George Schweitzer's Triathlon Talk

The best part of the run was that I was finally able to see my family and pass them 4 separate times on the course. They were troopers dealing with the rain. Being an Ironman spectator is definitely harder on them because of the waiting and wondering when and if their athlete will come by. So it means a lot to see that they stick through the crappy weather on top of that.

The only other thing to mention was I did my best to maintain cadence and stride all the way through and it worked with flying colors given my very close half-marathon splits. There is not a whole lot to say when a race goes well; it's the bad stuff that makes for good stories. On this day, I only had the weather to talk about...and it's okay because I arrived at the finish line with the best race of my life behind me.

First half - 7:32/mi (1:38:44)
Second half - 7:58/mi (1:44:22)

Splits not looking too bad!



I felt like a kid plodding through the puddles on my way to the finish!

Post-Post Script: With only 30min to gain and more time to train...I'm laying the gauntlet now. 2009 Ironman Wisconsin (my 10th iron-distance tri) - I'm qualifying for Kona!

If you read my blog at all, you'll see that I have this unhealthy obsession with the Rocky series. I reference it often as great movies as well as highlight its many life lessons.

I will do that again. In Rocky IV, one of the awesomely worst movies of the series, Rocky Balboa takes on the Russian, Ivan Drago. In one of the memorable scenes of the movie, a training montage sequence of the two athletes shows the dichotomy involved in their training regimen. Ivan Drago pumps iron with electronic resistance equipment, is monitored by space-age analyzers, and he tops off his work with performance enhancing drugs, while Rocky simply hacks wood, lifts heavy objects, and climbs a snow-capped mountain on foot to reach his athletic peak. Who won this fight? ROCKY! ROCKY!

What's the lesson for the endurance athlete? Up-to-date technology does not always improve performance. Now let's break down today's endurance athlete techno market and see if the Rocky/Drago phenomenon is just Hollywood razzle dazzle or reality on-screen.

What technology is out there? Last week, I was out on a run and I ran past a guy my age with 3 watches (2 on 1 wrist), two bicep straps with equipment dangling, ear buds for headphones, and a fuel belt loaded with some green fluid. I asked this guy what everything was.

He said one watch was just a regular Timex Ironman stopwatch. Another watch was the GPS output from the GPS receiver he wore on his bicep strap. The third watch was a Heart Rate Monitor receiver from his heart rate monitor (HRM) worn under his shirt. The other bicep strap contained his IPod nano which he told me was giving him run feedback from the IPod sensor in his shoe (it interrupts music with information on speed, distance traveled, and allows for a "pump-up" song to be played instantly).

After the explanation in which this guy half-smiled at me like he knew something I didn't, I gave him a "that's cool," and sped away, leaving him in the dust.

So what's the moral of the story here? First, this guy could shop a little better. You can now buy equipment that combines all these things into a smaller quantity of objects. The easiest example is the Garmin Forerunner 305 is a GPS receiver/watch with a built-in HRM. This would have eliminated two of his watches and one of the bicep straps.

But the other lesson is that it did not appear that this guy was training any better with this equipment than without. Now granted, I was only around for a snapshot of his training and I likely found an extreme case, but the point is clear. Technology wasn't making this gent any faster.

What would make this guy faster is simply training harder, planning & accomplishing difficult workouts, and repeating that process until race day. The ability to analyze the workouts afterwards to see peak heart rates and elevation traveled is not going to do this. This information is only useful for scientists studying physiological parameters in research. Let's take a few popular pieces of endurance tech & I'll give my reason why it's overrated as a training tool.

Heart Rate Monitors: The most popular physiologic analysis equipment out there. Used for zone-training, these gadgets can give real-time feedback on how hard your working and the "bells and whistles" models can be uploaded onto your computer and cross-referenced with GPS information.
What works better? "Feel." Go out for an easy run at a pace you can talk, that's the aerobic zone or Zone 2 for you HR people. Remember that feeling. Now do a 4oo-meter run on a track at about 90% of your max speed. That's the anaerobic zone (high Zone 4 - low Zone 5). Remember that feeling. Do a quick longer distance tempo run where you are going too fast to talk comfortably, but not so hard where you're about ready to pass out. That's the high aerobic zone (high zone 3 - low Zone 4). Remember that feeling.

These three feelings are all you really need to know (easy, hard, medium). Does it matter if your heart rate is 138 verses 137...no. Just remember the feelings.

