Shhh, it's a secret

Ok, first, I've been a bit lacking the past couple of weeks on posting. I apoligize. My counterpart at work has been gone on vacation so my workload has increased. So between work being nuts, being in a fairly critical time in my HIM training and seemingly travelling with the family every weekend on short trips something had to give. And, unfortunately my friends, the blog lost that battle.

So not only have I been teasing you with a secret but I have also been ignoring you all. How rude am I? lol Let's see if I can make it up to you.

Here are the quick workout facts to date. I have continued my build phase towards Steelhead. I am currently 4 weeks away and feeling pretty ok with my fitness. This coming weekend is Interlochen. This was the first tri I ever attempted and this may be the last year I race it. I think next year I am going to be trying some different venues and race management companies. This is another 3 Disciplines race and I have just grown tired of the constant issues and excuses. I felt like they were better at Motor City and I have hope for Interlochen but it's just time to try some new events next year. My race expectation for Interlochen is another PR. I really feel ready to break the 2:55 mark. This is a fast fairly flat (1 small hill on the outbound leg of the bike and one HUGE hill at the half way point of the run) fast (the bike is typically into the wind on the way out and with the wind on the way in) race. My ultimate goal would be 2:45 but that will require some serious buckling down on my part. I fully expect a sub 2:55 effort on this one. Anything less will be a definite disappointment.

Ok enough of that drudgery. I have been holding out on you all for the past few months and especially the past 3 weeks. This past spring I came across an oppourtunity to participate in a research study through Michigan State University. What prompted my desire to participate was the chance to have a real VO2max test! I initially thought it was at no cost to me. Boy was I wrong! it may have been no monetary cost but the physical effort to participate in the study cost a ton, haha. I used to think lab rats had a pretty good life. 3 square meals a day, lodging, a little exercise..... how bad could it be? Let me tell you, I have grown mentally and physically participating in this study. I found out about 3 weeks ago that I had been accepted into the study. The study is being conducted by Clemens Drenowatz, a Ph.D. candidate in their kinesiology dept. This is a pre-study for his doctoral dissertation. He is studying the validity of the Sensewear Armband® at high intensity exercise. (I should have paid more attention that statement when I signed up, haha, high intensity should have set off some alarms somewhere) For the study I will be doing 3 separate test procedures. I have completed the first two as now. I am scheduled to complete the 3rd and final test procedure Wednesday evening, this week.

So, on to my Craig the lab rat report. For my first visit I met Clemens at the IM Circle facility (my second test was there as well). We chatted a bit and I got to listen to all the disclaimers and legal crud. Then I got to sign all their waivers saying I wouldn't sue if I died, etc... Hey I'm a triathlete afterall, I'm used to signing my life away so what the heck, lol... Then the fun began.

Body composition testing and VO2Max test. The results here would establish a baseline for the next 2 visits and establish effort level percentages for future use. The first picture is the "bod pod" used for determining body composition (read that as how much fat does Craig have) What an eye opener that was. The device uses air pressure to determine exactly how much bone, muscle, fat, etc.. you have in your body.
I found out I'm a nice healthy 24% body fat, not a surprise but now I also was shown that number translated to 40 pounds of fat!! That number was an eye opener. Wow! It sounds really bad when you put it that way, lol. Anyways that was only the begining of the fun. We got to get standing heart rate, height, weight and blood pressue as well. The second picture is of Clemens, standing next to the open bod pod. You really feel a bit odd sitting in there while they run the test.

Enough of the easy stuff, lets go torture Craig now. The next picture shows me all suited up in a portable VO2max mask. It communicates wirelessly with a laptop to give them all my data realtime. The last visit of the study is a 30 minute outdoor run wearing this sexy Fighter Pilot getup, so to keep the study consistent I get to wear the portable unit for all 3 phases. Yippeeeee! In the week before the VO2max test I read somewhere that it takes a motivated individual to do the test. I would like to add slightly demented, masochistic individual to that statement.

The test went like this. Gear Craig up, put him on treadmill walking at 3.5 mph for 3 minutes lulling him into a false sense of comfort and ease. Increase speed to 6mph for 1 minute, then 7mph for 1 minute then when he's just about comfy, start torturing him by setting the incline at 1% and increase that incline .1% every 10 seconds until Craig falls off the treadmill, jumps off the treadmill or dies, which ever comes first lol. I managed to hang on (figuratively, because as soon as you grab the hand rails the test is over) until 10.5% incline for a total test time of around 10 minutes. The last picture is of my relieved face once the test was over.

I managed a VO2max of 52 and a max heart rate of 194 (holy cow! really 194) So much for the 220 minus your age rule, haha

Now that I have written a book for today's post, I think I'll wait to tell about my second visit until later. This has been a very cool experience and I have gotten to meet some very cool people at Michigan State. I must have something wrong with me though because I have volunteered to be tortured again in the future for other studies if they want me. I am now officially a college lab rat. But, I get so much cool data to help me tailor my training by out of it.

Well, I hope everyone in the U.S.A. had a great 4th of July weekend and thanked a serviceman or woman somewhere for their sacrifices for our country.

Keep on tri-ing....

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Motor City Tri, Race report

Ok, no suspense here. I PR'ed this race! 2:55:08, that's 2 hours 55 minutes and 8 seconds, almost 3 minutes faster than my best previous Olympic distance race. More importantly, I'm starting to manage the race distance better. I honestly felt like I was in control of my race from start to finish. I still know I can go faster but that is a fitness/training issue not capability issue.

