Opinion: Minimalist Shoes

An article was posted that declared the minimalist movement was over: Runner's World article.

And a lot of people heralded the day, as they truly believed the minimalist movement was an industry creation meant to get people buying more and spending more time in physiotherapy/doctor's offices. If you think that was the result of the minimalist movement, that's unfortunate, because that's such a negative take on it.

My thoughts:

"Although I don't run in strict minimalist shoes, I still think the minimalist movement did much to create awareness, especially about 2 topics: cushioning and heel-to-toe drop. It got people questioning these 2 factors in their traditional shoes and what was ACTUALLY best for them. I ended up transitioning to something that was just as cushioned as my previous shoes but far, far less drop (4mm)."

i.e. It got quite a lot of people thinking outside of the cushioned, massive drop shoe box, and I say that's a GOOD THING!

I'm in non-racing mode!!

Oh, race reports are always a good excuse to write up a post or two. And given I raced prolifically this summer, race reports abounded. Now that I'm in a boring training block for IM Cairns, there's far less to say. I'll stick with the basics:

-- Not long after IM NZ, I played race sherpa for Christian as he raced an off-road sprint triathlon. The spectacular views of Moke Lake:

-- I did indeed race Lake Hayes Olympic tri, where I placed 3rd OA female, and 2nd in my age group. Whee!!!

-- I had my quarter-life crisis, gave up training and racing Ironman, bought myself a mountain bike! I'm thrashing myself on it, and I'm going to give off-road racing a go next summer season.

-- I took one too many photos of my dog, now 10 months old:

-- Our home seems to have a bike-breeding problem. And that's with two bikes out of the picture...

-- And lastly, just to keep life amusing, two weeks ago I sprained my right ankle when I ran off the trail and got my foot stuck in a rabbit hole. A bruise and swelling developed, but I was back running in 6 days. And then, on the 3rd run back, I did the exact same thing... I ran off the trail through knee-high grass, and rolled my OTHER ankle. This time I heard a resounding crack. Bruising and swelling developed, but it hurt surprisingly little apart from the initial shock. I was back to running in 3 days. Oh, they are not better, I can easily roll them again... but I WON'T!!! The ankle ligaments are weakened, I need to make sure they don't become permanently so. Careful running and staying ON THE TRAIL where I can see my foot landing is key. Also known as: don't be an idiot!

-- I will be racing Ironman Cairns on June 9th, but I haven't had a typical build: it's cold, I'm on a mountain bike to keep warm, I hate road running so I'm just trail running in the hills. Plus, don't forget that quarter-life crisis. I'm only doing this because I had registered for it nearly one year ago, I'll enjoy this wee race in tropical North Queensland yet again, but then I'm going to go full-tilt into off-road racing and see where that takes me. It's going to be an exciting ride!!

Changing course...

After my mini "I hate Ironman" melt-down, I sat down and wrote up a race season schedule that was ambitious and I thought "really cool". My coach said that we needed to talk.

Turns out, it is a bad idea to try to be good at everything and every race and every distance of multiple sports, while racing 2-4x/month for months on end. If I want to taste and attempt everything, I can do all these races. If I want to be good, get results and be fast, I can't DO EVERYTHING. So what do I want?

There was a flat road half marathon and a 100k ultramarathon on the schedule. There were heaps of short triathlons, both on and off road, and mountain marathons and potentially some multi-day multisport events. But... I also wanted to be really good... at everything! I wanted really good results.

What did I want more? As we spoke and as she described my conflicting desires and took examples from her other athletes, I realized a few things:

- I like racing short/hard and I like racing often. Like I said, 2-4x/month for 5-6 months non-stop. I looooove it. I make the races "adventures" too, by either cycling to/from them or something of the sort.
- I want to transition to more off-road racing. I want a mix of on and off-road, and I want to improve my mountain biking abilities
- I want to enter no-pressure endurance events and training days that keep things interesting and have me work on my long-term goal (2015-2016) of entering multi-day events and give me practice for adventure racing.

After I realized all this, I dramatically changed my race goals and became really really excited about the upcoming season. A lot of racing, mostly short (up to half-iron) and a fantastic mix of on and off-road, with plenty of unstructured endurance adventures as well. Time to be fast and race like crazy! Race schedule for 2013/14 will be posted soon. :)

The Ironman Delusion

So... I'll confess... I'm one of those Ironman athletes on the cusp of ditching the sport (to a degree) to venture into the far-more-exciting world of ultra running, of multisport races, of XTERRA, of multi-day races, of Ultraman, of adventure racing... really, anything and everything that seeks to challenge the mind and body.

