Goals for 2019

It's early for New Year's resolutions, but I figure I'm giving you all some time to think about them. Who wants to join me for the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) on May 5th? Who wants to join me for a 150-mile bike ride with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society on June 8-9 (starts in Portersville, PA)? Who wants to join me for the Air Force Marathon (26.2 miles) on Sept 21st (Dayton, OH)? Who wants to join our Masters Swim Team in 2019 and compete in meets at YMCAs across western PA? Ok, go! Get in on the fun! Get active with me!

 

(I've been a sloth since my Ironman in September, so this post is just as much for me as it is you)

My first false start as a swimmer

I did something I've never done before in my 8-year career as a swimmer: I had a false start! (that means I left the diving block early, which is a bad thing!). I blame it on the fact that I turned a year older today. I'm just not as sprightly as I used to be, eh? No big deal. In a later race, the 200-yard freestyle, I set a season's best time.

Lost motivation

I walked past the pool today at lunch time. I could have swam, but I chose not to. I have literally done one workout within the last month. Why is it so hard to start up again after an Ironman?

Feeling sick after Ironman

Thank you to all my cheerleaders! My Ironman was a success, and I am home now. I feel lousy. I had an earache on Thursday morning and thought maybe I was getting sick. I didn't notice anything wrong on Friday or Saturday, but today I have a bad sore throat, so it appears I picked up something last week while my defenses were down. They say taking a little zinc may help fight off a cold, but I prefer Iron!

Ironman Maryland Race Report

Race: Ironman Maryland

Date: September 28, 2018

Location: Cambridge, Maryland

Time: 14:21

Overall Rank: X out of XX 

Age Group Rank: X out of X 

Results: http:

 

I returned to work today and met with a few students to help them review for an upcoming exam. One of them got an average score on her first quiz and a below-average score on her second quiz. She told me she wants to be a surgeon. I wouldn’t rule that out as a career for her, but her first few quiz scores suggest she’s going to struggle to achieve that goal. In my role as a professor, youth-group leader, and step-parent, I know of so many kids that dream big. They want to be the best in everything they do. However, that kind of success is very rare. As an adult, I find that I am good at doing lots of things, but there is always someone better or something more I could have done. So what does this all have to do with my second Ironman race? Everything. I am like that student who scored okay on her first quiz but not so well on her second. I finished the race but didn’t perform as well as I wanted. I’m never going to be at the top of my age group. I’m never going to win, but the drive to be better next time remains. Until I became an adult, I never knew that athletic endeavors were a true metaphor for life; success comes from hard work; success may come a lot later than you expect; your definition of success may change with time; and success usually has more to do with how you deal with adversity than it does with how many competitors you beat. I don’t know yet whether or not I will do another Ironman 140.6-mile race. I think I will. I had an amazing time in Maryland, and I’ve still got some work I’d like to do. Here are some stories from this weekend:

Sandwich Snafu

My “secret sauce” that boosted my spirits during my first Ironman in 2016 was a 6-inch Subway sandwich I ate halfway through the bike route. I attempted this again this year, but after picking up the sandwich Friday night, I forgot to put it in the motel room refrigerator. Discovering this error at 4:15am when I got up, I threw the sandwich out and had less of a lunch on Saturday than planned. I didn’t anticipate that missing a sandwich would have much impact on my race, but in retrospect, my body really did miss the extra 340 calories and 1,090 mg of sodium.

 

Porta Potty Problem

I narrowly avoided a disaster right at the start of the race. There were only 33 porta potties set up for 1400 athletes and family members to use during the hour before our 6:45am start time. I got in line at 6:22am. My turn to use the facility didn’t come until 6:44am. While I was in line I went through my two options: (1) start the race on time in an uncomfortable state, or (2) use the toilet and start late. I decided on the second option. This was to be a 13- or 14-hour race, so I figured starting a few minutes late wouldn’t be a big deal. This choice would have been fine had I brought my wetsuit, goggles, and morning clothes bag with me to the porta potty. However, I left these items in the transition zone with my bike (because I never anticipated spending 22+ min in line), and had to go pick them up after I was done using the bathroom. 

 

The huge crowd of athletes and guests trying to use the portable toilets prior to the race at Ironman Maryland. This almost cost me any chance of finishing my race.

The problem was that according to the rules, the transition zone closes at the start of the race. When I attempted to enter, a volunteer stopped me and said “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t let you through.” I lingered and paced for a moment, thinking about what to do. I wondered if I was finished already, without having begun. Then I wondered if I could swim the 2.4-mile course without a wetsuit and without goggles. I wasn’t about to quit now, so this is what I was going to do. Swimming in open water without goggles would have been a severe hardship. I was nearly ready to accept this fate when I saw a race official, and I pleaded with her to gain access to my wetsuit bag. She said no, but she decided she could get my stuff. “What do you need?” she asked. I said “grab everything!” Of course I needed my wetsuit and goggles, but the clothes bag contained my wallet, keys, and phone. 

Mine is not a fancy bike, but it gets the job done.

 

Maybe the official broke a rule on my behalf, and for that I am both sorry and thankful. She saved my race. I ran over to the drop-off site for my clothes bag, put my wetsuit on, and lined up with other swimmers. Fortunately with the time-trial entry, there were plenty of athletes who had not yet entered the water, and I had time to regroup and settle my nerves.

 

Waiting for our wave start of the swim at Ironman Maryland. Not my photo. I'm not sure where I downloaded it from.

