Putting in 16-18 hours a week in preparation for my fall Ironmans has certainly formed a solid base and good endurance.  But, under Simon Lessing and Darren DeReuck’s tutelage (Boulder Coaching), this has also included more high quality sessions than I have done in the past … including some serious work on the track.

Now , before you question doing trackwork as part of one’s Ironman prep, let me point out that several pretty good Ironman competitors share the track on the same Tuesday morning that our group works out, including one Chrissie Wellington.  Right up to 2 weeks before she set her amazing record in Germany, she was out there, banging off quarters, 800’s, etc.

So, it was with a bit of new found confidence that I entered the Pearl Street Mile last Thursday evening (8/12).  I actually used to own the race, before selling it to Ironman last year; so, it was pretty cool to be on the other side of the fence for it.  I loved it!

Anyway, the week before the race, we had 2 sets of moderate to high intensity runs of 20 minutes each, followed by a 5 minute all out run (this was on trails).  My final 5′ was at 6:18 pace, and Darren pronounced me ready to run a 5:55, based on that.  I though “cool.”  5:55 at 55 years old!  Now, for the weird/karma part – I went to pick up my race number the day before (I had pre-registered) … yep, #555.  It was now a done deal.

My warm-up had my heart rate elevated quite high as I was waiting for the starting gun (that was the plan – no time to build in the first 1/4); and, right before the gun, Steve Jones – the former world marathon record holder (1984 – 2:07) – was right behind me, and pulled my shorts down, as a bit of levity.  Just as I pulled them back up, we were off!  My heart rate pegged immediately, and I never once looked down at my Timex Global Trainer.  I just ran all out for exactly … 5:51 – I was wasted and ecstatic.  Mission accomplished.

To be clear, most of our track sessions are like 8 X 800’s, or 6 X 1600 at this point; but, with a 20 minute warm-up and 10 minute cooldown, they are pretty solid speed-endurance combos.  It certainly helped me hit my goal last week; now, here’s hoping it will help me sustain 26 of those miles even 2-3 minutes slower on The Big Island come October!

So, I know I’ve not blogged for a while… so here’s what I’ve been up to in reverse order:

London triathlon 6^th August

This is one HUGE event. With something like 13000 triathletes competing over the course of the weekend, it literally fills a warehouse where the transition areas and expo are situated. The Timex stand was large and loud at the expo, and as ever I was happy to be stood in front of a 12 foot tall Kyle Marcotte. Kyle did you know you are plastered all over our UK expo stand?

Dan managed to get me an entry to the race the day before, which was good as I wouldn’t have been sure any earlier if my body was ready for a little hit out post Ironman UK the weekend before. I wasn’t expecting much, but an intensity training session makes the trip to Docklands over the weekend a bit more rewarding from a training point of view.

Sunday morning and we were feeling the logistical headache that holding a massive tri festival in East/Central London brings. The closed bike course that heads all the way into Westminster and the Houses of Parliament caused major traffic diversions, and combined with the usual London weekend road works meant that driving round London with two other athletes was quickly turning into a comedy of errors with directions and diversion signs.

Arriving at the race venue about 40 minutes before race start (and about an hour later than planned) meant that there was minimal faffing – rack the Orbea, which hadn’t seen much love since a similar time the weekend before in Bolton, quickly check where bike out/in and run out were, a fleeting note to self that maybe I needed contacts because the transition was SO big that I could barely read the signage at the exits, and it was off to swim start.

The docks, as ever and despite passing EU water quality standards, tasted decidedly strange and was very brown/green. Deep water start and a horn and the ‘fast’ wave were good to go. The event is so large that the field is broken into waves of age groupers and a ‘fast’ wave (sub 2:30) which is supposed to be the most competitive part of the race. The only guys going faster than us today would be the elite, draft-legal ITU race happening a few hours later.

So off we go. I think I started quicker at the ironman last weekend. Arm turnover slow. Heart rate staying really steady state. O yes – the effects of racing last weekend were clear already: zero top end. But that’s good too. This is supposed to be my fun race, to get a bit of work done and shock the body back into training ahead of the next hard 4 week block leading into IMWisconsin. Keep going! The good thing about having done an IM the weekend before is that 1500m goes REALLY quick.

The same thing wasn’t true about T1. Out of the water, onto a pontoon, along the dock, up some stairs into the Excel centre, running around T1… still running around T1…. A bit more running. Several minutes later, thanks to the enormous nature of the race, your lucky enough to be somewhere near your bike. I only missed mine by a row so I think I did quite well. Helmet, race belt and off. At this point I am patting myself on the back for not going for the usual ironman transition which tends to include socks, a bit of food and drink etc etc.

