Why?
A lot of people (mostly CrossFitters) have asked me why I decided to start doing triathlons. The honest answer is, someone told me I should do Ironman Wisconsin with them and I said yes. So, me being me, I decided to jump right in. I put IM WI 2016 on the calendar and started working back from there. As some of you know, I had a pretty major surgery at the end of March which required me to take about a month off. During this time I started doing my training research and happened to drop about 15 pounds in the process (the preponderance of this being muscle).
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2015 SO World Games
w/ Heather Jackson
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Training Approach
Without too much thought, I immediately looked to CrossFit Endurance (CFE). Having done CrossFit since early 2006, it was a no brainer for me to believe in the methodology. I have tried the long, slow duration (LSD) training methods in the past and I honestly would always end up injured in some way. So, when I was finally able to start working out again in May, I just started following the CFE main site workouts. I will not take time out here to explain the methodology or structure of the program, but the website has a great FAQ section to help walk you through it. During this period I participated in two different triathlons at two different distances. My first race was the San Diego International in June, followed up by the Special Olympics World Games Unified Triathlon which was a sprint. In both, I had a fairly good showing for my first two races. If you’re interested, the results are here and here.
The Plan (12 weeks out)
For 2015, I only selected one “A” race. I landed on the Los Cabos 70.3 at the end of October. Knowing that I do better following a regimented training program, I reached out to the CFE staff to see what kind of resources they had available. As luck would have it, the team was publishing some structured training programs, one of which was for the 70.3. So, starting 12 weeks out, I began the training program. I only made slight modifications throughout the 12 weeks and most of those were driven by work related travel requirements.
The program was extremely user-friendly. Being a tri newbie, I had only heard stories about how much training time you have to put in. I’m happy to report that the CFE methodology lets you have a life outside of training by not requiring you to long hundreds of miles per week. People were always surprised by how little I was training in comparison. As it got time for my taper one week out, I felt fresh and ready to go for Cabo.
The Race
Well, the 70.3 was officially the first time I had ever swam, biked, or run that distance in any combination. Prior to the race, I had only swam the 1.2 miles once (in a pool) and biked over 56 miles once (not part of the program - crazy neighbor tricked me into a death ride, but that’s a better blog post about how important nutrition is during long efforts).
Swim:
The day before the race it was announced that we would not be allowed to wear wetsuits because of the water temp. Strike 1 for me. Being a taller guy with big legs, I love the fact that the wetsuit helps float my lower body behind me. Fortunately the swim was a rolling start so I didn’t have to have a battle royale right when I ran into the ocean. I’m a middle of the pack swimmer and that is pretty much where I ended up. The only two comments I have on the swim were: 1) I swallowed a solid pint of salt water at about the 1,200m mark and spent the rest of the swim coughing and hacking through my burning throat, and 2) Because I couldn’t wear my wetsuit, I was forced to swim in my full sleeve tri-suit that ended up chaffing my right arm-pit pretty bad. Nevertheless, I made it out of the water around 37 minutes in one piece.
Bike:
Lesson learned here, do a route recon of the bike course. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a car down at the race so hopping on my bike in T1 was the first time I was going to see the bike course. All said, there was just under 3,900 ft of elevation gain on the bike course. This makes Los Cabos one of the hilliest 70.3 bike courses in the world. The bike went well for me, although there was certainly some laboring on the hills during the last 20 or so miles. One thing to note here is that I pretty much did the bike 100% on "feel". This is something that I will be changing going forward. I have plans to purchase a power meter so that I can ensure I'm working in the correct zone throughout the race. Just based on the data I pulled off my Garmin, I know I was overexerting myself on some of the hills and taking it too easy on some of the flats. I used the bike to suck down a ton of water, 3FU3L, some bars and gels.
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| Proud to be rocking the W |
Run:
This was without a doubt where my race started. I’d like to think of myself as a pretty strong runner in comparison to the average joe. However, today was not my day. Looking back, there was a whole lot of mental lapses over the course of the 13.1 miles. It all started off when I dropped my Base Salt container coming out of T2, but didn’t have this realization until I went to grab the tube at mile marker 1. Strike 2. Over the course of the next few miles, I started to pay too much attention to my watch and pace (or lack of pace). For me, this was pretty frustrating and caused me to deal with some negative self-talk at times. I finally settled in and chugged out the rest of the race. It was extremely hot out there and I used each aid station as a time to shove ice anywhere I could. Somehow, with all that I still managed to gain a few places on the run.
All said and done, I placed 103rd overall and 16th in my division (30-34).
This was around 30 minutes off my goal time, but I'm content in the finish
Next up
So what’s next for me? Well, I’m currently on the first leg of a three week road trip. Since the race, I’ve jumped back into some basic CrossFit training with the good old people at Carlsbad CrossFit, just to keep the body moving. Outside of a slight ache in my right shin, my body feels great after the race. 2016 is the year of the Ironman for me. I’ll be taking part in three 70.3 races, as well as some others local events, to accompany the full Ironman in September. I’ll be sticking with CFE to get me ready for the races and injury free.
This blog started out as a forced experiment for my MBA, took a two post turn into vegetarian eating, and will now become my training blog/rant platform.
