Mayhem!

So.... I've been itching to get my tri season underway and see what sort of dividends all the hard early season training is going to pay. Last year I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to some great events: Wildflower, Memphis in May, Steelhead and IM Wisconsin. I really wanted to get down to Memphis in May again, but gas prices just made it unfeasible (particularly with huge Kona bills looming).

The positive side of this situation is that Central Illinois actually has an awesome multisport scene. I could probably find a multisport event for every weekend of the season within 2.5 hours! So I'm taking my limited travel funds as an opportunity to do some smaller races closer to home.
Case in point is this weekend's Multisport Mayhem Tri in Neoga, Illinois. This small sprint race is in its third year and put on by Tony Garrett's Mattoon Beach Multisport company. Tony has a full season of tris- including a full Ironman in September all about 2 hours south of me. Nice lake for the swims and nice, flat rural roads for the bike and run portions.

If you are anywhere near the midwest, you'll agree that we've had a completely lousy spring for training. Winter-like weather pretty much hung around through April. Race morning temps this past weekend were in the 50s. I've never swam in a lake in Illinois this early in the year. The website claimed water temps to be 65, but I'm guessing that was only the top two inches! I actually despise wearing a wetsuit unless the water is really cold (I think USAT should make the wetsuit cut-off 74) so the cold temps suited me find. Getting in took your breath away, but after a little warming up, I was surprisingly comfortable in my full-sleeve 2XU wetsuit. I love being able to swim hard without overheating. I got in the draft of the leader for the first 100 yards or so, then found myself in the rare position of leading the swim- this just doesn't happen in big events. The swim was so short (around 400 meters) that I didn't worry about pacing at all. Redline the whole time. I came out of the water with the eventual overall winner (Barry Knight from Paducah, KY). We ran up the beach together and I was credited with the second fastest swim time.

My toes were only slightly numb as I tried to get my bike shoes on! I've been completely focused on getting stronger on the bike this spring and was excited to see what my legs would come up with in a race situation. I briefly led the race as Barry worked on getting his shoes on as he rode (I'm a big advocate for putting your shoes on in transition). I was soon passed, but ended up staying in second for the whole ride (14 miles). As it turns out, all the cycling work with Vision Quest coach Stan Watkins seems to be moving me in the right direction. Cycling has always been my weak sport and I've focused on it relentlessly the last 4 years or so. Thanks to my Powertap, it is easier to compare race efforts even if conditions vary. For this race I averaged 267 watts, which is very good for me. Last year I was in the 240s for my early sprint races. My legs never felt good, but I can't recall a single sprint race where they did feel good! The course was mostly flat with light winds, so I turned in my best average speed for a tri at 24 mph! Great progress, but I still ended up losing the race on the bike (you're all sobbing for me, I'm sure!). I had the 4th fastest bike split and lost about a minute to the leader (who, don't get me wrong, is an outstanding short course triathlete!).

Taking off on the run I thought I might still be able to make up the ground if there was some magic left in the legs. I put in a couple surges, but no magic. It was an out and back course, so I could see Barry in first the entire race. I was able to make up a little bit of time -which is an accomplishment in and of itself, I guess- but ended up second overall, about 30 seconds down. 3 mile run time was 17:28.

All in all, I am very happy with this result as my '08 season debut race. I wanted to get some hard efforts in before the more competitive Tri-Shark Triathlon the first weekend in June. My short distance run speed is lacking, but I haven't worked on that at all this season. If all goes as planned, I hope to be able to hold the same run pace for a full 10K at Hyvee in June which will be my only other "A" event outside Kona.

Consistency Conundrum!

I ran the Springfield Half Marathon a few weeks back. The last few years, I've gotten into the pattern where I only do running races before or after tri season. Road races are great for benchmarking and letting me know how my training is coming along. The general idea here being that training and fitness gains should be progressive both over the course of a season and the course of many seasons together. That's the general idea.

