Long story about the frameset, but it centers around me keeping my mouth shut while the Mrs. got some bad advice about frame size: 56cm, I have about a 70mm extremely negative drop stem. 'IF' I move to a P5, I will be on either a 54 or 51 with an extra low bar.

I ride a road bike for just about any ride that I am NOT going to be in the aerobars for most of the ride.

I did not ride any part of the course prior to the race. We planned on it, but didn't make it to The Woodlands. I knew the terrain from growing up in the area, and we tried to replicate it as close as possible in Austin. The majority of our rides were east of Austin.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

I'm glad you put married couple in there because there are some seriously fast dating couples...so I'll have some fun with this...and it is just for fun.
- Stephen and Bella Bayliss: They are the true IronCouple. I favor my Mrs. and history has Mr. Bayliss ahead of me, so I think it is a draw.
- Michael and Amanda Lovato: Same as above.
- Trevor and Heather Wurtele: They won the NOLA duathlon challenge, we won the 70.3 TX Challenge. I think it would be a draw, but I'm not ready to concede that yet.
- Greg and Laura Bennett: I don't want to race the Bennetts. Greg has to be one of the biggest clutch performers. The IM is the unknown, but they are very tough.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

5'9" and you are on a 56 P3! Wow, you must have a long torso. You look aero but the 70mm stem makes me wonder a little. Great race!!

Again, long story. I have made it work pretty well, but it 'was' the bike of the Mrs. I am on a 70mm negative rise stem, probably -45 degrees. I also have a franken front end with modified pads, etc. on the Brezza Nano and ski bend extensions so my pads are actually behind the clamps. Here's hoping Cervelo and I get things ironed out before the next race!

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

I'll wear one, and I bet there are others who will. I don't think that Trakkers really exists anymore, so if anyone has a contact, send them this post.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

Write the owner at john@myathletegps.com I have been trying for years to get pro's to utilize his technology which has been used at Kona and other IM's, but ....
I think Trakkers is dead since I have not seen anything for a while, but I could be wrong. MA now has a killer website which is, IMO, even more important than the HW.
Talk a look at the latest race using at http://www.myathletelive.com/...AngelRide/index.html or go to the main site to see who is wearing at.
http://www.myathletelive.com/

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Just want to say thanks for posting all of the info and answering questions. It's great hearing what you and Jordan do, especially power-wise on the bike. Is quite eye-opening, too!

If you guys need a place to crash in ABQ on the way to Flagstaff, let me know. Or, if you want to train out here for a few days over the summer, we've got some great running and riding.

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speedySTATES

You and Jordan should write a book on the engineering, mechanical, and aerodynamic aspects of triathlon. I think it would be well received.

I love how willing you and other Pro's have been at sharing information like this, helps put the effort in perspective for me. The one thing that I haven't seen much of is number's from any women, which I would love to share with my wife for the same type of perspective. Does your wife race with a power meter and would she be willing to share numbers?

Thanks,
~Greg

 I wanted to thank you for the reminder about cadence. I did my first open water swim with wetsuit today and tried to focus on your suggestion...also tried to avoid the trap of just going easy, so broke my workout down as 5 min warmup, 6x4min hard, 1 min easy, 15x40 seconds hard 20 second easy, cool down. Tried to focus on cadence/stroke rate the entire time. Initially found high cadence harder to do with wetsuit than without, but after 10 minutes and getting the feel of the wetsuit back, it was better.

By the way, you were trying/testing wetsuits from a new company that claim to be slightly more buoyant from within the 5 mm rule. I know you did not use that wetsuit at IM Texas, but are you at liberty to comment?

Thanks for folks like you and Rapp playing Q&A with us mere mortals. First, congrats on a great race and best of luck for a great season. Second, I was wondering if you could provide a glimpse into what an "average" weekly training schedule looks like for you, what training you did on the week of the race and finally how much training to you and Amy do together vs. apart?
Thanks,

Unfortunately, and really I'm not making this up, her Garmin decided not to download or be recognized or anything after the race. Probably the connection is bad with the USB cable, and I haven't been using the wireless one.

So, I am not sure. We/she was targeting north of 200. That's a pretty common number thrown around for a lot of the girls who probably weigh a bit either side of 130. And, her nose was in the wind for 112 miles...every single mile of it. She's using a newer HED Jet 6/9 combo on a P4 and Rudy helmet with the same tires, etc. There is more speed to be found with a disc and maybe cleaning up the bottles. But again, she rides (whether it makes complete sense or not) what she feels most comfortable with. If we are able to work out a P5, then the hydration will be cleaned up a bit...and maybe you'll see her on a disc later as well.

At times I don't understand at least 'some' of the reluctance for power data. 'IF' you ride with power, know weights, etc. then there are just certain thresholds that are needed to be hit to be at least somewhat competitive. Clearly Jordan and a few others just put out a bit more W/Kg than others so they ride faster. And there are a lot who make less than ideal equipment choices and ride harder than they need to in order to stay in contact. I was really surprised that Luke McKenzie 'only' needed 253 to go as quick as he did in Kona last year...someone posted that one.

