Winter Update

My last posts wrapped up a long and busy race season, and even though it's the middle of winter I think it's time for another update!

Just before the end of the year work brought me back to Louisville for a couple days. I had mixed emotions being back in the place that I had dedicated my whole year to swimming, biking and running around. But I managed to squeeze in a few workouts on the IM course while I was there and I left with some closure on an amazing year.

Ironman Louisville finish line

So what's new in 2016 so far?

For the most part I've just been keeping my head down and working away in the pool, on the trainer and through the trails. By the end of my Ironman training I was really looking forward to paying off credit card debt focusing on short-course training and hitting some of my favourite local races again. 

At first it was a bit of a struggle to get rolling again because I found a new passion for the big miles and the huge challenge of Ironman. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the process as much with higher intensity workouts and lower overall volume. But I've slowly been changing gears back to short course and so far this year I've benefited from a higher level of focus, efficiency and mental strength than ever before. It's nice to get some speed back!

I'm very happy to once again be a part of teamLPC's Hurdle Project squad. It's a particularly awesome and talented group of young athletes (I seem to have taken the role of Dad in the group), and I'm looking forward to teaching them a thing or two in bike skillz and old man strength. Check out my profile here: http://www.loaringpersonalcoaching.com/ryan-power.html

After a couple years of long course training I've enjoyed putting a bit more emphasis back on my swimming. I haven't been doing any superstar mileage besides a solid 36k week for "BPT swim camp" with Amanda, but I've consistently put the time in and I'm seeing the benefits of working so hard on my efficiency over the past 12 months.

Working that EVF

I've rocked out HARD while my teammates are setting ridiculous FTP numbers (and I'm also testing higher than ever in Jan/Feb)

5.05w/k avg over 20min aero for @JackLaundry93 in the #paincave #teamLPC #HurdleProject #computrainer

A video posted by teamLPC (@loaringpersonalcoaching) on Jan 9, 2016 at 1:36pm PST

I've also been fortunate enough to include regular track workouts in my training for the first time in a few years. I have a love/hate relationship with the indoor track given my track background...I love the hard yards but I definitely had my fair share of injuries in my track days. Fortunately I've managed to be extra diligent with my prehab and recovery, and Track Tuesday is often the highlight of my week

I can't believe this tweet didn't get more action. Come on, that's gold!

And of course it wouldn't be winter in Canada without some long runs in crappy weather. It can be a tough time of year to stay motivated (and warm) but we've been pretty lucky this year with the weather for the most part. And no matter how cold it is, there are few things better than a long winter trail run in fresh snow.

When rain turns to freezing rain, then snow..all in one workout

I was also lucky enough to head out west into the sunshine for a few days! Running in LA presents it's challenges in terms of finding a good route and not getting stabbed, but the challenge always seemed to be worth it...

Now I'm back in the cold but it's almost time to hit the road again, this time to LPC Florida Camp! I'm once again looking forward to kicking off my race season while I'm down south with the Clermont Draft Legal Challenge. It's a pretty meaningless race in terms of the result but it will be a good indication of how things are progressing so far. And then of course plenty of fun in the sun with an amazing group of people. After that I'm looking forward to some local cross races and a bit of running before tri season.

My next update will probably come after camp!

2015 in Pictures

Too bad I don't publish books and magazines. Everyone knows the pictures are all anyone cares about! Here's my 2015 season recap in action shots:

Clermont Age Group Draft-Legal - the earliest I'd ever started a season, and a sprint tri in the middle of my build for Around the Bay. Caught lead pack on the bike, ran into 5th. I love that age group draft legal races are catching on - it's an incredibly exciting, humbling and FUN style of racing that everyone should try out.

As always, LPC Florida Camp was amazing. Capped off this year by 35k at the Orange Grove with my pal Steve. Maybe next IM year I'll do 3 laps?

 Around the Bay 30k - I accomplished my goal with a time of 1:58:51. It was one of my favourite races I've ever done, and by far the most painful...I couldn't walk down stairs for a week! Can't wait to go back and chop some more time off.

Paris to Ancaster was a lesson in suffering and proper equipment choice. A great experience though in a race I had wanted to do for years.

Final tune-up for tri season, the first BPT TT. 43km/h for 20k was a new PB, which I equalled later in the year on a tougher course (with another power PB)

Welland Half Iron: I continued my strong riding with a 2:15 split, but I pulled out on the run to avoid injury risk with a nagging glute issue. I got it fixed up in time for my next half.

