2015, ANOTHER TRANSITION YEAR

TIME OFF WITH NO WITHDRAWAL

Well, I actually had no withdrawal symptoms during my 4 month sabbatical from training and racing. The exercise sabbatical was not so kind to my general energy levels or body composition, but I had much more time to enjoy and experience other aspects of living.   In addition, the lack of withdrawal gave me pause, and caused me to contemplate what I get out of triathlons.

This is not my first triathlon sabbatical.   I took 13 years off during the years before my retirement. That sabbatical was driven both by physical injuries and work obligations, and was consequently reasonably "practical". This short sabbatical, although I have been nagged by minor injuries,  was primarily due to a decline in interest.

While I have had some serious successes in multisport, I never dominated at the national level in the age-group categories like Steve Smith did (60-64, now battling cancer).  In my 60's, I have won USAT national championships in Trialthlon and Duathalon, finished 2nd in Aquabike,  3rd at the 70.3 worlds (Henderson), and finished 2nd and 5th at Ironman Worlds (Kona). So, clearly, racing just to complete events is not going to motivate me, especially to train at a level that would support the longer distances. And, as I will race at age 69 this year, I will be at a severe disadvantage to all those hungry 65 yr olds who just aged-up.  If you read my prior post on the impact of aging on performance (HERE WE GO 2014), all things equal, from 65 to 70 you will be 10% slower even if you are the dominate age-grouper in your category.

WHAT NOW FOR 2015

I haven't put together a real plan for 2015.  I'm partly posting this blog just so its readers know I'm still around.  I have registered for two WTC events, St George  70.3 and Ironman AZ, mostly because they are close to my home and easy/cheap except for the registration fee's.  I am sure to do a few other shorter races, but probably on short notice and based on what is happening in my life.  At 69 I am at a serious disadvantage to win the 65-69 age category at races.   I tinker with getting serious about turning 70 and making one more shot at earning a podium spot at Kona, but maintaining health, motivation, and luck all have to align for that to happen.  So, that's why 2015 is another transition year as I think about turning 70 in 2016.  But, to make it worth your while to have read this far, below are a few of my training learning's from nearly 60 years of training and many hundreds of races.

MY TRAINING LEARNING'S

early morning outdoor swimming in Arizona

SWIM:  As an experienced but not professionally trained swimmer, more time in the pool has only made me marginally faster and not worth the extra time.  In addition, the swim is the easiest part of most triathlons due to it being proportionally under-represented compared to either the bike or run segments, and since it is normally the first leg. Consequently, I spend only enough time in the pool to get me comfortable with the expected race distance.  Even when approaching an Ironman event, I rarely exceed 3,000 yards in a workout or 10,000 yards in a week.  And, I swim freestyle with a pull buoy 90% of the time (why practice breast stroke, back stroke, etc with a limited time resource).  In addition I feel that I'm saving my legs for the other segments. Besides, I'm slower when I kick than pull.  Obviously I love wetsuit legal races.  While these practice distances may seem silly-short, even in my serious marathon days I found I could run mid 2:30's on 60-70 mile weeks with a long run of 15 miles.  So, total weekly training of just over twice the race distance worked for me.

never too many bikes

BIKE:  I've found that weekly training at slightly over twice the expected race distance applies to all three of the legs of triathlon.  So approaching an Ironman I will try to average around 200 miles of biking per week.  Again, I do not over-emphasize the "long" bike at the expense of consistency.  4 rides of 50+/- miles gets me in great shape.  And most of it is on a road bike.  Probably just a mental thing, but if I can get fit and efficient on a roadie, then on a tri-bike I'll be about1 mph faster.  I do bring out the tri-bike and alternate road/tri bikes as I approach the race to confirm my tri-bike comfort level.

RUN:  If I wasn't so prone to running related injuries,  I would try to aim for twice the weekly training distance as the event race distance.  But, I can no longer safely absorb 50 miles/week of running approaching an Ironman.  And, for most people it's not necessary.  I averaged perhaps 25 miles/week leading up to my second place finish at Kona in 2011.  The longest run was 10 miles. And, when I did my run training, I mimicked my plan to run/walk on a pre-determined schedule that I believed I could maintain for the race.  For me that was a 4 min run followed by a 1 minute walk. Enough to hold a 10 min/mile pace and place the every-other-walk at the aid station.

lycra and tv free zone

GYM:  Usually in the "off" season I spend some time in the gym on strength and flexibility.  I do this out of guilt, or maybe its fear, because most "experts" emphasize its benefits, not because I enjoy it or even believe it is that helpful.  I believe that to become a faster more efficient runner you need to run, to swim faster you need to swim, to bike faster you need to bike.  Muscle specific exercises.  I don't think its debatable that of two equivalently talented people, if A spent all his time lifting weights and B used an equivalent time running, B would beat A in a running race. So, unless you are a PRO or an ELITE with unlimited time/resources looking to gain those incremental seconds, I wouldn't overdo the gym thing.

NUTRITION:  Like the gym, I don't overemphasize the nutrition.  No mater how "nutritionally" or "naturally" you eat, if you don't swim/bike/run you will not get better.  I try to eat balanced but feed any cravings that develop, believing that the body knows best.  I do occasionally "fast" for short periods.  This is a carryover from my marathoning days when, perhaps mistakenly, I thought that fasting while training would teach the body to easily convert from carbo to fat burning in support of long distance races.  Old habits die slowly.

YOGA/PILATES/CROSSFIT/MASSAGE/ETC:  Gym category.

HAVE A GOOD AND HEALTHY YEAR EVERYONE