The KodaFit Blog

I know I’ve been slacking with this blog, but it wasn’t until I checked to see when my last post was that I realized that it has been over 3 weeks…  ACK!!!

Things have been pretty busy of late.  Work has gotten a little more involved, and my training has really been ramping up.  Both of which are things which I’m counting as positive changes in my life.

Good things have been happening however…  I’ve noticed a pretty significant improvement in all aspects of my training, from my swimming to the intensity and duration of my run and cycling sessions.

There are some other exciting things coming on the home front as well - which I hope to announce in the next few weeks (And it DOES NOT involves any more little Mike’s - just so you know!).

A rather small, but none-the-less exciting event occurred last week.  WARP -a local racing company which puts on the BAM and BASH triathlons did a twitter give-away.  It was something I was ready for, and which I almost missed at the last minute.  As luck would have it, I happened to refresh my twitter page, just seconds after it was posted, and after some blazing fast internet searching and a quick email to the organizer…

I WON!!!

The prize was a gift basket from TriSwim, which I may write about more in the future - They have awesome products!!  But included in the basket, which arrived Friday, was a can of TriSlide - their lubricating spray to assist in wetsuit removal and help ward off chaffing as well.

I did a 64 mile bike session on Saturday night, and prior to beginning, sprayed my inner thighs with the TriSlide.  It didn’t look like much, and I couldn’t really feel it, but I also didn’t feel any chaffing or rubbing, so I’m thinking that’s a pro on both counts.

Last night as I was brushing my teeth, my sweet wife commented about how our floor seemed really slick in one particular spot, and that a couple of the kids had wiped out on it when walking over said spot.

I thought that was a little strange and then I remembered the label, and a small warning at the bottom of the instructions, describing how surfaces could become incredibly slippery when sprayed.  I walked over in my socks to check it out, and almost lost it myself.  It’s really slick stuff!!  Apparently my aim wasn’t as good as it should have been when applying the product the night before.

A couple of things I learned from this:

1. It’s a good idea to read labels and take them seriously.
2. TriSlide is easy to remove from floors with soap and water (thankfully!).
3. TriSlide should probably be applied outside or on carpet - not on laminate flooring!
4. TriSlide is slicker than snot!

read comments (2)

I had a great deal planned for the New Year, particularly related to updates to my online presence related to this blog, but I’m afraid to report, that not as much has happened as I had hoped would.  Never-the-less, stay tuned because change is coming sometime in the future.

2009 was a great year for me.  I raced more than I have in the past, in a season which lasted from February through November.  I did my first half-ironman, as well as a second half down at Silverman and a second marathon.    The season was almost too long, but hopefully I can change that in the year to come.

I’m STOKED for 2010 though.  Here’s what I have planned!

First ultra-distance race in March - 50k trail run

First IronMan event in May

A couple of other races through the summer, including the Bad-Ass at BAM in August.

I’m going to finish off the season as being of an Ultra Team at this years Red Rock Relay, and then I’m hoping to break 7 hours at the Silverman Half in Las Vegas.

And I’ve saved the best for last…

The season kicks off for me in February again with an indoor triathlon in Clearfield.  It’s the “Sweat with your Sweetheart” event and I managed to talk my sweet wife into entering as part of a team with me.  I’m going to swim, where after she’ll bike and then I’ll finish it up with a run.  Should be an absolute blast!!

read comments (3)

This is going to be a quick report…  I’m working on a report of the Red Rock Relay though, and that one will more than make up for the lack of fluff here.

The Top of Utah Marathon is held each September in Logan,Utah.  About a month before though, they hold a half marathon on the same course.  I missed early registration unfortunately, but a friend of a friend ended up being unable to make it, and so I took his place on race day.  Sidenote -Before you chastize me…  We tried everything we could to contact the RD for a week prior.  And I ran with full ID and my cell phone on me, just in case.

Packet pickup was race morning, and while extremely busy it was well organized.  Buses took us up Blacksmith Canyon to the start which was cold and crowded, but like packet pick up they appeared to have anticipated the crowds and things like needing to visit the port-o-potty prior were no problem at all.

