2009 almost wrapped up

Well the schedule is becoming more set as I received confirmation that I am in the May version of the Escape from Alcatraz race.  This will be my focus race for the year, but I should have plenty of time to get back and ready for one of the half-ironman races in September or October.

Got in a few runs and a couple of one milers in the pool last week leading up to Christmas, but the regular stuff is starting now.  Today ran a 10K at 55 min pace during lunch and also snuck in about 1K in the pool as well.  (needless to say it was a long lunch).  Time to get the trainer back out for some small bike work, and also need to scout out some serious hills in the area for repeat work.  The San Fran race will be by far the most vertical racing I have done as of yet.

Final schedule is due next week.  Off to Orlando for New Years and some warm weather runs.

Back at it

Back on it, I’m going to try to stay a little more regular this week.  Today had a 45 min 5 mile run with 20 minutes of easy pace then stair stepping speed for the next 15 minutes on the treadmill.  Average was a bit under 9 min/mile pace.   After the run did about 20 minutes of circuit work with abs and shoulder work.  I had a little bit of pain in my shin but felt good in the end. 

I’m looking for three speed workouts and need to try to get a 10 mile distance run in over the weekend.

2010 considerations

The list for next year is starting to come together with a few regulars and some wildcards.  Definite races include:

-ING Atlanta Marathon (March)

-Peachtree Road Race (July)

-Sandestin Sprint Triathlon (August)

-Tugaloo Olympic Triathlon (September)

Augusta 70.3 (September)

Here are the others I am trying to fit.  Looking at the Sweetwater Creek 50K trail run in May, this will be a huge challenge, but worth it for base fitness.  In the Lottery for the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon which is in May as well.  I need to hear back from them before I commit to the 50K trail run.  Also looking at another off roader the Muddy Buddy race in June here in Atlanta.  There are a few more 70.3’s I am considering instead of doing Augusta, but I need to keep them semi-local.  I should have the final season mapped by mid-January, but it is time to put a plan on paper for ING coming up in March.  I need to get on a regular plan before Christmas rolls around.

Post Thanksgiving Wrap-up

Still nothing structured but have kept a few long runs to maintain over the past two weeks.  Put in a 12 miler the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving in 1:51, so that has me close where I would like to be for an easy sub 2h half marathon, also ran a homemade 10K on Thanksgiving morning along the GW Parkway from my sisters house to Mt. Vernon.  Was cold and did not feel like running but put in a 55min time, so that was enough to stock up and eat the rest of the day.

Over the next two weeks I am going to try to get back to the pool a bit so by the end of December I should be back to 2-3 swims per week of 2000 yards.

Also, entered the lottery for the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon next May and will know by January if that is a go.  This would be an awesome event and the first field I can get in that would have a bunch of world class triathlon stars.  Lets keep the fingers crossed.

Still Laying Low

All right, just to check in recovery is in full effect and I have yet to get back to a schedule of workouts.  In the past month I have put a 10 miler, a few 6-7 milers and some speed work in running.  Also got on the bike two times, both around 25 miles each, and have been in the pool a few times.  Just trying to keep some minimum form.

So far my weight has held steady in the 190-195 range, so that is a good thing and should allow me to get down to about 180 by next summer for racing.  It looks like I will bite off another 70.3 next year, most likely Augusta again to get a few friends involved.  I do know that I want to do more races throughout the entire season.  At least one per month.  Next year is all about getting close to a podium in some shorter races.  I will start picking a few key races as the year closes down, then work around those.  Maybe an XTERRA thrown in?  Who knows.  I will be starting the season with the ING Atlanta Half Marathon as the run base again, but will start biking and swimming regularly as soon as the new year turns to get racing sooner. 

Off to DC for Thanksgiving.  Have a good one.

Fall 5 Miler

Race went well.  45 degrees and overcast for the run.  First two mile split was at 15 min even, so I might have gone out a bit fast.  Mile 2-3 had some hills so pace slowed a bit and I had 16 minutes to get the last 2 miles in to make the 40 minute goal.  Finished strong and came in at 39:47 total time (7:58 pace).  For the first time since the half-ironman I could tell that I am not fully recovered from that effort.  Legs felt tired, but I got home under the goal.

Overall place (out of 538) 125th.  91st out of 263 men, and 20th out of 46 in the 35-40 age group.  Made the main goal of sub 8 min pace by a few seconds!

Fall 5 Miler Tomorrow

Nice and easy week to get back into some more regular training.  Last Friday got in a 6.5 mile hill run at lunch with one of my coworkers, then turned in a 7.5 miler on Sunday instead of getting out on the bike.  That one took about 65 minutes.  Tuesday went to the gym and did some weight work and Wednesday got in a 3 mile treadmill run over 25 minutes, followed by 1,000 meters in the pool.

Today will finish with some more weight work, and have the Fall 5 Miler race tomorrow.  This race is right outside my neighborhood so it should be a nice morning run.  Temps are scheduled to be in the low 40’s in the morning here in Atlanta, coldest it has been in a while.  I am shooting for a 40 minute run time which would bring my race pace down to the 8 minute mark.  If I beat 40 minutes I will be very happy, but no pressure at all.  Just looking forward to a nice run with 1000 of my neighbors and a good technical long sleeve shirt to add to the collection.  May try to sneak out on a 3 hour bike ride Sunday if I can work it out with the kiddos.

10 days later……

After almost a week completely off I was able to get back into the swing of things.  Monday after the race I rolled my ankle pretty good playing with the kids in the driveway and ended up with a grade 3 sprain.  By Thursday I was able to get back to some exercise with a heavily taped ankle.  I did a 3.5 miler on the treadmill at 29:50, then on Sunday got back out on the bike for an hour and a half doing 28 miles.  On Tuesday of this week I did a 5 mile run in 40:13, which was a good pace for me, and followed that up with 2,050 meters in the pool on Thursday.