GPS devices: I won't lie, I like these things. A friend has a big one for his truck and it rocks on road trips when looking for some place to eat. But the personal wrist version for training...is it necessary? It's cool for giving you real-time information on your speed and if you are prone to getting lost on long runs or rides, it might be useful. But like the HRM, I think using the speed information takes away from the feel. I had a training buddy who's coach did not like his liberal use of his Garmin Forerunner. This was apparent during a mandatory watch-less workout when he did not know what running a lap in 70sec felt like.
What works better? For speed measurements, run a familiar course whose mile markers you know and then using your timer, see how fast you were from marker to marker to get an assessment of speed. Sure its not real-time, but chances are...in a race, you won't be able to get real-time speed information. So recreate the situation.

MP3 Players: Are you really that needy, that you can't go somewhere without your 10,000 songs at your disposal. And chances are, you have probably tuned out your music because you've heard it a hundred times already. So why bother carrying around unneeded weight?
What works better? Nature has plenty of noise to keep you occupied, plus you can get a lot of thinking done too. If you really need music, just play it in your head.

Power Meters: This is one of the newest innovations to hit the cycling market. As we all know, speed by itself does not necessarily translate to work output. Winds, hills, etc. contribute as well. However, power meters can now account for those obstacles and tell you how much work you are performing on the bike.
What works better? Just like anything else, "Feel" gives this information back too. Chances are you are using the Power meter to tell you how hard you are working. Well if your goal is to work hard, then why not remember the feeling of working hard and then on the next workout, start working that hard. Do you really need a $1500 piece of equipment to tell you that you're working hard or easy?

New and Improved Bikes: The bike market makes you think that if you don't have a carbon-fiber bike with SRAM components and disc wheels, you are going to be as slow as molasses. But has biking technology really made athletes faster? If you look at the past 20-30 years of Tour de France victor's average speeds, you'll see that speed has not changed all that much. It looks a little faster in recent years, but I could easily argue that was due to performance enhancing drug use as well (notice how much slower 2007 was). Greg LeMond and Eddy Merckx were kicking ass on arachaic bikes back in the day.
What works better? Getting a bike that fits well and training hard on it. As Lance's famous book says, "It's not about the bike."

Now I know there will be some arguments against my old-school philosophy, so I'll address them.

"So what if I use technology? It's not slowing me down." I disagree. 2 points. 1) Anything that diverts attention away from the task at hand (adjusting the volume on an mp3 player or adjusting the HRM strap) takes that much time away from your performance. It may not be bad singly, but those seconds will add up. 2) Just see one of these athletes on a less than ideal weather day...what happens? Things don't work right. In my race at IM Wisconsin 2006, I heard hundreds of people complain that their GPS units weren't working and their HRMs weren't reading accurately due to the horrible rainy weather. How much time was spent worrying about or trying to fix these pieces of equipment and not on the race at hand?

"I don't use these pieces for racing, only for training?" What's that rule that we say about nutrition? Don't race unless practiced in training. The same can be said for training equipment. How are you suppose to learn what it is to race if you constantly had some piece of equipment beeping at you. No time was spent listening to your body.

"I enjoy the technology. It's like having a coach without paying for one." I actually think you'll spend your dollar better by hiring a coach rather than buying all that equipment. Humans are better at giving feedback than robots. Hell, go to a training camp with that money. Buy a book full of tough workouts if you can't think of any yourself.

"Technology helps me determine if a workout was better than the previous without relying on pace and distance as my only measurements." Good point...but would a heart rate monitor showing you're heart rate 2 beats/minute slower than the same tested road run indicate better fitness? Not necessarily. Many things come into play. Temperature, amount of rest, timing of last meal, sleep, humidity, previous workouts, etc. The point is, is that recreating the conditions of a previous workout is extremely difficult. Speaking as a scientist who has conducted performance research, it is extremely difficult to keep testing environments consistent in a lab, much less out in the field. So in reality, you probably won't be able to truly compare workouts. Just train hard each time.

"Professionals use them, so they must work." You want to put money on that? Are you sure you're not seeing them working for their sponsors? Anytime a pro says they use something, they are getting paid for that. Most pros do not use anything other than a speedometer on their bike because they are training on feel. Don't believe me...ask a pro the next time you see them.

Bottom-Line: I may be old school with this post. But so were guys like 6-time Ironman champs, Mark Allen and Dave Scott. Those guys, in 1980s and 90s, still have the two fastest Ironman Marathons at Kona (2:40, 2:41). Their low 8-hour finishes have not been improved upon much in the past 20 years, even with the "innovations" in bikes, shoes, training equipment, etc. It's all out there, because someone is making money on it, not because it's necessary. So save some cash and learn to listen to your body. Leave the bells and whistles for the scientists. In sport, technology comes and goes, but your body is always there. Learn to listen to it.

