Summer 2009 Race Reports

It's been a long time since I've reported out on my race progress for the summer so here it goes.

Culpeper Sprint - 8/2/09 | 1:33:21 | 10 Place AG | 99 OA

Culpeper was a maintenance race for me between Musselman 70.3 and Timberman 70.3. The race day was cold and rainy and the swim was a no wetsuit allowed race. Overall my race performance was fairly average with exception to the swim. I think between not having the extra speed from a wetsuit and going off course a bit it caused me to add an additional 3 minutes to my swim time. My bike has been steadily improving while my run has been drastically improving! I'm happy with my direction...

Race Details: 750m Swim - 18:02 | T1 - 1:20 | 16mi Bike - 49:47 | T2 - 1:22 | 5k Run - 22:51

Timberman 70.3 - 8/23/09 | 5:49:08 | 61st AG | 723 OA

Timberman was my 3rd and final 70.3 of the season and boy what a race! The race was located on beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hamphire and not only was this my A-race, this was also my A vacation! The race was an official Ironman 70.3 and it was definitely noticeable. There was 2000 racers so it was a larger race! I had a strong swim in a crystal clear lake while my bike was continuing to improve race over race. My run on the other hand was just below average for this race as I had posted a 15 minute quicker time at Musselman on the half marathon. Again, I am still happy with my direction but improvement is always my focus!

Race Details: 1.2mi Swim - 39:08 | T1 - 2:50 | 56mi Bike - 2:47:05 | 13.1mi Run - 2:17:27

Nations Tri - 9/13/09 | 2:32:41 | 80th AG | 536 OA

This was my second year racing in the Nations triathlon. The race this year was double in size to that of 2008 with 6000 registered and just under 4000 racing and finishing. My age group alone has 400 in it! My swim was slightly above what I was shooting for but I made up for that on the bike and run! The day was perfect with slight cloud cover, temps in the 70's and practically no humidity. This was drastically different from last year when temps were in the upper 90's with high humidity. My goal for this race was 2:30 or better and although that really meant I would have liked to hit 2:25 or better, I was still happy with my race results.

Race Details: 1.5k Swim - 33:49 | 25mi Bike - 1:08:10 | 10k Run - 46:56

Dc Tri Club Time Trial #1 - 9/19/09 | 16mi bike - 42:30 (22.5 mph)

General Smallwood Sprint Relay - 9/20/09 | 1:30:07 | 1st Place

This was a great race! Jess and our friend Zach are both giving a go at doing their first triathlon at Giant Acorn and I wanted them to get some exposure to a race as a relay before jumping into their own individual race. Not only did they get some great exposure to the sport but they felt what it's like to take first place! The competitive bug was planted in them! I'm hoping for some great things from thehm at Giant Acorn!

Ragnar 200 Mile Relay - 9/25/09 to 9/26/09 | 29 hrs | 6th Place

I participated in the 2009 Ragnar Relay with 11 other co-workers and friends. The race was a relay foot race where each of us had to run 3 legs over the course of the 200 miles. We started at 9am on 9/25 and ended just a little after 2pm on 9/26. For my legs I had some doosey's! My legs included a 6.2 mile very hard route which brought me up over 800 feet in elevation rise just outside Cuumberand, W.Va, a 8.4 mile very hard route with also took me up about 900 feet in elevation in the pitch black of night over the Boonsboro Mountain pass in Maryland and last but not least a 4.2 mile moderate route passing through Frederick at the but crack of dawn. In total I ran 19 miles in 2:29:00 for an average pace of 7:50 min/mile. Not bad for some brutal legs! The race overall was awesome (minus course logistic issues due to poor race organization and some rain that hit up Saturday after). Looking forward to the next adventure!

Musselman 70.3

Last weekend was my second half Ironman of the season, Musselman, in my hometown of Geneva, NY which is tucked away in the center of the Fingerlakes region of New York. An area known for it's great white wines and picturesque rolling hills.

