So far, so good…I have successfully abstained from running since December 4th. I have January 5th marked in my planner as the day I will end the month-long no-running challenge. I have been holding up well the past 2 weeks, but the hard part is still to come. I’m not going to hunt through my training history and confirm this, but I think this will be the longest I’ve gone without running since I was a sophomore in high school, which would be 8 years ago. For someone of my size, hovering around 185-210 for that time period, it’s pretty impressive this is my first injury to speak of. The ice is doing a good job of motivating me to not want to run, but the temptation still hits me occasionally. I have substituted erging and a little time on the elliptical into the running workouts I would have been doing. Training is still going extremely well as a whole. My only worry now is that without any significant race until the end of April, I may explode from anticipation.
In other news, the countdown to my tri-bike fitting is 35 days…getting close.
Also, Christmas is fast approaching, and I’ve been kind of a Christmas bum this year. The bonus of being married in regard to Christmas time is…even though there are more people to buy for with 2 immediate families, gifts can be given from both of us. And with my wife’s natural female instinct to enjoy shopping, she strategizes and actually purchases most of the gifts we need. So, Christmas shopping has become much easier since I really only need to focus on getting gifts for her. That being said, I’m not done yet and haven’t wrapped a darn thing, but I’m close enough to not feel stressed about it.
I did, however, decorate the exterior of the house with lights and some other miscellaneous things. It looks pretty amateur, but not bad for a first time. It snowed yesterday and that definitely accentuates the Christmas look. I’m satisfied with it and was surprised that hanging icicle lights was much easier than I expected.
Our dog, who had to have an impromptu surgery yesterday to deal with an abscess, is now home even though I haven’t gotten there to see him yet. It was strange being in the house without him around even though he’s only been with us for 2 months. It’s amazing how quickly he became one of the family. Anyways, it will be good to be greeted at the door again.
That is all for now. I think I will post again to brag about all my Christmas presents like a spoiled 8 year old, but I’m not sure if I’ll get anything in before that. Happy holidays everyone.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
December 4/30 complete...right?
Failure…but I kind of expected it. Having not had a run without some level of discomfort from the hips since the October marathon and having not fully addressed the issue yet, I was unrealistically optimistic at how my body would hold up through my attempt at the 31 day running streak in December. I made it 4 days before the hip pain settled in on Friday and I was hobbling around at work. At that point I finally made the smart decision and decided to pull out of the running challenge, get real rest by not running for a month, and taking square aim at the discomfort issue. I DO NOT want to be carrying this with me through next year with everything I have planned.
I was disappointed for all of 3-4 hours, and then realized this will be a good opportunity to cross-train on the ergometer (indoor rowing machine for non-“crew”-ers)and build a huge bike base along with the already consistent swimming and lifting I have been doing.
Other reasons to be excited:
It’s Christmas season, do you need more of a reason than that
My workout consistency is at an all-time high and I feel very confident about the upcoming year since this is normally where I lose motivation due to cold weather and no races near
My first achievable goal of 2009 is already underway and going very well…that being my diet. I am officially down below Clydesdale level now (and with the holidays too), although I heard sad news that there will be no more Clyde and Athena div in NAS IM races…so I guess I picked a good time to lean up. I still have until April 1st to reach my goal, but am already nearly ½ way…very exciting
I get a tri-bike fitting on January 20th…and a new machine soon thereafter
We’re getting to be like a well oiled machine at home as a newly-wed, home-owning, and dog-owning family. Of course, money is a little tight, but we’re being smart and taking things as they come, but still enjoying ourselves (and our dog). Even Derby is getting into a routine and isn’t pooing on the floors or carrying bags of flour around the house much anymore.
So, all-in-all, things are going pretty well despite the running setback. GL to the other streak runners out there, and Happy Holidays. Hopefully I’ll update again soon, but who knows…busy times ahead.
I was disappointed for all of 3-4 hours, and then realized this will be a good opportunity to cross-train on the ergometer (indoor rowing machine for non-“crew”-ers)and build a huge bike base along with the already consistent swimming and lifting I have been doing.
Other reasons to be excited:
It’s Christmas season, do you need more of a reason than that
My workout consistency is at an all-time high and I feel very confident about the upcoming year since this is normally where I lose motivation due to cold weather and no races near
My first achievable goal of 2009 is already underway and going very well…that being my diet. I am officially down below Clydesdale level now (and with the holidays too), although I heard sad news that there will be no more Clyde and Athena div in NAS IM races…so I guess I picked a good time to lean up. I still have until April 1st to reach my goal, but am already nearly ½ way…very exciting
I get a tri-bike fitting on January 20th…and a new machine soon thereafter
We’re getting to be like a well oiled machine at home as a newly-wed, home-owning, and dog-owning family. Of course, money is a little tight, but we’re being smart and taking things as they come, but still enjoying ourselves (and our dog). Even Derby is getting into a routine and isn’t pooing on the floors or carrying bags of flour around the house much anymore.
So, all-in-all, things are going pretty well despite the running setback. GL to the other streak runners out there, and Happy Holidays. Hopefully I’ll update again soon, but who knows…busy times ahead.
Monday, December 1, 2008
December 30/30 Challenge...or not
So, it’s December. The Christmas tree was put up last night and I will have my first experience putting out Christmas lights this weekend. We’ll see how that goes. Thanksgiving was a nice, relaxing weekend. I was able to spend plenty of time reading, watching TV, seeing some friends/family, and getting in some easy long and low workouts (when I wasn’t trying to referee between our dog and my parents’ dog). Considering I spent 4 days at my parents house, eating out for lunch and dinner basically daily (other than thanksgiving dinner, of course), I would say the weekend was a success. It was week 3 of my off-season weight loss plan and I basically held my ground, gaining .1 pound. I’ll consider that a success. Now I can pick up with the losses again this week. My motivation has been very high lately and I’ve been ignoring my excuses to skip workouts. Hopefully this will keep up at least through the new year. I think I should have no trouble staying on track until January 20th, so I look good when I get my tri-bike fitting. I’m counting down the days.
Anyways, December also marks the beginning of my possibly ill-advised attempt at a running streak. One of my big goals this off-season is to increase my running speed at longer efforts. I have a pretty aggressive ½ marathon goal for late April I’d like to hit. However, I’ve been officially, unofficially diagnosed with some IT band issues. Every run since my marathon in late October, I’ve noticed some pain or soreness in my hip. I’ve “consulted” with my dad and sister (both PTs) and they seem to think it’s the IT band acting up. They’ve advised plenty of stretching and some hip strengthening lifts, but not backing off on the running volume. They only advised taking it easy, especially on the pace. So I am still planning on running every day of December with the trifuelers, but am going to be paranoid about my hip, because obviously putting things into perspective, it’s not worth risking injury for some goofy fun.
So, we’ll see how it goes…
Anyways, December also marks the beginning of my possibly ill-advised attempt at a running streak. One of my big goals this off-season is to increase my running speed at longer efforts. I have a pretty aggressive ½ marathon goal for late April I’d like to hit. However, I’ve been officially, unofficially diagnosed with some IT band issues. Every run since my marathon in late October, I’ve noticed some pain or soreness in my hip. I’ve “consulted” with my dad and sister (both PTs) and they seem to think it’s the IT band acting up. They’ve advised plenty of stretching and some hip strengthening lifts, but not backing off on the running volume. They only advised taking it easy, especially on the pace. So I am still planning on running every day of December with the trifuelers, but am going to be paranoid about my hip, because obviously putting things into perspective, it’s not worth risking injury for some goofy fun.
So, we’ll see how it goes…
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I wanna go fast
So I ran yesterday, it was the third time I have run since the marathon (just over 3 weeks ago). It was the first time I didn’t have hip pain that affected my run as well as stiffness the day afterward. Maybe I’m finally recovered from the marathon. I am still planning on taking it easy and monitoring my leg health closely over the next 2 weeks. I’d like to participate in the 30minute runs (or more) every day for the month of December, like a bunch of others on trifuel, but I’m not going to risk injury or next season to do something that trivial. So, we’ll see. I am pretty optimistic after yesterday though. I took it out real slow (8:50 first mile), then ramped it up for 4 miles in 31:50 (so sub 8min pace) negative splitting every mile.
For some reason, I’m having a hard time holding back while running. My 3 runs since the marathon thus far have all been at a faster pace than I initially intended them. I’m guessing it’s a combo of the lack of running frequency making me too revved up for each run and the fact that I was doing so much long and low running for the marathon that it’s fun to open it up and go fast again. I just need to hold back as much as possible, since I think the high intensity of my first post-mary run was what injured my hips in the first place.
Oh yes, and side note. I think I have completed my 2009 schedule. The only thing that will change it now is if the races are moved from the anticipated dates. I am going to try and round out 2009 with the Tecumseh Trail Marathon in Indiana. It fits the requirements I was looking for, and it’ll be something different. Once I get this one done, I’m only one step from (gulp)…the strange and scary world of ultra-running. But that’s for later in life…
For some reason, I’m having a hard time holding back while running. My 3 runs since the marathon thus far have all been at a faster pace than I initially intended them. I’m guessing it’s a combo of the lack of running frequency making me too revved up for each run and the fact that I was doing so much long and low running for the marathon that it’s fun to open it up and go fast again. I just need to hold back as much as possible, since I think the high intensity of my first post-mary run was what injured my hips in the first place.
Oh yes, and side note. I think I have completed my 2009 schedule. The only thing that will change it now is if the races are moved from the anticipated dates. I am going to try and round out 2009 with the Tecumseh Trail Marathon in Indiana. It fits the requirements I was looking for, and it’ll be something different. Once I get this one done, I’m only one step from (gulp)…the strange and scary world of ultra-running. But that’s for later in life…
Monday, November 17, 2008
Awesome weekend for the family
Big congrats to my dad and sister are in order. They both ran the Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon this past weekend. It was my sister’s third marathon, and after 2 close calls, she finally got over the hump and broke the 5hr mark, coming in at 4:55:35.
It was also the first full marathon for my dad. Surprising, considering he’s done somewhere around 15 half marathons. He finished in 4:37 and some change, a strong performance. From the brief phone conversation I had with them afterwards, it sounded like he took it out a little harder than he thought he was. It’s sooooo hard to hold back with all the excitement and energy at the start of a marathon, I could definitely relate. But they both did a great job, so that’s very exciting. Now all of us have finished our ’08 season and can enjoy the holiday downtime before prepping for 2009, the year of the 70.3.
It was also the first full marathon for my dad. Surprising, considering he’s done somewhere around 15 half marathons. He finished in 4:37 and some change, a strong performance. From the brief phone conversation I had with them afterwards, it sounded like he took it out a little harder than he thought he was. It’s sooooo hard to hold back with all the excitement and energy at the start of a marathon, I could definitely relate. But they both did a great job, so that’s very exciting. Now all of us have finished our ’08 season and can enjoy the holiday downtime before prepping for 2009, the year of the 70.3.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
2009 Goals and some other notes
Now that I’ve got my basic race schedule laid out it’s time to set the goals. There is a lot of uncertainty in the schedule for next year with regard to B and C races, but my goals are mostly focused on the A races, so I feel comfortable going ahead with the goal setting.
My goals are a part of my yearly training plan, which follows from the Triathlete’s Training Bible, so they are as specific as possible. I do like to compete with others in my AG when I see them on the course, but as a whole I’m not consistently winning to the point where I feel comfortable making goals that are out of my control (like a podium finish at …). That being said, my performance goals are all time based. Obviously, this can be effected by the weather and other unseen factors, but it’s about as good as I can do.
So, without further ramblings, here are my season goals:
1. Complete Derby Mini-marathon in sub 1:35
2. Complete IM 70.3 Steelhead in sub 5:30
3. Complete IM 70.3 Augusta in sub 5:15
4. Race 2009 season at less than 190lbs (currently 207), reach goal weight by April 1, 2009
Some explanation:
· Even though the mini-Marathon is a B race and early in the season, I feel like this will be a good goal to judge my run progression over the winter. Also, 1:35 is BQ (Boston Qualifier) pace, even if only for half a marathon. My PR on the course I will be running is 1:38:xx from high school, but I feel like I’m not far off that level of performance currently (if not faster).
· After putting together a very rudimentary race plan for Steelhead, I feel comfortable that I should be able to break 5:30 relatively easily, so this might be a weak goal. However, I’m hoping I can be closer to 5:20 there and then use some tricks from experience to break 5:15 only 7 weeks later at Augusta. From very early looks at the courses, they are both mostly flat, so should be comparable in speed.
· The additional training from going from Oly focus to HIM focus will likely lead to weight loss naturally. I have raced Clydesdale most of the past year, and would not want to “work” to keep weight on to do it again. So, I am going to consciously lose weight over the winter prep and base to hopefully add some speed and reduce the load on my joints. I certainly have the weight to lose since I’m around 16-17% bodyfat. 14 weeks is a good amount of time to lose the weight in a healthy way (even though the holidays are in there).
There they are. Now that they are published, I have to stick to them. We’ll see how things go. For the most part, I am done with my planning for 2009, other than some detailing stuff. I have also had 2 weeks of recovery from my marathon, so I’m ready to get back to business.
On a side note, my dad and sister are competing in the Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon this weekend. It will be my sister’s 3rd Mary and she is trying to break 5hrs and it will be my dad’s first, so wish them luck. I’ll try to cover their success stories early next week.
My goals are a part of my yearly training plan, which follows from the Triathlete’s Training Bible, so they are as specific as possible. I do like to compete with others in my AG when I see them on the course, but as a whole I’m not consistently winning to the point where I feel comfortable making goals that are out of my control (like a podium finish at …). That being said, my performance goals are all time based. Obviously, this can be effected by the weather and other unseen factors, but it’s about as good as I can do.
So, without further ramblings, here are my season goals:
1. Complete Derby Mini-marathon in sub 1:35
2. Complete IM 70.3 Steelhead in sub 5:30
3. Complete IM 70.3 Augusta in sub 5:15
4. Race 2009 season at less than 190lbs (currently 207), reach goal weight by April 1, 2009
Some explanation:
· Even though the mini-Marathon is a B race and early in the season, I feel like this will be a good goal to judge my run progression over the winter. Also, 1:35 is BQ (Boston Qualifier) pace, even if only for half a marathon. My PR on the course I will be running is 1:38:xx from high school, but I feel like I’m not far off that level of performance currently (if not faster).
· After putting together a very rudimentary race plan for Steelhead, I feel comfortable that I should be able to break 5:30 relatively easily, so this might be a weak goal. However, I’m hoping I can be closer to 5:20 there and then use some tricks from experience to break 5:15 only 7 weeks later at Augusta. From very early looks at the courses, they are both mostly flat, so should be comparable in speed.
· The additional training from going from Oly focus to HIM focus will likely lead to weight loss naturally. I have raced Clydesdale most of the past year, and would not want to “work” to keep weight on to do it again. So, I am going to consciously lose weight over the winter prep and base to hopefully add some speed and reduce the load on my joints. I certainly have the weight to lose since I’m around 16-17% bodyfat. 14 weeks is a good amount of time to lose the weight in a healthy way (even though the holidays are in there).
There they are. Now that they are published, I have to stick to them. We’ll see how things go. For the most part, I am done with my planning for 2009, other than some detailing stuff. I have also had 2 weeks of recovery from my marathon, so I’m ready to get back to business.
On a side note, my dad and sister are competing in the Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon this weekend. It will be my sister’s 3rd Mary and she is trying to break 5hrs and it will be my dad’s first, so wish them luck. I’ll try to cover their success stories early next week.
Friday, November 7, 2008
2009 Race Schedule
Here it is. The unveiling of what I am hoping to be my 2009 race schedule. Some dates are not certain, so we will see what kind of interferences we get. May and June look to be the busiest months, but mostly low priority races. I do have my first ever century ride in there though. Some of the other events (sprint tri’s and mini-Marathon) are yearly stand-bys and good opportunities to get my wife and mom involved if they want to race again. Also, by doing one in the St. Louis area, we get a race that my sister doesn’t have to travel extensively to. The 70.3s are the focus of year 2 (of 3) on my way to IMLou in 2010. I also hope to volunteer at Louisville this year to really “earn” my spot. I know it doesn’t sell out immediately like the other IMs yet, but I feel like volunteering is just another necessary step along the way to doing it myself.
