Tri RobbyB Tri :: General

Erin tagged me a long time ago to answer some questions. I figured since xt4 just tagged me for something else, I better get this one done.

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?
Ten years ago, I was finishing school, not doing any physical activities whatsoever. Unless you count multiple late night sessions of 12-oz curls. Multiple late night sessions.

2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?
My best was the last half-mile of my Ironman. Ted caught me right at the top State St, heading towards the finish line. He asked how I was doing, I replied, "I'm finishing!"

The worst hasn't happened yet. As much as some of these intervals suck, I still am learning much about my running and how much the mind plays a role. In fact, just this morning, on my fourth half-mile of six, I stopped running. For no real reason other than my legs hurt. For a small second, I couldn't believe what happened. But within an instant, I started again and finished out the workout according to plan. For me, the mind is weaker than my running legs. Every tough/bad run tells me how to get better.

3. Why do you run?
I run because it's my weakest leg in a triathlon. When looking at results, almost always I will have the slowest run time of all those that finish in front of me, and probably another ten that finish behind me.

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?
The best was for a racing a 5K; "When you think you are about to blow up start using your arms. They will be hanging by your side. Pump them. Pull with them."

The worst was when I was told I don't need motion control shoes. Must've been a bad day for Endurance House that day. They made up for it when I went back.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.
There was this one time at band camp...

Are you traveling this holiday season? If so, be wary of Deep Vein Thrombosis, or DVT. This overview provides a good summary of the symptoms and impacts. Who knew being healthy could be so dangerous?

Sunday brings a close to the triathlon season, and I'll have one last try to get things right. After the DNF at Devil's Lake, I purchased a new tire, CO₂ pump, and two CO₂ cartridges. I installed the new tire, new tube and practiced with the CO₂ this week. The bike is ready.

Forecasters can't decide whether to forecast rain on Sunday or not. For awhile, there was a 40% chance with highs in the 60s. Then no chance of rain but highs in the low 70s with partly cloudy skies. Now, there's a 40% chance of rain after 4 PM (I'm scheduled to start at 11:22.) with highs in the mid 70s. Aside from the 30mph winds, the weather sounds like it's ready. (At least it's not 34°.)

I also did some recon on the athletes for this weekend. I looked to see how many athletes are returning from the Earlybird Tri on the same course. It looks like I'll be competitive. There are only 9 of us in the male 30-34 age group, and I have the fastest time of those returning. I'm in the fastest wave of swimmers, similar to last time. I plan on a nice sub 6:00 500 swim. I'll keep the bike nice and steady, since I haven't spent too much time in the saddle as of late. I want to run as hard as I can for the entire course. I want to be spent at the end of the race. Absolutely spent. I have mental issues that limit me from pouring it on during the run and I always have something left in the tank. I need to break through the wall and lay it all out there. Am I ready? Check back on Sunday.

Congratulations to all the Ironman Wisconsin finishers. Near perfect conditions provided a lot of success stories. I had a great time volunteering for the race and cheering all of you on. I look forward to hearing all about your races. I hope to post my day here as well.

Inspired by Bolder's post, here's where I'll be come Ironman weekend:

• Saturday, September 8
• 8:00 AM: Volunteer Meeting -- Kris & I are the captains for the wetsuit peeler volunteers. At this meeting we meet everyone to hand out t-shirts and credentials.
• 11:30 AM - 3:00 PM: Organize gear bags -- I'm pretty sure I get to help athletes place their transition bags in the proper room and then in the right spot. Trust me, it's very complicated.
• 4:00 PM: Saturday afternoon meet-up -- I'll meet with volunteers that can't make the morning meeting.
• Sunday, September 9
• 7:00 AM: Race Start -- I'll be watching the athletes churn the waters as they make their way through 2.4 miles of swimming
• Approximately 7:45 AM: First peel -- For the next hour and a half, we'll peel approximately 2,000 athletes out of their wetsuits. It great fun.
• 10:00 AM: Bike Course -- Kris and I will hopefully have time to get out to the bike course to cheer everyone on.
• 12:15 PM - 5:30 PM: Run Course Marshal -- We'll be right at the run start to make sure all the athletes get out of the Monona Terrace and on the run course.
• 5:30 PM - 12:00 AM: Run Course -- Following our stint as marshals, we'll probably head to State St. to cheer all the runners on to the finish line. Closer to 10 PM, we'll head to the finish line to party and cheer everyone across the line.

