2014 Zoot

2014 is another Kona year. The race is already on my mind despite snow in my driveway. I hope to start formal training in March and have a great finish there. Kona is a hard race.  I watched a number of great guys this year stumble to a decent finish on Alli' drive.  However, not one of them smoked it.  If that doesn't scare you, you're a fool because it scares the sh#t of out me. Guys like:  Rick Lapinski, Matt Ancona, Joe Kurian, Mark Harms, Steve Johnson, Adam Zucco, Luke Lengfeld, and Mike Lavery. The one guy I was particularly excited about watching was Harms.  That guy is professional material and his race at Kona was spectacular! He came off the bike in the top 10 amateur and quickly worked his way up near the front before melting in the lava fields. He gets my vote for best performance (among my friends). (Thomas Brunold gets second because he rode his bike like a Mad Man at IM Wisconsin.)

Sponsorship has changed for 2014.  Zoot is going to be providing me with equipment to stay comfortable.  I look forward to representing the brand.  Last year, I got their tri and bike kits and it was by far the best fabric I've worn.

See you at the races.

Matt

2013: Kona Spectator

Adrienne was in Kona racing this year. I got to sit back and enjoy the view. Here were my many observations for when I race there next year.

Temperature Management:
-  Splush drinks in the new FLOE water bottles (insulated).  Freeze them the night before; have second in an insulated envelope in bike special needs
-  Spend the first 15 minutes on the bike cooling the body by cold water on head/body
-  Chemical Instant Ice Pack in run bag; run out of T2 with it on head covered by hat

Pacing & Strategy:
-  Start way left
-  First 200 yards continues to determines the swim group; swim hard and fast to get with the right group
-  Under bike the first 30 minutes to get body cooled off
- Ave/NP watts of 220-230 is plenty to ride and be near the 5:00 mark
- Run up Palani very, very slowly.  The pros did it at snail pace; the ag'ers tried to go faster up it than all the pro's.
- The out and back on Alli totals 10 miles; the out and back on Queen K is 16 miles including the Energy Lab; the out and back for the Energy lab is about 4 miles

2013: Ironman Wisconsin

9:37

19th OA

3rd AG

2013 Ironman Wisconsin 

It was a great outcome this year. The biggest factor for the improvement was getting a coach, Mike Pierson. I'll give credit where credit is due. 

I'll tell you I felt fine the whole race until the second loop of the run. As I turned around, I said to myself " you don't want to do this but you have too." At mile 23 the pace fell way off (9:03 pace versus 7:00). At mile 22 a guy in my age group caught me but I saw him coming miles ago. He was running faster and ended with a 2:58 marathon. Also, I knew that the next guy was two miles back having ran past him and two or three guys in my age group in the first mile. 

A few other notables for my sake to remember:

- day before meals: breakfast (muffin, banana) lunch (IHOP 2 eggs and potatoes) dinner (2 cans of Campbell's Chicken and Rice soup) 12 salt stick tablets during the day, sports drink, no water

- race morning meals: breakfast (3 powerbars), MuscleMilk bottle, 2 salt stick, 8 oz sports drink, done by 5:15 AM

-EMST150 - 5 breathe strengther exercises about 20 seconds apart around 5:00 AM

- tire pressure at 105 psi

- 2000 calories of carbopro on the bike

- gum on the second loop of bike

- 8-9 Salt stick on bike (caffeine type)

- Had some water from each aid station on bike portion

- Red Bull in special needs bag

- Scicon 430 CC bike bag:  Tufo S3 lite spare, 2 CO2 with tire adapter, razor blade, zipp valve extensor

- 5:12 bike split 229NP 219AV 89 cad

- Sports drink only first loop of run; Coke only second loop; took in 8-9 Salt stick

- Red Bull in special needs

- Breath Right Nasal Strip until it fell off late in bike portion

- I had to hang on to the Joule computer for the entire bike section because the cradle was too loose. At the first two bumps on John Nolen Dr it went flying forcing me to stop and go back and get it. 

- Thinking a yellow jacket hit me in the bike shorts, I had my head down and not looking up which caused me to swing over the yellow line. A Marshall soon arrived and gave me a stop and go penalty. 

Important thank you's:

- Scott Bowe

- Thomas Brunold

- Lane Brostrom ( I rode his bike because mine broke the week before the race )

- Family

- Work

2013: Aquathon

(Jeff May and I)

I did the Milwaukee aquathon with a few friends. It was a great evening of low key exercise. And yes, I managed to run good with a 18:08 5k. I redeemed my lackluster run time from last weekend. 

