Love the Hurt: March 2012

Race Week

Well it's finally arrived and I'm happy to say that I'm ready. There is so much that goes into being prepared for a triathlon. I remember in high school when we had league meets for track after school I'd literally just throw my uniform on under my school clothes and bring a little bag for my spikes. Clothes off, spikes on, race. Done. Now we are talking like page long checklists like I'm going on a camping trip or something! As much as it takes to get prepared for a big race like this, I couldn't do it without my support system, which I'm finding out more and more how important it is. As much as people say triathlon is an individual sport, it's really not. To be successful you really need that support system and I couldn't do it without mine. Sorry if this post bores you, but I really want to thank some folk

My wife Amy for being my biggest supporter, realizing how much I enjoy this crazy sport and stepping up BIG to make sure I'm fueled properly, loads and loads of laundry are done and supporting me in every way. With two kids, there is no way I could train like I do without her. If I was single and no kids I don't think I could train like I do without her! Love.

The Bike Shop. I remember walking in when they first opened and made a new friend in Rick right that day. He's supported me from day one. I can't thank Rick, Rich and John at the shop for dialing in my bike, loaning me race wheels and just offering great support, couldn't do all of this without them.

My coach James for turning me into a real triathlete. Before I was just a runner that tried to bike and swim. He's involved and knows what he is doing. That takes a huge stress off of myself because I can just trust the plan and get the work done.

Wattie Ink Team (like us on fb): Wattie's the man. He put together awesome sponsors and awesome team mates. Stoked to be apart of this team. They offer me motivation (and entertainment). Proud to rocktheW with them this year.

Personal Sponsors: Rudy Project protect my eyes, FLUID keeps me hydrated and helps me recover, Xterra Wetsuits keeps me fast and warm in the water, H20 Audio turns a hard day into a Rockin day and SportMulti for keeping me heathly.

I also wanted to thank David Kloz at BSK for the track workouts and guidance. They are money. And lastly, the Temecula Valley Tri Club for a great support system and great people!

That is all, I'm ready to race! The work is done and the visualization process has been going on since December; so I am very relaxed and confident going in. Just like anything, if you prepare properly you'll often times nail it. And that's exactly what I plan on doing.

My race number is #2610. My wave is the 3rd to last wave at 7:42. You can track my live split times on the Ironman website and go to "Athlete Tracker." Or if you have an iphone you can track me with the IronAp. Amy will also be throwing out updates on my twitter account.

I'd love to see everyone down at the race. We'll be hanging out down there most of the day and if you're not doing anything that night, you should join me and Amy along with my other Wattie Ink Teammates for a Pub Crawl, info below:

10 days...

Well I made it to my 10 day taper to Ironman Oceanside 70.3. I've really been hammering these past few weeks and put in some serious focus to get the work done and get it done right. I kind of started falling apart towards the end by getting sick, IT Band soreness and even a foot issue I just started dealing with, but the good news is -it's time to back down the intensity and start recovering and resting for Oceanside. I cannot tell you how excited I am by my fitness gains these past few weeks. The workouts have been relentless, but I was able to produce the best workouts that I have ever done in all three sports with tired legs. I'm starting to see that there's a fine line of over-doing it and not doing enough. A few nights I couldn't sleep which is a sign of over training so we'd back off a bit -hit it again and adjust accordingly. That's what I like about working with James because it's not just a cookie-cutter online training program. It's real-time coaching and all of the work over the winter is starting to show. In other words. It's game time!

It's also been game time at work. It's been real busy this past month so juggling workouts with a career, family and a commute can sometimes be difficult. But like I always say -if you really want something, you can ALWAYS find the time to do it...It just often requires you to go to bed at 8:30 and wake up at 4:30! This past week also presented its challenges with the weather. We are very lucky to live in SoCal but this last weekend, it was not a good place to train. Check out one of my team mates -Justin who drove all the way down for SuperSeal only to have it cancelled. Hail, wind, rain and even some snow up by us. That meant, come Saturday morning I was swimming in the rain and then hitting up the trainer and treadmill for some important key sessions. Here's how they went down:

