Lonestar Sprint 2011

The Lonestar half-Ironman last year was my first attempt at that distance, and the first (and only race) I was unable to finish.  That left a bad taste in my mouth for a long time, and I was looking forward to a little revenge.  Completing a sprint as revenge for a half Ironman isn’t the same thing, but I did want to remove some of the mental voodoo the course had in my head.

One thing I didn’t put in my pre-race report was my plan.  I didn’t write it because it seemed audacious, and I was afraid to commit it to writing.  Here it was:  Go out fast on the swim (redline it was the phrase I used), make everyone have to work hard on the bike to keep up, and then really go on the bike.  If they wanted to beat me they were going to have to really pay for it.  That was the plan at least,  red-line all the way!

Pre race

I got to the site plenty early even though we had assigned racking.  It was chilly, so I walked around looking at people and bikes to keep warm.  At one point I came back and was looking at my bike, only to realize I’d forgotten to attach my bike computer!  I would have been fine without it, but it sure is nice to have.  It was my first race in a one piece race suit, and this one is very tight.  I’d tried it on a couple of times, but when I put it on and was walking around I felt pretty self conscious.  I actually took the top off my shoulders and put on a T shirt until it was time to leave the area.  With all these distractions I forgot my pre-race gel.  In fact, I didn’t think about it until I was on my bike.

The Swim

I was so relieved to finally get in the water, even if it was pretty cold.  I positioned myself at the front of the pack and treaded water for 4 minutes, during which time I got pretty cold.  The gun sounded and we were off!  Right away I felt the cold water inside my goggle.  I swam a bit more to make sure it was leaking and not just the initial shock.  When it kept filling up I paused long enough to give it a firm push with the palm of my hand to try and get a seal.  That didn’t work, and I did the rest of the swim  with one good eye.  Funny, I think this happened last year too!

I went out like I planned, really pushing the pace.  About halfway two things happened, my arms started getting tired from the pace, and I started catching people from the wave in front of me.  I kept the pace up for a while, but eventually had to back off a bit for fear of not finishing.  Even still, I passed a LOT of people in the water.

The Bike

That was to be the theme for the day, passing lots of people.  I ran past people on the way to transition, suited up, and then passed people on the way out of transition.  Using my new mount I was off in a hurry.  With my heart still racing I kept pushing.  There was a section with a no passing zone (boo!), and another with several speed bumps, but once we hit the seawall I was off.  I could feel a lot of cross winds, and while my power was pretty high my pace was lower than I wanted.  I assumed there was some headwind involved, ignored the speed and focused on keeping the power up.  I was passed twice on the bike, once by a mystery guy and once by a young lady.  I wanted to try and keep up, but they were too strong for me.  Everyone else was another story!  I passed people, a lot of people.  And I didn’t just pass them, I flew by them.  It reminded me of last year, only in reverse.  I thought I was having a pretty good bike.

At about mile 10 I passed a guy in my age bracket.  No mercy I thought, really push now and break his spirit.  I suspect there was some tail wind on the back leg because I was really flying.  I saw a speed in the mid 20’s a lot.

The Run

When I got into transition the first thing I noticed was that there were no bikes in my area.  Since all of old people seemed to be right together I figured I had gotten off the bike in first place.  All I had to do now was hold on.  After fighting a shoe that just didn’t want to go on I finally started the course.  My legs were heavy, maybe a bit more than usual, but I’d pushed harder on the bike than before.  I glanced at my watch and it said I was doing 13:30 pace!  There was no way I was running that slowly, I’ve never run that slowly, at least not since I started training for triathlons.  Maybe the GPS had lost its signal or it’s some crazy average pace for the entire race.  After running a couple more minutes I checked again and this time it said 13:45!  I never looked again because whatever it was displaying was useless.  That was probably the best thing that happened to me, it forced me to run based on how I felt instead of by numbers on my watch.

