KY Derby Festival miniMarathon Race Report

The racing season is officially started. Granted, I have participated in a couple bike races before this past weekend, but they were more of an “on a whim” high intensity workout since there was no dedicated training for them. Instead, this past weekend brought my first planned race of 2010, the KY Derby Festival miniMarathon, a race I have run multiple times before and that is a favorite of mine.

After busting out a new PR last year with 1:32:07, I was hoping for big things again this year. Obviously, the next obvious goal is to break 1:30, but back in the fall when I was goal-setting, I decided that sub 1:27 would be my target…a reach for sure. I don’t remember how I came up with that number now, but it’s been in my season plan for some time now.

In the past few weeks, I had been focused more on bike racing and had been doing my training runs on tired legs. Until the week of the race, I had serious doubts if I could even break 1:30, and 1:27 was simply off the radar. I hadn’t lost the extra few pounds I was hoping to over the winter, so that was also a limiter. However, some days off in the past week and a half and a major reduction in biking to prep for this race was the refresher my legs needed. I hadn’t run on fresh legs until the week before race-day for months, so it was quite a rush to have the spring back in my step. I took things pretty easy race-week to ensure they stayed fresh and ready. My confidence in sub 1:30 was back, although 1:27 was still pretty doubtful…so I decided to race conservatively and negative split the run. My rationale was if I were to go for 1:27 and “blow up” I’d likely miss 1:30 as well, but if I started at 1:30 and worked down I may not catch up to 1:27, but would still be safely in the 1:20’s...Enough rambling, on to the race report.

Race morning, I woke to drizzly, high 50’s weather…warmer than I was hoping for 6AM, but the rain kept it cool enough. I got to the start line and in the corral about 15mins early, and other than not being able to make a pre-race bathroom break since the bathrooms were hidden away somewhere, all was well. I had my Forerunner 305 with me to help with the pacing. I took out the first mile at about 7 minute pace, intentionally slow, but also attributed to the crowds at the start. At mile 2 the race enters Iroquois Park, which is where the hills are. It’s a loop with a bigger climb at the beginning and the end, then 2 smaller climbs in the middle. All of this is over the course of 3 or so miles. I focused on small steps and high cadence on the uphill sections and used momentum and gravity to my advantage on the downhills. Before I knew it, the park was gone and we were on the long straightaway to Churchill Downs.

At this point I was around 34minutes at the 5 mile mark and everything seemed pretty solid. However, I was still uncertain in how I’d hold up, so kept the pace around 6:40-6:45 per mile. Somewhere along the way I just kind of settled into this pace. After leaving Churchill Downs and passing mile 8, my legs were hurting to the point where I knew taking the pace up would not be smart, but I could still maintain well enough. Then, I began the math game…calculating at every mile how ahead of 1:30 I was and if I could still make it if I slowed to x:xx pace for the remainder. Each time I had nearly decided to slow down, I convinced myself to try for one more mile to increase the margin for error. Before I knew it, I was in the last 1.5 miles and was passing people. This, and hearing the upcoming finish line, created its own momentum and pushed me to the finish.

I turned onto the finishing stretch, which was slightly downhill, and got hit with a rush of adrenaline I haven’t felt in a while. I put a pretty solid kick in and enjoyed my finishing stretch. I crossed the line in 1:28:32 (6:45.5/mile, top 100 OA of 10000+ finishers). Not the original goal, but I’m completely satisfied with it.

Post-race, I addressed the growing need to use the restroom that had been giving me some cramping throughout the race then headed back to the chute to watch my dad, sister, wife’s friend, mom, and aunt all come in. The rainy weather had cleared, so it was enjoyable to hang out at the finish for a bit.

All told, it was a successful kick-off to the season. No more official races for another month, then tri-season kicks in for real on June 7th. In the meantime, I need to get some long rides and runs in to prep for this August IM.

Asheville Days 2 and 3, and a bike race

Well, not off to a good start keeping up with trip and race reports, but here comes a bit of both to catch things up. First, the final 2 days of the Asheville trip from a week or so ago.

Day 2

The weather looked like it was going to be rainy and mild, and we had the goal of completing a century. We wrote up the cue sheet and got on the road around 10AM from Liberty Bikes. We were doing the French Broad River ride from Rapha Continental’s website. However, we found out quickly that intersections out in the farmlands to the SE of Asheville are not marked well, so we got lost almost immediately. The scenery however was awesome and the roads were in very good condition for the most part. After winding around (somewhat in the direction of Chimney Rock) for an hour or so, we picked up a highway. After following this in the rain for a while, we discussed heading back toward Asheville ASAP and picking up the Blue Ridge Parkway. Just as this was discussed, we happened to stumble on an access ramp to the parkway…what luck. We hopped on, heading east toward Mt Mitchell. It was mostly climbing, so very slow going and we soon realized in the drizzly conditions a century probably wouldn’t be possible. The plan changed to turning around at 50 miles and heading back to town (we were at about 43 at the time). No more than 4 miles later, we were turning since the fog had descended on us (or we climbed to meet it) and visibility was scary low.

