Augusta 70.3 2010

Year two for me in the Augusta 70.3 race.  Once again this was my peak race for the year after Alcatraz, and the fitness work up over the last month went very well.

Overall race conditions this year were much different than 2009.  On Saturday before the race the sun was out, temps were in the mid 90’s and it was brutally humid.  The forecast called for a front to move through overnight and bring rain all day on race day.  The rain did come (mostly on the bike), but the main front did not get into town until later in the day so we ended up with mid-80’s temps along with high 80% humidity + rain showers.  A good learning experience for hydrating when you don’t feel the need, more on that later.

The goal for this year was to bring in a time under 5:30, and with a great run maybe 5:15-ish.  That would require shaving some Transition time off last year as well as a little quicker bike, but most importantly a much faster run.  I felt like I could turn in a 1:55-2h run in this race based on my training.

The swim was almost identical to last year.  I did the course in 25:07 and it was a very easy swim.  Other than vision problems with my goggles fogging up all was good.  I did lose about 20 seconds off of last years swim time, but nothing to worry about.  T1 time dropped to 3:55 from last years 5min plus.  Considering the fact we had everything covered in plastic and it was raining pretty steadily at that time I was very happy with the times.

Out on the bike I felt very strong this year, and the times improved to show it.  Total time was 2:45:38 which came out to a 20.3 mph average for the 56 miles.  This part of the race was where the majority of the rain came down.  It was a pretty light drizzle for the first half, but between miles 30-50 it was really coming down hard.  We had some hairy descents and turns, and a few packs to deal with who were drafting, but it was a pretty clean ride.  I did lose my computer close to mile 45 when I hit a big bump in the road, so I was blind as to speed the last 10 miles.  Not sure if that hurt or helped but I pulled in a 6 minute improvement over last year’s time.  As for nutrition, this is also where I was hurt the most.  I did take my GU every 45 minutes like I prefer to, but I ended up only drinking about 1 and 3/4 bottles of water and sports drink on the bike portion.  Riding in the rain I felt hydrated and did not notice the humidity.  That would come back to bite me on the run.

T2 was 2:34, so I lost about 10 seconds off last year, but I had some unique packing to deal with.  With the rain I had bagged my running shoes and changed into dry socks as well, so not too shabby for all the extra work to do.

With all of my offseason running and pace improvements the run is where I was expecting to improve the most.  My goal here was a sub-2hour half marathon and my conditioning (I thought) was there.  First three miles clicked off some 8:30 miles while feeling like I was taking it easy.  Legs and heart felt great and I was feeling a good setup for the run.  About mile 5 I felt some quad cramping but was able to maintain a steady pace, however it took two to three aid stations to get enough fluids in me to get rid of the cramps.  Pace was good as I passed the finish line and entered the dead zone of the course before you loop the second time.  This is where I started to feel some fatigue and ended up taking two 30 second walk breaks.  This is where my run was broken.  From here on out I probably had a minute of walking every 10 minutes and just could not get a rhythm going.  We don’t have the 7 mile split times available yet, but I am very curious to see the actual pace on first half and second half to see how much I lost.  Anyhow, this is one mentally draining run because the straits are sooooo long and monotonous and I just struggled to feel good the entire second loop.  I was pretty pissed but it happens.  My final time on the run came in at 2:11:48 for a 10:04 min/mile pace on the run.  Not at all what I was expecting after the past year of run improvements.

I finished 14 minutes and 42 seconds ahead of last years pace and the finishing percentages were a bit better (except the bike).  Overall I finished in 1,061st place of 2,536 total finishers, so in the 41st percentile overall.  That was a five point percentile drop over last year.  Swim rank was 276 overall (15%), Bike was 986 overall (38%), and run was 1450 overall (57%).  I did get into the top half of my age group this time finishing 178th of 380 in the M35-39 group (46%).

Summer Update

As you can see another decent gap in the updates, mostly due to the summertime craziness of kids, training, and mini vacations all rolled together.  I have done two triathlons and one 10K since the last update and two of the three went pretty well.

