A "Bad" Race: Behind The Scenes

It could have been much worse, but much about the Olympic distance USA Triathlon Age Group National Championship in Milwaukee, Wisconsin didn't go as I envisioned or wanted.  It is interesting to look back at the series of events that lead up to this race and analyze what went wrong... or it may be easier to look at what went right!?

17 Days Before AG Nats:
I had been suffering from intermittent, severe jaw pain for over a week which was wreaking havoc on my entire life.  After failing to resolve the issue on my own, I made my way to see a dentist who specializes in TMJ disorders.  He quickly discovered that I wasn't experiencing joint pain, but rather pain from an infection in my jaw.  I was placed on two different antibiotics and scheduled for the following day to have three teeth extracted which had become infected.

13 Days Before AG Nats:
Four days after my oral surgery I raced the 5150 Giant Eagle Triathlon here in Columbus, Ohio.  While I wanted to perform well in my hometown race, we didn't put a ton of stress on having my best day here.  Basically I trained straight through this race and I took no days off before or after.  I came out that day and surprised myself by going 2:00:33 by the official race timing, 2:00:07 on my watch... not sure how that happens, but whatever.  Either way, I was not only content with the time on the clock, but I was very happy with how my legs performed off the bike by running a solid 10K that rivaled my 2012 performance at this same event, which happened to be the last event I would do without a metal implant in my left hip.  Spirits were high and I felt ready to take on the best in the US two weeks later!

12 Days Before AG Nats:
I was still in pain from my dental procedure and I was quickly running out of the prescription pain meds to control it.  I went back to the doctor's office and was told that all three extraction sites were "dry", meaning that the blood clot either hadn't formed or had become dislodged leaving exposed jaw bone and nerve endings.  No wonder it freaking hurt!  My mouth was packed with medicated dressings that definitely made me feel better despite their God awful taste.

10 Days Before AG Nats:
Looking at my online training journal (TrainingPeaks.com), this is where the wheels began falling off.  I had been going for nearly a month of 20+ hour training weeks and hadn't taken a single day off.  It hadn't been easy, but I was making progress and enjoying the heavy load.  On this day I noted that I felt heavily fatigued and had planned on stressing some extra recovery efforts.

8 Days Before AG Nats:
Up until this point I hadn't missed any workouts, even through the jaw pain and everything that accompanied it. I had a two hour aerobic bike ride and an interval swim scheduled for this day.  I got one hour into my ride before I had to pull the ejection handle.  For those that don't know me personally, this is the bottom of the barrel for me.  I HATE to not finish sessions and/or not perform the workouts on my schedule, but I knew that I needed to rest because I had absolutely nothing in the tank.  I went home, wrote an email to Coach Rich explaining how I felt and I had made the executive decision to take the rest of the day off to eat and rest.  He quickly responded that this was the right thing to do.  I put my feet up, got my compression and Compex on, and even convinced Kim to go to the Italian buffet for dinner.  I had no excuses to not feel better the next day, right?!

6 Days Before AG Nats:
I had registered for an event earlier in the week, when I still felt strong, that I thought would be a good dress rehearsal for Vegas.  It was advertised as a 1/3 Iron distance; 1.1 mile swim, 34 mile bike, 8 mile run.  As you can see, it isn't exactly a third Iron, but it was a good distance to test nutrition and pacing for the 70.3 World Championships.  Saturday night I had everything set to go for a zero dark early departure from home; bike prepped, bags packed, breakfast laid out, Keurig ready to rock.  I woke up at 2AM and I knew that something wasn't right.  My stomach was upset, I was achy and felt feverish.  Not good.  It quickly escalated and by the time my alarm went off at 4AM I was full blown ill.  I made the obvious, but still difficult, decision that I wasn't doing ANYTHING that day, let alone race*.  That was one of the most miserable 24 hour periods of my life.  Thankfully, I woke up the next morning feeling much better, but not 100%.

*I contacted Zoom Multisport following my missed event and explained how I had been ill and wanted to know if there was any possibility of transferring my registration fee to a future event.  I didn't expect to get anywhere with this, but it was worth asking.  To my surprise and delight, Mick (owner of Zoom) responded that it would be no problem to use my registration to an event next year.  This is incredible, and unfortunately rare, customer service in the racing world.  They get a big "atta boy" from the Ryno!

4 Days Before AG Nats:
After taking two complete days off and missing a race (my first ever due to acute illness), I was feeling like I was ready to get back in the saddle, literally. I hooked up with a couple other guys and headed out for a 2 hour ride.  My numbers were decent, but I just didn't feel great.  That night I made my way to the pool and had a lack luster swim, but I was happy to be moving again.

2 Days Before AG Nats:
Kim and I traveled to Milwaukee.  I felt good in everything I did except when I would swim, bike, and run.  My legs were sore muscularly, for an unknown reason, and I just didn't have my usual snap and power.

1 Day Before AG Nats:
I went through my pre race run and ride with decent paces, but I was having to work hard for numbers that should come easily.  I remember climbing a slight hill on my bike and I felt like I was really laying down the power to go with traffic.  I looked down to discover that my 10 second power average was 290 watts.  In perspective, my race plan called for my entire bike ride the following day to be at nearly a 300 watt average.  When it was time to rack my bike in transition for the night, I wheeled Stella out of the hotel room and noted an odd noise from the rear wheel.  Before we got to the elevator I found that my tire was completely flat.  Upon closer examination the tube wasn't only flat, but I had developed a hole in the tire which you could clearly see the green latex tube through.  I quickly called around to find a Michelin Pro Race 4 and we jetted off to a local bike shop for a replacement.  Crisis avoided, but just another stressor that I could have done without.  I should note that in three races, this was my third wheel incident of some sort.  I take meticulous care of my gear to avoid such incidents, but apparently the tire Gods have other ideas.

