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October 2008

Register now for the first annual Tri Fusion Oktoberfest 5K cross

country run! Form attached on back.

RR: Age Group Nat’ls,

pages 2-3

BoD, Sponsors, Calendar,

page 8

Important Announce-

ments,

page 4

Rest Up For Optimal One-Day PerformancesBy Chris Carmichael

With the end of the Tour de France only two weeks before the road race at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, many people asked me about the difficulties some cyclists faced in going from one event to the other. Is two weeks enough time for Tour de France cyclists to recover and rebound in order to perform at their best in a hard one-day event like the Olympic road race? The question boiled down to the issue of tapering.

On the positive side, the Tour de France was a three-week, 3650 km training block that could not be replicated by any rider who wasn’t in the race. On the negative side, if an athlete was exhausted from the Tour, two weeks is not a lot of time to recover and return to top form. For optimal performance in one-day events – and this goes for Olympians or amateur athletes anywhere – being fresh and well rested is the most important thing you can do.

Starting from about 10 days out from your goal event, your fitness is as good as it’s going to get. The only things you can really control are fatigue, hydration and nutrition. Assuming you’re doing all the right things from a hydration and nutrition standpoint, the area that trips up many athletes is fatigue. Insecure athletes make the mistake of thinking they can squeeze in one more workout or test themselves in workouts that are supposed to be easy and end up tired on race day.

Tapering is important in the final preparation for one-day races. The concept is that reducing the training load allows for more rest and recovery in the days before a big event. This gives an athlete more energy for the big event and hence a better chance to perform at his or her best.

During the tapering process, which lasts one to two weeks for an athlete preparing for a one-day event, training duration usually decreases while intensity increases. Shorter rides with short (1-3 minutes) high-intensity efforts develop the ability to meet racing demands with out exhausting the rider before the event. For the one-day racer, like athletes in the Olympics, it’s important to include efforts at or above race intensity in the two weeks prior to competition.

Athletes need to be exposed to the speed and acute intensity of racing, but not the overall energy expenditure. Speed work, consisting of short, high-intensity training sessions, prevents high-end systems from detraining without causing excessive fatigue.

Being fresh is so important for one-day competitions like many Olympic events because there is no reason to save anything for the next day. Athletes need to be prepared to pour on the power and, depending on the sport, compete above lactate threshold repeatedly and for long periods of time. Take a cue from the athletes who recently won gold medals in Beijing, trust the fitness you have as your goal event approaches and turn your focus to tapering so you arrive on the start line as fresh as possible.

Hydration & Exercise, P1

page 5

Two

Fabulous

Recipes,

page 6

Looking

Ahead:

Part 2,

page 7

Oktoberfest 5K

Registration

page 9

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Race Review: A Spectator’s P.O.V.:Age Group Nationalsby Jessi Thompson

“I have studied the flight patterns of flies. They fly up and back so when you go to kill them, you have to clap your hands about an inch and half behind the fly and an inch and a half above it.” – Roger Thompson on in the car on the way to Oregon for USAT National Championships. All of a sudden, Ken Collins looks to the back of the Excursion with a perplexed look and is not so sure that his golden shotgun seat is quite as lucrative.

Laughter erupts from the back seat. Ken’s initiation to the triathlon road trip begins.

Although the start of the trip was a little rough with a missed turn to Ritzville, detour because of a closed bridge, and an arrival to our homestay about 2 hours later than anticipated, our luck turned around quickly as we arrived into Beaverton, OR. Grant Folske, co-founder of Ironheads Triathlon club, out of the Portland area, greeted us enthusiastically as he turned over the keys to his studly bachelor condominium and headed to stay with his girlfriend for the weekend. We were all overwhelmed with the generosity of the homestay offer extended to all the Tri Fusion members from the Ironheads Triathlon Club, and were thrilled to have such a nice place to stay that would also accommodate our crew (Thompsons, Gallaghers, and Ken Collins).