I have a tendency to forget the specifics of my PRs. Going into this most recent half marathon I knew that I had ran 1:21 something or other the year before at another race. I also know that on the right course I should be able to run significantly faster than that. Springfield started out well. I clicked off about 5 miles right at 6 flat pace which would put me well under my PR. This marathon's supposed draw is that you get to run by most of the prominent Abraham Lincoln sites in Sprinfield. This aspect was rather lost on me since after mile 5 all I was noticing was the over-abundance of hills! I actually held pace for a couple more hilly miles before a big slowdown around mile 10. I felt strong at the end and clicked off a couple good miles trying to get that PR.

Time: 1:21:08
5th overall
1st in Age group

This time was pretty low in the 1:21s so I thought a small PR looked hopeful. I went home and looked up my time from the previous year's half in St. Louis. 1:21:08.
I kid you not. Almost exactly a year apart, both races chip timed, and I run the same time to the second! Both courses were comparable in terms of hills (many). Outside of 1/2 Ironman races, I've only done 4 half marathons ever. I decided to look back so I could feel good about my long-term improvement. At the end of tri season in '06 I did a different hilly half marathon in St. Louis. Time, you ask? 1:21:09. 1 second worth of improvement over 3 years!! Granted, I don't actually know the parts of a second for each race, so in all probability it is less.

How the heck does this happen? How do I lay it on the line at 3 different half marathons and only have one second of variation between the three? Beats me! I've been running for many years though and know almost exactly how hard I can push my body. Turns out for the 1/2 marathon that is right around 1:21:08 give or take a few tenths!

To wrap-up the rest of my early season run races:
Mountain Goat 15K (lots 'o hills)
Danville, IL
56:32 (2nd overall)

As a side note when I did this same course 3 years prior I was a whole 8 seconds slower. Yipee, big drops here;)

Lake Run 12K (worst wind I have ever ran in)
Hudson, IL
44:27 (5th overall)

C&C Triathlete Factory Camp Wrap-up!!!

One of the formative experiences of my life has been running cross country for Augustana College under hall of fame coach Paul Olsen (who also happened to be an awesome professor of literature). Before each cross country season began we boarded a tour bus and headed to Minnesota for a week-long camp. At camp we did tough workouts twice a day, but in between we bonded as a team around the campfire, during horseshoe tournaments, sand volleyball matches, canoe trips and water skiing. It was such an amazing experience -in part- because you were surrounded by enthusiastic people all working towards a common goal.

In the years following the completion of my degree I tried to replicate this experience on a small scale by taking training trips with small groups of friends. We had some great times on these trips, but it really wasn't an adequate substitute.

As I got more into triathlon, I would passionately research week-long tri camps in exotic warm locations. Price tags that often hit 4 figures prevented me from doing anything but looking!

Fast forward to this past winter. I'd had my eye on Camp Wokonda near Peoria, IL as a great possibility for hosting a tri camp. I actually convinced my wife to take her high school cross country team there for a sort of trial run camp last summer. I talked the idea over with my buddy and fellow Kona qualifier, Chris Daniels. He got excited about the project, so we decided to give it a go and created the aptly named C&C Triathlete Factory Camp. Our founding principles were to bring the tri camp experience to Illinois and make it affordable for the average triathlete.

Infamous Chris & Chris with a member of

the Hartman family who just heard about

the Hill Brick of Death!

After lots of planning and meetings the camp finally happened two weekends ago. In all, we had 14 campers. Most were beginners, but we had a few Ironman finishers in the group as well. We had a big age range and a nice split among the genders. I had probably only met 1/3 of the participants prior to camp.

Camp was Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. In total we did 2 swims, 2 bikes and 3 runs. In between workouts we had educational seminars and scarfed down huge amounts of home-cooked food (huge thanks to my mom and Chris's wife Sloan!).