- KY Derby Festival Mini-Marathon--4/25/2009--1/2 Marathon--Louisville, KY--B
- Tri-for-Joe--5/17/2009--Sprint Tri--Cincinnati, OH--C
- Horsey Hundred--5/23/2009--Century Ride--Georgetown, KY--B
- Deer Creek Tri & Du--6/7/2009--Olympic Tri--Mt. Sterling, OH--B
- St. Peter's RecPlex Tri--6/21/2009--Sprint Tri--St. Peters, MO--C
- Indianapolis Sprint Tri--6/27/2009--Sprint Tri--Indianapolis, IN--C
- Ironman 70.3 Steelhead--8/1/2009--70.3--Benton Harbor, MI--A
- Ironman 70.3 Augusta--9/27/2009--70.3--Augusta, GA--A
- ?--11/?/09--Marathon--?--B
As far as the marathon goes, it will be kind of a way to wind down the season. I don’t think I’m ready to tackle another time goal here, though. It will be more for the enjoyment. Since that’s the case, I am considering doing a trail marathon if it falls in the right time period (nov/dec) and is close enough. Since the 70.3s require pretty substantial travelling, I’d like to stay close to Cincinnati on this one (3-4 hr drive range).
Feedback!
- If anyone has any suggestions that meet my above requirements for the end of year marathon (standard or trail), let me know.
- If anyone is going to be at any of these races, let me know. It’d be nice to meet and say hello to some other triathletes (or athletes in general).
Thursday, November 6, 2008
2008 Season in Review
I am in my recovery and planning mode right now, getting ready to transition into offseason training, which will add back in weightlifting and erging (rowing machine) as well as whatever other miscellaneous activities I decide. My main focuses are strength building, top end run speed, swim (in general), and weight loss (goodbye to being a Clydesdale). I am also in reflection mode of my successfully completed 2008 season, thus the nature of this post.
Even though this was my 5th year of competing in triathlons, it was a milestone year in many ways. First, it was my first full season since graduating from U. of Dayton, so triathlon didn’t have to take a backseat to rowing for 9 months out of the year. This meant I could plan an entire schedule around triathlons, including designating A races, etc. I also read Triathlete’s Training Bible in December and January, which helped immensely. Second, I completed my first marathon in January (and later my 2nd last month). Third, I won my division at a local race for the first (and 2nd) times as a Clydesdale. Lastly, I improved my biking to the point that I averaged over 20mph at every race this season, an accomplishment I had only done once in my previous 4 years of competing. I think the most exciting aspect of this is that I still see plenty of room for improvement, so am excited to start setting goals and getting a race plan together, which is actually already almost complete and will be posted soon.
2008 Race Results
January 13 -- Rock n’ Roll Arizona Marathon – 3:53:14 (broke 4hrs in first ever marathon)
April 26 – KY Derby Festival MiniMarathon – 1:42:42
May 18 – Tri for Joe (sprint) – 1:22:20 (1st of 21 Clydesdale, 40 of 839 OA)
June 15 – St. Peters RecPlex Tri (sprint) – 1:50:42 (5 of 17 in M20-24 AG, 30 of 457 OA)
June 21 – Indianapolis Sprint Tri (sprint) – 1:02:56 (3 of 41 Clydesdale, 71 of 575 OA)
June 29 – Cincy One World Du (Oly du) – 2:18:00 (1 of 9 Clydesdale, 35 of 213 OA)
August 24 – Chicago Accenture Tri (Oly, A race) – 2:29:45 (4 of 49 Clydesdale, 284 of 4089 OA)
October 5 – Tri-for-Sight (sprint) – 1:44:04 (3 of 20 Clydesdale, 42 of 324 OA)
October 26 – Marine Corps Marathon – 3:44:37 (was overly ambitious shooting for 3:30, and paid the last 6 miles…but new PR)
Overall, it was a busy year, and quite successful. I think I did a good job of establishing myself as a top Clydesdale in the region and at least competitive nationally for my size. Now, I am hoping to drop some weight so I can push a little harder and at least be locally competitive in the standard M20-24 AG next year.
Soon, I will put up my tentative race plan, and then start with the official goals, which I’ll also post. Making them public makes them much more concrete, I believe since I am being held accountable by others who read this (if anyone actually does).
Even though this was my 5th year of competing in triathlons, it was a milestone year in many ways. First, it was my first full season since graduating from U. of Dayton, so triathlon didn’t have to take a backseat to rowing for 9 months out of the year. This meant I could plan an entire schedule around triathlons, including designating A races, etc. I also read Triathlete’s Training Bible in December and January, which helped immensely. Second, I completed my first marathon in January (and later my 2nd last month). Third, I won my division at a local race for the first (and 2nd) times as a Clydesdale. Lastly, I improved my biking to the point that I averaged over 20mph at every race this season, an accomplishment I had only done once in my previous 4 years of competing. I think the most exciting aspect of this is that I still see plenty of room for improvement, so am excited to start setting goals and getting a race plan together, which is actually already almost complete and will be posted soon.
2008 Race Results
January 13 -- Rock n’ Roll Arizona Marathon – 3:53:14 (broke 4hrs in first ever marathon)
April 26 – KY Derby Festival MiniMarathon – 1:42:42
May 18 – Tri for Joe (sprint) – 1:22:20 (1st of 21 Clydesdale, 40 of 839 OA)
June 15 – St. Peters RecPlex Tri (sprint) – 1:50:42 (5 of 17 in M20-24 AG, 30 of 457 OA)
June 21 – Indianapolis Sprint Tri (sprint) – 1:02:56 (3 of 41 Clydesdale, 71 of 575 OA)
June 29 – Cincy One World Du (Oly du) – 2:18:00 (1 of 9 Clydesdale, 35 of 213 OA)
August 24 – Chicago Accenture Tri (Oly, A race) – 2:29:45 (4 of 49 Clydesdale, 284 of 4089 OA)
October 5 – Tri-for-Sight (sprint) – 1:44:04 (3 of 20 Clydesdale, 42 of 324 OA)
October 26 – Marine Corps Marathon – 3:44:37 (was overly ambitious shooting for 3:30, and paid the last 6 miles…but new PR)
Overall, it was a busy year, and quite successful. I think I did a good job of establishing myself as a top Clydesdale in the region and at least competitive nationally for my size. Now, I am hoping to drop some weight so I can push a little harder and at least be locally competitive in the standard M20-24 AG next year.
Soon, I will put up my tentative race plan, and then start with the official goals, which I’ll also post. Making them public makes them much more concrete, I believe since I am being held accountable by others who read this (if anyone actually does).
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Oops...should have been more patient
Well, I thought I was done with my recovery from the marathon…
I was itching to get out after basically taking last week off completely (I did one 30 minute swim), so I planned out a full off-season week for this week. This is still a pretty small workload (~5hrs), since the majority of the off-season I’ll be working somewhere on the range of 7-8hrs per week of training, hopefully). I also reintroduced lifting into my regimen to get that offseason strength boost. If all goes well I’ll be doing 30minute lifting circuits during lunch 3 days a week to cover each muscle group once a week (1x shoulder and arms, 1x chest and back, and 1x legs). Of course, abs/core will be included every lifting session. To get all the lifts in this small window of time, the workouts will be high intensity with super setting of almost everything. But I digress…
Back to being itching to get out, I took off Monday as a scheduling day and for running errands, so yesterday began my return to a regular schedule. I had a relatively steady and boring 30 minute swim mid-day (1.5km total workout), similar effort as usual for right now. In the evening though, I made my return to running. I planned to run approx. 40 minutes or so and had a route in mind with some hills. I took off and my legs felt great. I felt like I was floating, so I glided along at a pretty fast pace for me. By mile 2, reality set in, but my legs started to hurt a bit. This is unusual, and I just attributed it to fatigue. By the last mile of the 6 mile run, I was hurting pretty bad and knew the run itself, or the high intensity, or the hills, or some combination was a mistake. I covered the 6 miles (w/ rolling hills) in 43:15, so I was pushing a pretty good pace all the way to the end (~7:15s).
As soon as I stopped I had a stabbing pain in both hips…no good. I hobbled a cool down and headed inside. The pain didn’t subside all night, affecting me whenever I was on my feet. I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and almost fell over from the pain on the way. It was still a pretty sharp pain this morning. As I’ve moved around today, the pain has dulled some, but is still there when I’m walking. I looked it up and think it might be hip bursitis. So, I guess I wasn’t recovered yet from the marathon…oops.
I’m going to discuss it with my dad tonight (he’s a PT) and decide how to go from here. I’m pretty certain running is out for the rest of the week. I just hope I can get back on the bike before the end of the week, since I have really been eager to ride, even if it’s on the trainer. However, I did get my shoulder and arm lift in today. I had to hobble around the gym to get to the weights somewhat, but there was no pain when I was standing/sitting to accomplish my lifts since they were all upper body.
Anyways, moral of the story is BE PATIENT WITH YOUR RECOVERY TIME!
I was itching to get out after basically taking last week off completely (I did one 30 minute swim), so I planned out a full off-season week for this week. This is still a pretty small workload (~5hrs), since the majority of the off-season I’ll be working somewhere on the range of 7-8hrs per week of training, hopefully). I also reintroduced lifting into my regimen to get that offseason strength boost. If all goes well I’ll be doing 30minute lifting circuits during lunch 3 days a week to cover each muscle group once a week (1x shoulder and arms, 1x chest and back, and 1x legs). Of course, abs/core will be included every lifting session. To get all the lifts in this small window of time, the workouts will be high intensity with super setting of almost everything. But I digress…
Back to being itching to get out, I took off Monday as a scheduling day and for running errands, so yesterday began my return to a regular schedule. I had a relatively steady and boring 30 minute swim mid-day (1.5km total workout), similar effort as usual for right now. In the evening though, I made my return to running. I planned to run approx. 40 minutes or so and had a route in mind with some hills. I took off and my legs felt great. I felt like I was floating, so I glided along at a pretty fast pace for me. By mile 2, reality set in, but my legs started to hurt a bit. This is unusual, and I just attributed it to fatigue. By the last mile of the 6 mile run, I was hurting pretty bad and knew the run itself, or the high intensity, or the hills, or some combination was a mistake. I covered the 6 miles (w/ rolling hills) in 43:15, so I was pushing a pretty good pace all the way to the end (~7:15s).
As soon as I stopped I had a stabbing pain in both hips…no good. I hobbled a cool down and headed inside. The pain didn’t subside all night, affecting me whenever I was on my feet. I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and almost fell over from the pain on the way. It was still a pretty sharp pain this morning. As I’ve moved around today, the pain has dulled some, but is still there when I’m walking. I looked it up and think it might be hip bursitis. So, I guess I wasn’t recovered yet from the marathon…oops.
I’m going to discuss it with my dad tonight (he’s a PT) and decide how to go from here. I’m pretty certain running is out for the rest of the week. I just hope I can get back on the bike before the end of the week, since I have really been eager to ride, even if it’s on the trainer. However, I did get my shoulder and arm lift in today. I had to hobble around the gym to get to the weights somewhat, but there was no pain when I was standing/sitting to accomplish my lifts since they were all upper body.
Anyways, moral of the story is BE PATIENT WITH YOUR RECOVERY TIME!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Marine Corps Marathon: Ending the '08 Season at "the Wall"
Sunday marked the end of my 2008 racing season with my last A race, the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC. I ran my first marathon in January, and it is really what got me out of a pretty slow winter of training and focused on the 2008 season. In the recovery weeks, I wrote out my season race plan and set all my goals for the year. I was also invited by a friend who lives in the DC area to come run the MCM with him since we’re pretty close to the same speed. We decided to try and run 3:30 for the marathon along with another friend from the area. So, that’s how I got here, now to the race weekend itself.
I drove from Cincinnati to his house in Arlington on Saturday morning, about an 8 hour drive. We headed to a local burger place, where I had possibly the best burger of all time for lunch. I know, not great pre-race food, but I was also being a tourist. I doubt it had any bearing on my results. Then we headed to packet pickup, which was very smooth. In and out with a quick look at the expo in less than an hour, and then we headed back to his place and relaxed. I was tired from the drive, so was fine just watching college football until dinner time. At dinner, we went to a small Italian restaurant and met up with a couple friends, other race participants including the other member of our pace group. We did a little strategizing and planned when/where to meet and then were off to get ready for the race. I got all my gear laid out and was in bed by 11.
Race morning: Woke up at 6AM and out the door by 6:20. Caught the metro to the race course, hit the bathrooms, dropped off the gear and was off to the start line. Even though we weren’t held up anywhere in particular, we didn’t get into our corral until 7:55 and found our other runner at the same time, with 5 minutes to spare. That didn’t allow much time to get nervous, which was fine with me.
Miles 0-7: This was the hilly section of the course that ran through a wooded area near Arlington Cemetery, across the Potomac and up around University of Georgetown. My breathing felt pretty steady at the get go, but I felt like I was working harder than I wanted to stay with my group. However, we hadn’t caught the 3:30 pace guy, so I assumed it was just nerves. By mile 4 we were on 8 minute/mile pace (the goal) but still were behind the pacer. We finally caught (and passed) him just after the Key Bridge. At this point I felt pretty comfortable with the pace and so the three of us moved ahead, which is where I wanted to be. I am usually pretty steady on my long runs, but definitely don’t usually negative split them. We wound up the last hill and out of Georgetown and I felt like I had hit my rhythm as we headed to the flat section.
Miles 7+-14: Most of this section is very flat, running right along the river. It is also pretty dull, a period where it is easy to get a little bored with the effort. Luckily, running with friends, we were able to talk through this section. I actually don’t remember much of miles 7-12, other than we passed the Kennedy Center and headed to some public golf course. At the half marathon mat, we were almost 3 minutes up on the 3:30 pace…oops. I was beginning to tell I wouldn’t be able to maintain at this pace, so slowed a little. Apparently it wasn’t enough since at mile 14 I was over 3 minutes ahead of pace and my legs were starting to feel a little stiff, not enough to really effect me at this point, but enough to worry me since it was too early to feel like this.
Miles 14+-20: This should have been the most fun part of the course. It was very flat; most of it was in and around the mall, so the roads were lined with spectators and monuments. This is where we all separated. Just past mile 14, my two pace partners dropped to the side for a bathroom break. I never need to go during a race since I sweat out all of my fluids. I did however; use this time alone to really focus in on hitting my pace. I ran the next 2+ miles at exactly 8 minute miles. My friends caught me around mile 16 and kept on going. At this point, I didn’t want to push a sub-8 pace anymore, so I let them leave. However, less than a mile later one of them fell back to where I was. His hamstring was acting up and he wished me good luck and fell back. Now, I knew I’d be alone the remaining 8 or so miles. I don’t know what happened, but almost as soon as I saw my friend fall off pace, I felt the stiffness and the pain. I needed to slow again. I had time to give back to still hit 3:30, but between miles 18-20 I was giving it back too fast and I didn’t think I could speed up again at this point. At the 20 mile mark I walked for a minute…
Miles 20-Doom (the end): I tried my hand at breaking up the next miles by doing 10 and 1’s. This lasted all of 10 minutes. We left the monuments and headed back across the longest, loneliest, highway bridge to Crystal City. The bridge was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I was hitting the wall and needed some driving force to get my spirits back up. Instead I got the bridge, which offered an uneven road surface, isolation from crowd support and no shade for the next 1.5 miles. I shuffled and walked across the bridge and down into Crystal City where the crowd-support was awesome. I think they were trying to make up for leaving us alone in such a crucial part of the race. For me, it seems it was too late. I had already been passed by the 3:30 pace group, which wasn’t a killer blow even though it was my goal. I was expecting it by that point and was still on pace to easily PR from my first marathon. At this point, my legs were just shutting down; I could run about 5 minutes at a time before having to walk again because my calves were spasming and nearly knocking me over. The frustrating part was, my breathing wasn’t rough I still felt like I had some decent energy and was pushing a pretty decent walking pace all things considered, but I just couldn’t run. I don’t really remember focusing on much but ending the race at around mile 24. I was somewhere near the pentagon (where we started) but was spending most of the time looking at the ground and cursing my legs. At least once I walked for over 10 minutes straight before trying my hand at shuffling again, but my running stretches kept getting shorter. The spasms would start within 15-20 seconds of starting to run. I had to walk at least half of the final mile and was even told “You can’t walk during the last mile!” by a couple of spectators. People who are going to offer THAT kind of encouragement don’t need to be standing on the side of the road. I saw the finish ahead and was determined to cross running (or as close to it as I was capable) so I locked my legs in place from the knees down to keep from using my calves and shuffled across the finish line. I had never been so relieved to be finished with a race, but at the same time disappointed. Time 3:44:37.
