Kona Race Report
10.11.2009
Larry Bird was one of the greatest all time three-point shooters in the history of basketball. There is something about a three-point shooter that people love. It is the long shot in the purest sense. The three-pointer is a relatively low percentage field goal, but the payoff of 1.5 times a regular field goal makes the calculated risk worth the chance. Not only was Larry Bird one of the greatest three-point shooters, but he wore jersey #33 as if to put a claim on the number 3. It was his way of saying, “I take the long shot, and there is nothing you can do to defend it.”
I feel a little bit like Larry Bird. I love to take the long shot. I love to race from the front. I love to take a risk. Yesterday was my third consecutive attempt at racing the Hawaii Ironman World Championships, and I am proud to say that it was my third completed attempt. I’ve never had a great race in Kona, and I am still trying to figure out the best approach. I have never had a good bike split in Kona, each year I have “popped” on the bike with considerable distance yet to complete. Once I bonk on the bike it makes for a very difficult marathon. This year, I told myself I would be patient on the bike and wait for the action to settle down a bit. I did nothing of the sort. I crossed the finish line yesterday as the 33rd finisher of the race, and Larry Bird instantly popped into my head, whenever I see number 33, I always think of Larry and what his jersey symbolized.
The swim start was a bit chaotic. I like to start on the left side of the swim because I breathe to my right, that way I can I see most of the action. While we are supposed to start behind the Gatorade inflatable, the right side of the starting line was creeping further and further out. We were getting warned by the starter and the surfboard paddlers who were there to keep us in line. The attempts were futile, and when the cannon started I was already behind in the race and blocked by a couple of surfboards. That was only a minor problem in the swim as I was quickly and easily in the front pack and feeling fine. At the first turn buoy I was kicked in the right eye pretty hard and I dropped back a little. This was the mistake that really cost me some time. Around the second and final turn buoy there was some separation in the pack. Since I was towards the back I wasn’t in a position to close the gap and I was stuck in the front of a second pack. You never want to be at the front of the second pack. It means you are swimming too hard, and going too slow. Better to be at the back of the front pack and swimming faster with less effort. Oh well, there were still some good riders in this small pack, including Chris McCormack, the 2007 champion. I was quick through the change tents but slow at my bike as I put on arm coolers for the ride. I was already a bit behind the group of riders. I rode hard to catch-up, too hard in retrospect, but at the time it was the gamble I thought I needed to take. Since I was already behind, I could use the pacing and the slight 10m draft effect of this small pack to catch up to the leaders. I stayed with the pack until Kawaihae then I started to cramp a little bit, I knew I was riding too hard and I had to back off the pace before I really popped. If I took it easy up to Hawi I could get my special needs bag and fuel up for the rest of the ride. I rode with a small group containing Michael Lovato (9th last year) and Patrick Vernay (6th last year), but the group dwindled quickly as Vernay and another rider both got drafting penalties. It took me a while to get my lunch out of the special needs bag, but once I got it out I was fine and feeling much better. I could still tell that I spent a little too much time riding too hard, but I figured that feeling would fade if I just kept the pace under control. The effects of riding too hard, never did fade away, and in fact they only got worse. I am not sure what was going on, but I had a killer headache on the ride. I was consuming salt capsules more rapidly than planned, I was sweating salt, and I could smell my own awful body odor. I was consuming plenty of salt, fluids and calories for the ride, but something just wasn’t right. My HR was too high for a long time, once I got it down, I had a hard time getting it to come back up. I could not for the life of me generate significant power on the bike. I coasted several times, and wanted to take my helmet off, because my head hurt so bad. I was upset at myself and kept audibly yelling at myself to HTFU and finish this ride. I was relieved to get off the bike, which is never a good feeling during a long race, but once on the marathon I made it my goal to break 9 hours for the day. I started off fine, but still had the killer headache. My stomach was a bit unsettled and I walked through the first aid station grabbing everything I could. Two waters, two Gatorades, two Cokes, water on the head, and sponges, I started running again quickly but I was not feeling well. It didn’t take long for the Coke to kick in and I was back. My legs weren’t there to run super fast but I knew if I just held it steady I could still pull off a decent marathon. 