Race Morning:
With my wave going off at 9:30, I wanted to sleep as late as possible on race morning to make my nutrition as simple as it could be.  Transition closed at 7:30 so I had to be up earlier than my usual three hours prior to race start.  I set the alarm for 6:00 and we quickly loaded up the car and headed for downtown.  This would be the third trip we had made from the hotel to the race site and it had been quite convenient and quick the first two times.  This time however, there was a man in an orange vest putting up a barrier at the exit from the highway to the waterfront.  This forced me to go over the bridge to the other side of the river.  I exited the highway and was planning on jumping back on heading in the opposite direction.  This is when I saw a police officer in the middle of setting up cones at the entrance to the on-ramp.  I rolled down my window and said "I'm trying to get to the race!"  He responded "You had better go down there because once I close this off there is no getting to the race!"  He motioned in a general direction of the race site as he said this, but gave no specifics and didn't consider just letting me get on the road that he had begun closing down no more than 30 seconds before.  I began navigating side streets that ran the direction I needed to go and after about 15 minutes of  nervously furious driving, I found my way to the waterfront.  This entire incident had only cost me about 20 minutes, but that was 20 minutes I had planned to use to set up my transition.  Once again, another stress filled event.  I did get everything set just as they were chasing racers out of transition with a bull horn.

The Race:

After killing time hanging out with fellow Team RWB members and allowing a set of demo NormaTec boots to work their magic on my legs, it was time to get ready to race.  I was very hopeful that this would be day that my body would finally snap out of its funk!

Swim: 24:59
We waited in the water for our wave start and I was in good spirits.  The water was nice and cool so I was wearing my full DeSoto T1 wetsuit and figured I could knock out a good split with it's added buoyancy.  The gun went off and the mayhem ensued.  I was in the middle of the pack as we approached the first buoy and it got thick with kicking legs and flailing arms.  It's nothing I haven't dealt with before, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it.  We passed under a small bridge which kept us bunched up.  This swim really never got easy.  I was pushing hard, thinking of my form constantly because I knew I wasn't having one of those effortless days and I was constantly dealing with contact from fellow competitors.  As I climbed the ramp out of the water, I was breathless - noticeably so.  I looked at my watch and I knew that it would be a tough day.  I had swum the slowest swim that I could and still be in the territory to pull off a decent race.  I couldn't have anything else be less than top notch material.  Examining results, I gave up 3 minutes to a fellow competitor that I came out of the water with at Giant Eagle two weeks earlier.

T1: 2:18
Nothing really to note.  I took off my wetsuit top en route to my bike and kicked off my bottoms at the rack.  Threw on my helmet and headed for "Bike Out".  I had a decent "rolling" mount.  I wouldn't call it flying, but much faster than coming to a stop and climbing on.

Bike: 1:00:28
The first few miles I felt like I was maxed out.  My heart rate was ridiculously high. I run a 10K with a HR of about 172 bpm and my HR in the beginning of this bike was flirting with 180 bpm.  My HR on the bike rarely goes over 165.  This wasn't the time to analyze though, it was time to do work.  Cycling is my discipline and I wanted to own this bike ride.  As I finally began to settle in I found another rider to work with and he and I quickly traded spots a few times.  There was a long gradual climb up over the bridge and then an equally long section of straight up blasting with all the gear my 53-11 would offer.  I was riding a decent average pace, but I was working damn hard for what I was getting.  By the final decent back to transition I managed to drop a couple guys that I had been pacing with for much of the ride, but I was spent.  Once again, this split was the bottom of the acceptable range.  When you begin adding up less than optimal splits, you begin getting a less than optimal race.

T2:  1:16
I had a solid flying dismount back into T2 and a quick donning of sunglasses, race belt, and my Saucony Grid Type A5's.

Run: 41:00
This is where everything from the past couple weeks really showed up.  I headed out on the run course and immediately felt flat footed.  I had no kick in my step and it felt like I was "muscling" each stride rather than gliding.  By the time I hit mile one I had begun slowing off my already less than stellar pace.  I never saw my watch display an average pace faster than 6:20/mile.  There were multiple times where I was ready to throw in the towel and begin walking.  I knew that I would really hate myself if I walked so I would take a few slower strides and then try to go again.  Each time I would quickly realize that I couldn't hold the pace.  In a rare act, I even took two cups of Gatorade on the 10K course hoping that would help - it didn't.  With spectators yelling "One mile to go!", "Half mile to go!", "Quarter mile to go!", I still couldn't will a sprint for the line.  When I finally hit the finish line I was out of my mind with exhaustion.  I put my hands on my knees and had a tough time getting myself through the finish chute.  I grabbed two bottles of water and a big bottle of Gatorade before I eventually made my way to a grassy area to sit down with Kim and Jet.

Final Time: 2:10:02
This was my slowest Olympic time in two years and nearly ten minutes slower than a time I posted just 13 days before.

Post Race:
I knew before I crossed the finish line that I hadn't met my goal to make the 2014 Team USA for the Olympic distance.  I was devastated.  I felt like I had let so many people down; my coach, my girlfriend, my supporters, my teammates, and myself.  I had a few moments of involuntary crying where I just couldn't control my emotions any longer.  About that time, Brad Williams came by and sat down with me.  He too had not raced to his potential due to stomach issues.  In a strange way, this made me feel better.  I know that Brad is a one hell of a triathlete, with professional speed, and he had not had his best race either.

