A little update

Not much cookin these days. I think Ironman training started this week. Swam 6,000, ran 30+ miles, and biked about 120 miles. A little wiped today but feel strong. I'm on my way. First bike ride outside this year (other than racing in Miami) yesterday....went on a nice 3 hour hilly ride. It was a good one. Felt strong and had good energy and endurance. Definitely need to work on increasing my power to weight ratio. Its taking me too much power to get up hills which isn't sustainable over a long period.....guess what that means??? LOSE WEIGHT. It will make my life so much easier when I go up those hills and Richter Pass and Yellow Lake will be easier too.

M.I.T. Mini Race Report

I borrowed one of those tri all 3 bike cases. If you know what I mean, those things are monsters and can hold a bike, wheels, gear, and even the kitchen sink. Well, so I thought anyway....my bike didn't fit very well. Since I got this new bike recently, it has an integrated seat tube thingy and its longer. I had to take off the rear derailler and the seat and it still didn't fit. I really needed to take off the crankset too but I didn't have an 8mm allen wrench to do so, so I was forced to sort of cram the bike in with little breathing room....not an ideal packing job for a brand new bike. Well, it worked and made it there and back with no damage but I need to make a few changes (like probably having to take the crankset off this time) by the time I travel to canada. Back to the race....

Did the whole day before race reg, swim/bike/run, and bike check-in. This race is only in year 2 and has the feel of a big race.....well, it was big (over 1,000 racers, I think). It was pretty well done. I have a much different perspective as most other racers because I look at the race site from a race director's standpoint as well as racer.

I was excited to see I was starting early (4th wave). Pro men, pro women, elites, then clydesdales/relays/PC went together. It was dark during my warmup in the water which was weird and hard to see. The pros started in the dark but by the time my wave started 10 min. later I didn't have any problems seeing or sighting. I swam well and pretty straight the whole time with only a few minutes of contact. I was happy with how I felt as I established a good rythym. Swam 25min which means the swim was probably short....good by me. Took my time in T1 as I always do, out on the bike and felt good. I was terrible at descending and there was a nice headwind in one direction but I powered through and felt strong on the whole bike ride. I rode by myself the entire first loop never getting passed but continually passing some people. The second loop was super crowded but manageable. Finished strong averaging 22mph. Hit T2 and there were very few bikes in transition...good sign. Off to the run and started with a big guy so I figured he was a clydesdale with me and he was my competition. The run is an out/back so you could see everyone in front of you. This guy was a touch stronger than me and opened a 30 yard gap which I maintained. There are two loops on the run so I wasn't worried because he wasn't gaining on me anymore. I was starting to cramp within the first two miles so I realized I didn't have enough sodium and I underestimated the heat. I hit the Heed at every aid station and was able to control the cramping. I focused on staying relaxed. After going through one loop, my pace remained steady and I didn't see any other big guys ahead of me except this dude. Well, 30 yards became about 10 pretty quickly and I passed him as we started the second loop. He came back to me and I stayed my course to make sure my cramps didn't become a bigger issue. I thought there was a good chance I came in first but you never know. I felt very slow on the run but as it turned out, I was running 7:30ish pace which wasn't too bad. I know I have much faster wheels in me...probably to run sub 7 pace if I was 10lbs. lighter and hydrated a bit better. It turned out I did win the clydesdale division....first out of 40 guys and won by 6 minutes. Would have come in 22nd in my age group out of 100+. A good way to start the season off. Felt good considering I'm not near ideal race weight but the off season training has proven its merits. Pics to follow.

A Few Days To Go To Miami

12 workouts down in 5 days so far this week and 2 more to go tomorrow.....and it felt great. I'm ready to test my fitness down in Miami. My only bummer is that I'm heavier than I want to be right now but I'm heading in the right direction and feeling good and strong. So, as a result, I'll probably feel a little heavy on the run. I think its harder to lose weight when a lot of training sessions are in anaerobic training zones that rely on glycogen (carbs). As I start building more volume and aerobic training sessions become more common, I'm hoping the weight will come off a little easier (it should).

I biked with Isiah Thomas this week at one of my indoor training sessions. Yea, the same Isiah from the Detroit Pistons. Yea, the Hall of Fame B-Ball player. Yea, the former NY Knicks coach. Zeke. Junior. Multiple NBA member of World Champion Pistons. He has aged very well. He looks like he did when he was balling in the NBA. Great guy. We watched the Hawaii Ironman DVD while we biked for 2 hours and he's getting hooked on triathlon, I think. He's aiming to do his first triathlon this year, maybe at the Westchester Triathlon. I'm trying to get him to come to Rev3. He really wants to take pictures with the pros and get their autographs. He volunteered to be my "bike bitch" for Ironman Canada so I guess I'll have to be his at Westchester. I'll have to hold him to it.