TTF Sprint/Age Group Provincials. LPC went 1-2-3

Ironman 70.3 Muncie: 4:19 in crazy heat was good for 11th overall and my best result in a 70.3 to date.

Most of my season was spent training for Ironman Louisville, and almost all of my training was on the Lakeside Olympic course. Couldn't pass up home course advantage! Second overall and 2:05 in tough conditions.

Ironman Louisville didn't end the way I wanted, but it definitely started well! Despite struggling with sub-par swim splits all summer, I knew I had good fitness and could put it together in Louisville. I cruised through a 58 minute swim to start my day.

I worked harder on the bike this year than ever before and found a new confidence and level of focus on my trusty P3. I loved every mile of the epic IM-specific rides and it showed with a top-15 bike split on the challenging Louisville course.

 Getting off the bike I was ahead of even my best-case scenario time, and I was more confident in my run fitness than anything else. My legs wanted to go but my stomach didn't agree. Louisville didn't end the way I had expected, but I learned the hard way that's just part of Ironman racing. And I'm more motivated than ever to keep learning and give it another crack.

I found a new passion with Ironman training, but for now I need to save some time and money! Next year my focus is on getting fast and racing the local favourites in the Multisport Canada series. And I'll be kicking off 2016 in just over two months in Florida, so I'll have some more updates soon!

Season Redux

I suck at off seasons. It's taken me a while to realize that, and even longer to try to figure out a strategy around it.

Now I certainly know better than to be a November champion...I simply shake my head at triathletes posting their training, or even keeping track of what they are doing this time of year. I understand the periodization of the year, the value of bringing balance back into your life, and that whether you feel like it or not your body needs a bit of down time after a long season.

What I struggle with is shutting my brain off at the end of the season. As with most competitive athletes I tend to end my season with a big year-end goal race. Some years when that race has gone well I've headed into the off-season on a huge high and super motivated to keep racing. Sometimes I've known better and shut down racing, but have been overly keen on crushing the upcoming year.

This year I had a different type of struggle after Louisville. I was so fit; fitter that I've ever been in my life. I almost couldn't believe how well my body responded to long miles. I may have been in 9:30 IM shape, but I was definitely in sub-4:15 70.3 shape and probably even sub-2:00 Olympic shape...and I didn't get to express any of it.

Within 12 hours of finishing leaving medical, I wanted to find another Ironman to do the following weekend. After quickly realizing that was a terrible idea, I wanted to run a fall marathon. After being convinced that too was a terrible idea, I wanted to sign up for Louisville again to redeem myself. After conceding that was not a smart or healthy reason to commit to another Ironman, I finally had to face reality.

I spent over a year looking forward to that race, I didn't get the result I was looking for, and it was going to be a long time before I could give it another shot. That was a really shitty feeling.

It took three weeks of fighting the urge to register for more races or spontaneously run a casual 40k before I finally found the right mindset for this time of year, and find some good takeaways from this past season.

First off, I've been working with Coach James and Coach Mark to analyze my race day files and nutrition schedule to try to identify some possible causes of the GI distress I experienced in Louisville. I've also reached out to some medical professionals about the symptoms I was experiencing. We've come up with a few potential conclusions:

My pacing, while aggressive for a first Ironman, was well within the ranges that I trained in and I was never once above my high-end target. But I was likely a little too strict on sticking to my nutrition plan when my stomach started to turn on the bike. I thought I needed to force it down to survive later...live and learn I guess. I also likely ate too much on race morning and in the first hour on the bike, which may have backed me up for the rest of the day.

There's also the variable of the questionable water we swam in, which was miraculously cleared of the recreational advisory two days before the race, for exactly 5 miles upstream and 5 miles downstream from the race. To add to that, the only time I've experienced similar symptoms in a race was at Elite Provincials a few years ago when the beach was posted for e.coli levels (and Triathlon Ontario took down the sign for our race, before putting it back up for the remaining races in the day). Maybe coincidence... maybe my stomach is extremely sensitive to bacteria in the water. Coach Mark's suggestion to my idea of eliminating each variable was:

 I would try the eating less idea before I tried the drinking Ohio river water idea....

Since the bulk of my racing for the whole year revolved around Louisville it was hard for me to find many positives from my season at first. The training for Louisville was fun but extremely draining. I only raced a handful of events and skipped out on many of my local favourites to accommodate training. I had to withdraw from my first goal race at the Welland Half to avoid injury risk in an IM year. Honestly speaking my only noteworthy results from 2015 were a solid time at Around the Bay 30k, a couple decent local results and cracking 4:20 in Muncie 70.3 with what I considered a sub-par swim and a "just-ok" run.