I feel Ironman has become a serious delusion to many of those that participate in it. For many, they think it is the ultimate endurance event. At just about 12 hours, give or take a couple hrs, it is only the beginning of endurance racing. Ironman itself puts on races around the world that are, to put it lightly, not challenging, not breathtaking, and very often multi-lapped. It becomes more about completing the distance fast, who cares where you go or what you see... than it is about overcoming a challenge, a true challenge: a mountain pass, a challenging loop, an epic trail run. It is a pavement pounder's paradise, and I'm a little over it. There are, of course, exceptions.

I believe Challenge have the right idea for some of their races. Stunning locations, stunning and honest courses -- I dare you to find a more honest course than Challenge Wanaka half-iron!

Nevertheless, my real issue is with the training. Often, I feel I'm not allowed the flexibility in training to cover grounds as I wish: I want to mountain run, trail run, I want to switch it up between my tri bike, my road bike and my mountain bike. I definitely don't want to road run, who on earth would want to run on roads? I want to run/hike the great tracks of the area: Motatapu track, Grandview Range, Isthmus Peak, Routeburn, Hollyford, Greenstone-Caples, etc. New Zealand has a wealth of tracks, and I'm experiencing few, only in the off-season when I'm not in full IM training mode.

Honestly, I want to become a master of the terrain. I want to experience great suffering and pain in races. I want to sign up for a race totally batshit scared again. I also want to do the short races, whatever the discipline, turn off the brain, and go hard!

GODZone began last weekend. It is a non-stop multiday adventure race. The racers only have a day of prep for the course; the start location and disciplines are revealed at the last minute, one day before. I had some friends racing the last 2 years of the race, I followed via live tracking as they went off course, got lost, couldn't find their checkpoint, got frustrated, became sleep deprived and saw sleep monsters. I also saw when they paddled like crazy (despite their fatigue) down the Clutha River to make the dark zone cut off (i.e. no one can paddle on the Clutha river between 8pm and 7am). To say the least, I was inspired. I've written up a two, tentatively three, year plan to get me to that start line.

Well, really, when you're not excited and dreaming of qualifying for the world championships in your own sport (Kona) because you think the course is boring, and the on-road marathon is a joke, then you need to reassess your race choices and your goals. So, I'm reassessing. You'll definitely still see me on the start line of some choice half-iron or 70.3 events... think Boulder 70.3, St George 70.3, Lake Wanaka half, etc...

Ironman New Zealand race report

Ayeee, how are the months flying by so quickly? We're nearing the end of summer in beautiful Wanaka. Soon I'll be doing my Ironman training in chilly autumn, bundled in all the clothes I own. However, summer stuck around long enough and I think Taupo was blessed with the nicest weather on IMNZ weekend in the history of the race: sunny blue skies, light winds, and warm (25-26C). Perrrrfect.

I wasn't sure what to expect, other than I technically had the fitness for 11 hours. I did 11:45:54. I gave my 100% on the day, I hate giving anything less than 100% on race days.

I was the epitome of calm and collected leading into the race. I didn't even really realize I was doing an ironman. I ate a lot, I rested, I did those silly taper-week workouts... I avoided the crowds. Other than that little squeal I gave in the Taupo waters with under 1 minute to go 'til race start, I'd say I was at peace.

Swim: 1:02:21, as in... yes! A swim that finally reflected my fitness. Boom! I remember thinking, about 1/3 of the way through, oh snap, I can do sub-1hr if I work a bit harder. I restrained myself, going strictly at what my body told me was ironman pace. There will be next time!

Everyone has crazy eyes coming out of the swim!

 Bike: 6:18:21. Ah yes, cycling. For skinny little me, cycling has always presented a challenge. I was on target with watts for the first 90k, at a couple minutes under 3 hours for the first half. Onto the 2nd lap, and my body just started screaming. I've never been in aero position for that long. Other than one sustained climb at the beginning of each loop, the course is "aerobar party time". I did not enjoy the party!!!!!! All sorts of pains cropped up: right foot, right hip, left knee, lower back. Everything was screaming at me, and my muscles were feeling it too, and so all I had left was "turn the legs over". Those last 2 hours were the worst of the entire race. I had an incredibly sore throat from whatever was in the air out there (very dusty farmland). Blah blah, all this complaining, all to say that I couldn't stick to my race watts. There are a couple solutions to my problem:
- I need to develop actual leg strength/muscle/power. Look at those skinny legs, they're not getting me anywhere!!
- Remove the spacer under my left cleat. It was placed there about 8 months back after I had trouble activating my left glute while cycling, but now I think it's just causing imbalances and pain.

 Yes, my wheels don't match. I had to borrow a friend's front race wheel after the discovery of a huge crack in the rim of my own. Thanks Ailsa for letting me borrow your wheel! 

