EverymanTri.com

There is always something...(Part Three)

Thanks to all of your help and letter witting.You guys are just the best and I really appreciate all of your help!

I have just received some great news from Timberline Timing:

Roman,

I spoke with Capri Events this morning regarding your results for the Accenture Chicago Triathlon. Although there is no record of you being weighed in at the Clydesdale booth, they have agreed to move you to your respective Clydesdale category. The results will be updated on the website by the end of business today and your award will be mailed to you in approximately two weeks.

Thanks
Mark Moore
Timberline Timing Systems

But I can't help but feel that we (age group athletes) deserve better. So here's my reply:

Hi Mark,

There is always something...(Part Two)

So I got an email back from the folks at Capri Events (the people who put on the Chicago Accenture Triathlon) about my not getting a place on the Clydesdale podium.

I say folks because the email was not signed, so I don't know who sent it.

The complete text of the email is below:

"Hi Roman,

The results show that you were in Clydesdale category zero which means
you failed to weigh in at the expo and are not eligible for Clydesdale
awards. They posted your results so that you could still see your
times for the event.

There’s always something….

There is always something that goes wrong at every race. There is always an excuse for any type of performance.

My total official race count is now well into the triple digits and I can promise you that for me at least there is no such thing as a perfect race.

Indeed in my eyes the real test of an athlete is not how he or she performs when all is going well, but how they handle themselves when their day gets on the fast train heading South.

Chi-Town Tri

So I'm on my way to Chicago tomorrow for the Chicago Triathlon.

I'll be driving my little electric car once again and just like last year I hope to make it from Boulder to Chicago on $58 worth of gas.

This year I do not plan to run out of gas in th middle of Illinois like I did last year.

More importantly, I hope I don't run out of gas during the race.

As you may recall last year I came in second in my age and fat category. This year I hope to improve by one position on the podium.

If I do run out of gas I certainly can't blame the equipment, or the clothing, or the coaching, or the nutrition. I have the best sponsors in the world and I hope to do them proud. It would be a small thank you to them if I could actually take a podium picture with their logos on display.

But more importantly this year I've got team raceAthlete to consider as well as you my loyal readers. That's a whole lot of pressure to perform. I will do my best and I will try not to suck...as my masters coach likes to say.

To a large extant it really depends on the weather. If it is cool I'll probably do OK. If it is hot, I'll be dragging my Clydesdale big butt around Chi-Town for a long and painful morning.

My race strategy is simple; go hard on the swim and bike, and hold on as best as possible on the run. As you may be aware I've really been training for Ironman Wisconsin so my body should be able to sustain a relatively short Olympic distance hard effort.

The downside is that I have not been doing much of the speed workouts needed for shorter distance racing. For example my running speed workouts have been at a marathon pace which is obviously much slower than a 10K pace.

Last year I raced Chicago after my Ironman race. This year it is the exact opposite so we'll see which way is faster.

Speaking of the Ironman...as you may be able to tell by my rantings and ramblings this week, I have not exactly drank from the IM Kool Aide cup. Furthermore, as you may have already guessed I will certainly not be getting an Ironman tattoo anytime soon. I figure I came into this world adorned with only freckles and the occasional birth mark, and that's how I intend to leave it.

As I was saying I have not exactly bought into the Ironman lifestyle. While I love the sport, to me the Iron distance is not the be all and end all of triathlon.

So what is my goal for Ironman Wisconsin, you may ask?

I don't have time goal like Rural Girl. I don't have a grudge match like Zen and Jetpack. I don't have a great cause like Triboomer. I don't really even have a need to prove anything to myself. This will be my 3rd Iron distance race and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have the time, health, and good luck to be able to race the Iron distance.

It is simply because of the support of my wonderful family, and my good fortune to be healthy enough that I can even put my toe in the water at the starting line in Madison.

Just as importantly it is because of you and your interest in my triathlon life that I can race with some of the best coaching, gear, and equipment.

I am indeed blessed.

So Thank You all!

For me the simple act of racing in Wisconsin is enough of a goal. Life is in the journey and not in the destination, as Sweet likes to remind us. I so look forward to the Ironman journey and the fact that I have my friends, family, and you along with me is really more than I could want or deserve.

