Hitting the Wall!!!!

I hit a MAJOR wall yesterday in my training! I’ve been pretty steady all season in my workouts and have increased the duration and intensity as the season has progressed, but yesterday I struggled through a biking hill workout and I mean struggled!!! . I was looking for a cliff to ride off of I was so tired!  One thing that is very difficult to juggle in endurance sports is pushing yourself hard enough without over training. I mean isn’t the nature of endurance sports to push your body pass the limits your mind sets? The trick is to pass the limits set in your mind, but not the limits your body has. You have a finite amount of muscle, energy, hydration, and lung capacity so knowing those limits is important. The problem that I have encountered is ramping up training from sprits to 70.3’s without overtraining. The literature out there on training has several ways to approach the gradual increasing of your workouts and as a rule most subscribe to the 10% philosophy. The 10% philosophy states that you should not increase a workout by more than 10% in length or duration at any one time. While this seems reasonable especially if you have 8-12 months to train for a singular goal, it really doesn’t fit into what I’m trying to accomplish. So if I’m biking 150 miles a week, going by the 10% rule, I should only increase by 15 miles the next time I bump up my workouts? Once again, I can see the logic and it certainly will be easier on my body, but there is no way I would be ready for my 70.3 at the end of June.

So what am I left with? I have to increase my workouts by roughly 20% every ten days and run the risk of injury or burnout or increase slower and possibly not be fit enough to compete. What this whole experience has taught me is to plan my longer races for deeper into the season so that I can have the gradual build-up, but sometimes race schedules don’t accommodate training schedules. For example, this weekend is the USAT National Duathlon Championships. How can racers be at their peak this early in the season? I would guess that the answer is that they are not.

Well, good luck to Bobby, Gretchen and Cody this weekend and to everyone else competing.

Dry isn't Always Better

Well I’ve started cranking up the workouts to get myself ready for the Buffman & Squeaky Olympic Distance Triathlon May 15^th. I want to drop a couple pounds just to stay light on my feet, but I don’t think I need to really diet in order to accomplish the weight loss. The rigors of my daily workouts seem to be doing a good job of helping me drop those few pounds. I also need to bust out with the wetsuit and make sure it still fits and do a few training days in it. One thing about doing mostly sprints is that you don’t do very many open water swims and because of that you don’t need to use your wetsuit much. The few open water swims that I have done have gone well, it’s just important that I don’t get too excited at the beginning and go out to hard. I will say that my transitions have been very slow, but I attribute that to a lack of experience and should do better this time. While we are on the topic of wetsuits and open water swims I should probably throw out some advice for those of you that are new to the sport. Wetsuits can be very expensive and in all honesty hard to differentiate between. You don’t need to spend big bucks on one. Most wetsuits that cost between $100-$200 work just fine and you will probably only wear it 3-4 times a season if you are competing in sprints. Also, just because everyone is wearing a wet suit doesn’t mean you need too. If you are competing in a sprint and the swim distance is 500 meters or less, test out the water before you put your wetsuit on. Unless it is just unbearable you might want to swim without it. You are only going to be swimming for 8-12 minutes and you could probably save a good 30 seconds in transition without it. I’m a big sissy and freeze in 76 degree water so I always have mine on, but I have noticed some of the faster racers don’t bother if the water is in the 73-77 degree range.

Well good luck to everyone racing this weekend and I’ll report back on my training efforts soon.

Benchmarks, Goals, Targets, and Dreams.........

Benchmarks, goals, targets, and dreams doesn’t really matter what it’s called, in order to have some kind of focus you need an end game for your triathlon season. All triathletes put in a tremendous amount of physical and mental training throughout the season, but we all need to have a goal that we are striving for. For some it is competing in a full Ironman or for others it is dropping the last 20 pounds they need to reach their target weight. Whatever the goal the most important thing is to have something you are working for and sticking with it.

