Racing Vegan

My quest to complete my first Ironman seems to have morphed into something beyond simply trying to do it on the cheap. With inspiration from friend and fellow endurance athlete Kyndra, I've been experimenting with eating vegan for the last 4 months.

I first became interested in vegan eating a few years ago while at a talk put on by The Fools discussing their experiences running 100 milers. Someone from the audience was asked to speak briefly and I was surprised to learn that he was an elite and accomplished ultrarunner who was entirely vegan. What surprise me most of all was that he didn't have that stereotypical scrawny hippie physique that I expected. Rather, he looked like a very lean, muscular, strong athlete. A little research opened my eyes to the array of different top level athletes that are vegan: Bredan Brazier - Professional Ironman athlete, Mac Danzig - UFC fighter, Scott Jurek - Ultrarunner and winner of Badwater, Georges Laraque - NHL player/fighter, Fiona Oakes - Olympic cyclist and marathon runner, and the list goes on.

In the past during my tapers I've always cut out caffeine, alcohol, wheat, fried food, red meat, sweets and dairy. The initial 3-4 days are always torture as my body adjusts. I find myself pulling my hair out and have been told I'm less than pleasant to be around. But by day 4 or 5, I always emerge feeling "clean" and strong and at the top of my game. My sleep patterns improve drastically and I always drop a few pounds despite my reduced training load - the time when athletes often put on a pound or two. The result is I feel unstoppable come race day.

Friends and acquaintances have asked me why I've gone vegan and I don't have a simple answer. First of all I haven't become vegan. I still have my Italian leather shoes and a great Buffalo leather belt. I'm not really in it "for the animals" per se, although I would be lying if I didn't admit that a slaughterhouse video on the PITA website didn't help make the transition easier.

Of particular interest to me is how eating vegan might improve my training/racing. Now there are quite a few variations on the theme when it comes to eating vegan. There are the die-hard raw vegans, the crazy fruitarians, the traditional tofu-ists and the list goes on. They all have differing views on what fat:carb ratio is appropriate and how much protein the human body really needs. But all the different vegan athletes that I read up on all claimed the same thing: becoming vegan reduced their recovery times allowing them to train more and be less susceptible to injury. This is what intrigues me the most.

I tried the raw thing for a few weeks and really enjoyed some of the recipes and going to some of the local raw restaurants (Organic Lives, Gorilla Foods, Cafe Bliss). Sadly my guts didn't enjoy the raw diet as much as my palate did. I don't think I've ever experience that much gas in my entire life. I apologize retroactively to all who may have come into contact with me during that phase. And for my non athletic friends, you should be aware that we endurance athletes talk about bodily functions ad nauseum (no pun intended).

I'm still in the off season and simply playing around with my diet to see what does and doesn't agree with my digestive system. As my training ramps up I'll be looking more closely at stuff like protein levels, effectiveness of alternative sports nutrition (eg. dates instead of gels) and how these things affect my energy levels, recovery rates and sleep patterns.

As I make my way through this athletic culinary journey I also plan to post many of my recipes. One of my favourites and one that I received many requests when I made it a my BFF's party this weekend is called Zughetti. This is a common dish served in raw restaurants, for which I have come up with my on version. Without further ado, the recipe is:

Sean's Imprecise Zughetti Recipe

• Several Zucchini's (smaller ones have less seeds)

• Garlic (one clove)

• Green Onion

• Pitted Olives

• Sundried Tomatoes in oil (drained)

• Fresh Parsley (chopped)

• Fresh Tomato (chopped)

In a food processor combine garlic, a small amount of green onion, olives, sundried tomatoes, 3/4 of the parsley and 1/2 of the fresh tomato. Blend into a taponade consistency.
With a spiral slicer (http://organiclives.org/_product_95793/SPIROOLI), prepare the zucchini noodles. You can make the strands as long as you like, but I find it easier to eat if I cut them every 10 inches or so.
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the sauca/taponade and the zucchini strands.
Plate the zughetti and top with the remaining fresh tomato and parsley.

