I thought this footage was great for two reasons. One, it exposes the amount of drafting that goes on in IM races. I don't recall seeing packs this size at FL 70.3, but with it rather flat, there were some groups. Two, it is just some sweet footage. I wish I new what the guy was doing. He seemed to be up on the hoods until reaching the aid station, and was getting passed like crazy, then went down on his bars an ate some people up, then as a peleton went by him, was back up on the hoods.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
How HR Works
I just read this from Alan Couzen's blog. There is no mystery here - the harder you work, the more O2 your muscles need, the more your HR beats to deliver the O2 to your muscles.
Here is how you calculate required HR given a certain work rate:
Say you are riding your bike at a certain wattage that requires 3.5 Liters of O2 per minute. What will your HR be?
You need to know a few things about your physiology that most of us don't unless you've had blood work or anaerobic testing done, but if you did know, here is how you'd calculate it.
If you have 12g of hemoglobin per deciliter of blood, this deciliter would carry 160ml of O2 per liter of blood (assumes avg hemoglobin per deciliter and 100% blood saturation).
If your muscles require 3.5 liters of O2, you would need to pump 22 liters of blood per minute (3,500/160).
If you assume a cardiac stroke volume of 150ml, it will take 150 beats per minute to deliver 22 liters of blood to the muscle.
HR to push the certain wattage? 150 bpm.
Here is how you calculate required HR given a certain work rate:
Say you are riding your bike at a certain wattage that requires 3.5 Liters of O2 per minute. What will your HR be?
You need to know a few things about your physiology that most of us don't unless you've had blood work or anaerobic testing done, but if you did know, here is how you'd calculate it.
If you have 12g of hemoglobin per deciliter of blood, this deciliter would carry 160ml of O2 per liter of blood (assumes avg hemoglobin per deciliter and 100% blood saturation).
If your muscles require 3.5 liters of O2, you would need to pump 22 liters of blood per minute (3,500/160).
If you assume a cardiac stroke volume of 150ml, it will take 150 beats per minute to deliver 22 liters of blood to the muscle.
HR to push the certain wattage? 150 bpm.
October Recap
Well, October is in the books. All in all, a good month.
It started with work life balance getting back in order after working long hours during the month of September as my company was involved in a flurry of transactions revolving around entering into aircraft and engine contracts, as well as securing liquidity to bolster our balance sheet. All in, we bought 22 aircraft, did a multi billion dollar engine deal securing engines for our 787 Dreamliner aircraft we have on order with Boeing (a deal I was on the negotiating team for), sold over $1B worth of forward year air miles to Citi, our affinity program credit card partner, did a EETC debt offering and over $1.6B in sale lease back transactions (a deal I was also involved with), then did two equity offerings and one convertible debt offering.
I put on about 10 lbs between eating all of the catered food at our outside counsel's offices, and not being active while still recovering from the collarbone reconstruction. October would be the month I tried to get things back in order.
I did a fair bit of traveling in the month of Oct which made building into a routine a challenge. I was in Atlanta and Minneapolis recruiting MBAs early in the month, in Ann Arbor in the middle of the month, and had a week of meetings in DC at the end of the month.
I set off to get my running legs back under neath me, and after a few weeks of pain and suffering, dealing with all of the new runner aches and pains (shin splints for me) I feel like I'm getting closer. A run doesn't feel good yet, but we are moving away from the painful realm which is encouraging.
I was able to spend the weekend of Oct 24-25 in Austin visiting my parents and serving as a race day volunteer at Longhorn 70.3. I worked my tail off moving around transition backs for the two transition area race from about 5:30am until my back could take no more around 10am, then enjoyed watching the pros race with the special access my volunteer shirt provided me.
