Ironman Pennsylvania

Trigger Point Therapy

2009-05-04T14:29:00.006-04:00

This has been the winter of discontent with respect to triathlon training. My right hip flexor was injured in late January, which led to subsequent groin and anterior thigh problems. Specifically numbess, pain, tightness. Worse with flexion. Worse with running. Even worse with stretching. Taking time away from running did not help much. PT started to help, but it would regress once I began running again. Swimming even started to bother me.

After seeing several excellent PTs and an top-notch orthpod, I was told that my flexibilty was quite poor as well... (actually I was told it was about the worst they had ever seen), especially with regards to the right hip range of motion. I became religious about PT, anti-inflammatories and stretching. Again I would get benefit, but as soon as I started to run or swim it would worsen. Frustrating!!!

A good friend then recommended something called trigger point therapry and specifically recommended a company that made kits designed to help people perform this on their own without having to meet with a therapist on a frequent basis.

I am a physician and was pretty skeptical about this, but I bought a kit called the Ultimate 6 Total Body Kit. This is my review...

The customer service was good. I called the toll-free # and was helped by a person who had excellent knowledge of the product. I ordered the product on-line. There are discount codes available on the internet if you are willing to search. Honestly it seemed a bit expensive ($140 USD), but I was frustrated and wanted to give it a try. Free shipping was a perk.

The Total Body kit comes with several items:

DVD
U6 info book (excellent)
Footballer
Quadroller
Massage Ball
Foot block

I watched the DVD first and then read the Ultimate 6 instruction guide. Then I tried to perform the trigger point exercises.

First off, the soleus muscle. The key to the therapy is to do the motions slowly and to breath deeply. This is not a race and the goal is to get the muscles to relax... so as to stop the cycle of pain-spasm. More painful areas are focussed on... the footballer is stopped on the location of any additional discomfort, and then deep breathing is focussed on. The footballer and foot block are used for the soleus.

Next is the anterior upper leg. Quadriceps, vastus lateralis, IT band and more. The key I have found is slow motion back and forth with deep breathing. The manual and video describe these in detail and would defer to these for anyone looking for details.

Following this is the piriformis theapy. It involves using the massager ball and essentially sitting on the ball. I found this one tough, but have improved steadily with it.

Lastly and most critical for me is the psoas therapy. The massage ball is also used. Doing this exercise properly takes deication to the video and manual, as it is really important to do this exactly as they say. Within 4 days of doing the psoas therapy on a consistent basis that I am now able to run without any real problems. I am not 100% yet, but have been using the Trigger Point Kit for only 7 days. I also have had an injection into the psoas bursa as MRI determined that my psoas had a significant amount of inflammation present. The TP Therapy will help with the inflammation, but the steroid is key to settling things down quickly.

My belief is that Trigger Point Therapy is going to help my future development in the sport of triathlon:

It will help reduce muscle spasm and imbalances that have hurt me in the past.
Thus will hopefully reduce injury.
It will increase blood flow to the regions that we stress as triathletes, which will aid in recovery from tough workouts.
It will help my flexibility as the spasm will be reduced.

How much do you need to use it? Well here is my strategy... I am going to do it both before and after running. On non-running days I will try to do it within 1 hour prior to bedtime. After conversing with the sales rep, the recommended a morning and bedtime approach, but do what works for you.

Experiences so far (after 2 weeks of use)

After 2 weeks of religious use, I have found thisproduct to be very positive.
My psoas is far less painful.
My piriformis is 10x less spastic.
Soleus work right before a run increases stability. The video shows a demo of this, which is amazing, but I can tell you that the soleus muscle is super-important for running.
The quad therapy is intense. Start slowly. Amazing.
The videos and instruction are very clear.

Here are a few disclaimers...

I do not believe in miracle cures.
Incorporating physical therapy exercises from my PT and dediction to stretching into my daily routine are also very important.
I have significant muscle tightness/ lack of flexbility issues and this therapy is very appropriate for me... it may not be for you.
There are a lot of causes of groin and anterior leg. Vertebral disc disease, cartilage tears (labral), hernias etc. Trigger point therapy would not be helpful for every cause so you should be pragmatic and careful.

I cannot recommend this product unless you are first assessed by a physician or physical therapist. Why? Because if you do have something serious like a bulging disc or a torn hip labrum this therapy will not only fail, but you might actually worsen the problem. So be SMART!

Bottom Line:
If you have muscles spasm, imbalances, pain and poor flexibity, I would strongly recommend this product!

Endurance as a way of thinking...

2009-01-10T20:59:00.002-05:00

What is it that draws us to the endurance sports?
Is it the fact that endurance athletes are simply not good at shorter, faster events?
Is it that endurance athletes are drawn to long events?
Or is it that endurance athletes are somewhat 'addictive' in their personalities and like to delve into heavy long term commitments?... I think this is the answer, it's just my opinion, but let me explain.

Many Ironman focused triathletes fall into a general demographic. Their income is well above average... $160,000 or more. They tend to be a little bit older... in their 30s, 40s and 50s. They tend to be highly successful people. Highly successful people tend to suffer from a little bit of OCD, as this is what leads them to their accomplishments. When I was younger I can remember the desire to be a Doctor. In high-school I was very motivated to do as well as I could in my senior season... I wanted to 'beat' everyone else. I wasn't the best athlete then, I wasn't the most 'popular' or the best 'partier'. I focused on what I wanted down the road, which was to be an MD. When I went to university, the same issues dominated and through hard work I gained early acceptance to medical school. In medical school I actually relaxed a bit, learned the curriculum and did not feel the need to compete until my last year where I competed for what was then a popular residency. Same issues came up in residency. First few years were about learning the ropes, and not so much about competing. By the last few years, I was right back at the competing game, trying to be the best resident humanly possible. The competition was not with others but within myself at this point. There had been a marked change at this point of my life, as the competition was turning inward.

When I landed my first job, there was a similar pattern. Eventually when I established myself I started to look for challenges and competition outside of medicine. Initially it involved running. Never racing, just running. Then it evolved to serious hiking. There was a trip to Colorado and Utah that involved some hardcore activity in this regard. Then I bought my first road bike and started to swim. This was September 2006. The Triathlon bug hit me and and the competition began. There was a competition to place as high as possible in my age group, but more importantly there was the competition to train as consistently as possible and to increase my fitness base.

Initially the training focused on the base training, specifically MAF training per Dr. Phil Maffetone. Then the training progressed to higher and higher volumes. It then progressed to hiring a professional coach and then to detailed scientific reading about improving technique to improve performance. By no means am I under the illusion that I could ever be the fastest triathlete in my age group... but I am competing within myself to be the fastest and best trained triathlete I can possibly be.

So why do I (we) do endurance sports.... well it's complicated! But let's just say it's me :)

Small Keys to Success!

2009-01-06T19:43:00.006-05:00

There are some very small things that I have to constantly think about when doing Tri sports. I am writing them down today as a point of reference so when things go wrong later in the season I will hopefully be able to come back to this post and re-group.

I. Running:

Landing on the mid-foot seems to work well for me.
The key is to land UNDER the center of gravity. Over-striding kills speed!
Focus on the foot attempting to kick your butt. This helps keep the pendulum of the leg shorter which allows easier, faster running.
Watch out for over-pronation, especially wrt the left ankle.
Keep the cadence high... 180 or so.
Lean forward from the ankles, but don't slouch the upper body.
Increasing the arm pumping action on hill climbing seems to help as well.

II. Swimming:

Always focus on the hand sliding over the barrel at the end of the reach just before the pull starts.
Watch out for right arm cross-over. Hand entry should be between 1 and 2 O'Clock.
High elbows!!! (Which means reaching hand deeper in the water)
Rotate... under rotation leads to far less power... and I tend to drift to under-rotating for some reason. By 'popping' your recovery shoulder out of the water in a directed fashion, this helps.
Don't let your head get too low in the water... leads to slower times as you are dragging more.

III. Cycling:

For an improved efficiency try to focus on scrapping mud of the toes... point the foot down on the down stroke.

Computrainer Update

2009-01-03T14:59:00.005-05:00

This is an update on the computrainer and also info on ERG VIDEO. Let's start with the computrainer...

My initial experience with a computrainer involved a borrowed one from a friend/pro triathlete. This is a smart move to determine whether or not ou like using it initially before investing the $$$... I would recommend this move. Mine arrived on December 15th, 2008. My previous blog report on this covers a lot of the set-up and initial thoughts.

Usage... since mine arrived I have rode 19.5 hours on it.... about an hour a day. I don't ride 1 hr every day, but usually 2 rides of 1 hour involving intervals, and 2 rides of 2-4 hours involving endurance work. This is the training focus until February 9th when focused Ironman training begins.

Biggest tip for the computrainer... YOU NEED TO WARM-UP for 10 minutes (usually in ERG mode). The calibration number you get with a cold start i quite different than the number you get with a 10 minute warm-up. The number will be lower after the warm-up, and more accurately reflects your ride.

If you do not re-calibrate after the warm-up, the calibration number will be falsely high and lead you to believe that you are producing more watts than you really are!

It also makes sense to warm-up for a workout especially if it involves threshold work.

Another issue that I came across was connecting the Laptop I use to a TV. For those who are tech-challenged, this can be tricky. Short lesson... go into the DISPLAY PROPERTIES section (found in the control panel usually) and you can set additional monitors up. You will need a connecting cable as well... S-Video works well, but there are many other options depending on your computer and TV.

So what are the different ways to run computrainer software???

1. Standard 3D Mode:

This is a very easy way to run things. Simply click on the 3D program and pick your course. Adjust your rider data and you are good to go. You can choose between numerous 3D scenery courses . One word of caution... uphill gradients are very hard compared to the real world and if your course has a 15% grade in it be prepared to suffer! It can be hard to maintain a cadence over 60 with significant grades, so be careful. I use 3D mode mainly for longer rides or if I want to ride a specific course.

2. Real-course Mode:

You have to purchase a real course video (RCV) to use this. Recently Racermate offered a free RCV for computrainer orders, so I received the Kona course. Essentially you download the course from a DVD and then run the software. You should pick your rider data, and make sure it is in real-time mode. Then start the course. The video is shot on race day (I'm told on the morning of the event during the swim), and the speed of the video follows the speed you are pedalling at. It is fun and a great way to experience a course if you are not able to travel to it before racing. I also like to see the Hawaiian scenery in the dead of Pennsylvania's winter.

My only criticism of the Hawaii course is that there is a bit of camera trouble. During much of the first hour the camera is focused too far to the left... I believe they had problems with their #1 camera, but it is a little annoying. I think RCVs are neat, but I wouldn't recommend getting a whole bunch, as I believe the charm will wear off fast with these...