That's why this can be such a tough sport. If someone were to "Sportstats creep" my season they'd think something was wrong with me. But without question 2015 was my best year in triathlon. When I think about everything I accomplished this year the race results are pretty meaningless. Almost every single weekend throughout the year I accomplished something I didn't think was possible. Whether it was a 26k treadmill run in February, 100 miles of crazy hills in Muskoka, 7-hour bricks in 40+ heat, or heading out for a late afternoon run and finishing with glow sticks in the pitch black.

I wrote this about a year ago, shortly after I signed up for Louisville and posted my reasoning behind wanting to do an Ironman this year. When training started to go really well I developed some extrinsic motivation for Louisville, but this was my true goal for 2015. I'd say I crushed it:

The biggest reason for me wanting to do an Ironman wasn't even for the race itself but for the training - not only experiencing the ups and downs of the big miles but also getting back to basics and nailing down my technical skills in all sports. [...] I firmly believe that focusing a year on base fitness and improving efficiency will not only make me stronger but significantly faster when I go back to racing shorter stuff the following year. Not to mention optimizing nutrition and recovery strategies. Even if the race goes to hell with the unpredictable nature of it being my first IM, I am confident that I'll be racing on a completely different level in 2016 than ever before.

I may not have posted a lengthy resume of results but 2015 was my most consistent year of training and I proved to myself that committing to a goal and following it relentlessly brought me to a level of fitness I didn't know I was capable of. While I was frustrated with many of my swim splits this year, I posted a new 400 PB in the middle of Ironman training. I also swam a sub-56:00 3.8k in the pool, not to mention swimming under 59 minutes in Louisville. All of that was on about 10k per week of swimming.

I also brought my cycling fitness to a whole new level this year. I've always considered myself a decent cyclist, but until recently I was much better at road racing and sprinting than time trialling...let alone getting comfortable pushing out a big effort in the aerobars for 5+ hours at a time. But this year I posted new personal bests in every distance on the bike. Two 20k TT PB's, both were well above any absolute power or W/Kg numbers I've ever put out before. My two 70.3 splits were 2:15 and 2:14. And my Ironman bike split in Louisville was in the top 15 overall despite riding on the conservative side of my power target.

And even though most of my run training this year was focused on building mileage, I surprised myself with going well under 2:00 at Around the Bay and nearly hitting my half-marathon PB at that point in the race. Then I had one of my best sprint tri's at TTF, and ran a second best-ever Olympic-distance run split on rolling gravel roads at Lakeside (15 seconds off my PB literally set on a race track in Montreal). Not to mention I managed to stay healthy and injury free all year despite the big miles.

So after a couple weeks of eating tons of pizza and candy, drinking plenty of beer, and doing way too much thinking...I'm ready for the off season! It's time to take a step back in training, focus on the little things and forget about speed or pace times for a while. And slowly build the foundation for a big season next year. Oh and lots of mountain biking :)

As I mentioned there will be no Ironman next year, though I certainly have some unfinished business with that race. But next year I'm looking forward to getting back to how I started in the sport, lots of fun local stuff, finding new challenges and knocking down some more PB's.

Ironman Louisville

I had one goal for Ironman Louisville 2015. Take a year to try something completely different, learn to truly appreciate the journey to the start line, and train better and more consistently than I ever had. I accomplished that goal.

If you've kept tabs on my blog (thanks for the read!) you'll already know the amount of time and energy I put into preparation for IMLOU. Leading up to the race I wasn't overly nervous or anxious, because I felt that no matter what happened on race day I had done everything in my power to be as prepared as possible for the event.

But I did begin feeling the weight of what an Ironman really entails. Everyone says that it's an emotional journey - that you'll find yourself tearing up on the start line and throughout the race. And sure enough, race week brought a roller coaster of emotions. Even though I loved the training, I had committed a full year of my life to one single day. And everyone around me, particularly Amanda who supported me through the daily grind, was a part of that journey as well. It's a challenging, incredibly rewarding, stupidly expensive and insanely selfish journey.

I arrived in Louisville with Amanda and my mom late Thursday night to the news that the swim - which had been in question due to water quality - was officially a go for Sunday. I settled in, got my race kit and final workouts in on Friday, then spent the majority of my afternoon on Saturday figuring out how to fit all my nutrition on my bike and race belt (I trained with everything on course but didn't want to rely on grabbing gels and chews from the aid stations).

Before I knew it Sunday morning came with a 4:30AM wake-up call to get to transition for a final gear check and head to the swim start. I felt good. Really good.

