7 days and Counting!

This time next Sunday I should hopefully be nearing the end of my Ironman marathon. The closer I get to D-day, the more I realize how crazy this whole endeavor will be. The remaining week of training will be the easiest week I've had since the winter and I've really been looking forward to getting some sleep this week. However, it looks like my body has something else in store for me. Last night I felt like I tossed and turned from the time I laid down until my alarm went off this morning. And today, after a long day of running errands, I returned home exhausted, but again could not fall asleep.

I can't decide if it's anxiety about the race or if my body simply needs less rest during my taper. I remember the same thing happening after both of my previous marathons, but generally this occurs after the event and not before it. I'm trying not to worry about getting enough rest this week, but that's easier said than done. Every time I take a pause during my day, all I can think about is race weekend. Even as I write this entry, I'm thinking about what I need to bring to Louisville, when I can check in, if I'll go to the practice swim, and who knows what else. I guess the best thing right now is to use this energy in a constructive manner and go ahead and make an agenda for the weekend. You know what they: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Time to get to work!

Crunch Time

I'm finally in the last stage of training, the taper. I can still recall a time back in February when I thought these days would never arrive. At that time, looking ahead to the long hours that I've now put in the bank was exciting, but almost overwhelming. Now that I'm on the other end of my training, I can honestly say that I've really enjoyed pushing my body to see if it can handle the stress, recover, and then become stronger. Over the past few weeks, I've had times where I really felt great, especially on my mid-week runs, but there have also been a few rides that were slower than I'd hoped. I have to constantly tell myself that when I ride slowly on Saturday, it's probably due to everything that I did Monday through Thursday. What I really have to count on is that over the next week and a half, my body will finally get a chance to fully recover and be in top form come race day.

Speaking of race day, I'm starting to get into panic mode just wondering what the expect on the big day. I guess my biggest fear now is getting off the bike at T2, throwing on my running shoes, and then being completely out of gas at mile 5. If it somehow comes down to that (and it won't...I hope), I'll have to be (Iron)man enough to just walk it out for 21.2 miles. The 2 biggest things that could potentially get me in this situation are going too hard on the bike and/or not eating enough on the bike. I'm not a big fan of uncertainties, so this evening I made a detailed, hour by hour nutrition plan to make sure I get adequate calories while I'm riding. I've also made a vow to ride by heart rate for the first half of the ride and then by perceived effort until I get to T2.

I think the key for me is to realize that in an Ironman, the swim and bike are just a long warm-up for the marathon.

Running Technique

I've always been a fan of finish line photos since make nice souvenirs from your race (if you're willing to pay for them). At the Colonial Beach Triathlon, the race organizers apparently decided against finish line photos and instead opted for video clips. I never realized how revealing it is to look at your own running technique via video. The nice thing about this setup is that you can also look at other videos from faster runners (see the winner here) to see how their technique differs from your own.

I was actually pretty happy with my form at the end of the run considering how slow I always feel. The big things that I noticed when I compared my video to the overall winner's video are:

1. Cadence: I generally try to maintain a cadence of around 90 strides/minute, but that typically drops as I get fatigued. The winner looked to have a cadence closer to 95 strides/minute and that makes a big difference over any distance (~25 sec/mi).

2. Movement Range: The other big difference that I noticed was hip movement range. The winner looked like he had much more hip flexion and extension than I did. I know that tight muscles much a significant contribution to reduced range of motion, so I'm hoping to get more time of the foam roller to loosen those puppies up.

Don’t Eat Chinese on Race Night (a.k.a. Colonial Beach Triathlon Race Report)

This past weekend I ventured down to Colonial Beach, Virginia for my second tune-up race of the summer. I initially planned on racing Diamond in the Rough Triathlon in Perrymile, MD on Saturday, but my procrastination resulted in missing registration. In a nice turn of events (at least for me), it ended up raining for most of Saturday, resulting in a duathlon at DITRT, while the weather in Colonial Beach on Sunday turned out to be perfect.

Unlike the Ironman branded races I’ve done in past and will be doing later in the summer, this was a much smaller race with a field of less than 200. I always forget how much I enjoy community-run races because there’s a sense of hospitality that you don’t get at larger, corporate races. Registration on Friday took all of 3 minutes and the race packet included two of my favorite stocking stuffers, a 24oz water bottle and a pair of synthetic socks. Booyakasha (see Ali-G). After registration, I went on a search for food and had a hearty appetite for some pasta or rice. Being the adventurous person that I am, I decided against looking for a dependable pre-race staple like Olive Garden and instead used Google Maps to find some highly-rated local fare. I ended up at a nice Chinese Restaurant down the street from the race registration site and over-indulged on a tasty plate of curry chicken and rice. With a full stomach, I was off to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep after watching a bit of cycling on Versus for motivation.