First up is the West Point Olympic Triathlon that was June 13th.  I wanted a mid-season race so this filled the bill.  Great setting and production from one of the local RD’s in the area, but the day was made tough by the crazy heat and humidity.  Lake temp was announced at 89 degrees before the swim, so it was like bath water.  I had a good 1.5k swim going until the very end where I started having hamstring cramps in the water.  This is the first time I have ever cramped up on a swim, so I had to stop and roll over to stretch out.  Came out of the water in 27:45 even with the delay and had a decent 40K bike split of 1:14:26.  Then it got tough.  The run on this course is an out and back 10K with miles 3 – 5 running across the dam for Lake West Point, turning around and back across it.  At this point in time the temp had crawled up into the mid 90’s and this three mile section was totally exposed, with no breeze and very high humidity.  I have never seen as many walkers in a run portion of a race in my life.  With only 343 finishers, this race brings in mostly decent athletes and everyone struggled with this run.  My 10K time came in at 1:03:55, and I was just glad to get finished.  Total time was 2:49:09, with an average race time across the field of 2:51:28.  So needless to say it was a slow race.  This one was a lesson in adapting goals and surviving.  I wanted to break 2:30 and had to adjust to 2:35 on the bike, then just worry about finishing once the run started.

The Peachtree Road Race was up next as the annual July 4th 10K race here in Atlanta, and with a good seed we were able to start right up front with the Kenyans.  My goal coming in was to break 48, and I would have been happy with a sub 47 min time.  I came in at 46:59 to set another 10K PR for me with a 7:33 min/mile pace.  Felt good most of the way, had to kick in at the end with the hills but a very solid performance for me.  Now if I can only pull one of these off at the end of a triathlon.

This weekend was the third time for me at the Mountain Lakes Triathlon in Guntersville Alabama.  This was the first race I did back in 2007 and is a great track.  Along with my wife who had her first race in June at IronGirl Atlanta, we had a total of 8 people from our neighborhood over for this race.  4 of them had never done a triathlon, 3 others only had one under their belt so it was a great time for the rookies as well.   Had a solid swim, a 22mph bike, and a 7:50 split for the 3 mile run, so it was a good race for me at 1:18:46.  This was good for 20th in my AG and somewhere around 112 of 555 men, so I keep moving up a bit in the groups.  Last year this would have gotten me to a top 10 in the AG, but it looks like there were some fast racers there this year.  Still stayed in the top 20% of the race overall, and beat my goal time of 1:19:00 so I cannot complain.

This week starts the 6 week countdown to Augusta 70.3, so peak period begins.  Ill update with some training info later.

Another early race morning

June Update – Base/Race

Been of the blog for a bit and have been fighting to get back on to regular training since San Fran.  I have been fighting a athletes foot infection that turned bacterial on me and has been on my foot and other parts for a good five weeks now.  All the meds and the pain associated with my skin healing, flaking and falling off has been a challenge but we have completed the first four week base phase of my 20 week plan to Augusta 70.3 in September.  Training has gone fairly well and I am only missing one or two of my scheduled 10 to 11 workouts per week.  Since I already have one race under the belt that should not be to much of a detriment to the training.

I am signed up for a race Sunday at Lake West Point in LaGrange, GA, an Olympic distance race.  My goals for the race if I nail it are to break 2:30 which would be a 13 min improvement over my best Olympic Distance time to date.  I would love to get into the top 10 in my age group but looking back at the past two years you need about a 2:26 to to that, and I am not sure my run is there yet.  My goals are:

1500 m swim: 26:00

T1: 1:00

40K Bike: 1:14:00 (20.1 mph)

T2: :45

10K Run: 49:00 (7:53m/min)

That would be a 2:30:45 time.  Lets see how it goes and I will update Monday

Part 3 The Run

One word to describe this run from an east coast perspective, Epic.  This is by far the most difficult portion of the race.  The hills, steps, sand, sand stairs, more hills, and downhill's make it so.  Not to mention you run right along the bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge, out to the outer bay/Pacific Ocean and back.  People who get to run on these trails are spoiled.

The run has pavement, crushed gravel, single track flat and with stairs, a tunnel where you have to duck, cliffs, and beach sand.  All that combined with the technical and hilly nature are what make it one of the great runs I have ever been on.

When I came out of transition I was right at 1:40:00 on my watch, so I knew even with a slow 10 minute pace I would coast home under 3 hours. Piece of cake, right?  I didn’t expect to be challenged like I was out there.  We started out on the pavement for a brief moment then headed back out to the beach at Crissy Field.  This part is on crushed gravel and is very firm, and the bay and bridge are right next to you, so lots of ways to check out mentally for a moment.  The sun was nice and high, and temps were pretty warm for San Francisco.  As I turned to run along the beach the leader and winner Hunter Kemper passed me on his way to the finish.  He was motoring.  A few moments later Andy Potts and Macca were in hot pursuit, but were a bit far back to catch him.  Close to the 2 mile mark you hang a left at the end of the beach and the climbing begins.  After the first brief climb you get to run under the Golden Gate Bridge and that was pretty cool.  The path has stairs and single track, and you had to pay attention for the leaders still coming down the hill right on top of you, not to mention your footing.  The pace slowed as it was tough to pass anyone here, but everyone was moving with no walkers.  There was also a tunnel that had about 5 feet of clearance at one side where you really had to get low to clear your noggin.  This total climb up to the road was a little more than a mile in length and had right at 300 feet of climbing.  I was gassed towards the top and started walking for a few seconds.  Thankfully I had a couple of competitors urge me to keep it up and that was enough encouragement to get running again.