 

Run: 4:17:52... as in, I managed the break down far better than I ever have, but still 30' slower than what my current IM marathon fitness is. That's alright... I got onto the run and after the disastrous experience of the last 2 hrs of the bike, I was surprised to feel so good on the run. The first lap (of 3) felt cruisey. I was happy. I snacked on on-course Powerbar gels (green apple, yuuuuum). At the very end of the lap, I developed tummy troubles. I knew that if I tried to hold anything in, for any length of time, I'd really have GI upset. Holding things in does not help! IMKY 2011 taught me that. So I waited in the portaloo queue (this drove me crazy!). Once running again, I felt better but still not 100%. I nursed myself on cola and water, and the moment I felt okay again, I took more gel. As I knew would happen, I also developed mean side stitches. My diaphragm and abdomen, for whatever reason, contract and spasm quite badly when running for any significant length of time on road or on steep downhills, and it hurts like fuck! I don't experience this while trail running, though. If anyone has any clues, please share! Anyway, for the life of me I tried to problem-solve this as quickly as possible. Only when I passed Gina Crawford (2nd pro female, also lives in Wanaka) did I think of changing things. I had been trying to maintain really proper run form, long legs, running out the back, etc etc. She looked like she was doing the classic ironman shuffle: quick feet, barely any knee lift, high high high cadence. She always runs like this, and she moves fast! For some reason, I thought that this might help, and so I shifted to that kind of running style: holy batman, that truly lessened the strain on my core and tummy and I once again was motoring along quite nicely. This took me to the beginning of the 3rd loop, once again I started to develop tummy troubles. I was running with another F25-29 girlie, and it gave me great pain to let her run off from me, but another visit to the portaloo was required. Waiting (again!) for one of them to be free was the most frustrating thing I've ever experienced. Once out, I cajoled myself into running faster and faster, and once I saw the last few turns, I started to tear up a bit. No one makes you suffer out there other than yourself. I could have taken longer for every single discipline and had a much easier time of it, but I really really really wanted to meet my targets and feel a lot of pain. I wanted to put together the best race I could.

I apologize if this race report is really robotic, but that is how I felt. On race day, I don't let emotions affect me much at all, I try to hit targets and if I encounter problems, I try to troubleshoot them. Repeatedly. For 11 hours and 45 minutes, I encountered issues and tried to resolve them. It gives me deep, great satisfaction to say that I did so to the absolute best of my ability on race day.

So, yes, 8th age group in F25-29, 36th amateur female. And there's still a loooong ways to go.
What's that really catchy song my a cheesy young popstar that has the lyrics: "Onto the next one, onto the next one"???
That's how I feel!!!

((As a sidenote, it drives me crazy that most race photography companies don't understand basic microeconomics. They'd do so much better if they simply charged 5-7$ per photo. Rather than limiting your buyers by jacking up the price far higher than what most value it at (100$ for a race photo package!!), they should lower the price and allow more of the market to actually buy it at what they actually value it for: a couple bucks here and there. They'd make shitloads more money. Drives me nuts!))

"Toughen Up" training days - pre-Ironman self-talk

You know the days I'm talking about... not necessarily the longest or the biggest training days, but the ones that sneak up on you, really get you suffering physically and mentally, but you somehow pull through. You somehow survive and live to tell the tale. Whether you wanted to experience it or not, it's now made you a stronger athlete. Now that I'm in taper mode (for Ironman New Zealand, March 2nd), I like to run through all the days that I've seriously struggled and still come out alive.

1. the 3-day binge: Ride 165k's from Wanaka to Glenorchy, 40k's of tailwind, 125k's of headwind that got stronger and stronger until it was over 70kph. Nice. Day 2 was a team off-road sprint triathlon with my partner. I swam, ran, he rode. Nearly killed myself, but we won! Day 3 was where it all came crashing down. 30k run... meant to be ON ROAD as IM race simulation. I usually run on trails, never road, but the IM marathons are usually flat, road. It nearly killed me. The body was not used to the impact, I was tired, and I dealt with massive side stitches for the last 20 of 30k. I was delirious.

2. the confidence builder:  Ride 145k's. 45k easy, 100k @ IM watts. Nailed it within 1W of goal. Straight into 10k brick run, 8k blind (i.e. don't look at pace) at IM pace. Nailed it, 0:02/km faster than goal pace. Similarly, a long run, 35k, was 15k warm up, 15k @ IM pace, 5k cool down. Quite good, 0:04/km slower than goal pace, and that was wearing a pack.

3. need-help-from-a-friend: Mid-training block. I was tired. I really didn't want to sandbag a big swim session, but I knew I would if I did it solo. Got help from a friend and the 5.4k swim with a main set of 40x100 on 1:40/100m was NAILED.