9 hours was going to be a stretch. I kept plugging away on the run. I had a few miles around 8 min mile pace, but I also had a few miles under 7 min mile pace. I was averaging around 7:30’s and that felt fine at the time. I focused on my technique and I kept picking off more and more runners. I am not usually one to pass people on the run, but when I blew up on the bike it put me behind where I would normally be. I continued the routine of drinking two Cokes and two waters at every aid station. I would take two salt capsules every 5 miles on the run. Towards the end of the run, about mile 22, I dropped my fuel belt bottle with Red Bull in it. I bent over to pick it up and my left hamstring seized in a cramp. I walked and had to stop and stretch for a while. I got it to relax then I took another two salt capsules. I could tell my legs were on the verge of cramping more, so I took two more salt capsules at mile 24 just to get to the finish line. My mile pace slowed considerably the last 4 miles but I was still moving forward and knew I would make it to the finish line. 9 hours was now out of the question, but I was just as happy to make it to the finish line in 9:06. It was not as fast as my debut at Kona in 2007 (which I thought was a bad race), but much better than last year, and I had my fastest Kona marathon so far with a 3:16. If I can run a 3:16 here after I bonked on the bike, I know I can really light this run up when I feel good. It was great to get another year of experience in Kona. I will review the race a thousand times and try to take away as much information as possible. In the meantime, I’m going to practice my three-pointers, the only way to get better at the long shot is by practicing.
Tollakson, TJ
Places 38/39/32
Age 29
MPRO
Swim 00:52:52
Bike 04:52:37
Run 03:16:06
Finish 09:06:20
Work Hard,
TJ |
Kona, Hawaii
10.5.2009
As I prepare to race in Kona on Saturday for the Ironman World Championships, I thought I would give a small insight into one important aspect of my training: my diet, more specifically, my diet to get “down to my race weight”. I know many triathletes never have to worry about their weight when racing. For most of the elite triathletes, losing muscle to get to the race weight is not a challenge. My mesomorph body type provides me many benefits for racing. I have an abundance of fast twitch muscle fibers, I have the ability to generate a lot of top end power in all three disciplines, and I am very strong. The disadvantages of my body type are that I have to pay close attention to my recovery since more muscles mean more time to repair, I have to supply oxygen to all of my muscles, and I have to carry around a little extra bulk (most notably on the marathon).
I spent a lot of time as a child wrestling. After all, I did grow up in the wrestling capitol of the world, Iowa, home of the great Dan Gable. Cutting weight is an integral part of wrestling even at a young age. My first cutting weight experience occurred in 1993. I was in sixth grade and wrestling at the AAU Iowa State Wrestling Championships held each year in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I qualified for Sate by winning my district qualifier. There are 16 districts in the state and the top two finishers get a trip to the state championship. This makes the state championship a 32-man bracket. Wrestlers compete in two year grade levels, so I was wrestling in the 5th and 6th grade division. One year at this age makes a big difference, so it is quite advantageous to be in the higher grade. My weight class was 110 pounds. I didn’t have to try to make this weight at districts since I just stepped on the scale in the morning and weighed less than 110 pounds. I did have to make this weight four weeks later at the state tournament and I remember trying to watch my diet the day of the weigh in as my mom drove me to Cedar Rapids on Friday afternoon. I stepped on the scale and weighed 113 pounds. Oh boy! 2 hours left of weigh-ins. It didn’t take long to figure out a quick bathroom break would take care of most of the weight but then I was still about a pound heavy which meant I was a twelve year old running in my sweats trying to lose 16 ounces of water by sweating. It didn’t really take long, only about a 20 min jog, and then I was good to go. I went on to win that State Tournament beating several kids who eventually became collegiate national champions and All-Americans. I loved wrestling and feel it taught me more about winning and losing than any other sport. After an undefeated season as an 8th grader I decided to swim in high school as a freshman. I came back to wrestling my senior year and wrestled varsity at 152 pounds; this is where I truly came to understand “making weight”.
