Last week Marion Jones admitted that she lied to federal investigators about taking PEDs in her lead up to the 2000 Olympics were she won five medals (three gold). She has since stated that she made a mistake when she unknowingly took PEDs which she believed to be flax seed oil.

I always find this to be such a dubious argument.

Here’s the thing. An athlete knows what he or she can do on the field; in the pool; in the gym; on the road; etc. Someone who sporadically exercises might toe the line at a race with absolutely no clue as to what is going to happen, but that does not happen to those of us who train every single day for hours and hours for years and years. Progression is noted and (hopefully) expected, but every inch of it is earned and observed along the way.

I don’t doubt that some athletes have no idea what is pumped into them. However, I KNOW that anyone that receives an instantaneous jolt in fitness, speed and/or strength one day, week or month has got to know that it did not arrive from their own good-doings.

So yeah, I suppose someone can honestly say (not that I know that MJ is honestly saying….) that they did not know he/she were taking something, but they certainly had to know that they were improving beyond a reasonable rate.

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This recent news story about MJ has sparked a lot of conversations amongst the folks that I train alongside. Most of my training partners are in a similar place to myself. Some are elite AGers and others are neo pros like me. The only professionals that I regularly train with (swimming excluded) who are making ends meet entirely through racing are Chris and Marilyn McDonald. I only mention this because I do not know how the conversations differ amongst the “made its.”

I think everyone that regularly surrounds me believes they can achieve success through their hard work and dedication. I don’t really know the goals of everyone around me, but I doubt it does not involve beating your competition. We all want self-improvement, but this is racing isn’t it? You have to want to win. I don’t know of anything that is more motivating than the thought of being the last one standing (or first I suppose).

I imagine this is the danger that tempts the most noble of athletes to compromise their constitutions. I assume that most drugged athletes entered sport without any intention of taking PEDs. Then one day they find themselves not even being able to pronounce the juice that makes them fire all day long. I really cannot fill in the grey area between those two psyches, but clearly they stand on opposite sides of the spectrum and yet they apply to the same person.

I don’t think it would be a stretch for me to say that almost any athlete that dopes likely believes that they cannot succeed otherwise. I also imagine that they believe that the only thing separating them from the top tier is the drugs the top tier is taking. This leads to making that crucial life compromise. What would YOU do if you felt that you did everything you could (for nearly your entire life) to succeed and you still were not on top? Did you ever notice that some of the most successful students were always the ones that had a cheat sheet? They had invested the most time and coming up short was not an option to them (and ironically they needed the cheat sheets the least).

This might explain bad choices, but it does not make those choices the right ones.

We all have to live with the choices that we make. I grew up watching my father stand his ground on ethical matters in the corporate world and it separated him amongst his peers. That separation made his life hard at times, but he knows that when forced to make a decision he made the right one(s). Today his former colleagues can look at his house perched upon one of the best spots in Crested Butte and know that it was built upon an honest foundation.

There are daily opportunities to compromise yourself. Don’t let the ease of others to make the wrongs decisions persuade your ability to make the right ones.

To clean sports,

jd

People often ask me howI can like college football so much more than the NFL. Last Saturday (and Friday) West Virginia, Oklahoma, Rutgers, Florida and Texas were all undefeated top ten teams that lost. If that Oregon receiver had not fumbled the ball for a touchback we might have added Cal to the list.

The NFL will never be able to offer the same kind of action_during_the_regular_season.

South Florida (6) and Kentucky(8) are in the AP Top Ten.

Dude.

DUDE.

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Ok now to talk about real sports. (My passive stab at American Sports Journalists).

My buddy asked me the other day if I thought that an athlete can absorb fitness from an Ironman. Plenty of other athletes use shorter races as training events so why not apply the same concept to an Ironman.

I used to automatically write it off as I could not imagine how any athlete could benefit from such damage. I really think that it depends on the athlete and simply extrapolating my own experiences with IMs won’t cut it. However, I cannot say that an athlete benefits more from the race they just did so much as they benefitted from the rest they placed before and after the event itseld. Some people taper as much as four weeks for a key Ironman, but I have_rarely_met anyone that doesn’t taper for at least 10-14 days out. Following the event, even the most OCD of folks take a few easy days.

