My Bad Day

The crash happened so fast that my first sensation was hitting the ground. I will never forget the instantaneous thought, Wow. I just hit the road really effing hard.

It was loud and violent. At the same instant I felt my head hit the ground, I also had the thought, Damn, these helmets actually work!

In this pic, you can see the left rear of the helmet crushed in. If you could see inside, the material is fractured and broken all the way to the front.

I have road rash, bruises and a snapped collarbone. Surgery is next week on 9/18, the day I was planning on driving up to register for the race. In the olden days (when we were kids) these were left to heal as-is, and it ended up a nasty mess. Plates and screws are an option, but leave a different kind of mess -- a big zipper scar and plates+screws visible through the skin.

I am fortunate to have an ortho surgeon in my town that does a newer procedure where a flexible rod is run down inside the two pieces (well, three in my case) of bone, then locked into a stiff state. Couple small incisions and quicker recovery. This will cost me a bit more out of pocket -- I have a high deductible health plan. But I'm an active guy and I want to be 100% when this is over.

Besides, I didn't repair the ACL in my right knee when it blew out, so I'll spend that money now.

This mishap occurred as I was coming down Pinehurst Road on the backside of the Oakland Hills. On a gentle downgrade, I was in my biggest gear. After slowing a bit around a sweeping curve, I stood up to regain speed. As soon as I stomped down, the chain came off the big ring. It's like walking down stairs carrying a heavy weight and then suddenly one step is missing.

My body weight slammed down onto the bars; I started to lose control; hit the brakes to slow down and found myself hitting the ground. Don't know if I went down on my own, or ... did I get hit?

Unfortunately, a guy had come up to draft off me a moment earlier. He went right over top of me, and I understand that he has an AC separation. Every cyclist knows the risk of drafting at high speed. Well...should know the risk. This guy seems to think I should be responsible for his medical costs. Not in a million years.

So, my season and quest is over. But, if you've read much of this blog, you know how much I got out of it. My health, my confidence, my entire well-being. This is just the start of the rest of my life, and I will carry on.

I'm Done

Details to come, but I did this last night on my bike. Surgery today or tomorrow.

Race Bike Testing

I've been riding my road bike -- a classic geometry steel Holland frame that I had made in 1990. It's just so nice to ride that I didn't want to switch over to the race bike till I had to. Well, I have to.

Took the TT bike out last night for a shakedown ride after completing the build. I have the 11sp Shimano drivetrain with bar-end shifters. Chainrings are 50/34 compact-style, with the big ring being one of those oval-ish Q-Rings. I like the Q-Rings since the crank speeds up very slightly coming over the top. When riding in a tuck, it makes the pedal circle feel smoother to me. I don't believe that the ring does anything for my power output, but I like the feel of it. The inner ring is a stock round 34. Largest rear cog is 32. That will allow me to stay in a nice cadence rhythm on the climbs, while keeping power down in the <180w range where I need it to be.

The biggest adaptation moving over to the race bike is the low front end. I ride the road bike with the bars about an inch below the saddle. On the race bike, the bars are a good 9 inches down. The armpads on the bar extensions are 7.5 inches down. In addition, the saddle moves from 8cm behind the bottom bracket on the road bike to 5cm in front on the race bike.

Initially, it feels horrible. Like I'm falling on my face over the front wheel. My head is in front of the steering tube; I have to look backwards and down to see my bike computer. But, once I got into a little rhythm, I remembered why I like this setup so much.

It's FAST. It's both aerodynamically fast, and it's power-output fast. I have to consciously back off to keep from riding too hard. The forward tucked position just invites aggressive riding. Cruising along at my goal 155w power level feels like hardly pedaling -- just keep the foot circles going and let the legs fall down. Of course, it does take effort and fatigue will build the same as riding the road bike. But, it takes no mental focus to keep the pedals going. Very easy to ride like this.

The downside to the setup is that I can't see up the road very far. It's unnerving and not entirely safe. My neck started getting sore after an hour, and my deltoid muscles hurt a bit from having my weight on my elbows, with the elbows close together. The safety problem is why I don't ride like this all the time. In races, the roads are closed, it's not pack riding, and it's not an issue. But in real life, I limit riding like this to the final few weeks before an event.

I'll get in 4-5 rides the next two weeks and will have adapted my neck and shoulder muscles just fine. I'm excited to be back on this bike. Saturday's ride in the wind up at Tahoe would have been a lot easier on this bike than on the road bike with the more upright position.

Weekend in Tahoe

I went up to Tahoe for a couple of days to do some swimming, riding and running. Mainly to do a shakeout of gear and to get a feel for effort levels at altitude.

I've been insisting on the forums that the altitude is a non-issue if you're pacing properly. IOW -- you don't "feel" the altitude. You're not out of breath or light headed or any of that...provided that you pace properly. That means to go roughly 5% slower than at sea level. The 5% figure is what the NCAA uses to adjust qualifying times for events at altitude. They didn't just make that number up -- it was derived based on actual athlete performances. USA swimming adjusts swim times by about 3%.

And that's about exactly what I found. I swam, I rode and I ran. In all three disciplines, I just went a little slower/easier than at sea level and felt no effect of altitude. For swim, I kept turnover slightly slower than in the pool. Just a split-second extra glide each half stroke and I could just cruise. On the bike, I sat on my goal power (155w on flats; 175w uphill; 140w downhill up to 30mph). Never felt pressured or out of breath. I didn't clock my run splits, but went on feel and felt smooth and comfortable. Based on past experience, I was probably running 20-30 sec/mile slower than down here.

The other goal was a gear shakeout. I rented a wetsuit from Sports Basement, and it fit and performed as expected. I have the right size and it does what it is supposed to do.

I didn't get my race bike built up in time to take with me, but I altered the road bike to mimic the race bike body position, just slightly more upright. That all worked out great except for the saddle. I had an Adamo TT race saddle lying around so I put it on the bike. The Tower of London guards couldn't have come up with a more tortuous saddle. That thing is going in the trash and I'm putting my old trusty Specialized 2001-era saddle back on the bike.

The good news is that I felt smooth and comfortable riding in the aero bars for a couple hours, something I've not done in several years. I have two weeks of riding the race bike before the event, and I'll be adapted just fine.

All in all, things are on track. My fitness remains woefully meager. After riding the bike course, I've reassessed my estimated split. I'm now thinking more like 3:20 or so. It's an awful lot of climbing and I am a relatively weak climber (low power/weight ratio).

Swim easy, ride easy and don't walk on the run leg. That's my race plan and I think I can do it. Best guess right now is...

Swim 35-40
Bike 3:15-3:25
Run 2:06-2:15

Total: 6:15-6:30

That should be roughly in the middle of the 60-70 guys in my age group (50-54).

Swim Benchmarking

I finally have enough masters sessions under my Speedo to get a feel for fitness. I will still improve my stamina between now and September 21, but I am very happy with where I am right now.

