougthts:  I can only say this: What a huge difference training with coach (even if virtually) this year has made. My goal for IMLP was 12hr 40min (1:07 swim; 6:40 bike and 4:40 run). I was faster in all splits and beat the time I had set as a goal for my next IM! lol .  A friend of mine qualified for Kona in Lake Placid, and he swears that in 2 years I can too. I am not too sure about the 2 years (my plan is more like 3-5 years), but now I believe that Kona is out there and will work hard to achieve this goal. Clearwater first, then Kona.  The thing is, to get a Kona spot either on the 35-39 or 40-44 AG I have to break 10 hours! Ouch! So, baby steps, right? Let’s focus in getting under 11 hours first, shall we?  LOL!

You see, I come from a competitive background (former swimmer), so I can’t help but setting some really aggressive goals. To me, that’s a big part of the fun.

Here’s to a great journey ahead!

9 weeks update – 76 days/11 weeks to IM Lake Placid

I know, I know… I said I would update this blog more often… But as I was REALLY busy, I REALLY had no time! No, seriously, I was REALLY busy… C’mon, don’t you believe me? Ok, ok… I have no excuses… Shame on me.

Now, back to where I am today. It has been over 1 month since my last post.  Actually, it has been 8 full weeks. And let me tell something. WHAT A DIFFERENCE 8 weeks make! Wow! Back in March I did a 1:20 hr “long” run and was able to keep a 10.5 km/h pace. Now, this 1:20 hr run would be my moderate mid-week run when the week is light on the running workouts. And not only that, yesterday I completed a 2:40 hr run where I kept a 11.95 km/h pace. If that’s not improvement I don’t know what is.

Once again I have to give props to the team at MAO (Mark Allen Online). At first I was really skeptical about this HR zone training, as my HR, especially during the run, was all over the place, and never below what today is my top aerobic mark. On the other hand, during the bike I was rarely above the minimum aerobic mark. So, as you can see, I was doing my whole training ALL wrong…   I can honestly tell you that today I am logging more hours and mileage and not feeling as tired as I was last year. My body has been able to recover a lot faster and the result is better workouts on the following week(s). I am confident that 2010 will be a year of PB, in all distances.

In exactly 1 month I will be doing my first race of the season. A quick, but challenging, Sprint (here in Ontario, Sprint tris are a bit longer than down south = 750m swim; 30km bike; 7.5 km run). I am looking forward to it. My teammate and “Ironman brother” again this year, Hans, showed me that even though this will be a “C” race, we are still planning to do some tapering. At first I thought it was really not necessary and I should “train” over the race and treat that week as a regular week, but instead of the long run on Sunday I would do the race. But if the guys at MAO believe we should have a few days of rest, that’s what I am going to do. I also read a nice article about why we should race more during our season. Here it is: http://tiny.cc/11w8r

Training is going as planned.

Bike: Initially I thought I was putting way too much bike mileage (I have done 1 century ride and a couple of others that were really close), but then I remember… What do I know? So I turn my swimmer mindset on and grinding my way I go! The only thing that still bugs me is when I have to do a long ride indoors because of the weather. Like this weekend. Trust me, doing 5:30 hr on a trainer is NOT fun. But at least I was able to practice my nutrition strategy (having a sandwich at the 3 hours mark). For the first time I was able to keep a 30 km/h avg during a 5:00+ hr ride. I was really happy with this. Remember, celebrate the small victories just as much as you to the big one!

Swimming: Training in a public pool ,in the middle of a bunch of people who have no business swimming on the “fast” lane has been a challenge to say the least. But with the right mentality I have been able to look at them as obstacles I would face during a mass start anyway. So it is ALL part of the training… LOL…  But I have also noticed some improvement and I believe I should be able to go faster at LP than I did last year in France.  My biggest issue will be the hours. Once the summer schedule begins I won’t have 1:40 hr to swim on Sundays anymore, so I might have to “adapt” a bit, as I can’t complete a 6,000m workout in 1:05 hr. We shall see.

