The Chicken Tender Runner

Load the Spaceship with the Rocket Fuel!

2012-02-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

Training is picking up and the quality of my workouts IS getting better, which means they are getting harder, especially in biking. Two long trainer interval workouts Tuesday and Thursday, in addition to my first run workout since early December (2mi easy, 4mi @ no slower than 6:15 with 6x1min pickups every 4 minutes, 2mi easy) left me feeling pretty weary by the weekend. But no rest, I had a 2 hour ride, 10mi run and swim meet scheduled.

The ride on Saturday was probably supposed to be somewhat relaxed, Michelle and I joining Snapple mates near Sibley. Pretty early on it became evident that it wouldn't be relaxed. Bart pushed the pace early on and the rest of us just tried to hang on... it was all we could do! He eventually pulled away with John Chambers in tow. The rest of us picked up the pieces and reassembled and just rambled to the end of the ride. Wow. We were absolutely crushed by Bart. But it was still a quality ride, I was able to take plenty of pulls and locked my legs in the cellar of pain. Nah, it wasn't quite that bad but it was a good wake-up. I need a little more fitness before I rejoin the roadies. Ride data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/147677313

Sunday was the DC Tri Club swim meet at Catholic U. I signed up for the 400free, 100free, 50fly and both relays, the 200medley and 200free. I wanted to really do well in the 400, but I started way too fast... I was just off of Matias in the lane next to me after 100. That was too close! I fell apart in the second 200, averaging about 1:22s in the second half. Bad Andy... I thought I was past that. 13 seconds slower than last year. I did fine in the shorter distances, a touch slower overall than last year, which I attribute to swimming about a fifth of the total yards this year that I swam in December/January combined last year. No speed work either, so I think my performance was pretty decent despite that. Aside from that poor pacing job in the 400, it shows my speed hasn't left me despite training much less. It's encouraging me to increase the effort a little in each practice, even if I'm not going to increase yardage. I will start masters practice 1-2 times a week in the next week or so... that'll help my speed. I also notice my form is really solid at the moment. My strokes are long and smooth, so I'm glad I have that covered and I can think more of building strength and endurance... lots of paddles and pull buoys in my future.

Right after the race Matias and I went for a 10mi run through DC. We started out a little quick, settled down and then dropped the hammer somewhat in the last 2 miles. A good run, made better by the fact that my hip did not hurt at all... despite swimming beforehand (flutter kick aggravated my hip woe) and lots of start/stop at intersections (which was a cause of hip problems during runs). It's great that I can start putting in more miles and quality together and not worry about injury anymore. I don't even think about my hip when I run anymore.

I have Allie at Schrier Physical Therapy to thank for that... she pointed out lots of weaknesses and really made things right with my hip. I know more about how the legs work as one unit and will keep working to make them stronger so they stay as one. So, anyone reading this who has unresolved or curious aches/pains, go to Allie, she's fantastic at what she does.

Swam Monday AM and ran with Wiggy Monday PM. Legs were tired but it was a good shakeout to wake them up.

AAAAH YOU CAN FEEL IT DUDE, YOU CAN FEEL IT!!

I love this kind of training

2012-01-30T16:55:00.000-08:00

I am back in the swing of harder training.

I am currently swimming only 3x a week, but that's ok as my speed is more or less back and my endurance is a lot higher than it was a couple weeks ago, averaging about 2400y per practice now. I'll be back at master's practice in a week or two, but that will just replace a swim I'm doing now. It'll add some endurance and harder efforts to my usual swim schedule. I really enjoy swimming. I found this out early last year when I started finding my stroke and got faster. They're probably my favorite practices each week. I can let my mind go blank each time I'm in the water... I can't ever recall what I was thinking about after each practice, only running numbers through my head to keep track of recovery and intervals.

I'm cycling 4x a week for now, a spin, 2 harder tempo/threshold workouts and a long ride. I really enjoy the trainer workouts. It's usually 30-35min of hard cycling total, with another 30min of combined warmup/cooldown, with wattages staying within tempo and lighter threshold effort. It's fun on ZeroZeroNine, the name I gave to my TT bike (after Cyborg 009, who has the power to accelerate and move so fast everything around him looks motionless) and to watch TdF stages on the TV while listening to music on my iPod. The workouts mix up cadence and power output to confuse my legs. It's working as my longer outdoor rides have become somewhat easier... more endurance and strength for climbs or tempo efforts.

I was running 3x a week for a total of 25 or so miles, but will increase that to 4 runs per week and around 35mi, including some shorter speed work on Wednesday. I think after the next 2 weeks I will add in hills and tempo to begin building strength and a solid base. My hip is so much better now... I ran 10mi on the towpath, which has been a thorn in my side, literally, it makes my hip flare up. But I ran painfree Sunday and even felt good after standing around for a few hours handing out water with teammate Phil and Laurel at the High Cloud half-marathon. I ran 45min with Jordan today, which was another good test as consecutive running days test my hip, but it felt fine. I no longer focus on my hip when I run, so I can run more relaxed and just focus on good form.

I feel so good running I added in a new race to the schedule, the RRCA Club Challenge 10mi at the end of February, but will do that more as a workout... maybe aim for 58-59min. It's pretty hilly and will be a good workout a month out from Cherry Blossom. I ran there a couple weekends ago with friends from the Falls Road running squad, and have been fortunate to get to know Tom Stott aka Scotty Doesn't Know, who lives a mile away from me. Hopefully we'll get to running and cycling more as we have somewhat similar races on the docket.

Mmm, the joy of running healthy and loving training... this kind of strength-building training is the best. I'll be unemployed tomorrow as HSUS can't afford my position anymore. That's depressing, but the fact that training is going well and I am having so much fun doing it takes my mind off my unemployment gloom. Searching for a job is stressful in these times, but knowing I can fall back on a good swim/ride/run keeps me on the happy end of the spectrum.

Or I can just watch Arnold talk and I'll feel better instantly.

First "Race" of 2012

2012-01-16T10:38:00.001-08:00

I kind of sort of raced in a 5k in Charleston this weekend. I made the trip with my pals from Baltimore (Falls Road TWSS racing team), Ryan McGrath, Conrad Laskowski, Alyssa Godesky and Ed Aramayo. Ryan and Conrad ran the marathon while Ed, Alyssa and I invaded the 5k. For Ed, it was almost certain he was going to win and he did, easily. I promised to help Alyssa get herself a PR, since I wasn't even close to race form. The plan was to stay with her for at least 2 miles and then break off and finish with a hard last mile or less. By mile 2, we were holding a 6:18 pace steadily and she built a huge lead on the 2nd female, so I felt my job was done. I waved goodbye and sped up, maintaining a 5:00 pace for the last mile and held that for the duration of that mile. Crossed the line in 17:20 for 3mi, I guess around a 17:45 or so 5k equivalent at that pace. It felt really good to drop the hammer like that, even if I didn't really have a race on the line. I still passed about 7-9 guys and stole an AG award for myself, which ended up being a glass, so it was well worth it.

Alyssa won her first running race (and at an odd distance, since she's an ultra runner) and PRed big time, and Conrad and Ryan both came in under 3:04 in the marathon, a PR for Ryan and Conrad did it despite running at least 2 extra miles. Easily an everybody wins weekend, ITU.

So, takeaways. Despite not being in top shape, I was glad I could put in a 5:00 mile in an instant, even with a rather unforgiving headwind for more than half of it (tailwind for the last .2mi or so). But probably the best part of all was that I didn't even think once about my hip after the start. No tightness or weakness. Only during a start/stop cooldown and walking/standing around afterward did it tighten, but some stretching and massage kept it silent. That tells me it's time to start getting back to work and adding more miles and harder workouts to my schedule. I've been patiently allowing my hip to heal, and it seems to have paid off! I'm chomping at the bit to get back to it.

Danish Cookies

2012-01-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

They are pretty tasty. Especially since they are sold for cheap in a tin. I like the pretzel cookie covered with those big sugar rectangular prisms.

Friday I just swam. More drills. Some lady in the lane next to me always seems to be at the pool at the same time I am, and she's pretty quick. I get a little competitive as a result, which I need at this point since I'm not racing for another month and a half. That made for a pretty fast 1700y, in about 25:50. When I thought about it about half an hour later, that has to be, without recoveries, a 23min 1500m or so. Not that slow, considering I wasn't even that fast with a wetsuit on in 2010. Some of the swimming was drill/breaststroke too. I wasn't thinking of swimming fast, but apparently my speed is still there to a degree. I still have a ways to go to get the endurance back.

Saturday I met Team CYB mate Alyssa for a ride+run at COLUMBIA. I hadn't been to that course since 2011's race. Whenever I'm there I get really furious... I love that race but I always seem to get angry about past results. I took some rage out on the hills for part of the ride and relaxed in the second half, reminding myself it was meant to be an "easy" ride. I couldn't help but remember the bad thoughts I had last year during the race. Despite probably being out of shape I felt quite good out there. I kept a pretty high cadence on all hills, so my turnover is quick, probably helped by all the high-rpm spins I've had recently. We then hopped out onto part of the run course for a 40min run around the lake and a little more. A test for my hip, I didn't even think about it after a couple minutes of running. It didn't hurt or tighten up afterward either. Alyssa and I then feasted on the DANISH COOKIES from the aluminum tin. I stretched and then rested for the remainder of the day.

Sunday AM I ran with a bunch of Snapple people. I didn't want to run the 12mi that Bart proposed, so I lucked out when several of the girls on the team said they only wanted to run 7mi. That's much more my kind of distance. We ran on the towpath, which seemed to slightly disturb my hip, and it was a little bit tender afterward. I immediately stretched it out and it was fine for a few hours. It got a little tender again in the afternoon, not helped by a walk. But I did some more stretching/strength in the evening and all that went away.

I don't think I made anything worse, but it was a pretty active weekend, so I need to control that a little better. At least I know the stretching works. In fact, I noticed last night after strength that my hamstring flexibility has vastly improved! I am much closer to touching my toes than I've ever been before. I'm probably about 75% down my shins, just above my ankles. I've never really bettered 50% of my shins. PROGRESS. I'm very self-conscious about my hamstring flexiblity. Maybe soon I can come out of my shell and proudly show off my hamstrings.

By the way, my fury at Columbia can be accurately depicted by Ken Shamrock's typical WWF ring entrances back in the late 90's. This guy was the MAN. The most DANGEROUS man.

No pain, lots of gain

2012-01-05T09:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's run marked the first time since October 2011 that I can remember having no tightness or pain in either my achilles or hip. Sunday's run was good, no achilles ache but still a small amount of hip tightness. A few more days of productive stretching and strength work later and I felt 100% healthy on my run. Usually the tightness bothers me at the beginning and 5min after the run, but this time there was no pain during OR after the run! Not even any tightness. In addition, I felt a lot of bounce and strength in each step. I can finally say I feel healthy and unrestricted during a run. Will keep up with the PT for 1-2 more visits and definitely keep the stretching/strength going, but this is huge for me. I'm really looking forward to the Spring races now and getting some speed back in the legs eventually.

Aside from that, I've been doing good drill work in the water, still have yet to exceed 2000y in a single practice, but I'd rather do a little bit less of higher-quality than a lot of poor swimming. On the bike, just keeping with the easy spins. I did take ZeroZeroNine out for a ride on Saturday... first time I've ridden it outside. It was a warmish but very windy day, so I wasn't able to pick up much speed, but the bike felt wonderful under me, a perfect fit. I'll hit Columbia this weekend, although I'm still not in the best bike shape that is a very fun route to ride... and perhaps it'll get me more excited about racing again.

2011/2012

2012-01-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

It was a fine year, more ups than downs, which makes it positive. I am happy with the way I ran for the first half and happy with the way I swam and cycled in the second half. So that means I wasn't happy with both the way I ran in the second half and my cycling in the first half. Swimming was good all year round, but I really hit my stride in the last handful of races.

Best races were the trio of running PRs (15:37 @ Shamrock, 54:22 @ Cherry Blossom, 32:16 @ Pike's Peak) and the Luray Triathlon. To be perfectly honest I did not see those running PRs coming at all... I might have expected PRs by a few seconds, not up to several minutes in each. Luray was my best triathlon performance in regard to how I placed among the competition and my splits, particularly a good bike ride. I was only moderately pleased with Columbia since my bike was so horrible. My cycling races were all pretty decent. However all my races after the Race for the Cure 5k were disappointing. Just a combination of not very smart training on my part and the resultant overtraining/burning out by the end of the year.

I'd say I left a lot on the table in 2011. I just have to think that if I wasn't so tired by race day I would have done a lot better (Columbia/USATF XC Clubs). I will train smarter for 2012 so I can last the entire season and not be peaked and burned out by June. It's already been quite different from last year, when I was exceeding 125,000 yards in the pool in November/December/January and already cranking out interval work on the bike. That was too much. Past few weeks I've just been doing shorter workouts centered around drills in the pool and a handful of spins or aerobic rides each week. No hard work quite yet. I'm also adding in more strength and stretching work each week. That should allow my body to stay strong and hopefully injury free for the duration of 2012.

So, some goals for 2012:

-- 15:30 @ Shamrock 5k

-- 53:50 @ Cherry Blossom 10mi

-- 32:00 @ Pike's Peak 10k

-- 2:05 or top 25 @ Columbia Tri

-- Qualify for 70.3 Worlds at Eagleman 70.3

-- Podium at Luray

-- Don't embarrass myself at USATF XC Club Nationals

-- Train hard but smart and be healthy

Okay Hip, Let's See What You Can Do

2011-12-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my hip flexor issue, I chose not to run for about two weeks since XC Clubs. And even with a short weekend run, I'm still not going to run again until New Year's Day, just to be sure I'm giving my body ample time to recover. But Saturday's run was a big step in the right direction.

I met with Klim by the Barnes & Noble in Bethesda for a 45min Capital Crescent run. I quickly skimmed through a book on the WWII Pacific Theater, studying mostly some pictures I hadn't seen before of CV-2 USS Lexington, an aircraft carrier that was attacked and sunk during Battle of Coral Sea (the prequel to Midway), a somewhat under-reported sea battle that has always intrigued me. Anyway, I was hoping I wouldn't suffer a similar (or a simile?) fate as Lady Lex while testing out my legs. It felt a little odd to be running again as 13 days off will give the legs some pop back but the running just felt weird. The good thing is that I felt really no hip ache during the run! It was indeed a little weak and tight but that should be expected. I did my stretches afterward and then the Red Fox and I scurried into the Dunkin' Donuts for some gross but essential breakfast sandwiches.

So that was good. I passed the first test. The hip did tighten up more as Klim warned later in the day, but still none of the persistent dull ache I had before. Nor did it feel like it was going to pop whenever I coughed.