Now begins the suffer-fest. Considering the original route and the weather forecast, I had dressed for rain, not cold. So, while cautiously trying to navigate through the fog on the wet roads that we were descending for about 45 minutes, I started to get cold…more like freezing. My hands and feet had been numb for a while when I started to shiver. Shivering (aka shaking the handlebars) while descending at an avg of 30mph is scary, but I was pretty numb to that as well since the only thoughts going through my mind were the warmer clothes I opted not to wear and the possibility that I may develop hypothermia. After what seemed like the longest, loneliest ride I can remember ever being on, we made it back to Liberty bikes. Luckily, we had brought a change of clothes so I was able to get dry before returning to the cabin for a hot shower. The rest of the evening was relaxing and staying warm until an early bedtime. I was more exhausted that night than I have been in a long time. Total ride for the day was 63.25 miles in 4hours15min w/ approx 4700 feet of ascending.

 

Day 2 route

Day 2 elevation profile

Day 3

My last full day in Asheville, and the plan was to ride early from the cabin. Well, we actually had to drive down the mountain a bit to get to paved roads, but close enough. It was supposed to be cold and overcast with a chance of snow in the afternoon. After the lesson learned the previous day, no warm weather cycling clothes were left behind. We took off, and descended the first 5 miles down from the ski resort area. After a short climb, we hit the real descent…2 miles at ~9% grade. I was more than aware of the steep grade of the descent due to the continuous signs warning trucks of the steepness. I hadn’t had much of a chance to work at this point, so was a little cold from the descending. Also, I couldn’t enjoy the free speed since I was already thinking about having to climb back up the same hill to finish the ride.

Once down, we had lost 1750 feet of elevation over the first 7.5 miles of the ride, but then hit flat to rolling terrain as we continued to head south and east. We passed through the Mars Hill area and then more due east into smaller towns. Once getting rolling, it was a pretty comfortable ride for a while and we found ourselves on one highway for a long while. After some pace-lining, we noticed the pace start to drop off and a burning in the legs. No one wanted to admit they were having a rough go of it and may just not have the legs today, so we silently pushed on. It was only a few miles later, once our pace had dropped to under 16mph (in a pace-line) that we realized we had been climbing on the longest false flat I’ve ever been on. We had ascended over 500 feet before even realizing it. This discovery was a relief since it provided an excuse for the slow pace, but short lived since the road stopped hiding the grade and showed its true nature while steadily getting steeper. We trudged along for another few miles until the once busy highway had become a dirt road before deciding to turn around and head back to the cabin. We needed to make haste if we were going to beat the incoming snow, especially since we had to contend with a mountain top finish.

After some success with backtracking, we arrived at the base of the climbs to the finish. Our group of 4 would all be going it alone here due to the different levels of fitness/climbing prowess. We split apart immediately upon hitting the grade. I put aside any dreams of attacking the hill immediately and sat up into a (relatively) comfortable spin). This continued slowly, with some standing climbing to stretch out thrown in every few minutes, for the next 25 minutes or so. I arrived at the top to catch up with the waiting riders ahead of me and discuss the effort. We had gone up about 1250 feet in the past 2 miles…I rolled along the climb somewhere around a 6.5mph average. By the time the last of our team arrived at the top of this climb, the snow had arrived and was falling steadily. We decided to tackle the remaining climb to the cars together (for the most part). One of the stronger climbers of our group paced me and Tim, the stragglers, through the snow the rest of the way. Today’s effort totaled ~61miles in 3hours55min w/ about 3900 feet of ascending.

Day 3 route

Day 3 elevation profile

The bonus of riding from the cabin was a short trip back to the warm showers. We were warmed up and rested by the middle of the afternoon. This gave us the opportunity to go play tourist in downtown Asheville. A couple of my teammates are vegetarians, so they scoped out a vegan restaurant called The Laughing Seed. I got to branch out a bit with a Tico burrito, which included wild rice, black beans, tofu, avocados, peppers, and a variation on a ranch sauce drizzled over top. Branching out is delicious. Post dinner, we checked out a local brewery known as The Lab and sampled a couple of their offerings. The tourist trip was short lived since there was a basketball game of interest on, so we bought a couple growlers of our favorites and returned to the mountains.