Conclusion:

So now that I have gotten it all out there and cried like a baby over everything that went badly, I want to say that IT IS OK!  I am intelligent enough to know that everyday can't be an "easy day".  Many days feel tougher than they should and that is part of the game.  We do everything we can to minimize the chance of having a race day also be a "tough day", but it happens.  I pushed some heavy volume leading into this event.  It was a gamble and it didn't pay off this time.  Outside of training, life has dealt some crappy cards lately.  I have played my hand the best I know how, but not every hand is a winner no matter what we do.

My friend Colleen helped bring me back to reality after the race when she said "One year ago, you were in the hospital! That, my friend, inspires me".  She is exactly right.  If you would have told me one year ago when I was in the hospital recovering from major hip surgery that I would be frustrated by having a "bad day" and going 2:10 at the 2013 USAT Age Group National Championship, I would have been ecstatic!  It is so important to keep perspective and be thankful for the things we CAN do rather than what we can't or don't.  I qualified for and finished this event, period.   On this day I showed that I am in the top 50 male amateur triathletes between the ages of 30 and 34 in the United States.  For these things, I am extremely grateful.

I am now taking a week to recover, rest, and rejuvenate.  I have no workout schedule and no obligation to do anything physical.  I will ride when I want to ride (which has already happened).  I will run when I want to run.  And I will swim when, and if, I want to swim.  That is what this is all about.  We all got involved in this sport because we love it.  Sometimes you have to fall back in love with it.

Blue skies and tailwinds for all!

-Ryno :)

P.S.  Does anyone have an idea of how to get these damn temporary tattoos off?  I don't own any baby oil and I would like to keep the skin that's underneath these numbers!  Thanks!

Playing in the dirt!

Who's ready for Xterra? This guy!

This past weekend was the first time that I took my three sport passion off the tarmac. I had been interested in Xterra racing for some time, but my last experience with mountain biking, about 10 years ago, left me with a deathly fear of single track trails. Couple that with my hip fracture last year from an on-road (where I'm quite comfortable) wipe out and I thought it would be best to leave that box unchecked. Fast forward to this past winter when I was getting back to training and found a killer deal on last year's model of a hard tail 29'er. Here we go!



I looked on the Xterra website and found Xterra East Fork just outside Cincinnati, Ohio. The race was scheduled for June 9th. Now we had a deadline for me to become a competent off road cyclist. Sounds like plenty of time, I know, but I had a few other things going on. First thing was to rehab myself back to the point where I could compete and take on a full time training schedule. Then I had to tackle a January iron distance event. Finally, I went to Puerto Rico to secure a slot to the 2013 Ironman World Championship 70.3.

Once all those tasks were complete, it was time to sprinkle in some trail work. My first scheduled mountain bike ride was going to be three leisurely hours of rolling through the woods near Alum Creek Reservoir. Fifteen minutes in, I sent myself over the handlebars for a classic face plant into the dirt. This resulted in my face being stitched from the base of my nose to my upper lip... oops. Did I mention that I was on the "beginner" trail?! The tiny bit of confidence I had was now at a new record low.
 

I did manage to get back on the horse in the weeks leading up to East Fork, but only a handful of times and never made it off the bunny slope. To say that I was terrified of the Xterra bike course was a drastic understatement.

Race weekend:

Kim, Jet and I headed down to Bethel, Ohio on Saturday afternoon. I had done a quick 20 minute pre race run before leaving home and still had a 30 minute pre race bike to accomplish. I wanted to do it on the race course in order to either calm my nerves or reinforce my visions of pushing my bike through miles of single track. When we arrived at packet pickup, I was quickly told that due to recent rains, the bike course had been changed from the advertised 12 miles to 14 miles. That may not seem like much, but for me, that was an extra eternity! The course was now a double loop lollipop with the loops being the single track and the stem being a park road that lead from transition to the trail head and back.

After getting my packet, I grabbed my bike and set off to attempt one loop of the course. I told Kim that I would hopefully be back close to 30 minutes, but not to worry if it took a bit longer. I showed back up over an hour later. I had survived the pre ride with only a couple drops of blood to show for it, but I had dismounted for more obstacles than I'd care to admit.
 

If you've heard that off road triathletes are a lot more laid back than their asphalt loving brethren, you heard right. This race didn't start until 9 AM! Transition didn't even open until 7 and when I asked when transition would close, I was basically told that they would kick folks out when racers were coming into T1. Haha! I am not a morning person, so this was just fine with me!



All set up in transition

We woke up at a little before 6 AM and I began my pre race, kamikaze grooming process. We arrived at the park around 7:30 and I began setting up, carefully observing those around me to make sure I didn't stick out like the roadie that I am. I noticed that I was one of few to not have a Camelbak hanging near my bike and I can now see how that would have been handy. Oh well, not a big deal. Water temperature was announced as 70*F and I debated on whether to wear my wetsuit for the relatively short 1000m swim (more on this in a moment). After I was set up, Kim and I wandered down to the beach and I remarked that for a two loop, 1000m swim, the turn buoys looked far apart. I dismissed this because I always feel like an open water course looks far when you see it laid out.

The swim was a time trial start with a swimmer going in the water every four seconds or so. Seriously, it was sort of up to you to run across the timing mat whenever you felt ready - laid back. You were supposed to self seed yourself according to swim ability, but no formal system existed. Normally I would have jumped in line around number 10 or so to give myself a chance to catch some fast feet and hit the bike with good riders... not this time. I placed myself square in the middle of the field with the thought process that each person who got out of the swim ahead of me would be one less person who I would have to let pass on the trails. I began my swim leisurely with no real sense of urgency, but wanted to work on controlling my breathing and focusing on some mechanics that Rich has had me working on lately. I felt good in the water with the extra buoyancy from my DeSoto wetsuit I decided to throw on and I realized that I was passing a good number of folks. When I exited the water after my second lap, I realized that my watch read more than ten minutes beyond what I expected for a 1000m swim. I then looked at the distance and it read nearly 1.1 miles... Over 1700 meters! Someone really dropped the ball on that one!