Sunday AM I clambered onto the new TT bike for a 90min trainer spin, decked out in my brand new SIDI T2 triathlon shoes. Those silver-scaley ones I linked to in the last post... my main Christmas present. They fit perfect and feel wonderful on my feet. The ride was fun, I tucked into aero position for most of the ride, which is good because that means I'm getting used to my fit. No power meter, just going by time and cadence, which I kept between 92 and 100 rpm. It was also fun because I cycled to one of my now-favorite stages in the Tour de France, 2009's stage 18, the last individual time trial, which Contador won triumphantly (and sealing his 2nd overall Tour win!). I like the guy. I'm glad he punished the Schlecks and Cancellara. But more than Contador, I enjoyed watching Bradley Wiggins crank, his form is so flawless and smooth. Lance was also in this one, but wasn't very impressive in the ITT... guess he was getting old or something.

Here's a very short version of what I watched:

(Slow) & Steady As She Goes

2011-12-23T08:20:00.000-08:00

I returned to "regular" training this week. Nothing intense, it's still too early for hard rides or swims... I'm really going to try to stick to the easy start, stronger finish strategy. These were pretty easy workouts, and I still haven't run for almost 2 weeks, but will go for 30min on Xmas morning and then another 5 days off before the next run. Then the training begins to pick up after next week and I get to run more.

Swam 1500y on Monday with a mix of 200s and 400s and some drills. Very simple, just to get back in the water and get some sort of feel back. I was actually surprised how good I felt. Clearly I have some... ok, a lot of muscular endurance to get back. At least I remembered how to flipturn.

Started my new strength regimen Tuesday AM, which consists of all body-weight exercises... no dumbbells. Will gradually work medicine balls and extra weight to my exercises but for now I need to get the muscles ready for the work ahead. In the afternoon I got back on the bike (wow, it's been 7 weeks!) and just spun easy for 55min while watching the final ITT of 2009 TdF, which was a really good one. Nothing really to report on the ride, it was just a small chain-ring, high-RPM ride.

Wednesday I swam again, only 1600y but again a mix of drill and swim. I felt a little better than I did Monday.

Thursday was another AM strength routine. I was a little sore from Tuesday since that was the first strength work I had attempted since the Spring. I'm going to have to keep it consistent in 2012. In the PM I had another spin, this time on the TT bike. I'll need to get used to TT position again, as this ride felt just wee-bit harder than Tuesday's. But I'm not worrying about power or anything now... just getting the legs turning in circles.

I swam this AM and went around 1900y, so I'm slowly bringing the distance back up. I did more pull/swim this time and some extra kicking. My legs actually responded a lot better to kicking now than they ever did earlier in the year, and I think that's due to all the stretching I've been doing. Really have been focusing on getting my hamstrings, calves and hips loose.

So for Christmas, I'm getting these from my family:

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Cycling_footwear/Sidi_T2_Silver_Snake_1985.html

Pretty sweet.

USATF XC Club Nationals: Well, at least I wasn't last place

2011-12-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

The title sort of gives this one away. XC Clubs didn't go so well. The past 2 weeks leading up to the race raised several red flags -- sickness and several little injuries -- that I felt I would be able to totally fight through. But by race day, I still had a pretty heavy cough and my hip flexor rang with ache every time I coughed or took a long stride. But I would do what I could to get through the race and somehow finish around PMurph or Shredder.

Didn't quite work out that way though. By 2.5mi into the race, my hip started hurting quite a bit and more importantly started feeling weak, like I was running on one good leg. I came through the first 5k in 16:50, but knew that I wouldn't sustain. At that point it was a matter of just finishing somewhat respectably, but it became quickly apparent that I would have to be content with simply finishing. 6k in people started passing left and right and I found it very difficult to keep a high cadence and pull my right leg from the goopy sections of the course. I finally got myself through the finish in around 35:30, placing 234th out of around 300 (damn, that's a fast race). OUCH (referring to the hip and the time). That's a good 90sec slower than I thought I would finish and an 18:40 second 5k. Slowest 10k I've run in over 2 years. That was a pretty miserable experience. I limped to the team area and stretched it out. Fortunately the pain went down a bit in the last 2km so I was able to slowly jog a cooldown but it was very tight still. I indulged in a good evening of beer drinking and that took my mind off the misery.

Ow.

Photo courtesy of Michael Scott

The next morning a group of us went for a 5mi run through some of Seattle, finishing with donuts. Hip was stiff but not too painful. It was not until the plane ride home that it really hit me... not the pain, but how upset I was about the race. It was something I had trained hard for but unfortunately fell apart just before the big day. I got pretty frustrated and angry about the whole thing and continued feeling that way for a few more days. It was a pretty depressing time for me!

Then I thought about what led up to the race that caused my body to collapse in on itself so. At the time I didn't think I had overtrained or anything of the sort, and I may not have, but after talking to Dirk about the race and training, I realized that I just simply had not been training like I should have. What I refer to is the fact that I had a very successful Spring this year, with all 3 races being big PRs. And what led to that spring was indeed triathlon training, but also very little track work, as opposed to what I did for 2 months leading to XC, when I hit the track every week (for 8+ weeks!). I only started track work 2 weeks before my first race in March and even after that I ran the workouts controlled and not as hard as I could. I didn't really think much of it in the Spring or after, but it was the tempos and hills and strength/endurance building I did during my training that made me strong and ready to run well and healthy. I did none of that leading to XC (I did a couple tempo-y workouts, but they were short and too fast). Also, bringing up my mileage from 20 to 35 to 45 to 50 to 60 was probably way to quick of a jump. Doing that with no recent tempo/strength meant it was only a matter of time before my legs gave up.

Lesson? I should train the way I know helped me succeed in the past. Rattling off 2:20 800s at track workouts are bullets I should be keeping in the chamber for race day... and anyway, that's not the kind of speed I'll be using in a 10k! That's not to say the training was incorrect... it was just not the right training paces for me. Too fast for 10k training for me. Do more tempos and longer tempos at that... that's what increases the endurance and strength at the same time, which are essential together at distances longer than 5k.

I'll also keep the mileage much higher during triathlon season... whereas I ran 30 at most during the tri season, I will regularly hold 40-50 this year... I'll be much better prepared therefore when I eventually just focus on running later in the year, and it will help keep my endurance high for Eagleman in June.

In addition, I have a new respect for the training I did earlier this year. I aim to really nail my workouts this coming Spring, now knowing how effective they are when done correctly. Once I realized this, the passion and excitement that I usually felt when racing (that I did NOT feel the past few races) came back quickly... I am really motivated and psyched to get back into my training. And I hope to apply the same methods for when I train for XC Clubs next year as well (this will include ending triathlon season a few weeks earlier), as I want to make the race more of a priority in 2012.

I took this past week completely off from exercise to allow my body to heal. I have been starting a new stretching regimen to help ward off future joint injuries. This coming week I only have 3 swims, 3 rides and 3 strength sessions, and an optional Xmas day run. Will keep the focus on recovery but also getting my feel again for the water and the bike. At this point last year I was crushing my body in the water and on the saddle after very little/no recovery period from the previous season... I aim to be more conservative at the start of my training so I can hit the important workouts effectively and also have a lot more energy left to burn by the end of the year. Hope it works!

Chasing Turkeys and Getting Sick

2011-11-30T19:21:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving Day I raced in the Turkey Chase 10k in Bethesda. I hate this race. A lot. It's really hilly and I always get stuck running with the UMD XC team. In the first 2 miles they do nothing but chit-chat amongst themselves. This leads to half of them dying off before halfway, and the other half zipping ahead. That leaves me in the middle with 1-2 other confused souls. It wasn't a BAD race but it wasn't great either. I eased off the gas way too much when we got to the city, worried I was pushing the hills too hard and lost the group I was with. I ended up having to run Old Georgetown Rd pretty much alone, with no one in sight behind me and the next guy about 10sec ahead. It was a little uphill and windy, so it wasn't amenable to catching anyone. I passed Jerry and he later noted it didn't look like I was working/racing hard. I think he's right. I did enjoy my time out there, which I never do when I'm running hard. The main thoughts in my head when I'm running fast/hard are "wow, this hurts" and "I so badly want to stop NOW"... those have been my thoughts in fast or PR races. I certainly wasn't feeling like that at Turkey Chase! I ended up with a 34:32 and 11th overall, certainly not an impressive time by any stretch, but I'll take an improvement over last year's Chase, when I was cramping and dying.

The lesson? I need to get competitive at Clubs. No more being passive and afraid of going out hard. I just have to go with the race. No being conservative. I need to be aggressive. Fitness is good, but I need to just get my mind in the race, like it was in the Spring.

Friday I ran an easy 6 with Jordan on the trails, legs felt pretty loose after the 10k, which leads me to believe I held back yet again.

Saturday I took the day OFF, completely. First day off in a long time. And another first in a long time... I started to get sick. Sore throat - here comes a cold! Is that what happens when I take days off? Geez. I immediately went on a vicious offensive, gulping down zincs, tea, yogurt and broth. I hate being sick.

Sunday I woke up with a pretty sore and dry throat, but still went out for a 13mi run with PMurph, Matias and Jimmy. Probably not wise to go 13, but did it anyway. Couldn't swallow at all but put in a decent effort in the last 3 miles... although really just because I wanted to be done. My condition got worse throughout the day, and I was pretty uncomfortable by the evening.

Monday the throat was a little better, but still quite dry and sore and being replaced by pressure in the sinuses. I ran 6.5mi in the evening and actually started to feel a little better.

Tuesday AM I ran too much again, 10 with Jake, Karl and Sam and an extra 2-3mi going from and to my car. I initially felt good and the sore throat was virtually gone but started feeling worse later in the day.

Wednesday I felt pretty yucky during the day, lots of pressure in the sinuses, coughing and sneezing a lot at work. Felt a little better by the evening, but it definitely affected my track workout with GRC, 4xmile (5:15, 5:05, 4:55, 4:45). I knew the 4:45 would be really tough healthy, but still feeling sick I wasn't sure of what would happen. Strangely enough I felt really (and I mean, REALLY) good for the first 3 miles, in which we hit paces exactly. I was surprised. But 400m into the last interval I felt tired pretty quick and felt like my breathing became very restricted. I went for another 800m and dropped once I hit the 1200 (was on 4:45 pace through 1000m). Legs felt fine, but I was struggling to breathe properly. I chalk it up to the cold, and it was also pretty chilly out... it had been pretty warm here during the week so it was a bit of a shock, coupled with still feeling under the weather, I think I was going to suffer. But at least I got most of it done, that I feel good about.

Ok, so I need to focus on a few things. The hardest workouts are done, it's time to think about resting, getting fully healthy and making sure my mind is in the right place. I have to admit, I am really excited about Clubs. Zwama told me on the phone tonight that an XC 10k is one of the most painful races one can do, but that got me even more stoked. Just have to make sure I arrive in Seattle all systems go.

Holding my own again

2011-11-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

Sunday I took it easy under Jerry's orders. I originally planned a 10-12mi run but ended up doing 6mi since it was between two hard workouts (Saturday's XC and Monday's early track workout). Again, I'm learning my body is adjusting pretty well to the mileage increase. It felt comfortable, as all of my recovery runs do now. It's a different feeling from my recovery jogs in the middle of tri season. I hit 62 miles for the week, which is possibly the most I've done either ever or for the past couple years.

Tonight (Monday) was an early week track workout since many people would probably be traveling home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Workout was 1600-1200-800-400 with 3min recoveries, a good pre-race workout but also with some tough paces. Made a little tougher by a somewhat stiff wind and annoying mist. Not to mention it was a little chilly! Not a fun night to run in. This workout's B group consisted of myself, Dangerous Dave and THE SHREDDER (Jason's new nickname, because he can shred on his trusty skateboard). Tender, Danger, Shredder. It's a good group, especially since I can finally hold pace with them in workouts again (something I was able to do in spring but not during the summer/early fall). We went 4:55 (74s), 3:36 (72s), 2:20 (70s) and 65. I led the 1600 and 800, and was able to hold an even pace just like last week. Another very solid workout that I was actually able to contribute to. I cooled down a little longer than usual since the workout was a little bit short. Probably about 9mi total

That makes 3 fast workouts in 5 days. And my legs feel great. I'll run medium distance easy the next couple days before Turkey Chase 10k on Thursday. If things go fine at the 10k I plan on taking my first day off in a while on Friday (or just spin for 30min).

Running well in the grass

2011-11-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

I ran a little bit too long on Thursday with 3 J's (Jake, Jordan, Jimmy), aiming for only an hour but ending up running 80min, for probably 11-12 miles. That gave me enough reason to slice off 20min off my Friday run, going for 40min on my neighborhood loop, probably about 6mi since I picked the pace up a little for the last 20min.

Saturday AM was another XC workout with the team at the cell phone tower fields. Larger group this time, and I had a larger B-group contingent to work with this time (Dave, Jason, Jimmy and newcomer Will). The workout was 8x1km w/ 2:30 recovery jog. The idea was to cut down pace by 5sec every 2 intervals, but after we went out in 2:58 (4:46 mile pace, huh) for the first kilometer, that cutdown probably wasn't going to happen. And it didn't! But the good thing was that we stayed consistent. Dave and Jason gained 3-5sec on me for each interval, but that's the good news! I set a goal to keep Jason within 5 seconds, and I did just that. Our paces stayed even, 2:58, 2:56, 2:55, 2:56, 3:00, 3:02, 2:57 for the kilometers. It was a little slippery out there and we nearly bit it a couple times, but it was good practice without spikes.

So this would surpass Wednesday's track workout as my best workout yet of this current run build. I don't think I've ever been able to hold a sub-5 pace for 8km of a workout, so that was pretty neat to do! And that it was on rolling grass/dirt terrain was even more constructive.

Will run shorter than planned tomorrow because of an early-week track workout planned for Monday. I also need to watch my homedawg Michelle try to qualify for the trials in Philly and Ryan take on Ironman AZ tomorrow. Less running, more time to track them.

I don't understand the body

2011-11-17T09:53:00.001-08:00

My body is reacting oddly to the increase in running mileage. When I made the 3-week initial jump from 30-40-50 from early October I picked up a few minor knocks mainly in my feet, including an ankle/achilles ache and a strange swelling in the base of one of my toes. This was expected because a 20mi total increase in 3 weeks is a leap, especially by my standards. I was a little worried after a couple weeks of 50mi because the issues didn't get worse, but not much better. The toe stopped hurting but still swells a little bit (no redness or anything), but the achilles area still ached when walking or before warming up during a run. Leading into Vet's Day I felt it getting a little better, but of course I worried that I would just aggravate it during the race. I've been wearing trainers for all runs and workouts so I could protect my feet a little, so wearing flats during the 10k might have caused issues.

