Category Archives: Fitness

Possibly more than you wanted to know about exercise, fitness, and so on.

2017/03/17 · 09:33

Setting up run intervals on Garmin watches

(Disclaimer: I am not a coach or even especially knowledgeable; in fact everything I say in this post could be completely wrong. Don’t blame me if you create an interval that causes you to inadvertently run an ultramarathon.)

If you want to be a faster runner, you have to run faster. Unlike many other areas of endeavor, though, the best way to get faster is to train in intervals. Instead of going out every day and knocking out the same distance on the road, almost every runner can benefit from mixing those steady-state runs in with shorter-distance, higher-intensity work. For example, my coach might give me this: “2 mi WU, 6 x (2:00 @ 10K, 2:00 slow), 1mi CD.” Translated, that means “2 mile warmup at an easy pace, 6 intervals where each interval starts with 2 minutes at your 10K pace and then a 2 minute slow run, followed by a 1 mile cooldown.” Tracking intervals is a pain in the butt, though, which is why many runners use a track– then they know to run 440, or 880, or whatever. Distance-based intervals are OK but I find track running to be even more boring than treadmill runs; I’d much rather do my intervals outside. Luckily, Garmin has my back: you can build a structured workout, then send it to your watch. When you’re running, the watch will tell you what to do. It’s magic! Because I am a nerd, I was excited when I found this feature a couple of years ago, but I find that lots of my running friends don’t know that it exists.

Garmin lets you build structured bike, run, or swim workouts that include an optional warmup, zero or more individual steps, zero or more repeats (which is the actual interval– you do X, then you do Y, repeated Z times), and an optional cooldown. Once you create the workout, you can send it to your device and it will guide you through the workout. Note that there are a lot of differences between run, bike, and swim intervals and how they are presented on various devices; for now I want to focus on the simplest case, setting up a simple run interval.

Let’s say that you want to do a simple interval workout: a 10-minute warmup, then 6 intervals at 5K race pace, then a 10-minute cooldown. I’ll pretend that you want 2 minutes at race pace and a 2 minute cooldown in each interval. Here’s how you’d set that up.

Start by logging into the Garmin Connect website. Once you’re there, click on the hamburger menu (3 parallel lines in the upper left corner), then and scroll down until you see “Workouts,” then click it. That will bring up the workouts page.

the workouts list in Garmin Connect

Click the “Select a workout type…” menu and choose “Run,” then click “Create a Workout.” You’ll see the workout creation page. Garmin helpfully assumes that you’ll have a warmup, a single run step, and a cooldown. Each of these items is color-coded.

A new blank workout for you to customize

Delete the single run step by clicking the “X” at its right edge, then edit the warmup and cooldown to include the times you want. You can also specify distance– wherever you see “select a duration”, you can choose to base the length of that item on distance, time, speed, pace, or just pressing the lap button. Use the pull-down menus in each section to fill out the workout you want.

Start with the warmup and cooldown

Now for the magic: click the “Add a Repeat” button and a new section will appear.

Oh noes, this is all jacked up

There are several things wrong with this, though: the repeat is in the wrong place, it’s for the wrong number of reps, and the intervals we want aren’t there. Luckily, this is easy to fix:

Use the + and – icons at the top of the repeat block to set the correct number of reps.
Use the “Select a duration…” pulldowns in the “run” and “recover” sections to set the right durations.
Use “Add More…” in the “run” section to add the correct pace:
1. Click “Add More…”
2. The “Select an intensity target” pulldown will appear.
3. Click it and select “Pace”, then fill in the target pace range you want. (Note that you can also set intervals based on heart rate zone and a bunch of other metrics).
Repeat step 3, but this time for the “recover” section.
Click and drag the little grabby thing (next to where you see “Repeat N Times” in the repeat block) to drag it into the correct position.

When you’re finished, here’s what your workout will look like:

All done! (Bonus points if you notice the one other change I made)

Now you can save the workout.. but before you do, use the pencil icon next to the “Run Workout” title to change the name of the workout so you’ll be able to identify it. Once that’s done, click “Save Workout.” At this point, absolutely nothing useful will happen when you look at your watch, because there’s another required step: you have to transfer the workout to the watch. The easiest way to do this is with the Garmin Connect mobile app, although you can plug your watch in with a cable if you prefer. As I write this, you can’t create interval workouts in the app, which is too bad. Here’s how to perform the sync: (These instructions are for the app on iOS; I don’t have an Android device so I have no idea if the UI is the same or not.)

Start the app, then click on the “More” icon (the three little dots) in the bottom navigation bar and tap “Workouts”. You should see the new workout you just created in the list:

The new workout is available to sync

Tap the new workout, and you should see the workout itself. In the upper-right corner of the screen, there’s a little icon showing an arrow pointing into a phone. That means “sync,” although why it shows a phone and not a watch is a mystery. Click it, then you’ll see a page showing all the devices your app knows about.

Here’s your workout, nearly ready to go

Select the device you want and tap “Send”.

Select the target device

Wait a minute, then check to see if the workout’s on your watch. On the Fenix3 HR, you do this from Training > My Workouts > Running. Scroll through the list until you see your workout, then hit the “start” button and you’re all set.. happy running!

Ta da

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Filed under Fitness, General Tech Stuff

Tagged as Garmin, running

2017/03/04 · 07:35

Havana, day 2

Day 1 of our trip was about getting settled in. Day 2 was all about race prep.

Lance and I got up early-ish and went for a short run along the Malécon. We started from our apartment (the little red pin on the map), so you can sort of see where we were situated compared to the rest of Old Havana. This was just a short shakeout run, so we made a couple of stops for picture-taking along the eastern leg. You can’t see it in the map, but there’s a really interesting old fort across the strait to the east.

Running along the Malécon

Called Castillo de la Punta, its construction started in 1590. It offers a great landmark from anywhere along the shoreline to the west because its promontory is further to the north than the rest of Havana. It makes a great scenic backdrop, too.

Castillo de la Punta

Further to the south along our run route, we saw a couple of cruise ships jockeying for entrance into the port. Non-US-flagged cruise lines have been stopping at some other Cuban resorts for a few years now but having them come into, or just offshore, Havana is fairly new.

Paul and Lance on the run

After our run, we met up with the rest of the posse and finished getting our gear and bikes together. This was quite a production, as Julio, the 6th member of our group, was staying one block away. We’d arranged for Eric to bring a friend with a truck, so we set out on the half-hour drive from our apartment to Marina Hemingway, named after Papa himself. The drive took us through a row of embassies (not including the US embassy; more on that later) and some scenic residential neighborhoods. The marina itself was pretty well representative of Cuba: dilapidated in spots but still functional. The marina has two hotels: Hotel Acuario and El Viejo y La Mar (“The Old Man and the Sea”), which is being renovated.

The Old Man and the Sea-themed fountain

The registration events were all held at Acuario, more or less. We were told the workflow would go like this:

Get a race number and athlete wristband
Drop off our bikes and bike bags in T1
Drop off our run bags at T2

In my race report, I alluded to a certain degree of disorganization at registration, so it may not surprise you to know that things didn’t exactly work this way. We stood in line for a solid two hours to get in and register– registration opened at 10 and we were in line about 1015. The registration process itself was a maelstrom of people milling around trying to do 4 simple things: sign a waiver, sign up for race photos, get a race packet with numbers and so on, and get the coveted wristband. The volunteers seemed overwhelmed, and the layout was such that the crowd was funneled to the photo station first.. where you couldn’t sign up without your race number, which you wouldn’t have at that point. You get the idea.

Eventually we survived that process and walked back over to where we’d parked to get our bikes and bags. Each of us had to take all of our stuff and pack it into the event-provided T1 and T2 bags, so that took a few minutes. Then it was back to standing in another line to drop off our bikes and bags. This process was more smoothly organized: each of us had to find our numbered slot in the bike racks, park our bike, and hang our bike bags on the corresponding numbered hook. Run bags? Oh, yeah, we had to leave those too. At various times we were told that we could set up normal transition areas near our bikes, that we must set them up, and that we could not set them up (also that we could and/or could not leave helmets and shoes with the bikes). Oh, and also that we would and/or would not have access to our run bags before the race. You get the idea here too.

After another hour or so of fumbling around in the heat, everyone had their gear staged and we wandered off to find lunch. This was a bit of a challenge; our drivers had left, and the marina only featured one restaurant. Lonely Planet characterizes by saying that you can eat there, if you have no better options, which you won’t if you’re at the marina. They were right. Nothing was bad but it was, at best, mediocre. I had shrimp pasta; the shrimp and pasta were perfectly all right but they were served in an odd not-Italian tomato sauce.

Cuban pizza; note the skeptical looks of Tony and Julio

The Cuban national tourism agency had offered a tour package for triathletes that included airport transfers, rooms at the Hotel Naciónal, and some other goodies. We found a bus going to the hotel and got on it; no one asked if we were supposed to be there, so we enjoyed the air conditioning and ended up at one of Havana’s most venerable institutions.

The imposing Hotel Naciónal

The hotel is set on a hill, and it has a commanding view of the water from its back terrace. Naturally, we immediately went there, whereupon I met a new friend… because of course he’d be there.

No word on whether he supports Fidel

We hung out at the hotel using their wifi for an hour or so, then Lance and I took a classic-car taxi back to the marina while the others went home.