We topped out on the road above the ocean and had some shade cover for a few moments.  At the three mile point I checked my split and was surprised to see it at 27 min, so with the tough climb I was already 3 min above needed pace.  I thought surely all that uphill would have slowed it more, but not so.  It was all downhill for about a half mile as we descended past the top of the sand ladder then turned on a winding dirt road that took us all the way down to the beach.  The sand proved a little more difficult than I thought it would be, just hard to get good footing and you definitely felt it in your glutes more than normal running.  After the turnaround it was back down the beach to the sand ladder.

The sand ladder is as tough as you can expect.  I don’t think I saw anyone run for more than a few seconds, as you were already a little uncomfortable from running on that soft sand.  I pulled up a lot on the railing and used as much upper body as possible to save my legs.  The ladder covers .13 miles in distance but rises 123 feet in this quick amount of time.  You just can’t imagine how steep it is unless you are on it.  Once you are at the top you get to climb another 150 feet over the next half mile to top out the uphill portion.  So with the ladder and uphill after it, you are looking at 300 feet in .75 mile, quite a workout.  My split for the sand ladder was 3:24. I started feeling cramping in my quads at this time, I am pretty sure it was effort and not hydration as I was drinking sips of water at most of the aid stations.  My legs just are not used to that much uphill that quickly.  I was actually a bit concerned that it would get worse, but once headed back downhill it was manageable.  I took some cytomax to drink at the next aid station and went back down the drop at Golden Gate Bridge as fast as possible.  I passed a lot of people here, my main goal was to lower my average as much as possible.  At the 6 mile split I was at 2:38, so I ran the first 10K with all those climbs and stairs at a 9:20 pace.  At this point I felt good and turned up the pace.  I had good posture, a decent kick (for me at least) and covered the final two miles around a 8:30 pace to finish the run in 1:11:32 for a 8:57 min/mile pace.  That was good for my total time of 2:54:53, well under my 3-3:15 goal.

So I went in with some attainable goals and with an excellent performance wanted to try and break 3 hours.  Even with the fast swim conditions I still managed to beat that by 5 minutes, so if the bay was choppy I feel like I had enough gas regardless to make that time.  My splits and rankings were:

Overall: 2:54:53  499/1524 overall (33rd percentile), 97 of 226 in my age group

Swim: 29:32  257th overall (17th percentile)

Bike: 1:04:50 (16.7 mph) 650th overall (43rd percentile)

Run: 1:11:32 (8:57 pace) 733rd overall (48th percentile)

Obviously my run is still the weak spot and has the most room for improvement, so speed work here we come.  If I can do this race again you better believe that I will, it was one to stamp in the memory bank.

Part 2 – The Bike

Although we had a chance to preview some of the bike course on Friday it was still a challenging 18 miler.  It started out with a mile or so stretch of flat along the waterfront then a hard left with a 250ft climb to the main road over about a mile and a half.  This first climb did a nice job of getting the heart rate up then gave a nice break with a fast downhill down into the Sea Cliff neighborhood.  That is one swanky area, but you only spend about 2 minutes in it before your next climb into Lincoln Park and up to the Legion of Honor.  This uphill stretch is about 200 feet in a little over a half mile.  Most of the time here you have the Pacific Ocean out on your right, so the views were fantastic.  When I peaked out up at the top you could start to hear the helicopter and soon the pros were passing us coming back in.  Those guys were really huffing it up the hill form the other side of the Legion of Honor as we all flew down past them.  This downhill has a hard right turn at the bottom and then a steep climb up Clement Street towards the beach.  I didn’t get into gear fast enough and ended up dropping my chain here. Thankfully I was able to get off, reengage the chain and get back on with about a minute lost.  That climb setup the fastest section of the course as you dropped back down at Seal Rock and The Cliff House to ride directly on The Great Highway with the Pacific Ocean right next to us.