Post race: The regular post race discomfort set in quickly and I hobbled around calling family and my wife to let them know I was done. I found my running group, none of us made it, finishing 3:34+, 3:44+, and 3:57 respectively. Once the initial emotions at the finish line wore off some, I was able to put things in to perspective and was much more satisfied with the day. I think it was the poor pacing that did me in more than anything else, and I’m still pretty certain I am capable of sub 3:30, but that will have to wait for next year. I had a banana, Clif bar, and gel w/ caffeine before the race, 2 gels on the course (miles 8 and 15), Powerade every 4 miles for the first 16 miles and every 2 miles after that, and water at every water stop (~2miles). I also had an additional bottle of watered down Gatorade and bottle of water on my belt. This is well more than I had in my long training runs which were usually 2 gels and a bottle of watered down Gatorade along with water at regular intervals and I didn’t have issues with my legs shutting down there.
Anyways, it’s not the way I wanted to end the season, but no need to dwell on it. I still have unfinished business for next year, though so maybe that will push me through the winter. I am mostly recovered from the soreness by now and am looking forward to working on my ’09 racing schedule in the next couple weeks. I already know my A races, but it’s time to fill in the blanks for the rest.
And I’ll get you next time marathon………………next time.
I drove from Cincinnati to his house in Arlington on Saturday morning, about an 8 hour drive. We headed to a local burger place, where I had possibly the best burger of all time for lunch. I know, not great pre-race food, but I was also being a tourist. I doubt it had any bearing on my results. Then we headed to packet pickup, which was very smooth. In and out with a quick look at the expo in less than an hour, and then we headed back to his place and relaxed. I was tired from the drive, so was fine just watching college football until dinner time. At dinner, we went to a small Italian restaurant and met up with a couple friends, other race participants including the other member of our pace group. We did a little strategizing and planned when/where to meet and then were off to get ready for the race. I got all my gear laid out and was in bed by 11.
Race morning: Woke up at 6AM and out the door by 6:20. Caught the metro to the race course, hit the bathrooms, dropped off the gear and was off to the start line. Even though we weren’t held up anywhere in particular, we didn’t get into our corral until 7:55 and found our other runner at the same time, with 5 minutes to spare. That didn’t allow much time to get nervous, which was fine with me.
Miles 0-7: This was the hilly section of the course that ran through a wooded area near Arlington Cemetery, across the Potomac and up around University of Georgetown. My breathing felt pretty steady at the get go, but I felt like I was working harder than I wanted to stay with my group. However, we hadn’t caught the 3:30 pace guy, so I assumed it was just nerves. By mile 4 we were on 8 minute/mile pace (the goal) but still were behind the pacer. We finally caught (and passed) him just after the Key Bridge. At this point I felt pretty comfortable with the pace and so the three of us moved ahead, which is where I wanted to be. I am usually pretty steady on my long runs, but definitely don’t usually negative split them. We wound up the last hill and out of Georgetown and I felt like I had hit my rhythm as we headed to the flat section.
Miles 7+-14: Most of this section is very flat, running right along the river. It is also pretty dull, a period where it is easy to get a little bored with the effort. Luckily, running with friends, we were able to talk through this section. I actually don’t remember much of miles 7-12, other than we passed the Kennedy Center and headed to some public golf course. At the half marathon mat, we were almost 3 minutes up on the 3:30 pace…oops. I was beginning to tell I wouldn’t be able to maintain at this pace, so slowed a little. Apparently it wasn’t enough since at mile 14 I was over 3 minutes ahead of pace and my legs were starting to feel a little stiff, not enough to really effect me at this point, but enough to worry me since it was too early to feel like this.
Miles 14+-20: This should have been the most fun part of the course. It was very flat; most of it was in and around the mall, so the roads were lined with spectators and monuments. This is where we all separated. Just past mile 14, my two pace partners dropped to the side for a bathroom break. I never need to go during a race since I sweat out all of my fluids. I did however; use this time alone to really focus in on hitting my pace. I ran the next 2+ miles at exactly 8 minute miles. My friends caught me around mile 16 and kept on going. At this point, I didn’t want to push a sub-8 pace anymore, so I let them leave. However, less than a mile later one of them fell back to where I was. His hamstring was acting up and he wished me good luck and fell back. Now, I knew I’d be alone the remaining 8 or so miles. I don’t know what happened, but almost as soon as I saw my friend fall off pace, I felt the stiffness and the pain. I needed to slow again. I had time to give back to still hit 3:30, but between miles 18-20 I was giving it back too fast and I didn’t think I could speed up again at this point. At the 20 mile mark I walked for a minute…
Miles 20-Doom (the end): I tried my hand at breaking up the next miles by doing 10 and 1’s. This lasted all of 10 minutes. We left the monuments and headed back across the longest, loneliest, highway bridge to Crystal City. The bridge was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I was hitting the wall and needed some driving force to get my spirits back up. Instead I got the bridge, which offered an uneven road surface, isolation from crowd support and no shade for the next 1.5 miles. I shuffled and walked across the bridge and down into Crystal City where the crowd-support was awesome. I think they were trying to make up for leaving us alone in such a crucial part of the race. For me, it seems it was too late. I had already been passed by the 3:30 pace group, which wasn’t a killer blow even though it was my goal. I was expecting it by that point and was still on pace to easily PR from my first marathon. At this point, my legs were just shutting down; I could run about 5 minutes at a time before having to walk again because my calves were spasming and nearly knocking me over. The frustrating part was, my breathing wasn’t rough I still felt like I had some decent energy and was pushing a pretty decent walking pace all things considered, but I just couldn’t run. I don’t really remember focusing on much but ending the race at around mile 24. I was somewhere near the pentagon (where we started) but was spending most of the time looking at the ground and cursing my legs. At least once I walked for over 10 minutes straight before trying my hand at shuffling again, but my running stretches kept getting shorter. The spasms would start within 15-20 seconds of starting to run. I had to walk at least half of the final mile and was even told “You can’t walk during the last mile!” by a couple of spectators. People who are going to offer THAT kind of encouragement don’t need to be standing on the side of the road. I saw the finish ahead and was determined to cross running (or as close to it as I was capable) so I locked my legs in place from the knees down to keep from using my calves and shuffled across the finish line. I had never been so relieved to be finished with a race, but at the same time disappointed. Time 3:44:37.
Post race: The regular post race discomfort set in quickly and I hobbled around calling family and my wife to let them know I was done. I found my running group, none of us made it, finishing 3:34+, 3:44+, and 3:57 respectively. Once the initial emotions at the finish line wore off some, I was able to put things in to perspective and was much more satisfied with the day. I think it was the poor pacing that did me in more than anything else, and I’m still pretty certain I am capable of sub 3:30, but that will have to wait for next year. I had a banana, Clif bar, and gel w/ caffeine before the race, 2 gels on the course (miles 8 and 15), Powerade every 4 miles for the first 16 miles and every 2 miles after that, and water at every water stop (~2miles). I also had an additional bottle of watered down Gatorade and bottle of water on my belt. This is well more than I had in my long training runs which were usually 2 gels and a bottle of watered down Gatorade along with water at regular intervals and I didn’t have issues with my legs shutting down there.
Anyways, it’s not the way I wanted to end the season, but no need to dwell on it. I still have unfinished business for next year, though so maybe that will push me through the winter. I am mostly recovered from the soreness by now and am looking forward to working on my ’09 racing schedule in the next couple weeks. I already know my A races, but it’s time to fill in the blanks for the rest.
And I’ll get you next time marathon………………next time.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Dog Pictures
Monday, October 13, 2008
Weekend Recap
Well, this past weekend was a pretty solid one by all accounts. My only complaint is that I lost a few hours of my life to the Kentucky-South Carolina football game which only caused me frustration at UK’s terrible play all around. But bitterness over the loss aside, things were pretty enjoyable, and of course there is the new family member (more on that later).
It’s interesting how different my life (and state of mind) is from just a year ago. Obviously, getting married and buying a house as well as having a full-time career will do that to you. Last year, I was still in the college mindset, always wanting to party on the weekends, even though I didn’t live near a college campus. Now the idea of a weekend in Cincinnati with only a few planned activities seems like a nice break from the normal hectic weekends and travelling we do.
Enough deep thoughts though, back to this past weekend. Friday wasn’t much to shout about. The wife and I went out to dinner, using a gift card we had gotten as a wedding present (thanks JD) and then relaxed a bit around the house while getting ready for the busy Saturday.
Saturday morning was my last long training run before my marathon in 2 weeks. It was a 20.66 miler (according to mapmyride), the longest solo run I’d ever done by almost 2 miles. Before my first marathon in January, I never completed a 20 miler, so getting this one done is good for the confidence going into the Marine Corps Marathon. As with my 18 miler, I walked portions of the steeper uphill sections in middle of the run to save the legs for a strong finish. Overall, it was a great run. I completed the 20.66 miles at almost exactly my goal marathon pace. Of course, I was rewarded with plenty of stiffness throughout the rest of the day and most of Sunday, but I like that kind of pain since it reminds me of hard work done.
Then, after some rest and refueling, I watched the UK football game. As mentioned before, this was disappointing and the low point of the weekend, but ultimately just a game, so oh well. To ease the pain, I was able to distract myself by watching the IM World Championships on my laptop. Even though my legs were sore, watching the amazing athletes accomplishing so much made me want to grab the bike and go for a ride. I did not, especially since we were trying to get the house ready for company.
Saturday night, we had our first house party, which was really more of a cookout than a party, but it still went well. I was disappointed we didn’t get more out of town guests to make it in, but Susan’s classmates made a decent showing and other people we know from Cincinnati also stopped by. Since we were uncertain of the numbers, we ended up with about 20 too many burgers and 2 cases too much beer, but no worries we will use the remainder eventually.
Sunday, we (Susan, me, and my two friends from Louisville who were my best men) went to a shelter and got a dog. This is our wedding gift from the best men, so they paid for the dog. We got a 1 year old boxer mix who is still yet to be named. Pictures will be posted soon. We now need to get a fence so we have better ways to contain him outside and to give him a little more freedom. He behaved well his first 24 hours with us and has only peed inside once. Luckily almost the entire house is hard surfaces so it’s not a huge deal to clean up after.
Anyways, that was the weekend, nothing too crazy, but a lot going on. Now it’s taper time (and time to dog-proof the house) for MCM is only 2 weeks away.
It’s interesting how different my life (and state of mind) is from just a year ago. Obviously, getting married and buying a house as well as having a full-time career will do that to you. Last year, I was still in the college mindset, always wanting to party on the weekends, even though I didn’t live near a college campus. Now the idea of a weekend in Cincinnati with only a few planned activities seems like a nice break from the normal hectic weekends and travelling we do.
Enough deep thoughts though, back to this past weekend. Friday wasn’t much to shout about. The wife and I went out to dinner, using a gift card we had gotten as a wedding present (thanks JD) and then relaxed a bit around the house while getting ready for the busy Saturday.
Saturday morning was my last long training run before my marathon in 2 weeks. It was a 20.66 miler (according to mapmyride), the longest solo run I’d ever done by almost 2 miles. Before my first marathon in January, I never completed a 20 miler, so getting this one done is good for the confidence going into the Marine Corps Marathon. As with my 18 miler, I walked portions of the steeper uphill sections in middle of the run to save the legs for a strong finish. Overall, it was a great run. I completed the 20.66 miles at almost exactly my goal marathon pace. Of course, I was rewarded with plenty of stiffness throughout the rest of the day and most of Sunday, but I like that kind of pain since it reminds me of hard work done.
Then, after some rest and refueling, I watched the UK football game. As mentioned before, this was disappointing and the low point of the weekend, but ultimately just a game, so oh well. To ease the pain, I was able to distract myself by watching the IM World Championships on my laptop. Even though my legs were sore, watching the amazing athletes accomplishing so much made me want to grab the bike and go for a ride. I did not, especially since we were trying to get the house ready for company.
Saturday night, we had our first house party, which was really more of a cookout than a party, but it still went well. I was disappointed we didn’t get more out of town guests to make it in, but Susan’s classmates made a decent showing and other people we know from Cincinnati also stopped by. Since we were uncertain of the numbers, we ended up with about 20 too many burgers and 2 cases too much beer, but no worries we will use the remainder eventually.
Sunday, we (Susan, me, and my two friends from Louisville who were my best men) went to a shelter and got a dog. This is our wedding gift from the best men, so they paid for the dog. We got a 1 year old boxer mix who is still yet to be named. Pictures will be posted soon. We now need to get a fence so we have better ways to contain him outside and to give him a little more freedom. He behaved well his first 24 hours with us and has only peed inside once. Luckily almost the entire house is hard surfaces so it’s not a huge deal to clean up after.
Anyways, that was the weekend, nothing too crazy, but a lot going on. Now it’s taper time (and time to dog-proof the house) for MCM is only 2 weeks away.
Monday, October 6, 2008
2008 Triathlon Season Finale
My 2008 tri season is now over. This past weekend’s Tri for Sight in Lexington, KY was the 6th and final race of the season. It went alright for me all things considered, but was a great day overall for my family. We had 5 competitors in the race, as I mentioned before…and everyone did well. But first, my race report.
Pre-race: I’ve had some congestion for the past week and a slightly sore throat so had not had as good a week of training as I’d hoped. Since this was a C race, there was no taper. Instead, I ran 8 miles with hills at sub-marathon pace on Saturday morning to get a decent workout in for my A marathon in 3 weeks. I completed the run faster than I’d hoped, but it just didn’t feel good. I was hoping it wasn’t the cold, but was ready to back off the race intensity if I felt similar during the tri.
Anyways, not terribly exciting race morning…had a banana before leaving the hotel and a bottle of water while setting up transition, helped the wife with some last minute fixes for the bike and setting up her transition, and huddled with the family as we all got nervous before the race start. At about 6:40, my wife, dad, sister and I headed to the pool for the pre-race meeting and start. My mom stayed back with the other duathletes for their upcoming run start. Downed a gel about 25 minutes before takeoff.
Swim: It was a snake style 800m pool swim with competitors starting every 10 seconds. This was the shortest time between starters I had experienced in a pool swim, and the congestion in the pool was noticeable. I stayed relatively clear of most people, passed about 4 people and was passed by about the same number. This is definitely where I need the most work to improve, but I said that last year as well and actually got slower. Funny how it’s easier to work on the stuff we’re better at. Anyways, I finished the swim w/o too much exertion and headed out to T1.
Time: 16:56 (7/20 in age group…Goal 16:30, +0:26 overall)
T1: This T1 was long, it included a quarter mile run from the pool to the actual transition area (barefoot) along with everything else. Still went pretty smoothly, but should have run a little faster I guess.
