Last Wednesday evening, I ventured down to a great bike shop in Golden called The Bike Station to meet with my good friend Brett who is the local rep for Bell/Giro, Sharkies, Craft and Look. It is a small, quaint and family owned shop that has such a great vibe to it. I love shops like those. You always feel so comfortable walking in and get the best service and advice EVER!

Brett asked me to come by because they were having an all women’s event with a great presentation by some of the folks from Trek and of course, lots of good food. For those of you who know me well enough, if there is food involved…I’m there! So after committing to attend and do a little presentation and mingling about Timex, I knew I couldn’t come empty handed. I brought with me a brand new Timex women’s specific Bodylink GPS watch and data recorder for the raffle which I had been informed there would be.

It was a very hot item, as it should have been sitting next to bike parts and apparel, and was won by a woman who will be doing a ride across America this summer! It couldn’t have been more perfect. We exchanged contact information and she’s sooo excited to learn how to use it and to let me know how the trip goes. I was also able to give several other ladies information about the other health and fitness products Timex has to offer which was lots of fun.

It’s so rewarding leaving events like that knowing that you can help others become involved in a sport that is not only challenging, but quite intimidating for beginners. Life is just too good sometimes :)

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.

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

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.

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

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

This weekend I was out on the Lake Placid course, one of the advantages of living less than 2 hours away, and I had a solid weekend full of self inflicted pain! However, this was not a normal weekend training camp. My bike training (and hopefully racing) was totally revolutionized…why? For the first time ever I rode with a power tap . What an enlightening experience!! Now with a grand total of 3 rides under my belt with this tool I am still very much in the learning phase and, believe me, knowing the power you are producing minute to minute is awesome, but there is much, much more to training and racing with power than just watts.
There is a lot of science and theory that also must be incorporated into training with power. For example when I uploaded my file to my computer I was able to see histograms of my ride including power output (seen below), heart rate, cadence, speed as well as some estimates of the physiologic stress of my ride. The following chart was also spit out…Oh man do I have some learning to do.

Lake Placid Second Loop:
Duration: 2:35:14 (2:35:15)
Work: 2134 kJ
TSS: 140.8 (intensity factor 0.726)
Norm Power: 240
VI: 1.08
Distance: 56.14 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 684 222 watts
Heart rate: 0 0 0 bpm
Cadence: 29 193 91 rpm
Speed: 0 54.5 21.0 mph
Pace 1:06 0:00 2:51 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 297 85 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 797 207 lb-in
Regardless of the fact that I am a newbie to power I am already aware of the amazing amount of information that can be gathered and analyzed using a Power Tap. My coach, Kurt Perham, is being very patient as I ask a million questions and begin to wrap my head around the power of this tool. Training with a Power Tap will definitely taking my training and as a result my racing to the next level!

Train Smart! Rest Hard!

Tonight I held my first annual triathlon clinic at Bike N Ski in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I have previously worked at this store for 7 years before school became a year-round proposition. Whenever I am back home I seem to find myself hanging out at the shop quite a bit, and when the phone rings its hard not to answer it or go up and help customers. (It still feels like I work there). The triathlon clinic was open to anyone in the area, and to whatever topics people had questions about. We had several beginners/ first-timers that came so we mainly focused on the basics and how to participate in a triathlon. I think that the event was a success for everyone that came and hopefully we will hold more clinics in the future. Most importantly, we gave away some free stuff, some visors from Timex and some Triathlon calenders from Bike N Ski.

Check out the store at www.bikenski.net