Riding dirty

The idea was that we didn’t need to all go to the race briefing, so Lance and I volunteered to go find out two important factoids: whether the swim would be wetsuit-legal and whether ITU rules allowed swimming bare-chested. The answers turned out to be “maybe” and “yes”, and we were able to avoid having to wait until 7pm or later to find that out. We left the marina on foot and walked around the area a bit, including crossing the small and sluggish Rio Jaimanitas, before we caught a taxi back– a late-model British MG sedan that had seat belts and air conditioning– the only vehicle I rode in the whole trip that had either, much less both. On the other hand, I’d just as soon have no seat belts and no AC if it means I could roll around in this beauty all day:

What a beauty

We got back to the apartment and back-briefed everyone on what we’d learned. They’d already had dinner, so Lance and I walked a block over to the Malécon to look for dinner, where we found Castropol. Named after the town in Spain, and not You Know Who, this was a lovely surprise. It was easily on a par with the best meals I’ve had anywhere else; I had a grilled chicken breast with arroz moro, some fried plantains with garlic and salt, and a no-kidding-really-delicious bottle of mineral water (usually that stuff tastes awful but this was great). Portions were generous, service was friendly and quick, there was great live music, and the sidewalk-level people watching opportunities were excellent. They also have a second level of the restaurant where they specialize in Italian food, but we never made it back there to try it.

Grilled chicken? Why, yes, thank you

Full and sleepy after the 10 or so miles I’d walked/run that day, I headed back to the apartment and was in bed by about 830p. Now might be a good time to mention that I’d been getting steadily more and more congested– going through a pack or so of Kleenex and 2 12-hour pseudoephedrines per day, yet still continually honking like a foghorn. I was feeling a bit run down but was optimistic that a good night’s sleep would set me right. If you’ve read my race report, you already know how that turned out.

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Filed under Fitness, Travel

Tagged as cuba, cycling, running, swimming, Travel, triathlon

2017/02/28 · 14:03

Training Tuesday: Havana Triathlon race report (25 Feb 2017)

(The Garmin Connect app doesn’t work on Cuban government wifi, so I can’t post course maps, etc. The final race results aren’t up, and since I didn’t have my phone I don’t have any pictures from the race itself, so this report is all you get for right now.)
Summary: great experience, awful performance. 8:12 for a 70.3 is nothing to get excited about. I guess I was not as well prepared as I thought, but there were a couple of other external factors. First is the fact I was sick. I didn’t realize how sick until today (Tuesday), 3 days post-race, when I’m feeling normal and comparing it to how I felt the day before and the day of the race. I had been sniffling and snuffling all week, since maybe 2 days before we left, and was regularly taking 12hr pseudoephedrine for a solid week before race day… not a great setup for the race. I was short on sleep ( people here don’t really get their nights started until midnight or so, so we’ve had significant traffic noise and street noise each night), averaging about 5hrs of real sleep each night for the 4 days pre-race day. I also ate poorly, out of necessity, the day and a half before the race. Those aren’t excuses, but they were definitely factors.

Prep

We spent the entire day before the race getting registered, dropping off our bikes and transition stuff, and so on. I logged about 10 miles of walking. This was not a good idea. Race registration was at the marina; it took about 2 hours to get through packet pickup, then we had to drop off our bikes. The best word to describe the race was “disorganized.” There was a lot of mis-information and non-information, and the whole experience really made me appreciate how hard RDs have to work to put on a smoothly running race. This is only the 3rd year for this race so I am confident that they will improve.

This was a point-to-point race: all our bike stuff went in 1 bag, and all our run stuff in another. We dropped the bike bag off with the bike and gave the run bag to the organizers, who staged it at T2 for us. This put a very high premium on making sure the right stuff was in the right bag, which for the most part I got right. However, that process adds some mental stress, even if you’re a heavy checklist user, as I am.

I had a small lunch (shrimp pasta in an interesting but odd not-tomato sauce) and a good but small dinner (grilled chicken, rice, black beans, a few slices of fried plantain) and got to bed about 830p, where I slept for maybe 5 hours total.

Pregame

I got up at 410a, had breakfast (small pack of honey roasted peanuts, a protein bar, plenty of water), and met the others downstairs for our van ride to the marina. The organizers had told us that we’d have access to our bikes so we could fill bottles, etc, and this turned out to be true. They had also said we’d have access to our run bags, which was not, so I started the run with no water… more on that later. There were nearly 800 participants in the race, for which the organizers thoughtfully provided two (2) portapotties. With no toilet paper. That was awesome. Luckily I had some Kleenex with me.

There was a great deal of confusion over where the swim was supposed to start. Nothing was marked, and none of the volunteers seemed to know what was what. Once the sprint swim started, the RD eventually herded everyone to the right area and collected our after-race bags. Before the swim, I put my glasses, street clothes, etc. into that bag for access later.

Weather and conditions

It was mid-70s at swim start, with a water temperature of about 76. The wind was calm until later in the day– it started to pick up about 11a and reached its peak when during the run leg on the Malécon. The forecast high temperature was 85. I don’t know how hot it got, except that the temperature sensor on my watch registered a max of 105. When it’s on my arm, it reads about 15 degrees higher than ambient FWIW.

Swim

The RD said wetsuits were optional, so I swam with my sim shorts. The plan was to jump in the water at the land side of one of the marina’s berthing lanes, swim down that lane, across the mouth of the adjacent lane, and back down the next lane, for a total of 2100 yards or so. I don’t have good data from the swim– my watch showed I swam 1375 yards in 48:08, but the other guys with me all had correct distances, and the race results aren’t posted online so I can’t cross-check. I felt pretty good on the swim overall, at least until last night when Lance told me he saw two of the yachts in the lane we were in pumping gray water overboard as we swam past. One interesting note: when I jumped in, I forgot to hold my nose and so pumped my sinuses full of marina water. My nose was fine for the rest of the race, go figure.

T1 took 11:08. FAR TOO LONG. This consisted of a 1/4mi or so run from the swim exit to the bike area. Our bike bags were hung on numbered hooks, and volunteers were checking numbers so that by the time each athlete got to the hook, they’d pulled the correct bag. ITU rules don’t allow setting up transitions in advance, so I had to dig through my bag to get socks, shoes, chamois cream, a shirt, sunglasses, bike computer, and nutrition, then get it all put on or tucked in pockets, then run out to the bike and set it up the rest of the way.

Bike

The bike course started with a couple of short climbs that I wasn’t expecting. I’ll put the route map on my blog later when I have Internet again (or you can look it up if you follow me on Strava), but basically we rode around a residential district, then up Linea (one of the main drags) and through El Tunel Linea, then turned around and reversed the route and diverted onto the main east-west autopista. There were tons of volunteers and cops managing both vehicular and pedestrian traffic; they had shut down our side of Linea for racing, so all the traffic was squeezed into the opposite side of the boulevard. I give the race organizers full points for this.

Havana is not what I’d call a polluted city but there is much more vehicle exhaust than Americans are used to– lots of poorly tuned 2-stroke gas engines and big diesels. Riding through that was not my favorite. In addition, there are tons of road hazards. I would describe the overall road conditions as fair– the worst of the roads we rode are no worse than some of the hot spots on Redstone Arsenal or the area near my house (I’m looking at you, Burgreen Road). There are lots of potholes, sunken manhole covers, and so on, and none of them were marked, but they were easy to see.

On the autopista, the course was a series of very long 1-3%climbs and short, quick descents out to about 35mi, then a turn back into the city. As the day wore on it got hotter and windier, with a moderate cross headwind on the way back in.

There were 5 or 6 aid stations with bottled water on the bike course. I drank probably 6 bottles of water on the bike, had a Honey Stinger waffle each hour, and had a small banana (maybe 5″ long) at the turnaround rest area. At the first rest stop (maybe 20mi in) I stopped, put on my arm sleeves, and soaked them, my head, and my jersey with water. That helped a bit. At the turnaround rest stop I stopped again and drank an incredibly tasty can of the local equivalent of orange Gatorade– muchas gracias to the volunteers who thought to have that on hand.

After the highway the route took us back up Linea and through the tunnel again. (I did shout “TUNNELLLLLLLLL” each time I rode through it, like the kids and I used to do when driving through tunnels, so that was fun). There were several groups of uniformed schoolchildren along the route who went nuts whenever they saw a cyclist, so that was really fun.

I tried to stay in the prescribed power range but on the back half of the bike course was trying to make up time and started pushing harder. This was a critical mistake. 3:41 on the bike, when I was hoping for 3:15 or better, was rough.

T2 was set up right near the US embassy and Monte de las Banderas, a local monument with some Fidel-era slogans. Racers biked in and handed their bikes to a handler, who racked it, then ran down the chute to get their run bags. I did that, found a changing tent, and started trying to change, but I was in a fog– I put my belt on backwards, couldn’t get my shoes on the right feet, and went the wrong way leaving the chute. There was no water in T2, so I started the run with empty bottles. 8:05 in T2, most of which was spent sitting trying to catch my breath. I was so hot I actually had goosebumps. I’m lucky it wasn’t longer.