Time: 3:44 (2/20 in AG…Goal 3:30, +0:40 overall)
Bike: I have done this race 3 times before (’04-’06), but I guess the year away made me underestimate the bike course difficulty. I was hoping to really push it and go for 22.5mph avg for 18 miles. Well, first the course is actually 18.4 miles, and second the easy rollers were more substantial than I recalled. It was nothing I couldn’t deal with, but it slowed the average. Also, what I felt worst about was that I had misrepresented it to my mom and wife who hadn’t done the course before. Either way, I used perceived effort to guide me and stuck to my usual bike nutrition plan. Pretty smooth overall, and a very nice course BTW. I saw my wife just getting ready to start the rollers my way back and waved, but I wanted to apologize. She ended up not being angry with me though.
Time: 54:08 (3/20 in AG…Goal 50:00, +4:48 overall, 20.4mph avg)
T2: Uneventful, but lost a little time
Time: 1:32 (8/20 in AG…Goal 1:30, +4:50 overall)
Run: At this point I was obviously certain I wouldn’t hit my goal, but still wanted to get a good run in. My legs transitioned pretty quickly and I had a solid first quarter mile (of the 4 mile run). Then, my legs all of a sudden felt like lead, I struggled with the majority of the rest of the 1st mile. Once I got into the arboretum at mile 2 things opened up a bit and I was able to hit my stride. I never felt great on the run, but felt I was moving pretty good, so I was happy with it. I passed my sister in the last ½ mile, she thought she would hold me off with her head start. It was almost at the same time that we passed our mom heading out on mile 1. It was neat with 3 of us being that close (in proximity) at one point in the race.
Time: 27:44 (2/20 in AG…Goal 28:00, +4:34 overall, 6:56/mile pace)
Anyways, I was happy to be done, and it is a PR by about 4 minutes, but I was hoping for a little more. Either way, I can’t be too upset since it was a C race and I was more focused on my mom and wife’s performances since they are the beginners of the bunch.
Post race I talked to my sister for a bit since she came in about a minute behind me, then headed to the bike return to look for Susan (wife) to get back. I was hoping everything went well since she sometimes gets overwhelmed by too many hills. She actually came in a few minutes before I thought she would on the easier course I had imagined. She killed the bike, and seemed to be in pretty good spirits too. I then headed around to see her off on the run. I moved from point to point on the run course to cheer her on and find my parents coming in. Caught both of them looking strong in the last mile. Susan came back in about a ½ hour later…well faster than her projected time. My disappointing race was erased immediately by her and my mom’s successes. I do love this sport.
The breakdown (for everyone) in order of crossing the finish line:
Me: 1:44:03 (42/323 overall, 3/20 in Clydesdale AG)
Sister: 2:02:13 (7/23 in AG)
Mom: 2:20:08 in Du (1/1 in AG…a dominating victory)
Dad: 2:00:30 (5/15 in AG)
Wife: 2:36:51 (12/14 in AG)
Without family photographers, we have no personal pics, but I’m hoping the race pictures will have some good ones. They had plenty of opportunities to catch at least one of us. I’ll post good ones if I can find them. My next event is the Marine Corps Marathon, so focusing on running for the next few weeks…then the winter off-season build.
Pre-race: I’ve had some congestion for the past week and a slightly sore throat so had not had as good a week of training as I’d hoped. Since this was a C race, there was no taper. Instead, I ran 8 miles with hills at sub-marathon pace on Saturday morning to get a decent workout in for my A marathon in 3 weeks. I completed the run faster than I’d hoped, but it just didn’t feel good. I was hoping it wasn’t the cold, but was ready to back off the race intensity if I felt similar during the tri.
Anyways, not terribly exciting race morning…had a banana before leaving the hotel and a bottle of water while setting up transition, helped the wife with some last minute fixes for the bike and setting up her transition, and huddled with the family as we all got nervous before the race start. At about 6:40, my wife, dad, sister and I headed to the pool for the pre-race meeting and start. My mom stayed back with the other duathletes for their upcoming run start. Downed a gel about 25 minutes before takeoff.
Swim: It was a snake style 800m pool swim with competitors starting every 10 seconds. This was the shortest time between starters I had experienced in a pool swim, and the congestion in the pool was noticeable. I stayed relatively clear of most people, passed about 4 people and was passed by about the same number. This is definitely where I need the most work to improve, but I said that last year as well and actually got slower. Funny how it’s easier to work on the stuff we’re better at. Anyways, I finished the swim w/o too much exertion and headed out to T1.
Time: 16:56 (7/20 in age group…Goal 16:30, +0:26 overall)
T1: This T1 was long, it included a quarter mile run from the pool to the actual transition area (barefoot) along with everything else. Still went pretty smoothly, but should have run a little faster I guess.
Time: 3:44 (2/20 in AG…Goal 3:30, +0:40 overall)
Bike: I have done this race 3 times before (’04-’06), but I guess the year away made me underestimate the bike course difficulty. I was hoping to really push it and go for 22.5mph avg for 18 miles. Well, first the course is actually 18.4 miles, and second the easy rollers were more substantial than I recalled. It was nothing I couldn’t deal with, but it slowed the average. Also, what I felt worst about was that I had misrepresented it to my mom and wife who hadn’t done the course before. Either way, I used perceived effort to guide me and stuck to my usual bike nutrition plan. Pretty smooth overall, and a very nice course BTW. I saw my wife just getting ready to start the rollers my way back and waved, but I wanted to apologize. She ended up not being angry with me though.
Time: 54:08 (3/20 in AG…Goal 50:00, +4:48 overall, 20.4mph avg)
T2: Uneventful, but lost a little time
Time: 1:32 (8/20 in AG…Goal 1:30, +4:50 overall)
Run: At this point I was obviously certain I wouldn’t hit my goal, but still wanted to get a good run in. My legs transitioned pretty quickly and I had a solid first quarter mile (of the 4 mile run). Then, my legs all of a sudden felt like lead, I struggled with the majority of the rest of the 1st mile. Once I got into the arboretum at mile 2 things opened up a bit and I was able to hit my stride. I never felt great on the run, but felt I was moving pretty good, so I was happy with it. I passed my sister in the last ½ mile, she thought she would hold me off with her head start. It was almost at the same time that we passed our mom heading out on mile 1. It was neat with 3 of us being that close (in proximity) at one point in the race.
Time: 27:44 (2/20 in AG…Goal 28:00, +4:34 overall, 6:56/mile pace)
Anyways, I was happy to be done, and it is a PR by about 4 minutes, but I was hoping for a little more. Either way, I can’t be too upset since it was a C race and I was more focused on my mom and wife’s performances since they are the beginners of the bunch.
Post race I talked to my sister for a bit since she came in about a minute behind me, then headed to the bike return to look for Susan (wife) to get back. I was hoping everything went well since she sometimes gets overwhelmed by too many hills. She actually came in a few minutes before I thought she would on the easier course I had imagined. She killed the bike, and seemed to be in pretty good spirits too. I then headed around to see her off on the run. I moved from point to point on the run course to cheer her on and find my parents coming in. Caught both of them looking strong in the last mile. Susan came back in about a ½ hour later…well faster than her projected time. My disappointing race was erased immediately by her and my mom’s successes. I do love this sport.
The breakdown (for everyone) in order of crossing the finish line:
Me: 1:44:03 (42/323 overall, 3/20 in Clydesdale AG)
Sister: 2:02:13 (7/23 in AG)
Mom: 2:20:08 in Du (1/1 in AG…a dominating victory)
Dad: 2:00:30 (5/15 in AG)
Wife: 2:36:51 (12/14 in AG)
Without family photographers, we have no personal pics, but I’m hoping the race pictures will have some good ones. They had plenty of opportunities to catch at least one of us. I’ll post good ones if I can find them. My next event is the Marine Corps Marathon, so focusing on running for the next few weeks…then the winter off-season build.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Pre-weekend Race Notes
Here I am, a few days from the last tri of the season. I am just going to train through this one though, so it’s kind of anti-climatic for me since my A tri was over a month ago now. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be an exciting weekend. I mean, it’s the wife’s 2nd tri of the year (3rd ever) and almost twice as long as her previous ones. She’s pretty nervous, and although grad school kept her from getting a full training schedule completed, she’s covered the distances in each individual sport so she’ll be fine. Also, my mom is doing the Du at the same time. This will be her second du ever and first in over 2 years. Combine that with my dad, sister, and myself racing, and needless to say there will be a lot going on Sunday morning.
The race is the Tri for Sight in Lexington, KY. It raises money for eye research at the University of Kentucky. It also happens to be the same event where my dad, sister, and I got our start in triathlon…so that makes it a little more meaningful. The race is an 800m pool swim (2 mile run for the du), an 18 mile light rolling hill bike, and a 4 mile run. It’s a very well run event, so I highly recommend it to people in the area. Plus, it has the best door prize raffle I’ve ever seen at a tri after the race. They raffle off stuff like $50 gift cards and Oakley sunglasses and the like…very exciting.
I will write a race report as usual, but can pretty much guarantee no pictures since the photographers are both racing…but oh well.
Anyways, I’m also about 3.5 weeks out from my other A race of the season, the Marine Corps Marathon. I think I’m ready for this too and am starting to get excited about it, although I have one more long training run to go (~21mi). My training for this one has been much more consistent than for Arizona in January, maybe because now that I’ve done a marathon, I have a greater understanding of the importance of the long run days, or maybe it’s just easier to train for a marathon through the late summer/early fall than it is through the winter. Either way, hopefully it will pay off and I can break 3:30…we shall see.
Alright, just for goals sake…I’m going to post my Tri for Sight race plan…then we can see how well I execute on Sunday:
Swim (800m pool)—16:30, my swim training has been pretty poor and there’s no wetsuit to help me here
T1—3:30, there is a .25 mile run from the pool to transition, thus the longer time
Bike (18.4 miles)—50:00, that’s around 22.5mph avg…we shall see
T2—1:30, some built in cushion there…hopefully will be less than a minute
Run (4 miles)—28:00, we’ll see how much my legs have left
Total—1:39:30, I’ll be very happy with a sub 1:40 performance
Previous course best (2006): 1:48:22
Results to come after the weekend
The race is the Tri for Sight in Lexington, KY. It raises money for eye research at the University of Kentucky. It also happens to be the same event where my dad, sister, and I got our start in triathlon…so that makes it a little more meaningful. The race is an 800m pool swim (2 mile run for the du), an 18 mile light rolling hill bike, and a 4 mile run. It’s a very well run event, so I highly recommend it to people in the area. Plus, it has the best door prize raffle I’ve ever seen at a tri after the race. They raffle off stuff like $50 gift cards and Oakley sunglasses and the like…very exciting.
I will write a race report as usual, but can pretty much guarantee no pictures since the photographers are both racing…but oh well.
Anyways, I’m also about 3.5 weeks out from my other A race of the season, the Marine Corps Marathon. I think I’m ready for this too and am starting to get excited about it, although I have one more long training run to go (~21mi). My training for this one has been much more consistent than for Arizona in January, maybe because now that I’ve done a marathon, I have a greater understanding of the importance of the long run days, or maybe it’s just easier to train for a marathon through the late summer/early fall than it is through the winter. Either way, hopefully it will pay off and I can break 3:30…we shall see.
Alright, just for goals sake…I’m going to post my Tri for Sight race plan…then we can see how well I execute on Sunday:
Swim (800m pool)—16:30, my swim training has been pretty poor and there’s no wetsuit to help me here
T1—3:30, there is a .25 mile run from the pool to transition, thus the longer time
Bike (18.4 miles)—50:00, that’s around 22.5mph avg…we shall see
T2—1:30, some built in cushion there…hopefully will be less than a minute
Run (4 miles)—28:00, we’ll see how much my legs have left
Total—1:39:30, I’ll be very happy with a sub 1:40 performance
Previous course best (2006): 1:48:22
Results to come after the weekend
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Just an update
I said I’d try and update before my next race and would really like to get in the habit of posting on a more regular basis, so here’s a little progress report. We’ll see how long I keep these up.
The weeks since Accenture Chicago have been packed. I know it was only just over a month ago, but the race feels like a distant memory now. In the middle of my recovery week from Chicago, we finally made the move into our first house. The wife and I had been anxiously awaiting this. Her parents came down with a large service truck to help with the move early on a Wednesday morning. I was at work when they arrived, but luckily my job allows me to flex my schedule when I need to, so I took off at noon and headed to join the moving party. We also had a small but effective support group consisting of Susan’s cousin, and my two best men from the wedding. All three are rather strong guys, so they were able to move a lot of heavy furniture before I even got there (and then gave me hell about it). We worked all day until about 6:00 making trips b/w the apartment and the house and finally got the apartment cleaned out (mostly). It was exhausting, and the house now looked like a mess with boxes and bags everywhere.
We picked at the boxes, unpacking a little at a time throughout the rest of the week until my parents and sister came in to see the place on Saturday. Needless to say, we put them to work. They had been warned, so were good sports about it. We worked all day and basically got everything unpacked with the exception of one room. To reward ourselves in the evening, we cooked out (on my new grill) and relaxed outside with the fire pit. Hurray for wedding gifts.
Since then, we’ve been working through the early joys of homeownership. It certainly keeps you busy, especially at the outset. In less than a month, and with the help of some hired college students (for a fundraiser) and family…we have successfully unpacked 99% of the house, removed wallpaper and mold from bathroom, redid entire bathroom (light fixtures, faucet, and paint) with the exception of décor, removed wallpaper from the kitchen, cleaned the garage, and bought/assembled our new dining room set. Not too bad, eh.
In the more active side of life, I had my parents bring my old hybrid bike up from Louisville. I retooled it some by replacing old rusted parts and adding a rear rack and lights to turn it into my commuter dream. I have only ridden to work twice unfortunately so far since my work schedule has been somewhat erratic of late, but I’m still glad to have it. It’s also my little project, since I’m no bike expert. I feel like I can work on this bike to teach myself how to be a good enough bike mechanic to do most of my own maintenance.
Also, I’ve been riding more hills and think I’m addicted. I never knew bike riding could be so painful, it’s awesome. Hopefully my future bike splits will pay me back for the hard work. And the payoff of long descents is pretty sweet.
Most importantly, though, I’ve been running getting ready for DC in just over a month. I’m up to 16 miles for my long run and feel pretty good about where I am. I could/should probably be getting shorter runs in during the week, but overall I’m pretty confident. I did, however, skip my most recent 18 mile scheduled run to do a 45 mile bike ride instead. It was about the same amount of time to complete, but obviously easier on the legs. So, I will do 18 this weekend instead of the 20 I hoped to be at by this point. I’d still like to get 2 20 milers under my belt before this race, but it’s more important to have a good taper, so I may drop one. We’ll see.
Anyways, that pretty much catches things up. So, until next time…
The weeks since Accenture Chicago have been packed. I know it was only just over a month ago, but the race feels like a distant memory now. In the middle of my recovery week from Chicago, we finally made the move into our first house. The wife and I had been anxiously awaiting this. Her parents came down with a large service truck to help with the move early on a Wednesday morning. I was at work when they arrived, but luckily my job allows me to flex my schedule when I need to, so I took off at noon and headed to join the moving party. We also had a small but effective support group consisting of Susan’s cousin, and my two best men from the wedding. All three are rather strong guys, so they were able to move a lot of heavy furniture before I even got there (and then gave me hell about it). We worked all day until about 6:00 making trips b/w the apartment and the house and finally got the apartment cleaned out (mostly). It was exhausting, and the house now looked like a mess with boxes and bags everywhere.
We picked at the boxes, unpacking a little at a time throughout the rest of the week until my parents and sister came in to see the place on Saturday. Needless to say, we put them to work. They had been warned, so were good sports about it. We worked all day and basically got everything unpacked with the exception of one room. To reward ourselves in the evening, we cooked out (on my new grill) and relaxed outside with the fire pit. Hurray for wedding gifts.
Since then, we’ve been working through the early joys of homeownership. It certainly keeps you busy, especially at the outset. In less than a month, and with the help of some hired college students (for a fundraiser) and family…we have successfully unpacked 99% of the house, removed wallpaper and mold from bathroom, redid entire bathroom (light fixtures, faucet, and paint) with the exception of décor, removed wallpaper from the kitchen, cleaned the garage, and bought/assembled our new dining room set. Not too bad, eh.
