How to Qualify for Kona – A Plan for the "Realist"

(by Alan Couzens, MS (Sports Science) courtesy of www.endurancecorner.com via http://www.urban-ninja.co.za/)

Last week I talked about the different improvement curves that I’ve observed for different types of athletes. I identified three basic athlete types: the natural, the realist and the worker.

As part of our new “How to Qualify for Kona” section that recently kicked off, I’m going to put some of those observations into the context of what it means to different types of athletes looking to qualify for Kona.

In a previous article for the Training Peaks site I conveyed some of the typical chronic training load ranges that I tend to see for athletes of different types and ability levels. The table from that article is reproduced below.



The times that qualify an athlete for Kona are getting faster by the year. The 2010 ranges for flat (Florida, Arizona, Brazil) and hilly courses (Lake Placid, CdA, St. George) for differing age-groups and genders is shown below.



So, comparing the two tables, if you’re a young(ish) male, you’ll likely need the fitness level represented by a VO2max/VO2 score of 60-67ml/kg/min* corresponding to a Chronic Training Load somewhere in the 75-150 TSS/d range. If you’re a young(ish) female, you’ll need the fitness level represented by a VO2max/score of 57-60 ml/kg/min* corresponding to a CTL somewhere in the 70-130 range.

*I am using VO2max here as a general indicator of fitness here, but in reality the components of ironman fitness necessary to qualify are more complex and multi-faceted. I elaborate on some of these factors here.

As I conceded in the training load piece, these are some pretty big ranges! In hours per week terms, we could be talking about an average training week as low as 10 hours or as high as 25 hours per week! This is where last week’s article on different athlete types comes in. There will be a fortunate 15% who can sign up for one of those “Get to Kona on 10 hours a week” plans and actually get to Kona on 10 hours a week! If you’re one of those athletes, you can close your browser; this piece isn’t for you. But for the vast majority of us, Kona level fitness is going to be take more – a lot more! If we convert these CTL numbers to hours: a chronic load of 18-20 hours week of easy-steady training for five or more months prior to the event.

Think about this, two-and-a-half to three hours a day of training, eight to 10 hours of work/commute, eight to 10 hours of (necessary) sleep, eating, bathing, etc., is going to lead to five or more months of very structured living and not doing much else. It is no coincidence that those who qualify typically have atypical work or family situations. Kona qualifiers have different fitness levels to the rest of us generally because they have different lives to the rest of us.

According to VO2max data from the Cooper institute, Kona qualifiers are in the top 0.5%-.0025% of the population when it comes to fitness. In other words, if you’re a young (college age guy) and we randomly sampled 200 folks from your dorm, you would consistently be the fittest. Taking this a little further, if you’re a 40-something guy living in a pretty good-sized town of 40,000 people, you’re the fittest guy in town! This kind of stat doesn’t happen without living a little differently to those 39,999 folks who have more “normal” fitness.

Faced with such stats, it is tempting to pull the genetics card, but based on what I’ve seen, genetics isn’t the limiter, at least when it comes to getting to Kona level fitness. The vast majority of folks respond to training load quite similarly and most of us have the potential to reach a very high level of fitness. As I suggested in the previous article on athletic types, for 70% of folks, if they do the work, Kona is within reach but setting up your life to do the work is another matter and for many it is far easier to attribute the limiter to genetics than to make the required change.

Merely setting up your life to have the space to fit in five months’ worth of 18 to 20 hour weeks of training in your Kona build isn’t enough. The realist knows that even with the life space to fit the training and sufficient attention given to recovery, you can’t just get up off the couch and throw down one 18 to 20 hour training week after another. You also need a fitness “base” to pull this off. So you’ll want to factor in a period of preparatory “training to train” weeks, progressively building up the fitness to tolerate the back to back big weeks that will comprise your Kona build.

Based on my experience, most folks coming in from normal active fitness levels are going to need to both be generally fresh and healthy (that is, come into the hard training unloaded), and have a base fitness of five to six months of preparatory training in the 12 to 15 hour range to tolerate those 18 to 20 hour weeks of your “get to Kona” push. If you’re coming from below normal fitness (less than 45 VO2) you’ll probably need another five to six months of preparatory “get in shape” work before even beginning the “train to train” period.

Additionally, we both know that your chances of putting together 20 or more back to back weeks in the 18 to 20 hour range without recovery isn’t good. You’re going to get tired and need some recovery weeks sprinkled in to your Kona build. In fact, if you manage a ratio of 3:1 loading to recovery weeks in the context of a 9-5 job and family life without getting sick or injured you’ll be doing very well! So that five months of specific training, more realistically becomes six or seven months.

Adding it all up, the realist should be planning for:

• Six to 12 months of uninterrupted, consistent “basic training” to get ready to train for the event.
• Six to seven months of focused “specific training” directed specifically towards your (first) Kona push.

This is harder than it sounds. Think about how many ways life can get in the way over a 12 to 18 month period…

• You start a new job/your work commitments increase beyond the 9-5.
• You start a relationship/end a relationship/have relationship issues
• Your family commitments increase
• You get sick/a family member gets sick.
• You get injured.
• You move
• You go on vacation
• You race too frequently (and have too much time for each devoted to taper and recovery)
• You/your significant other plans a home improvement project!

