The giveaway celebration of Healthbolt.net breaking into technorati’s top 2000 isn’t over. I’m giving an Ironman Triathlon 30-lap watch away, because I wear one and it’s the best watch I’ve ever owned.
I’ll be drawing a winner in the next few hours. Post any comment in the original thread before it’s all over. There’s only fourteen entries so far, so those are good odds!

Post from: Healthbolt

But if you want some real tips, TriSwimCoach.com (who’d have thought?) comes through with this helpful list:

1. Expect the worst. Go into the event expecting that the start will not be easy. Know that you will bump into people, others will bump into you, but 99% of the time it is all by accident. Also know that the chaos at the beginning will not last for the entire swim, it will break up quickly as different speed swimmers separate.
2. Prepare. Learn the course before the gun goes off. There’s nothing worse than having to wonder which way to turn around the upcoming buoy.
3. Don’t panic. Keep your breathing from getting short. Stay as relaxed as you can while everyone else tries to get pole position. Don’t let others being frantic affect your state of mind, and realize that 99% of the other swimmers are just trying to find some open water and are not out to hurt you!
4. Stay to the outside. Many will try to stay to the inside, as close to in line with the first buoy as they can get. Don’t follow the pack. Start outside and work your way in as you approach buoy #1. You many not get perfectly clean water, but you will save yourself from much of the madness.
5. Run until the water level is at your knees. This will maximize your time on land without being slowed by running through water.
6. Use shorter strokes to get through the chop. If you are swimming in the ocean and it is a choppy day, this technique helps tremendously. Once you get to some smoother water, go back to long strokes to maximize efficiency and conserve energy.
7. Practice. Swim in the open water often when you are preparing for a race that has an open water start. The more experience you can develop getting used to the conditions and variables in open water vs. pool swimming, the better off you will be mentally on race day.

7 Tips to Surviving the Triathlon Start

Post from: Healthbolt

Trying The Triathlon…

After just over a year in the sport, Spank is very confident that through his own triathlon experience he has amassed several golden nuggets of wisdom that, in all fairness, should be imparted to the rest of the world. In ALL fairness to the rest of the world, we should note here that, as yet, there is still no official coaching certification course offered for Monkeroos.

This article is written in the spirit of one Monkeroo (and his owner) giving friendly advice, from knowledge gained through experience.

The word “triathlon” is very daunting. Before I ever did triathlon, I produced them (as my job). When people asked, “so, do you actually do the triathlons?”, I looked at them from below mocking eyebrows and replied, “uh…no.” However, after loads of encouragement (and threats; my boss felt that an Assistant Race Director should actually DO a race), I finally did do a triathlon. I loved it, and have now sucked in my husband, my brother, my sister-in-law, a very good friend and Monkeroo.

In a group effort, we have now convinced my sister to do a 5K. The 5K, FYI, is a gateway race. We all started there. When you consider trying a triathlon, don’t think about swimming and biking and running and transitioning and fancy equipment and everything else that is scary.

Start from the beginning, with a simple plan.

1. Set a goal. Find a triathlon, or a duathlon if you are uncomfortable in the water, and sign up. There is a great list of races at trifind.com, and you can find online calendars by doing a “triathlon” search. Spank Says… Set a reasonable goal. If you don’t run now, don’t expect to run 6 miles in a month. Find a race that gives you several months to work up to a few miles.
2. Find a training plan. The simple rule of thumb is to do what you can do now, and alternate your bike and run days, keeping one day a week to simply rest. Each week, increase your total mileage by up to 10% (more can cause injury) until you can go the distances necessary. Spank Says… It’s better to get a plan formulated by an expert. You’ll find lots of (free) plans at Tri-Newbies.com.
3. Get your gear. Running is easiest; shoes. Swimming is more difficult; suit, goggles AND a gym membership. Biking is a hardest. It’s not difficult to find a bike, but you may not want to spend $1,000+ to buy one. You can borrow any bike for your first race (my brother, editor of this site, did his first HILLY triathlon on my dad’s old bike with half as many gears as the rest of us have).

Spank Says… Take the time to have someone fit you for shoes (many stores will do this), as it really does make a big difference. Now get started…you CAN do it.

