IRONMAN CALGARY 70.3 EXPO

I'm happy to announce that Ironstruck will have a booth at the upcoming expo for Ironman Calgary 70.3. The expo will be taking place at the Calgary Westin Hotel on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the Sunday August 2nd race.

I'm also pleased to announce that I will be selling my latest book "Lifestruck...A Better Way For Today's Youth" for ten dollars a copy and every cent will be going to the "RIGHT TO PLAY" organization.

It's a great opportunity for triathletes to join with many Olympians who champion this cause and help kids in depressed countries. Help them to...just be kids.

I wrote Lifestruck for pre-teens and teens to encourage them to enjoy a healthy diet and adopt fitness as a way of life. So if there is a youth in your life who might enjoy this book, come on down and pick up a signed copy and at the same time help kids everywhere to be kids.

I will also be selling and signing copies of my two Ironstruck books. Hope to see you there and if you are racing, Godspeed and have fun.

IRONMAN CALGARY 70.3---NOT RACING? BE A SPECTATOR

If you are not quite ready to race yourself and want to see what all the excitement is about, consider being a spectator for a triathlon near you. Live in the Calgary area? Sunday August 2nd is the fast appoaching date for the first annual Ironman Calgary 70.3 that will kick off in Ghost Lake.

Or perhaps take in Ironman Canada in Penticton on the last Sunday in August.

I've been a spectator myself at Ironman Canada the past few years and wasn't sure how much I would enjoy being a spectator along a course that I had raced on 10 times in the past.


I learned quite a lot from spending the day, and much of the night on the course cheering on the competitors. I saw the race from a different viewpoint and was able to see how others reacted to the race and how they supported everyone.

Many spectators were up an hour before the start gun in order to land a prime viewing spot for what was to be the biggest mass swim start in Ironman history.

Then while the runners were out on the bike course, people were writing out chalk messages up and down the run course in recognition of their favorite triathletes. All the restaurants were full along main street as the bikers began coming back into town hours later and from that moment on, the procession of bikers and runners would go on late into the night.

It was amazing to see just how much support the spectators provided for 'all' the participants. It was also special to see how they stayed out there hour after hour to cheer everyone on. I'm glad I had a chance to see the race from another point of view, and came to a major conclusion.

You have to be 'tough' to be an Ironman spectator. You might have to be tough as well to take in the Ironman Calgary 70.3 because it has two separate transition areas and will take some planning on the spectators part.

The very first time I was a spectator I really began to understand the importance of spectator support to the athletes and just how much they appreciate the families, friends, volunteers, and even strangers who urge them on through a difficult and challenging day.



HERE IS SOME COURSE INFORMATION TO HELP YOU ALONG:



SWIM - 1.9km (1.2 miles) - 1 loop


The swim starts and finishes at the boat ramp located at the mouth of the Ghost River in Ghost Lake. The course is one loop and begins heading directly away from the boat ramp before turning left (north) under the Highway 1A bridge and into the narrow. The swim will head north for approximately 850 meters before turning to the right for 25 meters then right again now heading south. Shortly after passing under the bridge the course turns right again heading back towards the boat ramp. The swim course exits the water on the left hand side of the boat ramp. Transition 1 is located in the parking lot adjacent to the boat ramp.


BIKE - 90km (56 miles) - point-to-point


Exit transition traveling east on Highway 1A toward Calgary.


Turn Left (north) on Grand Valley Road


Turn right (east) on Township Road 280


Turn right (south) on Horse Creek Road


Turn left (east) on Highway 1A


Turn right (south) on Highway 22


Turn left (east) on Township Road 250


Turn right (south) on Rural Road 31


Turn left (east) on Lower Springbank Road


Turn right (south) on 69th Street


Turn left (east) on Glenmore Trail (HWY 8)


Continue past Sarcee Trail to the right on Glenmore Trail


Turn right (south) on 37th Street and proceed into North Glenmore Park to the

transition area.



RUN - 21.1km (13.1 miles) - out and back - Run map and profile info available here.



Exit Transition Area heading east through North Genmore Park toward the Canoe


Club.