This past weekend I participated in the Holloman Duathlon. I had been sick most of the week leading up to the race and hadn’t put in the training time that I had wanted to, but none the less felt pretty good the morning of the race. One thing that I’m starting to find out is that if you can build a solid base fitness level you can still compete even if you are not feeling your best. The organization for the race was a mess and many participants including myself were not on the pass list to get on Holloman Air Force base. For those of you that do not visit a military base often the process for getting on a base is pretty simple. Typically you can get a day pass with proof of insurance, driver’s license, and registration. Well, for this race you had to be on a pass list and my name didn’t show up. So the guard told me that I could not get on post and I had to leave. Well, since I had woken up at 4:00 am to get ready and drive there by 6:30 am this was not acceptable. After several calls the Sports Director for the race showed up and escorted me to the race. Once there I had to register for the race again, since they didn’t have my original registration, and then get my bike and everything set up. The process was disorganized, but I will say that the Post guards and Sports Director were very nice and in the end everything worked out.

I was glad to see many of my friends including John, Cody, and Rob, but I was surprised to see the number of top triathletes at this race. Just looking around I could tell this was going to be a fast race. Two weeks ago I had trouble keeping pace on the 5k run portion of the MVT race and wanted to see if I could improve on my run this race. As soon as the run portion started everyone took off like a bat out of hell including myself. I usually like to start fast, but only for the purposes of getting some running room and not having to slow down because a slower runner has cut me off. After about 200 meters I settle into my run pace and then see what happens. This race had several fast runners and they wasted little time putting distance between themselves and me, but my pace was steady and I had enough energy to race an even pace the whole time and finished the run portion in 4^th place.

I was excited for the bike portion because I was finally going to use my new bike for a race. My only goal for the bike portion was to keep a steady pace and see if I could make up ground on the fast runners that had a pretty big head start on me. The Holloman course is completely flat and very fast. I was able to push myself and eventually caught 3^rd place by the halfway mark and then put some distance between us. As I was feeling pretty good about myself I all of a sudden was passed by a blur of a rider!! It was a member of a female relay team and she was smoking fast! I tried to keep up but after 10 minutes she was nothing but a tiny dot in the distance. The fastest individual bike time was somewhere around 47:00-48:00 minutes, she had a bike split of around 42:00 minutes, just an incredible bike time!!! I ended up finishing third individually, but another strong triathlete Bobby Dominguez was closing in fast and if the race had been another 2k longer he would have caught me.

Overall, I was happy with the race and it reaffirmed what my goals are for the season. This season I want to compete in two Half Ironman races and not make a complete spectacle of myself and I want to build a solid fitness base too compete in a Full Ironman next year. In order to do that I probably won’t compete in enough races to be in contention for the Southwest Challenge Series, which I’m fine with, my age group has some great competitors and I’ll be cheering them on (Go Cody!).

So remember, have goals and work towards them. The triathlon season is long and you need to be steady and persistent. Frustration might set in early, but if you remember what you are racing for the frustration will pass and it will turn into satisfaction.

Don't Struggle, Just ask!

Training…..It’s a word that triathletes all over the world talk about and if you listen close enough it’s almost all they talk about, but with good reason. Training for sprints, a half, or full Ironman requires hours upon hours of training. You have three very different disciplines and all three require a certain unique aspect that doesn’t lend itself to the others. It’s not like you can train for the swim and greatly improve your bike time. Sure, your cardio will get better and swimming is certainly a great way to tone your muscles, but bike training requires bike time. Having said all this, the focus of today’s blog has less to do with what type of training you are doing, but how are you doing it?

Do you train by yourself, with a coach/mentor, or group training? If you were to ask 10 different triathletes this question you would probably get ten different answers. I’ll describe my approach and look forward to everyone’s unique insight.

Since the beginning I have trained the vast majority of the time by myself. I’m not sure if it is my work schedule, me being anti-social (just kidding…….sort of), or the fact that I have no friends (just kidding again….sort of). All I know is that it is usually me against me everyday. I occasionally go for a bike ride with a couple of friends or see someone I know at the pool, but I wouldn’t say I really train with them. For new triathletes this can be a big mistake and I’ll tell you why. By working out at least once a week with an experienced triathlete your learning curve for the sport will increase ten fold. A book, magazine, or website can only tell you so much, but an experienced triathlete can make your introduction into the sport a much more pleasant one. Now I’m not saying that finding a workout in a book or website is a bad thing, but I will tell you that most of your triathlons will be regionally based and an experienced racer will be able to tell you what to train for specifically for each race. For example, if you are going to race in the Super Sully in Alpine you might want to do some hill training in your runs or if you are going to race in the Santa Fe triathlon you will need to spend some time on hill training with your bike. Of course, training with someone or a group is also helpful for motivation and encouragement.

