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| October 24th: Longhorn Ironman 70.3 tomorrow |
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Tomorrow I'm racing the Longhorn Ironman 70.3 right here in Austin. I have to admit, it's been a little tougher to get myself in "race mode" when I haven't had to travel to race. Usually, getting the bike packed up, hauling it through the airport, and traveling to a new place gets me in race mode. Because I haven't had to change anything in my routine, I've had to constantly remind myself that I'm racing tomorrow. I'm starting to feel pretty good. Each day my body feels better and better, like the training I've done over the last month is getting absorbed. It should be a good race tomorrow. There's a really strong (and big) pro field here. I think there's about 35 male pros on the start list, with several being really strong competitors. So it should be a good one. The weather has been looking up, so tomorrow should be beautiful. The high is scheduled to be 79 degrees, but the morning may be a bit cold with low in the 50s. Might make for a chilly start on the bike.
I'm excited to race. I haven't put a lot of pressure on myself for this race. After a dissapointing Ironman Wisconsin last month, I really just want to go out and put together a solid consistent effort. This is a great checkpoint for me for my Ironman Cozumel preparation. I have a few weeks after this race where I can put in the final touches on my build. I've modified my typical half-Ironman taper. I've been following the taper plan of my good buddy Richie Cunningham. He's one of the best 70.3 athletes out there, so I'm up for trying something new. I always think it's good to try tweaking our training because you never know when there's something better out there. Basically, my running has been similar to the past, cycling's been a little higher volume this week, and I've kept swimming every day.
All in all it's going to be fun tomorrow. I'm ready to get back out on the race course and see what I've got. I'll write more after the race.
Pat
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| October 15th: Almost ready for Longhorn 70.3 |
Next weekend is Longhorn Ironman 70.3 Austin. It'll be nice to race an Ironman sponsored race and be able to sleep in my own bed the night before. No packing up the bike, no dragging it through the airport, and no obscene bike fees from the airlines. That will be really nice. We've been training really hard, so I'm excited to see how my body feels once I give it a little rest next week leading up to the race. I'll also be participating in the pro panel discussion on Saturday out at the race site. Last week I went out to the race site and rode the bike loop twice to get a good feel for the course. I think the bike will be more challenging than some are expecting. We'll see what the conditions are like on race day. It can get really windy out east of town. The new run course should also be good since they eliminated the grass portion of the run. I'm looking forward to this race. More to come next week.
Pat |
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| October 6th: Final build for 2009 |
With only two big races to go for the 2009 season, I'm in my final major build for the year. Since returning from Interbike in Vegas, Richie Cunningham and I have been putting in a major training block here in Austin. The weather this time of year is great for training. We've also had the pleasure of being joined by the Raelert brothers from Germany for the last few weeks.
For those who don't know the Raelerts, they are two of the best triathletes around and are also all-round great guys. They've been staying at Richie's place during their time here. Andreas was completing his final preparation for Kona and his younger brother Michael was has been preparing for the Lifetime Fitness triathlons this month, LA Triathlon and the US Open in Dallas. I wish the absolute best to both of them in their upcoming races. They're both very fit and ready to go. I think Andreas is going to suprise some people in Kona this weekend (although, those who follow his racing shouldn't be suprised by a big showing!!).
With the Longhorn Ironman 70.3 here in Austin in a little less than three weeks, and then Ironman Cozumel about 5 weeks after that, I've got a solid 3 week block now, with a recovery week before Longhorn, then a brief few days of recovery following Longhorn, followed by the last few preparation weeks for the year. I can't believe the racing season is this close to being over!! It feels like I just got off the plane to Malaysia in February! Where did the year go?
Richie's got Longhorn 70.3, Clearwater 70.3 World Champs, and then Ironman Arizona, so he's really in his final preparation. We've been hitting it hard for the last 10 days and will continue for another couple weeks. My body's been holding up well, but I'm always trying to be dilligent. It's good to train hard, but better to train smart.
