Fat Kid’s Ironman Fitness Blog

Weight & Food Update

Now that I’m done with my Ironman, I’m trying to make a few adjustments in my food routine. In particular, I’ve started a new effort to kick Dairy and Wheat… I’m sort of working toward a plan to eat the Paleo Diet… but since I haven’t read “the book”, I’m not following it strictly. I haven’t had any refined sugar, dairy, or bread for a couple days.

I’m also not exactly tracking my food intake, but I am trying to pay attention to it… in the process of doing this, I’m further convinced that tracking food is a pain, and even with all the crop of “nutrition trackers” out there it’s not really any easier.

I’m curious about your feedback:

• If you use an online nutrition tracker, which one do you use, and why?
• What do you find annoying about it?
• What do you like about it?
• If we added Nutrition tracking to Sweat365, what features would you most like to see?
• Does your nutrition tracker support lookup of foods? (Seems like it should) If so, how does it handle when food are similar to each other? Do you want more specific choices or are you more interested in general choices?
• When do you like to enter your food? When you eat it? All at once at the end of the day? (If you do it at the end of the day, how do you keep track during the day?)
• Do you use a mobile device (phone, pda, etc) to help track your food? If so, which one? Do you use a web page, application, SMS, email, or some other technique to input your food?

Health:

• Date: 11/13/2008
• Weight: 143
• Mood: Normal
• Sleep Pattern: Normal

Filed under: Fitness  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Tempo/Recovery? Which Is it?

After my daughter and I were done with our 1.5 miles of her “Kid’s marathon” run, I decided to go out and run a faster recovery run for myself. I was partly inspired by Big Dave’s super fast run today… but the truth is, I’m not really recovered enough to got out and pound out a great tempo run.

I got out 2 miles at 8min/mile pace: 8:01 (143avg), 8:03 (151avg). But at the turn around I couldn’t keep my pace up at all, and I just got slower and slower: 9:48 (137avg), 10:46 (136avg).

But I do think it helped my legs feel a bit better to get out and run for real.

Dave’s really pulling for me to run Seattle, which I do think I can and should do… but he thinks I should shoot for a PR-ish pace, which means running solid 8min/miles… well… I don’t think I have 26.2 8min/miles in me in the next 3 weeks.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/12/2008
• Time: 17:00:00
• Total Time: 00:36:39.40
• Average Heart rate: 141
• Max Heart rate: 157
• Distance: 4 miles
• Average Pace: 9:09.62/mile
• Max Pace: 8:01.28/mile

Filed under: Run  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Recovery Run with Daughter

She’s up to 11 miles on her kid’s marathon.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/12/2008
• Time: 16:20:00
• Total Time: 00:18:15.00
• Average Heart rate: 114
• Max Heart rate: 129
• Distance: 1.5 miles
• Average Pace: 12:10.22/mile

Filed under: Run  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Silverman Ironman 2008 - Inside the Numbers

One thing I love to do is drill down into numbers… so, here are some interesting stats about my race performance that can be gleaned from drilling down into my “race line”.

Here’s the line:

• Final Place - 61
• Swim - 
  • Time: 1:42:07
  • Pace: 2:25/100yards
  • Swim Rank: 120
• T1 - 
  • Time: 4:42
  • T1 Rank: 54
  • Rank after T1: 112
  • People I passed in T1: 8
  • People who passed me in T1: 0
  • Places gained in T1: 8
• Bike -
  • Time: 7:25:56
  • Speed: 15.1mph
  • Rank after Bike: 80
  • People I passed on Bike: 32
  • People who passed me on Bike: 6
• T2 - 
  • Time: 4:26
  • Rank after T2: 76
  • People I passed in T2: 4
  • People who passed me in T2: 0
• Run -
  • Time: 4:48:16
  • Rank after Run: 61
  • People I passed on Run: 19
  • People who passed me on Run: 11

Filed under: Ironman, triathlon  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Video of Silverman

I plan to make some edits to this video, and include some pictures I took, as well as the audio segments from my last post, but in the mean time, here is a first cut at the video I filmed of myself on the Silverman Ironman course.

Filed under: Ironman, triathlon  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Audio From the Race

For those of you who didn’t follow my twitter stream on race day. Here’s a collection of all the audio I recorded using twitterfone during the race. I am still writing a full race report, but I just downloaded all of these and thought it would be fun to get them up on my blog.

I recorded these using Twitterfone.com which is a cool application that lets you record a short message and it updates your twitter feed. I plan to talk about this in more detail in my race report, but it made my race more fun to think that I had a virtual crowd of supporters out there cheering me on.

Here’s the basic chronological order of all the posts…

• ~4:30 am - I had just arrived at T1. 

