Rev3 Cedar Point - Half-Rev (1.2mi Swim, 56mi Bike, 13.1 mi Run)
Sandusky, OH
Sept 12, 2010
Taper
Heading into this race, I was taking a few risks with an atypical taper. I was still doing hard intervals on the bike and swim (not on the run though, since this year I didn't do run repeats, except for the one time I did a 10x800 yasso). All other workouts were either short or very easy. On the three days heading into the race I biked, ran and swam once per day to make sure that no rust stuck. 9 workouts total for Tue, Wed, Thurs before driving out on Friday. I prayed that it wasn't overkill.
Pre-Race
I was careful to not over eat heading into the race. As much as I wanted to execute a good carbo-load, I didn't feel confident enough that I knew how to do it well, so I opted to just eat enough to keep my glycogen supplies topped off and no more.
There have been very few races that I've tapered so carefully for, and executed the lead-up so well. As a matter of fact, I've NEVER held back on eating on account of a race... this was the very first time I made that sacrifice. There were no lingering injuries and no loose ends. In my opinion, I had made no mistakes and was lucky enough not to get hurt or sick in those last few weeks. I've seen how a well executed swim taper can result in massive time drops at pool races, but I've never truly experienced that kind of physical leap on a triathlon taper. This race was about to change that for me.
Swim
34:21 (58/591 overall)
Nutrition: 2 Gu gels and an S-cap tablet
I found feet early and stuck to it past the two turns. The guy didn't have a beautiful swim style and I had to slow down every few strokes in order not to run into him. As a result, I kept an eye out for other feet to switch off to. Finally as we started to head back towards the finishI saw another pair of feet about 15 yards up and I made the decision to try to surge onto them.
30 seconds later... not really much closer.
1 min later... arms getting a bit of lactic acid... still not much closer.
2 min in... breathing a bit harder now.... wtf... why is that guy still 15 yards away?!
I start mentally beating myself for abandoning my original set of feet, when that dude cruised up along side me! I said a prayer of thanks to the open water gods and slid back behind my familiar flailer. The rest of the swim was relatively uneventful for me. Behind this guy, I was able to pretty much swim a cool down pace the rest of the way. I knew it was risk I was taking by not going harder, but I figured that I'll be as fresh as anyone coming out of the swim. This IS a Half Ironman after all.... which means the swim is nothing more than a footnote. :)
Overall I'm slightly disappointed with my time, but I think the relaxed swim allowed me to get on the bike fully charged.
T1
Felt great coming out of the swim. Didn't notice the Team Sports Bistro super-fans until I was right up on them... but yea, they were screaming! :) It was awesome.
This is the one section of the race I didn't win.... Sports Bistro Ton beat me by 10 seconds!! And I was flying through transition...
Bike
2:28:25, 22.64 mph (11/591 overall)
Nutrition: 540 calories from Perpetuem. ~ Gu Gel. ~45 ounces of water. 3 S-caps.
The start of the bike was a bit gnarly. The road wasn't perfect and I was worried that my bottle on the aero hammock was going to fly. It was a bit tense for awhile, but the good news was that my legs felt great. Right off the start I passed this guy in EVO team gear. He re-passed me pretty soon after that and barreled down the road. (We'll get to him later.) Soon I got into rhythm and stayed at a draft legal distance behind a guy in a Team Canada jersey. We were blowing by a ton of athletes doing the Ironman distance race, and my wattage remained relatively steady around 200-250, and my legs were feeling great. The only thing I was worried about was of getting a flat. Deep down, I felt that everything was going too perfectly. (The thought of Sports Bistro Chris getting 2 flats at last year's SBR sprint triathlon gave me chills.)
The other thing that I really focused on during the bike were the signs/directions. After my last experience of missing turns at the Bangs Lake Triathlon, I knew that this race would not be as forgiving... nor would I be if I made that mistake again. I was surrounded by athletes doing the Ironman distance race, and I realized if I blindly followed people into turns, I may end up going 112 miles.... which would be a nightmare. As a matter of fact, I got so nervous at one point that I considered riding up to Team Canada and ask him if he was doing the half-Ironman distance race as well. We finally passed the half-Ironman split off, I felt a bit of relief, only to realize later on that we would converge courses with Ironman distance athletes again. Ughhhh...
I remember hitting the halfway point (mile 28) right around 1:13. I knew I was killing this bike course!! If I kept this pace up I would come in under 2:30, which would be much better than I expected.
At some point I ended up behind the EVO guy again. Somehow I had managed to reel him back in. I remember feeling sprinkles and looking up .... not a cloud in sight. Then I looked forward to see that guy with one leg up off the side and pee spraying out. I immediately surged past him and told him he got me pretty good. That was the last I saw of EVO, at least on the bike leg.
With about 10 miles to go I realized that I was feeling absolutely fresh. I picked up the pace a bit and was able to move up the overall position by a few spots in the last few miles. No cramps, no hunger, not breathing hard, legs felt strong. Everything was just right heading into T2.
Best thing about the bike was that I beat Sports Bistro Chris's split. :) He got me pretty good at our last race (the Evergreen Triathlon in Illinois) so this was very satisfying indeed.
T2
I leaped off the bike to the screams of the Team Sports Bistro Super Fans. :) T2 was blitzing, and I was able to take this 'event' from Sports Bistro Ton because he had to stop and pee.
Running out of T2, I saw that the Team Sports Bistro Super Fans had made their way from "Bike In" to "Run Out" and were waiting for me. They're at opposite corners of the transition, so I was being somewhat surprised to see them there before me... especially because I was BOOKING it through transition. Either way, they were already lying in wait cheering me on. As I ran past Sports Bistro Rob, he said something to me that sounded awfully like "You're in 7th place... OVERALL". I was a bit confused because that was, in my mind, quite impossible.
Run
1:33:44, 7:09 min/mile, (19/591 overall)
Nutrition: 2 Gu Gels, 5 S-caps, 1 cup of water every station. Lots of Team Sports Bistro support!
Right away, I set off to a steady pace. This was it. To me this WAS the race. My whole race strategy was based on getting to the run as fresh as possible. My whole training was geared towards building that fitness. I've executed everything perfectly till now, it was just a matter of seeing if the plan would work out.
I passed two guys right out of transition, and saw no one ahead of me. That made me a bit nervous but I kept my head down and focused on my turnover. I knew my feet and lower calves were the weak links for me, so I kept my strides as light as possible. I finally caught sight of a guy far ahead. I was hoping to reel him in, but was never able to. (After the race I found out that he ran 7:07 pace, which was 2 seconds per mile faster than me... thats why I always saw him from far off). There were parts of the race where he'd disappear and I was running alone on empty city streets. Even though I knew I was on the right course, the fact that there was noone in sight, ahead OR behind me, made me feel very uneasy. I couldn't wait until the course looped back on itself so that I could see other racers. That happened around mile 9 I think... and boy was it refreshing. A lot of the people passing the other way were incredibly supportive, cheering me on. At that point I think I was in 7th ot 8th place. (I had asked some volunteers earlier what position I was at, and they said 7th, so I knew what I heard from Sports Bistro Rob was correct).
