Vacation-Surfing-Arm Coolers and Nutrition!!!

This past week was vacation week so you would think that with all that time off I would be rested and ready to hit the road on the bike and running. Well it sorta worked out that way.

What I will say is that we are all creatures of habit and we like our routines when it comes to training and I found out this past week that getting outside your routine can sometimes affect your training (and racing)

So this week while I was at the beach the winds were whipping and the rip tides and undertows were in full effect. I walked into the water twice with the intention to swim parallel to the shore but with questionable currents and nobody else to swim with, I made the smart decision not to go swimming. So what to do for a whole week to replace swimming?????

I got it! I was going to be surfing anyway so I took on the surfboard as a paddleboard and started stroking and it actually gave me a good workout. Not anything like a swim but similar and I had the fun of surfing back to short from time to time. Ok so I dealt with the swim challenge

Running…I only had one run planned and that was a long 11 miler in the middle of the week. Obviously, this was easier than usual since everything was flat and I was able to run a few of the mile son the beach, not too bad. Not too bad until the last 3 miles when I had this older guy pass me. Now I know I should keep my pace and not get drawn into the pace other runners are running…but this guy was a lot older and he had been out there running for a long time as well. Uhm, so I matched his pace not wanting to look like a chump. Well after a 3 mile ass kicking he stopped and used a shower to cool down that was on the street for beach goers to rinse off. It was the end of my run anyway so I stopped and talked to him briefly. Yep…lucky me this guy ran qualified and ran the Boston Marathon in 3:06:00. I will never get caught up in that one again!!!

Biking: My first ride of the week I had some problems. I went out about 23 miles to a turn a round so I could get my 45 miles in. It was hot and I had just finished up my water bottle and I reached back for the 2nd bottle and it was gone! Great! Now I have to ride the next hour with no water and no c-stores to stop in and get water. On top of this my bike computer went dead, so here I was no water and no idea how much further I had to go to get out of this heat and get something to drink. I finally made it back to the house and I have made some adjustments to my bottle carrier so that will not happen again.

My second ride of the week went very well and I covered a lot of new roads going through Shallotte, NC and then to Indian River, SC and then back to Ocean Isle, NC where I was staying.

I also had a chance on this ride to try out my new Arm Coolers (see picture) made by DeSoto on this ride. I am trying new gear to keep cool for Kona and I bought these to see if they worked. They actually do work, and pretty well. If you have an overcast sky, I wouldn’t bother wearing them but if you have direct sunlight they do offer relief and if you put water on them, you can really feel them cool your skin. They are made of an almost see through material so your skin can feel the wind while you are biking but very little sun gets through which ordinarily would be cooking your skin. I’m sold on them in hot weather when there is direct sunlight. I am also planning on wearing them on the run and putting ice in them as well to keep cool in Hawaii.

One last item I wanted to talk about was nutrition. I learned the importance of a solid nutrition plan on my last ride of the week. When I was on vacation, I ate (constantly), yes I had a few beers and essentially enjoyed my vacation. On Sunday, I had an 85-mile ride I had to do. I got back from vacation on Saturday and took off on Sunday morning to get the ride in. My poor nutrition habits had caught up with me!!!!!

I was about 60 miles into the ride and for the first time I thought to myself…I am running out of energy and I not sure about doing 85 miles today!! I was sucking on the water bottle full of Infinit nutrition mix…didn’t help. I grabbed a gu pack…didn’t help. I realize I could cheat on nutrition and like cramming for an exam in college, expecting to make it all up at the last minute. All I started thinking about was taking that next turn and heading home..ahhh. But then I thought if I started cheating on my training rides, what would I do in the race, and quitting was out of the questions in a race, so I hung in there.

My last 20 miles was S-L-O-W but I got through it! and vacation was over and I was right back on that nutrition plan!!!

Biking is Getting Long and a Running Tip!

A few thing to talk about today, but first I wanted to fill you in on Kristine Crane with the Charlotte Observer (remeber the suspense from last week's entry). Kristine had contacted me a few weeks ago and she had heard about my Lottery winning for the World Ironman Championships in Hawaii and wanted to do a story on me and my road to the race.

I thought this was awesome and I looked forward to getting more exposure for the SOWF which is the charity I am racing for (see earlier entry).

I spoke to Kristine over the phone a couple times and she seemed to be on top of her game. She always had great questions and has really been thorough in her questions trying to really understand what this whole Ironman thing is all about. In part of our conversation I told her I was going to be racing in an adventure trace which took place last weekend and she asked where it was and said she may show up.

Not knowing Kristine very well I didn’t think she would travel all the way to Highlands, NC for part of the story, but to my surprise she did. I spent a while answering more questions with Kristine and all I have to say is she is very sharp and dedicated to what she does and she has great questions!

So now you know all I know about the evolution of this story in the Charlotte Observer and I will certainly have it in my blog when I think it will be coming out in the paper.

Now let’s talk about this past weeks training. I feel like it was all about the bike, bike, bike!!!! I put in about 155 miles this week. Wow!!! I still can’t believe I did that! It was broken up into 3 sessions that Coach Sonni had set up.

The first was a 1 hour and 15 minute session that had some speed work involved. This was during the week. The second and third session were on the weekend. 45 miles one day and 85 mile the next.

You may think this is a lot of miles to put in but the longest part of the course will be the bike and if the course is windy and hot like it usually is….the bike will be a big challenge and Coach Sonni is focused on getting through the bike before the cutoff time no matter the conditions. I am on board, because Coach Sonni knows all!

