Half Ironman Completed...

After the unfortunate events in the last race where I launched myself over my handlebars at 20 mph, it was really up in the air whether I'd be able to continue training and complete my first half-ironman.

Well, the road rash kept me out of the pool for a week and the slight leg bruise kept me from running for a few days. Nothing was going to stop me!!! So I increased my training, started back up with the running... And 3 weeks later I was standing on the beach at 7am staring at the waves preparing to race 70.3 miles.

Here were my goals:

• Swim: 25 minutes
• Bike: 3 hours
• Run: 2 hours
• Transitions: 5 minutes
• Total: 5:30 hours

Most of the goals were achievable, the biggest challenge would be the 2 hour half marathon. Now on to the race:

Swim:

The swim was a lot of fun. The race had 400+ entries which were broken into 6 waves which made it much safer to start. The first buoy was also farther out so people weren't climbing over top of each other. The course was a "J" course where you ran out from the beach through the break, headed to a buoy, made a right turn, swam 1 mile, then made a sharp right turn back into the beach. It was great to head out through the break. It made the less confident swimmers start back further. I didn't even sprint and found myself rounding the first buoy near the lead. My internal GPS must have been working because without seeing the smaller buoys, I ended up swimming right over them. I was just working on pacing and remaining calm when I kept seeing all of the different color caps in the water. All of the sudden I hit the last buoy and headed in. I didn't quite hit the timing right on the waves and I went to stand up and had a wave land on top of me and put me under. Remained calm and collected and continued on. Finally got to where I could run up the shore and there were 2 other caps of the same color with me. Turns out I lost my age group swim by :08!! Final time: 25 minutes. How is that for hitting your goal.

T1:

I had walked the transitions as I had done in previous races to make sure I knew which rack to head to. Well, they changed the swim entrance after we left the transition for the swim start. So when I entered, I ran down the wrong rack. Not a big deal. Wiped some sand off my feet, ate a half banana, downed some water, threw on my shoes and helmet and headed out. All done in 1:33 minutes. Cool, 1 minute ahead of pace.

Bike:

Was way too excited here. When I got going, I noticed my cadence sensor wasn't working. It's a shame because for the first time, I wore a heartrate strap during the swim so I could have it for later in the race and having both sets of info would be great. So I tried to spin to warm up my legs but they wouldn't cooperate. This might be a long bike ride. 5 miles into the race my legs started feeling better. Unfortunately, I made a huge mistake and started pushing bigger gears. I looked down and my heartrate was hitting consistent 160-170 bpm and I was averaging 22.7 mph for the first 15 miles. Either their was a huge tailwind or I was just a bit excited. Based on the heartrate and how I felt later, I pushed too hard to fast. My wife and I had driven the course the day before and even she was commenting on how hilly one section felt. It was constant up and down. Nothing real steep and nothing too long, just up and down over and over for 15 miles. I worked through the hills hit the first aid station. Grabbed a bottle of Hammer Heed and some pretzels and kept going. A mile later, a semi-truck decided he needed to make a delivery to a local farm and back into a driveway completely blocking the road. It force me and 5 of my closest friends at the moment to completely stop and have a nice chat. There went the minute I earned during T1. As I left the hilly section, I literally ran into friends Sarah and Jeff who road out to support me in my efforts. They have been great friends coming to two of my races this year. As paybacks, I decided that they deserved some free SWAG from the race. Here is a photo of me coming down the hill re-entering the highway and catching Sarah out of the corner of my eye:


After the hills my average was now down to 20.4 mph. And I was feeling really strong. I had 8 miles till the turnaround point signifying 18 miles to go on the bike. Time to pick the average back up and see how my legs respond. Boy did they ever. 8 miles later my average was at 21 mph. Unfortunately, 40 miles was my limit, especially with a decent amount of climbing. My legs were now heavy and starting to hurt. At this point I started to doubt myself. So I made a tactical decision to back off and not race the people I was around. It took an hour for me to complete the last 18 miles, but when I looked at my watch, it said 3:11 minutes. Given that my watch time was around 24 minutes exiting the water, that put my bike split around 2:46! Now the question becomes whether or not I pushed too hard. Ahead of my goal time by 15 minutes!

