So today I finished my last major workout before the Over the Mountain Triathlon. I have three 20 minute workouts of each sport left, but those are basically just going through the motions. Very very easy sessions then the big day.
Today was a 1300 yard swim. I tried simulating the race conditions as much as possible. I did a main set of 800 yards, with a 300 warm up and a 200 cool down. For the main set, I did the first 150 really hard, then tried to settle into an easy pace. I was breathing very heavy after the 150 but was able to settle in and had no problem completely the distance. I have no idea what my time was since I can't seem to really count my laps without my watch. But mainly my goal was to go really hard, then settle in to a comfortable pace. I think I will go with this strategy on saturday, but it is a long race, and I did have those breathing problems last time. But at least this time I'll know that I"ll be able to settle down and control my breathing better.
Last year my time was 3:16:52. This year my goal is to crack 3:10:00. I believe I can shave 6 minutes off my run and 5 from my swim. So that makes my dream time around 3:05:00.
My next post will likely be my race report.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Clemson Triathlon Race Report
Saturday May 14th was the Clemson Triathlon. I finished 7th of 19 in the Clydesdale Division and 119th out of 289 overall.
It was a lake swim with a fairly large wave. However, despite the size it was a relatively easy swim as far as the punch/kick factor. I started out in front and probably started out a little too fast. But that may have been what kept from getting knocked around. It was also the first race in my new wetsuit, and I experienced an interesting sensation. I had some trouble breathing in the first 300 yards of the swim because it felt like the wetsuit was keeping me from being able to fully expand my lungs. It was a big scary feeling at first, but it was a good learning experience. By the second half of the swim it wasn't bothering me too much anymore. The questions remains...do I keep my pace down early on and deal with the mass of swimmers, or do I get out to a fast start, scale back a bit, struggle a bit with my breathing, but avoid the pounding of the mass? This coming weekend is my big race that I've really been focusing on and a much longer swim that the Clemson race so it remains to be seen how I'll go about it. In the end I finished 6th in my group in the swim. Which wasn't too bad, but certainly room for improvement. I finished the 750 meter swim in 14:27.
The bike portion was very good for me. It started out with a long downhill then finally hit a couple uphills. There was much talk about the "big" climb at mile 8, which had me worried because there were several long climbs already, none of which were written of in the description. However, the mile 8 climb was almost nothing because a long hill led to it, that allowed to you make it to nearly the top without much work. I averaged 18.7 mph for the ride, which is pretty good for me and the climbs didn't push me too hard. The transition to the bike I went the simple route and did not pre attach my shoes to the pedals, which probably cost me a few seconds, but since I hadn't been practicing it, I didn't want to screw up and cost myself more time. I did my standard dismount by removing my shoes before the end and popped off easily. I finished the bike 8th in my group with a time of 34:47.
The run was a pretty difficult one, but I enjoyed it. It started out flat, if not a very slight uphill, which then turned downhill and then substantially downhill for a while. After flattening out at about .8 miles, it remained flat for a half mile. Around 1.3 was a monster hill. It wasn't long, but man was it steep. I just focused on the ground and pushed through it. After that it was flat for about a mile and then you got back to the hill, but it was a steep descent this time, which I flew through and tried to recover a bit knowing the long, but not steep ascent was coming. I made it through that climb pretty well, and was able to really push hard through the final half mile and finish very strong. I finished the run 7th in my group with a time of 25:38, which was a pace of 8:15 per mile. Not too bad, but I want to improve upon that next time.
Next up, Over the Mountain Olympic Triathlon.
*Side note, interesting training ride yesterday. This was the first time I chose not to bring a wallet or my phone. So this happened to be the first time since I've owned the bike that I got a flat tire on a ride. And of course it happened literally at the turn around of an out and back. The furthest point away from home. Fortunately I remembered Youngblood Bicycles was about 2 miles away. So I walked there and they were kind of enough to not only fill my tires, but lend me a couple CO2 cartridges in case I had another problem. The other lesson learned, learn to use your equipment before you need it. I had CO2 and another tube but didn't know how to use the CO2 and blew it out without filling the tube.
Good to learn the lesson a short ride in town though. Could've been much worse.
It was a lake swim with a fairly large wave. However, despite the size it was a relatively easy swim as far as the punch/kick factor. I started out in front and probably started out a little too fast. But that may have been what kept from getting knocked around. It was also the first race in my new wetsuit, and I experienced an interesting sensation. I had some trouble breathing in the first 300 yards of the swim because it felt like the wetsuit was keeping me from being able to fully expand my lungs. It was a big scary feeling at first, but it was a good learning experience. By the second half of the swim it wasn't bothering me too much anymore. The questions remains...do I keep my pace down early on and deal with the mass of swimmers, or do I get out to a fast start, scale back a bit, struggle a bit with my breathing, but avoid the pounding of the mass? This coming weekend is my big race that I've really been focusing on and a much longer swim that the Clemson race so it remains to be seen how I'll go about it. In the end I finished 6th in my group in the swim. Which wasn't too bad, but certainly room for improvement. I finished the 750 meter swim in 14:27.
The bike portion was very good for me. It started out with a long downhill then finally hit a couple uphills. There was much talk about the "big" climb at mile 8, which had me worried because there were several long climbs already, none of which were written of in the description. However, the mile 8 climb was almost nothing because a long hill led to it, that allowed to you make it to nearly the top without much work. I averaged 18.7 mph for the ride, which is pretty good for me and the climbs didn't push me too hard. The transition to the bike I went the simple route and did not pre attach my shoes to the pedals, which probably cost me a few seconds, but since I hadn't been practicing it, I didn't want to screw up and cost myself more time. I did my standard dismount by removing my shoes before the end and popped off easily. I finished the bike 8th in my group with a time of 34:47.
