Triman

Well I've done the distance, but never a WTC race. So given this year is likely to be my last with anything approaching real running, I thought I'd go out with a bang and do IM Arizona. However, rather than just finish, even with my "disability" , I want a shot at being the best I can be.

and so it was that I got a training plan/program included in my VIP package from the WTC, from multisports.com - It's early days yet, but I'm doing my best to translate their program into something that both fits my schedule, and my available time but taking into account my recovery needs. It's meant a pretty big step up in training, mostly for the last 15-days I've not skipped a day of training and yesterday and today I feel exhausted but strong.

My schedule goes something like this weekly, adjusted to meet the effort/distance requirements of the program:

Monday: 2-3 hour eliptical trainer workout
Tuesday: 30-50-mile bike ride, easy or hard
Wednesday: 2800-3500m swim
Thursday AM: Run 3-8-miles
Thursday PM: Massage
Friday AM: 2800-3500 Swim
Saturday AM: Long Ride - 60-80 miles, 3-5 hours
Saturday AM: Brick after bike, 20-mins
Sunday AM: Ride 2-3 Hours
Sunday PM: 2800-3500 Swim

So far I've managed to get all their key workouts into the schedule, but I have to admit, it's kind of exhausting and I'm only in build week #4 this week. Still, I've taken the plunge and decided to sign-up and attend a multisports.com training camp in September for my birthday.The camp dates are 18-20 September.

Rather than just arriving Thursday 17th for the Friday camp start, and leaving Sunday 20th, I'd like to find some other things I can do that would add to my training time in California. I'm up for ideas or suggestions in Northern or Southern California.

For racing, I'm trying hard not to miss racing short distance. However, I've decided to race Marble Falls Triathlon on July 19th. It's an intermediate distance race. 1000m swim, 23-mile bike and 4.4-m ile run. Assuming I can get my running going again and keep the Plantar Warts at bay, this could be a great race for me.

Having got back from a poor Half-Iron 70.3 race in Orlando, and then had two weeks of non-stop pain from Plantar Wart treatment, I wasn't really expecting much from the Splash and Dash, perhaps just to see how far my running had regressed. Only Monday afternoon did I go visit the company medical center and have the nurse lance and draw the fluid from the blisters on both feet from the last treatment.

The outside of both feet was sore and still difficult to stand on, I really hadn't made up my mind if I'd do the run, but having entered, figured I'd show up, put my shoes out and see how my feet felt when I got out and scrambled up the rough ground.

There was a big crowd, I arrived late, got my race number and body marked while still in my work clothes and then headed back to the car to get changed. I took the opportunity(aka I had to) of being late to run around to the start. Before long and with time to warm-up in the water, we were off.

Somehow I ended up too near the front on the swim, which meant I was getting in a few competitors way, mostly guys since we were starting in two waves. Some of the top women could elected to start in the mens wave if they want to avoid have to swim past/over the majority of the mens wave.

My swim went ok, I expect to do much better next month, hint, you should enter soon if you are thinking of racing, as they fill up a week or more before the events these days. I came out of the water and although my feet were painful, it was barable. I t was my first run with the mojojoey modified shoes and using the Mizuno Wave® Nirvana™ 5 as a pair. What I noticed was the small strips of elastic holding the tongue in place were difficult with wet feet. So I've cut them out now. Anyway, the timing was electronic and taken in a slightly different place from previously, so my first time of 14:23 compared to Aprils 13:27 was good enough.

Out on the run I tried not to sprint too much and try to hold back, given my lack of fitness. This seemed to work well even on the last lap. However, it didn't stop Amit somehow managing to pass me. I'm going to beat him one of these races, sadly it won't be next month as he's off on honeymoon!

Overall I was very pleased with my 31:50 time and especially the 17:27 runtime, compared to 16:32 run and 29:50 overall in April. I was 36/73 Males and 60/162 overall. I was 2nd in the malezs older than 50 category and beat quite a few younger guys, that works for me!

It was also great to see so many people from the Austin tri community I can now call my friends!

 So, after the cortisone injection and draining of my right knee, the pain seemed to have got much worse. However, I've been having increasing problems since earlier in the year, it even got to the point that if I'd been sitting down for an hour plus, I'd almost collapse as my knee buckled under me when I stood up. Ultimately this led to me seeking out help, seeing Doug Elenz and the whole cortisone episode.