Unfortunately, I started to feel the beginnings of a cramp at around mile 11. That's when EVO and another dude passed me. I tried to pick up the pace but my quads tightened up immediately. Deep down I realized those positions were out of my reach. I decided to just dig in and maintain my pace until the finish. And boy, was the finish chute something. We ran through the back of a trailer or some alley way to get to it... I had to admit I was a bit disappointed at first, then as I turned around the corner I saw the glory of the Rev3 finish chute. People were cheering and clapping, there was a jumbo-tron, but right away I was able to hone in on the Sports Bistro gang cuz they were SO MUCH LOUDER than everyone else. :)
Overall, I was very happy with the results. I've been planning for this race since last winter, and I've put a lot of effort into making sure the pieces come together on race day. With a bit of of luck, I was able to get through the race unscathed. This whole experience has allowed me to shore up one of my weaknesses- endurance. Next year the goal is to work on my 10k run speed and getting down to a 22-23 min olympic swim, in preparation for Team Sports Bistro's first international showing
Monday, November 1, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Metlife Duathlon (from 6/27/2010)
Heading into this race, the plan was to not lose too much time to the runners on the first run leg, hammer on the bike with the aim of coming into T2 first or second (hopefully with some breathing room) and try and hold on for a top 3 finish in the final run leg. I knew I could get in the top 10, probably top 5, but I felt top 3 was possible if everything went right.
The wait at the starting line was a bit nerve wrecking to be honest. I looked around and there seemed to be a lot of runners in the front group. Don't ask me why I thought that, but it just seemed like they were all runners and I knew the run was where I would be losing time.
The gun went off and a group of 5 shot out ahead. Within a few minutes they were at least 20 yds ahead of the next 'group', I had initially hoped to be in that crowd, but reality hit and I had to hang back a bit. I snuck in at position #8, behind two guys from the same club. It was working out great cuz we were running into a head wind, and it was helpful to have a wind block. Half a mile in, a couple guys passed me and my wind blockers. I knew that I couldn't afford to lose any more positions so I moved around to hang on to those guys. Unfortunately, they were too fast for me and I watched as they pulled away gradually.
At the turnaround mark I see the leader- he's this young kid, probably no more than 20. His form seemed perfect and effortless. I think he had about a 1 minute on me. I was falling a bit behind schedule... I had hoped to get into T1 no more than 90 seconds back. I decided to turn it up a notch to keep within striking distance of the leaders. There were no more position changes in the run.
While unracking my bike in T2 I hear Maggie yell "2 minutes and you're 9th!!!". So I was pretty close to where I predicted I was going to be. I got a bit more good news as I pulled out of T2. A guy yelled out that I was in 6th position. That means I gained 3 spots in transition... SWEEET. Took my time putting my feet into my shoes. Got a good slurp of gu from my gu flask, and downed a gulp of water and I was ready to roll.
I started picking guys off pretty quickly. 5th position. 4th position. 3rd position. 2nd position. Then heading into a turn I saw the young kid at the lead. I passed him and looked down at my computer - 6 miles in. 5 to go. I was in the lead wayyy earlier than I expected. This was good news since it will allow me to (hopefully) build in more time. This was when I noticed my police escort on a motor bike. How cool is that? I knew that I wanted to take the lead at some point, but when it actually happened I actually was a bit dumbfounded
Heading into the last turn I looked back to see a guy right on my tail. He was legally spaced behind me, but I had no idea anyone was so close. When he realized I saw him, he turned it up and passed me. We were about 500 yds from transition so I slowed down to slip my feet out of my shoes. He heard my free wheel spinning and he turned around to see what I was doing. When he realized it, I saw him unstrap his shoes... which to me was a bit wierd. I had no idea what kind of clipless pedals he was using but it was a rather odd action. I took that opportunity to push pass him and get into T2 in position #1.
In T2, he was racked literally 2 bikes to my side. I saw him throw his bike on the rack and run off. He was biking on his running shoes. I ended up leaving transition about 10 yds behind him.
I suddenly realized I was in a unique situation. I had always raced strategically, and it worked well for racing against the clock. But now that I was close to the lead and vying for a podium spot, tactics had come into play. The first thing I had to do was catch up to the guy. I believe that there is a big difference (mentally) between having someone run right on your shoulder vs having someone run about 10 yds back. If I could stick to him like glue, that might put enough pressure on him to start questioning himself. And I knew that he wasn't one of the 8 guys who beat me in the initial run leg, so there was a good chance my run was better than his.
Within 500-600 yds, I had closed up the gap to a few yards. For the next mile, I ran right on his shoulder. When the turnaround cones came into sight, I picked it up the pace a bit and told him 'good job'. I started pulling away at the 1 mile (halfway point) turnaround. About 150 yds after the turnaround, I pass the young kid running the other way. He's in 3rd, with a guy in a red jersey right behind him at 4th. I recognize the both of them as far superior runners to me. At this point I knew that the cyclist dude was out of the race. I didn't believe he had enough to catch me. However #3 and #4 were probably going to gain on me fast. I realized that if I got passed, it would be by both of them. So my choices were win or 3rd place.
I decided that this was it. Do or die. Lift knees, relax shoulders, and GO. The last mile was a blur. I had a lot of people running the other way wishing me good luck and telling me good job. I wasn't trying to ignore them but I was in a world of my own. Form, form, form, form. I saw the final right turn and for the first time I realized that I had a shot at winning the race. That moment of epiphany was like another shot of adrenaline.
At this point I was running close to all out. 400 yds out from the finish, my bike escort looks behind and tells me that I'm in the clear. That there's no one behind me. I think he just wanted to let me know that I didn't need to keep killing myself. For a split second, I considered slowing down, but the concept seemed too foreign. I have never crossed a finish line easy before, and I probably shouldn't start now. Besides, I have the end of my pain in sight. I cross the finish line first in 53:xx, and everyone's cheering. The moment was absolutely surreal.
It turns out that I actually got second and that the overall winner came from the wave behind me. I looked at our times and realized that he was significantly stronger than me and that there was no way I could’ve beaten him even if I knew he was leading. Either way, I’m humbled by the experience of crossing the finish line first. What a great race!
The wait at the starting line was a bit nerve wrecking to be honest. I looked around and there seemed to be a lot of runners in the front group. Don't ask me why I thought that, but it just seemed like they were all runners and I knew the run was where I would be losing time.
The gun went off and a group of 5 shot out ahead. Within a few minutes they were at least 20 yds ahead of the next 'group', I had initially hoped to be in that crowd, but reality hit and I had to hang back a bit. I snuck in at position #8, behind two guys from the same club. It was working out great cuz we were running into a head wind, and it was helpful to have a wind block. Half a mile in, a couple guys passed me and my wind blockers. I knew that I couldn't afford to lose any more positions so I moved around to hang on to those guys. Unfortunately, they were too fast for me and I watched as they pulled away gradually.
At the turnaround mark I see the leader- he's this young kid, probably no more than 20. His form seemed perfect and effortless. I think he had about a 1 minute on me. I was falling a bit behind schedule... I had hoped to get into T1 no more than 90 seconds back. I decided to turn it up a notch to keep within striking distance of the leaders. There were no more position changes in the run.
While unracking my bike in T2 I hear Maggie yell "2 minutes and you're 9th!!!". So I was pretty close to where I predicted I was going to be. I got a bit more good news as I pulled out of T2. A guy yelled out that I was in 6th position. That means I gained 3 spots in transition... SWEEET. Took my time putting my feet into my shoes. Got a good slurp of gu from my gu flask, and downed a gulp of water and I was ready to roll.
I started picking guys off pretty quickly. 5th position. 4th position. 3rd position. 2nd position. Then heading into a turn I saw the young kid at the lead. I passed him and looked down at my computer - 6 miles in. 5 to go. I was in the lead wayyy earlier than I expected. This was good news since it will allow me to (hopefully) build in more time. This was when I noticed my police escort on a motor bike. How cool is that? I knew that I wanted to take the lead at some point, but when it actually happened I actually was a bit dumbfounded
Heading into the last turn I looked back to see a guy right on my tail. He was legally spaced behind me, but I had no idea anyone was so close. When he realized I saw him, he turned it up and passed me. We were about 500 yds from transition so I slowed down to slip my feet out of my shoes. He heard my free wheel spinning and he turned around to see what I was doing. When he realized it, I saw him unstrap his shoes... which to me was a bit wierd. I had no idea what kind of clipless pedals he was using but it was a rather odd action. I took that opportunity to push pass him and get into T2 in position #1.