To my pleasant surprise, the race effort did not hurt my feet, but actually seemed to accelerate the healing! Including last night's workout I have run 25mi since the race and each day my feet feel better. I'm going to hit 60mi this week, so it's nice to see my body is indeed healing, even though I'm not decreasing effort or mileage. It's really weird how the body works!! Michelle knows what I'm talking about.

Monday AM I ran 8mi or so with Sam and Jake, feeling no fatigue or soreness from the 10k. Tuesday AM I ran 6mi around my neighborhood loop nice and easy, and it felt quite relaxing. Last night was probably my best track workout since the Spring. 2x1600 (5:04, 5:05), 2x800 (2:26, 2:24), 4x400 (67, 67, 65, 65) with relatively short recoveries. Led the 2nd mile (first was a little quick for the group), and the 1st 800. That was something I hadn't done since my Spring season. To be honest, that is what I've wanted to do most of all in workouts during this run build. I used to be able to lead and pace the B group earlier in the year during workouts. I haven't been able to since. The past few workouts have been good, but I was just sitting in and keeping up. This workout felt comfortably tough and I was able to take control of parts of it. Progress! The 67s and 65s at the end were pretty important to me, considering I want to work on my turnover/leg speed in the coming weeks.

Veteran's Day 10k and COOKIES

2011-11-14T10:57:00.000-08:00

I'll get it out of the way first. Best part of the Veteran's Day 10k, above the "best part" that is most appropriate for this running/multisport-related blog, were the chocolate chip cookies that were provided at the race. MAN, they were great. Chewy but not overly so and with chocolate chips the size of Montana, I must have eaten at least 8 of them and even shared some with Charlie, who can do a good Cookie Monster.

About the race, it was pretty good too. Great morning for racing at Hain's Point, mid-40s at start time, so I was able to go jersey and my new half-tights, which Chris "SURPRISE" Sloane sold me, with no winter gear. A little bit windy, which one could definitely feel on the Point.

Race started and I did my best to hang back, but this also made life difficult as a big gap immediately opened up between me and my to-be main competitor in the race, PRR's Andy Ciarfalia and the front pack... about 8-10 seconds by the time we got to the point. Andy C got about 10 seconds ahead of me by mile 1, so aside from a Riadha girl I had just passed, I was alone, my least favorite way to be at HP. Came through mile 1 in 5:10 according to my watch and Jerry, who reminded me to relax. I was feeling pretty relaxed though, so it must have been a short mile. I do remember it being a little bit further down the road. The positioning stayed the same up to and around the turn at the end of HP, and came through mile 2 in 5:50, which also didn't feel right, so miles 1 and 2 definitely weren't measured correctly.

Made the turn to head down the other side of HP, and was greeted, pushed rather, by a tailwind. We had been running into a headwind from the start so this was refreshing. Came through 5k in 17:00, which was my plan. I went through in 16:40 or so last year and fell apart, so at least this year I could say I took it conservative and smart, so the race was shaping up well so far. I also had caught up to Ciarfalia and a young guy from Falls Road team, Alex Weldt, who had fallen way off his 33:low pace. I caught both at the turn to head home, at around 3.5mi. Weldt couldn't keep pace but Ciarfalia nestled behind my left shoulder and I knew it would be a race from here. We exchanged leads for the next 2 miles, giving each other momentary breaks from the unexpected headwind (yeah, it felt a headwind going both ways, must have been a crosswind).

I passed by Jerry at mile 5 and he gave me some encouragement and I realized that I was well on my way to getting close to 33:45. Ciarfalia then asked me if I was Andy as well, since all he had been hearing from guys like Charlie, Max and Jerry was encouragement for "Andy" (or fish-stick, Captain, Chicken Tender et al.). We exchanged chuckles and resumed the competition. I tried at this point to pull away and for a second I did, but strangely enough my legs weren't agreeing. They didn't hurt, they just didn't want to speed up. Aerobically I felt great... regular breathing, controlled/tempo HR, but my legs just didn't want to spin any faster or harder than sub-threshold. We sped up a bit as we came within half a mile to go, but I really couldn't get my legs to go faster, despite feeling like I had a lot of energy to expend. Finally hit mile 6 and I knew I'd hit my B goal of 33:45 or better, but Ciarfalia launched his kick and my legs didn't respond. Hit the line in 33:45 and 18th overall, 5:26/mi. My best finish at Veteran's Day and any HP 10k. And my first non-disaster at Vets Day! Sweet! And my best 10k not named Pike's Peak (which is an absurdly fast race). Also got a gift certificate for 3rd in the 25-29 age group, so that pays for a new pair of half-tights that Chris Sloane will enthusiastically sell to me.

So what about that inability to speed up? I talked to Jerry and expressed my concerns. He presented a logical explanation: I need more speed work. I agree. I've had 3 straight weeks of good speed work, but that's not enough. A months-worth more of speed and I hopefully will be able to increase my turnover and leg speed by XC Club Nationals. But this race was quite the positive experience and was good practice for me to finally race smart and strong the whole way through. Plus, it was a lot of fun and to me that was the BEST part of all. As I wrote before, my competitive spirit had been quelled after Columbia, but running MCM around Emily in October reignited that fire. I felt it today and it made racing a heck of a lot more exciting. Running with the team and seeing them succeed as well (we won the team competition, no thanks to me who always runs too slow to be counted) makes it even better.

Here's to some more speed and fun in the next month.

1 mile in.

Godzilla likes races too

2011-11-11T10:28:00.000-08:00

Yes!!

Another solid week of running leading into Veteran's Day 10k this Sunday. Ran about 10mi on Monday with Uncle Buttweenis, a spin on Tuesday, hard but short track workout Wednesday, and a pair of shakeout runs Thursday and Friday (today).

Wednesday's track was another success, but good golly it was hard. It seemed shorter and therefore easier, but this would end up being only half true. I felt really light and loose in the warmup, which is great news to me, as I've been feeling a little better each week. This was definitely the best I've felt while running since I started focusing on my run training again. The workout was 2k @ 77s, 2x1k @ 73s and 72s, 4x500 @ 67s. We really were closer to 75s on the 2k, hit the 1ks on time and then I started to fall apart a bit on the 500s. First one I hit 67, but really lagged on the second, coming in at closer to 70. I was ready to call it quits then, but PMurph (almost literally, I fear) slapped some sense into me and convinced me to finish the workout. Hit the last two on pace, in 67 each, so I still have some mental demons to defeat apparently since my legs clearly weren't finished. Thanks to Patrick for somehow knowing this.

So it was a hard workout with short recoveries that was about the edge of my abilities, but it apparently was the right workout as Thursday's recovery run felt really smooth. No stiffness or aches, but rather my legs felt loose and ready to go faster. That's the idea, I think?? One more easy run tomorrow with strides and then it's time to race again!

Cross weekend & new friend

2011-11-07T06:25:00.000-08:00

I met up with some GRCers on Saturday AM at the "Cell Phone Towers" field for a cross country workout. It was mostly A groupers but fortunately Jimmy showed up so I had a workout partner... and it's really good he showed as the A group ran away from me in the first interval!

Ah, the Cell Phone Towers field. Last time I did a workout there was during high school, as the Sidwell XC team often went there for workouts. Funny enough, they were out there Saturday AM as well doing some sort of time trial workout. That was actually a bit annoying to me, as it brought back memories of being held back in order to "run as a group"... it certainly didn't help my development that season, and I don't remember doing workouts in the offseason as a team. The same coach I had then is still the coach and he was out there shouting times... it would have been nice to have that back in my day. O well, that's the past!

So this workout was 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 minutes @ 10k pace, with recoveries being half of each interval. It was a cold morning, barely above freezing. I like the cold though, and I think it helped as I had a great workout. Was holding around 5:20-5:30s for the intervals... my best estimate based on what Jimmy was clocking. That's good enough, because I want to hold that at both Veteran's Day and XC Club Nationals. It was an effort that was tough but didn't hurt, and was long enough that I got to see if my goal paces are realistic... I think they are.

I was down and out for the rest of the day because of this workout. It was practically a 10k race on terrain I'm not used to running on! Sunday AM I went for a shakeout jog and it really helped loosen my legs, especially my feet, which have been picking up random knocks since I've been building up my mileage. The good running continues! Hopefully a good sign for Sunday's Veteran's Day race.

Oh, I got a new bike! It's a custom-built TT bike from Elite Bicycles, with full-Ultegra spec (except for pedals and wheels) and a comfy (and complimentary!) new ISM Prologue saddle. The bike of my dreams. The name is almost decided but will be unveiled, uh, soon. Not to build suspense, but because it needs the absolute perfect name possible. Plus, no one other than me cares. But it's really important, you know.

Hmm, what to name you?

Hi again

2011-11-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that Nation's FLASH never really became more than a FLASH. Oops. Chalk it up to laziness and a small side of disappointment. But now I think I'll start blogging again. The triathlon season is long over and I'm in the midst of a short running season, attempting to regain some of my Spring 2011 glory, culminating in hopefully a good race at USATF XC Club Nationals in Seattle on December 10.

In a couple weeks I'll be racing at Veteran's Day 10k, and I don't really know why. I always do terribly at that race. 2 years in a row, in fact. Both were attempts at big PRs, and both were colossal failures. But I like to think I'm older and wiser (?) and this time I'll succeed... but this time I'm not going for a PR, just to get some practice in and hopefully a confidence boost. I guess I'm going for a Veteran's Day PR, which currently stands at 34:06, my 3rd best 10k time to date. 11 days after that I'll run the Turkey Chase 10k, another 10k I haven't had much luck in, but I'm doing it for the same reason as Veteran's Day, practice and hopefully a confidence boost. A course PR might be good too.

And I suppose I have reason to be confident going into races now, as I've had 2 fantastic track workouts, and hard ones at that. Last week it was 2x2000 + 4x1000, all at the prescribed paces (which going in I thought were too fast) and yesterday was 6x800 + 6x400. Both workouts I was able to not only FINISH (with Patrick Murphy, the first time in a long time we were able to do that with the souped-up B group) but also hang onto the group through all intervals. So, I have all that going for me. It's been really helpful having Coach Jerry getting involved with my running. I'm taking a break from swimming and only cycling easy 2-3 days a week, so Todd is giving me some freedom with my running. I'm turning to Jerry and he's been very supportive and helpful, as have my GRC teammates.

I also had an out-of-nowhere 17-mile long run on Sunday. I jumped into the Marine Corps Marathon at mile 8.5 with my pal Ryan McGrath, and we planned on running together until mile 20. We decided a mile or so later to stick with Falls Road runner Emily Hurley in her quest for sub-3 hours, so my long run now had purpose. Around the 18-mile marker, I made a decision to stick with Emily for a little longer, to maybe mile 23, since the course would only get tougher, and to be honest, I was feeling really good! I hadn't run longer than 11 miles in a while, so why not get to 14? Ryan hopped off at mile 20, his long run complete. I stayed just ahead of Emily, and within the next couple miles, the 8th, 9th and 11th place girls (Emily was 10th at this point) all came within 15 meters of each other. I could sense the competitive tension and spirit and I got really pumped up from it, getting visions of my races in the near future. In those moments I felt really excited to race again. I hadn't felt such fire since before Columbia! I was so excited in fact that I totally forgot I was going to jump out at mile 23 and ran with Emily to mile 26, a 17.5 mile run for me! Holy cow. I jumped out as she powered her way past some competitors and through the last .2 miles to a 2:56 and 10th overall finish. A mighty effort. As for me, I felt no worse for the wear, despite that being my longest run by at least 5 miles in the last 2-3 years.

I guess if nothing else, it made me a little stronger, more confident in my stamina and most importantly, excited to race again. So yeah, running is going well. I hope it shows in the coming race weekends.

Me, Ryan and Emily just past 13.1 at Hain's Point during MCM.

Nation's Triathlon FLASH

2011-09-11T09:51:00.001-07:00

4th Elite, 6th overall at Nation's Triathlon. 35:20 run and 57:15 bike. Very pleased. Will update later. Just wanted to do one of those FLASH results to satisfy what interested parties there may be.

No race? No problem.

2011-08-22T07:17:00.001-07:00

This was my first weekend since mid-July without a race or double. I welcomed it as I had started to feel pretty fatigued and possibly overtrained! I originally planned to race in the Church Creek 40k time trial, but decided against it when Todd assigned a 40mi/3mi hard brick for Saturday. I thought I'd be better served to get in a longer ride and quality brick workout, especially since I've recently become concerned about my run, which seems to have weakened a bit as I've focused more on my cycling. I took Thursday OFF save for a 30min ride, and Friday I only swam, forgoing the 45min run I had planned. I think that helped me greatly as Saturday AM I felt strong again!

First part of Saturday's brick was a 40mi ride with tempo. I chose to ride a 20mi out/back on Rt. 28. Another goal of this ride was to practice hydration/nutrition, as my inability to properly do either reared it's uuuuugly head at Luray. Ride went well, although it felt awfully hot/steamy outside. I was sweating buckets, must've been really humid or something. My aerobar armpads were caked with sweaty foam. Yuck. Avg'ed around 220w for the ride, which is just about a low-tempo wattage, and I threw in several high-tempo efforts throughout the ride. However, I don't think I drank enough. I had 2 bottles but I only drank about one and a third of them... For 40mi on a humid day I should be polishing off both 16 oz. bottles. Oops...

The run started off well enough, hitting 5:40 for the first mile that was slightly downhill. I wanted to make the first mile a fast one, but that was a little slower than I wanted. Then I turned around and the uphill 2nd mile started to hurt. I wasn't cramping for once, thanks to the EFS shot I took (thanks to my man Matias who recommended it), but I felt pretty dehydrated. I definitely didn't take in enough water for the heat (it was up to 90 at this point). Mile 2 clocked in at 6:20. Oof. Should've been closer to 6:00. Mile 3 was half up and half down... and a way too slow U-turn in between. I took this mile a little easier as I didn't want to knock myself back out like earlier in the week, so I jogged in a 6:30. I was a little more tired than expected by the 40mi tempo and didn't hydrate properly, but I'll accept a 6:14/mile effort for training. Good workout, but I still have work to do with properly hydrating myself.