Turn around and head back past transition


Follow the path through Weaselhead Natural Environment Park


Continue up to South Glenmore Park to the turn around point


Return following the same route


The finish line is adjacent to T2

CUT-OFF TIMES

Swim: 1:10 after the last wave start
Bike: 5 hours after the last wave start
Run: 8 hours after the last wave start

MELLISA'S ROAD RACE ANOTHER SELL-OUT!!

Another Melissa's Road Race just a few months away and once again the race is sold out. People just love Melissa's and I have many fond memories of the 10k course.


I took this picture yesterday, (July 21, 2009)and the race start and finish for the Melissa races is just to the left. Actually, I took the picture from the bridge that is on the run course and takes the runners into the downtown area and the "big hill" on the 10k course.

Back in the days when I was running around the 38 minute mark for the 10k distance, I knew it was only a matter of time and passing years before I would struggle to stay under 40 minutes.

Melissa's was the first 10k race where I went over the 40 minute mark. For several years I could maintain around the 38:30 mark and then go to Melissa's in the Fall and be back over the 40 minute mark.

No matter how hard I tried, that big hill early in the race would scrub off too much time and I could never make up the lost time over the rest of the course. I would be 40:20 or 40:15 or 40:32 or whatever, but never, ever did I run sub 40 on Melissa's 10k course. I think that's great in many respects, because just trying always kept me at the top of my game going into the winter.

It's important to have personal challenges to keep us motivated and Melissa's will always be special to me because of that. Just the fact that I was inspired to always go as fast as possible in any given year to try and break the 40 minute barrier at Melissa's almost always kept me on top of whatever age-group I was in.

I had the pleasure of meeting Deb(the heart and soul of Melissa's) over the past few days while working in beautiful Banff and I'm glad to report that IRONSTRUCK will have a spot in the Melissa's race expo and I will once again get to be part of Melissa's Road Race, although it will be from a different vantage point.

A BIG THANK YOU TO DEB. IT'S WHEN I MET DEB THAT I REALIZED WHY MELISSA'S IS A MUCH LOVED EVENT ON THE ALBERTA RUN CALENDAR AND WHY IT SELLS OUT EVERY SINGLE YEAR. HER SPARKLING PERSONALITY IS SPREAD THROUGH-OUT THE ENTIRE MELISSA'S WEEKEND AND NOW I KNOW THE SECRET.

Hope to meet some of you if you plan on being among the thousands who will be taking part in Melissa's 2009 edition the last Saturday in September. Come by the Ironstruck table and maybe I can convince you to take a shot at your very first Triathlon OR your very first Ironman.

Get your very own signed copy of Ironstruck or if you like you can download a copy right now at "MINDSET TRIATHLON" where both of my Ironstuck books have broken into the top ten of the several thousand titles they have on-site.

A BIG THANK YOU ALSO TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SUPPORTED IRONSTRUCK BOOKS ONE AND TWO AND ARE PUSHING IT TO THE TOP OF THE BEST-SELLER LIST ON MINDSET. VISIT MINDSET TRIATHLON AND HAVE A LOOK FOR YOURSELF AT THE GREAT SELECTION OF DOWNLOAD BOOKS THEY HAVE AVAILABLE.

TRIATHLETES DIET TIP-- LOSE EXCESS WEIGHT AND INCREASE ENDURANCE. INCLUDE COCONUT OIL IN YOUR DIET.

After including coconut oil as a regular part of diet, I soon realized it's benefits when it greatly enhanced my training and improved my Ironman performance and recovery.

It was almost by chance that I happened upon coconut oil and it's use as a diet supplement. I was surfing the net one day and came across an article on the subject and like many other intriguing diet ideas I've stumbled upon in the past, decided to give this interesting oil a try.

I've always believed that I had no business writing about any diet unless I had tried it myself. To my way of thinking that's the only way to pass on relevant, honest information to readers. As a result I've tried a variety of different diets and supplements over the years and this is one of them. To be quite honest, I was just blown away by the results I experienced when I incorporated coconut oil into my triathlon training diet.


First a bit of science behind the coconut diet:

Coconut oil is comprised of fatty acids called "medium chain triglycerides" or MCT'S. In nature, coconut oil has the largest concentration of these MCT'S outside of human breast milk. Vegetable oils, on the other hand, are made up primarily of "long chain fatty acids" or LCT'S. For quite some time now scientific literature has claimed that LCT'S tend to produce fat in the body, while MCT'S promote what is called "thermogenesis". Thermogenesis increases the body's metabolism, producing energy.