Now having spouted off about the benefits of training at least some of the time with a group or another individual, I want to bring up a point that I feel strongly about. Triathlons are an individual sport and to succeed you have to be physically fit, but more important you have to be mentally strong. Out on the course it is you against everyone else and if you can’t push yourself or convince yourself that the pain is worth it, you are going to have a difficult time being successful. You have to be the type of person that is very self motivated and can’t be the type of person that needs the encouragement of a group in order to work out. During the past off-season I literally asked myself everyday; what is Cody Hanson doing right now? Cody is a tremendous triathlete that has dominated his age group for the past couple years in the Southwest Challenge Series. So every time I wanted to watch TV or skip a work out I just asked myself; what is Cody doing? I would usually imagine Cody on a long bike ride or running up steep hills with fifty pound sacks of sand, and as silly as that sounds it made me want to push myself even harder.

So for everyone starting out get the help or advice of an experienced triathlete. Bobby Gonzalez has been my mentor and I can’t express how grateful I am for all the help he has provided me. After you get your workout plan set then it’s time for you to find YOUR Cody Hanson!

MVT Triathlon and the dolphins

April 3, 2011 I competed in the MVT Triathlon in Las Cruces, NM and couldn’t believe how many people came out to race! Counting men, women, and relays there was over 200 competitors. For an early season race this was a great turnout and some of the fastest racers in the area were there. Of course, my new friends Cody, Rob, and Gretchen were there as well as my Human Performance Center trainer Frank. I hadn’t seen Frank in about 6 months so it was good to catch up. The race itself was a 5k run, 25k bike, and 500 meter swim in the NMSU outdoor 50m pool. I still was using Bobby’s training bike so I was just hoping that the previous week in Alpine wasn’t a fluke and I could still turn in a pretty fast bike time. I also knew the run course would be pretty flat so I wanted to see if I could pick up my run time.

The race started out fast and I had a really quick first 400 meters and settled into a nice pace for the rest of the run. As the run continued I was slowly losing ground and just couldn’t get my legs to go any faster. I didn’t panic, but was not happy with how the run was going. I started to get passed by several racers and couldn’t wait for the run to be over. I ended up finishing the run in 21:43 I believe, but really wanted to hit the 20:00 minute mark. My transition to the bike was fine and I headed off on the bike course looking to make up some ground.

Before every race I make sure my bike is in the proper gear to start out and not geared so tight that I can’t get the pedals going and fall over. This race I had done a quick warm up ride and had everything in place…..or at least I thought. As the bike portion entered around the 13 minute mark I felt I wasn’t making up enough ground. I looked down and discovered the problem I didn’t have the bike on the big gear and instead had it on the inside smaller gear. Once I shifted into the right gear I started to catch up to a few of the riders that had beaten me in the run portion. Overall I was happy with the bike ride and was ready to finish the race strong in the pool.

The previous race I had issues with my goggles and was hoping that these problems wouldn’t return. I jumped into the pool and started my swim. I had no issues with my goggles, but for some reason I had the worst swim of my life. I couldn’t get my breathing right, my legs were dragging behind me and at times I swear my arms didn’t break the surface. After 100 meters I was toast, but no one had entered the pool behind me yet so I felt that at the very least I would finish in the same position as I entered the pool. Well, that didn’t last long, before I knew it several racers (or dolphins I can’t remember they were so fast) started to catch up and over take me. With whatever energy I could muster I made one final push and finished the race not knowing exactly how I did.

It turns out I finished second in my age group, which I was very happy with, but the individual who won my age group passed me in the swim!!! Not only did he pass me, but I had a 3 ½ minute lead on him going into the pool!! I was pretty disappointed with myself over the swim and will be putting extra hours into improving my swim time.