Sunday "just" featured a run, an 8mi build, starting easy and finishing hard. I wanted to do part of it with my GRC teammates, but they run too fast for my easy pace, so I ran the first 4 with PMurph from Old Anglers Inn (the eventual finish destination for the main GRC group) with the intention of meeting GRCers at the 4mi mark and finishing with them. We ran smooth, building from a 7:30 mile to a 6:58 by mile 4. After waiting a couple minutes I saw Texabama Paul screaming down the towpath, announcing his 5:50 pace to me and Patrick. I decided to jump in with him and we bombed (well, that's how it felt to me) down the canal. The next 4 miles went by quick, and we hit all 4 miles between 5:50 and 6:00. It wasn't easy, as running fast on the towpath never is, but my HR was stable, maintaining a comfortable tempo. I started falling off a bit in the last half mile but I pushed myself back up as I felt slightly ashamed.... This guy Paul has been running this pace for nearly 18 miles!! Surely I can do it for a measly 4.5!! Christ! Ok, he's a potential US Olympic Trials qualifier, but still! But I finished the run strong and didn't kill myself to do so. After being unsure of my run strength a few days ago, I'm feeling much better about it now.

That was a good and hard weekend. An even tougher week (this one) lies in wait, starting tonight at Masters practice. It's only a couple weeks until Nation's!

Luray International Triathlon race report: The bike breaks through

2011-08-15T10:39:00.001-07:00

On May 23 I wasn't really looking forward to this race. I had just come off an incredibly disappointing bike split at the Columbia Triathlon and Luray was only hillier and longer. The only reason I decided to do it was because it fell on a good calendar date and was several weeks out from Nations, a good tuneup. Then I visited the Czech Republic, biked, thought lot about my biking and once I got back to the USA, I paid a visit to Elite Bicycles in Philadelphia, and that would change, well, a lot of things. Several bike races and a solid race at Culpeper later, I was pumped for Luray. My bike legs had, overnight seemingly, realized the training they did over the winter and spring and were strong and much faster than before, and I felt pretty confident going into the race I challenged a couple years ago (the sprint, that time)... of course the legs were always strong, it was the bike fit that was holding me back. No more, thanks to Max at Elite.

Pre-race -- This was pretty important. The group of people I was staying with rented a cabin on a mountain, which required a nearly half-mile walk up a steep dirt road that 2-wheel drive cars could not get up (my hardy 2-door Civic, for as many bikes as it can carry in it's innards, cannot tread anything but road). I had to walk up this mountain road twice on Friday evening. We were all sweating and tired after each walk up, so I considered this my Friday run, but it was too much.

SWIM (1500m) -- 24:03, 14th. This went fine, I was slowed a bit by the 2 waves in front of me (3 and 6min ahead). Within the first 200m i caught up to 40-49 men and by halfway I was catching and going by 30-39 men. This wasn't helpful in keeping a good draft or a straight line as I had to dodge or give up drafts in order to move out of the way. This kind of sucked, but my time didn't suffer by all that much. Managed to keep a good tempo without crushing myself, stayed calm. Came out of the water feeling pretty good. Judging by time vs. effort, the swim may have been a little long, as Matias swam only 22min.

T1 -- 1:55, 80th. I totally blew this. It was going ok until I was about to leave transition when my aero bottle popped loose from its bracket. I panicked and stopped to fix it in transition. Should have just got on the bike and tried to fix it while moving. After fumbling around with it, I still wasn't able to fix it, so I just wasted all that time. Also took too long to take off speed suit. Need to really nail that down, lost 40sec to Eric Sorensen and a couple other guys I wanted to beat.

BIKE (42.1km) -- 1:09:13, 7th. This went great. I was picking off people and really using my power on the steep hills. Was able to stay in aero the whole time thanks to the new fit, which is a major help. I put myself in a good strong tempo and just focused on that effort. First time I felt really in control on the bike during a 40k and without a doubt my best bike split rank in a competitive race. It's clear the training is finally being put to good use thanks to the bike fit. Rode the same time as Columbia, except this was over 1km longer and a slower (read: much hillier) course. Beat Sorensen's split and just behind Mike Harlow's, which are good benchmarks for me. Only problem... I didn't drink nearly enough. I was scrambling for water from my aero bottle after I drained it (which was loose the entire ride, had to hold it in place with wrists), and was empty 4mi from transition. I should've put on a second small bottle on the frame. Dumb mistake that I'd pay for on the run.

T2 -- 1:00, 51st. This doesn't look good either. Not sure what went wrong here, I think I racked my bike and then it slid off so that wasted a few more precious seconds, I forget.

RUN (10km) -- 39:03, 10th. First 2 miles were just fine, good pace and turnover. Then I hit the gravel/loose rocks for the middle half and it just progressively got worse. My flats didn't do too well on the gravel and around mile 4 I started feeling my calves cramp up. I know this was a combination of not enough water on the ride (and being unable to drink properly/enough while running), and the climbing I did Friday night. I had to slow up within the last 2 miles or so at points to shake out and prevent cramps, and this led to a pretty slow final mile... Not happy with the time, but I am glad I avoided calf cramps... need to hydrate better and avoid excess work the day before a race. This run should have been much better. It cost me at least 2 placements, compared to what I can run on a course like Luray's.

2:15:13, 7th overall. Happy with the time and overall placement, another good result in a race I wasn't rested or taperedfor. This would've ranked me higher in previous years but it was a more competitive race this particular year. Really pleased with my bike and cool with the swim. Very disappointed in my lame transitions and how I set myself up for failure on the run. Nevertheless, this instills a good deal of confidence in myself. I know I can now bike with the better cyclists. I just need to make sure I'm setting myself up well for the kind of run I am capable of. Zero and Pat finished 8th and 9th, so it was cool to line up with them in the results. Alyssa was 2nd in the ladies race and Ryan shook off a frustrating bike mechanical to finish respectably, although he'll disagree. Triathlon rookie Ben had a fine race too.

The next day we went out to Skyline Drive... Pat and I rode for 2 hours and then followed with a solid 45min run, with the pace picking up considerably for the last 10-15min. What a weekend!!

Big shout out to MATIAS and his fiancee Katie, who went first and first overall in the olympic, and 1-2 in the sprint the next day. What better wedding gift can two triathletes ask for?

Culpeper Sprint Triathlon race report

2011-08-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

This is a little late, but I got lazy. Culpeper Sprint in... Culpeper, VA... was to be my first triathlon since Columbia, and despite it being really just a training opportunity as I was in no way rested or tapered (not after 2 straight weekends of race doubles and the typical weekly training schedule), I was quite hungry to perform well. Especially on the bike... now that I have a perfect bike fit there are no more excuses for me! Matias was racing as well as his fiancee Katie, so a Snapple podium sweep was possible, but I would have to hold up my end of the bargain (something I didn't do in Fallston earlier this year with Dirk!).

750m swim, 16.8mi bike, 5km run.

The swim was pretty uneventful. I got out ahead of the crowd quickly and after 250m or so I settled behind two pairs of feet swimming side-by-side. I felt the pace was little easy, but that's probably a benefit of the mega-draft I found myself in. I stayed on the feet until about 100m to go when one of the guys appeared to pick up the pace. I stayed relaxed and left the water in 6th place, 11:26. Was surprised how calm I felt, my HR was low but I was pumped up!

I had a slow transition thanks to once again being unable to quickly find my bike. The rows all looked the same and I didn't have the concentration to focus on the aisle signs. Finally found 002 and ripped off my speedsuit and got on the bike. One of the guys who came out before me was leaving transition next to me and his dad or some guy said to him "Good job! Only a few guys ahead of you, you will quickly catch up to them and win!" Wrong thing to say around competition! I got on 002 and pretty quickly got ahead of him and 5th place. 2 more people to catch! I found myself moving quickly on the bike through a VERY hilly course. No flats, as opposed to what was advertised, which was a good thing! Just up and down. Within the next couple miles I passed #3 and around mile 6 passed #2. Only Matias ahead, but I knew I wouldn't see him until we pass each other on the run. Fine. I just focused on building a gap and keeping that tempo effort, which I did. Came back to transition feeling pretty good still in 2nd place (3rd overall bike split, 44:52, 22.6mph).

Hit the run and kept looking back toward transition to see where #3 was... I got about .3 miles out of transition until I saw him just pulling in. So it wasn't going to be a very close race. I settled into a good pace and went through the first mile. A race volunteer mentioned to me that "there's only one guy ahead of you, and he's wearing your jersey." I said "Cool, I know." Coming back past the mile 1 marker I finally saw #3... looked to be at least 2min behind me at this point. A little past this point Matias and I almost ran into each other (on his way to the finish of course). Knowing he was about 4:30 ahead of me, I didn't have much motivation to hammer the run. I settled into tempo pace and held it, all the while opening the gap further on #3 (3rd overall run split, 17:42) I cruised into the finish 2nd overall, 1:16:09. Matias won handily and Katie D. was the 2nd overall woman (11th overall in the race if I'm not mistaken). That made the result quite a bit cooler.

Despite what I consider largely slow splits, I am very happy with this race, especially with how tired I was coming in. The swim had to have been long, since Matias was about 90sec slower than last year's top swimmer... that's not realistic. And I was a good minute slower than what I am capable of swimming (and have swum) for 750m. The bike split I am actually very pleased with. It was hillier and slower than Columbia, yet I averaged quite a bit faster and had the 3rd best split, which is the first time I have had as good a bike rank as run rank. Compared to splits from previous years, I rank near or better than guys who I have considered superior cyclists, so that's cool. Granted, I didn't take the run very hard, but it shows the Elite fitting is finally letting me use the power I've developed since the winter months. In all I feel this race was great practice, I didn't have to dig deep or crush my legs, and the result built my confidence a good bit.

And I got a sandwich

Hell of a weekend

2011-07-25T05:43:00.001-07:00

That's what it was, or perhaps a weekend of hell? It was darn hot, but I had lots to do. Another race double and a long run Sunday.

It wasn't an easy week leading up into the weekend. Wednesday's track workout was my worst of the year, I felt lethargic and was unable to get in the whole workout, which may have been the smart thing to do anyway since it was so humid and I was just coming off that previous weekend's double. Instead of a 5-4-3-2-1 of around 5:00/mile pace, I ended up doing 5-3-2-2-1, which is better than nothing, but I wasn't pleased with how I felt. Swimming went well despite swimming in water of at least 86 degrees. No major bike workouts, just some recovery rides.

Saturday started with the Lost River Classic bike race, in the mountains of West Virginia. Weather was actually decent, mid-80s and some cloud cover. Bart and Matias had given me ample advice on how to approach this race... be near the front for the first climb as it was sure to blow up the field. They were right. Into the first climb people quickly dropped back when we hit the first of two steep pitches near the top. I nearly got caught behind as a larger fellow who was directly in front of me came to a virtual stop, but I was able to swerve around him and quickly bridge the gap that he allowed to form between him and the front 5 or so guys. 2 others followed up the hill and just like that we had a 8-man break from the rest of the field. This group worked perfectly together and 10mi into our break we were 1:30 up on the rest of the field. We each had a role, I set the tempo/pace on uphills, a few guys took longer pulls on the 2 long flat sections, and another couple charged on the descents, which helped us increase our advantage.

I attacked a bit too late on the final sprint climb, about 50m too late... I should've started my sprint 200m out but I waited until 150m, and that was a huge blunder. It cost me podium for sure, but I ended up 5th as our little pack finished together. We all must have ended up at least 3min ahead of the rest of the field, which is a pretty big gap! It was a lot of fun and I felt like my legs got in a very solid workout.

Here is my Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/101254543

That evening was the Crystal City 5km. I was sort of looking forward to it until I warmed up and realized just how yucky the weather was. So humid and hot!!! Absolutely miserable. I discarded my time goals and decided to just go by feel and try to beat the people around me. It was pretty awful, hard to breathe and I was just drenched in my own sweat, but I ended up racing well. The time wasn't good, 16:58, but I was able to start a little more conservative than normal and ended up picking off no less than 7 high schoolers who started out ahead of me, and exact revenge on Tezeta Dengersa, the mighty Ethiopian lady who beat me at Rockville Rotary 8km last week (part of another bike/run race double). She's really good... I can beat her fresh no problem, but she's good competition when I have a bike race in my legs. Nearly beat Edmund Burke as well, who I am sure ran long that morning... that guy is competition when I'm fresh. In all this was another good race/workout. I wouldn't have run that hard on my own in brutal heat, so this was great training!

The next morning I met my big brother Jordan at the Capital Crescent head to jump on a GRC train headed by Karl, Matias and Max, with Dirk riding along providing much-needed life-support (hydration). We trotted 10 miles to Matias' apartment in Alexandria at around 7min pace, and surprisingly it felt ok. It was definitely still too warm out and I was feeling Saturday's double in my heavy legs, but after a couple miles my legs loosened up and I enjoyed the run.

That made 3 hard or long workouts within 24 hours. Probably the hottest and hardest 24 hours of my life! But waking up Monday morning I felt fine, which is odd considering last Monday I felt terrible. I guess Todd was right, this kind of training is indeed making me stronger.

2x Race Saturday

2011-07-20T06:38:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday I jumped back into racing (and starting a 5-week race binge) in a daunting way: 2 races in one day. I've never done that before, but it was more manageable/sane because it was a bike race and running race. Giro di Coppi road race (cycling) in the afternoon, Rockville Twilight Runfest 8km (running) in the evening. Todd agreed this was an excellent workout opportunity and I wanted to get the most out of both races while at the same time not embarrass myself at the 8k late in the day.

The cat 5 wave of GdC set off around 1:05pm, which was quite a bit later than I would've liked with an evening running race looming. I sat in for the first of three laps with the mindset that I wanted to improve on my 3rd place finish in 2010 with a win this year. However, sitting in meant that I would do very little work until the last 200m to go. I got a bit frustrated once we finished lap 1 because I felt I was doing no work. I made up my mind at that point that I would make the race harder for me and potentially sacrifice an easier chance victory by moving to the front and leading or pulling for multiple stretches... and that's what I did. I pulled for about 3 miles of lap 2 and led a short break on lap 3 before taking the lead 2 more times, choosing the hilliest portions for my leads. I felt like I was working a lot more. However, it left me a bit drained for the final sprint climb, and once we hit the 200m to go mark, I was quickly passed by most of the 15-or-so man pack that broke away, ending up 12th overall when I crossed the line. The placement was a bit of a disappointment, but I just had no pop for that short sprint. I was very satisfied with the effort and work I put in, and Todd agreed that was the takeaway from this race. I did try to win, but did so the hard way and I think that was more beneficial to me and my triathlon training than simply sitting in and working for only 200m.

I relaxed a bit and ate some Honey Stinger waffles (my new go-to energy snack) in the few hours before the 8k, discussing race strategy with Paul Zwama. We correctly locked the door to Dirk's apartment and made our way to the race. We met up with Texas Paul at the invited athlete room (where I felt rather insignificant, surrounded by Ethiopians, a Dutchman, a Texman/Alabaman and other area legends) and warmed up for a sweaty 2 miles. I was drenched before the start. It was so humid. But I was quite surprised how good my legs felt. I figured, as long as there are no hills, I'll be just fine. So I was quite disappointed to look to my right about .25mi from the start and see a hill as part of the course. My quads quivered at the thought. O well, it's time to race.