So my goal is to make you, my sponsors, my friends, my family, and myself proud by finishing strong. To be more exact I simply want to run the run.

In my past races I have always swam the swim, and biked the bike, but always walked a large part of the run.

In Wisconsin I want to run the run.

It really is that simple.

"Run the Run," is now my official motto for IM Wisconsin.

It may not make much of a poster, but it's not such a bad goal for the everyman.

Why the Hawaii Ironman is no longer relevant

I've been having an interesting email exchange with Nancy Toby today regarding Ironman.

You know she's a straight shooter as she uses her actual name when blogging. It can be so easy to take potshots at people, companies, other athletes, or Ironman when your online persona is tricop or supertridude, and nobody knows who the hell you really are.

Anyway, she sent me a part of today's post from Martin Dugard Blog "Training Ground"

Martin is an endurance athlete, writer and published author of several pretty well know books. Today he writes:

"So I got to wondering what was relevant and irrelevant about modern
endurance sports:

"Irrelevant: Hawaiian Ironman. Back in the day, it mattered who won Ironman. Dave Scott, Mark Allen, Scott Tinley... it was a race worth watching. But as Ironman mania has exploded all over the globe, thanks to rabid franchising (look for the Ironman Antarctica soon to come), the Hawaiian Ironman has devolved from the Toughest Race on Earth to an annual convention of obsessive compulsives -- and as anyone who has been to Kona can tell you, it's usually the same faces each and every year. Ironman is a business, owned by a corporation bent on making as much money from the franchise as
possible. So what would it take to make the Ironman relevant?

"The Olympics. By the way, these are very relevant. Snowboarders suddenly earned mainstream advertising dollars, thanks to Olympic inclusion. Same with short-course triathletes. If there was an Ironman-distance Olympic event, the sport would become legit once again. However, that would involve Ironman's owners ceding power to an international governing body. Not going to happen."

While I tend to agree with Martin I really think that the reason that triathlon in general is, and will always be irrelevant, is that it is a pretty boring sport to watch.

Let's face it gang triathlon is all about the doing, and not the watching.

In bike racing like the Tour de France you have so much strategy, in fighting, and intrigue. It's like watching a daytime soup opera on wheels.

In marathon running you have head to head competition with the best of human endurance live and in Technicolor.

In track and field you have the raw energy of the sprint combined with the length and beauty of endurance racing with such events as the mile or the 10K.

In recent Kona lore you have the Hoyts and the Blazeman. Please don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with either the Hoyts or Jon Blaze. Their stories are poetic, tragic, and truly inspirational, but they are not about the clock or racing triathlon per say.

They are about the human spirit, and not athletic ability and their in lies the rub. NBC knows this and that is why they televise so little of the professional race from Kona. In fact, they televise only snippets of the pro race while using huge chunks of time for the human interest stories.

Today your homework is to compare and contrast that to the Tour de France coverage on Versus. Versus will spend hours on the actual race when it seems that the only thing that's going on is a long ride through the countryside.

But there is almost always some sort of drama (in front or behind the scenes) on the tour while during your typical Ironman you have very little outward drama that can be captured by the camera.

And unlike a marathon, you rarely have head to head running, and/or finishes as the pros usually all start the run at different times.

So I'm sorry Virginia but there is very little athletic drama in Ironman.

It is all about the doing and very little about the watching...unless you happen to have a loved one or friend in the race.

No juice for you?

Recently the ITU (International Triathlon Union) announced that it will begin testing elite and age group athletes at the BG Triathlon World Championships this year in Hamburg, Germany.

The recent ITU Statement is below:

"Dear representatives of the National Triathlon Federations,

"On behalf of the International Triathlon Union and the German Triathlon Federation, the hosts and organizers of the Hamburg BG Triathlon World Championships would like us to inform you about some important details in regards to the handling and execution of the current ITU Anti-Doping Program during the event in Germany:

"During the World Championships, the ITU will carry out a high number of doping controls. In conformity with the International Standards for Testing urine samples will be taken, as well as blood samples. Thereby Age Group, Junior, Under 23 and Elite athletes will all be monitored. The ITU intensifies its fight against doping by conducting strict pre-competition controls beside the regular competition controls.