The swim is a unique rolling time trial start which meant two things: 1. it's a very relaxed start and the race spreads out really nicely, and 2. With 3000+ people in the race, the line-up was over a mile long to get in the water. After debating for days if I was going to try to get there insanely early (ie. before 5am) to try to start up front, I chose the relaxed option, took my time getting myself and my gear ready, and was somewhere near the back of the line (probably 2000-2500 athletes ahead of me) with my BPT mates Nikki and Mike (and all of our lovely sherpas) together. At 7:30 we heard a distant cannon fire and the line started moving. This was really happening!!

Around 7:57 it was our turn to walk down the ramp to the start, and with one last high 5 we were off. Holy shit, I'm doing an Ironman! I took my time getting going, relaxed into that familiar stroke that I've worked so hard at. Smooth and efficient. Strong core. Sight often. Stay relaxed. There were swimmers in every direction, but it was never too congested. I was quickly moving through the field, and not a single swimmer came past me.

About 1200m in we rounded the turn and began the long straight away to transition. I knew it was going to feel like forever, and I was prepared for the mental challenge. I focused on the bridges in the distance that we would go under and just kept swimming. Slowly but surely they came closer, then under them, then I could make out the transition tents, and finally that last turn buoy. My hamstring cramped getting out of the water, but I relaxed, let it release, got to the wetsuit strippers, and off into T1. 58:47 swim in my first IM - my best swim of the year, maybe my best ever. I couldn't have asked for a better start to the day.

I heard some amazing cheers as I made my way to the mount line, and off I went for 180k on the bike. I felt better than I've ever felt getting on the bike - hips weren't tight, back wasn't tight, power came easily. We had driven the bike course the day before and I was ready to take on this crazy challenge of an Ironman bike.

The course is mostly flat to 20 miles where there is a challenging and fun out-and-back section, before two relentlessly hilly 50k loops. A rough time check at the turn-around to the leaders who started 27 minutes ahead of me - I was 27 minutes behind them. I was gradually building into my goal wattage of 220-225W for the first 100k, with the plan of purposely positive splitting slightly on the second half.

My experience in challenging 70.3's really paid off by maintaining a steady power output regardless of the terrain. I was amazed, but not overly surprised, watching athletes who were likely averaging 5-10km/h slower grind back past me on an uphill only to disappear at the top. This is an Ironman! You have to run a marathon this afternoon!! Similar to Rev3 Knoxville the course really rewarded working the downhills to maintain momentum going up the next one. It was a tough course, but I was feeling good.

About half way through the first loop the wind started to pick up, and the mental demons started coming. "You have to do this whole loop again, then ride another 30k back, then run a MARATHON!" It's such a challenge to stay focused on the kilometre you are in, and take it all as it comes. But I was still ticking off athletes, focusing on nutrition and pacing, and still felt good. I kept my mind occupied by thinking of the second time riding through La Grange where my supporters were hanging out :)

Lap 2 was pretty congested with many cyclists on their first time through. There were a few times I had to break my rhythm to avoid some of the craziness. I also had some goof balls intentionally jump right on my wheel as I passed. But I was mentally prepared for those challenges and did my best to keep any negative emotions out of my mind. My stomach was starting to scream at me when I took my nutrition, but my nutrition in training felt completely dialled and I knew I needed at least 80g of carbs per hour. So I forced my gels and chews down.

I was starting to get really sick of the hills, the wind, my aerobars. But my legs were still solid and I was slowly ticking off the miles. After what seemed like an eternity I was finally off the loop section. Just 30k left with a net downhills...but the barely noticeable crosswind we had going out became a stiff headwind coming back in. The mental demons came back, "this isn't even fun, it's just unnecessary!"

With about 20k to go a group of three athletes came by me in a legal pace line. It was just what I needed. I was able to ride just below my target wattage staying VERY safely legal 12-15 meters at the back. It was enough to keep my head in it and stay focused to the finish. After driving the course I was thinking 5:30 was a good bike split goal. Despite starting with well over 2000 athletes in front of me, I dismounted in 5:10 with less than 50 athletes ahead of me. Second in my age group, in the top 15 overall, and Amanda said I looked the best out of anyone who had come in. I took a few deep breaths in transition to gather myself mentally for what was ahead. But my legs felt good and I got rolling.

