Kona - World Championships October 2009

The Wife and I landed in Kona around 1pm after a rather uneventful flight on The Tuesday before the race on Saturday. This is me getting some pre-race hydration. Natasha Badmann was sitting at a table across from us. Much to my friend Haroon's dismay, I did not pass on his number to her.
Team Wheelbuilder fed-ex'd the bike in a TriAll3 Sports bike box. It wasn't humid or hot when we got through the airport--yeah right. We took a cab to King Kamehameha hotel, the host hotel for the Ironman World Championships. Rooms were updated but the common grounds needed a total makeover, which I guess is going to happen and be done by next year. We checked in, picked up the bike box from the operations department and then the Wife went in and registered for the race.
In the late afternoon we went for a little loosen up jog/run. Wednesday morning we swam out to the Coffees of Hawaii boat for a little expresso. The water was beautiful, clear, warm and calm. Around noon, we took the bike out for a little spin. We took a cab out to the Queen K highway just before Waikoloa at a rest stop in the middle of the lava fields. I sat in the sun -- there was no shade other than my shadow -- while Johnna went out for an hour ride. It was friggin' hot, but I didn't mention it when she returned.
Thursday was another swim (we ran into Beautiful Body Alan - the BBA), and this time I won a pair of blue seventy goggles by nearly splitting my ear drums diving to the bottom. After the swim, we hooked up with the Wife's bro and wife, and the Wife's parents. We went out on a drive of the bike course. 56 miles out and 56 miles back. Over 90 degrees out, but I didn't say anything. We drove by the Energy Lab.

Friday was a nice rest day. A little swim and the Wife prepared her gear and bike for check in. I took the inlaws on a little tour of Kona with a stop at the famous coffee eatery Lava Java on Ali'i Drive. I bought a TShirt.. Great coffee, sandwiches, salads, baked goods and lots of healthy eats. A lot of pros hanging out the day before the race. Lots of compression socks. Too many compression socks. Picked up the Wife some dinner and she headed to be at 8pm.
RACE DAY. A close friend sent over his Easy Button.

The Wife had a 2am for big feeding. We then got up at 4:30am and headed downstairs to the body marking at 5:15. The Wife got bodymarked, loaded up the bike with drinks and nutrition, and then we headed back to the room to relax and take a few deep breaths. It was at least 72 degrees out around 6am. The hotel lobby was filled with triathletes resting on the carpet waiting to head to the swim start. I kissed the Wife goodluck and she headed off to the water. I joined the in laws on the seawall around 615 and waited for the start. The pre start festivities were pretty cool with Navy Seals landing in surf. The cannon went off and the mayhem began.
Well, the WIFE should write her own race report. Maybe I'll paste it in if she ever writes one. She had a great race, but here's a list of all the things we did while she was racing.
--Watched the pros come out of the water.
-- Watched the pros and the first age groupers come out of T1 until we saw the WIFE.
--Watched the last 30 minutes of the swim. Watched a hearbreaker when the heart transplant guy missed the swim cut-off by mere seconds.
--Watched all the pros come in off the bike and head out onto the run.
--Watched the pros at the hot corner which intersects mile 10 and mile 25ish.
--Watched the WIFE come off the bike and then ran over to see the Pro men and women finish.
-- Watched Chrissie Wellington win and break the record.
--When the pros were finishing, it must have been 95-100 degrees and humid humid humid.
--Hit the hot corner again to see the WIFE at mile 10 of the Run. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbyJjrmc7Lg
--Had some beers right along the run start out of T2.
--Had some mai tais along the run finish
-- Watched the WIFE finish!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPzyvDnhFJU
-- Helped her get medal and helped her visit the old medical tent.
--The medal pick up and the food for the finishers is a long walk for the athletes--not a good idea in that heat.
--Went back to the finishing chute and watched the last 30 minutes.

About the finish--well it was like a cult ceremony. The lighting and shadows were surreal. The music was poinding. ACDC ThunderStruck. We watched some of the old biscuits finish. 75-80 year old men and women crossing the finish line before the midnight cut off. The winner of the biggest loser, however, did not make it. I've uploaded a video of the last minutes of the race. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-MZ7EzjLQ

Here's a link to all the Kona Pictures I took during the week. Also a link to the pro pictures. Craig Alexander looked amazing. His running style is so effortless. I would like to run like that but without that thing stuck in my mouth. He must have big nostrils.

Awesome time. I joined the Wife in the room after midnite, and we got up early the next day and went for a run. We then stayed up in Waikoloa, where the Wife stayed for a few days with her parents, and I returned home, back to non-ironman reality.

This past Sunday was the LA Triathlon. I did the Malibu Olympic 3 weeks ago and did okay considering I had only run about 10 miles between March and September. After that race, I've run another 10 miles, did a little cycling and some swimming. I did the LA Tri in 2006 when there were some bad surf conditions, and thought I would just forego it this year since I'd been there, done that, etc.

Unfortunately, I mentioned to Lynda Neuman that I was NOT going to do the LA Tri. Accordingly, due to her nature of liking to make others suffer, Lynda nagged, cajoled, and bribed me to do the race saying she would pick me up and be my race sherpa for the day, sacrificing her own training time. Hmmmmmm, I bust my hump and you sit back and watch????? I even spent the past week trying to get out of it. On Tuesday, I said I wasn't the doing race. Same on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and even Saturday when I saw her on the club ride. Well, after I dropped off my T2 bag in Marina del Rey on Saturday I was committed (not to an institution) unless, of course, I didn't mind buying a new pair of Newtons. These were some pretty new Newtons, so I was screwed. I was doing the race whether I liked it or not. I saw vicious cycle Brandon at the expo-I only mention this cause he had his shirt on, which is rare and worth mentioning for all the ladies reading this race report.

