Ultraman Recovery

Before Ultraman when I told people about the race they looked at me like I was crazy, but then again I guess I am crazy. I shared with you faithful readers about my prerace efforts and hopefully that was interesting. However not many people ask about how one feels 2-3 days or even 4 weeks after these kinds of races. People ask me what I wanted to eat when I finished and to be honestly my palette wasn’t craving any great foods, I just wanted to lay down and chase some more gnomes.

The day after the race we went to the awards ceremony, if you think people looks funny the day after an ironman or marathon, you should come to this awards ceremony. Everyone is so sore that people are scared to get close to others because they fear a touch may send their fellow competitors into cramps or spasms that would lead to death, its pretty funny to watch the athletes interact. It’s the fourth day of crewing for the crew as they must help keep the athlete upright while standing or even worse…walking. I think the debilitating factor of Ultraman is the double marathon, on pretty hard asphalt, after 2 days of racing. Also by the third day your body is already confused (I guess that’s what you call it) so you start the run extremely dehydrated. And then the 3rd Day of 6+ hours pounding on the roads makes your muscles flushed from liquid and pretty sore. Don’t you want to sign up now?

However, this year moving around was better than my first ever Ultraman. After that race I didn’t get out of the bed for a week, hell it might have been 2, I don’t remember. No matter what it still hurts really bad after each one. Now you definitely want to register! Of course the flight home didn't help much either. Last year I flew out right after the awards ceremony, not a smart move. This year was I stayed in Kona another 3 days after the race so my legs were not as bloated on the flight home. It took probably 2-3 more days before my walking stride became normal. Of course all this is to be expected after 3 days of pushing the limits during Ultraman.

Now comes the part that nobody talks about and few think about. The weeks after the race are where the recovery gets hard, the glow of the race begins to fade and the soreness declines but your body still isn’t back to 100%. For about 2 weeks all I wanted to do is to sleep. Not being able to focus on things is pretty hard especially since you have to rejoin the regular world. During this phase I really made sure I kept taking the usual supplements such as Multi-V, and Optygen to aid in my recovery. The stress on the body is hard enough that even walking into a room that some body was sick a month ago would put me under, so I had to be careful. The training was light, yes training, what you think I was gonna just do my work and sit around and watch T.V.! I trained to simply keep moving, to not let the body get stiff, to simply aid in blood flow. The problem is I really had no energy for anything, nothing at all, so it was more moving and not really training. My legs, and even cardio system returned to normal after about 3 weeks, but even as of now; 4 weeks later; there are days that my body is empty, and all I can think about is either sleep or a nap. I figure that 1 or 2 more weeks, and hopefully “Peter” will be back to normal the way everybody knows me.

After that – its time to start over again, with the preparation for the Ultraman Worlds 2010!

Ultraman 2009 - Here We Go Again!

It was inevitable that our flights to Hawaii would be packed full of screaming children and excited foreigners making their way to the islands. The only thing missing were the farm animals running down the isle of the plane! Ryan and I waited for Peter to get off his plane. He approached our car with a series of f-bombs and a lecture about the "Little Johnny" sitting next to him that crapped in his pants and the soccer Mom apparently lacked the abilty to smell what the entire plane had been gifted with earlier in the flight. We picked up our race car red Dodge Magnum rental car and worked our way to the condo. We are set up in the Alii Lani condo complex less than 2 miles from Kaihula Kona. Our conditions this year are much better and will make a huge difference in our race preparation and ability to keep Peter rested, relaxed and ready to take on this brutal 3-day race. We took a quick trip to the grocery store, picked up some race supplies and have our meal plan set for the week. Our staples for the week consist of espresso, oatmeal, bread, peanut butter and pasta. We woke and spent the majority of the morning getting the supplies for the race, assemblying Peter's bike, setting up the blog, and setting up Twitter. We also fit in a morning swim at the Kona pier. This afternoon, Peter took the bike out for a quick spin and Ryan and I made our way to the City of Refuge for a bit of site seeing.



After returning home, Peter had his best friend from Czech, Daniel and his Wife Egi visiting. They are traveling the world over 4-months and happen to be in Kona at the same time of the race. We cooked 2 pounds of pasta (jacked up with enough hot sauce to kill a small child), ate bread, and watched an outstanding Matt Damon documentary called "Running the Sahara" for the third. This documentary is about 3 guys who ran the entire Sahara desert, 7500KM over 111 days. That's 12hrs of running and 2 marathons a day in temperatures ranging from low 30's to 140 degrees. Incredible. It makes running a double marathon (52.4 miles) in sub-7 minute pace seem like a cake walk. (Not really!) Our only limitations are in our own minds. I guess when you get in the world of Ultra Endurance eventing, this group of accomplished athletes ask the question... "why not?" Many of these athletes have their own personal missions, however all of them contain an internal drive and confidence that quitting in not an option, and are wired to meet whatever goal and challenge stands in front of them at the time.