3. ERG Mode:

This is the simplest way to run computrainer. Simply turn on the computrainer and don't even hook up to the computer. You set the wattage load and start the timer. You will get HR and cadence info as well as power. No matter what cadence or gear you are in, you will have to deliver the set wattage... eg; if you set it to 200 watts and pedal slowly, it will be much harder to move the pedals than if your cadence is high. The computrainer adjusts the resistance to make your effort the same watts regardless of cadence. This is a nice way to do shorter sessions. You can adjust wattage load on the fly, so doing interval work is easy. Drawbacks... a little more boring with no graphics and no data to analyze after.

4. Coaching Software Mode (CS):

CS can be downloaded for free from Racermate. It allows 3 different modes... Spinscan mode, charts mode and ERG mode. You must be in real-time to use the CS mode. (saved mode is used to analyze data after). Spinscan mode allows you to work on the pedalling efficiency, however you can get this screen on the 3D software and also the RCVs, so I don't use this mode much (if ever). ERG mode is similar to the ERG stand-alone mode, except you get a graphics display on your computer and choose between a number of on-screen options. You can show your HR, cadence, power etc, and it will be graphed in real-time. You do not get a spin-scan mode and you don't in any ERG-type mode as a rule.

Charts Mode is by far the best. You pick a pre-designed course in the charts mode. There are some erg courses that will come with your computrainer, but I prefer to design my own. It involves a bit of tech-saviness to write your own erg files, but not that much. I have designed interval session such as 10x1 min at threshold watts, 6x5min at threshold watts. You can design the recovery time interval... essentially you can design anything.

5. ERG VIDEO Mode:

Erg videos are designed to help with your training. They are real videos shot on different locations. I have 2... Lake Placid with a Champ, and Long Threshold Intervals.

You need to run them through Coaching Software or Multi-rider software. I would strongly recommend the multi-rider software for a number of reasons... most importantly is that it allows you to adjust your wattage load in real-time, which can be quite helpful if you made the threshold level too high!

You can design almost anything with the tools provided. You can design the length of the ride, the time in different power zones, the threshold level etc.

The different videos are designed for various things. Some work on base-building, some work on tempo or threshold intervals. One is a designed threshold test. I often ride the Lake Placid course set at Z2 wattage. I have been riding the 4x9min threshold intervals as well... these kick my ass!!! Visiting the ERG Video site will give much more info. Suffice to say this is my favorite mode! Oh and you can also run itunes with the erg player... which is not the case with 3D mode usually.

2008-12-17T21:02:00.000-05:00

Tonight's power file. 60 min. intervals.

20 min wu

4x2min FTP

3x5min 95% FTP

Computrainer Article

2008-12-17T17:12:00.008-05:00

I bought a new Computrainer Pro model. It is set up and I will describe in words and photos some of my initial thoughts.

The computrainer is many things all in one. It is a trainer, a computer program, an ergometer, a real course virtual simulator and most of all a great training device.

I spent considerable time researching this device and would like to share my initial thoughts.

Set-up is fairly easy. The load generator attaches to the rear wheel of the bike, which attaches not only to a power source, but also hand-controller unit that links to the computer. The yellow tire is a trainer tire... it is supposed to last longer than a regular tire on the trainer and supposed to improve all-around use. You can see from the picture below that the setup is pretty stable. The load generator is pretty smart... it can adjust load based on the course you are riding up to 1500 watts. This is way beyond what most can produce. It also has a fan which keeps it cool... the faster the speed the faster the fan... thus you are cautioned that long hard low rpm climbs can cause over-heating.

On the left rear main-stay is a cadence monitor (magnet on the left carnk). This is helpful for not only cadence, but also the spin scan function. There is considerable controversy regarding the benefits of spin scan, but it definitely gives you feedback if you are favoring one leg over the other too much.

Above is the cockpit set-up for my computrainer. The yellow controller is needed to change everything from the watts you or your pacer will be doing. Different views on the computer screen and for starting and stopping and saving races. You will notice that I have covered the setup with plastic to avoid damage from sweat. The amount this trainer will make you sweat is incredible. There are bike covers you can buy, but moderately think plastic works quite well. On the stem you can also see the Polar remote HR sensor which plugs into the yellow controller.

The software is very nice:

This is from the regular 3D software. You can vary the scenery a lot and even ride cyclocross. Another view you can control via the yellow hand remote is spin-scan, as seen below. The rainbow bar graphs represent different 15 deg angles of the entire pedal stroke of each pedal. Many question this spin-scan, but I think it is helpful so far. One thing that is easily noticeable is that your pedaling is less-efficient when aero as there is less ability to pull up with the pedal and more of the force is from downward pushing in aero.

Here is a spin scan report from a recent short training session.

Racermate also has real course videos. This is a seen from the IM Hawaii course. The screen moves as fast as you are going and is definitely a help from the boredom angle. The vids are $100, but this one came with the computrainer as a freebie.

Coaching software allows detailed review after the training session as seen below. It can also be used for ergo mode and for spinscan alone mode. Ergo mode is very cool, as you set the watts and then you have to deliver them regardless of cadence. I have ordered some erg videos as well, but they have not arrived yet. Here is a CS review of a 92 min ride from December 16th, 2008...

My plan is to ride pretty consistently over the winter to build a base that will help me with tri season... we will see how it all goes.

Friel power-based workouts

2008-12-13T14:32:00.002-05:00

Level I: Active Recovery
(60-90 min)
Stay at 55% FTP

Level II: Endurance:
A. 2.5 hrs
Warm-up 56%
Ride 2 hours at 69-75%
Cool down <56%
B. 3.5 hrs
Warm-up 15 min <65%
Ride 3 hrs. 69-75% with bursts q10 min.
(bursts are 8 sec long at 130 rpm at 103%FTP)
Cool down <55%

Level III: Tempo:
A: 2.5 hrs
Warm-up 15 min at <68%
Ride 2 hrs. at 76-90%
Cool-down 15 min <55%

B. 2.5 hrs
Warm-up 15 min at <68%
Ride 40 min at 76-90%
20 min cadence -15rpm 76-90%
Ride 40 min. 76-90%
Cadence +15rpm 76-90%
Cool-down 15 min <55%

Level IV: Sub-Threshold "Sweet Spot"
A: 2-2.5 hrs
Warm-up 15 min <68%
Ride 5 min 100%
2x20 min at 88-94% with 15 min recovery intervening
Ride at 105 rpm+ 10x1 min 85-95% with 2 min recovery intervening
Cool-down 15 min <55%

B: 2-2.5 hrs
Warm-up 15 min <68%
Blow-out 5 min. 100%
Easy 5 min <68%
2x20 min 96-105% (15 min recovery interval)
Cool-down 15 min <78%

C: 2 hrs
Warm-up 15 min 68%
Ramp up to threshold in 20 min 80-100%
60 min hour of power
Should sit up out of saddle q2min for 10 sec for increase in cadence
Cool-down 15 min

Winter Cycling Focus

2008-12-08T20:31:00.006-05:00

Triathlon training has been a serious endeavor for me since September 2006. Running has been a serious 'hobby' for me since January 2005, although I had gone through 6 to 12 month episodes of serious running in the 3 years prior to this.

The off-season is well upon us (since early September for me) and usually this involves a run and swim focus, which it did for October and November. The problem with this for an ironman-focused athlete is that the bike is without a doubt where the money is with respect to fitness and training. So in December of 2006 I was given a Cycleops fluid bike trainer to ride. I put about 400 miles over a span of 2 years on it (not much) as I found it quite boring. Also, there is little feedback with it aside from the HR monitor I use. On longer rides I would often lose focus, ending up with a declining effort and a lower HR than was prescribed by the training. Watching videos helped a bit with the boredom, but actually made the focus worse... which made me question the value of the training session to begin with.

Other options to improve my cycling in the off-season that were tried included:

1. Spin Classes. Great aerobic exercise, but does little if anything for cycling improvement.

2. Riding a spin bike by myself. See boredom issues with trainer.

3. Riding outside in the cold winter weather. I hate cold weather and often train in the evening which for me is a non-starter for winter cycling. Ice and snow are not that safe to ride on either and lead to a wacky workout as you tend to be more focused on survival than hitting HR or pace goals. Bottom line is that I am not that tough with respect to the cold weather from November to the start of April. So what to do... what to do???

Well I borrowed a computrainer, which is a trainer that hooks up to your computer and lets you ride the course in a virtual fashion. Most importantly it automatically changes the resistance as you ride any given course. For instance, as you ride up a hill, it gets harder to pedal. It displays and records Power, which is a critical metric in cycling. You can ride almost any course (all 3 of my races are in the database) to become more proficient. There are also real course videos which allow you to ride a course with actual footage instead of computer graphics... which definitely helps with boredom.

Ultimately I will get a computrainer and I am starting a winter cycle focus program. It will include 2 long rides of 2-4 hours each in Zone 2. Also two 1 hour rides a week which will include interval work and stuff to generally improve my functional threshold power. There are 3 goals with this regimen:

1. Increase FTP, as this generally helps bike performance at all distances.

2. Increase bike endurance, as the ability to run off the bike is largely determined by proper bike pacing and bike fitness.

3. Provide general base training and endurance improvement with the goal of getting better not just in 2009, but beyond.

Swimming... more thoughts

2008-11-24T13:50:00.005-05:00

I love swimming. Yup that's right it's become a real favorite for me. I was really struggling with a lack of improvement from November 2007 thru July 2008, and I'm not used to "not making progress" despite putting more than enough hours in training. Swimming is the most technically demanding of the triathlon sports because of the high resistance of water versus air. Thus the mistakes in form will be compounded more so than in running or cycling.

In August 2008 I decided that I would try some new things, because as the saying goes "The definition of Insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results"

First step... I read about EVF (please refer back to earlier posts in August 2008 on this blog) and I watched some videos and even bought 'TechPaddles' which are supposed to help with EVF. EVF by the way stands for early vertical forearm. Another term swimmers use is 'high elbows' in the water. These terms are confusing because there should be a goal of high elbows in the water AND in the recovery stroke. They are different and both important. These changes helped me swim a 30 minute Half-ironman swim which was a personal best for me. You always have to be careful because if a course is measured incorrectly your swim time may be 'improved' without any real improvement. I didn't swim a lot in September, but felt as though some progress was being made.

Second step... I was innocently swimming at the State College YMCA when some guy started asking about my techpaddles. He said he was a coach and that the paddles were making me drop my elbow under the water a lot! This was not what I wanted to hear, as I thought I was improving on this issue, but apparently not. The guy who is a swim coach offered me a free lesson. I decided to take him up on it. He watched me swim and said I had one of the worst dropped elbows he had ever seen... YIKES!!! He thought me a few drills and told me to work on keeping the elbow in the water as high as possible and dive the leading hand deeper into the water. This way when the stroke starts (the catch) I would not be pushing down, but backwards in the direction that would push me forward to swim faster. It felt very funny and put a strain on my shoulder, but I persisted.
Soon I saw some significant results.
Easy 100yd was 1:35-1:40... Now 1:30
moderate 100 was 1:30... Now 1:24
Fast 100 was 1:22-1:24... Now 1:13-1:18

Easy 200 was 3:20... Now 3:00
Fast 200 was 3:00-3:05... Now 2:50

500 moderate was 8:05... Now 7:13

We will see how this translates to my race season, but frankly I was swimming much more in the Spring and summer of 2008 and not making progress, so I am optimistic!!!

