S - 16000 yds
B - 200.4 mi
R - 4 mi
Time - 14.45 hrs
My blister began healing rapidly on Monday morning so that was awesome. All of a sudden the bad stuff began dissappearing and the result was about 4 different layers of new skin. So gross, but so spectacular!!
I also had some fantastic swim workouts; somehow I was swimming my little arms off in the pool. Whatever magic juice I was on, I'll take it. Since NOLA I'd been feeling a little stale so this was a nice rebound.
Biking was also good this week; got in a lot of miles despite not finishing my ride on Sunday and really nailed those workouts as well.
I didn't run until Sunday as I wanted to make sure my foot was 100% good to go and unfortunately didn't get the chance to run on Sunday afternoon like I had planned even though my legs felt good most of the week.
Now on to Sunday's recap: (warning, this is long as it's thoroughly cathartic)
Drove up to Davidson to ride with Carrie and Fletch on a fun ride that included 5x10mins threshold intervals in the middle of a 4 hour ride. They were kind enough to let me sit on the front while I was pumping out threshold watts so at the beginning of the 3rd I was trucking along merrily at 280ish watts and started making a left turn onto Hart Rd off Cool Springs Rd, unaware that 2 days before they had begun the re-paving process so I was turning onto a road that was tarred and graveled and therefore extremely sketchy. As soon as I hit the gravel - while turning left - at 30mph my wheels slid out from under me and I went down and my left fist basically took the full brunt of the impact. I was very aware of what was happening as my head was up and eyes were open as I slid along the road. If it doesn't sound pleasant, believe me it wasn't.
As I sat up I assessed what was going on; despite being in a mild state of shock (ok maybe it was moderate...) I could tell that my hand was in some deep shizzle. I picked up my left hand and it was already covered in blood and upon flexing my fingers I also saw flashes of white and I assumed that was my knuckles. I quickly put my head down and raised my hand up as Carrie and Andrew got on the phone and called 911. I knew that there was a strong risk of passing out as I was both nauseous from seeing the injuries and the extremely high levels of pain. A couple of guys in a truck pulled over and got out some paper towels and cold bottled water which was awesome. It sort of sucks because it seems like the people that help you out are often only seen in emergency situations and then never seen again... Carrie and Fletch were being super supportive and keeping me "alert" as we waited for EMT's and the ambulance. The first respondents arrived after 8-10 minutes and they applied some minimal bandaging since they knew the EMS people would take them off immediately.
The ambulance arrived and they quickly put me in there for the trip to a Salisbury hospital. I didn't know it at the time but Carrie had hopped in the passenger seat and Fletch stayed behind with the bikes to wait for Shannon to come pick him up. The EMT re-did the bandages and started an IV. I was extremely cold and my pain level was steadily increasing. The ambulance took about 20-25 minutes to get to the hospital and once there the doctor took a look and basically said she thought I'd have to go down to CLT to see a hand specialist and get surgery. She gave some sweet pain meds and Carrie had made it into the room at this so I'm hoping I didn't say anything too embarrassing... After about 2 hours of back and forth doctors giving me shots, taking x-rays, etc Fletch made it up there and after a little more waiting we headed down to Charlotte. I'd had another dose of pain medicine so I was a tiny bit loopy...
At the CMC Main we sat around in the waiting room for at least 1.5 hours before being brought into a non waiting room that still wasn't my final destination. At this point Andrew had left to go back home (7:00ish?) so it was just me and Carrie fending for ourselves. I'm not sure why I was in this particular room but before too long we were sent to the Diagnostic waiting room. Carrie and I were both fading fast, as neither of us had eaten anything all day (literally: I had a bowl of cereal at 8am and a honey stinger waffle about 1hr into the ride and nothing else as the hospital wouldn't let me eat or drink since I might have to go to surgery) and while I had the mild pain to focus my energy Carrie had nothing but my boring dialogue... At around 9-9:30 Scott arrived and Carrie departed after a much longer day with me than originally planned...
We sat around a little while longer before finally being called into "the" room. Various doctors/nurses came in and out and before too long I literally fell asleep while Scott was out getting some food (it was maybe 11:30 at this point). I was awoken by a resident who said she'd be fixing me up at this late hour. After cleaning and examining she said it didn't appear as bad as the previous hospital had made it sound (I quote: "they made it sound like you had de-gloved the back of your hand") and then proceeded to thoroughly clean my wounds. It must be noted that Scott was watching this entire process while pacing back and forth and making painful sounding noises and providing commentary such as: "Dude she's got tweezers halfway up in your hand!!" Fast forward to the end and I had some stitches, some prescriptions, and some instructions and at 1:30am Scott and I headed out of the hospital and home.
I can't thank Andrew, Carrie and Scott enough; if it weren't for them this day would have been far worse and much lonelier. I am so glad they were there for me when I needed them the most!
Now I'll be taking some time off as I'm very sore and tired. At least 2 weeks off from swimming, I haven't ridden (trainer) or run (treadmill) yet but probably will before the weekend. I'll have to do some physical therapy to teach my tendons how to work properly again and hopefully will regain full motor control over my hands and 100% full function. Time will tell!!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
White Lake 69.2
S - 11,000 yards
B - 108.2 miles
R - 16.6 miles (23 miles ish in reality)
Time - 10.5 hours
Not a lot to report on this week as my volume was quite low, due mostly to the fact that I raced on Sunday and raced again on Saturday. The blister issue that appeared after NOLA, then went away, then came back again after the Morganton Biathlon on Sunday was in full force this whole week, really limiting my running and even to a certain extent my biking. It was quite painful all week and I was hesitant to even do White Lake on Saturday as I was worried it would worsen the situation considerably. As race day approached, however, it became slightly more manageable and I figured if I got off the bike in the race and it hurt too much I could always stop. Anyways, on to the good stuff...
White Lake Half (err, 69.2) Race Report
Andrew picked me up at Scott's house and away we headed to the magical land of White Lake, NC. The drive was mostly uneventful and we arrived with more than enough time to pick up our packets and putz around in our luxurious accommodations, setting up the bikes and getting in a little swim in the lake. After all was said and done and the German finally arrived we ate dinner and settled in for a good night's sleep.
Upon waking in the morning we noticed it was decidedly misty outside and looking at the Lake we saw that there was a TON of fog sitting over the water. Not thinking much of it at the time (who thinks a lot at 6am, not me!) we got on our bikes and rode over to transition area to begin setting up for the day; put on the wetsuits and headed into the water to get warmed up for the race. After a while it was clear that there was no way to see buoys if the race started on time and accordingly, the RD pushed the start back a bit to see if it would clear. We continued to flop around in the water a bit before the RD came on and said they were going to delay the start until 8am and if the fog was still there the swim would likely be nixed. So we got out of the water to stand around and then once they actually said they'd cancel the swim and it'd be a bike/run (oh joy!) we headed over to take off the wetsuits and get ready to ride. At this point, everybody was blaming me for being a jinx and I can't say I blame them!
Transition 1 in :55
So they gathered us in wave order and let us run to transition from the Lake in groups of 10 or so. I elbowed my way past John just to make sure he knew where he stood in the scheme of things and ran towards my bike, put on my shoes (we had already put on helmets/shades/etc), grab my bike and head onto the roads.
Bike 56 miles in 2:16:15 (4th), ~24.7 mph
As I headed out on the bike, I was thinking several things. Those included but were not limited to:
"Why the F can't I get a swim in a race this year (Cool Breeze does not count)??!!"
