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!
Monday, April 25, 2011
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.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sprint
S - 17,625 yards - 5:13:10 hrs
B - 218.8 miles - 10:56:08 hrs
R - 47.1 miles - 5:37:51 hrs
Total - 21.79 hours
Not much exciting to report on the swimming front this week. Ashley and I swam together a couple of times and had good workouts on Thursday and Saturday but the rest was just a little of the same things I've been saying this year: consistent progression. Saturday's main set consisted of an 8x400 and I was swimming those at a faster pace than my 500 yard TT from one year ago. Not too shabby. It's also important to note how up and down swimming has been for me lately. Two Saturdays ago I could barely manage 1:20/100 yd pace during some longer intervals and 2 weeks later boom goes the dynamite. Lots of ups and downs with this sort of training volume.
The biking was the big "mental hurdle" this week. Looking at my schedule when I received it last Sunday I saw several important things
Tuesday: anaerobic power test, 2 hours total ride
Thursday: 2.5 hrs aerobic
Friday: aerobic threshold power test (30 minute time trial), 2 hrs total ride
Saturday: 2.5 hrs aerobic
Sunday: Cool Breeze Triathlon
Ok, the whole week was "important." That's a lot of hard riding. So for about 25-30/220 miles this week I was riding pretty much as hard as I could. I was quite happy with my 30min TT on Friday. Not necessarily with the results (wattage numbers), but the fact that I put it more power throughout the 30 minutes and that I did it after 2 days of riding, a long run with a 30min progressive tempo on Wednesday and a run with a fartlek/interval workout on Friday morning. It's also the first 30min TT I've done before so just making it through one of those is a mental butt-kicking. Anyway, the short story of my cycling this week was that it was difficult. I was pretty tired in the legs on Saturday so my expectations were quite low for the bike on Sunday.
Running was consistent again, not much different to report on that front. The long run switched to being a longer, progressive effort in the middle so that was fun (it wasn't). I executed pretty well though and managed to string together some good runs overall this week, including Cool Breeze's run split.
Without further ado
Cool Breeze Triathlon - 6th OA, 4th "open"
Swim (250 yards) - 3:10, 9th
Considering I was seeded 8th based on my submitted swim time (1:15), I'd say this wasn't too bad at all. The fastest swim was 2:59 so the top 10 were only separated by 12 seconds. The start was rather hectic and Setup really pulled up a botch in terms of the swim start. There was virtually no warning for when the race started and I was just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. I started 10 seconds behind Mason and made up a bit of time on him in the first 50 yards and then held a steady gap the rest of the swim. I figure the climb out and run to mat takes about 8-11 seconds so I was swimming at roughly 1:11-1:12/100 yard pace which makes sense. I had set a long sleeve jersey on the bleachers so I began putting that out as I headed out the door, where I was greeted by a freezing cold blast of air (it was 38-39 degrees and misty at this point...) and ran across the mat into transition.
Transition - 1:02
I felt like I didn't waste any time going through here but it took me a little while standing still to get my jersey fully on; I had put the gloves in the pockets so I didn't bother with those just yet. I put on my shoes and helmet and headed out onto the bike.
Bike 12.6mi - 34:08, 17th
Wow. 17th fastest bike split. I would never have guessed that. In all honesty going in, despite the fact that I knew I was tired, I expected to have a 30-31 minute bike split on this course (all else being equal, which of course it never is...). Last year I was the fastest split (by 3 seconds over Capets) in 31:31 so the course was definitely slower this year (fastest this year was 32:31, Capets was 2nd in 32:32) although I wouldn't have guessed a full minute slower. Be that as it may, I made my way out on the bike course just behind Mason and settled in for a cold, windy race on the bike. I let Mason lead for a little while and at the 10 minute mark came around him to instigate a little back and forth action to motivate and speed up the both of us. Just after I went around him we made a right turn into the wind and started a climb, so I shifted down into my little ring. Unfortunately, the chain fell off to the inside. Most of the time I can shift the chain back on but that was not the case today. I messed around shifting for a bit then resigned myself to getting off the bike and manually putting the chain back in the big ring. I also didn't realize until after the race but my derailleur cage was rubbing on the disc cover in my two largest rear sprockets (more drag, great). I got back on my bike but at this point Mason was a long ways up the road and had become a black dot instead of a person. I meandered on through the rest of the bike course, still putting out a decent effort but at this point my motivation was gone and I was starting to get cold from my time standing still in the cold wind. As I made my way back toward the business park I dropped the chain again shifting into the small ring (didn't learn my lesson the first time) but luckily this time I was able to shift back into gear. Coming back into transition I was contemplating just dropped out to save myself the embarrassment of a bad result so I got off my bike casually (I probably looked like a moron as I couldn't really decide what to do and crossed the timing mat. BLAH
Transition - 1:09
I definitely thought it was MUCH slower than this so I guess I can't complain about my own dumb-ness too much. I trotted over to my bike (in my shoes, since I hadn't taken them off on the lead in to T2) and took off my cycling shoes to put on my running shoes, grabbed my number and took off my helmet before heading out onto the run course.