The bike course is uniquely London – Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament happen at one end, and the Docklands dual carriageways and a beautiful stretch of the A13 at the other. It couldn’t be more representative of the capital if it tried. Somehow I managed to keep pushing, though my legs weren’t wanting to go very hard. An hour passed quickly and uneventfully and we were back into the cavernous transition area and out onto the run.

No spark on the run, but I hung in to pass a few people and managed to avoid the splash back from someone vomiting on themselves next to me mid stride. Lovely. 4 laps later the finish happened, but I pretty much headed straight to the Timex stand for a debrief and chat. It was only the next day that I found out I came 6^th – a happy bonus!

A good day’s work considering one week on from IM UK. And a lot of fun had on the stand with the Timex/Assit guys. Hats off to Dan Calvert for a storming first Olympic race too. Good job Dan!

Looking towards the Expo

Looking towards the bike racking areas

And just because I’ve not got any photos of me racing from this event yet, here’s one from the next post – which will be about Ironman UK ten days ago…

I can’t BELIEVE it is already August and most of the race season has come and gone.  I have had a great year so far and have made some real improvements, both mentally and physically.  Since I have been behind on race reports and for the most part have been in my WI bubble, I’ll share some highlights.

 I started the year off strong with an overall amateur win at Ironman St. George in May and have since competed in 4 half Ironman races, 1 sprint, and 1 olympic distance race.  I have seen improvements in the swim, bike, and run this year and am more excited about this sport than ever! 

A couple weeks ago I competed in my second half Ironman distance race in 2 consecutive weekends (as I did last year, with these same races).  In theory this sounds like a recipe for disaster, but I ended up racing well both weekends.  

Weekend 1: Door County Half Ironman (Egg Harbor, WI)  Reason(s) for doing this race- for fun and to measure improvement from last year.  I  have only been racing a few years, so having the opportunity to race the same half ironman two years in a row is a great way to measure improvement.   I cut 8 minutes off my time from last year and set a new course record with a 4:33.  Most importantly I felt strong and happy the whole day.  Overall just a great, fun weekend with friends.

Weekend 2: Chisago Lakes Half Ironman (Chisago, MN) Reason(s) for doing this race- same as for weekend 1, but with the possible bonus of prize money.  I was nervous going into this race because my legs felt like bricks for the entire week up until the day before the race.  I knew there would probably be some people showing up to race too, with a $1000 pay out for first place!  

Swim/Bike:   I made it to the start line feeling a little worried, but determined to push myself as much as I could handle.   My pre-race nerves were put to ease as former teammate Carole Sharpless (Sharpie!!) was there!!  What an awesome surprise…all the way from Colorado :)  Anyhow, she kicked my butt in the swim as expected, and I came out of the water third (just behind Cathy Yndestad).  It took me a bit to reel Sharpie and Cathy in, but eventually I got up there.  My legs were definitely not all there and I was worried that any sort of acceleration or climb would suck any life out that was left….but it turned out alright as I came into T2 just out of first.  

Run:  I had an awesome T2 and took off on the run like it was a 10k.  This sounds crazy, but I knew if I could just put a little distance between me and second place I could probably hang on.  I ran a couple fast miles (thankfully I have been good about doing track workouts this year, because I actually have a little more speed than I used to) and managed to pull away.  I didn’t look back from then on and managed to run my fastest run split ever of a 1:24.  I came to the finish with an 8 minute lead!!   I finished with a 4:27.

Since these races I have been in recovery and now training mode heading straight into Ironman WI and the Ironman World Championships in Kona.   It’s been my longest year of racing, starting off with the Ironman in May, and I would not have been able to do any of this without having the support of such an amazing network of family, friends, and teammates.  I know every triathlete can agree that this is not a sport you can do alone. 

Good luck to everyone in the rest of your season!!  Thanks for reading :)

Jackie

Well, I think I have experienced paradise.  I had the opportunity to go down to a remote Island off Florida and train for a week in the extreme heat and humidity that abounds there this time of year.  My friend who is a budding Pro Triathlete, has lived and trained there for a year and a half now.

As we got onto the island and arrived to his dwelling, I immediately was taken back that he had both of his bikes just sitting there outside his house.  In the open, for anyone to see.  He proclaims they have been there for a year and a half and they were just fine.  Guess I’m not in suburbia anymore?!  It was a very difficult thing for me to wrap my head around.  Shortly, thereafter, my Orbea Ordu got plopped right next to the other two and I hesitantly went inside feeling like I was completely abandoning one of my most prized possessions!

I couldn’t get inside fast enough to remove a few layers of clothing.  I’ve been to Kona several times and this heat index didn’t even touch it.  I began learning about my new training facility for the week and was completely excited to get the training rolling.  First of all, training nutrition: mango’s are unlimited here.  I could hardly believe it, I LOVE MANGO’S… I knew it was going to be a great week!