Discussing Transitions

The weekend weather looked iffy with the last cold remnants of this year's perpeptual winter and some rain mixed in. Everyone was in pretty good spirits for the first drizzly trail run on Friday night. Right away we discovered what was to be a theme for the weekend: hills! Most athletes in my area of the country have very little opportunity to train on any decent hills. I love the terrain of the area around Peoria because the Illinois River bluffs make for some challenging riding and running!

Swim workouts were at a pool only 15 minutes from camp. The Sat. night session lasted almost 3 hours and was all based on Total Immersion-style drills. A couple people really took to this method and had huge improvements in their balance and strokes. It reminded me how much I like swim coaching because I can see immediate improvements as opposed to biking and running were improvements are long-term.

From the very beginning the website listed "Hill Brick of Death" for our last workout on Sunday. I did have quite a few inquiries on this one! I wanted our last workout to be a true challenge. Detweiller Park is home to the Illinois State High School cross country course. This course is mostly flat and fast. Funny thing is that the bluff right behind the course has some killer hills. The hills maintain a pretty tough grade (for Illinois) for almost a full mile. There are two hills that make a 4 mile loop, about half of which is going up! The idea was to ride as many hills as you can and then get off and run back up the same hills until you are thoroughly whipped. Many of the campers started the morning thoroughly whipped from the previous two days, so the hills really were a challenge to say the least!

A camper suffering on the hills during the

Hill Brick of Death!

All in all the camp was the tremendously positive experience I was looking for. I really feel lucky that we had such an amazing group! On Saturday we rode in a cold, drizzly rain for more than an hour and I didn't hear any complaints! Our group was very helpful around camp and stuck to the schedule which was pretty tight all weekend. Being around some newbies really re-engerized me for this season!

If you want a more detailed account of the weekend check out camper AJ's blog: Run Hard, Tri Harder. My partner in crime also has a write-up on his blog: Get Fast or Quit!

The big question has been, "Will you guys be doing this camp next year?" We're currently collecting follow-up surveys from this year's campers and adding up the bills. From the responses thus far, I think it looks promising!

A group of tired campers (and instructors)

on the last day.

Come on let's sweat (sweat sweat) baby
Let the music take control (control control)
Let the rhythm move you
Sweat (sweat sweat) sweat

"Gonna Make You Sweat"
C&C Music Factory

(I think I am really showing my age here. First I wrote about the 1980's wrestling flick Vision Quest and now I'm quoting C&C Music Factory! Geesh, after I've set the bar this high, I don't know how I can go on writing... )

New Sponsor- Infinit Nutrition!!!

A couple years back now, I spotted an ad or forum post about a new company that was offering completely customizable sports drinks. I jumped on the phone and in a few minutes was talking to Michael Folan- the mastermind behind Infinit Nutrition. It didn't take much persuading to get Mike to secure a small discount for my Tri-Shark club. We were actually the first club to get an Infinit sponsorship!

During the intervening years, I saw Mike at a bunch of races (Infinit is based out of Cincinnati, Ohio and Mike travels to many of the Ironman events). Mike even stopped in and visited the club here in Bloomington for a nutrition seminar!

I've had some good results the past few seasons and have been a steadfast advocate of Infinit since my first order. I'm glad to add Infinit Nutrition to my list of awesome sponsors for 2008!

Experienced long course triathletes will tell you that nutrition is truly the 4th discipline. This point was really driven home when I didn't quite have the race I wanted in my debut Ironman (WI in '03). So I did what most others at the time were doing: I bought a bunch of different products and mixed them to get what I wanted. I loved the taste and calorie content of a drink powder called Extran. I would mix Elete drops in because it was way short on electrolytes. Then depending on the length of the race I would sometimes add CarboPro powder to bump up the carbs. All in all it was a real pain in the butt and had a certain margin for error (particularly say if one were in a hurry packing for a race!).

