June...bring it on

June is nearly upon us. With the weather changes here in Cincy of late, I’d say were definitely into summer weather as well with higher heat and humidity, and scattered t-storms basically every day.

As June approaches, I’m tentatively excited. It’s going to be a crazy busy month. According to my overarching annual training plan, it’s scheduled to be my highest intensity month. As far as specific events go, I have the following:
Olympic tri on June 7th near Cincy (B race)
Sprint (500m/21mi/4.8mi) on June 21st in St. Louis (C race)
First ever crit on June 27th (hoping to survive unscathed)

To go along with that, my training schedule will be further restricted since my first term of grad school classes (MBA program) will be in full swing. As of right now, I have an online class that runs at lunch 2x/week which hasn’t effected my schedule too much other than cutting back on lunch workouts. However, starting next week I will have a 3 hour evening class meeting 2x/week as well. Both classes are complete by the end of June, so there will be a lot of work crammed into the month. I’m not too concerned about not doing well in the classes since I tend to handle school pretty well (I’m a nerd and like to learn), I’m just hoping I’ll be able to manage my work, school, and training schedule. Oh yeah, and I’d like to be able to see my wife occasionally as well. Of course, she’s in a very similar situation being a full time grad student with ~30 hours of practicum work required.

On the upside, I certainly feel like I’ll be getting a lot accomplished, and working toward my MBA has me excited about opening up doors for future possibilities. Also, once my wife and I have survived June, we plan on thoroughly enjoying July and August. While we both will still have work, neither of us will have classes again until end of August. We have a long July 4th weekend to spend at her parents’ lake house, a vacation to Yellowstone in mid-July with my family, an extended weekend for Steelhead 70.3 combined with our first anniversary celebration, a Jimmy Buffett concert (5th annual) the week following Steelhead, and volunteering at IM Louisville at the end of August.
It’s amazing how quickly summers fill themselves up.

In more recent news, I accomplished my highest bike volume week ever this past weekend covering about 137 miles (I know, not that impressive), but this week I will blow that number away since I already 101.5 miles on my legs with 120 more scheduled for the weekend (doing a century on Sunday). I’m seeing some big jumps in my comfort and speed on the bike, so hopefully it will show at the Olympic tri I have next weekend. I will cover that race in more detail next week when I layout my race plan. Until then, stay injury free and enjoy the weekend.

A few more Tri for Joe swim pics

This guy has clearly mastered beach entries…this is the very start of his wave, yet he’s all alone, about 2/3’s of the way down the pool

 

Course is congested at the turns…might as well do some water-jogging

 

More panned out view of the pool the race was in…with lots of random lane lines

Tri for Joe at Coney Island, Cincinnati…Race Report

Yesterday morning marked the 4th annual Tri for Joe sprint triathlon, duathlon, 5k run, and kids fun run in Cincinnati.  I participated in the sprint tri for the second year in a row.  Here is my race report…

Pre-race: Was up and out the door by 6:15AM and noticed it was a little more chilly than I had expected.  I got there earlier than I normally do for a small race like this, but I hadn’t picked my packet up yet, so I wanted the extra time to get set up.  As I was setting up, water temperature was announced to be 62, about 5 degrees warmer than last year.  However, air temps were around 50 so it balanced out to feel about as cold overall as last year.  My wife and parents showed up with about 30 minutes to start, so I hung out with them to keep the nerves under control until heading to the swim.

The wife covering her feet with my warmup pants to stay warm pre-race.

Walking toward the swim start

Swim: I’ve described this swim before, and it’s definitely a mess with the open water pool format.  My wave was first up like I hoped, but I had a local high school swim team in the wave with me so I let them get ahead of me since I’m not that strong a swimmer.  As we head off into the water, there was a good deal of water running to be done before getting into the deeper water where we could swim.  My goggles started leaking, so there were quite a few stops to empty them.  Finally I got them seated correctly and was able to get on a roll for a while.  I felt like I had to be near the back end of my wave, but with all the turns as well as picking up the later waves in the second lap I really had no idea.

Start of the swim

On the second lap, I just focused on a smooth stroke and started getting my mindset ready for transition.  Time: 11:12 (Not a lot of improvement from last years)

Exiting the pool

T1: My wetsuit got stuck a little on my leg with the timing chip, but it didn’t cost me too much time.  Time: 1:30 (estimated, since transition times were built into swim and run respectively)