 

2.4-mile Swim Course

I really enjoyed the swim. It was not as crowded as I anticipated, and I saw no jellyfish. Apparently there were some this year, but not as many as in past years. I honestly looked forward to encountering a few because it would make for an even better Ironman challenge. The water was not choppy, but a strong current pushed the swimmers to the left as we started the loop and to the right as we finished up. The swim course was actually two loops around the same set of buoys, and as I finished my first loop I could hear the announcer at the water exit cheer for the “first woman to finish the swim!” How do people swim that fast!? Maybe I wasn’t a fast swimmer, but my body was handling the distance well. My arms did not feel fatigued and I could have gone on for another mile or more. The only pain I experienced was early in the swim when my lower back started to hurt. At first I couldn’t figure out why I’d get pain in that area since swimming doesn’t tax the muscles there. However, the biologist in me realized that it was “referred pain,” that is, pain felt in one location due to a problem at another location. In this case, the wetsuit was too tight at my crotch and was causing “my boys” to be unhappy. I stopped swimming for a moment to adjust their position. In case you didn’t know, athletes regularly talk about bodily functions, so my testicular discomfort is just another detail to keep this story interesting. You are going to be okay.

 

Swim course at Ironman Maryland. Good weather and calm waters. Not too crowded, and no jellyfish. A great swim!

I finished the swim in 1:29, which was 1 minute slower than in 2016. This difference is insignificant and I was pleased. Compared to my gender age group, I was 109 out of 199 athletes (top 55%). My swims at other triathlons usually put me in the top 25% of my age group, but not at Ironman. These are more experienced and better trained athletes than the weekend warriors I usually compete against.

 

112-mile Bike Course

There were so many athletes exiting the transition zone at the same time that it took a dozen miles for me to filter through them and go the speed I wanted. There are penalties if athletes are caught drafting (following too close), blocking (riding side-by-side), or passing too slowly (a pass must occur within 25 seconds), so it took some time and effort to pass someone. I didn’t want to burn too much extra fuel by repeated passes, but I was feeling some adrenaline and wanted to! To my credit, I kept my speed nice and steady at 18.5 mph for the first 43 miles. Between miles 43 and 52, my Garmin shows I slowed to around 16 mph. I just looked at the course map and this section matched up precisely with my travel on the west side of the loop going north on Route 9. Guess what direction the wind was blowing? That’s right; I was getting a headwind in this section.

 

I remember someone asking me a few days before the race, “Will all the birds in the National Wildlife Refuge distract you?” My answer was “No, unfortunately, I’ll be keeping my head down and concentrating on going fast,” but that’s not entirely what happened. There were beautiful, open, and watery sections of the landscape where I looked for birds to keep my mind occupied and my spirit playful. I saw a heron, some egrets, mallards, cormorants, and fish crows. In addition, I heard blue jays and cardinals, woodpeckers and wrens.

Typical scene on the bike ride at Ironman Maryland. I took this photo the day after my race.

 

Given that people were not supposed to ride side-by-side, there was very little talking among athletes. It would not have been easy to share my sighting of an egret with anyone. It was heartening to find at least two sets of partners doing the race together. In one case, I heard the guy behind me giggle as he passed me, and I asked what was funny. He said he just saw his girlfriend up ahead, and watching their reunion was fun, if only fleeting. He passed her and kept going; that’s fine. In another case, in the windy section I came upon a man and woman, both in their upper 50s and in matching triathlon suits. He was following her, and as I passed him I asked if that was his wife. He said “Yes, we are doing this together. This is her second Ironman, and this is my first!” It was mile 86 and he was still very excited. I truly hope that my wife and I will go on some big adventure like this when we are that age. It’s important to keep doing new things, and do them together.

 

Lunch was at mile 64 in a high school parking lot. Mom and Dad had ridden a bus to get to that spot in an effort to see me, and there they were at the entrance to the parking lot! I couldn’t stop right there, though, so I continued a little ways to the place where they were giving the athletes the “special needs bags,” which we had packed for ourselves. This is where I was missing my Subway sandwich, but I had packed an apple and a bag of chips. I ate those as I walked through the parking lot to see my parents. My Garmin tells me I stopped for only 10 minutes to eat and talk. This is less time than in 2016, and that’s probably good. In fact, the walk was good for me because I was experiencing a lot of hip discomfort on the left side during the bike ride, and this cleared the pain up for the remainder of the day.

My bike speed during the Ironman Maryland race (blue line, right vertical axis). My heart rate is shown by the gray bars. Lunch occurred midway through the race.

 

I feel like a lot of people passed me during my short lunch. The second loop featured far fewer cyclists. I got a burst of energy after lunch and went more than 22 mph for the first 10 miles. This also corresponds to a tailwind, but I didn’t know that at the time. I just felt good, and despite worrying about burning out, I pedaled hard in high gear.

 

I knew I was still “on track” when I finished the bike leg. I knew that in 2016 I had completed the bike course in 6:42, and my official 2018 results show a bike time of 6:38. Isn’t that extraordinary? The two bike courses were in different states (I was in Ohio in 2016) and under different weather conditions, but yet my performance was nearly the same. In fact, if I remove the “lunch break” from my bike data, in 2016 I spent 6:19 on the bike going an average speed of 17.8 mph. In 2018, I spent 6:15 on the bike going an average speed of 17.8 mph. Amazing!