I was passed by another young lady who was really flying, and then a young guy (trust me, I check the ages as they pass!).  I tried to hang with the young guy, and then he faded and dropped back.  My pace felt slow, I was thinking about 8 minutes/mile, but it was all I had.  I continued to pass a lot of people, all younger.  Towards the end a couple of non-racers passed me, and I worked to stay with them.  They were very nice and encouraging, even reminding me to breath.  He must have been deaf, because I was certain they could hear me breathing over the entire course!

The Results

Once it was over I got a quick stretch at the massage tent, then headed over to check the results.  I was shocked and a little disappointed when I saw that I’d finished second.  I just knew I’d won the race.  It turns out that the mystery rider who passed me early on won.  I beat him everywhere but on the bike, where he smoked me to take 6th overall on the bike.  Don’t bet me wrong, I am very happy with my results.  The run, the one that felt so slow was at 7:02 pace.  That was after tearing up the bike with what I feel was my best effort to date.  2nd place was good enough to qualify me for Nationals again, so maybe the last race wasn’t just a fluke.

What’s next

After a couple of days to rest and recover, it is time to get back after it.  New Orleans 5150 is just around the corner, and with my newly charged confidence in tow there is no telling what could happen there.  I do think that with 5 or so more races on the schedule for this year, I could have a couple more podium finishes in store.

Hold on to your hats, this is going to be one CRAZY ride!

Twas the night before Lonestar

It may not be the night before a race, but if I wait until this evening I will probably forget, again.  So, without further ado, let’s take a quick inventory to see how we are feeling for tomorrow’s race.

Sleep:  While last night wasn’t the best night’s sleep, it was ok.  I got plenty of sleep the other nights so I should be ok here.  I might get time for a nap today, but I think that would be a mistake, making it more difficult for me to sleep tonight (as if I need any help there!)

Legs:  I noticed this morning while I was brushing my teeth that my legs were a little tired.  They aren’t too bad and should be fine tomorrow since today is a short swim.  I did a little run yesterday and opened it up for a couple of minute intervals.  That felt great!  I easily dropped to 7 minute/mile for the first one, and by the end was running sub 6 minute miles.  I think they will respond nicely tomorrow.

Neck and shoulders:  They were a little sore and stiff last night, perhaps from too much sitting around on my taper week.  I don’t notice it this morning, but I haven’t been up for an hour yet!

Stomach:  Here is the million dollar question, how is my stomach?  It is better than last week or pre last race, but still not normal.  I’ve been avoiding almost all dairy and that seems to have helped.  I’ll continue to skip it today, and then throw caution to the wind with my traditional post-race pizza!

Head:  Mentally I think I’m good.  This is a short race, so I haven’t spent much time thinking about it.  I know that last year it was windy and hot, but I think I’m better prepared this time around.  Plus my race tomorrow is probably less than a quarter of last year’s distance.  To be honest I have thought about the race some.  I’ve practiced my transition several times in my head and calculated the times for each leg.  I’ve even gone so far as to compare that time to previous years.  Instead of freaking me out, it has given me the confidence that I can do really well at this race.  I’m hoping to finish in the 70-75 minute range.  How I place will depend on who else shows up (I did look that up too, but don’t really have a way to figure out who is fast and slow).

Here is what I have learned over my 10+ races:  Your time and placement doesn’t matter.  If I am able to look inside and say that I gave it everything I had, then I will be happy.  Of course, with a chance to win…

Ready to race, again

Sorry for missing my scheduled post yesterday, somehow work got in the way of my social and racing life!  I’m back on track today, and just in time.

My second race of the season, a sprint, is this weekend.  It is one of only two sprints on the radar this year, and only my second sprint since my first season.  Because I haven’t done a lot of them I don’t know what to expect.  I vaguely remember the one I did last year.  I went out a little harder than normal on the bike, and struggled with the run.  In the end it wasn’t one of my better performances.  According to USAT, that sprint ranked only ahead of my half Ironman races.

