Internal Mono(b)log

In fewer than 7 days, assuming nothing goes terribly wrong, I will have heard the words “Rick Yazwinski, you… are.. an.. Ironman” for the 1st time in my life.  It’s all starting to get real.  I’m mid taper and my non-workout-inspired-angst is raising along with my desire to be excited and nervous.  I’m trying to keep all this rampant emotions in check and just focus on mechanical task completion.

• I have my race number from the site (1176).
• I’ve assembled my packing list.  I do this days ahead of time so I don’t forget things.
• I’ve built my race number holder for the bike and just need to get some longer bolts to attach it. (The Storck doesn’t really have a “good” place to attach a number, so I’ve made a bracket to attach under the Di2 battery holder.)
• I’m stretching a lot to keep flexible as muscles repair, strengthen and otherwise tighten up 🙂
• I’ve picked up 6 disposable water bottles that I’ll exchange on the bike ride (don’t want to ditch “clean bottles” or fancy souvenir bottles)
• And finally, I’m in the super-strict “race weight” diet stretch.  Super-clean eating, targeting zero deficit or excess.  No calories in after 9pm.

2 days of work and then I’m off for a week.  Wednesday will be a busy day: van pickup, packing, (hopefully none, but probably some) last minute pickups.  Thursday morning I hit the road for Tremblant. Hopefully I’ll leave early (6ish) and be there early afternoon.  I’m taking my laptop and my GoPro, so I’ll be doing some updates later in the week from on site.  My race-day nutrition plan has evolved since Panama and I’ll do an updated post on that here.

Weeeeee!

June 8-10th I organized an Ironman Mont Tremblant Training camp.  It was a “ruffing it” style event where people were generally on their own for meals and accommodations.   The majority of us were camping at Camping Boreal, but some, in light of the terrible weather when we arrived on Friday, chose to find a nearby motel and rough-it a little less 🙂

Read more… »

OH.. MY.. GOD!  An Ironman race in Baja California!!! In March!!

I’ve been drawn to Baja for years, for no reason that I’m aware of, just a strong desire to go there.  A pull.  Undefined but so real.  Sort of like Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind with is draw to the bute.  No I haven’t sculpted Baja out of mashed potatoes, but close 🙂

Ironman adds Ironman Los Cabos to Global Series » IRONMAN.com.

I may just have to do this!

Last Sunday was the event of the popping of my marathon cherry.  Yup, it was my 1st 26.2, my first 43.666… km, my 1st 4 hour run and without any specific marathon training, and just coming off IM NOLA, I felt I did pretty darned well.  My (unofficial time – by my Garmin) 4:08:13.  No course record, but a good baseline for things to come.  I didn’t even really view it as a race, just a training run.  No specific taper, no carb loading, nothing really special leading up: just got up Sunday morning for a 4hr training run, with support and a LOT of other people 😉

The weather forecast for the day was perfect: not too hot, not too cool, partly cloudy, no wind, no rain.  How awesome is that!  The forecast high was 15C, so I went with long sleeve technical shirt, tights and a technical baseball cap.  I started the day in a garbage bag and wearing disposable ($5/doz) cotton gloves.  As the day progressed, I’d find that I was over dressed – short sleeves and shorts (or at least lighter leggings) would have been better choices.  I didn’t overheat, but could have been a bit cooler in the last 10k of the run.

The Goodlife Marathon is about 50% downhill, 40% flat and 10% climb.  It’s a fast course and until the 25-30k mark I thought I may actually finish in about 3:30.. but then I was also entering unknown territory and that soon became apparent.  I had been maintaining a sub 5min/km pace but sometime around 2:30-3:00 into the run fatigue caught up with me.  My pace dropped closer to 6 min/km pace and I started to talk walk breaks (not long ones, but they were there).  I figured I had nothing to prove and there was no point killing myself in a distance training run, so I took it easy.  Fuelled and hydrated and just kept going.

Was absolutely a fun day.  My body was tired for a day or 2 but generally sprung back pretty quickly with no long-term adverse affects. Now that I have my 4hr marathon baseline, I have something to improve on.  I’d like to get my single-sport marathon time down to 3-3.5 hrs.  I know that with the swim and bike in the full Iron’ that pace will drop, but I’d like to do my IM marathon in sub-4.

Fun times!

What an emotional, suspense-filled week I’ve had down here in New Orleans!

From the time I arrived last Wednesday, the forecast for Sunday’s race went from implying there’d be no race, to clear, to crazy high winds, no calm, and pretty much everything in between. I did my best to resign myself to accepting whatever Mother Nature threw at us and rolling with the punches. Really, there is/was very little else one could do.

On Saturday it became clear that there’d be no swim on Sunday. The winds were so high that they couldn’t set the swim course and they were forecast to be stronger on Sunday. The race organizers, wizely, changed the format of the race and the routes to accommodate the crazy weather and insuing road washout conditions to provide for a good and challenging, while still safe, day.