4. total body shutdown: After subsisting on gels alone for far too long, I developed serious nausea and could not properly stomach food for weeks, absolutely dreading long rides/runs because it meant more gel consumption. It culminated in a 100k ride down to Lake Hayes, slow but 100% nauseous. Followed by an Olympic distance tri, where I raced on fumes alone. I remember being so nauseous, and so hungry but unable to eat anything that I convinced myself it was easier to keep going, km by km, rather than drop out or die because that would be emotionally taxing. After that, I changed nutrition plans entirely and was a happier camper.

I'm in Taupo now, avoiding all the IM craziness. IM people are crazy. I'm pretty sure I saw one guy, decked out in race wheels and fancy schmancy bike, ride through town in a loop about 6 times, showing off. I've been taking small walks, eating good food, doing that wee bit of pre-IM training, organizing and re-organizing all my race gear and nutrition, and mainly just reading or watching stuff on my laptop. I watched Dirty Dancing last night. And I think I'm going to the cinema - party of one - today to see Silver Linings Playbook.
Following that, I'm walking to the carbo party and race briefing, and hoping to hitch a ride back into town after that's done as I don't have a car. 
In all honesty, I'm entering race mode and shutting everything else out. I'm excited to EXECUTE THE PLAN, and everyone can leave me alone. This'll be the first time I'm in the 25-29 age group; despite being 24 years old, they age up to your age as of Dec 31 2013, so I'm playing with the big kids now!!!!

Paradise Off-Road sprint tri & weekend race report!!

The training that's hard, long or particular suffer-ful is more memorable, right? Then I'm going to remember this weekend for the rest of my life!!

It started off on Friday when I rode 160k's one-way to Glenorchy. I had a light tailwind for 40k's, then as I entered another valley and changed direction, I received a headwind that only got stronger and stronger, until I was in Glenorchy, at the head of the Wakatipu, battling 70kph winds, unable to hear cars as they passed. There was dust in the air from the braided rivers clouding the nearby mountains, and I was swearing like a madman. With 2k's to go, and no Glenorchy in sight, I completely lost it. I was riding downhill and still having to work my ass off for anything over 20kph and just went ballistic. I finally made it to Glenorchy, plopped myself at the local cafe and slammed a berry smoothie.

There, I met my partner who had driven over and we made the further 30k (dirt-road) trip to Paradise, where we camped at the head of Diamond Lake. The following day we were both scheduled to individually race the Off-road sprint tri (750m swim in Diamond Lake, 18k mtb and 6k off-road run). Well, that very night playing around on his mtb, Christian managed to slice open his heel on his chain ring so we made the drive back to civilization, through Glenorchy back to Queenstown to get him fixed up. Then drove all the way back.

The day of the race, two things prompted me to propose that we race as a team. He couldn't swim nor run, but if his foot stayed in one place, he could mountain bike. And I, having ridden one loop of the course on my 200$ mtb shitter, realised both myself and my bike were in way over our heads. I either would go easy and the mtb would play up (with the chain flying off violently if it didn't like which gear I had shifted into) or I would go hard and, given my aerobic abilities are far ahead of my technical abilities, I would "get stupid in race mode", as someone put it. Too true. So I suggested I swim and run, and he do the mountain bike. It included my partner and it made sure that I wouldn't get injured 1 month out from IMNZ. I've had this "bad feeling" at a race before and didn't follow my instincts, and I ended up crashing badly in a sprint tri the week before a half-iron, which I later DNF'ed because my leg went numb.

The race itself went phenomenally: I swam hard and came out first girl, he mtb'ed like a madman, and then I just went ballistic and sprinted the entire 6k to win the team category!! Yeehaw!

The next day was another traumatic day: I had a 30k run on schedule, which wouldn't bug me at all, but it *HAD* to be road running... No trail running here, as I'm training for two Ironman's that have flat road marathons. Bullshit, why would anyone want to do that to themselves!! Well, my core seriously doesn't like running for any length of time over 1 hour on roads, as it severely protested and I was left with debilitating back, abdominal and diaphragm pain. Not acute, generalised to the "core area" but it felt like a rope wound around my middle getting tightened. I struggled very very badly. I finished, off pace, but at least I continued to shove food in my mouth throughout.

Photos below:

View from the bike and run courses... dog ears not included...

Charging!

View from mtb course!

Pretty!!

This sneaky bastard got away while I was on my last 2k lap (3x2k) and sprinted the last 2k's with me. A guy I had passed near the end of the race as Zeus ran in front of me, happy as, was "HEY! ... No drafting allowed!!"

I'm f-ed now!

Yes, this is the makings of a pretty dorky team...

ONE MORE WEEK OF HARD TRAINING, before it all eases off... IMNZ in less than 1 month!