LA Tri is a nice race, but it is point to point, so having someone take your T1 stuff and meeting you downtown at the finish is HUGE. Thanks Lynda!

Lynda picked me up at 5:30am and we were in Venice Beach by 6, parked by 6:05 and in transition by 6:10. Lynda promised donuts in the car, but there were none. Johnna promised us breakfast when we got home, but there was none. Zip nada nothing. This was a doubly bad day.

We left transition area at 7 to watch the pros start at 715. There were many waves. Many waves of age group starts, but more importantly, many many many WAVES in the water. The water was warm at 70 degrees, but there were relentless 4-6 foot waves (no breaks) and a rip current. If you took too long making your way through the waves, you were pulled south and were unable to make it around the first buoy. Swimmers were being told to get out and walk back up the beach and try again. Many swimmers were taking 2-3 attempts and were taking at least 20 minutes to go the first 150 yards to the first buoy. We saw one M-Pro being pulled from the surf and sent home. We saw two elites being brought in by lifeguards. The longer we waited, the worse the surf. At least the water was warm-it was saying "come on in, I've got something for you".

Piper's wave was delayed by at least 30 minutes; this was due to two things: 1) race officials wanted to give David more time to find some duct tape for his torn wetsuit and 2) the union rule for lifeguards is that they can have no more than 400 swimmers in the water at the same time. So, they were setting off waves as the appropriate number of people exited the water. As for David's gaping wetsuit hole, he nutted up and swam in less than an ideal wetsuit in far less than ideal conditions. Piper is now running a charity drive for a new bike and a new wetsuit.

My wave finally started and we ran about a 100 yards north away from the first buoy and went in the water. The key was to move fast and dive under every wave, come up, dive again until you made it through. If you stood up, tried to go over, or took your time, you were dragged south quicker than air out of a C02 cartridge. After the jog up the beach and the fact that there were only a few seconds between waves, I was feeling worked; heart rate too high, etc. You know its bad when you dive under a wave and it goes totally black-not from lack of oxygen, but from lack of light--that's how high the waves were. I was the first to the buoy in my wave start and from there you were swimming in a rolling trough down to the Venice Beach pier to the turn around. Then a left turn and back towards the start. The current was helpful to the swimmers on the way back, as I was back rounding the last buoy in what seemed like a much shorter time than the swim down, which was the opposite of what I anticipated given the rip current close to shore. I body surfed in taking one wave feet-over-head in a nice little washing machine move that put me in a great spot to run up the beach. Swim was 23:15.

Out of T1 (2:15) I handed my wetsuit to Sherpa Lynda, and headed towards downtown via Venice Beach Blvd. to Fairfax to Olympic. I noticed a couple of Ethipoian restaurants on Fairfax and wondered what their signature dishes could possibly be. Riding east, there was a constant headwind that only got worse on Olympic Blvd. The great thing about that was that you did a 9 mile loop on Olympic to get that nice headwind twice. I knew I had no real legs for a hard run so I tried to keep the cadence high into the wind and make it there with some ability to run. Bike was way slower than I though at 1:15:02. I only saw 1 or 2 guys in my age group pass me on the bike, so my 3 minute lead out of the water was squandered :-0

Out of T2 (1:53) and onto the run. You know what's awesome-running that hill on Grand avenue not once, but twice. Don't run south on the flats towards awesome USC, run north up the friggin mt everest of hills. I saw Lynda at the run turnaround taking pictures and cheering us on. (where are the pictures Lynda?). My first goal was to not walk up either hill and my second goal was to hold on for at least 10th in my age group. I achieved both, finishing the run in 52:36 and coming in 10th in my age group by one second with a 2:35:00. I owe it all to Lynda. Thanks Lynda. Next year, you can do it.

Doubly bad day = Pounded by the waves going in and coming out + Double head wind because LA is not big enough to stretch out a 25 mile bike ride + the Grand Ave hill times 2 + no donuts and no breakfast.

Where did September go?

Where the heck did September go? Forget that, what happened to the end of August, the end of summer and labor day weekend? WTF My last post was August 23rd and that was back when I was young(er).

In the last 38 days...

The Station Fire - the smoke was horrendous, no outdoor training, it was at least 105 degrees for 10 days straight, but the firefighters saved all of our asses! Thank you firefighters. Even one of our Louisville IM athletes was evacuated the week of the race (he didn't care--cause he qualified for Kona).

Back to school - One kid back to college, one kid back in school for his senior year. Will #2 get into college somewhere? I scared the bejesus out of him the other day with all the stuff he needs to get done during water polo season - SAT, subject tests, college app's, studying, and essay writing-all those cool things you want to do when you're 17, and you have a girlfriend.

Water Polo - The water polo season has begun again. Spent a weekend in Riverside (a place on the outskirts of hell) and then thurs, friday and saturday the following weekend in Orange County. The "sacrifice" was worth it. "We" won the first tournament in quadruple OT in the final game and then we won the biggest tournament outside of CIF the next weekend. Water Polo Water Polo Water Polo through November.

