Getting back on the horse

6 days after an up & down race at IM Canada, I'm teaming up with Aussie Steven Waite and marathon runner John Gaudette for the 3rd annual 24 Hours of Triathlon. This race has a place in my heart as I've worked with race director Ian Adamson helping to promote it in the past. Ian is not only the epitome of a classy director but was formerly a six-time world champion adventure racer. The man has done everything!

What exactly does 24 Hours of Triathlon mean? Basically, me and my teammates will try to complete as many .24-mile swims, 11.2-mile bikes, and 2.62 mile runs over the course of a 24-hour period. They measure the final results in terms of completed legs for the respective sports and the winning team is awarded $3,000 for their efforts. Steven was the cyclist on the winning team last year and the two of us have no plans on losing this go around.

So, you might be wondering how I'll be able to set foot on the starting line 6 days after racing at IM Canada. I took two days off after the Sunday's race with only some light swimming to keep the body from getting stale. I also made sure to eat lots of greasy food that I had been craving, including McDonald's, Subway and Burger King.

But, the secret weapon has been lots of daily sessions with the puffy pants, more formerly known as NormaTec MVP. This active recovery tool was used daily by the Chipotle-Slipstream cycling team each day before and after - and pretty much every non-racing hour - during the Tour de France.

I'm also implementing the NormaTec MVP into our team strategy this upcoming weekend. So, while I'm out swimming, Steven and John will be hooked up to the puffy pants pumping the lactic acid out of their muscles. I'll make sure to get some pictures from the weekend and we'll see if we can come home with the top prize! Last year the race was filmed by NBC and you can find the footage on You Tube (under 24 Hours of Triathlon).

Race starts at 8am tomorrow at the Cherry Creek State Park outside of Denver and runs until 8am on Sunday morning.

And check out the 2nd annual Portland Triathlon results on Monday as Emily is heading out to Oregon to race at Jeff Henderson's race this year.

Get some sleep for me this weekend!
Lars

IMC complete

Ironman Canada was a rollercoaster day for me out there.

I always go into a race convincing Emily it will be my final "go" at Ironman racing, but after the cows come home and the reflection period begins, I always find myself asking how I could have raced differently to post a better time. This past weekend was no exception.

This blog starts with the bike ride. 112 miles of rolling entertainment. It was a visual playground and the magazine photographers must have been downright giddy. As a lover of cycling in the mountains (we have a few of those here in Boulder) I couldn't have asked for a better course. I rode my heart out and rode off perceived exertion (not scientific) as my bearing. The first 60 miles were great as I rode from 16th place up into 3rd place and was closing in fast on 2nd place, and eventual race winner, Bryan Rhodes. However, at the top of the first climb, Richter Pass, I had to stop and serve what they call a "Stop & Go" penalty infraction. I received this only two miles into the bike, while we were still riding through town and establishing a pecking order, for completing a pass between a gap that formed between Jason Shortis and Gordo Byrn. At the top of Richter - where hundreds of fans were cheering!!! - I completed my "Stop" but the penalty tent folks took their sweet time in letting me "Go". I lost a few minutes during the stop but no one had passed me so I knew I had put a huge gap into the riders behind me at that point.

Like most races, I went through a bad patch around 120-km (sorry, but the course was marked in km's and I wasn't riding with a computer - only a fogged over wrist watch). I was caught by the chase pack and spent the next 10-15 miles regrouping myself in a group that included Jasper Blake, Jonathon Caron, Matt Lieto, Courtney Ogden, and Andriy Yasbertov. I felt we rode legally, except on the slight uphill rollers when the group would fan together like an accordian. From a perceived effort level though, I barely felt like I was working which makes me belief the 10-meter drafting rule is rubbish and truly needs to be extended.

At the summit of Yellow Lake - the course's second climb - I received some local intel from Caron, who finished 2nd in the race last year, that we had finished the uphill portion of the course. Finally, my choice to run a 56x44 chain ring became an asset and I pulled away from the other riders, caught up to Odgen and within a few hundred meters of Matt Lieto - both riders made breaks near the end of the ride.