A few reactions after watching the end of the bike, most of the pros run, and their post race social scene:
It started with work life balance getting back in order after working long hours during the month of September as my company was involved in a flurry of transactions revolving around entering into aircraft and engine contracts, as well as securing liquidity to bolster our balance sheet. All in, we bought 22 aircraft, did a multi billion dollar engine deal securing engines for our 787 Dreamliner aircraft we have on order with Boeing (a deal I was on the negotiating team for), sold over $1B worth of forward year air miles to Citi, our affinity program credit card partner, did a EETC debt offering and over $1.6B in sale lease back transactions (a deal I was also involved with), then did two equity offerings and one convertible debt offering.
I put on about 10 lbs between eating all of the catered food at our outside counsel's offices, and not being active while still recovering from the collarbone reconstruction. October would be the month I tried to get things back in order.
I did a fair bit of traveling in the month of Oct which made building into a routine a challenge. I was in Atlanta and Minneapolis recruiting MBAs early in the month, in Ann Arbor in the middle of the month, and had a week of meetings in DC at the end of the month.
I set off to get my running legs back under neath me, and after a few weeks of pain and suffering, dealing with all of the new runner aches and pains (shin splints for me) I feel like I'm getting closer. A run doesn't feel good yet, but we are moving away from the painful realm which is encouraging.
I was able to spend the weekend of Oct 24-25 in Austin visiting my parents and serving as a race day volunteer at Longhorn 70.3. I worked my tail off moving around transition backs for the two transition area race from about 5:30am until my back could take no more around 10am, then enjoyed watching the pros race with the special access my volunteer shirt provided me.
A few reactions after watching the end of the bike, most of the pros run, and their post race social scene:
- If you think you want to be a pro male triathlete, then you ought to have about a 28 inch waist, plan on being no taller than about 6 feet tall, and no heavier than about 145-150lbs.
- A 1:12 half marathon is a completely different race than a 1:50 minute half marathon.
- Not all, but some of the top pros came in and couldn't walk well when they were done. Good to know it isn't just me. (2nd place Brian Fleischman and 3rd place Nicole Hofer were pretty gimpy)
- After years of thinking Joanna Zieger was a "big girl" because she was so much bigger than most pro female triathletes, I now realize she is small, and the others are tiny.
- Nicole Hofer could give Desiree Ficker (who road the lead bike for the 1st female out on the run course) a run for her money for the hottest pro female triathlete
Long horn was fun to watch, and I look forward to participating next year. Here is hoping for the same ideal conditions next year. October 17th, put it down!
After Austin, I headed to DC for work, but I was able to catch up with my friend and Pro Triathlete Lindsey Jerdonek. I met Lindsey at an industry conference in DC back in April and we've stayed in touch since. Lindsey had just wrapped up her first pro season of racing, so it was interesting to hear about her plans for next year. You can follow Lindsey and her teammate Lauren (9th place at Longhorn 70.3) at their soon to be renamed blog.
The last week of October was my best week of training since my crash. I'll actually be frank and say it was the only week that I could say felt like training and not just random acts of exercise.
I logged 6.5 hours (3hrs of running, 3hrs of biking, and 0.5 hrs of weights) this week, and even did an FTP test on the bike last Tuesday. While the results of the FTP test proved how far I have to go to get back to the level of fitness I had before the crash, it was good to get a marker so I can begin to measure my progress.
Looking ahead to Nov, here is hoping for health, productivity, and drive. I've already logged an hour in the pool this week, and am laying the ground work to give this yoga thing a try. More on that later.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Kona Prediction Time
Do to work commitments, I missed out on doing my Kona predictions last year, but I enjoy doing it and thought I should to take a few minutes and try again this year. You can see my predictions from two years ago here
The weather is shaping up to be decent. Doesn't look too hot (real feel of 92) and the winds should be okay. These athletes will cover a lot of ground however, and if you know Hawaii at all, you know it doesn't take much to go from one climate to another, so you never know what to expect.
What I'm going to do this year is predict my podium for both the men and women, one sleeper athlete, and my most intriguing athlete also from the men's and women's race. So without further ado, lets get started.