To review, in my opinion the key adjustments I have made have been to enter the water with my elbow high, but the lead hand quickly diving down in the water. The entry hand should be hitting the water somewhere between 1 O'clock and 2 O'clock. This is important for several reasons... avoids arm cross-over which severely reduces power. And it allows a wider, better catch of more water. You roll your body toward the pulling arm with the forearm as vertical as possible and the elbow as high as possible. I tend to have my fingers slightly open as well to catch more water.
The reaching forward arm thus is not completely straight as the elbow is high, but the hand is diving low. This allows the power stroke to start directing you forward and not downward which wastes speed an energy. When I get tired I tend to not enter my hand wide enough (cross-over) and my elbow tends to drop in the water. These are things to work on. Another challenge is that the arm opposite the breathing side tends to naturally drop a bit to maintain stability... this can be overcome by not rotating the head too much out of the water.

Kick, balance and high elbow recovery with a relaxed arm are things I am doing quite well right now. I find that breathing out slowly with the nose during the time underwater helps too as opposed to holding the breath completely underwater until the next breath. I do mix this up a bit, but favor the slow breath out plan as it supposedly allows more CO2 release from the body.

I really believe (aka optimistically hope) that this will translate into a 60 min. swim time at Lake Placid (was 66 min. this year)

More Megan discussions

2008-11-23T07:32:00.002-05:00

Megan and I were discussing football this morning. We live in State College, PA and most of us cheer for PSU. Megan's favorite color is yellow and she has decided that she likes Michigan and Iowa more than PSU. Much to my chagrin...

However, I can remember cheering for teams based on their uniform colors. In fact my favorite team of all-time (for the last 25+ years) has been the Miami Dolphins, and the uniform colors were a main reason why I liked them initially. Dan Marino had a lot to do with it too, but I am realising in my oldest daughter is more than a little like me. I used too often cheer against the home team as well.

Megan is interested in all the football teams with yellow on them. Actually if I could direct her away from Michigan and toward ANYONE else this would be a minor victory. But then again, cheering for Michigan is something that young Fred would probably have done...

Running Part II

2008-11-22T17:43:00.003-05:00

Running is a more technical sport than it first seems. By this I mean that it isn't just moving your legs quickly and hoping you go fast. There is definitely a natural component of running that we all think we have, but there are some things that I have changed and have worked nicely for me. Disclaimer, these things may not work for you and may get you hurt, so caveat emptor...

I have been a serious runner for 4 years now. That implies running 4-5 times per week every week. There have been times in tri training where I have run less because of the need to get other workouts in. In 2005, much of my running was on a treadmill. In 2006 much of it was outdoors, but I did a standard 10K run around the neighborhood. My usual approach was to run as fast as I could tolerate (45-55 min. usually) hoping I would get faster. In late 2006 I picked up triathlon training. Early 2007 saw my biggest run volume times. I had several months from January to April where the mileage was 200+ per month. That is like running 7 miles a day every day. At that time I had read an article by Mark Allen about MAF (maximum aerobic function) training and kept all of my runs at a HR of 149 or lower. This method has numerous detractors, but it let me run a 1:41 half marathon in a half-ironman race and also a 3:19'10 stand alone marathon.

Here are my 2007 run totals:

Run:
235h 32m 55s - 1698.58 Mi

By late 2007 I decided to hire a coach and started more organized triathlon training for an ironman in July 2008. My running actually suffered a bit because over the winter I swam and cycled a lot more which meant less time for running. I actually struggled through more minor injuries during the winter and spring and late summer of 2008. My theory on this is that I ran fewer times but did my fair share of long runs and speed work. Thus I didn't have the base I needed, but time constraints are a factor for all of us in this sport. At the Columbia triathlon I improved my run time into the low 7's per mile. At Lake Placid I ran well. Pace for the first half of the marathon was a very respectable 8:09. My overall pace fell off for the second half of the marathon and my final pace was 8:54. Not terrible. I did a late season HIM and had a just below 8 min/mile pace on the run... not great in my opinion.

My focus since early October has been running. 188 miles in October alone and things have improved a lot. Easy running pace is about 7:30-7:45. Tempo runs in the lower 7's. I was tempted to do a half or full marathon but scrapped the idea to allow better base building.

Here are the 2008 totals so far:

Run:
169h 46m 07s - 1266.47 Mi

I have been focusing on a slight alteration in my run stride since this increase in running mileage in October....

1. Shorter stride in front, with attempt at landing under the center of gravity of the body.2. decreasing my heel strike to more of a mid foot strike.

3. Increasing cadence to 180 strides or more per minute (used to be 160-170).

4. I bought a pair of training FLATS (Asics DS Trainers) which have a smaller heel and help in the landing of my stride more toward the mid foot.

5. Working on running at least 5 times per week with only 1 long run per week.

6. Stretching and PT exercises after each run as well as some strength training (squats)

7. Trying to keep the landing feet parallel to each other in the direction of running.

8. Keeping the upper body loose and pumping the arms backwards more than forwards, especially up hills.

9. Leaning from the ankles (not the waist) to maximize the kinetic energy of each stride from the achilles.

I will keep you updated on my progress. Thanks for reading.

Megan's thoughts about Lake Placid 2008

2008-11-22T12:26:00.003-05:00

My daughter Megan would like to say some things about what she remembers about LP 2008.
1. It rained a lot and she got sick afterwards. She got better when we came home.
2. We played with a little girl (AK's daughter) that was a lot of fun.
3. Daddy bought me a stuffed animal (a polar bear)... that was nice.
4. Grandpa Len and Grandma Mary came that week. I got a Backyardigans book.
5. I cheered for Daddy a lot! (Daddy appreciated this :))
6. Katie got to be in the stroller on race day and I did not... this wasn't exactly fair.
7. Daddy got yellow bike tires in honor of Megan.
8. I loved the blue bench down by the dock at Lake Placid. I sat on it and Daddy took pictures.
9. After I saw Daddy on the first loop of the bike (mile 56) we went back to the condo and got our books. It was nice to get out of the rain!
10. Daddy shouted out only my name at the 56 mile point on the bike. I smiled.
11. I walked with Grandma Mary to the race again after this.
12. Daddy and I were very cold after the race and wet. We were taken to a hotel and warmed up and then were picked up by Mommy and Katie.
13. I fussed and fussed and fussed on the drive up and the drive back. Although on the drive back I was pretty sick.
14. I do remember getting ice cream in Lake placid before the race.
15. I went on a purple, red and yellow floaty dragon in Mirror Lake.
16. I liked the monkey bars at the playground, but I had to have a time out once, as did Kate.

These are my (Megan's) thoughts for now.

Reflection on Ironman Lake Placid 2008 and the endurance lifestyle

2008-11-13T20:01:00.005-05:00

I have severely lacking in my attention to this blog, but I would like to spend more time and attention to this as it is essentially my journal of this lifestyle I have choosen. I am an extremely proud Dad to 2 wonderful and exuberant daughters... Megan and Kate. I have a very supportive wife Tracie. I have wonderful parents as well. I am going to share my July 20th, 2008 experience as I remember it 4 months later...

Ironman Lake Placid week started July 16th. Tracie, the girls and I packed up out Mercedes ML350 with enough clothes for a week, and all of my tri stuff. The thing I remember most about hat drive was a fair amount of complaining by Megan in the middle of the ride (about a 10hr. ride from State College, PA). As we got closer to Lake Placid we would see more vehicles with tri bikes on the roof racks and 140.6 stickers on the backs of the cars. Excitement was clearly building.

My thoughts were mainly how lucky I was to be able to do this race and how lucky I was to have such a supportive family. I had to buy race tires on arrival in Lake Placid and bought tires with yellow sidewalls. Those that know my oldest daughter will understand why I did this. We stayed in a nice place that bordered on Lake Placid. Very picturesque!

Thursday and Friday involved BT meet-ups and registration. I weighed in at 160 lbs in my street clothes which I was happy with. This had been my IM weight goal. Next year my goal will be 155 lbs., but 160 was just perfect. Megan and Katie had a hard time with all the long lines at registration, but they survived... errrr I should say that Tracie and I survived.

Saturday afternoon was when my parents arrived. This was fun, as they are very fond of the exuberant daughters. My poor Dad had a bad cough, but still made the trip. We had a dinner and a little ironman cake that evening. My biggest worry was that I would not be able to sleep that night, but shockingly I slept quite well.

My Dad drove Tracie and me into the main area along with Andy Krebs who was racing that day as well.

I have written before about my IM experience, but I think the weirdest thing is that it seemed to go by very fast. The swim was violent and claustrophobic, but the first loop was over before I even knew what was happening. The bike was similar, except the rain kept getting into people's minds as it never let up. The run was funny.... first loop was fast and easy, 2nd loop not so much.
It is really great when you are tired to be able to look out for your family on the bike and especially the run. I knew my little girls would be wet and likely cranky, but whenever I ran by I would get cheers of support. It was the BEST!

I haven't stopped thinking about IMLP since and the longer I get removed from it the more I think about it. I am excited to race again. To regain the fitness I had then, and swim better, bike better and run better.
I have goals which will likely not all be met, but maybe some.
Swim 1:02
Bike 5:30
Run 3:30
Transitions 10 min. total.
This would be a 10:12 IM, which is not very likely, but I will use these as goals to reach for. Actually the run goal is probably the hardest to reach, but the one I will most want.

Endurance sports give me a lot. Something to focus my training on. Something to help focus my OCD tendencies. Something to be proud of and something to look forward to.

Thoughts about running and 2009

2008-11-13T16:34:00.003-05:00

I have been running quite consistently over the last few months. The stride is feeling much better. I have made an emphasis on the following areas for improvement.

1. Consistent running... 5 times per week, about 40 miles per week.

2. Landing on the mid to fore-foot. I still have a slight heel strike, but far less than previously.

3. Landing under my center of gravity to avoid the braking action of over-striding.

4. Varying the running. Trail running with trail running shoes. Long runs in Saucony trainers. and most other runs in Asics DS trainer flats. I love these new shoes, as they have less of a heel and help me focus on proper landing. They are also light, so you can fly in them.

