Jeff Vanis' Blog

Week-in-Review: Week 1 - Jan 16-22

2012-01-26T07:35:00.000-08:00

This post is coming a bit late, and "unrefined" no pictures, just text, otherwise it is going to get too late to post it, so here goes.

The time has come to get serious about my 2012 seasons. The holidays are over, the snacks are gone, the weight is not, and anticipation is building every day for what this season has in store. I will be starting up my weekly reviews again to summarize the week in training, life, and happenings.

Let me start by saying I have a number of product reviews in the works. I had an influx of them all at once, which was very welcome, but also a little daunting. Keep an eye out over the coming weeks. I will have the following:

H20 Audio Waterproof Case/Headphones Product Review
Brooks Pure Flow Product Review
Yurbuds Headphone Product Review
Finis SwiMp3 Product Review
and more...

Workouts:
Week 1 of my training plan. This is the start to a 16 week program leading me into REV3 Knoxville. You may remember my race-recap from last year and if not, just click the link. I am thrilled to have this race on my schedule again this year. It was a great venue and very well run. It had a big race feel, without being chaotic. The course was AMAZING! I really would love to get my hands on a good HD Video Camera and record the route to play while I am stuck on the trainer, but I digress.

I am writing my own plans by incorporating a few different plans and process that have been adapted to my goals. So what does a typically week look like? Great question!

Swims: I am feeling good in the water recently, not super speedy, but good. I have some work to rebuild my endurance at speed. In contrast, last year I swam 3x a week. I have upped the volume some this year and have included a fourth workout. I have given myself some flexibility on the 4th workout to float since I mostly swim over lunch during the week.

Bike: Build build build build. I think Chris Lieto could tell you the best that a strong bike does not always translate to overall results, but I realize that I have room to grow on the bike. I have not hit my limit where returns start to diminish significantly. After my accident last year, my break took its toll on my leg endurance. I am getting it back, but I am sticking to my guns on bike workouts this year. They will include 3 specific sessions to build during the week, and a longer ride on the weekend.

Run: All things considered, I feel pretty good about where I am at for my run. I am not going to go out and drop a 20 minute 5k in the next month, I would be stretched to hit 21 flat I think. I have been dabbling with the BarryP running theology from Slowtwitch and it has been good to me so far. This includes 6 runs a week. The concept is easy to understand when you fully "get it" but trying to explain it always causes me troubles. You have 3 runs a week (3 recovery, 2 harder, 1 long) These runs vary in distance based on the length of your short runs(1:2:3). IE Your short runs may be 20 minutes, the hard runs are 40 minutes, and the long run is 60.)

The goal is to get more running done in a week, without the added stress of bigger mile days.

So my week looks like this:

Monday

Morning Recovery Run
Lunch Swim
Evening Bike

Tuesday

Lunch Swim
Evening Hard Run

Wednesday

Morning Recovery Run
Lunch Swim
Evening Bike

Thursday

Lunch Swim
Evening Hard Run

Friday

Morning Recovery Run
Lunch Swim
Evening Bike

Saturday

Long Run

Sunday

Long Ride

Add in daily core workouts (not recorded, just doing it daily)

Week 1 Totals:
Swim: 5500 Yards, 1 Hour 40 Minutes
Bike: 69 Miles, 4 Hours 2 Minutes
Run: 24 Miles, 3 Hours 29 Minutes
Total: 9 Hours 10 Minutes

2012 Revolutions

2012-01-18T07:47:00.000-08:00

I have always been hesitant to use the term resolution mostly because I associated it with not being happy and wanting to change. What better time for a resolution than the new year... a new start... a fresh slate... The only problem is the reset button on the scale does not take away the countless trips past the snacks on the counter, grabbing one delectable treat each time. I do have weight-loss as one of my "resolutions", which I will get to in a while, but there are a number of things I just would like to see happen in 2012, so rather than calling them resolutions, I am calling them Revolutions

Although one definition of resolution is:

" the act of resolving or determining upon an action or courseof action, method, procedure, etc."

I do prefer this definition to what it is in my head, but I have decided to take 2012 in the direction of revolution:

"a sudden, complete or marked change in something"

I am in the progress of making a Vision Board for 2012. Sure some may call it corny, but it motivates me to do things, reminds me of my goals, and what drives me... without my negative connotation of resolutions. I am very happy with life right now, I have an amazing wife and two baby boys that can make the worst day at work seem insignificant. Working with the Miracle Kids Triathlons in Minneapolis as well as the partnership that Rev3 has with Ulman Cancer Fund, I know that I am lucky to worry about when I will get my next workout in. It puts things into perspective when you know there are others out there who just wonder if they will be around tomorrow.

It is no secret that my 2011 racing season was cut short. That just drives me to make 2012 even better and enjoy it even more.

So without further delay, here are some of my 2012 Revolutions -

Personal

Spend some time each day reading a devotional and bible verses, reflecting on what they mean to me
Be the best dad I can to Carter and Caleb
Cleaner eating - less sugar and sweets, more fruits and veggies
Limit eating out to no more than one meal a week
Smarter choices when I do eat out
Stay injury free!!!

Triathlon

Race weight by REV3 Knoxville 160-163 lbs (Jan 1 - 185 lbs)
REV3 Knoxville Olympic - 2:15
REV3 Wisconsin Dells - 2:15
REV3 Cedar Point - Sub 5

Exercise

I recently read on Joel's Blog that he wanted to swim 250,000 yards in 2012. That number seems large, but when broken down, only amounts to 4800 a week. Did you know that a quarter million yards is over 10,000 laps in my pool? It comes out to over 142 miles.. just over the distance of an Ironman race. I am adding this to my to do list for 2012.
I also saw a lot of chatter about people doing a swim set: 100x100s. Yep 10,000 Yards in one workout. Yep... 5.68 miles! Add that to the list as well.
Increase FTP on the bike - 260 is the target
Maintain sub 7s on a 10k
More sub 20 minute 5ks!

REV3 Run Across America

2012-01-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

I am going to preface this post by saying how I am continuously amazed by the REV3 organization. I am grateful to have gotten in with Team Trakkers in 2011, which has now turned into Team REV3. One reason I keep interested in the sport is because I have passion behind what I do, and being able to surround myself with people with a similar passion is contagious. It was recently announced that REV3 will be running across America!

The Details:
Starting Monday, March 26, some of the REV3 staff as well as some of the Age Group Team members will start their journey to run across North America from Oceanside, California to Washington, D.C., over 3000 miles, in only 21 days.

The run is to raise awareness and $100,000 for The Ulman Cancer Fund. Take a look at the page, read some of the stories, and be inspired! I know everyone out there has their own situation and may only be able to donate a few dollars and a few others who could afford to add a few zeros. Do not think for one minute that your contribution is too small. Just as 3000 miles in 21 days is a large task, the only way to do it is in smaller segments.

If you have been around long enough, or poked at my history, you will see how I got started in endurance sports... by setting a goal, something that seemed so far that it was almost out of reach. This is a heck of a feat, and at first mention, I wanted to be a part! Unfortunately I will not be able to join the team doing the actual run, but many of the AG team have vowed to run "along side" the team. We will be logging our daily miles and encourage others to do the same.

I challenge anyone reading this to make a pledge to run with the team during these 21 days. Do you have a resolution to run your first 5k, first triathlon or marathon, or a seasoned veteran? Challenge yourself during this period to run each day, even if it is only for a mile, you will feel much more tied to the cause.

I have pledged to donate $10 for every missed normal workout starting today until they finish.
I also pledge to run at least 1 mile each day that they are running with a $10 dollar donation for any day missed.

Feel free to click the following banner to make a donation and support this great cause!

Here are a few quick links to keep up to date with fundraising progress, Ulman Fund, and Rev3:

Ulman Cancer Fund

website – www.ulmanfund.org
facebook – www.facebook.com/ulmancancerfund
twitter – twitter.com/ulmancancerfnd
youtube – www.youtube.com/user/ulmancancerfund

REV3 Triathlon

website – www.rev3tri.com
facebook – www.facebook.com/revolution3.triathlon
twitter – twitter.com/rev3tri
youtube – www.youtube.com/rev3tri

The Old, The New, The Good, The Bad

2011-12-30T07:11:00.001-08:00

It seems it is that time of year again where blog posts talk about 2011 in review or plans for 2012, so why would I not participate?

2011

The year started off on a great note, having just returned from a mission trip to Africa. I went straight into training for my first year on Team Trakkers.

I was posting weekly summaries of workouts and putting up some content on my blog. 2011 looked strong! I got my new ride.

I compiled a list of Trakkers Favorites to workout to: Trakkers Music and reviewed some products:

My training progressed and before I knew it, it was race season! The Kestrel Airfoil Pro was ready to roll:

The first race of the season ended up with a 1st in AG(due to the first 2 getting top 3 overall) Then it was off to Knoxville… All I can say, is daym! I was in pretty solid shape and have some work to do!

Knoxville was my first REV3 Race… and I was very impressed with how well things were run. A+++++ Organization!

I had a disappointing race in New Brighton, but bounced back with an Overall win in Mason City Iowa. Then the big news…. We found out my wife was expecting! Twins was just the added bonus!
It never seems to fail that with good comes bad. July came around and smacked me hard. Leaving me with a broken collar bone and multiple surgeries to repair.

After the crash… everything went downhill quickly. A much longer than expected recovery period took its toll on me, and I was mentally crushed.

The good news, our twin boys were on the way, and growing well. After a million doctors appointments, the boys were born on November 29, 2011. Both boys were healthy and after two weeks in the NICU, they got to come home and join the family.

2012

I have a number of goals/resolutions/plans for 2012. First and foremost is to be the best dad I can to Carter and Caleb. I love watching them grow every day. They are truly a blessing in my life and I could not imagine it any other way.

I am excited to be ‘back’ on Team REV3 for 2012. The returning members are what got me through my injuries last year, and looking forward to good things this year.
My race schedule is far from set in stone, but here are my thoughts for events, peppered with a few local races as well.

REV3 Knoxville Olympic – May 6
Mason City Triathlon
Camp Courageous Triathlon – August 5 – Possibly
REV3 Wisconsin Dells Olympic – August 12
REV3 Cedar Point Half – September 9

Since 2011 added some pounds, I am also aiming on being back to race weight for Knoxville! I have my work cut out for me. But a goal is a goal! I will post some more specific goals in the coming weeks.
I am very excited to see what else 2012 has in store! Until then… Go Hawks!

December Ramblings

2011-12-17T09:41:00.001-08:00

I am going to do my best to keep this post to a reasonable length, but it has been a while since I have posted anything... So much for posting more often! Life is busy... What else is new. As many of you know, my wife was put on bed rest at 30 weeks which lasted for 5 weeks exactly. On November 29, 2011 we welcomed two members to our family in the form of twin boys, Carter & Caleb. They spent the first two weeks in the NICU, so we spent a lot of time back and forth between the hospital and home, scrambling to get things in order. Luckily both boys were healthy, what they call boring babies there. Boring is good!!!!!On top of that, in the same week as the babies were born, I found out that the new job I just hired into and transitioned to, was eliminated. How about that roller coaster of events in the same week?!?! Luckily, I was able to find something so it was not a big impact, more-so just a wave of emotions. I have been fairly diligent at squeezing in workouts when possible. I figure 30 minutes of running is better than 0. Hopefully I can use some of the time around the holidays to get into my new routine to find what works best. As the holiday season is around us, I cannot miss thinking about what a great year it has been. Some highlights include:- Finding out we were pregnant- Finding out and having our twin boys!- Making the Rev3 Team for 2012- First Olympic Distance Triathlon- First place overall at Mason City Tri- Bike accident - broken clavicle - 2 surgeries for repairsSome people may look at that last one and say... What? How's that good? Well, you see, it did make me miss the whole second half of the season, but it makes me all the more excited for 2012! I am grateful for everyone that has been put in my life, friends, family, co-workers. I believe that everything happens for a reason and I fully trust that regardless of the situation, there is a bigger plan out there. Last night we had our first Christmas with some family. Since we moved into a house in March, we were ale to host, not to mention having two week-olds gives some pull so we did not have to travel. After hosting, it started to lightly snow, and a bit later after things settled down at the house, we had carolers from the neighborhood. This is one of the first years since being out of college that I felt like our Christmas was in a home, and not just our house. I am very excited for the next few weeks, and all that 2012 has to bring. Welcome to all of the new Team Rev3 members. I am excited to get to know everyone in the coming months.PS Pictures to come.

Great deal on Penzeyes spices with coupons

2011-10-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

I just got my new Penzeye's catalog in the mail this week and was quite excited. While I only live about 1/3 of a mile away from the store, I found this amazing deal for online folks to combine their current free sample codes, with smart choices to result in a bunch of free product.

For those that do not know what Penzeyes is... it is a spice store. What good is a spice store you may ask? Well at prices fairly reasonable when compared to supermarkets, you are getting much higher quality. I have been using their spices for a few years. I am slowly getting rid of all the old spices and plan on using only stuff from Penzeyes in the future.

As a note for those who think it is more expensive, take a look at the 4oz "bags" and the empty jars to make the most of your money. Once you have the jar, you can just order the bigger bags and replenish your stash. It is typically close to the same cost for the bulk bag plus an empty jar as the same jar that is pre-filled.

So without further delay, here are the steps to take advantage of the amazing free Penzeyes coupon codes.

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/advancedsearch.html

Enter Kind Heart in the search

change qty to 1 on the free one, click add

Click search again

Enter: 95107 (empty jar w shaker lid) - Teacher Pack requires a purchase

Change qty to 1, click add

Click Search again

Enter forward, click search

Click on the link under: the 5.39 Forward jar that says "Click to redeem your coupon"

In the new area that comes up, Enter coupon code: 15958C to add the Free Forward

Enter another code: 83018C to add the Teacher Gift Pack

When done, click to check out and setup an account if you do not have one. On the checkout page, under the Shipping Info tab, you can change from Regular shipping 4.95, to Slow 3.95 to save a dollar, bringing the grand total to $5.66 for all of that stuff, not too shabby!

What type of runner are you?

2011-10-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

Not long after I laced up my first pair of running shoes did I realize I needed something to get me out running. I needed something to make me still go run if it was cold and rainy or if it was 100 and humid. Over the past few weeks as I have been getting back into running after my bike accident, I have really spent some time thinking about why I run, which lead me to this post. Without generalizing too much, and without stereotyping, I have come up with a few groups that tend to define what motivates us to run.

*Disclaimer* While this is article is written from the running perspective, I see it holding true in the triathlon realm as well. Over time, I have met people that fall into each of these three categories, some even find themselves in multiple categories.

To Runners:

This group of runners has a purpose, often motivated by a goal. When I started running, I set a goal to run a marathon. Every run had purpose, to get me more prepared for that goal. Everyone in this group has a different threshold for motivation. For me, running to stay in shape was not enough to keep me motivated. For some people, setting a goal to run their first 5k is what it takes to drive them to consistently put in the time to accomplish that goal. From my experience, this as one of the largest categories, and I believe that the increasing numbers each year seen at races are a direct result of this mentality.

Goals:

-          Distance (5k, Half Marathon, Marathon, Ironman, Ultra, etc)
-          Time for a distance (Sub 30-Minute 5k, 5 hour marathon, etc)
-          Weightloss (10 pounds by summer, back to pre-pregnancy weight,…)
-          Placing or Podium (Top of Age Group, Overall winner, finishing ahead of someone you know)

Every time someone hits a goal, they have to re-evaluate, even if subconsciously. Is the motivation to continue training there now that I have passed this event? Well for some, the answer is a clear yes due to missing a goal. They may bounce back and try to reach their goal again, but some get discouraged if they do not make the mark. Some hit the goal, are completely satisfied and stop activities afterwards, never making another goal to pursue.

Finally, there is the section that sees what their work has done, and looks for the next challenge.

This group shows a progression from a 5k, to a half marathon, to a full marathon. Always building distance or setting a faster time to pursue. It may be competition or it may be the sense of accomplishment that drives them, but they have a burning feeling inside to explore their limits.

From Runners:

This group of runners may or may not admit or even know they are in this group. They are often running from something… We all have skeletons in our closet, and some people use it as motivation to run. Some of the common things people run from:

-          Addictions (Drug, alcohol, etc)
-          Issues at home
-          Obesity
-          The past – Anything that they want to get far away from (Turning a new leaf)
-          Stress

While many of the above are fairly self-explanatory, they are commonly related in the fact that it is something that is causing a void and needs to be filled. The one that sticks out for me in this group is stress. While it does not necessarily leave a void, it can be a catalyst to other issues. Some may say people run TO relieve stress, but I categorize it in the FROM category, because of the downstream impacts if the stress is not dealt with.

There are no shortages of stories of people at rock bottom who see a commercial, magazine, someone running, or some other trigger that makes them do a re-evaluation of their current situation and want to make a drastic change. These people have something they want to get away from quickly. While running is not the “fastest” way to get away (sure you could drive), it sure gives a physical feeling to “running away from your problems or heading in the other direction”

I have heard a number of stories from people who may not necessarily be classified as an addict, but had many bad habits. Once they started running, they realized that the two did not play nicely together, and something had to go. Hopefully it was the activity that hindered running. In no way I am I saying you cannot enjoy a beer and running both, but to go out drinking many nights a week and still run is somewhat counterproductive depending on your goals.

For Runners:

This is a group of people who run for something. Often it is a cause (Think Breast Cancer 5ks, ALS races, and other like events) but not limited to a specific race. Sure there are people who do events to raise money for a specific cause, but there are also others who dedicate their training to one cause. I have done 5ks for a number of causes, and the MS150 bike ride, so my “for” events are spread out. Some people choose to do events to raise money across multiple events for one cause. While these examples are often an extreme event, such as running across the US, or something that seems completely unattainable, it pushes the person to do the unattainable because they are thinking about the good that will be done for their “for.” In no way am I saying you have to run across the US to be in this category, simply setting a goal to raise money for a cause, regardless of the event distance puts you in this category.

This is a group that I think many people revisit throughout their running “career.” These events can grow to be very large, and serve as a great way for people to get involved and contribute to a cause. It may spark interest in future events. While some people will stick with the FOR cause, many do continue to run for other reasons, and then someday circle back to being a FOR runner when they no longer to keep setting goals, and want to still have purpose in their running.

Regardless of the type of runner you may be, do what drives you. Whatever it takes to keep you motivated, keep with it. If you start losing motivation, look at how you could change your attitude or outlook on running, it can provide a much different perspective. Although races are filling up at record rates as more people get involved, remember you are in a small percentage of people who are out and doing something, regardless of your reasons. Find what works for you, and keep going!

REV3 Team Application

2011-09-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here Ye, Here Ye, Read all about it…

That is right, big news just came out… What you have not heard? That is why I am putting this post out there. It is no secret of what I think about my Team Trakkers group of athletes, amateur and pro alike. They are Legen…… wait for it…. Dary! Yes they are that good. I was thrilled to get home last November from our trip to Africa and receive a call from none other than Carole Sharpless with a few questions as I was applying to be a part of this team.

I was pretty excited to hear that I had made the team, having followed many of the athletes in the past, I saw what a great group of people were involved. I assume this is probably why they have such good retention between the years. This just isn’t a team, it is a family. Forget a race wheel? Someone probably can help out. Need training advise? Plenty of that to go around. Last race didn’t go as planned? They will pick you right up and get you focused on the next event. Down and out from an injury? They will keep your spirits high and maybe even send a goodie box and get well cards!

That is not even to mention the professional team. This group of athletes are awesome to sit down with and have a chat, maybe even over a beer. The pros are approachable and extremely knowledgeable, along side of being blistering fast! At first I was a little star-struck being around, but quickly felt like I could talk to them like a friend I have known for years.

So what does all this mean for the post? Well, the big news is that Team Trakkers will be changing a little bit for the 2012 season. The team will change to the Revolution 3 Triathlon Team. Again… great… what does this mean for you? With no further delay…. Drumroll please….

The online application to join the REV3 Amateur Triathlon Team has been posted. Follow the link below, fill out a few easy questions, and hit submit! We are looking for high quality people. Note I did not say athletes. Sure the team has Boston Qualifiers/Runners, Age Group winners, and people who are just generally FAST, but we are looking for people with character! Social media, market exposure, community involvement, easy to talk to, and enjoying tickle fights are all things we look for. Oh wait sorry, that last one is an inside joke from one of the current teammates. I apologize in advance if you happen to room with that person! Do not let that hold you back from applying. From day one, I felt involved with the team, and cannot believe the relationships that have developed from only a year of knowing these people!

This is a great opportunity to get in on the REV3 Amateur Triathlon Sponsorship.

http://rev3tri.com/news/rev3-is-now-accepting-applications-for-our-age-group-team/

When a little bit goes a long ways...

2011-08-25T10:39:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was the Miracle Kids Triathlon in Chanhassen, MN. I am on the leadership team for these races, and love every minute of helping facilitate the events. The weather this year was nearly perfect. After spending a good chunk of Friday helping setup the course, we got a little rain overnight which made the morning temperature actually a little brisk! That is a sign that fall is near in Minnesota! After a 30 minute drive, we managed to get to the race site around 5:15 AM on Saturday to help finalize setup and get the race going.

For anyone who may not be familiar with the Miracle Kids Triathlon or Miracles of Mitch Foundation, I urge you to check out the webpage and read about what they are all about. I got involved three years ago as a great event to bridge the gap of a hobby, and helping a great cause. I was hooked! It is a combination of getting kids active, teaching them about the importance giving back, and being able to contribute some of my strongest talents to somewhere they can be fully used.