 

Into transition 1 and I was in no huge rush because I knew that I was going to put on socks, my mountain bike shoes, gloves... basically have a picnic.

Headed onto the bike, I was definitely nervous. I focused on keeping relaxed as I could feel the tension building in my hands and arms. I made sure I kept my hand covering the rear brake lever, but I avoided the front brake like the plague following my face's introduction to Mother Earth a month or so earlier. As expected, I was quickly passed by far superior mountain bikers, but I told myself that my goal was to survive this ride, not race it. When I would hear someone coming up, I would yell out "Let me know when you want to go around, you won't hurt my feelings!" or "I have no pride, pass whenever you'd like!" I did find myself riding through a number of areas where I had dismounted the day before and that made me happy. I walked my bike both times we went across a pretty technical river crossing, but I don't think it really cost me much time. Seeing how I was limited much more by my lack of technical skills than my cardiovascular fitness, I was able to carry on quite a few lovely conversations with riders in front of and behind me. I had a couple folks respond with something similar to "I'm gonna stay here and rest for a second" when I gave my usual greeting as they rode up behind me... aaaand there goes my pride. In the end, I finished the 14 miles in 1:36, much quicker than I anticipated given the hour it took me to complete one lap on Saturday. In comparison, the quickest riders completed the same course in around 1:13.

Given the weight that was lifted off my shoulders as I headed back to T2, they could have told me to run a marathon and I wouldn't have flinched. I was invincible now! Or so I thought...

I threw on my running shoes and grabbed some sunglasses before heading onto the 6'ish mile run. I hadn't previewed the run, but in my mind it would be a hard packed dirt trail or maybe some gravel. I couldn't have been more wrong. This was a straight up single track, hilly, gulley filled, creek crossing, waist high grass, log jumping obstacle course! In the beginning I tried to keep out of the mud to cut down on excess weight on my shoes. That lasted about a quarter mile until I got into an ankle deep mud swamp. I had an epic fail in footwear selection. I had grabbed my Pearl Izumi E Motion tri shoes because they have a fairly thick sole, they're easy to don, and fairly light weight. The problem was that they have no traction. Each time I stepped in a mud hole they acted more like water skis than running shoes. Even still, I pushed through the run course and passed more than a dozen other racers and thought "I let you guys show off on the bike, now it's my turn!" I came screaming down the final hill into the finish and was very happy to be done. That run was brutal!

Overall, I'm really happy with how my first Xterra race went. I ended up 3rd in my age group and 19th overall. Looking at the results, I swam and ran faster than most of the top 5 guys, but

they smoked me on the bike. I guess that is precisely what separates Xterra from road racing! I am not ready to become a hardcore, tree hugging triathlete, but I wouldn't mind racing in the shade of a tree canopy a few more times!

Cheers,
Ryno

Fueled by luck and plantains

San Juan, Puerto Rico is an incredible city. With many similarities to the continental US, there are plenty of differences to make it feel exotic and far from home. Being able to simply walk off the plane, without as much as an agriculture form, let alone customs, was amazing. Not having to convert any money or do conversions in my head each time I looked at a price tag or menu was also a bonus. Having the scenery and weather of the Caribbean, the history of an ancient society all around, a mix of metric and empirical units, and a mainly Spanish speaking society definitely let you know that you aren't in Kansas anymore.

 

We arrived in San Juan on Thursday afternoon for the Sunday race. As expected, we were greeted by mid 80 degree temps, palm trees, and humid, salty air. Our new friend Hila picked us up at the airport and took us straight to Old San Juan so that I could view the torturous run course and get a feel of the area where we would be staying and racing. Old San Juan is a collection of very narrow, mostly cobblestone streets lined with brightly colored buildings and surrounded by the water. As an American, I think we often forget how "old" certain cities are. Our history as a country is quite brief in comparison to most societies and I think we often lack that comprehension of cities that have existed for as long as one like San Juan.

 

After our tour, we were dropped at the Conrad Hotel, which is very near the swim start. Upon check in, we were given an upgrade to an ocean view room as long as we were willing to take a single king bed versus the two queens that I had reserved. I expressed my  disappointment to the clerk that I wouldn't have one bed for jumping on and another to sleep in, but that I would manage. Given my sacrifice, she found us an ocean view room on the end of the floor so that we would have two walls with windows! The room did not disappoint. We looked directly out onto the ocean and could walk out on our private balcony to watch and listen to the surf roll in anytime we desired. It was incredible. After settling in, we wandered up Ashford Ave to find some Puerto Rican cuisine. This was our first exposure to mofongo and tostones rellenos. Both used plantains and meat - how could you go wrong? Afterwards, it was time to check out the local froyo shop and then put Stella together and make her race ready.




