Bike mechanical problems

Unfortunately, I think my bike has suffered a temporary mechanical failure. It's not straightforward to explain, but basically, one of the limit screws which control how far my back tire approaches my bike frame is totally loose, and thus keeps sliding all the way into the frame despite the threads on the screw. As a result, my rear tire gets pushed right into the bike frame, and jams.

This is the same exact problem I had on triathlon day, and I suffered it again on today's attempted early morning LaGrange hammerfest bike sprints. Didn't work so well, as the moment I threw down the hammer, the tire locked. To add insult to injury, as I was descending a moderate hill to try and fix it, I popped a rear flat. And on top of the flat, the rear derailleur cable got sucked into the wheel and got totally shredded. So now I couldn't even shift, and was stuck in a fairly large gear.

I changed the rear flat out, repositioned the limit screw, but found that no matter what I did, it immediately slid right back into the frame the moment I began pedaling. In fact, it got so bad that I nearly had to walk my bike the whole way home (4 miles) in bicycle cleats. Fortunately, I got it to roll a bit by loosening the back quick release, and I rode home at basically walking pace.

I think all the rush hour traffic drivers were probably laughing as they saw me with my aerodynamic hot racing bike, riding slower than some of the runners on the path!

Bike's in the shop as we speak, and hopefully I'll hear about the damage tomorrow. I hope they can solve the limit screw problem - that was the main offender. I'm actually glad now that my road bike in NorCal doesn't have a rear-wheel cutout so I won't have to deal with these issues on it!

Addendum 9-19-09: Fortunately, my bike woes were only temporary and minor. The LBS (local bike shop) just swapped out my limiter screws for longer ones - one of the screws had failed completely. The new ones look good though, and the tire is centered. Another $20 to "true" the wheel, and another $20 for a complete cable change for the rear derailleur and I'm back to golden on the bike for under $45. Not bad!

My rear tire did suffer some damage from the rubbing though, and I had to replace it, as the sidewall had been punctured in one area (hence causing the flat I experienced.) All in all, not much damage for what could have potentially been a really ugly repair. I'm pretty happy about it and excited to get back on my wheels!

Malibu Nautica Olympic Distance Triathlon

I just completed the Malibu Nautica Olympic Distance Triathlon today. It was a very fun race, and one that I felt prepared for, although I did no special rampup in volume or intensity, and thus only a minimal taper.

The race takes place in the Pacific Ocean shores just off Zuma Beach in Malibu. A beautiful locale. It is a 1500 yard ocean swim, 40k bike ride (24.8 miles), and then a 10k run (6.2 miles), which is the standard Olympic triathlon distance.

This is a popular race, with many locals in attendance. It sells out two months before the race (even earlier for the sprint). If you do triathlons in LA, virtually everyone will have done this one at least once. I decided to jump into this one as a "training" run for my goal race, the LA triathlon in another few weeks.

MY GOAL FOR TODAY

My single biggest goal in this race was to not finish DFL (dead f****in last) on the swim again. (Or 2nd to last, which is where I ended up in my last 2 tris!) For the last 6-8 weeks, I completely overhauled my swim workouts, taking advice from the beginnertriathlete.com forums which recommended doing intervals after intervals to increase swim pace and endurance, which is a very different approach compared to running, where you run a lot of easy miles. Although my goal was to spend half of my training time swimming, I found that I couldnt' ramp up volume easily as I would get tendinitis in my shoulders. Also, I simply love cycling too much to slack on it, so my swim hours really haven't changed much from my less-serious swim days. For sure though, the intensity has gone WAY up, and every pool session is a hard one for me, 2-3x per week. My typical workouts started at 12 x 100yards at 1:50-1:55 pace with 15 sec rest between sets, and peaked at 22 x 100 yards at 1:45-1:50 pace. So definitely improvement on speed and endurance in training. In terms of OWS (open water swims), I've done less, but I had a fair amount of experience in the months before that, so I stayed with the intense pool workouts. My total swim hours are still in the "pathetic" range compared to real swimmers - I'm lucky if I hit 3 hrs per week of swimming, when I really should be at least 5-6 for real improvement.

Ramping up swimming to do intervals every session, 3x / wk, was hard. Much harder than I expected. When I started up with the 12 x 100s, I wanted to give up after the 2nd one and go back to my mellow easy swimming pace. I really suffered through the rest of them, and only made it due to sheer determination. It's strange, as when it comes to running, I'm well known for my relentless training - I usually will do intervals in a group track workout well after everyone else quits, and even run additional 4-10 miles on top of any workout that they do. On swimming though, there was little x-over, and I was shocked at how "non-hardcore" I was in training. Feeling like quitting after the 2nd set? Unbelievable. I now have more respect for new runners doing intervals for the first time - it's really hard for them!