 

Nutrition and Hydration

Done with the swim and the bike, I was ready to start my run. I felt good, but that feeling wouldn’t last. They say that nutrition/hydration is the fourth leg of triathlon and this is where I floundered. An endurance athlete is supposed to consume about 200 calories per hour of exercise (this is a simplification of data in a book by Matt Dixon). For me on the bike, that would be 6.5 hrs x 200 = 1,300 calories. I didn’t document every GU energy gel, Honey Stinger waffle, banana, and mini Clif Bar that I consumed, but I tried to stay on a schedule where I ate and drank something every 20 minutes, and I think this would add up to at least 1,300 calories.

 

My fluid intake was not far off recommended parameters. I should have been drinking around 24 ounces per hour. For me, that would be 6.5 hrs x 24 = 156 ounces = 5.5 bottles of water/Gatorade. I recall discarding 3 empty bottles from my bike (aid stations were placed every 15 miles on the route to resupply athletes), and the two still on my bike at the end of my ride were nearly empty.

 

I think I got into problems with sodium and other electrolytes. Guidelines suggest a sodium intake of at least 700 mg per hour during an event like Ironman in cooler weather (today’s air temperature was around 70 degrees). Looking at my intake, I estimate I was getting 375 mg from food, 143 mg from Gatorade, and 66 mg of salt supplement per hour. That’s only 83% of what I should have been taking in. These are pretty rough estimates, but what if I had consumed that Subway sandwich for lunch? That would have raised my salt intake to an average of 752 mg per hour. I never would have thought a sandwich would be so important!

 

Having just finished the 112 mile bike ride, I'm about to start my 26.2 mile run at Ironman Maryland.

26.2-mile Run Course

After a quick visit with Mom and Dad in the transition zone, I started out on the run. I felt great. In fact, the bike shoes had felt tight and getting into running shoes gave me some relief. I started with an 8:15 min per mile pace, and quickly dialed it down because I knew that wouldn’t be sustainable. However, just two weeks earlier I maintained an average 8:45 pace for the Air Force Half Marathon, and I felt optimistic about today’s run. I therefore chose to stick to a 9:00-10:00 min pace for today’s race.

 

My Garmin watch data shows I stuck to this goal for about 3.5 miles. From there, I steadily slowed down. At mile 5, I had a 10:51 pace. At mile 6, I had a 10:48 pace. At mile 7, I had a 10:53 pace. By this time I was feeling dizzy and weak. There were other runners around me who were experiencing some of the same symptoms; they were weaving back and forth, and some had already knelt to the ground as if they were trying not to faint. Just a little before mile 8, I decided I was in bad enough shape that if I continued to exert myself, I would lose my balance and fall over. So I walked. I walked for 38 minutes. This section of the running route took me into the town of Cambridge where crowds were cheering for early finishers. Since the course was looped, I would have to pass by this point twice more before I was done. Spectators didn’t have any way to know how far along I was, so most of them seemed to think I was finishing. As they encouraged me, I got emotional. They were so happy and yet I was so sad because I was walking and had many miles to cover before I would finish. I never doubted that I would finish; I just knew I wouldn’t finish early, and I felt like I failed. I eventually convinced myself that I was feeling a little better in the head (not dizzy), so I tried to run again. Immediately, I got an abdominal cramp and my calf muscles were twitching. I pushed through this for 16 minutes to the next aid station where I stopped to walk and get food and drink. Attempting to run again, I found that I couldn’t get my legs to move fast enough, and my calves were going to seize up at any moment.

I walked for another hour and 28 minutes. I really, really wanted to run, so I tested my legs twice more during this period to see if the cramping was over. No success. I stopped at a porta potty and found my urine to be thick and dark. The muscle cramps, weakness, and dark urine suggested my water and salt levels were still out of balance. At that point, at mile 17.5, I determined that I couldn’t run and so I would just concentrate on walking fast and trying to have a good time doing it. Today wasn’t my day. “Let’s move past it,” I thought. I turned off the “run” setting on my watch and switched it to “walk.” I started to converse with a few other walkers. I started to look at the colored clouds and the setting sun at dusk. I thanked God for helping me get to this point in my race and my life.

 

Run cadence measured over the first 17 miles of the Ironman Maryland run segment. Green levels indicate pretty efficient running for a person of my height. But then as I started to suffer from electrolyte imbalance, I slowed (orange) and eventually had to walk (red).

My running pace during the first 17 miles of the Ironman Maryland run segment is shown by the blue line. Heart rate is in gray. I had to walk after mile 7 and again around mile 12.

Ha! That didn’t last. Six minutes later I thought “I’m at mile 18 and if I keep walking at a pace around 15 min/mile, that’s 2 more hours to go! I won’t finish until 9:45pm.” That would be well before the midnight cutoff, but I wanted to be done now, not two hours from now. So I started to run. I ran 4 miles without stopping. I saw Mom and Dad cheering for me along that stretch but I could not stop for fear of losing my momentum. I did the second loop through the town and saw all the same spectators there, and they could see I was feeling good and they thought I was about to finish. I let them think that, and I gave them a bunch of high-fives. My calves started to seize up after 4 miles, so I slowed to walk again, but my spirits were high and I had just gotten to mile 22. This thing was almost done. I could do the rest. My watch battery died, so I don’t know how much of the remaining 4.2 miles I ran and how much I walked, but it was a mix. I was walking at mile 25 and knew I could run the rest of the way, so I started up one last time and entered the town again for all the spectators’ support. Unfortunately, the dinner hour was done and a lot of them had either gone home or moved to the finish line.

