Ironman Arizona Taper time

On Friday I completed my last long run at my favorite run course, Ranch Viejo sub division. Rancho Viejo is located just south of the Santa Fe community college. I ran 3 times around the outer trail surrounding the subdivision, each lap is a 6.3 mile challenging loop with lots of hills and glorious views. After the run I felt great. I was amazed at how great I felt! This year my long distance running has been at an all time best! I can run longer and faster than ever before. I ran 19.3 miles with less fatigue I'd normally experience running for only two hours!

Then on Saturday I completed my longest brick of the year. I rode my bike from the Santa Fe Rail Runner 550 station into Albuquerque via Highway 14, then to the Sandia Casino, then back up to Paseo Del Norte & Wyoming. 77 miles total. From there I threw on my run shoes and took my 6 year old daughter with me on her bike for a run. She and I went 6.1 miles keeping a 10 minute per mile pace. My baby girl is a cycling animal! I can’t wait until she’s old enough to compete in some junior cycling races. She'll kill it!

On the bike portion of my brick I averaged just shy of 14 MPH. The reason for me riding so slow is my triathlon bike was destroyed in September, I’m now riding on an old, slow, off brand road bike. It’s 2-3 mph slower than my triathlon bike. Don’t get me wrong, I love my road bike regardless of how slow it is. I’m grateful to have this bike to use as a spare. A slow bike is better than no bike!

sprints tri's or Redman full Iron distance triathlon next season?

I got over my stomach bug and was training again again by Wed morning.....

I just finished my last long run in my training plan for IMAZ. I ran 19.3 miles & felt great! All my training suggests I'll break my Iron PR by about 30 min even though I'll be using a bike that I average 2 mph slower than the bike I had ridden at my last Iron that I PR'd at! My training splits suggest I'll also break my Iron marathon time by over 90 minutes, and my marathon (no swim or bike) time by 30 min! I cant help but wonder what I could do at another Ironman without the 2 month break of training from a bike crash, and having a decent bike with race wheels.... So I'm contemplating attempting the Redman full Iron in 2012. It all depends if I can convince my wife to let spend that much time training while she's in collage. I invited a few of my triathlon buddies to go and do it with me. If they go and we could race together it would make it particularly wonderful!

stomach bug

My wife and youngest son Rion got the stomach bug last week. I thought I had been lucky and avoided it, but apparently my long bricks this weekend in conjunction with 12 to 16 hour work shifts and only 3 hours of sleep in between broke my body down. Monday morning I got a horrible stomach bug. I'm currently able to keep food down, but I'm still battling the aches and fever. I'm hoping to recover in time to do another pair of long bricks this weekend. This Friday and Saturday is my last chance to get in a couple really long training days, after this week I'm supposed to start decreasing my training to allow my body to be fully healed up and ready to race for Ironman Arizona 2011.

long brick days equal big calorie days!

I did my 1st two back to back long brick workouts since my bike accident in early Sept. Friday I did a 67 mile bike ride and a 6.2 mile run, I burned a total of4,444 calories, my metabolic rate is currently 3,200 calories a day, so I was able to eat 7,644 calories without worrying about gaining any weight!

Yesterday I did a 14 mile bike followed by a16.5 mile run, I burned 2,411 calories, so I'll be able to eat 5,611 guilt free calories! I love long training days!

Those 2 training days were a gut check. I was hurting at the half way point. By the end I was slow and tired. Very slow. Very tired. Considering I haven't done a dang thing since early Sept I did surprisingly well. I've decided to attempt racing Ironman Arizona on Nov 20th. Because I was unable to train for 2 months and I'm now riding an old, heavy, off brand road bike I doubt I'll be able to break my Ironman PR of 14 hours 37 minutes. I'll just be happy to just finish by the Ironman cut off time of 17 hours.

Wish me luck, I'm going to need it!

Oakley Transistor Livestrong Series

I had to get a new pair of prescription eyes glasses. To celebrate my latest accomplishment of getting down to 6.8% body fat I decided to treat myself to a pair of Oakley Transistor Livestrong Series eye glasses. I'm very excited. When I had my last pair of Oakley eye prescription eye glasses they never slid down my face when I rode or ran, no matter how sweaty I became. They worked perfectly for a triathletes life style of constant hard core training and racing. I cant wait to get them!

