This was an extremely difficult race. Much more difficult than I anticipated it being. The swim went very well. I started out on the edge of the mass and slowly worked my way into the main group, but was able to avoid the bumping and smashing that is typical of a big mass start. This was my first open water race of the year without a wet suit. It felt surprisingly easy considering I was used to the buoyancy of the suit. I had expected to finish under 15 minutes, but as usual, you can never really estimate an open water swim. I did screw up the final turn. The glare was really difficult and I couldn't see the finish line at first and am pretty sure I swam a huge arc instead of a straight line. About halfway between the turn and the finish I noticed the sight buoy about 30 yards to my left. I wound up finishing the swim in just under 16 minutes. Which was still good for second in my category.
T1 was easy and smooth. I tried the technique with the shoes locked in already and it finally went smooth. Still need work hopping on the bike fluidly. I had the fastest transition time in my category.
The bike was much tougher than expected. I had done the course a few times prior but not after a 750 meter swim. It was certainly a challenge. The first roller coaster type hill was a bear. I was close to my competition as we approached and I thought by letting them pass and resting a bit I'd hit the hill more rested. Well, it certainly didn't help me compared to them. They still pulled away even faster than I was able to make it up the hill. I'm hoping the new cassette will help me with the hills, since it seems i'm the only one out there mashing the pedals at 6 mph. I was definitely a lot slower than my prep rides. Not sure why. I don't think the swim wore me down substantially, but I was also holding back a bit for the run. Once again though, I was still worn down during the run, so I'm starting to think I should probably just go all out during each leg. The run is brutal no matter what, so next time I'm just going to attack the bike and hope for the best on the run. I wound up finishing the bike in 1:06:28, almost 2 minutes slower than my prep ride.
T2 was another very smooth, very fast transition. I had the 3rd fastest transition time, but I had one of the longest distances to traverse.
The run was a nightmare. I felt ok at first, but I quickly began struggling. I was passed constantly, but around mile 1 began a ridiculously steep hill. Another one of those hills were it would've probably been smarter to walk it since I was running at about the same speed that I walk. When I finally reached the top I felt a lot better and there was a nice sustained gentle downhill. The big downhill was somewhat helpful but so steep it wasn't all that helpful. The remaining mile and a half was just a fight. The wood chips, although soft, got in my shoes and hurt. I developed a massive blister on one of my toes, and every stride was agony. I was close to removing my shoes and finishing barefoot. Another lesson learned...never again will I do a hilly race without socks. But I did finally make it around and picked up the pace for the final quarter mile. I finished strong which is always important to me. The run time was 30:16. Easily my worst time by far for a sprint distance run. At least that gives me a lot of room to improve for next year.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Long Overdue Race Report for Over The Mountain
So I'm about a week overdue for writing up my report for the Over The Mountain Triathlon in Kings Mountain on May 21st. Last year I did the race in about 3:16. However, they changed the run, first off they added .2 miles to it and made it a lot more hilly. With all that in mind, my goal times were 3:07(dream time) and 3:12(realistic goal).
So, lets get to it. It was perfect weather to start the day. About 60 or so and sunny. It definitely had the feel of a hot day coming though.
1500 yard swim: The swim was actually a very small wave. There were maybe 20 of us, so there was absolutely no bumping and kicking. I like to avoid that, but I've actually been sort of wanting to get into bigger waves to get me prepared for Arizona. But oh well. After the previous week of struggling to breath in my suit I went for a different strategy. I started out a bit slower than I did before, gradually picking up speed. This worked well. I never felt winded at all on the swim. Was also given an incredibly helpful tip from another racer. He suggested sighting by where the land met the water, rather than the actual buoy. That made things a lot easier because trying to site a buoy from 800 yards away is nearly impossible. Anyway, I felt pretty much alone through the whole swim, the only other swimmers I encountered were from the wave that started about 5 minutes before us. That made me feel pretty good to catch up to some of them. But I exited the water about 28 minutes later. I was six minutes faster than last years time, so I was already way out ahead of my goal.
T1: Then began the torturous T1. You exit the water at the bottom of a very long, very steep boat ramp. The run up that thing is just nasty. One of the toughest parts of the whole race. But I just kept forcing myself to jog up it, knowing I could relax a bit and catch my breath on the bike. Finally made it to my bike and began the process of trying to rip that wet suit off. For some reason it got hung up on my timing chip on my ankle. But alas, I got it off, got my bike gear on with no issues, and was on my way.