Infinit is the great nutrition simplifier. New users generally fill out the online profile that asks for weight, race distances, caffeine preference, etc. From this info they come up with a drink customized to your needs. Most people will then make changes to this initial formula. If you don't like your initial formula, Infinit will create a new formula at no cost! You have complete control over everything: taste, calories, carbs, protien, electorlytes, amino acids, etc. Infinit uses all natural ingredients (no dyes, fake sugars, de-foamers, etc.). The other great part about Infinit is that it can eliminate the need for salt tablets, gels and bars. I race the Ironman bike almost completely on Infinit. The salt I need for racing is built into the formula. I get 260 calories per bottle, so I don't really need bars or gels. Because Infinit uses maltodextrin, this doesn't end up tasting too sweet or thick. Using Infinit has helped my stomach tremedously on race day!


If you are thinking this sounds like to much to manage, don't worry! Some of the best minds in triathlon have taken advantage of Infinit customization to make their own pre-set formulas. You can order pre-made formulas created by: Joe Friel (Triathlete's Training Bible, Ultrafit Coaching), Mark Allen (Mark Allen!), Mike Ricci (D3 Multisport) and Infinit.

The awesome thing about Infinit is that it really sells itself. I don't know any long-course triathlete who has really given Infinit a chance who hasn't become a total addict.

Listed below is the nutrition information for my long course formula which I've tweaked over the course of about 3 years. I've taken out all the protein and amino acids to make a very simple formula. I've found this works best for me under race conditions.

Supplement FactsServings Per Container (25)Serving Size: 2 Scoops (69.38 g)

Ingredients
Amount Per Serving

Calories: 262

Calories from Fat: 0
Total Fat: 0g - 0% of daily value

Saturated Fat: 0g - 0%

Sodium: 447mg - 18%

Potassium: 129mg - 4%

Total Carbohydrate: 66 - 22%

Dietary Fiber: 0g - 0%

Sugars: 19

Protein: 0 - 0%
Vitamin A (Beta-Carotene): 0 - 0%

Vitamin C: 0 - 0%

Vitamin E: 0 - 0%

Selenium: 0 - 0%

Calcium: 36 - 4%

Magnesium: 27 - 6%

Maltodextrin Dextrose Sucrose Citric Acid Natural Flavors Sodium chloride Potassium chloride Magnesium gluconate Calcium gluconate

Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

My 'lil bro

In gradeschool my lil' bro was much larger than me. He had asthma, I probably had borderline ADD. He threw shot put, I ran the mile. He liked baseball, I liked mountain bikes. You get the picture.

Somewhere along the line he wisened up and started to embrace the endurance lifestyle and promptly broke his neck (literally) while mountain biking! He came to cheer me on for my first Ironman while still in a neck brace (see pic below). During that day, he decided that when his neck healed he wanted to do an Ironman (copycat!) as well. As of last fall, he now has 4 Ironman finishes to his name. I guess he wanted to stop copying because this weekend he'll be taking on a race I haven't even considered!

The Heart of the South is a 500 mile ultramarathon bike race that covers some wicked terrain in northern Georgia and Alabama. Read that carefully. This is not a stage race that covers 500 miles, this is 500 miles all in one shot. I've done some training and rock climbing in that area and let me tell you the terrain is beautiful, but ruthless. Yeah, their are bigger mountains out west, but the Southerners are thrifty and don't like to waste road by adding in those silly switchbacks. All in all this race will cover more vertical gain than Mt. Everest!

All of us back home will be following Andy's progress on his brand-spankin-new blog: Boy and His Bike. Check out his blog and leave him a comment! I don't think "good luck" is necessarily it, because luck alone won't get you much beyond the first coupla hundred miles!

They say that one of the tricks to Ironman training is to do so much -at least a few times- that Ironman seems easy. This race just might fit that bill!

May the headwinds be kind, the hills a worthy adversary and the next 24-hour Taco Bell just around the bend!

Team Evotri at Vision Quest!