The format for the day was changed to a duathlon: 2 mile run, 52 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. I’d been aiming for a 5:15 time for the tri’ and would have been ok with a 5:30. My time for the duathlon? 4:50:13!!! Now, if I add a few minutes ato the start run for the difference in swim time, and a few minutes to the bike to make it 56 miles, not 52, I’m pretty confident that I would have still beaten my 5:15 target. So even with the “triathlon time approximation”, I’m still happy with the result.

As always the staff and volunteers were AWESOME! Y’all (sorry NOLA creeping in there) make the event work and make racing so much fun. Thanks!

Generally, especially considering the rapidly changing conditions and routes, the event was pretty flawless. There are two things I’d call out for the organizers to try to improve upon for subsequent races:

• swim location, obvious and I know they’re already thinking about this one :This is the 2nd year of no swim, and while you can’t control the weather, you can put the swim in more sheltered waters where springtime variable conditions are less likely to impact the day
• road hazard marking: the roads around New Orleans are some of the poorest I’ve ever raced on! Poured concrete slabs with bumps every 2 seconds, and big sections or roads with longitudinal, tire eating cracks made for challenging riding and several crashes. In many cases these hazards were not marked adequately, if at all. A little extra here would go a long way to rider safety.

Looking at the overall results last night, the saying “The ride is for show,the run is for dough” kept springing to mind. I continually,race after race, close in on the leader’s time on the bike, only to lose that advantage in the run. It’s clear that I need to work on my run speed. I have the fitness to run and run and run (provided I’m fuelled) but my pace needs to get from 5:30/km to closer to 3:00/km if I want to be competative for a podium spot in my age group.

A few shout-outs for my sponsors: your equipment and support made this race truly amazing for me. Blacksmith cycles: Gertie (my Storck Aero2is) was a champ! I pushed a 200w average over the bike course and she worked flawlessly! Invisciddesign for shipping me a Speedfil A2 to replace my (yucky) Torhans system: the A2 is amazing, thank you so much! 4iiii.com for the Sportiiiis heads up display: these are a great training and racing device, keep up the great work! FirstEndurance for all my race nutrition needs: Kona Mocha flavour EFS Liquid Shot is AMAZING! Yum! And last but certainly not least, big thanks to my support team: Coach Ian MacLean, for his amazing coaching and my wonderful wife, Kim, for her understanding and support (even when she doesnt’t really understand why I’m doing this, she’s always in my corner cheering me on)!

Just got an email from the New Orleans race organizers.  Due to impending questionable weather changes to the swim, bike and run portions of the race have been made.  The “bad news” is that the race may become a duathlon if the lake is too crappy for the swim, the “good news” is that it looks like we’ll have a race in any event.  Phew! That’s a relief.

Ochsner Ironman 70.3 Course Update COURSE MAP CHANGES FOR THE 2012 OCHSNER IRONMAN 70.3 NEW ORLEANS  PLEASE READ!   PLEASE READ!   PLEASE READ! Due to weather and wind concerns for this weekend’s Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans, race management has made several changes that will go into affect for this weekends event. The entire swim course—if possible—will be held on the beach front behind the UNO Research and Technology Park.  With a forecast of high winds out of the north for Saturday night and Sunday morning, we have decided to bring both swim start and swim exit to one location.  This move also allows us to hold a duathlon format with the event if the swim has to be canceled because of wind conditions. DOWNLOAD THE REVISED SWIM MAP (PDF) If the swim is canceled, then all athletes will be racing a two-mile run before the bike portion of the event.  Athletes will be sent off in their swim start wave order on the run course, with professional men starting first followed five minutes later by professional women.   Age group athletes will also be starting in their swim wave start order beginning five minutes after the professional women with waves going off every 3 minutes. The bike course has been altered to avoid storm debris on the far western section of Lakeshore Drive.  To avoid this debris, the bike course has been shorten to 52 miles in length. DOWNLOAD THE REVISED BIKE MAP (PDF) The storm debris on the bike course has also affected the run course on the far western edge of the half-marathon course.  Race management has moved the event to a double loop run course that brings athletes on every lap back towards the finish line area, so friends and family members can cheer you on during this section of the run.  Note: Timing mats will be placed on the run course to ensure that two loops have been completed. DOWNLOAD THE REVISED RUN MAP (PDF) On both the bike course and run course water stops and portable restroom facilities will still be in locations to assist you at each stop along both courses. None of these changes in course design or distance will affect your qualifying for the 2012 Ironman 70.3 World Championships or the Professional Points System set up by World Triathlon Corporation. Premier Event Management and its entire team would like to thank each and every athlete, volunteer and race official for their support as we head into this weekend’s event. Bill Burke Race Organizer/Owner

Copyright © 2012 Premier Event Management. All Rights Reserved. http://www.pem-la.com

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I’m down here in New Orleans, suffering through my taper, and prepping for the Ochsner Ironman70.3 New Orleans on Sunday.

Yesterday was a total rest day, and had me climbing the walls.  Today I got to do a few light workouts: 1 hr light bike, 30 minute light swim – definitely helped to manage the pent-up energy.