Nautica Tri - did the Olympic race on the saturday and did the swim on a relay on sunday. Cool race, had a decent run considering I had about 10 miles under my belt since March. Do I do the LA Tri this weekend? Not sure I want to run that ridiculous hill --twice. Saw Teri Hatcher at the race on sunday and was nearly bowled over by her papparrazi as they took pictures of her on the beach. The classic race on sunday is comical. I hung out in the transition area after my swim and was perched near the bike dismount line. You wouldn't believe how many athletes just rode on through into transition nearly killing people coming out of the swim. It was funny because in the end, no one was hurt. Also, some of the bikes and some of the outfits people were wearing. Here's a picture of two guys on a tandem. Also, a couple of transitions and some pic's of finishers.



Prep for Kona - I almost forgot; someone is going to Kona. Not me. The Wife. Follow the race updates on twitter. How many mai tai's can be consumed during an IM Marathon? That is both a serious and an important question. The answer will be revealed sometime between 6pm and midnite Hawaii time. Stay tuned on twitter @GoLongTriathlon.

September Training - was quite lackluster. Only hightlight was Nautica. No long rides, only 25 miles of running for the month (vs zero in August, July, June, May and April). About 32 hours of training and racing time for the entire month, which leads me to my next bullet. Did a couple of sunday bricks - 2 hour ride + 20 minute run. Both went well, but on the second ride, I looked like one of the Trailer Park Boys when my shifter cable snapped out of the shifter. Luckily, I had Wheelbuilder and skinny Brent with me and he turned my bike into a fixie. During the fix, we were treated to a discussion of the difference between a hot Karl and hot Carla.

IM Canada - how is it that this didn't sell out on the first friggin day? I was bored, I was checking to see if it sold out. I clicked through, expecting it to tell me "too late dumbass, you have to go up there, volunteer and spend a couple of grand to get into this race before you even wait in a long line and pay your race fee," but it didn't say that. Instead, it said "Cha-ching, thanks for the 600 bucks, you dumbass, you're REGISTERED, now go train." F-ing A. Now, I have to figure out if I can run again.

Sunday Swim Clinic/Workout - Last weekend I started the sunday afternoon tri-club swim workout sessions. 5 people showed for the first one. Only one got out early cause his va-j-j hurt (read that as his leg was cramping from riding the day before). Better get him ready for IM Canada since he signed up too.

So, this weekend is a maybe on LA Tri. Someone on the Club said they would sherpa me since its a point to point race from Venice Beach to downtown LA--a major pain in the a$$. Then, on tuesday, its off to KONA.

Since today was the last day of the quarter, and since I'm still here waiting around to sign deals, I am in desperate need of a vacation and a few mai tai's, a few chi-chi's, a few long board lagers...I'll train for Canada when I get back.

Mahalo Beaches.

GMR TT and 5K Open Water Swim Weekend

A weekend in the heat. Saturday, the club did a little TT up Glendora Mountain Road (frontside of GMR). There was a pretty thick set of clouds on saturday morning, but it was at least 80 degrees at 8am. Also, it was very humid. I was dripping on the 7 mile or so easy ride over to the base. The ride up was good. We had some hot dogs in the group in the 40-43 minute range. Then a bunch in the 49-51 minute range and then another larger group in the 60+ minute range.

By the numbers:

Duration: 50:04
Work: 761 kJ
TSS: 89.3 (intensity factor 1.035)
Norm Power: 259
VI: 1.02
Pw:HR: 4.98%
Pa:HR: -6.64%
Distance: 8.588 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 483 253 watts
Heart Rate: 112 156 147 bpm
Cadence: 48 147 75 rpm
Speed: 6.5 29 10.3 mph
Pace 2:04 9:17 5:50 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 626 292 lb-in

This compares to rides on March 7th [50:39 and 260W) and on May 10th (50:40 and 255W). The pre-op knee was killing me on both of those rides. This weekend, knee felt great, no swelling, no nothing afterwards. And better by 40 seconds.

After the ride, had some lunch in downtown Monrovia, then headed home to get cleaned up. I headed back across town to meet The Wife at her race rehearsal transition around 2pm. It was 93 degrees. She was doing a 112 mile ride and 60 minute run, and is now 6 weeks out from Kona. She looked hot when she got off the bike. Brutal headwind on the way down the path, and not much help on the way back.

After seeing her sweaty body leave for the run, I headed back to the aquatic center for a little warm up swim--an easy 1500--in preparation for Sunday's 5K open water swim down in Long Beach. No clouds on sunday. Just hot, even down at the beach.

Placed 7th overall and 1st in my age group in the 5k swim. It was a 3 loop swim where you swim through a corall each lap. They had chip timing, yet couldn't post the results until the following day. I started on the right, but quickly noticed some fast people on the left (Alex and Dawn), and decided to move over towards them. I caught the tail end of their little group, and got on a UCI swimmer's feet. He pulled me nicely. I settled in and my strategy was to swim smooth for two laps and then put the hurt on this guy on lap 3. He must have been thinking the same thing as he would accelerate after each turn around for the last lap and and a half. I almost had him at the end, but just didn't have the speed or kick to blow by him. He came in 5 seconds ahead. Overall time 1:05:17 (avearage pace of 1:18.3/100m). IM equivalent time would be 49:36. I wore a new blueseventy nero swim skin. I forgot to put the lube on, and I have a nice rash/gouge on the right side of my neck; it must be from lifting the head for sighting purposes. This happens to me every time. When will I learn to not forget the lube.