Here is what I noticed. I spent the best part of a couple of days working from a meeting room, when I stood up I didn't really have the loss of control, buckling problem. However, I did still have the extreme tightness in my left quad. When I started at my new job I was the recipient of one of those funky Herman Miller Aeron Chairs. It had adjustments in ever direction, and was fab for comfort.

Except. what I didn't really notice was that it was actually restricting circulation to my lower right leg. Imagive, you've got to put both feet on the floor when sitting down. One leg is 2-inches shorter than the other below the knee. What this means is typically I either sit bolt up right, or slumped. The Herman Miller chair had a mesh base and back. No end of adjustment could make them base/seat support my weight without sagging. Tipping the chair this way and that way etc. really didn't make much difference either. The hard edge of the chair would push into my right quad area either about 3-inches when sitting upright, or 10-inches when slumped.

I got rid of the chair after seeing Blaze for massage, where he spent the b est part of an hour working on my quads, deep tissue, and gave me some stretches. I noticed the next morning the pain the chair was causing. I now have a Howarth Zody chair in all black, it has a padded, enforced base and a really comfortable back. After 3-days the problem has gone away. I've been doing the stretches twice per day, and all day today, while my knees are stiff if I don't stand-up for any extended period...

So, who knew, a $1400 office chair couldn't be adjusted enough. As one of my coworkers suggested a foot rest, used under one or both feet might have worked too!

ahh yes, looking forward to the live gig Saturday at the Ocote Soul Sounds Release Party, Malverde 400B West 2nd St.

Sorry I've been ignoring you, I have to admit much of my Tri related training and personal life stuff has migrated over to Facebook. I have to say the only real reason for that is I've been too busy, too tired or in too much pain to write anything more than 256-character posts that Facebook allows for status.

So, heres a summary of what I've been up to.

First up, I got ticketed for speeding going across South 1st Bridge after Blaize's Toga Party. Actually I got stopped for drink driving, but since I was perfectly sober the cop did the nice thing and ticketed me for "just" [his words] doing 40 in a 30 speed limit. Except at least as far as the signage goes's at the point at which he pulled out to stop me, I was in a 35MPH zone. Thinking about an appeal/Not guilty plea.

As if that wasn't enough, I full in a full Roman centurion outfit when he stopped me and did the whole DWI thing, not sure who it was more embarrassing for, him or me.

Next-up my knee. It hasn't been right since I had it drained and a cortisone shot before Florida 70.3 - my miracle cure turned into a nightmare. Combine this with the ongoing treatment for Plantar warts and my running is back below zero. I'll write some more on this, along with an entirely separate post on the plantar warts.

Cycling has been going well. I've done the Real Ale Ride, and the Atlas Ride, along with the Jack and Adams Sunday rides I've been clocking in around 100 miles per w/e. Swimming has been mediocre but ongoing. I need to step up my game.

I was out in Silicon Valley for a week for work. It was very interesting, but not for here. One thing worth mentioning though is I got to visit darcylynnein hospital after a serious road traffic accident. She was in great spirits, and was managing as best she could. Hope you are ok, sorry I have not been in touch...

Finally, Gareth Emery from the UK is coming to Austin this weekend to play a gig a the Light Bar on Congress. I get to collect Gareth from the airport and have dinner with him before the gig, he is friends with my eldest Daughter, Ella. Check out his podcasts here, I don't expect to see any of you there, but you never know, alkaloids ? I've got a free guest list place...

I'm sure there are other things, but thats it for now.

 In case you don't keep up with mojojoey 's Team TBB blog, here is a link to her blog on what it takes to make a pro triathlete, MTV cribs style expose. If only that was all it took. It takes greate talent, coaching and a bucket load of stick-to-it-ness. Good luck in with your "pro" future @mojojoey and have fun in NY!

Her race report from Florida 70.3 is here and includes this picture. Jocelyn and I took time Saturday to look at my new running shoe, and she's going to have a go at fixing it when she gets back to California.

Not that I'm fixated about what happened yesterday, ok actually I am... I just reread my post of last week where I discussed the side effects of the cortisone injection, although I said I'd experienced increased urination, this continued until race morning and I assumed was just that I was hydrating properly. Maybe not and that explains the hydration issue. While I was hydrating, more was coming out than went in!

