Well, this year has proven to be one of the most difficult.  I have had to mourn my running.  I had reached out to every line of help, (or so I thought), Sports therapist, Massage, ART, Sports  Medicine Doctors, Foot Specialist, Foot Surgeons and then, the last one told me my running career was over and I would NEVER run the same, that’s if I could and that would be in several years.  I have a case of sever Plantar Fascia.  I sat in that office with my head tilted back so the tears would not slide down my face, by this point I was getting used to holding in the tears until I got home….oh and would stuff my face with whatever was in my fridge! 
I decided to go down to Ironman Lake Placid, to hang out with TIMEX and chat to Cassidy at www.tptherapy.com.  Well, Cassidy looked me in the eye and TOLD me he would have me running.  He told me he would have me ready for an Ironman this year.  I got the chills all over my body, I absolutely believed him.  So on Saturday the day before the race Cassidy spent a LONG time on me, showing me how to use the tp footroller, quad roller and massage ball.  I got rid of all my orthotics and the leg splint that I was sleeping in. Thank goodness! 

WWW.TPTHERAPY.COM……..CASSIDY PHILLIPS HAS SAVED MY LIFE!! 

At first it was every other day running, with a slight bit of pain afterwards (need to be honest).  Now I am running over an hour at a good pace, with NO pain.  I’m now training for www.Ironmanflorida.com.  I just did my first Triathlon last Sunday and I WON! My run was 59 seconds longer than last year.  Everyday I use the tp therapy products, it’s easy and I carry the rollers around with me everywhere, even in my handbag 

What I learned 1.Never ever give up on yourself.  2. You have to take control of your own Health.  3.  All the years of fitness are like putting cardio in the bank, depositing and withdrawing.  Taking some time out is OK, it only hurts your brain.  Train smart and you will come back, strong and healthy. 4. Talk to Cassidy at www.tptherapy.com  before you start wasting your money on all kinds of therapy!

Stay Healthy  paolina allan 

18 years of triathlon had convinced me that I didn’t like swimming. Every touch of the pool wall represented an opportunity to stop and go home to me. I seized many. Maybe if I did all my running on an indoor, dimly lit, 50 yard track I wouldn’t like running either.

I’ve blown off the pool for the month of August. I don’t claim this will make me a faster swimmer, or live longer, but I sure like swimming more. I’ve gone all open water, all wetsuit, all the time – no intervals, no drills, no turns.

I’m lucky, my training partner has access to a lake and 3X a week we’ve been hitting it for 65-75 minutes. That’s an eternity for me in a pool. Check this out. That was taken on a Sunday morning about 6:50 AM and I was looking forward to swimming because it would be fun. I haven’t thought that since summer camp.

Perhaps it’s the same type of fun Conrad gets from riding a single speed, simplicity. I enjoy it when the weather is nice because it’s a beautiful place and I enjoy it when the weather is bad because I’m encased in neoprene so it’s more comfy than biking in the rain.
Recently, I added adventure to open water swimming in the form of a few jellyfish and a lot of fog with a 2.5 miles point to point swim in Long Island sound from Stamford CT to Todd’s Point Beach in Greenwich CT. Reveille was 5 AM, car drop off at the beach was 6 AM and tide and fog made it a longgg swim. We weren’t going to take the short cut across the cove when we couldn’t see the other side. I don’t swim straight even when I can see where I’m going.

Here’s the start. We thought the fog would lift.

And here’s the finish with our leader, 70+ year old John Cook. He’s managed to keep swimming fun.

The Becker Buzz
August 19, 2007
“Pre Ironman Race Sandwich”

My last race seemed like an eternity ago and since then a lot has happened, so I thought I would update everyone as to what I have been up to as Ironman Wisconsin approaches. I have put all of my ‘eggs’ in the Ironman basket this year. My training called for me to hold back for a huge portion of the year, this was something that was new to me and was also something that proved to be move difficult than I thought. But my coach, Luis Vargas, assured me that there would be a time to go hard and that it would pay off.

Well that time came and we decided to insert two races into the schedule. The races were treated as HARD training sessions. They would follow a big training block and would be preceded by 3 easy days. Here is a results summary, with details below.