45 Kilometer Bike(28 miles): So the bike actually felt pretty good. I was strong the whole way, the hills were not a problem at all for me. I felt much stronger than last year. I was only passed by a handful of people, but I think that was partly due to the fact that we were one of the last waves to start. My plan was to drink HEED every 10-15 minutes and a Hammer Gel every 45. I stuck to the HEED plan pretty well, but unfortunately was stupid with the Hammer Gel. I felt fine, so I wound up only taking one. This came back to haunt me later. More on that later. The heat was definitely picking up as the bike went on. When I finally was approaching the finish, I took the final mile fairly easy and cruised into T2 feeling pretty good. My final time was 1:32:51. Three seconds slower than last year.
T2: Not much to talk about here. I had a good dismount off the bike and cruised right in without slowing down too much. Popped on my running shoes, hat and number and was off after one last swig of HEED.
6.2 mile run: So, the run begins. Always the most grueling part of the race. However, I was fooled into thinking how good I felt. The first mile or so is mostly downhill, so it allowed me to relax a bit, get my HR down some, and foolishly believe that I was going to hit my dream time. Let me back track. Starting the run I was around 2:05. I not only had a chance to beat my dream time, but crack 3 hours with a really solid run. To do that I would need to average 9 min miles. I routinely do 8:10-8:15 min miles in sprint tri's, so it seemed conceivable that I would be able to maintain 9 for an Olympic. When I hit the 1 mile mark, it seemed even more doable. I was right at a 9 min pace, and I felt that I was going a little slow. Well, that's where the gradient and my feelings began to change. Around 1.5 miles I was feeling sort of like I wanted to die, and mistakenly thought about the fact that I still had almost 5 miles to go. "PUT THAT OUT OF YOUR MIND, JUST GET TO THE WATER STATION." That was the last time I had that thought and I kept pressing on. When I hit the 2 mile marker I had slowed to around a 9:30 pace overall(10 min pace at that point). What felt like an eternity went by and I finally began approaching the midway point. When I hit the turnaround I was right at 31 minutes. Now I'm down to a 10 min pace overall. Bye bye cracking 3 hours. However, the dream goal was still in my sights. I'd have to be faster, but that only meant picking up the pace a little bit to finish in just under 29 minutes. Certainly possible. However, forgetting that I had just come down a huge long hill, that goal quickly went bye bye as I very slowly trudged up that same hill. At this point it became a war of attrition between my mind and my body. This is the point where I realized how foolish it was not to take in all the hammer gel I had brought with me. I was out of energy, starving, and nautious. All signs to me that I didn't take in enough while on the bike. Anyway, I kept pressing on, with each water stop and mile marker encouraging me. Then two wonderful spectators told me and another guy how inspirational we were and that made me feel really great inside, despite wanting to die. I knew my speed was slowing badly as I could tell at each mile marker that I'd been slowing by about a minute per each mile. I hit mile 5 and knew I had to reach the end of the street, make the turn, and the final chute would be straight ahead. I finally got there, .2 miles to go. I saw the chute, and for those final seconds forgot about the pain, hunger, nausea and turned into sprint mode for the final 50 yards. I spotted Rachel up ahead on the other side of the finish line and couldn't wait to get there. I finally crossed the finish line at 3:10:05. Nearly 2 minutes ahead of my goal time and with a run time of 1:04:53. Absolutely terrible, but enough to get me in under my time.
Valuable lesson learned though...stick to the nutrition plan no matter what.
So, lets get to it. It was perfect weather to start the day. About 60 or so and sunny. It definitely had the feel of a hot day coming though.
1500 yard swim: The swim was actually a very small wave. There were maybe 20 of us, so there was absolutely no bumping and kicking. I like to avoid that, but I've actually been sort of wanting to get into bigger waves to get me prepared for Arizona. But oh well. After the previous week of struggling to breath in my suit I went for a different strategy. I started out a bit slower than I did before, gradually picking up speed. This worked well. I never felt winded at all on the swim. Was also given an incredibly helpful tip from another racer. He suggested sighting by where the land met the water, rather than the actual buoy. That made things a lot easier because trying to site a buoy from 800 yards away is nearly impossible. Anyway, I felt pretty much alone through the whole swim, the only other swimmers I encountered were from the wave that started about 5 minutes before us. That made me feel pretty good to catch up to some of them. But I exited the water about 28 minutes later. I was six minutes faster than last years time, so I was already way out ahead of my goal.
