IM AZ Swim Exit Photo...

Best photo of the day...gotta love the neoprene!!!

:-)

~P

Working on your run technique...

For those of you who keep asking, i finally have put up some photos (w/ analysis) on what I believe to be solid run technique... You can find them on the PTS website under the News&Tips section....or just click HERE.

Enjoy!

~P

Post Race Recovery

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. :-) I am so mired in my "recovery" time that I am sort of afraid I might not find my way back out again! Sitting in my office, surrounded by paperwork (I am a bit of an office slob!), I stare at my run photo from IM AZ and can only shake my head. I still can't believe what happened out there on the course that day. Looking at that picture, it's hard to believe that it is ME I am looking at. Heck, looking at my gut, it's hard to believe I could do anything remotely close to 10:08.

What does 10:08 mean to me now? 10:08 is the time I get up in the morning (ahhhh, the wonderful snooze button). 1,008 is the number of calories that were in teh croissant I just ate (mmmm, blueberry). 100.8 miles is the distance round trip to Lowell, MA, where I am doing a swim clinic for Tri Fury. I am a numbers geek, but I am enjoying my time away from the swim/bike/run counting part of it.

So for those of you wondering what you will do after your big event, DON'T. Relax and it will come naturally...just remember, when you find yourself in front of the pastry counter, just have one (or two).

But who's counting? :-)

Happy Training,

Patrick

Boston Marathon Photos....

A great day, but not an easy one...here are some more photos:

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOG7lszbtHDpI

Can't wait to read the race reports!

patrick

Photos from IM Arizona...

There are a bunch of different photos here, from the days leading up to the race to the race itself...enjoy: View Photos on Shutterfly.com Note: You don't have to join to view the photos, just click on the View Photos button at the bottom left...

P

(and thanks to Maura for taking all the photos on race day!)

Ironman Arizona Race Report

The Stats: For those of you without the time to read this whole report, here are the stats. IM Arizona was my sixth IM race and I went 10:08+. This was a PR for me in terms of the total time as well as the run. I ended up 15th in my Age Group (out of 277), 66th overall (out of 1800+) and three places out of a Kona slot (it rolled to 12th place). I am enjoying 2 weeks off before I start prepping for IM USA.

---------------------

The Training: 2005 is the year I decided to go for it. If I am going to get to Kona, I resolved to do everything in my power to make it possible. I hired Scott Molina as my coach, I souped up the bike with a new PowerTap hub and I arranged my work schedule so that I would have time to train during the week. I went out and trained about 18 hours a week in December and January and was pretty psyched with my progress until I emailed Scott…and he told me I should ramp it up a bit if I wanted to do well. Considering that 18 hours a week was a lot for me, I was surprised. But I remembered my promise to myself and I resolved to make more time. So I sat down and figured out all the free time I had to train – it came to 26 hours a week – meaning no time to go out, relax, etc. I sent it to Scott so he could craft a neat plan building me up to that time/distance/etc, and he replied: “That’s great! Now do that for the next 8 weeks (Feb/March) and then we’ll taper for a week before the race.” Be careful what you wish for! So I set out on my training journey…the weeks were tough but not impossible. My average week was as follows:

• Monday: 2hr ride in the AM, Swim 3k at lunch, Weights in the PM.
• Tuesday: 60’ run in the morning with 4-6x3’ running just under threshold, PM Yoga.
• Wednesday: 4-5 hour trainer ride (start at 5am), 4k swim at lunch and then 90-120’ PM run.
• Thursday: 60’ run w/ some pick ups in the AM, Weights in the PM.
• Friday: 2hr ride in the AM, Swim 3k at lunch,
• Saturday: 4-5 hour trainer ride and 3-4k swim.
• Sunday: Long run and core.

In addition to this training, I did do an epic week in Arizona to prepare for the race. In the second week of March, I went to Tempe and swam 18.5k, biked 450 miles and ran 45 miles. This was my longest week ever and represented personal bests in the pool and on the bike. Aside from this epic week, most of my riding was on the trainer (more than 5 indoor centuries!).

The Taper: After all the training, I wasn’t sure how to taper! I had never done this much work before, but then again I usually did more intense work leading up to the race. Not so this year. It was the same routine as each of the previous eight weeks, so the rationale was I didn’t need to taper too much. I did a 3.5 hour ride and a 100’ run 10 days out from the race and felt pretty solid. I spiced up the usual taper by heading to Banff, Calgary for a wedding, where I prepared for race day in AZ by snowboarding and eating lots of chocolate (don’t tell my coach!).