This year I hope to improve that performance.  I don’t mean that in the sense that I hope to get better every year, or that because of my improved fitness I should do better.  I’ve actually thought about this race.  I’ve considered the distances, how hard I could and should be able to perform, added them up, and voila, it is a better time.

Comparing my projected time to previous years tells me that I should do well.  A win is not out of the question, and certainly a podium finish is possible.  That said, anything can happen race day, that’s why we race.  I could get a flat, take a spill on the bike, suffer cramps on the run, or a number of things I haven’t even considered.

Here is my plan for this race, summed up into a few short notes:

• Get to the starting line healthy
• Start off the swim hard
• Keep my foot on the gas for the bike
• Push the run and hang on until the end

Let’s see how this plan and race work out for me!

The Other Guy

I had good intentions of posting an entry Friday night about how I was feeling.  Then I got to the hotel later than expected.  After an all too short visit with my parents, dinner, and getting ready for the morning, it was soon time for bed and my writing was skipped.  It’s probably for the better, because I know what I was going to write.

I slept better than usual, especially considering this was the first race of the year.  I woke up early, and then I laid around waiting for the alarm.  I couldn’t move up the starting gun, so I ended up getting up early, then leaving early for the race, and then waiting around there.

I spent the time talking with my good friend, professional triathlete Natasha Van Der Merwe, the rookie parked next to me, and a couple of other nuts that were going without a wetsuit in 62 degree water!  Once my wife and parents showed up they distracted me until race time.

Once I got into the water and felt how cold it was, I certainly was glad I had a long sleeve wetsuit!  We got going, and the first thing I noticed, besides the normal jostling and pushing that goes on was the cold water going down my back.  That only lasted a few seconds, and I didn’t think about the water temperature again.  Perhaps that is because the water going out was super choppy.  It seemed like every time I came up for a breath the water would wash over my head leaving me drinking water and gasping for air.  Fortunately that made the water coming back to shore smooth and quick.  There were a couple of times that I noticed my heart was really pounding (especially on the first trip outbound).  Wanting to save for my push on the bike and run I forced myself to slow down.

I staggered out of the water, was quickly passed by Natasha, and struggled to get unzipped while trying to get to my bike as quickly as possible.  Finally some volunteer grabbed the string and unzipped me.  Running to the transition area I dropped two GU from my shirt pocket.  I don’t know what I was thinking when I turned around and went back to get them.  Note to self, next time leave them there!

I never slowed down through transition which was the plan.  Five minutes into the bike leg, with my foot firmly on the gas, my heart was still pounding.  It didn’t matter, I felt I could sustain this pace for the hour+ I needed.  While it was windy, my meltdown a few weeks ago in the wind prepared me mentally for it.  I noticed it in that my speed dropped some, and of course the only hills were into the wind.  To me it wasn’t a big deal, though I did hear people complaining about it afterwards.  The best part of the bike was that I was only passed by a couple of people, and I passed more than passed me.  Every time I felt myself easing up I reminded myself of the other guy.  He would be pushing hard right now so I had to push harder.  There weren’t many people out there so I wasn’t sure where I was in the pack, something that concerned me for the rest of the race.  Was I out front and holding them off, or had I fallen off the back and wasn’t keeping up.

I was out of T2 very quickly, donning my hat and race belt as I started the run.  Almost immediately I was passed by a young lady who was getting a lot of cheers from the crowd.  I decided to use her for motivation, and kept the same gap for most of the first lap.  The back leg of the run was with the wind, a nice break, but with no wind it got VERY hot, forcing me to grab some water for my head.  I got a side stitch and really wanted to walk.  I knew the other guy wouldn’t walk so there was no way I was going to either.  I was getting pretty tired.  Realizing it could be nutrition based I took a GU.  I didn’t notice the fatigue until near the end of the second leg, at which point I thought it was too late for a GU to help.  While my pace wasn’t as fast as I’d hoped, I knew it was the best I could manage at the time.  With 1/4 mile to go (into the wind of course) I gave it all I had.  I didn’t know who might be behind me, but I wasn’t going to let the other guy pass me at the finish.

