Hoosierman Triathlon

Saturday June 6th was the first Hoosierman Triathlon, in Bloomington and my first tri of the year. Had some friends racing as well so it was good to have the company. I met John Sheldon as I walked my bike into the transition area and parked next to him near the swim exit. We were both in the last wave to start so I told John to swim straight so I could draft in behind him. I was sort of kidding at the time, but sure enough I ended up on his heals during most of the swim and let him guide the way. The swim was around 500 meters in Lake Monroe and very comfortable in a wetsuit (69 degrees). At the swim exit I even had to ask John to help with the wetsuit zipper. Maybe I should have tipped him as my person assistant :-)



The first transition went really smooth and I was out on the bike and up the first major climb of the day pretty quick. It was a tough, but expected considering this is Bloomington. Most of the bike ride I felt really good and had the hammer down all the way. Only incident was a girl I was closing on quickly hit her brakes hard right in front of me as she was going through a busy intersection. I thought I was going to slide into her, but managed to skid to her right, and just missed going off in the grass. Almost came to a complete stop before I got it going again. I think I had the 12th fastest bike split, but would have been top 10 except for the incident. No harm really, just got my heart rate maxed out for a minute.

After transition 2 the run started back up the hill and then a surprise first mile of steep single track trail. Just like you would see at an Xterra event. Had to admit that I kind of liked it, but it was really a challenge I wasn't expecting. I saw Emily Oiler in the familiar Forward Motion team apparel on the trail. Took me a long time to make the catch, with her a lot better swimmer than I am. The last two miles are rather flat, and all in all a decent run.


I ended up 15th overall out of 187 and second in the 50-54 age group. Don't like getting beat by other 50 year olds, but if I could just swim faster. After the finish I was talking to the race official and friend Attila and John came over to announce to him he saw Satan on the first big hill of the bike course. Okay it was hard, but not that hard :-)

Thanks to Ryan Oiler for the pictures and the encouragement on the day. If Ryan would have raced I would have been 16th instead of 15th.

So I was riding in to work today ...

Made it about 4 miles toward work early this morning when my right pedal on my time trial race bike was getting really weird all of the sudden. I thought my cleat on the shoe was loose, so I made the turn toward my in-laws house to see if they had the tool to tighten the bolts. Well, I didn't make it too much further when it got nearly unrideable. I had to climb a good hill with one leg, and then at the top the whole pedal came off the crankset. Turned out the threads on the crankset where stripped out. Made the last couple of blocks turning with one leg only and holding the other leg out with the pedal attached to my shoe and nothing else.

So I ring the doorbell at my in-laws home and thankfully my mother in-law Judy answered. Really good for me, bad for her. Turns out her alarm clock didn't go off and she was supposed to be at work by the time I showed up. A quick call to my wife and help was on the way. She drove me home so that I could shower and drive in to work. Made it in about the normal time thankfully.

The bad news is the crankset (a carbon fiber one at that) is worthless. The bike is now at J's Bike Shop getting fitted to a nice used Campy Chorus crankset. Not your typical start to the day. A bit of an expensive one as well. Guess it could have happened during a race which would have left me walking back. Would have hated that ...

10 reasons I put myself through race directing

This was my 7th year as Race Director of the Terre Haute Triathlon, and maybe one of the most rewarding. Every year I get to meet and spend time with some of the most positive and uplifting folks on planet Earth. Between the triathletes themselves, the volunteers, the pros and the families who come to support them, this is one of the best places to be in Indiana on race day. If I had to write a list of the top ten reasons I put myself through this it would be something like the following:

1. Triathletes are some of the most positive and encouraging people you can find to befriend and spend time with.
2. The spirit of volunteerism is off the charts and it is a wonder to work together with these folks.
3. Getting to spend quality time with Jamie Whitmore, Courtney Cardenas and Daniel Bretscher whom we helped sponsor this year. Each was gracious and added immensely to the race this year.
4. Watching Mike Smith 48, from Brownsburg, Indiana race so well and finish second in a super competitive field and knowing what a quality person he is.
5. Writing a check for the proceeds to Mountain Top Ministries School, and knowing it will be put to good use in a desperate land.
6. Helping at the swim exit and seeing the sense of accomplishment as they finished the swim.
7. The positive impact this race has on the Terre Haute community and the local businesses.
8. Feeling the energy at the finish line where emotions are running high along with the smiles, high fives and excitement in the air.
9. Keeping a tradition of excellence that the previous race directors established to put the race on the map.
10. Watching the race grow each year to the point we have more wanting to participate that we have space for.

In case you have not had the opportunity to participate or watch this event, I think you would be pleasantly surprised as the quality of the field and the dynamics this event has on the Terre Haute community. Hawthorn Park also makes for a nice venue and their staff work very hard to help make this event a success.

6 Months Out, Entry Form In

While the tri season is still 6 weeks away, I finally sent my entry form in for two races. The key one being Ironman Augusta in late September. Amazing how much more real it seems after you paid your money and sealed the envelope. 6 months away, and considering the task it seems kind of short. More motivation for that second workout of the day for sure. I printed off the bike elevation map for the race and hung it up in my office for even more motivation. Always difficult to train for long climbs when you live in a mostly flat state.