In the more active side of life, I had my parents bring my old hybrid bike up from Louisville. I retooled it some by replacing old rusted parts and adding a rear rack and lights to turn it into my commuter dream. I have only ridden to work twice unfortunately so far since my work schedule has been somewhat erratic of late, but I’m still glad to have it. It’s also my little project, since I’m no bike expert. I feel like I can work on this bike to teach myself how to be a good enough bike mechanic to do most of my own maintenance.
Also, I’ve been riding more hills and think I’m addicted. I never knew bike riding could be so painful, it’s awesome. Hopefully my future bike splits will pay me back for the hard work. And the payoff of long descents is pretty sweet.
Most importantly, though, I’ve been running getting ready for DC in just over a month. I’m up to 16 miles for my long run and feel pretty good about where I am. I could/should probably be getting shorter runs in during the week, but overall I’m pretty confident. I did, however, skip my most recent 18 mile scheduled run to do a 45 mile bike ride instead. It was about the same amount of time to complete, but obviously easier on the legs. So, I will do 18 this weekend instead of the 20 I hoped to be at by this point. I’d still like to get 2 20 milers under my belt before this race, but it’s more important to have a good taper, so I may drop one. We’ll see.
Anyways, that pretty much catches things up. So, until next time…
Monday, August 25, 2008
Chicago Accenture Triathlon Race Report
I finally made it to my A race. My wife and I had gone to Hamilton, IN on Friday night to stay at her parents’ lake house since it was her dad’s birthday along with cutting our Saturday driving time down a couple hours. Saturday morning, I woke up and got a short ~2 mile run in at an easy pace to stretch my legs out. I was at my desk all day Friday, then in the car for 3+ hrs, so I wanted to do something active before getting into the car again Saturday to drive the rest of the way. The run was easy, but I could tell my energy levels were high, a good sign.
My family had planned to meet at the Hilton (host hotel) at around 2-3 to check in and go to packet pick-up. Amazingly, with 3 cars coming from different places, (us from Northeast Indiana, parents from Louisville, and sister from St. Louis) we all managed to arrive within 15 minutes at the hotel lobby. The place was a zoo, with hundreds of bikes littering the lobby and people with body markings coming and going. We managed to get checked in and into 1 (of our 2) rooms within an hour. Packet pickup, body marking, expo were all pretty straightforward. We then walked down to the swim start, which was about .5 mile from the hotel, and along the route to the exit, and then to find transition. Transition was much farther from the hotel than the race site had made it sound. After recon we all had dinner and prepared our gear for the next morning. I was ready for bed by 9:30, but wasn’t tired, so watched the Olympics until 11:00.
Sunday morning, woke up at 4:10, got my water/Infinit bottles ready. Dad, sister, and sister’s friend (participants) all met at my room (aka the bike storage room) to pick up the bikes and head down to setup transition. We had found our wave numbers and start times the day before and knew we’d have time to return to the hotel before race, so we weren’t dressed yet, and left our swim gear along with our support crew (my wife and mom) so they could get a little extra sleep. The transition area was super-busy, and we all split up to setup our areas. It only took me 10 minutes or so to set up, but then I ran through my transitions in my head to make sure I had everything about 5 times. I’m real paranoid about that.
Got back to the room about 6AM, my sister’s friend was the first to start at 7:53, so we had some time. I had breakfast consisting of a banana, a protein bar, and lots of water (I usually can’t eat much prior to start). By 7, we were heading out of the hotel to the swim start. I had never been to a race of nearly this size, so it was pretty impressive seeing all the triathletes as well as spectators lined along the harbor. I had a gel at around 7:40ish. My sister’s friend got in the start corral for her wave at around 7:40, she started at 7:53. My sister went off at 8:01, and I was 1 wave behind at 8:05. Unfortunately, my dad didn’t take off for another hour, so he had time to wait for it to get warmer and windier.
The swim: I am not the most confident OW swimmer in the world, but this swim didn’t bother me. You swim parallel to the shore of the harbor only about 20 feet from the wall at the farthest and you can see the bottom for most of the swim. The start was kind of a train-wreck as we were in a pretty narrow “lane” with people everywhere. I did my best to get in a groove, but could only go a few strokes at a time for the first 150m or so without running into multiple people. At 300m or so you hit the turnaround and head back. We had spread some by then, so I got moving better. Then after you pass the start area again, the lane is opened up (not divided) so there is all of a sudden twice as much space to work with. This was easily the best OWS I’ve ever completed. Since I breathe to both sides, I was able to keep an eye on the wall where the spectators were. This allowed me to: 1)Distract myself by watching them and looking for family, and 2) Spot off the wall to stay in a straight line so I didn’t have to pull up so often to see where I was. I got out of the swim and didn’t see the clock, but could tell that since I was with the back of the wave in front of me it must have been pretty good for a not very strong swimmer like myself.
Time: 30:53…Raceplan (from early June) goal time: 32minutes (-1:07)
The run to T1 didn’t seem as long as it looked Saturday when we walked it. Considering how big the transition area was and the fact that my setup was right next to the swim in corner (I had to run my bike all the way across the area), I had a pretty solid T1.
Time: 2:53…Raceplan goal time: 3minutes (-:07, -1:14 total)
The bike: I took off northbound on Lake Shore Drive for the bike leg. I assumed it was going to be in terrible shape considering the talk overheard at the expo and warnings the morning of. It was actually worse than what I was expecting, potholes everywhere and random patches and bumps all over the place. This didn’t bother me as much as the fact that very few of these hazards were marked with spray-paint, and the ones that were probably didn’t need to be. I wanted to try and average around 22mph for the ride, and was spinning along with a slight burn in my legs trying to get my fluids and was only about 15 minutes into the ride, but had only been riding around 19mph. I could tell I was going into the wind, but couldn’t tell how strong it was or how much effect it was having. I just decided to race it by feel instead of speed and hope for the best. Every 5 minutes I would drink, alternating b/w water and Infinit (custom 255 calorie mix). I was consistently passing people, so assumed it wasn’t just me struggling to hold speed. At the turnaround, I got the wind at my back and realized the difference. I cruised back to the 2nd loop turnaround averaging around 24.5-25mph for that leg. On the 2nd loop, the headwind seemed worse, so I just kept my thoughts positive and focused on how nice it would be after the turn. I pushed pretty hard northbound to try and keep my avg speed in the 21s (where it was when I turned). Finally on the home stretch, I geared down and spun, knowing the wind would give me the speed I needed. I focused on getting fluids and staying relaxed for the run as the wind pushed me steadily along at around 24mph.
Time: 1:07:41 (21.9mph counting mounting/dismounting etc…my CPU had me at 22.6mph)…Raceplan goal: 1:08:00 (-:19, -1:33 total)
The run to T2 was awkward as I was trying to adjust my legs to being on the ground again while running downhill across the transition in my bike shoes. I made it w/o mishap, but took longer here than I’d hoped. I switched shoes, got my # belt and hat, and was off.
Time: 2:37…Raceplan goal: 2minutes (+:37, -:56 total)
Run: The run was flat and I took off feeling pretty good, but I was wary since I knew we’d be heading south for the first half or so of the run. This meant the final 2+ miles would be into the headwind once the pain had really start to set in. I went along, carrying my 2 fuel belt bottles in my hand (1 water, 1 Infinit) so I was able to gain time by not having to stop at the aid stations, at least for the first 4 miles. I got some light spasms in my quads early in the run, but just drank more fluids tried to increase my leg motion to work them out a little. I moved steadily along until the turnaround, where the headwind hit me like a punch to the face. From there I just ducked my head and shortened my stride to keep progressing along steadily. My pace slowed noticeably around the 5 mile mark and I was just trying to think “Just 10 more minutes.” I hit the 6 mile mark and was still running, so knew I’d make it. I picked up the pace a little, but didn’t have anything left for a finishing kick. Two guys sprinted past me in the final straight, but I could see the big clock and knew I’d reached my goal so I just coasted in smiling and weakly raised my arms as they announced my name at the finish.
Time: 45:43 (7:22/mile)…Raceplan goal: 45minutes (+:43, -:13 total)
Overall time: 2:29:47 (4 of 49 clydesdale 200-224, 284 of 4089 overall)
I got water and went around to the sidelines to do some spectating. My sister’s friend was already finished (in around 2:23) and was there as well. My sister came across about 25 minutes later in 2:59:04, breaking through the 3 hour wall in her 5th international distance race. Her previous 2 attempts, both this year were completed in 3:00:xx, so that made breaking the mark even more rewarding. My dad came across nearly an hour later at 3:06:00. He wasn’t sure at the time, but later we found out it was a 6+ minute PR for him as well. So, overall it was a great racing weekend for all of us.
In general, I was glad to have participated in this event, since it is the largest triathlon in the world (as far as I know). That being said, I would not want to do this race again. It’s just too large scale and somewhat chaotic. Along with that, it isn’t good for family and friends that came to watch as they really only have a good view on the run course, but with everything being so spread out have a hard time getting to good viewpoints. My wife and mom didn’t see any of us getting out of the water, and so weren’t sure where we were until they caught a glimpse of us passing on the run course. Needless to say, there aren’t any good action shots to post. If I locate some decent pics otherwise, I’ll post them up later.
I don’t race again until the first weekend of October, which is fine since I need time to prepare for my next A race, the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October as well as time to work on this new house we are officially moving into this week. Hopefully I’ll remember to update this between now and then.
My family had planned to meet at the Hilton (host hotel) at around 2-3 to check in and go to packet pick-up. Amazingly, with 3 cars coming from different places, (us from Northeast Indiana, parents from Louisville, and sister from St. Louis) we all managed to arrive within 15 minutes at the hotel lobby. The place was a zoo, with hundreds of bikes littering the lobby and people with body markings coming and going. We managed to get checked in and into 1 (of our 2) rooms within an hour. Packet pickup, body marking, expo were all pretty straightforward. We then walked down to the swim start, which was about .5 mile from the hotel, and along the route to the exit, and then to find transition. Transition was much farther from the hotel than the race site had made it sound. After recon we all had dinner and prepared our gear for the next morning. I was ready for bed by 9:30, but wasn’t tired, so watched the Olympics until 11:00.
Sunday morning, woke up at 4:10, got my water/Infinit bottles ready. Dad, sister, and sister’s friend (participants) all met at my room (aka the bike storage room) to pick up the bikes and head down to setup transition. We had found our wave numbers and start times the day before and knew we’d have time to return to the hotel before race, so we weren’t dressed yet, and left our swim gear along with our support crew (my wife and mom) so they could get a little extra sleep. The transition area was super-busy, and we all split up to setup our areas. It only took me 10 minutes or so to set up, but then I ran through my transitions in my head to make sure I had everything about 5 times. I’m real paranoid about that.
Got back to the room about 6AM, my sister’s friend was the first to start at 7:53, so we had some time. I had breakfast consisting of a banana, a protein bar, and lots of water (I usually can’t eat much prior to start). By 7, we were heading out of the hotel to the swim start. I had never been to a race of nearly this size, so it was pretty impressive seeing all the triathletes as well as spectators lined along the harbor. I had a gel at around 7:40ish. My sister’s friend got in the start corral for her wave at around 7:40, she started at 7:53. My sister went off at 8:01, and I was 1 wave behind at 8:05. Unfortunately, my dad didn’t take off for another hour, so he had time to wait for it to get warmer and windier.
The swim: I am not the most confident OW swimmer in the world, but this swim didn’t bother me. You swim parallel to the shore of the harbor only about 20 feet from the wall at the farthest and you can see the bottom for most of the swim. The start was kind of a train-wreck as we were in a pretty narrow “lane” with people everywhere. I did my best to get in a groove, but could only go a few strokes at a time for the first 150m or so without running into multiple people. At 300m or so you hit the turnaround and head back. We had spread some by then, so I got moving better. Then after you pass the start area again, the lane is opened up (not divided) so there is all of a sudden twice as much space to work with. This was easily the best OWS I’ve ever completed. Since I breathe to both sides, I was able to keep an eye on the wall where the spectators were. This allowed me to: 1)Distract myself by watching them and looking for family, and 2) Spot off the wall to stay in a straight line so I didn’t have to pull up so often to see where I was. I got out of the swim and didn’t see the clock, but could tell that since I was with the back of the wave in front of me it must have been pretty good for a not very strong swimmer like myself.
Time: 30:53…Raceplan (from early June) goal time: 32minutes (-1:07)
The run to T1 didn’t seem as long as it looked Saturday when we walked it. Considering how big the transition area was and the fact that my setup was right next to the swim in corner (I had to run my bike all the way across the area), I had a pretty solid T1.
Time: 2:53…Raceplan goal time: 3minutes (-:07, -1:14 total)
The bike: I took off northbound on Lake Shore Drive for the bike leg. I assumed it was going to be in terrible shape considering the talk overheard at the expo and warnings the morning of. It was actually worse than what I was expecting, potholes everywhere and random patches and bumps all over the place. This didn’t bother me as much as the fact that very few of these hazards were marked with spray-paint, and the ones that were probably didn’t need to be. I wanted to try and average around 22mph for the ride, and was spinning along with a slight burn in my legs trying to get my fluids and was only about 15 minutes into the ride, but had only been riding around 19mph. I could tell I was going into the wind, but couldn’t tell how strong it was or how much effect it was having. I just decided to race it by feel instead of speed and hope for the best. Every 5 minutes I would drink, alternating b/w water and Infinit (custom 255 calorie mix). I was consistently passing people, so assumed it wasn’t just me struggling to hold speed. At the turnaround, I got the wind at my back and realized the difference. I cruised back to the 2nd loop turnaround averaging around 24.5-25mph for that leg. On the 2nd loop, the headwind seemed worse, so I just kept my thoughts positive and focused on how nice it would be after the turn. I pushed pretty hard northbound to try and keep my avg speed in the 21s (where it was when I turned). Finally on the home stretch, I geared down and spun, knowing the wind would give me the speed I needed. I focused on getting fluids and staying relaxed for the run as the wind pushed me steadily along at around 24mph.
Time: 1:07:41 (21.9mph counting mounting/dismounting etc…my CPU had me at 22.6mph)…Raceplan goal: 1:08:00 (-:19, -1:33 total)
The run to T2 was awkward as I was trying to adjust my legs to being on the ground again while running downhill across the transition in my bike shoes. I made it w/o mishap, but took longer here than I’d hoped. I switched shoes, got my # belt and hat, and was off.
Time: 2:37…Raceplan goal: 2minutes (+:37, -:56 total)
Run: The run was flat and I took off feeling pretty good, but I was wary since I knew we’d be heading south for the first half or so of the run. This meant the final 2+ miles would be into the headwind once the pain had really start to set in. I went along, carrying my 2 fuel belt bottles in my hand (1 water, 1 Infinit) so I was able to gain time by not having to stop at the aid stations, at least for the first 4 miles. I got some light spasms in my quads early in the run, but just drank more fluids tried to increase my leg motion to work them out a little. I moved steadily along until the turnaround, where the headwind hit me like a punch to the face. From there I just ducked my head and shortened my stride to keep progressing along steadily. My pace slowed noticeably around the 5 mile mark and I was just trying to think “Just 10 more minutes.” I hit the 6 mile mark and was still running, so knew I’d make it. I picked up the pace a little, but didn’t have anything left for a finishing kick. Two guys sprinted past me in the final straight, but I could see the big clock and knew I’d reached my goal so I just coasted in smiling and weakly raised my arms as they announced my name at the finish.
Time: 45:43 (7:22/mile)…Raceplan goal: 45minutes (+:43, -:13 total)
Overall time: 2:29:47 (4 of 49 clydesdale 200-224, 284 of 4089 overall)
I got water and went around to the sidelines to do some spectating. My sister’s friend was already finished (in around 2:23) and was there as well. My sister came across about 25 minutes later in 2:59:04, breaking through the 3 hour wall in her 5th international distance race. Her previous 2 attempts, both this year were completed in 3:00:xx, so that made breaking the mark even more rewarding. My dad came across nearly an hour later at 3:06:00. He wasn’t sure at the time, but later we found out it was a 6+ minute PR for him as well. So, overall it was a great racing weekend for all of us.
