Taking It Easy

So, a little background.  I've been seriously training for a half-ironman distance triathlon for the last 22 weeks.  For those of you a little slow on the math side that is five and a half months.  I started in earnest on January 18, 2010.  I picked a plan from a book that I thought was appropriate and pretty much stuck too it.  "Pretty much" means that I did almost all the bike and run workouts and a solid two-thirds of the swim workouts.  You see, I am a decent swimmer and am often not motivated to stare at the black line at the bottom of the pool any more than necessary.

 

Yeah, yeah.  What about taking it easy.  Well, the plan called for a half-taper week followed by a full taper week the week of the race.  I have to admit that I was leery of the taper from the start.  I put it in my calendar with an sense of unease for sure.  During my last few "work weeks" in training I was doing between thirteen and fourteen hours of training a week.  The half taper week had about eight hours and the full taper had a little over five hours scheduled.

 

Blah, blah.  Gez man, get to the point or at least a point.  OK.  During the half taper week I blogged that I had ants in my pants.  My wife will claim that the ants are always there, but that is a whole other discussion.  Let's agree that there were considerably more ants than normal.  Shall we?  During the full taper, the ants took over.  Sure, it was kind of nice to have a bunch of spare time.  Heck, I even slept past 5:30am a couple of times.  A forty-five minute run is easy to fit in.  Putting the bike on the trainer, setting up the TV, etc. takes just about as long as a twenty minute bike ride does.  Let's not even get into the fact that the same laundry is created with out said laundry creating the sweat puddle on the basement floor.  We all know that your physical condition can be tracked by the sweat stain on your basement floor.  Don't we?

 

But, there are a few things (in retrospect) I noticed.  Because my training level went way down by food and fluid consumption did too.

 

I usually take a little cooler filled with fruit and yogurt along with a water bottle filled with Gatorade/Cytomax/EFS/Rehydrate (I do tend to mix and match until about 2 weeks before a race.  Then I switch to whatever will be used for the race).  I also always have a Sam's Club size box of fig newtons and bag of raisin in my vehicle where ever I go (There is also a stash of Hammer gels and Cliff Bars too in case a little pick-up is needed during the lunch workout).  I sip the Gatorade before my noon workout and then fill the bottle with water afterwards.  At the end of the day, I am eating my last piece of fruit as I drive home while sipping what would usually be the second or third water bottle refill.  But, for the last two weeks, I got home and had to empty out my little cooler and dump out the water bottle.  I also didn't even have raisins or fig newtons in my truck.  The funny part about this is that I did not notice their absence.

 

A quick side note here.  I very rarely eat when I am not hungry.  Somehow, either through the way I was raised or through good luck, I just don't have the desire (I did not say ability.  Put a pan of fresh brownies in front of me and keep your fingers clear.  I think Julie does this to me just to mess with me) to eat when my body is not requiring nourishment.

 

Anyway, for a week and a half I was eating to fuel my taper training volume.  I have every reason to believe that amount of food I ate for a solid ten days was not enough to fuel a half-ironman race effort.  I also have to take the responsibility for not noticing what I was, in this case, not eating or drinking.  I should have taken notice when Julie asked me on race day morning, "You're not going to eat anything?"

 

The verdict: Chris does not taper well.  I should have kept the training time closer to what I had been doing for the better part of the year and just toned down the intensity.  I should have also really kept track of my diet and fluid intake better.

 

Now, finally dear reader, to the taking it easy part.  "Easy" is a relative term.  Like training data (which is still mine and should not matter one iota to you), rest and recuperation is an individual thing.  The body is a very interesting machine.  Training input matched with rest is required to promote increased fitness (Note I used the word fitness rather than health.  More on that in the future).  I guess all the preceding words are leading up the fact that my idea of taking it easy might just be an easy two hour bike ride or one hour run done with a stopwatch running.  I do like my chair in the family room, I just don't like being in it too much.

 

We will see.  Like most things in this world, there is no instruction manual.

Tour of America's Dairyland

We are in the midst of the Tour of America's Dairyland. Brent has been having a pretty good showing in several of the stages. There are still 5 more days of racing, including today! Of the remaining races, Downer on Saturday and Waukesha on Sunday are the closest to Milwaukee and both should be very fast and exciting. Ben, Brent and possibly Chris will be racing both Downer and Waukesha. Be sure to take some time to come out to cheer on the Emery's guys as we show off the power of our pistons!

Also be sure to check out Peloton-Pix for pictures. Brent has several really nice ones up there from the Wisconsin Criterium Championships!

Tubular vs Clincher

This is a question that I have pondered for some time, and I would like to open this up for some discussion. I have always heard that tubulars were cooler and better than clinchers with a single caveat - you have to glue them onto the rim. Seeing as how I did not know how to do that and I only knew one other guy during my formative years as a triathlete that raced on them, I have avoided them. Even that guy rode clinchers for training rides, bringing out the clinchers only for race day.