Run

I ran for, maybe, half a mile and then my legs just gave out and I walked. Occasionally I burst into a dispirited sort of trot but I was having trouble moving my legs. Eventually I shuffled through the first aid station and got some water in my bottles, on my arm sleeves, over my head, and down my back. I wish I could say that I magically revived but no. I nearly quit about a dozen times but kept shuffling to a 3:20 finish. That is by far the worst half marathon I’ve ever run, both in terms of time and of quality. There is no way to dress it up or make it look better.

Oh, did I mention that there were no bathrooms on the bike or run courses? No? Because there weren’t. I barged into a restaurant on the Malécon for my run potty break. Twice. Hope they didn’t mind.

The finish

All my friends finished before me, so I had a great welcoming committee as I crossed the finish line and got my medal and finisher’s shirt. I plopped down and collected myself for a few minutes, then Craig and I took a cocotaxi back, which was like riding inside the Devil’s lawnmower, with lots of exhaust and swerving. Warren was kind enough to ride my bike back for me and put it away.

Post game

Literally all I could do when I got back to the apartment was sit in a chair, stretched out. I couldn’t really turn my head because my shoulders and neck were so tight, and I didn’t even have the energy to banter. I have never felt so sick or tired after a race. I eventually straggled upstairs for a shower and a half-hour nap, which helped. The thought of food was absolutely repulsive, so when the posse went out for dinner I went to bed instead about 830p and slept for maybe 7 hours total. The next morning, I got up and picked my way listlessly through the excellent breakfast buffet at the Parque Central hotel and then shuffled through the Museum of the Revolution (more details on both of those in a later post), then went back to the apartment for a big long nap. I didn’t really start feeling normal until Monday afternoon but am now fully recovered. Lots to learn from the overall experience, including a) don’t race when you’re sick and b) make sure your race prep is strong. Onwards!

1 Comment

Filed under Fitness, Travel

Tagged as cycling, fitness, running, swimming, triathlon

2017/02/23 · 05:27

Havana, day 0

I woke up at 0315, 45 minutes early. Why? Who knows. I was thoroughly packed so I had time for a leisurely shower and a last-minute gear check. Warren picked me up right on time and we headed for the airport, where we were soon joined by Lance, Warren, and Craig.

At checkin, Delta didn’t know how to handle us. First, they had to figure out how to sell us a Cuba travel card (CTC).. more on that in a minute. Once that was done, our agent discovered that the computer said “no bikes are allowed for transport to Cuba.” This directly contradicted what Warren had been told by Delta on the phone and what I’d been told both in email and via Twitter DM. The agents were patient and helpful but ultimately couldn’t override the computer without getting the local redcoat to come fix us up.

Delta’s standard fee for bicycles is $150, and they cheerfully applied that on this flight to each of us. The agent apologetically pointed out that my suitcase was 6lbs overweight (because it has about 15lbs of donated clothing, a skillet, and some other stuff for our Cuban hosts) so I had some last-minute juggling to do to make weight. (Meanwhile, Julio was doing the same thing departing Louisville, except that they accepted his bike without question.)

Once that was finally done, we had an uneventful flight to Atlanta and a walking breakfast en route to the international terminal.

We stopped at the currency exchange booth and found that they didn’t carry Cuban currency– not a huge surprise. Tony had coordinated a bulk purchase of Euros, because it worked out slightly better for us to buy Euros in the US and then change Euros to Cuban pesos (CUC).

Now, back to the CTC. Cuba doesn’t issue visa per se for US citizens. Instead, you need a CTC. The airline can’t let you board a flight to Cuba without one, so you either have to buy in advance through a consolidator (which costs $85 or so) or from the airline, usually $50. Delta charged us the $50 fee at checkin, so all we had to do was fill out a form certifying that we had a legitimate reason to go to Cuba and show our receipt for the $50. The gate agents gave us the actual CTC and checked to make sure we’d filled it out properly– apparently lots of people get the date format backwards and end up having to buy another CTC. The form is in two parts: Cuban customs collects part 1 when you arrive, and you turn in the matching part 2 when you depart.

After checking all the documents, that’s when you get your boarding pass, which is stamped to indicate that you’ve passed the documentation checks and can legally board the flight. US citizens traveling to Cuba are required to have medical insurance, since they aren’t covered by Cuba’s government insurance system. The $25 fee for this insurance is included when you purchase a ticket on Delta, and your boarding pass is proof of purchase.. so you’re legally required to keep your boarding pass with you at all times in country.

Apart from the documentation procedures (which are really very similar to any other Delta international flight), the boarding process and aircraft are identical to what you’re used to. We flew a domestically configured A319 with wifi, although wifi only works in US airspace. To make sure that this gets posted, I’m going to actually post it while we’re still in the air over Florida; you’ll have to wait until the next installment to learn about our arrival in Havana, race packet pickup, and our (planned) dinner at Paladar Torreson.

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Filed under Fitness, Travel

Tagged as cuba, Travel, triathlon

2017/02/21 · 18:10

Training Tuesday: pre-Havana smorgasboard

In two days I’ll be headed to Havana for my first 70.3 of the season: La Habana Triatlón. Things here at la casa have been fairly chaotic as I’ve tried to clear my work backlog, learn and prepare for travel to a completely unique country, and get my normal training and race prep together. Here are a few highlights:

Alex handed me over to a new coach, Jon Fecik. Jon is a professional triathlete. I can’t summarize how excited I am to be working with him– even after only two weeks it’s clear that he is going to be a great match for my training needs. So far I’ve learned a ton from him and I think I have a solid race plan.
The weather in Havana this weekend: forecast high of 85 degrees and sunny. The water temperature will almost certainly not be wetsuit-legal, plus that’s kind of warm for a 70.3. Jon has given me a pretty solid hydration plan and we’ve talked extensively about my race pace strategy so I think I’ll be good to go.
Packing has been interesting because I assume that I will not be able to get anything locally except for bottled water and fresh food. Everything from bike parts and tools to race nutrition to clean underwear (and toilet paper!) has to go with me, or I have to do without it. This has raised my packing anxiety to a previously unknown level.
I’m traveling with a group of 5 other local triathletes, and we’ve got an Airbnb with a housekeeper. We’ve also been able to book a driver/guide. This is going to be important because none of us have been there before and we have a fairly complex set of logistical problems to solve– getting 6 people, plus their bikes and gear, from point A to point B, thence point C, then back to B, several times, then back to A is going to be non-trivial. Having local guidance will be extremely useful.
There’s a ton of stuff to see and do in Havana– it’s a city of over 2 million people. Anything I have time for will be a bonus.
Cuba has very, very limited Internet access. Simple tasks (like sending one of my fellow travelers a message to ask where we’re meeting for lunch) will be impractical at best. We’ve all got paper maps, as well as offline copies of city maps on our phones. I posted the other day about my proposed email/blogging rig, and I’m confident it will work, but you may not be hearing much from me over the next several days.

I’ll be posting a full race report sometime between the end of the race and the end of March. Stay tuned!

Training Tuesday: What I learned from my gait analysis

Like most runners, I’ve gradually accumulated a catalog of minor aches and pains as I run. Distance, pace, and terrain all influence how you feel during and after a run, and so do accumulated injuries– once you sustain an injury, you’re generally going to be more susceptible to re-injuring the same part. One solution: quit running. HAHAHAHAHAHAH I know, right? Not gonna happen. Another solution: see a professional to figure out what’s causing my issues, then fix them. I liked that plan better, so I embarked on a two-pronged strategy.

First, I visited Andrew Walker at PhysioWorks HSV to address a problem I’ve been having with my left Achilles tendon. Andrew put me through a battery of static and range-of-motion tests and told me, in summary, that I am a hot mess: poor left ankle mobility (which explains the foot cramps I get on long swims), excessive external rotation of my right foot, and some muscular imbalances in my glutes and hamstrings. Now I’ve got a set of targeted exercises to address the muscle imbalance (more on that in a future post). He also said “you know, your running cadence is low”. He then explained that increasing your running cadence significantly decreases the dynamic load on the ankle and knee joints by reducing impact forces– I was sold.

The following week, I took advantage of my coaching team at CHP to have Nickademus Hollon do a video gait analysis. Matt shot video of me running towards and away from the camera as well as left- and right-facing lateral views. Nickademus sent me back a 20-minute annotated video pointing out several issues with my running:

Too much external rotation of my right foot. this is caused by the same issues Andrew spotted with my right hip and glutes. The excess rotation is putting extra stress on my right knee and IT band, which explains the soreness I often have after long runs.
My cadence is low (but I knew that already). Apart from the impact-force increase caused by the slower cadence, this also causes me to “overstride”, or take steps that are too long. The longer your stride, the more you’re in the air, which means the harder you land and the more energy it requires for you to push off again. Because I’m pushing off so hard, I’m putting too much energy bouncing up instead of forward– so write down “excessive vertical oscillation” on my list.
I’m crossing my arms over the midline of my body. When my arms swing, my hands are crossing close to my bellybutton, which causes my torso to twist. This both wastes energy and imparts extra torque to my hips, which is contributing to the right-foot rotation.
I’m heel striking.

