tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71140517908141107122023-11-16T02:45:20.427-05:00The road to Ironman SwitzerlandTriathlon training and race report blog$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-90439817592441914772012-07-29T08:08:00.001-04:002012-07-29T08:08:45.478-04:00One year and counting...It's been a while, but I'm back. With exactly one year until Ironman Switzerland it is time to get serious about training, diet and the most importantly the mental game. The race is set for Sunday July 28th 2013 and I plan to be on the starting line. If you want to join me you can find more information here. <a href="http://ironmanzurich.com/">http://ironmanzurich.com/</a>After many months of frustration with my ankle I decided to have surgery. On May 9th I went under the knife and have been recovering ever since. My training and racing have always provided an outlet for me to not only reduce stress, but to give me something I don't get at work. I don't generally discuss work in my blog and I probably won't after this either. I work for a large private company which doesn't really suit my personality. I am not one for office politics and we have a ton. With triathlon I am able to set goals and make plans to achieve them, in other words I am in control. This has been missing the last few months.<br />
Speaking of goals, the main goal is a lofty one for me. Sub 13 hours. This will be my second attempt at the distance and after the first one, 13:56:34 means I have about 1 hour to make up. My weakest link in that race was the bike, which works out well since improvement on the bike will yeild the biggest time gains. Obviously the ankle surgery will put a damper on my running fitness especially at the beginning, but I have the most confidence in that leg and feel a 5 hour marathon will still be in my grasp. Not sure how the transitions will be setup but looking at the results from last year I don't see very many double digit transitions so I suspect they will be fairly quick. A basic blueprint would be start the bike before 1:30, start the run before 7:45, that will give me 5 hours and 15 minutes for the marathon. <br />
My next few posts I'll be describing what I think I need to do to make that main goal happen and setting some other goals that are all geared to bring about the sub 13. So do I really think I can go sub 13 one year from now? Yes, yes I do.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-78237646484835814182011-11-21T10:58:00.001-05:002011-11-21T11:02:45.057-05:00IFWL Experiment - Week 7update for week seven results<br />
weigh in on 10/3 - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat / 24.4% body fat<br />
end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54.8 lb fat / 25.6% body fat<br />
end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat / 23.8% body fat<br />
end of week 3 on 10/24 - 214.4 / 51.7 lb fat / 24.1% body fat<br />
end of week 4 on 10/31 - 208.6 / 53.4 lb fat / 25.6 % body fat<br />
end of week 5 on 11/7 - 209.8 / 51 lb fat / 24.3 % body fat<br />
end of week 6 on 11/14 - 207.2 / 47.9 lb fat / 23.1 % body fat <br />
end of week 7 on 11/21 - 206.8 / 45.9 lb fat / 22.2 % body fat <br />
<br />This was an odd week. I decided to take a break this week and didn't do any of the core/resistance workouts and scaled back on my biking and running so was half expecting to gain some weight. Then on Friday morning the scaled said 212, that was a shock as I hadn't been over 210 in 4 weeks, but the body fat % was down in 21 so I chalked that up to my body being in recovery mode soaking up a bunch of water and stuff. This week it's back to the regular work outs, at least as many as thanksgiving will allow. Have company at the house so getting in those early morning workouts without waking everyone up will be difficult. Thinking about moving the bike trainer into the sunroom...$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-60432280179368378432011-11-14T12:56:00.001-05:002011-11-14T13:01:23.472-05:00IFWL Experiment week 6quick update for week six results<br />
weigh in on 10/3 - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat / 24.4% body fat<br />
end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54.8 lb fat / 25.6% body fat<br />
end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat / 23.8% body fat<br />
end of week 3 on 10/24 - 214.4 / 51.7 lb fat / 24.1% body fat<br />
end of week 4 on 10/31 - 208.6 / 53.4 lb fat / 25.6 % body fat<br />
end of week 5 on 11/7 - 209.8 / 51 lb fat / 24.3 % body fat<br />
end of week 6 on 11/14 - 207.2 / 47.9 lb fat / 23.1 % body fat <br />
<br />
at the half way point for this experiment and things seem to be right on track. I've lost 11.2 lbs or almost 2lbs a week and if the scale is to be believed almost 6lbs of body fat. Not sure how long the 2 lbs / week will keep up, but the incentive and reward are still there, so doing the exercise at aerobic pace while fasted is still something I can get myself to do without problems.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-39265239782220755272011-11-08T14:23:00.000-05:002011-11-14T13:19:43.082-05:00IFWL Experiment - Week 5quick update for week five results<br />
weigh in on 10/3 - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat / 24.4% body fat<br />
end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54.8 lb fat / 25.6% body fat<br />
end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat / 23.8% body fat<br />
end of week 3 on 10/24 - 214.4 / 51.7 lb fat / 24.1% body fat<br />
end of week 4 on 10/31 - 208.6 / 53.4 lb fat / 25.6 % body fat<br />
end of week 5 on 11/7 - 209.8 / 51 lb fat / 24.3 % body fat<br />
<br />
That was a hard week, coming down off the prednisone, wife has to have semi-emergency wisdom teeth removal, and daughter has rehearsal every night for her ballet on Saturday and Sunday. Finally feeling back to normal and the body fat % is coming down again. The drug should be totally out of my system this week so I'm hoping to get a more normal reading next monday, but it looks like the fat is still coming off. I'm still doing my weight routine and am getting stronger with those exercises.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-44282501723076395302011-10-31T12:08:00.000-04:002011-10-31T12:08:01.074-04:00IFWL Experiment - Week 4quick update for week four results<br />weigh in on 10/3 - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat / 24.4% body fat<br />end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54.8 lb fat / 25.6% body fat<br />end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat / 23.8% body fat<br />
end of week 3 on 10/24 - 214.4 / 51.7 lb fat / 24.1% body fat<br />
end of week 4 on 10/31 - 208.6 / 53.4 lb fat / 25.6 % body fat<br />
<br />
At first glance it looks great to lose 6 lbs in a week, but of course we know that's not real since the body fat went way up. I did some yard work the previous weekend and was bit by something and got poison ivy or something like that and had an allergic reaction. so I've been on some kind of drug, prednisol?, for the past week and last night my body decided to get start a faster filtering process so I was up every hour to go flush out the system. Anyway I was definitely dehydrated this morning. On the positive side if I look back to the end of week one when I was at the same body fat % I am 6 lbs under that. Saturday morning at was at 212 and I suspect that is about right, so I'm going to claim 2 more lbs this week and 6 for the month. <br />$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-88643172496151250572011-10-24T10:02:00.004-04:002011-10-24T10:02:58.600-04:00IFWL Experiment - Week 3quick update for week three results<br />weigh in on 10/3 - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat / 24.4% body fat<br />end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54 lb fat / 25.6% body fat<br />end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat / 23.8% body fat<br />
end of week 3 on 10/24 - 214.4 / 51.7 lb fat / 24.1% body fat<br />
I slacked off a bit last week and it shows, will attempt to get back on track this week. no cheating with the peanut M&M's and more focus on whole foods...$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-5321429915504987912011-10-19T10:09:00.000-04:002011-10-19T10:09:41.127-04:00Week two of the IFWL Experimentquick update for week two results<br />weigh in on 10/3 - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat / 24.4% body fat<br />end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54 lb fat / 25.6% body fat<br />end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat / 23.8% body fat<br />
looks like progress is being made, about 2 lbs a week is nice and where I'd like to be, so business as usually this week$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-37385847110961078912011-10-10T11:29:00.002-04:002011-10-10T11:46:41.608-04:00Week one of the IFWL ExperimentSo since I'm injured and don't expect to be doing any intensity any time soon I've decided to try out an experiment on myself. Intermittent fasting has been gaining some popularity on the fringes of the endurance community as a way to loose some of your fat reserves without having to starve yourself. So here is how it is supposed to work, as I understand it. <br />You eat dinner the night before as usual and then go to bed and sleep. Get up in the AM and before eating anything, do an aerobic workout in the fat burning zone for 30 minutes up to 2 hours. Then attempt to make it until it has been 12 hours since you last ate before eating breakfast. Do this 3 or 4 times a week. The idea is to teach your body to rely on fat as fuel and to lessen it's need for quick carbs.<br />My starting weight was 218.6 - and body fat % at 24.4 - quick note here, I am using a scale to measure body fat and while it gets close, it is by no means accurate. it is very susceptible to hydration and humidity, but is generally within a 3% range.<br />After one week my weight is at 214.2 and body fat % at 25.6. I suspect that this mornings lowering of weight and upping of body fat is due to me being dehydrated after yesterday's 40 mile bike / 3 hours of yard work. But I do believe I have lost some of that as real weight loss. Next week should be a better indicator as I won't be doing all the yard work and should be in a better hydrated state. <br />I did 3 workouts fasted the first week. <br />Monday - 30 min spin on the bike + 30 minutes of core and resistance<br />Wednesday - 45 min spin on the bike + 30 minutes of core and resistance<br />Friday - 5 minute walk on Treadmill + 30 minutes of core and resistance<br />I also took a 90 minute spin class Thursday night ( which explains the no spinning of friday), and did the aforementioned 40 mile bike + yardwork on Sunday. <br />I have modified my diet slightly as I am trying to eat more vegetables throughout the day and eat less for dinner, but I am not going hungry. I usually start off the workout hungry, but after about 15 minutes that goes away, at least until I am done with the workout. <br />My goal is to lose about 15 lbs of fat before Christmas, get my injuries healed up and be ready for next year.