2013 Waupaca Triathlon

This was a great race and reminded me of Camp Whitcomb Mason, which no longer exist. They even had a lane line to swim next to. 

I took the swim out easy to see what the others around me would do. One guy took off so I followed him. He held up good for 200 meters before slowing down. I waited until 500 meters before attempting a pass but he wouldn't have it. So I just swam on his hip until the exit. 

At T2 the lead swimmer took off like a bolt; And to me looked like he was burning some matches to do so. 

About 7-8 minutes in the bike I passed him and enjoyed a good solid bike and the lead the rest of the way. 

The run was a nice stiff jog and I was happy to avoid any sort of side stitch. I think I need to work on my finishing speed next year. 6:20 pace for the end of a sprint triathlon is lousy. 

Next is IMWI. Hope to see everybody there. 

2013: Mighty Wolf Sprint

Mighty Wolf Sprint Triathlon
Winnecone, WI

There is fun, low-key triathlon in the Fox Valley area. We had a good time among friends.

1st OA
1:01

2013: Ironman 70.3 Kansas June

4:25

The last time I did a triathlon was Ironman Hawaii in 2011. My effort at Ironman 70.3 Kansas reflected my absence. I  made a number of mistakes and kind of forgot how tough these really are.

Swim -

At the time, I didn't know who Bill Bishop was, but I quickly found out.  Apparently, Mr Bishop was a hot shot swimmer with a big chip on his shoulder at University of Minnesota.  Since then he hasn't lost either the talent or the cockiness. When I lined up in the water I asked around to see if anybody was going to swim under a 30. Out of the blue Mr Bishop informs all of us in the front row that he's going to swim a 23. Whoaa, yipee, skippy, wow! Well, I did my best to poke fun of the guy for such a ludicrous proclamation but in the end I ate crow. He went out to did it although he DNF'ed on the run.

In the end, the swim went well.

Bike -

I got to work on riding with a power meter. I was struggling to balance various conflicts: drafting, passing people, longs downhills, sustaining power.  Result:  Ave 241 NP 233.  My goal was 250 Ave. The fitness was there but my riding style to make that happen wasn't.

Oh yea, 6 gels wasn't enough. I slightly bonked. I'm not a huge eater out on the race course and can handle slight bonks. Kansas became yet another on the list of other races where I kind of skimped on food intake. Things I need to remember:

- keep cadence at 90-94, not 82-86 even though helps the numbers appear more even
- remember to keep the zeros out of the calculation on the Joule for cadence
- for now it might be better to simply execute the bike as planned with NP and Ave power and not worry about penalties. At 250-270 NP/Ave power, nobody will get in the way; at 220-250 things do get messy with other riders catching up and slower guys that you're trying to pass attempting to block or retain their position
- eat 8-9 gels

Run -

Started the run under fueled - felt like I wanted to take a nap.  Tried to have the sports drink and cola turn me around but it didn't.  Felt tired and slugged out a 1:29 in hot temperatures.

Next race is Ironman Racine.

2013: Oshkosh Half Marathon

April 21, 2013

1:21:19

Ha, I have to chuckle in reflection. I view my outcome a lot like Javier Gomez's ITU race yesterday in San Diego.  A few things didn't go my way.

1.  I've been struggling with some really tight gluts from doing some different biking sets this year.  Add in some long car travel, things were tight.  I had some ART done the day before the race, but it wasn't enough. My right gluteus medius grew into a minor ache as the race progressed.  At miles 7-8, the gluts on both side started to cramp and suddenly other minor player muscles like vastus lateralius and IT Band had to compensate to keep going.  The effort felt the same, but the pace was much slower. 

2.  It was cold.  I dressed in shorts, short sleeve shirt, visor and running gloves.  I should have ran in running pants and a long sleeve shirt.  I felt warm for the first 2 miles, but got a little chilled from there on.

3.  Trick ankle flared up.  Yup, that's the old injury that occurred 15 years ago while playing soccer.  In cold temperature and/or rainy day it aches.  Today it was a problem.  To compensate, I ran more on the mid-foot compensate. 

Splits:
1 - 5:53
2 - 5:55
3 - 5:56
4 - 6:03 (into wind)
5 - 5:57 (into wind)
6 - 6:07 (into wind)
7 - 6:06
8 - 6:04
9 - 6:22
10 - 6:17
11 - 6:35
12 - 6:34
13 - 6:23
.1 - 6:04

I'm going to brush it off and have a better outcome next time.  Take home points:  skip the weekly hard bike ride and take a salt tablet at mile 5.

Matt