Is Ironman Done as a Race?

The recent USA Championships in Woodlands Texas were a disaster. That is if you are an old school triathlete looking for great competition. Ironman at least in North America has gone the way of the marathon. It’s a participation event more than a race. At the 2018 LA Marathon 232 runners ran under 3 hours. 8,000 or half the field finished in over 5 hours. At 5 hours it’s participation. The LA Marathon is a for profit business and they don’t care about fast times. They want numbers. Ironman for that matter is the same thing, they need numbers. But the one thing Ironman has different is Kona. How does Ironman rectify the Woodlands race with Kona? I have a solution.

1. Designate Participation Ironman races - The goal here is finish. The rules are simple, wear a helmet, obey the general corse rules passing on the left, speed zones etc. Draft if you want. No Kona slots and No Legacy qualifications. 
2. Kona designated races - All Current rules apply. 
3. A USA Championship race can’t be a participation race. 

Yoga Challenge

I was laughing with my wife yesterday. I was asked to submit a passport type photo for my London Marathon credentials. I showed this picture to Mary and said “I’ll just use this” This is actually our son of course.

I’ll admit that I always look at myself as being younger than I am. I look around at others my age and feel proud of the way I take care of myself. That said age does win and it’s winning lately. I decided to do something about it. I started using Sufferfest long ago for my cycling. Earlier this year I downloaded the Sufferfest App. I was surprised to see yoga videos. I started using them daily. Then I listened to an interview with David Goggins who said he cured all of his aches and pains by doing yoga every day. So I committed. I’ve stuck to the stretching and mobility videos.

Tomorrow Sufferfest starts a yoga for cyclists challenge. 30 days of practice. In the challenge the emphasis is on the strength aspect of Yoga. I like that so I’m doing it. I will report on the results regularly but while here I’ll talk about results to date.

The one yoga pose everyone should learn and perfect is downward dog. When I started in January I could do downward dog with bent knees and on my forefoot only. Today I can do it with straight legs and I’m one half of one inch from putting my heels on the ground. What does that do for me? I wake up today with almost no soreness or stiffness. A dramatic difference from January. Since January I’ve flown to London then home, then to NYC the following week. This past weekend I flew to Rome spent a day in there then flew to Amsterdam. Spent 1 1/2 days there then flew home. Still no stiffness waking up. Each flight is followed by yoga.

If you are waking up stiff, download Sufferfest and do the Yoga. It’s 15 minutes each segment and it works. Do the cycling if you want but do the yoga.

The Traveling Life

This weekend. Friday in Rome, Staturday and Sunday in Holland. Monday heading home.