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-24361833787871129842011-09-18T20:22:00.003-04:002011-09-18T20:44:43.547-04:00White Lake Internation Tri Race ReportWas really looking forward to this race but unfortunately it didn't work out quite the way I wanted. Leading up to the race my shoulder that I injured at the beginning of the year started hurting again. I stopped swimming in hopes that it would recover enough for me to get at least a desent time in the swim portion, then I wanted to really hammer the bike and run just to see what I could do after a great spring/summer of training and racing.<br /><br />The race ended up being wetsuit legal. boooooooo. but on the plus side I think the wetsuit helped my shoulder track better and I had no issues what so ever on the swim. tool off to the left of the pack, jumped on some feet until they veered of course, then went at it solo for the rest of the 1200 meters. After I made the first turn I finally noticed that the buoys had meter markers on them. The first one I saw was 700. This kept me facinated and keeping close enough to them so I could read them. I think this was the straightest I've ever swum and kept my pace conservative. It was a good thing I did that as about 1300 or so my swim unconditioning starting to show and I really had to work to keep the pace up for the last 200. Finished about 30 minutes for the 1500 swim and 4th in the MC division. <br /><br />After a quick transition I headed out on the bike. In the first mile I was doing 21 and I saw an MC go flying by me. He was hauling ass and I knew better than to try to stay on him. I wanted to go fast, but not totally blow it out. I managed a 21.5 mph average for the 27+ miles and felt really strong. I had that I could have gone faster feeling and didn't think my legs were trashed at all. Finished in 1:17, 5th best in MC. <br /><br />took a bit more time in T2 to make sure I had everything, then headed out on the run, just as I was leaving the rack I saw Collin, another MC heading out the other side of transition. he looked speedy, so there was now at least 2 in front of me. I did the first mile in 8:50 and felt good. legs were coming around, it wasn't too hot and I had consumed all 3 of my gels and drank about 40 oz of water. Ran mile 2 in 8:30 and wanted to do 2 more at that pace then see what I had left. Of course that's when it all fell apart. At about 2.5 my left hamstring cramped up so bad I couldn't walk. I don't want to get into all the gory details, but I cramped up at least 4 more times over the next 4 miles and lost 3rd place by 15 seconds. the 3rd MC passed me while cramping the last time at mile 5.5, I tried to catch, but he saw me and had more left than I at that point. <br /><br />Totally frustrated with my cramping situation on the mid distance races. Sprints, no problems, ironman, no cramps, but international distance, cramps like crazy. Oh well, got plenty of time before the next one to work on it.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-20028688329205507312011-09-18T20:20:00.000-04:002011-09-18T20:20:53.169-04:00Tri the Worx race reportThis was my 3rd race in 4 weeks. I'm going to do a write up on the experiment I was doing this year on the multi week peak, but first I need to do this write up before I forget all that happened. <br /><br />This was an awesome race, the race orgainizers have a great site and did a great job of setup and execution. I have no complaints about it at all and would definitely do this race again. <br /><br />*********************<br />Yeah, so much for those two paragraphs above that I wrote 3 weeks ago, and now I've forgotten all the good stuff...<br /><br />anyway I want to write some info here since I will probably do this one again next year and hopefully the wife and kid will actually watch me for part of it instead of playing on the play ground the whole time.<br /><br />The Pool:<br />It was an outdoor pool and there was plenty of time for warmup. the thing here was you had to get out and run through the inside pool area to get out to the transition area, and I caught the lady in front of me who caught the lady in front of her. I think instead of 1:28, next year a 1:24 would be better. <br /><br />T1: The bike start is out the back and up a hill. get to the top before trying to mount.<br /><br />Bike: loved this bike course mostly a low hill rolling type. only got out of the saddle once. the last right turn was a bit dicey with a bunch of cars at the light, they should probably do something about that as I had to go into the left turn lane to get around the cars so I could make a right. I'm sure the jerk that moved way to the right so the bikes couldn't go around and make that right did it on purpose, but what can you do. <br /><br />T2: the bike finish is at the top of the hill, be careful running down this hill. slippery when wet...<br /><br />Run: the run was about .2 short, don't be afraid to go all out after the turn around, the way back is easier then the way out on this out and back course.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-86749614263598063292011-08-01T06:44:00.003-04:002011-08-02T21:05:16.659-04:00UNC Wellness sprint tri race reportI was a little confused pre-race as I thought the transition area closed at 6:30 and the pool warmup time ended at 6:45. Had them reversed. This was one of those races where they actually enforced the times. The day started out nice, it was overcast and cooler than it had been for a couple weeks and we had no difficulties getting to the race site. I picked Karyn up at 5:30 and she didn't have a flat tire. Got to the race site around 6, setup transition and did an easy warmup jog. Karyn pointed out the bike start where you had to go over a curb and some grass to get to the street before the start, very helpful. After the warmup jog it was close to 6:30 and I wanted to get my warmup swim in so I hit the pool and started. As I was swimming I noticed people kept getting out and no one new getting in. Then I was all alone. I got the end of one of my laps and the official looking guy says "Are you all warmed up?" I said just about, but I feel all alone. He says "That's because the pool is closed for warmup now". oops. He let me do one more lap then out I went. One more quick trip to the port o john and it was time to line up for the swim. <br /><br />Swim: 250 yards 3:30 - 1:24 / 100 yards ( 1st in MC div )<br />Had just an awesome swim. No shoulder pain, gliding through the water felt effortless. The guy in front of me was a relay and fast, but the guy behind was a bit slow, so after lap 2 I had the lanes to myself. Wish all swims could feel that good.<br /><br />T1: 1:40 ( 3rd in MC div )<br />there was a long jog from the pool to the transition area, and then a long jog with bike shoes on to the other end of transition before starting the bike. Actually not a bad time considering<br /><br />Bike: 9.3 miles in 28:50 ( 3rd in MC div )<br />The bike was better than I expected. I thought it was going to be really hilly, but after about 3 miles of tough neighborhood hills and tight turns the last 6 were just rolling. At about mile 5-6 I shifted into the small ring and my chain came off. I had to stop and dismount to get it back on. I've done that often, so probably only cost me 30 seconds, 30 seconds I didn't have...<br /><br />T2: 1:15 ( 3rd in MC div )<br />another long run in bike shoes, no socks this time but did get my hat out of the cooler and remembered my race number.<br /><br />run: 5k in 24:31 ( 2nd in MC div by 2 seconds )<br />Great run for me, there were two really tough hills on this out and back, the first half mile was all up, and then mile 2 - 2.5 was all up before getting a nice finish downhill for a half mile. I only got passed by 3-4 people and was able to pass a few, not much walking seen on this one compared to Mission Man last week, but it was much better conditions without the sun and starting an hour earlier. <br /><br />Total: 59:44 ( 2nd in MC div by :13 seconds )<br />obviously I feel that if my chain incident hadn't happened I would have had another win, but things happen and I didn't panic and still was in the running. Post race we walked over to a coffee shop and I got my iced mocha while waiting for the other competitors to finish up. This race, the prize was a folding chair, nice.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-19415988194060161342011-07-30T08:52:00.003-04:002011-07-30T09:28:09.252-04:00Mission Man tri race reportSince I have another tri tomorrow I better type this out before I forget or get the two confused. you know how us old people are...<br /><br />This was a great race for me. I am definitely not a good warm weather athlete, so I was more than a little nervous about this one as the race start was at 8am and predicted to be in the upper 70's with upper 80's when I started the run. Picked up Karyn around 5:30, she had a flat and was attempting to change the tire. I put the new tube in and we tried to pump it up, but the new tube was also dead, so we loaded up the bike and drove to the race thinking they would have tubes there. she as 650's on her bike or I would have given her my spare. Made it to the race site to find out that tri-sports bike assistance wasn't set up yet. I got all my stuff setup, body marked and was about to go out for my warmup jog when I hear the announcer make a plea for anyone with a spare 650 tube, I look over and there is Karyn standing next to him. Luckily a kind sole had one for her, then it took the bike mech about 10 minutes to change put the new tube in. I had done it in 3 minutes in her garage so I was disappointed to say the least the bike assistance crew, first not having 650 tubes is nuts, then not being able to get the tire changed. but luckily she got it all straightened out and was ready for the start. My pre-race went much easier and I got my 2 trips to the port o john, warmup run, and warmup swim with no hassles. Just after the first wave went my stomach said, "ah maybe you should make another trip" I was in the third wave, so I jogged over to the now empty poj line and took care of business and was back at the start just in time to wish Mika and karyn luck and get into the water for my start. <br /><br />Swim: 15:44 #2 in MC div ( :02 seconds away from #1 )<br />With my shoulder still on the mend I knew my success in the swim would hinge on swimming as straight as possible and maintaining the best form. so there was no sprint at the start, not jockey for position, just stroke and sight. Very happy to report I swam possible the straightest I have ever done in a race and aside from one dufus who kept cris crossing in front of me in the first 200 yards had an uneventful swim. the best kind...