If you read the books, they tell you - especially for IM training - that running is the hardest thing on your body.
In previous years, at lower volumes, I haven't really faced this much.
But this year, 3-5 hour workouts are no big deal.
Except the 3 hour run. First of those just the other day.
Definitely the most wearing low-moderate intensity workout so far this year. Oddly, it seemed more so than just 15 minutes shorter. Now, I'm not completely wiped out or anything, but it was a lot more than just a 3 hour ride, or even a 2/1 brick that was taken pretty hard. It would get old if I were doing that every week, at least as long as I was doing all the other stuff, too.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
T1
Christopher is a T1 Stud.
Dude gets in and out in a flash. He had the fastest T1 in the whole race at Cornman, and 3rd at Iowa Games. 19 seconds. My goodness!
Dude gets in and out in a flash. He had the fastest T1 in the whole race at Cornman, and 3rd at Iowa Games. 19 seconds. My goodness!
Sockless
Today I took the plunge.
I've never done a race without socks before. Now, with Christopher breathing down my back at every race, maybe I need those extra 30 seconds!
We did a "fun race" today - the Iowa Games sprint triathlon. Just a "train though" race, not even sanctioned by USAT. He got 2nd his age group; I got 4th. The only bad thing was that I took a spill on my bike. The transition area for this race is horrible, and I got a rock in my cleat. Right out of T1, there is a small but steep hill you have to climb, so as I clipped in (or so I thought), I had to power up. The rock disagreed, and down I went. Arrgh. Just a few minor scrapes and a sore hip to show, but the rest of my race went fine (though I missed the podium by under a minute....wouldn't have if I hadn't fallen; oh well).
But other than that, the T1 was great. In and out in 37 seconds!
No issues biking, no issues running. Made sure to grease up my feet and shoes with body lube, and everything was good.
I don't think I'll be doing any more sprint races this year, but now I'm not afraid. That's a Good Thing.
I've never done a race without socks before. Now, with Christopher breathing down my back at every race, maybe I need those extra 30 seconds!
We did a "fun race" today - the Iowa Games sprint triathlon. Just a "train though" race, not even sanctioned by USAT. He got 2nd his age group; I got 4th. The only bad thing was that I took a spill on my bike. The transition area for this race is horrible, and I got a rock in my cleat. Right out of T1, there is a small but steep hill you have to climb, so as I clipped in (or so I thought), I had to power up. The rock disagreed, and down I went. Arrgh. Just a few minor scrapes and a sore hip to show, but the rest of my race went fine (though I missed the podium by under a minute....wouldn't have if I hadn't fallen; oh well).
But other than that, the T1 was great. In and out in 37 seconds!
No issues biking, no issues running. Made sure to grease up my feet and shoes with body lube, and everything was good.
I don't think I'll be doing any more sprint races this year, but now I'm not afraid. That's a Good Thing.
Monday, July 6, 2009
The Curse of the Cornman
Yesterday was the Cornman Sprint triathlon. 500 m, 14 mi, 3.1 mi.
This was the third Cornman for me and Christopher. In 2007, we were both pretty much newbies, and just had fun on this pretty hard, hilly course.
But 2008 was The Year of The Flats. Christopher had a flat about 6 mi into the ride. After changing the tire, he had a second flat half a mile later. Grrr. But he was determined and actually ran his bike the rest of the way in (barefoot!) and then ran the 5K. Very courageous, I have to say.
So we should have been pre-disastered, right?
We followed the directions to the race that Google Maps provided, carrying our bikes on the back of the van with the nifty new carrier, and with Cynthia and the twins with us. Well, the road Google had us take was a "B grade" road after a point. Never heard of that? Neither had I.
Let me save you the trouble: never take a "B" road.
We did, and we ended up completely stuck in the mud. We did everything we could to get that van moving, and nothing helped. Nothing. Didn't move it more than 6 inches after we got stuck.
Cynthia was the hero and said that Christopher and I should go the rest of the way by ourselves to the race, and she would call someone to get help. One small thing: there was no cell service. Another small thing: we had to carry our bikes on our backs up a few hills in the mud until we could get to a paved road.