I am not sure what the next few months have in store as far as events go, but I would think mostly running events over the winter.  I have the Fall 5 miler next weekend in my area and I want to see if I can go sub 40 minutes on that.  This fall and winter is going to be all about continuing to improve my running and getting faster with a lot of speed work, and occasionally some long slow ones.  Right now I just want to run a lot, and supplement that with at least one long swim and bike workout each week.  Not too much planning though!

Augusta 70.3 Review – Part 1 Times

Well, the odyssey is over and in summary this was a great experience.  My main target time indicated earlier was 5:59:00, with a “good day” goal of 5:45:00.  I ended up beating both of them.  My overall time came in at 5 hours, 44 minutes, 6 seconds.  I will take that any day in my first 70.3 race.  The race was scheduled for 3400 participants, but the final finishing number was 2509, with 370 in my age group finishing.

Swim Goal time was 30 minutes, and I blew that out of the water with a 25:07 swim time.  This was good for 55th fastest in my age group (35-39) which had 370 racers, and 389th in the entire race.  This was my first mass start in the water (holding a rope until the bell) and it was pretty hectic for the first 4-5 minutes.  Once I was able to get closer to the shoreline (and the shortest distance) I was able to get some space, find a good rhythm and felt very comfortable the entire swim.  If I pushed it I could have gotten under 24 minutes!

Transition one was planned for 4 minutes, and for some reason I took 5.  Not sure what took me so long.  Need to improve that one for sure.

The bike ride had two goals, primary was to average at least 17.2mph which would get me in at 3:15:00, and if I had a good ride to ride at 18.6mph which would mean a 3 hour flat ride.  Even by following my plan of taking it easy the first half of the ride I was able to smash both of those goals.  Final ride time came in at 2:51:33, a 19.5mph average.  Must have been a fast ride for a lot of people as that time was 980th overall and 172nd in my age group (still in the top half).  Ride was flat for the first 15 miles with a slight tailwind, and the weather remained cloudy most of the time.  Once you turned north on the course the wind became a cross/headwind and the terrain became full of rolling hills.  I had no problems with the length and slope of the climbs.  My hill repeats and the terrain near my house definitely paid off here.  Most of the uphill's I was passing guys around me, and on the downhill sections is where the aero bikes would catch me.  One thing this ride put in my brain, its time to step up to a real triathlon specific bike with good aero wheels.  I could have shaved a lot of time with the same effort.  Took it easy the last few miles and got into some higher gears to increase my cadence before the run.  I think this really helped as my legs felt totally fine coming out of transition.

 

Transition 2 came in at 2:28 and I planned for 3 minutes, so that was a good transition.

Now the run.  This is where I struggled a bit.  My goal time was a 9:30 pace which would bring me in at 2h 5 minutes.  I ended up running a 2:19:21, which was pretty close to my ING Half Marathon time in March.  I felt great at the start.  As the winner Greg Bennett mentioned it was mentally a very tough course.  Two loops, four straightaway's each loop that were somewhere in close to 1 3/4 mile each.  It was a great scene in downtown Augusta with the crowds, but it was a challenge to not hope that the NEXT block was going to be the turnaround (when it was always about 7-8 more blocks down). The sun was out by then and the temps were up in the mid 80’s.  I didn’t ever feel overwhelmed, but after running the first mile around 9 minutes, I just could not keep that gear turning.  At the 7 mile split I was averaging 10:48 min/mile pace, and my final 6.1 mile split I lowered that a bit to 10:26 min/mile pace.  So to find something positive, at least I had a negative split for my pace.

5:44:06

I am very pleased with the result.  Looking at the overall trend, I was in 389th place (55 in Age Group) after the swim, 909th place (172) after the bike, and 1207th overall place (213) at the end. By percentages I finished in the 51% bracket with all men in the race (926 of 1,808).  My time percentile versus the entire field (percentage placement within the entire race field) was 15.13% on the swim, 38.9% on the bike, and 61.37% on the run. 

In order to get competitive it is pretty obvious where I need to improve, however I have come a long way from just finishing these races.  Swimming is right where I need to be, Bike could use some improvement however a better aero setup will pay off to get a few mph added, but my run needs the most work.  If I can get my half marathon pace down to 9 minutes and my 10k splits into the high 7’s, I can start competing for age group placement next year.

So next up.  What to do with the upcoming months (running plan) and what races to look at next year.

First Wetsuit Swim

Last swim before the race today, a little over 800 yards with the wetsuit on to make sure I at least swam with it once.  The fit is perfect.  I was a bit surprised at the difference and additional glide you get with the suit.  Stroke rate is typically around 18 per 25 meter length in the pool, and I was at 15 with the suit on.  It seems to be going on a bit easier than the first time I tried it on as well, so all looks good.

Leaving town tomorrow and hitting the pre-race briefing, expo, and have to rack the bike as well.  The forecast is a bit unpredictable as it looks like a slight chance of rain in the morning on Sunday with highs in the afternoon reaching into the mid 80’s.  That will mean humidity and I will need to make sure to take my Enduralytes.  Tomorrow I will put up some photos from the race site and transition area and the main focus of the day will be to get there safely, get checked in and setup, and get off my feet.