The finish was a blur.  I got some cold water, a cold towel, and got out of the way to wait for the results.  They finally came:  I’d won my bracket!  My time was 3 minutes slower than I’d hoped, but good enough to qualify me for Nationals!  With that accomplished, I can now focus on getting faster and figuring out how hard I can push myself instead of worrying about getting qualified.

Accepting my first place prize was one of the proudest moments of my life, the other being in 1977 when I won outstanding musician at band camp.  I don’t know what else this season has in store, but this is one hell of a start!

Race season is here!

It is Monday and my first race of the season is in just 5 days.  If I’m not careful I could easily get myself all wound up, overly excited and ruin my race before it even starts.  While I am excited, ruining the race isn’t in my plan.  I’ve worked too hard!

I had another fantastic training week this past week.  Unlike last week I was able to finish the race as strong as I started it.  Funny thing happened on the bike ride Saturday though.  I knew there was some wind, probably a tail wind, but it wasn’t as strong as last week, or so I thought until I made a left turn and the cross wind hit.  I had on my race wheels and the wind was really tossing me around.  Not wanting to repeat my disaster of last weekend I turned around 5 minutes earlier than previously.  Last weekend I rode 15 minutes longer than I was scheduled for this weekend.  So if I turn around 5 minutes early, that knocks 10 minutes off the ride total.  Plus I figured I would be a little faster due to less headwind, which would put me finishing right on time.

The only problem was that this week I didn’t fall apart in the wind.  I hunkered down, did what I could, and finished a total of 30 minutes faster instead of 15.  I packed up my bike, threw on my running shoes, and went for a short run.  I couldn’t believe how dead my legs felt and started having flash backs to what race day is really like!  I told myself that the pace didn’t matter, and I can only do what I can do.  I try to evaluate myself at the end of a run to see if I could have gone faster or further.  I might have been able to run a little faster, though my heart was pounding pretty hard, but I know I could have gone further.  I’m not sure about 4 miles further, but I’m also not sure I couldn’t have.  Finishing the run I packed up and headed home, not even looking at my watch.  Needless to say I was shocked when I downloaded my watch onto my computer and saw what happened.  I ran 2.5 miles at 8:10 pace, after a 2:45 bike ride.  This is huge for me because my legs felt so heavy, and I felt like I was going so slowly, only to find out I wasn’t far from what I hope for a race pace.

Sunday was a long, slow and boring run.  I wasn’t sure I could do it with my legs as shot as they were.  I just started running, and didn’t stop until I was done.  It wasn’t fast (it wasn’t supposed to be), but I did what coach asked.

Saturday I toe the line for my first race of the season.  I’ve done just about everything coach asked of me.  Now it is just a matter of executing the plan.  I can’t control who else signs up for the race, or how fast they run, only how well I do myself.

I’ll try to write again before the race on how I’m feeling to see how that compares to the results.  Wish me luck!

Has it really been two weeks already?

No, it’s really been three!  It seems like two weeks because I was sick the week in the middle and that entire week is a blur.  When I first got sick I knew I would miss a day of training.  That became a week, and by the end of the week I was afraid it would stretch into a second week and jeopardize my upcoming race.  Then it passed as suddenly as it came on.  I took a couple of easy training days and a day of rest before hitting it hard again last week.

After being sick like I was for a week, I was a little nervous about coming back as hard as was scheduled.  I knew I’d had a decent run though on Sunday and hoped it would be fine.  Maybe my body needed that time off because I came back with a fury!  I did a bike field test and was 20 watts stronger than just a few months ago.  I feel like I could have been stronger if I’d only set up a fan in the garage to cool me off.

I had a couple of good runs, including a 5 mile brick at 7:40 pace, which I did without really pushing.  That is wonderful news for me because that is faster than my planned 10K pace come race day.  It gives me confidence that I can hit my target time!