 

  This downhill and flat allowed some good 30+ mph riding and led us into the Golden Gate Park section of the course.  This area had most of the traditional aero position riding with a few rollers, but still allowed you to get some mph average back up, as well as rest the legs for the biggest climb back up at cliff house & seal rock.  As you exit Golden Gate park you hang a right and start retracing the ride out.  The pacific is over on your left and allows you to let the mind wander before the tough climb back up to the top of Clement Street at the VA Hospital.  This climb is a little less than a mile and gains about 300 feet in elevation.  Hard to replicate that here in Atlanta.  After you reach the top you plummet back down and hang a hard left to climb once more to the Legion of Honor.  I peaked my speed here of 44 mph.  After topping out at the Legion of Honor we flew back down thru the Seal Cliff neighborhood and had one more small climb back up to the Presidio.  We passed the pros on the run here as they were dropping down onto the beach for the sand ladder.  The helicopter was hovering but nobody came up the ladder when I passed it.

From there on in it was all downhill then flat into the transition for T2.  I was hoping for a sub 1:05:00 bike time and a good transition to stay on pace, and ended up with a 1:04:50 bike split and a 2:06 T2.  I was pleased and in good shape, especially losing a minute with the chain issue.  The bike was a lot more technical with the turns climbs and drops than I am used to here in the south, but it is hard to imagine a better short ride in America than this one.

Race Day Part 1 – Setup and Swim

 

The morning started early with a 4am wakeup for shower and prep.  My race partner David and I rode our bikes to the transition setup at about 5 am, it was quite a scene with the dead quiet downtown streets except for a bunch of cyclists.  We took to transition and setup, and thankfully they had numbers on rack positions, not just a range so you knew exactly where to go.  Of course the guy next to me racked his bike backwards, but there was plenty of room to get setup.  Coffees of Hawaii was there bright and early, and before we loaded the buses I was able to get my hands on a cup of joe.  We left for the loading pier and had about an hour before the boat was leaving to hang out on the pier and chat about our prep and mentally prepare for the day.  Boat loading was a breeze, and although they had different areas corralled for age groups, it was pretty much a free for all on the boat.

We circled the island once before parking, and I was a bit surprised at how close we started to the shore.  We were only about 20 yards from the sign up top, so you had a pretty good view to start.  Helicopters were hovering, the national anthem was played and we were ready.  The pros queued up right outside the window we were sitting at and the horn went off at 8am sharp.  It was crazy how fast those guys moved out and in a matter of minutes all you could see was a rooster tail from their pack in the water.

Our rookie mistake here was we were directly in the center of the boat, and it turns out that we were some of the last to get off the boat.  It took almost 7 minutes from the gun for us to get out the door and then the leap of faith.  The guy in front of me took a bit of time to jump, and once they told me to go I took off, unfortunately he was still taking his time coming up form the water and I nearly landed on top of him.  It surprised me how crowded it was in the water to begin, I figured everyone would spread out pretty quickly but for the first 5 minutes it was full contact open water swimming and climbing over people.  Another 5 minutes after that I was able to finally find some open water and lock in on a good rhythm.

The suggestions for sighting and directions tell you to point way left of where you will eventually come out of the water and let the current drag you to the right and towards the finish while you swim across the current.  After about 15 minutes of following this suggestion I stopped in the water to take in the sight and sound of being in San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge to my right, San Francisco to my left, and Alcatraz Island behind me.  I also wanted to get a good idea of where I was in relation to the finish and pick a new line.  I had made a pretty good clip and decided then to bear right and take an aggressive line just to the left of the swim finish.  I took off, started swimming very aggressively and was surprised to get out of the water at a 29:32 split.  You run up the sand an into a mini transition area where your bag awaits for you to leave your wetsuit and put on your secondary pair of running shoes.  Once the shoes are on it is about a half mile run to the main Transition area and I managed to get in there and out on the bike for a total T1 time of 6:33.

My swim goal was anywhere between 42-44 min, and my T1 goal was to be under 7 min if possible.  Even with the very fast swim conditions I blasted the swim and ended up with the 255th fastest time out of 1,564 finishers (1800 started), so I was solid at the 14th percentile there.  Combined with my sub 7 min T1 I started off well toward my “excellent race” goal of a sub 3 hour finish.  Next up the bike.

San Francisco Recap

What a trip. I am going to give a race recap in three parts, pre-race and swim, bike, and run. However it was a resounding success. Without knowing what to expect I was hoping for a 3-3:10 race and ended up coming in at 2:54, so well under my goals. I will break down each portion in the next few posts. The city of SF is one of the best places I have had the chance to visit, and it was even more special getting to spend some time with just my wife sans the kids (which we adore). It has been quite a long time since we have had a vacation with just the two of us.

Flights out of Atlanta went off and bike shipping was a breeze.