Ironman Augusta – 4 days to go

Taper week is flowing.  Still had to work around the floods in Atlanta this week so Tuesday only got 45 minutes on a stationary bike instead of 70 minutes as planned.  Wednesday had 1950 meters in the pool and a 38 minute run with 18 minutes at a high exertion rate.  The sun came back yesterday and the heat and humidity have skyrocketed, so the run was a good sweat.  My HR was a bit higher than normal, but finished well.  Today I was able to get in an easy 45 minutes on the bike outside, which is what I was scheduled to do.  Only a swim tomorrow and a short (20min) ride Saturday with a run of about 5 minutes to keep the blood flowing.  Then Sunday is race day.

My goals for the race are now set.  I will be ecstatic with anything under 5:45 for my first 70.3, and I have a set goal of 6 hours even.  I won’t be disappointed with any time, as long as I finish feeling well, but 6 hours is about what I expect to hit.  My goal times are:

SWIM: 1.2 miles, 30 minute goal.  I should be able to hit this swimming with a current, and in a wetsuit.   Main goal is to get strong about after about 5 minutes and never feel like I have too much exertion during the swim.  If my HR gets high enough to loose my breathing pattern I am going too hard.

T1: 3 minutes.  Not too sure what to expect with 3400 racers, but my time group is in the first 30 minutes of start waves, so I think 3 minutes should cover it here.

BIKE: Based on the course reviews I have read it, looks to be a fast course with the capability of causing you to hit it too hard and loose your legs for the run.  I am going to go conservative and shoot for a 3 hour 15 minute ride which would work out to 17.2 mph average over the 56 miles.  The bike is going to be the part where I may be able to shave off some time, so a secondary goal would be 3 hours even which would be 18.6 mph average.  If I can hit that mark I will be in a good spot.  My main goal on the bike is to take it easy for the first half, and keep the HR in my Zone 3 (of 5).  Somewhere close to the 2 hour mark I will let my HR get a bit higher as at that point the perceived exertion is not as hard in the higher Zone 3 and lower Zone 4 areas.  Look for some speed at this point, and since the last 7 miles are mostly downhill I can get my average up without burning out.

T2: 3 minutes

RUN: 2 hour 5 minutes for 13.1 miles.  That would be a 9:32 pace.  Based on my last official runs being in the mid 8 minute range for a 10K, if I take it easy (close to 10min/mile pace) for the first half then slowly pick it up over the second half I should be OK with this time.  If I can have negative mile splits from miles 7, 8, 9 and 10 and hold it there to the finish I will hit this time.  Last two miles I want to make sure that I have left nothing in reserve at the finish.

TOTAL TIME BASED ON GOALS: 5 hours 59 minutes

Bike Preview

Here is a great preview of the bike course that gets the appetite going.  Looks like it should be a steady, if not fast, course. http://all3sports.net/?p=235 .  I just need to keep my pacing right and go for it in certain spots.  I have two other co-workers doing the race and a few other acquaintances, and the advice I have received from the experienced guys is to pace for the run, and let it all hang there.  If you can accelerate across the finish you left too much on the course.

Right now my weight is in the 191-193 range, and I am hoping to be at 189.9 or under by race day.  I have a good idea of what I need during the race to eat and fuel, and just have to keep an eye on the forecast for the next few days.

This afternoon will be a 70 minute ride, tomorrow has a swim and run, and the week gets real light after that.  Only a 45 min ride Thursday and short swim on Friday.  I am finalizing my goals for the race and will put them up tomorrow so I can see how I feel going in versus how I actually perform.

Augusta Ironman 7 days to go

Last week of prep, more or less.  It has been awful weather here in Atlanta and was only able to get outside once this weekend for a 8 mile run.  Missed the ride scheduled, but at this point I don’t think there is anything left to do. I have a slow schedule this week and hit the road Saturday morning.  The final tally for the race will be 3400 competitors, so this will be the largest transition I have ever seen!

We have some serious flooding here in Atlanta, and have taken almost 1 and 1/2 feet of water since last Tuesday.  Thankfully it looks like most of the rain has avoided Augusta, and the river levels are OK there.  About a mile from my house the Chattahoochee River is at a 100 year high.

10 days to go

The last week has been very productive and I am feeling a bit more confident because of it. I did finish last Wednesday (the 9th) with a 40 min run covering 4.58 miles, 22 minutes of it at high exertion rate. Most of that time was in the mid 7 min/mi range, and felt like good work for a short run. Since I had missed a few rides the weekend before on vacation, I went back to the Silver Comet Trail on Thursday and did my peak ride for this training period of 62 miles at 3h 30 min. I was doing my best to keep the pace easy as I had an Olympic distance race in two days, and that converted over to about 17.7 mph for the duration. Another thing I was working on with this ride was testing nutrition (gels specifically), and I think that my every 45 minute rate might be a bit light on the bike portion. I was able to burn 2500 calories on this ride, and with gels at the beginning and every 45 minutes I replaced 500 of those calories with Gels over the ride. I am going to shorten the gap to 35 minutes on the bike, and keep it at 45 minutes on the run. Last Friday I dropped my planned workouts and did a nice and easy 20 minute treadmill run to keep warm for the race on Saturday.

So instead of a 2h50min brick on Saturday and a 2700 swim and 40 minute run Sunday, I subbed those for a Olympic Distance Triathlon Saturday morning, The Tugaloo Triathlon. I did this race last year as my first Olympic, and had a pretty tough time of it. I wanted to get at least one race beyond a sprint distance prior to the 70.3. Saturday Morning got out the door at a respectable 4:30 and hit the road for a ride to the state line.

Got to the race, setup and was ready to go. I over seeded myself a bit in the swim, so I ended up with the 65th starting place (this is a staggered start, no waves). My goals for the race were 28 minute swim (1500 meters), 1h 25min bike (26 miles), and 60 minute run (10-k). This would get me in at 2:57:00 with 3min 30 seconds for transitions. Last year I was not in condition for the race and ended up with a time of 3:31:24 . This was pretty poor and got me 63 out of 70 in my age group, and 421 overall out of 470. My goal was to try and get under 3 hours, confirm racing nutrition, and replicate my Sandestin improvements from last month.