Being lazy, intimidated, scared, take your pick, I just kept riding clinchers and only buying rims that supported clinchers. Until that fateful day last fall when I was picking out my new race wheels, Bontrager Aeolus 6.5, I decided to give the tubular route a shot. Perhaps it was just the thrill of riding rims deeper than any I have ever been on before, my other race wheels are Zipp 404s, but the wheels were very fast, light and smooth. After many more rides on the wheels (plug for Bontrager: they can be used as every day wheels!), I can definitely tell that the tubulars are very fast and smooth on the road. There's something about putting 160psi into your tires and rolling along smooth pavement. Bumps can be a little rough though.

Now I know what you're thinking: "Ben, you're only listing positives about the tubulars over clinchers. What are the negatives?" The biggest negative I have currently encountered is flatting on the road. With a clincher, you can take the tire off, swap tubes, put tire back on, inflate with CO2 or hand pump and you're on your way like nothing happened. With a tubular, you rip off the tire, hope to God that you have either previously removed the valve stem from the spare or have pliers nearby to remove said valve stem in cases of when it's jammed on there, place the new tire on the rim, inflate with CO2 and hope you remember to take turns slow so the tire doesn't roll off the rim. So far this season, I have had two flats on my tubulars while riding, both due to punctures from messed up roads. One of those said flats was on my ride earlier today, about 20 minutes into my ride. Thankfully, I found a guy at the house whose front yard I was changing my tire in to lend me some needle nose pliers to be able to get back to my ride. Despite trying to remember to stay conservative in the turns, I could feel a skip in my tire about 10 miles after my change. Looking down at the tire, it appeared that the tire around the valve stem was bulging over the rim slightly. Granted this did not really affect my performance too much, it was a little unnerving, since my only way home was my bike. The unfortunate thing is that I only had a handful of rides on this tire, quite expensive replacement considering a new tube for my clincher wheels costs about $6 and a new tubular runs closer to $60. Both flats were my fault, since I could have been more vigilant about not hitting potholes or avoiding the shoulders of roads.

Anyway, so back to the question at hand, tubular or clincher. I open it to your comments in this discussion. Here is the data from my ride earlier on the Jesus Route. Come join any time! We are always looking for new people to join our posse!

A Walk Along the Beach, Some Wind in My Hair, and a Stroll Through the Woods

"Boy, am I glad that is over."

 

That is exactly what I said as I crossed the finish line at the High Cliff Half-Iron Triathlon this past Saturday.  Now, as you may be aware I do enjoy a certain amount of physical discomfort every now and again.  I also do not give up or break too easily.  That course on Saturday crushed me!  So, here is my race report with a few musings added for seasoning.

 

Not only was this a race weekend, but it was a get away for the Boss and me too.  The kids were being corralled by Great Grandma, Grandma, and Grandpa (that made it a fair fight from the adult perspective) and we had a hotel room at the Hilton (shameless plug) for two whole, adult only, nights.  Saturday was race day.  The Wife was doing the sprint and I the half.  After that, we had nothing else planned.

 

Saturday morning came around and off to racing we went.  The day was beautiful as long as you were no where near Lake Winnebago.  Unfortunately, the race course on, around, and through the High Cliff State Park is right on (and in for the swim) Lake Winnebago.  The wind was blowing.  Not like a knock in your house of straw or wood, but like a valiant attempt at your brick house.  I said to myself, "Self, everyone else has to deal with same elements."  I responded, "Self, you are not very convincing.  And, I believe you are only trying to make yourself feel better."  At that point I stopped talking to myself because I believe that talking to yourself is OK, but it is bad to start getting answers.

 

Anyhow, the swim started with a 200m walk through the shallows of Lake Winnebago.  Every time I started to swim (and scraping my hairy knuckles on the sandy bottom of the lake) I would run into someone from a previous wave walking.  It was beyond frustrating.  The water was quite choppy (OK they were some pretty big waves), but I was digging it.  For whatever reason the conditions suited me.  The course was set up in a rough rectangle, and after the first turn buoy the walkers were forced to float and/or swim.  They became easier to avoid either because they sank to the bottom (I heard no reports of this) or because I was swimming faster than them.  By the second turn buoy, the currents had reeked havoc on the field.  Most were being pushed into shore and way off course.  I picked a nice straight line, accounted for the current and started swimming.  I really felt all alone for a good ten unites or so.  I kind of fell into a rhythm with the waves where my breathing was perfectly timed with my body just about cresting a wave.  I was actually having fun.  I was also passing a lot of colorful swim caps.  I had started behind three hundred others, so the water had a bunch of dots of color bouncing around upon it.  Rounding the last buoy (the third one if you didn't catch the whole rectangle thing before), I was forced to swim a little off course.  Apparently, one of the course marking buoys had popped loose and floated about four hundred feet north.  I was sighting on this one for a few minutes before I noted that it was pounding itself on the rocks of the nearby peninsula.  Course corrected and then I was able to walk the last hundred meters into shore.  As I am sure you are all astute readers, I can assume that you will have noticed that the water was very shallow near shore and made for a lot of water walking.

