Turning the Blog off and more

In late 2007 I got the "Ironman Canada Blog" up as a way to journal where I was at as I prepped for my second Ironman. This was effectively pre-Facebook for most of us.

It was a great way to get/give timely, even daily updates up about things. That said, it is far easier to Tweet, use Facebook or for my friends in the professional sphere, updates via LinkedIn. The blog seems to have fallen by the way side as the last thing to update.

Of course, there is still lot's to talk about so if you're not connected to the pretty infrequent updates here find me on Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn.

In a few weeks I'm going to the lock blog down and you'll have to have permissions to read it if you're at all interested in tripping down memory lane.

Thanks for following things here and being part of the fun.

-Joe

What next in 2012? Plus Duathlon Nationals.

As last season closed I really got to the core of what I want to do: Race often. That isn't easy if an athlete focuses on long-course triathlon, marathon or ultras.

I came along as a middle-distance runner so short, very fast and hard was the name of the game; it's no wonder to me that I simply have no desire to race much longer then a couple of hours. And after ten years at Triathlon I also realized I'd tried nearly everything to fix my swimming and it never truly got better. I do enjoy it more now then ever but in any case I need an aided course to swim what I need to be competitive.

I've tired of starting with a huge disadvantage in long course racing (though less in short stuff) and to see less aerobically-enabled folks get the measure me on the strength of a swim gets old. I did fix the bike, I'd love to see what my bikes splits would have been on this Cervelo P3 w/proper tyres on the same power I road an old Giant bike w/road drops. I mean, averaging 290w in a sprint tri at my weight (it's under 140 and that's all I can say!) but then not recording one of the top bike splits is a measure of my stubbornness around those equipment choices.


And last, the run. I really got sick of having to drill it to run myself into contention. 5.40 miles in a Half Iron? Check. 39min 10k in that same Half Iron. Check. Slowing down to a 1.26 HM because of 95F heat? Well, I'm only human.

So, I decided I'd try to take the National Championship title at Du Nats. A forty year-old guy won it last year, he and I ran about the same sort of times in college; I needed a challenge that suited my strengths. I figured 3min/KM was going to be the requirement assuming I'd be facing at least two other guys in 15.30/5k shape. I went to the track 2x/week. 400m in 66-69 and 800m a touch slower followed by 150s at "finishing speed" to prep.. It was fun to run that fast and started to feel like I was bringing a nuclear bomb to a gun fight, after all who else would (or could do that) at the amateur level? Usually, an ex-gun or a very young athlete out of college turning professional.

The race? In a nutshell I played my card, which was just run away from folks. The first run I followed a U18 guy through 800m in 2.22 then casually took the lead from there as he faltered and lead the first run passing mile 1 in 4.56 on my way to about 7.50-ish for 2500m; that works to out to just over 9 minutes for the 3000meters- on a rolling course. :)

At this level the races are so fast that T1/T2 is critical and I had no idea how fast folks could hop onto the bikes. I got out in about 56sec per transition whereas the top four got out in 20-30secs. So I immediately lost my lead going on to the bike. I pulled everyone back except McNeil (ex US National team cyclist) but I was penalized on the bike for going to the left of some traffic cones. (had no idea until after the race)

Came into T2 thinking I'd kick McNeil down. No such luck, I got out transitioned again!  Refs to be candid should have been policing the three guys riding behind me. Post-race the results were a mess, I tried every avenue to resolve the penalty but USA Triathlon would have none of it and I went from the podium, being covered in the press release, 3rd at the National Champs to an also ran.

In other news, Shannon Horn, my old team mate at PSU and former World Du Champs U23 competed and finished behind me. We caught up at the finish, and I'll be honest it was good to get the measure of him; he was a 3.53 1500m guy who could ride a bike when were in school and it's nice to have staying power in the sport on my end- if anything I've kept all my athleticism that I had in my mid-twenties and apparently a bit more. :)

Where does that leave me now? I'm racing for fun. Serious training, but it's fun. I'm not announcing pre-season plans, etc. After chasing school records, course records, qualifying times, going to NCAA XC champs and then doing ten years of fairly focused (though not always) Triathlon I'm focusing on the stuff that makes me happy. Defend my state TT championship? Maybe! :)  (Hey, getting that title surprised me too!)

