(from Rock Star Triathlete Academy)

Not every thing come race day for an Ironman is as planned. Here are 3 tips for your Ironman Triathlon to help you have the best race possible.

1) Your Special Needs Bag Isn't Always At The HalfWay Point. Did you plan on an exact 50/50 split with your gels, electrolytes fuel or water for halfway through the bike or halfway through the run of the Ironman triathlon? In reality, especially for the bike course, many races do not have your special needs bag exactly at the 56 mile mark or the 13 mile mark. So be sure to study the course and carry enough fuel and water to get you to the actual special needs location.

2) Wetsuit Strippers Aren't Necessarily The Fastest Way to Go. Unless you have slipped out of your wetsuit, removed your arms from the sleeves, have pulled the suit down to your waist, sighted to make sure there's not a line of swimmers waiting for wetsuit removal, and are prepared to do a baseball-style slide into the wetsuit stripping area, it may actually be faster to simply remove your wetsuit yourself in the Ironman triathlon changing tent.

3) Don't Plan on Seeing Your Expensive Tubular Again. Anything you put into your special needs bags is at risk of not being found after the race, including your change of tire, CO2 cartridges, energy bars, lucky rabbit's foot, or your favorite inspirational picture of dear Uncle Clyde. So don't put extremely valuable items that you don't want to lose into your Ironman triathlon special needs bag.

OK, that about covers it for now! For more practical Ironman triathlon tips just like this, from Rock Star Triathlete Academy coaches who have spent time in the trenches, just visit http://www.rockstartriathleteacademy.com/Ironman

Here are a couple pics from this past weekend's training in Malibu. 2 hours bike and 1 hour run. This coming weekend: 3.5 hours bike and 0.5 hour run. Longest yet. 

Swimming: Getting better. 1,500 yd swim on Sunday followed by a good session of drills last night. Still amazed at how far I have come since the season started. 50 yards of 7 stroke breathing was unthinkable at the beginning of the season, but I did it last night. I still need to work on my glide and turning my left side on the barrel movement.

Running: Not much to mention except that I need to make sure I go slow off the bike. I am a second half runner, not first half one.

Biking: Learning every time I go out. This week coach Rad told me to practice drinking my sports drink and pedaling at the same time instead of just slowing down to take big gulps and put the drink back in the bottle cage.  I definitely feel more comfortable riding now. No falls recently. Going up hills has been manageable. Shifting is improving. Trainer work is getting manageable too as I listen to podcasts on my iPhone or watch DVD's on my laptop.

Overall, a lot of improvement from where I started but still a lot to improve upon. Exciting stuff! Ongoing goals: maintain self-discipline and emphasize quality practices.

Diet/Nutrition is also on task. Getting the carbohydrates in for sure, but would like to increase vegetable intake incrementally.

Go Team!

Chances are you've been there: a dinner party where you get stuck sitting next to a lawyer who has nothing to say about the law—but won't shut up about Chamois Butt'r cream and the wonders of his triathlon ladder workout. Your coworker Seth, across the table, presents an iPhone slide show in which he is doing his best impressions of Usain Bolt, Lance Armstrong, and Michael Phelps. And then Steve, the creative director playing host, announces that when he travels for work he books only hotels with pools, so he can get in his lap time. More subtly than, say, whipping out the keys to his Bugatti, a certain sort of image-conscious striver makes the distinction clear: Prestige comes with being an athletic triple threat.

It used to be that only true He-Men dared call themselves triathletes, but now all manner of aspirant, Type-A personalities are trying on the title. These are the guys who put the "try" in triathlete, who've seized on the once-forbidding sport as a form of social currency, the athletic equivalent of dropping mentions of a Hamptons summer home or a Harvard M.B.A.

The Kayenne offers oversized lenses with Aqua Sphere patented curve lens technology, which provides a 180 degree field of vision. The goggles fit close to the face for low drag hydrodynamic performance. They also have a one-touch buckle making them easy to fit to your face. The goggles include UV protection, leak resistance, anti-fog and scratch resistant lenses. They also come in a women's version for smaller faces.

Read more here.

FYI - I have the Aquasphere Kaiman's and they work great for me - only $20. I used to have a pair of basic Speedo's, but I realized I needed to switch after I would get water leaking through every swim.

 Being a twin myself, I felt the need to share this Ironman-related story.

