There is definitely something to say about about getting up daily at 4am to swim, bike, run, and do whatever is necessary to train for race day. I had plenty of 20 hour training weeks trying to get ready for October 26. Naturally this means many sacrifices. Telling family and friends "I'll get there after my workout" or driving two cars to a friend's party so I can leave early and TKB can stay late.
But this post is not about how much dedication I had to my training plan. This is a dedication to everyone who helped and supported me on my way. For instance:
Sam of Optimal Prime Fitness - This year I forced myself into strength training by hiring a strength training. We'v been working together since mid-January and I know for a fact that I wouldn't be in the condition to race without him. I completed the 30 weeks of training completely injury free. While I have no muscle-y beach body (I'm not genetically disposed to that... and it wasn't the goal), I have felt stronger during all my runs and rides and swims. I have less recovery time after races and heavy training day. I just feel more solid through and through.
Co-workers - I generally try to not let my training activities impact my job. For those few days that I actually did a lunchtime workout, I may have taken a little longer of a lunch hour. I know there have been times in which I wasn't myself. I had plenty of days where people would ask why I'm not so cheery or acting myself. In fact, after one meeting a coworker gave me a $5 Starbucks gift card for me to use before a presentation I had the following week!!
Friends - I am completely grateful of Joe VI and Lauren for moving from 18 miles away to 1.1 miles away this summer. That has given me an extra 30 minutes to get sleep on Friday evenings! You think I'm joking? This is huge!
There were plenty of times this past year where we (or just me) were late because I had a workout to complete or leave early so I could get up before dawn to start my 7 hour training day. Countless times I passed out on a friends couch as I was too worn out to socialize.
In addition, thanks for putting up with the fact that I only talk about training and racing. Heck, that goes for everyone!
Special thanks goes out to Jill, Ronnie, and his wife Donna for making the trek from Massachusetts and Rhode Island (leaving at 8pm Thursday and driving through the night!!)
Family - You have always been supportive of this new sport I've taken on and I totally appreciate it! I'm sure watching this lanky tall kid grow up to complete marathons and now ironmans was quite unexpected. I feel totally honored that my parents are driving the 1,200+ miles to sit around for 12+ hours to watch me finish this race. I've gotten plenty of support text messages, emails, and facebook messages throughout this week as well. Thank you!!
Brodie - (Yeah, this is our dog). Sorry for freaking you out every time I would ride my trainer as you would skulk around the bike and fan as I ride; however, you sure seemed to enjoy sniffing me up and down after a hard workout.
TKB - Of course I couldn't do this without her love and support! I tried my best to complete my training at 5am before work or complete it before she gets home from work. Even so, the last few months I was still killing part or the entire morning/day each weekend while on my bike and running. She even commented that she didn't expect to see me much over the last four weeks and sadly it was true.
She continues to put up with my desire to stay a little longer at the bike shop or order that carbon fiber bike part that may save me a few seconds or a few minutes (but hopefully 10 - 20 minutes). She also puts up with complaining of being sore.... and smelly.
I really appreciate all the encouragement when things aren't going so well and the excitement when things are. You are what makes this sport happen for me. Now let's get this over so we can kick up our feet at the beach house and relax!!
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Beach2Battleship Race Preview
I have completed 29 of 30 weeks of training. This last week, while it does have specific training, is going to be more of a shake out than training but I'll be increasing the intensity for the lower volume to keep the body fresh.
I decided to breakdown the last 29 weeks of training a little different:
Swimming: 138,864 strokes of the arms
Cycling: 1,235,704 rotations of the legs
Running: 1,019,970 pavement pounding steps
Weights: 42 hours of iron pumping
Elevation Gain: 130,664 feet
Calories Used: 162,605 (equivalent of 46.5 pounds of body fat lost)
Those numbers are averages based on a sampling of my data.
Another, more typical, look:
Swimming: 46.5 hours / 82.19 miles
Cycling: 124.07 hours / 2,217.93 miles
Running: 94.44 hours / 673.54 miles
Total: 306.78 hours / 2,973 miles
Wicked. Now I feel it necessary to get 27 more miles to cross that 3,000 mile mark before the race!
Training has gone pretty well. During the base and build periods (first 20 weeks), I pretty well nailed my training. The peak period (last 10 weeks) were definitely tough and cut out a few swims due to the desire to sleep in. My running is feeling awesome, even after 5 and 6 hour bike rides.
Many people have asked me if I'm nervous. I would definitely say that the excitement of this race is overshadowing the nervousness. If anything, my biggest concern is the weather. Each day the forecast is getting colder.
Morning Low: 37 degrees
Mid-day High: 63 degrees
It calls for partly cloudy with 10 mph winds but zero percentage of rain. As long as we get some sunshine during the day, I'm going to be completely happy. The first few hours of the bike will be rather chilly but I think I've got that covered pretty well.
So what are my goals? I've been toying with these for quite a while. Here is what I'm thinking:
1. Finish. Naturally the first time you do something, the main goal is to finish. So 17 hours.
2. Realistic Goal
Now I struggle with this because every time I look at this it seems way too aggressive but I said that for Pigman and I ended up slaughtering my realistic goal time. So here we go:
Swim: 2.4 miles = 1 hour, 20 minutes
I've been annoyingly telling people that this race has a downhill swim with a super fast current but then I started doing some research:
This is the tidal chart for Saturday. When is high tide? 1:03 AM. Low Tide? 6:51AM. That's right. This will be a run-of-the-mill swim. No real help from the current. Crap.
So the 80 minutes is what I think it would take me to traverse the 2.4 miles.
T1: 6 minutes. This could be 3 minutes or 10 minutes. No clue. When I did B2B 70.3, this was 6 minutes, 17 seconds. It has a long run from beach to the transition area.
Bike: 112 miles = 6 hours, 15 minutes or 17.92 mph
This seems about right. The course is flat, which is good and bad. As long as the wind isn't too bad and the sun is out, this is going to be a fun ride.
T2: 6 minutes. Again. No clue. In 2011 I did 4:34 with a bathroom break. T2 is at a different location, so not sure what obstacles I'll deal with. T2 is technically inside the expo center. They rack your bike inside the convention center and I believe the changing area is as well.
Run: 26.2 miles = 4 hours
This is the wild card. If I pace myself and eat correctly on the bike, I think I'll have an awesome run.
Finish: 11 hours, 45 minutes. This puts me 118 seconds faster than the very first Ironman champion. Sounds reasonable.
What I am not incorporating here is time for special needs bags. I plan to bring all the nutrition with me out of T1 but I plan to pack extra nutrition and hydration in case I need it. Same thing for the run. I plan to start with everything I need but will pack items in my bag in case I want to change socks or put on a shirt.
FYI.. special needs bags are given to athletes halfway through the bike and halfway through the run.
3. Planets Aligned... Unobtainable Goal
I think I may be capable of these but for me to reach these I'd be redlining the entire day. I'm not sure that's wise for my first. It all just depends on many different variables:
Swim: 70 minutes (-10 minutes)
T1: 6 Minutes
Bike: 5 hours, 30 minutes (-45 minutes)
T2 6 Minutes
Run: 3 hours, 30 minutes (-30 minutes)
Finish: 10:22
This number is laughable.
My secret but now not so secret goal:
Based on how well my training runs are going (including those after my 5+ hour bike rides), I may try to PR the marathon. I am 100% confident I could do that today without requiring a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride, so if I feel good about it, I may just go for it. My marathon personal record is 3:29:16.
