Bike Trainer vs Cross Trainer

I have a very nice bike trainer down in the basement with a wireless power meter and all kinds of little bells and whistles. It's a fluid trainer so the harder I pedal the harder it gets exponentially (fancy talk for a heckuva lot harder). A bike trainer let's you put whatever bike you like to ride on outside in front of the TV or iPod and ride inside. It gives a lot of useful information and allows for a lot of workouts that cannot be done outside. Most importantly mother nature's weather whims are a non factor, which is great in the winter. The bike leg of a triathlon is the biggest portion of time so you can't really get away with skipping the bike all winter.

Some of the useful parts of a trainer ride are one the power meter. This lets you know how much effort you really are putting out at a particular heart rate. I can't do this on a road bike because convincing my wife of the merits of a $1200 on board power meter would require more endurance than an Ironman. Also a trainer allows me to ride at a consistent pace. I have yet to convince any local communities to wall off traffic for my training rides, so the trainer is the only place red lights don't exist (except of course mountain biking...which could constitute cross training). A trainer is also a controlled environment so no hills or dales (I don't really know what a dale is) and no wind. Lastly drills are easy on a trainer, 30 second spins, single leg pedaling drills (great for working out that kink at the top of your pedal stroke by pushing your toe forward). I've never been successful trying to single leg pedal outside and people give me really funny looks.

So why don't people just ride the trainer all the time? It is i n c r e d i b l y b o r i n g... I mean really boring. After an hour I get really antsy. Magazine or book on my little music stand, tv, movies, ipod...make it bearable. Plus with that boredom, intensity can be hard to muster. So for the motivated athlete who hates the trainer there is hope. Cross Training. Now there are several options. Simply a different form of biking like mountain biking. Or a new thing I am looking at called Cyclocross. This one takes place in the fall on muddy courses. They are basically set up in an obstacle style course with sand pits and walls and other things you have to get off your bike and carry over, around, or through. The bike looks like a road bike but with fatter knobby tires. Never done it...looks real cool. It was featured in this month's Bicycling Magazine.

The other option is to rely on the winter sports. Namely downhill bumps skiing, cross country skiing and snow shoeing. Think of bumps as your intervals. Cross country is your endurance. Lastly snow-shoeing can serve as your tempo. Mix these up with a swim in the pool first or a run after and you have a heck of a brick workout. Part of the pain of Ironman is the fact that you have to go so long 8 to 17 hours. So a solid 6+ hour day of bumps followed by an hour run will give you some serious mental fortitude to draw on when the triathlon season is in full swing. Now you don't get out of riding on the trainer all winter, but these detours do serve as a useful and enjoyable way to not just maintain but improve fitness. Xterra even offers winter triathlons to prove the point...Alpine Skiing/Skinning (cross between downhill and cross country), mountain biking and snow-shoeing are your 3 events.

Happy training!

Triathlon Evolution - Finishing to Racing

Triathlon is a very fast growing sport. It attracts a wide range of folks, but typically starts off in a very similar fashion. Namely people want to answer the question, "Can I do that?" "That" usually takes the form of a shorter race, be it a sprint or olympic or some slightly off middle ground of the two.

That first triathlon is the scariest. What to expect? We look to friends who've done one or know somebody who's done one, to offer us some mentoring or pointers. How much should I train? We underestimate the swim. Maybe we borrow a bike or use our mountain bike, cruiser bike, hybrid to get ready for the bike. Did anybody do a brick workout for their first triathlon? We go online and find a freebie program or buy the current month's Triathlete Magazine and see if we can't make sense of what should work.

Race day arrives that first time way too fast and way too early, getting up before sunrise to head to the venue. Everything is strange, getting bodymarked with those smelly black magic markers. Getting your timing chip (does this really stay on when I pull my wetsuit off). Setting up transition, hmmm where do I put everything? Oh that guy looks like he know what he's doing. She doesn't look nervous at all. How much am I supposed to eat?

Then the race starts to line up for the start. God this wetsuit feels tight. I should have swam in this before today, ugh. Everybody's in the water. Are we really going to all swim at once? My heart is pounding. BOOM! Start, chaos, madness. Oh this wetsuit is too tight. Why is this person hitting my feet? Ouch, my goggles are around my neck. I can't breathe. PANIC. Oh why I am doing this? RELAX. BREATHE, stroke, stroke, better breathe again not like the pool. Ok I am getting this now. Cool. Just keep it up. Hey almost done here is the bouy, oh man people are all over me. Ok just take it home.