Well, we did. Christopher had left his bike shoes, but I spotted this and threw them in my bag. Fortunately, we were using backpack style bags. We eventually got to the hardtop and rode in the rest of the way - seemingly several miles - to the race. We got to packet pickup with about 42 seconds left and then dashed over to the transition area.
We were both wearing our running shoes and had thick clay mud up to our knees. Needless to say, two guys running into transition with bikes that looked like they just finished Xterra races and mud up to their knees drew a little attention.
But we got set up - barely, and ugly, but ready.
I had told Christopher there was no chance we'd be able to use wetsuits, but we couldn't have carried them anyway. But the water was only 70! Coldest it had ever been, they announced. Fortunately, it was fine to swim in, but we had a slight disadvantage.
Christopher was in the first wave and got out of the water fourth, within a few meters of the top 3. He even beat Patrick Davis onto the bike. Patrick and others began to pass him, as to be expected, but he was going fine. Until near the end - eeek! Crash!! Fortunately, it wasn't too bad, and he probably only lost a minute or so. His run was fine, and he turned in a decent time that turned out to be within 1 minute of the winner of his age group and me.
My race was fine. Well mostly. I intentionally thought I went out hard on the swim, trying to improve my lousy last couple of swims. But I had had to borrow Timothy's goggles, and it turned out they were so scratched that I actually had to take them off to see where the heck I was going! So my swim time stunk again. T1 was ok. I got out on the bike and felt good and started passing people. No one passed me and I liked my power numbers, considering it was the end of a hard week. About 20 W better than I was getting at HyVee. Felt good going up and down the hills. Ultimately, it wasn't a perfect ride or anything, but I was pleased. Got to see Christopher as he was heading back in from the turnaround (before his crash).
T2 was smooth, except for the lady who wanted to have an extended conversation about all the mud on my shoes. I tried to be polite and got out as quick as I could.
Again, the run started out feeling fine. Tami Ritchie passed me on The Big Hill, but there's no shame in that, considering she was first overall woman! Don't know how far she started behind me, but I was really pleased to be able to keep her in my sights the whole race. I finished with a 22:13 5K, so that was pretty successful, given the terrain. I kept wondering where the heck the guys were in my group. I only saw (and passed) one. The good news was that I must have passed most of them in the bike or something, because I came in second! Woo hoo!
And the guy that beat me did so by 7 minutes, so I didn't even feel guilty about not trying harder.
Anyway, I shortly met Christopher and heard his story. Eventually we got ahold of Cynthia again. They had gotten up to a portion of the race and had been talking with a sheriff during the race - and cheering as we went by. (No tow was available at the time.) Eventually, they got a tow, and met us up at the race by about 12:30 or so.
Finally Cynthia and the twins took off with Christopher out to his soccer camp in Omaha, and I began the long ride home. In the end, the race had taken more out of me than I might have thought, so the ride home was a moderately hard 75 mi, but it wasn't too bad. It didn't help that I was getting a cold, either, but hey....other than disasters, how bad a day could it be?
So now the only question is... do we dare go back next year?
This was the third Cornman for me and Christopher. In 2007, we were both pretty much newbies, and just had fun on this pretty hard, hilly course.
But 2008 was The Year of The Flats. Christopher had a flat about 6 mi into the ride. After changing the tire, he had a second flat half a mile later. Grrr. But he was determined and actually ran his bike the rest of the way in (barefoot!) and then ran the 5K. Very courageous, I have to say.
So we should have been pre-disastered, right?
We followed the directions to the race that Google Maps provided, carrying our bikes on the back of the van with the nifty new carrier, and with Cynthia and the twins with us. Well, the road Google had us take was a "B grade" road after a point. Never heard of that? Neither had I.
Let me save you the trouble: never take a "B" road.
We did, and we ended up completely stuck in the mud. We did everything we could to get that van moving, and nothing helped. Nothing. Didn't move it more than 6 inches after we got stuck.
Cynthia was the hero and said that Christopher and I should go the rest of the way by ourselves to the race, and she would call someone to get help. One small thing: there was no cell service. Another small thing: we had to carry our bikes on our backs up a few hills in the mud until we could get to a paved road.
Well, we did. Christopher had left his bike shoes, but I spotted this and threw them in my bag. Fortunately, we were using backpack style bags. We eventually got to the hardtop and rode in the rest of the way - seemingly several miles - to the race. We got to packet pickup with about 42 seconds left and then dashed over to the transition area.
