Interbike 2009

Vegas. I'm not really much of a Vegas guy. I sort of assumed that, but after the past three days I think I can say I'm sure of that. Nevertheless, Interbike goes there every year and I decided to make the trip this year to try and see what is going on in the triathlon and cycling world.

Some of what happened....

***I was sorry that I could not make the power symposium that was held at the very beginning of the trade show. I landed in Vegas around 10:30 on Wednesday morning and the symposium began some time around there.

***I went by the Quarq (www.quarq.us) booth to check out their product. They have a power meter on the market that reads power from the spider on a crankset. The company is out of Spearfish, South Dakota and was created by a triathlete (and MIT alum) looking for an alternative to SRM. It is ANT+ compatable so you can use it with Garmin, Powertap, SRM, etc head units that read power; and it weighs in at 88 grams. Another company has a product called Vector: a power meter built into a Speedplay pedal that should be out next Spring.

***I went for a run on the strip on Thursday morning. That was quite possibly the worst running route I have yet to do. It was interesting to be out early and see how Vegas powerwashes the sidewalks before the day's festivities. Having said that, I was impressed by the number of folks (likely there with Interbike) that were out running despite the locale.

***I tend to get lost inside the Casino/Hotels. I reckon that's the idea.

***We stayed in the Imperial Palace, which everyone seemed to think was a total dump. Apparently they have not stayed in some of the places that I have.

***On Thursday night I went to watch the Pro Men's Crit. Around 2/3rds of the way through the race a rider from Bicycle Haus crashed into me. Literally. I was sitting in a spot without a barricade and he got pushed into the gutter forcing a crash. We both walked away unscathed and he managed to get back with the main group. Made for a good laugh.

***I spent the rest of the time there cruising through a variety of bike, wheel, nutrition, helmet, chamois cream, saddle, compression, bike fitting, etc, etc companies. Some of the biggest companies like Trek, Cervelo, Giant and Felt decided not to attend the show, but pretty much everyone else seemed to have a presence there.

Now its back to reality in Boulder (is Boulder reality?) and time to start training again. The fall weather is definitely rolling in, but I still think I can make into the mountains a few more times.

cheers,

j

Ironman Wisconsin

Friends, I unexpectedly found myself in Madison, Wisconsin this past weekend. Some unfortunate circumstances had put me out of Ironman Canada (at the end of the bike) and I found myself toeing the line for another IM two weeks later. Ironman take two.

The race got to a less-than-ideal start for me as my arms seemed unusually flat while warming up for the swim. I settled into a pack for the first loop, but faded considerably on the back half and was three minutes off the second pack coming into T1. I tried to hussle up the helix to make up some ground, but apparently my heart rate can only reach 200 so little progress was made.

As I was running towards my bike down the long parking lot I realized that while my arms had felt blah; my legs actually felt pretty good. I had only seen the bike course by car, but I could tell it was honest course that would force everyone to work. As the bike went along I made up ground on some and lost a bit to others, but my overall position in the field had improved. I came into T2 feeling a little fresher than usual and the prospects of a good run seemed well in place.

I started the run in 10th place and had moved up into 6th after a few miles. All seemed well and good, but unfortunately mother nature came calling around 10K into the run and I was forceced to take a number of pit stops between miles 7 and 11. At this point in the race I stopped concerning myself with anyone else and just tried to look after me. In the past,I have made the mistake of focusing too much on others in a moment where I need to sort myself out.

It took a little while, but after another 4-5 miles I started to feel a little better and I had not given up my 6th position. However, 7th place was close behind and 5th was not too far up the road so I tried to give my all in the closing miles to better my position. The effort was good enough to hold my position, but not change it, and I crossed the finish line just under nine hours to take 6th Overall.

My performance in Madison was not my best to date, but I really felt I was able to maximize my day by applying lessons learned in the past. I enjoyed racing in Wisconsin and I would welcome an oppurtunity to return there some time down the road.

cheers,

j

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Ironman Canada next week

I think its about time for something more positive on the blog aside from a stolen bike. A new bike has since moved into my home and will be coming along for the race in Penticton next week. The final weeks of training for this race have all gone well. I had to make some adjustments based on equipment limitations, but it seems to have all worked out after all.

