2016

Bayside 5K
September 2016

20:34

Out of shape, but that's okay.

June 2015

I ran yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks. It was the best I felt in years. Between the easy 8:30 pace and my left ankle feeling normal for the first time in years it was a similar sensation to a taper run but much, much slower. 

My fitness is at a ten year low and I'm the heaviest I've ever been at 175. And truthfully, it's a comfortable place and I don't mind being here. I thought I might miss the daily workout ritual but with a lot going on in my career and family life, fitness isn't a priority. 

I put my Trek Speed Concept up for sale and look forward to building up the Felt FC road bike this summer. 

Adrienne is doing Door County HIM next month. Hope to see some familiar faces there. 

Until then, Matt

2015

This is my year to focus on family. Elliot Grace is growing fast and I want to see every minute of it. 

Adrienne is signed up for IM Wisconsin so I'll be there cheering. 

Matt

2014: Ironman Hawaii

Ironman Hawaii October 2014

10:23

No matter the time or distance, I enjoyed every moment. While clearly it wasn't a PR, I consider the race a great success. 

Pre-Race 

Our first baby Elliot Grace was born five weeks prior to me reaching the starting line. The joys of being a new dad outweighed the time commitments of training. While I did do some great rides with Thomas Brunold, I cut short the few 4+ hr rides. Swimming was twice a week for 4-5K total -- not much but enough to finish. Running was good; I got the mandatory 2+ hr runs in but completely faultered when doing the last 2 hr run three weeks prior - my body was too tired from lack of sleep. 

With Elliot still a few weeks old, Adrienne had to stay home. I made the trip alone arriving Wednesday afternoon. Race was Saturday. 

Swim 1:01

I started in the middle, three rows back. I swam with feet the whole time and chanted "swim daddy swim" which was the slogan on Elliot's race day cheering outfit.  

T2

The changing tent was packed. I got my stuff and ran with shoes and put them on at my bike. 

Bike 5:20

I had a lot of traffic all the way to Hawi. The first penalty tent had 20+ guys in it that I rode with. My power was erratic. It wasn't much over 200 watts (ave) all the way to Hawi. After the turn around I saw the next penalty tent filled with another 20-30 guys - many of whom rode around me. 

I did well with getting down from Hawi but shortly after waikeloa I entered a gray spot where I didn't hold much power. A lot of bike traffic passed me those last 30 miles. I really didn't care; instead, I focused on hydrating, food, and salt tablets. 

T2

I got off my bike and my legs felt good running to the gear bag. Inside the tent I put on my shoes and got sunblock. 

Run 3:52

Okay, I'll admit that I knew that I was going to walk some aids stations when I ran out. The weeks leading up to the race gave me the perspective that I needed to be conservative and just finish.  Adrienne and I did the race together in 2011 and I recalled a few of those memories during the run. 

I never stopped running until mile 9 when we turned right off of Alii drive back toward Kualani hwy. Then I ran to Palani and walked up the hill to the Queen K. From there I ran the whole time but walked every single aid station. At Kona, the aid stations are nice and long and I enjoyed walking slowly through them. 

Near the end of the Queen K I felt good enough to pick it up and roar down Palani like Adienne and I did in 2011. It was fun. The finish line came up quick and I soaked up the moment crossing in 10:23. 

Post Race

Immediately after and subsequent days later, I felt good. 

Next year I'll be doing short course racing and being a dad while Adrienne gets back into training. She's doing Ironman WI. 

See you at the races!

Matt 

2014: Ironman 70.3 Racine

It just wasn't my day.

2014: Ironman 70.3 Kansas

4:28

6 AG

A "C" race yielded a "C" like time. With Kona way out there in October I got a later start to formal training. Going into the race I did only did one or two bike workouts above zone 1. This put me way behind the others - Zucco, Girard, Iott, Bishop, and Bowe - coming off the bike.  

Swim went good. I had tried the brand new Kayenne goggles that got redesigned (small fit version) and had the left lens fill up with water. Still I did just fine with a low 28 swim. 

