I was supposed to do a recap of the B&A Trail Marathon from a few weeks ago and ... shocker ... I never got around to it. Now that I've also done the Rock & Roll Half, I guess I can go ahead and recap both.
According to my coach, maintaining a solid run base through the winter is key to having a solid marathon at an IM (see # 3). We got started too late for me to actually do 2-3 fulls but I signed up for 2 and was definitely going to do 1 of them with the potential for the second.
The original plan was to go out and complete this race at less than "E Pace" so I could turn around and complete another full 2 weeks later at RnR. According to Scott (and the testing that we've done), my "E Pace" for this race was 3:45:00 (8:34s). I thought he was nuts; turns out he's not so crazy. More on that Later. My goal for this race was simply to beat 3:54:45 which was my first marathon time. Most importantly, I wanted to put together a solid race and negative split the second half.
It was a very weird morning as the temperature was at the in gray zone between being too cold for just a shirt but too warm for sleeves. Either way it was going to be uncomfortable at some point. I settled on a short sleeve shirt with arm warmers and thin gloves. I choose ... poorly. The gloves proved to be too thin and my hands got so cold that my fingers curled into a fist and I could barely open my hands at aid stations to grab water cups. My shirt was no match for the head wind that I ran into for 13 miles either. Oh yeah, the elastic in the arm warmers chafed the crap out of my arm and I didn't get to wear my new Newton's. Enough whining.
Besides being cold, the race itself went really well. I set out on the first half and probably looked like a spaz as I looked down at my garmin every 15 seconds or so checking on my pace and heart rate. All was going well until mile 11 when I started to feel a little loopy. Not good considering I wasn't even half way home yet. I hadn't eaten enough the night before and a little light on nutrition so far that morning. In half of a knee jerk reaction I took in a gel, half a pack of shot blocks, and 2 cups of gatorade at the next aid station. This is a lot of calories at once and had the potential to backfire on me. Luckily its just I needed. I saw Scott as I passed through the half way point. He ran with me for a minute, made sure I was ok and gave new marching orders: Keep it steady till 18 or 20 and then pick up the pace.
Miles 13 to 21 were much of the same. The course was still boring and my head remained on a swivel between looking ahead and looking at my watch. I had picked up the pace by a few seconds per mile and at this point was hovering right around E Pace. With 5 to go I decided it was time to go so i picked up the pace. Turns out I had some juice left and put up a very solid 5 miles (around 7:30s) to finish up.
I wasn't sure exactly where I was with respect to the actual finish because around mile 4 my Garmin stopped lining up with the mile markers. To make things worse I completely missed the 26 mile mark and thought I had a little bit longer until I turned the last corner and saw the finish.
Final time: 3:45:47 and 9th in my Age Group and a PR! I don't care if it was a small race. That was my first top 10 and I'll gladly take it.
Extremely happy with the time and the fact that I set a plan and I stuck to it.
To cap off the day, I did what any self respecting marathoner would do and met with Val and Bret for bottomless mimosas.
Next up was the Rock and Roll Half which by far the more light-hearted and fun day of the two.
This was supposed to be the second full marathon which Scott and I ultimately decided not to do. This worked out great as my running buddy was also running the half so we got to run together.
The day didn't exactly start off as planned since I didn't make it to the race expo in time to pick up my bib and had to get to the race extra early on Saturday to make sure I could run. The Rock and Roll people actually have their ish together and getting my bib went very smoothly. Except for standing in line only to realize that Emily had my ID. With bib acquired it was time bag check and find our corral. Bag check was easy and I was greeted with a smile. Em knew the volunteers at my window so we stood there and chatted for a minute then decided we really needed to go.
Off to the starting corral where we run into some other people and even picked up another runner. Once again, this run was supposed to be nice and easy; keep the legs moving and not work too hard. The course started off down hill so the pace for the first few miles was really fast. "Money in the bank" for later so when we hit the small hills on the course we could slow down a little and not worry about overall time. The half mary course is very nice and winds through some cool neighborhoods in NW and NE. We just cruised on through and the three of us ran strong all the way. One minor issue again at mile 11 where I started to feel a little loopy. I need to figure out what this is and keep it from happening again - bigger breakfast, more calories earlier in the race ... I don't know, but i'll figure it out.