"We want you to forward the following information to all of your national athletes taking part in Hamburg - as soon as possible:

"According to the WADA Code and rule 4.4. of the ITU Anti-Doping Rules each participating athlete with documented medical conditions requiring the use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method basically has to exhibit a therapeutic use exemption (TUE). Thereby, each athlete is generally obliged to provide a TUE issued by ITU (Rule 4.4.2.).

"For the purpose of these provisions the ITU and the anti-doping administrator will accept for the facilitation of the result management the following:

"1. For Junior, U 23 and elite competitors: TUE´s issued by their National Anti-Doping-Organizations in compliance with the WADA-Code and the International Standard for TUE.

"2. For athletes taking part at the ITU Age Group World Championships: the presentation of medical certificates including medical diagnosis and prescribed substances. In relation to the facilitation for Age Group athletes, the ITU reserves its right to evaluate their presented certificates and to deny the acceptance.

"During the BG Triathlon World Championships 2007 testing will take place for the juniors, U23, elite and age group athletes. In case they are chosen to be tested the athlete needs to carry a copy of his identity card including a photo. "

It is an open secret that a surprisingly large percentage of wining age-group Ironman athletes are on the juice.

It is an open secret that both NAS (North American Sports) and the WTC (World Triathlon Corporation) and the USA Triathlon know and do not acknowledge. It is now past high time that NAS, the WTC and USA Triathlon work together to tackle this issue head on and begin random testing of all age-group Kona slot and 70.3 World Championships entry winners.

I would go so far as to say that they should randomly test any age-group athlete who competes in any Ironman or USA Triathlon sanctioned race.

Why?

Because it is completely and utterly unfair to all of us clean athletes who train and sacrifice to compete against, and in the same race, as athletes using performance enhancing drugs.

I for one do not even want to be toe to toe at the starting line with cheaters.

I don't care if I'm in the same age-group or caliber with these cheating athletes, but using any sort of drug to enhance performance completely degrades the hard work that we've done to get to this point.

To me it is just like somebody who cheats in class to get ahead, or who steals to benefit themselves.

Athletes who are using drugs are stealing somebody's podium place, Kona slot, 70.3 World championship entry, and hard work and effort, along with the reputation of the sport.

It seems pretty obvious that with no enforcement, and no penalties for breaking the rules, comes no compliance.

Thus it should come as no surprise to anybody that age-group athletes are on the juice.

Is it not now beyond the time that NAS, the WTC, and USA Triathlon get off of their butts and start testing age-group athletes?

The technology exists, they have the money, they just need the will and a good enough reason.

Personally, I would think watching the slow motion destruction of the Tour de France this year over this very same issue would be reason enough.

I would humbly suggest that somebody better take the driver's seat on this issue very soon before it blows up and takes the reputation of the sport with it...not to mention the valuable business for both NAS and the WTC.

Adopt-a-Pro for the 24-hours of Triathlon

Note: Many professional  triathletes don't make a living as pros, in fact many have day jobs to support their triathlon racing careers.

This is especially true for newbie professionals who have very little if any funding or sponsorship money.

For this reason I'm adopting a pro who is just starting out his career and I'd like you help please.

Meet Lance "Gutti" Panigutti. He's a struggling pro who coaches swimming, works at a bike shop, and baby sits to make ends meet.  As a Newbie professional you not only have to pay race entry fees, but also all of the cost associated with the needed travel to get to your world wide races.

For this reason I'm adopting Gutti to help him achieve his lifetime goal of making it as a professional triathlete.

Gutti wants to race the 24-hours of triathlon (this coming labor day weekend) and he needs some help with the $240.00 entry fee. If you can, or want to help, just click on the donate tab below. Any amount will be greatly appreciated and we won't go over the entry fee, if and when, you guys are that generous.

In exchange for your race entry donations Gutti and I will chronicle his 24-hour race as either a podcast or perhaps a reality video. That way you'll be at the race with Gutti.