We were both wearing our running shoes and had thick clay mud up to our knees. Needless to say, two guys running into transition with bikes that looked like they just finished Xterra races and mud up to their knees drew a little attention.
But we got set up - barely, and ugly, but ready.
I had told Christopher there was no chance we'd be able to use wetsuits, but we couldn't have carried them anyway. But the water was only 70! Coldest it had ever been, they announced. Fortunately, it was fine to swim in, but we had a slight disadvantage.
Christopher was in the first wave and got out of the water fourth, within a few meters of the top 3. He even beat Patrick Davis onto the bike. Patrick and others began to pass him, as to be expected, but he was going fine. Until near the end - eeek! Crash!! Fortunately, it wasn't too bad, and he probably only lost a minute or so. His run was fine, and he turned in a decent time that turned out to be within 1 minute of the winner of his age group and me.
My race was fine. Well mostly. I intentionally thought I went out hard on the swim, trying to improve my lousy last couple of swims. But I had had to borrow Timothy's goggles, and it turned out they were so scratched that I actually had to take them off to see where the heck I was going! So my swim time stunk again. T1 was ok. I got out on the bike and felt good and started passing people. No one passed me and I liked my power numbers, considering it was the end of a hard week. About 20 W better than I was getting at HyVee. Felt good going up and down the hills. Ultimately, it wasn't a perfect ride or anything, but I was pleased. Got to see Christopher as he was heading back in from the turnaround (before his crash).
T2 was smooth, except for the lady who wanted to have an extended conversation about all the mud on my shoes. I tried to be polite and got out as quick as I could.
Again, the run started out feeling fine. Tami Ritchie passed me on The Big Hill, but there's no shame in that, considering she was first overall woman! Don't know how far she started behind me, but I was really pleased to be able to keep her in my sights the whole race. I finished with a 22:13 5K, so that was pretty successful, given the terrain. I kept wondering where the heck the guys were in my group. I only saw (and passed) one. The good news was that I must have passed most of them in the bike or something, because I came in second! Woo hoo!
And the guy that beat me did so by 7 minutes, so I didn't even feel guilty about not trying harder.
Anyway, I shortly met Christopher and heard his story. Eventually we got ahold of Cynthia again. They had gotten up to a portion of the race and had been talking with a sheriff during the race - and cheering as we went by. (No tow was available at the time.) Eventually, they got a tow, and met us up at the race by about 12:30 or so.
Finally Cynthia and the twins took off with Christopher out to his soccer camp in Omaha, and I began the long ride home. In the end, the race had taken more out of me than I might have thought, so the ride home was a moderately hard 75 mi, but it wasn't too bad. It didn't help that I was getting a cold, either, but hey....other than disasters, how bad a day could it be?
So now the only question is... do we dare go back next year?
So long, Sarah
Ok, I admit I don't get it.
Sarah Palin's announcement that she was going to resign as governor seemed almost incoherent to me. Although I'm hardly the only one to think that, I'm also not her target audience.
I don't think she'll be able to be a commanding presence, even in the Republican primaries, from this position. Is the idea to get out and make some money? I just don't have any insight.
As always on this topic, I still think Andrew Sullivan has as good a perspective as any on SP.
Sarah Palin's announcement that she was going to resign as governor seemed almost incoherent to me. Although I'm hardly the only one to think that, I'm also not her target audience.
I don't think she'll be able to be a commanding presence, even in the Republican primaries, from this position. Is the idea to get out and make some money? I just don't have any insight.
As always on this topic, I still think Andrew Sullivan has as good a perspective as any on SP.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Who turned off the Air Conditioning?
Gosh, it's suddenly hot and humid.
The 85 degrees that it got up to during yesterday's run doesn't sound so bad, but the dew point was about 77. Got entirely soaked and kind of broken down by the end of the run. By the end of the run, it was more like "run" than run.
Here's hoping for some heat acclimatization and some relief.
The 85 degrees that it got up to during yesterday's run doesn't sound so bad, but the dew point was about 77. Got entirely soaked and kind of broken down by the end of the run. By the end of the run, it was more like "run" than run.
Here's hoping for some heat acclimatization and some relief.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
KS 70.3 - A Race Report
The KS 70.3 half-ironman was last weekend, June 14.