Get more info from ultramaxtri.com/training.php

* a Monkeroo is a monkey with a kangaroo pouch… if anyone hasn’t guessed, Spank is a stuffed monkey onto which Shandra pinned a pouch… not a living animal.

Post from: Healthbolt

I had the privilege of racing on the Columbia Multisport Club’s Team (we won) last year at the National Triathlon Team Championship in Las Vegas. One of the racers on our team who was way ahead of me was Amy Livesay. 10 years ago, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease. She’s been destroying the competition ever since.

She’s a really supportive team member and was an inspiration to my wife and me as we competed in the event in Las Vegas, this fall. I didn’t even know about the Hodgkin’s at the time because she never mentioned it, she just talked about winning all the time. I’m pretty sure “push ’till you puke” or at least something very similar was her battle cry. It says a lot about her character to note that the first time I heard about any of this Hodgkin’s stuff was when I saw this news story from a local station in Columbia, MO, where C.M.C. is located.

I’m not sure I could be so modest had I accomplished what she has. What a cool lady. Oh, and this is all not to even mention that she’s a freakin’ ringer at almost every event they take her to.

From the Ultra Max Website:

Amy Livesay – Amy is a triathlon coach and owner of The Starting Block*. She has completed dozens of running races and triathlons, including several Ironman Triathlons and the National Ironman Championship (in Hawaii). Amy has placed at several triathlons, taking first place overall at the 2004 Ultramax Iron-distance Triathlon. Recently, she won her age group (out of 56 competitors), and was the 7th woman overall (out of over 350) at the 2006 Spirit of Racine Half Iron-distance Triathlon. She has coached several Columbia athletes, as well as led several training groups.

Congrats on all your accomplishments, Amy, you rock.

*Amy and her husband, Mark, just opened The Starting Block in Columbia, MO. They know a thing or two about shoes if you want to stop by.

Post from: Healthbolt

2) Pre-rolled socks are easier to slip onto wet feet.

3) Ear plugs are your friend in 65 degree water. Cold water in your ear messes with your equilibrium. Plus water sloshing around in your head is one more distraction you don’t need.

4) Tamales are bad pre-race food. I should’ve taken my own advice. It wasn’t a disaster or anything (it could have been) but it wasn’t pleasant, either.

5) If you’re trying to spin up a mountain, it’s best not to look up too often, lest you start crying.

6) (Bonus!) The lady at the last aid station smokes Virginia Slims.

[tags] traithlon, tips, tricks, race, run, bike, swim [/tags]

Post from: Healthbolt

For the un-initiated a triathlon is a race that inlcudes a swim, a bicycle ride and a run all in the quickest succession possible. This race was called The Pumpkinman, and it offered two courses for competitors:

Long (aka Olympic/International): 1.5k swim/ 40k bike/ 10k run
Short (aka Sprint): .75k swim/ 20k bike/ 5k run

Transition times from one activity to the next hover between 60 and 90 seconds for the pros, including some in the club. (Mine were 5:07 for the swim-to-bike transition, and 3:40 for the bike-to-run. YOU try to rip off a soaked wetsuit after you’ve just open-water swam 20 yards short of half a mile and run up a hill of broken pavement in barefeet.)

This wasn’t your normal triathlon for many reasons other than it being my first…

The course was called one of the most brutal tri courses (elevation-wise) they’d seen by many of the seasoned triathletes there. Considering that there were many mulitple Iron Man veterans in the group, this should not be taken lightly. For instance, take a gander at the elevation profile for the bike course…

Short Course (View full size here.)

Long Course (View full size here.)

Yes, that’s a 6 mile long, 1200 foot climb at the end of each course. And to say it was flat by any means up to that point would be total B.S. There was almost 3,000 feet of climbing on the long course before the bikers even hit that final hill.

Cresting the top and looking back down the mountain I had just climbed I could see the waters of Lake Mead where the swim had begun. It was an exhilirating experience, to say the least. Not that I had much time to reminisce; the second transition area was immediately after the crest, so it was more of a glance thrown over my shoulder as I was off the bike and onto the soles of running shoes as fast as my burning-legs-of-jello could possibly force my feet into them.