While this seems like a long list of problems… well, actually, it is. The good news is that there are really only two things I need to work on to improve my form. First, I need to raise my cadence. The standard value that most runners aim for is 180 steps/minute. I normally run at about 150, which explains the overstriding problem quite nicely. I’ve started running with the iSmoothRun app, which includes an audio metronome that will warn me when my cadence drops below my target of 160. After a week or two at 160, I’ll move to 170, thence 180. Second, I need to concentrate on keeping my arms from crossing over the midline. This just requires mindful attention; there’s no real technique involved other than “don’t do that.”

Once I start to ingrain those two changes in muscle memory, and after a few weeks of PT exercises to strengthen the underprivileged, I’ll do another gait analysis to see if anything’s changed. I am betting that these changes will pay off, though, and I look forward to seeing the results. Ne

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Tagged as fitness, running

2016/12/28 · 17:49

2016 in review: athletics

It was a busy year: two 70.3 (or “half-Iron distance”) races, a marathon, a bunch of shorter road races, and some PRs. Highlights:

completed my first marathon. My left Achilles tendon is still a little sore, but now that I’m not scared of the distance, maybe I’ll try another one next year.
Ran a really tough 70.3 in New Orleans, then improved my 70.3 time by 46 minutes in North Carolina.
Set course PRs at Rocketman and Renaissance Man (which was also my Olympic-distance PR).
Went 1:58 in a half marathon.
Completed my Knighthood quest, earning the title Knight of Sufferlandria.
Got my first age-group win in a 10K (52:35) and placed in a couple of other local races.
Outran the International Space Station at the Racin’ the Station duathlon.
Ran intervals on the Golden Gate Bridge.
Bought a used triathlon bike, a sweet Cervelo P2. I am not fast enough to take full advantage of it but I’m getting there.

I finished the year with a few new weightlifting PRs too; my max squat moved to 325, max bench to 220, and max deadlift to 395. This was all incidental, since I didn’t plan for or compete in any meets this year.

Distance-wise, as I write this post I’m at 990 cycling miles and 440 running miles for the year. These are ridiculously low numbers for avid cyclists or runners, but not a bad combined total. I don’t believe in setting mileage goals for their own sake. Every mile I run or ride is for a specific reason, not just to increase my mileage count. (Disclaimer: the reason for some of those miles is “to enjoy being around people I like,” not for training reasons.) Based on my workout calendar for the rest of the year, I’ll go over 1000 cycling miles and maybe hit 455 or so on the run.

(I didn’t say anything about swimming because I have nothing to say. I didn’t get any faster, but I didn’t drown or get any slower either).

It’s pretty amazing that I was able to get faster and stronger and gain endurance over the course of a year.

What about next year? I’m still working through my goals for next year with my coach, but I plan to insist on setting 3 goals: go over 1000lbs on my 3-lift total, go sub-6:30 on a 70.3, and go sub-3 on an Olympic. I also have some distance-specific running goals but those are definitely subordinate to those 3. Once I nail things down with Alex, I’ll post a specific goals post so the two or three people who read these things will be able to help hold me accountable.

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2016/12/13 · 13:01

Training Tuesday: that one time I ran a marathon

[n.b. edited to add “pros and cons” section at the end…]

Summary
I’m a triathlete, and I’ve never run more than a half-marathon distance, even in training. So of course I ran my first marathon this weekend, three days after deciding to do it. Finish time was 5:09:53, well under my goal time of 5:30: https://www.strava.com/activities/798790580

The marathon course in all its glory

“See, what happened was…”
The annual Rocket City Marathon is a big deal in Huntsville. 2016 marks its 40th year, and I knew a ton of people who were running. It has a reputation as a well-organized, well-supported race, and the RD is co-owner of the local Fleet Feet, so it is well sponsored too. After seeing a couple of “who’s running the race?” posts in various Facebook groups, I started thinking (always a dangerous endeavor). “If I can run a 70.3, that’s about 6-7 hours of steady effort– so I bet I could handle the workload of a marathon.” When I suggested this in the Complete Human Performance discussion group, my fellow complete humans all said “that’s a terrible idea and you should absolutely do it.”

Then I made the mistake of mentioning to a few of my local friends that I was thinking of running it. A few were horrified, a couple were supportive but skeptical, but the majority were positively gleeful at the thought of having a new victim join their ranks.

Prerace
I went to the pre-race expo on Friday, paid my $100 registration fee, and got a clear plastic bag containing a race shirt (a nice Brooks tech shirt, with their coarse-looking mesh weave), a course map, a race bib, and a few other local information sheets. The expo had several assorted vendors selling stuff– shoes, clothes, and so on– but nothing that I wanted or needed. Critically, they were selling race finisher shirts, but I didn’t buy one because why would you want a finisher shirt until you’d finished? (Hold that thought…)

Friday night’s dinner was Chick-Fil-A, always a good pre-race choice. The boys and I hit Fleet Feet, where I bought a Nike jacket of some description because I was assured it would be warmer than what I had. I got about 7 hours of sleep and woke up to see that the outside temperature in my backyard was a balmy 23 degrees. I dressed accordingly: a merino wool base layer (top and bottom) from good old Costco, with CW-X tights and a pair of running shorts on the bottom and a local race tech shirt plus the Nike jacket. An old wool hat, a pair of Costco gloves, and my trusty ballistic sunglasses rounded out my kit. (Oh, and my ancient but much loved Fitletic belt, which I’d loaded with BASE Salt, lip balm, and snacks.) I drank a cup of coffee, ate 2/3 of a Tri-O-Plex protein bar, and headed to the Von Braun Center. I got there a good 45 minutes beforehand and had plenty of time to find a bathroom and say hello to various local folks who were running.

The plan and the start

My plan was to hold a steady 11-12:00/mi pace and to do a 3-minute run / 1-minute walk interval. I figured that would put me around 5:30 or so, depending on my walk pace. For nutrition, I’d brought a bunch of Bonk Breakers and Gu chews; I knew the course would have water and Powerade but wasn’t expecting any on-course nutrition. I figured that I wouldn’t need to eat a ton on the go, though.

Right before the race started, I found Dana and her kids for a pre-race hug and, hooray, some hand warmers for my gloves. All suited up, I found the 5:15 pace group, put in my headphones, and waited for the start gun. My neighbor-friend Ashley was also running the race and we decided to stick together since, like me, she hadn’t trained for this race. (Unlike me, she had run RCM twice before, so she had that going for her.)

I was able to stay with the pace plan with no problem for the first 13, with occasional misfires when I didn’t hear my Garmin beep to tell me to switch intervals. Even without headphones, and even on quiet residential streets, it just isn’t loud enough to consistently get my attention. I was really worried that I’d go out too fast in the first few miles, as is my habit, but the combination of running with someone at the same pace and my nervousness about being able to finish the distance kept me in check. About mile 9, we caught up with the 5:00 pace group and stuck with them for a while.

Along the way, I saw this delightful sign and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to capture it for posterity. WAKE UP SHEEPLE!

Chemtrails: not just for breakfast any more

Mile 13.2 and beyond: terra incognita
At the halfway mark, the Panera Pounders, my local running tribe, had a spirit station set up, with everyone dressed up as Santa Claus. Seeing my friends was a terrific morale boost, especially because my neighbor-friends Erica and Rese had brought me an ice-cold bottle of Coke. Normally regular Coke is too sweet for me, but on long runs and bike rides I love the stuff. I drank the Coke, had some SportsLegs and Advil, ditched my jacket, hat, and gloves, pulled up my pants again, and headed out for the second half. It was a little weird realizing that every yard I ran past this point was contributing to a distance PR for me. However, I felt good and was sure that I’d be able to continue holding my target pace.

Interlude: mental race management

Coaches hate this one weird trick! Not really; I learned this from a coach. One effective strategy for managing long endurance events is to break them up into chunks. Instead of saying “oh lord, I have a marathon to run,” you say “I have a half marathon, and then another one.” When you finish the first half, you say “oh, I only have 2 10Ks to run now,” and so on. This sounds stupid, but it’s a remarkably effective way to focus on what you need to be doing for the next little while instead of the immensity of the whole task.

The first half of the back half

The back half of the race course is very different than the front half. First, it’s arguably more scenic, since it runs through some projects, past Lowe Mill, then on to Huntsville Botanical Garden and the Space and Rocket Center, whereas the front half is mostly through residential areas. Second, to the extent that there are any hills, they’re on this part of the course. There’s about a 2.5mi stretch on 9th Avenue westbound that turns into a long-ish hill; it’s not very steep but there’s a lot of it. I was able to hold a decent pace through this section. It was motivating seeing the Saturn V off in the distance and watching it get closer, and closer, and closer, silhouetted against the stunning blue of the sky. Mile 19 was even more motivating, as I ran through the SRC parking lot and back through the “Rocket Garden,” one of my favorite places to visit in Huntsville.

Who doesn’t love a good rocket?

It’s hard to say exactly where I became sure that I was going to finish the race. I’d guess it was somewhere around this portion of the course– I felt good, I was holding the pace I wanted, and barring an injury or mishap, I knew I’d be both physically and mentally able to cross the line.

Interlude: pants

The two-handed pants yank, with bonus levitation

I spent a distressing amount of time hiking up my compression tights during this race. I was wearing them over a thin and smooth merino wool base layer, and the drawstring in the tights had come out of one eyelet so they weren’t really tied. As a result, the motion of my legs would pull the damn things down and every mile or so I’d have to hike them back up where they belonged. I’m sure glad the photographer caught me in the act.

