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Triathlon Training Update

So in my quest to get in shape this year I decided to set a B.H.A.G., or a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. For folks with short attention spans like myself BHAG’s are useful to stay motivated during mid to longterm projects.

The specific BHAG I chose to accomplish this year was to have a good finishing time for my age group in a half-Ironman triathlon. The half-Ironman total distance for swimming, cycling and running is 70.3 miles. Broken into segments it’s a 1.2 mile swim, 56 miles cycling, and a 13.1 mile run.

So first off, no I have never competed in a triathlon let alone a middle distance triathlon. I’ve been a fairly consistent runner my entire adult life but never really got too competitive. But the last two years I competed with 3 friends in the Mt. Taylor Quad. Both times I was the bicycle leg. The first year I died but the second year I trained for 3 months and really improved my time. (Quad post) After doing well I decided that this year I would either run my first ultramarathon or do a triathlon. I chose the the tri.

The three biggest decisions I had to make before I started training were:

• Self-coach or find a trainer?
• Long-distance or short? 
• Elevation. Stay around this altitude or go low?

At first I chose to self-coach. I had done it for the quad and it worked. But as I moved along I found that there was just too much to teach myself in the limited time and I needed someone to help my swimming. So I found a great coach named Jaime Dispenza of SWTri here in Albuquerque. He sets my training schedule and reviews my progress. We have a system setup in TrainingPeaks website. Everyday I get emails with my plan for the day.

I swim, cycle and or run then input my results manually or upload it from my heartrate monitor into TrainingPeaks. Overall its a great system and a better choice than doing it alone.

On the distance issue, I chose a midrange (long for me) race as a good solid BHAG. The 70.3 triathlon is a significant distance and is a good first step for a full Ironman triathlon. As for elevation I really wanted to use my fortuitous location to my advantage. I mean, pro endurance athletes from all over the world come to Albuquerque to train at elevation and improve their fitness. So I found a couple races at sea-level but only one of them gave me enough time to train. I chose the September 18, Cancun Half-Ironman.

So for the past couple months I have been building up my endurance with long, low intensity sessions. The goal here is to increase mitochondria and oxygen efficiency that will give me the aerobic capacity to last in a race of this distrance. Eventually I will get to do more speed work and training at race pace but for now its a lot of long, slow rides and runs.

The swimming has been really tough. My swimming-specific fitness is increasing but my technique still needs some work. I’m confident that come September I will have it but its been hard!

Currently, I’ve lost about 10 pounds so that’s good. I also adopted a much healthier diet. It’s a sort of modified Paleo diet. I would characterize it more as a Neolithic/Pueblo diet. I can eat the meat required in the Paleo diet no problem but not eating beans or corn was unrealistic for me. I do cheat occasionally but I try to only eat high glycemic foods right before and/or after a workout.

In the next few months I’ll be updating my progress especially as I do smaller triathlons to prepare for Cancun. There is an open-water race in Cochiti lake that will be a good simulation for the waves in the 70.3. Keep sending me good vibes, I’ll be needing them!

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Mt. Taylor Quad - Results

The results are in and our team did really well this year. Last year we finished the Grants Quad in 7 hours, 14 minutes, 23 seconds. This year we finished in 6 hours, 29 minutes, 21 seconds. I think I’m most proud of our team because even though conditions were tougher than 2010 we still reduced our time by 45 minutes!

Starting in downtown Grants, NM, we started our team race at 10:00. It was beautiful weather and stayed that way until about 1:00 when returning racers faced a stong headwind. For me, the race up to the bicycle/run transition was tough but a lot more fun then going back down.

After training for almost 3 months I felt nervous but prepared for the 13 mile race. My training was tough but very structured. I used a program that I modified from the book “The Ultimate Ride” by Chris Carmichael, Lance Armstrong’s coach.

In November I bought a bike and an indoor bike trainer for when it got cold and focused on cycling exclusively. I did some weight training but completely stopped running to avoid any injuries and build cycling specific muscles.

Using a heartrate monitor I found that my maximum heartrate is around 168 beats per minute. Using this I trained at about 90% of my max for most training rides.

This is a graph of my heartrate on raceday. Heart Rate: Min: 134, Avg: 173, Max: 187. I tried to control my breathing throughout the race but especially as I approached the last few miles. At that point I let my heartrate go up to 187, and at the top I was all sprinted out! The training made a huge difference for me as I was actually more comfortable passing in the climbs then the straight-aways.

The Elevation rise for the bike portion is an increase of 1,700 feet for 13.5 miles. As I reached the top, my teammate Georgene took the baton/chip for a 5 mile run and over 1,200 feet in elevation rise to Peggy our cross-country skier. Peggy then climbed another 1,200 feet over the course of 2 miles! And finally Tahama our snowshoer took us to the top at 13,101 feet with a 1 mile sprint.

Overall, it was a fun way to spend a weekend and a great way to get in shape. After all this I have a new respect for cyclists and what they do to train. In the next few months I’ll be working towards a duathlon and perhaps a triathlon as a soloist. Wish me luck!

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Quadrathlon Training

The Grants Quad is coming up next week. Been training for a couple months now and I can’t wait to race on the 19th. This is the second year that I’ve been in the race. Our team from last year is doing it again and I got the bike leg again.

My leg starts in Grants and goes up through Lobo Canyon up to the top of Mt. Taylor. From the site:

Bike:  Racers begin at an elevation of 6,500 ft. with a 13 mile road race through the streets of Grants and then begin the 1,700 foot climb from desert cactus to ponderosa pine.

At the first checkpoint I’ll pass the baton to our runner Georgene at 8229 ft. She’ll pass off the baton at 9,479 ft. to our cross-country skiier Peggy. And Peggy then gives the baton to Tahama our snoeshoer to the peak at 11,301 feet.

Then we do it all over again only going down. A lot easier but more dangerous especially for cyclists.

My training has been good so far. Avoided getting sick or injured but I have been grumpy and sore lately. After going through a four-part program including: building a foundation, a preparation period, specialization and finally peaking I have come close to overtraining.

Most of the training has been at or near my lactate threshold to build my aerobic capacity. Last year I completely seized up on the climb and I’m determined to be competitive this year. So far my resting heart beat has steadily declined and I am able to maintain a high heart rate for 2 to 3 hours.  I think I’m ready.

But after this I’m going to get fat for a month or so then start training for a triathlon. I’ll post results after the event. Wish me luck!

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The Real Air N8V’s

So after reading Born to Run I started researching barefoot running in the Southwest.

I found several references to sandal construction from yucca and plant fibers. I ended up buying some books that detailed the patterns and styles that were made by pueblo ancestors.

Before mocassins were the style, sandals were the main footwear of pueblo people. Either of yucca strands plaited together or refined into yucca cordage they made durable and beautiful shoes.

As you can see they were very ornate and had differe nt raised patterns and colors. They were also engineered for running. The forefoot of the sandals often were 2/2 twining while the heel was simple weaving. This left the wearer with a thick forefoot to cushion proper running, a flexible midsole and a thin heel region.

The hemp version is my attempt at twining & weaving. In order to create the raised geometric patterns you have to do some fancy weaving.

And the last is my sandals that I got from invisibleshoe.com. So far so good, no running injuries and I feel like I get a better workout when I run.