You crawl out of the water weary yet relieved. Ok where is my bike? Ouch my feet hurt on these rocks. Ok helmet first. Shoes, no wait I have to take off this stupid wetsuit. Where is the zipper cord? Ahhhhhhh damn it. Ok all ready to go on the bike.

Fast forward a little while on the bike. Man my legs are sore. I am hungry. Oh I should eat a gel I guess. Oh man when is this gonna be done. My legs are aching. I am slow. Wow how is that lady passing me? Does it say 62 on her calf? This sucks. Oh almost done 3 more miles. My head hurts, my legs are sooooo tired. How on earth am I gonna run? Oh there's transition.

Ok rack the bike. Get the running shoes. I guess I'll have another gel. Ready to roll, half way out of transition. SH!T! My helmet is still on. Run back and grab my hat. Oh my God my legs hurt. This is so stupid. Ok just put one foot in front of the other. Ok this isn't so bad. Ahhhhh side cramp. Ok that's gone. Just a mile to go. Man I am so tired, why I am I doing this? Oh there it is the finish line. Just run strong baby. Head high. You're the man. Oh this is SWEET. Done!!! Panting...I...can...definitely...do...better.

So there we are one triathlon done. It's finished. We know we can finish better but we are still in a finish mentality. Maybe we'll move up from Sprint to Olympic and finish that. Then we progress maybe try to do a half Ironman. Sometimes we stick around and do a few of the shorter distances. Almost inevitably we aim for the Granddaddy of them all. The Full Ironman, 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile (aka a marathon) run. To which friends and family are equally likely to respond, "All in one day?" or "What's wrong with you?" Any of these endeavors it approached initially with the finishers mentality.

We want to know what we need to do to "get through it." In many ways the finisher has a tougher goal than a racer. As my aunt was insightful enough to point out at my first Ironman, all of the fittest and best triathletes spent the least amount of time out on the course. Relatively speaking we all compete in an aerobic zone. Granted a pro puts out a lot more power in their aerobic zone than a first time finisher. But who has the harder day (relatively speaking in terms of self pain of course), the pro going for 8 to 9 hours as hard as they can or the first timer going as hard as they can for 14, 15, 16 or even 17 hours?

Anyway, at some point the switch is flipped and we start looking to do more than finish. How did I do overall? How about in my age group? What were my splits? How were my transitions? Now we delve deeper into the data, the theory, the training and strategy. Maybe we hire a coach or find a little more robust pay program on the web. There are endless choices for coaches. Now the focus is on training, nutrition, active recovery, heart rate, anaerobic threshold, power output. All the buzzwords start to mean something. We join the local tri club. Maybe we chat on message boards looking for pointers. Our significant other wonders why we are obsessed. We will improve! Once the switch is flipped there is no turning back. The ideal cannot be reached, but we devote enormous time, energy and resources into moving along that path toward that goal. The closer we get the better we become.

My wife bought me a T-shirt that says: "TRIATHLON If you have to ask why you will never understand." She says she doesn't get it but she sees the positives it creates for me. The why is difficult to put into words. But every triathlete has it in their mind's eye whether they are an elite racer or a first time finisher. Happy training!

Boulder 5430 (2010 Ironman 70.3) Race Report

Saturday - August 8

Well given the race was about an hour and 15 minutes from the house and started at 6:30am driving in the morning was feasible but not optimal. Our friends had a house closer to the venue so we were fortunate. We went up Saturday to check in and attend the race meeting. My friend Barb was there with Colorado Multisport, so it's always nice to see a familiar face and make introductions. Beth and Joe came by to meet us and we headed to Pearl Street to wander and get some tapas. We wandered around some more and watched the street performers, which was cool. Dinner was pasta and chicken at Jay's Pasta (I think is the name)...pasta and chicken are becoming a pre-race favorite I guess. After dinner we headed over to the "spare house" to get settled. I got to bed by 9:15 for my 4:15 wake up.

Sunday - August 9 - Race Day

Woke up at 4:15 with no problem. It was a typical crappy pre-race sleep but I slept like a log Friday which had me feeling good. I had a peach, banana and 2 cups of black coffee courtesy of Joe's brother Carl. We headed over to the race venue at 5am. It was still pitch dark which is always kind of eerie (like why am I up right now?) We got over to the race site and I got bodymarked, picked up my timing chip and set up transition. Transition was cool with rear tire bike racks instead of the bar to hang your bike by its seat. After setting up transition I chatted with Dana and Joe while we waited for the start. I took a quick dip in the Boulder reservoir and found the water kind of warm, but still wetsuit legal. It was a wave start so I had till 6:55am to wait with the other men 30-34 in our nice pink swim caps.

