Ironman Couer d'Alene Bike Setup

I have been working on pretty much have the sweetest bike set-up imaginable for Ironman and was stoked to do a little dry run today at Ironman Couer d'Alene.  An injury kept me from training during the crucial final weeks before the race, so I did the swim, bike, and 12 miles of the run, then called it a day.

Hydration - Torhans Performance Hydration Aero30 (oz.) bottle fixed to the aerobar - no need to get out of the aerobars to drink!  Another nice feature is the reverse facing bottle cage on my descending stem.  When you get the smaller width bottles from the aid stations, it actually stays in place!  Figured that one out during a tinkering session at Woodinville Bicycle.

Nutrition - Did 2 double strength bottles of Generation UCAN on the bike (in addition to some solids and a few standard gels), and a held a flask of UCAN on the run.  I took advantage of Special Needs to transport all the UCAN I needed.

Bike - Specialized Shiv, size M (courtesy Woodinville Bike).  Not only super aero, but rock solid handling in corners and crosswinds.

Wheels - Hed 3 Front (courtesy Woodinville Bike) , Zipp Sub-9 Rear, 11-23 casette.

Upgrades - ISM Saddles Prologue Saddle; Quarg Elsa powermeter with 55/44 Rotor Q-rings; SRAM Red Derraileurs.

Other Features - Pitstop fix-a-flat in old minipump bracket.  No need to use an entire roll of electrical tape affixing all my extras this time!

And not to mention one out of shape rider (me)!

Next time I would like to cover how to use a control sheet to record your bikes measurements and geometry.  This is essential to maintaining your EXACT fit  when swapping parts in or out or when changing to a different bike.

Training and Nutrition Post from Generation UCAN

Hi there!  Generation UCAN, a company that makes a unique "superstrach" fueling system recently interviewed me about a little bit of everything regarding triathlon.  Please check it out at: http://generationucan.com/blog/2013-5-23-pro-triathlete-matt-sheeks-talks-ucan/. I will reprint the article, but this is also video which contains additional information not in the article.

Happy training!

Matt

Professional triathlete Matt Sheeks boasts a 9:09 Ironman PR to his name, a time he’s looking to improve on this season as he works to fine tune his nutrition and training strategies. Sheeks is on the Tri4Him Elite Team and recently picked up a win at the USAT Long Couse Duathlon Nationals in Enumclaw, WA.

After a successful running career at the University of Portland, he had immediate success in multisport by winning the ITU Age-Group Duathlon World Championships in 2009 and the USAT Elite Duathlon National Championships in 2010. We caught up with Sheeks to find out more about how he gets prepared to race.

How did you get interested in triathlons and what was the experience like the first time you raced?

I was a runner in high school.  One of the gals on the cross country team knew that I had a bike racing background and invited me to do one with her.  I believe that was junior year in high school.  It seemed like a natural outlet.  It was an “Aussie style” triathlon where you swim, bike, and run twice each.  I went into shock during the swim, as many beginner triathletes do.  I remember panting heavily and having to do sidestroke just to get through the swim.  It was so slow!  I still got 2nd in my age group with 2 good runs and 2 good bikes.  I enjoyed the bike and run, but nearly died on the swim.  I suppose not a lot has changed!

As you’re preparing for an Ironman race, what does a typical week of workouts look like for you?

Ironman pros can get even a little superstitious as race day approaches, and don’t deviate from their tried and true routine very much. Personally, I like to go in “with the engine running hot.”  Early in the week, I will do one tempo bike session, usually consisting of 45 minutes to 1 hour of hard riding mixed into a 3 hour ride.  Midweek there is often a travel day. That day, I try to run once I get off the plane for 30-40 minutes very easy.  2 days out, I survey the bike course. I might ride the whole course if it is a half-ironman, or 1/2 the course for a full ironman.  The day before is a mini race rehearsal.  That is usually a 70-80 minute ride with a few short efforts at race pace, a 25-40 minute run, and a 25-30 minute swim.  The day before an Ironman often seems more grueling than race day, not because of the workouts, but because of all the details you have to take care of before racing such as prepping your bike and dropping it off, surveying the course and transitions, pre-race meetings, etc.

People often refer to nutrition as the 4th discipline of triathlon. How important of a role does your nutrition play? Can bad nutrition negate good training?

Nutrition is a pretty huge factor for anything Half-Ironman and up, as far as “in-race nutrition” is concerned.  If you don’t get it right, you won’t be able to perform up to your abilities.  I didn’t get it right at Ironman Canada last year – my blood sugar felt like it was all over the place!  If you don’t take in enough calories, you bonk.  If you take in too many calories, you draw blood away from the working muscles for digestion, and you feel about as bad as if you had bonked.  If you aren’t trained to take in the calories, you bonk.  In the past, it seems like I was always riding a super fine line of too few/too many calories, but now that I am working more on the fat burning system, there is a lot more leeway as I am not as reliant on sugar.

