2009-05 Triathlete

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NO.301

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contents

may 2009 no. 301

DEPARTMENTS

COLUMNS

22 Editor’s Note

134 Big Ring

24 Starting Lines

141 On the Run

By Brad Culp

By Mitch Thrower

26 Mail Call 28 Checking In IndusTri; Pro Bike; Reviewed; Fast Food Showdown; Medically Speaking; Kona Q&A; Endurance Conspiracy; Light Read

TRAINING 124 Training Feature: Metabolic Testing

By Ben Greenfield

132 Lane Lines

By Mark Deterline

By Lance Watson and Lucy Smith

145 Speed Lab

By Tim Mickleborough, PhD

149 Tech Support

By christopher kautz

155 Dear Coach

By Paul Huddle and Roch Frey

158 Nutrition Q&A

By Pip Taylor

162 Fundamentals

164 Triathlete’s Garage

By Jay Prasuhn

166 XTERRA Zone

By Melanie McQuaid

168 In English

By Cliff English

170 Ticket Punch

By Samantha McGlone

174 Gear Bag

By brad culp

192 Tinley Talks

By Scott Tinley

178 At the Races

By Ian Murray

By Sara McLarty

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triathletemag.com

may 2009

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features

may 2009 no. 301

On the Cover Cover: Becky Lavelle • Photo by Larry Rosa Becky Lavelle 69 Fast Foods for Racing and Training Own Your Appetite Powder and Pill Overload Qualify for Kona Macca Uncensored

46 Becky Lavelle The short-course veteran opens up about her past, her racing career and losing her sister.

By Matt Fitzgerald

58 2009 Nutrition Guide 72 Managing Your Appetite Feel satisfied without overeating.

By Matt Fitzgerald

77 Super Supplement Me Can editor Brad Culp survive for a week consuming nothing but supplements?

By Brad Culp 16

triathletemag.com

86 Dreaming of Kona Maximize your chances of qualifying for Kona.

By Jim Vance

96 How to Pick the Right Ironman

46 58 72 77 86 112

112 Macca Uncensored The always-candid Chris McCormack talks about his background, doping and the future of triathlon.

By Daniel Hoy

Tips for choosing races that best suit your strengths and goals.

By Paul Regensburg

102 Two Drunk Canadians, One Dumb Journalist and a Hell of a Place Race coverage for Ironman 70.3 Pucon and some unexpected adventures along the way.

By Brad Culp

Correction: In the April issue, page 100, the Blue Triad shown with Zipp wheels and SRAM Red should have a retail price of $7,650. The price listed ($4,400) is for the Triad frame with Ultegra SL and American Classic 420 wheels. For complete pricing info, please visit Rideblue.com. may 2009

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3X Ironman Champion CHRIS LIETO

First Wave 18

triathletemag.com

may 2009

All Downhill From Here Some of the top triathletes in the world share scrapbook photos from their formative years.

may 2009

triathletemag.com

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First Wave 20

triathletemag.com

may 2009

There Is No Off-Season JANOS SCHMIDT/TRIATHLON.ORG The elite field takes off at the ITU Winter Triathlon World Championship in Gaishorn, Austria. The event, held on Feb. 13, consists of running, mountain biking and cross-country skiing. Austria’s Carina Wasle took home the women’s title, while Norway’s Tor Halvor Bjornstad won the men’s race. You can find the race report on page 182.

may 2009

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Editor’s Note

Too Much of What Should Be a Good Thing Nutrition: The word itself has a positive connotation. Healthy foods are deemed “nutritious.” People who teach you to eat better are “nutritionists.” My local grocer has a nutrition aisle full of expensive produce and organic foods. It’s only when you insert the word “sports” in front of “nutrition” that people get nervous.

The sports nutrition and supplement industries have grown fast and its track record isn’t exactly squeaky-clean.

Ephedra was every athlete’s preferred kickin-the-ass before it started killing people.

Halodrol was deemed the “best thing since steroids” until the FDA realized it was a steroid.

Andro turned Mark McGuire into a monster before Major League Baseball realized it should ban it. Not that it has stopped baseball players from popping, injecting or rubbing a vast array of “nutritional supplements” into their bodies.

It was just flaxseed oil, right Barry?

Perhaps I’m a bit rough on the supplement industry. There are plenty of companies out there that just want to make good products that maximize the benefits of training without mutating your genes or making your youknow-whats look like raisins.

Unlike pill and powder producers in the bodybuilding market, manufacturers in the endurance sports world seem to be more responsible. Don’t believe me? Just compare the names of four popular supplements for meatheads versus triathletes: Bodybuilders: Estrogenex, TestoFREAK, Testotolyze, DNAccelerator.

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Triathletes: GU, PowerBar, Gatorade, Recoverite.

Now, I don’t work for the FDA and for all I know, these bodybuilding supplements could be truly nutritious but I’m not comfortable ingesting something that promises to accelerate my DNA—it’s doing just fine on cruise control.

To prove that most supplements in our niche of the market have at least a moderate amount of real nutrition (and because I have a few pounds to lose), I spent a week last month eating only powders and pills frequently used by triathletes.

You can read more about my week of excessive supplementation on page 75.

Also in this issue is our complete nutrition guide for triathletes. If you’re like many other multisporters, and if nailing your nutrition has been your Achilles heel in the past, flip through the guide and find something new.

Don’t force yourself to stomach a gel you hate just because your training partner says it’ll make you faster. Find what works for you and stick with it.

If you have specific questions about your nutrition plan, we’d love to help. You can find pro triathelte and nutritionist Pip Taylor’s column on page 158. Send your nutritional concerns to bculp@competitorgroup.com for Pip to tackle.

On another note, you may notice Triathlete’s makeover. Oliver Baker, our one-man design team, decided it was time to give the mag a more reader-friendly and appealing look. After seeing what he came up with for this issue, I have to agree that we needed a face-lift.

Oliver single-handedly designs more than 200 pages 12 times each year—a huge feat in the magazine world. The next time you’re at a newsstand, check out the masthead on some other magazines. (That’s the list of people to right of this note.) You’ll find a number of mags with half the page count and three times the number of designers or art directors. Few professions get less credit for more hours of work than graphic designers.

So, while you read about me wreaking havoc on my stomach or getting mugged in South America, pay a little extra attention to our revamped design and feel free to share your thoughts. Even if you think the new look is uglier than the offspring of Rosie O’Donnell and Iggy Pop, let us know. We can take the heat. But I think you’ll dig it.

Brad Culp

No. 301 | May 2009 Publisher John Duke Associate Publisher Heather Gordon VP, Event Marketing Sean Watkins Editor Brad Culp, bculp@competitorgroup.com Managing Editor Somyr McLean Perry, sperry@competitorgroup.com Senior Editors Matt Fitzgerald, mfitzgerald@competitorgroup.com Jay Prasuhn, jprasuhn@competitorgroup.com Editorial Intern Ashley Slaney, aslaney@competitorgroup.com Copyeditor Marilyn Iturri Photo Editor John Segesta jsegesta@competitorgroup.com Graphic Designer Oliver Baker, obaker@competitorgroup.com Medical Advisory Board Jordan Metzl, MD; Jeff Sankoff, MD VP, Production/Circulation Heather Gordon, hgordon@competitorgroup.com Senior Account Executive Sean Watkins, Cycling & Events swatkins@competitorgroup.com Senior Account Executive Lisa Bilotti, Nutrition, Apparel, Footwear & Auto lbilotti@competitorgroup.com Marketplace Sales Laura Agcaoili, lagcaoili@competitorgroup.com Ad Manager Deena Hancock, dhancock@competitorgroup.com Ad Coordinator Lisa McGinn, lmcginn@competitorgroup.com Accounting Vicky Trapp, vtrapp@competitorgroup.com Customer Service Linda Marlowe, Linda@pcspublink.com Nancy Pomeroy, Nancy@pcspublink.com Triathlete Magazine Offices 10179 Huennekens Street, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92121 Phone: (858) 768-6805; Fax: (858) 768-6806 Triathlon.competitor.com Attention Retailers: To carry Triathlete in your store, call Retail Vision: (800) 381-1288 SUBSCRIPTIONS: Your satisfaction is important to us. For questions regarding your subscription call (800) 441-1666 or (760) 291-1562. Or, write to: Triathlete, P.O. Box 469055, Escondido, CA 92046.

Or, e-mail: subs@triathletemag.com.

Back Issues available for $8 each. Send a check to Triathlete Magazine Back Issues, 10179 Huennekens Street, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92121 and specify issues requested, or visit Triathlon.competitor.com.

Submission of material must carry the authors’/photographers’ guarantees that the material may be published without additional approval and that it does not infringe upon the rights of others. No responsibility is assumed for loss or damage to unsolicited manuscripts, art work or photographs.

All editorial contributions should be accompanied by selfaddressed, stamped envelopes. Printed in the USA. Triathlete Magazine is a publication of the

David Moross Peter Englehart Scott P. Dickey Steve Gintowt John Duke John Smith Bruce Herring Dan Vaughan David O’Connell Rebecca McKinnon Sean Clottu

Chairman President & CEO Chief Operating Officer/CMO Chief Financial Officer SVP, Group Publisher SVP, National Sales SVP, Events VP, Digital Media VP, Western Region Sales VP, Eastern Region Sales VP, Sales Development

Starting Lines mans only slightly understand. But what we do know is that what we put in our bodies, and our minds affects us deeply, potentially

By Mitch Thrower for generations. We also know these things It’s hard to imagine that everything that are directly guided by our underlying genetic you are and all the genetic knowledge that code—the same code we pass along to our created you once fit inside a tiny zygote—the children. product of the meeting of a sperm and an Imagine the impact of putting mounds of egg. It’s equally hard to imagine that you are fat and cholesterol into your body, triggered now, with all your muscles and emotions by a long-term addiction to fried food. It’s and complexes, just a bigger version of that important for us then to consider our daily molecular life form. diet, dose of exercise and mental stimulation Your DNA code has been around for and consider what is ultimately healthy and quite some time, and what is not. the knowledge inside We competitive that code teaches you multisport souls often among other things how focus on modern sports fast or far you can run. I science scorecards— remember hearing that what scientists might the two most influential call biofeedback—like factors in our training weight, waist size, heart and triathlon perforrate monitors, power mance are, in order, meters and water-resisgenetics and diet. tant stop-watches, but It is exciting and there are many crucial, shocking to know that life-and-death things we are on the edge of going on in our bodies Hopefully, we are mova world where we can which we can neither ing in the right direction see nor directly control. modify our genetic with personal genetic destiny and that of our Our bodies contain triloffspring by actually lions of bacteria, most testing. For example, changing the code. of which make daily life discovering a potential If you have $399 possible and protect us to pay the new biotech risk factor will allow us from an equally dauntcompany 23andme. ing number of microto improve our odds for scopic threats. Our com, you can discover bacterial army saves how your genes influavoiding diseases and ence your health and our lives. We can propincreasing our physical erly feed this molecular physical traits. You can learn and then adjust miracle of ours, or we and mental capacities. your behavior to reduce can destroy it slowly or the odds of developing quickly depending what certain diseases to which you may be geneti- we put in our bodies. cally predisposed. After sending in a genetic We are at a crossroads where scientists sample, researchers can show in great detail can start to modify our genetic code and many of your ancestral traits, genetic inclina- make spectacular inroads to better our lives. tions and vulnerabilities. You can now test But instead of passively waiting for science to for a growing list of more than 90 diseases, rescue us from our weaknesses, we can take conditions and traits and then compare that responsibility for our own diets and have a far to the latest research on how your genes may more dramatic and immediate impact.

Take the right steps now. affect your risk of common diseases and While you might just be on the road to conditions such as heart attack, arthritis and cancer. You can also explore the genetics of another athletic personal best, making good your food preferences and athletic ability. nutritional choices will also help you stay on This morning, I had a bowl of Fiber One track to live your best possible life, perhaps cereal mixed with oatmeal and a big spoonful even altering the genetic destiny of future of peanut butter along with a glass of orange generations.

And remember to skip the bacon. juice. The complex chemical and molecular miracle that turned that into enough energy Train Smart, for my lunchtime run is something we huMitch 24

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may 2009

Illustration by Thomas Kimball

Skip the Bacon

Mail Call and as they grow, abuse is common in the handling of these large, beautiful animals.

I hope to continue to be a faithful reader of your magazine, and I also hope that the magazine will make an effort to understand this issue.

Deborah Koster Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada

The Elephant on the Race Course

I

am an avid reader of Triathlete and have been so for many years. I was recently very disappointed by a photo in your March issue on page 166 with the caption: “Richie Cunningham had the honor of crossing the finish line with an elephant.”

Participating in or condoning the abuse and exploitation of elephants, or any animal, is not an “honor.” In showcasing this photo, Triathlete is contributing to the misguided opinion that it’s acceptable to use animals for entertainment purposes. I hope that you will research the reality of what these animals endure in their everyday lives and make a stand to boycott any further photos from your magazine.

I understand that it is not often thought about, when publishing what appears to be an innocent photo, but I hope the magazine will realize the seriousness of the situation.

“Entertainment animals” often return to their chained existence once the cheering stops, 26

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Editor’s Note: The photo in question was taken at the Laguna Phuket Triathlon in Thailand. We invited the Laguna Phuket Resort Assn., which hosts the race, to respond: “Guests and employees at Laguna Phuket adore the presence of elephants in the resort. They add a magical dimension to a guest’s stay and offer the experience of getting up close with an elephant—an opportunity that most people will never have otherwise.

Elephants are a Thai cultural emblem and are revered by most Thai citizens. Unfortunately, in the wild Thai elephants are under pressure from drought, starvation, poaching and shrinking habitats, and are rapidly becoming an endangered species although they’re not yet protected by the Endangered Species Act. Since the use of elephants in logging became illegal in 1989, there are an abundance of domesticated elephants in Thailand. Many reports and findings demonstrate that large numbers of unemployed domesticated elephants are starving, living in squalid conditions in unhealthy urban environments, and being used to beg for a living in the chaotic streets of Bangkok.

Laguna Phuket provides an alternative, healthier livelihood for young elephants born into captivity. The resort elephants spend about 3 hours a day interacting with guests with much of the rest of their day left to feeding, resting and under the tree-shade of the Resort’s “Elephant trail” or in their private enclosures. Circus-style tricks and performances are discouraged by the resort’s management. Each elephant has their own mahout (handler) who lives with them full time and is responsible for their care, paid for by the Resort.

The manhouts believe that the elephants enjoy their time at the Laguna Phuket Triathlon, including the honor of running the last 50m with the race winners.”

North of North

M

aybe the altitude in Chile got to you, but you missed the mark in your editor’s note “Get [Way the Hell] Out There” (March 2009). While the Big Lake Triathlon is a great event and is indeed well north of San Diego, you’d have to drive another 362 miles north (by Google maps estimate) to Fairbanks, Ala., to find the most northerly tri on earth.

There you’ll find the Sourdough Triathlon, a half-iron event going into its 18th year this summer. It’s only a couple of hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle, so it’s definitely way the hell north!

Jeff Campbell Alaska Triathlon Club

Props to Mr. Potts

I

just wanted to say thanks for the awesome article “My Road to Kona” by Andy Potts (Road to Kona & Clearwater 2009).

I’ve been in the sport since 1994 and went through some rough times last year. I lost my desire for racing and thought I was done.

I am more than motivated to race this year, and Andy’s article reminded my why I participate and will continue to for many years to come.

His quote at the end of the article jumped off the page at me: “Triathlon is more than just a three-sport event. It is a sport that challenges the human mind and body, a sport to be shared with others, a sport that gives back more than it takes from each competitor.”

Thanks for the reminder. Andy is a class act and a phenomenal athlete.

Joe Scalise Waxhaw, N.C.

Editor’s Note: I’m happy to hear Andy’s article got your fire burning. If you like his writing, be sure to check out our next issue (hint, hint).

–Brad Culp

Learning from the Guru of H2O

M

any thanks to Sara McLarty for putting the finishing touches on my swim stroke. For years I have envied the swimmers who seem so effortless in the water. I have worked for more than a year to completely change my stroke to the “pretty” style Sara describes in her February article (Lane Lines, page 100). The “shish kebab” gave me the perfect mental image to incorporate a more animated hip twist, which led to an immediate and dramatic improvement.

Chris Urban Franklin, Tenn. may 2009

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Your posterior will thank you.

INTRODUCING THE

P. R . O . 4 D C H A M O I S

®

© 2009 Pearl Izumi

pearlizumi.com

C h ecki n g I n

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

IndusTRI Pro Bike Reviewed Fast Food Showdown Medically Speaking Kona Q&A Endurance Conspiracy Light Read

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may 2009

WORLD’S FASTEST TIRE Behold the world’s fastest tire—Bontrager’s Race X Lite Aero TT. Faster because of a cutting-edge casing technology that makes it light and supple. Faster because of a superior tread compound that rolls with unmatched efficiency. And faster because of a revolutionary aero wing design that dramatically improves airflow over the tire-rim surface. It’s wind tunnel proven to shed drag, save watts, and roll faster. And it’s so fast, you’ll think it has wings (which, as you know, it does).

BONTRAGER.COM © 2009 TREK BICYCLE CORPORATION

IndusTRI In a few months, Triathlete will feature some of the most inspirational stories from triathletes around the world.

If you have an athlete you’d like to nominate, please submit a 600 to 1,000-word essay on what makes that person an inspiration to you. Please e-mail your submission to triathletemagcontest@ gmail.com. High-resolution photos of the athlete are appreciated. Deadline for submissions is June 1.

Also, we want to see your crib.

If you or someone you know has the ultimate home training center, we’d like to feature it in Triathlete. Please send a snapshot and a brief explanation of what makes the set-up an ultimate tri crib. E-mail submissions to triathletemagcontest@gmail.com.

Deadline for submissions is July 1.

USA Triathlon Announces Inaugural Hall of fame class USA Triathlon is pleased to recognize Verne Scott, Jon Gray Noll, Judy Flannery, Karen Smyers, and Sheila Taormina as the inaugural class of the USAT Hall of Fame.

The selection follows a long process that included nominations by the USAT membership and an arduous screening process of the nominees. The inductees are recognized across four categories: contributors, age-group athletes, pre1999 elite athletes and post-2000 elite athletes. The official induction took place at a banquet on Jan. 17 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“The multisport lifestyle has experienced significant growth across all disciplines over the past few years.

While it would be easy to focus on just the present with an eye to the future, it would be a huge mistake for USAT not to look back and at the very least recognize those outstanding individuals that led us to where we are today,” said USAT Chief Executive Officer Skip Gilbert.

“We are all thankful to this group for having the vision, the dedication and the passion for multisport and their contributions in making our sport and this organization what it is today.”

For more information, visit Usatriathlon.org.

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Announces Tri Club Challenge

This May the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon will roll out the first annual Tri Club Challenge, a competition designed exclusively for triathlon clubs across the U.S. Boasting a course known for blazing times, the Rock ‘n’ Roll will challenge clubs to go all out and will let everyone know who owns the road.

The grand prize: one Escape from Alcatraz entry for 2010. Other prizes include an invitation to guest blog for a day on Triathlon .competitor.com and have your club’s experience documented in the August issue of Triathlete. To further sweeten the deal, the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon is offering all participating clubs discounted race entries.

Think your club is fast? Prove it in San Diego on May 31. For more information, visit Rnrmarathon.com or call 800-311-1255.

NTTC Announces 2009 Sponsors and Pro Team Roster The National Triathlon Training Camp has announced its list of sponsors for 2009 and the roster for its pro team.

The title sponsor, lending its name to the pro team for the fourth consecutive year, is Sport Beans from Jelly Belly.

Sport Beans are candies enriched with electrolytes and vitamins. This year’s pro team features eight athletes who have earned a combined total of 47 wins and 125 top-10 finishes in the last three years.

Along with Sport Beans, four companies have signed on as supporting sponsors of NTTC. Rudy Project USA is the official helmet and eyewear supplier, BlueSeventy will provide wetsuits and Flex-Power will contribute

its pain-relief cream for muscles and joints. Champion System will be the official supplier of general multisport apparel.

The pro team, officially named Team Sport Beans, consists of four team veterans and four newcomers. The roster includes Lauren Jensen, Alexis Smith, Jessica Jacobs and Leah Daugherty for the women and Brian Seng, Jeff Piland, Ben Hoffman and Daniel Bretscher for the men. NTTC also offers a club team for amateur athletes that boasted a roster of 165 athletes in 2008.

For more information about NTTC, visit NTTCracing.com. For more about Sport Beans, visit Sportsbeans.com

Uberman Aims to Be the Fastest Sprint Triathlon Ever Inspired by the popularity of sprint races in track and field, CGI Racing of Glassboro, N.J., will offer the Uberman, a new race designed to be the fastest sprint race in the sport of triathlon. Organizers will gather the 20 fastest male and female pro and elite-level amateur triathletes to compete in this new event that will take place at this year’s New Jersey State Triathlon in Princeton, N.J. CGI has branded the Uberman as “the fastest 15 minutes in triathlon,” and it hopes for blazingly fast swim, bike and run times. Race organizers set the distances for each leg as 25 percent of the

distance of an average sprint triathlon. It features a 200-yard swim, a four-mile bike and a one-mile run. This format also makes the event one of the most spectator-friendly races in the sport, as crowds can see almost the entire course.

Participation in the race is by invitation only, which will be offered based on an applicant’s three fastest times from USAT-sanctioned multisport events. The top male and female finishers will win a $1,500 cash prize.

For more information, visit Cgiracing.com. may 2009

Harry Price

CONTRIBUTE TO TRIATHLETE

C hec king in

Spring 2009

Pro Bike

C hec king in

Saddle Selle San Marcos Aspide

Headset Full Speed Ahead Devolution, 1 1/4”

Frame Kestrel Airfoil Pro SE 54cm (700c)

Aerobar Profile Design CX3; Profile Design Cobra Carbon stem, 80mm; Profile Design QSC brake levers

Fork Kestrel EMS SL, carbon steerer

Hydration Profile Design Karbon Kage

Pedals Xpedo Thrust Titanium

Groupset SRAM Red 10-speed, 11-23 cassette

Crankset SRAM Red, 53/39, 175mm crankarms

Tires Zipp Tangente, 700 x 21mm tubulars

Wheels Zipp ZedTech 900 Disc, ZedTech 404 front

Pip Taylor’s Kestrel Airfoil Pro SE

By Jay Prasuhn

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Jay Prasuhn

The swim has always been the ace in the hole for former ITU pro Pip Taylor, but as she’s segued into the 70.3 distance and non-drafting racing, she’s developed a more balanced arsenal. Her “bridesmaid” season last year, peppered by runner-up finishes at Wildflower, Escape from Alcatraz, the Miami International, IronGirl Las Vegas and 70.3 Austin, was spent aboard a bike that fellow Aussie Chris McCormack helped popularize: the Kestrel Airfoil Pro. The ’09 version features several tubeset shape changes to increase aerodynamics, but it retains that absentee seattube, the bike’s calling card.

may 2009

Reviewed

Xterra Wetsuits Vendetta $700

By Brad Culp

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triathletemag.com

C hec king in If you come from a surfing background, $700 probably seems like an absurd amount to pay for a wetsuit. But triathlon suits in the $500 to $700 range are common.

Following the lead of bike manufacturers, wetsuit makers have invested unprecedented amounts of time and money into research and development, which means the neoprene used for top-end tri wetsuits is considerably more advanced—and more expensive—than what you’ll find at a surf shop.

The price tag and “bubbled” look of the Vendetta caught my eye, so I spent a few months swimming in it to see if a $700 wetsuit could really be worth the price tag.

Note: If you’re a poor college student, no single piece of gear is worth 700 bones.

However, if you’re the type who doesn’t mind forking over a few extra Benjamins and your swim could use a high-tech neoprene boost, read on.

I’ve spent the last two seasons racing in the Xterra Vector Pro X2, which at $550, is Xterra’s second-tier suit. However, for those like me who have a swimming background it may be a better choice.

Relative to the Vendetta, the Vector gives up a bit of buoyancy in favor of flexibility. The Vector is noticeably thinner throughout the shoulders and arms, which helps you maintain the technique you’ve perfected in the pool. It’s ideal for those who grew up swimming in a Speedo and feel constricted by wetsuits.

The Vendetta is on par with many other top-shelf wetsuits in its flexibility, but the real focus of the suit is buoyancy. Xterra has placed tiny air bubbles throughout the front of the suit, and the benefit of these bubbles is noticeable the second you jump in the water.

The Vendetta likes to ride on top of the water. You could tie a cinderblock to it and it might not sink (Do not test this claim). The other highlight of the Vendetta is the use of Yamamoto #40 rubber and Nano-SCS coating.

These materials are the reason for the hefty price tag, but they make for a seriously slick suit. Xterra says the drag coefficient of the Vendetta is 0.020, even lower than the Vector’s 0.026. (The Vector uses Nano-SCS coating with Yamamoto #39 rubber throughout, which is slightly denser than #40.)

The verdict? I’d recommend the Vendetta over the Vector for triathletes who don’t consider themselves fish. While even a $700 suit can’t make up for poor technique, the extra buoyancy and decreased drag can

mitigate a few of the consequences of an inefficient stroke.

Basically, if you find yourself exhausted in T1 after suffering through the swim, the Vendetta is worth a look. Even for more experienced swimmers, the Vendetta is a good option for an Ironman. When you have more than 138 miles of racing left after the swim, efficiency becomes paramount, and the extra buoyancy will help you expend slightly less energy during the swim.

Find out more about the Vendetta at Xterrawetsuits.com

Rocket Science Sports Rocket Skin $400

By Brad Culp

may 2009

Reviewed

C hec king in It was inevitable that someone would debut a full-body speedsuit, but I thought manufacturers would wait a couple of years to gauge the popularity of traditional speedsuits.

Rocket Science Sports jumped the gun this year, developed the Rocket Skin and got the necessary approval from USAT. From a functional standpoint, RSS’s decision to make a full-body suit made sense to me. If speedsuits have less drag than skin, then why not cover as much of the skin as possible?

My concerns before giving the Rocket Skin a test were how quickly it could be removed in T1 and if having skin-tight fabric covering my shoulders would limit my stroke.

So I decided to pit the Rocket Skin against a neck-to-knee speedsuit and a neck-to-calf speedsuit. After getting each suit wet, I did three trials with each suit to get the average time it took to remove the suit completely. For the sake of these trials, I negated the time it took to undo the zipper.

As you probably know, sometimes you get the zipper on your first try and other times you just can’t seem to find the damn rip

may 2009

cord. Here’s what I found: Suit

Average Time

Neck-to-knee Neck-to-calf Rocket Skin

5.56 seconds 6.92 seconds 8.11 seconds

As you can see, there were noticeable differences among the three suits, but we’re talking about tiny numbers here.

Only athletes on the World Cup circuit are concerned with an extra 1.2 seconds in transition.

As for the effect on my stroke, I found one little minus and one big plus in the Rocket Skin. As I expected, having my shoulders covered by a very tight suit did take a little getting used to. But because of the thinness of the material, it didn’t limit my stroke nearly as much as a three- to five-

millimeter wetsuit does. I found it’s best to adjust the suit throughout a warm-up to ensure the seams line up precisely where they’re supposed to run.

The big bonus was the lack of water accumulation within the suit, which can be a problem with traditional speedsuits— especially if you can’t find one with a perfect fit. With the only openings at the neck, wrists and ankles, there’s little chance for water to penetrate the Rocket Skin.

RSS realized that a little leakage is possible, though, so it inserted a mesh-like drainage system along the inner thighs. The benefits of keeping the suit free of water far outweighed anything I lost from the slight decrease in flexibility.

Learn more about the Rocket Skin at Rocketsciencesports.com

triathletemag.com

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Fast-Food Showdown

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

DALLAS 2009

Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal versus Jamba Juice Oatmeal

By Brad Culp

OCTOBER 11, 2009

THE RACE IS ON FOR REGISTRATION. EARLY REGISTRATION ENDS APRIL 15!

Visit usopentriathlon.com. ©2009 LIFE TIME FITNESS, INC. All rights reserved.

Sponsored by:

We had no idea that Jamba Juice had it out for Starbucks. The coffee giant released its Perfect (albeit instant) Oatmeal late last year, and now Jamba Juice has fired back with its own slow-cooked version. As an overly caffeinated health nut, I frequent both places.

After sampling oats from multiple locations of both franchises, I’m ready to declare a winner in the oatmeal war.

Starbucks

Jamba Juice

Price: $2.45 Calories: 140-300 (depending on toppings) Protein: 5 grams Fiber: 4 grams Pros: Given Starbucks’ commitment to fast service, I’m not surprised that it has opted to offer instant oatmeal. It’s an easy way to offer something healthy without slowing down the rest of the operation. It’s a healthy fix on the run and the toppings (dried fruit, nuts, brown sugar) help you forget you’re eating instant oatmeal.

Cons: You really don’t get a whole lot, and as mentioned before, it’s the same instant oatmeal Quaker offers up for roughly 20 cents per serving.

Price: $2.95 Calories: 280-290 Protein: 8 grams Fiber: 6 grams Pros: You get real, slow-cooked, steel-cut oats. This is what people ate before microwaves. The texture is certainly more pleasing, and the toppings (mashed berries, apple-cinnamon mix, fresh bananas with brown sugar) complement the oatmeal better than the addons at Starbucks. Jamba claims the serving size is only one fluid ounce, but the baristas typically scoop in quite a bit more. You definitely get a bigger bowl at Jamba than Starbucks.

Cons: Our only knock against Jamba’s version is that it costs an extra 50 cents, and the baristas at the juicery have way too much energy early in the morning.

The Verdict: Jamba Juice wins a landslide victory.

If Starbucks’ oatmeal is “perfect,” then Jamba’s offering is better than perfect, and I’m not really sure what the word for that is.

(Perfecter?) That said, the idea of paying two or three bucks for a small cup of oats is ridiculous to begin with. Three dollars will buy you a lifetime supply of oats at Costco.

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month 2009

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SIGN UP AND GET TRAINING TIPS FROM THE PROS AT LTFTRIATHLONSERIES.COM

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Medically Speaking

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Intestinal bloating and flatulence:

Battling upset stomach Is Common

By Jeffery Sankoff, MD I frequently hear from triathletes who suffer from gastrointestinal symptoms associated with racing, predominantly during the run. These include gastroesophageal reflux or heartburn; delayed gastric emptying; intestinal bloating and flatulence; and diarrhea.