My run started out conservative and got very very conservative. I "ran" the first half-marathon at my own pace as it was a false flat uphill and kept telling myself I would open it up on the return portion. However, I gulped down a Red Bull from my special needs bag and realized a few miles later it was still sitting like a water balloon in my stomach. I never cramped during the second half since I monitored my salt intake throughout the day, but my core broke down and I lost my composure to run. So, the last 9 miles were very very conservative and I marched back into town and trying to will myself to start back up with a run. I managed to run the last three miles and they were probably the fastest of the whole race, but it was too late, and I crossed the line in 9hrs, 29mins after my 3hr47min marathon.

I'm not looking past Laguna Phuket in early December but will have to assess if another few months of putting in the correct prep for another Ironman is something I want to do.

Peace,
Lars

race day -- IM Canada

I've been staying up the mountain from Penticton, home of Ironman Canada. 33km out of town, gaining nearly 5,000 vertical feet, is the winter ski haven of Apex Mountain. Since Thursday I've been living like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, locked away in the cozy Canadian-owned Double Diamond hostel. I lucked out and was assigned a room with four bunk beds and no other roomates for $23 a night. I'd like to know how many suckers in downtown Penticton got such a deal! Nevermind to get into town is a 20 minute (that's flying) drive down into town and nearly 40 minutes (again, flying) to get back up.

So, my little paradise had given me lots of downtime, but is complete with a giant TV - I watched Gladiator tonight - and a great kitchen with lots of leftover food that is up-for-grabs. There are a few other diehards staying up here, but the hostel owner, a burly snowboarding fellow named Steve, said four previous IM winners have made this their race week home. He mentioned this was Peter Reid's favorite refuge and I've heard Gordo Byrn also had his best results while staying up here. My guess is Ray Browning liked this place since he lives up the mountain from Boulder in Apex's sister city of Nederland.

Sorry I didn't blog as much as I promised. I'm typing from the hostel's computer which costs a whopping $1 (called a Looney in Canadian speak) for every 10 minutes and my computer monitor screen decided to break on me yesterday. So, I've been rereading some books that get me stoked for racing...and get me to sleep early at night!

What's my race plan for tomorrow? I guess you'll have to find out tomorrow (or Monday) after the race when I write again. Until then, best of luck to any of you out there racing tomorrow (Justin Daerr, Marky V) and may everyone race strong.

Skol,
Det Viking

Makin' it look easy

The main reason I decided to race Ironman Canada this upcoming Sunday was because of the ideal tapering period the Olympics provide. Usually I can't sit still, let alone leave my bike and running shoes alone overs the weekends, but with the Olympics on TV 24 hours a day, it's been no problem.

Emily will tell you how antsy I am getting though. My legs shake all-the-time which I'm hoping means they have lots of stored up energy ready to be spent this Sunday. This weekend is the peak race of my season and I'm ready to shut it down after this Sunday. We've booked an end-of-the-season trip to Phuket, a chance to get together with my family living in Saudi Arabia, and it will be great to be able to watch my Mom and Dad compete in one of their first longer triathlons. Dad was a collegiate runner at Luther College and got better in the years after he graduated and Mom has always been great about setting new challenges for herself and setting out to complete them. She raced at the Lifetime Fitness sprint tri in Minneapolis last month and has been enjoying her swim training this year. Dad could be in for a wake-up call if he doesn't start following Mom's lead in putting in training time outside of running. Once a runner, always a runner...

Back to the title of the blog today...

We just finished watching the women's triathlon and were so happy to Emma Snowsill win the gold medal. No one deserves this victory more than her and I'm sure she's sharing it with her fiance, Craig Walton. These are two of the hardest working triathletes of all-time and they are equally as dominate in non-drafting races as in the ITU draft-legal raceing style. Her 33min 17sec 10k looked easy and she showed her agility by leaping over a course block after being misdirected during the run. No doubt she could have competed in the open 10,000-meters or women's marathon if she'd have chosen that as her sport.

Back to the pre-Ironman Canada race week. I have a busy week of making sure everything is together before flying into Spokane and driving up to Penticton Thursday. I have a bike tweak with Todd Carver on the revolutionary Retul 3-D bike fit system tomorrow and take the bike in to Vecchio's for a pre-race tune up later in the afternoon.

While in Canada, I'm staying 33k up the canyon from the Penticton race start in the mountain resort of Apex. This will be great as it will allow me to stay away from all of the hoop-la that is so easy to get caught up in during race week. I'll be staying in a small hostel that has wireless internet, so I'll be cranking away on some blogs leading up to race day, I'm sure.

