Ironman St. George - Mormon Waterloo?

So, after 3 weeks of tapering (yuk I hate tapering), a big trip through San Francisco, & Las Vegas we finally arrived in our mega SUV to our mega condo in St. George Wednesday before the race. Mood was high, we rested and hydrated well. Got kinda scared when we drove the race course and checked-in - got numbers painted on the arms.

I had good really sensations, and it appears that I finally got rid of the pains in the achilles & calves, so was anxious to get started on Saturday morning, though temperatures where rising towards 35 degrees in the blazing desert-sun!

The swim was in a big and beautiful water reservoir - water temp. 17 degrees, blue skies and 2000 athletes in the water. I actually like the water start and I must say that the Americans was amazing - some people even stopped to say "sorry" if they hit you during the swim. So quickly found a good rhythm just outside of the main front pack. Already after around 500m I started to feel a bit too exhausted, which was strange... my breath and stroke was controlled, though I was kinda cold. Shortly after the first cramps kicked in, but I discarded it, kept swimming. More exhaustion and much more cramps had me stop to stretch a few times - got a bit off track and felt very tired and unmotivated. Exited the water and got shocked realizing that I had spend a record 1h18m swimming, more than 15 minutes more than expected - got the mood a bit further down!

Good transition and nice start on the bike... for around 20km. Hurling down one of the first hills at around 80km/h I realize that my handlebar is loose!! But the support and organization around the race was amazing so quickyl found a allen-key and continued. Hydrated well in the extremely warm & dry conditions, but really felt no power coming from my legs. Kept around 35km/h for the first 50km and then more cramps entered before the first climbs. Had nausea all the way through the bike, with no appetite and couldn´t take any gels or bars, so stuck to bananas. Loads of people passing me on the hills of the scenic route - I couldn't even maintain the aero-position on the flat parts on the course. It was honestly a tough struggle to even get through the first 100km, where I met Anders & Monica(cheering), who let me know that Guillermo was as bad as myself. The last round was a joke - I had elderly, overweight women (sorry, no pun intended) overtaking me on even smaller climbs - almost throwing up when I hydrated or ate and cramped the most weird places (hips, lower arms). Tried to enjoy the show, but coming down the last hill I could see the runners and the thought of a marathon in 40 degrees and 700m climbs was unbearable. Anders told me that Guillermo had decided to drop out, which was somewhat a relief. Coming into T2 he greeted me with a smile and we brought the refs the bad news and picked up our bags.

Of course a huge disappointment, but one that I can live with. Today I am still as exhausted as after a full e.g. IM Lanzarote, so feel I did what I could. We trained well and rested and tapered, following the same recipes as any other IM. I can´t find one good explanation of the lack of power and really prefer to leave it behind as an experience and lesson learned! Could be the dry climate, the heat, maybe jetlag... who knows.

The race was won at a new male record 8h32m and my age group improved its Kona qualifying time by almost 30 minutes, which will probably be around 10h05m.

Now another week of vacation in Las Vegas & California road trip awaits, so the mood is all good! IM Zurich awaits the 10th of July. Take care and enjoy this weekend!

Always something new to learn - bike fit with Fit4bike

As you may know, I have been riding the E114 with more of less the same bike fit or riding position since November 2010. I cut a few spacers out and lowered the handlebar to a pretty aggressive position, which initially caused me some pain in my shoulders. All change takes some time to get used to, so I have been doing many kilometers, training for IM St. George in this position and now finally find that I am almost there. Sunday I was 2.5 hours in aero position in the ICAN Marbella race with no pain and feeling really good, but you can always learn more.

Inspired by Louise, I found out that the Danish branch of Fit4bike was an ex-colleague from my years studying as an Engineer, Kim Visby - former professional triathlete and now co-owner of Fit4bike.

By exchanging a few videos with Kim, I quickly learned that a few changes was required:

1. My left leg is longer than my right leg - compensate by putting spacers under right cycle shoe ... I am now riding with 6mm under that shoe. Also I made sure that the shoes are now as far apart as possible.
2. My elbows needs to be further out in front - Kim suggested 1-2 cm, but will try 3cm as this is the next option the Argon18 E114 bike gives me. This is is somewhat a small weakness on this bike, as it has no stem - frame, handlebar and fork is fully integrated.

So with only 4 weeks to go to Ironman St. George it is of course a calculated risk to play with these settings, but I have full confidence, that the advice will help me. Worst case, I can change it back before race day.

It is truly a pleasure to work with such a competent person as Kim. As we´re both engineers educated from the same institute, its easy to understand and adapt to the Fit4bike-way of seeing the body as a machine, which can work optimally, given the right conditions on the bike!