"Blisters are stupid."
"This is going to be an interesting bike ride with all of us starting together."
The last was the most relevant during the bike portion as everyone headed out basically together. I believe I started the bike in 3rd place (ish, since it was a TT start) and just started putting out my steady watt target for the day. I eventually made my way up to the front of the race and "led" for a while before being passed by the various people I had started with. I was rolling pretty fast through the first 10-15 miles (~25.5ish mph avg) and the "group" of 10 or so was all together. The cool thing about started in this format was that it felt very much like what I imagine the Pros feel like at bigger races. There was a legal draft paceline going on for most of the day on the bike and there is a definite benefit to legal drafting. Benefit in the sense that if you're in the back end of the "train" your watts are lower (5-7%) but you're forced to ride other people's race. I think I would have biked a little faster had I been solo the whole time as there was one long section (7-10) miles where I was below goal watts, but that's something I'm just saying and have no way of actually backing that up with any real truths. Most of the things I say are like that actually...
We continued on our merry way and I continued to hydrate and stuff gels into my face and we eventually made it to the out and back section. At this point, Tom Clifford had just passed me and at the turnaround I saw that our "group" was still very much intact. It was also fun to see everyone behind us and see how everyone looked. After a bit a passed Tom as he ate something to re-take the "lead" and we got back out on the main road and chugged along the bumpy, slightly uphill, headwind section of the bike route. At some point, a guy on a road bike with clip ons passed me looking like he was riding as hard as he could. He was going pretty fast and the first thing I thought was "there's no way this guy is for real!" (turns out I was wrong haha!) So he took the effective "lead" for a while before Kit Phillips and another guy passed and put a slightly larger-than-normal gap on me. They were riding pretty hard and I had been steadily raising my watts a hair so I let them go do their own thing. As we approached the last 5ish miles of the bike I looked behind and realized there was a significant gap from me to the next racer. As I rode in to transition I unstrapped my shoes and dismounted nice and smooth.
Transition 2 in 1:24
I had made the decision prior to the race to use "real" laces instead of Yankz and thereby sacrificed all the time I had gained on the bike while bent over tying my shoes. I swapped out my gel flasks, put on my visor and headed out on the run course.
Run 13.1 miles in 1:25:52 (4th), 6:33/mi
As I started the run course, my foot was definitely uncomfortable. My stride had a very slight hitch in it but it wasn't overwhelming so I felt like I could press on without any long-term damage. Luckily I was correct as the pain level was "manageable" throughout the run and never got worse. My first couple of miles were relatively quick and I felt...just ok. At NOLA I was clicking off fast miles and felt like I was running along on a training run but at WL I was definitely working a little bit harder for similar paces. Around mile 2 my left hamstring decided to seize up a bit so I stopped to stretch both of them out, slightly worried that my day would be over at that point but luckily my overly dramatic thoughts proved to be incorrect and I got back on the road but kept the pace a litttttle slower just to make sure my problems had been stretched out of the ol' legs.
My pace through the first half of the run stayed pretty decent but I could tell that my run time was not going to be nearly as surprising as NOLA's was; I definitely didn't feel at my best but had some good carrots in front of me in the form of Kit Phillips and Mark Carey. I managed to catch Kit right after the turnaround and ran behind him for a while before passing him. Unfortunately my lower quad muscles decided that the faster pace was not to their liking and started to give off some warning signs so I slowed and Kit returned the favor. From this point on it was pretty much just about managing pace so as to not slow down too much but also not go so fast that my legs wouldn't cramp. I also just couldn't go very fast period, so my excuse to prevent cramping is kind of silly. At mile 12.5 the guy that came in second (road bike guy actually!! awesome) flew by me doing about 100mph and I tried to latch onto his pace since I had been slowly catching Kit/Mark in the hopes that he could drag me up to them but after about 2 or 300 yards it was just too much and I resigned myself to trotting in towards the finish line.
Finished 5th OA, which was both good and bad at the same time.
The race itself was sort of bittersweet. Bitter in the sense that I didn't get to swim (AGAIN) and I think my placing would have been a bit higher as a consequence (I think I'm a better swimmer than a couple of the guys ahead of me and I'd be willing to bet a couple of them wouldn't have biked as fast had it been more of a solo venture) and because I didn't run as well as I did at NOLA. Sweet in the sense that I still ran a 1:25:high despite being semi-injured and not feeling 100% and it shows continual improvement, which is all I'm really looking for right now.
At this point, I won't be racing again for another month (word to the wise: everyone doing Latta should start to get worried because since I'm signed up they will probably cancel the swim for some reason!!) so after I allow my foot to heal properly I can get back into the exciting daily grind of banging out some awesome training. In a couple of weeks I also plan to do some of the NC State Cycling championship races (crit/TT/RR) so that will be a nice diversion. Big thanks to Bob and Melissa (and Paul at Winskins) for getting my new kit ready in a short amount of time and just for being awesome!
B - 108.2 miles
R - 16.6 miles (23 miles ish in reality)
Time - 10.5 hours
Not a lot to report on this week as my volume was quite low, due mostly to the fact that I raced on Sunday and raced again on Saturday. The blister issue that appeared after NOLA, then went away, then came back again after the Morganton Biathlon on Sunday was in full force this whole week, really limiting my running and even to a certain extent my biking. It was quite painful all week and I was hesitant to even do White Lake on Saturday as I was worried it would worsen the situation considerably. As race day approached, however, it became slightly more manageable and I figured if I got off the bike in the race and it hurt too much I could always stop. Anyways, on to the good stuff...
White Lake Half (err, 69.2) Race Report
Andrew picked me up at Scott's house and away we headed to the magical land of White Lake, NC. The drive was mostly uneventful and we arrived with more than enough time to pick up our packets and putz around in our luxurious accommodations, setting up the bikes and getting in a little swim in the lake. After all was said and done and the German finally arrived we ate dinner and settled in for a good night's sleep.
Upon waking in the morning we noticed it was decidedly misty outside and looking at the Lake we saw that there was a TON of fog sitting over the water. Not thinking much of it at the time (who thinks a lot at 6am, not me!) we got on our bikes and rode over to transition area to begin setting up for the day; put on the wetsuits and headed into the water to get warmed up for the race. After a while it was clear that there was no way to see buoys if the race started on time and accordingly, the RD pushed the start back a bit to see if it would clear. We continued to flop around in the water a bit before the RD came on and said they were going to delay the start until 8am and if the fog was still there the swim would likely be nixed. So we got out of the water to stand around and then once they actually said they'd cancel the swim and it'd be a bike/run (oh joy!) we headed over to take off the wetsuits and get ready to ride. At this point, everybody was blaming me for being a jinx and I can't say I blame them!
Transition 1 in :55
So they gathered us in wave order and let us run to transition from the Lake in groups of 10 or so. I elbowed my way past John just to make sure he knew where he stood in the scheme of things and ran towards my bike, put on my shoes (we had already put on helmets/shades/etc), grab my bike and head onto the roads.
Bike 56 miles in 2:16:15 (4th), ~24.7 mph
As I headed out on the bike, I was thinking several things. Those included but were not limited to:
"Why the F can't I get a swim in a race this year (Cool Breeze does not count)??!!"
"Blisters are stupid."
"This is going to be an interesting bike ride with all of us starting together."
