Omar's Blog

New Blog & Website

2008-07-21T06:13:00.001-05:00

My blog is now located at www.ozonexterra.com

Xterra Highlight VIdeo

2008-07-09T20:26:00.002-05:00

I came across this video footage from the Xterra Southeast race a few weeks ago. Some great slow motion of me on the mountain bike....http://g13.tv/flash/player/index.php?vendor_id=206&video_id=1646&ignore_popup=1

Xterra Lock 4 Race Weekend

2008-07-07T18:26:00.003-05:00

My wife Kira and I kicked off the fourth of July weekend with Xterra pro Craig Evans and family in Spring Hill TN. After a fun Friday evening watching Dara Torres make swimming history and ducking the neighborhood fireworks shrapnel, the rest of the weekend focused on racing. Craig and I met up with local triathlete Bruce Gennari for a Saturday morning road ride. Since we were all racing the next day, I figured it would be an easy 2 hour stroll through the countryside. Unfortunately Bruce and Craig's idea of a stroll ended up being a 3 hour 60 mile sweat fest. Although it was a stronger training effort than I intended, I got to ride on the beautiful Natchez Trace parkway, and still had enough fuel in the tank for Sunday's Xterra. Despite being down for a few weeks after the crash, I still managed to put together a pretty strong race. Weather and course conditions held up beautifully and I rolled across the the finish line second overall behind Craig and over 5 minutes faster than last year. Although I felt strong for most of the race, the lack of running over the last few weeks really made the 4.5 mile run hurt. I managed to make it through the run with slight abdominal muscle cramping and achilles pain that would have been debilitating if I pushed it any harder. It turns out that the achilles pain, which I thought was plantar fasciitis, is actually achilles tendonosis. With three weeks until my next Xterra, the JCC will consume more of my training time than usual. Core work and physical therapy on my bum foot will suplement running and most of my cycling time in the immediate future. I also have a Strassburg sock on order to try and speed the healing...

Slow Return

2008-06-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

It’s now 10 days into the aftermath of one of my worst cycling crashes ever. While I hoped to be back in the full swing of things by now, that is still a dream. Although the bleeding has ceased, the 30mph asphalt Slip & Slide has left portions of my back still completely raw. While it’s healing well, there is a 16 sq inch section of road rash spanning my lower back across my waistline. Although cycling shorts ride high enough in the back to cover it, my swimsuits cut right into it. I’ll have to try swimming in cycling shorts for a while, making sure to limit the sun exposure to the rest of my unpigmented skin. To add insult to injury, I have developed a case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. Most people get this from overuse, however a full week of walking around either barefoot or in unsupported flip-flops seems to be the root of my problem; you would think this would be a more natural, and thus healthier, state of being. Hopefully proper stretching and a few more days of easy riding on my trainer will allow my body time to heal.

Buster Britton Race Report

2008-06-15T22:50:00.005-05:00

What do you get when you mix a road bike, high speed turns, wet roads, and a take no prisoners attitude? A recipe for disaster. As I approached the bottom of a short downhill tucked in my aero bars, the road swept gently to the right. Feeling overly strong and confident, I overtook the lead motorcycle. A few seconds later, disaster struck. I hit a small dip in the road and felt the front wheel start to slide. I quickly came out of the aero bars, grabbed the handlebars, tapped the brakes, and tried to put a leg down to regain composure. Unfortunately, the +30 mph speed was too great to overcome and gravity won. The bike swiftly flew out from beneath me as I launched through the air onto my back. After sliding headfirst down the pavement on for about 15 yards, I came to a stop. I knew it was bad, but with the adrenalin still flowing I quickly got back up and mounted my bike. About a mile and a half down the road, and just as I approached the ambulance, the extent of my injuries began to set in. I decided to call it quits for the day. Although I didn’t need to take an ambulance ride, I did end up in the ER with severe road rash that extended from my butt all the way up to my shoulder on the left side of my back. My left elbow and the outside of my left calf received the remainder of the road rash. Luckily between me and my equipment, the only thing broken was my helmet. The next few days are going to hurt… Thanks again to Diane Jacobs for getting me to the ER in my truck (wife doesn’t drive a stick)!

Xterra Southeast Championship

2008-06-09T18:40:00.002-05:00

It’s always satisfying to put together a solid race after months of training. With an age group win, 2nd place overall amateur finish, and a hand-full of pro’s in the wake, yesterday was no exception. Although I placed well, I was most thrilled about my huge improvement over last years’ performance. Even with a slightly longer course and hellish water and air temperature conditions, I managed to knock 8 minutes off of my time from last year. Unfortunately, my overall improvement was not reflected in the swim. Although the 81 degree water temperature didn’t help matters, I still ended up over a minute slower than last year. I have three theories about this: · I have no way of verifying, but the first swim buoy looked a whole lot further out than last year. · After averaging less than 10,000 yards a week for the majority of the year, including a few weeks completely out of the water, my total time devoted to swimming was less than adequate. · Increased muscle mass from additional cycling and running is turning my legs into anchors in the water Since most of the elites were slower than last year, I’m leaning towards my first theory. Regardless, more time in the pool to increase core and upper body strength should help to offset any added leg mass, and restore that torpedo like body position from my college swimming days. I felt very strong on the bike this time around. Although having home course advantage definitely helped, I had a much stronger engine this year. I was able to maintain a much quicker and smoother pedal cadence. This was a result of more than doubling my saddle time since getting on a road bike last year. I also have to give credit to having one of the fastest mountain bikes for the course. While the majority of my improvement came from a much stronger bike leg, I also had a better overall run. After leaving transition, I got an immediate side cramp. This slowed my pace considerably for the first 3 miles. After mile 3, it finally went away in time to tackle the infamously technical and steep yellow trail. Additional attention to hill repeats in training this year gave me the capacity to actually run the entire course without stopping or walking. Although cramping while on the run continues to be an issue, I feel like I have gotten much more control over it. Through better conditioning, a more dialed in prerace diet, and better race nutrition, I am finally getting a handle on it. Next up: Buster Britton… Check out the race photos at http://www.xterraplanet.com/news/press_article.cfm?id=2215 (I’m in #19)