Today's main set included 6x200y, on 3:30 for my lane. This was after the kicking sets and pulling sets. I was able to comfortably finish that swim set, touching in 3:00 to 3:05 each 200. That is a great pace for me, about as quick as I've ever done a set like that. If I can hold steady 1:30 per 100y in the pool on a little rest, I should be able to hold 1:30 with a wetsuit on.

At least, I have in the past. But that wasn't at altitude and I was 8 years younger.

But, I'm going into the swim pretty confident. I'll hit the masters swims 2x per week each of the next three weeks. I will also have a chance to swim at Lake Tahoe this weekend. Planning on 3x 15 minutes open water, with wetsuit. Should give me a good feel for the appropriate effort level at altitude.

Right now, I'm mostly worried about my bike fitness. My goal of riding at 165 to 170 watts is, I think, overly optimistic at this point. I'll probably dial my expectations back to 155w. Ride all the way to the Rte. 267 climb under 150w, and then stay under 170w on the long climb. Finish at steady 150-155. I'll get a feel for what kind of bike split that will produce this weekend by riding one lap of the course.

I don't normally think riding a course ahead of time is very worthwhile. I wouldn't go much out of my way to do it. But I have a chance to meet some friends up there this weekend, so I'm going to do it.

A bike ride is a bike ride. The course doesn't matter. You're going to sit on a power number all day anyway (+/- 5%). Who cares if the road goes up or down or left or right? I'm doing it simply out of curiosity -- a game I play where I try to predict my finishing time.

Swim Update

I've done four masters sessions since my last swim update. It always amazes me how fast basic swim fitness can come around. I've already moved over one lane (to the 2800-2900y lane) and can keep up with everyone. Yesterday's session felt strong. I'm going again tomorrow morning, then a long ride.

Another advantage to masters is that you can get some actual instruction. The instructor gave me some very good tips on my arm positions and how to use a two-beat kick better. I immediately felt faster and smoother in the water.

At this rate, maybe I can be optimistic about swimming around 35 minutes at altitude. I'm not going to push it certainly...I will go out very slow and easy and see how it feels. But I should be able to be under 40 minutes without hardly trying.

Thoughts on Weight

Over on the tri forums, questions about weight come up a lot. First, what is the "right" weight?

I'll paraphrase Dan Empfield:

When your family and friends start asking if you've lost weight, you're not even getting started.

When they ask if you've been sick, you're within maybe 10 pounds.

If they start whispering to your spouse/partner and asking if you have AIDS or cancer, you're within 5 pounds.

If they actually stage an intervention, you're about done.

I am merely at Stage I of this cycle. Dropping to 170 pounds leaves me with ample love handles, and I won't be posting any beach pictures of myself on my Facebook page. But, a few people have noticed I lost weight.

I've been down another 10 pounds -- to 160. At that weight, people thought maybe I was sick, and a few even asked my wife if I was OK. But I still did not have a "six pack" and had plenty of healthy body fat. I was simply smaller than I used to be. Not even what I would consider "lean." When I think of "lean" I think of a rock climber or gymnast or ultra runner. Those folks are lean. At 160lbs, my 5'11" frame is not even close to lean. Simply healthy.

Is there a tipping point? Of course there is, and my suggestion is to get familiar with your own body and be realistic about how much body fat you can drop. Pinch at your waist. If it's just skin, you're pretty lean. If there's a half inch or more of fat pinched in there, you could still go a little lower. The limits of race weight are far lower than what the modern developed-world adult holds as the "norm" for healthy weight. Only you can decide if you want to go really low.

Now, how to do it...

No matter what you read or hear or think, it always and everywhere comes down to caloric balance. If you take in less than you burn, you will lose body fat. Period. No other rules apply. At all. Ever.

But, what about cutting sugar, or wheat, or eating "paleo"...? Those are strategies to accomplish caloric deficit. The simplest steps are to cut out foods that are calorically dense. And...that means processed foods that contain a lot of added sugar, as a starting point. So, does cutting sugar help lose weight? Yes as an initial step. But it's not because sugar is some special force of the apocalypse...it's because foods with added sugar are engineered to get you to eat a lot of it.

Rather than cover all the detail here, I'll keep it simple. Eat food you have to prepare. Vegetables, lean meats in their natural form, some legumes and grains. If you eat grains, stick to the whole versions that you cook yourself. Nothing wrong with bread -- just get whole grain.

A great resource is the website, books and blogs of James Fell. His main website is www.bodyforwife.com.

I like his stuff because he really gets it, and he gets it right. Funny, irreverent and well-researched. Probably the best popular-media guy active when it comes to diet and exercise. No shortcuts, no bullshit, no marketing lies.

Remember, so long as you stay above the "intervention" level of race weight, losing body fat is the best and most cost-effective way of racing faster. People spend multiple thousands of dollars to lose a pound off their bike (which barely makes any difference) when they won't take an extra 10 minutes a day to eat right and lose 10-15 pounds over the course of a few months. Those 10-15 pounds make a heck of a big difference in your run split -- far more than any expensive bike parts will make on your bike split.

Half Marathon Test

Saturday I ran my first timed event in almost 7 years. The inaugural half marathon in Oakland. Course had slight hills...not much really. Maybe a minute or so added to the time, at most.

Anyway, goal time was 1:53 in order to have some confidence I could run 2:00 off the bike in Tahoe. I've since made an adjustment to that goal time in order to account for altitude. I've run at Tahoe a lot, and I never really "feel" the altitude in terms of shortness of breath or anything. However, at any give perceived effort, I've found that I'm running ~20sec per mile slower than I think I am.

This is consistent with the ~5% adjustments to qualifying times the NCAA uses for distance running events at altitude. The data backing that adjustment was arrived at with some careful work, so it makes sense to expect that 5% slower pace.

So, my goal time is 2:06, provided that I can run an open half marathon in 1:53. Drum roll....

I ran 1:54:30. Missed it by a bit.

But...I did not push the pace at all. Just didn't feel like suffering, so I didn't. I left at least a minute or two out there. My HR stayed in the 142-148 range the whole first half (my "all-day" running HR is 145). I picked up the effort a little bit in the second half into the 155-160 range (I've done half marathons averaging 165).

I honestly feel I could have carried on another hour at that pace.

So, I'm going to call the test a success.

I have a lot of work to do in the next 4 weeks. Athletes doing big volume can start their tapers somewhat early. Since I'm doing barely enough volume to warrant even driving up there, I have to keep my training rolling right up to 5-7 days out.

On another subject, I tried on my Size 4 DeSoto wetsuit yesterday. The one I bought when I weighed 160 pounds. Yes, that is correct. It does not fit.

So I went down to Sports Basement and reserved a rental Blue Seventy for the event.

Getting old and fat suuuuucks.

Race Weight

When I registered for the Tahoe half, I weighed in around 184 lbs. I'd been as high as 192lbs last December (oof). I felt fat; I looked fat. Wore size 36 pants. Ugh.