Run 5k - 17:51, 11th
So 11th might sound a little slow, but given that 5 guys only did 1 lap (and thereby took splits 1-5 to their disqualification), my run was actually the 6th fastest. Sidenote, how is it that zero women did 1 lap but 5 men did? Are they that much dumber than women? Don't answer. I made my way out onto Verhoeff rode and began the sharp descent to the turnaround (2 loop out/back course this year). I was a good ways behind Mason at this point and figured some other people were technically ahead of me but I was running okay so at the turnaround I headed back up the sharp descent that had magically become a difficult uphill. Made my way through the crowds and to the more gradual part of the road. This whole section was a false flat and also into the wind. I was trotting along pretty nicely and made my way to the next turnaround and started on the net downhill/tailwind section. That felt MUCH nicer. I was beginning to be able to feel my feet at this point so I was enjoying myself a little bit, convincing myself that I was probably running 4 minute miles but luckily, since I wasn't wearing a watch, didn't have to verify that assumption. Went past the crowds to the sharp downhill, turned around and made my way back on the second loop. Ran through the tough section to the last turnaround and then cut off the road to follow the course to the finish line.
I left before knowing the actual results so before I actually found out what they were I was pretty uninterested in the actual results. I knew I had a good swim as I believed I closed the gap a bit on Mason, who is a very good swimmer. I assumed my bike would be terrible, but I didn't feel that bad and my watts were good so I knew that the split would be a combination of my mishaps and the fact that I was on a borrowed bike and hadn't ridden a tri bike for more than 6 days in the past 5 months. I was happy with my run as I feel like I held a good effort level and negative split the 2 loops. Upon seeing the results, I was pretty accurate. Not the best performance but considering I had ~19 hours of training including two bike power tests, 180+ miles on the bike, two run workouts, 40+ miles of running, and four swim workouts and 16k+ yards in me as of Saturday evening I was not surprised.
I expected to place better but expectations and reality are often quite different ;)
Also, Navy brought in a bunch of ringers. That was kind of weird and random. Good job to all who manned up and raced out there today. Not a great day for racing (or being outside) at all!
Moving on!
B - 218.8 miles - 10:56:08 hrs
R - 47.1 miles - 5:37:51 hrs
Total - 21.79 hours
Not much exciting to report on the swimming front this week. Ashley and I swam together a couple of times and had good workouts on Thursday and Saturday but the rest was just a little of the same things I've been saying this year: consistent progression. Saturday's main set consisted of an 8x400 and I was swimming those at a faster pace than my 500 yard TT from one year ago. Not too shabby. It's also important to note how up and down swimming has been for me lately. Two Saturdays ago I could barely manage 1:20/100 yd pace during some longer intervals and 2 weeks later boom goes the dynamite. Lots of ups and downs with this sort of training volume.
The biking was the big "mental hurdle" this week. Looking at my schedule when I received it last Sunday I saw several important things
Tuesday: anaerobic power test, 2 hours total ride
Thursday: 2.5 hrs aerobic
Friday: aerobic threshold power test (30 minute time trial), 2 hrs total ride
Saturday: 2.5 hrs aerobic
Sunday: Cool Breeze Triathlon
Ok, the whole week was "important." That's a lot of hard riding. So for about 25-30/220 miles this week I was riding pretty much as hard as I could. I was quite happy with my 30min TT on Friday. Not necessarily with the results (wattage numbers), but the fact that I put it more power throughout the 30 minutes and that I did it after 2 days of riding, a long run with a 30min progressive tempo on Wednesday and a run with a fartlek/interval workout on Friday morning. It's also the first 30min TT I've done before so just making it through one of those is a mental butt-kicking. Anyway, the short story of my cycling this week was that it was difficult. I was pretty tired in the legs on Saturday so my expectations were quite low for the bike on Sunday.