Everything arrived in one piece and we had a morning ride the first day and were able to get into the water on Saturday to acclimate to the water. There were a lot of people down there at the water when we did our swim and we were able to chat it up with many of them. We also had a chance to meet some of our fellow competitors from Georgia as well.

Food was great while in town, and we did a lot of the standard tourist things like Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, and the cable cars. The best part outside the race was all of the great meals and adult time we were able to get in.

On Saturday we picked up our packets and got to see some cool bikes, and met some of the pros as well. Macca, Andy Potts, Hunter Kemper were all there as well as Michille Jones. Check out the cammo bike with the antler aerobars at the bottom

Morning swim is done. Water not too bad at all.

San Fran

Today started with a nice prerace ride to get out bearings and check out the hills.  The weather could not be better, not a cloud in the sky.  We did a lot of tourist things later in the day including Alcatraz, which gave us a good idea of what it will be like out on the boat.

Looking forward to the expo tomorrow and a morning swim in the bay.

The Sand Stairs await us

We made it here

Monday update

Travel plans are getting closer, and we are trying to work out the food options courtesy of a few of my coworkers who live in the Bay Area.  Looks like a lot of good choices, but we will be hitting up some Vietnamese, Chinese Dim Sum, and a few local seafood places as well.

Today was my last long swim effort, and everything from here on out will be easy.  Took 2700 meters at lunch a little under 50 minutes, so at that pace I will be looking around a 45 minute swim for 1.5 miles, which is what I am shooting for.  We shall see.

Packed Up

bike is ready for travel

1 week to Season Opening

We leave in one week for our trip to San Fran and my first foray into west cost racing at the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon.  Since the last post we took an 8 day vacation and had the chance to swim with dolphins at Marineland in Florida, as well as a week with our friends in Cedar Key Florida.  We treated the week in a training camp style when we weren't our at the beach with the kids, and got some good solid run and bike work in.

After returning to Atlanta I have stayed on the training plan with the highlights being a 2600 meter time trial in 47:39, which should get me arond a 45 min swim time for the mile and a half at Alcatraz.  With the current maybe a bit better.  Also had a nice long brick last Saturday of 90/90 and covered 27 miles of riding (with lots of hills) as well as a hilly 10 miler.  My fitness is there this early in the season to setup some good racing later in the year.

We packed up the bike in yesterday to ship our and will be dropping off at FedEx tomorrow.  I will start tomorrow to put some goals out and then send updates from the ground when we arrive in SF.

Back on it

Last week was not the greatest training, but you have these fall offs from time to time.  After the 13.1 I knew I would suffer just needing to recover from the run, but I also came down with a nasty sinus infection that has taken almost a full week to run its course.

I only made two of my fully planned workouts (Tue ride and Fri Swim) and shortened one of my runs and rides as well.  So I made it to four, but missed four as well.  Mostly it was the illness, but I was still feeling tired from the race on the Sunday prior.

On my scheduled off day yesterday I managed to get in the Swim I skipped on Sunday of 2500 meters, then went out in the afternoon and did a 1:30/30 Brick for 25 miles on the bike and 3.5 on the run.  So I did get three of the four missed workouts back, and had a nice run off the ride in the Brick.

This week is another recovery week then we hit the final stretch.  We have spring break next week and will be going training camp style down in Cedar Key, FL with a few other friends and lots of kiddos.

Race Report

My second installment of the ING Georgia Half Marathon is done, and overall it was a good morning.  Since ING is no longer sponsoring the race after this year, 1: after they build enough brand for it to be called “The ING”  2: after the race jumped from 12,000 to 16,000 total runners this year, and 3: after they finally got a decent race director to fix some problems that have plagued the event since its inception,  I will refer to it as the Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon (although I did tell the Mizuno guys they would make a great title sponsor, so if that happens I take the credit)

Before the recap lets take a look back at my 2008 running.  First racing ever beyond 10K’s and Olympic distance triathlons.  I wanted to improve my running for triathlons and get a base for Augusta. For the Georgia Half Marathon my training was good until the last weeks and I had some falloff, which showed in my finish time of 2:20.18.  Out of 9,716 half marathon finishers I placed 5,989, so in the 60th percentile.  At the 70.3 race in Augusta my half marathon pace was 2:19.21, 61st percentile.  So basically I had conquered the distance, but needed better pacing.  After the Augusta 70.3 race I did a local 5 miler in 39:47 (7:57 min/mile pace) then this year followed up with two 10K times of 50:24 (8:06 pace), then a few weeks later of 48:16 (7:47 pace).  So two weeks ago I was feeling good after that 10K and set a goal for a sub 2 hour half marathon.