The race itself is in it's 6th year in Geneva and what a great event both for the athletes and the town. The half ironman is held on Sunday while a very popular sprint distance race is held on Saturday. Both have turned larger pools of competitors both new and aged year over year since it began. This year there were about 800 racers in each race for a total of 1600 for the weekend. Not bad! The race itself features a very pleasant swim in the clean Seneca Lake, a bike ride like no other as you roll up and down some easy rollers through wine country with vista's of two magnificent lakes on either side of you and last but not least a historic run takes you through the city of Geneva, through Hobart & William Smith colleges and finally finished back at the State Park. What a race!

You might wonder about the name of the race, Musselman. A play on words as the lake, in the recent decade, has fallen victim to a breed of zebra mussels that were brought in from the St. Lawrence seaway and now live all over the rocks throughout the lake. We are talking in the millions if not billions! These little guys keep the lake clean yet they are like razor blades all of the bottom making the swim an un-nerving activity when in shallow water. All that aside, the race director has done a good job playing up these little creatures and everyone can say they are truly musselmen after they've conquered this course!

Ok on to my race report. I set out with 3 things in my mind for this race. One this was a B race for me, two I wanted to have fun and enjoy myself and three I wanted to turn a time in the 5:30 to 5:45 range. Well as you read on I think I can safely say I conquered all of these goals or came very close to them!

The race morning started at 5AM for me. It was so nice being 5 minutes from the course sleeping ing my old bed at my parents house. I got a solid nights sleep with almost 9 hours of good sleep. I got up and followed my routine to a T. Had my usual race morning breakfast of a bagel with peanut butter, granola/oatmeal and a banana. I stretched out a bit and began drinking all sorts of water and Gatorade and mother nature even cooperated with me so I didn't have to use the nasty port-o-potty at race site. I absolutely hate those things and avoid them like the plague! So everything was going great! I got to the race site at 5:45 and wouldn't you know it that I got a parking spot right next to the transition area...awesome! I unloaded, put some air in my bike tires and made my way to markings, to pick up my chip and then on to set up my T-area. All was great...

1.2 Mile Swim 38:08 1:48 pace

So I can confidently say my swim is heading in the right direction, I shaved off over a minute in my 1.2 mile swim time since the last 70.3. The swim for Musselman was an in water start in shallow, sandy water. The swim course was a rectangle, counterclockwise to the shore for about 1000 meters and then the remaining 800 meters was in a canal with a slight current to our backs. The swim got off to an awkward start with almost all of the wave not hearing the horn go off. So ti was a free for all for about 50 meters with everyone diving, kicking, jumping, you name it for some open water to call their own. I finally got into my groove around 200 meters in and locked in my pace. Sighting was a little different for me because all the buoys were on the left hand side and I've been used to having them on the right for most races. All in all I was happy with my swim and look forward to seeing more improvement at Timberman in a month.

T1 2:11

56 Mile Bike 3:01:30 18.6 mph

So the bike leg cost me 15 minutes sadly enough. I started out the morning with a bad feeling about the bike leg for the day. I've been riding on the original tubes on my Orbea since I bought it and that was almost 2 years ago. No flats to date! Well that streak ended. Apparently while I was out on the swim my family informed me that there was an explosion from the transition area and that a tech crew frantically searched the bikes to find what was a flat tire on my bike. The flat was found...at mile 5 into the course by me! I came out of the transition area and kept feeling the bike getting side ways on me. I thought to myself that maybe I over inflated or maybe it was my back brake which had been previously rubbing the day before. Distracted by my adrenaline I pushed on and found it odd that I was putting in a ton of power but not getting my normal return with speed. Finally my dumb-ass decided to hop off the bike and take a look. Lone behold there was my tire, the back tire non the less, flat as a pancake and my heart just dropped into my guy. My hopes of a 2:45 finish time on the bike were slipping away second by second.

I got off the bike in a shit-storm and probably dropped a few F-bombs here and there. But then after about 5 seconds of that I told myself to calm down and I'll get through this. Luckily for me I choose a great place to stop. I was right across the road from an emergency stop and a paramedic came over to helped me hold up the bike while I covered myself in grease trying to pry my back tired away from the frame. Finally after about 3-4 minutes of messing around I got the tire off. By this time A good majority of the racer had gone by me. I zoned them out and after about 12 minutes of messing around I got my tire back on and ti was off to the races. I decided that my game time strategy of conservative biking was long out the window. From there on out I dropped to my absolute lowest gear and grinded out a steady 23 - 25 mph. I even sustained around 30+ on some straight aways. I must have passed 100's of riders who were shocked to see me come blasting by. I tore up the two big hills on the course and was leveling riders and not taking numbers. I was pissed!