It only takes two weeks of disrupted training (or disrupted recovery) to lose a significant amount of fitness. Any of the above could lead to that. Any more than one of these interruptions over the course of a six month period and maintaining fitness will be a best case scenario. The realist doesn’t fight this, is aware of a certain level of unpredictability in life and is committed to “as long as it takes.”
That said, the realist is also going to be inherently aware of the consequences of inconsistency and is going to control the controllable and whatever they can to avoid the above and put together at least a couple of relatively uninterrupted seasons where their training load is limited by their level of fitness not by life circumstance. Gordo wrote about some of the proactive ways to enhance life stability in the intro article to the "How to Qualify" section.

Also, the realist is going to realize that there are no guarantees. While a VO2max of 60-67, a threshold of 85% and metabolic fitness of 4-5kcal/fat/min are all likely going to be necessary to qualify, they are not in themselves sufficient. You need both the fitness and a good day on an appropriate course to pull it off. In other words, you may need to put together more than one of these builds before high fitness and a good day coincide!

In my way of thinking, it is the combination of these factors (physiological, life and race) necessary for ironman success that make up the beauty of ironman racing. We’ll go into some of these additional factors that maximize your chances of qualifying in coming articles.

Until then…

Simon says: -
An interesting read for us aspiring Kona qualifiers. Takes a lot doesn't it?

Talking Australian Clock'

(Courtesy of Ian Hay)

Proudly showing off his newly-leased downtown apartment to a couple of friends late one night, a drunk Manuel led the way to his bedroom where there was a big brass gong hanging on the wall.

'What's that big brass gong for?' one of the friends asked.

'Issss nod a gong. Issss a talking Australian clock' Manuel replied drunkenly.

'A talking Australian clock - seriously?'

'Yup.' 'Hmmm (hic).

'How's it work?' the second friend asked, squinting at it.

'Just watch' he said.

He picked up a hammer, gave the gong an 'ear-shattering bash' and stepped back.

His two mates stood looking at one another for a moment in astounded silence.

Suddenly, an Australian voice from the other side of the wall screamed, 'For f*#k's sake, you stupid pri*#. It's ten past three in the f*#king morning!!!'

Felonious Munk Presents: Stop It B! OBAMA PAY YOUR &*%$#% BILLS

(Courtesy of Ian Hay)

Simon says: - oh yeah baby! Say it the way it is.

A glorious weekend in Beijing

(Courtesy of the BBC online)

A glorious weekend in Beijing has ensured Britain enters its home Olympic Games with both the male and female world champion triathletes.

The news gets better. Not only do Alistair Brownlee and Helen Jenkins now hold the world titles, Alistair's younger brother, Jonny, came second in the men's event.

Meanwhile, Britain's U23 men raced to a one-two-three as the 2011 season reached its climax at the sport's grand final in China.

But for the unwitting intervention of a stray dog, the team's results could have been yet more impressive.

When I ask the man in charge of Britain's triathletes why his team have become such a dominant force, it transpires the stray dog is an analogy for the entire sport.

"The Olympics are 11 months away and we're in a strong position," says Malcolm Brown, British Triathlon's Olympic performance manager, who is in China with his victorious squad as they celebrate.

"But think of it like this. Lucy Hall, one of our junior women, was leading her race here when a dog ran into her path and knocked her off her bike.

"The life of an athlete is full of stray dogs and you have to know how to deal with them when - and if - you see them."

Two world champions and a conveyor belt of younger talent implies those metaphorical dogs are safely on the leash for now.

Brown boils Britain's success down to three things: triathletes using their brains on the course, the governing body using its brain off it, and ensuring that developing athletes get the right coaching at the right time.

He has form with the latter. In 2002, the former endurance running coach for UK Athletics was dabbling in a little part-time coaching at the track when a father turned up with his two teenage sons.
As Brown remembers it, the man pointed to the taller boy and said: "This one is a good cross-country racer but after 200m he's always at the back. Can you make him faster?"

Gesturing to the shorter boy, the man added: "Don't worry about him. He's a footballer."
Alistair Brownlee would have been around 14, and Jonny two years younger. Brown enlisted the help of his colleague and triathlon coach Jack Maitland and, over the next decade, the pair not only made Alistair a bit quicker, they turned Jonny's head from football (if not Football Manager) and transformed them into the two finest male triathletes on the planet.

Brown looked at running and conditioning for the brothers while Maitland, who won the Everest Marathon in 1999 and remains the only non-Nepalese man in the list of its fastest times, concentrated on swimming and cycling. With time, the pair added physios, strength and conditioning coaches and so forth to reach the current staff of seven or eight, including a full-time manager, who prepare the Brownlees for races.

This is important because the Brownlees, alongside Jenkins, have set a precedent which has become the template for Britain's top triathletes.

Rather than basing themselves in a single centralised venue, like British Cycling's Manchester velodrome, the very best British triathletes are allowed to form their own staff and training bases. The Brownlees use Yorkshire and Jenkins uses Bridgend.

Triathletes in the UK earn the right to do that by finishing in the world's top eight, establishing themselves as a "podium athlete". But the system is flexible and, if athletes outside the top eight are prepared to accept a funding cut, they too are allowed to opt out of the sport's centralised programme. The likes of Tim Don and Will Clarke have done this and are known as "affiliate athletes", who can train elsewhere but still use British Triathlon's facilities as they see fit.

