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Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49
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Hi All,

I haven't done a "real" race report in a long-time, but after enjoying a great race execution I figured it was time. I've picked up a ton of little things over the years reading ST race reports and hope there might be some tidbits in here for others down the road. Ironman Santa Rosa was my 2nd Ironman, having completed Ironman Arizona in 2015 just after I turned 18. Apologies for the long read - hope those that are interested enjoy! I'm happy to field any questions.

Ironman Santa Rosa

Training

Despite being registered for Ironman Santa Rosa since the fall, my race prep was non-traditional as a short course athlete. Being a student and collegiate triathlete racing for the University of Colorado, the biggest focus of my early season was USAT Collegiate Nationals, a sprint-distance draft-legal and Olympic-distance non-draft on April 5th. With that perspective, Ironman Santa Rosa was a “B” race with one main goal – qualify for Kona. While the “big” volume was there, the big weekend bricks and Ironman specific workouts and days were not. I’m very lucky to have the support of D3 Multisport with the guidance of D3 coach, Brad Seng. In addition to coaching for D3, Brad is the head coach for the University of Colorado Triathlon team. He has been an invaluable resource and has a great understanding of my priorities and balance when combining collegiate and personal racing over a big range of distances.



Training for this season started at the beginning of September 2018. I had three phases – fall training until travel over Christmas, spring training until Collegiate Nationals, and then 5 weeks of Ironman prep. One of my bigger spring training weeks is included below. This was essentially the “template” week from which workouts would be added or subtracted in order to accommodate school commitments and races. I really enjoy having a consistent and predictable schedule, and I typically start my first workouts of the morning just before 6 AM, with the goal of having everything done by early afternoon. However, with a full undergraduate and graduate course load this spring, Tuesday and Thursday were the notable exceptions. Between morning swim and strength and my final class ending at 8pm, there just wasn’t time to fit in a needed bike workout. So, late night workouts it was.



This season of training has been my most consistent yet, since starting triathlon in 2014. I’ve made three changes that I believe really helped with that consistency:

1 - Core: 5-6 times weekly for 10 minutes. Over the past 5 years of multisport focus I feel that my general core strength has regressed. Introducing a simple 10-minute core set done at home or at the gym has really helped. I believe this has benefits with regards to holding form in the water, on the run and staying steady on the bike.
2 - Strength: I’ve always shied away from strength, figuring my hours were better spent swimming, biking and running. While I feel like a strong triathlete, I often feel pathetically weak when it comes to simple exercises like pull-ups, push-ups, etc. Training now includes twice weekly strength and stability following my shorter Tuesday and Thursday swims. These aren’t super intense heavy weightlifting sessions, but instead just workouts that focus on dynamic strength.
3 - Illness Recovery: I used to train through being sick, especially anything that was above the chest, but ultimately, they almost always became chest colds. For the few colds I picked up during fall or spring training, I immediately stopped training and replaced any training hours with at least an hour nap per day. This almost always knocked the cold dead and I was back to full training within 3 days. The one exception being when I tried to push through a cold near final exams/Christmas travel and ended up in a month long on/off training cycle due to a reoccurring heavy chest cold.

Following Collegiate Nationals, I jumped right into a 4-week Ironman prep block. Overall training structure remained with a few small changes.


1 - Swim volume was reduced in favor of a twice weekly run workout with Boulder Track Club.
2 - Saturday rides became longer with a more significant run off the bike.

Overall, I wasn’t going to suddenly become a specialized long course athlete in these four weeks, so my personal goal was to just learn as much as possible. I had a few lessons learned and a few key workouts. My only planned Ironman-specific long ride was the first warm and sunny weekend of the year in Boulder. I had a nutrition plan and executed on it, but when I went to run off the bike, it become clear I hadn’t nailed it. While sufficient on the calories, the hydration and electrolytes were clearly missing. With Brad’s help, a few more revisions were made to the race nutrition plan.