All told, the long weekend trip to Asheville was a success, despite the weather not playing nicely. I did not get the distance in I had hoped, but considering the climbing involved; I was pleased with the amount of time in the saddle I was able to rack up. Asheville makes a great training ground with a variety of terrain, normally mild weather, and a biker-friendly atmosphere. I would like to return later in the spring/summer and take more time to check out the city itself, but that will have to wait.

To finish the update of recent activities, I raced in a cycling road race this past Sunday. The first time I’ve been in this type of race in 3 years or so, the Germantown (OH) Road Race. It’s the first part of a multi-race regional series. My goals going in were: to hang with the main pack for the entire race, to avoid trouble, and to get a good high intensity workout in. Being geared toward triathlon, I just don’t have the skill-set to entertain the possibility of winning cycling races. The weather on race day was (of course) chilly and wet, which seems like a theme lately. At least it should be toughening me up mentally.

My teammates and I started at the very front of the Cat. 5 race and two of them took the early pacing duties. I dropped back to get out of the wind, but soon felt a little squeamish with the tight pack riding. I haven’t ridden in this large a group in some time, so it took me most of the first lap (it was a 4 lap circuit) to relax. By that point, I had fallen to mid-pack, but was still in no danger of being dropped. Starting near the front helped me avoid the only wreck of the race that took place right behind me midway through the first lap, so luckily I hadn’t dropped too far by that point.

I hung out mid-pack, trying to work myself forward when I could for the next couple laps. The pace wasn’t too taxing most of the time, with there being limited breakaway attempts. The pace was pretty variable throughout, which made it easy to regroup as well. By the time we hit the bell for the last lap, I was back up with my two teammates about 10 back from the front of the group. However, the ringing of the final lap bell led to a more frantic pace and aggressive positioning maneuvers. My less aggressive nature pushed me to near the rear as we approached the final turn. The sprint was essentially up a false flat that was setup by a sharp corner and short, relatively steep climb about a ½ mile out. My poor positioning and lack of burst acceleration caused me to lose contact on the steep section prior to sprint. I wouldn’t be in the field sprint, but was hoping to regain contact. I slowly worked toward the peleton at my own sprint pace, but ran out of room. I finished just off the pack, less than 10 seconds back. Not great, but the best performance I’ve ever had in a bike race.

The race was a great time. It provided a good, high intensity workout and was a lot of fun. Most importantly, though, it reignited my competitive spirit and got me excited for my training again. I’d been in a little bit of a drag since I haven’t competed in any event since October of last year. Now, I’ve been reminded of what all the winter training has been for and it has refocused my future training. I was feeling the rush of competition for the rest of the day.

Next week is my birthday and Easter weekend, and then I’ll be bike racing again the following weekend, possibly with a double-dip (TT on Saturday and road race on Sunday).

Whew…I think I’m all caught up, for now.  Reading all that was a workout in itself.

Asheville Training Trip, Day 1

After a lot of travel over a day and a half, the training trip finally began in earnest.  We arrived in Asheville around lunchtime and grabbed a bite before hitting the road for the first training ride.  Since we just arrived and haven’t had a chance to evaluate one another’s relative fitness, we decided to go ahead and plan to climb Mt. Pisgah to get ourselves warmed up.  In retrospect, this route is more than warm up material, but we felt pretty confident, so away we went.

Before we get into the pictorial account of the short, but taxing ride, I’d like to comment on one bonus of making a spring trip to the area.  With the threat (or reality) of rock slides, a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway climb was closed to traffic.  So basically, we had the roads to ourselves (other than a good amount of broken trees and debris) for the majority of the ride.  This was a pretty good deal since we could converse and do more cruising without worrying about being run down by tourists. 

Anyways, without further ado…the climb to Mt Pisgah:

Early in the ride, we came across our first lookout point.  There would be a lot of these.  They are essentially areas for cars to pull off and take pictures of the scenery.  However, I liked them for giving us photo op plus the ability to track our relative progress up the climb (notice, elevation).

A little while later, we came across a road block…road closed due to danger of rock slides.  Luckily, the 2ft barrier was not enough to stop us…so onward we went.

 

Along the route, we noticed (among the other beautiful scenery) this tower.  We decided the goal would be to make it to the tower, although we had no idea where it actually was relative to the route.

Also, along the way, you pass through about 9 of these tunnels.  They’re terrifying for many reasons.  First and foremost, they’re clearly most likely the home of zombies although we managed to avoid them.  Second, some of them are quite long and it’s impossible to see the road while travelling through a tunnel.  And the worst part of all, there is no warning to remove your sunglasses before entering, which only makes them more terrifying.