We finish the race and all is well. Final time: 1:48:16 for the 13.3 miles that my Garmin said I ran. This was technically a PR also and again, very happy with the race with respect to strategy and pacing. However, it gets tough sometimes to hold back when you are getting passed and you know you can go faster. Just gotta keep reminding myself that there is a bigger prize waiting for me.
Post race: you know it ... brunch and alcohol. This time it was mango margaritas at Banana Cafe. Absolutely great afternoon :).
Two preseason runs complete and happy with both. The next time I line up to race will be the Rumpus Olympic Tri on April 14th. Really excited to finally kick off the season.
"Put up with the discomfort and the pain, keep going and never give up, and understand that if you’re moving up, then you’re always getting closer."
Monday, March 19, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
2 Months in … 5 to go
Another month has come and gone. It’s amazing how fast all of this is going by. Part of the long time between posts is 1) I’m still weirded out by this blogging thing, but know I’ll be happy that I did it in the end and 2) let’s face it, by the end of each day I’m officially smoked and I just want to go to bed. But here it is; my recap for February.
This month was much of the same as January. We continued to focus base building and easy running. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. That doesn’t mean this month was any less interesting. I got yelled at for not taking an off day for 3 weeks, had an overall bad week, and my attempt at scheduling mandatory time to “hangout and relax” suddenly became negotiable.
After coming back from my annual 5 day trip to Snowshoe I felt pretty lazy from not doing a scheduled workout so I hit the ground running when I got back. All workouts were completed (save a yoga session here and there) and if it was on the schedule I did it. By the time I got to that third week I was feeling it. Kind of laboring through intervals, needing an extra hour of sleep, etc. That fact came up in conversation over some beer and my running buddy and Voice of Reason proceeded to give me the stink eye and yelled at me and told me I needed to rest. She might of even raised her hand like she was gonna slap me (details fuzzy, we drank a lot that night). Conveniently she left for vacation and our Monday run was scrapped so I decided to stay home and put my feet up. I can’t believe how much better I felt that Tuesday after not doing anything roughly 36 hours. Lessoned learned = there is a still a long way to go, no need to burn out this early.
I also had my first bad week. I didn’t do either yoga workout, didn’t do the optional run on Monday, and I went out and had a little too much fun Friday night and missed my Saturday morning spin session. Capped that off by trying to add the Saturday workout to my Sunday swim and run and ended up mailing it in after an hour. Needless to say I wasn’t happy. But my coach and VoR both told me to chill out and get back on track the next week which is exactly what I did.
Ummm, yeah …. So much for mandatory “play time.” I signed up for skeeball on Thursday nights with the best of intentions and I made it out for the first 4 weeks. But after that I scheduled my workouts a little differently and just didn’t feel like I had the time to go have a few beers. This doesn’t mean I haven’t gone out and enjoyed the occasional beer, it’s just that I’ve learned that I steal that time when I can and it definitely cannot be scheduled. The biggest difficulty here is that my “free to have a drink” time doesn’t line up with anyone else’s. While I’m going to bed early on Friday and Saturday for morning workouts, everyone I know is just getting ready to go out. By the time Sunday comes around and I can hangout because Monday is an off day, no one is in the mood to do anything.
Lastly, I got to do my first race as a member of Team FeXY. We had 3 relay teams and a few individuals head up to Greenbelt, MD for the GW Birthday Marathon. Knowing I had a marathon coming up I elected to run 2 of the 3 relay legs and this ridiculously hilly and boring course. But the best part was hanging out with everyone waiting to run and then having everyone still waiting in the relay exchange until everyone passed before heading over to the finish to cheer everyone on there. And of course, wings and beer afterwards.
So what next? My ATP says that the real fun is about to begin. Time to start the build phases where volume and intensity increases. Less time for socializing, more time for sleeping. I do get to race soon and because I’m so late with this post I’ve already run the B&A Trail Marathon (race report forthcoming).
March will be fun …. More fun. Really looking forward to it.
This month was much of the same as January. We continued to focus base building and easy running. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. That doesn’t mean this month was any less interesting. I got yelled at for not taking an off day for 3 weeks, had an overall bad week, and my attempt at scheduling mandatory time to “hangout and relax” suddenly became negotiable.