Bitch ate my Oakleys (Again)

The beeyatch ate my Oakleys. 3rd pair. This is an expensive dog. Doesn't go for the kids $20 surfer sunglasses or the Wife's Oakleys. No, she likes to pay me special attention. Does she look remorseful? No, she's just tired from all the swimming she did the past two days.
To top off the taste of plastic, she then ate four scoops of infinit, 2 gu's and some salt tablets that I had on the counter (way back on the counter) for my saturday ride. Time to break out the shock collar. "Lola, NO." Shock. "Lola, NOOOO." Shock. She'll never learn. Shock. Shock. Shock. My finger hurts from pressing the shock button. Time to turn up level. Just kidding. Maybe just a few corrective disciplinary actions...

Pirates at the Cool Breeze Century

Team Pirate rode the Cool Breeze Century in Ventura on saturday. Are those some cool jerseys, or what? I saw a couple on a tandem with a pirate flag on it. Awesome. it was a Great ride. We did the double metric last year and that sucked. I don't even want to talk about that flat riddled day in '08. This year the weather was great for the 1900+ riders out there.

We put the hammer down the whole way and after awhile I couldn't keep up with Team Wheelbuilder and of course got dropped. We started strong with PTC and a huge crowed on the bike path. Finished the century in 5:23 of ride time. We rode into a headwind going north right up the coast for about 20 miles, then headed inland into some slight hills until the first rest stop at mile 30. Then it was about 20 miles of hills and ridge riding up above Santa Barbara and Goleta. Rest stop at Mile 52 for lunch and then down to the rest stop at Mile 83 for Popsicles. got a flat at about Mile 72. The ride back takes you through Santa Barbara right past the Pier. We were surrounded by some unbelievable homes, both up in the hills and along the coast. After the popsicle stop, we rode about 5-6 miles on Hwy 101 (yes, on the freeway). Fun ride and good food and beer (courtesy of Brent's 5th Wheel trailer) afterwards.

Entire workout (193 watts):
Duration: 5:23:14 (6:18:45)
Work: 3740 kJ
TSS: 431.9 (intensity factor 0.895)
Norm Power: 224
VI: 1.16
Pw:HR: 16.5%
Pa:HR: -0.32%
Distance: 99.467 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 689 193 watts
Heart Rate: 69 156 129 bpm
Cadence: 30 246 85 rpm
Speed: 2.2 36 18.6 mph
Pace 1:40 26:49 3:14 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 1100 200 lb-in

August Assessment

As I head into the Cool Breeze Century this weekend and think about doing the Malibu Olympic and the LA Triathlon over the next 8 weeks, its time to assess where we are 2 months after the knee scoping.

But before I go into that, let me go off on a little rant here...

I apologize in advance to all those athletes and nonathletes who are true asthmatics. It would totally suck to have no power to breath. So, now let me go on a little rant. What is up with Inhalers in competitive sports? Check this out. He won the Half IM race, and I take it he didn't have an attack. I guess I should huff on one of these before a race instead of the model glue. What do you think. I guess this is all the rage in endurance sports and swimming now. At the pool at the Beijing Olympics, the deck was littered with more inhalers than discarded oxygen bottles on Mt. Everest. Come on guys and girls, are you really suffering from Asthma? I think this is b.s. Didn't someone crash badly at the Malibu tri last year while reaching for an inhaler? Maybe you should try something a little less taxing on the cardiovascular system. Huff. Deep Huff. Now I feel better.

Okay, back to the August Assessment.

Swimming - Hasn't been better since I started triathlon in January 2006. Did a little 2.4mile TT swim this week in 51:50 in a long course meter pool. A couple of club members joined me, but we're only doing a 1500m swim in prep for Malibu Olympic. I took it out easy and descended each 950 thus doing a nice negative split. Would like to see what I'd do in a wetsuit. Since I haven't been running (yet), I entered an open water 5k next weekend. I picked up a BlueSeventy Nero swimskin--can't wait to swim in it.

Cycling - been getting in some mileage. Knee is doing great. I rode up to Mt. Wilson last weekend. It's a 20 mile ride up to the towers with 4500 ft of climbing. 1200 at base to 5700 at top. Overall, was only 3 minutes slower than a year earlier when I was riding a lot and running a lot. Here are the numbers from (these include the ride up 1:59:30 last year versus 2:02:30 this year). I know this year I rode up a lot easier and was not fatigued. Also this year was a solo ride where I rode straight with no regrouping.

One Year Ago (ergomo power meter):
Entire workout (149 watts):
Duration: 2:47:55 (3:26:28)
Work: 1506 kJ
TSS: 166.7 (intensity factor 0.772)
Norm Power: 193
VI: 1.29
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 39.253 mi
Elevation Gain: 4606 ft
Elevation Loss: 4931 ft
Grade: -0.2 % (-325 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 313 149 watts
Cadence: 32 101 74 rpm
Speed: 1.2 36.6 14.0 mph
Pace 1:38 50:49 4:17 min/mi
Altitude: 3 4177 2137 ft
Crank Torque: 0 523 174 lb-in

And then from last weekend (using a Powertap):

Entire workout (171 watts):
Duration: 2:55:53 (3:03:40)
Work: 1808 kJ
TSS: 203.5 (intensity factor 0.833)
Norm Power: 208
VI: 1.22
Pw:HR: 22.82%
Pa:HR: -97.62%
Distance: 40.451 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 485 171 watts
Heart Rate: 54 146 118 bpm
Cadence: 30 239 73 rpm
Speed: 2.2 38.2 13.9 mph
Pace 1:34 26:49 4:19 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 877 207 lb-in

20 minute pead was 230 watts a year ago and 231 watts this year. My assessment is that my bike fitness is good. Wouldn't want to power through a 112 and do a long run afterwards, but things are looking good. We'll this weekend at the Cool Breeze Century.

