EverymanTri.com

Best Blog Round-Up

I really believe that the best blogs allow you to swim, bike, and run a few miles in someone else's shoes.

So here are some recent race reports and blog posts that I found especially entertaining, clever, fun, useful or just plain weird.

As long as judges can sneeze...

I know that is is completely unfair and it will devastate a lot of great athletes but let's agree here and now on this one thing so that we can move on past all of the old, current, and new controversies, and really enjoy a fair and unbiased Olympics.

I am of course referring to doing away, at least at the Olympic level, with all sports that are judged by a random group of so-called expert judges.

Why?

Because the clock never lies, gets tired, gets

What's so magic about the Number 17?

There is no magic in the number 140.6. It represents a very random distance that several guys in Hawaii came up with in the winter of 1978 to determine if a swimmer, cyclist, or runner is the best endurance athlete.

U.S. Navy Commander John Collins (one of the Hawaii guys who began it all) is widely quoted as saying, "Whoever finishes first, we'll call him the Iron Man."

New Format, Free Gear, and Schwag to Review

In case you haven't noticed, I've changed the format of the front page of EverymanTri.com. As of today all of the front page news, stories, and podcast are brief excerpts that now link to the entire post.

I've done this because I want to:

a) expanding this web site to include more of the great endurance news that you guys want to read view, and, listen to.

b) try to make this more user friendly and easy to navigate. In the next few days I'll be simplifying the look and content of the site even more. After almost four years of writing, podcasting and posting I've accumulated a lot of content that needs to be archived.

Endurance Buzz Round-up

This is the third addition of the Everymantri Endurance Buzz report; a brief and interesting round-up of all the news that's you need to start your week. To make it even easier for you to get your Monday morning Endurance Buzz on with your cup of java or bottle of Gatorade just subscribe to this RSS feed (by clicking on the RSS image below)  and you'll get the last endurance news every time you go online.

E-Buzz

Click HERE to read how regular running slows down aging

Everyman Weekly Training Plan Week of 8.18.08

August 18 2008: Build/LT/Speed Work

Monday:

Bike: 35 ez spin Zone 1, small chain ring only

Tuesday:

Run Intervals: Speed Ladder: 15min warm-up starting at 3min slower than your best mile time: (eg. 5min mile starts at 8min pace) 30 sec @ 8min pace, 30sec ez, 30sec @ 7:30pace, 30sec ez, all the way down to your mile pace and then back up the ladder. So you will have a total of 14 running intervals of 30sec running/30sec ez (Great workout to do on the treadmill to self monitor and control pace)

Everyman Enduance Podcast with Matt Reed

Today Matt Reed will be representing the United States of America at the Beijing Olympics.

His goal is simple. He wants to win gold for his adopted country.

I caught up with Matt a few years ago just after he won the Alcatraz Triathlon. You can listen to my Podcast HERE.

20 Reason to Watch and Not Watch the Olympics

 20) It's sad and disheartening to watch prepubescent girls dressed up like women, as part of a state sponsored program by the Chinese to blatantly cheat and break the rules. It is even more sad and more disheartening that the IOC sanctions this obfuscation like they did some 30 years ago with the steroid happy East German's. This is certainly a reason to not watch and support this sham.

Bee Free

The swim, or as I like to call it the "if I can only," as in "if I can only muddle through the swim the rest of the race will be cake."

For most of us Everyman Triathletes swimming is usually our limiter. By limiter I mean the part of the triathlon that limits our performance. In other words the part that we hate. And yes I know there are always a few triathletes who seem to have been born with gills and webbed feet.

The Best Advice I Ever Heard

I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was sitting by the side of the pool speaking with my old Coach Wes Hobson before my usual Friday masters swim-a-thon.

Wes likes to coach Masters the old school way so he gives long sets on just about impossible intervals.

Everyman Endurance Podcast with Mark Allen

What does it take to win the World Triathlon Championship in Kona? A world full of training and pain would be my guess.