I'm out in Bend right now, one day before my birthday, having done what I'm pretty sure was a good time trial this morning. I'll do a nice jog in a bit and I have a vague idea of what's next. It will be far shorter then a sprint triathlon for sure. Still, tomorrow night we lap swim. I just like it.

My plan for racing and training is really still the same: Race often, enjoy it, race and train to my strengths. Enjoy new stuff.

2011 End of Season wrap

First off it's probably not a bad idea to explain why it's been quiet on the blog: the less frequent posting these days has alot to do with the fact that I raced so often (and early this season) that it just didn't make alot of sense to ping the blog with continuous updates.

End of season for me is a time to reflect on failures and where I can close the gap. While I like celebrating what I did well it doesn't allow enough critical thinking about where I fell short. 2011 was all about improving consistency and "leaving no stone un-turned". 2010 left me scratching my head on a couple of occasions when I didn't ride to the level my power data suggested I could.

In that vein I made fairly drastic equipment changes; focused on sustained power output in training and very high quality volume sessions across swim, bike, run. So, while I didn't blow my old power bests out I did get very, very consistent meaning I was able to reproduce pretty good power when I needed it. Where swim and run are concerned, looking at total volume this season compared to where I've been at historically I was actually a bit lower but I wasn't forcing myself through sessions completely spent whereas before I just made myself do the work. In those other higher volume years I wonder how much my body absorbed when I marched through workouts in zombie mode?

What's 2011 about? More of the same: Consistency and closing the performance gaps. Consistency is always a tough one because we're not robots and the longer an event goes the more nutrition and pacing plays a role. Where performance is concerned, well, I hit the point of diminishing returns a while ago, so in particular where the swim is concerned I've come back to looking at mechanics as a place where I might find some low hanging fruit.

Building out a season: I learned that the further I get away from pure distance events the happier a racer I am. Chalk it up to temperament, when I grew up running I came up doing middle distance; it was painful and short but I always swore I'd never do a marathon unless I could do one really fast; (that ship might have sailed though!) fast forward to Triathlon; long course racing requires lots of patience; you have to pace your body like a Toyota Prius or risk a poor performance.

This summer as I raced the bike leg of improperly measured (long) Half Iron I found myself wanting, almost needing to go faster but knowing I had to run after frustrated those plans.

Lesson learned: you have to race what you like. That said I'll probably find a suitable Half somewhere late in 2011. I'm eyeing the same sort of events, multisport stuff that favors good cycling/run fitness; cycling events that favor strong climbers over the long haul, etc.

Training: It's cliched to say there are no secrets and that you just have to do the work, however it's true. The one thing I can add is that there is no off-season. If you need time off to get healed you have to take it to rehab but to see improvement year over year an athlete just can't be taking huge chunks of time off and expect to PB those training markers or race efforts.

So, no off season for me. I do go as I feel meaning most days there is no specific goal to the work; I just like to workout because I love it. Do I push myself in the off-season? A little bit. Some amount of harder efforts makes life easier in January/Feb when those early season tune-up events are nearly bearing down.

Bring on the 2012 !

How Lung Cancer has impacted me and my fundraising efforts for The American Lung Assoc.

Many of you might not know, but Lung Cancer has impacted me personally. My Grandfather in Queensland, Australia was a tobacco user- smoked and chewed, sadly he eventually contracted throat and lung cancer and died when I was so young I barely remember him; he was only in his late 50's when he died.

I'd like to think that Lung Cancer is the sort of disease that falls into the "low hanging fruit" category, that is highly avoidable. Your donations go to toward these cessation efforts and obviously some is allocated to research to study cures who have cancer.

At this point I've raised $30 towards my $100 goal for the American Lung Association in Oregon's Reach The Beach event. (Thank you very much to those who have contributed!)

I have until May 20th deadline to finish my fundraising so it will be here sooner than you might think.

You can make a donation by logging on to my secure page over at the American Lung Assoc.:

http://action.lungusa.org/goto/joetysoe

The American Lung Association will mail you an official receipt for tax purposes (all online donations get an email receipt).

Thanks again for all your support.

-Joe