What's been happening?

So I haven't really written much of anything in close to a month. Some really cool mountain pics, a couple of nutritional tips and a lame race. Oh yeah, we're rockin' the blog. 8-)

The IM Canada prep has now been in full swing for a little over 2 weeks and I'm finally settling into a groove. There's a marked difference to how things are going this year as opposed to last. I won't dwell on the primary reason for too long but more than anything my self encompassing belief that this is what I do, this is what I will be doing for another decade, and this what I seek to pursue to absolute perfection has left me with a singular mindset... do whatever it takes to get better. To take inspiration from "Outliers"... I have the opportunities... I know what to do to take advantage of them. I simply must persevere and just.keep.doing.

An ongoing story.... my improved nutrition has GREATLY aided in my leaning out, losing some muscle and all the while having a great level of energy throughout the day. I don't even think about what my grocery bill is going to be. I simply go into the store knowing what foods I need to procure to fuel my sessions and go on my way. I will likely devote time to a more lengthy post on what I've learned over the past 6 months and how I've implemented it sometime in September once the craziness has passed. What could possibly be more crazy then training for an IM? ;-) For one, I've pulled out of Calgary 70.3 due to a combination of the following...

My brother is getting married in two weeks and I'll have 90+ family and friend members in town with events that I'll be needing to attend to.

The lease on my current abode is up on 8/31... I, and two friends, had agreed on a nice place up on the NE side of town only to be eeked out for the lease. They were left with 4 days to move so scrambled for a 2BD. So now I'm seeking out my own place... I'm far from panicking over it and subtly perusing craigslist but this is something that I would really like to put behind me and be done with. The taking of time to meet and check out places takes away from the, oh so very important, recovery that I've been doing an exceptional job of. (grammarians... I'm sorry ;-)

Every time I find a "great deal" on a place... something glaring about it raises its head upon further inspection. Latest incarnation of this... nice place, good location, amble space, ok view... 100 feet from RxR tracks. 150 feet from RxR crossing (read: whistle and horn blowing in the night). Yeah... that ain't gonna work. Got 4-5 visits lined up for next week at some promising places with ideal move in dates and I'm hopeful something will work out.

I've recently switched to a Mac Book Pro. It's my first foray into the Mac world and thus far i like it. I'd gotten a little bit fed up with the unreliability of my PC and the shaky hardware/software platform I was dealing with.

I'm still finding ways to hurt myself...this time off the bike though. The other day I sliced off the end of my thumb... considering my insurance sucks I've dealt with this on my own. :) It'll make a good story when I'm old... and can afford real health insurance. Dear Washington DC... please get your ass in gear. ;-)

So a lot of life stuff... what about that training... oh yeah... getting back to that. Despite some rough patches in the first couple weeks I'm getting excited about my run, feeling that the cycling is on a good timeline and that I will come into form nicely for the race and that my swim... well... hopefully i can give it a boost in the last couple weeks prior to the gun. It's a nice recovery device right now (Saturday being the only good effort day).

One last note... I've still yet to line up accommodations for Ironman Canada and my long list of got-to folks have come back with nothing. Should anyone out there have a lead on something it would be greatly greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!!

High Country Flower Slide show

Pearl Pass and Castle Creek

Blogger pic uploader is sucking quite badly this evening... so I'll leave it at this collection for now. Will try and get a photobucket link up once i've got the batch of these up there. Some seriously good wildflower pictures too.

Lost Man Creek Hike

Bend Pics

Cross posting here... http://viewfrom2wheels.blogspot.com/2009/07/bend-oregon-and-cascades.html

Boulder Peak

Short and sweet.... here we go...

Won the swim.

Flatted 5min into the bike just after getting a stagger penalty (off of who????).

Eventually fixed it.

I finished.

The end.

...things that will be upcoming...

I will personally see to the death of the "line of sight" portion of the stagger rule... yes... i was getting a most awesome draft sitting directly behind athlete x by... oh... you know... 1/2 a mile. Yeah... great draft. :P

I'm off for the high country for a couple days. Tri bike and shoes are coming with... i'll get some mtn love in before renewing my assault on IMC.

I can't wait till my tubulars come.

Eat Food, Not too much, Mostly Plants

The following is some of the guidelines that I've begun to go by. Over the last 4 months I've slowly been progressing to this point. Grains (aside from a bit of rice prior or post the big workouts) have no place at home. I no longer feel the need for bagels, tortillas, or bread. Rather a big Spinach salad with carrots, mushrooms, a bit of meat, sweet potatoes and a vinegarette hits the spot for both lunch and dinner. Fruit with almond butter serves to boost me in the morning and get me out the door. Even post races I no longer feel the need for any indulgence and after the first of my back to back races last month felt that nutrition, and the attention i paid to it after the first race, greatly aided in my ability to come the next day and give a fair effort.