This leaves the centralised portion of British Triathlon - based in four centres, primarily Loughborough - free to focus on nurturing younger talent. A team of coaches with visiting specialists helps to prepare the next generation, such as the trio of U23 men who swept the Beijing podium, to follow in the footsteps of the Brownlees and Jenkins.

Matt Sharp, for example, overcame several years of injury trouble with the Loughborough centre's help, particularly its medical and sports science capabilities. He is now the newly crowned U23 world champion after leading home team-mates David McNamee and Tom Bishop in Beijing.

Yet with serious money to be made for high-profile senior triathlon victories, if Sharp goes on to establish himself in the world's top eight he may look to follow the Brownlees and strike out away from Loughborough. It is not a perfect system and some triathletes believe they have been unfairly treated by it, but it is more fluid than many others and seems to work for the sport.

"If you take the Brownlees, they're born and bred in Yorkshire, went to Bradford Grammar, used to cycle to school along the towpath, do cross-country at school, and swim at Leeds swimming club in the morning," says Brown.

"That whole environment has supported them. They've got great running trails there, an excellent physio, good coaching and good education opportunities in the city - they're both Leeds and Leeds Met university graduates.

"If you say to them: 'Right, now we want you to move to some central venue,' the amount they have to give up - which makes them happy where they are - is huge. It's a huge risk. Why would you take that risk?

"The success of Helen and the two Brownlees enabled British Triathlon to feel confident that they could invest in and around talented athletes training with high-quality coaches in different places. You need individual arrangements for individual athletes within an overall framework of support, direction and stability."

That support gets the athlete to the race. Then, during the event, intelligence becomes the ultimate cog in the machine.

Brown sees triathlon as the most complicated of sports and wants athletes capable of thinking for themselves during the race, because making the correct decisions in the heat of the moment accounts for a large degree of the difference between, say, the Brownlees and the rest.

"Triathlon demands a substantial number of judgement calls: whether to follow a bike break or not, who are those guys up the road, will I go alone or will people come with me? In the run, what are my strengths and weaknesses and what do my rivals think they are? A lot of it is knowing yourself as an athlete," he says.

"If you're trying to create a world or Olympic champion, you have to create an environment where the individual athlete weighs up the circumstances, makes calls, and more often than not gets them right. That is what we have tried to do, and you can only do that by seeing them fail occasionally, or stepping back as a coach when you could provide the answer. It comes down to trusting the athlete."

Triathlon in Britain is healthy at all levels. Beyond the Olympics, Chrissie Wellington has become a legend of the sport with back-to-back-to-back world titles over the punishing Ironman distance.

Amateur membership in the UK has more than doubled in five years, the sport's own figures show, with race starts - numbers taking part in recognised races - up 10% in the last year alone to more than 130,000.

Brown, however, is not convinced this increased pool from which to draw can only mean more British success in future.

"The sport's burgeoning internationally," he counters. "The Germans have got a great set of juniors at the moment on the men's side, while the Aussies have some fantastic female athletes.

"We really have to raise our game. But we've got a platform to do that. If we can keep stray dogs off the path, we'll be OK."

Too old to run, think again, just don't tell the wife!

(Courtesy of Marathon Talk and Mail Online)

A 90-year-old man who has been sneaking out and running half-marathons has been caught out - after a neighbour told his wife they'd seen him on TV.

Wilf Cooper has secretly raced in six events - after telling wife Sylvia he was just going to stand on the sidelines.

Mr Cooper has run half-marathons throughout most of his 80s - and is still planning one final race, even though his wife has learned his secret.

The former Special Boat Service man was 83 when he ran his first half-marathon. After telling Sylvia, his wife of 67 years, that he was going along to help as a steward, he laced up his trainers and completed the race in a respectable three hours, 11 minutes and 36 seconds - and hasn't rested on his laurels yet.

But Mrs Cooper, who also celebrates her 90th birthday later this year, learned of her husband's double life after a neighbour tipped her off.

She said: 'He told me he was going along to put up barriers and help with the race. 'I only found out he ran it because the neighbour told me they'd seen him on the television. He was in the doghouse that day, I can tell you.'

Mr Cooper once sneaked out to race even after dislocating his shoulder and breaking his ribs in a fall on the stairs. His wife added: 'I do worry about him. He had a heart attack about 20 years ago - but it doesn't stop him.'

Mr Cooper, from Lockleaze, Bristol, said: 'I always like the feeling you get from exercise. I stay fit to stay healthy. I've got a static bike and a rowing machine and a few weights. 'I also go up and down the stairs 10 times and I do that three times a day.

'I like to run for a local charity, St Peter's Hospice, because I had a friend that had cancer who received a great deal of care from them. 'I raised £1,200 last year from my secret jaunts and the most I ever raised was £1,690. I'd like to beat that this year. 'Even though the wife now knows my secret and will be less than impressed, I want to race one last time as I think my bones are ready to creak.'

The couple, who have seven daughters, 14 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren, met at St Johns Parish Church, in Bedminster, when they were both 14.

Danial Nainan - Racism at its best

(Courtesy of CK Chew)

Simon says: -

This is a must watch, funny as hell. It had me belly laughing out loud in the office.