With regular exercise and a sharpened focus on eating well, I'm now down to 170lbs. My guess is that I'll be at 167 or so by race day. I'm now wearing all my old size 32 pants. :-)

More importantly, I feel like "me" again.

I've also taken up weight training in the gym. Haven't really done that since college. Wow, what a difference it makes in how I feel. I'm not doing leg work in the gym at this time; after the half is done I'll probably start light squat work. But the upper body lifting really complements all the healthy improvements from running and cycling. I feel like my whole body is working together now, instead of having a scrawny weak torso carried around by nice fit legs.

But the real goal of this gym work is simple and age-old: My sons mocked me for not being able to do more than one pull-up. They can do them till I'm bored of watching. I can do 8 now. Working my way up to 10 and maybe they'll respect their old man.

5 Weeks Out: Assessment

The training window is rapidly closing. By that I mean training that can actually improve my finish time. Once we're inside about 15-20 days, training shifts from "get better" to "don't eff this up." I'm not there yet, so I can still do workouts that can improve my time. So, what are those workouts?

Swim
I have done a grand total of 6,000 yards of swimming. No, I did not leave a zero off. I don't like swimming, and so I haven't gone very much. That, obviously, has to change and I've got 2-1/2 weeks to change. I will, I SWEAR, go to masters swim twice each in the next two weeks. That will be 5 masters workouts at about 2500y each (I swim in the slowest, easiest lane). Throw in a couple more during the taper weeks and I'll be fine. I'm not trying to break 30 minutes; just have a smooth and easy time of it and get into T1 at around 40 minutes.

But, time is running out and I really need to commit and get to the pool. What type workouts? It doesn't matter -- unless you're gunning for the top of your age group, just show up and do whatever the masters coach tells you to do.

Bike
My power benchmarks are good. My goal was to get 60min power up to 200w, and I'm comfortable in saying I'm at around 225w. I've had some good hard 30-40 minute efforts at that power level in the middle of longer rides. That would put my race goal at 78% of that figure, or 175w. So, I went out last weekend to do a 3hr ride at 175w as a race-rehearsal test.

No friggin way I can do that. I was toast after 2.5 hours. I have not built the stamina to stay "on the curve" and carry my short-term power predictably out to longer durations. So I will bear down and do several 4 hour steady rides over the next three weeks. I have only been riding once a week, and I'll add a mid-week ride as well.

Running
This has worked out the best. I've had several very solid 12-15 mile steady runs, and have gotten in 2-3 other runs almost every week. Once a week, I've worked in a run with 30-40 minutes of threshold pace running.

I do a half marathon this weekend that will be my true test of target race pace.

All in all, the running is great; the bike is OK; my swim fitness doesn't even exist yet.

5 weeks to go. Time to focus up.

Benchmark Run, Again

Saturday run: My favorite 13.4 mi circuit. Mild amount of hills, a little trails, and a 4 mile stretch home on a paved bike path, very slightly uphill.

Running smooth and steady, staying in the "endurance" HR zones: 9:06 pace.

That is rocking for me. Yes, real runners think that is slow, but it's nearly the best I've ever gotten. This puts me very much on pace to run 9's in the half IM. If I execute right on the bike and swim, I should be able to do it. The altitude at Tahoe is a bit of a wildcard. From what I have read, I should expect a 5% dropoff in pace.

Still...I'm very happy with how the run training has worked out. Still behind on bike and swim. Due to pending family vacation, I'll get no swim or bike time for the next week. But I can still do a solid block of those next week, still 5 weeks out from race day.

I'll run a half marathon in Oakland on the 16th. Goal race time is ~1:53 in order to be on <2 hr pace in a half IM. So, I'll try to click off 8:40 miles and see if I can hold that the whole way.

It's Definitely the Shoes

In my third post on this blog, I talked a bit about the new shoes I was trying. The Hoka shoes were a new experiment at the time and I was encouraged by the results. I had quit running regularly in 2009, with occasional attempts to return. But chronic plantar fasciitis stopped me in my tracks every time.

I tried all the known cures and palliatives, short of surgery. You name it, I tried it. But if I ran as much as a single mile, my feet would hurt for days. In fact, they hurt every morning whether I ran or not. But they started feeling consistently good this past winter, so I decided to try running again. Instead of returning to my trusty flat, minimalist training shoes, I got a pair of Hoka Bondi3 shoes.

After almost 3 months and a few hundred miles in these shoes, I can say unequivocally that they have been a miracle for me. Not only did the PF not return, but all the aches and pains I'd become used to have not returned. I get tired on long runs (like we're supposed to), but not achy and sore. My conditioning is the limiter now, not my joints and bones. Which is as it should be.

For you, *ahem*, mature athletes, consider a pair of these shoes if the aches and pains of regular running have you skipping runs or cutting your volume more than you'd like.

Bad Run Plan -- What Not to Do

Don't ever try this...

I had a long-ish run planned for this past Tuesday. So I decided to run the 4.5 miles to my son's high school and watch him play in a 7-on-7 football passing league game. I was running a little late, so I picked up the tempo a bit for the last two miles. Sat and watched the game for an hour, and then ran home.

The run home was painful and awful, every single step. Never found a rhythm. Felt sore and worn out all evening.

Bad idea to sit for an hour in the middle of a run.

The Long(er) Ride

I finally made the time and mental commitment to do a proper long ride. I've done lots of 1, 2  and even a 3-hour ride. But 4+ is where the fatigue can really set in, and you separate the man in you from the...not man.

4:10 last Saturday, including an ascent of Mt. Diablo here in the SF East Bay. The plan was to sit just under goal half IM bike power for most of it, and push +10% or so on the climbs. Try to bring the whole ride in around 155 watts or so.

But I got a little carried away; just couldn't help it. At 2:15 I was most of the way up the mountain, sitting at 168 watts (NP average). And then power just started dropping. By the summit, I was at 165. After the descent, at 160. During the last hour home on mostly flats, I drifted all the way back to 152 average for the ride.

So, lessons learned.

Lessons:

• Remember to eat. I need calories on these longer rides.

• Stop to refill water. I was impatient and skipped a water stop on the way up. Was mildly dehydrated the rest of the day.

• Pace more carefully. Have a plan; stick to the plan. It would have been a better workout if I had kept the first half under 160w, then picked it up for the last hour going home.

• Finally...I do not yet possess the long-ride stamina for the event. My 60min power is on track -- I think I'm at about 210w, and my goal was to get to 200w. Based on that, my plan is to race at 160w. But I have to still do the longer rides to build stamina to hold that power and still run.

But, it's all going in the right direction.

Benchmark Ride

I set out Sunday to do a 3-hour ride, with a target IF of .80, or a TSS of at least 190. The half IM ride will require a similar TSS load, so I need to execute many of these rides in training. I can't just "finish" them...they have to be comfortable and repeatable.

