IM AZ: Exceeding Expectations
My race report is up at my blog (see sig line).
In brief, I met my goal - my One Thing - which was to break the course record in my AG. I got two little bonuses - first place and a Kona slot. Eerily similar to last year: same weather, about a minute slower.
For those inclined to numbers, this seemed to me to be a perfect race: TSS about 300, and a negative split (2:02/2:01) marathon. I must have been superbly fit and prefectly tapered. I've got details if anyone wants more.
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Comments
Al, outstanding Race and Report as usual!
Way to bounce back after Kona and execute prefectly. I'm looking forward to meeting you in Kona next year.
BTW, you're looking absolutely ripped on the bike!
Mike
Wow. Nice job, Al!
Great run, great everything. Congratulations!
Very inspriing! Thanks for sharing.
Outstanding acheivement, Al. You should feel very proud!
Al,
I've really enjoyed your contributions to the community since you joined this year.
Congrats on an awe inspiring race. It's difficult to fathom doing what you do 20 years from now. Well done.
Dave
Monster race. Congratulations! Great having you here in EN!
You are my hero - I want to be you in exactly 20 years!
I thought I saw you focused as all hell coming down the Rural Rd bridge for your last loop and I was climbing it for my last mile - I yelled but the guy didn't respond. The guy had on a brown kit, I thought, so maybe it wasn't you.
I would love to hear how you have maintained such a long athletic career. What would your 60-year old self tell your 40-year old self? Might be a good blog post. I think my only hope of ever making Kona is to still be doing this at 60 - and not slowing down!
great report, great execution, and great writing skills I was impressed
Al, You're a Machine.
'Great race' is an understatement. That sounds pretty much perfect. For us who want to be where you are in x years ... what is your background? Did you come to tri with a cycling / running / overall overachieving history? Less inury prone than others in your age? Any specific things you can attribute your success(es) to? I'm becoming more and more interested in "lifetime athlete development,' and it seems like you have it pretty much figured out.
Thanks for all the encouragement!
Some folks had asked about my athletic background. I was a very mediocre swimmer in HS and Div III college (breast-stroke only), but kept swimming for fitness all my life. I biked across the country in 1997, and started bike commuting (10 miles one way) then, also mountain biking and annual week-long bike trips after that. But I never ran a step until Jan 1, 1999, when I made a New Year's resolution to do a sprint tri that June. My life fitness activities have mainly been skiing in the winter, and weight lifting 2-3 times a week, until '94, when I started doing more cycling. I think the breast stroking (whip kick) and the skiing as a youth gave me very strong knee joints and upper leg strength, which has helped in triathlon, and helped prevent injuries down the road. I have had none in the eleven years I've been doing this sport.
I think the question of how to maintain and even improve fitness and athletic achievement over age 40 and beyond is not well understood. I read a lot of conflicting advice from coaches and exercise phsyiologists, such as "Run fewer times per week" vs "Run more often but shorter distances". Needing more time for recovery is another unproven idea. I've concluded that there are no special rules to follow, so I just do what is prescribed for 30 year olds.
This is why EN is such a good plan. It doesn't matter what one's initial level of fitness is; there are clear baselines to be established, and then graduated work up from one's personal starting point.
When I started doing triathlons, one my my excuses (otherwise know as "goals") was to serve as an example of what is possible as one advances in age. I am now learning just what that means. I think there is no magic fountain of youth, or special precautions one needs to take. I do intervals just as hard as anyone else (I just do them at a lower heart rate, as my max is somewhere below 167 - I averaged 124 on the bike and doubt I went over that on the run); I average 14 hours a week year round in training. I keep setting goals which stretch me just a little bit. Eventually, all those goals add up over the years, here I am, at age 60, going under 11 hours in an Ironman, which I have learned is not a common occurance.
One good motto is a Satchel Paige quote (A Negro Leagues basebal player who pitched in the majors at age 48):
"Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter."
Seriously, don't think about it. I see myself as a lifelong athlete. I feel just as accomplished, and just as committed as my friend Bruce, age 37 who qualified at AZ for Kona with a 9:26. I think we have a equal level of effort, even though I can barely stay in his draft on our group rides. I don't feel as if I am in some special category, but I am grateful for age groups!
One last thought: although it may *seem* easier to qualify as one gets older, remember, at my age, it's "Win or go home". There are fewer competitors, true, but it only takes one guy to knock me out of a spot. There is no margin for error.
very inspiring....there may still be hope for me
tom
Great race report. You are a great example of how one can "get faster" as one gets more mature. There are not a lot of us over 50 types in the house, and you set the standard for all to emulate.
Matt
Enjoy your recovery time with your great support crew and look forward to another great year next year.
Congratulations on your success Al. It was a pleasure meeting you in AZ.
Al,
M60-64 and you do a sub-11:00. Just amazing...
Do you have power and pace by lap?
Thanks for sharing,
Chris
Al- I can't go that fast NOW much less hope to be able to perform at that level in another 20 years. Congratulations!! That's one fantastic race.