But I struck through muscle weakness and limp feeling as I hadn't or didn't think I was suffering from them. Yet, this is exactly how I felt during the swim, bike and run. Maybe my search for a solution to my knee problems actually caused a bigger problem. More research needed, and as much as I like Joel Friels research, it doesn't go to explain why I was in blazing form and faster last w/e.

Maybe the cortisone screwed me up...

I found this highly depressing summary in another Friel article on older athlete diets. This one ultrafit.com - I'll add links when I get my laptop online.

Joel writes: It's apparent that as we grow older muscle mass is lost. Although this loss is slowed somewhat by weight lifting and vigorous aerobic exercise, it still happens. Even athletes in their 60s typically demosntrate considerably less muscle than they had in their 40s.

Now there is research that shows why (1). Nitrogen, which is an essential component of muscle protein, is given up by the body at a faster rate than it can be taken in as we get older. This is due to a gradual change in kidney function that comes with aging producing an acidic state in the blood. Essentially, we are peeing off our muscles as we pass the half-century mark in life.

My good friend Trace Allen remarked many years ago, before he got Pancreatic cancer, that the worse thing about getting older, is that recovery is hard work and takes much longer.

After todays performance I'm convinced that's what I got wrong in the last 2+weeks, the recovery. I read this on Joe Friels blog:

The real key for aging endurance athletes is frequent recovery time. All athletes need down time on a regular basis. Older athletes simply need it more often than their younger counterparts. I’ve found that most of the 50-and-older athletes I’ve coached over the years need two to three days of easy training following a highly stressful workout. A young athlete may do two of these sessions back to back and then require only one or two days to fully recover. But not the older athlete. How great the stress is that triggers this long recovery block is an individual matter. Every athlete should have a good idea of what different types of workouts demand in the way of recovery.

In the same manner, all athletes need extended recovery periods every few weeks during periods of heavy training. Younger athletes can go perhaps three to five weeks before needing to take a break for three to five days. For the 50-plus athlete it is seldom more than two weeks before down time is necessary in order to prevent overtraining. Extending the period of heavy training beyond this or skipping these rest blocks is likely to result in unrelenting fatigue and greatly reduced performance.

I'll be short, finished in something like 7.43, terrible.

The whole race went really badly, swim long, glasses fogged up, T1 my aero bottle came off, wasted 2-mins getting back on, no legs on bike, seemed to be going backward for 40-miles, aero bottle fell off on the only hill on the course, more wasted time, run, well the legs I didn't have on the bike, didn't come back and instead of getting a PR at my last half, I'm pretty sure I had a PW and ended up in the medical tent getting 1.5 litres of saline... Still, got the t-shirt and the hat, now have 5-months to get my shit together for IM Arizona.

In the good news dept., @mojojoey won the 25-29 age group, she had to chose between her pro license and a Clearwater, she went for th Pro license. Will post picture later.

On the Pro front, Leanda Cave from the UK won again. Amy Marsh from Austin was 4th!

My knee held up pretty well, no real problems, no pain while, err, walking and none afterwards. I just have to work out what went wrong, did I really mess up my hydration that badly?

So that's that, no more 70.3 for me...
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Apart from being a great 1970's dance track by Esther Phillips, I can't tell you how much better my knee feels today. It feels like new, really. Almost no pain, some swelling has returned, but it is easy to bend, stand and walk. No running yet.

The down side is that I'm having some side effects, I googled for side effects on drugs.com and it listsm a long list of fairly scary side effects, none of which I've experienced, but I didn't sleep well, I am thirtsy all the time and drinking, etc.

• low potassium (confusion, uneven heart rate, extreme thirst, increased urination, leg discomfot, muscle weakness or limp feeling);

Less serious side effects may include:

• sleep problems (insomnia), mood changes;
• acne, dry skin, thinning skin, bruising or discoloration;
  

I assume discoloration includes being bright red. It looks like my whole upper neck and head have been out in the sun way too much and I'm hot to touch. Ahh well, onwards!

 So after yesterdays problems with the shoe and the knee, today was the scheduled medical help to get ready for Florida 70.3 on Sunday. First-up it was back to Warpula to look at my feet. My right foot is clear now and just needed the hard/dead skin removed. The outer problem on my left foot isn't and that needed another round of treatment. As I sit here at 7pm, the pain is just starting to kick-in. If past experience is anything to go by, it will pass by Thursday.