Hydrostatic Body Fat Testing (Hydro-Densitometry) at UNM

I got my boy fat tested at the UNM physiology department using the Hydrostatic Body Fat Testing method (Hydro-Densitometry). I decided to get Hydrostatic Testing done because I haven't been able to train due a limousine/bicycle crash in September. Now that I haven't done any swimming, biking, or running in over a month I'm worried I've lost muscle and become fatter; My 2nd greatest fear is I become one of those skinny fat people. My greatest fear is I get fat, REALLY FAT! As you can tell from my Hydrostatic Body Fat Testing results listed below my body weight fluctuates a lot! I struggle with my weight, I have a slow metabolism, and I love food.... not a good combination. The good Lord Jesus Christ blessed me with an obsession with training for triathlons, otherwise I'd be 500 pounds and unable to get out of my bedroom door! All glory be to God! Here are my previous results:


Oct 2011: 181 pounds @ 6.86% body fat. 169.3 pounds lean mass. 12.5 pounds fat.

June 2011: 188.4 pounds @ 10.9%. 169.4 pounds lean mass. 19 pounds fat.

Nov 2010: 222.2 pounds at 19.01% body fat. 180 pounds lean mass. 42.2 pounds fat.

July 2010: 189 pounds at 9.81% body fat. 170.6 pounds lean mass. 18.5 pounds fat.

Jan 2010: 207 at 18.4% body fat. 169.2 pounds lean mass. 38.5 pounds fat.

July 1999: 204 at 13.1% body fat. 188.43 pounds lean mass. 15.57 pounds fat.

I was told that there could be some problems with my heath, training, and racing if I get my body fat below 5%. So I've decided in late Nov I'm going to try and get my weight down to 179, which would put me just below 6% body fat.


For those who don't know about Hydrostatic Testing I posted a description about it below:

Hydrostatic Testing(Underwater Weighing) has become universally regarded by industry experts as the "Gold Standard" in body fat testing. Renowned author and fitness expert Covert Bailey, in the phenomenal best seller "Fit or Fat", states: "That hydrostatic testing (underwater immersion) is the most accurate method for body fat determination."

The hydrostatic method uses a two component model which separates the body in two distinct pieces:

1) Bone, muscle, and connective tissue collectively known as lean mass sinks (More Dense than Water).
2)Body Fat-floats (Less Dense than Water).

By obtaining your land weight and water weight (based on buoyancy) the UNM physiology department can scientifically calculate your body fat as a percentage of your total weight. The ordinary land scale cannot tell you if weight loss is muscle or fat, while getting dunked can tell you to the ounce of what took place with you body during your weight loss or gain regiment.

Clinically speaking, the hydrostatic testing method has been around for over 50 years and is based on Archimedes principle which states "that when a body is submerged in water, there is a buoyant counter force equal to the weight of the water which is displaced". Again, because bone and muscle are denser than water, a person with a larger percentage of lean body mass will weigh more in the water and ultimately have a lower body fat percentage versus someone with less lean muscle mass. A person with more body fat will be lighter in water because body fat floats and lean tissue, muscle, connective tissue, bones, etc. sink.

Hydrostatic Body Fat Testing (Hydro-Densitometry): According to research, "Hydrostatic Body Fat Testing "is still the "Gold Standard" to which all methods of body fat testing still compare themselves.




What I felt like today!


What it was actually like.

picture of a baby and Moms belly

This is a wonderful picture I saw on Facebook. I remember playing with my kids when they were still in my wife's belly. After awhile they'd learn games and play with me. Once I woke them up and they realized it was play time my boys would feel around until they found my palm, then they'd kick or hit it as hard as they could. Cody had the most endurance, he could play for almost an hour. Rion was our strongest, he could kick so hard he could knock the breath out of my wife and bring tears to her eyes. My daughter would get tired the quickest, but she learned the most intricate games. She would follow my fingers with her hand as I traced patterns around my wife's belly. There were times we could see her fingers when she tried to grasp ahold of my finger rather than just follow the patterns I was making. If I tapped her hand or foot once she would hit back once, if I bumped her twice she would hit me back twice.

Those were some of the best experiences of my life. I'll remember them fondly until the I day I die.

Gas 'em all!

Today I saw the instructors gas the cadets. Watching a new class get gassed with OC, CS, CN or a combination is always a lot of fun. The 1st time always hurts the worst! I remember my 1st time, my eyes wouldn't open, my face felt like it was on fire, unable to breath, a few of my fellow cadets barfed, some of us had a competition to see who had the longest line of snot hanging from their face..... good times.