Although they’re not truly dangerous, these symptoms often impair performance and are more pronounced during longer races and in those who become dehydrated.

Gastroesophageal reflux (GER):

that can result in the reflux of acidic stomach contents into the esophagus.

There are few effective remedies for this problem, although prevention is possible by avoiding the things that are known to relax the lower esophageal sphincter. These include caffeine, alcohol and smoking. Taking chewable antacids or over-the-counter acid-reducing medication may provide some relief. For the most part, exercise-induced GER causes only mild symptoms and is not known to cause any long-term problems.

The esophagus is a muscular tube with a sphincter at the lower end. Normally, contractions of the muscles in the wall of the esophagus ensure that whatever you swallow moves down toward the stomach, while the sphincter then prevents the contents of the stomach from coming back up. During exercise, both of these processes can be impaired by an increase in intra-abdominal pressure

Most triathletes understand the importance of ingesting an adequate amount of fluids, electrolytes and energy sources during prolonged periods of exercise. Unfortunately, not everything that is ingested passes out of the stomach in a timely fashion, an issue that is more pronounced at higher levels of exertion.

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Delayed gastric emptying (DGE):

There are two causes of this problem: swallowing air and ingesting a high concentration of simple sugars. Air ingestion occurs most commonly while swimming. Once in the stomach, air can pass into the intestines. Having significant quantities of air in the bowels causes uncomfortable bloating and cramping. The best way to avoid this problem is to belch to expel any air that you have ingested while swimming.

Your stomach might not completely absorb simple sugars in high concentrations. This too can cause uncomfortable bloating and cramping. The best way to avoid this problem is to minimize the concentration and amount of simple sugars ingested.

Diarrhea: A final common problem that many endurance athletes encounter is diarrhea.

The most common causes of this are related to fluid shifts and decreased absorption.

Drinking large amounts of fluids that contain high concentrations of simple sugars may cause fluid to be drawn from the bloodstream into the intestines. This speeds up intestinal transit, resulting in possibly severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration. Once again, the best preventive measure is to ingest a lower volume of simple-sugar-containing fluids and increase water intake.

Jeffrey Sankoff, MD, is a two-time Ironman triathlete and ER physician at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, Colo. For more information, visit his website at Home.comcast.net/~jsanko20. may 2009

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

This results in a feeling of fullness and bloating and may lead to nausea and vomiting. More importantly, dehydration can ensue when less fluid is delivered to the intestines. As athletes become dehydrated, they experience a further decrease in gastric emptying that can accelerate dehydration.

DGE can have a significant negative impact on athletic performance. Unfortunately, there is no way to completely prevent it, nor is there any rapidly effective treatment. The best preventive measure is to ingest a balance of high- and low-energy fluids (i.e., a mixture of water and sports drinks) to keep the concentration of sugars from getting too high.

Once DGE becomes apparent, the only viable remedy is to decrease exertion to a level below 70 percent of aerobic capacity and avoid high-carb sports drinks in favor of plain water. This response should restore a normal rate of gastric emptying. Once the symptoms have abated, athletes can try raising their level of exertion, paying careful attention to fluid intake.

Argon18 E112 @ TRIBUYS.COM

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For a limited time, email argon18@tribuys.com and be entered to win cool stuff from tribuys.

Your one stop TRI shop

Kona Q&A

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White cycling shorts.

Bad news.

Compression socks.

Bad news again. We’re bad enough running around in our Speedos out there; we don’t need to add knee-high socks. I don’t care if they work or not.

Kidney stone.

Fluke.

Retirement.

I will never use that word.

Real job.

No fun for me. Probably won’t happen.

Third time’s a charm.

Yeah. I think that would be good for me. Third time would be destiny.

Tim DeBoom The two-time Ironman world champion (and Triathlete contributor)

opens up about balance, body image and the things that matter most.

By Holly Bennett

Q:

The recent Boulder fire came uncomfortably close to your house. If you were in a situation where you knew your home would be destroyed, but you had time to save five items, what would they be?

Nicole and I actually talked about that. We were in California during the fire, and people called to see if there was anything we wanted, but nothing stood out. I had Nicole with me; I had my wedding ring with me. Otherwise, there are definitely some photos of our history together that are pretty important, so that’s something I would grab. Also a lockbox with important documents and, of course, my dog. I might grab my computer and maybe a [bike] frame that I won Kona with, but otherwise everything’s replaceable. I’m not very materialistic, so nothing else is that vital.

A:

Q: A:

What are a few of your best—and worst— memories from your Kona victories?

Of course it was a dream come true, winning one and then another, back-toback. But I also look back and see a lot more bad than good, meaning I didn’t appreciate it enough at the time. I remember crossing the finish line and immediately looking toward the next year rather than absorbing that first victory. Also the amount of strain each year—the strain emotionally on me and the strain on my relationship with my wife—the whole year of my life revolved around that race. I feel much more balanced now, and I think I would have raced even better if I had been more balanced then. It’s not the be-all and end-all of life. It’s 40

triathletemag.com

a career goal and an accomplishment, even a career maker, and I certainly have a goal of getting back to that top spot.

Q:

For a while there, you were described as fairly reclusive. More recently, you’ve been talked about as more relaxed, more open. But forget everyone else’s perception of you. If you were writing a personals ad, what would your intro paragraph say?

It would say I’m pretty relaxed and quiet. I keep a lot inside. I’m not one to put it all out there. But I am definitely open to meeting new people. I didn’t used to be at all. I never wanted to know much of what was going on around me. I really kept to myself, conserving every bit of energy for myself, Nicole and the people closest to me. But now I really enjoy interacting with all sorts of new people. Obviously, if you’re not naturally like that, you have to go through something to bring that out. Everything that’s happened in the past few years—career-wise and personally—has gotten me to this point. I’m really enjoying everything much more. I don’t keep my cards as close as I once did.

A:

Q:

As a world-class athlete, you’re obviously supremely fit. But you must have some body image hang-ups. Do you ever think you’re fat? Or maybe too skinny?

In college I went through eating issues like a lot of people. Even as an athlete, I wondered if I should lose some weight. But that goes out the door pretty quickly when you

A:

get to the level where I am now and you want to be successful. You realize if you don’t eat enough, you’re not going to get through your workouts. My big thing right now is trying to eat enough. Whenever I’m not training I’m trying to eat. I’ve never cared at all how I looked; it’s always been performance-oriented. I’ll lift weights and I’ll think about how I need to get more strength in my legs. I’ll stand next to Normann [Stadler] and think, “God, his legs are twice the size of mine!”

Q:

Of all the competitors you’ve known over the years—guys who are currently racing or retired—who would you most like to duke it out with in Kona in 2009?

I’ve been trying to get Pete Reid back in the game this year! He’s been such a great friend and influence, a partner almost, so it would be fun to have him back. If Pete and I could have another duel, even if it was just for a top-five finish—to have it come down to the run again would be cool.

A:

Q: A:

If you could be famous for something besides triathlon, what would you choose?

I’d like to win a Pulitzer for writing. To write something monumental that could touch a lot of people would be a pretty cool accomplishment.

Holly Bennett is a freelance writer and marketing professional in the multisport industry. She was introduced to triathlon in her late 20s, and after cheering raucously from the sidelines for an entire season, boredom got the best of her and she took the plunge—straight into her first swim start, where she immediately hyperventilated. Now, with three Ironman finishes and more than 10 years of racing to her credit, she shamelessly proclaims herself to be a veteran triathlete. may 2009

Don Karle

Word Association

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. The BB30. Nearly a decade after we invented it, the BB30 is now recognized as the industry-leading standard. Seen here on the SuperSix Hi-MOD.

The good fight. cannondale.com

Regaining Momentum

By Tim DeBoom

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C hec king in

You are only as good as your last race. then watched my roommate for the week, It’s a pretty common saying in sports, and Lori Bowden, win as well. I tried to have my I am not sure that it ever rings more true than pity party over by the time Lori got back to to the athlete himself. the room. It was a bonus having her around.

In the spring of 2001 I had momentum. Being grumpy is not allowed when you’re I had been third in Hawaii in 1999 and an with her. unsatisfying second in 2000. I was extremely I was in Australia for two days following motivated and hungry for another opportunity the race. I used those days to refocus and to win on the Big Island. formulate a new strategy for the season. In the My winter training had been ideal. I had world of Ironman racing, you never want to a pre-holiday training camp with Peter Reid, waste an opportunity to improve your fitness. and an early-season race down in Pucon, Chile, I knew that I had to get right back on the showed that I had good form. So I headed horse and pick another race. Soon. Ironman to Australia for the Ironman, my first big California (yes, it used to be a full Ironman) challenge of the year. was in fewer than six weeks. That was the one.

Things did not quite go as planned On the flight home I drew up a training plan there. that would rebuild my fitness and my mental I sat at the pre-race press confer- edge. If I wanted to be ready for Kona in the ence and listened to Normann Stadler, fall, I needed a good race, not only for myself the 2000 Australia winner. He said but also to let my competitors know that what that he was not feeling any pressure happened in Oz was a fluke. because I was there, and I should be After the long overseas flight and an the favorite for the race because I had extra day in Los Angeles because of a spring bested him in Kona the year before. Yet snowstorm in Colorado, I had more than in Normann’s accented, humorous way, enough time to come to terms with what had he told me I should feel the pressure. I happened. I had my plan and was ready to did not, and maybe that was a sign of attack it. What I did not expect was to have problems to come. to convince everyone around me that I was The race started in pouring rain, and ready to get rolling again. My support group upon entering the water, my first thought and sponsors had not been with me. Even my was not about getting out fast or my feel for wife, Nicole, was wondering if I was going to the water. It was, “Uh oh.” I was be okay. Everyone I encountered asked the already warm. same things: I rounded the first buoy and “What happened?”; “Are you alright?”; “Do tugged at the neck of my wetsuit you need to take some time off to recover?” in hopes of cooling myself off. That They saw a chink in the armor that had worked for a few seconds, but I contin- not been there before, and it was not easy to ued to heat up. My wetsuit began to squeeze explain. The best thing I could do was to get me, and my breathing began to accelerate. out there and show them what I knew. I was already back.

The race suddenly became secondary, Fast-forward a month, My support group is and the next thing I and, to make a long story knew, I was on a boat better than ever, and my short, I won that race in with some guys peelCalifornia. It turned out to be outlook is refreshed. ing my wetsuit off my one of the most memorable sweltering body. They told me that when races of my career, racing side-by-side with they opened up the suit, it was almost as if it my brother for eight hours. It also restored exhaled a tremendous amount of heat. My the momentum of my surge toward that first body was literally cooking in there. victory in Hawaii.

I had invested so much, physically and Fast-forward eight years, and I find myself emotionally, in preparing for this race and I going back to Australia. The race will be a step was not ready to be finished after only the first toward another chance at victory in Hawaii 30 minutes of the race. It was very humbling. this fall. If I am only as good as my last race, I went from hoping this would be my first I do not have much to reflect on. step of the year toward victory in Kona to I only raced one triathlon in 2008, but I wondering, “What happened and what should learned more about myself by taking a little I do now?” break. I have made some changes to my apI went to my condo and watched the proach this year, my support group is better than finish line from the balcony. Another tough ever, and my outlook is refreshed as well. There’s moment. I watched Normann win again and something to be said for momentum. may 2009

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

Endurance Conspiracy

YOU’RE FASTER THAN YOU THINK.

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Light Read

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Innovation.

Call Me Lucky V-1000 Xtreme Multi-Sport Goggle

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V-820 Selene Women’s Goggle

Performance.

V-130 Shinari Racing Goggle

Since 1952.

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44

triathletemag.com

I drove to the airport to catch a flight to San Diego for a long-anticipated weekend getaway, only to find that all flights were cancelled due to

By Holly Bennett Southern California coastal fog.

The thing is, when s#*t happens, there’s My finger was bare. I’d been rushing not much you can do except continue onward. through airports all day, lugging baggage The same is certainly true in triathlon racing. to and fro. Finally, I settled in the shuttle There’s little chance that you’ll get through a en route to a rental car when I had a horrid three-sport event without a few bumps along feeling that something was missing—a small the way. Train yourself to deal positively with silver ring engraved with the word “lucky,” a life’s anxious moments, and you’ll be much nickname that a certain special friend gave better equipped for race-day mishaps. Focus me, was gone. on how lucky you are to spend multiple gloriI looked everywhere—through all my ous hours swimming, cycling and running bags, pockets, on the floor of the shuttle. rather than on the minor misfortunes that My ring had obviously slid off of my finger dare you to cry uncle. somewhere in transit. I was discomfited, As for Johnny Gaydar, if he has in fact wondering at the fateful portent of losing my created a credit fiasco in my name, I’ll soon luck, and saddened because of its sentimental find out and repair the damage. Plus, he’s value. But it occurred given me the gift of a to me how surprised Train yourself to deal posi- fabulous faux-foe charsomeone else would acter on whom I can tively with life’s anxious be to stumble upon its pin any future debacles. good fortune. Perhaps Someone totaled my moments, and you’ll be it would be a young and didn’t leave a much better equipped for car girl, heading to her note? Must have been race day mishaps. first ever airplane that rascal, Johnny. ride, whose discovery The camera, comproclaimed her the lucky one. pletely disabled after crashing to the floor, was Life, like sport, will always throw you mysteriously revived after a few days tucked curve balls. The key is to catch them and away in its case—and a harsh jamming of the run rather than wallow on the sidelines in lens back into alignment. And the cancelled paralyzing self-pity. Some circumstances are flight? It gave me an unexpected opportunity simply beyond your control, and there is a for down time at home—time to focus on certain peace in surrendering to those things training, catch up on chores and sleep. that happen for a reason. Last week, all of the It’s not just about turning lemons into following took place in a single day: lemonade. It’s about embracing an attitude I discovered that someone had hacked into that turns said lemons into lemon-drop my online bank account, creating a profile cocktails, complete with a bar full of friends with the user name Johnny Gaydar and the at happy hour and appetizers on the house. e-mail address love_coolhunk@yahoo.com. Life is indeed what you make it, so why not At least my identity bandit had a sense of make it a truly joyful ride? humor.

And as fate would have it, yesterday, as While attempting to take a photo for my blog, I was digging through my bag looking for I dropped my digital camera on a hard tile a pen—the same bag that I had searched floor, smashing the zoom lens into a painfully three times over—a lucky little glint of silver irregular angle, much like a broken leg. caught my eye. month 2009

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In 2008, veteran pro triathlete Becky Lavelle rebounded from the tragic loss of her twin sister Jenny to have her best season of racing.

By Matt Fitzgerald • photos by larry rosa

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may 2009

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O

n the night of Friday, Dec. 17, 2007, Becky Lavelle, now 33, and her professional triathlete husband, Brian, ate dinner with friends at a restaurant near their home in Los Gatos, Calif. During the meal Brian’s cell phone alerted him to a couple of missed calls from Chip Bankston, the husband of Becky’s twin, Jenny. There was nothing too unusual about that, so he merely made a mental note to return the calls the next day.

It was well after 10 o’clock—past 1 a.m. in Birmingham, Ala., where Chip and Jenny lived—when Brian and Becky returned home. Soon after they walked in the door, the home phone rang. The incoming number was the same. Becky answered.

“Becky, it’s Chip,” she heard. “You’d better give the phone to Brian.”

Becky’s body went numb with dread as she obeyed her brother-in-law.

Brian took the phone. Chip told him that Jenny and her newborn son, Graham, had been found shot to death in their home that evening.

“It was one of those out-of-body experiences,” Brian recalls. “Becky was looking at me, knowing something really bad had happened, and 48

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I had to tell her. It was awful.”

Devastated, unable to perform even the simplest functions, Brian and Becky called his parents and asked them to come help them make arrangements to catch a morning flight to Minnesota, where Becky and Jenny had grown up and their parents still lived. While waiting for the flight at San Francisco Airport, Becky received another call and learned that the gun found with the bodies of her sister and nephew had been purchased by Jenny the same day. She had taken the lives of her child and herself while in a severe postpartum depression.

“It was a total shock,” Becky says. “Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back I can see little things that might have been signs. She would cry a little bit more after Graham was born and she struggled a little with breastfeeding, but there was nothing glaringly out there to tell us she was as hurting and depressed as she was. She definitely kept it in.”

No loss could have cut Becky more deeply. The bond between same-gender twins is typically very strong, and Becky and Jenny were no exception. “When they were little they were like sisters,” says Becky’s may 2009

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father, Bob Gibbs, “but when they got to high school they realized they were each other’s best friends. They had a group of 12 friends that was known as The Posse, and Becky and Jenny were the magnets—they were the center of this whole group.”

All three of the Gibbs siblings—Jenny, Becky and their elder brother, Randy, now a coach for the U.S. Nordic Ski Team—were gifted athletes. Becky and Jenny started swimming for the Minneapolis Mach 3 Flyers Swim Club as 7-year-olds. They quickly became two of the best swimmers in the state, but Becky was never the very best until one fateful day in 1988 that her father will never forget.

“When she was about to turn 13,” he recalls, “she was swimming in the State Championships in Rochester, Minn. She was going up against a girl she had never beaten, a state champion who had beaten her five or six times before. In the preliminaries, Becky qualified first with a faster time. We went back to the hotel and we were in the lobby with the parents of another girl on Becky’s team. One of them said, ‘Well, that other girl will probably swim faster tonight.’ And Becky said, ‘She’d better!’ Sure enough, Becky crushed her in the final and never looked back. She was named the best swimmer of the state meet seven years in a row.”

Bob Gibbs was shocked by this unprecedented competitive ferocity from his otherwise almost preternaturally calm daughter, but he got used to it. A sudden mood switch from relaxed to bloodthirsty at the starting horn became a hallmark of her mental approach to racing.

“She just had the eye of the tiger,” Gibbs recalls. “Other coaches would come up to me and say, ‘She looks so sweet, but when she gets in the blocks, she’s a beast!’”

Brian Lavelle sees the same characteristic in his wife today at triathlon starting lines. “My dad says that when she’s standing on the starting line of a race, she looks like she’s standing in line at the movies,” he says. “She’s never stressed. I don’t know how she does it. It makes me crazy sometimes.” The moment she dives into the water, however, Becky is determined not to lose, and because her swim and bike legs are stronger than her run, she races all the more mercilessly in hopes of building an insurmountable lead by the time she reaches T2.

“Becks is a strong woman,” says her friend and rival of 12 years, Laura Bennett. “Her greatest strength lies in the bike. When racing her I realize that her swim will be strong, her run will be solid, but her bike will be lightning. She has proven herself time and time again on the bike and poses a serious challenge that I look forward to every time I race her.”

Upon graduating from Wayzata High School in suburban Minneapolis in 1993, Becky and Jenny took up studies at Louisiana State University, where, despite Jenny’s having won a state high school

“When she’s standing on the starting line of a race, she looks like she’s standing in line at the movies. She’s never stressed.”

–Brian Lavelle 50

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may 2009

E-114 Torbjørn Sindballe

Behind the calm demeanor lurks an iron will. His objective: to be among the foremost triathletes in the world. To achieve this, he has made the necessary sacrifices and has adopted a well-balanced, optimized way of life in the pursuit of uncompromised athletic excellence.

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swimming championship title of her own, only Becky continued to swim competitively. While working her way toward a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, which she received with summa cum laude honors, Becky earned NCAA All-American status 10 times. But before she even completed her second year at LSU, Becky began to tire of swimming and craved a new athletic challenge.

Becky expressed her restlessness to her brother, Randy, while at home in Minnesota between her sophomore and junior years. Randy was dabbling in triathlon and suggested she try it. Becky signed up for a local race that took place on a course that would later be used for the Life Time Fitness Triathlon. She borrowed her dad’s much-too-big bicycle for the race. “I came out of the water in the lead and stayed there for quite a while, which was kind of fun,” she recalls. Becky finished fifth overall and was hungry for more.

After graduating from college in 1998 with a few more triathlons under her belt (including a seventh-place finish in the ITU Age-Group World Championship), Becky moved back to Minnesota and turned pro. “At that time I had no idea that 11 years later I would still be doing this, and doing it for a living,” she says. In fact, it was some time before Becky made a living as a professional triathlete, because race prize money was less plentiful in the late 1990s and she waited a couple of years before aggressively pursuing sponsorships. These efforts were helped by her victory at the U.S. Triathlon Series Championship in Oceanside, Calif., in 1999.

The following year, then-26-year-old Becky Gibbs decided to attend an altitude training camp in Hawaii. Among the two dozen other athletes there was an up-and-coming age-grouper named Brian Lavelle. He vividly recalls the moment he first saw her. “She was on the treadmill doing a VO2max test with a tube in her mouth and her nose plugged and electrodes on her chest,” he says. How romantic!

52

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Although Becky had a boyfriend at the time, the two quickly hit it off.

“What really attracted me to her was her caring, calm, sweet demeanor,” says Brian. “I’m kind of a spaz. We definitely define the ‘opposites attract’ thing, because she’s mellow, calm, anything but type-A. She was attractive to somebody like me who needs to be toned down.”

By the time she left Hawaii, Becky’s days in Minnesota were numbered. It was March and the weather was awful. “In three weeks she managed to get outside to train maybe three times,” her father recalls.

Soon Becky was making plans to move out to California’s Silicon Valley to join Brian. “Initially I came here thinking I would just try it out for a couple of months,” she says. Nine years later, she is happily and inextricably immersed in her fair-weather environment, outdoor lifestyle and partnership with Brian. They were married Dec. 28, 2002.

“We live up in the hills surrounded by redwood trees,” Becky says.

“Town is only five minutes a way, but it feels pretty remote, so we get comfortable here and it sometimes seems like a big deal to go to town.”

Although she confesses that, like any couple, she and her husband do “get on each other’s nerves” sometimes, especially given the amount of time they spend together, she gratefully recognizes that they make a great team.

“We probably do 75 percent of our training together, unless he’s doing an Ironman,” she says. “We do all of our swimming together. We do our weekend long ride and long run together. He’s pretty high-energy and he keeps things light and fun. He makes it fun to work hard.”

Brian feels that he gets just as much out of the arrangement.

“I really can’t imagine going to races by myself,” he says. “It would take a lot of the fun out of it. Traveling with bikes and equipment can be stressful. She does all of the organizing of the trips and keeps everything calm.”

After settling in California, Becky began to work part-time as a may 2009

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There’s a small photograph of the two sisters together taped to the handlebar stem of her bike.

With that kind of inspiration to draw upon it’s a wonder anyone can beat her. personal trainer to help make ends meet, but after the 2003 season she decided to quit the job and focus entirely on qualifying for the 2004 Olympics. “That came back to bite me when I got injured in February of ’04,” Becky says. “Trials were in April. I didn’t go to that race, and I didn’t race at all the entire year. It was a struggle—a huge test of patience.”

More than one injury hobbled Becky that year, but the most debilitating and persistent was a bad case of iliotibial band friction syndrome. Treating it became a full-time job, she says, as she addressed the root cause with strength work and shuttled back and forth between sports medicine specialists for cortisone injections, massage therapists for deep-tissue work and active-release treatments, and a chiropractor for Graston therapy, a technique that involves rubbing the injured area with a metal implement.

Becky eventually recovered, but the dark cloud of her frustrating rehabilitation had a silver lining: It taught her a lot about her body, and she has been able to use this knowledge to avoid injuries and overtraining ever since. “She will never overtrain,” says Brian, “because she’s been doing this for so long, and she’s smart enough to know her body and know when to back off. I’ve never seen her overcook herself.”

Becky confirms, “I’m a big proponent of resting when I need it. I really feel that a rest day is sometimes better than trying to push your body through a workout when you’re tired.”

Her comeback season of 2005 was Becky’s best to that point in her career. She won five races, including the U.S. National Championships and the Chicago Triathlon. The following year she won eight races, and in 2007 she scored one of the biggest wins of her career at the Wildflower Triathlon. By the end of that season, her past injury troubles were but a distant bad memory. Life was good—and then came that horrible phone call from Birmingham.

Recovering from the sudden loss of her sister and nephew was infinitely more difficult for Becky than mending her sore IT band. If Graston therapy was the key to the latter, the creation of Jenny’s Light was the critical therapy that carried Becky through her mourning process.

Jenny’s Light is a foundation that Becky created along with her parents and brother to raise money and awareness of postpartum depression.

Its mission is to improve and save lives by increasing awareness of all perinatal mood disorders, including postpartum depression.

“Jenny’s Light was a big part of the recovery process for me and my parents and brother,” Becky affirms. “Just knowing that we are helping people really helps us. We receive so many e-mails from people who say they wouldn’t have sought help if they hadn’t seen our website. We know we’re making a difference.”

Every charitable foundation talks about raising awareness, but the 54

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cause of helping sufferers of perinatal mood disorders needs awarenessraising more than most. “I had heard about it before but never knew the depth of what it really was, and how common it is—one in seven women suffers from it,” Becky explains. “We thought that if we didn’t know much about it, then probably everyone else didn’t know much about it. We thought it needed to be brought out into the open. These women need to feel that they are not alone and that they can get help, because it’s 100 percent treatable. We just want to stop that type of tragedy from ever happening to anyone else.”

While Jenny and Graham’s deaths initially decimated Becky’s motivation to train and race, triathlon gradually became another tool to help her work through grief. Since she gave up competitive swimming, Jenny had been Becky’s greatest supporter. “Jenny was always making posters and banners and getting kids together to watch her wherever she raced,” recalls Bob Gibbs. Such memories became for Becky the source of a strong desire to return to competition. “I knew that Jenny would have wanted me to go on and continue racing,” she says.

She was no longer the same athlete, however. Becky now had not only the “eye of the tiger” working for her but also a certain detachment that enabled her to race all the more fearlessly. “It changed my whole perspective on life,” she says of her family tragedy. “It made me realize there’s a lot more to life than triathlon. It gave me a new appreciation for being able to do what I do for a living. I put less pressure on myself now. I do the best I can do, and if I race well, that’s great, but if I don’t, it’s no big deal.”

Perhaps somewhat ironically, judging by last year’s performances, Becky’s now being not as concerned about racing well helps her race well.

In 2008 she won two Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series events and the Toyota Cup that is awarded to the overall best performer in the series, and she capped off the year with a third-place finish in the Ironman 70.3 World Championship. But the highlight was her eighth-place finish in the Hy-Vee World Cup in Des Moines, Iowa, which earned her a slot as an alternate on the U.S. Olympic Team. In an interview with the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune after the race, Becky said, “It felt like [Jenny and Graham] were on my shoulder, just pushing me along, telling me to dig deeper. It was like it got easier. I was feeling stronger as I went. It sounds crazy, but it became effortless.”

Becky’s father shares the fact that Becky not only feels Jenny’s presence during races, but she also sees her. There’s a small photograph of the two sisters together taped to the handlebar stem of her bike. With that kind of inspiration to draw upon, “It’s a wonder anyone can beat her,” he says.

For more information about Jenny’s Light, or to make a donation, visit Jennyslight.com. may 2009

I AM A ZONER. EVERYDAY, I eat in the Zone. EVERYDAY, I take Zone Labs’ Omega-3 and Polyphenol antioxidant supplements.

THIS is how I train. THIS is how I race. THIS is how I live.

I AM A ZONER. BECKY LAVELLE, Zoner

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JULIE SWAIL ERTEL, Zoner

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Sarah Haskins, Zoner

2007 ITU World Championship Silver Medal

Dede Griesbauer, Zoner

10th Place, Ironman World Championships

MATT CHRABOT, Zoner

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Olympian and World Champion

©2009. “Zone” and other Zone designations are trademarks and registered trademarks of Dr. Barry Sears

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©2009. “Zone” and other Zone designations are trademarks and registered trademarks of Dr. Barry Sears

2009 TRiATHLON NUTRiTiON GUiDE FOR OUR MOST COMPLETE NUTRITION GUIDE EVER, WE’VE STRIPPED PRODUCTS OF THEIR MARKETING JARGON TO GIVE YOU THE STRAIGHT AND DIRTY OF WHAT IS AND ISN’T IN PRE-, DURING- OR POST-TRAINING SUPPLEMENTS.

BY BRAD CULP AND JAY PRASUHN

F

or true tech-geeks like us, it’s easy to find inspiration to write about super-sexy bikes, as we did for last month’s Bike Buyer’s Guide. Such is not the case when it comes to triathlonspecific nutrition. You can only describe a gel packet in so many ways before you start to wonder if becoming a Wal-Mart greeter would provide more stimulation. So, we’re giving our creativity a month off to provide you a cut-and-dried rundown of triathlon’s most popular bars, gels, shakes and pills. No scientific jargon. No over-adjectified marketing hyperbole. Just the basics of what each product has and what each company left out. While this may not

Energy Bars

Key: *our preferred flavor

First Endurance EFS Bar $1.99 CALORIES: 250 C A R BO H Y D R AT E : 40g PROTEIN: 10g FAT: 6g FLAVOR: peanut butter chocolate chip* EXTRAS: Each bar contains more than 1,000mg of electrolytes per bar, enough to ward off the need for salt tabs.

FIRSTENDURANCE.COM

Perfect Foods Bar $29/box CALORIES: 292 CARBOHYDRATE: 26g PROTEIN: 18g FAT: 15-16g FLAVORS: peanut butter, fruit and nut, carob chip* EXTRAS: The nutritional balance of carbs, healthy fats, protein and vitamins makes it a great bar for pre-or post-training.

PERFECTFOODSBAR.COM

Erin Baker’s Original Breakfast Cookie $1.79 CALORIES: 280-330 CARBOHYDRATE: 4957g PROTEIN: 5-8g 58

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be the best format for airplane reading, we believe you’ll find it more useful when it comes to addressing your specific nutritional needs. Need a protein bar with less fat? Just scan the list and make your pick. Need a less-watery gel? Check out our viscosity rating and find one that suits your palate.

No aspect of triathlon requires as much trial and error as your nutrition program. Many veterans have probably tried every product in this guide. With more variety than ever in each of our seven product categories, there’s something for everyone—even those with the most temperamental tongues and guts.

FAT: 4.5-11g FLAVORS: banana walnut, caramel apple, chocolate chunk raisin, double chocolate chunk, fruit and nut, lemon berry, mocha cappuccino, oatmeal raisin*, peanut butter, peanut butter & jelly, vegan chocolate chunk, vegan peanut butter chocolate chunk EXTRAS: The variety of flavors and fresh-baked texture make these cookies a great option for those who just can’t stand chewy energy bars.