The 8k begins and people blast off from the start. I tried my darndest to go slow and conservative, but there were too many people practically sprinting toward the first turn, so I found myself caught in the crowd. PMurph and I joined forces and made our way through a short mile 1 in under 5:10... too fast for me. I eased up a bit and took it slow up the hills. Yes, there were plenty of those... taking it slow up them was the only solution if I wanted to live through the entirety of the race! We hit mile 2 in around 10:30, so my pace did indeed slow, which was fine, but I was starting to feel really hot. Only 3 miles to go... geez, I was already looking forward to finishing. My pace slowed between 3 and 4 and the gap I had opened on PMurph had closed a bit, but I ignored the clock at this point... just finish strong. The last mile was a desperate effort to get to the finish. I was passed by a couple people, and heard footsteps catching up, but finally crossed the line in 27:39. Not a great time, but a 40-second PR nonetheless, and not terrible considering I raced beforehand... around a 34min 10k equivalent, which I'll take after a ride! And I ranked quite bit closer to my usual race rivals and I expected.

Apparently I was moving slow enough to make the camera blur out of boredom.

So that was one heck of a day and a great workout overall. I'm doing it again this coming Saturday, with Lost River Classic in the late morning and Crystal City 5k in the evening. I'll aim to run a bit smarter in the 5k and sit in a little bit more at the bike race. I would like to show up a little fresher for the 5k than I did for the 8k as it should be a flatter and faster course.

Prague, week 2, o the hills

2011-07-03T03:44:00.000-07:00

I didn't really have any chances to post while I was in Prague (I am back in USA now), but plenty happened last week.

First off of course the riding. I rode a lot. It was absolutely perfect weather for the first 4 days of the week and I took advantage of each day. An 80k on Monday, a tempo 38.2k on Tuesday, a solid brick on Wednesday and a recovery ride Thursday. The 80k was pretty hilly, with a 5mile climb thrown in... the scenery was majestic, as I rode along a glistening river with houses and churches placed atop hills on the other side. It was sunny and the sky was blue and it was quite pretty. I am not a scenery person when I train, but I really enjoyed it on this ride. The tempo ride was solid, totally unplanned but 15 seconds into the ride I felt really good, so I just rode hard, hitting around 22mph average, which I feel is pretty decent for a rolling course on road bike and no aerobars. There was a neat cobblestone section in the middle I had to go over twice which slowed things down but most importantly it jarred my water bottle loose before the halfway point and I had to ride in thirst. I think that actually made me ride faster as I really wanted something to drink.

The brick is a segue into running for the week. As I touched on last post I had been running a little more than planned and that carried over into this week. I ran an hour after the Tuesday tempo ride and Wednesday had a brick run, a fast run right off the bike. The ride wasn't hard, a 200w effort over 75min, but the run was tough. 2mi at a hard effort, final 20min settle and build pace. I ran the first two miles in 5:30, 5:19, and settled into the 20min build, going 7:09, 6:26, 5:50. It felt great! Especially the first two hard miles. My goal for Nation's is to run a 34:30 10k off the bike, and being able to comfortably hit 5:30 right off the bike and then get faster will go a long way toward helping me realize that goal.

I had a bit of a failed tempo run on Thursday, but I chalk that up to 5 hard workouts in 3 days... I suppose I was due to have a bad one. I put in several tempo miles but 2 less than I wanted. Still put in 7.5mi for the workout. A 70min run Friday to shake out the legs ended my training in Prague. Total for the week including today will end up being around 40mi, which is the most for me in a while. Best part is I feel like I am getting into really good running shape, which I didn't expect so early into the summer. The 2 weeks of training at 1100 feet and all those hills and hitting nearly 40mi both weeks really boosted my run fitness.

Swimming of course was not great as I only got in two swims this week. It is just tough to get motivated to swim so many laps in a tiny pool. Only notable swim was the end of Tuesday's workout, when I swam 800m in 11:16, which is just slightly slower than I was at Columbia. I made sure to make my wall turns slow and gentle, so it couldn't have added much of anything to my time. It is an encouraging time as it shows that I can swim a little less and still maintain my fitness. My goal for the summer is to maintain my swim speed, I will try to advance after the Fall season.

Well, that was a great 2 weeks of training. I ride 6 times next week, so I look forward to that. I also decided to add a couple running races to my schedule, the twilight races (8k and 5k) in July, but not as goals, but workouts after cycling races the same day. It worked for the 10k last week so these should also be good workouts.

Prague, week 1, cycling, racing, 10m swimming

2011-06-25T02:16:00.000-07:00

One week in Prague has gone by, and I wish I could be here longer. The cycling is amazing, few cars and lots of open road. No suburbs or secondary cities like Bethesda, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Arlington, etc. Once you leave Prague, it's just a smattering of small villages that comprise of some houses and a few keystone buildings like the church, post office, grocery, etc. So the rides I have been on have been two of the best. I am looking forward to more rides next week. I have been on 3 so far since Monday. The weather is fine here, the temperatures stay between the mid-60s and high-70s, which is great, but it can rain often. CZ is not far from a permanent high over the Atlantic which just tosses rain clouds over Europe, and it is fairly active now. Unlike DC, it is hard to predict rain as it only takes a few hours for weather to travel this way, so only by looking at the sky can one make a reasonable weather prediction. Still, I will take the occasional albeit unpredictable rain shower over the humidity and heat of DC any day.

Here are two of my rides... the third was more of a test spin to make sure my bike worked properly. Speeds are a bit low as I have been riding with a guide who isn't in top shape at the moment, but I am still able to break away and get some good power in. But check out those climbs... it is no wonder the best cyclists come from or train in Europe. Today is a day off but tomorrow is another long one.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/94470077
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/94080699

Running is good as well. I have a great place to run, Hvezda park, a building shaped like a star, that has several trails and dirt paths that can total over 12km if one is to cover the entire park, plus the trails and roads to and from.

I even participated in a race. If you may recall, I raced twice when I was in CZ two years ago and won both, earning a banana in one and wine in the other. I guess I have a reputation to uphold? Well, it wasn't upheld well this time. I raced in a 10k just hours after finishing a 2 hour hilly ride and the weather was humid at that time of day (6pm). I was glad to see some competition there, as they would help me make the race into a good workout, as I could feel this was not going to be much of a race, for me at least. I ended up 6th, with a time somewhere in the mid 34's. Nothing remarkable, but after a long hill ride, this was a great workout. I would love to run that fast after the bike leg at Nation's. The course was similar, relatively flat, but half on dirt.

Best part of all was that the race cost about 2 dollars.

Swimming hasn't been great as all I have is a 10m pool at my disposal, but I've taken advantage of it for one swim, putting in a 400m warmup, 2x (6x50 drill). 1000 hard, to total 2000m. 200 laps is about all I can stand. I'll get in some more swims, but it isn't too important. I can do some extra when I get back to the states after next week.

Heading to Prague

2011-06-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving tomorrow for Prague. I'll have Sicar in tow and a 10m pool at my disposal. This should be interesting... at least the riding and running will be good. Average temperatures at this time of year are high 60s to mid 70s, with occasional rain showers. I'm looking forward to some good long rides and continuing my bike training.

Speaking of that, it's been my June so far. Lots of cycling. All at least aerobic effort. And it's been quite good. I had a decent workout yesterday of 2x12min at high tempo effort. Couldn't use power meter because the battery in the hub died early into the ride. Lots of miles and efforts each week now.

Running is getting back there, I had a very solid track workout Wednesday after some pretty difficult (for me) Wednesday workouts where I suffered from a combination of fitness that wasn't quite completely back and the heat. Now I feel great on my long/recovery runs and strong at track. Also, I've been adding in an hour ride right before track practice. It warms me up a little but it also seems to be teaching my body to run fast even when the legs are a little tired. I hope this will really help me at Nation's.

Swimming, similar to running, hadn't been great since Columbia. I've been practicing a bit irregularly, but since last week I've returned to my normal swim schedule plus my lesson with Coach Ward. And my fitness has returned, as I put in 15x100 on 1:30, coming in at a 1:12 average. Granted this is not a terribly difficult interval for me, but it's nice to have the speed back.

So I'll try to post some "interesting" training that I do in CZ. Byebye.

6/1 -- Welcome to Dickerson

2011-06-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

As I stated in the last post, this summer will be dedicated to cycling and building some form of mental fortitude for those times when I will be isolated from competition on the race course. I made Tuesday's ride the first solid solo effort.

Sicar and I (as I have racked ZeroZeroTwo for the foreseeable future) set out from the Rt. 28 Safeway and headed north toward Dickerson for a 75-80min ride. It was just us, some passing cars, the trees and a 8-10mph crosswind... and blistering heat! Not a cloud in the sky above, just the brightly shining sun. But the heat would be combated with 2 bottles of liquid and fierce determination to expunge a weakness that was revealed all too dramatically at Columbia. I focused on maintaining an aerobic (197-221w) wattage throughout the ride, and it wasn't too difficult, as Rt. 28 has lots of long rollers but no dramatic spikes in elevation. Kept around 209-212 for the duration (28.5 miles, made it to Dickerson and turned back), and it felt quite good albeit a bit warm even by the turnaround. In fact, the whole riding alone thing was the best part. I really got to pay heed to my own effort (via cadence and power) and to nothing else, save for staying out of the way of passing autos. It can be a little lonely, but I'll get to defeating those feelings altogether.

So if this ride was any indication, I'm in for a great summer of training and cycling, and I'm sure Route 28 and I will become quite familiar and close... the rides will only get harder, but if I can MAKE myself work in isolation as effectively, then I will be much better prepared come race day. I want to bike as furiously as I swim and run!

I'll be seeing that sign many times in the coming summery days.

5/31 -- The Dream

2011-05-31T10:26:00.000-07:00

The week since Columbia has been relatively light, with the exception of the weekend, where I biked kind of hard on Saturday, ran and rode for a few hours in the brutal sunny heat on Sunday after my first swim in 7 days (wow... there's nothing quite like having tired arms after 100y and then using them for 3900 more). It was a fine recovery week, and maybe I needed it more mentally than physically (my bike muscles were unaffected from Columbia, a fact which has bothered me greatly). I was ready to get back into regular training by yesterday, sure... but I seemed to be lacking some of the fire and vigor I had in the months leading up to Columbia.

That is, until last night.

I went to sleep and began one of the best dreams I've had. I can't believe I'm blogging about a dream, by the way. It was the Luray Triathlon, which I did a couple years ago (the sprint) and am signed up for this year (the olympic). After some flip-flopping pre-race as to whether I'd wear body glide I decided to slather it on and zipped up my wetsuit. Dirk was there too, just like at Columbia. I don't remember much about the swim other than that it seemed VERY fast and I was at the shore before I knew it... in 4th place! Dirk right behind me. We set out onto the bike course and quickly passed the 3 fellows in front. We had the lead... and kept it into transition. We went out for the run and after a couple miles I started picking up speed and ran away from Dirk for the win! I woke up shortly after with Oscar purring into my face and in frustration that he ended my dream, I flailed my arms at him and bounded out of the bed... he seemed unaffected by my display of fury.

But anyway, the point is that this was an awesome dream (Apologies to Dirk, but he was indeed a casualty of my subconscious). What happened are some things that have never happened or would only happen in exceptional circumstances (high swim finish, winning the bike, passing Dirk in a run, winning a decent race). But it seemed so real, somehow.

MAIN POINT: It got me really excited to train and race again... at the same and even greater intensity than before. I will be spending much of the summer on the bike and as a result a little less time running and possibly swimming (as my level at Columbia indicates I've done well with my swim... but the bike still needs a lot of work all around). I needed something to reignite the passion as it was before Columbia, and this dream was just it.

5/22 -- Columbia Triathlon Race Report

2011-05-26T09:20:00.001-07:00

I wrote it on the Snapple team site... so might as well just use it here too. http://snappletriteam.com/athlete-blogs/item/columbia-triathlon-race-report

It was ideal conditions for a race... quite unlike last year, where I arrived at Centennial Lake with a really bad sore throat in pouring rain. It was low-60s and sunny this time, so the race would at least be more enjoyable! I also had pretty much all of my training pals racing with me in my wave, including Dirk de Heer, Michelle Miller, Matias Palavecino, Lucas McCollum, Ryan McGrath and also Lindsey Jerdonek in the pro wave. Coach Wiley was making his return to the race where he is a legendary figure.

I was really looking forward to the swim... lots of early morning swims and masters practices led to this day. I pushed hard for the first 400m or so, finding feet early on but losing them after not too long. I had to swim without a draft for about 1300m, which kind of sucked. Even so, I focused on not stopping and continuing to keep the tempo effort going. My arms felt good, due in part to my Xterra wetsuit which fit perfectly. With 200m to go, I saw a figure slide up next to me. I took a breath to my left to see a familiar face breathing to his right... DIRK! We made eye contact and swam together the rest of the way in. Not surprising, as we've been swimming together since last year and making each other work in practice. It was really cool though to finish the swim with him... it seemed almost appropriate. Lucas emerged from the water right behind us and we hopped into transition. TIME -- 20:50, a 3min PR over last year's swim, 65th overall!

I was not aware of my swim time though, and thought it was much worse as I saw a lot of bikes missing from our rack... then I had a hard time getting my wetsuit off of my right leg as Lucas and Dirk left transition. Dirk and I are about even on the bike so it would've been great to start with him, as I got off to a very sluggish and weak start to the bike. Aerobically I felt great... but my legs were unable to push out any power. I had no speedometer so I had no idea what I was doing, but I definitely was going SLOW. I just had no power. I became distressed and pretty demotivated, especially after Ryan McGrath flew by me halfway through. I tried to pick it up, but my legs would not respond. I came into transition to find that I barely matched my bike split from last year... TIME -- 1:09:13, 22mph, 109th. Pitiful and far weaker/slower than what my training indicated I'd be able to do... I had ridden a whole minute faster in training on that course as part of a 40mi ride!

FURIOUS, I racked my bike and sprinted out of transition and up the first switchback hill. I had to make up a LOT of time now. I saw no one except some pro women who I passed leading into mile 2, at which point I saw Robbie Wade, heading into his last mile. He shouted at me "RUN WITH DIRK!" to which I responded with confusion and a "huh?" That made no sense, until I looked ahead and saw Dirk at the top of the next hill... something was wrong with him. He had no jump in his stride and I definitely shouldn't have been catching him on the run. I passed a half mile later and focused on Ryan and a couple other guys ahead. I caught them and focused on staying ahead for the last 2 miles. TIME -- 37:07, a very average 10k for me, 18th overall. I had no desire to run much faster after I passed the last couple guys as I saw no one ahead... and was still pretty discouraged and confused after that awful ride.

