Ironman Florida

Ironman Florida. There is no other Ironman, or race, that I have done more than this one. Over the last ten years, I have taken part in seven of them. In 2003 and 2005 I raced as an age grouper; then I raced there professionally in PCB in 2006,07,09,11,13.

My results from the years have included:

2003: 9:20 (first in M18-24)

2005: 8:57 (first in M18-24) and 8th overall

2006: Can't quite remember; 9:05 maybe? and just inside top 20.

2007: 8:40; 10th Overall

2009: 8:48?; again can't quite remember; inside top 15; blew up hard in the middle of the run. I remember that.

2011: 8:18:02; 3rd Overall

2013: 8:13:35; 9th Overall

The last two races I've done have incorporated the new bike course; it still includes much of the original course; though it has some differences. The overall road conditions have also improved over the years.

The run course has remained largely the same with minor differences in turnarounds over the years.

The swim has always remained the same and the only variance has been the calmness (or lack thereof) of the ocean.

This year's race wasn't part of my overall plan for the season. I ended up toeing the line as a result of my DNF in Tahoe six weeks beforehand. This year's race had a combination of fast conditions and deep field producing the fastest Ironman in North American history. All three podium finishers broke 8 hours and the fastest bike split was 4:02:xx and the fastest marathon was 2:37:xx.

That's really fast. Even in really fast conditions, that is really fast.

8:13:35 is a new personal best IM finish for me, but I didn't feel as though it was a personal best performance primarily because I faded pretty heavily in the last ~8 miles of the run. I came off the bike in 12th, spent most of the run in 8th (short stint in 7th), and ultimately finished in 9th. I did my best to try and move up on the run, but couldn't close it out like I had hoped.

At any rate, I always tell people to never be disappointed in improvement, and so I'll happily walk away with a new PR and get ready to race again another day.

-j

Ironman Lake Tahoe

If you followed the race online or if you follow me on twitter, you know that I didn't finish the race on Sunday. I was able to start the ride on Sunday, but I was having mechanical issues from the very beginning. It's crazy to think anything was wrong as I didn't have any problems in the pre-race rides on Friday and Saturday. I made it around 35-40 miles into the first loop before having to call it a day. I have never had to drop out of a race because of a mechanical, regardless of distance. I have had several flat tires over the years, but nothing else that wasn't fixable on the side of the road.

It's never fun to have to drop out of race, particularly because I don't race with high frequency. I like to focus on a few events and put in a lot of specific work for them. In July I spent a week in Lake Tahoe training on the course and really got excited about racing this event. I felt it would definitely be a race where the strongest athletes would prevail.

However, I will have to give it a shot another year.

I do hope the race continues to exist as it is, because it is a fantastic course and venue. I could see the race moving forward a week or two in hopes of slightly warmer weather, but I hope that everything else can remain the same. I'd like to be able to return to take on this challenge one more time.

-j

Coming Up For Air

The rain has rolled into Boulder at just the right time. Yesterday finished off my last long block of training prior to Tahoe (though I think my body decided it had had enough the day prior). This final build has gone pretty well and I was able to get through the majority of my training without issue. Each time I was given an easy day (or two) I was quite tired, so it seems as if we timed the loading/unloading appropriately. Now I'm moving into my taper before the race and backing off some of the overall volume and intensity. Cliff and I have done 7 IMs together and we seem to have found a pretty good balance of work to do in the final couple weeks. While I like to to switch up certain aspects of training prior to a race, I like to keep the final week or two consistent from event to event (if I can).

A couple weeks ago the Rim Fire in California was causing some major air quality issues in the Lake Tahoe region. Even though the fire was pretty far to the south, the size (250K+ acres) and the wind (southerly) was causing the air to be really bad. During the Four Mile Fire in Boulder in 2010, we had similar issues. On some mornings, you could barely see more than a few 100 meters and layers of ash would form outside on our balcony. It seems as tough the Lake Tahoe area was experiencing the same thing.

Fortunately, it looks as though the firefighters in California have been able to get the fire close to 100% containment and the air quality has improved considerably. I think the race could have been in jeopardy if it was taking place a couple weekends ago, but (fingers crossed) it seems as though that threat has diminished to almost zero.

I'll check back in again before the race. Be sure to watch Texas A&M vs. Alabama this weekend!

