Paul Asay

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 remembe...

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 combin...

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 :-)

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 ...

Looking at the USA Triathlon MidEast Region, and the MERCRS schedule as well as a couple of other races I wanted to do, I'm thinking about the following races for 09: 5/02/09 Indianapolis Half Marathon 5/16/09 Pokagon State Park Triathlon Angola, IN or Memphis in May 5/30/09 Terre Haute Triathlon (just to work, not race) 6/13/09 Celina Challenge Half Marathon Trail Run Perry County 6/20/09 Indiana Sprint Triathlon #1 Indianapolis, IN 7/25/09 XTERRA DINO Versailles New Castle, IN 8/15/09 MERCRS Championship Maysville, KY 9/27/09 Ironman 70.3 Augusta Augusta, GA Four of these races I've done before, with the other four all new to me. Of course that depends on staying health and breathing, neither of which is assured for anyone. One thing for sure is I need to run better at longer distances than I have the last few years. I rarely run over 8 miles at a time, so my long runs really need to improve. To that extent I've signed up for the Train in Terre H...

Rather than just walking away from the USAT Nationals and deciding to race in just my own backyard, I thought it would be both motivating and educational to ask some questions of those individuals who had such outstanding performances. I certainly had nothing to lose and only to gain by the information. Nothing like starting at the top, so I sent off a few questions to age group winner Steve Pyle from Boulder Colorado. Steve was quick to respond, and his answers were well worth reading by the age grouper community. Here is my questions and what Steve had to say: > Can you tell us just a bit about yourself, including what got you started in multisport, and a few highlights of your racing career? I began as a bike racer and competed in about 1,000 races between 1974 and 1990. I’ve raced for several corporate sponsors as well as the US National Team internationally. Retired from bike racing and started running when I was 30, then began racing duathlon. Taught myself to swim at ag...

Started running with Craig what a feeling. Better go fast or with trouble I'll be dealing. Go fast in T1 and get a gap, without it my race will end with a bad rap. Kept thinking to myself I'm being chased by men of distinction, better go fast or I'll be passed and head in to extinction. Have Bob to the front of me, and Craig to the rear, better forget the pain and find another gear. Oh the pain in my legs is starting to sear, but Craig is coming better click down on the shifters and forget the fear. Maybe a flat tire will ease my pain, I'm afraid my energy level is starting to drain. Got that hunted feeling, men of distinction are chasing me and with trouble I'll soon be dealing. Get in quick to T2 out on the run with my new running shoes. Go quick Paul or you will soon be passed, Craig is coming and of him you don't want to be passed. See Bob to the front of me and Craig to the rear, we are all lost I fear. Turn around and head back from the run, Adam ...