Bear Lake Brawl
June 30, 2007
Bear Lake, Utah
Olympic Distance
Men
Greg Deyle 1:58:07
Jake Rushton 2:05:49
Douglas Cook 2:06:19
Women
Jenny Cole 2:24:42
Deborah Battaglia 2:25:45
Melinda Kerns 2:25:57
Sprint Disntace
Men
Devin Lindhal 1:07:17
Mark Schmelter1:09:26
Jeff Dolloff-Holt 1:09:33
Women
Solana Kline 1:16:06
Erin Bennion 1:17:09
Sarah Summer 1:18:26
Popularity: 7% [?]
Editor’s Note from the June issue.
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It has been long over due for us to have a Half Iron event back in Utah. Two years have passed since the last Half, TriUtah’s Echo Challenge Half came and went. TriUtah has unsuccessfully tried to keep the distance in town for several years, beginning with the Kokopelli Half. The events never had the athlete attendance needed to keep a race of its magnitude in town. Half’s require more volunteers to stand in the sun for hours on end, more roads to navigate athletes through and a lot of time, especially on race day. Some would say that there are not enough long-course-minded athletes in Utah to support the events. Maybe TriUtah was ahead of their time. At least they tried.
Fast forward to 2007 and we welcome the VikingMan and Utah Half. While not in Utah, the VikingMan is now the closest regional Half for Utahn’s to attend. Plus, if you are not a strong swimmer you know that nothing beats swimming down the fast moving current of the Snake River. Burley, Idaho is officially a triathlon town. 350 athletes signed up for the inaugural VikingMan event, forcing the race director to close registration well before race day. Burley’s Spudman Tri, a favorite for Utahn’s sold out in a day (over 1,000 athletes). VikingMan’s inaugural event went off without a hitch, and has momentum heading into 2008. I wouldn’t be surprised if they doubled their attendance next year.
The Utah Half has been looked at with some doubts. As the raced was announced last winter, many wondered if organizers had permits and/or the support of the city. And, athletes have to ask, “what makes Utah Lake safe to swim in now?†Ironman Utah and Half Ironman Utah failed due to two consecutive canceled swims in Utah Lake. As it turns out, co-race director Travis Snyder has assured TriHive that a recently built jetty will protect swimmers from the waves that caused Ironman to pack its bags in 2002.
Interestingly enough, TriUtah announced a Half Iron distance event for August of 2008. The race was announced when their 2007 triathlon schedule was unveiled this past winter. It seems race directors are noticing that Utah athletes are ready to take on new challenges. Maybe we’ve always been ready, if the venue and time was right.
Now, if all three of the Half’s stick around for 2008, we’d be approaching the saturation point. One Half is great. Two is a luxury. Three are more then enough. Recent rumors state that two more Half Iron distance events may pop up in 2008. Yes, there MAY be five Half’s in our area in 2008. When it rains it pours. Better late then never, I guess. Where was the enthusiasm to put on a Half last year? Does my bitterness show? In my ideal world, these race directors would work together and produce one amazing event, attracting a national audience. Ego and money won’t allow such a thing to happen.
Let’s hope that one of these Half’s will survive the competition, and give long course triathletes a race to look forward to year-after-year. It would be a tragedy if they end up sinking each other. VikingMan looks to be the one that could survive the flood. They’ve already beat everyone to the punch and hit a home run in its first year. Also, land lovers looking to jump up to a longer event will appreciate the Snake’s current. Can the Utah Half generate similar enthusiasm? Will we see three more Half’s in 2008? Time will tell. Just keep one going!
Alex McKinley
Popularity: 35% [?]
If you are using gels you should check out this program by GU. I like free stuff, so this is right up my alley. And better yet, I’m doing my part to help Al Gore save the earth!
Anywho, for every 50 empty gel packets you send in you will receive 5 new GU’s and/or you can opt to get some GU Schwag. I shipped away my 100 empty gel packets and have requested 10 gels. Yeeee hawww! Oh yeah, the empty gel packets do not need to be GU brand. I have a ton of different brands that I’ve sent in.
Check out www.GuSports.com for more information about the Stash Your Trash program.
Save Mother Earth!!!!
Popularity: 17% [?]
Dino Land Triathlon
June 23, 2007
Vernal, Utah
Olympic Distance
Men
Marcel Vifian 2:01:34
Branden Rikita 2:02:39
Heath Thurstaon 2:09:10
Women
Jolene Wilkinson 2:23:32
Malaika Homo 2:26:54
Rachel Cieslewicz 2:39:53
Sprint Distance
Men
Mike Mamales 1:11:49
Guy Perry 1:13:36
Ben Walden 1:13:56
Women
Debbie Perry 1:14:05
Melinda Frey 1:22:54
Sue Pope 1:25:57
Popularity: 6% [?]