Race day was awesome, no matter how much planning and work goes into hosting it, I look back this week and feel like I could have done twice as much “work” and still never felt that I had done much work at all. The people (organizers, volunteers, board members, kids, and All-Stars) are amazing to be around and give me a feeling that I wish I could have every day!

There are two age groups for the event, the younger group swims 100 yards, bikes 3 miles, and then runs ½ a mile. The older group does twice that number. Just like an adult race, you have all shapes/sizes/ages. There are extremely competitive kids, and others who are just out to have fun (riding along with a group of their friends.) One thing that they all share in common is that they are working to help others by raising money for the Miracles of Mitch Foundation. The foundation helps families that have children with cancer. The story of how a pinky-swear between Mitch and his dad turned into this wonderful cause is nothing short of amazing. Through the day, I could not help but think of what great things the foundation is able to do for these families and how grateful I am to provide some help.

The race went extremely well and clean-up went even faster than the year before. (We are getting more efficient!) There were some moments in the day that I was choking back tears as best as I could. The race had over 1000 kids racing, in total, they raised something around $325,000. Amazing, hearing one girl who was one of the top fundraisers had knocked on over 400 doors just baffled my mind. One moment in the day that grabbed my heart was the ceremony before the race where they had 12 of the All-Stars on the stage and they gave their name and age. What a great way to personalize this cause for each of the kids participating, not to mention the families involved.

Another moment did not come until later that night when we were with a group of the leaders and discussing the day where I learned the story of one of the All-Stars. I was talking to someone about the best moment that day for her and she went into getting to ride on a golf cart with one of the All-Stars. She told me the whole story, and I was just blown away. The family had a daughter that was in the hospital with cancer. She passed away, and during that time they grew closer with Victor, who was also in for cancer. His story was a little different, he belonged to the state, so the family ended up adopting him, despite everyone else giving up on him. That was a number of years ago and the prognosis was not good, he is now 14. Unfortunately he has relapsed 6 times in the past 7 years and things are not looking well and breathing is labored. The lady I was talking to, described that the family was very deep in their faith, and have been able to bring that to him. Their conversation in the golf cart included some discussion of faith topics as well as some prayer together. I was just amazed at hearing all of this and how close the organization is to the families.

I got up on Sunday and went to church despite being still quite tired. One thing that is often said at the beginning of the services is ‘We believe the Lord lead you here today.” It could not have been more true! I was meant to be there and hear the worship and message that related so closely to my experiences the days prior. One of the songs that came on had the following lyrics, and I welled up almost instantly beginning to think how true it is. The song is called “What Joy” - “What joy, what joy for those whose hope is in the name of the Lord. What peace what peace for those whose comfort is Him alone.“ I don’t think the words could be any more perfect. In a time when things are not well, Victor is looking to Him to find joy and comfort when everything around him is negative. This was just confirmation that I am meant to help with the races and help them grow to be able to support more families.

Part of the message was about using your gifts to grow and then being able to influence others. There were a number of times that I had tears in my eyes just listening to the message, knowing that I was there for a reason that day. As the service ended, I was sitting next to an older couple, and the lady made a comment about being a great message, I agreed. I forget how we transitioned into talking more on the way out, but I told her about the race and about Victor’s story. Before I knew it, I again had tears coming down my face and she did as well. As we parted ways, she thanked me for sharing, but I should have been the one thanking her for listening. It was one of those moments where you see a situation and wonder how something so negative can be true, but feel blessed to be a part of the wonderful group of people and organization. I have no doubt that the lady was put there just for me that day as I needed someone to share with.

I cannot even count the number of times that I had to stop writing this in order to regain my composure! During the race, I talked to a number of parents and they mentioned wanting to get involved. I would highly encourage everyone out there to find an organization you can relate to and get involved. These types of events do not happen on their own and can always use more people who can help.

Jeff Vanis

FIS Business Intelligence and Reporting

952-984-5686

Garmin Vector Update - Release Date Added

2011-08-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Many of you, like I, have been watching Metrigear progress to Garmin Vector and I guarantee the top two questions have been answered.

When will it be released? March 2012
How much will it cost? $1499

Here is a link to the Garmin Vector Blog

Finally some answers to a product many thought would become vaporware. This puts it in the middle of the range for cost, competing with Quarq, yet nearly doubling the cost of Cycleops PowerTap. I urge you to read the article (also contains some good information about future updates for the Garmin Edge 800, including Intensity Factor, Training Stress Score, and Normalized Power)

That will leave a mark

2011-07-19T12:31:00.001-07:00

It has been just over a week, and I am just getting around to posting my recap of my biking “initiation.” Some may remember a couple of years ago when my wife had her accident that took her up and over her handlebars and quickly to the pavement causing a main course of a broken rib with a side of road rash. Well, I too, now been inducted into the biker club with my first crash.

It was Monday the 11th and I headed out to tackle my workout, 1:35 total with 7x5 minute intervals. It was hot, but moving along on the bike kept temps at bay with a subtle breeze. I knew I had the wind at my back on the way out towards Hastings, so I knew the way home would be a bit long. After finishing one of my intervals, at about 14 miles out, I hit a bump. No not a pothole, not a speed bump, just a normal bump in the road. Somehow it got the best of me, and I lost the front end and began heading up and over the front handlebars. I was still moving at a good speed having just come off the interval at an average of 31 MPH flat.

I had no idea what I hit or why I what the next few seconds would include, but I knew a few things. First, this is going to be ugly, second, I hope to aim for the ditch so I do not get run over.

I went up in the air and began to tuck my body to aim myself more towards the ditch as to not end up in the road if at all possible. As I came down, I felt my right shoulder hit, ouch that hurt, but not as much as I was expecting, followed by my right hip. That is going to leave a mark! Then I felt what made me the most nervous, crack, my head hit the shoulder, and then I skid on my back a little ways to watch my bike land about 5 feet away from me and my water bottles and Garmin went flying.

What a ride?!? I was thinking as I tried to collect myself, pissed that I had wrecked for no reason. As I began to gather myself, a car pulled over to offer some help. After a few attempts we got ahold of my wife and she was on her way to pick me up. I pretty much immediately knew my collar bone was broken just from the pain I was feeling. The feeling of nausea, well I think that is mostly from the whole situation as opposed to a concussion, but I did crack my helmet on impact.

After some time passed, my wife arrived, following an unmarked car and an on-duty officer who stopped to make sure I was alright. Despite them wanting to call an ambulance, I knew I was going to the ER anyway and was doing better at this point. So I declined.

Here I am after getting triaged into the ER, Gotta love parading around in spandex!I know the ER is not typically an in and out thing, and that night was no different. I explained my story a few times and they gave me some meds to help with the pain. When I got sent back to the ER, I was hurting, so they came to further investigate the wounds. Yep road rash – although it was pretty clean and took very little scrubbing to get gravel out.

My elbow got the brunt of the road rash, but the other areas quickly started to feel like lava as they began to heal. Now a week later, they are mostly down to bruises and a few light scratches.

Sure enough, after the X-Rays were done, I was right. A broken collar bone, but I was not aware at how difficult of a break this would be. So there are 3 types of fractures. The first is when you just cause a crack in the bone. It stays in place, but there is a small line that travels through the bone, almost like a piece of hair. The second is a clean break. This is where you break the bone and they separate a ways, so there is a gap between the bones. Finally, there is my break where the bones break, and shift out of place, thus the nearly 1 inch overlap on the bones. This is the least likely to heal properly of all breaks, which is why I later opt for surgery to repair.

In order to give myself the best chance at recover, and to be prepared for the Twins that are on the way… I figured having the surgery would be the best choice in order to get healed up asap. I pretty much know my tri season is over for this year, unfortunate, but I am glad that this was all it resulted in.

You can see the new plate and 9 screws I have in my shoulder now. It is a beefy piece of hardware, that is for sure. I am still on the mend, and have been tired as can be, which I suppose is my body’s way of telling me it needs to recover and to take it easy. As I have said, I pretty much have come to the conclusion that my 11 Tri season is going to be cut short, but all I can pray for is a speedy recovery!

Looking back, I cannot imagine how things would have been different had I not had a helmet on. I am not sure that I would have been here to even write this post. I am quite confident of my handling skills, and this just goes to show, you never know what can happen. Be careful out there, and always, always have a backup plan! (Thanks RoadID and my cellphone!)

Sweet Giveaways

2011-07-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

In the case you have not seen these, take a look at some sweet giveaways I have found in the past few days!

Allied Medal Giveaway

Somnio Nada

Check back often for any others I may find, or leave yours here.

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!

2011-06-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

I remember it clear as day, I was in the middle of a brick workout. I rode on the street towards our house, up the driveway, unclipped my shoe… and the garage door started opening. “That is odd” I think to myself, “I must have caught my wife just leaving, rather interesting timing.” I stopped my watch and she came out the door to meet me. “Hey, how was the ride?” ‘Good” I replied, “Headed out for a quick (40 minute) run now.” She looked at me and uttered two words that will change our lives forever!

“I’m pregnant!” With a huge smile on her face. I was shocked, sweaty, excited, and my adrenaline started pumping through my veins like I had just won the lottery. We had been planning/trying/whatever you call it, so it was not unexpected, but to hear the words… it changes everything. It is for real now. We celebrated a few minutes, but as any spouse will tell you, hugging after a hard workout isn’t always the most attractive thing! She had been stalking me on my ride, knowing I would be home soon, so as soon as she saw me, she opened the door to tell me the news!

She had plans that evening with her sister and obviously wanted to tell me first! I headed out on my run after a few minutes and had an blazing fast run from the adrenaline rush!

I could stop the story here, but I realize it would be a pretty short post, so I will add some more to beef it up a bit, hopefully you will find it worth reading.

Trakkers that were in Knoxville, yes we knew at that point. Mike Moore, sorry we had to give a generic response when you asked if we were considering kids! “Why yes, we absolutely are considering having kids someday…” We just did not define someday with a date!

It amazed me how much your mentality shifts and how quickly it happens. We go from a married couple with only really our lives to worry about, to immediately being concerned for babies health. At our first appointment, the physician’s assistant who was doing the ultrasound said to us “Here you can see you have a healthy baby with a good heartbeat” A wave of emotion hit. Holy cow, we did that, that little flashing pixel on the screen, that’s the heart beat of our baby! Although the measurement was only .43 cm, roughly the size of a sunflower seed, not including the shell! Technology is pretty cool! We looked at each other and smiled.

I think that moment was broken when we heard the following words “Now I don’t want to scare you guys, but…” Our excitement quickly changed to looks of concern “Ok what is wrong, what did she see?”

“You guys have two healthy babies in there!”

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh…… oooooooookkkkkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy…………” Was the exact response. Here are my wife and I, shocked by what we just heard. I will come to find out that I apparently went white as a ghost, but stayed upright! That is right… you heard it correctly… TWINS!!!! I saw a tweet by teammate Heather(runfastermommy) that cracked me up the other week.

I am all for a good deal, but holy cow… two?!? Just when you get your mind wrapped around becoming parents and everything that means… you get this curve ball. As my wife and I said… it is God’s way of saying, “You guys can be planners and try to have control over things as much as you want… but just remember it is My plan”

I am a numbers guy, no secret there. You know… 1+1=2

In this case, I am not thinking that is quite valid logic. The sum of the products is not the product of the sums. 1+1 != 2

Fast forward to Today. We are both ~~100%~~ as close as you can be to ~~accepting~~ adjusting to the thought of twins. I cannot imagine it any other way! The last little nugget of info for this post. They seem to believe the twins are identical!

We are very excited to begin this journey!

Race Report: Mason City Triathlon - First Overall!

2011-06-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

I will start this report by saying I was not terribly into this race. Ever since the disaster which was New Brighton, I have been a little less motivated. It is a dark rut to find yourself. My motivation to workout was low, meaning my conditioning has slipped, and the fear of another poor performance loomed in my head. I am highly competitive, so a disappointing race like New Brighton was tough to take. I know I am better than it, and this week… I am going to prove that (mind you this is the week after the race)

I drove down to Mason City, Iowa on Friday evening to stay with some family. My wife is from Mason City, so my father-in-law, Jeff, and I decided to do the race after he heard about it. First things first… it was a third annual race. In 2009, it had 25 people, in 2010 there were 50. Not large by any standard, but growing. I sometimes forget that Minneapolis is a big area, and there are a lot of races, venues, and people to attend. When we signed up, it was $30 bucks, and I figure it would be a good hard training day if anything.

Pre-Race:

Seeing as we were staying about a mile away from the community center pool, we did not have to be up too early for the 9AM start. We still managed to be there at 7:30. When we arrived, they were still getting some things setup. We picked up our packets and were informed there were no race number bibs, but that we should check back later. I got marked up, number 57, picked up my swag bag (Tech t, water bottle, and a nylon sling bag). Let me just say this… if this race is in the third year, gives a swag bag like that, and only charges $30 dollars for entry…. Where does my $65 plus for the c heap ones in the Cities go? Someone’s pocket I assume. Later I would come to find out that the volunteers for this race were also AMAZING! The only races I have seen people so helpful in comparison is Rev3!

The layout for this race was a bit different than normal. The swim was a 150-yard pool swim, in an outdoor pool. My first time lap swimming in an outdoor pool. Transition was actually on the pool deck. There was a semi complex system of ropes/cones to direct people out of the water, along the pool deck to transition, then back out a gate to get to the bike course. This was due in part to the timing all being done from one trailer. All of the wires were close, but it made for some odd paths between sports.

I got setup in a spot and got settled in. It was overcast, but quite sticky even early in the morning. My water bottles were sweating all over the place, not to mention I was as well! I sipped on my bottle of EFS Orange and Pre-Race about 30 minutes before the race started.

Swim:

I am not sure I am 100% convinced with how the swim was run, it was alright. There were 4 lanes setup in the pool. Each lane was actually a double lane from what I am used to. It is a circle swim. I think probably to give more space to those who are not as comfortable in the water. We started in the deep end, and a semi TT start with one in one out style. Being number 58 and only 16 people in the water at a time, I had a bit to wait, but not terribly long since it was a 50 yard pool, down back down is all we had to swim. One thing I am not used to… out of water start. I was a bit worried about diving in with my TYR Nest Pro goggles, the last thing I wanted was to pop the seal and fill with water, but with the swim as short as it was, I could probably manage with some water in them. I cranked down the straps a bit and got ready to dive in.

“57… GO!” I dove in and was off like Flipper for a tasty fish treat. 150 yards, half of my warm-up set, approximately 2 minutes of pushing myself in the water. My first 50 was fast, so fast that I passed two people going the same direction. In my lane. I was in the shallow end before I even knew it. I quickly analyzed how the water looked… was it deep enough for a flip turn and not looking like an idiot, other people had, so why not?!? I flipped and pushed and headed back for the deep end. Good work on that Jeff, now keep it up. Sure I went out a little too hard, I know that for a fact, but whatever, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. (Thanks Nemo!) As I got to the deep end, I always have trouble gauging distance from the wall especially since I am not used to the line being so much deeper. Another flip, with about a 1/3 of a push because I was too far away, and the last stretch was ahead.

As I got back to the shallow end, I saw one of the people I passed on the first length getting out of the water about 5 seconds ahead of me. Not too bad, I felt good about that effort!

As I hopped on the pool deck, I checked the Garmin, 2:11. Not the 2 flat I was looking for, but good enough. Ironically enough, I am not sure how they got swim time and T1 split, but my chip time said the exact same. Swim time got me 6th overall.

Transition 1:

After running around the cones and rope, I circled back to my bike, and got into my shoes, sunglasses, helmet, and away I went. Over the pool deck, in some grass, down a little hill over the timing mat, then out to the parking lot. Whew, time to get on the bike.

Time: 1:07 - due to the crazy nature of this layout (2nd fastest time)

Bike:

10 Miles, this was going to be a hurt-fest. Having done the MS150 last weekend, I had some bike miles, but not on my Kestrel Airfoil. I did manage to get one good workout in the week before, but only one quality workout in two weeks left me questioning what my legs would do. I tried to settle in on the bike, but the first little bit was in town and had a few tricky turns/rough spots I wanted to make sure and avoid. As I got onto the main stretch, I started to push the pace. My goal was to hold 240 watts. I saw 400s, I saw 100s, but tried to keep pushing for that 240 mark. Being a bit later in the start line, I was able to pass people on the bike. I do not do as well out in front, and I seem to do better as I am reeling people in, it gives me a target. On the way out I made some good movement up, and never had anyone pass me.

I was using my Stinger 90s with disc cover and felt some wind, although it was low, I was trying to figure out where it was coming from. I hit the final stretch and made the turn around to realize that I had it in my face on the way out. SAWEEEETTTTT! I would have a tail wind going home. Time to take it up a notch. I pushed the stretch back into town hard, even with the wind helping, I was able to hit some good numbers, and not kill my lungs/HR. That being said, my HR never really came down when I got on the bike. I was working for every watt I was putting out. A few turns back towards the park and I was back before I knew it. I knew I had a good split, right on par with what I was expecting, but probably not much more. I thought to myself, that’s what you get for being lazy, so you better hope you didn’t blow up your legs for the run.

BIke: 25:40 - 23.38 MPH - 3rd fastest of the day

Transition 2:

Weaving back to the racks, I tossed my things down, slid on my Avia’s and headed out.

Time: 0:59 (4th)

Run:

Yep my lungs were still burning, and I felt like I was running in a steam room. I tried to go out with 6:40s the first mile and let my body “come down” a bit before picking up the tempo. Well… that never happened, and I slipped closer to 7 minute miles. Ugh, did I push too hard on the bike or am I just not used to the weather? The run was a twisty run through the campgrounds and park, weaving in and out, going over some streams. The thought of jumping in the water did occur to try and cool down some, but I opted to wait on that. I had not been passed on the bike, and quickly passed a couple of people on the run, then saw someone ahead of me a few hundred yards, and tried to keep him in sight. I was slowly gaining, but wasn’t sure if I would ever catch up. After a short downhill section, we hit a turn and I was able to hold some momentum as I went past him and then it got lonely. There was nobody in sight. I had nothing to focus on as we hit the trail on the river. Did I mention I wanted to jump in to cool off? It would have been better than roasting in the humidity! I felt myself start to slip a little and had to keep focused on pushing myself. After weaving back over a bridge, I knew I was in the home stretch, somewhat. The first 2 miles were a bit long. It was advertised at 3 miles, but I think it was a bit more like a 5k in the end.

The last little stretch came back on some city streets, and finally I saw some people ahead of me, unfortunately, they were far enough ahead that I could not make up the distance before the finish line. I came across the timing mat, and about hit the ground. I heard the guy in the trailer spout off my time, 51:34. “Nice work out there, that is the top time right now!” Dang I thought to myself, I was shooting for 50 minutes, but the second part then hit me (my brain may have been oxygen deprived a little, so it took a few seconds to process.)

Run: 21:37 (7:12 pace, fastest run split of the day!)

Overall:

I was happy with the race, hit my wattage, the run fell apart, and I know I am capable of running that course sub 50, so I plan on going back again. I did end up first overall. My first podium, and race win! I was pretty pumped, this was the catalyst I needed to get me back in the swing of things for the rest of the season.

Remember above when I said the swag bag was good, well I saw the prize table, and thought to myself, “Holy cow, I have paid more money for a raffle, with lesser prizes and worse odds.” They had some KILLER giveaways. An autographed Vikings helmet, football, jersey, 5 iPod shuffles, iPod nano, iPod touch, a Kindle, a Nook, 2 Toshiba netbook computers, 2 digital cameras, 2 digital video cameras, and a number of other things. I managed to win a RoadID gift card as well! Another great plus for this race. Their prizes were amazing!

I am back, getting on schedule for workouts, and focused on having a great second half of the season. This was just what I needed to remind me, hard work pays off!

Race Report: New Brighton Sprint Triathlon 2011

2011-06-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

Pre-Race:

Nothing terribly eventful here. I was using a free entry into this race and there were some hold-ups in the system, mostly with my packet not being there, but they got things sorted out and before I knew it, I was in transition getting everything ready. The weather was going to be just about perfect, mid to high 60s water, sunny, and almost no wind! I got in a warm-up on the bike, and a short run and felt great while sipping on my First Endurance cocktail of EFS Drink and Pre-Race. At about 10 minutes to 8, I snagged my TYR Cat 5 Wetsuit and headed to the water for a quick warmup. Nothing terribly eventful here, felt good, fluid, very floaty (technical term) and ready to go. The water was about perfect with a full sleeve wetsuit.

Swim:

Half mile, Garmin in my cap, triangle shape out and back style. I started right up front (knowing I would not exit with the leaders, but mostly trying to avoid the crowd at least. Off we went, and I started faster than I should have, I was feeling good and decided to go with it. Unfortunately my training has changed a bit, so a lot of my effort has been spent doing 100 repeats and not holding it for a half a mile. I was about 2/3 of the way out before I felt myself letting off a bit, not getting comfortable, just losing form and strength in the pull. A good turn around, and I was aimed back at shore. My sighting was a bit off on the way in, partially into the sun, and who knows what other excuse!

I felt like the course was a bit long, although the Garmin said it was .51 miles. Maybe it was just a bit longer than years past, because swim times did look a bit slower than one would have expected.

Transition 1:

I felt like my first year all over again. I was a bit disoriented and struggled getting my wetsuit off my ankles. After fumbling around a while, I was able to run out and get on with the show.

Bike:

From bad to worse. I have no clue what happened on the bike, but I had nothing. As soon as I started pedaling, my glutes and legs felt like they had gotten done doing about 1000 squats or lunges. I could not generate power for the life of me, I could have walked a few of the hills quicker than I seemed to be biking up them, and all around, I was shot. I have absolutely no explanation for this outside of having felt sluggish all week. I was shooting for 250 watts and being in the higher 23 MPH Range, that was not happening! I started getting passed by people left and right, having Clydesdales climb quicker than I was, ugh what a day! I was mentally checked out of this race very early.