 

Up the hill, into T1, off with the wetsuit, and onto the bike.  Julie and I had ridden the "big hill" (you know, the one up the cliff in High Cliff) the night before.  I knew it was a little less than half a mile long and steep enough to warrant the use of my small chainring.  I got to the top, didn't get passed by anyone, but passed plenty.  Once the course got out of the park, I very quickly understood why people have invested so much money in building all those windmills around the area.  It is freak'n windy around those parts.  Sure, I saw and felt the waves in the water.  It never occurred to me the wind making those waves would be the same wind on the bike course.  It was mostly a cross wind, but when it wasn't, brother it was not.  I had a fantastic hydration/calorie plan.  Drink first bottle by aide station one, check.  Aide station one was not there.  There were boxes (I assume filled with delicious orange and green Gatorade), but nothing else.  So, sip off bottle two I did until aide station number two.  Got back on plan at station two feeling OK that I did not do any permanent damage to myself.  Aide station two would get me through to aide station three.  But, three never came.  There was a drop zone.  I could have gotten rid of all my empty containers, but not get any full ones.  "Yikes," I believe I may have said (I assume that kids may read this some day).  So let me explain something for those of you who may not understand.  Approximately 10 ounces of Gatorade is not enough to get you through approximately an hour on a harder than your average bear bicycle ride.  At about mile fifty, I got my first cramp.  A little light spinning and some on bike stretching made it go away.  Five minutes later it was back.  First it was just in my left quad.  Then both quads.  Then my right calf.  I could continue, but that would be a waste of 1's and 0's.  I was never so happy to get off my bike and into T2.

 

I walked through T2.  I'm not kidding anyone.  I was cramping like a mo-fo (sorry kids).  Put on the socks (yes I was actually wearing socks), shoes and race number.  More importantly, I grabbed four electrolyte pills, two cups of water, and one cup of Gatorade and off to the run I went.  Well, to say run is just plain wrong.  I was jogging and I was walking.  I walked up the cliff hill stopping twice to stretch out my still cramping quads.  The run was not fun.  It was actually un-fun.  The course itself is mostly through the woods and I am sure it could allow for some great communing with nature and a lot of self introspection.  I saw none of that.  I was just living between vibrations on my Garmin 310XT telling me the next 1/13th of the run was completed and the not so well (to my very addled body) spaced out aide stations.  I even started to think about the Hammer Nutrition guys handing out the electrolyte tabs as the pusher men.  I really could not wait to see those guys.  By mile 9, or so, I actually started to feel OK.  I'm guessing that my electrolyte balance was back into normal ranges.  Now, I'm not saying I was good.  I'm just saying that by this time I was not as bad as I was on miles one through about six.  Without too much more drama, the run and the race ended.

 

5:02:something is not a bad result.  But, it is not as good as I think I could have done either.  This race will have to be filed under "Learning Experience".

 

Let me add that I have never had cramps like that in my life.  With all the silly training and the regular activity I have in my life, I've never cramped like I did on Saturday.  Some eating and drinking experiments will need to be conducted.

 

Some things I have learned:

 

1.  What you eat the days before a race matters.  Duh.

2.  Your training before a race should not taper too much.  A twenty minute ride is not worth doing and only creates laundry.

3.  Tapering your training tapers your eating and drinking which goes to number one above.  I felt fine, but while training I tend to "crave" fluids and calories.  I should have been eating more and drinking more during my tapered training.

4.  Aide stations should not be completely relied upon.  I know they are manned by volunteers, etc., etc.  I planned on getting about 300 more calories and a bunch more electrolytes on the bike course.  Three more gels and some little pills would have fit in my pockets without much issue.  My minimalist side has a problem with this, but those cramps hurt (like a mo-fo(sorry again)).

5.  High Cliff has a high cliff.  Running down it does not make up for walking up it.

 

As for the rest of the weekend, let me say this:

 

We arrived home to find that the kids had not duct taped grandma and grandpa in the corner.  Nor had they started cannibalizing each other or any of the dogs.  Julie and I had a fantastic time to ourselves.  I'm not so sure we even stayed awake until 9pm on Saturday night.

 

Although this race report comes across negative, the weekend was excellent.  The race was good (not being able to race would be the worst), the people were all great, and no one got hurt.