IMC looks to have another great field this year which is always motivating for me. I'm sorry that Bryan Rhodes won't be able to defend because of his AT injury, but plenty of quality folks will still be there on race day.

I will post periodic updates as race week roles around and will also post a detailed race report after I finish IMC.

cheers,

jd

Bike Stolen in San Francisco

Hey Everyone, My bike was stolen on Sunday, July 19th (around noon) from my friend's car in San Francisco. It was built up for racing so my Blackwell Wheels were on it at the time. I know a lot of people in California follow this blog so please be on the lookout for any secondhand Javelin Lugano frame/bikes as well as any Blackwell wheels on the market. If you see anything on the net please contact me through this website or report it online wherever possible.

Details:

BIKE:

Black size 54 Javelin Lugano frame with Blackwell Fork.

Full Dura Ace drivetrain with 172.5 cranks and Dura Ace Pedals; Zipp brake pads on Dura Ace brake calipers.

53/39 front chainrings with 11-23 cassette (Dura Ace; assuming wheels are with it)

Dura Ace bar end shifters.

Zipp Vuka Aerobars (integrated) and bars are actually chopped by 4 cm on the inside. The left extension actually has a significant fade in the coloring.

ISM saddle (black)

Two Black Arundel Water bottle cages

WHEELS:

Blackwell Research (both wheels)

Front Wheel is 50mm deep rim.

Rear Wheel is 100mm deep rim with Wireless Powertap Hub built in.

Please keep an eye out for me.

Much appreciated,

jd

Training in Boulder

Someone on the Endurance Corner Forum asked about the pros and cons of training in Boulder. Here is what I repsonded with: Boulder:

Pros Cycling: *Cycling terrain includes steep climbs, long climbs, rolling terrain, big shoulders on most cycling roads. *Plenty of bike shops with deep inventory for short term needs. Though I am not partial to any of them in regards to customer service; all on the same level IMO-->mediocre. *Summer Time Trial series, numerous hill climb races, criteriums and LOTS of cyclocross races. There are a fair amount of road races, but not as much as the above.

Pros Running: *Lots of trail options around the city and good dirt road system north of the city (around the reservoir); i run north for all my long sessions. *Classic "high" runs with Magnolia Road, Switzerland Trail, etc. *Two high quality tracks in the city (Boulder and Fairview High); two more tracks in the surrounding area with Niwot and Silver Creek. All are open to public use. U of Colorado's track has public hours, but very few so I'm not keen on including that one on the list.

Pros Swimming: *Three city year round city pools with the North, South, and East BoCO rec centers. All Short course yards. *Two outdoor city pools open in the summer months; one Long Course and one Short course yards *Two more private club pools with Rally Sport (yards outdoors) and Flatirons (Meters outdoors). *Boulder Aquatic Masters programs works with the city pools and has 3-4 daily session. Flatiron and Rally have their own programs as well (Flatiron is better IMO and I have swam both).

Cons Cycling: *I wish there were some roads that are as flat as the roads I trained on in South Texas. Most flat riding near Boulder still has a bit of a roll to it. I know pancake flat sounds boring, but I like long flat rides as part of my training.

Cons Running: *I don't really have a lot of complaints about the running. I think the variety, surfaces, and terrain meets all the needs of a triathlete's run training.

Cons Swimming: *The masters programs are a bit too crowded IMO. *Long Course pool is not open enough during the year (Summer Only).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It can be cold in the winter, but there is not a lot of snow and there is a lot of sunshine. I would concede that you might be better off training down south if you want to race in Feb-April, but if not there is plenty of good weather to train year round. Besides, the winter cross training in the mountains is a lot of fun.