The last was the most relevant during the bike portion as everyone headed out basically together. I believe I started the bike in 3rd place (ish, since it was a TT start) and just started putting out my steady watt target for the day. I eventually made my way up to the front of the race and "led" for a while before being passed by the various people I had started with. I was rolling pretty fast through the first 10-15 miles (~25.5ish mph avg) and the "group" of 10 or so was all together. The cool thing about started in this format was that it felt very much like what I imagine the Pros feel like at bigger races. There was a legal draft paceline going on for most of the day on the bike and there is a definite benefit to legal drafting. Benefit in the sense that if you're in the back end of the "train" your watts are lower (5-7%) but you're forced to ride other people's race. I think I would have biked a little faster had I been solo the whole time as there was one long section (7-10) miles where I was below goal watts, but that's something I'm just saying and have no way of actually backing that up with any real truths. Most of the things I say are like that actually...
We continued on our merry way and I continued to hydrate and stuff gels into my face and we eventually made it to the out and back section. At this point, Tom Clifford had just passed me and at the turnaround I saw that our "group" was still very much intact. It was also fun to see everyone behind us and see how everyone looked. After a bit a passed Tom as he ate something to re-take the "lead" and we got back out on the main road and chugged along the bumpy, slightly uphill, headwind section of the bike route. At some point, a guy on a road bike with clip ons passed me looking like he was riding as hard as he could. He was going pretty fast and the first thing I thought was "there's no way this guy is for real!" (turns out I was wrong haha!) So he took the effective "lead" for a while before Kit Phillips and another guy passed and put a slightly larger-than-normal gap on me. They were riding pretty hard and I had been steadily raising my watts a hair so I let them go do their own thing. As we approached the last 5ish miles of the bike I looked behind and realized there was a significant gap from me to the next racer. As I rode in to transition I unstrapped my shoes and dismounted nice and smooth.
Transition 2 in 1:24
I had made the decision prior to the race to use "real" laces instead of Yankz and thereby sacrificed all the time I had gained on the bike while bent over tying my shoes. I swapped out my gel flasks, put on my visor and headed out on the run course.
Run 13.1 miles in 1:25:52 (4th), 6:33/mi
As I started the run course, my foot was definitely uncomfortable. My stride had a very slight hitch in it but it wasn't overwhelming so I felt like I could press on without any long-term damage. Luckily I was correct as the pain level was "manageable" throughout the run and never got worse. My first couple of miles were relatively quick and I felt...just ok. At NOLA I was clicking off fast miles and felt like I was running along on a training run but at WL I was definitely working a little bit harder for similar paces. Around mile 2 my left hamstring decided to seize up a bit so I stopped to stretch both of them out, slightly worried that my day would be over at that point but luckily my overly dramatic thoughts proved to be incorrect and I got back on the road but kept the pace a litttttle slower just to make sure my problems had been stretched out of the ol' legs.
My pace through the first half of the run stayed pretty decent but I could tell that my run time was not going to be nearly as surprising as NOLA's was; I definitely didn't feel at my best but had some good carrots in front of me in the form of Kit Phillips and Mark Carey. I managed to catch Kit right after the turnaround and ran behind him for a while before passing him. Unfortunately my lower quad muscles decided that the faster pace was not to their liking and started to give off some warning signs so I slowed and Kit returned the favor. From this point on it was pretty much just about managing pace so as to not slow down too much but also not go so fast that my legs wouldn't cramp. I also just couldn't go very fast period, so my excuse to prevent cramping is kind of silly. At mile 12.5 the guy that came in second (road bike guy actually!! awesome) flew by me doing about 100mph and I tried to latch onto his pace since I had been slowly catching Kit/Mark in the hopes that he could drag me up to them but after about 2 or 300 yards it was just too much and I resigned myself to trotting in towards the finish line.
Finished 5th OA, which was both good and bad at the same time.
The race itself was sort of bittersweet. Bitter in the sense that I didn't get to swim (AGAIN) and I think my placing would have been a bit higher as a consequence (I think I'm a better swimmer than a couple of the guys ahead of me and I'd be willing to bet a couple of them wouldn't have biked as fast had it been more of a solo venture) and because I didn't run as well as I did at NOLA. Sweet in the sense that I still ran a 1:25:high despite being semi-injured and not feeling 100% and it shows continual improvement, which is all I'm really looking for right now.
At this point, I won't be racing again for another month (word to the wise: everyone doing Latta should start to get worried because since I'm signed up they will probably cancel the swim for some reason!!) so after I allow my foot to heal properly I can get back into the exciting daily grind of banging out some awesome training. In a couple of weeks I also plan to do some of the NC State Cycling championship races (crit/TT/RR) so that will be a nice diversion. Big thanks to Bob and Melissa (and Paul at Winskins) for getting my new kit ready in a short amount of time and just for being awesome!
Monday, May 2, 2011
May Day Biathlon-ing
S - 14,100 yards
B - 184.9 miles
R - 47.9 miles
Time - 18.78 hours
This week brought with it the first batch of real humidity and I definitely suffered a little bit consequently. I had to bail halfway through a threshold run workout on Wednesday since my PRE was so much higher than my actual pace would suggest it just didn't seem worth it. Once we moved into Thursday though the weather seemed to realize how annoying it was being and cooled off a bit. Although it wasn't so much the heat, it was the humidity. Every year this seems to come as some sort of surprise to me; it's going to get humid and hot and I asked for it all winter!
Not a lot to mention about the swims; I've been a little inconsistent lately but that's primarily due to racing (taper/race/recovery) and I did miss a swim on Saturday since the MAC was closed but made up for a bit with my first real OWS of the season on Sunday with the North Crew. It was also my first longer swim in a wetsuit since Triple-T last year and with White Lake traditionally being wetsuit legal that's definitely good to get in a swim with your body condom on before actually racing! Otherwise it can feel really terrible...
Cycling was good this week; not too many exciting things to report (which is so different than normal!!) but I felt a little flat all week for no good reason other than the fact that it was a little warm. It worried me a bit heading into the race on Sunday since I knew the course would be fairly challenging. Luckily it didn't seem to be an issue.
Besides the previously mentioned middle-of-the-run meltdown I felt pretty good most of the week. A little sore and crampy but I think since I got hot I haven't been hydrating quite as well and that showed up a bit during a couple of runs.
Morganton May Day Biathlon Race Report
1st OA, no course record
Brian suggested I do this race back in January and it seemed like a great idea since it was close and cheap (only 30 bucks!) and they offered prize money for placing and a big prize if you broke the course record (set back in 1992 by one of the best duathletes/triathletes of the 90s Jay Curwen).
Woke up Sunday morning feeling super tired as I didn't get much sleep the night before but that was nothing a little Dunking Donuts couldn't fix. Made the relatively quick drive to the race site where I signed up, set up my bike and went for a warm-up run with a couple of efforts at or around LT pace to activate that system and get the blood moving. I felt pretty awesome on this run actually - however brief - and was exciting about trying to go run a fast 5k.
As an aside, my previous open 5k best (so not including sprint tris where the course is always in question!) was a 17:27 I believe, back in August of 2008 at the Greekfest 5k. I consider this biathlon 5k to be an "open" 5k since it was first and since I didn't hold back (knowingly anyway). I did notice that Sonni and Jay were both at the race, so that was two "known" competitors that I hoped would galvanize some fast times.