This year the half marathon had 10,481 finishers.  I went in with a little more course knowledge than last year, and was better prepared for the rolling hills, especially in the last 4 miles. 

The morning started early meeting some other friends running at 5:30am then heading downtown.  We had a group of 6 running across all abilities.  Weather was mid 50’s and overcast so great conditions.  I took off easy and settled into a comfortable pace.  One thing I tried this time was running without my GPS, and going on feel.  I was going to run based on my perception and not worry about time until at least an hour into the race.  I ended up on my 8 mile split at 1:11.58, so I knew then if I could finish with 9 mile pacing I would have a few minutes to spare and break 2 hours.  My pace over the 8 mile split was 8:59, and I ended up pacing 9:00 flat over the last 5.1 miles for the total time of 1:58.16.  Felt some leg fatigue on the last few hills but never a doubt that I would make it once I hit the 12 mile mark and had 12 minutes to spare.

Everyone in our group did great, and we had a fun time.  I was able to take 22 minutes, 2 seconds off last years time and jump from the 60th percentile of run time up to the 25th percentile. (also jumped up from 5,989 overall to 2,667 overall) I am very pleased yet I think I can get that time down even more in the future.  At least I know where I can improve my 70.3 time by 20 minutes, so now if I can find 20 minutes on the bike I will be close to the 5 hour mark at Augusta.  Always something to work on.

Training gets specific for Alcatraz now as my runs get a bit shorter.  Should be fully recovered by tomorrow for this weeks work.  I did miss a scheduled brick this weekend of 90mim/30min, but I think running the half marathon was enough leg work to sustain.  I have a 2h15min ride scheduled for this Saturday so I may just add a little run in to make up for that.

13.1 week

Finished last weeks work and only missed one run.  I had to leave town over the weekend so I missed Saturdays workouts, but did a double on Sunday for a ride and run.  Ran 13.5 on Sunday for my last long run gearing up for the Georgia Half Marathon next Sunday.  We have a big group running together so should be a good day.  My goal for the race will be to break 2 hours on a half marathon.  That will cut about 20min off my time from last year.  I have had a lot more work leading up to the race this year and the hills will not surprise me, so I should be close.  Either way my run base is in great shape for the rest of the year.

Last weeks swims all were in the low 2,000 meter range, and the swimming is coming along well.  It looks like we might get some decent weather this week, and combined with the time change I should be able to get out on the bike outdoors some.  I am still trying to figure out what to do over the weekend as I have a 90min/30min Brick scheduled for Saturday, the day before the half marathon.  After this week I need to start hammering on the bike a bit.

Not Quite Recovery Week

Although last week was supposed to be a recovery week I blew it out a bit over the weekend with my running.  ING is two weeks out so I had to get a long run yesterday, plus I had a Peachtree Road Race qualifier on Saturday, and a Brick scheduled for that day as well, so I am totally wiped out today.

Tuesday had a 1h ride, Wednesday got both the 1750m swim and a 6 miler in with some intervals, and Thursday got another 50 min ride in at lunch.  That was all according to the recovery week plan.  Friday I was scheduled for a swim/run, but only did the prescribed 1700m swim with a 10K race the next morning.  Since I was scheduled for 6 miles I just added it to Saturday.(more on the race in a moment)  Saturday got up early, ran the 10K in a PR time of 48:16, worked in the yard a bit then got onto the bike for a Brick of 1:15 ride/20 min run.  I was supposed to run for 30min, but needed to save some gas for Sundays long run.  On Sunday I did a nice slow 10 miler with some serious hills in the second half, and skipped the 1600m swim that was scheduled.  My wife was due to get in her long run as well, so it was my turn to watch the kiddos.  Even if that wasn’t the case, I had no gas in the tank for any more workouts.  On my normal triathlon plan I would only be running around 40 minutes anyway, so I went way over the necessary mileage.  I ended up on the weekend running about 18 miles and biking 22ish.  Only 2 weeks to go to the ING Half Marathon then my running volume will come back down some.  Good thing is that I will have a nice base for the 8 mile run at Alcatraz, and can limit my long runs to stretching the Sunday runs only.

I ran the Chattahoochee Road Runners 10K this weekend trying to get my time lower.  As mentioned earlier I have been trying to get down below 50 minutes on my 10K time for some time and came within 25 seconds a few weeks ago.  This time I had a good dinner the night before, and got to bed early.  My neighbor and I got there early and the weather was nice and sunny with temps in the mid 30’s,  This race is a popular qualifier for the Peachtree RR so there was a healthy field of 844 in the 10K.  The course was rolling out and back with the final half mile taking a turn and pretty much downhill all the way.  I came across the line in 48:16 (7:47 min/mile) which is good for me.  This was also good for 244th place so about 28th% in a pretty competitive local field.  All that running since last year seems to be paying off, and I am enjoying these races.