Tomorrow, I’m doing a short run (45 minutes) and then I’ll head down to the race hotel to checkin, get my race packet and perhaps see a little of the French quarter.  Generally, other than my minimal proscribed work-outs, I’m trying to stay off my feet, stretch, meditate and visualize the race.  I’m also trying to not fixate on the weather too much.

Yesterday they were forecasting a terrible storm that put the swim or potentially the entire race in question.  This morning, the anticipated impact to the area is 40% chance of showers on Saturday and clear Sunday (a huge improvement).   The weather will be what it is, and I don’t mind racing in bad weather, but from what I understand, bad weather can and likely would wash-out huge sections of the bike and run course and make the swim impossible.  Obviously, having trained and prepped (and spent) to be here to race, getting screwed by bad weather would be a heart-breaker.  But… I guess, it’ll be what it is.  Cross your fingers and toes and pray for good weather for me on Sunday 🙂

Tomorrow is also carb loading day.  I’ll follow my normal protocol which I outlined in my Panama lead-up.

Definitely feeling the taper… angst, irritable, almost vibrating… come on Sunday!

Outstanding Pro Fields to fight it out in the Big Easy » IRONMAN.com.

Wow big (tentative) pro field racing on Sunday.  Lets hope we get reasonable weather!

I’m still having a hard time believing it’s here, but tomorrow afternoon I board a plane and head South to “Big Easy” for the 2012 Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans.  I guess it started feeling real a week ago when I dropped caffeine from my diet, and a little more so on the weekend when I picked up the bike case, but today I started day 1 of pre-race taper and tonight I pack.  Of course, landing in New Orleans and being issued my bib number will definitely bring it all home.  Heh! Writing this I feel the pre-race tummy flutter and skin flush.  Funny!

It’s also funny: I spent so much time training and specifically prepping for IM Panama that NOLA seems minor by comparison – I had mentally put a lot of emphasis on Panama, perhaps a little too much, and ended up injured and not completing.  I’m coming into NOLA with a much more relaxed feel, I still plan on going out and pushing hard, but a lot of the inappropriate self-stressors seem to not be around this time, which is good.  Ian’s been working me hard and I’ve continued to build on the fitness I had going into Panama.  Coming into this race I feel really solid: my health is good, no injuries, my new bike is amazing(!!!).  I just need to get myself down there, recover from the travel, continue my taper and then on Sunday, go out and have a blast!  I’ve already connected with some locals, so, with luck, I’ll have some company for taper runs, swims, and rides.

For Panama, just a few months ago, I did a big pre-race blog build-up, I won’t repeat all that material here since so much of it is the same (diet, carb loading protocol, etc.).  Packing a little lighter for this trip since I’m only down in NOLA for a few days and because the odds of finding anything I need in NOLA are much higher than they were in Panama.

I’ll post my bib number and results tracking link as soon as they’re available.

Wish me luck!

Pulling out of IMPanama was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make.  So much training, sweat and pain, time and money went into getting me here and racing, I really wanted to push through anything, leave it all on the course, and win a slot for Las Vegas for the 70.3 Worlds.

My swim was great: 27 minutes by my watch.  I was 10th on the bike at 2:55 by my watch.  But when I got 20 minutes into the run, my stomach became terribly upset (read: vomiting), I became disoriented and after sitting at an aide station for 5 minutes drinking water, soaking myself down,  and not feeling any better I decided to call it a day.  I was gutted, but it was really the only choice.  I got a sag wagon to the med tent, sat under a fan with ice packs and drank water until I felt hungry.  Unfortunately the food choices at the athlete’s lounge and Ironman village were… well terrible: cookies, cinnamon buns, bananas, pizza, pretzels, and white-bread finger sandwiches.  Really?!  Come on now.

Let me say at the point, I’m not discouraged.  In fact, quite the opposite: I was doing so well, in this heat, that being taken out of the race by a medical is just a tease.  I’m hungry.  I want to find another 70.3 soon. Continue building my fitness and leverage today’s lesson into tomorrow’s win.

Looking back on the day.  The only thing that I can think of is that in order to manage the pain from my shin splint I tried a protocol of Advil and Aleve, and while the pain killers did a great job on my shin (in fact it’s still not hurting :P) I think they destroyed my stomach.  My stomach was a bit upset on the bike, but when I started the run my shin was hurting so I took a couple of Aleve.  Soon thereafter, my shin started feeling better but my stomach worse. 🙁

I broke my #1 rule: “Don’t change anything on race day”.  Now the shin splint pain kind of put me into a “stuck between a rock and hard place” situation and I wasn’t going to not race because of my shin and needed to do something for pain management.  So I dunno… maybe there was something different I could have done?

Ah well… next race?  New Orleans? Would be sweet vacation for Kim and I if we can afford it. Syracuse, NY in June?  Nice and close.. maybe… but wish it was sooner.

For now… a few days of continued vacation in Panama: Some indiscriminate eating, some active recovery, and then back to the great white north.