Our goal is clear, win the world championship. Peter is relaxed, and no doubt ready. Tomorrow, we will check in for the race, get the bike inspection completed and loosen up with some swimming and running.

Maholo to all of our local sponsors in Greenville. We would not be ready and able for this race without the help of our local sponsors: Signature Patio and Pools, Orthopedic Specialists, Metro Reproduction, Dhillon Cosmetic Dentistry, Carolina Foot Care, Joe at Raymond James, and of course our friends at Run In.

Maholo to all of our merchandising sponsors including Jim at Beyond Fabrications, Blue Seventy, First Endurance and Rudy Project for supporting Peter.

To our special friends Stan and Paula Bilkulege, Ashli Gaines, Ben Renfrow, David Godwin, and Cliff Brown for their personal donations and assistance to this race preparations. Your gifts were generous and Peter is grateful for your support.

Finally, a special thanks to WYFF 4 (Mark Dopher and Geoff Hart) for following Peter and the race, and to Richard Osbourne for his great story on Peter in Go Magazine and offering visibility to this great sport we all love.

ARRIVED IN KONA / GETTING READY TO GO

Aloha!

Well, we arrived in Kona on Sunday and Monday. We are getting organized and prepared for the race which starts on Friday morning. This blog will give daily updates as to the pre-race experiences and nightly updates during the Ultraman World Championship. The first article has hit from Slowtwitch.com. You will find a link to the odds for the race at the bottom of this blog. Unfortunatley, Jonas Colting is not in Kona this year, so the race has already changed before it even started! Also, during the race, I will be updating our progress live through Twitter. My twitter account is: ULTRAMAN21. Please feel free to follow me and you will received updates during day 1, day 2 and day 3 of the race.

As you can see by the picture, Peter's tapering is going GREAT! This picture is translated to "everyone have a great Thanksgiving." This is a term of endearment in Czech. It's the Peter we all know and love!! Ryan and I will start the daily reports tonight. We are glad to be back in Kona and looking forward to a great week and a great race!

http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/Ribeiro_Armstrong_favored_at_25th_Ultraman_1120.html

Ultraman 2009 Following

To anybody who wants to keep up with the Ultraman 2009 World Championship updates:

1) this blog - it will be updated by Dean; Ryan - my crew

2) http://twitter.com/Ultraman21

Ultraman 2009 Training Part 4 – October 31-November 1, 2009

Last weekend was a shorter recovery weekend. On Saturday I completed a “short” 95mile ride with a 4 mile brick run and on Sunday I “only” ran 22 miles at brick run pace. The Ultraman training is coming to the end, its almost race time! This weekend is probably the last pure training weekend, next week I'll follow by an iron-distance race (Beach 2 Battleship) or by a regular long ride/long run weekend. Now to the Halloween Business at hand.

Saturday – Since the race is getting close the typical long power interval ride was replaced with some fast cadence interval sets. OF COURSE the weather gods kept their consistency…rain and pretty steady rain it was almost pouring. Sometimes I feel that these workouts should count as swim workouts as well. Also if I hear one more time that “we need the rain” I think I'll tie that person behind my bike, and will drag them around for 100 miles and of course I will make them wear a speedo!!! I do not have a corn field behind my house so I do NOT need 10 inches of rain per week. In case you are wondering my bike looks like a fighter jet in the cockpit with various computers and information gathering devices. Because it was raining so hard it was hard to see my navigational instruments so I ended up basically doing the entire ride as one big interval

Bike/swim workout was done, and yet again followed by a short brick run.

Sunday – Ahhh…Are you ready for some football running. Again to not break consistency Sunday is long run day. However not being sure of my plans for next weekend…I know you are suppose to decide less than 6 days out whether or not you are going to compete in an Ironman but then again who is sane that does Ultraman…I set my plan to do a 33 mile run. I planned to push the pace for the first 22 miles (2x11 mile loop) and then ease up to a moderate effort on the last 11 mile loop. The first 22 miles went great, sub 6:40's felt very comfortable to almost easy, the consistency is working! When I started the last 11 mile loop – the mileage felt still easy/moderate and I hit the marathon point in the mid 2:50's, so that wasn’t bad either. After that; as usually; the miles and mental games started to set in. I realized how much of this is mental and that it is almost easier to keep up the faster pace. However, I didn't want to over do it so finished the last loop in just under 7 minute pace. This as the fastest long run to date for my Ultraman build so it really boosted my confidence.