I decided to breakdown the last 29 weeks of training a little different:
Swimming: 138,864 strokes of the arms
Cycling: 1,235,704 rotations of the legs
Running: 1,019,970 pavement pounding steps
Weights: 42 hours of iron pumping
Elevation Gain: 130,664 feet
Calories Used: 162,605 (equivalent of 46.5 pounds of body fat lost)
Those numbers are averages based on a sampling of my data.
Another, more typical, look:
Swimming: 46.5 hours / 82.19 miles
Cycling: 124.07 hours / 2,217.93 miles
Running: 94.44 hours / 673.54 miles
Total: 306.78 hours / 2,973 miles
Wicked. Now I feel it necessary to get 27 more miles to cross that 3,000 mile mark before the race!
Training has gone pretty well. During the base and build periods (first 20 weeks), I pretty well nailed my training. The peak period (last 10 weeks) were definitely tough and cut out a few swims due to the desire to sleep in. My running is feeling awesome, even after 5 and 6 hour bike rides.
Many people have asked me if I'm nervous. I would definitely say that the excitement of this race is overshadowing the nervousness. If anything, my biggest concern is the weather. Each day the forecast is getting colder.
Morning Low: 37 degrees
Mid-day High: 63 degrees
It calls for partly cloudy with 10 mph winds but zero percentage of rain. As long as we get some sunshine during the day, I'm going to be completely happy. The first few hours of the bike will be rather chilly but I think I've got that covered pretty well.
So what are my goals? I've been toying with these for quite a while. Here is what I'm thinking:
1. Finish. Naturally the first time you do something, the main goal is to finish. So 17 hours.
2. Realistic Goal
Now I struggle with this because every time I look at this it seems way too aggressive but I said that for Pigman and I ended up slaughtering my realistic goal time. So here we go:
Swim: 2.4 miles = 1 hour, 20 minutes
I've been annoyingly telling people that this race has a downhill swim with a super fast current but then I started doing some research:
This is the tidal chart for Saturday. When is high tide? 1:03 AM. Low Tide? 6:51AM. That's right. This will be a run-of-the-mill swim. No real help from the current. Crap.
So the 80 minutes is what I think it would take me to traverse the 2.4 miles.
T1: 6 minutes. This could be 3 minutes or 10 minutes. No clue. When I did B2B 70.3, this was 6 minutes, 17 seconds. It has a long run from beach to the transition area.
Bike: 112 miles = 6 hours, 15 minutes or 17.92 mph
This seems about right. The course is flat, which is good and bad. As long as the wind isn't too bad and the sun is out, this is going to be a fun ride.
T2: 6 minutes. Again. No clue. In 2011 I did 4:34 with a bathroom break. T2 is at a different location, so not sure what obstacles I'll deal with. T2 is technically inside the expo center. They rack your bike inside the convention center and I believe the changing area is as well.
Run: 26.2 miles = 4 hours
This is the wild card. If I pace myself and eat correctly on the bike, I think I'll have an awesome run.
Finish: 11 hours, 45 minutes. This puts me 118 seconds faster than the very first Ironman champion. Sounds reasonable.
What I am not incorporating here is time for special needs bags. I plan to bring all the nutrition with me out of T1 but I plan to pack extra nutrition and hydration in case I need it. Same thing for the run. I plan to start with everything I need but will pack items in my bag in case I want to change socks or put on a shirt.
FYI.. special needs bags are given to athletes halfway through the bike and halfway through the run.
3. Planets Aligned... Unobtainable Goal
I think I may be capable of these but for me to reach these I'd be redlining the entire day. I'm not sure that's wise for my first. It all just depends on many different variables:
Swim: 70 minutes (-10 minutes)
T1: 6 Minutes
Bike: 5 hours, 30 minutes (-45 minutes)
T2 6 Minutes
Run: 3 hours, 30 minutes (-30 minutes)
Finish: 10:22
This number is laughable.
My secret but now not so secret goal:
Based on how well my training runs are going (including those after my 5+ hour bike rides), I may try to PR the marathon. I am 100% confident I could do that today without requiring a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride, so if I feel good about it, I may just go for it. My marathon personal record is 3:29:16.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Race Report: Disney Dumbo Double Dare
Considering how long it took me to post my race for Head For The Cure that I went sub-20 minutes for the first time, it's no surprise this is 5...6...7 weeks late. Any who... here's a quicky:
Pre-Race
I had trouble figuring out my goals for the race. I knew the 10k was going to be a fun run in costumes but the half-marathon had potentials for a massive PR. It was flat and I knew my running speed was better than Hospital Hill Half Marathon, in which I PRed on a nasty hilly course. Could I do 1:35 or even 1:30 on this flat course? Who knows. One thing was for sure, to get me there I wanted a pace group. Unfortunately, the fastest pace group they had was 1:40. What?!
At some point leading up to the race, I decided to just spend my time with 1:40 pace group and enjoy it. I had PR'd in two races over the previous three weeks. I think I was due for nice "relaxing" run.
Packet Pickup
We spent about three hours in lines. It was crazy. First pickup your bibs by waiting outside in the 90 degree sun and eventually into a parking garage-turned-packet pickup. Then you snake out of the packet pickup and into the expo where you pickup your t-shirts. Want to buy some race merch? Pickup your merch and wait in the 2 hour line (no joke).
We were so happy to get done with the expo.... so we could go into Disneyland and California Adventure just to wait in more lines.
10k
While Joe VI and I had discussed bringing back Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, we decided to go a different route:
Cinderella and her ugly step-sisters! Naturally, Cinderella (Lauren) made all of our costumes like a good step-sister should.
It may not look like it, but I let my beard grow out for a week or so. I'm pretty patchy when it comes to my facial hair.
The race started around 6:20 for our corral. It started going around the south side of the park before returning and entering California Adventure and then into Disneyland before finishing. We got a ton of comments thanks to Lauren's "wicked" crafting skills.
By the time we finished the race, we finally came up with our finish-line photo:
This was posted on the runDisney website!
While wondering around in the huge post-race area, I ran into Casey from twitter!
We had an opportunity meet when I did Rock'n'Roll Las Vegas two years ago. If you look at the "Start" section of my race report, that first photo shows Casey in the yellow hat behind me! We just had no clue how close we were at the time!
Half-Marathon
The race started at 5:30am and I took off pretty early to get near the front of the "A" corral. My sister-in-law Rebecca picked our hotel and fortunately the Starbucks inside of the hotel opened up at 4 am for the race. Nice!!! Naturally as soon as I lined up in a fairly vacant corral I needed to go to the bathroom. By the time I got back it was crazy crowded. So much for that.
I did FINALLY line up next to the 1:40 pace group and, frankly, just stayed with them the whole time. We had a group of about 20 people but there were only about 4 or 5 left by the time we hit the finish line. The race started going through California Adventure and then Disneyland. That took about 3 miles. The rest of the race was through industry sections of Anaheim but we did take a trip through the Angels baseball stadium. They did have a mile or so of vintage and new sports cars lined on the streets, which was rather nice. None of them would let me take their cars for a spin though.
I ended up finishing 1:38:56, which was only 90 seconds away from a PR. It also meant our pace leader was a bit fast, but that's ok.
So that put me 23rd out of 969 in my age group. I guess when put that way, it sure seems impressive!
