Lance Armstrong. Again and again.

Lance Armstrong during his interview with Oprah Winfrey

I couldn't resist writing something about the upcoming Oprah interview with Lance Armstrong.  In light of all the information that has already come out, I've been asked a few times on what my opinion on the whole thing is.

To be perfectly honest I'm kind of shrugging my shoulders at the whole affair right now and am certainly not surprised that he's finally admitting to using PEDs during his reign as 7 time Tour de France champion.  In on of my previous blog posts on the whole thing, I said that the best thing he could do is come clean about it all. Really I don't think he had much of a choice, coming clean is the only way he could make his way back into the limelight.  For a celebrity of his stature, that basically seals the deal, it was only a matter of time.

Since he gave up his fight against USADA, the sanctions placed upon him have prohibited him from racing.  Though he's no longer racing in the TdF, Lance was well on his way to some impressive accomplishments in the world of triathlon, and was looking forward to some badass marathon times.  I think that a big part of his admission involves getting his ticket stamped for a return to racing, and public acceptance as a celebrity figure once again.

Now many internet forums, Facebook posts, and Twitter arguments have come about in the past few days over to whether or not he deserves our forgiveness and a return to racing.  To be perfectly honest, I do hope to see Lance Armstrong return to racing, it makes for good TV and interesting races.  A lot of people seem to have taken Lance's lies pretty personally and seek to abolish him from sport altogether.  I simply can't wrap my head around those people's point of view.

Lance Armstrong has done a lot for cycling.  Like it or not, he brought the sport of professional cycling into mainstream sport in North America.  Were it not for him I'm willing to bet that there are more than a few people who would have never gone out and bought their first road bike.  So people are willing to throw cycling out of where it is today in North America, they can't sit there and say the guy ruined cycling and deserves to be drubbed out of the sport altogether.

Lance Armstrong has also given a lot of people a glimmer of hope.  I would challenge anyone to read "It's Not About the Bike", and say that his story isn't one worth knowing.  At least his story as he battled cancer anyways.  And thats another reason why I honestly believe that the impact of his presence in our culture has been a net positive.

Now the word on the street, specifically the New York Times street, is that Armstrong may be willing to testify against the UCI, international cycling's governing body.  The plot thickens.  I think there are a lot of people in the cycling community that would agree that the only people dirtier than Armstrong in this whole affair are the guys at the UCI, guys like Pat McQuaid.  Under McQuaid's watch doping was rampant and he had no shortage of opportunities to clean up cycling, between Operation Puerto, the Festina affair, and Armstrong, its clear that doping was an infection that was allowed to fester in cycling for years.  (Check out Greg LeMond's comments in December for a bit more context).

Whether you're pro Armstrong, anti-Armstrong, or couldn't care less, I think that if you're interested in a clean future for cycling, there's would be nothing better than to see Armstrong provide some damning testimony to bring the house down.  It would be sort of like one of those mafia movies where the right hand man is given immunity for testifying against the family.

Anyways, those are just a few ramblings of mine ahead of this Oprah interview.  If there's any big winner from this, its The Oprah Network.  I have to call Telus right now to subscribe to a network I never thought I'd ask for.

Lets go 2013

Well now that it’s the new year and I’ve blogged thoroughly about what other athletes should be doing as good practices in the new year, I guess its my turn.  I’m back from a two week vacation in sunny Mexico and besides some lingering soreness from riding a Mexican mechanical bull, and some annoying insect bites, I’m refreshed and ready to go for 2013.

I already feel that I’m coming into this year with renewed focus and energy.  The past couple months of training have been unstructured, but valuable mentally and physically in preparing me for the coming season.

As most of you probably already know, my big race for 2013 will be Ironman Canada- Whistler edition.  I’ll compliment this with at least one but probably two half Ironman races and likely a couple of Gran Fondos and half marathons.  I have a pretty good idea of which races those will be, but I haven’t finalized anything just yet so I won’t talk too much about anything other than IMC.

It wasn’t originally my plan to come back to racing the full IM distance quite this soon.  Until late last season I’d thought I would spend 2013 building speed in the Olympic and Half distances.  But when the opportunity to race an entirely new course in Whistler came about there was no way I was going to be able to not race the full distance.

Over the past few years of triathlon I’ve learned a lot about myself as an athlete and gained a much better understanding of the kind of training regime that works for me.  So for 2013 I decided to do something different I’ll be coaching myself this year for the first time since my first season in triathlon.  Putting my money where my mouth is I’ve also started working with a few other athletes getting into the sport.  I’m doing this for no other reason than to recognize the value of sharing sport with others.  I’m not pretending to be a coach, but just trying to help bridge the training gap between an enthusiastic but fresh athlete just contemplating getting into triathlon, and a rookie with a season under their belt.

