Multisport Six

Bikes and the Ocean

2010-02-26T08:36:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I decided to make a few changes to the stable of bikes. After IMC the road bike was hung with flat tires and never saw the light of day for the remainder of 2009. It's actually sad, I put in a lot of road and trainer miles last year and the Felt took it all in stride. Due to all the road training I barely rode the Rush after the 24 hour last May.

IMC took a lot out of me, mainly my desire to ride. It's a weird side effect as I can't recall any other time in my life that I would NOT have wanted to ride. I had to do something to get back on the bike so I sold the Rush and Felt and picked up two 29ers. A '09 Cannondale 29er 4 mountain bike, and '09 Marin Hamilton 29er SS for commuting.

The Cdale -

The Marin -

I never seem to find the stuff I want locally, but the Marin I found in Seattle on clearance at REI. I was looking at their range of bikes when I saw this one sitting on top of a Thule display. It had clearly been there a while as it was covered in dust. The '10 models are in, so this one was a steal I couldn't pass up. I swapped the the lame OEM seat and pedals with the parts off my old commuter, including the rack. The niner is sweet for commuting, bigger wheels and larger tires make for a smooth ride on rough Seattle streets. The SS isn't so bad either, some of the steep side streets downtown have me walking though.

I found the Cannondale on Craigslist in Portland. After riding one in Seattle I started shopping around finding this one on accident. I really didn't expect to find a used one, let alone one within driving distance. Of course, when I asked Becky if she was up for a day trip, she responded by saying we should spend the weekend at the Ocean. So we did.

After meeting the seller and picking up the bike we headed to Manzanita for a stay at a cozy little motel near the beach. The kids (including the dog) had an absolute blast. We spent Sunday on the beach in Manzanita then went up the coast to Cannon Beach.

Here are a few pics-
Manzanita, OR

Change is good

2010-02-08T23:19:00.000-08:00

2009 was an epic year for me thanks to IMC and the training leading up to it. I fully expected to finish, take a few weeks off, and roll into a marathon or two. My reality was a bit different. I basically stopped until December when I finally managed a few runs and some skiing. I didn't get on a bike until January.

A few weeks ago I decided I was ready to get back to it, but I needed something to kick start the fire. So I sold my mountain bike and the road bike I used in IMC and picked up a couple bikes - a new Marin 29er single speed commuter, and a one season old Cannondale 29er 4. I've decided to bag the road rides this year and focus on running, mountain biking and getting outside. I may do an off-road tri, but I'm pretty much done swimming for now.

The race plan as of today - Mercer Island Half and Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon. That's it. I may do a local mtb race or two, 5Ks, 10Ks.. who knows. But I will be having fun and rebuilding fitness :-)

Selling the Cannondale Rush

2010-01-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

Looking for a great XC Mtn bike? I'm selling the Rush to make room / justify a 29er.

CL post here

happy new years

2009-12-31T17:48:00.001-08:00

holly cow! a decade gone! dang that was fast.

here's to a great 2010!

checking in

2009-11-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been crazy busy and everyone in the house has had the flu. Little J even had a trip to the ER with super high fever and breathing issues. Everything is calming down now. Finally.

My workout universe has been very quiet. A couple runs, some yoga, a nap. Not quite the November I had hoped for. I may still do a half marathon in Jan, but I may just do a 10k. I have no motivation to do anything at the moment. If I can get a few consistent weeks of running in I may get going again.

I'll try to get out this weekend and do something fun. Might make a decent post :-)

October already

2009-10-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

IMC has come and gone. Work has magically filled the hours I used to train with not so Ironman results. I've put a few pounds on, and a 3.5 mile run feels long. It's amazing how fast fitness goes. I did manage to get a week of camping in at Mt. Rainier with my daughters class. We took 24 4th graders on a few hikes totaling 20 miles, it was a lot of fun and a nice break from the day to day.

So it's time for another goal, but it has to be realistic as this is a very busy time of year for our family. Nookachamps Half Marathon is going to be my fall/winter motivator, with as much mtn biking and skiing as I can fit in.

More to come.

Reflecting and planning

2009-09-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago, I finished IMC. Now what?

I've embraced the post-Ironman recovery period and pretty much focused on catching up on the to-do lists at home and work. Today I went for a 5k run and felt good while I was out, but afterwards I was surprised at how fatigued I was. I guess I'll still be taking it easy for another week.