BBCOOKIES.COM

Promax Pure Bars $1.99 CALORIES: 200 C A R BO H Y D R AT E : 26g PROTEIN: 5-7g FAT: 8-11g FLAVORS: chocolate brownie, cherry cashew, wild blueberry, apple cinnamon, orange-cranberry, and chocolate chip trail mix* EXTRAS: Pure Bar is a certified organic raw fruit and nut energy bar with no refined sugar, gluten, soy, trans fats or preservatives.

PROMAXNUTRITION.COM

Bonk Breaker $2.25 CALORIES: 250 CARBOHYDRATE: 235-255 PROTEIN: 8g FAT: 7-9g FLAVORS: Peanut butter & dark chocolate chip, peanut butter & jelly*, peanut

butter & banana EXTRAS: The high-carb bars taste very cookie-like, but contain only all-natural ingredients. They’re also fortified with natural vitamin E. BONKBREAKER.COM

3 Bar $1.50 CALORIES: 210 C A R BO H Y D R AT E : 25g PROTEIN: 12g FAT: 6-8g FLAVORS: cocoa crunch, blueberry blast, tropical tri* EXTRAS: 3 Bars are made with kosher, organic raw ingredients like peanut butter, blueberries, almond butter, dark chocolate and coconut. The nutrient-dense bars are great before training or for meal replacement.

TRI3BAR.COM

Forze GPS $1.99 CALORIES: 160 C A R BO H Y D R AT E : 21g PROTEIN: 8g FAT: 5g FLAVORS: Cranberry nut*, chocolate peanut butter EXTRAS: This is the first weight management bar designed especially for athletes; it contains a proprietary blend of natural ingredients (soy and whey protein, unsaturated fats, calcium) to activate the body’s innate appetite control signal. Forze GPS is also available as a drink.

FORZEGPS.COM may 2009

Trek Natural Energy Bar $1.49

EAS Myoplex Lite Bar $2

CALORIES: 204-239 CARBOHYDRATE: PROTEIN: 11g FAT: 1-8g F L AV O R S : c o c o a brownie, mixed berr y*, peanut and oat EXTRAS: The balance of soy protein (soya crisps), fiber and natural ingredients make it a great daytime snack bar between meals or during long rides.

EATNAKD.COM

CALORIES: 190 CARBOHYDRATE: 25g PROTEIN: 15g FAT: 4.5-6g FLAVORS: cinnamon roll crisp, peanut caramel crisp, chocolate peanut butter crisp*, chocolate-chocolate chip crisp EXTRAS: This bar is a great low-cal option for between-meal snacking.

EAS.COM

Everlast Bar $1.89

Energy Drinks

CALORIES: 160-190 PROTEIN: 14g CARBOHYDRATE: 1922g FAT: 3.5-7g FLAVORS: dark chocolate nut, oatmeal raisin walnut, peanut butter chocolate crunch* EXTRAS: Each bar has a chocolate or peanut butter-dipped bottom and whole-grain top and a balance of protein, fiber (4g), complex carbs and vitamins.

EVERNUTRITION.COM

Clif Bar Minis $13/18ct box CALORIES: 100 C A R BO H Y D R AT E : 18g PROTEIN: 4g FAT: 2g FLAVORS: chocolate brownie, chocolate chip, crunchy peanut butter EXTRAS: Clif offers mini versions of three popular flavors of its original bar for between-meal snacking, short rides or a small bite anytime.

CLIFBAR.COM

Enervit PowerSport Bar $2.25 CALORIES: 226 CARBOHYDRATE: 39g PROTEIN: 11g FAT: 3g FLAVORS: chocolate,* apple EXTRAS: The PowerSport Bar is loaded with vital micronutrients including vitamins B1, B2, B6 and C. ENERVITUSA.COM may 2009

Accelerade Hydro $40 CALORIES: 60 CARBOHYDRATE: 10g PROTEIN: 2.5g SODIUM: 180mg SUGARS: 8g EXTRAS: With its 4-1 ratio of carbohydrate and protein, Accelerade Hydro may increase endurance as much as conventional sports drinks with 55 percent less sugar and 30 percent fewer calories than its competitors.

It’s a great choice for triathletes seeking to optimize their body weight without sacrificing workout performance.

ACCELERADE.COM

SportQuest CarboPro $23 CALORIES: 112 CARBOHYDRATE: 28.5g EXTRAS: This glucose polymer is the one that Peter Reid and Tim DeBoom have sworn by; the flavorless powder mixes into your energy drink to deliver a ton of easy-to-digest complex carbs to replenish muscle glycogen. It’s popular not only for in-race carb intake but also for pre-race carb-loading.

SPORTQUESTDIRECT.COM

First Endurance EFS $22 CALORIES: 96 CARBOHYDRATE: 24g SODIUM: 270mg SUGARS: 16g FLAVORS: lemon-lime, tangerine, fruit punch, grape EXTRAS: Each serving of EFS provides all five electro-

lytes to the tune of more than 1,000mg per serving to prevent muscle cramping. Free amino acids help delay fatigue.

FIRSTENDURANCE.COM

Clif Shot Electrolyte Replacement $22, $1.49/packet CALORIES: 80 SODIUM: 200mg SUGARS: 10g FLAVORS: crisp apple, cran razz, hot apple cider, lemonade EXTRAS: Clif hit upon a uniquely tasty tart/sweet/salty combo throughout its electrolyte drink line, making it a top choice for those who like to taste their drinks when training.

CLIFBAR.COM

Enervit G Sport $20 CALORIES: 60 CARBOHYDRATE: 14g SODIUM: 112.5mg FLAVOR: orange EXTRAS: Fructose-based Enervit G Sport delivers carbohydrates for energy, electrolyte minerals (sodium, potassium, magnesium) to fight cramping and vitamins including niacin, riboflavin and thiamin.

ENERVITUSA.COM

CytoSport Performance $49 CALORIES: 90 CARBOHYDRATE: 22mg SODIUM: 120mg SUGARS: 12g FLAVORS: cool citrus, cranberry grapefruit, fresh apple, go grape, lite lemon ice tea, lite raspberry ice tea, peachy keen, pink lemonade, pomegranate berry, tangy orange, tropical fruit EXTRAS: A longtime mainstay powder (with a fresh apple flavor that we love), CytoSport uses a patented Alpha-L-PolyLactate to buffer acid production in your muscles, reduce the burn during intense training and minimize postexercise muscle soreness.

CYTOSPORT.COM

Elete Electrolyte Add-In $4.99 MAGNESIUM: 45mg SODIUM: 125mg CHLORIDE: 390mg triathletemag.com

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2009 TRiATHLON NUTRiTiON GUiDE POTASSIUM: 130mg EXTRAS: Add a few drops of this electrolyte concentrate to your standard hydration drink to boost its electrolyte capacity without sugar.

ELETEWATER.COM

Xood Endurance CALORIES: 135 CARBOHYDRATE: 30g SODIUM: 105mg PROTEIN: 2.5g SUGARS: 10g FLAVORS: mangosteen, green tea-lemon, pomegranate EXTRAS: Xood contains a 12-1 ratio of carbs to protein to help preserve muscle integrity and function during training. A mix of maltodextrin and fructose provides increased carb absorption, and the necessary electrolytes are included as well.

XOODHEALTH.COM

E Load $44.50 CALORIES: 108 CARBOHYDRATE: 27g SODIUM: 370mg SUGARS: 27g FLAVORS: lemon, strawberry, mandarin orange EXTRAS: E Load uses dextrose as the principal source of carbohydrate and includes 370mg of sodium to ward off cramping MEDIONCORP.COM

Sportquest CarboPro 1200 $13.90 CALORIES: 1,200 per bottle (200 per serving) CARBOHYDRATE: 55g POTASSIUM: 100mg SODIUM: 150mg FLAVORS: orange, wild berry EXTRAS: This immensely caloriedense bottle will get you through an Ironman bike with 200 to 300 calories per hour, as well as 150mg of sodium and 100mg of potassium to replace minerals lost in sweat.

SPORTQUESTDIRECT.COM

Base Water Concentrate $30 STATS? EXTRAS: Added to your energy drink, Water Concentrate restructures purified water into bio-water—the water inside your body’s cells, which helps 60

triathletemag.com

(price is per pack) Key: Viscosity (1=watery gel, 5=honey-like), Flavor Strength (1=very subtle, 5=very intense), *our preferred flavor Chews (calorie and weight totals are for entire pack) Key: Density (1=gummy bear after 5 seconds in the microwave, 5=Juji Fruit-like)

WEIGHT: 41g VISCOSITY: 1 FLAVOR Strength: 3 FLAVORS: double latte, tangerine, raspberry cream, vanilla, plain, green apple, chocolate, strawberrybanana*.

CAFFEINE: 0-50mg EXTRAS: PowerBar adds 200mg of sodium, 20mg of potassium and 90mg of chloride to sustain optimal electrolyte levels.

POWERBAR.COM

First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot $6

Accel Gel $1.67

CALORIES: 400 WEIGHT: 142g (approx.)

VISCOSITY: 2 FLAVOR Strength: 3 FLAVORS: Vanilla* CAFFEINE: 0mg EXTRAS: Each flask has as many calories as four traditional gel packs and also has 1,000mg of amino acids and more than 1,400mg of electrolytes.

FIRSTENDURANCE.COM

CALORIES: 100 WEIGHT: 41g VISCOSITY: 1 FLAVOR Strength: 3 FLAVORS: vanilla, chocolate*, strawberry-kiwi, citrusorange CAFFEINE: 0-20mg EXTRAS: Accel Gel’s patented 4-1 carb-protein ratio was proven to increase endurance by 13 percent compared to the leading gel in a published study.

ACCELSPORT.COM

increase the rate of absorption (by 26 percent according to the manufacturer) and prevents bloating and sloshing of the belly..

BASEPERFORMANCE.COM

Gels & Chews

GU Roctane $2.50 CALORIES: 100 WEIGHT: 32g VISCOSITY: 2 FLAVOR Strength: 4 FLAVORS: blueberry-pomegranate*, vanilla-orange CAFFEINE: 35mg EXTRAS: Roctane is GU’s standard formula with added citrates to speed carbohydrate delivery and histidine to buffer lactic acid.

GUENERGY.COM

GU Energy Gel $1.35 CALORIES: 100 WEIGHT: 32g VISCOSITY: 3 FLAVOR Strength: 4 FLAVORS: vanilla bean, triberry, chocolate outrage, espresso love, just plain*, lemon sublime, orange burst, strawberry-banana and additional seasonal flavors.

CAFFEINE: 0-40mg EXTRAS: A mix of fructose and maltodextrin supports immediate and long-term energy needs.

GUENERGY.COM

PowerBar Gel $1.38

Lava Gel $1.29 CALORIES: 100 WEIGHT: 34g VISCOSITY: 1 FLAVOR Strength: 3 FLAVORS: Kona mocha*, tropical mango, paradise peach CAFFEINE: N/A EXTRAS: The Kona mocha is one of the best-tasting gels out there and each serving provides just over 100mg of electrolytes.

LAVAGEL.COM

Clif Shot $1.25 CALORIES: 100 WEIGHT: 32g VISCOSITY: 5 FLAVOR Strength: 4 FLAVORS: strawberry, mocha, vanilla, double expresso, chocolate, razz, mango*, apple pie CAFFEINE: 0-100mg EXTRAS: The ingredients are 90-percent organic and 100-percent natural. The double expresso has more caffeine than any other gel on the market (100mg).

CLIFBAR.COM

CALORIES: 110 may 2009

2009 TRiATHLON NUTRiTiON GUiDE Honey Stinger Gel $1.39 CALORIES: 112-120 WEIGHT: 36g VISCOSITY: 5 FLAVOR Strength: 5 FLAVORS: gold (honey)*, ginsting, chocolate, strawberry, banana CAFFEINE: 0-32mg EXTRAS: 100 percent of the carbs come from pure honey, which causes less of a spike in blood sugar than most other sugar sources.

HONEYSTINGER.COM

Hammer Gel $1.25 CALORIES: 90 WEIGHT: 36g VISCOSITY: 2 FLAVOR Strength: 3 FLAVORS: apple-cinnamon, banana, orange, raspberry*, tropical, vanilla, unflavored, espresso, chocolate CAFFEINE: 0-50mg EXTRAS: Hammer uses only long-chain maltodextrin, which is absorbed quickly by the stomach.

HAMMERNUTRITION.COM

eLoad Energy Gel $1.50

FLAVORS: orange, strawberry, cranberry-apple, blueberry-pomegranate* CAFFEINE: 0-40mg EXTRAS: The all-new Chomps have the same branchedchain amino acids and histidine that are in the Roctane formula.

GUENERGY.COM

Clif Shot Bloks $2 CALORIES: 180 WEIGHT: 60g DENSITY: 3 FLAVOR Strength: 4 FLAVORS: black cherry, cola, cran-razz*, lemon-lime, margarita, mountain berry, orange, strawberry CAFFEINE: 25-50mg EXTRAS: If you hate swallowing salt tabs, try the margarita flavor, which has 420mg of sodium in each pack.

CLIFBAR.COM

Honey Stinger Organic Energy Chews $1.89

CALORIES: 110 WEIGHT: 43g VISCOSITY: 4 FLAVOR Strength: 2 FLAVORS: tangerine*, green apple CAFFEINE: 0mg EXTRAS: This is the only gel on the market with neutral pH levels, which may reduce the likeliness of stomach discomfort.

MEDIONCORP.COM

CALORIES: 160 WEIGHT: 50g DENSITY: 3 FLAVOR Strength: 3 FLAVORS: fruit smoothie*, cherry blossom, pomegranate CAFFEINE: 0mg EXTRAS: The all-natural chews contain nothing but tapioca syrup and honey, which provide four different carbohydrate sources (glucose, fructose, maltose, surcrose).

HONEYSTINGER.COM

Enervit Enervitene Cheerpack $4.69

Jelly Belly Sport Beans $1

CALORIES: 240 WEIGHT: 120g (approx.)

VISCOSITY: 1 FLAVOR Strength: 3 FLAVORS: original, orange* CAFFEINE: 0mg EXTRAS: Each extra-large pack also contains B vitamins for sustained energy.

ENERVITUSA.COM

CALORIES: 100 WEIGHT: 28g DENSITY: 4 FLAVOR Strength: 5 FLAVORS: fruit punch*, berry blue, cherry, orange, lemonlime, watermelon CAFFEINE: 0-50mg EXTRAS: Each pack also contains 80mg of sodium and 40mg of potassium.

GU Chomps $2.20 CALORIES: 180 WEIGHT: 60g DENSITY: 3 FLAVOR Strength: 4 62

triathletemag.com

Electrolyte Supplements

(nutrition information is per recommended serving) *Chloride totals do not include chloride derived from sodium chloride

Nuun Active Hydration $19.50 (36 effervescent tabs) SODIUM: 360mg POTASSIUM: 100mg CHLORIDE: 0mg MAGNESIUM: 25mg PRICE per serving: $0.36 EXTRAS: Nuun recently released an allnatural effervescent tab in three different flavors (lemon-chai, tangerine-ginger, goji berry-green tea).

NUUN.COM

ZYM Catapult $27 (30 effervescent tabs) SODIUM: 250mg POTASSIUM: 100mg CHLORIDE: 0mg MAGNESIUM: 17mg PRICE per serving: $0.90 EXTRAS: Each tab contains 100mg of caffeine as well as 500mcg of vitamin B-12, which aids in preventing the caffeine from increasing your body temperature. A non-caffeinated version is also available.

GOZYM.COM

Motor Tabs $28 (24 effervescent tabs) SODIUM: 250mg POTASSIUM: 75mg CHLORIDE: 0mg MAGNESIUM: 0mg PRICE per serving: $1.17 EXTRAS: Each tab also delivers 16 grams of carbs (65 calories) and adds a subtle flavor to water.

It’s available in fruit punch, lemon-lime, orange and grape flavors.

MOTORTABS.COM

Zenergize Hydrate $7 (10 effervescent tabs) SODIUM: 370mg POTASSIUM: 50mg CHLORIDE: 0mg MAGNESIUM: 50mg PRICE per serving: $0.70 EXTRAS: Each lemon-lime flavored tablet also has 100 percent of your daily value of eight vitamins and minerals.

BEVOLOGY.COM/ZENERGIZE.HTML may 2009

THE U LT I M AT E E N D U R A N C E SYS T EM

You Deserve the Very Best The First Endurance product line is designed to work together, as a complete endurance system, to maximize endurance and performance. At First Endurance, we integrate the latest clinical research with input from the best triathletes and cyclists in the world.

This collaboration allows our research and development team to continue to push the limits of endurance. See for yourself how the award-winning, critically acclaimed First Endurance system can help take your training and racing to a new level.

firstendurance.com • 866.347.7811

First Endurance Proudly Sponsors:

official supplement sponsor

2009 TRiATHLON NUTRiTiON GUiDE SportQuest Thermolyte $15 (90 caps) SODIUM: 300mg POTASSIUM: 85mg CHLORIDE: 0mg MAGNESIUM: 12mg PRICE per ser ving: $0.34 EXTRAS: Each two-capsule serving also provides a hefty dose of antioxidants and calcium.

SPORTQUESTDIRECT.COM

Succeed S! Caps $10.50 (100 caps) SODIUM: 341mg POTASSIUM: 21mg CHLORIDE: 0mg MAGNESIUM: 0mg PRICE per ser ving: $0.11 EXTRAS: This product boasts a higher sodium concentration than any other salt tab on the market.

SUCCEEDSCAPS.COM

Lava Salts $17 (100 caps) SODIUM: 255mg POTASSIUM: 30mg CHLORIDE: 0mg MAGNESIUM: 10mg PRICE per ser ving: $0.17 EXTRAS: Lava Salts also contain lactic acid buffers such as sodium bicarbonate.

LAVAGEL.COM

MAGNESIUM: 3mg PRICE per ser ving: $0.17 EXTRAS: Each cap contains a small amount of dextrose (206mg) to facilitate sodium absorption.

MEDIONCORP.COM

Enduro Shark Salts $19 (100 caps) SODIUM: 460mg POTASSIUM: 50mg CHLORIDE: 0mg MAGNESIUM: 10mg PRICE per ser ving: $0.19 EXTRAS: Each capsule also contains 20mg of calcium as a lactic acid buffer.

ENDUROSHARK.COM

Salt Stick Caps $20 (100 caps, dispenser not included) SODIUM: 215mg POTASSIUM: 63mg CHLORIDE: 0mg MAGNESIUM: 22mg PRICE per ser ving: $0.20 EXTRAS: The capsules are designed to fit into Salt Stick’s unique dispenser, which can be installed inside many aerobars or onto a bike’s toptube.

SALTSTICK.COM

Recovery Solids

Hammer Endurolytes $20 (120 caps)

Clif Shot Roks $2.49

SODIUM: 40mg POTASSIUM: 25mg CHLORIDE: 60mg MAGNESIUM: 25mg PRICE per ser ving: $0.17 EXTRAS: Each cap contains more than 6mg of vitamin B-6 to support energy levels and 50mg of calcium to help buffer lactic acid.

HAMMERNUTRITION.COM

PROTEIN: 20g per packet CALORIES: 250-260 SUGARS: 23-26g FLAVORS: chocolate, peanut butter, chocolate chip cookie dough.

EXTRAS: A new, highly u n i q u e r e c ove r y product in the Clif line, these small bites consist of a protective shell that prevents them being crushed or melting if they’re in your jersey for post-ride munching.

CLIFBAR.COM

eLoad Zone Caps $20 (120 caps) SODIUM: 51mg POTASSIUM: 14mg CHLORIDE: 0mg 64

triathletemag.com

Promax Storm Bars $2.89 PROTEIN: 26g CALORIES: 330-350

SUGARS: 23g FLAVORS: peanut butter twister, chocolate thunder THE Storm has a proprietar y MR30 (muscle recovery 30) probiotic enzyme system that helps break down protein quickly for fast uptake into muscles after training.

PROMAXNUTRITION.COM

Promax Energy Bars $1.99 PROTEIN: 20g CALORIES: 270 SUGARS: 27g FLAVORS: cookies ‘n’ cream, double fudge brownie, nutty butter crisp, black forest cake, chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate mint, honey peanut, chocolate peanut crunch, lemon bar.

EXTRAS: With nine flavor options, you’ll be hardpressed to find a flavor of this big 75-gram bar that you don’t like. It serves well as a breakfast or meal replacement bar, and ProMax has reformulated the product so that it doesn’t contain high-fructose corn syrup.

PROMAXNUTRITION.COM

Muscle Milk Light Bar $1.79 PROTEIN: 15g CALORIES: 170 SUGARS: 9g FLAVORS: vanilla toffee crunch, chocolate peanut caramel EXTRAS: This low-fat, lactose-free bar not only serves as a great après workout recovery bar, but it serves double duty as a great hunger-control bar between meals.

CYTOSPORT.COM

Recovery Drinks Kona Endurance Super Recovery $50 PROTEIN: 24g CALORIES: 376 CARBOHYDRATES: 70g FLAVORS: Chocolate blast, vanilla shake, fruit punch, pineapple paradise may 2009

2009 TRiATHLON NUTRiTiON GUiDE EXTRAS: A mix of branched-chain amino acids helps prevent muscular catabolism, while 24 grams of whey protein and 70 grams of carbs deliver rapid synthesis of muscle glycogen.

DBMNUTRITION.COM

First Endurance Ultragen $45 PROTEIN: 20g CALORIES 320 SUGARS: 60g FLAVORS: tropical punch, cappuccino, orange creamsicle EXTRAS: Working exclusively with endurance athletes has its benefits. FE not only has a special blend of quick-uptake protein but also contains 60g of glucose (a catalyst for nutrient absorption into the muscles) and 4.5g of branched-chain amino acids to ease digestion and speed up recovery for tomorrow’s training day. Oh, and it mixes with a spoon with no clumping—a rare virtue among recovery drinks.

FIRSTENDURANCE.COM

EAS Myoplex Strength Formula Shake $3.89/ bottle PROTEIN: 25g CALORIES: 210 CARBOHYDRATES: 23g FLAVORS: vanilla cream, chocolate cream, strawberry cream, banana cream EXTRAS: The Strength Formula Shake features a handy re-closeable bottle, but inside is a (nearly) 1-1 ratio of protein (25g) to carbs as well as 22 minerals and vitamins.

EAS.COM

Muscle Milk Light Powder $39 PROTEIN: 25g CALORIES: 195 SUGARS: 2g FLAVORS: banana crème, chocolate caramel swirl, chocolate milk, chocolate mint, cookies ‘n’ crème, crème brulée, dark chocolate, peanut butter chocolate, strawberry banana, strawberries ‘n’ crème, vanilla crème EXTRAS: Aiming to keep you lean while helping your muscles recover from training, Muscle Milk Light has one third the fat and 44 percent fewer calories than original Muscle Milk.

CYTOSPORT.COM 66

triathletemag.com

Designer Whey Protein Blitz $3.99/bottle PROTEIN: 30g CALORIES: 120 CARBOHYDRATES: 1g FLAVORS: orange mango, punch, grape EXTRAS: Built for convenience (i.e., no mixing from a can), these lactose-free single-serving bottles deliver a whopping 30 grams of protein with just one gram of sugar and zero fat—perfect for quick amino acid uptake and muscle repair immediately after that long run or ride.

DESIGNERWHEY.COM

Emend Heat Recovery $36 PROTEIN: 3.8g CALORIES: 75 CARBOHYDRATES: 15g FLAVOR: natural orange EXTRAS: Emend balances its whey protein isolate with dextrose, calcium, magnesium and zinc to aid muscle repair and rehydration, and it adds vitamin C for antioxidant support.

MEDIONCORP.COM

EAS Myoplex $3.89 PROTEIN: 42g CALORIES: 300 SUGARS: 2g FLAVORS: chocolate fudge, French vanilla, strawberry cream, rich dark chocolate, cookies and cream, mocha latte EXTRAS: This is the original that got EAS started. A thick, tasty shake sits ready to drink in your fridge, delivering a massive 42 grams of milk and whey protein as well as calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C and iron and only two grams of sugar.

EAS.COM

Clif Shot Recovery Drink $29, $1.69/ packet PROTEIN: 6g CALORIES: 150 SUGARS: 19g SODIUM 230mg FLAVORS: French vanilla, mango orange, hot chocolate Extras: A mix

between a recovery drink and a rehydration drink, Clif’s recovery drink has immune system-boosting antioxidants packed in with carbs, protein and amino acids for muscle recovery.

CLIFBAR.COM

Forze GPS PROTEIN: 2g CALORIES: 45g SUGARS: 0g SODIUM: 70mg FLAVORS: Chocolate, vanilla EXTRAS: Forze GPS is technically not a recovery drink but a ready-to-drink weight management tool for athletes. With its proprietary blend of protein, natural fats and calcium, Forze GPS is clinically proven to provide as much satiety as a large snack with fewer than 50 calories.

Supplements First Endurance OptygenHP $75 RHODIOLA EXTRACT, 5 PERCENT ROSAVINS: 300mg CORDYCEPS SINESIS: 1000mg BETA-ALANINE: 1,000mg EXTRAS: The secret weapon of top pros from Michael Lovato and Heather Gollnick to the Astana cycling team, OptygenHP contains two active adaptogens—rhodiola and cordyceps— along with the amino acid beta-alanine, which have been shown to increase oxygen use, stress adaptation and anaerobic threshold while reducing lactic acid.

FIRSTENDURANCE.COM

Base Performance Base Amino $50 PROPRIETARY AMINO BLEND: L-valine, LIsoleucine, L-lysene, Ltyrosene, L-tryptophan, L-threonine, L-methionine, L-phenylalanine: 4.5g RHODIOLA rosea, 8 percent rosavins CALORIES: 41 FLAVOR: fruit punch EXTRAS: This flavored powder, taken before, during or after training, delivers nine essential amino acids, speeding up recovery and reducing muscular damage after training, while regular may 2009

2009 TRiATHLON NUTRiTiON GUiDE

mst ppl dnt hv tm 2 rd ads lk ths.

use has been shown to increase the oxygencarrying capacity of the blood, thus increasing high-level performance capability.

BASEPERFORMANCE.COM

Damage Control Master Formula $129/canister 60 packets VITAMIN C: 1000mg VITAMIN B12: 600mcg MAGNESIUM: 400mg EXTRAS: Six tablets per packet pack in 51 ingredients including L-carnatine, alphalipoic acid and a laundry list of vitamins. Damage Control is one of the most comprehensive fullspectrum, multi-vitamin, antioxidant formulas in the sports performance market.

PRIMALNUTRITION.COM

ARX $35 PROPRIETARY BLEND: enoki mushroom, eleuthero extract, reishi mushroom, tangerine extract, cordyceps mushroom. Asian ginseng.

EXTRACT: 1g EXTRAS: ARX is a unique blend of fungal and herbal extracts that increases microcirculation in the muscles, boosting lactate shuttling and the use of lactate as a muscle fuel. A study found that ARX increased lactate clearance by 157 percent compared to a placebo.

FASTERTOMORROW.COM

Kona Endurance Pro $60

all-natural nutrition for your daily decathlon 15 grams of whey protein, antioxidants, 23 vitamins & minerals, and 3 grams of fiber.

You’re busy and pressed for time, yet every event is important. That’s why we created mix1. With up to 4 hours of all-natural, balanced energy, mix1 gets you through your workday, your workout, or any time you need real nutrition. · boulder, colorado · mix1life.com

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RHODIOLA ROSEA: 360mg CORDYCEPS SINESIS: 1200mg EXTRAS: The highaltitude adaptogens rhodiola rosea and cordyceps sinesis have been tested to increase oxygen consumption, energy and endurance. Kona Endurance Pro is 8 percent highly potent cordyceptic acid and introduces its own blend of branched-chain amino acids to help delay fatigue.

DBMNUTRITION.COM

triathletemag.com

mix1_abrv_triathlete.indd 1

Extreme Endurance $35 PROPRIETARY BLEND OF PAPAIN, CATECHINS, MAGNESIUM AND POTASSIUM: 850mg EXTRAS: Extreme Endurance is engineered to reduce lactic acid by buffering hydrogen ions with magnesium and potassium, thus increasing anaerobic threshold and reducing muscle soreness.

XENDURANCE.COM

Base Recovery Activator $35 L-GLUTAMINE: 500mg CODONOPSIS: 60mg ACANTHOPANACIS: 180mg EXTRAS: While the taxation of heavy training can inhibit the absorption of nutrients after training, Recovery Activator uses L-glutamine to help increase the rate of glycogen synthesis and quality of recovery by aiding the digestion and metabolism of nutrients.

BASEPERFORMANCE.COM

Kona Endurance CitraBeta Shot $34 BETA-ALANINE: 1500mg CITRULLINE MALATE 2-1 :700mg EXTRAS: CitraBeta’s active ingredient, citruline malate, has been shown to influence lactic acid metabolism.

DBMNUTRITION.COM

First Endurance MultiV $50 EXTRAS: MultiV has the basics you get in a drug store multivitamin, along with carbogen, a patented enzyme blend that clinical tests show to improve carbohydrate use, increasing time to exhaustion. It also has ferrochel iron, a non-toxic variety that doesn’t interfere with the absorption of other minerals.

FIRSTENDURANCE.COM may 2009

3/2/09 1:57:31 PM

*

*Stem Cap Clip-On System

Benefits

High Profile Option:

Low Profile Option:

Forward Position Option:

RearwardPositionOption:

Need a higher profile position for your Ridley Dean or Cervelo P4 without adding spacers?

Need a lower profile position for your Scott Plasma or Pinarello Montello without cutting off your head tube?

Want your arm rests directly above the bars on your TT or Triathlon bike?

Want your arm rests behind the bars on your Road bike?

