Smoking those runs!

I don’t want to pat myself on the back, but to say my runs are really going well would be an understatement.  I continue to push myself to the upper limits of what coach requests, and am finding them somewhat easy!  Yet the biggest challenge is still mental.

I’ve left for my last several hard runs thinking to myself “this is my plan, but can I actually do it?”  I’m not sure why I’m questioning myself before I even start, considering how well I’m running.  Perhaps it is because when I think about how fast I plan to run, it is really fast!

Sunday I went for a run out in Magnolia, where I train on my bike because of the hills.  It was cold, and I started off very slowly.  I didn’t think I had a prayer of running my plan, but my legs warmed up nicely and after the first mile I’d climbed the first hill and was holding my plan.  Not only were the hills a non-factor (other than my inexperience showing in my inability to hold a steady pace), but I exceeded my pre-run plan and still had more left.

I was excited about that run, until I got up this morning and my legs were a bit sluggish.  Knowing I had another hard run and bike workout scheduled for today I was a bit concerned.  Last night I’d made a plan, a fairly aggressive one, more aggressive than what I think coach scheduled.  When I woke up I once again didn’t think I had a chance of holding pace.  I even adjusted the plan downward a bit to be safe.

The schedule called for 2x3 miles, with descending pace every 1/2 mile.  Once I got on the treadmill everything changed.  I used the first 1/2 mile to continue warming up as it was cold outside, and then jumped up the pace to catch up with my original plan.  I felt great the first 3 miles and had no problem with the faster paces.  After a quick bathroom break and chat with a fellow triathlete about swimming, I fired up the treadmill again.  This 3 miles was faster than the first and I had no problem.  In fact, I had to talk myself out of really dropping the pace for the last 1/2 mile.

I am so excited about my running I can hardly stand it.  This is definitely the way to get ready for the triathlon season – with a strong base of running.  Assuming this continues and I can avoid injuries, I am going to smoke some races!

Here is my bold prediction:  I will podium my next race (a 5K), and again my first triathlon.  Hold on racing community, I am on fire!!

I took 5th, which is almost 1st!

Ok, so it’s an inside joke, and skips to the end of the story.  Let me start from the start.

This past Sunday was the USA Fit half marathon in Sugar Land TX.  As I stated before I wasn’t real excited about either the race or how well I would do.  Things didn’t get any better race morning, when we got to the race site only to find it windy, in the 50’s, and raining.

Because of the weather contestants were having difficulties getting to the start.  This caused first a 15 minute, then 45 minute delay.  Of course this information wasn’t dispersed until after I’d done my pre-race warm up, bathroom break, and GU consumption.  Freezing to death in shorts and a T-shirt, I went back to the car to wait for the starting gun.

Sitting in the car, shaking, and watching the rain fall, I had serious reservations about running the race.  I thought for sure I would catch a cold, and it just didn’t look that fun.  In the end it was the finisher T-shirt that got me out of the car and to the starting line.  Who would have thought that a $15 shirt would get me out in that horrible weather for a couple of hours of misery!  I also decided that it was raining too hard to take my iPhone with me for music.  Since I always run with music I wasn’t sure how I would occupy my mind for 2 hours.

Standing at the starting line I knew I had to go to the bathroom again, but the lines were too long and moving too slowly.  Since this was just a “training race”, I figured I would stop at the first open port-a-potty, hopefully at mile 1.

I hit mile #1 right at the pace I’d hoped for, stopped for the potty, and continued on my way.  I didn’t think my pit stop had lasted that long (although I REALLY had to go!), but at mile #2 I found I’d lost a full minute.  I ignored the lost time and continued running at my planned pace.  There were people with watches at each mile marker counting off the average pace (total time/miles run) and I slowly made up time.

At mile #6 I picked up the pace a bit as scheduled.  The plan was to drop 30 seconds per mile, but since I was already running faster than I’d planned for the first six miles (to make up the deficit) it was only about 15 seconds.  I noticed the quicker pace, but was still within my comfort zone and wasn’t hurting much.

The spectators that were wonderful early on really disappeared around mile #9.  The racers had also thinned.  I hadn’t really noticed myself passing people so I assumed that we had just naturally spread out.  I caught up to one runner that had left his friend and passed me miles ago.  I’d pass him, then he would sprint past me.  We ran like that for a while.  At one point I remembered an article I’d read about how it would come to this during the race and I would have to decide if I wanted it more than he.  Finally, after running together stride for stride, he dropped back.  I heard him talking behind me with his friend, the one he’d left behind, about having one more sprint left in him.  I was determined not to let him beat me!