After this long run I checked the weather report, it supposed to be in the low 50's to upper 60's next weekend , so “I'll just race an ironman instead of training”, it seems a lot easier.

Nutrition Report for the long run: 3 Red Bulls (to see if I can stomach all the stimulation drinks during the run); 1 liter of EFS Grape Prototype; 1 liter of “Kotland Cocktail’; 1 liter of water. No liquid shots this week – it would make it for too many calories for this run.

Well the next update will be from the island (or from home afterwords). Aloha and Mahola.

Ultraman 2009 Training Part 3 – October 17-18, 2009

Well, I must report that nothing new and exciting this weekend happened in my training. I know you would to like to read some crazy story from my training or a wild/totally different workout I completed, but my experience and from chatting with other elite athletes I know – consistent training is the key to success!!!

Saturday – Nothing new here – just like last weekend, the long ride consisted of some hill repetitions in the hardest gear my legs would allow. This weekend even the weather was consistent…consistently raining! In the last hour of the ride I gave myself credit for a swim workout; it was raining so hard I could barely see the road surface. However, it was little bit warmer than few weekends ago and I was able to feel my hands and my feet when I finished the ride. As my tradition has become I followed the ride with a shorter brick run.

Sunday – I am CRAZY, I must admit I was actually looking forward to my long run on Sunday. It has become a challenge…to go farther and/or faster than the week before. The first 5 miles were surprisingly easier than last week. I guess that was a good sign, but I was still treating this section as an easy warm-up. When I was planning this weekend's run, I wanted include more hills and longer loops that I could use for future comparison. The loops ended up being slightly over 11 miles, with a stop after the loop to measure my Lactic Acid (LA) and to put some nutrition and hydration in the engine. About halfway into the loop, at 6.3 miles, I had another hydration stop set up. These loops help to eliminate any GPS miscalculation, from now on these loops will be standard and I con compare the splits instead of stressing over the exact distance. The first loop felt pretty easy and I stayed right around 7 minute pace and a LA of 2.7 which verified that it was a comfortable pace. The second loop was purposefully a little faster and harder than the first. I help around 6:50 pace with a LA of 3.5 which is sustainable. Then the hard stuff kicks in, the miles get long and I start expecting the leg soreness to come out to play and I go into survival pace. The GREAT news is this survival mode set in 5 miles later than the week before, it set in this week at about mile 28. I was pushing for 3 loops which would allow me to finish with 34 miles. The last 6 miles were not much faster than my overall pace but I was able to push through the last section. In conclusion my overall pace was in the mid 6:50s and the final LA was 4.7. That’s a pretty high LA number but I really didn’t feel that bad. I completed my longest run in preparation for Ultraman 2009 and the good news was I was 1 second per mile faster than the previous week and had to really work for the last 5 miles.

My run nutrition included: 2 liters of EFS grape flavor, 200 calories from liquid shots, 1 liter of the infamous “Kotland” cocktail, and 2 liters of water. It came out to be 250-260 calories per hour which is a little on the low end.

To be consistent I followed the run with the slowest bike spin of my life to just to loosen up my legs. ***It should be noted that my athletes hate when I give them this ride after their long runs, but it really helps.

Ultraman 2009 Training Part 2 – October 10-11, 2009

Well I took a “recovery” week after the South Carolina Half last weekend; therefore, I was heading into 2 weeks of hard training, with 2 long runs on the weekends. This is a synopsis of the first of those weekends.

Saturday – Like 2 weeks ago I planned on riding about 120 miles with some sustained intervals. This weekend I was lucky that the weather was actually playing nice. The weather report was temperatures in the mid 60's to low 70's with some rain, but fortunately the rain never materialized. So under humid conditions I headed out for my long ride w/6 hill repeats in the hardest gear as I could push up the climbs. By the time I was done with last one – the legs were fried!!! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. The feeling in my legs brought back memories..it was similar feeling to the second day of the Ultraman in 2008 – while climbing the last 6 mile mountain – about 1 mile from the top I almost felt over from my bike.

I jumped off the bike and went on a moderate brick run. My reason for this is just to keep the ironman muscles/mentality together in case I decide to race Beach 2 Battle Ship – an Iron distance race in November.