I met all of those goals. My time was even better than hoped for of 2:43:01, and was good for 25 of 56 in my age group and 144th overall. A 48 minute improvement over last year! Swim dropped from 31:16 to 26:41, Bike from 1:33:38 to 1:18:34 (16.7mph to 19.9mph), and the run from 1:21:24 to 53:44. That run was almost a 5 min per mile improvement (granted I was cramping and walked a lot last year). Felt great as well and was passing lots of people in the last mile when I picked up my pace. I thought the day was a total success and underscored the work I have been doing. By no means do I expect Augusta to be easy at all, but I know I can do it nonstop at a steady rate of work.

This week started the semi-taper, and combined with some awful weather all week I have cut back some of the work. Tuesday was a 40minute ride on the trainer (instead of scheduled 1h 20min), Wednesday got in the scheduled 2350m in the pool and a 44 min run (4.8m) with 24 minutes at threshold pace. Yesterdays bike was scrapped since it has been pouring rain (I still have a nice 2h 45min ride on Saturday scheduled). Today I got in a 30 min run (3.3 miles) with some sprints at the end, and also another 700 yards in the pool. I missed some of the volume this week, but you are not going to loose any fitness over the final two weeks, and I have enough work ahead tomorrow with the ride, and Sunday with the run (1h 20min) to keep active. I will update how those go soon.

This next week is the final work leading up. After Sunday I go to full taper mode with two short bikes, two short swims, and one short run leading up to a day off Saturday and the big day Sunday. This weekend will be working out a food plan for the week, stocking up on in-race supplies, and getting my mind ready for the challenge.

On a side note, my 7 year old was able to participate in her first triathlon this past weekend at IronKids Alpharetta. She did a great job, and showed some great perseverance when her tire went flat coming out of transition. The bike crew got her changed within a few minutes and instead of tears, she was able to suck up the disappointment and finish strong!

weekend catch-up

Hilton Head was a great trip and I didn’t totally crush the diet, only with the dinners!  I didn’t get the ride in I was looking for, as time with the family at the beach came first.  Not a big deal as I am moving my last long (>3h) ride to this Thursday.  That will give me a 3h 30 min and a 2h 45 min ride over the next 10 days before my taper week, and should keep the legs fresh.

I did manage to get in a sunrise 6 miler on the beach with some sprints at the end on Saturday.  Averaged 9:21 mi/min over the run, but definitely had some leg fatigue that I am not accustomed to.  Even with the wide Atlantic beaches being very firm, that sand still makes you use some extra muscles that asphalt does not call for, so I will attribute it to that.  Also walked 18 holes carrying my bag on Sunday for some good recovery work, carrying weights for about a 5 mile loop on the golf course.  I only had two fried seafood dinners over the four days, so that was an accomplishment.  My weight is still at 194lb, so if I can get down under 190 by race morning I will be happy.  Overall a great trip with some very valuable beach time with the family.

This is week 18 of 20 in the plan, and yesterday (Tuesday) started with a 1h 20min bike ride with 28 minutes at threshold pace. I had two significant climbs in the ride so that threw a bit more legwork in the ride.  Today at lunch I fit in 2300 yards in the pool with a main set of 600 meters + 5 x 150m at slightly below max effort.  No problem at all on the 150’s, other than some fatigue at the end, but that is to be expected.  Hard to believe that 5 x 75’s were difficult to get thru not 5 weeks ago.  Tonight I need to squeeze in a 42 min run and hit the road for a long ride tomorrow.

Workout Jigsaw Puzzle

Yesterday was a busy day because I am wrapping up work before my day off tomorrow and packing for the weekend in Hilton Head.  Lunch was 2400 meters in the pool with some drills etc, but the main work consisting of 4 x 400’s at threshold and 5 x 50 sprints. This is supposed to be a bike day only, but had to cram in the swim since I am on the road tomorrow without a pool. 

After work did a hybrid of my Tuesday and Thursday scheduled rides.  I got in a 90 minute ride with about 14 minutes at lactate threshold, and the rest just at long ride pace.  Now I need to go load the car and hit the road.  Let’s hope the diet holds up over the weekend.  Have two long workouts scheduled.

September 2

Due to family scheduling I had to watch the kids last night so my 1h 15min threshold ride had to be scrapped.  Since I have Thursday and Saturday long rides ahead no big deal.

This morning (Wednesday) I hit the road at 5am for a threshold run over 40 minutes.  10 minutes of warm-up, 20 minutes at threshold (highest effort without straining), and 10 minutes to cool down.  Covered 4.3miles over the 39 minutes, so the average pace was 9:03. During the 20 minutes at threshold I was in the 7-8min/mile pace, which for me is moving.  Felt good until the last 5 minutes but pushed thru.  Since the painful part is where you get better, it was a solid workout.

Late lunch at the pool for a 2350 meter swim with warm-ups/drills for the first 500m, 600m at medium intensity, 5 150 meter hard intervals, and a 500 meter cool down.  Took 49m 51 sec for the entire workout, including the 1m 15sec rests between the 5 intervals.  Swim feels strong.

