Hydration

In the last two years, the drink of my youth--Vernors--has returned to my lips to properly hydrate me after my workouts. Usually what I do is take two scoops of Glutamine and add them to a glass full of cold Vernors. Then I wash it down with another can or two of the stuff.

New Orleans 70.3

Swim: Cancelled due to high winds
Bike: 2:23
Run: 1:26 (6:35 pace)
OA: 68
AG: 11

The swim was cancelled. That did not help my prospects of doing well overall. As an age-grouper, cheating/drafting and/or unintentional drafting is a problem. Given that the format changed to a bike-run as a time-trial start with M30-34 taking off at two-a-time, two seconds apart and behind various other age groups, there was a peloton for the first 45 minutes of the race. I'd say that a lot of the time the road was congested three-wide with bikers. Us faster riders spent plenty of time on the far left dodging road cones passing people. It was my first time at a premier race, such as an Ironman event, that I encountered a cancelled swim and bike congestion. Overall, I thought the racers and race event organizers did the best they could given the situation. By day's end, the event was merely marked by my participation.

The IM 70.3 Championship slot rolled down to me, but passed on it because I anticipate having a work conflict. I already have KONA on the schedule.

Other notables:
- Race venue was inexpensive (hotel, car rental, parking, food)
- Used a powermeter (ave 229 watts)
- I was under-nourished (4 gels on bike, 3 salts bike, coke on run)
- Have the two scoops of First Endurance Pre-Race, but add it to only 8-12 oz of sports drink.
- Great to see Wisconsinites there: Jackie Arendt, Chris Wichert, Paul Eicher, Mark Hering, and Mike Pierson

We had the opportunity to tour the French Quarter. I was as interesting and energetic as it was when we were there in 2003. I took this picture of a door:

2011: Training Update

I've been so busy with work that I haven't had much time to blog let alone train. For the most part, I've kept the workouts to the main sets. In other words, little to no warmup or cooldown. Classic Me!

This year remains a big question mark and I like it that way. I just want to have a good time.

2011: Hard Work

I've been busy trying to balance out my work schedule and my training schedule. So far work has been taken over training hours.

My triathlon results in the last week have been promising despite the lack of training: 10K last week (36:XX) and a decent FTP test (29X watts).

Handing off my training schedule to Scott Bowe was the right thing to do. It has kept me from thinking and stick to doing. Also, his methodology has really challenged me. Zone 5 work is fairly new to me. His emphasis on it has added to my understanding of it.

First race this year is New Orleans 70.3. Hope to see some of you there.

2011: Another Year

The journey into another triathlon season begins. This year, I hope, is a little more fun than years past. I anticipate a heavy race schedule with a variety of distances. The two long races are American Triple T and Ironman Hawaii. The big A race is actually the half-ironmans. I want to be a bit closer to the four hour mark.

One major change for 2011 is the introduction of power-based, interval training. Since the concepts are new to me, I asked Scott Bowe to help me with it. In the past, I've relied on a heart rate monitor. While it worked, powermeters seem to a better work metric.

Also, interval training is new for me. Massive volume with a doses of intensity have been the cornerstone of my training for the last four years. I look back at those years as preparatory work for the next phase: hitting the ceiling. Could I have done it differently, I suppose so but I'm not convinced that it would have benefitted my desire to be competitive at IM. I have noticed that for other athletes who did a more controlled progression over several years from sprints to oly to HIM to IM yielded better improvement. I wasn't patient enough to do that. Bummer.

I look forward to seeing everybody at the races this year.

2010: Woods

The Woods is a place of reflection for me. Since my youth, I've spent a lot of time trodding along with my dad, an avid hunter, taking in the beauty of nature. I really enjoy it. Deer hunting season is about to begin next weekend and I can't wait. Dad was out early one morning this week about to chop wood and captured a picture of this buck.