As I approached the last 5 miles I quickly did the math in my head and realized I could at least hit 3 hrs. So I dug deep and road out the last 5 miles at time trial pace down hill and so I got 3 hrs and change!

T2 2:10

13.1 Mile Run 2:04:45 9:31 min/mile

My goal for the run was to finish it in 2 hrs or better. I was close. I came out of T2 feeling amped and surprisingly my legs felt fresh even after the bike. I had a mile by mile game plan for the race and I was determined to stick to it as close as possible. I started out at 7:30 min/mile pace and for 3 miles it was flat then as I began to hit some hills as the course went away from the lake I dropped down to around 8:30 pace and the original plan was to keep it there until I hit mile 8 which was the peak of all climbing for the day. I ended up dropping down the pace between mile 5 and 8 to around 9:00 - 9:30 and then from mile 8 and on I picked it back up to 8:30 pace to finish it off. All in all I was happy with my run and look forward to improving for the next half!

Finish Time 5:48:44 Overall 330/701 Age Group 29/55

Whitelake 70.3 RR

So mark it down in the books... I've completed my first Ironman 70.3 in Whitelake, NC on 5/9/09 as part of the North Carolina Triathlon Series (NTCS). Before I recap this race I have a few weeks of training and racing which have lead up to this race that I feel a need to reflect on.

First let's start off 2 weeks before the race...I finally got in a long distance training ride by participating in the "End Hunger in Calvert County Charity Bike Ride". Jason and I opted to do the metric century (62 mile) ride. I felt strong through most of the ride except for the last 10 miles. I hit the bonk-point when we start to hit some of the hills towards the end (maybe around mile 50) but I battled through and finished the 62 miles in around 3.5 hours. Here's a photo of my sorry tired ass crossing the finish line.

Ok after this ride and with less than 2 weeks until the big race I focused primarily on my swim then run then bike in that priority order. I knew that I was going to taper for at least a week leading into 5/9 so I continued to pack on the volume in the pool. I cranked out 7000 yards which included a 1.5 mile workout the week before taper and felt great at the end of week. Overall I have felt very happy and confident in my swim over the last few months (not sure what happened at Bumpass) and at this point was looking forward to the 1.2 mile swim.

My last long run before I tapered was a 10 miler. I opted to recruit my good friend and once Ironman to come with me on this run. We hit up the streets of DC and had a solid run averaging around 7.55min/mile. During our run I got a little advice from my buddy who is no stranger to long distance contests. As we were running he told me that during the half I should talk to my body parts and do check-in's with them. Simply put about every 20 minutes or so I should shout out "hey foot you still kick-in it alright down there?" and so on until I hit all major body parts. Silly...yes but the point is that you take the time to focus on a single body part at a time to better understand if you need to stop and recalibrate before moving along. I took this advice very well and plan to use it in my future races!

With only one week left what better thing to do than participate in Muddy Buddy! On 5/2 my training "coach" and I competed in Muddy Buddy. If you're not familiar check out www.muddybuddy.com. I won't go into details but let it be know that Jason and I took first place in our age group! Here are a few photos to prove it!

This leads me up to Whitelake 70.3. This was a very exciting race for me. It was my first half ironman, it was a fast course and my favorite fan was in attendance!

1.2 Mile Swim 39.24 1:51/100yds 2:02/100m

The swim was an in water start in what I would call a perfect lake. I honestly felt that the lake was cleaner than the pool I train at! I was very excited to start the race and pumped up to start swimming. The race was just barely wetsuit legal at a comfortable 75 degrees! My wave started and I put myself towards the middle of the group. As soon as the horn went off I immediately got into a steady rhythm and locked in at a very sustainable and steady pace. About 500 yards into the race I started to realize that I was passing people on the swim!!! This is new to me, I have not passed anyone on the swim yet! I finished up the swim and couldn't help but look at my watch when I exited the water and it read 38:30! My goal for the swim was 40:00. I was so motivated by this accomplishment that I kicked my butt into high gear and sprinted for transition, almost loosing my footing as I turned the corner from the dock.

