I Fought the Heat and the Heat Won ...

Back in the mid-60's Bobby Fuller had a song titled, I Fought the Law and the Law Won. 


We have all heard it a million times. It has probably been covered by God knows how many other bands. Catchy little tune but the message from this song is that The Law is an immovable force. If you try to beat The Law you will lose. Respect must be given or you will pay the consequences.

Flashback to Saturday morning: I was slouched on the pavement of a Starbucks parking lot, pouring cold water over my head, and flashing in and out of consciousness and this song came to mind.

Except my barely coherent brain had replaced the word, "Law" with "Heat"?

Maybe my brain was a little more coherent then it is getting credit for because the slightly less then clever word swap was rather accurate. Right down to the part that gets to the heart of the original lyrics - Respect ... or lack thereof.

Flashback even a little further on Saturday morning. I am three weeks out from Ironman Mont-Tremblant.   Anyone who has ever trained for an Ironman knows this is the last BIG training weekend and then taper starts. My schedule had on tap a 3hr run in the morning and a 4500M swim to follow. Then on Sunday a 6hr 30m ride with a 1hr brick run. I was ready and looking forward to the weekend.

So Saturday morning rolls around and I meet my buddy Dave at the above mentioned Starbucks parking lot at 4:30am sharp. We have three different loops worked out that will allow us to pass our cars twice to refill our bottles. It was perfectly planned right up until the point that it was not.

The plan was to start early to Beat the Heat. For those new to the blog I live in a Northern Suburb of Houston, Texas. What this means is that the term Beat the Heat is something us Houstonians say but it has no real meaning because no such thing really exists here. It is ALWAYS smoldering hot during the summer (But our winters are glorious).

Anyway, it was already 88* and the humidity was at 96% and the dew point was freaking soaking wet.

We started our first loop in the dark and decided to keep a slow pace, to Outsmart the Heat, another phrase we say that is not possible to accomplish (well, unless a treadmill and A/C is brought into the equation). My sweat rate was incredibly high on the first loop but this was to be expected and I prepared. I normally run with a handheld bottle filled with two scoops of EFS Drink. The EFS Drink has close to 1100mg of Electrolytes which is perfect for replenishing a depleted body on a humid morning. However, I figured since it was SO HOT I would use THREE scoops of EFS drink per bottle, that is like a 3rd more electrolytes - genius, I know. This also meant I had 300 calories per bottle and no solid nutrition would be needed (in hindsight, not so genius).

First loop complete. Grab a second EFS bottle. Start second loop.

On the second loop Dave and I decide it is a good idea to do a couple of reps up and down our infamous 5-story parking garage. By the second rep everything started to feel very labored. The legs felt fine but my head and body felt bad. Real bad.

We then headed over the West Lake Houston Bridge and picked up a little breeze, it felt good and gave me a second wind. But then as soon as we got off the bridge and the breeze was blocked I felt horrible. I had pretty much quit sweating, my head was throbbing, and all of a sudden I had some severe side cramps. I could no longer stomach the EFS drink as the three scoops made it too sweet. Dave gave me what little he had left off his water.

At this point were were about 13mi into the run and about a mile out from the cars and I knew I was in some serious trouble.

We made it back and I grabbed some ice water from the cooler and started pouring it over my head and I knew at this point I was suffering from heat exhaustion and needed to get in a cold shower. My legs decided they no longer wanted to work and I ended up slouched over half in my trunk (with the cooler) and half out. Somehow this ended up slouched on the pavement within a few minutes?

Flash Forward to today: I am recovering from a pretty bad bout of Heat Exhaustion. If you click the link and look at the symptoms I experienced every singe one of them and believe me when I tell you it was not pleasant. The rest of Saturday was spent with a 102* fever alternating between rounds of chills and sweats. Sunday was spent on the couch with a discomfort level close to what it would be like if Mike Tyson had a 12-round boxing match with your internal organs. And today was back at work but probably only operating at around 50%.