So what about the Run??? The thinking is that I have to make the bike cutoff in 10 ½ hours. So that leaves 6 ½ hours to run the 26 miles. So the run isn’t quite as important as the bike the way we see it. But don’t worry I am still working my long runs once a week on Wednesdays. Each week I have been escalating in two mile increments and then having a rest week the 3rd week. So This past week was 9 miles and this next run will be 13 miles and then I will have a rest week (relatively speaking).

Every week I try to bring something educational to the table. This week I have some advice for the male triathlete out there and it something that sort of an unspoken problem, nipples!!!

There is goes, I said it and actually you now have it in print and on line!!!. But this is a serious and painful problem. You may have seen the picture of the poor guy who has apparently never run a marathon before and was wearing a cotton shirt with streaks of blood…ok, enough said.

So recently I was out for my 9 mile run and it was pretty hot outside for a morning run anyway and I was sweating pretty heavily. I had the latest running shirt with the hi-tech material that was made for marathons. Ouch! I got back and still had this problem to a certain degree.

So with this problem unsolved, I went back to the guru, Coach Sonni! So I called Sonni and we had a lot to talk about and the last item was, uhm …nipples. However, I couldn’t really come right out and say it for some reason (my macho side coming out I guess) so I told him I was having issue with my running shirts causing chaffing and irritation. So Sonni being the consummate professional that he is, he zeroed in on the problem quickly and had a quick solution. He said that I had to wear a tight fitting running top on the long runs, A tri top would be perfect and it would help me avoid this whole problem. He said no matter the material if you have a long run and especially If your shirt is wet from sweat, it’s just like sand paper after a while. I will vouch for that!!!

Swim has gone well this past week. I haven’t mentioned it because it was really uneventful. I swam 25 yards, flipped, swam 25 yards, flipped and then repeated 50 times. Of course I have drills in addition to this which is the most important part of the swim session.

Lastly, I wanted to thank everyone who has e-mailed me and given me positive feedback on the Blog and I want to especially thank everyone who has donated money to sponsor me for this race. Keep in mind ALL money goes directly to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Go to www.firstgiving.com/daletweedy to find out more about this great charity!!!

Now There's a Reason to Race!!!

You will notice a new addition on the left hand side of this page about giving to a charitable organization. If you go to http://www.firstgiving.com/daletweedy it will give you a full explanation of what this is, and the story behind this foundation.

In short, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) is a charitable foundation that helps support the children of our fallen special operations soldiers in all branches of the military, attend college. This is a organization I have supported for years through the participation in an annual adventure race in Highlands, NC, where all proceeds go to this organization.

I strongly encourage you to go to their web site http://www.specialops.org/ to learn more about the success of this great organization. I also strongly encourage you to donate whatever you feel comfortable with to support the children of the fallen soldiers who help keep us free.

Adventure Race Hangover and Swim info!

As I sit here writing this entry I feel like I have been hit by a truck! Why…adventure racing! More about that in a minute, but first, I wanted to catch everybody up on this weeks training.

This week I really started getting in some serious lake swims. I am really a proponent of swimming in the environment that you will be competing in if you have that opportunity. I am very fortunate that I can walk out my back door in the morning and jump into Lake Norman and start swimming.

There are several reasons why I like my swim sessions in the lake, but before I explain those reasons, I would like to insert a note about safety. I do swim alone in the lake and I swim early in the morning when there is no lake traffic. I stay close to shore in my cove where we have very little traffic (no traffic in the mornings) and I always wear my swim safe belt. The Swim Safe belt is made by triads (http://www.triaids.com/) and it is a belt that you strap around your waist and it contains a flotation device that can be inflated by a CO2 cartridge if you pull the handle. This is a very streamlined piece of equipment and does not get in your way while swimming and I actually don’t notice it while swimming. Wearing this is about being safe if you catch severe cramping or if anything else goes wrong that could impede your swimming. For weaker swimmers or swimmers not comfortable in open water, these are USAT certified for triathlons

The first reason I like lake swimming is that you get great practice in swimming in a straight line. This may sound odd to you non-swimmers, but this is something you constantly have to work on in a race by “sighting” the race buoys every few strokes. For those of you who have never swam in open water before, everyone has a tenancy to veer to the left or right when trying to swim in a straight line. To keep in a straight line as much as possible you constantly have to pick your head up in the swim (ever so slightly) to see if you’re on course or not, make adjustments, and then swim for the next several strokes and check again.

Another reason I like swimming in a lake is that I feel fresh water swimming with no wetsuit is the most challenging. Salt Water provides much more buoyancy than fresh water when swimming so if you have any inefficiencies in swimming, such as body alignment in the water (body staying parallel to the surface of the water…most efficient position) then salt water can help. Most people have problems with legs dropping in the water causing drag, thus slowing you down and salt water helps buoy them up (making you more efficient…faster). To take this one-step further if you wear a wet suit (especially in salt water) it’s like wearing a flotation device. A good example of this was the St. Anthony’s Tri in Florida this year I raced in. It was wet suit legal and in the swim on several occasions, I could feel my feet coming out of the water when I was kicking because I was so buoyant.