Reposting from NYTimes... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html

Michael Pollan:

In Defense of Food: http://www.michaelpollan.com/indefense.php

The Omnivore's Dilemma: http://www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore.php

By MICHAEL POLLAN

Published: January 28, 2007

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy. I hate to give away the game right here at the beginning of a long essay, and I confess that I’m tempted to complicate matters in the interest of keeping things going for a few thousand more words. I’ll try to resist but will go ahead and add a couple more details to flesh out the advice. Like: A little meat won’t kill you, though it’s better approached as a side dish than as a main. And you’re much better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products. That’s what I mean by the recommendation to eat “food.” Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in the supermarket. These novel products of food science often come in packages festooned with health claims, which brings me to a related rule of thumb: if you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat.

Uh-oh. Things are suddenly sounding a little more complicated, aren’t they? Sorry. But that’s how it goes as soon as you try to get to the bottom of the whole vexing question of food and health. Before long, a dense cloud bank of confusion moves in. Sooner or later, everything solid you thought you knew about the links between diet and health gets blown away in the gust of the latest study.

Last winter came the news that a low-fat diet, long believed to protect against breast cancer, may do no such thing — this from the monumental, federally financed Women’s Health Initiative, which has also found no link between a low-fat diet and rates ofcoronary disease. The year before we learned that dietary fiber might not, as we had been confidently told, help prevent colon cancer. Just last fall two prestigious studies on omega-3 fats published at the same time presented us with strikingly different conclusions. While the Institute of Medicine stated that “it is uncertain how much these omega-3s contribute to improving health” (and they might do the opposite if you get them from mercury-contaminated fish), a Harvard study declared that simply by eating a couple of servings of fish each week (or by downing enough fish oil), you could cut your risk of dying from a heart attack by more than a third — a stunningly hopeful piece of news. It’s no wonder that omega-3 fatty acids are poised to become the oat bran of 2007, as food scientists micro-encapsulate fish oil and algae oil and blast them into such formerly all-terrestrial foods as bread and tortillas, milk and yogurt and cheese, all of which will soon, you can be sure, sprout fishy new health claims. (Remember the rule?)

By now you’re probably registering the cognitive dissonance of the supermarket shopper or science-section reader, as well as some nostalgia for the simplicity and solidity of the first few sentences of this essay. Which I’m still prepared to defend against the shifting winds of nutritional science and food-industry marketing. But before I do that, it might be useful to figure out how we arrived at our present state of nutritional confusion and anxiety.

The story of how the most basic questions about what to eat ever got so complicated reveals a great deal about the institutional imperatives of the food industry, nutritional science and — ahem — journalism, three parties that stand to gain much from widespread confusion surrounding what is, after all, the most elemental question an omnivore confronts. Humans deciding what to eat without expert help — something they have been doing with notable success since coming down out of the trees — is seriously unprofitable if you’re a food company, distinctly risky if you’re a nutritionist and just plain boring if you’re a newspaper editor or journalist. (Or, for that matter, an eater. Who wants to hear, yet again, “Eat more fruits and vegetables”?) And so, like a large gray fog, a great Conspiracy of Confusion has gathered around the simplest questions of nutrition — much to the advantage of everybody involved. Except perhaps the ostensible beneficiary of all this nutritional expertise and advice: us, and our health and happiness as eaters.

FROM FOODS TO NUTRIENTS

It was in the 1980s that food began disappearing from the American supermarket, gradually to be replaced by “nutrients,” which are not the same thing. Where once the familiar names of recognizable comestibles — things like eggs or breakfast cereal or cookies — claimed pride of place on the brightly colored packages crowding the aisles, now new terms like “fiber” and “cholesterol” and “saturated fat” rose to large-type prominence. More important than mere foods, the presence or absence of these invisible substances was now generally believed to confer health benefits on their eaters. Foods by comparison were coarse, old-fashioned and decidedly unscientific things — who could say what was in them, really? But nutrients — those chemical compounds and minerals in foods that nutritionists have deemed important to health — gleamed with the promise of scientific certainty; eat more of the right ones, fewer of the wrong, and you would live longer and avoid chronic diseases.

Read the rest... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

Triathlon in Sports Illustrated

Still can't get over how awsome any of the finishline photos are from Hy Vee. Rawk on Simon!

http://bradkahlefeldt.com/press/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/usa-sports-illustrated.jpg

Eating right!

http://www.velonews.com/article/91925

A lot of racing: thoughts on 6 races in 5 weeks

As Simon has been saying as of late... "so that happened".