Also signed up for another race in September, Lake Lemon tri which is new. Brandon Lucas is the race director and I'm friends with his dad Greg. Sounds like a fairly tough sprint. Hopefully a good final tune-up for Augusta.

Got a good ride in on Saturday up in Parke County which is my favorite route. Sunday it was raining cats and dogs, but I got myself out in it anyway for 5 mile or so run. Nothing like a hard run in a cold rain to remember come race day. When I think back to hard workouts it tends to give me confidence as I think of them during an event. Our collie dog Ninja ran with me for the first 1 1/2 miles then he stayed home for the rest of it. Maybe dog is smarter than man ...

The Great Fit Test

So yesterday I had my first bike fit followed up a fitness test by Ryan Oiler of Forward Motion Athletics. The fit itself takes a bit of time to measure leg length discrepancies hip angles, flexibility and a host of other tests that play out later as you actually get on your bike. Come to find out I have a longer femur on my right side, but a lower hip on the left. The outcome of which is my legs end up the same length. Considering the amount of abuse I have put my body through and the 7 broken bones it is no wonder it is a bit off here and there.



The second part of the fit Ryan made a couple of big changes to the way my cleats are aligned on my cycling shoes. This was to set the angles correct with some shims as well as moving the cleats forward directly over where I should be producing the most power.

The third part involved setting the saddle height correctly considering my hip angles and leg length. The end result was moving my saddle up a couple of centimeters. The combination of all this should result in a more powerful position that is also aligned correctly. Considering all the time spend cycling, you could potentially be putting yourself at some risk of injury if your alignment is all wrong. Not to mention riding slower with the same amount of effort. Speed is good, especially if you don't have to work harder for it!

Speaking of working harder, after the fit, I took on the challenging part of the day which was a fitness test. This is on my own bike, and dialed in position. Basically this was a 10 mile time trail over a hilly course that featured 3 big grades. The first two are 6 percent grade up hill and the last one being 7 percent. If you ever drove over Mount Eagle near Chattanooga that is a 4 to 6 percent grade for comparison.



During the test you can shift gears all you want and you will need to plenty, but I had to stay tucked in the aero position the whole time. That was a real challenge not getting out of the saddle on such steep climbs. While riding you get a real time monitor of your heart rate, power output in watts, speed and pedal RPM. One thing I noticed is my heart rate is hard to get anywhere near the max. Wearing a heart monitor during a run test I know my max is about 179. I never went over 155 during the bike test. However, that didn't equate to effort level. I was giving it all I had for what I could hold for 10 miles.

The resulting numbers at the end should an average heart rate of 144 (max 155), average pedal rpm speed of 92 (max 120), average 214 watts oe power (max 320) and an average speed of 17.7 (max 31.7). The average speed sounds really slow, but considering the grades you had to ride and staying tucked the whole time, it is reasonable.

The good news is both my right and left legs produce the same amount of power. One is not stronger than the other. You also get a spin scan that shows how evenly (or not) that you apply power while the crankset is going around. You can see that I don't spin smoothly enough and need to work on the upstroke of my spin. Fairly common I'm sure, but you can see the real time difference as you focus on it. Amazing how much more effort at this point it is to spin evenly. Something to work on with 1 leg drills for sure.

The bad news is my lower back and hamstrings need a lot of stretching work to loosen up. Ryan gave me some specific exercises to try and make those work much more freely. He also printed out what specific heart rate zones to work on to improve my fitness. Something I really want to work on is intervals at sub threshold pace. Now I know exactly what that is on the bike.

All in all, it was a good experience, and well overdue. I'm motivated to really work on my spin and power output to test again as the triathlon season starts so that I can improve those numbers.

To infinity and beyond ...

Crazy Goal

In March, long before the first race of the year it is easy to set some crazy goal and think you have some hope of making it. So my crazy goal for 2009 is the have the fastest big split in my age group at each of the races I have planned. Man needs something to keep the blood churning when it is still cold and a actually race is still months off.

In that regard, I hope to improve both my time-trial position and my specific training on the bike to be more time-trial focused. Of course that means more long interval training of the uncomfortable sort. As they say, pain is just weakness leaving the body. Or something like that :-)

The Dreaded Soleus Muscle

Training for the 1/2 marathon coming up in May, I had a repeat of the dreaded Soleus muscle attack. I've had this happen a few times in the last 4 years or so. Sometimes out of the blue, and sometimes I feel it coming on by stiff calf muscles. This time it was totally out of the blue. Likely the really cold day (about 10 degrees) and maybe some dehydration contributed to the injury. Of course I was 1 1/2 miles from the car when it happened which resulted in a cold walk back.

For now I've taken off 2 weeks of running and using some deep tissue massage to hopefully repair it quickly. It feels fine now, and in a few days I'll start running very moderately again. I guess the good news is my swim is getting a lot more attention. If you have seen me swim, you know that is a good thing. Besides, the water jet in the pool makes for a nice soleus massage.

Was really looking forward to running with the training group for the 1/2 marathon. That is the worst part of it for the short-term. If you have any wonderful tips on solving this soleus thing, please send them my way ...