My own personal experience has been that Ironmans beat me up pretty badly and any post race training needs to be approached with caution. If my post-race discomfort was limited to muscle soreness then I might concede that the I could absorb any fitness from this event quickly. The problem is that my discomfort extends to my joints (especially knees) and I feel as though I am acutally nursing a “minor injury.”

I lack deep development in any other three disciplines that make up triathlon. Therefore, my progression in each sport has grown alongside the other. I don’t know if it applies to others, but this has allowed me to run closer to my open run fitness when racing triathlons than some of my colleagues. As a result, I think I end up beating myself up quite a bit.

My buddies that grew up running seem to bounce back much more quickly because any Ironman running (not the same with short course) does not even come close to what their ligaments, tendons and muscles can handle. I have suffered from dehydration/overheating in some triathlons and I end up running slower than I do in training. As a result I walk away with very little (or no) muscle soreness. This is the best I can do to parallel what they experience after an ultra race like an IM.

Its similar to the swim start for athletes that grew up as swimmer kids. They can handle an aggressive start without compromising the rest of their swim and/or race. Once again, even the fastest of swim starts (in an Ironman) probably doesn’t compare to the hardest of hard main sets they did growing up.

Alright, I’m running around a bit with this so let me redirect you back.

Can an Ironman be absorbed for fitness?

I seriously doubt that your fitness can gain more from such a day than it would have gained from two-to-four weeks of solid training (instead of your taper). If you could actually go into the event on short rest and bounce back then I think it would certainly work. Heather Gollnick was getting ready for IM Arizona this spring when she decided she was so fit that she should race Ironman NZ (five weeks prior to AZ). She placed second there and found herself to be recovered within a few days. She went on to win IMAZ. I cannot say that IMNZ helped her win IMAZ, but it certainly didn’t compromise her goals.

I see people successfully race IMs back-to-back (and beyond), but I find no evidence to suggest that their second or third race was not compromised by the previous one (even if they win like Heather). Sometimes an athlete is so good that he or she does not need to be their best to win or achieve their goals, but making a living in such a sport does not always require you to be your best. You just need to be better than everyone else.

Keep figuring it out,

JD

It is fairly hard to believe that I am already looking forward to Basketball (NCAA) season.

That Miami game was…. …..well that topic has been beaten to death on texags.com (and everywhere else) so I’ll let those yahoos continue to duke it out.

My consensus: Status Quo.

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Big Matty Stein has been asking me about how I approached/am approaching my training in the ten weeks between IM Canada and IM Florida.

First off, I have never done this before so its hard to really know if I am doing things correctly. I can only truly know once the season is over and I can objectively look at my training and racing. Therefore, I find it hard to say whether I am doing the right things as I am currently just “doing things.”

Ironman Florida comes very late in the season and many athletes are mentally (probably not as much physically IMO) fried from a long year and I might have been the same way had my year gone differently.

This past year I trained ‘half time’ in January-March; then I left the country in May for two weeks for personal reasons (so most of my training stopped); then I contracted giardia in June which sidelined me for a few weeks off and on; then I suffered from the aftershock of the antibiotics and the illness itself throughout the month of July.

I only bring this all up because I finished Ironman Canada this year having felt that the season had barely even started for me. I knew the morning after the race that I had a lot of fight left over and so I decided to put togther a bit of a training push to Ironman Florida in hopes of finishing this year on a high note.

The “push” basically lays itself out into the following pattern:

One week with one hour of exercise
One week with 15 hours of light training; but most of the intensity is in zone 1
One week with normal training volume; but intensity is flexible
Three weeks with normal training volume and intensity
One unload week (for first half)
One moderate week including an OLY race and normal swim volume
One moderate week with normal swim volume
Ironman race week

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First off, let me say that I would have been (and will be) entirely willing to back off if my body’s response to training was not (or is not) positive. I think I was fortunate to have my coach tell me back in August that I would “likely bounce back pretty quickly” after IMC. I think I was mentally prepared to see that and probably just assumed that it would happen. However, I did less than he actually predicted I could do during the second week after the race and I know I was doing the right thing. After two easy weeks my body seemed to be training instead of recovering.