To make a long story short, I was very pleased with my race, and I finished in 5:08:19, a half-hour faster than my first effort at the distance last summer. My most important goal had been to get under 5:30, and 5:10 had been my fantasy time. That was based on 45 min for swim plus transitions, 2:45 on the bike (20 mph) and 1:40 on the run (about 7:30 pace).
The weekend started early. I was carpooling with 3 other guys and want to thank Rod Haws for driving. Left the house a little after 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning to meet up with them. We then loaded my bike into Rod's truck and we were off. The drive down was fun - all of us talking with excitement and nervous energy.
We arrived at the site about noon and parked. We learned the hard way how far away we were from the site, walking up to check-in. The line was long, but not ridiculously slow. Met up with some other TRIracers and heard the pre-race talk while we got our packets. Then we had to hike back to the car to get our bikes for drop off at T1. I scored a few brownie points with Rod for remembering to bring electrical tape. Funny all the details to keep track of.
When we approached T1 for bike check in, we learned that they were doing body marking. I was wearing jeans. Fortunately, they were fairly loose, so I thought nothing of it. But then the guy decides he wants to mark my thigh, not my calves. My mother would be pleased to know that I was wearing reasonably clean underwear. I figured we lay it all out on race day, so what else was I going to do...
After returning to the hotel, I started obsessing over the weather. The reports were deteriorating and it looked like there would be rainstorms Sunday morning (race day). The other guys were all casual and drinking beers, and there I was doting over my iPhone, trying to figure out if we'd get to race. I guess we all react differently.
Eventually we met up with other TRIracers, (Nelson, Jass, et al.) and went for dinner at a nice little Italian place in the late afternoon. Nice conversation and a good time to relax. We stopped off at Walmart to get something to eat for breakfast, which was to be at something like 3:30 a.m. the next day.
I spent entirely too long "organizing" my bag back at the hotel, then hung around with TRIracers for a bit, before retiring early. I kept getting just to sleep when my son and wife started texting me. They had gone to Minneapolis for a race the next morning that he was going to do. I was using the iPhone for my alarm clock, so I couldn't turn the sound off. I kept waking up when they sent something and cursing before I replied. Eventually, I just said that I was going (back) to sleep, and so it was.
Race morning -
We got up early and I slapped on the first of 3 layers of sunscreen before getting dressed. I did NOT want to get burned again. I put water into my bottle of Perpetuem and ate the bagels and peanut butter I'd bought the night before. Out of the hotel and off to the race in the dark. We arrived a little before 5:00 a.m. and started the trek to T2. Rain still looked likely, so I left my shoes in a plastic bag. Then the hike in the sunrise to T1. When we got there, it was amazing how crowded the T1 area was. Narrow aisles and tight packing of the bikes. I again practiced getting to my bike from the swim area. Then a couple trips to the bathroom, a last layer of sunscreen and body glide in all the right spots. By this time, it was just a few minutes before the pro start at 6:30 and I was grateful to be nursing a bottle of gatorade I found.
The weather looked like it would hold out, at least for a while.
I was a little surprised by the start, where we waded out to deeper water and went from there. It wasn't a big deal, but I just hadn't been able to see well enough that this was what was happening.
And then we were off. I was very pleased by the simple course: ~900 m out, ~200 across, ~800 back. This made it easy for me to follow and know where I was in the race. I was surprised how physical the swim was. There was quite a bit of jostling, compared to what I'm used to. Aside from this, the swim was smooth for me. As I got out of the water, I glanced at my watch and saw 38 min. That was ok by me. A couple of weeks ago, I'd had a pretty bad swim at an Olympic race, so this "on par" time was ok.
T1 was not great. I knew what aisle my bike was, but I underestimated how far down, and I spent too long looking for it. Then, once I was ready to go, I heard Nelson's voice behind me, yelling me on. That encouragement was great, but it meant I had lost 8 minutes to him on the swim! Maybe my swim wasn't so ok after all, I was thinking. Then some guy stumbled or something in front of me, and I almost fell stopping while running down the narrow aisle with my bike...Nelson right behind me. Nelson started yelling some more - I thought he was yelling at me, but I learned later he was yelling at the other guy and trying to check on me. So much for me not being disoriented...