In T2, he was racked literally 2 bikes to my side. I saw him throw his bike on the rack and run off. He was biking on his running shoes. I ended up leaving transition about 10 yds behind him.
I suddenly realized I was in a unique situation. I had always raced strategically, and it worked well for racing against the clock. But now that I was close to the lead and vying for a podium spot, tactics had come into play. The first thing I had to do was catch up to the guy. I believe that there is a big difference (mentally) between having someone run right on your shoulder vs having someone run about 10 yds back. If I could stick to him like glue, that might put enough pressure on him to start questioning himself. And I knew that he wasn't one of the 8 guys who beat me in the initial run leg, so there was a good chance my run was better than his.
Within 500-600 yds, I had closed up the gap to a few yards. For the next mile, I ran right on his shoulder. When the turnaround cones came into sight, I picked it up the pace a bit and told him 'good job'. I started pulling away at the 1 mile (halfway point) turnaround. About 150 yds after the turnaround, I pass the young kid running the other way. He's in 3rd, with a guy in a red jersey right behind him at 4th. I recognize the both of them as far superior runners to me. At this point I knew that the cyclist dude was out of the race. I didn't believe he had enough to catch me. However #3 and #4 were probably going to gain on me fast. I realized that if I got passed, it would be by both of them. So my choices were win or 3rd place.
I decided that this was it. Do or die. Lift knees, relax shoulders, and GO. The last mile was a blur. I had a lot of people running the other way wishing me good luck and telling me good job. I wasn't trying to ignore them but I was in a world of my own. Form, form, form, form. I saw the final right turn and for the first time I realized that I had a shot at winning the race. That moment of epiphany was like another shot of adrenaline.
At this point I was running close to all out. 400 yds out from the finish, my bike escort looks behind and tells me that I'm in the clear. That there's no one behind me. I think he just wanted to let me know that I didn't need to keep killing myself. For a split second, I considered slowing down, but the concept seemed too foreign. I have never crossed a finish line easy before, and I probably shouldn't start now. Besides, I have the end of my pain in sight. I cross the finish line first in 53:xx, and everyone's cheering. The moment was absolutely surreal.
It turns out that I actually got second and that the overall winner came from the wave behind me. I looked at our times and realized that he was significantly stronger than me and that there was no way I could’ve beaten him even if I knew he was leading. Either way, I’m humbled by the experience of crossing the finish line first. What a great race!
Tri-Shark Race Report (from 6/5/2010)
Another race report from earlier this year:
Pre-Race
Maggie and I stayed about 20 minutes away from the race site. Woke up at 5:00. Had two bananas in the morning at the hotel then we drove down to the start. While I was setting up my transition, there was a downpour soaking me to the bones. Since there was another hour till start time I decided to not leave my stuff out there, hoping that the rain would stop soon.
Announcers said that due to thunderstorms in the area, they may have to delay the start by a few hours. Maggie gets antsy, and so do I. 30 minute before the original start time, I decide to fully set up my transition. Even though the roads are a bit slippery I decide to clip my shoes on to me pedals. Gotta be consistent.
15 minutes to start time they announce that the storms have moved away, and we're set to start on schedule. "All athletes please get to the start line!". I down a gu, take a s-cap and scramble to put on my wetsuit, I managed to get in a 10 minute swim before they clear out the lake. Water temperature is a balmy 73F.
Swim
Oddly enough, no nerves. Wave 1 (elite) takes off. Wave 2 (29 and under, M and F) takes off. Our wave moves up to the front lines. I sorta stand to the side hoping to get into the 2nd or 3rd row, but no one moves up. Seems like everyone in my wave (30-39 M and F) are timid on the swim. 30 seconds before the horn goes, one dude comes along side me. I inch back behind him. BOOM! The gun goes off and a mass of humans dive in the water. I keep this guy to my left since I'm better breathing to that side. He's not too bad so I stick to his hip. After a few hundred yards I'm still stuck to his right hip and he seems to be drafting off the feet of the lead swiimer. Slowly the three of us pulls away from the group.
At the first buoy the lead swimmer surges and gaps my man. I had to make a decision on the spot. I decided to ditch my guy and try to catch up with the leader. I figured this is a sprint and I could afford to swim hard for a bit. After about 10-20 yds I managed to catch up with my new feet. He's going strong, but I still inadvertently run into his feet a few times. This is the second race in a row that I've been in the front pack of the swim.... I was feeling pretty good.
Heading into the swim finish the guy surges again and this time I let him go. I want my HR to come down a bit before T1. As I slow down, a girl from my wave comes out of nowhere and squeezes by me. 3rd out of the water in my wave. I'll take it.
Result: 13th of 436
T1
Struggled a bit with getting my top zipper up this time. Told myself to calm down a bit. As I run into the transition, I see Maggie yelling and pointing at my bike. "There!!! THERE!!" :) I was worried I was going to get penalized for outside assistance.
My sunglasses were soaked so I decided to not wear them. Grab my bike and ran with it. Stumbled a bit on my first flying mount, but got on on my second go. Passed 3 people clipping in.
Bike
Road with one foot in my shoe and the other foot out of the shoe for a few minutes due to the way the course started. Once both feet were in, I started to roll. Like at Galena I was picking off people left and right. 10 minutes into the bike I take 2 s-caps and a shot of gu. Look down at my power and I'm seeing borderline 290-300 watts. Wooo... I"m flying!
At this point I'm pretty sure that I'm leading my age group. I keep looking back to see if anyone is catching up with me, but I don't see anyone. I keep passing and I keep looking back. This is when it occurred to me that I have a good shot at podiuming in my AG. I'm a bit nervous about the run since that's usually where I lose spots.
Ended the bike leading my age group!
Results: 8th out of 436.
24.3 mph.
T2
I run into T2 and get ready for the run. Nothing goes wrong until I started heading for the run exit. Suddenly, I realized I didn't scout the run out!! WTF. I knew I was pretty chill about this race but this mistake is just unacceptable. dumb dumb dumb. I start running one way and yell out "Is run out this way??", a girl yells back "no! its the other way!!". I do a 180 and head out.
Grrrr... I kept thinking that if I lose positions by seconds, I'll be kicking myself for this later.
Run
Right off the bat, I know I've got a dude right behind me. For the first half mile he stays there, then he finally overtakes me. As he passes, he points behind him and tells me to stick to him. "Come on! Come on! Right here!" I take up the offer. At that point I was already hurting but I saw that he had a "33" on his calf! Crap!!!! I knew I had to hang on for as long as possible. Unfortunately he was a stronger runner than me. I finally couldn't hang on any longer and told him that I was done. I couldn't match his pace. He nods and slowly pulls away. When hes about 15 feet ahead of me, this kid out of nowhere blitzs past the both of us. I look at his calf.... 25-29 ... phew. He started 3 minutes ahead of me... so no big deal. But boy could that kid run. He passed me and blew past the guy ahead of me as well.
On the half-way turnaround, I get to see how far my other competitors are. There is no one within a minute of me. Thank god. At this point I'm second in my AG... the podium spot is still secure. About a minute behind me is Scott, the guy I met at Galena earlier in the year. We nod at each other as we pass.