 

 

Aero Bar Water Bottle Set-up

Again, for everyone that e-mailed me, thanks for the encouragement and your questions are always welcome. I think I responded to everyone individually, but incase others were wondering the same thing but were afraid to ask...

A number of you asked for a little better pictures of my front aero bar set-up well, here they are. The aero bars are Profile Design's ZBS bars and the base bar is an old T2 wing. The ZBS bars are 3cm lower in stack than the T2+ ones that I used last year. This allowed me to use a negative 17 degree (horizontal to the ground) stem rather than the negative 40 degree stem I was previously using.

The bottle cage is a Trek Bat Cage purchased because it was really cheap and allowed drilling of additional holes. The cord on the bottle cage is a piece of elastic shoe string that helps hold the on-course Gatorade bottles in place.

I have 20.0cm (200mm) of drop from my seat top to my arm rest pads. This is mainly due to the fact that I have gorilla length arms and that I do like to ride relatively steep.

Oh, and finally, the Cervelo S3 is Ben's, not mine. You'll have to ask him those questions. I just covet his bike from a wheel sucking position.

Ants Have Taken Over My Pants

Thanks to Ben and Steve for going on my hour long ride this morning. I would never have kept it at only an hour if I had not told them in advance that was all we were going to do. I have the bike all prepped with the race hydration set-up and the race wheels are installed. It is just really, really hard to not just start hammering when you here the sound of a disc wheel.

Here is the bike as it is ready to race a Half Iron distance. The only addition will be two gels taped to the top tube. I will toss the between the aero bars bottle at the first aide station and use at least one (two if the weather warrants) bottle of Gatorade off the course.

Don't Forget Why We Do This

This is how we do it... (sung to a hip-hop beat)

No, no. That will not do. You don't want to really know what is on my iPod. Maybe I'll post my play lists tomorrow.

Well, a tapering I go. The ants are building in my pants. They seem to be the little red ones. So, I'm going to type a little to let some of them out. Somewhere my life got skewed. An hour-and-a-half ride is now a "quick ride". And with a cup of coffee on board, I feel like I could take on the world. Maybe that is the point of tapering. Again, I'll let you know.

Anyhow, yesterday was the Milwaukee Air Show down at the lake front. Packed the clan into the family truckster along with three bikes and the bike trailer for a nice family afternoon. We parked down in the Menomonee Valley and rode the Hank Aaron State Trail to the Lake Front State Park on to McKinley Marina where we all met up with Ben, Kari, and a host of others.

My family was quite the procession. Me pulling the trailer with the brothers aboard, the girl, and finally momma bear. Here is what I noticed.

First off, the five or so miles that we biked in was not an effort, at all, for any of us. Because the girl, my wife, and I all "do" triathlons (we are an active sort). Obviously twenty or twenty-five minutes of riding our bikes was not going to impact us. The girl, like I did as a child, thinks of her bike as a mechanism of freedom and was enjoying propelling herself rather than being shuttled by an adult.

Second, that a lot of people down there watching the pretty airplanes looked at us like we were bad parents. Now, we were not going fast. We were going the pace that the girl set and that would keep our little group together in the crowds. What they seemed to look at was the girl (she is 7 riding a 20 inch mountain bike). The look was at her. It was like, "You are so mean making her keep up with you guys. You should be carrying her or at least not making her work on her own." Boy, would they be upset to know about the time I bet her she could not do the monkey bars in the back yard fifty times.

Third, when the rains started coming in and there was a mad rush out of the park, that little girl can hammer. She dropped her elbows on the hills, got out of the saddle for the bumps, and mashed the straights. She was following me on the grass, over the curbs (yes, the boys enjoyed the ride too. The cries of, "faster, faster" kept us going), down the paths, onto the roads, and around the crowds. I had actually forgotten that mountain bikes can be fun too. Heck, Mommy was in danger of getting dropped a couple of times (but don't tell her).

But, the biggest thing I noticed was that living a healthy lifestyle is the perfect example for my kids. You see, to them it is normal to ride your bike, go for a run, swim a little, and generally not sit still. You don't have to park within a block of an event, sweat profusely while dragging a bunch of junk food and beer, and then have to sit down when you get where you are going. A few bikes, a zip-loc bag of fish crackers, another of pretzels, three oranges, and three water bottles can be an afternoon.

Maybe some others saw us out there having a blast and will give it a try too. I can hope.

I know we talk about race results and training plans a lot. Well, at least I do. But, sometimes we should just look back at ourselves and see how much better our lives are because of the sports we choose. Motion breeds motion (the total amount of energy in this system is not fixed). An active, whether it is competitive or not, lifestyle is a good thing. It is to be enjoyed. It should not be taken for granted, but is should be a habit.

I'm going to go a taper now. This sitting still is going to kill me. Man I am looking forward to a swim. Did I just write that?