T1 2:30

I spent a little more time in T1 for this race because I wanted to ensure I had all my nutrition and hydration for the 56 miles of biking to come. I had a sweet spot in the transition area so it was very easy to find my bike!

56 Mile Bike 2:48:11 20mph

The bike course was flat and fast! I set out at a steady pace of around 23mph for the first 15 miles and then leveled off at a comfortable 20mph. My goal for the bike was 3:00:00 so I'm very happy with my time. At this point in the race the day was starting to heat up so I was heavily focused on hydration. I grabbed a full bottle of water at each aid station and it was gone by the next station and I nutrition at exactly every 45 minutes. I was determined to not get cramps on the run like I have in other races. The course itself was sort of boring, where I was left staring at miles and miles of pine trees along long stretches of road. It was very exciting to see the transition area and my girlfriend cheering me on after 56 miles!

T2 2:03

When I got off my bike in T2 that's when I realized exactly how hot the day had become. At this point it must have been pushing mid 90's in the shade! I took a minute in T2 to stretch, drink water and ensure I have my socks/shoes on correctly before I set out on the run.

13.1 Mile Run 2:50:57 12:58min/mile

Ouch! What a horrible run I had for this race. When I left T2 I thought my race goal time of 5:40 was in the bag. Mother nature and my body were both working hard agianst me to achieve this goal! The course was an out and back around the parameter of the lake. Most of it was on the main road with no shade and temperatures reaching well over 100 in the sun. I set out and cramped up almost immediatly. My run consisted of walk a mile, jog a mile, run a mile with 5 minute breaks at each rest stop. It was horrible at best. I was so happy to see the finish line at the end.

In summary I have some work to do before Musselman in July. Overall I felt great on the swim and bike but just need to work more on the run. I think a healthy dose of brick workouts is just what the doctor ordered!

Overall Race Time 6:23:04 26/30 Age Group

Rumpass in Bumpass Results...

Last Sunday I had my first triathlon of the 2009 season...the Rumpass in Bumpass. This was race number 3 of the VTS race circuit and was a Sprint distance race, 750m swim, 12mile bike and 5K run. The results from this race were nothing stellar for me and actually left me quite frustrated. I raced this same course last October in the Giant Acorn race and finished 4 minutes faster during that race. I think in part this was caused by 2 factors...one I was training through this race and had ridden 50 miles the day before and second the temperature of the water slowed me down extensively.

750 Meter Swim | 17:38 | 2:21/100m

My swim results did not reflect the training I have been doing for swimming. I was very frustrated with this portion of the race. Cold water and cramps caused me to finish considerably slower than I was planning. I think I could have finished the swim in 15 mins however I had to stop twice during the swim for about 30 seconds each time to regain myself. I also felt very restricted by the full body wet suit and wish I had my sleeveless suit on instead. Oh well the biggest take away from this swim is to focus hard on 1.2 miles and put this race behind me!

T1 | 2:03

I should get this time down around 1:30. I ended up going shirtless on the swim under my wetsuit and therefore spent unnecessary extra time in T1.

12 Mile Bike | 36:50 | 19.5mph

I felt fairly consistent on the bike. Although not my strongest showing, I feel I did quite well considering I had biked 50 miles the day before at a moderate effort. The bike portion of the race started off slow as I worked my way through the transition from swim. I almost forgot what it feels like to go from the water right to the bike...like I am going to explode! Within the first few minutes on the bike I began to settle into my race pace at around 20mph. I cranked down a Shot Gel and hammered away. During the bike I was only passed 3 times by what I like to call barn burners...those riders who come out of the gates way too fast and loose all their energy by mile 4! I quickly recouped my position on 2 of the 3 who passed me and wasn't passed again for the rest of the bike! The only thing I will note on the bike course was that I almost bit it hard and I mean hard! I was coming around the turn at about mile 6 and I decided to stay tucked in the aero position. I took the corner very wide and realized as I looked down that the 1 inch of tire between me and the road was half over the edge of a 2 foot deep pothole. Let's just say if I was another half an inch to the right I would have been picking pieces of my bike out of the woods. Close call!!