Then in the last quarter mile, out of nowhere, I got struck with intense paranoia. I keep hearing someone gaining on me. I sneak a glance and think I see someone in a white shirt a bit behind me. Uh-oh. I can't drop another podium spot. I'm already on the verge of redlining and can't really push anymore... but somehow I do. I'm pretty much frothing at the mouth at this point. I see the finish line. 400 yds. 300 yds. 200 yds. 100 yds. MADE IT! I turn around and see that there is absolutely NO ONE behind me. My mind is playing tricks on me, man. Just like the Geto Boy song.
Result: 11th out of 436
Got my 5k PR in the process with a 20:00:09!! So close to breaking 20 min!! 6:27 min/mile pace.
Again, I'm pretty happy that my run ranking was decent again.
Pre-Race
Maggie and I stayed about 20 minutes away from the race site. Woke up at 5:00. Had two bananas in the morning at the hotel then we drove down to the start. While I was setting up my transition, there was a downpour soaking me to the bones. Since there was another hour till start time I decided to not leave my stuff out there, hoping that the rain would stop soon.
Announcers said that due to thunderstorms in the area, they may have to delay the start by a few hours. Maggie gets antsy, and so do I. 30 minute before the original start time, I decide to fully set up my transition. Even though the roads are a bit slippery I decide to clip my shoes on to me pedals. Gotta be consistent.
15 minutes to start time they announce that the storms have moved away, and we're set to start on schedule. "All athletes please get to the start line!". I down a gu, take a s-cap and scramble to put on my wetsuit, I managed to get in a 10 minute swim before they clear out the lake. Water temperature is a balmy 73F.
Swim
Oddly enough, no nerves. Wave 1 (elite) takes off. Wave 2 (29 and under, M and F) takes off. Our wave moves up to the front lines. I sorta stand to the side hoping to get into the 2nd or 3rd row, but no one moves up. Seems like everyone in my wave (30-39 M and F) are timid on the swim. 30 seconds before the horn goes, one dude comes along side me. I inch back behind him. BOOM! The gun goes off and a mass of humans dive in the water. I keep this guy to my left since I'm better breathing to that side. He's not too bad so I stick to his hip. After a few hundred yards I'm still stuck to his right hip and he seems to be drafting off the feet of the lead swiimer. Slowly the three of us pulls away from the group.
At the first buoy the lead swimmer surges and gaps my man. I had to make a decision on the spot. I decided to ditch my guy and try to catch up with the leader. I figured this is a sprint and I could afford to swim hard for a bit. After about 10-20 yds I managed to catch up with my new feet. He's going strong, but I still inadvertently run into his feet a few times. This is the second race in a row that I've been in the front pack of the swim.... I was feeling pretty good.
Heading into the swim finish the guy surges again and this time I let him go. I want my HR to come down a bit before T1. As I slow down, a girl from my wave comes out of nowhere and squeezes by me. 3rd out of the water in my wave. I'll take it.
Result: 13th of 436
T1
Struggled a bit with getting my top zipper up this time. Told myself to calm down a bit. As I run into the transition, I see Maggie yelling and pointing at my bike. "There!!! THERE!!" :) I was worried I was going to get penalized for outside assistance.
My sunglasses were soaked so I decided to not wear them. Grab my bike and ran with it. Stumbled a bit on my first flying mount, but got on on my second go. Passed 3 people clipping in.
Bike
Road with one foot in my shoe and the other foot out of the shoe for a few minutes due to the way the course started. Once both feet were in, I started to roll. Like at Galena I was picking off people left and right. 10 minutes into the bike I take 2 s-caps and a shot of gu. Look down at my power and I'm seeing borderline 290-300 watts. Wooo... I"m flying!
At this point I'm pretty sure that I'm leading my age group. I keep looking back to see if anyone is catching up with me, but I don't see anyone. I keep passing and I keep looking back. This is when it occurred to me that I have a good shot at podiuming in my AG. I'm a bit nervous about the run since that's usually where I lose spots.
Ended the bike leading my age group!
Results: 8th out of 436.
24.3 mph.
T2
I run into T2 and get ready for the run. Nothing goes wrong until I started heading for the run exit. Suddenly, I realized I didn't scout the run out!! WTF. I knew I was pretty chill about this race but this mistake is just unacceptable. dumb dumb dumb. I start running one way and yell out "Is run out this way??", a girl yells back "no! its the other way!!". I do a 180 and head out.
Grrrr... I kept thinking that if I lose positions by seconds, I'll be kicking myself for this later.
Run
Right off the bat, I know I've got a dude right behind me. For the first half mile he stays there, then he finally overtakes me. As he passes, he points behind him and tells me to stick to him. "Come on! Come on! Right here!" I take up the offer. At that point I was already hurting but I saw that he had a "33" on his calf! Crap!!!! I knew I had to hang on for as long as possible. Unfortunately he was a stronger runner than me. I finally couldn't hang on any longer and told him that I was done. I couldn't match his pace. He nods and slowly pulls away. When hes about 15 feet ahead of me, this kid out of nowhere blitzs past the both of us. I look at his calf.... 25-29 ... phew. He started 3 minutes ahead of me... so no big deal. But boy could that kid run. He passed me and blew past the guy ahead of me as well.
On the half-way turnaround, I get to see how far my other competitors are. There is no one within a minute of me. Thank god. At this point I'm second in my AG... the podium spot is still secure. About a minute behind me is Scott, the guy I met at Galena earlier in the year. We nod at each other as we pass.
Then in the last quarter mile, out of nowhere, I got struck with intense paranoia. I keep hearing someone gaining on me. I sneak a glance and think I see someone in a white shirt a bit behind me. Uh-oh. I can't drop another podium spot. I'm already on the verge of redlining and can't really push anymore... but somehow I do. I'm pretty much frothing at the mouth at this point. I see the finish line. 400 yds. 300 yds. 200 yds. 100 yds. MADE IT! I turn around and see that there is absolutely NO ONE behind me. My mind is playing tricks on me, man. Just like the Geto Boy song.
Result: 11th out of 436
Got my 5k PR in the process with a 20:00:09!! So close to breaking 20 min!! 6:27 min/mile pace.
Again, I'm pretty happy that my run ranking was decent again.
Galena Race Report (from 5/17/2010)
Ok. It's been too long since I've updated the blog. I'm going to make a committment to better document this process, starting off with posting race reports that I wrote for my friends from awhile back.
Pre-Race
Water temp mid 60s. Couldn't expect it to be any better. Took 1 gu and 1 S-cap 15 minutes before the race. Warmed up in the water for about... ~200-300 yards maybe?
I was in wave #6, the last of the 30-34 age group, so I knew I was going to have a lot of people ahead of me. Fun fun.
Swim
Rank: 47/822
Last year's rank: 22
The goal of this year's swim was to keep my HR down so that I wouldn't need to waste any time in T1 or the beginning of the bike for recovery. My expectations were that I would do better or as good as last year's rankings even though I put less effort in due to the technique improvements I've made.
Started off at the right edge of the wave, about 3 deep. When the horn went off, I went to the outer edge and actually entered the water close to the first row of swimmers. Unlike the previous years, I didn't go all out in the first few hundred yards, preferring for someone to take the lead so that I could hop on his feet. About 50-75 yds in, I noticed that the first line of swimmers were slowing dropping back. By the time I hit the first turn buoy (~100 yds in), I was pretty much half a body length ahead of anyone else. This was not a position I expected to be in, but I definitely was pleasantly surprised.
