American Athlete of the Month!

one of my favorite personal training clients miriam rabitz was just selected "athlete of the month" at american athlete gym. miriam has already lost upwards of 80 pounds! simply amazing. just today she retested in the gym's fitness challenge and i can guarantee she made the biggest improvements.

why is she one of my favorites? because she is the shining example of what hard work and dedication can do. she wanted to change her life and her body and she took action.

congratulations miriam!

:: find out more ::

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Max Israel's Ironman Arizona Race Report

max is long time coaching client, ironman, adventure racer, entrepreneur and just all around great guy. although i didn't train him for this ironman i worked with him all year last year. i'm posting this because i think it's a good read and we can always learn from others experiences... congrats max!
read the report here.

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Ironman Arizona Race Report

Overview: I came, I saw, I melted.

Swim: 1:14:00 [4] 2.4 mi (30:50 / mi)

Swim: about 00:01:50 minutes slower than last year. Not terrible considering I did only very minimal swimming in favor of run and bike. I'll gladly give up two minutes to push this time into other areas.

Got out of the water feeling fine. Probably could have hammered harder. Did get a hard kick in the lower lip about a minute into it. Resisted the urge to grab the guy’s ankle and pull him under, though. ;-)

Bike: 6:06:12 [4] 112.0 mi (3:16 / mi)

My bike clocked this at just a touch over 6 hours, but I guess the race clock doesn't lie. My race strategy came apart here. Here is what I think happened...

Let's start with my goal: An Ironman overall PR at 11:30 based on a conservative swim, solid bike where I might shave a few minutes off my usual 6-hours and a transformative run of around 4:00. My last two IM runs were 4:40 and 4:24, respectively.

I wanted to come out of the water and be on the bike and working by 1:20, which was conservative. I did that. I then wanted to have a 6 hour bike split, but if I could do it without hammering too hard I wanted to bank another ten minutes. Then I wanted to run a 4:10 or so marathon and land right at 11:30.

It didn't happen.

Lap 1/3: Came out strong but didn't push hard. Headwind was immediate. Unlike last year, the headwind came at you as you rode out of town uphill. Chatty and smiling, didn't hammer and focused on staying comfortable. The final results aren't posted yet, so I can't get the exact split. (The three laps are all slightly different distances owing to how the move traffic around the hub.) Came around that first round and felt like I was roughly 3 minutes ahead of a six-hour pace.

Lap 2/3: Felt a bit tired coming back out of Tempe, but my plan was to have the middle leg be the work horse of the day. I found a fast looking guy and picked up my pace to match him. As the hillclimb began, I just felt like a million bucks. People were dying in the heat, which began climbing into the 90's. The wind got noticably stiffer. I passed people effortlessly climbing out of town like they were overweight school children. Turned at the top and with a steady tailwind pushed 30 MPH or so back to the bottom.

A little discouraging...All that work had really only bought me about 2 additional minutes in the bank. In retrospect, my math was probably off a bit because the distance on lap 2 was a couple of minutes longer. But that wind...

Lap 3/3: I really didn't feel like I had worked it that hard on lap 2. I had been drinking straight water roughly 1 bottle per aid station and supplementing with endurolyltes (3x per hour), around 280 or 300 calories per hour via Power gel which was the aid station choice.

I just came out onto that third lap and simply didn't have the juice to work back up that hill. I gave away tons of time. In the end, I made the decision not to force the issue. I knew I was giving back some time, but figured a retreat here was smart. Better to survive the heat and wind and make my stand on the run. I crossed into transition at 6:02 or so per bike clock. Don't know why the clock said 6:06. Shit. All that gain given back...and then some.

Run: 5:08:37 [5] 26.2 mi (11:46 / mi)

IM Arizona marathon. What a depressing marathon.

I can't say why things went so badly, but here's one possibility. Temperatures on the run course hit 100 degrees. It couldn't cope. Helpfully, I read Hammer's website *after* the race and noticed that their recommended dosage for my size in that environment is 4-6 caps per hour. I took 3 per hour. I probably missed one or two hours' worth over the day by accident.

This hurts my pride to write. I knew early that I was not going to have a good run. My plan was to try to stick a 9:00 mile for the run, with some hustle-walk aid stations thrown in there. I did this for a lot of Sundays over lots and lots of miles, practicing that pace.

I just couldn't turn those legs over, and the cramping started immediately. From there, I never got knocked down with cramps but I would start to cramp very quickly after moving my pace faster than 9:00. Before long, I struggled to keep 10:00. Then 11:00.

A few times the heat pounded on me so hard that my head swam and I simply needed to find a patch of shade to rest for 20 or 30 seconds or I was going to pass out.

