Race Report: NJ State Olympic Triathlon

Swim: 1,500 meters Bike: 22.5 Run: 6.2

I normally don't post such personal stuff, and prefer to keep the blog about nutrition and diet rather than my personal life; however, with the encouragement of a few friends, here is the story of the NJ State Olympic Triathlon from Sunday, July 21, 2013. This was my first triathlon! It was every bit as fun as I expected it to be!

shortly after finishing

Last November I ran the Philly Marathon and as soon as I completed it, I said to my friend, okay, I can check this off, now it's time for triathlon. I was already a relatively strong runner and was getting better at cycling every day. The big challenge was I needed to learn to swim. A knee injury shortly after the marathon meant no running or cycling for 10 weeks, so I jumped feet first into the pool (literally, I have no clue how to dive). Despite having a high level of fitness I could barely complete two laps of the pool before I ran out of breath and would need several minutes to recover. However I remained determined and within a few weeks I was completing thousands of meters in the pool a few times a week and swimming 1:40s to 1:30s for most sets. Once the knee was ready, I added running and cycling back into the mix and mentally began preparing by learning everything I could about triathlon over the past few months.

After going to the NYC Olympic Triathlon a week earlier with a friend, I had large expectations. Like all events in New York, the NYC Tri is a pretty big event. They had a large and well organized expo and a fun and challenging course. Cheering for this race got me crawling out of my skin with excitement for the NJ Tri that I registered for. Two days before the NJ race I went to their expo. It was outside, a bit small, and I had trouble just staying cool. There were only a few venders and none seemed to be offering great deals. It was well over 90 and the sun was blazing down - the weather did not seem promising for the race. I picked up my packet and then checked out the transition area. Despite having grown up in the town the NJ Triathlon is held in, and having done most of my most of my marathon training on the run course, I decided that I needed a refresher. Earlier in the day a good friend of mine joined me on a slow and easy bike reconnaissance mission of the bike course which they changed from the year before. The heat was brutal but the course seemed as if it would be pretty fast, despite a bit of an odd turn-around point in a college parking lot. 

When I got home I realized that my packet didn't have a race number for my bike. I went back to the expo and was assigned a new number. Unfortunately this new number was much higher and as such bumped me from the front of the transition area to the very last rack. This means that I would have to walk/run barefoot with my bike further to the bike mount area, basically it just added time to the transition from swim to bike. So annoying!

Race morning finally came and I was a mix of nerves and excitement. As four time Triathlon Kona Champion Chrissie Wellington says, our nerves are a sign of how much we care. I was still a bit worried about the temperature. The past two weeks had been in the high 90s every day with a heat index of over 100 (37 Celsius). Even the lake was over 88 degrees. However the morning of the race we got a break. It was only 80 or so and overcast. Really couldn't ask for anything better. I set up my transition, gave final spectator instructions to my mom who came to cheer me on, saw a few people I knew, and then did a few minutes in the lake to warm up. As I was entering the lake my mother gave me some sage advice: “You better come out of that water alive.” As if I wasn’t already nervous!

                                          about to enter the swim warmup.

Racing in the under thirty wave meant that I was in the first wave to swim immediately after the elites. I ate three dates and then was sent out into the lake and forced to tread water for several minutes with 100 other competitors before they finally blew the whistle! Off we went. I've read and watched tons of videos on the infamous swim start to triathlons. Even so, it's hard to imagine what it's like. To put it bluntly, it's a full contact sport. You swim into and over people, get kicked, pulled, and bumped from all sides. 

I managed to get to the front but I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed with the mass start and I soon got dropped from the fastest swimmers. My heart was racing and I was having trouble breathing and sighting (making sure I was going in the right direction) but I eventually settled into a groove around meter 600 or so. At this point the swim field was broken into two groups a faster group which I was dropped from and a slower group which I found myself towards the front of. Due to low visibility I couldn't quite tell how many of my age group was still with me. I assumed that I was distanced by most of them and felt disappointed with my swim even though I passed a few of the elite athletes (clearly they were struggling) but I still exited the water with a 29 minute swim split. Not as slow as I thought but definitely no record!