Bike was comfortable. I rode around 245 watts and ended the day with 241 NP and 233 ave. When I saw that it was the same as last year but I was 3 minutes slower, I took a close look at my race photos for my bike positioning. I didn't like what I saw: aerobars titled too high, seat too low. Once I got home I reviewed my fit coordinates and found my seat was 3 cm too low and aerobar tilt off. I wasn't surprised because I didn't use my bike last year for IM WI and I hadn't taken a look at it since it was shipped back to me from Specialized for repair in Oct 2013.  Oh well. 2:28

Run felt great. Last year I felt horrible. I didn't focus on anything other than my breathing - no stitch this time. Ran most of the miles at 6:2X-6:3X with the hills at 6:40s. Came in at 1:27:00 flat for a 6:3X ave. 

Overall, I came in 6th in the AG. The others in front had clearly circled this race as an "A" race ready for war. Initially I felt embarrassed about how I did but after talking it over with Pierson I got some perspective. Next race is Racine and that one is an "A" race. 

Things to remember:

- 900 CarboPro calories on the bike with Nuun tablet = great

- 2 salt tablets on bike (cool day)

- no drink on run until mile 7 (only had coke) 

- no side stitch entire day

- lunch = Jimmy Johns Turkey Tom; dinner = 2 cans of Campbell Chicken and Rice soap, 2 salt tablets 

- breakfast = 2 powerbars, MuscleMilk, 4 salt tablets, bottle of Gatorade with PreRace added; done by 5:15; race start was 7:30
- 5x15 sec breathing exercises with EMST150 device race morning around 4:45AM

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

Moab MTB Trip

MOAB

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel to Moab, Utah for a three day mountain biking trip with Lane Brostrom and his brother Marc. The experience for me was no different than a midwest skier's first trip out west.  I was in for some scary stuff.

We rented bikes from Poison Spider Bicycle Shop located on Main Street.  My bike was the Niner RIP featuring dual suspension (a must have in my opinion) with 29 inch wheels (another must have).  Acoomodations were at the Best Western Canyonlands also on Main Street. 

Day One was Slickrock.  New riders to the Slickrock park are offerred the opportunity to ride a short practice loop to get accustom to the riding surface and the technical challenges of Moab's severe ups and downs.  We skipped that introductory loop and immediately launched ourselves into the most technical riding I'd ever faced. Frankly, I was scared and the hesitancy showed.  Lane and Marc weren't sure if I'd make it because I kept lagging behind.  After two hours, I managed to loosen up and ride with some confidence.  It was a great day of riding that lasted about four hours.  Afterwards we played frisbee in the parking lot before riding bikes back to town (fyi - we drove up to the park's entrance;  small fee to enter it).

Day Two was Gemini Bridges.  This was the easiest ride of the trip, but still very technical.  Bull Run>Great Escape>Little Cyn (Canyon)>Arth's>Portion of Getaway>Metal Masher Rd>trail head off Hwy 313. 

Day Three was the Whole Encilada (Burro Pass>USFS Road>Hassard County Road>Kokopelli Trail>UPS Road>LPS Road>Porcupine Rim).  This was an epic seven hour ride covering thirty six miles with the most technical riding I'd ever encountered.  We took a shuttle van that started at the bike shop ($25) that took us up a mountain where we climbed out into the cold.  I was glad to be wearing arm and leg warmers plus a light jacket.  From there we rode another thousand feet of elevation before making our long descent. 

The first two hours had numerous extreme downhill sections that made me fell like I was falling downward.  After a couple of creek crossings, we rode through a beautiful stretch of Ash trees.  From there we rode through some wide open stretches before working our way to the most technical section --a 4x4 road that looked like a road of splintered rock. That means if and when you fall, you land on rock not soft dirt.  All and all, I managed to stay upright until the 5 hour mark. Somewhere along the beginning portion of the Porcupine Rim I fell.  When my front wheel rode off a ledge, landing on a slight incline, my front wheel got stuck causing me to flip over the handlebars.  Upon landing, I placed my hands out and my left thumb took most of the weight.  Immediately I knew I sprained the thumb.  After picking myself up, I could tell it was a grade 2 sprain and that riding back was going to be painful. 

After a few minutes to regain my composure, we took off and I did my best to manage the pain.  Marc had some Advil along that I took and that started to kick in about 30 minutes later.

