Awesome race, very strong effort sir.

Have you done any aero testing? In particular, I am very curious to see if you're gloves or shoe covers had any measurable results.

Also, do you always race with GP4000sII? or with the added distance did you opt for more durability?

Thanks

oh boy, have I done aero testing! I should probably have a loyalty card from Jim @ ERO ;-) the only thing I haven't tested are the shoe covers. That decision was based on a guess that they would be faster than the naked tri-vent shoes, plus it was a bit cold at the start. The Castelli Body Paint suit is fast, but is impractical for a tri because it takes so long to put on. This was the ideal opportunity to wear it. On day 1, I wore my usual LG M2 suit with the sleeves rolled down under my wetsuit. In aero testing that has tested as fast as the PI Octane for me, but it's easier to get into.

These days I race with Turbo Cottons, which I did bring with me. On day 1 I decided to use the GP4000sII because there was debris on the roads and I was planning to ride easy anyway. That was a good decision, so I just kept them on for day 2, and I'm glad I did. There were some horrendous road surfaces (and some fantastic road surfaces) and I would make the same decision again next time. Originally I was planning to put on the Turbo Cottons for day 2. By the way I also ran a 25mm GP4000sII on the rear, at a slightly lower pressure than usual, which I was also glad I did.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Awesome. Made it sticky.

Thanks for the response!
Any details about the gloves? Were you able to get any quantitative results with them?
I've been thinking of trying them since it would be pretty easy to throw on during transition.

Again amazing effort man, good luck in Hawaii!

No I need to test those ones. I did some informal chung testing where they seemed to be slightly faster than nothing. With this type of event I wanted gloves (8 hours is a long time to ride a bike!), so I chose these. I also have the LG aero gloves, which are nice but seemed a little slower than the castelli (again not with a very controlled test, but both were faster than bare hands). They are pretty tight - I'm not sure I would use them in a tri unless I could easily slip them on while running to the bike or something.

I think for things like the gloves etc. a real wind tunnel test would be a good idea. I'll try to get some testing in over the summer.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Rob -

Congratulations and great race! It looks like your swim pace was very similar to your IM swim paces from recent years. What is the secret to more than doubling the distance and not really slowing?

Was the bike course completely open to car traffic (i.e. did you have to yield at stop signs and when turning, etc.)?

Your run splits (based on your Strava file) are amazingly consistent for having incorporated some walking as you said. Did you not make any potta-john pit-stops? What was your run nutrition plan?

Hey Rop,

May as well congratulate you on another forum. Should have them all covered by now. Excellent performance!

Did you stick with your latest IM nutrition on the bike for the ultraman? and, did you need to stop on the bike for the long drop?

Well, the swim is very tranquil to start. I'm sure we all waste a ton of energy fighting in the mass start. So I was super relaxed, but just pulling steady. I didn't do nearly enough swim training, but what I did do, I made count. Basically I built up to regular 4k swim sessions (where I was averaging about 1:28-1:32 / 100m) most intervals of 200m or less, but with a few days of long intervals (like pyramid of 1000,800,600,500,400,300,200,100) or 8 x 500 type of workouts. I built up using my patented "just in time" principle to 7km, 7 days out from race day. That session was 3k warm up before masters, then 4k of hard masters work. I swim at Colorado Athletic Club Boulder, and they don't show much mercy.

Yes. On day 1, I got caught at about 12 red lights in the first 20 miles. 2nd place was 4-5 mins behind me out of the water but caught up to me at the lights. It's just part of this type of racing. Day 2 was much better I only got caught at 2 lights (mostly because there are very few on day 2). An athlete got DQ'd for not stopping at a stop sign, so it's not something worth taking a chance with. On day 1 we rode for ages down this highway, with massive wind gusts. That was pretty hairy, having trucks flying past with the wind knocking you all over the place.


I made one poop-stop just as we were ending the rural section, and about to enter a suburb. I didn't really need to go desperately but I figured I may as well go now behind a tree, then destroy someone's nice lawn when I was desperate. Nutrition-wise on the run, I only started the calories after about 10k, and it was liquid only for the most part (ginger beer, and later coke, and finally mountain dew towards the end). I prepared some sushi rice cakes (ala feed zone portables) but I just didn't feel like that stuff. I ate half a snickers bar too. For most of the run I was eating sour worms. These were awesome during the race, but my teeth are still sore now. I'm not sure what those things have in them but it feels like the enamel has been dissolved off my teeth. I also had one Glukos gel (they are nice and watery) and some of those Quic Disc things. The final 13 miles was just small regular shots of mountain dew and lots and lots of ice cold water. It was very hard to take anything in towards the end but I just forced it.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

First of all thanks for all the congrats everywhere! Yes day 1 and day 2 were all liquid only. The flavor just changed. Day 1 was tart cherry juice mixed with maltodextrin and fructose, day 2 was ginger beer mixed with maltodextrin and fructose. End of day 2 was coke. Both days I also took in the Powerbar Cola shots

No ways did I stop on the bike for the long drop! Champions are prepared to destroy both their clothing and their reputation in order to save minutes. Fortunately I think my body used every single calorie I put into it, so there was no long drops at all that day, even after then race.