I hope for great racing for all of my friends in Kona this weekend: Michael Lovato, Andreas Raelert, Paul Terranova, Bek Keat, and Joe Thorne. These are all folks I know will give their all and a great showing!!
Pat
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| October 1st: Austin Fit Articles |
A few months ago, I started contributing training articles to Austin Runner Magazine. Austin Runner has now been combined with Austin Fit Magazine, so now the new Austin Fit encompasses the content from both magazines. I am now a regular monthly contributing author to the new magazine. This is really fun for me because I enjoy writing and sharing training and racing experience.
The first combined magazine just came out. You can find it free at most fitness associated businesses in the Austin area. You can also read the article on-line at this link:
http://www.austinfitmagazine.com/Fitness/Features/2009/October/group-rides.html
This article is about the ins-and-outs of group bike rides. I'll start posting my articles as they're published here on this site as well.
Pat |
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| September 21st: Interbike |
I'm heading out to Las Vegas this week to attend Interbike, the annual international convention for all companies in cycling, triathlon, and related industries. It's a great way to meet the best in the industry, see the new products for 2010, as well as see new trends in the cycling and triathlon world. I will write more when I get back.
Pat |
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| September 13th: Ironman Wisconsin |
| Read my Ironman Wisconsin race report here |
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| July 24th - August 31st: Training camp in Northern Michigan |
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I've come up to my parents condo up in Northern Michigan for 5 1/2 weeks to escape the heat in Austin, Texas and prepare for Ironman Wisconsin. I came up here for about 7 weeks last summer and I loved the training up here so much that as the mercury rose in Austin, I made arrangements to come up here so I can get in some quality training. My good buddy and training partner Richie Cunningham is planning on coming up here for about 3 weeks so we can both get in a quality training block. I'm really excited to be up here because the training is so good and I'm closer to my family and my childhood friends. Its tough because I'll be away from my girlfriend for so long, but we're working on seeing if we can get her up here for a bit. All in all, this is going to be a great block of training to get ready for Wisconsin.
I've made a page for all of my updates and pictures while up here in Michigan so I'll be using that page rather than this blog page over the next 6 weeks.
Click here to go to my Michigan training camp page
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| July 15th: Rhode Island Ironman 70.3, 6th place! |
Click here to read my race report and see pictures |
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| July 5th: Heat exhaustion, I'm going to Michigan |
Yesterday, I suffered from bad heat exhaustion/stress. That means it's time to change my summer training locale. I'm racing Rhode Island Ironman 70.3 next weekend, then after a short return to Austin, I'll be heading up to Northern Michigan for the rest of the summer to train for Ironman Wisconsin.
It has been crazy hot here in Austin this summer. We have broken heat records in 10 of the last 13 days. We've been bouncing between 101 and 106 degrees every day for the last 3 weeks. Today it hit a mere 105, yesterday it was 103. It's at a point where the heat has been debilitating to my training (and health). I can only get one quality workout each day and only if I'm up super early in the morning (and if the workout is not long). This will become a problem as I start adding significant volume back into my training to prepare for Ironman Wisconsin.
On Friday night I couldn't fall asleep because I was still dehydrated and suffering from heat stress from my workouts out in the 103 degree heat. No matter how many fluids I drank and how much I rested, I couldn't get my body to settle down to be able to sleep. Despite going to bed at 10pm, I didn't fall asleep until 3:30am. So when the alarm came on at 5am for my Saturday workout, I was not a happy camper. I went for a 93 mile bike ride followed by a 4 mile run off the bike. But the 100+ degree heat just pounded me. My run was more of a shuffle and I had to walk up the hills.