T2:

Relaxed as it was time for my moment of truth. Grabbed my shades, hat, race belt, slipped on my shoes, and grabbed some food. Spent a fair amount of time in the transition area unfortunately but still was just another 1:30 minutes. I'm now 16 minutes under my goal time.

Run:

Anyone that has done endurance sports knows there is a fine line between maximum effort and hitting a wall. I hoped I had not hit the wall. I came out of transition all smiles as I saw my wife cheering for me. It gave me hope and inspiration to finish.

So I start running... well in my case, jogging at a leisurely pace. My legs aren't on fire, but they feel aweful. I don't know the muscle, but the lower part of the quad heading to the inside of the knee is borderline cramping. But I finish my first mile in 8:30. Look at my watch and do a double take. Distance is wrong, has to be. Next thing to hit me is cramping in my ribs. Fight through it. I'm not walking this. Next thing I know, I hit 4 miles... 36 minutes and change. Not bad, right on 2 hour pace. As the miles go by, my pace starts slowing down. Soon I'm hitting 10 minute miles. My cadence is too slow I say to myself. Its now half way and I'm still running.... AND PASSING EEOPLE!! That never happens. Too many people had blown gaskets on the bike or were not prepared. More motivation. So I focused on slightly increasing the cadence and eliminating heel striking. Mile 7 - 9 minutes and change; Mile 8 - same; Mile 9 - same. Four more miles... total run time was sitting at 1:23 hours. I was really close to 2 hours. The bad part was at mile 10.5 where the race course had a sizeable hill. I almost walked up it. But no I pushed on. I now was ignoring my watch and thinking of the finish line. Actually I wasn't, I was thinking of the 1/3 of a mile run that was designed to torture competitors at the end of the race. The course took you onto the beach to run in the soft sand. As if running 13 miles after swimming 1.2 and biking 56 wasn't enough.

So I reached the beach!!! And then the pains hit. It was brutal. But I ignored the pain and tried to run. I entered the finishing shoot alone and had my wife there cheering and actually getting others watching to urge me on. I felt so bad but so good. I stepped onto pavement, rounded the corner and through the finish line. I made it!

Final Official Splits:

• Swim: 25:00
• T1: 1:33
• Bike: 2:45:34
• T2: 1:30
• Run: 2:01:33
• Final: 5:15:12

Beat my goal time by 15 minutes and was only slower in 1 of the 3 disciplines. I placed 2 age group and 20 overall in the swim (without a wetsuit) and 16 age group and 117 overall out of 375 entries.

In a few days some posts will be showing up about the new equipment I've used this year: Reynolds SDV66 wheels, LAS Chrono TT helmet, Newton Running Shoes, 2XU Endurance TriSuit, and Inviscid Design SpeedFil Hydration system...

Sprint triathlon goes horribly wrong

Of the races that I had put on my schedule this year, this race was the one I was really looking forward to this one. Its a sprint distance of .5 mile / 12 mile / 3 mile. Due to the town its held at, Barrington, RI.. the competition is actually really, really good. One of the local teams, Fuel Belt, races this as the owner and most of its members are local area residents. Note that one of the guys on the team is Todd Kenyon of TTBikeFit.com who did my tri fitting. They have a few 9 and 10 hour ironmen (and women) on the team.

I had a goal coming in of breaking 70 minutes provided the course was the same. My time last year at the event was 74 minutes breaking down to 10:49-1:47-34:10-1:17-25:55.

This year I had more races under my belt, more training, and supposedly faster equipment... so 4 minutes is nothing right??? Right!!!

I got the race site and registered, finding that the race number had grown to something around 300 entries. 300 entries, 3 waves... going to be a crowded swim start. I find my transition area and thing are a little depressing. I got stuck on one of the very inside slots meaning I had to run all the way down the row of bikes, grab mine, and run all the way back out, then head to the exit. Not a bike deal, but probably another 10-20 seconds of transition time. It would be great if the organizers put the racks in the middle and had an option to go around one side or the other.