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Thanks. I'm busy buying everything to try the nutrition you use.

Also need to get my head around spoiling the clothes and cleaning the windscreen in traffic, need to wait until after winter, not sure it's a good idea to practice on the trainer.

LOL - for sure - I think it's safe to say I will never be that hard core myself

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Another Q please.

You mentioned that you will be doing ultraman Hawaii. Are you going to change anything like preparations, nutrition etc? I have read a few times people commenting that your personal commitments may be a blessing in that you spend less time training, you also mentioned that your volume was low for the ultraman. Is this something you will be applying?

What was your average power for day 2?

I need to step things up big time before Hawaii, mainly in terms of run volume and quality. This is a chart of my run mileage since September. There is nowhere near enough consistent high mileage in there.



So what I will change:
- get down from 76kg to 72kg
- get in several run blocks of 80-100 miles per week
- same bike prep, just with a few double century rides thrown in
- similar swim prep, just with a few double workout days, maybe 6k morning and 4k evening

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

I only had a power meter on the primary bike, so after we swapped it out I had no PM. But for the first 2.5 hours it was 234w NP / 224w AP

Here is my file

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Which brand of aero pad broke? Any reason as to why it failed...hit a pothole, too much stack height under the pad to the base bar, etc?

Way to crush it! An excellent execution of a race plan and selection of support crew. Those Dimond guys rock.

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Straightenin' the curves; Flattenin' the hills
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Coached by Mike Plumb @ TriPower MultiSports
https://www.strava.com/athletes/1149072 - https://www.instagram.com/thoswoods/

It was from a 3T Aduro bar, the same one that a P5 uses. There appears to be nothing wrong with the pad - it seems like the bolts just came loose on the rough roads, and then with the force I was applying on loose bolts, that stripped the holes and then the bolts popped out. I have zero stack of anything on my bike - no spacers and no stacks between the pad and base bar. So just the rough roads and continual force on that contact point.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Congrats again Rob. A few number questions if you don't mind:

What is a light IM/UM training for you in terms of hours per week in each discipline?
What's your favorite trainer session? the typical 20min repeats just below FTP or something more fancy? Do you use trainer road?
What is your FTP in W/Kg?
How many hours of sleep to you get per night on average?

Hey Rob -

Big congrats on the win. Also enjoyed your interviews with the IMTalk guys - was really excited to hear you won the whole thing after enjoying your first recent interview.

I think this was asked in another thread, and I'm sure you get asked this a lot. But since you opened it to *any* questions...

What are some of your best tips on time management? What time of the day do you normally train? What did you have to sacrifice in order to train as much as you do? And how did you get there over time? Would love to hear some of your tips.

thanks - yes the IMTalk interviews were fun!

