If you can train for a triathlon….

If you can train for a triathlon, learn to swim a half mile, mile or more, finesse yourself into becoming one with your bicycle, or find the will to keep running all the way to the finish at 5 kilometers, 10 kilometers or 42 kilometers, then you’ve got what it takes to play the guitar, or the cello, or the horn. The techniques of goal setting, making a disciplined plan to achieve that goal and staying the course are multi-disciplinary. By that I mean that if it gets results in one discipline the same basic plan will get results in another discipline.


Conversely, if you play a musical instrument, practice regularly with goals of proficiency and artistry, you’ve got what it takes to become an athlete. Granted, a marathoner, triathlete, or speed skater might not become the next Wynton Marsalis or Itzhak Perlman or Christina Aguilera. But one can almost guarantee that application of an athlete’s discipline to learning a musical instrument will spell success while application of a musician's discipline to athletics will assist you in your fitness and competition goals.

I am a professional musician with athletic ambition. No, you will never find me on the cover of Runner's World, nor will I ever turn heads at Senior Olympics, but I do succeed at the goals I set by applying to my athletic training the exact same discipline that is necessary to be a professional musician. It’s all about problem solving, staying on task and to a significant degree just plain stubbornness. A musician has to practice on the days he would prefer to goof off. You can practice early in the day or late at night, but you have to practice regularly. An athlete can work out early or late, but she has to work out regularly in order to achieve goals.

Musicians have drills, athletes have drills. I have found that not only does my background as a musician inform my training as an athlete, but my training as an athlete informs my horn playing. All of this is to say that the time, the commitment, the effort in preparing for a triathlon (you could fill in any number of other activities) counts towards other of your life goals as well. In fact, I could argue long and loud that we all become better at what we do if we also strive for athletic success. And remember, the converse is true here as well. If you already do something well, play a musical instrument, write, or garden, you are already several steps into the race when you decide to become an athlete.

So come on. What are we waiting for?

Read More......

Swimming gear

A month or so ago I went to visit Carroll Voss at his store, Fleet Feet San Antonio. Carroll is a runner, a tireless race organizer (Big Bend 50K) and also runs an annual marathon training group. He’s a veteran triathlete and one who has given me a good deal of advice and support in my rookie effort at triathlon. Thanks, Carroll.

On this particular visit Carroll brought in a bag full of swimming accessories for me to pick through. Being new to this, I was seeing some of the training devices for the first time. For instance, a pull buoy and hand paddles. Carroll also had three or four goggles, a swim cap which might have come from his first tri, and a pair of very brief Speedos. (I think he said something like “I’m afraid my gut might hang out if I wore these today.” Oops…..sorry Carroll). Truth is, my gut would hang out too. That’s why I swim in a more modest Nike suit.

All of this points to the question of exactly what we do need as we train for the swimming portion of a triathlon (or just to be in swimming shape for the summer). I hope one of our experts will chime in here, or perhaps one of you reading this can enlighten the rest of us. Obviously, we need swim suits. I doubt there is a Hippy Hollow triathlon. Goggles are also a given. But what about nose clips, ear plugs, pull buoys, hand paddles, flippers? And while we are at it, what are the thoughts regarding snorkels (both for training and competition) and wet suits?

I’m just going to bait the line with the above questions and wait.

Read More......

Boston marathon report

My friend and fellow musician-triathlete Dorian Ramirez flew up to Boston this week to cheer for her brother in the Boston Marathon. I thought you might be interested in Dorian’s perspective. Thanks Dorian.