THE START & THE SWIM

I got to the race at an ungodly 4:30AM, having awoken at 2:45AM and leaving for Zuma at 3:45AM. That wasn't too early though, as there were plenty of people doing a similar thing. It's also good to get bike rack space early, as it gets very crowded near race start.

The swim is a parallel 1500yards to the shoreline, and I have done it before in practice with the LA tri club, so I definitely was not intimidated by the open water (a first for me.) Also, the water was on the warm side today, so I felt extra comfortable warming up in the waves. Mentally, I felt very prepared for this swim, unlike all prior races where I was extremely anxious. Experience helps a lot.

I was in the 2nd wave after the elite start and the men 14-29 age groupers, which I wasn't sure I would like, as in prior races I got smoked by waves start behind me. Regardless, I had to go, so I lined up with the other 60-70 guys in my age group and before we knew it, the race was on.

This time around, I had no intention of walking and waiting in the surf for everyone to gap me. I knew now that I should theoretically be strong enough to keep pack with others in my group, and that helps a LOT for sighting. When you are all by yourself, you end up wasting a lot of time trying to find the buoy rather than following the pack. I ran into the surf with everyone else and it was a mad rush to the first offshore buoy. There was no avoiding the churn of bodies - there was simply no space to maneuver as the lifeguard boat was situated only 30-40 yards off the buoy, leaving a small gap for all of us to squeeze through. After getting kicked in the head twice, swam over twice, and banging my way through and over other bodies, I was around the buoy and into more open space.

Now I started to swim in earnest, hoping (praying!) that I could stay with at least the rear pack. It is usually at this point that everybody drops me, so I picked up my pace. Next thing I know - I'm with the pack! (Probably the rear pack, but that's better than no pack!) Bodies everywhere around me, and I'm keeping pace. It was a new experience for me, and corny as it sounds, exhilarating to know that I was holding my own out there. In fact, after 10-15 minutes, guys around me started to tire, and I actually began passing people in my wave. I couldn't believe it, but there I was, moving up the chain!

20 or so minutes into the swim, most of us in my wave had settled into our final finishing positions, but we actually started to catch the red-capped 19-29 year old slowsters ahead of us. I probably caught 10 of them, to my utter amazement. As well, I didn't see any caps from the wave behind me go flying by. I'm sure they did, but there were sufficiently few that I wasn't surrounded by them (unlike my last tri.)

The swim still felt like it took longer than I expected, but we soon made the final turn and headed for the swim exit. Lots of accelerations around me, and I had a hard time keeping up, as my top speed is still pretty lousy. I did manage to catch a good wave in, and made up a bunch of time by bodysurfing the wave nearly to the shore. I ran out of the surf, and then launched the next important part of my plan, which was to cut down on my transition time hugely by running the entire way from the shore to my bike - fast. It felt like cheating since everyone around me was walking or jogging, but heck, running is my strength, so I should maximize it if I can.

Unfortunately, I didn't click "stop" on my watch to get my split, so I'll have to wait for the race results, but I'm guessing about a 33-35ish minute swim. That should correspond to somewhere in the front of the BOP (back of the pack) - it's not a good time for triathletes, but for me, it's a GREAT time!

As I got to my bike, I was gratified to see that there were many bikes still racked. For sure, over 30% of them, if not 40-50%. Wow! That's orders of magnitude better than the 1 or no bikes I've been seeing at my last two tris. In a great mood, I got my bike gear on and set out to hammer it down.

THE BIKE - A NEAR DISASTER

Immediately after gently pedaling out of the first chute, I cranked up my gearing to aggressive, and prepared to do some serious damage on the bike. Unfortunately, the moment I cranked down hard, my rear wheel locked! WTF?! I thought my chain had dropped or caught, but it was fine. Shifting around didn't help - my rear wheel was barely turning.

After a loud curse, I dismounted, and realized quickly that the limit screws for my back tire which I had adjusted a few days ago probably moved as I cranked down hard, thus locking the tire against the frame. So to add insult to injury, the mechanical was definitely a result of my tweaking my bike a few days ago. And I was carrying NO tools to fix it. I stood there like an idiot, really frustrated for nearly two minutes, removing the rear wheel and being unable to adjust it. Fortunately, a friendly asian girl spectator saw me struggling and she happened to have a multi-tool in her purse! (Likely for the person she was cheering on.) With a huge thank-you, I adjusted the screws - it took 3 separate adjustments before it was no longer stuck. I had lost nearly 6 minutes on this mechanical, and I saw my good friend Ken take off, as well as some other guys I've seen from the triclub. Still, 6 minutes is a salvageable loss, given my good swim, so I took off and planned to race hard to the finish.

