In a 750ml water bottle, the double-flask of liquid shot diluted with water takes on a milk-shake-like consistency that while being easy to pull up through the straw in a aero-bar-mounted drink system (Torhans or the ilke), is thick enough that it doesn’t spray everywhere when you finish drinking from the straw or hit every bump in the road.

This approach also works better than my previous choices (4 scoops of carbo-pro + 4 scoops of EFS drink in water) because it can be difficult to get all that powder to dissolve in water, but EFS Liquid Shot is already liquid form, so diluting it does not present the same sort of challenge.  Also with the high concentration of amino acids and electrolytes in EFS products, I don’t need to worry about carrying salt pills and have never cramped (even in the crazy heat/humidity recently in Panama).

On my run, I still carry a flask of Liquid Shot and EFS drink in my Fuel Belt.  On the bike, especially for long rides where I’m burning about 700calories/hour, having the ability to easily carry 1600-2400 calories of Liquid Shot is a big win!

The folks over at TriathlonRocks are getting out of the t-shirt biz and have having a clearance sale:

First come first serve basis – get your FOREVER UNIQUE shirt at a 40% discount – enter code: STORM (this discount applies to all products sold at www.TriathlonRocks.com )

These are great t’s and your last chance to get one!

I’m happy to say that the Sportiiiis are… well… AWESOME!  They performed flawlessly in both my training in Panama and racing.

When I first unpacked the unit and installed the software, I experienced a few early-release glitches with the software/firmware and a corruption of the audio prompting on the device.  A subsequent update of the firmware and software resolved these problems, polished the desktop software and since then I’ve had absolutely no issues with the device.

Using the desktop software you can set target ranges for power, cadence, heart rate and speed for bike and run modes.  Using the capacitive touch button and a tap-selector as your 2 input methods you can change what the unit is reporting, the mode or get an immediate report of your current output in the sensor it’s monitoring.

Because of the minimalistic interface it takes a little practice and memory work to remember how to interact with the Sportiiiis, to change modes and settings.  I, also, initially found the touch sensor a bit difficult to find and interact with consistently, but like drinking from a water bottle when riding, it just takes a little practice and development of personal style

The Sportiiiis reports to you in 2 outputs: a row of 5 7 coloured LEDs on the boom in your peripheral view and also through a mini-speaker at the back of the unit.  The speaker alerts you audibly if you’re out of zone and, at a configurable interval, reports the values for all the sensors the Sportiiiis is monitoring.

The Sportiiiis generated a fair bit of interest during IMPanama.  I showed them to a number of athletes and a couple of the race officials.  The race officials initially thought that they may be illegal because they thought that the Sportiiiis would act as a pace coach (beeping off a cadence to take), but once I explained to them that the sportiiiis were just a reporting device (like a Garmin watch), and they were satisfied that the speaker did not obscure your hearing or prevent any kind of coaching advise or safety hazard, they were happy with the Sportiiiis and thought they were pretty neat!  [yes that was a bit of a tense few minutes of explanation ]

One thing I really love about the Sportiiiis is that my Garmin becomes a data recorder and the Sportiiiis replace it for current output display.  This gives me 2 things: race-day backup (if the Sportiiiis or Garmin crap-out during a race, I still have the other for pacing/monitoring output), not having to take my eyes off the road when riding or running to find, focus on and process the information on the little Garmin display.  Both big plusses in my books.  [Edit: Also 4iiiis tells me that in the future they'll be recording data from the various ANT+ tethered devices and be able to upload that data to sites like TrainingPeaks.com (that's pretty neat!).]

Sportiiiis are now available from their website, I love them, and think that anyone who trains and/or races based on data rather than feel will love them too!

I’d talked to Kim about it and resigning myself to closer and poorly timed, I went ahead and registered for IM70.3 Syracuse… or so I thought.

Turns out the net in Panama was flakey enough that my registration never actually made it into active.com.  Pain in the butt, but all is not lost!

Today, Kim and I visited with my folks, who said that, provided they can get travel insurance post my dad’s recent bout with GBS, they’d come to New Orleans with us!  So now, New Orleans may be looking possible!

I’m cautiously getting excited about this possibility.  Clearly there’s a lot of leg work to get done: dog kennel, flights, accommodations, vacation time from work, etc. Nothing that isn’t pretty easily managed but 1st things 1st.  See if my folks can get insurance and confirm I can get the time away from work.  Those are definitely the largest hurdles, neither I expect to be issues.  Once they’re out of the way, then it’s a big green light for IMNOLA and I’m ONE HAPPY CAMPER!

Cross your fingers!  Mine are

Well I tried to talk Kim into going to New Orleans for IM70.3 New Orleans in April. Thought that we could have a week in the “Big Easy” and I could take a couple of days in the middle to race prep and race perhaps allowing her to explore sites that I otherwise wouldn’t be interested in (museums, galleries, etc.).  But, she’s not biting.  Too bad, I really thought this could be a fun vacation.

IM70.3 Syracuse is June 24.  Its close to home, only a 4 hour drive and I can probably rent a van or find someone with a camper to borrow and do it on the cheap (i.e. camp).

So I’m now registered and training for Syracuse. Same goal: IM70.3 Worlds qualifier slot for Vegas in September.

18 weeks, 5 days of training… divide by 4… 4 cycles build/recovery cycles with 2 weeks and 5 days of whatever Ian throws at me.  Oh my… I’m gonna be an ANIMAL!

RAWR!

Ok Ian… BRINGIT!  Let’s gett’er done!