Bump & Grind 2008

2008-06-03T20:19:00.001-05:00

Sometimes a race just doesn’t go your way. That was the case for me this past weekend at the Bump & Grind MTB race at Oak Mountain State Park. 45 minutes into the race, I was drafting two other riders on a smooth fast section of fire road. While traveling at over 30mph, a brick sized rock was kicked up by the wheel of the rider in front of me and slammed into my rear tire. Even the tubeless tire was no match for the impact. The result was an immediate flat, a bent rim, a long walk, and a big DNF next to my name on the results. Although I was disappointed, I wasn’t angry (like when I was once directed the wrong way on a course). This was just a freak accident that can’t be blamed on anyone. Bad draw. In hindsight, it’s probably a blessing. Since my focus is Xterra triathlons, and the Southeast Championship is this coming weekend, the 45 minute effort last weekend was probably the perfect event from a training standpoint. I even made a point to go ahead and get a 5 mile trail run in afterwards. I am soo ready!

Clean Bike = Fast bike

2008-05-29T20:28:00.001-05:00

A clean bike is a fast bike. Well at least a clean drive-train makes a faster bike. Over the years, I have tried various soap/water solutions, bicycle degreasers, and even engine degreasers to keep my bicycle drive-trains clean. However, recently, I have found the best bang for the buck method: an old toothbrush and some WD40. After rinsing my bike down with a hose (avoiding spraying directly at any bearing assembly’s) to remove the mud and dirt, I spray wd40 liberally on the chain, chainrings, and cassette. With the bike in a stand, I pack-pedal so that the chain moves through the bristles of the toothbrush. I continue this on the chainrings and cassette. Another quick spray of the drive-train with a hose knocks off most of the residue. I then take a clean and dry rag and wipe down the drive-train. After a few squirts of chain lube, the bike is ready for more action. Regular drive-train cleaning, especially on mountain bikes, will greatly extend the life of some very costly components.

VO2 max

2008-05-27T07:14:00.002-05:00

David and Kristy Harris, from FitnessWave Tennessee, were in Birmingham again this past weekend for the Y-tri triathlon. Since I’ve been training consistently for over 5 months, and I’m only a few weeks away from my first Xterra race for the season, I figured this is a great time to test my ability. I completed a VO2 max test to get some insight into my current fitness level. VO2 is basically a measure of the volume of oxygen consumed per kg of body weight. It is used to measure cardiovascular fitness. To set up for this test, my road bike was mounted on a stationary trainer in the 34 x 17 gear combo. After filling out my vitals (age, sex, height, weight, and resting hr) I slipped on a nose and mouth encompassing mask attached to an oxygen measuring machine via a corrugated plastic tube. I warmed up for about 10 minutes before beginning the test. Starting at 100 watts of resistance, I started pedaling. An additional 25 watts was added every minute, and I used hand signals to rank my perceived effort on a scale from 1 to 10. After the longest 14 minute effort I can think of, my body gave in to 425 watts of resistance. The result was a 70 VO2 max. As I expected, this was far above the typical male of my age. However, I was even more enthusiastic to find out that it is towards the low end of the range for an elite level cyclist/triathlete. Considering I don’t have the luxury of a full time training schedule or coaching, the result is very motivating , both in terms of being a great baseline number and showing room for improvement. Along with VO2 max, the test also gave my max hr (187), aerobic/anaerobic thresholds, target hr zones, and caloric burn rate for each zone. Until recently, I always used the formulas that take vital statistics in order to calculate these things. However, it’s great to have individualized test results to get the most out of training (my previous max hr calculation was about 8 bpm high). One thing that is notable about this test is that the VO2 max number will differ depending on the activity being tested. Overall, this was a very informative test that I look forward to completing again as continue to make athletic gains. Although testing can be schedule throughout the year, Fitness Wave will be back in town, with all of their test equipment , for the Buster Britton Triathlon next month.

Just a Thought

2008-05-20T20:20:00.004-05:00

I overheard some roadies talking the other day about training. One of them was expressing his frustration over how hard it is to make a 50-60 mile "flat" ride in Birmingham. Although I didn't fall over laughing, the internal smirk still permeates. For the casual cyclists and gym crowds just looking to stay in shape, I would expect to hear something along these lines. However, for someone aspiring to be a competitive cyclist, which I would assume of anyone regularly putting in that kind of mileage, hills and “training outside your comfort zone” are a large part of the equation. Occasionally, someone will ask me about my training and what I feel is the most important aspect to improvement. Until now, I always talked about things such as consistency, proper rest, and nutrition. While those are all very important, EFFORT and INTENSITY are often overlooked (especially among the endurance sport crowd). This is one of the most critical lessons that I learned from 15 years of competitive swimming.