So my thinking is swimming in fresh water with no wetsuit forces you to practice good form in the water so when you hit a salt water swim it will be much easier to maintain the good form. One last advantage I like about open water swim workouts is I don’t have to stop every 25 yards to flip turn. I like getting into a rhythm, uninterrupted, so I can concentrate on form, speed and sighting.

Very quickly, on the run side, I would like to talk about the “new running” session Coach Sonni has me doing. Many people know about the run/walk pacing in marathon races….well it’s apparently no different in training either. Obviously after a the 2.4 mile swim in Kona and the 112 mile bike ride, I really don’t plan on running 26 miles non-stop. The plan now is to run 10 minutes and walk 1 minute to reset my heart rate and this will give me much more endurance for the 26 miles I have to run. So my training has started to reflect my racing this week…from here on, my long runs on Wed. morning will consists of running 10 minutes and walking 1 minute. This past Wednesday I was only scheduled to run 7 miles, I usually do this with speed work intertwined, but now it’s 10 minutes on, 1 minute off no speed work at all. It felt strange to stop and start walking after 10 minutes but it’s something that will certainly help me out on the run.

Now, why am I so sore after an adventure race?

Here’s why, it started with a 1 hour, 15 minute mountain bike (gravel road and technical trails), 4 hours of trail running, over 4,000 ft elevation mountains (plural as in more than one of those), back on the mountain bike and over two hours of the nastiest mountain biking trails I have ever been on in my life (not sure If they were really trails now that I think about it), and then a 2 mile run to a rock cliff to do a 120 foot repel and then 1 mile run back to the finish line. Oh, did I fail to mention I had to carry a backpack this whole time (on the run, bike and repel) that included all the water and food needed for the entire race and, helmets (biking and repelling), biking and running shoes, climbing harness, maps, compasses, first aid packs and other smaller items. I’m really not sure how much this all weighed but it was probably 25 lbs.

SOAR Highlands Adventure race ( http://www.soarhighlands.org/ ) is the name of the race and it’s a race I do every year with my business partner, Jeff. We raced this last year and came in 1st in the masters team division. (Masters meaning over 40). Our time last year was 6 hours 23 minutes, not bad and we were one of the top ten teams last year overall. With the competition this race has, I felt pretty good about that placement overall. So this year Jeff and I were planning on moving up in the overall rankings a few slots which we knew we could because we had made a 30 minute mistake last year.

This year was no different except the course being different every year was a much, much harder course this year and the lead pack which we were part of for the first 90 minutes ended up going off course. There were six of us in the lead pack and time lost going off course was about 60 minutes and it was on the run so we got an extra 5-6 miles added to our race. Nice eh?

The long and short of it was that after wrecks on the bikes (Jeff over the handle bars on one occasion and me slamming into a tree) torrential rain downpours during the race, numerous 2000’ + elevation changes throughout the course, we made up the time and both Jeff and I finished strong with a time of 8 hours and 19 minutes to defend our Masters team 1st place spot.

Afterwards we joined the rest of the finishers for a hamburger feast at the VFW lodge and while eating, Kristine Crane from the Charlotte Observer was going from table to table asking people where she could find me. I overheard her asking at the table I had just gotten up from and went over to introduce myself.

Stay tuned…I will explain the rest of this story next week.

Hot Weather Sets in, Let's Deal With it!

Another week under my belt, and a lot more training under my belt as well. My week consisted of a couple of long swims in the pool, I missed my Wednesday swim session due to work. Missing a swim is not a big deal but I really try not to miss the runs and the bikes because they are critical.

The heat this week started to get very intense by the end of the week. By Saturday and Sunday, the heat was getting up to 100 degrees. Even though I was going out early in the morning, by the time I got to my 60-mile ride on Saturday it was scorching. I finished my ride when it was 89 degrees and it was very hot.

I mentioned in another posting I was planning on using Endurolytes to help with electrolyte replacement, well, they STILL have not come in!!!! So I went to the bike shop and they had something called ELIXIR. This was supposed to do the same thing. Just pop one in a 24oz bottle and it fizzes like an Alka Seltzer and you’re ready to go.

This ELIXR stuff is not very tasty, it has a putrid lemon flavor which after a while you get use to, but really isn’t that bad after a couple of hours. The last thing you want after 3 hours on a bike is anything very sweet tasting. This worked ok. I took in a lot of water during the ride and this mixture helps me reduce my sweat rate, but not efficiently enough. If I were to stick with this stuff I would probably use 1 ½ tablets per 24oz bottle for my needs. However, I still have faith that one day Hammer will actually send me my order of Endurolytes so I can just take a couple capsules and not have to put up with the bitter lemon taste of ELIXIR.

A couple lessons learned this week. The first is about supplements on the bike. I was talking to Sonni and told him that my Infinit mixture I had made was too sweet later in the ride. When I used the web site to make this mix I set the levels of flavor as medium. This is too much for long distance training and racing. I will be reordering this shortly and I will reduce the flavor by 50%-75%. However, Sonni brought up a great suggestion, he said to put 3 hours worth of supplements in a single bottle and mark on the side of the bottle hr1, hr2, hr3 and put lines around the bottle designating the 1/3rds and then drink 1/3 of the bottle per hour and water the rest of the time. Excellent! After 2-3 hours, nothing tastes better than just pure water. I used this on Saturday and it worked perfectly. I will need to greatly reduce the flavor of the Infinit mix next time because it was very sweet in this concentrated form.

