Iceman Cometh Challenge!

My off-season is well underway.  Like all of my other Ironman seasons, the post-race high and excitement to quickly find something to put on the calendar has struck again.  It really is the most bizarre thing, 6+ months of consistent training to build up for an Ironman and right about went taper begins, the biggest thing I look forward to is a break from the structure, a break from the training regimen, a break from the constant strain of trying to squeeze it all in.  And then, after about two weeks from this break , without fail, it happens.  I get tired of eating like garbage and sitting on the couch all night and just generally feeling slothish.  So this year, to keep a little motivation in to the off-season, I decided to sign up for The Iceman Cometh.

Product Review - Saucony Kinvara

For the past several years my race shoe of choice has been the Brooks Ghost / Launch.  My feet have always received quite a beating on race day and I attribute that mostly to running in wet, heavy shoes and socks for 26.2 miles.

This year, I was willing to try something new.  I wanted a shoe that was light weight and would drain/breath a little better.  I have always shopped at my local DSW because 1. I’m a cheap bastard.  2. I have no issue sporting last years model.  All that said, I found a pair of Saucony Kinvaras that fit like a glove, were feather light and best of all, were only 40 bucks!  Score!

Oops, nip slip!

I had done a ton of research about the Kinvara and was a little concerned about the minimalist make up, low rise and acclimation period that most people had warned about and had had issue trying to convert too quickly.  Over the years I’ve converted myself to being a fore foot runner so I felt that it was possible to make the change.  I still approached with caution and ended up putting more miles on these shoes prior to a race than ever  before (almost 50).  By working into them over 4 weeks with numerous mini runs (2-4) miles, come race day I was confident that it was the right choice...or at least that I wouldn't rupture my achilles!

I race with thin little sock liners that don’t absorb water and provide the perfect amount of protection from friction.  Also, as with all of my shoes, Xentex are my laces of choice!!

Drill holes and durability concerns evident

Another thing that I did, on recommendation from slowtwitch was drilling several tiny holes through the sole of the shoe to further enhance drainage.  My neighbors already think I’m crazy but I further confirmed this by also placing a bucket of water at the end of my driveway and on several training runs, upon passing my house for another loop, I’d step through the bucket.  This allowed me to further test sock absorption and shoe drainage as well as toughen the feet for race day.  Train like you race, no?

We Tradin' War Stories

Race day came and went.  The Kinvara’s are badass.  They are by far the lightest shoe I have ever worn.  There is a consequence for that though and half way through the race my quads and calves were feeling pretty beat up.  I attribute some of that to the lack of fore foot cushioning but also to the 112 miles I tackled hours before.  The great thing though is that my feet never felt water logged, nor sloshy. 

I swear this really is after the race!

 After the race my feet were in great shape!  I was so astonished that I actually took a picture and a month later am even posting it on my blog for all to see! 

I think the Kinvaras are a great race day shoe.  They’re feather light, breath well and with a little help drain well too!  The soles are not very durable to really hold up to the rigors of training miles but that's mostly due to the light weight nature and my fore foot, supinating run style. I’m not 100% confident that I would use them again for a full distance race, my quads really did hurt that bad on race day….I wonder if with a little more cushioning I could have minimized my run/walk breaks over the course of the 26.2 miles.  But one thing is for sure, if you're a racer looking to fly and you want to go minimal, I'd definitely recommend the Saucony Kinvaras.

2012 Training Summary

One of the most common questions I got from my race report as posed on slowtwitch.com is what

did my season volume look like and what taper stragegy did I execute.  So here's Part 1, training volume.

Understanding that volume is not everything and the devil is in the details, here is my cumulative volume from my 30 week approach to IMWI.  My average training time for 30 weeks was 12hrs/wk.

My swim volume is almost embarrassingly light.  I swam competitively from age 6-18.  While I'm many years removed from 30,000 yard swim weeks and two-a-day practices, there's a lot of muscle memory and technique that just comes back to me.  I am very fortunate to only have to swim once a week for an hour to swim sub 1hr.

My biking took a huge jump in 2009 when I qualified for Kona at IM Louisville but then I got a power meter meter last year and was fooled that quality was way more important that quantity.  Comparativly, I only biked 180 hr in 30 weeks in my IM Lake Placid build and I paid the price.  Sure I was strong but my biking endurance was inadaqute to compete with the best in the age group.  This year, I swapped some quality sessions to build in some good old plain, bike volume.  Granted, this increase in hrs wasn't just joy riding in a casual group ride, as I was likely cranking out hours at 75-85% FTP.  So working on my weakness from '11 resulted in an increase in hours spent on the bike by 35 hours.  Surprisingly, my FTP was the same from '11 to '12.  Maybe "more is more"!!!  (slowtwitch reference to one biking philosophy on volume).

My running also saw a slight increase.  Up 7 hours from my qualifing attempt at IMLP in '11.  My peak weeks saw little volume incease, but my early season run training for a spring 1/2 marathon was the main cause for this bump.

Core work and yoga is something that I started in '09 and got lazy with in '11.  After a long day of work, family activities and working out, the last thing I wanted to do is push-up, planks and standing triangle pose in my basement.  This year I was dragging my ass out of bed at 4:30am a couple of times a week to make sure I got it in.  Getting out of bed was the hardest part and kind of like my 5am swims, I always hated the idea, but after completing it, man, it really was a great way to start the day!

So in a nutshell, there's the answer to the volume question.  I do love to train but I'm heavily committed so I can't train as much as I'd some times like to, or nearly as much as other, but like I said the devil is in the details and I'll go into much more about that next time.

Enjoy the off season!