“Chris Lieto’s Score to Settle” – TriEurope

“Craig Alexander’s pass on Chris Lieto at the 2009 Ironman World Championships produced one of the great triathlon photos. It said it all. While Alexander was picking people off on the run, Lieto was wearing his heart on his sleeve giving it everything he had. In 2009, he only just came up short. Can he do it in 2010? Susan Grant chatted to one of the most popular triathletes in the world about Kona, running and that score to settle.

Photo: Chris Orwig

You were inspired to compete in triathlon after reading an article in Outside magazine about Mark Allen. He went on to become your first triathlon coach. What did you learn from him?

I was inspired to do triathlon originally after watching the Ironman on television. Also, Wendy Ingraham lived in my area and so I met her at school and watched her do the Ironman on television. During this same period of time I saw the magazine article with Mark, and there was a sample 16-week plan on training for your first triathlon, so I followed that plan. That’s how I got started. After that, Wendy helped me in my training and Mark came along and coached me for a year after that. I learned a lot from him. Professional athletes who become coaches bring their own experiences as athletes to the table, including their own trials and errors. But everyone is different, so you have to figure out what works best for you, especially as you get older.

During the last decade you’ve had three top-10 finishes at the Hawaii Ironman. You’ve said in the past that one of your goals as a pro was to become one of the top Americans in the sport. With your top-American finish in 2009, do you feel like you have achieved your goal?

There’s definitely more left out there for me to do. One of the goals I set for myself when I got involved in the sport in 1999 was to be in the top one percentage in the world as far as ranking. I’ve accomplished that, as well as winning several other races that I set out to win. The last thing on my list is really to win Kona. I’ve come closer every year, so it’s still out there for me to finish first. This year I will be out there to win.

How does your goal of winning Kona affect the rest of your 2010 season?

For the last couple years, my focus has really been winning Ironman Hawaii above all else. Every race I go to I have the goal in mind that I want to win, but ultimately my goal for the whole year is winning Hawaii. There are sacrifices I make throughout the year in terms of the races I choose to do and in my training so that I can be as fit as possible come October.

That said, even if I’m not as fit because of where I am in my yearly training plan, no matter what race I line up for, I shoot for winning and for giving my all and racing all out and challenging myself.

It’s always exciting to see what I have in me at any given moment in a race. It’s also beneficial to race closely against somebody else because it teaches you about yourself both physically and emotionally. I will take all the things I learn in every race that I do this year and try to adapt them to how I approach my race in Kona.

You are currently coached by Matt Dixon, founder of Purple Patch Fitness based in the San Francisco Bay area. Dixon is a proponent of rest and recovery rather than logging huge miles all the time. You’ve always been vocal about the importance of rest, but even you have admitted that it’s easier for someone to make time for recovery when training is their only full-time job. What advice do you have for age-group athletes on recovery?

To be honest, 99 percent of age-groupers train too much. I’ve learned a lot more of that from Matt Dixon. In the past, some coaches really overloaded me, and they just had a philosophy that training that hard is what you have to do, although it is more of a philosophy people believed 15 years ago.

Matt incorporates a lot of rest and recovery into my training program and it works really well for me, especially as I get older. I believe you really need to take at least one day off weekly. It’s hard to do mentally sometimes, but people would be amazed at the relatively small amount of training you can do and still have an incredible race.

Craig Alexander passes Chris Lieto at Kona. Photo: John Segesta

You spent six weeks leading up to Kona in 2009 training at altitude—roughly 8,000 feet—in Mammoth with marathoners Ryan Hall and Josh Cox, among others. What was the most profound change in your running during your time there, and how did it help you in Kona?

The time I spent up there was a great time, and being up that high works really well for me. It doesn’t always work well for people, so I was glad I enjoyed it and it helped me. I will be going back this year, although I will have to monitor when and how long I’m up there because what works once may not work the next time.

It was a chance to focus on my training for Hawaii, although usually I do training camps on Maui before the Ironman. This past year, I wanted to stay closer to home. It was more about a destination to get clarity and focus and to find balance in my training and myself.