The run course was mostly flat and contained in one neighborhood for the sprinters (which included myself.) The long course was a different story. It veered out of the neighborhood after the short course turnaround point and into the desert over rolling hills of loose gravel and rocks. Anyone who’s ever run on any sort of loose material can tell you it saps your strength, robbing every push of the power to move you forward. Throw in some hills, sunshine and indigenous cacti and you have one beautiful, punishing route to cover on foot.

The Columbia Multisport Club knows the taste of victory well, having won two previous USAT, Division 1 Club Championships in ‘03 and ‘04. They had been stung by a club from Houston in ‘05. Adding insult to injury, the Houston club didn’t even bother to stick around for the awards ceremony that almost all of the CMC members had stayed to attend. Listening in shock to a second place announcement was an experience they were determined not to repeat in the sands outside Las Vegas.

I had been drafted by my sister to compete because every finisher in the race equaled a half point towards victory with 1st through 5th place finishers taking from 5 to 1 points accordingly. My wife, Melynda, is quickly becoming a seasoned triathlete with this being the fourth triathlon under her belt (including one relay) so she was also very pursuasive in my decision to compete. She ended up on the podium herself holding a third place plaque in the air in the Athena 39 and under division, which was one of the divisions swept by CMC. It was my favorite moment of the day.

CMC brought 130+ triathletes to the fight. Compare that to the main rival this year: Los Angeles, California’s Tri Club who had 192 registered competitors at Pumpkinman. And about half-way through the awards ceremony it was becoming apparent just how determined to win CMC was. We were on the podium in almost every category, while completely sweeping more than one. It was not, in the end, a conflict that was going to be won by numbers. My throat was sore from cheering by 2:00pm on race day. CMC had managed to bring 130+ triathletes (and 130+ bikes in a tractor-trailer across the country) to win the national club championship race by more than 55 points!

How I earned my half-point:

WILLIAM WADE MEREDITH

swim – 25:01

I couldn’t find one of me, but this is a great shot of just before my swim wave started. all pics by MyRacePics.com

T1 – 5:07

Bike – 1:12:48

T2 – 3:40

Run – 30:57

Total finishing time:
2:17:31
(This is not good, but I was 3rd to last not last in my division, and I never walked once on that hellacious bike or the run.)

Congrats, CMC. Holy cow, you earned that win. You are an inspiration to me, and it was a pleasure to be among your ranks for my first triathlon and throw my half point into an astounding effort that paid off in spades.

-Pumpkinman’s Official Site
-Columbia Multisport’s Official Site
-USAT’s Official Site

Pictures from MyRacePics.com

Next year’s Championship will be in St. Louis, Missouri and put on by

Ultramax Events.

[tags] triathlon, race, championshipe, USAT, club, triathlete [/tags]

Post from: Healthbolt

My flight just got in and I’m beat; more on this and a return to regular posting tomorrow…

Post from: Healthbolt

As humans we all have certain small periods of time (I’m talking hours, here) in our lives that are more demanding of our minds and body: ourselves as a whole. These situations are different in everyone’s lives, depending on an enormous variety of factors, but they include such things as job interviews, triathlons, first dates, combat situations, college/professional school entrance and exit exams or public speaking/performance situations.

Whether you’re a soldier, an entertainer or the world’s greatest mom you will have periods of time in your life that you may see as much more critical in the grand scheme of things than what you would consider “normal activity”.

Whether these situations demand your brain to think fast or your body to respond well to a physical task you’re asking of it, you should keep this in mind: You are what you eat. (You can write that down, it’s going to be HUGE.)

It’s broken up into 3 easy to swallow chunks for your reading pleasure:

1) Brain Power
2) Below the Neck
3) Big Finish

Brain-Power:

So we definitely want our brain firing on all cylinders if we’re in a high-stress situation whether it involves physical (and therefore mental) endurance, or if it’s a think-on-your-toes situation such as a debate or a tough interview. And you especially want all your brain power along if it’s a combination of mental endurance and agility, such as an improvised stage performance, a James Bond-undercover mission or a competition of some sort involving athletics and strategy (adventure racing and martial arts competitions come to mind.)