 

Indeed, the finish line was lined with spectators. I wanted to get the most of it so I started on the left of the chute, slapping hands as I passed, and then I switched to the right side. I immediately saw my parents with their cow bell, white board sign, and the two funny, spinning, colored light toys they acquired somewhere during their own life journey (One showed up in 2016 but I didn’t remember them having two!). I ran past them and got to the finish line with my arms in the air. I really felt like I was hamming it up, but when I see the video of me finishing, I look pretty tired and not as enthused as I felt.

 

Me at the finish line

of Ironman Maryland 2018.

 

Volunteer Catcher

There were hundreds of volunteers helping with this race, and one position some of them had was “catcher.” These folks are at the finish line and grab you by the arm just as you finish, making sure you don’t fall over. I didn’t need catching, but I appreciated the calming presence of my catcher. He steered me by the arm to where I got my finisher’s medal and where they removed my timing chip. He steered me over to another volunteer who gave me a hat and a shirt. He steered me to the photo area where they took my photo. Then he asked me what else he could do, and I asked him “Where’s the food?” For those of you who know me well, that was a very “Jim” thing to say. If I had lost myself during the marathon, I was back now. I was well.

 

My official run time was 5:54. This compares to 5:01 when I did my Rev3 race in 2016. I’m surprised that walking about half the marathon only slowed me down by 53 minutes (compared to 2016 when I was able to run nearly the whole thing). But the math helps me understand it; a fast walk is only 3 or 4 minutes per mile slower than a slow run.

 

I admit to being disappointed in my finish time of 14 hours and 21 minutes. This is 43 minutes slower than my personal best in 2016, but it’s only a 5% difference. I really can’t complain! I didn’t do it to win. I did it to have fun and feel alive. I tell my students all the time that life is full of challenges and you grow the most when you have to struggle. Things that come easy are not worth much. So yes, I think I’ll do another. I’ve got more work to do, and there will be more joy to come.

Ironman Maryland goal time

I’ll be racing in Ironman Maryland on Saturday 9/29. The triathlon consists of a 2.4 mile swim + 112 mile bike ride + 26.2 mile run. I will start around 6:45am and I hope to beat my previous IM finish time of 13 hours and 38 minutes, set in 2016. I will have family cheering at the finish line, but I am even less likely to stop or quit if I know that people back home are supporting me, too. If you want to see how I’m doing on Saturday, please download the Ironman Tracker app onto your smartphone or go to www.ironman.com on race day, find live coverage of the Maryland race, and search for me by last name or bib (#1312).

Full of Spark

Ironman Maryland is one week from today! I'm having trouble concentrating on anything else. This is why I'm doing it. It makes life full of spark. There's always a period of anticipation before a big event. This week, for me, is like Advent before Christmas. (um, sorry Jesus. This is probably not my best analogy).

Air Force Half Marathon 2018

Race: Air Force Half Marathon

Date: September 15, 2018

Location: Dayton, OH

Time: 1:55:33

Overall Rank: X out of XX 

Age Group Rank: X out of X 

Results: http:

 

I ran the Air Force Half Marathon yesterday and beat my previous time from 2017 by 38 seconds (8:50/mile pace). I worked really hard for those 38 seconds, so I feel very accomplished. It was a hard race after mile 8 or so. The sun broke through the clouds about that time, and despite my best efforts, I think I got dehydrated in the 80-degree temperature. Evidence of this was a mild abdominal cramp during the run and the significant leg cramps I got after I finished. Otherwise, my legs felt strong and my breathing didn't seem labored. My heart rate averaged 90% of my maximum, which is a pretty high workload to sustain for almost 2 hours (1:55:33 to be exact). My cadence averaged 169 steps per minute, which is reasonable for a tall person like me; however, it dropped to less than 160 spm in the last 20 minutes of my race, which probably indicates I was tiring out. On the other hand, most people, after about 90 minutes of exertion, transition from reliance on glycogen energy stores in the liver to reliance on fat energy stores. I’ve been reading a book on running, and the author states that fat can fuel a runner indefinitely, but that the running speed is slower compared to when the exercise is fueled by glycogen. Was that what I was feeling? Or maybe since I read that only a day or two ago, it was fresh on my mind and I grasped on to the idea to explain the growing shadow of exhaustion I saw coming up behind me as I ran into mile 11. In any case, I pushed on, knowing that I’d be done soon, and that Shannan would be looking for me at mile 12.5, and I wanted to be doing my best when she saw me. She took a photo then, and in viewing it, I shudder to think that was “doing my best,” but I was.

Overall, I am really pleased to have had a good performance. I needed to do well, since I’ll be running twice the distance at Ironman Maryland in two weeks. I’ve struggled a bit in my running this summer, so an unqualified success today was necessary to keep my confidence strong going into my upcoming race. I can also rest easy knowing that my knee problems did not cause me any discomfort today, and my new shoe inserts worked perfectly so that I don’t have any arch pain, either. Running has not been nice to my body this year! My only advice to myself is to hydrate even more before my next race, and of course, go at a slower pace so I don’t overheat.

 

A ride in the rain

I think about 45 of my 57-mile bike ride today was in the rain, followed by a 20-min run, also in the rain. The temperature was 61. It could have been miserable, but once I warmed up, my spirits were good. I am thankful for the fairly large network of paved recreation paths in Pittsburgh; without it, I would have had to worry about other drivers' visibility and traction besides my own.