After coming back from my annual 5 day trip to Snowshoe I felt pretty lazy from not doing a scheduled workout so I hit the ground running when I got back. All workouts were completed (save a yoga session here and there) and if it was on the schedule I did it. By the time I got to that third week I was feeling it. Kind of laboring through intervals, needing an extra hour of sleep, etc. That fact came up in conversation over some beer and my running buddy and Voice of Reason proceeded to give me the stink eye and yelled at me and told me I needed to rest. She might of even raised her hand like she was gonna slap me (details fuzzy, we drank a lot that night). Conveniently she left for vacation and our Monday run was scrapped so I decided to stay home and put my feet up. I can’t believe how much better I felt that Tuesday after not doing anything roughly 36 hours. Lessoned learned = there is a still a long way to go, no need to burn out this early.
I also had my first bad week. I didn’t do either yoga workout, didn’t do the optional run on Monday, and I went out and had a little too much fun Friday night and missed my Saturday morning spin session. Capped that off by trying to add the Saturday workout to my Sunday swim and run and ended up mailing it in after an hour. Needless to say I wasn’t happy. But my coach and VoR both told me to chill out and get back on track the next week which is exactly what I did.
Ummm, yeah …. So much for mandatory “play time.” I signed up for skeeball on Thursday nights with the best of intentions and I made it out for the first 4 weeks. But after that I scheduled my workouts a little differently and just didn’t feel like I had the time to go have a few beers. This doesn’t mean I haven’t gone out and enjoyed the occasional beer, it’s just that I’ve learned that I steal that time when I can and it definitely cannot be scheduled. The biggest difficulty here is that my “free to have a drink” time doesn’t line up with anyone else’s. While I’m going to bed early on Friday and Saturday for morning workouts, everyone I know is just getting ready to go out. By the time Sunday comes around and I can hangout because Monday is an off day, no one is in the mood to do anything.
Lastly, I got to do my first race as a member of Team FeXY. We had 3 relay teams and a few individuals head up to Greenbelt, MD for the GW Birthday Marathon. Knowing I had a marathon coming up I elected to run 2 of the 3 relay legs and this ridiculously hilly and boring course. But the best part was hanging out with everyone waiting to run and then having everyone still waiting in the relay exchange until everyone passed before heading over to the finish to cheer everyone on there. And of course, wings and beer afterwards.
So what next? My ATP says that the real fun is about to begin. Time to start the build phases where volume and intensity increases. Less time for socializing, more time for sleeping. I do get to race soon and because I’m so late with this post I’ve already run the B&A Trail Marathon (race report forthcoming).
March will be fun …. More fun. Really looking forward to it.
Monday, January 30, 2012
One Month In ...
Ok ... its the end of January and I'm done with my first month of training. I had originally planned on posting about the work I did this month: total number of hours, total distances, etc. Then I saw this video: Sh*t Triathletes Say (which is absolutely hilarious). So instead of recreating the video I'll go ahead and talk about how much of a learning experience the last month has been (and yes fun too). By the way, is this carbon?
The biggest difference between this month and any other training I've ever done is the focus on drill work. If I'm in the pool, half of the distance is on drills and most of that work is the drills that I suck at the most. Sooner or later it will click. Until then, i'm reminded just how much Micheal Phelps and I don't have in common. If I'm on the bike, I'm working on pedal efficiency and being fluid through the entire revolution. All of this is pretty foreign to me but there is huge value in it. Whoever said work smarter not harder was definitely onto something. Yes yes, the hard is coming but for now I get to pretend to be smart. Have you gone gluten free?
The next thing I've learned is how important not having to do this alone really is. Two hour trainer sessions on Saturday morning would suck pretty bad by yourself, but when there are 11 other people showing up to do the same thing (as well as teammates in other garages doing the same exact workout), it stops being a workout and becomes a social gathering. When we're done we go inside and eat breakfast and drink coffee. Group runs? Same thing. My favorite so far was my first headlamp run at the =PR= store at the Reston Town Center. I text my coach and ask if we are still running to which he replied "yes." I felt it was better to not ask my prepared follow up question of "but its 45 degrees and raining, are you sure?" Figured it would be best to keep my mouth shut, show up, and run. Turned out to be a really awesome run. The accountability is amazing, bottom line. I hear Crowie trains with this stuff.
Finally ... BALANCE. This is hard. I need to work on this the most, especially as the hours start to build. Figuring out what time of day to do each workout, am I eating enough on certain days, am I sleeping enough (the answer to this question is always no), can I move this here and do that tomorrow? This will be the never ending battle. To ensure that there is at least some non-IM time I let some friends talk me into playing Skeeball on Thursday nights and just this Tuesday had an awesome night out at a Country Bar. However, line dancing after a threshold spin session was kinda brutal. But the rules of engagement for these nights out are simple: no talking or thinking about IMLP and have a few beers. I totally bonked during the run.