Feel free to meet up with us at any of these places. If you'd like to meet up before Saturday, drop me a note and we'll set something up.

Greetings!

I've been busy helping IronWil organize the WIBA training weekend. With the three separate bike groups, I thought some cue sheets would help. Click below for a PDF of each route. There's a map and turn-by-turn directions for each route.

• Full Course: Start at Monona Terrace, two loops and return (112 mi)
• Single Loop: Start at Monona Terrace, one loop and return (~75 miles)
• Two Loop: Start at Fireman's Park in Verona and complete two loops. (80 miles)

See you then!

I'm only into my third year of triathlon training, so I'm continuously learning. I'd thought I'd share something that I learned this weekend: Don't expect to be able to walk a round of golf after a long run.

Saturday, I went golfing for the first time this season. However, I woke up early to get in 10 miles. Unfortunately, I didn't think about my stuffing my swollen feet into golf shoes. (And to think, I actually turned down getting a cart. I did pick one up at the turn, but the damage was already done.) I developed some nasty one-inch holes, just inside of my heels.

To add insult to injury, the Band-Aid blister healing bandages I bought failed. I bled through my socks on Sunday and was reduced to a crawl on Sunday night. Every time I sat down, I dreaded to get up because I knew the pain would be worse. We picked up some New-Skin to protect my feet from infection. I needed to take the Band-Aids off in order to apply the New-Skin. As I took the one on my right foot off, it took the flap of skin with it. So now I have a quarter-size hole on my right heel. Fun.

And of course, this happens a week before Crazylegs and my first triathlon of the season. I'll take it easy running this week and see how fast I can make these things heal.

I was running home from swimming. I arrived at the intersection just as a cyclist was accelerating. He was dripping in sweat, completely soaked through his jersey.

"How was your ride?"

"Great. Just a month ago I got frost bite," as he mindlessly scratched at his recently frost-bitten neck.

And thus it was great. A second day of record-breaking highs near 80 degrees has made this March feel less like spring and more like summer. I have a feeling the predicted highs in the 50s this weekend will close March like spring. Not that anyone's complaining.

You may have missed me. Or not.

I've held off posting any triathlon activities because of the back-end action. (No not my back-end, the site's back end. You have a dirty mind.) I don't know if you noticed, but the site now sends everything to the new subdomain, tri.robbyb.com. Old links to workouts are automatically redirected seamlessly. Now that I've got a redesign in place, expect to see more posts on the already successful 2007 season. It's going to be heavy on running and racing. (See the event list on the right.)

The original domain was set up to track me working out. I had no idea how much the triathlon adventure would eventually change my life. I'm excited that there are so many people that blog their triathlon adventures, and I look forward to participating as much as possible.

Hi! I'm alive and kickin'. Lots going on with moving and fixin' up things at the house. Triathlon season officially began last weekend with the Lake Mills triathlon. Tim and Nicole DeBoom were there with some pro friends and ripped the course apart. I surprised myself on the run, but also found some spots to work on. I'm working on a race report.

I'm less than seven weeks away from my Big Race for the year in Racine. Lack of a proper training program has put me behind the ball a little bit, but the early run emphasis has really helped so far. I'm both anticipating and dreading the Horribly HIlly Hundred bike ride next weekend. I hope to get out this weekend to ride a portion of the course to see just how hard it will be. I was thinking of doing the Verona Tri the next day, but Kris wisely talked me out of it. Looks like the next race will be the Big Race.

Lost in the flurry of house purchasing this weekend was a tremendously good weekend of training.

Friday ended with a sweet swim workout. I finished a 1000 (40 lengths) in 12:30 for a sustained 1:15 / 100y pace for the entire swim.

Saturday's run called for 13 miles. Why not make it an even 13.1 and compare it to last year's half marathon? I ran around Lake Monona in 1:52 and change, about two minutes faster than said half-marathon. The main difference was that this was a training run and last year I "raced" the half-marathon, expending much more energy. What a difference a year makes.

Sunday was a two-hour ride. I didn't quite trust the weather, so I popped X2 into the DVD and pedaled a good pace the entire 120 minutes on the trainer. It was much stronger than any previous ride this spring.

One last breakthrough was on the scale. Flirting with sub-180, I finally cracked the plane and saw 179 for the first time since the Ironman.