March is here

So we are now three full seeks from ING and  9 weeks out to Alcatraz.  The weather has made outdoor training, or at least riding on the bike a bit of a chore.  Normally we are in the upper 50’s or 60’s a few days a week by this time of year, but we are still trapped in the 40’s for highs.  Not much global warming here in Atlanta for 2010.

Last week was a nice solid week with about 9 hours of training.  From Sunday to Sunday I logged 32 miles over four runs, 6,350 meters over three swims (about 4 miles), and close to four hours on the bike trainer which would normally equal about 72 miles on the road.  No outside riding this weekend, and melted my tire on my indoor trainer on Saturday.  I did hit every workout last week as this was the first week of the build phase (week 7 overall), and also the third week in my second four week periodic cycle.  This week the volume is a bit lighter with a recovery week, then we step it up for March.

Got my new wetsuit on order so that should be coming in the next week or so, just need to figure out the bike shipping thing and we will be all locked down for San Fran.

This will get you primed for a lunch swim

Quick update then some good links.  Finishing up week 3 of this second period and adding some volume.  Yesterday was a nice 1h15min ride with 5x5 min long hill climbs, and then today stretched the pool time to a 2200m session.  I can really tell that my swimming has come a long way in the past year, the only time I hurt in the water is during very hard intervals, I think I could pull off a 2.4 miler without too much of a problem at about a 70 minute pace.

I found these videos on the intraweb and thought I would post them, some good high quality videos of last years start.  Talk about controlled chaos.  Next time I am dragging to a lunch swim Ill just watch one of these to get motivated.

Escape from Alactraz Triathlon 2009 Swim Start 1 from Rick Gaston on Vimeo.

Escape from Alactraz Triathlon 2009 Swim Start 2 from Rick Gaston on Vimeo.

Up to date

Had a nice full week of training last week with 4 1/2 hours on the bike, 30 miles running, and about 5k in the pool.  Highlights were getting outside on the bike Saturday for a 30 miler then following it up yesterday with a 10 mile run @ 1:35.  I am shooting for a sub 2h half next month so that will be pretty close time wise at that same pace.

This month has had two weeks where I have hit all of my training plans and one week where I missed a few workouts, but I am feeling good right now about where I am in preparation for Alcatraz and my running time is about 1 min faster per mile on all of my runs over last year.  I am looking at another 10K Peachtree Qualifier next weekend to try for that time again.

Right now we are 9 weeks out from San Francisco, 4 weeks from the half marathon and all looks good.  Time to start looking for a wetsuit

Race Recap/past 10 days

Well, sometimes you have all your goals setup, have a good effort but still fall short.  Even with all indications pointing to success if you don’t close strong you might not meet your demands, and that is the lesson learned from the Chattahoochee Challenge 10-K.

As mentioned before I am trying to get a good qualifying time for the Peachtree Road Race this year so I can be just behind the main group of pros and seeded runners.  I am still transitioning from being a jogger to becoming a runner, and I think a sub 50 minute 10K time needs to be met before I can call myself a runner.  Not to mention that the cutoff time for the A group in the Peachtree is 49:59.  They are taking times from shorter races, but my official 5 mile time from last falls race was 39:47, and the cutoff at that distance is 39:44, so still a bit short, but mentally I really wanted that sub 50 minute 10K time.

The night before the race had a nice night out compliments of a babysitter, and got a good nights sleep.  This race has a fairly decent field, of the 890+ runners, somewhere close to 24% run under 50 minute times, and the winners came in around 32 minutes.  Race started well and I planned on negative splitting from 9 to 7 minute miles over the race to hit the magic 8 minute average needed.  Shortly after starting however I was passed by a pace setter and found out that he was running for the 49 minute mark.  I decided then to keep up with him and see how it felt.  After the first 2 miles I actually got out in front of him a bit, and by the 4 mile split I was ahead of my needed pace by almost a minute, and felt strong as well.  Closing in on the 5th mile the pacer caught up with me and I decided to bring it home with that group.  The problem popped up in the last half mile, when I realized we had only 3 minutes to go to break 50 minutes.  At that point I took off from the pacer (who I soon heard yelling “we need to pick it up!”) and went all out.  With the finish line in sight and about 2 minutes of 6 min pacing interval I was burning out and knew I would not make it.  I crossed the line ahead of the 49 minute pacer, but my time was 50:24 seconds so I just missed the cutoff time.