“It was well worth the hassle of taking a 6:00am flight to Boston the morning after our concert! Luckily the weather cooperated and I arrived on time to wet and cold conditions. I met my brother and his girlfriend at the convention center and we went to the Expo for a few hours to check out all of the merchandise, then back to the hotel to watch the weather channel to try and gauge the conditions for race day. Early Monday we headed to the race start in Hopkinton with heavy rain, wind and a forecasted 44 degree high. We arrived early enough to get a nice parking spot near the start line and close to the portable toilets (very important) and decide on what clothing should be worn (shorts or tights??). This year the race start was moved early to 10:00am and there were two wave starts. My brother was in the 1st corral so I went up to the front and got to see all of the elite men going to the start line. Around start time the rain let up, but it was still cold and windy. It was something to see all of the trash bags and rain ponchos that had been covering everyone fly through the air.

“After watching all of the runners start, I hopped into the car and drove into Boston to park near the finish line. I was able to watch the elite women and the elite men coming in to the finish and the crowds were unbelieveable...lining both sides of the street and cheering. I worked my way back from the finish, past Boston College to mile 21. I was able to see my brother, but he was concentrating so hard and I couldn't yell loud enough for him to see me. I then worked my way back to the finish line in thick crowds that at times were not even moving. The City of Boston is to be commended on the race. It seemed as if the whole town was interested in the race. Numerous times strangers stopped to ask if we were there for the marathon.

“This was my brother's 15th year to run the marathon. He did well and I was certainly impressed with his time of 3:03. (My goal is to run just one mile at his marathon pace!) His girlfriend also did extremely well at 3:48 (this was her 2nd year to run the race). I'm so proud of what they accomplished. I know it took a lot of hard work and dedication. I had such a great time. It's going to be hard not to go watch it next year :)”

Read More......

Wake up and smell the chlorine

There are the rare triathletes who come at the sport from a swimming background. But it seems that most of us come either as runners or as cyclists, both terrestrial based activities. Ask someone new to triathlon what has kept them away from the sport thus far and you are likely to hear something about not being a swimmer. That was my reply, and it continues to be my greatest concern as I count down t minus six weeks to the CapTexTri.

One friend, a veteran marathoner, was flippant when I asked her if she ever planned to do a triathlon. “I don’t swim,” she said. Her manner filled in the rest: “And I don’t intend to start swimming now.” Another marathoner, chasing the qualifying mark for the Boston Marathon, hopped on his bike and was peddling off 15 and 17 mile rides as though they were nothing. He does swim, just not in deep and open water. Will he eventually dip his toe into triathlon? I’m betting so.

All of this is to say that I know many of us fear the water. We cringe at the thought of a deep water panic attack. And as I write this, I acknowledge my own fear of locking up in the open water. But I would not be writing today if all I had to offer was validation of this trepidation. No, I write today to say that progress will come more quickly than you might imagine, but first you have to get in the water and return to the water regularly, three times a week or more.

Looking back at my training log (if you don’t keep one, you probably should) I see notations in week 1 of my 12 week triathlon program of a struggle to log 4 or 500 meters in the pool. I swim in a 25 meter pool at a Gold’s Gym, and for the first few weeks I spent as much time recovering after 25 meters as I did covering that one length of the pool. Swimmers call that half a lap. If I really pulled myself together I could struggle through a full lap. But I kept coming back, determined to find improvement. Midway through the 3rd week I covered a metric mile of 1500 meters, but still swimming only 50-75 meters at a time. Lately I have begun swimming with a Finis brand snorkel and it has enabled me to focus on the stroke and on lengthening my endurance. Maybe the snorkel is a compromise, a crutch, but snorkels are permitted in triathlon and I am told some quite competent swimmers use them. For now, I can report some encouraging progress. Here I am in the early days of week 6, and I just logged a mile and a half, swimming with much greater endurance than even last week.

If I can do it, you can too. One quick additional remark, and I am out of here. When I set out on, let’s say, a 6 mile run, there is usually a point within the first mile where my body might try to talk me into a shorter run. It can trick you, and I am sure many of you have probably had similar experiences. But once you run through that moment of contention (we’re probably just getting our heartrates up to running speed), you realize it was only momentary fatigue and the rest of your run is a breeze. Same thing happens for me when I swim, and it still scares me until I realize that just like running, I need to smooth out the stroke (stride if you are running) and relax so as to postpone any premature oxygen debt. Then the laps begin to accrue and before you know it you are toweling off with a huge smile on your face. Now eat that bowl of ice cream. You earned it.