Heading to the second orange buoy, I gained even more time since the rest of the swim group sort of veered off further to the left to hit some of the yellow buoys that were set out of line. I ignored those buoys and went straight for the orange buoy. I knew I wasn't the only one since I knew there was a guy who had clung on to me by the constant tapping on my feet. But halfway through that stretch I began to have some doubts cuz there was a HUGE pack in my wave that was veering off towards the yellow buouy. For a second I started heading in that direction as well, but then decided that if I misunderstood the rules, then it was already too late. As a result, I was the first from our wave to reach the second buoy as well. However, by this time the water wasn't as clean since we had caught up with a bunch from the earlier waves.
At the last buoy I tried to hug it tight again but caught up by even more slower swimmers. That was when the guy who was drafting me swam wide to take the lead into the finish line. I decided not to give chase feeling that being second in my wave (I actually was 3rd, but I didn't notice one other guy pass me) wasn't such a bad accomplishment especially in light of the fact that I managed to keep my HR way down this time.
I got into T1 feeling pretty great about myself.
I have to admit that I didn't expect my rankings to hit that badly, but in retrospect, it probably made sense. I really didn't go anywhere as hard as I did the prior years. I probably could've gained about 30 seconds if I had gone all out (get myself to a top 20-25 rank) but would've been struggling with an elevated HR for the duration of T1 and part of the bike.
T1
Wetsuit off.
Put wetsuit in bag.
Put pill box in pocket.
Put 1 gu in pocket.
Glasses on.
Helmet on.
Towel and the rest of the crap into bag.
Tie up bag. (I shouldn't have done this, I bet the volunteers wouldve done that for us)
Walk bike to mount line.
Flying mount and off I go.
Bike
Rank: 30/822
Last Year's rank: 58
I felt that the bike was where I was going to make the biggest impact this year. Not only do I have much better equipment, my watts/kg are at a different level from last year. I've also been doing a lot of over-distances and nutrition experimentation to fix my cramping issues.
I started off riding on my shoes up the hill, and past some other riders who were somewhat bottlenecked at the starting stretch. It was probably about 45 sec - 1 min into the leg did I start working on getting my feet into the shoes. I'm glad to say that I didn't lose any positions while doing that. At this point I wasn't sure whether I was in front or behind the guy from my wave who had drafted me. (Turns out that he had a faster transition, and took off on the bike. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was actually #3 in my wave at this point. At the time I still thought I was leading my wave).
Bike felt strong. I don't know how many people I passed, but it was a lot. I was picking off groups left and right, and I didn't get passed once. No muscle twitching at all. It was greeeaaat. Headed into T2 feeling pretty fresh.
Nutrition: 4 S-caps, 3 gus
Totals: 330 calories, 1400mg NA, 120mg K
Run
Rank: 42/822
Last Year's rank: 78
I was unsure about how I'd do on the run. I felt that I had made huge leaps over the winter, and I really wanted it to reflect in the results.
There was a hill right off the bat, and that really pushed me into redline territory. I tried to tell myself to calm the f!@# down, but I kept pushing. My legs have never felt this fresh (and cramp free) heading into a run before, and I felt that it was my opportunity, nay- my DUTY to push my legs. Unfortunately, my heart wasn't hearing any of it. Before I knew it, I was deep in the red zone and I felt like I couldn't bring in enough oxygen. A side stitch was creeping up on me, which forced me to exhale really hard in an effort to control it. People I was gaining on could probably hear me exhaling from 10 paces back :)
But at that point I didn't really care how I sounded, I just wanted to push, push, push!
At about the 2 mile mark, I came upon this tall dude in a Get-A-Grip tri kit. Seeing that it was just the two of us, and that I wasn't exactly blowing past him, I decided to make conversation. I said something like "can't believe we're only halfway there", or something equally silly. He got philosophical and said something like "well, thats the glass half full". He probably meant "glass half empty" but I'll excuse his mistake cuz we both weren't thinking very straight at that point. I finally pulled away and he shouted some words of encouragement, and I think I said "you too!"... or something. Those memories are fuzzy now.
At the 3 mile to about 3.75 mile mark, the course wrapped back on itself. I go down this hill and see Chris running up it. He yelled something at me, I wasn't sure what, but I asked him how far it was to the turnaround point :) I don't think he replied. I know I was surprised to see him in this race at all, since he had a 15 minute head start. This is payback for putting the fear of god in my at Evergreen! :) That little encounter gave me a bit more pep in my strides. Went down to the bottom of the hill, turned around, and promptly about blew up running back up that hill. I wish I had a HR monitor on cuz I don't think I've ever hurt that much (actually, I have... at the pumpkin 5k racing to the fniish line with chris at my back 2 years ago was just as bad). My heart was basically telling me to lay off... or else. I started feeling some vomit rise up to my throat, which was as good a sign as any to ease off the pedal a bit.
I forced myself to relax a bit, and managed to hold form into the finish line. It was rough but I made it.
Post Race
When I was catching my breath, this dude came up to me and told me how great my feet were, that I was the only one going in a straight line, and unfortunately, some other dude passed the both of us at the last buoy where I got caught up at the cramped turn. I was like "DUDE! you were tapping my feet the whole time!!!". he said that he did it let me know he was there, or something like that. it didnt sound like a very good excuse, but he seemed like a friendly enough fella and I didn't think it affected me that much so I didn't pursue my accusations. He told me that I was 3rd from our wave in. Looking at the results, it seems that he was right. I have to say that his presence of mind is pretty impressive. I was lost in my own personal count of who was who in my wave, and what position I was.
Either way, I'm pretty happy with the results. I really was secretly hoping for something closer to a top 20 finish... oh well. I have my suspicions that this field was a bit stronger than last years, but I'll have to do more data analysis to confirm that.
Pre-Race
Water temp mid 60s. Couldn't expect it to be any better. Took 1 gu and 1 S-cap 15 minutes before the race. Warmed up in the water for about... ~200-300 yards maybe?
I was in wave #6, the last of the 30-34 age group, so I knew I was going to have a lot of people ahead of me. Fun fun.
Swim
Rank: 47/822
Last year's rank: 22
The goal of this year's swim was to keep my HR down so that I wouldn't need to waste any time in T1 or the beginning of the bike for recovery. My expectations were that I would do better or as good as last year's rankings even though I put less effort in due to the technique improvements I've made.
Started off at the right edge of the wave, about 3 deep. When the horn went off, I went to the outer edge and actually entered the water close to the first row of swimmers. Unlike the previous years, I didn't go all out in the first few hundred yards, preferring for someone to take the lead so that I could hop on his feet. About 50-75 yds in, I noticed that the first line of swimmers were slowing dropping back. By the time I hit the first turn buoy (~100 yds in), I was pretty much half a body length ahead of anyone else. This was not a position I expected to be in, but I definitely was pleasantly surprised.
Heading to the second orange buoy, I gained even more time since the rest of the swim group sort of veered off further to the left to hit some of the yellow buoys that were set out of line. I ignored those buoys and went straight for the orange buoy. I knew I wasn't the only one since I knew there was a guy who had clung on to me by the constant tapping on my feet. But halfway through that stretch I began to have some doubts cuz there was a HUGE pack in my wave that was veering off towards the yellow buouy. For a second I started heading in that direction as well, but then decided that if I misunderstood the rules, then it was already too late. As a result, I was the first from our wave to reach the second buoy as well. However, by this time the water wasn't as clean since we had caught up with a bunch from the earlier waves.
At the last buoy I tried to hug it tight again but caught up by even more slower swimmers. That was when the guy who was drafting me swam wide to take the lead into the finish line. I decided not to give chase feeling that being second in my wave (I actually was 3rd, but I didn't notice one other guy pass me) wasn't such a bad accomplishment especially in light of the fact that I managed to keep my HR way down this time.
