13 hours til the cannon...

Prep has been unique this time around, but good.  I stand corrected this afternoon by Heather, this will be my 11th Ironman, I thought I had only 9 under my belt.  This will be 5th IM in 18 months and I was reminded by Marilyn that tomorrow's race is a culmination of the last 18 months.  2011 brought a great year of training and racing.  I had consistent training volume all year and every race course I stepped onto, I PR'd in something, including overall times.   I have been waiting to have that race where everything goes well....I feel prepared and ready.  As Jeff reminded this afternoon, I have experienced all scenarios - good swim/bike, not good run, good swim/run, not good bike, tough nutrition that I was able to recover from within the race, bad swims with good bike/run.   I just have to trust my instincts and stay within myself and have a fun day, times and PR's follow.  I have been chasing Kona as a "stated" goal for the lat 4 IM's, been within 4 minutes twice of qualifying.  This race is no different, its not going to be easy.  In the 30-34 age group, I think we will have 4 slots to Kona for IMCDA. The top 4 guys last year went 9:19, 9:29, 9:31, 9:43 - faster than my PR.  Its going to take a PR day....I'm prepared, I just need to execute - the toughest thing to do in Ironman.

As always, Heather is here and has all the social media covered: 2 iPhones - one with Mophie which is an extended battery life, a blackberry and of course the digital camera.  She'll have her hands full, but as  most of you that follow my race day coverage, she does a kick ass job at it.

In addition, I also purchased the My Athlete Live GPS tracker and you can go to their website and also follow me live.  Click on link above and then scroll down and search for my FIRST name.  If you are using an iPhone, tablet or mobile, click here. I tried My Athlete Live at IM Arizona and it failed me.  I tried it out the day before, it worked, however on race day, it had me at the airport the entire time. Hopefully this time around it works, I think it has the potential to be much better at live updating that what IronmanLive has to offer.  If you want any live updates other than me, just twitter to @QuadJRanch and ask, I'm sure she'll do her best.

The weather has been funny the last day or so, complete downpour last night, but no rain so far today and sunny.  Supposed to be 30% chance of rain early AM, hopefully it will hold off.

Good luck to all my fellow IM athletes.  Go out there and have the race of your life and most importantly have fun!  Most of us aren't getting paid to do this and being in this sport rewards us with good health, SMILE, the journey is well worth it.

To my fellow Wattie's, I hope the reason that I don't race in Bend for the Leadman 250 is because I'll be racing 3 weeks later, but if I'm not, I'll be there.  Hell, I'll be there regardless at least to chear all you crazy-ass's on!!

Rockin' the W,
Crazy J

Cold Water Swimming Tips

Post IMCDA practice swim 2012

Swimming in cold water can be anxiety provoking, after all, its not normal to jump into 55 degree (12.7 C for all of my metric system friends) water WILLINGLY!!! Many times in Ironman or half-Ironman races, we are faced with this exact situation, it's never comfortable. However, with a little physiologic understanding, preparation, and having the right equipment, we can give ourselves the best opportunity to be successful and can make a world of difference in our perception of cold water racing.

Preparing for cold water is important because it can effect not only the acute swimming portion of a triathlon, but downstream on the bike it can make a big difference....and if we can curb our natural physiological responses to keep us warm, we can also save some energy.

This morning, Kate, Guy and I took a dip in Couer d'Alene Lake at the swim start. This was a key session in the preparation for Sunday's swim. It helped me set expectations, dial in how long I need for my body to acclimate appropriately and give me an opportunity to make sure the gear I have is appropriate and functioning properly. But first, here is a little science to give background.

Hypothermia is defined as body core temperature dropping below 95.0 F (35.0 C). Typically normal body temps are around 98.6 F (37.0 C) with some variation on both sides of the "coin." When the core body temp begins to drop, our sympathetic nervous system kicks in and we physiologically begin making changes to preserve our normal body temp such as shivering (increase heat production), vasoconstriction of surface blood vessels (decrease the amount of heat loss), tachycardia (increased HR), and tachypnea (increase breathing rate as a result of initial increase in metabolism) all in an attempt to maintain homeostasis or normal thermoregualation.  All of these responses make it difficult when we are trying to perform, not survive!

Also, many times when we swim in cold environments we experience vertigo (dizziness) and/or imbalance. Many times nausea can be present as well. This phenomenon is well known in the medical world, also known as the Cold Caloric Test. This test is used by physicians to test our vestibular-ocular reflex, in laymen's term, the caloric test is good at assessing the integrity of the brain stem. In short, our brainstem is a very important part of the brain as the nerve connections of the motor and sensory systems pass through brainstem, therefore, if it isn't functioning, WE AREN'T FUNCTIONING!! (this test is used mostly in the unconscious patient to test brainstem function) One part of the test places cold water into the external ear canal. As a result, an intact brainstem causes the feeling of vertigo. So in essense, when we jump in a cold lake, we are eliciting the normal response of a cold caloric test.....for 2.4 miles!!

As I have belabored the point enough, what does this come down to?? Having the right equipment for cold water swimming decreases the normal aforementioned symptoms that cold water will induce and hopefully help improve your chances for a better swim in suboptimal conditions.