Helping me along the way in my never ending goal of peer pressuring people into getting involved in running, cycling, and triathlon, I’m remaining on with the awesome people at Lululemon as a run ambassador.  And this year I’ll also be supported by Ridley’s Cycle in Calgary and Trek Bikes.  I’ve got to say, I’m absolutely stoked to be on board with such amazing organizations.  As anyone short of a household name knows, sponsorships and partnerships don’t come busting down your door.  For the vast majority of athletes, sponsorship is more like getting a date with the girl (or guy) you’ve had a crush on for all of junior high, you have to actively pursue the relationship.  And it’s a heck of a lot easier to do that when you really like that person.  So having those long term relationships with Lululemon and Ridleys Cycle-Trek Bikes, is something that I really am very grateful for.  The staff at both Lululemon on 4th and Ridleys Cycle are amazing people that are passionate about what they do and I really encourage people to visit them next time you need a product or are just in the area.

From a training perspective this will be one of my most focused years.  I’ve resolved to seriously improve my swimming and will be in the pool 4-5 days a week for the next few months doing shorter (under an hour) but more frequent sessions.  For cycling, I’ll be going back to basics over the next while with long easy base sessions a couple times a week, augmented by focused VO2 and threshold work like the infamous 2x20 regime every week.  I’m still of the belief that an Ironman is a bike race with a swim warmup and polished off with a brisk run, so I’m sticking to that methodology.  Running is probably the sport where I’m most comfortable with where I’m at already, but I do still hope to shave some time off my PB’s this season.

I’m definitely coming into 2013 with some serious expectations and goals.  There will be some firsts, but a lot of the races I’m coming back to are races that I’ve done before.  Ironman will be unique, its my second full IM and whenever you get to a certain distance you just want to finish, but the second time you always want to see how much you’ve got.  Its exciting, motivating, and nerve racking all at the same time.  The questions in your head change from “Can I do this?”, to “How fast can I do this?”.

I guess I’m about to find out :-)

Follow me on Twitter here @RafLopez or visit my other blog Keep Calm and Ride On.

Starting the New Year off training right

It’s New Year’s resolution time, which means that many of you are off to start training for your first 5k, half marathon, sprint triathlon, Iron distance race, etc.   As the training ramps up and you start to get into a more regimented training schedule, its important to avoid some of the pitfalls resolutions seem to bring around every year.

In order to make sure you’re hitting your goals in July, its important you get your training dialed in in January.  Here are a few keys points to remember as you get back into training and shedding the holidays pounds we all put on.

Patience

If you’re working with a coach, chances are at the beginning of your training cycle they’ve given you a bunch of low intensity bike and run workouts, and some tedious drills to do in the pool to improve your swim stroke.  Your engine may be revving to get some killer fartleks in, and hammer out some VO2 max work, but the best thing you can do for your body right now is to not go out too hard too soon.

Two months ago I got on the bike for the first time in 2 months.  Life had kept me busy and I decided I’d just focus on running through the fall anyways.  My first week back I somehow figured I could hammer out a Functional Threshold Power test, which is a 20 minute, all out, get off the bike and feel your legs buckle workout.  Well I got my ass handed to me and had to throw in the towel after 10 minutes and my results from that 10 minutes were far short of what I could do two months earlier.  I should have known better.

A week or two later I was doing 5 minute intervals at what I can usually hold for half an hour.  It was humbling but I knew that I had to listen to my body.  When getting back into training its important to recognize that as a general rule, you gain back fitness at about the same rate that you lose it when you take more than a couple weeks off.  Assuming that you can just pick up right where you left off when you crossed the finish line of that late September race is just unrealistic and will leave you frustrated and probably nursing an overuse injury.

The tip; Patience is key when coming off of a break from training, be realistic about where you’re starting off and work you way back up to form with focus and professionalism.

Setting Goals

Ever talk to an avid year round gym goer about how they feel about January at the gym?  Most of them can’t stand it. Every January every machine, every treadmill, every pool lane, and every spin class is full.  Fitness facilities burst at the seams with people looking to shed holiday weight and that have a set weight or size in mind as their goal.  But what happens when you reach that goal?  Evidently you get to reward yourself by putting more weight back on because every spring those people are back at the gym trying to get their swimsuit body back.