At mile 11 I kicked it into my final gear.  This was, I thought, as fast as I could run for the final 2+ miles.  This last leg was into the wind.  I was getting pretty tired, and my legs were getting cold making the muscles harder to move.  There were some baby hills making it hard to maintain my pace.  I thought to myself that I could explain to coach that I really was working harder even if the pace didn’t show it!  I passed some more people before making the final turn into the last 2/10 miles.  I caught up to a couple more runners.  I didn’t want to pass them this close to the finish, but they were going too slowly and forced me to pass.

Crossing the finish line I checked my time.  It was faster than my goal time, but not as fast as I really wanted.  I think the weather played a role in that, but it is also very early in the season.

I grabbed a bite to eat and headed for home to get warm, without really checking the race results.  Later that night, while waiting for the results to be posted, I checked the results from the previous year.  If things played out similarly I would have medaled, except I didn’t stick around for the award ceremony!  It was a very stressful for night for me, waiting for the results to be posted. 

When the results finally came out, I’d finished 5th and as we all know:  5th is almost 1st!

And we're off!

Tomorrow officially kicks off the new race season, with a half marathon in Sugarland. I'd love to report that I'm excited, but that would be an exaggeration. Allow me to explain...

I've had some really good runs these past few weeks, including two just this past week. And that is the problem: I feel like I've worked too hard this week to do my best tomorrow.

I mentioned that to coach, and she reminded me that this is just a training race. I'm still not sure what that means, other than I'm not going to go in fully rested. Evidentially, doing races in this manner will make me stronger. I hope so, because I don't expect to intimidate anyone with my time!

But, tomorrow at 7 am I'm going to start running. It might not be the bang I'd hoped to start the season with, but I have to start the season somehow.

And so the quest begins, the first of many steps towards my goal. Wish me luck!

Swim test

Yesterday I was supposed to do a swim fit test, to establish where I am physically to start the year. I took my run test weeks ago and did pretty well, same with my bike test.

I dread going swimming when it's cold outside, or I'm cold. With the cold front that came through, I had little trouble talking myself out of going. Since I was supposed to send my times to coach, I had to fess up. She didn't say anything, but I felt guilt all night.

I decided that last night I would skip the scheduled run to do the swim. Again today I was cold and feared I would talk myself out of going again today. I was busy all morning, and watching the clock tick away I knew each passing minute increased the odds I would skip again.

Finally around 3 I put on my suit, grabbed my bag and headed out. I finished the test and reported them to coach even if they weren't that good. It is clear to me where I need to spend some time - my cardio just isn't up to par right now, but I knew that already.

The big news is that I came home, changed again, and headed out the door for a 6 mile run. It was my first double workout of the season and I'm beat!

So now I'm sitting here watching football with the dogs in my lap, trying desperately to stay awake until bedtime. The dogs are snoring, why can't I?

10 Minutes

I’m two weeks into my training for 2011.  Foolishly I thought that as soon as I started training again the weight I’d gained would just drop off like magic.  No such luck!  My training schedule is too light, I’m still not strictly following my diet, and fat doesn’t melt off like that.

Coach is bringing me back gradually, which means I only train on one discipline a day, and at that the sessions aren’t that hard.  Looking ahead at the next couple of weeks I see more of the same.  Although she is “easing me back into it”, I’m pushing the limits of what she schedules.  If she says ride for 1.5 – 2 hours, rest assured I’m riding 2 hours.  If she says run a mile at 8-9 minute/mile pace I’m doing the fastest I can that is within the schedule range.

I’m not trying to ignore her directions, nor have I lost confidence in her.  In fact it is quite the opposite.  I figure she is giving me a range for a reason, and that is to allow my some flexibility to listen to my body.  As long as my body is holding up I’m going for the maximum she schedules.

I’ve had a couple of rides, all on club rides and on my road bike.  The average pace of those rides hasn’t been as blistering as it felt, probably because there are a lot of start and stops along the way.  I did better last weekend as my fitness gradually improves.  Although I was unable to stick with the breakaway group when we hit the sprint section, and again found myself in no man’s land, I beat half the group to the sprint finish.  I also had a better day than all but two of the group of 7, and those guys have been doing this ride for a long time.