After sleeping in a little later than normal, we headed to Starbucks to fulfill the morning latte ritual as well as indulge in a Starbucks that has those awesome egg muffins. Side note: Why is it that the Starbucks in Spokane doesn’t have these awesome breakfast sandwiches? Lame. Really lame.

We headed out to the race site and the boys began to get their bikes ready to ride one loop of the course. The girls headed out for a walk along the lake trails and were quickly intrigued with all the plump blackberries everywhere. Filling our water bottles full of berries, we headed back as Emma decided that instead of sharing the berries, she would sell the bottles back to her dad for $2 a bottle (our little entrepreneur). Her Dad was happy to oblige and gulped down the berries upon our return.

Shortly thereafter, Natalie and I took off for a run along the lake trails. Due to the muddy bogs we encountered, we quickly headed up to the main road and had the chance to run the run course for the race. Even though a new run course is totally entertaining, we couldn’t help but bemoan the fact that the guys would be running a tough course the following day with lots of hills.

The guys checked their bikes in, visited the expo where Ken and Greg proceeded to spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to score gimmicks, stickers, loot, and anything else that someone was giving away for free. Greg found the USA Triathlon team doctor at the expo and was thrilled to get adjusted and some relief for his aching back. They made some of the final preparations for the upcoming race and we were off.

After returning back to the condo that evening, we headed to Red Robin for dinner. We went to bed relatively early that night after a couple quick stops at a Performance Bike Shop across the street as well as a cool local bike shop called the Bike Gallery.

With alarms sounding at 5 am, the gang was up and going trying to get gear together, loading up the car, making our lists and checking them twice. With a

disappointing trip through the Starbucks drive thru (actually the worst service we’ve ever had at Starbucks – I actually yelled out the window from the back seat, “Is this Starbucks?”), we headed to the race site in the dark.

Due to the location and nature of the site, parking was 4 miles away with shuttles taking you to the race site. This is definitely not my favorite set-up, especially with a 5-year-old cheerleader in our midst, but we loaded up our backpacks and tried to make the best of it. Although the lines were long, they seemed to move quickly and we were on our way.

We got to the transition area and began to take pictures of the set-up. Greg was missing as he was off trying to find the doctor for an adjustment (again), Ken was setting up his gear, and Roger was chatting with people… shocker. All of a sudden, our normal pre-race routine turns to panic as they are clearing out the transition area for the first waves coming in. Greg is being kicked out of the transition area with threats of time penalties as he’s scrambling to set-up. Ken grabs the pump, I jump the fence, and we proceed to pump up his disc tire. After running out of transition, Greg notices that he didn’t put his sunglasses or visor in his transition area. Luckily, we find a volunteer to help out and place his last items in transition.

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Age Group Nat’ls (cont’d)

Where is Roger? This is where Ken proceeds to tell me that Roger forgot his bike shoes back in the car. Not usually a huge deal, but when everything is miles away, your start time is in less than an hour and you’re waiting on school bus shuttles… this is obviously very stressful. After what seems like days, we finally get a text that says Roger has his shoes and is on the shuttle heading back. Although Natalie and I had our distraction plan in place to get those shoes in the transition area (think summer Olympics in 2004, crazy naked Irish guy during the marathon), we were once again saved by the amazing volunteer who agreed to put Roger’s shoes in his transition for him since athletes were no longer allowed to enter.

As Roger headed back to the transition area from the shuttle, he had on his tri suit, ½ of his wetsuit, swim cap, and goggles (Can you imagine the looks of the faces of the fellow shuttle riders as Roger is stripping down in the middle of the bus?).

Time to focus. Time to go. All the guys head down to the dock and, thankfully for the spectators, are in the same heat. I grab onto Roger’s hand and try to come up with something meaningful in the midst of the total chaos that has just happened. The only thing that comes to mind, ironically, is something that Roger told me. “True champions rise to the top in the midst of challenges.” I look him in the eye, tell him he is a true champion and we send him off with kisses from his girls.