Transition 2:

Outside of forgetting my race belt after a few steps and a quick turn-around to grab it, nothing crazy here.

Run:

Oh yay, finally the last leg. Right away I knew that a 20 minute 5k was about as likely to happen as winning the lottery. I tried to hold on to something in the higher 6 minute pace, and quickly found myself right at 7s. They were painful 7s at that! My lungs were burning, stomach about ready to heave, and legs still felt like I had already run 20 miles. I plugged away, got chick’d about half way through (not to mention the one who flew past me on the bike) and decided to try and hold her pace (right at 7 min miles) We flip flopped a few times and as I entered the wooded trail, I knew I had a pack of 3 hanging on my heels. I heard one chatty guy offering his 2 cents to people, breathe this way, relax that, one foot in front of the other. Thanks buddy, as if I didn’t already know how to run. I did hear one guy say he was just following “the guy in green” (that was me). I responded saying he better not be in my AG and make a pass in the last 100 yards or I would be pissed! As we hit the turn around with about a mile to go, I finally got some legs. As we entered the woods again, I picked it up a bit, wanting to catch back up to Mr Running Coach who was about 30 yards ahead. His pace was slowing, and mine was getting faster, so it did not take long to pass him. Then my focus was on making sure to keep him behind me, and not get out sprinted at the end, so I pushed a bit harder. A quick glance backwards and I hardly could see him and ran it out.

Overall:

Results were sucktastic. Overall the times seemed slow from what I would have expected and years past. I don’t know if the swim was a bit long or if the bike changed a bit, but I ended 2 minutes SLOW of my time last year. The best thing that came from this race is that eventually, I knew I was going to do a race and not set a new PR on that course. Sure, not the race I would have liked that to happen on, but it was bound to happen. All I can do is take it as a learning experience and go with it. My race with Jared can hardly be considered a race. I guess I was not terribly far behind out of the swim, but it was game over from there. Oh well, one race in the books that did not go nearly as well as I had intended, keep training with the long term goal in mind!

Weekly Ramblings - 5/23/11

2011-06-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

This is not going to be in the normal format, frankly because I am feeling lazy. I had a good workout week last week including a solid ride on Saturday morning (which turned out to be a great day despite what the worthless weatherman would have you believe...) I am about ready to start flipping a coin, and I would expect better accuracy than they can give me. I had my longest solo tri bike ride, 54.5 miles, 2:39, 1 flat tire, 40.3 MPH max speed... WEEEE!!!, 204 watts, 90 RPM... numbers numbers. It just felt good to be out and riding. That is until I hit the last segment, and by last segment I really mean the last 1/3 of the ride where I went back into the wind. I was elated to be outside and riding a longer distance, it was a great day, changed my own flat (first time I have had the stuff with and flatted), didn't waste my CO2 etc!

I had a rough weekend of eating! We went out a lot with family, had lots of snack foods, and I feel miserable this week! Zero energy, luckily as I actually start doing workouts it comes back, but motivation to do them is what is killing me. Time to get back on proper eating especially since I race this weekend.

Some may know that I am doing New Brighton (provided my registration got there with no issues.) This is where triathlon started for me. I did a 1:34:36 my first year, and came back a year later to run a 1:13:50. While I know another 20 minute gain is out of the question, a 10 minute gain would put me at the course record... here is where it gets tough, the last little bit, the push to make seconds count, to make your body ignore the voice inside that says to let off the pedals just a bit. Oh no... there will be none of that. I know I am capable of a heck of a race, and plan on executing!

Last year I did a practice swim with Jared... ahh Jared! I came out of the water a minute behind him last year but made up two on the bike, the problem... Jared is a runner, it was not long before he ran past me like I was standing still. His 19 minute 5k was enough to gain him about 3 minutes on me. The final result, he finished a bit over 2 minutes ahead of me. People often talk about having a nemesis in racing, I think Jared is as close as I get to that. I do not know that I would call him a nemesis, but rather a mark to shoot at. I suppose I pick him because I know he is racing the race, I know that we are similar (all three combined) abilities, and the fact that we swam together once adds a personal touch to it. Sure I could pick any other random 25-29 Male, but this makes it a bit more fun. Will I be mad if he beats me? Absolutely not. I know where my fitness is at, and I have found this new thing called the Hurt Box... yep we have all heard it, but this weekend I plan on spending some time there.

No more slightly uncomfortable swims.... the pace = balls out, hopefully I do not end up like this:

Uneventful T1
Bike... Jared said he was not worried about my bike... I have been feeling really good on the bike this year, so does that mean he is also feeling good? who knows... but I know this is going to be the area where I throw out any doubts or feelings of being uncomfortable. It is 14 miles... which could mean 12 or 16... but I know that I can make my legs push this section hard.
Uneventful T2
Run - I would be silly to say that I am not intimidated by his run a bit, I am getting better, sure I have broken my 20 minute 5k PR this season. I know I need a lead going into the run, and I know I have to push beyond uncomfortable on the run. What does that mean? Well that means running faster for 5k than I have before... The rest is just numbers...

Looking forward to this annual race to test my gains for the year. I am not putting times/paces/places out there for this race. I am just going to race.... hard. In 2 weeks I have another short sprint race that I plan on pushing just as hard as my body can go. I want to have nothing left at the end, having coasted in on fumes!

Open Season

2011-05-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

After finishing up the Rev3 Knoxville Olympic race, and being thrilled with my results, I took a bit of a recovery week. Partially by choice, partially due to some crummy weather recently. I did some activity this week, we will call most of it cross training, you know things like mowing, building a raised garden in our back yard, included hauling dirt. I did squeeze a run in there as well.

I have been very indecisive about my season this year. I registered for the Rev3 Cedar Point Half, but had a period where I thought I may not end up going that direction and just focusing on the Lake Marion Olympic (Lakeville, MN) distance as my A race late in the season. After going to Knoxville, I quickly changed my mind about abandoning the Half at Cedar Point! I loved hanging out with my teammates, not to mention the amazing venue, plus Rev3 puts on an amazing race!

What does that mean? Well I have a 20 week program that I am going to use for the half, using the past week as a recovery week and building on the base I have gained already, I am starting in week 5 this week! The plan will be pretty standard 3 weeks on followed by a recovery week. I am focusing my efforts on this race. I have some other races through the season:

New Brighton Sprint - 6/4
MS150 - 6/11-12
Mason City Sprint - 6/18
Waconia - 6/26
7/17 will be either Chaska or TriTonka sprint race
Camp Courageous Sprint 8/7 - With my brother and his wife
Lake Marion Oly - 8/21
Cedar Point Half - 9/11

The season is falling into place. Unfortunately I only have 2 races that fall on recovery weeks. Mason City, this is a very small race from what I have seen, I am doing it along with my FIL. I would love to do well at New Brighton as this is my inaugural race, but it will be right in the middle of building phase, oh well.

Secondly the weekend of 7/17 will be a sprint race that I can actually plan into my schedule, a sprint course refresher on a recovery week, either race will be new to me!

I will miss my week 16 recovery week race, but have a sprint on the short side (although following one of the heaviest build periods) and an Olympic in the second highest volume week, I am quite excited for this season to pan out!

CEP Compression Sock Giveaway Winner

2011-05-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who participated in the CEP Compression Sock Giveaway! I love the energy and excitement around giveaways! Having told my brother about the giveaway, I was a little nervous that Random.org would spit out his number and people would call shenanigans.

Sorry Mark, you didn't win.

Congrats to Alisha. Please shoot me an email through the contact me and I will get you all hooked up!

Thanks to everyone for participating, looking forward to some more giveaways in the coming months!

Race Report: Rev3 Knoxville Olympic

2011-05-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

I suppose you could also title this "Sometimes you have it, and sometimes you don't"

Travel:

Before leaving home, I took Bella to the kennel, I think she was sad we were leaving, but she always has such a good time there!

I started off on Thursday night from home and headed to my parents place in Iowa with my wife.

She and my mom were flying to Knoxville while my dad and I drove. We got to their place later than expected, making for a short night before getting up at 5AM, only got about 5.5 hours of sleep. This could be an interesting drive! Google maps said something like 13.x hours. I figured it would be something around 12 with stops since it was almost exactly 750 miles.

We headed out of Iowa and over the bridge into Illinois.

Even with gas prices where they are, also note that this is the first time I have had to pay over $4 a gallon, it was cheaper to drive than fly, not including the bike. Illinois has some steep gas taxes!

After some time through Peoria then Bloomington. I missed the sign going into Indiana due to being so excited that the speed limit went back up to 70 degrees. It is 2011 people... 70 MPH on interstates please! After skirting around Indianapolis, we headed south with only a slight slow down from construction. We snagged some McDonalds, note I only had the Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad to keep my body on the right track before the race.

I think this next picture was snapped while in Kentucky, a bit odd with some construction, but it was divided into 2 lanes going the same direction, except divided by a long line of concrete barriers! After rounding about Lexington and a quick stop for gas, bathroom, and some Starbucks, we were off into the hills/mountains. It was cloudy, so we often felt like were were hanging out in the clouds. There were some breathtaking views, especially a few where you were going up, and then it turned and went downhill. It looked like you were driving off the edge of the Earth!

Before we knew it, we were in good old Tennessee! It was super easy to get to the hotel, so we unloaded and went in search of some food. Boy did it feel good to stretch the legs out! I tried to find my Trakkers teammates, but was not very successful, although I am convinced I walked right past them. We settled on The Tomato Head. It was tasty! I had hummus with some veggies/pita and a Greek Feta Salad with one of the best dressings I have ever had! The extra $3.25 for about 4 ounces of chicken was so not worth it!

I snagged a pic of this guy boating and hoped it was not an omen for my swim as it looked like he was sinking! After we got back to the hotel I busted out my RecoveryPump to help flush out my legs from the 12 hours in the car! It packed so nicely into my bag, a great travel companion to say the least!

Saturday morning the plan was to meet up with Team Trakkers for the practice swim. I was a bit quiet at first as normal when I meet new people. I am not great with names, and meeting a bunch of new people at once makes it all the more difficult. Luckily this team was put together so well that it made it super easy for all of us to mesh. We hit up the practice swim and I wore my Garmin 310xt on my wrist for the first time to try it out rather than in my cap... probably because I forgot a cap! We did about a third of a mile. The water was a bit colder than expected, but I have been in worse in Minnesota!

The rest of the day Saturday was spent at the expo, dodging rain, getting my bike to transition, and my personal things in order for the next day! Rev3 did some pretty cool things with race numbers this year. First rather than using markers which always seem to wear off, they were temporary tattoos!

Two for your arms to be seen from the side that include the Rev3 Logo and Pilot/Flying J Sponsor Logos. These were one big tattoo, where the age/race distance were individual stickers for the right calf.

Now here is going to be a small word of advise based on observation. Standardize and communicate. It may be due to the fact I hear these 2 words all of the time at work, it may be because I am a bit OCD or a perfectionist, or it may be due to people just looking goofy (No offense Anthony if you are reading this! Although I didn't see it, your other half told me the story of hearing "Oh Shit!")

They give you two with your race number that is supposed to be seen from the side. Maybe there were 2 in order to provide an extra if someone had issues with the first, but I took it as, well you may not know where the photographer/official will be, so put one on each arm facing the outside. I saw people that had these on their forearms, their calf, or the outside of their leg! A bit more detail about what was expected may be beneficial.

The second piece I saw more times than I could count. The age/race distance label. Take me for example a 28 year old doing the Olympic Distance. They did clarify to put these on your RIGHT calf. Do people read instructions included with packet pickup? It may be beneficial to put it on there for those that wonder.

Most people got this right, although some did inevitably have it on their left calf. I saw a number of ways people applied them though. Some did O28 others did 28O all on one line. Others ran them up and down their leg vertically. As I type this, I hear a voice in my head telling me "You think your way is the only way or the best way" which is why I am typing this. To me... it is the easiest to read and comprehend. List your Age on the top line: 28 Under that include the H/O for the distance. That way you can differentiate and quickly tell, but just as some people choose to wear calf sleeves to cover their numbers up, maybe the confusion is what they are looking to accomplish.

Enough about standardization... Let's talk about application. We were given these numbers at packet pickup a day or two early, while I waited to put mine on until race morning, I know some people put them on Saturday evening. Having worn mine for a few days following the race, because they were a challenge to get off, they did collect lint from shirts. I was afraid even walking to transition with my warm-up on that it would rub off, but fear not it did not! I would maybe suggest applying these at packet pickup for the following reason.

Do you remember ever trying to fog up a window on a bus and then write something so people from the outside can read it? This is very similar. Since the tattoos have to be applied a certain way, and typically triathletes are doers, I guess a lot of people tried to apply them on their own. This is from the result of a 3 looking like an E because it was applied incorrectly! Having someone help stick the numbers on in the right orientation would make them work a bit better! This was a VERY common sight to see a number upside down or backwards, anything but easily readable!

(Stepping off my soap box) I just wanted to provide some feedback about how the race numbers went. I loved them though! I wish more races would do this, you would not have to worry about them fading nearly as much as marker does at times.

There was a mandatory bike check in on Saturday, so I dropped off the bike in my slot, just in the case I forgot my number, they even had my name there!

What a sweet personal touch! I love the racking system and having a clearly defined place for my gear.

I got the bike settled in, and eventually covered it up to protect from any rain overnight. Thanks to the Geico ponchos from the expo, a lot of people used these to cover them up. You can see it in the background of the Kestrel Airfoil all ready to ride!

Pre-Race:

I only got fair sleep, far from good, but not really due to nerves/anxiousness. 5AM rolled around quite early and I had some oatmeal for breakfast along with my First Endurance Optygen. Before long I was out the door and headed down to transition. It was still quite dark at that point. After inflating my tires, I got into my routine and my dad carried the pump back to the room. I am now in a routine of watching the 2011 Versus Trailer. This video is bad-ass and gets me motivated.

I warmed up on the run and got to run by Matty Reed for a while, only in his warm-up could I be running with him! After getting all lubed up by the Trakker lube crew, I headed towards the swim start. I carried my bottle of EFS Orange and Pre-Race with to the start before finishing it off and handing it off to my wife. It was chilly out in the morning, so I was glad she had along another track jacket of mine to keep me warm from the wind on the river. Before I knew it my wave was called on deck. No swim warm-up today, just get in, christen the TYR Category 5 wetsuit, and start swimming!

My nerves were about as low as they have ever been before a race. This was my first Olympic race, was I not excited or was I just well prepared? My goal time of 2:20 was ambitious and would push my limits, so much that on the Yakima bike rack contest, I put my estimated finish around 2:25:31. So much for positive self-talk...

Swim:

1.5k or something like .9 miles. I wanted to do the swim in 25 minutes. This would come close to doubling any other race I have done to the day. My swim workouts have all been shorter efforts at higher intensity. Sure it has gotten me speed, but I was not sure how it would translate to endurance over the distance, so I was a bit nervous. The sound went off, and we were off. I was right on the front when it started, a tap to the Garmin, and away I went. I have been working on sighting in a pool here and there, but it is nothing like swimming in open water regardless how you cut it. Having said that, my muscles were used to the motion of looking up every so often which made it seem more natural. This swim went upstream for about 1/3 of a mile. Luckily I did not ever notice the current and it was at the start, normally where I tend to go a bit harder. I got passed by some people right away that went out really fast. I am sure some of them were really fast swimmers, but I know that I also passed a lot of swimmers in blue caps which tells me many went out too hard.

I went with my TYR Nest Pro goggles since they have tinted lenses, and fit so well. I was rocking and rolling up the river and swimming in what seemed to be a pretty straight line. I caught glimpse of my red turn buoys and rounded them without any issues. I was a bit thrown off, but followed the caps ahead. When they said you will see 2 red buoys together, I thought they meant tied together, not 2 single buoys that would indicate your two turn points. Nothing lost though. The first leg, I was starting to swim up on some different colored caps, cool the wave ahead of us was 4 minutes before. Not too shabby. As I headed back down river, I started passing a bunch of colors, only seeing a few blue caps here and there and not really losing ground on anyone ahead of me that I could see.

I did start to get a bit bored?, maybe that isn't the correct word, but I began to question when the swim would be over. I was not tired, just ready to be done swimming. I knew I still had 2 yellow buoys to go past before merging to the dock, so I set my sights on a blue cap and swam to pass him. Mission accomplished. I made the dock, put my hands on it and pushed up to plop my buns on it. As soon as I got on the dock my head took one little spin of lightheadedness before I stood up and headed up the ramp. My first race in the TYR Category 5 suit was a huge success, no shoulder soreness! Even towards the end of the swim (normally when my form goes out the door) I was still in good body position and pulling strong.

I looked at my watch, not knowing what to expect, and was thrilled to see 24:xx! Holy crap, I hit my swim time, not too bad for being my longest race swim and ~~first~~ second OWS this year if you count my practice. Looking at the Garmin map, I will continue using the unit in my swim cap going forward, this is goofy as all get out!

Garmin: 24:44 (It auto-paused a couple of times under the bridges)

Chip: 25:29 (1:46/100m)

Goal: Met - Calling this met, although the chip time says otherwise. I was climbing out of the water under 25 minutes!

Transition 1:

Time to ~~gripe~~ comment about how transition was setup. I cannot think of a race to this day that I have been at where a transition area was laid out that I really was upset about, Chicago sucked because you had to run so far, but everyone had to deal with it. This one was somewhat unfair depending where you were located.

First I setup a generic scenario. We will call the distance you run from transition in timing mat to your bike location X, and the distance from your bike to the bike out timing mat Y. Most transitions are setup where Swim Enter and Bike Exit are on opposite sides. This normally makes your total distance traveled one length of the transition zone(X+Y). If you look at percentages, this should come out to 100% of the length of transition. ~~Nerd!~~ Yes I know, math minor is my excuse... shut it!

The swim came up and across the road where we headed into transition on the south side. Well in this case, the Bike Exit was the same place the Swim Enter was. Thus I had X to my bike, and Y from my bike to the mat, but in this case my Y=X because I had to run backwards the way I came. This means my total distance was X+X or 2X. This is all fine and dandy if your bike is 5 feet into transition because you do all of 10 feet of running in and out, I was not so lucky. My bike was in the third from the last row on the North end of transition. Thus I nearly ran the entire length of transition two times, where some people will only run 1/10th of the distance before getting on the bike.

So Joe's distance may be X+Y = 20 feet and mine may have been X+Y = 200 feet. Sure it isn't a lot of time, but it could matter. So I tried to be fair, well maybe they put the age group people all in the same range of numbers 110-160 are the 25-29 Males. Well that was not the case, I did see some late registrations that had 1000+ numbers, thus were right by the swim in/bike out. Sure I am splitting hairs, but not quite a level playing field. That would have made it more even across the Age Group, but what about the overall AG winner? Someone with a low number would have longer to run compared to a higher number, what if seconds were the difference in the podium? I know I am splitting hairs, but remember... perfectionist? Yeah it is sometimes a curse.

Now that I am done ~~bitching~~ providing feedback, my transition went pretty well, nothing eventful, just in and out. The mount line was a big of a cluster something, but that is to be expected

Garmin: – Who knows, thought it said 1:45ish but whatever.

Chip: 2:00 – See above for why this was a bit high.

Goal: Close enough.

Bike:

Time to bust out the Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL again. I stuck with the HED Stinger 9s and disc cover because the wind was only light on the river. I do not remember many of the specifics about the bike outside of it being an absolutely amazing course. Had I ridden it or even driven it before hand, I would have had a bit more knowledge of the technical aspects, downhill into a turn, immediately into an uphill, etc. This is the first race I have seen officials on the course. They seemed to stick around forever as well! I made sure to leave plenty of room so I did not get dinged with a drafting penalty. Unfortunately they were not around when Orange accent outfit, 24 year old Male, Olympic racer was hugging wheels and passing people on the right non stop. Oh well, what do you do.

The course was fun. Very well marked (despite a few stories of people going off course) I was very impressed with the clarity of the course route. I barely knew what my route looked like! The volunteers were exceptionally nice and offered encouraging words. I did not take anything at the aid station, my single bottle of EFS Orange mixed with 2 scoops was a bit strong, but I managed and learned for next time. 1.5 is plenty for an Olympic distance without having a separate water source.

My goal was to stick right around 240 watts, and with the elevation expected on this course, I thought that was a good goal. I was quickly 6-8 miles into the ride before I even knew it. There was a section of climbing that took me by surprise. I was expecting some shorter steep climbs, but we hit a grade and I saw a pace line of nearly 30 riders all moving about the same pace. That pace was something to the tune of 4-5 MPH. I was shocked, it did not look that steep, but sure was slow moving. I shifted all around before getting into my easiest gear and still chugging along. My wattage was high, I was out of gears, and going almost nothing flat. This came as a huge shock to me. I took a bit of recovery, but then quickly got back on the pedals.

Like the old saying goes, "What goes up must come down." While that does not hold true for age, I was lucky enough to ride back down these hills. There were multiple peaks of mid to high 30s around some winding corners. The roads were nice and clear, not congested, so I was moving and loving every minute of it. I did almost take the life of a chipmunk at 35 MPH, or maybe it was the other way around. Regardless, we both live another day. I did manage to bump at the bottom of descent around 34 MPH that sure felt like I went airborne! Where is the photographer when you need them?!? BMX racing on a TT bike!

