Wildflower Race Report

I just posted a PR and got on the podium at the Wildflower Half-Ironman Triathlon in California...with a:

26:46 Swim - Thanks to the Paul at SwimSmooth, I learned to look slightly forward, keep my fingers closer together, and exhale underwater - and this allowed me to break the 27 minute barrier for  a half IM swim, although I had zero drafting opportunities during the swim...

Nutrition/Gear notes:

-Day before: Millenium Sports Somnidren GH for sleep

-2 hours pre-swim: 4 LivingFuel SuperBerry 

-30 minutes pre-swim: 1 Nutrarev, 1 Energy28 and 1 delta-E, 20 Sprays Magnesium Oil, 10 Master Amino Pattern capsules, 4 Extreme Endurance

-Wetsuit: Synergy Hybrid

-Google: Blue Seventy Helix

2:37 Bike - This was my first chance to do a long course race for Team Timex on the Quintana Roo CD0.1 and it is a sick bike indeed. This turned into quite a lonely race, as I was by myself on the bike the entire time as well (it's always tough to self-pace and not have some others to play with on the bike). Pretty much stuck to a gel every 20 minutes the whole way through, and drank to thirst, at about 30oz water per hour.

Bike notes:

-Shoes: Louis Garneau Tri-Speed shoes

-Helmet: Gray Aero helmet

-Wheels: Shimano C-50

-Tires: Challenge Triathlon

-Groupo: Shimano Dura-Ace

-Seat: Adamo ISM Road Saddle

-Sunglasses: Native Eyewear

1:28:56 Run - As usual, the Wildflower run freaking hurt, and once again I was on my own the whole time. Per my usual strategy on a half-marathon, I held back slightly on the first 10K of the course, then gradually began to increase pace for the next 10K. I had a gel at 5K, 10K, and 15K, and a sip of water at the aid stations where I grabbed a gel.

Run notes:

-Shoes: K-Swiss K-Ruuz

4:36:32 Overall Time

But...


...10 days before the race, I was dangerously close to being overtrained...


So here's an interesting article about how exactly how I dug myself out of that overtraining hole.

And a big thanks to all my sponsors. Check them all out here.

How To Race Naked (Almost)

Sometimes you have to just unplug when you're exercising.

I wrote about this concept in the article "The Death Of Heart Rate Zones", in which I explain that a big component of exercise is a combination of playing and listening to your body.


Now don't get me wrong here. Many times your heart rate and speed is really important. Heck I'm on Team Timex, which is, among other things, kind of based around the concept of having some really cool tools to quantify your training.


Quantifying workouts becomes even more important for many situations, including:

A) beginning exercisers, who are just getting into working out or training more precisely, and thus need to really monitor how their muscles and breathing feel at specific heart rates, speed, power, etc.; 


B) people who have been assigned a workout by a coach, who want to share their workout data with their coach; 


C) a coach to be able to monitor an athlete's workouts and recovery without necessarily being there in-person;


D) an athlete to be able to compare one race to the next using more than simply race time splits (a bigger advantage in a race of nutritional or exhaustive attrition, such as a Half to Full Ironman).

But this weekend, I took off the heart rate monitor.

And the fancy triathlon suit.

And the swim skin.

And the sunscreen.

And I just raced, retaining a small shred of cloth around my loin to save onlookers and other racers from my pasty white buttocks.

I never glanced at my watch, and pretty much decided to just go hard until my body imploded or I crossed the finish line.

And while I'll have plenty of chances this year to quantify data during a race, such as in my upcoming Wildflower Half-Ironman, Hawaii 70.3 and Japan 70.3 races, this weekend's Grizzly Triathlon was just a chance to hang out with my friend Dave Erickson and do some almost naked Northwestern style training.

No wins for me this weekend (this race was "untapered" at the tail-end of a very tough training week), but my splits were:

-12:42 1000m swim, 30:20 12 mile bike, 19:40 5K run = total time: 1:02:42


-3rd division, 8th overall

Here are the videos, produced by my friend Dave Erickson, who also raced:





A big shout out to my sponsors, who I'll be highlighting in my final race report of this 4 week series of races I'm doing...