The run was a pretty difficult one, but I enjoyed it. It started out flat, if not a very slight uphill, which then turned downhill and then substantially downhill for a while. After flattening out at about .8 miles, it remained flat for a half mile. Around 1.3 was a monster hill. It wasn't long, but man was it steep. I just focused on the ground and pushed through it. After that it was flat for about a mile and then you got back to the hill, but it was a steep descent this time, which I flew through and tried to recover a bit knowing the long, but not steep ascent was coming. I made it through that climb pretty well, and was able to really push hard through the final half mile and finish very strong. I finished the run 7th in my group with a time of 25:38, which was a pace of 8:15 per mile. Not too bad, but I want to improve upon that next time.
Next up, Over the Mountain Olympic Triathlon.
*Side note, interesting training ride yesterday. This was the first time I chose not to bring a wallet or my phone. So this happened to be the first time since I've owned the bike that I got a flat tire on a ride. And of course it happened literally at the turn around of an out and back. The furthest point away from home. Fortunately I remembered Youngblood Bicycles was about 2 miles away. So I walked there and they were kind of enough to not only fill my tires, but lend me a couple CO2 cartridges in case I had another problem. The other lesson learned, learn to use your equipment before you need it. I had CO2 and another tube but didn't know how to use the CO2 and blew it out without filling the tube.
Good to learn the lesson a short ride in town though. Could've been much worse.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
196 Days to Ironman Arizona
So it's been a month since I've posted. More than a month actually. Well, I lost my job a while back, so I haven't been in front of the computer much. I've had a harder time keeping up with training since I lost my job. Kind of hard to believe, but I've been doing a lot of work for my parents, which hasn't been as rigidly scheduled as work, which has made it tougher to get my training. But, aside from last week, when we moved, I've hardly missed a day at all. I really got back to it this past week and made all my sessions...didn't get them in when I was supposed to, but I got them all in. Took some gerry mandering, but I got it done. After missing all but about 2-3 sessions the week before, I knew this was an important week to get them all done.
So, I don't remember everything about training from that month, but I'll talk about a few of the highlights. The Paris Mountain Olympic Tri was canceled due to weather. I tried to head out to Valdese to do that sprint, that race too wound up being cancelled due to weather. So, I didn't get to race last month. Bummer. Instead, on that day, my schedule called for a 7 mile run. I ran at the Biltmore Estate, and just felt so good that day, I wound up going for 10.5 miles. It was by far the best run I've had of the season.
Now for the low lights. Now this may have been induced by lack of training and being worn out from the work at my parents, but this week i had my three runs, tues/wed/thurs, with thursday being the longest of them. The tuesday and wednesday runs went very well. I ran around the area here, which includes some steep hills and some long, less steep hills. Then I was already feeling pretty worn down on thursday, but pushed myself to do the run. A half mile into the 6.3 mile run, I was definitely not feeling it, and knew it was going to be a very difficult run. However, those are the one's where you really show yourself what you're made of. It would've been very easy to chalk it up to a tough week and being tired already and thrown in the towel, but I knew I wasn't hurt, and I wasn't pushing myself through any kind of pain, so I kept at it. 1 hr and 15 minutes later I finished the 6.3 grueling miles, but I felt really good about myself for pushing through adverse conditions. I know there are going to be moments at the ironman where I don't know how I'm going to go on, but these are the days I will be able to draw from, and have the confidence to know I can keep going.
I had a similarly difficult bike ride, also that same thursday. That was a very difficult day. 6.3 miles of running, a 2 hour break, then 28 miles of cycling, which some seriously hard core hills. But in the end I made it through. I had a decent run today, nothing to write home about, nothing to scoff at. Very easy pace, I was definitely feeling it, but I did 8 miles in 1 hr 28 min. About a 11 min/mile pace. I just need to get through this week's 40 mile ride, and I'll be entering taper period for the Over the Mountain olympic.
Almost there....
So, I don't remember everything about training from that month, but I'll talk about a few of the highlights. The Paris Mountain Olympic Tri was canceled due to weather. I tried to head out to Valdese to do that sprint, that race too wound up being cancelled due to weather. So, I didn't get to race last month. Bummer. Instead, on that day, my schedule called for a 7 mile run. I ran at the Biltmore Estate, and just felt so good that day, I wound up going for 10.5 miles. It was by far the best run I've had of the season.
Now for the low lights. Now this may have been induced by lack of training and being worn out from the work at my parents, but this week i had my three runs, tues/wed/thurs, with thursday being the longest of them. The tuesday and wednesday runs went very well. I ran around the area here, which includes some steep hills and some long, less steep hills. Then I was already feeling pretty worn down on thursday, but pushed myself to do the run. A half mile into the 6.3 mile run, I was definitely not feeling it, and knew it was going to be a very difficult run. However, those are the one's where you really show yourself what you're made of. It would've been very easy to chalk it up to a tough week and being tired already and thrown in the towel, but I knew I wasn't hurt, and I wasn't pushing myself through any kind of pain, so I kept at it. 1 hr and 15 minutes later I finished the 6.3 grueling miles, but I felt really good about myself for pushing through adverse conditions. I know there are going to be moments at the ironman where I don't know how I'm going to go on, but these are the days I will be able to draw from, and have the confidence to know I can keep going.
I had a similarly difficult bike ride, also that same thursday. That was a very difficult day. 6.3 miles of running, a 2 hour break, then 28 miles of cycling, which some seriously hard core hills. But in the end I made it through. I had a decent run today, nothing to write home about, nothing to scoff at. Very easy pace, I was definitely feeling it, but I did 8 miles in 1 hr 28 min. About a 11 min/mile pace. I just need to get through this week's 40 mile ride, and I'll be entering taper period for the Over the Mountain olympic.
Almost there....
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