T1: Then began the torturous T1. You exit the water at the bottom of a very long, very steep boat ramp. The run up that thing is just nasty. One of the toughest parts of the whole race. But I just kept forcing myself to jog up it, knowing I could relax a bit and catch my breath on the bike. Finally made it to my bike and began the process of trying to rip that wet suit off. For some reason it got hung up on my timing chip on my ankle. But alas, I got it off, got my bike gear on with no issues, and was on my way.
45 Kilometer Bike(28 miles): So the bike actually felt pretty good. I was strong the whole way, the hills were not a problem at all for me. I felt much stronger than last year. I was only passed by a handful of people, but I think that was partly due to the fact that we were one of the last waves to start. My plan was to drink HEED every 10-15 minutes and a Hammer Gel every 45. I stuck to the HEED plan pretty well, but unfortunately was stupid with the Hammer Gel. I felt fine, so I wound up only taking one. This came back to haunt me later. More on that later. The heat was definitely picking up as the bike went on. When I finally was approaching the finish, I took the final mile fairly easy and cruised into T2 feeling pretty good. My final time was 1:32:51. Three seconds slower than last year.
T2: Not much to talk about here. I had a good dismount off the bike and cruised right in without slowing down too much. Popped on my running shoes, hat and number and was off after one last swig of HEED.
6.2 mile run: So, the run begins. Always the most grueling part of the race. However, I was fooled into thinking how good I felt. The first mile or so is mostly downhill, so it allowed me to relax a bit, get my HR down some, and foolishly believe that I was going to hit my dream time. Let me back track. Starting the run I was around 2:05. I not only had a chance to beat my dream time, but crack 3 hours with a really solid run. To do that I would need to average 9 min miles. I routinely do 8:10-8:15 min miles in sprint tri's, so it seemed conceivable that I would be able to maintain 9 for an Olympic. When I hit the 1 mile mark, it seemed even more doable. I was right at a 9 min pace, and I felt that I was going a little slow. Well, that's where the gradient and my feelings began to change. Around 1.5 miles I was feeling sort of like I wanted to die, and mistakenly thought about the fact that I still had almost 5 miles to go. "PUT THAT OUT OF YOUR MIND, JUST GET TO THE WATER STATION." That was the last time I had that thought and I kept pressing on. When I hit the 2 mile marker I had slowed to around a 9:30 pace overall(10 min pace at that point). What felt like an eternity went by and I finally began approaching the midway point. When I hit the turnaround I was right at 31 minutes. Now I'm down to a 10 min pace overall. Bye bye cracking 3 hours. However, the dream goal was still in my sights. I'd have to be faster, but that only meant picking up the pace a little bit to finish in just under 29 minutes. Certainly possible. However, forgetting that I had just come down a huge long hill, that goal quickly went bye bye as I very slowly trudged up that same hill. At this point it became a war of attrition between my mind and my body. This is the point where I realized how foolish it was not to take in all the hammer gel I had brought with me. I was out of energy, starving, and nautious. All signs to me that I didn't take in enough while on the bike. Anyway, I kept pressing on, with each water stop and mile marker encouraging me. Then two wonderful spectators told me and another guy how inspirational we were and that made me feel really great inside, despite wanting to die. I knew my speed was slowing badly as I could tell at each mile marker that I'd been slowing by about a minute per each mile. I hit mile 5 and knew I had to reach the end of the street, make the turn, and the final chute would be straight ahead. I finally got there, .2 miles to go. I saw the chute, and for those final seconds forgot about the pain, hunger, nausea and turned into sprint mode for the final 50 yards. I spotted Rachel up ahead on the other side of the finish line and couldn't wait to get there. I finally crossed the finish line at 3:10:05. Nearly 2 minutes ahead of my goal time and with a run time of 1:04:53. Absolutely terrible, but enough to get me in under my time.
Valuable lesson learned though...stick to the nutrition plan no matter what.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Last major workout is complete
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.
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.
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....