45-minutes later I was in with Elenz, just up the street. His assistant came in first and preped my knee with iodine; laid out the syringe and fluids to do the cortisone injection. Doug came in, examined the knee and decided it need to have the fluid drained, which required more syringes/needles etc. 10-mins later I was done. $285. Jeez, after $150 for the shoes, $40 co-pay for the feet, thats $500 this week alone.

Walking back to the car afterwards felt very weird. There was almost no fluid on the front of the knee, meaning the pressure pain had gone. However, I still had the paid in the hamstring, and the clicking of the knee that started yesterday. During the day the pain has almost completely gone while sitting with the knee bent. However, I can barely stand and straighten it. Walking is increasingly weird, although strangely not painful. However, I do have problems straightening the knee while walking. This is all so weirddd...

Elenz cleared me for swimming and biking this week, no running before Sunday(which was what I expected, hence the rushed run on new shoes last night). I'm going to try swimming at 5:30pm Wednesday up at the Pure Austin Quarry if anyone wants to come along, I'll be swimming with a business friend David.

At this point though it's hard to imagine doing a 5k on Sunday, let alone a half-ironman. Still positive thoughts.... Doug Elenz said "it's a testament to who you are that you can do what you do" - I think he meant I'm mad...

 I picked up my new shoes yesterday from RunTex at Lake Austin Blvd, Paul, Jamme and Bill had come through and got the shoe together.

My first reaction was horror. This is the first time I'd had a shoe with the full 2-inch build, and it was completely stiff, no bend in the sole at all. It wasn't as heavy as I thought. By comparison you can see the last built-up shoe in the middle, that was 1.5 inches. You can click on both pictures to enlarge.

Since 2004 I've gone from 3/4-inch internal, to 1/2 external+3/4 internal, to 1 1/2-inches external in 2008. I never really had any problems adjusting to any of these, and any problems as a result of using them.

I walked around in the shoes for a while at home. Sitting down and putting a spirit level across my knees, the right knee is slightly higher, less than 1/4-inch, but it's also a bit swollen since Sundays Rookie Triathlon. After I'd done some work in the guest bedroom at home, I headed out for a run.

The right leg felt very odd as I ran down S 1st Street, although I got to Barton Springs Rd in 6:40, reasonably fast for just under a mile, the shoe felt odd and my knee painful, this may be a result of the race as well. My hip didn't really feel bad, although I could feel either my ITB or hamstring tendon actually slipping on the bone.

Running across the S1st Bridge, I could feel the joint of my knee distinctly feeling very different from normal, and my legs muscles were getting tired. When it came to heading up the footbridge, running uphill, around the loops was impossible, I walked. I started to jog back across the footbridge, over Barton Springs, up through the Jack and Adams parking lot and waited for the lights on Barton Springs and Dawson; I ran as best as I could up Dawson, but when I got to Becker Elementry school, I had to stop. Run over, little more than 3-miles, pain everywhere. This is really disappointing.

I didn't sleep well overnight. Although I took 2x 200mg of Ibruprofin before going to bed, I had to take 2x Excedrin at around 2.30am for the pain and woke up again at 5:30.

More worrying is that my knee has developed an audible click now when walking up stairs, I've had this on the odd occasion before, but normally once or twice. Now its every step.

I've already decided it would be too risky to run in this shoe at Florida 70.3 at the w/e. Although I do like the feel and fit of the Mizunos, my first pair. I'm inclined to wear the left shoe and my old Saucony Grid modified right shoe. Ad of today though, I feel I'm at a new low point with my leg.

I've been here before, both at Escape from Alcatraz where I had real problems with my left arch until the day before the race, and at one of the Bedford Olympic distance triathlons, where I left my shoes in T2 but fully expected to drop out after the bike. As it turned out that day I clocked a new PR at Olympic distance and my foot was fine. Hopefully this will go the same way.

(race picture courtesy of Kevin Saunders on flickr.com)
Well the master of over expectation got the result he deserved, well maybe not.

I lined up at the front of the last mens wave 50+, my goals were 55-mins, 1st place, and not passed by any women, who were starting 3-mins after us.

The swim start went ok, the sulphur from the clay was disgusting in the water, there's no doubt with churn and wash, that was the worse water I've swum in. AS we settled in, I kept getting bumped on the left, almost full body. I would say it was either of us, but no, when I eased off to let him pass he promptly swum across in front of me, and the way wide on the right.