My swim was great: 27 minutes by my watch.  I was 10th on the bike at 2:55 by my watch.  But when I got 20 minutes into the run, my stomach became terribly upset (read: vomiting), I became disoriented and after sitting at an aide station for 5 minutes drinking water, soaking myself down,  and not feeling any better I decided to call it a day.  I was gutted, but it was really the only choice.  I got a sag wagon to the med tent, sat under a fan with ice packs and drank water until I felt hungry.  Unfortunately the food choices at the athlete’s lounge and Ironman village were… well terrible: cookies, cinnamon buns, bananas, pizza, pretzels, and white-bread finger sandwiches.  Really?!  Come on now.

Let me say at the point, I’m not discouraged.  In fact, quite the opposite: I was doing so well, in this heat, that being taken out of the race by a medical is just a tease.  I’m hungry.  I want to find another 70.3 soon. Continue building my fitness and leverage today’s lesson into tomorrow’s win.

Looking back on the day.  The only thing that I can think of is that in order to manage the pain from my shin splint I tried a protocol of Advil and Aleve, and while the pain killers did a great job on my shin (in fact it’s still not hurting ) I think they destroyed my stomach.  My stomach was a bit upset on the bike, but when I started the run my shin was hurting so I took a couple of Aleve.  Soon thereafter, my shin started feeling better but my stomach worse.

I broke my #1 rule: “Don’t change anything on race day”.  Now the shin splint pain kind of put me into a “stuck between a rock and hard place” situation and I wasn’t going to not race because of my shin and needed to do something for pain management.  So I dunno… maybe there was something different I could have done?

Ah well… next race?  New Orleans? Would be sweet vacation for Kim and I if we can afford it. Syracuse, NY in June?  Nice and close.. maybe… but wish it was sooner.

For now… a few days of continued vacation in Panama: Some indiscriminate eating, some active recovery, and then back to the great white north.

I ran a bit of the course into the finish line, where I got a cheer from some folks who were there hanging out.

Got my bike racked

Scoped out the swim exit

and entry to transition

(see it?  WAAAAY down there?)

And generally tried to take it easy and stay off my feet.

Have all my nutrition mixed or bagged for the morning, my Garmin 910 is set to alert me at the race-plan thresholds that Ian and I have set. My kit is all packed, my clothes for morning are laid out and I’m good to go.

Right now, it’s 7:30, I’m just finishing up dinner and this blog post then to bed.  Have 3 alarms set 3:15, :30, and :45 (just in case).  Shuttles start at 4am.  So I’m going to cut this short.

Thanks to everyone who’s wished me well for tomorrow.  It’s going to be a great day and I’m gonna have fun no matter what.  Think tailwinds and other fast thoughts for me.  I’ll post a race review, probably on Monday.

Special thanks to:

• Kim for dealing with all my training, dietary and gadget requirements over the lead up to this and other events.
• Ian for his great council and guidance getting here
• My folks and especially my Dad, who’s strength and determination getting through his bout with GBS is an inspiration to me
• First Endurance for their nutrition support
• Blacksmith Cycles for their sponsorship and the loan of these super-slick Madfibre wheels
• and, Richard and Jamuna Burry for being such awesome, and generous hosts here in Panama

Shin is better than it has been, but not 100%.  I have advil and alieve and have mentally prepared myself to feel it.  Sunday night it’ll be angry with me, but it’ll get rest soon.

Can’t guarantee much except that I’ll leave everything on the course and have fun doing it.

Follow progress on IronmanLive: http://ironmanlive.com/updates.php?race=panama70.3&year=2012

Cya on the flip side!  G’night

My bib number is 255. You can follow my progress on Sunday on http://ironmanlive.com

Now back to the hotel to sort out a last easy bike/run.

In preparation, yesterday I had to pickup all my race day stuff and in-so-doing had to basically do my race day kit assembly then.  So here it is all laid out and ready to be packed.

At the top is my Tyr transition bag and yoga/transition mat.  Then we have

Swim:

• 2 sets of goggles
• anti-fog
• ear plugs
• Tyr carbon tri-top and tri-shorts
• Tyr Torque Pro Speedsuit
• (also visible are my sunglasses case and the bags that I keep my Garmin 310xt and 910xt in – 310′s a backup)

Bike:

• aero helmet
• training helmet with cam mount
• shoes
• compression calf sleeves
• cooling compression arm sleeves
• race bib holder (and a backup)

Run:

• Mizuno wave elixir 6 (racing flat)
• Mizuno wave nexus 5 (training shoe)
• 2 pairs of socks
• White mesh baseball hat
• Headsweats visor
• Fuelbelt with 2 flask holders for EFS liquid shot

Other stuff:

• something from Kim to open after the race
• compression leggings
• mp3 player with Yurbuds
• Sugoi 2 piece tri-suit (just in case)
• Craft Kona Tri Top w/Ice Pockets
• chamois cream
• mini towel

And then there’s the nutrition and “other other stuff” pile:

• laptop
• mini cooler
• water bottles/flasks/shaker bottle
• EFS Ultragen (for after)
• EFS Liquid Shot
• EFS Pre-race powder and tabs
• EFS sport drink (grape)
• bag with hornet juice and chia chargers
• some quick-adjustment tools (for anything serious I’ll visit the mechanics)
• some rocktane gels for just before and after the swim
• my trigger point stretching stuff
• some street clothes for post-race, saturday, etc.
• a bike lock, not that I expect to use it, but if I don’t have it, then I don’t have the option

The only 3 things not in the pictures that are coming are:

• me
• the bike and a change up for the rear wheel (planning disc, but will see)
• a pump