You'll be able to follow along with him as he soars or crashes on his journey to make his dream come true for an incredible 24-hours of racing. You'll be at the race with him as he swims, runs, and bikes for 24-hours straight. Think of it as American Idol without Simon and a multi-billion dollar budget. 

Thanks for your generosity and let's help Lance with his dream.

Here's a short bio of Gutti's career to date:

"Gutti" grew up in the rural Connecticut town of Newtown.  Even though he is only 25 Lance has been racing triathlon at the national/international level since 1996.   At the age of 14 he broke out in the swimming world winning a state championship and earning All-Connecticut honors.  Being so fast at such an early age came with expectations, but Lance quickly sought a new challenge – triathlon.   Over the next 5 seasons Gutti would go on to race in 2 ITU World Championships in the 16-19 age division, with a high placing of 25.

Suddenly in 2001 he disappeared from the sport.  During the fall of 2001 his mom was involved in a bike crash that left her paralyzed from the waste down.   The injury of the C7 vertebrae was not complete, but doctors offered little hope that she'd ever walk again.  According to Gutti, "Racing was the last thing I wanted to even think about.   When I came home from college in the summer time I was able to help with her pt.  As far as I was concerned my days in the sport were behind me and I didn't have any regrets."   During his 5 years on an academic scholarship at CU he found different avenues to keep busy.  In 2003 as the mascot "CHIP" for the cheerleading team he earned All-American status, you might remember seeing CHIP on the All-American Capital One commercials.   When he wasn't helping in his mom's rehab program he competed as an ocean lifeguard for Compo Beach (Westport, CT), dominating the North East rescue board and Ironguard competitions.

Upon graduating in the spring of 2005 with honors in classics and history Lance was ready to move on to Pepperdine Law School.  However, he never lost the passion for his sport and decided to put grad school off until 2012.  Gutti's focus is completely on ITU draft-legal racing with his focus on Olympic Trials in 2012.   "It's more of a head-to-head aggressive style of racing.  Does it take the bike out? – Hell no, it makes the swim important again and creates way more action out on the rode - Rubbing is racing!"   He credits his success since his return to his family, coach Grant Holicky, training partners Cam Dye and the RACE Swim Team.

Currently when he is not training or working at Colorado MultiSport, you can find him coaching at RallySport Health and Fitness Club.   Lance runs the summer league swim program at Rally, along with being the head Masters Swim Coach. 

Feel free to e-mail Gutti anytime for private swim lessons, triathlon coaching (Without Limits Performance inc), or any triathlon related questions.

Random Musings

My weekend swim buddy Michael made a funny observation in the car the other day.

He said beware of the siren call of the walkers as always walkers spawn more walkers.

As in you are on the last leg of your race (both literally and figuratively); the run, and you sort of feel like you are about to puke up a Buick and pass a kidney stone at the same time.

Just in front you happen to spot a jovial pack of walkers, so you think to yourself enough is enough already and join the party. Sort of like one of those late night television 1 800 call in numbers when the hawt bored young miss thing wants you to call and join the party.

So you do and your race is done.

Here are just a few other random observation that have struck me on my recent long runs and rides:

You can never do the business on race day morning.

And by business I do mean shidoobeedoobee. There is definitely an inverse relationship between how bad you want to go, and how hard your body clenches up. And by body I do mean butt. I can promise you that on race day it would be easier for me to race backwards than to do the necessary duty before the start of the race.

However, once the gun does signal the start of the race my body is ready and willing to let it flow like cheap Champaign on News Year’s eve.

On race day I always forget at least one thing at home, and I always realize this in the final few minutes before transition closes.

So part of the problem is that I would be hard pressed to find a sport that requires more stuff. Perhaps the modern pentathlon, competitive Domino stacking, hockey, or even scuba diving have as much crap to make it all work. But scuba is really not a sport, and the others don’t go against the clock.

This means that just when I’m about to place my towel on the ground I suddenly remember that I left my air pump, or my body glide, or my sunglasses, or my sun tan lotion, or my water bottles, or my butt butter, or my wetsuit, or my car keys, or my aspirin, or my helmet, or my underwear, or my USAT card, or my freakin’ towel at home.

No matter where I start the swim, somebody will always swim over me, or under me, or kick me, or grab my leg, or punch me, or scratch me, or look at me the wrong way.