All in all, way more pros to cons here; and in reality my cons are some people's 'pros' (particularly with the swimming; some people love the masters situation and couldn't care less about flat riding:)).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

One point I did not include is probably the most important one of all: People to train with. There are many fulltime athletes training here so it makes it easy to have training partners during "working hours." I found many great people to train with in other locations, but their schedules often did not work so well with my own.

jd

Article from Xtri

This is will be posted on xtri.com soon: Bad Racin'

Joe Friel recently posted a statement on his twitter page: “The only difference between a good race and a bad race is that you learn something from a bad race.” I cannot say the tweet was written directly to me, but I do think our conversation from the day before was likely what reminded him of that statement. We had recently sat down so that I could vent about one of my own ‘bad races’ and he recited that statement to me.

I probably would have preferred to have learned nothing on the previous weekend, but his words were choice ones and it did make me think about all the lessons I have learned over the years. I am always impressed by athletes that perform consistently well because it always seems as if my best performances have been coupled by some rather dismal ones. I have to pay my dues before I can withdraw a solid result.

It is never easy to deal with a bad race, but I can confidently say that it is not the end of the world. No matter what you believe within that moment, trust that things can, and will, get better. I seriously doubt that every training day or work day goes well for everyone reading this and the same can be said for racing.

Ok, so a bad race happens. Then what? What can be learned from the day?

There are a lot of variables that go into a race, whether good or bad, and isolating the one instance that caused a poor performance can be difficult. Some common pitfalls include: poor pre-race or race day nutrition, improper pacing strategy, too much training leading into the race, too little training, too short of a taper, too much of a taper, too much travel, bad equipment choice(s), inclement weather, cramps, etc. In other words, you might never know all the variables.

The one bright side to having a poor race is that you might get to check one of those off the list! After the race passes, take the time to really sit down and think about what might have led you to underperforming. The best athletes are the ones that take the time to understand where their shortcomings were so that the same mistakes will be avoided in future races.

Many athletes have come to me to confide in their disappointment from a poor race and it certainly is unfortunate to see anyone fall short of their goals when their commitment and work ethic are in tact. I often tell these folks the same thing: No one can take away the fitness and experience that you have gained from all the days leading to this one. The difference from this race to your next is that your next race is going to be the day that you show the world what you are capable of.

Get back in the saddle!

Loveland Lake to Lake

I got back into Boulder last Sunday and decided to go back out and race this past weekend (Saturday) in Loveland, Colorado. I did this race (Loveland Lake to Lake) in its inaugural year in 2002, but have not returned since. It has the standard distances of an Olympic distance race (1.5/40K/10K), except the bike is about 5 miles longer (30 total). I managed to feel much better than last weekend in Boise. I spent much of the day in 2nd place, but in the last mile of the run I took the lead and won the race by a small margin.

There was an article in the Loveland paper that gave us some nice local press. You can check it out here.

Cheers,

jd

Boise Report

I traveled out to Boise last week to race the 70.3 on Saturday. Unfortunately the day wasn't really what I had in mind. For whatever reason, I simply had a lot of stomache problems which affected me rather adversely on both the bike and run. I enjoyed the venue and the course, but it just wasn't meant to be for me on the day. Having a poor race never goes down easily no matter how many years I have been doing this sport. I considered dropping out from about mile 5 of the bike to the end of the run, but I just decided to take what the day had given me. I don't think I have enough race experience to justify dropping out when the day is not going well. Every bad race seems to happen for a different reason and I want to see it through so that I can look back and learn from it. If I drop out; I'll never know if the day gets any better (it really never has so far!).

I'm bummed things didn't go my way, but I've been through this enough times that I know its just part of the deal. I'll be back out there soon enough.

Until next time,

jd

Long Course Pacing

I sat in on an Endurance Corner webinar yesterday and discussed Long Course Pacing. I will post the link once its ready, but for the time being I'll add my notes from the discussion. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Long Course Pacing

PACING SESSIONS

1. Long Ride: 8 Miles easy; 112 Mile TT; 10 miles Bonus • Session should not last longer than 6 hours • Water breaks should be brief

2. Long Run • Get to steady pace and hold; Brief Warm Up • Too many sessions are too easy early (or throughout) • Maintaining strong pace on the flats • Session should be capped at 2.5 hours (option of double run day for experienced)

3. Long Swim • Pick an interval distance and hold pace on tight rest (10 sec) • Main Set should build up to 75 minutes or 5K; whichever is first • Don’t use 100s.