Running was consistent again, not much different to report on that front. The long run switched to being a longer, progressive effort in the middle so that was fun (it wasn't). I executed pretty well though and managed to string together some good runs overall this week, including Cool Breeze's run split.
Without further ado
Cool Breeze Triathlon - 6th OA, 4th "open"
Swim (250 yards) - 3:10, 9th
Considering I was seeded 8th based on my submitted swim time (1:15), I'd say this wasn't too bad at all. The fastest swim was 2:59 so the top 10 were only separated by 12 seconds. The start was rather hectic and Setup really pulled up a botch in terms of the swim start. There was virtually no warning for when the race started and I was just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. I started 10 seconds behind Mason and made up a bit of time on him in the first 50 yards and then held a steady gap the rest of the swim. I figure the climb out and run to mat takes about 8-11 seconds so I was swimming at roughly 1:11-1:12/100 yard pace which makes sense. I had set a long sleeve jersey on the bleachers so I began putting that out as I headed out the door, where I was greeted by a freezing cold blast of air (it was 38-39 degrees and misty at this point...) and ran across the mat into transition.
Transition - 1:02
I felt like I didn't waste any time going through here but it took me a little while standing still to get my jersey fully on; I had put the gloves in the pockets so I didn't bother with those just yet. I put on my shoes and helmet and headed out onto the bike.
Bike 12.6mi - 34:08, 17th
Wow. 17th fastest bike split. I would never have guessed that. In all honesty going in, despite the fact that I knew I was tired, I expected to have a 30-31 minute bike split on this course (all else being equal, which of course it never is...). Last year I was the fastest split (by 3 seconds over Capets) in 31:31 so the course was definitely slower this year (fastest this year was 32:31, Capets was 2nd in 32:32) although I wouldn't have guessed a full minute slower. Be that as it may, I made my way out on the bike course just behind Mason and settled in for a cold, windy race on the bike. I let Mason lead for a little while and at the 10 minute mark came around him to instigate a little back and forth action to motivate and speed up the both of us. Just after I went around him we made a right turn into the wind and started a climb, so I shifted down into my little ring. Unfortunately, the chain fell off to the inside. Most of the time I can shift the chain back on but that was not the case today. I messed around shifting for a bit then resigned myself to getting off the bike and manually putting the chain back in the big ring. I also didn't realize until after the race but my derailleur cage was rubbing on the disc cover in my two largest rear sprockets (more drag, great). I got back on my bike but at this point Mason was a long ways up the road and had become a black dot instead of a person. I meandered on through the rest of the bike course, still putting out a decent effort but at this point my motivation was gone and I was starting to get cold from my time standing still in the cold wind. As I made my way back toward the business park I dropped the chain again shifting into the small ring (didn't learn my lesson the first time) but luckily this time I was able to shift back into gear. Coming back into transition I was contemplating just dropped out to save myself the embarrassment of a bad result so I got off my bike casually (I probably looked like a moron as I couldn't really decide what to do and crossed the timing mat. BLAH
Transition - 1:09
I definitely thought it was MUCH slower than this so I guess I can't complain about my own dumb-ness too much. I trotted over to my bike (in my shoes, since I hadn't taken them off on the lead in to T2) and took off my cycling shoes to put on my running shoes, grabbed my number and took off my helmet before heading out onto the run course.
Run 5k - 17:51, 11th
So 11th might sound a little slow, but given that 5 guys only did 1 lap (and thereby took splits 1-5 to their disqualification), my run was actually the 6th fastest. Sidenote, how is it that zero women did 1 lap but 5 men did? Are they that much dumber than women? Don't answer. I made my way out onto Verhoeff rode and began the sharp descent to the turnaround (2 loop out/back course this year). I was a good ways behind Mason at this point and figured some other people were technically ahead of me but I was running okay so at the turnaround I headed back up the sharp descent that had magically become a difficult uphill. Made my way through the crowds and to the more gradual part of the road. This whole section was a false flat and also into the wind. I was trotting along pretty nicely and made my way to the next turnaround and started on the net downhill/tailwind section. That felt MUCH nicer. I was beginning to be able to feel my feet at this point so I was enjoying myself a little bit, convincing myself that I was probably running 4 minute miles but luckily, since I wasn't wearing a watch, didn't have to verify that assumption. Went past the crowds to the sharp downhill, turned around and made my way back on the second loop. Ran through the tough section to the last turnaround and then cut off the road to follow the course to the finish line.