Finally, I cleared from the bike aisles. After all that mess, I decided to run well past the mount line before mounting. I did, and mounted cleanly. I could hear Nelson still behind me, so it must have been reasonably fast, too, since he was right behind me. The other advantage was that I got a great, smooth bike start.
I had resolved not to consume anything for about 10 minutes or pay much attention to my speed for that time, as well, just taking it a little easy. So when I finally did look down at my computer, I was glad to see I was on target, between 180 and 200 W, and over 20 mph on a little flat. There were guys zooming by, but I decided to stick to the plan: 180 W ave target and up to 190 if I felt really good. All the people passing was disturbing, especially since there were some it looked like I could keep up with, but I stuck with it. I started to consume my Perpetuem on 15 minute intervals.
My only unfortunate bad spot of the race was somewhere in that 30-50 min range into the bike. I didn't feel right, and the power seemed low. But soon enough it was over, and I started counting the miles until halfway. The rolling hills went up and down constantly. Shift, shift, shift, shift. Started coasting when I hit about 35 and sitting up out of aero when under 15 mph and needing 250 W for a hill. Anything to make those relatively high wattage efforts easier and take some pressure of the quads for the day. I tried to keep the max to about 260 W except for an incidental stroke or two.
Something happened for me psychologically at the half way point. Somewhere around there, we turned such that we were going into the wind, which was pretty strong - maybe 20 mph. Suddenly, the course seemed just like home, and I was in a zone. Just kept going. Felt strong but under control. I figured out that my "feeds" would cost me about 1 minute of modest discomfort each time, usually ending in a belch and then a good spot for a while. It was all good.
There was a great psychology as I started catching back a lot of people that had passed me early in the race while going into the wind. Surely, it wasn't all of them, but it was enough. I knew the wind was hurting my speed (like everyone), but it looked like I might bring in 20 mph. More good psychology that made it easy to ramp up the power just a little bit, maybe 10 W. Ran into David Jass along the way and cheered each other a bit. It was a good day.
In the end, the only thing that really bothered me during the bike was some annoyance over a lot of unnecessary drafting. This wasn't just packs from the course being crowded, but blatant drafting. There was a little bit of rain, but it ended and the roads stayed essentially dry.
Soon enough I was coming into T2 and wondering if the rest of the race could possibly stay this easy. I was in a great mood. I saw my watch, and that I had come in under my target time, and that gave me another boost.
I hadn't seen many TRIracers on the bike, partly from focus, partly from limited out and back sections. But I knew I'd start to see them now, because the run was a two loop course with lots of two way traffic.
I ripped the bike computer off (with GPS), and put it in my back pocket. I grabbed a gel to eat at mile 1. Just like the bike, I had resolved to run easy the first few miles and just see how it was before firming up plans. So I did that. Just ran easy and comfortable. Saw Chrissie Wellington, who just looked like she was on a run in the park. Unbelievable. After that, I focused back on myself and saw I was doing 7:30 pace. Incredible.
I did a little math and knew I was in for a sub-5:30 time unless I just crashed. I thought 5:20 was reasonable. I realized that being able to do math was a good sign. (I guess the picture proves I'm still an inveterate heel-striker.)
Started seeing TRIracers and sharing little cheers and high-fives. Tami passed me easily. Oh well! Saw Nelson again for the first time. Always fun - he's a great teammate. I ran by the TRIracer tents in the camp ground and yelled something stupid like "sub-5:30" as I went by. But it was what was on my mind.
The whole psychology was great. My mantra turned into "all day pace". As in I was running a pace I felt like I could run all day. Started ticking off the miles. Everything was good. I didn't stop once. Not for anything.
Right around mile 9.5 or so, the one killer run hill came up again, shortly after the sun had broken through and it had warmed up. That hill did hurt and I realized that the previously "all day pace" would be harder to keep up. Also, I was developing a painful blister under my left arch.
But I did some more math. If I could just keep it up anywhere near 8:00 miles, I was looking at 5:10! And so I did. Miles 11 and 12 were a bit tough, but I knew it was going to be over soon. When I could see the finish, I had enough left to sprint.
5:08:19! Wow!
I got my medal and some water. Eventually an ice bath, then started looking for friends. But that's the subject of another post. Great celebration. Lots of great times. Great day.