5. Stretching after the runs and doing core and flexibility as well as squats frequently.

Running is still my favorite of the sports. I get into patterns in the spring and summer where I actually prefer cycling. The long 5-6 hour rides are probably my favorite thing, especially on a warm day without excess wind. Swimming is something I enjoy almost as much, the only thing I don't like is the chlorine and the effect on the hair and skin. Swimming fast feels REALLY good though!
Running still has the overall lead... Why??? Because it is total freedom. Don't need much equipment and it releases the most stress. Running also has the most injury risk as it involves landing with the full weight of your body. It is far more technique driven than I ever thought, but having been a consistent runner for 4 years I have seen a lot of progress. Essentially I have gone from 10 min. miles to 7:30 min/miles at about the same effort.

Goals for 2009:
Running: Run my easy miles at 7:30 pace, HIM pace 7:00 pace.
Biking: 21.5 mph at Columbia. 23 mph at Eagleman. 20.0 mph at IMLP.
Swim: 1:20 pace at Columbia. 30 min. at Eagleman. 1:02 at IMLP.

Are these goals all going to be reached. Answer: NO! But some things to strive for and maybe I will make some of the goals.

Off Season

2008-11-11T21:00:00.002-05:00

My off-season started in early September after the Diamondman HIM. I essentially did a lot of road biking in September. Then the focus went to the swim and run. I have only biked 2 or 3 times since September, but this was intentional. Off-season is all about regenerating the batteries and doing something different.

Running has been spectacular. I ran about 190 miles in Oct. and am on pace for something similar this month. I have been implementing some of the POSE theory with success. Trying to shorten the front stride and landing under my center of gravity. Landing more toward the fore to mid-foot and working on a cadence of 180+.

Swimming has improved with the help of a swim coach at the YMCA. I have dropped my moderately fast 100 yd. time to 1:22, and my sprint 100 yd. time to 1:13 (previous times were high 1:2x's, and 1:20). I have been working on the high elbows in the water for a better catch and pull. My workouts are only about 1500 yds at a time, but for off-season this is fine.

Late December will start my first cycle for IMLP 2009. Off-season is not so bad...

Trail running

2008-10-14T21:43:00.012-04:00

Trail Running

Trail running is very different than road running. In the fall I tend to focus on the trails a bit more to relieve boredom, and to enjoy the beautiful part of Pennsylvania I live in.

What are the differences you ask?
1. Much more varied terrain. This can be good for a number of reasons. When I am running in rocky areas, it makes me focus on landing very carefully and slows the pace down, which is not a bad thing on a longer run.
2. More elevation changes, at least where I run.
3. Fewer cars, buildings and other people, although you are more likely to run into the 'dog off the leash' scenario that can sometimes be a problem.

Trail running season is well upon us. I have had a number of great trail runs in Rothrock State Forest. I mix up running on dirt fire roads and rough, rocky trails. I have taken some pics and would like to share them.

These 2 shots are from a trail near Shingleton Gap, which is a common place for me to run. It is rough and a general incline. This part is less rocky, and quite beautiful. Central PA is a fantastic place.

This is in the same area.

Most of my runs are from 15-21 miles and involve a significant amount of elevation gain. My garmin 305 often says about 5,000 ft. but it is prone to hyperbole...

Pace is from 8:00-9:00 min/miles, but on flat areas the pace is usually 7:30-7:50.
I am using Vasque aether tech ss trail running shoes and love them... you should check them out.
They have an interesting shoe lace tightening mechanism.
I will add more pics as the season goes on.

Trail running shoes are different that road running shoes. They have better traction. Some are waterproof. Most have the tongue built into the shoe to allow fewer stones and debris into the shoe. Some are waterproof.
I use shoes that are very light and designed for speed.

Pose Running

2008-10-02T21:20:00.005-04:00

Principle of Pose Running:
I am learning about POSE running. I have no intention of implementing it as a 'religion', but will use the good points from it:

1. The landing is between the midfoot and the ball of the foot... it is ok for the heel to touch the ground, but very lightly. Don't land on the toes.

2. The key to allowing a good 'landing' with the ball of the foot is to make sure that YOU ARE LEANING FORWARD. The more the lean, the faster your pace will be. Remember that GRAVITY is what will be moving you forward!

3. Visualize the lifting of the foot as a piston lifting up in a straight line and the foot falling EFFORTLESSLY to the ground. The foot is lifted by enabling the HAMSTRINGS. The foot is lifted straight up. Don't just bend the knee in a right angle (L)... contract the hamstrings to allow the foot to come up. On the same tone, don't let the knee completely straighten out as this will promote heel strike.

4. The LEAN forward is really important. Don't lean from the waist or hips... LEAN THE WHOLE BODY forward, almost as though you will fall forward. LEAN FROM THE ANKLES.

5. A good drill for the lean is to start to lean forward and when you just start to fall forward, start into a run. Another one is to start on your side, and start with a side lean, and then start running forward. Yet another is to start running slower and then lean the whole body forward and you will automatically start to run faster.

6. The better you can lean the WHOLE BODY forward, the more your center of gravity will be forward, which allows the landing on the ball of the foot WITHOUT THE KNEE AND FOOT LANDING TOO FAR IN FRONT of your center of gravity. You want to land your foot under your body.

7. Support time on the foot should be very short. Think about lifting the landing foot instantly.

8. Short stride length and high cadence. Aim for a cadence of 180 or greater. LENGTHEN THE STRIDE FROM THE REAR, NOT IN FRONT!

9. Keep ankles fixed in the same angle.

10. Keep feet perfectly forward and avoid pro or suppination. Keep em' parallel.

11. Keep your back straight and don't bend at the waist... BEND FORWARD AT THE ANKLES.

Cycling in Central Pennsylvania PART II

2008-09-14T11:26:00.009-04:00

Beautiful morning in Pennsylvania. I took a short ride (2 hours) into the country side and took a few pics. I Live in State College, home of the PSU Nittany Lions. I tend to cycle in a southwestward direction toward Warriors Mark, Tyrone and Altoona. The pictures here are of roads I visit with quite regular frequency...

A cemetary near Warrior's Mark. Notice the cannon!

This is near the cemetary. Ahhh Central PA mountains. Most of the hills I ride on are not incredibly long climbs, but some of the grades are fairly steep.

Down this way leads to Spruce Creek, where there is the best fly fishing in the northeast. Jimmy Carter comes here frequently. Nearby is the Spruce Creek Rod and Gun club which is major $$$ to join.

This is on route 45 heading toward State College. Lots of rolling hills.

A steeper than it looks uphill near State College

More pics showing what a beautiful place central PA is!

Farmland is plentiful out here. The ride today was in September where the corn is quite tall.

I love this picture set... lots of rolling hills, green pastures and farmland.... I guess I am a country boy.

Election season is also in full bloom. I wonder which way the bitter gun voter is leaning at this stage? My general observation is more McCain signs in the country and more Obama signs as you get near State College. Actually there aren't very many signs out in general which is my preference.

Flexibility Training

2008-09-13T15:11:00.002-04:00

I met with a fantastic PT today at PSU. He assessed me very carefully and found some areas for me to work on. I have real problems with flexibility and remembering to stretch. My goal in the off-season is to improve flexibilty and implement stretching into my daily routine!

Stretches:

1. PRESS-UPS: Keeping hips on the ground and press up. Hold for 2 seconds. 2-3 sets of 6-10 reps. Every day.
2. HIP INTERNAL ROTATION: Lying supine. 1 leg straight, 1 flexed 90 degrees with foor more lateral to midline. Stretch the bent knee over the straight knee. Hold 2 seconds. sets of 6-10.
3. PRESS-OPS WITH BOTH KNEES FLEXED: Flexed to 90 degrees.
4. QUAD STRETCH: Lying flat on stomach, try to bring the foot to the gluteus.
5. SOLEUS STRETCH: Foot straight on, both feet even. Should feel the tension in the back, not the front on the lower leg.

These will be in addition to my regular stretches and core work.

I will also be looking into POSE running. Interesting...

Cycling in Central Pennsylvania Part I

2008-09-10T15:40:00.007-04:00

I cycle in a very beautiful part of the world.... Central PA! Today I went out on a brief ride on my road bike and took the camera.

This is Whitehall road which I often take in a westerly direction. It is a busier road which I don't stay on for long.

Marengo road is a nice place to ride and is quiet. Central PA farmland.

I am on this road a lot.

This is from the same area on Marengo.

Whitehall road in a quieter (more westerly) region. The colors are wonderful.

I will posting more pictures during the fall riding season.

Delaware Diamondman HIM 9-7-2008

2008-09-09T08:26:00.009-04:00

This September triathlon thing has been a little cursed from the start, but things ended up OK in the end. Here's the story....

My season has included the Columbia Tri (olympic) in May, the Black Bear HIM in June and Lake Placid Ironman in July. I had planned on doing an olympic tri in September with my buddy Rick in Annapolis, but this was cancelled. Kind of a sad story as the main reason the race was cancelled was because the Sunday am church-going crowd was upset last year with the delays which resulted from the bike course. I can understand how this would be a problem for them, but it seems like something could have been worked out. I certainly won't be investing any of my tourism $$$ in Annapolis in the near future. Here is my wife in anticipation of her shopping trip.

So I tried to pick another race.... came up with the Delaware Diamondman HIM. I had heard mixed reviews on this one, but it was close to the King of Prussia mall, which would be nice for my wife to get a little shopping in. Found out that they were to shorten the bike course a week before the race because of construction. Then they made adjustments to keep it 56 miles. The plan was shop Saturday, then I would check out the course later in the day. Race Sunday. Hurricane Hanna made it impossible to check out the course on Saturday, but shopping was un-impedded. While my wife shopped at stores like J. Crew, I read a book about WWI 'A World Undone'... excellent read!

Sunday I arrived at the race site. 5:30am completely dark, stumbling around and registered. Set up my Specialized Transition with Zipp 404s and disc cover in back. Ate a cliff bar, Starbuck's coffee and a muffin.

Coffee is key for a race for 3 reasons:

1. Stimulant.

2. Avoids me getting headaches from withdrawl.

3. helps with the pre-race potty stop that is key to a good HIM.

Tracie wished me good luck, I put my wet suit on and headed down to the water, where temps were about 78 deg. in the water. I was hoping for a non-wet suit legal race, but oh well. The start was weird.... swim out to a wading area about 300 yards away and wait. Then without warning a guy shouts 'GO!!!' and I started. I started a little behind the front line of swimmers as I have had a tendency to go out a little to quickly which has led to hyper-ventilation at a prior HIM this year. I have been diligently working on EVF this year since early August and it paid off. I quickly started passing a bunch of people with almost zero effort. and I found a lot of open water. Swim continued to be easy. My EVF is better with the right arm than the left (as I breath to the right), but when I focussed on the left EVF I could tell I was going faster than those around me. Breathing with a slow exhale thru the nose under-water and thinking calm thoughts I saw the swim finish. I looked at the watch. Less than 30 min. in the water WOW! There is a long run up hill to the transition area where the timing mat is. 33:47 was the time given for the swim, but this includes the long uphill run to the mat. I have never had a swim this fast that was this effortless. 42nd fastest swim overall. I saw Tracie and she cheered me on.