By the time I crossed the finish line I had earned four medals:
10k Finishers medal
Half-marathon Finishers medal
Dumbo Double Dare Finishers medal
Coast-to-Coast Finishers medal
Tons of bling!
Proof
Joe and Lauren finishing the half.
My sister-in-law Rebecca finishing her half (and earning her Coast-to-Coast). Yes, she was Snow White carrying that apple the entire way! Rebecca's friend from high school is in the purple top and green skirt behind her.
Displaying our bling!
Pre-Race
I had trouble figuring out my goals for the race. I knew the 10k was going to be a fun run in costumes but the half-marathon had potentials for a massive PR. It was flat and I knew my running speed was better than Hospital Hill Half Marathon, in which I PRed on a nasty hilly course. Could I do 1:35 or even 1:30 on this flat course? Who knows. One thing was for sure, to get me there I wanted a pace group. Unfortunately, the fastest pace group they had was 1:40. What?!
At some point leading up to the race, I decided to just spend my time with 1:40 pace group and enjoy it. I had PR'd in two races over the previous three weeks. I think I was due for nice "relaxing" run.
Packet Pickup
We spent about three hours in lines. It was crazy. First pickup your bibs by waiting outside in the 90 degree sun and eventually into a parking garage-turned-packet pickup. Then you snake out of the packet pickup and into the expo where you pickup your t-shirts. Want to buy some race merch? Pickup your merch and wait in the 2 hour line (no joke).
We were so happy to get done with the expo.... so we could go into Disneyland and California Adventure just to wait in more lines.
10k
While Joe VI and I had discussed bringing back Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, we decided to go a different route:
Cinderella and her ugly step-sisters! Naturally, Cinderella (Lauren) made all of our costumes like a good step-sister should.
It may not look like it, but I let my beard grow out for a week or so. I'm pretty patchy when it comes to my facial hair.
The race started around 6:20 for our corral. It started going around the south side of the park before returning and entering California Adventure and then into Disneyland before finishing. We got a ton of comments thanks to Lauren's "wicked" crafting skills.
By the time we finished the race, we finally came up with our finish-line photo:
This was posted on the runDisney website!
While wondering around in the huge post-race area, I ran into Casey from twitter!
We had an opportunity meet when I did Rock'n'Roll Las Vegas two years ago. If you look at the "Start" section of my race report, that first photo shows Casey in the yellow hat behind me! We just had no clue how close we were at the time!
Half-Marathon
The race started at 5:30am and I took off pretty early to get near the front of the "A" corral. My sister-in-law Rebecca picked our hotel and fortunately the Starbucks inside of the hotel opened up at 4 am for the race. Nice!!! Naturally as soon as I lined up in a fairly vacant corral I needed to go to the bathroom. By the time I got back it was crazy crowded. So much for that.
I did FINALLY line up next to the 1:40 pace group and, frankly, just stayed with them the whole time. We had a group of about 20 people but there were only about 4 or 5 left by the time we hit the finish line. The race started going through California Adventure and then Disneyland. That took about 3 miles. The rest of the race was through industry sections of Anaheim but we did take a trip through the Angels baseball stadium. They did have a mile or so of vintage and new sports cars lined on the streets, which was rather nice. None of them would let me take their cars for a spin though.
I ended up finishing 1:38:56, which was only 90 seconds away from a PR. It also meant our pace leader was a bit fast, but that's ok.
So that put me 23rd out of 969 in my age group. I guess when put that way, it sure seems impressive!
By the time I crossed the finish line I had earned four medals:
10k Finishers medal
Half-marathon Finishers medal
Dumbo Double Dare Finishers medal
Coast-to-Coast Finishers medal
Tons of bling!
Proof
Joe and Lauren finishing the half.
My sister-in-law Rebecca finishing her half (and earning her Coast-to-Coast). Yes, she was Snow White carrying that apple the entire way! Rebecca's friend from high school is in the purple top and green skirt behind her.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Ironman Training Update
It's been approximately...umm.... a lot of weeks since I last gave an update of my training for Beach2Battleship 140.6. That was week 18 and I'm not at week 27 of my training.
Swim
Overall the training has gone well. I've had a few a weeks where I've had trouble getting my swims in. I've probably hit about 60% of them but I'm OK with that considering the nature of the swim for B2B (it's with the current, protected from the ocean). I plan to get all of them in until the race. (3 sessions for at roughly 2 miles each).
I definitely have a lot to improve on with the swim so I plan to take a a Masters Swim class this offseason and into next season.
Cycling
I've hit pretty much all my planned rides except for when I was racing (Pigman Tri, Disney Dumbo Double Dare... yes, a race report is coming!!) and a weekend family trip to Branson. I've been concerned about my cycling coming into August but I'm definitely feeling confident now. I'm reaching 5.5 to 6 hour rides on the weekend and I usually start at 5am.
A couple things about my rides lately:
As I mentioned in my Head For The Cure race report, I have seen some great improvement in my running discipline with all this cross training. Not only that but throwing down a 19 mile run seems like nothing. Granted, the 6 hour bike ride the day before makes my 2 hour, 45 minute run so much faster.
As I mentioned above, nutrition is key. I did a 92 mile bike ride and then followed it up with a 1 hour run. That particular day I only consumed about half as much on the ride as I had planned and I ended up bonking 3 miles into the run. Those 3 miles felt great but then I just ran out of energy and walked home. I almost called TKB to pick me up.
The next week I did 101 miles on the bike while consuming the calories as I had planned and then had one of the best runs ever. I even hit a 7:01 minute mile during mile 7 and DIDN'T EVEN FEEL LIKE I WAS RUNNING THAT HARD. I love it!!
This week I managed an 8.15 mile, 1 hour run as well (7:21 pace average). It felt awesome and so it's hard to not talk about it (it's my blog, so I get to talk about what I want!!)
Overall
I haven't come up with my goals for B2B quite yet. I know that simply seeing some great run splits doesn't mean I'm setting any ground records in the 140.6 distance but I do want to be realistic.
Ironman training isn't all fun and games. It's definitely hard work. I put in 22 hours of training last week and will do about 23 this week. This past Sunday I was sitting by my bike at 4:45am eating my breakfast absolutely dreading the next 6.5 hours of training (5.5 hour ride plus 1 hour run). I didn't like that feeling. I think it was mostly because it was so cold out and I didn't feel like riding in it. After 2.5 hours when the sun came up, the whole ride changed. It also meant I was almost halfway done with my ride!
Because of that, I've decided that my 6 hour ride this weekend will start after the sun is up. The good part of this is it will be when I'm starting my ride at the race but the bad part is I will be 3 hours after I would normally start, so I'm going to be using up most of the day to complete it. Sorry TKB!
Upcoming
I've been fortunate that work hasn't impacted my training that much. There have been many nights where I come home from work, train for 1 to 2 hours, then log into work from home to finish. The weekend after next (Oct 12) I have to work all Saturday and then I have a 5K race on October 13. That weekend is going to be either a complete wash in terms of my long ride/run or I get my long ride/run in after the 5k. After that weekend I start my taper, so maybe I'll just start it a bit earlier. Another option (which is what I did for the Branson trip) is do my long run on Thursday and this will allow me to do my long ride on Sunday after the race.
Work is about to get A LOT more interesting as well but fortunately that will happen after Beach2Battleship! Looking forward to change!
Enough rambling!! Thanks for reading!!