5k - 16:32 - 1st, 5:19 avg
Lined up on the front and started off pretty quick. One guy jumped out really fast immediately with another guy chasing (the "other" guy was obviously out of his element...) so I settled in and temporarily led a "chase" pack about 10m behind the frontrunner. Within a quarter mile I was passed by two guys and setttled in behind them to work on my already excellent drafting skillz. Just before mile 1 a shorter guy (ended up coming in 2nd) created a gap in front of the dude in front of me so I decided to bridge and caught him at about mile 1, which we went through in 5:04. There was a long, gradual downhill after that and I continued to sit behind 2nd place guy and felt very in control for the next 800m or so. Just before mile 2 on a slight incline I decided to back off the pace a bit just to make sure I still felt "comfortable" and ended up losing my pacing buddy just at mile 2, which we passed in 5:13ish. I tried to hold a steady effort level and mile 2-3 involved some effort level so my pace slowed a bit as a consequence. I still felt strong and smooth and went through the mile about 100-150m behind 2nd place guy in 5:33ish. At that point it was mostly flat to the finish and I held 5:11ish pace through the finish line for a 16:32.5 official time. Obviously, huge PR in the 5k with no real speed-specific work. Very encouraging stuff!
Transition - 1:02 (unofficial since I just hit my lap button and there were no mats to cross)
I was first across the line in terms of biathl(etes?) and made my way to my bike. Unfortunately I had put my bike in an awkward place not knowing the layout of run in/bike out so that was a silly mistake. Put on my helmet and bike shoes and made my way out of the parking lot
Bike 19.3 mi - 47:48 - 1st, 24.2 mph
Headed out on the bike hot on the tails of the police car and the first part of the bike was relatively flat. I was definitely tired but not overly so and was pumped about how fast I had been able to run on a course that was actually a 5k (3.12 miles!) so I was riding pretty hard initially. I eventually managed to settle in and put out some power over the rolling course. There were several climbs where I shifted into the small ring and one big one up to a dam that was pretty awesome. To the left was the water and 100ft down to the right was where I had just ridden. Pretty cool. The course was quite challenging but not in a way to disrupt the rhythm. I was able to hold good speed over the top of hills and power over the shorter ones. There were relatively few "flat" sections but I was moving well and pushing at the burn point without blowing up (yet). There were never any other racers in sight behind me so it was somewhat hard to stay motivated to push hard. I knew that, barring catastrophe or some ridiculous cyclist catching me, I was likely going to win but I still hoped to sniff the course record so I was able to mentally overcome my body telling me to slow down. As I got closer to the finish I realized I wasn't going to be close to the CR (turns out, later in the same year he set the record Jay Curwen went 3:47ish at the Gulf Coast Half...disgusting!) but still rode strong and crossed the finish line with 1st place well in hand.
Full Results Here
All in all, this was a really fun event. An interesting format that made for a great VO2 max workout and a chance to see how fast I could go off relatively little to no "go-fast" training. I've now had a painful blister re-emerge after it went away post NOLA so I'm a little discouraged by that and hoping it doesn't affect White Lake on Saturday.
With the way the weather is looking for White Lake we may see some fast times, especially on the run. While I can't hope to PB every time in my 70.3s, I'd love to this weekend for sure. The swim is always slow there (at least for me) so if I swim 30mins I'll be (relatively) pleased; on the bike I'll be able to ride much steadier than NOLA and so hopefully that will net, if not a faster time, a smoother ride and therefore less strain on my legs. I'm going to try and take the run out a bit slower than in New Orleans but depending on how the race shakes out I may not be able to do that. This will certainly feel more like a "race" than New Orleans and we have a big, fun crowd heading over so it'll be a really fun weekend (as long as my stupid foot cooperates!!)
B - 184.9 miles
R - 47.9 miles
Time - 18.78 hours
This week brought with it the first batch of real humidity and I definitely suffered a little bit consequently. I had to bail halfway through a threshold run workout on Wednesday since my PRE was so much higher than my actual pace would suggest it just didn't seem worth it. Once we moved into Thursday though the weather seemed to realize how annoying it was being and cooled off a bit. Although it wasn't so much the heat, it was the humidity. Every year this seems to come as some sort of surprise to me; it's going to get humid and hot and I asked for it all winter!
Not a lot to mention about the swims; I've been a little inconsistent lately but that's primarily due to racing (taper/race/recovery) and I did miss a swim on Saturday since the MAC was closed but made up for a bit with my first real OWS of the season on Sunday with the North Crew. It was also my first longer swim in a wetsuit since Triple-T last year and with White Lake traditionally being wetsuit legal that's definitely good to get in a swim with your body condom on before actually racing! Otherwise it can feel really terrible...
Cycling was good this week; not too many exciting things to report (which is so different than normal!!) but I felt a little flat all week for no good reason other than the fact that it was a little warm. It worried me a bit heading into the race on Sunday since I knew the course would be fairly challenging. Luckily it didn't seem to be an issue.
Besides the previously mentioned middle-of-the-run meltdown I felt pretty good most of the week. A little sore and crampy but I think since I got hot I haven't been hydrating quite as well and that showed up a bit during a couple of runs.
Morganton May Day Biathlon Race Report
1st OA, no course record
Brian suggested I do this race back in January and it seemed like a great idea since it was close and cheap (only 30 bucks!) and they offered prize money for placing and a big prize if you broke the course record (set back in 1992 by one of the best duathletes/triathletes of the 90s Jay Curwen).
Woke up Sunday morning feeling super tired as I didn't get much sleep the night before but that was nothing a little Dunking Donuts couldn't fix. Made the relatively quick drive to the race site where I signed up, set up my bike and went for a warm-up run with a couple of efforts at or around LT pace to activate that system and get the blood moving. I felt pretty awesome on this run actually - however brief - and was exciting about trying to go run a fast 5k.
As an aside, my previous open 5k best (so not including sprint tris where the course is always in question!) was a 17:27 I believe, back in August of 2008 at the Greekfest 5k. I consider this biathlon 5k to be an "open" 5k since it was first and since I didn't hold back (knowingly anyway). I did notice that Sonni and Jay were both at the race, so that was two "known" competitors that I hoped would galvanize some fast times.
5k - 16:32 - 1st, 5:19 avg
Lined up on the front and started off pretty quick. One guy jumped out really fast immediately with another guy chasing (the "other" guy was obviously out of his element...) so I settled in and temporarily led a "chase" pack about 10m behind the frontrunner. Within a quarter mile I was passed by two guys and setttled in behind them to work on my already excellent drafting skillz. Just before mile 1 a shorter guy (ended up coming in 2nd) created a gap in front of the dude in front of me so I decided to bridge and caught him at about mile 1, which we went through in 5:04. There was a long, gradual downhill after that and I continued to sit behind 2nd place guy and felt very in control for the next 800m or so. Just before mile 2 on a slight incline I decided to back off the pace a bit just to make sure I still felt "comfortable" and ended up losing my pacing buddy just at mile 2, which we passed in 5:13ish. I tried to hold a steady effort level and mile 2-3 involved some effort level so my pace slowed a bit as a consequence. I still felt strong and smooth and went through the mile about 100-150m behind 2nd place guy in 5:33ish. At that point it was mostly flat to the finish and I held 5:11ish pace through the finish line for a 16:32.5 official time. Obviously, huge PR in the 5k with no real speed-specific work. Very encouraging stuff!