Read More......

Space station marathon

A couple of recent items on television are of interest, one because I am somewhat flustered and the other because it is so neat.

First, a peeve. There was a short item on local San Antonio television suggesting that many of us are overdoing it in terms of exercise. “Do you exercise for an hour or more?” was one of the issues raised. The segment also asked whether you feel a compulsion to exercise, going on to suggest that these issues are indicators of being “addicted” to exercise.

Surely, the issues are much more complex than that, and to suggest that many of us with fitness goals are overdoing it is misleading and, I’m afraid, feeds the epidemic of avoiding exercise. We need to realize that certain goals can’t be accomplished on 30 minutes a day, several days per week. And it’s definitely not a disease to aspire to a high degree of fitness. I’m not saying there is no over-exercise abuse. We all see it. But let’s not cast aspersions upon those who are out there running, jumping, biking, swimming and walking five or six days per week. For the most part these athletes should be our role models.

OK. I’ll step off the soap box now while I encourage you to click on the following links to learn about the marathon which astronaut Sunita Williams ran at the International Space Station as an official participant in the Boston Marathon. At least she had some good weather as she averaged just under 6 mph while the Space Station rushed through space at 5 miles per second!

NASA press release

Boston Marathon run in space station

Read More......

Lonestar Triathlon Festival report

When last year I organized a team of six runners from the Mid-Texas Symphony to run in the annual Beach-to-Bay marathon relay in Corpus Christi I found myself short one female runner. I wanted a balanced team of 3 guys and 3 gals, so my friend Liz Levin Pittel, an avid runner, suggested her stand partner and fellow cellist Dorian Ramirez.

I wasn’t sure what kind of runner Dorian was, but signed her on to the team. After all, this was just for fun. On race day we relayed reports back and forth amongst the team each time the baton was passed and it became apparent after Liz ran and especially after Dorian finished her leg of the race that we had a quicker team than any of us had anticipated. It turns out that Dorian was just beginning to stretch herself out as a runner and triathlete. She and her husband Fred raced in last year’s Capital of Texas Tri and this year they are biting into at least a portion of the inaugural Texas Tri Series. Here’s a report Dorian sent me on their participation in the Lonestar Triathlon Festival on April 1, in Galveston.

“Hi. I wanted to give you an update on the quarter Lonestar Tri we did last weekend! We were really worried about the weather. When we left Austin on Sat the storms had passed but of course as we were driving, we drove right into them in Houston. The folks who did the sprint on Sat had horrible conditions. All of their stuff in transition was floating in water when they got out of the swim, but everyone sounded like they made the best of it. Fortunately, the weather cooperated and we had no rain, but some nice wind :)

“We swam in the bay (not on the seawall side but the other side). Thank goodness! It was nice and salty and waves went over your head as you swam. It was a new experience for me. While swimming I thought...how do people do Hawaii and Florida where there are real waves??

“We were nice and salty when we jumped on the bike to ride down the coast and we had a strong headwind against us. It was really nice to make the turn and have the wind behind us on the way back!

“The run was curvy and there were plenty of aid stations. The race was really well organized and enjoyable. I finished in 3:09 and Fred finished in 3:20. We felt fine when we finished, other than being a bit sore and tired and headed back to Austin after the race.”

Read More......

Two a days

When I first talked to Zetta Young back in December I quickly learned she is not only enthusiastic about offering advice and help, but she also has the experience to know what she is talking about.