Swim
Overall the training has gone well. I've had a few a weeks where I've had trouble getting my swims in. I've probably hit about 60% of them but I'm OK with that considering the nature of the swim for B2B (it's with the current, protected from the ocean). I plan to get all of them in until the race. (3 sessions for at roughly 2 miles each).
I definitely have a lot to improve on with the swim so I plan to take a a Masters Swim class this offseason and into next season.
Cycling
I've hit pretty much all my planned rides except for when I was racing (Pigman Tri, Disney Dumbo Double Dare... yes, a race report is coming!!) and a weekend family trip to Branson. I've been concerned about my cycling coming into August but I'm definitely feeling confident now. I'm reaching 5.5 to 6 hour rides on the weekend and I usually start at 5am.
A couple things about my rides lately:
- The last two weekends have been really cold. The air temp is about 50 degrees when I start but the wind chill has been reaching 35 degrees, especially in the foggy sections of my routes.
- On my ride a few weeks ago I had a little snafu shifting uphill and ended up flipping over my handlebars (Yeah, I'm pretty damn talented) but landed "softly" in the ditch. My only injury was cutting up my middle finger on my left hand (which contributed to missing a few swim sessions). I had about 45 minutes left of my ride. I used my bondiband as a bandage and limped home. I decided to take the most direct route, which happened to be during the run portion of the Heartland Heat Triathlon! I had a little fun with that. ("Pssss... don't tell the race officials", "$100 to borrow my bike!").
- Nutrition is key on the bike, as I'll talk about in a moment.
- I had my first century ride last weekend! Sure, I had only planned a 5.5 hour ride, but I added 20 minutes to just get it!
Run
As I mentioned in my Head For The Cure race report, I have seen some great improvement in my running discipline with all this cross training. Not only that but throwing down a 19 mile run seems like nothing. Granted, the 6 hour bike ride the day before makes my 2 hour, 45 minute run so much faster.
As I mentioned above, nutrition is key. I did a 92 mile bike ride and then followed it up with a 1 hour run. That particular day I only consumed about half as much on the ride as I had planned and I ended up bonking 3 miles into the run. Those 3 miles felt great but then I just ran out of energy and walked home. I almost called TKB to pick me up.
The next week I did 101 miles on the bike while consuming the calories as I had planned and then had one of the best runs ever. I even hit a 7:01 minute mile during mile 7 and DIDN'T EVEN FEEL LIKE I WAS RUNNING THAT HARD. I love it!!
This week I managed an 8.15 mile, 1 hour run as well (7:21 pace average). It felt awesome and so it's hard to not talk about it (it's my blog, so I get to talk about what I want!!)
Overall
I haven't come up with my goals for B2B quite yet. I know that simply seeing some great run splits doesn't mean I'm setting any ground records in the 140.6 distance but I do want to be realistic.
Ironman training isn't all fun and games. It's definitely hard work. I put in 22 hours of training last week and will do about 23 this week. This past Sunday I was sitting by my bike at 4:45am eating my breakfast absolutely dreading the next 6.5 hours of training (5.5 hour ride plus 1 hour run). I didn't like that feeling. I think it was mostly because it was so cold out and I didn't feel like riding in it. After 2.5 hours when the sun came up, the whole ride changed. It also meant I was almost halfway done with my ride!
Because of that, I've decided that my 6 hour ride this weekend will start after the sun is up. The good part of this is it will be when I'm starting my ride at the race but the bad part is I will be 3 hours after I would normally start, so I'm going to be using up most of the day to complete it. Sorry TKB!
Upcoming
I've been fortunate that work hasn't impacted my training that much. There have been many nights where I come home from work, train for 1 to 2 hours, then log into work from home to finish. The weekend after next (Oct 12) I have to work all Saturday and then I have a 5K race on October 13. That weekend is going to be either a complete wash in terms of my long ride/run or I get my long ride/run in after the 5k. After that weekend I start my taper, so maybe I'll just start it a bit earlier. Another option (which is what I did for the Branson trip) is do my long run on Thursday and this will allow me to do my long ride on Sunday after the race.
Work is about to get A LOT more interesting as well but fortunately that will happen after Beach2Battleship! Looking forward to change!
Enough rambling!! Thanks for reading!!
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Race Report - Head for the Cure 5k
In true peak-Ironman training, I'm neglecting some not so crucial things, which is getting this posted finally. I wrote it back on August 28 but never put it in blogger.
Ever since my 2011 Head for the Cure race I have had this desire to break the 20 minute barrier in a 5k. I never even knew it was a possibility until I crossed that finish line in 20:02. Those 2 seconds have been annoying me for a long two years.
In 2012, I tried to break the 20 minute barrier in various races but focus on running a fast marathon just didn’t allow for that level of training. My best attempt was a 20:53 finish that year was at the HFTC 5k. Interestingly enough, I got 3rd in my age group that year!
My analysis between the two years is in 2011 I was training for a half-ironman and that the benefit of cross training helped strengthen my legs to get me to 20:02. In addition, I didn’t wear my Garmin in 2011 so I wasn’t constantly watching it, which can actually increase the heart rate.
So I’m back into huge cross training mode but with the focus being on super-long distances, I wasn’t sure if that would translate to sub-20.
Leading up to the race I continued my training plan but adjusted it for the fact that I was losing Sunday due to the race. This meant a 6 hour training block on Saturday (3.5 hour bike, 2 hour run, plus 30 minutes post-race stretching of me laying on my back trying to ignore the pain). Not the best recipe for running hard on Sunday.
Race Day
We arrived at Corporate Woods around 7:00am after stopping for my pre-race go-go juice. After meeting up with our team (At The Helm), TKB and I met up with our friend Erik (who is Kyle’s bother. Kyle has made a few posts around this blog, notably the Krispy Kreme Challenge). Erik has started running 5Ks this year and increasing to 10Ks and half-marathons!
Pretty soon Shane and I took off for about a one mile warm-up jog before fighting our way into the start corral. I managed to get about 4 or 5 feet back from the line. After they let a wheel chair racer go, we soon took off!
The course is mostly flat with two noticeable inclines. The first happens within the first mile. I charged it pretty hard (and probably too hard). It curves a bit and there were a few people running side by side. I had plenty of room but when I went between two guys, I heard him quip a bit. Whatever. Talk to the soles.
According to my watch, the mile markers were off a bit but I knew with all the trees, buildings and turns it was quite likely my watch was the one off. I should have been doing manual laps because all my splits are rather messed up.
I didn’t really look at my watch the entire run. If I glanced down, I don’t remember what any of it read. I just knew that it was telling me the markers were off a bit when it beeped.
I just kept pushing. The second hill came near the end of the second mile and it was tough. I was trying to stay with another runner but lost her on that hill. By the time the third mile came around I felt like I was moving around an 8:00 minute pace. It just felt so slooooooow. I just tried to push it as hard as I can so I wouldn’t regret leaving anything on the course.
Once we made the last turn and the finish line was in site, I tried to pick up the pace. About 100 yards from the finish another guy had just passed me so I caught up with him and crossed the finish line a half a step ahead of him! I was exhausted, sweaty, and stanky. This was only 3.1 miles, right?
After having my timing chip removed, I realized I hadn’t stopped my watch. *Beep* and then walked away. It suddenly dawned on me I was running a timed race that I had a pretty serious goal for and I had yet to even look at the clock! Even though I actually stared at one heading to the finish line!
My Garmin 910xt was staring back at me: 19:57.