Today the instructors didn't know that private contractors were working on the academy gym roof, and the contractors didn't know that a few canisters of gas were about to be dropped up wind from them. It's bad enough getting gassed when your safely on the ground and you know it's coming, but the contractors had no idea what was coming and they were on a slick metal pitched roof 3 stories off the ground! It's dangerous enough trying to keep from sliding off the roof in normal conditions, it looked even more difficult when they were coughing, crying, and dripping snot. Once I realized they were ok I had a pretty good laugh.

Ah, the joy of less than lethal chemical munitions!

R.I.P. MIRRO-MATIC vintage coffee percolator

This week my grandfathers vintage MIRRO-MATIC 9652m coffee percolator from the year 1952 stopped working. He used it daily for decades, then I inherited it and did the same. A good strong cup-o-joe from that thing was often the difference of me getting off my lazy butt and motivated to train or if I took the day off and sat on the couch eating Cheetos. I was very sad when it died. I've made countless cups of coffee from it and it had a lot of sentimental value for me. I've decided to attempt buy a replacement cord from Amazon.com before I give up on it and forced to say a tear stained good bye. At this point I'm not sure if it's the cord that is malfunctioning or if the cord I'm planning on ordering is the right cord for my coffee pot, but I gotta try.

Last month my time trial bike was also totaled. That bike was my baby. I loved it so much my wife called it "the other woman". It was made entirely from carbon fiber, had an aggressive set up that I'd adjusted a thousand times until it was PERFECT! It was gorgeous, FAST, and fit me and my personality to a tee! My wife bought it for me as a bribe to convince me to let her quit her job and become a stay at home Mom. It worked.

Sad times here in the Former Clydesdale's household.

thank you for the prayer requsts!

The following post is an email from the eldest son of the family I've been requsting prayers for:

Hello All,
Thankyou again so much for your prayers and emails!


Praise the Lord with us!!!!! Today the doctors released my Dad from the hospital. The results of the tests and ultrasound showed that he has an infection in his left kidney, an inflamed liver and has passed a large kidney stone. The docs have him on medications for his kidney infection and liver and he is doing much better. He is recovering and with my family now in Yaunde. I do not know yet when they will be able to get to the Grace Tait Shelter, as the doctors have him scheduled for a follow on appointment. My Mom will be sending out an update in the near future.


Thankyou so much for your prayers and please thank the Lord with us for His working in this situation! Please continue to pray that my Dad recovers from this infection and that the family can get to the Shelter soon.


In His Hand,
Mark

prayer request

All Prayer Warriors- please pray for our pastor-turned-missionary who is serving the Lord in Cameroon. On the 8-hour bus ride to the orphanage with his young family, he was struck with severe abdominal pain. The doctors at one hospital didn't know what to do and released him. Please pray hard for this man of God who has left all to follow God's calling on His life. And pray for his family, as I am sure this is very frightening to them all. This is the same family who I had a prayer request on my blog last week when their 6 year old son had bronchitis.

SW challenge series points

I'd promised I'd post on my blog if there was any changes in the top 3 of the 35-39 age group of the South West Challenge series. Marty Moriarty has secured 2nd place in the series with an AMAZING performance last weekend at the Elephant Man Olympic distance triathlon. He finished in 25th place overall out of 280 athletes and teams and 1st place in his division of 12! In the series he now has 7 races and 63 points total. Before this season Marty was a pure cyclist, which made his triathlon accomplishments this year absolutely stunning! He finished the 1 mile swim in 30 minutes! That's fast. I've never completed an oly swim in 30 minutes before. It was no surprise at all that he had the 3rd fastest bike split out of 280 finishing the very hard 25 mile bike course with a 21.9 mph average! He finished the 10K run in 47:09 keeping a 7:49 pace. The Elephant Man run course is REALLY hard, so that kind of a pace from someone who had never practiced his running until this year is dang impressive. This guys a stud triathlete.

The 1st time I raced with Marty was at the Atomic Man triathlon earlier this year. Up until facing Marty I'd never finished outside of 1st placec in my division at that race. Here's a picture of Marty and I coming out of T-2. He's a few strides ahead of me:




Having Marty and Brooks Vandervort in my division is going to make me train harder and race faster or I may be in danger of never seeing another top 3 in the South West again!

There's 1 race remaining in the series but the top 3 has already been determined. They are as follows:

1st place Brooks Vandivort with 8 races & 76.25 points
2nd Marty Moriarty with 7 races and 63 points
3rd Cody Hanson with 10 races and 56.5 points

Next year I plan on going back to specializing in sprint distance triathlons so that I have a chance against these 2 power houses. I'm hoping I can get my wrecked and totaled triathlon bike replaced by then!