Also, the surroundings were so beautiful and the people were so great to run with and learn from. Running with my friends Ryan Hall and Josh Cox and getting to know Deena Kastor and her husband and Meb [Keflezighi] was really a great experience.

It was good to be able to run with people at a high level.They are elite athletes at the top of their sport and we have mutual respect for each other and what it takes to be an athlete.

But there wasn’t any of that cloudiness of the sport of triathlon crowding my mind up there.

I’ve never really spent time at training camps in the traditional triathlon environment, for instance, going up to Boulder or wherever else other triathletes go. I’d rather train either with elite athletes I can learn from or just by myself. It was a time for me to challenge myself. There were times when I was more nervous about a track session with Ryan Hall and Josh Cox and all the Mammoth track team than lining up for a race. The running was great, I got a lot of good quality runs in while staying injury free, and it was just a great time overall.

In 1998 a friend accidentally ran over your foot, breaking it in more than 50 places. You were told you would never run again. Did you place a call after your Kona finish to the doctor who gave you your diagnosis and rub it in?

It’s funny you mentioned that. I did a talk with a triathlon club at a fitness club in my area and at the end of my talk it turns out the doctor who had worked on me after my injury was in the audience. He came up and talked to me after I finished my presentation and congratulated me. He was really impressed, and we’ve actually talked a few times since.

Doctors always give you the worst-case scenario with injuries like that based on the data that they have available to them. However, I am still dealing with the injury even today. I notice it in how my foot reacts to my run training, the soreness and the inflexibility in my ankle. I have some scar tissue in my foot even still. You just deal with it.

Thinking back to when you were healing from that injury, do you think it made you an even more driven athlete than you would have been otherwise?

In the beginning for sure it did. That first year, it was very much a driving force for me to rehab and get healed up. I was doing more on a rehab basis than they would have liked because I was so motivated. I would show up at the rehab place and they would tell me to warm up on the bike and I would have to explain to them that I just got done riding for two hours on the trainer. They basically kicked me out of physical therapy because I was doing enough on my own.

I was very proactive. As soon as I could get out of bed I did, as soon as I could ride a bike I did. Even with the cast on I would do activity. I pushed for a cast that would allow me to get in the water and I did a lot of aqua jogging. I never gave it time to rest and that was the key to my recovery.

A lot of times when people have surgery or injury issues they sit and let the recovery happen without being active, and that is when the scar tissue builds up. I really kept my foot and ankle moving and although I have some scar tissue it is so much less than I would have had otherwise.

You are one of the strongest cyclists in the sport, if not the strongest. Chris McCormack said that he thought you would be able to out-split Lance Armstrong if you had the chance. Do you think that you could?

I have no idea! I doubt it. Lance is a phenomenal athlete and he has the ability to excel at anything he puts his mind to. He is a mentor for me—someone I look up to. If he races in Kona this year or whenever and I’m out there racing too, I’ll do my best to keep up with him and hopefully I won’t let him go anywhere. I have no doubt that in the end he would probably smoke me though.

Prior to the 2009 Ironman World Championship, it was rumored that you were considering retiring from the sport. Was this true, and if so why?

I’ve gone through different stages in regards to retirement. In 2004, I thought about retiring and then I was able to have a good race at Ironman Canada and at that time I was thinking that it might be my last race. It goes to show how important your mindset is going into a race. At Ironman Canada I had no pressure on me; I just went out there and tried to have the best race I could have. I also held strongly to the belief that I had it in me to win the race, and so believing that I was able to win.

I learned from that experience that you always have to have that type of mindset where you are positive and you have big goals, but at the same time you don’t put pressure on yourself in an unhealthy way. You have to show up to your events, or whatever else you have to do in your life, with a relaxed, confident attitude, and that is how I really have approached the rest of my career since then.