Quick T1 and on the bike... Started off passing a few, then came to an intersection with a police officer. No marking, no volunteer, no instruction and no chance to drive the course resulted in a wrong turn. Quickly corrected (lost about a minute), but I knew that this would be a tricky course, as there were very few volunteers and I did not know the course well. The course also had been changed recently because of construction. I decided that it might be better to keep other riders in sight to avoid going off course again. There was a pass over a large bridge 4 times. This included a mile long climb albeit not overly steep grade. More importantly, there were metal interlocking teeth every 10 yards on the bridge that made one kind of nervous. Apparently this resulted in some crashes for others. There were also 3 full 180 degree turn-arounds which caused some speed loss as well. From mile 35-50, I was very unsure that I was still doing the right course, as there was a sprint tri going on at the same time as well as several loops for us doing the HIM. I saw a guy in my ability range finally catch up to me and we both let out a sigh of relief that we were probably on the right course... Enterred T2 feeling good. 2:30:47, which is a 22.3 mph average. Considering the turn arounds, wrong turn, lack of knowledge of the course and the bridge 4 times.... I was pleased with this result. I felt strong for the run.

Tracie was cheering for me saying I was in the top twenty and doing great. Quick T2.

The run started nicely. I have been dealing with a sore achilles for a little while and it felt fine. Pace was low 7:00s on the run, which I felt was good. The run was very sun-exposed and the heat started to take a bit of a toll on me. The pace dropped off by mile 4 to 7:40s and then settled in about 7:50s. I could tell I was doing well,but I wasn't passing many people. My HR was in the 160s, which for a HIM is about the upper limit so I could press no more. I felt the soreness of the left achilles return in the last 4-5 miles with an steep uphill worseing it. Came in strong and passed a guy in my AG. Tracie cheered me across the line.

4:51:47. Definitely will be looking for 4:4x at Eagleman next year barring problems.

After the race we headed out quickly. 4th in AG. 18th out of 283. Nice finish to the triathlon year. I may shut down the running for a bit and PT the achilles to be smart. But considering all in all I was happy with the race.

Early September Deep Thoughts

2008-09-04T15:56:00.002-04:00

1. My HIM has been shortened for construction reasons and I am not impressed... I really doubt I will do any longer tri's in September again... maybe a sprint or something. I am fully trained and prepared for a HIM, but it might be smart not to prolong the heavy training season after IMLP 2009.
2. My real goal will be trail running after this weekend. If this goes well, the JFK ultra may be on the agenda in fall 2009. I have avoided the idea of an ultra in the same year as an IM, but you never know.
3. Politics. Yikes, people are once again checking all reason at the door. They seem to do this every 4 years. Total number of speaches I have watched of the conventions... ZERO. Total number of debates I plan on watching... ZERO. There is a real sense of intolerance I have noticed about others opinions during the US election cycle... and I have little in common with most, as I am registered as 'Undeclared'. I am not pro DEM or pro REP. I am neither blue or red etc, etc. Thus I feel very little in common with the hysteria that goes on on each side. Whoever wins will be in for a tough job and almost certainly will not deliver on their promises. Let's get real about the money behind this all as well. Again I suspect I hear crickets chirping, as most of you probably have strong beliefs that your 'guy' is better than the other 'guy'. But I digress...
4. The achilles seemed a little better on the run today. I ran on the PSU track because I wanted a soft surface with no elevation gain to baby the achilles.
5. Swimming continues to feel smooth. My comfortable long pace is about 1:30 per 100 yds and my faster pace about 1:20 per 100 yds. Slow by some standards, but some improvement for me.
6. NFL season starts tonight... My team is the Miami Dolphins, and yes it was a tough year last year... it can only get better.
7. My oldest started kindergarten this week. Very cool. She seems to be enjoying it.

Have a great day all!

August 2008

2008-09-01T18:55:00.003-04:00

The summer is rapidly coming to an end which can only mean one thing... the end of tri season. While this is sad in some ways, it is a welcome break for me. I don't think there will be a dramatic decrease in hours trained, just less structure and more doing what I want to in training.

August was a strong month of training, especially considering that I completed an ironman July 20th and was in recovery mode for sometime after that.

August's totals:
Bike: 26h 01m 29s - 501.46 Mi
Run: 17h 15m 12s - 131.02 Mi
Swim: 11h 04m - 29500 Yd
Strength: 2h 05m

I have fought some significant allergy issues this month as well.
Next weekend will be my last tri (Delaware Diamondman HIM) and then the trail running and swim focus will start. My body is ready for a change in routine.

Compared to 2007, this has been a much more balanced year of training. My run mileage was almost double what it is now, but my swim yards are already way past last year's entire total. I am getting close to passing last year's bike mileage total as well.
But the big challenge is (and always will be) to try to keep it interesting and varied so that I stay with the multisport lifestyle and don't exhaust myself in the process of trying to improve. Today's bike ride was a great one (21.5mph at 139 bpm) for just over 40 miles, so I think I have brought my bike to a place where I am happy. Swimming has made some real progress in the last month as well, but much more is to be learned in that discipline. Running has been hit or miss. I am looking forward to weekend trail runs to see more of my beautiful Central PA. In early October I will be competing in my 3rd straight Megatransect (a 25 mile rugged trail run) which is a great race. They also give you free beer after you finish. If anyone is interested in trail running I would highly recommend this race to you!

It will be nice when election season is over and everyone can turn down the crazy a little. Yeesh, not much worse than a fanatical political follower from either side...

Summer's done, onto the next challenge!

The week of August 24th-31st

2008-08-30T19:21:00.003-04:00

Weekly totals & Avgs
Bike: 182.51 Mi - 9h 15m 35s Pace: 20.01 Mi/hrMin: 91 Avg: 131 Max: 162
Run: 33.14 Mi - 4h 16m 24s Pace: 07m 44s /MiMin: 87 Avg: 149 Max: 168
Swim: 5800.00 Yd - 2h 10m

A total of 15 hrs and 42 min. This was a big week for me. Bike is fast and I am enjoying the roadie for less intense sessions. Running is fast too, but on today's 2+ hour run my left achilles became sore. I have stretched it, iced it and now have heat on it so I am hoping that this is not the start of a round of Achilles tendonitis. Really hoping!!!

My last tri of 2008 is supposed to be next weekend... The Delaware Diamondman HIM. If the achilles is OK it should be a fun race.

I have a great trail run (25 miles) called the Mega-Transect in October 2008, but essentially unstructured time begins after next weeks race... the so-called "off-season".

EVF Addendum... Techpaddles

2008-08-16T17:04:00.006-04:00

Well, 2 sessions of techpaddles to promote EVF and I made some huge progress. 6 months ago I was swimming my 100s in the low 1:20s and my 200s just under 3:00 min. Then I started to get slower.
The techpaddles help in a big way. They really promote the EVF position. Unlike hand paddles, you swim substantially slower with them as your fist is closed. The paddles (like fist drill) really get you to think about extending the reach arm, keeping the elbow high. By INTERNALLY ROTATING the humerus you get a ton of power and a better hold on the water and a quick EVF. Here are (again) the things to focus on for EVF:

Extend the reach arm the EXTRA FEW inches (starts the internal rotation of the humerus)
Aiming the PINKY FINGER HIGHER than the index finger (like / ) on the reach also helps just prior to the EVF
Then focus on the pointer and index fingers pressing on the water (this goes along with the pinky finger being higher in the water)... both points 2 and 3 are all about the EARLY INTERNAL ROTATION of the humerus.
Keep the elbow HIGH!
Coordinate the ROTATION of the hips/core with the direct rear pressure of the EVF arm

I also CLOSED my fingers a lot more in the water, which helped.
I need to work on my left shoulder dropping in the water (I breath to the opposite side), which is a balance issue. If I avoid turning my head up too much this is better.

When the stroke is going well, you can feel the TORQUE created by the EVF.

After only 2 session with techpaddles, I have dropped my 100s from 1:32 to 1:23, and my 200s from 3:09 to 2:55, which is where I was 6 months ago!

August 16th, 2008

2008-08-16T11:19:00.005-04:00

Was on-call last night, but not busy at all.
Run this am 13.68 miles on a hilly trail course. 8:04 pace, HR 154 bpm.
My coach had a baby boy yesterday. I'm really happy for him and his wife... reminds me of my own girls births.
The rest of the weekend involves a swim and a 3 hour ride. Starting to feel really good about training... as the LP recovery took some time.

My girls!

So today in the pool I will be using the Techpaddles again and focusing very hard on EVF. It has been a bit discouraging knowing that I was faster in the pool last winter than I am now. I need to steadily work on my form.

Early Vertical Forearm (EVF)

2008-08-12T16:10:00.005-04:00

I am going to be heading into a swim focus soon, as my tri season winds down... and those that know me are aware that I like to read about training concepts and see if I can apply them practically. One of the hot swimming topics is early vertical forearm or EVF. For those watching the Olympics, you will see most of the top swimmers utilizing this concept. Essentially it is all about early high elbow position in the water. There is a blog I will be referencing by a swim coach (coach T... Tom Topolski) who is an expert on this.

Think of EVF as occurring before you start to pull. The forearm is perpendicular to the water surface, facing directly rearward, as is the hand. The hand is directly below the elbow at this stage. The elbow must be high in the water!!!

The CATCH is the EVF position. Great swimmers hold onto water and pull their body over their hand. This is the opposite of what beginners think, ie; pulling their hand past them. A concept to think of is swimming over a barrel. The “catch” involves a hold on the water. The arms are in their most propulsive position when the forearm is vertical, and the sooner the swimmer engages the vertical forearm, the more propulsive will be the pull. Thus EVF!

Rich Strauss is a triathlon/swim coach who also has written on EVF.

Here is what NOT to do:
1. When your hand enters the water, palm is down towards the bottom of the pool.

2. If you start pulling now, without doing anything else, you will be directing force downward and lifting your body, rather than moving your body forward.

3. This continues until the natural sweep of your arm stroke eventually directs forces rearward.

The CORRECT way:

1. Get your palm from "down" to "facing rearward" (and thus pushing you forward) as quickly as possible.

2. The proper way to do this is by bending the elbow, or "catching" the water as soon as possible. EVF.

The SHOULDER SHIFT is a component of EVF. Adams makes key points as follows: Once your extending arm has reached forward to full extension, you can get a few more inches by advancing the shoulder. At this point in the stroke, take the time to assume the high elbow as discussed... ASAP! You accomplish this act by internally (medially) rotating the upper arm bone (humerus) and flexing the elbow. This action ends with the forearm and hand assuming an almost perpendicular position in relation to the surface of the water, before the elbow is moved (adducted) toward the feet. The positioning movement of the arm takes place in the shoulder with very little muscular force. Read this again... it is VERY IMPORTANT!!!

