An update from the ARX-sponsored Timex Multisport Team

It’s odd to see the start list of the Oceanside 70.3 only include three ARX-sponsored Timex Multisport athletes. For the last three years, the Timex Multisport Team camp was held in conjunction with the race, producing a large Timex representation. This year, Tim Hola, Alex McDonald, and Daniel Brienza started their seasons off in the California water. Of those three athletes, two made it to the podium. Both Tim and Daniel ended the day with third-place finishes in their respective age-groups and, oddly enough, they finished only 25 seconds apart (Tim Hola 4:22:25 and Daniel Brienza 4:22:50).

Coming up later this month, we have New Orleans 70.3 on April 17th and Texas 70.3 on April 24th. Keep an eye on Daniel Brienza and Andrew Hodges in New Orleans and Juli Fiocca and Kim Hager racing the new Texas 70.3.

Marking the end of the season for many athletes, Ironman Arizona is the last North American Ironman of the year. Four ARX-Sponsored Timex Multisport athletes finished their season in Arizona on November 22. Among them was first-year team member, Eric Bean. Bean, a medical student at the University of Wisconsin, was competing at his first Ironman-distance race of the year. With a tough school load ahead of him, Bean’s goal was to qualify for Kona in this one shot.

The swim being his only weakness, Bean had some catching up to do on the bike. Lucky for him, he is a category 1 cyclist. After a 3rd-fastest bike split of the day, Bean found himself roughly 9 minutes off the lead and sitting in 10th place overall. A strong run closed out the day, earning him a 6th-place finish and a well-deserved Kona spot.

Bean joins a large group of Timex athletes who have already qualified for the 2010 Kona World Championships, including Tamara Kozulina, Brian Schaning, Tim Hola, and Christine Anderson.

Several members of the ARX-sponsored Timex Multisport Team stood atop the podium at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship awards ceremony this past Saturday in Clearwater, Florida. Among them were Mary Beth Ellis, Chris Thomas, and Christine Anderson. Mary Beth, who came to the Timex Team after taking an impressive 2nd place finish at last year’s race repeated her success with another 2nd place finish overall. Beating the likes of Sarah Groff, Michellie Jones, and Laura Bennett, only the great Julie Dibens of Great Britain bested her time of 4:03:49.

Chris Thomas, who was in Clearwater to defend his world age group title, did just that. Not only did Chris defend his title, he managed to finish with over a six-minute margin of victory. Chris also finished second overall among age group athletes.

First year Timex athlete, Christine Anderson, finished off her amazing season with a 2nd place age group finish and a time good enough for 15th place overall. Christine will be taking her speed and dedication out to the lava fields of Kona next year—and we can’t wait to see the results.

The ARX-sponsored Timex Multisport Team came to race at this year’s Ironman Florida on November 7th. There were only four members attending the event, yet the team produced three top-ten finishes. Tamara Kozulina, fresh off an injury that prevented her from finishing this year’s World Championships, pulled off an amazing day. After a solid bike split, Tamara finished the day with a second-fastest 3:06 marathon, earning her second place overall. Also racing in the women’s field was Gabriela Loskotova. Gabriela put forth a solid effort, good enough for 9th place. The day’s big surprise was Timex celebrity, Tim Hola. Racing as an age grouper, Tim pulled off an 8:47:23 finish, earning him a spot in the top ten overall. Like Tamara, Tim also competed at this year’s World Championships just weeks earlier. Check out the Ironman Florida photo gallery at http://triathlon.competitor.com/ for several great shots of Timex athletes in action.

Later this week is another Florida race, the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater. Representing the Timex Team will be: Andrew Hodges, Kyle Marcotte, James Cotter, Bruce Gennari, Chris Thomas, Lisa Mensink, Mary Beth Ellis, Emily Herndon, Trista Francis, and Christine Anderson. We’ll fill you in on all the exciting results.

Six members of the ARX-sponsored Timex Multisport Team attempted this year’s Ironman World Championships in Kona. While it was a low attendance for the team, those athletes produced some great results.

Of the four age group athletes racing, three of them had podium finishes. Mike Lavery and Jackie Arendt, both racing their first ever world champs, placed 5th and 4th in their respective age groups. Tim Hola once again placed with a time of 9:17:13, fast enough for 5th place in his age group and 59th overall.