Short term and long term recall, providing quick reaction times to outside stimuli and general keeping of the sanity under stressfull conditions can all be deciding factors in any of the situations we’re talking about. So what helps our brains do all these brainy things?

-B Vitamins: Our mental performance is influenced heavliy by the presence of B-Vitamins in our body. The group of B-Complex vitamins aid in the production of important neurotransmitters (more on this below). They also protect nerve tissue against oxidation, enhancing memory and insulating nerve cells.

-Fatty Acids: Nutrition gurus have been singing from the hill tops about Omega-3 fatty acids for years now and it’s for good reason. There are actually two fatty acids that are considered essential fatty acids because our body cannot manufacture them from other ingredients; they must be consumed. These are n-6 (linoleic) and n-3 (linolenic) acids. Most people get enough of the n-6, but n-3 (a.k.a. Omega-3) acids are sorely lacking in most modernized human diets.

Psychology Today:

N-3 fatty acids–popularly called omega-3s–are known to be particularly crucial for proper development of the human brain, both before birth and in infancy it is through the lipid-rich cell membrane of neurons that all nerve signals must pass. In addition, as learning and memory forge new connections between nerve cells, new membranes are formed to sheath them. All brain cell membranes continuously need to refresh themselves with a new supply of fatty acids. Preliminary research suggests that EFAs–particularly n-3s–are best suited for optimal brain function.

In a key animal study soon to be published, Carol E. Greenwood, Ph.D., and colleagues fed rats various amounts and types of fat for a three-month period and then measured their performance on memory tests. Fat content ranged from 40 percent of calories–approximating that of the average American–to 10 percent of calories. Rats fed the high-fat diet that was highest in saturated fat (from lard) performed the worst. Those on the diet lowest in saturated and total fat did the best.

STAY AWAY from trans fats. These actually inhibit your brain’s normal functioning process, as well as being nasty for you in the long-term.

-Neurotransmitter precursor components: Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are used to relay, amplify and modulate electrical signals between a neuron and another cell. They are at the foundation of the basic functions our brain has to carry out in order to do much of anything, much less tackle a mentally demanding task. Certain foods you can eat contain nutrients that will aid in the production of these fundamental building blocks of brain function. Such foods include animal products, eggs, and milk, which contain proteins that can be broken down into amino acids. Other great neurotransmitter boosters are legumes, dark-green leafy veggies, nuts and seeds.

-Glucose: Your brain uses sugar to think, like a car uses gas to go. It’s the fuel that gets you where you need to go, but it’s also explosive… What I’m saying is it’s important to get what we need (sugars), but it’s just as important to avoid blood sugar spikes which can leave you sluggish and depressed in their wake. These primarily come from consuming large amounts of carbohydrates by themselves. Carbs are fine (actually, they’re essential) as long as they’re eaten WITH something else. Preferably some of that protein we mentioned above. (Have some yogurt with your toast, etc…)

Below the neck:

Our brain won’t do us much good in any of these siutuations if our body will not repond to its commands or if it wants to do one thing, while you want it to do another…

-K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid.) I’ve heard some fantastic racing (triathlon) advice that I think applies to the hours before many a stressful situation.

Just before a big event, there are few things you can do to drastically improve your performance; that ship has sailed. But there are a million things you can do to sink yourself.

Basically, keep it simple. Don’t try some wierd new sports drink or an exotic dip the night before a make-or-break business meeting or sporting event. Stick with what you know, at least somewhat. G.I. trouble is a monster confidence killer, and it can be very physically debillitating.

Also falling under the K.I.S.S. philosophy is the eating of easily digestable foods. You need protein for your brain, as mentioned above, but don’t eat an 18 oz. steak. Mass amounts of protein (as well as saturated fats and mass quantities of fiber) are hard to digest. They take a long time to get through your system, and they use up a lot of your body’s resources while doing so. So eat in moderation.