READ THIS AGAIN!

There are 4 quadrants in the swim stroke:

The front quadrant is where propulsion initiates; the second quadrant is where the acceleration of the stroke occurs; the third quadrant where the recovery is initiated and the fourth quadrant is where the recovery makes the transition to the entry.

EVF is all about the 1st quadrant.

BTW, according to coach T, most of the great swimmers actually use a straight pull as opposed to the curved description many of us have been told. The position of the hand and forearm as it moves through water, determines the efficiency of a swimmer’s propulsive mechanics.

EVF is all about LEVERAGING (increasing drag) the water and improving the HOLD of the water.

Early Vertical Forearm position is the ideal. A late or Lagging Vertical Forearm position is not as good., and the dropped elbow is the worst position!

EVF equipment is now available.

Techpaddles are a relatively cheap way to help learn the correct technique. These make you close your hands and the paddle is on the forearm. Movement should be slow and deliberate. EVF equipment encourages the direction of the hand to move under the elbow. Techpaddles promote early forearm pressure and discourage downward pressure with a straight arm, during the first quadrant of the stroke. Pulling too fast and too hard at the start of the pull increases vortices behind the hand, increases air on the hand, and promotes a dropped elbow, all of which are BAD. Practice swimming 2 laps with them, and then 2 laps without and the laps without will feel much different than before you used the paddles. Hesitating in the EVF position and then pulling is another good drill to use the paddles for.

The fist drill is actually very useful in itself for learning EVF as well. Think of moving the water with your forearm and also focus on getting EVF asap.

Tarzan or 'head up' swimming also helps with EVF. It can be done with or without the paddles.

From Coach T, here are some isometric drills to practice:

DRYLAND and ISOMETRIC TRAINING DRILLS: A training response can be gained from an isometric drill performed at 80% of maximum effort for six to twenty (20) seconds or more.1. Isometric drill where the swimmer has both hands over their head in an EVF position. You’ll be surprised how difficult it is to keep the elbows slightly above the shoulder for any length of time. 2. Isometric drill where the swimmer has both hands pushing up and/or against an immoveable object like a wall or a starting block. 3. Using light weights and the most forgiving surgical tubing, have swimmers hold the EVF position for short bouts and slowly increase resistance and time. 4. Have swimmers, while standing, mimic the EVF stroke, moving their hands up and down but never past their shoulders.5. Have swimmers hold a rescue tube, noodle, kick board, etc., above their head in the EVF position.6. Have swimmers bend-over and mimic the swimming stroke of world-class swimmers using a great EVF position.

Here are Number of great videos too:

I have written this blog entry as an aid to myself, with hopes that it may help someone else as well.

Tuesday August 12th

2008-08-12T13:02:00.002-04:00

Post-call. Got to bed at about 2:00am. Slept in a 'nice' hospital bed until about 7:30. Saw the girls for a few minutes and then did my swim and bike workouts.

SWIM: 2300 yards. Main set was 100 strong, 50 fast, 50 easy... 6 times thru. I am practicing in my drills EVF with fist sets. This is not making me faster and my 100s were painfully slow (1:31). I was able to break :39 on the 50s a few times, but 6 months ago I was faster... what gives? I do know that after a tough night of call that my workouts are not nearly as fast or as slick, but still. I will be doing masters with PSU this fall and winter. I am going to buy some EVF training tools as well. If masters doesn't help,I will get some private swim lessons. I am not a terrible swimmer (1:06 in my IM), but I know that I can make a lot of improvement with some form adjustment.

BIKE: Easy with 3x10 min threshold intervals. HR higher than effort (146bpm for a 19.66mph avg), but again this relates to lack of sleep from call. I am still riding with my tri bike in a more aggressive position, which may get switched back soon.

Rest of the day will be family time. I may do a recovery ride this pm on the road bike.... but more likely watch the US olympic team.

Thoughts for the day

2008-08-11T13:54:00.002-04:00

I am on-call today in the hospital and have a little time to kill. Here are some observations...

My left upper calf is sore today. Probably makes sense as I ran some serious miles (26.5) from Wed. to Sun. and much of it was at a faster pace. Heat and rest today. Some stretching as well.
Watching the Olympics has been fun. I have actually enjoyed seeing the president enthusiastically cheering on our athletes. No politics on this blog... just nice to see.
The rest of my race season will consist of a 1/2 iron tri on Sept. 8th in Delaware on a flat course. My goal will be to get a PR, but I have to be careful about killing the bike too much and having a slow run (see Blackbear Tri). My previous PR at this distance is 4:53. My other race will be the Bald Eagle Mega-transect. This is a very difficult trail race in Bald Eagle State Park in Central PA. Last year I was 12th out of 500. Top 10 would be great this year. I have pretty much dropped the idea of doing a marathon this fall, but you never know.
I will be taking an unstructured break from my tri training. I will not be coached after the Sept. 8th race. I need to avoid burnout. I will be riding and swimming and running a lot. But more trail runs, more road biking and some masters swimming. I really need to improve my swimming.
Over the winter I have debated looking into either a powermeter or powercranks to help my indoor cycling. I really don't tend to enjoy the trainer, but am too much of a wuss to ride outside consistently in the winter.
I am at a very nice weight these days. Low 160s. My goal is to maintain this weight, and perhaps get to about 155 ny IM USA next year.

The week of August 4th-10th

2008-08-10T21:16:00.004-04:00

Well I am actually getting back into regular training after IMLP. Theweek that was:
Monday: On call... no training.
Tuesday: 2700 yds of swimming... still feeling slow in the water. I will be swimming with the masters this fall winter. Also had an easy ride for 1:49 at 19.5mph. This was on the tri-bike. I also had an easy spin on the road bike for 1 hour.
Wednesday: 9.51 miles running at 8:14 pace. Felt good and got stronger at the end.
Thursday: 3200 ys swimming and bike intervals... able to average 20.3mph with HR=132 (low Z2)... nice!
Friday: No training.
Saturday: Long run with the 6th place finisher at IMLP (my coach) 10.47 miles at 7:34 pace (HR 158, high Z3)
Sunday: Interval run. Did a track ile at 6:29 pace (HR 172) and an easy raod bike spin.

Overall an excellent week and my first real week of training in awhile...This coming week will be a challenge as I am on-call both Monday and Friday, but nobody said life was going to be easy.
My left calf is tight and I have had an on and off-again relationship with a left hamstring discomfort for most of the year. I am still surpised how easy the running feels, as I thought it might take longer to get this back. My weight is back to about 160 lbs, although I had a DQ Blizzard tonight...

Training hours required for improvement

2008-08-09T15:54:00.002-04:00

There is a delicate balance between successful training for race improvement and over-training. Over-training can lead to boredom, injury and poor race performance... while lack of training will lead to under-performance in races.
I decided to look at my last few years of training and evaluate howI was doing:

2007 totals
Bike: 198h 43m 57s - 3749.9 Mi
Run: 235h 32m 55s - 1698.58 Mi
Swim: 64h 10m 33s - 186785.4 Yd
Strength: 18h 26m

2008 totals (as of 8-9-2008)
Bike: 160h 56m 29s - 3105.2 Mi
Run: 101h 21m 31s - 766.52 Mi
Swim:m 80h 12m 34s - 225191.9 Yd
Strength: 25h 19m

Extrapolating for yearly totals (2008):
Bike: 272 h - 5 270Mi
Run: 170h - 1300Mi
Swim: 136h - 383000 Yd

Average per Week:
Bike: 5.23h per week
Run: 3.27h per week
Swim: 2.62h per week

Total per week:
11.12 h per week
1h 36min per day

Obviously this is a rough estimate. Over the months of November and December, my bike mileage will fall and my swim and run mileage will increase. The point of this post is actually to determine how much more I can increase my training without jumping too much in 1 year.
My plan is to aim for about 12 hours per week average which is 1 hr 43 min per day. Only 7 more min. per day (albeit every day for 365 days average). I should be able to tolerate this reasonably. Especially when one considers that I increased my total hours by 81 from 2007-2008. This translated into 13 min per day extra. (not counting stretching and strength, core)
More important than actual hour increases is the quality of training. There is not much point in mindless increases in hours... it's making the most of the goals of each workout. If it's recovery, then do recovery. If it's intervals, hit all the intervals at the top levels indicated etc.

Best Investments for a triathlete

2008-07-30T08:24:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine was asking the best bang for the buck when spending your dollars on this 'hobby' of triathlon. I thought I would compose a list of the things I have spent money on, and whether or not I felt it was a good investment.

1. Tri Bike.
Getting fitted properly for the bike by a certified expert is the key. If you are fit at a LBS and you end up purchasing the bike from them they often waive the fitting cost. If not it is usually about $100-200, which is a very wise investment. A beautiful $3,000 carbon fiber tri bike will not make you faster if it does not fit. Most experts that I know recommend a proper fitting prior to even looking at bike brands. F.I.ST. and Serotta have certification protocols that bike shops will often advertise that they are able to perform. We all have different leg lengths, torso's, flexibility etc, so we all have different 'fits'.

I have an entry level tri bike. I also have an entry level road bike. My Specialized transition is from 2006 and the retail was about $1,500. With that I purchased Speedplay pedals which I would highly recommend at $200. Tri bikes can go from $1,200 to $8,000. I consistently have top 10% bike splits in my races, and I am very comfortable on my bike and would highly recommend it. (so I guess what I am saying is that you do not need to break the bank to be fast on your bike) The Speedplay pedals allow increased range of motion which I like. Both of these purchases were EXCELLENT investments IMHO. I would not personally spend $3,000+ dollars on a tri bike unless I was convinced that it was much better than my bike. Many people will prefer a road bike over a tri bike, but my experience is different. I ride my tri bike almost exclusively. I have nearly 6,000 miles on me Transition since March 2007, and I hope to keep it for at least one more season.

Another thing to consider is that if you have a road bike, adding clip-on aero bars is a smart move. The geometry of a road bike will not allow you to use all varieties of clip-ons. One very smart choice are the Profile Design Jammers. They are shorter than regular aero bars, which is a good move on a road bike, as the seat is not positioned forward as much as a tri-bike. Thus with the more rear position on the road bike, the shorter bars are more comfortable. Jammers are about $90. Picture below.