I got into T1 feeling pretty great about myself.
I have to admit that I didn't expect my rankings to hit that badly, but in retrospect, it probably made sense. I really didn't go anywhere as hard as I did the prior years. I probably could've gained about 30 seconds if I had gone all out (get myself to a top 20-25 rank) but would've been struggling with an elevated HR for the duration of T1 and part of the bike.
T1
Wetsuit off.
Put wetsuit in bag.
Put pill box in pocket.
Put 1 gu in pocket.
Glasses on.
Helmet on.
Towel and the rest of the crap into bag.
Tie up bag. (I shouldn't have done this, I bet the volunteers wouldve done that for us)
Walk bike to mount line.
Flying mount and off I go.
Bike
Rank: 30/822
Last Year's rank: 58
I felt that the bike was where I was going to make the biggest impact this year. Not only do I have much better equipment, my watts/kg are at a different level from last year. I've also been doing a lot of over-distances and nutrition experimentation to fix my cramping issues.
I started off riding on my shoes up the hill, and past some other riders who were somewhat bottlenecked at the starting stretch. It was probably about 45 sec - 1 min into the leg did I start working on getting my feet into the shoes. I'm glad to say that I didn't lose any positions while doing that. At this point I wasn't sure whether I was in front or behind the guy from my wave who had drafted me. (Turns out that he had a faster transition, and took off on the bike. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was actually #3 in my wave at this point. At the time I still thought I was leading my wave).
Bike felt strong. I don't know how many people I passed, but it was a lot. I was picking off groups left and right, and I didn't get passed once. No muscle twitching at all. It was greeeaaat. Headed into T2 feeling pretty fresh.
Nutrition: 4 S-caps, 3 gus
Totals: 330 calories, 1400mg NA, 120mg K
Run
Rank: 42/822
Last Year's rank: 78
I was unsure about how I'd do on the run. I felt that I had made huge leaps over the winter, and I really wanted it to reflect in the results.
There was a hill right off the bat, and that really pushed me into redline territory. I tried to tell myself to calm the f!@# down, but I kept pushing. My legs have never felt this fresh (and cramp free) heading into a run before, and I felt that it was my opportunity, nay- my DUTY to push my legs. Unfortunately, my heart wasn't hearing any of it. Before I knew it, I was deep in the red zone and I felt like I couldn't bring in enough oxygen. A side stitch was creeping up on me, which forced me to exhale really hard in an effort to control it. People I was gaining on could probably hear me exhaling from 10 paces back :)
But at that point I didn't really care how I sounded, I just wanted to push, push, push!
At about the 2 mile mark, I came upon this tall dude in a Get-A-Grip tri kit. Seeing that it was just the two of us, and that I wasn't exactly blowing past him, I decided to make conversation. I said something like "can't believe we're only halfway there", or something equally silly. He got philosophical and said something like "well, thats the glass half full". He probably meant "glass half empty" but I'll excuse his mistake cuz we both weren't thinking very straight at that point. I finally pulled away and he shouted some words of encouragement, and I think I said "you too!"... or something. Those memories are fuzzy now.
At the 3 mile to about 3.75 mile mark, the course wrapped back on itself. I go down this hill and see Chris running up it. He yelled something at me, I wasn't sure what, but I asked him how far it was to the turnaround point :) I don't think he replied. I know I was surprised to see him in this race at all, since he had a 15 minute head start. This is payback for putting the fear of god in my at Evergreen! :) That little encounter gave me a bit more pep in my strides. Went down to the bottom of the hill, turned around, and promptly about blew up running back up that hill. I wish I had a HR monitor on cuz I don't think I've ever hurt that much (actually, I have... at the pumpkin 5k racing to the fniish line with chris at my back 2 years ago was just as bad). My heart was basically telling me to lay off... or else. I started feeling some vomit rise up to my throat, which was as good a sign as any to ease off the pedal a bit.
I forced myself to relax a bit, and managed to hold form into the finish line. It was rough but I made it.
Post Race
When I was catching my breath, this dude came up to me and told me how great my feet were, that I was the only one going in a straight line, and unfortunately, some other dude passed the both of us at the last buoy where I got caught up at the cramped turn. I was like "DUDE! you were tapping my feet the whole time!!!". he said that he did it let me know he was there, or something like that. it didnt sound like a very good excuse, but he seemed like a friendly enough fella and I didn't think it affected me that much so I didn't pursue my accusations. He told me that I was 3rd from our wave in. Looking at the results, it seems that he was right. I have to say that his presence of mind is pretty impressive. I was lost in my own personal count of who was who in my wave, and what position I was.
Either way, I'm pretty happy with the results. I really was secretly hoping for something closer to a top 20 finish... oh well. I have my suspicions that this field was a bit stronger than last years, but I'll have to do more data analysis to confirm that.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Welterweight
It's the lean wolf that leads the pack - Once a Runner
Yesterday I weighed myself for the first time in months and was shocked to see that I had dropped down to 148lbs. I've always thought that I was between 152-155lbs, and that's pretty low already considering that since college I've always been north of 155, peaking out at 165lbs.
I have somewhat of a mixed reaction about this. The good thing is that the wattage that I've been outputting on the bike hasn't changed, if anything it's gone up. That's great news as I work towards my goal watts/kg.
I'm sure this isn't a bad thing for my running either. Being lighter puts less stress on my joints with each step I take. Unfortunately, there is a component of vanity in all this competitive drivel. Personally, I think that anything under 150lbs for a 5'10-'11 guy is way too skinny. So here I am, faced with a slight conundrum. Should I stuff myself and try to work back up a few pounds, or should I keep going at this pace and hope that my weight stabilises soon? I'm leaning towards the former to be honest.
Now, the question is after two years of training and of maintaining about a super welterweight to middleweight class (155lbs - 160lbs) how did I drop 5 plus pounds so quickly?
Looking at my logs, there is absolutely no question as to what was responsible. I'm spending significantly more time training this year. The jump in volume from year 2 to year 3 (this year) is monumental compared to the jump from the year 1 to year 2. And I owe it all to my lacklustre marathon performance last October. After the mediocre race, I pledged to work on my weakness (endurance) over the winter and that has resulted in a physiological transformation that has allowed my body to absorb a tremendous amount of work. (Obviously 'tremendous' is relative, but I'm comparing this to myself a year ago).
Who says marathons aren't good for triathletes?
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Tireless State. 無
It's been a month since my last post, and in the meantime I've had my first run race of the season - an 8k. The great thing about this race is that I've done it now 5 years in a row, and each year, I've set a new PR. I don't know how long this streak will last, obviously it will end at some point since I can't keep getting better ad infinitum. However my hope is that it will keep improving at least for the next 2-3 years. The current PR lies at a high 32 min. Hopefully I will eventually get it down to sub 27:30, which will qualify me for the elite corral. That's a lot of wishful thinking in my opinion, but it never hurts to dream big.
In addition to that I've broken a few other personal records as well. I've had my biggest volume weeks (by a aerobic's point metric which I found online), two weeks in a row! Another personal record I've broken is the amount of hours worked out per week. I guess there is a correlation between aerobic points and hours, but I'll consider them two separate records, thank you very much.
I feel that all this is possible due to the fitness focus I had over the winter. In a way, it was "just" a run focus, but according to Lydiard, running is second to only cross country skiing in its ability to strengthen your cardiovascular system. I have very little doubts that it did indeed contribute to what I'm capable of doing right now.