I also had a couple of hard swims, including a 1500M timed swim.  I like the distance because it allows me to get into a groove and work on pushing myself.  I don’t like having to count the laps.  It would be so much nicer if I could just go and have someone tap me on the shoulder when I’m done!

I hit the weekend super high and confident, and the first half of my Saturday bike ride was awesome.  I should have realized that when you are going 20+ mph and there isn’t any wind noise in your ears, there is quite a tail wind blowing.  I didn’t figure that out until I turned around and almost came to a standstill.  What took me 1:20 going ended up taking me 1:55 coming back.  It was a long, hard and demoralizing ride.  It was supposed to be a brick, but I was already over my total scheduled time, the wind was really blowing, my legs were shot, I was upset and talked myself out of it.

I woke up Sunday to dead legs.  I didn’t think I had the energy to run for 90 minutes.  After goofing off for a while I finally suited up and headed on out.  I couldn’t believe how badly my legs felt when I started.  The finish line 10 miles away seemed forever.  I settled into a pace and just ran.  I funny thing happened on the run.  The plan was to run a 5 mile loop twice.  At 4.5 miles into the first loop it seemed like it was never going to end.  Half a mile later, as I started the second loop, I felt almost done!  It didn’t matter that I still had 5 miles to go, or how far I had run already.  Something about being on that last lap made it easy.  I even had to force myself to slow down as the pace kept creeping up.  As it was my second lap was several minutes faster than the first.

All in all a good week of training.  I’m very tired today, but feel like my overall strength and conditioning is very strong.  I think my next race, the first one of the season could be an awesome race for me, my fastest Olympic distance race yet.  I only need to focus on the good days and forget the bad ones!

The end of the beginning

I like to post an entry the day/night before a race.  That way I can come back afterwards and see how I was really feeling, as opposed to writing afterwards how I think I felt before the race.  Unfortunately, as I was composing my pre-race entry, I switched programs to verify some data and when I came back the entry was gone.  Instead of re-writing the entry, I just skipped it.

I’m not going to write now what I remember feeling as it is no doubt tainted by actual events.  I will say that I’d written down being anxious about the race.  Not because of the distance, hills, or expected weather, but because of the expectations put on me by myself and coach.  I’d switched programs to check exactly what coach had said, which is when I lost my entry.  Looking at her last email now, she said I was capable of a big PR.  I’m glad I didn’t find that email as it would have stressed me out even more.

Things I did wrong

I did several things wrong in preparing for the race, and they had nothing to do with training.  First and foremost I let my diet go in the toilet.  It is always harder to eat healthy on the road, but I indulged in fast food, pizza, and other fatty foods.  I also forgot my usual pre-race breakfast of oatmeal.  At the last minute I had to switch to a Cliff bar, something I’ve never trained with for a run.

I didn’t sleep well that night, if I slept at all.  I wasn’t stressing about the race, but just couldn’t fall asleep.  I did the best I could to rest.

I got up race morning with an upset stomach.  It didn’t bother me too much until after I ate.  I hoped it would just go away, and forgot about it to finish getting ready.

Because I couldn’t sleep, I got up early and showed up way to early for the race.  While a temperature of mid 60’s is warm for an endurance race, it isn’t warm to stand around in shorts and a t-shirt on a windy day.

The final pre-race mistake I made was in selecting the GU I would use.  I’ve been running with a vanilla flavor, but because of the expected heat I thought I would also bring along Roctane for the added sodium.  Roctane has a history of not doing well in my stomach.  At the last minute I grabbed two of each.

Pre-race

Once I got to the race site I found a warm corner and tried to hunker down until the race started.  20 minutes out I got up and picked a spot that corresponded to my expected finish time.  15 minutes out I took a Roctane, and almost threw it right back up.  I think the only thing that saved me was the crowd of people standing around.  There wasn’t any way to politely deposit the contents of my stomach!

I needed to pee, but with no porta potties in sight, I had to either hold it or go right there in my pants.  Fortunately for the people around me (but not so good for me) I decided to hold it.