The second lesson learned, or really product that I tested that worked absolutely great was the Sweat Gutr (see picture). I have had problems as I mentioned in earlier post with sweat getting into my eyes while riding in warmer weather. I grabbed two different kinds of sweat bands and the Sweat Gutr worked flawlessly. It is also clear and very small so it’s hidden under your helmet and you don’t have a true sweat band on that would get hot during a ride. This was a great find and you can get these on-line at http://www.sweatgutr.com/ .

Since I am posting this on Monday instead of Sunday I may as well talk about my swim this morning. I was scheduled for a 2300 yds swim (about 1.4 miles). I have started swimming in the lake now to get the open water feel for the swim down and the swim today was ok but not great. I didn’t sleep very well last night and when I don’t sleep well the night before I can really feel a drop in performance the next day. So I am hitting the sack early tonight!!!

Mileage Starts to Increase!

This week was really he first full week that I have felt the increase in miles in training. There is no doubt that my training has now changed. Up until now (aside from Tri Camp) I have really been doing the training that reflects my typical training sessions and maybe a little bit more but this week my training elevated even though on my schedule it was looked upon as a Rest Week.

My weekly workout consisted of a couple swims one of which was a 2400 meter swim with paddles and buoy which started to get a bit boring after about 1600 meters, but nobody ever said swimming by yourself in a pool for 1.5 miles was going to be exciting. In addition to the swim, I also got in a 60-minute run and a 90-minute bike ride in during the week. Good solid training and nothing too intense. The weekend cranked up the endurance side though.

I didn’t get my ride started until about 9:30 in the morning and hit the Lake Norman Tri loop in Davidson on the bike. The first loop I did with my business partner, Jeff, and the remaining 2 laps I did solo. It took me about 2:45 to finish the ride and I got in right at 50 miles. The conditions were hot, humid and windy and matched the conditions in Kona almost perfectly.

I am trying to hit my training sessions at a time of day where the temps are in the low to mid eighties on the last half of my training session to emulate conditions in Kona. On Saturday, the weather in Kona, Hi was 84 degrees, 75% humidity and 12 mph trade winds. In Davidson it was 87 degrees when I finished, 60% humidity and 12-15mph winds. Right on!

The winds don’t sound like a lot but anything approaching 8-10 mph can really be felt on the bike, a breeze feels good on the run, but not the bike unless it’s behind you pushing you along and when that happens you rarely realize you have a tail wind, you just think you’re having a fast day!

These conditions took a lot out of me towards the end because I have not yet gotten my endurolytes order in which will significantly help me out here in the heat and I am still tweaking in my nutrition and fluid intake for the hot weather.

To follow up on hydrations, I was testing out a new water bottle that fits on my aero bars. Looks great, works great, neat concept but it comes with a plastic tube to drink out of and you have to trim it so it will fit you on the bike to enable you to drink while in the aero position. My mistake was that I cut it way too short and it did not work for me on the bike. So now I am looking for plastic tubing to start over. The smallest details can drive you crazy.

Calculating your sweat rate during training in the heat is critical! For instance, on Saturday I lost 5 pounds in 3 hours of training (2:45 on the bike and a 0:12 min transition run) way too much to lose. So working with Sonni we will formulate endurolytes, possible salt tablets and I am sure I will be increasing my fluid intake because losing 5 lbs/3hrs and my race in October will probably be 14 hours…those numbers just don’t work. So that’s what training is all about, getting all systems dialed in before you get to the race!

Sunday was a bit easier day, a 90-minute run which I got in 9.5 miles. Nice easy pace and I did it in the early morning when it was still relatively cool. My legs were still very tired from the day before. After the run though I was beat after the two days of training and not getting a good not sleep Friday or Saturday. Good solid deep sleep is very critical!!! You will feel like a different person in training when you have a solid night’s sleep.

Everything else is clicking along well and it just comes down to putting the time in and tweaking everything in as I go along!

Studio 7 Multisport's EPIC Triathlon Camp

What a weekend!! If you have never been to a camp specific to your hobby or interest in life, it’s well worth giving it a try. This is the second tri camp I have attended and both have been with Studio 7 Multisport, the first being 3 years ago, and then again this weekend. Coach Sonni, my coach, puts on this camp every year for his athletes and if there are spots left open he will bring in anyone who may not be currently under his, or any of his coaches, supervision.

Tri camp this year was much different from the last time I went to it. Last time there was more of a short course group of triathletes and some beginners and it was more instructional (or base camp as Sonni describes it), which was great for the sprint triathletes. This year was a very different (positive) experience because this camp was an “Epic” Camp focused on experienced triathletes, mainly Ironman distance triathletes. We had a group of athletes most of whom were going after their first or successive ironman races and were there to enjoy the aspect of training all day.

To give you and idea of where this place is and what it was like, it was located on the Kerr Scott reservoir outside of Wilkesboro, NC. I have driven through Wilkesboro thousands of times in my life I never knew this place existed. The place we stayed in was a lodge that could house many people. We have 12 athletes in all and the lodge was about 100 yards from the lake with our own dock for the swim starts. This part of the lake was at the upper end and was a secluded wide deep water cove which stretched about .8 miles from our dock to the upper end with mountains surrounding all sides of the lake. The actual lodge had a large kitchen and living area where we all hung out between training sessions (typically eating constantly) and just relaxing before the next session.