Tamara Kozulina and Sergio Marques represented the team in the pro bracket. Tamara flew through the swim and bike to only make it 5 miles on the run before pulling out due to a stress-fractured foot. Sergio was hit with an unfortunate drafting penalty and couldn’t recoup. He “jogged” a 2:59 marathon to close out his day.

Next stop Florida, for the 70.3 world championships. A dozen Timex athletes will converge on Clearwater including defending AG world champ Chris Thomas and runner-up in the pro women’s field, Mary Beth Ellis. Look for a very strong showing from the crew in orange.

Last month, several members of the ARX-sponsored Timex Multisport Team had impressive showings at Ironman Wisconsin, an event that offers up the first qualifying spots for the 2010 Ironman World Championships in Kona and draws an eager crowd of up-and-coming triathletes on both the pro and age group levels. Timex’s very own Will Smith of Wisconsin started the day off with a dominating bike, punishing the field, winning the Timex Bike Bonus, and eventually coming off the bike in first position. A strong runner, Will looked to gain even more ground on the field and take the win; however, at mile 2 of the run, cramping kicked in and literally dropped Will to his knees. He never fully recovered from the cramps but struggled through the pain to finish the race.

After two failed attempts trying to qualify for Kona, Brian Schaning was determined to finally get a spot—and he did just that. Brian finished 4th in his age group with a time of 9:55 and happily accepted a 2010 Kona spot. Also qualifying for Kona was Christine Anderson. Christine pulled in at a time of 10:45, good enough for second place in her age group. By the way, this was her first Ironman race.

by Andrew Hodges, Timex Multisport Team

Last week Puma sponsored a talk at Fleet Feet Huntsville by Todd Williams. For those that don’t know, Todd, along with Bob Kennedy, basically was elite distance running in the US in the 90s. For much of the decade, he owned the 10,000 meters on the domestic level, winning 4 US 10,000m titles, two of which were Olympics Trials. He also finished 9th at the 1995 World Cross Country Championship (often considered the most competitive race in the world) and still holds the American record for 15k, 42:22, which he set at the Gate River Run. So needless to say, he has a seriously impressive resume.

While that is all well and good, what I find most impressive was that all of this success was despite the fact that he was not incredibly fast coming out of college. He never won an NCAA title and while his track times were impressive for most (13:44 for 5k, 28:18 for 10k) they certainly weren’t world beaters. However, Todd worked hard in high school, worked hard in college, then continued to work hard post collegiately and kept improving until he was one of the best in the world. Pretty cool if you ask me and just another example that consistent hard work pays huge dividends over time.

Last night he spoke about some of his experiences in high school and it was evident that he is very competitive. The main theme of the talk was that you should always be working towards goal you set for yourself and even if you don’t achieve them, that doesn’t mean that you should give up on continuing improvement. He repeated stressed the importance of hard work and consistency. I particularly liked this as it is what I tell people all the time when they ask how I got fast.

After the talk we went for beers and talked football.

I’ll end with a quote from an excellent interview with Todd from Letsrun.com right after he retired:

“But the training never really changed. I think it was just years and years (added together that was key). I started in 1990 with my hundred mile weeks, and I would run between 85 and 115 miles per week the majority of the year and then I'd cut it down a little before the races. I just ran extremely hard.

As for specific workouts, I think that that's probably a just of waste of time to say. I'd do the 3 times a mile, 16 times a quarter, hard tempos of 30 minutes or longer. You know, the standard workouts.

There's really no magic to it. I was just fortunate enough to stay healthy and push the envelope as hard as I did. I mean even on my off days a lot of times I was probably pushing my threshold.”

Triathlon training update from Erin Kummer, Timex Multisport Team.

After an hour spin in the heat, I got to the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine to meet up with the usual crew and coach Neal for our Wednesday hammerfest. I knew we were doing VO2 work but until Neal came out of the CompuTrainer studio, I had no idea it was going to be inside. Luckily, we got a little assistance - a full tank of oxygen - to use  throughout the session. Although I felt like a total lab rat and looked very similar to the dude in the picture to the left, it was so cool to see how much harder you can push yourself and how much stronger you are with extra air! My legs were totally shattered a few hours afterward but after a good PT session later that evening with Bob Cranny at Altitude PT, I was good to go.

Race day recap from Christine Anderson, Timex Multisport Team member.