In general, I was glad to have participated in this event, since it is the largest triathlon in the world (as far as I know). That being said, I would not want to do this race again. It’s just too large scale and somewhat chaotic. Along with that, it isn’t good for family and friends that came to watch as they really only have a good view on the run course, but with everything being so spread out have a hard time getting to good viewpoints. My wife and mom didn’t see any of us getting out of the water, and so weren’t sure where we were until they caught a glimpse of us passing on the run course. Needless to say, there aren’t any good action shots to post. If I locate some decent pics otherwise, I’ll post them up later.
I don’t race again until the first weekend of October, which is fine since I need time to prepare for my next A race, the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October as well as time to work on this new house we are officially moving into this week. Hopefully I’ll remember to update this between now and then.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
I haven't forgotten about this place
Well, it’s certainly been a while. I have been busy at the training. Haven’t raced since late June, but I certainly haven’t been wasting my time. July was easily my biggest training month ever and I was surprisingly consistent. To help things, a friend and cyclist just recently moved to the area and got me out on the hills of Cincy along with another UD alum. It opened my eyes to untapped bike potential. Now I can’t wait to get into the fall when I can really start hitting the hills. Also, I’ve been able to push up my run endurance in preparation for October’s marathon without dropping off on the speed as of yet. I’m still pushing sub 8 minute miles for up to 10 miles with hills. Not too shabby. I will finally have another race report coming early next week, and hopefully it’s a positive one considering this is my A triathlon of the season. I’ve never had an A race before, so let’s see how well I tailored my training plan in my first year of periodized self-coaching.
I race Chicago Accenture International Distance triathlon this Sunday. I don’t know my start time as of yet and guess I won’t find out until packet pick-up Saturday afternoon, no big deal though. For those non-triathletes out there (assuming anyone reads this other than myself), the international distance is in km so I will translate (1.5K (a little less than a mile) swim, 40K (24.8mile) bike, and 10K (6.2 mile) run). It’s my first race of this distance in 2 years, but it’s really not a huge leap from sprints so the distance doesn’t bother me. I’m just hoping I’ve gotten as much faster at this triathlon thing as I think I have.
If anyone does read this and is bored Sunday around mid-day…you can track me (or other members of my family) at www.chicagotriathlon.com by going to the race tracker link. From there, if you know me personally you can search by name. Otherwise, my race number is 4760, my sister is number 4468 and my dad is number 7339.
My goal for this race is to finish under or as close to 2:30:00 as possible and to be top 5 in my age group (clyde 200-224). I’m guessing there will be about 70 in my AG, and 2h30min will be a 20+ min drop from my PR at this distance.
That’s what’s up in the world of triathlon…now on to the more exciting stuff.
Obviously training and racing is an important part of my life, but I’ve been busy elsewhere as well. First and foremost, on August 2, 2008, my beautiful and always understanding fiancé, Susan, became my beautiful and understanding wife. The week of the wedding was pretty rough since I had to work long hours while she was in her hometown stressing about all the unfinished odds and ends of wedding planning. However, as things often do, everything worked out great. From the rehearsal on…it was basically smooth sailing. It was great to see so many people come out to celebrate with us, a lot of family and friends I hadn’t seen in a while and it seemed like everyone had a great time. The reception dance floor was very active all night and we haven’t heard a negative review of the weekend as of yet. The Delphos Microtel, which opened just in time to house our college friends, is probably regretting not waiting until after our wedding to open. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to post at this point, so maybe I’ll add them later.
I learned throughout the wedding weekend why people take honeymoons…weddings are exhausting. The honeymoon went amazingly as well as we ventured to St. Lucia (one of the Windward Islands in the west indies of the Caribbean if you don’t know). The only drawback was getting stuck a day in Atlanta on the way down. However, Sandals was great in their customer service and bumped our reservations back a day, so we still got a full week in all-inclusive paradise. There are a million pictures of the honeymoon, but I don’t have them with me, so sorry again. Highlights included: zip-lining through the rain-forest, snorkeling, learning to captain a catamaran (not difficult), candlelight dinner on the beach, tropical golf, being witnesses in the wedding of a couple we met in the airport on the way down (they were stranded with us), and pina coladas among so much more.
In other exciting news, the new wife and I close on our first home this afternoon, so needless to say my life is not lacking in excitement. We will need to bring the home into the modern age, but working on it will be a lot of fun. I’m already trying to figure out how I’m going to make my half of the garage into a heavenly bike garage/indoor training center (sorry car, you’re parking outside).
I guess that’s it for now. Race Report will be coming sometime next week. Until then…
I race Chicago Accenture International Distance triathlon this Sunday. I don’t know my start time as of yet and guess I won’t find out until packet pick-up Saturday afternoon, no big deal though. For those non-triathletes out there (assuming anyone reads this other than myself), the international distance is in km so I will translate (1.5K (a little less than a mile) swim, 40K (24.8mile) bike, and 10K (6.2 mile) run). It’s my first race of this distance in 2 years, but it’s really not a huge leap from sprints so the distance doesn’t bother me. I’m just hoping I’ve gotten as much faster at this triathlon thing as I think I have.
If anyone does read this and is bored Sunday around mid-day…you can track me (or other members of my family) at www.chicagotriathlon.com by going to the race tracker link. From there, if you know me personally you can search by name. Otherwise, my race number is 4760, my sister is number 4468 and my dad is number 7339.
My goal for this race is to finish under or as close to 2:30:00 as possible and to be top 5 in my age group (clyde 200-224). I’m guessing there will be about 70 in my AG, and 2h30min will be a 20+ min drop from my PR at this distance.
That’s what’s up in the world of triathlon…now on to the more exciting stuff.
Obviously training and racing is an important part of my life, but I’ve been busy elsewhere as well. First and foremost, on August 2, 2008, my beautiful and always understanding fiancé, Susan, became my beautiful and understanding wife. The week of the wedding was pretty rough since I had to work long hours while she was in her hometown stressing about all the unfinished odds and ends of wedding planning. However, as things often do, everything worked out great. From the rehearsal on…it was basically smooth sailing. It was great to see so many people come out to celebrate with us, a lot of family and friends I hadn’t seen in a while and it seemed like everyone had a great time. The reception dance floor was very active all night and we haven’t heard a negative review of the weekend as of yet. The Delphos Microtel, which opened just in time to house our college friends, is probably regretting not waiting until after our wedding to open. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to post at this point, so maybe I’ll add them later.
I learned throughout the wedding weekend why people take honeymoons…weddings are exhausting. The honeymoon went amazingly as well as we ventured to St. Lucia (one of the Windward Islands in the west indies of the Caribbean if you don’t know). The only drawback was getting stuck a day in Atlanta on the way down. However, Sandals was great in their customer service and bumped our reservations back a day, so we still got a full week in all-inclusive paradise. There are a million pictures of the honeymoon, but I don’t have them with me, so sorry again. Highlights included: zip-lining through the rain-forest, snorkeling, learning to captain a catamaran (not difficult), candlelight dinner on the beach, tropical golf, being witnesses in the wedding of a couple we met in the airport on the way down (they were stranded with us), and pina coladas among so much more.
In other exciting news, the new wife and I close on our first home this afternoon, so needless to say my life is not lacking in excitement. We will need to bring the home into the modern age, but working on it will be a lot of fun. I’m already trying to figure out how I’m going to make my half of the garage into a heavenly bike garage/indoor training center (sorry car, you’re parking outside).
I guess that’s it for now. Race Report will be coming sometime next week. Until then…
Monday, June 30, 2008
Cincy One World Triathlon...scratch that, Duathlon
Me with my medal (35th overall)
Brian receiving his M30-34 medal (4th overall)
Two AG victors after the race
Intense triathlon discussion
Me on run leg 1 
Brian just looks fast on his bike...and he is
Me heading out on the bike
Brian on Run leg 2
Susan catches my attention on Run leg 2Well, this is my last one of these for a little while since I don’t race again until late August (Chicago Accenture Oly). Now I just have to focus on the rest of my build phase and more importantly, my wedding in just over a month. Onto the race report:
The event was the Cincinnati One World Triathlon in its inaugural year. It had the option of either a sprint or an Olympic distance, and I opted for the Oly. I hadn’t heard anything about the race until about a month ago, but wanted to use it to see where I was with my swimming, clearly my limiter thus far. I figured, what better way to see how I am training in regards to swimming a 1.5k than swimming a 1.5k. Unfortunately, there was one small snag in my plan…there was no swim.
Storms moved through Friday evening and all throughout the night into Saturday morning. The race was scheduled for Sunday morning and the Ohio River, being the glorious body of water it is, gathered too much runoff bacteria raising it beyond swimmable levels. There was already a good deal of apprehension to swimming in the Ohio from other competitors, so I’m sure this didn’t raise their confidence for future events. I have swum in the Ohio in Louisville 2x in Oly tris (before IMLou shut them down), so I was fully prepared to make the plunge, but oh well. As disappointing as that was, my money was still sunk in the event, so I decided to show up and compete in the duathlon that was made at the last minute to substitute. A 2 mile run replaced the swim leg (not exactly comparable obviously). Here’s how it went down:
Well, first…I accidentally set my 3 alarms for 5:15, 5:25, and 5:35pm instead of AM, so 6:25AM rolls around and I happen to notice in my sleepy stupor that it’s way too light out to be pre-5:15. I panic, but luckily had prepped most of my stuff the night before and was out the door with the fiancé in less than 10 minutes. Got to the race site at 6:45, still plenty of time since transition closed at 7:15…whew!
Run 1—2 miles
With running being my strength, I had to remind myself that there were 2 legs to go and not to go out like I’m doing a 2 mile time trial. Being in the Clydesdale division and starting in a separate wave along with the 50+ males, I assumed I’d be near the front of my wave, though…so I thought pacing might be tough. Ended up since the first leg was actually a mile loop repeated 2x, so it didn’t matter b/c we got swallowed up by the earlier waves on their 2nd lap. I ran a pace that felt comfortable and definitely held back. My main concern was not injuring myself since the course had been thrown together on a semi trail/slanted cobblestone path that could have been dangerous if you weren’t being careful. Anyways, a couple 50somethings were ahead of me at the end of the run, but I was fairly certain I was the first Clydesdale to hit T1. Time: 15:12.8
T1—Nothing exciting to report, except that it’s much faster of a transition from run to bike than swim to bike. Time: 1:34.9
Bike—40k (24.8miles)
Based off of no actual experience or evidence, I assumed the bike would be flat despite the fact that Cincinnati is a hilly city (as far as the region goes). I guess it was the fact that the majority of the ride was on a 4 lane highway that follows along the river. Either way, I was wrong. The Parkway we were on was basically extended rolling hills the entire time and the on ramp we used to access it was like hitting a wall. The course was a double looped course for the Oly, so we had to do it all twice. The second time I hit the on ramp, I went from 22.5mph to 7.5mph in about 25m or so…however, I passed plenty of people who were struggling worse than me to get up (Yay for road bike geometry I guess). All in all, I was glad the bike was tough since it should make Chicago feel very flat come August. I was passed by one Clydesdale from what I could tell in the last 5 miles. I didn’t try and chase him down, just kept him in eyeshot until the last mile. I figure if it took him that long to pass me I must have had a substantial lead on just a 2 mile run, so catching him on a 10k wouldn’t be an issue as long as I didn’t blow up. So I spun it in and prepped for the run. Time: 1:11:54.1
T2—Nothing exciting again. Time: 1:30.0
Run 2—10k (6.2 miles)
I took off with baby steps to keep the cadence high, and was actually moving pretty well. Soon enough I found my stride and was cruising along. I passed the clyde before the first mile, so was pretty certain I had AG in the bag…now to focus on my time and being consistent. I was moving along pretty good until I rounded a corner under a bridge and realized that a staircase was part of the run course…a steep staircase that climbed up to a bridge to KY. I hit it hard trying to keep going at my pace, then almost tripped, caught myself and realized how badly my legs burned. I walked the rest of the steps. That took a lot out of me and my pace slowed for the entire 2nd loop until I hit the stairs again. I didn’t attempt to be aggressive this time and just walked them. After that it was about .5 miles to the finish so I pushed since I could see the light. I met up with 4 other guys about 200m to go and we all looked pretty beat. I swung around from the back like I was pulling off a slingshot maneuver and took off to start up a dash to the finish. Everyone started coming with me, but 2 backed off pretty quick. I then dueled with the other guy who had longer legs than me and a larger cheering section since he’s part of the local tri club. Needless to say, he won the duel, but it was fun anyways. All done. Time: 47:47.5
Official stats:
Run 1: 15:12.8 (7:36/mile)
T1: 1:34.9
Bike: 1:11:54.1 (20.7mph)
T2: 1:30.0
Run 2: 47:47.5 (7:32.5/mile)
Total: 2:17:59.4 (1 of 9 in AG, 35 of 213 overall)
A friend of mine also competed and took the M30-34 AG victory (and 4th OA, he’s fast), so it was a good day all around.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Indianapolis Sprint Triathlon Race Report...Susan's 2nd tri
This past weekend my fiancé competed in her second tri ever. My sister and I also participated as did one of her (my sister) friends, completing her first ever. The race was a super-sprint distance in Indianapolis (500m swim, 10mile bike, 3 mile run). Here’s my RR plus as detailed a summary of everyone else’s performances as I can give.
The race is part of the Indianapolis Sprint Series…3 identical races held at Eagle Creek Park and Reservoir in June-August. 2 years ago, Susan (fiancé) and I did this same race and it was her first ever triathlon. This year, she decided she would make her triumphant return to the sport after missing last year with a recurring foot injury from an improperly healed broken toe (still an issue, but pain is now controlled through orthotics and more supportive shoes). Either way, we also were able to get my sister to travel from St. Louis over to participate and she convinced her friend to borrow a bike and give it a shot for her first. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect at 65-75 degrees and sunny throughout the entire event. That mixed with heavy shade on much of the course made for an enjoyable racing experience…
My race report:
Swim: Decided to go with the wetsuit even though the swim was short to practice transitioning with it and since I figured most people wouldn’t wear them so I might be able to be further up heading into T1 than usual. Completed the swim of 500m in 10:54. Not bad even though it felt longer and harder than it actually was. I have an Olympic distance this upcoming week and am feeling nervous about the swim after these past 2 race performances. Nothing too out of the ordinary for an OW swim, I did get punched in the face for the first time ever…been kicked plenty of times, but never punched. It spun my goggles all the way around, so there was a stop to adjust worked in too.
T1: 2:20 or so…pretty quick considering I was wetsuited when compared to rest of field
Bike: Course was more difficult than I remembered. With this race being shorter than my training focus, I was hoping to go all out on the bike and see what I had left for the run. Even with aggressive riding my avg was only 21.4mph for the course. After seeing the technical difficulty of the course again I was pretty pleased with it. The course winds and is up and down hills the first 2 miles through the park…then is straight on a bumpy road up and down hills for the next 3 to the turnaround…then repeat backwards.
T2: In and out in a relative hurry…they have a weird system with the way the transition areas are setup so I had to basically wind through the entire area with my bike instead of being able to go directly to my rack…time was 1:40 or so
Run: Just out of the transition area you start up a slight hill to get out to the course, I did not feel well at this point as I expected. I was pleasantly surprised to see I was able to maintain a decent pace, though and felt pretty good again about .5 mile into it. It was an out and back, so I could see the runners ahead of me who were past the turnaround. I counted 4 clydesdales ahead of me, so figured I was in 5th place…a little worse than I was hoping at the time. Luckily, especially for a Clydesdale, I have a strong run leg and was able to pass 2 in the last mile to take 3rd in the AG.
I grabbed water and talked to my parents as we waited for Susan and Liz (sister’s friend) to come in on the bike. Luckily my wave took off 10 min before Susan’s so that mixed with my faster speed led to me being able to be done before she took off on the run. She was hoping I’d be able to do the run (or run/walk) leg with her and this setup allowed me to be able to.