In terms of time management, here are a few tips. I think I need to do a blog post with all my thoughts on the matter. I've definitely changed my perspective over the past few years, and it's required a very different approach since my kids were born.
1. Always do the most important workout first thing in the day. Actually, this tip carries over to other things too. At work, do the most important things first. But for workouts, I either do a bike ride or a swim early in the morning (5am-9am or on shorter days 6am-8am). Runs are always shorter, so I just fit them in at other times of the day when I have a gap.
2. Since having kids, I can't reasonably justify spending all weekend training. So now, I just take half days off work in my key build weeks. For Ultraman Florida, there was some good time over Christmas when nobody was working much so I took advantage of that and did extra training (indoors for me since it was snowy outside). Then I took 2 half days the week before the race. On Wednesday I rode over 6 hours and I swam, and on Friday I rode 2 hours and swam 3 hours.
3. A "just in time" approach works really well (for me anyway). I actually have had better results just doing "real training" 8 weeks before a race, than the pre-kids days when I was trying to do 25+ hours per week all the time. So now, all I need to do is maintain enough fitness to be able to turn on and do a 25 hour week whenever I need to. As long as I'm fit enough to do that final training block, that's all that really seems to matter.
4. People watch way too much TV - it takes up so much time. Most of my TV watching is done on the trainer.
5. Commuting can be a great way to train. I actually recently sold my car so that I don't even have the option to drive it. Whenever I go to work I ride a bike or run there. When I used to live in San Jose, I would ride a mountain bike to work which took me 2 hours each way. So a typical day would be leave home 6am, ride to work, swim, run at lunch time, ride back after work. That's like 6 hours of training on a normal work day!
6. Trainers are productive. If you are time crunched, riding on a trainer is a very good use of time because there are no stop lights, downhills etc.
7. Related to #6, I actually now use the wahoo fitness desk, and do most of my email reading on the trainer. So I can get up in the morning, spend 90 minutes on the trainer clearing out my inbox at the same time. That also means when I'm working, I'm actually doing useful things and not spending time doing emails.
8. After having kids, I found it was critical to be flexible. Things happen in unpredictable ways, and if you are fixated on getting your scheduled workout in, that just leads to stress which is not useful at all.
9. As far as possible, set up your life to enable better training. This is easier than people realize, and very possible with a bit of effort. We all have choices, and it's not always as hard as one thinks. For example, I now live in Boulder, on the IM bike course, with a very short commute and surrounded by great athletes that push me to be better. I could have stayed where I was before but I developed a plan to make that a reality. There are plenty of other examples... ST regular Dev Paul would often visit silicon valley for work, and we would meet up at 4:30 and ride Mount Hamilton before work. While all those other corporate guys were still in bed, we had done 3.5 hours of hard riding in a beautiful location. Those are all choices, that when added up, make a big difference.
10. I'm sure there is more, I will for sure do a post on that sometime.

The second part of your question: what did I have to sacrifice? The main things:
- I gave up an epic social life. I don't go out drinking with buddies or even just hanging with friends watching the game or whatever. If someone wants to hang out with me, they can get a bike and come ride with me. My social life is limited to a few "normal" friends and then people at swim group. And my mechanic.
- As mentioned above I don't laze around watching TV. All that stuff is done on the trainer. But I will occasionally have a day when I just slob around watching movies on the couch all day (usually the day after an epic workout)
- From a corporate point of view, I probably have given up the opportunity to be a super senior executive. While "work/life balance" is all the rage, the people at the very top are kind of obsessed with their jobs and are very one-sided in their approach to life. For me it's been a conscious decision, that chasing that type of success will not fulfill me as a person. So I have to be content that I will not become CEO. But he will never win an ultraman ;-)
- From a family point of view, I don't think I have sacrificed anything. I don't put training above spending time with my wife and kids, because it's not more important. So I fit things around them, and they in turn are more accommodating when I really DO need to put in some epic days.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Excellent and thorough answer, Rob. Thanks very much. Funny that you mention Mt Hamilton.. I live in San Jose like you did before and haven't climbed it in a while and was just thinking it's time to go do it again. What were some of your other favorite rides around here?

What do you do when you travel and if you have to travel close to your race? Did it happen with your build up to UM Florida? I find that I can always get my running in, and sometimes swims as well, but I do find it hard to miss a week or longer of biking.

Also, injuries.. Are you staying mostly healthy or do you adjust your training when you aren't?

Calaveras road was one of my favorites.

Fortunately I've been injury free. If I feel a "niggle" I always just stop.

I try not to travel, but for example I had to go to NYC in Jan, where I could only run on the treadmill. I just embraced the situation and ran 2x per day, 5-6 miles each time. If I'm in a good area for training then I take an extra day and do a long ride or something. In hotel pools, I just do sculling which is great technique work.

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Congrats Rob on the win!

UM is on my bucket list. I have a toddler and infant, so plan to wait a few years.

How old are your kids?

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Bruce
ALBOPADS XTERRAWETSUITS NEWTON OAKLEY FIZIK GARMIN ROTOR COMPUTRAINER QUARQ HONEYSTINGER

4 and 2 (not an easy age!). But honestly my UM training volume was less than for an IM, so it wasn't like a huge step change in time requirement

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Congrats Rob on the win!

What is your day to day diet? It looks like you would have raced heavier than you usually are if it weren't for the flu. Do you think this was just from decreased overall volume? Or did you just eat more?

Also, you say that you will get your run volume up to 80-100mpw for Ultraman Hawaii. What pace will you be running most of the runs at? What is your easy pace now and will your slow it down more once you hit this volume? How much.

Thanks.