The running is also going well.  I started off on a 6+ mile easy run only to discover when I was done that I was running negative splits for the entire time, with most of the run between 8 and 8:30 pace.  I also dropped down to 7:10 for a mile near the end.  That last mile seemed very fast.  Hopefully it won’t feel so fast as we get further into the season!

I’ve done a fit test on the bike and run, and both were better than last year.  My run speed was a full minute better than last year at this time, and the bike power was also higher.  In theory I should be at last year’s end of season speeds in a few months, and get better from there.  I hope so, my first real test is only 3 months away!

This year my goal is to be faster.  To be faster I have to work harder, and faster.  I’m approaching every workout with that mentality.  I’ve only had a few workouts, but when it has gotten hard to continue or go faster I remind myself that I need to shave 10 minutes.  That is my mantra:  10 minutes for 2011.

Getting ready for 2011

I’ve had several weeks off since the end of my 2010 season, time for me to rest, recover and rejuvenate.  During that time I ate whatever I wanted, drank when I wanted to, exercised little, visited Colorado and went on a cruise.  The result:  my joints feel better, I have no lingering aches and I gained 7-8 pounds.  I’m not sure which is worse, the added weight or that I REALLY enjoyed not having to exercise all the time.

Fortunately I don’t make my own schedule or I would put off training and enjoy some more down time, perhaps pushing that weight gain up to 10+ pounds.  Coach started me back Tuesday with an easy swim.  Two months ago I would have said it was easy, today it was very hard and I found myself fighting for air on a number of occasions.  Then we jumped yesterday into a field test, where I was to run 4-5 miles with mile 3 hard, and mile 4 harder.  I set some mental goals at the start and was able to exceed them, but what a price!  It was a very difficult run.  While the rest of the week is scheduled to be easy, it is easy compared to what I was doing at the end of last season.  I don’t think I’m going to be finding many workouts easy for some time.

I’m not complaining, just stating the facts.  I allowed myself to get out of shape and now I must do the work to get back to where I was.  Actually, I need to get into better shape this year because of the lofty goal I set.  The goal for year #1 was to get a national ranking, which I did.  The goal for last year was to improve my ranking and finish 3 half ironman distance races.  While I improved my ranking considerably, I only finished 2 of my HIM races.  This year the focus is on speed.  I want to qualify for the Age Group National Championships.  To do so I will need to finish in the top 10% of an Olympic distance race, which will require me to drop another 10 minutes off my PR for about a 2:35 time.

It won’t be easy to meet this year’s goals, a feat made more difficult by my loss of fitness to start the year.  I don’t care though.  This is something I really want, and I’m prepared to do what is needed to make it happen.  Last season there were too many workouts where I just wanted to get it done.  I suspect I will have those days again this year, and that is where I need to step it up and put forth the extra effort.  Only by pushing harder will I be able to meet my goal.

Follow along with me as I undertake  this next crazy challenge, and then cheer for me in August when I race in VT with the rest of the best!

San Antonio–race recap

Before I jump into the race, I want to take a minute to thank the people who helped get me to the starting line:  Coach Kelly Williamson with Durata Training who pushed, pulled and encouraged me for the past 15 months; Darrel Johnson, the personal trainer who got me off to a good start and has been supportive even after I stopped using his services; Ironman Betsy Morgan, my first real triathlete friend who was a wealth of information for a rookie triathlete and is always supportive of my efforts; newly ordained Ironman Susan Wallace, who gave me my first swimming pointers, calmed me down before the start of my first half Ironman, smacked me around when I needed it, and most importantly turned me on to coach Kelly; Sam Sann, owner of Iron Sports Gym, who is always there to push me and provides me with my aerodynamic ‘race-cut’ haircut; Gwen McFadden, who let me swim in her lake when she didn’t even know me and has been a good friend ever since; Airrosti Rehap Centers, who helped me recover from a badly sprained ankle earlier this year, and is always there to help with the injuries that come with this sport; Jason Kolodjski at Natural Health Center for making sure all my parts are working together correctly; Phillip Shama at Shama Cycles, who has been super responsive in helping me keep my bike running; my parents and number one fans, who always want to hear about my training and races and have waited for me for hours at a number of races; Professional triathlete Natasha Van Der Merwe, who’s company Tri Team Transport got my bike to California for Vineman 70.3, and has been very supportive of my efforts, always pushing me to do better.  Finally, a special thanks goes out to my wife and the love of my life, Kelli Lachner, who has given me the freedom to put in all these hours of training; tolerated my whining about training, injuries and being sore; driven me to the ER; driven to the middle of nowhere to pick me up when I couldn’t repair my flat tire; and been to more races than I can count.  Thanks guys!!