So on to the race. I warmed up on the bike first. Actually felt really good. Maybe its the new pointy helmet! Warmed up in the water and felt awful. It was a little choppy, not much, but still enough to make a difference. I knew that I wasn't going to have a great swim.

The swim was as expected. The first buoy was about 35 yards from shore so it was an all out sprint. I placed myself better this time and had an easier time of managing the crowd. I knew based on the registration list that there would be some faster swimmers than myself (especially with no wetsuit). I saw the lead group get out in front of me and I just didn't want (and couldn't) keep up with them. I just don't have the speed anymore. Right now I'm about 5-10 seconds per hundred meters slower than the "really" fast swimmers. My overall time for the swim was 10:31, 18 seconds faster than last year in rougher water and a course which I felt was not strait. Not bad, but I'll have to go back and look at the results. My cheering section said I entered the first transition in 7th place. Considering 2 people passed me on the beach run (time included in the swim) not bad.

The first transition I tried the old saying "slow is smooth, smooth is fast". I had been practicing the day before.... so I expected a descent time. Ended up finding my bike, rinsing feet, slipping on shoes, through on my helmet, and running out in 1:05! A full 42 seconds quicker. I'm already ahead of last year's time after the event I expected the least gain from by a full minute.

As I headed out on the bike, I spun for the first mile or so as it was slightly uphill. I had a few people within sight of me and considering my placing on the swim, I thought it would be great if I could "hang" with some of these riders. Now maybe some were relay teams, I don't know. But in that first mile of me spinning, I passed two people. Here is were all of the good this go bad.....

You know that instant in time where you make a split decision and are either rewarded greatly or suffer dire consequences. This could be in anything... from driving a car to sporting events. Well I had one of those moments:

As I passed the second person and continued increasing my rhythm, I hear the familiar sound of a riding coming up next to me. As he does, I head to the right to not block. As I do I take a quick glance over to see who it was. It wasn't even a head turn, just an eye shift. Well that's all it took. BAD DECISION! In the blink of an eye, I feel my whole front end drop like a rock. I can't control it: 1) because I'm in the aero bars 2) because I wasn't looking forward 3) because I had caught the side of a sewer manhole cover. If the manhole road gradient would have been sloped, I would have been fine. Because I was moving right, I effectively turned right into it, causing my front tire to effectively drop off the side of the road. Next thing I know I'm hurdling through the air at over 20 mph! As I now laid on the road, I wonder what the heck just happened. I take a look and everything is in one piece. Then I start feeling the burning. Ahh, lots of road rash. Somehow, I managed to walk away from it.

So here is my decision, call it a day and end the race right there... or finish the 10 mile bike and 3 mile run? I'm not injured, the bike looked like it still worked... I'm finishing! While I was laying on the ground, a mechanic pulled up from the race organizers and asked if I was alright. He gave my bike a quick check, then before he handed it to me, he started with the medical questioning. Good call on his part. My helmet (which was basically brand new) didn't even have a scratch. He checked this, I didn't. So he finally cleared me and off I went.

So I went from trying to race to trying to finish. I spent the next 8 miles just kind of working some kinks out waiting for my body to tighten in one place or another. Well it did. My lower leg between my calf and ankle. Must have injured it (tear or bruise) in the crash because that part of my leg was in the front triangle of my bike. It tightened... and tightened... but gosh darn it, I'm finishing.

I finished the bike cruising along ending with a whopping time of 46 minutes! A full 12 minutes slower than last year. Oh well. Into the transition I went. No reason to hurry. From off the bike I knew I was going to have problems. My leg was real sore. I struggled to walk to my area. It's all your head... push through it. I casually switched shoes. and took off jogging.