I used to be quite strict on day-to-day, but these days, especially with higher volume weeks, I just eat a good "base" i.e. veggies and highly nutritious foods, and then whatever else I feel like. Ice cream, glass of red wine most nights, not really restrictive. For some reason it seems to not make much difference i.e. I don't gain higher than about 78kg if I eat like that, and I always have energy to train.

My approach with the high run volume is to first go for volume and ignore pace - most long runs will be 8:20-8:40 pace but that's just what it is, I don't aim for that. Then I do 1 or 2 tempo runs, 10 miles or less with a few miles around 7:00-7:30 pace. My approach for hawaii will be to build up the volume, then incorporate more and more of that volume at around 7:15 pace. Then one session per week much faster like low 6's. While all of that is going on, though, I'll try to be very in tune with how my body is feeling and reacting. For me, too much volume at a fast pace is a recipe for injury.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Did you "become" an ultraman? Can you feel it happening? Is there a glow or flash of light?

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Nobody shouted "you are an ultraman" when I crossed the line... Because of that I'm not sure any of it really happened at all! Do you think I can get a U-dot tattoo?

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Congrats Rob on an awesome race - prep, effort and execution. I'm not very familiar with the Ultraman niche so am wondering how you consider Ultraman Hawaii and the expected level of competition. In other words, qualifying for Kona (IM) and racing at the pointy end of the AG/field are two totally different realms. Is Ultraman similar or, given the niche, do you expect the competitive Hawaii effort/execution to be 1x Florida or substantially beyond that? (course/conditions aside, of course) If you say way beyond 1x, I can't even imagine what that is. thx

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tinman

Good question, I think the level will be high, especially the run. The course record for the run is 5:33! I feel like by November I can be pretty competitive for the swim, I'd be competitive on the bike right now, but I'll have to really focus over the next 8 months if I want to be in the same zip code on the run

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Thanks for taking time to answer questions, very generous of you. I'm hoping to get into Utlraman Florida for my 40th birthday in a couple years.
Do you know how many people actually enter to participate? My understanding is they take 40 racers. What did you do to recover each night of the event, any ice baths?

yes they take 40 entrants - you need to submit a race resume - but as long as you've an Iron distance event and ideally some other endurance stuff, you will be good. In this year's contingent, there were many people who had done epic things. One guy did 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents (this was the guy that challenged me for the win, you can imagine that during the run, the fact that he was so experienced at ultra running convinced me that he would not make a mistake, and I was right!). That guy also did Norseman. Another guy did 7 Ironmans in 7 days in the canarys. A few RAAM people.

For recovery, I focused on eating a lot during each stage and after. After day 1 I drank 2 x ensure and a whole bowl of rice mixed with condensed milk (must have been 1500 calories or so). We had a 45 minute drive back to the hotel, and I just sat in the back of the Dimond Van in my normatec boots. When we got back, I ate more and then sat in the hot tub for a long time. I also did baths with epsom salts. I didn't do any ice baths, mainly because I wasn't sore at all (until after the run anyway). Most other athletes did do ice baths.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

This was a pic from a quick tune up ride I did with my crew the day before

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Congrats on the win! I was fortunate enough to race in the inaugural Ultraman Florida back in 2014 and it is hands down one of my favorite races ever! I think i read somewhere you are racing worlds in hawaii this year? If so best of luck as well!

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

Thanks yes Hawaii is the main goal this year. I'm excited to be able to train in summer for that!

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Hey Rob, fascinating answers and really motivational.

You mentioned spending time on the trainer, is that on the Dimond? If so, I was under the impression that it voids the warranty...one of the main reasons I haven't seriously considered the bike myself, as I do a big chunk of my bike training inside.

I have 2 indoor setups:
- I have the Inside Ride rollers, on which I ride the Dimond
- I have a Wahoo KICKR, on which I ride an old road bike that I crashed

I use the KICKR when I need to multitask (like reading emails or watching netflix), but the rollers take all my focus just trying to not wipe out ;-)
I'd say I probably spend more time on the KICKR. As I get more skilled on the rollers, I see myself spending a lot more time on them.

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Ask you anything?

How was it that an Australian athlete named Mark Robson was allowed to compete? He was ineligible for the race as he did not meet the criteria of having completed an Ironman event in the 18 months prior, due to the fact he had been banned from competing for cheating (cutting the course and starting in the wrong waves) in at least 4 Ironman events. The race director Consuela Lively was contacted about Mark Robson and his history and ineligibility mentioned. It has since transpired she has been his online coach for the last 12 months....

You did say "ask me anything".

I have no idea... But if all that is true then I'm glad I beat him by over 4 hours!

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Ha ha well done!

I just hope he did the whole course this time.