Two days before the race, at packet pickup, I ran into Frank Shorter, the 1972 Olympic gold medal winner for the marathon.  We spoke briefly while he was signing my race number, and I loudly proclaimed that I was going to beat everyone in the area.  I was sort of jesting, but I did expect to beat most people on Sunday.  I was feeling rather confident.

It was pretty cold for my Saturday morning run.  I thought I might have to wear gloves and a long sleeve shirt.  I also decided against getting a race-cut.  After a much too short visit with my parents, I was sitting in my hotel room, resting and trying to not think about the race.  I knew I would finish, and set a new personal record, but after all my talking I started to wonder if I could live up to my own hype.  I did get some sleep that night, but not as much as I would have liked.

Race morning was about 50 degrees, perfect running weather.  I planned to start with the group of people attempting a 1:45, and hang on as long as I could.  The pace leader Matt said we would start with the third wave, run the first mile a bit slower, and then run the rest of the race at about 7:50/mile pace.  That freaked me (and a couple other runners nearby) out, as I wasn’t sure I could run that long at that pace.

As we stood there my teeth were chattering and I was pretty cold, the start couldn’t come soon enough.  Then we were off.  The pace was a little quicker than I would have normally started, but it was ok.  After the first mile Matt indicated we were picking up the pace, and we certainly did.  I would have liked a bit more of a warm up, but I was going to stay with the group.

We hit an aid station, and suddenly the entire group split (there was water and stuff on both sides of the road), leaving me running all by myself.  Since I had my personal water bottle, I had no need to stop.  I figured either the group would speed up and catch me, or I would start to leave them, gaining 5-10 seconds at each station.  I didn’t see them for a long time, and in my head they were falling minutes behind me.

I fell into a comfortable pace at about 7:45/mile.  At the halfway point I started to think I could finish with the current pace, I was in no distress at all.

Around mile 9 I was really into my groove:  keeping an eye on my pace, watching the distance, and listening to how my body was feeling.  I was snapped back into the moment when I looked up and the pace group had passed me on the left.  I was totally bummed, wondering how I had let my pace drop enough that they could catch me.  They were running faster than I, and I was concerned that I might not be able to keep up and would thus not hit my goal time.

We hit mile 10 and the pace setter announced we had 5K left and I knew I had it.  I was 30 seconds ahead of schedule.  As long as nothing unexpected happened, I was going to finish strong.  We hit another aid station, the group split and I was running alone again.  This time it was for good!

Coach’s plan was to pick it up at mile 8 (not necessary), pick it up at mile 11, and give it all I had at mile 12.  I hit mile 11 and decided against picking up the pace this far out, I was afraid I might blow up.  I started to cramp up a bit in my hamstrings, but had nothing with me that would help.  I would just have to hold on and hope for the best.  When I crossed mile 12 I decided I couldn’t go any faster.  I was really tired, but seemed to be holding a good enough pace.  We made the last turnaround, and I saw that the last bit of the race was uphill and a lot of people were walking.  It had been mostly flat with a few rollers until then and was a little irritated that they saved the biggest hill for right at the end.

There was no way I was going to walk.  I didn’t end up picking up the pace, just fighting to hold what I had and finish strong.  People around me were waving to the crowd (I couldn’t even smile, I was giving it my all), and a couple of runners sprinted past me.  I was irritated at those sprinters, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.  And then I was done.  1:43:05!

I didn’t think I’d gotten any faster at the end, but unless my math was off during the race, which is certainly possible, I’d gained 90 seconds in the last 5K or 30 seconds per mile.  I know the chip results don’t agree with what I’ve said, but that is what my watch told me.  Officially I was 39/644 in my age group and 838/20436 overall.

Conclusion

Race season 2010 is over (really dear, I promise!)  Triathlon season ended last month, and while I am very satisfied with the time I posted on my last race, the run split left a bad taste in my mouth.  My performance in San Antonio wiped out all of that.  I always though I could run, but never seemed able to post the results relative to everyone else.  I finally did that yesterday.  I finished in the top 4% of the field, and am pretty darn proud of myself.

I rewarded myself with a large beer and Mexican food yesterday, and doughnuts today.  Now I rest up for a couple of weeks, and then we start all over again!