The good news is that each day has got substantially better from the last and I am hopeful to be back doing some light training by Wednesday.

The morale of the story is to be careful out there. I've lived in Houston for 8 summers and have trained for triathlon through the last four. Due to all this time training I became comfortable and let my guard down. My ego and lack of preparation had led me to believe that a battle with the heat was mine for the taking. The Heat Won ...

Oh, By-the-way, Bobby Fuller was from SE Texas. Coincidence? I think not.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Where the Heck Have You Been?

It has been a little over 5 weeks since this blog has had an update and I am happy to report all is well ... sort of.

Thanks to everyone who has emailed to check in on me. The fact of the matter is that between the demands of my job and Ironman training the blog has been put on the back burner (and I really prefer the Twitter - @jeffirvin). That will change soon as Ironman Mont-Tremblant is a mere three weeks away.

So what has been going on?

Buffalo Springs 70.3

The beautiful Buffalo Springs Lake

My buddy and training partner, Dave, made the 550mi drive up to Lubbock, TX to race the Half Ironman.  The drive up was long, but we had a blast as we decided on the scenic route and passed through a ton of tiny, historic Texas towns. We even managed to stop at three hole-in-the-wall BBQ joints that were all excellent!

The funny part is that we drove about 10hrs Northwest and were still over 2hrs away from another state. If I still lived in Columbia, MD and started driving the same distance it would have put me in Portland, Maine. Texas is huge!

**Note to Self:  Consult Google Maps before signing up for next race **

It was a Sunday race so we were able to get out on the course for a quick s/b/r on Saturday mid-morning. It was around 100* but felt so much better than what 100* is in Houston. The lack of soul-sucking humidity in Lubbock really makes a huge difference.

On to the race - My goal for the race was to go pretty hard on the swim and bike and then back off just a touch on the run as to not crush the legs too bad and be ready to resume IM training on Tuesday. This has worked for me in the past so I figured why change?

The swim was a running/jogging start from a beach and you would maneuver around a counter-clockwise circle and come out of the water a few hundred yards down. The swim started out well and it had a lot less contact from my age group than I am used to in 70.3 starts.

The swim was going excellent until the last turn buoy heading to the exit. I ended up swimming a good distance off to the right and I was not alone! One of the volunteers who was on a kayak had on a fluorescent orange vest which happened to be the same color as the buoy - I was swimming right at him. I eventually realized it was a dude on a kayak and made the adjustment.  After the race Dave says, "What was up with the kayak guy with the orange vest, thought he was the turn buoy?" We laughed it off. Good race for Dave, he ended up with a PR and feels ready for IMMT!

Anyway, I got out of the water in 36mins. Which is about 90 seconds behind my PR but was about right for my current swim fitness.

The ride was pretty uneventful until I got to the turn around at the top of the spiral staircase and noticed it felt like I was pedaling through mud. Looked back and my rear tire was flat. I jumped off the bike right by the aid station and had a new tube on within a few minutes. This was my first in-race flat and I was happy at how quickly I got it changed.

Back down the spiral staircase and continuing on with the ride - until mile 47. Another flat on the rear wheel. I quickly pulled off along the road and it was at this point the realization that I only carry one spare tube on race day hit. Ouch. I pulled the rear wheel off and searched the inside for whatever was causing the flats without any luck. Within a few minutes a motorcycle with officials pulled up and radioed my location to a bike tech. And I waited. And waited. And waited ....

About 30mins later the bike tech pulled up. He quickly examined the wheel and could not find any damage and put on another tube. I thanked him and jumped on the bike and ....pfffffffsssttttt. Flat #3.

My day was done. The options were to walk the bike in 10miles or catch a ride back with the bike mechanic. The ride back seemed the prudent choice, considering another flat was imminent. I later found out after returning home when my LBS looked at the wheel that the rim was damaged and had a small piece of metal protruding. Good news is they were able to fix the rim the bad new is that I took my first ever DNF. 


The hard part was that I had a decent bike split going (avg 21mph) and my legs felt ready for a good run, but I will never know. If you race long enough you are eventually going to have a mechanical.