I like to use times and race distances as goals for the athletes that I work with because you can always go faster or further than the last race.  Weights and sizes don’t afford you that luxury because once you hit your target there isn’t really any place left to go.

If you’re chasing a 2 hour half marathon, or an age group podium at the local 10k, or aiming for your first Olympic distance tri in August, the weight and sizes will sort themselves out.  And you just might find that someone placing a medal around your neck and crowds of people cheering you down the finish chute is a little more rewarding than numbers on a scale.

The tip; Make your goals bigger than just pounds and sizes.  The roar of a crowd beats numbers on a scale any day.  Challenge yourself with what you're afraid to do and the rest will get figured out.

Rest and Work

I come from the mentality that your easy workouts should be embarrassingly easy, and your hard workouts should be painfully hard.  My wife plays major league soccer and played varsity through university.  She used to tell me about how their trainers would work them so hard during intervals that some of her teammates would just keep running after the interval and keep going til they hit the bathroom to go throw up.

I’ve never hit that level of intensity so I figure I’ve never pushed myself hard enough.  In truth it may be that I usually avoid Indian and Thai food before hard workouts.  But it helps illustrate a point, hard means hard, and easy means easy.

When your coach gives you a certain specific challenging workout the objective is to stimulate certain adaptations in your body that will help you later on in the season.  This means pushing your body beyond what’s comfortable.  On the flip side, easy workouts are meant to help your body recover, or help to build your aerobic engine.

Too many athletes fall into the trap of getting their training stuck in this awkward physiological middle ground where they’re never fully rested.  Their easy workouts aren’t easy enough so they aren’t recovered fully when they get to a hard workout.

The tip; Listen to your coach and take the time to learn the purpose of each workout.  This will help you appreciate the design of your training plan and give you a little extra motivation to do what you’re told!

Motivation

Staying motivated through training in the winter months can be challenging.  There’s a couple things that I always encourage others to do when they’re getting back into training.

First of all, ask yourself why you’re training and racing.  Was there a life event that made you decide to take the leap and get into sport?  Is there somebody or some story that brought you to where you are today?  Perhaps you’re racing to inspire others around you to live a healthier lifestyle as well.  If you’re reasons have gotten you this far, then they’re good reasons, and remember them or even write them down.  It’ll come in handy when you’re dragging your heals to training in the cold winter months, and it’ll push you to the finish at mile 20 of the Ironman marathon.

Secondly, share your goals and your sport with others around you and encourage others to join you.  Ask a friend to come with you on an easy 5k, or join you training for the local super sprint tri.  Whether you know it or not you’ve probably helped inspire someone else and nothing will keep you going better than you’re helping to make your little corner of the world a healthier happier place.

The tip; Sharing your sport and involving others is one of the best way to make new training partners and inspire others.  Nothing is more rewarding watching a friend or family member that you encouraged to join you cross the finish line for the first time.

Getting ready for your first season of triathlon

With 2013 just around the corner, I have no doubt that many people will be heading back to the gym to make those with New Year's Resolutions in hand.  And I know for a fact that a few of you have your first triathlon on the list of things to do next year.  So let me start you off right and share some advice on getting the wheels rolling for your first season in tri.

The hardest part

My buddy and Jon crossing the finish line at his first Tri

The hardest part about getting into a sport like triathlon isn't learning how to swim, its certainly not clipping into road cleats, and it's definitely not the 5km run.  Its committing to doing it and signing up for that first race.  Triathlon is an intimidating sport to first get into because of the associations we around having to actively participate and train in three sports rather than one.  In reality, getting to the finish line of your first triathlon is 90% mental and only 10% physical.

I don't mean to sound mean or anything like that, but I've seen some truly terrible swimmers commit themselves to completing their first sprint tri with a 500m swim, and in a few months they were more than capable of getting out of the water in a respectable time.  On the bike, take your phone with you and track how fast and how far you can go in an hour and you'll be surprised at how quickly 20km can zip by.  And as for the run, 5km isn't anything to trivialize, but if you've spent more than half an hour on a treadmill and not succumbed to death by boredom, then you can get through the 5km run.

How challenging your first triathlon ends up being is entirely based on the standards you set for yourself and how committed you are to your goal.  For your first tri, just finishing is the perfect goal because it means that you went outside your comfort zone and took your first step, and just like it is for a 1 year old, the first step is always the hardest one.

