Drive-thru Daiquiri or Beignets, why not both.

That's a salty taste in the mouth, and I don't mean from Lake Pontchartrain. The theme for the weekend followed the Sergio Leone classic, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

A general overview to set the scene: Over 3000 participants (counting relay athletes), made the largest 70.3 series race in the history of the sport and possibly the largest transition area at the University of New Orleans. The bike course takes you out to the bayou - where the road was populated by a dead snake roughly every mile, a lot of tall grass and murky water. The run followed city streets through an empty park and down to the French Quarter to the Jackson Square finish. Great race management and organization, now lets get to the interesting stuff.

Squeezed into the wetsuit and waded into the 70deg water awaiting my swim wave start. Real calm and focused at the start, positioned myself on the outside - plenty of open water in front of me, and quickly settled into a pace. A few individuals established themselves early in the swim and I couldn't stay on their feet. Dodged plenty of lap traffic from the swim waves already in the water and swam a solid swim leg PR in 31:16.

Quick transition and hopped on the bike. The wind made its presence known from a cross-wind and tail-wind on the way out of town and a nice smack you in the face head-wind back into town. Regardless of the wind, felt effortless on the bike, rode hard, but never felt I was getting myself into trouble, the HR stayed low, legs felt great and I was continuously passing everyone throughout the bike. Ended up dropping a bottle from a broken bottle cage bolt (?) and could never recover hydration wise from missing my sweet concoction of sports drink - ultimately my fault for not picking up enough water at the bottle drops on the bike course. Obviously the pace slowed back into town, kept my HR and effort pinned around a similar exertion level, came into transition at 2:25:03 bike leg - 6/186 in my AG - immediately said to myself, this is your run, let's see what ya' got. I knew at roughly 3 hours into the event I set myself up perfectly for a PR day, worst case run scenario, I still figured I would PR by 5 minutes.

The first mile went great, immediately settled in, legs were fresh, only a few HUGE problems - body temperature was way up there coupled with an unquenchable thirst - both manifested from the poor hydration on the bike and the mid 80deg temp's and humidity - ouch. Run pace continued to slow, and I could never quench the thirst - downing at least a cup of water, sports drink or a mix at every aid station. As the pace slowed I began to lose focus looking for any excuse just to walk a few steps. Dehydration...I had nothing in the tank on the run, stumbled across the line finishing at 5:03:06 for 27th out of 186 in my AG; and 190 out of 2319 overall.

On paper those results don't look to bad. However, I know what I am capable of on the run, the overall time is 18 minutes off my current PR (which I have hit twice) and a good 25 to 30 minutes off my goal for this race. Lessons learned, feed the dynasty.
-A.

Wort the wait...we shall see.

First race of the season this Sunday.

Nothing quit like a welcome back to a busy week at work falling smack during a race week - better now than later.

Regardless pray to the duathlon god's this one stays a triathlon, thunderstorms and the body of water in general could contribute to the bacteria level. Looking to get an open water swim in some random lake on the side of the road in Alabama on the way down.

Check back for the race reports.

Compression Garments

Short version: placebo
Long version: Got bored at the office and decided to research the performance and recovery effects of compression garments - you know, the ridiculously priced tights, stockings and leggings from 2xu, skns....which, by the way - hospital caliber for one third the price at mall-wart. Anyway, several different testing situations - cycling time trial, explosive activities (jumping, squatting...) and consecutive day activity - covering a variety of groups - trained cyclists, rugby players and other team sports. The goal - do compression garments decrease exercise induced muscle damage, and hence, enhance recovery; and do compresssion garments worn during activity increase performance.

Give it a thought........................yes, you are a sucker for marketing and advertisement.

NO physiological benefits and NO performance enhancement. Wait, wait, wait: what did you pay for: Reduced levels of perceived muscle soreness, that's right placebo effect.

What is to come from all of this:
#1 Do not wear your stockings with shorts, in public. period.
-A.

Something to Talk About

Preparation and Attitude. You attitude determines your preparation. I am routinely hard on myself, and it all boils down to sleep. Why do I drink a pot of coffee in the morning, well - Jack Bauer is saving the world one hour at a time, and it just so happens to be every Monday night. Which leads me to dragging into the locker room, late, half asleep; change of attitude - less than 4 weeks to New Orleans, standing in Lake P., feeling a pee or 2, or 3 more before the start, bam focus, the fastest race of your life. Be realistic.

Your preparation determines your outcome. Analyzed my underwater swim video - front quadrant swimming, Grant Hackett freakin' amazing. Hit the pool for drills, drills and drills, early vertical forearm. Attitude, attitude, attitude. Mediocrity is too easy. Be realistic. Goals for the race posting soon.
-A.

Lean and Mean

Headed to the track earlier in the weak for an easy run, drills and to break in a new pair of trainers. After a warm-up started out striding the straights and easy run on the curves. Then out of nowhere, he appears, the man, the myth, the legend: Fritz.

Who is motivating who? I come around him the second time and there he yells, "lean and mean, lean and mean" and we have ourselves another new motto: "feed the dynasty" and "lean and mean". Coming from a seventy-four years young man referring to himself as older than Benjamin Button, and re-starting his life at his age, he continues his run around the track, ask about the intervals and workouts, and offers a thanks for the motivation.

Now get off your ass and do something.
-A.

And the Oscar goes to...

Random things encountered and experienced since the last posting:
1. Training with power is amazing, reading instructions is less than amazing.
2. DZnuts is the only chamois cream for proper mainTAINTanance of the perineal area.
3. My sister makes amazing guac, must be something about NORCAL.
4. Demetri Martin = freakin' hilarious.
5. Biggest Loser, need anymore be said.
6. I have a serious man crush on Anthony Bourdain.
6a. bloggers block......forgot....no more mental notes....Train Smart
-A.

The Need for Speed

The new power tap is on order - watch out - going to rock out, coming to a triathlon near you. Who says you can't stimulate the economy (or just reward yourself because you don't have a retirement account anyway). Chose a good week not to blog, ice storm hits, fall behind in work, nicely coinciding with an increase in feeding the dynasty, and rediscovered why Goose Island Honkers Ale makes for a great recovery drink, yet disappears way to fast.

Check out the big wave surfer documentary Riding Giants - excellent for a motivational trainer workout. And/or Pumping Iron bodybuilding documentary about Arnold - lets just say Michael Phelps isn't the only famous athlete/celebrity hitting the bong.
-A.