The bike went well, as expected. Probably not as well as I'd hoped, but I tend to overestimate my biking abilities on race day. Flattish course with a couple of significant rollers but no really big hills. Held a 23-25mph pace on the flats and stayed in the big ring on almost all the climbs. I got passed only by relay racers who only were doing the bike leg (they were marked "R" on their calves) and one strong triguy in my age group, but otherwise, it was the Willis bike express train, passing people nonstop, sometimes at nearly double their speed. I went pretty hard on the bike this time, and was a bit disappointed that I couldn't keep up with the relay guys who passed me, as I kept catching up and even passing them on the inclines (my strength is hill climbing), but they definitely pulled away on downhills and flats. I actually suspect a lot of this has to do with their superior aerodynamic wheels and helmets, which gives a bigger speed benefit at high speeds and not slower hill climbs.

I did try the trick of removing your feet from your cycling shoes while still on the bike this time, and had no problems coming into the transition. (I still need to learn a flying dismount though.) Definitely saved me some time there.

THE RUN

Not much for me to say here except it was hard but not hellaciously hard, and I finished only a smidgen faster than my last triathlon, in 41:20. Running is still my strength, and I passed people continuously from start to finish. I was surprised at how long it took me to catch my friend Ken, who was running solid 8 minutes/mile, but I guess that's expected as I was only doing about 6:55/mile. After an expected wobbly legged start off the bike, I got progressively stronger with each mile and easily put down the hammer on 3 other guys in my AG in the final chute. I'd call this a 98% effort for me - for sure, I could have gone faster in the final mile.

OVERALL

The final results still aren't in yet, but even with the mechanical, I clocked in overall time at about 2hrs 32mins, which is a respectable time. Nothing great, and probably barely front of the middle of the pack, but a big improvement from my last race. Most important though is my dramatic swim improvements - that alone would have made my day even if I DNF'd the bike and run.

I've got the LA Triathlon in a few weeks, and I'm hoping to maintain my bike and run as is, but make a further dent in the swim portion, and also the transitions, which I plan on practicing in the next few weekends.

I do miss being in the top group of overall finishers, though. In pure running, I usually finish in the top 10%, if not the top 5%. In triathlon though, I'll be lucky if I'm even top 33%. (<- Correction 9/13/09 - woops, I guess I'm actually top 11% as of this race, even with the mechanical. Not bad!)

Results Addendum 9/13/09:

Willis Huang

2:32:27.5

35th/321 in 30-34 Age Group (11th%)

Swim ( 0:34:46.0 ) 85/120 (29%)

T1 ( 0:02:35.4 )

Bike ( 1:11:59.5 ) 44/120 (63%)

Lost 6 minutes (at least) due to a mechanical on the bike

T2 ( 0:01:50.2 )

Run ( 0:41:16.2 ) 15/120 (88%)

In retrospect, my friend Ken who is a similar cyclist (I am slightly faster on the bike) finished the bike in 1:07, so an assumed a finish of 1:06:xx on the bike for me would have translated to 13-15/120 on the bike, or exactly the same percent (88%) in my age group. So, I am likely equally strong on the bike and the run as of now. Swimming's got a LONG way to go...but I'm not DFL anymore!

Also, I strongly suspect that my slow swim pace has to a lot do with veering a bit off course, as I highly doubt that I was swimming at the computed lowly pace of 2:32/100yds, considering that 2:00/100yds feels VERY easy for me. I did notice this during the swim, as I would find myself alternating between swimming alone (off course) and then with a lot of guys (on course). I will strive to improve this by the LA triathlon - I suspect I can knock off 2 minutes off my swim time with this alone.

"Legit" on the bike

The Famous Mandeville Canyon

One of the most popular local bike routes in Santa Monica

6 miles of climbing with few stop signs

I took a ride with the LaGrange bike club this morning. LaGrange is one of LA's premiere racing clubs, and they host daily 6:30AM hammerfest rides every day of the week. I don't get to ride with them often due to being at work by 7AM, but as I'm on vacation this week, I got to get out and mix it up with them this morning.