I call this swim rage.

Just like car rage, swim rage seems to grab normal mild mattered athletes and turn them into steroid sucking, face kicking, rib punching, Hulk Hoganish water wrestlers.

I really don’t ever envy the pros except for the start of the race. They know that by working together they all win. Age-group athletes seem to think that swimming at the start of a triathlon is a contact sport. Which is pretty funny as the start of any age-group race when observed from a non-watery and safe distance is like a slow motion hippo ballet with all that splashing, kicking, and swimming over each other with so little real forward motion.

I don’t really care what some may consider as professional, fast, or part of the sport, but peeing on the bike into ones shorts and shoes is just gross and disgusting.

I seem to recall that during the first several years of the Ironman, the local Denny’s on the bike journey around the small island was a must stop. Today age-group athletes are pissing in their shorts as if they were trying to qualify for the 2008 Olympics, or racing Mark Allen and Dave Scott for a podium place in Kona.

You know I really understand that it is victimless and sterile crime, and probably none of my business, but boy it just really makes me shutter in disgust to think about hot piss running down my legs and into my bike shoes.

No thank you ladies and gentlemen. I’ll take the extra time and finish only sweaty and hot at the end of my race. And I’ll even risk coming in 1234 instead of 1233.

BTW: As far as peeing in the wetsuit goes…I’m good with that. The fish do it all the time and I have plenty of water to wash it away. In fact, I really like to pee a lot when swimming, especially at the start of a race so you may want to keep this in mind next time you decide to swim over me.

There is no race without the volunteers.

It’s srange, but at many races the racers get technical shirts and the volunteers get cotton shirts. This sort of implies that the volunteers are somehow less important.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Without them, and all of their help, and all their hard work, there would be exactly one triathlon every four years. And that would be the Olympic race. And I’m not sure that they could even put this race on without help from volunteers.

I know for sure that the ITU long course world championships were almost exclusively staffed by volunteers.

So I think that we should make it an unstated, but strictly enforced commandment, that when racing we always smile at volunteers, never-ever yell at them no matter what, and thank them for all of their help. Because without them we’d all just be sitting at home reminiscing about the good old days when an Ironman was just $500.00.

So please consider this my “THANK YOU” to all of you who have volunteered for my races this year. And you can bet that I’ll be handing out cups of warm water next year at a race in or around Boulder.

OK, I’ll try to make it cold water, but you know how that goes.

News, news, and more news

It has been a quiet week here in lake...oh never mind I've been listening to NPR too much this weekend.

In fact it has been a long and painful week as I near the peak of my training for Ironman Wisconsin.

Please notice the utter dazed and confused look in my eyes as I exit the water from Sunday's open 2.4 mile Horsetooth swim race.

I was completely OTP (of the plan) as in training plan for this race. My good friend Michael Stone asked me to join him for this annual early morning swim race. In years past I have done the longer and non-wet suit legal crazy long 10K race, but this was a great chance to share a great swim with great buddy, and have a great time.

It was all that and more and I got in a last, and come to think of it first, long training swim before the Ironman. I also had a chance to swim with a friend, and that's always a winning combination in my book. We finished together at just over 1:13 but got a little confused at the end. We didn't didn't realize we had to walk out of the water for the time to register...so let's call it 1:12.

Once again just look at the picture and you'll see I was a bit dazed and confused.

Mike Ricci had me doing a 7.5 hour ride this weekend on Saturday, but because of my schedule I decided to do it on Sunday after the race.

This was harder then I imagined it would be as the swim and big Cajun breakfast that followed made it hard to get on the iron steed for 7.5 hours. So I compromised and headed up to Ward for a grueling 40K climb.

Sorry Mike, I promise I'll try harder to stay OTP next weekend!

I figure if you can't do the time you may as well do the climb. I keep hoping that the old saying is true that hills (mountains in this case) make you stronger on the flats, but flats don't make you stronger on the hills.

On the way down from Ward I just outran a massive lightening and thunderstorm. That is just until my new chain on my road bike turned into spaghetti on the front derailer. Did you know that you need to shorten a new chain before you put in on the bike? I didn't know that until now.