I can strongly recommend working with Fit4bike which has office in Denmark and Spain (Madrid and Canary Islands) - find all contact details on their web, right here: www.fit4bike.com

Check new comtemporary fit here:

Half Ironman ICAN Marbella - Not a Jedi yet

Finally time for first race in 2011 - important as preparation for Ironman St. George the 7th of May. The company could not be better & jolly, traveling with Monica & Guillermo, arriving to Marbella late Friday night.

Saturday meeting and greeting friends from Denmark, Barcelona and earlier races, some race-thoughts re-established themselves:

1. I have frankly never really given a shit about time. Being serious about the sports in which I have competed, be it: golf, football, climbing or even skateboarding - it has always been more a quality thing over a pressure to push time, race against the clock and the field. This is all new to me, but a crucial necessity to learn and master, if we wanna make it through to the 7 or 8 (i.e. finishing in 7th or 8th place in my age group) slots that will give us a ticket to Ironman Hawaii, Kona. Guillermo is WAY more competitive (with some 300 tri-races completed) than myself on this aspect and I still have a lot to learn.
   
   
2. Triathlon is a fantastic sport when it comes down to meet amazing people. There´s an almost-family-like feeling about the lunches and dinners or even to the "can-i-borrow-your-pump" on race morning. Great to meet Danish pros Jens & Aleksandar- admirable down-to earth attitude and making us proud on Sunday, finishing 5th & 7th respectively! Good work guys - keep it up!
   

Sun hasn´t even gotten up, so its still fairly twilight-ish when we (400 participants) jump onto the 1900m swim. Can´t see much yet, arms and legs everywhere - have to stop a few times, recover my goggles and cap that gets torn off at the 3rd buoy. Honestly feel pretty bad (panic may be the best word) in the water and I never find a good rhythm or fast pair of feet to draft behind, so I guess I can´t complain much about the 32 mins.

On the bike the heavy clouds are lurking over us and we reach a 4 lane highway with rolling hills after about 10km. with only one (1) day of tapering, I am sure I am still fairly tired, but my legs feel like on fire and I easily chase down a big bunch of people, both on the climbs and down-hill. It´s truly a great joy to be on top of the E-114 and just pounding past strong bikers. I fuel well and feel awesome, even after swallowing at least a gallon of seawater in the swim! It´s starts raining, but its all OK, just be more careful in the slippery round-abouts. Uncertain about the total climb, but probably around 800-900m. Off the bike after 2h35m - only 2.50m slower than Guille (aka Obi-Wan), who around this time was in 11th place - amazing, taking the pro-field (of some 25 pros) into consideration.

Pacing pretty hard on the run with a friendly German called Stephan - we make it to around the 12km mark at a pace around 4:10 km/km - faster than I would have imagined, after not running for 3-4 weeks (injury) and pounding so hard on the bike. My hope (of course) was to catch Guille, but with 9 km to go, he was still around 4 mins. in front of me - mission impossible. There´s always a bill to be paid and I dropped the pace to around 4:50 for the last 5km, finding the great excuse that it was "probably the best for my achilles" (which of course is bullshit). The tendon is a bit sore this morning, but I feel OK and I hope I am now fully recovered for last 2-3 weeks of training before tapering for St. George. Finishing in 4h48m!

All in all a great race and experience - and a few news lessons learned:

• Training open water swim before the race would have helped me in the water. Definitely swimming Barceloneta these next few weeks - anybody in?
  
• Pacing better on the run would have given me a slightly better position, but not as much fun (and fear on Guillermo´s face, when we met the first time :-)
• I have learned a lot on the bike - thanks to all the good people who have been bearing with me and waiting on every hill top for the last few years!
• ICAN Triathlon again proves to be amongst the best-in-class, when it comes down to organizing and executing races! Thanks!
  

See all results here:
Photos and videos to be posted soon...

Love - T

Just a heap of crap carbon

Photo from yesterday´s time trial training. 4 hours with two 20km pushes at full throttle.
Must admit I was pretty burned on the second interval - after 7 hours on the bike the day before.

8 beautiful Argon 18 bikes. Mostly E114 but also a few E112

My 8 steps to faster recovery:

As the trainings are getting longer and harder, the need for faster and more efficient recovery becomes more important. Here´s my take on better recovery, which I (more or less consciously) do after long trainings:

1. Stretch - My good Swedish friend Haakon Weibull once said "Warm-Up and Stretching is gay"... very precise with a good Swedish accent. Some say "nay" and some say "yay", but most people still recognize the benefits of stretching. I spend 15-20 minutes after long trainings, working with some pretty straight forward exercises. Girls digs boys who stretches ;)
   
   
2. Shower - may sound pretty obvious, but hit the cold water over the legs for 5-7 minutes, which has some (still unexplained) magic effect. It´s painful and it sucks - but it works.
   