T2 | 1:13

T2 was ok. I finally remembered to put on my race number! There's a first time for everything! I always seem to forget my race number for the run...

5K Run | 24:03 | 7:45 min/mile

The run felt fine to me. I've been training at around a 7:30 to 7:45 pace so I was generally happy with the results from my run. The only major issue I had during the run was that I became dehydrated. I didn't nutrition and drink enough on the bike and paid for it dearly on the run. I had to stop at the turn around and take a good swig of water. That being said, I felt that I finished strong and am ready for the 13.1 miles at Whitelake in 2 weeks!

Overall Result | 1:21:45 | 19/28 Age Group | 108/274 Overall (Link)

Let the 2009 season begin...

It's March and that means 2 things to me...nice weather and racing! The racing season is finally here and I can hardly contain myself. This past weekend I completed my first race of the season, the Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach which was also my first long distance race ever. Overall I am moderately happy with the results but I am after all a triathlete and will never completely be happy with any one result. I completed the 13.1 miles in 1hr, 44minute (see my official time card from Active.com below).

My average pace for the race was just under 8 min/mile at 7:56/mile. Not bad but after looking back at my splits I can see where I dropped the ball on my training. My mile by mile splits were:

Mile 1: 7:44
Mile 2: 7:22
Mile 3: 7:32
Mile 4: 7:46
Mile 5: 7:54
Mile 6: 8:01
Mile 7: 8:00
Mile 8: 8:03
Mile 9: 8:13
Mile 10: 8:16
Mile 11: 8:31
Mile 12: 8:51
Mile 13 (and .1): 8:18

It's obvious that I need to work on my mile 8 to 13 tempo and lock in on a race pace that I can maintain for all 13.1 miles. During the race I noticed that I never got heavily winded especially for the first 10K which I maintained an average 7:30/mile pace. My weakest link and the limiting factor in my ability to maintain a 7:30 pace for the entire race was my right leg. My ankle and knee were killing me for miles 8 - 13. I need to do more strength training and tend to my IT band with stretching and "rolling" and really focus on building both muscle strength and flexibility in my legs.

Overall I would be happy as a clam if I can rock out a 1:44 in my upcoming half ironman (May 9). But before that race I've got the Bumpass VTS sprint tri to look forward to (April 19th) and Muddy Buddy (May 2). So beween now and then I am on a mission to ramp up biking miles, work on strengthening my run and continue to fine tune my swimming.

Training woes...

The last few months have been an up and down roller coaster for me with training. My off season plan has left me focusing on running and swimming primarily with little to no biking. I have steadily increased my run volume week over week leading up to my first race, the Shamrock Half Marathon which is next weekend. I peaked my running two weeks ago with a week volume of 22 miles and a long run of 11 miles. I'm not sure how this is going to net out with my race day performance but my goal for the race is 1:45 which would net me at an 8 min/mile pace. I've been training at between 8:00 to 8:30 for my longer runs and between 7:30 to 7:45 for my shorter runs. The chart below depicts my volume and rate of volume increase week over week since Jan 1. I've used the advise of my "coach" Jason and have stuck to a plan he suggested to me which allowed me to increase volume roughly 10% week over week. My primary focus during this training plan was on longer runs. Even if I missed a shorter run here or there I made sure that each week I had one 8+ mile run on the books.

The one thing you might notice in this chart is that there is a large gap between 3/3 and 3/10. Last week I spent the week in Ireland and made the decision to not worry about running. Well this decision was not hard to make at all except when I returned I came down with a nasty head cold and now I am very worried that I might loose my legs and endurance for next weekends race. I hope to get out this weekend for a slow pace long run to the tune of 8 - 10 miles in order to get my legs beneath me again.

Beyond running, my swimming had been steadily increasing and improving prior to leaving for Ireland and getting sick. I hope to continue this effort once I am feeling 100% again and my biking efforts will begin to quickly elevate to 100+ mile weeks! Here is a year-to-date volume recap of my training efforts for the off season:

Swim: 36,000 yards (20.5 miles)
Bike: 75 miles
Run: 142 miles

Week 3: Numbers...