To make a long story short, I was very pleased with my race, and I finished in 5:08:19, a half-hour faster than my first effort at the distance last summer. My most important goal had been to get under 5:30, and 5:10 had been my fantasy time. That was based on 45 min for swim plus transitions, 2:45 on the bike (20 mph) and 1:40 on the run (about 7:30 pace).
The weekend started early. I was carpooling with 3 other guys and want to thank Rod Haws for driving. Left the house a little after 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning to meet up with them. We then loaded my bike into Rod's truck and we were off. The drive down was fun - all of us talking with excitement and nervous energy.
We arrived at the site about noon and parked. We learned the hard way how far away we were from the site, walking up to check-in. The line was long, but not ridiculously slow. Met up with some other TRIracers and heard the pre-race talk while we got our packets. Then we had to hike back to the car to get our bikes for drop off at T1. I scored a few brownie points with Rod for remembering to bring electrical tape. Funny all the details to keep track of.
When we approached T1 for bike check in, we learned that they were doing body marking. I was wearing jeans. Fortunately, they were fairly loose, so I thought nothing of it. But then the guy decides he wants to mark my thigh, not my calves. My mother would be pleased to know that I was wearing reasonably clean underwear. I figured we lay it all out on race day, so what else was I going to do...
After returning to the hotel, I started obsessing over the weather. The reports were deteriorating and it looked like there would be rainstorms Sunday morning (race day). The other guys were all casual and drinking beers, and there I was doting over my iPhone, trying to figure out if we'd get to race. I guess we all react differently.
Eventually we met up with other TRIracers, (Nelson, Jass, et al.) and went for dinner at a nice little Italian place in the late afternoon. Nice conversation and a good time to relax. We stopped off at Walmart to get something to eat for breakfast, which was to be at something like 3:30 a.m. the next day.
I spent entirely too long "organizing" my bag back at the hotel, then hung around with TRIracers for a bit, before retiring early. I kept getting just to sleep when my son and wife started texting me. They had gone to Minneapolis for a race the next morning that he was going to do. I was using the iPhone for my alarm clock, so I couldn't turn the sound off. I kept waking up when they sent something and cursing before I replied. Eventually, I just said that I was going (back) to sleep, and so it was.
Race morning -
We got up early and I slapped on the first of 3 layers of sunscreen before getting dressed. I did NOT want to get burned again. I put water into my bottle of Perpetuem and ate the bagels and peanut butter I'd bought the night before. Out of the hotel and off to the race in the dark. We arrived a little before 5:00 a.m. and started the trek to T2. Rain still looked likely, so I left my shoes in a plastic bag. Then the hike in the sunrise to T1. When we got there, it was amazing how crowded the T1 area was. Narrow aisles and tight packing of the bikes. I again practiced getting to my bike from the swim area. Then a couple trips to the bathroom, a last layer of sunscreen and body glide in all the right spots. By this time, it was just a few minutes before the pro start at 6:30 and I was grateful to be nursing a bottle of gatorade I found.
The weather looked like it would hold out, at least for a while.
I was a little surprised by the start, where we waded out to deeper water and went from there. It wasn't a big deal, but I just hadn't been able to see well enough that this was what was happening.
And then we were off. I was very pleased by the simple course: ~900 m out, ~200 across, ~800 back. This made it easy for me to follow and know where I was in the race. I was surprised how physical the swim was. There was quite a bit of jostling, compared to what I'm used to. Aside from this, the swim was smooth for me. As I got out of the water, I glanced at my watch and saw 38 min. That was ok by me. A couple of weeks ago, I'd had a pretty bad swim at an Olympic race, so this "on par" time was ok.
T1 was not great. I knew what aisle my bike was, but I underestimated how far down, and I spent too long looking for it. Then, once I was ready to go, I heard Nelson's voice behind me, yelling me on. That encouragement was great, but it meant I had lost 8 minutes to him on the swim! Maybe my swim wasn't so ok after all, I was thinking. Then some guy stumbled or something in front of me, and I almost fell stopping while running down the narrow aisle with my bike...Nelson right behind me. Nelson started yelling some more - I thought he was yelling at me, but I learned later he was yelling at the other guy and trying to check on me. So much for me not being disoriented...