Arriving on Thursday evening for check in I was immediately met by “Joe” who is a triathlete I have met previously at St. Anthony’s tri both last year and this year. He was heading out to paddle the canoe for a group of swimmers who had arrived early and asked if I wanted to paddle along with him. So the camp was on!

Joe and I paddled along the swimmers for the duration of the swim and then went back to the lodge for the fist of several great meals prepared by Sandi Dyer (Coach Sonni’s Wife). So the first evening we all spent time getting to know each other and planning the details of the events for the following day.

So from here on in the blog I will just break down daily events and cover what we did each day:

Friday: This was a tough day for me. We started out in the morning by eating breakfast and after letting breakfast settle somewhat we all headed down to the dock for our first swim. Water temps were in the low 70’s so all of us wore wetsuits. We essentially started our swims typically with 2-3 other swimmers at the same time but because we are al different speeds in the water we would quickly break up as groups. Our goal was to either swim to a picnic are up in the cove which was about .8 miles away and back which would give us a 1.5 -1.6 mile swim or to swim that distance and then swim back up to a buoy in the cove and back which I later found out would give us 2.6 mile swim.

My swim went great and I did the 2.6 mile swim which was a long swim and took about 1hr, 20 min. I wasn’t pushing it but I kept a consistent stroke count the whole way. It’s funny, on swimming, once you have a good swimming base in your training, even though you may not be a fast swimmer, once you get past a mile it’s not that much exertion, but rather just going through the motion of rotation and thinking about stroke technique. After all, when your in the water for over an hour what else are you thinking about!

After the swim it was back to the lodge eat more. Sandwiches, chips, fruits…you name it. This was great because we would certainly start tapping the calories as the weekend progressed. After grabbing a little time prepping for the next session which was a bike ride, we headed off to the Kerr Scott State park about 3 miles away which was at the dam on Kerr Scott Lake. The goal was to bike either 30 or 60 miles and then do a transition run on the running trails. Great, let’s go. I was pretty eager to get the biking portion going, so when the lead group went off I went with them and we hit the first hill pretty quickly which they precede to drop me pretty quickly! Ouch!
Not to let that bother me I latched onto another very good Cyclist, Sean. I really pushed myself keeping with him on the pace and on the climbs, and there were many, many climbs.

I am not sure what the temperature was on this day but it was very hot and there was no shade and steep hills. I was sweating profusely keeping the pace and I continually had problems with sweat getting in my eyes, which I have never had happen before to this extent. Sean dropped me on a long climb about 4 miles out from the end of the 1st loop and I never caught back up. Once I go the end of the loop, I was toast on the bike. The pace I was pushing along with the heat was too much to go for a second 30 mile loop especially knowing the ride I had the nest day coming up. So I went back to the staging area where we left our cars at the visitor center and I started my transition run which was all on shaded trails, AHHH! So I got a 40 minute run in which really felt good after the ride experience.

We all got back to the Lodge and I was telling Coach Sonni about what had happened and his solution was simple, I needed to add endurololytes (help support my electrolyte levels) to my training session for the next day to help with cramping and dealing with the heat. While I had yet started calculating my sweat rates (in progress now) he had some endurolytes capsules and told me when to use them and how many. As I asked around everyone uses these along with fluids to help retain fluids and higher heat situations for electrolyte replacement. I guess I was the only one not using some type of electrolyte replacement to train in the heat. So this was a great lesson learned!

Saturday: The next day started with several people getting swims in prior to the start of the EPIC bike session this day. The course was to start at a small general store near the intersection of Hwy 194 and Hwy 421 after you pass the parkway as you head towards Boone, NC. It would take us through Watauga County, Ashe County I think I saw Avery County and it also took us into Tennessee briefly. The ride was 82 miles long and we experienced 8,000 feet of total climbing.

The ride started with everyone staying together for 7 miles as we cycled along the New River. This was beautiful county and a good distraction as we approached the mountains. So at mile 7 we hit the first climb which broke everybody apart and caused us all to naturally break into groups of similar abilities. Again, I broke off with Sean And Craig (Sean, who I had ridden with the previous day and was dropped). These guys were better overall cyclist than I was in endurance type cycling but since this was a such a long ride we had a pace that wasn’t excessive and I was able to stay with both of them for most of the race. The ride went well and I certainly struggled a few times on the latter half of the ride as we climbed hills and finally at mile 70 on a long climb, I dropped back and was solo. I didn’t bonk but I didn’t have a lot of energy left to climb those last hills either. After 2-3 miles solo, Craig came back and got me on his wheel and let me draft behind him to get back in the pack. Craig’s a great cyclist and I really appreciated him coming back to help me up that last climb before the end of the ride. He got me caught back up with the pack about 4 miles before the finish. Whew! I was glad that ride was in the books but I was equally happy that I got through it with not much of a problem. This was the longest ride I had ever done to date.

After the ride it was back to the Lodge for a quick swim in the cold water which felt great and then on to have a cook out on the back deck and talk about the ride we had all just been through.

Sunday: By today I was ready to head home and see Jill and the kids and spend some time with them but first we all had a long trail run. It took place in the same state park that we had run in two days prior and most everyone went down early to get the run out of the way and then return for breakfast. The run was again all shaded and all trails and most people ran between 60 minutes and 2 ½ hours. Since I was just making the transition from short distance to long distance I got 90 minutes in which was about 9 miles based on the pace on the trails. No big deal at all and it was actually quit fun running on trails instead of the road as I always do.