I left before knowing the actual results so before I actually found out what they were I was pretty uninterested in the actual results. I knew I had a good swim as I believed I closed the gap a bit on Mason, who is a very good swimmer. I assumed my bike would be terrible, but I didn't feel that bad and my watts were good so I knew that the split would be a combination of my mishaps and the fact that I was on a borrowed bike and hadn't ridden a tri bike for more than 6 days in the past 5 months. I was happy with my run as I feel like I held a good effort level and negative split the 2 loops. Upon seeing the results, I was pretty accurate. Not the best performance but considering I had ~19 hours of training including two bike power tests, 180+ miles on the bike, two run workouts, 40+ miles of running, and four swim workouts and 16k+ yards in me as of Saturday evening I was not surprised.
I expected to place better but expectations and reality are often quite different ;)
Also, Navy brought in a bunch of ringers. That was kind of weird and random. Good job to all who manned up and raced out there today. Not a great day for racing (or being outside) at all!
Moving on!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Almost to race # 1
Swim - 14,200 yards - 4hrs 10mins
Bike - 253.8 miles - 12hrs 55mins 44sec
Run - 48.9 miles - 5hrs 55mins
Total - 23.01 hrs
So the first thing that strikes you when you look at this page on this blog is likely "wow, that guy is good looking;" of course referencing my sweet glamour shots that my brother put in my blog header. True, true, but I try and stay humble. It's tough sometimes, being around so many people that aren't really, really ridiculously good looking. What can I say.
The very next thing that you notice that I suffered a 30% reduction in swim volume this week!! Wow, you ARE perceptive. Tough to get past the pics, but you managed. I commend thee. Ashley and I were planning on swimming in Lake Norman on Saturday after the bike ride, which we managed to do but with a much shorter than 4000+ yard swim that I normally would get in on a Saturday afternoon. I'm hoping to get in several wetsuit swims before NOLA as I know that familiarity with the feelings that come with a wetsuit will help me out in the swim on race day. Other than that, I had some good swims in there; with the most notable being on Wednesday. I nailed a 30x100 set (last 5 on 1:20 in 1:10, :11, :10, :10, :09) so was pretty pleased with that.
I rode my bike a good bit this week; the most I have this year in fact. My workout on Tuesday was the same as last week but it wasn't executed quite as well. Part of the problem (for both weeks, in fact) was that I chose a poor location to do that type of workout. The booty loop is very easy to get to and easy to get motivated to go around (at least for a while) because it's close, it's [relatively] safe, and - now that it's spring - lots of booty to check out! But I think as my workouts increase in duration (and importance), it's important to choose function over form and go somewhere I can have the best workout, not just the place I have the best eye candy.
As evidenced by my overall time spent running these last 10 weeks, my time spent in running shoes has been quite consistent. Every week my time generally goes up, but not by enough to make a big difference, especially as I run faster or slower some days/weeks. I had a great long run on Wednesday with 2x10min tempo sections but my fartlek style interval run on Friday did not feel quite as good, mainly because it was early (for me) and a bit chilly as well. Now that it has started to warm up just a bit the chilly days just feel that much chillier.
Next week brings with it the first race of the season in Cool Breeze Triathlons (250yd, 20k, 5k) that will essentially be a short workout since my week will be structured normally leading into the race (4 hour Saturday!), but as that's what is expected added to the fact that Cool Breeze does not matter (that much) in the grand scheme of things I'm ready. The only issue has been getting my hands on MY P3. The ship date has now been delayed 3 times and Cervelo says now that it will ship on the 30th. We shall see... For this week, Andrew Fletcher has been kind enough to let me use his 56cm P3 so hopefully my borrowed bike will be able to have a fast split on Sunday!
Bike - 253.8 miles - 12hrs 55mins 44sec
Run - 48.9 miles - 5hrs 55mins
Total - 23.01 hrs
So the first thing that strikes you when you look at this page on this blog is likely "wow, that guy is good looking;" of course referencing my sweet glamour shots that my brother put in my blog header. True, true, but I try and stay humble. It's tough sometimes, being around so many people that aren't really, really ridiculously good looking. What can I say.