Running: This is where things are really getting interesting. I had no idea how fast I could go keeping my HR below 150 bpm. Well, this weekend I had a PB for the 1/2 marathon WHILE I was running a 2:40 hr workout. The time of 1:45 is huge for me, who never actually did a 1/2 marathon race, but I know that if I had it would’ve never been that fast.  I am planning to run a 1/2 marathon in October and now at least  I have a decent time to beat!  3 other Sandbaggers (Bruno, Hans and Leandro) are doing the Mississauga 1/2 this coming weekend. At first I actually wished I was going too, but 30 seconds later that feeling was gone…  You see, I had come a long way with running, but I not quiet there yet…

Team Sandbaggers is keeping a low profile this year so far. Many “say” that they are not training at all, but others are already full force in and Milton will be a good kick-off for the 2010 season! Looking forward to seeing everyone in their uniforms again and losing the winter coats.  And there is always that hope, even though a very slim one, that somebody else other than Hans and I would actually post something here too.   ;o)

Lesson learned over these 8 weeks: “All I know is that I don’t know anything…” I really don’t know anything about tris and the best thing I have ever done was to get coaching advice.  And of course, baby steps… baby steps…

“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re probably right.” - Henry Ford

Bike time!

Yes, it is that time of the year. The snow has melted; the sun is out and not just for a couple hours!

Carlos and I have a Brick workout planned for Saturday, 4 Hours 45 Min bike and 30 min run.

The forecast for this Saturday is Sunny and 23C. If that holds, we are going to do the first outdoor biking of the season and we would like you to join us.

• When: Sat, April 3^rd, 10AM (gives the sun a bit of time to warm things up)
• Where: Vote! We can do either Milton or Markham.

Note: we might go a bit earlier if the weather permits. We’ll keep an eye on the forecast and update the post on Friday.

Cheers!

Sandbaggers

It’s ON! 19 weeks to Ironman Lake Placid

And so the REAL season has begun… Looking back, I can’t believe how fast time flew by. I still remember like it was December 2009 and I was just starting my maintenance program.

Ok, I admit, it was far from being perfect as I did not follow it as I should. But hey, it still was a lot better than what I did for pre-season last year = nothing.

I stopped updating this blog because quiet honestly, the maintenance program was really, and I mean, REALLY boring. Almost every week was like the other. Next year I will make sure I add some off the sport workouts, like squash or even soccer.

But now, with the real season on its way, I will try to update it at least once a week. And I always hope that my teammates keep using it to post whatever that heck they want, as this is meant to be the Team Sandbaggers blog, which I am a proud member!!! LOL

By the way, somehow I missed Hans’s mojo post… It is really great. It got ME going! And how did he find out about my secret wish to qualify to Kona?  Maybe because I keep saying that one day I will make it. It’s just a matter of when, not if.  But there is still a lot of work to do…  

During the past few months I did notice that I’ve been able to build a decent foundation. Nothing special, but I am confident it will help me for the 20 weeks program for IM Lake Placid. The most interesting change was on my running. WIth this new HR zone/target I was barely able to “run” without breaking the then ”elusive” 145-150 bpm barrier.  Now, I was actually jogging (sorry runners) and still managed to stay within my target zone.

Well, enough said. Time to crunch the numbers.

This week I did:

- 14:20 hours total

- 11 workouts (3 swims, 3 runs, 3 bikes and 2 weights)

- Total calories: 10,780 kcal

- Long bike: 4 hours

- Long run: 1:20 hour 

- Long swim: 3,500m

Best workout:  Long run on Sunday. I actually felt great, specially because I was able to increase my pace for the last 30 minutes. I finished at 10.5 km/h pace… I know, sad, eh?  LOL

Triathlon Mojo

Noun

mojo (plural mojos)

1. A magic charm or spell.
2. Supernatural power or luck.
3. (slang) Personal magnetism; charm.
4. (slang) Sex appeal; sex drive.

Some times it is hard to find your mojo, specially when it is winter. The sun is supposed to come up on 7:51 and sunset is on 16:47. There is something in the air, and it ain’t love! It is mist…

It has been raining for the last 18 hours. I don’t mind wen it snows, at least everything is white and the dog doesn’t get SUPER dirty after his walk. Rain in the winter… you got to hate it. At least the forecast is for snow in the next few hours. Hopefully it will get white and clean again!

So, where to find the willingness to go out and do a great workout? Every one has his own mojo, some people just want to beat Carlos’ half Ironman time. So far that mojo is inspiring Rogerio to do a great OFF-season… but next year he will start training again!

Some people have the secret goal to qualify for Kona and that is working for Carlos. He is running and biking in the winter, which is unheard off for him. Maybe it doesn’t work for swimming, but the bastard doesn’t have to worry about that… somehow the 10 years that he trained is still helping him!