Although, the exact details of the race are the boys’ stories to tell, I will say that they all had phenomenal races and looked strong throughout. They made us proud! We ran all over trying to get the great shots (including jumping fences) and did our best to pump them up with our cheers…trying to

‘Iron Fan’ it the best we could. We also did a lot of cheering for the Ironheads and Timex team members who we really enjoyed getting to know over the weekend. Really great people.

After the race, we headed to get some real food before heading back to watch the men pro race and the awards ceremony. The men’s race wasn’t quite as exciting as I thought it might be, but it was neat to see Matt Reed out there dominating the race.

Now I think awards ceremonies can be painless or painful, depending on how they’re run. This one was the latter. Don’t get me wrong, we were proud of Roger and glad to be there to support him, but it was LONG when awards go 10 deep in every age group and they are giving away awards for fastest/slowest splits, fastest states, CEO challenge, who has the biggest feet, etc. Okay, there really wasn’t an award for the biggest feet, but I swear they gave an award for everything else.

Finally it was Roger’s turn, and all of the frustrations for such a long ceremony faded away as I took a picture of him up on the podium. He’s worked hard to be here. So hard. I’m beyond proud of him and thrilled that his race came together

in nearly every way. It was quite the roller coaster of emotion going from near vomit in the morning (I get so nervous for him) to big cheesy grin that night watching them put the medal around his neck. Very proud wife.

Heading back to the car, we realized that heading back to

Spokane would mean arriving at about 3 am. So, we called Grant to see if he would consider hosting us for one more night. He graciously agreed and we headed back to shower, have a beer, and head out for some amazing Thai food.

We retired after midnight and awoke to pack the rig. We planned to grab more Starbucks and quickly get on the road so that hopefully Ken’s wife would still be speaking to him by the time we got home.

At Starbucks, we ignore more horrible service, and take a minute to reflect on the great time together while we’re waiting over 10 minutes for our drinks. Lots of laughs, jokes, stories, history, and really fun people made this trip one we’ll not soon forget.

Just before it’s time to leave Starbucks, Roger kills a fly upon its take-off and sets it in front of Ken like a little love offering. I laughed so hard, my vanilla protein latte (that was supposed to be non-fat) almost came out my nose.

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SAVE THE DATES!!!

Don’t Miss Out on Some Family Fun!

We are planning our second annual Greenbluff Family Day=>

• Where to meet: Starbucks on Hawthorne & Nevada

• When: Sunday, October 19th @ 2:00 p.m.

• What to bring: Your family & some money for the corn maze, yummy treats, pumpkin picking & whatever your heart desires!

End of Season Party!

When: Friday, November 21, 2008 Where: Spokane Country Club @ 2010 W. Waikiki Road

Time: 7:00 p.m.

✌ Tickets are now on sale, at the October Tri Fusion meeting!

Questions? e-mail Trish at TCudney@mead.k12.wa.us

OUR FIRST ANNUAL 5 K

WHAT: TRI FUSION OKTOBERFEST 5K X-CDATE: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25th, 2008WHEN: 1:00 PMWHERE: MEAD HIGH SCHOOL X-C COURSECOST: $10, INCLUDES SHIRT

COME JOIN THE FUN FOR A GREAT RACE OR FUN RUN, FOOD AND AWARDS!

☆REGISTRATION FORM ATTACHED☆

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Hydration and Exercise: Part 1by Joe Friel (from his blog)

Until recently, relatively small losses of body weight due to dehydration during exercise were thought to be detrimental to athletic performance. The threshold for drops in performance related to dehydration has long been considered to be around 2% of body weight [1]. So a 150-pound man who lost 3 pounds or a 125-pound woman who dropped 2.5 pounds during exercise were expected to slow down as a result. In 1996 the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) went a step further suggesting that the loss of any body weight due to dehydration could potentially result in poor performance or even health issues [2]. Their position stand was that an athlete should drink enough to replace all water lost through sweating and that this would likely be in the range of 18 to 36 ounces (600-1200mL) of fluid per hour. Last year the ACSM officially changed their stand by adopting the more common 2% of body weight as the upper end of what an athlete should lose due to dehydration [3]. This time they stopped short of making recommendations on how much to consume.