Swim: Wetsuit swim (in pool, scy): 10 min wup, then 40 min continuous swim with a 10 min cool down. After a long tough week, getting in the pool when it was pouring out was kind of hard to do, but I did the work. After warming up, I was finding out that I felt great in the water that day. So I kind of let it rip for the continuous swim, just to see where I was at. Needless to say I was very pleased to peak at the clock after 2000yds and see sub 28 (1:24/100 pace). I love my Xterra Vortex. Swimming seems so effortless in it and I can't wait to redeem myself at Oceanside with all the hard work I've put in the pool. If any of you are in need of a wetsuit or speedsuit, I'm gonna hook you up for reading this blog. Go to http://www.xterrawetsuits.com/ pick out the wetsuit you want and use the code: SA-JADAMS and you will get 60% off! Plus you'll get free shipping. For those of you that are bad at math, I'll break down the suits with their discounts:

Vortex Sleeveless Wetsuit - $120 (regularly $300)

Vortex Fullsuit Wetsuit - $160 (regularly $400)

Vector Pro Sleeveless Wetsuit - $160 (regularly $400)

Vector Pro Fullsuit Wetsuit - $240 (regularly $600)

Velocity M Speedsuit - $150 (regularly $350)

While you are there, check out the Xterra Sponsored Athlete page where they have a little write up on me and the other athletes.

Not much need for this on the trainer, but
I got my Speedfil delivery.

So after the swim I headed back and got on the trainer and punched out some tough intervals while watching the movie Hurt Locker - which I thought was fitting for what I was doing. It's pretty funny, I have all of this gear, take this sport pretty seriously but I don't even have a cadence sensor on my trainer. I used to have it, can't find it...There is one benefit to it though, it's really allowed me to assess my perceived level of effort. Something I think is really important in long course triathlon. I feel I'm very in tune with it and it's only going to benefit me on the bike course at Oceanside. After suffering on the bike, I immediately headed back over the the YMCA to get in an hour long treadmill session which included 10 min wup, 40 mins at 6:00 pace and then a 10 min cool down. Now I haven't been on the treadmill in 10 years...seriously. 10 years! I remember why now. I hate it! That run was brutal. Plus I looked like a maniac with the treadmill setting at 10.0. Lots of weird looks but I got through it. Tough day. But it wasn't over. The next morning I set out in the cold rain and wind and threw down this workout:

I came through half marathon at 1:34 on a course with about 1000ft of climbing and some interval efforts thrown in. With the tired legs, I was pleased and the whole weekend ended up being a great confidence booster. Top that off with a hard masters session Monday, some bike intervals Tues morning and a 5k simulation workout last night at the track where 5:20 pace never seemed so easy. I am ready! I have one more long day this Saturday and then its all about recovering next week. Instead of focusing in on the workouts, it's time to focus on sleep, diet, massage and mentally prepping my mind to punish myself come 3/31. I'll blog again next week during my final prep for the race. Here's a few shots of the course:

Some GF homemade pizza Amy and I made

Our St. Patty's day brews.
BP Sculpin IPA 5 out of 5 (my top 3 fav ipa's)
Victory Storm King 2 out of 5. I normally enjoy Victory's
beers, but this one was a little too thick and packed too
big of a punch for me (9.1%).

FREE Speed

Speed!

So, yes I know a lot of triathletes hate that term - but with the addition of my new ism Adamo saddle and my Wattie Ink Kask aero helmet - I can't deny it. They are going to make me faster overnight! In this case after putting in 60 miles on the new saddle over the weekend I found it to open up my hips, lean me forward a bit and I found a lot more speed with less effort. Not to mention the perenial nerve that was constantly being pressed on, numbing everything downstairs (which is never good) is now non-existent thanks to the genious design of the saddle. If you ever have a problem with numbing, I highly reccomend this saddle -I'm so stoked to be teamed up with ism through the Wattie Ink Elite Team and even more pumped to rock my new Kask helmet for Oceanside. I've never worn an aero helmet before, so I have no idea what to expect in time differences, but with Ironman California known for its winds, it can only help me! Not only is it going to knock some time off of my bike split, but it's gonna turn some heads at Oceanside. Watch for myself and many Wattie Ink teammates doing some damage on 3/31. Pumped to race, but the work is not over. This week is hands down going to be the hardest training week of my life. Even though I put in super hard blocks of work with the Bob Schul Olympic Development Team years ago -I wasn't working, I wasn't commuting and didn't have other responsibilities. I just ran, ate and napped! So this week I went inside my brain and turned on that focus switch -cause I'm gonna need it. So far, so good.