Set of the Week

The week went by fast. Work was busy and got in a lot of swimming and some biking. 13,400m of swimming in 4 workouts and 105 miles in 3 rides with the latter two rides climbing rides up to Mt. Wilson (more on that in a later blog).

Swim set of the week was from friday ---- 12x200 long course meters. Interval was 3:00, 2:55, 2:50 and 2:45 (1-4) three times through, no break. Descended each set of 4 in the 2:38-2:35 range. Whole work out as follows:

500 swim warm up
500 easy pull
12x200
100 easy
8x50 pull on :50
100 easy
4,000m total

Great article about Rich from WheelBuilder in NY Velocity.

Next weekend is Cool Breeze Century in ventura county.

We don't want Ironman or Long Rides to Interfere with the Club Saturday Ride?

Did the club ride this morning. It was a 78 miler from Sierra Madre to Long Beach. This would be my longest ride in 2 months, and the last 20 were hurting. Knee held up, just probably pushed it down there a little too much, didn't drink enough, as it was a little overcast on the way down, and then it heated up to 90 degrees on the way back. I was worked on the way back and team Pakistan left me in the dust in the last 2 miles. :-o

I noticed a few people missing who definitely need some long rides right now as they are training for IM Canada, and I learned that they asked to post on the message board a different ride to accomodate their distance and ride profile and were DENIED. Apparently, there is an opinion that offering rides to club members that are not the club ride is off limits--read that as "you IMers go do your own thing, and don't poach our people." Given a whole 15 people showed up the ride today (usually about 25 on saturday and about 30+ on wednesday bricks), I doubt any of those individuals would have chosen a different ride anyway. After all, we were putting in a tough 78 miles. The Saturday rides are typically social rides with one of every four being a distance ride or a mountain ride. Okay, maybe two out of five. Anyway, I think more new members would be attracted to the club if they saw more variety, and more support of those going long. I wont' get off on a rant here, but I'm sure there's a better balance than an outright no--you can post any saturday rides that might steal our people.

I also learned that the filtering for the message board has been increased (we must live in a third world country that blocks the internet from its citizens). It's also taking longer and longer for posts to be posted, sometimes making them meaningless, as timeliness is sometimes relevant. I think my post about pirating the Hermosa to Manhattan Beach Pier 2 mile swim tomorrow has been "filtered". Maybe I'm just paranoid.

After the ride, had a smoothie at the finish with the club members, then got home, watched Burn Notice, had a salad, and then took the dog for a swim at the parent's pool (they are in Vegas). See above. I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture (the camera on the iphone is a Piece O Crap) has two tennis balls in her mouth. She is friggin obsessed when it comes time to play ball.

Always Show Up to the Roll Down! The Wife's Vineman Bike

The Wife raced Vineman 2 weeks ago. I wasn't there, but she did great without me due to all the pre race talks, sensitive guidance and instruction and coaching I've been giving her over the past 18 months. Check out her bike above. She's received some great coaching from the coaches at EnduranceNation along with her special cycling coaches at Team Wheelbuilder.

She ran/biked/swam a great race and will be focusing on her nutrition and her running endurance over the next 10 weeks CAUSE SHE IS GOING TO KONA. Hey , don't wake me up for that 3am pre race feeding, as I'll be sleeping off some Mai Tai's and/or Chi Chi's.

Check out the sweet Wheelbuilder Edge wheels and Power Tap combo.! Also, I picked out that seat for her so the Wife's sensitive areas would stay sensitive. You're welcome.

Anyway, in reference to the title of this post, let me just say that this year, the rolldown went way down. All you had to do was show up. They were giving away slots to Clearwater in the parking lot at the nearby Denny's. The Wife showed up, but SINCE SHE IS GOING TO KONA, didn't take a slot. One of our tri club peeps, who has gone the past two years to Clearwater and who would go every year till she dies, didn't show up to the Roll Down. And she wasn't going home till monday, so it's not like she had to be anywhere, "I was so tired and hot from the race that I didn't show up". Its rare that you aren't tired and hot from a 70.3, but show up to the damn awards/roll down ceremony. As the man at WheelBuilder says, "Don't be a Pussy!" WEAK.

Congrat's to the Wife. Rest up, you've got a lot of miles of cycling and running between now and October 10th. Maybe show up to the pool a few times. For me, I'll have a Tahitian Itch--make that a double...and make sure my chair is under the shade of a nice tree.

By the way, stay tuned for live race updates on Twitter. Username GoLongTriathlon.

Water Polo Junior Olympics Wrap Up

Fun day today. Only one game. We played for 11th and won our last game. To put it into perspectie, we lost to the teams that placed 2nd, 4th and 5th, and we lost by one goal to the team that got 5th. Tough for the boys, but they should be proud of playing really well. I had a great time watching our 18U team. Here's a picture of three players who were pretty happy and would agree they had a great year....That's Jack, Max and "Noch" (see prior post).

The ride home from Stanford was looooong. 111 degrees in Coalinga. I like that word. Coa---Linga. This was topped 25 miles later, closer to Bakersfield where it was 115 degrees outside at 5pm. Ridiculously hot. Africa hot. By the way, the Coalinga Canal was bone dry.

One last comment on this summer's water polo season. The parents and some of the coaches--okay two comments. Here is my rating of horrible water polo team parents--
Newport and Stanford (Tie for first)
Diablo (3rd)
By far, the most obnoxious parents of all time. They bring drums to games. They chant like college sophomores at Columbia University football games (circa 1981).