The most stunning effect, in my mind, is that the time to fatigue for me has increased dramatically. My speed probably has not changed much, but that isn't too concerning since I believe my main limiter is endurance. I vividly remember a moment last week as I was hammering on the bike and realized that I wasn't getting drained as fast as I used to. Lydiard's words echoed in my head "aerobic conditioning is nearly limitless, some athletes have worked themselves up to a tireless state". That has since become my mantra. The word I repeat in my head is the chinese character for 'nothing' - 無
In addition to that I've broken a few other personal records as well. I've had my biggest volume weeks (by a aerobic's point metric which I found online), two weeks in a row! Another personal record I've broken is the amount of hours worked out per week. I guess there is a correlation between aerobic points and hours, but I'll consider them two separate records, thank you very much.
I feel that all this is possible due to the fitness focus I had over the winter. In a way, it was "just" a run focus, but according to Lydiard, running is second to only cross country skiing in its ability to strengthen your cardiovascular system. I have very little doubts that it did indeed contribute to what I'm capable of doing right now.
The most stunning effect, in my mind, is that the time to fatigue for me has increased dramatically. My speed probably has not changed much, but that isn't too concerning since I believe my main limiter is endurance. I vividly remember a moment last week as I was hammering on the bike and realized that I wasn't getting drained as fast as I used to. Lydiard's words echoed in my head "aerobic conditioning is nearly limitless, some athletes have worked themselves up to a tireless state". That has since become my mantra. The word I repeat in my head is the chinese character for 'nothing' - 無
Monday, March 1, 2010
Running on Empty
“You gotta know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em” – Kenny Rogers
After yesterday’s run I started to get a bit woozy. The run itself felt great. I got home, had my endurox, stretched, and started dinner (baked Lemon chicken!). While waiting for the chicken to cook, I started to feel a bit light headed. I lay down for a bit but the odd sensation didn’t go away. My stomach felt empty but I wasn’t hungry at all. Typically, I would be ravenous at this point.
Dinner was finally ready, and as I ate I started to feel better. It dawned on me that I probably have depleted my glucose supply, or at least came dangerously low on that. My body had shut down to a certain degree and I was just feeling the effects of it.
This morning, I struggled out of bed and headed to the gym. I felt a bit more sluggish than usual but I figured it was just a case of the Mondays. I figured that I was always like this after a hard set of weekend workouts. However, the moment I got on the track I knew things weren’t right. My legs felt like lead and I was pretty much chugging along at a snail’s pace. I cut my run short and headed to the pool. The pool session lasted… 250 yds. As I stood there at the end of the lane, I knew I had to make a decision. Either suck it up and swim the set or cut my losses and head out. This time I chose the latter.
That’s right. I pretty much said ‘screw this’. I couldn’t hold form, I couldn’t focus. Everything was off.
Ironically, my decision comes one day after posting about commitment and discipline. However, I do believe that I made the right choice. A younger version of me would probably have gone ahead pushed through the workouts and end up injurying myself. A year older, a year wiser.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Winter Training coming to an end
There are no miracles in running - Running with the Buffaloes
As Mark Wetmore told his CU runners "there are no miracles in running". You get out what you put in. When it comes down to it what counts are the early mornings, the late nights and the foot prints you leave in the snow. Lacing up day after day is not the easiest thing in the world but its these small, incremental investments that add up overtime.
This winter has been a season of incrementals. Incrementals which at the end of the day, I'm hoping to add up to be greater than the sum of its parts. It is with these baby steps that I have gotten where I am today. Where I go from here is just a matter of how I decide to structure my training. I'm in uncharted territory now and I feel that I need to decide on a game plan soon.
I have no intention of relying on miracles.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Weight of the world
"When you wake up and you're tired, think, they all want to be you." – Running with Buffaloes
If I only had someone read that to me this morning. I woke up grumpy and tired, and worse- with an elevated heart rate. The thought of going back under the covers fleeted through my head, just for a second- I promise. Then I realized what I had to do.
I know I’m inching towards the finish line, however it is during these times that the doubts start clouding your mind. It was no different this time. My biggest fear, as usual is of injury. Perhaps this is not just any ol’ doubt, but a legitimate concern. Milestones are good and all but not at the expense of injury. Even after two years, I’m still having a difficult time deciphering the signals my body is giving me. Where is the line drawn between courage and folly? One step too far each season and you end up a perennial underachiever.
Toeing that line has always been something I’ve always been prone to do- not out of some foolish need to prove myself day in and day out, but because of an inflexible mind towards following a plan towards achievement. Hmm... perhaps there is a component of foolishness there. What I need to realize is that once the most direct path to the destination leads through a war zone, it’s probably time to draw up a new set of directions.
Or maybe not… in a way this mindset is a double edged sword. It has brought me to where I am now, but to take it to the next level I need to harness the fool within.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Obsession
In any human endeavor, some fraction of its practitioners will be motivated to pursue that activity with such concentrated focus and unalloyed passion that it will consume them utterly... For some, the province of the extreme holds an allure that's irresistible... As a result of his or her infatuation, existence overflows with purpose. Ambiguity vanishes from the fanatic's worldview; a narcissistic sense of self assurance displaces all doubt. His perspective narrows until the last remnants of proportion are shed from his life. Through immoderation, he experiences something akin to rapture. - John Krakauer
I read this quote today and it struck a chord within me. For the past couple years since I picked up triathlon training I’ve had many people approach me and tell me that my hobby was bordering on obsession and that my life was out of balance. The scary thing is that this included people within the triathlon community. I’ve always struggled to respond to these comments, and more often than not ended up apologizing for straying away from a life of normalcy and balance.
For good or bad, it’s refreshing to see an articulation of such a mindset. I’m not sure if I can afford the singleness of focus as written in the passage, but I sure as hell can relate to the effect it has on me.
There’s a part of me that wonders how far I can go if I gave it everything I got.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Countdown Begins
One more week till I reach the goal of the off-season. It didn't occur that I was on track till this past few days. The thing is not only am I on track to hit it, I actually have a chance of surpassing it. Whether I do or not is immaterial though- I'm just delighted that I'm in the position to see it through.
It's odd that just a few months ago I thought that all was lost. Coming off a painful marathon finish I could barely run 5 miles before my heel started to hurt. November was a totally lost month. Watching the fall days fly by was one of the hardest things I've had to do. However, in retrospect it was probably a good idea that I kept off my feet entirely. It's hard to believe how everything came together and worked out so well.
It's odd that just a few months ago I thought that all was lost. Coming off a painful marathon finish I could barely run 5 miles before my heel started to hurt. November was a totally lost month. Watching the fall days fly by was one of the hardest things I've had to do. However, in retrospect it was probably a good idea that I kept off my feet entirely. It's hard to believe how everything came together and worked out so well.
Friday, February 19, 2010
For the Love of the Game
For years now I have maintained that I don't enjoy running. Whenever someone asked me why I ran, I would say that it was because it's the third leg of the triathlon. And it was true. I used to hate putting on my running shoes and slogging out on the pavement. To me every step was heavy and the whole ordeal was a chore.
However gradually, even imperceptibly, I came around to the discipline. For the first time yesterday, I actually looked forward to running. Sitting there at work I pictured myself flying down the trail (whether I actually do or not is irrelevant) and I realized that I couldn't wait to run later that evening. That realization was a breakthrough in my mind.
This shift wasn't something that happened overnight either. It was slowly built up through the process of learning how to run. I would say it was set in motion by my marathon training last year. Step after step, mile after mile, my body kept on adjusting itself so that my form was no longer as terrible as it once was. When it began to feel effortless was when it started to get fun. Then this year, following the Lydiard principles, I've taken fun to the next level. It was running for the sake of running. Pace be damned. Heart rate be damned. If it felt right I opened up, if not I took it easy. When I did open up it felt like I was running on air.
