The race this weekend was fantastic. Liz and I rolled up to NJ on Saturday for packet pick up with a pretty good sized group of former TNTers and friends. For some reason still unknown to me I was assigned #3 as my race number; normally the low numbers go to pros or elite amateurs. I had to keep telling people that this was in no way a prediction of my race results. It looks like almost every guy in my age group had a really low number, so it must have been some combination of wave assignment and when you signed up or something. Like last year we stayed with CH's grandmother about 40 minutes away and enjoyed a great pre-race meal and a good night's sleep. At least until the crazy thunderstorm woke us up at 4:00 AM. There was constant lightning and thunder for about 45 minutes so I never got back to sleep. Amazingly, the storm line completely missed the race course and it was bone dry when we got there. Parking was a bit of a nightmare so we snuck into a remote lot and rode our bikes in just in time to set up transition before it closed.
My wave was #1 in the water (again), so I had zero warm up aside from the jog from transition to the swim start. The lake is small and by this time in the summer has not chance of being wetsuit legal (86 degrees this year). I think I actually prefer cooler water, not just because of the wetsuit factor but because I don't feel like I'm going to get too hot. I felt good in the swim but my time doesn't really reflect it (only knocked off 00:21 from last year when I felt I had a terrible swim). I was breathing pretty hard the whole way, but I figured that was because of no warm up. It usually takes me 500-600 meters in the pool to really get in to a groove, and we were back on dry land by then in the sprint. The run up to transition was a long one (my bike was far from the swim exit, close to bike exit); nothing notable about it, probably took a little too long getting my shoes on and fumbling with my helmet.
The bike course is only 11.5 miles (down from 13.x last year), so you just had to hammer the whole way. I've been making some good improvements on the bike since Mooseman (the Sunday rides with the Bike Rack have kept me honest) and it's starting to show. I ended up averaging 22.5 MPH compared to 20.8 last year. After adjusting my bar height a few weeks ago I've had no issues with shoulder pain and have been able to put down some power to the pedals. I rolled into transition feeling pretty good. T2 was uneventful, but slower than I should have been. Again it was a long run out from my rack.
The run last year was a 5K PR for me last year, and it happened again this year (I really need to run a standalone 5K to see what my baseline is; I haven't run one since Thanksgiving on a really hilly course). I focused on keeping a steady pace for the first half, noted where the 1/2 mile to go point was, and planned on pushing it from there to the end. As always, some super speedy runners went blowing by, but only about a dozen this time ;). Ended up with a 24:13 run, 00:40 better than last year. After the lack of run training this spring and summer I was hoping for 25:00, so it was a nice surprise.
My final time was 1:07:35. Overall that was 9/47 in my age group, 59/549 for all men, and 68th overall in the race (up from 100th overall last year). All in all it was a good day. Everybody seems to have had a great race. The DC Tri Club dominated the East Coast championships again, and the the Bike Rack multisport team had a good representation. This is shaping up to be a big East Coast event (2500 racers this year in the sprint and olympic races). We'll be back next year for sure!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Been awhile ....
Ummmmm, yeah. These updates have been few and far between, so here's the short attention span version of the race season so far:
St. Anthony's 2:40:16; Swim was a little rougher this year than last and I dropped 2.5 minutes off of that time despite being in better swim shape, but maybe the adrenaline was really pumping in 2007 as it was my first race! Ride was 3.5 minutes faster than last year and I felt a lot better coming off of the bike. Run started out great, but I hit the wall at mile 4. Struggled home to a 56:xx 10K (which is not that bad by my standards), but feel I could have knocked a couple minutes off of that. The slow recovery from the half marathon really put a big dent in my run ability. One of my goals this year was to break 2:40:00 in an olympic. My next and probably last chance will be at Annapolis.
Columbia Tri: 2:53:19; I was treating this as a training day for Mooseman and didn't plan on hammering it at all. The starting line announcer had to lie about the water temperature to get us all in, but since it was around 55 degrees I don't blame him. Holy crap, that was cold! It did make for a personal best sub-25:00 swim though; I really wanted to be out of that water. Columbia bike course is really challenging with all of the hills, and I lost 6.5 minutes to a flat in the first 4 miles or so. Averaged 18 MPH even with that little hiccup and on that course I'm was happy with it. The run at Columbiz is the real challenge. There are 5-6 seriously steep hills with equally punishing downhills on the other side. I kept my HR in a fairly comfortable zone, walking the hills where necessary to keep from overdoing it. Still came out with a sub-58:00 10K which actually surprised me a bit. Sign up for this race next year is next week (!!!!), but I don't know if I'll do it again. It will depend on which half I might be interested in.