The first week back made me pretty sleepy and I took naps every day, but I didn’t generate much of that “deep fatigue” that I hear about. I don’t doubt that I could be exceptionally tired over the course of the next few weeks, but I’m confident in my intuition to do the right thing if rest is needed. I was pretty damn tired after having giardia this summer and I feel a whole lot better now. Its not a very scientific or objective approach to judging training stress and recovery, but it works for my head.

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I’ll keep you guys in the know as to how everything is going.

-jd

I often think it is pretty absurd to have conversations about “what I/you would do if I/you won the lottery.” Nevertheless, I found myself in the midst of one of those conversations while hiking up to American Lakes with Brooke.

Thing is; when I participate in these conversations its even more absurd because I don’t actually buy lottery tickets (and I doubt anyone I read about in Forbes does either). So instead of pondering what I would do if I won the lottery I am actually pondering about what I would do if some random guy came up to me and handed me a ridiculous amount of money. That is truly absurd.

I’m not spinning this into anything. Its simply something I thought about the other day.

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THE SHORT LIFE OF FITNESS

This past Monday I was swimming with Chris at Elks. We weren’t particularly moving very fast, but our breathing sure made you think that we were.

I turned to him between a set and said “Can you believe you were an Ironman Champion two weeks ago?”

Remember this: someone who is always fit is never really fit.

Some of the fastest people in the world have wonderful amounts of unrealized potential. It takes guts to back off from your last level of peak fitness to build yourself up again. Some people might have thought Chris was crazy when he took a month off this spring, but I’m willing to bet he didn’t look so dumb crossing the finish line first in Kentucky this summer.

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By the way, I’ll be racing Ironman Florida this November. It will be the final event of this season and I’m sure it will go well so long as the next month of training goes at it should.

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“GOING GOOD”

If an athlete is racing well, he or she is not “racing well.” They are “going good.” It has nothing to do with correct or incorrect grammar. Its simply the way it is.

Just thought I would help you guys be more hip. You can laugh to yourself when someone who’s not in the know corrects your grammar. Suckas.

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Much love,

JD

Friends,

I apologize for my delay on a race report, but I had to get 1400 miles of driving out of the way after finishing Ironman Canada on Sunday. I was glad I took the land route this time around, but I think I will opt for a flight to southern BC should I race therea gain.

Race Morning.

I lined up right behind my good friend Gordo at the start of the swim as I had hoped he would have a feel for where the best pack of swimmers (for us) would be once we got rolling. Unfortunately I lost him shortly after the cannon went off and it was largley in part to my left goggle eye filling with water and limiting my sight. Oh well.

After a few minutess I found myself swimming just behind a pack of five or six athletes (with a train of my own behind me). I bridged up to the back of that pack and we all stayed together for the final 3000+meters to shore. The group was fairly controlled and the pace only picked up when the camera crew came alongside of us. Its all about looking good for the camera.

The group hit the shore a little over 57 minutes which definitely surprised me, but I was less worried about swim PRs given the company I came out with. A quick transition (my fastet T1 yet in an IM) and I was rolling. My general plan was to float the first 40 miles to the base of Richter Pass before opening it up a bit. I kept things under control to the base of the pass and even had a couple athletes sitting 10-20 meters behind me to keep me honest. Once we hit the pass I opened it up and by the second step of the climb I had dropped anyone that had gone with me from the start.

After descending I found myself dealing with a good bit of wind and the rollers were turning into mini climbs given the speed I was forced to ride. Nevertheless I felt good and once I got through the rollers I kept my heart rate hovering under 160 in the flats and the out-and-back. I continued to push to the base of Yellow Lake and the fantastic amount of spectators along the YL climb carried me to the summit. From there you get a net downhill to the finish which is quite welcome although the headwind was not.

Another (somewhat) quick transition and I was out onto the run. Serge Meyer (SUI) and I started the run together and after a couple miles it was clear that we were not going to split up. My brother told me that I was 5 minutes from 8th and 6 minutes from 5th at the startof the run so I was hoping that Team Serge/JD could work together to run ourselves into the money.

We ran nicely to the turnaround in OK Falls and got a look at the competition up the road. It was at this point that Serge and I actually spoke to one another.We basically concluded that money spots were possible, but we would have to make sure that the pace did not fall off. The return was a bit more difficult. We had to deal with a headwind on the way back, but the second half of the marathon in an Ironman is just plain hard so that was likely the primary issue.