They ended up having a record turnout, and as such the race was pushed back a little to handle the additional bus trips up.

I hung out at the start with a friend, and we positioned ourselves well back in the pack.  I prefer to pass than be passed, and I also prefer to have people in front of me to try and keep my pace down for the first few miles.

The race started and off we went down the canyon.

If I may share a pet peeve here…  This is the second half marathon I’ve done, and then second time I’ve run into this problem.  If you are a 50+ year old lady, and like to walk events like this with your friends, I think the world of you.  However, with that said… No matter how flashy your walking sticks, how brightly colored your camel bak and how snazzy your workout pants…  If you are walking, you really need to start at the very back of the pack!

In both races, these ladies have lined up with the 8 minute mile pace group, and then spread out across the road in a spandex covered wall of voluptuous bottoms which is impenetrable to all who which to pass.

Back to the race though.  I kept my pace down for the first couple of miles, planning on picking it up around mile 7.  The plan was to try and run a sub-2 hour half.

Around mile 6 though I noticed that my pace had sped up more than I had planned, and in mile 7 it increased even more.

I was feeling good though, and decided to go with it and see what happened.

The course is predominantly run down the canyon, and then moves into the suburbs with a mile or two of reasonably flat running, and then a nice little uphill section for the final mile or 2.

My pace kept increasing, all the way to the end, and for the most part I felt great at least when I wasn’t running uphill, but even then I was able to hold it steady.  The final half mile is a gradual downhill, and you can see the finish line and the hoards of people surrounding it.

Right as I crested the final hill, I ran by a lady who was puking on the side of the road.  I yelled something about “Are you OK?” but a combination of knowing that I would rather hide in situations where I’m the one puking, and glancing at my Garmin to discover I was going to blow my previous PR of 2:02 away and I kept running.

According to my Garmin, the race was a little under a quarter mile longer than 13.1.  It could have been all the dodging to get around the old lady pace line, or just some inaccuracies in the process of measuring the route by satellite.

That aside though, I ended up finishing in 1:53:16.   8 minutes and 54 seconds faster than my previous PR!

All in all - a great race, and while it’s not on my schedule for 2010, I’ll definitely be doing it again in the future.  Perhaps as a precursor to the full Top of Utah marathon.

read comments (1)

Me and the wife always have a grand old time trying to find each other awesome gifts for Christmas.  Our kids get pretty spoiled around this time of year, but sometimes it pales in comparison to how we spoil each other.  It’s a fun time of year, and we both revel in it more than we should.

This year, my sweet wife continued her theme of the last few years of getting me triathlon related stuff.  It may be her favorite part of my new found obsession, and as an added benefit, she’s become quite knowledgeable about various products as she researches them, and looks at reviews and what not.

2 months ago, she’d never heard about Chamois Butt’r and now she nows more than me - except for how well it works, which is all I really care about.

I got a bunch of cool stuff from her, most of which will likely be reviewed in the weeks and months to come.  Finis Swim Paddles and a cadence tool, Dirty Girl Gaitors, lights for my bike, and the one I used more than any other this week…  An Evil Foam Roller.

I’ve been upping my mileage quite significantly this month, especially in the pool.  While that has seen some positive results, my cycling has been doing OK, and my running has really suffered, so last week I decided to right those wrongs and try and achieve more balance in my workouts.

Christmas made the swimming tricky with limited pool hours when I’m available, plus I hit my goal to swim the English Channel distance (21 miles) earlier last week, which impacted my motivation a little.

Monday and Tuesday I got a couple of good solid runs in at work on my lunch break, and Wednesday saw some good solid cycling miles get added.  Thursday and Friday didn’t happen due to Christmas festivities, but I hit the ground running on Saturday morning, quite literally.  I ended up running 12 miles, albeit rather slowly.  In my defense, much of it was in pretty deep snow, somewhere it was only the tracks from the deer and coyotes which I had to follow.  It was likely more of a power session that a speed session, since progress was real slow at times.  I’d try to run fast up a hill, and barely reach the speed of a fast walk, which is rather a downer as well.  But I got it done.