Mooseman Half Ironman: 6:21:27; I was hoping to go (and think I'm capable of going) under 6:00:00 so my time will speak for itself. Swim was right around where I wanted it at 34:06, but I think 33:00 is doable. I had some wetsuit issues in the first couple hundred meters and had to flip on my back to adjust the closure 2-3 times. The water was super clear (and cold at 60 degrees), but it was a good swim.
The bike course was rolling with a couple short, steep hills and some gradual climbs. The road conditions were pretty horrendous, though. I had practiced my nutrition strategy ahead of time, but it kind of fell apart during the first loop and I had some stomach cramps. I got things sorted out by the second loop, but by then it was too late. Neck and shoulder problems made staying aero a chore in the last 10 miles. I had made a tiny (tiny, I swear!) adjustment to my bar position about a month out from the race and hadn't had too many issues, but the combination of probably a slightly stretched out position and a death grip on the bars going over some really rough pavement just made things tense up. (I've since returned the bars to a more relaxed position and haven't had any issues. Lesson learned, but a bit too late!). Rolled in at 3:06:00 (goal was sub-3:00:00), so that wasn't too bad. I think I dropped 8-9 minutes on the second lap compared to the first.
The run is where that little nutrition issue reared it's incredibly ugly head. I had more than 1/3 of my concentrated InfiniT solution left in the bottle when I racked my bike, which included the electrolytes I needed. Oh, and did I mention that despite the 60 degree water it was approaching 95 and humid that day? Yeah, and I was sweating like mad. About 1/4 mile into the run both of my quads cramped up and refused to unlock. I then locked up a hamstring trying to stretch out a quad! Eventually things got moving and shuffled to a 9:1x first mile; that was the closest I was to seeing a 9:00 mile the rest of the day. I got down some salt tabs at the first aid station, but the lack of calories from the bike just left my legs with nothing and the heat was killing me. The next 2+ hours were spent shuffling along and then walking ... often. There were two wicked hills on the two loop course. I was thinking I could realistically go 2:15:00 on the run but came in at 2:36:41. Ouch. Literally. I can't blame the heat and nutrition mistakes entirely, though. Maybe (just maybe ;) ) the fact that my long runs leading up to this race after the March half mary were 6, 6, and 7 miles. And two of those were 10Ks at the end of olympic races. Undertrained = me on the run. I also probably pushed the bike too hard knowing that I would need to make up time there. A decent run would have put me under 6 hours, but it wasn't to be, and I had a fantastic time up in New Hampshire. That's what first 1/2 Ironmans are for, right? To live and learn. Despite some disappointment it leeft me wanting for more. We'll have to pick out a race for next season and actually train better for it. Probably something later on in the summer, though.
General Smallwood Sprint: 1:34:08; This was a fun race to do just before heading down to the beach for the 4th of July. Probably my best overall finish so far: 25/140 out of all men and 4th in my age group. I'd like to say that I was close to a podium finish, but I was a full 3 minutes out of 3rd! It still was nice to see that result. If only I could run well. I dropped my chain on the bike twice (even after adjusting things); once in the middle of a steep hill. Wasn't fun to get going again after that. The bike wiped me out more than I thought it would (again, probably pushed too hard). There were some not so nice hills at the very beginning of the run course that sapped a lot of energy. Oh, and the swim was full of weeds that stole my Garmin watch strap right off of my wrist!! Of course the first time I decide to wear it in the swim instead of putting it on in transition a freaking plant steals it!
Coming up next:
New Jersey State Sprint: this weekend 7/27
North East Sprint: 8/17 (yes, after the half I'm taking advantage of sprints for a little bit ...)
Annapolis Olympic: 9/7 (different course than last year, but probably an easier run)
Savageman Olympic: 9/21 (possibly, not signed up yet; it's at Deep Creek, should be a beautiful but tough course. The Half is tempting ... for next year)
Ragnar Relay: 9/26-27. This is going to be awesome: 183 mile, 12 person relay from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC. Team DCDD is going to rock it!
Then some time off, but maybe a fall half marathon? Let's not go there just yet!
St. Anthony's 2:40:16; Swim was a little rougher this year than last and I dropped 2.5 minutes off of that time despite being in better swim shape, but maybe the adrenaline was really pumping in 2007 as it was my first race! Ride was 3.5 minutes faster than last year and I felt a lot better coming off of the bike. Run started out great, but I hit the wall at mile 4. Struggled home to a 56:xx 10K (which is not that bad by my standards), but feel I could have knocked a couple minutes off of that. The slow recovery from the half marathon really put a big dent in my run ability. One of my goals this year was to break 2:40:00 in an olympic. My next and probably last chance will be at Annapolis.