This recipe is fun to play around with. You can modify the proportions, add things like carrot and red peppers, substitute the parsley for fresh basil.

To maintain the spirit of the recipe, only raw ingredients should be used. Remember, since this is a raw recipe, a small amount of things like garlic and onion go a long way.

I love how simple and quick this recipe is. Feel free to post any variations/improvements you might have.

Bon Appétit.

Couch to Marathon - Not my Best Idea (Part 1)

2011 was a pretty good year for me race-wise. I had PR's (that's Personal Records for you non athletic types) at the 10k distance, the half marathon, at KneeKnacker 50k and I ran a pretty tough 100k (Vancouver 100). My friend Bob talked me into signing up for a road marathon when he saw some of my stats and was adamant that I could run a 3:20 based on McMillan Tables. I've always liked the ultra cliché, "If you can run fast, run far", but what the hell.... Bob really knows marathon, so who was I to argue. I was actually already registered for Portland, courtesy of friend Åsa (xmas present), so it sounded like a great idea.

Wanting to run fast, I started thinking about how I might be able to pull it off. Last year I started running in Vibram FiveFingers because I was interested in the whole barefoot running movement and wanted to see what all the hype was about. I'm a natural heal striker, but had noticed that my heart rate and perceived effort always dropped when I tried forefoot running. My Sister has always been much faster than me, but when we went on our first run together after I had been running in my Fives, she asked me to slow down about 4k in, and I didn't even feel winded. That's when I knew I needed to change my running style permanently

I came off BMO half marathon with a PR and a bit of a calf strain, so I had to dial back the forefoot running for a while. I restarted my forefoot running during my Portland ramp up. I was doing speed training at the track entirely barefoot once/wk and I was focusing on forefoot running while doing my long road runs. The whole disaster really started one weekend when I went out for a 3 hour trail run with BFF Meg, who I was helping train for her first ultra. During that run I found that I was naturally forefoot running and felt pretty fast. Clearly my road work was having an impact on my trail running. The next day I had to do my long road run and noticed part way through that my left soleus was really tight, presumably from the previous day. It wasn't painful, but I should have listened to my body- stopped an walked home. I took a day off and the following day ran barefoot at the track. Part way through my track workout my calf/soleus was quite painful, so I cut the workout short and ended up limping the next day.

A few days later I participated in a beer mile (4 beers and 4 laps of a 400m track). I knew I shouldn't be running, but couldn't help myself. Beer and running!!! Can you blame me? Suffice it to say I finished the final lap limping across the finish line in 4th place. This was the start of 7 weeks of not being able to run.  Since the only part of triathlon that I have any proficiency in is the running, I took this as an opportunity to improve my cycling and swimming.

This was all well and good, but the next thing I knew Portland was upon me and I hadn't run more than 5k once/wk to check if my calf had healed. 3 days before Portland I went out and ran 7k to see where my calf was at. I felt pretty damn good, but of course there's nothing like a 7 week taper to make you feel like a rock star..... on a short run.

I had enough common sense to know that I had no business doing a full marathon, having been off for nearly two months and not having run more than 26k on the road in years. Since Meg and other friends were doing the race, I still wanted to go down - what was I to do? My plan was simple: downgrade to the half. I'm an ultrarunner for Christ's sake; surely I should have no problem pulling a half out of my........ ear. Sounded great in theory, but when I showed up for packet pickup they wouldn't allow me to downgrade. "For real?!?"

Not sure if it was spite, pride, ego or stupidity, but I said, "Fine! I guess I'll run the full then!". Ha!

(Stay tuned for Part 2, the race)

It's all about performance

     Got my seat raised to just the right height
     So I can pedal with efficiency
     Don't mess with my cadence
     I pedal to the beat
     How you think I made this?

     It's all about performance.
     That's the name of the game.
     I pump up my tires and I oil my chain.
     Performance
         (Lyrics excerpt from Performance)

Ok, so I'm quickly learning that cycling does involve some actual technique and it's evident that I need to make some adjustments if I'm to get through the hilly IMC course in a reasonable amount of time without thrashing my legs. I've done a few longish rides (60-75k) followed by brick runs and it's clear than I can run pretty quick off the bike. However, I believe that even my extensive ultramarathon experience won't be sufficient to run a fast marathon if I don't learn to ride properly.