Provo Triathlon
June 23, 2007
Provo, Utah
Olympic Distance
Men
David Chugg 2:24:17
Chris Shurtleff 2:27:02
Garrett White 2:32:10
Women
Kim Watson 2:37:33
Gretchen Cook 2:40:44
Kim Abbott 2:52:41
Sprint Distance
Men
Matt Whitney 1:12:02
Casey Robles 1:12:34
Jameson King 1:13:29
Women
Lindsay Zizumbo 1:26:12
Lynette Borup 1:27:25
Martha Ellis 1:27:48
Popularity: 9% [?]
Utah Valley Triathlon
June 16, 2007
Benjamin, Utah
Olympic Distance
Men
Jameson King 2:14:20
Chris Shurtleff 2:14:28
William McDonnell 2:25:45
Women
Amie Hall 2:25:48
Sarah Goldberg 2:27:26
Deborah Battaglia 2:33:12
Sprint Distance
Men
Daniel Schultz 1:07:00
Dennis Keith 1:11:53
David Hartle 1:17:16
Women
Natalie Rasmussen 1:17:37
Sarah Linebaugh 1:19:10
Kery Brown 1:21:25
Popularity: 6% [?]
Utah Summer Games
June 16, 2007
Hurricane, Utah
Olympic Distance
Men
Greg Deyle 2:09:28
Randall Olsen 2:11:49
Michael Olsen 2:12:43
Women
Becky Lamph 2:27:47
Kim Jefferson 2:29:41
Colleen Rue 2:29:48
Sprint Distance
Men
Cory Johnson 1:09:29
Pierre Letourneau 1:10:16
Casey Robles 1:10:24
Women
Alina Fong 1:16:15
Erin Bennion 1:25:12
Elizabeth Squires 1:25:16:04
Popularity: 7% [?]
Running fast can lead to an optimum performance and it may be easier to get faster than you think. Implementing just a few speed workouts into your monthly training can shave off a lot from even your best running times.
To run faster you must train faster and smarter. Effective speed work is carefully designed and calibrated to increase your muscles ability to utilize oxygen more efficiently. While speed work is challenging it trains your body to perform at a higher intensity for longer and prolong fatigue. Interval training, fartleks, and racing are a few of the many ways to incorporate speed work into your training. As always, remember to warm-up and stretch well before attempting any speed work.
Interval Training
Most serious athletes realize that timed interval work on the track helps build speed for optimum performance. Typically this type of speed work is done on a 400 meter track. The most common forms of interval training are repeats, pyramids, and ladders, all containing three very specific elements: interval length, pace and recovery time. A classic repeat workout includes 12 x 400 meters at 5 sec./mile faster than 5K race pace with a 200 meters recovery. Recovery time should not exceed the time it takes to run the 400. Or try a pyramid starting and finishing with 2 x 400 @ 5K pace - 200 meters recovery. Do 4 x 800 with 400 meters recovery @ 15 sec. faster than 5 K race pace in the middle of the 400’s. Or try a ladder 1,600 meters (60 second recovery) - 1,200 (45) - 1,000 (40) – 800 (30) - 600 (20) - 400 (15) – 200 (5). These workouts are tough, but rewarding when you see your racing times improve.
Fartleks
Running fartleks is the easiest way for a beginner to inject speed into a run. Fartlek is a Swedish word meaning “speed play” and it is simply done by adding random bursts of speed into a moderate run. It is free form running designed to mimic the unpredictable surges that occur during competition. Give it a try.
Racing
Challenge your pace through road racing. Road running season is fast approaching and soon we will be able to choose from an assortment of races every weekend. From trail runs to hilly road races you are sure to find a challenge. Introducing periodic racing into your training gives you that competitive edge which drives for optimum performance. Even a small local 5K can give you the challenge to push the pace and excel in running. Remember to get faster you need to train faster.
Other methods to increase speed are tempo runs, plyometric drills, strength and core conditioning. Becoming a leaner and stronger runner will only make you a faster runner. What about joining a running club or running with a friend that challenges you to run faster?