Bike: Out onto the bike, I wanted to get my pace up quickly and make up some of the ground I lost on the leaders of my wave.  I passed a few of the swim team guys pretty early on and went back and forth a little with another rider.  I started to pull away from him for good and started to focus on getting some nutrition in.  The course is pretty straight and flat other than some sharper turns while on a bike path that circles the airport, so I didn’t have too much climbing to worry about.  As I got onto the airport path, I saw a group of 3-4 guys riding in somewhat of a pack.  I slowly approached them for the next few miles until I was finally up on them.  I didn’t feel comfortable with the closeness of this group, so I tried to put in an acceleration to get past them and not have to worry about drafting.  Unfortunately, soon after I passed them we hit the bulk of the course turns and had to slow a bit.  The next thing I knew I had a tail group.  They hung with me for a bit, but no one passed me.  This was a little frustrating, but once we hit the next long straightaway, I tried another burst accel and was able to put some space between us.  After that, I was pretty much on my own the rest of the ride, so was able to smooth out my effort some since creating my own space had used up more of my energy than I wanted.  My legs had a pretty decent burn going the rest of the ride, so I wasn’t sure how the run would go, but at least I had about a minute on the pack that I knew was behind me.  Time: 46:47

Back into transition from the bike

T2: Pretty straightforward here, but I felt a little rushed since I could see the competition arriving on the bike as I was grabbing my hat and number belt.  Time: 0:45 (est)

Run: Leaving for the run, I noticed I had passed someone in transition and he followed me out to the run.  He looked like a pretty good runner, so I expected a quick pass.

Taking off on the run with a trailer close behind

The course is pretty wide open, and pancake flat so I knew I’d have a chance to keep an eye on my competition.  It’s also an out and back, so that helps as well.  My chaser never came, and when I finally looked back I found I was putting time into him.  That was a good sign since I felt pretty under control.  As I hit the parking lot, where you can see a good deal of the course I noticed I was pretty much all alone.  My chances of catching anyone in front of me was looking slim, so I just focused on keeping off the group behind me.  As I hit the turnaround, I saw there were about 5 guys not far behind me and it looked like they had gained on me.  I tried to up the speed a bit, but was definitely feeling fatigue so could merely maintain my current pace.  As I hit the parking lot on the return, I noticed the group hadn’t gained much more on me, with the exception of one runner who was on the move.  I spent the rest of the race trying to just focus on the finish and hoping I’d hold him off.  Heading down the homestretch, I was still ahead, but knew he was close.

 

About 200 meters from the line.  This spectator is in the way, but I’m on the left of him and the guy chasing me is just to his right.  He closed a little more ground before the finish.

My mom yelled something to the effect of “He’s right behind you!” as I passed the family, but I wasn’t really hearing anything.  I was able to hold him off, but turns out he wasn’t in my AG, so no matter.  It was a good mental boost nonetheless.  Time: 18:46

Final numbers recap:

• Swim (~700m) and T1: 12:42 (9/20 in AG)
• Bike (~17.6miles): 46:47 (22.6mph avg, 3/20 in AG)
• Run (short 5k) and T2: 19:29 (3/30 in AG)
• Total: 1:18:56 (2/20 in M20-24 AG, 9/317 OA)

Overall, I didn’t hit my goal time, but wasn't sure what to expect when I made my race plan.  With this being my first race of the season, it’s a good baseline for me to adjust my other race plans to.  I have a better idea of where I should focus in the next couple weeks as well.  Below I’ve included some other Race/Event pictures.  My next race is in 3 weeks with an Olympic tri.  Between now and then I have some solid training weeks planned, so hopefully some gains can be made in the meantime.

Tri for Joe Sprint Race Plan

Here I am, 2 days away from my first tri of the season. I’m excited to get things underway. However, this is a C race so I’ve been pushing hard all week in my training as well. We will see what comes and take it for what it’s worth. This being a sprint as well means it doesn’t really add much to the training I’m doing for the ½ Iron A races that will come later in the summer/fall. It’s merely for some fun…

That being said, I still like to have a plan in mind when heading into a race…so this is what I’ve pieced together:

Swim (700m): The swim at this race is a mess to say the least…it’s an open water style pool swim. You heard that right, open water pool swim…want to see the course, head over to www.triforjoe.com and take a look for yourself. It’s also only ~700m, but has to be 2 loops. I’m pretty sure I’ll be in an early wave, so hopefully I can create myself space in the first loop before running into the other waves that have started by the time I hit the second loop. To add to the fun…it’s shallow enough to walk ~50% of the swim, and people do. To top it all off…the pool is just being filled and will likely be around 55-60 degrees race morning. I’m laughing just writing all this out. Either way, I’m not going to fight to the front because I’m not the strongest swimmer, but I would like to be near the front of my wave if possible. I’m going to push the swim a bit harder than usual and try and break 10 minutes (last year I was 11:15 or so) and see where they sets me up.
Total goal time: 10:00

T1: I’ve only practiced getting out of my wetsuit 1x this year, but it’s a pretty simple process once you’ve got the form. Hopefully I can get in, out, and on my way in less than 1:30. The run to transition isn’t bad, so it’s doable. I think I was 1:50 last year.
Total goal time: 11:30