Tennessee Training

2008-05-11T22:02:00.000-05:00

Over the past few months, pro triathlete Craig Evans has made the occasional weekend training trip down to Birmingham from his home state of Tennessee. I take the opportunity to push myself in keeping up with him whenever I get the chance. This past weekend, I headed up to his neck of the woods in Tennessee to do some training. After getting in Friday evening, we took the time to catch up and plan out the weekend over dinner. We rose Saturday morning and headed up to Lock 4 Park in Gallatin TN. This is the venue of the Xterra Lock 4 race that takes place every July. We warmed up one lap and then did two strong laps around the 7 mile mountain bike course. Although this course lacks any long sustained climbs, the constant acceleration and braking required to quickly navigate the sharp corners and switchbacks make this course deceptively difficult. Any extra time on a course like this always helps out on race day. I rounded out the morning with a 3 mile run on the Xterra run course. After lunch, we headed to the pool for a 3000 meter long course workout. As my first ever post bike/run swim, I understand why swimming is the first leg of a triathlon. My legs were fatigued to the point where I needed a pull buoy just to keep my form. After a four hour training day, I enjoyed the chance to sleep like a new born baby as soon as my head hit the pillow Saturday night. We finished up the weekend with a two hour road bike ride Sunday morning. This was the first ride on my new Trek Madone 4.7. I’ll post more about the bike after a few more rides, but it performed beautifully on the Tennessee countryside roads. Unfortunately, not even the bike could help tame the strong winds. Our initial plans for a 50 mile ride were cut about 10 miles short after giving in to Mother Nature. With 3 races planned for June, this will serve as one of my final weeks to make big gains before my racing season kicks off!

Urban Brick

2008-04-22T23:06:00.003-05:00

Downtown Atlanta is probably one of the least likely places to find an Xterra triathlete in training. As it turns out, I am stuck in the concrete jungle again all week on a business trip. Just as I did 3 weeks ago, I packed my road bike and rollers. I don’t normally elaborate on individual workouts. However today’s “urban brick” was worth talking about. My 19th floor hotel room balcony overlooks the busy hwy 85 interstate and Georgia Tech stadium right in the middle of downtown. I set up my rollers on the hotel balcony overlooking the downtown maze of madness. After warming up for 10 minutes, I cranked out a half hour effort averaging just under race pace heart rate (~155 bpm). I immediately swapped shoes and shorts and headed down to the 4th floor hotel fitness center for a 2 mile treadmill run at the same heart rate as the bike. Following the treadmill, I headed straight to the stairwell for “urban hill repeats”. I ran down to the 1st floor and ascended the stairs to the 25th floor. I repeated the stair routine four times, with an increase in effort each time (I was skipping every other step on the last round). I finished it off with 10 minutes of abs and 5 minutes of stretching back in my room.

Metabolism

2008-04-17T20:06:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday, I spent the better part of the afternoon promoting Cahaba Cycles at Alabama Powerman. While at the Cahaba tent, I struck up a conversation with Kristy Harris of FitnessWave. The details are on their website, but they basically perform VO2 max testing, hydrostatic body composition testing, and metabolic rate testing. Despite my background in elite level swimming and engineering, I have never been a big “numbers” person when it comes to exercise. I just got my first HR monitor last year! However, I couldn’t help but gain curiosity when I saw them doing a metabolic test on a volunteer. In order to complete the test, you must first go at least four hours without eating or drinking anything other than water. Then, you sit down, put on a nose clip, and breathe into a tube attached to a machine that measures your resting metabolic rate (RMR). This represents the calories the body burns to maintain vital body functions (heart rate, brain function, breathing, and other essential activities). In simple terms, it is the number of calories a person would burn if awake, but resting all day. With an empty stomach, I completed the test and gained some insight into why so much of my family budget goes towards groceries. As I learned from the test, my body burns 2232 calories/day just maintaining vital functions. From this, they were able to estimate that I burn an additional 669 calories/day doing everyday chores (walking up stairs, brushing teeth, etc.) and 279 calories in a half hour of moderate exercise. It takes a VO2 max test to determine the exact calorie burn for different levels of exertion. However from these results it’s entirely reasonable to assume a 4000+ calorie typical day for my training schedule. Of course this number could easily be 50% to 75% higher on a big training day. For anyone trying to ensure they are getting the right amount of calories to stay fueled, or to gain, maintain, or decrease weight, a metabolic test is a great way to establish some baseline individualized data.