Anyway, the rain hit in huge and very wet driving drops as I was taking the front derailer apart. I was tired, wet , greasy and did I mention wet.

The only good news was that the rain did drop the temperature from the mid-nineties to the low-nineties. I was happy for small miracles.

I'm now just under two weeks from my so called A race. No not Ironman Wisconsin, but the Chicago Triathlon. Last year I took second place in my my age and fat catagory.

Funny story this. I was back from Chicago last year at the local pool when one of the pro triathletes who coaches my son in swimming mentioned that they had announced my name at the Chicago Tri awards ceremony. I nearly fell in the pool as I have never even come close to winning anything in my life before.

The Clydesdale who beat me last year for the top spot on the podium went 2:34. I went 2:39. I figure that with Mike's help, the new bike, and cool weather I can go 5 minutes faster this year.

So that's the plan. I just hope that Bigun (who is also racing Chicago this year) doesn't go 10 minutes faster still and completely upset the wagon. To tell the truth I would be thrilled to have my butt kicked by another raceAthelete.

Speaking of raceAthlete...with Ironman Wisconsin just around the corner, it seemed like a great time to unvail the new raceAthlete web site.

We've changed the format around to make it easier to navigate and in the process we've done a bit of uncluttering as well. You'll notice that we've tried to keep the best parts of the old Blog/Website and enhance both the look and function by creating this brand spanking new site.

Please note that this new site is definitely still very much a work in progress so we'd love to have your comments and suggestions on how to make it better.

FYI: You'll find all of the same great daily team news under the tab called "Blog" Today we feature a longtime teammate (TriBoomer) who is doing something very special indeed for all of us at Ironman Wisconsin,

Check it out HERE

We've also expanded the web site to include your race and gear reviews. So if you have a race of gear review you'd like featured just send me a note.

More importantly, we also want to include more of you in the site so we need photos of you racing, training, hanging out, or just having fun. But the catch is that you need to be doing it in raceAthlete gear.

If you have such a picture please send it to me so that we can make you a raceAthlete star.

No Thanks

I just found this photo online of Michael Rasmussen (the recent TDF hero turned doping villain when he was booted from the tour).

All I can say is that if that is the ideal upper body of a TDF Champion and/or King of the Mountains....

If that is the body you need to have the perfect cycling power to weight ratio....

If that is a tattoo that's supposed inspire fear in his opponents...

If that is the skin tone of a champion...

No Thanks!

I'll stick with triathlon, beer, and brats...thank you very much.

I am not worthy

Thanks everybody for the great advice on my great triathlon debates.

I've decided to train with my race wheels, forgo the areo helmet for now (unless I can find a good deal on one in the next few weeks), wear the bike shorts (comfort over speed as I'm not exactly racing for a Kona slot in Madison) and keep the hairy legs for now, but this may change as I get closer to the Ironman.

I had some very humbling weekend training experiences that I thought I would pass along to you just for kicks.

On Saturday I was coming home from a pretty long ride (70 miles) when Joanna Zeiger and an Aussie riding friend passed me. Joanna is a Pro (who I happen to know) and she invited me to jump on her rear wheel. When a Olympian invites you to jump on their rear wheel only one answer is possible: "Yes Indeed, I'd like that very much."

So I rode behind her for about 2.3 minutes when I noticed that my heart rate had doubled about 3 times and I was well beyond the red zone and into the purple zone...that would be the color of my face. At four minutes I was ready to puke, and waved a sad but necessary goodbye to Joanna and her Aussie riding buddy. As I gulped for breath, I watched them zip into the sunset and thought to myself, "I wonder how much faster she goes when she is racing?"

I realized what a huge gulf exists between the pro's and the age-group Clydesdale's like myself. It really is humbling and a nice reality check when I start to feel a bit too big for my big butted britches.

On Sunday I was brought down a few more pegs. I was running around the local Reservoir when I passed by professional triathlete Craig Alexander on an easy run with a few Aussie mates. I can tell they were running easy as they only passes me like (insert your own cliche here). I was thinking of "like a steam locomotive" or the old standby "like I was standing still" when the Japaneses women's Olympic marathon team passed me and the Aussie boy's like we were all standing still.