This has been common knowledge in the animal feed business for years. It you feed animals vegetable oil, they gain weight and produce more fatty meat. If you feed them coconut oil, they will be very lean. Tests on rats published in "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" concluded that MCT rats gained 15% less weight than rats fed LCT'S. The conclusion:

MCT diets result in decreased body fat related to increased metabolic rate and thermogenesis. Similar tests were conducted on humans at Vanderbilt University in 1989 with the same basic results.

Regardless of scientific study result, I prefer to try these things on my own and see the results first hand.

Over twenty years of competition and numerous diets, the LEAST I ever weighed was 150-151 pounds. This was my competition weight. If I were to weigh myself on any given race morning, my weight would be in this range, give or take a pound. That all changed when I included coconut oil in my diet.

I weighed myself on the first day of the diet as I always did when I tried something new, and wouldn't step on a scale again for one month. I live by this rule when trying something different in my diet. My start weight was as usual, 151 lbs.

I added 5 tablespoons of coconut oil per day to my meals. Usually when you buy coconut oil it will be solidified. I just leave mine at room temperature and in few days the whole container is liquefied. I don't store it in the fridge because it will solidify again. If it is solid, its easy enough to melt down into liquid form if you're in a hurry.

I added it to my oatmeal in the morning, to my pasta, and used it in smoothies. I always use olive oil in my salads and started adding 2 tablespoons of coconut oil to every salad. It's an amazingly versatile product. You can easily come up with your own cooking uses for it.

When you use it in food its not an unpleasant taste and most of the time you won't even know its there. Combine it with your food anyway you like, but aim for at least 5 tablespoons a day and stick with it. Like any diet, there's really not much point even starting unless you're committed to it.

Well, I did this for exactly one month. Then I stepped back on the scale. WOW! 142 pounds!

I was 10 pounds lower than I had been over the past 20 years! I "could not" believe it. Remember that for the month I used coconut oil, I was in full Ironman training. Any diet you ever try should be done in conjunction with a fitness regimen. So I believe this is an ideal addition to any Ironman's diet. Or ANY physically active person's diet for that matter.

A few things I noticed:

Along with losing weight, my energy level increased.

Even though I lost 10 pounds, I seemed to have the same amount of over-all strength. This is crucial to an athlete. What makes some athletes so amazing is their strength to weight ratio. In other words, you can be a 120 pound woman, but be very strong for that weight. Take it a step further and imagine the consequences if you become 110 lbs and don't lose any strength and have increased energy.


Imagine yourself running a marathon carrying a 10 pound bag of potatoes on your back. Now imagine running the same marathon without the bag of potatoes and more energy.

A perfect example of what I mean by strength to weight ratio is Lance Armstrong.

When he was fighting cancer he lost tons of weight of course, but when he won that battle and became healthy, he never did gain back all of the weight that he originally had. Yet, he became stronger. In other words, his strength to weight ratio changed big time. It seems that his body chemistry changed for the better.

When I watched him climb those endless mountain passes in the Tour, it was just amazing how strong he was and how high his energy and endurance levels were.

Of course we can't all be the exceptional athlete Lance was at his peak, but I truly believe that incorporating coconut oil into ones diet can have a profound effect on any athlete's training and racing results, and can also help any person burn off excess fat as long as they are active on a regular basis while they are using coconut oil in their daily diet.

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TRIATHLON TRAINING WITH A HEART-RATE MONITOR

A heart-rate monitor can be an excellent training tool in helping you prepare for your triathlon. In a nutshell, following a heart rate monitor program teaches your body to work more efficiently. A heart monitor teaches you to be aerobic as opposed to anaerobic.

AEROBIC-Workouts where you are burning fat as your source of energy. A heart-rate monitor helps you accomplish this.


ANAEROBIC-Workouts where you burn carbs as your source of energy. Proper use of a heart-rate monitor will keep you aerobic and prevent this from happening.

When endurance is paramount, teaching your body to conserve carbs is ideal for a very simple reason.

