Thank you sir may I have another. Another bike ride that is.

It has been a few weeks sense the Echo triathlon. I have been making good on my promise to become faster on the bike. I have made some modifications to the bike and the rider. Fist off I basically stopped running and started biking almost every day. I even rode my bike to work last week (16 miles each way). I can feel my legs and arms getting stronger. I would have not guessed that riding my bike would increase the strength in my triceps, but sure enough I feel it. The other changes I have made are to my bike. within 48 hours of the Echo race I had found some used aero bars on ksl.com for $25. They may not be the fanciest or lightest bars but I notice that the give me about .5 - 1 mph fast when in the aero position.


The advice from everyone that I asked basically came down to 3 things.
1. Ride more. You need more time in the saddle to get faster.
2. Aero is faster, period. Hence the aero bars.
3. Lighter more aero wheels are faster.

I am pretty sure that more time riding can't be completely accomplished in a month. I think it is a years type thing. That being said I ride every ride like it is the most important thing in my training. I don't ride to just ride, I am working on speed and power. They may not be there for the IronMan this time, but we will see.

My budget for bike parts was blown long ago. Wheels were pretty much out of the picture. That being said, I found a little side work and my CPA had a set of sub 1500 grams semi aero wheels just hanging in his garage. He said he would let me try them and if I wanted the I could buy the for $350.





Oh yea I want them. They are faster. The speed comes in the form of getting up to speed. They just seem to spin faster and stay faster. I am sure there is some science to it, but faster is faster.

My ironman race is in 13 days and I plan on starting a quick taper starting Thursday morning. I would prefer a full two week taper, but I still needed to put some miles on the bike. Tomorrow and Thursday I will be riding to work again. By next week I will be just keeping loose and not trying to put in any real distance. I want to be completely rested.

Today was a busy day and I only swam a mile this morning and I went for a quick run tonight. Interestingly, I ran almost 5 miles all under an 8 minute mile. That is quick for me. I think the bike might be helping the run. It is however making the swimming harder with my arms being tired.

One last interesting note. I weighed 206 when I had my heart surgery. This morning I weighed 195.5! I know that if I get to 185 my running gets a lot faster.

Step 1: Finish Olympic Triathlon. Check

The First Triathlon

The day finally came for my first triathlon.  The race started at 7:00 AM at Echo Reservoir.  What is interesting about this race is that the parking for the race is 2 miles away.  That means that you have to park your car and pack everything into a backpack and ride to the race.  The 2 miles wasn't a difficult ride, but I might have brought more stuff if I had room.  I also would have worn warmer clothes.  I learned a lot about triathlons that weekend. I mostly learned that I had no idea of what to expect.

 The Swim

The swim started in "deep water" aka deep water start.  Normally this would have sucked treading water while waiting for the starting gun to go off.  This time however I was wearing a wetsuit that floated really well.  I guess that has something to do with why it is supposedly faster.  Even if it wasn't faster I was glad I had it because the water was coooold.  Both of my friends that were in the race told me to find someone fast and stay on their toes.  It sounded like a good idea in theory, but once everybody started swimming it was impossible to distinguish the fast from the slow in the begining of the race.  Looking back at it now, I wish that I had started closer to the starting line of the race.  I had to crawl/swim over a lot of guys to get in a place where I wasn't crowded.  Once I finally separated from the large group I ended up being about 2 -3 minutes behind the lead pack and 2-3 minutes ahead of the second pack.  Basically like usual I ended up swimming alone.   I had been warned that the wetsuit was "supposed to feel tight"  and that in the beginning it might be hard to breath.  Well they weren't kidding, it was hard to breath.  It also didn't just last for the beginning of swim it lasted the whole time.  I also felt like the right sleeve was too far down my arm and it was preventing me from getting a good reach in my swim.  When I got out of the water I literally felt like I was going to be sick.  I think it was due to the lack of oxygen.  I ended up being 1st in my age group for the swim.  A short lived lead that was about to be lost.

T1

I am pretty sure that most of the other athletes ran as fast as they could to there bike and were on their bike within a few minutes.  Me on the other hand, I did run most of the way but I was still feeling sick from the swim. I was really slow getting my shoes, helmet, sunglasses, and gloves on.  Oh wait, I left the gloves on the ground.  Shoes and socks with wet feet was a challenge of its own.  The seasoned athletes all brought a small towel for their feet.  That was a good idea, wish I had thought of it.  After about 4 and 1/2 minutes of fumbling around I eventually grabbed my bike and ran to the bike exit.  It was interesting that you had to carry your bike out of the transition area.  I eventually made it on the road and was off.

The Bike

The first part of the bike I spent fumbling with my GPS.  I didn't think to turn it on before I got on the bike, so it had to find the satellites before it would start recording.  Once it finally started recording I noticed that I had it set up for running.  I decided at that point that I didn't care about the GPS and just concentrated on biking.  I had one person pass me almost immediately on the bike and the next person didn't pass me for about another 5 miles into the bike.  After that it seemed to be a steady stream of people passing me.  I knew that the bike was my weakest sport, but it was difficult to be reminded again, and again, and again.  The ride itself wasn't very difficult.  It was an out and back race, with the first half a slight hill the whole way. I felt comfortable on the bike but not very fast.  It wasn't until after the race I learned that comfortable meant 2nd SLOWEST in my division.  I had a GU about 5 miles into the bike and another one in the same spot on the way back.  My legs felt pretty good and I eventually finished.