My favorite though is Bruno, he just does it for the fun of it!

We all have a lot to learn with each other and that is where I found my mojo! Yesterday I was kind of lazy, looking out of the window from my couch. Fortunatly I was out of chips, otherwise I would be the the typical couch potato! Anyhow, I got out my copy of the Sandbaggers 2009 Season DVD, where I found my mojo! I just love the sport, I love the companionship, I love the PBs, I love the Saturday morning’s going out with the guys for a long bike ride… it was all there, just waiting for me to play it!

This is an AWESOME sport and this is what keeps me going!

Caca: thanks for the DVD, you did a great job!

Breaking new ground

As Bryan mentioned in the previous comment, low heart rate if paying off!

This morning I did an “amazing” 10.5 km/h average with 143 bpm!!!! WOW!!! Ok, not exactly fast, but considering that I was running at 9.9 Km/h @ 146 bpm just two months ago, that doesn’t look too bad.

After looking at today’s numbers, I started to look at some workouts during what I think was my peaked last season. Unfortunately that was May, which was a bit early for IM France. After that all my results went south… I started to get worse each day. Anyhow, that is another story, back to the May numbers:

• 47 min
• 11.4 km/h Average
• 148 bpm Average

I don’t think I EVER run at this speed for this long at less then 150 bpm. This is the workout I want to beat. Ideally I would like to break 12 km/h (5 min km) under 150 bpm. I’m not quite there yet, but I’m feeling so much better then a month ago, it is not funny.

The training is starting to pay off. I know, baby steps… I have to hold on to the small victories, after all, training at low heart rate is not exactly fun! I hate when someone runs beside me at 7 miles/h, which I’m at 6. I always think “I left my pride at home, I left my pride at home! I bet his HR is higher then mine…”

One day… one day!!!

Holidays season! ;)

Unlike Rogerio and Carlos, I’m actually doing “something”! I think that Bruno and I are the only ones following a schedule.
I’ve resumed my training and now that I’m on my 8th week of maintenance training, it might be time to take a short break.
Christmas is around the corner and I’m debating if I should continue to workout or take a couple weeks off. Usually I go skiing, but since I just moved, I’m trying to cut my expenses, while I fix up my new place. The good thing about the training is that I’m not spending money while I do it. If I would go to the movies, I would be spending more money!
Anyhow, the other point is that I’m finally feeling a bit better now. I’m getting back to my old me! This morning I even did a 160 Watts average bike workout, which isn’t great, but MUCH better than the 120 Watts, which is where I started 8 weeks ago.
I think I just going to leave the heart-rate monitor at home and go for a few good old runs. There is no swimming on Sundays either, which means that for 3 weekends I will be able to sleep past 7am on Sundays!
Well, I’ll just take it easy for the holidays.

A brilliant idea poorly executed will fail as surely as a poor idea brilliantly executed.

Week 6 – 224 days to Ironman Lake Placid

The title of this post pretty much defines this past training week. Or a the lack of one actually.

I did my 1 hour run on Tuesday and felt great, was able to maintain my  HR between 125-145 bpm as planned and for the first time I was able to:

- Break the 30 min mark at 6.1 mph pace without blowing the 145 bpm limit (I did 35 min then I had to slow down)

- I finished the 1 hour with a 5.4 mph pace, which is better than the 5.1 mph that I was being forced to do to keep my HR below 145

Well, all good news, right? WRONG!

I guess I could blame it on the blistering cold week we had here in Toronto (-20C/-4F) and the first snow “storm” of the year, but this run was the only workout I ended-up doing this week. A couple of times I found myself at the gym’s door but turned around and got back home. I also had a pretty busy week at work with long office hours, but this never stopped my before. I don’t know why, but I was just not “feeling it”. Maybe is all this indoors training that is driving me nuts and this week was the peak. Maybe is because I am doing foundation training, where there isn’t a lot of change/variety on the workouts; Every week is pretty much the same thing, the volume does not get higher, there is no speed or VO2Max workouts, or anything like that. And mainly, there is no outdoors long ride on Saturdays. Gee, how I miss that! “Riding” 3 hours on the trainer is far from being fun… Running 2 hours on the “dreadmill” isn’t my idea of a good run either. This is my first time training during the winter here in Canada, and I am starting to see why people say it is so hard.