Labels: technology

Results
Overall Time: 10:36:20 - 45 min PR!!!
Swim: 1:17:21 (2:02/100meter)
T1: 5:33 (7/201 in division)
Bike: 5:37:55 (19.89mph avg speed) - 11 min PR!!!
T2: 3:37 (60/201)
Run: 3:31:53 (8:05/mile) - 19 min PR!!!

Rankings (156 racers in 25-29 men division & 2209 people in race)
Swim: 111th div, 1095th overall-oa
T1: 7th div, 63rd oa
Bike: 20th div, 167th oa, & in 253th overall position after bike
T2: 36th div, 285th oa
Run: 12th div, 83rd oa

Overall: 126th, passed 969 racers after swim
Division: 16th (top 10%!)

Goals accomplished
-I finished. Lucky number 7!
-Did not completely suck in the swim (completely sucking would have been 1:25+)
-I PR'd the Bike
-I PR'd the IM Marathon!
-I beat my IM Wis 2006 time!
-I PR'd overall

Goals almost accomplished
-hit 20mph avg speed on bike (.1mph or 2 minutes slow)
-Superman goal of 10:30 (Swim 1:14, Bike 5:45, Run 3:25) - so close!

Goals unaccomplished
-Did not qualify for Kona World Championships

Pre-Race: I arrived in Madison, Wisconsin from my new home in Ann Arbor, Michigan to see my mom and aunt at the hotel a stone's throw from the Ironman central. I spent the evening with them and my training buddies from St. Louis. The next day was checking in, relaxing, having lunch with Ben, my college buddy competing in his second Ironman, and then had dinner with Mishele, another college buddy who did IM Wisconsin last year, but would now be a finish line catcher.

Race Morning: Ate my traditional bowl of cereal (honey bunches of oats!) with skim milk, two bananas, handful of pretzels, and Gatorade (~800 Calories). Took care of my business. Saw all the people I wanted to see before the race and wished them luck. Kissed mom and auntie goodbye. And miraculously found Ben in the water before the start. We goofed around until the cannon blast sounded our start!

Marking Up - Pic Courtesy of Tom

Weather: Holy crap...the best weather I have ever had at an Ironman race. Low 70s and clear with overcast skies in the afternoon. A far cry from last year's 50deg and rain. I knew I would be beating last year's time. It was a matter of how much.

Darth Vader at the Swim Start - Proof that IM racers are a bunch of nerds!

Swim: For the first time this summer, I felt like I could actually swim. The calm, still waters helped, unlike last year's heavy choppiness. I knew there was about 100meters between the buoys and i just did my best to get to the next one within 2 minutes. This was largely a function of the amount of times I got kicked and punched, but overall I did well and before I knew it I was out of the water. I was 11 min faster than last year.

Running up the Helix after the Swim - Pic Courtesy of Tom

T1: Last year at this part of the race, my wetsuit was destroyed by overly aggresive wetsuit strippers. This time, I made sure my watch and chip were covered before I allowed a stripper to touch it. The suit came off flawlessly and I booked it up the helix of the car garage into the changing room. I love the indoor transition! I was flying through as I was one of top T1ers of the day...it's the lack of putting on socks for the bike that makes me fast.

Bike: I was so ready to start tackling the famous rollers of Wisconsin's rural landscape. All summer I pounded the steep hills of Wildwood, MO and Jefferson County, MO like I was in the Tour de France in order to prepare my legs to go 20mph. But the strategy would be to never exert myself, even on the hills. I would stay at an effort just below my lactate threshold. I do not use a HR monitor or power meter, so this would be purely on feel. I am old school when it comes to monitoring my body...the only technology I used was my bike speedometer.

First half - 21mph (~2:40)
Second half - 19mph (~2:57)

Crusin' in the country

Bike Nutrition: My nutrition strategy follows the KISS strategy, Keep it Simple Stupid. I see so many people with crazy beverages and concoctions for overestimated calorie requirements that I'm not surprised by the number of GI problems that I hear about following the race. How simple was it? Very...check it out.

Carbohydrate Gels - I ate 11 Powergels on 20min and 50min past the hour
Gatorade Endurance - 5 bottles, drank half at 5min and 35 min past the hour
Electrolytes - None...you get enough salt in the gels and Gatorade Endurance. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Bananas - I had 3 or 4 halves when I had the need for something normal and if I had any sign of nausea or GI trouble. They help calm things down.

Calories - (11 gels x 100 Cal) + (5 bottles x 150 Cal) + (2 bananas) = 2050 Calories.