Weekend Wrap-up

OK.  So a nice solid long weekend passed, even with dealing with some weather as well.  I decided to go long on Saturday with the ride and Sunday with the run, even though this was supposed to be a recovery week.  Was able to sleep in and hit the road at 8:30am and did 53 miles over 3 hours.  Felt good, had a nice combo of flats early and some hills late, and never got the HR into the 90% range.  Sunday was going to be a 1h/2h brick since I needed a long run, but it rained all day long.  About 6pm the rain stopped, the clouds stayed, and I hit the road at 7:30 for a 2h 06m run.  I only covered 11.75 miles so ran at a 10:46 clip, but the goal was a low exertion long run.  My heart rate only was out of zone 3 once on a nice 500ft climb over .75 miles.  That is a killer hill at mile 8.  Good news was I felt very strong at the end and could have put another few miles on with little exertion.

Goal for the weekend was to make up the long ride & run missed last weekend, but not kill myself heading into two tough weeks.  Mission accomplished.

Rest is good?

This is my last recovery week before the last four week push, and also marks the first time I have had weather issues all summer.  No ride Tuesday or Thursday due to rain, and had to to two lunch combo swim/run workouts to keep it indoors.  Today’s workout (Friday) I felt much fresher than Wednesday and had a solid mile swim/5 mile run combo at lunch over a 90 minute workout.

These recovery weeks have been a tough concept for me to accept, other than the fact that my body tells me they work.  The 3 week hard, 1 week recovery cycle has made a difference as I can tell.  Mentally you are debating all week that laying off so much for so long is going to set you back, but somehow you come back with that much more for the next phase.  I never noticed this much in my shorter distance training plans in previous years, but obviously when you step up the volume for a half-ironman rest becomes a key component (as backwards as that seems).  Since I skipped two short (1h) rides this week I am going to stretch Saturdays ride to from 90 minutes to 3 hours.  Also have a brick planned for Sunday that by the plan should be 1h 30min ride + 50 min run, but I am going to do 1hr + 2 hour run.  I missed a 1h 50min run last Sunday travelling, so I need a long run since it has been a few weeks since the last run over 90 minutes.  Oh yes, also have to get another 2000 meters in the pool Sunday as well.

Hopefully the weather holds off and we log some nice mileage this weekend.  Next week should be back to the plan as written with four weeks to go from this Sunday.

Catching Up Part 4

OK. Now the final catch up to get current. Last week 8/17-8/24 was the final week of build phase 2 before a recovery week. Since I had scheduled a race for Saturday I had to drop one run, and one swim and shift a few workouts. Tuesday’s 1h 10min ride was scrapped and spent packing. I moved Wednesday’s 2300 meter swim to Tuesday. Wednesday I did the longer of the two midweek runs (scheduled for Friday) of 1hour (with sprints at the end) and scrapped the scheduled Wednesday run of 40 minutes. We got to Florida on Wednesday night and Thursday morning went out for the long ride that is normally on Saturday. Although scheduled for 3h 15min I shortened it my 45 min to cover 43 miles. One thing that I forgot about coastal riding is the wind is a significant factor when it is in your face. It was like riding the second half of the ride uphill the entire time, and really was a good leg workout. Friday was off, so no swim or run and Saturday was the Sandestin Triathlon.

This is one of my favorite races for a few reasons. The length is a bit longer than a sprint at ½ mile swim, 20 mile bike and 4 mile run. One of my favorite things is that it is an open gulf swim with a mass wave start so you get the great Gulf of Mexico water along with a bit of the chaos in the water that you miss with a staggered start race.

I felt very strong on the swim and was out of the water at about 14:30. With a little cross current the entire time I was pleased with the time and felt like I never exerted much during the swim. The run to the transition is out of the beach, up a boardwalk, and into the parking lot so the posted time was a little longer since the timing mats are not until you get to the end of the boardwalk. Thankfully this year there were no jellyfish like 2007. My official swim time was posted at 15:58 where my goal was set at 15min.

The bike was downwind to the turnaround and I was moving at a nice 22-25mph pace the entire time. After the turnaround speed dropped to close to 20mph, but I was able to maintain and pin it into the wind to beat my goal of sub 55min bike time. My posted time on the 20 mile bike was 53:42 which was a 22.3mph average. I was very happy with this since I am a 19mph average rider on my training rides.

The run was a nice out and back 4 miler on golf paths and the road inside the Sandestin resort. It took about 7-8 min to get my legs and I really felt like I took it slow the first two miles so I could accelerate to the finish. I ended up running a little faster than I felt. I would have guessed a low 9 min pace, but my actual time on the run came in at 34:17 which was an 8:34 min/mile pace. I was very pleased and felt strong at the end.

My total time on the race this year was 1.47:38. My goal was set at 1h 46 min without transition times so I was pleased with the result since it had been almost a year since my last real race. The real fun was comparing this year’s results with 2007 results (2008 race was cancelled due to Hurricane Fay). Race place improved from 448^th place to 135^th place overall (out of 700), with age group place moving from 63^rd out of 78 to 24^th out of 74. My swim time dropped by 1min 49 seconds, bike time dropped by 7min 50 seconds, and run time dropped by 10min 14 seconds. The only time that didn’t drop was my T2 which I blazed in 2007 at 52 seconds. I was a bit slower (due to my number belt breaking) at 1min 21 seconds this year. The overall time improvement from 2007 race to 2009 race was 20 minutes and 4 seconds. Huge improvement in a short race. Obviously by percentage gain relative to time, my run was the most improved. I think that my pre-training half marathon and run base has really helped out looking at these numbers.

I ended up missing my scheduled long run on Sunday of 1h 40min and shortened that to a 40 min run before leaving Florida and heading back home.  The plan is to make up for that by making my brick run next Sunday 2 hours instead

Catching Up Part 3

August has brought along many challenges and has been a great month in the training cycle. As we inch a little closer to the race the long rides and runs are adding that last bit of length, the intervals on the short midweek work are getting longer and more challenging, but I feel like I am responding well to it. As I write this I am currently in the recovery week associated with August, so I have been a little worn out. Not to mention that I did compete in my first race of this year the Sandestin Triathlon (more on that later) .