I worked my way back and had a good dismount as I entered transition. I am a bit disappointed with my average wattage as it was significantly lower than expected, but my time was much better than I could have imagined! Overall an amazing ride, great course, good time, let's move to the run.

Note the above pictures were taken as I went to rack my bike on Saturday, thus no race numbers yet. Hopefully the event photographer got some good race shots!

Garmin: 1:08:55 Overall, 21.0 MPH, 219 Watts

Chip: 1:08:01, 21.87 MPH

Goal: Exceeded! I said 1:10 and went under that! My wattage was significantly under what I was shooting for, and for 1500 feet of elevation, I was shocked that I hit the time on lower wattage.

Transition 2:

Well the good thing about this is that run out was on the opposite side of bike in, so I cannot say much about that. It was pretty easy, run in rack the back wheel, helmet off, Avia Bolt IIs on, grab the number and visor and out. Simple enough.

As I came into transition, I heard my name called over the loud speaker. One nice little touch of the race (for motivation, and for spectators)

Garmin: 0:40 seconds

Chip: 0:43 seconds

Goal: Overall transitions gained me 2:20 or so! I will take it!

Run:

I headed out, immediately up some steps where I ran into my fellow Trakker, Laura Mount, who offered some kind words of encouragement as I went trotting by. I snagged some water to pour on my head and take a small sip at the first aid station and settled into a 6:40 pace. My left quad was screaming already, but I decided to push through it and see if it would loosen up at all. As I made my way down the road, I spotted another teammate and set a steady pace to move up. Offering some words of encouragement, we both kept moving. There was nothing spectacular about the run. I was doing my thing, my pace was slowly slipping into just about a 7 minute mile pace. I tried not to focus too much on pace, but rather go on feel. Maybe I should have focused on pace a bit more because I did let off a bit more than I would have liked. My stomach was starting to feel hot, you know that feeling... right before you are going to lose it? Yeah that one.

I kept it managed, taking a sip of water and dumping the rest over my head as we went past stations. I hit the turn around and knew I was in for a treat heading back. Again nothing terribly noteworthy, but I did have some random racers comment that I looked good, maybe they were just being nice (looking to see the official photos as well to judge this) but it offered some good support. I knew my goal of a 40 minute run was long gone. I knew 41 was a joke, and 42 was going to be a stretch, so I kept plugging away. On the way back on the highway there was a intersection that cops were directing traffic through. They waved one guy to make a right turn, he turned right, right into the runners lane and was headed straight for me. A quick whistle and the cop yelled at him to get over in the driving lane as I motioned my arms to get over a lane.

I thanked the cops, and offered a suggestion "Require an IQ test for drivers license?!?" They both laughed and I kept moving, just with a bit more adrenaline. I saw none other than Carole Sharpless and although I did not get the "Sharpless Moon" she was yelling like crazy for me by name. A nice little boost to say the least! She is a crazy busy woman managing all of her cubs, yet after only 10 minutes of group talking the day before she could identify a guy with a visor and sunglasses trudging along at about mile 5 of the run.

I hit the transition area and went around it, traveling back down the steps I started up. I made a general exclamation "What no Rocky music?" as I went down the steps and got some people to laugh as I headed up the path to Worlds Fair Park. Well I still had my guts, so I picked up the pace, and sure enough they heated right back up. I kept thinking to myself the saying "If you puke before the finish line, you went too hard, if you puke after it, you didn't go hard enough, and if you puke on it, you ran a great race!" Well I was close, I didn't, but was close!

Garmin: 43:33

Chip: 43:34 (7:01 / mile pace)

Goal: A bit off of my 40 minute 10k, but for my first Olympic, no worries, I was ahead of pace!

Overall:

Overall Time: 2:19:49

Overall Place: 75th Overall including pros, 59/366 Males

Age Group: 11/48 Age Group

I was thrilled to see my Garmin said I went 2:19:49

Waiting for official results of course is always a bit agonizing, but I was stoked to have beat my goal! Turns out the times for the day were much different than the year before. The top 2 age groupers happened to have been in my same group, top spot went 1:57, beating nearly half the pro men! You can never control who shows up on race day, only how you perform. Today I did exactly that, I raced my race, controlled what I could, and let the rest fall into place. There was no disappointment in my race that I did not place in my AG, only that I did not get one of the sweet hand made awards!

I was hugely impressed with this Rev3 event. At about the same cost as Lifetime Fitness, it offers a whole new world of excitement and quality. Some people could give 2 hoots about "swag" but you received a Rev 3 Knoxville Headsweats visor, a cotton participant t-shirt, a nice finishers medal, and a sweet long sleeved tech finisher shirt. Normally I am not a big fan of shirts. In fact I have only ever wear my Twin Cities Marathon 09 finishers tech long sleeve shirt. The rest are in the closet, one day they will meet their maker, but that is another story. I will actually wear these shirts! They are nice looking, comfy, and pretty catchy!

With my involvement in the Miracle Kids Triathlons in Minneapolis, I am a huge proponent of getting kids involved at a young age. So a HUGE thanks goes to Rev 3 for making this a family event! We all know families have to sacrifice time for these events and training. Letting kids run across the finish line (let alone giving them their own medals) is amazing. My wife and I were talking Sunday evening how one day down the road, we are going to hear a world champion say, I remember when I ran across the finish line at that Rev3 race with my mom or dad, and I have wanted to do triathlons since. That is something that can never be taken away from them. Thank you Rev 3 for an amazing event. Thank you to everyone who put on this race. I had a blast!

Giveaway! CEP Compression Socks

2011-05-11T11:03:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since the last give-away, so I decided to fire off this sweet giveaway! After reviewing the pair of CEP Compression Socks, they have agreed to give a pair of socks, choice of color and size to one of my lucky readers! Make sure to take a moment and look at the CEP Compression Sock Review as to why you want a pair of the socks! I love mine and use them all of the time after hard workouts for recovery. The contest will be quite simple.

Ways to enter, please enter one comment each:

Click follow on the right hand side of this page and become a follower of this blog. Leave a comment for doing so!
'Like' CEP Compression Sportswear On Facebook
Follow @jvanistri and @CEPCOMPRESSION on twitter and Tweet the following:

I just entered @jvanistri @CEPCOMPRESSION give-away at http://jvanis.blogspot.com

For ever $5 donated to my campaign for the MS150 to help battle Multiple Sclerosis, you will earn two entries, please do not do it anonymously or I will not know who you are!! Donate Here

Winner will be drawn at random on May 18th, all entries must be made by midnight on May 17th. Good luck to everyone and in the mean time, keep on moving forward!

Rev3 Knoxville Olympic Pre-Race Report

2011-05-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe it, my first "A" Race of the season is here. Revolution 3 Knoxville Olympic! I am excited, anxious, and slightly nervous for this race. A great mix of emotions is in the air. This will be my first Olympic distance race. The distances do not scare me, I know I am more than capable of doing the distances, the big question becomes, how will I do at pacing the race since I have not done this distance before.

Swim:
1.5k - Starting upstream and then heading back downstream makes this course fairly easy to navigate and sight. Hopefully this means I will not swim out of line too much. This will be my first open water swim of the year. Thankfully I will have my TYR Cat 5 Wetsuit all ready to go. I am aiming to do the swim in 25 minutes. This is about a 1:30/100 yd pace. I can typically hold that in the pool, so hopefully adding a wetsuit and not too much swimming in the wrong directions will get me right at this goal.

Transitions:
Last weekends transitions went very well, so I hope to bring that forward, add in some complexity of getting the wetsuit off for the first time in a race this year. Since I do not know how the whole transition area is laid out I am giving myself 5 minutes total for transitions, this should be high, but I want to make sure I give myself sufficient time since I do not know the layout.

Bike:
I will be riding my Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL again this week. I like the aggressive position and comfort it provides me. I have put all my miles on this bike so far, so I am naturally most comfortable on this. I presume later in the year I will be riding my 4000, that is going to be the long course bike for the time being since I can get so low with the Airfoil! From what I have seen, this course is pretty low winds, so I will be rolling on the HED Stinger 9s and wheel cover again. Outside of a few climbs, they should get me some good aero benefit when I can push the pedals on some flats. I have had some good training rides of 1:30 and pushing 240 watts or so as well as running well off those rides. I am going to aim for around 245 watts again as I am pretty sure my legs will hold up. The biggest question for me is how the heat will affect me either on the bike or the run after this effort.

I want to get the most from my bike split as possible without killing my run, and since this distance is new, I am not sure where my breaking point is going to be located, so why not push the upper end of it for this race and find out! I hope to bike the course in around 1:10

Run:
After last weekends performance at the Siouxperman Triathlon and my first sub 20-minute 5k, I am finally feeling confident about my run. I know a 10k is twice as long, but I hope to hold a pretty similar pace. I have done 6:45 pace following one of the 1:30 rides at 240, so I think that is a realistic goal. I am aiming to hit 42 minutes on the run. Do not go out too fast, make sure to spray down the Avia Bolt IIs with some Tri-Slide, and then at some point hold on for dear life on the run!

Overall:
I am shooting to go 2:20 for this race. I think it is an aggressive goal seeing as my times above add up to 2:22, but I know I am capable of doing this time. This is another race where seconds are going to add up over the event. I am now finding as I set goals that I am getting more and more conscious of the little things that eat up a couple of seconds here or there. Those could make or break the goal! I am really looking forward to hanging out with Team Trakkers at the race and cheering others on! Weather is looking 50/50 right now, hopefully it holds off on Sunday and makes for a great race.

Since this is my first race at the Olympic distance, I am looking to test my body and see what to expect down the road. I am out to have some fun, and enjoy a long weekend in the company of some pretty cool people!

Race Report: Siouxperman Tri 2011

2011-05-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

Pre-Race:
I slept very poorly at the Super 8 on a bed that could have just as well been a board, and probably some to do with anxiousness for the race. I was up and had some oatmeal for breakfast along with my First Endurance Optygen, like I do every morning. I loaded up a few bottles of other First Endurance products. One had a serving of EFS Grape and Pre-Race for before the race and another had EFS Grape for the bike. One final bottle had a serving of Cappuiccinno Ultragen for my post race recovery drink, but this remained unmixed for the time being. We made the 45 minute drive to Sioux Center and got there right at 7AM for packet pick-up and transition opening.

The numbers were assigned somewhat by your seeded swim time. They started with the 20 slowest swimmers, and then moved to the teams, and then finally into the individuals, fastest to slowest. I was number 62 with my 4:15 estimated time.

Swim:
300 Yard pool swim - This pool swim was a bit different than I have done before. There was a single point of entry, where they plug in your number and then directed you to a lane. It was a 6 lane, 25 yard pool, so it would be a total of 6 laps or 12 lengths. Unfortunately your time from the mat to water entry would depend what lane they assigned you to. There would be 2 swimmers per lane, rather than the initial serpentine swim they have done in years past. I got sent to lane 5 and got in and started off well. I knew I was faster than my estimated pace especially the first lap or two. There was a guy who got sent to the lane next to me who started off very fast, and I could not tell if he was moving really fast or if I had slowed that much. I figured out that he had just started and slowed after the first couple of laps. I got out of the water and the Garmin said 4:07 as I hit the transition mat.

I have been using my TYR Nest Pro goggles recently and absolutely love them. They have never once leaked water, even with some really strong push offs from the wall.

Garmin: 4:07 (hit this a bit late after I had gotten into the pool, so even adding 20 seconds seems a bit much)
Chip: 4:55 (10th Overall) - Not sure how this is possible, but all swim times look to be a bit long
Goal: Met - Calling this met, although the chip time says otherwise, I am not sure it is really accurate of the real time.

Transition 1:
The first transition is a bit odd, I am not sure from what point it measured. My thoughts are that it was from the mat right out of the pool, but my chip swim time seems much longer than what the Garmin said. From the pool, you had to run on the carpets out of the pool area, then along the back of a building, into the ice hockey part of the building, then back inside into the transition area. I can see based on transition time that it was measured from the first mat. There was also a mat that was on the entry to the bike area, but I am not sure how it was being used.

For my first transition of the year, it went very well. I had my goggles off easily by the time I got to my bike since it was quite a run, I quickly put on my sunglasses, helmet, and bike shoes and trotted out of transition with my bike. Unfortunately with the assigned transition spot, I was on the far side which makes it easy to locate my bike, but I had to double back on about a 150 degree turn to get out of the racks. Not ideal, but you take what you are given. I headed out and went across the exit mat.

Garmin: 1:17
Chip: Added into bike time... lame...
Goal: Met - Good pacing, great effort despite odd navigation

Bike:

Time to bust out the Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL for the race. I decided to stick with the HED Stinger 9s and disc cover because the wind was not too strong. I think it was probably something like a 10 MPH wind with some gusts around 13 or so, so it was manageable with the deeper wheels! The 25k bike course was shaped like J. We headed east from the All Seasons Center and a quick right to head south to the county road. The wind was somewhat from the North/Northwest so heading south was fast! I was only on that stretch a few minutes before getting on a county road for a brief section before heading north on another county road. The turns were well staffed, and I was moving well although the field was rather thin of people. I did have one encounter with a semi going all of 50 MPH that hit me with a gust of wind that nearly threw me for a loop! I kept the rubber on the road and made it to my final out turn. The course was not terribly hilly, but was rolling with only a few longer flats to put it down. Once we started north, I could feel the wind and some of the hills required a pretty strong effort, but I never left the big ring up front.

As I headed north, I was picking people off, some were either teams or the first 20 swimmers. I did pass a few people with numbers very close to me, but the way the swim start was staggered, it was hard to judge how far "behind" you actually were. I started seeing a few people around the turn around and hit the 180 degree middle of the road turn around. I am not normally real good at judging these, but today it went well. As I headed back south, I was flying. There were multiple times I was in a 50/11or12 and moving like crazy. I would occasionally take some of my EFS Drink on the bike and made some good passes while heading south.

As we headed back west, you could feel the wind and immediately into a hill. Nothing terribly eventful on the rest of the trip back. I managed to hold 245 watts for the ride. There were some times I felt like I was working like crazy and only doing 190 watts, and others I was pushing 300 with little to no effort.
I knew my estimated time was going to be slower than my prediction, but I was thrilled with my 245 watts. Exactly what I was shooting for, but the big question is how would it affect my run?

Garmin: 41:45, 8th Overall, 22.9 MPH, 245 Watts
Chip: 42:48 (including T1)
Goal: Hit wattage perfectly, unfortunately my time estimate was a bit off, but no biggy, would rather hit my goal wattage.

Transition 2:
I managed to do a flying dismount very well with no real practice and cruised into the area. Again it was not ideally laid out, so I was doubling back a couple of times, but I got my bike racked quickly. I left my shoes on the bike before dismounting so it was a fast transition into my run shoes. I had put my Garmin back on my wrist while on the bike so I did not have to worry about it in transition. I snagged my race belt and headed out of transition, yet again through the 150 degree turn, over the mat and out I went.

Garmin: 54 Seconds - Seems a bit high, but again odd chasing through the transition area
Chip: Figured into the Run
Goal: I felt good, maybe I was a bit slow, but things went well and I did not mess anything up!

Run:
5k on a bike trail. I am feeling quick on my feet, and have set a goal to run a sub 20 minute 5k in a tri. Will it be this day? I started off and trusty Garmin lost signal inside during transition, so it took a few seconds to recalibrate when outside again. I knew I always start off fast, but I was not sure how much was from satellites being off and how much was just adrenaline. My legs felt fresh even after pushing the bike, so I just went with it, trying to make sure I was going at a pace I knew was close to what I could hold. I found that to be somewhere around 6:20s (Not the sub 5s I spiked to a few times) The pavement was really good to run on and we had some shade for the first section before running in a field area that was in the sun. Normally I wouldn't make a point about this too much, but I have only seen about 1 day above 70 this year, so running in 75 degrees and sun was a change. I was not sure how the body was going to take it. I made a few passes and quickly found a lot of open space, somewhere to the tune of 1/3 of a mile on the next runner.

I saw one runner on the way back, a quick check of the Garmin said I was about 7:30 into the run, putting me somewhere in my second mile. I must not have been running hard enough, or I am just getting good at working my brain on low oxygen because I was fighting at that point to keep my pace. I was trying to calculate how much ahead of me that guy started, and then my distance to the turn around vs where I was. I ended up figuring I was a few minutes back from their pace, but it motivated me to pick it up. I set my sights on the next person and kept trucking forward.

I have been running in my Avia Bolt IIs and althought I have my Bolt IIIs, I have been using the IIs especially for the race since the new ones are not broken in yet. Again back to weather, I have not been able to run without socks very often, so that was another question in my head, how would my feet hold up, especially only a week before my big Rev3 Knoxville Olympic Race? I had sprayed the insides with some Tri-Slide from SBR Sports to help reduce any friction. I hit the turn around dumped some water over my head and pushed on, finding a couple more people ahead of me to reel in. About 2 miles complete, I saw my lap pace was right in the area of 6:28 give or take, right at a 20 minute 5k. A mile left Jeff... You can do it. It is you vs them, you vs tomorrow, you vs cant, you vs no... If you have not seen the 2011 Versus Commercial, I HIGHLY recommend it! I pushed my body to a place it has not been and knew it was going to be splitting hairs at the very end, maybe even enough that the race clocks may say I am over, but Garmin pace got messed up and deceived me. Push through it anyway. Into the finishers shoot (on grass... one of my only complaints) and across the finish line. Whew... glad that is done.

Garmin: 19:56
Chip: 20:35 (Includes T2)
Goal: Met, I am officially calling this my first EVER sub 20 minute 5k. Especially after dropping 245 Watts on the bike, I am thrilled with this!

Overall:
Overall Time: 1:08:17
Overall Place: 7th
Age Group: 1st due to roll down, 3rd since 1 & 3 OA were in my AG

I am thrilled with my results! I raced exactly how I wanted, my numbers were almost spot on. I could have pushed a bit harder, but this early season race has given me some very valuable insight to my race season ahead. Although not quite where I was thinking I would finish time wise(due to the bike effort not getting me quite as much as I thought it would), everything else went as planned, so my race was a huge success! I know that now I am ready to roll at Rev3 Knoxville Olympic, look for the pre-race report in the next day or two.

After getting home and showering, I did not get all of my numbers scrubbed off before playing 9 holes of golf in the sun. Leaving me with this little gem.

Souixperman Pre-Race Report

2011-05-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

Here we are... nearly 8 months since the last race... wow that is depressing considering the swim for One Last Tri was quite cold temps and I would not even think of getting in a lake right now. Why do I live in Minnesota again? Last year, I kicked off the season in Alexandria, MN with the Chain of The Lakes Tri. Check out the RR to see the amazing conditions we had.... This year I was going to be crazy and take a gamble on the weather being nicer, but then realized that my wife's grandparents would be celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary that weekend in western Iowa. 60 years of marriage trumps the chance I would need to put studs in my tires to even race!

I was randomly searching on the interwebz one day and found a tri not too far from where we would be, and hey it happened to be on the same weekend! What a coincidence! After getting a seal of approval, my wife's step-father and I signed up. Another pool swim and outdoor bike/run, early season, yet only 1 week ahead of Knoxville!

Swim: 300 Yard pool swim - This is my normal warm-up set, not counting drills. I have been prepping for the REV3 Knoxville Olympic, so I will be doing this swim based on the Oly training, nothing specific for short burst distances. 6 laps... I just got an email saying it was changed from serpentine style to swimming in your own lane. Based on my training, I seeded myself at 4:15, a 1:25/100 yard pace. I am pretty confident in this pace, depending how busy the lanes are, I may be able to go quicker, especially since it is all done in the same lane and no ducking of ropes is required. Any seconds gained in the swim will go a long way overall I think.

Transitions: I say 2 minutes total for transitions 1 and 2 combined. I should be able to move quite quickly through these and use them as a practice go for Knoxville. There will be no flying mount/dismount, but hopefully a non-eventful transition, unlike One Last Tri where my chain had somehow fell from the big ring to the bottom bracket between my practice ride and when I left T1, I got clipped in and went straight onto my side. Transition times will also be key to a competitive overall time.

Bike: Time to bust out the Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL for the race. Along with the bike will be the HED Stinger 9s and disc cover! Needless to say, I am pumped to get this thing out and see what it can do. 25k bike. Here is the route. Pretty simple out and back with only a few corners. Elevation change is pretty minimal, so barring any crazy winds, this could be a speedy ride. Downhill the first 4 miles, which puts me on the straight away, then climbing to the turn around point around 7.75 miles or so, then downhill a couple of miles, and finally a gradual gain to the end from mile 11. My goal is to push about 240 watts the entire time. I will not try to speculate what that will get me for speed, but if the wind is not too strong, this may be a blistering fast ride. In the big picture, I am going to have to be one of the fastest bike splits out there if I want a chance at the big picture. I know I need to have a lead going into the run.

Run: 5k on a bike trail. I am feeling quick on my feet, and have set a goal to run a sub 20 minute 5k in a tri. Will it be this day? Who knows. That gives you a guess as to what I am going to push for a pace. I am a bit on the fence about setting a goal for the run... why? Well because I would love to run a sub 20 5k as stated above. What if that isn't good enough for the day? Will I be disappointed because I may have higher expectations for the day? My brick last week went really well and were much longer distances, so I think the formula for success includes a little race day adrenaline, combined with it being the first race as a Trakker, and some high expectations of myself.

Overall: Use this race to fine tune a few things before Knoxville. My brick gave me a good idea of what I can push for watts on the bike and not kill my run, but this race should let me pair that with what I can physically and mentally hold on for the run. I am getting pretty excited for the season to kick off and cannot wait to represent Team Trakkers! Albeit a short race, I know that I will be using my First Endurance EFS Drink paired with some PreRace before hand and some Ultragen post race in combination with my trusty Recovery Pump to ensure I am ready to roll at Rev3 Knoxville Olympic.