One redeeming quality of the tunnels were the unique ice structures.  Take for instance this column.

Eventually, we made it to the top of Mt Pisgah, which was so memorable I forgot to get pictures.  The trip up (from Liberty bikes) took close to 1.5 hrs and we descended to the main road in about 20 minutes from there.  It was memorable being the first time I’ve ever climbed what could be considered a mountain, but there’s plenty more to be done in the next few days.  Hopefully tomorrow will bring a century ride (and better pictures), but we’ll see how the weather cooperates.

A New Direction

My blog title change marks a change in direction for this site. I know there isn’t much of an audience, which is fine since I’m not that interesting, but thought I would announce the change anyways.

As I’ve become more busy with work, building up training volume for the Ironman, and trying to get my MBA completed…keeping up with my blog has become about the lowest priority thing on my to do list. However, I don’t want to abandon it altogether, especially since I still enjoy reviewing my race reports before my next events and rereading my vacation reports. I have never been one for photo albums or scrapbooks, so this is sort of the next closest thing in that regard. Also, it allows an easy outlet to share these types of write-ups with friends and family who do want to keep up.

So, I’ve decided to make the focus of this blog the vacation and race reports. They are the best things I’ve written anyways. This will also make long absences from posting, like this one, seem more acceptable. I may still write a post or two unrelated, but this is an overall trend change.

That being said, I will hopefully have some good posting very soon (like in the next couple days). Tonight, a couple friends and I will be heading down to Asheville, NC for a few days in a cabin in the mountains and lots of cycling. I’m bringing a camera everywhere with me, so hopefully it survives so I can add sweet shots of the outdoors along the way.

New York Trip, Days 3 & 4

Day 3 began with Sunday brunch with the family at Edward’s, a small Mexican themed restaurant.  To our surprise, there was an advertisement for a “Cincinnati Day” at the restaurant in a few weeks featuring such specialties as Skyline Chili, Montgomery Inn BBQ, LaRosa’s Pizza, and Graeter’s Ice Cream.

During the brunch, we discussed possible plans for the day.  Since we got off to a late start, we split out on our own from the restaurant to head North to Central Park.

First on tap was ice skating in the Park.   Of course, with our impeccable timing, we arrived and got our skates on just as the Zamboni took the ice.  About a half an hour later, it was finally our turn.  We skated around the overcrowded rink and snuck a couple pictures before deciding we were cold enough and our ankles had taken enough abuse to call it quits.

From there, it was a chilly walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  With it being a Sunday, we arrived within half an hour of closing time.  Luckily, its a free admission museum, so we were able to run quickly to the new Samurai Exhibit and enjoy it for about 10 minutes before being ushered toward the exit.  In an effort to see as much as possible, we took the scenic route through other areas of the museum, snapping quick pictures along the way. 

Back out in the cold, we made our way to the subways and back to my aunt and uncle’s condo.  We weren’t sure what our evening plans were going to be but arrived to a homemade pot of chili on the stove.  That provided enough incentive to relax and settle in for the night.  We hung out with the family, enjoying beer, chips and fresh-made guacamole, pistachios, cheeses, and of course, chili.  It was an early night.

Monday morning was our “early” starting day as we left to see the city at around 11:30.  Today started with a walk from the condo to Greenwich Village where we stopped for a quick lunch at an Irish Pub. From there, we made our way through the Village and over to the Highline, a new elevated walking path renovated from an old train track. 

The Highline

A view from the Highline

When we hit the current end of the path (a larger section is still in progress), we made our way to the subway and shot up to Times Square.

Times Square

When Hershey’s and M&M’s face-off, everybody wins

A rainbow of M&M’s

Approaching Rockefeller Center

 

Checking out the ice skating scene at the Rock

Photo op of the Empire State building while switching subway trains

After our whirlwind day and a good deal of shopping, we headed back to the condo for a pit stop before being taken out to dinner for our last night in the city.  We had reservations at Tamarind, an Indian restaurant (which neither my wife or I have much experience with).  Looking at the menu, we clearly had no idea what we were doing, so our host took charge an order a sampler of appetizers, breads, and entrees to share.

A selection of Indian entrees (watch out for the fiery chicken)

Most everything was delicious and spicy, so we cooled down with a sampler of Indian ice creams (Apricot, Pina Colada, Banana, and another that was similar to vanilla) and Mango Cheesecake.  Once we were more than satisfied, we headed back to the condo to pack and prepare for our return to the Midwest.