At the outset of the season when I was looking at 7 races in 6 weeks (eventually truncated to 6 in 5) it was a task that I'd never even come close to doing before. Never had I even raced on consecutive weeks with any consequence. I thought it quite daunting but also knew that to get better you have to experience and KNOW racing. Paulo had a good blend for me going and thoughout the block I slowly moved away from the high intense ITU type prep to more long steady state Half IM work. That and I have finally gotten to integrate FAST RUNNING (tempo runs and mile repeats) into my training. Note to all... I've been running, JUST RUNNING, for a year now and only now have I begun to tip toe into faster paced work.

Pelican Fest (1st) in Windsor was nothing much more than a tune up and speed shake out. Things went well and I then raced off for the airport. A very "spring-like" race. It was in the mid 50s and raining on the drive home.

2 day break

Austin ITU (25th) was my introduction to real d-legal racing. I was pleased with my swim but not the swim conditions (flat like a pool) and then with the group that we got away with. Our tactics were a bit too quick (rotations) and we zapped our legs. Learned a lot about what not to do... now just need to go figure out what to_ do_. I don't believe in learning from mistakes... they don't tell you much... success teaches you. The run... well... that was just a mess. Looking forward to my next shot at short course. It's THRILLING!!!

13 day break

Oliver Half Iron (5th) signaled a return to the Okanagan. After Austin I had gotten in a solid block of training and was happy with how things were going. However on race day I just never felt right and especially on the run where, sure i went out a bit too fast, but things were just off.

5 day break

Billy and Lara's wedding.... on the front end... I thought this was gonna knock me up good. By far the best wedding I've ever been to... but only was cause for a drawn out and recovery focused day of training on Sunday. : )

7 day break

Loveland Lake to Lake (2nd) Like last year, I trained right up to it and right through it. Things were clicking well all week long and I was finally starting to feel like I was getting into the summer training groove where you just start ticking off the days and the training with no thinking. Lobotomies are awesome! ;-) I was super disappointed to get run down in the last 1/2 mile but it's fuel for the future training fire. Post race I was ON TOP OF MY RECOVERY knowing that in less than 24 hours I'd be in the midst of another throw down, faster paced too. Easy run with Mr. Meeker and a load of veggies and protein. Massage and a spin and rest was the rest of the day.

23 hour break

Boulder 5430 Sprint (2nd) This was kind of fun. I woke up and simply put it on auto pilot. No thinking, no fanfare, just ride out to the res, do a workout then chill and get my long ride in. Swim was a little rough but got out on the bike and was pleased that my cycling legs, unlike the day before, had decided to show. Being caught on the run was inevitable as Simon was 10th at Athens so 2nd wasn't all that bad... given the events of the day before. Good on the recovery again and rocked my bike workout later in the day a well.

6 day break

...and lastly Pac Crest (1st)

Would I do it again? HELL YES!!! I love racing. And at that a huge thank you to MattGiven.com for aiding me in getting to my races. Over the course of this block the EXTREME importance of recovery has been drilled into me. My understanding of food vs. fuel has become entrenched in my pysche as well as I try to lose a bit more weight yet still stay on top of my day to day and hourly energy levels.

I most defintely look forward to hitting up another block or racing similar to this in the future.

Questions and inquries are welcome! : )

Pacific Crest Half Iron and Summary of 6 races in 5 weeks

Let's start with the "damage" roll call.

6 races in the span of 5 weeks. 1st, 25th, 5th, 2nd, 2nd, 1st.

Here's how the last one went down... summary of the block of racing at the end of the this... (edit: summary coming later)

Three years ago when I moved from Austin the plan was to stop off in Boulder for 2 weeks, check out the place, and then continue on to Bend to see what it was all about. Well... we know how that ended. For those three years now I have been telling my friend (and back country hero), Chris Williams, that I'd make my way out there. When planning the season I saw a good race in Pacific Crest Half and thought that it'd be the perfect chance to go visit and race. First off Bend is _not_ an easy place to get to. Unless you are able to fly into Redmond (20 miles to the north) you have to fly into Portland and drive out. Yes, it's a nice and scenic drive but can really wear on you after a couple hours. BTW... Mt. Hood is impressive!

I arrived in Bend late on Wednesday evening and promptly put my legs up and took a nap. I still had a some mile repeats on the schedule to knock out. I was staying at Chris' sweet place (a shrine of fame to friends, the mountains, triathlon, etc) and after a solid nap and some food i set off for the local HS track. WU'd up first on the Deschutes river trail that is so often spoken of and it did not disappoint. Soft dirt, needles and wood chips "paved" the way. Okay so _now_ it was off to the track. This being Oregon and the love the youth distance runner the track was a distance dream. This was by far the fastest track I'd ever run on. I was going 10-15 seconds a mile faster than normal. Okay so the 1500 foot drop could have had something to do with it too. With the sun setting the air got cool/cold FAST. I thought Boulder was dry. Bend is parched!!! A warm day got fridgid fast and by the end of my session my fingernails were numb!