Steelhead is my first Ironman 70.3 of the season due to my metatarsal stress fracture earlier this year. My brother Gavin raced with me, although had already qualified for World Championships in June at the Kansas Ironman 70.3.

SWIM

It was a beach start with shallow water approximately 25 yards in; we were running through shallow water for longer than usual. Once the water was deep enough I dove forward and began swimming, I immediately surged ahead of my wave finding myself with open water and falling into my rhythm. The swim was with the current which created a fairly easy swim course. It’s also point to point along the beach allowing for easy sighting. I exited the water first from my age group and headed to the bike.

BIKE

My focus for this race was nutrition in preparation for Ironman Wisconsin. I consumed 100 calories every 10 miles which worked well for me throughout the race.

The first 35 miles flew by. I played cat and mouse with a few competitors. I was averaging a much quicker pace than usual, realizing we had a tail wind I tried to conserve as much energy as possible while not sacrificing speed. One woman from my wave passed me at mile 25, she was drafting off a pack so I choose not to get caught in the pack as well.

The turn around…

The wind had picked up significantly since we began. Now I had 20 miles of riding into head winds. One more girl passed me during these last 20 miles although I passed the 1st girl back at mile 50 which boosted my confidence.

RUN

I started the run feeling just OK; 2 miles in I started to feel fantastic. I got into a rhythm I have never felt before while racing the 70.3 distance. The course was 2 loops, the first time around the loop was scattered with few runners. The 2nd loop was much more crowded. There are 2 steep hills throughout the course, 1 prior to the loop, and 1 towards the end of the loop which required climbing twice. I effortlessly made it through the run course and found myself at the last water stop 1 mile from the finish. I see in front of me the 1st place female walking through this stop. I passed her by and she started to chase me. She passed me back breathing heavily; I’m feeling great now but decide to run closely behind her so we can have a chase at the end. I can tell she’s hurting so I decide to overtake her now, I surge past her and did not turn back. I raced the final length of the course and finished without feeling too tired or sore.

I finished 1st place age group and 3rd overall amatuer which qualifies me for Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Clearwater, FL.

I am now confident that my endurance training is effective. 1 more month of Ironman training to go.

Endurance nutrition recipes from Phaedra Cote, Timex Multisport Team member

My race season has been slightly delayed due to a knee injury and surgery. I may not be eating as much, but I’m still eating well and always coming up with new, easy recipes. I find my appetite is lacking (which is sad because I train to eat and love to cook), but it’s still important to eat well and stay healthy in times of injury or reprieve.

First up: my guacamole recipe. Have a BBQ and give this guacamole a shot. The key is the fresh-squeezed lime juice. Don’t skimp on it. Not only does it keep the guacamole from turning brown, but it gives it a “bite.” The cucumbers give it a nice refreshing crunch.
 
Phaedra's Guacamole 

• 6 limes juiced (approx ½ cup)
• 5 firm, ripe avocados
• 1 bunch cilantro-finely chopped
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ½ tsp fresh ground pepper
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 serrano pepper, seeded and sliced (can use a jalapeno pepper if serrano not available)
• 1/2 english cucumber peeled and finely diced (these are the crunchiest and they have no seeds)

Juice limes. Clean and chop cilantro before cutting avocados. Cut avocados length wise and removed pit. Scoop avocado out of skins and put in a large bowl. Add lime juice and ‘chop’ avocado--do not mash. The goal is to have lots of little ‘chunks’ rather than a bowl of mashed avocados. This gives texture to the guacamole. Once avocados are chopped, add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. Mix well. Lastly, add finely chopped cilantro and cucumber. You may want to add more kosher salt and garlic powder. I usually do, but find what your preference is.

Note: When choosing avocados in the grocery store, I pick the ones that are still firm but not rock-hard. They have just a little give to them. You don’t want mushy avocados. I often make this recipe the night before or earlier in the day. With all the lime juice, it keeps for days.

NEXT UP: Quinoa Salad

Quinoa is a grain of sorts. I started using it to avoid wheat. Not all of my recipes are wheat free but a lot have the ‘wheat-free option’. Quinoa has a nutty texture and is gluten free. This salad is perfect to make in advance and snack on. It also goes great as a side dish with grilled steak or chicken. This is another recipe that a rice cooker works really well for.
 