<br /><br />T1: :55 <br />no messing around in T1 - shoes, helmet, glasses on, head out<br /><br />Bike: 43:46 #3 in MC div ( :23 seconds away from #1 )<br />the first 5 or so miles on the bike I was trying to maintain a fast pace and wait for my lungs to catch up, but that wasn't happening so I slowed down, drank some and took it easy for about a mile until my breathing returned to semi-normal, then began to pick up the speed until I got the breaking point, then backed off slightly and kept that pace. It was really hard as the air quality was not so great and the heat was on the rise. Only say a couple drafters today, and they were all relay teams, ( not to relay teams: you are not allowed to draft either ) so was happy about that, passed a bunch of people and got passed by only a few. when I pulled into the park I was over 20mph ave so very happy.<br /><br />T2: 1:42<br />did some messing around in T2 but it ended up helping me. Needed to cool off before the run so took some extra time to dig ice out of my cooler and put a handful in my hat, and another handful down my tri-suit. yes it was cold, but felt really good. <br /><br />Run: 26:40 #2 in MC div ( :01 second away from #1 )<br />Within the first 1/2 mile I knew the run was not going to be fast today. At the first water stop I asked for water, but the boy gave me Heed instead, I didn't notice till I dumped it on my head, so the run was literally hot and sticky. When we turned onto the trail, I cut back the speed and got to a maintainable pace, on the uphills I was passing walkers left and right, the carnage was already starting. Normally for a sprint I am for low 8's on the run, but today I wasn't even going to look. I just got in a rhythm and went. It was probably one of the harder runs I've ever done, but mentally I was ready for it and since it was a two loop course, I knew what to expect on the second loop so I was able to push up the hills knowing when they would end. There was only 1 hill I thought would be a maybe walk and when I got up that one I knew I was home free. The toughest part about this run course is there were no downhills that you could recover on. they were all short and steep. with about 1/2 mile to go finally someone passed me a speed I could hang on to and I rode his pace to the finish. I was right on the edge at the end and so I knew I had given it all I had. The best way to finish a race, at least that's how you feel about 30 minutes after you finish. <br /><br />total time: 1:28:44 1st in MC division<br /><br />Overall they put on a great race. plenty of water on the run, ice at the finish and a great spread of food at the end including watermelon, cantalope, oranges, cookies, chips, gatorade, sode, water and other stuff. and to top it off I got this reward<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vD6D58ZdSThaoSBKAWzYTOeu7XmdBp05PMBKaxpPySECJGnAfwOvkV1kcMWewk10SB0zrcYdzD9CjBhIj3NSCCv2WLRJpz1k0KMlcmVBjBCDVBB-uWlpYcy6YBD_65Soz0I71Fdj8iU/s1600/missionMan.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vD6D58ZdSThaoSBKAWzYTOeu7XmdBp05PMBKaxpPySECJGnAfwOvkV1kcMWewk10SB0zrcYdzD9CjBhIj3NSCCv2WLRJpz1k0KMlcmVBjBCDVBB-uWlpYcy6YBD_65Soz0I71Fdj8iU/s320/missionMan.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635135116268502242" /></a>$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-29058366567617591812011-06-06T06:36:00.003-04:002011-06-06T07:14:16.824-04:00kerr lake tri race reportIt's been a while since I've done one of these, not sure why but the previous races I guess I just didn't suffer enough to put the effort into doing a write up. I keep thinking I'm going to go back and add them, but I'm not making any promises. And now back to your regularly scheduled programming...<br /><br />I got to the race site early to pick up my packet and finish final preparations. It rained a bit on the way there so I was hopeful for a cooler than expected race. It wasn't too hot but the humidity was up there. Setup my transition area and talked to some friends then when walking back to transition I saw Mika holding her swim cap and remembered I left mine in the race packet back in my car. ok, one more trip to the car ain't going to kill me. Got the race cap, did a quick warmup run and swim and waited for my wave to start. <br /><br />The Swim: 37:32 - ( 29:36 in 2007 )<br />the swim was long to start with but when you add in that the buoy came loose and drifted after the 2nd wave passed by it adds even more. when I got out of the water and say 36 something on my watch ( the timing mat was at the top of the hill ), I was a bit depressed since I was hoping to limit my loses due to my shoulder injury to 2 - 3 minutes, so 6 minutes ( I normally swim 29-30 for oly distance ) was not good. Hindsight being 20/20 in all I can see by the results from this year vs last that the top 15 swimmers, which didn't have the buoy drift, were still 2 - 4 minutes slower than last year, so now it makes more sense. Just another reason why time goals at triathlons are not such a good idea. Any way not much happened on the swim, I started back and left since I knew there was no sprint in me and I didn't want to get hammered. I had one mishap of swimming off course when I was spotting on something yellow ( looked like the turn buoy ) in somebody's yard, until I realized I was swimming all by myself and corrected it. It did start to rain on the final 200 yards which felt kinda odd, I busied my brain with stupid thoughts of I can't wait to finish this swim so I won't keep getting wet from the rain. when I got out of the water I heard a thunder clap and wondered if they would pull everyone else from the water. But it was the only thunder I heard and everyone else got to finish up their swim. <br /><br />T1: 1:42 - ( 2:52 in 2007 )<br />last time we had wetsuits, so transition was faster, but I did take a bit longer to put my running shoes in a bag so they wouldn't be soaked from the rain when I started the run. <br /><br />Bike: 1:09:44 - ( 1:13:58 in 2007)<br />When I got on the bike I was pissed about my swim time and since my legs felt awesome I just started to hammer. At mile 10 I was averaging 22 mph and reality set in that I still needed to do a 10k after this so I settled into my just below acid level for the rest of the bike. I love this bike course, it's rolling with no major climbs so perfect for me, I can maintain my speed up the hills, then spin to recover before going back into pace. the wind was at our back on the gradual uphill out, so coming back on the gradual downhill it would be in our faces. perfect for fast bike splits. 4 minutes faster than last time!<br /><br />T2: 1:50 - ( 1:39 in 2007 )<br />took a little longer to make sure to not forget my race number, put on socks for the run and dig the dry shoes out of the bag. <br /><br />Run: 54:55 - ( 58:20 in 2007 )<br />got off the bike with a bit of stomach issue going on so didn't take my last gel, but my legs felt great and I did my first two miles in 8:35 and 8:25, was taking in water and ice for the hat at each stop, mile 3 was downhill so picked it up and had and 8 minute mile, I was at 24:02 at three miles and on pace for a 10k pr (53:14), mile 4 is uphill and I slowed a bit for a 9 minute mile, but with only 2 miles togo I thought if I could do mile 5 at 9 minutes then mile 6 was downhill again and I could ride the adrenaline in. But that wasn't going to happen. my left hamstring cramped up bad just after mile 4. I had to stop and stretch it out for 2 full minutes before I could walk again and then slowly start running, mile 5 ended up a 10:41 so my dream of breaking my 10k pr was gone but 2:45 for the race was still out there if I could just hold on. mile 6 is downhill and my leg was feeling better and I did an 8:20, unfortunately just as I made the turn for the finish and the last .2 I could feel the pre cramp tinglings coming on, so no, there would be no sprint to the finish to break 2:45, at this point I just wanted to make it to the end with being bent over in pain. <br /><br />total time 2:45:12 - ( 2:46:22 in 2007 )<br /><br />Before the race I looked up last years results for the master clyde division and thought if I could break 2:40 I could get 2nd, the 1st place MC from last year signed up and he had a 2:27 so I didn't think first was possible. I was totally shocked when I saw I got 1st. The previous years winner didn't show up and it looks like one of the other guys who had finished low 2:40's last year had some bike issues. Just goes to show that you can't put so much faith in time goals for triathlons, they course and conditions dictate time and mother nature is very fickle.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-84536409097495404122011-03-27T10:47:00.002-04:002011-03-27T11:14:46.907-04:00Run for the Oaks 5KIt's been a while so this is going to be short.<br />My last 5k was in October of 09 so I wasn't quite sure if I knew how to do one of these. The morning was cold, but dry so I was quite happy for that. Drove down to the race site and picked up my chip. Said hi to new daily mile buddy Mika who was manning the registration table and met Chuck from the run for food international. The time was drawing near so I went out for my warmup run and then hit the port o let one last time and lined up. I guess I lined up too far back as when the race started it took me at least 1/2 mile of passing people and weaving in and out to get to clear road. I was coming up on the 1 mile mark and I thought I saw Audrey up in front of me. I thought, that can't be Audrey, she wouldn't be doing a sub 8 first mile. But then I saw her look at her watch, take a step, then look again, take another step and look again. So I ran by her and said, "Yes, you are running too fast". The first mile was right on pace at 7:44. I knew there was going to be a long climb starting at 1.5 so I tried to get ahead of my pace on the downhill and when the uphill started I was at 7:40 for the mile. The climb took more out of me than I expected but managed to hang on for a 7:49. I knew at this point I still had a half mile to climb so I did my best to hang on. when we finally started leveling off I was at an 8:20 for the mile and really had to work. Luckily a girl I had been playing leapfrog with went by me at this point and I hung on to her tail until the finally down hill section started. Mile 3 was 7:58 but I was running as fast as I could at this point, garmin says 6:30 and finished strong. <br />After it was all said and done I ran a 24:17 for 7:47 ave pace and a 26 second pr. A quick tidbit after the race I was doing my cooldown and was on my way back when I got lost in thought, went around a corner and tripped on a rock and face planted in a dirt parking lot.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-65537066995075084472010-12-09T07:34:00.002-05:002010-12-09T07:49:01.877-05:002011 Goals and stuff1. Don't ride the bike more than 75 miles at one time. I made many a promise to my butt on those long rides this year and promises made to your butt are ones that really shouldn't be broken.