New ism Saddle

Last week was all about recovering as quickly as I could from the race. I felt great Sunday night and even Monday, but when Tuesday/Wednesday arrived -I had some serious DOMS. That really is the only noticeable difference I've seen in my fitness as I get older. Recovering from races. I feel like my miler speed is still there if I want it and I can handle some hard training loads -but whenever I race, it takes me down for at least 3-4 days. Although I probably should have hydrated, taken an ice bath and ate healthy instead of what I really did. Ate nachos supreme, drink Arrogant Bastard and stayed up late...No wonder I woke up Friday sick! Learning experience.

One cool thing about training with the Temecula Valley Tri Club is the access/support from local businesses. One of them is Simon Rose the President of the tri club who is also an independent distributor for Visalus Sciences. He hooked me up with some samples of Go, Pro, and Vi-Shape. To back up a bit, I do have a little background in this field. I used to be an independent rep myself for Advocare when I was training in Ohio years back. I experimented with a lot of products, checked out the business side of things and for ME it is all about the products. Do they work? Do they live up to the hype? So I gave Visalus a "Go" -which was the first product I tested. It comes in a 5-hr energy drink type bottle and basically offers the same results, minus all of the artificial ingredients and crap that goes into those things. I tested the grape flavor before one of my hard early morning runs. Took it down about 10 mins before I headed out (on an empty stomach) and to my surprise -no stomach issues and it really was a great pick-me-up. Taste usually doesn't matter to me, as long as the product works -but in this case; I really enjoyed the flavor. Good stuff and highly recommend it. Next I tried the "Pro" which is a pro-longed energy drink in powder form. I was pleased with the energy it provided and again the flavor-it was tasty! Lastly I tried the Vi-shape which is basically a protein/meal replacement shake. First of all I'm not really into meals in liquid form-it kinda grosses me out. I always figure you should just eat a healthy meal! But I do understand some people are on the go and have no time to put together a meal. This is where the Vi-Shake would be beneficial in my opinion. It tasted pretty much like what you'd expect out of a protein shake and satisfied my hunger for the most part. Overall I was pleased with all of the products and I highly recommend them. If you are interested in some free samples, contact Simon here.

She had a quick "mechanical" before the start

Another cool part of the weekend was that my daughter Scarlett raced her first bike race at The Tour de Murrieta. They have races for all ages and in this case, my daughter just made the 3 year old cut to race the ages 3-6 race. The Bike Shop was a sponsor of the three day race and on Saturday I headed down at the tail end of my ride and chatted it up with the guys, hung out at their booth and watched some racing. Later, Amy and the kids joined us and we got Scarlett ready to race. One thing I know for sure now is that my daughter is a competitor just like her daddy! As we were waiting in the "staging" area for her race, she pointed at the poor girl next to me and yelled, "But daddy, she is not faster, I am faster!" I told her to keep it down and to just think that to herself and she again yelled, this time almost mad at the girl, "But Daddy, I am a faster bicycle rider!" I couldn't help but be a little bit proud inside. Hey, it's not rude to talk like that if you're about to throw down and race!! ha. She ended up being really brave and did the race all by herself without any help from mommy or daddy. She received her first (bike race) metal and we couldn't have been more proud. Overall it was such a beautiful day to spend with family and friends. My coach also raced over the weekend and although he didn't get the result he was looking for, I think he still did well considering he was a full blown triathlete last year!

Here's a few more pictures from my race and over the weekend:

Wattie kits came in, look awesome!

One of my many sufferfest training sessions early a.m.

Pinning on her 1st of many numbers!!

Ready to race!

Mascots!

The Bike Shop's cool new canopy

The Bike Shop's owner, Rick Wessels giving a "safety" talk to the kiddos

Son all tuckered out and John, The Bike Shop's stud mechanic getting ready to race!