By the turn around, not including mr way right, I figure I was in 5th. On the run in, I passed two, and stormed out of the water and into transition. The attached picture is the results sheet for our wave, so I know I was 3rd on the swim with 7.04.43. Even allowing for mr way right, there's no way that was 300m. Not that I care, but when it's that short of a swim, and extra 10m makes all the difference.

T1 was lightening fast, one of my best to date. 1.14 for a longish run and then the entire depth of transition to the mount, which as as smooth as I could hope, fastest in my age group and hard to think many could be much faster.

Out on the bike I was kinda hoping I was in 1st, I pushed as hard as I could, well over 24MPH for long stretches. I passed a hundred or more on the bike, and never got passed by anyone, period. Last year I'd been over taken by two women by the dismount, not this year.

Bike finished in 32:36:25, 20.6MPH average, which is not at all bad for that course as almost half is uphill or a gradient. 3rd in my age group again. I stormed into transition running litterally as fast as I could, still hoping I was in first. When I got to my space, a quick glance down the racks revealed two bikes, one fast one with a ZIPP 808 set, and a regular older road bike. I kinda assumed that meant I was maybe in 2nd, and the older road bike guy had dropped out... I fumbled a bit getting my shoes on and knocked the bike, causing it to half drop off the rack, I put it back on and let rip out of T2 sprinting.

T2 was 1:04.40, even faster than T1, although only 2.25 seconds faster than the next guy but still fastest. I could have been maybe 10-seconds faster, although I was only 2-seconds slower than 2008. Heading out of the Texas Ski ranch I had my number belt and hat on and was going as fast as I could. I didn't get passed by anyone until after the mile turnaround, but then they started coming, mostly guys in the 30-45 age group. Then two women passed me, and just before re-entry in the Texas Ski ranch, a guy with 52 on his calf, crap, that meant I was probably 3rd.

I pushed as hard as I could on the final 250m but couldn't even keep with him, let alone pass. I ran through the finish line in 16:48.55, 8:24 pace, and as it turned out, 8th in my age group. My race time was 58:47.98 - Not the 55-minutes I'd be hoping for, not the win either, and oh yeah, I'd been passed by two women.

Still, 58:47 was a minute faster than 2008, T1, bike, and run were also faster but I lost 30-seconds on the swim compared to last year, which I find hard to believe. So, the only question was, where did I finish? Well a quick glance through the provisional results said 2nd. After chatting to a number of people, I went back and checked the latest provisional results, 3rd. Thats what I figured, the guy with the 808's was so far ahead I didn't see him at all and I got passed for 2nd 250m from the end and beaten by Rob Murphy, who was 5th in 2008.

I took my stuff back to the car, changed and came back. I was ready for my name to get called, but alas not. Rob was actually 3rd, he beat me by 18-seconds. John Amundson was 2nd in 53:53, and Scott Hammond was 1st in a stunning 50:06, giving him 3rd overall.

Still, I had great fun, nothing went wrong, I went as fast as I think I could. I got beat on the run, which I guess I'm coming to realize(hint its only taken 10-years) that I'm just not going to win with one leg 2-inches shorter than the other. Still, I'll be back next year to try again!

It's been a long month since Lonestar and my first races of the season, I must admit I'm excited about The Rookie this weekend.

I'll post training totals for April over the weekend, but a quick glance reveals it was my highest mileage since spring 2003 when l'd come off a late ITU World Triathlon Championships in Mexico, and was getting ready for Wildflower long course, my first ever half ironman.

I'm feeling good. My knee is not really anybetter, its been classified as beyond help. Tuesday I'm set for my first ever cortisone shot, in time for Florida Half Ironman aka 70.3 which is next w/e.

The problems with the hard skin on my feet was caused by Plantar Warts aka verukas. These were left alone for so long, they've required three treatments, each increasingly painful for a couple of days. Next treatment is also Tuesday.

I've been having morning pain and stiffness in my left ankle. I think this stems from a number things. One, the fact that I have not been able to get new run shoes, after 3-months chasing my tail. I'm now running in odd shoes.

Second, to try to even up my balance and because my mojojoey  Asian IM Superstar cycling block has finally solved my left knee pain, I've been walking upstairs 2X2 for the first time in 25-years.

I've been getting weekly deep tissue and sports massage from Blaze, and he says there is some weakness in the ankle and has suggested some exercises to strengthen it.