The very next thing that you notice that I suffered a 30% reduction in swim volume this week!! Wow, you ARE perceptive. Tough to get past the pics, but you managed. I commend thee. Ashley and I were planning on swimming in Lake Norman on Saturday after the bike ride, which we managed to do but with a much shorter than 4000+ yard swim that I normally would get in on a Saturday afternoon. I'm hoping to get in several wetsuit swims before NOLA as I know that familiarity with the feelings that come with a wetsuit will help me out in the swim on race day. Other than that, I had some good swims in there; with the most notable being on Wednesday. I nailed a 30x100 set (last 5 on 1:20 in 1:10, :11, :10, :10, :09) so was pretty pleased with that.
I rode my bike a good bit this week; the most I have this year in fact. My workout on Tuesday was the same as last week but it wasn't executed quite as well. Part of the problem (for both weeks, in fact) was that I chose a poor location to do that type of workout. The booty loop is very easy to get to and easy to get motivated to go around (at least for a while) because it's close, it's [relatively] safe, and - now that it's spring - lots of booty to check out! But I think as my workouts increase in duration (and importance), it's important to choose function over form and go somewhere I can have the best workout, not just the place I have the best eye candy.
As evidenced by my overall time spent running these last 10 weeks, my time spent in running shoes has been quite consistent. Every week my time generally goes up, but not by enough to make a big difference, especially as I run faster or slower some days/weeks. I had a great long run on Wednesday with 2x10min tempo sections but my fartlek style interval run on Friday did not feel quite as good, mainly because it was early (for me) and a bit chilly as well. Now that it has started to warm up just a bit the chilly days just feel that much chillier.
Next week brings with it the first race of the season in Cool Breeze Triathlons (250yd, 20k, 5k) that will essentially be a short workout since my week will be structured normally leading into the race (4 hour Saturday!), but as that's what is expected added to the fact that Cool Breeze does not matter (that much) in the grand scheme of things I'm ready. The only issue has been getting my hands on MY P3. The ship date has now been delayed 3 times and Cervelo says now that it will ship on the 30th. We shall see... For this week, Andrew Fletcher has been kind enough to let me use his 56cm P3 so hopefully my borrowed bike will be able to have a fast split on Sunday!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Bring me some Cat 3 action!
Swim 17,400 yards in 4:50:00 (interestingly, swim time has been the exact same for past 3 weeks)
Bike 229.3 miles in 11:48:06
Run 48.7 miles in 5:53:00
Total time 22.52 hours
If you had asked me on Friday what I thought about my swimming this week I would have said something really positive like: "Oh man I nailed those workouts this week!" Or "I'm gonna have to start wearing a true speedo because I feel so much like a fish these days!" Or maybe "The pool is my bitch and I ran it ragged!" (that last one was something I would have said as an immature 20 year old, orrrr maybe something I'd still say, can't lie).
If you asked me Saturday afternoon, however, my response would have likely been the opposite. "You're only as good as your last workout" held true for me this week, as my stellar workouts Thurs/Fri left me feeling on top of the world but due to several contributing factors Saturday's performance was quite underwhelming.
On a related tangent, this week presented a situation I haven't yet dealt with in the 9 weeks or so that I've really been training. Wednesday night, when our swim group usually meets at the MCAC, it was pouring down rain with the threat of thunderstorms so I decided not to try and hit the pool only to be kicked out after 1000 yards or less. I concluded that I would make up the swim sometime on Friday. Unfortunately for that decision making process I had yet to look at my schedule for this week and notice that my Fridays have become slightly higher volume than normal. That, coupled with the fact that I had to be at the store from 10-3 meant I needed to act like a person with a more "normal" schedule and get my rear out of bed in the early AM hours to fit all my workouts in (1.5hr swim, 1hr run, 2.5hr bike) during my available time on Friday. Consequently, I got up at 5am and headed into the pool where I had one of the best swim workouts ever (20x200 yards with changing intervals, averaged sub 2:30) with Melissa then I had a good fartlek run sesh before heading into work at 10. After work I then got on the ol' road bike and headed out for 2.5 hours around the booty loop. Compounding Friday's schedule (with not as much sleep as I'm used to) I woke up early on Saturday to meet the bike group and then also woke up early on Sunday to go race my bike. So that was one night of very little sleep (5.5 hours or so) on Friday, one night of average sleep (7.5 hrs), and then another night of average sleep (7.5 hours). While that may be a lot for some people, that is not a lot for me as I typically get 8-9 hours a night. So the one night of bad sleep affected 3 consecutive days of workouts. If I had to do it over again, I probably would have just missed the swim on Friday morning. Word to the wise, if you have to choose between one workout and an extra 2+ hours of sleep, it might behoove you to choose the extra rest. Your body probably needs it.