<br />2. Have Fun. Normally this is number one, but a promise is a promise. I plan to do more short fun races with friends this year to make up for missing so many last year.<br />3. Get Faster. Especially on the bike, I feel I lost a ton of speed focusing on the long rides for ironman so 2011 will be all about hills and sprints on the bike.<br />4. Get out of the clydesdale division. I was 8lbs away this year, and then the ironman build up started, and then the ironman was over and now I'm 18 away. In the past I didn't think it was possible, but now is the time to rethink what possible means.<br /><br />So there they are, only 4, but they are 4 I can do and enjoy doing. After 2010 I am in much need of a break and to just let go and have fun. so 2011 is now officially going to be called "The Year of Fun"$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-64153039422175969312010-11-26T09:03:00.003-05:002010-12-07T16:52:55.187-05:00B2B training statsHere is the overall totals for the training leading up to and including the Beach to Battleship Ironman.<br />Sport____Time(Hours)___Miles____Calories<br />* Swimming --- 60.43 ------ 123.16 ------ 36,000<br />* Biking ----- 183.20 ------ 3018.6 ------ 190,000<br />* Running ---- 150.63 ------ 890.08 ------ 147,000<br />* Core/Other - 34.50<br />* Totals ----- 428.76 ------ 4031.84 ----- 373,000<br /><br />so about 430 hours and 4030 miles of training / racing. I am still amazed that I did all that. I have to say consistency was my greatest asset during the year. and now just for fun, a closer look into the numbers.<br /><br />Average per month<br />swimming - 5.5 hours and 11.5 miles<br />Biking - 17 hours and 283 miles<br />Running - 14 hours and 84 miles<br />total 37 hours and 380 miles<br /><br />over the last 3 months ( Aug,Sept,Oct), the averages were a bit higher.<br />swimming - 7.3 hours and 14.5 miles<br />biking - 23 hours and 385 miles<br />running - 19.5 hours and 113 miles<br />total 50 hours and 512 miles<br /><br />Biggest Months<br />overall was October with 55.5 hours and 584 miles<br />Swim was September with 8.5 hours and 13 miles<br />bike and run were October with 27 biking hours and 23 running hours, 440 biking miles and 130 running miles<br /><br />lets just say October was a bitch and leave it at that.<br /><br />Biggest week<br />overall was 9/27 with 18 hours and 210.5 miles ( ouch! )<br />swim was 7/19 with 3 hours and 5 miles ( that's not that much ).<br />bike was 9/27 with 11 hours and 176 miles ( beach ride, mucho pain-o).<br />run was 10/18 with 6.25 hours and 37 miles<br /><br />lbs of fat burned<br />the calorie burn is the best estimate I could find on the web if you divide that by 3500 calories to burn 1 lb of fat you get 106.5, but really I lost 15 lbs during the initial 5 months and then gained back 5 during the big build up over the last 3 months. It was just too hard to exercise that much and not eat everything in site, so my recommendation is to lose as much as you can during that first few months because it won't be as psychologically defeating when you gain some back. Worked for me, and that's all that really matters :-).$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-79177503245488276572010-11-20T07:03:00.006-05:002010-11-24T09:50:26.145-05:00B2B - the nutrition episodeAs I was writing up my race report I was adding information about what I was eating and drinking and realized that it was adding nothing to the story. I thought about it some more and decided to take it out all together but I wanted to detail what it is I did since having nutrition not be a part of the day meant I must have done it right. Let me also say this was my first ironman so I am not by any means claiming to be an expert. Let me also say that the one thing I have learned in my 10+ years of triathlon is that everyone is different so what worked for me may or may not work for you. The best thing to do is to try different products and find the ones to work and don't work for you so in a pinch you know what you can and cannot consume. <br /><br />Race Morning:<br />I ate my standard breakfast of grapenuts with skim milk and dried cranberries, but also added half a banana and a piece of bread. about 700 calories<br /><br />prerace: <br />I ate nothing, but I had a 8oz bottle of water with my first packet of Hornet juice that I drank at 6:30.<br /><br />Swim:<br />Accidentally swallowed plenty of salt water but while I did see a jelly fish it was too early in the swim to be tempted to grab it and eat it. <br /><br />Bike:<br />started off with 20 oz of Ultima Lemonade in my aero bottle which had packet #2 of hornet juice in it. Consumed my first cliff bar right after the bridge to make up for no food on the swim, but the plan was going to be eat small amounts every 15 minutes instead of 100-200 calories on the hour marks. The only thing I would have changed about the bike nutrition would be to use 20 oz bottles in the rear instead of the 24 oz bottles, I had plenty fluid left over and having to raise my leg that extra 4 inches to get over the taller bottles was harder than you would think after biking for a 100 miles.<br />all in all I ate<br />1 cliff bar<br />3 power bar triple threat bars<br />6 fig newtons<br />1 pack of peanut butter and honey crackers<br />1 espresso love gu<br />1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich at special needs stop<br /><br />and I drank<br />20 oz ultima<br />48 oz gatorade<br />48 oz water<br />plus two packs of hornet juice<br /><br />Run:<br />When I started running I felt like absolute crap. It was mostly energy and attitude from being warn down from the wind for 7 hours on the bike. I took a gel immediately and then made the decision to eat only when I was hungry. This ended up working wonderfully and I ate whatever I felt like at the time. But once again it was only a little at a time. I had all my gels squeezed out into a gel flask so I didn't have to take the whole thing at once or waste half if I didn't want the whole thing. I was also wearing my tri-shorts with the two pockets on the sides so I could store bars and crackers if I wanted those as well. The only thing that I would change about my nutrition here would have been to bring more of my own endurolytes and to take the ones provided on the course first before then ran out then I would have my own stash to get me through the end. Luckily that didn't have any adverse effects as I had all of them on the first half of the marathon and ended up not needed them for the second.<br />Consumed on the run<br />4 gu roctane vanilla orange gels<br />1 power bar triple threat bar<br />1 pack peanut butter and honey crackers<br />1 100 grand candy bar ( my favorite )<br />15 endurolytes ( all in the first half )<br /><br />Fluids:<br />4 orange slices<br />24 oz gatorade<br />at least 20 oz water<br />2 packs hornet juice<br /><br />Post race:<br />cliff bar protein builder<br />cheese burger and fries<br />grande mocha <br /><br />All in all I burned about 14,000 calories during the race and consumed about 3500, that's about 10,000 deficit, this really got me to thinking. One pound of fat is about 3500 so that would be only 2 pounds of fat and we know that not all of those calories came from fat but from stored glycogen reserves, muscles and what I was eating throughout the day. Even with all the science we have today there is so much misinformation out there and the fact that everyone seems to be different in the way they store and burn fat it's no wonder losing weight is so hard. One of my goals next year is to get out of the Clydesdale division, I have about 15 lbs to go and thanksgiving and christmas to get past. If I can even get close to 200 lbs next year I'll count that as a victory.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-79181855488692011582010-11-15T14:23:00.012-05:002011-08-01T13:21:10.203-04:00Beach To Battleship Iron Distance Tri Race ReportWarning, this is going to be long, very long. For those with short attention spans you might want to print this out and take it in short bursts. What do you expect? I trained for 10 months and it took me almost 14 hours to complete, of course it's going to be a long race report. <br /><br />First the numbers:<br />Calories burned - 13742 or 981 / hour<br />Calories consumed - 3560 or 254 / hour<br />Endurolytes consumed - 15<br />hornet juice - 5 packets<br /> rank Men / Master Clydesdales<br />Swim 1:17:44 113 / 2<br />T1 10:57<br />Bike 7:00:37 358 / 10<br />T2 9:44<br />Run 5:17:35 237 / 3 <br />Total 13:56:34 272 / 5<br /><br />Nutrition: <br />I've decided to do a separate blog entry entirely devoted to nutrition so you won't see much in here about it unless it directly relates to the situation at hand. <br /><br />The Lead up:<br />For 10 months and two weeks I trained for this event. The first 6 were mostly fun just stay in shape and get ready for the last 4 months of hell. Truthfully it was really only the last month that was hell. I was faithful to my schedule, stayed healthy, rested when my body needed it, and pushed through when I was supposed to. I did 3 rides of 100+ miles, and 2 runs of 20+ miles so I was ready. I injured my knee on the 145 mile ride to the beach but have been on anti-inflammatories and they have been working great, I did a 100 mile ride and 20 mile run weekend on them so I wasn't worried about it. Then of course the Monday before the race I get a cold. I took the week off from exercise, I rested, I took Zircon and was hoping it would get better in time. The day before I did an easy 10 mile ride and 1 mile run just to see how I would feel and I felt great, even with the lingering symptoms from the cold so I gained some confidence for race day. <br /><br />Pre-race:<br />Actually slept fairly well until midnight and then it was toss and turn until 3:30 when I got up to eat breakfast. Got dressed and packed my special needs bags up and headed to the bus. The hard part about this race is the logistics so staying at the host hotel where the buses ran to and from and which is right on the run course was really the smartest thing to do for me. The wife and girl could just hang out downtown and shop, they went to the kids museum, 10 min walk, and then rest at the hotel and wait for me to get to miles 2,9,16 of the run and then take a water taxi, which my daughter loved, to the finish. Really recommend the Hilton for those with families. <br /><br />Times below will be from my watch and not the same as official as I didn't hit lap when going over the mats, but rather when I felt the leg was ending/starting. They are fairly close though. <br /><br />Swim: 1:15:48<br />The swim was advertised that it would be with a strong current. They did warn us at the pre-race meeting that the low tide was scheduled for 6:50 and it would end up being a slack tide. I am thinking I might do some analysis to compare the times from this year with last but that would only be if I have the time. Let's just say the fastest time from last year was 41:16 and slowest was 1:45 this year the fastest was 54:35 and slowest was 2:19. When we lined up