2. Coaching. My coach is Paul Fritsche. I have utilized his services since December 2007. He is an outstanding coach. I have had a much better balance in training with him and have made some major time improvements with him. *I* personally believe that I never would have been able to go under 11 hours in my IM without his help. Coaching is not cheap. On average most coaches cost at least $200 a month, and often much more. Coaching helps all aspects of triathlon. It is not for everyone, but if you want a high ratio of 'bang for the buck', then coaching is right up there. Here is his site

3. HR Monitor. I train consistently with a HRM. There are numerous monitors out there. You can spend well under a $100 to get a reliable, useful HR monitor. If you are serious about triathlon, you really should have a lap function with capability for at least 30 lap storage. Timex Ironman watches are very affordable and do the job.
I personally use a Garmin 305. Why? Because it has pacing as well. Using GPS it will tell me my HR, pace etc. It is useful for the bike and the run. It is not waterproof (which is a bit stupid), but it has been a very sound investment. I paid $200 for mine and have used it for almost every single run and ride in the last 1.5 years. As brought up on BT.com, this topic should include bike computers as well. My Garmin really is a bike computer as well, but you can purchase an exclusive bike computer that can mount on the bike itself. These are usually inexpensive... $50-150 or so.
My summary would be that a HRM is an excellent investment. I believe pacing is a very useful function as well. I combine pacing and HR monitoring in my training. However, like all things there are other ways to do it. Some athletes like to train by RPE (perceived effort). In this case, a HR monitor and GPS device would certainly not be good investments for that individual.

4. Wheels. My first year of triathlon I used my basic wheels that came with the bike. I was able to average 22mph at both of my HIMs (Eagleman, Steelhead) with this. Wheels are a hot topic in triathlon. Racing wheels can cost well over $2000 for Zipps. Between $1,000-2,000 for HED, Blackwell research. Zipp has the best name overall for quality and speed. This does NOT mean they are the fastest or most reliable... just that they are well respected. The amount of speed you will gain from different wheelsets is discussed ad nausea on sites like Slowtwitch, and even the Zipp official site. There is controversy about how much time you will save, but there is definitely a difference. However, since wheels cost so much, I would not say that they are a great value. I have a set of Zipp 404 clinchers (which I wuv very much). I paid considerably less than the retail price of $2,100, but they are still quite expensive.
I have a disc cover as well. I bought this off a great website called Wheelbuilder.com (http://www.wheelbuilder.com/). These cost about $100 and will convert your rear wheel into an aerodynamic disc wheel for much less money.
Here is a picture of my set-up:

Many pro's actually use the disc cover as well.
So my summary for wheels is this: They are not a 'good bang for the buck'... but they are very SEXY, and an affordable plan would be to use your basic wheels and get a $100 disc cover for the rear and but a $500 HED tri-spoke in the front. This would be a very pragmatic way to make your bike faster, look cooler, and save some money.

5. Tires. 2 choices for tires. Clinchers and tubulars. Google the difference or search slowtwitch.com for the explanation of the differences. I use clinchers for a number of reasons. Most important to me was that there were more good tire choices in clinchers and there is much discussion of the Crr (coefficient of rolling resistance) that seems to favor many clinchers over tubulars. This is a very controversial area of discussion. Pro cyclists mainly ride tubulars. Many pro triathletes ride tubulars as well, but more are switching to clinchers. The pro with the fastest bike split at IMAZ 2008 (Jordan Rapp) used Zipp clinchers. You can spend a lot of money on tires... but remember,this is what is coming in contact with the road, so it's important. I personally use Michelin pro3's. They are perceived to have a good Crr. I personally have found them to be fast. The drawback is that they are definitely not as durable as a training tire, and tend to get nicks and cuts easily. They are also very tricky to mount on Zipp clincher rims.

Summary: tires are important. For $70-80 you can get a set of Michelin pro3's on EBAY. There are many other great brands as well, but I would consider a good tire a good investment... certainly cheaper than race wheels! It makes no sense to have an expensive bike/wheels and poor tires.

6. Helmet. An aero helmet is a very good investment. You will look like a prehistoric pterodactyl, but you gain cheap speed. I have a Louis Garneau Rocket, which I would recommend. Another popular choice is the Giro2 advantage. These cost from $150-200. Some experts believe that you gain as much time from an aero helmet as from aero wheels. Since the helmet is much cheaper, I think it is a reasonable choice to purchase one. You have to have a helmet anyway, so there is not a huge cost differential as well.

7. Shoes. Cycling shoes... most triathletes buy tri-specific shoes, as they are easier to get on/off in transition, and they allow for water to drain out after the swim more readily. Cycling without clipless shoes is just plain silly. Cycling shoes are usually in the $100-200 range.
Running shoes. I buy shoes (Saucony Omni) that cost about $90. The message I want to relay here was that one should change their shoes reasonably frequently. I change my shoes every 250 miles. Some are able to go 300-400 miles without a problem.... other less than me. Factors such as running style, weight etc all come into play here, but an excellent way to avoid injuries running is to replace your shoes frequently and not to try to squeeze an extra few miles out of them. Injuries will catch up with you! There are much more costly shoes (Newtons) that some people love, but these can start to cost around $200, and since you have bought into my 'change your shoes frequently' idea, this will add up pretty quickly.
Some triathletes also buy racing flats, which are usually more pricey than regular running shoes. These are lighter shoes designed for faster pacing in a race. I do not use these. They probably do help with speed, but since a good % of my events are half-iron or longer, I want the extra cushioning and support that my regular running shoes provide. Good running shoes are a very important investment!

8. Nutrition and Hydration. This costs more than you think! You should be training with the nutrition you are planning on racing with. I use basic Gatorade powder and Carbopro powder. Gatorade is a simple sugar and electrolyte solution almost everyone on the planet has heard of. You can save a lot of money buying the powder instead of the pre-mixed drinks AND the powder does not have high-fructose corn syrup (the pre-mixed drink does). Carbopro is a flavorless complex carbohydrate powder. You can mix it with gatorade (or the sports drink of your choice) and it essentially allows you to add calories. Complex carbs help somewhat in avoiding gastro-intestinal distress on the bike and run. Many other options exist for nutrition (perpetuem, infinit etc, etc), and my best advice is to experiment in training to see what works (more specifically what stays down) for you.

Gels are a another way to get calories into your system during a race. I use Powergels, but there are brands like Gu that are just as good. They are simple sugar and electrolyte boosts. Some have caffeine and extra sodium. They should always be washed down with water... not Gatorade etc. I don't eat solids (powerbars etc) in a race, but many others do. See what works for you. A good rule of thumb is to try to get somewhere between 250-400 calories per hour on the bike. You won't be able to absorb more than this. Buying in bulk will save $$$... I use http://www.trisports.com/., and buy 48 gels, and carbopro tubs at one time.

Another topic is drink holders... I use the Profile Design aero drink system. It is relatively in-expensive and reminds me to hydrate, as there is a straw in front of me. The bottom line (to repeat) is train the way you will race, and your stomach is less likely to sabotage your day for you!

9. Power Meters. I do not use a power meter. Many triathletes do. Power meters range from $800-3,500. Powertap is by far the most commonly used brand. Why do I not use a power meter? Because I felt that this was too expensive an investment considering the wheels I bought this year. The main advantage is that it gives you a way to measure your power output in training and during a race... which many consider better than HR training. It removes some of the variables that affect the HR... but it is not a panacea for cycling improvement. My coach is not a huge advocate of this but many are. I think that this topic is a relatively controversial one, but in my opinion it is not a high 'bang for the buck' purchase. Others will disagree, and many would still say this is a better investment than race wheels (which I likely agree with). One point that even power users would agree on is that you have to know how to train with power and how to use the data, otherwise it's just a toy on your bike.

10. Clothing. Wearing tight-fitting clothing is important on the bike. Having baggy clothing will act as a drag parachute. Much of what you spend here is for style, but the costs add up here as well. Full tri-suits can cost $100-250.

11. Wetsuits. These have become ubiquitous at most triathlons. A wetsuit will make most swimmers faster with less effort. They allow you to keep warm, improve buoyancy and thus position in the water, as well they have reduced drag c.f. skin. I spent about $500 on a DeSoto T1 wetsuit. I think this was a good purchase. You can buy a used wetsuit on EBAY for far less, or you can pay much more than me for one of the new Blue-Helix suits. The wetsuit must fit you properly, otherwise it is a real pain. For most triathletes, wetsuits are almost mandatory. A friend of mine on BT.com prefers events without them, so there are always different perspectives.

12. Other things that you likely need to buy:
A. Sunglasses. I spent $20 on my no-name pair.
B. Sunscreen
C. Chamois butter or Body Glide. Very important to reduce chaffing and blisters. Not expensive.
D. Spare bike pump and tubes or CO2 cartridges. Not too expensive. I used to use CO2, but have reverted back to a small pump.
E. Goggles. I have cheap Speedo ones $15.
F. Hat or visor. I use a visor. Makes me look like a triathlete... $20.
G. Race Belt. Cheap, and after doing a few tri's I got sick of using safety pins on my shirts for the race #.

This is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of purchases that a triathlete will make... it's just a primer. Please let me know your insights as well.

Post Ironman Thoughts....

2008-07-29T13:55:00.000-04:00

It's been 9 days since I completed my first IM, and my body is steadily recovering. Istill have some issues with the blisters on my feet, but nothing serious. My biggest anxiety prior to the event was that I would get sick or injured just before Lake Placid, but obviously I didn't.

I am still stoked about doing the same event next year. Iwill likell do the Columbia tri in May, I am signed up for the Eagleman 70.3 on June14th next year as well. My time goals for Columbia will be under 2:20. Eagleman will be sub 4:45. Lake Placid is too far away to have time goals, but let's say I will aim for a balanced effort in all 3 disciplines.

After I do the Annaplois Triathlon in Sept. this year, I will be focussing on running more, as I will be doing a 25 mile trail run in Bald Eagle State Park in October. Last year I was 12th overall. This year I would like to be top 10.

As you can see, I am still pretty focussed on endurance sports, but there will be a considerble off-season in October/November to regenerate the batteries. I will do trail running, road biking and swimming mostly. I will be around for the family more as well.

How did we get here?

2008-07-27T19:18:00.000-04:00

This is the story of how I ended up becoming a triathlete, specifically a long-course one.
Growing up I was a baseball player, and an average one at that. I was on the freshman high school swim team, but quit by my sophomore year. I ended up being a pretty academic kid through high school and stopped most exercise by then.

As an undergraduate in university I was a binge drinker and never exercised. I studied hard to get into medical school. Upon entrance into med school I started to exercise a bit.... stair master, skipping rope, a bit of swimming.

Then came residency, where I had very little time for this. I often worked 80-100 hours per week. My weight ballooned up to 205lbs in 1998. Residency was finished in 2000, and Tracie and I moved to State College, PA to start my practice. Over the next few years we began to go to the gym, although there were periods of time when we completely stopped. My first daughter Megan was born in 2002. Exercise consisted mainly of weights and treadmill running.