What went wrong today, especially on this run? Why can't I run -- really run -- that Ironman Marathon the way I want to...the way I can run almost any other time?

Nutrition -- not enough protein in the mix?

Electrolytes -- not enough?

Weight -- is 200 pounds just too much to lug around?

Heat -- was it too much to expect that all my training was 35-50 F and race day saw 100F ? What could I have done, short of moving to the Sunbelt for training?

The Grand Columbian was absolutely a harder course in every respect, yet I did better. I don't think I was in better shape at all for that -- I'm almost certainly in better shape now. The course temp at GC was probably maxed in the high 70's on race day.

High points were the last half mile of running. Once the sun went low I started feeling a hell of a lot better. Crossing an IM finish line with a PR for me is great, but there's nothing cooler than a night finish under the lights. I ended up running with a great guy from Missouri -- a normally 10:20 guy who had been puking all day but was still great conversation and funny. We pushed and cajoled each other to pass the time and keep hustling as best we could. Saw the sun set running over one of Tempe's pretty bridges, which made me smile.

I need to regroup mentally. I'm just seething right now and want more than anything to have that day back to try some other things. I've got some ideas on how I'll spend the next month. Get some much needed time with Alex running trail and riding mountain bikes. I've got an invitation to row in a masters 8 at Greenlake, which could shake things up for a few months. Maybe I'll just do little serous exercise and just laser in on diet while I drop 10 pounds. Goddam.

This year they're changing this race date to be in November, so IM AZ will actually run AGAIN in November. That's a tempting shot at redemption.

I could also register for Grand Columbian in September. I know already that I'll be one of those places.

Note: Time not exact -- add 10 minutes or so for transition. Be warned...long post.

You Think I'm Crazy? How Bout a MARATHON on a Treadmill

well i have a coaching client... who... well i'll just share her email with you.

please note this wasn't prescribed by me as training. it was cheryl's idea, but i certainly didn't deter her!

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Good morning! So, I will attempt to account my underway marathon experience below (meaning on a coast guard boat).

For the planning phase of this run, I had to choose between treadmill and running laps around our ship. Three factors led to chose treadmill over laps:
1. I have issues counting laps for a 3-mile run, let alone a 27-mile run.
2. Running laps includes a jaunt up/down an outside set of stairs (or ladder, if you will). Knowing me, 20 miles into a run and my chances of eating shit go up to about 100%.
3. Non-skid is not gentle on the joints. So, I gave up a better view for an inside excursion.

I woke up at about 5 am on Saturday morning to the sound of us breaking ice enroute to Nome, AK. I visualized the ship breaking through the ice as a metaphor for me breaking through the monotony of running 4 hours on a treadmill. It didn't help. I procrastinated as much as I could (put in a couple loads of laundry, ate a bagel, checked email, etc) before finally hitting the treadmill around 5:40.

Here are the run stats:
Time: 3:48:11 (continuous watch time, 26.2 mark was 3:40::10)
Distance: 27.0 miles
Incline: 0 (except when the ship rides up on the ice, plus the treadmill is set up in our windlass room at a slight uphill angle)
Treadmill restarts: 4 (it only goes to 60 min before shutting off, first stop was after the first mile...read below)
Head calls: 1 (about 1 mile in, my body finally decided to wake up...um yea)
Music: 5.2 hours of my favorite songs
Tony Robbins cds: 1 (good motivation)
Camelbak: 1, filled with water (thanks Alex!)
Gels: 2
Bonks: 0
Treadmill: 1
Somewhat crazy JO: 1

Breakdown by hour (since that was the natural break of re-starting the treadmill everytime):

9:13 first mile, pace 6.5 mph, head break (4 minutes) not quite into it yet

Restart 1: got in the grove, listened to music, pace 7.0 mph (actually the treadmill shut off at 57 min for some reason so only ran 6.7 miles during this section. Took in water every 10 minutes.

Restart 2: pace 7.0 mph, this was the Tony Robbins hour. Good cd on fear vs stress (they are the same, it is just how you prepare for it), Trying vs. Doing (trying is just an excuse for failure), and the power of personal CANtations. Took in water every five minutes.

Restart 3: turned the volume up on the music and caught myself singing along to most songs, pace 7.1 mph, felt pretty good this hour...though knees starting to hurt. Took in water and a bit of gel every five minutes

Restart 4: Picked up the pace to 7.5. In the scale of relative pain, my heart was doing much better than my knees, lower back, and legs, so I figured I should hurry up and get it over with. Finished the last 5.23 miles and was happy to be done. Took in water and gel every five minutes.

I think this was good mental preparation for the Florida race I will be doing over Memorial Day weekend. It is not the most senic race, but has got to be better than staring at a anchor hawsepipe for 4 hours.