View from our room at the Conrad

 

Friday began by meeting up with a fellow Team RWB supporter, and stellar triathlete, Nick Chase. He and I went for a nice (probably faster than we should have) run around the swim exit, transition area, and briefly on the run course. It became apparent then that race day would be a sweat fest. Around lunch time Hila picked Nick and me up again to head to the Caribe Hilton for packet pick up, lunch, and then she drove us out of town on the bike course so we could get in an hour in the saddle without dealing with San Juan traffic. If I have one major complaint with this race, it is the trying conditions of riding in San Juan before race day. There are cars EVERYWHERE! Not only are there way too many cars for the size of the island, they drive with blatant disregard to any vehicle around them. Once we got out to a less populated area, we parked and got in a decent hour of riding while dodging dead iguana carcasses and keeping an eye out for drivers making less-than-signaled turns. Upon completion of our ride, during our commute back into San Juan, we were stopped in traffic when I looked over and said "Hey, there's Faris Al-Sultan". For those who are not familiar, Faris is a professional triathlete and former Ironman World Champion. He is well known for his signature Speedo style shorts that he races in, his long hair, and scruffy beard. Faris was not in a car as you would expect, or even on his bike, he was walking alone on the side of the road with his backpack on heading in the direction of the race site. I asked Hila and Nick if we should give him a ride and they both quickly agreed we should. I lowered my window and yelled "Faris, do you want a ride?!" He responded in his accented English asking where we were headed. After telling him we were going to the resorts, he ran across the road and jumped in the back seat. At that point, we were several miles from the Caribe Hilton, where he was staying, and as evidenced by the amount of police and barred doors and windows, this is not the city you want to wander through without knowledge of the area. He was very nice and politely answered the dozen questions I posed to him, took a picture with Nick, and then excused himself when we stopped at the Conrad to go get something to eat (we found out later that he had been living on Subway during his time there - Eat Fresh!)

 

Friday evening, Kim, Nick, Jesse, and I were all invited to Hila's parent's home in a very nice suburb of San Juan for dinner. This was definitely the best meal I had while I was there and probably one of the best of my life. We had fried plantains, churasco (seasoned skirt steak), two types of egg plant dishes, rice, beans, salad, pumpkin soup, flan, fresh fruit, apple strudel, coffee, red wine... All amazing. This was truly special for them to invite us in as strangers, feed us, and make us feel very welcome.

 

Saturday morning began with a Starbucks stop and meeting up with Cat and her new friend/RWB recruit Chris. After getting caffeinated, we walked across the road to the swim start for a 30 min swim session. Most of the 1.2 mile race swim took place in a protected lagoon before passing under a low bridge and ending in an area exposed to the open ocean, but well protected by large rocks that broke up a lot of the surf. The goal of this short session was just to get in the water, loosen up, find some sighting points, and swim under the bridge so I would know what it would feel like on race morning.

 

After drying off, Kim and I found a great cafe directly on the water where we enjoyed our breakfast, coffee, fresh pineapple juice, and made another new friend, Peter Terris. Peter is from Belgium, but now lives in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico where he paints for a living and trains as a triathlete. Even though triathlon is an individual sport, there is so much camaraderie amongst athletes and that is one thing I really love about my sport.

 

My last task for Saturday (besides eating) was to take a quick ride and then rack my bike in transition. I suited up and headed out to try to find someplace I could ride for 45 mins. I basically went up and down the road as far as I could. Everything seemed to be running smoothly and on my way to Sixto Escobar Stadium, the site of transition, I hit a HUGE pot hole. I ejected my water bottle, my entire cockpit angled down, and I was quite worried about the integrity of my tires, tubes, and wheels. I got to my rack to begin the examination. Everything looked ok, I borrowed a wrench from a competitor, adjusted my aerobars, and made sure my wheels were true. Crisis averted. I quickly ran back to the hotel to shower and hit the pro panel so I could say hi to Tim O'Donnell (TO). Back from the pro panel, it was time for a quick nap and then an early dinner of chicken fried rice at the hibachi restaurant and a little more froyo to end the night.

 

Race day:

 

My alarm went off at 0415 and I quickly got up, shaved, showered, ate, grabbed my gear and headed for transition. I got Stella all set up for her big day and then headed back to the hotel. I was in the very last age group wave, 0740, so I figured I would rather relax in my hotel room versus sitting in the grass at the swim start and waiting in port o potty lines. This was a great decision. I hooked up the Compex for some pre warmup and potentiation, sipped my Ensure, coated on some TriPainRelief, laid in the bed, and mentally went through my race plan in detail. At 0715, Kim and I headed downstairs to the swim start, she coated me once more in suntan lotion, zipped me into my swim skin, and sent me off for 70.3 miles of fun!

 

Swim:

 

The swim has never been my strong suit, but I have worked on it a lot and I am getting to the point where I would call myself a swimmer. I won't be the first guy out of the water, but I will leave myself in contention. I lined up near the front of the deep water start and planned on going with the first group as long as I could. This plan was great until we hit the first wave of stragglers from the heat in front of us. Our group of ten or so was blown apart and I found myself with no feet to follow. I dug in knowing I would have to pull hard to maintain a decent pace working all by myself. I found myself in a decent rhythm, but it was taxing. I was breathing every other stroke, instead of every third, and I was praying for the swim finish to come quickly. Upon completion of the loop in the lagoon, I headed towards the bridge. This is where you get into line of sight to the open ocean and you begin feeling the effects of its large surf. The pull and surge has its intoxicating effect, but it's race day and you can't let it bother you. I climbed the ramp at swim exit and looked at my watch; 33 minutes. Not quite the 30 that I had wanted, but not the end of the world. I pulled off my Aqua Sphere Kayenne's and swim cap and began the half mile barefoot run to Sixto Escobar Stadium.

 

T1:

 

Nothing major to report. Tried to control my heart rate after the extended run to transition, pulled off my swim skin, number belt on, helmet on, gel flask in the pocket, unrack Stella, turn on my Edge 500, and off I go!