It was a long haul back.  We had another two hours in front of us and I was bonking.  Somehow I thought this was a 10 mile ride so I had only packed two Powerbars.  So for the next few hours I grimaced at the pain and tried to ignore the ache in my stomach.  The last thirty minutes of ride was not rideable so I walked bits and pieces of it. In many sections the trail led right to the cliff's end making any sort of mistake a fatal one.  Eventually, the end came and after catching my breath, I felt reinvigorated enough to ride hard back to town and give back my bike. 

It was great trip and something I look forward to doing again. 

PS Because my flight got delayed I spent another day in the area of Park City, Utah in a quaint town of Coalville. Because Marc has a decent motorcycle collection, we did a nice ride in the area in the early evening.

IM Wisconsin 2013

I signed up for Ironman Wisconsin 2013. 2012 was a fun year without a single triathlon. Without the burden of a weekly training regiment, I had a lot of free time. It allowed me to have a life as well as participate in a few non-athletic hobbies as well. Last year in the midst of traveling to Kona, we bought a mid century modern house in Fox Point. It has permitted me to grow my MCM furniture collection and abstract-modern art collection. At this point, I'm nearly at the end given the space requirements of the house so another endeavor needs to fill the time hence the return to Ironman.

Since I've had a number of good races under my belt and done Kona, I don't really care about how it turns out and remain focused on being the rabbit and Thomas Brunold being the tortoise, ie keeping Thomas Brunold staying behind me for as long as possible (or any others for that matter.) My guess is that it'll take:

Swim - 55
Bike - 5:10
Run - 3:02-05

Training Benchmarks become:
10x200 on 2:30 with 10 seconds rest
230 watts for 4 hrs
7:05 pace for most runs

Race Day
Swim - hard the first 100 yards, settle in
Bike - 220 watts; 260 hill cap
Run - 7:00 for first three miles then a bit faster

The funny thing for me is that my wife Adrienne is the biggest pusher of this. She is tried of me goofing off and thinks I need to do this race to achieve my "nearly perfect race" as most of the ones in the past were be marred by inexperience, flat tires, a penalty, and a busy work schedule. I can live with those hiccups, but she cannot. Secretly, I think she just wants me to be her training partner and do every workout with her rather than just a few like I did this year. See you out there training! Best Regards, Matt

South Shore Half Marathon

1:23:06

I had a fun time doing this with Scott. He was looking to go 1:19 and take out the first few miles at 6 flat. I hung on for about 2.5 miles before settling in at 6:2X pace. Certainly not a hot rod time but good considering weekly run mileage is about 15-18 miles/week.

2012: New Season

The season is about to begin and the local triathlon club TriWisconsin is having their kickoff party next week.

I hope to see you there.

2012: Outside Magazine

February 2012 Outside Magazine

On the right side of the picture:
Cam Knuth
Matt Amman
Adrienne Amman

2011: Wrapup

This has been an interesting year. It was a constant juggle between the fun of participating in a new work venture and the drag of Ironman training. I knew upfront that Ironman was going to take a back seat this year and that work was ramping up; however, I did not expect to have significant hangups when it came to training. Unfortunately, I did get sidelined for awhile.

As I danced across the Central USA for work, I visited too many YMCA's to remember, along with unknown roads, parks, and sidewalks. On my third trip to St Louis, running around the Arch was becoming a bore, especially since it was nearly midnight when I finally fit the workout in. The eventual result was a bad back that lingered with me through Ironman Hawaii.

While the finishing times at this year's races were not great, the fun level was mostly high. American Triple T was a record bottom mainly because the motivation was low, the training going in was too hard, and I got lazy during the races and forgot to take-in the necessary nutrition. Thank goodness I'm not going back to Ohio.

Ironman Hawaii was fun. Because of the aches and pains it wasn't as fun as I'd hope. Adrienne and I did manage to cross the line together, something unique, but that uniqueness did not satisfy the need for conclusion. We both left Hawaii with feelings of "only if." Is there another Ironman Hawaii to come? At the moment, I'll say yes. If life doesn't get more hectic, I figure I'll go back to race the race.

2012 remains uncharted. I have resumed training with Adrienne to the extent of doing something for fitness. I may do a few races this coming year.