"There are two types of pain in this world: the temporary pain of discipline or the permanent pain of regret."
One month down ... 5.5 to go
The biggest difference between this month and any other training I've ever done is the focus on drill work. If I'm in the pool, half of the distance is on drills and most of that work is the drills that I suck at the most. Sooner or later it will click. Until then, i'm reminded just how much Micheal Phelps and I don't have in common. If I'm on the bike, I'm working on pedal efficiency and being fluid through the entire revolution. All of this is pretty foreign to me but there is huge value in it. Whoever said work smarter not harder was definitely onto something. Yes yes, the hard is coming but for now I get to pretend to be smart. Have you gone gluten free?
The next thing I've learned is how important not having to do this alone really is. Two hour trainer sessions on Saturday morning would suck pretty bad by yourself, but when there are 11 other people showing up to do the same thing (as well as teammates in other garages doing the same exact workout), it stops being a workout and becomes a social gathering. When we're done we go inside and eat breakfast and drink coffee. Group runs? Same thing. My favorite so far was my first headlamp run at the =PR= store at the Reston Town Center. I text my coach and ask if we are still running to which he replied "yes." I felt it was better to not ask my prepared follow up question of "but its 45 degrees and raining, are you sure?" Figured it would be best to keep my mouth shut, show up, and run. Turned out to be a really awesome run. The accountability is amazing, bottom line. I hear Crowie trains with this stuff.
Finally ... BALANCE. This is hard. I need to work on this the most, especially as the hours start to build. Figuring out what time of day to do each workout, am I eating enough on certain days, am I sleeping enough (the answer to this question is always no), can I move this here and do that tomorrow? This will be the never ending battle. To ensure that there is at least some non-IM time I let some friends talk me into playing Skeeball on Thursday nights and just this Tuesday had an awesome night out at a Country Bar. However, line dancing after a threshold spin session was kinda brutal. But the rules of engagement for these nights out are simple: no talking or thinking about IMLP and have a few beers. I totally bonked during the run.
"There are two types of pain in this world: the temporary pain of discipline or the permanent pain of regret."
One month down ... 5.5 to go
Friday, January 6, 2012
Going “All In”
At some point, there comes a moment when what you originally decided was acceptable is, well, no longer acceptable. When I signed up for IMLP my first thought was, “I’m going to complete an Ironman.” That quickly didn’t seem like enough so I through out a number that seemed like a stretch, 12 hours. I was happy with this because my fastest 70.3 to date is 6:16:00 so in order to hit 12 hours I’d have to improve enough to not only be faster than that my current best HIM time, but do it for twice as long. I was ok with this. Anyone who finishes an IM period, much less in 12 hours, has every reason to be ecstatic about what they just accomplished.
And then it happened ...
One night I’m having a few beers and catching up with a dear friend who I hadn’t seen in a long time. We are catching up on all kinds of stuff, her racing, my racing, life in general, and a lot of laughing and poking fun at each other for the routes we had chosen the last few years. So we get on the topic of me doing IMLP and she looks at me and asks what my goal time is. I say 12 hours and without missing a beat she says, “ok, now what do you really want to finish in?” I was confused so she clarified. “Twelve hours is what you tell people, but deep down what do you secretly want to hit?” Until this moment I’d never really thought about it. But the wheels started to turn and all of a sudden 12 hours was no longer acceptable. If I’m going to do this, I’m going all in. I’m going to do everything in my power to put myself in the best position to be as fast as I can.
Enter Team FeXY. I had seen the name at races but never really thought much of it. This team was also brought up during the aforementioned dinner as well as the thought that it would be a good fit for me. So I call up a fraternity brother who races for them and get to talking. They have a good group of racers who focus on IM and a group of really great coaches. So a phone call led to an email which led to a happy hour with my soon to be coach which led to a team happy hour and me getting the thumbs up to join the team.
This all came together so fast and just how I think everything should be, EASY. I couldn’t be happier with the decision and I’m excited for the race season and to race for Team FeXY. The best part is the team has 20 other members competing in Lake Placid. I won't be going at this alone. Weekly trainer sessions and track workouts will all be other teammates working towards the same goal.