All in all this was a very successful camp for me. I reached new levels in swimming and cycling. I now knew I could swim the 2.4 miles for the race in Kona, I felt a got a good start on the bike by riding a very challenging mountainous course for 82 miles and like the bike, the run will build over time. I still have 4 months before Ironman Hawaii! I am just glad it isn’t next week!

Shoe Issue Solved! Solid Training; Off to Tri Camp!

This will be a long entry into the blog because I have a lot to talk about since I haven’t updated it in a week. I’ll first start with training.

The last 7 days have gone very well with the exception of the swim portion, which I have missed two segments. First, due to being out of town, and secondly, I was planning on swimming on Friday but I was very busy at work and I was unable to get away for a lunch break to get the swim in.

My runs were fairly short this week just because I haven’t needed to increase my distances yet and this week was going to be a taper week anyway prior to a short sprint in race in Statesville which I was going to do with my son, Tanner. Unfortunately, he has been sick in the last two weeks with a virus and strep and I really want him to fully recover before he does a race like this. So knowing this, I made some adjustments to my running schedule and all week long I ran in my old, worn out shoes until today (Sunday) because I finally have found a pair of shoes that are great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After e-mailing Lance Leo at Studio 7 Multisport about the shoe issue, he advised me not to skimp on the shoes since I was gong to be training for a marathon in them. So the criteria I was looking for (lightweight, able to drain water efficiently, sockless..) was thrown out of the window. I went to Charlotte Running where I have started buying all of my running shoes now because I think they have the most knowledgeable and professional staff, and actually take their time and they do a run analysis (if you need it) and they ask a lot of questions before recommending a shoe.

Obviously, I go through a lot of shoes but the New Balance 106x series shoes I have been running with for years were just not fitting me that well anymore. I feel they changed something in the 1062’s that wasn’t working for me and were wearing blisters after 6 miles which has never happened.

So I worked with the guy at Charlotte running and after trying on several cushion shoes (I have a neutral foot) I landed with the Nike Air Zoom Vomero2+. These shoes have a cushioning area right under the ball of your feet so if you’re a mid to fore foot striker, they feel great. These are the most comfortable shoes I have ever run in. Also a special thanks to John Geoffrey, Lance Leo and Sonni Dyer for shoe recommendations. I looked at all of the shoes and tried them al on and we all have different feet and needs so in the end the Nike’s were great.

I also bought pair of Saucony’s Triumph 5’s, which is a lighter shoe with plenty of forefoot cushioning as well. My thinking here is that I use the Nike’s for the long runs and the Saucony’s for the shorter runs that may have soem speed or tempo work and by alternating them I will have two pairs of shoes that will be broken in and not be worn out by Hawaii and I will use whichever shoe is feeling the best at that point in time. I will let everyone know how the Saucony’s work out this coming week.

Special Note: Do not buy the Zoot Tri Shoes unless you can take them back after your first run. They produced numerous blisters on my feet in the first 3 miles of my run. I also spoke to a friend of mine who experienced the very same thing.

The bike worked out well this week. I got about 25 miles in on Thursday with some intensity built in and then on Saturday I had a 50 miler.

There is a big difference between 40 and 50 miles. I am so use to going 40 miles in my training for years this is the first time I have done 50 miles in 4-5 years. While it wasn’t difficult, I did start feeling tired after about 45 miles. Amazing how your body knows when you hit a natural stop point. This is exactly why you start early and build up slowly in biking, running and swimming.

I will admit that being on the bike for 50 miles, by myself, the thought started creeping in mind of how to run 26 miles in the heat and humidity of Hawaii was going to be like; especially after 112 miles in the heat and wind. I guess the advice that’s been given to me that I need to keep in mind is to concentrate on the bike and don’t think about the run until you are on the run course. Easier said than done!! When you’re on the bike for 6 hours by yourself, what else are you going to think of!

Stay Tuned...Next week I will have come back from the Studio 7 Triathlon Camp (3 days) in the mountians of North Carolina which will invloved long swims in mountain lakes, long trail runs and the dreaded very long rides through the Appalachain Mountains! Bring on the granny gears!

Going Long on the Weekend and Feeling the Energy Drain

The past 3 days were great training days. Friday was a good training day with FMS strength training and swim sessions.

You may be asking what FMS is, Functional Moment training is a series of strength training movements that do not involved weights and focus on core and total body strength training. I still will do strength training with weights on a weekly basis but on Friday, it was all about FMS.

The swim on Friday went well. 9 x 200 meters using a combination of all out swimming and for one 200 meter segment and then 200 meters using my fist…try it sometime…it’s very difficult swimming with your fist clenched but it really works on your balance in the water.

Then there’s the weekend, the long weekend. I haven’t really gotten to the real long weekends yet but I had a 40 mile bike ride on Saturday and a 7 mile run on Sunday.

The bike ride was interesting. I do the 40 mile bike ride from time to time on training now, but for some reason I went out too hard in the first hour and then caught up with some friends (Scott and Rob) in the second hour and rode with them for the second hour. After the second hour I really felt like I was a running out of energy. It really didn’t hit me until about 2:10 into the ride. So I will chalk it up to possible poor nutrition and/or just being run down from the previous week, or possibly starting out to hard, regardless I need to get dialed in and make sure this doesn’t happen again because getting tired at 40 miles Is not going to be too cool when I have 112 miles to ride.