Sunday saw the day of the big bike, although it started off a little late due to a much needed sleep in.  I had to break it in half, but I’ve heard that’s good, and it gave me a break from being on the trainer.  The morning session had me watch the first of District 9, and then listen to a new Rage Against the Machine CD.  I would have kept watching the show, but at that point in the workout, I just wanted to put my head down and go.

Later that night, I got back on, finished the show, and then spun for another 30 minutes or so.  I ended up with a pretty solid 55 miles total, all with pretty high cadence (85-90rmp) which is good considering I’m usually in the 70’s.

Ended up with almost 23 miles running and 117 on the bike.  The only part I have yet to master is my nutrition, and I think that’s factoring into my muscle fatigue today.

Following my long run, and between biking sessions, I used the foam roller.  HOLY HELL!!!  It’s the kind of pain which feels good, because you know it’s working, but every so often, I’d hit a knot in my quads or something and I’d about go through the roof.  I think I got most of them worked out, and by the end it wasn’t quite as excruciatingly painful, but that aside, I still have the urge to paint a set of devil horns on the evil torture device.

read comments (0)

I’ve come across a couple of really good quotes in the past couple of weeks.  I thought I’d post them as motivation for the coming week…

“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”

Confucius

“The best time to start was last year. Failing that, today will do.”

Seth Godin

read comments (1)

Folks, I’ve finally been ranked on the USAT lists!!!  Now the 2009 results are still preliminary, but if they’re right then I ended up as #3162 in my age group.

Just to put that in perspective:

There were  5970 people in that age group, and it included the likes of Andy Potts, Matt Reed and Andreas Raelert.

It also puts me in the top 53% of the age group.

I’m hoping to improve in 2010, but since I’m racing some interesting races next year, that improvement may have to wait until 2011.

read comments (0)

I’m working on a post for the Red Rock Relay last year, and due to the length of the race, and all that happened, and ultimately a desire to not bore anyone to tears, it’s taking longer than I suspected it might.

In the mean time though, I have a report on my swimming…  I’ve been putting in some serious mileage this month, and sometime in the next day or two, I’ll hit my goal of 21 miles, which is also the distance across the English Channel.

The first week went great, and then I struggled a little on week two.  I think my shoulders had taken a bit of a beating and I was just a little fatigued.  Week 3 went really well, though, and were it not for the fact that I wanted to spend some family time yesterday I probably could have hit my goal.

There are two big highlights for me…

Last friday I swam a 5k, and managed to keep my lap times all under a minute.  It got a little scary at the end, as I as dodging the high school swim team, who keep jumping in my lane and I got nailed by the ball they were using on a couple of occasions.  I know some of the kids, so it may or may not have been an accident!

And then this morning I had perhaps my fastest swim ever…

Let me explain…  a year ago, I was averaging about 1:01 per lap in a 25 yard pool.  Then in April I switched to a 25 meter pool, and pushed a little harder to keep my average.

After the swim clinic a month or two back, my times dropped to about 53 to 54 seconds a lap for longer swims.

Yesterday my goal was 1 mile.  3 laps into it, another gentleman hopped in my lane and started churning out the laps.  He was fast, and if you know me at all, you know that I like a rabbit!  Someone I can focus on to catch, rather than worrying about my speed.

He was only in the pool for 7 or 8 laps, but I pushed the pace hard the whole time.  Once he got out, I was actually feeling pretty strong, and so I tried to keep the pace going.  You know that taste of blood you get when you’re running all out?  I got that in my mouth towards the end.  Never happened in the pool before, and since I was still feeling strong I took it as a good sign.  I finished my mile (Swimmers mile!) in 25 minutes and 37 seconds.  Good for an average just over 51 seconds per lap and about a half second faster than my 1000m time trial last week.

This morning I hit the pool with only 10 minutes to swim.  It was a tight fit since it seems Monday is the day for everyone to recommit to swimming or something.  I focused on form for the first lap or 2, and then tried to focus on power, speed and keeping my turnover high.  I hit the end of lap 12 right at 10 minutes.

Average lap time 50.0 seconds.  That’s just a hair away from dipping into the 40’s!!!!