From Professional Accountant to Professional Triathlete:

Ten years ago, I was sitting in a training session at a Big Four accounting firm, thinking about my answer to a question on a self-evaluation form: “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” I remember exactly what I wrote: to be a professional triathlete winning the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon.
I knew that reply wasn’t exactly what the managers wanted to read (I’m sure everyone else has written something like “making partner” or “CFO”), and I thought about changing it to something a little easier for the managers to swallow. But I didn’t.

I continued to work at the firm for three more years, gaining invaluable experience and making my way up the promotional ladder.

It wasn’t until my twin sister, Laurel, got sick with cancer when I revisited that idea of being a professional triathlete. With my sister and best friend faced with a life-threatening disease, I could no longer focus solely on accounting. Being a part of her fight to beat cancer made me realize I wanted to follow my passion, to inspire my sister who so badly wanted to be healthy and active. Plus, I knew I had it in me: I ran track and cross country at Mount Saint Mary’s University, an NCAA Division 1 school, and swam competitively for 15 years. Plus, I was already a "professional" at something — accounting — so how hard could the switch be?

Read more here.

Check out the Wassner twins website here.

This came through on my Twitter this morning. It will probably come in handy in a few weeks for our first open-water swim.

8 Tips to Training In the Open Water

So you’re ready to get out there and do some open water swimming to prepare for your next triathlon? Before you go dipping into your local body of water, keep these tips in mind:
1. Never swim alone. For safety purposes, always swim with a group or bring along a friend. Given the unknown elements, a dangerous situation may arise such as fog, currents, boats, etc. where you will be in much better shape with others around.
2. Adjust to cold water. If the water you are training in is cold, below 66 degrees fahrenheit, be prepared. Wetsuits are necessary. Wearing a swim cap and earplugs can help keep your head warm. Get in the water slowly and only get in for 5-20 minutes the first time out, gradually increasing your time in the water with each swim.
4. Upon exit of your cold water swim, drink warm fluids, take off your wetsuit, and dress warmly.
3. On sunny days, apply sunscreen 30 minutes before getting in (especially for those with light skin!).
4. Be careful of the fog. It is easy to get lost in foggy weather and lose sight of the shore.
5. Watch the seaweed. If you are ocean swimming and come across seaweed, stay high in the water and do not kick. The seaweed can wrap around you if your legs are kicking.
6. Never swim in a lightning storm.
7. Open water swimming can cause chaffing. Use petroleum jelly if this is a problem.
8. Goggle color. Use dark lenses on sunny days, blue lenses on cloudy days.
Open water swimming can be challenging, but for many it is FUN and a nice change from “following the black line” at the bottom of the pool. Enjoy, and remember, “when in doubt, get out.”

Mark Bittman of the NYT postulates in his recent article:

In their critics’ eyes, producers of sugar-sweetened drinks are acting a lot like the tobacco industry of old: marketing heavily to children, claiming their products are healthy or at worst benign, and lobbying to prevent change. The industry says there are critical differences: in moderate quantities soda isn’t harmful, nor is it addictive.


The problem is that at roughly 50 gallons per person per year, our consumption of soda, not to mention other sugar-sweetened beverages, is far from moderate, and appears to be an important factor in the rise in childhood obesity. This increase is at least partly responsible for a rise in what can no longer be called “adult onset” diabetes — because more and more children are now developing it.

Another quote:

The problem, says Dr. Frieden, is that, “Obesity is a major health problem that’s getting worse, and it’s clear that exhorting individuals to eat less and exercise more is not going to turn things around.” 

Read more here.

I used to be one of those people who drank soda in excess when I was younger. Now, that I have cut a lot of the refined sugars (i.e., high fructose corn syrup) out of my diet, I have lost a lot of weight--so much so that I am close to where I was entering college. And I do not attribute that weight loss mainly to my training because when I had completed my first marathon, I still weighed only a pound or two lighter than when I started. Heading into my second marathon / Ironman training, I really started to shed weight only when I started eating healthier and checking labels on the back of the box. 

Personally, I don't mind a soda here or there. I think children should be able to have them every so often too, but not in excess. Overall, parents need to educate their children about the risks, and I would imagine that the only people that can educate the parents would have to be the government, news media or scientists. As a nation, we have to admit that we have an obesity problem, recognize the dire consequences of that health issue and personally take responsibility in improving our condition.