Rob here are my questions:

1. How much bike and run climbing on this course vs Hawaii?
2. How much wind in Florida vs what one can expect in Hawaii
3. Heat and humidity in Florida and if it affected you at all coming out of Colorado winter?
4. Did coming down from altitude help the swim....I would imagine "yes"
5. Without giving away your tactics for Hawaii, do you think you will to ride "harder" to have more of a gap to the really fast runners who can run around 7 hours.
6. Are there some things you can do with your crew to streamline logistics to make sure the gap is larger after the bike legs (I would imagine there are many places to gain 15-30 seconds around 10-20x per day related to logistics alone)
7. Do you think you can swim faster in the ocean with the buoyancy, or do you think it will be a wash given potential for currents
8. Do you plan to increase training volume or largely keep it the same (I think we better check with Michelle on that one anyway, so maybe we should ask her, because given an infinite ceiling, you'll be training 110 hours per week and sleeping 58)
9. Did you have more "fun" than IM racing
10. On the run execution and the miles 32 to 52, did those last 20 miles feel like the perceived exertion of running a 10K, except it went on for 3 hours?
11. How much time do you think your organs need to recoup from this?
12. The Dimond boys, did they just drive from Iowa (I assume this is where the Van is based) and if so, are they getting on a barge in San Francisco to float it to Kona in November with Sammy Inkanen rowing the barge with the van (his FTP could probably handle it)

I cannot speak to the circumstances leading up to Mark being accepted into the 2016 race, but below is the announcement regarding his ban. I hope it clarifies things for people. Just pulling out the facts... He was banned in Australia only. He most definitely could have raced outside of Australia during his ban and his ban expired in January of 2016.


Under the Triathlon Australia Member Protection Policy, Western Australia triathlete Mark Robson has been suspended from annual and one day membership of Triathlon Australia for a period of two years.

The sanction was imposed by the Board of Triathlon Australia after Triathlon Western Australia received complaints from several members about the actions of Mr Robson in triathlon events held in Western Australia between 2011 and 2013. After an initial review of the facts, Triathlon Western Australia referred the matter to Triathlon Australia. An investigation into the allegations was conducted by an independent firm of investigators and their report concluded that:

Mr Robson engaged in deliberate and pre-meditated actions to gain an unfair advantage in the 2013 IRONMAN 70.3 Busselton event.
On the balance of probabilities Mr Robson engaged in deliberate and pre-meditated actions to gain an unfair advantage in other significant triathlon events identified between 2011 and 2013.

Mr Robsons suspension commenced on 9 January 2014 and will conclude on 8 January 2016. During this time, he is ineligible for both annual and one day membership of Triathlon Australia. He has also been retrospectively disqualified from the four events identified and he is required to return any awards or prizes won at these races.