Weekly Ramblings - 4/25/11

2011-05-02T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well there has been a lot of buzz in the past day about Osama bin Laden being killed by US Forces. While this is a great milestone, it does not mean we should let our guard down. There will always be another person to step in willing to fill the role and carry out the actions and beliefs. To see how much buzz is following the news shows how interested people are and how behind their country they are. As with any government/political news, you will always get 2 sides. When I first saw the news, it was on ABC and the reporter there said something like "Obama, er Osama Bin Laden has been killed" this ties directly out with the picture I saw posted by someone from Fox News where the banner said Obama bin Laden has been killed. While I did not see the banner on Fox News, so it could have been fixed in photoshop, I believe you will always have this from both sides. Sure there are questions about if it was really him and people want to see a long form death certificate, and he was "conveniently" burried at sea, but my main point is whatever side you align with, I think it is safe to say this came as welcome news to most. A special thanks to our troops that have been involved anywhere in the process.

Workouts:

Last week was a heavy week with some intense workouts, getting ready to peak for Knoxville. I missed one bike workout and my 5k at work got shortened so it was a bit short of my workout plans. It was a good week, the 5k hurt, I always forget how many stinking hills there are. I am in pretty good shape at this point, and was still hurting on the course. My swims have been feeling really good. Times are getting better each workout, especially over the past few weeks, I am able to hold a pace longer and with less effort! The bike has been good, especially with the volume I have been doing. The weather here is still far from spring, so it takes a lot for me to get out on the bike, and it takes even more to ride on the trainer anymore. Running is going well, things are clicking just as expected I would say.

Friday was a big day, I did a lunch swim, and then after work a 90 minute bike and 45 minute run brick workout. This is my first brick of the season. I held about 234 watts on the bike, where I also was getting used to my race wheels. Holy cow a 90 front is a lot different than a 60! I was pretty happy to see my run pace where it was for the 45 minutes. This gave me a very strong feeling for Knoxville, and wondering how the Siouxperman Tri will go.

Week 7

Monday: S- 2700 Yards (49:33 Minutes), B - 32.12 Miles (91:08 minutes)

Tuesday: R - 7.92 Miles (57:11 Minutes)

Wednesday: S - 2800 Yards (53:08 Minutes)

Thursday: R - 2.21 Miles (15:19 Minutes+10 Min warmup) - abbreviated 5k had warmups, just not tracked

Friday: S - 2350 Yards (38:06 Minutes), B - 32.11 Miles (91:32 Minutes)/R - 6.51 Miles (45:02 Minutes)Brick workout

Saturday: Day Off

Sunday: R - 7.44 Miles (62:26 Minutes)

	Distance	Time
Swim Totals	7850 Yards	2 hr 20 min
Bike Totals	64.23 Miles	3 hr 2 min
Run Totals	24.08 Miles	3 hr 10 min
Total Volume		8 hr 32 min

Week-In-Review:

I had a pretty regular week at work, and nothing too out of the ordinary, except a few evening events which conflicted with some of my workouts, I think for the most part, I got in what mattered, only wishing I had gotten one more bike effort in. The weather here has been crummy at best. May 1, we got snow, today... May 2, I saw some snow flakes. Come on really?!?! I cannot wait for spring, or heck at that matter summer to get here. It has been a wonderful week, despite the weather. I am very anxious to be racing this weekend especially since my Trakkers kit came in. This is one snazzy outfit! Look for debut pics this weekend! Make sure to follow me on twitter @jvanistri as that will be where the first pics end up.

Trakkers:

I am getting back in the swing of things, blogging, reading blogs, and focusing on racing! I kick off the season this weekend with a sprint which will hopefully give me a good idea of what to expect at Rev3 Knoxville. Especially after my brick workout on Friday, I am feeling very confident about my fitness and where I want to be, pay attention next week for the Knoxville Pre-Race Report. I should have the Siouxperman Tri Pre-Race Report up soon, probably tonight.

Who doesn't like pictures? Well here you go! My Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL with HED Stinger 90s and cover ready to roll. Only a few small tweaks to get it ready for racing this weekend! My second pair of Avia Bolt IIIs came in this week. I love them! They are some flashy colors, and there have been some great changes between the II and the III models. I am excited to start breaking these in!

Review: CEP Compression Socks

2011-04-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

If you have not read the Compression Primer, I suggest you do that to start with. It covers the generals about compression clothing. This review is focused specifically on the CEP Compression Socks. As with all reviews, this is my opinion based on personal use. I was sent this pair of socks by CEP for evaluation for this review to add to the mix of products.

While these were not the first piece of compression clothing I have tried, they are the first to be evaluated and have the review fully composed. I will keep these as standardized as possible to allow for easy comparison between each review.

Garment Style:

The sock style compression is focused on the lower leg, specifically the calves. Since transitioning to a more mid/fore-foot strike, I have noticed the soreness in my calves much more. This is a change from when I was an avid heel-striker where the soreness would occur in my upper legs. The CEP Sock is great to isolate those lower leg muscles without having to wedge yourself into a pair of tights.
The socks are sized by the maximum circumference of your calf, thus making it important to pick the right size for maximum benefit. Trust me, you want to get the right size!

Price:

$60 USD
http://www.sportscompression.com has them on sale for 58 plus using the promo code BLOG15 to receive an additional 15% off to bring them under $50.

Availability:

Found at multiple shops and stores locally
Found at a number of online retailers including All3Sports, see side for discount code

Pros:

Pretty easy to get in and out of. Simply rolling down the tops helps to get the toes started
Extra cushion in the foot area to allow for running with these socks in comfort.
Dry wick material helps to wick away sweat keeping your feet more comfortable during the run.
If you pick up a black pair, these could easily be worn at work in business attire, allowing more effective recovery

Cons:

I would see some issues trying to quickly put the socks on, especially if they were wet.
Also not advised to wear during the swim portion of a race, even with a wetsuit

Overall:
I am a big fan of the CEP Compression Socks. Having come from a past where I only used tights, these have become a staple in my training. The durability and quality of materials is great! I have gotten a good amount of use from these and they show little to no signs of wear. They also hold up well after being washed. The socks are a great article of clothing for anyone to add to their wardrobe for aid in recovering between workouts.

I have used these regularly to help recovery my lower legs after tough workouts. In combination with my normal routine, I have felt refreshed and ready to go. They have allowed me to train at higher intensities without feeling fatigue from previous workouts.

Why CEP Compression?

CEP = Compete, Endure, Perform. Made with over 60 years of experience by a world leader in medical compression products, medi.
Improved performance and recovery aimed specifically for athletes
30 Day guarantee
Used to aid with a number of issues: Shin splints, cramps, achiles issues, fatigue, micro muscle tears, vibration trauma, blisters, blood clots from travel

Project X Unveiled

2011-04-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

You have been patiently waiting or maybe you have not even been paying attention. Recently I posted some messages on Twitter to raise some awareness around my current project....Project X. I was tossing around some other ideas, but nothing flowed quite as well. Here they were:

Project D - for diamond
Project K - for Kestrel
.
.
.
.

Any guesses yet?
Project A - for Airfoil?!? This actually wouldn't have been bad, but X just builds up the anticipation a bit more.

So here you have it, all of this time Project X has been a build of a Kestrel Airfoil SL. Some of you may be saying, "Woah wait a minute, you said you ordered a Kestrel 4000 from Team Trakkers" Well you are correct. I did in fact order a Kestrel 4000 50cm Ultegra build, then got word that it was out of stock, so I bumped it up to a 52.5. In the end it will give me about an extra 1cm of reach and only sacrifice 1/2 cm of higher stack. That will be another post, this will focus on the Airfoil build.

If you have been around the blog much, you will note that I have been riding short course for the past 2 years. I have been focusing on being able to push my body to the limit for the short races. My evolution in bikes has been the following:

2009 - 56 Trek Equinox 5
2010 - 54 Cervelo P2
2011 - 52 Kestrel Airfoil SL / 52.5 Kestrel 4000

When I found out I was going to be riding a Kestrel, I dug into as much info as I could find between the bikes and found the Airfoil to be similar and even slightly more aggressive than the P2 I had been riding, and the 4000 has a higher stack, so not quite as much drop. Through all of this, I made up my mind with the 4000 as I planned on getting into the long course races, so I would not need to have so much drop available. As I started listing my old bike for sale, I ended up parting with just the frameset at the same time as I had an opportunity for a new Kestrel Airfoil frame, and decided to reuse my parts and build it up, giving me a short course and a long course bike.

Now to the fun part - The Build/Pics:

This sleek frame is missing a little something, well actually a lot of something. The entire seat tube is missing between the bottom bracket area and the top tube. This is one of the things that makes this bike so unique. Removing the tube allows for the frame to act like a spring and absorb vibration and bumps from the road.

I find my wrench skills are pretty good as long as my patience does not wear thin, but the first thing I saw was that the steer tube would have to be cut down, so a trip to a local shop and a few bucks later, they had trimmed it down to size. I left it a bit long on the chance that I want to raise it up, but may end up chopping it all the way down in the near future. The second part that needed to be cut was the seat post. I did not have to trim my P2 post at all since the seat tube will accept the whole thing without cutting. The Airfoil on the other hand, has a more limited room so it requires a bit more customization.

You may remember this picture from Twitter, on the way to the shop to be trimmed down.

The build was slow as I tried to take my time, but also was trying to get a bike up and running so I could continue on workouts. I had to buy a new base bar, so I went with the Profile Design Carbon Cobra Wing 40cm width. The base bar goes well with the Profile Design T2+ Carbon Cobra Aero bars I moved over. Although I had my old stem which was a 110mm 10 degree, I wanted to get something to sit more level, I ended up picking up a pretty nifty Specialized adjustable stem, it has different shims that allow you to change the angle, there are a bunch of ways to do it, from +16 to -16 degrees.

Here was another teaser pic I put on Twitter, and the original image.

During the build, I overlooked one thing, the chain stay length was different, thus resulting in my chain not being long enough, so I had to pick up a new chain as well. As a side note, if you have not seen the message on the side and happen to be doing a build yourself or just need a few new parts, check out All3Sports.com and use GOTRAKKERS to save 15% off your entire order!

I got the bike in running order after picking up some new shift cables since the old ones were a little worse for wear. After some messing around, I got the Dura-Ace bar end shifters adjusted, chain set to the right length, and derailleurs all working properly. This was the step that tested my patience! It is very tedious work trying to spin the crank and adjust to make sure you have full range of the gears.

One part I left off for later installation was the brake levers, well when I went to try them, sure enough there were issues. The old FSA brake levers I had, are too small for the base bar, turns out you need adapters, well that will be for another day.

Then finally my final package arrived. I figured why not give them a try. I went with the Zipp R2C shifters. After being a bit puzzled that they were labeled SRAM, I did some testing, and turns out they are actually the Shimano compatible model, but are just produced by SRAM, thus the branding, a bit confusing, but whatever. A little tweaking and they were up and running.

On the way back from the shop after having all the brakes done up properly.

Build Details:
Frameset: 2009 Kestrel Airfoil SL
Stem: Specialized 110mm Adjustable (Installed at -16 degrees)
Base Bar: Profile Design Carbon Cobra
Aero Bars: Profile Design T2+ Carbon Cobra
Shifters: Zipp R2C - Shimano compatible
Brake Levers: FSA Aero Levers
Brakes: Cervelo branded brakes
Crank: Quarq SRAM S975 Compact with Red Rings 50/34
Chain: Dura-Ace 10 Speed
Front Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra SL
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra SL
Seat: ISM Adamo Road
Training Wheels: Shimano R500
Race Wheels: HED Stinger 90s with disc cover.
Tires: Zipp Tangente 700x21

I was able to adjust to the drop almost immediately, and cannot believe how comfortable I am. My second ride was a 20 Minute FTP test which increased about 5% over the last test just over a month ago. While it was indoors on the trainer, I am excited to see how this bike handles outside. I know the position will get me some additional aero benefits in a position I am comfortable riding paired with my increased power, should yield some good results in the near future.

Weekly Ramblings - 4/11/11

2011-04-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

Well... It has been a while for a weekly post, but I could go on for days about things since the last one. I guess life has been busy enough that I had to cut a few things out, unfortunately the weekly posts were one of the first to go. Do not fear... they will be back.

Workouts:

Week 12

I am omitting the specifics for this week, just because they are not readily available right now, but this past week was a recovery week, and the first week of peak. It was not terribly easy, just some lighter efforts towards the end of the week. I had 4 swims, that I believe put me over 10k in a week for the first time. I got one outside bike in this week before the weather went south.

I have only been outside a couple of times this year on the bike, and I am already finding it hard to suit up and hit the trainer. We have had winter weather for over 6 months. To say that I am over it.... is an understatement.

On another note, I have been considering getting a coach for a while, a long while. While my workouts thus far have been going really well since I started using the Triathlete Magazine Week-by-Week guide, I think I can gain even more having a coach. Right now I am only accountable to a piece of paper and myself. I was not actively seeking out a coach, and this opportunity just happened to come around at the right time. We have had some good communication back and forth and are going to let me finish this plan to get me through Knoxville and then start revising my structure of workouts to focus on the race season and my second A race of the year. Right now that race is looking to be Rev3 Cedar Point Half. I am pretty excited to see where this will go... stay tuned for more info as time progresses.

	Distance	Time
Swim Totals	Yards	hr min
Bike Totals	Miles	hr min
Run Totals	Miles	hr min
Total Volume		hr min

Week-In-Review:
I got my new TYR jammers and Nest Pro goggles. Holy cow, I am glad to have new jammers, my old ones were almost 100% see through, not something that is real appropriate for a public pool. I had previously been using Speedo Vanquishers, but the switch to the TYR Nest Pros has been great! These fit so much better and do not leave me with huge rings around my eyes. I have yet to have a problem with water getting in either!.

This past week, I fell off the nutrition truck, got ran over by the fat bus, and had a side of I don't even care. Yeah.... it was one of those weeks. I tell you, it never fails to amaze me how much effort you have to put in, and then how quickly it can be reversed. I have been a bottomless pit, especially for sweets this past week. That has got to stop. Part of the issue comes from not planning meals for the week ahead of time. Check, that is already done for this week. I think I honestly took a nearly 6-7 pound swing up this last week. NOT GOOD! I told my better half that she better be ready for healthy meals and a lack of going out to eat until Knoxville at least. I am a long ways from my goal weight now and not even sure if it is possible to get to with this little time, but I am going to do my best effort to get there so I am light on my feet.

The rides I have had outside have been amazing to say the least. I have been riding the Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL... yeah Project X... watch for a post tonight about that whole project. This bike flys. Ok so maybe my training and legs have something to do with it, but wow. I do not miss the P2 at all when compared to this ride.

Trakkers:

It is great to see so many race reports from my teammates! The seasons are under way, and the results are looking great for everyone. People are seeing PRs, hitting early season goals, placing in their age groups, and in general

Homemade Tuscan Pizzas

2011-04-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

We love a quick and easy meal every once in a while around here and these things do the trick. The thing that takes the longest is cooking the chicken. Hint: If you make chicken earlier in the week, this works great with any left overs.

Ingredients:

Flatouts
Pizza Sauce
Garlic - minced
Red Onion
Tomatoes - sliced and halved
Spinach
Artichoke Hearts
Chicken Breasts - sliced into small chunks
Feta Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Olive Oil

Instructions:

Start by heating some Olive Oil in a pan over medium heat. When it becomes the consistency of water, add the chicken breasts. To limit oil splattering, you can dry the chicken breasts off with a paper towel. When you have the chicken breasts in the pan, place a lid over it and let them cook. I season lightly with Seasoning Salt. Let cook on the first side until the tops become white and are no longer pink, then flip and cook for an additional 4 minutes. Depending on the thickness of the breasts you may need to cook longer.

As the chicken is cooking, you can be prepping your other veggies by cutting the tomatoes, artichoke hearts, garlic, and onion. Set aside until everything is ready.

Let chicken rest 4 minutes after removing from heat before cutting. This will help to keep the moisture inside.

Place the Flatouts on a cookie sheet
Spread the pizza sauce on them
Sprinkle garlic over the sauce
Add onions
Add tomatoes
Add spinach
Add Artichoke Hearts
Add pieces of chicken
Add Feta Cheese
Add Parmesan Cheese

Bake in oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. I prefer to cook just a bit longer for a crispier crust.

The final dish, minus a piece... it went fast!

Sponsorships: A Beginners Guide

2011-04-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

After reading some recent posts about becoming a sponsored athlete, I decided to put together my working knowledge on this subject and see what came together for a post to educate anyone curious about this topic. Let me give you a little background why I feel I can contribute to this topic with some credibility. My experiences with sponsors started when I was around 17 years old. I spent a lot of time working on cars as one of my hobbies, the more knowledge I gained and activities I got involved with, the more I realized that I could contribute to a company through my experiences. For example, I did a lot of work with a few guys from a local shop, when I would be at shows and talking with people, it just came up in conversation naturally. I built on my passion of automobiles to include some of the biggest name brands in the automotive industry (Corbeau, Magnaflow, and Nitrous Express)

This article is to wrap my experiences from my past into the endurance sport scene to better understand what sponsorship really is about.

Part I: Setting Expectations
These following questions will act as the outline for this topic, I challenge you to think about each of them and how it applies to you before continuing to that section. Maybe you are on the same page, maybe I forgot something, or maybe we just agree to disagree!

What does it mean to be sponsored?
What should I expect from a sponsorhip?
Why am I looking to become sponsored?
What choices are out there, where can I find them?

What does it mean to be sponsored?
Think about what your response to this question is. What came to your mind first? I would guess that a majority of responses come back including free products. Without going too deep right away, I would say a sponsorship is a type of marketing which includes compensation of some sort.

What should I expect from a sponsorship?
Let's take a look at this from the company's side first, so you know what will be expected from you. Building on my point above that sponsorship is a marketing tool, I would say that first things first, you should not expect something for nothing! It is as easy as it sounds. The company is in business to make money selling their product, why would they just give them out without getting something in return? Expectations come in many shapes and sizes, depending on the situation.

Attend a designated number of events

Strictly a certain number
Sometimes of a certain size/location
It is all about exposure for the company, getting their logo/name in front of more people

Use their products - sometimes exclusively

What good does it do Gatorade if you are seen drinking Poweraid all the time

Distribute products/information

What better way to entice people with samples and discounts

Actively talk about the company

Social Media - Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc
Clubs and Events
Online Forums and message boards

Now that you know some of the things that may be asked of you, what expectations should you have from the company? These again come in all shapes and sizes.

Support for entry fees

Partial or Full support of entry fees to an event

Discounted products

Percentage off products - % Off, Based off Cost, Pro-pricing, etc

Free product

Just as it reads, no cost to you

Cash or Credit

Sometimes it comes as a form of money to be used for equipment or entry fees

Pay-for-performance

Benefits are directly related to some performance metrics (race places/wins, or generated business)

As you can see, there are a number of different ways a sponsorship could look. With this in mind, it is my experience that you find entry fees and cash rewards more typically with a company not directly associated with the market you will be advertising. In the case of triathlon, an accounting firm may agree to put their logo on your webpage or uniform in exchange for a few race entries.

Why am I looking to be sponsored?
Here is the big question. What are you looking for from a sponsorship? In the triathlon world, things cost money just like in the rest of life, but everyone is looking to make their dollar go the longest. I call that being a smart consumer. I am not one who normally pays full price for much at all. One of the most important things I can offer is that you should not expect to get free products. That is one of the biggest misconceptions about sponsorships out there. I would say for most, it can be said that they are looking for some monetary offset as being sponsored. I have another thought, but want to save it for one of the next sections about what is out there about this monetary offset.

The next question is what draws you to this company? I can tell you from personal experience, and multiple companies I have worked with, if you do not believe in the product, service or company, and are just accepting for the benefits, it could be a painful journey for everyone involved. Early on when I was working on cars, I took a sponsorship from a shop that I had worked with a bit in the past, but I was not a huge fan of their quality of work, but the opportunity came up, and I was excited so I took it. Do you know how painful it is to talk good about a company that you do not support? It always felt awkward because I felt like I was misleading people about the company. Since learning my lesson a couple of times, I have become much more stringent on what I will apply for and eventually accept.

Did you know? What some companies offer in "sponsorship packages" is nothing more than a quick google search for a coupon code or signing up for a newsletter.

I have found multiple places that will offer 15% off all products listed on the webpage in return for putting their logo on your webpage or uniform. You could also sign up for their newsletter and get the same discount without having to do anything else. Make sure to do your research when something is offered, they may be working to get something for nothing.

I think one thing for some people, being a sponsored athlete is a stroke of their ego. Why not? Some people will use it as bragging rights, "Yeah I am sponsored by XYZ" to try and impress their peers. I had one person I knew who applied for a somewhat erroneous sponsorship, including a $150 dollar application fee, to get accepted and receive 15% off products, he also had to put some extremely obnoxious stickers on his car advertising for this company. What did he get out of it in the end? A $600 dollar exhaust system, discounted 15%, or $90 dollars off. Maybe it is my math minor, but something just didn't add up there. He was not afraid to tell everyone that he was sponsored, apparently so with the extreme window banners on front and back windshield.

What choices are out there, where can I find them?
Some companies have very well defined programs that accept a certain number of people every year, others have no formal program. Some of the big names are obvious choices, these are typically the companies who have well defined programs, and everyone knows about already. These sometimes have the highest application rates because so many people are aware of the openings and want to get in. Maybe they have a well known program, can anyone say Best Buy employee discount? Word gets out and people want in.