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~5:00 am - I was chatting with a guy at T1. I joked with him about how Rich told me his race nutrition plan was a “twix bar and a couple of smokes”… and this guy told me that he’d done century rides with nothing but a banana… then he told me he’d never worked on his bike… ever… not even to change a flat tire. 

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

   

• ~6:10 am - Final post before the race began. 

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

•  ~8:30 am - Mile 3 on the bike. The wind was pretty bad and it was raining hard, it looked like it was going to be a very miserable day. But I was having fun so far, and figured, hey, I’m into it now. 

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~9:16am - Mile 15 on the bike.  The rain had turned into hail and sleet. 

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~9:40am - Mile 20 on the bike. I had stopped at a rest stop for a bio break. I felt like my lower intestines weren’t happy, and I didn’t want to… well… you… know… it was lightening off in the distance. 

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~2:18pm - Mile 90 on the bike. I didn’t have cell coverage for about 70 miles, and so I wasn’t able to do any updates. Apparently my wife was a little worried but my daughter told her “Maybe his cell phone isn’t working”. 

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

   

• ~2:40pm - Mile 95 on the bike, just starting the “three sisters” which are a series of really short but really really steep hills. 

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~3:50pm - Leaving T2.

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~4:15pm - Mile 2 of the run. There were aid stations at every mile, and this one had a couple of kids in a rock band playing tunes for us! It was cool! I got video of it too. 

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

   

• ~4:56pm - Mile 6 of the run. I had been running for a couple miles with two other runners. One of them from Oakland, was at the same point in the race as me, he and I were at T2 at the same time. The other runner was a full 13 miles ahead of us, and on course to finish in 11:20, who we nicknamed “5-timer” as he was finishing his 5th Ironman race.  Amazing. The three of us kept a good pace together and chatted along the way. I also took video at this point. 

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

•  ~6:10pm - Half way done with run. Somewhere between mile 6 and mile 13, I lost “5-timer”, and “Oakland” and I picked up “Arizona”. Arizona was a triathlete I had met a couple days earlier swimming at Boulder Beach. Oakland and Arizona and I ran together a couple miles, but around mile 12 or so I stopped for a bio break and lost both of them. About half a mile out from the mid point, I came across a runner who I had assumed was already a lap ahead, as we’d seen him fly past us at a sub-8min pace. But by mile 12 he was walking and completely beat down. I figured he was so close that I’d pump him up to get him across the finish line. I offered to pull him with my invisible rope, and eventually he got his kick and ran past me, but instead of running to the finish shoot, he ran to stat his second lap! What?!! That’s not fair!

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~6:50pm - Mile 16, I caght up to Oakland and Arizona again, and ran the rest of the race with Oakland.

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~7:30pm - Mile 19, there was a gnarly hill from mile 18 to 19… it’s exactly the cruelest place to put a hill on a marathon, let alone an Ironman!

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~7:35pm - Mile 20, The folks at mile 20 were really friendly and funny… one guy had on a Chef’s hat… I guess he was really trying to push the chicken broth. Any way I caught some video as well.

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~8:00pm - Mile 23- I called my family since I knew they’d be heading to bed soon… and then just 5K to go…

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~8:35 - Finished!  What more is there to say?

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• ~9:30 - I had taken a shower, and changed into dry clothes… I headed over to the finish line where the massage tent was, and thought “I bet Rich has already crossed the finish line, or will be crossing really soon.” I looked up and saw Rich running across the finish line. I was right there to catch him and give him a huge congrats. Woo hoo!

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Filed under: Fitness, Ironman, triathlon  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Half Mile Run with Daughter

We’ll call this a recovery run… It was rainy, dark, and cold, so my daughter didn’t want to run a full mile toward her kids marathon… which is good, because I’m not so sure I could have made it much further.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/11/2008
• Total Time: 00:06:34.00
• Average Heart rate: 119
• Max Heart rate: 128
• Distance: 0.5 miles
• Average Pace: 13:07.75/mile

Filed under: Run  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Silverman Triathlon - Run

Just the stats… (more to come)

Mile Splits:

• 11:08 - 132
• 9:13 - 144
• 10:38 - 137
• 9:55 - 140
• 9:13 -142
• 11:32 - 136
• 11:08 - 129
• 9:16 - 139
• 11:55 - 134
• 10:06 - 134
• 9:33 - 134
• 10:30 - 135
• 11:43 - 135
• 10:02 - 128
• 11:03 - 133
• 11:13 - 134
• 13:43 - 128
• 9:59 - 134
• 12:18 - 131
• 12:50 - 126
• 12:29 - 126
• 11:36 - 127
• 11:36 - 127
• 11:07 - 125
• 10:46 - 132
• 11:45 - 128