When I got back home, I was utterly exhausted and drained. I started drinking fluids. Very soon, I was really nauseous and weak. After my 5 hour workout, I had no appetite and could barely force down a sandwich. I felt absolutely horrible. I was curled up on the couch, sick as a dog for the whole night. A great way to spend the 4th of July! I even came down with a fever. It was miserable. My fever broke last night and I feel much better today. I'm taking the day off of training and just resting and drinking fluids all day. I really think that it was a case of cumulative heat exhaustion from training in insane heat day after day.
I decided a few weeks ago that I'm going to spend 5-6 weeks up in Northern Michigan to train for Ironman Wisconsin. It's just too dangerous to try to train for an Ironman here now. It's downright debilitating to try to have quality workouts day after day. Until I go to the cooler climate, I'm limiting myself to only one workout outside each morning, either bike or run. I can swim inside and my afternoon workouts will either be runs on the treadmill or biking on the trainer. It's just too dangerous for my health to be outside training after 11am. So I'm excited to trade the triple digit temps for highs of 78-81 in Northern Michigan!
Until then, I'm focused on recovering from this heat stress and getting ready to race in Rhode Island next weekend.
Pat |
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| June 28th: Buffalo Springs Ironman 70.3, 8th place! |
| Click here to read my race report from Buffalo Springs |
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| June 25th: Seriously, who left the oven on? |
My, my, my, did someone leave the oven door open? It is officially summer here in Austin and if the last couple weeks is any indication of the coming summer, it's going to be a scorcher. If you're reading this from Austin or other parts of Texas, then I'm not telling you anything that you or your sweat glands don't already know. I don't mean just hot, but crazy hot.
Yesterday, Austin broke a record by topping out at 105 degrees. Today is forecast to be another 105 degrees and Friday at 104. The weekend will see a cold front with highs at 101-102. Austin has been above triple digits for 13 of the last 14 days! The long-term forecast doesn't have any respite from these temps!
I have different fealings about this weather. First, to tell myself that I've chosen to live in Texas and to just deal with it! The other is to whine. Good thing for me is that throughout June and early July I'm racing a lot, so that means I have taper, race, recover, build, taper, race, etc type of cycles. That means I'm not in any long protracted training blocks through mid-July. But, after July 12th, that will all change. When I return from Rhode Island Ironman 70.3, after a brief few days of recovery, I'll be starting my build for Ironman Wisconsin. This means that the hotter weeks of the Texas summer will be my peak training weeks!
I've learned from living and training in Texas summers that you can really only have one quality workout outside each day. That has to be in the early morning. I have to look at each day and decide if my bike or run workout is the key sesson for the day and that's the one I have to do early. The afternoon session will not be as quality because you're still depleated and dehydrated (no matter how much you drink) from the morning and the heat is limiting. Swim sessions should be done in the afternoon because you're not limited by the heat. Trainer rides become important in the afternoon as well. The toughest part of Ironman training here in June-Sept is the long workouts. It's hard to avoid the nastiness of the heat of the day when you're biking 6 hours or more with a run off the bike.
SO, I've decided to do another training block up in Northern Michigan this year. I'm still nailing down the details, but I'll probably go from anywhere between 3-5 weeks during my biggest Ironman build weeks. The quality of high-volume training I can achieve up there is second to none when compared to the 100+ degree temps in Austin. I'll also be able to put myself in a training camp mentality. There's an advantage to taking a few weeks out of your routine to focus on a particular event. It's pretty refreshing and energizing to have new roads and routes. The terrain and climate in Northern Michigan is very similar to Wisconsin, so it'll be the best possible training for that particular course. With high temps in Michigan ranging from 75-85 in August, the volume, quality, and repeatability of workouts is the absolute best.
As I look at our "low" temperature of 82 degrees at 6am this morning, looking at ozone warnings, high UV index warnings, heat advisories, and 100-105 degree forecasts for the next week.....I'm motivated to start looking at flights up to Michigan.
Until then, the Heat Miser stands by my door, taunting and beckoning me every time I lace up my shoes or pump up my tires.....almost like he's saying "you're mine buddy".