Transition - 1:02 (unofficial since I just hit my lap button and there were no mats to cross)
I was first across the line in terms of biathl(etes?) and made my way to my bike. Unfortunately I had put my bike in an awkward place not knowing the layout of run in/bike out so that was a silly mistake. Put on my helmet and bike shoes and made my way out of the parking lot
Bike 19.3 mi - 47:48 - 1st, 24.2 mph
Headed out on the bike hot on the tails of the police car and the first part of the bike was relatively flat. I was definitely tired but not overly so and was pumped about how fast I had been able to run on a course that was actually a 5k (3.12 miles!) so I was riding pretty hard initially. I eventually managed to settle in and put out some power over the rolling course. There were several climbs where I shifted into the small ring and one big one up to a dam that was pretty awesome. To the left was the water and 100ft down to the right was where I had just ridden. Pretty cool. The course was quite challenging but not in a way to disrupt the rhythm. I was able to hold good speed over the top of hills and power over the shorter ones. There were relatively few "flat" sections but I was moving well and pushing at the burn point without blowing up (yet). There were never any other racers in sight behind me so it was somewhat hard to stay motivated to push hard. I knew that, barring catastrophe or some ridiculous cyclist catching me, I was likely going to win but I still hoped to sniff the course record so I was able to mentally overcome my body telling me to slow down. As I got closer to the finish I realized I wasn't going to be close to the CR (turns out, later in the same year he set the record Jay Curwen went 3:47ish at the Gulf Coast Half...disgusting!) but still rode strong and crossed the finish line with 1st place well in hand.
Full Results Here
All in all, this was a really fun event. An interesting format that made for a great VO2 max workout and a chance to see how fast I could go off relatively little to no "go-fast" training. I've now had a painful blister re-emerge after it went away post NOLA so I'm a little discouraged by that and hoping it doesn't affect White Lake on Saturday.
With the way the weather is looking for White Lake we may see some fast times, especially on the run. While I can't hope to PB every time in my 70.3s, I'd love to this weekend for sure. The swim is always slow there (at least for me) so if I swim 30mins I'll be (relatively) pleased; on the bike I'll be able to ride much steadier than NOLA and so hopefully that will net, if not a faster time, a smoother ride and therefore less strain on my legs. I'm going to try and take the run out a bit slower than in New Orleans but depending on how the race shakes out I may not be able to do that. This will certainly feel more like a "race" than New Orleans and we have a big, fun crowd heading over so it'll be a really fun weekend (as long as my stupid foot cooperates!!)
Monday, April 25, 2011
Recovery
S - 8600 yards
B - 199 miles
R - 24.5 miles
Time - 15.22 hours
So the name of the game this week - at least in the early part - was to make sure I was adequately recovered from the tough "workout" last Sunday. Each time I've read race reports about the race (James McCurdy - fastest amateur and M25-29, AJ Baucco - 3rd 25-29) from people that were/are faster than me I've gotten to relive the race and feel good about my performance. While I wasn't as fast as those guys (although I was close), I did run faster than both and feel good about how close I was to the "top" after just 3 solid months of training. I think had the swim been included I would have moved up at least one, perhaps two spots in my AG (I did a little stalking of previous results for those ahead of me and saw some interesting swim times; obviously it's tough to get a true picture of a person's swimming ability but it gives you a decent idea) so that's encouraging.
I didn't swim until Wednesday and felt pretty rough (hadn't swam since last Wednesday since the swim was nixed at NOLA) and through the rest of my swims I felt slow. The lack of frequency really seems to be manifested when I start swimming regularly so hopefully that will abate once I get back to my normal schedule.
Cycling was good this week; I felt like with the taper/race/recovery I got a little shot in the arm when it came to my bike fitness. When I told this to Coach Brian he said it likely meant that my taper for future big races needed to be a bit longer, which makes sense. It's all just one big learning experience. I had a tough (and long) bike workout on Sunday but managed to get through it without any real issues.
Running was good, not a lot of mileage but the runs felt nice. I definitely felt recovered by Wednesday and my first run of the week wasn't until Thursday so that was nice.
The biggest non-workout related thing I did this week was to go to the Jimmy Buffet concert on Thursday. While something like that is definitely not part of my normal "schedule" it was the perfect week to tailgate/concert for 8+ hours and I got to go and try and be social, which is something I almost never do. So I had a good time and while my workouts the next day were a bit of a drag I managed just fine.
Next weekend is the Morganton Biathlon which will, unintentionally of course, be my second "duathlon" of the year. The drive is short and the race was suggested to me by Coach so I'm excited to partake!
B - 199 miles
R - 24.5 miles
Time - 15.22 hours
So the name of the game this week - at least in the early part - was to make sure I was adequately recovered from the tough "workout" last Sunday. Each time I've read race reports about the race (James McCurdy - fastest amateur and M25-29, AJ Baucco - 3rd 25-29) from people that were/are faster than me I've gotten to relive the race and feel good about my performance. While I wasn't as fast as those guys (although I was close), I did run faster than both and feel good about how close I was to the "top" after just 3 solid months of training. I think had the swim been included I would have moved up at least one, perhaps two spots in my AG (I did a little stalking of previous results for those ahead of me and saw some interesting swim times; obviously it's tough to get a true picture of a person's swimming ability but it gives you a decent idea) so that's encouraging.
I didn't swim until Wednesday and felt pretty rough (hadn't swam since last Wednesday since the swim was nixed at NOLA) and through the rest of my swims I felt slow. The lack of frequency really seems to be manifested when I start swimming regularly so hopefully that will abate once I get back to my normal schedule.
Cycling was good this week; I felt like with the taper/race/recovery I got a little shot in the arm when it came to my bike fitness. When I told this to Coach Brian he said it likely meant that my taper for future big races needed to be a bit longer, which makes sense. It's all just one big learning experience. I had a tough (and long) bike workout on Sunday but managed to get through it without any real issues.
Running was good, not a lot of mileage but the runs felt nice. I definitely felt recovered by Wednesday and my first run of the week wasn't until Thursday so that was nice.
The biggest non-workout related thing I did this week was to go to the Jimmy Buffet concert on Thursday. While something like that is definitely not part of my normal "schedule" it was the perfect week to tailgate/concert for 8+ hours and I got to go and try and be social, which is something I almost never do. So I had a good time and while my workouts the next day were a bit of a drag I managed just fine.
Next weekend is the Morganton Biathlon which will, unintentionally of course, be my second "duathlon" of the year. The drive is short and the race was suggested to me by Coach so I'm excited to partake!
Monday, April 18, 2011
New Orleans 69.1
S - 6,750 yards
B - 106.1 miles
R - 27.5 miles
Time - 9.89 hours
Whew, this week was easy! Well, until you consider the pain that Sunday brought with it...
Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal days for me this week since my "taper" didn't start until Wednesday. Normal (albeit shorter) swim with the group on Monday then a normal run Tuesday morning and a bike ride with some short (but sweet) intervals. Starting Wednesday my volume reduced dramatically in prep for the race on Sunday. Thursday was a (glorious) 11 hour travel day and Friday/Saturday workouts were very short and most of my accomplishments revolved around making sure I was race ready from a logistical standpoint.
New Orleans 70.3 Duathlon
Well, there's nothing quite like rolling into transition area to the first big "A" race of the year and hearing over the loudspeakers that "Due to high winds and inability to set up the course the swim has been canceled this year and we're doing a duathlon of bike + run!" Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed. But instead of whining about how much work I've done on the swim and how I was hoping to show some progress (wait, I did just whine...oh well) you've got to adapt to the new situation and move on; which is what I tried to do. It seemed like a lot of people were getting bent out of shape, but from looking at the water and seeing how windy it was in transition I can't say I WANTED to jump in the water.
So the day really began with just sitting down and waiting. Luckily I ran into Tara Flint in transition so I had someone to hang out with while we both waited for our wave starts. She may be a member of the "evil" Triangle Multisports team but luckily (for her) we went to college and raced bikes together so it was ok to hang out and chit chat.