Shifting from 10 months of always training to suddenly not training has been interesting. I find myself wondering what run I have to do today, or thinking about pool schedules while I run errands. Training has become so hard wired into my daily thought processes that I have to force myself to focus on the downtime as much as would focus on a workout plan. To get an idea of just how much training I did, I pulled up my log from November to race day - here it is:

Bike - Commuter	132 miles	10:05:00	11.14 mph avg
Bike - Mountain	100.16	11:12:00	8.94 mph avg
Bike - Road	1265.9 Miles	83:25:55	15.17 mph avg
Bike - Trainer	720.04 Miles	47:55:23	15.03 mph avg
Run	818.63 Miles	119:48:20	8:47 per mile avg
Swim	99400 Yards	39:19:58	2:22 per 100 yds avg
Total Time	311 Hours, 46 Mins

Some folks worked out more than that, some less. I'm pretty sure I won't see workout volumes that high until again until the kids are out of the house. My next Ironman will likely be in 2020 :-)

What's next? I've thought about this quite a bit. The Seattle marathon comes to mind, but it falls on a bad week. My next long race will likely be Nookachamps, that way I have a reason to train through the winter. Cyclocross looks like fun, so do winter tri's and Biathlon. The only thing I know at the moment is I don't want to ride my road bike, and the dirt is calling me. There's a great off road duathlon in Bellingham in a few weeks, maybe I'll do that. I don't have a real plan yet, but it will come along.

Race report: Ironman Canada 2009

2009-09-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

This is fairly long, and there are a lot of things I'm not getting in here. There are so many things and feelings you experience during an Ironman that a race report is really to short to capture it all. Things that happen during the week also make the race special - the people of Penticton, the beauty of the area, the expo, etc. My race report is very high level to keep it short, otherwise I could write a post a day for a month and still miss something.

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4:00 AM – Awake and ready to get going.
4:30 AM – Everyone is loaded up and we’re off to the race start.

5:10 AM – I head to body marking, meet some great folks including a gal who just turned 50 and was doing her first IM. Very inspiring.

5:20 AM – Put 2 bottles of Gatorade and salt tabs on the bike, check air, double check air, triple check air, decide 110 PSI is good.

5:35 AM – Run into a friend, hang out in long port-o line.

6:10 AM – Put on the wetsuit. Chat with some more folks, cram warm clothes into the “dry clothes” bag, stretch a bit and wait.

6:30 AM – go across the swim mat to activate the chip and “sign in” for the race start. Head onto the beach!

6:40 AM or so – Singing of Oh Canada! I was surprised how emotional it was, many spectators and athletes joined it, truly an amazing thing to be part of.

6:45 AM – Pro Start. It was very cool to watch the Pro’s from the water. I could pick out Rapp and Granger from where I was standing.

7:00 am – Spectators and athletes countdown from 5 and off we went! Boat horns, cheers, and music send us off.

The Swim

I was surprisingly calm and relaxed just before the swim started. Usually, the swim freaks me out a bit and I figured the mass swim start (2600 +) would have me on edge. I spent a fair amount of time over the last year visualizing a calm and relaxed approach to the swim and that strategy worked for me.

The start of the swim is shallow, so you have to wade out a good 25 meters or so to find deep enough water to swim in. Once out in the deeper water, I found a bit of space and followed a couple swimmers in front of me for 50 meters or so before we converged on a group of 20 other swimmers. We all bounced off each other a bit, tried not to kick each other in the face, and managed to spread out. The sound of all the swimmers in the water at once was wild, a constant churning of water. At 600 meters, I finally found enough room to get into a rhythm and motored on through the first series of buoys to the sailboat that marked the first turn at 1618 meters. I managed to get there with very little contact or disruption, although I found myself on the inside of the first turn and swimming with the sailboat/buoy a few feet to my right and 50 swimmers on my left. I found a gap and pushed through, then noticed the divers in water below me. It was a bit of a shock, but fun to see. They were waving at us, so I took a second to give thumbs up and continued on to the houseboat that marked the second turn.

The second leg was 450 meters and went very quickly. I kept my pace and took a wider path on the second turn to avoid getting jammed up. The last leg of the swim is 1800 meters, and you can see downtown Penticton from the turn. It’s a great sight that makes the last leg seem shorter than it really is. About 1000 meters into the last leg, I started to search out the last few buoys to get an idea of where the finish was. I passed buoy 16, could see 17 and 18 and figured I was getting close. Big mistake. Buoy 17 suddenly had 18 and 19 after it. At 19, it looked like 20 was it. Nope! A few more to go, but I could see the flags on the beach so that was my new mark. At this point I was 3.3K into the swim, and was having a relatively easy go at it. I felt great, I was calm, the water was amazing, and I had generally survived the Ironman washing machine unscathed.