Russian Wild Boar Duathlon

2008-04-05T18:22:00.003-05:00

If my first multisport race of the season is any indication of the remainder of the season, then I am expecting huge performance gains this year. I competed in the Russian Wild Boar Off-Road Duathlon today. As a part of the Brookside Greenway festival, it was held on the rain soaked Brookside Greenway and trail system. Despite the muddy conditions I racked up a first place overall finish. Going into the race, I didn’t really know what to expect. It was my first-ever duathlon, and a first time-event. As a first-time race, I must commend race director Mike Bryan for doing a fantastic job of making sure everything was organized, and well marked. Initially, the bike portion of the race included a river crossing. However, the rain last night caused the river level to rise to waist deep level. Fortunately the race organizers re-routed the bike portion to omit the river crossing. The final route included a 1.8 mile trail run, 10 mile mtb bike, and 1.8 mile trail run. In order to maximize participation, race officials aimed to limit the technical difficulty of the course. However, thanks to mother-nature, the extreme amount of mud made up for the lack of technical difficulty. Since it was my first duathlon, I started off conservatively. Knowing that I was able to run with the leaders without any signs of fatigue, I found a huge boost of confidence going into transition. Leaving transition on my bike, I was in the familiar last 2/3 of a triathlon territory. Still feeling strong, I laid the power down on the bike and managed to gap the field by over 4 minutes. At the start of the final run, my legs complained a little. However, thanks to the great conditioning work over the winter, I was able to mentally shut out that initial fatigue and increase my lead for a victorious finish. I’m really looking forward to the Xterra season!

Training while traveling

2008-03-28T16:45:00.001-05:00

This week, I had my first experience maintaining my training while on business travel. Although it took a little more logistical planning, it ended up being successful. Work brought me to midtown Atlanta from Monday through Thursday this week. On Monday, I completed my morning swim in Birmingham before getting on the road for a noon appointment in Atlanta. I completed my next swim with the Dynamo Masters Wednesday evening. With a variety of swimmers, including a couple with Olympic Trial cuts, the 3600 meter long course practice provided an excellent workout. I returned to Birmingham Thursday night, just in time to get a good nights rest for my normal Friday morning swim. Since my hotel was right in the middle of downtown, I decided to bring my indoor rollers instead of braving the Atlanta traffic on my bike. I maintained my cycling fitness with two one hour sessions on the rollers. Finally, I made great use of the hotel treadmill with two run sessions totaling about 10 miles. Although it wasn’t a tough training week for me, it was enough to maintain my fitness while traveling.

Proper Rest

2008-03-19T20:24:00.001-05:00

The switch from daylight savings reminded me of another crucial part of training: PROPER REST. As a general rule, I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. This means getting to bed before 10:00 pm on nights where I intend to work out in the morning. For reasons I have yet to determine, my body seems to be taking much longer to adjust to the time change than in years past. Since I haven’t been falling to sleep until 11pm to 12am lately, I have been skipping morning workouts and trying to make up for it in the evening. Rather than trying to work out on 5 or 6 hours of sleep, I feel that it is far more important to get a proper night of sleep and get the most out of one evening workout rather than two-a-day. Medical studies have shown how the body can break down very quickly without proper rest. Since day jobs and emergencies tend to interrupt evening workouts far more than morning workouts, I am looking forward to getting over the time change soon.

Training update

2008-03-11T20:13:00.003-05:00

Originally, I planned to run the Perseverance 5k this past Saturday. I like to run occasional 5k races as a speed gauge. For the 10k run in Xterra, 5k runs are a useful tool to determine how much speed work I need. Unfortunately, the freezing temperatures and slick roads kept me indoors for the day. Instead of lying around the house, I did find the motivation to get a good two hour “brick” workout in. For those new to triathlon, a brick workout is basically just a workout that includes at least two tri sports back to back. The idea is to acclimate your body to using the different muscle groups required for different sports back to back. Anyway, my indoor workout on Saturday included 40 minutes on my rollers followed by a 20 minute run at 10mph. I repeated this twice. With daylight savings ending, race season is just around the corner. It’s crucial to stay healthy and consistent with training, despite what mother -nature decides to do.

Final Snake Creek Gap

2008-03-03T07:11:00.001-06:00

This past weekend marked the final Snake Creek Gap Time Trial for the year. I went into the final event feeling very strong and confident. The excitement of the final race caused me to start out much faster than usual. Unfortunately, this left my energy reserves depleted before the last 4 miles. The extreme technical difficulty and climbing in last 4 miles of this event will make or break your time. Unfortunately, it broke me this time. I ended up about 3 minutes slower than my fastest time trial on this course. However, considering all of the variables of mountain biking, that is pretty insignificant for a 34 mile mountain bike ride that takes around 3.5 hours. I hoped to take another 5-10 minutes off of my time from the last event. However, it was still a strong showing and I even won my class. In the end, this event will go a long way to ensuring a successful triathlon season. Since this ride was much more difficult than anything I will encounter during the cycling portion of triathlon races, it will serve as a great mental edge.

Broken Chainstay

2008-02-13T21:01:00.005-06:00

Looks like I got the new bike just in time. While my new Superfly was getting some upgrades, I took my 3 year old Specialized Epic out for a night ride. After about 6 miles of riding, I heard the rear tire rub on the frame. The picture above tells the rest of the story...