Two-percent is still too low according to Tim Noakes, PhD, a South African exercise physiologist who has led the fight to get the ACSM and other sports organizations to relax their standards on drinking during exercise [4]. Why would Noakes want us to drink less during racing and training? The reason is something called “hyponatremia” – the dilution of the body’s stores of sodium. Athletes who were encouraged to replace all fluids lost while exercising as per the 1996 ACSM position stand put themselves at risk for this condition which is worse than the dehydration they were trying to prevent, according to Noakes [5]. And he believes that 2% still encourages excessive drinking and encourages risk.

By over-hydrating while exercising, sodium concentrations drop and put you at risk for hyponatremia. Some early signs of hyponatremia are bloating around elastic bands in socks and the waistbands of shorts, disorientation, headache, nausea, muscle cramps, lethargy, confusion, reduced coordination and tunnel vision. In recent years there have been deaths in back-of-the-pack runners related to hyponatremia. Drinking an excessive amount of water for several hours during exercise (4 hours is considered the danger threshold) increases your risk. One study of Ironman-distance triathletes going way back to 1987 found that as few as 8% and as many as 30% of the race finishers experienced mild to severe hyponatremia [6].

It’s generally accepted that elite athletes have a lower risk of hyponatremia but a higher risk of dehydration since they are focused on performance and may take in less fluid than demanded by the body. Slower athletes simply have more time to drink and may well believe it is in their best interests to consume a lot of water. The mistaken notion that we should finish a workout or race with no loss of body weight further increases the risk, especially in long events.

So what does all of this mean for your training and racing? How much should you drink during a race or workout? What should you drink? How much weight loss due to dehydration is acceptable and can be well-tolerated by the body? Should you drink extra amounts in the days and hours leading up to a race in hot conditions so that you’re hyperhydrated? How do you gauge your level of dehydration following exercise and then go about replacing lost fluid? Does age have any implications for hydration? I’ll address these questions and what the research and my experience suggest are the answers in my next blog, A.K.A. = our next newsletter!

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Stuffed Zucchiniby Natalie Gallagher

Ingredients:1 pound extra lean ground turkey3/4 yellow onion (chopped)1 box flavored stuffing (chicken or mushroom)1 TBSP minced garlic1/2 tsp celery salt1 large zucchini (cut in half lengthwise)1 small can chicken or vegetable broth1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Brown ground turkey, add celery salt, garlic and onion. Cook until onion is tender. Add stuffing and chicken broth and continue cooking for 7-10 minutes. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out a small amount of pulp down the center. Place zucchini in a greased 9 x 13 pan and add stuffing mixture. Cover and bake on 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover after 30 minutes, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake until cheese is light brown and melty on top!

*****************************************************************************************

Spicy Almond Recipeby Jessi Thompson

One of the greatest things about nuts is that they are easy to transport, but sometimes, well, they’re just a little boring. Spice up your next snack mix with this spicy recipe:

Ingredients:1/2 tsp ground cumin1/2 tsp chili powder1/2 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp garlic salt1/4 tsp cayenne pepper1/4 tsp powdered ginger1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp olive oil2 cups of whole almonds, shelled

1 tbsp sea salt

Directions:In a non-stick skillet heat the olive oil and spices over low heat for 3 or so minutes. Place the nuts in a bowl and pour oil mixture over the top, toss and stir. Then, spread nuts into a single layer on a non-stick baking sheet and pop in a oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes, shaking the tray about every 5 minutes to cook evenly. Remove from oven and sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool two hours. Store in an airtight container.

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LOOKING AHEAD: Part 2Planning Your Ironman Year

LifeSport Coaching has some tips on race specific training.