I’m motoring along at 3.4K, when both of my calf muscles suddenly and painfully cramp. At this point in the swim a lot of swimmers started to tire and were no longer swimming straight. In fact, the last 300 – 400 meters of the swim was worse that the start. Swimmers were now crossing in front of me, or hitting my feet and pushing on my back. It was a bit chaotic, and I had to deal with 2 cramps. I flipped onto my back and punched my calves a few times, then tried to rub them out a bit all while being swam over. It was pretty wild, and after what seemed like an eternity my muscles relaxed and I promptly flipped over and made it to T1, with a smile on my face. I had survived the 3.8K (2.4M) swim!

T1

After exiting the water I made my way to the wet suit strippers. In seconds, my wetsuit was off (way faster than I ever could myself) and I was running to grab my bag. In a moment of brain fade, I grabbed the wrong bag which I didn’t notice until I was in the changing tent. After running the bag back and grabbing mine, I quickly changed, was slathered in sunscreen by volunteers, and was on my bike.

The Bike

I started the bike with two goals – stick to my nutrition plan and save energy for the marathon. The first 40k were smooth, fun and uneventful. Exactly what I hoped for. My calf muscles had settled down, and I was doing well through Okanagan Falls, Oliver and Osoyoos. At the base of Richter Pass I sat up and went to a lower gear to keep my heart rate down. I love hills, and easily rode the 11k up Richter at 75 percent effort enjoying the view and the people cheering along the way. On the way down Richter Pass I somehow lost a bar end plug and had a water bottle cage come loose. I stopped twice to deal with the issues and both times the bike support folks seemed to appear out of thin air, eager to assist and get me on my way. Even with their help, I ended up adding a chunk of time to my overall bike.

After Richter Pass, the course heads up to Keremeos where an out back with seemingly endless rollers awaits. This was the most challenging part of the course for me. The road was rough, the air was stagnant and hot and there wasn’t much to look at. At the turnaround of the out and back at 120k I realized I underutilized my special needs bag by only stuffing a bike tube in it. Folks had stuffed ham sandwiches, chips, fruit and other tasty treats in theirs. This is something to note if you ever do IM Canada, I know I will if I do it again.

By the time I finished the out and back and was heading toward Yellow Lake, my legs were beginning to fade. I was also having issues drinking Gatorade so I had to shift my plan to water, gel and bananas. I had driven the route to Yellow Lake and was familiar with the climb, so I knew what was coming. To my surprise, I found my legs as soon as I started up the hill toward Twin Lakes. I was stoked to see the lakes, and even happier to see the 100 mile marker that was followed by a blistering decent back down to Hwy 97.

I rolled the last few miles into Penticton, saw my family right before transition (sweet!) and handed my bike off to the amazing volunteers into T2.

T2

This time I was much more relaxed in transition. I took a moment to chat with a volunteer who was going to sign up to race in 2010, made sure I had everything and went for another layer of sunscreen.
My legs felt really good, and I was mentally ready for the run.

The Run

I had 2 opportunities to see my family at the start of the run, and it really gave me a boost. I found a comfortable rhythm pretty quickly, and the first 5 miles went really well. Shortly after 5 miles, I started to have some stomach issues, and couldn’t get anything down. I wasn’t throwing up or anything, I felt like I had a brick in my stomach.

I managed to run aid station to aid station, but by 8 miles I was in trouble. I had a hard time walking, and I had a back spasm. After a port-o stop, I shuffled along to the 9 mile aid station and grabbed a couple bags of ice. Using my heart rate monitor strap as a belt, I managed to hold the ice bags on my back as I walked to the halfway point (13.1 miles). While I was walking I continued to sip NUUN and flat cola, and it seemed to do the trick. After the turn around, I ran a mile and walked a mile up through mile 21. The miles I walked I sipped cola, and it continued to provide the energy I needed. I was surprised of all the food that was available, that was all I could really stomach. Fruit, gels, Gatorade, chicken broth and pretzels were not welcome. I’ve never used flat cola in training, so it was a little weird to drink and not feel like I was going to regret it later.

At mile 21 I decided I was simply going to run the rest of the way, no stops for food, no stops for water, no stops for anything but the finish line. I was aware of my overall time, and knew if I pushed a bit I could finish under 15 hours which was my only time goal.