Bike 56 miles in 2:16:52 (24.55mph), 4th fastest 25-29
Relatively quickly the M25-29 wave was called to the "start" so I saddled up and joined the line. It was actually relatively chilly since the sun hadn't really warmed things up yet and the wind was pretty stiff so I was eager to get on the bike and start working. They were starting groups of two every two seconds so my turn came up and away I went. The course started in a westerly direction down Lakeshore Dr (with the wind) so the first 3-4 miles were quite fast to the turnaround point. It was EXCEPTIONALLY crowded and I was a little over my wattage goals for most of the ride as a consequence. After the turnaround we headed back down Lakeshore and dead into the wind (this road is completely unprotected from the lake and the wind was really, really strong here), which would be a common theme for the next ~20+ miles or so. The course was definitely more crowded this year and there were some definite "packs" that had formed. It wasn't so much a drafting pack but at times there were maybe 6 passes happening at once so on several occasions I had to swing a little wider than I normally would deem "safe" to complete the pass.
Well, time went on and I continued my way towards the first turnaround spot (the course was shaped like a "Y") down in Venetian Isles. At this point I was getting slightly uncomfortable in one specific area so I was looking forward to the opportunity to stand up on the pedals out of the 180 degree turn (since unless I have to I try to stay in aero position as much as possible...for better or for worse). Made the turn and had a super awesome tailwind for the next bunch of miles. Along this stretch I was averaging 26+ mph and I took the time to make sure I was caught up on gels and water. Made the right turn onto the other part of the "Y" and unfortunately back into the wind. This slog continued for a while before hitting the final turnaround and heading back with a tailwind for good.
At about mile 40 I began to feel a bit tired but knew I had it in me to finish off strong and so continued to push and raise my average speed all the way back down Haynes Blvd and closer to the Lakefront area. Without much interesting to report I took my feet out of my bike shoes and headed into transition.
For the sake of showing how windy it was, here are my 7 mile bike split avg speeds:
23.9 (mph), 21.4, 23.4, 21.8, 26.0, 26.3, 27.1, 27.7
Transition "2" in 1:33
We had a slightly longer run into (or rather, around) transition this year. I made my way around, put my bike back and grabbed one of my gel flasks. Then put on my shoes, took my helmet off and grabbed my visor before heading out onto the run course.
Run 13.1 miles in 1:21:32 (6:13/mi), 4th fastest 25-29
Heading out onto the run I had mixed feelings. Given my time and the wind, I figured I may have ridden too hard to run fast but I stayed (pretty closely) within my wattage targets so I was optimistic. The weather was nice too, albeit a bit warm. Lots of sun and a stiff breeze made it feel cooler than it was last year. I had set my garmin to show "current lap time" and "current lap avg pace'' (on 1 mile laps) so I could properly pace myself or know if I was slowing down too much. My first mile was a bit fast but I kept trying to slow down (and failing!). The first couple of miles wound around the Lakeshore area before heading into City Park at mile 4ish. The aid stations were incredible this year, with volunteers all over the place trying to pass out water/perform drink/coke/sponges etc. At every aid station until my flask ran out I took a hit of gel and a ltitle water. I actually carried the flask in my hand the whole time as opposed to in my pocket as in days gone by just so I'd be sure to take in the calories and not "forget." I kept rattling off miles that were much faster than I thought I could run but I didn't feel like I was working overly hard and I felt I could maintain pace so I just kept going. I went through 5k in just a hair over 18 minutes and through 7.5ish miles my pace was quite similar (a bit slower, but only because I didn't have that rogue first fast mile in there). Once out of city park it became a mental game as at this point I was definitely working hard. There weren't as many people out on the roads (spectators or participants) so it was a bit more of a lonely affair. Once onto Esplanade I knew I was getting close but that road is so miserable (last real road but it's completely flat and straight so you can see ALL the way down! And the road surface is terrible) that I was starting to doubt. I did slow down a little bit in the 2.5 miles on Esplanade but I was experiencing some minor cramping in my calves (where a muscle would fire like it was going to cramp but then subside) so I was a bit worried and when that happened I slowed down for a bit before picking it back up.
Once I turned onto Decatur I finally let myself realize that I was going to set a ridiculous PR for the 70.3 (errr, 69.2) half marathon. Last year at New Orleans I ran just a hair over 1:32 so to run this fast was a revelation for me. It just goes to show that all the work I've been putting in has been paying off! Very exciting stuff.
Mile Splits
5:55 - 6:04 - 6:10 - 6:14 - 6:09 - 6:05 - 6:13 -
6:12 - 6:09 - 6:14 - 6:18 - 6:25 - 6:23 - 5:58 avg for .18 miles
To race like that and come in 5th place in my AG just goes to show how many fast people showed up to race today. I can't be disappointed with that. Not that I was, I was just surprised. It's hard to even say how I feel about that run. It was SUCH a huge breakthrough. In the back of my head I dreamed about running 1:24-1:25 so to blow the doors off that was just incredibly surprising. Not all races can go this well, of course, but knowing that adding on a relatively slow swim + t1 (31:30 ish) puts me in ~4:10 half ironman shape (on a similar course to NOLA of course) is very inspiring.
I'm very pleased with the direction Brian seems to be pointing me!
B - 106.1 miles
R - 27.5 miles
Time - 9.89 hours
Whew, this week was easy! Well, until you consider the pain that Sunday brought with it...
Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal days for me this week since my "taper" didn't start until Wednesday. Normal (albeit shorter) swim with the group on Monday then a normal run Tuesday morning and a bike ride with some short (but sweet) intervals. Starting Wednesday my volume reduced dramatically in prep for the race on Sunday. Thursday was a (glorious) 11 hour travel day and Friday/Saturday workouts were very short and most of my accomplishments revolved around making sure I was race ready from a logistical standpoint.
New Orleans 70.3 Duathlon
Well, there's nothing quite like rolling into transition area to the first big "A" race of the year and hearing over the loudspeakers that "Due to high winds and inability to set up the course the swim has been canceled this year and we're doing a duathlon of bike + run!" Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed. But instead of whining about how much work I've done on the swim and how I was hoping to show some progress (wait, I did just whine...oh well) you've got to adapt to the new situation and move on; which is what I tried to do. It seemed like a lot of people were getting bent out of shape, but from looking at the water and seeing how windy it was in transition I can't say I WANTED to jump in the water.
So the day really began with just sitting down and waiting. Luckily I ran into Tara Flint in transition so I had someone to hang out with while we both waited for our wave starts. She may be a member of the "evil" Triangle Multisports team but luckily (for her) we went to college and raced bikes together so it was ok to hang out and chit chat.
Bike 56 miles in 2:16:52 (24.55mph), 4th fastest 25-29
Relatively quickly the M25-29 wave was called to the "start" so I saddled up and joined the line. It was actually relatively chilly since the sun hadn't really warmed things up yet and the wind was pretty stiff so I was eager to get on the bike and start working. They were starting groups of two every two seconds so my turn came up and away I went. The course started in a westerly direction down Lakeshore Dr (with the wind) so the first 3-4 miles were quite fast to the turnaround point. It was EXCEPTIONALLY crowded and I was a little over my wattage goals for most of the ride as a consequence. After the turnaround we headed back down Lakeshore and dead into the wind (this road is completely unprotected from the lake and the wind was really, really strong here), which would be a common theme for the next ~20+ miles or so. The course was definitely more crowded this year and there were some definite "packs" that had formed. It wasn't so much a drafting pack but at times there were maybe 6 passes happening at once so on several occasions I had to swing a little wider than I normally would deem "safe" to complete the pass.