One of the staple workouts I had the chance to run with Boulder Track Club was a long run with mile on/mile off repeats. Being only two weeks out from race day I cut the main set short to 5 repeats (10 miles total) of 5:35 pace on + 6:35 pace off. Nick Noone (2017 IMSR winner) pushed me on these and I felt great. This was a big turning point to being excited about racing Santa Rosa, only two-weeks away. Additionally, it was a key workout for me mentally in my execution plan. My mantra for the day was – “the race starts at mile 18.” That mile marker would be 8 miles to go – first, that is an easy hour run and second, if I can do 10 miles at 6:00 pace, I can do 8 miles at 7:15 pace. The rest of the day was all about getting to mile 18 in the best shape possible.


Race Prep

Santa Rosa is conveniently somewhat on the way from Boulder, Colorado to Los Angeles, California. I will be completing a summer internship in Los Angeles so I ended up wrapping Santa Rosa and the move into one. After my last class of the semester ended on Tuesday, with the help of my mum, I loaded up my life and cleaned out my apartment. Unfortunately, making the drive out to Santa Rosa meant missing my Thursday graduation. I guess Ironman is just a little different way of celebrating. We made the 20-hour drive from Boulder to Santa Rosa on Wednesday and Thursday, arriving in time for Thursday afternoon check-in. Race prep was a standard affair. I got myself checked in and sorted out bike and run stuff.





Swim

Being Boulder, Colorado based is awesome from almost every training perspective, except open water swimming. While I’ve been setting personal bests all winter in the pool, the two open water swims I have completed, the draft-legal and non-draft swims at Collegiate Nationals, have both been disastrous. My open water swimming since leaving Seattle for university has been a source of frustration, but I was hoping the long hours spent in the pool would pay off over the 3.8 kilometer swim.



I lined up with the 55-minute group about two rows back from the front and had decently clear water right from the start. Unfortunately, much like my prior two race swims, I was slow off the line. After the 1st turn buoy I was back near 20th place, trailing the 2nd pack.



At about 1500 meters in (when I’d typically be exiting the water in a short course race…), I started to find the relaxed and strong pool stroke I’ve been developing and worked my way up to the front of the 2nd pack. Heading back towards the 4th turn buoy, I could see a smaller pack about 30 body lengths clear ahead and decided it was time to go for it. I picked a swimmer up ahead and got after it. After a strong, but not anerobic effort, I bridged up headed into the 4th turn buoy.



At Ironman Santa Rosa swimmers come out of the water and over a timing mat before starting the 2nd lap. After the dive back in, I picked one of the swimmers with an easy to sight wetsuit/trisuit combo and locked into the draft. The 2nd lap was a bit like trying to drive at 60 miles per hour through bumper-to-bumper traffic. It was complete mayhem, but thankfully I had a good set of feet and just relaxed. I came out of the water in 53:16, well under my goal of 55 minutes.

Out of the water I put my short course experience on the line and hit the boat ramp running fast. I did my best to follow the wise words of one of our excellent CU Triathlon coaches – “The number one rule of transitions - don’t be in transition.” A 3:46 transition put me on the bike with a 45 second T2 advantage to my closest competitors and multiple minutes on many others. This dropped me in with the lead swim group, with only eventual winner Jan Stepinski up the road having swam a 49:00.


Bike

After driving the course on Friday, I was really looking forward to getting out and racing the bike course. The mix of climbs, descents, rollers and a decent number of turns really made it feel like a bike course I could excel on. The primary goal for the bike was deliver myself to T2 fresh, fueled, and ready to run.

Based on my recent FTP ramp tests, races, and long rides (at altitude), Brad suggested an average power target of 230 watts to 240 watts. I raced Ironman Arizona back in 2015 at 215 watts and ended up experiencing a power fade through the bike and a tough run. As such, the big step up in power worried me at first, however after looking through my power data from 2019 and accounting for racing at sea-level, I was ready to give it a go.