I tried to use the 3 mile run to focus on running form. I tried to focus on forefoot running vs heel striking. Focus on form was what I kept telling myself. I didn't really push the pace because 1) I was injured and didn't want it to get worse and 2) no real need to as beating my time was no longer possible. I ended up being a rabbit for a few other people out attempting their own personal bests. For the first time in a race, I did not get passed on a run! It wasn't because I was blazing out there either. My run split was 23 minutes! A full 2 minutes faster than last year. Could have been that I was fresher, could have been more training... I don't know, but I like it! Still not fast, but a 2 minute improvement over 1 year on the same course in 3 miles is excellent.!

I came around the corner and the clock read 1:24 and change. Disappointing time... yes. Disappointing finish... absolutely not!

When I look back on this race, sure I'll be upset. But I will always have with me the fact that I pushed myself mentally over the hump to finish the race when battered and bruised. So in the next race I do when hitting that wall, I'll have something mentally to push me over that hump...

Second Olympic distance triathon in the books

This past weekend I participated in my second olympic distance triathlon. It was the Old Colony YMCA Triathlon in Middleboro, MA organized by Firm Racing with a race participant number of 230. I had a goal of 2:30 hours coming into the race.

First, it needs to quit raining here. I feel like we live in Seattle, WA. My last race there was a steady rain during the swim and first lap on the bike. This race didn't have rain during it, but it almost monsooned the night before. The whole transition area had 2" of water in it. It made racing and spectating a bit of a mess and a little dangerous as I'll explain.

Course:

The course was broken into a 2 lap mile swim, a lap of 6 miles, 4 times made the 24 mile bike, and a single loop for the run. Besides the loops, the bike also had a short run up a slight hill that was covered with large chunked mulch and then a 1/4 mile entrance road with 3 speed bumps. The run had a soft dirt exit path and then a winding trail run after the bike entrance/exit. Overall it was a fairly flat course.

Prerace:

The morning didn't start off so well as my alarm didn't go off. So wake up went a little behind schedule which meant no warmup on the bike. Grabbed a bagel/egg sandwich, water, coffee, and a sports drink then packed up the car and headed out for the hour drive to the site.

Arrived at the site about an hour before race time. There was no parking at the site itself so packed my bag and walked 1/2 mile. Registration went without hassle. I got to my assigned rack and was lucky to get an outside spot. In my last race I made a mistake in not walking through the transitions before the race. A mistake I wouldn't make this time. I walked through and asked questions to volunteers making sure I knew entry and exit directions.

Race:

Swim went as expected. I felt good but not quite as good as I had two weeks prior in the pool. It was my first race with a 2 lap swim and I didn't like it. Just the brief time out of the water tightened me up just enough where it probably knocked my pace down on the second lap by 30 seconds. Finished the approximate mile swim in 19:05 for 2nd in age group, 8th overall. Here is a nice shot of me passing some of the faster people in the first wave re-entering the water:



Bike started ok.. The transition went great as I had the 4th fastest time overall. The bike time included the run up the slight mulched hill. The first loop went ok. I tried to focus on spinning. I didnt really feel warmed up and since it was 4 laps I would use the first as a survey loop and try to descend each one. Here I am coming around on one of the loops:



The approximate times at the end of each of the first three laps were:

1. 16:10
2. 31:50 (15:40)
   
3. 47:10 (15:20)
4. 1:04:43 (17:33) Recorded as bike split

The first lap I started the clock as I started the loop. The last lap included the last 1/4 mile of speed bumps plus the small hill. As I exited the last loop, my Garmin said I averaged 22.6 mph. It also included my unfortunate attempts at a dismount. When I went to dismount, I unclipped one foot and when I did, my front wheel went off the pavement into the mud. Road tires and mud don't mix well. I went directly over onto my side. My shoulder bore most of the fall into the mud but my hip and ankle landed on the pavement. Luckily I only came away with a brused ego. So I picked up my bike and walked down the hill. Here is a great shot I like that my wife took:


Not much I can say about the run. It was the run. My goal as I headed out was to not walk. I got a cramp in my side about 1.5 miles in and just tried to run through it. I was determined not to walk. The cramp went away about 3/4 of a mile later. I actually started to feel good between miles 3.5 to 5. I fell out of the grove in the last mile and struggled a bit coming home.