I was disappointed for missing the goal time, but also had to be happy with a PR time in a chip timed 10K.  I just needed 4 seconds per mile to cutoff enough to get under 50 minutes, close but that is how you learn to get better.  Somewhere in the last 2 miles my pace fell off even though my perceived effort was still the same  Overall I came in 30 of 101 in my age group (29th percentile), 176 of 472 in the men's division (37th percentile), and 222 of 890 overall (25th percentile).  I am happy with that and have one more shot in March to get to a sub 50 min time in a qualifying race.  Next time I will not eat Thai food and drink a few glasses of wine the night before!

January Summary

Another long break from updates, but training has been moving forward. I am currently in week four of the Alcatraz training, so my first recovery week is here as well as in week 5 of my half-marathon training. I am getting some breaks on the tri stuff, but still hitting the road hard on my runs. The plan I have for Alcatraz is a high level Olympic distance plan, so I am putting extra work in compared to my last ones, but with the quirky distance of Alcatraz I will have to add some distance to the run and swims in the last month. And lots of hills too.

It has been a tough month to get outside here in Atlanta, so I have only had one actual ride outdoors. The second one I attempted resulted in a flat about five minutes into the ride so I have been exclusively on the spin cycle trainer so far. The weather has been brutal as well, we had 8 of 31 days in January with heavy rain, 4 of those days were Saturday/Sunday combos, so the long work on the weekends was all done indoors. Along with the rain we had 20 total days of sub-freezing temps, and 15 of those were all in a row the first two weeks of the month. Way too cold to do the typical early morning runs, so I have become very friendly with the treadmill as well.

Over January I had 30 scheduled workouts, and was able to get to 21 of them. That is skipping a lot more than I would like, but travel for work and the awful weather has contributed a lot. Thankfully I am already running much longer distances than required for the triathlon plan; my ½ marathon training has me ahead of the curve there. However, I am a bit concerned about the biking, I really need to get outside to replicate actual riding conditions as the indoor trainer only does so much. Totals for the three weeks of training in January were 5 miles in the pool, 114 miles on the bike, and 37 miles running. Nice little base period, but the volume will be kicked up a notch in the next month.

Overall I feel good, but a little anxious about the missed days. I need to make sure to keep those to a minimum this month as I enter the build phase for the triathlon training. We shall see. Tomorrow I have a 10K race and shooting for a sub 50 min time. That will get me in the seeded group just behind the pros and real runners in the Peachtree Road Race. The weather is awful today, but tomorrow morning is expected to be 35 and dry, so conditions are good with a flat track. It will be a stretch, as most of my training runs are putting me at the 55 min mark for 10K. We will see how it goes.

Week 1 of 16

First double of the year today with a 4 miler in 35 minutes then 1400 meters in the pool.  This is week one of 16 leading to Alcatraz, and the entry fee was paid over the weekend so I am officially in.

Travelling all week so I will get most of the workouts on the plan in on an unusual schedule, but should not be a problem with the low volume.  Cobwebs are coming off.

Jan 6

Quickie, got 1400 meters in the pool today and firmed up my training plan for the first half of the year.  Definitely a bit stiff in the water.

16 week plan for Alcatraz starts next week.

2010 Begins

After the 10K on Tuesday, I was able to get in my first ride in a while of 30 miles.  It took almost 2 hours, so you can see that the fitness level drops pretty quickly.  After that had NYE down in Cedar Key, FL then a long weekend at Disney for the New Year.  Probably walked 6-7 miles on Sunday carrying a 3 year old on my shoulders most of the time, so that has to count for something.

Now is time to start the pre-base work for my races.  Today had a nice 5 mile run with 2 mile warm-up, 3 x 1min intervals, 2 x 1:30 intervals, then three more intervals that I didn’t even time.  They were probably around 2 min each.  In the end it was a 5 mile run in 45:48 so averaging 9:09 over the run, with the first two at warm-up rate of 10 min miles.  Most of the interval work was down in the 7 min mile range.  I’ll try to hit the pool and weights tomorrow.  Way too cold to ride as the lows this week here in Atlanta are in the teens.

The schedule is firming up, but definites so far are the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon on May 5, the ING Georgia Half Marathon in March, The Peachtree Road Race on July 4th.  Looking for a 10K qualifier for Peachtree in Feb or March as well.  The second half will have the always fun Sandestin Triathlon in August, probably The Tugaloo Triathlon on September 11th, and I think I will go ahead and do Ironman Augusta 70.3 on September 26th to wrap up the season.

Preseason weight as of today is 193 even, so that is 22 pounds under last January’s winter coat.  Hopefully I can get that race weight down to the low 180’s this year.