   
3. Drink - I have learned that I drop 3-5 kg of liquid during long rides, even when hydrating well during the day. So drink well, isotonics, coca cola or whatever works for you. Until your pee goes transparent again!
   
   
4. Eat - as soon as possible, preferable within 20 minutes after the training 40% proteins (tuna, chicken and what not) and 60% carbs (pasta or rice works for me)
   
   
5. Supplement - I take Amino Acids (BCAA) and a mix of salts sold on the pharmacies here, sodium, magnesium, etc. It´s called "RecuperatION" (great name for a Spanish product, huh?) - works wonders.
   
   
6. Compex - this electronic muscle simulator works wonders on sore muscles. It´s fairly expensive and hurts a bit - but gets your legs back in shape in 25-60 minutes. Takes out the feeling of "heavy legs" which means a lot, especially if you do back-to-back quality (short and fast) trainings!
   
   
7. Massage - do it yourself or find a serious sports pro (like my homie Roberto Ortiz) - hands of magic on the legs every 8-12 days. Works deeper than the compex (THAT actually came out a bit gay) and can work on specific areas, which needs special attention!
   
   
8. Rest - even though my room mate still laugh at me when I pass out on the couch, this is the best moment of the day. Spanish people got it right with the "Siesta" - it´s next best thing after sliced bread! Hit Mythbusters or whatever on the old telly and sleep until some foolish soul wakes you up.

Hope it´ll work for ya too! Enjoy... I´m taking a nap. Besos - T

Accumulated Volumens

Below my accumulated volumens since October 2008, when we ran the Berlin Marathon

	Swim		Bike		Run
	km	Hours	km	Hours	km	Hours
IM France Totals	133	60	3949	178	1233	102
IM Lanzarote Totals	233	89	4893	203	1478	126
IM CopenhagenTotals	30	14	1900	67	466	34
IM St. George	97.8	37	5425	206	714	60
IM Zurich
Summarized Totals	493	200	16167	654	3891	322

Quality Training

So - as we´re getting closer to Ironman St. George race day on the 7th of May, it´s time to start getting more quality training in the legs. That means more hours running and biking close to, or over the lactate- or functional threshold (max pace or power you can maintain for 30 minutes). This hurts, but it´s also fun and definitely more my kind of training; Shorter & tougher, preferably until you feel the taste of blood or metal in the mouth.

This weekend the order from Master Lladó was Road bike Saturday and time trial test for Sunday. With two long trail runs (19km and 22km with around 500m+ altitude) on Tuesday & Thursday, my legs we´re already pretty much worn out, but here we go:

Saturday:
With a pretty large group (15-20) of experienced riders we headed straight over the mountains and towards the national park around the Montserrat mountain, which always means long and hefty climbs. There was a whole lot of battling going on between the strongest riders, who kept attacking and defending the whole day. It´s really stressful with tempo-changes and bikes moving all the time, but the training is excellent as you need to push hard all the time to keep up.

Big, big respect to at least two gentlemen in their mid-fifties (Javier & El Moracho) who both dropped me and several other young riders on every climb. I will never stop admiring people who keep themselves in this kind of shape through-out the whole life - a great inspiration!
Summarizing 110km with 1800m+ of climbing in 4h15m

Sunday - TT test:
After a good warm-up we hit the industrial area just before Martorell, a 6km flat stretch through smelly metal-factories which ends up in a 100m hill-climb, which was the scenery for today´s time-trial test. A lot of fun between the 6 A18-Mafia riders on their E-112 and E-114 - and straws we´re drawn to determine the order of the day. I went first with the disadvantage of having no reference in front of me (no complaints, as I am by far the slowest in this pack) and the remainders came after me with 90 seconds intervals.

My aim was to keep my HR steady on the flat (160 BPM) and also on the small, but tough climb (170 BPM). You can see the result on my HR and altitude below, so I stuck pretty well to the strategy, but lost around 2 mins to e.g. Guillermo - I still have much to learn on this kind of test.

This was very close to a Functional Threshold test and my HR was 165 over the 47.5 minutes, avg. speed was 34.7 km/h, which is OK with 200m climb over the 30km course. Total volume was 90km in around 3hours.



After the test I continued straight into a brick-run of 12km with a bit of climbing. I was surprised that I fairly easy maintained 4:20 min/km, which is much faster that the bricks I did before Challenge Copenhagen (around 5:00 min/km), so hey - maybe all this training and celibacy is actually working ;)

Cheers - Thomas