Cheers,
Lars

The Mom's are here

The thought of having both of our Mothers visit us during the same week seemed a bit daunting. But, we've made it through more adversity! Two days in and so far, it's been great having June and Lois around. Our house has never been so clean, they are succeeding in making my taper for IM Canada very difficult with all the baking, and they set daily goals of home repairs that have long been overlooked by us. Most importantly, they get along great with eachother and have been able to entertain one another. Now I'm starting to wish they would stay another week (okay, not really).

5430 Boulder Tri - complete

Well, this post will take about as long to type as it took the 4x100 Men's Swim relay to beat France last night for the gold medal.

Yesterday, both Em and I raced in our backyard at the 5430 Boulder Long Course Tri. It was a half-ironman race: 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1-mile run. Great venue and really we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was somewhat cool with cloud cover most of the morning.

Em did great despite losing the battle of the swim to her hubby! She'd have you know she beat me to the water's edge but I outran her to the chip sensor that marks the official swim time. Seriously though, I'm proud of Em. She had a great swim as the second female and came off the bike as the third woman. She is still working hard on her run and was having difficulties breathing yesterday. We haven't figured that one out yet.

My focus going into yesterday was a strong swim/bike combo and jog the run portion in attempt to keep my legs fresh for IM Canada in two weeks time. If you browse through the results, I did a good job of keeping things mellow on the run.

Results link from 5430 Sports: http://www.myentryfee.com/results/Results.aspx

Be well,
Lars

5430 LC weekend

Em and I are both racing 5430 Long Course Tri this weekend. This will serve as a final prep race for me before IM Canada on August 24th. I've been training hard these last few weeks, keeping my head down and grinding out long rides, runs, and even swims!

These last 10 days, we had a training guest with us. Tobias Wohlferdt used to work for the German bike company Isaac (www.isaac-carbon.com). When I met him last August in Germany at Eurobike, he said he was training for IM Wisconsin this year. Since he now lives in the Chicago flatlands, he needed a bit of a mix up during his final build-up so he came out to Boulder. He's been getting in near daily 5-6 hour rides and even ran the entire Magnolia run out to the Peak to Peak with us last Sunday. I wish him well at Wisconsin where he's aiming for a slot to Kona for '09. If everything goes as planned (which it never does in IM) then he should have no problem qualifying.

Back to 5430 this weekend. Tobias leaves this afternoon and David Thompson comes in tomorrow. We were a bit of luck for him last year as he set the course record and smoked the Pro field, eventhough his bike arrived late from the airport on race morning! He is a tough bastard and will definately contend for the win again this weekend. We raced together back in Minnesota when I first got into triathlon after college and Em and David's wife, Hannah, went to middle school back in New Hampshire together.

Training for IM Canada has been a rollercoaster these last two months. After completing the Mt.Evans/Boulder Peak Tri double, I convinced myself I wasn't ready for the challenge of another ironman. But, just one week later with two long runs of over 13-miles under my belt (yes, that's a long run for me!), I felt on target again. I've been swimming 45-minute straight open water swim at the Boulder Res Tuesday and Thursday mornings (4-laps) these last two weeks and have ridden Big Thompson and reverse Big Thompson back-to-back weekends. So, no excuses...I'm ready for August 24th.

My housemate and resident bike mechanic, Gavin "Savloy" Scott, helped change out my chainrings yesterday, so I'll be racing this weekend on my monster 56x44. I took this off at the beginning of the season, but my bike form is good again to where I can push this dinner plate looking chainring around the flats and up in the mountains.

Today is a complete day of rest, and WORK, but I'm hoping to hit up the local golf course for a quick 9-holes after work. It's a great way to get the head away from the upcoming race and focus or stress-out about something entirely different.

On another note, Em is now two weeks into her new job with local triathlon legend, Bob Cranny. This is the third PT business for Bob and Em is really stoked with how professional the practice is.

Smooth riding,
Lars

Puffy Pants = Space Boots

The Garmin / Chipotle cycling team took to heart the raving reviews from the Finanger household as to the wonders of the NormaTEC MVP "puffy pants" to optimize their recovery during the Tour de France.

The team is breaking new ground with some of the technological advancements they're bringing to the aid of their riders. Below is a link to Matt Pacocha's article on these innovations with a short video where Neal talks with the team's science advisor, Allen Lim.

VeloNews link:

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/80922/how-garmin-chipotle-keeps-its-riders-fresh-for-the-tour