Next you have your middle tier, maybe an online shop or even a local shop. They may be willing to support some teams of people who will race in their kit to help promote their brand and draw customers to purchase from them.

Finally you have the non-industry sponsor. As outlined above, Bill and Mike's Accounting may be willing to sponsor you, because they know your passion for the sport, and know how many activities you participate in. Think about it... masters swim, cycling group, run groups, etc. They just want to get their name out there, and why not help a buddy out if they can kick them some referrals. No different than someone recommending their real estate agent or financial planner to someone looking, except that they may get something out of it.

If you are just looking for discounted products, sometimes the best bet may not even be a personal sponsorship. You may be just as well off if not better joining a local club. Often times these clubs work out deals with companies to offer discounts to members in order to get more people using their gear. I have seen some clubs that have very active members or very successful members be able to pull some great discounts for the entire club. You get the benefits and discounts and only wear the team kit to help promote the brands. Not a bad deal.

Team Trakkers Motivational Songs

2011-03-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

Recently the team lit a post on fire with responses of what music gets everyone fired up for training or racing. The official (and growing) list of Team Trakkers 2011!

Journey - Don't Stop Believing
Eminem - Not Afraid
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Metallica - Fuel
Muse - Stockholm Syndrome
Fall Out Boy - I slept with someone in Fall Out Boy and all I got was the song written about me
3OH!3 - Love 2012
Pink - Raise Your Glass
Tiffany - I think we're alone now
Debbie Gibson - Shake Your Love
Metallica - One
DragonForce - Through the Fire and the Flames
Kanye West - Power
Sir Mix-a-Lot - I Got Game
Metallica - No Remorse
Drowning Pool - Bodies
Bennasi Bros - Rocket in the Sky (Naan version)
John Parr - St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)
Tom Petty - Runnin' Down a Dream
Kenny Chesney - When the Sun Goes Down
Jay-Z - Run this Town
Rihanna - S&M
Lil Wayne - I am Not a Human Being
Eminem - Lose Yourself
Dwight Yoakum - Thousand Miles from Nowhere
Cravin Mellon - The Grate Procrastinator
Skillet - Awake & Alive
Hawk Nelson - Live Life Loud
REM - It's the End of the World As We Know It
Zac Brown Band - Chicken Fried
Guns 'n Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
Pop Evil - 100 in a 55
Three Days Grace - Pain

Weekly Ramblings - 3/21/2011

2011-03-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

Workouts:

Well workouts for the past 2 weeks have been minimal with our recent move. Luckily week 8 was a recovery week, and week 9 was supposed to get back into build, but my time has been stretched thin trying to get things settled in the new place. I am going to leave off my volumes, let's just say I should be good to start back in on my building this week. My long run yesterday was going to be around 90 minutes and ended up being a few minutes short, but I covered around 11 miles, so the pace was quick. I felt good building some distance at speed and know that I have not lost much from the longer recovery period.

Week-In-Review:

We are getting settled in the new place, there are still boxes around, and I still have problems finding where things are stored, but at least they are stored. Why is it that when there are piles of junk, you can find exactly what you want, but when it is organized, you have to look everywhere twice to find what you are looking for?

I am building up my 4000, slowly, but since weather has been gross, I am not in a huge rush to get it built when I know I will be inside for a while. I am still waiting on one part to arrive so I can do the full build. I will probably take it in to have the brakes setup properly, this is one wrench skill I lack. Hopefully the shop will let me watch as they adjust them so I can do it in the future. The 4000 has a brake system that is a bit different than the standard.

I am officially registered for my first race of 2011. It is a sprint race the weekend before Knoxville. This should give me a good idea of what to expect. It is a simple 300 yard serpentine pool swim, 25k bike, and 5k run. I have been doing well in the pool on my interval sets. I fully expect to be sub 1:30/100 yd over 300, putting me at faster than a 4:30 swim pace. I think this will put me towards the front of the group for the swim.

Without having been outside on the bike, I cannot say what I am expecting. A 25k translates to 15.5 miles. The course looks to start heading downhill for the first few miles and then a gradual climb over the middle miles. Since it is mostly an out and back with only a few turns, I fully plan on pushing the bike hard. I had an issue last year with racing at a higher wattage. For some reason my ~~legs~~ mind cant get over the fact that I may be cruising 23 MPH on 200 watts and I cannot muster the leg power to bump it up. I have raced one race at 209 watts, but everything suffered past that. I wonder if it is because my season last year spiraled downward as the year went on? We will see... Say I hold 20 MPH, something I think is a quite realistic goal, that would put me in around 46.5 minutes.

Talk about 2 minutes total for transition.

Then the run. Ahh my first "shot" at a 5k this year. I want sub-20 so bad it makes me cringe every time I think about it. Sub-20 (on a real 5k course) is like my pot-o-gold at the end of a rainbow, it is the box at the back of the top shelf that I can almost reach, but have to get the chair to ever get it. Lets say I can dial this in at even 21 minutes.

It doesn't require a math minor (albeit I do have one... yeah yeah yeah nerd I know) to add up the above predicted times 4.5 swim + 2 transition + 46.5 bike + 21 run = 1 hour 13 minutes. Odd... this seems to be right at the same as my finishing time last year at New Brighton, which was a half mile swim. Well that is because the bike is very conservative and where I am going to make up my time.

I don't want to kill myself before Knoxville as that has been my training, but my heart lives for uncomfortable. That burning pain in the pit of your stomach that is ready to make you look like an idiot as you cross the finish line emptying your stomach. Call me crazy, but there is something about the burn of your quads on the bike aching to be "that guy" who is just hammering it. I am not the fastest runner by any means, so I know I have to push the bike without killing my run. I know my race setup is fast. My position... well I again reference Lil Jon - "Get Low" That about sums it up.

I have pre-race jitters just typing this up. I am ready to race, almost where I want my race weight to be, and fitness on the up... I am feeling good. My biggest concern for Knoxville, is that I run a good race. The distance is new to me, so I am intimidated about pacing. I will be on the course for almost twice as long as my sprints.

Trakkers:

I am pretty pumped to know that our TYR Category 5 wetsuits are on the way shortly as well as our race kits. I am looking forward to representing this team and their sponsors for all they do for us.

Stay tuned this week for the unveiling of Project X... Finally I know :)

Weekly Ramblings - 3/7/2011

2011-03-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

Workouts:

Build week - I was not sure what to expect, well first I didn't expect my run on Tuesday to say 38 minutes. Really?!? That is hardly worth getting dressed for. Luckily Tuesday was before some snow, so I had good footing. It was certainly nothing to look down on. A roughly 10 minute run to the nearby "lake" or pond that has a pretty nice 1/2 mile paved path around it served as my warm-up. The next 18 minutes were ones to remember. 18x30 seconds at Lactic Intervals, 30 seconds recovery. I don't know about anyone else, but after a few hard efforts, I know my brain is missing oxygen because it gets hard to think. My mind goes 100 miles an hour normally, but simple things such as breathing, hitting the lap button, and trying to remember what lap I am on, and worse yet what lap pace I ran last section begin to slip away. The run home was a bit longer than 10 minutes because I think I left my legs at the lake! I will think twice about thinking this workout seemed out of place next time.

The swims all week were 2500 yards, a good jump above what I had been doing. This makes getting them in over lunch no simple task. There is no messing around time for the hot tub or sauna. Do you ever see those people at the gym who are always in one of those locations, I sometimes wonder if they do workout or just use the hot tub or sauna. Speaking of sauna, guys here is a simple rule, it could be number 11 on the list hung outside of the room.

11 - If you are inclined to use the sauna naked as a blue jay, please create a barrier between your contact points and the bench.

(We do not want to see sweat outlines of your anatomy.)

This was do or die weekend for packing, so my long workouts on Saturday and Sunday were replaced by loading boxes and hauling things up and down steps. Only a few days until we move!

Week 7

Monday: S- 2500 Yards (48:33 Minutes), B - 21.81 Miles (76:26 minutes)

Tuesday: R - 5.23 Miles (39:35 Minutes)

Wednesday: S - 2500 Yards (48:11 Minutes), B - 18.01 Miles (61 Minutes)

Thursday: S - 2500 Yards (41:23 Minutes), R - 6.1 Miles (47:23 Minutes)

Friday: B - 23.71 Miles (72 Minutes)

Saturday: Day Off Packing

Sunday: Day Off Packing

	Distance	Time
Swim Totals	7500Yards	2 hr 18 min
Bike Totals	63.53 Miles	3 hr 29 min
Run Totals	11.33 Miles	1 hr 27 min
Total Volume		7 hr 14 min

Week-In-Review:

Well Monday was awesome on many levels, partially because we are so close to moving and things are all falling into their respective places. We had to go pick out a washer and dryer, not my ideal way to have to drop a chunk of change, but it was needed, especially to clean my workout clothes! Whew! I had been home earlier in the evening or late afternoon and nothing had been delivered, but when we got back, a large box from none other than Kestrel!

My 4000 came in SUPER fast! Holy cow. Too bad I was exhausted and about got it out of the box and gave up on it. The good thing is I still am able to bike while I am putting it together and getting it all ready to roll out. I hope to have it built up in the next week or so, but some things are in the works. I need a new ISM Adamo Saddle since it permitted me to do my first 2 hour bike ride inside on the trainer. There is another *secret* part that will be going on the bike, but I cannot tell you more. I am sorry! It would not be a secret then! It will probably end up getting pushed out a bit further than I would like with the move and a delay in one of the parts, but I am looking forward to getting this ride outside!

The workweek was a blur with a lot of issues going on. I managed to get my workouts for the week in, but I missed my weekend long workouts, 1:10 run and 2:15 ride due to packing boxes. I am super excited to move, but I know my workouts will be tough this week since I will be time crunched with the move.

Look for some small updates and maybe a post here and there, but this week will be full of activities, I even had to write a schedule out in addition to my workout schedule to see how I can manage to squeeze everything into the hours available.

Trakkers:

I have been slacking like crazy on keeping up with blogs. I am able to keep somewhat of an eye on Twitter, but I feel very disconnected the past week. My blog to-read list is growing hourly! I am even disappointed that I have not been able to get in my Recovery Pump all that much even after an 11 mile run or a 2 hour ride!

I saw on someone's facebook that Knoxville is only around 60 days away! Holy cow, I feel like I have a lot to build to before I a am "ready." By ready I mean to perform how I want, not to complete the distance. Although it will be my first Olympic distance, I want to see what my body is capable of pushing.

Compression Primer

2011-03-11T12:23:00.000-08:00

Endurance athletes seem to be quite interested in new products to make them faster or perform at a higher level, some are even willing to pay a premium for them. I wanted to write up a post that talks about one of these areas that may not be terribly new, but can be quite a source for confusion if you have not done your research... Compression!

Compression clothing is nothing new, in fact it has been around the medical industry for a long time and used for multiple reasons. This product area has been ever growing in the endurance sport area to provide similar benefits to you as an athlete. This posting will talk about many of the high level topics regarding compression in general and I will do some product review to follow based on my experiences. I will be focusing on leg compression, although compression for the arms and torso does exist.

What is compression clothing?
Well, compression is applying force to compact an area or object. Take this idea and add it to clothing and we end up with a garment that is meant to apply pressure across an area of the body. Medical grade compression clothing has been used to increase circulation in extremities.

How it works?
The best way to explain it can be summarized fairly easily without having a degree in fluid dynamics, although you could get a more scientific explanation than I will present, but that is not for everyone! Remember when you were a kid, or maybe just a few months ago when you were running a garden hose without a nozzle on it. There are a few ways to make water flow faster. You can either turn the water pressure up at the faucet, or you can increase the pressure in the hose, by allowing a smaller hole for the water to exit. If you turn the water on low, water flows freely from the end. If you were to add a nozzle at the end or even your thumb to block some of the flow, the water exits the hose much faster than with a larger opening.

Think of your veins like the water hose. We are making the water leave the hose by making more pressure in the hose. Since we do not have a valve to control our veins, compression clothing helps to apply pressure on your legs typically to make the veins smaller, thus forcing blood to flow faster through your legs.

Ok so you now have the basic idea that compression clothing applies pressure to your legs to make blood flow quicker. That is great, but why do we want to increase circulation? Increased circulation allows fresh oxygen to be pumped into our muscles. The more fresh blood that can be pumped through the body, the quicker nutrients are delivered to damaged muscles for recovery and lactic acids are flushed out. Are you following the big picture now?

Compression > Increased circulation and blood flow > Enhanced Recovery > Fresher muscles

Why is it important to me?

The best part is that compression is applicable through all of the skill levels from beginner to experienced professional. You may be an endurance athlete of many years, but I am sure you remember a time when you started exercising. Think about it a minute...the first trip to the gym to lift and the stiffness that followed, your first run on a treadmill and how difficult it was to stand up from a chair for a few days, your first marathon and regretting the split level home which requires you to navigate steps, or maybe even your most recent 20 minute FTP test has made you walk funny. These are just some of the reasons compression can benefit anyone at any skill level.

Expending energy through a number of ways requires action from your muscles, when you are looking to increase the efficiency of those muscles, you are bound to experience some damage to the muscles, that is part of the process. Break them down and let them recover, do this enough times and you will build strength or endurance. Compression is not only for endurance athletes who run and bike hours at a time. It can also be beneficial for a weight lifter or someone looking to add muscle. The concept is the same, we are breaking our bodies down to get stronger and more efficient.

Have I made it clear that ANYONE can benefit from compression? Good!

Why should I care?
No this is not a misprint! The last section said why it is important to you, this section is why it is important to your body. Yes we have discusses the benefits of what compression does, now why should you care? Well to put it simply, to make yourself better. If you are like the rest of the population, you are living in a world with a finite amount of time. If you are not, please let me know as I have a few things I would like to discuss with you. Maybe you are casual athlete who enjoys exercise to keep in shape (wait I thought round was a shape?) or maybe you are someone who can dedicate hour on end training, I will explain how each level get something from it.

Beginner - You are new to exercise or maybe endurance sports, looking to do an event for the first time
- Reduce soreness as you get your muscles active and in the habit of exercise
Novice - You have been working out fairly regularly, but want to get more serious without "being crazy"
- Increased intensity workouts, leaving you feeling sluggish in the other areas of life
- Minimize the impact of exercise on the rest of your life
Intermediate - Time crunched athlete, optimize the time you are not working out for full recovery
- You need to be 100% for your next session because your time is limited and your workouts are intense
Advanced - Significant training load, maybe training for long distance events
- You are asking a lot of your body, trying to keep up with nutrition and balancing life with long distances
- Thursday's track workout may impede your Saturday long ride. Nutrition is on, but your muscles are slow to recover regardless
Professional - Recover muscles between intense sessions to allow for the highest level of quality workouts

As you can see, this ranges from the person starting to go to the gym to the professional who spends 30+ hours a week working out. The main purpose, to get the muscles back to normal as fast as possible.

Types:
Since we have covered how it works, why it works, and who it works for, let's branch into some of the products available. The clothing comes in a number of names, shapes, sizes, and options. What differentiates between each? While I will save you the specifics of my experiences so far to remain objective in this primer, do check back for my reviews of the products shortly.

Brands - 2XU, Zoot, Sugio, Skins, CEP, SLS3, Recovery Sock, and the list goes on
Shapes - Tights, socks, shorts, calf sleeves, bibs, etc
Grades\Patterns - Varying levels of compression though each brand, this relates to how much pressure they apply when worn. This is partly subjective to the size of your leg in the clothing, but you understand that part (Fat guy in a little coat anyone?) As far as Patterns go, some compression is straight throughout the garment, others are gradient which changes say from the ankle to the knee.

Picking an application:
Let's start with the obvious, a sock is not going to help your quads recover nearly as well as tights would. Determine what are of the body you are looking for. When I first started it was my quads that I was trying to help, so I picked a pair of tights. Since then I have shifted my running style and now find that my calves tend to be the most noticeably sore area after a run, so a pair of socks may be sufficient. I will not go to the point of telling you which is best, but only offer some of these observations in my experience.

Tights - Great for full leg recovery, if you are a hot sleeper, this may not be a good choice if you want to sleep in them as your legs may get quite toasty depending on the material. Can be worn under pants during the day if desired

Calf Sleeves - Specific focus area, can be sized to fit your calf, can be discretely worn under pants at work or when out and about

Socks - With many brands and styles out there now, you can get them in a variety of colors, black works great for someone looking to wear them during the day at work. Provides more coverage than the sleeve.

Shorts - I only list shorts because I have seen multiple brands come out with new bike and tri shorts that are advertised to have compression. This plays into the active vs recovery benefits of compression. I am only aware of the Under Armor Compression under garments that come in a short or brief style

Air Leggings - If you have had a surgery, these are similar to the leggings they will put on your legs to prevent blood clots. Some companies have branched into the endurance sort market with units you can use at home.

Stay tuned for product reviews and maybe even a giveaway?!?

Weekly Ramblings - 2/28/2011

2011-03-08T11:04:00.000-08:00

Workouts:

Another solid week. Some hard efforts in the pool, testing week on the bike, and some hot runs. Well the runs were hot in the sense of pace, not temperature. My swim TT on Thursday got me out of my comfort zone and moving quickly in the water, something I am not used to, but it gave me a whole new perspective on hard workouts! I think I really need to focus on form some more and maybe get some paddles to build my pull muscles. My bike FTP has gone up again which shifts workouts, ones that were easier before are now taking some more effort. Like Greg LeMond said, "It doesn't get easier, you just get faster"

Week 7 kicks off my Build phase. Overall the first 6 weeks have gone well and I have seen gains. I am a bit shocked that I am 1/3 of the way to Knoxville on this plan, but looking forward to the season kicking off.

Week 6

Monday: S- 2200 Yards (40:27 Minutes), B- 14.69 Miles (51:06 minutes) - 20 Min FTP Test-238 Watts

Tuesday: R - 8.65 Miles (66:29 Minutes)

Wednesday: S - 2200 Yards (43:38 Minutes), B -16.11 Miles (56:26 Minutes) - 5 Min FTP Test-281 Watts

Thursday: S - 1600 Yards (26:19 Minutes), R - 8.06 Miles (60 Minutes)

Friday: B - 20.61 Miles (71 Minutes)

Saturday: R - 11.04 Miles (93 Minutes)

Sunday: B - 34.05 Miles (120 Minutes)

	Distance	Time
Swim Totals	6000 Yards	1 hr 50 min
Bike Totals	85.46 Miles	4 hr 58 min
Run Totals	27.75 Miles	3 hr 39 min
Total Volume		10 hr 27 min

Week-In-Review:

I don't even remember much since I did not write this as the week went by, but it was a busy week. Everything with the move is picking up speed, we got our place rented out in only a few short hours, and things are getting packed to move. In addition to an awesome week training, I have been super busy at work, thankfully my workouts let me vent some of my stresses when I get home!

This update is going to be real short since I cannot remember much, if it wasn't logged on a Garmin it is slipping my mind!

Trakkers:

Salmon Fillets and Spinach with Strawberry Salsa

2011-03-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

I decided to make this with some salmon we had in the freezer, unfortunately it was not as good as if it would have been fresh, but overall this dish combines a bit of sweet and citrus with a wilted spinach to compliment the salmon filet.

Ingredients:

4 Salmon Fillets - skins removed
1 tsp Lemon Zest
1 lb strawberries - diced
2 kiwis - peeled and diced
1 cucumber - diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely minced
2 T Chopped Fresh Mint Leaves
2 T Lemon Juice
1 lb baby spinach - rinsed, not dried
1 T Lemon Pepper

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. Place salmon fillets on a baking sheet, sprinkle with lemon zest. Bake 15-18 minutes

Combine strawberries, kiwi, cucumber, jalapeno, mint, and 1T lemon juice in a bowl and toss until uniform. Do not cut your finger like I did, there you have been warned!

Heat a large pan with high sides over medium heat. Add the freshly washed spinach, water should still be dripping from the leaves, cover and cook 5 minutes until wilted. Add 1 T lemon juice and lemon pepper to taste.

Place salmon on top of greens, top with salsa. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Woes

2011-03-03T06:49:00.000-08:00

You may have read my Weekly Rambling 1/31/11 that included Superbowl Sunday... yeah the one with the Smores dessert pizza that I oinked out on! I thought about this post after reading a few articles and threads online about nutrition for endurance athletes. It is no secret that shedding a few pounds helps performance, most if not all endurance athletes have thought about how their weight affects training, racing, and even everyday life at one point or another. I have been clearly trying to cut out some of the junk from my diet to make a gradual transition into the season and get closer to that Racing Weight that we are all trying to hit.

Take a look at Andreas Raelert at Kona in 2010. This guy is chiseled to the bone. Is that realistic for all of us? Probably not, just as some people are born with an inherent ability to excel at one thing or another, we are not all graced with a metabolism that allows us to easily keep off pounds or lose what we have put on in the past.

What became very apparent to me is not that we do not know how to do it, we have read the books, we have counted calories to make sure our body gets the nutrition it needs, but that there are things that get in the way of that. A year ago or so my wife and I were discussing how every weekend seemed to be another excuse, so and so is coming to visit, so we will probably go out to eat. Well Billy and Suzy are having people over, so we will probably eat crappy that day. I am now realizing more and more, they are just what I called them, excuses.

The inspiration behind this post came from seeing someone post a thread about critiquing their nutrition habits. I found that people are quick to jump on adding their two cents, yet by typical standards many cannot follow the same advise they provide. I am in no way taking a dig at people for supplying comments, I think it is great to get multiple other opinions because maybe someone else can provide something we simply overlook. I just found it amusing for some reason.