For the swim at Iroman Couer d'Alene, I will have the following:

1.) Full wetsuit (Blue Seventy Helix)

•  A full "wetty" facilitates in preservation of core temp by minimizing shivering and initial, anxiety provoking shock. We can lose a significant amount of heat to radiant heat loss at our skin. 

2.) Thermal Skull Cap (Blue Seventy makes one with wool on the inside)

• Remember, when the body is exposed to cold water, our peripheral blood vessel constrict, in an attempt decrease heat loss. This does not happen to our cerebral bloodflow. As our blood pressure rises as a result of increase HR, more blood is pumped through the carotid and vertebral arteries and we can lose up to 50% of our body heat through our head.  Cover the "noggin."

3.) Neoprene Swim Socks

• In cold water survival situations, our feet don't really matter, but remember we are participating in a triathlon and the bike is next. Therefore, escaping numb feet after an hour is a nice luxury....nothing like riding the first hour of the bike on "stumps" because you can't feel your feet. 

4.) Ear Plugs

• Remember that cold caloric test, if no water gets into the external ear canal, no dizziness, imbalance or nausea.

Next time your are prepping for a cold water swim race , try these few easy "tricks" of the trade and overcome your normal physiologic response! 

Swim fast,

Crazy J

These are just opinions of mine and in no way do I claim to be an expert in hypothermia, these are tips from my experience.  

"A" race right around the corner

I can't believe I am already lining up for my "A" race this year, Ironman Couer d'Alene, 1 week from today.  I've had a pretty busy summer thus far having raced 2 half-Ironmen (Oceanside 70.3 and White Lake Half in NC), organizing Boise's newest off-road triathlon the Les Bois Off-Road Triathlon (http://www.lesboistri.com/), having a Wattie Ink weekend at Boise 70.3, and prepping for IMCDA. 

White Lake Half Bike



One of our more favorite things to do when
I get a visit back to NC is to see the Petty Boys!



For a quick brief, the White Lake Half was 4 weeks after Oceanside 70.3.  I have raced this race a few times, but it has been quite some time since I last raced here, I think it was 2008'ish.  It is always fun to go back where you started triathlon and I had raced in the Set Up Events race series for nearly 9 seasons before I moved here to Boise.  Long story short, I had a descent swim, good bike (PR for avg bike power for a half) and gave myself an opportunity to win by leading into T2.  However, didn't really have the run legs that I had at Oceanside, more than likely due to the effort I put on the bike and ended up 4th elite. 

Since that time, I have been a busy "bee" getting the Les Bois Off-Road Triathlon off the ground.  I finally was able to get the city permits approved to put this race on.  It has taken me 2 years, but I think it was well worth it.  The venue at Lucky Peak is perfect and I think it is a course that will be fun for everyone.  If you are looking for a late July race and a reason to travel, Boise is a great place!!!



The best weekend fun I've had all summer was this past weekend at the Boise 70.3  I didn't race this year as I had already punched my ticket to Las Vegas for the 70.3 World Champs and a bit too close to IMCDA.  We had an awesome contingent of Wattie Ink Elite team here and when we all get together, there is only one thing on the agenda.....HAVE A GOOD TIME!!!  This we did indeed!!  Even though the Boise 70.3 turned to be less than desired by many, it didn't "rain on our parade" the evening after the race.  I'll leave you with the picture below.....the pic says a thousands words!  Triathlon is a special sport.  I can't think if of any other sport where you make lifelong friends that you only see once or twice a year.  The Wattie Ink team has created exactly that.....to many more parties!!!

Things when from this........

.......to THIS!!!

The White Lake Half was 8 weeks out from IMCDA, so I had a couple weeks to fully recover from Oceanside 70.3 and WLH to fully put all my training "eggs" in one basket.  6 weeks out, I started the build and had a great training boost for the first 2 weeks.  At the end of the 3rd week, I had a little hiccup in my training after a 2hr training run.  I came up with a good bout of Achilles tendinitis that put me in a "boot" for 3 days straight and not running for 9 days.  I have to say that I have been quite lucky in the past 12 years as triathlete to never really have any injuries, so going through this was something new, especially 4 weeks out from my "A" race.  The good news is after 2 weeks of patience, a bit of rearranging of my IM prep block and a bit of consistency, I think I have skated by this injury and feel back to normal.  I ran my last long run today of 1.5 hours feeling as peppy and strong as I would have hoped to be prior to any other IM prep, no pain and back to normal training pace.  My swim the last 2 weeks has been as fast as I have ever been, my last longer swim session with Guy and Kate at 50 LCM (doing 300's) is as fast as I have swam.  My bike has been relatively strong all year.  The work is done and now the hardest part is left, execution.  I'll toe the line Sunday for my 10th IM distance race......my 5th in 19 months.  Looking to race one more IM this year........... :)

As always, my "trusty" partner in crime and better half, Heather, will be there tweeting and keeping the race as live via twitter and facebook.  I have also ordered My Athlete Live tracker to help with live coverage.  I'll update everyone later this week with how to tune in.

As my coach would say, "Keepin' my eyes on the fries!"

J