Total time -- 2:10:19, 35th overall, 13th amateur. A 5min improvement over last year's Columbia, but I'm not really happy about it. I felt like my bike legs failed today and I don't know why. Part of it might have had to do with not biking in a group, which means I have lots of work to do on my mental game. The power is there... I just need to be in the right frame of mind to utilize it properly. Very happy about the swim and the general direction my development as a triathlete is headed. Lots of work left to be done... I'm ready to attack my weaknesses again. Thanks for reading.

-Andy Sovonick

5/2 & 5/3 & 5/4 -- I hate the number 400

2011-05-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I woke up Monday really tired! I was up from 3:30AM to 11:00PM on Sunday, racing and driving. And I had an evening masters swim. I wasn't soon to receive any rest.

The Monday masters practice was HARD. They are always tough, but this one really had my number. The number of the beast, perhaps... as you'll see below. It also caused me to hate the number 400. This workout was ALL 4s and 400s. Warmup was 400swim, 400kick, 400pull. Main set appetizer was 4x(4x50 varying drills/builds). Main set was several sets of 400s on different tough intervals... 16x25 on :20, 4x100 on 1:20, 4x75 IM + 100 IM on I forget what interval, I was so tired by that point. Add in 2x400 on 5:30. There were at least 2 other 400s that I can't recall. All I know is that I was hurting. Breathing hard and feeling a numb tingling in both arms, I didn't care what we were doing. I just went with it. Totaled like 4400y for the workout. But wow, it was terrible. I mean, I swam pretty well, but it definitely took me to my aerobic threshold and beyond.

Tuesday morning was a tough one to wake up to. A grand total of 16 hours of sleep over the previous 3 nights had to take it's toll at some point, and Tuesday was it! Fortunately the workouts were easy... but still, I wanted to just sleep. 35min easy trail run followed by a windy but recovery-level 74min ride with Michelle, and I made sure to stay in UTTER COMPLETE control over this ride. Stayed well under 200w and it felt nice. I slept well that evening...

Wednesday morning unfortunately I had to wake up early to swim at GISC. Second-t0-last swim there as they are conveniently CLOSED for the summer to paint a roof. I guess the heat and evaporation from the lava pool was too much for the ceiling paint to handle. Maybe they'd be best served to TURN DOWN THE TEMPERATURE BY 4019251285 KELVIN. Then they wouldn't have a paint peeling problem!!!!!!!! Ah, the swim was fine, fine indeed it was, longer sets and one 4x100 sprint set. Michelle was there. She would concur.

And then in the evening we reunited and rampaged through 270, River Road and Massachusetts Avenue to arrive at American University for GRC track workout. My prescribed workout was 6x800 at some pretty fast paces (2x2:24, 2x2:20, 2x2:18). Myself, Dave W, Pmurph and a new fellow named Matt Logan, who I wrongly accused of torturing cats, made up the B group. We hit the 800s almost all on pace, and ran strong, 2:24, 2:24 (my lead), 2:22, 2:20, 2:20, 2:17 (first half my lead, :67). I added on 2x400 in 74s, as a pacesetter for Michelle (see the Monkey Business blog for more information on my superior pacesetting abilities). I suppose my success surprised me, because my past 3 track workouts have been underwhelming and equally uninspiring, due to the fact that I'm tired and fatigued before each workout. I felt a lot better for this workout, so that was neat. I think an improved diet and taking it much easier on Tuesday helped make this workout better. My legs just felt a lot stronger! I slept really well afterward, indeed.

All this talk of numbers made me watch this video, the best music video of all time. GODZILLA MAKES SEVERAL APPEARANCES and they are amazing, of course. I'm surprised a certain Beastman wasn't included, but maybe it's for the better... of peoples' lives.

5/1 -- Fallston Duathlon race report

2011-05-02T10:22:00.001-07:00

About 13 months ago, I crossed the finish line at Doylestown Duathlon and wondered "Why is Dirk not here yet?", only to see him cross about 8 minutes later. Turns out he missed a poorly marked turn and rode at least 3 extra miles. I felt badly for The Lordman, but at the same time I chuckled because it seemed like such a goofy thing to have happen.

Well, I finally paid for that chuckle.

Michelle and I gusted our way to Annie's Playground in Fallston to participate in our multisport season opener, the Fallston Duathlon. A 5k-19mi-5k du, it was a perfectly timed training race for Columbia in a few weeks. I got Dirk to race in it as well, essentially voluntarily eliminating my chance of victory. Competition was pretty unrecognizable, except for one fellow with an Army singlet who vocally assumed he would be in the front of the race. Never overestimate the competition, I always say, but golly don't underestimate it either!

The first 5k was pretty comfortable, despite already feeling heavy and still sluggish from a hard week of training, and I came through in 16:31, 2nd best run. The course starts downhill for a mile, a rolling 2nd mile, and the last 1.1 is all uphill. It didn't tire me out, as I kept a tempo-ish effort and started the bike with warm legs.

I had one of my best rides. I started out 45 seconds or so behind Dirk, but slowly gained seconds on him. Around mile 8, a guy who has averaged close to 25mph in half iron races passed me and went after Dirk. I kept him in sight and elevated my effort a little so as to not lose them. By mile 15, I had gained 10 seconds on Dirk, according to a bystander. There was no one in sight behind me for over a mile. I was on pace for a 23.1 mph average on the hilly course, which was going to be strong for me, considering my lack of taper. However, right around mile 17.5, it all went for naught. I temporarily lost sight of Dirk and the other guy as they crested a hill I was climbing. I passed through an intersection with a police officer stopping cars. I didn't see any signs or course marshals, so I kept going straight... off the course. A mile past, I came upon Route 1, which I knew was never on the course. I thought "GODDAMNIT" and plenty of other angry expletives, as I knew I was lost. I practically sprinted the mile back to the turn to get back on the course, nearly fishtailing in desperation and hammered down the last hill into transition to find the guy who was pretty far behind exiting transition to start his run. 6 unnecessary extra minutes on the course will do that...

Flustered but committed to finishing the race strong I jumped out of transition and practically sprinted through the first mile of the 2nd run, hitting 5:07. I had 600m of a gap between me and the current #3, and I was doing my damndest to close that gap. I came upon Dirk as it was an out-back course, and he understandably looked mighty confused when he saw me. Anyway, I closed the gap to about 75m, but then I ran out of space. 16:47 for run 2, and 2nd fastest run split again. Finished 4th overall.

Well that sucked! Getting lost on the bike is never a good way to lose a race or lose placement in a race. But I salvaged 4th, and had the pleasure of seeing Dirk and Michelle win their genders. Most importantly, I discovered that my speed and strength on the bike has increased markedly from last year. My run off the bike is better too. I'm really pleased with my performance and progress. I can't wait to do this racing thing fresh and fully rested.

I did and still do however, feel just like this...

4/18 & 4/19 & 4/20 -- Racing hangover

2011-04-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

It's hard to give your all in a race and then get up the next morning and get back to work. I gave lots of physical and emotional energy to the Pike's Peek cause. But Todd didn't allow me any rest before or after the race. I had to reset quickly...

I woke up Monday AM but I really didn't want to wake up at all. I had a headache from all the excitement the day before. Because of spring break at Prep there was no master's practice, so Michelle and I agreed to meet at GISC that evening for the swim. It wasn't the best idea, as we were stuck in the LAVA pool. The workout had a lot of fast 200s and 100s, and the warmth certainly didn't make it easier. It doesn't bother me terribly however. What did bother me was the aquajogger who plopped herself right in front of me. I have a feeling if we collided it would have hurt her more than me, so after a few mean words I convinced her to hug the lane lines and watch out. Finished the swim pretty tired.

Tuesday included all 3 sports. I ran with Red Fox, Karl and an Ethiopian fellow named Ben. I haven't been able to join my teammates for the morning runs as masters practices and evening bike workouts make most mornings my preferred recovery periods. But since there was no masters practice, I was able to wake up to run. We totaled around 8 miles in a little less than an hour through some hilly neighborhoods. It's good to be running with Jake again, since he has been out for so long. I rode sort of easy for an hour in the afternoon on the trainer as the weather was sketchy. I spent the first 30min around 185w, and the last 30 at 215w. The run in the morning loosened me up and I was watching a pretty exciting battle in Stage 16 of the 2005 Tour de France and it got me motivated to pedal harder.

I then waddled into swim practice, meeting the Beastman along the way. We were finally swimming together again. Work got in the way of his training schedule the past couple weeks, but we'd finally put our fists together for another fight against the water. Workout was 30x100, with 10 on 1:35, 10 on 1:30, 10 on 1:25, and 3 more after that on 1:20. I led for the 1st and 3rd sets of 10 and the final 3, and we averaged around 1:18-1:20 per 100, with 1:12 average for the last 3x100. Just the kind of workout we like. Swim a lot and maintain a solid pace. Whew, that was a long day for a Tuesday!

Wednesday track workout was 5xmile (5:15, 5:10, 5:05, 5:00, 4:55), a pretty long workout considering I just raced a 10k, but I went with it, along with Dickson, Matias, PMurph and Charlie. I managed 4.25 of the 5 total miles, hitting 5:14, 5:08, 5:04 (my lead), 5:00, :73, and then a 5:26 as I followed Michelle for her last interval to keep her company. I felt heavy going in but got better around the middle of the workout, but got a little too much lactic acid built up by the last repeat that I just really didn't want to finish it. I thought I had done enough!

I found this picture from Pike's Peek. Apparently, Dirk and I have the power to intimidate Ethiopians. See how they cower in fear as they are surrounded by our game faces.

4/17 -- Pike's Peek 10k race report

2011-04-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

One thing I learned from the second half 0f 2010 was that I don't run enough miles to really run well. I had some poor performances, culminating in a very disappointing Veteran's Day 10k. I came in expecting a sub-33, but with low mileage and less time running than swimming or biking, I didn't even get under my then-PR. I have since set my expectations for myself pretty low. 20-35 miles per week won't get me among the best runners, and I had to fail to realize that.

This spring though has forced me to amend that thinking, with my big PRs in 5k and 10 miles on, once again, 20-35 miles per week. I now approach races with a conservative confidence. I CAN PR, but I need to be realistic. That's how I approached Pike's Peek 10k. My goal was to get under 33:00, with an epic day goal of 32:40. MacMillan suggested a 32:20, but that seemed crazy to me. Dave W and I formulated a plan to go out in 16:20 and try to hang on from there. We both doubted that it would be possible.

Sometimes though, a plan doesn't always work out quite the way it's meant to!

The race started and I let a large crowd of people sprint out. We had a bit of a headwind for the first 200m, and I just relaxed in, turning onto 355 behind a number of women and guys who I knew wouldn't last in front of me. Dave came up alongside me, Murphy too, and we began to settle in and cruise. About half a mile in, the crowd in front of me shrank and continued to shrink. We went through the first mile in 5:10, which was faster than the planned pace... but wow, it felt REALLY good. We kept it going, hitting mile 2 in 5:12. Again, really controlled and relaxed. At this point I decided that it was time to pick it up a little bit, and I put a tiny bit of distance on the group, hitting 5:08 for the 3rd mile. At this point, I was right around a 32:10 pace! And it still felt really good... I was quite astonished.

I hit the 1/5th mile long hill just after the 5k mark and didn't slow. Instead, I passed at least 2 guys and started to reel in Dave Miller, who I've made a point of targeting at larger races. Got to mile 4 in 5:08 again, still feeling solid. My aerobic fitness, despite my lack of running miles, is very high... probably due to the high overall mileage between the 3 sports. About halfway to mile 5 however, I began to feel a familiar ache -- my upper back. Oh no... this is what ended my race at Veteran's Day 2010! Why again?? It wasn't as bad this time though and I kept the effort high, but hit the 5th mile in 5:12, so I was starting to fade a bit However, my 5-mile split told me "Wow, you're really going to PR huge today!" and willed myself on. Dave and the leading Ethiopian ladies passed me and I made an attempt to hang on, but they began to put distance on me. I mustered a few words of encouragement to Dave and then focused on not losing any more ground. My back at this point was legitimately aching, and I began to breathe audibly. I hit mile 6 in 5:18, which really isn't so bad... I thought the damage was worse, but my legs were really carrying me at this point... my arms and upper body couldn't help much. I heard Jake tell me that I needed to really move to get under 32:20, which was a secret epic goal of mine...

Crossed the line in 32:16!! That's an almost 2min PR from my previous best of 34:05 in 2009. I also ranked 34th overall and won my age group and some cash (a rarity for me in large running races). I wish I had been able to stay with Dave, who nearly snuck in under 32:00, but he will be a solid training and racing partner for me moving forward, provided he doesn't get too far ahead of me! And I'll have to work on my running form. Todd seems to think I'm too tense up top. That is probably true. I lean my head back a little too much even when I'm not tired. That can't help me. This will be especially important in triathlon season as I may come off the bike with tense shoulders from sitting in aero position for an hour.

I'm pretty darn happy about this improvement, as I really believed that I was incapable of running fast over a longer race because of my triathlon training. With the right quality of training, coaching and teammates, anything is possible. This wraps up my running season for the first half of 2011, and I leave with 3 solid PRs and a high level of excitement for my running future.

My one picture from the race so far. See me? I'm the chump behind the winning lady. If you were to imagine that she's not there, I'm about to break the tape for my age group win. Eye roll.

4/14 & 4/15 -- Colonies Zone Swim Meet

2011-04-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday and Friday were pretty big days for me.

Michelle and I assembled at the base of a steep hill for a 40mi ride / 15min transition run. Weather was perfect for the 2nd time in as long as I can remember. I chose Sicar as my stallion for this ride. I didn't want to sit in aero position for a long period of time as that can make my shoulders ache, and I didn't need that bothering me before the Colonies Zone meet. It was a hilly ride as usual and I added in Rt. 121, which heading out is a scenic flat leading into long-ass hill. It was nice, I wish the flat went longer though. The hill is perfect, I love accepting that challenge every time. Ride totaled 39.82 miles and an average of 231w, which is one of my best averages for a long ride. I ran right after, scaling hill after hill to simulate the Columbia race course. One of the hills, which I went up twice, is about .15 miles long from base to summit and presents a decent challenge. It was an enjoyable workout and this time I made sure to hydrate more than sufficiently on the bicycle, which led to a exponentially better post-bike run than what I did on Sunday. What a difference!