 

Bike:

 

Typical running out to the mount line, a huge congestion of folks trying to clip in, and then swerving wildly as they try to get up to speed and paying no attention to other riders. I got out of that mess and finally found some space on the open road to get my shoes on. No sooner do I get my shoes on when I hit another pot hole. Not as severe as the one the day before, but significant enough to launch my bottle of Hammer Perpetuem from between my arms. Not having that bottle is not an option. I would end up in a ditch somewhere having hallucinations of riding my beach cruiser across the sky. I jammed on the brakes, unclipped my feet, gathered my bottle, and pushed on. Crisis numero dos solved. Riding out of town was good. I felt smooth and fast. As expected, since I began in the last wave, I was passing riders by the handful every time I looked up. More importantly, I was seeing some calf numbers between 30-34. Pretty much as soon as we got out of town, the roads were soaked. Not a huge deal except this would be my first time riding in wet conditions since the doomed day last August when I broke my hip. Definitely some anxious moments, but I had a task at hand and it would take more than rain to slow me down. I hit the first turn around and still felt good. I had felt some side winds, but my pace had been solid and I was minding my power output and nutrition. I had been passed by one rider and I tried to go with him, but he was beyond my range of smart energy management. Props to him. So basically I rode alone, moving through group after group, observing some massive draft packs (probably 50+ riders in a couple of them), and hit a pretty big downpour on the way back in on my first loop. It was on my way back in after my second loop that the headwind got nasty. Flags were starched directly against our direction. Not exactly how I wanted to end the ride, but that's how it was. I pushed hard to fight it and caught another guy in my age group before making it back to T2.

 

T2:

 

Pretty standard stuff. Felt good about the lack of bikes on the rack. Helmet off, hat on, sunglasses on, socks and shoes on, turn the number belt around and run the hell out of there.

 

Run:

 

This is where it got ugly. From the beginning my stride felt labored. I had a plan to find 170 beats per minute (BPM) on my heart rate monitor and stay there, whatever pace that got me. It was a great plan, except I just couldn't do it. I would hit 166 BPM and feel like I was going to collapse. Even with the hills, my body didn't want to pump my heart any faster. It was incredibly hot and humid. Each aid station it was a Gatorade in the mouth, a water over the head, ice down the kit, and the occasional Coke if it was handy. The picture of the first major hill in Old San Juan is pretty popular in the race photos and it is a hill to be respected, but it is one of many and not the worst that the course has to offer. My personal (least) favorite was a cobblestone hill that is directly outside the gates to the fort. It was just as steep, if not steeper, as the other I mentioned, but the road surface makes it much tougher. When you enter the fort, you run along a sea wall and beautiful does not describe the scene. On one side is a stone wall that I couldn't even guess the age of. On the other side is the ocean slamming into the rocks. Here are the catches; the sea wall and fort wall is not straight, so you do not know how far you have to go until you get to the turn around. Each time you round a corner, it just keeps going. There is also very little breeze due to the massive fort wall so the hot, humid air is now still. Lastly, since it is a historical site, they are very picky about trash accumulating, as they should be. For triathlon, this translates into no aid stations. Add all these things up and it makes what should be the flattest and easiest portion of the run quite difficult.

 

After realizing that I was not going to have the stellar run I hoped for, it became all about damage control. I tried to stay as cool as possible, concentrated on leaning into my stride, made good use of the downhill sections, and made sure I kept fluid and calories coming in at every aid station. I walked many of the stations to ensure this and to break up the run in my head: "Just run to the next Gatorade..." I did pick it up for the last few kilometers and told myself I had nothing I needed to hold back for. This also helped to make sure that I wouldn't give up any more than the two positions I had already lost on the run. I knew I wasn't where I wanted to be, but it wouldn't help to make it worse.

 

The support of Team RWB members on the run was phenomenal. I am so thrilled to be apart of this organization. I also had Kim sitting at the top of the famous hill to encourage me and give me updated positioning. She had told me I had come off the bike in 7th and then it was up to me to watch any calves that went past. Now results show me coming off the bike in 8th... whatev's.

 

 Finish:

At the end of the second run loop, there is a turn off to go to the finish. Guess where it went... Up another hill. But this time I could hear and see the finish line. It was a pain that came with an immediate reward. As I crossed the line, I think my overall feeling was one of relief. I took my medal, finisher shirt, gave up my chip, and hobbled over to the fence where Kim was waiting for me. I could barely hold myself up. My entire body ached and felt like I would have a full body cramp if I took one wrong step. I eventually got to the ice bath (more like a slightly chilled bath at that point) and it felt good to sit in the water for a few minutes. I got out of there and had Kim inspect what felt like two giant blisters on my big toes from soaking wet shoes. I shoved down a slice of pizza, but looking at the second piece made me feel ill. It was then that I decided that I needed to search out some IV fluids. After telling them all the right things, I quickly had a line in my arm. I laid there for awhile, entertaining Kim with my involuntary dancing calf muscles, and let the miracle of saline work its magic. I felt 100 times better after that bag. I grabbed my things out of transition and headed for the Conrad.