A721 or A921 Carbon DoubleOver SCCS (or A720 or A920 Carbon OverOnly SCCS)

A711 or A911 Carbon OverUnder SCCS (or A710 or A910 Carbon UnderOnly SCCS)

A711 or A911 Carbon OverUnder SCCS (or A721 or A921 Carbon DoubleOver SCCS)

A710 or A910 Carbon UnderOnly SCCS (or A720 or A920 Carbon OverOnly SCCS)

get Fit to Fly!

ovalconcepts.com

** Also Eliminates Slipping, Twisting, Scratching, Crushing, Confusing, Limiting, etc.

**

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GREATER ENDURANCE and RECOVERY

By Jane Hahn

Editor, Faster Tomorrow

H

anaerobic glycolysis. However, it actually turns out to How often have we heard, “You are what you eat”? And be one of the most important energy sources for highnobody knows it better than endurance athletes. That’s intensity muscle activity. why we carbo-load on the eve of a race Basically, the old notion that and again in the morning, and why we’re lactic acid is to blame for muscle always on the lookout for the best gel, fatigue has been totally refuted. Now bar, or drink to replenish and rev us that scientists have debunked that up during the race. There’s no quesmyth and proven instead that lactate tion that race-day fueling is imporactually fuels us, the race is on to find tant. But to gain a true advantage, one foods and supplements to ramp up that separates you from the rest of the that process. pack, you have to look equally hard at At the forefront of this is an fueling your workouts—and, in light of all-natural formula called ARX™. emerging research, that goes beyond diet With a unique, proprietary blend of alone. mushroom, eleuthero root, tangerine The best example of this, and one peel, and Asian ginseng root extracts, that holds the biggest promise for ARX efficiently clears lactate and greater endurance and faster recovery, recycles it to provide a constant supply is the most recent news on lactate—or of fuel for your muscles as you perform. what we used to mistakenly refer to as This makes ARX the first of a new lactic acid. Lactate was once thought to generation of endurance and recovery be a worse-than-useless byproduct of Terenzo Bozzone—70.3 World Champion

mmol/dL/min

The Next Generation of NATURAL FUEL for

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supplements. So how did ARX emerge and cause a stir so quickly?

You have to look at where it came from. The company behind ARX is one of the most established and respected in the supplement industry. With ARX, they’re testing the sports nutrition waters—and making quite a splash. ARX has already grabbed the attention of top athletes like triathlete Terenzo Bozzone and marathoner Olympian and former Olympian Michael Aish.

Michael Aish Bozzone states, “For me, the difference between winning and a back seat in the top 10 is how fast I can recover from hard training. The faster I can recover, the more key workouts I can hit in a training block. ARX helps boost my performance and helps speed up my recovery time.

It doesn’t matter if you are 23 or 53, faster recovery translates into results.”

These types of results Rate of Lactate Clearance 4.0 are backed by clinical tri3.5 als. Researchers tested 3.0 2.5 lactate clearance in both 2.0 1.5 cyclists and runners, and 1.0 0.5 heart rate recovery in the 0 runners. In both studies, ARX clearly yields impresHeart Rate Recovery Rate of Lactate Clearance 80 4.0 3.5sive results, as you can see 60 3.0 2.5from this snapshot: 40 2.0 The studies were con1.5 20 1.0 ducted over a 4-week peri0.5 0 0od, with results increasing over that time. This supports Aish’s experience with ARX: “ARX is different. It works.

Not overnight, more of a long-term effect. The kind of thing that you only notice when you look back at your training, and see that you haven’t had any of those really tired days out on the roads, no missed days of training and that you seem to be waking [up] a lot better [in] the mornings after those really long hard training days. Becoming the best was always said to be about working harder than the next guy, but really it’s about recovering faster than that guy so you can get back to the ‘working harder’ part.”

This is also a good indicator of what we can expect with lactate recovery and endurance supplements. The idea is not instant energy, but a steadily growing ability to recover faster and perform better day in and day out. You’d take ARX like you would your multi-nutrient, as part of your total daily routine.

As the landscape of training shifts, and we learn more about tapping into our natural fuel sources, we have the opportunity to set ourselves up for incredible leaps in strength, speed, recovery, and overall performance. And the more we can do it naturally—with whole foods and trustworthy nutritional formulas—the better. ▲

Eat for Endurance

Three nutritional strategies that fuel great training and racing

What you eat before, during, and right after a workout or race is key to going long, staying strong, and recovering fast. Keep these three fueling strategies in mind every time you hit the road.

Fill ’er up.

The ideal time for a full-size pre-workout meal is three to four hours before training. But a smaller meal can be eaten as late as two hours before exercise. Carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are your best choices, as the fiber content of these foods causes them to be absorbed more slowly for longerlasting energy. Adding a little protein or fat to the meal will have the same effect.

Keep the tank topped off.

PL week 2

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ARX week 4

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ARX week 4

beats/min

mmol/dL/min

1000 mg

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Sports drinks, bars, gels, and chews all contain the easyHeartcarbs Rateyou Recovery to-digest need to keep your energy stores high during workouts and races lasting over an hour. Whatever sports energy 60 foods you choose, be sure to consume them at a rate of about 60 40 to 80 grams of carbohydrate per hour from all sources.

80

20 0

Refuel for recovery.

There are four nutrients you should consume ideally within an hour of finishing a workout: water and electrolyte minerals to rehydrate the body, carbohydrates to replenish muscle glycogen stores and prime the immune system, and protein to repair muscle damage and provide the raw materials for tissue adaptations to training.

Try a tuna sandwich, a side salad, and a tall glass of water.

PL week 0

PL week 2

ARX week 0

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ARX week 4

For more sports nutrition tips and training plans, visit fastertomorrow.com and check out our blog or sign up for our free endurance training e-letter.

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Managing Your Appetite

Photos by John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

By Matt Fitzgerald

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triathletemag.com

may 2009

As a general rule, try to eat at least 25 percent of your total calories for the day within an hour of waking up.

A

ppetite is important. It is your body’s built-in mechanism for food intake regulation. Its job is to drive you to eat enough to meet your body’s energy and micronutrient needs, and no more. The appetite mechanism works very well under normal circumstances. Obviously, it never would have survived millions of years of evolutionary testing if it did not work to the benefit of our health. But our modern lifestyle does not constitute normal circumstances in relation to the environment in which most of our evolution took place. Consequently, our appetite cannot be entirely relied upon to ensure that we don’t overeat and get fat.

The crux of the problem is that many modern processed foods, such as cheeseburgers, are far more calorically dense than most natural foods, such as carrots. Consequently, we can eat 500 or even 1,000 calories in just a few minutes when dining on cheeseburgers compared to scarcely 100 calories in the same amount of time when snacking on carrots. Because appetite is not satisfied instantaneously when food is swallowed (there’s a lag time of 10 to 20 minutes), it’s possible to eat far more calories than you need to satisfy your appetite when consuming cheeseburgers and other such foods. In essence, the modern diet does an end run around our appetite control mechanism.

Exercise is a great way to counterbalance this problem. Exercise increases caloric usage more than it increases appetite, so when you work out regularly some of those excess calories from processed foods don’t end up being stored as belly fat. As a triathlete, therefore, you are in a better position to control your body weight than is the average couch potato, despite the manner in which our modern food environment sabotages our appetite control mechanism. However, even most triathletes struggle to reach or maintain a satisfactory body weight, which we may define as a weight that not only makes us look good but that supports optimal triathlon performance as well.

A recent survey of more than 3,000 endurance athletes reported that 54 percent were dissatisfied with their current body weight. Clearly, then, there is a need for triathletes to manage their appetite and avoid excessive caloric intake too. may 2009

Following are five appetite management methods that will enable you to prevent a rumbling stomach from sabotaging your efforts to reach and maintain your optimal racing weight.

Eat a Big Breakfast Research has shown that individuals who eat most of their calories before noon actually eat the fewest total calories over the course of the day. It seems that eating hearty in the morning reduces appetite in the afternoon and evening. In a recent Brazilian study, obese women who ate a large, 610-calorie breakfast every morning lost 21 percent of their body weight over an eight-month period, while obese women on a low-carb, small breakfast diet lost only 4.5 percent of their body weight. The women on the big breakfast diet reported less hunger and fewer cravings throughout the day.

As a general rule, try to consume at least 25 percent of your total calories for the day within an hour of waking up.

Eat Often

A sensible eating Naturally, the longer you go withschedule out eating, the hungrier you become.

7 a.m. — Breakfast Eating frequently throughout the 10 a.m. — Snack day is an effective way to prevent 12 p.m. — Lunch your hunger from becoming extreme.

3 p.m. — Snack Of course, while eating frequently 6 p.m. — Dinner will certainly control your appetite, 8 p.m. — Snack (optional) it will not help you manage your body weight if by eating more often, you actually eat more. But there is scientific evidence to suggest that people naturally tend to eat less when they eat often.

For example, in a 1999 study by a group of South African researchers, a group of obese men were given 33 percent of their normal daily caloric intake on two occasions: once as a single meal and once as six small snacks eaten at hourly intervals. Five and a half hours after the triathletemag.com

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Hunger-Killing Appetizers

Each of these appetizers contains two or more foods with highsatiety nutrients proven to fill you up fast before a main meal.

Spinach and avocado salad

1 cup raw spinach with 1/4 cup diced tomatoes, 1/4 cup diced avocado, and 1 tbsp olive oil-based dressing 142 calories, 15 g fat (2 g sat fat), 5 g fiber, 2.4 g protein

Crackers and cheese

Lentil Soup

Example: Amy’s Organic Lentil Soup, 1 cup 150 calories, 4.5 g fat (0.5 g sat fat), 9 g fiber, 8 g protein

Asparagus with almonds

4 spears steamed asparagus topped with 1/8 cup almond slivers and 1 tsp Parmesan cheese 143 calories, 26 grams fat (7 g sat fat), 6.2 g fiber, 7.5 g protein

initial feeding, the men were then allowed to sit down and eat as much as they chose. They consumed 27 percent fewer calories in that meal, on average, after having eaten the six small snacks.

Eat High-satiety Foods Some foods provide more satiety per calorie than others. The foods that provide the most satiety per calorie are those that contain large amounts of specific nutrients that are known to trigger the body’s hunger control signals more effectively than other nutrients. These high-satiety nutrients include fiber, certain proteins, long-chain fatty acids and possibly calcium.

By including plenty of foods that contain these nutrients in your diet, you will be able to keep your appetite satisfied throughout the day with fewer total calories. Good sources of fiber include fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains. Dairy proteins are among the most satisfying of proteins. Dairy products are also great sources of calcium. Among the richest sources of long-chain fatty acids are macadamia nuts, almonds, peanuts, olive oil, flaxseed oil and other cold-pressed oils.

The best way to include these foods in your diet for appetite management is in the form of small (150 or fewer calories), pre-meal appetizers consumed 10 minutes before lunch or dinner. On this page you will find five suggested appetite-spoiling appetizers packed with high-satiety ingredients. Research has shown that such appetizers reduce the amount of food eaten in a subsequent meal by as much as 20 percent.

In addition to natural foods, there is a growing number of specially formulated weight management products that contain high-satiety nutrients and little else. Among them is a line of bars and drinks marketed specifically to endurance athletes called Forze GPS, which contains all of the high-satiety nutrients listed above. One of several sponsored professional triathletes now using the product is two-time Escape from Alcatraz winner Leanda Cave, who says, “It’s amazing to me that a 50-calorie drink can keep my hunger under control for hours.”

Resist Pressures to Gorge Over the past 30 years, the number of calories in the average American’s diet has increased significantly. This increase is widely believed to 74

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Baked potato french fries with rosemary

Wash and skin potatoes. Cut into 1/2-inch slices. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake 30 to 40 minutes in oven at 450 degrees, turning periodically. Sprinkle with rosemary. Serving size: 1/2 cup.

117 calories, 6.2 g fat (0.9 g sat fat), 0.9 g fiber, 1.2 g protein

have been driven by increases in portion sizes in restaurant menu items and packaged foods that resulted from a substantial decrease in the cost of producing food and competition between food businesses. The combination of this phenomenon and the constant deluge of commercial advertising for food has essentially inflated our appetites—or has created a breach between our physical and social appetites for food. Researchers such as consumer psychologist Brian Wansink of Cornell University have shown that the amount of food we consume is strongly influenced by the accessibility of food, how much food is put in front of us, and social pressure to eat more, including the pressure of commercial advertising.

A perfect example of the last influence is Taco Bell’s invention of the “fourth meal,” a late-night meal of fast food that television viewers are encouraged to add to their daily eating routines.

To reduce the effects of food overabundance on your eating, experts generally recommend that individuals train themselves to pay better attention to the physical signs of appetite, hunger and fullness. The goal is to eat only when physically hungry and, when eating, to eat only until comfortably satisfied, never stuffed. As you get a better sense of how much food you really need to satisfy your physical appetite, you can also train yourself to purchase, prepare, serve and order smaller portions that meet this standard without exceeding it.

Swim Upstream Managing your appetite effectively in today’s environment is like swimming against a current. You must continuously resist a variety of temptations and pressures encouraging you to eat more than your body really needs. But with a little discipline and knowledge, anybody can do it. This is one case where you don’t want to “go with the flow.” may 2009

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Jay Prasuhn

Me I had no doubt it would be possible to survive on only powders and pills for seven days, but two questions remained: How much would it suck? And how badly would my performance suffer after a week without real food?

By Brad Culp may 2009

I cheated.

On day four of my attempt to abstain from real food for a week, I caved in. It was almost 4 a.m., and my stomach was making sounds that really shouldn’t come from an internal organ. They sounded like Grandma’s sausage gravy slowly coming to a boil over a stovetop.

I didn’t really feel that bad, but such a sound is usually a cue that your body is seriously unhappy about how you’re treating it.

Before starting my Super Supplement Me challenge, I donated just about every triathletemag.com

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ounce of food in my apartment to a local food bank. That way, if my self-imposed starvation caused me to sleepwalk my way into the kitchen, there would be nothing but protein powders and flaxseed oil to binge on. Sure, it also felt good to donate, but that was not my primary motive. As I stumbled into my kitchen four nights into the challenge to mix up yet another Muscle Milk shake, I spotted a carton of Yoplait in the back corner of the fridge. I must have missed it when I cleaned out the fridge.

I began salivating like a rabid coyote. Yogurt was the perfect fix to coat my ailing intestines. I tore off the lid, downed the strawberry goodness like a shot of cheap tequila, and scooped out every last bit with my fingers.

“I need help,” I said to myself. Then I crawled back into bed and listened as my insides continued to belt out a disturbing chorus. I still had three more days of this left and a 40K, all-out time trial awaiting me at the end of it.

This whole idea came about as sort of a dare from my coworkers.

I’ve been known to take quite a few more supplements than the rest of the athletes around the office. I don’t think I’m much more excessive than many triathletes in my supplementation habits, though, to say nothing of certain other types of athletes. In college, I got into bodybuilding for a year, and during that time, I met guys who popped more pills than Ozzy Osbourne. Those dudes were excessive. I got heckled for taking only protein, creatine and a multivitamin.

A few months ago, one of my colleagues jokingly remarked that I should try to live off of my powders and pills for a week. Not really considering the consequences, I boldly said that it would be easy. The way I see it, your body is like a fine sports car: It prefers 93 octane, but it won’t break down if you fill it with 87 octane for a week—it’ll just run like a Datsun instead of a Porsche.

As confident as I was, I seemed to skirt the topic whenever I was asked when I was going to start. Giving up real food for a week is much easier said than done. Finally, in mid-February, I went for it. My girlfriend (who is too responsible to ever let me attempt something like this) was out of town for almost a week, which afforded me the perfect opportunity to hole myself up in my apartment and sulk in my self-imposed misery while catching up on the last two seasons of “Lost.”

There was one little problem: Starting the challenge on Feb. 14 meant I would finish on Feb. 20—one day before my first race of the season. After not-so-careful consideration, I reasoned that it was only a 40K TT and it would add an interesting twist to the story. My performance at the time trial would give me a somewhat objective measure of just how much damage I had done.

I made a chart to track my weight, caloric intake, general state of physical well-being, how much I was able to train, my mood and a box for any additional notes. The night before I began my Nutrition sources I allowed Myself Protein powders (whey, casein, soy, etc.)

Meal replacement powders (Enduroplex, Myoplex, Muscle Milk, etc.)

Metamucil (My GI tract would need it.)

Powdered “superfoods” (Emerald Balance, Enduro Shark CRM, etc.)

Powdered milk (It actually makes many powders taste almost OK.) Coffee (I wouldn’t give it up for a week.)

Beer and Bourbon (for the same reason as coffee).

Anything and everything that comes in pill form (flaxseed oil, multivitamins, amino acids, aspirin, you name it).

may 2009

3/4/09

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Jay Prasuhn

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absurd endeavor, I grilled a massive T-bone steak, ate a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and stockpiled enough powders and pills to make it through the week.

Here are the results of my very important experiment:

Day 1: Saturday, Feb. 14 Weight: 171 pounds Caloric Intake: 1,700 Physical Wellbeing (1 = near death, 10 = on par with Crowie): 7 Training: 65-minute, moderate tempo run; 20 minutes of resistance stretching Mood (1 = how I feel at the end of another miserable Chicago Cubs season, 10 = how I’d feel if Ed McMahon came to my door with a giant Publisher’s Clearing House check): 6 Notes: I definitely didn’t get enough calories today, especially considering that I burned more than 1,000 calories during my morning workout. I took about 15 flax oil capsules, which really helped curb my hunger. My head started to hurt a bit by the end of the night.

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Day 2: Sunday, Feb. 15 Weight: 169 pounds Caloric Intake: 2,250 Physical Wellbeing: 7 Training: 90-minute tempo ride, 20-minute transition run Mood: 6 Notes: I was surprised that I didn’t feel much worse today than I did yesterday. The extra calories helped keep my energy levels up until about 5 p.m. Almost 70 percent of my calories came from protein today, which is definitely too much. I need more meal replacement powders, which have more carbs than the straight protein mixes. As long as I keep doing my workouts in the morning, I’ll be able to exercise a little each day. I actually felt pretty good on my ride this morning.

Day 3: Monday, Feb. 16 Weight: 168 pounds Caloric Intake: 2,100 Physical Wellbeing: 5 Training: Slow 52-minute run. Mood: 4 Notes: Today it hit me. I feel like hell. I took a two-minute walk break in the middle of my run this morning because I felt like I was going to pass out. My blood pressure feels strangely low.

I’ve been getting light-headed if I stand up quickly. Hopefully it’s just because my hydration is out of whack. I’ll take in some extra salt tabs and water tomorrow. The lone bright spot of the day was that I never really felt hungry at all. I think my body has given up, and hopefully it’ll just bear with me for four more days.

My stomach is a bit more vocal than I’m comfortable with, but I suppose that’s just an effect of the absurd amount of Metamucil I’ve been consuming.

Day 4: Tuesday, Feb. 17 Weight: 166 pounds Caloric Intake: 1,900 Physical Wellbeing: 3 Training: None Mood: 2 Notes: Everyone who told me this was a horrible idea (which was may 2009

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just about everyone I know) was right. My energy levels suck and I feel a bit out of it, but my biggest problem is the stomach discomfort—by far. It’s not much of a problem when I’m sitting down, but the minute I try to do something more taxing than lifting the remote control, it begins making odd noises and I feel nauseous. I broke down last night and had 90 calories worth of strawberry yogurt. I thought a little real food might help settle my stomach, but it didn’t. This sucks. If my stomach feels like this on Saturday, there will be no time trial for me.

Day 5: Wednesday, Feb. 18 Weight: 165 pounds Caloric Intake: 2,600 Physical Wellbeing: 5 Training: 45-minute indoor spin (moderate), 32-minute treadmill run (easy) Mood: 6 Notes: Just like Lance, I’m making a comeback. I wasn’t up for exercising in the morning, but I was able to get in a late-afternoon nap and a quick workout afterward. I had a double-strength Muscle Milk shake before I napped and I think that helped my energy levels once I woke up. I decided to cut back on the coffee today, since I figured the extra caffeine wasn’t helping my stomach do what it’s supposed to do. I found a protein powder called “100% Natural Oats N’ Whey” at my local vitamin shop, and I think it’ll help me get through the last two days (and the TT). It has real oats blended into the protein, which will give me some much-needed complex carbs and dietary fiber. I think if I rotate that with Myoplex and Muscle Milk, both of which have a bit of fat, I’ll have enough carbs and fat to get through this. Lord knows I’ve had enough protein.

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Day 6: Thursday, Feb. 19 Weight: 166 pounds Caloric Intake: 2,400 Physical Wellbeing: 4 Training: 80-minute plyometric/core workout at the gym Mood: 4 Notes: I was shocked to see that my weight was up one pound from yesterday morning. I think it’s because I drank 600 calories of Muscle Milk just before I went to bed. I felt absolutely horrible for most of today, but I think a lot of that has to do with this morning’s workout. A high-intensity anaerobic workout was a terrible idea. The workout ramped up my metabolism, and no amount of shakes and pills could satiate my stomach. I probably had the least productive day of my life at work because I spent most of the day thinking about food. It really didn’t help that the folks at Baker’s Breakfast Cookies sent an enormous care package of cookies and granola to the office. It also didn’t help that my coworkers found it necessary to gorge themselves with granola and tell me how good it was between chews. I stashed a bag of peanut butter granola and I plan to eat the entire thing before the ride on Saturday.

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Day 7: Friday, Feb. 20 Weight: 164 pounds Caloric Intake: 2,700 Physical Wellbeing: 2 Training: 40-minute open-water swim (easy) Mood: 3 Notes: Why the hell did I even attempt swimming in the Pacific this morning? I must have looked like a wounded sea lion trying to make its way through the surf. Thank God the sharks didn’t take notice. What worries me the most is that my heart rate monitor said I was almost at threshold even though I was hardly moving. I think that was my body’s way of saying, “Please stop now.” What’s funny is that I look like I’m in the best shape of my life. This is the lightest I’ve been in five years, although I know most of what I’ve lost has been straight water. I have more veins bulging out may 2009

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of my skin than Normann Stadler, but I definitely don’t feel like a two-time Kona champ. I’d have trouble running around the block right now. As soon as midnight strikes and the challenge is officially over, I plan to down a couple bowls of granola.

Hopefully that’ll give my depleted muscles something to run on at tomorrow’s ride. If I wait until tomorrow morning to eat, the race will be over before my body can process the carbs.

The Consequence: Saturday, Feb. 21, 40K Time Trial.

My original plan was to race the Tritonman Sprint Triathlon on the day after my challenge was over, but after injuring my shoulder the week before this ridiculous challenge, swimming was out of the question. So I opted to do a makeshift 40K race that a few locals put together to cater to those who weren’t ready to swim in the Pacific in February. (It’s damn cold.)

It was a course that I’m quite familiar with. It’s flat, smooth, fast and completely shielded from traffic. There are a lot of turns throughout each of the four laps, but other than that, it’s made for a PR. Last fall I finished another 40K “race” in 56:40 (26.05 mph) on the very same course—the fastest 40K of my life. Before starving myself for a week, I felt that I was in similar physical shape as when I set that personal best.

I wasn’t shooting for anything close to a PR this time around.

However, as I started my ride, I felt that I wouldn’t be too far off. I made it through the halfway point in 28:38 (25.4 mph), so finishing in less than an hour was well within reach.

Apparently, my body thought otherwise. Twenty kilometers was all it had on this day. My pace sank below 24 mph on the third lap and down to 22 mph on the final stretch. I finished in 1:01:12 (24.52 mph overall average), and immediately looked for a nice patch of grass on which to take a nap.

While losing only 1.53 mph may not seem like a dramatic decline, my fatigue after the race let me know that the human body definitely prefers solid foods.

Lessons Learned If you’ve waited until now for the take-home message from all of this, you’ll be sorely disappointed. I won’t lie—I didn’t really learn anything.

I went into the experiment knowing that it was a horrible idea, and I got exactly what I expected. There’s a reason powders and pills are considered dietary supplements and not staples.

In moderation, they have their place in every serious athlete’s diet. In excess, they have absolutely no use—save for causing intense gastrointestinal discomfort and stark decreases in performance.

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Jay Prasuhn

93 • 94 • 96 • 98 • 99 • 00 • 01 • 02 • 03 • 04 • 05 • 06 • 08 Craig Alexander Photo by Robert Murphy | All Photos Show Options

may 2009

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The Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, has become more than a race. It’s become an icon and a metaphor for life, for the eternal struggles of man versus man and man versus nature. The difficulty in getting to even participate in this elite-level race just adds to the mystique. The abrasive lava and silent desolation of the Queen K Highway provide the challenge of a lifetime.

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Perhaps this is why so many athletes continue to dream of dipping into the warm waters of Kailua Bay on that famous Saturday in October.

Many athletes will set out this season with the goal of making this dream a reality, but it can only happen for a select few. Can it happen for you? What does it really take to qualify for Kona if you are racing in North America? Based on your division, which traditional North American race will give you the best chance to qualify?

The best method to determine future qualification requirements is to measure the performance results that yielded qualification in the past. In reviewing past results you should look at only the past three events for each race because courses frequently change and new ones are introduced each year. Also, the past few seasons have seen added rules that affect the outcomes, such as penalty tents and draft zones. may 2009

Dreaming of Kona

BY JIM VANCE • PHOTOS BY JOHN SEGESTA/johnsegesta.com

In the accompanying charts, you can see the trends that have set the performance standards to qualify at each race. Below are answers to some questions that athletes may have. can Simply Showing up and finiShing the race qualify you? It is possible at certain events if you are in the upper age divisions (age 60 and higher). The charts show the events at which this may be possible, but athletes should also recognize the challenges of these courses to give themselves the best chance of finishing. what are the chanceS that i could get a roll-down Slot if i don’t finiSh in an automatic qualifying poSition? Perhaps the most important chart for qualification is the one titled, “Average Last Place may 2009

to Qualify in Each Age Group.” In this chart, the average final place that received and accepted a qualifying slot for Kona is listed for the past three years of each event. Though the opportunity for an athlete to qualify at or near this place is not guaranteed, this value shows the likelihood of a roll-down at that event. iS my age group helping me or hurting me? Does it help to have a few really fast athletes in front of me in my age group? The number of slots given to each age group is based on the number of athletes in your age group, not the quality of the athletes. If you are in the deepest and most challenging division, you are accordingly offered the most slots. This also gives you a greater opportunity to benefit from the roll-down of slots. triathletemag.com

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The one benefit of having very fast athletes in your division is that some may have already qualified and therefore don’t need to accept the slot they may earn, creating a greater roll-down opportunity for other athletes.

Based on these charts, an athlete would be wise to choose the races where, according to the data, he or she would have the best chance of qualifying. Obviously, if an athlete is in the 30- to 49-year age groups, he or she should attend the races showing the largest number of slots available to them, which often coincide with the races where other age groups are not as well represented. Within this subset of events, the race that has the greatest roll-down on average would make that race the most likely opportunity to win a slot, with all other things being equal.

Some of the charts list 0.33 slots offered on average. How can only 0.33 of a slot be offered or accepted? The 0.33 is the average for the past three years, meaning that, in total, only one slot has been accepted in the past three years. 0.67 would mean that two total slots were accepted in the past three years.

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Which race gives the pros the best chance of qualifying?

Ironman Canada has the greatest roll-down among the pro fields, with the men’s slot going to 15th and the women’s going to almost 12th place on average.

As stockbrokers and financial planners always say about investing in the stock market, so it can be said about Ironman qualifying: Past results do not guarantee future results or performance requirements. Plenty of athletes may exceed these standards and still not qualify. Triathlon is an ever-growing, ever-developing sport, and with a growing pool of athletes competing in Ironman races, in addition to improvements in training methods and technologies, these performance standards will likely get tougher in coming seasons.

If you’re on the edge of qualifying, now you have the tools to give yourself the best statistical chance of qualifying for Kona and making the dream a reality.

—See pages 90-94 for charts.