Discovered Barons for the 1st time...ridiculous selection of craft brews...My new 2nd home!

My beer lineup for the weekend:
Deschutes Brewery "Red Chair" Rate it 3 out of 5
Green Flash Barleywine Rate it 4 out of 5 (love this stuff)
Stone's Collaboration (forget the other breweries involved) TBA --hoppy Brown Ale 4 out of 5. Good!
Maui Brewing Coconut Porter 5 out of 5...This has been a household fav of ours for a long time!

Thanks for reading!

Desert Triathlon Race Report

Well my 6th triathlon is in the books and with it being the first one of the year, I was fairly happy with it. Considering that this was a "C" race for me, the plan James had mapped out for me didn't really give me much resting leading up to the race which was fine with me. IMCA is the main focus at this point of the season and this race just served as a great tune up for it. We were going to head out to the desert Friday night but decided to stay home that night and go after my workouts in the morning, just in case any mechanical issues were to arise (and to save $$!).

Saturday I woke up feeling so so and after a 2 mile run with some strides and an 90 min ride with some race pace efforts, I could tell my legs were not going to be quite there for the next day. And it's a good thing we stuck around because the valve on my rear race wheel that The Bike Shop hooked me up with was leaking! No biggie, I road right over after my ride and John at The Bike Shop fixed it on the spot and low and behold, the TVTC/Bike Shop Tri jerseys came in, so it ended up being great timing. Thanks Rick! Here's the racing singlet for the day and the Slice, race ready thanks to The Bike Shop.

Before I dive into the race report, one important thing I want to mention is my nutrition leading up to the race. It was SPOT ON. I've been working on it over the past few months and during race week James had me eliminate gluten and dairy; something I rarely have in my diet anyway but this week I was really careful not to consume any. I also eliminated alcohol for the week (the hardest one to do!) and just ate as clean as possible leading up to the race. I seriously felt a difference. Not to get to graphic, but usually race morning I am hitting the head to go #2 like 3-4 times. And it's not your typical dump, it's like I was on an all night bender!...Not this time. One and done! More importantly during the race I had no stomach issues what so ever. The nutrition plan is working.

Race Report. Sorry if this sounds informal -I just copied and pasted what I wrote the day after my race in my training log....

Race Morning. I actually got decent sleep in the hotel. I headed over with some long-time family friends of ours to transition. Got a great spot on the rack at 5:30. After setting up and hitting the bathroom, at about 6:30 I headed out for a 1.5 mile run, found a quiet spot stretched went over my race game plan, did some light drills and a few strides. Legs on a scale from 1-10 (10 being GREAT), I was probably around a 6.5. Not a whole lot of pop to them but good enough to lay down a hard effort. I headed back, threw on my Xterra Vortex Wetsuit and hit the water around 7:15 for a 15 min warm up in the lake. Lake was warm, felt great. I put in a few hard efforts and felt some fatigue in the arms from Friday's swim but overall I felt super relaxed/confident, probably the best place I've ever been mentally going into a triathlon.

Perfect conditions

Swim 3/4 mile: 21:56 (1:39/100 pace):
The water was glass. No wind, perfect temp, I was ready to go. It was a beach start so I lined up in the 2nd row to the right. 1st buoy was really hard to spot in the sun, so just used the palm trees as a guide. Start went off and I pushed fairly hard (prob not hard enough). My heart rate always sky rockets in the beginning of the swim. All of the kicking and washing machine chaos that goes along with the starts always takes me out of my game for about 10 mins. I finally started to get settled in, calmed down, focused on form and started reeling people in. As soon as I hit the first buoy I picked up my pace and really found a rhythm. My sighting was good, I swam fairly straight and I started passing people from the first wave (a first for me). As I passed the last buoy to head in, I definitely started slowing due to fatigue. I was ready to get out. There was a long (prob 40 secs) run up to T1. Although it was slower than my goal of 20 mins, it was still a faster pace then I have ever swim in a race.