In the 1980's -that glorious era of cinema- the quintessential sports film was perfected. Rocky is probably the best known example, but there were many others. All of them featured a underdog who after the required setbacks eventually goes on to win against all odds (and get the girl). One of my favorites in this genre was Vision Quest starring Matthew Modine. The film is probably best known as Madonna's video debut, but the plot focuses on Modine who plays an underdog wrestler who goes on a quest to drop enough weight to wrestle an undefeated champion. Parts drip with sappiness, but it is a really decent film all in all. During a voiceover as the film is ending, Modine's character gives us this gem: "all I ever settled for is that we're born to live and then to die, and... we got to do it alone, each in his own way. And I guess that's why we got to love those people who deserve it like there's no tomorrow. 'Cause when you get right down to it - there isn't."

Sappy? Yes. True? Yes. "Those people who deserve it" most certainly includes my Evotri teammates. It is a thing strange and wonderous to be part of a team that only gets together a few times a year. It's different -and yet similar- to being part of a team you train with almost every day. One thing it teaches you is to value the time you get together (because making fun of Stu in person is just so much more fufilling than over e-mail).

Last Thursday was the first opportunity for Team Evotri to meet up face to face. The usual suspects were all there, but our numbers were increased by one as we welcomed Charlie Parsiola as the newest member of the team. Charlie put together an awesome application video for the first Evotri contest and then backed it up with -literally- thousands of votes! Welcome aboard Charlie.

From the deep South and the Rocky mountains, from the Hoosier state and the cheesehead state we all converged in Chicago at Vision Quest Coaching Headquarters. This place is like triathlon nirvana. There were racks and racks of high-end tri and road bikes. There were enough Computrainers to make one weep for joy. The place was a hive of activity the entire time we were there. Testing and teambuilding was the order of the day. I've been around this sport a long time and feel like something of a role model to some of my more green teammates. To assist in their education, I demonstrated what I've learned about fueling for a tough workout by inhaling a monster cinnamon role and cappucino! That taken care of, we headed back to meet up with Robbie Ventura for a lactate test on the bike.

I've been hitting the bike workouts pretty hard for the last two months, so I was interested to see what this test would show. It was only the second time I've ever had a lactate test done. Michelle, Stu and myself all tested at the same time. Robbie and his staff were awesome at coordinating all the test data. The test starts with an easy warm-up then starts to go up 30 watts every 4 minutes until failure. At a certain point your body will start to produce more lactate than you can process. This is your lactate threshold and is an essential number for structuring workouts and pacing races. The test starts pretty easy, but gets hard quick. Around 280 watts and I started to lack the necessary oxygen to antagonize Stu. Final numbers for my test was an LT of 258. The 310 watt interval was the one that did me in! A little low for where I want to be, but we are just starting two months worth of LT work that should take care of things.

After the bike we did a series of functional strength assessments. A barage of tests helped to determine if we needed to work on strength, stability or flexibility. Flexibility was easily my weakest. This series of tests was followed by lunch and a long discussion with Robbie of Vision Quest Coaching philosophy and power based training.

Last in the testing series was some swim stroke analysis in an Endless Pool. First let me say something about the Endless Pool. I've seen these things at the Ironman expos and always thought that they were just an expensive gimmick. Looking at the thing, I figured swimming against current would be detrimental to your stroke. I couldn't have been more wrong. The pool had a large mirror that you swam directly over. This was outstanding stroke feedback if you know what you are looking for. I was able to make tiny corrections from stroke to stroke by watching myself in the mirror. Swimming against the current really didn't change my stroke at all. So expensive- yes, gimmick- no. Furthering the analysis was some underwater taping and video feedback done right in the pool. If you ever have the chance, underwater taping is so much more beneficial than above water!

We spent what was left of the day talking to our coaches, taking some team pics and eating Chicago-style pizza!! On the business side of things we discussed the last two contests that will determine the final members of Team Evotri for this season. Contest #2 is in full-swing. If you want a shot at becoming a fully-sponsored age grouper get your blog post up and send us the link! Full contest details are here!

