WOW!! Just returned from Florida and wanted to update you on the race and a few other things. I went 8:59, which was at my target, finished 2nd in the AG and 22nd overall. Most importantly qualified for Kona again!!! I'll give a better account of how the day unfolded very soon. I also have started my own website. Its www.scottiott.com and that's where you can now find all the boring things that go on in my not so important life. It's not finished yet, but you can check out a beta version now. Adios!
SJI
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Almost go time!
Well we all leave for Panama City tomorrow to race at Ironman Florida, needless to say the past two days have been hectic!!! We are ready though, ready for the first family airplane trip, ready for the lines and waiting!! I just finished an interview with the boys at IMTalk podcast, which should be up by next week, I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I've begun to build a new website. It is very basic now but will soon be pretty cool! Go visit www.scottiott.com to see the work in progress! Hope all is well and now it's time to be off for Florida!!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Give yourself a chance
When things don’t go as planned in your daily routine, don’t give up on your training. Most age group athletes do a great job of balancing other responsibilities with their training and often times don’t have the luxury of moving a key workout due to conflicts. The weather may be forecast to be bad, your child may be sick, or things didn’t go as planned the night before. Whatever the reason, don’t give up on your workout. If your motivation is lacking or you’ve had a tough day at work, give yourself a chance; get out the door and get moving. You will never realize how far you can push yourself until you try. So, the next time you’ve got an excuse to skip a daily session, give yourself a chance, who knows you may be surprised what your body has in store for you!! Happy training!
SJI
SJI
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Race Day Tips
The second installment in two part series that looks at the week leading up to your A priority race will focus on tips for a successful race day. This article will not discuss the training aspects rather than the execution of your training beginning 24 hours prior and leading through your race!
#1. Use your hotel floor to lay out all gear. Once you have your transition bags, lay the things that will fit into those bags on the floor, then using a checklist make sure that you have everything in its right place. This also means get you race morning breakfast ready, so when you wake, you are able to eat immediately.
#2. Stay off your feet. After you’ve checked your bike and gear bags in, take a walk through the transition area, then get back to your place and get off your feet. A big mistake you can make is to be wandering around the expo with hundreds of nervous athletes the day before your race. Watch an afternoon movie on the couch and get away from the nervous energy in town.
#3. Before going to sleep, review your race plan. Read your race plan out loud to someone, then mentally rehearse the day. Visualize each transition, especially the steps you will take. Then, put the plan away, go to sleep, or stare at the ceiling!!!
#4. Respond positively to negative situations that may occur during the race. Any Ironman race will have times that you will be feeling really, really good and really, really bad. It is how you respond to the bad times that will determine the success of your race. If you can head into your race with the understanding that things WILL go wrong at some point, and have a plan on how to deal with those situations, your race outcome will be much more successful. You should constantly be assessing how you feel, your pace/power, your environment, your surroundings. For example if your stomach is feeling a bit full, cut back on the calories. If you feel like your pacing is out of control, slow down. When you start to feel better, get back to your race plan. Remember, EVERYONE has moments in Ironman racing went they feel terrible, react positively, and you can turn the race around.
#5. Stick to your Nutrition plan. Develop a detailed nutrition plan during your race week and then be confident in it on race day. You have tested in it in your training; now execute it on race day. Do not feel the need to try something on race day that you’ve not tested in training.
When race day has arrived, there is nothing more physically that you can do to prepare yourself. You have done all the hard work and now all that is left is to execute your plan. Have confidence in the fact that you’ve prepared physically, have confidence in your race strategy, now go out execute your plan and let all the hard work pay off. Happy racing!!
#1. Use your hotel floor to lay out all gear. Once you have your transition bags, lay the things that will fit into those bags on the floor, then using a checklist make sure that you have everything in its right place. This also means get you race morning breakfast ready, so when you wake, you are able to eat immediately.
#2. Stay off your feet. After you’ve checked your bike and gear bags in, take a walk through the transition area, then get back to your place and get off your feet. A big mistake you can make is to be wandering around the expo with hundreds of nervous athletes the day before your race. Watch an afternoon movie on the couch and get away from the nervous energy in town.
#3. Before going to sleep, review your race plan. Read your race plan out loud to someone, then mentally rehearse the day. Visualize each transition, especially the steps you will take. Then, put the plan away, go to sleep, or stare at the ceiling!!!
#4. Respond positively to negative situations that may occur during the race. Any Ironman race will have times that you will be feeling really, really good and really, really bad. It is how you respond to the bad times that will determine the success of your race. If you can head into your race with the understanding that things WILL go wrong at some point, and have a plan on how to deal with those situations, your race outcome will be much more successful. You should constantly be assessing how you feel, your pace/power, your environment, your surroundings. For example if your stomach is feeling a bit full, cut back on the calories. If you feel like your pacing is out of control, slow down. When you start to feel better, get back to your race plan. Remember, EVERYONE has moments in Ironman racing went they feel terrible, react positively, and you can turn the race around.
#5. Stick to your Nutrition plan. Develop a detailed nutrition plan during your race week and then be confident in it on race day. You have tested in it in your training; now execute it on race day. Do not feel the need to try something on race day that you’ve not tested in training.
When race day has arrived, there is nothing more physically that you can do to prepare yourself. You have done all the hard work and now all that is left is to execute your plan. Have confidence in the fact that you’ve prepared physically, have confidence in your race strategy, now go out execute your plan and let all the hard work pay off. Happy racing!!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tips for race week
This is the first installment of a two part series on hints and tips to use during race week and race day. We are towards the end of the racing season, and for most of us, their A race may just be a few weeks or months away. Much time and energy has gone into preparing physically for the race. This article will detail some key points an age group athlete can use to the week leading up to their A race of the season.