As far as the coaches go, there's an inland empire team and a south southern california team that take the cake. By the way and relevant to cycling, the the inland empire coach is a dead f'ing ringer for Floyd Landis (another whining cheater--in my humble opinion). I wish I would have snapped a pic for this post, but I'll have another opportunity some time. These two coaches bitch, moan, throw tantrums, berate the referrees and demean, criticize and verbally assault their players. One coach actually challenges his players to assault players on the other team. They are an embarrassment to coaching and being men for others. But at least the one of these coaches has a damn good win record :-). Just kidding. Sorry, can't justify the way they coach for any reason--I think they wish they were taller. So do I. I always wanted to be Clint Eastwood tall--ask the wife, she'll tell you she wishes I was Clint Eastwood too.

Heading back to work tomorrow. Will try to make swim workout in the morning and the club brick ride (sans the run) in the evening. I still need to recap The Wife's Vineman Race. Will try to do that tomorrow night. I want to show some pictures of her sick P3C ride.

My Last Junior Olympics

Up here in San Jose at the water polo junior olympics for my son. Haven't been getting much in the way of workouts in, but did manage to ride up into the Los Altos hills. Would have liked to ridden Mt. Hamilton, but the timing of games every few hours made that logistically impossible. 3 games on saturday, 3 games on sunday, 2 games monday and one tomorrow. Our team is playing for 11th which isn't too bad since most of the kids haven't really played together--all come from different high schools, etc. We were one goal away from making the top 8 losing to Trojan 9-8 with my wonderful son scoring 4 goals and having an all around great game.

So, this is my last junior olympics for water polo - 3 trips to Northern Cal + 4 southern california tournaments over the past 8 years. That's a lot of water polo tournaments in between, many bad referees and a plethora of parents that provided a lot of entertainment.

Word of the weekend? It is noch, as in "notch". One kid in the car going back to the hotel on saturda asks the other two 17 year olds in the car, "how do you spell notch?" They both responded, "how do you think?" "N - O - C - H" was his answer. "Yes, that looks right to me," he continued. His new nickname is now noch. He obviously can't spell crotch or snatch, either. Two days later I convinced that same young genius that the ingredients in Red Bull will turn your tweener yellow (tweener, aka gooch). I'm sure he's got his head between his legs right now with a flashlight.

My training the past two weeks has been okay on the swim side, but I eased off the bike a little due to the knee getting a little cranky.

Week of the 13th - Swam 14,300m and Biked 65 miles
1.2 mile TT (1900m) 25:48 (pace 1:21.5s)
Week of the 20th - Swam 13,200m and Biked 50 miles
1500m TT 19:30 (pace 1:18s)

Although my weekly totals are kind of weak, the tour was on every night, and I had to cook for my wife's training entourage each night while watching the stages.

Should be back in the saddle more throughout the month of August. Plan on doing the Cool Breeze Century along with some other long rides.

Just need to get out of San Jose. I still have the final 2 stages to watch.

Rest day of TDF = swim day only

No stage today, which is good. Needed a break. Those stages are tiring. Too many commercials makes my finger hurt from hitting the FF2 button all the time.

Today was just a swim day. Hit the pool early before work. It was hot out early. Today was kind of a distance day set-wise, but not total work-out-wise.

1000 swim (warm up pace 14:05 = 1:25s)
800 swim (10:55 = 1:22s)
600 swim (8:08 = 1:21s)
400 swim (5:20 - 1:20s)
200 swim (2:36 = 1:18s)
All on 1:30 base, descend pace through each swim
200 easy warm down
Total 3,200 long course meters

In the next couple of weeks will have to work in a 1900m and 3800m for time. Those are so much fun.

...Looking good Billy Ray

It was a hot and long weekend. Friday was a tough day--avoided the internet all day so it wouldn't spoil the TDF stage. Got home and started preparing dinner for team Wheelbuilder and family--and they don't show up till after 8pm! The stages take at least 3 hours even when using the FF2 button on the remote. That made me cranky--people being late to my cooked meals--I'm getting used to it, but I don't like it.

Anyway, great stage, lots of controversy and a great dinner. Seared ahi steaks and spinach salad with brightly colored orange and yellow organic tomatoes, avocado, purple onion and fresh mushrooms. With dinner I served a both a 2000 Chateau LaFluer bordeaux and 2003 Chateau Leoville bordeaux. If Lance takes the yellow jersey in the alps, I'm going to have to go the good stuff. Can you say Lafite? I know I have a bottle of that somewhere.

Saturday was club ride day on the bike path. 40+ miles, a little over 2.5 hours.

Sunday was the Team Pakistan ride, 45 miles, 2:45 in total time, followed by a swim in the hot sun in the nice cool pool. 2500 meters (1,000 warm up, 1,000 pull, 10x50 easy).

On Saturday, I really worked the ride, did some strong pulls and put the hurt on. Sunday, the knee was a little cranky, but I was riding pretty good. Each week, things are getting better.

On Sunday, we went to Team Pakistan's house for some dinner and the tour. So many people in the room, couldn't hear Phil and Paul (good thing I watched it already on the couch at home). Great food, though, with grilled prawns, salmon and carne asada. Some great wine too.

This week is Vineman week--the wife is racing and I am sidelined. Damn. Not sure if I'm going to go up, or stay home and make sure the 17yr old doesn't turn the house into party central.

Stay tuned for gear review on thursday blog. Will review the wife's new tri-bike to be debuted at Vineman in her preparation for Kona. Yes, she's going to Kona, and I will be cheering for her with a mai tai in hand. More on that event in the weeks and months to come. Can't wait for her IM specific training weeks--welcome to the house of pain.