I got it done. I'm estimating my 60min Power at 190w right now. My ride of 158w (NP) for 3:05 brought the TSS in at 214, the highest TSS I've gotten done in over 5 years. The ride was tiring...too tiring to go out an run a sub-2 hour half marathon. But...it's only the first one. I'll hit these at least once a week going forward.

Didn't get a long run in this weekend. I'll have time to do that mid-week early in the morning one day.

I gotta get my lazy ass to master's swim...

Trouble with the Calendar

Just checking in here to confess to a lack of structure in my training. Running is going good -- really good. I feel great and the miles just float by. Speed is coming around, and I think running 2 hours is going to be within reach by September 21.

I have done four rides in 3 weeks. Not good; not at all. That's barely enough to maintain a steady low level of fitness; I'm certainly not going to get better. Going to redouble my commitment to riding starting this weekend with a long ride on Sunday. Goal is to hold an appropriate steady effort and see how the power numbers come out. I'm really hoping to end up around 150w without pushing too hard. Race goal is 160w, again without pushing too hard.

I've been getting in the pool once a week for an easy 1k yards. Still a little intimidated to show up at masters. Going to have to get over that and just get it done.

All in all, I feel good and I know I could improve quickly. But life conspires to interfere with my plans and I'm just not getting the work done.

Weight is good -- I started this escapade weighing about 184. I'm down to 174 and I think 165-168 is definitely reachable without any overt calorie restriction. Just stick to fruits, veggies and quality proteins+fats and I'll be fine.

One good bit of news -- I pulled down a stack of pants hidden away on the top shelf of my closet. You know the deal -- pants you bought in a bout of optimism that never really fit?

They all fit now! :-)

Turning a Corner...?

I hear a lot that it takes six weeks of training after a long time off to even begin to feel like an athlete again. Well, once again, I have learned that bit of wisdom is spot-on.

My long run on Sunday finally felt normal. While I'd been doing them, it was more through grit and stubbornness that through actual athletic grace. Pound it out; keep saying, "I need to finish this."

But this Sunday, I went 2 hours and it felt like...just running. No drama. Outbound leg at a smooth 10:30 pace, with HR a full 20bpm below where I would normally expect to do a half IM run. Return leg at a picked-up 9:35, still below target half IM heart rate. Really smooth...great feeling.

And so it goes...onward and upward. This old body ain't done yet.

Riding Strategy

Among the most asked (and argued) questions on tri forums (ie, Slowtwitch) regards the best strategy for riding a hilly triathlon course. Most answers are of the sort where people just post their own anecdotal experience, and then they finish with stating how great their approach has worked. Guys with lots of road racing experience will usually advise hammering up the hills, and then tucking and coast down. Others will advise a steady effort.

None of this is meaningful without a methodical approach that takes the right issues into account. We start with a few basic premises:

First: We are to adopt here (as I've made clear throughout this blog) the notion that increasing physical effort (power output) has an even more-rapidly increasing effect on physical stress. It has been shown that, as power output increases, various markers of metabolic stress increase to the fourth power of increases in power output. In other words, 5% more power -- or 1.05 times what you were doing before -- increases your metabolic stress by 22%, which is (1.05^4) - 1.

This relationship is at the core of the "normalized power" construct that has proved to be enormously useful and reliable for planning racing and training. By "normalizing" we mean that, rather than use the simple average power output for a given ride, we weight the averaging by this fourth power calculation. In a simple average, 100w for 10 minutes, then 200w for 10 minutes produces an average of 150w for 20 minutes.

When normalizing the power output for the exponentially higher physical cost of the higher effort, the average NP = 171w. This is higher than the 150w simple average, and reflects the much higher cost of the harder second half of the ride. The stress of the ride was *as if* we had ridden the whole thing at 171w.

When we ride a triathlon bike course, we need to decide ahead of time what power output we could hold *if* the course was flat and we could ride at a dead-steady effort. Let's say I decide to ride a course at a goal of 175w. *If* the course was flat, I would just sit on that power output the whole way. But, my course is hilly and I need to know if I should ride harder uphill, and by how much.

I set up a program to ask this question. It's a straightforward objective/constraint analysis, with fixed inputs.

Objective: Ride the course segment in the minimum amount of time.
Constraint: Do not exceed 175w, normalized average.
Fixed inputs: Rider+bike weight; CdA; tire Crr; gravity.
(CdA = Coefficient of drag x Frontal Area; Crr = rolling resistance of tires).

To look at the question, we can ignore the flat parts of the ride (simple answer: sit on 175w), and analyze just a few stylized hill sections. We'll look at three: Steep, short up and longer shallow down. Long shallow up and shorter steeper down. Equal going up and down.

Results...
4% up; 2% down twice as far.
Ride up at 196w and down at 130 watts.
This means it's OK to lift power by 12% going up, and soft-pedal coming down.

2% up; 4% down half as far
183w going up; 109w coming down.
The longer ride up requires keeping the power bump lower (just +5%!); the steeper descent means soft pedal even less.

3% up; 3% down
188w up; 117w down.

Note that the actual distance doesn't matter. Results are the same for any actual distance; it's the relative distances that matter.

The gist of all this is that there is no single best strategy. But, some rules of thumb are apparent:

In all cases, do not spike your power much more than about 10%, and that's only if it's a short climb relative to the descent. It's not worth the little extra speed -- you'll just tire out faster, ride slower and, of course, run slower.

The longer the hill, the more you need to back off the temptation to ride harder.

I won't go into the details for a strategy with wind. Suffice to say...the optimal strategy for dealing with headwinds and tailwinds is very close to just riding steady and ignoring the wind. So close in fact that you should just ignore wind and ride at your target power as if there was no wind.

Raising the Roof

As I get deeper into my "comeback" I can't help but benchmark to prior levels of fitness and performance. As I've said repeatedly, I am painfully slow. But, it's only been a month and I haven't really had a chance to adapt to the main training load.

Nonetheless, a particular thing struck me the past two weeks as I added some harder segments within rides and runs. My heart rate just doesn't go very high.

In the past, my HR sat around 160-165 for an entire half IM. A 40k time trial I did in spring 2006 saw a sustained HR of around 170. I could easily hit 175-180 if doing intervals or charging up a hill to stay with a riding group. My all-day steady ride/run HR was 148-152. This is higher than the average person, but that's why there are bell curves.

This past Saturday, I pushed a 2:15 ride pretty hard...harder than I would ride a half IM. And my HR never got over 155. I had trouble keeping it at 150.

Doing some T pace mile repeats running, HR peaked out at 156. Those should have been above 165.

What this tells me is that I am sitting significantly below my VO2max potential. In long-course racing, there is little need for an AG athlete like me to attempt to fully maximize my genetic limit of VO2max. But...as Phil Skiba terms it..."raising the roof" a little can't hurt. I decided to do one VO2max working on the run this week; will do one on the bike next week. Then back to normal training for a month and re-evaluate.

