My “A” race, part II

As I thought about this while doing an easy spin during lunch, I figured I’d better clarify something, even if just for myself.

Yes, I am going to the US Nationals this year.  You have to qualify for this race, and the standards aren’t THAT easy, so most everyone going will be pretty fast.  I’ve looked at the results from last year and most of the people in my age bracket are VERY fast!  No matter how many times I’ve reviewed last year’s times, they haven’t changed and no one got any slower.

For this race I’m going back to my old ways of not racing the other people, just racing against myself.  I’ve set a personal goal time of 3-8 minutes faster than my best to date.  While that time would be awesome at most races I’ve done, it will likely land me in the bottom third of my bracket.

It doesn’t sound very impressive when I think of finishing in the bottom third, and yet I’m excited about the possibility.  It came up in a conversation with one of the professional triathletes I’ve recently come in contact with (sorry Hillary B. and Jessica J., I can’t remember which of you it was), and she asked me if I was a glass half empty or half full type of person.

I don’t want to speculate on how I look at things in general, but in this case I am definitely a glass half full person.  I don’t care if I finish 40th, 50th or 60th, because on that day it is a snapshot of where I stand amongst the best in the nation at that distance, and whatever my place it will be awesome for me!

I will also have a great fan base there to cheer me on which always helps.  I want to cross the finish line with a smile, get pictures with everybody and enjoy the moment because I don’t know if I will ever make it back again!

Watch out Burlington, here I come!

Getting ready for my ‘A’ race

At the beginning of this season I sat down with coach and outlined my goals for the year:  To qualify for and race in the USAT National Championships.  I qualified with the first race of the season.  Everything since then has been about getting ready for the race, my ‘A’ race.

I try not to think about my ‘A’ races too much as I end up putting too much pressure on myself.  Fortunately I’ve been busy with racing and camp which didn’t leave me much time.  Unfortunately USAT has been bombarding me with almost daily emails reminding me about “The Big Day”.  That makes it a little tougher to not get stressed about it!

So, where do I stand?  I haven’t raced in a while, and in my last race the swim didn’t quite go as planned.  I’ve got a final tune-up race in about 10 days.  It is a sprint distance, so the purpose is to shake out the cobwebs and any lingering concerns over my last race.  The catch is that 10 days puts us in early August and it should be a pretty hot day.  Oh well, it should only last an hour or so!

I did have an excellent camp earlier this month.  I gained a lot of fitness strength and knowledge, but at what I hope isn’t too much of a cost.  While doing the running drills I tweaked my hamstring, and it is still bothering me a bit.  I’ve scaled back my training this week and will continue to do so until I can’t feel it anymore.  Right now it only bothers me when I run uphill or at a faster pace.  Obviously I will be avoiding both of those for a while!  I’m not sure if I will do this next race if it is still bothering me as it just isn’t worth it in the grand scheme of things.

I had my first encounter this weekend with cramping in over two years.  The first time it happened I didn’t know what it was.  This time I still didn’t realize it until it was all over, mostly because I’ve never had cramps in my quads before.  Thinking back to the first time it happened (after my first Olympic distance triathlon) and how my legs felt this time it is now obvious to me what was going on.  Fortunately both times it was when I was through with my race/run as I’m not sure what I would do if that happened in a race.  I do know this:  I’m going to work hard to try and prevent it from happening again!

After a day off yesterday and a very easy week last week (other than a solid weekend) I feel very rested, almost like I haven’t been training.  I’m ready to get back at it, gently.  I do need to get in some good quality workouts before the big race, mostly for my head, to remind myself of what I am capable of doing.

Let’s see how this week goes and how the hamstring feels!

Rockies Peak 2011

I’ve just returned from a ten day trip to Colorado, which included a four day camp called Rockies Peak.  I planned the trip to arrive several days early, which would help my body acclimate to the altitude.  While I suspect that it helped some, it wasn’t long enough to overcome all of the challenges of training at over a mile high.

I was able to get in one decent ride before camp, a simple out and back on the road between Boulder and Golden, and it was a good indicator of what was to come:  a long slow uphill followed by a long fast downhill.  Living in Houston it is difficult to get in any hill work, but I’ve done a fair amount of threshold training on the trainer which is supposed to be the same thing.  The biggest difference I saw was the length of the hill.  I found myself putting out maximal effort 20+ minutes, not my normal 5.  When combined with the lack of oxygen, the road out was very difficult and had my breathing maxed out of quite a while.