Cycling was as consistent as it always is this fine week. Coming off a week in which the weather always seemed to be iffy (especially the weekend) I was glad to see that this week had mostly nice weather outlooks on the days I had to ride. Only one day did I endure some rain showers. I had a good workout on Tuesday that on paper looked like it was going to shell me (30 minutes of 15secs zone 6+, 15secs easy) but I managed to handle it pretty well. Thurs/Fri/Sat got me up to 190ish miles for the week leading into the race on Sunday so I'm happy I was able to handle the race pretty well without too much trouble. Short recap later!
Running, like biking, was also consistent this week. Good long run on Wednesday with Ashley (1:31 half marathon split actually) and a pretty good fartlek on Friday. My weekend runs had tired leg syndrome the first mile or two before smoothing out as they warmed up a bit.
Race Recap
Blythewood Omnium Road Race Category 4: 6 laps of a 5.1km course
So the first thing notable that happened at this race was the realization that I had forgotten my bike jersey at home. Luckily, I had brought along my under armor long sleeve cold weather base layer (that I had also worn the day before...) since I was expecting it to be rather cold. So rolling up to the start line I'm sure some of the elite Cat 4s thought I was a n00b triathlete that didn't know how to look cool at bike races. Au contraire, mon frere. I know how to look good with the best of them, I just didn't that day.
I lined up near the start line and the race got underway. The course itself was a fast, rolling, technical journey through an undeveloped residential...development for the first 4k or so then there was a long-ish double climb up to the start/finish straight, which was about 500 meters long. The first lap passed rather uneventfully; everyone was just kind of feeling out the course and their legs, which definitely burned up the climb. The climb started off a 90 degree right hand turn so there was no carryover in speed, went up about 10 seconds then became a false flat incline for about 15-20 seconds and then climbed up to a 90 degree right hand turn for 45 seconds or so. The right hand turn was the last (and most difficult) part of the climb and the flat/downwind start/finish straight immediately followed. One guy broke away at the top and stayed away for another uneventful lap before being joined by two other guys on lap 3. This group was always within sight and never more than 10-13 seconds ahead. Towards the middle part of lap 5 I found myself near the front of the "peloton" and saw the group of 2 up ahead (one guy had dropped) and decided to bridge to the group and see if we could make something happen. I crossed the 150-200 yard gap relatively quickly and when I pulled up behind them they both turned around and sat up a bit, I assume thinking that I was the whole back. This moment of confusion essentially allowed the pack to close and I - mostly unsurprised - settled in near the front of the group to make the climb and start the last lap. Throughout the last lap I kept myself in the top 5-7 spots but never did any work. At the start of the last climb up the hill I moved my way up to 3rd and on the flat section settled into my drops for the flat finish. With about 300m to go I made my sprint, not quite realizing how far away the finish line was but luckily I had put enough of a gap on the other riders sprints that I didn't have to try and re-start mine. Crossed the line in first place and since I only needed 3 points to submit my upgrade request I was well over my requisite point total! Hooray
Not a picture from this week, I thought it necessary to add something to spice up what is yet another routine post about another routine training week. There is nothing glamorous about me! Except those sunglasses.
Bike 229.3 miles in 11:48:06
Run 48.7 miles in 5:53:00
Total time 22.52 hours
If you had asked me on Friday what I thought about my swimming this week I would have said something really positive like: "Oh man I nailed those workouts this week!" Or "I'm gonna have to start wearing a true speedo because I feel so much like a fish these days!" Or maybe "The pool is my bitch and I ran it ragged!" (that last one was something I would have said as an immature 20 year old, orrrr maybe something I'd still say, can't lie).
If you asked me Saturday afternoon, however, my response would have likely been the opposite. "You're only as good as your last workout" held true for me this week, as my stellar workouts Thurs/Fri left me feeling on top of the world but due to several contributing factors Saturday's performance was quite underwhelming.