Thanks good questions Dev, ok I'll answer inline

1. How much bike and run climbing on this course vs Hawaii? More climbing in Hawaii on the bike but the course is 6 miles shorter, I need to investigate the run but Hawaii certainly has the long downhill from Hawi. Florida was very hilly to start with. There is a climb called Sugarloaf on the day 2 bike in Florida, that when described by the locals had me in fear. When I got to that hill I was like... "seriously? people are worried about this bump"
2. How much wind in Florida vs what one can expect in Hawaii. Day 1 was as much or more wind as Hawaii. Florida is the luck of the draw, whereas Hawaii wind is a near certainty. I guess there is maybe some protection from wind on the climb to Volcanoes and on the Hilo side. Hawaii there will also be less traffic. A windy course on a highway with huge trucks flying past, is pretty taxing.
3. Heat and humidity in Florida and if it affected you at all coming out of Colorado winter? No
4. Did coming down from altitude help the swim....I would imagine "yes" Yes, it probably helped across all 3 sports. The swim felt very relaxing to me, the bike equivalent of riding at 40% FTP
5. Without giving away your tactics for Hawaii, do you think you will to ride "harder" to have more of a gap to the really fast runners who can run around 7 hours. I haven't decided yet. Riding easy certainly helped me to ride harder on day 2. I guess I'll see what happens on the swim. If I have to make up a deficit I'll ride harder than if I'm first out of the water again.
6. Are there some things you can do with your crew to streamline logistics to make sure the gap is larger after the bike legs (I would imagine there are many places to gain 15-30 seconds around 10-20x per day related to logistics alone). Given that I was a rookie and my crew was a first time UM crew, I'm surprised at how we nailed everything so well. I can't think of any way we could have gained more time, other than having someone hack the stop lights! I sat at stop lights for a total of maybe 15 minutes on day 1.
7. Do you think you can swim faster in the ocean with the buoyancy, or do you think it will be a wash given potential for currents. Kona is very conditions dependent. I'd say I'll either be much faster or much slower. Unlikely the same as UMFL.
8. Do you plan to increase training volume or largely keep it the same (I think we better check with Michelle on that one anyway, so maybe we should ask her, because given an infinite ceiling, you'll be training 110 hours per week and sleeping 58) Increase for sure. I'd like to have several months of 30k per week swim, and several "mini training camps" of 15-20 hours biking per week. From the run point of view, I think just average IM mileage maybe 40-50 miles per week, but faster, could be beneficial. I can't afford to run Hawaii at 9:00/mile.
9. Did you have more "fun" than IM racing. Significantly more. The swim was fun, it's a lot of fun having all the crews around, and the strategy/tactics were a lot more fun
10. On the run execution and the miles 32 to 52, did those last 20 miles feel like the perceived exertion of running a 10K, except it went on for 3 hours? It felt worse than a 10k because my quads were crying out. A 10K is a difficult cardiovascular effort, this was a much harder physical (muscular effort). And the mental focus it required was unlike any other type of racing I've done.
11. How much time do you think your organs need to recoup from this? My liver will recover fast, since I was not able to drink any alcohol. My heart rate was pretty low across all the days. My lungs didn't work much. My kidneys are probably the things that worked the hardest. I don't know, I should have a blood test to see what's going on internally.
12. The Dimond boys, did they just drive from Iowa (I assume this is where the Van is based) and if so, are they getting on a barge in San Francisco to float it to Kona in November with Sammy Inkanen rowing the barge with the van (his FTP could probably handle it). Yes Ethan and Chris drove 1500 miles, with a detour to N Carolina to do some test rides. When I last checked, Chris was near Tampa doing some test rides, he's heading toward California for Oceanside. Here is the Dimond Van schedule. I'm just going to get some big corporate sponsorship and paint a Dimond Helicopter for UM Hawaii.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

There are several indoor training options with a Dimond. I also use a set of Inside Ride rollers (as well as various other brands of rollers), but I do most of my hard interval sessions on the Minoura Hybrid Roller: You just CANNOT use a fixed rear axle trainer with a Dimond. The Minoura has plenty of resistance for even the toughest sprints.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

On number 12, I think we need either Sir Richard Branson to sponsor with his Virgin line of businesses, or get on the Breitling sponsorship train. Either one should cover you and the Dimond boys. Speaking of which if you buy a Dimond and do an ultraman do you get the celebrity rockstar treatment or do you have to actually be fast to get the full van support. I just got a cheque from Etrade cashing out some stock....

I definitely get the rock star treatment. TJ himself turned up at mile 30 to do some cheerleading. Plus with Ethan and Chris there, it was like a team of soigneurs - I didn't have to even look at my bike after racing. They cleaned and tuned it up after each day.

Breitling sounds good, please make the intros ;-)
Also, Haribo should sponsor me since I consumed more gummy worms than humanly possible during the run

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

OK, I'm on it...I think the Dimond is as fast as these aircraft so the next time I go thru Heathrow Airport duty free, I expect to see an Ultraman Florida picture in the Breitling display:



We would also need to get the Breitling guys to add a GPS feature to the watch that does not let the athlete run slower than 8 min per mile.

OK, thanks for clarifying mate.

Do you have a recommendation for a brand/source of maltodextrin and/or fructose?

I just got mine from honeyville grains - $80 for 50 lbs - it never ends I still have left over from the tub I bought 4 years ago.

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Awesome, thx.

Hi Rob - could you share your recipe mix for your special concoctions? thx

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tinman

Awesome race and win!!! This race is something I have been interested in over the last couple of years. I can only hope my body lets me build to this level in the next few years. In your response to question 11 you mentioned your liver and a blood test. Do you notice that your liver AST levels are "HIGH" during training? I tried to explain to my doctor the white papers on intense exercise causing HIGH AST levels that I have read but I am not sure he believes me so I am under going more testing now to rule out everything else. Which is the safest route but just curious if this is what you were referring too??


Thanks

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11. How much time do you think your organs need to recoup from this? My liver will recover fast, since I was not able to drink any alcohol. My heart rate was pretty low across all the days. My lungs didn't work much. My kidneys are probably the things that worked the hardest. I don't know, I should have a blood test to see what's going on internally.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

sure - it's simply 2/3 maltodextrin powder, 1/3 fructose powder, plus a juice (tart cherry juice or ginger beer) and then some water to get it to the desired consistency. For me that's about equal parts juice and water. I stick it in a blender, and I usually use warm water to make the powder dissolve easier.