If it doesn't get measured it doesn't get done

Ask any coach and they'll go on and on about the importance of planning out your season, your months, and your weeks of training.  And for good reason.  Like I said in the previous section, you're training for three sports, which means time management is important.  Its always good to work with a coach that can help your prioritize how you spend your training hours.  Even professional triathletes are faced with a conundrum of how to balance their time between the three sports, and many of them spend between 15 and 30 hours a week this time of year training.

So that brings me to measuring and tracking how you spend your time training.  There are awesome online programs that allow you to upload and track your workouts.  A few of them include MapMyRun, Strava, GarminConnect, Nike+, and my personal favourite, TrainingPeaks.  They all have varying pros and cons, and all have varying degrees of functionality when it comes to planning your training, but I really do prefer TrainingPeaks above all the rest.

With just the basic TrainingPeaks account you can log all your workouts, and the types of workouts and even upload data files from the workouts to the program.  Better yet, if you're working with a coach, they will be able to see those files as well, and give you workout plans for the coming weeks in advance.  With the premium account you've got an array of tools and apps to analyze individual workouts, and your long term development.

The tools to get the job done

There's no limit to how much money you can spend on triathlon.  At the high end of the spectrum, if you'd just won the lottery you could spend $1200 on a wetsuit, $15000 on a bike, $500 on making the bike fit, $200 on shoes, and another few grand on electronic toys to see how well all that other stuff is working.  But those aren't prerequisites to completing your first triathlon.

To get in the water at a sprint triathlon all you need is a swimsuit and a pair of goggles.  If its an open water swim you'll probably want a wetsuit, and places like Tri It in Calgary actually rent them out.  At a sprint triathlon you'll probably see as many mountain bikes and hybrid bikes as you will road bikes and triathlon bikes.  So don't sweat it if you're showing up with your Canadian Tire hardtail mountain bike if your goal is just to finish, the rest of us are just buying our speed.  And as for the run, well some people are proving these days that you don't even need shoes.

That being said, you probably already have some of the tools that you can use to measure your performance.  There are plenty of apps available for iPhone and Android that will use the GPS feature of your smartphone to track your pace on the run and bike.  Many of those apps are available to actually work with the websites I mentioned earlier and can be downloaded right from there.  So you might actually be more advanced than you think when it comes to performance tracking.

However, with Christmas just around the corner you may want to have a gaze at my 2012 Triathlete Gift Guide to see what you can get under the tree to help you on your way to next season.

If and when you become more committed to the sport, you'll find there are pieces of equipment you'll want to graduate up to.  I'd never recommend someone have a go at Ironman on a mountain bike, thats not to say it can't be done, I'm just saying its not the best way to go about it.  But in the meantime, don't sweat the gear beyond what you're willing to spend, its all about the engine anyways.

Conclusion

I'll keep the blogs coming on getting into your first season of triathlon, so if you have any questions or would like to read about something specifically, feel free to post something in the comments section below.

You'll also soon be able to visit my other blog where I focus more on cycling on the Ridleys website.  So stay tuned!

Ironman Canada Whistler vs Challenge Penticton - Bike Profiles

Effective October 2013, I've moved my active blog to run.raflopez.com. You can view this post and all my latest posts and on my new website!

I regularly check the analytics on my blog to see what people are searching for when they come to my blog, it gives me a good sense of what people are interested in and what they'd like to read about on here.  One piece of information that seems to be pretty popular is the Ironman Canada and Challenge Penticton Bike Courses.

I can't speak directly to the 2013 Whistler Ironman Canada Bike Course, but I do have the elevation profile here and I can talk about how it looks like it'll stack up against Challenge Penticton (old IMC bike course).  I'll talk quickly about the latter first.

Ironman Canada 2012 / Challenge Penticton 2013 Bike Course

This bike profile was taken right from my Garmin from the day that I raced Ironman Canada in 2011.  You can see that the overall profile for the first 40 miles is mostly downhill with the exception of Maclean Creek Road, which is the big bump around the 10 mile mark.  That first climb at 10 miles is very abrupt and very short, its also the location of the first bike aid station, which in my opinion is well placed since you're not flying by the first aid station at 40kph.

Richter around the 40 mile mark, and Yellow Lake around the 90 mile mark, are legitimate climbs that reward patience and favour athletes that are in sync with their bodies (or their power meters).  For anyone used to riding in the Rockies they're business as usual, but if you're used to flatter courses like IMAZ or IMFL, they might seem a little more intense.

After Yellow Lake the ride is virtually all downhill and you have ample opportunity to rest your legs, get some calories in you, and maybe take a nature break.  In that sense, its more of a 100 mile bike course than a 112 mile course.