Published Thursday, September 4, 2008

Your race specific training for an Ironman has to reflect the distance that you will be covering on race day as well as the intensity that you will be racing at.

Getting used to moving at race intensityRemember that your ability to process fuel decreases as the intensity of your effort increases. As your chances of having a successful day are very much dependent on your ability to refuel on the move, this is one of your key success factors.

As well as learning to move at race intensity in all three disciplines, you need to be able to rehearse other vital aspects of your race, like being able to eat the appropriate amounts at the appropriate times and to monitor your intensity

Race specific preparation goes beyond just physical training, though. There are a number of activities that need to be addressed in the race preparation phase of your training.

Race PlansYou should spend time making a race plan – what are you going to do in the week, day, hours before your race. For the race itself, what are you going to eat? When are you going to eat? What heart rate or wattage are you going to race at and what will you pack in your special needs bag, if anything?

You should make a written plan for all of the above. Your plan will change, especially on race day, but a plan that changes is better than none

As most courses are multi-loop, it’s quite simple to divide the race into sections. Breaking your day up like this makes it a little bit easier to work through – for example, a one hour swim, followed by three 2-hour bike rides, four 6-mile runs and a two-and-a-quarter mile run sounds a little easier than an Ironman, doesn’t it?

You also need to take account of mental preparation such as visualization. You can profitably spend time visualizing how you want to feel on race day, how the swim is going to go, how you are going to feel on the bike at various stages, how you are going to cope with the inevitable tough sections on the run. By developing your visualization and coping strategies your whole day will be much successful.

To help you pull all the threads together, you may want to consider hiring a qualified and experienced coach. A coach can help take a lot of the headache out of your preparations and allow you to train and race stress free!

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Board of Directors• Steve Anderson - Membership Director • Tiffany Byrd - Uniform Director

• Phaedra Cote - Kids Club Director• Trish Cudney - Social Director• Greg Gallagher - Event Director• Natalie Gallagher - Newsletter Director• Ben Greenfield - Website Director• Mark Hodgson - Mentor Director• Jim Powers - Vice President• Tim Swanson - Treasurer• Jessi Thompson - Secretary• Roger Thompson - President

We would like to extend a

generous thank you to our

truly amazing sponsors!

The Board of Directors, Sponsorsand The Calendar of Upcoming Events...

Oct./Nov. CalendarTraining Opportunities:Mon-Wed-Fri @ 8:30-10 pm, Sat @ 5:30-7 am: Masters Swim at Whitworth College, e-mail kevinwang@spokanewaves.org.

Thursday evenings: Headlamp Run is back at the Gallagher’s (619 E. Huron Drive) at 6:30! Watch the Tri Forum for details!

Sat. and/or Sun. @ time TBA: Probable outside bike ride meeting location & time posted weekly on the Tri-Forum.

Races/Runs:• Oct. 18th: INW Cyclocross Series

begins, Liberty Lake, WA

• Oct. 19th: 5K cross country run at 7-Mile, WA

• Oct. 25th: Tri Fusion Oktoberfest 5K @ Mead High School @ 1 pm at Spokane, WA

• Oct. 26th: INW Cyclocross Series at Rooks Park in Walla Walla, WA

• Nov. 2nd: Qualchan Cross Country Race, distance TBD, meet a High Drive

• Nov. 8th: Ironman 70.3 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS at Clearwater, FL

• Nov. 15th: INW Cross Country Championships at Plants Ferry Park, Spokane Valley, WA

Upcoming Events: Family Social: Sunday, October 19th: Greenbluff

Family Day at Siemer’s Farm, meet at Nevada & Hawthorne Starbucks at 2:00 pm.

Next Membership Meeting:November 19th, 2008 @ 6:30 p.m.: General membership meeting at location TBA.

☀November 21 @ 7:00 pm at

Spokane Country Club: Tri Fusion End of Season Partay!!!