An IM friend with a fair bit of cycling experience once told me that the bike training portion of Ironman is blue collar work - just time in the saddle. While I recognize that I'll need to spend many hours riding between now and race day, I only partially agree that it's as simple as getting the time in.


Some of the buzz words I've been hearing directed at me lately are:

"You need to up your cadence".
"Stop mashing your pedals".
"Use your core".
"Spin smoothly".

Any poor sod can jump on a bike and ride around town. These days you're not even suppose to have gears if you wear skinny jeans. However, as in all endurance events, one of the key components to Ironman is learning to race efficiently. Turns out I'm a bit of a pedal masher: I naturally cycle with a low cadence and only exert force on the down stroke. I rode BMX as a kid, but haven't really ridden much of my adult life, save a bit of mountain biking and riding around town; none of which has included any clipless pedals.

So how does all of this relate to the Poor Man's Ironman? I'm getting there. My first step in starting to get serious about my biking was to get a bike fit. So I headed over to a bike shop recommended by new Tri-friend Darryl. They adjusted my pedals, seat height, angle and position and my aerobar location/height. I was expecting to pay $200, but the fit and new brake pads only came out to $100. Yeah!  The bad news: my cable ends are fraying and I'll need to replace them soon. I was informed that I might even have to replace the cable housing. 

Since I'm trying to do the bike thing on a budget, I decided to head over to Our Community Bikes, where they gave me 4 cable ends absolutely free (super easy to install). While I was there I also scored a used pair of Shimano SPD pedals for $5.00. I figure the only way I'm going to stop being a pedal masher is if I start clipping in on my my junk bike, which I've been using to commute to the pool. And $5???? Shut the front door..... you'll never get a deal like that at MEC. Why is it called a Co-op anyway? Because they collectively rip everyone off equally?

Back to performance. I seem to get bounced around a lot by the bike when I'm riding on the track. No surprise, when I focus on pedalling smoothly the bouncing stops. I've also noticed riding on my rollers makes it obvious when I'm not spinning smoothly. I plan on using both of these over the winter to improve my pedal stroke.

Earlier this year I dated this cyclist that was adamant that I should buy a power meter. Clearly she didn't last long, 'cause I ain't droppin' no coin on no power meter. Cadence meter? That's a whole other story. My friends keep telling me to up my cadence. Everything I read indicates I should be riding at at least 80 rpm, but I really have no concept of what that feels like. So yesterday I finally broke down and bought a Cadence Sensor for my Garmin Forerunner 305. Of course I didn't want to buy it new and a quick search on Craigslist revealed a brand new one for $70. I haggled the guy down to $60 and I now have cadence an speed (non-gps) displayed on my Garmin. 

I'm pretty excited about learning to ride more efficiently. Last week I did a 75k ride with Kyndra and at times it felt like I was working too hard. It was a great ride, but certainly couldn't have kept that pace up for another 100km. I certainly am grateful for having a bunch of experienced IMC'ers around me giving me cycling tips.

Sorry for the long post. I'll try to write less lengthy posts, but more often from now on. Stay tuned for my budget update - there have been a few other minor cycling purchases that I didn't mention in the post (including having to pry myself away from a Cervelo P1 yesterday). 

Nutrition and Budget

Made my first big purchase. Yup, I broke down went to Caps to spend $24.95+tax on a tri-bar mounted speed fill bottle. I might have the terminology wrong, so here's the link. I recently did a 70km ride, my longest to date, and realized it's going to take me a few more long rides to get my nutrition sorted out. From ultra running I have a good sense of knowing when I should be eating more and drinking more, but the same cues don't exist or are different in cycling. For instance, doing the 4000ft climb in an ultra you can't help but notice how much you're sweating and it reminds you to drink and take salt tabs. By contrast, all the sweat evaporates much more rapidly while on the bike, so it isn't quite as intuitive to know how much to drink, at least for a newbie like me. The aerobar bottle will make it much easier to sip frequently and having it right in front of me will be a constant reminder. Not sure if the tube in my face is going to annoy me or not though. I'll report back after a few test rides.