August 2018 update

August totals: 18 miles swimming + 338 miles biking + 75 miles running = 437 miles. Well, it's time to reckon with the truth about my Ironman preparedness. Compared to 2016 when I did my first one, I have a deficit for the year in the amount of 373 miles of swimming, biking, and running. This represents 16% of my total. In August alone, I have a deficit of 25 miles, all of which is running. This is entirely Kennywood's fault. On July 31, the inertial forces of a roller coaster caused me to smash my knee into the metal seat in front of me. My knee is 90% better now, but pain and a forced limp caused me to limit my mileage. Well, the reason doesn't matter much, now does it? I feel unprepared for the run segment next month at my race, and since I should be entering my taper soon (the period before a race when an athlete decreases volume, allowing the body to recuperate), I shouldn't do too many more long runs. Ironman is as much a mental endeavor as it is physical. I'll have to work on my confidence in September!

My 6th annual Presque Isle Triathlon

Race: Presque Isle Sprint Triathlon

Date: August 26, 2018

Location: Erie, PA

Time: 1:22:29

Overall Rank: 62 out of 247

Age Group Rank: 7 out of 18

Results: http:

 

As always, my race report is too long. For those with limited interest, just know that I had one of my best performances at the Presque Isle Sprint Triathlon in recent years, and I had fun. For those of you who care more, read on!

 

This was my 6th time racing at Presque Isle State Park. I finished the course in 1:22:29, coming in 7th in my age group (of 18) and 62nd place overall (of 247). The course this year was in a different part of the park so it is hard to compare this year’s results with previous ones, but 62nd place is the best I’ve ever finished. Interestingly, my best segment was the 12.5 mile bike ride, in which I came in 54th place (finishing in 36:39, my average speed was 20.4 mph), but my swim segment was not far off (58th place, finishing 775 yards in 14:43). My running segments have never been my strong suit but I actually had a solid performance today, running 3.1 miles in 25:29 at a pace of 8:02 miles/min. This was the 73rd fastest run among the 247 competitors, and it was by far the fastest running pace I have ever had during a triathlon.

 

Observers report that my transition times were slow. It takes considerable time for me to strip off my wetsuit in T1, and I admit to spending an extra 10 seconds to my T2 today, as I chose to walk from where my bike was racked to the transition zone exit where the run course began. I didn’t think my transition times were any worse than normal, but it’s definitely true that I was slow compared to my friend Dan. Dan’s finish time was 66 seconds faster than mine; he placed 5th in our age group. This is typical, as he has always beaten me, and I admire him for that. The funny thing is that his success over me was not necessarily in the way I expected it. He out-performed me by 22 seconds in the swim, 54 seconds in T1, 8 seconds on the bike, and 35 seconds in T2. All of this is typical. However, I had a faster run by 53 seconds (not typical). If my transition times were equal to his, I would have beaten him by 23 seconds. So my friends, this is a great reminder that transitions during the triathlon count, and a race can be won or lost because of them. We shall not speak of my transition times again.

 

Besides all these statistics, I want to say this was a fun race. The weather was beautiful. The swim was in Lake Erie at Beach 10. The swim was a wave start, and I positioned myself with 3 or 4 rows of swimmers ahead of me in the middle of the pack. I didn’t really plan it that way, but after the race began and I found myself with kicking feet in my face and swimmers crowding me from both sides, I figured this was great practice for my upcoming Ironman, where the swim course will be populated with 2000 swimmers all at once. I didn’t panic and I didn’t even get frustrated. I just swam left or right to find a hole between swimmers. I drifted to the outside, away from the buoys. I probably swam a farther distance than I had to, but with water clearer of competitors, I could relax. Indeed, I didn’t swim at top speed. Maybe I was thinking about my longer Ironman swim (going slower means I can swim longer…), but honestly I just wanted to feel comfortable. That strategy doesn’t win races, but it does preserve the fun.

 

I started the bike segment using my typical strategy of maintaining a pedal cadence of 80-100 rounds per minute. With this, my speedometer hovered around 19 mph. About a third of the way through my ride, though, I began to second-guess this strategy. Science shows that at a cadence of 80-100 rpm, a cyclist is at the peak of energy efficiency. Just like a car, if one has high efficiency, one can go more miles using the same amount of energy (food for the body, or fuel for a car). But this was a sprint race! I’d be finished in less than an hour and a half, and I have trained my body to exercise for a lot longer than that. It therefore didn’t matter if I was burning fuel a little less efficiently, because it didn’t need to last that long. With this eureka moment, I shifted into a higher gear and pedaled at a lower cadence. This pushed me into the 21-22 mph range. I stayed aero for the whole race and tried to concentrate on making my pedal stroke smooth (if slower), and to keep my toes pointed forward at all times. This is something I’m not yet in the habit of doing all the time, but I am working on it. This foot position puts more force into each stroke and I can literally feel the bike thrust forward when I do it.

 

The bike segment featured unprecedented wind off the bay. There were wind gusts that pushed me from side to side, and I don’t remember ever being exposed to that condition before. Nearly all the wind was perpendicular to my direction of movement, so I wasn’t slowed down too much. Even during the higher gusts, my speed only dropped to 18 mph.

