Bike Training - What Bike training?

Event Stats:
Name Ford Ironman 70.3 California
Date 03/31/2007
Location Oceanside, CA, USA
Event Half Ironman
Finish Time 05:57:27

 People come to Southern California because it’s always warm and sunny, right? That thought went through my head, when I was standing in Transition at 6:30 with temperatures in the lower 50s, my naked feet on the concrete floor that sucked every bit of warmth out of my body. Waiting for my wave of the swim start was probably the worst part of the whole race. It actually felt warm when I finally entered the water, although it only had 59F.

The swim itself, a short out-and-back in the Oceanside marina was uneventful, and - due to the wave start - not even crowded. A quick transition and off I was on my bike.

I had ordered myself a brand new bike (a Quintana Roo Tequilo). It arrived a day before I started my trip to California, so I didn’t even have the saddle height adjusted when I got to SoCal. The last time I had ridden a bike before that day? Sometime in June last year, I think.

Punishment came instantly. Since I am a reasonably good swimmer (and a very bad cyclist) I am used to getting passed on the bike constantly, so that didn’t worry me. But after about 15 minutes, my hands fell asleep, my back started hurting and I felt ready to quit.

I had more-or-less ridden the bike porting of the race a year before, so I knew that it featured a VERY steep climb in the middle of Camp Pendleton. This year, with this bike, this gear-set and no training, it proved to much for me. When your standing with your full body weight on a pedal, and the bike doesn’t move, its time to step off and walk. Lucky for me, the climb wasn’t very long, so the embarrassment of walking lasted for less than two minutes.

Nevertheless, I got my act together on the run, and although it finally got quite hot and sunny and my legs hurt, ran a (for me very decent) 2:03 half marathon, allowing me to finish in just under 6 hours total, which was my goal time for this event.

Lessons learned:

1. At night, even in Southern California, the sun does not always shine
2. A great bike, without a proper bike fit, is a crappy bike
3. Always pack a pair of throw-away shoes/flip-flops
4. The pain in your legs at the start of the run really goes away
5. When that happens, the end of the run isn’t too far away

The Race That Disappeared

Event Stats:
Name Shamrock Half Marathon
Date 03/18/2007
Location Millersylvania State Park, WA, USA
Event Halfmarathon
Finish Time 01:48:42

Here is what I know: I drove to Millersylvania State Park on April 17, I ran a Half-marathon there, there were other runners there (although not many and I finished in 1:48:42. I also remember signing up (and paying) for this race. 

 It was a out-and back race, rolling hills, on a street through the state-park. Weather was OK, not too cold, some rain, but not bad. I actually ran quite well and I think I finished fourth. 

However, I can not find anything about that race online. It is like it never happened. Strange. Very strange.

[Update 01/13/13 Found the results list]

Frankfurter City-Halbmarathon

Event Stats:
Name Frankfurter City-Halbmarathon
Date 03/04/2007
Location Frankfurt, Germany
Event Halfmarathon
Finish Time 02:10:12

Small(er) race organized by Frankfurts most prominent running club. Early Sunday morning start means a pretty empty city. Run went OK for the first part, but I bonked pretty hard at about km 15. Good early season race.

I am an Ironman

Event Stats:
Name Brasil Telecom Ironman
Date 05/28/2006 
Location Florianopolis, SC, Brazil
Event Ironman
Finish Time 13:27:23

Playa del Run #2 Santa Monica

Event Stats:
Name Playa del Run #2 Santa Monica
Date 05/21/2006
Location Santa Monica, CA, USA
Event Aquathon
Finish Time 00:49:31

This race for me showed very nicely why it makes sense to train in a group and not as a loner. 

The morning after my bike race. Early. I was tired. I would have never gotten up on my own (especially since I signed up for this race just as training session). But my buddy Doug would be racing. So I figured, I would at least go there and cheer him on. And if I was going out, I might just as well bring the race gear. 

Got there, found Doug, had a coffee, set up my stuff and - yes, you guessed it - got ready to race. 

The swim ist just a big U, basically you swim from Santa Monica beach until after the breakers, a couple of hundred yards to the right, and back in. The you have to run back to transition, which rather sucks, because it is a) long and b) in loose sand. I changed, lost way to much time in transition, and then started for the short run (5km). The run is mostly on the grass of the SM Beach Boulevard. 

I went slow, finished in a little under 50 min, had coffee & a smoke, talked to Doug some more and went home, happy that I had gotten a good workout in and it was still not even 10:30 in the morning.

Breakaway San Clemente Challenge

Event Stats:
Name Breakaway San Clemente Challenge
Date 05/20/2006 
Location Oceanside, CA, USA
Event Century Bike Ride
Finish Time N/A

Nice 100km bikeride, untimed, with 2 nasty climbs, apparently at least partly on the Oceanside IM 70.3 bike course.

Playa del Run #1 Mission Bay

Event Stats:
Name Playa del Run #1 Mission Bay
Date 05/14/2006
Location Mission Bay, CA, USA
Event Aquathon
Finish Time 00:55:21

Three things are worth noting about this race. First, it is held at Mission Bay, which most people know because it is where Sea World is, but it is also considered the birthplace of triathlon. 