Feeling good Louis...

Finally, starting to get back to normal. Into regular workouts (no running of course), quarter end at work is ramping, and all would be great if the dog would stop getting skunked.

10pm last night, went outside to see some friends off after watching the tour, and I heard her growl by the side of the house; then she came running back diving her face into the grass to wipe it off. Got 3 cans of tomato juice and soaked her up good. Washed her down and then shampooed her twice. She didn't get nailed as bad as last time, so she's clean but has that musty skunk odor when you get up close. Nonetheless, she spent the night outside and was very sad. I'll do a repeat tomato/shampoo tonite and maybe take her to my folks for a swim in the pool. Last month, it took a good 4 weeks before I didn't smell skunk every time I came in the house. It drove me friggin' nutz.

Anyway, got in my swim practice yesterday morning and this morning. Stroke and speed are about 90% of where they were before surgery 3 weeks ago. Probably another 8-10k and will be back.

Thursday am swim workout (Total 3600 Long Course Meters):
800 Warm up
21x100 (6 on 1:40, 5 on 1:35, 4 on 1:30, 3 on 1:25, 2 on 1:20, 1 make it home)
Held 1:18s-1:19s
1x600 pull with paddles and pull buoy
100 easy

Shared a lane with Forrest, our resident champion of the English Channel (among other ridiculous channel swims around the world). He's doing the 6 mile santa barbara open water swim this weekend and hoping for above 60 degree water. Good luck Forrest. That ice cream you've been eating will keep you warm.

Friday am swim workout (Total 3500 Long Course Meters):
500 Warm up
9x300 swim on 4:30 - descend in sets of 3 and descend 3, 6 and 9
300 easy swim with pull buoy

Should get some club riding in this weekend, some hills and some flats, and maybe another swim workout. And watch a lot of the tour.

Armstrong Apologizes to Sastre about calling the 2008 Tour a Joke.

After staring into the abyss, Armstrong came back and won 7 tours. After 4 years away from the cycling, he's returned, probably because he missed competing, missed his friends, missed pressure, the pain, the fun of destroying yourself out on the road. I think Lance is getting sentimental and starting to be Mr. Nice Guy. I've heard he's very generous with his time for those in need, so it won't be hard for him. Event the french are loving him, even the french press. Now he's burying the hatchet with all those he's not been the most tolerant of in the past.

Before this Tour started, Sastre was asked what he thought of Armstrong’s comments.

“It’s his point of view, his words, his life. I’m not interested in anything about that. I think he’s a great champion, he won seven Tours, the world championship, he’s a great rider,” Sastre said. “But behind every rider must be a person, and in that respect, maybe he needs to learn something more.”

Sounds like he has.

Anyway, this post should be all about ME.

Rode the club brick tonight. Felt pretty good. Pushed the hills hard and the knee was good! Time to start getting back into shape. Still going to miss Vineman, though. I will post my power numbers later this week after I download the PowerTap. It will be interesting to compare the brick ride 2 days before surgery with the one from last night, less than 3 weeks after the surgery. Hopefully, its promising.

Tuesday Workouts 7/7/09

Swam at lunch to avoid the crowd. Short course yards again!!! Friggin' swim camp. Friggin' summertime pool people. Friggin' floaters. Better get in the pool and cool off.

The knee is feeling much better. Flip turns are no problem and now pushing off the wall firmly with both feet--what an accomplishment.

Did a quick mindless workout 3,400 yards.
800 warm up
500-400-300-200-100 descend swim on 1:20/hundred base
100 easy
3x300 pull descend on 1:20 base
100 easy

Now, time for some lunch...

Screwed by DirecTV DVR on the Tour

All day monday, I tried to avoid looking up the results of Stage 3 of the Tour. I made it till about 3:00. Based on the write up on velonews.com, it was going to be a great stage to watch. I was recording it on the Directv DVR at home......

But, before going home to watch it, I thought I'd better go to evening masters workout. I wussed out in the morning. Dog barking all night, 17 year old son coming home after midnite, it was hot and I was tired from the long weekend.

I showed up to evening masters practice and the competition pool was set up for short course yards. Damn! I hate yards. Too many turns and the knee is still not ready to push off all those walls. Making it even worse was the fact that 50+ people showed up for 6 lanes--other lanes taken for floaters and water polo workout. I think we eventually got more lanes, as we only had 5 in the lane I was in. I did about 2200 yards and got out--wanted to get home, stretch and watch the TOUR.

To make a long story short, I'm 2 1/2 hours into the 3 hour telecast, and there's still 50 miles to go in the stage--no way they're riding that in 30 minutes. Sure enough, Juanita says, its going to cut off right when George Hincapie catches the breakaway and Team Columbia creates their own breakaway with Lance and FabCan. Damn, she was right (that fact noted in the book).

The only saving grace was that VS was still playing the evening version, so I DVR'd that and went to bed. I wasn't staying up to midnite to wait for the last hour. Anyway, I'll watch the finish and the next stage tomorrow.

BTW--I now went in and manually had it record the next show after the tour episode each day.

Getting Back on the Bike and Into the Water

The nice long July 4th weekend afforded me the opportunity to get back on the bike and back into the pool.

Thursday - Swam 2,000m (1000 warm up, 16x50 on 1:00, 200 easy). Couldn't do flip turns, so swam a lot of 50s that day. After work, joined the ladies who were doing a 75 minute recovery ride. Like flip turns, couldn't get out of the saddle without feeling it in the knee. I did feel pretty good after getting off the bike, though.