January of 2005 I committed to running 4-5 times per week. I began hiking seriously that spring/summer. I hiked much of the Rocky Mountain National Park, as well as Bryce and Zion in Utah. My running was consistent, but my lifestyle was not very healthy. Specifically we ate out too much, ate too much bad food and we drank too much red wine and gin martini's.

By 2006 My running was continuing to progress. I the summer of this year, I became ill with a severe G.I. virus and was off work for more than a week. It was several weeks before I improved. My liver enzymes were abnormal at that time. In the fall I ran a trail-run marathon on limited training and did quite well.... more importantly I really enjoyed it! But again I became sick with a Strep throat infection that had me in bed for a week. I started to put together that my body could not tolerate high levels of exercise and alcohol.... so I cut back significantly. Still drink, but only a bit and only about once a month. This seemed to solve a lot of medical illness issues for me.

I signed up for 2 spring 2007 triathlons, as I felt they would be fun.I had some friends doing this sport, and found a great website... beginnertriathlete.com. Over that fall I swam at the PSU pool, ran and bought a Trek 1500 road bike.

By spring 2007 my training was greatly improving. I trained by the seat of my pants with no plan or goals. However, I did quite well at the Columbia triathlon and at the Eagleman 70.3 I went sub 5 hours!!! Later that summer I did another HIM called Steelhead.

Fall 2007, I hired my coach... Paul Fritsche. He crafted an excellent plan for me and my training gained structure. The first race of 2008 was the Columbia Triathlon. I took 7 min. off the previous years time, even with a wrong turn on the bike course! I did an extremely challenging HIM in June and placed 37th out of 500.

Then I went up to Lake Placid NY. I had the race I had dreamed about. 10:49.14. I found the longer the race went, the better I was doing. I seem to be good at pacing and nutrition. I also enjoyed this event immensely, even though it occurred during a monsoon!

I am now signed up for another Ironman next year. I am hooked.

Fred

Race Schedule 2009

2008-07-27T12:32:00.000-04:00

Eagleman 70.3. June 14th, 2009
Ironman Lake Placid. July 26th, 2009

Other potential races:
Devilman HIM (earlyMay)
Columbia Olympic (mid May)
Steamtown marathon (October)

Run Pacing Chart

2008-07-26T16:54:00.001-04:00

Swim Videos

2008-07-26T16:39:00.000-04:00

Swim Video notes:
1. Exhale thru nose very slowly while humming. Exhale the entire time while under.
2. Head always looking down or slightly forward... especially on the reach, as there is a tendency to turn head to the side when you reach long. Don't tuck the chin to chest.... burrowing!
3. Keep arm tight with face... as you reach and rotate, your shoulder will press against the face.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1422585059/bclid1150778014/bctid1358275374
4. Shallow kick from the hips. Rotate legs thru the eye of the needle
5. Fingertip drag helps recovery stroke. Keep recovery elbow high and close and tight to the body. Smooth entry of hand into water. Don't go wide at all with the arm!
6. Pop the recovery shoulder out of the water to encourage rotation.
7. High elbows in the water.
8. The point you start your recovery stroke (lifting hand out of water) can vary from above the bathing suit to below it. Higher will result in faster turnover.

New Swim Drills:
1. Take 3-5 strokes w/o breath and then breath, and continue the rest of the length with side kick drill.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1422585059/bclid1150778014/bctid1520956995
2. Finger tip Drag. Helps high elbow recovery. Relaxes recovery hand/fingers. Keep elbows close to body.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1422585059/bclid1150778014/bctid1370845149
3.Tarzan Swimming. Head up, head still. Encourages a good catch and a good kick. Do 25s, alt with 25 free.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1422585059/bclid1150778014/bctid1213979394
4. Floating paddle drill. Wear a paddle with only finger attached. Loose. Helps avoid hand to deep/shallow.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1422585059/bclid1150778014/bctid1203074630

Race Results

2008-07-26T16:00:00.000-04:00

Race results:
2006:
9-24-06. Bald Eagle Mega-transect. 39th out of 500

2007:
5-20-07. Columbia Olympic triathlon. 2:32'02. 30th in AG. 200th overall.
6-10-07. Eagleman 70.3 Triathlon. 4:53'13. 67th in AG. 313rd overall.
8-04-07. Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon. 5:09'02. 58th in AG. 323rd overall.
9-27-07. Bald Eagle Mega-transect. 4:48'02. 12th overall. 1st in AG.
10-28-07. Marine Corps Marathon. 3:19'10. 113th in AG. 674th overall.

2008:
5-18-08. Columbia Tri 2:25'57. 28th in AG... took wrong turn on bike course. 172nd overall.
6-1-08. Black Bear HIM. 5:15'52. 9th in AG. 37th overall.
7-20-08. Ironman USA. 10:49.14. 50th in AG. 233rd overall.

Hello and Welcome

2008-07-26T07:58:00.000-04:00

My name is Fred Doucette. I am a physician in Central Pennsylvania. I am also a husband and father of 2 girls. I am also a triathlete who recently just finished his first ironman in Lake Placid, NY.

This is my experience from IMLP 2008:

We arrived in Lake Placid on July 16th after a long 9.5 hour drive. My oldest daughter was a bit whinny on the drive, but we all made it in one piece. Lots of vehicles loaded with tri bikes were on the road with us. When we arrived, the energy was palpable... I've done 3 half-ironman events before, but I have never seen this sort of pre-race atmosphere.

We checked into our place and relaxed. After eating a meal and getting the kids to bed I did a short 45 min. run. Easy paced 7:50 min./mile.

The next day we met up with friends from BT.com and I did a loop on the swim course. It was packed with very fit looking athletes... somewhat intimidating. I then biked the Keene decent with 2 friends Scott and Rob and were picked up in a van to avoid the climb up....

Over the next few days we registered, bought stuff at the NAS sports store. I also registered for IMLP 2009... which was a bit crazy as I hadn't even done an IM yet, but these things are so hard to get into that I figured I would be doing this event next year unless my experience was awful.

My parents arrived on Saturday evening to be part of my support team and we relaxed (as best you can before your first IM).

On Sunday morning I woke at 4:30 am. I actually had my first good night of sleep in awhile. Ate granola cereal, yogourt, banana. My Dad dropped Tracie, me and my friend Andy off at transition at 5:10am. It was electric down there! After pumping up the tires, filling the bottle on the bike and getting my wetsuit partially on, I met back up with Tracie. She asked "did you have coffee yet".... this saved my day, as I don't do well without coffee in a race After quickly downing a cup I went to the race start by the beach. The pro's had just started, and my coach Paul Fritsche was off with them.

I was a bit nervous before the swim, but mainly happy and excited. I waded into the water and picked a spot 3 rows back about 20 feet from the dock. This is a crowded inside position, but I am a decent swimmer and was willing to deal with the combat of the swim.

This is a VIOLENT swim start. There is a lot of contact with this. At the start, there is mass pandamonium. Lots of kicking and hitting. I definitely panicked a bit in the first 2-3min., but kept my head and was able to swim. I swam inside the buoy line initially and it was a little bit less crowded. There is never a time on this swim when you aren't surrounded by lots of people though. I was stuck behind somewhat slower swimmers, but to pass them was tricky and would have required a lot of effort, so I just settled in and drafted. Very little energy was spent in this swim by me, which was a good thing. I feel as though I could have swum a little faster time-wise, but was still quite pleased overall.

Coming out of the water I felt refreshed, got the wetsuit off and ran to T1. Got my bike stuff on and ran for the bike. Once on my Specialized Transtion Pro I was off.

This is 2 loop course with significant hills. Rained like crazy... I believe that I saw a man building an arc at one point and a bunch of animals lining up 2 by 2.... The famous Keene decent was a bit terrifying, but I rode the downhills pretty much all-out in aero position. My coach had planned for me to be In Z3 on the bike and I did this very well. My first lap bike split was 21.1 mph and felt very easy. I passed a lot of people. The 2nd loop I passed Dan (Docswim) and he looked good. I talked with him for about 1 min.

The 2nd loop was slower for several reasons:
1. weather was worse on 2nd loop.
2. I bonked a bit on mile 85, and I needed to back off on the pace to get in some nutrition.
3. I wanted to run the marathon and I felt that the overall pace had to come down a bit.

Overall this was a smart move as I was able to do well on the marathon. My nutrition was thrown a loop, because it was sooooo cold and I needed less hydration. I had drunk too much in the way of fluids and was feeling bloated. So I backed off on the pace and ate gels. This worked quite well. Conditions were awful. Was freezing on the bike. I had a great nutrition plan, which had to be altered on the spot because of the weather. I was aiming for 19.5mph on the bike and surpassed my goal, as it ended up being 19.91 mph. I think averaging over 20mph on the bike next year on this course should be very do-able:) The rain did not hurt my run time, but slowed the bike a bit IMHO. The climbs were my friends on this course, as they were my REST. I small chain-ringed them and watched people pass me at that point.

I saw my family at each of the 2 loops near Northwoods road. The first time I saw all of them and yelled out "MEGAN" (my oldest daughter) and she had a huge smile on he face. Seeing my family gave me lots of extra energy. The teaming rain was very tough on them, and my Dad who was fighting a fierce cold stayed out cheering for me... I had a great support team!

I came into T2 feeling good. The olympic oval was a mud pit at that time. When I went to the change tent to put my socks on, unfortunately they were completely water-logged. I made a decision to run without socks. This would cost me severe blisters, but at the time it seemed like the correct choice.

Initially my run felt awesome. Very fast and easy. I saw my coach on the run and he was flying. I had no idea how well I was doing, but at the 1/2 marathon mark I was on an 8:09 pace (1:46.55) which was much faster than Ihad anticipated. Nutrition consisted of bananas, gatorade, gels. There is a fine line between eating too much or too little on this part of the race. Too much and you throw up, too little and you fall apart (bonk). There were crazy people handing out cookies as well?

Saw many friends on the run: Andy, Rick, Rob, Scott, Dan. Around mile 18 I started to fall apart and the pace slowed. I was able to run about 10-11 min./miles, and walked only the very last steep uphill. Coming into the last few miles I picked up the pace and came into the olympic oval much faster. The rain was intense, but as I crossed the line it felt AWESOME!!!

After, I Ate pizza, wrapped a silver blanket around me. My Lips were blue, and as I got my bike and bags from transition, and prepared for the long walk to the car... BUT I bumped into a nice couple from San Diego, and they were really nice, they sensed I was a bit hypothermic. They were staying at a resort with a shuttle service. They arranged for me to take the shuttle back to their resort, while Megan and I waited inside for my wife to arrive. The kindness of strangers....

We all got back and warmed up at the place.

Finishing time was 10:49.14 (233/2340), and 50th out of 386 in the M35-39 AG.

Thanks to my team, this was an awesome experience!