I turned on my music, wished the people around me luck, and got ready for the start.  The gun sounded, and we just stood there.  20 thousand people were racing and several thousand were in front of me.  When we finally started moving, it was only to squeeze in closer to the person in front of us.  I chuckled at the person next to me who was running in place with almost no room at all to move.  It took me over 3 minutes to get to the starting line.

The race

With all those people in front of me it was very slow going for the first mile.  I looked at my watch and we were moving at 10:30 pace.  It was infuriating, but there was nothing I could do to go any faster.  After about 1/2 mile and a couple of turns we started to spread out some.  I couldn’t believe what I saw:  power walkers, couples holding hands, and old/fat people in front of me that had clearly lined up in the front of the pack.  I spent much of the next mile trying to get around these road blocks.

I hit the first mile in 9 minutes.  It was going to take some real work to make that up.  Approaching mile 2 I made a dash for a row of porta potties.  Trying to save time I didn’t bother locking the door, much to the surprise of the person who came in behind me to use my stall!  This probably cost me another 30 seconds, and allowed some of those slow people to get in front of me again.  I was furious, and for the next several miles wasted too much mental energy being mad.

The next several miles were uphill, with brief flat spots to catch your breath.  I was expecting 3 hills, which were there, but they were followed by many more rolling hills.  I didn’t think about the hills that much.  I’d trained in the hills and thought I was prepared for them.  I leaned forward and tried to keep my pace down.  When I finally crested the last of these hills at about mile 6 I was several minutes off pace and pretty winded from all the up hills.  I tried to relax going downhill, up my pace just a little bit, and recover from the hills.  Funny, but the hills didn’t seem as steep going down as they were going up!

The plan had been for me to consume a GU every 30 minutes.  The first GU came in the middle of an up hill and had to be postponed until about 45 minutes (that’s how long it took to crest that hill).  Because of the bad reaction I’d had to the Roctane, I opted for my normal GU.  It almost came right back up and I had to deal with nausea for the next 1/2 mile.  That was the last GU I took this race.

At mile 7 the thought of quitting first crossed my mind.  I was pretty hot, hopelessly behind schedule, unable to consume my planned nutrition or drink water, and not having a lot of fun.  I quickly threw out the thought and just kept on running.  While the thought of dropping out would surface again, it never really got any traction.  For the next several aid stations I grabbed cups of water and threw it on my head.  That cooled me down and allowed me to keep my head in the race.

I plugged on through rolling hills that always seemed to be more up than down until I made the turn at mile 10.  In my mind I was 25 minutes from the finish.  “I can run 25 minutes” I told myself, and then the hills came again, only harder.  There were two hills in particular that seriously made me think about walking.  I looked down at my feel and knew I wasn’t running much faster than I could run.  There were lots of people around me walking, it would be so easy to give in to temptation.  Instead I leaned forward and kept my feet moving.

There was a turn at about mile 12, that for me signaled the beginning of the end.  I made the turn and looked at the first of the two remaining hills.  There was no way this hill this late in the race was going to get the better of me.  I crested the first hill, saw the second and let out a laugh.  After the hills we had already run, this thing was just a speed bump.  It was all downhill after that.

Next thing I knew I’d crossed the finish, was getting some water, posing for a picture, and stumbling around trying to get my legs back under me.

The results

I finished the race with 1:46, a minute faster than my last race on a much harder course and worse conditions.  My final position was 24/305.  It is interesting to me that my chip time was 3+ minutes faster than the clock time, which means it took me 3+ minutes to get to the starting line.  Most of the people who finished in front of me had delays of less than a minute.  If I do this race next year I will be lining up much closer to the front, regardless of what the signs say.

Now my running season is over.  As I sit here today, extremely sore, I know that I gave it my all this weekend, and won some significant mental battles.  Hopefully this bodes well for the rest of the season, as my first real race is in just 5 weeks!