Rolling with Power

Training starts this weekend and been taking it easy, in preparation for the work I am about to do.  I've been spending the time since the Giants Race resting up, working on the house, being a parent, etc.  Things that I won't be able to do as much after 4-a-week workouts start next week.  (OK, really 6 a week workouts if you count the "homework" we're supposed to do on our own.) I've also been studying a lot about endurance racing physiology, diet philosophy, and training strategies, as well as making a few investments in equipment.  The main book I have embraced is "Going Long" by Joe Friel, which talks about every aspect of training for an Ironman, with much of it specific to the first-timer like myself.  One of the main thrusts is to train smarter, AND harder.  (but foremost, smarter)

Part of that is pacing and balance of training load, and one large component of that is learning to use a power meter during training and racing.  The power meter lets you measure your cycling performance much closer to the muscular chemistry than Heart Rate does, and is a MUCH better guide than "Relative Perceived Exertion", otherwise known as "How You Feel".

Craigslist came through with a PowerTap last week, just in time for my training effort.   Thanks to the all the fitness lost to 3 months of downtime away from cycling I'm almost back at square one.  That means that I'll be able to track my training and improvements right from the beginning all the way through race day.  (After which I'll probably be so sick of all this I'll be ready to hang up the bike forever...)

I picked up a bike trainer as well since there's a weekly spin workout every Tuesday night for the next forever.  Using a trainer with the power meter is a great combination because otherwise, how do you really know how much of a workout you're getting in?   Since the resistance of the trainer is so arbitrary and you're not actually going anywhere, the only thing you have to gauge your performance is heart rate.  Using power zones is a much better way to get exactly the workout you're looking for, and track the results much more precisely.

So that's the summary from the last month.  Not too much going on on the triathlon front, just preparing for the impending storm.  Fundraising has completely stalled at 25% but you can expect me to pick that up once things get going again as well.

Kona Ironman on TV today

Sorry for the late notice about this, but the annual NBC coverage of Ironman from Kona airs this afternoon on NBC. (Check local listings, as they say.) The show is 2 hours instead of 1.5 hours this year because NBC thought that Lance Armstrong was going to be racing back when they scheduled this.  Doing the TV show in October instead of later in the year was also because they thought Lance was going to be racing.  Of course, after his doping problems he wasn't part of the race but we still get the longer, more timely tv show because of him.

Trials riding on a carbon roadbike

If you like road biking, you need to watch this video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZmJtYaUTa0 which shows just what a full-carbon road frame will put up with in the hands of Martyn Ashton. There's a short video of outtakes here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee54EP-nho4 where he mentions that the whole thing was done one one frame and one set of wheels.  Only two small nicks to the carbon, and one flat suffered the whole time!

I did some freeze-frame CSI-style analysis and the wheels are Hope RS wheels.  I can see the aluminum braking surface but I'm not sure if they're all-aluminum wheels or carbon/aluminum hybrids.  (carbon wheels with aluminum braking surfaces)

Either way, this answers questions like "Can I ride my road bike all the way around Perfumo Canyon Road to See Canyon Road even though it's not all paved?"  Yes, I think you can.

One year out

We're one year out from Ironman Tahoe 2013, which will take place on September 22, next year.   With one year left to train and one year left to fund-raise, things are looking good.  Let's take a look at where I am. Things are going well on the fundraising front - This thing has been officially "on" for almost two months and I'm at 20% of my goal of raising $8,000 to fight blood cancer.  You can check my current progress at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and donate if you'd like.  If I can keep this pace up I should make my goal before the race next year which would be totally awesome.   Thanks to each of you who have already donated!

I'd like to make a special shout-out to the newly wed DiVerdi couple, who donated $250 and then had it matched by Adobe!   That's huge!

As far as training goes I'm also doing well.  I'm working on endurance in all three sports and trying to avoid sprints or over-doing anything in order to keep healthy. (except for one teensy-weensy little half marathon - see below.)  I've managed to go half-Ironman distance in all three sports in the last month which is reassuring.  Not in the same day - just individual efforts.