If I can get my laptimes over a mile into the 40-42 second per lap range, I think I can become really competitive at the Olympic distance races, and possibly the half iron distance races - at least for the swim portion!

read comments (0)

I’ve been good friends with the owner of Bee Simple for a couple of years now, and as such my wife and I have served as guinea-pigs at times for her products or items which she thinks might become products!  I’m pleased to report that we have yet to develop any funky skin lesions, nasty rashes or anything like that.

The whole idea for Bee Simple started with honey, and incidentally, if you’re looking for a great source of raw honey, they sell that too.  One of the byproducts of honey is beeswax.  Actually, I was hoping to include a fun story about the history of the phrase “Mind your own beeswax”, but none of the sources I found seemed to have a consistent source of that phrase.  One indicated that women used to wear it on their faces, and it would melt off if they didn’t ‘mind it’ around the fire, and another anecdote had to do with women melting beeswax to make candles, and worrying more about others wax than their own.  The last one seems more likely, but neither have much in the way of a humor factor or historical support.

Anyway with an abundance of beeswax, she started thinking about things she could do with it and thus Bee Simple was born.  Primarily she sells lotion bars and lip balms, and then of course honey, as I mentioned before.  And the best part is that they are all natural!

I’m not sure if I’ve ever used the lip balms, but my kids have, and they all really them.  I have however tried out the lotion bars, and they rock!!  I’ve tried the natural and the citrus bars and love them both.  My sweet wife has tried the Tropical Flower one as well, but it has a flowery scent and while I may claim to be in touch with my feminine side at times, I just rather not smell that way!  I do like it on the Mrs. though!

The lotion bars come in a small tub, and when you need to use them, you just pop the bar out and apply.  It’s kind of like soap, but without the extreme slipperiness, or the soapy bubbles.  Actually come to think of it, it’s not really like soap at all, other than the fact that it’s in bar form, and you rub it onto your skin.

I like it because it goes on easy and clear, and you don’t have to rub it in, like you do with other lotion type products.   It works well, and it smells good too, so that’s a win/win in my book.

Taleen doesn’t know I’m doing this review yet, but since she just barely got her web-site up and running, I figure I would see if I could send some traffic her way - plus they are really great products.  I doubt she’ll give you a discount if you mention my name, but if you buy enough stuff, you might be able to pry some deep dark secrets about me from her, and thus have means to embarrass me on our next encounter.

You can find the products with full descriptions, pictures and all of that on her website - BeeSimpleNaturals.com.

They would make a great stocking stuffer for a certain impending holiday!

read comments (1)

Daybreak was an interesting race.  It’s was the final race in a series put on by the newly formed US TriSports Race Management Company, and if the opportunity arises, I would gladly compete in one of their races again.

In the Utah, specifically along the Wasatch Front, this race is perhaps better known as the Triathlon that got canceled because of a Round Worm infestation.  Just days before the race, the Salt Lake Health Department found an alarmingly high infection of the Roundworm Parasite in the water at Oquirrh Lake.

Actually local Fox News Channel aired the following story, which featured two fellow Desert Sharks - Kelly and Amy towards the end.

With just days to find a new swim venue, I thought they did a fantastic job of making alternate arrangements.

Daybreak was another impulse race for me.  I signed up on a whim just a couple of weeks before, and my race experience started the night before after a long drive down to Daybreak from my home, perhaps 80 minutes north of the location.   I arrived just minutes before packet pickup closed, courtesy of road construction in the area, and not being able to find the right building, and then returned home with 2 very tired and sleepy kids in the back seat.

Race morning started well.  I got to the venue in good time, got my bike racked up, and then found a very nice and apparently unused porta-potty to take care of the pre-race ritual.  While I’m hesitant to share this…  If you do the race next year, I’d recommend looking for the porta potties east of the building to the east of the main parking structure.

It ended up that I’d racked my bike in a bad spot as far as transition went, meaning I would have to run the length of transition in my cleats, but it would also make my bike easy to find, and ended up being right next to fellow Red Rocker and Desert Shark, Chuck.