Women
At first glance, you could be fooled into thinking the women's race will be dominated by Chrissie again. She's killed the competition the last two years despite rookie jitters two years ago and the well publicized mechanical out on the Queen K last year, however like Lee Corso says, "not so fast." Chrissie left the confines of Team TBB, set out under the tutelage of tri legend Simon Lessing as her new coach, but has since left Lessing and is self coaching herself at the moment. She crushed it at Roth with a World Record of 8:31, but has had some less dominant performances in some Oly's and 70.3s since.
She'll be pushed by Rebeka Keat, Yvonne Van Vlerken, Sandra Wallenhorst, Lindsay Corbin, and Gina Ferguson, with Keat likely to give her the biggest push.
Still, we'd be out of our mind to go against the Queen. I thought hard about picking Keat or my surprise athlete in the women's field Mirinda Carfrae, but I decided that would be me trying to sensationalize this process by going against the grain. If it was my money on the line, Chrissie would be my girl.
Podium: 1. Wellington, 3. Rebeka Keat, 4. Gina Ferguson
Sleeper Athlete: Mirinda Carfrae
Sentimental Favorite: Lindsay Corbin (because she writes an awesome blog)
You might have noticed I have Keat and Ferguson finishing 3rd and 4th up above. It is because I think Carfrae will take second. This will be her first full IM, but I think she can match the effort of Sam McGlone when she finished second to Chrissie two years ago in her first move up to IM. She's got amazing top end speed, and can run with any of them. She'll sit in with the top men age groupers on the bike, and out split the rest of the field to grab her podium spot.
Mirinda Carfrae
Men:
The men's race will be much more wide open than the women's. I've got 10 guys that I like in this thing so picking my podium I'm sure was flawed with all sorts of strange rationalizations on my part, of which many won't likely come true.
As I was thinking about this post earlier this year, I was all prepared to write a long story about Andy Potts and Rasmus Henning, both who I thought had a great shot at winning this thing this year. However Potts had a terrible bike crash with an age grouper at the Chicago Tri just two months ago, and Henning apparently broke his hand a week and a half ago, and hasn't been able to swim, and won't until the day of the race. Hennings fitness is likely to be fine, and I suspect he'll still be a factor in the race, but the disruption is probably enough to crack his armor, and with this field, you've got to be bullet proof to pull through.
So we are left with the usual suspects - Craig Alexander, Macca, Norman, Eneko Llano, Marino Vanhoenacker, Cam Brown, Chris Lieto as well as some interesting upstarts such as Terenzo Bozzone, Ronnie Schildknect, and Andreas Raelert, which will make for a great race.
I'd like nothing more than to see the Alexander v Macca show down we all anticipated last year, but I just don't think we'll see it for a number of reasons. First, the rest of the field is too good to give away the stage to these guys. Second, I just don't think Macca has it in him suffer like he'll have to to make up the time necessary on the run to run through the field. Not after he's tasted the victory in Kona. He was SO driven to win this thing, that I just think the edge is gone and he hasn't put in the work, nor is willing to take himself to that dark place to do it again. Alexander, on the other hand strikes me as the type who can be a repeat performer. Much more level headed in his approach with a killer instinct, and a world of talent. Just one guys ill-advised opinion, but that is all this post is.
So I think Potts and Henning will be at the front of the swim, will ride well early but fade when the likes of Lieto, Norman, and some of the other big cycling Europeans like Twelseik ride through them. Alexander, Macca, Brown, Lovato and others will stay back in the pack, limit their losses, and it will be the guy who can lay down the 2:42 marathon who will win it.
That is why I like Timo Bracht, Andreas Raelert, Schildknect, and Cam Brown to be there in the end.
So here is how I have it:
Podium: 1. Timo Bracht, 2. Craig Alexander, 3. Eneko Llanos
Sleeper Athlete: Andreas Raelert (I still am holding back on putting Henning in here)
Sentimental Favorite: Andy Potts
Timo's performance at IM Germany just can't be ignored. Had he not skipped a stop in the penalty tent last year after a drafting call, he would have been 5th, and I think he is motivated to finish the deal this time. Llanos is very consistent, and will be there in the end with a solid all around race.