That's how I knew that Craig and the boys were running easy. I would humbly estimate that I was running perhaps 10-minute miles while Craig and his group were loping along at 7-minute miles. The Japanese women were working much harder. I would estimate they were doing a harder speed workout of eleven miles at about the 5- minute mile pace.

I can estimate this fairly certainly as they passed me twice on the same loop which in effect meant they were going twice as fast as me.

Normally this would have been enough to make me jog into the nearest hole with shame. After all I was so far outclassed and out run that my pathetic 11-mile run seemed like a drunken walk in the woods when compared to these folks.

But just to really hammer the message home I was passed yet a third time. It really wasn't so much a pass as fly by passing. This time it was what I suspect are either two Kenyan or Ethiopian Olympians who also train here. They passed me at sub 5-minute mile pace. I know this because they actually looked like they were working hard. And when these boys are working hard, they are indeed flying. You can also tell they are really on a tear as their heals almost slam into their butts on every stride.

I watched them pass and easily make up the distance to the Japanese women's team.

I was not worthy and I knew it.

So I dragged my 10-minute per mile butt back to the car and decided on the spot that Ironman Wisconsin was going to be about comfort and not speed, because I had just witnessed the face of true speed and I can promise you that I don't have it.

My Great Tri Debate(s)

As I was sweating all over my BMC and Zipp wheels yesterday like a soggy Labrador after a romp in the lake, I couldn’t help but wonder about the great debates raging in my mind.

Oh yes I may have forgotten to mention that the reason I was dripping wet was because I was changing my third flat in the blazing mid-day Colorado sun. A nice ride with a good friend had turned into a death slog as I deeply slashed my race tire on my race wheel on some mystery chunk of glass.

The slash was so long and deep that the inner tube just popped like a 12-year-old’s gum bubble every time I rode on the repaired wheel.

Lesson #1 learned: Always, and I mean always, carry a tire patch kit in your tool and tire bag. The kits are tiny and they could mean the difference between getting home and sitting on the side of the road for hours in the blazing sun and traffic.

Luckily I got home thanks to my friend’s spare inner tube and a friendly ride by cyclist with a patch kit.

Anyway, the entire debacle got me thinking about the great debates raging in my mind just 4 weeks before the Ironman show in Madison. So here’s a short list of these, some new and some that seem to rage on year after year with no particular resolution one way or the other. I’d love to know what you think about my simple, but for me all too serious, problems because I’m completely on the fence and your experience and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Training wheels vs. Race wheels

The conventional school of thought on this matter is that you train on training wheels (not the kiddy kind of course) and race on race wheels. Now I consider myself very fortunate to have this debate as an issue as this is the first year that I have actually owned race wheels. I love my Zipps so much that I prefer to train on them because 1) they are very fast 2) they look cool 3) My Powertap is built into the rear wheel 4) Did I mention that they look really cool mounted on the BMC.

But the conventional wisdom says that you are supposed to only race on these wheels and get a second set of conventional training wheels for training rides. The idea being that when you do race you’ll feel so much faster and perform better on the lighter and faster race wheels.

By the way, this is the same conventional logic that swimmers use when they completely shave their bodies just before a big meet.

However, the fine folks at Zipp will tell you that their wheels are great for both training and racing. Plus, having two sets of wheels breaks my # 1 rule which states that you never ever ever ever, and I do mean ever, do anything new or different in a race from training.

Every time I’ve broken this rule I have paid a mighty price including having to repair eight flats during my first Iron distance race.

Plus, to make matters worse, switching between wheels is a royal pain in the ass. The gears on the two sets of wheels and the bike chain never perfectly mesh so you have to adjust the shifting on the bike. And if you have ever tried to do that on your own you’ll know exactly how well that works for us non-mechanical bike types.

Traditional Bike Helmet vs. Aero Helmet

The new Aero helmets are all the rage now. You can usually tell the serious tri types by their helmet. I’ve even heard it said that an Aero helmet is one of the most important items of equipment that you can buy to shave time from your bike split.

The problem that I have with Areo helmets comes down to 1) They are crazy expensive 2) They are hot and of course 3) They look completely goofy.