Slots for Melbourne Ironman

Simon says: -

I received this email today. If you missed out on entering Melbourne (it was sold out in 5 minutes and 5 seconds!!!! Wow who'd have thought that?) Anyway, you can still get in by the looks of it via goadventureasia.com



"Entry slots for Ironman Melbourne are now available from Go Adventure Asia.

All general entries for the Ironman Melbourne event were sold out in five minutes and five seconds, making it the fastest-selling Ironman race in the history of the sport!

As part of the Ironman Asia-Pacific Travel network we have limited slots available for Ironman Melbourne in combination with hotel package.

Please see the link below.

http://www.goadventureasia.com/IMM/imm.htm

Kind Regards,

Go Adventure Asia"

Xterra World Championship Course Preview

Simon says: -

Oh dear, it looks like I'd better get Baby out and learn how to ride her. She hasn't seen any off-road since I qualified. NERVOUS? I should be!!! DENIAL? Probably for the best haha

Stomach Shutdown

(Courtesy of Joe Friel's blog http://www.joefrielsblog.com)

Simon Says: -
Mmm, this sounds familiar!

One of the common problems of triathletes in long-course races and runners in marathons is “stomach shutdown.” This commonly happens starting around half way into the bike leg or sometimes as the run starts in a triathlon. Marathoners may also experience it about half way into the race.

When the stomach shuts down the feeling athletes experience is that nothing they take in passes through the gut. It just sits there causing a bloated and sometimes nauseous feeling. The most common method for dealing with this is to slow down and quit taking in anything until the bloating and nausea subside. Vomiting sometimes helps. When the bloated feeling begins to let up athletes will usually try plain water to see how that is processed. If that works then they gradually increase the effort as more substantial food sources are reintroduced. But by this time race goals are usually too far gone and motivation begins to subside.

Why me?

So what is “stomach shutdown” and what causes it? Assuming the cause is not medical—such as irritable bowel syndrome or vagus nerve damage—the cause more than likely is related to a mismatch between effort and fuel volume or the variability of intensity throughout the early portion of the bike or run. Also generally involved in both of these possible reasons for stomach shutdown is taking in fluids based on some sort of contrived “hydration” schedule. Learning to drink when you are thirsty will resolve this and make such schedules pointless. (I have athletes treat fluids and calories as two separate items in the race, but that’s a whole other discussion I’ll do another day.)

Another common confounding element is the type of food consumed during the race. Fiber-rich foods are slow to digest. Some athletes even have trouble using protein in a sports drink since it slows digestion. As more stuff is put in your gut (water, sugar, protein, fat, electrolytes, fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc) your digestive system is challenged to process it. You will eventually reach the tipping point if you keep taking in what you are told is “necessary” by brand marketers or what seems to work for other athletes and the stomach will shutdown. For long endurance events, the only things that are truly necessary and have been shown to be effective are water and sugar.

Possible Solutions

The best way to deal with this problem is to prevent it. Prevention starts long before race day. In the last 12 weeks prior to the race you should have been doing some racelike workouts in which your planned race-day nutrition was tried. To be “racelike” the workout has to be about half the duration of the race and done at the planned race intensity. Race intensity is the key element here. Rehearsing a nutrition plan at less than race effort is of little value. Try your eating plan in a C-priority race, especially one that’s about half as long as the A-priority race. A racelike workout or actual race should give you a good indication of what may or may not work on the day of your A-priority race.

Even this doesn’t always prevent bloating, however, due to other factors such as a nervous stomach or even swallowing too much ocean water during the swim. So the solution is to use only what you need while staying on the conservative side. If in doubt, eat and drink somewhat less. Plan to take in the lower end of the amount of food you think will be needed—not the most amount. And don’t try anything on race day if you haven’t done it successfully many times before.

Pre-race nutrition can set you up for a stomach shutdown, also. Have breakfast no less than 2 hours prior to the race start. Three hours is better. Eat only what has worked in the past. This also should have been rehearsed at least twice in the last 12 weeks. In the last hour before the race take in nothing but water. Ten minutes before the start use a sports drink or gel with water that you carried to the start line.

Here’s the most important part: If you have a tendency for stomach shutdown start the race slower than you feel like you could go. Much slower. Hold back. Be patient. Do not start the race anaerobically or even close to it no matter how great you feel. I’ve seen athletes anaerobic in the second mile of the bike leg of an Ironman. And they still have 110 miles to go. I’ve heard marathoners gasping for air at the mile 1 marker. What are they thinking?

Let’s look at it this way: If you were walking a marathon very slowly you could eat a Big Mac, French fries, and a milkshake. No problems. But if you were running a one-mile race as fast as you could go it would difficult for your stomach to process a sip of water. So effort is closely tied to digestion. They must match. If you go faster than rehearsed in the early portion of the race but take in fuel and fluids at the rate that worked at a lower effort in training then you have set yourself up for a stomach shutdown. Fuel volume and effort must match.

In a related cause, the athlete may start at an appropriate effort but frequently throughout the race he or she surges as other athletes pass or hills are “attacked.” Success in long-distance events generally requires very little intensity variability. Using WKO+ software we can now measure variability when racing with a power meter or GPS device. What I look for is a variability index (VI) of less than 1.06. I once viewed a triathlete’s Ironman file and saw that he had a VI of 1.25. That’s what I would expect to see in a bicycle criterium with lots of surges out of corners. This not only causes the stomach to shut down, it also wastes energy. He DNF’ed.