Monday, April 4, 2011
Still a lot of days till the Ironman
So it's monday April 4th. The beginning of what looks like our last week of work. Hopefully not though. I had a great weekend of training. I started with a monstrous(way too big in hindsight) breakfast on Saturday morning then did a 6.7 mile run. I think i paced around 11:30 miles, very slow, but was comfortable the whole time, which I believe is the important thing. Took the Willy monster with me and he was great for the most part. I started getting abdominal cramps around 3 miles or so. That was probably in part due to the huge breakfast, but I also should probably start bringing water on these long runs. I could be dehydrating as well.
Sunday was a brick workout. I did 35 miles on the bike in 2 hr, 15 min. Probably could've been a bit faster but I was with a slow group that I spent a lot of time waiting for. But at the same time, I should be going a bit slower on my long rides, so perhaps it was a good thing. I followed that immediately with a 2.9 mile run that took about 30 minutes. It was a tough run with rolling hills, but I felt really good for teh most part and kept my HR in the 160's through out most of it. Only towards the top of the hills did I start pushing into the mid 170's which is to be expected.
All in all, a solid training weekend and perfect weather. I got my 2000 yard swim done already and did it in 38 minutes. It was a solid endurance workout with no breaks. Just a straight long swim. This evening I'm doing 16 miles of easy spinning. Should be a nice easy smooth workout to recover a bit from this weekend.
Sunday was a brick workout. I did 35 miles on the bike in 2 hr, 15 min. Probably could've been a bit faster but I was with a slow group that I spent a lot of time waiting for. But at the same time, I should be going a bit slower on my long rides, so perhaps it was a good thing. I followed that immediately with a 2.9 mile run that took about 30 minutes. It was a tough run with rolling hills, but I felt really good for teh most part and kept my HR in the 160's through out most of it. Only towards the top of the hills did I start pushing into the mid 170's which is to be expected.
All in all, a solid training weekend and perfect weather. I got my 2000 yard swim done already and did it in 38 minutes. It was a solid endurance workout with no breaks. Just a straight long swim. This evening I'm doing 16 miles of easy spinning. Should be a nice easy smooth workout to recover a bit from this weekend.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Cool Breeze Triathlon Race Report-long read
Cool Breeze Triathlon, 3-27-2011
Huntersville, NC
Sunday morning, March 27th 2011, and what a day it is. I look out the window of the hotel and it’s dark. As to be expected, it’s 5:30 in the morning. But what I also saw and sadly expected was the nice pretty shine of rain water on asphalt. Unfortunately, the meteorologists got this one right. They also got the temperature right…a solid 38 degrees. And I’m thinking to myself, “yep, I’m going to get out of a pool, in nothing but shorts and a tank top and run into this weather, get on my bike, and then ride 20 mph. “ Nothing like a 20 mph breeze up against wet skin to wake you up in the morning. Fortunately I did bring one of my long sleeve cycling jerseys to the race with me. I didn’t know if I’d use it or not, I mean…who would want to give up valuable seconds in order to be somewhat comfortable for the next 40 minutes. This is serious stuff we’re talking about here! So, we both finally get up and get dressed and head to the lobby for the gourmet continental breakfast provided by the lovely Days Inn. Just the walk to the car gave me a brief idea of what this morning had in store for me. I was dressed in long pants, long sleeve shirt and a jacket and the cold breeze hit me and made me shiver, it also made me think of how that was going to feel in almost no clothes soaking wet. I couldn’t wait! So, let me get back to the outstanding breakfast. It consisted of stale white bagels, pretty nasty danishes (so I was told by Rachel), cereal, OJ, coffee and milk. Oh well, we knew we weren’t paying for luxury, and the bagel did the job for me.
So after finishing breakfast we headed out to the race. Wow…crowded…fortunately I already grabbed my packet the night before, so I just had to set up my bike before 7:30. Fortunately the traffic line wasn’t nearly as long as I thought. We waited about 5 minutes then proceeded to the parking lot. After parking and unloading my gear, we had the long walk to the transition area. My hand holding the bike went numb. Awesome! I’m moving 3 miles an hour, dry, and my hands numb. Nope, didn’t plan to wear gloves on the bike…too much time to put them on. It had been about 7 months since my last race, so my preparation wasn’t quite as in tune as it is mid season. First I put my bike up on the rack…yep, on the correct side. Then I unloaded all my gear. Put the towel on the ground and then started laying everything out. First I set up my helmet on my aero bar along with my sunglasses. Clipped my bike shoes into the pedal (I’ve really got to practice this maneuver, more to come on that later) then laid out my running stuff. Seemed like so little gear. So I just sat and stared at everything, feeling absolutely positive that I was in fact forgetting something. And in a tri, forgetting something can be a minor inconvenience all the way through forcing a disqualification. So after about 5 minutes of staring at my gear, I felt satisfied and headed into the pool area.