Iron Abe Olympic

July 29, 2007

Swim: 22:27 Bike: 56:58 Run: 36:46 Finish 1:57:22

2nd Overall

http://www.onlineraceresults.com/pdf/5997.pdf

Pleasant Prairie Olympic

August 19, 2007

Swim: 19:13 Bike: 58:05 Run: 35:11 Finish 1:54:44

1st Overall

http://www.pleasantprairietriathlon.com/raceresults/index.asp

I found the Iron Abe Triathlon just a little over a week before I needed race. It was about a 4 hr drive south to Springfield, IL (birthplace of Abraham Lincoln…thus the name “Iron Abe Triathlon”) and I seemed like a good race. Oh yeah, it gave an opportunity for a small paycheck as well. Anyway, I stayed with a friend in the area and before I knew it I was getting set up on race morning.

The water was WARM, so there would be no wetsuits. But I had my Blue Seventy Pointzero3 speed suit. Through some testing done in the pool by myself, as well as another teammate, I knew that this suit could save a few seconds per 100m. The gun went off and I found myself gapped by a few meters, at the first buoy. I really try to build my swims to allow for me to have a few options as things sort out. In doing so, I was able to close the gap by the turn and decided to sit comfortably in the group. About ¾ of the way through the swim, I realized that there was another swimmer off the front!!! I had sworn that we were the first group, but there was another swimmer about 75m up. I tried to lift the pace, but it just wasn’t worth it.

I hopped on the bike and just tried to get into a good rhythm. The ride was flat, so I could see the lead rider just ahead. I was steadily clawing back time and the gap was down to about 40sec at the turn around. The roads were not all that smooth, but one really nice feature of the TTX is that the carbon really eats up the vibration from the roads. On the way back I got within about 20sec, when a car that was stopped at an intersection, decided to do a Y turn right in front of me. I nearly lost it, but managed to squeeze through. It was a bit frustrating, as the gap was now back to about 40 sec.

After a quick T2 I was out on the run about 30s down. I felt ok, but legs were just not there. I had only been doing speed work for a few weeks and I didn’t have the turn-over that I needed. Daniel Bretscher, a very talented short course guy, took the overall win and I cruised in about 2min back. It was a solid day, but I knew that I could do more.

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In the 3 weeks after the race I put in my most intense IM specific block of training. I was a little MIA at times, but I got through it. Ironman is so much more than just how many watts you can push and what pace you can run at what HR. There are so many unknowns that need to be addressed. This was where my focus was over these weeks and while I reached new levels of fitness, I also answered all those questions. I was now hoping for a good “fitness pop” before I start to taper.

After 3 lighter training days, I felt ready to give a good effort. I awoke to POURING rain….which was beginning to feel like the norm. We have had almost 10 inches in the last week alone and it wasn’t looking like it was going to stop for the race. I drove an hour to the race site from a relative’s house and was debating turning around, just about every exit. I arrived, parked and rode my bike from the remote parking to the race site…in the POURING rain. The buzz around the race site was that they would make an announcement soon. Well, somehow the weather let up and they decided to give things a go.

After a quick set-up, I put on my Helix…aka, “Second Skin” and jumped in the water for a good swim warm-up. I jumped out and we all lined up on the beach for the downhill FAST start. The gun went off and we sprinted for the water. I went out strong to find some feet and it worked out well. I was fourth in line and we were alone. Only problem is that the two guys directly in front of me popped, one-by-one. I pulled around and worked it solo for the remainder of the swim. I held the gap of about 15seconds and hopped out in a new PR of 19:13.

I got onto the bike and didn’t feel great right away, but tried to stay smooth. My Timex HR Monitor showed that I was where I needed to be, and my Powertap SL showed good power. I knew that it was just a matter of time until I felt better. I never got into a groove, but did hit the wattage that I had hoped for.

I came off the bike with a good lead, but still tried to push the pace as much as possible. I wanted to see if I could make a good improvement in my run split from my previous race. I came through mile 1 in 5:26 and felt good with a HR of 168. I knew that my training was working and pushed, but also enjoyed the rest of the race. I crossed in 1:54:44.