Every time I see someone wearing the helmet I can’t help but remember that old SNL cone head skit. I just want to take a ring a chuck it over anybody wearing the bloody thing.

I suppose it boils down to the fact that I find it very hard to spend so much money on something that makes me laugh so much. What do you say?

Bike shorts vs. Tri Shorts

Now this is really only an issue at the Ironman distance. I’ve raced up to the half Ironman distance in tri shorts. My butt was sore but I made 56-miles in relative comfort. I have however never biked past 56 miles in tri shorts. The issues really comes down to padding or lack thereof.

My 2XU bike shorts have a wonderful thick pad that provides plenty of cushion for my big butt on the long ride rides. The pad in the tri shorts is much much thinner and frankly I’m worried about how my tush will take 112-miles of rolling Wisconsin hills.

In both of my previous Iron distance races I have worn bike shorts on the bike. However this is a slow process in the transition area as you really can’t swim in bike shorts because the pad swells up to the size of an extremely dirty diaper when it gets wet. This means I have to change both in and out of them before and after the bike. Just more stuff to worry about in transition and more time wasted changing.

So do I go for ease and speed and wear the tri shorts, or do I go with the proven but slow solution of wearing bike shorts?

To Shave or not to Shave

I have never ever shaved my legs but recently I’ve been getting a lot of advice saying that I should. But for heaven’s sake folks this is everyman triathlon and I don’t think that most everyman types even think about shaving let alone put razor to leg, I keep thinking to myself.

My old roommate in college used to bike for a local team and he shaved his legs all of time. I soon realized that our relationship had all of the downside to living with a girlfriend with none of the upside. He would spend what seemed like hours shaving his legs to a silky smooth sheen.

Then and there (20-years-ago now to be exact) I swore I would never do this but now I’m not sure anymore. My wife says I should think about it and that carries a lot of weight.

The funny thing is that I should be worried about more important stuff like nutrition, race plan, or even training, but in fact I’m all wound up about these silly debates. So please help move past these issues so that I can get on with the last few weeks of training before the big show in Wisconsin.

Thanks!

A crazy long triathlon for a very worthy cause

I wake up every morning thankful that I have the health, time, energy and good fortune to be able to train and race.

It really is a rare gift to be able to live the triathlon life.

That's why I'm always looking for people who use this crazy sport for a bigger and better purpose.

Scott Fliegelman is one of those people. I recently featured him in a podcast (Click HERE to listen) and post (Click HERE to read) from his Ironman race in Idaho.

He didn't finish IMCDA because of a mechanical problem on the bike.

But Scott has bounced back to take on the 24-hours of Triathlon on Labor weekend...Solo.

That's right...he's going to swim, bike and run for 24-hours by himself, and to make it more interesting he's helping out two of his coaches who recently traded running shoes for chef's hat when they opened the SAME cafe.

The idea of the SAME cafe is simple. You have lunch or dinner and you pay what you can. In other words, you can donate a dollar or you can donate $20. It's up to you.

From the SAME cafe's web site:

"Hunger is a Problem

And we want to help find a solution in our own small way. So All May Eat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in April, 2006 to help eliminate the ever growing problem of hunger in today's society.

The SAME Cafe is unique in the lack of a set menu as well as set prices. Daily selections are made using fresh, organic ingredients, and funded by the donations of patrons. Instead of a cash register, a donation box is available for one to pay what they felt their meal was worth, or to leave a little more and help out someone less fortunate. If a diner does not have sufficient money to leave, they are encouraged to exchange an hour of service in our restaurant for a full meal voucher."

Recently the air conditioner at the SAME Cafe went out so now they can only server cold meals as it ts too hot to cook hot meals. Go figure...but it is true.

So Scott has taken it upon himself to raise money for this great cafe and great cause...Hunger.

If you want to help just visit Scott's web site by clicking HERE and you can pledge a few pennies for every mile he covers during the 24 hour race.

FYI: He's expecting to swim, bike and run about 200 to 250 miles.

With so many worthy causes it can be hard to track your donations. However this is a great chance to not only track an athlete, but know exactly where and how your money will be used.

Thanks for your consideration and help.