The second half of the back half

I thought I felt myself slowing down about mile 20, and the evidence bears that out– from mile 20 onwards, I only had two-sub-12:00 miles. I wouldn’t say it was the famous wall we’ve all heard about– I wasn’t in any danger of falling out, just a progressive dragginess, coupled with increasing discomfort in my hip flexors and my left Achilles tendon. About mile 23, I also started feeling some pain in my right instep, just forward of my heel. I walked a good bit of miles 25 and 26; I didn’t think the few minutes I might gain by running through the pain would be worth the possible downside of a lingering injury. One thing I liked about the race course: they had mile flags every mile, with an extra “25.2” flag one mile from the finish line.

The finish

The RCM course has you run into the Von Braun Center and finish on the arena floor. This is a neat idea, and it’s probably a lot of fun when there’s a big crowd… but by the time I got there the crowd had largely dissipated. Luckily Dana and a few other stalwarts were still there cheering. Through the chute, a volunteer handed me my finishers’ hat and medal, plus one of those nifty Mylar blankets (a space spinoff, so definitely appropriate for the venue).

The best thing about the picture below is also the worst thing: the official picture timing clock broke, so everyone who finished after 3:57:28 got the wrong time in their finish line picture. I wish I could run a marathon that fast; perhaps someday…

The time is a lie

Not all heroes wear capes. But most marathoners do

I hung out in the arena to cheer on more finishers with Dana, the kids, and a few other finishers for half an hour or so, munching contentedly on a really excellent PB&J. When it was time to go, I hobbled over to the Fleet Feet booth to buy a finishers’ shirt, only to find that they’d sold out of my size the day before. This really, really pissed me off. I am still angry about it, in fact. I’d much rather have the cost of the shirt included in the registration fee, but, failing that, the race organizers at least should have bought enough shirts to ensure that all finishers would be able to buy them. Making them a scarce commodity is a terrible idea.

Post-race

After the race, I went home and relaxed for a while. I was pretty sore, but not debilitatingly so. I purposefully hadn’t planned anything for the rest of the day. Sunday morning I woke up with moderate stiffness in my quads and some tenderness in my left Achilles; by Monday those were both pretty much gone. I still get pain in my right instep when I put my running shoes on, so the short shakeout run I planned for after squats and deadlifts last night didn’t happen, but overall I am much less sore than I was after running my first half-marathon. In fairness, I was racing that one, while this time I was just running to finish.

Pros and cons

Pros: great race course, with excellent markings and signage. Free professional race photos. Superb volunteer support. Heavy police presence for traffic management. Clear and effective communications from RD team. Lots of aid stations and plenty of port-a-potties. Great support from the spirit teams.
Cons: poor shirt inventory management; very limited food at aid stations.

Overall, it was a great experience and I’m glad I did it. I’m happy to have RCM, my hometown event, be my first, and I am grateful for all the support, encouragement, and love from friends and family. I’m not in any real hurry to do another one though.

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Filed under Fitness, Oops!

2016/10/23 · 21:06

Race report: 2016 IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina

Summary: At the end of my season in 2015, I decided that I wanted to try a 70.3 in 2016. I’d heard about how great the Beach2Battleship 70.3 in Wilmington, North Carolina was… in large part because they give pajama pants to all finishers. I signed up in December, right after WTC bought the race and renamed it to IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina, and then mostly forgot about it because my friend Ingrid was “encouraging” me to sign up for IM 70.3 New Orleans (which I did). I didn’t have a great race at New Orleans and wanted to do better this time. I did, by 46 minutes.

Sunday: new wheels, part 1

My friend Tony finished his season at AtomicMan by smashing the course, and he was kind enough to offer to loan me his race wheels, a Zipp 404/808 pair. I put them on the bike and took off for a ride the day before I was supposed to leave for California. PROTIP: when you change wheels, you have to adjust the derailleur limit screws. If you don’t do this, here’s what happens: you break the derailleur hanger, ruin your chain, put a big dent in your friend’s borrowed wheel, and break several spokes. On Sunday, when no bike shops are open. And while you’re 10 miles from home. A quick Uber ride home and I was left to sort out my plan: Dana would drop my bike off at the shop, they’d fix it, and I’d pick it up Thursday when I got back.

A broken derailleur is a terrible thing

Thursday: new wheels, part 2

Hosanna to the crew at Bicycle Cove. Chris, Parker, and Nick got the parts in and got the bike fixed. When I went to pick it up, though, I was surprised; instead of Tony’s Zipps, it was wearing a pair of Bontrager Aeolus 5s. They wanted Chris to look at Tony’s wheel again before clearing it for riding, you see, so they loaned me a set of their shop wheels to make sure I wouldn’t miss the race. “We’ll settle up later,” they said. “Now go have a great race.” Because we were having thunderstorms at the time, I didn’t get a chance to ride the new wheels; I had to load up and go.

Friday: flying and being pathetic

On Friday, I packed up 706 and filed direct HSV-ILM. A cold front had just passed through Huntsville, and I knew I’d be going through it again en route, but I was looking forward to a nice tailwind. That’s just what I got, with 15-25 knots of wind speeding me along. I landed at ILM after a beautiful flight with only a few bumps. Air Wilmington has a strict 1-hour limit on their courtesy cars, so I grabbed an Uber and headed to the downtown convention center for race check-in. Unfortunately, I failed to note the line in the athlete guide that said check-in closed at 1pm, and I got there about 1:45p. After some nervous waiting in line, Caroline from IRONMAN was kind enough to check me in anyway. She gave me 3 bags: one for T1, one for T2, and one for “morning clothes.” I found a niche to spread out my stuff and started the process of filling the bags. See, this race is a point-to-point-to-point race: you swim from point A to point B, get on the bike and bike to point C, and then run to point D. At each point, you have to change into the appropriate clothes, so before the race you have to stage all your stuff in the right bags. If you forget something, or put it in the wrong bag… well, too bad.

I got my bags packed and found that points B, C, and D were farther apart than I expected. While wandering around, I ran into Nancy and Paula, two fellow members of the Pathetic Triathletes group on Facebook. Nancy recognized me when I mentioned taking an Uber– I’d previously asked her whether Uber was in Wilmington. Thank goodness they found me; they were invaluable in showing me the ropes of this particular race. They were also kind enough to drive me and my bike over to T1 so I could stage my stuff. Then we had a lovely Pathetic meetup at Poe’s Tavern on the beach, where I met several other Pathetics and had a delicious burger. We went to check out the swim exit, where we met a volunteer who explained the swim course to me in great detail. The course was well marked with buoys, which I appreciated since my open water sighting technique still needs some work.

Seems placid, doesn’t it?

The sunset was pretty impressive, too.

Yay for bonus sunsets

Nancy and Paula dropped me off at my Airbnb (summary: nice and quiet, no New Orleans-style murder) and I was in for the night, modulo a quick run to CVS for some Advil. I checked the weather forecast a few dozen times to get some idea of what the winds would be like. As I tried to drift off to sleep, I mulled over what reasonable goal times for the day would be. All I really wanted was to beat my NOLA 70.3 time, but I

Saturday pre-race: patheticness everywhere

Stan, Karen, Paula, and Nancy were kind enough to let me carpool with them, then stop so I could grab some breakfast, then to loan me $5 because I had pathetically forgotten my wallet. I had a gas station protein bar and a 20oz Coke… breakfast of champions, right? We got to T1 in plenty of time for me to fill my bike bottles with Mercury, pump up my tires, and check once more to make sure I had everything in my “morning clothes” bag that I wanted. See, at the swim start, you leave that bag there, and you don’t get it again until after the race. It’s a good place for things like eyeglasses and cell phones. T1 was crowded, as you’d expect for a race with nearly 3000 athletes. I was way in the far left back corner, which turned out to not be so bad because it was easy to find.

Transition 1 on race morning

Last-minute preparation accomplished, I caught a shuttle to the swim start and met up with my pathetic pals there. Stan had loaned me a cap, which I was glad to have because it was chilly; I put on my wetsuit earlier than I normally would have, and it helped quite a bit while we waited. I got to the swim start about 8:10, and my wave wasn’t due to start until 9:06, so I had some time to mill around. I found that I still had my chapstick with me, even though I should’ve left it in my run bag. Solution: put it in the top of my swim cap. It survived, luckily, and didn’t get too much extra ocean flavor. Almost before I knew it, they were herding our swim wave across the street and into the waist-high water behind the start line. The water was warmer than the air, and it felt great after I’d been standing outside being cold for an hour.

The swim

39:53, a new PR for me at this distance and roughly 20 minutes faster than my New Orleans performance. This course was linear so my poor sighting didn’t put me at much of a disadvantage, and there was a fast current to boot. I swallowed a good bit of salt water so I was worried about having to vomit– usually an automatic cause for the support staff to pull you– but I ended up OK. At swim exit I was wobbly from all the time spent swimming through chop; the second half of the swim was mostly into the surface chop so I was a little, if not seasick, then seasickish. When I exited the water, I noticed that my watch said “Resume?” and had recorded only about 1030 yards of the swim. I guess I accidentally hit a button with my wetsuit cuff or something. So much for an accurate swim distance.