My favorite running workout for lifting VO2max is a set of 30/30's. Warm up with easy running for 10-15 minutes, then run 30 seconds at about the pace you could hold for 3 laps (if you're slow) or 4 laps (if you're fast) of a track. Again...you're running just 30 seconds at a pace you could hold for 4-6 minutes. Take it easy...it's tempting to go too hard.

After 30 seconds of that, run at easy/jogging pace for 30 seconds, then go back to the fast pace for 30 seconds. Repeat. I did a set of 12 of these, with a brief walking break halfway through. Done once a month, you might do as many as 20. 12 was plenty for now.

The idea here is to get the metabolic stress (stimulus) of the fast effort, while minimizing the physical/mechanical stress of doing longer intervals.

Next week, I'll hit a local hill on the bike that takes about 3.5 minutes to climb at a hard effort. I'll do 4 repeats of that at VO2max effort.

In a week or two, I should see a modest improvement in my ability to get my HR higher on tempo efforts. Higher HR (all else equal) can mean more oxygen to the muscles, which is where the action takes place.

Data Details

As mentioned earlier, I use power data in my bike training, and I think everyone should. It allows precision and repeat-ability in workouts, and provides unerring pacing feedback in races.

I'm shooting for a critical power (or one-hour power, or threshold power...) of 200 watts for the Tahoe half IM. That will allow me to race at 160w or so and, hopefully, get off the bike inside 3 hours. I've been encouraged by my Powertap powermeter head unit -- I've had some 2+ hour rides at 160 +/- watts, and this morning's 1.5 hour workout came in at 168 watts (normalized).

But then I loaded the power file into the Apollo Raceday software (sold by Phil Skiba) and the NP came in at only 156 watts for that ride. What the heck...?

It turns out the Powertap head unit ("Joule") computes average power and normalized power by dropping out any periods where power is zero. So, in effect, the NP = 168 figure was what I was doing while pedaling, without taking into account not-pedaling. Why does this matter?

Because the whole point of NP is to take into account hard and easy riding segments, and the fact that harder segments are A LOT harder than easy segments. But the easy segments must still be accounted for since they serve to pull down the average -- and they serve to help us not be so tired. We need to include the zero segments in order for NP to work.

After a long phone call with Powertap tech support, the Powertap folks acknowledged that no, the basic Joule head unit does not have the "include zeros or not" switch that most powermeter head units have. That won't work for me...I need the accurate figures.

So, the company agreed to let me return my basic unit and pay a discounted upgrade cost for the more advanced Joule GPS unit that has the required setup switch. Plus -- it has GPS. I don't why I might need GPS on a bike computer, but I guess I'll find some use for it.

So, anyway...if you have a powermeter that includes the NP computation, set it so that it includes zeros.

But...here's a tip...if your computer does NOT have NP calculations, set the average power display to leave out the zeros. Am I contradicting myself? No...based on long experience, the average power on a rolling or hilly course without zeros ends up being pretty close to the actual NP computation. You can use that no-zeros AP on your display to approximate the actual NP of your ride, in real time. I did it for several years and had great results with that little trick.

Going Long(er) -- The Sunday Run

My priority for the first half of my training cycle (15 weeks left till taper week) is to develop the basic stamina and endurance to do the distances at a comfortable steady pace, over and over. I feel that I never did enough proper long runs in the past, and never had that "all day" stamina, no matter how easy I ran. That will not happen again!

My long run yesterday was 2:30 total; about 2:20 of that actually running. I have no idea the pace -- pace was not the goal. Just keeping it moving was the goal, and I feel great about the result. I was able to pick it up for the last 20 minutes (pushing HR about 10 bpm higher than it had been throughout the first two hours). I didn't really start feeling leg fatigue until the 2 hour mark.

The run took a lot out of me. The Sunday chores around the house were tough and I needed a nap mid-afternoon. But I felt great by evening and feel 90% recovered today. No running today -- just a nice swim workout and some general fitness maintenance work on the weights.

This is hugely encouraging. I've only been back running for 4 weeks and my feet feel great and I feel great.

The plan is to stay on top of these long runs, pushing them out to 3+ hours on a regular basis. In June, I will start doing a mid-week brick with 2 hours on the bike at a good tempo, followed by a 1 hour run.

I do need to take care of my running pace at some point -- I am still painfully slow. I will start finishing the mid-week runs with quick, smooth strides to re-learn some running economy. That has helped a lot in the past. While VO2max workouts are not essential for long-course racing in terms of metabolic fitness, I favor such occasional workouts for the simple purpose of teaching my legs and nervous system how to run quicker.

To run faster, even at easy effort levels, requires us to spend less time in contact with the ground. That has to be practiced and learned.

Bike Setup II

I found some old pics on Slowtwitch of my tri bike setup. The pics below were almost my final position...I lowered the saddle 1cm, moved the saddle forward 2cm (from 3cm in front of bb here to 5cm) and dropped the armpads another 1cm.

The hump in my back is my morphology -- it doesn't go away no matter how I sit on the bike.

So...don't ask me to make it flat...

This setup, with a wheelcover on back and a Zipp 808 on front, is very fast. I know of few people to this day who've attained my bike splits on my meager power output. 2:40 at Oceanside on 184 average watts...5:30 at Davis IM on 142 avg. watts.

First Time in the Pool

I swam my first swim laps in 8 years. The only other time I'd been in a pool over that time was swimming the anchor 25y freestyle in the Family Medley Relay at our neighborhood pool (which we won, thankyouverymuch).

I had a plan to do a simple 10x100y workout on whatever intervals felt easy. I touched out the first one in 1:20, swimming what felt like very easy. Just focusing on form. Took a 20 sec rest and started the second one.

By midway through the second one, I could not even hold form. Holy crap, am I out of swim shape. I ended up doing 50s and 25s, with a few breaststroke laps thrown in. I got the 1000y done but, dang. That was not what I expected.

Oh well. Stick with it and it'll come around. I'm working toward doing a few benchmark workouts of 10x 400m in a long-course pool. If I can nail one of those workouts by early September, touching in 6min, I'll be set.

Got on an accurate scale for the first time in a while. 181lbs (I'm 5'11").

Goal weight for race day is 165. I've raced at 158, but that's just not realistic this time around.

Run Training

I mentioned before that you should buy a copy of Dr. Phil Skiba's book, Scientific Training for Triathletes. It's not just for triathletes...it's for all endurance athletes. Read that, then get yourself a copy of Dr. Jack Daniels book, Daniels' Running Formula. The Daniels book is the simplest, easiest to understand method of figuring out run training. Plus, it reminds me of my favorite recovery drink.

The key to Daniels, and what makes it so perfect for the amateur runner/triathlete, is the VDOT system. The VDOT tables provide racing and training paces that relate to an athlete's overall fitness level. For example, let's say you ran a rested 10k in 45 minutes. You would look up that 10k time in the tables, and get your VDOT number. That number for you is 45.