Did I think about retiring last year? Well, no, but I’m always thinking about my exit and how I will handle that. I will be turning 38 this year so I’m not a young pup anymore, but every year I feel like I’m still getting better. Last year at Kona my fitness was really there and I think that this year it will be even more. I will continue to race as long as I feel like my fitness is improving or until something else comes along that really inspires me to put everything into it.”

Designed for athletes who take part in intense workouts, or who exercise in the heat or humidity and experience significant fluid and electrolyte loss, the new Ironman PERFORM sports drink also enhances performance by delivering essential electrolytes, including 190 mg of sodium per serving, to replenish what athletes lose in sweat and to help avoid skeletal muscle cramps and dehydration. The convenient ready-to-drink beverage is also made with natural flavors and without the use of high fructose corn syrup.

“I have been testing out the new Ironman PERFORM sports drink in training and it has a light taste and was easy on my stomach,” said Ironman champion Samantha McGlone. “Ironman PERFORM is the most convenient way to meet all my hydration and nutrition needs during hard racing and training. It will be key for me to now have its performance-enhancing formula on course when it counts this season.”

Nestlé Performance Nutrition and its PowerBar® brand, along with the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), are working together on the new line of Ironman-branded sports drinks, an extension of PowerBar’s longstanding global partnership with Ironman and its role as the official global energy bar and energy gel supplier of all Ironman and 70.3 events.

“We have a fundamental goal and shared mission with Ironman, which is to help athletes perform at their best,” said Phil Annett, Global Business Head at Nestlé Performance Nutrition. “Applying the latest sports science to get the right balance of performance benefits, taste and stomach comfort in the new Ironman PERFORM sports drink was a long yet essential development process designed to help athletes achieve optimum performance.”
Groundbreaking Research

C2MAX, the unique, high-octane carbohydrate formulation found in new Ironman PERFORM sports drink, was developed based on groundbreaking research published in the February 2008 issue of Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. The study showed that consuming an optimized blend of glucose and fructose carbohydrates allowed athletes to perform better, increase fluid delivery and experience less perceived exertion following exercise. PowerBar, through the Nestlé Research Center, continues to support a series of follow-up carbohydrate performance field trials with lead research author Dr. Asker Jeukendrup and his team at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Birmingham. The aim of these trials is to apply this breakthrough science to the development of new sports nutrition tools, such as new Ironman PERFORM sports drink, for endurance athletes.

“Ironman is the pinnacle of endurance sports and we believe in having the latest tools available for our athletes,” says Ben Fertic, President and CEO of Ironman. “As Ironman celebrates its 32nd anniversary, we are excited to offer the world’s top athletes a new product that is designed to enhance their training and race day experience.”

Through the new agreement, Ironman PERFORM will be the official sports drink for the following events in 2010: Amica Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island, Ironman 70.3 Racine, Rohto Ironman 70.3 Miami, Ford Ironman Lake Placid, Ford Ironman Louisville, Ford Ironman Wisconsin, Ford Ironman Florida and Ford Ironman Arizona. Additionally, both the 2010 Ford Ironman World Championship and Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3 events will include Ironman PERFORM on-course, and the product will be on course at upcoming Aflac Iron Girl events throughout the 2010 season.

PowerBar’s heritage with the sport of triathlon traces back to the company’s beginning, and triathletes worldwide have come to rely on PowerBar’s sports nutrition products for top-level training and competition. Through the company’s Team Elite™ ambassador program, Ironman and 70.3 athletes have contributed to PowerBar’s product development programs for elite athletes, and this new sponsorship and licensing agreement is a natural extension of the long-standing relationship.

The Ironman brand has become a sports icon around the globe as more and more athletes continue to take on Ironman and 70.3 events each year. Additionally, while Ironman consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-marathon, it symbolizes passion, performance and the aspiration to challenge yourself to the fullest.

Lieto at a recent team camp. Photo: Kurt Hoy

Those who follow Lance Armstrong’s Twitter updates may have noticed his first-ever “Twitter time trial” last week against Ironman triathlete Chris Lieto, held along Kona’s Queen K Highway — the windy stretch of coastal road that serves as the bike leg of the Hawaii Ironman world championships.