As I was running I had no idea of my swim time, no idea about my bike time, and no idea about my run... so I began to question my 2:30 goal. As I hit the finishing shoot, imaging my surprise when I look up and see 2:24! Subtract the 3 minutes off of the clock due to the second wave and I'm at 2:21. NO WAY! I was so happy. Final Results (Age Group Rank/Overall Rank):

• Swim: 19:05 (2/8)
• T1: 1:06
• Bike: 1:04:43 (9/43)
• Tw: 1:12
• Run: 55:26 (21/140)
• Total: 2:21.34 (9/53)

My first top 33% age group, top 25% overall finish. I'll never really finish much better than that due to my lack of running skills... but I'll keep having fun and keep working at it.

One thing is that the support at this event was great. Not only did my wife come with me again at 6am but I got a surprise cheering section from Sarah and her husband Jeff. Its nice to have some riding friends there. I keep trying to talk them into a Cyclocross race or something.

Interesting night of riding

Tonights ride was one of the most interesting rides I've had in a long time. Thankfully it didn't involve any vehicles this time. It starting off as a usual ride that we do during weeknights which is a 36 mile loop. We went tonight because the sun was out for the first time in weeks!

Three of us were kind of cruising along around the scenic Ocean Dr chatting and just enjoying the weather. After reaching about the half way point of the ride, I see a cop on a motorcycle coming slowly around the corner flashing his lights. Uh Oh.... But wait!!! Following the cop were 40-50 cyclists! Well, each year a local bike shop where we live puts on a "Longest Day of the Year" ride which circles around the small island we live on. In total, I think it ends up being a 45-50 mile loop. So after about 30 seconds, the adrenaline kicked in and my decision was made. TURN AROUND! Back the other way we went. The group was kind of cruising as they had just started and the police escort was there to keep the Newport, RI traffic in check as they went around. Looking down at my computer, my average speed over the first 17 miles was about 17.7 mph.

So out of Newport we went... and up went the pace. Soon I had dropped my mates that I was with, but was hanging with the front group. It was kind of cool to go out in a group of 20-30 riders. Gone was the fear of getting hit by a car. Next thing I know, I'm at 37 miles total and my average mph jumped to 20.1 mph. To raise the average that much that quickly gives you an idea of the pace we were keeping.

Unfortunately, staying with the main pack didn't last. Its not that I cracked, its that a small group of us got caught behind a truck that kind of passed us and made a turn just as we were making a turn. That caused the back half to slow down just enough that enough of a gap was opened that we couldn't gap the distance. We (myself included) didn't have enough firepower. We tried with 3 of us, but that became two quickly and all was lost. A hill was upcoming and I had no gas left. I hadn't planned on doing this ride so I had 1 water bottle and no food/gels. Now I had been out for over 2 hours. After 50 miles I was toast. I also had a problem in that my car was on the other side of the island (My house is in the middle). So I said my goodbye's and decided to use the upcoming light to avoid traffic on a road that just should not be ridden by a solo rider. Off I went at a slower pace and cooled down the last 3 miles home.

Final Stats:

• 51.2 miles
• 20.2 mph
  

Summer Race Schedule

After completing the race a week ago, plans were set in motion to complete the season schedule. I had to do this around two planned trips during the summer and also include some recovery time (It took 3 days for the muscles to feel good again). So here it is:

• July 12 - Old Colony YMCA ITU Triathlon, Middleboro MA
  
• Aug 15 - Bayside YMCA Sprint Triathlon, Barrington RI
  
• Sept 13 - FIRMMAN RI Half-Ironman, Narragansett RI

A mix of distances there with the primary race being the completion of my first half ironman, 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13 mile run to end the season.

Here are the goals I've set:

For the July race, which is another ITU distance like my last race, my goal time is 2:30. The race course is supposed to be relatively flat compared to the last course I did... plus it doesn't have the 5 minute jog between the swim/bike transition area.