What has your experience with UCAN been like so far?

The first time I tried it, I noticed how quickly it exited my stomach and I had good energy levels.  It’s nice because you just feel more normal during long sessions as opposed to experiencing big swings in energy levels as a consequence of blood sugar spikes, like you get with other products. Often times when you feel “good” after taking a gel or sports drink, what you are really noticing is the difference from how bad you felt before.  With UCAN your blood sugar is more stable and so you just feel good all the time.

However, the biggest difference you notice is with constant use. UCAN helps you burn more fat as a fuel source during aerobic exercise.  This has complimented my early season base training really well, and I’ve noticed a big drop in heart rate at any given intensity.  I’m hoping that translates into big performance gains once I get into the heavy racing season.  Much thanks to you guys for developing this product and for Tri4Him for exposing me to it.  I am definitely a believer.

Long Course Duathlon Nationals

Hey all!  I finally picked up a win at USAT Long Course Duathlon Nationals in Enumclaw, hosted by BUDU Racing.  More than just a race, it was the first real test after several months of difficult base training.

I've done this course several times before, and even though its been over a decade, I was reminded of the past and didn't want to make the same mistake twice.  I used to race the Mud Mountain loop as a teenager when I was road racing, and I also raced the Mount Rainer Duathlon when I was 17.  At times the weather has been unforgiving.  I remember as a 14 year old, I was doing the road race as part of the Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race and had to drop out due to hypothermia.  There is one big (600 foot) climb on the 14.4 mile road loop; my dad was cheering for me about half way through the climb and I remember I just pulled off and got into the van, so cold I could hardly speak.  Another time I placed 3rd on the G.C. (in the Cat 3 division) as a 16 year-old after climbing well on Mud Mountain, and that was a big result for me.

Mud Mountain Dam

Clothing choice was going to be important and this time I got it right, but just barely.  It was warmer and partly cloudy down at the race start and where the runs occured, but cold and rainy on top of the mountain.    This time the course would be a 5.8 mile run down in the valley, two of the 14.4 mile loops for the ride, and a final 3.8 mile run for the long course competitors.  Several athletes had to stop, put on rain jackets, or had to slow down and lost time due to the conditions rain and cold on the bike course.  For me, a long sleeve base layer and liner gloves seemed to do the trick, and all I  had to do was focus on my effort.  The optics were exceptional in my Rudy Project Rydon sunglasses even with the rain; big improvement over my last pair.

Rusty Pruden and several other athletes had me against the ropes during the first run, and I didn't catch the leaders until 20 or so minutes into the first run.  I had a small lead going into the first transition and never relinquished 1st position.  This was my first race using a power meter, so I just "set it and forget it" at about 300 watts, which was really nice considering the windy, rainy, and hilly nature of the course.  Getting off the bike and into T2, I realized my feet were totally frozen!  I was wearing a really light (4oz) and low profile flat courtesy of Run 26, which combined with the frozen feet, made my calves feel like they were going to split in two!  I let off on the last run a little bit, but still felt good about the effort.

Are you interested in stats?  I am these days as I am gathering data from these early season races.

1st run - My heart rate averaged 172 for the first run (28:15); I estimate this is about my lactate threshold right now, and equated to about a 5:15 mile pace (this depends on who you trust - my footpod was off and on the fast side while the mile markers were long and on the slow side, so I am splitting the difference).  Mile Splits were very even throughout the first run.

Bike - Averaged 160 bpm and 274 watts.  As stated, I was shooting for 300 watts, but your average is always lower given short periods of time to slow down for downhills, corners, food, drink, etc.  On the climbs I averaged more like 330 W for a 1.8 mile, 8 min, 500 foot climb.

Nutrition - I consumed 400 calories including 1 serving of Generation UCAN (110 calories), 3 energy gels (100 calories each) and 40 oz. of water on the bike.  This is pretty close to the gold standard of 65 grams of carbohydrate per hour of exercise (which would have been 520 calories for a 2 hour race).  I am actually surprised I consumed this much.  My carb intake while exercising has gone way down due to a combination of aerobic training and the UCAN superstarch, which helps you burn fat while training/racing by keeping insulin levels stable.  At Las Vegas just 2 weeks ago I consumed only 300 calories for a 2hr 50 minute race!

2nd Run  - Started at 160 BPM and gradually built to 170 bpm by the end.  Didn't capture pace data as I switched to a different shoe.