Zetta is accomplished in triathlon and also in the individual challenge of marathon. She has qualified for, competed in, and completed the Hawaii Ironman. Ditto for the Boston Marathon. I mention this not so much to brag about Zetta, though she is somewhat reluctant to do it herself, but to clarify that when Zetta offers advice, it is a practiced advice which has worked for her, and probably is something we who are just learning need to heed. In the course of that December conversation, I asked Zetta about her workout schedule.

“Oh, I usually swim a couple of times a week, bike three times a week, and run three times a week,” said Zetta.

I smarted off: “That makes an eight day week.”

“No,” she patiently replied, though she knew I was kidding. “Some days I will bike and run the same day, or swim and bike. And, of course, you take a day off to rest.”

The point of this is to remind us all that in order to train thoroughly for the challenge of a triathlon we have to do double disciplines now and then, especially once the training begins ramping up. Another accomplished athlete who contributes to this blog is Shelly Campbell. Shelly is a coach, an internationally competitive bicyclist and triathlete. She has kindly put together a training program for me as I work towards my first triathlon experience. Needless to say, there are days of double duty. And later in the training schedule there are days to practice the transitions from one part of the tri to another. It all makes sense, especially when you know it comes out of Shelly’s own experience of being competitive and successful as an athlete.

So let’s get with it, triathletes. Within the past week and a half I have practiced some of what Zetta and Shelly preach. It’s a different experience to run and swim on the same day, or to bike and swim as I did today. Sure, I will eventually put these into the proper sequence and also practice the “bricks” (biking followed by running) which I anticipate WILL be as difficult as everyone says it is. My experience so far is that it is a blast. You work out hard in one discipline, get the endorphins kicking, then leap into the next sport and get that endorphin rush. It feels good to work out hard and feel so great about it afterwards. You begin to get that taste in your mouth that Josh Davis once mentioned to me. Said Josh: "Nothing tastes as good as being fit."

If you’re training for a competition, or just working to get fit, I hope you will chime in on this discussion. Let us know what you are up to. And by all means, let’s take advantage of having Shelly and Zetta on board to help us all out. Additionally, though I didn’t give a proper introduction to Jeff Campbell, he’s our cyclist and will be glad to address any bike related issues. Let’s use these resources!

Read More......

Swimming progress

I guess it must have been my dad who first taught me how to swim. He wasn’t a particularly good swimmer, so you can imagine what kind of swimmer he made of me.

Nevertheless, I spent a lot of time in a pool during the summer months as I grew up in Victoria, Texas. We lived just a quarter mile of so from what was the only public pool at that time in Victoria. It was called Pleasure Island; much of the pleasure was buying frozen candy bars at the concession stand with whatever nickels and dimes my brothers and I had managed to pull together. If you found one of us at the pool, you likely found all three brothers at the pool, and I guess in retrospect that is a remembered pleasure.

My first “real” job was as a basket boy at Pleasure Island, working for 25 or 30 cents an hour for Coach Gilstrap. Pool patrons were issued numbered baskets in which they put their clothes and other belongings. The basket boy took care of the baskets while the swimmers swam. It wasn’t a bad job. It was in the shade and I got to swim free on my days off.

You would think with this much early experience around a swimming pool I would be a swimmer. But again, the only instruction I had back then was from my dad. I never really learned a proper stroke, though I prided myself in swimming long underwater distances on my elastic lungs. I swam less in high school, maybe Pleasure Island had closed by then, so my next experience was a semester or two of swimming at UT Austin during my freshman year. The coach wasn’t much engaged, though we did come away with a vague understanding of a crawl, a backstoke, the breaststroke and the butterfly. Mostly we thrashed in the pool at the old Gregory Gymnasium playing a lot of water polo. Final exam was to swim a mile.