Having very little opportunity to test nutrition prior to the ride, I took the time to outline a nutrition plan down to the minute. I think this was absolutely key to being able to execute my race as desired. Additionally, it kept my mind active and occupied throughout the bike. I started with three mixed bottles on-board plus two SIS gels, a Milkyway bar, and a Clif bar. I did not use special needs, hopefully saving about 60 seconds of slowing, gathering items, and coming back up to speed. In total, I consumed 2106 calories at 436 calories per hour and 457g of carbs at 95g per hour. Additionally, I consumed a single SaltStick capsule every 20 minutes religiously.

Coming out of the swim, I made the first descent from Lake Sonoma with about six other guys. Most appeared to be pushing 280+ watts when we hit the first climb and I was quickly left behind. I reminded myself to stay disciplined, pulled out my Clif bar and started eating “breakfast”. I think taking the time to eat some solid real food set my stomach up well for the remainder of the day and helped avoid the pretty strong empty stomach hunger I often get at the end of long swim/bike training mornings.

Between mile 10 and mile 20, I was feeling tight and uncomfortable, but was confident I would loosen up based on a similar experience during a long Sunday ride completed two weeks prior to race day. After about 20 miles of riding everything started to loosen up and my average power settled in at about 232 watts. At this point, I had passed some of the initial “sprinters” and was settled into 4th place, about 90 seconds down on 2nd and 3rd.



Throughout the remainder of the bike I focused on staying aero, staying extremely disciplined to my nutrition plan, and keeping my power numbers in check. I was feeling stronger and stronger throughout the bike and my average power began to drift up, ultimately ending right at my upper target of 240 watts. At about mile 60, I started hearing the time gaps were shrinking to 2nd and 3rd. I moved up into 3rd just before Chalk Hill on the second southbound leg (mile 80) and then started catching sight of 2nd after making the turn onto the finish leg with 15 miles to go. My average power was still locked at 240 watts and I closed the gap and moved up into 2nd coming into T2. I was very pleased to feel continually stronger throughout the entire bike leg. I ended up having to pee twice, once just before mile 50 and then again around mile 80 – which was a great sign that I was well hydrated.


TrainingPeaks - Ironman Santa Rosa Bike

At 172 pounds, with an average power of 240 watts and normalized power of 247 watts, I rode a 4:50:41 split (23.0 mph). I've been riding the Premier Tactical, with the incredible support of Dan Kennison/Premier, for a few years now. Racing at all distances, I've ridden the bike on courses ranging from inner-city Olympic-distance to the country roads of IMSR. It is always a blast to put the bike through it's paces. I’d like to try and eek out a few more watts of free speed by looking at hydration configuration (down tube bottle position and behind the seat bottle position) and arm position. I rode a set of GP5000 TL 25mm tires, setup tubeless at 80 psi. I think the lower pressure really helped take the buzz out of some of the chip-sealed country roads.


Run

The goal of the run was to stay disciplined. At Ironman Arizona in 2015, I came off the bike with the Pro Women and set right to sub 7:00 miles. In hindsight, a recipe for disaster. After a strong 14 miles, I fell apart and spent the next 12 miles on the struggle bus, run/walking my way to a 3:42 marathon. With that on my mind, I stuck with the mantra – “the race starts at mile 18.” The goal was to run the first 18 miles at 7:25 pace and then pick things up from there.

I started the run with a pack of Shotbloks, an SIS gel, and two packs of SaltStick chewables. I planned to pick up additional Shotbloks on course and then alternate Gatorade Endurance and water at each aid station. I downed the SIS gel quickly and then kept at one Shotblok and one SaltStick chewable per mile.

I had two minor problems on the run – first, I had mistakenly read somewhere that there would be Shotbloks available on course, they were not and second, I accidentally threw away my second SaltStick packet after consuming about half the tablets. My brain was too slow to figure out that I had thrown away my Gu packet at the previous aid station. I was not running a single extra step so there was no turning back – onwards it was. I fixed the first problem by taking a chance with an on-course Gu and just doubled down on drinking Gatorade to take care of the second.