As a rookie professional triathlete I never cared much about my weight. I knew I was quite a bit bigger than most of my competitors but I took the old Lance Armstrong approach thinking I could win any race regardless of my weight. It took a few people continually telling me I needed to lose some weight before I actually got on the process. When I committed to losing some weight for racing, I determined I wanted to weigh close to 160 pounds about 10 pounds lighter than I was currently racing, and close to what I weighed before cutting weight in high school. I first started this process in 2007 in the spring. My first race at 160 pounds was Eagleman 70.3, which I won in a record setting time. It seemed to be working.
While I still struggle to keep my racing weight, I have a solid approach about training heavy and just dipping down to my race weight prior to an event. This helps me get the most out of my training and stay strong, healthy, and vibrant. Prior to a big race, I start monitoring my weight daily and slowly begin to catabolize my muscle while I sleep. I weigh myself each night and morning using a Tanita Ironman Body Fat Scale, which gives me an accurate depiction of body fat, weight, and hydration. I record the information and track it before my race. I can tell if I am on a correct trajectory before a race and adjust as necessary. I don’t want to lose more than 2 pounds in any week so if I start to lose more I adjust.
My method of losing weight is individual and one that allows me to recover properly from training while still shedding some unwanted excess muscle while I sleep. Here are my rules for my weight cutting.
- Twice a week do a short aerobic run (30-40minutes) in the morning with no fuel, this teaches my body to burn fat since my carbohydrate stores are depleted.
- Limit carbohydrate consumption at night and increase fat and protein intake
- Don’t eat after 8 PM
- Go to bed a little hungry, not starving, just a little hungry
- Fuel with whatever I want before, during, and immediately after my hard/long workouts. (if I want that pint of Ben and Jerry’s Mission to Marzipan, the best time is either mid workout or immediately after)
- Supplement with HMB, I prefer using EAS Muscle Armor but just about any form of HMB will help
A little bit about my history and use of HMB. HMB was developed at Iowa State University and is a dietary supplement. It is very popular amongst power and strength athletes but it also has great properties for endurance athletes, especially mesomorph athletes. HMB has anti-catabolic properties which help prevent the breakdown of damaged muscles. What this means for me when trying to get down to my race weight, is that I can catabolize muscle while I sleep, but target muscle catabolism that has the least impact on my training. In other words, the muscles I use least are the ones catabolized.
I am not in any way prescribing this method of weight loss to any athlete and would caution even the most experienced professional about experimenting with my method. I am simply informing about what works for me.
I am only 5 days away from Kona and happy to report that I am lean and mean and down to my “fighting weight”. Just in case I get in a fight. I haven’t been on a wrestling mat in years but I would still take on any professional triathlete in a take down contest; you still get “two points for a takedown”. I’ll just stay away from the guys who now race triathlons after spending time wrestling at either the Olympic Training Center, or have spent time training under Dan Gable. They know who I’m talking about, and trust me you won’t find a more intense group than a bunch of former wrestlers. I give a mental edge to anyone who knows what it is like to “cut weight” for an event.
Work Hard,
TJ |
|
9.28.09 Tucson, Arizona
Saturday was my first and only shootout ride during this short training camp in Tucson prior to Kona. I wanted to make this shootout count and get in a great workout. I know the “race” section of the shootout is about 45 minutes, so I had planned on going hard then recovering for a bit (but not stopping) then heading to Madera Canyon to do another 45 minute interval closer to race pace. I would then cruise home on Old Nogales Hwy.