Miles 22 – 24 were on the way into town, and there were a lot of people cheering all the athletes in. It was amazing and very motivational. As I crossed mile 25 I knew I had this thing in the bag and started to look for my family, who I saw near the finish line. The last 400 meters were amazing, folks were cheering, kids were high-fiving and I ran across the finish with more energy than I had all day.

14 hours and 52 minutes after the start of the swim, I became an Ironman.

Here's the breakdown:
Swim 1:26:00
T1 8:04
Bike 7:12:12
T2 6:48
Run 5:58:56

It's been a week since IM, and I'm still a bit fatigued. I still don't know what I'll do next, and I hear that's pretty normal. It's a hard year of training, and it concludes on one epic day that's pretty hard to beat.

Maybe I'll go run a 5k, maybe I'll toy with Ultraman.

My Ironman Canada race plan

2009-08-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

This is more or less a living post. One I'll likely change a few times as I get my thoughts together.

Race plan:

Swim - off the back, find a rhythm, survive :-) Goal time 1:20. I'm not a fast swimmer.

Bike - 75 to 80 percent effort throughout. I like to hammer the bike, so I'll need to set my HR monitor to alert so I don't over do it. Goal time 6:30 - 7:00. I may be faster, but only if I'm able to pick up speed on the flats or downhills without pushing my HR.

Run - Easy out. I'm confident the first 6 or 8 miles will feel OK. The first half should be alright. The last half is the great unknown. All I know is I've suffered through a marathon before and managed a 4:11. Goal time is 5:00.

Overall strategy - keep the pace real, keep the nutrition on track, finish with a smile under 15 hours. I think a window of 13:30 to 15:00 is where I'll end up, I'd love to hit 13:30, but I'll take 16:59.

Nutrition plan:

Pre race - oatmeal and 1 bottle nuun breakfast 2 hours before race. 1 hour before 1 bottle of Gatorade. 15 minutes before race, 1 gel.

Swim - I'll bring a gel, just in case.

Bike - 1 bottle Gatorade immediately. Alternating nuun with gel/powerbar/banana and gatorade every 20 mins. First 2 hours I'll try to get an extra gel in to load up in case the last 2 hours on the bike are hard on the stomach.

Run - 1 bottle nuun, 1 bottle gatorade per hour. gatorade at 00 and :20, shotblocks/gel on the :40. sips of Nuun every :10

7 days to IMC

2009-08-22T21:25:00.001-07:00

Not a lot of activity this week. Today I did a nice ride around the south end of Lake Washington, felt great.

Road ride - 2:25:40 36.36 miles.

11 days to IMC

2009-08-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

Easy run today. Loving the taper week!

5 miles - 43:41. Felt like a warm up. I guess that's the idea. I'm still icing tonight thought. The knee is a little stiff.

IMC training week 34

2009-08-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

Week 34 is done! Taper time! Woot!

Rather than list the workouts I'm just dropping time: 10 hours. Shorter than planned, but the knee necessitated it. I feel good, knee is probably 90 percent now.

Only a few things left to focus on:

How am I going to remember my fueling strategy 7 hours in?
Sleep - I need more of it the next 2 weeks.
How am I going to contain my excitement while I'm in Penticton and not have a heart attack? ;-)

I'll be OK. I think.

16 days to IMC

2009-08-14T10:00:00.001-07:00

Another good run, a bit slower than yesterday. The knee is feeling good. After-hours work killed my pool time. OWS planned for Friday.

Run - 1:06:47 7.5 miles

17 days to IMC

2009-08-13T08:39:00.001-07:00

Decent run today, but not a ride. After the run my knee reminded me it's present state is not optimal, so I iced.

Run - 8mi - 1:07:47

More tomorrow.

18 days to IMC

2009-08-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

Sweet morning workout in the pool.

2100 yards, 45:37 2:10 100s. Not so bad. More importantly I felt great.

No ride tonight, too much going on with work and family. Will pick it up later this week.

Imc training week 33

2009-08-11T11:12:00.001-07:00

Not a great week. Knee was an issue so I chose rest over work. Seem to have paid off, knee is feeling good.

Bike - Trainer 0 mi 1:00:00
Run 17.1 mi 2:32:27
Swim 3400 yd 1:21:46
Total Time 4 hrs 54min

3 weeks to go!