I was initially disappointed but quickly got over it and filed it away in my mental folder titled - Shit Happens. 



Over the next few days I am going to post a few more updates and talk about IM training, riding in Austin with a blogger legend, sexy new race wheels (Why? see above), and how I learned the hard way that heat exhaustion is a motherF&*^er and I am not invincible.

Stay tuned ...

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Buffalo Springs Lake Tri 70.3 ...

This Sunday I will be racing in the Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon.

It is about a 9-hour drive from the steamy Houston area, through the lush Texas Hill Country, and finally to the arid North West Texas desert of Lubbock.

It is supposed to be, ahem, a little warm:

At least the wind seems light!?!

The reason for racing BSLT is to get in a dress rehearsal for Ironman Mont-Tremblant, which is 8 weeks away. The BSLT bike course has 7-different climbs ranging from 3-9% grades. It is difficult to get this type of elevation gain in the pancake-flat Houston area so this will be a good test to see how well my bike fitness is for the ridiculously hilly Mont-Tremblant.

My goals for the race this Sunday are to just get in a good day of training and practice nutrition in race conditions. I have recently decided to make a major change in the amount of calories consumed on the bike and the results in training have been excellent. Hopefully this will correlate to race day and allow me to dial in the Full Distance Course plan.

Good luck to everyone else who is racing this weekend - especially to Jon and Mandy who are doing the IMMT 70.3 - your recon info is going to be much appreciated, unless you tell me the course is brutal!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

I Am Triathlete ... Hear ME ROAR!!!

Unless you are a resident of North Korea, or my friend Bobby, you have heard about Lance Armstrong being notified by the USADA that they will be investigating him for doping.

This was a text from yesterday!

This story broke on Friday and the triathlon community was in an uproar because WTC, promoter of Ironman branded races, has a corporate policy that states (paraphrased) that an athlete cannot compete in any WTC race while being under investigation for violations of doping.

After many meetings were supposedly had about possibly changing the rule, WTC decided to stand pat by what was written and suspend Lance from racing all future events until the investigation is concluded.

People were pissed. Everyone wanted to see what Lance could do in the upcoming Ironman France (June 24th) and then at Kona in October. We wanted to see him going head-to-head with Crowie and Macca. The anticipation of such drama had us triathletes foaming at the mouth and randomly breaking into uncontrollable shakes! 

So when Dan Empfield, Slowtwitch Editor-in-Chief, released the details of the WTC decision and them upholding the suspension the comments that followed were overwhelmingly in favor of Lance Armstrong. Many of the replies focused on the stupidity of WTC and ranged from a full out Boycott of all WTC races to signing a petition to reinstate Lance. 

Here is a small snippet of the 129 rage-filled comments:

Summary: Boycott WTC, Free Lance, Go F yourself WTC, Doping is cool ...

Then to make matters worse WTC goes and announces on Friday that a brand new Ironman race was going to take place at Lake Tahoe in September of 2013. The timing of this announcement really had to have WTC shaking in their shoes because triathletes were SO UPSET by the Lance decision. I mean just looking at the above Facebook posts would lead you to believe that the people had had enough of the antics of WTC and would stop supporting them, amiright? AND THEN to add insult to injury, the Lake Tahoe Ironman was going to open for registration on Monday morning. Burn. Can WTC really be this arrogant?

Triathletes would surely ban together in a sign of solidarity by channeling every Rage Against the Machine song ever penned and stick it to WTC with their wallets, hells yeah!!!!!! Screw Ironman Lake Tahoe!!! Down with WTC!!! 

Take the Power Back!

So What Happened?

Ironman Lake Tahoe (@$675) sold out in less then 24 hours. 

Do not go gentle into that good night, 

Old age should burn and rage at close of day; 

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

- Dylan Thomas

What did I learn from this saga? 