Well, the fact is: A brilliant idea poorly executed will fail as surely as a poor idea brilliantly executed. And this week I did not executed. The good news? I AM PISSED AT MYSELF! What am I thinking? This is not me! I can’t and won’t succumb to the Canadian winter “blues”.

This coming week will be my last one before my 2 weeks trip to Brazil (Sun, here I go) and I don’t care how I feel, I will push myself to complete all workouts planned. In Brazil I have already set my schedule in a way that I can still keep the training going but I can also enjoy my family and friends.

January will see me start doing my swimming workouts, and I will try to do at least one “all out” workout, like a simulated indoors sprint duathlon,  or even an indoors triathlon. Yeah, putting a good 1:30-2 hours push should get me going, as I will be able to measure my development month-over-month.

Totals for the past week:

- 1 workouts

- 1 hours

- 752 kcal

- Weight Sunday Night: Did not weight yet, but I expect to be a bit heavier due to the lack of activity this week

Lesson learned this week: Don’t let yourself down. If it was easy, everybody would do it.

“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re probably right.” - Henry Ford

Weeks 4 & 5 – 230 days to Ironman Lake Placid

The past 2 weeks I found to be pretty much normal. My training is going well and I believe that I am finally getting used to higher cadences, both on the bike (90+) and on the run (86+, trying to get to 90+). I caught myself riding constantly at 90+ without a problem, but running at 86 or higher still requires some concentration.

Just over a week ago I had my first ride over 2 hours. It was 3 hours on my trainer watching NFL on TV. Let me tell you, it was as boring as you can imagine, but in the end I finished feeling really good about the workout and how I was able to control my HR and keep a some-what ok average.

This past week I “skipped” my bike ride on Friday (1:15) so I decided to do my 2hr ride on Saturday and do a 1:15/1:15 bike/run brick on Sunday. Kind of risky, but hey, it was not like I was going to push hard, as I had to keep my HR within the zone limits (125-145 for the bike and d130-150 for the run). Once again I felt the bike portion to be harder than the run (who would ever imagine I would say such a thing). But as usual, I started doing an ok pace at first, but around the 45min mark I had to slow down, finishing at a really, REALLY slow pace… I think I was slower than my marathon pace during IM France this year… Yeah, THAT slow.

I haven’t been swimming, and that’s planned. I was going to start last week, but then I realized that in Brazil chances are I won’t have the opportunity to swim there (no pool close by and other things to do, so I will focus in doing 1 workout a day, if I am lucky).

But when I am back from my vacation I will be back counting some pool tiles, just not sure if I will be back with my Masters Swimming team. Don’t get me wrong, they are great people, great coach and ok pool. But the problem is that they are NOT training for triathlons, not even long distance events. Everybody does the same practice everyday, the only difference is how fast you do it. I believe that’s ok if you have no swimming background and would like to improve your skills, as a team and a coach will always be better than swimming by yourself, even if it is not a triathlon oriented program. But I am in that gray area now, where I am not sure what’s the lesser of the 2 evils: Should I stay with the team and be able to have some decent swimmers around me, even though I won’t be training for triathlons? Or should I go back to the public pool, which is a better pool (50m), follow the triathlon training program by myself (I really don’t mind) surrounded by a bunch of people who sometimes makes me ask why, why, WHY is this person swimming at the “fast” lane? That’s my dilemma for 2010…

This dilemma started after I realized that during IM Muskoka 70.3 this year my swimming split was the same as 2008, when I did not practice with the Master team and had only 4 months preparing for it (swimming). This year I prepared for 6 months… Well, we shall see…  LOL

Overall I am steady doing my maintenance training, keeping around 6:30-7 hours per week and burning around 4,000 kcal. I know that as soon as I start swimming this will jump to 10 hours/week and about 5,000-5,500 kcal. Far, way far, from what I have coming in March, 2010…

One quick note: I haven’t lost or gained weight anymore, as I am steady at 195-197 lbs, but I am sure I will have to address my nutrition when March hits, since I am eating the same as I was during my training for Ironman France, but I was burning 2.5x more calories per week. So today I know that my nutrition was not appropriate back then. During the peak season I was 187 lbs.

Totals for the past 2 weeks:

- 15 workouts

- 15 hours

- 8,000 kcal

- Weight Sunday Night: 197 lbs – 14.6% body fat

Lesson learned this week: Nutrition; Protein deficit and carbs reposition should always be on my list.

“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re probably right.” - Henry Ford