Timo Bracht
I like Raelert because the guy can fly. He's got great speed that we saw as he reeled in Bozzone in Clearwater last year at the 70.3 worlds, but just ran out of real estate. I think he ran a 1:12. He got an Olympic pedigree making the German team in 2000 and 2004 and just seems to be very aggressive in the two races I've seen him in on TV. He's shown he can go long with great races at IMAZ that I can recall off hand where he ran a 2:46 for the win against a good field.
I'll always be a big fan of Andy Potts and was heart broken when I heard of his accident. Apparently he had some heart issues after the crash, so unlike Henning, he probably had to go inactive for a while. Not good in August with this thing in Oct. But any swimmer turned triathlete gets my vote, and after hearing the guy speak at Timberman last year, he is all class.
So there we go. It should be an awesome race. I'll be in the air flying home from Minneapolis for the start, but hope to catch the bike and swim when I return home.
The weather is shaping up to be decent. Doesn't look too hot (real feel of 92) and the winds should be okay. These athletes will cover a lot of ground however, and if you know Hawaii at all, you know it doesn't take much to go from one climate to another, so you never know what to expect.
What I'm going to do this year is predict my podium for both the men and women, one sleeper athlete, and my most intriguing athlete also from the men's and women's race. So without further ado, lets get started.
Women
At first glance, you could be fooled into thinking the women's race will be dominated by Chrissie again. She's killed the competition the last two years despite rookie jitters two years ago and the well publicized mechanical out on the Queen K last year, however like Lee Corso says, "not so fast." Chrissie left the confines of Team TBB, set out under the tutelage of tri legend Simon Lessing as her new coach, but has since left Lessing and is self coaching herself at the moment. She crushed it at Roth with a World Record of 8:31, but has had some less dominant performances in some Oly's and 70.3s since.
She'll be pushed by Rebeka Keat, Yvonne Van Vlerken, Sandra Wallenhorst, Lindsay Corbin, and Gina Ferguson, with Keat likely to give her the biggest push.
Still, we'd be out of our mind to go against the Queen. I thought hard about picking Keat or my surprise athlete in the women's field Mirinda Carfrae, but I decided that would be me trying to sensationalize this process by going against the grain. If it was my money on the line, Chrissie would be my girl.
Podium: 1. Wellington, 3. Rebeka Keat, 4. Gina Ferguson
Sleeper Athlete: Mirinda Carfrae
Sentimental Favorite: Lindsay Corbin (because she writes an awesome blog)
You might have noticed I have Keat and Ferguson finishing 3rd and 4th up above. It is because I think Carfrae will take second. This will be her first full IM, but I think she can match the effort of Sam McGlone when she finished second to Chrissie two years ago in her first move up to IM. She's got amazing top end speed, and can run with any of them. She'll sit in with the top men age groupers on the bike, and out split the rest of the field to grab her podium spot.
Mirinda CarfraeMen:
The men's race will be much more wide open than the women's. I've got 10 guys that I like in this thing so picking my podium I'm sure was flawed with all sorts of strange rationalizations on my part, of which many won't likely come true.
As I was thinking about this post earlier this year, I was all prepared to write a long story about Andy Potts and Rasmus Henning, both who I thought had a great shot at winning this thing this year. However Potts had a terrible bike crash with an age grouper at the Chicago Tri just two months ago, and Henning apparently broke his hand a week and a half ago, and hasn't been able to swim, and won't until the day of the race. Hennings fitness is likely to be fine, and I suspect he'll still be a factor in the race, but the disruption is probably enough to crack his armor, and with this field, you've got to be bullet proof to pull through.
So we are left with the usual suspects - Craig Alexander, Macca, Norman, Eneko Llano, Marino Vanhoenacker, Cam Brown, Chris Lieto as well as some interesting upstarts such as Terenzo Bozzone, Ronnie Schildknect, and Andreas Raelert, which will make for a great race.