On a related tangent, this week presented a situation I haven't yet dealt with in the 9 weeks or so that I've really been training. Wednesday night, when our swim group usually meets at the MCAC, it was pouring down rain with the threat of thunderstorms so I decided not to try and hit the pool only to be kicked out after 1000 yards or less. I concluded that I would make up the swim sometime on Friday. Unfortunately for that decision making process I had yet to look at my schedule for this week and notice that my Fridays have become slightly higher volume than normal. That, coupled with the fact that I had to be at the store from 10-3 meant I needed to act like a person with a more "normal" schedule and get my rear out of bed in the early AM hours to fit all my workouts in (1.5hr swim, 1hr run, 2.5hr bike) during my available time on Friday. Consequently, I got up at 5am and headed into the pool where I had one of the best swim workouts ever (20x200 yards with changing intervals, averaged sub 2:30) with Melissa then I had a good fartlek run sesh before heading into work at 10. After work I then got on the ol' road bike and headed out for 2.5 hours around the booty loop. Compounding Friday's schedule (with not as much sleep as I'm used to) I woke up early on Saturday to meet the bike group and then also woke up early on Sunday to go race my bike. So that was one night of very little sleep (5.5 hours or so) on Friday, one night of average sleep (7.5 hrs), and then another night of average sleep (7.5 hours). While that may be a lot for some people, that is not a lot for me as I typically get 8-9 hours a night. So the one night of bad sleep affected 3 consecutive days of workouts. If I had to do it over again, I probably would have just missed the swim on Friday morning. Word to the wise, if you have to choose between one workout and an extra 2+ hours of sleep, it might behoove you to choose the extra rest. Your body probably needs it.
Cycling was as consistent as it always is this fine week. Coming off a week in which the weather always seemed to be iffy (especially the weekend) I was glad to see that this week had mostly nice weather outlooks on the days I had to ride. Only one day did I endure some rain showers. I had a good workout on Tuesday that on paper looked like it was going to shell me (30 minutes of 15secs zone 6+, 15secs easy) but I managed to handle it pretty well. Thurs/Fri/Sat got me up to 190ish miles for the week leading into the race on Sunday so I'm happy I was able to handle the race pretty well without too much trouble. Short recap later!
Running, like biking, was also consistent this week. Good long run on Wednesday with Ashley (1:31 half marathon split actually) and a pretty good fartlek on Friday. My weekend runs had tired leg syndrome the first mile or two before smoothing out as they warmed up a bit.
Race Recap
Blythewood Omnium Road Race Category 4: 6 laps of a 5.1km course
So the first thing notable that happened at this race was the realization that I had forgotten my bike jersey at home. Luckily, I had brought along my under armor long sleeve cold weather base layer (that I had also worn the day before...) since I was expecting it to be rather cold. So rolling up to the start line I'm sure some of the elite Cat 4s thought I was a n00b triathlete that didn't know how to look cool at bike races. Au contraire, mon frere. I know how to look good with the best of them, I just didn't that day.
I lined up near the start line and the race got underway. The course itself was a fast, rolling, technical journey through an undeveloped residential...development for the first 4k or so then there was a long-ish double climb up to the start/finish straight, which was about 500 meters long. The first lap passed rather uneventfully; everyone was just kind of feeling out the course and their legs, which definitely burned up the climb. The climb started off a 90 degree right hand turn so there was no carryover in speed, went up about 10 seconds then became a false flat incline for about 15-20 seconds and then climbed up to a 90 degree right hand turn for 45 seconds or so. The right hand turn was the last (and most difficult) part of the climb and the flat/downwind start/finish straight immediately followed. One guy broke away at the top and stayed away for another uneventful lap before being joined by two other guys on lap 3. This group was always within sight and never more than 10-13 seconds ahead. Towards the middle part of lap 5 I found myself near the front of the "peloton" and saw the group of 2 up ahead (one guy had dropped) and decided to bridge to the group and see if we could make something happen. I crossed the 150-200 yard gap relatively quickly and when I pulled up behind them they both turned around and sat up a bit, I assume thinking that I was the whole back. This moment of confusion essentially allowed the pack to close and I - mostly unsurprised - settled in near the front of the group to make the climb and start the last lap. Throughout the last lap I kept myself in the top 5-7 spots but never did any work. At the start of the last climb up the hill I moved my way up to 3rd and on the flat section settled into my drops for the flat finish. With about 300m to go I made my sprint, not quite realizing how far away the finish line was but luckily I had put enough of a gap on the other riders sprints that I didn't have to try and re-start mine. Crossed the line in first place and since I only needed 3 points to submit my upgrade request I was well over my requisite point total! Hooray
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