On the run I was quickly passed by Robin Schneider, and then another four athletes over the course of the first two laps. I just did my best to keep a smile on my face, enjoy the miles and encourage those passing me.



At the start of the 3rd lap, I was feeling fatigued, but strong, and knew it was time to race. I dropped my pace from my 7:25 target to about 7:10 per mile, and hung on the best I could. My watch was not super happy with the underpasses, out-n-backs and tree coverage, so I kept myself occupied by calculating my average pace based on total time at every mile marker. Over the course of the final lap I passed two athletes who had blown past me during the prior laps, moving back into 4th. The last two miles were brutal – it was a game of one foot in front of the other and telling myself that the fastest way to the finish line, and subsequently not needing to run any further, was in fact to continue running.

While I had absolutely no idea given the now numerous athletes on the looped run course, Kyle Fox was closing on me fast with a 2:57 marathon split. I hung on to the 4th spot finish by 5 seconds, completely oblivious to Kyle entering the finish chute behind me. Although, I honestly don’t think I had a second more to give on the run. I ended up finishing the run with a close to perfectly even 1st half/2nd half split for a 3:13:08 (7:22/mile).


The Race



Ironman Santa Rosa Results

Ultimately, I was extremely pleased with the execution of this race, in many ways more than the actual finish result and time itself. My overall time was 9:03:49, an improvement of 27 minutes over 2015 Ironman Arizona. Additionally, I shaved a minute off my swim split and 29 minutes off my run split. While my bike was a bit slower, I think this was primarily course driven and power was up 25 watts. I did Ironman Arizona on a last-minute whim and used the “just checking the box” line of reasoning to validate the poor run performance there. At Ironman Santa Rosa, I went in with a specific goal. With the help of coaches and prior lessons learned, I put together and executed on a race plan. I believe that executing on such a disciplined plan allowed me to maximize my current fitness, despite very little Ironman specific training. I took my Kona spot this time and I’m really looking forward to heading out to Hawaii. There is lots of work to be done, but I’m excited for the race. From everything I’ve heard, racing disciplined there will take another level of mental strength, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.




Right now, I’m taking 2 weeks completely off, ending my “collegiate” season. This summer I will be returning to a short course focus with the following races on the calendar:

LA Triathlon – June 2nd

Eastside Triathlon – July 6th

Legacy Triathlon – July 20th

USAT Age-Group Nationals – August 10th
Last edited by: JTolandTRI: Aug 8, 19 11:44
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Awesome work Jack. Very impressive!

Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching



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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Great report and race Jack, I enjoyed it! But I have to say holy smokes at 27 hrs/wk!! You are a machine.
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Excellent Race Report, and congrats on the race itself!

Question, how did you get the overhead drone shots of you swimming?
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [MRid] [ In reply to ]
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Parents and a tall bridge ;)

Lake Sonoma is a spectacular swim venue. Incredible spot for a triathlon swim.


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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Epic report! Congratulations:))
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Very cool!
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the race report! Sounds like you had a great race! Were you working at all during this span or only focusing on workouts and school?

Congrats!
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [trm08b] [ In reply to ]
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Just workouts and school. I would definitely not be able to maintain this volume working on top of workouts and school. I did have a relatively heavy school load compared to most from what I know as I'm compressing my undergraduate and masters in Aerospace Engineering into 5-years. It might be doable as an undergraduate student or in a different major.

It is always a bit of a transition switching from the school year to a summer internship (full time). During the school year I schedule myself down to ~10 minute increments from 5am to 9pm 7 days per week, but workouts, classes, and course work are all interspersed making three workouts a day "easy". Working full-time over the summer is always a little different with the middle of the day "locked out".
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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awesome report - thanks
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah for sure! I like the idea of 10min core everyday and I run 4x a week but it looked like you were biking 7x a week and swimming 6x a week. Were those 1 hour recovery bikes spin sessions for the legs and were your swims all structured or were some for recovery as well?
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Excellent work these past few years leading up to very smart race execution and a wonderful result.