Yup, it was a good weekend indeed.

After my calf setback in March, I set appointments with a podiatrist and a sports med doc. The podiatrist told me to keep what I was doing with the shoes and arch supports and sent me on my way. I bet that cost my insurance $120 for fifteen minutes, tops.

But I met with Dr. Gronski this morning of sports med. Apparently, he's a bit of an athlete, and know all about triathlons from his colleague, who's signed up for this years Ironman Wisconsin. We discussed many causes of my pain, what I did to overcome it, and what will happen in the future. The diagnosis is plantar fasciitis:

Plantar fasciitis, which may cause the heel to hurt, feel hot or swell, is inflammation of the plantar fascia, a thin layer of tough tissue supporting the arch of the foot. Repeated microscopic tears of the plantar fascia cause pain. Sometimes plantar fasciitis is called "heel spurs", but this is not always accurate, since bony growths on the heel may or may not be a factor...There are a number of possible causes for plantar fasciitis and they often work in combination. Tightness of the foot and calf, improper athletic training, stress on the arch or weakness of the foot are potential causes. Shoes that don't fit, certain play or work actions or overuse (running too fast, too far, too soon) may hurt the plantar fascia. People with low arches, flat feet or high arches are at increased risk of developing plantar fasciitis.

I emphasized that last line because it's very important to my problems. I have very flat feet. So flat that me calf has to do more work that it would had I grown arches as a kid. Dr. Gronski explained it like this. Basically your arch is the shock absorber of your foot. Every time you land, your arch spreads absorbs the footfall. Since my arches don't exist, my ankle must absorb the shock. The ankle is supported tendons that connect to the calf muscle. The tibialis anterior does much of this work in my case. As a result, it gets sore. Really sore.

So, Deb, the Sports Med angel, came in with a crazy looking boot thing, some thera-band and a bunch of exercises. The crazy boot thing ended up being a "night splint." The night splint looks much like a plastic cast, but only on the back half. I strap my foot into it at night and it holds it at 90° while I sleep. What that does is allows the plantar fascia to heal in the proper position. Otherwise, if I let it relax and it heal in that position, I would literally tear what had healed the during the night with my first few steps. That's the pain the people express in their heel when they rise in the morning. She then gave me the thera-band and taught me a ton of exercises to strengthen my feet to prevent further pain. Basically, I'm doing all this to prevent problems as I continue to train.

Update: I've worn the boot for a week and and my anterior tibialis is been great. My runs felt really good the whole week. I just have to remember to keep stretching and doing my exercises.

Notice that I've added some ads to the bottom of the page (see them on the workout page). Google seems to be expanding their AdSense program, so I thought I'd try my hand at raising a few extra dollars. Please click on some. All proceeds go toward my race entry fees and race support. Thanks.

This week marks the start of my base phase in training. From now until September 11, I will be following a relatively strict workout schedule. Right now, I have the next three weeks scheduled: what I am doing everyday, for how long and at what intensity. Thanks to an excellent Christmas gift: Be Iron-Fit by Don Fink, I've got an idea of what to do every week. This week it's six hours total. Next week it's six and a half hours. Then seven, seven and half, then back down to 6 or so to recover. Then I go back up to eight and continue that trend (three up, one back) for the next thirty or so weeks. I'm psyched.

Up to this point, which I considered my "Pre" phase, (2005 only) I've swum 3.5 miles, ran for 18, and biked for another 105. In three weeks I managed nearly 127 miles in about 13.5 hours. On The Day, I have to cover 140.6 miles in less than 17 hours. I've got some work ahead of me, but am very eager to get it going. In the "Pre" phase, if I missed a workout I could move on without too much consequence. Now, a missed workout isn't so bad, but it's not so good either. With only so many hours to work, eat, sleep and train every week, each workout is precious, especially on the weekends. That's the domain of the long bike and run workouts. Right now it's under an hour for each, but the bike will grow to a six-hour ride, and 3 hours for a run during the peak week. Note that everything is based in hours. While on the bike and running, I'm using my heart rate monitor and stopwatch for my training, rather than miles. It allows me to train anywhere, and not have to worry about measuring it out before or after. And everyone's using their heart rate as a training indicator, so why not me?