I'd like nothing more than to see the Alexander v Macca show down we all anticipated last year, but I just don't think we'll see it for a number of reasons. First, the rest of the field is too good to give away the stage to these guys. Second, I just don't think Macca has it in him suffer like he'll have to to make up the time necessary on the run to run through the field. Not after he's tasted the victory in Kona. He was SO driven to win this thing, that I just think the edge is gone and he hasn't put in the work, nor is willing to take himself to that dark place to do it again. Alexander, on the other hand strikes me as the type who can be a repeat performer. Much more level headed in his approach with a killer instinct, and a world of talent. Just one guys ill-advised opinion, but that is all this post is.
So I think Potts and Henning will be at the front of the swim, will ride well early but fade when the likes of Lieto, Norman, and some of the other big cycling Europeans like Twelseik ride through them. Alexander, Macca, Brown, Lovato and others will stay back in the pack, limit their losses, and it will be the guy who can lay down the 2:42 marathon who will win it.
That is why I like Timo Bracht, Andreas Raelert, Schildknect, and Cam Brown to be there in the end.
So here is how I have it:
Podium: 1. Timo Bracht, 2. Craig Alexander, 3. Eneko Llanos
Sleeper Athlete: Andreas Raelert (I still am holding back on putting Henning in here)
Sentimental Favorite: Andy Potts
Timo's performance at IM Germany just can't be ignored. Had he not skipped a stop in the penalty tent last year after a drafting call, he would have been 5th, and I think he is motivated to finish the deal this time. Llanos is very consistent, and will be there in the end with a solid all around race.
Timo BrachtI like Raelert because the guy can fly. He's got great speed that we saw as he reeled in Bozzone in Clearwater last year at the 70.3 worlds, but just ran out of real estate. I think he ran a 1:12. He got an Olympic pedigree making the German team in 2000 and 2004 and just seems to be very aggressive in the two races I've seen him in on TV. He's shown he can go long with great races at IMAZ that I can recall off hand where he ran a 2:46 for the win against a good field.
I'll always be a big fan of Andy Potts and was heart broken when I heard of his accident. Apparently he had some heart issues after the crash, so unlike Henning, he probably had to go inactive for a while. Not good in August with this thing in Oct. But any swimmer turned triathlete gets my vote, and after hearing the guy speak at Timberman last year, he is all class.
So there we go. It should be an awesome race. I'll be in the air flying home from Minneapolis for the start, but hope to catch the bike and swim when I return home.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Trying to Get Back into the Swing of Things
I'm slowly trying to get my athletic life back in order after my biking accident. I took a major step today by getting back out on the bike, but realize I have a long way to go. I think putting something down in this blog may help, so here it goes.
My accident was just over 8 weeks ago, and as far as the collar bone and shoulder go, things are getting back to normal. I have no pain, am able to sleep pretty much however I want to now that I've been able to add sleeping on my right (bad) side into the rotation. I have limited flexibility in the shoulder, but am not far off, and probably need to get back in the pool to get it all back.
I really let myself go while I was out. I aloud myself to eat/drink whatever I wanted to, and was very inactive. As a result, I've dropped a lot of strength and muscle mass, replaced it with fat and then some with my weight up around 4 pounds, and feel generally sluggish.
I started running 2 weeks ago, and felt like I'd never run before in my life. Slow pace, HR off the charts, and all of the running pains I'd cured myself of are now back. Shin splints are debilitating right now.
I had my sights set on getting back into the pool at the beginning of Oct, but the pool my masters team swims in is having the winter roof (bubble) installed this week, so we are at a different pool, at 5:00am (I don't do workouts pre 6:00am), and it costs an extra $15 for the week = I'll wait for the bubble to be installed.
Today, I got out on the bike outside for the first time since my crash. It was a chilly misty afternoon and was quite pleasant out there. I figured if I wanted the roads mostly to myself, I should wait until the Cowboys game started. So I did, and it seemed to work. I rode the same route I was on when I had my accident, which was therapeutic, and the ride actually felt good. I believe after logging 75 mins out there that cycling and swimming will be my road back to greater fitness, not running. Running will just be a byproduct of the improvements.