Quinoa Salad

• 2 cups dried Quinoa
• 4 cups chicken broth (I get the organic chicken broth that comes in the 32 oz containers--use whole thing)
• ½ cup lemon juice
• ½ cup finely chopped greek olives (I buy the pitted ones in a jar)
• 1 cup chopped grape tomatoes (I cut them in 1/8ths)
• ¾ cup packed fresh basil chopped

Combine quinoa and chicken broth in rice cooker. Hit ‘start’ (see how easy that is?). When rice cooker dings add lemon juice and mix well. Take quinoa out of rice cooker and mix in bowl with tomatoes, olives, and basil. Add kosher salt and pepper to taste.

Race-day recap from Andrew Hodges, Timex Multisport Team member and 1st place overall male finisher at the 2009 Music City Triathlon.

This weekend I headed up to Nashville for the Music City Triathlon. It was a good opportunity to hang out with Paulo while also getting in a solid effort with friends. Coming into it off a pretty hard week I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. Regardless, I was still looking forward to the race as after having only raced 70.3s this year, I was ready for the Olympic Distance.

Swim (20:34, 3rd): With the TT start I was the 4th to jump in the river and immediately tried to catch one of the two guys in front of me, as I knew catching teammate "First Out of the Water" Bruce Gennari (who started first) would be all but impossible. Unfortunately they both swam away from me pretty quickly initially but about a third of the way through I finally caught one. No one from behind caught me so I exited the swim in 3rd.

Bike (1:02:19 including T1 + T2, 2nd): I felt a little sluggish at the beginning but after passing the 2nd place guy around mile 4, I finally got into my grove around mile 8 or so. The bike was a two lap out and back course so by this time we had gone through the first turnaround and I noticed Bruce was about a minute ahead of me. I had heard he was about 50 sec up out of the water, so I figured we were riding about the same speed. Coming back into transition, Paulo alerted me Bruce was about 50 sec ahead, so I figured we were riding about the same pace. I felt a lot better on the second lap and really tried to focus and lessen the time gap to Bruce. With about a mile to go, I sped past Bruce but as I went by I heard, "Got a flat." Always a bummer.

Run (34:45, 2nd): Heading out on the run, I felt fine but was still worried (due to the TT start) that maybe I wasnt actually in first place. I ran the first lap of the run alone and and then Paulo gave me time gaps to a couple of people both of which were fairly substancial. At that point I was feeling pretty confident about the win so I cruised the second lap and that was that.

Still a little worried, I was relieved when the RD finally announced the OA awards. All in all, this was a really cool race. The start and finish was at LP Field (where the Titans play) and the run course cut through downtown Nashville which provided a cool urban setting.

Here is a look at the final results:

Recovery supplements update from Kim Hager, Timex Multisport Team

I began using ARX earlier this year, and as with any supplement I am initially a little skeptical of its claims.  However, ARX has not let me down!  In fact, it wasn’t until I stopped taking ARX that I realized the difference ARX was making in my training.

Recovery is important in anybody’s training program, but one thing I have noticed as I age is that my recovery time keeps getting longer.  I do not seem to bounce back from those hard workouts as I used to now that I am closer to 40 than to 30!  As such, my rate of recovery directly impacts my ability to train and is an important component when putting together an effective training program.  So, this is where ARX steps in...as I began training consistently for my upcoming marathon I had to balance increasing my mileage while including some interval running.  I began using ARX around this time and my training was going well.  Of course, I wondered...hmm...is it just my conditioning that is improving or is it the ARX?  Honestly, I was quite surprised with the number of quality days I was able to put in each week, so I was confident that both played a role.

Then, I ran out of ARX...I really didn’t plan for this to end up being a way of finding out the difference ARX had been making in my recovery/training, but that is exactly what happened.  So, as I mentioned, I ran out of ARX and I figured that a few weeks off of ARX would be ok.  Besides, I thought-maybe I don’t even need ARX!  However, it wasn’t long before I found that I was plateauing with my intervals and needing more recovery days in between my quality workouts.  I felt stiff and flat.  Eventually I dropped my quality workouts and focused on mileage only.  I was slightly discouraged, but I told myself that eventually the speed would come back.  I reviewed my training program to see what I was doing differently.  I needed to put the pieces together.  Then it clicked...ARX!  Thankfully my ARX supply has been re-stocked and I will not need to experience this lesson again (although I will admit--it was a valuable lesson).