Holy crap it’s crowded in here! Finally after weaving my way through everyone I get into the actual pool area and spot my wife in the bleachers. Finally I get to sit and relax for a bit before warming up. Oh yea, it’s still freezing outside, the warmth of the building was so nice! So about 15 minutes till start time I go for my quick warm up. I swam 300 meters, nice and easy. Well, I actually pushed a bit harder and warmed up at nearly my race pace. Didn’t feel like it though, it actually felt good. Back out of the pool now I’m waiting for my 8:27:20 start time.
So the race started…though no one seemed to realize it. Most years they’ve gotten on the bull horn, and I swear they played the national anthem, but I might just be making that part up. But yea, all of a sudden people were in the pool again and it was actually the start of the race. Very anticlimactic. Oh well. Now the time’s ticking down to my start, and it came pretty quickly. Around 8:20 I get up and get in line. Fortunately, I’m one guy away from the 2 minute break, an old guy who wasn’t going to be catching me. Unfortunately, there was also an older woman in front of me; she was actually 20 seconds ahead of me because the person between us was a no show. So I figured that was good, at least if I caught her it would take a while. For those who don’t know…in a pool race, you submit an estimated 100 yard time. This is the pace you expect to hold for 250 yards (the length of the swim), not the fastest you can do. More on that later. So, time to go….I got off to a very good solid start. The first lap I felt I had solid, powerful strokes and I was gliding effortlessly. I had been working on my flip turns all winter, and again during warm-ups. Well, as I approach the wall, my mind goes blank and I completely forgot what to do. DAMMIT!!! Once again, there will be no flip turns for me in this race. That probably costs me about 15 seconds over the course of the race. So, length number two, I catch the old woman. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! You should never catch someone that quickly with a 20 second head start. She clearly either lied or had no idea what she was doing when she submitted her swim time. I submitted a time of 1:35, and I paced around 1:32...so slightly faster. I looked her up, and based on her swim time she paced 2:20. I really think that should count as a penalty. But anyway, I passed one more person on the swim on my way. Oh yea, the old guy who was not going to be an issue….he was on my toes the entire race! But never was able to pass me. We get to the end and climb out as we exit the doors, a racer from the other pool and I leave together and hit the cold air and both let out a, “HOLY CRAP” it was like a punch in the face. 40 degree air and a wet body is a bad combination. I guess when you’re in race mode you get over it quick because it didn’t faze me as much as I expected. I just hustled to my bike to get ready for the next leg.
The transition went smooth. Getting my shirt on was a bit difficult, for one I’ve never put more clothes on in the TA, but getting that thing over wet skin was a little difficult. But I got it on, put on the helmet and sunglasses and took off. Again, the shoes were already clipped to the pedals, so it was just a simple matter of hopping on the bike and putting my feet in on the fly. Simple. HA. For some reason it wasn’t so simple this time. First off, I haven’t done that move in 7 months. Probably should’ve practiced. Second, my feet were wet, which made it a lot harder to slip in. It took me probably a quarter mile to finally get my feet in the shoes and get them tightened up properly. But it was a good lesson that that’s something I really need to work on, aside from race day. Once I got going though I felt pretty strong on the bike. I was hitting the hills strong, passing a lot of racers and moving pretty fast. What I remember most about the bike though was the one long hill where the wind was pretty strong at our face. Even on the steeper hills I was pushing about 14-15 mph, yet this one, which wasn’t all that steep I was struggling to go 12. The wind was defeating, and the hill seemed to extend forever. Fortunately I only remember being passed by a handful of riders, which I guess means I was just that much faster of a swimmer that I had such a huge head start, cause overall, I still didn’t do all that well on the bike. We finally came around to the final stretch; I lowered my gears, increasing my cadence to get my legs ready for the 5k. My dismount was flawless; it went a lot smoother than the mount. As I approached about 500 feet out, I undid my shoes and get my feet out of them, pedaling from the top of them. As I approached the line, I slowed a bit, and hit the line, popped off the bike and took off running perfectly in stride, didn’t even waste a second on the dismount. For some reason I have that part down, it’s the first part that still eludes me, anyway, I digress.