You then look up the various training paces for a VDOT of 45. Your easy/long ("E/L") run pace should be 9:16 min/mile. Your threshold (T) runs should be at 7:27. You'll also see that your marathon, or M, pace should be 7:57. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, that M pace is your target half IM pace. If you can run a 45 minute 10k, you should be able to run a 1:45 half IM split. If you can't or don't -- you either failed to build sufficient stamina in training, or you rode too hard on race day.

My advice is: Until you've got years and years under your belt and have proof that you know better, stick to the Daniels tables training paces. I see two fails on a regular basis:

First, people do not do sufficient volume, or a sufficiently long weekend run, to hit the E/L VDOT pace. If you run a 45 minute 10k, and cannot run 2-3 hours every Sunday at 9:16 pace, you do not have the stamina required to execute your race plan. Don't bother trying to get faster until you can hold that long run pace for as long as you feel like it, every time out. This is serious stuff -- the run leg of a long course race is like doing the second half of an open run event twice that long.

Do not neglect long-run stamina.

Second, people do threshold runs too fast. A good threshold workout done once a week is 4x or 5x 1-mile repeats. These are done at the T pace from your Daniels VDOT line. Again, our 45 minute 10k racer has a T pace of 7:27. That will feel slow for the first few of the mile repeats. T pace is meant to be the pace you could hold for about an hour. So think about it...if you're doing mile repeats that take 7-8 minutes each, and only have to run at an effort you could hold for an hour -- these should not feel terribly stressful. It is far too tempting to do these far too hard. DON'T.

Stick to the plan. Get yourself a GPS pacing watch, or use MapMyRun or another phone app. Until you've got some serious experience, you will otherwise do T workouts too hard.

I haven't done a running event yet, so I'm estimating my VDOT. I have a lot of experience with pacing and perceived exertion judgement -- I had the benefit of doing 5 years of run training on a flat route that had mile markers on the ground (the Pacific Beach and Mission Bay Strand in San Diego). At the moment, I estimate my VDOT to be around 35. That puts my long run pace at 11:15 and my T pace at 9:07. And...puts my target half IM pace at just 9:46, far short of my goal of 9:00.

I did my first T workout last night -- 4x 1-mile with 2-3 minutes walking between reps (and 10 minute EZ running before/after). The course was slightly downhill for the first two; back uphill for the second two. I did:

9:15
8:25
9:25
9:10

So, that is about right. From a "feel" perspective, the first two felt easy and I to stay disciplined the keep the pace slow enough. By the last one, my legs were feeling pretty worked. But, my breathing did not get to the point where the "stopping wish" was strong. I stayed in a zone where I was breathing hard, but felt that I could sustain that breathing effort for quite some time. This morning I feel well recovered and capable of doing a good hard ride tonight.

That is key to a T workout -- do not overdo it. You need to be back up and at it the very next day.

As for my E pace -- I had a very satisfying 90 minute run last Saturday at 11 minute pace. I was able to lift effort a bit over the last 20 minutes. This coming weekend, I do my first 2-hour effort. Again, the goal here is to be able to complete that run at the target pace, without taking on so much fatigue that I can't do my long ride the next day.

Get familiar with Daniels' VDOT system. It works, and it has solid science behind it. If you don't get the book, you can use google and find some online VDOT calculators that will help you target your training paces.

Training Rides

If you are not yet fluent in the hows and whys of training, I highly recommend you stop scouring the internet and Slowtwitch for the facts, and order Dr. Phil Skiba's excellent book, Scientific Training for Triathletes. It's not a training guide, per se, but rather an accurate and thoughtful summary of what training does to the body, and how different types of training affect performance adaptations. It is a collection of "first principles" that every endurance athlete needs to understand, even if they work with a coach.

This short volume cuts to the chase and gives you all the basics. You still have to figure out how to use it, but figuring that out is a lot easier once you understand how your body works.

My bike (and run and swim) training plan will be my attempt to use these first principles to my best advantage. I am a "volume-limited" triathlete. I do not choose to maximize my potential since I have a good understanding of the time commitment involved, and I only have so much time I'm willing to budget to this activity.

I'll be riding 3 times per week; about 90 minutes twice during the week; up to 3-4 hours on Sundays. Given that time budget, what is the best way to use the time? Firstly, it is certainly going to do me no good to go out and spend all 6-7 hours of my weekly riding doing "low heart rate" or "steady" efforts. The training stimulus is too low. There is nothing wrong with the Gordo Byrn/Mark Allen-approved approach of long, easy/steady efforts. It's just that, in order for that effort level to pay off, you have to do many more hours than I will do.

So, my weekday efforts will be at 90-95% of P60. A typical ride will consist of 15 minutes easy effort to get to the part of my route where I can put my head down, then at least 60 minutes of good hard riding. I call these ABP rides -- Always Be Pushing. The training stimulus is high -- building metabolic fitness for higher power output (specifically, raising power at lactate threshold to a higher percentage of VO2max). Since the rides are relatively short, recovery is quick and I can do these rides a couple of days apart.

Sunday rides will be longer and will target my power output capacity and my endurance/stamina. There is no substitute for long hours in the saddle if you have to race long hours. The run leg of a half IM is like doing the second half of a marathon...so you have to train for a marathon. Likewise, since the bike stage of a half IM needs to be finished with your legs still fresh, you need to train for a 112 mile ride in order to pull off a good 56 mile ride. My Sunday efforts will not be easy -- but they won't be hard either. More on the order of 75-80% of P60.

With that approach in mind, I am happy with my first Sunday ride. 2.5 hours at 150 watts (NP). I finished feeling good and have recovered nicely this morning. I'll push the duration of that ride out to 3.5 hours next Sunday, and going forward. In late July and in August, I'll push out to 5 hours a few times. Power output will follow my fitness level -- hopefully upwards. These long rides need to be in the 165 watt range in order for me to meet my goals at Tahoe.

Bike Setup

In past years, I have raced and trained mainly on a Mandaric "DE" (for Dan Empfield) TT frame. This has a 81 degree seat tube angle, short and low top tube...all with for the express purpose of riding low and flat. My bike position in 2005-06 was among the more radical out there. My aerobar armpads were 22cm below the saddle for racing. I could sit at 20mph on only 140 watts.

Today, far more people have figured out the benefits of punching a smaller hole through the wind and the flat-back position isn't considered so radical. I intend to return to this position for the September event. Aerodynamics is important for all racers, but is even more important the slower you're going. All else equal, slower racers gain more time from aero improvements than faster ones. It's just math.

The problem with a fully-committed racing position is that it is a horrible every-day riding position. It's just not safe. You can't see continuously up the road -- you have to "spot." Pedal for a few moments, look up the road. Head back down for a few seconds, look up the road. Repeat. In addition, so much weight is on the front of the bike that you can actually achieve an unintended endo in a panic stop. I did just that once and separated my A-C joint.