So after a relatively short off season (November and December), some baseline fitness testing, and some goal setting (full set of goals to be revealed after the season) it is now time to get to work. Weekly training schedules are already being provided and the race schedule is set.
Jan 6 – Feb 3: FeXY Coaching Swim Clinic
Mar 6: B&A Trail Marathon
Mar 17: Rock and Roll Marathon DC
Apr 14/15: Rumpuss Double
May 10: White Lake 70.3
May 18-20: American Triple T (Ohio)
Jun ~14-~17: Lake Placid Training Camp
Jul 7: General Smallwood Olympic
July 22: IMLP
So there it is, my next 7 months.
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it."
And then it happened ...
One night I’m having a few beers and catching up with a dear friend who I hadn’t seen in a long time. We are catching up on all kinds of stuff, her racing, my racing, life in general, and a lot of laughing and poking fun at each other for the routes we had chosen the last few years. So we get on the topic of me doing IMLP and she looks at me and asks what my goal time is. I say 12 hours and without missing a beat she says, “ok, now what do you really want to finish in?” I was confused so she clarified. “Twelve hours is what you tell people, but deep down what do you secretly want to hit?” Until this moment I’d never really thought about it. But the wheels started to turn and all of a sudden 12 hours was no longer acceptable. If I’m going to do this, I’m going all in. I’m going to do everything in my power to put myself in the best position to be as fast as I can.
Enter Team FeXY. I had seen the name at races but never really thought much of it. This team was also brought up during the aforementioned dinner as well as the thought that it would be a good fit for me. So I call up a fraternity brother who races for them and get to talking. They have a good group of racers who focus on IM and a group of really great coaches. So a phone call led to an email which led to a happy hour with my soon to be coach which led to a team happy hour and me getting the thumbs up to join the team.
This all came together so fast and just how I think everything should be, EASY. I couldn’t be happier with the decision and I’m excited for the race season and to race for Team FeXY. The best part is the team has 20 other members competing in Lake Placid. I won't be going at this alone. Weekly trainer sessions and track workouts will all be other teammates working towards the same goal.
So after a relatively short off season (November and December), some baseline fitness testing, and some goal setting (full set of goals to be revealed after the season) it is now time to get to work. Weekly training schedules are already being provided and the race schedule is set.
Jan 6 – Feb 3: FeXY Coaching Swim Clinic
Mar 6: B&A Trail Marathon
Mar 17: Rock and Roll Marathon DC
Apr 14/15: Rumpuss Double
May 10: White Lake 70.3
May 18-20: American Triple T (Ohio)
Jun ~14-~17: Lake Placid Training Camp
Jul 7: General Smallwood Olympic
July 22: IMLP
So there it is, my next 7 months.
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it."
Friday, October 7, 2011
Off Season Training -- Following the Mdot
The off season has officially kicked off and IRONMAN is becoming very real. The countdown is less than 10 months … 289 days to be exact, but who’s counting.
First order of business for the off season was to get a trainer. Lifting and stretching are two things that I don’t do well or don’t do it all and there is no way I’d survive the training schedule that’s waiting for me if I didn’t take this stuff seriously now. I got really lucky getting paired up with Greg Leo of Bryan White Personal Training (www.bw-pt.com …. Shameless promo, your welcome and I’ll take a free session at anytime). Thanks to a guest appearance by Greg at one of Gina’s training sessions, I got the inside scoop that he’s also an IRONMAN and got in contact with him right away. Really good choice. On his street cred, he’s posted a 5:15 half ironman time and finished 3rd in his age group at his last race. I don’t care who you are, those are results.
I just finished week 3 and have been killed 3 times now. 1 hour full body circuit workouts are brutal. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure Greg takes pride in watching me collapse after an exercise. The best part about it is that Greg has, like many others who finish 140.6, the Mdot logo tattooed on the back of his left calf. During workouts, its a constant reminder of just how much i want a Mdot of my own. So I follow the dot around the gym and do as I'm told.
We also did measurements last week which I will post in order to monitor progress, but spoiler alert, I’m not happy with them right now considering the terrible eating and increased beer consumption the last few months. I’ll get the eating squared away soon but traveling every weekend and football season really doesn’t help.