The impromptu competition between the two stars of endurance sports started as a tweet from Armstrong to Lieto on the afternoon of February 16, when the seven-time Tour champ wrote, “Just passed @chrislieto going the other way. He was hammerin. Hey Chris, a little TT showdown on the Queen K tomorrow? You, me, and whoever.”

One of the strongest cyclists in triathlon, Lieto promptly replied, “@lancearmstrong see u on the Queen-K! Will have to be after 8am cause I have to swim first. Flying out mid day. Give me a call.”

Later that day Armstrong issued a notice to his near 2.5 million Twitter followers: “Queen K Hwy TT Challenge. Tomorrow 9:30am. Start – Waikeloa Beach Dr to Kukio Nui Dr. 14 miles. Full gas. Take it easy on me @chrislieto.”

The event, which ended up being closer to 11 miles, drew a few dozen spectators and participants.

A video posted online quoted Armstrong saying Lieto had ridden 15 seconds slower than he had; Lieto later posted his time as 18:44; just nine seconds slower than Armstrong. Either way, it was an impressive ride for the triathlete, considering Armstrong has been one of the strongest cyclists against the clock of the past decade. And as Armstrong said, “Who knows, maybe we’ll be having a showdown out here [on the Queen K Highway] in a couple years, with the swim in the front and the run at the end.”

The biggest star of the new Trek/K-Swiss triathlon team, Lieto, who turns 38 this year, is famous for using his bike strength to begin the marathon run with a large advantage. That tactic has never taken him to victory on the sport’s biggest stage, but he’s won three Ironman-distance races, holding the bike-course record at Ironman Canada. He finished ninth in Kona in 2006 and sixth in 2007 (the top American), and last year Lieto posted the fastest bike split — 4:37:33, for an average of 24.22mph — before Australian Craig Alexander finally reeled him in at mile 22 of the run. Lieto finished second, 2:35 behind Alexander, a result that forced those who have questioned Lieto’s bike-heavy strategy to think again.

The Bay Area resident has also done his fair share of bike racing with the amateur team California Giant Berry Farms, playing the role of unknown wildcard at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, in 2006 and 2007, and at the Tour of Utah, in 2006 and 2008. At the 2006 Utah race Lieto made it into the day’s breakaway on the final stage, finishing fourth on the climb to Snowbird Resort, just nine seconds behind climbing sensation Phil Zajicek; he finished the race 11th overall, 5:32 behind overall winner Scott Moninger. At Mt. Hood in 2007 Lieto put in a strong performance, finishing fifth on the pivotal 18.5-mile time trial, ahead of two-time national time-trial champion Chris Baldwin. Lieto finished that race seventh overall, 3:08 behind overall winner Nathan O’Neill.

VeloNews managing editor Neal Rogers caught Lieto by phone to ask about how the recent “Twitter time trial” came about, how it felt to be less than 10 seconds slower than a rider who has stood on the Tour de France podium eight times and how Armstrong might fare against today’s Ironman men’s field.

VeloNews: So is there a Trek connection with Armstrong?

Chris Lieto: Yeah, I’ve known Lance a few years, through Trek, we’ve done some wind-tunnel stuff. He invited me out to his house last fall for the Mellow Johnny’s Classic, the mountain-bike race. I did that, and I hung out with him there. I knew he was in Hawaii and I connected with him. I saw him out riding one day, we rode a few times together, and then we passed each other one day — he saw me riding down a hill, and he was riding up — and he twittered right after that. We were planning on doing a good ride together, and then he twittered that. He emailed me, we had an arrival time, he was going first, and I was leaving behind him. We met at 9:30. He opened it up to anyone else that wanted to do the time trial. They just had to leave after us, and it was on the honor system, no cheating, you started your own clock at the start and at the finish. I think he was surprised by how much response he got, and how much banter there was, with the tri community getting in on it. It was pretty funny.

VN: What was the distance?