-j

Tahoe Prep Update

Following Boulder 70.3, and a lighter regroup week, I've started to focus in on IM Tahoe on September 22nd. Prior to Boulder 70.3, I traveled out to Lake Tahoe to do some training and course recon. One of the nice things about traveling out to a race venue to train is that you actually have some time to enjoy the location. Even though I had some solid training sessions, I was still able to stop and have a look around from time to time. I had never been to the Lake Tahoe area before and I mostly knew it as a ski/snowboard destination. Back in my winter sports days, I would dream about going west and riding in Squaw, Heavenly, Kirkwood, Northstar and all the other resorts peppered throughout the Sierras. I had similar dreams about Queenstown, NZ and the surrounding resorts.

And yet, I've found myself in both locations in the summer and for entirely different reasons. Maybe one day I can return for other reasons, but for now, it's for racing.

Anyway...

Since starting the recent training block, Cliff and I have been incorporating plenty of climbing on the bike and some high altitude running. If you look on my homepage, you can find my strava account which has some of the sessions I have been doing. It doesn't have all of them, particularly with running, since I do most runs without a Garmin, but you can still have a look at some of the work I have been doing.

One day/week, I have been heading out on my road bike to do some steeper climbing with a lot of dirt roads. It often makes me think about the sessions Brad Kearns would do out of Auburn, Ca in the 1990s. I remember reading his book "Can you make a living doing that?" in college where he talked about his weekly 'death ride' as being a core part of his training. It was a Tuesday (I think( workout where they rode around 200K (I think) and got in 20,000 feet of climbing (I think). I don't approach those numbers on my Tuesday rides, but I like the sentiment of putting together challenging routes that only require showing up to gain the benefit from them.

Another session I've done a couple times this year is running an out-and-back on a dirt road from Rollinsville, Co that dead ends next to a railroad tunnel (built in the 1920s). The elevation starts around 8500 feet and gradually climbs over 8 miles to 9250 feet or so (about 16 miles in total distance). I like to call this route the "New Magnolia" as it seems to be the new high altitude running hot spot on the weekends, replacing Magnolia Road or 'Mags." I suspect that the appeal of the Rollinsvillle run is that the terrain is much easier than Mags, which may or may not be a good thing when running up there. Regardless of which route has a superior benefit, they are both really nice places to run, particularly when it's warming up in the valley below. However, I could do without the headwinds I have been getting up there...

I'm closing in the final couple weeks of training, and while no build is ever perfect, the workouts and fitness have been trending in the right direction. This weekend I'll get a chance to race a 2.4 mile open water swim in the Boulder Reservoir and I might race a short sprint tri the following weekend to get me in the racing spirit.

-j

Hunky Dory Half Marathon

A friend of mine from South Carolina traveled out for a long vacation in Breckenridge this week and he signed up for a trail run race on Saturday called the Hunky Dory Half Marathon. Its a 13.5 mile run done mostly on single track trails, has 1500+ feet of vertical and takes place between 9500 and 10,500 feet. I decided a couple days before the race to go up there and join him. Since I raced Boulder 70.3 on Sunday, I wasn't super keen to run really hard, but I thought it would be a fun way to get in a longer run up high.

The event only had 79 runner so it was a completely different feel from the events I've grown accustomed to. The run started with about a mile of open road before heading onto single track trail. I wanted to go out quickly enough to make sure I got a clean line, but then I wanted to keep things in check as times from last year looked very slow (read: hard course). Two guys took off quickly and I didn't see them again until the finish line. One other guy and I stayed together for the first thirty minutes and then I eventually pulled away after one of the longer climbs.

My trail running skills are mediocre at best. I do alright scrambling up the hills and running along the flatter, less technical sections. However, downhill scrambling and quick pacing through the technical sections was not one of my strengths yesterday morning. I have to give major props to the guys out front for having the skill and dexterity to fly through those sections.

The course took us through some awesome terrain and around 5k to go we had to run back up some really steep trails. There were times where I was pretty sure I was just standing still as opposed to running up the steeper grades. The final 3K included some more steep technical downhill, but fortunately I didn't crash and I crossed the finish line in 3rd, well back from the leaders (they went 1:37 and 1:39, I was 1:47).

It was nice to break out of the norm and have some fun in the mountains. This past week has been a bit of a regroup following Boulder 70.3. I'll be moving into my final block of training prior to IM Tahoe this Monday as we are sitting six weeks from race day.

-j

Boulder 70.3

Boulder 70.3 The Goal before race day:

3:53:30

In my mind; it would break down to:

25:00 Swim

1:30 T1

2:07:00 Bike

1:00 T2

1:19:00 Run

I wasn't totally sure on the bike times since it's the first year with the one loop bike, but I still thought the course would be pretty fast even with some of the new rollers on the NE end of the loop.