I’m stalling because I don’t want to type these in but here they are …. official measurements at the beginning of off-season workouts:
Weight: 162
Body Fat %: 11.5
Chest: 39”
Waist: 31”
Push-ups in 60 seconds: 46
Squats in 60 seconds: 55
So, BF% definitely needs to come down …. I need to get in the 8% range which, as Greg pointed out, will only “happen in the kitchen.” No amount of ass kicking will drop those few percentage points. Bottom line is I need to eat smarter and drink less beer. But its Oktoberfest season!!! DAMN!
That is all for now … still planning on posting about “embracing the suck” at GORUCK Challenge – Wilmington.
First order of business for the off season was to get a trainer. Lifting and stretching are two things that I don’t do well or don’t do it all and there is no way I’d survive the training schedule that’s waiting for me if I didn’t take this stuff seriously now. I got really lucky getting paired up with Greg Leo of Bryan White Personal Training (www.bw-pt.com …. Shameless promo, your welcome and I’ll take a free session at anytime). Thanks to a guest appearance by Greg at one of Gina’s training sessions, I got the inside scoop that he’s also an IRONMAN and got in contact with him right away. Really good choice. On his street cred, he’s posted a 5:15 half ironman time and finished 3rd in his age group at his last race. I don’t care who you are, those are results.
I just finished week 3 and have been killed 3 times now. 1 hour full body circuit workouts are brutal. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure Greg takes pride in watching me collapse after an exercise. The best part about it is that Greg has, like many others who finish 140.6, the Mdot logo tattooed on the back of his left calf. During workouts, its a constant reminder of just how much i want a Mdot of my own. So I follow the dot around the gym and do as I'm told.
We also did measurements last week which I will post in order to monitor progress, but spoiler alert, I’m not happy with them right now considering the terrible eating and increased beer consumption the last few months. I’ll get the eating squared away soon but traveling every weekend and football season really doesn’t help.
I’m stalling because I don’t want to type these in but here they are …. official measurements at the beginning of off-season workouts:
Weight: 162
Body Fat %: 11.5
Chest: 39”
Waist: 31”
Push-ups in 60 seconds: 46
Squats in 60 seconds: 55
So, BF% definitely needs to come down …. I need to get in the 8% range which, as Greg pointed out, will only “happen in the kitchen.” No amount of ass kicking will drop those few percentage points. Bottom line is I need to eat smarter and drink less beer. But its Oktoberfest season!!! DAMN!
That is all for now … still planning on posting about “embracing the suck” at GORUCK Challenge – Wilmington.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Catching up on Races
Let’s face it. Doing a full race report for my last 3 races is just not going to happen. So I’m going to knock out the highlights instead.
Eagleman 70.3
Yes this race happened before I signed up for Lake Placid, but its still an important. Leading up to this race really sucked and as usual, I decided to do dumb stuff the week of. The next time I decide to go to Dewey Beach for 4 days before a 70 mile race, I hereby grant permission to anyone within striking distance to punch me in the face. Just because it was fun to sit on the back deck sipping on some Woodford Reserve and smoking a Black Label Partagas, doesn’t make it a good idea.
SWIM: 57:02 - MISERABLE, AWFUL, TERRIBLE swim … although when you only get in the pool twice, what should I really have expected
T1: 1:37 – non wetsuit swim and first race with leaving my shoes clipped into the pedals … no complaints here
BIKE: 3:02:50 – Goal time was 3 hours so I’m not really going to complain about this one. Although I really tailed off at the end and since the course was flat I was pretty smoked for the run
T2: 2:30 – again, not going to complain
RUN: 2:12:52 – slightly better than last year’s time but my quads were trashed
Lowlights
• Didn’t really have a structured training plan and got pretty lazy
• Swim could not have gone worse, bottom line, If I want to improve, I have to swim more
• Wore new tri shorts (huge no-no) which led to serious chafing … simply stupid
• Lack of bricks really hurt once I got to the run
Highlights
• Good transitions
• Barely missed my goal time and was 30 minutes faster than last year
• Overall improvement from last years Vineman was 16 minutes. I went back and forth on whether or not I should be happy about this and after getting yelled at repeatedly, I’ve been beaten into submission and accept the fact that this was a good race
Luray International
I continued my streak of stupid decisions prior to a race. This time I decided to go to a Redskins pre-season game instead of staying in and getting ready. I got maybe 3.5 hours of sleep before it was time to get up, pack, and hit the road.