The Heat Miser laughs at our plight of training outdoors in 100+ degree heat in Austin
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| June 22d: Birthday and heading to Buffalo Springs Ironman 70.3 this weekend |
Well, today's my birthday. It's a recovery day from a hard weekend of training so it's nice that I get to get things done on my birthday other things that I've been neglecting like updating my website, laundry, all the exciting things! I'm teaching the core class at Jack and Adam's Bikes tonight, so since that prevents me from going out to enjoy a birthday dinner, I'll make sure to give everyone in the class a "fun" birthday workout set insead. I think it's going to be 32 exercise sets of 32 reps each! That should be fun. It reminds me of two years ago when for my 30th birthday a bunch of friends and I ran 30 repeats up a hill here in Austin. The hill (called Wilkie) is normally run up 7-10 times for a full run workout. But in honor of my birthday, I wanted to run it 30 times. I could barely walk for about 3 days after that. Since today is a rest day for me, I'll just make everyone else do the sets of 32 in honor of my birthday :-)
Friday, I'm heading up to Lubbock, Tx to race Buffalo Springs Ironman 70.3. This is one of my favorite races in the Ironman circuit. This will be my 5th time at this race so I know the course well and enjoy it every time. I'm really looking forward to this race. |
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| June 14th: Kansas Ironman 70.3 Race Report |
Click here for my Kansas Ironman 70.3 race report with pictures
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| June 10th: Heading out to Kansas Ironman 70.3 |
I'm heading out early tomorrow morning to drive from Austin to Lawrence, Kansas to race Kansas Ironman 70.3 this weekend. I am really stoked to start my half-Ironman series for this year. I spent my whole winter focusing on strength and endurance for my international Ironmans in the spring. Since then, I've focused only on my speed to build on those gains from this last winter to get me ready for three half-Ironmans (so-named Ironman 70.3) in a row. Kansas is the first stop this weekend. My parents are coming into Kansas for the race, so I'm really excited to see them as well. My buddy from Team Jack & Adams, Paul Terranova will be racing as well. Kansas is supposed to have a pretty tough bike course and as always, the competition will be strong. So I'm excited for a fun weekend. I'll update my site with a race report after the race.
Pat |
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| June 10th: Swim tips article in Austin Runner Magazine |
If you pick up this month's issue of Austin Runner you'll find my article on a beginner's guide to surviving a first triathlon swim. Click on these links to read a copy: Page 1, Page 2
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| June 10th: Archiving old blog entries |
I'm doing a little house cleaning on my site and have archived my blog entries from Dec-May 2009. You can find them by going to my blog archives here. |
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| June 1st: Red Wings and Chocolate Milk |
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In a couple weeks, I start my series of Ironman 70.3 races for this season. I’m feeling great and excited to race. This week though, what’s more important is that Stanley Cup finals are underway with my Red Wings taking a 2-0 lead over Pittsburg. I don’t get to watch many hockey games living in Texas, let alone Detroit Red Wings. So this last weekend I was really happy to be able to watch the Wings on Saturday and Sunday. What perfect recovery from big training, to lay on the couch and watch the team I grew up following. Since I don’t have cable, I only get to watch hockey during the NHL playoffs when they’re on national TV. So through the next week, I’ll be cheering for the Wings as they go for another Lord Stanley’s cup.
On another note, somewhat more related to triathlon than the Red Wings, has been my recent chocolate milk kick for recovery drink. I’ve found chocolate milk to be just as good a recovery drink for tough workouts as any expensive store-bought fancy recovery drink. If you buy low-fat choco milk, it has protein, carbs, and vitamins. It costs about 1/10th as much as marketed recovery drinks and tastes much better!! What more do you need from a recovery drink. I know many pro-triathletes drink chocolate milk for recovery. As the summer temps in Austin have been creeping in, several times I’ve craved an ice-cold glass of chocolaty goodness at the end of a nasty hot sweat session!
Pat
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