The result:

Swim: 25:42

T1: 1:40

Bike: 2:06:52

T2: 1:05

Run: 1:20:18

3:55:37

Since I lost my timing chip prior to exiting the swim, none of the splits are exact, but I think they are close enough.

The swim and the bike both felt good and even though I felt tired at the end of the ride, it felt like I gave the appropriate effort.

The run was a mixed bag of highs and lows. I did my best to try and stay on pace, but in the end the overall effort of the day had me running a bit slower than I preferred. I passed a handful of people on the run and a handful of people passed me as well, resulting in 9th place at the finish line.

3:55:37 is a PR for me at the HIM distance so I'm happy that progress has been made. After watching Boulder 70.3 for the last few years, it was great to get out and race instead. Always nice to race at home.

After a week of recovery, I'll be building for the second Ironman of the season: Lake Tahoe.

Until then,

Justin

Thank You and Ironman Texas

Last weekend I raced Ironman Texas for the 3rd time, finishing 4th overall. I will keep it simple.

It was Hot.

I am sure you have heard as much if you followed the race at all. While the swim and bike proved to be somewhat normal, the run was more about out-surviving one another in such extreme heat. I started the run in 4th, moved to 3rd for quite some time, spent some time in 2nd for a good chunk, fell back to 3rd for another long stretch, and ultimately finished 4th after James Cunnama ran by and on his way to 2nd place late in the race. My good friend, Ian Mickelson, and I did the whole run with a standard deviation of about 30 seconds to one another, but he stayed on the better side of that range in the end and closed out a hard fought third place.

I did all I could to try and put myself in a position to win. I left it all out there and tried to close it out, but I'll have to return next year to give it another try.

However, what I really want to write is a Thank You note. Some time last offseason, I mentioned to Brooke that I  wanted to start a fundraising campaign for the Wounded Warrior Project in conjunction with Ironman Texas. My father is a disabled veteran who was severely injured in Vietnam at the age of 22. When I was growing up, my father was always an adult in my mind, but as I sit here at 32 I can see how young 22 is and I'm sure that will only increase as I grow older.

I found myself empathizing with a mind of a 22 year old and what the world must have looked like to someone that would be ever changed by the devastation of war. I am sure that fear, sadness, anger and other emotions would overwhelm me, while optimism and hope might fall by the wayside. However, history has proven this to not be the case for my father as he has gone on to achieve countless successes in a variety of ways and I want that same hope to reside in today's wounded heroes.

When I started the campaign, I was not really sure what to expect. Brooke and I put together a goal of $1967 to begin with, but we found ourselves nearly meeting that goal in the first week. To our pleasant surprise, by the time we reached race day we had $5625.20 to hand over to the WWP.

What was so gratifying was seeing the names that came up on the list of donors. I saw family, friends, people I've worked with, trained with, coached, and some I have yet to meet.

And as I saw all these names I became grateful for the all the wonderful people that have come into my life. All of your kindness and support is what has led to this being such a successful campaign.

So with all my heart:

Thank you.

-Justin

Latest article on Endurance Corner: Evaluating Early Season Performances

Wounded Warrior Project

I am collaborating with the Wounded Warrior Project to raise money for wounded veterans. My goal is to raise $1967.00 by the time I race Ironman Texas on May 18, 2013.

You can find my donation page HERE

Below is a copy from my donation page:

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In May of 1967 my father was serving his country in Vietnam, as a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, when was was severely wounded. He was 22 years old and was faced with a life of permanent disabilities. In spite of his injuries, he went on to become a successful lawyer, executive, professor, cyclist, and above all else, a wonderful father.

However, the wounds from war are real and they do not go away. There isn't a day where my father is not affected by his injuries and I often find myself wishing I could bear those burdens, even if only for a moment.

Today, many servicemen and women come home with permanent injuries, both physical and emotional. I can only imagine the fear and anxiety that comes with facing the unknown road ahead, but they should not be alone in doing so. The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is a nonprofit organization that was created to help veterans and their families with this next stage of their lives. The WWP works tirelessly to honor and empower wounded warriors in order to foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in our nation's history.

This is my first year collaborating with WWP and my hope is to raise $1967.00 by the time I race Ironman Texas on May 19, 2013. I hope that my efforts can help support wounded veterans as they move forward to have successful families, careers and to live their dreams, whatever they may be.

You can help me in my efforts by making a donation to the WWP, no matter what amount. Take a sack lunch to work, gather the change in your car; every dollar counts in helping our wounded veterans and their families.

