If you read my piece about my Christmas ride with Johno, then you may recall that when a situation gets particularly dire, I have a tendency to “regroup”. Well, I just went through an extended “regrouping” phase and thought that you might be interested in what it is like for a guy to achieve personal best fitness yet very little in the way of race results!

Last November, I decided I would see just how fast I could become over the Half Ironman distance. My reasoning was that my endurance was great, so improved middle distance speed would result in improved Ironman results. I chose two target races, Wildflower and Keauhou-Kona. I knew both courses and the three week split was ideal for ensuring enough recovery between the races.

So, I built my training plan, consulted my expert coaching contacts and set to work executing my strategy. I built a huge base through January and used the “Swedish Dudes” to work on my intensive endurance.

In March, I managed to pick up an overuse injury from a 740K ride (done over four days, seemed like a good idea at the time). Despite the injury, I was riding stronger than at any time in my life and enjoying the feeling of dealing out suffering to my training partners (I may as well admit it).

By April, my injury was under control and I had a great race at the Big Rock Tri – where I rode 60Ks at a pace faster than I have ever recorded for any distance (including Sprints). Things were looking up, I was loving life and crushing my training. In the two weeks after Big Rock, I recorded some of the best training sessions of my life. I simply didn’t get tired and could really push the pace. I remember commenting to my training pals that I normally only feel like that when I am peaking for an IM race. Perhaps that should have caught my eye.

Within 24 hours of my best day of training ever (April 23rd), I had one of my largest “nutritional lapses” ever. I eat a lot of fruits and veggies – so you can probably imagine what would happen if I switched from healthy food to, say, Haagen-Daz ice cream. I didn’t really keep track of everything that I ate, but I am guessing that it was comfortably in excess of 10,000 calories. I do remember eating nearly everything in my roommate’s kitchen. It was really strange how my motivation and energy completely drained out of me, in less than six hours. Anyhow, I’d experienced this before so backed off for a couple of days, waited until I felt right and got back on it.

Looking back, I think I forgot that once we are truly fit, we often have more to lose than to gain by pushing ourselves for that last 1%. That’s probably the #1 lesson that I learned from this period – and something for us to keep in mind as we plan the final preparations for our late season peaks. A properly constructed training plan will quite often leave an athlete ready to achieve their season goals in advance of their key race. In this case, the athlete will want to be especially careful that they don’t accidentally push themselves over the edge while riding a training-induced high. In April, I was a little too fit for my own good and I completely nuked myself.

Enough with my lessons, here’s the story of my most recent race, the Keauhou Kona Half Ironman (KKT).

KKT is a classic triathlon that can give the “everyman” a taste of what it must be like to race Ironman Hawaii. As athletes, we get to swim, bike and run on the classic parts of the IMH course without the gnarly winds and avoiding the hottest parts of the run (usually).

Early in race week, I felt seriously flat but figured that I simply needed additional rest. So I slept and slept and slept hoping that I would come right. Indeed, two days before the race, I started to feel a bit more normal. However, I was experiencing some strange cramp-like symptoms in the final three days before the race. I thought that my electrolytes may have been out of balance, so started taking some supplements, which I hoped would sort me out.

Race day dawned and I felt excellent. All the cramping symptoms were gone and I felt very strong as I headed down to the pier for my warm-up. I did an extended warm-up and was ready to ROCK when the gun sounded. My swim went very well out to the turnaround buoy and I was towards the front with the stronger swimmers. On the way back, I started to get some cramping in my hip flexors but was able to manage it by kicking lightly.

The swim exit involved passing over some coral. As the tide was low, I had to ease off the pace while swimming over the coral. Unfortunately, the lady behind me didn’t feel like easing off and swam right over top of me. I picked up a few grazes but nothing too major. As I exited, the water my legs started to tighten and I felt a bit like Frankenstein as I staggered over to my bike. I saw a buddy at the start of the bike leg and managed to shout, “I should have taken more magnesium” as I headed off on the bike course.

What happened next was completely unique to me. I’ve experienced a wide range of cramps but never ones like these. Basically, my muscles felt like they were not “releasing” after a contraction. As I pedaled, my legs would gradually tighten until they locked solid. At this point, I would be standing on my cranks, gliding. After 20-30 seconds, my legs would release enough for me to start pedaling again. The pain was intense but it didn’t really bother me – what did bother me was that I couldn’t breathe and my eyes were watering so badly that I couldn’t see where I was going. Despite having my hopes of six months disappearing up the road, I found the situation somewhat entertaining. My body was completely out of my control – I was a passenger inside a faltering physical unit.

The cramp-release cycle repeated itself for the first 15 minutes of the ride. During one cycle, I was standing on the cranks, looking down at my legs and wondering what the hell was going on. At this stage, I managed to ride straight into the only thorn bush that overhangs the bike course. I hit the bush so square that it scratched the far side of my body, as well as the near side. In addition to the cramps, I was now bleeding from my face, arms and legs. It wasn’t a pretty picture. Shortly after my darkest moment, my roommate, Dirk, rode by and asked, “what’s happening G?” – all I could manage was, “leave me, I’m dead”.

The cramps gradually eased and I was able to spin down the Queen K. Picture this scene, fit looking dude, Trek TTT frame, full body shave, race speedo, aero helmet and a brand new Hed disc on the back (thanks to John Cobb at Bicycle Sports). Only one catch, I was traveling 20 kph and the WHOLE WORLD was leaving me in their dust.

I have to admit that I did entertain thoughts of pulling the pin right there and then. Part of me, even wished for a total physical meltdown so I would be let off the hook. However, I have never DNF’d a triathlon and I didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day. So, despite feeling a bit goofy doing 20 kph in full aero kit, I resolved to spin out to the airport and “see what happened”.

While heading to the airport, I started doing some calculations – if I could hold 20 then I would take about 4.5 hours to finish the bike. I knew that I swam about 30 mins so that would have me back at T2 at the five hour mark. I wasn’t sure about the cut-offs but figured that I would be able to make it, even if I walked the run (a highly, highly unattractive idea).

By the time, I hit the airport I was doing 30 kph, a half hour after that 35 kph and, once I made the turnaround, in excess of 40 kph. My body was still acting up and I experienced cramps in some strange places (thumbs, fingers and face probably the weirdest).

Despite the physical concerns, racing in Hawaii is always a treat and it was fun to say “hi” to some of my pals as I managed to catch back up to them. Towards the end of the bike, I caught Dirk and with a smile said, “back from the dead” as I cruised by.

I was probably in 25th or 30th spot off the bike and was looking forward to seeing what I could do on the run. I knew that most the guys in front of me tended to run in the 1:40s and figured that a 1:30 would be good enough to get me in the Top 10. Alas, that Top 10 finish was not to be as my legs suffered a bit in the transition from bike to run.

Around Mile Three or Four, I was struggling and I had a thought… “if you are going to suck, then you might as well have fun sucking”. I could have plugged on but, at that stage, I made the decision to ease off a bit and enjoy my run. Shortly thereafter, Huddle caught me and we had a great conversation. What do coaches talk about during a race that is not going 100% according to plan?

Up-coming races – Paul tried to convince me of the merits of training for the Western States Endurance Race. Coming from an ultra-running background, I was not convinced that this would be a particularly “fun” way to spend 2003. He’s still looking for training partners… you’ve been warned.

Chaffing – we shared our “worst chaffing ever” moments. I don’t specifically remember Paul’s but I do remember a vivid description of body hair and laughing quite hard. My story related to my last ultra-marathon and involved handfuls of Vaseline.

Coaching – various thoughts on client numbers, training philosophies and elite preparations. Given his “grade A” client list, it was interesting to hear his views.

Peaking – we both agreed that we had achieved an excellent peak for Big Rock (a few weeks earlier). Discussing prior successes made me feel better about my race day going up in smoke, but the back of my mind did start singing Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days”.

There were a lot of other topics but all I really remember at this stage was lots of laughter and a feeling of gratitude for some company on a tough day. As we neared the finish, Paul suggested that we crawl the last few meters (good media exposure, he said) – I can never tell when Roch or Huddle is joking so I stayed on my feet. I did ask that we cross the line together. Huddle agreed, with the stipulation that we “not hold hands”.

See you at the races,
gordo