Jim Vance is an elite coach for TrainingBible Coaching and a professional triathlete. You can e-mail him at jvance@trainingbible.com or visit his blog at CoachVance.blogspot.com. may 2009

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Average Number of Slots per Age Group for Last Three Events Age Group

IMCDA

IMLP

IMC

IMWI

IMFL

IMAZ

M18-24 2

2

1

2.67

1.67

2.33

M25-29 4.67

4.33

3.33

4.67

3.67

M30-34 7.33

7.33

6

7.33

6.67

M35-39 11

10.67

8.67

10.33

M40-44 9.67

10

8.67

8.33

M45-49 6.33

7

7

M50-54 4

4

5

M55-59 2.33

2

M60-64 1

1

M65-69 1 M70-74 0.33 M75-79 0 MPRO 4.33 90

IMLP

IMC

IMWI

IMFL

IMAZ

W18-24 1

1

1

1.33

1

1

4.33

W25-29 3

3

2.67

3

2.33

2

7.67

W30-34 4.33

4

4.33

3.33

3.33

3.33

10.67

11.33

W35-39 4.33

3.33

4.33

3.33

3.67

4.33

10

10

W40-44 4.33

3.33

4.33

3

3.33

3.67

6.33

7

7

W45-49 2.67

3.67

3.67

2

2.67

2.67

3.67

4.67

3.67

W50-54 1.33

1.67

2.67

1.33

1.33

1.33

3

2

2

2

W55-59 1

1

1

1

1

1

2

1

1.33

1

W60-64 0.33

0.67

0.67

0.67

1

0.67

1

1

1

1

1

W65-69 0

0.33

0

0

0.33

0.33

0.33

0.67

0.33

0.67

1

W70-74 0

0

0

0

0

0

0.33

0.67

0.33

0.33

1

W75-79 0

0

0

0

0

0

4.67

5

4.67

4.67

5

3.33

3

2.67

3

3

triathletemag.com

Age Group

IMCDA

WPRO 3.67

may 2009

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Average Last Place to Qualify per Age Group for Last Three Events Age Group

IMCDA

IMLP

IMC

IMWI

IMFL

IMAZ

M18-24 3

3

1

3

1.67

2.67

M25-29 6.33

5.67

4.33

3.33

3.67

M30-34 8.67

10.33

9.33

8.33

7.67

M35-39 15.33

12.33

15.67

11.67

M40-44 17

16.67

12.67

10

M45-49 6.67

10.67

15.33

M50-54 6

8

8.33

M55-59 3.33

2.33

M60-64 1.33

1.33

M65-69 1.67 M70-74 1 M75-79 0 MPRO 7.33 92

IMLP

IMC

IMWI

IMFL

IMAZ

W18-24 1

1.33

1

2

1

1

7.33

W25-29 5

4.33

5.33

3.67

2.67

2.33

9

W30-34 5.67

4.67

5.67

3.33

3.67

3.33

13

11.67

W35-39 5

5.33

5

4

4.67

4.33

10.67

10.67

W40-44 8

8

6.33

3

3.67

4.33

7.67

8

10.33

W45-49 3.67

4.67

6.33

2

3.67

2.67

3.67

5.33

4

W50-54 2

2

6.67

2

3.33

2.33

7

2

2

2.33

W55-59 1.33

1.67

2

1

1

1.33

4.33

1.67

1.33

1

W60-64 1

1

1

1

1

1

1

3.33

1.67

1

1

W65-69 0

1

0

0

1

1

1

1.67

1

1

1.67

W70-74 0

0

0

0

NA

NA

W75-79 0

0

0

0

NA

NA

4.33

11.67

3

11.3

5

1

1

1

1

1

8

15

5.33

5.33

7.67

triathletemag.com

Age Group

IMCDA

WPRO 6.67

may 2009

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Average Qualifying Time per Age Group for Last Three Events Age Group

IMCDA*

IMLP

IMC

IMWI

IMFL

IMAZ

M18-24 10:01:52

10:32:51

10:06:07

9:48:44

9:15:44

10:13:04

M25-29 9:45:11

9:55:25

9:45:15

9:52:41

9:11:49

9:37:49

M30-34 9:55:48

9:54:17

9:49:56

9:52:53

9:13:05

9:42:18

M35-39 10:00:22

9:58:02

9:54:56

9:56:28

9:24:37

9:44:20

M40-44 10:07:18

10:07:25

10:03:39

10:11:23

9:26:19

9:54:09

M45-49 10:19:22

10:30:58

10:25:07

10:27:27

9:49:05

10:06:57

M50-54 10:50:22

10:58:28

10:51:23

10:41:17

9:59:11

10:25:44

M55-59 11:14:49

11:35:21

11:16:22

11:13:41

10:19:47

11:03:40

M60-64 12:11:16

12:59:42

12:14:30

12:15:14

11:09:23

11:46:02

M65-69 16:25:48

13:10:30

13:11:17

13:42:22

12:33:03

13:23:10

M70-74 14:07:43

13:22:39

14:46:15

14:15:13

13:27:25

15:08:46

M75-79 16:12:17

16:12:17

15:44:42

16:56:35

15:44:29

16:02:38

MPRO 9:01:42

9:07:02

9:04:19

9:08:52

8:27:24

8:35:58

W18-24 11:06:55

11:33:42

10:48:25

11:36:13

10:31:20

10:57:36

W25-29 11:05:58

10:48:46

10:42:47

11:00:29

10:18:51

10:41:32

W30-34 10:46:37

10:48:02

10:44:47

11:00:29

10:22:14

10:35:18

W35-39 10:50:59

11:02:18

10:47:08

11:13:10

10:26:33

10:48:05

W40-44 11:14:52

11:06:43

10:55:03

11:05:19

10:25:16

11:06:03

W45-49 11:41:22

11:29:44

11:27:53

11:23:05

10:47:32

11:24:22

W50-54 12:05:20

11:50:32

12:15:02

12:42:19

10:46:46

11:48:28

W55-59 14:04:26

12:58:09

13:21:54

13:13:08

12:43:26

13:02:17

W60-64 15:47:00

14:43:21

14:37:36

15:37:48

13:28:17

12:44:20

W65-69 NA

13:38:22

NA

NA

16:55:43

15:29:57

W70-74 NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

W75-79 NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

10:08:45

10:37:29

9:57:44

9:38:33

9:44:40

WPRO 9:56:56

* Due to major course change, times are only from the past two events triathletemag.com

may 2009

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How To

pick the right irOnman

BY PAUL REGENSBURG

96

triathletemag.com

may 2009

Over the past five years, the popularity of Ironman has exploded throughout North America, and to meet the demand, races have been added and registration limits expanded, with many races now accepting more than 2,500 participants. Even with this increased level of opportunity to race, the events sell out within a week, so selecting the event you would like to enter is a process that should be completed a year in advance. Many of the races offer incumbent participants first dibs on the next year’s event, but after that it’s first come, first serve—so plan well and be prepared for next year’s registration immediately after this year’s event.

Selecting the right Ironman depends upon your goals and individual strengths. Goals can include finishing your first Ironman while still feeling good, setting a personal record, being competitive in your age group, qualifying for Kona or maybe even just making the time cutoffs. Factors that you should consider include when the race takes place, geographical location, the course terrain for each discipline, the possibility of a fast race, climate and the opportunity to qualify for Hawaii. With the exception of the last one, these factors are relevant not only to selecting an Ironman but can be used to select almost any triathlon event that is important to you.

1.Time of Year The calendar plays a very important role in planning key events, and with races running from June to November, you can certainly find one that works with your schedule. A successful Ironman requires a significant amount of advance training and preparation time. In many parts of North America, it is difficult to train outdoors in the winter because of weather conditions and the lack of daylight, making an early-season Ironman difficult to pull off. If your key event is one single Ironman for the season, a mid- to late-summer event is a wise choice because it allows for ample training and for participation in other key preparatory events, such as 70.3 races and training camps at the race site.

A fall Ironman event allows for even more preparation, although as the summer ends you will begin to see shorter and cooler days again and there is the possibility of burnout. If you are planning to do two Ironman events, a spring and a fall Ironman can be a good combination because this choice allows for a recovery period and some down time in the summer. If your goal is Hawaii and you have already qualified, history has demonstrated that an early Ironman is the best way to prepare, as it affords a generous recovery period and opportunity to implement a good buildup to the big race. Lifestyle, work and family matters should all be considered as well when selecting the time of year that you will race.

2. Location The geographical location of your Ironman can be an important factor in your decision for many reasons. Because an Ironman is a significant life event, the area in which you race is a large part of the overall experience. Factors such as the beauty of the area and the course along with the community spirit can make for a wonderful race journey.

The ease and cost of getting to the race can also be factors. Is the area conducive to taking your spouse or family? Are there activities available for them outside of the race? Can you go for a short vacation afterward in that area, having covered the expense of getting there?

Also, consider familiarity versus newness. Some athletes like to return to a race and a community that they know and enjoy, while others want to see and experience as many new places and different race environments as they can.

3. PR Course Photos by John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

If you are interested in setting a personal record time or ensuring a better chance of finishing strong, selecting a fast course is critical.

An athlete’s finishing time may vary by as much as an hour depending upon the race chosen. Courses that feature calm swims, few hills on the bike and run, moderate weather and looping routes will generally be faster and easier to complete. And like it or not, with the number of athletes being allowed into Ironman events that feature flat or looping courses, ample drafting is almost unavoidable, resulting in very fast splits on the bike. may 2009

triathletemag.com

97

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

4. Hawaii Qualifying Potential

6. Courses for Strong Cyclists

Competing at the Hawaii Ironman World Championships is the dream of many endurance athletes. If it is your goal too selecting races that suit your strengths and present more opportunities to qualify is good plan. The Ironman events that take place after August are qualifiers for the Hawaii Ironman in the following calendar year, so these races tend to be less competitive because the top athletes are generally focused on the current year’s Hawaii race. However, there are fewer opportunities for a roll-down spot (a spot available because an athlete has forfeited it or already has a spot from another race, so it is offered to the next-highest finisher in that age group) because participants rarely give up their Hawaii spots for the coming year.

Marc Roy of Sportstats, who normally runs the roll-down procedure, said, “Wisconsin, Florida and Arizona have hardly any roll-down since they are so early in the qualifying process for the next year. By Coeur d’Alene and Lake Placid there can be two to three spots per category that will roll down because some of the top 10 have already qualified at other events. There can be even more available by Canada and Louisville.”

The cycling course can often make or break an athlete’s race. If you are stronger on the bike and do not like drafting, then select a course with mountain passes or longer climbs (Canada or Lake Placid) or courses with relentless rollers (Coeur d’Alene or Wisconsin).

Courses like Arizona can be deceptively challenging because they are normally susceptible to strong winds, but with three laps, drafting is inevitable. If you are just looking for a fast bike split, look no further than Ironman Florida.

5. Courses for Strong Swimmers Most of the North American Ironman events feature easy to moderate swim courses. If you are a strong swimmer, look for courses that are more challenging, with features like non-wetsuit swims, surf, currents, colder water and tight starting areas. This will give you a greater advantage over your competitors. Most North American races will normally be wetsuit swims, with the exception of Louisville. Surf and currents can be found in Florida and Louisville, and if you want a colder swim, consider Coeur d’Alene.

98

triathletemag.com

7. Courses for Strong Runners If running is your forté, a course with sharp or rolling hills (Canada and Lake Placid) can be an advantage because these courses really take a toll on lesser runners. The legs are particularly fatigued and beaten up after 112 miles on the bike, and the cycling muscles tend to be more engaged on a hillier run, stressing them even more. The more able you are to manage these challenges with good running form and fitness, the more likely you are to be stronger relative to your competition. Keep in mind, too, that looping courses tend to be easier and faster, yielding less of a disparity between stronger and weaker runners.

8. Courses for Heat Lovers The air temperature and humidity in North American Ironmans can vary wildly from year to year. Coeur d’Alene, Canada and Wisconsin have all seen races near 100 F, but they are normally relatively moderate.

Florida seems to have a very good racing temperature each year but can start off very cool (40s to 50s) in the morning. Arizona, with its move to late November, is now more likely to bring reasonable temperatures. may 2009

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If you love the heat, consider Louisville, which is consistently hot. The first year of the race saw reasonable temperatures (80s), but that was luck, as the area baked in 110-degree heat the week before.

2008 was hot, with daytime highs hitting 97 F with high humidity.

In a race like that, having a high tolerance for heat can be a significant advantage.

9. Ranking A number of pro and amateur athletes gave scores representing their opinions on each of the aforementioned race selection factors.

The scale was from one to 10 with one representing the lowest value and 10 being the highest—or in the case of the individual course disciplines, the most challenging (hence playing to the strengths of an athlete who is strong in that particular discipline). The table below shows the average scores that each race received.

Paul Regensburg is a senior coach at LifeSport, the “Official Coaches of Ironman.” He has coached athletes from beginner to elites at all distances, including Olympic, Pan Am Games and Ironman. For more information, visit LifeSportCoaching.com or e-mail coach@lifesportcoaching.com

Athlete’s Ranking Coeur D’Alene

Lake Placid

Canada

Louisville

Wisconsin

Florida

Arizona

Time of Year

4

6

8

8

7

6

5

Location

8

8

9

7

8

7

6

PR or Faster Course

7

6

7

5

7

10

8

Hawaii Qualifying Potential

8

5

6

9

6

5

5

Strong Swimmers Course

8

5

6

8

5

7

5

Strong Cyclists Course

7

8

8

7

6

2

4

Strong Runners Course

6

8

8

7

7

2

4

Heat Lovers Course

8

6

7

10

8

7

6

may 2009

triathletemag.com

101

A few months ago, Eric Hansen penned a column for Outside magazine revealing the sweet little lies of travel writers. The take-home message was that the overwhelming majority of travel stories range from being moderately embellished to completely fabricated.

He reasoned that most travel writers feel obligated to portray destinations in a good light because it’s typically a city’s tourism bureau that is funding the trip. He definitely had a point.

So when I sat down to write about my recent trip to Ironman 70.3 Pucon in Southern Chile, I was torn about just how honest to be. And I do mean “write” in the most traditional sense of the word—you know, with a pen and paper—since my laptop is now in the hands of some Chilean punk who had the cojones to swipe it from me.

But just relaying that part of the story wouldn’t do Pucon justice. There’s also the part about Pucon being one of (if not the) most beautiful triathlon destinations this planet has to offer, and the part about a race run with Swiss precision by a bunch of laid-back, beer-guzzling South Americans. Then there’s the region itself, which offers enough excursions to make you forget the fact that your original reason for making the trip had something to do with a triathlon.

I couldn’t decide which story to tell, so I’m sharing all three. Mr. Hansen would appreciate this full disclosure.

Part I: Two Drunk Canadians

Pucon, Chile, is home to one of the most stunning triathlons in the world … and it’s still home to my laptop, passport, iPod and camcorder. As for the Canadians—I’ll get to that in a minute. photos and story By Brad Culp 102

triathletemag.com

It was roughly 1:30 a.m. and I was sitting in a dive bar—alone—in Pucon. This wasn’t because I advocate drinking solo but because I hadn’t yet found anyone else who spoke a lick of English. I had arrived six hours earlier, which afforded me just enough time to learn that a pisco sour was Chile’s national drink and to drink seven or eight of them. may 2009

Just when I was considering calling an end to my one-person party, I heard a couple barking drink orders in perfect English—albeit with a Canadian accent. They looked to be in phenomenal shape, and they were sporting tees that testified to their most recent Ironman finish.

Aside from being completely inebriated, these two sported all the telltale signs of being full-blown tri-geeks.

“You guys aren’t doing the race on Saturday, are you?” I shouted across the bar.

“Why else would we be here?” the guy replied. “Aren’t you racing?”

“Naw,” I said. “I just have to sit on the back of a motorcycle and take pictures.”

They made their way around the bar, and we chatted briefly about may 2009

my magazine and their decision to get annihilated less than 36 hours before a half-Ironman. I offered the couple a round of piscos but noted that they probably shouldn’t accept because it wouldn’t help them come race day. The Canucks looked at me confused, as if I had just told them hockey and ice fishing aren’t real sports. I ordered another round for the three of us.

As I sat and sipped my final pisco of the evening with my new north-of-the-border amigos, I thought about how this really isn’t a common occurrence at the races I cover. It’s fairly common for me to be in a bar by myself, but finding a pair of triathletes to share a few drinks with is extremely rare. Something about the atmosphere in this remote town makes even the most type-A triathletes slow down and triathletemag.com

103

chill out. And if, for some reason, the atmosphere doesn’t relieve your stress, a few piscos certainly will.

Part II: One Dumb Journalist Two days after getting loaded with the Canucks the AFC Championship Game was on TV, but instead of watching my beloved Steelers kick the crap out of the Ravens, I was out in South America shopping for a man-bag. Yes, I said it—a man-bag. You may also know it as a “murse” (man + purse = murse). Man-bags, along with pastel capri pants, are actually considered cool in Chile, plus my current situation no longer necessitated a gringo-style backpack. All I had left were two books, about 1,800 pesos (roughly $4) and a two-page policía report detailing what had happened to my backpack earlier that day. Instead of sharing the entire report, I’ll just outline the details that led to my man-bag shopping excursion: One minute I was enjoying lunch with Heather Gollnick, who had won Pucon 70.3 only an hour earlier, and her husband, Todd, with my backpack safely between my feet. The next minute I was pale-faced, as I came to the realization that thieves in South America are way better at what they do than thugs in Los Angeles.

I had taken my camcorder out earlier to film Heather as she attempted to eat roughly three pounds of quadruple-chocolate cake. I figured a video of the woman with the most shredded abs in triathlon indulging like the fat kid from grade school would be a nice addition to our website. Unfortunately, even in the relatively safe town of Pucon, exposing that you have expensive electronics is as intelligent as microwaving aluminum foil. I’m sure the hoodlum’s eyes lit up as I filmed Heather’s gut-wrenching challenge. I hope that video has been put to good use. Perhaps you can find it on some underground Chilean version of YouTube.

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The now-missing contents of my non-man-bag were as follows: 1 MacBook 1 compact camcorder 2 digital voice recorders 5 digital camera CF cards (with just about every photo I took in Pucon) 1 compact camera 1 cell phone 1 very important U.S. passport I already know what you’re going to say. You can stop typing that e-mail explaining how moronic it was to walk around a South American town with all that sweet stuff in one bag. I couldn’t agree more—but hear me out. I had come to lunch straight from the race’s media center, where I was uploading photos and a story to our website. If it weren’t for that, there’s no way in hell I’d stroll through the streets of Pucon with every electronic I own in one easy-to-grab non-man-bag. As for the passport—I have no excuse. I have no friggin’ idea why something I only needed to enter and exit Chile was in my bag instead of in the safe in my hotel room that had a tiny sign on it saying, “Put passport in and take key.”

At any rate, I surmised that a man-bag was a better fit for South America than a backpack. No one is going to bother swiping your man-bag because there’s likely not a whole lot in it—there’s just not enough space. It’s also light enough that you never have to remove it, and since the strap runs across your chest, the man-bag is very hard to steal. So a man-bag has a lot of pros, and the only major con is that everyone I know will make fun of me after reading this.

I found a green suede man-bag that was definitely on the manly side of the man-bag spectrum. I paid a dude on the street 1,200 pesos for it, slung it over my shoulder and scanned the street to make sure no one may 2009

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was laughing at me. I had been told man-bags were socially acceptable across all of South America, but then again, that information came from a South American, and he could’ve just been trying to get me to fall for it. It would be like telling an exchange student that overalls are fashionable in Manhattan and then watching the poor bastard buy a pair. Turns out I wasn’t lied to, as the only people who took notice of me were passing peddlers selling really cheap jewelry.

I returned to my hotel and ran into Heather in the lobby.

“Damn, she’s totally going to make fun of my bag,” I thought.

“I like the stylish bag,” the Ironman champ exclaimed.

“You don’t have to lie,” I said. “I only bought it because it’s impossible for someone to snag, and partly because I’ll be way ahead of the curve 106

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should man-bags ever become socially acceptable at home.”

Heather assured me that she actually liked the bag, although I still have my suspicions that she just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a jab. Regardless of her opinions on my bag, I can’t thank Heather enough for her help in making my situation suck just a little less. While I was out shopping to replace what few things I could, Heather, Todd and the race director’s office had rearranged my flights back home, arranged for a hotel room next door to the U.S. Embassy in Santiago and put together a list of what I’d need to do to expedite my new passport.

Aside from being one of the finest triathletes in the world, Heather is also a mother of three energetic children, and she’s clearly developed the maternal instincts needed to calm any storm. may 2009

The following day I was at the embassy, swapping stories with a number of other Americans, all of whom had also bid adieu to their passports in Chile. I had the distinction of being the only gringo who had his taken in a city other than Santiago. Even the consulate remarked that crime against tourists is extraordinarily rare in Pucon. I believed him. I never felt like I was in danger in Pucon, and I would return in a heartbeat.

And the man-bag is coming with me.

Part III: A Hell of a Place “It’s Aspen meets Tijuana.”

That’s how the guy in seat 15B on my flight from Santiago to Temuco (the nearest airport to Pucon) described my final destination when I revealed that I had never been there. He was a Colorado native on his annual fly-fishing excursion to Chile’s lake district. I found his description of Pucon a bit odd, since my mental image of Aspen mated with Tijuana was a row of posh clothing stores getting robbed by teenagers wielding archaic handguns and Molotov cocktails. Clearly I’ve spent too much time in Tijuana and not enough time in Aspen.

I got a better sense of what Mr. 15B was talking about when I finally reached Pucon. The mammoth Villarrica volcano, which is only a few miles from the village, serves as a popular ski destination during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. Like Aspen, much of the town caters to the upscale visitors who come for the slopes. There are numerous classy eateries and even trendy fashion retailers like Lacoste and The North Face. However, like Tijuana, you can also get a massive plate of Spanish-inspired cuisine for the equivalent of a dollar, or you can spend the day browsing the crappy jewelry and circa-1985 action figures offered by street vendors. And who wouldn’t want to do that?

But the reason Pucon is becoming one of Chile’s most popular destinations has nothing to do

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Pucon Quick Facts The Gran Hotel Pucon (Granho telpucon.com) is the host hotel with room rates of about $125 per night.

Temuco is the nearest airport and shuttles are available for $35 from the airport to Pucon (a 50-mile drive).

Flights to Temuco are run through Santiago, which has direct flights from Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta. A round-trip coach fare from the U.S. to Temuco typically ranges from $1,100 to $1,600 in January.

As of March, the current exchange yields 620 Chilean pesos (CLP) for one U.S. dollar.

Endurance Sports Travel offers a travel package (airfare not included) to streamline your trip. Pricing and activities vary by year. Log onto Endurancesportstravel.com for more information.

The tentative race date for 2010 is Jan. 17. Visit Ironmanpucon.com for up-to-date information.

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with the town itself. Pucon translates to “entrance to the mountains” in the language of the Mapuche, who were the top dogs of the region before the Spanish ruined their fun. Gunpowder is a bitch when you don’t have it. The name is apt, as Pucon rests in the foothills of the Chilean Andes and offers excursions for both the high- and loweraltitude enthusiasts.

Number one on most people’s lists: climbing the volcano. It’s 9,340 feet at the summit, and even people who don’t normally appreciate epic views will appreciate this one. On most days you can see to Argentina and to the Pacific Ocean from the top. Just about every one of Pucon’s 8,000 residents is an “official” Villarrica tour guide, so finding a Sheppard for the climb couldn’t be easier. However, while some guy on the street corner mayRSS09_February_TM.pdf offer to do it for almost12/9/08 nothing,10:16:08 I suggestPMplaying it safe

and booking your ascent through the Gran Hotel Pucon (the race’s host hotel), or though Endurance Sports Travel (Endurancesportstravel. com). Expect the climb to take about as long as your race. Basically, if you’re a five-hour 70.3 finisher, you can probably finish the climb in about five hours. If it takes you eight hours to finish the race, well, you should probably pack a lot of Powerbars. If climbing a volcano doesn’t turn you on, Pucon also offers canopy zip-lining, fly-fishing, mountain biking, hot springing, beach chilling and white-water rafting.

“Racing in Pucon is much more than just a race,” says Linsey Corbin, this year’s runner-up. “So often you go someplace new, race, and then get out of town. Racing in Pucon revolves around a week’s worth of amazing activities.”

While all this may make it seem like the race is secondary to the side-trips, that’s not entirely true. You won’t find a race like this in the U.S. or just about anywhere else. Race director Pedro Stuven runs a tight ship, even though he’s more laid-back than a Grateful Dead groupie.

In fact, Pedro is so confident about his preparation that he competes in his own event every year. How does he do that? With help—lots of help. He has more volunteers than the Chilean army has soldiers.

With that kind of manpower, Pedro and his crew do everything on a grand scale. From the pre-race dinner with a magic show and stand-up comedy, to the post-race party with more booze than Paris Hilton’s birthday party, everything is done with the athletes’ enjoyment as the primary concern.

How much fun is it? I spent more than 30 hours traveling to spend only four days in a place where I was robbed of every electronic I own and a bit of my dignity—and I’m still damn glad I went. You won’t hear a testimonial like that for many other events.

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DESIGNED IN AUSTIN, TEXAS USA may 2009

GETTING A GOOD QUOTE FROM OUTSPOKEN AUSSIE CHRIS MCCORMACK IS SELDOM A CONCERN FOR TRI JOURNALISTS. WE HAD PLENTY OF QUESTIONS PREPARED FOR A RECENT INTERVIEW, BUT ONCE THINGS GOT STARTED, WE DECIDED TO JUST LET MACCA SPEAK HIS MIND. ONLY ONE YEAR REMOVED FROM BEING THE BIGGEST SUPERSTAR IN THE SPORT, HE OPENS UP TO TRIATHLETE ABOUT HIS PAST, WHY HE’S SUSPICIOUS OF EUROPEAN ATHLETES, RETIREMENT AND THE DERAILLEUR CABLE THAT KEPT HIM FROM WALKING AWAY FROM KONA FOR GOOD. 112

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John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

OY B Y DA N IE L H

IF I WIN WITH A 2:40 MARATHON THEN “ I MIGHT PULL THE PIN ON HAWAII. ” —Chris McCormack

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CHRIS MCCORMACK HAD ONE BURNING DESIRE. IT WAS WHAT KEPT HIM HEADING OUT FOR LONG RIDES, RUNNING HIMSELF INTO THE GROUND AND FOLLOWING THAT LONG, BLACK LINE IN THE POOL FOR MILES AND MILES.

In 2002, after accomplishing everything worth conquering in the sport of triathlon, Chris McCormack began the long journey toward Ironman glory. After four years of failure, he broke through, finishing second to Normann Stadler in 2006 before earning the win in 2007. Last year, McCormack’s day in Kona was ruined by the failure of a bike cable worth less than a quarter—the mechanical failure forced him to withdraw halfway through the 112-mile bike leg. What many don’t know is that, had he won the 2008 title, he would have walked away from Kona forever.

His relationship with the Big Island has been a tumultuous one, like a difficult girlfriend he just can’t break up with. Every time she treats him badly, he gives her another chance because he knows that in the end it’s all worth it. “I always wanted to win twice,” McCormack says. “But that place is just not suited to me. It’s too hot and I am too big. At 78 kg, I am the biggest person ever to win in Kona.”

After his DNF in Kona in 2004, McCormack set out to find out why he struggled so much.

He underwent tests at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra for answers. The researchers there discovered that once his heart rate exceeded 152 beats per minute, his body lost fluid quicker than he could replenish it. So if he went too hard on the bike, as he had done in the past, his race would be over before he even started the run.

Armed with this new information, he developed a training strategy that led to his second-place finish in 2006 and his win in 2007.

Macca, who turns 36 in April, has signed fouryear deals with most of his sponsors and believes that he will continue to race at the top of his game.

However, he worries about the impact his career has on his family, particularly his two children. “This lifestyle is wonderful if you don’t have children, but once you put children into the equation, it becomes difficult.” He explains, “They have traveled with me up until now, but my oldest daughter is now starting school, so we’ve decided to be based in Sydney.”

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John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

HE DESPERATELY WANTED TO CONQUER KONA.

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

I DON’T WANT TO BE THE CHAMPION OF A NOTHING “ SPORT ... A SPORT THAT ONLY OLD GUYS DO. ”

from racing. “I don’t want to miss anything with my kids,” he says. “I had a shoe launch in New York, and I missed my daughter’s kindergarten graduation. I know it is only kindergarten, but I can’t get that back.”

He laments, “I don’t want to miss her first day of school.”

McCormack grew up surfing in his native Australia, and a lot of his friends did triathlons. “I was a strong runner, and at that point in time I was the high school Australian champion,” he says. “My running coach was very anti-tri at the time, but I went to a race and watched a mate and thought, ‘I would love to have a crack at that.’ It looked cool. When I was a runner, they stuck a few flags in an oval and you ran around them.” As he explains, there were additional factors that motivated him to take up triathlon. “When I did the tri, there were girls in bikinis. I thought, ‘Yep, this is me.’ I was hooked straight away.”

Recalling his first triathlon (which he won), McCormack says, “My father and I arrived and everyone had wetsuits on. We thought 116

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the water must be cold. I had no idea they made you quicker. I had my surfing wetsuit in the car, and Dad told me to go and get it. They are not designed for swimming at all. People were looking at me like I was nuts. I chafed so badly that I did breaststroke for a lot of the swim.

“I was in the junior wave and came out five minutes behind a lot of the other guys.” However, his luck turned around on the later legs, as he says, “On the ride I just sort of plodded along and then smoked everyone on the run.”

When asked if that was one of his fondest tri memories, Macca shifts gears and points out one of his more recent accomplishments.

“Ironman Germany (2008) was the big showdown. Normann chickened out before the race, and I kicked Faris six ways to Sunday yet again.” He continues, “If you look at the TV coverage, we were abusing each other on the bike.” He recalls taunting Al-Sultan, saying, “You’re a joke, mate; you’re an absolute joke. You’re bad for the sport, racing may 2009

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MY AIM IS TO SET UP A SOLID BIKE RIDE IN KONA AND PUT “ TOGETHER ANOTHER RUN UNDER 2:43. IF YOU CAN’T RUN UNDER THIS TIME IN KONA IN 2009, YOU WILL NOT BE WINNING THIS RACE. ”

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in Speedos. Have a shave, will ya?”

Macca’s real concern for triathlon has little to do with Al-Sultan’s Speedo and facial hair. He worries about where the sport is headed, with increasingly fewer younger athletes taking it up. “I don’t want to be the champion of a nothing sport,” he says, “a sport that only old guys do.”

He also questions the motivation of those younger guys entering the sport. “My generation, guys like Crowie [Craig Alexander] and myself, started racing because we love the sport,” he states. “I would have done it for nothing.” He worries that the new generation is only competing for paychecks. “I hear some of these young guys complaining because a race promoter won’t pay them enough to race. The money is nice, but when I race I want the win; the check is just a bonus. The moment you start thinking about the money, it’s over.”

He also worries about the impact drug cheats will have on the sport he loves, and he believes he has raced against drug cheats in Kona. “It is definitely there,” he says, “but if you get caught up in thinking about it, it will do your head in.”

He believes that because triathlon follows the International Olympic Committee testing protocol instead of that of the International Cycling Union, “The testing in triathlon is more stringent.” However, he adds, “We are the lucky generation, just seeing the cusp of it. But, if over the next 15 years it becomes anything like cycling, it will tear the heart out of the sport.”

It’s the time he has spent training in Spain, one of his many training

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retreats, that has made McCormack aware of the magnitude of the battle that drug testing agencies face. “It’s everywhere. It happens in the States, but you don’t see it. In Europe it is out in the open. If you ride a bike you get asked if you need some medicine.” He was shocked that in some places you could find performance-enhancing drugs just sitting on pharmacy shelves. “It is so blatant in Italy and Spain.

Italy has a genetic blood problem (beta thalassemia, often referred to as Mediterranean anemia), so they have the best blood people in the world. And in Spain it is rampant.”

Macca’s suspicions make him wonder just how much further Ironman times can come down. “I am drug-free, and in the right conditions I could do a 7:45,” he says. “There are young guys out there better than me who will go under that. I think [they could do it in] 7:40, maybe 7:45.

[That would be] a 45-minute swim, a 4:20 ride and a 2:35 marathon.

If I win with a 2:40 marathon then I might pull the pin on Hawaii,” says McCormack. “People are saying my 2:42 in Kona in 2007 was the best marathon ever, but you always have the amateurs who will say, ‘Yeah, but Dave Scott and Mark Allen ran it in 2:40.’

“You can’t compare them; the run course is very different now.”

As for this coming year, he says, “If I do win next year, I would love to do Ironman Brazil, Austria and Canada before I retire.”

While he doesn’t stray away from talking about retirement, Macca’s final race is still a long ways away. As for this season, the brash Aussie isn’t hiding his tactics from his competition and even posted his intentions on his blog earlier this year.

“My aim is to set up a solid bike ride in Kona and put together another run under 2:43. If you can’t run under this time in Kona in 2009, you will not be winning this race.”