The first two full weeks this August started stretching total workout times to 9-11 hours per week. The swimming is running 2200-2600 meters with a lot of speed intervals during the midweek and the longer constant swims on the weekend swim. Since the actual swim in the race will only be a little over 1930 meters I feel like my swims are there. These intervals now are all about adding speed. The runs are still the same midweek interval and speed runs, but those shorter runs are not 45min to an hour, with the longest run over these two first weeks of 1h 30min covering 8.5 miles. I am still a bit concerned about the run of 13.1 miles in the race, so I plan on extending a few of the long runs over the next weeks even longer. If I follow the training plan to a T, I will only max out at a 2h run, which will not be a full half-marathon at my pace. The bike is really starting to get long with a 3 hour and 2hour 45 min ride over these weeks as well. I have also tried to add a few runs if only for a 10min period just to keep the legs used to converting after such a long ride. In addition there was one decent length brick in there on 8/16 with an 1h 30min ride and 40 minute run. This was a day after a 2h 30 min ride and also after a morning swim of 2000 yards. Surprisingly I felt very strong on the brick. This brought me into last week which was a bit modified since I was adding a race on Saturday instead of a scheduled 3h 30min ride. More on that in the next Catching Up post.

Catching Up Part 2

July brought along the build phase of the plan and the workouts stepped up considerably. I also made a conscious effort to not miss any workouts if at all possible. If I did skip a workout it was normally the swim on Sundays since that would take me away from the house for a long period of time on the weekend time. Also, my swim is pretty well established so if I had to pick one discipline to skip that was the one. This new training period brought forth the schedule I have been on for the last 7 weeks as well. Tuesday and Thursday bike rides added speed work and hills to the 1 to 1:30 rides, and the Wednesday and Friday runs added intervals on Tuesdays and sprints on the end of the run on Fridays. The real work was on Saturday and Sunday mornings with the long rides in July extending from 2h 20min to 2h 50min where I was now covering close to 50 miles on the ride. The longer runs on Sundays started creeping into the 1h 20min range covering the mid 7 mile length depending on how I felt. Those long runs are a lot more difficult when you had a 3 hour ride the day before, and a swim on the same day as the run, but they call it the build phase for a reason. The end of July brought the first recovery week of the build phase to close the month out. Looking at July as a whole, the first three full weeks featured 8 workouts on average with total training time creeping from 6 hours the first week up close to 8:30 in the second and third week. The recovery week at the end was a nice break with the time brought down to a restful 5h 30 min of training to close out build period 1.

At the end of July I was tired, but felt very strong kicking into August. This was the first time I have really experienced what a recovery week can do for you in a training cycle as the beginning of Build 2 I felt much stronger than in previous weeks. As they say, rest is the key to adding endurance. Also, in July I finally got below the 200lb mark for the first time in almost 10 years, and can definitely see the difference now in body composition.

Catching Up Part 1

Another long timeframe between posts, but this one was at least warranted. The last 2 ½ months of training have run the gamut from being excited to being bored and being fresh, and most importantly being tired. Combine all that with the normal trappings of work, summer with the kids home, and the rest of a normal life it has been a grind, but an enjoyable one. However that grind has also kept me from staying on top of things here. Now that I am entering the peak phase over the next few weeks and tapering I will try to give a daily update again.

The workout plan I am using has the classic periodization format, and up until the end of June the work was all still in the base phase with lots of mid distance slower work. I was still a bit complacent during that month as well with the consistency of the work but felt good and established by the end of June for the tougher work ahead. My weeks were mostly in 2:30 to 5 hour total training times with the longest workouts being around an hour on the runs, 2 hours on the bike and 1700 meters in the pool. As the month closed out I was working to the annual Peachtree Road Race on July 4^th to get a gauge on where my run base was.

July started with an easy week leading up to the Peachtree Road Race on Friday July 4^th. This also coincided with the end of week 8 of the plan (the last week of the base period), so I was still taking it easy and not hitting every workout. My normal Peachtree time has always been between an hour to 1:10, partly because I always ran a 10min mile pace, and also because I normally ran with a group of people and our goal was to have a good morning, not necessarily a good time. My goal was a sub 56 minute time and I ended up running a 55 flat time which was an 8:52 pace. For me that was a good time and I was pleasantly surprised with a sub 9 min pace. Here is a view of the race from my watch, with elevation, HR and pace on the grid.

I am alive!

Well, delays and a crazy spring have kept me very busy wrapping up the school year and heading into the summer.  The ING race went well with a final time I was a bit disappointed in of 2:20.  At the 9 mile mark I was right on pace and felt great, but the last four miles were mostly uphill, and my lack of hill training caught up to me and slowed the pace down.  All in all it was a good day and the run with my friends Dawn and Michelle was great.  My goal in the beginning was to try and become more proficient at the run, and enjoy it.  I can say unequivocally that I met those goals.  The main thing now is that I enjoy my running workouts and look forward to them.  I think that incorporating speed work for the first time has paid great dividends, and now 10 min per mile is my warm-up pace, not my race pace.

The past two months involved a nice week off in Florida after the ING, and two four week cycles of a build program in my triathlon training.  I am swimming about 4,000 yards a week, running about 4 hours and biking about 4 hours.  Next week begins the first real strenuous test in training and the updates will begin again.

I am officially entered in the Augusta Half Ironman, and have four other friends who are in the race along with me.  One of them is a full Ironman already, one has completed several half-Ironman's, and the other is a newbie (he is a 3:10 marathoner already).  Needless to say I am the least accomplished of the group.