I hope to update this space weekly if not more often. Each update will include training time and any thoughts. In the right column there's a countdown to the big day, as well as my event schedule as it stands. There's a couple more events that I'm thinking about, so there may be some additions.

An amazing five-part race report of an age-group with a lottery slot at Hawaii. In part one, he describes what it's like to race in Hawaii:

But Kona is different, special. Kona is the Ironman, where the roads have been baptized with the sweat of thousands, paved with sacrifice, where Pele has crowned champions and crushed pretenders, where agony and ecstasy merge over 17hrs into one blurry kaleidoscope of suffering, sacrifice and triumph.

If you've got some time, you should read the rest. It's in five parts: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five

In weight loss, milestones have always related to the number of pounds lost. The most common question I hear is "How much weight have you lost?" Losing weight is relative. The pounds I've lost wouldn't make a dent in a 400-lb. person, but could be catastrophic for anyone less than 125 pounds. Besides that, muscle is starting to replace the fat and everyone knows that muscle weighs more than fat. I like to measure my weight loss in the smaller things, like pant size, shirt size, and notches on the belt.

So, in that vane, I've dropped two sizes in my pants, a size in shirts, and two notches on the belt. I can bend over to tie my shoes, rather than bringing my feet up to my waist. I'm starting to see my upper body restore its triangle shape, formed by broad shoulders and the lack of a spare tire. New, smaller pants bought a month ago are now too big. I am confident, not self-conscious, walking to the pool in my suit. Those milestones & mindsets make more of a difference than what a scale measures. (But, since you still ask, I've lost 24 pounds since day one.)

Overall, I'm tired, but I'm well on the way to set myself up for some serious training. For the next few months leading up to the Alumni Meet in December, I'll be swimming three times a week (M,W,F), and running twice (T,R) and biking after work when ever possible. I plan on biking the Ironman route (at least the loop portion) at least once, if not twice (not in the same ride), before it snows. Winter training will include time on the stationary bike trainer (Thanks Nelson!), more swimming and track/treadmill running.

A study in Minnesota shows that swimming in syrup is as easy as water:

The reason, explains Cussler, is that while you experience more "viscous drag" (basically friction from your movement through the fluid) as the water gets thicker, you generate more forwards force from every stroke. The two effects cancel each other out.

I don't think I'll be working out in goo too soon, though.

I discovered today that I was very lucky to get registered for the Ironman. What filled in two days last year, only took 13 hours this year.

Also, leading up to the race was the controversy of paint sprayed on the roads of the bike route by fans. Locals were extremely upset with that and the fact that they have to close down their streets multiple times a year for biking events. All of this appearently boiled over to a very dangerous situation when nails were found on the road the morning of the race. Several athletes punctured their tires, and some could have had a slow leak and experienced a blowout while on a downhill section. It took some nice people of a local club to smooth everything over by taking driveway sealant and sand to cover up the paint left over from the race. Hopefully, the good tidings will remain throughout next year when I start taking regular rides out there. Maybe I'll write, "I'm your friend" on my shirt.

It's time to get back into the game. Starting today, I am on the South Beach Diet. In two weeks time, by cutting the bad cards and sugar. (No Frosted Flakes!), I'm told that I can loose between 8-13 pounds, most of it around the middle. That's good. I'm getting sick of feeling the flab hang over my belt when tying my shoes.

After a bit of a binge this past week, I'm at 212 on the home scale. Let's see what happens.

The Wife and I engaged in some serious racquetball fun, playing four games at a feverish pace. The last was highlighted by the abolishment of a gambling debt. I cannot expulge on the bet, but Kris was pleased to win.

ABCNews.com writes that It's Never Too Late to Exercise. The story centers on someone that is exactly where I am: 28, 30 pounds overweight, too many carbs, too little exercise.

To my credit, getting into the regular workouts have helped. Two weeks from Tuesday is the Alumni Meet, and then I hope to start running on the days I don't swim. Maybe a half-marathon next Memorial Day, and then on the bike.

The exercise is the easy part. Now, about those carbs. That's a part of my life that I have a very difficult time cutting out. I keep telling myself to bring my lunch, which would help not only economically, but I gotta think it's better than Quizno's every other day. I just have to get into a habit like I have with working out.

But, as you & I watch the scale, keep in mind that it's a journey and not a sprint. The ultimate goal is the 2005 Ironman, and that's a long, long way off. In the mean time, we'll keep trudging along.