Total IMC Spending (as at 9/13/2011)
------------------------------------
Entry Fee:  702.00
Speed Fill:  27.94
            -------
           $729.94

While I'm on the topic of hydration, I think I'll mention one of my theories regarding Ironman insofar as nutrition goes. I've volunteered at IMC several times, always as a finish line catcher. I've found it quite astonishing how many people cross the finish line in a severely dehydrated state. I'm sure my triathlon friends will say, "Uh, hello?? They've been cycling and running in the heat for the last 12+hrs. What do you expect?" But the truth is, ultrarunners don't seem to be so messed up when they cross the finish line. With the exception of races like Badwater and maybe some of the really really tough ultras, you never see a medic tent at the end. You also never see an aid station every mile for the duration of the run.

So here's my theory, I think many beginner IM athletes don't fuel properly on the bike. I think dehydration is harder to monitor on the bike and many people come off the bike already low on electrolytes. Because they're low on salts they start having real stomach issues during the run, they can't get their carbs in and things spiral down from there and they end up walking when they really were trained to run the marathon.

Now I believe there's three key factors working against new Ironman entrants: First, as I mentioned, it's harder to monitor hydration on the bike. Most triathletes take their carbs in liquid form primarily, where as ultrarunners tend to have a little more solid food. Personally I know I'm starting to get dehydrated when I start having trouble getting down Chomps due to lower saliva level. This is my cue that I need to ramp up my drinking and/or salt intake.

Second, Ultramarathons are a much more relaxed environment. Now I'm not comparing the elites here, I'm talking about us middle-of-the-packers. Triathletes are hyperfocused on splits and transition times and shaving grams off their bike weight and they aren't allowed any crew. In ultras we [mortals] always take a brief stop at the aid stations to refuel, chat a little with the vollies and our crew, and our crew is usually reminding us of stuff we should be doing/consuming.

Finally, I believe beginner IM training programs don't focus on the run enough. Now I'll admit my impartiality on this subject, but bear with me. Most programs that I've seen involve fairly short brick runs after long rides and the long runs don't seem to extend much past 20k. Many first timers I've spoken with hadn't done more than a half marathon before IM. Now I won't argue about the effectiveness of this training style in terms of having legs for the run portion. In ultras we have this expression: don't outrun your stomach. I believe the biggest shortcoming of beginner IM programs is that athletes only train to survive the run, where as some minor adjustments in training would teach them how to start the run properly fuelled. They probably get enough miles in during training, but they don't get any miles in that involve having to deal with stomach issues. In ultras, even training for a short 50k race involves a couple 6hr runs. You can run 2hrs without any fuel at all, but you absolutely can't run 6hrs without having your nutrition dialed.

Of course this is all conjecture on my part, since my theory is based on my ultra experience and my catching experience, and not on actually having done an IM. It will be interesting to see how my view changes over time.

I do believe that IM is mostly about the bike, but I want to come off the bike ready to run, not just ready to survive. I guess we'll see what happens on race day. Luckily I've got 347 days to get it sorted out.

An Apology and a Manifesto

Part I - The Apology

This past weekend was IMC2011 weekend and as promised the hype did not disappoint. Even this Ultrarunner was swept away by all the excitement. Shaved legs, compression sleeves and bikes worth more than my house were plentiful.

This blog post isn't so much about the actual race as it is about some thoughts I had during the weekend. First I need to start by apologizing to two close friends: Meg and Joanne. In the weeks leading to this year's race while the racers were tapering their training, we were ramping up the Ultramarathon vs Ironman banter. As much as I enjoyed this, it is clear to me now that I took this discussion too far and insulted two very close friends, and for this I am sorry.