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I now have three weeks until Ironman Wisconsin and I feel like I am right where I want to be. I have a great team, coach and support system to hopefully let everything fall into place on Sept. 9. I will check in again as we get close. Thank you to everyone for their support. Please visit my website for more info, www.blakebecker.com

My Coach Luis Vargas: www.luisvargas.com

Saris Cycling Group – www.saris.com

Timex Team Site: http://teamtimex.timexblogs.com/

Madison Trek Bike Store: www.trekstoremadison.com

Fleet Feet Madison: www.fleetfeetmadison.com

Blue Seventy Wetsuits: www.blueseventy.com

At the beginning of this year, I needed a new singlespeed for Sea Otter. Since I broke the frame I was riding last summer and didn’t have my new Timex Trek 69’er yet (since there was a delay in availability), I converted last year’s hardtail, and thought I should share this beautiful, sensual process with everyone. The process for creating a singlespeed is really quite simple and takes less than 30 minutes, “It’s breathtaking, I suggest you try it”. If you’re not ready to go buy your own, like the Trek 69er, this is a great way to get an inexpensive introduction to singlespeeding.
Take any currently functional hardtail mountain bike, that you most likely don’t ride anymore if you don’t race and have joined the rest of the 20th century with full suspension.

1. Remove all shifting related apparatus: shifters, cables, derailleurs
2. Remove big and small chain rings, move the middle 32 tooth ring to the outside position install with custom chainring bolts ($5)
3. Remove cassette, install single 18 tooth cog ($6) with spacers ($5)
4. Shorten chain, install surly singleator ($30) if necessary
5. Weigh bike and marvel at it’s light weight and simplicity (My temporary Giant = 19.5 lbs)
6. Ride & smile

Try it and have fun! Here are 2 pics: last year’s Kelly, and this year’s Trek.

 The majority of women in the sport of triathlon do not have enormous hair…and there is a reason. I was looking back on my many (2) years of being a triathlete and thought I might share a few “hairy” moments with you.

Before retiring, at the age of 11, from the sport of triathlon, I rocked the perfect triathlete hairdo. My hair was cut short, and tightly permed into a large ‘fro…I am not kidding…it was awesome. So when I made my triathlon comeback, at the age of 21, I was not sure as to what do with my huge blonde hair. So I had my friend, Lissa “Fisch Face” Fischer, french braid two cute pigtails. The braids were rad until I got to transition, and couldn’t fit my helmet over the braids. I ended up perching my helmet on top of my head, with the straps suffocating me…I don’t even think that is legal.

I was not yet totally turned off on the braided hair idea. The night before my first Ironman, I went to a salon in Tempe and asked the woman to braid my hair TIGHT, so I could comfortably get a helmet over it. The braiding was about a 10 on the “it would hurt less to shove a pencil in my eye” scale. When she finished, she asked if I wanted “product” put on my ‘do to hold it in place. Now, I am about as low maintenace as it gets, so the only “product” I am educated on is deoderant. I now know one thing about hair “product.” When you jump into the Tempe Town Lake, it will flow down your face like a slow moving oil spill. It tastes like 11 pm on a Saturday night, and if it gets in your goggles, you might as well chuck them.

Previously, I participated in the Boulder Stroke and Stride series. The event is super low-key (I was mainly there for the pizza, and the boys in speedos…in that order) but the swim start is BRUTAL. As I took off, I got hit in the face. Hit so hard that it broke my goggles, which held my cap on, so when my cap came off, my hair was everywhere. I was like the Boulder Res Loch-(Hair)ness monster.

The next Stroke and Stride I survived the swim (woohoo), ran into transition, put on my shoes, race belt, tied my hair up…oh wait…I forgot a hair tie. So I ran like a beautiful stallion with flowing hair behind me, yeeeeeah right! My hair was so long by then that the people who were on there way back, running in the opposite direction, probably got smacked in the face by my less than glorious mane.

So I decided to get a bit cut off. My dad told me he had a gift certificate to a salon in town. I figured it had to be better than the last time I went to Fantastic Sams and got the twitchy lady to unintentionally layer my hair. I went to the salon to find ESPN on the TV, jerseys on the wall, and my hair cutter was wearing an umpire uniform. I fully expected to be offered a beer when I sat down in the chair. “So,” I started, “do you, um, get many girls in here?” That was when she told me they only cut men’s hair, but they couldnt legally turn me away…uh huh. “So, have you ever cut a girl’s hair before?” “Nope” uh huh. The hair cut ended up NOT being better than the one I received from the twitchy lady…dang it. I think it is time to bring back the ‘fro.