On race morning, my pre-race ritual went off without a hitch. I arrived around 5:45am, setup my transition area and did a quick reverse warm-up of 10 minutes running, 5 minutes riding, and a 10 minute swim. After the warm-up, I had about 15 minutes until my wave began, so I tried to focus on having a strong start to the swim to begin my race day. The swim was two triangular 750m loops, ITU style, in the Potomac. The first leg of the swim required that we swim perpendicular to the current to get to the first and second buoys. This called for constant sighting and adjusting and I was able to do this surprisingly well, albeit slowly. The rest of the swim went smoothly and I finished feeling excited for the bike and run ahead. The bike was uneventful and it was a nice change to only have to ride ~25 mi after all the long rides I’ve done this year. After looking at my times for each discipline, it turns out that this was the fastest 40K I’ve ever done in a race, so all the riding is really paying off. A-yayee-yayee (see Ice Cube).

After the bike, I had a smooth transition and hit the fast and flat run course. My legs felt really energized for the first mile and I thought that I’d be in good shape for an overall PR. Unfortunately, the Chinese that I ate the night before decided to speak up and slow me down for the next mile and a half. Fortunately, I passed a port-o-john and was able to eliminate the problem in about 54 seconds. :) The remainder of the run went much better and I ultimately crossed the line within about 2 minutes of my Olympic distance PR. I would definitely consider doing this race again, though I would try to stay at the race hotel and find a tried-and-true pre-race meal.

The day after the race, I was informed, by my wife, that the writer of one of the blogs that I follow attended the race and posted some pics that he took during the day. Lo and behold, he managed to get great pick of me near the end of the run. Good shooting Rainmaker!

The Crack of Dawn

I can't believe I'm up this early on a non-race day. Today I'm meeting a guy from my Master's class to go for a 1.5-2hr ride before work. The good news is that I'll learn a new route that I can bike to straight from home. The bad news is that we're meeting at 5:20am. These are the times when I realize how crazy this whole process is, especially since I'll be swimming this evening. I have an odd feeling that I'll be asleep by 9 tonight. Yep, just like a 5 year old. Hopefully a swig of 5 Hr Energy will get me through the day.

The New Plan for Nailing My Long Runs

As I mentioned in the last post, there are a number of things that I hope will help me actually "run" my long runs instead of shuffling through them.

1. Technique: When I get tired, I tend to focus on pushing off the ground with my already fatigued quads instead of driving my knees forward using my hip muscles. Turns out that it's much easier to propel yourself by lifting your legs rather than doing the equivalent of single leg squats.

2. Hydration: In contrast to the well placed water fountains on the Lakeshore path in Chicago, there are only a few options for hydration along the Harbor here in Baltimore. Since I sweat like I'm on trial, I decided to invest in a Camelback this past week and it made a huge difference in my energy level at the end of my 14 miler on Sunday. Instead of trying to get by on 40-50oz of fluid, I had about 90 oz of water, plus gels and salt tabs to get me through.

3. Recovery: The most difficult part of Ironman training is following up a long 4+ hour ride on Saturday with a 2+ hour run on Sunday morning. Even if my legs aren't too sore, I often lose motivation about 6 mi into my long runs and this is exactly what happened at Eagleman. I did a little research into supplements that actually show promise as recovery agents and found that branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), and in particular, glutamine, have been shown to improve recovery in a number of studies. I picked up some chewable glutamine tablets at GNC last week and I now try to get at least 5g a day. Hopefully, I'll start to see my recovery strategy pay off in the next couple of weeks.

4. Focus: The last thing that I really need to work on to improve the quality of my long runs is my focus (or as my high school basketball coach would say, mental toughness). Often times when I feel fatigued, I don't feel the kind of burning sensation that I get at the end of a race. Instead, it's like my brain decides to slow down and/or walk even though my legs aren't dead. To combat my waning focus, I now try to accept the onset of mental (aka central) fatigue as a natural feeling and then tell myself that there's much more in the tank. My new running mantra is "if the legs don't hurt, then you can go faster."

Can't Believe It's July

Somehow, almost 16 weeks have gone by since I began training for IM Louisville and now there are only 8 weeks left until race day. Ahhhhhhhhhh! I can definitely say that training has paid off and now I actually feel like completing the race will be possible. As a practice for August, I recently completed Eagleman 70.3 in Cambridge, MD (full race report to be posted soon) on what was an unseasonably hot day. Since then, I've just been chugging along with my training and really trying to focus on my run. At this point, I'm satisfied with my swim and biking endurance and I think that I could complete those legs of the Ironman, albeit slowly, at my current level of fitness. After a disappointing run at Eagleman, I had to assess what was going wrong with the run component of my training and came up with the following problems which I'll discuss in my next post.

1. Technique
2. Hydration
3. Recovery
4. Focus