14:28? Jeez. The run from the swim exit to the bike corral was long, and I did stop in the changing tent to put on sunscreen, a dry shirt, and lots of chamois butter… but I had no idea I was in T1 for this long. I felt really stupid when I saw my race results, because this should’ve been no more than a 5-minute stop. Once I got all my stuff together, I got to the mount line and headed out on the bike.

The bike

Before the race, there was a great uproar because of IRONMAN’s decision to shorten the full-distance bike course. During race week, they announced a couple of route changes (and more were rumored), but by race day they’d settled on one 56-mile route for both half and full-distance races. It was windy, with forecast winds of 13-15 mph from the west. We got all that and more– the wind history at ILM was 12.1mph for 24 hours, with a highest sustained wind of 22mph and peak gusts of 27mph. The bike course itself was a big part of the problem– its structure meant that we went out, did a loop, and then came back, starting from the green dot. The loop was south on 421, then north to the turnaround (where a gas station was selling fried chicken that smelled indecently delicious), then south again. Since the wind was coming from the west, we had very significant wind exposure– more miles than I think we got in the out-and-back New Orleans course.

the bike course

If you look at my lap times you can absolutely see the last 8 miles of tailwinds… and the other 48 or so of cross/head winds. I averaged 14.5mph on the first 39 miles and 17.6mph on the way back. Despite that gap in speeds, I felt really good on the bike. I passed nearly 100 people, which was an absolute first for me– I usually start at a deficit when coming out the water that I can’t make up on the road. I held the power target that I wanted, I didn’t wreck in the strong crosswinds, and with the winds, I came in just over my target time of 3:30. (obtw, those Aeolus race wheels were excellent.)

bike data… too many cadence spikes

There was a fair bit of (justified) complaining online because the aid stations weren’t were the athletes’ guide promised, and each one only had 2 porta-potties.

EDITED TO ADD: here’s a video of the bike route provided by relive.cc.

Back through the changing tent and out again; this time it only took me 9:21… still ridiculously slow. That time comprised walking my bike down a long string of rubber mats overlaid on top of the gravel/dirt construction mix on the street where the bike finished, getting into the corral and getting my run bag, hitting the changing tent, and actually changing, then leaving again. I’m still not really sure where the timing mat was.

The run

2:28. That’s really all I have to say about that. Faster than NO, but still ~ 30min slower than my standalone 13.1 pace. Lots of room for improvement here. The run course was semi-scenic; the first leg went through downtown, where there was a moderate crowd, then along an ugly industrial section of Front Street, then over to Greenfield Lake, which is ringed with city-provided signs that say “YES, there are alligators in this lake. Do not feed, harass, or tease them.” It’s a delightfully scenic lake, though, and (unlike the bike) there were plentiful, well-stocked aid stations. The full-distance racers had to do two loops of the course, whereas I only had one, for which I was grateful. I tried Red Bull for the first time on the course; while it didn’t give me superpowers, it also didn’t make my stomach convulse, so I’ll score that as a draw. I saw Pathetic Nancy on the run (I spotted the “#P” marked on her calf as I passed her), and I met Robert Moore, one of the “PPD Heroes” featured by the race sponsor. Then I ran the last mile or so with a lady who was finishing the full-distance race and we chatted a bit– that was a pleasant way to get to the finish line. Oddly, there were fewer spectators out when I came back through downtown on the return, which surprised me a bit.

YES, there are alligators in this lake

Post-race

The finish line experience was great– I crossed, got my medal and pajama pants, and wandered around for a bit catching my breath. Unfortunately, soon I had to go pick up 3 bags of stuff: my run, bike, and morning clothes bags were all in different places. It took me close to 30 minutes of schlepping around to collect the bags and my bike, which was far longer than I wanted to spend. I grabbed an Uber back to the house, took a badly needed hot shower, and headed over to Hops Supply for dinner. I wasn’t up late.

The trip home

This morning, I woke up at 5 with a goal of being wheels-up by 6. Plot twist: there aren’t any Uber drivers awake that early, apparently. I eventually got a car and got to the airport to find that my plane was parked out on the back 40 and had to be towed to where I could access it. 45min after my desired time, I was airborne for Peachtree-DeKalb to meet my best friend from high school, the illustrious Brian Albro. We had a fantastic but short visit (thank you, Flying Biscuit, for breakfast), then I headed back. My flight was smooth and beautiful. I got to see some Harriers parked on the ramp at ILM, some great river fog, and a lot of greenery.

The fog follows the river path exactly

Summary
A great race and a worthy effort. There were a lot of logistical hiccups; for example, the 70.3 athlete tracking on the IM website never worked, and the bike course caused a ton of traffic problems for locals that mean this will be an unpopular race next year. I got 7.5 flying hours and 7.2 hours on the triathlon route, so it was a good trip.

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Filed under aviation, Fitness

Tagged as 70.3, flying, ironman, triathlon

2016/10/11 · 09:55

Training Tuesday: training with heart rate variability (HRV)

[For some reason this scheduled post didn’t post on Tuesday so I’m manually reposting it day late. Selah.]

Normally, I’m not a big podcast listener because I (thankfully) don’t spend much time in the car, and I find having people talking in the background while I work distracting. However, working on the Office 365 Exposed podcast with Tony has helped me see that lots of people do like them, and that I might be missing out, so I’ve expanded my listening a bit. When I found that my coaching team at Complete Human Performance had a podcast, I subscribed. The most recent episode was with Dr. Mike T. Nelson, and he was discussing something called HRV (heart rate variability). It was a fascinating topic so I want to try to summarize what I (think I) learned:

HRV refers to the variance in the amount of time between heartbeats (not your heart rate itself)
It’s calculated based on heart rate measurements, from an EKG or other methods.
The most commonly used scale gives you a rating from 1-100.
You want your HRV to be high. A low HRV is generally a bad sign, and may in some cases even indicate impending heart problems.
The trend of your HRV is a useful indicator of fatigue, stress, and so on.
People who have low HRV values after heart surgery tend to have worse outcomes

Tracking HRV is especially useful for endurance athletes because it gives you a data point showing the total amount of stress that your cardiovascular system has been under. Mike Nelson, in the podcast, said that you should think of HRV as reflecting the cost of everything you do. Exercise, diet, rest, job stress, and personal stress all add to this cost. Factoring all those in, and measuring your HRV daily, you should be able to intensify or ease your workouts to keep your day-to-day HRV in the desired range.

“You can measure HRV with an app,” he said, so I did– I paused the podcast, grabbed the iThlete app, read its instructions, and took a reading. Mid-50s.

Nelson went on to outline a number of strategies for adjusting training to take HRV data into account– you want to get the most effective training possible, while still not having a long-term negative impact on HRV. I’m not doing that yet because you need a solid baseline of data to see what your “normal” HRV is. Mine looks like it’s hovering around 60ish. I don’t know enough to know if that’s good, bad, or what considering my age and physical condition, and I don’t yet understand the relationship (if any) between my resting heart rate and my HRV. I’ll keep an eye on it for another month or so and then start considering, in consultation with my coaches, what, if anything, I should use it for besides another nerdy data point.

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Tagged as cycling, running, triathlon

2016/08/30 · 12:30

Training Tuesday: Rocketman 2016 Olympic race report (28-Aug-2016)

The fine folks at reddit’s /r/triathlon have started using the format below for race reports, so I thought I’d give it a try.

Race information

What? Rocketman
When? August 28, 2016
How far? Olympic

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	< 3:15	No
B	< 3:30	Yes
C	PR bike, swim, or run	Yes

BLUF

PR’d the bike and swim. Had a craptastic run. Beat my time on this course but didn’t get the Olympic PR I was hoping for. 3:23 overall.

Race strategy

My first season, I tried to relay this race and DNF’d due to a bike mechanical. Last year I straggled in at 3:30. Earlier this year I PR’d Renaissance Man at 3:17, so my goals were to PR again, or at least beat last year’s time, and to PR at least one of the events.

Pre-race

In the week leading up to the race, I had an unusually tiring business trip– I averaged 12+ hour workdays and had no juice left for training while on the road, so I wasn’t well rested (plus a big “screw you” to the hotel I always stay at for putting me on the noisy I-5-facing side of the hotel this trip). I rented a pair of Reynolds Strike race wheels from the gang at Blevins Bicycle to see how I liked them. Because of travel Thursday and epic thunderstorms Friday, I wasn’t able to ride them until Saturday, when I took them out for a 40-minute ride with Dana. It was supposed to be an easy Z2 cruise but it was more like a mid-Z3, and then to top it off we added a short brick. Probably not a great idea in retrospect, but I didn’t want to go into the race without having ridden the wheels at least once, and I didn’t think the brick would tire me out too much.

Race day prep

I packed everything into my car the night before and went to bed at a reasonable time, after having eaten sensibly and hydrated pretty much nonstop (I probably doubled my normal fluid intake on Friday and Saturday). I’d previously volunteered for body marking, but the RD told me he needed help with parking, so I got up at 0415 to get to Hobbs Island and start directing traffic. That went well, and I had plenty of time to get set up in transition, say hello to my friends, and see the athletes I’d been working with in Fleet Feet’s Tri201 Olympic tri coaching program. It was clear, 78 degrees, and about 80% humidity when I got to the venue before dawn– an omen of how the day’s weather would develop.