WTF! 19:57!?!?!?! I turned to look at the race clock and it was reading 20:47. Could it be possible?! Not only did it say 19:57 but I stopped my watch late! I also noticed my watch read 3.0 miles instead of 3.1. Was the course really short? Determining that was going to have to come later but for now I had done it, I just didn’t know by how much.
After everyone had finished I went hunting for results. Last year I got third place with a much slower time, what might happen this year?
As it turns out, I finished in 19:39, crushing that 20:02 for 2011! I also placed 24th overall and 6th in my age group. I was a pretty darn happy!
 |
| That's the guy I beat by a step but he still finished in 5th before me with a 19:32 race. |
So what now? Do I leave 19:39 alone or work to improve? I think it will all depend on what else is going on. I'm liking going to be somewhat disappointed if all my future 5ks don't end under 20 minutes but knowing that I was doing massive miles on the bike and swim will likely come into play.
So back to the course showing .1 miles short? I looked back to 2012 and it was the same route. Others I talked to indicated it was pretty right on, so I'm going to say this is because of the trees and buildings and my ability to run a good route.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Pigman Triathlon - Long Course 70.3
I first heard about this race back in February while bowling with Karie. She mentioned her boss's wife was doing this race, as well as Beach2Battleship. Frankly, the timing was pretty perfect for a "dress rehearsal" for Beach2Battleship 140.6.
The only issue was it was 5+ hours away in Cedar Rapids, IA. I guess that further helped the dress rehearsal of packing. That being said, I didn't start parking until 2 hours before we left for Cedar Rapids.
Side note: About 6 weeks ago I decided to start searching for people in KC doing Beach2Battleship. The main reason being that I was driving down there and had two open spots on my bike rack. If I could save someone a few hundred dollars shipping their bike, then awesome! I found a couple people and searched for one of them online. I found one on Facebook and noticed we had two mutual friends, Karie and Dane! I then realized it was Karie's boss's wife, Vicki. The next day I get a Facebook message Vicki explaining she was looking for other area Beach2Battleship people! Totally random!
So after talking with Vicki and some convincing from her, I finally signed up 10 days before the race!
As it turns out, Jason (from my Tour de Lakes report) was also doing Pigman and had being urging me as well. Jason is Dane's (Kari's husband) training buddy. So if you aren't able to keep track, I was headed north to Cedar Rapid to race with Jason (Dane's training buddy) and Vicki (Kari's boss's wife). The only thing missing is our match maker couple, Dane and Kari!
Race Goals
I never posted race goals but this is what I was targeting:
Swim: 40 minutes
Bike: 3 hours
Run: 1 hours, 45 minutes
Transitions: 5 minutes
Total: 5 hours, 30 minutes
To be honest, I never believed that. I just assumed my total math was off but my individual time looked doable!
Pre-Race: Saturday
TKB and I left for Cedar Rapids around 9:30am and arrived around 1 - 2 pm. We got checked into the hotel and walked to the "expo" for packet pickup. The expo was a Gear West (a bike shop who sponsored the race) booth and the packet pickup. We finally met Vicki in real life and then waited for Jason to arrive.
When Jason and his brother, Ryan, arrived we loaded into his truck and took off for the race site. It's always good to know where to go before you have to do it half asleep in the dark.
For dinner all 5 of us went to the recommended Italian restaurant. It was good and they had some awesome garlic bread.
We went back to the hotel and participated in one of Vicki's pre-race tradition: beer! A nice Boulevard Wheat to ease the nerves.
Finally in bed around 9pm.
Speaking of nerves, I really didn't have any. It's funny how once you do an event/distance, it's not as big of a deal. My first half-ironman was HUGE. This one, not so much. I was already doing 2 mile swims and 70+ mile bike rides. Interesting enough, my longest run over the previous 5 months was 13.1 miles at Hospital Hill. In fact, that was my ONLY double digit run in the last 5 months.
Race Day
Up at 4:45am. I ate a couple bananas and started some water intake. We stopped at Starbucks on the way to the race site, which opened at 6am.
Body marked and leg chipped, I racked up my bike. We were grouped by wave, which I was second to last, so I was close to the bike/run out.
The first wave was at 7:30am with the Olympic distance. Jason's brother Ryan was doing the Olympic so he was in the water first. Finally about 8:10am I was swimming. The start was a time trial start (one swimmer starts every 3 seconds), which seems to be what most races are going to these days.
Swim Start
I used a swim alert on my Garmin. It would beep every 200 yards and so I tried to keep track of them if I wanted to know where I was. Even though I swam into the sun for the first part of the swim, I was able to sight ok. In fact, I swam right next to the buoys almost the entire way. Perfect!
First turn (right) and after swimming for about 100 yards I got startled by seeing swimmers in my wave going THE OTHER DIRECTION. The course was mostly a rectangle but with the Olympic distance starting before, I think some people turned at the wrong buoy and got turned back. Oops.
Overall the swim went great. I felt strong the whole time and sighted pretty well. I got a little off after the 1st turn but not by much.
Time: 36:27 (ahead of my goal by 3.5 minutes!)
T1
There was a relatively long run up to the bike. I was definitely worn out from the swim so walked a bit in transition. I needed to settle the heart rate.
Time: 3:35
Longer than it should be but there was probably a minute burned getting out of the water to the bike. I also spent a little extra time sending my GPS tracking so TKB could watch me.
Bike
There is about a two mile bike out of the park before finally hitting the two lane highway. Jason passed me on this two mile stretch (he started in the last wave and caught up to me). We rode in tandem (but not illegal) until we hit the flat of the highway and he was GONE.
The bike course wasn't super hilly but had 2,000 feet of elevation gain throughout. The hills were enough to keep it interesting but not too challenging. Fortunately the weather wasn't too bad. It started in the low 70 but hit 80 by the time I was done. Humidity wasn't bad at all. Wind was low but at times there was a headwind just enough to be noticeable.
It was an open course with aid stations about every 10 miles. They gave out Heed in bike bottles, which was great because I had lost one of my bottles over some "rumbles" in the road prior to some train tracks. I don't train with Heed so it was going to be used as a last resort.
My splits were looking great with all but two 5 mile splits averaging over 20 mph.
When I was about 15 miles out I realized I was going to slaughter my 3 hour estimate on the bike. For the first time those 5 mile splits were just flying off. Unfortunately, what also flew off was that Heed bike bottle at one point during the ride. Oh well.
The last mile was a bit crowded, when it shouldn't have been. I thought the park was suppose to be closed during good chunks of the race but there was an SUV in front of me going too slow. There were runners heading out on the left and so I finally just passed the SUV. "Something" happened behind me but I never looked back. It sounded like my last bike bottle flew off and hit the vehicle but I didn't care. They shouldn't have been there. (For the record, I didn't lose that bike bottle)
I did a flying dismount and was soon to be off on the run! You can watch the flying dismount above. I start with my feet already out of my shoes and balancing on one side of the bike. Just as I cross in front of the guy near the fence I step off the bike and keep moving. All in one fluid motion!
Time: 2 hours, 39 minutes! (20.7 mph) 21 minutes UNDER my goal!!
T2
Relatively simple T2. I did not put quick-tie laces on my shoes for the race, so I had to tie them. That's pretty much the main reason for the long transition (other than the super long transition area).
Time: 1:45
Overall I was over my transition goal time by 20 seconds. Not bad.