To make up for the swim, triathletes were transported to one of the community pools by bus.  It was only a 25 yard pool, and the plan was 3 lengths for 75 yards, and then a little over a mile run to the transition area, before we could head out on the bikes.

I hung out with Kris, another shark who was doing the Olympic Distance, listened to the instructions and the National Anthem.  The start turned out to be a time trial start too, and while I would usually be a little put out to have to run instead of swim, I’d just finished a week long swim clinic and my shoulders were trashed, so it turned out for the best.

The biggest shock of the day was diving under the water at my start and realizing that it was a salt water pool!  My swim went well.  First two lengths were solid, turns were tight, and then I let it fly on the last length, passing Kris en-route.  It was kinda nice to sprint in a tri for a change, and since I can pull off a 26 second 50m sprint, the 75m swim was perfect.

We exited the pool, pulled on our shoes and headed off for transition.  We passed a couple of relay runners who looked like they were in the swim leg for a reason.  Heavier athletes and some with braced up legs, who I felt bad for, but with only a mile to run, I felt I could push it, and left them nicely behind.

My pace for the run ended up being about 8 minutes a mile - I think (Something to be said for timely race reporting!!).

Had a good solid transition and it was out on the bike.  I really enjoyed this bike course, although in hind sight, more hill training would have been good.  You start off  riding through the DayBreak city center, and then head out towards the copper mine.  It gets steeper as the road heads out, but I was able to maintain a solid cadence, and the area’s finest did a fantastic job of controlling traffic and keeping the course safe.

After reaching the high point of the course, you then turn south, down a quick hill and then up a really steep one, before bearing east and heading into the city of Herriman.  The road is tight, winding, and you can get some wicked speed heading down.  Several miles of your wheels singing, and you take a sharp right before doing a quick and back into the neighborhoods.  There’s a really steep hill at the turn around, which sucks going up, but is a real nice reward coming back.

After that, you head back up the gnarly hill - which was a lot nice coming down, up around the top and then begin a really nice descent back into Daybreak.  The final section was well patrolled by police, the only downside being that you start coming up on the slower riders in the Sprint distance race, and I had a couple of nerve-wracking high speed passes.

Coming back into transition reminded me a little of some of the scenes from the Tour de France.  Spectators line both sides of the road yelling and screaming, and the din from the cowbells is intense.  It was a huge rush racing through the crown, but I believe volunteers had a nightmare trying to keep the spectators off the road and out of the way of the cyclists.

T2 went well, and it was out onto the run course.  By this point of the day it was getting pretty hot, and the water, while loaded with funky intestinal parasites looked very inviting.  The Olympic course circles the lake twice before finishing.  I felt strong and tried to maintain a good pace and for the most part I managed.  I did stop to walk at one aid station, before a couple of girls behind gave me some encouragement.  The last two miles, I ended up behind 2 guys, who were both in my age group, and who both had iPods going.  I know it’s not a big deal, but something about guys who race with music, when it’s explicitly forbidden in the race rules just bugs me.   I was tired, my legs were burning, but I vowed I would pass them.

We played leap from for a while, but with a mile to go I kicked it into high gear and gave everything my body had left.  It would appear from the results, that both gentleman likely started walking at that point, since I beat them both by over 5 minutes.

The finish line was crowded, a little unorganized and noisy.  I did enjoy hearing my name as I crossed the line, and then things got a little blurry.  I grabbed a bottle of iced water and tried to find something I could grab onto.  I ended up holding the upright pole in one of the sponsors tents, and stood there hyperventilating for likely 10 minutes.   I’ve had a couple of races where I would get done and then beat myself up mentally, knowing that I could have done better, had I only pushed harder at the end, since I finished with plenty of energy.  I can say with absolute certainty that I had nothing left at the end of this race.

I really enjoyed Daybreak.  They gave each finished a free photo, which was nice, although a wee bit small, and the finish line festival seemed great.  Once I got my breathe back, I grabbed my stuff, loaded the car, and then got to have a well deserved lunch at a local Mexican grill (Chameleon Grill or some kind of lizard like reptile - I think) with a couple of other sharks.

read comments (0)

I’m about done with being cold.  Last night I decided to head out on a bike ride.  I layered, covered up what I could and even took the precaution of taking along a head lamp.