It is simple:
Calories In > Calories Out = Surplus = Weight Gain
Calories In < Calories Out = Deficit = Weight Loss (at some point also decreased performance)
Calories In = Calories Out = Neutral = No change

Since we have all seen the above equations, how do we stop making excuses for ourselves? Try some of these helpful hints to eliminate some of your excuses.

Excuse 1: We are going over to someone's place to hang out.

Prepare food to take with and share. Depending on the activity, find some healthy snacks you enjoy and can share with others such as Veggies and Hummus, Guacamole, or Fresh Salsa.

Excuse 2: We are traveling a long ways.

Pack some snacks that travel well. Try these homemade energy bars, lara bars, or fruit and veggies, a small cooler with some turkey and peppers for roll-ups is one of my favorite.

Excuse 3: We are going out to eat with someone.

Do your homework in advance. If it is a chain restaurant, look up the menu online on their webpage or use the Livestrong Nutrition Guide to look up the best choice.

Excuse 4: I have a sweet tooth and nothing works unless I have something sweet

Try some of the Chocolate Cheerios, these have become a staple, I keep a bag at work for an after lunch treat to satisfy that craving. Also see that a piece of dark chocolate is a good way to remedy this.

I have been preparing this topic for a while and it slipped away, but I was reminded after reading Annie's Blog about her journey. Many people ask what program she used, and she replied with something I could not agree more with, "It's not a program, I don't believe in programs, because they have an end. It is a lifestyle change."

I had set a goal on New Years Eve.. yes that was prior to the S'Mores pizza fiasco... to lose some weight. At the time I was around 173 pounds. This was a weight I used to think was my "ideal" weight, meaning I could eat without being too picky and exercise on a regular basis, but not crazy endurance sport like hours. Having read the Matt Fitzgerald book about Racing Weight, I decided this is the season to race at a lower (yet still healthy) weight, and do it properly. Last year I dropped to 163 at my lowest, and was physically exhausted, I am not sure how many hours week I was putting in, but it was probably to the tune of around 8 or so. I did it by basically depriving my body of nutrition, which lead to fatigue quickly. This would explain why my performance flat-lined or got even slower as the year went on.

After seeing that trend last year, I knew something had to give. I have taken a whole new approach to nutrition and am feeling great! 2/7 Weekly Ramblings outlined a typical day for me now. As you can see, I still include snacks, I love Laughing Cow cheese with some pretzels or Wheat Thins. I also still get some sweets, be it Dove Dark Chocolates, ok you got me, I also have some of the Butterfinger Chocolate Eggs, and yes last night I had a bowl of frozen yogurt with toppings (choc syrup, butterscotch chips, coconut, and caramel)

The most important part is the most basic principle, calories in < calories out to lose weight. I don't know my exact numbers in and out, and frankly I have not added up workout caloric expenditures, but I have been able to judge by my energy levels that I am getting what I need without starving my body. I am now at 160, a goal I had set for my Rev3 Knoxville Olympic race. While I have met the goal, still have the energy for workouts (and my hours are growing above 10/week), and love seeing some definition, I do know I am not at my ideal race weight. I still have plenty of body fat that could go. A steady course on nutrition combined with consistency in workouts should allow me to continue shedding that excess fat and convert some to muscle as my strength and endurance goes up.

The most exciting part is yet to come. How do these results translate to racing? I just completed my FTP tests again and both my 20 minute power and 5 minute power increased by over 10 watts each. As my wattage continues to grow, and body weight drops, I see my watts/kg growing. I have been able to push the bike pretty well in the past on lower numbers, so I am itching to get outside and see how much it has given me in the real world!

Product Review: First Endurance Ultragen

2011-03-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

Although I will put a disclaimer out that First Endurance is one of the team sponsors for Trakkers, I am not afraid to take an open look at a product and let you know how it worked for me. I am a firm believer that just because just because a product is good for one does not make it good for everyone. This is my first experience with First Endurance products, so look forward to more reviews of some others in the future as I work them into my training regiment.

I had heard stories, read reviews and tweets, everything except actually trying Ultragen. My typical recovery drink has been about 12oz of Skim Milk mixed with Hersey's Chocolate Syrup. It is a good treat after a workout, not too expensive to make, and we typically have milk in the house. Recently, I have not been terribly sore, maybe because many of my base workouts are not super high intensity, but my volumes have been higher than normal so I do find a need to recover properly, especially after a longer run. This seems to be my nemesis and takes the longest to recover from, especially if the pace is slightly hot.

About the Product:
Here is the snippet from First Endurance about the product:

A list of all ingredients and nutritional information:

Supplement Facts Serving Size: 2 Scoops (91g) makes 12 fluid ounces
	Amount Per Serving	%DV
Calories	320
Calories from fat	0
Total fat	0 g	0%
Cholesterol	0 g	0%
Total Carbohydrate (100% from Dextrose)	60g	20%
Sugars	60 g	**
Protein (from Whey Protein Isolate, Milk Protein Isolate, Hydrolyzed Whey Protein)	20 g	40%
Vitamin A (as beta-carotene)	2,500 IU	50%
Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid and calcium ascorbate)	400mg	670%
Vitamin D (as Cholecalciferol)	200 IU	50%
Vitamin E (as natural d-alpha tocopherol)	400 IU	1250%
Vitamin B1 (as thiamin mononitrate)	8 mg	500%
Vitamin B2 (as riboflavin)	8.5 mg	500%
Niacin (as niacinimide)	20 mg	100%
Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine hydrochloride)	8 mg	500%
Folate (as folic acid)	200 mcg	50%
Vitamin B12 (as cyanocobalamin)	6 mcg	100%
Biotin	150 mcg	50%
Pantothenic Acid (as d-calcium pantothenate)	20mg	200%
Calcium (as Calcium carbonate, calcium ascorbate and from Whey Isolate and Milk Isolate )	500mg	50%
Phosphorous (from Milk Isolate)	105mg	11%
Magnesium (as magnesium oxide)	250mg	65%
Zinc (as zinc oxide)	7.5mg	50%
Chloride (as sodium and potassium chloride)	150mg	4%
Sodium (as sodium chloride and from Milk Isolate and Whey Isolate)	350mg	15%
Potassium (as potassium chloride and from Whey Isolate and Milk Isolate)	200mg	6%
BCAA's† (Leucine, Valine, Iso-Leucine)	4.5g	*
Glutamine†	6g	*
Daily Value Not Established *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

† Typical Amino Acid profile
Glutamine	6000mg
Isoleucine	1163mg
Leucine	2135mg
Valine	1211mg
Tyrosine	806mg
Threonine	1135mg
Alanine	866mg
Gycine	392mg
Aspartic Acid	1817mg
Cystine/Cystein	272mg
Serine	1054mg
Lysine	1738mg
Methionine	479mg
Phenylalanine	806mg
Proline	1597mg
Tryptophan	324mg
Histidine	476mg

In a nutshell, Ultragen is packed full of nutrients to help your body recover properly. A 3 to 1 ratio of Carbs to Protein makes sure you are refueling your muscle stores and are giving them the right amount to rebuild for the next workout.

Why I Am Hooked:

I tried the Cappuccino flavor first. I now understand the hype around this! It was great. I only ever got a small smell of protein drink, but none of the taste I typically associate with a protein or recovery drink.

The second thing that I really like about Ultragen is that it mixes well with water. Chocolate Milk requires lets see.... milk, and leaving that out in the warm weather at a race is not recommended. Protein powder always seems to work better when mixed with milk and not water, or tastes better at least, here again the same issue. Ultragen is great because you could pop a scoop into a water bottle, then post race fill it up with water and be ready to go without worrying about getting ill from spoiled milk. The critical time to consume the recovery drink is within 15-30 minutes post-workout. Unless you are racing in your backyard, you will probably be able to find water more easily than milk in that time frame, especially when you are waiting for the awards ceremony!

Summary:
I am glad to have tried Ultragen and will continue to purchase and use the product. I have seen how well my muscles are able to recover and be prepared for the next workout. I am glad to see products being developed that stick to their claim and perform! Looking forward to trying some of the other flavors in future orders! This stuff is tasty!

Weekly Ramblings - 2/21/2011

2011-03-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

Although a day late, better late than never!

Workouts:

This week was getting back into base training, although I had some issues with scheduling due to a crazy end of the week at work plus being on-call. Regardless, I managed to get my 3rd swim in on Saturday morning, but lacked my longer run and bike this week. I will just chalk it up to getting some recovery for my FTP tests this week.

Week 6

Monday: S- 2000 Yards (28:32 Minutes), B- 21.08 Miles (72:26 minutes)

Tuesday: R- 6.62 Miles (54:53 Minutes)

Wednesday: S- 2100 Yards (40:12 Minutes), B- 17.56 Miles (61:37 Minutes)

Thursday: R- 7.60 Miles (61:54 Minutes)

Friday: B - 22.27 Miles (80:44 Minutes) - Used last weeks numbers since I did not have sensor hooked up

Saturday: S- 2100 Yards (34:24 Minutes)

Sunday: Day Off

	Distance	Time
Swim Totals	6200 Yards	1 hr 43 min
Bike Totals	60.91 Miles	3 hr 45 min
Run Totals	14.22 Miles	1 hr 56min
Total Volume		7 hr 22 min

Week-In-Review:

I am alright with this weeks numbers, it was a crazy week, and I can use the recovery. As busy as I was over the weekend, I managed to negate the effects of eating out a few times. We had Granite City Friday night and PF Changs for lunch Saturday. Both were delicious, but I felt a bit guilty, plus Subway Sunday night. As if that wasn't a shock to my system, I made some 7-layer bars (actually 6 due to not putting nuts in) They are made with graham cracker crust, butter, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, sweetened condensed milk, and coconut shavings. They were amazing, so amazing I ate nearly the whole batch this weekend with only a tiny bit of help from the Mrs. For not having 2 workouts, I was glad to see the scale Monday morning was right what I wanted to see (optimistically, not just factoring in the foods consumed.)

The week was rough at work with some major support issues especially towards the end of the week, plus having to log in and work over the weekend! UGH! I did manage to get some time to work on this new secret I have yet to unveil, called Project X. Yeah yeah not real original, but it works. There have been some guesses, none have quite gotten it right, but I have hinted to it in the past either on the blog or on Twitter at @jvanistri

One of the closest guesses was that I got my Kestrel bike in from Trakkers. While I did make up my mind that I will be going with the Kestrel 4000, because it is one sexy machine, that was not right. The day I announced the secret, was also the day I put my order in for the 4000. I went with a 50cm. Yes that is correct, a 50cm, I still have sticker shock hearing that since I have been on a 54 P2. I have checked, double-checked, and triple-checked, and all signs say that I am good to ride on 50, which should allow me to get some good drop and position out of it.

If you happened to miss my announcements on Twitter, here are a few pics to tease.

On the way to the bike shop to chop chop.

Lil Jon says it best "Get Low"

I have another piece arriving today, and hopefully some of the finishing touches to arrive later this week before the big unveiling. Sunday night I about gave up on my wrench skills and was going to take the bike in for some adjustments on Saturday, then patience struck, I walked away a while, and came back to get everything working.

The weekend was also super busy because we I finally got unlazy and listed our place for rent since we are moving in 3 weeks! I listed it around 7:30 AM on Sunday, by 4:30 we had renters. I could not have imagined it would be this easy, and the best part, it is a 2 year lease! Heck Yeah! Our place is nice, there is no doubt about it, and it shows well, so I figured it would be popular, but I was not ready for it to go in such short time, but I will not argue. I realize that I am doing something that they explained on NCIS called a positive complaint, or something like that. I am making something great, sound negative. Their best example, "My size 2 jeans don't fit anymore, they are too baggy!" That cracked me up. Now we just have to focus on packing and getting stuff moved to the new place!

Trakkers:

This team I tell ya! What a positive group of people ready to offer encouragement at the drop of a pin. They are fired up for training, and some are even racing already! Lucky ducks! Make sure to look at the Trakker Blog List to see what they are up to. On another positive note, I happened to be the lucky winner of not one but TWO of Kelly's Spring Giveaways. I am super pumped. The first is a gift card for CSN Stores. I have been wondering how we are going to fill up some space in the new place, maybe I will buy something for the home there. A nice wine rack maybe? Or a hall bench with storage, need to do some more looking for what they have to offer there!

Secondly, I am thrilled to have won the RunningFood one as well. I have had some chia before, and while I do not expect to run endless miles like many who read Born To Run do, I do believe in the benefits it can offer. I have mixed it before with yogurt for a little extra. This will be my first experience with RunningFood, I will be sure to let you know how it goes!

Weekly Ramblings - 2/14/2011

2011-02-21T08:58:00.000-08:00

Workouts:

My first recovery week of the program, while not drastically different than last week, it was reduced. Since I am bridging a set plan along with a cycling specific plan, they do not fully mesh together, so the rides were still pretty solid efforts this week.

Monday: S- 1700 Yards (28:32 Minutes), B- 17.44 Miles (62:09 minutes)

Tuesday: R- 6.14 Miles (45:52 Minutes)

Wednesday: S- 1750 Yards (31:40 Minutes), B- 16.46 Miles (62:36 Minutes)

Thursday: S- 1700 Yards (27:49 Minutes), R- 5.30 Miles (44:22 Minutes)

Friday: B - 22.27 Miles (80:44 Minutes)

Saturday: R - 11.09 Miles (95:54 Minutes)

Sunday: B- 30.20 Miles (105:06 Minutes)

	Distance	Time
Swim Totals	5150 Yards	1 hr 22 min
Bike Totals	86.37 Miles	5 hr 10 min
Run Totals	22.53 Miles	3 hr 6 min
Total Volume		9 hr 38 min

Week-In-Review:

I am pumped how well my nutrition has been going, my weight is moving in the right direction, Sunday I was down to 161.5, not too far from my goal of 160. I am quite happy with the results from this week. Although I had a few things that did not play nicely, I call them treats:) Two cupcakes on Thursday at work was a bit of a setback, but they were mmm mmm good! I had been craving French Onion Soup, and decided to make that on Saturday night. For a first attempt, it was really good!

We prepared for the big winter storm that hit over the weekend. I managed to get a great run outside on Saturday before the snow rolled in. It was supposed to be an easy run, but I felt good and my pace looked pretty good in the grand scheme of things. I took out my Avia Bolt-IIs for this run. I was a bit nervous going out for 11 miles in these since I do not have a ton of miles on them, but my feet thanked me. The shoes were like running on pillows the whole run, plus they felt really lite on the foot. When I got home, I was able to spend some time with my new best friends (Recovery Pump) This thing is amazing! I am a firm believer in compression clothing, so I was anxious to try this as soon as we found out they were on board with Trakkers this year. When they arrived last week, I was stoked to try them out. While I did not have a hard workout to use them, I still got in a short session. The long run would be a great way to test the capability of this new product.

Here they are straight out of the box. With very little effort to get it up and running. Plug the 4 ends into each leg and then into the machine, plug into the wall, viola, medical grade compression!

Recovery Pump recommends anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours of usage depending. They even say some people will sleep in the leg sleeves. After the long run, I kicked up my feet and watched some tv. I am very happy with how quiet the pump is. I was expecting more noise as it pumped air into the boots, but the majority of the sound comes from the release of air. I found putting it on the ground and placing a pillow over it helped make it much better. After a while you do not even hear it. I will be preparing a full review as I get some more use, so look forward to it. Feel free to follow them on Twitter at @recoverypump Look for more information on their webpage to come!

I put in my order for First Endurance products. I am pretty excited to see what everyone is talking about. My first order looks like this:

Ultragen - Cappuccino and Orange Creme
EFS Drink - Grape
EFS Liquid Shot - Wildberry and Vanilla
Prerace
Optygen

With the workouts I have in the next few weeks, I am excited to see what all the hype is about Ultragen (if not just for the flavor alone!) I will be ordering my Kestrel in the next few days, which means I need to make a decision on size. I am quite torn between sizes, but will get it figured out even if I have to rely on the coin flip app!

The remainder of my weekend was also spend watching the Rev3 coverage of Costa Rica Live. What a great race and lots of updates through each of the races. Finally, I have a project to begin converting all of my DVDs to put them on a hard drive. We are moving in less than a month (yeah its only a few miles away) but I want to get my HTPC (Home Theater PC) hooked up and put all of the DVDs away somewhere for a clean installation, but still have access to all of the movies. Much of my long weekend has been spent getting this process underway!

Trakkers:

I must say I am in the company of some pretty badass people. The Trakkes team had a great showing with people doing the team proud. While I was out running in single digit temps, fellow Age Grouper Andree Miceli had an outstanding appearance with some pretty amazing reults. Check out her blog to read more about it!

Time keeps ticking away as the season gets closer, and I cannot wait to get out and race for this team. Right now with all of the action from the team, I am getting anxious to get out and race again! Patience is a virtue! Check out the Trakker Blog List to see what my teammates are up to. Some great performances at the Austin Marathon this weekend as well! Props to all my wonderfully supportive people!

Weekly Ramblings - 2/7/11

2011-02-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

Workouts:

My bike workouts have been pretty good, last week I had a set of 6x4', the 6th being a bit higher than your 20' FTP by 3-5 watts, then that acted as the baseline for this weeks set. I managed to squeeze that out, but I was walking funny afterward! The battery in my Quarq died, and surely I did not have a spare in the house so Wednesday and Thursday Bike/Run got swapped, not ideal, but I still got them in. Biking at 5AM takes a whole different mentality, and I can tell that I did not have as much in me, it was hard to get going and push some numbers out.

Monday: S- 2000 Yards (37 Minutes), B-18.85 Miles (65 minutes)

Tuesday: R- 6.5 Miles (55:48 Minutes)

Wednesday: S- 2800 Yards (52 Minutes), R- 6.5 Miles (55:02Minutes)

Thursday: B- 15.57 Miles (56:05 Minutes)

Friday: B- 22.67 Miles (80:52Minutes)

Saturday: B- 25.50 Miles (90:01Minutes)

Sunday: S- 1500 Yards (25 Minutes), R - 10.06 Miles (88:20 Minutes)

	Distance	Time
Swim Totals	6300 Yards	1 hr 54 min
Bike Totals	82.59 Miles	4 hr 52 min
Run Totals	23.06 Miles	3 hr 19 min
Total Volume		10 hr 5 min

My first 10 hour week where I have not felt like I was taken out back and beat to a pulp! Sunday was 48 degrees in the Twin Cities, so I took advantage of a nice long run outside.

Week-In-Review:

I am quite happy with how my nutrition has been going, despite the one goof-up from the Superbowl, I have been doing well and think I have finally gotten it dialed in for the time being. I am seeing weight come off at a fair rate, not too fast as to affect performance, but also not so slow you need a postal scale to measure it. Thursday morning I hit the absolute lowest I have been in nearly 10 years if not longer. My energy levels are through the roof, my performance in all sports continues to build, and I am feeling good. I cannot wait to get on the new Kestrel bike and get outside to see how it translates on the road. Here is an example of a day for me. I have not gone to the extent of counting calories, and I probably could afford to do it a few days to get an idea of what I am taking in. I know when I start getting into some build weeks my intake will have to go up for performance not to suffer.

Breakfast:

Oatmeal

Early morning:

Cup of tea

AM Snack:

Banana with PB and sometimes rolled in some granola

Lunch:

Leftovers typically (Turkey Burger, pasta and sauce, soup, or turkey roll-ups with peppers and some cheese)
Peppers or Carrots with hummus

Snack:

Green Smoothie(Kale, Banana, Frozen Strawberries, and Orange or PB depending on the day)
or fruit such as Red Grapes, Orange

Late Snack/Post Workout:

Laughing Cow Cheese with Pretzels
or
3 or 4 Turkey/Cheese on club crackers
Post Workout Drink: Skim Milk mixed with a bit of Hershey Dark Chocolate Syrup

Dinner:

Main Course: (Turkey Burgers, Soup, Pasta/Sauce, BBQ Chicken Pizza, Taco Salads w/ ground turkey, Spinach/Basil Stuffed Chicken Breasts)
Sides: Cottage Cheese is big in our house, sometimes green beans or corn

After-dinner treat:

I am on a huge kick of the Dove Dark Chocolates, 1.. ok maybe 2

By no means is this the only way, the best way, or the way for you. It is what I have found to work well for me so far. One thing I plan on doing in the future (probably after we end up moving into our new place) is post more recipes. I have been finding all sorts of new things to try that are great to shake up the norm, some have even become regulars on our menus.

I had a successful weekend of eating which sets me up nicely for this week. I am at the same weight as I was on Friday, meaning my weekend did not put me off track much if any! My energy has been great during workouts and I am feeling like I am headed in a great direction for success!

Sunday's long run was outside in 48 degree weather! This felt like the tropics since only a week ago, it was -18! 60 degree swings in temp are quite nice when they are going up. The run was a bit windy, some pretty heavy winds from the west made running that direction a bit harder than expected, but when it was at my back, I was warm! I was overdressed to say the least. With as much snow as we have had paired with the higher temps, there was a lot of slush, and water runoff. Most of the run was manageable, but one section I trudged through was 20 steps at pace, through 4 inches of ice cold water, BURRRRRRRRRR! I was wet up to my knees, luckily I had wool socks on, so a few minutes later my feet were toasty again.

Trakkers:

I received a care package from Carole and Rev 3 Tri on Friday! What a nice gift with a new Trakkers visor. My wife's first comment was "Sweet now I will be able to spot you easily!" Thursday I received my first shipment of TriSwim products, and I had to wait until Sunday to use it! I was a bit disappointed, but schedules did not allow me to get to the pool to try out my new products! A shout-out to SBR Sports Inc I must say it only took one use to be convinced!