I am also thinking about using the race as an opportunity to raise funds for a group who assists visually impaired athletes compete in triathlon.  The Augusta race will be the debut of Operation Refocus from the C Different Foundation .  This group will consist of visually impaired veterans and I think it is a great cause.  I will update a little later as to what the plan is, but I think that raising money for a group like this should be an easy ask.

Lastly, a health update.  I have finally broken the mythical 200 barrier.  I have not weighed less than 200 since before I was married (1998), and mostly stayed around the 205-210 region.  My “winter coat” this year had me at close to 220 in January before my run training began.  This week I clocked in at 199.6 lb.  That is a big milestone for me, and I would love to be close to 190 by race day.  I am also doing ab work as well as some quick circuit lifting while at the gym.  I feel great an look forward to the challenge that training will bring over the next few months.

Ready To Go

One day to go and all looks well for Sunday's half marathon. It has been raining for three days straight but the forecast calls for showers to end Saturday and race day low of 47 and high of 56, so good running conditions as long as we don't get any rain. I am shooting for a sub 2:10 time for my first half, and will be a bit disappointed if I come in over 2:15. I will take some photos and video along the run and post Sunday night.

One week to go

One week to go to the half marathon and then after a week of leisure at the beach the real training begins for Augusta this fall. I started with the idea of working on my worst discipline, running, and getting that base out of the way first. I can now say that I feel like this has been a good start to what will be challenging season this year. Employing some speeedwork for the first time ever in my running has allowed me to get my miles per minute average down below 10 min on all my runs, so I am shooting for a 2:15 half, and if I feel good I will pick it up at the end and try for 2:10. Overall my running and my attitude towards running has greatly improved in the past three months and I am actually enjoying it now.
My training has been on par and I had my first double digit run a week ago of 11 miles in 1h 55min. This last week is a few 2-3 milers with intervals to keep the legs fresh, then the ING Atlanta half marathon on Sunday.

March 11

Nothing big to report since the last update, just keeping the training up. I am scheduled to do my first double digit run Saturday or Sunday of 10 miles so that will be a milestone for me. I have also changed my diet a bit in the last week and a half since I seem to be stuck at the same weight since January. I was a big lunch/big dinner eater, and am trying the 5 small meals/snacks each day. Also have not had a Coke (or anything carbonated) since the month kicked off. So far it has helped me drop 4 more pounds.
I have my car back so that interruption is off, and spring is in the air in Atlanta with some 80 degree days this past week. And we had snow 9 days ago. Crazy weather. We are 2 ½ weeks to go to the ING half marathon then the real plan kicks off for the half-Ironman.

February 22

I got out on the bike for the first time in 2009 on The Silver Comet Trail west of Atlanta. Weather was great and I did a little over 38 miles in close to 2 hours. Temp was in the low 60’s and I felt great up to the last 10 miles. I think the spin classes have definitely helped keep my base thru the winter.

There are some great sections on the trail once you get outside of Atlanta. The Silver Comet was once a train from Birmingham, AL to Atlanta and they have converted the Atlanta to Anniston, AL portion to a ride that can stretch over 100 miles. If you start about 15 miles off the trailhead you don’t get near as much traffic and there are very few street crossings. One of the best rides you can do in this area if you are looking for a ride without any significant climbs. There are also some great trestle crossings over 100ft up from the ground and this 700 foot tunnel at Brushy Mountain.

Good ride to start off the year. Scheduled to do a 8 mile run today so we shall see how that goes following the ride today.

February 16

It has been a crazy and trying two weeks since the last update. I have somehow managed to keep the training despite the fact that my 1999 Tahoe finally died on me after 220,000 miles. Our family has turned into a one car family for a few weeks here as we work to a solution. New engine or Used Car? Neither is a good option, but we probably will keep the old Hoe’ as it has been around as long as our family. Then this past weekend my wife came down with a strep/flu combo, so I was tasked with taking care of a 2 and 6 year old for the weekend as soon as my regular job ended on Friday evening. I did still manage to get my Sunday run in somehow!
I can really tell a difference in my running already by incorporating Intervals and some other drills in my mid-week runs. I have mentioned before that I have always been a plodder at 10min/mile, but my last two runs over four miles have had sub 10/min averages over the entire run including a 37:50 four miler this past Thursday. That one really surprised me as I felt like I was taking it pretty easy the entire run. As I have started running more regularly than I have even with my past triathlon training I have noticed that even if I struggle, once I get to about the four mile mark I am starting to feel good and can keep up a strong pace and stay in a lower HR zone. This is exactly what I was hoping for in this half-marathon plan. If I can get the run base there then all of my other swim and bike training should be a bit easier
I have also managed to hit the pool at least once each week, but I have skipped on a few spin classes the past two weeks. I plan on picking those back up this week.
I logged a short week the first week of Feb with only two runs at a total of 8 miles. Last week I hit all my goals with a 4.7 mile interval run on Tuesday, a 1000 yard swim that evening, a 4 mile run with intervals then another mile of GP’s on Thursday, and finally a 6 miler on Sunday. The 6 miler on Sunday was pretty tough as I incorporated some significant hills, but I felt like I could have gone farther when I was finished. I am slated for 20-24 miles this coming week with a 8 miler on Sunday, so let’s see how that goes.