Friday was race day/evening. Colonies Zone swim meet. I signed up for the 1000y with Dirk, but he opted out of the race, so it was just me. Matias was there (swam a 11:16 in the 1oooy), but in a faster heat. CUBU/Ward friends and teammate Maryellen was there to swim the 1650 (and a 24-second PR of 24:16!) and Sara came along to cheer and help with counting. I had David Cascio and Eric Sorensen, top area triathletes, in my heat. These are guys who beat Dirk last year, so their level is LEGIT. I figured if I could beat at least one of them, that'll really be a good gauge as to where I am at coming into tri season. I know my run is solid and my bike has gotten better... but how about the swim? Sorensen is/was a 20minute 1500 guy and Cascio close to that as well.

Race started and I went out fast. 1:09 and 1:13 for the first two 100s. I settled down and focused on maintaining pace from here. I settled into 1:17s and 1:18s for the middle 500. When I hit the 700 I started making efforts to pick up the pace. I didn't do it quite as dramatically as it may have felt, but I did shave off a second per 100 to hit 1:16s and 1:17s over the last 300, coming in at 12:46, 1:16.5 / 100y! Just what I was hoping for. I had an epic goal of 12:30, but 12:46 is right where I expected and wanted to be at this point. I would love to be able to hold that pace with a wetsuit for an open water 1500m and with the way I felt, I think it's darn near possible! Oh, and I beat Sorensen by 2 seconds! That felt pretty cool. I lost to Cascio, but he was moving, hitting around 12:36. It was neat to compete and finish with guys who have been at the sport for a long time and have plenty of experience. I hope that on future race days (triathlons) I can be just as competitive with them. I kind of expect it now. Anyway, I'm getting really pumped for triathlon season. The training continues to pay off.

That was a lot of fun. First swim meet was a success. I learned lessons though... I still need to work on flipturns. Jason with CUBU, who was counting for me, noted I still lost time on the guys because my flipturns were a little slow and I came off the wall too shallow. I need to streamline better also. It's wasted seconds, essentially. If I'm looking to continue to compete in these swimming races, which I am, I need to improve my skills in the pool.

I watched this before the race. It was the motivation, and perhaps the model of my swim... strong start, level middle, strong finish?

4/11 & 4/12 & 4/13 -- Keep Rolling

2011-04-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

After Sunday's leg smashing, one would expect that I could use a few days of recovery. I could! But I wasn't getting any.

Monday I was off my legs, "just" attending a masters swim practice. It was a taper practice, preparing us for Zones on Friday (or, tonight as I am writing this post Friday!). Nothing really of note for this practice, except that I swam a :27 off the blocks, which matches my previous best during the dinky DC Tri swim meet. That was pretty cool. Maryellen even complimented my flipturn! I've never heard anything positive about my flipturns before (only that people are glad I'm doing, or trying, them!).

For Tuesday I moved my bike threshold/strength workout on the trainer from Thursday since it was raining and was forecasted to be really nice Thursday. Might as well be indoors on the yucky day. Workout was 25min warmup, then 5min @ 250w+, 5min recovery, then 6x3min @ 285w w/ 2min spin recoveries. I hit and exceeded the power requirements for each interval. I found myself not looking much at the tv but a lot more at the power computer, as I wanted to really nail my numbers. I did feel a little fatigued since Sunday's ride was only a couple days prior, so the last two 3min intervals, although my most powerful, weren't easy at all. I'm glad I got this done Tuesday though.

Wednesday had an AM swim at GISC, with some long intervals, including 2x600 at varying speeds and a 6x75 build set. Nothing really special, and I focused mostly on form. I'm a little worried however that I'll focus too much on form at the Zones meet. I want the form to emerge, but I don't want to think about it. We'll see. In the evening I ran with GRC at track practice. Did 6x800 (2:30, 2:32, 2:28, 2:26, 2:24, 2:22) but dropped out of the next two because my calves were aching up. It happens on the shorter stuff, as I and TOWPATH, in a comment, have explained. But I feel now that I should have continued with the workout. If I will have this calf ache often, I might as well keep running for a bit more. I felt like I wimped out a bit here. The next morning I had zero calf pain, and that validated my feelings. I need to toughen up a bit more. My body will respond to a hard effort, and I need to recognize better if it's a real pain or just a "I'm tired" pain.

I'm getting excited but of course am really nervous about Zones. First swim meet since, like, before I was 10 or something. I've only recently been a "swimmer," or something like that. And there will be lots of fast and experienced swimmers... here are the psyche sheet and heat sheets http://www.patriotmasters.org/colonieszone2011/results/index.htm . I just want to swim strong, not have my form fall apart 750y in, and average 1:15s-1:18s, which is around where I want to be in a 1500m open water swim. Wish me luck!

4/9 & 4/10 -- Another Weekend Clash of the Powers

2011-04-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend was another one of heavy training with Hendrik de Heer, aka THE BEASTMAN. Also, The Lordman, since his last name DOES mean Lord. It was destined to be another weekend where heads would be butted and clashes of competitiveness in all 3 sports would take place frequently. Who would emerge on top?

We joined forces for an easy 10mi on Capital Crescent. About halfway in though, Dirk's stomach yearned to do it's own thing, so the run required a couple pit stops. Still, 10mi is 10mi and it felt pretty decent, legs felt pretty good, but I had a bag of popcorn for lunch so they weren't exactly ready to fight. I followed the run with an easy hour spin on the trainer, 102-109 rpm, L1/recovery power. Just to, you know, shake out that junk. I had to be fresh and ready to end a soul or two for the next day which laid in wait.

We reunited Sunday morning for masters swim at Prep. Mark divided the group into 2 -- those tapering for Zones, and those not, which included myself, Dirk and a lady who once swam 12 miles if I heard correctly. I'm actually racing at Zones, the 1000, but it's not as much a priority to me as it is to the swimmers in our masters groups. The workout today included a main set of 20x50 (10 on :50, 10 on :45) followed by a wicked 4x500 descend. That went pretty well, and I averaged 6:20 for the 4x500s, a 1:16/100y average. That seems to bode well for both Zones and triathlon season. I would LOVE to average 1:15-1:16/100y in a long distance swim. I didn't descend very well this workout, but I'm pleased with the effort and times.

After practice we rocketed to Centennial Park for a Columbia course ride/run. There, to my utter fear/terror/horror, was MICHELLE, who was waiting patiently for our arrival. I wasn't surprised to see her as this was the original plan, but the sight of her always causes me to shiver in trepidation, as she could end my life at any moment in time, and she knows it. Ronald McDonald McGrath, some of his Baltimore triathlon/running pals were there too. Lindsey and SNOW showed up soon after as well. It was around this time that we discovered that DIRK forgot his front wheel... when we were stuffing his bicycle into my car we both failed to notice that the front wheel had not gone in with it. OOPS. Fortunately he was able to borrow a wheel from a local bike shop, so the ride went on as planned.

The course ride was very solid. I did 8 miles out and back (to the homewood circle) while waiting for Hendrik and when we reunited, we started the course ride in earnest. We pounded the hills both up and down. I was told by Todd to elevate the effort on the hills, and so I was pushing close to 400w on some of the shorter ones. We finished the 41k in 1:10 or so, which is barely slower than what I raced on the course on race day last year! I think this is pretty cool. And this was with several stops or slowdowns. Added on another 10 miles to get to 41mi total on the ride. Averaged around 227w for the ride, which is pretty strong, maybe my highest ever for a 2 hour ride.

The run afterward wasn't so hot. Actually it was hot. I was hot, and not in a good way. 12min into the run I started dehydrating and feeling overheated. Because of the wheel mixup I didn't get Heed in my body until we finished the course ride, about 31miles after we started. That didn't work well for my body. I waved Dirk ahead and trundled in a minute or two after. I'm not sure of my pace, but the first half must've been under 6:45 pace... the second half probably was closer to 8:00 pace. Oh well. The most important part was that we charged up the first hill at the beginning of the run... that one is pretty brutal. I need to be smarter and have more foresight about my nutrition. It seems like a small deal but it's NOT!

I feasted well afterward. That was an intense weekend. My body craves rest... but an even more brutal week is ahead, finishing with TWO races. The 1km at Colony Zones swim meet at George Mason on Friday, and the Pike's Peek 10k on Sunday. Good lord. This is the most crucial training period and I need to answer the bell.

4/6 & 4/7 -- Revived

2011-04-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

I was still feeling kind of tired by Wednesday morning, but went to swim practice. Nothing hard fortunately, just some pull and build sets. The toughest of the set was a 2x250 build and 4x100 build, with the rest being drills and pull. I like these workouts because I REALLY concentrate on my form. When it falters I do whatever it takes to get it back in line. Friday practices aren't as easy to do this sort of thing as I'm more removed from Monday's masters practice/lesson.

GRC track practice in the evening. I went in with achy calves and heavy-feeling legs. The workout wasn't as easy as I hoped, 2400-2000-1600-1200-800-400 (79s for the 2400, 78s for the 2000, 77s for the 1600, 76s for the 1200, 74s for the 800, 70s for the 400). It was a smaller B group, with Dave W and I pushing the pace. Dickson joined for the 1600 and down. I dropped out of the last 400 as I didn't want to stress my calves more. They were still sore and if I did a 400 at the end, I would assuredly run too hard out of excitement of being almost done. Splits (by mile pace) were:

2400 -- 5:08/mi (my bad, took it out too fast, should've been 5:16)

2000 -- 5:12/mi

1600 -- 5:08/mi

1200 -- 5:05/mi

800 -- 4:52/mi (I kicked it in for this since I dropped out before the 400)

It was long, but a fine workout nonetheless. I was able to keep paces comfortably, so my body is recovering fine from CB. What I was worried about was how my already hurting calves would feel the next day, considering I ran in my flats for practice.

Much to my surprise, I woke up Thursday with barely any calf pain at all! Huh? I guess that the workout wasn't too fast so my calves weren't stressed too much? Did the track workout help the healing process? Whatever the reason, I'll take it! I like no pain better than pain (except during a workout of course!). In the afternoon I had a bike strength workout on the trainer. 10min @ 245w, 8min @250w, 6min @ 255w, 4min @260w, 2min @270w. I felt pretty strong through the first two intervals, so I pushed the last 3. All Todd wanted was for me to get stronger with each interval. I did just that, hitting 10min @ 250, 8min @ 257, 6min @ 269, 4min @ 281, 2min @ 314. And I felt smooth. The data chart shows it, my cadence slowly went up with each interval and my power numbers did not spike or fall during each interval.

4/4 & 4/5 -- My Apologies, Calves!

2011-04-07T04:55:00.000-07:00

I woke up Monday morning just as I expected: tired and with pretty sore calves. My calves, instead of my quads, seem to always be sore after a race or any hard run where I am wearing flats. Michelle says it must be that I run on my toes a little more, which is possible. Just part of racing! My upper back/lower neck was sore as well, probably a result of my bunching up when I developed the cramp. However, these are just consequences of racing hard. No injuries and no excuses not to get right back into training.

Monday and Tuesday however were easier days. On Monday I went to masters practice for a decent workout, another one with plenty of speed work. Highlights were some pretty fast 50s, one under :30 again, and a 1:02 100 at the very end of the practice, when I was quite tired. It surprised me as I thought I would put in a 1:05 at fastest. My new form techniques are working, I just have to keep implementing them. The practice also stretched out my sore back/neck muscles, and I felt better the next morning.

Tuesday I ran and rode easy. The 35-minute run was just to check and shake out the legs. My right calf felt fine, but the left one was a little more sore (hey, I rhymed). Rest of the body and legs felt ok though, even with some short hills I surged up. The ride was also pretty basic, 75min of 206w, low-mid L2 zone. Again, legs felt tired but responsive enough. My quads didn't hurt but they felt a little more tight right (hmm, I rhymed again) after the ride.

4/3 -- Cherry Blossom 10-mile Race report

2011-04-04T04:49:00.000-07:00

April 3rd finally arrived. The Cherry Blossom 10-miler! I had been waiting for this race since watching it last year on a bicycle. And I had been really anticipating it since my failures at the Philly Distance Run and Veteran's Day. I wanted to prove I can indeed run longer distance races well and conquer Hain's Point. With a new coach who puts emphasis on racing and my new attitude toward races, it was time to do or die. My fitness was at a high level leading up into today and my training has been going really well. No full taper, but Todd felt this wasn't necessary.

The race started and I sought out Matias to pace the first mile together. He's a solid pacesetter and even if we went out faster than our planned 5:40, it wouldn't be bad. We did go faster, 5:32, but that is still conservative and sustainable. The next 2 miles were solid, 5:26 for both, and I tucked in behind the taller Karsten Brown, a solid racer and windshield. Mile 4 was placed on the wrong side of the Ohio Drive turnaround, so the times appeared a lot slower, but I didn't panic, and estimate a 5:20 split. Our group of Dave, Karsten, Matias, myself and a couple other guys stuck together on Independence Avenue leading into mile 5 (5:18). This was my favorite part of the race. Just a long straightaway heading into the sun. I had felt a little off in mile 4, and this refreshed me. I got my legs back to full strength and started to put away Karsten and a Howard County strider, Mark Buschman, leading into Hain's Point. Matias had put out a bit of a surge and got about 10 seconds ahead by the time we got to parking lot A on the Point and crossed mile 6 (5:21), and 10k (a 33:40-:50 estimate, which would be a 10k PR!).

Matias and me... next time he should lend me his calves, or at least a piece of them.

At this point I found myself in a bit of a no-man's land. Matias was too far ahead to group with him, and Karsten, Dave and Mark were 10+ seconds behind me. I didn't want to be in this situation, but I just focused on Matias and the guy he had just caught... that guy was my next prey as well. I caught him about half a mile later, and hit mile 7 in 5:20. Mile 8 included the turnaround at the end of the Point, and by now I had TEXAS PAUL, who was barely coming back from injury, in my sights and was gaining ground back on Matias, with a 5:16 split. By mile 8.5 I was 4-5 seconds back of Paul, when I felt the cramp develop in the bottom-center of my chest, diaphragm area. Suddenly breathing became more difficult and painful. My pace leveled out and I knew this wasn't going to be good. I hung onto the pace as best I could, but the headwind + cramp began to take its toll, and came into the 9mile marker in 5:28. The RED FOX came up beside me and shouted bloody murder at me, reminding me I was on pace for under 54 minutes. I knew this too... but I was merely hanging on now, the cramp had gotten worse. I was right on Paul's shoulder but I couldn't muster up a pass. My pace dropped quite a bit, into the 5:40s. I pushed up the hill and gave it what I had for the last 200m... but I saw the clock tick 54:07, 54:08, 54:09, and I was disappointed I wouldn't get under 54.