Bike (30k--supposedly): I’ve gotten faster on the bike, but I don’t want to go nuts here…however I’d like to hold my own and I won’t hesitate to push harder if I see some of my AG putting time into me. The bike course is a bit short…last year I averaged about 22mph and my CPU had the course at ~17.6 miles, so about a mile off. This year I’m hoping to be over 23mph…closer to 23.5 if possible, getting me home in 45 minutes. I’ll be using 1 bottle of diluted Infinit and a bottle of water on the bike and alternate every 7 minutes.
Total goal time: 56:30

T2: Quick and easy, hopefully under 45 seconds.
Total goal time: 57:15

Run (short 5k): I’ve gained some good speed here in the off-season, but more for mid-distance style racing. I don’t think my top end speed is incredibly improved. However, I’m going to push here and try to break 19:30…last year I was at 20:18 on a short 5k course, so 19:30 should only be about 6:30/mile. I feel like I should be able to do this if I’m feeling decent after the bike. If I’m feeling good, I think I can make a run at 6min pace.
Goal finish time: 1:16:30

Hopefully everything works out. This would give me just under 6 minutes of improvement on the same course in a year. I don’t normally go for placing goals, but I think this should put me safely in the top 25 OA, so I’m making a top 25 placing a goal as well.

As of right now, weather looks good…I’ve tested all my equipment I haven’t used in a while and am ready to go…race report to follow. Hopefully I’ll have pics too, the wife will be photographing and she’s normally pretty reliable for quality shots.

GL to anyone else racing this weekend.

Training Day Time Trial

Wow, I’ve been busy lately.  My training has been much more segmented than usual, but I don’t feel that I’ve lost too much ground.  I’m not really building either, though, so that’s a little frustrating.  My work schedule has been the main culprit, leaving me somewhat exhausted as well as throwing off my routine.  I’m big on routines, so little shifts can throw off most of the day.

Either way, I did have a pretty fun solid day of training on Saturday with some of the team members of Queen City Wheels.  They’re a local Cincy cycling club that hosts a variety of events, especially time trials, which always appeal to triathletes like myself.  This year, they started a 40k time trial series in Northern KY, hosting one per month.  It’s actually only a 23.4 mile race, but close enough to call it a 40k series I guess.  This past weekend was the third of five time trials, but the first I was able to attend.  Here’s the “race” report:

I got a little lost on the way to the course, so I didn’t get the warmup I was hoping for.  I only rode about 10 miles total before starting.  The roads were damp in spots from overnight downpours, so that concerned me a little, but at least I was able to get comfortable with the surface conditions in my shortened warmup.  We were seeded by past performance or in my case my predicted time.  I was slated to start 28th of 34 riders (another 3 showed up late and were tagged on the end), although I think I was overrated by the race director.  Since I didn’t get a chance to scout the course I had to rely on the descriptions given to me by the other riders.  It sounded pretty basic, slightly rolling, but with a significant climb before the turnaround.  This was a concern for me since I haven’t adjusted my front derailleur to the point where it doesn’t throw the chain occasionally when switching from small to big gear.  I hoped my “big legs” would be able to mash their way up the hill in the big ring…wrong, but we’ll get there.

The race itself starts with a screaming downhill that turns into a steady flat to downhill…basically I was over 30mph for the first 2 miles, feeling very fast.  Then the rolling began, and reality set in.  I was still holding around 24-25mph steady through most of the next 7-8 miles with the exception of an up roll or a headwind.  The wind was gusty, but kind of swirly and we were in lowlands, so it didn’t have a huge effect.  I was rolling along much faster than anticipated, but I still got passed before the turnaround when we hit the hill.  I made it about 2/3rds to the top before realizing I couldn’t crank through in  the big ring.  Then I made the rookie mistake of switching front rings while cranking uphill, and dropped my chain.  I cursed as I fixed my mistake with less than 10 seconds lost.

The return trip to the finish started with another screaming downhill, the one we just climbed.  It got my momentum up, which helped me recover some of my lost average speed from the climb.  Once I lost that momentum though, I realized how tired my legs actually were.  Luckily, I finally started seeing people I started behind, so I had rabbits to chase down.  That basically carried me the rest of the way to the finish.  When I turned and saw the timing car at the finish, I made a meager attempt at a sprint that basically was a lot of grunting with very little speed gain.  As I crossed, I shouted my starting number so they knew what time I had, then I coasted to a little cooldown…I was spent.

The result:  I finished pretty close to my seeding, and faster than expected, covering the 23.4 miles in 58:44.  My avg speed was 23.9mph, by far the fastest piece I’ve completed.  It was pretty exciting.

So now, I’m planning on hitting the QCW’s weekly 10.2 mile time trial tomorrow to use as part of a long training ride…then I have my first tri of the season on Sunday.  It’s a C race sprint tri, but I’m looking forward to it as a fun event and to finally pull all three sports together for the first time since September of last year.  I’ll be back later this week to recap tomorrow’s TT and discuss weekend race strategy.  Until then…