to swim I could see the stand up paddle boarders where actively working to not be pushed out to sea, so the tide was still against us at the start. The First buoy was only about 50 yards out, so I waited one minute until the majority of people had started and then picked a line that would take me wide left of the buoy to avoid the huge log jam that would be forming. It was still crowded when I got there and I got my first kick in the chest from a breast stroker, it wasn't that bad and I just kept on going. I'm more of a right side breather so the plan was to move to the left so I could see the mass while breathing and thus avoid having to sight as often. This ended up being a bad decision as we were swimming north and the sun was just peeking over the hotels that we were swimming by so when I would take a breath on the right it was all glare. I didn't panic, instead I just altered to breath every third stroke and as fortune would have it there were boats and stand up boarders following us the whole way so I could stay just to the left of the mix and still sight well. There was a water tower that I was advised by Dave on the bus that would be good to sight off of so I picked it up and used it well. I quickly got into a comfortable pace and started passing people. Every so often a "left drifter" would start to push me out so I would have to speed up and get in front of them, or in the case with on particularly stubborn guy who really wanted to go off course, slow down and swim over their back to stay straight. One guy punched me in the mouth, I'm sure by accident, and probably got a bloody knuckle from it. There were a few spots on course where the water got rough and I actually got dizzy from it, but my experience with the bay bridge 4.4 mile swim saved me and I knew if I just kept going it would be ok. Finally we got to the left turn that was just passed half way. Now we would be doing the same course as the Wilmington sprint tri and I went back and read my race report from them to remind me how to navigate best to the marina where we would be getting out. The trick is to swim in the middle and not get too close to the turns since it is similar to an S curve getting there. Once again I saw a ton of people cutting corners which actually adds distance so I was happy I did my homework. When we got close I started using my legs in hopes to warm them up and get some blood into them. I hit the dock and tried to get up the ladder, but the legs were useless. Fortunately there were two volunteers helping people get out. When I finally got on the dock and stood up straight I got a big case of the dizzies and started wobbling towards the strippers. Wetsuit strippers that is. They were wonderful, at this point better than actual strippers as they undid my zipper and then pulled it down, instructed me to lay on my back and ripped it off, all in less than 15 seconds. I then hit the fresh water warm shower to get some salt off before starting towards T1. I guess it took about 2 minutes to hit the timing mat as my watch said 1:15 but official was 1:17. I heard a ton of people in the changing tent, and after the race complaining about the swim but I thought it was great.<br /><br />T1: 12:37<br />having to jog 400 yards to the changing tent with numb toes was not fun. Luckily I had on the wetsuit booties to keep my feet warm but even with them on my toes were still cold. Finally made it to the tent and got my bag to change. Tried to dry off as best I could and change, after I got off my booties my toes really started to freeze, because I was so cold I probably put on too much. I had an undershirt/long sleeve cycling jersey and a vest on top, just shorts on the bottom and gloves. Then jogged over to the bike where my socks and shoes awaited. <br /><br />Bike: 7:01:36<br />My bike computer says 6:40:38, so all the stops you get to read about took about 20 minutes off my time. Average speed while riding was 16.8, including the stops it was 16 mph which is exactly what I thought it would be. This leg was the toughest for me, mentally and physically. As mentioned above I injured my knee on a 145 mile ride to the beach but ironically it wasn't my knee that bothered me during the race. I hate the bike, ok I don't actually hate the bike, but after 3 hours I am not happy. Looking back at it I think I was in that mindset from at least August on. If I could pinpoint one thing I would have changed it would be my mental attitude towards the long bike rides. The bike started off ok. The wind was out of the North at about 10 mph and by the beach there isn't much to break it up so if you are going north you get a head wind so we started off going north into the headwind that would suck they life out of me for the next 80 miles. We did get one break when we hit the section that went on I140. That was actually quite nice to be just riding with a cross wind. It was cool to enter on the interstate on the bike, the cops had traffic stopped while you went from the on-ramp and over to the far left lane. When there was a break in the bike line they would let the cars go and they had to stay in the right lane. There was a line of cones to the left of the line separator so we had some room between us and the cars doing 70+ mph just 4 feet away. At one point I was riding two feet from the cones with at least 5 feet to my left before the painted line when I heard someone yell "on your left", I looked to my left and saw there was plenty of room for him to pass so I just nodded my head and said come on by, but the dufus yells "on your left" again. Whatever bonehead there's plenty of room for you to go by I ain't moving over any closer to those crazy pissed off bastards in their death machines who were late getting home to watch all their recorded shows. Finally he went by and made a point of shaking his head like I did something wrong, yeah one if every crowd. After the fun on the interstate we turned onto hwy 421 and started going North again, right into the wind. It was relentless, not gusting, but a constant break applied to your forward progress. Finally we got to turn off and it eased a bit, but then around mile 45 we turned onto 210 and started going, you guessed it, FUCKING NORTH. Luckily the special needs hand-off was at mile 51 so we got a break. I got off, stretched, bathroom break, filled my water bottles found an angel to let me borrow some Shammy butter and started back into the wind again. As I was heading out of transition I saw I guy going out without his helmet. I yelled up ahead, stop that guy without the helmet! some of the volunteers looked at me so I yelled it again, they just turned around and kept handing out the water and heed. luckily another biker heard me and alerted the guy who stopped and went back. Luckily the bike ref was not there or he would have been DQ'd. So back into the wind I went. I kept telling myself that when we turned off 210 we would get a tailwind and everything would be alright. Alas this was not come true for another 20 miles. Somewhere around mile 70, I just lost it. I was swearing up a storm and saying I wanted off this bike and was ready to call my wife to tell her to come pick me up I was quitting. I pulled out my phone in a last ditch effort to call her to get some support and I looked at it and it said "no service". I can't tell you how long the list of swear words was that I had for AT&T at that moment because it was just too long. I did notice that I had received 2 txt msg's while I had service so I went to look at them. The first one from my wife saved my race, it read "please let me know you are ok. Text me whenever you can. I LOVE YOU very much". Well that was just what I needed to hear, I mean how could I possible quit now? After all the sacrifices she had to make all hear to help me get here, it wasn't just about me anymore. I typed out a message to her "Honey that was exactly what I needed to hear right now. you saved me. I LOVE YOU" hit send. but "no service" mother fucking AT&T you suck. Anyway I told her later, and I know you are not supposed to txt and cycle, but that was not going to stop me. Finally we turned out of the wind and into a strong tailwind. It felt so much better and then I saw the 80 mile marker and just stopped. I had to get off, use the facilities, tree, and stretch out my back, neck, it bands, and mostly my hip flexors. After about a 5 minute break I got back on and felt refreshed. I decided I would stop at the next 10 mile markers and do the same. It really helped my mental attitude and I think it definitely helped set up my run. At the mile 100 marker I was relieving myself, tree again, and I hear someone yell out "Bill Reid". It was Karyn, my partner in crime for all these long months of training. I was beginning to wonder what happened to her as I expected her to pass me much sooner on the bike so I was happy it was this late in the race as I wouldn't have to run so fast to catch her on the run. The next 12 miles went by too quickly and soon I was approaching the traffic and two bridges that needed to be climbed to get to the battleship. It actually felt good to get out of the saddle so I stood and climbed both. I rolled into T2 still not feeling great, but determined to at least run to the Hilton at mile 2.5 so I could see the family. I just have to say this one more time. I HATE THE BIKE<br /><br />T2: 8:43<br />Pulling into T2 someone grabbed my bike and helmet and pointed me towards the changing tent. There weren't a lot of volunteers here and I was a bit confused at this point so it took me a while to find my bag and get into the tent. Both the mens and ladies tents were small and didn't have doors that could close so while they were covered, they didn't provide much cover, but at this point who really cared. I got those stupid ass bike shorts off and put on my tri running shorts with a ton of shammy butter and then applied some body glide to the nipples and around the waist were my race belt sits to avoid chaffing. Changed my shirt and shoes and headed on out. I had to txt the wife to let her know I was 25 minutes away and then tried to find some water to fill up the bottles on my race belt, but no luck. Karyn said the ladies tent had them stacked up on the table, but the mens side was out. But it wasn't long till I got to an aid station so it wasn't too bad, but at the time it was the end of the world. Finally time for the run.