So, net, net I'm looking forward to Sunday and FL 70.3. I'm hoping for about 55-minutes for The Rookie, which is a definite stretch goal. Last year I was 59-mins. I figure I can make 2-mins on the run and bike. I will be going for the win in my age group.

For FL 70.3, I think again I'll just be happy if I can PR. From memory, I think I was 6:29. I had a 2:43 According to the increasingly excellent Athlinks.com, I did 6:30:25 with a 2:43:17 bike and walked most of the run. I'm hopeful that I can get around the bike in around the same, maybe a little quicker. I should be able to take a couple of mins off the swim, and hopefully around 20-mins off the run if the cortisone comes through for the knee. That would get me close to 6-hours which I'll take any day.

I hope everyone reading has a great w/e, I know I will. If you are coming down to New Braunfels for the Rookie, I'll be racing in a Jack and Adams tri top and new De Soto tri shorts in black with white trim. Please come say hi, or give me a cheer out on the course!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT

 












This pretty much sums up my Shiner GASP ride as well as a long description could.

These are my 5-mile split speeds and my corresponding HR. The drop in HR pretty much correspond with the rest stops.

The wheels pretty much "came off my bike" around mile-82 on the way into Flatonia and I never recovered. The low at mile-85 is the rest stop at Flatonia, the only one I really stopped at; at mile-95, my feet were hurting so much, I stopped removed ,my shoes and socks, stood around flexing my toes and squirting water over them.

The day started with me cycling to the ride start, about 10-miles. I met up with Mary who had my car, as we'd driven down to Shiner the night before to drop hers off for the return trip. Once the ride started, I quickly experienced my normal panic and fear in huge packs of cyclists, and always decided to head from the front. Up to about mile-6, I was on the tail of the lead pack, I knew if I tried to keep up my ride would be over by mile-25, so dropped back. Through about mile-30, I rode alone, with small groups and then get caught up in a big pack, apprently with a load of women from Dallas and assorted others. I have to admit that I was nervous about riding with them, but the andrenalin was fun.

I lead out for about 3-miles, looked back and no one was waiting to take over the pull, so just dropped to the back. Half way along there was Zack, another of the Sunday Jack and Adams Bike Shop ride leaders. We rode together behind the group into the next rest stop. We left quickly with a few to leaving them behind, and for about 5-miles did, but we soon got swallowed up.

This game of tag continued right through to about mile-60 when I first struggled to keep up, Zack dropped back to pull me back on and we caught, rode with and then rode past them to the next rest stop, where we again exited quickly to try to get ahead of the pack but again we failed to stay ahead, heading into Flatonia I got dropped and while the group was still there, I advised Zack to leave without me and did the last 15-miles alone. It was pretty soulless.

My mistake, I realised later, was to wear socks. I never wear socks while cycling, but due to the problems with my feet I'd decided it was a wise idea. However, given the heat later in the day, my feet were swollen and the toes on both feet cammed into the front developed this annoying burning feeling that caused me to lose focus. Ahh well. The last 10-miles or so was extra hard anyway, there was a stiff head wind and the time when I would have benefitted from being in a group, I was alone. The were plenty of people still coming in 9-hours after the ride start.

My ride time was 6hrs, 24-minutes for the official 101-miles. I didn't attempt to run, but think I could have clocked a 10k, although a complete marathon was hard to imagine. Despite that I'm pleased since I've really only clocked two rides over 70-miles this year, and my early pace was good, my hydration was pretty much bang-on, no cramps on the ride, and no real lactic burn since. I figure somewhere I got my nutrition wrong hence hitting the wall, but maybe I just didn't have "it".

I was up early Sunday to organize the tacos for the J&A Sunday shop ride; Tune did the coffee(thanks!) and Zack, me, Cody and Allison all did the shop ride with about 30-others. Later in the afternoon it was up to Pure Austin North for 3-laps of the lake.

My totals from Thursday were 12-mile run, 3.5-mile swim, 154-mile bike - I've been exhausted since.

or ramblings of a weekend warrior. Friday evening afterwork I went up to the Quarry at Pure Austin North, taped up my feet to help keep them dry, and turned out 3-laps in the lake. Sadly, the tape didn't last, I decided to pull it and the stuff the podiatrist had put in place before it went floating off on its own. So much for keeping them dry for 36-hours. Elizabeth was already in the lake testing out her wetsuit and put another lap in while I did my three.