The race was held on Belle Isle in Detroit Michigan and it is a flat, fast course with over 750 athletes registered for all the races. I went down to the race the afternoon before and met up with one of my team-mates and his wife at packet pickup. We pre-rode the bike and run course together, talked about strategy and the course. This was very cool. After that we went back to their house where I would be staying with them for the night and relaxed a bit before dinner. Jon, you and your wife were awesome hosts, thanks again for putting me up for the night. For dinner we met up with a couple more teammates at a local Italian restaurant called Sila's. Great pasta! Being on a team is very cool this year. I really feel part of something bigger than myself and feed off the excitement of my team-mates.

Race morning was perfect weather wise. We were up and out the door by about 6am and at the race site around 6:30am. I got T2 set up (this was a 2 transition race, the swim was about a mile from T2) and went back to the car to gather my T1 stuff. I made it down to set up T1 by about 7am and had lots of time to organize and go through my pre-race routine. I saw a few more of my GREYHOUND support crew and team-mates then it was time to start. I was calm and felt ready.

Swim: Goal time: 30 minutes Actual: 29:47
place 9/31 age group 77/214 overall
This is a course with a current. The firs 500 meters and the last 250 meters are into or across the current with the back 750 meters or so with the current. The river current isn't fast but you feel it. I lined up in the front row so I could go out hard and get out of the fray as always. About 100 meters in I settled into a nice groove and found sighting good. At about 500 meters I was coming to the first turn and had already caught the tail end of the wave of swimmers before me. It was at this point I came to the realization that I was feeling really strong in the water! I was actually making an effort to hold back on my pace to conserve some energy. I had some minor issues with the slower swimmers and I cut the turn around the buoy a little close and had some issues with it's tether rope but all in all the turn didn't have too much drama. On the back stretch with the current I felt like I was flying and hardly working at all. I picked a solo line and passed a lot of stragglers along the way. I made the turn back upstream with little issue other than I suddenly was trying to sight into the rising sun! That was quite interesting picking my line to the last turn for home. I generally tried to just use the other swimmers and shore for my bearings. Suddenly there was the last buoy and it was time to turn for home. I can't stress enough how little energy I felt like I had used on this swim. I was feeling much fresher than normal coming out of the water. It may be time to re-adjust my time goals for future races as my swim strength continues to improve again.

T1 - 3:35
This is long for 2 reasons. You had to pack all your stuff in a bag for the race staff to collect and bring to the end of the race. And, my wetsuit wanted no part of being shoved into the bag! what the heck? It was like it had a mind of it's own, lol. No worries though, I knew going in this would be a longer transition and accounted for it in my goal time.

Bike Goal: 1:15:00 Actual: 1:13:13 (hours:minutes:seconds)
The bike went just as I planned. Except for one thing..... I had no speed readout on my computer! I had cadence but no speed. Luckily I train to cadence a lot and had a general idea of speed based on cadence and gearing so I just went with it. I eased into the bike for the first half lap (it was 4 laps around the island) I hammered the next 2 1/2 laps and backed off slightly on the last lap to save on the legs a little. This was also my first race attempt at removing my shoes while still on the bike and leaving them attached to the bike in T2. This went off without a hitch and I felt like a pro hopping off the bike, not stopping or loosing momentum, running the bike into transition holding it by the saddle. haha, I'm sure I didn't look like a pro but man I now know what they feel like.

T2: 1:02!!! (minutes:seconds)
WHAT?? I never go that fast! I think this will get about 15 to 30 seconds faster at my next race as I practice a little more. I screwed up the order of getting putting things on and getting going, so practice is in order. This definitely made up for the slower T1.

Run Goal: 1 hour Actual: 1:07:33
Let give a quick public service announcement. Do NOT, EVER play one on one basket ball with your 12 year old 2 days before an important race. No matter how easy you think you'll go, YOU WON'T! I learned this lesson the hard way this weekend. My legs felt good off the bike. As good as I can ever remember them feeling coming off the bike. There was only one problem. It felt like someone was jamming a knife in my lower back and I was very stiff around the waist. I could run no problem, not fast and not comfortable but I could run. Any incline or downhill momentarily compounded the issue. I had felt the twinges the day before but figured it would go away by race day. No such luck! Fortunately for me this was a fairly flat course. The only hills were in the form of 3 small bridges I had to cross 2 times each. It took about 2 miles into the run to find a stride that was about as pain free as it was going to get and with about 3 miles to go I finally was able to start speeding up to my normal pace. I was averaging around 9 minute miles the last 3 miles. I walked the water stations as I still haven't mastered the art of drinking while running but other than that I was running. I finished strong to hear my name and RACING GREYHOUNDS announced and the announcer commenting on how well represented the GREYHOUNDS were in this race.

Total time 2 hours 55 minutes 8 seconds!! My new personal record for this course and an Olympic distance race. (1500 meter swim, 23 mile bike, 6.6 mile run in this race)

It was awesome to see so many GREYHOUNDS at this race. Between competitors and support crew we had around 20 people out there! It is such a lift to see your team-mates out there on the course.

Next week I'll let everyone in on a little secret that is happening Saturday. It is so cool what I am getting to do but I can't tell you about it quite yet.

So until next time... keep training and don't ever stop tri-ing!

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