Chris -
I don't have a real power meter; I have an iBike (PowerTap in next year's budget.)
So the power numbers below are suspect; I think the closest to what I was actually doing was the third lap, when NP was about 185 and speed was 20.5. The speed, wind, and HR are probably correct. The first lap, I sat "7 meters" behind a giant 45 y/o in my largest gear, with a great tail wind on the downhill, and accounts for my higher speed with lower heart rate. No such luck after that as I stopped for a break at mile 42 and had to fight my way around and through all the packs and on the third lap, the slower riders. The third lap included 4 minute stop in the penalty tent just before transition; the iBike only records when the wheel is moving, so it neither the resting time nor 0 power show up in that table
I did not supecifically calibrate the iBike with coast-downs; I just used the pre-programmed "Time-Trial" setting. In the past, when I have tried the coast downs, my FTP was about 225; with this setting, I went back to my test rides, and re-caluclated a 266 FTP. Since the TT setting was more "reliable" (less intra-ride variation), and all I'm interested in is relative power, not absolute, I went with that. But I still saw spikes (like to 4-500 and above) for short periods on the first lap which may account for the suspiciously high NP of 217, despite a lower HR.
Lap 1:
Dist: 37.66 mi (1:44:57)
Energy: 1281.4 kJ
Cals Burn: 1225.1 kcal
Climbing: 421 ft
Braking: 0.0 kJ (0.0%)
Min Avg Max
Power 0 203.5 586 W
Aero 0 161.6 4475 W
Rolling 0 41.0 94 W
Gravity -732 0.8 278 W
Speed 0.0 21.5 49.4 mi/h
Wind 0.0 23.4 36.8 mi/h
Elev 1275 1407 1696 ft
Slope -18.7 0.01 8.4 %
HR 77 119.3 145 bpm
NP 217 W
CdA: 0.248 m^2; Crr: 0.0055
174 lbs; 11/22/09 5:50 AM
57 degF; 1016 mbar
Lap 2:
Dist: 37.69 mi (1:52:09)
Energy: 1235.0 kJ
Cals Burn: 1180.7 kcal
Climbing: 303 ft
Braking: 0.0 kJ (0.0%)
Min Avg Max
Power 0 183.5 565 W
Aero 0 146.4 6366 W
Rolling 0 38.4 99 W
Gravity -636 2.4 282 W
Speed 0.0 20.2 51.9 mi/h
Wind 0.0 23.3 36.5 mi/h
Elev 1304 1443 1732 ft
Slope -5.7 0.03 11.2 %
HR 103 125.5 142 bpm
NP 197 W
CdA: 0.248 m^2; Crr: 0.0055
174 lbs; 11/22/09 7:35 AM
74 degF; 1016 mbar
Dist: 37.56 mi (1:50:20)
Energy: 1133.3 kJ
Cals Burn: 1083.5 kcal
Climbing: 387 ft
Braking: 0.0 kJ (0.0%)
Min Avg Max
Power 0 171.2 380 W
Aero 0 131.0 459 W
Rolling 0 38.9 54 W
Gravity -350 1.0 318 W
Speed 0.0 20.4 28.3 mi/h
Wind 0.0 22.3 36.4 mi/h
Elev 1357 1489 1776 ft
Slope -6.6 0.01 11.8 %
HR 98 126.7 167 bpm
NP 184 W
CdA: 0.248 m^2; Crr: 0.0055
174 lbs; 11/22/09 9:28 AM
80 degF; 1016 mbar
On the run, I negative split 2:02/2:01, with a steady progression faster on each of the three laps. As we know, the interval times posted on the ironman web site are wrong - the distances between mats were inaccurate. I don't wear an HR monitor for the run - TMI for me.
There have been three 60 y/o sub 11's at IM FL the past two years, two at my time, and another 10 minutes faster. The best age adjustment I can find is a factor of 0.84, which would have me at 9:11, which seems about right compared to other AG winning times at AZ if I were to "normalize" my time to age 31-37. SInce I race much better with very specific goals, I'm going to try to go "sub 9" next year, as well as qualify for Boston with an IM marathon split (4:00 in my AG). The latter may be easier than the former, but getting a real bike fit, a real power meter, and a new front hub for 2010 may just about balance out the inevitable age-related slowdown. At some point, though, chronology will defeat technology. Still, these three times, minus the transitions and the penalty, are my fastest IM yet.
now that the holidays are over, I am enjoying reading race reports in luxury!! thoroughly enjoyed your blog and your report of AZ and congrats, (late) to Kona, I think i knew but again congrats and after reading about your Kona day, I love this "the good thing is I get to go back tothe Big Island" the bad news is that I have to race there!! happy to have you in the Jan OS!! m
Marianne - I'm always encouraged when anyone reads what I write - if you enjoy it, so much the better. I find the races personally entertaining when I do them, and try to share that feeling with others.