What does it take to win the World Triathlon Championship in Kona six times?

Mark Allen knows and he shared it with me recently.

Endurance Buzz Round-up

This is the second addition of the Everymantri Endurance Buzz report; a brief and interesting round-up of all the news that's you need to start your week.

To make it even easier for you to get your Monday morning Endurance Buzz on with your cup of java or bottle of Gatorade you can either:

Everyman Weekly Training Plan for the Week of August 11, 2008

Thanks to Lance Pantigutti of Without Limits Productions for these great weekly workout that will have you race ready in no time.

Technical Description
How Each ZONE feels

Zone 1

Embarrassingly Slow! 

Zone 2
Over distance – Aerobic
Improve aerobic efficiency
Build capillaries
Burn fat

How it feels
Still feels too easy
Can talk comfortably during entire workout
Sweating slightly


Zone 3
Endurance
Moderate Effort – 20bpm<LT
Feels like a training workout

How it feels
Feels refreshing when done
Starts to feel more like a workout
Sustained effort


Zone 4
LT – Tempo
Body shifts to burning mostly carbs as fuel source
Lactate is still clearing from the muscle cells

How it feels
Breathing intensifies
No more talking
Hard, long intervals
Muscles could cramp if not properly fueled

Zone 5
VO2 Max
Intense Effort / Max HR
Short Intervals
Sprint pace

How it feels
All out effort
Heart beats out of your chest
Muscles burn
Heavy sweating

Week 2: Base/Build/LT

Monday:

Swim V02 MAX Workout #2: Target is 500-1650 race training.  Decreasing segments of a 500 are swum at pace, negative split, and all out with full recovery in between.  The set is a progression from “VO2 MAX Workout #1” as the intensity has been ramped-up.
Warm-Up:
400 – Easy
1 x [100 perfect, 75 drill/swim/drill, 50 Kick, 25 Build]    
Preparation Set:
1x [ 75 perfect / 50 build to 90% / 75 perfect / 50 build from 90% to all out]
100 easy                           
Main Set:
200 @ 500 Pace
5 min recovery in after

1x100 negative split from a push
5 min recovery after both

Tuesday:

Run Intervals: 20min warm-up 2x8min Building to Zone 3 with 5min rest in between: 10min run progression starting at zone 3 and building to zone 4…cool down 15min

   
Wed:
        Bike: 50 min ride + or – 20min on rolling terrain

Thursday:

Run: 25 min very ez run all Zone 1 on flat terrain

Friday:

Rest and relax. You’ve earned it!

Saturday:   

Bike/Run Brick: 1.25 hr ride Negative Split(ie 2nd half faster than the first half) hop off and run 15min building the run as a progression to 10k race pace by the end (caution: start off slower than you want to Zone 1)

 Sunday:

Long Run: 45 all Zone 2 for the first hr then build to Zone 3 LT Pace (ie Half marathon pace) for the last 15min (Focus on stay light on your feet, upright running position)

It's a Beautiful Day!

Find more videos like this on raceAthlete B-FitB-Day.com
Mandy you go girl!

When I started the raceAthlete B-Fit B-Day Challenge at the beginning of this year I got a lot of great comments about the unique idea of celebrating health and fitness on one's B-Day with a little athletic Challenge.

But it was the handful of negative comments that really made me think.

The Challenge is simple, but not easy. You must:

Take your age and in any order:

1) Swim the number of miles in the first number,
2) Run the number of miles in the second number,
3) Bike the number of miles in the combined number.

So a 45-year-old athlete would:
1) Swim 4 miles
2) Run 5 miles
3) Bike 45 miles

A lot of great athlete's took up the B-Fit Challenge when I first announced it to team raceAthlete. But a small number of athletes called it, "age discrimination," "fluff," and one went so far as to say that it was, "a complete waste of time and energy!"

I completely disagree!

And I want to thank Mandy for making my point with her fantastic B-Fit Challenge video.