Stuart and I left home about 6:15 and picked up the shootout group on the west side of town at the Quick Mart on Mission Rd. We strolled through town and had a nice chat with Jimmy Riccitello who was on the ride with his big Estonian athlete, Ain. Ain had the fastest bike in Kona last year and he is a true monster at something like 220 pounds. That guy can really lay down the power. I knew straight away I would be in breakaway with Ain today but I didn’t know who, if anyone, else would be able to make it. Once we hit Valencia Road the action started and I hit the first interval on my SRM. I went to the front pretty quick and started a 3 man rotation with Ain and Stuart. A few others jumped into the rotation occasionally and then there were a few guys who tried to throw out a solo breakaway attempt. I was not scared by any of them. I knew nobody was going to stay away from a group with both Ain and me. The plan was to attack after the bridge. I was the first to the top of the bridge and was in front really pushing the pace hard just trying to get guys in a single file line. It was working and soon Ain pulled up beside and reach his arm over my whole back, scooping me up alongside him like a huge silver back gorilla scooping up his young child. There was no sprint, no out of the saddle acceleration, just hard sustained wattage for a while. My max power was only 680 watts but I was never out of the saddle so that was plenty hard. I held close to Ain’s wheel as we rode everyone straight off. Stuart was able to make a really fast acceleration out of the saddle and catch on (seems to be his speciality) but once he was on the back, he stayed on the back for the remainder of the ride. Ain and I took turns taking monster pulls on the front in our aerobars while Stuart did his best just to hang on. I could tell I was riding a bit better than Ain since I started taking longer pulls than him and he apologized a couple times for it. I was fine with his riding and just glad I had company on a breakaway. I took a little break on the first downhill part as it didn’t seem to take much effort to stay on Ain’s wheel going downhill. After the break I was back at sharing pulls with him as we rapidly approached the bottom of the sprint hill. I always make sure to do work into the sprint hill. While most of the cyclists will never put in a hard pull going into the sprint hill, I always put in the work to make the sprint truly worthwhile. I started the sprint in front and it didn’t take long to ride away from Ain. Stuart dropped his hand pump and stopped to pick it up (I was a bit worried Stu was sandbagging on me and going to try to outsprint me up the hill, but I was prepared for that too). I was out in front and up the sprint hill with a commanding lead to take my 5th shootout victory. I haven’t won a shootout since April of 2008, two weeks before Ironman Arizona. I am now two weeks before Kona with another shootout win and a win over the man who had the fastest bike in Kona last year. Things are setting up nicely for me.
I continued my ride solo towards Madera Canyon and started my second interval just after mile marker 2. Madera is a 13.5 mile climb that just gets steeper further into the climb. You start in your big ring and finish wishing for a triple. I would have 11 miles and knew it would take me about 45 minutes to get to the top. On the rare occasion you don’t have a headwind you can do it a bit quicker but for my effort today (about 300 watts) it was perfect for 45 minutes. I did most of the interval in my aerobars which is another challenge in itself because the rpms start to really drop and you have to call on your core strength to stay strong and stable. I do admit I didn’t finish the interval in my bars but tried to stay there as much as possible. It was a great interval. I casually headed back down the canyon then stopped in Green Valley for a bite to eat at the Chevron station before heading back to Tucson on Old Nogales Hwy. It was a great ride with solid power output and the perfect preparation for Kona. I plan on bringing the same big gun to Kona in a couple of weeks. This is Tucson, home of the shootout. If you train here bring your gun and come out shooting, this is one tough town.