Lora Erickson is a local triathlete and certified running coach since 1996. As one of Colorado’s top high school runners she ran on scholarship for the “U” and Utah State University graduating with a B.S. Health Education minors: Nutrition and Chemistry. She is also a certified personal trainer and owner of Optimum Health Services located in Bountiful. To comment about this article email blonderunner@netzero.net or call her direct at 299-1601. Custom running programs are available. She will be teaching a four week Running Camp in the month of July through the Bountiful South Davis Recreation Center. On-line sign-up available www.southdavisrecreation.com or call 298-6220 for more information.
Popularity: 21% [?]
Athletes across a wide range of sports use a variety of dietary supplements from multivitamins and antioxidants to meal replacements and muscle builders. Across the American population (of non-athletes), approximately 65% classify themselves as “regular” supplement users (taking a supplement on more days than not). When it comes to athletes in “power” sports such as football, track & field, weight lifting and bodybuilding, the reported supplement usage is close to 100%.
Certainly, we can see the growth in advertising of nutritional products to triathletes – the pages of every tri-magazine are filled with all manner of drinks, gels, bars, and pills. Unfortunately, we’ve never really know very much about which supplement products triathletes are using (and why) until now.
Our research lab has recently completed a study on dietary supplement use in triathletes. The purpose of the research was to develop a greater understanding of the awareness, perceptions, and usage of dietary supplements in triathletes. The data has been presented at the International Society of Sports Nutrition Annual Scientific Conference in Las Vegas (June 2007) – and hopefully, it will help us understand how to more completely address both the nutritional and educational needs of triathletes.
The Study
We recruited 326 triathletes from events in Texas, California, and Oklahoma and asked them to complete a 50-question survey about their use (or not) of dietary supplements. Among these athletes, 174 (71 women and 103 men) were competing at Iron-distance events and 152 (63 women and 89 men) were competing at Olympic distance events. The demographics of each group are presented in the shown table.
As you can see from the data above, the Iron-distance athletes were a little older and had a somewhat higher income as compared to the Olympic-distance athletes. The Iron-distance athletes also tended to buy more (or more expensive) supplements based on their higher monthly expenditures.
What did we find?
It was clear that triathletes in general are avid supplement users (100% of our 326 participants were current supplement users). When we looked at differences in supplement knowledge and usage between the groups, some interesting facts appeared.
For example, we found that while more than 90% of all triathletes get most of their information about supplements from 2 places (internet and friend/training partners), a subset of Iron-distance athletes relied heavily on their coaches/trainers as their preferred source of supplement information. A solid 90% of triathletes at both distances told us that they had difficulty in finding accurate information about supplements – and that they needed more information to make the best decisions between products.
When we asked about nutrient intake from FOOD (rather than supplements), 80% of Iron-distance and 84% of Olympic distance athletes felt that they did NOT get all the nutrients they needed form their food – and thus felt that they needed a daily supplement.
The top reasons for triathletes taking a daily dietary supplement were because they didn’t “eat right” all the time (89%); for extra energy (82%); and to perform better (73%). The most frequently used dietary supplements (90% or more of participants) were carbohydrate/electrolyte beverages and multivitamins. We found a difference between Iron and Olympic triathletes when it came to using “specialized” sports supplements, with the longer-distance athletes using substantially more supplements intended as antioxidants, recovery-aids, and endurance enhancers (52-56% of Iron-distance and only 30-44% of Olympic athletes used these specialized products).
Likewise, we found that 82-95% of triathletes at both distances took their supplements before or during exercise, but Iron athletes were about twice as likely as Olympic athletes to also supplement their diets after exercise (54% versus 29%) – which suggests a higher use of recovery-enhancement types of products.
Conclusion
It makes sense that a highly educate and affluent population such as triathletes would be avid users of dietary supplements, so this data helps to put some context around what products they’re using and why they’re choosing them. It was interesting to see that triathletes at the longer distances were supplementing 20-30% more frequently with products intended for endurance, recovery, and for use after exercise.
Our next steps in extending this research are to learn how we can best educate triathletes about supplements. For example, athletes tell us that
they want and need more accurate information about supplements – but does that mean that we should post more information to the internet (where most are getting their information now)? Is it more effective to reach out to coaches and trainers (because they work directly with the athletes and could “screen” out the ineffective or dangerous supplements)? Do triathletes want to know more about the health benefits or more about the performance benefits (or both) of a given supplement? Maybe they just want to know that it’s endorsed by their favorite professional athlete?
At this point in time, we can say with confidence that triathletes are using supplements at a higher rate than the average American couch spud – but somewhat less frequently than in some of the power/strength sports. Hopefully, our efforts will lead to strategies to help educate triathletes and other endurance athletes about the pros and cons of choosing and using dietary supplements in the best way to enhance their own physical and mental performance.