Enjoy your two weeks off :-)

I'm very proud to be working with Jack - I'm learning a lot!

Dan Kennison

facebook: @triPremierBike
http://www.PremierBike.com
http://www.PositionOneSports.com
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [trm08b] [ In reply to ]
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For the 10-minute core sessions I've been using an iPhone app called "Sworkit" - free and super simple. Nothing fancy, but works well.

I don't really do "recovery" swims - if I'm in the pool it is almost always a workout of some type. There are definitely days that are easier and days that are harder, but never just recovery per say. I was swimming twice per week the University of Colorado Triathlon team and four times per week with Boulder Aquatic Masters (BAM).

A template swim week looks as follows:

Monday - 5:40am "double": 8000yds (BAM)
Tuesday - 6:15am: 4000yds (CU Tri)
Wednesday - 5:40am "double": 8000yds (BAM)
Thursday - 6:15am: 4000yds (CU Tri)
Friday - 5:40am "double": 8000yds
Saturday - 7:30am: 5000yds (BAM)

Typically Wednesday and Saturday are the most intense workouts of the week, but any given swim can be pretty challenging. BAM hosts a 5:40am and 7:00am workout in the same pool so I'd typically just stay in for both.

Over the past 3 years my CU Tri swim TT times for the 500 SCY have been:
2017 - 6:10
2018 - 5:50
2019 - 5:36 (swam 1st half of 11:16 1000 SCY)

This summer my swim volume will be dropping dramatically with a big focus on open water here in LA/Long Beach. As alluded to, I've been struggling with open water starts and would really like to get that resolved.
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [dkennison] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks Dan! Its a pleasure riding aboard the Tactical.

Looking forward to following your upcoming Ironman endeavors.
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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holy crap

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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks Jack but my long course endeavors including "finishing before everyone else is back at the hotel in the hot tub" :)

Dan Kennison

facebook: @triPremierBike
http://www.PremierBike.com
http://www.PositionOneSports.com
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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JTolandTRI wrote:
For the 10-minute core sessions I've been using an iPhone app called "Sworkit" - free and super simple. Nothing fancy, but works well.

I don't really do "recovery" swims - if I'm in the pool it is almost always a workout of some type. There are definitely days that are easier and days that are harder, but never just recovery per say. I was swimming twice per week the University of Colorado Triathlon team and four times per week with Boulder Aquatic Masters (BAM).

A template swim week looks as follows:

Monday - 5:40am "double": 8000yds (BAM)
Tuesday - 6:15am: 4000yds (CU Tri)
Wednesday - 5:40am "double": 8000yds (BAM)
Thursday - 6:15am: 4000yds (CU Tri)
Friday - 5:40am "double": 8000yds
Saturday - 7:30am: 5000yds (BAM)

Typically Wednesday and Saturday are the most intense workouts of the week, but any given swim can be pretty challenging. BAM hosts a 5:40am and 7:00am workout in the same pool so I'd typically just stay in for both.

Over the past 3 years my CU Tri swim TT times for the 500 SCY have been:
2017 - 6:10
2018 - 5:50
2019 - 5:36 (swam 1st half of 11:16 1000 SCY)

This summer my swim volume will be dropping dramatically with a big focus on open water here in LA/Long Beach. As alluded to, I've been struggling with open water starts and would really like to get that resolved.

I download SWORKIT and only see the $14.99/mo option

Where did you get it for free please?
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [MrTri123] [ In reply to ]
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Sure, I'm using this one: Sworkit - Ab & Core Exercises
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Much appreciated

Thank you
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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I'm curious to hear how you manage day to day life around such a schedule. Do you buy lunch or lug a huge bag of food around all day? Do you life on-campus and is everything within walking distance, or do you keep a "mothership" in the parking lot? When I was studying for my science undergrad it felt like fitting the workouts into the day was the easy part, it was the tiredness during classes, prepping and carrying thousands of calories around that did me in.