T2: I hopped off the bike feeling awesome and knowing that if I could just hold it together, I was going to have an awesome day. I changed out of my tri spandex for my running shorts and opted to not wear my sunglasses which was a great spur of the moment decision because I would spend the next 3.5 hours just soaking my face with sponges and water. After stopping at the sunscreen folks, I began my final leg.

Run: I felt great at the beginning of this run even as I was holding back from going too fast, I hit a pace I've never seen in a previous Ironman. About halfway through the first mile I saw the two people I wanted to see most...my mom and aunt. Mom motioned to me about how good my time was. I was pumped and ready to tear up this race.

IM Lesson #364: Longer hair soaks up water more and keeps you cool. So men...quit Bic'ing your head!

I settled into my rhythym and began my nutrition strategy of a Gel and 2-3miles and water as often as possible. I did my best to resist the urge of the fruit, pretzels, and very solid foods as they would undoubtedly cause me trouble. But I had an orange slice and an occasional grape just to tease me.

Not only is the run my favorite part of a triathlon because its my best event, but its also the time I get to see all my friends out on the course and cheer them on. I like doing this as it gives me a boost too. Plus, the fan support was great as I passed my spectating St. Louis training crew and Ben's family.

Tossin' away an unneeded water bottle. Great Catch Mom!

I had a mantra in the run that came from the advice of a training partner from last year's Ironman Arizona, Kevin J. He had just shattered his personal best at IM Louisville and after asking how, he told me that it was important to "stay in the moment." Don't worry about what's ahead. Just attend to the immediate...nutrition, breathing, exertion, form. Such a simple piece of advice, but easily overlooked.

Everything was great as I plowed through the first half in 1:39:50 (7:37/mi). Nothing had gone wrong yet, and inspite of Kevin J's advice, I grew worried that something bad would happen as it always had done somewhere in an Ironman race. But...

...it never came. Well that's not 100% true. I did start feeling a bit bloated and had trouble burping from mile 15-21, causing me to drop down to high 8's/mile. I tried to keep it at low 8's in order to break 10:30, but I couldn't do it. It wasn't that bad of a problem, but it was the one thing that kept me from doing what I wanted to do.

As you can see, security was poor at Cougar Stadium because of those 2 big guns I snuck in.

Once I hit mile 22, I knew everything was going to be all right and I began thinking about how crazy this was that I was going to finish this run without walking a single step and over an hour faster than last year.

I passed by my St. Louis training partners with a mile to go. I rounded the capital building hearing the finish line crowd, and I ran down the final stretch pointing at my mom and aunt in the crowd, did some high fives, and smacked the finshing tape, ending my greatest race ever. I rounded off the second half of the marathon in 1:52:03 (8:33/mi).

Second IM Wisconsin in a row where my arms are down instead of up! Good finish idiot!

And what made it even more special, Mishele was immediately there as a finish line volunteer to give me a big hug. It was so nice to see her.

Me and Mishele...there's 11 Ironman races in that pic!

Post Race: Mom and Aunt Nancy walked with me back to the hotel where they got me my favorite post-IM meal...Fried Chicken and French Fries! Oh yeah! Nothing like fat and protein to end the day. I know this is the worst idea ever for a recovery meal, but a guy's gotta reward himself a little bit right? I spent the rest of the night calling all my friends finishing the race and everyone (and this is a totally true statement) had a day of PRs and successful first time finishes. It was a good day.

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IM Marathon Run Splits (notice the collapse in the 3rd quarter)

Lessons Learned: My weight training in the off-season consisting of circuit training interspersed with strength-focused weeks laid the foundation for the season. I built upon that by focusing on more speed in the bike and run. I never went over 13 hours of training in a week (this was to avoid overtraining, which I believe every age group athlete suffers in some varying degree). My training philosophy was "less is more" with the "less" part being high quality training...not junk miles.

The Result: I finished in the top 10% of my age group. The previous best has been top 22%. The top 5% get to Kona and for the first time, I believe I have an honest shot at getting there in a few years. By staying healthy, training consistently, and a little luck...it's a possibility.

To Improve...I need to swim a lot better. I dug my own grave this year by not spending a lot of time working on it. Next year...no excuses since I now work in a building with a pool! And I need 1-mph more on the bike and 30 sec/mi on the run. So that means speed, speed, speed!

Thank Yous: Doing these races are the easy part...especially when one has the support like I have had all year. In no particular order...