Run
I took in about 60 fluid ounces of water/gatorade on the bike, as well as chomps/cliff bars. My stomach was a bit uncomfortable but it really didn't seem like GI issues. It soon subsided.
I mentally focused on breaking the race into 4 5k segments, which would require about another mile of focus. The first two 5k segments flew by. I was in a pretty good 8:15 minute mile zone. Unfortunately, right at the 6 mile point there was about a half mile incline to reach the turn around point. I made this my 1 mile segment outside of my 4 5k segments. I started slowing down at this point and "enjoyed" the aid stations a little longer.
The run was on an open two lane highway and it wound around some farmland. I cut the corners whenever I could, which meant cross the highway. Just have to watch for cars.
I walked all aid stations to make sure I was getting in plenty of water. I always took two cups with half of one over my head. There wasn't much shade on the run and the temps were starting to rise.
At one of the aid stations I ended up with a cup full of ice. Down the tri suit it went!! It kept the boys pretty cool until the next aid station.
When we hit mile 10.5, the road had a pretty large incline but I refused to walk.. I hit the park entrance and finally finished the two miles back to the finish line!
Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes (9 minutes over my goal)
I had two gels on the course.
Finish
Time: 5 hours, 16 minutes!! Killed that 5:30 goal plus my previous PR of 5 hours, 54 minutes!!
Age Group: 10/33
Overall: 73/293
Massive PR and a top 10 age group finish!
Whoa. That shocked me. I'm still shocked, which makes sense when you consider I doubted my 5 hour, 30 minute goal time.
Jason finished sub-5 hours and he had some GI issues out there on the run but that is simply amazing. Vicki finished strong in 5:34 and won 3rd in her age group!! She's a rockstar!
Jason and Ryan took off for home but we waited for the awards and door prize giveaways (they were giving away a bike, speed suit, and a bunch of running stuff). After scarfing down pizza, pop, pretzels, candy, and other goodies we took off for home. Fortunately there was at least an outdoor shower to wash off the stank.
I would definitely recommend Pigman Tri. For one, I registered 10 days before the race and it only cost me ~$120. Given that, there wasn't a frilly expo or even a massive medal. They probably had about 7 or 8 course marshals on motorcycles as well during the bike. Post-race meal options were large with chocolate milk, candy, cookies, crackers, chips, pizza, spaghetti, pop, water, gatorade, beer, and a bunch of other things.
Dress Rehearsal Analysis
This does NOT mean I'm going to do a 10 hour, 32 minute ironman in October. If I did that at some Ironman-branded races I would qualify for Kona. Not. Going. To. Happen.
What I've realized is that I hit the bike hard enough to overcome the deficit it created on my run. I'm not going for 21 mph splits at Beach2Battleship. In fact, I will probably do my best to keep my average pace under 20 for the first 56+ miles.
The swim is going to be great but only because of the ocean current and not my abilities.
The run is going to be what it is going to be. It will be over 4 hours and I will just hope I can run it the entire way with aid station walks. If I end up walking most of the second half, then cool. I'm just going to enjoy it.
Proof
The only issue was it was 5+ hours away in Cedar Rapids, IA. I guess that further helped the dress rehearsal of packing. That being said, I didn't start parking until 2 hours before we left for Cedar Rapids.
Side note: About 6 weeks ago I decided to start searching for people in KC doing Beach2Battleship. The main reason being that I was driving down there and had two open spots on my bike rack. If I could save someone a few hundred dollars shipping their bike, then awesome! I found a couple people and searched for one of them online. I found one on Facebook and noticed we had two mutual friends, Karie and Dane! I then realized it was Karie's boss's wife, Vicki. The next day I get a Facebook message Vicki explaining she was looking for other area Beach2Battleship people! Totally random!
So after talking with Vicki and some convincing from her, I finally signed up 10 days before the race!
As it turns out, Jason (from my Tour de Lakes report) was also doing Pigman and had being urging me as well. Jason is Dane's (Kari's husband) training buddy. So if you aren't able to keep track, I was headed north to Cedar Rapid to race with Jason (Dane's training buddy) and Vicki (Kari's boss's wife). The only thing missing is our match maker couple, Dane and Kari!
Race Goals
I never posted race goals but this is what I was targeting:
Swim: 40 minutes
Bike: 3 hours
Run: 1 hours, 45 minutes
Transitions: 5 minutes
Total: 5 hours, 30 minutes
To be honest, I never believed that. I just assumed my total math was off but my individual time looked doable!
Pre-Race: Saturday
TKB and I left for Cedar Rapids around 9:30am and arrived around 1 - 2 pm. We got checked into the hotel and walked to the "expo" for packet pickup. The expo was a Gear West (a bike shop who sponsored the race) booth and the packet pickup. We finally met Vicki in real life and then waited for Jason to arrive.
When Jason and his brother, Ryan, arrived we loaded into his truck and took off for the race site. It's always good to know where to go before you have to do it half asleep in the dark.
For dinner all 5 of us went to the recommended Italian restaurant. It was good and they had some awesome garlic bread.
We went back to the hotel and participated in one of Vicki's pre-race tradition: beer! A nice Boulevard Wheat to ease the nerves.
Finally in bed around 9pm.
Speaking of nerves, I really didn't have any. It's funny how once you do an event/distance, it's not as big of a deal. My first half-ironman was HUGE. This one, not so much. I was already doing 2 mile swims and 70+ mile bike rides. Interesting enough, my longest run over the previous 5 months was 13.1 miles at Hospital Hill. In fact, that was my ONLY double digit run in the last 5 months.
Race Day
Up at 4:45am. I ate a couple bananas and started some water intake. We stopped at Starbucks on the way to the race site, which opened at 6am.
Body marked and leg chipped, I racked up my bike. We were grouped by wave, which I was second to last, so I was close to the bike/run out.
The first wave was at 7:30am with the Olympic distance. Jason's brother Ryan was doing the Olympic so he was in the water first. Finally about 8:10am I was swimming. The start was a time trial start (one swimmer starts every 3 seconds), which seems to be what most races are going to these days.
Swim Start
I used a swim alert on my Garmin. It would beep every 200 yards and so I tried to keep track of them if I wanted to know where I was. Even though I swam into the sun for the first part of the swim, I was able to sight ok. In fact, I swam right next to the buoys almost the entire way. Perfect!
First turn (right) and after swimming for about 100 yards I got startled by seeing swimmers in my wave going THE OTHER DIRECTION. The course was mostly a rectangle but with the Olympic distance starting before, I think some people turned at the wrong buoy and got turned back. Oops.
Overall the swim went great. I felt strong the whole time and sighted pretty well. I got a little off after the 1st turn but not by much.
 |
| It took me a good 50 yards just to find my zipper pull. |
Time: 36:27 (ahead of my goal by 3.5 minutes!)
T1
There was a relatively long run up to the bike. I was definitely worn out from the swim so walked a bit in transition. I needed to settle the heart rate.
Time: 3:35
Longer than it should be but there was probably a minute burned getting out of the water to the bike. I also spent a little extra time sending my GPS tracking so TKB could watch me.
Bike
 |
| I spent a lot of timing making sure my race wheel decals were aligned. |
There is about a two mile bike out of the park before finally hitting the two lane highway. Jason passed me on this two mile stretch (he started in the last wave and caught up to me). We rode in tandem (but not illegal) until we hit the flat of the highway and he was GONE.