I want to be more like Bobby.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P.s. - For what it is worth, I actually am happy WTC stuck by their guns and followed the rules. The rule may be stupid, and that can be argued at another time, but people are always bitching about how WTC has zero integrity. I'd point to this decision the next time one offers up that argument. 

Ray @ DCrainmaker had a nice write up on this earlier today and is exactly how I feel.

Things of Interest ...

... to probably just me.

• So thanks to Karen (@theladybaha) for her fine sleuthing work and bringing to my attention that Brooks Running will be discontinuing the Launch and the Green Silence.  The Launch are my favorite running shoe of all-time so I am crushed. After reading Karen's text I almost had the same feeling of losing a family pet. First, the sadness kicks in but then you begin to remember all the good times that I had with the Launch:
• My first Ironman
• My first Marathon (BQ)
• My first 20mi training run
• My last 20mi training run
• All the PR's
• All the rainy runs with no falls due to the excellent traction

• Ok, take that above as tongue-in-check because I just am not a real sentimental type of guy. I like running in the Launch and they make my legs feel great. But, Brooks has hit it out of the park with the Pure Project Line and I just checked my logs and the last few months over 60% of my miles have been done in the Pure Flows. I have recommended the Launch to MANY, MANY people and have started doing the same with the Pure Projects as well. If you are looking for an alternative check out the Flows.

• Speaking of family pets, a few weeks ago we got some very sobering news after our pugs visited the vet for the annual check-up: Our little girl Pug, Bailey, had a tumor. She needed to have immediate surgery. The Vet was able to remove the tumor and Bailey has recovered with flying colors. 

Hey, Jeff, get off your ass and get me a treat.

• IRONMAN MONT-TREMBLANT TRAINING is going okay. This is my second round at full on IM Training. Last year I trained for Ironman Texas and the vast majority of the training occurred in the cooler temperatures of the winter and fall. This year with IMMT being at the end of August the training is happening right now in the scorching South East Texas Summer.

• Some training changes have had to be made: 
• Running: Is happening either in the dark, AM hours or on the Treadmill. For Bricks, I have been parking at the gym and riding from my car. I will then finish my ride and toss the bike in the backseat and then hustle inside to hit the treadmill.
• Biking: Two weeks ago my buddy Dave and me went up to the hilly Coldsprings, TX area to get in 90mi around Lake Livingston. We started at 6:30am and the first three hours were awesome. Then the sun came out. We melted. By 10am the temps on the black asphalt was over 100*. I was so dehydrated and exhausted that I had to miss the next day of training. Changes needed to be made as training in this heat was not at all beneficial to our fitness. This week I rode both Sat and Sun and got in 85mi. On the road early and off the road before the sun comes up. Got in the long miles but did them at tempo pace (22mph) instead of Endurance pace (19-20mph). This coming Sunday we have a 5.5hr ride scheduled. We are going to start on the indoor trainer at 4am and then ride from Dave's house to the group ride at 7am and get in the last 2.5hrs with them. 
• Swimming: All at the 70* indoor lap pool. No exceptions. 

• As you can see, due to our extreme temps I have had to improvise, adapt and overcome. It is not ideal to be training for an IM right now but with a little flexibility and creativity it can be done and done well. 

• So how is my overall fitness? With 10 weeks until race day I would say my bike is the strongest discipline right now. It is night and day compared to how it was in IM training at this point last year. I've been doing all hills and intervals and it is paying off. My swim is in the 1:15-1:20 range for 2.4miles. I can swim forever but my speed is still a little lacking in the water. The run is nowhere near as strong when compared to the Woodlands Marathon at the beginning of March, but is probably in better shape then I was last year at this time. Overall I am in pretty good shape. The Mont-Tremblant course is going to be a lot more difficult then the Texas course but the temps are going to be glorious!

• The Pittsburgh Pirates are tied for First Place in the division. I cannot even begin to describe how exciting this is for me.

• 2013 is going to be a non-Iron Distance year. I plan on doing a lot of local races and a couple of 70.3's but have decided to take a year away Ironman.  So now the question is which race to do in 2014?

Thank for Reading,

Jeff