Then, in addition to the special mixes, my "go to" nutrition products are as follows:
- Glukos energy gel (nice liquid consistency, I can take this on runs without any water)
- Glukos energy tabs (they just dissolve in your mouth, and the canister is easy to carry)
- Powerbar gel blasts (cola flavor)

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no - I really have no idea. I was just responding to Dev's question about how much time do I think my organs need to recover... honestly my organs are the last thing I've been thinking about... priority #1 has been trying to get my legs moving again! I literally could not walk up 2 stairs after crossing the finish line - my quads need some serious TLC.

However, I do plan to do a full blood panel soon just to make sure everything is not out of whack. It's been about 18 months since I last did one. Internal organs are easy to forget about since you can't see or feel them. I am guilty of not even really thinking about them much.

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I feel that a good indication of how well our organs work is day to day recovery and energy levels (since it is hard to measure what they are doing). Organs are the factory that rebuild our bodies and keep everything in equilibrium. When they are exposed to the stress of heavy training blocks, they are either able to step up or the body breaks down. There is a reason why younger athletes recovery faster than older ones. I think that long after soreness is gone in the legs from racing, it takes some time for the organs to rebuild themselves. There is a reason why if you do an IM 2 to 4 weeks after the previous IM, we might feel fine, but by mile 10 on the run, "the legs are not there". I feel this is more because the organs just have not recovered and are not able to process all the waste on race day (even though the legs are fine). In an UM, how well the organs are doing should have a big impact on day 2 and day 3, but after day 3 you don't have to do anything, so would be curious how long it takes them to bounce back from that double marathon. Curious to hear your test results.

ok, in that case, yes I feel it. I did a 2.5k swim on Friday and I felt a deep level of fatigue - beyond muscular fatigue - I could manage only about 200m into each interval before I had to stop and recover about 30 sec, then go again.

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Yeah, I am wondering if there is a means to measure that 'organ recovery'. I really don't think it is very simple. I have done hard bike TT's 14-17 days after an IM and nailed them but these were only 20-60 min. Not all the organs need to "perform' in such a short duration like they would need to in a half IM or full IM. It would be great if we could get some medical markers from blood tests that could tell us the "full picture" since muscle soreness goes away quickly and we can be duped into believing we are "ready to go again".

Having done a few IM's where the second is 3 weeks after the first, I only felt the first IM when I got to around mile 16 of the run. And then the last 10 miles were quite a bit slower than they should be in a "fresh IM". I am not sure if this is all muscular damage from race 1 only.

Let us know if you detect any major variation on your energy/lethargy for day to day home and work life in these next 3 weeks. It would be interesting to follow the recovery process as much as the actual event (from a N=1 human physiology lab perspective)...also if you are more susceptible to illness (nothing like having young kids around bringing every germ on the planet home)

My "go to" simple recovery test is power:HR on bike and pace:HR on the run. I'll report back on those and then hopefully get a blood panel done next week

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Do you use any other electrolytes or just what naturally occurs in the ginger beer, cola etc? I'm really intrigued with the idea of building my own drinks, since I have yet to find something commercial/affordable that I really like and that translates well to race-day nutrition. short of buying Salt Stick tabs and emptying them into drinks, I'm not sure how to reliably mix all the minerals without getting a chemistry degree first.

Hey Jeremy - no I never use supplemental electrolytes during racing. I do eat foods with salt and potassium in daily diet, and I take a magnesium supplement at night. I subscribe to the Tim Noakes theory that the human body is pretty good at self regulating electrolyte levels without extra supplementation. I don't believe there is any harm in taking them, though. I did actually take one bottle of pedialyte during the Ultraman run - mainly to get a different taste but there is a good mix of electrolytes in that.

If I wanted to add in electrolytes, I'd just pop a nuun tab into each bottle... pretty simple and no harm done.

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Rob how are things bouncing back? Did you do any uphill run test to the to of Mount Evans yet?

Hi Dev - I'm feeling pretty good. The intensity is back but I'm keeping things short. Runs are a decent pace (7:00ish pace) but just 3-4 miles. Bike power is as good or better than before the race (but only riding about 90 mins max). Swims are a bit slower and I still get a bit tired about 200m into any set (so I just stop and rest). This week will probably be around 7-8 hours, and then next week I'm traveling for work, so probably just treadmill and weights. Then a full day of downhill skiing on Friday to give those quads a bit of a burn!