I'm nowhere near ready for the real thing right now but it's nice to be able to swim 2,200 yards or bike 56 miles and visualize what's needed to double the effort.  I'm feeling good about both of those sports and I can see how to build the volume to get where I need to be.

Running, however, is a different story.   Running is clearly my weakest sport and given the magnitude of the run and the fact that's its the last event, the run is going to be the hardest.  The only way I'm going to be ready for that leg is a slow, steady, smart build up in run endurance.

Having said that, last weekend had some over-exertion in the form of a half-marathon at the SF Giants Race.  It was way longer than I would ever go in a training run at this point but it was a lot of fun and it was a good chance to collect some data and experiment with my run/walk strategy.

The run/walk strategy went well (6 minutes jogging, 1 minute of walking) and my heart rate was looking good up through mile 11 when it started to climb a bit, indicating I was at the end of my range.  I couldn't have gone much farther without digging WAY deeper.  Normal amounts of soreness followed for the next couple days, so I think everything went very well.

In summary, things are looking good.  I've got a year to go and I'm pretty sure I've got the training under control.  I leave it up to all of you to make sure the fundraising part gets done as well.  I appreciate the help!

Building a very wide base

The official training program for Team In Training doesn't start until December but I'm not just sitting around until then.  I'm already prepping for the real training by starting slow and building gradually.  It's important to stay injury free over the next 14 months so I have to be smart about this and not over-extend myself too quickly and get myself hurt. The first few months of the official training are called the "base" period.  These months get the body ready for regular intense exercise and get it used to working hard and recovering.  Normally the base period lasts a couple months but in my case it'll last much longer, and that's fine.  The longer the base period, the stronger the foundation on which to build.

I've picked up a few books on training but the one I like the most is Joe Friel's Going Long book.  I've read each chapter at least one time, and some of them I've practically memorized.  He's a big advocate of building a wide base and concentrating on endurance instead of speed, especially for people new to the Ironman distances.  For sports I'm weak in he advocates repetition instead of length.  In other words, better to run 2 miles three times a week than try to run 6 miles once a week.

To that end, I've been trying to get in at least two runs and swims per week, building a solid muscle base that won't get injured.   I'm using Garmin Connect to track my workouts for now, since it's free.   It's super-basic and has virtually no scientific analysis capability, but it does the (basic) job.   Here's what my August training schedule looked like:

August Training Calendar

Click for a larger view...

As you can see, I'm doing a great job with the swimming (which are yellow), fitting in two or three swims per week.  Swimming is really easy to fit in because I can do it on the way to work or on the way home, and there are always free lanes in the pool.  I'm fitting in some running (in blue) and keeping my pace low. I'm biking most weekends and that's it.   That's probably enough for now since I have a deep base on the bike already and I'm doing a good job of long long without going too hard, although I keep putting in more hills than I should.

And I've even managed to get one brick in, with a 20 minute run after a long, slow ride!   By the way, the grey "HR study" is an occasional thing I do to measure my resting heart rate from time to time.   I just like to check up on the resting pulse from time to time, although I'm not very consistent about doing it under the same conditions every time.

If I can keep this up until December then I'll probably be in excellent shape to start the harder training when the group workouts start up.   That's the goal at least - go often, go slow, don't blow up, don't break down.   Meanwhile I'm collecting some great data on run pacing (vs. heart rate), bike pacing, gearing, etc. and really getting to know how my body responds to this new approach to training.

Remember:  I'm doing all of this not just for myself but to raise money for Leukemia and Lymphoma research.   If you'd like to contribute to my cause and encourage me to keep pressing on, please visit my donations page.

A look at the IM Tahoe course

Here's a short video that describes the course for Ironman Tahoe: Ironman Lake Tahoe course

The first minute or so is pretty cheesy but the real info starts at 1:18.

Update:  The run course has since been changed to be two loops, each going only half the distance.   This means all the running will be on the Truckee River bike trail and the run course won't actually reach the lake.   I guess they did this because it's much cheaper to run the race without closing parts of the main loop road but it's going to make for a very crowded bike path.