#1 Maintain race specific intensity in training. You are in full taper mode after giving the last 12-16 weeks of the best effort you have, now your volume has been greatly reduced. You will still need to maintain intensity, don’t make the mistake of making each workout easy. Your body needs several shorter periods of race pace to keep it fresh.
#2 Resist the urge to smash yourself. A sign of a good taper is that 3-5 days out of your key race you are itching to get out and get to business. Fight the temptation to do so, and remain focused on your race goals. Insert some short raced paced efforts to your taper workouts to calm the feeling to need to hammer for hours.
# 3 Keep a steady eye on your diet. In taper time, your training volume will be reduced. As a result, you will not be burning calories at the rate you did during heavy training. Your body will not need the extra energy, so make sure that you don’t over eat. It is natural to gain a few pounds in the last week of a taper, but don’t allow yourself to keep your hand in the cookie jar!!!
#4 There is no need to carbo-load. This tip goes along with #3, but I think it has enough significance to be on its own. Since you are not burning as many calories, your body does not need any extra energy. Remain to eat normal, and since your training level is lower, the body will top itself off naturally. Go ahead and eat well balanced meals, including carbohydrates in your pre-race dinner. But, refrain from eating pasta the entire week!!
#5 Get off your feet as much as you can. Try to stay off your feet as much as possible during your race week. This means when you register at the race site, don’t spend all day walking around the expo. Be mindful of your rest throughout the week. Get as much sleep as possible in the days leading up to your race to insure that you are 100% rested and ready to toe the line on race morning.
#6 Have a plan. You have done the work, now develop your plan. Have a plan for the days leading into the race, and then have your race plan. A detailed race plan will help you mentally prepare for any situation you may face in the race, but most importantly use it as a guide to assist you in your race pacing. I’ve written an article on race plans; you can find it here, http://scottjoe.blogspot.com/2010/04/planning-to-race.html
Enjoy your race week, enjoy the fact that you have worked so hard and your race is in sight. Use these tips to help put the finishing touches on your preparations. All for now, happy training, and good luck racing.
SJI
#1 Maintain race specific intensity in training. You are in full taper mode after giving the last 12-16 weeks of the best effort you have, now your volume has been greatly reduced. You will still need to maintain intensity, don’t make the mistake of making each workout easy. Your body needs several shorter periods of race pace to keep it fresh.
#2 Resist the urge to smash yourself. A sign of a good taper is that 3-5 days out of your key race you are itching to get out and get to business. Fight the temptation to do so, and remain focused on your race goals. Insert some short raced paced efforts to your taper workouts to calm the feeling to need to hammer for hours.
# 3 Keep a steady eye on your diet. In taper time, your training volume will be reduced. As a result, you will not be burning calories at the rate you did during heavy training. Your body will not need the extra energy, so make sure that you don’t over eat. It is natural to gain a few pounds in the last week of a taper, but don’t allow yourself to keep your hand in the cookie jar!!!
#4 There is no need to carbo-load. This tip goes along with #3, but I think it has enough significance to be on its own. Since you are not burning as many calories, your body does not need any extra energy. Remain to eat normal, and since your training level is lower, the body will top itself off naturally. Go ahead and eat well balanced meals, including carbohydrates in your pre-race dinner. But, refrain from eating pasta the entire week!!
#5 Get off your feet as much as you can. Try to stay off your feet as much as possible during your race week. This means when you register at the race site, don’t spend all day walking around the expo. Be mindful of your rest throughout the week. Get as much sleep as possible in the days leading up to your race to insure that you are 100% rested and ready to toe the line on race morning.
#6 Have a plan. You have done the work, now develop your plan. Have a plan for the days leading into the race, and then have your race plan. A detailed race plan will help you mentally prepare for any situation you may face in the race, but most importantly use it as a guide to assist you in your race pacing. I’ve written an article on race plans; you can find it here, http://scottjoe.blogspot.com/2010/04/planning-to-race.html
Enjoy your race week, enjoy the fact that you have worked so hard and your race is in sight. Use these tips to help put the finishing touches on your preparations. All for now, happy training, and good luck racing.
SJI
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Rainy morning
Woke up to thunderstorms all over the place and can't find any "breaks" in the weather this morning, so instead of the planned run, I'm catching up on somethings. I feel pretty strong now a week after racing in Racine. This was probably the fastest I have recovered from a long course race as I felt pretty "normal" after about three days of light sessions. Now the focus shifts to Ironman Louisville. The prep will target race specific intensity, so for now, the best power intervals will have to wait!!! Headed up to Wisconsin this afternoon to do some training, playing, and hanging. All for now.
SJI
SJI
Monday, July 19, 2010
Racine 70.3
I made it up to Racine, WI this weekend for Ironman Racine 70.3 for the first race in a few months. I was definitely shaking off some of the rust!! I did not have any time or goal expectations since really have had little race intensity in my training, but I did enjoy the event. From a preparedness point of view, I was ready, but not fine-tuned. I finished in 4:32, 5th in AG, 33rd overall. It's about 15 minutes off the PR, but given the circumstances, I'm happy. I finally got to ride the new machine, however, it was only the second time on it with the first being a 30 minute ride the day before!!! It was hot out there on the run course as well. Overall, I'm pleased with how things went, and as I type this my body feels pretty solid this morning, so I'm eager to get back to preparations for Louisville!! All for now.
SJI
SJI
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