Well, time went on and I continued my way towards the first turnaround spot (the course was shaped like a "Y") down in Venetian Isles. At this point I was getting slightly uncomfortable in one specific area so I was looking forward to the opportunity to stand up on the pedals out of the 180 degree turn (since unless I have to I try to stay in aero position as much as possible...for better or for worse). Made the turn and had a super awesome tailwind for the next bunch of miles. Along this stretch I was averaging 26+ mph and I took the time to make sure I was caught up on gels and water. Made the right turn onto the other part of the "Y" and unfortunately back into the wind. This slog continued for a while before hitting the final turnaround and heading back with a tailwind for good.
At about mile 40 I began to feel a bit tired but knew I had it in me to finish off strong and so continued to push and raise my average speed all the way back down Haynes Blvd and closer to the Lakefront area. Without much interesting to report I took my feet out of my bike shoes and headed into transition.
For the sake of showing how windy it was, here are my 7 mile bike split avg speeds:
23.9 (mph), 21.4, 23.4, 21.8, 26.0, 26.3, 27.1, 27.7
Transition "2" in 1:33
We had a slightly longer run into (or rather, around) transition this year. I made my way around, put my bike back and grabbed one of my gel flasks. Then put on my shoes, took my helmet off and grabbed my visor before heading out onto the run course.
Run 13.1 miles in 1:21:32 (6:13/mi), 4th fastest 25-29
Heading out onto the run I had mixed feelings. Given my time and the wind, I figured I may have ridden too hard to run fast but I stayed (pretty closely) within my wattage targets so I was optimistic. The weather was nice too, albeit a bit warm. Lots of sun and a stiff breeze made it feel cooler than it was last year. I had set my garmin to show "current lap time" and "current lap avg pace'' (on 1 mile laps) so I could properly pace myself or know if I was slowing down too much. My first mile was a bit fast but I kept trying to slow down (and failing!). The first couple of miles wound around the Lakeshore area before heading into City Park at mile 4ish. The aid stations were incredible this year, with volunteers all over the place trying to pass out water/perform drink/coke/sponges etc. At every aid station until my flask ran out I took a hit of gel and a ltitle water. I actually carried the flask in my hand the whole time as opposed to in my pocket as in days gone by just so I'd be sure to take in the calories and not "forget." I kept rattling off miles that were much faster than I thought I could run but I didn't feel like I was working overly hard and I felt I could maintain pace so I just kept going. I went through 5k in just a hair over 18 minutes and through 7.5ish miles my pace was quite similar (a bit slower, but only because I didn't have that rogue first fast mile in there). Once out of city park it became a mental game as at this point I was definitely working hard. There weren't as many people out on the roads (spectators or participants) so it was a bit more of a lonely affair. Once onto Esplanade I knew I was getting close but that road is so miserable (last real road but it's completely flat and straight so you can see ALL the way down! And the road surface is terrible) that I was starting to doubt. I did slow down a little bit in the 2.5 miles on Esplanade but I was experiencing some minor cramping in my calves (where a muscle would fire like it was going to cramp but then subside) so I was a bit worried and when that happened I slowed down for a bit before picking it back up.
Once I turned onto Decatur I finally let myself realize that I was going to set a ridiculous PR for the 70.3 (errr, 69.2) half marathon. Last year at New Orleans I ran just a hair over 1:32 so to run this fast was a revelation for me. It just goes to show that all the work I've been putting in has been paying off! Very exciting stuff.
Mile Splits
5:55 - 6:04 - 6:10 - 6:14 - 6:09 - 6:05 - 6:13 -
6:12 - 6:09 - 6:14 - 6:18 - 6:25 - 6:23 - 5:58 avg for .18 miles
To race like that and come in 5th place in my AG just goes to show how many fast people showed up to race today. I can't be disappointed with that. Not that I was, I was just surprised. It's hard to even say how I feel about that run. It was SUCH a huge breakthrough. In the back of my head I dreamed about running 1:24-1:25 so to blow the doors off that was just incredibly surprising. Not all races can go this well, of course, but knowing that adding on a relatively slow swim + t1 (31:30 ish) puts me in ~4:10 half ironman shape (on a similar course to NOLA of course) is very inspiring.
I'm very pleased with the direction Brian seems to be pointing me!
Monday, April 11, 2011
One week to go...
S - 19,200 yards
B - 253.8 miles
R - 52.1 miles
Time - 24.01 hrs
Swim sets were long and rather boring this week, I can't lie. The swim workouts changed a bit in the past two weeks to longer, steadier intervals as opposed to the high-intensity intervals I had been doing. I'm no expert, but I believe the intention was more specific prep work for NOLA next Sunday. As usual, I only swam 4 times this week so 19k+ yards is quite a good average swim distance for each workout. 3 of 5000+ this week. Hooray swimming!
The best part about biking this week was the fact that most of it was on my new P3. Having ridden a rickety old road bike for the past 3 months switching to a high-end tri bike was like a new epiphany. It is the cat's meow, you might say. It is close to being worth as much as my car (thankfully, vehicular depreciation hasn't gotten that far yet for the ol' Mazda). Needless to say, I'm kind of into it. Considering that in the past 12 or 13 weeks I've spent an average of 10+ hours/week on my bike I definitely spend more time with it than with any other person. Don't you judge me!
Highest mileage totals so far this year on the run, which is nice. I feel as though I knocked my two run workouts [relatively] out of the park this week, so that's nice. The long run included some pretty serious quality, fast running in the middle of it so I feel pretty well prepared for New Orleans next Sunday.
So that begins the end, in which I talk about New Orleans 70.3 that is next Sunday. A lot of people (myself included) are probably expecting me to go fairly quick since I've been training so much but the problem is that it takes a LONG time to get really fast. There is no shortcut. I'm certainly better across all three sports than I was last year. There is no doubt about that. Unfortunately, it's only been 3 months of solid training. I've been extremely consistent; haven't missed hardly any workouts and have been doing (almost) everything right (let's not talk about my diet, just yet). So, what happens Sunday will happen no matter what. I'd certainly like to win my AG, but I know there's at least one very fast 25-29er that will be there on race day. I'd love to PR, which would give me some positive reinforcements. Most of all, I just want to run fast. As opposed to people saying "damn" when I pass them on the bike, I'd like them to be impressed with how fast I'm running!
Dare to dream!
B - 253.8 miles
R - 52.1 miles
Time - 24.01 hrs
Swim sets were long and rather boring this week, I can't lie. The swim workouts changed a bit in the past two weeks to longer, steadier intervals as opposed to the high-intensity intervals I had been doing. I'm no expert, but I believe the intention was more specific prep work for NOLA next Sunday. As usual, I only swam 4 times this week so 19k+ yards is quite a good average swim distance for each workout. 3 of 5000+ this week. Hooray swimming!
The best part about biking this week was the fact that most of it was on my new P3. Having ridden a rickety old road bike for the past 3 months switching to a high-end tri bike was like a new epiphany. It is the cat's meow, you might say. It is close to being worth as much as my car (thankfully, vehicular depreciation hasn't gotten that far yet for the ol' Mazda). Needless to say, I'm kind of into it. Considering that in the past 12 or 13 weeks I've spent an average of 10+ hours/week on my bike I definitely spend more time with it than with any other person. Don't you judge me!