She came in ahead of when I expected her to. She definitely was going to improve her time from 2 yrs ago, awesome. I walked ahead and waited for her on the hill at the beginning of the run course and off we went. We walked sections in the sun and the few up hills we came across. Plus here run pace has improved so even with more walking her run time was about equivalent to her previous race. She was in good spirits the entire time, telling me about different people she had seen on the course and what not. She was also excited her parents were able to come…they’ve never seen a tri before and were a little overwhelmed by all the activity, but seemed to find it interesting and fun. We crossed the finish line and only had 1 more person to wait for on the course (my sister was already in…we passed her on our way out on the run). Liz was about 10 minutes behind Susan to cross the line and had a smile on her face which was good since she had made a comment about dying when we passed her on the run course.
Here are the stats:
Jeff (me):
Swim-10:54
T1-2:20ish
Bike- 28:04 (21.4 mph avg)
T2- 1:40ish
Run- 20:01 (6:40/mile pace)
Total-1:02:56 (3rd of 41 in AG, 71st of 575 overall)--~6min improvement from 2 yrs ago
Susan-1:36:?? (7min better than 2 yrs agos time not counting the penalty she received last time for kick-standing her bike next to her full rack)
Kelley(sister)-1:15:??
Liz-~1:40
I will update the more exact times when I can access the results again as well as post any pics if they turn out well.
I race the Cincy One World Tri Sunday the 29th (this coming weekend) as my last training race for my A race in August…RR to follow.
The race is part of the Indianapolis Sprint Series…3 identical races held at Eagle Creek Park and Reservoir in June-August. 2 years ago, Susan (fiancé) and I did this same race and it was her first ever triathlon. This year, she decided she would make her triumphant return to the sport after missing last year with a recurring foot injury from an improperly healed broken toe (still an issue, but pain is now controlled through orthotics and more supportive shoes). Either way, we also were able to get my sister to travel from St. Louis over to participate and she convinced her friend to borrow a bike and give it a shot for her first. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect at 65-75 degrees and sunny throughout the entire event. That mixed with heavy shade on much of the course made for an enjoyable racing experience…
My race report:
Swim: Decided to go with the wetsuit even though the swim was short to practice transitioning with it and since I figured most people wouldn’t wear them so I might be able to be further up heading into T1 than usual. Completed the swim of 500m in 10:54. Not bad even though it felt longer and harder than it actually was. I have an Olympic distance this upcoming week and am feeling nervous about the swim after these past 2 race performances. Nothing too out of the ordinary for an OW swim, I did get punched in the face for the first time ever…been kicked plenty of times, but never punched. It spun my goggles all the way around, so there was a stop to adjust worked in too.
T1: 2:20 or so…pretty quick considering I was wetsuited when compared to rest of field
Bike: Course was more difficult than I remembered. With this race being shorter than my training focus, I was hoping to go all out on the bike and see what I had left for the run. Even with aggressive riding my avg was only 21.4mph for the course. After seeing the technical difficulty of the course again I was pretty pleased with it. The course winds and is up and down hills the first 2 miles through the park…then is straight on a bumpy road up and down hills for the next 3 to the turnaround…then repeat backwards.
T2: In and out in a relative hurry…they have a weird system with the way the transition areas are setup so I had to basically wind through the entire area with my bike instead of being able to go directly to my rack…time was 1:40 or so
Run: Just out of the transition area you start up a slight hill to get out to the course, I did not feel well at this point as I expected. I was pleasantly surprised to see I was able to maintain a decent pace, though and felt pretty good again about .5 mile into it. It was an out and back, so I could see the runners ahead of me who were past the turnaround. I counted 4 clydesdales ahead of me, so figured I was in 5th place…a little worse than I was hoping at the time. Luckily, especially for a Clydesdale, I have a strong run leg and was able to pass 2 in the last mile to take 3rd in the AG.
I grabbed water and talked to my parents as we waited for Susan and Liz (sister’s friend) to come in on the bike. Luckily my wave took off 10 min before Susan’s so that mixed with my faster speed led to me being able to be done before she took off on the run. She was hoping I’d be able to do the run (or run/walk) leg with her and this setup allowed me to be able to.
She came in ahead of when I expected her to. She definitely was going to improve her time from 2 yrs ago, awesome. I walked ahead and waited for her on the hill at the beginning of the run course and off we went. We walked sections in the sun and the few up hills we came across. Plus here run pace has improved so even with more walking her run time was about equivalent to her previous race. She was in good spirits the entire time, telling me about different people she had seen on the course and what not. She was also excited her parents were able to come…they’ve never seen a tri before and were a little overwhelmed by all the activity, but seemed to find it interesting and fun. We crossed the finish line and only had 1 more person to wait for on the course (my sister was already in…we passed her on our way out on the run). Liz was about 10 minutes behind Susan to cross the line and had a smile on her face which was good since she had made a comment about dying when we passed her on the run course.
Here are the stats:
Jeff (me):
Swim-10:54
T1-2:20ish
Bike- 28:04 (21.4 mph avg)
T2- 1:40ish
Run- 20:01 (6:40/mile pace)
Total-1:02:56 (3rd of 41 in AG, 71st of 575 overall)--~6min improvement from 2 yrs ago
Susan-1:36:?? (7min better than 2 yrs agos time not counting the penalty she received last time for kick-standing her bike next to her full rack)
Kelley(sister)-1:15:??
Liz-~1:40
I will update the more exact times when I can access the results again as well as post any pics if they turn out well.
I race the Cincy One World Tri Sunday the 29th (this coming weekend) as my last training race for my A race in August…RR to follow.
Monday, June 16, 2008
St. Peter's RecPlex Triathlon Race Report
Finally I got to do another race. I know it’s only been a month, but my excitement after the success of my first race had me making more aggressive goals and raised the anticipation level for the upcoming races. However, now I get 3 races in 3 weeks…which should tide me over for a while since I have almost a two month layoff after the third before my first A race in late August. Enough setup…onto the RR.
The St. Peter’s RecPlex Triathlon is a kind of strangely proportioned sprint race just outside St. Louis. It is a non-USAT event that has some weird quirks to it, but is a generally fun event that I have been doing the past 4 years now. It usually consists of a 500m pool swim, 21 mile mostly flat bike, and 4.8 mile park path run. It’s a non-swimmers dream tri. As I mentioned earlier, it is the 4th year I’ve done it as well as the 4th year my dad and sister have participated as well…which has made it a solid father’s day tradition.
Race Morning: We arrive to see the transition area has been moved from previous years to behind the RecPlex…it’s a smaller area which leads to more congestion in a growing event. Due to the move, the pool swim will start on the opposite end and snake the other way leading to a shorter T1 run…not too bad. The bike course has also been changed last minute due to flooding, but the updated map is confusing, so we just decide to go with the flow once we’re out there. The run course was back to the way it was 2 years ago since the construction is complete in the area.
Swim: One of the quirks of this race is that the swim is started on a first come first serve basis from a registration stand-point (the earlier you register the earlier you start). This makes some weird congestion problems at times since there is no speed arrangement. We finally registered properly this year getting an early start time (7:00 AM) and in the correct order based on our relative speeds (my sister first, then me, then my dad). Everything is running smoothly so we start on time. My swim feels awful and I post my worst time here in 3 yrs at 10:44, I was hoping to be 9:30 so obviously I need some work on my swimming. Either way it’s over quickly and I’m into and out of T1 in about a minute.
They don’t do chip timing here so transitions are both added to bike time, I estimated 1 minute for each to get a better idea of my bike time, which would be about correct based on my CPU avg speed.
Bike: In my initial race plan I was hoping to break an hour on the bike (~21.5mph avg), but with the course change wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I figured it was still a reasonable goal. I felt strong once I got over the interstate overpass and used an early downhill to cruise along at 27mph for about 1.5 miles which felt great. I was passing people like crazy which is also fun…especially on my roadie with clip-ons and stock wheels. I got to the farmland area, the bulk of the ride, and was easily pushing 24.5 mph on the flats on the way out…there must be a tailwind. Hit the turn around and it turned against me. I was still able to hold close to 20mph on the way back in (and pass a high end tri-bike with a zipp disk and aero helmet…awesome), got to the next turnaround (since the course was shortened to avoid flooding there was a loop section) and had to come to a complete stop around the cone because it was basically people on their first loop coming thru and people turning for loop 2 merging in…kind of annoying. Second loop same story with the tail/headwind. Came back in noticing my time was already over 1hr so switch to check distance…pulled into T2 at 23.5 miles. They forgot to tell us they added 2.5 miles to the bike course, oops. Average was slower than I wanted but the addition of 3 180 degree turnaround points, one with oncoming traffic was a large contributing factor.
Got into T2 to find that a bike was in my spot on the rack and there was not space for mine to fit in…very annoying. Another quirk of the race is that with a staggered start in the pool they only tell you to get to the course 1hr before your start time to setup and get marked. So a guy who was starting 2hr+ after me saw my spot as open while my bike was gone and took it. I slid bikes along the rack with the help of someone nearby and crammed mine in. Quick shoe change and off on the run
Run: Wanted to make sure to not go out too fast as it was getting hotter and I knew I’d regret it later. Had to hold myself back since I felt very strong. Kept pushing along and before I knew it I was at the turnaround heading for home. I picked up the pace a bit and pushed on. Since it was out and back, I got to see my dad and sister both on there way out on the run as I was coming in, which I always like to do to keep tabs and make passing comments. I think I just yelled “Bike was long” between breaths at my dad as I passed. I had a little pain in the last mile from side stitches but was too close to slow down at that point. Crossed the finish line, found my mom and waited for the rest of the family.
Dad passed my sister on the run and came in about 3mins before her…both were pretty close. We didn’t hang around to see final results since we were pretty sure no AG placings among us and there were people still just getting on the bike course.
The breakdown:
Swim: 500m in 10:44 (bad)
T1: ~1 minute
Bike: 23.5miles @ 1:07:04 (21.0mph avg)
T2: ~1 minute
Run: 4.4 miles at 30:54 (7:01/mile)
Total: 1:50:43 (5th of 17 in M20-24 AG, 30th of 473 overall)
The official results had adjusted to the correct distances. Dad finished in ~2:14 and sister finished in ~2:17. Well done by all. The highlight of my day which I had been looking forward to all year was the Sonic breakfast burritos at the finish. Since I improved, I upped the ante and ate 2 of them this year (and now you know why I’m a Clydesdale).
Next race is a super sprint with the fiancée, my sister and her friend in Indy on Saturday. Race report to follow
The St. Peter’s RecPlex Triathlon is a kind of strangely proportioned sprint race just outside St. Louis. It is a non-USAT event that has some weird quirks to it, but is a generally fun event that I have been doing the past 4 years now. It usually consists of a 500m pool swim, 21 mile mostly flat bike, and 4.8 mile park path run. It’s a non-swimmers dream tri. As I mentioned earlier, it is the 4th year I’ve done it as well as the 4th year my dad and sister have participated as well…which has made it a solid father’s day tradition.
Race Morning: We arrive to see the transition area has been moved from previous years to behind the RecPlex…it’s a smaller area which leads to more congestion in a growing event. Due to the move, the pool swim will start on the opposite end and snake the other way leading to a shorter T1 run…not too bad. The bike course has also been changed last minute due to flooding, but the updated map is confusing, so we just decide to go with the flow once we’re out there. The run course was back to the way it was 2 years ago since the construction is complete in the area.
Swim: One of the quirks of this race is that the swim is started on a first come first serve basis from a registration stand-point (the earlier you register the earlier you start). This makes some weird congestion problems at times since there is no speed arrangement. We finally registered properly this year getting an early start time (7:00 AM) and in the correct order based on our relative speeds (my sister first, then me, then my dad). Everything is running smoothly so we start on time. My swim feels awful and I post my worst time here in 3 yrs at 10:44, I was hoping to be 9:30 so obviously I need some work on my swimming. Either way it’s over quickly and I’m into and out of T1 in about a minute.
They don’t do chip timing here so transitions are both added to bike time, I estimated 1 minute for each to get a better idea of my bike time, which would be about correct based on my CPU avg speed.
Bike: In my initial race plan I was hoping to break an hour on the bike (~21.5mph avg), but with the course change wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I figured it was still a reasonable goal. I felt strong once I got over the interstate overpass and used an early downhill to cruise along at 27mph for about 1.5 miles which felt great. I was passing people like crazy which is also fun…especially on my roadie with clip-ons and stock wheels. I got to the farmland area, the bulk of the ride, and was easily pushing 24.5 mph on the flats on the way out…there must be a tailwind. Hit the turn around and it turned against me. I was still able to hold close to 20mph on the way back in (and pass a high end tri-bike with a zipp disk and aero helmet…awesome), got to the next turnaround (since the course was shortened to avoid flooding there was a loop section) and had to come to a complete stop around the cone because it was basically people on their first loop coming thru and people turning for loop 2 merging in…kind of annoying. Second loop same story with the tail/headwind. Came back in noticing my time was already over 1hr so switch to check distance…pulled into T2 at 23.5 miles. They forgot to tell us they added 2.5 miles to the bike course, oops. Average was slower than I wanted but the addition of 3 180 degree turnaround points, one with oncoming traffic was a large contributing factor.
Got into T2 to find that a bike was in my spot on the rack and there was not space for mine to fit in…very annoying. Another quirk of the race is that with a staggered start in the pool they only tell you to get to the course 1hr before your start time to setup and get marked. So a guy who was starting 2hr+ after me saw my spot as open while my bike was gone and took it. I slid bikes along the rack with the help of someone nearby and crammed mine in. Quick shoe change and off on the run
Run: Wanted to make sure to not go out too fast as it was getting hotter and I knew I’d regret it later. Had to hold myself back since I felt very strong. Kept pushing along and before I knew it I was at the turnaround heading for home. I picked up the pace a bit and pushed on. Since it was out and back, I got to see my dad and sister both on there way out on the run as I was coming in, which I always like to do to keep tabs and make passing comments. I think I just yelled “Bike was long” between breaths at my dad as I passed. I had a little pain in the last mile from side stitches but was too close to slow down at that point. Crossed the finish line, found my mom and waited for the rest of the family.
Dad passed my sister on the run and came in about 3mins before her…both were pretty close. We didn’t hang around to see final results since we were pretty sure no AG placings among us and there were people still just getting on the bike course.
The breakdown:
Swim: 500m in 10:44 (bad)
T1: ~1 minute
Bike: 23.5miles @ 1:07:04 (21.0mph avg)
T2: ~1 minute
Run: 4.4 miles at 30:54 (7:01/mile)
Total: 1:50:43 (5th of 17 in M20-24 AG, 30th of 473 overall)
The official results had adjusted to the correct distances. Dad finished in ~2:14 and sister finished in ~2:17. Well done by all. The highlight of my day which I had been looking forward to all year was the Sonic breakfast burritos at the finish. Since I improved, I upped the ante and ate 2 of them this year (and now you know why I’m a Clydesdale).
Next race is a super sprint with the fiancée, my sister and her friend in Indy on Saturday. Race report to follow
Monday, May 19, 2008
Tri-For-Joe...first of season
Heading for T1 after the swim
Putting on the Wetsuit Pre-race
Such an intense look as I leave for the run
Me and my little plaque...big smiles
Walking the bike back to the car with dadAfter weeks of anticipation, I finally opened the 2008 triathlon season officially Sunday with my first sprint tri of the summer. It felt like it took forever for the first one to come along, probably since this is the first season I’ve been 100% focused on tri training and not some other athletic endeavor. Also, since my training has been more focused and organized, I was eagerly waiting for a tri to really get a chance to see the progress of my efforts. The race was Tri-for-Joe at the Coney Island fun park in Cincinnati, OH and it basically went as follows…
I woke up at 5:15 AM after only about 5hrs of sleep. To preface, I was attending a wedding my fiancée was in on Saturday afternoon in Northwest Ohio about 2.5 hrs from Cincy…I didn’t get back from that until almost 11 and still had to get my stuff together so I wouldn’t be a wreck in the AM. I had a breakfast of Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal + Cinnamon Cheks cereal (not the best I know, but in desperate need of a grocery run so I improvised). Yes, I like to mix my cereals. Then I packed up and headed out the door. Had to make a stop at Walgreens on the way to the course to pick up Vaseline and got a Clif bar while I was there. I realized the night before I was out of body glide, so I’m sure I looked odd buying those two items at 5:45 AM.