For the first time in a long time, my triathlon plans feel muddled. Usually by now I have next year's training schedule in rough draft form plus a tentative racing schedule. Right now I know I'm racing American Triple T and Ironman Hawaii. One is in May, the other in October. That's quite a time spread. Given that I want a break from Ironman, I want to spend 2011 doing sprints and olympics. But you'd hardly guess that by my race commitments.

The where, when, and how of 2011 triathlon (and otherwise) need some reflection.

I have faith the Woods will sort things out.

2010: Post Ironman - Into the Woods

After Ironman, Adrienne and I headed North to relax on the lake. I found a beautiful vintage bike manufactured by Columbia at a rustic bike shop in Minocoqua. The trip was wonderful and it gave me some time to reflect on my Ironman race. At a recent Gear-Grinder gathering, the team manager thought I'd be happier now that the Kona monkey is off my back. When I said "kinda of" he didn't seem to get why. Personally, Ironman has been about reaching potential. A 9:50, although fast, is far off my ability.

I've been reflecting on my mindset as the race unfolded. Why did I find myself cruising the marathon? Why did I decide to ease off on the bike, I mean really ease off?

Matt Fitzgerald wrote a very interesting article in early 2010 for Triathlete magazine. One part is particularly relevant:

This explanation seems much more plausible than the first, but there is actually no good evidence that those athletes who produce the fastest run times in Ironman races hold back more on the bike than their fellow competitors. In fact, contrary to popular belief, elite Ironman triathletes really don’t hold back at all on the bike. If riding at 80 or 90 percent of capacity (relative to the distance of 112 miles) were normal and necessary at the elite level of Ironman racing, then you would see at least one clown fly off the front and complete the bike leg 10 or 20 percent faster than the real contenders (which would translate to 30 to 60 minutes). Even if it were suicidal, people would still do it for a moment of glory. It’s human nature. But this never happens. Why? Because elite triathletes actually ride the Ironman bike leg at something closer to 98 percent of their maximum capacity (meaning they would ride only five to 10 minutes faster in a pure 112-mile time trial).

...my sentiments exactly. At Ironman this year, I did exactly this. I rode too easy. By riding 10-25 minutes slower, I was hoping to run even faster to recoup ground lost. And if you read my race report, you'd see I did just that, kinda of. The hiccup started with the penalty, but it was more. The penalty shifted me into ultra-conservative mode. It transformed me from the racing mode to the "come on Matt, let's play it safe. You got one penalty, you can't afford to have any one." The result was I never dug deep, smiled a little more to the fans (I have to work on that some more according my family), and crossed the finish line as if I did something challenging but hardly hard.

When I was cruising into T2, I thought about shooting for a 3:00 run split, but found myself saying to myself why? It wasn't needed, I wasn't fighting for first amateur at that point. I wasn't even in contention for top three amateur. The penalty plus the lackluster bike performance just put me too far behind.

So what can I learn from this. When the bike fitness is verifiable, use it for goodness sake. But at IMWI, I had reservations about pushing the bike even with Brunold and Kurian dragging my arse around for five weeks. When thinking back, Door County HIM certainly put into perspective holding back on the bike, but when looking at the overall results, I did not PR the distance. "If" Pigman was a decent day, I could of sorted out mentally just how good my bike fitness was in relation to having a good run. The other demon haunting me going into IM and during the race, was that I just put too much time in the off season working on my run fitness just to burn all the matches by a blazing bike split leading to another 3:30 run. How slow of a bike split was I willing to have inorder to run what I considered a good time? My basic absolute bottom (BAB) expectation was a 5:30 bike split. Any slower, I would be disappointed. And for the run, I wanted 3:15 or faster. At the day's end, I hit my BAB benchmarks.

If I was a coach, coaching Matt A, I would say to him, "You did a great job. You displayed patience, the ability to handle the challenges of IM racing, and follow through with execution. You proved to yourself that the benchmark of sub-10 is easily within yourself. For the next 8 months, focus on consistent training and letting yourself get sharp for the short course racing that you want to do. Then, in 2012, lets attack another Ironman with the goal of having a wicked bike and run split." I better listen to that coach.