You see in my way of thinking our health and fitness is one of the greatest gifts that we get in life.

The old saying, "Use it or lose it," certainly applies.

So why not celebrate this great gift with our friends and family on our birthday? We spend so much time and energy when it all goes South to get well, yet we rarely celebrate the health and fitness that we have...when we have it.

There are a lot of great people doing great work on trying cure the many ways that we can get sick and unwell with the hundreds of diseases that can rob us of our health. There is so much pain, sadness and suffering when we, our friends, our loved ones, get sick with cancer, or any of the other countless ways that our lives can be cut short.

There are so many brave people today fighting the big battle to overcome, acknowledge, or even remember all those who fought their battles and lost.

The B-Fit B-Day Challenge is simply the other side of that same coin.

It's the "Thank You" card instead of the "Get Well" card.

It is our chance to shine and to show all those that we love how fortunate and thankful we are to be healthy.

I'll be the first to admit that it is not an easy Challenge. In fact, it is very hard and it gets harder as we get older. But than again we have to work harder to stay fit as we age, and in the end we have more to be thankful for as we get older.

In the next two weeks many of us will be watching the Olympics, which in my mind is the ultimate display and celebration of physical fitness and ability. Unfortunately we all can't compete at that world class level. But we all have a B-Day, and if we're lucky we also have a healthy body, and if we work at it... a fit body.

So a huge thanks to Rudy Project, Hornet Juice, and 2XU for their support this year and thanks Mandy for sharing your B-day Challenge with me today. For proving in such a fun and creative  way that my idea wasn't just "fluff." You made my day and even though the weather outside here in Boulder, CO is lousy...it is indeed a beautiful day!

R.I.P.

I feel old.

Really old.

I believe that in endurance Blogging and Podcasting years I'm now much older than my dog Happy.

Happy is now almost seven in dog years and that would make her 49-years-old in human years. The classic doggy mathematical formula states that for every one human year, a dog ages 7 doggy years.

I believe that the endurance Blogging and Podcast mathematical formula goes that for every one human year the typical triathlete blogs is equivalent to 14 regular human years.

In case you are wondering that would make me 56 years old and counting.

So let's take a second out of our busy lives and pay respect to all of the fine Endurance Sports Bloggers and Podcasters that have given their all to us and have moved on to a bigger and better place where computers never crash and comments overflow like ruby red wine from a chilled Box-O-Wine.

Please note that I consider blogs that are now private, as well as blogs that are no longer updated, as the dearly departed, since in all meaningful respects they are dead to us all.

Here's just a short list.

Please stand for a moment of respect as we fire 21 guns to those that have come, given their all, and paved the way for the rest of us, and who are now gone...way before their time:

Trigeekdeams.com

Bolder

Stronger

Nytro

Ironbenny

Laurie

Lance NotStrong

Dude who is Freaking Out!

Fat Girl on a Bike

from AthlEAT to ATHLETE

Go Clydesdale Go

Manitoba Guy's Ironman

From Triathlete to....

Building A Better Me

Brian McNitt’s Blog

Tri Wookie

Out of respect, and as a fitting memorial, I would suggest that you add your own favorite dear and departed blogs and/or Podcast to the comments section below.

You can Buy a lot of Cokes for $500

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the original Ironman race in Hawaii.

15 athletes competed that fateful race and and only 12 crossed the finish line. One of them was Frank Day. He crossed the finish line in 8th place. In a recent interview he recalled the night he crossed the very first Ironman finish:

"At about 12 miles on the course at Hawaii Kai there was a McDonalds. I went inside and sat down with my handlers and had the largest Coke they had. Henry Forrest, the little engine that could on the bike course, passed me while I was in the McDonalds. After I rejuvenated for about 30 minutes I went out again and was able to run for about 4 miles (probably as many calories as was in that coke) then basically walked in.