REALITIES of RACE DAY

1. Swim harder than you planned 2. Bike is harder than you planned 3. Went out too fast on Run

All of these things will likely happen in some capacity no matter what. When it does happen, simply calm down and get back on the wagon.

Most fit athletes can recover from a hard start of each leg of the race (less the run), but it will cost you time.

People take entirely too long in transition; particularly T2. Recover while walking; not sitting

There is no such thing as a perfect race. The fastest athletes succeeded IN SPITE of everything that went wrong that day; and NOT because everything went right that day.

Heading to Memphis

I'm heading to Memphis tomorrow to race Memphis in May. I've always wanted to do this race so I'm pretty excited to check it out. I'll be posting updates on twitter over the weekend so follow along....

www.twitter.com/justindaerr

jd

Weekend Racing

I know I haven't updated my race calendar in some time, but I am actually racing this year. It all starts in a couple weeks with Memphis in May and then it will lead into some longer stuff later in the year. Short course racing really isn't my thing, but I wanted something to do in the month of May and MIM has always been on the 'to do' list. I also think that a tri with a time trial format will be a nice way to ease back into racing again. While Memphis will be a nice way to ease back into triathlons, I needed something to ease back into the 'easing back', so I did a few local events over the past couple weekends. Last week I did a small 10K (on dirt) on Saturday and a 28K (bike) Time Trial on Sunday. The double-race weekend went pretty well, but I felt much better racing on Saturday than I did on Sunday (big surprise). I actually recovered pretty well from the 10K, but I clearly struggled at the front end of my time trial on Sunday. My legs were flat until 15 minutes or so had passed when I began to ride with a much better rhythm to the finish (36 minutes total).

Yesterday I decided to do another Time Trial; the Rabbit Mtn TT. Its a 11K course that is essentially flat for 5K; then climbs 180 meters (little over 500 feet) for 5K; descends 500 meters; then 500 meters @ 16% or something like that (whatever it is, its steep and requires complete anaerobic commitment).

I headed over to the race site early in the morning (I started at 7:45) and proceeded to go out for a warm up ride prior to my start time. The roads were all wet (rain all night beforehand) and I intentionally went down a certain road to avoid crossing train tracks. I didn't realize that this road had tracks too, but I crossed them carefully and proceeded to do my warm up. As I headed to the start line I had to cross the tracks again so I slowly rode over them and then WHAM. I hit the ground hard as my back wheel completely slid out from under me (which was exactly what I was trying to avoid).

The thing is, I have actually crashed on train tracks in the rain before (seven years ago!) and I was being extremely careful not to repeat that act. And, as it goes, when I was mindful of something happening... ...it happened.

Anyways, I crashed going very slowly which wasn't so great because I slammed my full weight down on my knee, hip, and ankle. I had less than ten minutes to my start so I gathered myself up and headed to the start. Fortunately, this happened close enough to the start that I didn't really have time to stiffen up. After drilling myself for 17+ minutes the race was done and I began to feel the crash. The combo of road rash and a 16% climb left me feeling pretty crappy. I spun back to the car and went home to clean my wounds and ice up.

Its been a while since I last crashed so it was a nice reminder of why we want to keep the rubbber side down when riding. I was pretty sore yesterday, but I'm starting to feel much better today and should be back to the normal training plan by Wednesday.

Good times,

jd

Dirk Friel Podcast

EC Radio did a podcast with Dirk Friel today. Dirk is the co-founder of Peaksware LLC (trainingpeaks.com, WKO+, etc) as well as a coach, dad, and fast cyclist (even after 27 years!). He shared his insight on training with power, professional bike racing, and the history and future of Training Peaks.

Have a listen:

http://endurancecorner.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=458443

http://endurancecorner.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=458443