2011 Update!!

I haven’t blogged in over 6 months!! Here’s an update and a glimpse into my world. I am 10 days out from Ironman Coeur D’Alene!!!

Snow, rain, injury, snow rain, injury- this was the theme of my winter. It was hands down the toughest winter I have ever had as a triathlete. First off I had plantar fasciitis since right after Kona. I had felt twinges of it last year but it would quickly go away. This year after the 3 week rest block after Kona my calves got tight and when I returned to running it was a perfect storm to irritate/tear the plantar fascia ligament. Plantar fasciitis is hands down the worst injury I have had in my 20 or so years of endurance sports. It forces you to the sidelines- there is no training through it and if you do it just gets worse. On top of that we had the snowiest wettest winter / spring I can remember. These 3 things made it very difficult to have a positive mood and consistent motivation. It.just.plain.sucked. I switched chiropractic providers to an ART (active release techniques) provider in Williston- Dr Erik Hemmett. Dr Hemmett has helped me so much in a short amount of time. In addition to this foot injury I have had an ongoing issue for over 10 years with my hip/lower back on long bike rides/races. I have not made progress on this issue significantly in years. Dr Hemmett took one look at a video of me on the bike and was immediately problem solving and we need to try this, that etc. The guy is a problem solver and has a commanding knowledge of muscles and ligaments, biomechanics as well as what to do for areas of adhesions. I have made a great deal of progress on both injuries with him.

Race season officially began in May with the Rev3 Half ironman in Knoxville, TN. This was my second year racing it and I am a huge fan of Rev3 races. The best part of the weekend was hanging with my dad, my brother and 2 of my athletes (Jayson and Sean). My brother has got to be one of the best race sherpas out there not just for the obvious reasons of having someone to help carry stuff to transition etc but because he is hilarious and always lightens the mood not to mention he yells at the top of his lungs during the race. He got some flip video footage and you can hear some clips here (stay tuned- will try posting).

The race went well. Swim was loooong- the turnaround buoy got washed down river and we ended up swimming 1.5 miles. Good prep for ironman!! T1 – I took it really slow to take it easy on my foot. On the bike I felt great and was holding goal wattage well (275-280 watts on the flats). I undershot one bottle in my fueling plan and had a slight cramp issue – stupid mistake. No margin of error at ironman for mistakes like that particularly if I want to get back to Kona. My back felt better at this race than any other half or full I have done in the last 5 years!! On to the run I was running people down and couldn’t believe how good I felt and the best part was I had no foot pain!! I was running 6:15 pace on the flats but this course was a bear and was one of the hilliest bike and run courses I have ever done. Came across the line in a time that put me in 7th overall. No complaints other than the missed bottle. Only amateurs were in the half and it was a strong mix of elite age grouper/Kona hopeful guys from all the over the US. My 2 athletes also had killer races and made big improvements!!

I was totally surprised that I felt recovered 2 days later!! It must be the Hoka’s!! One of the other dials I have turned this year is the shoes I have been running in. The Hoka Bondi B is a shoe designed for ultra runners and I have to say it is incredible. They look like moonboots!! Hey – function over fashion!! At only 9 oz it is as light as a good lightweight trainer but it has a HUGE amount of cushion and is very stable (hard to find both features). It was the only shoe that didn’t aggravate my Plantar fasciitis. I have found that I recover much faster in it as well. I can do a 10 mile run in them and 3 hours later feel like I only ran 3 or 4 miles. No BS. They also incorporate the low to heel to toe offset that we are seeing in the natural / minimal shoes. They are 4mm of drop so they really promote midfoot striking, are cushy and are stable. It is very hard to find these 3 features in a shoe.

I went right into my overload weeks immediately after Rev3—good thing I recovered fast! I pulled off a 315 mile bike week right off the bat and around 40 or so run miles. My training metrics were looking really good- I could sit on 250-260 watts and not even go over zone 1 on the bike. These zone 1 watts are up about 10 watts over last year. Due to the run injury I put in a lot of extra bike miles. To be honest this was something I knew I needed to do anyway- I was not riding as fast as I know I am capable of at Ironman. Big decouple from what I could do in a shorter race vs IM. However a good bit of that was from back issues I have had in the past. If I can ride CDA with little to no back issues and pace and fuel to the letter there is no reason I can’t have a breakthrough ride there. Run fitness was about where it was a year ago- running 6:40 pace at the top of zone 1 albeit slightly lower run volume and shorter long runs than last year.

Next race was Mooseman oly. I did this race last year but the swim was cancelled and bike was changed to a 17 mile TT start with a 10k run off it. This year was the full 1500meter swim, 27.2 bike and same 10k run as last year.
Mdot is now running this race so they basically run it in a similar fashion to a 70.3 with wave starts. Back when this was non-Mdot you could get into the Open wave which went first and made for better racing (my 2 cents). Anyhow gun goes off in my wave (second wave). I went out hard and found myself in the front pack. There was only 2 guys ahead of me in my wave and I had thought I was having a great swim but I just didn’t swim hard enough!! No excuses though- need to HTFU.

On to the bike- absolutely hammered the bike- although was a little demoralized when Peter Abdinoor caught me at the end of the swim. He and I were riding at the same level on the day and were near each other riding legally. I couldn’t get away from him and he couldn’t get away from me.

On the run – felt great immediately. Plan was to hold 5:45 pace on the flats and just push as hard as I could. I ran down the couple guys who got out of T2 ahead of me (had to stop and fix my speed laces in T2). Felt great on the run and no foot pain!!

The cool thing was that I ran faster in the Hokas than I did on the same run course last year. This is with 6 weeks of no running due to PF in March.

I ended up 4th overall and had the second fastest bike and run splits. Was psyched about that. Good momentum for Ironman in a few weeks.

Right after Moose I put in one last pretty big week hitting 300 miles on the bike and 37 on the run. This past weekend was absolutely brutal with the rain for both of my big rides. Cold steady rain = BRUTAL.

Anyhow- looking forward to CDA in 10 days!!!!!!!!!

Shoutouts –

My wife for putting up with another IM focused training cycle.

My ART guy (active release technique)- Dr Erik Hemmett for keeping me in one piece and allowing me to make huge progress in not only the plantar fasciitis I had but the back/hip issue I have had for years.

My mechanic- Matt Montross for getting my bike dialed.

My TT bike fit guru- Sean Whipkey at the Skirack BG Fit center for getting me more aero AND comfortable/powerful.

Athletes Honey Milk for helping me recover well after the big days.

Training buddies for making the long rides more fun – Gary Snow, Luke Moore, Jason Frank, Jason Baer, Justin Ryea (when he comes out)

Winter training on the bike- Phil Beard- thanks for helping me motivate to ride all winter at the Confluence Cycling Center.