Currently, we are at the airport in New York making our way home.  Back to the real world tomorrow.

New York Trip, Days 1 & 2

To celebrate the opportunity to travel inexpensively after the holidays, the wife and I decided to treat ourselves to a long weekend in New York City.  Another reason for the trip was to use the Broadway tickets that I had gotten her for our first anniversary (paper anniversary). 

Our journey began Friday morning with a tearful goodbye to our dog and a drive to the Columbus airport.  From there, we had two flights, both delayed by the recent snowstorms in the Mid-West, but we still managed to get on the ground in NY by 7:15 pm (only one hour behind schedule).  We had dinner reservations at 8:30 with my cousin and her friends so we needed to make our way to lower Manhattan to drop off our bags before heading to dinner.  My aunt and uncle (who live on the island) were kind enough to offer the guest room of their condo for our stay.  More on that later. 

Somehow we managed to make it to the restaurant only 5 minutes behind schedule and proceed to enjoy a delicious Italian meal at Vento (highly recommended).  Then, being the party animals that we are, we decided to check out some of the local night spots.  My cousin first took us to the Spice Market, an Indian restaurant/bar with a great atmosphere

After a couple hours of hanging out at the bar here, our group moved on to our next destination:  a dive bar called the White Horse Tavern.   We closed down the bar before heading home at 4 am.  Long day.

Day two started at around 10 o’clock when we pulled ourselves out of bed and I got a quick run in to keep the streak alive.  Once that was out of the way, some lazing around the condo and catching up with my aunt and uncle was in order.  Speaking of the condo, check out our digs for the weekend.

Beats a New York hotel… especially for the price.  And check out the view we woke up to in the morning.

 

Once we were filled with coffee and homemade breakfast, we decided to venture by foot and explore some of lower Manhattan…

Progress being made at Ground Zero

St. Paul’s Chapel

Further south to old Trinity Church (remember to remove your hat)

New York Stock Exchange

A sad panda and a happy bull

 

Lady Liberty as seen from Battery Park

Obama Condoms, anyone?

A break from the cold at one of the hundreds of Starbucks locations

Finishing the walk at sundown

Back to the condo for a quick change and then off to dinner and to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theater. 

Good food and drink at Mexican Radio

Sneaking in a (illegal) picture before the play began

Off to a good start.  Tomorrow’s activities are still up in the air, but there are a lot of ideas floating around.  Should be a fun day.

100 runs in 100 days

I was going to wait until I completed this challenge before writing about it, but it looks like I will be hitting day 100 while on an extended weekend trip upcoming that I’m hoping to report on. Also, in trying to be more consistent updating here, I’d like to get another entry in before the weekend, but didn’t have much coming to mind to write about.

Anyways, as the title of this post implies, I am nearing completion of my longest ever running streak (fingers crossed nothing bad happens this week). By the rules I established for myself at the outset, I have run at least 20 minutes a day since October 3rd. For recovery, I try to complete 1 run per week with my wife (a slower pace than my normal) as my only workout, basically serving as my off day. Also, I have been pretty religiously rotating 3 pairs of running shoes in efforts to stave off injuries. These strategies and a good dose of luck have seemed to pay off. Other than the occasional leg fatigue, I have avoided any real issues.

I noticed that weeks 2-5 were by far the hardest to get out the door consistently. Week one is all about the excitement of starting a new challenge, so there are no issues with motivation there. By week 2, your legs start asking, “What are you getting me into?” especially on days after a hard or longer effort. This carries on for the next few weeks with your legs trying to tell you that the streak is short enough right now that it wouldn’t feel like a loss if you gave it up. Once you near the halfway mark, your momentum builds on itself. The legs are adjusted, so don’t complain as often, and you know how hard you worked to keep it going this long. Once you get into this rhythm, the rest is pretty much habit. The biggest issue of late has been trying to fit the runs in with the holiday travel, or trying to fit other workouts in while still getting my daily run (I still need to bike and swim sometimes too).

Contrary to what you’d expect, I really didn’t pile up monster mileage during the streak. Usually, I only averaged 30-40 miles/week. My longest run was 9 miles. The focus of my key workouts was on building speed, as I mentioned I was using a 5k training plan for those, so most runs were in the 4-7 mile range.

As I near the end, my legs feel very strong; this is good since I’m going to start bumping up the long runs to prepare for another half marathon PR attempt. The biggest reason I’m excited to complete this, though, is to no longer have to worry about how I’m going to fit my run in EVERY DAY. However, it’s been an interesting and rewarding challenge to keep me busy in the off-season.