...next up is Leadman - a ski, mountain bike, trail run race in Kellogg, Idaho!

Fat, Poopin' and Racin'.

I just finished my first sprint triathlon of the year! Here's my race report, which involved fat, pooping, and more!

Here's the link:

http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2012/04/why-you-should-squat-to-poop/

How Much Salt Do You Lose In Your Sweat?

I'm here at Team Timex Multisport camp, and today was a sweat sodium analysis.
 

What do you think? Am I a heavy sweater?

Or am I a wimp when it comes to fluid loss?

Stay tuned to find out, or check http://www.facebook.com/bgfitness for up-to-date results...

...including fluid loss, sodium loss, change in internal temperature and more.

Timex Torture Test with Ben Greenfield

Check out this funny endurance video, in which Dave Erickson and me put a Timex Run Trainer through a torture test in a re-enactment of the John Cameron Swayze Timex commercial. "Takes A Lickin and Keeps On Tickin". And the original video with John Cameron Swayze:

Team Timex Announcement & My 2012 Race Season

Last year, I attended the 2011 Team Timex camp, and I was blown away by the team's camaraderie and support from Timex. It was the first time I'd ever been around a group of individuals that, from an objective viewpoint, seemed to operate and communicate as an cohesive team.

In the relatively individualized and "lone wolf" sport of triathlon, this was a unique thing to see, and inspired me to apply for the 2012 team.


So what exactly is Team Timex?

Here's a snippet from their website:

In 2001, Timex made a bold move in the historically individualized sport, by pioneering a triathlon team. The concept was to support professional and amateur athletes—financially, physically and socially—so they could, in turn, focus solely on training and racing. 

Now in its 9th year, the Timex Multisport Team is a diverse and successful team, composed of male and female athletes—both professional and amateur—ranging in age from 18 to 57-years old, and hailing from the U.S.A., Australia, India, Ukraine, Mexico, Czech Republic, Estonia, Canada and the United Kingdom. 

The athletes serve as brand ambassadors for Timex and associated sponsors at hundreds of events around the world, and work closely with Timex on refining new products for the endurance sports world.

I also asked team member Trista Francis what she thought was the best part about being on Team Timex, and here is what she said:

The best part of being on the Team is being a part of a very unique family in the sport.  The Timex family is like non other and it allows us to surround ourselves with the top talented athletes in the sport from around the world.  This is my 4th year with Timex as my Title sponsor, Timex gives overwhelming support to me and to each athlete on the Team.  The Timex Multisport Team is the most prestigious team in the sport because of this support and because of the talent it draws.  Another benefit; this is not just a team of talent in triathlon, we have some of the best coaches in the nation on board as well.  We are partnered with the NY Giants, Timex Performance Center and the Korey Stringer Insititute in research. Nuff said!

If you happen to be on Facebook, you can also watch this video to see what the 2011 Team Timex accomplished.

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So this week, Team Timex announced it's 2012 multi-sport team.

And I'm on it.

This means that for the 2012 race season (which I've outlined below) I'm proud to announce that I'll be racing for Team Timex.

Feb 16-21: Team Timex Camp & Triathlon America (hooray for partially sleepless nights and flying airplanes around the country) 

March 2012: Snake River Sprint Triathlon (only race I've done where it tends to hail and snow) 

April 15: TriStar111, Mallorca, Spain (I need to brush up on my Spanish. Also teaching a camp for 5 days before this race) 

May 4-May 6: Wildflower Long Distance race (need to go to a world of pain at this one to qualify for my pro card - I'll have to be sure not to pitch my tent on a rock)

May 27-June 2:  Hawaii 70.3 & Camp (week long camp culminating in 70.3...hoping Scott Molina and John Newsom don't beat me up too much at this one) 

July-ish: To Be Announced (meaning a bunch of local races that I drop into randomly) 

Sometime August 2012: Troika Half-Ironman (3rd place, 3rd place, 2nd place - can I freaking win this thing already???) 