Hence, my compromise training position, as shown below. This pic is from 2006, but the bike setup is the same today. The idea here is to have the same leg-torso angle as on the race bike, just rotated back so I can be more balanced and see where I'm going.

I will race on the Mandaric frame, with everything rotated forward and down. On the Soloist frame shown above, the saddle is 3.5cm behind the bb. The race setup will have the saddle nose 5cm in front of the bb.

The other change I made was to acknowledge that my power is down about 50 watts from 2006. Since I live in a hilly area (East SF Bay Area), I need to be able to comfortably climb hills. So I swapped out the 12-27 cassette that I usually ride for a 12-32, and changed the inner chainring from 36 to 34. I hope I don't have to stay with this setup for too long, since a Dura Ace rear derailleur can barely handle the cog size. But -- bike gearing is a function of the rider's power output. Mine is low, so I need small gears.

First Ride Report

First ride report. Well, second ride...the first was 20 minutes last Saturday to make sure my bike still worked.

I bought a new PowerTap wheel and handlebar computer head. I used one from 2002 till I quit, and sold the setup to some nice person on Slowtwitch. It was the old wired setup, and the new one is wireless. Very nice.

So, some observations and some backdrop for using power in cycling.

First, I am an unabashed fan of using power output as the key effort measurement in cycling. (Likewise, I use pace in running.) I wear a HR monitor from time to time for cross-checking my perceived effort, but power output is what matters.

I am also an unabashed fan of the "normalized power" paradigm developed by Dr. Andrew Coggan. You can google "Coggan normalized power" to find the details on the algorithm. The notion is that increasing power output does not linearly increase the stress or load on our metabolism, but rather increases that load to the 4th power of power increases. IOW -- going 5% harder is (1.05^4)-1 percent harder, or 21.5% harder. At very low efforts (toodling around town), you might not notice it so much. But in racing and training conditions, it makes a big difference. Within a given ride, we have periods where power is high and low ... what is the best way of evaluating these into an "average?"

So, for purposes of evaluating a workout, I will record not the mathematical average power (AP), but the normalized power (NP). In a very real sense, AP is "how fast did I go" and NP is "how hard did I ride." And training adaptations arise from "how hard did I ride."

A further extension of the NP construct is to relate NP to "threshold power," defined as power that could be held in an all-out 60 minute effort (P60). The ratio NP/P60 is the relative intensity of the workout -- "intensity factor" in the jargon, or IF.

Finally, we know that training stimulus is a factor of both the intensity of the workout, and its duration. Leaving out the "why" (google it), multiply the square of IF by the duration (in hours) of the workout, and we get the training stress score, or TSS. Keeping track of TSS on a day-to-day basis is a proven way to manage training stimulus and recovery. I'll skip the details on that...it's all out there if you want to explore more.

A key benefit of using TSS is that it allows an athlete to relate, say, a long steady ride to a shorter harder one. A 90 minute ride at a relative intensity (IF) of 90% has a TSS of 122.

A 120 minute easier ride at an IF of 78% also has a TSS of 122. Interesting. What we are saying here is that these two rides are roughly equivalent in terms of training stimulus and stress. If you only have 90 minutes, ride at an IF of 90 instead of 78 and you'll get a workout roughly similar to the 120 minute ride. This is not the only consideration in structuring your workouts, but it is near the top.

I don't think that the TSS construct does a good job of "equalizing" intense short-interval sessions, such as a sprinter might do, with the longer efforts that a triathlete or 40k specialist might do. But within the confines of reasonable triathlon bike training, the TSS paradigm just flat-out works. More than a decade of real-world application has proved it beyond any doubt. It works.

So, back to my ride...I rode 1:05 at an NP of 162 watts [EDIT: I later learned that I had not "zeroed" out the powermeter. The ride was likely under 150 watts]. I can only estimate my FT at this time, but if it's 180 watts then my TSS was just 87. Not much of a training load, but I gotta start somewhere.

Of more interest is that my AP was just 144 watts. As said above, NP is "how taxing was the ride" and AP is "how fast did I go." In an ideal world, AP=NP so that we get as much speed out of our metabolic effort as possible. AP will move lower and lower relative to NP the more variably I ride. We call ratio NP/AP the variability index, or VI. Generally speaking, a VI above about 1.03-1.04 is costing a rider speed. My VI on this ride was 1.13 -- downright horrible, and an indication of just how much my cycling skills have eroded. It takes experience, practice and focus to keep VI down on a rolling terrain ride. I will need to regain those skills.

It's Gotta Be the Shoes

One singular piece of news from week one. To quote Spike Lee's Mars Blackmon character:

It's gotta be the shoes.

In '01 to '03, I had increasing problems with my knees and lower legs. Tried various things, but what seemed to work best was to get out of high-heeled running shoes and into racing flats and other "low-drop" shoes. Over the next several years I ran a few thousand miles in these shoes; set all my PRs and had no injuries (other than a tibia stress fracture that I didn't even know I had until an Xray for my severed ACL showed the healed bone scar. And, oh BTW...I ruptured the ACL in my right knee in 2008. No surgery then or now. It seems to work OK.).

I developed a very good mid-foot strike. I don't over-pronate and these flat shoes felt and performed great for me.

I became a strong devotee of the minimalist running movement. High-heeled, badly designed running shoes were hurting more people than helping. But then my plantar fasciitis hit in the fall of '08 (just prior to the ACL rupture), and I adopted the standard cure of the minimalist crowd: Go even more minimal.

And this is the downfall of many a "movement." If it isn't working for you, it's not because it doesn't work. Because it works *by definition.* If it's not working for you, it's because you're doing it wrong. You need to do it more, and better.

Accepting this "wisdom" (despite routinely rejecting it in other parts of life), I got even flatter shoes, with even less cushioning. I went all the way to running in thin sheets of plastic tied up my ankle like a primitive sandal. Nothing helped, so I gave up and quit running.

Vowing to give it one more try, decided to take a radical approach and try the Hoka shoes. While still made with minimal heel-toe drop, they have HUGE cushioning. Particularly in the forefoot.

There is a certain ridiculousness to these shoes. The look funny, they feel funny. But, damn. They work. I went from zero to a 24-mile week with no leg pain, foot pain or other issues. I got tired, sure. I haven't run more than a dozen times in 5 years! But think about it...no running for 5 years and I easily clocked a 90-minute run on Sunday. Nice and slow, of course. But I got it done with nothing more than routine upper leg fatigue.

I swung my legs out of bed this morning expecting the familiar stab of heel pain from the PF. But...nothing.

The only downside now is that I need to resist the urge to increase mileage too quickly. I'll do another week just like last week, and then push the durations out from there. I plan to run 3 times per week, but those will be two 90-minute runs and 120+ on Sundays. Yes, I know the advantages of more frequency. But this is what I can schedule, so I will make best use of what I can schedule.