Swim - 1.2 miles - 44 minutes - I had projected 36 minutes given swimming 1 mile in 31 minutes at elevation 3 weeks prior. I never felt any great rhythm in my stroke and felt like I kept getting off target, plus I did kicked in the face once and had to readjust my goggles. Regardless it felt like the swim grade was probably a C and I have the next 4 weeks scheduled at Swimlabs for them to video my stroke and figure out some efficiencies. It was nice to see Dana and Joe as I made my way out of the water, but I admit being discourage seeing 8 minutes more than I hoped for on my watch.

T1 3:30 minutes - pretty good here for me considering I took a Hammer gel and some water before peeling the wetsuit, getting shoes, helmet, gloves and another spray of sunscreen...me being the very pale type. Probably should be a minute faster.

Bike - 56 miles - 2 hours 50 minutes - that works out to 19.7 miles per hour. I started the bike in the proper gear and went out relatively smooth. I was getting passed a good bit at the beginning (the longer the race the more this is probably OK). I kept climbing the light hill and was going about 16 mph which felt good. On the downhill I noticed I was hitting high 20s and then on the flats being in the mid 20s. For my first lap this was seeming pretty good. I had decided against solid food for the race and didn't even touch my gels on the bike. I took in 600 calories of Heed from 2 bottles and one of the race provided Gatorades. On the second lap I started passing huge chunks of people on the uphills. I was feeling strong and started coming out of the saddle to charge the uphills. I was picking up a little speed and feeling good. When I knew I was close to finishing at the fast end of my projection, I started to wonder if I was going to blow myself up on the run, especially given my poor swim. But the bike was a B+ at that point and I was feeling more upbeat.

T2 - 3:22 minutes - probably a minute and a half available here. But I took in another Endurolyte (I had 3 before the race started) as it was getting hot and I was sweating. I also had a Hammer gel and stuck one in my race jersey pocket.

Run - 13.1 miles - 2 hours for the half marathon. The run was hot and I hadn't seen Dana (Joe had taken off to do some training), but I figured I just missed her. I just started to go at my pace and noticed I got passed a good bit. But I figured 13.1 miles is a long way and I was in it for the long hall. At the first 3 mile markers I noticed I was close to a 9 minute mile pace which was decent for me. Then on mile 4 my stomach was bothering me a little and it was uphill. Luckily the stomach was just a brief moment of gas. Given the heat I was taking the ice at the aid stations and sticking it in my hat then ducking my head down into the hat and putting it on with the ice in there. Worked wonders for the heat. Mile 5 I started to feel pretty good and started to give it a little more gas. Around mile 6 I took my Hammer gel and got ready for what I would hope would be one more hour. My pace felt good and again on the 2nd lap like on the bike I started to pass quite a few big chunks of folks on the uphills and even on the flats as I was running strong. I heard my wife yell out from near the parking lot "keep going JB." Heard lots of little cheers from nice job to keep running strong. I felt good. I hammered the home stretch with a little sprint finish. The run seemed like A- to me.

So I wrapped it all up 5:41:14 which was almost 35 minutes better than my 6:15:59 personal record down in Austin last October. I also finished 465th out of over 1,000 participants. I was hoping to break into the top half, which meant a lot to me. Boulder was the site of my first tri, a little sprint swim and run with an olympic distance bike for charity. I was the last place male finisher that day in the world's triathlon mecca (both Ironmen world champs male/female live there as well as many pros, elites, olympians, etc). In fact the women's race today had the current Ironman, current Ironman 70.3 and Xterra world champs racing...Dibens of Xterra won. So to be above average in a half Ironman less than 2 years later gave me some redemptive pride. And in a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts I give the race itself an A. Racing my race (versus finishing my race, more to come on this topic), staying strong and getting stronger and ultimately leaving it all out there on the course.

Anyway a nice burrito from Qdoba was waiting but still no sign of my wife. So I wandered around a little bit and then decided to go start packing my stuff. Mental note keep the cell phone in transition rather than hand it off to her. I left transition and headed to the car. I spotted her walking toward the race. She said she thought when she yelled I was starting the run. She now new it was my second lap. She also realized I must have been going pretty fast (for me anyway). She had gotten sick while I was riding and went to the car to rest. She's all better now so all in all a great day!