One thing I do know is that I can’t push the bike ride hard like I have in the past if I am planning on lasting for more than 40 miles. The next few weeks in biking will be very interesting….I have never ridden over 50 miles on a bike I have always completed my ride at 40-45 in the past, I have always been about speed and not about endurance. It will be interesting.

The Good and Bad of Training Equipment!

Last two days I have had ups and downs. On the up side, my swimming on Wednesday. It was a good intense session. After warm-ups and drills I had 6 x 200 meter high intensity efforts followed up by drills and cool down. The coolest thing tough was a new toy I have, a Finis MP3 player. A friend of mine, Tim Dolan, turned me on to it and it’s awesome. It fits under the straps of your goggles and it sits on the bone structure in front of your ears. You can’t hear the music until you put your head under water and then it’s clear as a bell and you can really get fired up during the swims (and avoid the shear boredom)…and this system does not get in your way while swimming at any stroke or intensity…money well spent.

On the down side was running this morning. If you recall I had blister problems in the race 10 days ago. My feet got soggy with water, blisters formed, couldn’t run for a few days. Smart me, I found some great triathlon shoes from Zoot that are made to run in with no socks (I’m always sockless in races anyway) and they have holes in the sole to drain water (so I can dump water on my head in hot weather to keep cool). Well, I went out on a training run this morning, which was 6 miles with a lot of speed work. Shoes held up well for the first 3-4 miles and then BLISTERS! I should have worn socks!!! So now my feet are in pain and I have band-aids for blisters on my feet, and I have to re-access my running gear strategy. My thinking now is that I have to wear socks but, socks that do not retain water so they will work with the draining feature of the shoe. The last two weeks have been more problematic than the last 2 years. Stay tuned!

Getting back into training this week

It has felt good to get back into my full training schedule this week. Monday, I hit the swim and as most Monday’s, it was easy with a lot of drill work and broken up sets which aren’t very intense. For anyone trying to get faster in the swim remember drills, drills, drills, technique in the water will lead to the first big improvement in the water. So with that in mind I always (I should say my Coach always) incorporates drills on Mondays.

Today it was bike time. The mornings are the only time I really have to training so I had a 90 minute bike ride scheduled so I was on the bike at 5:30 in the morning. This meant that I had to ride on the bike trainer in my home gym due to the darkness at that time of day. In another 3 weeks, I will be outside on the road early in the morning because I’ll be able to get on the road at 6am and there will be enough light to ride at that time. I can’t wait. So this ride was a 30 mile ride and what do you do in your basement at 5:30 in the morning on your bike? Well, there are training tapes (Spinervals are the best) which has a coach taking you through a workout session which can last from 40 minutes to several hours depending on the time you need to get in and the intensity level. I can also watch TV or DVDS. To be honest, on this ride I watch the 25th anniversary of the Ironman race which was 2003. You can always pick up pointers watching these DVD’s.

No training this past week

Rarely do I get sick, but the past few days have really had been down and out with some type of virus. I just got through my blisters from St. Anthony's Tri and got one good run in on Thursday and then came down with a virus which has lasted for over two days. I am feeling much better today and I hope to get a good swim in tomorrow and get my training back on schedule.

Sometimes a rest is needed, whether planned or not, and since this was right after a race and not close to any other races I have coming up, it's not a big deal.

Great Race in St. Petersburg Florida

Just coming off a great race in St. Pete! The St. Anthony’s olympic distance triathlon is the second largest in the country behind Chicago. I have raced this twice now and have loved it each time and was much faster this year than last, which is a good indicator of my early season shape right now. (see me in the middle of the picture with hands in the air).

The reason I am even mentioning this, is that it was a great race for me to start thinking through the Hawaii Ironman. Although much shorter, this race had an ocean swim that was 1500 meters (almost a mile) and it was rough with large swells and the temperatures were very warm, much like Hawaii would be.

My swim went very well so it gave me a lot of confidence in rough ocean swimming and dealing with the heat was not too bad because I continued to pour water over my head at each aid station to keep my core temperature down. It works.

One problem I did encounter was that the water I continually poured over my head went right down to my shoes and they did not drain well. I usually wear racing flats (no socks) and recently I had put in new insoles. Well, these insoles did not drain or repel the water, this caused my feet to slide around a lot. In the end, I ended up with several painful blisters that will keep me out of training for a couple days. Lesson learned; I need to find shoes that will drain water because I will definitely be pouring water over my head in Kona on the run especially in the energy lab (Hawaii’s version of a desert, which is in part of the run).

Getting the Game Plan Together

Since my last entry I have talked to Sonni and he assures me that he will have me dialed in and there is no need for me to train above and beyond what I am doing now until the end of May at his triathlon camp that I have signed up for. At that point I should be biking about 55 miles on the weekend starting my build cycles (up from 35-40 miles once a week). One good thing we were talking about was that aside from infinit liquid formula (similar to gatorade but customized for me and more effective) and gu packs or two, Fritos were going to be part of the nutrition plan as well. Salt is critical. He also said that we would be experimenting with different nutrition during teh longer rides and run to see what worked best. I will also be hitting the electrolytes while training in the heat for sure.

I have also found others who have been to Kona either by qualifying or by winning a slot. I have more questions at this point than they have time to answer so I am just going to save a lot of the questions for a couple months down the road and see how many I can answer on my own and leave the tougher questions for the guys who have been there. There are a lot of people who I know who have run other ironman races as well and I will be hitting them up for much of the information I will have questions about too.