Race Week: After all the training, I felt strangely calm during race week. Usually I am a bundle of nerves, but this time I was really chill. I think that in addition to all the training, it really helped that I had visited Tempe twice before and knew my way around. I took it very light on race week, with one swim (man that water was ugly!), two rides and two short runs. The rest of the time I hung out with Maura (my wonderful wife) and good buddy Vinu (of Fuelbelt.com ). Also spent time with Mike Folan from infinIT nutrition and Chris from Oomph! , both very cool guys making good stuff happen on the tri scene.

Race Morning: Up at 4 for breakfast (2 packets of oatmeal, 20 oz of Ultragen; total 1500 calories). Headed down to the race site and were marked and in transition by 5:45. I had time to check the bike, set up nutrition and go for 15’ jog. Got back, got suited up, kissed Maura and headed down to the swim start.

The Swim: We were told to jump into Tempe Town Lake feet first (no diving). I jumped in and promptly cut the side of my big toe on something really sharp. OUCH! I was jolted back into reality but a cursory look at my toe showed no bleeding, so I thought it was fine. Anyway, very little I could do about it now as there was no real way out of the water before the start. I settled in and started prepping for the one-loop swim. BANG – and we’re off – I had clean water right away and settled in for a smooth ride. I only got hit twice on the way out and overall felt pretty good. Made the turn to come back and things started to get really choppy. This was the first sign of any wind on the day. I tried to stay long and smooth in the water, but it was hard to find a rhythm. Definitely felt like we were swimming upstream. Got out of the water and didn’t check the time; ended up being 1:05+ (worst time for an IM, but everyone was slow) with an average heart rate of 147. This was 25 beats lower than my swim in IM Florida last year, so while I wasn’t faster per se, I also hadn’t over extended myself. Very good.

T1: Found my gear bag quickly and changed as fast as possible. Noticed that my toe was bleeding, but it didn’t hurt too much, so I put my socks on and my bike shorts and headed out to the bike. Time: 5:30

The Bike: I resolved to use my PowerTap to guide my efforts and had set ranges based on my race simulations rides:

• Less than 200W: Warm Up/Easy
• 220W: Goal Wattage for the ride
• 240-50W: Head Wind Wattage
• 275W: Max Climbing Wattage
• 300W: Threshold Watts – Do Not Exceed!!!

The first 30’ of the ride were at Warm Up/Easy pace, and I focused on drinking 15oz of water to settle my stomach and prepare to digest food. I knew the heat would pick up, and I wanted to be able to eat! Starting with the 30’ mark, I picked my effort up to about 220W and started by nutrition plan: 2 sips of my infinIT nutrition mix every 10’ and a Clif Shot on every 30’ mark (water only with Clif Shots) and salt tabs, etc, on every hour – about 450 cals per hour. Out was easy (tailwind, 25+mph riding), returns were hard (headwind (16 mph riding)). Avg wind for the day was 20-25mph with gusts up to 35 mph. There were many times I looked at my PT and saw I was pushing 275W into the headwind, and I backed off.

By the return trip on the second loop I was passing folks and it stayed that way the rest of the day. I kept my effort steady, skipped special needs and was fine. I also skipped solid foods this time at Scott’s urging and that seemed to work (note: I practiced in training!). I finished the bike feeling very strong in 5:32+, average of 20.2 mph but more importantly with an average wattage of 218. My average heart rate was 137 (top of zone 2 for me is 136), so right on. I could have gone harder, but I was pretty happy with the balanced effort.

T2: Very happy to get rid of the bike! I bolted through transition, got my new salt tabs (food and drink on the course), my hat and shoes and was off. Time was 2:06 – seventh fastest on the day.

The Run: As I ran out of transition, Maura told me I was in 107th place for the day (right around where I wanted to be), so I was pretty fired up. I vowed to keep splits but not to use them, running by how I felt and not by whatever I wanted to run. I had two gels early as I waited to get my running legs and then hit my routine. I had a gel w/ water every 3 miles (5, 8, 11, etc.), my salt tabs the next mile (6, 9, 12, etc). I kept away from the coke until mile 10 as I felt pretty strong and wanted something for when times got tough.

The first loop literally flew by as I focused on passing as many folks as possible. I was relaxed and felt pretty efficient. It wasn’t until the end of the first loop that I realized that no one had passed me…so I vowed to keep that streak alive. I skipped special needs again (I had enough salt and didn’t want the jellybeans I had put in there ‘just in case’) and headed out for loop number two. I was feeling it a bit more this lap, but the addition of coke helped. The course was much more crowded now with almost everyone off the bike by this point, but most folks were moving forward. I kept moving as quickly as possible and was only passed by one guy at mile 24. He was cooking and I just couldn’t keep up with him. My final run time was 3:22+ with an average heart rate of about 150. This was a run PR of about 28 minutes for me.