February 2

Another week down and the actual half marathon plan has started. The basic outline will be Tuesday, Thursday drill runs, Saturday intermediate run, and a Sunday long run until the end of March. I want to make at least one spin class and one day of long swimming each week as well as leave open space for one additional spin or swim each week. I also picked up my new toy, the Polar RS800 watch, so I now have a new heart rate monitor. It also has GPS for plotting distances and some sweet software that plots your pace, heart rate, and distance over your workout. You can graph these results over time so it will be interesting to see how my efficiency improves over time this year.
To last week’s efforts. Last Tuesday I covered 4 miles on the treadmill with 5 one minute intervals after the 20 minute point. I felt good during the entire workout. I followed that with a 45 minute spin class on Wednesday, then another run Thursday. That was a GP run (gentle pickups). I did 4 miles at easy pace then you run 5GP’s where you first get your heart rate to recovery (139 or below for me) and then run 100 yards while increasing your pace then holding the max pace for another 20 yards. Five of those brought my total run distance to 5 miles even. I was struggling a bit on the regular part of the run, but really enjoyed the GP stage. I did nothing Friday or Saturday, as I had kid duty with my wife out of town all weekend, but when she returned Sunday I got out and did a 7 mile endurance run. I covered the 7 miles right at 1h10min, so kept a steady pace and felt like I could go farther. That is the longest run distance I have done in quite some time so I was pleased.
I am very curious to see how much my running improves following a training plan that has interval work in addition to just logging miles. I think I have always been a slow runner because all I have ever done is log miles, no speed work before. If I can get down closer to a 9 mile/min pace by the half marathon that will be a great sign of improvement and my worst triathlon discipline, running, will be set for the year. That is the hope right now.

January 24

Do you know how in your mind you picture a good workout or result and when it comes time to deliver you just don’t have it? For some reason that has been the sum of my week. Earlier in the week I had some sessions where I just didn’t feel like I had the gas to get thru a very easy workout. Same thing yesterday with my swim. I had 1,000 yards scheduled (which should be easy) and did complete it in 23 minutes, but it was a difficult finish. That could also be contributed to the fact that my company bought us Chinese Food for lunch and of course I indulged about 90 minutes prior to hitting the water. So after promising to eat a good dinner in preparation for my Saturday run what do we do? We go out with a few other families and have some beers and Mexican! It was good, but once again not the best of willpower.
My intentions this morning were to do at least 6 miles easy, but when the alarm went off, the first thing I did was hit snooze, and second thing was I debated my sanity as to why I want to get up at 6am on one of the few days I can sleep in. However the overall goal got me out of the bed within 15 minutes. Once I was up and caffeinated I realized it was raining so I changed my plan of action. The run today was only 3 miles but I did it at 29min, which for me is good. Any sub 10 minute mile time is a good pace, but for three miles I will take it every day. I qualify for the plodder club, not the gazelle club but I hope that plays into my cards for the longer distance race later this year.
So the goal for the last month and a half has been to get out, load up on some easy pace workouts in all three disciplines, and get on a semi schedule to prep for the year. Any improvements in fitness or form were an afterthought. Now the fun begins. Next Tuesday I start the “official” plan for the year with a 9 week half-marathon workup for the ING Atlanta in March. After a week off from that it’s off to the full 70.3 plan. I am looking forward to it all, but I think I am coming closer to grips as to the challenge that is ahead. I am not a gifted high speed runner or cyclist, and it is going to take a lot of patience to get where I need to be. However I am fully confident that I will get there and work thru the challenges of time, training, family, and reality.

January 21

It has been a little more than a week since the last update and a lot has happened. Not all that much on the training end, but small things like a new President for our country among other things. Hopefully the refreshed leadership will roll over to refresh my diet. Who knows!
Since the last update I have been able to do a few varieties of spin/swim and spin/run. I am going to try and run for a few minutes after all my rides even if it is not a formal brick. I had a real hard time at Tugaloo last year coming off the bike and into the run and it kept me from hitting any kind of stride during the entire run. We shall see. I would like to have had more workouts over the past 11 days, but I had a sales conference that took up 2 ½ days last week, combined with a trip out of town last weekend. I still feel good about my workload since this is really more about waking up the body at this point in time, not about serious planned work.
So, since my last update on 1/6 I have had 6 workouts. The 7th was a 45min spin class and 250m in the pool. (I wanted to hit 500 but did not feel good in the pool that day). The 8th was 3.1 miles on the treadmill with some intervals at 6.6, 7.0, 7.6, and 8.0 mph; total run time was 31 minutes. On the 10th I was able to get out on the road for a 5 miler. The 12th had my second spin class of the year (45 min) and did 10 minutes running after. The 16th I was able to run a mile and then swim my first mile of the year (30:19). The swim felt great, but I was coasting most of the time, not pushing the pace at all. This Monday I also got another 45 min spin class with a 10 min run after and felt good as well.
I will drop back in later this week and update.

2009 is here

Just to log the rest of last week, had a nice 3 mile run on the 30th with some pool time on the 31st then packed it in until this week. Start of the new year with new position at work and getting some meetings out of the way kept me off the train until today. I did 35 minutes on the treadmill with most of the time at 5.6mph, but did about four total minutes at 6.6mph and a two minute segment at 7.6 mph. My first official interval work of the year.
I entered the ING half marathon officially so the run base time has started. The real training plan does not start until the last week of January so I will keep the 3, 3, long pattern up until then. I will combine in a weekly spin and once or twice in the pool to keep it all fresh on top of the running. I am very hopeful that having this base under me before the actual half-iron plan starts will make a big difference. Running has been my least favorite discipline so getting it out of the way should make everything somewhat smoother.
Now the hard part, I need to put my beginning stats as far as weight to see what exactly this does for me over the year. I hit the digital scale at the gym and came in at a nice even 215. If I can be close to 190-195 for the race I will be very happy. 200 has always been a barrier I can’t seem to break so that would be a nice bonus. We will see how it goes with a monthly weight update at the beginning of the month.