Your body doesn't store a lot of carbs. So during your race, if that's all you burn, you use up your glycogen stores too quickly. Glycogen, simply put, is stored carbs. Trust me on this--In a physically demanding event like an Ironman Triathlon or a triathlon of any distance for that matter, once you use up your glycogen stores, you will hit the proverbial wall almost without warning.

A heart monitor will guide you in staying in your prime burning range. There is a reliable formula for finding your maximum aerobic heart rate. The idea is to NOT go over this heart rate in the early months of your training. If you are in poor shape to start with, you will be training at a very slow pace at first. If the program is done properly, you will find that eventually you will be able to train at a faster pace and still stay below your max. Also, by staying out of the anaerobic zone, your recoveries from training will be much faster and less painful. Better still, your chances of being injured will be diminished.
I have trained with a heart rate monitor for years and have had great success. I would highly recommend giving it a try.

If you decide to, here is how to figure out your max. aerobic heart rate:
The key number is 180. Subtract your age(no cheating).

When you begin, if your physical fitness really sucks(and don't worry, we'll change that)take off ten more beats.

If you have trained a few days a week for several years, don't change the number.

If you have trained like an all-star for a few years and are in really good shape to start, add five beats.

If you are almost set to retire(over 60), add five beats.

If you are still in your teens, add five beats.

Now that you have that magic number. Your maximum aerobic heart rate, strap on that monitor and away you go. I would suggest using the monitor in the run and bike portions of your Ironman Triathlon training. It doesn't work that well in the pool, because you basically have to stop to check your monitor. Its pretty difficult to track while you're swimming.

Use it on all your runs for sure and always start out running slowly for 10 or 15 minutes, then let your heart-rate get to within 20-25 beats below your max. If you are in really poor shape, it will seem very slow to you. THAT'S OK! Be patient. It will improve. Over the weeks you will teach your body to burn fat and like magic you will start running faster without going over your max. Here is how to do a test so you can actually see your progress. Do your initial test the first few days you start heart-rate monitor training.

Find somewhere(a track etc.)where you can run an exact measured mile. Warm up for 15 minutes and stay 20-25 beats below your max. After your warm-up, pick up speed so that when you hit the start line for your mile, you are right on your maximum aerobic heart-rate.

Begin your stop watch when you hit the start line. Stay in a very tight range for the whole mile. For example, if your max. rate is 130, stay between 125 and 135 through the whole test. The idea is to average 130--your max. rate. Stop your timer right at the end of the mile. Record that time.

In one month--not before--do the exact test again. If you have trained on a regular basis (4-5 times a week)and used the monitor properly you WILL see an improvement.

FOR EXAMPLE: If your first test resulted in a mile time of 9 min 40 seconds and your second test had a time of 9 min 15 seconds, then CONGATULATIONS! You are teaching your body to burn fat. YOU ARE BECOMING AN AEROBIC MACHINE! YOU ARE BECOMING FITTER! You are training at the very same heart-rate as when you started, but are able run faster without any added stress.

Do the test every month(not every week). Your mile time will continue to drop and your fitness level will improve as well if you train on a regular basis. After 4 months or so when you have developed a sound aerobic base, you will be able to start adding some anaerobic work-outs. This is an indication that you come a long way. GOOD FOR YOU!

As far as what brand of heart-rate monitor you want, I've always gone with Polar and have never had a problem. They are reliable and come in a wide variety of models. For instance, you can buy just the basic heart-monitor that has just one function. It shows your heart-rate at any given moment once its turned on. These can be purchased for well under $100 dollars.

On the other end of the spectrum, you can purchase heart monitors that will interface with your computer. Normally I find just the basic heart monitor is good enough for me. However one day I borrowed my coaches high end monitor(over $1000)and wore it during a marathon. Every kilometer I hit a button that stored my heart rate and running time at that point. After the race the coach downloaded the info into his computer and it was really quite amazing.

It actually did a graph of my whole race. Showing and recording the rise and fall of my heart rate during the race. He could tell by looking at the graph every time I slowed down at a water station. These high end models have many, many functions and if money is no object they can be very interesting to have. However, the basic model is all you really need to teach your body to burn fat and improve your conditioning while staying injury free.

Should you decide to use a heart rate monitor in your training, I feel sure you will improve your chances of achieving all your goals on race day.