Voting, camp(s), cyclocross and plane tickets!

We're still averaging well below freezing here in Illinois, but the tri season is starting to pick up! I like to keep my posts focused and discrete, but there is just to much going on right now for that to work! I'm going to jump right in and give you a run-down of what's been going on the last few weeks.

Big news is that we are in the final round of voting for the newest member of Team Evotri. As a current team member I had the unenviable job of watching all the video submissions and then having to narrow those down to just the top ten. This was not a fun task- let me tell you! There were many worthy submissions. Well the top 10 got narrowed to 7 and then 7 to 4. If you want to do your democratic triathlon duty then get on over to http://www.evotri.com/ to check out the final four and cast your vote!

Next up is a pair of tri "camps". The first is a one day affair at the Vision Quest Coaching Headquarters in Chicago. This will actually be the first time all of the Evotri team members have had a chance to get together as a team. I am so looking forward to this! It is one thing to communicate by phone, e-mail and blog, but I love every opportunity I have to get together with these great peeps! We'll be doing some testing, taking some pics, and maybe, just maybe meeting the newest team member. Did I mention you should go vote?

Second camp-related item is my new Triathlete Factory Camp endeavor. This will be a new 2.5 day tri camp near Peoria, IL. We've had a decent response, but the camp is far from full. Beginners are definitely encouraged as that seems to be our primary demographic so far. Hot off the presses is news that VQ Coach Stan a USA Cycling Level 1 coach will be joining us to help out for one day of the camp! It's gonna be a great weekend!

Since January I've been ramping up the training and getting some fitness back. I haven't done any racing up until 2 weekends ago when I traveled down south near Springfield, Illinois for the Tour de Groundhog Cyclocross race. I'm quickly becoming a huge cross fan since it combines off-road riding and running. Last year I posted this awesome video of our crazy local "Re-cyclocross" race series that is held at a wood recyling plant here in town. Well the Tour de Groundhog was my debut outside of the local races. I was hoping to test my cycling legs against some of the better area cross racers, but as conditions deteriorated I have to admit that it was my running legs that really got me through this race! The weekend gave us a brief respite from the frigid temps and turned all the tundra to muck. We're talking sticky, gooey, Illinois clay. You had to carry your bike because if you pushed it the wheels would lock up from the mud. I ended up running -no exaggeration- about 1/2 of each 1.3 mile loop. Fortunately, there weren't a lot of runners in the prize money race and I ended up placing 4th overall. I was sadistic enough to enter the next race immediately following and improved to a 2nd overall finish. Now I like running and all, but I actually ended up with a bruise on my hip from where my bike rubbed while I was running with it! I'm hoping for a bit more riding in the next cross race! More great pics and results are here: http://www.teammackracing.org/

Last -and probably most importantly- this race represented a return to racing for my new VQ teammate Steve Driscoll. If you read his blog you'll notice he whines quite a bit about a small encounter with a car while biking a couple years back. Well after a handful of surgeries and a few measley years of rehab he is mostly better -minus some whining- and is back to racing! Not only that, but he re-debuted in fine style, winning the Masters 30+ race! Way to go Steve!

Finally, Kona seems like such a long way off, but qualifying a year in advance not only gives me a leg up in training, but travel planning as well. Case in point, I can beat out all the other psycho-organized type A peeps who are already scheduling their Kona trips down to the second. Me personally, I hate, loathe and detest all this planning crap. I want to go there, relax for a bit, then race. Period. I suck at all this planning stuff. I did make some progress by booking plane tickets last week. Cara, Jonah and I will be on the big Island for the week before the race and two days after. I got tickets for what everyone tells me is a good deal. I figure one of my kidneys on the black market should about cover the cost. Anybody know if you need two kidneys to race an Ironman?