T R A INING

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“The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.”

—Joe Paterno

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T R A INING

Exercise Metabolic Testing More Than Just Bragging Rights

By Ben Greenfield

A

triathlete’s VO2max number can be a good basis for bragging rights in the endurance sports arena. If you know this number, which defines your maximum aerobic capacity, and it’s a good number, you can talk trash while hanging at the pool edge, chatting in spin class or stretching on the track. Conveniently, your true athletic superiority can be gauged not by race results, lap splits or age-group rankings, but instead by a simple number that easily defines aerobic dominance. How close is your VO2max 124

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to that of Greg Lemond, Steve Prefontaine or that obscure Norwegian cross-country skier whose name nobody can remember?

But as a measurement that originated in the second century with Greek physicians blowing into sheep bladders, is the VO2max really that valuable? Think about it this way: Having a big VO2max number is like owning a Ferrari engine. Imagine that this Ferrari engine is dumped into an old pickup truck chassis.

It is useless. Unless the engine is perfectly

installed in an actual Ferrari automobile, it will never perform to its full potential. Likewise, unless you have the ultimate combination of economy, efficiency and experience, your high VO2max is worthless.

The process of determining VO2max is demanding and unpleasant. The test begins with the attachment of a mask or other breathing device to your face. Through this mask, a computer measures your exhaled and inhaled gases during a graded exercise protocol on the bike or treadmill. The test concludes when you reach an extreme state of fatigue, at which point an exercise physiologist excitedly scribbles down some numbers that represent your maximum aerobic capacity, typically expressed in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram per minute. may 2009

T R A INING

So if the process is so uncomfortable, and a high VO2max number is useless without a Ferrari body, why even bother to test? Indeed, if all you’re looking for is the bragging rights that come with a high VO2max, you may want to save your cash for a couple of good racing tubulars.

But before you abandon the idea, consider the following: Many athletes do not realize that a significant amount of important test data is collected before reaching the terminal point of maximum pace, peak power and puke factor in a VO2max test. Some of this other data is the focus of the exercise metabolic test, or EMT, a close cousin of the VO2max test protocol that has been used in nutrition physiology for many years.

The EMT and VO2max test use similar equipment and protocols, but the focus of the EMT is caloric utilization and specific physiological data points rather than peak aerobic capacity. In fact, during an EMT, the test subject is taken to only approximately 85 percent of peak aerobic capacity, since higher exercise intensities do not yield much useful information for an endurance athlete. But prior to the 85 percent intensity mark, several important variables are collected during the 126

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Ben Greenfield

Properly measuring VO2 max involves breathing into a mask that measures the make up of all the gases the athlete inhales and exhales. The device then translates those numbers onto a computer screen.

EMT, including:

1) Energy expenditure. In an exercise physiology lab, the amount of energy, or calories, that the body uses during exercise can be measured using an indirect calorie measurement. A direct calorie measurement would require exploding the body inside a closed chamber and measuring the amount of heat released. For most people, this obviously does not conjure up a pleasant image.

However, the mask, tubes and gas analyzer used during an EMT offer a far more humane if less direct method of calorie measurement.

It is based on the principle that the ratio of carbon dioxide produced to oxygen consumed will yield an accurate estimate of the total number of calories used for energy, as well as the percent contribution from both carbohydrate and fat.

Therefore, for any given intensity, whether measured by perceived exertion, heart rate, wattage, speed or incline, an athlete can obtain a precise calculation of exactly how many carbohydrate and fat calories are burned for energy.

This information is valuable in determining the number of post-workout calories necessary to replenish fuel stores. In addition, several

exercise physiology studies indicate that most athletes can replace approximately 30 percent to 40 percent of the calories they burn during exercise. This principle can allow an individual who knows total caloric expenditure to generate a customized race-day fueling plan.

2) Aerobic threshold. At a specific exertion level during the EMT, the body reaches a point of maximum fat burning called the aerobic threshold. For every endurance athlete, and especially for half-Ironman and Ironmandistance triathletes, the aerobic threshold value signifies the point of maximum endurance efficiency. This is because the human body can only store approximately 1,500 to 2,000 calories of carbohydrate but can store more than 30,000 calories of fat. Therefore, at the aerobic threshold, there is little risk of “bonking” or “hitting the wall”—that is, running out of carbohydrate energy.

By working at aerobic threshold heart rate, pace, or powering through long, slow distance workouts, an athlete can build confidence that his or her body can work for hour after hour with limited fatigue. In most individuals, the aerobic threshold is reached at 50 percent to 60 percent of maximum intensity, or about 20 may 2009

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heartbeats below anaerobic threshold.

3) Anaerobic threshold (AT). The AT is nearly synonymous with the lactate threshold (LT). This is because at a certain point during exercise, blood lactate begins to accumulate in the muscles faster than it can be removed. As the lactate builds, the body’s production of hydrogen ions begins to increase. The only way to buffer these acidic hydrogen ions is through the formation of carbon dioxide, which is then exhaled by the lungs and can be measured via a gas analyzer. During the EMT, a significant increase in carbon dioxide production signifies a physiological point very close to LT. In most individuals, AT occurs at about 85 percent intensity, which is the rationale for bringing an EMT test subject only to this point.

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Above AT, the body begins to consume large amounts of oxygen, resulting in rapid fatigue and drainage of valuable carbohydrate stores.

In training or racing, most endurance athletes spend very little time at such high exercise intensities. Thus, knowledge of AT or LT is paramount for any endurance athlete who is concerned about proper pacing and avoiding the dreaded bonk.

Once these three EMT data points are collected, a customized nutrition, training and racing profile can be created. Let’s take a look at an example of how the EMT can be successfully used in a triathlon program: JoAnn is a 35-year-old age group triathlete who aims to complete an Ironman triathlon in June. At the beginning of the year, she decides to undergo an EMT on her bicycle. Since she will

be training with a heart-rate monitor, she wants training and racing recommendations based on heartbeats per minute. She also wants to know how many calories she should consume during the race and the size of the caloric deficits she creates during her training sessions.

At the lab, an exercise physiologist straps a heart rate monitor to JoAnn’s chest and attaches a neoprene mask to her face. After a 10-minute warm-up on the lab’s indoor bicycle trainer, the EMT begins.

JoAnn begins the test by cycling at a resistance of 50 watts for three minutes. At the end of this stage, her resistance is increased in increments of 25 watts. This pattern continues until JoAnn’s carbon dioxide to oxygen ratio reaches approximately 0.85, which indicates about 85 percent intensity. She reaches this intensity at a resistance of 175 watts 18 minutes into the test. After a brief cool-down, she sits down with the exercise physiologist to review her data.

The physiologist points out that nine minutes into the test, at a heart rate of 132 beats per minute (bpm), she was burning 60 percent fat, 40 percent carbohydrate and a total of 600 calories per hour. On a graph that shows total fat calories burned, this heart rate turns out to correspond to the peak of her fat utilization, indicating maximum fat burning intensity, or aerobic threshold. JoAnn can now program her heart rate monitor with a training zone that is three bpm above to three bpm below 132 bpm. Thus, during her long-distance bike rides, her heart rate monitor alarm will begin to beep whenever she is below 129 bpm or above 135 bpm. She can use this same alarm during the Ironman to ensure that she is cycling at maximum efficiency without risking premature fatigue.

The test results also show that at a heart rate of 154 bpm, JoAnn’s carbon dioxide production begins to peak, indicating increased lactate production and AT. From this value, JoAnn knows that she can train her body to effectively buffer hydrogen ions and improve cardiovascular fitness if she performs her interval training sessions at intensities near 154 bpm, or AT. She also knows that if she exceeds 154 bpm during the Ironman, her valuable carbohydrate stores will begin to deplete rapidly. So during her longer training rides, although she may stray outside her aerobic threshold of 129 to 135 bpm, especially on hills, she should practice avoiding intensities that exceed 154 bpm because the body has a difficult time returning to peak fat utilization after crossing the anaerobic threshold barrier.

The exercise physiologist also gives JoAnn may 2009

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a table that indicates the total number of calories, carbohydrates and fat her body uses at each heart rate. If JoAnn knows her average heart rate during any given training session, she can simply match this number to the same heart rate on the table.

For example, every Wednesday she trains for one hour on the bicycle at an average heart rate of 148 bpm. According to the table, she burns 780 calories per hour at this heart rate, with 600 calories from carbohydrate and 180 calories from fat. JoAnn can now make sure to replace those 600 calories of carbohydrate with proper post-workout nutrition.

For example, she might fuel with 200 calories of carbohydrate immediately after the workout and consume 400 additional carbohydrate calories an hour later.

As mentioned previously, she can see from this table that at her maximum fat-burning intensity of 132 bpm, which is also her target Ironman heart rate, she is using 600 calories per hour. Multiplying this number by 30 percent to 40 percent results in a value of 180 to 240 calories. During her long rides at aerobic intensity, JoAnn can now practice a nutritional intake within this range to prepare for Ironman.

As her fitness increases over the subsequent six months, Joann’s metabolic values will change, so she plans on repeating the test four to eight weeks before the Ironman. Most likely, her aerobic threshold and AT will occur at higher heart rates and higher caloric values. Finally, if she ever decides to train with a power meter, she can use the same tables and graphs to see how the wattage on her bicycle correlates with any of these heart rate values and data points.

Since JoAnn completed her EMT on the bike, she should not use these same heart rate training zones for running. If an athlete is equally economical and has a similar training history and experience in both running and cycling, the heart rate training

zones for running will be about 10 beats per minute higher than the cycling heart rates. Because of the stored energy in the wheels of a bicycle, most people are more efficient at cycling than running.

Since the cycling leg is the longest leg of most triathlons, JoAnn was advised to undergo her initial EMT on the bike. But if she wants to accurately pinpoint her exact running heart-rate zones, she should repeat her test on a treadmill.

And, of course, if JoAnn truly desires to take home the aerobic trophy and brag to her friends about her athletic superiority, she may just decide to take the EMT to the limit and find out her VO2max number. But the practical applications of her VO2max will pale in comparison to those of the information collected during her EMT. Since the base phase and off-season are the ideal periods to dial-in your proper training intensity zones and begin practicing appropriate nutrition intake, now is the perfect time to take an EMT. You can begin by contacting your local exercise physiology lab or sports performance center.

Expect to pay $100 to $200 for this test but insist beforehand that you be given full nutrition information for each heart rate during the test rather than just your heart rate training zones or thresholds. If you are able to harvest all possible information from your EMT, it will be well worth its cost in time and money.

Ben Greenfield is director of sports performance at Champions Sports Medicine (Champsportsmed.com) in Spokane, Wash., where he manages bicycle fitting, run gait analysis, swim stroke analysis, blood lactate testing and exercise/resting metabolic analysis. As the head coach for Pacific Elite Fitness (Pacificfit.net), he trains all levels of triathletes from around the world and hosts a free nutrition and performance podcast at Bengreenfieldfitness.com. For coaching inquiries or training information, e-mail him at ben@bengreenfieldfitness.com. may 2009

giving someone a reason to do something doesn’t mean that she’ll actually do it—especially when it comes to bilateral breathing. Why? Because breathing to your non-dominant side feels awkward and uncomfortable at first. Here are a few of my favorite tips for getting past that uncomfortable hump: First, you should try to increase flexibility in your neck and shoulders. One side of your neck is always tighter (usually as a result of your preferred sleeping position), so stretching before you get into the pool is a simple solution.

Also, I suggest starting the breath earlier in your stroke cycle. If a swimmer feels she can’t get a full breath of air on her weak side, it’s likely because she is starting to turn her head too late. Your head should begin to rotate as soon as you start to extend the opposite hand forward. But remember: Never lift your head forward to breathe. Your head should rotate directly to your side as you roll your hips in the same direction.

Finally, pay attention to the underwater All the cool kids are doing it—it’s about time you join them. arm-pull during a breath to the weak side. Most swimmers struggling with bilateral breathing

By Sara McLarty will try to pull with a straight arm or will drop hich of the following scenarios have Breathing to both sides of your body be- their elbow after the catch. If this is happens you ever found yourself in during a comes even more important when you move while taking a breath, it causes the head and triathlon? from the pool to the open water. Let’s look torso to sink in the water. This can be the Waking up on race morning and checking at the race scenarios above: waves, wind and difference between sucking in some quality the weather by peering out the hotel window. other competitors. Being comfortable with O2 or some not-so-fun H2O. Howling and gusting winds greet you with the bilateral breathing can make you a much calmer The solution is to work on proper arm rising sun. The open water that you splashed athlete in each of these scenarios. Imagine position through the entire pull with lots of around in the day before is now a frothy mess that the swim course puts the shoreline on high-elbow catch drills during practice. of white water. your right side.

Bilateral breathing can be the difference If you can breathe to the right, you’ll always between an enjoyable day at the beach or a Standing on the beach before a race, you notice that the water isn’t exactly flat like have the shore in sight. But perhaps a competi- life-saving rescue. (Maybe that’s a bit of a the pool. Instead, there are beautiful sets tor starts swimming directly on your right side stretch, but you get the point.) of four- to five-foot breakers crashing into and sends a giant splash A l l i t t a ke s i s practice at the pool, shore. The race course is about to take you at your face with each As long as I remember to or a calm day in the 100 meters out, then along the shoreline of their strokes. If you before leading you back through the waves have practiced bilateral breathe away from the chop, open water, to become to dry land. breathing in training, comfortable breathing I avoid getting smacked in to both sides of your Settling into your pace and getting into a you can just turn you groove in the middle of the swim leg of a head the other way and the face and swallowing a body. Your stroke will race. You find some clear water and space forget that she’s there. thank you for becoming gallon of saltwater. to stretch out and find a rhythm. Suddenly, Finally, there is more even and fluid. another racer decides that your swim pace the element of wind. I Your lungs will thank and sighting line is perfect, so she just comes have swam multi-loop you for not trying to on over and joins you. Right next to you— courses where the wind came from all four breathe in liquid. The lifeguards will thank stroke for stroke, yard for yard. directions. Sometimes it seems like you get you for not making them take a break from smacked in the head with rough chop at every tanning to save your life. Most importantly, If you ever had a basic introduction to swim- buoy turnaround. As long as I remember to your competitors will hate you for being calmer ming or taken Swimming 101 (some colleges breathe away from the chop, I avoid getting and faster in the water! actually offer this), you know the reasons why smacked in the face and swallowing a gallon bilateral breathing is important. Breathing on of saltwater.

Sara McLarty is a professional triathlete based in Clermont, both sides of your body while you are swimming These are just some of the scenarios I might Fla. For more information, visit SaraMcLarty.com. You creates smooth, even strokes. You get a better describe to new swimmers, or old and stubborn can find the perfect ratio of swimming and pulling at balance in the water by alternating your breathing ones, to encourage them to practice breathing her Masters swim workouts. She posts three workouts and you develop uniform muscles. on their “weak” side. However, I am aware that weekly at NTCMastersSwim.blogspot.com.

Jump on the Bilateral Breathing Bandwagon

W

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may 2009

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

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b i g r i ng

It’s Not about the Bike—It’s about the Tires

Tires are no doubt the least sexy part of a bike, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore the importance of the rim-tire interface, tire aerodynamics and how rubber interacts with asphalt.

By Mark Deterline

T

wo things came to mind when I sat down to write about tires. Both were recollections of bold challenges to what was once considered the status quo in cycling circles. The first was the growing prominence of 23mm-wide tires back in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. I was new to cycling then, and I was torn between following the old narrow-tire tradition and jumping on the 23mm bandwagon. At the 134

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time, many experts asserted that 23mm tires not only offered better rim protection and more comfort but also generated less rolling resistance between 100 and 120 psi (relative to 19 to 21mm tires). This was purportedly because the sidewalls of wider tires are better able to maintain the integrity of a tire’s intended structure. Basically, the wider tires allow the tread to have a narrower contact patch with the

ground and thus generate less friction.

The second thing I thought of when I began writing this column was the introduction of Continental’s GP Attack & Force tire set. Conti reasoned that since racecars use different-sized front and rear tires, so should bicycles. Conti explains this logic as follows: “Front and rear tires have different tasks. Steering and braking forces are transmitted on the front, while the may 2009

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wider tires have less rolling resistance narrow tire

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Top view on contact patch to road direction of travel

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Side view at tire road surface

Shape of contact patch

deflection

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short, wide

Deflection

high

little

Working area of sidewall

long

short

Rolling resistance

high

small

Assumption: Inflation pressures and tire loads are equal. Areas of contact patches are also equal. rear transmits the driving forces and bears the majority of the cyclist’s weight. Subsequently, the two tires in the Continental tire positioning system (TPS) have been designed differently.”

The Attack & Force set uses varying tread patterns on its front and rear tires as well as different tire widths—22mm in the front (Attack) and 24mm in the back (Force).

In competitive cycling and triathlon circles, tire discussions seem to focus primarily on rolling resistance and handling characteristics (cornering, traction in wet conditions, etc.).

Of course, the hot-button topic of clinchers versus tubulars shows no signs of cooling off. Making the tire discussion even more convoluted is the recent popularity of tires as wide as 25mm and the rising popularity of tubeless clincher wheels. However, the aerodynamic benefit (or cost) of tires has been largely ignored until recently.

We are confronted with rocket science and aeronautics every time we make a cyclingrelated purchase. For the most part, we have been spared the burden of aero science in the selection of our tires and have been able to 136

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concentrate on tires that feel fast, corner well, resist punctures and handle reliably on wet pavement. But it was only a matter of time.

Zipp says it outright when discussing its tires: “Designing an aero tire is so obvious that we’re a little embarrassed we didn’t do it until 2006.” But in its own defense, it argues that it has made up for lost time with the Tangente, “the first tire developed in the wind tunnel.”

Two prominent manufacturers have addressed the twin challenges of aerodynamics and rolling resistance by implementing pragmatic and innovative approaches via the tire-rim connection: Hed and Zipp. Both companies claim to have met both challenges with a single solution.

HED In Hed’s case, the solution is wider rims.

With 23mm tires serving as the standard, Steve Hed designed his C2— 23mm-wide models designed to allow tires to sit lower in the rim bed instead of protruding from it in such a way as to undermine stable cornering and the smooth (laminar) flow of air around the tires. The lower-seated tire functions more like

an integrated component of a fairing when combined with one of Hed’s higher-profile or tri-spoke wheels, minimizing drag thanks to reduced air turbulence, says Hed. Hed explains that lower and rounder seating of the tire within the rim bed also enhances its structural stability, decreasing sidewall deflection (the flex of the tire) at the point where it comes in contact with the road. So much so, claims Hed, that the contact patch is no longer longitudinal, as is the norm, but transversal (perpendicular to the line of travel). In non-tech-geek terms, this means the tire’s contact patch with the ground becomes shorter and wider, lowering the tire’s rolling resistance.

While theories are all well and good, Hed is quick to point out that his C2 clinchers carried Chrissie Wellington and Ain-Alar Juhanson to two of the fastest rides at Kona last October.

Juhanson clocked the fastest men’s ride, while Wellington was less than three minutes off the fastest women’s split, despite her flat tire resulting in a delay of almost 10 minutes. Of course, some of the credit needs to go to Wellington and Juhanson themselves. may 2009

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b i g r i ng cracking, while the rubber compound—provided

by Vittoria—provides low rolling resistance and good traction on wet and dry surfaces.

One of the things I like most about the Tangente product is its packaging: It contains lots of technical information, including recommended tire pressure based on a rider’s weight.

This kind of info can be very helpful and it would be easy to ignore if it weren’t printed on the box. Higher pressure doesn’t always translate to a better ride, especially if you’re a larger rider.

I had the painful privilege of doing a twoman team time trial with Chris Lieto recently.

As we warmed up and discussed each section of the course, we noted the broken pavement leading up to the first big climb. I told Chris that I was running 120psi in my tubies, which is 10psi less than I normally run. Lieto said he was running his Bontrager tubies in the 100-105psi range—and he weighs six pounds more than I do. “Steve Hed and I have been discussing this over the past year,” Lieto continued. “He has encouraged me to run less pressure in my tubulars for better efficiency. One-hundred psi or thereabouts is ideal.”

Steve Hed, Chris Lieto and the folks at Zipp all confirm, in essence, what tubeless advocates have always said about lower-pressure tires running more smoothly and with less rolling resistance. Don’t be “that guy” whose tires pop in T1 because you had them at 210psi.

Zipp Zipp goes right to the contact points, where rubber interacts with air and asphalt. To better facilitate airflow around the tire and along the rim’s surface, Zipp tires are molded with the same ABLC dimple pattern that the company’s rims feature to create a “turbulent boundary layer” that facilitates smoother airflow around the tire-rim ensemble. Zipp advertises that “it took 14 months and two trips to the wind tun138

triathletemag.com

nel to get it right.” Zipp’s wind tunnel numbers suggest that it’s possible to save as many as nine seconds over 40 km with dimpled tires.

One concern I initially had was if paying so much attention to a tire’s aerodynamics would result in decreased handling performance. Zipp claims that its chosen width of 21mm and the dimples serve to optimize both. The dimple pattern applied to the tire’s tread reportedly enhances suppleness and reduces the risk of

Rider Weight

Front psi

Rear psi

<125 lbs

107

110

125-150 lbs

112

116

150-175 lbs

115

119

175-200 lbs

118

122

>200 lbs

122

125

When shopping for tires, do some research, make informed decisions, then make your final purchases based on what feels best to you. Part of the process is always a leap of faith. Don’t second-guess your choices unless something just doesn’t feel right when you use the tires.

The last thing you need to be thinking about on race day is the question of whether your tires are holding you back.

No single brand rules, and none ever will.

Diversity and choice are supreme. Equipment is cool, and in triathlon it probably plays a bigger role than in most other sports. But the essential components will always be body, head and heart. Even on the “fastest” bike. may 2009

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

Zipp Tangente recomended tire pressure

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on t h e run a physiological tolerance for the discomfort of intense running and accumulating muscle fatigue. In the end, you will be able to sustain your optimal pace, cadence and stride length for the duration of the race. On the flip side, work at threshold-pace training is demanding on the body and causes significant muscle tissue damage, so you should do it sparingly and allow sufficient recovery time between efforts. Running too many interval workouts will result in injury or burnout.

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

Treadmills and Controlling Cadence

Treadmill Workouts: Perfect Pace for Your Fastest 10K

By Lance Watson and Lucy Smith

T

o run a fast 10K straight off the bike takes a romuscular and cardio-respiratory systems to unique combination of skills and training. run faster over the full 10K distance.

Unlike a pure 10K road race, a triathlon 10K To improve your run times for a 10K, you challenges one to cope with nutrition and hy- need to increase your anaerobic threshold, dration needs for an event lasting two or more training your body to deliver and use oxygen hours, and with the physiological transition and glycogen more efficiently. Provided you from cycling to running at close to threshold have a strong of base of aerobic fitness, you do pace. Through practice and commitment, you this by running short, fast intervals, in which can perfect your race-day fuelling and hy- you raise your heart rate to within 10 beats dration strategies. Using per minute of your weekly bike-to-run sesanaerobic threshold sions, you can create the Well-trained athletes run- (or the fastest pace you can sustain for muscular adaptations and ning at threshold pace com- roughly one hour), psychological toughness required to run strong bine an optimal cadence followed by short reoff the bike. Finally, percoveries. These work(180 strikes per minute) with outs serve to increase forming regular interval sessions of fast running anaerobic threshold an optimal stride length. will condition your neupace and also create may 2009

One of the best ways to increase your anaerobic threshold pace (and improve your 10K PR) is to do your interval training on the treadmill.

Traditionally, runners have used the oval track for their faster running workouts. Tracks are a flat, compact and measured, allowing a coach to watch and record every step a runner takes.

Treadmills are even better because you can control all the variables, including weather, temperature and running surface to remain constant. You are running in a straight line, and the surface transmits less impact than the road (or about the same amount of impact as a trail).

Treadmills are time-efficient, which is a bonus for busy three-sport people. (At the gym, they are usually close to the pool and showers.)

But wait: Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more. Treadmills make it easy for you to perform workouts at any desired pace, including your ideal 10K race pace. Triathletes often report an increase in confidence after completing a set at their target 10K pace, as the treadmill provides quantitative proof of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to sustain that pace.

Cadence, or the frequency at which your foot hits the ground, is the other factor involved in running faster, and the treadmill has proven to be an excellent tool for improving it. Studies involving elite runners from milers to marathoners show that most run at a rate of 90 cycles per minute on flat surfaces. (One cycle is two foot strikes, so 180 foot strikes per minute.) Whether they are running at a fast pace or doing a slow warm-up jog, all efficient distance runners run with pretty much the same cadence; what varies is the length of their strides. (Exceptions include athletes more than 6 feet 4 inches tall or less than 5 feet 4 inches tall, with the former having a lower cadence and the latter having a higher one.)

Calculate your own cadence by counting how many times one foot strikes the ground in 30 seconds and doubling it. If your cadence falls below 85, you are likely over-striding.

Over-striding means that your front foot is falling too far in front of your center of gravity, reducing your natural forward momentum. triathletemag.com

141

Over-striding can also create bounding, or excessive vertical movement, which increases impact force on the body and the chance of injury. Well-trained athletes running at threshold pace combine an optimal cadence (180 strikes per minute) with an optimal stride length. Because the magic number in cadence is always around 90, it appears that the trained human body naturally gravitates towards its optimal stride length and cadence combination through training.

The treadmill helps athletes settle into their ideal rhythm and optimal cadence because the belt is always moving and therefore pulling their legs back to enforce another step forward, and because the beltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unvarying tempo forces athletes to lock into a steady rhythm. Running fast at optimal cadence strengthens the leg muscles and creates neuromuscular adaptations to your ideal race pace. To improve all factors in 10K running performance (anaerobic threshold, pace and cadence), simply combine short anaerobic threshold intervals with fast cadence work on the treadmill.

Increasing Threshold and 10K Run Pace Like any interval training, these workouts are designed for an athlete who already has a good base fitness. Using the treadmill for high-speed intervals can be tricky. It takes time for it to speed up and slow down, so to make sure that your rest and work intervals remain controlled and steady, it is necessary to step to the side at the beginning of the interval while holding the hand rails and increase the speed manually. Allow 10 seconds for the belt to accelerate, and then lower yourself onto the belt while running in the air in order to catch the belt with your feet.

At the end of the interval, hold the rails, straddle the treadmill, reduce the speed and then lower yourself back onto it to jog.

For recovery intervals shorter than one minute, keep the treadmill at interval speed and stay on the sides or hop briefly to the floor to keep your legs moving a little. If you find that your heart rate is getting close to your maximum and your are creeping toward the back the machine, slow your pace by five or 10 seconds per mile. A 1 percent hill grade better simulates road running because it forces you to push off with your toes instead of letting the belt do too much of the work for you by pulling your legs through.

Working through a set of controlled-pace intervals on the treadmill can be very fun, motivating and encouraging. You receive specific feedback from the treadmill that allows you to gauge your fitness and progression, and it can be encouraging to see just how fast you can 142

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John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

on t h e run

Do these workouts only once per week and take a recovery day after each one.

Cool-down: 15 minutes of very light jogging on TM or outside.

Workout #1

Warm-up: 15 minutes on the treadmill at 1-percent grade, HR zone 1.

Strides: 6 x 15 seconds (45 seconds recovery) strides. Set TM at 10 to 20 seconds per mile faster than 10K speed for strides.

Aim for high cadence (90) and relaxed but fast running.

Main Set: 30 x 1 minute (for 1 minute) at 10 seconds per mile faster youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re your goal 10K pace at a 1-percent grade. Record your heart rate at the end of each interval and the end of each recovery period.

Cool-down: 15 minutes of very light jogging on TM or outside.

Warm-up: 15 minutes on the treadmill (TM) at 1-percent grade, HR zone 1.

Strides: 6 x 15 seconds (45 seconds recovery) strides. Set TM at 10 to 20 seconds per mile faster than 10K speed for strides.

Aim for high cadence (90) and relaxed but fast running.

Main Set: 15 x 2 minutes (for two minutes) at 10 seconds per mile faster than your goal 10K pace with a 1-percent grade.

Record your heart rate at the end of each inter val and the end of each recovery period.

Cool-down: 15 minutes of very light jogging on TM or outside.

Workout #2

Warm-pp: 15 minutes on the treadmill at 1-percent grade, HR zone 1.

Strides: 4 x 30 seconds strides for 30 seconds.

Set TM at your target 10K speed for strides.

Count foot strikes for your left or right foot for 30 seconds. Calculate cadence. Aim for 90 and relaxed but fast running.

Main Set: 20 x 1:30 (for 1 minute) at 10 seconds per mile faster than your goal 10K pace at a 1-percent grade. Record your heart rate at the end of each interval and the end of each recovery period.

run. Knowing that you are specifically training towards running a faster 10K off the bike lends meaning and purpose to your sessions. The treadmill can provide you with the optimal cadence and threshold training to give you confidence that you can run faster this year.

Over the past 20 years, LifeSport coach Lance Watson

Workout #3

Workout #4

Warm-up: 15 minutes on the treadmill at 1-percent grade, HR zone 1.

Strides: 6 x 15 seconds (45 seconds recovery) strides. Set TM at 10 to 20 seconds per mile faster than 10K speed for strides.

Aim for high cadence (90) and relaxed but fast running.

Main Set: 20 x 1:30 (for 45 seconds) at 10 seconds per mile faster than goal 10K pace at a 1-percent grade. Record your heart rate at the end of each interval and the end of each recovery period.

Cool-down: 15 minutes of very light jogging on TM or outside.

has coached new triathletes in addition to many Ironman and Olympic champions. He is the official coach of Ironman. LifeSport coach Lucy Smith has coached athletes ranging from beginners to world champions. She is also a two-time world medalist and a 19-time national champion in distance running and multisport. For more information, e-mail Coach@LifeSportCoaching.com or visit Lifesportcoaching.com. may 2009

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Carbohydrate Mouth Rinses May Improve Performance

By Tim Mickleborough, PhD Dear Speed Lab,

their mouths for approximately five seconds and then spit it out. Both mouth rinses had been shown to improve high-intensity exercise performance.

The study showed that exercise performance improved about 3 percent when the athletes used the carbohydrate mouth rinse compared to the placebo.