September 11: Vegas 70.3 (yet another change to hate race director Frank Lowery, who apparently thinks we're all Navy Seals) 

September 11-15: Triathlon Camp in Tuscany, Italy (really, I'm just going for the rosso) 

October 11: Ironman Hawaii (*ahem*, tentatively. I'll be there either way, just hopefully racing) 

Sometime in November 2012: Laguna Phuket Triathlon (doing a 15 day camp for this race and the next one, culminating with a total escape to Railay Bay...e-mail me if you want in) 

Sometime in December 2012: Asia-Pacific 70.3 World Championship (plan on racing pro here, if all goes well)

A big thanks to all my fantastic sponsors, and you can feel free to leave any questions or comments about this below (since I've received that first "welcome" e-mail onto the team, I've already been inundated with support and congratulations from other team members - so it already feels like a family)!

Asia Pacific 70.3 World Championships Race Report (And Announcement That Ben Greenfield Is Going Pro Next Year).

Aside from the pristine beaches, the best food on the planet, amazing Thai massage, and wild post-race parties, my primary motivation for skipping out of America in early December was to qualify for Kona.

Asia-Pacific 70.3 World Championships is indeed a Kona qualifier, and I made the decision to come down and qualify early for the big dance in Hawaii. Call me egotistical, but with my performances of late, there was no doubt in my mind that I was fit enough to grab a slot.

Trouble is, my body decided otherwise. 

Two weeks prior to the race, I had a nasty fall on the ice during a cold-weather run and tweaked my IT band (outside of the knee). Within just a few days, I was back to training, but not about to go do any hard 40-50 mile bike rides to see if the knee would be good to go for Phuket. I just had to have the faith that the knee would handle the load on race day.

Then, just two days prior to the race, in one of the multiple restaurants I dined at, I got a bad batch of food that left me sleepless and poo-ing my guts until race morning.

Needless to say, my confidence was slightly shot at the starting line, but I decided to give it a go anyways. Not even wanting to race, I waited in my hotel room until the last possible minute, then struggled to the finish line, just picturing my two little boys faces in my head and wanting to be a good example to them of not being a "quitter".

But within 200 meters of the swim, I knew it was going to be a tough day at the office. My body just felt...drained (probably because it literally was).

Nonetheless, I tried to block out the discomfort, came out of the water near the front of the age-grouper field and made it to my bike, which is normally a huge weapon for me.

No weapon materialized on this day! 

Within 10 miles of the ride, I was being passed right and left, and swallowed up in big packs of riders I would have normally been out-cycling. The power just wasn't there. It felt weird to be passed on the bike and just not able to put out the effort to stay with folks.

Then, at about 50K, as I rode up a steep hill, my knee just flat-out gave-out. I experienced the type of pain that I knew would leave me crippled for months if I tried to push through it. To top that off, I had thrown up my previous three gels as my normally iron-clad stomach continued to refuse to cooperate.

It wasn't going to happen. If I kept pushing, I'd knew I'd A) be nursing a bum knee for months and miss snowboard season, tennis season, and anything else that involved knee bending and B) I'd be walking a very long half-marathon in the rain.

So I hailed a pick-up, rode back into town, and watch the remainder of the race in a torrential downpour of rain at the finish line - *extremely* jealous that I wasn't out there playing ball.

Yes, this was not the fanciest, schmanciest way to end the 2011 race season, but I think my body simply wanted me to stop, and sent me a very loud message on race day.

--------------------------------------------

But I'm all about redemption, so here's the deal (and a big announcement): 

1) I'll be coming back to race Thailand next year, and as a matter of fact, an Australian coach (Graeme Turner) and I are putting together two different trip options for anybody that wants to join (9 day trip or 15 day trip). E-mail ben@bengreenfieldfitness.com if you want in on that. First come, first serve. We'll take care of everything for you: race registration, lodging, restaurant selection, shopping trips, speedboat tours, massage, the works.

2) Exactly one year from now, at this race in 2012, I'll be debuting as a pro, and for the next 4-5 years, I'll be racing as a professional triathlete. As my readers know, I go big or go home, so I will be treating this decision very seriously, which means dedicated fitness work, and possibly stepping back a bit on my entrepreneurial ventures. But you only live once, right?