I am tapering right now for my race in St. Petersburg this weekend so my volume is going down. I got in 1.3 miles in the pool today and it was mainly an eaasy pace throughout with drills.

Thoughts about the game plan

Today I have a call schedule with my Coach Sonni Dyer. This will be the start of formulating a training schedule that will take me to the point where I can race the race in Kona. At this point my biggest concerns are mainly the heat in Kona and staying injury free up to race day.

The swim and the bike, I can see getting there ok, but the run is a little concerning at this point. I run 7-9 miles in regular training sessions but 26 miles after the swim and the bike in the heat, is another story. One thing I need to keep focused on is that I still need to race in Williamsburg at the Patriots Half Ironman to qualify. That’s not going to be a walk in the park either especially in the beginning of Sept in VA. It will be hot there in September.

Hurray! The First Hurdle is Cleared

I had spoke to my coach about my situation and he brought up a 70.3 race in Williamsburg, VA. It was 6 days after the deadline but he said give it a try and see if they will allow a 6 day grace period since this was a lottery ticket and most races are clsoed out.

So one last stab at this and out of frustration, I called Ironman directly and spoke to Jennette at Ironman USA who was the person who had e-mailed me and told me I had to race a qualifier before the Aug 31st deadline.

I explained to her that I could get into a race in Williamsburg, VA on Sept 6th (6 days past their deadline) that could act as my prequalification race. Through the conversation she continued to tell me no for 4 more times and finally after much pleading, begging and just thinking through this from a common sense approach she saw it my way. After all, I was just notified as a lottery winner and most all of these races are filled early in the year (Except in Lubbuck Texas and Rhode Island as I found out). April is just too late to get into the 1/2 ironman (or 70.3 races as they are now called) races as I found out quickly and I think she understood.


So now I had the head honcho backing me up (whom I will be forever grateful) with a promise that I call her from my cell phone when I cross the finish line in Williamburg, VA. that Saturday afternoon. You bet! I have her set up on speed dial already!!! All I have to do is race the 70.3 race in Virginia to now qualify.

Not Understanding, quite yet

Ironman USA did not understand!!! UG!! What a pain this is becoming. I received an e-mail from Sonni and he found a race in Williamsburg that was 6 days after the deadline, I figured I could get on the phone and plead my case…it was my last shot.

The Race May Not be My Biggest Challenge

I received an e-mail back from Bill Scott saying No. What support he has for his clients who pay hundreds of dollars a year to race in his venues! I offered to hand in all of my race slots for the remainder of the year in closed out races in order to get the one slot in teh White Lake 70.3 race, to no avail. He and I went back and forth several times on e-mail and he was really disinterested because he didn't have a relationship with Ironman USA. I will leave this one here and comment no further on Setup Events, Inc. Obviously, I am very frustrated.


So where to go now. I need to touch base with my coach, Sonni, and see what I can do here. Sonni has been training Ironamn athletes for years and several who have raced in Kona, he will have some great input I bet. The only option I am looking at right now is the Mountaineer 70.3 in WVa which looks very, very tough and it's coming up quick on the calender, if I have to I will race this one I will, but at first glance, no thanks!

I will send an e-mail to Ironman USA and plead my case, surely they will understand.

AHHH, There are Strings Attached!

Today I had a triathlon race in Valdese and talked to another triathlete who was a lotttery winner two years ago. He said that I had to qualify for the lottery slot! Qualify, how? Apparently he said I had to race a 70.3 race or an ironman in the previous 12 months leading up to the cutoff date of Aug 31st. WHAT NEWS THIS WAS!!!

I ran home after the race and searched through the ironman web site and there is was, he was not lying. I had to qualify for the race!, UG!

Immediately I looked at all the races in the Carolinas and VA and all of the 70.3 races were all booked and full. I then sent an e-mail to the race director, Bill Scott to see if I could turn in all of my other slots and buy a slot in one of the 70.3 races. So I have sent that e-mail off and we will see what happens.

Getting the News! Kona, Here I Come!!

I will use this as a starting point in my journey to Kona to race in the World Triathlon Championship. Unbelievable.

It really started when I got a phone call from a guy named Steve in NY (I should have known something was up) saying he was working with Fox News and that he had identified me as someone who they wanted to interview. I was immediately suspicious of this but I never put it together with a lottery entry to the Ironman that I had put in several months ago and had forgotten about. After a couple conversations, I was connected to Bruce Snyder, the sports director for our local television station (great guy and loves practical jokes), Fox 18 sports, here in Charlotte.

So in short, they had me come down to the studio under the premise of being interviewed on triathlons. Nothing was ever said or let on to about ironman races or the lottery tickets.

Once in the studio we started the interview. It was going quite well and as we got to the end of it, Bruce started asking me about Ironman races and if I would ever think about doing them and in passing I said yes but I was a little too busy to do it at this point in my life.

That’s when he pulled out the Lottery board and said well you better start training because you have won a slot in the 2008 World Championships in Kona Hawaii. WOW!! What a shock. The first thing I thought about was the training load that I was going to go through this summer. It’s going to be a busy summer!

Scheduling, that was going to be the real challenge with everything I have going on from work to my involvement at my college I graduated from, ASU to coaching football in the summer and fall. How do I stuff all of this in????? I figure this is a once in a life time opportunity and I need to grab onto it. I’m not getting any younger and training is going very well right now, so this is the year to do this.