 

Roll Down:

I won't go into all the details of how Ironman World Championship slot allocation works, but it's important to know that it is not based on a time, but rather placement in your age group. The number of slots your group gets depends on the number of people in your age group relative to the total number of participants. San Juan had 50 slots to award to the 70.3 WC for the entire race. I figured that males 30-34 would likely get 3 of those 50. When we showed up to the award ceremony/roll down, I went to see how many we had gotten and how many had been taken. I was thrilled to hear that we had been allocated 4! slots and only 1!! had been claimed. This meant that if no one else showed up, we had 3 slots to award beginning with the 5th, 6th, and 7th place finishers. I was in 10th. I needed 3 people to pass on roll down for me to get my slot. Not likely, but not impossible. After awards finished, they moved straight into roll down. The first few groups had zero spots roll so they were quickly to my male 30-34. The 5th place finisher took one spot, 6th was a no show, 7th took a spot... one spot left. He called the 8th place finisher's name... Not a peep. Then he called for the 9th place... No one got up. The announcer then said "from Columbus, Ohio..." he didn't even have to finish, I was already yelling with my hand in the air and half way to the stage. I had run one of the ugliest half marathons of my life and found my ticket to the World Championship! I was over the moon! In my haste, I had forgotten to grab my checkbook out of the bag, so Kim came over, gave me a big hug, congratulated me, and handed me the checks. It is time to resolve some unfinished business in the desert!

 

The rest of the trip had a celebratory mood to it. We celebrated the race and St Patty's Day on Sunday night with Hila, Nick, and Jesse in Old San Juan - made complete by my green TrendyCharlie shirt that was brought just for the occasion. Monday we decided to have a lazy day at the hotel and it was awesome. Kim and I ate breakfast at our little cafe on the water with Peter who just happened to be going there on the same elevator that we were getting on, sat at the pool having fruity drinks and making new friends (met Heather who managed to secure a Vegas slot and age group award after breaking her foot at mile three of the run), got cleaned up to hit happy hour at the Caribe Hilton, then grabbed a taxi to Old San Juan to check out a little pizza shop I found on Google maps called Pirilo. Amazing pizza and it had plantains on it! Of course, the night wasn't complete without a stop at the froyo shop and then some time spent on the beach watching the waves crash.

 

I went to San Juan with the goal of bringing home a qualifier's slot to Vegas, and I did that. It may not have been how I envisioned it happening, but the end result is the same. Along with that, I had the pleasure of meeting some great people, eating some fantastic food, and seeing some amazing things. I'm coming home with a funky sunburn, my qualifier certificate, some gnarly chaffing, a finisher shirt, a raging plantain addiction, and a smile on my face.

 

Cheers!

Ryno

When life gives you pretzels

As I sit on this Airtran Boeing 737 and watch the Atlantic Ocean sprawl forth below me, I am moved by a particular feeling... Anxious boredom. I have already eaten my bag of dried fruit, a pouch of almonds, and the 45 calories worth of complimentary pretzels that they still hand out, so I figured I could entertain myself by pecking out a blog post. Anything to take my mind off how my baby girl, Stella, is all alone and cold down below in the baggage hold and how savagely she has been treated today by the baggage handlers.

Like most endurance athletes, the couple weeks before a big event are a roller coaster of emotion, hunger, energy, fatigue, and stress for me. This build up was no exception. I find it odd that my body tends to feel its worst when I am trying to give it the rest and recovery that it has been demanding. I often have ridiculous food cravings when my volume decreases which goes directly against what my brain is telling me; "Don't eat as much as you have been... You're not doing anything." I often end up feeling achy and lethargic, almost as if I'm coming down the flu. It is only due to the fact that I feel this way each time that I now know that I'm not actually getting sick, just tapering. It is pretty awesome though that despite the lackluster feeling I get before hand, my body almost always shows up ready to rock 'n roll on game day!

This particular race was interesting in how my training blocks laid out. Coming out of Bone Island, which served as my proving ground for post hip surgery Ironman, we knew that the run was my biggest area of opportunity and it needed to be improved for me to be competitive at an M-dot event. After a week of relaxed work, we quickly jumped into some pretty thick training in all three disciplines and my body responded well. A few weeks later, Rich threw a four week run endurance block at me. When I saw it on the calendar I was pretty excited. We had been SO conservative before Bone Island with my run, but I really had zero issues with severe hip pain while I was in Florida so we felt it was time to do some "real" training. The run block consisted of running every day, for a minimum of 45 minutes (getting progressively longer each week) at aerobic heart rate and then stacking my other sessions on top of that. This meant 6 two-a-days a week, one being a double run day, and one day of just my aerobic run. After about four days, I knew that it was going to get ugly. My hip and groin got more and more painful each day I put it through the pounding and by the sixth day in I gave up half way through my run and moved to the elliptical to finish the session at the desired HR. For those that know me, I have to really be hurting to give up on a workout. To my relief, I found that a little recovery went a long way and with only taking one day off the treadmill and replacing it with an elliptical or Alter - G session, I would be much improved the following day. It is my opinion that I was experiencing a daily increase in inflammation and my body needed a break about once a week to simmer down before the pain went past my threshold.

By the end of the run block, there was no doubt that overall endurance was much improved and I had found confidence in my ability to perform a sustained run at a reasonable pace. From the run block, we went IMMEDIATELY into a race prep block... Just when I thought I would get a break... Not even a day off. If I thought the run block was tough, it was a vacation in comparison to the race prep period. Rich smashed me daily, for weeks, until I literally thought I couldn't swim one more stroke, pedal one more revolution, or stride out one more step. It was the hardest I have ever trained. That said, I was really happy with some of the numbers I saw on my watch and power meter, even on days that I felt totally fatigued. And just to add to the degree of challenge, I also began my new job during this time. Haven't been caught sleeping at work yet!