Swim

The Tennessee River is warm this time of year– I heard the race morning water temp was 85 degrees, which wouldn’t surprise me. I actually like river swims, so that didn’t bother me.

Because of the swim course layout, the race uses a wave start– you go down a slide (which is covered with carpet, so you don’t slide, you sort of scooch) into the water, assemble near the start mark, and then swim. I purposefully stayed near the back of my wave when getting in the water, both to minimize the amount of time I’d have to tread water at the start and because I didn’t want to get run over by all the faster swimmers behind me.

The first swimmers went into the water about 30min late because, for whatever reason, the buoys weren’t out on time. This was really strange because normally the RD and staff at Rocketman have everything down to a science (this is the 23rd year, after all) and stuff happens promptly when it’s supposed to. Turns out that this delay was important later.

The course is about 500y upstream, then 200y or so cross-current, then the remainder on a long diagonal back to a pier. Partially thanks to the current, I swam a 1:46/100 pace, which for me is stupid fast– but it wasn’t all current; I was working harder on this swim than usual and I felt it when I got out. Unfortunately, because of poor sighting technique, I swam an extra 400y, so my swim time was 35:xx. That was a PR, though, so I’ll take it.

A quick jog into T1 and I was out again on the bike in 2:xx. For this race, I wore a tri top into the water instead of putting on a bike jersey. Thanks to Dana for suggesting that– between that and the tri bucket she suggested I use, my transition in this race was half what it was at RenMan.

Bike

First: I committed what should be a USAT foul when exiting: I started my bike computer but forgot to hit the lap button on my watch, so now Garmin shows my t1 as having an average speed of 16.x mph. Oh well. You may remember I did the same thing at RenMan. Maybe next race I’ll remember.

The bike course is fairly flat L-shaped out-and-back, with a few rollers, but it’s all two-lane and mostly on a busy segment which isn’t closed for the race. At various points I got stuck behind a landscape truck, nearly wiped out by an asshole in an SUV (right in front of a parked sheriff’s deputy, who ran out into the road yelling, pulled the guy over, and ticketed him– thanks, MCSO!), and saw one each dead possum, skunk, and armadillo. The outbound leg on the long part of the L had a quartering headwind, which was fine; I was able to stay in aero most of the time, though I did have a few scary swerves when wind caught my wheels. I finished in 1:27, which was a PR, so yay me. As usual, when I was looking at my times after the race I thought “dang, I should have pushed harder on the bike.”

The run

I thought this was the worst 10K I’ve ever run (I was wrong, but more on that later). The run course is flat and has some shade, but not much: you run out and back along the river for about 2mi total (with an aid station at about 0.5/1.5mi), then take a shadeless leg through the marina, then onto a local greenway for the remaining distance. I couldn’t sustain any kind of run pace; it was more of a shamble, with frequent walk breaks. My arms and hands were tingling by about mile 3, and I was barely sweating, so I slowed way down and tried to drink as much as I could, knowing that there was no way I was going to PR the run or the race. Selah. I saw lots of other tough athletes suffering on the course, too, including many locals who I know are acclimated to typical temperatures– but thanks in part to the late start, it was 95 degrees when I crossed the finish line, and God only knows what the heat index was. Not a great time. (Turns out I was still faster than my time last year but it didn’t feel like it!)

The first aid station had cold towels, which felt awesome, but sadly most of the other aid stations had room-temperature water and Gatorade. I had brought a Headsweats visor, but sort of wished I had a hat. And some ice. And cooling sleeves, like my coach suggested. Some more sunscreen would have been nice too.

Post-race

The post-race expo at Rocketman is always fun, and I enjoyed catching up with my friends who’d raced. This year, the Renaissance Man and Rocketman RDs offered a challenge: complete both races and get a custom transition towel (I’ll try to post a picture later). Along with the excellent Rocketman visor and shirt, this completed my swag haul since I certainly didn’t podium. I visited for a while, then headed home for some Advil and a nap.

I can’t wait for next year! PR, here I come. Thanks to RD Mike Gerrity and his wife Debbie for their many years of making Rocketman such a great race for athletes!

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Tagged as cycling, fitness, running, swimming, training tuesday, triathlon

2016/07/13 · 07:49

Renaissance Man 2016 Olympic triathlon (July 10, 2016)

Last year, I ran my first Olympic-distance race. Although I kept it mostly to myself, I was really disappointed in my performance. I had a goal to finish the race in 3:15 and straggled in at 3:39. This year, I was out for redemption.

First, a good laugh:

(If you don’t know why this is funny, you might not be a triathlete, but I’ll explain later.)

Pre-race

Saturday I packed all my trash. I am a firm believer in “nothing new on race day,” but this year Dana convinced me to try an optimization: a triathlon bucket. She bought me a simple orange Home Depot bucket to use as a stool, and I resolved to give it a try in hopes that it would speed my transition times a bit by helping me not fall over. For nutrition, I packed several bags of Bonk Breakers, premixed some Mercury, and made a Sufferlandrian pain shake (1 scoop Karbolyn, 2 scoops Optimum Nutrition vanilla whey), stuffed my bike into the back of the Soul (it barely fit), and tried to get to sleep early. Too bad Matt and Tom woke me up a total of 3 times between 1030p and 430a. I got up on time, got my stuff together (sorry, no picture this time), and headed out to Florence under about a 12000′ overcast with occasional spotty drizzle.

Once I got to the venue, I got everything staged in transition, got my timing chip, and so on. I hadn’t forgotten anything, for once, so setup was smooth and I had time to chat with some of the many other Huntsvillians who were there. I also got in a short warmup swim.

The swim

The swim went very well except for my perennial sighting malpractice.. and that I forgot to start my watch when I went into the water, so it’s probably 25y or so short. The swim used a rolling start, with predicted swim times governing order of entry. I was #160. At about #125, one of the buoys came unmoored and had to be chased down by a kayaker, but it was in place before I passed it so I can’t blame my course line on that. (The zigzag just under the “T” in “Tennessee River” is a GPS glitch, luckily). I got out of the water, went into T1, and did my business.

Obviously I shouldn’t have had a 6+ mph average in T1. I was concentrating on a smooth toes-to-head flow of gearing up: socks, bike shoes, HR strap, jersey, helmet, glasses. I forgot to include “press the lap button” in my flow so it didn’t get done until I was on the way out.

Bike

I love this bike course. It has several long straights that reward steady cadence, which I am slowly learning to hold. Unfortunately, I dropped my chain on one of those straights and that cost me 5 minutes or so. I also had an unplanned stop to try to get my power meter back online– it was working fine on my shakedown ride Saturday but wouldn’t send any data race morning, so I don’t have cadence or power data. I’m not sure why the bike and T2 times in the picture above are so jacked up, because I didn’t restart or stop the watch (just my ELEMNT bike computer). Thanks, Garmin. I ate some Bonk Breakers and drank nearly two full bottles of Mercury on the ride, which was plenty. Overall the ride was overcast and cool-ish; I had maybe 20 minutes of partial sun and 30 of drizzle.

T2 was blazing fast for me. Belt, snack, running shoes, hat, and boom, I was off. The run course starts off uphill, goes through the UNA campus (so I got to see the famous lions), travels through downtown, and then hits a mostly-downhill course through some pretty, treed neighborhoods for the back half. I was able to hold a fairly steady pace because it wasn’t diabolically hot– in fact, it rained steadily for almost the entire race. Thankfully I had a hat to keep the water off my glasses, since I HATE running with water spots on my lenses. I was completely soaked by the time I made it back to the finish line.

Bottom line

I finished in 3:17:15:

38:22 on the swim
3:13 in T1
1:34:33 on the bike
2:49 in T2
58:28 on the run

That’s a whopping 22 minutes faster than last year, and, had I not dropped my bike chain, I’d’ve come in under 3:15. For me, that’s a stellar time. If I can get my sighting under control and build a bit more power on the bike, I can see myself getting under 3:00 late this season– I think I can pick up 5 min on the swim, a minute each in T1 and T2, at least 2min on the run, and 5+ min on the bike. Onwards!

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Tagged as race, triathlon

2016/04/18 · 09:15

Race report: IRONMAN 70.3 New Orleans

Summary: my first 70.3 showed me that I have a lot to learn about longer-distance racing.

Friday: flying and murder

The boys and I left Decatur on schedule and had a perfectly uneventful flight to New Orleans Lakefront, where the reported weather was 900′ ceilings with 2mi visibility and gusty winds. Sure enough, I got to hand-fly the ILS 18R approach with winds from 100° at 15-25 knots. Fun times. We landed and were met at the FBO by my mom and uncle, who had driven over from Alexandria. The FBO had arranged a rental Dodge Challenger for me (much nicer than I expected) so we convoyed over to our Airbnb rental in New Orleans East.

After a delicious dinner at The Joint, Tom and I went in search of an asthma inhaler for him. When we came back, we saw a huge array of police cars and ambulances blocking off the entrance to our street. Turns out two men had been killed and a third shot at a nearby business; one of the victims ran onto “our” street before expiring, thus all the police attention. That was a bit disconcerting but it explained the rental home’s window bars, security cameras, and alarm system.