Second, cheaters!!! The swim was held in a little bay with an island in the middle. The idea was to swim around the island and back to the start. The water level was rather low, which meant, that, if you swam to close to the island, you would swim in mud. So what do people do? They simply get out of the water, run across the island, jump back in and swim back. I was one of the very few that simply swam a longer course to stay in deeper water. 

I don't really care about placing. If I wanted to be better, I would eat less. I just think there is something seriously wrong with cheaters. After the race I even listened to a woman, telling that she ran across the island "passing at least twenty others". Oh, and the also mentioned that the was a professional athlete from Colorado. I hope she dies rather soon. 

Third: At the raffle after the race I won a 100$ off voucher for a wetsuit, which is exactly what I need :-) 

Otherwise pretty well organized small race.

Nutrition Corner: After workout food

Ok, here is the thing. You worked out. You nearly choked on your energy bar. (Can you still say peanut-butter with a smile in your face?) Gulped down your Gatorade. Now the workout is done and you need to replenish your glycogen depots. What will you eat?

Protein shake? Another energy bar? PB/J sandwich? Can you? Still? Everyday? Not me. I need real food. So we do some pasta instead. Problem: you have only half an hour go get your food in to minimize your recovery period. So pasta is out. (Or you cook it in advance and just microwave it. But that, to me, sounds disgusting.

Here is my recipe for the - in my opinion almost perfect - after workout food:
1 can of corn
1 can of tuna (in water)
Peper, Salt, Tobasco and Lea&Perrins Worchester Sauce
Open cans, mix. Spice to discretion (BBQ sauce or A1 will also do for a change). Eat.

The food comes canned, so you can store it, you can even make that dish in your car. It is spicy, not sweet, you get both carbs and protein, as well as a decent dose of salt. And look at the nutritional values (values for my brand of tuna & corn, not counting seasoning):
Total kcal: 385
kcal from fat: 60
Tot. Fat: 6g
Sat. Fat: 0g
Trans Fat: 0g
Carbs: 38.5 g
Fibers: 10.5 g
Sugars: 24.5 g
Protein: 44.5 g

Go ahead, try to find a better after workout food.

Books and crazy ideas

Borders.com Sent me a coupon for 20% off of any book that expired today.

So I went to Borders to look for a book. Got an idea. Since I bough me a bike (which I didn't use so far), it might be good to buy a book on bikes as well. You know, just the basics, maintenance, how to sit correctly and so on.

Went to the sports book section. Found a book on bikes. Also found a book called "Becoming An Ironman" (ISBN 1-891369-31-8) which contains personal stories of Ironman first-timers. Bought the latter. Also bought "Triathlon Training". Did not buy a book on bikes.

At night I read both books about halfway trough.

23.00 Checked the Ironman Website. Almost everything for this year is sold out. Florianopolis in Brazil is not. May 28th. A little under 13 weeks. The last time I have ridden a bike for more than 30 mins was 7 years ago. Swimming more or less the same. Marathon I am currently training on (LA, March 19th).

Hmmmmm, I think I will sleep on it.

01.30 Can't sleep. Read more Ironman stories. Read up to the chapter of the DNFs (Did not finish). Talk to my girlfriend, she is skeptical, but fine with the idea (but she gave me hell about buying the bike). Check the training book again. There is a 12 week training schedule for an Ironman included.

It reads: "You should have some triathlon experience. You need to comfortably swim 1km, cycle 60km and run 12km, and you should be training regularly" OK, forget the first sentence. That's much to vague for me. What does comfortably mean? Given all the time in the world I can definitely do the requirements. Or does that mean all in one day? Oh, what the heck, I think I'll just try.

02:10 Signed up for Ironman Brazil.

Bought me a bike

Bought me a road-bike at Performance Bikes in Santa Monica.

Great Place, great bike, great price.

I just figured, a bike might help me loose some weight and cycling is probably a nice way to see the area around here.

Scale

Amazon just sent me my new Body Scale. I refuse to admit that it probably works correctly.

Anyhow, lets face the facts: I am

a) to heavy
b) to fat
c) my biological age is much higher than my real age

See, and I just spend over a hundred buck to get my day ruined. Isn't life great?

Not in Kansas anymore

Event Stats:
Name Pacific Shoreline Halfmarathon
Date 02/05/2006
Location Huntington Beach, CA, USA
Event Halfmarathon
Finish Time 02:09:22

Went out way to fast, didn't get enough drink in and bonked. End of story. I better adapt to the climate in California.

Very sad

Event Stats:
Name Long Beach Halfmarathon
Date 10/16/2005
Location Long Beach, CA, USA
Event Halfmarathon
Finish Time 02:12:41

Jet-lagged, out of shape, smoking again, but at least I kicked myself to get back into running. Result shows how well I'm doing :-(

Frankfurt

Event Stats:
Name Frankfurt Marathon
Date 10/31/2004 
Location Frankfurt, Germany
Event Marathon
Finish Time 4:14:54 (PB)

The first iteration of what is one of my favorite marathons, and a 13 minutes less than Regensburg. Great day.