All my friends did great during the race and Rob finished second in the Clydesdale division despite a nasty accident on the bike, Gretchen finish 3^rd overall in the women’s division and Cody placed 5^th in his age group. Hopefully by the next race I will have my new bike and within a month I hope I am able to see the benefits of that purchase. I have begun increasing my run workouts to prepare for the Half Ironman in Lubbock in June and know that I have a long way to go before I’m in the shape I need to be in. My next race will be the Holloman duathlon April 17^th.

First Race of the Season!!

Well, the race season has started with a bang and I hope the rest of the season plays out in a similar fashion. Over the course of the off-season (roughly October-January) I decided to do whatever it took to do better than the season before. I didn’t have a bad first season, but my times just didn’t seem like they correlated with how hard I was training. So in preparation for this season I began doing much more bike work than in the past. Nothing Lance Armstrong style, but much more than I did last season. I bought an indoor trainer for the bike and set out using it three times a week to keep my legs in shape.  By January I was able to start riding outside again and I could tell the difference the trainer made, but still had a long way to go. About at this point I decided to make a huge investment and get a high-end Tri bike. I began noticing last season that nobody who had a bike like mine was passing me, but EVERYONE that had a good Tri-bike and wheel set was blowing by me. I spoke with a friend of mine, Bobby Gonzalez, and he gave me tons of great training advice and also confirmed my suspicions about the need for a good bike. My new bike and wheel-set still have not arrived, but through the graciousness of Bobby, I have been able to use his high-end training bike for the last two races and the results speak volumes

 **If you are competing in triathlons as a hobby and are just doing it for fun and are not concerned about what place you finish in, you don’t need to spend a bunch of money on a bike. Most beginning road bikes will do just fine and you can save your money, but if you want to compete at a completely different level, a good bike and wheel-set is a must**

I guess this is a good spot to include one of those misadventures in triathlons that I have alluded to. Well, my son and I arrive in Alpine on Saturday for the Super Sulley race to kick off the season and I have Bobby’s bike and all I need to do is put my pedals on. First, I need to take his pedals off and that is were the problems began. I was able to get the first pedal off no problem, but spent three hours trying to get other pedal off and had no success! So I went outside and tried riding with one foot clipped in and the other foot wearing a running shoe. Believe it or not it worked OK, but was not the best riding position to be in. The next morning I went to the race and told Bobby the problems I had with the pedal. Turns out I was turning the wrench the wrong way!!! For those new to cycling the left side pedal screws out the opposite of what we all have been taught. No right for tighty and left for loosy, actually the complete opposite. So it took Bobby all of two seconds to take the pedal off and put mine on. My son just rolled his eyes and probably couldn’t believe how stupid his dad was.

As far as the race goes, I have to say that the Alpine 5K course is one of, if not, the hardest 5ks out there. The course flows throughout the campus and is one hill after another. I was able to keep a pretty good pace and made it to the bike in the top half of the racers. This is where I would see if my bike training had paid off. Right away I could tell that the bike I was on was much lighter than my old bike and just seemed to take off with every pedal rotation. I pushed my pace, because I knew that Cody or another 20 racers would soon be passing me, but I’m happy to say that didn’t happen. I finished the bike portion in third place and then transitioned to the swim as fast as possible. I didn’t have a very strong swim and was having trouble keeping the water out of my goggles, but managed to survive and finish fourth overall and first in my age group.

 I was finally able to put myself on a level playing field. As much as being a triathlete is an individual sport, equipment does play a role. I just hope that my new bike is as light as the one I used for this race and I can keep my bike times as fast as possible. Next up is the MVT Triathlon in Las Cruces, NM.

Yes, I blog now

I decided to start a blog describing my (mis) adventures into the world of triathlons. I drew inspiration from two fellow competitors (Cody and Rob) both of which race along side me and have given me valuable insight into preparation, training, and just an outlet to vent over the sometimes frustrating aspects of the sport.  I don’t have all the answers, in fact, I have many more questions then actual information, but I hope those out there that will actually read this can learn from my mistakes and be able to enjoy the sport more thoroughly.  I will update everyone on my race results throughout the season, but expect a strong dose of lessons learned from last season (my first), as I believe those lessons will serve beginning triathletes much better.