Thank you for your generosity and support,

Justin Daerr

Galveston 70.3 Profile

I won't be racing this weekend, but here is a course profile I put together for the Endurance Corner site: http://www.endurancecorner.com/Course_Profiles/galveston_half

San Juan 70.3

I traveled out to Puerto Rico over the weekend to race San Juan 70.3. If you follow me on twitter, you'll know that I posted about having a cold over the weekend as well. Unfortunately that turned out to be the main the story line on Sunday. I woke up on Friday morning at 4:00 a.m. to catch a 6:45 a.m. flight(s) to PR and I was about 12+ hours into a new head cold. I was a little hesitant to even go the airport as I really wasn't feeling too well, but I thought there might be a chance that this would be short-lived and I might feel better by Sunday morning.

The trip was long and tedious (about 11 hours+ from door to door), but I got to PR and got in bed as soon as I could.

I woke up on Saturday morning and felt even worse (terrible really), but I tried to just stay positive and proactive about getting better. I was drinking lots of fluids, using the nasal wash, everything I could to get better. I didn't do any normal pre-race workouts throughout the morning as I really wasn't up to it. Eventually around noon I went down to the hotel gym and did a very light spin on the exercise bike, just to get moving again; that went alright, so I followed it up with a quick 5-10 minute swim as the gym is right next to the swim start.

After a pro meeting and a couple other things, I went back to the hotel room, ate dinner and was in bed early (around 8:30) to try and get a little more extra pre-race sleep.

On Sunday morning I woke up and hadn't fully recovered, but I decided to give the race a shot, as you never know how things might turn out.

The swim kicked off and I didn't feel too bad, eventually settling into the second pack. Around 300 meters-to-go, someone in front of me got gapped off and I tried to go around and close, but I really just minimized the loss and came out about 15-20 seconds behind those guys. All in all, I thought it went alright and that the cold didn't seem to show itself much at all. Although, the long run to transition (about 500 meters) felt pretty terrible (but when does that ever feel good?)

The bike, however, was a mixed bag. I never really felt great, but never felt terrible either. And most of the ride, I had the good fortune of riding with some other strong riders so I could focus on racing with them, as opposed to how I did or did not feel. I was tiring out in the last 1/3, but that can easily happen in good-health racing as well.

As I came into T2, I saw I was actually a couple minutes quicker than 2011 so I thought the day might end up being better than I might have expected in the end. However, within only a few hundred meters of the run I knew that probably wasn't going to happen. I really started to feel lousy and the run quickly turned from a normal stride into a jog and stayed that way to the finish line.

I didn't really want to go to PR for a learning experience, in fact I would have happily learned nothing (or even unlearned something!) in exchange for a good race, but that's what I ended up getting.

Until next time,

j

Panama, CEC Training Camp, EC Tucson

I never got around to recapping Panama 70.3 from the first weekend in February. It had less to do with having a subpar race; I was just hammered with a lot to do immediately after the race when I got home; and then I got sick; and I then I drove to Tucson; and then I started up with Cliff's training camp; and then I had to make unexpected trip to Houston for personal reasons; and then I had to direct+coach the Endurance Corner Tucson camp; and then I drove back to Boulder. And finally things started to calm down a little bit before I head off to San Juan this weekend.

So....

Panama: I decided to do this race for a couple reasons:

1. I wanted to have extra motivation to get the training done in January (which can be difficult in Boulder).

2. I have a friend who lives in Panama City and I wanted to travel somewhere new and different.

The race itself proved to be more than I could really handle at that time of year. I do think I was in better shape than I normally am in late January, but this race is challenging: both in terrain and weather (Hot!), and its not a race you want to float through. I did enjoy the trip and the experience, but the race was more of brutal awakening instead of a pleasant experience!

At any rate, I came home and headed to Tucson for a two-week training camp with my coach, Cliff English, followed by hosting my own training camp for Endurance Corner.

I enjoy the training camps that Cliff puts on for his pro athletes. Its nice to catch up with some of the athletes that I only see for a couple weeks/year and the training is solid. Training camps are always more directed, and more challenging, than normal training blocks and they should be. Getting together with others and getting that extra 2-3% out of one another is what its all about. Its even more paramount with age group athletes that travel to training camps and its why Endurance Corner puts them on. We believe in them.

If you want to read about the details of each day at Cliff's camp, I suggest you check out Chris Bagg's blog:

http://chrisbagg.com/news/

He does a great job of recapping all the details and his skill as a writer makes it all the more enjoyable to hear his perspective.