A good way to think of the Challenge Penticton bike course is that its a flat time trial type course with two intermediate climbs worth training specifically for.  I rode it in 5:44 on my P2 with a standard 53-39 crank up front, and a 12-25 cassette in the back.  My average power on the day was 174 watts which was probably about 75% of my ftp.  On the climbs my goal was never to exceed 200 watts.

With that gearing for both Richter and Yellow Lake a specific part of my training included climbing on the TT bike in a big enough gear to keep rpms around 60-70 while holding around 200-220 watts.  This prepared me for the type of climbing the course had in store.  For me it was important to be able to do those climbs with big gears since I felt going with a compact crank solely for Richter and Yellow Lake would cost me too much top end gearing for the flat and downhill segments which realistically make up most of that bike course.  With that sort of mismatch between gearing and riding, its important to be able to work the bike from side to side with your arms using your body weight to move the pedals rather than just your legs, this allows you to keep your heart rate and total power output low while keeping your momentum.

For anyone with a functional threshold power less than 200 watts, or anyone who thinks they'll ride the course in 6:15 or more, I'd definitely recommend a compact crank for Challenge Penticton, with a 11-25 cassette if you're around a 6 hour rider, or an 12-25 or 12-27 if you're a little longer on the bike.

For another in depth look at the Ironman Canada Bike Course, check out this post from back in August.

Ironman Canada 2013 - Whistler Bike Course

Oddly enough it seems the Whistler bike course actually has a little less total climbing than Challenge Penticton.  I created a copy of this map in MapMyRide and had a look at the two major climbs to see how they stack up against Challenge Penticton.

The first climb, beginning around the 13 mile mark, roughly the same time that cyclists will be hitting Maclean Creek in Penticton, is roughly a 1100 ft climb over 8 miles, is actually a lot closer in length and grade to Richter than it looks believe it or not.  Ironman Canada veterans will be in familiar territory here but that much an ascent that early in the ride is sure to rattle some riders if you haven't done your homework.

The second climb, around the 30 mile mark is 560 feet over about 6-7 miles.  So not too bad of a climb, but shortly after the first climb is sure to spread the field out a little more and wear some riders down.  With almost 1800 feet of climbing in the first third of the ride the course certainly won't be an easy start and it'll need riders to find their legs pretty quick in the race.

After Whistler's second climb its smooth sailing for quite some time.  Riders will ride back through Whistler to be cheered on their friends and family and the route then follows the Sea to Sky Highway along a river valley making for a down hill to long flat ride for almost 50 miles.  This is where riders with a good time trial position and solid threshold will come into their own.

At 90 miles, the last big test begins with a 1400 foot climb over 17km.  Between Challenge Penticton and Ironman Canada, this is the biggest climb and will probably take the most mental fortitude of any of the ascents.  Not much can be said about the climb (since I haven't ridden it), but such a big climb so late in the course, a calm, tactical approach to the climb will be crucial for a good run split.

The key to Ironman Canada Whister's bike course is going to be conservative pacing in the first half of the ride to leave plenty in the tank for the long time trial and climb in the second half.  Though the total elevation is less than Challenge Penticton, I do think that Whistler has the tougher of the two courses, but only narrowly so.  In large part this is simply because of where the climbs are in the ride, the two major climbs are early, and late in the race, making getting a good rythm for the bike and run a bit of a task.

I'd probably recommend running the same set up and applying the same recommendations for gearing as I did for the Challenge Penticton course on this one, the big difference will be in the strategy and mind of the rider for IMC Whistler.

Conclusion

As always, I'm going to throw in there that a power meter is an invaluable tool for racing Ironman.  Not so much in shorter races, but for technical courses like IMC and CP, I think that they're great tools to have for both the months of training leading up to the race, and for race day itself.  For all the money that triathletes spend on gear, an $850 powermeter is worth far more than a fancy set of Zipp 404's or drag reducing wetsuit that makes you look like a superhero.

Both races are well over 9 months away from today.  But its never too early to start doing your homework.  When gearing your bike, shopping for a trainer, looking for a coach, take into consideration what you're working towards.  Choose your races and plan your season accordingly over the next few months.  Triathletes who take the time to have a shot as a cyclist at rides like Gran Fondo Highwood Pass or Gran Fondo Rockies will be rewarded for their foresight come late August.

Joe Friel said in a recent blog post that he believes Ironman is just a bike race with a swim warm up and a jog to finish it all off.  Though that's a bit of a an exaggeration, I get what he's saying and for the most part I actually do agree.  So do your homework, even if its not the physical work yet, start thinking and planning your season and training for the big day.