Not writing anything this week but want to continue to post my training numbers...

Swim: 4300 meters
Bike: 10 miles
Run: 17.6 miles

Week 2: Training in the Nation's Capitol

The second week of my 2009 training was a challenge yet ended with taking part in history. I live and train in Washington, DC and this week the city had a few historical milestones. This week DC recorded one of the coldest week's in over 10 years and kicked off the 2009 inauguration weekend/week and the swearing in of Barack Obama. Both of these milestones put a little strain on my training but with 1o more weeks until my first race I'm feeling ok about cheating on my training a little bit this past week.

This week I focused primarily on running again. I'm really focusing hard on developing a steady and solid base leading up to the Shamrock half marathon in March. I spent 3 days inside on the treadmill and battled the elements one night for an outdoor run. That night just happened to be 3rd coldest day of the record cold week at a balmy 17 degrees!

Despite the cold I thought I had a really good run. I strayed a little bit from my plan and ran about 5 miles versus the 3 I was suppose to run. I figure I was already outdoors and freezing that I might as well put in a few extra miles. The cold really brought out some of my weaknesses that I need to address. My right knee has been hurting me from time to time on longer runs and my long run this week made it hurt even more. I'm thinking it's part flexibility and part that I need new running shoes. Hopefully those new running shoes will happen this week!

Outside of running I have been slacking on swimming and biking. I'm not so worried about the biking as that's my strong sport but I need to continue to step it up in the pool. Just last Sunday my roommate (who I referred to as coach since he is a seasoned veteran with triathlon) video taped my swim technique as I swam laps. I'm attaching those video here. My biggest area for improvement is to focus on not bringing my hands across my body through the top part of my stroke. I also need to strengthen my lung capacity so I can keep my head in the water through more strokes.

Ok that is all for this week. I've got training to tend to and history to be a part of. Just yesterday I spent the entire day on the National Mall observing the We Are One concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and thinking about how I can't wait for summer to be running on the Mall again for my workouts. Maybe I'll even run into (soon to be) President Obama on one of my runs!

Here is a quick summary of my volume for Week 2:

Swim: 1800 meters
Bike: 22 miles
Run: 14.2 miles

I'm finally starting a training blog!

This week I decided to buckle down and do two things...start a blog which has been on my to-do list for months and begin my 2009 training plan. I'm excited about both! This year will mark my second year as a triathlete and I am being no stranger to the motto "all or nothing". 2009 has store many great challenges in store for me including my first half marathon, 3 half ironman's, at least 2 centuries and a crack at the Virginia Tri Series. And I thought last year was tough! My plans are all in place and I am looking forward to following them. I've been lucky to have the help of a good friend who is a long time runner helping me draft the running portion of this plan. I'll post the plan and my progress against it in next week's posting. In the meantime let's look at a recap of my first week...

This past week was an eye opener for me especially when it comes to running. My plan is calling for 5 days of running per week which includes one long run on the weekend. This week was too cold and rainy to get outside so I unfortunately had to opt for the treadmill at the gym...something that I absolutely hate. Besides the obvious reasons of waiting in line to get one and the fact that a treadmill just can never replicate the good ole outdoors...I straight up hate treadmills! Needless to say I started my first week hitting the ground running (no pun intended). Up until now I have never trained for anything longer than a 10K run so jumping up to greater volume is going to be a challenge for me not to mention time consuming.

Physically this week started to remind me that the body straight up gets worn down by higher volume training. On my long run on Sunday I started to feel a faint pain in my right knee around mile 5. I'm thinking it's most likely attributed to the fact that I need some new running shoes and will hopefully take care of that this upcoming week. I also started to feel the same pain in my right knee during my interval training session. I think next week I will focus on some additional stretching and roller exercises to loosen up my leg muscles.

Outside of running I managed to sneak in 3 swim and 2 biking sessions. My swimming has been slowly improving and I have been focusing a lot on pull buoy workouts to get my stroke just right. On the biking front nothing too special I just can't for for warmer weather so I can get outdoors.

A quick summary of week includes:

Swim: 3600 meters
Bike: 1hr spinning (~18 miles)
Run: 18 miles