Interestingly, a study by Pottier et al.4 recently corroborated these results. These Steve Corbett authors found that when athletes used a Madison, Wis. carbohydrate- and electrolyte-rich mouth rinse during a one-hour intensity cycle, the Dear Steve, athletes took approximately 2.5 minutes less Thanks for the very interesting question. time to complete the test, which was the You are quite correct: A plethora of studies result of a higher mean power output on the out there show that ingesting a sports drink bike and higher blood lactate concentration, containing carbohydrates during exercise than when rinsing their mouths with placebo improves performance and delays fatigue (containing no carbohydrate). during longer periods of moderate-intensity So, why does rinsing our mouths with a exercise. However, is there a need to drink carbohydrate-rich solution seem to improve a carbohydrate-rich sports drink during exercise performance? The study authors shorter, more intense exercise, and if so, speculate that carbohydrates trigger receptors what mechanism does the body use? This is within the oral cavity that may stimulate the important to understand since it has been reward and/or pleasure centers in the brain. suggested that the body only uses five to 15 The studies conducted by Carter and Pottier grams of exogenous carbohydrate in the first suggest that the presence of carbohydrate in hour of exercise1. the mouth seems to set off a central effect Importantly, Carter, et al., found that that allows the athlete to work harder at the infusing glucose intravenously (as opposed to same subjective level of exertion. oral administration) supplied an abundance Another possibility is that the athletes of glucose in the circulation and increased could in fact tell the difference between uptake of glucose into tissues. However, they the carbohydrate-rich and placebo mouth observed no appreciable improvement in rinses, and this information was relayed one-hour cycling time-trial performance2. to the brain. Both of these mechanisms These same researchers designed an certainly involve communication with the experiment to test whether in fact the brain brain and most likely involve the central was sensing carbohydrates in the mouth and governor within the brain. in response increased exercise performance3.

The central governor model (CGM) of So, they took nine endurance-trained athletes fatigue is based on teloanticipation. Experts and had them complete hypothesize that physical an incremental cycling activity is controlled by exercise test to fatigue. a central governor in the At various points during brain, which interprets At various points during the time trial, the time trial, subjects fatigue as a sensation subjects used a mouthbased on feedback from used a mouthwash that t h e p er i ph er y. T h e wash that contained maltodextrin, a noncontained maltodextrin, governor then adjusts muscle motor sweet carbohydrate, or a non-sweet carbohy- skeletal water (placebo). The unit recruitment, which drate, or water. athletes were told to is manifested in a conrinse the fluids around tinuously refining pacing I read recently in a running magazine that using a mouth rinse fortified with carbohydrates improves exercise performance. Is this true? Surely, you need to actually ingest the carbohydrates so that they reach your muscles and can be used for fuel. There are many studies showing that consuming a sports drink that contains carbohydrates improves performance compared to water.

may 2009

triathletemag.com

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John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

Spe e d L a b

strategy with the primary aim of avoiding physiological catastrophe.5 So, how can the CGM explain what is happening with the carbohydrate mouth rinse? It is possible that the carbohydrates in the mouth rinse are sensed by receptors in the oral cavity that relay this information to the brain. This in turn assumes that the carbohydrates in the mouth will eventually arrive at the skeletal muscles, and thus the brain decides that it is possible for the athlete to increase workload (aka power output).

The take-home message is to perhaps take in small amounts of carbohydrate (gels and/or drinks) during short high-intensity training and competition.

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Dr. Mickleborough is an associate professor of exercise physiology at Indiana University and may be contacted at speedlab@juno.com. He is a former elite-level athlete who placed 18th overall (08:55:38) and second in the run (02:52:13) in the 1994 Hawaii Ironman World Championship.

References 1. Jeukendrup, A., F. Brouns, A.J.M. Wagenmakers and W.H.M. Saris. “Carbohydrate-Electrolyte Feedings Improve One-Hour Time-Trial Cycling Performance.” International Journal of Sports Medicine 18.2 (1997): 125-129.

2. Carter, J.M., A.E. Jeukendrup, C.H. Mann D.A. and Jones.

“The Effect of Glucose Infusion on Glucose Kinetics During a One-Hour Time Trial.” Medicine & Science in

Sports & Exercise 36.9 (2004): 1543-1550.

3. Carter, J.M., A.E. Jeukendrup, and D.A. Jones. “The Effect of Carbohydrate Mouth Rinse on One-Hour Cycle Time Trial Performance.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 36.12 (2004): 2107-2111.

4. Pottier, A., J. Bouckaert, W. Gilis, T. Roels and W. Derave.

“Mouth Rinse but not Ingestion of a Carbohydrate Solution Improves One-Hour Cycle Time Trial Performance.” Scandinavian Journal of Medicine in Science and Sports In press.

5. Noakes, T.D., A. St Clair Gibson, and E.V. Lambert.

“From Catastrophe to Complexity: A Novel Model of Integrative Central Neural Regulation of Effort and Fatigue during Exercise in Humans: Summary and Conclusions.” British Journal of Sports Medicine 39.2 (2005): 120-124. may 2009

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Tech support

What Does It Mean for a Pedal to Have Float?

Dear Frank,

By Christopher Kautz Dear Tech Support, I am considering changing the pedals on my bike. I am currently using Speedplay pedals with a stainless steel spindle, and I have two questions. First, would switching to a pedal may 2009

with a titanium spindle be beneficial? Second, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been told that my pedals have too much float. What is float, and how do I determine the right amount of float for me?

Frank Blazic Cayucos, Calif.

Pedals with titanium spindles will be slightly lighter than pedals with stainless steel axles. This is because titanium is less dense than steel and is therefore lighter per unit volume. However, titanium is also not as strong, stiff or as hard as steel per unit volume. Given that the shape of the pedal axle is not going to change much between a steel axle and a titanium one because of mechanical constraints, there will not be any material added to increase the strength of the titanium axle through increased volume. As a result, you will have a pedal system with weaker triathletemag.com

149

Tech support and more flexible axles. You can see attempts to deal with this on a Look Keo pedal, for example. The steel versions use 8mm Allen keys to install them, and the titanium version uses a 6mm key, allowing Look to remove less material from the titanium axle.

This reduced strength is why many pedals with titanium axles have rider weight limits on them. If you are a lightweight rider, this may not be of concern to you, but you will need to keep this in mind if you are a heavier rider. Furthermore, pedal systems in which the axle also serves as the bearing race can have

A floating pedal system allows the foot to rotate more or less at the ball of the foot, right over the center of the pedal.

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may 2009

Tech support longevity problems since the steel bearings will wear down the softer titanium axle. Pedals that have their bearing in a cartridge will not have this issue, but this is something to keep in mind when looking at pedals.

Knowing all of this, it is doubtful that you would see any measurable increase in performance by switching to a pedal system with titanium axles in place of one with stainless steel axles. If your goal is to build the lightest bike possible, however, then titanium axles will help you accomplish that.

The Issue of Float A floating pedal stands in contrast to a fixed pedal. Fixed pedals do not allow rotational movement of the foot once the cleat has engaged the pedal. Essentially, you are locked into place with a fixed pedal, much like a ski binding.

Early clipless pedal systems, such as the original Look pedals, were all fixed pedals. Fixed pedal systems require that the cleat be set up perfectly to match the natural movement of the foot of an athlete through the pedal stroke. If this is not done correctly, torsional forces are applied to the athleteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leg, often causing discomfort and potential injury to the knee or hip.

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A floating pedal system the athlete to provide the Float, while helpful, is stability. Many athletes do allows the foot to rotate more or less at the ball of the foot, not have this ability. In such a mixed blessing. right over the center of the a case, the pedal system alpedal. Having float means lows the athlete to fall into that the rotational adjustment of the cleat is his or her biomechanical imbalances and further easier, since the athlete can rotate the foot into reinforce them. This can be particularly probits natural position while pedaling. lematic for newer athletes or those with more Float also allows for an athleteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foot to pronounced biomechanical problems. rotate throughout the pedal stroke, which A pedal with limited float, when set up benefits most athletes because very few people properly, allows an athlete enough movement are stable enough biomechanically to ride a to ride comfortably and without injury while fixed pedal system efficiently. also providing a degree of stability to help The amount of float that a pedal has varies prevent unwanted movement. between pedal systems. Most floating pedal It is best when setting up such a pedal systems will range from about five to 15 degrees. system to seek out a professional bike fitter that Some pedals, including the Speedplay Zero and has been trained to understand the complexLook pedals, allow you to adjust how many ity of the biomechanics behind making the degrees of float you have as well as the direction necessary adjustments to the system in order or directions in which the float occurs. Speedplay to get the most benefit from it. also makes the X series of pedals, which has 30 degrees of float but is not adjustable.

Christopher Kautz, MA, is the owner and founder of Having the proper amount of float is ben- PK Cycling and one of the originators of the fit studio eficial because it provides a degree of stability concept. His clients include numerous Ironman world that having too much float does not. Float, champions, Tour de France veterans and Olympians. He while helpful, is a mixed blessing. Too much is also a member of the Master BIke Fitting Association float does not provide a mechanically stable (Masterbikefitters.com). You can find him online at platform for the athlete to drive from, forcing Pkcycling.com.

may 2009

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de a r co a ch under 10:50, which is the best Clydesdale time at Lake Placid that I could find.

If I set my goal at finishing in 10:50, do I need to train differently from the beginning?

Or should I focus on finishing and training for completion since this is my first time?

Thanks, Rocc

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

Rocco,

Goals for a First Ironman

By Paul Huddle and Roch Frey Dear Coaches, I know that it is very early and that my training only started yesterday. However, as this will be my first Ironman, I have many questions and goals. Perhaps my biggest may 2009

question is what time should I be aiming for to finish?

My first goal is to complete the event. My second goal would be to finish in less than 13 hours, and my third goal would be to finish

Are you out of your mind? You’ve never done an Ironman and you have the nerve to ask us about time goals? Have you been partying with Michael Phelps? Are you considering getting on A-Rod’s supplement program? What could possibly have gotten into you?

You do realize that Madam Pele (if you’re not familiar with that name, look it up) has more sources than Santa Claus, right? She hears and sees everything. She doesn’t take kindly to overconfidence and disrespect. Many think this applies only to Hawaii, but Ironman was born in Hawaii and, therefore, the rules of aloha and kapu extend globally. The Ironman has a history of slapping down even the fittest among us, so we encourage all first-time Ironman athletes, in Kona or elsewhere, to approach their first attempt at the distance with a healthy heaping of humility.

We’ve said it before and we’re certain you’ve heard and read it: The No. 1 goal that every athlete should have when toeing the line for an Ironman is to finish. What are some other goals worth shooting for? Let’s list a few: 2. Finish while still standing.

3. Finish while still standing and smiling.

4. Finish while still standing, smiling and in good enough physical condition to bypass the medical tent for food and a massage.

5. Finish while still standing, smiling, bypassing the medical tent and remaining gainfully employed.

6. Finish while still standing, smiling, bypassing the medical tent, remaining gainfully employed and married.

Look, we’re already at No. 6 and there’s been no mention of times and/or placing.

Does this answer your question?

OK, we know that every athlete will invariably have a time goal in his head based on his training. This is natural and, as you gain more experience, will actually have some validity.

But once you become mentally wedded to a time goal, you can set yourself up for an EEI (endurance event implosion) as a result of a WEEP (weather-effected explosive plunge).

Remember, this sport is conducted in the great outdoors and, as such, is subject to the elements. A 13-hour Ironman time on any given course could swing 30 to 60 minutes triathletemag.com

155

de a r co a c h The Ironman has a history of slapping down even the fittest among us, so we encourage all first-time Ironman athletes, in Kona or elsewhere, to approach their first attempt at the distance with a healthy heap of humility.

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in either direction depending on the day’s conditions. You’re thinking, “Yeah, I know all of that, but I’ll keep my wits about me.”

No, you won’t.

Instead you will add your contribution to the broken record of finish-line sob stories.

Unless you’ve witnessed it, you can’t imagine how much negative impact the average speed indicator on a bike computer can have on an athlete’s emotions. “Based on training, I thought I’d be able to average 19.78548 miles per hour, but by the 40-mile mark, I was only averaging 17.32961 mph, so I just kind of gave up.” Sound familiar?

If you are going to put a time goal in your head, make sure you’re honest with yourself, and, in addition to the time you think you’re capable of and the time you’d really like to see, include a worst-case scenario, such as having two flats, dropping your salt tablets and having GI distress all day. This will prepare you to accept whatever happens on race day and keep moving forward.

Finally, make sure you’re basing your time goals in reality. Most first-time Ironman athletes have or will complete a 70.3 event before their first Ironman and base their time goals on this time. Easy enough, right? Just double your time from the 70.3 and you’ve got your Ironman time. Except that’s not how it works. Ideally, you’d like to simply double your 70.3 time, but the effects of fatigue and weather conditions on performance increase geometrically with race distance. This is easy enough to demonstrate using real-world data.

(What? Data in a “Dear Coach” column?)

At the risk of handing out free narcotics to a bunch of junkies, let’s look at the times of several athletes in the 2008 Ford Ironman 70.3 California (a moderately difficult 70.3 in typically moderate conditions) and to the same athletes’ times at the Ford Ironman World Championship (a hard Ironman in typically hard conditions) in Kona:

70.3 Time (minutes)

Ironman Time IM to 70.3 (minutes) Ratio (IM/70.3)

4:32 (272)

09:53 (593)

2.18

5:35 (335)

15:09 (909)

2.71

5:11 (311)

11:56 (716)

2.30

5:05 (305)

10:24 (624)

2.05

4:25 (265)

09:05 (545)

2.06

4:57 (297)

DNF

N/A

6:21 (381)

14:25 (865)

2.27

5:03 (303)

10:41 (641)

2.16

4:43 (283)

09:55 (595)

2.10

5:17 (317)

10:59 (659)

2.08

4:37 (277)

10:10 (610)

2.20

4:23 (263)

09:16 (556)

2.11

4:55 (295)

11:03 (663)

2.25

5:02 (302)

10:49 (649)

2.15

6:15 (375)

14:03 (843)

2.25

Understand that if you were doing a very difficult 70.3 event (Wildflower or St. Croix) and an easy Ironman (oxymoron) like Ironman Florida, the ratio would likely be closer to 2.0.

So, as you can see, if you’re hoping to go under 10:50 at your target Ironman, you should be able to go in the neighborhood of 5:20 at a 70.3 event—and this assumes that you avoid falling apart during your Ironman.

There. We just cut U.S. economic productivity by starting a whole new obsession for those who want to extrapolate their Ironman times from other races. Yikes.

So, the answer is, since it’s your first Ironman, just try to get across the finish line.

Good luck!

Paul and Roch

Paul Huddle and Roch Frey are not winners of the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii but they’ve trained with and coached many of them. They have lived the sport of triathlon on every level for the past 30 years and use this extensive background to assist others with their goals. Based in Encinitas, Calif., Paul and Roch are partners in Multisports.com, an endurance coaching service that includes camps, online coaching and personal coaching. Never resting on their considerable laurels, both continue to explore strange new worlds (adventure racing), seek out new life (ultra-running) and new civilizations (paddleboarding and stand-up paddling), and to boldly go where no man has gone before (The Underpants Run). If you want to consider coaching that emphasizes experience, common sense and simplicity, visit Multisports.com. If you have a question that begs for ridicule and sarcasm, please send it to us at info@multisports.com may 2009

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Nutrition Q&A F;H<EHC7D9; 9ECFH;II?ED

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Concerns about Supplements

By Pip Taylor

Q:

My husband and I are triathletes, and he takes a number of nutritional supplements. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve thought that most supplements were for men, so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never bothered to take anything beyond a multivitamin. However, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been doing a bit of research lately, and I wanted to get your take on the following supplements

(for women or men): Flax and fish oils Rhodiola rosea Cordyceps Beta-alanine Amino acids (specifically L-glutamine and L-arginine) Creatine monohydrate Rachel W. Seattle

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You are certainly right to do your research before taking supplements. There are a number of important issues to consider, and recommending supplements for any individual without knowing more about her isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always wise .

Before taking any supplements, have a good reason for doing so based on scientific and medical evidence. Talking to your doctor or nutritionist is a good place to start in addition to perhaps undergoing a blood test a couple of times a year. This is really the only way to see if you are actually deficient in any key nutrients.

Taking supplements â&#x20AC;&#x153;just in caseâ&#x20AC;? or taking multiple supplements may result in toxic levels of minerals and vitamins. In fact, in most cases, over-supplementing creates a far greater problem than being slightly deficient. Further adding to the need to speak to a qualified health care provider is the possible interaction of supplements and herbal products with medications you may already take.

If you have identified a deficiency, then first take a look at your diet. Eating a variety of fresh, wholesome foods should be the first and foremost way to obtain what you need. If this has been addressed and there are still gaps (which is entirely possible, especially when under the high physical stress of training hard for a triathlon),

Robert Murphy/bluecreekphotography.com

A:

you might decide to supplement.

However, only take supplements in the recommended doseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;more is not always better!

Proper dosage may vary based on gender, body size, activity level among other factors.

This caution also applies to any herbal medicines or supplements: Overdosing can be toxic, even with natural herbs.

The Federal Drug Administration does not regulate nutritional supplements, so bear in mind that by using the product, you are trusting that what the manufacturer has written on the label.

Supplements, medicines, steroids etc., are often all made in the same manufacturing plants, so you are also relying on the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manufacturing practices.

Cross-contamination is a major concern for elite and professional athletes who undergo drug testing, may 2009

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Nutrition Q&A as they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always be completely assured of what they are taking yet are still responsible for what is in their bodies.

Choose reputable brands, even if it means spending more, as you are more likely to get what you pay for. Beware of claims made that are not supported by scientific studies published in reputable journals, and remember that there is a difference between biochemical differences seen after supplementation and functional or performance benefits that many studies simply assume.

Getting back to the specifics of your question, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll explain the potential and/or claimed benefits of the supplements you mention: Flax and fish oils are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids that are essential nutrients and play important roles in many bodily functions. It can be difficult for many get sufficient adequate levels of these fatty acids from the diet alone, so this supplement may well be warranted for general health and athletic performance and is backed by plenty of credible research.

Rhodiola rosea and cordyceps are both herbal supplements with big claims of improving well-being by reducing fatigue and pain.

Rhodiola is said to stimulate the nervous system, and cordyceps is believed to facilitate the delivery of oxygen to muscles. However, to date there is little unbiased scientific research examining the safety and efficacy of these supplements, so more research is needed, particularly on trained athletes.

Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid and the precursor to carnosine, which aids in reducing fatigue. Some studies suggest that it may improve strength and power in short anaerobic sprints or lifts by increasing muscle carnosine levels and delaying the point of fatigue. Again, though, well-designed studies on highly trained athletes have produced equivocal results, so further research is warranted.

L-glutamine plays an important role in protein metabolism 160

triathletemag.com

Choose reputable brands, even if it means spending more, as you are more likely to get what you pay for. and immune cell function. It is the most abundant amino acid in skeletal muscle and can become somewhat depleted under hard training conditions.

Food sources include fish, chicken and eggs as well as some types of recovery drinks (e.g. Endurox R4). L-arginine is a conditionally essential amino acidâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that is, the body normally produces sufficient quantities of it on its own but may require an outside source under stressful conditions. It is found in foods such as nuts, seeds, grains and meats. It is important for many bodily functions, but unless you have a medical condition or you are on a restricted or poor diet it is unlikely that you would be deficient.

Creatine monohydrate has been shown to boost strength and power and aid muscle growth. It is more commonly used by athletes in explosive and power-based sports. With creatine supplementation, muscle weight gain is typical (along with water retention), resulting in an increased body mass, which is not necessarily what most triathletes are aiming for. Also, as is the case for many supplements, consequences of long-term use are not yet known.

The bottom line on supplements is that they can work and do have their place in promoting health and athletic performance.

However, they should not be taken blindly. Seek professional advice about what will work for you.

Pip Taylor is a professional triathlete and sports nutritionist. She has raced professionally around the globe for nearly 10 years. Visit Piptaylor.com. may 2009

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f u n d a m e nt a l s

Strength Training Benefits Neglected Muscles

By Ian Murray

T

he one question I consistently get from an imbalance in the shoulder. Exercises that athletes is if they should incorporate focus on internal and external rotation can be strength training in to their workouts. The done at home or in the gym with inexpensive answer is an emphatic yes! The primary ben- elastic bands. They will strengthen the entire efit of strength training is injury prevention; shoulder area. so even if you are short on time, strengthenThe hip stabilizers: So much of the leg ing three areas will keep you healthy for the action we do in triathlon with all the running entire season. and cycling is straight ahead, on the same Training for triathlon is a far more bal- plane. You could be fit enough to go less anced, whole-body approach toward fit- than 11 hours at Ironman, yet a few minutes ness than training for a single-sport event. of soccer with some grade school kids will However, even triathlon leaves us with some leave you sore for a week. This is because neglected, fragile areas. the abductor and adductor The shoulders: Swimmuscles in the inner and outer ming the crawl puts an thighs, the stabilizing muscles ON THE WEB emphasis on the front of the for the hips, have shriveled up To see a video demonshoulders and the chest. The like cooked strips of bacon stration of these exercises, visit our website at repetitive use of the deltoid and are simply not ready for Triathletemag.com and pectoral muscles creates all the lateral motion that 162

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movement requires. Simple exercises such as hip abduction and adduction can also be done at home using the same elastic band used for the shoulder work.

The core: I’m not talking about the sixpack abs we see on the cover of every men’s magazine, or the shortcut devices promised on infomercials. Your core includes your stomach muscles, but it also encompasses the lower back, the oblique muscles that stretch around your sides and the transverse abdominal muscles that are deep inside your midsection. The basic sit-up is useful, but there are other creative core exercises that have a greater impact on what we triathletes do during swim, bike and run training.

Exercises such as the plank circuit, dead bug and all fours with opposing arms and legs are easy to do at home or in the gym and will have you ready for longer and faster training all year long.

Ian Murray is the head coach of the LA Tri Club and the creator of the instructional DVDs Triathlon Training Series.

For more information, visit TriathlonTrainingSeries.com. may 2009

DIGITAL EDITION NOW AVAILABLE O

ur digital edition is an exact replica of the print edition of Triathlete magazine, delivered to your computer by e-mail. It looks just like the print edition and contains the identical training information, gear reviews, race reporting, news and nutrition tips as the mailed copy. But the digital edition offers several advantages that print doesn’t: Links to all of the Web sites (URLs) and E-mail addresses Download: Save a local version directly to your computer for off-line viewing Tools that allow you to zoom, print or e-mail pages to a friend Find anything in the magazine by typing a search phrase View all available archived issues for this magazine Environmental friendly: No trees are cut and no fuel is wasted to deliver this edition

PREVIEW OUR SAMPLE DIGITAL EDITION TODAY triathlete-digital.com triathletemag.com

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Triathlete’s Garage Complete with SRAM Red components and Reynolds Strike DVV tubular wheels, the Fuji D-6 Pro prices at $8,000.

Fuji D-6 Professional

By Jay Prasuhn

T

he Fuji D-6 was one of several Interbike debuts last year that piqued my interest. It was not because Fuji is just finally getting into triathlon (it has been a low-profile mainstay with the Aloha for several years) but because my first glance at the D-6 placed it among a small handful of brands that were making bikes not by mimicking what anyone else was doing but by thinking outside the box and doing it their own way.

Fuji engineers did their homework when implementing their own designs, succeeding in making a bike worthy of the company of tri-industry leaders. And my test of the D-6 Pro revealed a bike that is as fast as the manufacturer’s aero efforts allude to.

Position on the D-6 is straightforward; a true 76-degree seat angle has an effective range of 74 to 80 degrees on a fore/aft adjustable clamp.

Fuji has addressed the increasingly mandatory elements one would expect to find on an $8,000 bike, including hidden brakes, a cable run that ports into the frame at the front of the toptube and horizontal dropouts. I was surprised by the fact that both driveside and non-driveside dropouts on the D-6 are replaceable. Driveside 164

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replaceability I expect, but non-driveside is a nice touch I’ve not seen anyone else do. As weighty as the design looked on first glance, my test bike weighed in on our scale at 18.09 pounds with SRAM Red and Reynolds Strike tubular wheels—very reasonable considering how much deep aero tubing it has.

The D-6 has a unique seat post design.

While the long carbon seat cap that sets onto the frame isn’t groundbreaking, its super-light fixing solution is: A set of reverse-thread bolts (which I at first thought were bottle cage mounts) fixes it to the frame with a horizontal load.

The rear end of the bike was among the stiffest we’ve encountered, and that’s largely thanks to its design.

The most obvious feature on the D-6 is the hidden brakes, most notably a rear brake that sits out of the wind inside a flared cowling in its traditional place on top of the seatstays.

The aero advantage of shielding the brake is obvious, but the design makes for a wider stance at the apex, creating an effective brace or stiffener. Braking on Tektro Quartz front and rear brakes was adequate considering the aero adaptations.

On the flat straights, however, the D-6 was a hard charger. I was able to switch my brain off and just focus on putting work through the SRAM Red drivetrain, secure in knowing that wind was slipping seamlessly over the bike’s NACA-approved tube set design. It climbed and straight-line descended at faster speeds quite well.

So indeed, it’s along the ruler-straight Kohala Coast where the D-6 is most at home. The athlete who can push big watts and prefers courses like Florida, Ironman Arizona or Oceanside 70.3 will find little fault with the D-6.

And lest I forget, there’s a black and neon green Matt Reed signature frameset available, which begs the question: Does this decidedly non-ITU bike expand the possibility that Matty Boom Boom could be going long, maybe half-Ironman distance for starters? Last year I cornered him with that question, and with a wry smile, he said, “We’ll see.” If I were to see him at a half-Ironman on this bike, I sure as hell wouldn’t bet against him.

You can find more on the D-6 at Fujibikes.com may 2009

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Couch Surfing Lifestyle Suits Triathletes

O

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Be a Good Guest 1. Clean up after yourself immediately—leaving piles of dishes from numerous meals is not good manners.

2. Don’t eat your hosts out of house and home, unless they are the type of family that thinks you look like you are starving to death and need to eat more, in which case count yourself lucky and compliment the chef.

3. Only talk about triathlon as much as your host chooses to. If her eyes are glazing over, change the subject.

4. Do not leave dirty cycling shorts on the couch, kitchen counter, bed or anywhere in sight. Please do your laundry or hide it until you get to it.

5. Don’t hog the TV remote.

You may find yourself hogging the couch most of the time, but that is what triathletes do. (Prospective hosts beware: Athletes tend to be highly inactive when they’re not in training or racing mode.)

6. Do as your hosts do. Try to fit in with the routine of the home as much as possible. I understand that gluten-intolerants may have some problems in a wheat-filled household, but try not to be too obviously high-maintenance.

7. Use common sense on all occasions.

8. Replace anything you need to ensure the house is unchanged when you leave.

9. Keep in touch if all goes well. Those people might actually like you and want to have contact in the future.

10. Let your hosts know how awesome they are for hosting you. Good karma for all! may 2009

John Segesta/johnsegesta.com

families for races. I am glad, too, because traveling as a pro can be very lonely. If I had to stay in a hotel at every race I would have retired years ago.

The beauty of the triathlon homestay is that there is an instant common bond through our sport. The sport of triathlon invites people from all walks of life, but I think we can all find some common interests outside the sport. I have met some of my favorite friends through homestays and really enjoy my yearly visits when races return to the same venue.

One year, I stayed with some great people in Arizona for two weeks. They went away for the weekend to compete in a half-Ironman. But one day their daughter, who was in college, came back from her grandmother’s house with her cousin, and the three of us hung out. She told me that her grandmother wondered why I wasn’t staying in a hotel.

I explained that a homestay is not just about finances. It is true that the best pro triathletes generally get paid less than the worst players in the NHL, but the real idea behind a homestay is to broaden your social network.

Staying with locals means that you get to know a city or town much better than you would as a visitor on your own. When I get connected to a host family that is also part of the triathlon community, I instantly know where the pools, open-water swimming venues, good running trails and good cycling routes are in that city. I also often get training partners for part of the time. I have a full kitchen to make food in and a family to enjoy it with.

By Melanie McQuaid Another amazing homestay was last year before Nationals in Lake Tahoe. I stayed with a couple in ne of the reasons I still get motivated to pack my their mid-60s. Neither one was a triathlete, but the stuff up and lug a bike onto a plane for races is husband was a fan of trekking and had hiked some the opportunity to visit some of my yearly homestay of the most epic routes in the world, including in hosts around the U.S. Without these friends sprinkled Iceland, Chile, Argentina and Peru. He had completed randomly across the country, I don’t know if I could treks that I am looking forward to doing when I am win the battle with homesickness that I inevitably face finished with triathlon. midway through an eight-week stint on the road.

Aside from his athletic pursuits, he was a huge Some people aren’t sure if they would like to oenophile and foodie with a specialty in super Tuscan stay with people that they have never met before. I blends and healthy food. We really didn’t need triathlon to find it exciting to meet people with whom I have no find common ground. His wife was a passionate political connection other than triathlon. campaigner who was very intelligent and plugged in to Back in my swimming days the cultural side of the U.S. Both of the concept of a “billet” house was them were so interesting, intelligent commonplace. In fact, one year my I would much rather be and generous, and I really appreciated swim team (Nanaimo Riptides) I spent with them. a temporary member of the time I would much rather be a temwent to Victoria for a training someone else’s family porary member of someone else’s camp. Local families hosted us, and my host family lived on a boat. family than travel alone. I understand than travel alone.

That was probably the coolest place this tradition is not for everyone, but I could have stayed. I had never for me it is one reason why I am so met that family before the camp, but we would always passionate about this sport. My life experiences are so be friendly at swim meets after that stay. much more memorable because of the people I have I didn’t have a chance to revisit the couch surfer met through this sport.

There are no set rules for being a homestay prolifestyle until I switched from cycling to triathlon.

Although I did have some great homestays when I vider, though you may have certain limits that make was racing my bike, it seems that triathlon has more you feel more comfortable.

The only rules are for the athletes themselves. of a culture of inviting elite athletes to stay with local

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Benefits of Massage

By Cliff English

I

definitely cannot say massage therapy is a foreign recovery modality concept to most triathletes, and even the most stalwart holdouts can be seen on occasion receiving a post-race massage or two.

Massage is still viewed as a luxury and is used very infrequently. Most people will wait until every muscle has seized up and muscles and tendons are tight as the weave of carbon on your carbon-fiber bike.