I arrived at the course at 6:15 and picked up my race bag. Then I headed straight back to my car for cover since I thought hell was about to break loose. There was a dark cloud overhead and the winds were wreaking havoc at the course, and I was not dressed for those conditions. Luckily by 7, the clouds were clearing, there was little to no wind, and very little rain had fallen…very lucky. I setup my transition area, getting a prime spot since I arrived early and then waited for my fans (parents) to arrive. I knew I was ready, but still had to convince myself that everything was setup properly in transition and I wasn’t forgetting anything about 5 times as nerves were setting in.
When my parents arrived I joked around with them while hanging out at the pre-race meeting. They initially announced the pool temperature at 54 degrees (brrr!). Apparently that was a premature measurement and the pool was actually a very warm 61 by race start, haha. Even though it was a (open water style) pool-swim, I was glad to have my wetsuit as most participants did. My heat was the last to go, so I got to size up the field and watch the other waves taking off as I hung out in the warm-up area trying to adjust to the water. Finally, the Clydesdales were up to take our turn on the 700m course. We took off into the water and ran in the shallows until I saw the guy in front of me begin dolphin jumping, so I decided to do the same, only to realize I was still in 2-3 ft water. I tried swimming (and pushing off the bottom on my down stroke) until I realized people were walking past me in the water, so I got up and joined them. Soon, the water deepened to a swimmable level. As ridiculous as the course looked, it wasn’t as cluttered as I expected and I was able to move pretty freely. I also got a lot of work in on open water turning. After my second lap, I couldn’t tell where I was compared to my division, but felt I had posted a pretty good time…it ended up being 11:16, 1st one out of the water. I’m not that fast in reality, so the course must have been a little short, but I was moving pretty quick (YAY for wetsuits).
Off to T1 where I was worried having never removed a wetsuit before in race situation. I had the top half off during the run to T1, then I had to sit down to pull the legs off, but had no major issue…1:40 later (also fastest in div), I was off on the bike.
I hadn’t scouted the bike course specifically, but new it was flat and fast from knowing the general area. My real focus was spinning a high cadence and keeping my legs feeling fresh. I also planned to alternate Infinit and water every 3-4 miles throughout the bike. The course was flat and the winds were low and I felt like I was flying…it helped that we were the last heat to take off so I had plenty of people to pass. Unfortunately some were not versed in how to ride in a tri and were socializing with one another blocking the already narrow route, so I had to do some navigating. I finished the ride passing the entire time, having never been passed, so I knew any Clydesdale ahead of me was ahead of me after the swim. My CPU said I averaged just over 22mph on a 17.6 or so mile course. The course was supposed to be 18.6 miles, so my official results have me at 23.1 mph (they flatter me), once again 1st in my division.
T2 was pretty straightforward, rack the bike…switch shoes…grab water…put on race belt as I headed out to the run. In and out in 0:45 (2nd in div).
The run was a 5k through the park and parking lots, not a lot of great scenery, but it was flat and open. Since it wasn’t too hot it was pretty comfortable. I felt a little uneasy the first mile since I drank too much liquid in T2 and it was sitting heavily on me. I took it easy until the discomfort was manageable and then pushed the pace, knowing there wasn’t much left. I had noticed when I racked in T2 there was only 1 bike on the Clydesdale/Athena racks, so I had to be near the front of my division and knowing that running is my strong leg, I wanted to catch that other bike (who apparently I was already ahead of). I continued slightly increasing the pace until the finish…I didn’t have much of a kick left in me so I must have pushed pretty well throughout the race. Finished the 5k in 20:18, which I suspect was also slightly a short course. I felt like I was pacing like 6:50s, not the 6:33 they had me at.
Either way, I finished and got some delicious chocolate milk at the line and waited for results with the family. I knew I had placed, so was already happy. It was only later I found out I won the Clydesdale division…by almost 6 minutes! I assumed there were errors, so waited for the official results to be posted today to write the RR. I took home my plaque very satisfied with the day’s accomplishment.
Final stats:
Swim: 11:16 (1st in AG)
T1: 1:40 (1st in AG)
Bike: 0:48:21—“23.1 mph avg” (1st in AG)
T2: 0:45 (2nd in AG)
Run: 20:18—“6:33/mile” (1st in AG)
Total: 1:22:20 (1st of 21 in AG, 40 of 437 males, 839 total)…only 11min out of 1st place overall, haha.
Sorry for the long RR, I’ve just never won anything athletic individually like this, so I’m ecstatic. Pretty excited to push on in my training. Next tri in 4 weeks, RR to follow. Here are some pics, my mom was on top of things and got the pictures to me right away...
I woke up at 5:15 AM after only about 5hrs of sleep. To preface, I was attending a wedding my fiancée was in on Saturday afternoon in Northwest Ohio about 2.5 hrs from Cincy…I didn’t get back from that until almost 11 and still had to get my stuff together so I wouldn’t be a wreck in the AM. I had a breakfast of Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal + Cinnamon Cheks cereal (not the best I know, but in desperate need of a grocery run so I improvised). Yes, I like to mix my cereals. Then I packed up and headed out the door. Had to make a stop at Walgreens on the way to the course to pick up Vaseline and got a Clif bar while I was there. I realized the night before I was out of body glide, so I’m sure I looked odd buying those two items at 5:45 AM.
I arrived at the course at 6:15 and picked up my race bag. Then I headed straight back to my car for cover since I thought hell was about to break loose. There was a dark cloud overhead and the winds were wreaking havoc at the course, and I was not dressed for those conditions. Luckily by 7, the clouds were clearing, there was little to no wind, and very little rain had fallen…very lucky. I setup my transition area, getting a prime spot since I arrived early and then waited for my fans (parents) to arrive. I knew I was ready, but still had to convince myself that everything was setup properly in transition and I wasn’t forgetting anything about 5 times as nerves were setting in.
When my parents arrived I joked around with them while hanging out at the pre-race meeting. They initially announced the pool temperature at 54 degrees (brrr!). Apparently that was a premature measurement and the pool was actually a very warm 61 by race start, haha. Even though it was a (open water style) pool-swim, I was glad to have my wetsuit as most participants did. My heat was the last to go, so I got to size up the field and watch the other waves taking off as I hung out in the warm-up area trying to adjust to the water. Finally, the Clydesdales were up to take our turn on the 700m course. We took off into the water and ran in the shallows until I saw the guy in front of me begin dolphin jumping, so I decided to do the same, only to realize I was still in 2-3 ft water. I tried swimming (and pushing off the bottom on my down stroke) until I realized people were walking past me in the water, so I got up and joined them. Soon, the water deepened to a swimmable level. As ridiculous as the course looked, it wasn’t as cluttered as I expected and I was able to move pretty freely. I also got a lot of work in on open water turning. After my second lap, I couldn’t tell where I was compared to my division, but felt I had posted a pretty good time…it ended up being 11:16, 1st one out of the water. I’m not that fast in reality, so the course must have been a little short, but I was moving pretty quick (YAY for wetsuits).
Off to T1 where I was worried having never removed a wetsuit before in race situation. I had the top half off during the run to T1, then I had to sit down to pull the legs off, but had no major issue…1:40 later (also fastest in div), I was off on the bike.
I hadn’t scouted the bike course specifically, but new it was flat and fast from knowing the general area. My real focus was spinning a high cadence and keeping my legs feeling fresh. I also planned to alternate Infinit and water every 3-4 miles throughout the bike. The course was flat and the winds were low and I felt like I was flying…it helped that we were the last heat to take off so I had plenty of people to pass. Unfortunately some were not versed in how to ride in a tri and were socializing with one another blocking the already narrow route, so I had to do some navigating. I finished the ride passing the entire time, having never been passed, so I knew any Clydesdale ahead of me was ahead of me after the swim. My CPU said I averaged just over 22mph on a 17.6 or so mile course. The course was supposed to be 18.6 miles, so my official results have me at 23.1 mph (they flatter me), once again 1st in my division.
T2 was pretty straightforward, rack the bike…switch shoes…grab water…put on race belt as I headed out to the run. In and out in 0:45 (2nd in div).
The run was a 5k through the park and parking lots, not a lot of great scenery, but it was flat and open. Since it wasn’t too hot it was pretty comfortable. I felt a little uneasy the first mile since I drank too much liquid in T2 and it was sitting heavily on me. I took it easy until the discomfort was manageable and then pushed the pace, knowing there wasn’t much left. I had noticed when I racked in T2 there was only 1 bike on the Clydesdale/Athena racks, so I had to be near the front of my division and knowing that running is my strong leg, I wanted to catch that other bike (who apparently I was already ahead of). I continued slightly increasing the pace until the finish…I didn’t have much of a kick left in me so I must have pushed pretty well throughout the race. Finished the 5k in 20:18, which I suspect was also slightly a short course. I felt like I was pacing like 6:50s, not the 6:33 they had me at.
Either way, I finished and got some delicious chocolate milk at the line and waited for results with the family. I knew I had placed, so was already happy. It was only later I found out I won the Clydesdale division…by almost 6 minutes! I assumed there were errors, so waited for the official results to be posted today to write the RR. I took home my plaque very satisfied with the day’s accomplishment.
Final stats:
Swim: 11:16 (1st in AG)
T1: 1:40 (1st in AG)
Bike: 0:48:21—“23.1 mph avg” (1st in AG)
T2: 0:45 (2nd in AG)
Run: 20:18—“6:33/mile” (1st in AG)
Total: 1:22:20 (1st of 21 in AG, 40 of 437 males, 839 total)…only 11min out of 1st place overall, haha.
Sorry for the long RR, I’ve just never won anything athletic individually like this, so I’m ecstatic. Pretty excited to push on in my training. Next tri in 4 weeks, RR to follow. Here are some pics, my mom was on top of things and got the pictures to me right away...
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Bike TT and Upcoming First Tri of Season
Well it's been a while since I updated, was supposed to after last weeks testing week, but ended up not doing my tests. It was a bad week for training last week, but I've picked it up again this week and don't feel like I've missed a beat. I got a 31 minute run in monday on a hilly course with a 7:22 mile avg and felt strong (a little sore the next morning from the running layoff). Then yesterday, I competed in a local cycling clubs weekly summer TT. I've never done just a ITT on the bike (although every bike leg of a tri is just a lower intensity version of one I suppose), so thought it would be fun. It would also be good to give me an idea of where I'm at heading into my first sprint tri this weekend.
The race was held by one of the Cincinnati area cycling clubs and is a summer series held every tuesday starting last tuesday (the 6th) until september or so. It's a 10.2 mile course in a small city southwest of Cincy. The aerial view of the course resembles a horseshoe, so it was basically one gradual turn throughout, not too technical which is good for me since I don't have much experience being technical in an aero ride. The basic layout of the course is long, but gradual rollers for the first 7.5 miles, followed by a flat a little less than 2.5 miles and a deceptive and painful uphill .3 mile finish.
I arrived early to meet a friend who told me about the TT. He was running late, so I took off on my own for a warmup. I rode the course backwards, registered when I got to the start, and cruised around a bit as people started showing up. I wasn't sure what to expect from myself so I predicted I'd finish right around 30 minutes, putting me as one of the slower riders. I started 11th out of 37 competitors.
As I started, I slipped a little clipping in (probably should have been held, like was offered), so got away slowly. I wanted to push my pace on the first couple rollers to get my legs burning a little and to get my initial avg up. Plus I figure it's easier to maintain speed than it is to accelerate. After about 2.5 miles, I felt pretty good and was moving on the people in front of me. My goal was to pass more than I was going to be passed. I held off the first person to pass me until about the 6 mile mark where I had already passed 4 or 5 people. I got to the flat and had a pretty significant burn in my legs, but was suprised how easily I was able to convince myself to up the intensity at that point. As I saw the finish hill, I upped my cadence to prepare to downshift without hopefully losing much momentum. Putting an uphill at the finish like that is just mean, the burn was incredible, but you can see the finish so you have to keep pushing to the max. I grunted and groaned as I cranked my way across the finish line. Ends up I passed 8 riders and was passed by 2, I was already very pleased.
I rode it out then waited to see my friend finish (he was seeded third fastest in the race). He finished strong, so it looked like he had a good race as well. I could feel my legs tightening again, so I jogged about 1/2 mile while waiting for the times to be announced. Ends up, I underestimated myself...finished in 27:43 (22.1mph avg) and beat a good deal of people starting after me. Not sure of my actual place since I'm waiting for results to be posted. It was a lot of fun and I'm hoping to do a couple more before the end of the season, maybe monthly or so. If I break 27min I'd be pretty excited. My friend, of course made me look slow with his 25mph+ avg, but that's ok. I'll just say it was the equipment (he rides a P2C w/aero wheels compared to my LeMond roadie with clip-ons), haha.
So anyways, my first tri is this weekend...it's a sprint and I'll get to see what kind of speed I've gained from last year. My focus is going to be on transition times mostly since I have a tri-suit for the first time and a wetsuit too. Race report to come
The race was held by one of the Cincinnati area cycling clubs and is a summer series held every tuesday starting last tuesday (the 6th) until september or so. It's a 10.2 mile course in a small city southwest of Cincy. The aerial view of the course resembles a horseshoe, so it was basically one gradual turn throughout, not too technical which is good for me since I don't have much experience being technical in an aero ride. The basic layout of the course is long, but gradual rollers for the first 7.5 miles, followed by a flat a little less than 2.5 miles and a deceptive and painful uphill .3 mile finish.
I arrived early to meet a friend who told me about the TT. He was running late, so I took off on my own for a warmup. I rode the course backwards, registered when I got to the start, and cruised around a bit as people started showing up. I wasn't sure what to expect from myself so I predicted I'd finish right around 30 minutes, putting me as one of the slower riders. I started 11th out of 37 competitors.
As I started, I slipped a little clipping in (probably should have been held, like was offered), so got away slowly. I wanted to push my pace on the first couple rollers to get my legs burning a little and to get my initial avg up. Plus I figure it's easier to maintain speed than it is to accelerate. After about 2.5 miles, I felt pretty good and was moving on the people in front of me. My goal was to pass more than I was going to be passed. I held off the first person to pass me until about the 6 mile mark where I had already passed 4 or 5 people. I got to the flat and had a pretty significant burn in my legs, but was suprised how easily I was able to convince myself to up the intensity at that point. As I saw the finish hill, I upped my cadence to prepare to downshift without hopefully losing much momentum. Putting an uphill at the finish like that is just mean, the burn was incredible, but you can see the finish so you have to keep pushing to the max. I grunted and groaned as I cranked my way across the finish line. Ends up I passed 8 riders and was passed by 2, I was already very pleased.
I rode it out then waited to see my friend finish (he was seeded third fastest in the race). He finished strong, so it looked like he had a good race as well. I could feel my legs tightening again, so I jogged about 1/2 mile while waiting for the times to be announced. Ends up, I underestimated myself...finished in 27:43 (22.1mph avg) and beat a good deal of people starting after me. Not sure of my actual place since I'm waiting for results to be posted. It was a lot of fun and I'm hoping to do a couple more before the end of the season, maybe monthly or so. If I break 27min I'd be pretty excited. My friend, of course made me look slow with his 25mph+ avg, but that's ok. I'll just say it was the equipment (he rides a P2C w/aero wheels compared to my LeMond roadie with clip-ons), haha.
So anyways, my first tri is this weekend...it's a sprint and I'll get to see what kind of speed I've gained from last year. My focus is going to be on transition times mostly since I have a tri-suit for the first time and a wetsuit too. Race report to come
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