I had my first clue that I had f'd up when Jo mentioned in an email that I didn't seem to hold my triathlon friends in high regard. I knew for sure I had been a jack-a$$ when Meg said on race day, "This time last year this was the most important day of my life". These two comments did not go unnoticed, even if I didn't say much in reply.

I have to admit that I had a change of heart/opinion about Ironman this weekend. Certainly Meg and Jo's comments gave me pause. However, spending the day in the glaring sun and heat watching the cyclists and the runners slog it out made me think that the run could possibly be the hardest part of the race for me. This revelation came as a surprise, given that I've been running ultras for several years now. Frankly, I wouldn't want to have done even just the marathon portion last weekend given how hot it was out. Even Meg's friend Joe, a veteran ultrarunner, was humbled by the run portion. I still think running something like Vancouver 100 is harder than Ironman, but I have found a new respect for those that attempt IMC.

Anyway, sorry for being a jerk!!! I guess I'm still learning that my days as a Fat Biker are over and the people I keep company now deserve a little more tenderness from me.

Part II - Manifesto

My new found respect for IM notwithstanding, there are still some things about triathlon that I plan to ridicule..... affectionately of course. During the weekend I started thinking about all the stereotypical elements of Ironman that I find absurd. Although I am doing IMC, I plan to remain an ultrarunner at heart. Given how tempting it can be to get sucked into all the marketing and hype, I've devised a list intended to keep me true to my roots.

Without further delay.... here it is.....

Top 10 Things I Won't Get Sucked Into During IMC Training

1. I will not buy a new fancy carbon bike, unless mine spontaneously disintegrates.

2. I will not go to Iron Camp.

3. I will not pay for coaching (swimming lessons are the exception).

4. I will not walk around in public with compression socks.

5. I will not shave my legs (I reserve the right to change my mind on this one).

6. I will not buy bike components that don't actually need replacing.

7. I will not obsess about my training schedule.

8. I will not buy a power meter.

9. I will not pay ridiculous money for a Half Iron.

10.I will not buy a sperm helmet.

The time for talk is over

For several years now I've been thinking about doing Ironman. More specifically, I've been wanting to do Ironman Canada (IMC). A few things have stood in the way: (1) I can do a back-flip off a diving board, but I suck at distance swimming. (2) I've never cycled more than 50km. (3) It's ridiculously expensive.

Now the cycling part just seems like blue collar work. I believe I just have to get the saddle time in and I should be fine come race day. Swimming is a little more challenging. I've been swimming poorly for years. This has worked for the sprint and Oympic distances I've done, but I'd never survive a 3.8km swim with my current inefficient stroke. As for the run, to date I've done two road marathons and 10 ultramarathons, including a gruelling ultra that took 23hrs 54min. Suffice it to say I'm not worried about the run.

But really, my biggest stumbling block has been the cost. While having drinks with a few triathletes last week, one of which is doing IMC this weekend, I asked how much one of them had put into IMC so far. Here are some common expenses that people seem to be spending:

Entry Fee: $ 650

Bike: 2000

Coaching: 2000

Training Camp: 600

Wetsuit: 400

Clothing: 400

Running shoes: 200

--------------------

Total: $ 6200

I'm missing a variety of things on this list that escape me at the moment. Our rough calculation while discussing it was closer to $10,000 and this seems similar to what other friends have said they've spent.

I have a 12yr old triathlon bike that I bought second hand last year. As long as it doesn't fall apart on me, I plan on training and racing this bike. I absolutely refuse to pay for a triathlon coach, because I think it's a waste of money for someone like me that's experienced at endurance distances and has several IMC friends. I already have a cheap wetsuit that I paid $100 for last year. Where I do plan to spend some money is on swim lessons.

Here's my budget plan:

Entry Fee: $ 650 (spending this weekend)

Bike: 650 (purchased last year)

Swim Lessons: 400

Wetsuit: 100 (purchased earlier this year)

Clothing: 200

Running shoes: 200

--------------------

Total: $ 2200

The time for talk is over. I'm volunteering at IMC this weekend and plan to register for 2012 on Monday morning. It all begins now.