SWIM: 39:32 – Swim felt a little better but still not anywhere close to where I’d like to be
T1: 1:33 – Same as Eagleman, non wetsuit swim and shoes clipped into the pedals … no complaints here
BIKE: 1:29:15 – Course was pretty hilly and there was a stretch of false flat that was absolutely demoralizing
T2: 1:01 – again, not going to complain
RUN: 54:20 – Not my best 10K and more bricks would have helped (I think I’m sensing a pattern)
No real lowlights or highlights. I showed up tired and that had an impact on performance but overall I had a pretty solid race.
Nations Triathlon
Not gonna lie, was pretty upset when the swim was cancelled because of all the rain during the week leading up to the race. I almost mailed it in because without the swim it wasn’t a triathlon and frankly I was just bitter. Ended up racing and really glad I did. This was my first race with my Cervelo P2 and it was ridiculous.
SWIM: HAHAHA … checked out the Potomac when I was dropping off my bike, it was disgusting. And learning that the water was moving at 125,000 cubic feet per second or something like that, suddenly didn’t mind not swimming
T1: 2:08 – Really weird time trial start letting 15 people run into the transition area to get their bike every 15 seconds. Total NUTROLL.
BIKE: 1:06:50 – Absolutely CRUSHED the bike on my new P2. That bike is stupid fast. I wanted to average 20 mph for the bike and ended up averaging 22.3.
T2: 1:58 – I think I’m getting the hang of T2
RUN: 45:40 – Gotta love PR-ing a run after a 40K bike. Hooking up with a fellow DC Tri Clubber also helped.
Lowlights
• Time trial start was not my most graceful moment. I ran into a guy who was running out of our row because I wasn’t paying attention and then I slipped in the mud while trying get out of transition.
Highlights
• Best results I’ve had from a competitive stand point. Finished 84 of 362 (23.2%) for my age group and 590 of 2427 (24.3%) for all men. I’ve never come close to breaking the top half of my age group so to finish in the top 25% was incredible.
• Great way to end the season and ready to focus on off season training to get ready for Lake Placid
Next up ... GORUCK Challenge post
Eagleman 70.3
Yes this race happened before I signed up for Lake Placid, but its still an important. Leading up to this race really sucked and as usual, I decided to do dumb stuff the week of. The next time I decide to go to Dewey Beach for 4 days before a 70 mile race, I hereby grant permission to anyone within striking distance to punch me in the face. Just because it was fun to sit on the back deck sipping on some Woodford Reserve and smoking a Black Label Partagas, doesn’t make it a good idea.
SWIM: 57:02 - MISERABLE, AWFUL, TERRIBLE swim … although when you only get in the pool twice, what should I really have expected
T1: 1:37 – non wetsuit swim and first race with leaving my shoes clipped into the pedals … no complaints here
BIKE: 3:02:50 – Goal time was 3 hours so I’m not really going to complain about this one. Although I really tailed off at the end and since the course was flat I was pretty smoked for the run
T2: 2:30 – again, not going to complain
RUN: 2:12:52 – slightly better than last year’s time but my quads were trashed
Lowlights
• Didn’t really have a structured training plan and got pretty lazy
• Swim could not have gone worse, bottom line, If I want to improve, I have to swim more
• Wore new tri shorts (huge no-no) which led to serious chafing … simply stupid
• Lack of bricks really hurt once I got to the run
Highlights
• Good transitions
• Barely missed my goal time and was 30 minutes faster than last year
• Overall improvement from last years Vineman was 16 minutes. I went back and forth on whether or not I should be happy about this and after getting yelled at repeatedly, I’ve been beaten into submission and accept the fact that this was a good race
Luray International
I continued my streak of stupid decisions prior to a race. This time I decided to go to a Redskins pre-season game instead of staying in and getting ready. I got maybe 3.5 hours of sleep before it was time to get up, pack, and hit the road.
SWIM: 39:32 – Swim felt a little better but still not anywhere close to where I’d like to be
T1: 1:33 – Same as Eagleman, non wetsuit swim and shoes clipped into the pedals … no complaints here
BIKE: 1:29:15 – Course was pretty hilly and there was a stretch of false flat that was absolutely demoralizing
T2: 1:01 – again, not going to complain
RUN: 54:20 – Not my best 10K and more bricks would have helped (I think I’m sensing a pattern)
No real lowlights or highlights. I showed up tired and that had an impact on performance but overall I had a pretty solid race.