Snake Creek Gap 2

2008-02-05T21:27:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, I completed the second of three Snake Creek Gap Time Trial mountain bike races. Compared to my first try last month, this race went really well. In my first try, the 34 mile ride took 4 hours and 3 minutes. This time out, I dropped almost 35 minutes with a final time of 3 hours and 29 minutes! I attribute this huge drop in time to increased familiarity with the course, increased fitness, and new-bike-itis. One of the biggest difficulties of mountain biking is proper gear selection. Too large of a gear will cause early muscle fatigue and, at worst, coming to a dead stop on a climb. Too low of a gear will cause you to give up valuable time and even sacrifice stability in some cases. Ideally, you want to be in just the right gear to maintain a smooth pedal stroke over the terrain. Course familiarity plays a big part in this equation, in that you can better anticipate proper gear selection and energy requirements for different sections. Logging more than twice as many cycling miles this year vs. last year, my cycling fitness continues to make large gains. I have been very consistent so far this year with getting on the bike at least 4 times/week. Finally, I can't let this end without giving some props to the new Gary Fisher Superfly. While a new toy always seems to add a little excitement, this bike actually offered some real advantages over my previous rides. Specifically, the 29” wheels felt much more stable at all speeds and carried my momentum through the rough stuff with greater ease. Most importantly, the carbon frame didn't show any signs of weakness or flex. Unfortunately this led to its one shortcomming. After spending the last few years on full suspension bikes, and with only one week of riding the Superfly, my taint is still recovering from the three and a half hour epic. Despite the larger wheels, it is still a hardtail, and requires a different riding style than the full suspension rigs. However, I'm convinced that for cross country riding, this is one of the fastest rides around.

New Ride

2008-01-30T19:47:00.000-06:00

Just knocking the dust off my new Gary Fisher Superfly in the backyard. With about 3 hours of ride time, I can't find anything negative to say about the bike. The XL frame fits like a glove. The 29" wheels roll through rough terrain much more smoothly than any of my past 26" wheeled bikes ever did. At just over 24lbs, it's also 3 pounds lighter than my last dual suspension 26" wheeled bike. The engine is the only thing left to improve...

Sweat Rate

2008-01-20T18:53:00.000-06:00

Sweat Rate As a mid distance swimmer in college, my average races lasted less than two minutes. With races this short, things like sweat rate and nutrition were not nearly as important as they are in endurance sports. I quickly found that out last season competing in triathlons. In the pinnacle race of my season, the Xterra World Championship, I was crippled by a series of cramps during the run. In an effort to make sure this doesn’t become an issue again, I am doing some hydration and nutrition experimenting in training. One of the easiest tests that you can do as a start to diagnosing cramping issues in endurance events (anything over an hour), is a sweat rate test. This basically involves weighing yourself before and after a one hour race effort without hydrating. I completed one for the first time today on a treadmill at the JCC and here are my results: Before weight: 179.5 lbs After weight: 173.5 lbs Avg HR: 162 bpm Treadmill Speed: 9.5mph (no fan) Temp: approx 70 degrees With a pound of sweat being equivalent to 15.4 ounces, this works out to 92.4 ounces of fluid loss! As I suspected, this is extremely high. According to articles from Runner’s World and active.com, the average person loses between 27.4 and 47.3 ounces/hr. The highest on record was 125 ounces/hr by former Olympic distance runner Alberto Salazar. Most doctors recommend not losing more than 2% of your body weight over the course of an endurance event. In my particular case, I would need to consume approximately 15 ounces/15 min while running. Since sweat rate changes with different sports, temperatures, humidities, and altitudes, this is only the first of a series that I plan to complete this year. However, I think this is great baseline information for making sure I maximize my potential in the future.

Website

2008-01-14T17:26:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, some critical files were lost and my website will have to be rebuilt. Stay tuned for updates in the comming weeks.

The Swim

2008-01-14T17:25:00.000-06:00

If you look at most elite triathletes, they usually have a strong background in one of the 3 sports. With a finite amount of time to train, this allows extra focus to go towards the weaker sports, while staying very competitive. Luckily for me, I have years of swimming under my belt. This is reflected in the fact that swimming only takes up about 25% of my training. However, this does not mean I don’t have room for improvement. There are two main issues in the swim that I will try and address this year: sighting and start positioning. Unlike in a pool with lines to follow, open water swimming requires you to constantly pick your head up to sight the course buoy’s, and ensure swimming in a straight line. In my first season, this turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. As a result, I plan to spend a little more time doing some head up swimming drills, where you pick a point on the pool deck to focus on while swimming freestyle. One of the exciting things about Xterra triathlons is the mass start. However, after getting caught in swim traffic at a few races last year, I will need to make sure I find a better position to start in. Some of the variables that effect the best position at the start include course set up, tide activity (for ocean races), and number of competitors. After meeting a lot of the pros and learning who the stronger swimmers are, I plan to address this issue by increasing my aggressiveness at the start line to secure a spot next to the stronger swimmers with course experience. After taking almost 5 years off from my college swimming days before starting back last year, my speed and endurance in the water should continue to improve this year.