Highest mileage totals so far this year on the run, which is nice. I feel as though I knocked my two run workouts [relatively] out of the park this week, so that's nice. The long run included some pretty serious quality, fast running in the middle of it so I feel pretty well prepared for New Orleans next Sunday.
So that begins the end, in which I talk about New Orleans 70.3 that is next Sunday. A lot of people (myself included) are probably expecting me to go fairly quick since I've been training so much but the problem is that it takes a LONG time to get really fast. There is no shortcut. I'm certainly better across all three sports than I was last year. There is no doubt about that. Unfortunately, it's only been 3 months of solid training. I've been extremely consistent; haven't missed hardly any workouts and have been doing (almost) everything right (let's not talk about my diet, just yet). So, what happens Sunday will happen no matter what. I'd certainly like to win my AG, but I know there's at least one very fast 25-29er that will be there on race day. I'd love to PR, which would give me some positive reinforcements. Most of all, I just want to run fast. As opposed to people saying "damn" when I pass them on the bike, I'd like them to be impressed with how fast I'm running!
Dare to dream!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Another week bites the dust!
S - 16,100 yds
B - 259.9 mi
R - 50.9 mi
Time - 24.7 hours
The countdown has officially begun. For what, I'm not sure but for the short-term countdown lets say that NOLA is the destination. 13 days from today I'll be toeing the line on the beach waiting to run into the gloriously green and used-to-be-gross-but-allegedly-isn't-anymore Lake Ponchartrain! On that note, let's dive into this weekly recap!!
There was some super totally awesome consistency on the water front this week, something I like repeating just as much as you enjoy reading! (well, I probably enjoy repeating it more than you enjoy reading if I'm going to be perfectly honest...) The most "interesting" workout I had was Wednesday where the "main" set included 6x100 all out on 4 minutes. So basically I'd do a 100 as fast as I could then wait on the wall for 10-15 seconds and then swim a nice, extremely easy, 50 yards before waiting for the 4 minutes to be up so I could do it again. With a push off the wall for all but the last one (I dove but it wasn't the best dive...) I managed to sprint my way to 1:03, 1:02, 1:02, 1:02, 1:02, 1:00. Obviously, speed is a limiter for me. I just can't turn my arms over much faster to get below 1 minute! Melissa was teaching me some "tricks of the trade" to use and those helped (stuff I had never known before like when pushing off the wall after a turn, wait to take a breath until the second stroke so you ride the "wake" created by your push) but I just can't go that much faster than 1:02!! Alas
As you can tell from reading, lots of miles on the bike this week. Unfortunately, I am still on the road bike (although this will be my last full week on the ol' steed!! Yay!) and I didn't put it back together properly after riding Andrew's bike for a week so it was making a lot of noise and was generally unhappy at me most of the week. I didn't keep training logs in college, but they likely would have shown a lot of inconsistency. I can't even take a rough guess of how many miles I put in during my 4 years (a good bit freshman year, more sophomore year, next to none junior year, and a good bit senior year) but considering that in the past 12 weeks I've logged 2,600 miles (all but 1 week on the road bike) I'd say my consistency has put those years to shame. While it's been creaking and rattling and groaning a lot more than usual it's still going strong! 8 yeras of abuse and it can still hang with the best. That being said, I cannot WAIT to get on my P3!
I finally managed to notch 50+ miles this week, which was due to a couple of factors. One of those was that I had about 10 more minutes on my schedule this week and I also never had a day where I ran "slow." I've been inching up towards 50 miles for a while now (very slight increases in time on the schedule but sometimes I run slower/faster) so it's nice to finally break that barrier. I'm most proud of the fact that I did my long run (110 minutes and 15+ miles!) on the treadmill! The weather was awful Wednesday morning and I had to put on my man shoes and take a big sip from my glass of Harden the F*** Up but I made my way through the run with relative ease.
Only 2 more weeks until NOLA!! Some key things to think about in terms of expectations that Brian told me:
B - 259.9 mi
R - 50.9 mi
Time - 24.7 hours
The countdown has officially begun. For what, I'm not sure but for the short-term countdown lets say that NOLA is the destination. 13 days from today I'll be toeing the line on the beach waiting to run into the gloriously green and used-to-be-gross-but-allegedly-isn't-anymore Lake Ponchartrain! On that note, let's dive into this weekly recap!!
There was some super totally awesome consistency on the water front this week, something I like repeating just as much as you enjoy reading! (well, I probably enjoy repeating it more than you enjoy reading if I'm going to be perfectly honest...) The most "interesting" workout I had was Wednesday where the "main" set included 6x100 all out on 4 minutes. So basically I'd do a 100 as fast as I could then wait on the wall for 10-15 seconds and then swim a nice, extremely easy, 50 yards before waiting for the 4 minutes to be up so I could do it again. With a push off the wall for all but the last one (I dove but it wasn't the best dive...) I managed to sprint my way to 1:03, 1:02, 1:02, 1:02, 1:02, 1:00. Obviously, speed is a limiter for me. I just can't turn my arms over much faster to get below 1 minute! Melissa was teaching me some "tricks of the trade" to use and those helped (stuff I had never known before like when pushing off the wall after a turn, wait to take a breath until the second stroke so you ride the "wake" created by your push) but I just can't go that much faster than 1:02!! Alas
As you can tell from reading, lots of miles on the bike this week. Unfortunately, I am still on the road bike (although this will be my last full week on the ol' steed!! Yay!) and I didn't put it back together properly after riding Andrew's bike for a week so it was making a lot of noise and was generally unhappy at me most of the week. I didn't keep training logs in college, but they likely would have shown a lot of inconsistency. I can't even take a rough guess of how many miles I put in during my 4 years (a good bit freshman year, more sophomore year, next to none junior year, and a good bit senior year) but considering that in the past 12 weeks I've logged 2,600 miles (all but 1 week on the road bike) I'd say my consistency has put those years to shame. While it's been creaking and rattling and groaning a lot more than usual it's still going strong! 8 yeras of abuse and it can still hang with the best. That being said, I cannot WAIT to get on my P3!
I finally managed to notch 50+ miles this week, which was due to a couple of factors. One of those was that I had about 10 more minutes on my schedule this week and I also never had a day where I ran "slow." I've been inching up towards 50 miles for a while now (very slight increases in time on the schedule but sometimes I run slower/faster) so it's nice to finally break that barrier. I'm most proud of the fact that I did my long run (110 minutes and 15+ miles!) on the treadmill! The weather was awful Wednesday morning and I had to put on my man shoes and take a big sip from my glass of Harden the F*** Up but I made my way through the run with relative ease.
Only 2 more weeks until NOLA!! Some key things to think about in terms of expectations that Brian told me:
- I expect you to go out and race a smart race, make smart decisions, pace properly, make sure you are thinking 10-45min down the road when it comes to fueling, think about maintaining pace through the 5-10mile points on the run then letting it hang out on the last 5k on the run when it comes to pacing and realize that the bike ride no matter how fast isn't a good ride unless you run well off of it. Other then that, I'm a big believer in controlling what you can control and at the end of the day the chips lie where they lie.
- But really it's all about making smart decisions and controlling what you can that gives you the best chance for success, however you and I define it.
- 8 weeks of solid training doesn't make one an uber fast guy. See how it is in 80 weeks.
I placed the emphasis on the first bullet point. After last year, I need to take it to heart! I think thoughts like that can help anyone, not just me. Take heed readers. But not too much if you're in my AG.
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