Have a great weekend!
-Cheryl

Cathi Cannon's Cohutta 65 Race Report

massive congrats to my coaching client cathi cannon! she earned a podium spot at the cohutta 65 mile mtn bike race!! this is a great benchmark on her road to the leadville 100 mtn bike race! as you'll read in her report below... she's dropping the fellas on climbs! that brings a tear of joy to my eye. =)

cathi's race report follows..

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One of the key races I was using as a benchmark for Leadville was the Cohutta 65. At one point, I had planned on doing the 100 mile course, but a lingering early season injury forced me to choose otherwise. While not the full monty, the 65, just shy of 11k of elevation gain, was still going to be a respectable day. The rain overnight and during the first hour of the race added another twist to the day; luckily the temps remained nice.

We started at the Ocoee Whitewater Center at 7:15am with a light drizzle. After a quick 3 miles down Hwy 64, we turned into the Brush Creek trails. I actually haven't ridden this section before and I'd imagine it would be quite nice and flowy if it wasn't for the thick, slick mud everywhere. All was going well until I wiped out hard on a bridge. I’m not exactly sure what happened here, but next thing I know I lay my bike out and we're sliding across the bridge... I see a pole and think "this will not be …". My bike hits it first – then I slam into my bike... Groin into the handlebars and stem. Yeowsers. I layed there a minute taking some deep breaths, but when I saw a girl pass, I was back on my feet. Time to go!

I was a bit slow at first, trying to shake things off. We circled back to the WWC, entering the Tanasi trail system. By the time I was up Bear Paw, I was able to pass the 2 girls that had passed me when I was down. Once I hit the forest service roads, I was back in my element. I was alone for a long time here, just doing my thing and trying to ride hard. Two voices were constantly in my head - Matt's voice saying "attack the hills" and Jeramie saying (in response to me wondering how he thought I'd do) "well, depends on what Cathi shows up". Early on it was the "Cathi that crashed hard and was in pain". But now it was "Cathi that was on a mission". I wasn't there to just ride; I wanted to race.

Finally the turn from 221 to 62 (the "Big Frog Loop") came, along with the aid station with our drop bags. I actually didn't need anything in my bag (my hydration & nutrition was going well & I had all I needed with me), so after some quick lube on the chain and I was off again - I has seen a pink jersey ahead and really wanted to reel in that girl…Which I did soon enough, along with 2 others on this section. That was energizing! I hooked up with a few guys that had a solid pace and good conversations for a bit.

Once back on 221, I just kept on... My legs were feeling fabulous, although the shoulder/neck pain I get sometimes was now setting in - at least that made me forget about my pelvis. The big neverending climb came and went without problem - with the leaders of the 100 mile passing me here - damn they looked fresh!

Finally the last aid station before the final singletrack section. Hooray! They didn't have any Heed, so I just kept the 1 full bottle I had, figuring it would be enough for the last 12 miles or so. About 10 minutes in, I started hearing some noise from my bike... Not the hiss of flat tires (like last weekend), but something else. Then without warning, chain suck. Ahh, so that is the sound of a bone dry chain that doesn't want to move. What sucked even more was the fact I didn't have any lube on me. Every 5-10 minutes my bike would seize. Sometimes I could get through it, but half the time I was going up a hill or over some rocks/roots, so it royally messed me up. For once I was totally thankful for every descent I could find - if I didn't pedal, I didn't have problems. I passed lots of people sidelined with mechanicals (including a friend with a snapped derailleur), but no one with lube. So basically this last section (which initially I was worried about, not knowing how tired I’d be going through it, then was excited about because I was feeling great), ended up sucking royally, taking at least 30 min longer than it should have.

Thunder Rock Express (a sweet descent) could not come soon enough. I got through that easily and was thankful for the road at the end - that signalled about a mile to the finish. Yeah! My time was 7:32:06, good enough for 5th place, earning me spot on the podium (I would have been 56 out of 100 total riders in this distance – always like to see how I compare to the guys!). I was about 32 minutes behind 4th place, so it would have been an interesting finish if that last section had gone better. One of the guys I had been riding with earlier came by to say the way I dropped him on the neverending FSR climb was impressive & that I should have no problem with Leadville. Let’s hope!!

So now... The next day...
I am definitely happy with my race - my body felt great (except for the crash of course) and I was happy with how my legs responded. My nutrition and hydration was on. What to change? Well, carry lube!! Other than that, just continue on with Matt’s plans, whatever they may be. (it's working so far!) I’ll be interested to see how this experience relates to Leadville. I’ll have 4.5 more hrs to tackle 35 more miles and 3000’ more elevation gain. Altitude will be the determining factor I think, as my fitness track seems to be right on.