Sadly, I fell off pace around mile 19 and simply did my best to hold everything together to the finish. Places 6-11 (I was 11th) were within five minutes of one another so it certainly was a frustrating finish. I did manage a new run PR of 3:02:xx and continued my streak of setting new marathon PRs in every Ironman I have raced to date (six total now).

I can say that I took a lot away from this race. Racing professionally at the Ironman distance takes both fitness and tactics into account. Making the right moves at the right time can be the difference between success and obscurity. I am learning what it is going to take to fulfill my goals in the future.

Thanks to my family, friends, sponsors, and my Canadian homestay (Scott and Sarah McMillan; www.f9tc.com) for all the support you have given me this year (and beyond). I will send another update shortly about upcoming races.

Cheers,

Justin

www.justindaerr.com

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www.trainingbible.com
www.javbike.com
www.descenteathletic.com
www.fuelbelt.com

Howdy folks.

I made it up to the Northern Country earlier this week and I’ve been settling into my temporary home in Penticton. I have had the good fortune to have a place to stay with Scott and Sarah McMillan (www.f9tc.com); both of them will be racing next Sunday as well.

The remainder of my trip was quite uneventful except for a little interrogation at the Canadian border. My Texas License plate and my Colorado residence didn’t seem to sit well with them. (I currently live in Boulder, but for the last 3 years I have had a rotating residence so I kept everything registered at my brother’s place in Texas). The friendly border folks eventually got over my shadiness and let me enter the country. I have not had the pleasure of seeing very much of the country, but what I have seen is great.

I have had the oppurtunity to check out all sections of the course (S,B and R) during my training sessions. This was the exact reason that I decided to travel to Penticton so early. Its one thing to drive the course or see the course, but actually feeling it on the bike can be a totally different scenario. You get a much better mental makeup of the course when you have felt it; as opposed to having just seen it.

I’ll check back in a couple more times this week. Keep thinking positive thoughts for Team Good Guys and me. The rest of the clan arrives today.

cheers,

j

As I was leaving Billings yesterday I noticed there was a notepad with “Thoughts” written at the top. Apparently this motel provides everyone with some pen and paper to keep tracks of their thoughts.

Well I decided to take this pen and paper with me on my drive to Spokane, Washington to record my own thoughts. Without thorough explanations; this is what I wrote:

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Billings, MO is pretty industrial.

Every part of Montana is either on fire, has been on fire, or could be on fire if someone sneezed wrong.

I bet this drive would be much prettier if visiblity wasn’t reduced because of the smoke.

Religion (Christianity) is clearly very important to the people of Montana.

I need to start fly fishing.

There are a lot of really big trucks in Montana. Even more so than Texas.

I wonder how many bugs are on my bike.

Bozeman doesn’t seem that cool.

I cannot believe that Mike Schoenfeld lived in Bozeman for a year.

Missoula seems like a place I should check out some time.

But maybe when it isn’t actually on fire.

Sort of ironic that there is a forest fire just above the exit sign for a firejumping training facility.

I’m not much for Harry Potter.

Lake CdA is quite pretty. A bit busy, but still quite nice.

There are a lot of ads on the radio about Meth Abuse.

There seem to be a lot of “Taco Time” ‘restaurants’ here.

I bet Taco Cabana is better. It always is.

I could go for a quesadilla from Taco C, but it isn’t 4:00 a.m. so it just wouldn’t feel right.

I need to go to Sturgis.

A lot of really big people ride motorcycles.

Spokane is cooler than I thought it would be.

There are espresso shacks everywhere in Spokane.

I’m tired.

Damn there are a lot of bugs on my bike.

Marilyn’s bike is much lighter than mine.

My front race wheel is lighter than Marilyn’s. OHHHHH snap.

When my car has all of M and I’s gear in it the resale value doubles.

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From this morning

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I’m tired.

The coffee here is terrible.

There are ads on TV here about Meth Abuse. I’m sensing a trend.

USA today wrote that the 20s are the new teen years; As it relates to self destruction. Breakthrough stuff there.

The breakfast buffet here is lame.

I wonder if they throw out the unused boiled eggs at the end of the day.

I doubt it. This one tastes a week old.

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-justin