10.11.2009

Larry Bird was one of the greatest all time three-point shooters in the history of basketball. There is something about a three-point shooter that people love. It is the long shot in the purest sense. The three-pointer is a relatively low percentage field goal, but the payoff of 1.5 times a regular field goal makes the calculated risk worth the chance. Not only was Larry Bird one of the greatest three-point shooters, but he wore jersey #33 as if to put a claim on the number 3. It was his way of saying, “I take the long shot, and there is nothing you can do to defend it.”

I feel a little bit like Larry Bird. I love to take the long shot. I love to race from the front. I love to take a risk. Yesterday was my third consecutive attempt at racing the Hawaii Ironman World Championships, and I am proud to say that it was my third completed attempt. I’ve never had a great race in Kona, and I am still trying to figure out the best approach. I have never had a good bike split in Kona, each year I have “popped” on the bike with considerable distance yet to complete. Once I bonk on the bike it makes for a very difficult marathon. This year, I told myself I would be patient on the bike and wait for the action to settle down a bit. I did nothing of the sort. I crossed the finish line yesterday as the 33^rd finisher of the race, and Larry Bird instantly popped into my head, whenever I see number 33, I always think of Larry and what his jersey symbolized.

The swim start was a bit chaotic. I like to start on the left side of the swim because I breathe to my right, that way I can I see most of the action. While we are supposed to start behind the Gatorade inflatable, the right side of the starting line was creeping further and further out. We were getting warned by the starter and the surfboard paddlers who were there to keep us in line. The attempts were futile, and when the cannon started I was already behind in the race and blocked by a couple of surfboards. That was only a minor problem in the swim as I was quickly and easily in the front pack and feeling fine. At the first turn buoy I was kicked in the right eye pretty hard and I dropped back a little. This was the mistake that really cost me some time. Around the second and final turn buoy there was some separation in the pack. Since I was towards the back I wasn’t in a position to close the gap and I was stuck in the front of a second pack. You never want to be at the front of the second pack. It means you are swimming too hard, and going too slow. Better to be at the back of the front pack and swimming faster with less effort. Oh well, there were still some good riders in this small pack, including Chris McCormack, the 2007 champion. I was quick through the change tents but slow at my bike as I put on arm coolers for the ride. I was already a bit behind the group of riders. I rode hard to catch-up, too hard in retrospect, but at the time it was the gamble I thought I needed to take. Since I was already behind, I could use the pacing and the slight 10m draft effect of this small pack to catch up to the leaders. I stayed with the pack until Kawaihae then I started to cramp a little bit, I knew I was riding too hard and I had to back off the pace before I really popped. If I took it easy up to Hawi I could get my special needs bag and fuel up for the rest of the ride. I rode with a small group containing Michael Lovato (9^th last year) and Patrick Vernay (6^th last year), but the group dwindled quickly as Vernay and another rider both got drafting penalties. It took me a while to get my lunch out of the special needs bag, but once I got it out I was fine and feeling much better. I could still tell that I spent a little too much time riding too hard, but I figured that feeling would fade if I just kept the pace under control. The effects of riding too hard, never did fade away, and in fact they only got worse. I am not sure what was going on, but I had a killer headache on the ride. I was consuming salt capsules more rapidly than planned, I was sweating salt, and I could smell my own awful body odor. I was consuming plenty of salt, fluids and calories for the ride, but something just wasn’t right. My HR was too high for a long time, once I got it down, I had a hard time getting it to come back up. I could not for the life of me generate significant power on the bike. I coasted several times, and wanted to take my helmet off, because my head hurt so bad. I was upset at myself and kept audibly yelling at myself to HTFU and finish this ride. I was relieved to get off the bike, which is never a good feeling during a long race, but once on the marathon I made it my goal to break 9 hours for the day. I started off fine, but still had the killer headache. My stomach was a bit unsettled and I walked through the first aid station grabbing everything I could. Two waters, two Gatorades, two Cokes, water on the head, and sponges, I started running again quickly but I was not feeling well. It didn’t take long for the Coke to kick in and I was back. My legs weren’t there to run super fast but I knew if I just held it steady I could still pull off a decent marathon. 9 hours was going to be a stretch. I kept plugging away on the run. I had a few miles around 8 min mile pace, but I also had a few miles under 7 min mile pace. I was averaging around 7:30’s and that felt fine at the time. I focused on my technique and I kept picking off more and more runners. I am not usually one to pass people on the run, but when I blew up on the bike it put me behind where I would normally be. I continued the routine of drinking two Cokes and two waters at every aid station. I would take two salt capsules every 5 miles on the run. Towards the end of the run, about mile 22, I dropped my fuel belt bottle with Red Bull in it. I bent over to pick it up and my left hamstring seized in a cramp. I walked and had to stop and stretch for a while. I got it to relax then I took another two salt capsules. I could tell my legs were on the verge of cramping more, so I took two more salt capsules at mile 24 just to get to the finish line. My mile pace slowed considerably the last 4 miles but I was still moving forward and knew I would make it to the finish line. 9 hours was now out of the question, but I was just as happy to make it to the finish line in 9:06. It was not as fast as my debut at Kona in 2007 (which I thought was a bad race), but much better than last year, and I had my fastest Kona marathon so far with a 3:16. If I can run a 3:16 here after I bonked on the bike, I know I can really light this run up when I feel good. It was great to get another year of experience in Kona. I will review the race a thousand times and try to take away as much information as possible. In the meantime, I’m going to practice my three-pointers, the only way to get better at the long shot is by practicing.