Sunday – Ahhhh…another week another long run. Like in weeks past, my long run this week was not overly structured. I just wanted to run a slightly faster pace and hopefully a couple of miles farther. Before I started my run I drank one Red Bull – just to mentally wake up. As in prior weeks the purpose of the first 5 miles were just to warm up the muscles and mind, I did not worry about the pace – I was not sure how yesterday's hill repeats would feel on my legs and wanted to really open up the blood flow before I started pushing the effort. After the first 5 miles I was trying to pick up the pace to my “comfortable fast” pace, keeping the distance of the run in mind. The plan was to check my Lactic Acid levels around half way through and at the end of the run. Also this week my nutrition plan was to take in more First Endurance EFS drinks, as well as their Liquid Shots. I had stops set up about every 5 miles to take in my nutrition. At mile 18 I stopped by my house and took a Lactic Acid reading and my LA ended up being 2.9. I was surprised it was this low since I had been pushing a 6:50 pace for the last 12 miles. During this stop I had the “Kotland Cocktail” of ½ grapefruit juice/½ water, and about 100 calories from Liquid Shot. I will probably start adding Vodka to it and sell it to college kids. The next 3-4 miles were still easy and comfortable, but after about 24 miles of running it was simply turning into a LOOOONG run! At the next stop at mile 25 the pace was still in the low 6:50’s so I was still in good spirits. However, the weekend of training was starting to play its toll, but mentally you never want to slow down too much. That’s where I have to start playing the mental games and win them. Earlier I decided that I will make the run 32 miles, with one extra stop for hydration than the week previous. So I convinced myself that I needed to speed up a little bit each mile for the last seven or until I had given everything I had. I managed to average only 6:50 but I was getting sore. After the run my second Lactic Acid reading came to 3.9. Looking back the run was a little bit better than expected, since the overall back came out to be in the mid 6:50’s.

Nutrition for this run – 1 Red Bull; 1 liter or EFS – grape flavor; 28oz of the grapefruit mixture; 200 calories of Liquid Shots

I followed the run with probably the slowest 20 miles ride in my life.

Ultraman 2009 Training Part 1 – September 26-27, 2009

This, and the following reports will be only the interesting parts of my training towards the Ultraman Worlds 2009 in Hawaii.

For Ironman training I ride a lot of miles on my bike each summer, this year it was about 4,500 miles from the beginning of June to the end of August. So with that base my main focus is to now prepare for the running portion of Ultraman.

To prepare for the run I consistently complete several key workouts. On weekly basis I complete 2 track workouts a week – one of them is usually contains shorter, fast intervals (time doesn't matter as much, but I rather focus on the leg turn-over), and second workout involves longer intervals ranging from 1,000 meters up to 1 mile intervals (time is more of a factor and I recover with shorter jog between efforts).

This past weekend was the first big step toward the Ultraman with this run focus. My weekend looked something like this:

Saturday – I rode 120 miles with some longer uphill intervals followed by a longer (than normal ironman training) recovery. It was really nasty weather, the first cold day since April. The temperature was in the low 60's with some drizzle for the first 6 hours of the ride, and really heavy rain (it probably could have fallen under the MONSOON category) for the last hour. Needless to say I froze on my bike and the temperature reflected my nutrition plan too. I started out with 2 bottles of EFS mixed with ½ a scoop of Pre-race in each, and some liquid shots. That was all the fuel I took in, so by the end of my ride I had only consumed about 500 calories from the drinks and 400 calories from the liquid shots. After I toweled off I went for a short 5 mile brick run, I think it took about 3 miles before I was able to feel my feet.

Sunday – The training plan was to go for a long run. Over the summer I've been running a long run between 20-24 miles every week, so this weekend the plan was to go at least 24 miles to get the Ultraman miles in. I didn't know what to expect after Saturday and how my body would respond to the run after the calorie depletion during the previous days ride so I just tried to relax, and did not set a maximum mileage goal for the workout. As usual the start was pretty slow, and I didn’t even look at my watch for the first 5 miles. I started feeling pretty good, and not as sore I had expected, so I tried to pick the pace up after realizing that the first 5 miles were REALLY slow. Then somewhere about ½ way through the run, the mileage decision was made… “I'll try to run 30 miles this weekend, without slowing down too much.” On all of my long runs the nutrition plan is about the same I try to drink every 5 miles, stay away from too many carbs. Since this was the longest run so far this year, I wanted to include some energy source, and prevent bonking. For the first 15 miles I only drank water. At mile 20 I had 1 bottle of Fruit Punch EFS – it tasted REALLY good, and then the final nutrition stop included a mixture of 1/3 grapefruit juice, and 2/3 of water. There was something about the bitterness of the juice – it was good, and my stomach was OK with that too. So the first long run towards Ultraman successfully accomplished. I took splits every 5 miles (this offsets the mile to mile variation due to the rolling hills, but makes the 5 mile sections should be very similar and valid comparisons) and the recap yielded that my pace was good, it got progressively faster, and I managed to run harder on the last mile. ALWAYS FINISH STRONG.

The 5 mile sections splits: 39'23; 36'22; 36'11; 35'50; 35'59; 35'01 with the last mile 6'34.

I followed this workout with a short recovery spin on my bike.