Work Hard,
TJ
SRM #1:
Duration: 44:32
Work: 937 kJ
TSS: 74.7 (intensity factor 1.003)
Norm Power: 361
VI: 1.03
Pw:HR: 4.72%
Pa:HR: -3.96%
Distance: 17.445 mi
Elevation Gain: 1099 ft
Elevation Loss: 128 ft
Grade: 1.1 % (971 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 680 351 watts
Heart Rate: 118 172 158 bpm
Cadence: 29 117 87 rpm
Speed: 8.6 37.8 23.5 mph
Pace 1:35 6:60 2:33 min/mi
Altitude: 2608 3602 3133 ft
Temperature: 64.4 78.8 71.1 Fahrenheit
SRM #2:
Duration: 45:01
Work: 829 kJ
TSS: 54.7 (intensity factor 0.854)
Norm Power: 307
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 2.71%
Pa:HR: 50.15%
Distance: 11.005 mi
Elevation Gain: 2198 ft
Elevation Loss: 7 ft
Grade: 3.8 % (2192 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 184 425 307 watts
Heart Rate: 129 161 151 bpm
Cadence: 50 103 78 rpm
Speed: 5.5 31.6 14.7 mph
Pace 1:54 10:58 4:05 min/mi
Altitude: 3136 5328 4087 ft
Temperature: 75.2 84.2 80.5 Fahrenheit
Entire workout (215 watts):
Duration: 4:34:31
Work: 3544 kJ
TSS: 253.5 (intensity factor 0.744)
Norm Power: 268
VI: 1.25
Pw:HR: 14.98%
Pa:HR: -6.8%
Distance: 94.512 mi
Elevation Gain: 4045 ft
Elevation Loss: 4098 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-52 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 680 215 watts
Heart Rate: 0 172 135 bpm
Cadence: 20 117 78 rpm
Speed: 0 45.9 20.7 mph
Pace 1:18 0:00 2:54 min/mi
Altitude: 2523 5348 3202 ft
Temperature: 64.4 113 84.2 Fahrenheit |
9.25.2009
Tucson, Arizona
Manville Road is a popular time trial route in Tucson as part of the Big Square training route (I like to call it Big SquareS because I add on a couple of other squares to the traditional). Basically it is one big square of flats roads that you can just get into your aerobars and hammer out intervals. Personally, I just love the road sign that reads “Manville Rd” what is better than a long flat road through the desert named Manville? If you travel down Manville, you will understand while it is a fitting name. Not much going on, a few modular and mobile homes, some dirt and sand, and one crossing of the Arizona Canal Project for some water.
Monday, I took Stuart Hayes on his maiden voyage down Manville and sure enough he saw his first coyote cross Manville Rd right in front of us. A coyote really is an interesting sight in the desert. You almost always see them alone. They look skinny and starved, and you know they are fighters living out in the desert hunting for food. It is the classic tale of the coyote and roadrunner and you know if the coyote wants to live he must catch the roadrunner. The coyote crossed the road in front of us and turned to look straight at us if to say, “This is the real desert, where only the strong survive, welcome to Manville!”
As we continued our ride on Manville, we passed a famous illegal alien smuggling trail down Amway. I once spotted a whole line of illegals handcuffed on the side of the road with a couple of supped up Bronco Border Patrol vehicles blocking half the road. It was here on Amway Rd that Stuart proved he made the journey past Manville, by displaying his self secured manhood and serenading me with an impromptu version of “Lady in Red”. It went something like this:
TJ in Red
Is cycling with me
Cheek to cheek.
I can’t help but laugh! The final square of Manville is the Avra Valley Rd and Stuart and I stopped at the shop for a nice slice of homemade Pineapple Upside Down Cake before continuing home back towards Tucson. Avra Valley is a fairly busy road with a big shoulder for cycling but most of the shoulder is really tore-up and filled with desert debris (not good for punctures). With a big, but tore-up shoulder, cyclists tend to ride towards the white line and while most cars give you plenty of room there is the occasional jack ass who likes to buzz you on purpose. One such large pickup truck buzz prompted a quotable Stuart Hayes “They’re wankers out here…the drivers. It’s because they live in the desert and they hate their lives.” It made me laugh but I also thought there is some truth to people being a bit angry and frustrated spending all day in 97* heat. I suppose that is all part of the long journey down Manville Road.
Work Hard,
TJ
|
|