<br /><br />Run: 5:17:43<br />I crossed the timing mat and said out loud and now I start my second marathon ever. Those first two miles sucked bad, after a short jog I came upon my favorite bridge, it was steep and long, I still felt like crap so once again out loud I said "I am making an executive decision that I will be walking this bridge both times", you can just assume from now on that when ever I say "I said" or "said to myself" that is was out loud, I was in my own little world. So my first mile was 12:35, not good, but not bad either and my legs were not adverse to running so the downhill felt fine but then bridge number two appeared. Holy shit do I have to do this again on the second lap? Yes you do dumb-ass, I said to myself, in face you have to do over those bridges 4 times. On the second half of the first bridge I started imagining that if I pretend to trip I could just all off right here and then I wouldn't have to run the other 24.5 miles and I wouldn't have to deal with having quit. But the easy way out did not win over and I kept going. Mile two was 11:20, hey, I picked it up! woo hoo! those two miles are the only two splits I remember, in fact I have no clue about any other mile splits and I don't care to know. Good lord has anyone else noticed this race report is really long? and I still have 24 miles to go... I made the right hand turn at mile two and everything was about to change. I saw my coach, Brennan Liming, and she came up and asked how I was doing, I gave her the not so good, but I'm still moving forward answer and she said, "ok, just keep going" not much help there, but seconds later I here "GO BILL" and she keeps yelling that for the next 300 yards, that put a huge smile on my face and just then I hear the volunteer up ahead say to the lady in front of me at the turn "Good job number 202" wait, Karyn is 202, could that possible be her? and just like that she turns around and sees me 20 yards behind. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE8uDJLPICwpSX0Ko3kziVtKYFkI_GSeBmC1kPcjg-vHpK78zBYvBY3K26q7WmEv1rf7oT2ZnhkuN6tGxskqI30lnmXLvxN03LWI0VF3J8mzjPqyKrrT6HZz0IN1Nki6hzibxuiQ-HAvM/s1600/KarynAndMe.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE8uDJLPICwpSX0Ko3kziVtKYFkI_GSeBmC1kPcjg-vHpK78zBYvBY3K26q7WmEv1rf7oT2ZnhkuN6tGxskqI30lnmXLvxN03LWI0VF3J8mzjPqyKrrT6HZz0IN1Nki6hzibxuiQ-HAvM/s320/KarynAndMe.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540333426521194098" /></a><br />she slowed a bit and I caught her and we would end up running together until the 13.1 mark. On top of that good news it was now only 300 yards until I got to see the family. I came up and saw the wife and girl with camera ready, posed for a couple pics, <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitVtiQQHcFIBEyk0VWZTkAZc-0-e_ir5TnQ21eTDH_0AU8mPKmNwp7R0PuJUYqECh-YXzO7c0a08Tk762sFzL0cTn6otw2PoqJlZG0yqnUbUs_nl0eW2VzmTiywVvmHfFe49lqYiedfxY/s1600/B2BHug.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitVtiQQHcFIBEyk0VWZTkAZc-0-e_ir5TnQ21eTDH_0AU8mPKmNwp7R0PuJUYqECh-YXzO7c0a08Tk762sFzL0cTn6otw2PoqJlZG0yqnUbUs_nl0eW2VzmTiywVvmHfFe49lqYiedfxY/s320/B2BHug.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540332437392094658" /></a><br />tried to get a hug from the kid who wisely declined, then got a big kiss from the old lady and sprinted, sprint being relative, off to catch back up to Karyn. The crowds on the Riverwalk were awesome full of energy and cowbells and I was running with my training buddy and on top of world. We still took our scheduled walk breaks to eat/drink and at the steep sections, but mostly we were running our normal talk capable training pace. In fact when we got to the 1/4 mark at 6.5 miles we were 1:11, I did the math and if we kept that pace we could do a 4:44, of course both of us knew that wasn't going to happen, but 5 hours was in reach. The bridges would have the final say in that and since you already saw the final run time you know that didn't happen. The lake greenfield section was my favorite, slow steady ups and downs, just like the tobacco trail we had done our long runs on so I was really happy at this point and sent a txt to the wife at a walk break that we were 20 minutes away. Once again when we went by the hotel I got a high five from the girl and some more pics taken. Saw the coach and Karyn's husband and got pumped up from the crowds. Of course the bridges took some out of us and Karyn's stomach started to bug her so she told me at the special needs hand-off that she was taking a longer break and for me to just go on. I didn't want to leave her, but I also wanted her to be able to do what she had to do with feeling guilty about slowing me down and then not be able to take care of herself, so I got my crackers, arm warmers and head lamp out of my special needs bag and headed off solo. I think at this point I was at 2:25 for the run, so we slowed but not by much. Running solo for me is no big deal, especially 13.1 miles and with the volunteers, crowds, my family and coach to see again I was still feeling great. Such a difference from the bike. I did walk both the bridges again as an executive decision is an executive decision after all. I cruised by the family for the last time and told them I would finish in about an hour forty five, but then I looked at my watch and thought that would put me in under 5 hours for the marathon and there was no way that was going to happen so I turned to my daughter who was running with me on the sidewalk and said, "tell mommy I meant 2 hours" she said ok and went back to tell her. I love her. Then I saw my coach and told her I felt better starting this lap then the first one, she said great, keep going. Sage advise... After a few more "GO BILL" 's I was on my way to the final turn around. This lap was definitely harder, I had to force myself to keep going at points and to take advantage of downhill sections even when it was time to walk because I really felt breaking 14 was in reach but I needed to put some time in the bank for that last bridge. I have no idea what the time was at the 3/4 turn around this time, but I did see Karyn who was about I would guess 3-4 minutes behind me at this point and was looking good. A quick high five and passing and back to the grind. When I got to mile 20 I took a picture of the sign and posted to twitter/facebook with the caption "and then there were six" Yes, I am insane. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHJnwFUvclFnJT9SsjQ_LorM_VISwvnVymICE-xcWXNNNj-VC3fEPSKmIpqy-AtelujMdEYKsxG0EiP_gSd_sdbRjesNtQeoTnwGJFnaovnYk4IgVei7GFpcSpA4quI34cSq85OzCL1A/s1600/Mile20B2B.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHJnwFUvclFnJT9SsjQ_LorM_VISwvnVymICE-xcWXNNNj-VC3fEPSKmIpqy-AtelujMdEYKsxG0EiP_gSd_sdbRjesNtQeoTnwGJFnaovnYk4IgVei7GFpcSpA4quI34cSq85OzCL1A/s320/Mile20B2B.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540329123343543666" /></a><br />This time passing the Hilton there was no family, but coach B was there and she ran with me for about a mile and kept me company and focused. We parted just before the first of the bridges with just under 2 miles to go and 27 minutes to make it under 14 hours. I didn't know at the time but Karyn was only about 400 yards behind me at this point and would get even closer by the finish. The second bridge took it out of me, even walking up it was hard at this point, but at the top there was less than a mile to go, 15 minutes to break 14 hours and nothing was going to make me walk again until the finish. After getting passed by hundreds of people on the bike, I was steadily passing walkers and joggers the whole run. But for some reason in the final mile I got passed by 3 people. I had nothing left, no sprint, could not pick up the pace, just kept running. I didn't care that they passed me I was just amazed that they could pick it up like that after so long. They obviously didn't go hard enough during the race. I did txt the wife while walking up that I would be done in 10-15 minutes so they were there and ready for me when I came in. I came upon the mile 26 sign and still didn't see the finish shoot. what the hell is this? some cruel joke? I mean I can hear the announcer and crowds, but can't see a thing. One guy assured me it was just ahead after that turn, but I wasn't believing anyone I just needed to see it. and then finally there it was, I made the turn, heard my name, but nothing else that the announcer said, gave some high fives to the spectators and crossed the line with a big ass smile on my face. Just then all the tired hit and every muscle in my face went limp and I could feel the exhausted expression take over and POOF there goes the finish line picture. can't wait to see that one... So there ya have it, I'll try to get a couple more out with post race thoughts and of course the nutrition blog, but I think this one is long enough as is. If you made it this far, thanks for coming by and reading, please leave a comment so I know you were here. This one really meant a lot.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-52788669202066010562010-10-01T16:19:00.002-04:002010-10-01T16:41:42.750-04:00Anna's Angels 10 mile race reportI guess I'm a bit behind on this one, but time is something I don't have and probably won't have much of until taper begins in 4 weeks time. <br /><br />I wasn't actually planning to run the race this year but at the last minute my coach was like why don't you do the race, it's on your recovery week so just go do it. That was enough. Last year I had a great race and remember the course fondly so I was excited. Well, until the morning off anyway.<br /><br />Woke up not feeling all that great and the weather was a bit warmer than predicted so driving to the race I was not that thrilled. My plan was to do a 1.5 mile warm up then race at tempo pace and 1.5 mile cool down. My coach told me not to kill myself since I needed to be ready for the next week of ironman training so since I did 1:28 last year my goal was to be in the 1:27. I read last year's race report so I had an idea what to expect on the course. Miles 1, 6, 9 were hard, 2 and 10 easy and the rest rolling, at least that is what I wrote in last years report.