The Aug race is a repeat of the race I did last year. In last year's event, my end time was 1:14:00. Last year I wrecked a month before the race and had little swim or run training. I didn't get back on the bike until the Wed before the race. If the course is setup similar this year as last year, then I'd be happy with something under 1:10.

The half-ironman - FINISH! Seriously, this is one long race. Something in the 5:30 hour range putting in a 30 min swim, 3 hour bike, and 2 hour run (plus transitions).

Ashland Lions Race Report!

This was my first Olympic distance triathlon. Olympic distance is listed as a 1.5, 40, 10 km race (1, 24.8, 6.2 miles). Basically double any other race I've done. There were a total of 189 entries in the race today.

First obstacle was the weather. It was horrid. 60 degrees and rain! Which just makes going 20+mph on the bike downright miserable. Here is a shot through the trees of the lake where the swim was... you can see the rain hitting the lake:


I started the swim in the second wave, four minutes behind the first. I was unsure of the lake temperature so I borrowed a wetsuit from a neighbor. The wetsuit lasted about 50 yards of warmups. It ended up that the arms were a tad to big, causing water to enter the suit each time my arm entered the water. So I dropped the wetsuit on the shore and went with the tri-suit. I ended up with a decent position at the start so when the gun went off I didn't have too many people to climb over. Sighting was a small problem as I had light blue goggles which on a rainy day didn't work so well. I finished the swim in 2!:41 earning a 2nd place in my age group and 17th overall. Not bad for only 2 practices!!! Just wait till the end of the season when I have more time in the pool.

The second obstacle was the 1/2 mile, uphill run that the organizers made us do through the woods. It crazy! Due to the rain, it literally became a mudlide. Luckily I brought some gore-tex trail running shoes. But they still didn't matter. The trail was just large boulders, tree roots, and puddles. Basically, I ran up it by stepping in the puddles.

The bike was a rolling course with small rollers and two small hills. One was 3% grade for about a mile+ and the other was 4-8% grade for about 1/2 mile. The rain made the course miserable. There were rooster tails everywhere on the first lap. Thankfully, the rain stopped for the second. I finished the 26 mile course in 1:16:10 for an average of ~20.5mph. Considering my legs felt like garbage from the first pedal stroke it wasn't a bad time. Coming off the bike, I was probably in 35th place. Here is a pic of me rolling past my cheering section after the steeper hill:


It was all downhill (performance wise) after I hopped off the bike. I just don't do very well when my feet hit pavement. For one thing, I've never run more than 3 miles in a race. So, I decided to run/walk the 6.2 miles, 8 minutes running, 2 minutes walking. Some of the hills on the course modified this, but I kept to my strategy. The run didn't hurt very much, although much of that had to do with the pace I kept. I finished in a whopping 57:30 for a split that was 137th overall. Here is my finishing shoot shot:


My final stats:

• Swim: 21:41
• T1: 5:50 (includes muddy run)
• Bike: 1:16:10
• T2: 1:32
• Run: 57:30
• Total: 2:42:44 (62nd place, 9th/21 in Age Group)
  

Race Season starts!

Most of the winter was spent nursing two injuries, the kneecap fracture and the shoulder dislocation, both of which kept me out of any training. However, I spent the last two months upping my training level (now up to 100-125 mile a week on the bike) so its time to give some races a go.

So, tomorrow is the official start of race season. I'm taking part in an Olympic distance triathlon of 1 mile, 26 mile, 6.2 mile distances. The course is what I would call rolling. There are two "bumps" in the 13 mile loop, one short hitting 8% grade and one longer 1.5 mile 3-4% climb. The run is supposedly rolling too.

My current pre-race activities have consisted of packing, hydrating, and talking with Dr. LAG (fellow former swimmer and much better triathlete than I) about his Olympic tri race that he did today. By the way, congrats to him as in his first race in years, he pulled off the victory by 4 minutes! Averaging 24 mph on the bike and then putting in a 42 minute 10k run.

All I know is that I'm excited but a little nervous.....