 

Running straight off the bike always feels strange, and today was no exception. I am so glad I have a GPS watch now, because it can tell me my running pace at any given moment. I was initially running at a pace of 7:45 miles/min. I knew this was not sustainable for me, so I tried to slow down. The key word here is “try,” because I only had limited success. I felt like I was running down a hill (I wasn’t) and putting on the brakes wasn’t having much effect. After about a mile, I got to an 8:10 pace and kept it there. I was working hard, my legs hurt, my breathing was labored, and my heart monitor tells me I was at the top of my range. Exactly right. This is what it should feel like toward the end of a race. At age 43, I don’t know how much faster I can train my body to be in swimming, cycling, and running. However, after 7 years of doing triathlons, I feel my experience allows me to race smarter. I know my limits and I know how much to push on any given day. Let’s just not mention those transitions. I want to end this report on a positive note.

July 2018 update

I'm in trouble with my ironman training. This July I managed to swim 11 miles, bike 198 miles and run 57 miles. This sounds good until one considers that in the same time frame in 2016, when I was training for my first ironman, I swam 18 miles, biked 389, and ran 90. Two vacations this July and a greater dedication to family activities and home projects have reduced my mileage this year. I've got no regrets, but I'm getting worried now.

June 2018 update

June fitness totals: swimming 8 miles, cycling 233 miles, running 65 miles. I'm almost exactly where I need to be for my Ironman training. Compared to 2016 when I was doing similar training, I am 10 miles behind schedule, but that's negligible.

Professional Bike Fit

I had a professional bike fit today. It's been 7 years since my last one, so I figured it was time. The technician was Matt Tinkey, an athletic trainer at UPMC's Lemieux Sports Complex. He first changed the position of my bike cleats to better transfer force from my feet to the pedals. He also gave me inserts for my shoes to limit rolling of the foot inside the shoe with each pedal stroke. Next he had me try a variety of seats to use, as my current seat was worn and, as evidenced by video analysis, caused my pelvis to rock left and right as I pedaled. The new seat reduced the rocking. Extra movement like that leads to extra muscle contractions that unnecessarily burn fuel and tax the nervous system. In a 140-mile triathlon, I want to conserve as much energy as possible during the bike segment so that I can use it during the run.

 

So after deciding on a new seat, Matt measured my knee angle and found it satisfactory. Video analysis confirmed that my knees were bending at appropriate angles. The video also showed that I move my ankles too much during the pedal stroke. Sometimes my foot points up, sometimes down; it should really just point forward most of the time, varying only by 15 degrees or less. My ankles flex by more than 25 degrees, so this is something I will want to work on (there is no mechanical fix for this!).

 

Video analysis showed that my back posture on the bike is too rounded. What this does is increase my aerodynamics, but it comes at the expense of limiting quadriceps and hamstring contractions and prevents me from breathing deeply. Over the next 4-5 weeks I am supposed to train myself to sit straighter, and once I have done that, he will lower my handlebars to make me more aerodynamic while in the better posture.

 

Matt next changed the angle of my handlebars--specifically, the "hoods" where I rest my hands. The new angle takes pressure off the thumb and better distributes it across the rest of my palm. I didn't even know this was adjustable!

 

Lastly, Matt pushed my areobars forward and angled them upward so that when I rest my arms on them, my upper back and neck are more relaxed, and I'll be likely to hold the aero position longer when I'm relaxed.

 

Overall, I got the advice and adjustments that I was looking for, and I can't wait to test out the new cycling skills and bike position next week during a 64-mile ride I have planned

Kinderhook Mile 2018

Race: The Kinderhook Mile

Date: June 9, 2018

Location: Greensburg, PA    

Time: 6:19

Overall Rank: X out of XX 

Age Group Rank: X out of X 

Results: http:

 

 I ran a timed 1-mile race this morning (The Kinderhook Mile, on Maple Street in Greensburg, sponsored by the YMCA). I have never raced that distance before, so it was a mystery how I'd do. My finish time was 6:19. Shannan ran, too, and we waited around for awards. I thought I might get an award in my age group. But no, I got sixth in my age group. I would have had to run it in less than 5:37 in order to place. Wow, those men were fast! [BTW, this race course had a net elevation loss of 122 feet, so the downhill nature of the course is why the times were so fast.]

May 2018 update

In May I swam 4 miles (not much!) and biked 187 and ran 41 miles. The biking and running totals are more than I did in 2016, the last time I was preparing for an Ironman triathlon. My 2018 mileages are nearly equal to my mileages at this time in 2016, so I'm doing well with my training. Yay!

Idlewild 5K run

Race: Idlewild 5K

Date: May 28, 2018

Location: Ligonier, PA

Time: 23:58

Overall Rank: 31 out of 182

Age Group Rank: 5 out of 20

Results: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/46929/IndividualResult/QJqN?resultSetId=117898#U11570055

 

Dear Donna Banko: I just ran the 5K at Idlewild and guess who came in second place overall? Your son, Dean! Wow, tell him congrats for me, My run was very good, at least for me. It was my second-fastest 5K ever, with a time of 23:57.

April 2018 update

Ironman Maryland is 22 weeks away! I'll be ready. My April workout totals:Swimming 7 miles + Cycling 65 miles + Running 77 miles = 148 miles. What the?! I have never run so many miles in one month.