<br /><br />I had the Garmin on this year and wanted to go out with 9 min miles and pick it up as I started feeling better. I lined up just in front of the 9 min pace flag and when the gun went off I just tried to run comfortable without looking at my watch and ease into it. Well I was feeling really comfortable running up the hill that runs from .5 to 1 so I looked at my pace and I was doing 8:20. Oops, well it doesn't hurt and I'm in the rhythm so why not? I decided to keep my pace and ease up at the top of the hill. Mile 1 was 8:27, mile 2 is mostly downhill with a slight up at the end so I eased up and just did an 8:34, it felt a lot easier after the 8:27 up so I was happy, but still a bit nervous about running 10 seconds per mile faster than my goal so I backed off even more for mile 3. I met and passed "Hairy Man" on this mile. He was ahead of me the first 2.5 miles and I was gradually catching him, but for some reason he was running just outside the cones and of course cutting every corner. At one point a cop yelled at him and told him to stay within the cones and after that he did. A lady passed me at this point and said "hey there's hairy man" she said he does that at every race. So that's how he got his name. Mile 3 8:50. Felt good and recovered so it was time to pick it up and just in time for the rolling to really get started. I didn't remember mile 4 being that hard but Frank had said it looked hard on the elevation chart so that might have influenced my thinking, but still 8:42 felt good. I knew mile 6 was going to be hard so I eased up on mile 5 which ended up being mostly downhill to flat and did a 8:39, people were going by me but I somehow managed to control myself and not give chase. I would catch most of them on mile 9 anyway. Mile 6 starts with a long uphill, then a short break of flat/down before ending with another uphill section. slowest split of the day at 8:52. Mile 7 and 8 were just plain wonderful, flat and/or down so I was able to recover, get some water and gu in me and prepare for mile 9. miles 7 and 8, 8:33 and 8:32. Mile 9 is long slog up to the interstate overpass and then a bit more up and since I read last years report I knew to get into the climbing rhythm right away and it paid off, about half way through I was passing all those people that passed me from miles 5 - 8, some where walking and others just hanging on. I just said "good job" and kept my pace and focus on myself and before I knew it I was at the start of the last mile. Mile 9 8:31. That 8:31 gave me serious confidence for the last mile and while I was at mile 9 at 1:20 last year, this year I was at 1:17:58. Last year I hauled ass down the hill only to suffer and slow on the last .3 rolling to an uphill finish, so this year I sped up, but kept it in check and when I hit the rolling section I was able to pick up the pace and finish strong. Mile 10 - 8:06. Total time was 1:26:04. I beat last years time by 2:04 and I didn't even kill myself. Just goes to show you never know what kind of race you'll have until you have it.<br /><br />Probably could have done an 8:30 pace for this race so next year I'll be back to kill myself and see what I can do, but I think an 8:30 paced half marathon is in my future also, can't wait for next year so I can use all these miles I am putting on to add some extra speed.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-35190804371697769372010-09-12T19:31:00.010-04:002010-09-16T20:55:35.625-04:00Patriot's Half IronMan - long versionWhat follows could get very long and full of details. My thoughts are rolling through my head and I want to get them down in hopes of piecing together what if anything I may have been able to do differently. You have been warned.<br /><br />The Friday before I took the day off from work to finish packing and prep the house and cats for a weekend alone. We picked the girl up from school after lunch and headed up to Williamsburg. It's a 4 hour drive and traffic as not bad. Checked into the Great Wolf Lodge and headed to the race site for package pickup. Picked up the package with no issues and even bought two pairs of sock guy socks for $5. Then we headed to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. I had a chicken Parm and a sangria. Everything seemed to be going great. I felt a slight twinge in my lower back from the drive and probably should have stretched it out a bit before bed. Back at the lodge, the girls went to the arcade and I spent some time getting everything ready for the morning. Mixing drinks, putting stickers on, getting out clothes and so on. Hit the bed at 9PM right on time with a wake up scheduled for 4AM. <br /><br />Race Morning woke up at 4, ate my normal breakfast of grapenuts with dried cranberries 16 oz of water and added half a banana. Packed up the car and headed out right on time at 5. Once at the race site and in transition I had everything setup and ready with 30 minutes to spare. I put on the wetsuit, chugged 8 oz of hornet juice and ate a gel. Headed down to the swim start and got in a nice easy warmup in the bay. The water temp was announced as 74 degrees. I heard a bunch of people saying 74 was generous and how did they come up with that? As if they had some internal thermometer. The air temp was still in the 50's so of course the water felt warm. But no one was complaining about getting to wear their wetsuit. I saw one girl close to shore squatting in the shallows with a strange smile on her face, obviously taking a pee break. Can you make it a little less obvious? I mean walk out 10 more feet and you don't even have to squat. anyway onto the race... <br /><br />times below are the official times from the race results, I race in the master's Clydesdale division and there were 18 total in that division.<br /><br />Swim: 39:11 - 6/18 <br />the swim was actually quite nice. They have a nice wide open area to warmup in and to start so the pack was spread out wide and I had no issues of getting kicked at all. The first turn buoy was a long way out which meant the pack was lined up and once again no issues making the first turn. We swam with the current after the first turn, but the sun had just started coming up and it was bright so finding that second buoy was tough. Once I found it, it was smooth sailing to it but then after the second turn we were heading to shore but now we were swimming directly into the sun. I couldn't find the exit for about half the swim until I stopped in the water and shaded the sun with my hand and located. Luckily the exit was right at a perfect spot to sight and I cruised in. Now getting out of the water was tough. It was so shallow we had to walk about 50 yards through the water to get to shore, took me about a minute and my quads were not happy.<br /><br />T1: 3:19 3/18 <br />T1 was hike from the swim exit so most people's times were in the 3 minute plus time. I didn't mess around, ran to transition, stripped off the wetsuit and got the bike ready to go. no muss no fuss. <br /><br />Bike: 2:54:34 7/18<br />As I was heading out of transition, I hit some strange combination of keys on my bike computer and just like that it stopped working. I played around with it for the first mile trying to get it to work, but was unsuccessful so I just had to let it go. I told myself just go by feel and off I went. The only indication of how fast I was going would be at the 5 mile markers where I could do some math and try to figure out my speed over the last 5 miles. The first 5 miles went by and I was at 15 minutes. oops that means 20 mph, a bit too fast, but my legs were feeling good, so I wasn't too concerned. I consciencely slowed and let some people go. Yelled at few people who were insisting on drafting, and some were very obvious about it. Next up was mile 10 and I was under 30 minutes, so my attempt to slow did not work, but I would find out later it was due to the wind being at my back on the out part and of course that meant it would be in my face on the way back, but I wouldn't find that out for another 30 miles or so. I pulled out my power bar and started eating. It wasn't easy and as I was chewing, @andresduquepc12 from twitter went by me. I tried to yell at him, but my mouth was full and I don't think he heard me. He started 9 minutes ahead of me, but swimming is not his strong suit. ok, some more slowing and drinking and eating and the next thing I know I'm at mile 20 in 1:01 and still feeling good. Now the rolling part starts. I still haven't shifted out of the big ring, but I did stand a couple times so I could give my legs a break. It was rolling from 20 - 40 with some rough spots on the roads, but overall a nice ride. I picked up a water bottle at mile 36 and refilled my aero bottle. So far I've had 20 oz of ultima, 24 oz of gatorade and 16 oz of water. Over the next 17 miles I still have another 24 oz of gatorade to go. so all told I had 98 oz of fluid over the 3 hours. Also during 20-40 I had my fig newtons. I had slowed a bit now and I think at mile 40 I was at 2:03, so still a very good time and ahead of my planned pace, but the last 17 miles would be into the wind and slow me down a bit. There was a problem with traffic in this section and I had to slow to avoid cars several times, but the roads where once again really nice. I was now starting to catch some of the people that went flying by me in the beginning. With 5 miles togo I decided to go with the gel instead of the last powerbar as I wasn't really hungry, but I did want some more calories. So a Gu Roctane went in. the last few miles were torture on my butt. I really just wanted it to end but I still hadn't shifted out of the big ring, so I guess the claim that you wouldn't need to shift out was true. I was hoping to get a 2:50, but since the course was really 57 I didn't feel too bad about the 2:54 and I was very happy to get off the bike. As I was pulling into transition I heard the announcer call out that @andresduquepc12 was headed out for his run, so I guess he finished the bike about 2 minutes ahead of me. <br /><br />T2: 2:54 12/18<br />This was my lowest ranking and due to the fact that I had to stop to use the port a john. Considering that 2:54 was not bad. At my last half my T2 was over 5 minutes so this was a big improvement. I just noticed that my T2 was 2:54 and my bike was 2:54, of course the bike was 2 hours and 54 minutes but still...<br /><br />Run: 2:17:19 8/18 <br />started off the run feeling good, the first part we had to run next to the path that the bikes were going out and coming in on so we were on the grass. after about a half mile we hit the real running trail and my ankles were much happier. Got to mile 1 and I looked down thinking I was going to be around 9:30 and my watch said 8:50, ok, slow down and just go easy. Mile two comes up just as we turn onto an offroad section. the path is nice packed dirt and completely shaded. My watch said 17:50, I was a little concerned because I didn't want to be going that fast, but my legs felt good, so I didn't think too much about it. I was cruising along thinking I should start drinking my gatorade when boom! my right hamstring cramps up out of nowhere. Normally when my legs cramp, I can feel it coming on slowly until it happens, not this time. I had to stop and stretch it out. After about a minute I straightnd up and started to walk. I walked through the rest area and got some water and orange slices, and then started to run again. I'm not sure what caused the cramp, but it did not come back again, so I'm going to chalk that one up as a freak occurance. The thing that was really starting to worry me was that my stomach was not being receptive to food or drink. I hit mile three and was still at 29 minutes, considering the long stop and walk I was quite happy. when I got to mile 4 the plan was to run to the mile marker and then walk until I hit the 10 min pace. So I got to mile 4 at 38:30 so I walked 1:30, forced in a couple sips of gatorade and then started to run again. Mile 5 came on in 48 minutes so I was really running well, but the no food thing was really wearing on me, so after a 2 minute walk and some more forced gatorade it was time to run again. There were plenty of rest stops and I was able to get some orange slices down, but after the rest stop at mile 6, no more solid food would go down. I couldn't even think about a gel. At mile 7 I was still doing well, I think I was at 68 minutes when I got to the marker and rest area, so I tried taking a long 3 minute walk in hopes that my stomach might