Time to play catch up...again

T1: 1:18 *T1 PR
Been working on my transitions so I was stoked to see it pay off. I threw rubber bands to my shoes for the first time and it made a huge difference. Flawless getting in and out

Bike 40k: 59:28 (24.3 mph) *PR
First 1/2 mile was on crappy roads so I just used it as a time to get in my shoes, take in some FLUID Performance and bring that HR down a bit from the swim. This ride was pretty ridiculous. Flat, fast roads. No wind, no hills. Definitely NOT what I'm used to so it really didn't play very well to my strengths. There was also a TON of drafting going on. I didn't see any Marshall's on the course so there were packs of guys everywhere. Especially once we caught the 29 and under group. I did my best to race my own race. I kept doing a lot of work for these guys but then also getting boxed in. I didn't want any of that so I chose to lead. I know there are drafting benefits to leading as well, but I'd rather be on that end of it then get caught drafting behind. I didn't time the first lap, but I think I hit it a little too hard. My legs started loading up and I even felt my calves cramping a bit which I never feel on the bike. I backed off the pace a bit and after I hit the first lap I dropped my bottle of calories. I had only drank about 1/4 of that bottle. Couldn't believe it, I've never dropped a bottle before! It was dry and starting to heat up, so I just had to deal with it. The 2nd lap came and we merged with the other racers that were starting their first lap. I just did my own thing and kept reeling people in. I passed a TON of people on the ride. I came out of the water in 23rd place and came off of the bike in about 5th or 6th.

T2: 1:12
Had a bit of a mishap here. Went down wrong transition area so had to pick up my bike and cross over. Just wasn't thinking. Slipped on shoes, visor and ate a GU on the way out

Run 6 miles: 34:02 *Run was a bit short

After slight cramps in the calves on the bike I was a little worried, but they seemed to subside after taking in a GU and some water. First 2 miles I was flying (prob around 5:25 pace). I had pretty good running legs and was passing a ton of people. I had no idea what place I was in. The course was 2 laps. Toward the end of the 1st lap I started feeling cramps coming again...This time right above my knee on right side. Same spot as I had them in SD Int'l last year. So I started recruiting other muscles and then my hammy started to tighten. Started working a little harder on my other leg and then right above the knee started cramping too! At this point I had to slow down quite a bit before they really started to grab. I took in as much of Gatorade and water as I could at the aid stations to keep them away. No dice. My second lap was terrible and I slowed down big time. I was still passing a ton of people but cramps were my nemesis again. I finished up the best I could without having to stop and stretch them out. I was sorta bummed, but it's the first race of the year! Time to figure things out and make adjustments!

Video of my finish:

1:57:56, 2nd in AG, 22nd overall

Podium time

So I really need to figure out this cramping thing and get faster in the swim. Dropping calories hurt but I also think I probably need to take more like 4 salt tabs before the race, then maybe 4 as I leave out of T2. Dunno. Maybe drink more? It sucks because I had A LOT more fight in me that day. I could have gone faster on the bike and a WHOLE lot faster on the run. I was never able to get into the "pain cave" I just had to adjust my efforts based on my cramps. lame.

Either way, 1st place in my AG crushed me by like 4 minutes - so cramping or not, I need to get faster in the water. The speed is coming, just slower than I had anticipated. After the race I was able to meet a lot of my teammates from the Wattie Ink Elite Team who all crushed it themselves. We have some fast guys and girls on this team and I can't wait to race and meet more of them at Oceanside later this month.

All snuggled in at the hotel

I want to thank Amy and the kids for being such great supporters for me this weekend. Amy had to get two kids ready on her own, hike 2 miles BOTH WAYS from the parking lot to the race. Cheer me on and keep the kids happy in the desert heat. Thank you! Thanks to James for taking me from an average tri guy to the podium. We are just getting started! Also, huge props to The Bike Shop for hooking me up with some race wheels, tuning up my bike and fitting me with a very cool racing jersey for the race. This podium was for you! Also thank my other sponsors Rudy Project, FLUID, SportMulti, Xterra Wetsuits and H2O Audio. Then next month it's time to rocktheW! We'll be getting our racing kits and gear just in time for IMCA. I'm excited to work with all of the sponsors associated with the Wattie Ink Elite Team and represent them alongside my personal sponsors.

I'll leave you with some more pics from the weekend: