A Saltless Troika Triathlon Race Report

Funny story about this Troika Triathlon picture of me: it was taken by the lead cyclist during the run, who was then told by officials that I would receive a time penalty if he took another picture because this was considered "outside aid". :)

So I lied.

I know I said I wasn't going to race until Vegas World Championships, but I needed some motivation this August to get out and work hard, and I had an "racing without electrolytes" experiment that I wanted to try based on this podcast, so I went ahead and signed up for the Troika Half-Ironman Triathlon a couple days before the race, and found myself standing on Medical Lake beach this morning.

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The swim started with a completely unexpected airhorn, but my plan was to hop on the feet of a "team" competitor who was a really fast swimmer. Trouble was, the swim began so unexpectedly, I didn't have time to find him or his feet. So after about 800 meters of fighting off other competitors, I pulled ahead into first place behind the lead kayak, hoping I wouldn't swim too hard. I prefer to draft and save energy.

About 400 meters from the finish, a big guy took me by surprise, cruised by me, and I knew it was the dude I had planned on drafting. I tried to hop on his feet, but I saw him coming too late and he gapped me, so I couldn't get his draft.

Last year I swam 26 minutes in this race, so was surprised to look down at my watch and see over 32 minutes as I came out of the swim in first place (the one competitor ahead of me was a "team"). Later, I learned that everyone's swim was long by 4-6 minutes, so it was just a long course. Oh well...I need the practice for Kona!

Coming out of the water...

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I knew that a couple local fast guys, namely Sam and Troy, were hot on my heels, so I transitioned onto the bike as fast as I could (16 seconds) and took off. My strategy was to ride the first 4-5 miles too fast and too hard so that nobody could "get on my wheel" or use me as motivation. After suffering for those first 15 minutes, I settled into my Half-Ironman pace and got comfortable, resisting the urge to grab 2 electrolytes every 30 minutes as is my normal race routine (I had electrolytes with me just in case my experiment went awry and resulted in cramping).


In addition to trying to race without electrolytes, I had also adjusted my aerobars for this race to ride in a bit more of a "praying mantis" position, with the aerobars angled up at about 30 degrees relative to the top tube of my bike, and my seat moved significantly forward. This was definitely more aerodynamic, but my shoulders felt a bit scrunched from the combination of the aerobars being closer to my upper body and my torso being shoved forward, so I'll be making a bit of an adjustment there, probably by angling the aerobars down about 10 degrees.

I'm also fighting a bit of a lateral knee/hamstring issue related to the cleat position on my shoe, and had made adjustments for this race to account for that - namely some varus wedging on the right side. Unfortunately, the wedges didn't make much of a difference and my knee was inflammed post-race, so the next modification I'll make is to try increasing the distance of the foot from the crank by adding additional spacers, and hopefully allowing me to externally rotate more without my heel hitting my crank.

The basic issue is that I naturally carry my right foot in external rotation, and my current bike setup isn't allowing me to rotate my heel in as far as it needs to go. I'm hoping to get this issue sorted before I have to start longer training rides for Kona, because it threatens to become a more serious issue. This week, I'll be adding additional spacers to my right pedal to move my foot out.

Here's my current fit:

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Back to the race for those of you not interested in bike fit and biomechanics! Last year, I rode the 56 mile bike course in about 2:13, so I expected to be getting close to T2 sometime around the 2:45 mark, but it never came! At 3 hours, I was still riding, but still in first place. The transition just never came, and I began to wonder if I was off-course. Eventually, I made it into the bike-run switch-up, and later found out the bike course was about 4 miles long. Oh well: between that and the long swim it is good training for the Ironman in Kona.

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A mile into the run, I got a split from a spectator that I had a 1:40 lead on my nearest competitor, and they "weren't running well". I settled into a pace that was as aerobic as I could maintain, with my usual plan to save as much as possible for the final 10K, so I didn't blow up in the first half of the run. I continued to carry electrolytes, but resisted the urge to take them.

At the 10K turnaround, I glanced at my watch and it was 45 minutes. As I made the turnaround and started back, I split 2nd place (Troy Nelson) at 2:50. He looked like he was running strong, but I've raced against him before, did a quick mental calculation, and didn't think he'd be able to run 25 seconds per mile faster than me unless I completely blew up.

So I tried to pick up my pace as I normally do for the last 10K, but my legs just didn't want to cooperate. I really think this was more due to me not tapering for this race than it was due to me not taking electrolytes. With Vegas and Kona quickly approaching, I couldn't afford to take this week off training, so I trained through Friday, and then took Saturday off for a "1 day taper" (and threw in a massage from the local magic hands, Tim Gilreath from Therapproach).

Since I ended up running 3-4 minutes slower than I've been doing in my Half-Ironman events, I know this non-taper might hurt me. But still, at this point I figured I was safe if I stayed on pace, and I continued to keep the lead motorcycle as close as possible, attempting to use it as motivation to stay ahead.

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With 6K left, I was told Troy was 1:40 back and coming up fast. Over 2 miles, he made up 70 seconds! If this kept up, I was screwed.

I tried to dig deeper, but the extra oomph just wasn't there.

With 2 miles left, my body started to really hurt, my form began to suffer, and I knew that unless Troy "blew up", he would catch me.

Keeping my fingers crossed that he would blow before I did, I continued to run without looking back. At 12 miles, I was still ahead, heard no footsteps, but I was severely slowing. Grasping at every straw possible, I swallowed two electrolytes, wondering if they might give my legs some kind of magical pick-up, though I know that physiologically my muscles were just exhausted, and salt really wasn't going to do the trick. But I was willing to try anything at that point.

The win could be within my grasp.

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And then, at 12.5 miles, I heard footsteps. They stayed behind me for 5 seconds, then 10 seconds, then 20 seconds, and I knew what was going to happen. Whenever somebody catches you as fast as Troy caught me, and then takes that long to pass you, that means they're gathering up the energy to pass you FAST, and hopefully demoralize you to the point where you don't have the drive to try and stay on their heels as they pass for a sprint to to the finish line.

Sure enough, after about 30 seconds of breathing down my neck, Troy flew by me like a jackrabbit, and I knew I was toast. I took about 10 steps to try and stay with him, and nearly blacked out.

After quickly glancing behind me to make sure he was the only guy running me down, I struggled through the final few hundred yards and nearly collapsed at the finish line, having been beaten by a little over 60 seconds by a smart racer who ran an extremely solid half-marathon.

Overall results: 1st place age group, 2nd place overall.

Electrolyte experiment results: No cramping. Granted, I snuck 2 pills in towards the end, but that really didn't affect results of my experiment.

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Will I try "no salts" for Vegas or Kona? Jury's out. I need to do some more testing. But the most interesting thing was that my sweat wasn't "grainy" like it usually is after the race (suggesting increased salt excretion in sweat), but was instead smooth, which agrees with Dr. Timothy Noakes research that says "the more salt you eat, the more you lose"

Thanks for reading!

P.S. In addition to the gear and nutrition below, this was my first chance to race after using my "Elliptigo" elliptical trainer for cross-training. This thing rocks!

Troika Triathlon Gear:
Race Kit: Champ-Sys One Piece Custom Triathlon Suit
Wetsuit: Synergy Sports Hybrid
Bike: Gray Storm TT
Helmet: Gray Aero Helmet
Wheels: Gray 9.5 Carbon Clinchers with Latex Tubes
Components: SRAM Red, SRAM return to position levers, SRAM Quarq crank
Seat: Adamo ISM Road Saddle
Cleats: Look KEO Blade
Bike Shoes: Specialized Trivent
Running Shoes: K-Swiss K-Ruuz
Sunglasses: Zeal Slingshots
Fuel Belt: Spibelt

Troika Triathlon Nutrition:
night before race: Millennium Sports Somnidren GH (helps you sleep before a race)
2 hours before race: 2 salted sweet potatoes, 2 capsules CapraColostrum 30 minutes before race: 1 Energy28 and 1 delta-E, 10 Master Amino Pattern capsules, 5 Extreme Endurance
5 minutes before race: 1 caffeinated GU Roctane
Every 20 minutes on bike: 1 GU Roctane
End of each hour on bike: 4 GU Chomps
Every 3 miles on run: 1 Hammer Gel (from aid stations on course)
Post-Race: 8 Recoverease

Going Underground.

I'm going underground until Vegas World Championships.

I will not be at any races.

I will not be talking about my training protocol.

I will not be updating this blog.

On 9.11, I'll unleash the animal. Hardcore.

REV3 Portland Race Report - 3 Important Lessons

picture: Dave Erickson films me pumping up my tires pre-race.

I've never done a "REV3".

For those of you who don't know what it is, it has absolutely nothing to do with car engines or a re-enactment of the Revolution.

Instead, REV3 is a triathlon series, and actually pretty well known for being a "family-friendly" race, meaning that they have a bouncy castle at the race expo and you can carry your family, aunt, uncle and small dog across the finish line.

Ultimately, at the last minute, this Half-Ironman distance race was moved to a new location and completely redesigned course as the race directors were forced to change venues, and I was surprised to find a well-organized expo and race setup despite this conundrum.

They even had more than 3 porta-potties, bless their heart.

I tried a new training protocol for this race, and it went like this:

• M: Upper Body Lift for 1 Hour, 60-90 minute full court basketball (ride bike to gym for basketball)
• T: 30 Minute Swim, 1 Hour Tennis
• W: Low Body Lift for 1 Hour, 60-90 minute full court basketball (ride bike to gym for basketball)
• R: 30 Minute Swim, 1 Hour Tennis
• F: Massage with Tim Gilreath from Therapproach (ride bike to massage), yoga or stretching in afternoon.
• S: 90 minute Sufferfest bike (indoors), 30 minute swim
• S: 60-90 minute run

I plan on using this same protocol to start training for Ironman Hawaii World Championships, but starting in August, I will extend my weekend bike ride to be 2-3 hours, my run to be up to 2 hours, and my weekend swim to be up to 4K. I'm also going to start using my new Elliptigo outdoor elliptical trainer as a substitute for 1-2 bicycle or run sessions.

Anyways, I learned three important lessons during this race, and here they are:

First Important Lesson: Sometimes the Straightest Route Isn't The Best


The swim took place in Blue Lake, a flat, fast, rectangular swim.

As is customary in most triathlons, for the first 200 meters of the swim, everyone is a rock star. Our wave of "under 40 year old guys" was rough and congested until we go to the first buoy, at which point the experienced pacers begin to separate from the people who just sprint until they hit a wall of fatigue.

Knowing that 3 waves of swimmers were ahead of our wave, I made a decision to avoid swimming "through" the other waves of swimmers, and instead I swam a bit of a curving line across the rectangles. This meant I couldn't draft, but when you're swimming through groups of swimmers, it's tough to draft anyways.

As a result, I was by myself the entire swim - relaxed with clear, smooth water, easy sighting, and nobody to swim around. It wasn't the straightest route around the rectangle, but I came out of the water in 28:12 - relaxed, in 8th place overall, and full of energy to sprint the quarter mile run up into the transition area.

Second Important Lesson: It's Hard To Catch Someone In A Tailwind


Immediately, I made it a chore on the bike to work my way up to the leaders - while attempting to pace myself enough to where I wasn't exhausted. The REV3 Portland bike course was:

-Out into a headwind
-Back with a tailwind
-Repeat 1x

At the first turnaround, I split the leader, my friend and fellow Pacific Northwester Derek Garcia, about 2 minutes ahead of me on the bike. At that point, I was in 4th place, with two other riders between Derek and I.

Once we made it into that tailwind, I knew I wouldn't make up much time on the leaders, since a tailwind is a great equalizer when it comes to bicycle racing.

Here is where I made my biggest race error. Once we turned back around to ride into the headwind for a second time, I held back too much. I should have sacrificed my body going out into the headwind so that I could make up time on the leaders that I probably wouldn't get in the tailwind.

Instead, I wasn't aggressive enough, and came off the bike still in 4th place and 2 minutes behind first place. And 2 minutes is a lot of time to make up on a half-marathon run.

Third Important Lesson: Use Intermediate Goals


The REV3 Portland run course, like the bike course, is flat and fast. It goes like this:

Run out and back one way...

...then run out and back the other way.

There were very few turns or hills.

In a run like that, with no terrain undulation or cornering, it can become monotonous and painful as you use the same running muscles over and over again.

So I used the trick I always use on a course like this: set intermediate goals.

I split the run up as follows:

Get to mile 1.


Get to first turnaround.


Get back to park.


Get halfway to second turnaround.


Get to second turnaround. Start to run harder.


Get halfway back to finish line.


Get to 1 mile left.


Get to finish line.

This strategy of setting intermediate goals really helped keep me "focused in the pain cave", and I ran a 1:26 half.

It wasn't fast enough to catch the leaders, but it was fast enough for:

1) Winning my division.

2) Racing a 4:15 Half, with a 28:12 1.2 mile swim, a 4:20 quarter mile run and wetsuit change from swim to T1,  2:16 56 mile bike, a 24 second T2, and a 1:26 half-marathon. I was very happy with this, especially considering I'm now running just once a week, and not riding longer than 90 minutes.

Big thanks to my sponsors! See below how I put my gear and nutrition together for this race.

REV3 Portland Triathlon Gear:

Race Kit: Champ-Sys One Piece Custom Triathlon Suit
Wetsuit: Synergy Sports Hybrid
Bike: Gray Storm TT
Helmet: Gray Aero Helmet
Wheels: Gray 9.5 Carbon Clinchers with Latex Tubes
Components: SRAM Red, SRAM return to position levers, SRAM Quarq crank
Seat: Adamo ISM Road Saddle
Cleats: Look KEO Blade
Bike Shoes: Specialized Trivent
Running Shoes: K-Swiss K-Ruuz
Sunglasses: Zeal Slingshots
Fuel Belt: Did not use. GU provided on run course aid stations.

REV3 Portland Triathlon Nutrition:

2 hours before race: 2 scoops LivingFuel SuperGreens with 1 teaspoon peanut butter and 1 sweet potato + 2 capsules CapraColostrum

30 minutes before race: 1 Nutrarev, 1 Energy28 and 1 delta-E, 20 Sprays Magnetic Oil, 10 Master Amino Pattern capsules, 8 Extreme Endurance (experimented with these for this race...)
5 minutes before race: 1 caffeinated GU Roctane
Every 20 minutes on bike: 1 GU Roctane
Every 30 minutes during entire race: 2 Millennium Sports Athlytes
End of each hour on bike: 4 GU Chomps
Every 3 miles on run: 1 GU (from an aid station)
Post-Race: 8 Recoverease

Can Sitting In A Sauna Help Qualify You For Ironman World Championships?

I'm sitting down here by the pool at the Mauna Lani Bay Resort, about 24 hours after finishing Hawaii 70.3 triathlon, and my 4th attempt to qualify for Ironman World Championships. My previous 3 attempts were successful.

This attempt? Just keep reading...

I think my body has finally had a chance to cool down.

And I'm no longer constipated from yesterday morning's steady diet of sugary gels.

Hooray.

Plus, I've already played tennis, swam, and paddleboarded this morning, thanks to excessive amounts of ice on my leg, 20 sprays of Ancient Minerals Topical Magnesium Oil, 8 Recoverease, 4 Capraflex and 10 Master Amino Pattern capsules immediately after the race. Tomorrow is a day of surfing.

Yes, so that you can better enjoy post-race activity, you can biochemically engineer your recovery in legal ways - and I have a tennis tournament next weekend so I needed to recover fast.

Oh yeah, and coconut water with some added benefits also helps tremendously.

OK, OK, I'll quit blabbing now. On to the race!

I knew it would be hot here in Hawaii, but it has been very cold where I train, in Spokane, WA. So for these last 2 weeks prior to this race, I went to the YMCA every 2 days and sat in the sauna for 30-40 minutes, typically before an easy workout or after a hard workout.

The first 10 minutes of this type of heat acclimation is not too bad. After that, seconds tick by like molasses as you sit staring at a wall, gritting your teeth, fingers and toes tingling from the body throwing circulation everywhere in your body in a flurried attempt to provide cool the fire.

But I wanted to try this sadomasochistic method of heat acclimation as an alternative to my usual method - riding my bike on an indoor trainer with a heater and humidifier (I only did that once before this race).

In just a few minutes, you'll find out if my sauna heat acclimation method worked.

As promised, race morning was hot and windy, as Kona usually is. Hawaii 70.3 is a floating water start, so I pushed myself as far out to the right of the crowd as I could.

As a matter of fact, just before the swim started, I looked behind me and there was NOBODY. In a field of 2000 frenzied competitors, that is a pretty nice feeling to know you've got several yards of empty water behind you.

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THE SWIM

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The cannon boomed and we were off!

This was an easy swim. I hopped on the feet of a big, kinda fat guy in a skinsuit (always a good strategy) and he towed me 1300 meters, then I passed him for the last 500 and pulled hard into the beach. I knew I'd have to be very close to 4:30 total race time to qualify for Kona, and my watch was at 28-something minutes when I came out of the water, so first goal was accomplished.

I hurt my shoulder in a tennis tournament 2 weeks prior to this race, and was only able to swim short 50 and 100 meter efforts going in, so I was pretty happy with this result. Thanks to Tim Gilreath at Therapproach for his "Magic Hands" massage on my shoulders.

In my haste of packing at the last minute, I totally messed up and forgot my BlueSeventy Swimskin for this race. Big thanks to the guys from TYR for saving my butt and getting me into their Torque Swimskin at the last minute before the race. I'm not sure if that was "legal" to wear a TYR swimskin and Blue Seventy Element goggles, but sometimes life happens.

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THE BIKE

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My heart rate pounded out of my chest as I ran the steep hill into transition and grabbed my Gray Storm TT bike from SynergySport.com. I also used Gray's 9.5 Carbon Clinchers, which I was a bit nervous about using in the crosswinds, but I'm a glutton for punishment, and they are the same wheels I used last year, so that's what I came to Hawaii with.

Just like last year, my feet slipped off my shoes as a rode out of transition and my shoe went flying off my bike. I think the saltwater makes my feet slippery. It happened in the same place as last year, and I felt stupid in front of hundreds of spectators.

There goes coach Greenfield, losing his shoes again. What a rookie.

I snagged my shoe of the road, put it on and shoved off. Only a few seconds lost, but it feels like an eternity when you're racing! Next time I'll use rubber bands.

2 weeks prior to this race, my sponsors at Bike Hub Spokane hooked me up with Speedplay pedals in an attempt to fix some issues I've been having with my Look Keo pedals. I only was able to use the Speedplays two times before the race, and so I stashed a screwdriver into my Spibelt race belt in case I needed to make any cleat adjustments during the race.

Sure enough, 7 miles in I was fighting the cleat.

I pulled up next to a referee motorcycle (you have to use every chance you can to kiss up to those folks, just in case), and made a joke about the "Princess and the Pea" as I fixed my cleat. Another 90 seconds lost, but this time it felt like an hour, and as if the entire race field was passing me by.

And then I rode like a demon out of hell, and it felt fantastic. I wasn't able to split the overall race leaders at the Hawi turn, but they weren't far ahead.

Coming down Hawi with the tailwinds, I looked at my chest and saw that it was literally a torrential down pouring of sweat. At that point, having learned from the effects of dehydration from too little water consumption in Asia 70.3, I made the decision to risk drinking too much water, and bumped up consumption to 32 ounces per hour and lots of big gulps going back on the bike. This was a smart move in retrospect, as I still finished the race significantly lighter than when I started (in Asia, I lost 7 pounds!)

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THE RUN

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This run was pure freaking survival.

2 miles in, I was already hot. I went from looking at competitors to run down in my quest for a Kona slot to avoiding looking at anything whatsoever except the road directly ahead of me.

At that point, I wasn't racing. I was just trying not to walk.

The next 4 miles went by slowly. My fingers started to tingle, and I felt the effects of overheating coming on strong. It turns out the beneficial effects of a 30-40 minute sauna treatment tend to wear off after 4 hours of redlining in the heat.

At mile 6, I ran out of my Athlytes salt pills (packing error) and I was ready to quit.

I knew there was only one last thing to try.