AMYMSA Championships 2018

I took my swimming league’s championship very seriously this year. Masters swimming is much less about beating other swimmers and teams, but instead, it is about setting personal goals and trying to beat them. My goal this year was to come as close as possible to repeating the performances I had last year when I achieved 6 personal bests out of 7 events. That was huge, so I didn’t think it would be realistic to perform quite as well this time. Instead of 6 personal bests, my goal was one. Good news! I beat that goal and set 2 new personal bests out of 7 events. Here’s a rundown:

 

SATURDAY

Event #3: 100-yard Freestyle

This would be my best opportunity for a personal best because I had not swum this at Spire before. The pool at Spire is state-of-the-art and due to design features, its waters are free of waves and turbulence that in other pools slow swimmers down. All I would have to do is lower my time by more than 1.5%, and I’d get a personal best. That seemed likely, given that in the past two years at Spire, I was able to lower my times by an average of 1.6%. On the starting block I pulled up my hips like Coach Josh had shown me a few days before, and I rocketed into the water at the starting beep. My dive felt fast, I kicked hard, and took no breaths in the first length. I almost missed the wall at the first turn, and that slowed me down a little, but I kept going and had a good turn the second time. Heading into the wall again at the opposite end, I flipped over too soon and only the tips of my toes brushed the wall for the push off. Danise said I came to a complete stop in the water. It’s hard to recover from that, but I tried. I finished the event in 1:03.88, which was 0.31 seconds slower than my personal best. This record could have been easily broken by 2 full seconds had it not been for that bad turn. Knowing this, I was optimistic about the rest of my swims at champs; this swim showed I was in peak condition.

 

Event #7: 50-yard Freestyle

I couldn’t imagine beating my personal best of 27.00 in this event, set at Spire last year. I do this swim every month at swim meets, and throughout 2017-18, I had never swum this faster than 28.50. I didn’t care. I would just go as fast as I could. I plunged into the water and pulled hard with my arms with each stroke. I had planned my breaths ahead of time: no breaths going out, and two breaths on the way back. This is where my personality gets in the way of things. On the way back, I didn’t really feel the need to breathe. But my plan said I should. The debate in my head caused me to take an awkward half-breath that didn’t do me much good. In fact, Shannan said I paused in my stroke when I took that breath. I finished in 27.26 seconds. That’s right; if I had skipped that (unneeded) breath entirely, I would have beaten my personal best!

 

Event #9: 50-yard Breaststroke

My personal best in this event was 37.34, set way back in 2013. My 2017-18 season’s best time was close, so in Spire’s awesome pool, I knew I had a chance to set a new record. The problem with breaststroke is that you can go fast in two different ways: (1) increase your stroke rate, or (2) increase the glide between strokes. I’m never sure which works best for me. For the last few years I have been doing the former. This year I planned to do the latter. I was talking to Gary about this as we lined up at the starting blocks. He gave me some pointers on what might make one’s breaststroke faster, and I appreciated that, but the moment before a race is never the time to experiment with a new technique. I don’t remember my dive or pullout, but what I do remember is the novel sensation of water rushing over my freshly shaven legs. I’ve never shaved my legs before, but for this one swim it was worth it. I concentrated on my kick, making it push as much water behind me as I could. I could feel every water molecule as I did it, and I savored the sensation. I finished in 37.15 seconds, a new personal best.

 

SUNDAY

Event #12: 500 –yard Freestyle

I felt less energy on Sunday morning than I did on Saturday, so I didn’t know what would happen with this long-distance race. I didn’t expect to lower my personal best set at Spire last year because in my training during the previous month I have been doing a lot of sprints and not practicing my longer distances. Anyway, I had two strategies this year. First, I wanted to quicken my pace after length 14, because that is when I typically slow down due to fatigue. To quicken my pace, I concentrated on reaching farther with my arms and pulling more water. Looking at my results, I see that this had no effect. I still got slower. I admit at this point I was thinking about my future swims and I didn’t want to go too fast. My second strategy was to stay with my nearest competitor in the water because he had a similar seed time. This didn’t work because I went too fast and got well ahead of him during the first half of my swim. He came charging past me midway through, and I didn’t have the energy to keep up at that point. Despite not improving in the ways that I wanted, I finished this swim in 6:50.65, just 0.41 seconds slower than my personal best. If only I had added one extra kick to length 11, or streamlined a little more on turn 6, or shaved the little hairs on my toes!! Missing my record by one tenth of one percent was the hardest thing to endure this weekend. The regret was sour! That’s ok, I can learn from this.

 

Event #16: 50-yard Butterfly

This swim was the longest-shot for obtaining a new personal best. My season’s best time had been 32.18 and my personal best was 30.06 seconds. I’d have to increase my speed by more than 7% to set a new record. Not likely, but I love the 50 Fly and I really wanted this one to be my best swim of the weekend. I’d been practicing it a lot, and doing a lot of weight training to help my upper body strength. I was confident enough that I asked Shannan to record it on video. Dan and I were in adjacent lanes, and that can sometimes cause me some subconscious stress as I try to beat my friend and competitor. Today, though, I paid Dan no attention when we were in the water. As he said, “In a 50-yard race, there is no time to look around.” I’m really happy with my swim. I planned to take 4 breaths but only took one or two. My turnover was fast, and I felt like I was just skimming the surface the whole time. I finished in 30.75 seconds. Percentage-wise, this was my second-worst performance of the weekend, but I don’t feel bad about it at all. I did everything I had trained to do, and I had fun.

 

Event #20: 50-yard Backstroke

This is the one swim I am disappointed with. I had been practicing my backstroke a lot, and I felt I had a decent shot at breaking a personal record. Alas, I couldn’t get my hips up. This is not a problem in practice, but when I go at race pace, I somehow lose my posture and create a lot of drag under the water. I finished in 37.30 seconds, much slower than my personal best of 36.02.