Snake Creek Gap Weekend 1

2008-01-06T11:10:00.000-06:00

Well, it’s 5 months away from my first planned triathlon for the year (Xterra Pelham). This means that it’s time to start getting more serious and consistent with my training. My main goals for this year include a top 10 overall finish at Xterra Pelham and a top 3 age group finish at Xterra Nationals. In order to accomplish this, I will need to make improvements in all three triathlon disciplines. To start out, my training will consist of building a strong aerobic base. Compared to later in the season, this basically translates into slower pace and longer sessions, with an additional emphasis on core conditioning. Over the last month, I have been doing the BBL Saturday morning training rides. These weekly rides are generally around 70 miles in length with approximately 4 hours of saddle time. They provide cycling base training that will be crucial for a successful race season. This weekend, I decided to substitute the BBL road ride with the Snake Creek Gap Time Trial mountain bike race. This is a three race series that I plan to use as a strength builder and fitness indicator. After yesterday’s race event, I realize that I still have a lot of work to do to get where I need to be. I treated the race as more of a hard training ride than an actual race. This means that I took a couple short rest breaks (less than 5 min) and tried not to spend much time in the red zone (more than 80% max heart rate). With almost 10,000 feet of climbing on the 34 mile mountain bike course, muscle fatigue proved to be a far greater concern than heart rate zones. These are the type of events that put things in perspective and give you that mental and physical edge in Xterra triathlons.

Dec 1-2 Training Weekend

2007-12-04T20:44:00.000-06:00

This past weekend marked my first serious multisport training since the Xterra World Championship. Xterra Pro Craig Evans called just before the weekend about getting together to train at the Xterra Southeast Championship venue here at Oak Mountain State Park. Although I don't plan to really hit the training hard again until in January, I figured this would be a great opportunity to start the transition to January and pick up some pointers from a veteran. I ended up getting some great work in. Saturday consisted of one strong 17 mile loop on the mountain bike, followed by a 1 hour trail run that included over 700 ft of climbing. I followed that up Sunday with 2 laps on the mountain bike. The first lap was near Craig's race pace (Note: Craig's race pace=Omar's nose bleed pace). After going hard on the first lap, we backed off on the second, and hit the pavement for the last half back to the start. It was a great weekend of injury free cool fall weather riding.

Weekend Riding Chattanooga

2007-11-11T21:20:00.000-06:00

It's always a blast to ride new trails. This past weekend, seven of my riding buddies and I made the two and a half hour trip to Chattanooga TN for a weekend of mountain biking. We spent Friday and Saturday evening bicycle bar hopping and exploring the Chattanooga waterfront. Saturday was filled with a day of riding the trails at the Ocoee River State Park. The fall colors and colossal valleys provided a breathtaking backdrop to ride. We capped off the weekend riding Tennessee's newest trails at Raccoon Mountain. I don't remember having so much fun on a bicycle since childhood. The 16 plus miles of smooth rolling single track served up the perfect combination of technical switchbacks and fast roller coaster descents.

The only black triathlete?

2007-11-06T20:55:00.000-06:00

While competing in Hawaii, I noticed that I appeared to be the only African American competitor. My wife Kira recently wrote an interesting post about it in her blog Brilliant Color. So, am I the only one?

Vulcan 10k

2007-11-03T18:54:00.001-05:00

Note to self: Respect all races. This was the lesson I learned today after running the Vulcan 10k. With a relatively flat course, cool weather, and no swim/bike beforehand, this should have been a walk in the park for me. However, I failed to realize the effects of an epic race less than a week old, followed by a week of tropical vacation living, and 20 hours of travel ending two nights before the run. I felt strong for the first 3 miles, easily maintaining a 5:30 mile pace. However, leg and side cramping caused the race to take a drastic turn for the worst after the midway point. Unlike Xterra Worlds in Hawaii, I was able to keep running to the finish, albeit in serious pain. I ended up just over 38 minutes, which is still respectable for a first ever 10k race. However, realizing that there was a minute difference in mile pace between the two race halves, and barely a hint of windedness at the end, I know that was far from my potential. As my last planned race of the season, I'll have plenty of time to sort out the cramping issues.

Hawaii Part 2

2007-11-01T17:01:00.000-05:00

I woke up two hours before the race feeling strong. In an attempt to stay out of the sun, I warmed up for the run on the treadmill in the air conditioned hotel fitness room. Next, I went for an easy 5 mile road ride on my mountain bike, and finally headed over to the race start to get warmed up in the water. As we all lined up for the start, which is supposed to be a mass run into the water from the beach, many eager racers inched 15 to 20 yards into the surf. Race officials ordered us to move back, however the race gun went off with many racers still fully submerged in the water with a substantial head start. This was somewhat irritating, but something I will definitely keep in mind for the future. The surf was noticeably rougher than the previous days, making it very difficult to sight the boys and shore. The mad dash for the first buoy resulted in a huge bottleneck of flailing arms and legs. Unfortunately I got caught in the crowd; however I was able to put the power down after the first buoy and get in a better position for the second lap. Coming out of the water, I was well positioned at #3 in my age group and thirty fourth overall. After a smooth transition, I grabbed my bike and began the most difficult part of the race. The pain started about 1 mile into the bike. Approximately 3/4 of the 19 mile mountain bike course was climbing. After spending the summer getting much stronger on my local trails and roads, I had a lot of confidence going into the bike. Most of that confidence was humbled on the first in a series of grueling climbs. While this race is notorious for a section called “heartbreak hill”, they all seemed pretty heartbreaking to me. The extreme climbing started the first of what would be some serious cramping issues later on in the race. Normally, some muscle recovery can be found on the descents. However, the descents were so steep, loose, and littered with sharp volcanic rock, that it took most of my strength just to keep my bike upright. My Gary Fisher Hi-Fi gave me plenty of confidence on the descents, as evidenced by my constant jockeying for position between the climbs and descents. Fortunately, I made it through the bike without any crashes or mechanical mishaps. After racking my bike, I quickly headed off for the run. I started off feeling strong, even gaining position. However, after about 800 yards from transition, I developed a small side stitch. Within the first mile, this turned into crippling chest and abdominal cramps, slowing me down to a walk and finally a complete stop. Although I contemplated dropping out of the race a few times, the thought of traveling over 4000 miles for a race and not finishing was enough to keep me going. The cramping never went away during the run, but the intensity wavered based on exertion. Although I was able to finish, I was forced to walk and jog for the majority of the run. With the goal of a top 5 age group finish coming into this race, I was disappointed with my 16th place finish. However, since this was my first triathlon season, and by far the hardest race that I have ever done, it served as an amazing learning experience both mentally and physically. Due to the large number of variables, there is a lot of mystery surrounding cramping. I feel as though my prerace nutrition and hydration needs were well met. However, my initial theory is that the cramping issues were more related to a failure to replicate extended periods (more than 2 hours)of race level exertion in training, and improper nutrition during the race. I plan on consulting with a doctor on these issues in the coming weeks. On the plus side, I feel that with more experience and training under my belt, combined with my speed, natural talent, and determination, I can compete on the same level as the best in the world.