Following the Cliff Camp, I put on the sixth annual Endurance Corner Tucson camp. We had a solid 6 days of desert training and it was great to see the progression of some of our repeat campers. The great thing about seeing these athletes improve is that I know how much work they must have put in from last year to this year. It never gets old seeing other improve because of their drive and work ethic.

After the camp ended, I headed back to Boulder and had to pleasure of navigating through a blizzard in the final hours of the trip. Fortunately, while long, the trip was uneventful.

I have only been home for a week, but its about time to hit the road again. I'll be heading to Puerto Rico to race San Juan 70.3 for the second time. I raced there in 2011 and decided to have another go at it this year. I decided to opt out of racing Galveston in favor of this race and as I prefer the SJ course over Gtown's.

I'll be back quickly after SJ with a report so check back in around Tuesday next week.

-j

IMTalk Podcast

I chatted with IMTalk yesterday about my recent Endurance Corner article: Show Up and Blow Up You can find the podcast HERE.

2013

New Year, New Season. Greetings from a frigid Boulder. The last few days have seen single digits in the a.m.; quite a contrast to the warm winter we had last year. Even though the cold temps have made it challenging to ride, the rest of the training has been going pretty well. I decided to race Panama 70.3 this year (February 3rd) so staying on task in January has been a must, even when its a bit chilly.

After racing in Panama on the first weekend of February, I'll be heading down to Tucson for three weeks. The first two weeks I will be attending a training camp led by my coach, Cliff English. Each Spring he holds a 2-3 week camp for his athletes. Its a great chance to get out of the cold weather for a bit; and its particularly helpful in getting in some decent riding when coming from a Colorado winter.

The last week of my trip to Tucson will be for the Endurance Corner Tucson Camp. Tucson feels more and more like a second home to us as this will be the sixth year of hosting the camp. We still have spots available (as of Jan 15) so if you are interested, click here.

Following the Tucson Camp, I'll be back home and the only trips from there on out will be for racing. I haven't quite finalized the plans in March and April, but I hope to race 2x as a lead into Ironman Texas. Much of this will be dependent on my training progression in the next six weeks. The primary goal is based around performing well in Texas, so we'll be looking to make decisions (about racing) that support that goal.

Look for an update following Panama in a few weeks.

Until then,

Justin

Check out my latest article on Endurance Corner: Show Up and Blow Up

Sample Days

Follow up to my article, Eat to Perform, on Endurance Corner. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

SAMPLE DAY ONE:

Meal One: Toast with Almond Butter, 2g of fish oil, 65mg of Iron.

Workout one: 3 hour ride with Intervals (2000-2400 kilojoules); intake of ~1000 calories in Powerbar Perform and Powergels.

Finish ride within 30 minutes of swim practice; Eat bar in the car going to swim practice

Workout two: 4500 meters @ Masters. One Gel at the end of the warm up and another 200 calories of Perform during the swim session.

Meal two: 4 eggs with goat cheese and spinach. Bowl of oatmeal with walnuts, raisins and chopped fruit.

Couple hours off.

Meal three: Toast with almond butter

Workout three: 60 minute fartlek run

30 minutes before dinner: plate of raw carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes.

Meal four: Green chile chicken with rice, black beans, avocados, onions, tomatoes and cilantro. Probably two big bowls. Dark chocolate after.

Later: Couple pieces of fruit and almonds.

SAMPLE DAY TWO

Meal One: Toast with almond butter

Workout One: 5 hour steady state ride; 4000+ kilojoules. Consume ~2000 calories of Powerbar perform, gels, and a bar or two. Probably a Sprite at one stop midway as well.

5-10 minute break before run; consume 2 gels just before run starts.

45 minute steady state run; consume 300 more calories of Perform and gels.

Meal Two: Two breakfast burritos with whole wheat tortillas, eggs, potatoes, salsa, grilled vegetables and guacamole. 2-3 glasses of orange juice.

Couple hours off.

Just before starting swim; 2 bananas.

3000 meter easy swim; 45 minutes.

30 minutes before Meal three same plate of raw veggies as above.

Meal three: Steak (medium rare), grilled potatoes in olive oil; grilled onions, mushrooms and bell peppers in olive oil. Dark chocolate afterwards.

Later: same as above; some fruit, almonds, etc. based on any extra hunger.

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I eat other things as well, but this is a pretty good example of what my training days look like. During some of my easier days of the week, you might see a similar style to my main meals, but less supplemented sports nutrition as energy output is much lower.