Xterra Indian Peaks - Race Report

Friday July 31, Dana and I headed up in the early afternoon to Fleet Feet Boulder to check in for the race. Afterwards we continued on to the Best Western Lodge at Nederland near Eldora Mountain Resort. This was a great little spot to stay, a nice log cabin with split beam ceilings and log walls, the works. It also has breakfast in the morning, a giant hot tub, and is 5 minutes from Eldora Mountain. After checking in we headed over to the race site to check out the sites and do a little riding. It was freezing cold and raining so we kept it quick.

For dinner we headed over to Kathmandu, an Indian and Nepalese restaurant within walking distance of the Lodge. There is also a Smokehouse restaurant recommended within walking distance, cool little town. Anyway I had chicken curry for dinner with some rice and na'an. It was very tasty. A lady stopped by to say hello and congratulate me on Ironman CDA (I was wearing my finisher's t-shirt). She had just finished Ironman Lake Placid on Sunday, with her nice Ironman jacket on. She was a little hobbled and told me the hills were killer. She also did CDA two other years and said Lake Placid was much harder. Her advice, if you think you did a lot of hill training and climbing on your bike go out and climb some more. Anyway great piece of advice for my next year of training all for simply wearing my t-shirt :) .

August 1, Race Day, My Birthday - The race didn't start till 9:30 which was very nice. I actually slept a half hour later than I do during the week. Unfortunately I slept poorly and woke up congested with a scratchy throat. I think it was the altitude (sleeping at 8200 feet) and the chill the day before. I had some whole wheat toast, a half bowl of cereal and a scrambled egg for breakfast. We headed over to the race about 8:15. Everything was very smooth to get bodymarked, timing chips, etc. My buddy Joe arrived at the same time with his girlfriend Beth and brother Carl. So we had a good little crowd for the race.

Swim - 1000 meters - 20:16. The race was a time trial start, a first for me, every 3 seconds based on your own projected finish. I said 20 minutes and was right on within 16 seconds. My throat and nose cleared up nicely in the freezing cold water. The swim was pretty uneventful but I did like the start, not commotion just get out and swim.

T 0.5 / Run 600+ meters - 6:46. This was also a first. We had to bring shoes down to the lake and peel our wetsuit, put on the shoes and run with our wetsuit, swim cap and goggles up the hill to transition.

T1 - 3:51 - still need to pull about 2 minutes off this spot especially since my wetsuit was already off. I had a Hammer gel, Heed and put on my helmet and bike shoes. Oh and some more sunscreen this time so I wouldn't end up fried like Beaver Creek.

Mountain Bike - 10 miles - 1:31:18 - The bike was an incredible challenge. First the swim was at 9300 feet so the bike and run both take place above that elevation. Colorado has had one of the wettest summers on record. The rain has rutted the mountains, leaving trails rocky, choppy and with the rain at Eldora the night before for this trail...very muddy. The trail was primarily rocky access roads and muddy single track. Around mile 3 the hike a bike began. It's about 800 meters of hill that is easier to climb with the bike than to ride. I did not see anyone ride it. After the hike a bike it was a lot of rolling and climbing. The muddy conditions made descents challenging and climbing a little slower. It was on one of the climbs I tipped over on a switch back. Then a little further along on a descent I got caught in a rut and went over the handlebars. Nothing broken or punctured so I jumped back on the bike and wrapped things up.

T2 - 1:54 - there's about 30 seconds available to improve here. Though if you check my race times I am focusing on the actual events in the near term for my improvement before I start nit picking about minutes and seconds. Just get faster in the big spots first...speed kills.

Trail Run - 42:48 - The run was pretty brutal. It was all up and down, up and down. I kept my pace the best I could and had to revert to hiking a couple of steep uphills and even some downhills, more like hopping down them. The whole race was well managed with lots of aid stations and people directing traffic. Trails were well marked and easy to figure out where to go.
The run wrapped up with a nice little flat reprieve into the finish.

Dana, Beth and Carl were all at the finish. It was great to cross that line on my birthday. It was the first time I felt like crap at the finish though. My chest was killing me and my lungs were burning. I think the altitude had taken its toll. After sitting for a few minutes I started to feel better. I enjoyed a taco from the Qdoba taco bar. Like I said very well managed race and just a fun experience. My buddy Joe bolted across the finish, about a minute ahead of me, after you factor in the staggered start while I was finishing my taco. It was a great day and I felt very fortunate to spend my birthday having so much fun.