Bottom Line

So if you are prone to stomach shutdown some possible solutions are:

•Determine a pacing plan for the race, rehearse it, and then follow it—especially at the start of the race.

•Match the pacing plan with a nutrition plan which you have also rehearsed at race effort.

•Have a pre-race meal several hours prior to the race and take in nothing but water in the last hour—until 10 minutes before the start. And do not over drink at this time. You aren’t a camel. Drink only to satisfy thirst (it works, regardless of what marketers have told you).

•Use only foods and drinks that you have rehearsed at a racelike effort for a long duration many times. These foods should be low in fiber, known to not significantly delay your digestion, and are proven to work for you even if you go slightly too fast at first—because, unfortunately, you are likely to do that even though you know it’s wrong.

•Do not surge in the race. Ride or run at steady effort with only gradual and slight increases for hills.

Indians and slavery

(Courtesy of BryBaby)

Funny

Garmin Vector arriving in March

(Courtesy of www.slowtwitch and ritten by: Dan Empfield)

Garmin announced today the fruition of a project ardently anticipated by Slowtwitchers. The culmination of Garmin's acquisition, a year ago, of MetriGear has born fruit in the form of a pedal-based power meter called Garmin Vector.

The Vector was MetriGear's product prior to its sale to Garmin. Clark Foy, MetiGear's CEO, stayed with the project and has been its husbander since his company's acquisition by Garmin. (Pics and videos of the Vector are available on the Garmin blog.)

The Vector is a pedal-based power measuring system, similar in concept to the Keo Power Pedal joint project between Look Cycle and Polar Electro.

There are sensors inside the Garmin Vector pedal that measure power transferred to the pedal axle. The left pedal sends a signal to the right, which transmits all data to the head unit. Any Ant+ head unit, including Garmin's Edge 500 and 800, will pick up the signal and display power.

The system will sell for $1500, on par with Quarq's power measuring system. The Quarq company, and its crank-based power measuring system, was acquired by SRAM in May, 2011.

The Garmin Vector announcement—timed to coincide with the upcoming trade shows in Europe and Las Vegas—does not mean the product is ready to ship. Garmin's target date for in-store availability is March, 2012.

This creates a sprint to market for both Garmin and Polar. Each has a pedal-based power measuring system, both have been announced, but neither has shipped.

While Garmin has been stellar in its brand performance, the Vector is afield of its traditional niche. The Vector is less GPS, less microelectronic, and more bike component, than anything Garmin has yet made (though there certainly are electronics in the pedal).

Further, while you get an actual Look Keo pedal with Polar's system, you get a Keo-compatible pedal with the Vector. Garmin chose Exustar as its pedal vendor for this project and, while the Taiwanese cycling shoe and pedal maker has no marks against it, 68 percent of Slowtwitchers prefer either a Look or a Speedplay pedal on their bikes. Another 22 percent choose Shimano. Time Iclic rates 5 percent and all the others—Exustar included—total 6 percent.

Accordingly, Garmin has two sales to make: that of its power meter, and of its carbon fiber, Keo-compatible, Exustar-made pedal.













We have yet more questions. Does the term "factory calibrated" mean that no other calibration is necessary or available? And, what about the placement of one or two 1mm spacers to achieve a wider Q (for those who desire it)? Will this impact the accuracy of the unit? (Our technical gurus say no, that the strain elements—piezo devices—are calibrated against the deflection of the pedal spindle from the spindle flange out.)

For all that, a power meter system that is easily moved from bike to bike is of great interest to triathletes. Further, and speaking of polls, Garmin is by an obscene margin the leading GPS brand among Slowtwitchers, who not only overwhelmingly have a GPS on their bike, 7 out of 10 are sufficiently GPS-enamored to wear a GPS during their runs as well.

Lee Evans Bohemian Rhapsody - Bloody funny

(Courtesy of Sian Atherton)

In the Fall - Bloody brilliant

(Courtesy of Nick Flynn)

Bloody brilliant

Host Families for The Fresh Air Fund

Simon says: -

The Fresh Air Fund has now managed to find 650 host families out of the 850 families that are needed to fulfil the needs of the inner city and underprivileged children for summer placements with host families. Please take a moment to look at the link below and consider whether you can help.

Sara Wilson from The Fresh Air Fund writes below: -

"Hi again Simon

I wanted to reach out to thank you again for helping to spread the word over the past few months about the Fresh Air Fund's need for host families. With your help, we've been able to find 650 of the 850 host families we need. Right now there is just one week left for us to place the remaining 200 children with a loving host family for a Fresh Air experience that can change lives. I was hoping you could post on Tritwins to keep the issue alive in the minds of your readers and followers. Even a Tweet or Facebook post could help.

Please feel free to use any of the images, graphics, banners, or copy from our microsite - or just share the link:

http://freshairfundhost.org

If you are able to help, please let me know so I can share it with the team.