That pretty much brings you up to this post from 40,000 feet, save a few drama filled personal life ordeals that not even I care to hear about. In the end, I'm really excited to visit Puerto Rico for the first time, meet up with some new and old friends, see if I can compete at an upper level in my favorite distance, relax, have fun, and enjoy the fruits of my labor. If you're not hungover from celebrating St. Patty's Day on Saturday, roll over to Ironman Live and check out the tracker for bib 1165 on Sunday. Once again, Men 30-34 go off in the last wave which is at 7:40 on Sunday morning - gotta love passing a bazillion 50 year old women! I'm not gonna publicly put a number on it since there are still a few small question marks in my mind, but a Vegas slot is definitely the goal. If I don't get it, I feel confident in saying that it will not be for a lack of trying.

Save me some green beer - Cheers!

New Tc Arch City Tee!!

Ready for a cool new tee and a history lesson??  Well, here it comes anyway.  So apparently, Columbus was originally known as the Arch City - who knew?  I certainly didn't. 

From Wikipedia:
"Columbus earned one of its nicknames, "The Arch City", because of the dozens of wooden arches that spanned High Street at the turn of the 20th century. The arches illuminated the thoroughfare and eventually became the means by which electric power was provided to the new streetcars. The arches were torn down and replaced with cluster lights in 1914, but were reconstructed from metal in the Short North district in 2002 for their unique historical interest."

So there ya have it.  If it's on the internet, it has to be true!  Head on over to Trendy Charlie and pick up this new print on a super comfy tee and represent the Capital City!

First thoughts: Pearl Izumi E Motion N1 Run

So I know this is a brand new shoe and there are some people out there excited to get reaction to it and possibly get their hands on a pair, so I will give my initial thoughts on this shoe even though I have only worn it once. I will begin by saying, that like many other things (nutrition, bike saddles, etc), running shoes are highly personalized so this is just my take on this piece of equipment.

 

The shape of the midsole in the entire E Motion line is what sets it apart from most other running shoes. It has a slightly curved sole... Think "Skechers Shape Ups", but only to about 1/1000 of that degree. This idea was first introduced to me in the Scott T2, and I found it to work quite well. When running, it basically forces the midfoot to contact the ground first and then throws the runner up on his/her toes. I find it to be an even greater help the more my legs are fatigued, say after a hard bike ride - triathlon!? When you first put on a shoe that employs this style of sole, the first reaction is almost always one of discomfort. The shoes feel horrible when standing still and very awkward to walk in. It isn't till you get up to speed that the technology can be appreciated.

 

With the PI's in particular, I find then to have a firm sole and they are fairly stiff. This is, of course, compared to the uber flexible, minimal shoes that are so popular right now.  I really noticed the stiffness when I first held them in my hand, but I didn't notice it near as much in use.  These shoes definitely threw me up on my forefoot and I really had to make a concious effort to land flat footed.  I naturally have a midfoot to forefoot strike when I'm fresh, so I had to relax my lower leg in the beginning, but found it much more natural as the miles ticked off and my body adjusted.  One note: this shoe likes to go fast... seriously.  It really begs to be strided out and when you slow it down with a quick chop step, it sends negative feedback straight up the legs by making the prounounced midfoot much more noticeable.

 

The listed weight of the shoe (in size 9) is 7.7 oz, although my size 12's are certainly heavier.  I would list this at the top end of the weight range of a shoe I would call race worthy.  The redeeming quality of its slightly bloated mass is that the shoe wears well and therefore doesn't feel heavy.  It is snug in the heel and midfoot, but with plenty of room in the toe box.  It rides pretty low to the ground and gave a decent amount of road feel for what I would look for in a long course shoe.  Even though it is the lightest (and therefore fastest) shoe in the EM lineup, it is definitely not a race flat.

 

I would love to see PI come out with a much more minimal version of this shoe and keep the EM styled sole, only thinner.  I'm not ready to declare this as my race shoe for San Juan, but it is definitely in the rotation and being considered.  That is saying something!  If it weighed about 2 oz less, I think I would have a winner.

 

My early verdict:  I really like this shoe.  I haven't quite figured out the best way (which distance and what conditions) to use it.  Stay tuned!

Everyone Loves Free Samples! Sample Training Week

Part of why I wanted to start this blog is to give back to the tri community that has given me so much.  I know that starting out in this sport can be somewhat intimidating as there are so many little details to cover - and very tight clothing to wear!  When I was new, I was so information hungry that it is a miracle that I graduated college given my ratio of triathon to pharmacy research.  Anyways, I wanted to write this post as a sample of what I do in a given training week.

One should note that one man's successful training plan could be another's recipe for disaster, so use this for entertainment purposes only.  Also know that even though I perform the sessions, I consider them to be property of my coach, Rich Laidlow, and I won't go into the exact specifics of each workout.

This week is taken approximately 4 weeks out from a half iron which I consider an "A" race and coming right out of a run endurance block.

Monday: 4800m swim consisting of repeats of increasing distance and speed with an all out 800m time trial.  Also included some drill work.  Beast of a session...

Recovery Bike of an hour that has high cadence repeats and one leg drills.

Tuesday: Interval run with 2000m repeats and 400m recoveries

Recovery/Technique swim of 2800m.  Worked mainly on streamline position.

Wednesday: 5k bike repeats on the trainer at over race power. 

4200m swim of 400m repeats breathing every 5th stroke and some sprint work.

Thursday:  7 mile tempo run with 10K and 70.3 pace pieces.

Friday: One hour Fartlek bike session on the trainer.  (If you're unfamiliar with Fartlek, go ahead and giggle... and then Google it.)  This is a killer session!

Saturday:  4 hour free ride on the bike.  Emphasis on time over effort.  On the trainer, due to weather :(

Sunday:  Race prep bike/run brick.  3 hours of race power extended intervals on the trainer and then straight into an hour of high intensity one mile run repeats.

Well, there you have it!  Big week with some big gains and another deposit in the bank of fitness!