Finally, I cleared from the bike aisles. After all that mess, I decided to run well past the mount line before mounting. I did, and mounted cleanly. I could hear Nelson still behind me, so it must have been reasonably fast, too, since he was right behind me. The other advantage was that I got a great, smooth bike start.
I had resolved not to consume anything for about 10 minutes or pay much attention to my speed for that time, as well, just taking it a little easy. So when I finally did look down at my computer, I was glad to see I was on target, between 180 and 200 W, and over 20 mph on a little flat. There were guys zooming by, but I decided to stick to the plan: 180 W ave target and up to 190 if I felt really good. All the people passing was disturbing, especially since there were some it looked like I could keep up with, but I stuck with it. I started to consume my Perpetuem on 15 minute intervals.
My only unfortunate bad spot of the race was somewhere in that 30-50 min range into the bike. I didn't feel right, and the power seemed low. But soon enough it was over, and I started counting the miles until halfway. The rolling hills went up and down constantly. Shift, shift, shift, shift. Started coasting when I hit about 35 and sitting up out of aero when under 15 mph and needing 250 W for a hill. Anything to make those relatively high wattage efforts easier and take some pressure of the quads for the day. I tried to keep the max to about 260 W except for an incidental stroke or two.
Something happened for me psychologically at the half way point. Somewhere around there, we turned such that we were going into the wind, which was pretty strong - maybe 20 mph. Suddenly, the course seemed just like home, and I was in a zone. Just kept going. Felt strong but under control. I figured out that my "feeds" would cost me about 1 minute of modest discomfort each time, usually ending in a belch and then a good spot for a while. It was all good.
There was a great psychology as I started catching back a lot of people that had passed me early in the race while going into the wind. Surely, it wasn't all of them, but it was enough. I knew the wind was hurting my speed (like everyone), but it looked like I might bring in 20 mph. More good psychology that made it easy to ramp up the power just a little bit, maybe 10 W. Ran into David Jass along the way and cheered each other a bit. It was a good day.
In the end, the only thing that really bothered me during the bike was some annoyance over a lot of unnecessary drafting. This wasn't just packs from the course being crowded, but blatant drafting. There was a little bit of rain, but it ended and the roads stayed essentially dry.
Soon enough I was coming into T2 and wondering if the rest of the race could possibly stay this easy. I was in a great mood. I saw my watch, and that I had come in under my target time, and that gave me another boost.
I hadn't seen many TRIracers on the bike, partly from focus, partly from limited out and back sections. But I knew I'd start to see them now, because the run was a two loop course with lots of two way traffic.
I ripped the bike computer off (with GPS), and put it in my back pocket. I grabbed a gel to eat at mile 1. Just like the bike, I had resolved to run easy the first few miles and just see how it was before firming up plans. So I did that. Just ran easy and comfortable. Saw Chrissie Wellington, who just looked like she was on a run in the park. Unbelievable. After that, I focused back on myself and saw I was doing 7:30 pace. Incredible.
I did a little math and knew I was in for a sub-5:30 time unless I just crashed. I thought 5:20 was reasonable. I realized that being able to do math was a good sign. (I guess the picture proves I'm still an inveterate heel-striker.)
Started seeing TRIracers and sharing little cheers and high-fives. Tami passed me easily. Oh well! Saw Nelson again for the first time. Always fun - he's a great teammate. I ran by the TRIracer tents in the camp ground and yelled something stupid like "sub-5:30" as I went by. But it was what was on my mind.
The whole psychology was great. My mantra turned into "all day pace". As in I was running a pace I felt like I could run all day. Started ticking off the miles. Everything was good. I didn't stop once. Not for anything.
Right around mile 9.5 or so, the one killer run hill came up again, shortly after the sun had broken through and it had warmed up. That hill did hurt and I realized that the previously "all day pace" would be harder to keep up. Also, I was developing a painful blister under my left arch.
But I did some more math. If I could just keep it up anywhere near 8:00 miles, I was looking at 5:10! And so I did. Miles 11 and 12 were a bit tough, but I knew it was going to be over soon. When I could see the finish, I had enough left to sprint.
5:08:19! Wow!
I got my medal and some water. Eventually an ice bath, then started looking for friends. But that's the subject of another post. Great celebration. Lots of great times. Great day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