Up early Saturday, I could barely stand, my feet were so painful. I was not sure how cycling was going to work out, but decided I needed to try. After taping my feet again, I got on "Dale in headed south. The pain was much worse going up hill, since thats when I had to exert the most downward pressure on pedals. I got to Mountain City, about half way between Buda and San Marcos and got soaked. I seriously thought about heading back, but decided that I wouldn't dry out before getting home, so might as well carry on and hope that it would warm up, and it did.

When I got to San Marcos I'd not refilled either of my water bottles, and stupidly I pushed through to the frontage road south of the city, heading for New Braunfels. I should have know better. New Braunfels is an out and back from San Marcos thats probably 30-miles, and there is nothing on the service road, no gas stations, nothing. Rookie mistake. Ironic, since the next time I'll be in New Braunfels, will be for the Rookie Triathlon!

By the time I stopped at the Seattles Best Coffee on the frontage rd, by the way its now called something starting Tex, and is for all intense and purpose exactly the same including staff. I guess Seattle didn't sell big in Texas, and who knew, Seattles best was owned by Starbucks anyway? I digress. Anyway, I was already approaching dehydration, and coffee and cake didn't make it any better. After talking to my parents for a while, I headed back to Austin.

I was heads down, headed back onto the Old San Antonio/Stagecoach road out the outskirts of San Marcos when I passed a group of about six Texas Iron riders. I waved and kept going. About 10-mins later I was thinking, time to put the hammer down, I wasn't going to let them catch me, and almost the same instant, Jamie Cleveland passed me with his customary "morning". I jumped on the back of their train, and at a convenient point asked if it was OK. I took a pull for a while but this was the beginning of the end for me, on the next gradient after cruising with the fast boys at 25MPH, I got dropped off the back. I picked up two more who'd also been dropped and we rode back together into South Austin at a more reasonable 23MPH. Back at home at about 1:10pm, I had to rush to get to the Wheres Waldo Flashmob. 86-mile roundtrip. Best times of the ride were 2x 5-mile splits at 22MPH, with one 1-mile split at 27MPH, and 2x 1-mile splits at 26MPH. The last 5-miles into downtown Austin were that soulles drag when you are dehydrated... sigh.

Saturday night I didn't sleep well, dehydrated and over tired. So Sunday mornings early alarm wasn't welcome. But it was Jack and Adams ride and I don't like to disappointment. There was a good crowd in the parking lot when I arrived, including a big group from Texas 4000, who Jack was supporting. We split the ride into the two the 30+ and 45-mile rides together and the 20-mile no-drop starting afterwards with Jack. By the time we'd got out on to Emerald Forest south of Ben White, while my feet were still hurting, my legs had warmed up and I was enjoying trying to pull some of the slow riders back together including one that had taken a minor fall.

Half the fun of the ride is not to sit and grind out a slow ride, but to sprint up , drop back, pull and generally make sure everyone is heading in the right direction and doesn't need help. Out in Buda, it was Weiner Dog racing and the traffic was heavy. A small group decided to carry on a head to the 4-way stop in Kyle, initially I went with them, but then remembered lunch with lynnivere and turned around an headed back.

Just around the corner a group of the Texas 4000 riders were fixing a puncture and waiting. I decided to wait with them. When we set off, I picked up Cody, one of the other ride leaders and we rode together for a bit onto the San Antonio Rd. I looked back and I'd dropped most of the group, so I soft pedalled for a bit, and then got passed by about six of the Texas 4000 crowd, we were soon in a pelaton and it was hammerfest time. We rode pretty much all the way back to South Austin that way, knowing Cody was behind me and could pick any of the other riders was great. We had 1x 1-mile split of 28MPH, and a 5-mile split of 21MPH.

What I didn't realise until the final sprint back up the Old San Antonio Rd, was how much I'd been riding on my drops this w/e. Triathlon is all about using aerobars and getting low and a flat back while non-drafting. However, thats just risky when cycling in a group. However, you can get much of the same benefit from using the drops on regular bars and keeping your elbows tucked-in. I'd forgotten over the past 8-years, how much more in control you can be on drops, how much stronger they feel when holding really hard and hammering up a hill in the saddle. I love my drops.