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/09/2008
• Time: 15:43:00
• Total Time: 4:48:16.00
• Average Heart rate: 133
• Max Heart rate: 140
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Average Pace: 11:00.55/mile
• Ascent: 1,564 ft
• Descent: 1,564 ft

Filed under: Run  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Silverman Triathlon - Bike

Just the stats… (more to come)

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 11/09/2008
• Time: 08:17:00
• Total Time: 7:25:56.00
• Average Heart rate: 134
• Max Heart rate: 158
• Distance: 112 miles
• Average Speed: 15.07 mph
• Ascent: 9,723 ft
• Descent: 8,770 ft

Filed under: Cycle  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment

Silver Man Triathlon - Swim

I will give a full race report in another post. Here are the highlights and technical details of the swim.

The swim course was a triangle, with an out-and back from the far corner. So imagine something like the shape of a spoon. Lake Mead, the location of the swim, is beautiful, very clear, and very clean (its the drinking water source for Las Vegas and the surrounding cities). They do allow power boats in the lake, however, and since we started the race at the marina, there was a little bit of a “fuel” smell in the water in a few spots… but nothing like Lake Washington.

The weather forecast for the day was 20mph winds with gusts to 35mph. I took this photo of the American flag at T1. This was before the wind really started getting strong. After we were in the water, the wind actually kicked up, and it created some seriously gnarly waves.

My swim started great. I kept an easy pace, and fell into a pack of swimmers who kept me swimming straight, and in a good rhythm. I was able to sight off of a couple of swimmers to my left or right. By the time we got to the half way point, I was really excited to see that I was on pace to set a personal record for the swim.

But then we made the turn… and that’s when things got a little crazy. From my perspective, the wind seemed to kick up and get really bad exactly as we made the turn. Dave seems to think the wind was always bad, but I didn’t noticed it because it was to my back on the way out and therefore was given me a boost. Although that may have been a little bit of the case, it seems to me that the wind was hitting us on the side as we swam the return length of the out and back, and so if the wind had been blowing that same direction and speed we would have noticed it on the way out of that same stretch.

Whatever the cause, the result was that my group of swimmers broke up as we made the turn, and for a short period I was swimming alone and having a hard time getting my bearings. I realized I wasn’t alone, as I saw several swimmers trying to sight the next buoy. I finally found a yellow buoy to swim toward, and eventually caught some other swimmers to swim with as we all made our way to the (hopefully) last turn buoy. The winds got harder and harder, and I was glad that I was comfortable with bilateral breathing as I could only breath on my left side, or else I’d risk getting a wave in my mouth.

I kept wondering if we were really swimming in the right direction. This concern was exacerbated by the fact that the last turn was a concave turn. In general I think it’s better if race directors can avoid concave turns. I think the introduce too great of a risk of confusion.

Finally it seemed as if the swimmers I was with all decided it was time to swim toward shore. I’m not really sure if we’d made it to the turn buoy or not, but we’d certainly swam far enough… time for shore. So, at this point we should have 800 yards to swim… but now we’re swimming directly into these 35mph winds. And so we’re basically swimming into 4ft+ breaking waves. I could only see the shore if I sight from the top of a wave… which was only every 2nd or 3rd breath. It also seemed like none of the swimmers could agree on which direction to swim. As I looked for other swimmers, I could see several, but they were all swimming in different directions.

It was every person for themselves… so I did my best to sight on my own and swim toward shore. A couple of times I found myself swimming in circles. I finally decided that I would swim with other swimmers even if they were swimming in the wrong direction, because I hoped that the kayaks wouldn’t let several of us swim too far off course. It took at least 30 minutes to swim that last 800 yards.

When I finally got to shore, and ran to T1, I was glad that swim was over. My slowest ever IM swim by 15 minutes, but 15 minutes ahead of my “predicted” pace. Wet suit strippers made T1 a little easier, but my T1 was also my slowest ever… although I’ll admit, I wasn’t really trying to have a fast T1.

My biggest mistake with T1 was deciding to mount my shoes on my bike. In retrospect, the uphill start made it impossible to put my shoes on while riding. I didn’t get them on till the top of the hill, and even then I had to stop and take them off my bike and put them on. More on this in my bike report.

(More to come.)

Workout:

• Type: Swim
• Date: 11/09/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:42:07.00
• Average Heart rate: 137
• Max Heart rate: 155
• Distance: 3,862.43 m
• Average Pace: 2:38.65/100m

Filed under: Fitness, Ironman, Swim, swim, triathlon  |  Digg! this story.  |  Leave a Comment