I must admit, I was nervous as hell when cars came up on me from behind. I did a lot of shoulder checking and wasn't comfortable at all. I'm sure that will pass with time. I kind of appreciate the heightened vigilance. It will keep me safer in the long run.
So my goals in no particular order (both long term and short) are as follows:
So here we are. Baby steps is the key, and so is appreciating the process. If I add an extra hour of training each week, I'll be back to where I want to be in about a month.
Happy trails.
My accident was just over 8 weeks ago, and as far as the collar bone and shoulder go, things are getting back to normal. I have no pain, am able to sleep pretty much however I want to now that I've been able to add sleeping on my right (bad) side into the rotation. I have limited flexibility in the shoulder, but am not far off, and probably need to get back in the pool to get it all back.
I really let myself go while I was out. I aloud myself to eat/drink whatever I wanted to, and was very inactive. As a result, I've dropped a lot of strength and muscle mass, replaced it with fat and then some with my weight up around 4 pounds, and feel generally sluggish.
I started running 2 weeks ago, and felt like I'd never run before in my life. Slow pace, HR off the charts, and all of the running pains I'd cured myself of are now back. Shin splints are debilitating right now.
I had my sights set on getting back into the pool at the beginning of Oct, but the pool my masters team swims in is having the winter roof (bubble) installed this week, so we are at a different pool, at 5:00am (I don't do workouts pre 6:00am), and it costs an extra $15 for the week = I'll wait for the bubble to be installed.
Today, I got out on the bike outside for the first time since my crash. It was a chilly misty afternoon and was quite pleasant out there. I figured if I wanted the roads mostly to myself, I should wait until the Cowboys game started. So I did, and it seemed to work. I rode the same route I was on when I had my accident, which was therapeutic, and the ride actually felt good. I believe after logging 75 mins out there that cycling and swimming will be my road back to greater fitness, not running. Running will just be a byproduct of the improvements.
I must admit, I was nervous as hell when cars came up on me from behind. I did a lot of shoulder checking and wasn't comfortable at all. I'm sure that will pass with time. I kind of appreciate the heightened vigilance. It will keep me safer in the long run.
So my goals in no particular order (both long term and short) are as follows:
- swim comfortably
- ride without fear
- swim hard
- train 5 hrs in a week
- train 10 hrs in a week
- get my body back to a fit 170
- feel comfortable running again
- race again
- PR in a run or tri
So here we are. Baby steps is the key, and so is appreciating the process. If I add an extra hour of training each week, I'll be back to where I want to be in about a month.
Happy trails.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Checking In
Not much to report these days. Surgery was two weeks ago so I'm still more or less useless. Work has been busy so it has stepped up to fill the void, and I've taken to watching a bit more TV, playing with my kids a bit more, and eating food and drinking good beer more regularly too. I'm developing a gut to prove it.
This coming week is fantasy football draft week. I'm in two leagues this year, one with neighbors and one with work buddies. Looking forward to draft nights, getting my roster set up, and football getting started.
This coming week is fantasy football draft week. I'm in two leagues this year, one with neighbors and one with work buddies. Looking forward to draft nights, getting my roster set up, and football getting started.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
X-Rays of my New Hardware
These X-Rays were taken of me while I was still under, so I only know by the time stamp on them when they were taken.
This first one was taken at 3:04pm, about 2 hours after I went under. I only count 5-6 screws at this point in the procedure.
This one was taken at 3:27pm, and it looks like the remaining screws are in place 14-15 in total.
And here was the last one stamped 4:36pm, about an hour before I woke up.
This first one was taken at 3:04pm, about 2 hours after I went under. I only count 5-6 screws at this point in the procedure.
This one was taken at 3:27pm, and it looks like the remaining screws are in place 14-15 in total.
And here was the last one stamped 4:36pm, about an hour before I woke up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)