There are real benefits from frequent massage therapy and from working with a massage therapist that understands sports massage and your body. I believe that if you are serious about your sport and performance, it is essential to integrate massage therapy into your training program.

To help convince those that are still unsure, I have enlisted the help of certified massage therapist Briana Averill to strengthen

my points. Averill is a nationally certified massage therapist in Tucson, Ariz. She works with runners, cyclists, triathletes and swimmers ranging from weekend warriors to Olympians.

According to Averill, “Massage increases blood flow to the muscles to help speed healing by flushing out the metabolic waste.”

Averill says it can also give the athlete a chance to reconnect his mind and body and decompress.

In a similar manner, “active recovery” can be utilized in the weeks that you do not have a massage scheduled, and it is also a very effective means of flushing metabolic waste.

This would usually entail a light 30-minute swim or a 60-minute bike ride at a lower-end aerobic effort (zone 1).

Averill says that regular massage can help manage and prevent injuries by bringing awareness to areas of the body that are not functioning or responding as efficiently as possible.

“The therapist, if he understands the nature of the various injuries or dysfunctions can treat the athlete accordingly if it is within his scope of practice to do so,” she says. may 2009

i n e ngl i s h Massage should be periodized, and when you integrate it into your yearly plan, it will really reap huge benefits.

The ideal massage frequency for an elite athlete is twice a week. For a recreational athlete, it would be once a week to once a month based on need.

In coaching, one of the key components to success is a strong athlete/coach relationship built on trust and effective communication.

Similarly, it is key to establish a relationship with your massage therapist so he not only gets to know your body but also is able to work out with you what type and depth the massage should be for what you need in that microcycle (week) or training cycle.

Massage should be periodized, and when you integrate it into your yearly plan, it will really reap huge benefits.

“Every person is different and what is highly effective for one person may not be for another,” says Averill. “But in general, for big load weeks, getting a good, deep flush once or twice a month is great, but not so deep that fatigue is increased in the muscles.”

ON THE Averill cautions that your WEB therapist should be in tune with To read all In English columns visit your body and should have the Triathletemag.com. experience to know how much is

Coach Cliff English has more than 15 years of experience coaching athletes ranging from age-groupers to Olympians, first-timers to Ironman champions.

For more on coach Cliff’s coaching services and 2009 training camps, visit Cliffenglishcoaching.com.

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beneficial. Recovery weeks are a good time for more specific work. Then, in a competition week, it is all about what works for you as an individual, just like with a taper.

“Some of my clients have responded well with deep, specific work early in the week before a race,” says Averill, “while others just prefer a nice, easy flush mid-week to a few days before.”

Ideally, I like to have my athletes get a massage the day before either a day off or the day before a light “active recovery” day. This is a good example of how to effectively use massage as a key component in a microcycle.

A deep massage the day before a key track session or bike interval session will leave the athlete feeling sluggish and it will end up being a tough day of training.

When possible, schedule your pre-race massage early in the race week and then definitely get a post-race massage either right after the race (highly recommended) or the next day with your regular therapist.

Throw in an ice bath lasting three to five minutes somewhere shortly after the race, and you will get the type of recovery that most pros use. This combo will have you recovered and ready to start another block of training in no time!

For daily preventive maintenance, it is also recommended to do a little self-massage with a foam roller, a TP massage ball, quad ball, roller stick or pretty much any self-massage torture apparatus you can get you hands on.

The rollers are effective in massaging the quads, IT bands and calves while the smaller balls are perfect for getting into glutes, adductors and soleus muscles. Remember that while a healthy dose of pain is always part of a triathlete’s daily regimen, too much may not always be a good thing.

Staying on top of your recovery with frequent massage is a great way to keep your body fine-tuned and running like the worldclass machine that it is!

may 2009

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Aussie Emma Moffat (right) seemed content with the silver medal as she congratulated her countrywoman, Emma Snowsill, for grabbing gold at last year’s Olympic Triathlon in Beijing.

Delly Carr/triathlon.org

Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, Life Time Endurance will help you succeed in your next event. Our world-class staff is led by Coach Troy Jacobson and certified Life Time Endurance coaches from all over the country.

Going for the Bronze

By Samantha McGlone

A

s a friend often enjoys reminding me, “Second place is the first loser. If you’re not first, you’re last.” Apart from a penchant for quoting bad Will Ferrell movies, he just might be onto something.

There is some interesting sports psychology research suggesting that second place is indeed the biggest loser. Despite the objective assumption that the silver medal is better than bronze, it seems that coming in second is sometimes harder than not placing at all.

A team of researchers from Cornell University studied athlete reactions from the 1992 Summer Olympic Games to determine whether people who may be objectively better off (i.e., winning

silver versus the bronze medal) may actually feel worse about their result.

Athletes who won the silver were objectively better off than the bronze medalists (first being better than second) but they felt worse about their result than the bronze medalists did. It seems counterintuitive. After all, sport is the one venue in which results are cut and dried: First place is better than second, which is better than third, and so on.

Unscrupulous Russian figure skating judges notwithstanding, results are generally irrefutable.

It would make sense that athlete satisfaction should directly mirror her final standing. But strangely enough, the results showed that athletes coming in second in may 2009

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T ic k e t p u nc h often than we realize.

There is a functional value in these habits: A downward comparison (the “bronze medal” outlook) can provide comfort and satisfaction; basically one decides to be content with the result and look at the positive in the situation. (“At least I won a medal/set a PR/finished/ didn’t drown.”) Alternately, an upward comparison can offer motivation and incentive. (“I was so close to winning/qualifying for Ironman/making the swim cutoff.”) We just have to be careful about where we get on and off this hedonic treadmill, as it can create both inspiration and discontentment.

We all know people for whom too much is never enough and wealthy people who are constantly unsatisfied because they are perpetually resetting the bar as to how much they need to be comfortable. And conversely, we all know people who are perfectly content with much less.

The objective achievement itself is less important to one’s satisfaction than how the accomplishment is subjectively interpreted.

Most athletes I know have at some point been more satisfied with an epic struggle for a lower placing than by easily cruising in for a win. My finest race was one in which I did not cross the line first. It began as a terrible race and got worse from there.

Heading out onto the run, even reaching the top 10 seemed unlikely, but I dug in and gradually clawed my way through the field. The winner was long across the finish line as I made my final sprint up to second.

But that day, coming from so far behind in the field to claim second place was a feeling of complete triumph—better, in fact, than any win I had experienced before or have since.

So just call me the first loser.

I can handle it.

It would seem crazy that an Olympic silver medalist could be unhappy with the result, but this counterfactual thinking occurs commonly in daily life. the Olympics were less satisfied than those claiming third place.

The reason? Psychologists call it counterfactual thinking.

In plain English, that means the comparisons we make between an actual event and “what might have been.” The researchers found that the silver medalists tended to focus on how close they had come to the gold (and the accolades and financial rewards that accompany such an achievement), whereas the bronze medalists tended to compare themselves positively to the other alternative, which was not winning a medal at all. (“At least I wasn’t fourth!”)

It would seem crazy that an Olympic silver medalist could be unhappy with the result, but this counterfactual thinking occurs commonly in daily life. Imagine missing a plane connection by 40 minutes and then having to wait three hours for the next flight.

Now imagine missing that plane by four minutes. Both scenarios have the same outcome— you have to wait for the next plane. But for most people, it would be much more frustrating to miss the plane by four minutes simply because it is just so easy to think that if I had just run a little more quickly to the gate, I would have caught the plane.

It is like missing the lottery jackpot by one number. It’s basically the same result as if you weren’t even close, only a whole lot more agonizing.

So what’s the big deal?

Maybe you think you would be perfectly content to accept the silver medal, with no alternate scenarios needed. But we make these comparisons all the time in our daily lives, probably more

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By Brad Culp Julbo Motion Sunglasses $120

We spotted these oddlooking shades at the Outdoor Retailer trade show, and our first inclination was to make fun of them. However, after only one comment about how we thought Schwarzenegger sported these in Total Recall, we stopped poking jabs. That’s because we picked them up and realized the Motions are the lightest shades on earth.

They weigh eight grams—roughly the weight of your morning multivitamin. The lack of a nose bridge and frame also provides excellent vision, since there’s nothing to disrupt your sight at non-direct angles. If you’re a true weight weenie, then you just found your new favorite shades.

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SLS3 Compression Sleeves $45 a pair

It appears the compression fad will have a longer lifespan than jorts. (Remember jean shorts?) Perhaps it’s because compression really works for a lot of athletes, so much so that they’ll sacrifice their race-day looks for the benefits of compression garments. SLS3 wants to make it easier to become a compression addict and now offers a full-calf sleeve for those who don’t like the feeling of their feet compressed. The sleeve is also a good option for athletes who can’t stand biking with socks or those who want to wear different socks for the bike and run.

You can keep the sleeves on for the entire race and change your socks as needed.

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Body Health Pozitive Energy $18 (30 servings)

I gave this spray a try in an effort to kick—or at least calm—my out-of-control addiction to caffeine. One of the five active ingredients is yerba mate, which recent research suggests may be effective for curbing caffeine cravings. Yerba mate contains mateine, which is almost identical to caffeine in a chemical sense, but it’s slightly less potent (because it’s typically consumed in lower doses) and most studies indicate it’s less addictive than its chemical cousin. So, have I stopped drinking coffee? Hell no. But with Pozitive Energy’s mild pick-me-up I’ve been able to go from five to four cups of Joe per day. I’d need two or three 12-step programs to go any lower than four cups a day. Pozitive Energy’s other four ingredients are ginseng, green tea, pyruvate and taurine. Bodyhealth.com

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Craft proCool Long Sleeve Base $50

It seems logical that long sleeves would trap more heat than a tee or tank, so Torbjorn Sindballe’s decision to use Craft’s long-sleeve top in Kona piqued our interest. Craft’s new proCool lineup was created with the understanding that, in tough conditions, reflecting the sun is just as important as letting your skin breathe.

So it designed a material that would send the sun’s rays back where they came from while still providing ample ventilation. The result is a top made for racing and training in the sun. In climates like Lanzarote or Kona, you’ll appreciate your skin not burning for 26.2 miles. If the weather calls for hot weather with cloudy skies, stick to a top with less coverage.

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Enduro Shark CRM $35 (33 servings)

CRM (short for cellular recovery matrix) tastes awful— which is why we’re fans of it. Just about every other manufacturer of a “super-food” drink mix claims its stuff “tastes great.” A true super food, which is typically a mix of powdered vegetable extracts and antioxidantrich herbs, shouldn’t taste good. If a company says its super-food supplement is appetizing, it’s either lying, or the only taste-testers were rabbits and other rodents that like to eat ground foliage. We give props to Enduro Shark for not making any outrageous claims about the taste of CRM. We also give it props for making a super-food supplement on steroids (figuratively speaking). In addition to a laundry list of vegetable and herb extracts, CRM also includes 85mg of probiotics and a bit of flaxseed. We found it actually mixes quite well with a vanilla protein shake, but if you’re tough enough to do triathlon, chances are you’re tough enough to drink it with just water.

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may 2009

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TA3-Triathlete-2009-QTRpg3.pdf 1

Most triathletes don’t have a problem spending a fortune on custom orthotics for their running kicks because the return on staying injury-free is worth the big investment. You won’t find many athletes shelling out $400 for cycling orthotics (mainly because cycling doesn’t cause nearly as many injuries as running), so Sole offers an affordable option if you’re in the market for a little extra comfort while you ride. Its Slim Sport insoles are designed to fit tight-fitting shoes (like 99.9 percent of cycling shoes) and can be thermo-molded to fit your feet. At only 40 bucks, it’s certainly worth it if you suffer from arch pain or foot numbness while you turn the cranks. Yoursole.com

Indoor cycling sucks. Some triathletes say they like it, but chances are they’re just trying to convince themselves that it doesn’t suck that much.

The massive Real Ryder stationary bike makes it slightly less mindnumbing and offers some interesting additions to the world of indoor riding. The 220-pound bike has two pivot points, which allow you to rotate the bike quite a bit to each side. It’s a cool touch, but the fun will wear off quickly.

The real benefit of the dual-pivot design is that it makes the bike slightly unstable—just like a bike on the road—and forces your core to stabilize the bike as you pedal. I wouldn’t mind having a little more instability, but that would likely scare away the fitness-club crowd.

The instability becomes even more pronounced while pedaling out of the saddle, forcing you to recruit extra leg power to turn the 60-pound flywheel.

Perhaps our favorite feature was the adjustability of the bike’s fit, which allows you to closely mimic a time-trial position (unless you’re really, really tiny). Realryder.com

may 2009 12/19/08 11:43:18 AM

a t t he r a c e s “Watch out for the climb at mile 12!”

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Luke McKenzie trailed Bryan Rhodes on the bike but caught the Kiwi three miles into the run and went on to pick up his second Ironman title.

McKenzie, Granger Claim Victory in Malaysia

By Liz Hichens Although the Lotto Ironman Malaysia Langkawi Triathlon is the first Ironman of the year, an athlete’s success relies on much more than pre-season preparedness. The winners of this race are often determined by how well they can sustain the heat and humidity of the region. With this in mind, the pre-race favorites for the both the men and the women were athletes who have proven they can handle the conditions by winning here in past years.

For the men, New Zealand’s Bryan Rhodes won in both 2001 and 2002 and returned this year hoping to make it three. Australia’s Belinda Granger was looking to defend her 2008 win and faced a tough field, including many of her former Team TBB teammates.

This year’s event featured a few changes.

The bike course changed dramatically to one 178

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On the bike, Rhodes and McKenzie carried their momentum from the swim to the bike. Brazil’s Reinaldo Colucci quickly caught the two on the bike, and the three managed to gain time on the field. All three men held the lead at one point during the large loop and three smaller loops to improve bike, with Rhodes managing to come into the scenery of the course and slightly increase T2 first, followed by McKenzie and Colucci. the difficulty with some added hills at the end. On the run, Rhodes continued to lead until The run was also slightly altered.

5km in when McKenzie passed him for first.

While it was a hot 90 degrees through- Although Rhodes looked to be gaining time out much of the day, this on the Australian, McKwas a welcome sight to enzie managed to finish athletes, as temperatures the run strong and took Pre-race favorites often reach 110 degrees first place with an overall for the both the during this event. time of 8:26:48. Behind Rhodes led the men McKenzie, Rhodes conmen and the women out of the water with a tinued to race well and were athletes who time of 49:36. He was placed second at 8:32:52. have proven they can followed closely by AusAustralia’s Brian Fuller had tralian Luke McKenzie at a strong marathon and handle the conditions 49:36. They were followed rounded out the podium here in past years.

by Hiroyuki Nishiuchi of with a time of 8:38:06.

On the women’s side, Japan. may 2009

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Belinda Granger was untouchable in Langkawi and jumped across the line 15 minutes ahead of her competition.

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Japan’s Maki Nishiuchi led the group into T1 with a swim time of 53:12. Granger, who is not known as a particularly strong swimmer, swam a 53:56 and found herself in prime position to reclaim her title heading into the bike. Canada’s Donna Phelan was third out of the water at 55:12.

On the bike, Granger took the lead early and managed to quickly grow the margin between herself and the rest of the field.

Heading into T2 she had built a 20-minute lead over Nishiuchi and Phelan. Germany’s Nicole Leder was by far the fastest runner for the women, with a marathon time of 3:17:56. Granger’s lead was too much for anyone to overcome, and she finished at 9:21:10, good enough for a new course record. Behind her,

Leder finished at 9:36:40 and was followed

by Nishiuchi at 9:57:13.

Lotto Ironman Malaysia Langkawi Langkawi, Malaysia • Feb. 28, 2009 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run Women 1. Belinda Granger (AUS)

9:21:10

2. Nicole Leder (GER)

9:36:40

3. Maki Nishiuchi (JAP)

9:57:13

4. Donna Phelan (CAN)

10:03:18

5. Christine Waitz (GER)

10:05:32

Men 1. Luke McKenzie (AUS)

8:26:48

2. Bryan Rhodes (NZL)

8:32:52

3. Brian Fuller (AUS)

8:38:06

4. Hiroyuki Nishiuchi (JAP)

8:48:23

5. Petr Vabrousek (CZE)

8:50:48

TO OR DE R visit

or call 800.234.8356.

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Sarah Hall

“Super challenging, but fun!”

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“That water was COLD!”

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Fresh powder may be great for downhill skiers, but it made the run leg of the Winter World Champs challenging.

U.S. Wins Two Medals at ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships As expected, Norway and Austria dominate the podium

By Courtney Johnson Although the U.S. took home a silver and bronze, Norway continued its dominance in winter triathlon, with Tor Halvor Bjørnstad winning gold for the elite men and the men’s and women’s relays also taking gold at the 2009 ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships in Gaishorn, Austria. Carina Wasle took gold for the elite women on her home soil.

Early morning snow and freezing temperatures greeted the elite women as the world’s best competed in the 7.5K snow run, 12.5K mountain bike and 9.9K skate ski course in Gaishorn.

Coming off four straight victories, including Winter Triathlon Nationals, U.S. Olympian in cross-country skiing Rebecca Dussault was looking to continue her winning streak by taking her first ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships. The opportunity was there 182

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with the absence of six-time world champion Sigrid Mutscheller of Germany. “Rebecca came into the race with an excellent cross-country ski season featuring four wins in four weeks,” said U.S. head coach Neal Henderson.

Dussault ran side by side with Austria’s Wasle for the first loop of the run and lost only 40 seconds to her during the last three loops of the 5K. On the mountain bike, Wasle seemed to thrive in the conditions, pulling away from the field. On the snow-packed course, Dussault remained in second place, 90 seconds behind Wasle, with Norwegian Elisabeth Sveum on her tail.

Using her expertise, Dussault made a strong move on Wasle at the start of the cross-country ski leg, but the adverse weather conditions prevented her from catching Wasle.

In the final kilometers of the race, Norway’s Hanne Trønnes passed Dussault, who didn’t have powder skis and struggled over the fresh snow.

Wasle brought home gold for the Austrian crowds in 1:32:28. Trønnes claimed silver in 1:34:06.

Dussault took the bronze with a time of 1:35:30, a strong improvement from her sixth-place finish at this event last year. “I think she showed everyone she is the real deal,” said Henderson. This was the U.S. team’s first medal at the Winter World Championships.

“Rebecca will be a force to be reckoned with in 2010 and beyond if the Olympics don’t take her from us next year,” added Henderson.

U.S. teammate Emma Garrard finished 9th in 1:42:04, and Heather Best finished 11th overall in 1:46:58. Under blue skies the following day, the trio would go on to win silver in the relay, finishing in 1:33:37.

Norway’s team posted almost identical split times for the shortened 2K snow run, 4K bike and 3K ski, taking gold in 1:30:21. Russia claimed bronze with a time of 1:35:17.

Former biathlete Tor Halvor Bjørnmay 2009

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Rated 15 times

stad of Norway was victorious in the men’s Post quickly pulled away from Bauer on race, holding off fast-closing teammate and the ski course, and Bjørnstad pushed his pace reigning champion Arne Post. This was the to catch up to them. Before the end of the first first win for Bjørnstad and only his second lap, Bjørnstad caught Bauer, who was struggling. winter triathlon.

With each lap, Bjørnstad gained time on Post From the beginning of the run, former and caught him by the fifth lap. The Norwegian champion Post set the pace with only Ales- took home the gold in 1:18:08. Post claimed sandro De Gasperi of Italy being able to silver in 1:18:28. Daniel Antonioli from Italy keep up. Bjørnstad, former champion Sigi passed Bauer for bronze in 1:19:42.

Bauer and three others were part of a chase The top U.S. finisher was U.S. Winter pack 40 seconds behind Nationals champion Brian the two leaders.

Smith in 12th place with Before transitioning a time of 1:23:51. Mike In the final kilometers off the bike, Bjørnstad Kloser finished 15th in of the race, Norway’s used his agility on the 1:25:55, and Carl Decker snow-packed course finished 22nd in 1:30:44.

Hanne Trønnes passed to pass Post and Bauer.

In the relay, the trio finDussault, who didn’t However, his lack of ished sixth in 1:20:34. winter race experience Team Norway took gold have powder skis showed when Bauer and in 1:16:02, followed by and struggled over Post exited transition bethe Czech Republic in the fresh snow.

1:17:07 and Russia in fore him and he was once again playing catch-up.

1:17:08.

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2009 ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships Gaishorn, Austria • Feb. 13, 2009 7.5K run, 12.5K mountain bike, 9.9K cross-country ski Women 1. Carina Wasle (AUT)

1:32:28

2. Hanne Trønnes (NOR)

1:34:06

3. Rebecca Dussault (USA)

1:35:30

4. Camilla Hott Johansen (NOR)

1:36:20

5. Tatiana Charochkina (RUS)

1:37:00

Men 1. Tor Halvor Bjørnstad (NOR)

1:18:08

2. Arne Post (NOR)

1:18:28

3. Daniel Antonioli (ITA)

1:19:42

4. Sigi Bauer (AUT)

1:20:13

5. Pavel Andreev (RUS)

1:20:42

may 2009

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Login to rate Rated 12 times

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The SpeedFold protects, organizes and keeps your stuff safe!

ITU-veteran Samantha Warriner took the lead in T2 and never looked back en route to the win at her Ironman 70.3 debut.

Warriner Shocks the Field in 70.3-distance Debut

By Liz Hichens In the second running of the Snap Ironman 70.3 Geelong, Australian Craig Alexander followed up his World Championship performance with a win on his home turf. On the women’s side, New Zealand’s Samantha Warriner made an impressive 70.3-distance debut by running her way to victory.

With the days leading up to the race featuring 100-degree plus temperatures, questions surfaced as to whether the event would begin as scheduled. With conditions easing on race morning, 1,100 athletes entered the waters of Eastern Beach as planned. As one of the earlier races in the 2009 season, a strong pro field came out for a chance to make a season debut. The men’s field was

set to feature a deep field of Aussies including Alexander, Luke Bell and Luke McKenzie.

On the women’s side, the heavy favorite was The Netherlands’ Yvonne Van Vlerken. The field also featured a strong group of Australian contenders including Belinda Granger, Rebekah Keat, Kate Major and Pip Taylor.

In the men’s race, superstar swimmer McKenzie led the pack out of the water with a time of 21:28 and was followed closely by fellow Australians Cameron Watt and Paul Matthews. Alexander was fifth out of the water and quickly found his way to the front once on the bike. He was joined in the lead by fellow Aussies Paul Matthews, David Dellow, Cameron Watt and Bell.

With this group riding away may 2009

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from the rest of the competition, Watt was first into T2 with the rest close behind.

Alexander quickly took the lead on the run and never looked back, winning in 3:50:51. Dellow and Bell crossed the line in second and third, respectively.

Taylor led the women into T1 with Granger, Biscay and Major close behind.

Van Vlerken and Warriner quickly caught the fast swimmers, with Van Vlerken leading the bike and Warriner following close behind. Van Vlerken looked to have a slight lead heading into T2 but was quickly passed by Warriner, who posted

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a 1:44 transition time, 40 seconds faster than Van Vlerken. Warriner never looked back and crossed the finish line in first with a total time of 4:14:33. Van Vlerken followed closely and finished second at 4:15:25. Keat posted the strongest half-marathon of the field at 1:20:44 to round out the podium with a total time of 4:17:35.

As one of the earlier races in the 2009 season, a strong pro field came out for a chance to make a season debut.

Be a part of the Cayuga Lake Triathlon: Swim in a pristine lake, bike through wine country, and run through a gorge below a waterfall three stories higher than Niagara Falls.

Alexander’s daughter, Lucy, celebrated yet another win for the reigning Ironman World Champion.

Register today!

Snap Ironman 70.3 Geelong Geelong, Australia • Feb. 8, 2009 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run Women 1. Samantha Warriner (NZL)

4:14:33

2. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED)

4:15:25

3. Rebekah Keat (AUS)

4:17:35

4. Kate Major (AUS)

4:23:48

5. Pip Taylor (AUS)

4:25:56

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Men 3:50:51

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3:53:02

3. Luke Bell (AUS)

3:53:52

4. Joe Gambles (AUS)

3:56:13

5. Matty White (AUS)

3:57:23

may 2009

Sunday, August 2, 2009 Photo: www.jonreis.com

1. Craig Alexander (AUS)

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I

letters after her name or a warrant for her arrest, if she was a CEO or a nun. Only that she’d told her caller with a Cheshire grin that her immediate priority was rolling down the Pacific Coast Highway. I saw her as a woman on a bike in the middle of the work week in the middle of a group of like-minded athletes.

Recessions can reduce our choices. In America they’re rarely eliminated. History has shown us that during times of economic challenge, people will turn towards things that matter. For some, its essential needs—food and shelter. For others it’s furthering education, health and fitness, or family and friends. With conspicuous consumption thwarted, we turn to the foundational matters of living: the spirit, the body, those people we are close to. And if we can sneak in a lunch hour with a buddies, well, all the better.

Triathlon is not recession-proof any more than education, organized religion, the military or the shorter wait for a Sunday afternoon table at Mel’s Diner. But our sport is affected in ways that may not be obvious to us yet.

What would it feel like if getting into the Hawaii Ironman were as easy as a credit card number and a mouse click? What if no one traveled to races outside their city and ideas could not be shared any more than what we see in online chat rooms and dog-eared books passed around? What if the small cutting-edge designers like Steve Hed (Hed wheels), Dan Empfield (QR bikes/wetsuits) and Richard Byrne (Speedplay pedals) never had the opportunity to create new ideas, technology and ways of making us safer, faster and just plain better?

I suggest that in a free-market country, there are few postmodern sports that have as intricate a relationship to the economy as triathlon. Imagine trying to introduce the sport right now. But still …

Going back to triathlon in the late 70s and early 80s, when our country faced different but similar challenges, there were a lot of people at the pool or running around the local parks. I can remember sitting on sidewalks outside convenience stores, taking a quick break from a long ride when the future was wide-open and I had the month’s rent more or less earned. I needed only one bike and one pair of sunglasses. There were no economic reasons to shave your legs.

If we have a dozen of each now, are we any happier or healthier?

Scott Tinley

Triathlete (ISSN08983410) is published monthly by The Competitor Group, 10179 Huennekens St, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92121; (858) 768-6805. Subscription rates: U.S., one year (12 issues) $34.95; two years (24 issues) $59.95. Canada $58.95 per year; all other countries $90.95 per year, U.S. currency only. Periodi­cals postage paid at San Diego, CA, and additional mailing offices. Single copy price $5.99. Triathlete is copyright 2003 by The Competitor Group. All rights reserved.

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to talk about whether they’ll sign up but how they’ll get in. High-end bike sales are only slightly off. Marketing specialists list multisport media ads as “cost-effective.”

Could it be that the sport of triathlon is recession-resistant? was on a sidewalk I was intrigued by outside a convethe conversation and sat n i e n c e s t o re o n a on the hood of my kid’s wintry Wednesday in truck, kind of wishing I coastal San Diego. It was part of their group was just past noon and instead of beholden to errands before work. a spandex-clad group of cyclists had stopped A female cyclist in for a hot coffee or an her mid-30s, outfitted energy drink. Some were in black from helmet pulling cell phones or to heels, talked on a cell Blackberrys from jersey phone. From the back it pockets. The prevalence looked as if her clothes of expensive bikes said were painted on, and they were serious ridI heard her giggle and ers but the leg hair said mention those four of liberation: there were boundaries.

Triathlon is not recession- words The prevalence of surf“Whenever I get there.” fashion sunglasses told I imagined that she’d proof any more than me they were locals. earned whatever fortune education, organized I put my newspaper or fate life had shown her religion, the military or and quart of milk under and resisted the temptamy arm and half-listened tion to categorize. the shorter wait for a to their banter while Tr i a t h l o n d e Sunday afternoon table mographic figures fumbling for my keys.

“You gonna do the (economic, not bodily at Mel’s Diner. But our half in Oceanside in numbers) have always sport is affected in ways been high—lots of May?” a thick man with long-fingered gloves discretionary income, that may not be obvious asked another rider. post-graduate degrees to us yet.

“I’d like to but the and upper-management wife has me on a race positions—but we are budget this year. Gotta pick your battles,” he not, as a collective, self-indulgent, narcissistic said, the voice straining to convince itself. or enlightened. We like to train and race for a “I hear ya. Was thinking about doing an thousand and one reasons. But still …

Ironman, but it’s become a four-figure event.

Lots of people are under the illusion that They laid off another 12 people from marketing both life and sport should be fair, a real Amerilast week. Guess that’s my battle right now.” can meritocracy. With unemployment at record In three decades of triathlon, my older numbers, businesses closing, markets tanking friends and I have ridden through some tough and people everywhere caught in the seeming times. But somehow I don’t remember talking unfairness of it all (as if anything in life is fair), about them during training. Kenny Souza we wonder how a sport such as triathlon weaththought a 401(k) was a 133-mile race. ers an economic storm. Six cyclists straddling Now it seems the worsening economy has machinery valued at more than the clerk selling bypassed split times and Chrissie-for-President Slurpies earned during the entire previous year as fair chatter; tri-market rap rippling to waves are easy targets. And we need to resist both that could wash away our castles in the sand. projected and self-indictments.

But still …

The objective analysis was that my blackEntries to the larger events have shown clad subject had chosen to spend an afternoon few signs of being affected. Athletes don’t seem riding with friends. I don’t know if she had

Illustration by Thomas Kimball

T i n l e y t a l k s

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

2008 FORD IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPION Congratulations to Craig Alexander on his win at the 2008 Ford Ironman World Championships.

Orbea and Orca are proud to partner with such an exceptional competitor.

Craig’s Orbea Ordu: Evolved multisport technology meets the world’s highest-end carbon composites. Choice of champions worldwide.

photo ©Segesta 2008

Craig’s Orca Racing Gear includes: Orca Alpha Wetsuit, Orca Distance 226 Tri Top, Orca Distance 226 Tri Pant and RS1 Swimskn.

CHRISSIE

WELLINGTON

TJ

TOLLAKSON

ANDY

POTTS

PIP

TAYLOR

BECKY

LAVELLE

DESIREE

FICKER

YOU ARE DEFINED BY THE COMPANY YOU KEEP.

2009 LINE LAUNCH WWW.TYR.COM

© 2009 TYR Sport, Inc. All rights reserved.