Thank you again,

Sara
--
Sara Wilson,
www.freshair.org
facebook.com/freshairfund
Twitter @freshairfund"

Chavs Prayer

(Courtesy of Ian Hay)

Our Father,
Who art in prison,
Even Mum knows not his name,
Thy chavdom come,
You'll read The Sun,
In Plymouth which is in Devon,

Give us this day,
Our Welfare bread,
And forgive us our ASBO's,
As we happy slap those who got ASBO's against us,

Lead us not into employment,
But deliver us free housing,
For thine is the Chavdom,
The Burberry and the Buckfast,
Forever and ever...... Innit

Catching up, Ottawa & Gatineau Park

(Photos and ride write up courtesy of Lindy)

Simon says: -

This post comes after my Ironman Lake Placid adventure, partly because it was already written by Lindy and secondly because I'm struggling to catch up with everything that has gone on, not only since we left Malaysia for the USA but quite honestly since I completed Ironman Korea just a few weeks ago.

Just a quick update for you. We arrived in New York, a 33 hour journey door to door. We were tired but happy. We spent a few days in New York with Shilpa's cousin Niku, his wife Shweta and their daughter Annya. They were fabulous hosts and we had a wonderful time. While there we took the Staten Island Ferry to show the boys the statue of Liberty, went to see the Broadway show, The Lion King and rode copious times on the subway (much to the delight of the boys).

After a few days we drove to Lake Placid, by which time I had a fully fledged cold which moved to a fully fledged chest infection a couple of days before the race.

I shall do a full Ironman Lake Placid report in a day or so but suffice to say it was great fun, chest infection aside. Post race party was a hoot and then we drove to Ottawa for a party that our good friends Rueban (from Malaysia) and his wife Lindy had thrown in our honour (me, Bryan Payne and our respective families).

(The monster BBQ actually arrived the day of the party but too late to set up. It's a beauty though so I had to include these pictures that were taken subsequently).








The party was awesome, Bryan had to leave about midnight so I tapped him out again. He drank more than me again but just doesn't have the staying power. Rueban and I then moved on to the single malt whisky, NICE!

Bryan kindly took Shilpa and the boys home while Rueban, Lindy and I chatted away until the early hours of the morning (yes I do like the sound of my own voice too much sometimes. Although I have to say that it was very stimulating listening to their plans and ideas. It really got the entrepreneurial juices flowing). They very kindly dropped me back to the hotel at gone 4:30am. Huge hosts!!

Just a few hours later we were back together to go for what turned out to be one of the most wonderful rides of my life. Lindy has done a write-up of the ride under the pseudonym "Joy". She hits the nail on the head so I have copied her post below. And for the record, when Lindy takes the triathlon plunge she is going to be awesome - you heard it here first so be warned ladies.

Joy here...On Sunday, July 24th two of our friends - Simon and Bryan - competed in the Ironman Lake Placid Triathlon. Lake Placid is in New York State and is only a few hours' drive away from our home in Ottawa, so we planned a post-race party for them at our house, and invited all our friends.

That was Tuesday night.

It was awesome.

Simon ended up leaving our house at 4:30am.

Then on Wednesday, Simon, The Man (Rueban), and I all headed out to the park to do a loop. I mean, we figured that Simon is our very first friend from Malaysia to come to our Canadian stomping grounds, and we weren't going to let the opportunity to show off our regular ride circuit pass us up. I just hadn't necessarily planned on riding in the company of someone who has finished NINETEEN IRONMANS!!! Needless to say, he and the Man rode ahead of me, and were kind enough to wait at certain intervals.

The day was hot and clear, and the afternoon summer sun was high overhead. We were all tired after a late night with too much booze, but I have to admit that it was one of the most enjoyable loops that I've done in the park.


Pink Lake Lookout














Champlain Lookout

We rode up to the Pink Lake lookout and enjoyed the view (and took in some much needed hydration) before carrying on up to the Champlain lookout (more view and more hydration).










A happy triathlete out for a ride Ottawa-style!

Most importantly, Simon has said that our Wednesday afternoon ride was "one of the most amazing bike rides...one of best ever!" How awesome is that? How awesome is it that we can lure a friend from Malaysia who has done Ironman races all over the world - Ironman Korea, Ironman Langkawi, Ironman Kentucky, Ironman Lake Placid, Ironman China (just to name some of the ones he's completed) - and he was able to say that our regular Sunday morning ride in the local park is one of the best rides that he's ever done? It really doesn't get much better than that as an endorsement for home, sweet home, does it?

So while the three of us were enjoying the scenery, sweating out the excess booze, and getting energized to make up for the lack of sleep while out for a 3 hour bike ride, I was also building my confidence by realizing that I was able to ride with the guys and not make it a painful ride for them. Sure - Simon's post-Ironman, and jetlagged, and lacking sleep etc. etc., but he didn't complain about having to wait and wait and wait for the slow girl to catch up. That was a real boost to my confidence.

Such a boost to my confidence, in fact, that I'm starting to think that I should set my sights on triathlon. Who knows? Maybe I've got an Ironman in me too!

So I'm going to continue riding on Sundays with my "sisterhood" and enjoying the improvement with my cycling. And then maybe instead of setting my sights on a marathon, I should start thinking about a triathlon. Or maybe a marathon and THEN a triathlon. The sky's the limit!