 

Event #21: 200-yard Freestyle

I had little time to rest before this next event, my last of the meet. Since it was my last swim, I didn’t have to save any energy for a later swim. The chance of a personal best was somewhat low, given my season’s best time was 3.2% slower than my record of 2:27.86. I concentrated on a good dive and long stroke length. I felt invigorated and powerful. I punched the wall at 2:27.45 and smiled wide.

March 2018 update

One week from now my competitive swim season will be over. I'm excited. But I'll still swim each week for triathlon season! Here are my March totals: Swimming 12 miles + Cycling 97 miles + Running 38 miles = 148 miles. This total is about 20% less than last month, but that's ok. My bike's been in the shop and my foot's been sore. Gotta take care of those things to make way for a big spring.

February review

My Ironman training has gone well this month. I really lost motivation in 2017 and January of this year, but I've got it back...big time. I've been doing almost daily workouts for four weeks now. My mileage: Swimming = 11 miles, Biking = 137 miles, Running = 38 miles, for a total of 186 miles. This is 49% more miles than in 2016 when I was training for my last Ironman race. Of course, quality of training is better than quantity, so I'm following the advice of my workout plan by staying within certain heart rate zones. I'm also trying to improve run efficiency by increasing my cadence, and my swim efficiency by using more bilateral breathing. There are about 5 weeks left before my swim league's championship, so in March I plan to work on some bad habits I've developed, and do extra weight lifting sessions. I'm having a great time being physical! It's a great stress reliever. You should try it out if you haven't gotten into this habit! That is all.

What's the point of a second Ironman?

I am reading a book on the Science of Triathlon Speed. Maybe I'll grab the book and give it a proper citation later. Anyway, it gives lots of advice on what techniques in swimming, biking, running will make you measurably faster, and what equipment will help, and what equipment will not. The biggest, most important piece of equipment the book recommended for improving bike performance was a power meter. Power meters are really expensive, at least relative to my bike. If I bought one, it would be like buying 60% of a new bike. I don't really want to spend that kind of money on a hobby, especially since it doesn't matter that much to me how fast I can do an Ironman.

This brings me to why I am doing an Ironman this year in the first place. It will be my second full-distance triathlon. My first was the Rev3 Cedar Point, an amazing, awesome, rewarding experience in 2016. I signed up for Ironman Maryland (IMMD) in 2018 because I had so much fun during Rev3 Cedar Point. So what should be my goal at IMMD? Obviously, I want to finish the race safely, and do it before the time cutoff. I also want to have as much fun as I can. What about my speed? Since the two courses are completely different, it doesn't make sense to try to "beat my time" from 2016 (13:37:57). I have never raced to beat others; I am simply not fast enough to be competitive for a podium spot.

Is it worth training to increase my speed? What would that do for me, since I don't expect to be competitive anyway, and I have no personal best to beat? In this context, buying a power meter just seems to be too much of a luxury. Still, I do desire to be fast. Fast is fun. Faster is better, and I want to be better. I had a motto in 2016 for my first iron-distance race: I don't need to prove myself, I just want to improve myself. I will take that idea on this year as well. So in 2018, I want to improve my result from 2016. That means that maybe I should look up my 2016 age group ranking and try to beat it. That means I should look up my bike and run times from 2016 and try to beat those. The two courses are completely different, but neither route features many hills. If anything, the Ohio race had some elevation change, while Maryland will not. Meanwhile, I hear there is a lot of wind in Maryland, so maybe that will cancel out any gains I might get from a flatter route. Yes, so I will come up with some times to beat:

2016 Results
Swim: 1:27:54
Bike: 6:41:43
Run: 5:00:40
Total 13:37:57
Age Group Rank = 9 out of 11 = top 82%

2017 IMMD
I scanned the 2017 results of IMMD to determine what times would give me a top 82% finish. I found Bart Mehring. He was at the 82nd percentile, and amazingly, his swim and bike times almost exactly matched mine. He swam in 1:26:33, biked in 6:41:44, and ran in 6:11:35. He clearly walked more of his marathon than I did, so I'm not sure he's the guy I want to beat. I can do better. Scrolling up exactly one page, I find Yossy Pinhas. His swim was 1:27:40, bike 6:34:22, and run 5:27:36. I still assume I can beat that. Going up one more page, I find Michael Lanzisera. He swam in 1:27:06, biked 5:59:48, and ran 5:00:36 for a finish time of 12:59:04. So that's what my goal is going to be: finish in under 13 hours. If I do that in 2018, my age group rank will be 62 out of 160 athletes, or top 39%. So let's make my goal to be in the top 40% just to use a round number. Given my previous triathlon results, that is very reasonable. I am a middle-of-the-pack athlete, and this won't change. However, my goal is to cut 42 minutes from my bike time.

What if I cut 60 min off my bike and/or run time? That would take me to the top 35% in my age group. What's the difference between 35 and 40? I don't think I care.

I think I might have more time this year to train. I will take the book's (less expensive) suggestions on how to improve my speed. This will help me achieve my "improve" goal, and if I can finish my race earlier, I'll probably enjoy it a little more...but only if my gains come from improved efficiency more than speed. I don't want to work so hard that I don't enjoy it. I'll still have to think about this some more.

January mileage

It's an Ironman year, so I'll start posting my monthly mileages. You might not care, but posting them publicly keeps me motivated. So, I start with what I did in January: 6 miles of swimming + 63 miles cycling + 23 miles running + 4 miles walking = 96 miles. This is 4% of my goal for the year!