I flew over to my bike, dropped my goggles and swim cap, grabbing my helmet, and then endured the long run to the bike mounting area. They call this Transition 1 and I managed to get in and out in 2:22 (better than I could have hoped!) I felt I had let myself down with the swim and as such I decided I would hammer the first of the two laps pretty hard on the bike to make up a bit of time. I saw my family cheering for me as I hopped onto my bike. Reminding myself about the old Bruce Lee quote: "The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be," (I have this quote taped to my aerobar) I relaxed and smashed down on the peddles. I passed several people on the first lap- some of who spent tons of cash on super bikes- and was riding strong. Despite having a bottle tossed when I hit a large bump, (thankfully I wasn't given a littering penalty!) the first lap went better than I could have hoped! The course was flat but by the second lap it was much more crowded as most athletes had exited the water by this time and were starting their first lap of the bike. I flew by most of these people and pulled into T2 (Transition from Bike to Run) having finished the 23 mile course in 1 hour even. I was feeling pretty good!

As I was running my bike into T2 I took off my helmet and unfortunately the magnetic visor fell off twice forcing me to stop and back track to go pick it up. Lesson learned, unclip the helmet but keep it on the head until you get to your rack. Even with the two stops, I got my running shoes on and was off 

to the run in a 1:44 T2 time! 

 Tossing the visor to my family

I felt strong but definitely knew I was going out a bit too fast. My first two miles were sub 7 min per mile pace. I saw my family again cheering for me around mile 3 and by this time I settled into a more manageable pace. While on the bike I started to feel some stomach cramps. This is the first time this has ever happened to me while exercising. I think it was caused from my gasping for air and swallowing water in the first few hundred meters of the swim. This pain became more noticeable during the run. I pushed through this discomfort and still managed to choke down another date which I grabbed during my transition. I was able to finish the entire thing off with a 44:18 run split. A bit slower than I would have preferred, but it was hot and I killed it on the bike so I wasn't too disappointed. As I ran into the finisher shoot the announcer saw that my race kit has the words "GO VEGAN" printed on it and he yelled "this guy is powered by vegetables!" to a loud cheer from the spectators. 

My total time was 2:18:00, over 10 full minutes faster than my goal. My tank was empty and I was exhausted at the end. I found out shortly after that I came in 19th place for my AG (out of 91) and 113th overall (over 1,000 athletes!). Not too shabby for my first triathlon!

 such a terrible finishing photo!

My only complaint, well besides the fact they messed up my race packet during the expo, was with the post race activities. The race organizers said there would be free massage, race day photos, and a few other goodies for the athletes. However, after you crossed the finish line there was almost no direction and most of the volunteers only knew about their specific roles. After a few minutes of wandering around I gave up and went home without getting a massage... 

What an amazing time! I have a second, longer race coming up in September and can hardly wait for it to get here!

Vegan Doping: Forget Carbo-Loading, Lets Talk Nitrate Loading

By now, I assume you’ve all heard about Lance Armstrong who was recharged with doping last week and is currently suspended from all athletic events including Ironman and is threatened with having his seven Tour De France victories stripped (Armstrong qualified earlier in the season for the Ironman World Championship in Kona.) Rather than going into a rant about if I think he did it or not, the ethics behind doping, how this helps or hurts the sport, or any of the other mumbo-jumbo that is currently trending, I’d rather offer an alternative to people looking to get that extra little push from their training that is not only legal but is also incredibly healthy.

(Side note: Regardless of what he did nearly a decade ago, his performances in recent Ironman competitions have been stunning, and Armstrong credits his new experiments with plant-based veganism for much of his recent ability.) 

Several new studies over the past few years have found that a diet high in beets can actually do amazing things for athletes, including drastically improving performance. In the past I’ve written about how plant-based diets can lower inflammation allowing an increase in training, as well as increased energy and stamina all while decreasing your risk of many lethal diseases. But the power of beets seem to leave even these attributes in the dust.

In 2009 a study found that beet juice has the ability to dramatically lower the muscles need for oxygen. The reason athletes train is to strengthen their heart and lungs. As this happens the body becomes more efficient, delivering more oxygen throughout their system allowing their muscles to perform more work. However, no matter how good of an athlete a person is, once the oxygen reaches the muscles, it does the same amount of work. Superior athletes only advantage is the ability to pump more oxygen to their muscles more quickly and efficiently. This can be compared to a car. A sports car and a normal sedan both use fuel exactly the same, however the sports car will be fast simply because it has a stronger engine which can use the fuel more effectively. However the fuel is doing the same amount of work in both the sports car and the sedan.

At least that is what traditional sports science always told us.

A new study took eight cyclists and measured their oxygen levels while cycling on an indoor trainer. They did the test at several times, including before and after taking placebos, as well as after having consumed two glasses of beet juice for several days. After drinking beet juice for a few days in a row, the cyclists were able to perform the same amount of work with 19% less oxygen. When they were cycling at full pace to exhaustion, they were able to increase their endurance to fatigue by an astounding 16%.