Of all three sports I was most confident in my run fitness. Two weeks before the race I ran 10 miles off a 4 hour ride at what was supposed to be IM pace and I ended up averaging 4:10/km. The week before that I cruised 36k at IM pace just above 4:30/km. I didn't want to set an unrealistic time goal for my first Ironman, but I was more fit than I've ever been. I was roughly aiming for a 3:30 on the conservative side, but I wasn't going to discount a 3:15-3:20 if things went well. My race time was 6:15 out of T2, I knew I had a LONG way to go but was well below even my best case scenario time estimates.

I allowed myself to settle into the first mile nice and easy to get my legs under me, and Amanda was perfectly positioned to give me a quick pep talk. First mile split was 7:55 with a quick pee stop.

Of course I was tired, but not as bad as I expected 6+ hours into an Ironman. I ticked off 7:25 per mile to the turnaround, but I was getting increasingly bad stomach cramps heading out to the turn around. But I got there. "Time to reset, finish Lap 1 and re-assess".

At the first aid station on the way back I started heaving when I tried a chew, then again when I tried Gatorade instead.

"No worries, ease off the pace a bit and try something again at the next aid station." It came right back up. My legs still felt good so I kept ticking off the miles, but I was starting to get concerned.

"Ok, coke and Gatorade only at the next aid station." Same result. When I was running I was running 7:30 miles, but I tacked on an extra 60-90 seconds throwing up after each aid station.

At mile 10 I knew I was going to be in trouble if I couldn't keep something down. I forced down a gel right before the aid station then took water and coke. Ten steps later I emptied everything in my stomach.

"Thank f**k, maybe I'll feel better now. Time to rally just like Natasha Badmann in Kona!" Back to 7:30 miles.

I got to the final aid station of Lap 1, took a chew, water and coke. I threw it all up. I came around the turn-around where I saw Amanda, my mom, and Sarah from BPT. They were so happy for me...

"You're killing it!!"

"You're third in your age group, keep ticking them off!"

"You're gonna be sub-10!"

I tried to muster a decent looking stride but I felt dangerously close to passing out. I was nearly 8 hours into the race and hadn't gotten any carbs or fluids down in the last 11k. I still had hope that things would turn around. My legs still felt ok. I thought best case, I get through these issues and hold something down and 9:45 is in my sights. Worst case, a 2:20 second lap would still get me under 10:30.

When I got to the first aid station on Lap 2 I knew I was in trouble. I was coming up on two hours of running and was hitting empty. I tried everything they were offering, nothing stayed down. When I got to Mile 16 I stopped and asked for help from the volunteers. The aid station captain was a doctor and was amazingly helpful. He had me sit down and try to relax, and told me he didn't want me to try standing up until I drank something and kept it down. Half an hour later I was still there.

I wanted to continue so badly that I didn't realize how serious it was getting. I still couldn't drink anything without vomiting, and despite the 27 degree air I wasn't sweating, and was shivering sitting in the sun. I was starting to mope, but quickly changed my mindset. I still had almost 8 hours to go 10 miles. With that stubborn thought I got up and walked to Mile 17. A nurse there asked if I was ok, I told her what was going on and she asked if she could call an ambulance for me. I started crying.

I knew my race was probably over, but I didn't want to quit. I took a few sips of chicken broth and forced myself to run. I wanted to give it one more shot to find my way to the finish. I passed Mile 18, ran through the aid station and kept going. Then at Mile 19 I thought of Amanda waiting for me at the finish line, and how stupid it would be to keep going and risk my health for a triathlon. I asked for medical...and my Ironman journey ended in an ambulance back to medical center.

The medical staff were absolutely incredible, I wanted to hug them all. They ran some precautionary tests, ruled out any heart/respiratory issues and confirmed what I already knew - I was simply ten hours into the race, and had not absorbed any fluids or carbohydrates for over three hours. Two hours, lots of complaining about needles, and two IV bags later I was starting to come around and was released. My Ironman badge of honour was a blood-stained elbow and electrode stickers on my chest.

I still have a lot of figuring out to do with this one. I felt so ripped off at first, that I had gone through all the training and 10 hours of suffering and missed out on the ONE thing that made it worth while...crossing the finish line. But that's a load of crap.

I've taken so much away from this past year, I think it will take me a while to figure out what it really means. The first thing of course is to try to determine the cause of such severe GI distress. I'm in good hands between Coach James' analysis of my race and data files, and the expertise of Coach Mark Linseman dissecting my minute-by-minute nutrition and hydration schedule. There are so many variables, but now that it's off-season I have plenty of time to sort it all out.

But there's one thing I know for sure. Sooner or later I'll test the Ironman again, and I'm gonna go for it :)