CL: I’d have to look at my computer. I think it ended up being 11 miles. I don’t remember exactly. The average speed was about 56kph, or about 35mph. We had a tailwind.

VN: And this was part of the Ironman triathlon course?

CL: Yep, it’s part of the Ironman course, probably from mile 85 to 95, or so, somewhere in there.

VN: Armstrong tweeted that you were only 15 seconds behind him.

CL: Yeah, I was actually nine seconds off. He quoted me at 15 seconds in a video that was shot right after we finished. But after I downloaded my computer, my time was a little bit quicker.

VN: That’s pretty fast — Armstrong won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics in the time trial, has won several Tour de France time trials, and was third at the Tour last year. Did you expect to be there? Are you pleased with that?

CL: Yeah, obviously I’m pleased to be that close to the best cyclist in the world. It’s great. I didn’t know what it was going to be like, or how I would perform. I didn’t think I would be that close. It was my first hard effort of the year, doing something like that. I haven’t done any max efforts yet, so it was a new experience for the year, to get going again. We’d both had hard weeks of training. The day before I think he rode five hours, I rode five hours, a lot of climbing, intervals, so it was just an unknown. But it was good to just hit it out. It helped with the tailwind, it made it a little bit easier to stay within striking range, or minimize the time gap. I think if it was a headwind maybe it would have been a little different. I think it also shows the bike quality of our new Trek Speed Concept. It equaled it out. We were on the same bike, in similar positions, on similar size frames.

VN: Was there one rider that brought more aerodynamic equipment — wheels, helmet, skinsuit, anything?

CL: No, it’s funny, we talked beforehand, I said okay, no aero helmets, because I didn’t bring mine and he had his. He said okay, and then he showed up and he was in his skinsuit, and I was in my regular jersey and bibs. And I was like “What’s up with the skinsuit?” and then he looked at my wheels and said that I had race wheels on. They’re four-year-old aluminum training wheels, but they have bladed spokes. But I had a 24-count spoke count wheel, and he had a 32-spoke count wheel. He had a skinsuit and I had a jersey and bibs, I had an aluminum rim with less spokes than he had, so it all balanced out.

VN: I’m pretty familiar with Armstrong’s race schedule, and where he should be with his fitness at this time of year. You said that was your first hard effort of the year; what’s your first race of 2010, and where did this sort of effort fit into your training?

CL: My first race of the year is March 15th. His first race was, what, last month? I’m a few months behind the cycling community. My first big race isn’t until June, and then Hawaii in October. I break my year into two halves. There are two half-Ironmans that I will be focusing on, but I haven’t confirmed which ones yet. For me my main focus is October. For Lance it’s the Tour de France in July. I try to get a first half of the season peak in June, and then I take a few weeks off and rebuild and start my focus for October. The big build will be for Kona.

Lieto in his roadie kit.

VN: We’ve seen you race at national-level road races in the past, but not really last year. Will you do that again in 2010? Where are you with your side career as an amateur cyclist?

CL: I’m not really doing anything with the side career. I’m still with the (California Giant Berry Farms) team, I am still part of it. Last year was the first year I didn’t do any stage races, the year before I did Tour of Utah. Last year with my training schedule and my racing schedule, it didn’t fit in. I did a few small local road races. This year will probably be the same. I doubt I’ll show up to any stage races. I think the lead up for me is more specific, what I need to do leading up to a triathlon.

VN: So what’s changed? How has the lead up changed compared to years when you were racing stage races? Does that mean you need to work more on the run, and less on the bike?

CL: It’s the whole balance. Training for triathlon you have to balance all three sports. So going to do a stage race, like say the Tour of Utah, I may prepare differently on my bike leg leading up to it so I can be fit enough on the bike to maintain and to be part of that race. I’m also taking that five- or six-day block and just riding. In the past I would do little runs after the stage was over, just a short run to keep the legs moving. But you take a weeklong block to do a stage race and you’re not getting in the swimming and running. So you have to sacrifice those, and you have to figure out what is the grand effect, and how you manage recovery to make sure you’re still on plan for the ultimate race in your triathlon schedule.