The family - no son, nephew, brother, or cousin could do these races year after year without you to support him. Seeing you out on the course cheering for me is more memorable to me than crossing the finish line.
Mishele - But you made crossing the finish line this year memorable!
Ben - my college hetero-lifemate. Great 2nd Ironman! See you on the slopes!
Tom, Tracy, Stu, and Michelle: for great sources of inspiration, camraderie, as we all took on an Ironman this year and won
Jen - for balancing our training rides with fancy schmancy dining and scalping tickets for awesome concerts
Shelby - for entertaining bike rides, talking science on the road, and for being the only person who has never said I suck at swimming
Serena - for kicking my ass on the track and never being without a story to tell. Congrats on the upcoming marriage!
Kozi - for kicking my ass on trails and being my marathoning hero
Corky, Anthony, Mike, Nicole - for making 5-hour bike rides entertaining and memorable
Kevin & Mina - When they weren't treating me like a king at their restaurant, or being my lab rats in my exercise physiology research, or pushing me to the limits training, they were some of the greatest friends a guy could have.
Sam & Peter - These two gents get the assist for every achievement of my racing season this year. There was hardly a workout where one of them wasn't there. And there was never a conversation topic that I needed to censor. One of the hardest things I have had to do in the past few years was to say goodbye to these goofy bastards in my move to Ann Arbor. But these are the kinds of friends that'll be around even when I'm not there.
You...the reader - Thank you for your time!

Next up: Long Course Duathlon National Championship (Powerman Ohio) - Sept 30. Followed by the New York Marathon, Nov 4.

Labels: ironman wisconsin, race report

I'm still awake with post-IM insomnia here in Madison, Wisconsin, so I thought I would spend this time on the hotel computer to quickly report the results from my best race ever! Detailed report to come.

Swim - 1:17:22
Bike - 5:37:55
Run - 3:31:53

Overall - 10:36:20

That's a 45-minute PR!!! Woohoo!

For any athlete addicted (or not) to the social networking sites, you should check this one out. If you have entered in any races, chances are you are already listed. You just need to set up an account (for free) to create a more consolidated profile (i.e. eliminate the 30 other John Doe's that come back in a search). It's a great one stop shop for seeing friends athletic achievements without having to remember the exact race and date. Check AthLinks out - http://www.athlinks.com/.


Note: I have no personal stake in this site so my opinion is unbiased.

I'm sure you have heard about it, but here is a website devoted to a great event in running. Click the Beermile banner to find out. I especially like the different permutations of the race and the world records associated with them.

Xterra Iron Will Triathlon: A couple weeks ago. I went down to Jonesboro, Arkansas with my buddy Sam for my first ever Xterra race. To all that don't know, Xterra races comprise trail-running, mountain bike races, and off-road triathlons. I was competing in the latter. Xterra is the most popular brand of off-road triathlons and they have their World Championships in Hawaii the weekend after the famous Ironman race in Kona.

Labels: race report, Xterra

I really need to see someone about my "deucing" habit.

I almost hit this guy taking the picture...whoops!

Heading into T2

Run: Although I don't have anything official, I believe i negative splitted this run. Again, I held back until the 2nd lap of the half-marathon and turned on the gas. I hope I feel this strong during my Ironman run in a couple weeks (1:25:59) PR Split! And one of the best run splits of the day.

Starting the 13.1 mile dance. Picture Courtesy of Mr. Wil of Iron Wil Productions

All Done! And seriously man, quit acting like Nixon!

Overall: 4:42:16 (an 8min PR from last month's Half...granted I had a flat tire, longer bike ride, and a trail half-marathon at High Cliff...so I was probably the same speed the whole way.)

Next up: Ironman race #7 at Madison, WI Sept 9, 2007!

Labels: race report, Spirit of Racine

I may be preaching to the choir by linking this article, but here's a story about the new recommendations from the leading scientific bodies on physical exercise and sports medicine. As you can see, the recommendations are a little more specific, but it hasn't really changed. I especially like how they gave specifics on weight lifting in addition to aerobic exercise (they are both necessary!). And the info for 65+ people is good to see too! Good job ACSM!

Check out the new guidelines from the ACSM website here.

"The new guidelines call for healthy adults to engage in moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity for at least 30 minutes five days each week, or vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise for at least 20 minutes three days a week. The guidelines also state that exercise above the recommended minimum amounts provides even greater health benefits."

The guidelines called for weightlifting exercise to work on muscular strength and endurance, with eight to 10 different exercises on two nonconsecutive days a week.

The new guidelines offered specific advice for people 65 and older, urging them to consider lifting weights, improving their strength to prevent falls, and working on flexibility exercises and balance training."