It is worth mentioning that before this experiment, there was no known food, drug, or steroid that could actually increase energy extraction from oxygen.  However, it appears that beet juice made their bodies significantly more efficient.

Why Beets? Well, besides being packed with macro, micro, and phyto-nutrients, beets offer one of the most concentrated sources of nitrates. When compared to berry juice (also packed with goodness, absent the nitrate) performance after beet consumption improved while the berry juice did nothing to affect normal performance. 

This is where it gets a bit complex, so hold on to your hats. After consumption, nitrate is absorbed in our stomachs and then actively pumped back into out mouth through our salivary glands. This is done because our body knows we have special bacteria living on our tongues which takes the nitrates and converts them into nitrites which are then re-swallowed, re-absorbed and finally sent off to the cells in our muscles. Here the nitrites are converted yet again into nitrate-oxide. This nitrate-oxide then helps take the place of oxygen in the muscles, therefore requiring less oxygen to perform more work. Because the nitrate needs to be absorbed by bacteria on the tongue using antiseptic mouthwash or excessive spitting after absorbing the nitrates was found to cancel the benefits.

So if you are preparing for marathon season, have a big cycling event or racing in a triathlon, instead of worrying about carbo-loading before your race, perhaps you should consider a diet high in nitrates, including beets, and dark leafy-greens such as kale, collards and arugula. But be warned, while nitrates found naturally in fruits and vegetables can increase performance, the nitrates added to cure meat (think bacon and hotdogs) are actually highly potent carcinogens that are linked to all types of cancers. This is because instead of turning into nitrate-oxide as they do when nitrates are ingested from beets and dark greens, they convert into nitrosamines. As it turns out, this is because meat is void of vitamin C, which blocks the conversion of nitrates to nitrosamines. As such, the nitrates found in bacon and hotdogs convert into the harmful nitrosamines during the processing stage, making all cured meats harmful regardless of what they are eaten with; while veggies continue to have beneficial affects. As such, perhaps you should consider trading your next BLT for an arugula and beet salad or simply add those ingredients to your smoothies!

(my favorite way to add beets to my diet is by peeling and shredding them)

Besides running a bit faster and a bit longer, beets have other advantages that make them beneficial to everyone’s diet. According to Dr. Mikhail Tombak, a scientist and longevity expert, beets have also been shown to that improve “blood structure and cure diseases of the circulatory system, large intestine, and digestive system." Tombak also says beet juice helps dissolve liver, kidney and bladder stones.

 So what is the take from all of this? Well, athletes will see their performance improve if they ingest a large amount of nitrite-rich foods before they race. Perhaps I am bit of quixotic but I’d like to think Lance was simply benefitting from the power of the beet.

Dr. Greger of NutritionFacts.org has nearly an hour of video lectures on the topic.

These were the most relevant sources considered:
Schorah CJ, Sobala GM, Sanderson M, Collis N, Primrose JN. Gastric juice ascorbic acid: effects of disease and implications for gastric carcinogenesis. Am J Clin Nutr. 1991 Jan;53(1 Suppl):287S-293S.

Webb AJ, Patel N, Loukogeorgakis S, Okorie M, Aboud Z, Misra S, Rashid R, Miall P, Deanfield J, Benjamin N, MacAllister R, Hobbs AJ, Ahluwalia A. Acute blood pressure lowering, vasoprotective, and antiplatelet properties of dietary nitrate via bioconversion to nitrite. Hypertension. 2008 Mar;51(3):784-90. Epub 2008 Feb 4.

Eaton SB, Eaton SB 3rd. Paleolithic vs. modern diets--selected pathophysiological implications. Eur J Nutr. 2000 Apr;39(2):67-70.

Vermeer IT, Moonen EJ, Dallinga JW, Kleinjans JC, van Maanen JM. Effect of ascorbic acid and green tea on endogenous formation of N-nitrosodimethylamine and N-nitrosopiperidine in humans. Mutat Res. 1999 Jul 16;428(1-2):353-61.

Liu CY, Hsu YH, Wu MT, Pan PC, Ho CK, Su L, Xu X, Li Y, Christiani DC; Kaohsiung Leukemia Research Group. Cured meat, vegetables, and bean-curd foods in relation to childhood acute leukemia risk: a population based case-control study. BMC Cancer. 2009 Jan 13;9:15.

Crinnion WJ. Organic foods contain higher levels of certain nutrients, lower levels of pesticides, and may provide health benefits for the consumer. Altern Med Rev. 2010 Apr;15(1):4-12.