Entering the second transition I wasn’t really sure if I still had feet. I looked down and did still see 10 toes which made me happy, because the sense of feeling had vacated me long ago. Having no feeling in my feet made it surprisingly difficult to get my shoes on. I guess I use my toes a bit to pull the shoe on, and that was not possible on this morning. But I did manage to get my shoes on pretty quickly, grabbed my number and took off. I attached my belt as I ran to the TA exit area and proceeded on to the run.
Due to the rain the night before they had to change the run course, much to my chagrin. Instead of it being an out and back, with just a short mild hill to start off with then flat changing to downhill for the final push. But not on this day. Part of the original course is on the side of the road on a dirt path. We were told that due to the rain that stretch would be unrunnable, so the course was changed to go up and down the same road twice then over to the finish. This changed the terrain to starting with a steep downhill, then back up the steep uphill, then a long less steep uphill, another turn around, then a long LOVELY downhill, turn around again, to the long steep uphill, followed by the long less steep uphill, but then, we still got to finish with the long downhill to the finish. So, I did ok. Close to my goal, probably could’ve hit my goal if I had just pushed a bit harder. So I started out easing myself into the race, letting gravity do its thing on the first descent, saving myself for the climb. I took it easy on the climb and felt fine, then pushed a bit harder for the remainder of the first mile which was mostly uphill. I remembered passing Rachel at what was about the half way point of the road. This really helped break the run into shorter sections. Get to the turn around, get to Rachel and say hi, get to the next turn around, repeat. The second mile we started out on the downhill, so I again let gravity work said hi to Rachel and Bandit, but kept my speed up all the way to the bottom of the steep hill, the second time up the steep hill was a bit tougher…and I was breathing pretty heavily on the way up it. Again thinking, just another minute to Rachel. I got to her and said hi again, mentioned the fact that despite all the work, it didn’t get me warm, then proceeded to hit the next turn around. Also knowing the next time I saw her would be after the race. It was also about this point that a girl, whose name I’ll never know, passed me. I’m used to getting passed on the run, but I found myself still just a few feet behind her after a while, then I made myself catch her. I made a comment about her pushing me, so we agreed to push each other for the rest. We both started picking up our pace, with the other following suit. When we got to the 3 mile mark she started slipping back…I loudly, but playfully, told her to catch up, which she did…we both then got to the final chute and turned into an all out sprint to the finish line. It was the first time I finished a race with a smile on my face! It was an awesome race, and thank you to the unknown racer who helped push me along! That was a really fun finish.
The final results were a 3:58 swim, 2nd in my division, which was about what I was hoping to do, 42:14 on the bike, 7th in my division, much slower than I wanted, and 25:26 on the run, also 7th in my division, which was an 8 min 12 second per mile pace. Not bad, but I want to improve. My goal is to get to the 7:30 mark for a sprint.
I finished 4th in the Clydesdale division out of 20. I was very pleased with this time, it should be mentioned that I beat the 5th place guy by 2 seconds. Clearly if it were not for the unknown racer, I would not have beaten him. She probably helped me finish a good 30 seconds faster than I would have. I finished 169th out of 565 total racers. All in all I was very happy with my performance, but it would’ve been nice to snag that 3rd place spot. Oh well, there are more races to be had.
So, what did I take home from this race? Well, first, my swimming is excellent. Out of 565 racers I had the 77th fastest swim, and I wasn’t pushing as hard as I could. Swimming continues to be my strongest sport. Which I really don’t understand. I’ve been swimming for 3 years now off and on, but have ran and cycled for a LOT longer. Biking and even more so, running, continue to be weak points for me and I will continue to work on them. My run to bike transition needs improvement, specifically when mounting the bike. It’s nothing I can’t accomplish, but just something that needs to be practiced more often. I don’t feel like I made any mistakes on the run, aside from the fact that I probably could’ve pushed a little bit harder on the down hills than I did, instead of only letting gravity do the work. I will improve my running, as I know I can do better. I may try a couple 5k and 10k’s around here to work on my race running. I’ve always run better in practice than the real deal, so that could be another avenue to try. Well if you made it this far I really appreciate you taking the time. This was my first race report so I probably wrote way too much and way more than you really care about! But I did try to make it somewhat interesting and I hope you enjoyed!
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