The Mt Evans climb is definitely on the cards as soon as I have enough time and good weathr, but not to run... !

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Running down Mt. Evans probably would not be much fun right now anyway!

Congratulations on the win, Rob. Best wishes on your training and Ultraman World Championship race. For those athletes considering an Ultraman race in 2017, applications are being accepted NOW for the Ultraman Florida 2017 race. The application deadline is April 8, 2016. Applications can be found here: http://ultramanflorida.com/..._Application2017.pdf

Why is the application deadline that early?

Rob,


First of all congratulations on your win and the execution of your race. And thank you for being willing to answer all the questions that pop up.


I was following this thread from the beginning and most of the asked questions were in line with my potential questions.


The one I have addresses your L/R power balance on the bike. I was looking at your power file form IM Arizona last year (I haven't seen your power file from UM FL) and I noticed that your L/R power balance was 45.4/54.6%.
Was is it similar at UM FL?
If it was, are you paying attention to it?
Do you think having a power balance difference influences your bike and run performance?


Thank you,
Boki

Thanks Boki - and it's a pleasure to answer questions.
I just checked and yes my power balance was about the same at UMFL (around 45/55). But to be honest I didn't even look at that until you asked the question... so I guess that answers whether I'm paying attention to it or not!

The reason I don't pay too much attention to it is that I've heard about a lot of people with my PM (power2max type S) reporting similar numbers (almost exactly the same 45/55), and I believe the LR is estimated, not actually measured on both legs. So I never look at it when riding, and very seldom during analysis after the fact. However, I'm pretty sure that my right leg is a little stronger than my left, I just don't think it's by that much... I think if I knew that I was measuring true R/L balance of each leg, I'd probably do some single leg squats on a regular basis to strengthen the left leg a bit more.

Since you posted this Q, I quickly took a look at my LR power from IM Los Cabos 2013 (this was using a Quarq PM) and it was 49.2/50.8... which is reassuring that I may not have a huge discrepancy.

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Rob,

Thank you for your answer.

I have 3 powermeters - Quarq, P2M, and PowerTap P1 (I bought this one less than a month ago). My L/R balance is also off but as you, I was thinking that crank based powermeters are not really accurate in showing a "real balance". But the P1 showed almost identical L/R numbers (unbalanced) and what is weird, my outdoor L/R balance seems a little bit better than my indoor one - the same bike and position.

I know it might not matter if one has uneven L/R power output and in some cases if one tries to "even it up" he/she can actually loose overall power. But, it just bugs me why it seems that my left leg is performing differently and how that impacts my biking and running. All of this might be even more important if I want to do an Ultraman - since my right leg would work significantly more because the bike "part" is 261.4mi long. :)

I wish you good luck while in training for UM WC. When you get there you'll do great! :)

nice - the powertap p1 pedals looks pretty good, and from what I hear, people seem really happy with them. As time goes on I'd love to hear your feedback and your thoughts, especially regarding ease of use where installation and re-installation is concerned (that's what people with the garmin vectors complain about)

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I'll send you a PM regarding P1s since this thread is about your UM FL race and not about my powermeter. :)

Hi Rob,

Now that a month has passed, some more questions:

1. How is the body feeling? Around the same as a month after an IM? Better? Worse?
2. Are your power levels back?
3. How was your sleep over the last month? Any affects
4. Did you weight fluctuate after the race (well aside from maybe intentionally going on the Jan Ullrich plan?)
5. Any aches and pains for running, or are you good to go?
6. When do you start the IM Boulder training?

Hey Dev - thanks for asking!

1. Body feels about the same as after an IM. Although I've really taken my time in terms of enjoying the stuff that normal people do over winter (like some skiing, chilling out, casual bike rides etc.) - I don't think I've done a workout over an hour - most are around 30 min.
2. Yes - power seems pretty good considering I haven't done a lot of riding. I have a local 11 mile loop that I did the other day and 270-300w felt pretty good. Funny enough, lower power levels on the trainer felt a bit harder than before (like 200w feels "solid" now, and before that felt "easy"
3. Funny you should mention that - sleep has been terrible. I wake up at 3am most days.
4. Surprisingly, weight has been stable. I didn't get on the scale for about 2 weeks now - I figure I'll eat what I want for a few weeks and then get more disciplined when I get back into real training.
5. no aches or pains - I did an 8 mile run last week and pace was pretty good - with no pains or aches - a good sign!
6. I'm thinking I'll start an 8 week high intensity block early April, for Boulder 70.3, then do a big volume block after that.

Lastly, I'll probably do the blood panel next week. Will be interesting to see what comes back with that.

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