Ja, wo laufen sie denn ... ?

Event Stats:
Name Forgenseedrumherumlauf
Date 10/2/2004
Location Fü;ssen, Germany
Event 32km run
Finish Time 03:08:00


The following is taken from the official race report, which can be found here (with pictures and all):

"Vogel fliegt, Fisch schwimmt, Mensch läuft!" Mit dieser prägnanten Formel hat dereinst Emil Zatopek, läuferische Lichtgestalt der frühen fünfziger Jahre, später in den achtzigern viele Laufereignisse gestartet. Offensichtlich kannte er noch keinen Gleitschirmflieger. Der hätte ihn nämlich gewiß davon überzeugt, daß das Fliegen überhaupt erst das Menschsein ausmacht, die letzte Entwicklungsstufe vom bloßen homo erectus zum homo sapiens darstellt, sozusagen.

Aber auch vor das Abheben haben die Götter den (Start)Lauf gesetzt. In aller Regel nicht sehr weit, aber leidlich behende Beine sind schon hilfreich. Deshalb, und um der Degeneration dieser nützlichen Gliedmaßen vorzubeugen, treffen sich seit einigen Jahren Anfang Oktober die Gleitschirmflieger in Rieden a.F. zum "Forggenseerundherumlauf der Gleitschirmflieger" auf der landschaftlich schönsten 30-km-Strecke Deutschlands: der See, im Hintergrund die Alpen, Schloß Neuschwanstein, kleine Kirchen mit Zwiebeltürmen, Kühe, Rösser, Wiesen mit Herbstzeitlosen und Sonnenschein.

So auch vergangenen Samstag. Pünktlich um 10.00 erfolgte der Start in Rieden. Am Vorabend, bei der Nudelparty, hatte man noch mal ordentlich Kraft getankt. Bei idealem Laufwetter, kühl und freundlich, machten sich die Sportler auf die Strecke über Dietringen, Roßhaupten, Ilasberg - dort, bei etwa km 9 war die erste Verpflegungsstation - Kniebis, am Hergatsriedsee war die zweite, Brunnen, Waltenhofen mit der dritten, Staustufe Füssen, Musical-Haus, Osterreinen und wieder Rieden.

Hubert Schäfer und Stefan Hornke übernahmen vom Start weg die Führung und gaben sie auch bis ins Ziel nicht mehr ab. Gemeinsam liefen sie über die Linie, drei Stunden hatten sie benötigt, entspannt und in lockerer Haltung. Das Feld der Verfolger wurde wenige Minuten später angeführt von Tina Lindemann und Bertram Sabais, hart bedrängt von Birgit Antz. Nach weiteren anderthalb Stunden waren alle im Ziel.

Karlsfelder Seelauf

Event Stats:
Name Karlsfelder Seelauf
Date 09/19/2004
Location Karlsfeld,Germany
Event Halfmarathon
Finish Time 01:54:08

Small local event. Ran with @Michbeck, but realized pretty soon that I was a little faster. So I picked up the pace. Pacing worked this time, as well as nutrition. Had a very strong finish and feel ready for Frankfurt. Michbeck finished only a couple of minutes behind.

Altötting Halbmarathon

Name Altötting Halbmarathon
Date 09/05/2004
Location Altötting, Germany
Event Halfmarathon
Finish Time 02:04:08

Great Organization,a good part of the race on trails,good cheer and beer at the finish. This was my first halfmarathon. Pacing worked well for the first 18km, then I picked up the pace way to early and ran out of gas with almost 2km left to go. Otherwise I think I could have stayed under 2 hours.

Once upon a time

Event Stats:
Name Regensburg Marathon
Date 5/23/2004
Location Regensburg, Germany
Event Marathon
Finish Time 04:28:43

The story begins 12 and a half weeks earlier. I am in the kitchen with @Fuzzel, the fourth bottle of wine is nearly empty. My current hypothesis: the physical limitations of the body are greatly overrated, mostly it is the head that leads you to quit. [I have much later found out that there is a corresponding theory about a central governor by South African Professor Tim Noakes. Maybe we drink the same wine]. Anyhow, to support my claim, I proclaimed that I would, on about two packs of Lucky Strikes a day, run a marathon.

The next morning I did two things:

a) I ordered a book about running from Amazon ("Runner's World. Das Laufbuch: Training, Technik, Ausrüstung"). Das war damals ungefähr das Beste, was es gab.

b) Having read that the training plans in said book are for twelve weeks, I looked what marathons were available twelve weeks from then. That was Regensburg and Regensburg, so I signed up.

The book arrived, I read it immediately (not very much content). It contained a training plan for a beginner with a target time of 4:30. That was the one for me. Admittedly, it also said something about requiring a minimum of one year of running experience, but who cares for details.

I followed the training plan for the first 7 weeks, than took a break for 4 weeks due to illness and lack of motivation.

However, the race itself was not that bad, I hit the wall, but not badly and the finish time was exactly as planned.

The rest, as they say, is history.