Over and out,
Joy (a.k.a. Lindy)

Ironman Korea - A few choice piccies

(Photos courtesy of Karoline and Steve - great support guys - thanks it really meant a lot)

Ironman Korea - Race report

Ironman Korea

The build up to Ironman China was somewhat bizarre. Somehow I’d begun 2011 horribly overweight, out of shape and chronically burnt out. When I eventually turned things around I did so pretty quickly, shedding the kgs and in the process qualifying for the Xterra Worlds (off-road triathlon) and 70.3 Half Ironman Worlds. The plan was to go for the hat-trick in China and qualify for the Ironman Worlds.

Three weeks before China I was a long way from my peek fitness of a year before... but then they announced the cancelation of the Ironman China swim. Even though swimming is my weakest discipline I was not very happy about it, I did not want to qualify in a duathlon rather than a triathlon. They must have heard me because one week later they cancelled the whole event and added half the qualification slots to Ironman Korea.

On the face of it the odds had swung in my favour. However, just about the entire China field entered Korea (certainly the majority of the most competitive athletes) and as the number of slots had only increased by 50% the odds had probably swung against me! Additionally, with IMMY and IMJapan cancelled for 2011 this was now the ONLY Ironman in Asia.

However, working on my tried and trusted approach of DENIAL, I was still quietly confident, I’d been gifted an extra (and much needed) five weeks of training. As soon as I heard, I switched my bike training from a rolling 185k course to an extremely hilly 195k course. I upped my brick bike/runs in distance and hills and increased the hills on my 32k long runs .

I lost a couple of weeks training to a chest infection and had a last minute scare with injured glutes (bum muscles due to the increased hill training); nonetheless I was happy as I lined up at the swim start the morning of the race.

I’m not the greatest swimmer in the world and there’s been so much talk about panic attacks in recent weeks that I was a little paranoid that I was going to have a bit of an episode myself. To counter that I’d decided to do a 4k wetsuit swim in a 40m pool on the Monday before the race and was blown away how well it went (even if I had poached myself a little in the Malaysian heat haha). The day before the race I did a 1k swim at the race start and again felt brilliant.

So, back to the race start, the pros were lined up at the water’s edge, a thousand age-groupers 10m further back. I decided that there was only one thing for it. I was here to qualify and starting the day off with a mass fight in the middle of the mêlée wasn’t part of the plan, so I went right to the front and on the side by the buoys/rope marking the course (yes that's me waving). BOOM, we were off.










A bit of bumping, the odd flailing arm, a bit of being swum over and of course a few deep breaths of water but then it all settled down. 30minutes and 30 seconds later, one lap completed. 1hr2mins32sec and a new PB for an Ironman swim HOOHA!
















A solid transition and I’m on the bike, hello Gladys, Daddy’s here! (My bike is called Gladys just in case you didn’t know). The bike course wasn’t too bad, somewhere between my usual rolling course and new hilly training course with a total of 1,400m ascending. There was the added difficulty of the wind though, it wasn’t too bad but basically turned the flat part of the course into resistance work too.















I spent the time on the bike really trying to ride in a disciplined manner, watching my power meter, heart rate, cadence, nutrition and hydration. I thought I did pretty well although on reflection I would have liked to have seen the early power numbers to have been a little lower.
















The briefing had been a joke, the worst EVER. There had been some mention of yellow flag areas - no overtaking. One at the finish and one on the course but no mention of where on the course. You can imagine my surprise when we were riding down a perfectly straight, wide, safe dual carriageway and some little Korean man jumped out at me as I was tootling along at 60kpm screaming and waving a red card. I certainly hadn’t been drafting (quite the contrary, at least one guy got red carded for drafting off me and another bloke came up after the race and thanked me for the tow!!!! I didn’t know whether to tell him to stop being a cheating b*stard in future or what...in fact all I said was “You’re welcome” haha how lame was I?!) I assumed I must have been red carded for overtaking, either way I was paranoid that another infringement would result in my first ever DSQ!

As it turned out I finished the bike in good form, was VERY careful in the yellow flag zone at the finish and went straight to the penalty tent. All the penalty numbers were chalked up and mine wasn’t one of them! Even so, I wasn’t taking any chances, this was my chance to qualify and I wasn’t going to let 4 minutes ruin it. I registered and sat out the 4 minutes while Alex kindly passed me my run bag and said “You can’t get changed in the penalty area but there is nothing to say you can’t get organised”. COOL, thanks Alex. In the process of getting “organised” I was ready to run bar one shoe when an official wagged his finger at me, counted down the last 30secs and said “GO”.

This however, is where I made my first real mistake of the day, in the penalty tent I’d necked a 500ml bottle of water and as I started the run there was a severe downhill for about a kilometre and I had chronic stitch immediately. I eased off and within a couple of K the pain relented.

Once again I was in control and making decisions to get me to the finish and qualify. I’d measure the liquid volume of the cups pre race and knew I could no6Ilore than 2 cups per aid station to avoid overstressing my stomach (the body can’t absorb more than 1.5ltr of fluid an hour so there’s no point in taking more). I was alternating between coke and Gatorade for energy (no more than 250cals per hour as the body cannot absorb more) and water.

My pace felt easy an as a DVD I’d been watching on race management (thanks Richard) stated, “Everyone leaves T2 too fast, so make sure you’re going so easy you can still talk”. So to test my pace I regularly had little conversations with myself out loud. All seemed good and at what seemed an eternity I reached the first turnaround at 10.5k at 55mins30secs. This was a little faster than projected race pace so once again I look back and wonder whether I should and could have gone slower???