Next we headed out for my first bike ride and island tour.  There is one road that goes from one end to the other but we didn’t ride on the road, we rode on the “path”.  Yes, this was crazy.  Residents here drive golf carts around the island to get around, it was actually kind of hilarious!  Some have custom painted golf carts and I even saw one with bigger tires and painted flames on it.  I don’t think most of them even golf!  You just have a golf cart to get around.  My first ride was a very interesting experience, as I learned how to share the path with the golf carts and most often was riding faster than them and “passing on the left” was a common occurrence.  On another note, I have NEVER sweat so profusely in my life.  Within a minute or two of getting back out into the heat, my body was pouring sweat from every single pore.  I had sweat just constantly dripping off my chin and running down my legs into my shoes.  This was all while riding!  I consumed 80 fluid ounces of  water and PowerBar Electrolyte drink during my short 2 hour ride!  The island is about 7 miles long, so, yes, we looped back and forth. It was so beautiful, and so fun to be in a new environment, it never got old.  I would go back in a heartbeat.

The swimming pool was fantastic and turned into my favorite workout everyday as it was the coolest of them all!  It was fun increasing my yardage significantly this week and giving/getting stroke feedback.  Every evening we jumped on the Vasa Trainer and had another workout.  My upper body definitely reaped some rewards from the multiple training sessions daily.  One day we decided to swim in the ocean.  I quickly got overheated in the 90 degree water and almost hurled.  It was quite interesting.  But if I had hurled, there would’ve been no one there to witness it… as we were always the only ones on the white sand beach!! =)

We would run on the same path that we biked on… I did a lot of loops so I could refill water at the house.  I did notice by Thursday my water needs had been reduced significantly.  I love adaptation!

I finished up my last training day with around 5 and a half hours and then we packed up and headed to Miami to race Huntington’s Disease Olympic Triathlon.  It was sad to say goodbye to my ‘training facility’ I had instantly bonded with.  We traveled through Alligator Alley and dropped into downtown Miami and as we pulled into the Hyatt, I quickly realized what two extremes I was going to experience this week.  A remote retreat to the flashiest of cities out there.

After a solid nights sleep, I awoke and headed over to the race.  It was a balmy 85 at about 5am.  At this point, the decision was made.  I was going commando, no speedsuit for me.  I just needed to make sure I made it through the swim without overheating.  This was my first non-wetsuit swim and I was excited.  After pacing conservatively for the first half of the swim, I put the hammer down the last half when I knew I was in the clear for making it through the swim.  I hopped on the bike and low and behold, began experiencing the biggest sufferfest I have ever known!  I felt every hour of training in my legs and couldn’t ever seem to pull the effort out of tempo watts.  I chuckled a little as I got passed by a few that I know normally I could hold off.  My goal for the run was a big goal… I wanted to come in just 6 secs faster than my run at Boulder Peak 3 weeks prior regardless of the big run/training week I was coming off of.  Well, I did just that and then some.  When I came across the finish line with another 1:21 off my 10k time… I was STOKED!!!!  Couldn’t have been happier!  BAM!!!  It even got me a 5th place age group finish and was like the cherry on top of an awesome week!  A shout out to my training partner in crime for pulling off a 2nd overall finish among the Elite competitors.

I will return to Isolation Island.  I am drawn to the extremes that exist there… pain and pleasure.

Enjoy your training =) www.tristafrancis.com

So in one of my 872,467 side-lives, I am an MBA student at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  Though my extremely nerdy concentrations are Analytic Finance, Economics and Entrepreneurship, as part of a recent class, I was (naturally) able to work triathlon into my group’s research.   As a result, we have some cutting-edge research on The Corporate Triathlete.

Here is a quick overview:

The sport of triathlon has undergone a transformation from its unscientific roots to its use of the latest technology and scientific knowledge to improve athlete performance. Our theory is that employees in corporations can be more productive by periodizing their day / week / month / year for the big meetings, important tasks, etc. In addition, we posit that employees can learn to manage their energy better by learning from triathlete training, taking away lessons on measuring data, getting feedback and setting goals accordingly.

And a web address (simultaneously copy all three lines and then paste into the address bar on your browser) to the full document for those nerdy enough to want to reference the original:

http://www.docuter.com/viewer.asp?documentid=3501108274c1a0978dfd5e1276774776&The-Corporate-Triathlete

As is customary, I have to deliver some mad props:

• The Timex Multisport Team members and other triathletes who were gracious enough to provide survey data
• Current Timex Team members Andrew Hodges and Christine Anderson for volunteering for in-depth interviews
• Former Timex Team member (and my coach) Mike Lavery for a third in-depth interview
• Research partners-in-crime and fellow Booth students Shelia Arora and Mike Carney for all their hard work, dedication and ability to put up with my general ridiculousness

Until next time, peace…