Hawaii Part 1

2007-11-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

The trip to Maui started out well. After arriving Wednesday evening and taking two nights to get used to the 5 hour time difference, I felt in top form. Luckily I was able to get a room at the Mau Prince Hotel (the host venue for the race). I originally planned on swimming Wednesday evening to loosen up after a full day of travel. However after talking to the valet, who happened to be a recreational swimmer, I decided that the risk of encountering a tax collector in the dark beach waters was too great. Waiting until Thursday morning, I went for a 20 minute ocean swim on the race course, followed by an easy loop around the 4 mile practice course set up for the bike (no pre-riding of the mountain bike course allowed), and an easy 15 minute run. The choppy waters, extremely hilly terrain, and a noticeable lack of shade, summed up my initial impressions of the course. After repeating the previous day’s routine in the morning, I went on a sightseeing tour of the Road to Hana. This is an infamous 37 miles of road with more twists, turns and elevation change than I have ever seen. My wife, Kira, started out driving with me riding shotgun. However after a few miles it became clear that I was going to either get car sick or go crazy, so I took the wheel for the rest of the journey. Beautiful mountain top ocean views, waterfalls, black sand beaches, caves, and roadside banana bread and breadfruit combined to make this trip worth the journey. I spent Saturday relaxing, hydrating, and putting the final touches on our costumes for the post race Halloween Party. We went to Maui Tacos in Kehei, so I could chow down on a prerace Burrito (favorite prerace food). It turns out that I wasn’t the only Xterra racer that enjoys a good Burrito. I met age grouper Rife Hilgartner and pro Ryan Ignatz from Colorado. They gave me the tip to run slime filled inner tubes to combat the huge thorns that line parts of the race course. This turned out to be great advice. I ended up racing passed a number of competitors suffering from flats on race day.

Basic Dieting & Training Theory

2007-10-21T20:37:00.000-05:00

On my way out for an easy road ride today, I ran into the father of one of my neighbors. The decision to start getting in shape for triathlons early in the year coincides with the last time he saw me. He remarked that I looked a lot slimmer than the last time he saw me and inquired about my training and diet. I told him that the weight loss is kind of threefold. For starters, I currently weigh 175 pounds. This is equivalent to my freshman year of college swimming weight. The weight came off over the course of a few months, but it's a noticeable difference from my 200 pound starting point. At the start, I was lifting weights 3 times per week, averaging about 4 hours of cardio per week split between swimming and mountain biking, and proudly carrying my clean plate club dining card. I elaborated on my basic training schedule in an earlier Blog, but I'm about 3 times more active than previously. I also eliminated weight lifting from my routine. My weight room time is generally limited to stretching and core exercises. I find that for me, the negative effects of extra muscle mass on my swimming body positioning cancels out the strength gains found from weight lifting. Also, with little serious running or cycling training under my belt, and a finite amount of training time, actual cycling and running is more beneficial. Anyway, the elimination of weights from my routine combined with the sharp incresase in cardio, accounts for the majority of my weight loss. I love to eat, so I don't get too carried away on the diet. However I do have some basic guidelines. First, I turned in my clean plate club card. I now try and eat until I feel the first signs of being full, rather than until all the food is consumed. Second, I replaced all soft drinks with water. Third, I eliminated beer and limit wine and spirits to about one/week on average. Fourth, I limit the sweets/pastries/doughnuts to special occasions (birthdays,graduations, and weddings). Fifth, I avoid deep fried foods. This is probablly the most difficult (those fries and nacho chips are always tempting), but there is almost always a tastey alternatve. Finally, sitting out on wing nights, avoiding the cheese sauce and multiple meat topping pizzas, and replacing the vending machine chips and candy bars with dried fruits and granola bars, are all daily healthy choices that go a long way without sacrificing too many of the enjoyable parts of life.