I won’t bore you with the details from all the workouts.  Here is the gist:  I sucked wind for all of them, especially the swim.  I hadn’t really thought much about swimming at altitude, though I’m not sure why since I’m always breathing hard at home when I swim.  While I was finally able to find some sort of a groove swimming, it was a long time before I could go further than 50-100 yards without needing to catch my breath.

I did finally get some quality swim assistance and coach pointed out a couple of areas on which I need to focus.  I sort of knew about one of them and have been working on it on my own, but obviously haven’t been successful at solving that problem.  I got pointers from several coaches and can’t wait to put them to work!

I toyed with doing an Olympic distance race the day after arriving and am very grateful that my coach told me no.  I suspect they would have had to rescue me from the swim 100 yards from the shore!  Instead I volunteered and met Miranda Carfrae, the reigning Ironman world champion who was there to cheer for “her man” Tim O’Donnell.  I should have paid more attention as Julie Dibens was also out there cheering!

Yes, the training was intense.  It’s been two days since camp ended (both of which I spent driving) and my legs are still sore and tired.  I probably need to get out for a little jog or bike ride to shake them out.

The best part of camp wasn’t the actual training (though I loved it all), it was the interaction with the high caliber coaches.  There are many camps out there, and what set this one apart was the coaches.  If you follow the sport at all you know Kelly Williamson, Hillary Biscay, and Richie Cunningham.  It was awesome to see that they are all just like every other triathlete I’ve met:  nice and more than willing to help out and pass on their knowledge.

We discussed things such as hydration and nutrition, sweat rates, pacing, stride lengths, swim drafting, dolphining for a shore entry, race strategies, which races to run, equipment and numerous other topics.

Practicing my dolphining start.	This is where we started our first bike ride, and ended up somewhere up in those hills.	Day 2 of the bike rides, preparing for our hill time trials. That was an intense 11 minutes, and most of the people were even faster!

The million dollar question is whether I will come back again next year. The only hesitation I have is due to the cost of camp and being away from home for 10 days and the long drive. That aside, I’m in 100%. However, I think I would invest in a different cassette, better suited for riding in the mountains!  It is worth pointing out that I was the second oldest triathlete present, the only one coming from sea level, and one of only a couple that came from a very flat area (is Indy flat?), which definitely put me at a disadvantage.    Next year I’d want to bring along some other Houston people so I wouldn’t suffer so much by myself!

Here are more pictures if you are interested:  Rockies Peak Camp pictures.

Thoughts before camp

Sorry, but I’m a bit behind in my blog due to work and travel constraints.  I’ve got a few things I’d like to say before I kick off Rockies Peak – the training camp in Colorado Springs.

I have been in Colorado for a few days to try and get used to the altitude a bit before camp.  I haven’t been able to get in all the training that I was supposed to, but what I did do was pretty good.  Both my runs and bike rides have been on roads that are much  hillier than anything I’ve done before.  I was certainly struggling for air a number of times, but at least my legs didn’t complain too much.  I’m not going to be here long enough to fully acclimatize, so I may never know if my wind problems were from the altitude or from the extra stress from the hills.

I wish I lived here!  Riding a bike on the roads is common in most areas, and while some drivers may not like it, it does seem safer than riding in Houston.

It takes a LOT of stuff to come here for 10 days when some of the time is for training, camping in the mountains, and everyday clothes!

Despite assurances from coach that this isn’t supposed to be a smash-fest, I’m a little concerned that the other coaches aren’t on the same page.  That said, I’m really looking forward to working with some other coaches, and having time to question them all about a variety of topics.  I jotted down my questions before leaving; I have a page and a half!

I wonder what the age and quality spread is going to be at camp?  Well, I leave to check in to camp in about 5 minutes, so I won’t have long to wait.  Tonight is check in, an optional swim, and them introductory dinner.  Tomorrow we start things off with an early morning swim, a bike ride, and then a running clinic.

Despite being nervous, I’m pretty psyched about the swimming, as I will finally be able to get some help with my swim!

Wish me luck!  I’ll try to post some updates at least every other day.