Absense makes the heart grow fonder..?

In the spirit of mock conversations with higher powers. Hello, my name is Dean and I'm an injured athlete. Or I WAS an injured athlete. In March, I ran a race. It was the ironman California, a.k.a.. California 70.3, California half. For me it was a great day.

I learned a lot about where I was in my training and how I was setup to run Sometimes you have to sit down and reflect. Unfortunately for me I have to get injured or sick (or both) to slow down long enough to do so.

So here I am sitting down. OK, so it's in a bar but so what. Let's take the good news first. Good times were had by myself and my iron teammates. My swim pace minus a little open water panic was smooth and steady, on pace to beat my 2006 Ironman Coeur d'Alene swim by close to ten minutes. I finished the race upright and smiling, meaning I didn't over extend myself.

Now the not so good. I got tired near the end and lost my form. After losing my running form I stressed a tendon in my foot and could barely walk on it without wincing. I took three weeks off and now am finally back to training, and putting in some long mileage.

Therein lies the good news. In getting in my first new miles of the post injury period I realized something about myself that made me smile.

I missed it.

Three weeks off had cleared out my mid season burnout and focused me. My brain was, is telling me that I want to run. I can't wait to get on my bike. I want to move. I want the distance. And so with six and a half weeks to go.. Bring it. It's time to train again and I can't wait. Let's get going! (and someone bring me some motortabs!) -ds

http://irondean.blogspot.com

The 2007 Ironman California - 70.3

A tremendous season opener. The Ford Ironman California 70.3, a mouthful of syllables and no shortage of meaning. Ironman 70.3 races are distances formally known as "half ironman" races. Don't let the "half" fool you it's a race not to be taken lightly. For many present this was not only their first race of the season, but also their first at this distance.

In previous years this race was two weeks earlier and more often than not race day brought cold water, rainy weather, and slick asphalt. This year on March 31st the race was held to bright blue sunny skies, and a swim nearly five full degrees warmer than last year. For Southern Californians this is the closest race at any ironman distance.

Ahh the swim, a 1.2 mile loop through the boat bay. I'm usually pretty anxious to get in the water. Not so much because I like swimming, though I do, but more because I can't wait for it to be over. In most places I'm perfectly comfortable in the water, but in the open with that may people around me, the irrational part of my brain takes over and starts to freak me out. I say irrational because this year and last year I've trained at double this distance and am fine when I get out of the water. For the next race I need to know how hard and/or how fast I can go and still go out and have a good day. I was in the 18th wave, starting over an hour after the first group of professionals. Basically I watched the first pro, Andy Potts, finish his swim in 22:35 (according to the preliminary results), before I had gotten in to my wetsuit and staged in the starting chute.

Getting out of the water the charming water scenes of Oceanside, CA give way to Camp Pendleton and the hills that lay ahead. I've been on base once, and that was a much shorter ride. This ride had us riding on roads that had markings pointing out artillery ranges and signs that notified you not to proceed ahead of a particular point due to falling ordinance... The most striking notice was a crossing for, yes, tanks. A freakin' tank crossing sign. How was I NOT going to notice a 50-60 ton piece of fighting machine crossing the road?

A scant three hours and twenty minutes later it's on to the run. The run for me has always, and I mean always, been the hardest part of the day. There's nothing but road in front of you and only your legs to cover it. We ran on the strand in Oceanside from the Marina past the pier. If I haven't said it before I'll say it now, it was a beautiful day.

Final for me on the day was a 6:32. I dropped an equivalent six minutes on my swim from Ironman last year, and hopefully something equally significant on my bike and run. For me, keeping that pace for Ironman would be phenomenal. I know today that I benefit from a great training program, a year's worth of base training, the support of a fantastic team (Go Team), and the luck of having such a beautiful day on the course.

Special thanks go out to my Ironteammates, Matt (who had the fastest time on the course for our team at 5:50, go and donate to his team in training campaign if you can), Jen (who beat me by two minutes), Christy (whose persistence on the run continues to inspire and drive me), Karen (whose experience on the bike and run mirrored in many ways my '06 Ironman Coeur d'Alene experience), and to Kevin (whose experience in racing helped us all, and who went back on to the course after finishing the race himself, to find and run with Karen as she finished her race).