For me, the key to long-course triathlon running is long-run stamina. I've done best when putting more miles into fewer runs. "Real" run training is different, as is triathlon running for the fast folks that are winning age groups. They are trying to get fast; I am trying to hold a steady pace and not walk. Only when an athlete has the run conditioning to "not walk" should they worry about more pace.

I'll write more about this later from the perspective of the Daniels VDOT tables.

If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.

I'm not going to turn this into a training log and bore readers to tears with my miles and hours. I've never done a log and don't intend to start now, mainly because I've never bumped up against the physical limit of training. If you're going to push the envelope -- 15,20,++ hours per week -- you need to write it all down. I will come nowhere close to that. I'll post the occasional training update, but not all the detail.

But I thought I'd take this blog entry to review my past fitness and set some benchmarks.

Swim. I swam as a kid in the summers, up to age 16. I was ok...master of nothing, but decent at medley. Mainly...I know how to swim and that is a HUGE advantage as a masters triathlete since most masters guys/gals are novice swimmers. I get in shape fast, and I swim efficiently. Preparing for my first half IM (Oceanside 2002), I did masters swimming at the JCC in San Diego twice a week for 3 months. I beat half the male pros and all the women pros out of the water. Went 27-something.

I don't expect to do much different this time. I'll probably start masters at our local high school pool sometime in June. Will shoot for 3 days a week most weeks. I'm also going to attend a Total Immersion clinic in May or June. One can never be too efficient in the water.

Goal for Tahoe: Out of the water around 35 minutes, swimming smooth and easy.

Bike. Bike preparation strategy is simple. Do the miles. More miles, more fitness. How many miles can I do? That remains to be seen. But ultimately, it's about making an honest assessment just before race day: What is my race-day threshold power? By "threshold power" I mean specifically the power output I could hold for a rested, one-hour maximal effort. From experience, I have a good sense of making this honest assessment without actually having to do a maximal one-hour effort. A half hour push up part of Mt. Diablo should tell me what's what.

My fitness peaks in the past were at about 230 threshold watts (or "P60"=230w). Accordingly, my 2006 Oceanside 1/2IM race target was 192 watts, which I achieved on the number. That's 83% of P60. Some fast folks race at a higher % of P60; slower folks should target less. Since us slower folks are out on the bike course longer, we need to reduce our relative effort in order to have enough in the tank for a solid run.

For Tahoe, I will go on reduced expectations and target a more conservative 80% of P60. I *think* I can get to 200 watts P60. I'm 7 years older and will be starting from scratch, but I think that's a realistic goal. I think that 2-3 quality rides per week will get me there. I haven't yet analyzed the bike course up there, but 160 watts at Oceanside would have been about 10 minutes slower than my 2:40 on 192 watts.

Goal for Tahoe: Off the bike in 2:50. Subject to closer review of the course profile. Maybe as high as 3:00.

Run. The wild card. Will my feet hold up? I bought a pair of those crazy Hoka One One shoes on the advice of an ultra-running friend. Ran a half hour in them last night. Strange, but interesting. I'll report back.

A solid half IM run is done at "M" (or, marathon) pace using the Daniels Running Formula VDOT tables. These tables work. At my last fitness peak, my M pace was ~8 min/mile. I will get nowhere near that this time, but I'm optimistic I can get to 9 min/mile for a 2-hour run leg. An M pace of 9 means running an open 10k in 50-52 minutes, and means holding long easy runs (2hrs or more) at 10:15. That will be my goal for now -- doing long easy runs at 10:15 or better.

Running is not as simple as just "doing the miles" like cycling. You can ride your bike every day, and it won't break down. Even if it does, you fix it one evening and ride again the next day. Your running "chassis" can break down and take weeks to fix. I will have to be very careful.

Goal for Tahoe: Run 2 hours. This is a stretch, but I need to have a stretch goal in here somewhere.

More to come later on my specific preparations in each event. Equipment, training, diet, strategies, etc.

Cheers,
Rick

Day Zero

9:10AM Monday April 28, 2014. Click. Done.

Hi. I'm Rick Ashburn. I've now committed to the Lake Tahoe 1/2 IM. Or the "70.3" as they call it these days. Nobody wants to do "half" of something, so now it has its own name. But still...it's half. And I'm OK with that. The "full" is beyond my commitment level at this time and I don't want to stress out over preparations.

Background: I'm 53. I first got off the sofa in 2001 by signing up for IM Lake Placid for summer 2002. I was fat and out of shape. My big goal at first was to be able to run to the elementary school near our house in La Jolla without stopping. That's 3 whole blocks, if you really want to know. I eventually ran all the way to Wind n Sea beach and asked my wife to go home and get the car to take me back.

That was 4 blocks.

I worked up to my first 1/2 marathon (a neat 2 hours). Then a couple of half IMs. Then I made it around the Lake Placid course that next summer in a little over 13 hours -- 4 of which was walking.

I continued on in the sport for the next 4 years, favoring long-course events. I like my suffering as a slow-burn. Sprint tris and 5ks are too intense -- like burning your hand on a stove.The San Diego Tri Club was my base, and the monthly club races were invaluable in working out techniques and strategies.

The last serious push I made was for the Oceanside Half in 2006. I trained hard, and felt I had all the pieces in place for a top-10 AG finish. But I let my fitness get to my head a week out from the event and decided mid-ride to set a PR on my favorite 3-hr loop. I was exhausted after that, and was tired right up through the event. I thought I was a lock for top-10 but instead cratered on the swim and my day went downhill from there.

I executed OK on the bike (2:40) but just could not find any rhythm on the run. Finished 15th or 17th...I forget exactly. But that was my last triathlon. Our family moved up to the SF East Bay in summer 2006. I stuck with running for a while...did a trail marathon and some long self-supported trail runs. But I chose to stop the time commitment that is tri training as my kids were getting older and I preferred family time to bike and pool time.

I continued running for another 2 years -- 3-4 days a week. Then the plantar fasciitis hit. And hit bad. I limped around...could not run more than 20 minutes. Eventually couldn't really run at all. One day of running left me sore for a week. And, yes, I tried everything. Stretching, foot brace, Strassburg Sock, A.R.T., taping, 6 different kinds of shoes, barefoot running,...you name it, I tried it.

So I quit.

That was three years ago, and I took up golf. I always swore I would never play golf until I couldn't run any more. Well, that day arrived sooner than I thought.

Friends ask, Why didn't you keep riding? Defeatism. Being bummed out about my feet and not being able to run any more. IOW...no good reason. I just quit, that's all. Played golf; restored old motorcycles; coached Little League. I just didn't feel like riding.

But an interesting thing happened after carrying a golf bag for a few miles a couple days a week for two years. My feet got stronger and more resilient. I took some tentative runs early this year, and I got encouraged. Then I found out my golf course will be closed for renovation this summer and fall.

And so here I am. Day zero.