Thursday I got in a great hour run on the river trail then rode up to Mount Bachelor. 15 miles and 2.5k in gain. You move from high desert and ponderosa pine (think Flagstaff) to fir and spruce alpine. Awesome-Amazing ride. Topped off the day with Transformers2 (I grew up on that stuff... I was beside myself with excitement).

So finally getting to a little bit about the race here... FRIDAY! Simply put I set out from the house at 10a to get in a swim, ride, packet pickup, bike course recon and bike drop off completed. I didn't get home till 6p and not a minute of that was squandered. Oh, and the bike ride got severly truncated. The race has two transition areas and that added to the complexity of the pre race activities. Needless to say I was a bit beat come days end.

GAME ON... RACE DAY!!!

With the morning lows in town in the 40s and even colder up in the mountains the race has a gun time of 9a. This allowed for a relative sleep in as compared to other races. Things went smoothly as I parked within a 2 minute walk of T2 dropped my things and got on the bus for the ride to T1. Once at Wickiup I set up shop next to Matt and got my things in order. After a ~40 min delay we were off. The water was pristine and the views off to my right were gorgeous! By far the most scenic and clear and beautiful swim I'ver ever done (yes, Kona is awesome but I'm a mountain man and to race in the alpine country had me absolutley beside myself... just wait for the bike course!). I didn't gas it at the start and rather just eased into my pace and was reminded that that is SUCH! a better way to start the day then the non-sensical 50m sprint-and-settle-in that I normally do. Put the pace at speedy cruise and rolled into T1. Got some personal chearing from Erika (maker of bad ass hats) and was off!

The first 7 miles or so you climb out of the res and up to the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. That name alone should give you a hint to the awesomeness that was to come. Check out some of the pics from the course here. I'll try and sort through some pics from the trip and post those over the next few days. The course transistions from a mix of alpine and ponderosa forrest to full Alpine forest by mile 10. Cyrstal clear lakes, fir and spruce trees, snow capped peaks, cool mtn air. Oh yeah... AWESOME. As it's a false flat all the way to mile 34 or so before the first substantial climb you have a slight grade to push into. I was sitting comfy on the watts and passing the duathlete wave folks all the while dishing advice such as "yer bike comes with a small chain ring... use it". Kidding... sort of. As we neared the "Sisters", Bachelor and Broken Top the scenery was filled with lakes, mountains, snowbanks, forrests... that all lead into one hell of a serious climb (10mph at 340 watts?!)... but wait... those spotter cars are coming around me faster and faster. Uh-oh. I'd later find out that Matt had closed the gap to within 25 seconds at the crest of the ski resort. Once over the top I got set to BOMB down the other side. 14-ish miles of SUPER FAST descending awaited. Tight and low I carried as much speed as I could and let my legs freshen up from the climb effort. We quickly left the alpine behind and, being back on the dry side again, were in the stands of Ponderosa. Unlike Oliver where I let my legs chill for a long while prior to T2 I wanted to keep them pumped and primed so spun them up anytime the speed dropped a hair too low. Finally the descent leveled out and I was able to grab some gears again and booked it into T2.

I wasted no time (aside from a HUGE shlug of de-fizzed coke) and set out on the run. I found my pace immediately (tempo runs and mile repeats are AWESOME!!!) and was feeling good. Looking back I could see that Matt was now ~90 secs back. No time for games... it's go time!!! From 0-5 I really kept the same pace and mindset and never really thought much of being hunted and simply worked away at my own race. I got one report at mile 3 of 3 minutes but didn't believe it but then Chris rolled up at mile 7 with a 4-5 minute report and I realized whoa... I'm putting time on him! It's going to take a looooong time for me to remove the complex of being a hunter vs. hunted when it comes to the run leg. But that is my goal. To be the hunter... even if it's from the front! : )

The course is entirely run on a cart path around the retirement community of Sunriver and the stories I can recount of "odd" encounters with volunteers, residents, and visitors could double this write up.

I eased off the gas for the latter half of the run so as to not dig too big a hole and cruised home (and uh... through a mass of people in the last mile that had NO idea a race was going on) to the win.

I really enjoyed the event and hope that it can grow as a professional race. Although this year's field was not quite what it was last year I hope that next year will see a return to a deeper start list.

I rounded out my trip to the area with a climb up Broken Top on Sunday, another great run on the river trail on Monday and Tuesday and a bike climb to McKenzie Pass on Monday. A looooooooooooooooong travel day home on Tuesday and now I'm back and settling in for some final fast preps for Boulder Peak before I turn my focus back to America's Hat and IM Calgary 70.3 and Ironman Canada.

This post has gone on long enough... I'll hit up my summary post tomorrow.

LIFE.IS.GOOD.