Today is their Mandeville Canyon ride. Stays in the posh Santa Monica suburbs, and takes a route up a steady 6 mile climb up Mandeville Canyon road, which starts off really mellow, but cranks up to a painful 14% incline right in the final 400 meters when you're hurting for air.

The last time I did this ride was probably over 4 months ago. Back then, even though I was in pretty good bike form, I was dropped very quickly by the main pack, and ended up riding solo most of the way until I dragged myself back to the stragglers who had fell off the back. I also recall one older guy, "Bruce" who is a 50ish year old big guy and is thus hard to miss, and usually finishes right behind me as I tend to just catch him in the final stretches. I think I've seen him at virtually every LaGrange ride I've done.

Today, I was feeling good when we set out to Mandeville Canyon in a pack of 30 strong riders. This is a pure racing group, and there are no "slow" riders in the bunch. Everyone can hold 22+ mph in a pack no problem, and the leaders are hellaciously fast. The 5 mile ride to Mandeville is mellow, and as per the normal routine, I start out in the middle of the big pack but end up in the very back within a few minutes, as most riders take one look at the aerobars on my bike and think that I'd be sloppy bike handler. At least that's what I assume, since roadies tend to be fairly snobby about triathletes on bikes, although I do agree that in general, bike handling skills in a tight pack with heavy drafting is far superior with the pure roadies compared to triathletes.

Once we hit Mandeville, the pace picks up. Gradually at first, but after the first stop sign, it's a full-out hammerfest. Due to my awareness that other roadies won't want to draft off me unless they absolutely have to, I start in the back and work my way up by dropping anybody who can't keep up. In the past, I usually drop the back third of the group and then settle into a solo groove at that point. Today though, was different. We set off at a brisk but manageable pace, and within 5 minutes, the group had split into two, with me hanging off the back of the front pack. The pace ratched up again, and started burning off riders 2-3 at a time. Unfortunately, it's a narrow road with car traffic so passing can be a bit tricky, so I definitely lost a bunch of time as I sometimes had to wait to pass slowing riders, and then had to sprint to catch the pack. I noticed that I dropped "Bruce" like a rock within the first 10 minutes of riding, and that for the first time, I had the leaders of the ride in full view. I had grand aspirations of pulling myself into the top 5 riders, but they lead 7 guys were definitely too strong for me - which was no surprise, and as a pack, they accelerated away as the biggest final hill started up. I ended up riding the final half mile in solo, but I caught the 7th guy en route, and actually saw the leaders pulling up the steep climb to the finish just ahead of me. Climbing the final 14% incline really hurt, but I definitely have particularly good leg power on hills, and I was able to maintain an aggressive pace all the way up. It was quite satisfying for me to pull in right behind the leaders, and see their surprise of "who the heck is that?" as they saw me roll in right behind them, as usually the front 10 guys who finish are all known entities.

After a mass regroup, I had no idea what was next in store, but we were still riding. Apparently, the group goes down and then rides back up the hill a SECOND time. I'm glad I didn't know this, as I probably would have held something back the first go-around! The second repeat was much less aggressive, with front half of the pack holding firm at a solidly uncomfortable pace until the base of the final climb, where everyone peeled away for the hill sprint. Again, my results were similarly excellent, as I promptly pulled out of the rear position, and swept up 10-12 riders in a single push. In fact, my hill acceleration was as fast as the leaders on the 2nd climb, as they didn't pull away from me this time. It's a good group of guys though, and I got a lot of "great climbing!" from the guys that I pulled past. I like doing the same when I get dropped from the rear.

I followed the lead 4 riders up the final climb, which is a very steep 18% hill but shorter, at about a mile and a half, with peak incline for only the last half mile. All the other riders bailed at this point, leaving me with 4 very strong riders. Fortunately, we were in mellow mode until the final half mile, so I got to catch my breath. These guys were really out of my league - I'm amazed that I could even keep them in sight today. One guy just rode the Leadville 100 mountain bike race that Lance Armstrong just won, and this guy finished 25th out of 1300 riders. Including a lot of pro mountain bikers. The other guy was training for the "Everest" challenge, which involves climbing 35,000 feet over 2 days. To put this in perspective, my longest, hilliest rides involve 5 hours of riding with 6,000 feet of climbing. I'd have to triple that in a single day in that race. Yikes!

Today's bike ride was a nice affirmation that the long and hilly bike rides that I've been doing most weekends with the triguys have indeed made me stronger. Significantly stronger, judging from my results today. I really enjoy riding with stronger riders - I definitely pushed myself harder than I could have alone while desperately trying to hang with the front pack. I'm hoping that this winter, I'll get the chance to put in some serious bike miles and take my cycling to another level, but I'll have to prioritize running/swimming before figuring that out.