The hills were relentless on the run but also my body was starting to find it harder now. I got to the 21k turnaround in about 1hr51 which was right on target time. BUT....... as I turned for the 1 kilometre of extremely steep downhill running the stitch came back BIG TIME. Painfest or what (note my face matched my shirt haha). I knew I had to work and walk it off but however much I tried to get going again the pain was unbearable. My heart rate went through the roof, I started hyperventilating, sweating profusely and got close to blacking out a couple of times. Was this hypernatraemia, dehydration, over-heating, bonking or simply bad pacing? I have no idea. I have suffered these symptoms at similar times in almost every Ironman that I’ve done, it’s really frustrating and I’m at a loss to fix it. The stomach cramp/stitch is the deliberating aspect of it.










So that was that, a long walk with bits of very painful runs thrown in and a finish time of 11hrs 35mins 10secs. As it turns out the 45-49 age-group was ridiculous in terms of quality. The top 7 were Japanese and all did under 10 hours on one of the hardest Ironman courses!

To qualify I’d have to have taken 15minutes of my Ironman Marathon PB. However, at the 21k I was on track. So another Ironman full of “could have, should haves” but let’s face it, I wasn’t as fit and lean as I had been for IMMY 2010, so no excuses, I failed but I have a second bite of the cherry at Ironman Lake Placid 3 weeks after this one. So...?

On that note, I'm under no illusion, the first attempt is always the best chance so there is little chance of qualifying this year. However, I shall give it my best shot; I shall DENY any ill effects of IMKorea and wait for my overdue miracle to kick in. I shall follow the same pacing regimens that I did for IMKorea, drink a little less towards the end of the bike and take in a few more calories and we shall see.

One thing I have realised, I am fit enough, I can be smart enough but I need to unravel this stomach/stitch issue. Then there will be no stopping me.



TIMES
Swim: 1:02:32
Bike: 5:19:11
Run: 5:04:51
T1+T2+4min Penalty 8:36
TOTAL 11:35:10

AND FINALLY
I just wanted to say a big thank you to my fellow "Malaysians" Bee (Team Manager), Hoo, Jason, Chris and particularly Richard (who continues to inspire me with his attitude and preparation, not to forget that he well and truly beat me too!). Ironman Korea was huge fun, the disappointment of not qualifying faded the second I got across the line to be met by Richard who'd waited until I finished to place my medal around my neck and show such great support.












It was so much more rewarding to be part of "Team Malaysia" rather than "Team Nigel_No_Friends", partuclarly as the next day we went hiking up volcano's, freezing our butts off through lava tunnels and getting absolutely smashed together until the early hours of the following morning - I've no idea how I made my plane and even less idea how Richard managed a recovery run that morning too.









POSTSCRIPT
A first for me, I pee’d on the bike (while in motion I mean). In the past I rarely have needed to and when I have I’ve stopped to pee. I was always concerned about subsequent chaffing once the bacteria built up later in the race.

I also pee’d as I ran (again on the move). Both bike and run pees where Gatorade colour so hydration was obviously good. However, it seems that I was right to be concerned about the chaffing, Oo arrgh, ouch, after sitting down at the end of the race I could barely walk due to the chaffing between my legs. Not nice!

I’m told I should have sloshed my nether regions with loads of water but I was a)too pleased with myself having pee'd for the first time on the go and b)too focused on the race to think about it. I’ll know next time haha

LOVE

(Courtesy of Steve Dennison)

A man was sipping on a glass of wine, while sitting on the patio with his wife, and he says, "I love you so much, I don't know how I could ever live without you.

His wife asks, "Is that you, or the wine talking?"


He replies, "It's me ............. talking to the wine."..

The day is almost upon us

IRONMAN KOREA

Left arm













It's 7pm, I'm off to bed. Ironman Korea kicks off at 7am in the morning. Alarm set for 3:30am and I get to taste coffee again, yippee!

I have four cans of Guiness draft and four cans of Hoegarden in the fridge for post race recovery. I hope it will be post race celebration too.

Team Malaysia have all dialled in their target times and all have committed to be drinking in a bar by the beach post race (we shall see).

My race number is 591 and can be tracked on www.ironmanlive.com throughout the race if anyone is interested. (From 7am Korean time).

I'm roughly aiming for times of: -

Swim - 1hr5min to 1hr10min
T1 - 2min30sec to 3min30sec
Bike - 5hr10min to 5hr20min
T2 - 2min30sec to 3min30sec
Run - 3hr40mins to 3hrs50mins

So best case scenario is 10hrs and hopefully worst case is 10hrs27mins.

Mmm! The concensus amongst team Malaysia is that a 9hr45min will guarantee a Kona slot but a sub 10hr is essential to even have a shot! As I said...Mmm!

We shall see, the projections are all so subjective and race day can throw so many unknowns. I'm determined to win or lose my slot on the run and not by over cooking the bike.

It looks like it's going to be hotter than the previously forecast temperature but hey-ho hot weather follows me wherever I go, I expect it.

Whatever will be will be, I'll give it my best and you can be assured that I'll lay everything down on that race course - there will be nothing left as I cross that line.

Nighty night all.

Right arm