come around after a long break, but nothing doing, all I could manage was some more gatorade. I had managed over the first half to get down 12 oz of gatorade and I just hoped it would get me through. After that long walk I decided to run the next two miles straight through and started repeating my mantra of "Kick ass - don't cry" that I got from my buddy dr. dre ( AndreaDuke15 on twitter ), this worked great but on the trail part, around the spot I got my cramp, I passed a guy who was just hurling like mad, this did not do my stomach well at all but I got to mile 9 at 87 minutes. That's when it all came apart. I walked a minute and took some gatorade, but now my stomach was not liking that either, so no more gatorade for the last 4 miles either. I started back running and after about 3 minutes my legs just said no more, we are done. I had to walk for about 5 minutes before I was able to jog again. Gone now was the run to the mile marker plan and all I could do was jog as long as I could, then walk till I recovered. I was lightheaded and a bit nausous, but I didn't feel dehydrated or over heated which is normally my problem so I just kept moving forward. When I got to mile 11 I had 26 minutes to get back and still break 6 hours. This gave me some hope and was able to put together a long run stretch of about 6 minutes before it was back to jog/walk again. Finally got to the half mile to go and still had 8 minutes to go so I ran through the water stop and dumped a bunch of water on my head and then walked until I thought I could run to the finish and that's what I did. They was a photographer at the finish line and asked if I wanted to take a picture with my medal. I was like not right now, and he looked at me like I was crazy. I just wanted to get some water and head down to the river to soak.<br /><br />Total Time: 5:57:15 7/18<br />At the time I was very disappointed because I thought I could have broken 5:50, but in retrospect I'm very pleased. My initial goal was 6 hours and I beat that by 2:45. I've been putting a lot of thought into what I did wrong to not be able to eat or drink like I should on the run and all I can come up with is I drank too much and went too hard on the bike. With the lower temps and humidity I suspect I was not sweating nearly as much as I usually do, in fact I remember seeing other people with salt all over their shorts and looking at mine and not seeing it. I had about 33 oz per hour and I think 20 is about my norm in training so I should have been a bit more careful. I'm just not used to being in that position, especially after this summer from heel. Also I've been average just about 17 mph for my long rides, so the 19+ was probably more that I was ready for. If I could have taken 6 extra minutes over the last 5 miles I probably could have finished my run in 2:05. My legs were functioning well and besides the one cramp issue, I had no muscle issues, just energy and dizzyness. This definetly gives me some things to work on in training over the next two months leading up to the ironman. I hope to have at least 2 more long bricks to test out some theories and get some nutrition practise in.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-32871292076087795182010-09-12T19:20:00.003-04:002010-09-12T19:39:32.675-04:00Patriots half IM race report - short versionwelcome to the short version, the long version containing the many thoughts that have been going through my head will take a bit longer to put out and hopefully won't be as disorganized as I think it will be.<br /><br />first off let me say I would recommend this race to everyone. It has something for everyone, it was wetsuit legal, a relatively flat bike course with some nice rollers and a totally flat well stocked and fairly well shaded run course. <br />The times that follow are unofficial and basically what showed up on my watch...<br /><br />Swim: 39:05 - the swim was actually quite nice. They have a nice wide open area to warmup in and to start so the pack was spread out wide and I had no issues of getting kicked at all. <br /><br />T1: 3:15 - let's just say it was a long run back to transition, and I had to remove the wetsuit, so 3:15 was actually quite good.<br /><br />Bike: 2:54:18<br />The bike was really nice. A mostly flat course billed as you won't have to shift out of your big ring, and I didn't. Felt great on the bike, the last few miles were tough and it measured out as 57+ miles instead of 56, but overall I liked it. <br /><br />T2: 3:03<br />This included a quick Port o potty stop so not bad considering my last half IM I had a 5 minute T2.<br /><br />Run: 2:17:28<br />The run is where it all fell apart for me and to go into details would take way too long, for the short version I'll just say my nutrition plan needs to be adjusted. Was on pace for a 2:05 half IM at mile 9 and then boom, 2:17. So while I am thrilled I broke 6 hours it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I could have done much better. <br /><br />total time: 5:57:10<br />Just under my 6 hour goal, but I really felt like 5:50 was possible. I really need to get a handle on my nutrition if I am going to be able to finish the Iron-man in November.<br /><br />I bet you can't wait for the long version...$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-77296396797188077792010-09-09T05:58:00.002-04:002010-09-09T06:16:13.877-04:00Race PlanVisualization is a big part of my races these days. Generally I write down a race plan and read it every night leading up to a big race and try to visualize myself executing the plan and anticipating any problems that could occur and what to do if they pop up.<br />The Swim: My start time is 7:09. Get in the water and warmup with some easy swimming. The course will be a rectangle with all left turns so try to line up on the right. I tend to drift left when I swim so starting on the right will keep me on the right side of the buoys and out of the washing machine start. Don't get caught up in the scrum and sprint at the start. Go easy and stay steady. Sight often and keep buoys in sight. After making last turn towards the shore start adding in some kicking to get the blood flowing into the legs again so they are ready to run out of the water.<br />goal time 38 minutes<br />T1: There is a long run to transition, so get the goggles and cap off and go. If wetsuit is on, start stripping down to waist while jogging. Wetsuit off, shirt on. Helmet fastened, then glasses and shoes. Take a quick gel and sip of water then go.<br />Bike: Stay steady just below the burn for this first 25 miles, then the rolling section occurs. strong up the hills and recovery down. The way back is a gradual decrease in elevation so it's hammer time. power bar at 45 minutes, fig newtons at 1:30 and depending on stomach power par triple threat or gel at 2:20.<br />goal time 2:50<br />T2: Don't forget your race number. socks and shoes on, grab hat and fuel belt. fuel belt should have two gatorades filled and two empty bottles with just the powder to fill on the course. <br />Run: gel every 3.5 - 4 miles, start off around 9:30 and pick up the pace when feeling good. It's a two loop course so pay attention on first loop and be ready for the grind on the second. Ice in the hat if they have it at the rest stops and keep hydrated.<br />goal time 2:15<br />goals for this race<br />of course finishing is the number one goal but 6 hours is definitely in reach and if I'm having a good day I think I can get 5:45 but there are many factors in this, including length issues in course measurement, weather and mechanical issues. Don't get caught up in the time during the race, just go at a strong pace that you can hold for 6 hours and go as fast as possible.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-52283870367322646182010-09-07T08:31:00.002-04:002010-09-07T08:39:42.974-04:0010 Things I Love about the TaperI know most people hate to taper, but I love it. Here are 10 reasons why<br />1) I wake up in the morning and I'm not sore or tired.<br />2) I can do my Yasso 800's and JOG all the recoveries.<br />3) After track I actually want to do the whole cool down.<br />4) I can finish my long run and not have my shoes be soaked with sweat.<br />5) No chafing.<br />6) I can sit in my chair and not feel saddle sores<br />7) Doing the race plan and visualizing the race course builds excitement without the pain.<br />8) I Have time to write a blog entry.<br />9) No chafing ( this is most important and worth two ).<br />10) My brain actually works well enough that I can think of 10 things.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-28490297392415826762010-09-01T15:30:00.002-04:002010-09-01T15:57:27.124-04:00August StatsFinally August is over and I survived the 3 weeks from hell, but barely.<br />let's see how the numbers went.<br /> Minutes Miles<br />Swimming 445 14 <br />Biking 1396 389 <br />Running 1092 104 <br /><br />total time 49 hours<br />total distance 507 miles<br /><br />Holy shit did I just do all that? <br />once again biggest month ever in miles and time for all three. The biggest week was the week of August 9th with almost 15 hours and 155 miles, not sure how I survived that one...<br /><br />luckily I have a half ironman to do in September so it will be an easier month. yes that did feel odd to say that. Looks like the week after the half IM will be the hardest with a 16 mile run and 100 mile bike for that weekend. <br /><br />The fun continues...$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7114051790814110712.post-19699841785599481952010-07-31T19:37:00.002-04:002010-07-31T19:51:37.644-04:00July statsJuly marked the first official month of my ironman training and now it is over and it's time to look back at the numbers. <br />Monthy stats Time in mins miles<br />Swimming 406 13 <br />Biking 1131 315 <br />Running 798 78 <br />Totals Time in hours Miles <br /> 38.92 406<br />Since I haven't publishing this yet This has been my biggest month by far this year.<br />400 miles and almost 39 hours - I was wondering why I was so tired this month. And when you factor in the heat and humidity I feel better knowing there is a reason for it. <br />For comparison - my biggest month previously was May at 32.5 hours and June with 356 miles. I have 3 more miles of swimming and 35 more miles on the bike than past highs. May was my longest month on the run with 85 and still is. <br />The week of July 12th was my biggest week to date with 11 hours and 120 miles.<br />I just got a sneak peak at my August and other than the first week which is a recovery week, it's going to eclipse July. <br />I definitely need to take this recovery week seriously and not to a lot of volume or intensity so I can be ready for the rest of the month. Luckily I have a Half Ironman on September 11 so I will get a chance to back off and recovery again for the 1 week of taper and hopefully coach will be nice and give me a recovery week after.$Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178511420952444232noreply@blogger.com1