The almighty CocaCola Ice Sludgies (see my Ironman Hawaii Race Report).

So at the mile 7 aid station, I grabbed a cup of ice, a cup of coke, dumped the coke on the ice, threw half the cup into my mouth, and chomped down hard. Two gulps later and the entire sludge of coke and ice was down the hatch, and I could feel the cooling, sugary sensations surging through my bloodstream.

At mile 8, I did another Coke Sludgie.

And again at mile 9.

At mile 10, my energy started to come back, and I began thinking about that Kona slot again.

At mile 11, I saw a guy in front of me. He was catchable. I had no clue if he was in my age group, because they don't mark calves here. But his race number was close to mine, so I figured he might be.

Just before mile 12, I passed him, and immediately felt like I was going to vomit and pass out from that slight increase in pace.

So I counted to 100. I knew I needed something to distract the central governor in my brain from forcing my body to quit. Then I looked back. He was still there.

So I counted to 100 again.

I looked back again and knew he wasn't going to be able to catch me unless I tripped and fell.

Somehow I managed to stay upright, and then, the finish line was there, I crossed it, and I collapsed. My entire body was on fire, but I made it, and I did it almost a minute faster than last year, despite those stops on the bike. My body hurt everywhere from a combination of heat and 4 hours and 29 minutes of excessive pounding.

5 hours later, I found out that the last guy I nearly killed myself to pass got me the slot to Kona and the Ironman World Championships. Here's the proof:

Training Protocol For Hawaii 70.3:

Monday: 1 hour easy fasted morning bike ride + 30-40 minutes afternoon strength training (upper body) + 90 minutes evening tennis practice

Tuesday: 1 hour swimming (drills workout)

Wednesday: morning hills or 2-4 minute intervals on bike (1 hour) and afternoon hills or 1-2 minute intervals on run (40-50 minutes). Sometimes will combine both into a bike-run brick workout.

Thursday: 1 hour swimming (speed and tempo workout) + 90 minutes evening tennis practice

Friday: 1 hour short, choppy bike intervals (commuting and running errands on bike, sprinting between stoplights, etc.) + 30-40 minutes strength training (lower body)

Saturday: long bike (2-3 hours) OR long run (90 minutes)

Sunday: long swim (3000-4000 meters continuous) + tennis match OR the long bike or long run I didn’t do Saturday

Hawaii 70.3 Triathlon Gear:

Race Kit: Champ-Sys One Piece Custom Triathlon Suit

Skinsuit: TYR Torque

Goggles: BlueSeventy Elements

Bike: Gray Storm TT

Helmet: Gray Aero Helmet

Wheels: Gray 9.5 Carbon Clinchers with Latex Tubes

Components: SRAM Red, SRAM return to position levers, SRAM Quarq crank

Seat: Adamo ISM Road Saddle

Bike Shoes: Specialized Trivent

Running Shoes: K-Swiss Racing Flat K-Ruuz

Sunglasses: Zeal Slingshots

Fuel Belt: Spi-Belt

Race Nutrition:

3 days leading up to race: 2-3 nuun tablets per day for increased electrolyte intake and salted all food

2 hours before race: 3 scoops LivingFuel SuperGreens

30 minutes before race: 1 Nutrarev, 1 Energy28 and 1 delta-E, 20 Sprays Magnetic Oil
5 minutes before race: 1 GU Roctane
Every 20 minutes on bike: 1 GU Roctane
Every 30 minutes during entire race: 2 Millennium Sports Athlytes
End of each hour on bike: 4 GU Chomps
Every 3 miles on run: 1 GU Roctane (from a Spi-Belt) until I switched to Coke.
Post-Race: 20 sprays of Ancient Minerals Topical Magnesium Oil, 8 Recoverease, and 10 Master Amino Pattern capsules, 4 Capraflex

So what's next? Not much. I may go race Portland REV3, but I plan on playing a lot of basketball and tennis this summer, and taking some time off serious triathlon training. This fall I'll be racing Ironman World Championships, 70.3 World Championships, and ITU Long Course World Championships, so I'm sure my body will appreciate a mid-summer break.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave your questions or comments below!

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