Columbia Tri: 2:53:19; I was treating this as a training day for Mooseman and didn't plan on hammering it at all. The starting line announcer had to lie about the water temperature to get us all in, but since it was around 55 degrees I don't blame him. Holy crap, that was cold! It did make for a personal best sub-25:00 swim though; I really wanted to be out of that water. Columbia bike course is really challenging with all of the hills, and I lost 6.5 minutes to a flat in the first 4 miles or so. Averaged 18 MPH even with that little hiccup and on that course I'm was happy with it. The run at Columbiz is the real challenge. There are 5-6 seriously steep hills with equally punishing downhills on the other side. I kept my HR in a fairly comfortable zone, walking the hills where necessary to keep from overdoing it. Still came out with a sub-58:00 10K which actually surprised me a bit. Sign up for this race next year is next week (!!!!), but I don't know if I'll do it again. It will depend on which half I might be interested in.
Mooseman Half Ironman: 6:21:27; I was hoping to go (and think I'm capable of going) under 6:00:00 so my time will speak for itself. Swim was right around where I wanted it at 34:06, but I think 33:00 is doable. I had some wetsuit issues in the first couple hundred meters and had to flip on my back to adjust the closure 2-3 times. The water was super clear (and cold at 60 degrees), but it was a good swim.
The bike course was rolling with a couple short, steep hills and some gradual climbs. The road conditions were pretty horrendous, though. I had practiced my nutrition strategy ahead of time, but it kind of fell apart during the first loop and I had some stomach cramps. I got things sorted out by the second loop, but by then it was too late. Neck and shoulder problems made staying aero a chore in the last 10 miles. I had made a tiny (tiny, I swear!) adjustment to my bar position about a month out from the race and hadn't had too many issues, but the combination of probably a slightly stretched out position and a death grip on the bars going over some really rough pavement just made things tense up. (I've since returned the bars to a more relaxed position and haven't had any issues. Lesson learned, but a bit too late!). Rolled in at 3:06:00 (goal was sub-3:00:00), so that wasn't too bad. I think I dropped 8-9 minutes on the second lap compared to the first.
The run is where that little nutrition issue reared it's incredibly ugly head. I had more than 1/3 of my concentrated InfiniT solution left in the bottle when I racked my bike, which included the electrolytes I needed. Oh, and did I mention that despite the 60 degree water it was approaching 95 and humid that day? Yeah, and I was sweating like mad. About 1/4 mile into the run both of my quads cramped up and refused to unlock. I then locked up a hamstring trying to stretch out a quad! Eventually things got moving and shuffled to a 9:1x first mile; that was the closest I was to seeing a 9:00 mile the rest of the day. I got down some salt tabs at the first aid station, but the lack of calories from the bike just left my legs with nothing and the heat was killing me. The next 2+ hours were spent shuffling along and then walking ... often. There were two wicked hills on the two loop course. I was thinking I could realistically go 2:15:00 on the run but came in at 2:36:41. Ouch. Literally. I can't blame the heat and nutrition mistakes entirely, though. Maybe (just maybe ;) ) the fact that my long runs leading up to this race after the March half mary were 6, 6, and 7 miles. And two of those were 10Ks at the end of olympic races. Undertrained = me on the run. I also probably pushed the bike too hard knowing that I would need to make up time there. A decent run would have put me under 6 hours, but it wasn't to be, and I had a fantastic time up in New Hampshire. That's what first 1/2 Ironmans are for, right? To live and learn. Despite some disappointment it leeft me wanting for more. We'll have to pick out a race for next season and actually train better for it. Probably something later on in the summer, though.
General Smallwood Sprint: 1:34:08; This was a fun race to do just before heading down to the beach for the 4th of July. Probably my best overall finish so far: 25/140 out of all men and 4th in my age group. I'd like to say that I was close to a podium finish, but I was a full 3 minutes out of 3rd! It still was nice to see that result. If only I could run well. I dropped my chain on the bike twice (even after adjusting things); once in the middle of a steep hill. Wasn't fun to get going again after that. The bike wiped me out more than I thought it would (again, probably pushed too hard). There were some not so nice hills at the very beginning of the run course that sapped a lot of energy. Oh, and the swim was full of weeds that stole my Garmin watch strap right off of my wrist!! Of course the first time I decide to wear it in the swim instead of putting it on in transition a freaking plant steals it!
Coming up next:
New Jersey State Sprint: this weekend 7/27
North East Sprint: 8/17 (yes, after the half I'm taking advantage of sprints for a little bit ...)
Annapolis Olympic: 9/7 (different course than last year, but probably an easier run)
Savageman Olympic: 9/21 (possibly, not signed up yet; it's at Deep Creek, should be a beautiful but tough course. The Half is tempting ... for next year)
Ragnar Relay: 9/26-27. This is going to be awesome: 183 mile, 12 person relay from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC. Team DCDD is going to rock it!
Then some time off, but maybe a fall half marathon? Let's not go there just yet!
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