Nations Triathlon
Not gonna lie, was pretty upset when the swim was cancelled because of all the rain during the week leading up to the race. I almost mailed it in because without the swim it wasn’t a triathlon and frankly I was just bitter. Ended up racing and really glad I did. This was my first race with my Cervelo P2 and it was ridiculous.
SWIM: HAHAHA … checked out the Potomac when I was dropping off my bike, it was disgusting. And learning that the water was moving at 125,000 cubic feet per second or something like that, suddenly didn’t mind not swimming
T1: 2:08 – Really weird time trial start letting 15 people run into the transition area to get their bike every 15 seconds. Total NUTROLL.
BIKE: 1:06:50 – Absolutely CRUSHED the bike on my new P2. That bike is stupid fast. I wanted to average 20 mph for the bike and ended up averaging 22.3.
T2: 1:58 – I think I’m getting the hang of T2
RUN: 45:40 – Gotta love PR-ing a run after a 40K bike. Hooking up with a fellow DC Tri Clubber also helped.
Lowlights
• Time trial start was not my most graceful moment. I ran into a guy who was running out of our row because I wasn’t paying attention and then I slipped in the mud while trying get out of transition.
Highlights
• Best results I’ve had from a competitive stand point. Finished 84 of 362 (23.2%) for my age group and 590 of 2427 (24.3%) for all men. I’ve never come close to breaking the top half of my age group so to finish in the top 25% was incredible.
• Great way to end the season and ready to focus on off season training to get ready for Lake Placid
Next up ... GORUCK Challenge post
Friday, July 29, 2011
The Road to Lake Placid Starts Here
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
This is very strange territory for me. I've never been into this blogging thing but for some reason I feel compelled to capture my thoughts over the next year as I prepare to become an IRONMAN. So here we go. I'm registered for and will compete in / finish IRONMAN LAKE PLACID on June 22, 2012.
Since I registered for Lake Placid (IMLP) I've been scouring the interweb for race reports and reviews and everything else I can find to learn more about this specific race. What I have so far is that regardless of how each person's race turned out, they absolutely loved everything about the experience; how it affected them, the race itself, the town and all of its support, simply
everything. Even from the guy who wrecked his bike at mile 45 and ruptured his hip flexor, yet still continued on and finished the race. You wanna know what motivates me to do this? This is it. Knowing that I will face these same challenges (hopefully not a ruptured hip flexor). But seriously, over the course of 140.6 miles, ANYTHING can happen. Knowing that I can and will overcome anything that the course throws at me is actually a rather reassuring feeling. Is this going to be easy ... Shit no .... is it going to be an awesome ride that finishes at the Olympic Speedskating Oval ... you bet your ass. So everyone thats coming along for the ride ... buckle up.
Break Break
At work today I was digging through a drawer and found my first AT&T employee badge from March of 06 and it got me thinking about where I was, where I'm, and where I want to be. So here it is.
There where I was: Cherry Blossom 5K, April 2007. This was my first race and I finished in 29 minutes seriously thinking my heart was going to explode. I also weighed in at a cool 190 (yes yes I've been told I wore it well)
There where I am: 4 years later I've summited Mt Whitney, ran 2 marathons (soon to be 3) and completed 2 Half Ironman's.
There where I want to be: This one is pretty obvious
So what now: full blown training won't kick off till February or March but I'll spend the winter maintaining a base level of fitness. That won't be very interesting so i'll use that time to post more on the why of all of this. For now .....
"You cannot know who you are or what you are capable of until you face adversity. You cannot know the strength of the steel you hold until it strikes something solid. And you cannot know what kind of a man you are until you look hardship and difficulty in the eye, face it, and rise to it’s challenge. Without that test, you just don’t know."
In the meantime I've scheduled a butt load of races for the rest of this year and I'm just going to have fun. Here's the lineup for the next few months
Aug 13th: Luray Triathlon (5150)
Sept 11: Nation's Triathlon (5150)
Sept 17: Philly Rock n Roll Half Marathon
Sept 26-27: Go Ruck Challenge Wilmington, NC
Oct 15: Baltimore Marathon Relay
Oct 23: Tough Mudder Virginia
Oct 30: Marine Corps Marathon
Nov 20: Fountain Head 5 Miler
Dec 3: 15K having to do with chocolate or something
Next up ... I'm actually going to do a race report on Eagleman ... even though it was 2 months ago
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