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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [tessar] [ In reply to ]
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This is a great question and definitely something that was challenging this year. I've found that above 18-20 hours per week of training my appetite inverts - as training load continues to climb I typically don't feel the desire to eat as much. This effectively resulted in body fat (measured using In-Body Impedance setup) dropping from 6.4% Mar 2018 to 3.1% Feb 2019. While not a perfectly accurate measurement method, this was a good indicator that loosing weight is essentially loosing muscle.

First a few general approaches I try to follow:

1) Eat before my first workout of the day (banana, bagel, breakfast bar). This at least gets me started with calories coming in.
2) First Endurance Ultragen regularly after morning double or triple workouts.
3) Evening shake with meal replacement powder, milk, ice cream and sometimes some fruit. This is a little bit higher in fat and gets me through the night without waking up starving.

During the week my days end up breaking down as follows:

Monday + Wednesday: Class 4pm-8pm
Tuesday + Thursday: Class 9am-8pm
Friday: Class 11am-1pm

Monday, Wednesday and Friday are pretty manageable as I am home based with access to food/training stuff until leaving for campus in the afternoon. Tuesday and Thursday I eat breakfast on campus and then bring bagels, snacks, and some type of leftovers for lunch and dinner. I typically just end up carrying around a second workout/food bag on those days. I think in general recovery/sleep/nutrition is an area I could realize performance gains if training solely as a "full time" pro. That freedom really allows workouts to be properly spread as opposed to stacked due to scheduling constraints and gives time to prepare more complex complete meals.
Last edited by: JTolandTRI: May 15, 19 7:08
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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I was tracking you and sounds like you raced really well, congrats!

How did you come up with your caloric intake on the bike? I target 3.5 cal per kg per hour on the bike. Given your weight, that would put you at 273/hr, but you were 436. Is there a calculation you used to come up with that? Or you just go by feel in training and determined that’s what you needed?
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [TJP_SBR] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks!

The plan I put together for the bike came from a few different directions. In general, I was approaching the bike as a necessary step to setting up my run. In that sense, maximizing calorie intake and nutrition was important.

I had a few constraints I was working with:
- No special needs
- 3 bottle cages

My original target was 80g of carbs per hour and I let that drive the initial plan and liquid nutrition. That was made up of various products I've either found sit well or I enjoy the taste/texture of plus on-course Gatorade Endurance. On top of that initial plan, I added "breakfast" at the start of the ride and a candy bar at half-way, which bumped me up to the final 95g/hr.

I knew I always had the option of reducing intake if my stomach was upset, but ended up with no problems and ate my way through the bike leg. The low intensity of the Ironman bike seems to really help on the digestion front. By really packing in the calories/carbs on the bike I felt I could get by on a much lighter intake on the run, which is where my stomach is typically the least happy.
Last edited by: JTolandTRI: May 15, 19 9:12
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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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Congrats on the race! I think that you may have biked a bit with my friend, Lucas who finished one spot ahead of you overall. I think you finished the bike before him, but he probably passed you on the run.

That swim volume is pretty crazy for a non-swimmer. You swim more in a week than I do in a month!

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Re: Race Report: Ironman Santa Rosa - 4th OA, 1st M 18-24, 9:03:49 [JTolandTRI] [ In reply to ]
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JTolandTRI wrote:
Sure, I'm using this one: Sworkit - Ab & Core Exercises

Thanks for the link to the core routines. I've generally been doing the same set of core exercises and have been meaning to mix things up.

You also mention twice weekly strength and stability work that's not heavy weightlifting but "dynamic strength" (in quotes because I'm not really sure what that is). Would you be able to share some details? I was lifting a bit over the winter, following a program from ECFit Boulder, but now that I'm building up volume I've found my body doesn't handle weightlifting as well as when I was doing less. Given the amount of volume you're doing I'd be really interested to hear what kind of strength work you're able to do that's supportive of your S/B/R rather than hurting those other workouts.


And more than anything – Congratulations! That was a killer performance I could only dream of.
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