The training plan said I  needed to do 80-100 miles.  I figured that 40-50 would be realistic.

And so off I went…

Within 5 miles my toes were losing feeling and there was a definite chill in the air.  I should add that the weather man had temps predicted to be about 32 degrees - and this was the warmest it was supposed to be all weekend.

At mile 9, I reached for my Perpetuem.  I made it with hot water and figured that some warmish liquid would go down well.  It was already like it had spent the day in the fridge.

At 12.5 I reached the end of the trail.  My toes were completely numb and I was shivering a little.  The sun was setting to.  I donned the headlight, removed my glasses and started to head back.

IT WAS FREAKIN’ COLD!!!!

My toes were the worst part of the experience.  I could realistically see myself pulling of my socks and finding a couple of them black.  My face was freezing and my fingers were really cold.

With each mile it was a relief that I was that much closer.  At 25 miles I got back to my car and I was done.  It was during those last 5 miles that I resolved to purchase a trainer this weekend… WATCH THIS SPACE!!

You know how when your hands get really cold, and it hurts to put them under warm water.  I had that in my toes!

I took some solace in the fact that as long as I could feel them, it meant they weren’t dead, but it didn’t take away much from the pain.  When I got home, the weather service had the temperature as 24 degrees- Brrrrrrrrrr!

This morning, I had a trail run scheduled.  The local running store put it on, and I was supposed to meet a fellow Shark for it as well.

I got a text at 6:30 from my fellow runner saying that he could make it.  With that came the reprieve that no-one was counting on me.  I was still going to go, but I took my sweet time.  I hit the main gate to Antelope Island about 15 minutes late and realized the group had already left.

As I headed across the causeway, I tried to decide what to do.  I could run the same route as the group, and accumulate 13-15 miles, or I could head up Frary Peak.   I went up Frary Peak last weekend and only made it half way up.  In light of the snow storm supposed to be coming through tomorrow, I figured I’d try and summit it today, since it could be the last time this year.

All things considered it actually went really well.  I think it was colder than last night, but my toes were warm, and that made all the difference.  As I started the trail, I noticed that the peak had some cloudiness around it.  I like running in clouds, and so I was a little excited.  Little did I know that it was the business end of a wee snow storm.  It took me about an hour to get to the top.  I don’t think I quite hit the peak, but I blame that on taking a wrong turn.  1 minute I was on a good trail, the next I was scrambling along the top of a ridge with steep drop-offs on both sides.  Given that it was now snowing quite heavily and the wind was blowing really hard, I figure I would have to be an idiot to continue….  Well, I am an idiot, but I turned around anyway!

The run back down was great.  The path had quite a bit more snow on it, although it was only slick in a couple of spots.  My IT Band, which has been caused problems and cramped up on the descent last week was doing really well to.  With about a mile to go I stop in the shelter of some rocks and took a breather.  My stomach growled and so I pulled a bottle of Perpetuem from my hydration belt.  It was frozen!!!  Not completely, but after shaking it around a bit, it turned into a really nice smoothie.  After getting some of it down, I looked over myself to see how things were looking…

My head was covered in ice crystals as were my gloves.  My feet were surprisingly warm, although I’d caught a branch on the outside of my ankle on the way down and that was throbbing a little but other than that, I was in good shape.   My nose had started running a little from the cold too, and aside from the odd smattering of snot here and there on my face it was holding up well.  And then I saw the front of my running jacket - with 3 or 4 really nice snotsicles!!

It ended up being a 6.25 mile run and was actually quite enjoyable.  All credit to my La Sportiva trail shoes - Really starting to love them.  My hands could have been a little warmer, and a balaclava might not have been a bad idea for my face.

The only tricky part then was driving down from the parking lot.  The trail head is at the top of a 23% grade road.  The steepest paved road in Utah is what I’ve been told.  And there I was in my little Geo, at the top of a road which had no traffic since the snow and hadn’t been plowed.  It was a very slow, very nervous and very careful descent, but I made it down in one piece!

read comments (0)