When I got to the finish line there was no one there. It was not even marked, as we all knew where it was as it was the finish line of the Honolulu marathon and we had all done that. Anyhow, when I crossed the finish line I noted my time (about 16:30) and then climbed in my car and went home to go to bed.

The next day we all met at John Collins’ house to compare notes and to silkscreen our own finisher’s tee shirts (we provided the shirts). As I remember the "entry fee" was 5 dollars to cover expenses and I think we got 3 dollars back from John."

I can't help but reflect how much things have changed since that first race some thirty years ago.

Obviously the entry fee to an Ironman race has increased by about 100 times. Actually when you take into account all of the registration fees, it is well beyond 100 times the 1978 fee.

And I have yet to hear of any NAS (North American Sports) or WTC (World Triathlon Corporation) Ironman triathlon that will refund your full entry fee for any reason what-so-ever, and that includes having your leg bitten off because you successfully saved a wayward toddler from the jaws of a hungry alligator in Florida.

When you sign-up for an Ironman race (a full year ahead of time) now-a-days no matter how you feel (come injury, or divorce, or a hurricane that knocks down your home, or any other act of God) you better race, or be prepared to flush most of your $500.00 (plus registration costs) down the Ironman toilet.

On a more positive note, you can still buy Ironman shirts before, after, and even during the race. Of course they are a bit more expensive these days. I'm always amused and amazed at the size of the crowd that lines up the morning after a race to get their official "Finisher" gear.

I really do believe that the price tag of the "Official Finisher" shirts, jackets, pants, jerseys, doggy sweaters, baby bibs/diapers, Ironman socks, and underwear, hats, backpacks, fleece vests, golf shirts to name just a few items for sale...is the most elastic number in the sport.

I suspect that if you added one (or even two zeros) to the staggering high price tag, you'd still sell out of doggy sweaters and baby bids in matter of minutes.

I made the silly mistake last year in Madison after the IM race of buying my wife an Ironman Wisconsin bike jersey for something like 2 gold bars and the lifelong income of my first born. I stood in line for two hours with the rest of the hordes and of course purchased the wrong size, as all men will do. Let's face it gents we may be well versed in how to unwrap our wives tops, but buying the right size clothes to wrap them back up is completely alien to most of us.

I brought home the bike jersey, and it was way too big so I dutifully wrapped it up. I called the "official" Ironman clothing retailer in Canada who informed me to mail it back for a prompt exchange. I went to the post office, stood in line for three more hours, filled out the customs forms, and mailed it via priority mail. It has now been almost a year I have yet to get anything back for my 2 bars of gold from the "Official" Ironman supplier. Now I really fear that my son's is gonna be pretty pissed at me when he starts working as I have zip to show him or his mother for all of my troubles.

BTW: I would love to even get 3 dollars back like Frank did back in the day from the "Official" Canadian company that was so eager to take my money in Madison.

And speaking of Frank Day, here's another thing that has completely changed from the his first day. Can you image doing an Ironman and crossing the finish line with no one around to cheer you across the line?

In other words, if a tree falls in the forest and nobody reports that it fell, did it really fall?

At today's races the finish line is a non stop party that even includes a highly restricted, catered, and elevated VIP area next to the finish line. I found it somewhat odd watching the VIP's party, eat, and booze it up at the last IM race I Sherpaed in Florida as the last athletes struggled across the finish line.

Why is it that we always have to separate ourselves into the haves, have-nots, and those who have, and get special treatment?

I suspect that Frank felt as much, if not more satisfaction, from finishing the race than do all of the VIP's at today's race who come to expect special access and treatment from the race organizers.

Finally, I think that it should be mentioning that one part of Frank's story has not changed. They still serve Coke on the run at you typical WTC Ironman. However unlike Frank's Coke, the typical Coke today is free, smaller, and I fear without any ice.

I don't know about you, but I can't help but feel that extra $498.00 entry fee they charge today would buy a lot of McDonald's burgers, fries and even Cokes.