Foggle: This stuff is pretty sweet, I have no problem spitting in my goggles to prevent fogging, so this was probably the least of the products I was eager to try. I took a pointer that you can reuse the cloth up to 5 times by storing it in a ziploc baggie. I gave it a shot, and I was shocked, what I thought was poor vision to my goggles being cloudy, was probably more cloudy from my spit. Highly impressed with how well this works, and still no fog!

TriSwim Products: I was super thrilled to get these in. I know some swimmers and triathletes believe 'chlorine' is a growing cologne scent, but I am not particularly a fan, and the female I am trying to impress is even less impressed with the scent. There were 4 bottles: Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash, and Lotion. I gave the first 3 a shot, and I even got approval from my sweetheart (Hey! It is Valentines day!)

TriSlide: I gave this a shot on Saturday for my long ride, and wow. It is hands down better than lathering up with chamois cream. I was quite impressed with how easily it applies and keeps things friction free! I also decided to use it on my long run Sunday with some running tights that tend to give a little chaffing, no problems after 10 miles!

I also received my new Avia Bolt-IIs. I got them for a quick spin, but did not use on my long run this week, I want to break them in slowly. They are nice and light. Looking forward to putting in some good miles on these shoes!

The last box I received had my wheel set that I will be riding this year. A set of HED Stinger 90s. These puppies look speedy. I cannot wait for some dry roads and warmer temps to get out and see how they ride. This is my first time on tubular tires, so I will need to get some new brake pads for full carbon rims.

Take a peek at our Trakkers uniform designed by bettydesigns. This is one sweet kit, ready to be sported at a race near you!

Weekly Ramblings - 1/31/2011

2011-02-07T06:25:00.000-08:00

Workouts:

Here are the workouts for Week 2 of Rev 3 Knoxville prep. There were ups and downs about my training this week. On the docket, was 5950 Yards of swimming, 2:29 running, and since I am making my own plan, I had 4 bike rides scheduled (3 to work on building FTP and 1 longer ride) somewhere around 4:45 total (1:45 longer ride) I hit everything except the long ride, thanks to last minute plans for a superbowl get together. In the grand scheme of things, it is early and the 1 ride is not going to make a difference, but it is the mental slip that makes it hard to deal with!

Monday: S- 1900 Yards (37 Minutes), B-15.66 Miles (55 minutes)

Tuesday: R- 6.19 Miles (52:42 Minutes)

Wednesday: S- 2200 Yards (42:35 Minutes), B- 16.2 Miles (57:46 Minutes)

Thursday: R- 6.25 Miles (50:34)

Friday: B- 18.37 Miles (65:40 Minutes)

Saturday: R- 8.21 Miles (69:45 Minutes)

Sunday: S- 2300 Yards (39:23 Minutes)

	Distance	Time
Swim Totals	6400 Yards	2 hr 9 min
Bike Totals	50.23 Miles	2 hr 58 min
Run Totals	20.65 Miles	2 hr 53 min
Total Volume		8 hr 0 min

Although I am creating my own plans this year, did you know that Rev 3 offers free training plans if you are registered for an event? Check them out on their webpage. Need more than a basic training plan? They also offer in-depth plans at very reasonable rates:

Rev3 12- Week Olympic Plan: $120
Rev3 16-week Half Plan: $130
Rev3 20-week Full Plans: $140

Finally, if you are wanting the extra attention of a personal coach, they offer that as well. Joanna Zeiger and Carole Sharpless are two of the coaches working with Rev 3 for this option. Both are highly qualified ladies that will find pleasure in kicking your butt into a PR for your next big Rev 3 Race.

Week-In-Review:

I had a good week of workouts that went pretty well (despite the one missing long ride.) I even suffered through a treadmill run on Thursday night! The first mile and a half were rough, partially because of the treadmill, partially because of me disliking the treadmill, but after that it was smooth sailing, until the 5x20 strides at 10 MPH, but even they were manageable. Saturday I had a run outside that was great weather for running outdoors.

Now it is time to vent and create a public service announcement. To the ~~asshole~~ uneducated driver whom I had an encounter with on Saturday, a stop sign is there for a purpose. It does not mean to roll through with caution. It is there for your own good. Error number 1, you rolled through the stop sign. As you were doing so, you clearly made eye contact with me running, yet you continued to roll forward into the cross walk.

So the horizontal lines in this picture indicate a cross walk and the thick white line to the right is the line you are supposed to stop at. Stop before you get to this line, so that people walking across the street can do so without your car being in the way. Error number 2, you rolled through and then stopped on the cross walk.

As I was running behind your car, being considerate as to not risk my life running in front of you, you were rolling forward and as I went to round the back corner of the car, you slammed on your brakes, about making me body check your Chrysler 300. No harm no foul.

Yes you did deserve the 'Really? Really?!?!' Look and exclamation because you almost ran me over, then almost made me check the back of your car. At no point in this did I curse or do anything illegal or in the wrong, so what made you hit the gas, peel around the corner like a bat out of hell, roll down your window and exclaim that you are a "Faggot!" to me?

Now you have my attention, and get a few words of my mind. You sir are also the reason I would like to start running with a golf ball size rock when I run. Since there was snow around, I wish I would have thought of rolling a snowball and tossing it in your window at you to cool you off.

I would love to understand your thinking that I was anyway in the wrong in this situation prior to your exclamation.

Saturday night was a card night with some people from work. I ended up 2nd out of the bunch and was able to finish ahead for a change! I should have the result of the winnings later this week, along with some other things I know should be arriving shortly. It will be like Christmas all over again this week I have a feeling!

On to other notes. We had a last minute change to watch the super bowl and I made some of my guacamole which I realize I have not put a recipe up for yet! Note to self, do that sometime soon Jeff! We also had to stop and pick up some Papa Murphy's bread sticks, while inside, I was enticed by the smores dessert pizza. I broke and picked it up, planning on not having any bread sticks, but only a slice of the chocolate and marshmallow goodness. Well... my will-power broke, and it was more than a slice, in fact it was more than 2... Let's just say I did not want it to go to waste. All the hard work all week, out the window!

Trakkers:

Again what a great set of people, I have been able to leverage the knowledge of others to learn some new recipes. Check out Andree's Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup. My wife is not a big soup eatter, and she criticized the look/texture, but agreed the taste was phenomenal. I am looking forward to lunches this week. It packs a heck of a punch and fights off hunger! I would have to say the secret lies in the cinnamon and ginger. Mmmmm!

Weekly Ramblings - 1/24/2011

2011-01-31T06:17:00.000-08:00

Workouts:
Since I am just kicking off my official 16 week program to take me up to Knoxville, I figured having something to hold me more accountable and listing weekly activities, miles, etc will make me think twice about backing out of a workout. I will keep details to a minimum although I am designing the plan from a mix of sources.

Monday: S-1800 Yards(36 Mins) , B-14.55 Miles (50 minutes) - 20 Min FTP Test
Tuesday: R- 6.22 miles (46 Min)- 7:26/mile pace
Wednesday: S-2000 Yards (39 Mins) B- 16.85 Miles (1 Hour)
Thursday: S-1700 Yards(31 Mins) R-6.1 miles (52 Min)
Friday: B- 15.27 Miles (56 minutes) - 5 Min FTP Test
Saturday: St Paul Winter Carnival Half Marathon: R - 11.83 Miles (1:28:41)
Sunday: B- 16.52 Miles (60 Mins)

	Distance	Time
Swim Totals	5500 Yards	1 hr 46 min
Bike Totals	63.19 Miles	3 hr 56 min
Run Totals	24.15 Miles	3 hr 7 min
Total Volume		8 hr 49 min

This seems to be the first week in a long time that I have hit every workout scheduled, including a longer run or in this case a race.

Week-In-Review:
The purpose of the week was to jump-start my training on the right foot, that meant hitting my prescribed workouts, keeping my nutrition in check, and start getting into the mentality of preparing for a race. Mentally it is hard when the temps are still freezing, albeit not as cold as the last few weeks. I am anxiously awaiting an early thaw to put the rubber on the road!

After much deliberation, I have made up my mind, and will be going with the Kestrel 4000 Ultegra Build for my race setup this year. I plan on changing a few things up, adding some Zipp R2C shifters from All3sports.com and my race wheels will be Hed Stinger 90s with a wheelbuilder cover. It will be a change riding on tubulars, but I am excited for the change! I will probably have some custom decals for the wheels made down the road as well! Excited to get all the pieces and start building this beauty up!

With as much success with nutrition and training this week as I had, I sure let it slip from mid-day Saturday to Sunday night. I had a lot of junk food and spent a lot of hours at Buffalo Wild Wings! We went with some friends to hang out and ended up staying up way later than expected and consuming way more than I should have! I am now paying for it. Next step for nutrition is to nail it all week long, and not slip on the weekends.

Trakkers:
It was announced last week that SBRSports has signed on as a sponsor for the 2011 Team Trakkers. We also got word that Canari will be doing our team apparel! I am looking forward to seeing the design for 2011. My first pair of bike shorts were Canari brand, so looking forward to racing in their gear!

I got hotel, air, and ground transportation all figured out for Rev3 Knoxville Olympic on May 15. This will be my farthest destination traveled yet to a race, previously it was the Chicago Tri. I am glad to have the logistics taken care of, and only the training to worry about!

Feature Blogs of the Week:
This started only a week ago on my blog, but take a chance to check out a few other blogs, leave comments on their recent posts or better yet become a follower so you can keep up with their updates! Oddly enough the first 3 random numbers were the same! Finally I got a new number and this weeks random blogs:

Anne - http://www.annesirondream.blogspot.com
Jessi - http://www.jessithompson.blogspot.com

St Paul - Securian Half-Marathon Race Report 2011

2011-01-30T13:29:00.000-08:00

If you read my Weekly Rambling you would have seen me mention that someone I know mentioned this race to me, and it did not take much work to get me convinced to run it. As endurance athletes... don't we all have a slightly crazy side to us? Endless hours of training, early morning workouts, or running when its freezing cold are just some of the reasons others may think that anyway!

I had a great Week 1 of workouts to take me up to Rev 3 Knoxville which will come in more detail tomorrow in my Weekly Ramblings post. All that I will discuss is that on Tuesday I did a 6.22 mile run at roughly race pace, 7:22/mile. It was a good effort and it gave me an idea of what to expect for this "race." I say race loosely because I was not racing anyone, I was not competing to place, but only trying to better my PR from the Urban Wildland Half, a 1:39:34. With less than a week of preparation, I thought it will be a good benchmark of where I stand currently to look back on towards the end of the year. There would be no taper, no change in workouts, just me aiding recover as much as I can! This involved a nice 6 mile run Thursday to loosen the legs up and my 5 min FTP test on the bike Friday... not exactly ideal the day before a race.

Some will get humor of this which I have mentioned on twitter, but Friday after the bike, I took an ice bath. Yeah cold water in the tub, empty the ice machine to the tub, and plop in. Now we did not have a ton of ice, and I thought of using snow, but then opted out of that due to dripping sweat from the ride.

One key thing to remember when taking ice baths, a strategically placed warm water soaked wash cloth. Yeah... I forgot that and it made this whole experience a whole new level of cold.

On to the race. I drove to St Paul and found parking, then found the plaza where they had pre-race activities and bag check etc. I stretched, evaluated the temps to decide on clothing, listened to some music, and talked with a few people, then did warm-ups outside. It was cool, and by cool I mean about 25 with 13 or so MPH winds. My goal was to line up with the 1:35 pace group and see if I could push myself to hold that pace. As I lined up, I saw the 1:30 pacer and I saw the 1:40 pacer, then found out that the 1:35 pacer bailed. Wonderful I thought, this is going to be a bit more of a challenge, but lets roll with the punches.

As people lined up, I started talking with a girl who was also shooting for 1:35 so we decided to pace off each other and keep each other going. Before I knew it, we were weaving through the streets of St Paul before getting on Sheppard Rd for a the majority of the course's out and back. We were only a few miles in and I heard someone say the course was not a full 13.1, although I thought I saw that it was a certified course, maybe that was only the 5k and 10k. Either way we kept together and chatted a little bit trying to keep our pace even at 7:15.

As many of you can relate, there are times when you "pair" up with someone and it is a mutual agreement, stated or unstated, that everyone is here to run their race, so if someone needs to break away, go for it. I started this race with the mentality of setting a PR for myself, what a great motivator to start the year. A PR in January would surely show that I did not slack too much in the off-season and indicate good things to come right? At some point this race stopped being about me, and it became about helping someone else keep motivated. Our pace had fallen from the 7:15 at some point and when we hit the turn around, the 1:40 pacer went past us, partially due to the bad distances of the course etc, but we plugged along and ended up in front of them again.

Having someone to keep you accountable works wonders, if it be a work goal, or a fitness goal, someone to check up on you, remind you of your goal, push you to do things that align with that goal, and help you celebrate! I could tell she was hurting, still trying to recover from a 2 week bout with a cold, and then out running in the cold would work a number on anyone. We pushed on, pace fluctuating up and down but moving forward still. As we entered back into downtown St Paul, she kept telling me to finish strong, but I stuck by since we had done the whole thing together as I know she would have done the same for me. As we got to the final straight-away, she said to pick it up and go my pace so it pushed her to run harder to keep up, so I did.

After we finished she thanked me greatly for sticking with her and pushing her at the end. It felt good to know there was more in the day than just looking for my own PR. My finishing time was 1:28:19 (by the official results, the course was 11.6 miles so my pace was 7:37/mile translated out would have been a 1:39:47, while that would not have been a PR by about 20 seconds, I felt so much stronger and know my pace could have been lower. The Garmin had me at a 7:29 pace. I think I needed a day like this to keep me thinking about things in perspective. It is not always about me me me, sometimes there are other reasons to be at an event.

I finished 185/817 people this day!

I am excited to see where this benchmark takes me over the next few months!

Weekly Ramblings - 1/17/2011

2011-01-24T06:07:00.001-08:00

Week-In-Review:
What a busy week! It seemed like every night was something else that was on the schedule to add confusion to an already busy schedule. I managed to log some miles on the bike and get a couple good swims in, but running was not happening this week. It seems like every day I was going to run, something came up that pulled me away from it. Ok so maybe some of it was me not wanting to run in negative temps, but some was due to scheduling. Regardless they are all excuses. Sure it was not the best workout week, but this week is a new week, a fresh slate, a world of opportunity!

It also seems that my nutrition went down the drain this week due to a "winter party" and a recognition event. I still have a sweet tooth and the cupcakes were quite tasty! Along with the busy schedule went less time to cook good meals at home... again... excuses.

No more about the negative, I am looking forward to this week, we have a week worth of meals planned and I even re-wrote my workout schedule and posted it at work so I can keep an eye on it. It may get modified slightly since Saturday night we had our Africa reunion and shared pictures with others. It came up that the St. Paul winter carnival is going on, and they have a Frozen Half Marathon next Saturday. The crazy inside of me smiles, and I will probably be running it on fairly short notice. I have not been training for this at all, but have had some longer runs. I am more interested in doing the run to say I am slightly crazy for running a half marathon in the middle of January!

Planning:
It is no secret that I signed up for a few Rev 3 events this year, so I have been thinking logistics of getting to and from races, where to stay, etc. I hope to book flights tonight for my mom and wife to fly to Knoxville, and my dad and I will be driving!

After some closer analysis of my 2011 schedule, I have come up with the following (still in progress, but getting closer)

May 7 - Souixperman Sprint (Have some family who would do this with me, we will be in the area and missing the tri in Alexandria, MN that we did in '10)
May 15 - Rev3 Olympic Knoxville
June 5 - New Brighton Sprint
June 11/12 - MS150
June 26 - Waconia Triathlon (Possibly)
July 17 - Annandale Triathlon (Schedule calls for a sprint tri this weekend)
July 23 - Warrior Dash - Minnesota
August 7 - Camp Courageous Tri (Near my home town)
August 14 - (Schedule calls for an Olympic, nothing around)
August 21 - Lake Marion Triathlon - Olympic
September 11 - Rev3 Half Cedar Point

I am debating if Aug 7 sprint and 14th Olympic will be alright, sure it doesn't match up exactly with the schedule, but I think it will work in nicely. I will not be focusing on many of the smaller races being "A" races, but just judges of where I am at overall.

My main races are Knoxville and Cedar Point. Sure I would like to see a good finish at New Brighton as this is where I started racing and it is a pretty fast course!

The good thing is today, Monday Jan 24, 2011, my 16 week plan kicks off for Knoxville. I have a plan and plan on sticking to it. This includes a better approach to nutrition all around. Only an occasional sweet treat, greasy burger, or choice beverage.

Trakkers:
I forget if I have ever mentioned... oh wait yes I have... but will again. This team is AWESOME!! The people have so much knowledge it is amazing. From nutrition and recipe tips, to motivation and great stories, they have it all. As part of giving back to the team, I would like to continue something we have been doing. Every Monday when this post comes out, I will have a random blog selected, actually two. Make it a point to visit their blog, look around a bit, read the posts, and most importantly leave a comment!!! I cannot think of many people who do not love to log in and see all the new comments. It surely brightens my day!

It is now official, SBR Sports, makers of Tri Swim, Tri Slide, and Foggle has signed on with Team Trakkers again for 2011. This is another company I have no personal connection with in the past, so I look forward to becoming more familiar with their products. If they are as good as everyone says, I am going to love them, and so will my scales from the chlorine!

Take a moment to check out..... drum roll please.....

David - http://mtntriathlete.blogspot.com/

Kiersten - http://www.kierdoestri.blogspot.com

Have a great week everyone!

I am on the board!

2011-01-21T09:38:00.000-08:00

Today - January 21, 2011

I have officially stopped talking about registering for races and actually went through with it! 2011 Schedule is in progress, but I have two races on the books.

Rev 3 Knoxville - May 15, 2011 - My first Olympic distance race. This is my first "A" race (may sneak in something earlier but not sure yet) I am greatly looking forward to meeting my Trakkers teammates at this event and sporting all of the new gear for 2011 from our sponsors: Kestrel Bicycles, Avia Shoes, TYR Wetsuits, and First Endurance Nutrition.

The second race....

Rev 3 Cedar Point - September 11, 2011 - I did not join a team to stay the same, I did it to push myself to be better and grow in the sport. I have been talking about getting into longer distances especially since I have only been doing sprints in the past. Here goes!!!! Half Iron distance race. Some will think I am making a big deal about doing a half in comparison to a full, but you have to understand a bit of my past.

I have never been a strong athlete, I was tiny in high school and played football, well I was on the team, although we barely had enough people to staff both sides of the ball in practice, I saw pretty limited time playing, not because I didn't have talent, but because of my size, or something like that. Regardless... I also wrestled. Here I was matched with like weight opponents and was alright, but far from a State Champion, but I do have some good memories which I will save for another time.

Triathlon has given me an opportunity to keep active and get some competition in my life. My first year was a year for learning mostly, and getting used to the sport. The past year has opened my eyes to how successful I can be in the sport by training properly and pushing myself. I have been doing short distance races, because I am just alright at endurance levels (marathons etc) My marathon PR is over an hour off of the "old" Boston Qualifying times. I have a pretty solid half marathon PR at just under 1:40 which trended towards the upper middle of the pack, but I shine in short distances.

By no means am I trying to be arrogant, but I have found that I can push myself to be uncomfortable (and I still have room to push further) for fairly short periods of time. You know that feeling where your stomach is hot and rumbling, and not the kind where you had some bad mexican food. Your lungs feel like they are going to melt, your limbs are starting to numb from the lactic acid burn, and your stomach is about ready to dispense anything remaining from earlier in the morning. This is why I have stuck to my "comfort zone" of short races.

Thinking of racing longer distances includes more nutrition, pacing, and mental strategy, not just oatmeal, coffee, balls to the wall, and around an hour of pain. It is so much more than that.

The swim does not bother me, I am comfortable in the water, my biggest concern is what pace can I hold for 1.2 miles? I know I can do the distance, that is not a problem for me, but how quick can I get out of the water and get on with the real race. I put my swim time to be 35 minutes, I think that is a good shot right now, something around a 1:40/100 yard pace and not burn my matches too early.

The bike... Who knows what to expect? I can do the miles, I train with power, and I love numbers. What I may not love is what I get back when I combine them all together. What power numbers can I hold for the 56 mile ride? More specifically what can I hold and still run like I am in a race.

The run - This is where I may lose my marbles. I get off the bike, its getting warmer out, who knows how I will be feeling, did I take enough calories on the bike to keep me fueled for the next 13.1 miles? Can I have a run that is fairly close to my open half time? If I am going to fall apart, it will be on the run. Mental toughness becomes huge at this point, counting down double digit miles or over an hour of time left in one sport is painful. How much can I make it hurt and still make it across the finish line?

All of these questions have kept me from the longer distances, but I know I will have an AMAZING support crew from Trakkers through training and at the race. Here is to the start of a season that will bring new experiences, acquaintances, and PRs. Now that I have races scheduled, it is time to get serious. Monday starts my 16 week plan to take me to Knoxville then a transition to Cedar Point half training.

Daily Deal - $20 Amazon Gift Card for $20

2011-01-19T06:29:00.000-08:00

I stumbled on this early today, and since I do a fair amount of shopping on Amazon.com I jumped all over it. The LivingSocial webpage offers deals in your area by the day. Today you can get a $20 dollar Amazon.com gift card for only $10 bucks! I am no financial genius by any means, but when someone is going to give me twice what I paid for something, I am very willing to listen.

Just think that 35 dollar Garmin Cadence sensor would only run you $25 bucks out of pocket!

Check out the deal!