I think I'm finally "legit" on the bike - I don't think I have to worry about being a "poseur" on my racing bike anymore!

2 weeks until the Malibu Olympic Triathlon

I haven't been on a rigorous training plan of any sort for the past year. The main reason for this is that between work and training 3 different disciplines, I simply didn't know where or when I could fit in workouts. When I was strictly running, that was easy - I could throw on my shoes and crank out miles any time, any where. However, when you start doing long bike rides, pool swims, and open water swims, things get complicated fast. I think it took most of the last 6 months to get myself into a semblance of a routine that would at least maintain, if not slightly improve my ability at each discipline.

Almost before I know it, the Malibu Olympic distance triathlon is right around the corner - 2 weeks! Ordinarily in marathon season, I'd be peaking and thus would be very aware of the race date, but in triathlon land, I haven't done a rampup and thus was pretty clueless about the race date except for the fact I'd signed up for the race months ago. This race is supposed to be a "tuneup" for my real goal race, which is the LA Triathlon in September, but I suspect that my performance at both races will be essentially identical.

The big question on race day will be how well I perform on the swim. Cycling and running will go well no matter what, and I expect the running to hurt much more than the cycling, since I'm fast enough to really burn off all my energy in the end of the race. Still, it won't matter how fast I run or bike if I have another disastrous swim.

Swim intervals have been going very well. I've been ramping up swim volume, and have gone from 12 x 100yd intervals at 1:52-1:55 to today's peak at 22 x 100yd at 1:46-1:48/100yds. The speed increase is likely technique related, and not just strength, as I've been experimenting with small changes that seem to make a significant difference. The two subtle improvements that lopped a good 7 sec/100 off my time in the past 2 weeks:

- Closing the space between my outstretched arm and my head - 3 sec/100

- Pointing my toes maximally throughout the swim - 4 sec/100

The toe pointing thing really surprised me. Runners are known to not have flexible ankles, and I definitely fall into the "stiff ankle" category. I never really thought much about my toes before, as the emphasis was clearly on more important things such as body position and rotation. However, I think I'm getting to the point where these differences are becoming significant. When I tried the toe-point aggressively last week, I couldn't hold it for the workout, as my feet started to cramp! It takes me a fair amount of effort to keep them maximally pointed, and I really need to work on my flexibility down there. However, the payoff is real - 4sec/100 is a substantial improvement, and I didn't even believe that this phenomena was real until I cranked out all 22 sets today in record-pace, which I attribute entirely to the two technical changes above, as there's no way I would have been able to exert supramaximal speed for me for all 22 sets, as I normally do 16-18. Bottom line - little things can make a real difference for me at this point, and I've got to go discover the rest of them. The next thing I really am going to focus on is my keeping my fingers together on the pull. I suspect this will not give me a real speed increase, but I've got to try it out, as I never guessed that toes would have made such a big difference as well.

One annoying thing that I'm dealing with now that hasn't bothered me since last year is pain in my left shoulder, or swimmer's shoulder. I got this pain in a debilitating manner last year when I started swimming earnestly, but it went away with rest and moderation. It is almost definitely due to my recent rampup in swim paces and volume, including a hard sprint set last week which seemed to tip everything off. I'm going to have to watch this one carefully, but on the bright side, I'll be away at a wedding for at least 4 days this week so the absence of swimming for this period will actually be welcomed.

I've still got my doubts though as to race-day performance. I was 95% as fast on intervals (albeit I could do fewer of them) as I was now when I did my last triathlon, and I finished near DFL (dead f*** last) in my AG then, so I'm being realistic and just shooting to be in the bottom quarter of my AG as oppposed to the bottom 2-5%. I think the biggest difference on race day will be that this time around, I'm going to go close to all-out on the swim, as I know I've trained the distance. At my last triathlon, I was very conservative due to the waves and my inexperience, and I swam at only 60% of my ability. I'm going to crank it up to 85-90% this time around and see how I fare. I'm hoping for a 2:05-2:10/100m pace in open water if all goes well - this is consistent with my 1:46/100yard pace in the pool, with allowances for slowing due to sighting.

Last interesting swim factoids I picked up recently:

Swim volumes per week:

- Back of Pack triathlon swimmer (aka ME): 6000-8000 yards / week. (3-4 miles)

- Front of Pack triathlon swimmer : 10,000 - 20,000 yards / week (5-10 miles)

- Michael Phelps world champion pro swimmer: 80,000 yards / week (50 miles!!)