Tollakson, TJ

Places 38/39/32

Age 29

MPRO

Swim 00:52:52

Bike 04:52:37

Run 03:16:06

Finish 09:06:20

Work Hard,

TJ

10.5.2009

As I prepare to race in Kona on Saturday for the Ironman World Championships, I thought I would give a small insight into one important aspect of my training: my diet, more specifically, my diet to get “down to my race weight”. I know many triathletes never have to worry about their weight when racing. For most of the elite triathletes, losing muscle to get to the race weight is not a challenge. My mesomorph body type provides me many benefits for racing. I have an abundance of fast twitch muscle fibers, I have the ability to generate a lot of top end power in all three disciplines, and I am very strong. The disadvantages of my body type are that I have to pay close attention to my recovery since more muscles mean more time to repair, I have to supply oxygen to all of my muscles, and I have to carry around a little extra bulk (most notably on the marathon).

I spent a lot of time as a child wrestling. After all, I did grow up in the wrestling capitol of the world, Iowa, home of the great Dan Gable. Cutting weight is an integral part of wrestling even at a young age. My first cutting weight experience occurred in 1993. I was in sixth grade and wrestling at the AAU Iowa State Wrestling Championships held each year in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I qualified for Sate by winning my district qualifier. There are 16 districts in the state and the top two finishers get a trip to the state championship. This makes the state championship a 32-man bracket. Wrestlers compete in two year grade levels, so I was wrestling in the 5^th and 6^th grade division. One year at this age makes a big difference, so it is quite advantageous to be in the higher grade. My weight class was 110 pounds. I didn’t have to try to make this weight at districts since I just stepped on the scale in the morning and weighed less than 110 pounds. I did have to make this weight four weeks later at the state tournament and I remember trying to watch my diet the day of the weigh in as my mom drove me to Cedar Rapids on Friday afternoon. I stepped on the scale and weighed 113 pounds. Oh boy! 2 hours left of weigh-ins. It didn’t take long to figure out a quick bathroom break would take care of most of the weight but then I was still about a pound heavy which meant I was a twelve year old running in my sweats trying to lose 16 ounces of water by sweating. It didn’t really take long, only about a 20 min jog, and then I was good to go. I went on to win that State Tournament beating several kids who eventually became collegiate national champions and All-Americans. I loved wrestling and feel it taught me more about winning and losing than any other sport. After an undefeated season as an 8^th grader I decided to swim in high school as a freshman. I came back to wrestling my senior year and wrestled varsity at 152 pounds; this is where I truly came to understand “making weight”.

As a rookie professional triathlete I never cared much about my weight. I knew I was quite a bit bigger than most of my competitors but I took the old Lance Armstrong approach thinking I could win any race regardless of my weight. It took a few people continually telling me I needed to lose some weight before I actually got on the process. When I committed to losing some weight for racing, I determined I wanted to weigh close to 160 pounds about 10 pounds lighter than I was currently racing, and close to what I weighed before cutting weight in high school. I first started this process in 2007 in the spring. My first race at 160 pounds was Eagleman 70.3, which I won in a record setting time. It seemed to be working.

While I still struggle to keep my racing weight, I have a solid approach about training heavy and just dipping down to my race weight prior to an event. This helps me get the most out of my training and stay strong, healthy, and vibrant. Prior to a big race, I start monitoring my weight daily and slowly begin to catabolize my muscle while I sleep. I weigh myself each night and morning using a Tanita Ironman Body Fat Scale, which gives me an accurate depiction of body fat, weight, and hydration. I record the information and track it before my race. I can tell if I am on a correct trajectory before a race and adjust as necessary. I don’t want to lose more than 2 pounds in any week so if I start to lose more I adjust.

My method of losing weight is individual and one that allows me to recover properly from training while still shedding some unwanted excess muscle while I sleep. Here are my rules for my weight cutting.

1. Twice a week do a short aerobic run (30-40minutes) in the morning with no fuel, this teaches my body to burn fat since my carbohydrate stores are depleted.
2. Limit carbohydrate consumption at night and increase fat and protein intake
3. Don’t eat after 8 PM
4. Go to bed a little hungry, not starving, just a little hungry
5. Fuel with whatever I want before, during, and immediately after my hard/long workouts. (if I want that pint of Ben and Jerry’s Mission to Marzipan, the best time is either mid workout or immediately after)
6. Supplement with HMB, I prefer using EAS Muscle Armor but just about any form of HMB will help

A little bit about my history and use of HMB. HMB was developed at Iowa State University and is a dietary supplement. It is very popular amongst power and strength athletes but it also has great properties for endurance athletes, especially mesomorph athletes. HMB has anti-catabolic properties which help prevent the breakdown of damaged muscles. What this means for me when trying to get down to my race weight, is that I can catabolize muscle while I sleep, but target muscle catabolism that has the least impact on my training. In other words, the muscles I use least are the ones catabolized.

I am not in any way prescribing this method of weight loss to any athlete and would caution even the most experienced professional about experimenting with my method. I am simply informing about what works for me.

I am only 5 days away from Kona and happy to report that I am lean and mean and down to my “fighting weight”. Just in case I get in a fight. I haven’t been on a wrestling mat in years but I would still take on any professional triathlete in a take down contest; you still get “two points for a takedown”. I’ll just stay away from the guys who now race triathlons after spending time wrestling at either the Olympic Training Center, or have spent time training under Dan Gable. They know who I’m talking about, and trust me you won’t find a more intense group than a bunch of former wrestlers.  I give a mental edge to anyone who knows what it is like to “cut weight” for an event.

Work Hard,

TJ