Total race time: 10:08. I finished and went straight to see Maura and get a massage. It was a pretty emotional moment given all that we have both sacrificed for my dream to get to the big dance. I tried to enjoy the rest of the time in AZ, but I was really hurting. Guess that’s what happens when you run the whole marathon! J All in all, a great race. My primary goal was to have a good day (check) and be able to race the marathon (check). My nutrition was spot-on and my laid-back attitude really made for an enjoyable day. Now if I could only get the weather to cooperate!!!

Next Steps: I have two weeks off and two weeks of transition to get back into the swing of things…then I am off to prepare for IM USA. I am hoping my early season work will be a great foundation for me as I prepare to shoot for the 10 hour mark in Placid. Only a few more 25+ weeks left!

Thanks: More thanks than I can ever say to Maura, to all my training partners (local and virtual), to my equipment sponsors (Fuelbelt, infinIT nutrition, Wheelbuilder.com, Oomph! Sports, ATA Cycle, Marathon Sports), to the folks who were there on race day cheering us on (Ann, Nancy, Ivan, Kim and Dan) and to all the other well-wishers. Your support made a difference!

Post Race Update...

Pre-Race Talk...

Thursday Night Ridin'

Ghost Town Tri Expo...

Touching Down in Tempe...

Audioblogging from IM AZ...

I am planning on changing things up a bit when I hit the road...instead of typing away, I am going to try and post .mpg files via a new service. I am such a geek, I know! Anyway, I promise to keep the blogs coming and keep them short, so stay tuned for updates...

flight is t-minus 18 hours away and counting....

Patrick
++++++++
IM racing is like dating; try and jumpstart things too early and you're bound to end up heading home, late at night, alone and disappointed.

Gearing Up...

Sorry so long no post...have been on the road in Banff, Calgary for a good friend's wedding. For those of you who have never been up here, you have to come. Gorgeous. Maura and I had a blast (picture to follow soon) and are planning on making it back (one day).

It was also a great chance for me to take a break and recap my preparation for IM AZ in a relaxed environment. As I recently wrote, there are two types of IM competitiors: the newbies and the experienced folks. Both have very different sets of issues to deal with on race day...but both are faced with similar pre-race issues:

That's right, new or old, part of the IM experience is going through the pre-race "jitters." What are the "jitters," you ask? Well, they are the sensations you experience just before the start of a race. There are different timelines and symptoms for each race situation:

• 5k race: Starts about 5' before the gun goes off, usually when you are seeding yourself in the starting field.
  
• 10k race: Starts when you arrive to sign in (or in my case, sign up) on race day.
  
• Sprint Tri: Starts the night before, usually when you realize that you don't have that spare tube you were supposed to buy and you have to leave at 5am the next day!
  
• Olympic Tri: Starts early in the week when you are wondering how "hard" you are supposed to go on the day and whether or not the workout you are doing on Wednesday will affect you on Saturday!
  
• Half/Full IM: Starts early. Way early! The bigger the race, the earlier it gets.

For most folks, the Half/Full IM "jitters" take hold in phases:

• Phase 1: Early Training: Athletes wonder, "is this enough?" "how can I complete this?" "if I can't run well on Sunday after a Saturday long ride, how will i ever run a marathon?"
  
• Phase 2: Late Training: Athletes wonder, "can I get one more long ride/run in?" "why didn't I think about my nutrition earlier?" "what IS my goal race pace?" "where am I going to put all the food I need to eat?"
  
• Phase 3: Race Arrival: Athletes wonder, "did I bring everything I need?" "can I get all the stuff i forgot to bring here at the expo?" "what is three bike lengths?" "what the hell is my family going to do in (insert location) for the next (insert estimated)hours?"
  
• Phase 4: 15' Pre-Race: Athletes wonder, "how did I get here?" "is this race really limited to 2000 folks?" "is that dude's wetsuit on backwards?" "can anyone else see that last buoy?" "are my tires flat in transition?" "did I put on the bodyglide?"

Regardless of where you are on the racing spectrum, you will face these challenges. Remember all the training you have done, take a moment to visualize your race and how you will perform (especially in the tricky scenarios like a flat tire or lost water bottle). With a good plan and patient execution, you will be primed to succeed regardless of the jitters you had.

Now I wonder if there is time for one more ride before I head out to Arizona....

:-)

Patrick