Beyond Clothing

2007-10-16T16:55:00.000-05:00

I came across a pretty neat contest sponsored by Beyond Clothing. Check it out here: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=339980

Xterra Worlds Training Update

2007-10-14T23:13:00.000-05:00

Two weeks from today I'll be duking it out with the worlds best at the Xterra World Championship in Maui. I'm really happy with my overall training for this season. In my first year of training for triathlons, I've completed three major goals: staying true to a consistent training regiment,showing measureable improvements in all three disciplines, and staying realtively injury free. There was a bike crash in mid July, and some shin splints from running early in the season, but nothing that kept me away from any one sport for more than a few days. The ability speed injury recovery by replacing one sport with another is a great benifit of triathlon training. In my first year, I still have lots of room for improvement in all disciplines. My basic schedule for the last 3 months has been the following: AM - PM Mon: Swim Tue: Run- Road Bike Wed: Swim- Mnt Bike Thur: Run- Road Bike Fri: Swim- Sat: Swim/Road Bike Sun: Mnt Bike/Run This schedule has worked to give anywhere from 12 to 15 hours a week of solid training. I have varied the running between treadmill,track, trail, and road in order to minimize joint impact and try and maximize leg conditioning. I've also mixed in some spin classes with the road cycling in order to minimize my exposure to cell phone wielding motorists. With two weeks to go, I plan to taper with the basic formula of scaling back the amount of time spent doing each discipline, and then scaling back the intensity. More to come on the road to Maui...

DOUBLE WHAMMY WEEKEND July 7-8

2007-10-08T10:14:00.001-05:00

As a test of endurance, I entered two triathlons in one weekend. The Wet Dog Sprint Triathlon in Decatur Alabama came first. I treated this race as a warm-up race to the Lock 4 Blast Xterra the following day. I came out of the 400 yard swim feeling strong going into the bike. Until this race, I hadn’t ridden a road bike in over 10 years, so I was naturally a little nervous. Without a road bike of my own, I borrowed a friend’s steel frame road bike for this race. Despite my lack of road riding experience, the strength developed from mountain biking was enough for me to hold position. I completed the 5k run, achieving my goals of keeping a controlled pace and keeping my heart rate out of the red zone in respect for the next day. My efforts were rewarded with an age group win and second place overall finish. Next up was the Lock 4 Blast in Gallatin Tennessee. Gaining more experience with each race, I started the swim focusing more on staying in a straight line between the buoys. It’s much easier to make up time by swimming a shorter distance than swimming further and faster. The bike course consisted of two laps of the best marked single-track that I have ever ridden. During the first of 2 loops on the bike, a slight inattention allowed my handlebar to catch on a tree and catapult me over the handlebars. Luckily, the tree didn’t inflict any damage to me or my bike and I was back up and rolling in less than 30 seconds. I completed the two loop run without incident and went on to an age group win and 6th place overall finish. Not bad for rookie season two races weekend.

Panther Creek Weekend Aug 5th

2007-10-08T10:13:00.001-05:00

I went up to Morristown Tennessee a day early to preride the course Saturday afternoon. This was classic east coast riding with some steep climbing and plenty of tree cover. After a season of little rainfall, the race kicked off with a swim in a lake that was so low, that most athletes, including myself, were scraping the bottom for parts of the race. Despite this, I felt very strong during the 800 yard swim and emerged from the water in second place. Unfortunately, the remainder of the race didn’t go as well. After gaining the lead in the early part of the mountain bike, I was misdirected off course. This wasn’t made apparent until entering the transition area to start the second of two laps. After a heated exchange with race officials, I was allowed to continue. I finished the bike still in the lead, but was assessed a time penalty. Going into the run, a leg twitch turned into a cramp at the halfway point. This sidelined me for approximately 5 minutes and was another mishap in an overall disappointing race. After having great luck in my first few races, this was my first introduction to some of the things that can go wrong in a triathlon. I took two big lessons from this race. First, you can never ask too many questions concerning course layout. Second, despite what happens during a race, its imperative to stay relaxed. I have yet to completely figure out a pattern to cramps, however since all other variables, such as outside temperature, nutrition, stretching, and hydration were consistent with my other races, I can only assume that the leg cramp was due to the additional stress that I put on myself after learning that I went off course. I’ll be experimenting more with cramping during my next few months of training. My next race will be World Championships October 28th, 2007 in Hawaii.

WHY I TRI

2007-10-08T10:11:00.000-05:00

Alot of people ask me this, so here it is. My first taste of Xterra came in June of 2006. After being out of the water for almost 6 months, I hesitantly agreed to do the swim leg of a relay race at the Xterra Sport Race in Pelham Alabama. Halfway through the 750 meter lake swim, my arms fatigued so much, that I turned over and started doing backstroke. Even with the fatigue, I still emerged from the water with over a minute lead on the main field of swimmers. It was so exhilarating that I was ready to keep going on the bike. I was hooked at this point. The adrenaline rush from that race was enough to re-awaken the competitive spirit from my earlier swimming career. With the encouragement from local Xterra veterans, I decided to get in better overall condition to tackle a full Xterra triathlon. Similar to many swimmers, I avoided races longer than 200 meters like the plague. However, I’ve found that a strange thing occurs when cycling and running are added to the equation; a one mile swim suddenly becomes the least of concern. With the thrill of the mass swim start, the rollercoaster effect of mountain biking, and the amazing scenary and terrain varieties found trail running, its hard not to get a thrill out of Xterra triathlons.