That was more than a third of a century ago (it’s scary when I think of it that way). During the intervening years I have rarely done more than swim across a pool now and then before opting to lounge at poolside. Thus my reluctance when this triathlon thing came up. How in the world would I manage even the relatively short distance of 750 meters in a sprint triathlon? The first few times back in the water brought to my mind the image of a turtle swimming with its head high out of the water, while the frantic thrashing of my arms was like a windmill. Be calm, I said to myself, and see what comes. I have gotten a few bits of advice (still need more) and have watched with interest other swimmers of varying abilities. I like to believe I have begun to print that mental image of the good swimmers upon the physical reality of my thrice weekly swims. My distances in the water have increased at an encouraging pace. Yesterday I duplicated that final swimming exam at UT all those years ago, and I suspect I may even know better what I’m doing today than I did in 1967. That’s some progress.

Read More......

Kitchen scales, or bathroom scales?

Let’s talk diet, chew the fat (as they say) about the somewhat contradictory nature of how we eat, why we eat, and what we should eat.

Although we all know some general rules, like cut down on the junk food, the fast food, the fat and calorie laden food, how many really abide by these general rules? Not many, from the looks of our general population. Come on, let’s dig in and resist the popular and hedonistic approach to eating. Without making this commitment, how are we going to achieve other related goals of fitness and discipline?

But I digress, for what I am really thinking about is the disparity between the non-athlete’s need to “diet” and the athlete’s quite different needs. To confuse the two can be counterproductive at best and debilitating at worst. When I think of diet, it’s the traditional rules which come to my mind: count the calories, read the labels, burn some calories. That’s it in a nutshell: don’t intake more calories than you burn, and take in even fewer calories if you intend to lose weight. But how does this apply to the athlete?

First, I love the definition given me by Shelly Campbell that we become athletes when we make the commitment to exercise and become physically active, whether it be swimming, running, biking, dance aerobics or aggressively walking (a saunter won’t do it). As athletes we now must adjust our ideas about dieting in order to insure we aren’t jeopardizing the fuel supply we need for our increased physical activity. Yet we are trapped by the old concepts, the basic dieting which is done by the less active. We do our best to practice calorie counting, portion control and resisting those tempting and harmless looking cookies which pack 150 calories into each mouthwatering morsel. We lose weight, or at least stabilize the situation as muscle begins to displace fat. But here the trouble begins for many of us.

There’s been a crusade against carbohydrates and I suppose there are some valid arguments to support squeezing back on carbs. That is, unless you are a practicing athlete. Higher levels of physical activity require carbohydrates as the fuel source. If you run as exercise, you need to insure you are getting enough carbs in your diet. Yes, it’s one more thing to have to count, and one more listing we must seek out when reading labels on packaged foods. We also should become familiar with measuring portions when we are preparing our foods from scratch. I admit that I don’t, and that’s good reason for us all to add this additional layer to our dietary control. Let’s discuss this sooner than later within the context of this public forum.

Another huge concern which probably also requires dietary scales in our kitchens is the issue of protein. So maybe an Atkins style diet has it at least partially right for the athlete by emphasizing the importance of protein in the diet. The latest I have read, in an article titled “Protein Power”(by Matthew Kadey) in the March-April 2007 edition of Geezerjock magazine, presents yet another formula we have to consider in designing our proper diet. According to the article, if you are into a program of heavy endurance training, like marathon running or long distance cycling (and I guess triathlon would qualify), then you ought to be consuming 0.6-0.7 grams of protein for every pound of body weight. We are all going to need to revisit our daily diets and insure that we are not penalizing ourselves and our performance by getting too little protein. And when we get that protein is also of some importance! I have seen studies which indicate we have a 45 minute window of opportunity after exercising to intake a combination of carbs and protein, this window allowing the most efficient opportunity for the body to put these dietary items to use. According to the article already cited in Geezerjock, “it’s recommended that one consume at least 12-15 grams of protein within 30 minutes after exercise.”

As you can see, dieting is an altogether different beast once you begin training for the big event, or for the rest of your life. Let’s get together and begin using the kitchen scales, not the bathroom scales, as the measure of where we are headed in this exciting adventure of fitness and discovery.

Read More......