Friday Swam 3,500m later in the morning (200-400-600-800 swim, 500-300-100 pull all on the 1:30 base, 6x100 swim on 1:40 easy/stroke drills). This was my second swim after being out of the water 13 days; flip turns were back, but pushing off the wall with the left leg was a little iffy.

Saturday - 90 minute bike ride. Rode a little harder than the previous day; watts were up, etc. I could get of the saddle for the easier climbs without too much discomfort and towards the end of the ride, felt pretty good.

Sunday - 2 hr bike ride. Was able to pick up the pace a bit, did more short hills, got of saddle without too much issue, etc.

Overall, for the 2nd week after surgery, swam 5,500m and rode about 80 miles. Got in some easy workouts 4 days in a row with no swelling or pain after the workouts. All good so far, but definitely could not run yet (going to hold off running until late august/september). Goal for next week is to get in about 15k swimming, 125 miles of riding along with two PT appointments.

Visit to the Physical Therapist

First PT visit was today. My therapist knows his stuff. Former Olympic decathlete. We're about the same age, and his brother just became the head Track and Field coach for the UK-and he's not a brit. He said if I did things right, and slowly built my mileage up over the course of the next 1-2 years, I would be running distance again. Damage happens when ramping too fast, e.g. "all those Team in Training Nuts who sit on a couch for 20 years and then try to run a marathon in 6 months," he said.

He didn't make me do any exercises (this time), just stretched and deep massaged my knee and calf. Didn't hurt too bad. He told me I could start riding right away--just low resistance to start. I will try a little swim tomorrow morning and then get on the computrainer for a little while after work and see how it feels.

Knee Update (Another one)

On friday, I went to the doctor for my one week, follow up, post op appointment. He said the knee looks pretty healthy and that he cleaned up the meniscus. He said I could push the recovery hard, if any swelling develops--that means back off.

He said my marathon running days are probably over. Because there's been a change inside the knee, running will be different, and that doing 50-70 miles per week, could have consequences over the next 20 years (knee replacement? who knows). Hey, I was never running that much anyway, 30-40 was my typical week for IM training (obviously why my marathon sucked in my IMs). I wonder if I can get by in 70.3s with only 20-25/week? More quality? That could be worse. I don't know. I'm going to wait a couple of months and get my swimming/cycling back to where it was prior to the surgery on 6/19 (see separate post on pre surgery power #s).

So, I start some physical therapy next week. I can start riding once my knee motion is 105 degrees. The purpose of PT is to get my left heel back to my butt.

In terms of recovery, friday I walked slowly without crutches. Saturday and sunday, I was totally mobile. As I look at my recovery after one week, I can honestly say that once I was post op for 48 hours, I could feel/see marked improvements every 8-10 hours. So, I was only out of commission for about a week. I should be in the pool middle of the 2nd week and on the bike riding flats easy by the 2nd weekend. Not too bad. Not sure when I can run/jog again, but no rush--2009 season is totally blown!

Knee Update

Progression has been good this week. Monday was worst day. Had to hobble on both crutches. Tuesday was a little better. Wednesday and thursday only needed one crutch and by thursday afternoon, I could make it from my desk to the coffee room without any crutches. Made dinner and cleaned up the house on thursday and played with the pooch (all without crutches). Tomorrow, I have my follow up visit with doctor, and I'll hear what the future holds for future long distance running. Races missed due to knee injury this year:

HB Half Marathon in February
Oceanside 70.3
Breathless Agony
Auburn 70.3
Vineman Half


Can I send a doctors note in and get my race fees back?

Knee Surgery

Well, after 3+ months of not being able to run consistently, I went under the knife--actually the scope. Dr. A did the surgery, assisted by Dr. B, our triathlon team's trusty anesthesiologist. I think all went well, but I won't know for a week. I injured the knee somehow in February, stayed off it, got an MRI, saw a couple of doctors, then after no improvement decided to have the procedure. Between February and the surgery date, I ramped up my cycling and swimming and just stayed away from running. Every 5 weeks, I tried a couple of 3-4 mile easy runs, and the knee swelled back up again. Torn meniscus.

So, I got to the outpatient center at 9am on friday, where they prepped me with an IV. The surgery was scheduled for 10:30. Dr. B showed up at 10:30, said he would administer a pre-cursor to the anesthesia. As I was rolled to the OR, I was talking and then boom, nothing-- I was totally out till I started waking up 90 minutes later. Dr. A came by, told me what he did, but I have no recollection of what he said. Just that it was torn more than he saw on the MRI. For the rest of the day friday I was totally out of it.

Saturday rolled around, and I went to the kids' sporting events, cruising around on my crutches. I'm thinking this is no big deal. It doesn't even hurt. Then, I woke up on saturday night about 2:30am, and my knee was screaming. I hadn't taken any painkillers yet, so I took one and went off to la la land. I got up sunday morning and the leg was pretty sore, knee was tight and more or less felt like I was walking around with a cinderblock tied to my knee. Did some more kid stuff on sunday, and it was just uncomfortable to move around. Monday was probably the worst day, sitting in a chair at work, but today, tuesday, its starting to feel a little better.

I got to take off the dressing on sunday night, so here's the link to the video....

And here are some pictures a few days later. Swelling is still pretty major....

I'll find out friday what the physical therapy will be going forward and how much the future holds in terms of running again. Hopefully, I will be back to training for my next IM or Half IM soon.