VN: So out in Kona with Lance, training on the Queen K, you must have chatted with him about him returning to triathlon. What kinds of conversations have you had with him about it?

CL: We have chatted a little bit about it. Nothing is definite or set. It’s known that he has an interest in racing triathlon again. He’s made statements that he’ll come and race in the sport of triathlon at some point, in the next year or two, when he’s done with the Tour. I think we may see him at some Ironman events, or half-Ironman events, or something like that.

VN: From what you’ve seen in Armstrong’s comeback, and his rides on the Queen K, what sort of performance do you think he’s capable of in the Hawaii Ironman?

CL: Oh, I mean he’s one of the greatest athletes in the world. Looking at where he is now, after taking the time off, he has the ability to compete in any sport. He has the biking background, I think he has shown he can run and do marathons. He swam in high school, and he did triathlons early on, so he has the ability and the skill sets to do it. I think he’ll be competitive. I think it will be good for the sport.

VN: So what sort of performance is he capable of? I’m looking for a time. Can he go under nine hours?

CL: Oh yeah, he’ll go under nine, for sure. There’s no reason he couldn’t. It’s all about the engine. He’s a very smart guy, so he gets the part about balance, and nutrition … there’s so much more to a triathlon than pure raw power and speed. You’ve got to be patient, and you’ve got to be calculating in your nutrition plan and how you get the fluids in you, and as far as dosing your effort. He’ll know that if he does a 112-mile bike, he’ll need to be reserved to do the marathon. He’s not going to go and kill the bike leg. In the race we did on the Queen K, it was 18km, 10-11 miles, it was short, it’s different, it’s raw power, a different approach. He knows what he’s doing. I think he’ll go sub-nine. I think he’ll be in the mix a little bit. He’ll create some stir. He’ll get some people worried, stressed out about where he is. I think he even has the ability to get top-five.

VN: I would think your position as the strongest cyclist in triathlon, and as someone who can race against pros at national-level stage races, is of great interest to VeloNews.com readers, many of whom are probably stronger cyclists than runners.

CL: It’s all based on the balance of how you go at your race. For me, my strength is my cycling, so I use that to my advantage. I may not run as fast as I could if I just ran a marathon. I could probably go out and run a pretty fast one-off marathon. But trying to put it in after riding 112 miles by yourself, at the front, is much different than riding 112 miles in a group, or not riding at all and just running a fresh marathon. My running is good, it’s just not as good as the guy who won this year. But my cycling is that much better than his. It’s just finding that balance in your dose of effort.

VN: Does that mean, being the strong cyclist you are, and having gotten closer and closer to winning by using the bike as your strength, that you work even harder on the bike, to get out front even more, or do you have to work on the run more? Will you train one more or less than you did last year?

CL: It’s all about balancing the three. I don’t look at it as I need to ride more and get faster on the bike for that extra minute. I have to make sure the bike is as strong, if not stronger, than last year. And I also need to focus on the run, and make sure that it’s better than it was last year. I can’t neglect the cycling aspect and just focus on my running. I focus a lot on my biking and I focus a lot on my running. It seems like my biking is still going well, and it showed well last week with Lance. I think it also shows the cycling community the credibility of the sport of triathlon. It’s not just a bunch of guys out there that can’t make it as cyclists that are out there doing triathlon. There are a lot of guys out there that are really good on a bike. There are a handful of professional triathletes that could compete in the pro ranks on the bike, but they don’t, because we balance all three. And I think it shows with my TT ride against Lance. I won’t go out and beat him, but I’m not that far off.

VN: You might go out and beat him. Nine seconds is not a lot in 11 miles; that’s less than a second a mile. We all know the fallibility of the transitive properties in bike racing results — otherwise known as the virtual race resumé — but who knows, maybe you’re capable of going top-15 in a ProTour time trial.

CL: That would be pretty crazy.”

Taken from http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com