31 days to IMC

2009-08-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

This is the penultimate week to taper. Crazy. Last Sunday during my long run I jammed my knee. It's a little sore, feels like I have tendinitis again. I'll have to lower the intensity a bit this week and ice like mad and hope I can bring the knee back to health.

The week so far:
Monday - Off
Tuesday - 1900yds pool 44:30, Bike trainer 1:00:00
Weds - 5.6 mile run 46:27

I decided to push the trainer to tomorrow or Friday. Have a good hour to run tomorrow and wanted to rest/ice tonight.

24 days.. I'm ready to do this.

IMC training week 32

2009-08-03T08:49:00.001-07:00

Not a good week by the numbers, but a good week for what I was able to get in with a chaotic week. Busy at work, busy at home, and the hottest week EVER in Seattle.

Bike - Mtn 10 mi 1:45:00
Bike - Road 54 mi 3:15:00
Run 18.5 mi 2:50:52
Swim 2000 yd 0:44:31
Total Time 8 hrs 35min

4 weeks left. It's nearly go time.

31 days to IMC

2009-07-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

Super hot day. Managed to get a run in, no bike though, too hot. 90 when I started my run, 97 when I finished. Ended up being the hottest day ever in Seattle. Crazy.

SLOW run in the heat. Only saw 2 other runners, I usually see 40 or so. Hydrated well in the morning, drank on the run.

Run - 7.5 mi 1:09:52

32 days to IMC

2009-07-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today was interesting, I was pretty stiff and tired. The heat here in Seattle made sleeping a little less than comfortable, and I had was out the door at 5:30 to get some family members off to the airport.

After a few cups of joe and advil, I was doing better. Focused on water and stretching throughout the day, and hit the pool tonight. The pool was insane, folks standing in the lanes, others swimming across, 12 year old lifeguards too busy chatting to do anything about it. Love it, good practice for tri's. You never know what's going to happen in a race, so why should the pool be any different :-)

Today's workout:

Pool - 44:31 2000yds.

It's a taper week! That's it for today.

IMC training week 31

2009-07-27T08:22:00.001-07:00

A great week. Cut a few workouts short after last week to make sure my back was ok. I feel strong, and my confidence is building.

Here's the week:

Bike - Road 113.5 mi 7:10:21
Bike - Trainer 0 mi 2:11:20
Run 35.32 mi 5:18:04
Swim 4700 yd 1:44:50
Total Time 16 hrs 24min

37 days to IMC

2009-07-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Another long day after a long day. I hit both workouts, but the run was a slog. However, slog = done. Friday is a light day, looking forward to it.

Swim - pool 54:56 2500yd
Run - 54.34 6.19mi

38 days to IMC

2009-07-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

A hard day. Lots of things pulling for my time. Family, work, IM. I managed to get it all in with minor collateral damage, but the long hours of working out are definitely starting to impact all areas of my life. Add in that my back is still sore, and I may be looking at even more time for some massage/doctor/whatever.

Run 1:20:38 9.13 mi
Bike - Road 2:02:20 36.26 mi

39 days to IMC

2009-07-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start a daily log for the last 6 weeks. I think it'll help me stay motivated and give some depth to the training log. I figure I'll forget a lot of this and if I ever decide to train for another Ironman I'll have more reasons to, or not.

Today:

Swim - Pool 33:20 1450 yd
Bike - Trainer 1:11:30 0 mi

A little short on both. A lot short on time today. Short 10 mins on the swim, 15 on the bike. Easy to make up, but likely won't after last weeks missed days. Don't need to increase too much this week.

I felt great. No back issues, no heat issues and good form in the pool. Tomorrow will be another time challenged day. Goal is to be on the trainer at 5am.

IMC training week 30

2009-07-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

30 weeks. It's been a long time since I started this journey. Last week I hit a few walls.

1st, a back spasm on Thursdays tempo run. Almost passed out waiting for the bus. Made it home and threw down some Advil and sat on a heating pad for a while. Felt better by bed time, but missed a long swim and lost a bit of confidence. Took Friday off to make sure I didn't make it worse. Sunday I felt like crap, took another day off. I'm supposed to listen to my body, right?

2nd, a friend was hit by a van while riding his bike. In the ICU, still out but improving. This really took my motivation to ride.

So, here's the week. Supposed to be 18 hours, not even close.

Bike - Road 93.3 mi 6:30:00
Run - 19.5 mi 2:45:30
Swim - 2100 yd 0:44:36
Total Time 10 hrs 0min