I was powered by Lemon-lime Motortabs, Vanilla Crisp Powerbars, Enduralytes by Hammer Nutrition, and despite a little cramping in my calves due to an overall lack of flexibility, had a fantastic day. Success is due in no small part to training, but equally to nutrition. I can't thank the fine people at Motortabs, Hammer Nutrition and Powerbar enough for bringing fine products to market and continuing to improve as endurance sports progressively evolve.

Gear - Motortabs : A Follow up

In the most recent Ironman World Championships in Kona, HI (Oct 21st, 2006) Motortabs were among the nutrition strategy of Michellie Jones, who won the Pro Women's Division in 9:18:31.

See previous post on motortabs

I forgot to point out that motortabs can be found at these online retailers:

• Trisports.com - Discount given for more tabs purchased
• All3sports.com - Motortabs by the box
• Amazon.com - You can even find them on Amazon

Eat, Drink, & Be Triathletes.

Gear - Motortabs

I discovered Motortabs at the end of my triathlon season last year. Motortabs, a fluid replacement system, uses an effervescent delivery system much like an alka seltzer. Instead of powders and scoops, Motortabs are served in foil packets and begin to dissolve when they hit water. In a matter of minutes the tablets, or tabs, dissolve completely in the bottle or cup that they are placed in.

The Motortabs product is available in three easy to drink flavors, lemon-lime, fruit punch and orange. Each tab is 16g of carbohydrates (65 calories per tab) allowing for easy estimation of nutrition needs. Additionally, sodium (250mg) and potassium (75mg) are also a part of the product.

Here’s where I see the Motortabs advantage. The tabs themselves are easy to carry. They taste good. The formula is really simple allowing for easy combination with other nutrition sources. Tabs can be carried and mixed on the fly in aero bottles according to need with water on the course, as there is nearly always water on the course.

That last point was made especially clear to me on a past race. I had premixed bottles of nutrition sitting waiting for me at mile 60 of 112 and after four hours of baking on the hot pavement the stuff was nearly undrinkable. What was missing on my part was the desire to drink as much as I had to to stay hydrated and to keep my energy stores up. All over the course was Gatorade, which for me needed to be cut down a little with water, and cold water. On a hot day nothing, and I mean nothing, sounds or feels better than a bottle of cold water. If I had had an aero bottle and Motortabs I would have been able to mix my drinks as I went, adding cold water and which ever flavor tab suited my fancy as I went. Instead I had to discard over three hours of planned nutrition and do my best with what was on the course. Not what I had planned and far from ideal.

On a personal note I’ve tried several products, am not sponsored by any of them (YET, hint hint!), but have found that this product allows me the greatest amount of nutritional and logistical flexibility over the long course. Couple that with also liking the flavor and not minding the tenth bottle of the stuff over the course of a workout or race and I think I’ve found my product. I’m going back to Ironman this summer and Motortabs are a key part of my nutrition plan for training and racing. With any luck at all, there will be a new PR for me out there. I can’t wait.

Good Gear - Hydration #1 - The Aero bottle

Behold, the Aero bottle, or Aerodrink as deemed by the manufactuer, Profile Design. The bottle itself holds 32 fluid ozs if you fill it up to the top of the bottle. The main advantage to using a system like this is that it was designed to fit between the aero bars of your bike. Which means that the straw is right in front of your face! There is no excuse for forgetting to drink. Without a solution like this one would actually HAVE TO REACH either down to the bottle cages on the frame or behind the seat to wrestle a drink. Personally I've found that I drink as much as I should without even thinking about it using a system like this.


The second advantage is that it allows you to mix your drinks on the fly, put the martini shaker down! If you use Motortabs or other effervescing products you can drop these right in to the bottle and they will dissolve in minutes. You can mix as much or as little as you want. On the other hand if you're using a premix or course supplies, Gatorade Endurance and/or water, you can pour what you need out of any of those bottles straight in to this one. When I discovered that I was in need of something cold to drink but had already mixed up the bottles that I was going to be using for the day, I was able to slightly dilute the mixture, which was already warm after a few hours on the road, with ice cold water.

An aerobottle is a great solution for those looking for an easy way to stay hydrated on the course.

Aerobottle = Good Gear