-Timing is everything. Don’t let the last meal you ate be the first nail in the coffin. If you’re looking to be in top performance for a day of strenuous mental and physical activity, try to give yourself 12 hours between the last real meal you eat and the start of that activity. After that you should just be sustaining with snacks; avoid heavy meals during the event as blood spikes effect your mind and body adversly.

-Balance: Make sure your meal is balanced. I’ll say it again: to avoid a blood sugar spike that will, at best, leave you hungry, and, at worst, leave you sleepy, sluggish and depressed, you have to eat a balanced meal with carbs, fat and protein. It does a body good.

-And one for my homies: Drink. Stay hydrated. This is sooo much easier than many athletes try and make it. Here’s the key. (Ba-dah-baaah!) Drink when you’re thirsty! It’s seriously that simple. Don’t force liquids on yourself; don’t put off drinking because liquids aren’t close at hand. Just drink when you’re thristy.

If you’re doing a strenuous physical activity for longer than 40 minutes, you may also need to start seriously considering replacing salts and electrolytes being lost through sweat and general consumption of resources in the body. The quickest way to do this is with something like Gatorade or another sports drink, but remember: K.I.S.S. Make sure you drink something you’ve had before and know your stomach can handle. Some of those sports drinks can be tough on your digestive system, so proceed with caution.

Big Finish:

With my pick of anything at all, here’s what I would eat in order to be ready for anything:

4 oz. salmon steak
Sweet potato fries (Baked)
A spinach/romaine salad with almonds and sunflower kernels
Olive oil vinagrette
Banana
Water
A Handful of blueberries on (full fat) yogurt for dessert

Most important tip: All right, so now you know the general guidelines that you can use to formulate something that works for YOU. Now go out there and BE SOMEBODY!Post your ready-for-anything-meal in the comments section… References/Resources:
BeginnerTriathlete.com
The Human Brain – The Franklin Institute Online
Science News Online
Psychology Today – WebMD
Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia

Post from: Healthbolt

Snacking in between meals is a great way to promote cavaties (and extra pounds), but it’s unavoidable for people who exercise or just play hard. If you’re doing any intense physical activity for longer than 30 minutes, you probably need to eat or drink something besides just water. Whether this is a sports drink or a power gel it’s going to be hard on your teeth.

IRONMAN.com has a great write up by two-time Ironman Champ DR. Tom Evans on how to take care of your teeth while you train.

Lots of these tips are helpful for couch snackers as well… Hey, if you’re going to be tons of fun, you might as well have pearly whites.

Find out how, after the jump!

Traithletes and Teeth – IRONMAN.com (pops)

[tags] dental, teeth, nutrition, snack, care, cavity, prevention [/tags]

Post from: Healthbolt

Rick Reilly for Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated Issue date: June 20, 2005, p. 88

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I’m lousy.

Eighty-five times he’s pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he’s not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars — all in the same day.

Dick’s also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much — except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

“He’ll be a vegetable the rest of his life,” Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. “Put him in an institution.”

But the Hoyts weren’t buying it. They noticed the way Rick’s eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. “No way,” Dick says he was told. “There’s nothing going on in his brain.”

“Tell him a joke,” Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? “Go Bruins!” And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, “Dad, I want to do that.”

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described “porker” who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. “Then it was me who was handicapped,” Dick says. “I was sore for two weeks.”

That day changed Rick’s life. “Dad,” he typed, “when we were running, it felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore!”

And that sentence changed Dick’s life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

“No way,” Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren’t quite a single runner, and they weren’t quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, “Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?”

How’s a guy who never learned to swim and hadn’t ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they’ve done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don’t you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you’d do on your own? “No way,” he says. Dick does it purely for “the awesome feeling” he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992 — only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don’t keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

“No question about it,” Rick types. “My dad is the Father of the Century.”

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. “If you hadn’t been in such great shape,” one doctor told him, “you probably would’ve died 15 years ago.”

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other’s life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father’s Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

“The thing I’d most like,” Rick types, “is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.”

To see the inspiring website of Team Hoyt, go to: http://www.teamhoyt.com

You Tube video of Team Hoyt (amazing)

Sports Illustrated

[tags] triathlon, Team hoyt, inspiration, amazing, father, son, bond [/tags]

Post from: Healthbolt