The bike course wasn't super hilly but had 2,000 feet of elevation gain throughout. The hills were enough to keep it interesting but not too challenging. Fortunately the weather wasn't too bad. It started in the low 70 but hit 80 by the time I was done. Humidity wasn't bad at all. Wind was low but at times there was a headwind just enough to be noticeable.
It was an open course with aid stations about every 10 miles. They gave out Heed in bike bottles, which was great because I had lost one of my bottles over some "rumbles" in the road prior to some train tracks. I don't train with Heed so it was going to be used as a last resort.
My splits were looking great with all but two 5 mile splits averaging over 20 mph.
When I was about 15 miles out I realized I was going to slaughter my 3 hour estimate on the bike. For the first time those 5 mile splits were just flying off. Unfortunately, what also flew off was that Heed bike bottle at one point during the ride. Oh well.
The last mile was a bit crowded, when it shouldn't have been. I thought the park was suppose to be closed during good chunks of the race but there was an SUV in front of me going too slow. There were runners heading out on the left and so I finally just passed the SUV. "Something" happened behind me but I never looked back. It sounded like my last bike bottle flew off and hit the vehicle but I didn't care. They shouldn't have been there. (For the record, I didn't lose that bike bottle)
I did a flying dismount and was soon to be off on the run! You can watch the flying dismount above. I start with my feet already out of my shoes and balancing on one side of the bike. Just as I cross in front of the guy near the fence I step off the bike and keep moving. All in one fluid motion!
Time: 2 hours, 39 minutes! (20.7 mph) 21 minutes UNDER my goal!!
T2
Relatively simple T2. I did not put quick-tie laces on my shoes for the race, so I had to tie them. That's pretty much the main reason for the long transition (other than the super long transition area).
Time: 1:45
Overall I was over my transition goal time by 20 seconds. Not bad.
Run
I took in about 60 fluid ounces of water/gatorade on the bike, as well as chomps/cliff bars. My stomach was a bit uncomfortable but it really didn't seem like GI issues. It soon subsided.
I mentally focused on breaking the race into 4 5k segments, which would require about another mile of focus. The first two 5k segments flew by. I was in a pretty good 8:15 minute mile zone. Unfortunately, right at the 6 mile point there was about a half mile incline to reach the turn around point. I made this my 1 mile segment outside of my 4 5k segments. I started slowing down at this point and "enjoyed" the aid stations a little longer.
The run was on an open two lane highway and it wound around some farmland. I cut the corners whenever I could, which meant cross the highway. Just have to watch for cars.
I walked all aid stations to make sure I was getting in plenty of water. I always took two cups with half of one over my head. There wasn't much shade on the run and the temps were starting to rise.
At one of the aid stations I ended up with a cup full of ice. Down the tri suit it went!! It kept the boys pretty cool until the next aid station.
When we hit mile 10.5, the road had a pretty large incline but I refused to walk.. I hit the park entrance and finally finished the two miles back to the finish line!
Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes (9 minutes over my goal)
I had two gels on the course.
Finish
Time: 5 hours, 16 minutes!! Killed that 5:30 goal plus my previous PR of 5 hours, 54 minutes!!
Age Group: 10/33
Overall: 73/293
Massive PR and a top 10 age group finish!
Whoa. That shocked me. I'm still shocked, which makes sense when you consider I doubted my 5 hour, 30 minute goal time.
Jason finished sub-5 hours and he had some GI issues out there on the run but that is simply amazing. Vicki finished strong in 5:34 and won 3rd in her age group!! She's a rockstar!
Jason and Ryan took off for home but we waited for the awards and door prize giveaways (they were giving away a bike, speed suit, and a bunch of running stuff). After scarfing down pizza, pop, pretzels, candy, and other goodies we took off for home. Fortunately there was at least an outdoor shower to wash off the stank.
I would definitely recommend Pigman Tri. For one, I registered 10 days before the race and it only cost me ~$120. Given that, there wasn't a frilly expo or even a massive medal. They probably had about 7 or 8 course marshals on motorcycles as well during the bike. Post-race meal options were large with chocolate milk, candy, cookies, crackers, chips, pizza, spaghetti, pop, water, gatorade, beer, and a bunch of other things.
Dress Rehearsal Analysis
This does NOT mean I'm going to do a 10 hour, 32 minute ironman in October. If I did that at some Ironman-branded races I would qualify for Kona. Not. Going. To. Happen.
What I've realized is that I hit the bike hard enough to overcome the deficit it created on my run. I'm not going for 21 mph splits at Beach2Battleship. In fact, I will probably do my best to keep my average pace under 20 for the first 56+ miles.
The swim is going to be great but only because of the ocean current and not my abilities.
The run is going to be what it is going to be. It will be over 4 hours and I will just hope I can run it the entire way with aid station walks. If I end up walking most of the second half, then cool. I'm just going to enjoy it.
Proof
 |
| Vicki with her 3rd Place Award! |
 |
| Jason on the left getting ready for the swim. |
 |
| Me in the middle with my hand on my chest. I apparently got it stuck there after the National Anthem. |
 |
| I'm pretty much right in the middle... the tall guy; however, you can see a guy in the exact same tri suit not far from me either. Glad he got the memo. |
 |
| Jason jumping on the bike. This looks like it's about to get painful real quick. |
 |
| Pre-race prep. The rack was mostly empty the entire day. |
 |
| Pretty sun. |
 |
| Suited Up! |
 |
| Blind |
 |
| Heading out of T1 |
 |
| Jason finishing his sub-5 hour half ironman. |
 |
| Stick a fork in me, I'm D.O.N.E. |
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Ironman Training Update
Long time, no training update. My last update was back on June 19 for Week 11.
Since then I have done:
Swim: 20.4 miles / 12 hours, 12 minutes (it's more impressive to put miles than yards, right?)
Bike: 587 Miles / 34 hours
Run: 138 Miles / 20 hours, 30 minutes
Strength: 11 sessions
Total: 745 miles / 77 hours
Overall Training
Training has gone fairly well. Since I started week 11, my swim workouts went from two per week to three per week. I've only been able to keep those three sessions per week a few times but I justify that with the swim for Beach2Battleship being "downhill" (ie, fast with a current). If I miss one session per week, no big deal.. right?
I've had a concern with my left foot for a while now. It doesn't appear to be anything structural (stress fracture, ligament issues) but maybe a pinched nerve causing some annoying discomfort in the ball of my foot. I should probably see a doctor about it. I actually took last week off to give it some time to heal and returned to using my more cushiony and roomy Mizuno Inspire's. This week it is definitely doing better.
Two Months of Events
As I have posted, I participated in the Shawnee Mission Triathlon and the Lawrence Triathlon. I also participated in a couple other events that I didn't put together any race reports. Here is a quick synopsis:
Air It Up Run
Basically a 2.5 mile course with 8 bounce houses. It's about as close to an obstacle course I'm willing to do since I'm a big wuss and don't want to get injured. TKB, Lauren, and I did the course once while VI was watching VII and then my Sis-in-Law Amanda brought the niece and nephew out and I took Ella and Sam around the course as well.
Tour de Lakes
Dane invited me to do this with him and a couple other triathlete friends. It's a supported bike ride with 10, 32, 55, and 65 mile courses. We signed up for the 65 mile course (which turned out to be about 63 miles). When Dane told me about it, I asked how fast they were planning to ride knowing that he and the other guys were much stronger riders. He said around 22-23 mph. Ouch. Whatever, I'm game.