While you or your wife or other age groupers might not hit the higher watts, making good equipment choices to maximize performance is key. And, doing some of the little things to go faster.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

Well, it's Rocket Science that is sponsoring us for clothes and wetsuits. I don't know how much more buoyant the suits are. But, they do use an inner layer that is less dense than neoprene. The suits are lighter and 'feel' like they are at least the same buoyancy. But, I have not done much wetsuit swimming this year of any kind. What we are hoping to do is help out with suit design and tweaking. They are a company that, like TYR especially and Zoot to a degree, that can really offer a full service line of swim apparel and accessories, and their bags are awesome. As in, I usually don't give much thought to a transition bag, but the one we are using from them is great. And, I'm not just saying that.

I don't think too much about cadence. We did a swim clinic for our local athletes this past weekend. Getting the turnover up a bit and focusing less on the front part of the stroke is what we worked on. Why? Because with 1,000 of your closest friends swimming with you, you just can't have a great front part of your stroke, so the rest of it becomes more important. And, the practice in a wetsuit, especially if your 'A' race is wetsuit legal, is imperative.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

QFT

Do you prefer to race as a team (with Amy) or stag? If stag, do you prefer to have Amy with you or at home?

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-- Aaron Davidson

Thanks for the info. Looks like my Ironman goal is to ride like a girl! (albeit at a higher weight)

Dev,

I am pretty sure that one comment you made in here is incorrect. Specifically in my experience engineers who are at the top have spent an entire career working like crazy, learning, developing new skills etc. I do not believe that you can take a substantial time off and expect to be a top engineer.


This is not to say that the time doing non-traditional things is wasted. Or that the skills that you have to acquire to make being a pro-triathlete work are not useful in the life after triathlon. But to say that you can realistically not work in engineering for years and come back and catch up just isnt right. I suspect that it is possible to come back and make have an impactful job in something engineering related - perhaps technical sales? But the top level of engineering is probably gone when you make the decision to walk away.


I deeply admire people like Brandon and Jordan who decided to do something different. There are definitely days I wish that I had the courage to try a different path.



Alan

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Checkout http://www.iotexpert.com

Than you.

A truly great thread.

Alan

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Checkout http://www.iotexpert.com

We will be passing through on Thursday. Got a BBQ restaurant redo? Or a New Mexican food place? I'm familiar with the flat stacked enchiladas with an egg on top, but we get a pretty good dose of Tex-Mex or Mex in Austin.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

Well, it's been and continues to be a good thread I think. Regarding the training, I kind of posted before that's a bit between me and Paulo. I will say that even earlier in the year, I found myself asking to do 'more'. Not because however long ago he said 'more is more', but because I just figured 'more' was needed. And, as someone who coaches a limited number of age groupers, it is really tough to get some of them to understand that they do not need to do more training all year, and it was something that I thought was needed. So, I had to take a dose of my own medicine. If you are doing an IM, then I think that it helps to do a bit more than normal in the last 8 weeks (not for 50 weeks!), but I have always thought that. So...

Race week I guarantee you was a lot less than what most athletes would do, my total training time might have been equal to the race time. That is likely because I had more to rest from. If you are not training a big volume, then physically you shouldn't rest as much as you will likely lose fitness. What you should do is try as much as possible to reduce the external stresses. Lastly, and this isn't necessarily about my specific training, just free advice maybe...I believe that it matters much less what you do leading in to a race and more what you do (or don't do) AFTER the race to recover...if it is not you last race of the year.

I think that I posted earlier that I was around 13-15 hours on the bike, 6-8 on the run, and I swim a lot (upwards of 20k).

Amy and I train together a lot in that we'll start almost all runs together, but might go different routes. We will ride together, but lately we have been making sure each of us stick to what we need to do. It means riding the same route a lot of times, but on a good day I'll be ahead. And on a not as good day, it'll be all I can do to stay ahead. A trap that some guys (who are faster than their SO) can get into is riding a bit easier to ride next to their partner. We are good that way in that she'll make sure I'm not going 'too easy' to ride with her. We will swim together, but I can get by swimming by myself more than she can, so there are weeks where she might swim 2-3x with a group and me 1-2x.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

so do you focus on high turnover in the pool a lot or just swim and then do it in races (seems like this would be hard to do). I'm decent in the pool, but get my butt kicked in the ocean all the time, and it's not just my poor sighting.

I think that there is truth to both, but it depends on what kind of engineer or engineering. I have learned 'skills' from my triathlon career that I would never have learned from a day to day engineering job. Those are as the Mastercard commercial says "priceless". And, I do think that those 'skills' are applicable to the world of engineering, depending on the focus.

But, if I were focusing on more technical engineering when I was in that world, I would definitely not be able to just jump back into it. And, even if I did get back into the more technical aspects at this time, I don't think that I would ever reach the same proficiency had I continued uninterrupted.

I did 'softer' engineering...water, wastewater, air pollution control, permitting, etc.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

Depends. In 2009, we raced IMWI together. In 2010-2011 we didn't race nearly as much together. This year, we are back to racing together more. I think that I speak for both of us when I say we like that better. With an IM, it can be a bit more stressful since the training load hits as the same time and the races are a bit more involved.

Long story short, we like racing together. The 2nd half of the season may split, but for our bigger late season IMs, we'll probably both go and only one race.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

What is your highest aspiration as a professional triathlete?

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**All of these words finding themselves together were greatly astonished and delighted for assuredly, they had never met before**