I love running.
However gradually, even imperceptibly, I came around to the discipline. For the first time yesterday, I actually looked forward to running. Sitting there at work I pictured myself flying down the trail (whether I actually do or not is irrelevant) and I realized that I couldn't wait to run later that evening. That realization was a breakthrough in my mind.
This shift wasn't something that happened overnight either. It was slowly built up through the process of learning how to run. I would say it was set in motion by my marathon training last year. Step after step, mile after mile, my body kept on adjusting itself so that my form was no longer as terrible as it once was. When it began to feel effortless was when it started to get fun. Then this year, following the Lydiard principles, I've taken fun to the next level. It was running for the sake of running. Pace be damned. Heart rate be damned. If it felt right I opened up, if not I took it easy. When I did open up it felt like I was running on air.
I love running.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Training Philosophy Evolution
I've recently had the opportunity to go through my earlier posts and I found it interesting to see how my training philosophy has evolved over the years. It seems like I've been slowly accumulating pieces of a complex jigsaw puzzle and trying to put together a picture of how training comes together to result in peak performance.
My first year of training I was heavily influenced by Joe Friel's "The Triathlete's Bible". From that book I learnt the basic principles of periodization and how to approach training with a grander goal in mind (microcycles, macrocycles and seasonal cycles, etc). My swim training, however, was the byproduct of Terry Laughlin's "Total Immersion" program. I totally bought into the idea of imprinting good technique into your swim stroke, while aiming for efficiency. Being used to the old college swim team suffer fest, this approach felt like heaven. The pool was no longer a torture chamber- hallelujah!
My first year results were mixed. I wasn't able to periodize as well as I had hoped due to race schedules and my inability to control the need for anaerobic workouts. Another important factor was that my overall fitness was really too low to have any semblance of a varied routine. In the end, I think most of my improvement can be attributed to the fact that I actually swam, biked and ran. At the level I was, any amount of training would've helped.
Heading into my second year of training I started reading a book by Brad Kearns, an ex-pro triathlete, called "Breakthrough Performance". The book promoted the concept of training intuitively and designing your training around key "breakthrough workouts". That sounded simple enough, and it would allow me to be less beholden to a schedule. I figured that since I couldn't stick to Joe Friel's heavily structured training, something more flexible like this might work better.
At this same time, my swimming was hitting a plateau and I started searching around for something outside of TI to take me to the next level. At that time Team TBB was destroying everyone in races around the world, so I hopped on the bandwagon and started looking into Brett Sutton's swim philosohpy. Unfortunately it led me back to where I dreaded most- hammering in the water. The thing with swimming is that you can build up incredible amounts of lactic acid in your muscles without risking much injury. For the most part, coaches take advantage of this fact and use it to destroy a psyche of a swimmer (while elevating pool specific LT tolerance to sky high levels, of course). It works in theory, but I was swimming solo and there was no way in hell I could've pushed myself to that level.
Heading into my third year, I've discovered Arthur Lydiard. I have to say that he is reason for a great deal of optimism. Unlike Hal Higdon (who's training I followed for my first marathon), Arthur Lydiard's teachings wasn't focused around specific races for amateur runners with specific amounts of time to train. Arthur's philosophies lay a foundation on how to train in general. The great thing about it is that it is based on very fundamental physiology, so the learnings apply to cycling as well (not as much to swimming, but thats a whole different post).
In a way, I feel that he has provided some critical missing pieces to my jigsaw puzzle. Now let's put it to work and see how it goes. As they say, race results are the ultimate barometer of a training philosophy.
My first year of training I was heavily influenced by Joe Friel's "The Triathlete's Bible". From that book I learnt the basic principles of periodization and how to approach training with a grander goal in mind (microcycles, macrocycles and seasonal cycles, etc). My swim training, however, was the byproduct of Terry Laughlin's "Total Immersion" program. I totally bought into the idea of imprinting good technique into your swim stroke, while aiming for efficiency. Being used to the old college swim team suffer fest, this approach felt like heaven. The pool was no longer a torture chamber- hallelujah!
My first year results were mixed. I wasn't able to periodize as well as I had hoped due to race schedules and my inability to control the need for anaerobic workouts. Another important factor was that my overall fitness was really too low to have any semblance of a varied routine. In the end, I think most of my improvement can be attributed to the fact that I actually swam, biked and ran. At the level I was, any amount of training would've helped.
Heading into my second year of training I started reading a book by Brad Kearns, an ex-pro triathlete, called "Breakthrough Performance". The book promoted the concept of training intuitively and designing your training around key "breakthrough workouts". That sounded simple enough, and it would allow me to be less beholden to a schedule. I figured that since I couldn't stick to Joe Friel's heavily structured training, something more flexible like this might work better.
At this same time, my swimming was hitting a plateau and I started searching around for something outside of TI to take me to the next level. At that time Team TBB was destroying everyone in races around the world, so I hopped on the bandwagon and started looking into Brett Sutton's swim philosohpy. Unfortunately it led me back to where I dreaded most- hammering in the water. The thing with swimming is that you can build up incredible amounts of lactic acid in your muscles without risking much injury. For the most part, coaches take advantage of this fact and use it to destroy a psyche of a swimmer (while elevating pool specific LT tolerance to sky high levels, of course). It works in theory, but I was swimming solo and there was no way in hell I could've pushed myself to that level.
Heading into my third year, I've discovered Arthur Lydiard. I have to say that he is reason for a great deal of optimism. Unlike Hal Higdon (who's training I followed for my first marathon), Arthur Lydiard's teachings wasn't focused around specific races for amateur runners with specific amounts of time to train. Arthur's philosophies lay a foundation on how to train in general. The great thing about it is that it is based on very fundamental physiology, so the learnings apply to cycling as well (not as much to swimming, but thats a whole different post).
In a way, I feel that he has provided some critical missing pieces to my jigsaw puzzle. Now let's put it to work and see how it goes. As they say, race results are the ultimate barometer of a training philosophy.
Friday, January 1, 2010
2010 looks to be a good year.
Training for the past week has been very satisfying. I was worried for a bit that my post marathon heel injury would ruin my training plans for the winter. However, to my great relief, I seem to be 100%. When I started running again 3 weeks ago, I did 15 miles. Last week I upped it to 20 miles. For this week I'm up to 24 miles and it's only Friday. I'm sticking to Halhigdon protocol of having Friday off. Then I'll be aiming for another 15 miles this weekend to get the total up to 39 miles. If I'm able to rack up that kind of volume on my third week back I'd be ecstatic. I have my fingers crossed.
Despite ramping my miles on the run, my swimming has not suffered much if at all. I'm entering the water with a tad more fatigue than usual, but that's not affecting my ability to work on my form. Pace times at cruise effort levels have been dropping like rocks for the past 3 months... from 1:30 to 1:26 to 1:23 and now hitting close to 1:21. I'm really hopeful that in the next few months I would have developed the necessary muscles to maintain that form for 1500 meters. If that is the case then my goal of hitting 2:10 will be that much easier.
Suffice to say, I'm already looking forward to racing this season!
Other than that... the only thing that concerns me is how cold it is outside. For the past few seasons that I've been doing all my winter runs indoors- either on a treadmill or at the gym's 200m track. This year I've resolved to do my running outside. Unfortunately the predicted high for tomorrow is 12F. Not very comforting. Either way, the plan is to get in two runs for a total of 8 miles. It's going to be paaaainful. The only thing that will keep me sane is the thought of kicking some serious ass in 2011 back in the motherland.
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