T2

The second transition was supposed to be an easy one.  You would think that I could remember where I was supposed to put my bike, but I couldn't find my spot.  I eventually found that another racer had put their bike in my spot and that is why I couldn't find it.  Again, I spent WAY too much time in the transition.

The Run 

The run was trail run that ran parallel  to the bike course.  For some reason I had forgotten that it was a trail run and I brought my super light road shoes.  The good part was that the shoes are fast.  The bad part is that they are thin on padding so rocks in the trail weren't my friend.  Like the bike I felt pretty comfortable on the run.  Like the bike, comfortable also meant slow.  One thing that I noticed was that there were a lot of people wearing hats.  It took about half of the run to see why.  After all the riding, and now running, it was hot.  I found myself wishing that I had a hat to keep the sun out of my face and perhaps the sweat out of my eyes.  The aid stations were about every mile or so and they were giving out water and HEED.  I tried the HEED and about 1/2 mile later my stomach started to ache.  I decided to not try the HEED again.  Overall the run was ok.  Looking back I could have pushed it harder, but I felt ok about it.

What I learned

• I didn't really know what to expect and I was dumb for not asking my triathlon friends more questions.
• I like the wetsuit, but not that brand.  I am too fast in the water to feel sick because my wetsuit was too tight.  I will rent another one that is larger or buy a bib john before my next race.
• I wish I brought a small towel.  That would have saved me at least a minute off my time.  I ended up using a spare shirt that I had, and it didn't work very well.
• I need to be organized BEFORE I come into T1. Maybe if I strap the gloves to my handle bars they might actually make it on the ride with me.
• Start the GPS BEFORE the swim.
• I suck on the bike. I need more training and aero bars.
• I am too fat.  I didn't actually learn this on the race, I already had a pretty good idea that I was too fat.  That being said it became very clear that the real competitors were in a lot better shape than me. 

Final Thoughts

Earlier this week my daughter started the "pre" swim team.  It is basically just training without any racing.  After the first day she said to me that she was the slowest, and in the "slow" lane.  She was pretty discouraged and didn't want to go back.  I told her about how when I started swimming I to was in a "slow" lane but I took it as a challenge rather than a bad thing.  I explained that I would pick a person that was just a little faster than me and try become faster than them.  Once I was faster, I would pick the next fastest person.  Eventually I became the fastest in the pool.  She like the idea and said she would go back.

I have made it my new goal to approach biking like I did when I started swimming in school. I am going to make it my strength and not my weakness.  My first goal is to average 20 + MPH on the bike on my IronMan.  August 7th is coming fast and I am riding like crazy.  I will post more about my biking progress another time. 

The Redemption Run

In an effort to fully test my heart I ran another 1/2 Marathon on the 4th of July.  This race went much better than the last.  First off, my heart didn't bother me at all. However, the rest of my body was a little upset with me.  I decided to test my nutrition on the race.  I usually run with a couple of GU's and a camel back full of water.  This race I went with 1 16 oz water bottle of an electrolyte drink 30 minutes before the race, and when the race started I had about 3/4 of another 16 oz bottle of water left.  I felt really uneasy about not having my reserves.  I also ran without my phone/ipod. I guessed that I would run out of energy sometime in the race.  I was hoping that it would happen sometime between mile 12.75 and 13.1. 

The course was basically down Emigration canyon to the state capitol building.  Most of the course was down hill with a feel steep uphills.  The run itself was pretty good.  I stopped at the water stations and just kept running.  Like most of my races I went out pretty quick.  My pace was in the low 7's for the first 3 or 4 miles. I progressively got slower, but that was ok.  I wasn't really trying to break any records.  You can see the race info in the link to the right of this page.  The nutrition crash came around mile 9.  I could feel my legs just run out of juice.  The remaining 4 miles become less fun.  Being tired on the 1/2 marathon wasn't that big of a deal, but what worries me is next month I have to swim a mile and bike 57 miles BEFORE I even start the run....  I am definitely out of shape and heavier than I would like to be.  I  hope to drop another 5-8 lbs this month.

In my age group I came in 19th place out of 29.  My time was 2:02.  I wanted to break the 2 hour mark but like I said,  my legs were out of juice. It is however over 30 minutes faster than my last race.  It really helps when you don't have to stop and wait for your heart to slow down.  Not to make excuses as to why I wasn't faster, but for some reason the afternoon before the race I thought it would be a good idea to ride 26 miles when it was 101 outside. Strangely I was a little tired before the race. 

This is all building up to my next 2 races in the next month.  I am running my first real triathlon on Saturday, and the IronMan is 1 month away.  The triathlon this weekend will pretty much be my first tri.  I opted for the Olympic distance.  That is a 1500 meter swim, 40K (26 miles) bike, and a 10K (6.4 miles).  I am also using a wetsuit for the first time.  I am a little scared, a little excited, and still really nervous for August 7th.  I hope that this weekend goes well and I learn alot, because it is my only race before the big one.