The question was what bike to bring. Dane's training buddy, Jason, had planned to bring his tri bike. It took me right up to the day before to leave the road bike at home and bring mine. Dane brought his. I'm not real knowledgeable with group rides but I do know there is a certain level of taboo to ride with something other than a road bike. We had numbers supporting us, so I joined in.
The start was a bit of a cluster and I immediately lost all the guys. I just assumed they were ahead of me so I pushed it a little hard at the beginning. After about 10 miles, Dane caught up to me (I thought he was way in front).
I mostly stuck with Dane. This was both our first group ride, although Dane knows a lot more about the "rules of the road". Around mile 25 we rode with about 5 other cyclists. I had my first real opportunity to ride in a draft line. Dane stuck to the wheel of a guy who was leading our pack but never gave up the lead, so I just stuck to the middle. I tried the best I could to keep my line and just follow the guy in front. Coming up to the aid station, the guy I was stuck to slowed up, so did I. The guys behind me slipped around not realizing the slow down and one guy quipped about wanting notice. Maybe there was notice, I just didn't know what it was.
Dane and I only stopped at one aid station for a bathroom break and I grabbed a PB&J and refilled the bottles. Once we left, that aid station it was pretty much just Dane and me. The strength of Dane shone through as I was having trouble keeping up with him. We hit some real nasty hills and I couldn't keep up. I last saw Dane around mile 55 but we were headed "home", so I did my best to just push it. I could tell that my legs lacked any power on any sort of hill by this time.
I the last guy of our four that car pooled down to finish (which I was expecting). Jason and a couple other guys had led the ride pretty much the whole time. It sounded like the lead pack wasn't too appreciative of having them there (maybe because of the tri bikes?) but they had Jason and folks lead the pack the entire time doing all the work.
By the time I had gotten back I saw someone with a Cervelo P5. So I felt better bringing my Felt B12 TT bike if someone brought their $10,000 bike.
All said and done I logged 62.5 miles in 3 hours, 23 minutes for an average of 18.4 miles. My longest ride to date!
Upcoming
My next race isn't until Labor Day weekend where we head to LA with Joe VI, Lauren, and Sister-in-law Rebecca to run the Dumbo Double Dare and earning our Coast-to-Coast Run Disney medals. I have also been eyeing the Pigman Tri 70.3 on August 18. I need to make a decision on it asap. I think the biggest concern is giving up too many weekends to races but I really need a practice triathlon since I don't have any other opportunity for a 70.3 race before Beach2Battleship.
Since then I have done:
Swim: 20.4 miles / 12 hours, 12 minutes (it's more impressive to put miles than yards, right?)
Bike: 587 Miles / 34 hours
Run: 138 Miles / 20 hours, 30 minutes
Strength: 11 sessions
Total: 745 miles / 77 hours
Overall Training
Training has gone fairly well. Since I started week 11, my swim workouts went from two per week to three per week. I've only been able to keep those three sessions per week a few times but I justify that with the swim for Beach2Battleship being "downhill" (ie, fast with a current). If I miss one session per week, no big deal.. right?
I've had a concern with my left foot for a while now. It doesn't appear to be anything structural (stress fracture, ligament issues) but maybe a pinched nerve causing some annoying discomfort in the ball of my foot. I should probably see a doctor about it. I actually took last week off to give it some time to heal and returned to using my more cushiony and roomy Mizuno Inspire's. This week it is definitely doing better.
Two Months of Events
As I have posted, I participated in the Shawnee Mission Triathlon and the Lawrence Triathlon. I also participated in a couple other events that I didn't put together any race reports. Here is a quick synopsis:
Air It Up Run
Basically a 2.5 mile course with 8 bounce houses. It's about as close to an obstacle course I'm willing to do since I'm a big wuss and don't want to get injured. TKB, Lauren, and I did the course once while VI was watching VII and then my Sis-in-Law Amanda brought the niece and nephew out and I took Ella and Sam around the course as well.
 |
| TKB and Lauren geting read for our wave |
 |
| First Obstacle |
 |
| Still learning her technique |
 |
| This is just plain awkward |
 |
| Jumping over the scary pit of nothing. I wore compression shirt with long sleeves and wore tri shorts under my running shorts. #brilliant! |
 |
| Ell and Sam starting their wave. Sam has quite the leg kick. |
 |
| Sam and Ella learning aid station etiquette. Make sure you thank your volunteers! |
 |
| Sam climbing the mountain! |
 |
| Ella exits first! |
 |
| Love the happiness! |
 |
| Ella swinging over the pit. |
 |
| Finish! |
Dane invited me to do this with him and a couple other triathlete friends. It's a supported bike ride with 10, 32, 55, and 65 mile courses. We signed up for the 65 mile course (which turned out to be about 63 miles). When Dane told me about it, I asked how fast they were planning to ride knowing that he and the other guys were much stronger riders. He said around 22-23 mph. Ouch. Whatever, I'm game.
The question was what bike to bring. Dane's training buddy, Jason, had planned to bring his tri bike. It took me right up to the day before to leave the road bike at home and bring mine. Dane brought his. I'm not real knowledgeable with group rides but I do know there is a certain level of taboo to ride with something other than a road bike. We had numbers supporting us, so I joined in.
The start was a bit of a cluster and I immediately lost all the guys. I just assumed they were ahead of me so I pushed it a little hard at the beginning. After about 10 miles, Dane caught up to me (I thought he was way in front).
I mostly stuck with Dane. This was both our first group ride, although Dane knows a lot more about the "rules of the road". Around mile 25 we rode with about 5 other cyclists. I had my first real opportunity to ride in a draft line. Dane stuck to the wheel of a guy who was leading our pack but never gave up the lead, so I just stuck to the middle. I tried the best I could to keep my line and just follow the guy in front. Coming up to the aid station, the guy I was stuck to slowed up, so did I. The guys behind me slipped around not realizing the slow down and one guy quipped about wanting notice. Maybe there was notice, I just didn't know what it was.
Dane and I only stopped at one aid station for a bathroom break and I grabbed a PB&J and refilled the bottles. Once we left, that aid station it was pretty much just Dane and me. The strength of Dane shone through as I was having trouble keeping up with him. We hit some real nasty hills and I couldn't keep up. I last saw Dane around mile 55 but we were headed "home", so I did my best to just push it. I could tell that my legs lacked any power on any sort of hill by this time.
I the last guy of our four that car pooled down to finish (which I was expecting). Jason and a couple other guys had led the ride pretty much the whole time. It sounded like the lead pack wasn't too appreciative of having them there (maybe because of the tri bikes?) but they had Jason and folks lead the pack the entire time doing all the work.
By the time I had gotten back I saw someone with a Cervelo P5. So I felt better bringing my Felt B12 TT bike if someone brought their $10,000 bike.
All said and done I logged 62.5 miles in 3 hours, 23 minutes for an average of 18.4 miles. My longest ride to date!
 |
| Dane checking to make sure I'm still there! |
 |
| Our aid station stop. |
My next race isn't until Labor Day weekend where we head to LA with Joe VI, Lauren, and Sister-in-law Rebecca to run the Dumbo Double Dare and earning our Coast-to-Coast Run Disney medals. I have also been eyeing the Pigman Tri 70.3 on August 18. I need to make a decision on it asap. I think the biggest concern is giving up too many weekends to races but I really need a practice triathlon since I don't have any other opportunity for a 70.3 race before Beach2Battleship.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)