Saturday saw the next episode of the Flashmob Austin funfests. The idea this time was to get as many people as possisble to dress almost like Waldo. There was a real Waldo and the idea was to make finding him difficult by having all us act as decoys.

The location for the flash was up at Pease park where they were holding the annual Eyores birthday celebrations. For my Waldo outfit I had a Hillfiger womens large knitted top and a pair of blue, nylon trousers/pants that I'd bought at one of the used clothes stores. I wore my Lonestar 2008 triathlon cap, didn't have glasses or a cane, so you couldn't confuse me with the real Waldo!

I made a mistake getting there though. I'd jumped on Bob the cruiser and biked down, assuming the footbride we were meeting at was the Lamar bridge over Town Lake. Wrong, about 5-after 2pm, it was clear I should have been 15-blocks north. Cycling up there on Bob in a knitted jumper was hot work.

We had a meetup near the entrance to the park which cuased a bit of a stir. Then split up to enjoy the event. There were vouchers for people who correctly found the real Waldo. Almost as soon as I'd chained Bob up, lynnivere  found me and we wondered around the park together, by the drum circle etc. It was a fascinating site, loads of people in costumes and so odd smells at best ;-) After a while we found our way over to the grass near the band. A remarkable bunch of old white guys with gray hair, playing a great reggae set, who'da thunk? We sat around for an hour, or so and then left, I had to bike back to Jack and Adams to buy a new tyre and a tube.

As always with the Flashmobs, I'm sure that more pictures and videos will show up, a quick search revels Marcos Kirsh has posted some great pictures here and a good blog post with a vide of the drum circle, here.

Yeah, everything shubbe  said. Apparently Amy drafted off me the whole way around the swim course and as this was her first splash and dash she's written up every detail.  I thought the swim was longer this year, the 2nd major floating dock boy was further north and more westerly. I finished the swim in 13:01, and was out on the run in 26-seconds. If you compare my swim time in the results with shubbe , I was 27-seconds faster, which would have been the transition problems she describes. I left nothing in transition except my shoes, hat, glasses and a bottle of talc, no towel.

Out on the run in 13:27, I wanted to try to beat Amit, and I hadn't seen him to this point, so he was either a long way behind or in front. I pushed as hard as I could and was gasping on the dry dust trail for 2-laps, I got half the 3rd lap done when Amit passed me. I finished the run in 16:32 for the 3k. My times were with S&D 2008(August)

Swim: 13:01(12:34)
T1: 26(28.69)
Run: 16:32(16:25)
Result: 29:59(29:28)

I finished in 50th/130 overall and 35th/870 men. There are no age groups and no ages. Of my friends, Philip Reagan had a storming race and was 11th overall and 8th male, thats a great result! Mercedes was 41st in 29:14 and 10th female! Amit was 43rd in  29:31; then me, Guin was right behind me in 53rd and 30:11 and Amy 62nd in 30:54 - so I have some work to do not to get beaten by all the youngsters next time. I'll miss race #2 as I'll be in Orlando after Florida 70.3 attending a conference.

The full results are here.

 When I set out on last nights ride, the temperature gauge in the car said 98f/37c it's usually about 3-degrees high, so figure 95f/35c. I filled up my water bottles at the gas station, spun my way for the first couple of miles and then it was hammerfest time, I went as fast as I could for as long as I could.  Going up hill on the way back, I was verbally shouting out loud to myself as I raced to catch three cyclists who must have been 2-3 miles on their way back, ahead of me as I road out before the turn around. 

But it worked. This graph represents my 2-mile splits for the 20-mile out bound on Parmer. Compared to last time I was almots a full 10-mins faster going out, and 3-minutes faster coming back, an improvement of 13-mins in 2-hours is staggering. The last 5-miles on the way out I AVERAGED 27MPH - the drop in speed at mile-16 was mostly because I had to stop for a traffic light, at R29.

When I got back to the HEB parking lot I didn't have time to run, but my legs felt good. I headed off downtown for the last 30-mins of the Austin Triathletes Happy Hour! There I met up with Amit, and a few others, had a greek salad with chicken(hmmm) and sadly I let Amit detour me, we went for a drink later in the 2nd St district which meant I missed this mornings swim session... 

For Saturday, I've decided to head down to San Marcos at a steady, not quad busting, pace. If you'd like to come along, I aim to leave around 7.30am from South Central Austin. ++Mark.