About the Author: Shawn M. Talbott, Ph.D. is Research Director for SupplementWatch (www.supplementwatch.com) and Chief Scientific Officer for Wicked Fast Sports Nutrition (www.wickedfastsportsnutrition.com). He supplements his diet, and those of his wife and 2 kids, while training for Ironman-distance triathlons in Draper, Utah.
Popularity: 17% [?]
The biking industry has certainly changed over the years and I imagine it will continue to evolve for many years to come. Most of the changes have increased the enjoyment level or fulfillment from the sport. Thankfully there are a handful of companies that are refusing not to change when in comes to the art of handcrafting bicycles.
Guru is one such company (gurubikes.com). Not only do they handicraft every frame they make here in North America, each frame is fully customizable to the individual rider They can accommodate for all body proportions, body weight and your riding characteristics. And, as a finishing touch, the paint scheme is even open for input.
They can work with four different materials steel, aluminum, carbon, and titanium and purchase only the best grade of material in the marketplace. Their carbon bikes have more carbon and less resin than any production bike. This is a pivotal reason why the ride quality is unsurpassed. Their titanium bike may be the last bike you ever own.
Carbon bikes are getting a lot of exposure these days, and for good reasons. They are light, responsive and in many cases very sexy. The Guru Chrono is their flagship carbon bike and was ridden to a 2nd place finish in the Ironman World championships in 2006. While the bike is not exactly chump change, what it offers exceeds anything else in the market place. Certainly there are cheaper bikes, made in mass, in limited sizing, inferior carbon, low grade paint, and not customizable.
People have often said “you get what you pay for.” While that may be true, I’d like to think that the lasting effects of your purchase go well beyond the initial buying decision and I maintain that “you PAY for what you get.” You will pay for what you get, now or later. After the “first cost” has come and gone, the “lifecycle costs” begin to set in and beyond the obvious benefits many of us forget the intangibles associated with a well crafted machine. Time spent on your bike will reveal both its frailties and perfections.
Over the years, the life cycle cost of something that doesn’t fit right, handle precisely, smooth out the road, and manifest all the power you put into it, is not worth any amount of money. Well, almost any amount. Most folks realize this after their first bike purchase and are determined to remedy the problem on the second go around. Except, they forget the fact that the cost of the first bike plus the cost of the second bike is more than they would have spent initially. Not to mention the inflationary and opportunity costs that already been accrued!
Does this mean you have ride carbon? Certainly not, and for most people absolutely not!
Over the years steel, and most recently aluminum, has become the material best suited for most people. What has begun to happen, however, is that bikes are being sold at the cost of the components, specifically the drive train, on the bike.
At first look, this sounds great. The problem is that it leaves little or nothing to be spent on the frame itself. These manufactures, by cutting costs (and corners) on the frame and then the wheels, rob the end user of the “guts” of their machine all for the sake of “dura ace”. Give me a bike that will transfer the power I give it, and a set of wheels that will allow me to defy aerodynamics, and I give you a faster bike split.
The cost of power is high, so high in fact that you can’t ever afford to give it away. The Guru Chrono ‘Alu or Guru Trilite are two such bikes. Starting at $2495 the Cron ‘Alu is 100% customizable at no additional charge and gives you the best grade of aluminum money can buy. It can also be built with tri geometry and road bars that can be converted to aero bars later. At $3295 the Trilite, the bike that won a gold medal in 2000, offers a blend of aluminum and carbon to maximize the stiffness and forgiveness. I like the sound of that.
One final word. Bike. Fit. Matters. Too many people sacrifice their power for an eye pleasing aero position. Money spent on a proper bike fit saves money down the road. There are as many opinions on bike fits as there are bike fitters. Bottom line is finding the position that allows you to produce maximum sustainable power while at the same time lowering frontal resistance. Notice I said at the “same time.” Do not trade power for aero. Once you have found that position, ride in that position.
Therein lies the beauty of a indoor trainer. No matter the time of day/ year. No matter the weather. No matter if the light turns red or young teenager just learning to drive saw you when he pulled out. The trainer allows you to control, eliminate, and stack the variables in your favor. It allows for quality time on your bike, in your position. Perfect practice does indeed make perfect. I recommend the same trainer endorsed by the USA Cycling, Kurt Kinetic. And then if the universe aligns for a 3 hour ride with your friends through the rolling countryside on your bicycle of choice, BONUS!
Guy Perry
Salt Lake Running & Multisport
www.saltlakerunningco.com
Popularity: 18% [?]