Saturday

First thing in the morning I went for a short shakeout run around the neighborhood, then we set out to go sightseeing– we hit the French Quarter, Café du Monde, and the excellent New Orleans Museum of Art, which I’d somehow missed in all of my prior trips. They had just added a Vera Lutter exhibition, which was really striking, plus they had two new exhibitions of folk art that we quite enjoyed. Tom and I went to get me checked in at the race hotel, where we also attended the athlete briefing. Lunch was at Deanies‘ on Iberville (fried shrimp poboy, the ideal pre-race meal) and I honestly don’t remember what dinner was. One highlight from the day was seeing this:

because why wouldn’t you do that if you were getting married?

After a quick trip home to grab my bike, I dropped it off in transition and shot this quick video of the water conditions– very similar to what I saw Sunday morning.

Pro tip #1: go to the race expo earlier in the day, not at the last minute, as much of the goods for sale are already well picked over by that time. I honestly don’t remember what we had for dinner. I mixed up all my race nutrition, double-checked my gear, and went to bed about 10p.

Race day: pregame

I got up about 430, loaded up all my stuff-n-junk, and headed over to the venue. Traffic was a bit of a challenge because of the road layout; there are two narrow, parallel, unconnected roads that front the marina and airport, so getting between them can be a bit difficult. I had plenty of time, though, so I was able to get in and get set up without having to rush.

The swim

The swim start was delayed about 20 minutes because the support team had to go move the swim buoys (or “nachos”) back to their assigned location. That’s because the wind was about 20mph, with occasional gusts higher. The diagram below tells the tale (see the wind indicator in the upper right corner?) My sighting skills are not great, and with the chop in the water I had a hell of a time keeping on course. I ended up swimming 2700 yards in almost exactly an hour (I think it was 1:00:07 or something). That was a 2:10/100 pace, which would have given me my “A” goal time for the swim. I just swam too much. So, lesson #1 from this race: swim more in choppy water. Lesson #2: practice sighting more. (These will both be hard because there aren’t many OWS location near me at all, much less ones with chop.)

One note: there was a table at swim start where you could leave eyeglasses for pickup. I was told, by the race announcer no less, that glasses would be available in transition. (More on this later.)

In T1, the plan was for me to grab a Stinger waffle, drink some Karbolyn, and be on my way. I was a little discombobulated after the swim so I took my time to make sure I didn’t forget anything for my bike setup… in the end, I forgot to turn on my new bike computer AND I had a nearly 10-minute T1 time. So definitely some room for improvement here. (Oh yeah, I also left the waffles at home so no waffle for me.)

The bike

Omitting all the boring details, in the last 3 weeks I ended up with a new bike frame, a new Redshift seatpost, a new saddle (since the old one didn’t fit the seatpost), and a new Wahoo ELEMNT bike computer. I’d had a couple of short shakeout rides but this was going to be the real test. The wind was from the east (almost 90°, in fact) and the course had us go out for a short western section, then a sharp U-turn and a run out to the turnaround point. I got hit by a gust in the U-turn that nearly knocked me over– that’s how I knew this was going to be a fun one.

My strategy was to try to hold about 80% FTP for the bike. I mostly did, although I had some bursts where I had to go over to keep moving– making 200+ watts just to go 8mph, wobbling, wasn’t my favorite. Because I hadn’t had much time on this setup, I found that about mile 25 I was getting cramps in my abdomen, like you do when you do too many crunches or sit-ups, from being in aero position. There was nothing I could do about it except say “ouch” and keep on trucking. I am a big believer in “nothing new on race day” but I think I might extend that to be “nothing new during race month”. I wish I’d had the bike changes made earlier so I could have had more time to get used to them. I was pretty tired by about mile 35 and was just trying to hang on and ride the tailwind. The bike leg took me 3:53:21. I was aiming for 3:15 or better, so this was a bit of a disappointment but I just couldn’t go any faster on the outbound.

One thing I did differently on this ride was to use Clif Shot Blocks on the bike, along with my normal Mercury. These gave me zero issues, and I had an assortment of flavors available. Some of the bike and run aid stations had them as well, which was nice.

Speaking of aid: this was the first race I’ve done that had a bike bottle exchange. For some reason I thought the drinks would be packaged in bike bottles but they were in original packaging. I purposely brought two crappy old bottles for the ride, figuring they’d get discarded; I ended up keeping one. For future reference I’ll just get a Gatorade or water bottle that fits my cage and leave “my” bottles at home.

Special note: see that wind icon in the picture below? It’s a damn lie. The wind report at Lakefront was 25kts gusting 30, and there were some spots (like right by the Textron plant at mile 20) where it was a direct headwind with gusts that had to be above that, coming right off the water.

Nothing special here– a bit more sunscreen, slap on my lucky Rocketman visor (it came from the only race I ever DNF’d), and out I went.

The run

The run was miserable. For the outbound leg, I had a tailwind but I was still cramp-y from aero on the bike. As that dissipated, I suddenly grew a golf-ball-sized knot in my right quad– the first race cramp I’ve ever had. A kind passerby gave me some Base salt, which worked like a Harry Potter potion– it knocked the cramp out in about 90 seconds. (Key learning: get some of this and keep it handy!) I was just slow through the turnaround, and then I was fighting the wind all the way back. I ended up run/walking almost the entire return leg. My run time was an undistinguished 2:47:53. If I hadn’t had such a bike adventure, I think I could cut 15-20 minutes off that time.

Postgame

I crossed the line at a good clip but completely missed hearing my name– the announcer called names when runners entered the chute, and I just missed it. I reunited with Dan, Mom, and the boys, walked around a bit, and then hit the gear shop to get a hoodie and some other swag. Unfortunately, I got to the athlete’s tent at 4:15p and there was no food. This really pissed me off. It didn’t help that my glasses were gone! Instead of having them in transition, they were at a table at swim exit, which I didn’t know. They packed up the swim exit stuff about 11am, so my glasses went off to some warehouse somewhere. Very important learning: next time I’ll either put my glasses in a case with my name, race number, etc. or just leave the damn things in transition and deal with having to squint my way through swim start.

When we got back to the rental home, we found that the wind has dislodged one of the two electrical feeds from the pole, so we only had power in half the house. Surprise! After a long, hot shower, I packed everything up and we headed back to the airport.

Flight home

The flight home was delightful– a little overcast around 2500′ leaving KNEW, but virtually no one on the radio, no traffic, and clear skies all the way home. The wind was still at 90° so I wanted to use runway 9, but some of the taxiways leading to it were flooded so I elected to use 18R instead. Another 2.5 hours of night time in the books.

Wrapup

I crossed the line at 7:58:28, good for 133rd in my age group. There were 191 registered, and I think 137 or so finished. On one hand, running an 8-hour 70.3 is not really what I’d dreamed of. On the other hand, I spoke to multiple athletes who ran the same race last year and had times as much as an hour faster than this year, and I put in a solid effort, and I finished— so I hit my goals for this race. I’ve learned some things about longer-course races that will help me in future events, and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to start my 70.3 career like this.

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Tagged as triathlon

2016/04/12 · 21:19

Training Tuesday: it’s 70.3 time

By this time next week, I hope to have had a unique experience: crossing the finish line of a “half-Ironman” triathlon: IRONMAN 70.3 New Orleans.

The half-Iron distance race gets its name because its distances (1.2 mi swim, 56-mi bike, and a 13.1-mi run) are half the distance of a “full Ironman”, but there’s nothing half-y about it. It’s a tough event. I believe that I’m equal to the challenge, though. My new bike setup is solid, I feel good about the run, and the swim will be wetsuit legal in a protected anchorage.

My plan for the rest of this week is to get in a couple of easy runs and bike outings, get my gear together, and pack up the plane Thursday night. Friday morning the boys and I will fly to New Orleans, meet Mom and Tim, get set up in our nifty Airbnb rental, and just relax. That leaves me all day Saturday to get my bike into transition, get to the athlete briefing, and so on, then Sunday it’s race day! Monday we’ll fly home.

USA Triathlon rules prohibit carrying music players on the course. Some refs interpret this to mean that smartphones (which of course can be used as bike computers or athlete trackers) are legal, and some say they are not. I plan to have my phone on the course, which means that (thanks to my triathlon watch) you’ll be able to follow my progress on the bike and run legs live. I’ll post a link to the tracking web site Sunday morning before the race starts.

I’m coaching Tri201

I’m excited to announce that I’m going to be volunteering as one of the coaches for Fleet Feet Huntsville’s Tri201 program. It’s designed to take people who are already at an intermediate level of fitness (including people who haven’t done a triathlon yet but have completed 10K or longer races and meet the de minimus swim and bike distance requirements) and prepare them to successfully complete the Rocketman Olympic triathlon in August. After completing Tri101 in 2014 and Tri201 last year, I’m really looking forward to share what I’ve learned in my short triathlon experience with a new group of athletes. If you live in metro Huntsville and are interested in triathlon, come check us out!

Category Archives: Fitness

Setting up run intervals on Garmin watches

Havana, day 2

Training Tuesday: Havana Triathlon race report (25 Feb 2017)

Havana, day 0

Training Tuesday: pre-Havana smorgasboard

Training Tuesday: What I learned from my gait analysis

2016 in review: athletics

Training Tuesday: that one time I ran a marathon

Race report: 2016 IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina

Training Tuesday: training with heart rate variability (HRV)

Training Tuesday: Rocketman 2016 Olympic race report (28-Aug-2016)

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