The struggle against the cramp

BUT I had a chance to meet my epic goal of the day, 54:29, and I did, crossing the line in 54:22, a 7-minute PR off my last 10-mile race and a 3-minute shave off my 10-mile split in last year's National Half. Happy with the time and placement, 40th overall (I expected top 60), but a little disappointed, as if I had drank more before the race, perhaps I would have been under 54. Splits were -- 5:32, 5:28, 5:26, 5:20?, 5:18, 5:21, 5:16, 5:20, 5:28, 5:50.

It was a really fun race, and I look forward to getting into the 53s next year. GRC won the team competition and everyone ran awesome times. Michelle was the 2nd American female with a 59:20, Matias ran 53:45 after predicting a 55:20, Lindsey was 14th with a 60:48 and established herself as one of the elite area runners, and Dirk showed the world he's back with a 51:40. Training is going according to plan, and now it's time to get back to work.

Up next is the Pike's Peak 10k.

3/28 & 3/29 -- I see you, Jan

2011-04-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

Monday was a nice recovery day from the double tempo weekend. Just a swim lesson with Coach Ward and masters practice afterward. The lesson was pretty darn important as it really altered my stroke in a good and surprisingly immediately comfortable and powerful way. Open the hips, extend the arm, and a more powerful catch/pull results. I put it to good use at practice that evening, with some good fast sets of hard kick and 200s with at least 85% effort. The 200s included a 200, 2x100 and 4x50. I swam the 200 in 2:18, which is a practice best for me; the 100s in 1:05; and the 50s in :30 and the last one in :29, the first time I've broken :30 in practice. It was a great session, and I really felt the new stroke working wonders. I felt faster and more powerful. I'll have to keep the lessons up to improve on it even more.

Tuesday was another shakeout day with a pretty solid aerobic ride. 90min, at least 200w on the trainer. I felt surprisingly strong this ride, considering how bad I felt Sunday, and averaged around 219w. I was really pushing into tempo for most of the ride and had to lay off multiple times to prevent myself from going too hard. It wasn't just because of fresher legs... I was watching a REALLY INTENSE 2004 Tour de France stage: Stage 16, the uphill time trial. Lance was chasing after Ivan Basso, Andreas Kloden and Jan Ullrich, and made up a huge amount of ground on all of them, eventually passing Basso... which sucked for him! But what got my attention was Ullrich's intensity. He heard in his earpiece that Lance was gaining and coming after him hard. MAN, did Jan get SWOLE. It was really inspiring to see the twisted looks of pain on his face as he pushed up the grade and made a last-ditch burst effort across the line. He lost a good :40 on Lance, but his mighty legs, increasing effort and his AGONY sure made an easier ride more exciting.

LEGS!

AGONY!

3/26 & 3/27 -- A weekend of tempo

2011-03-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

This was going to be a tough weekend. Originally I had lined up a long sub-tempo run, a masters swim, a 2 hour bike + 15min run. But as it turned out I had signed up to run with Snapple at the Multisport Expo 5k competition. I didn't want to miss my long tempo run nor did I want to flake on the 5k... so after consulting with Todd, I decided to tempo both. Would my body hold up? I hope so!

Saturday morning was the long run/tempo with some GRC teammates. We ran easy from the store to Hain's Point, at which point we started the tempo. Patrick and I broke away from the B group pack we started out with, and started pushing 5:15-:25s after a 5:30 first mile. That was better than tempo effort, but we were working together and it felt all right. I was feeling a little congested due to the cherry blossoms around me, but completed the almost 4 miles with little difficulty. I definitely won't be running 5:20s on race day, until hopefully the last 3 miles of the race, so this was a good practice, running that pace around Hain's Point, which is more or less the finishing stretch. 3 miles back to the store and workout #1 was finished.

In the afternoon I went to Curl Burke's masters practice at AU since I would have to miss Ward's practice the next morning. It was a pretty sprint-heavy workout, so it was tough on me, since I am pretty much all slowtwitch in the pool now. Several sets of 4x50s all out with 200easy, with some sets having variations on the 200 total of sprint. I hit even times all throughout, :31 avg on the 50s, 1:08 avg on the 100s, :15 avg on the 25s. Not my fastest times by any means, but it was what I could do. Not slowing down was the key.

Sunday was the race. Dirk, Matias, Chip and I as a team... that's pretty good, if you ask me. Dirk, Matias and I took the lead after half a mile and never really relinquished it... all while holding a tempo effort and sticking together. It was fun, and part of the course ran through the old Georgetown Prep Cross Country classic course, so that brought back some memories of high school XC meets there. We had a late challenge by one guy (who turned out to be a pro-level Xterra guy) but he died out on the track in the last 400, and we three passed him. Dirk first, Matias second, me third, separated by 5 seconds between each, around a 16:30 effort or so. Fun, and a good tempo workout. Started to feel some tightness in my calves, unfortunately, so it might have been a bit much. Still, we won free Newton shoes as a prize ($150 value!), so it was good to WIN.

In the afternoon, I biked in the basement, about 2 hours at 215w, staying within L2. My legs were definitely tired from the run, so this wasn't as easy as it should've been. The run afterward wasn't any easier and my legs were REALLY happy to be done when I arrived back home. It was a tough weekend, but it was a lot of fun to get in the hard work. Now is the time to recover and relax and be fresh again for this coming SUNDAY.

The winning Snapple team after our victory at Prep on Sunday... it was pretty cool to race side by side with Dirk and Matias, two of my best training pals and friends. Matias and I should be doing the same at Cherry Blossom!

3/24 & 3/25 -- Keep plugging away

2011-03-27T18:48:00.000-07:00

This has been a tough week. Todd said this and last week were going to be pretty hard. And by Friday I was definitely feeling it. The track workout was good, but it did take a toll on me.

Thursday I just had a bike trainer workout 4x5min @ L4. A pretty basic workout, with a long warmup and long cooldown. Using my new power zones from the ill-fated test from last week, I hit wattages of 261, 265, 266, 274, which are right in the middle of my new L4 (248-273). I felt comfortable. A little tougher than my previous L4 zone, but I kept my cadence level in the high 90s and didn't have trouble maintaining consistent effort.

Friday was a crummy day, really busy at work and it got me pretty tired. I swam at GISC with Michelle in the morning, and felt a little off, tired from the track and bike threshold workout 2 days in a row, but kept my focus on form. I struggled with that at first, but halfway through got comfortable again. Some 300 builds and more drills. After finally GETTING THE WORK DONE at my job, I bolted outside for an easy jog, just to shake out my legs and stretch my feet out. 45 minutes, pretty relaxed. I suppose there's nothing to say about it. I just needed to get something done.

3/23 -- Make Way for Triathletes

2011-03-25T05:35:00.000-07:00

Wednesday AM I swam with Michelle at GISC, a pretty relaxed pull-heavy workout. No build sets, just long pull and shorter hard/easy intervals. Really made an effort to focus on form and not look at the clock. I was joined by Michelle AGAIN in the evening, this time for the team track workout, as she has officially joined GRC, providing a huge boost to the growing women's team... it was only a matter of time until we were on the same team. NICE.

Men's workout was 6xmile, with my group, the "B" group going 2x5:15, 2x5:10, 2x5:05. Our group is barely a "B" group as we have guys like Dickson, Patrick, Charlie, Matias and, for today at least, Dirk. That's pretty mighty. Charlie wasn't present for this workout, but we all took turns leading, and produced splits for the first 5 of 5:16, 5:14, 5:09, 5:07 (I led this one), 5:05. Then Matias, Dirk, Patrick and I decided to go HARD on the last one, aiming for sub-5. I stuck behind Patrick for the first 800 as I thought my calves, which were getting some lactic buildup, wouldn't let me go... but they cleared up after about 700m and I moved up to get up with Matias and Dirk... and we WENT. With 400 to go Matias moved ahead of Dirk and I tried to do the same, but BEASTMAN had enough of my insolence, and didn't let me pass. I started losing them with 300 to go, but still came in only 4-5 seconds behind in 4:52. Not a bad way to end the workout! Coach Todd told me to unleash for this workout so I did, and left the workout feeling pretty energized and strong... not in any way depleted or achy.

It was pretty neat having Matias, Dirk and I work together at the end as the 3 male triathletes on GRC... and seeing Lindsey J and Michelle working out together was pretty intense too. It made me think of this book I read as a younger youngster (hence the title of the post):

3/21 & 3/22 -- Shaking off the weekend

2011-03-24T05:06:00.000-07:00

Monday rolled around and I found it hard to get out of bed in the morning. Luckily for me, Michelle has started coming to Masters practice with me in the evening, so no need to wake up at 5:15AM. GOOD, because I needed the sleep after a tough end of (and, well, whole of) last week. I eschewed an easy spin and decided just to go to my swim lesson with Mark and then swim practice. The lesson was good, Dirk and I worked some drills to open our hips more and rotate better. My stroke count decreased by the end of the lesson, so it was useful. I just need to implement those lessons during my faster sets. For practice, we continued mainly working on drills, with lots of 75s, and ended with a 4x200 descending pull set on 3:00, where I finished my last 200 in 2:22. I like Ward's practices better (this was more of a CUBU practice) as there are longer sets and shorter rests. But I can use the drill work, obviously.

I was feeling better by Tuesday, having fought off a short-lived, one-day "cold" on Monday. My legs were feeling better so I went to South Germantown for an 80 minute ride. It was sort of warm, not really though, as the Germantown Clipper was present as usual. I averaged around 220w for the ride, although this time the Clipper had shifted direction a bit from the usual south or west and I got a little tailwind on the tougher sections, so that was like a reward for my persistence! Then afterward I met Jordan, Scott, Jamie and Steeeeeeve for what was supposed to be a 30 minute run for me. Well, I got excited to be running with them again and kept going... bad idea. We ran a hilly route and I played a part in pushing the pace to under 6:30s. Once I realized what a mistake I was making, I backed off with Steve and stuck to the trails. Still, I think the damage was done as I would be more tired from that RECOVERY run than I should have been. I need to stick to Todd's advice next time!

I was listening to this during work today... I thank Michelle for alerting me to its existence.

3/20 -- My Legs Talk to Me

2011-03-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday AM Dirk and I rampaged to Wards Masters swim practice, which was empty except for us, because most of the other regulars competed at the Albatross meet the day before. Fine by me since my compatriot Dirk was there. We did lots of drills and then a main set nugget of 15x100 (as 5 on 1:30, 5 on 1:25, 5 on 1:20, averaging 1:13/100y), and a 12x50 (4 on :50, 4 on :45, 4 on :40). The 15x100 was great and I felt really good throughout the whole thing. If I can average 1:13s at Columbia, that'll put me in a very good spot, and way better than last year (I guess anything is).

Not long after we dried off, we stampeded to the Capital Crescent Trail for another one of Todd's creations, a long/tempo run, 7 miles out @ 7:00/mile pace, 6 miles back @ 6:00 or faster pace. I've done this twice before, but this version would be a lot longer. And after a pretty tough swim, I didn't know what I could do, but I hoped I would at least give Dirk somewhat of a workout. We went the 7 out on the downhill toward DC at exactly 7:00/mile pace, which felt pretty easy. We turned around and began our fast ascent back to Bethesda. First mile was fast, 5:51, but my legs seemed to say "We're cool... let's keep going." So I said "Ok...really?" And they responded "Yeah, what, you chicken?" And I said "No, no... but Beastman just sai--" But they interjected with "Shut up." So I said "Ok." And just kept going.

Legs were right. 5:51, 5:54, 5:52, 5:40, 5:50, 5:41 were my splits for an uphill run. Faaantastic. And it didn't feel tempo-y even... just a little below that level. I'd say that's what I was shooting for... supposedly you take off 10-15 seconds and that's pace on flat road. And Dirk seemed pretty tired at the end, so that made me feel a little better about the effort. It was uphill so that's good practice for him. Anyway, a fine confidence builder 2 weekends out from Cherry Blossom, and it's showing again that all this cross training is working and making me a stronger runner.

Or maybe I ran fast because this guy was next to me:

3/18 & 3/19 -- Up ol' 28

2011-03-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

Friday was an AMAZING weather day, almost. It reached a high of 70, but huh? What's this? Wind? You want to enjoy the day with me? Aw man. 15-20 mph winds put a damper on an otherwise amazing day. But because of the temperature, I decided to get in my long ride today instead of Saturday. Lucas M and I collaborated to meet somewhere halfway between Frederick and Germantown, along MD Route 28. I had never ridden that far up 28 on my bike, so I was a little nervous, especially with the fact that I'd be riding into a headwind, trending uphill. Car speeds reach over 50mph on stretches of that road so I really made sure to hug the shoulder. I rode ZeroZeroTwo as I need to do most of my training on it to prepare better for Columbia. My aero position felt a little odd though and my neck got a little stiff, so I'm going to get it checked by Matt at All-American Bike Center on Tuesday.

By the time Lucas and I intercepted each other, I had put in 50 minutes and a 224w average, elevated a bit by the headwind. Coming back, I stayed in his slipstream on downhills and pushed pace on the ups to keep the power level. It was a LOT easier coming back, even though Lucas is a much stronger rider. Overall, 40 miles and 221w average. Felt good.

Saturday was a DAY OF REST, which I sure needed. I only rode about an hour total, getting to Michelle's race and rolling back to Germantown with her. A couple hills, but kept my power below 190w to make it a real recovery. I would need it for Sunday...

3/17 -- This is a Test

2011-03-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

I woke up not too sore from track the night before thanks to the rolling I did to my calves... but I was TIRED. Race, epic Monday swim and a track workout that should've been a bit easier were taking their toll on me. I had a pasta thing for breakfast and fruits for lunch in an effort to get some decent food into me before the afternoon's bike test to see where I'm at power-wise.

The warmup was 17 minutes L2, 4x60sec 120+ rpm, 2min max effort, 5min recovery, leading into a 20min time trial. I hit 125-130 rpm for the high rpm bursts, and 335w for the 2min max effort (what I can hold for 2min, not all out) @95rpm. I felt... OK. I wanted to feel snappier, but I was already sweating quite a bit and breathing harder than I should have for a warmup. The 5 minute recovery felt too short and I had to get right into the 20min TT. I started out too strong... first 5 minutes at 292, settling a bit to hit 285w for the first 10min. Almost immediately my legs felt like they were overcome by a wave of lactic acid and power started dropping. RPM was ok, high 90s in the 53-19 and low 90s in the 53-17, but I was starting to struggle. I knew at this point I wasn't going to keep 280w, and watched my power slipping into the low 260s/high 250s. I just hung on at this point, feeling overheated and dehydrated and overall TIRED. I averaged 259w for the second half of the ride, which while it WAS my previous 20min best (FTP), it wasn't what I wanted to be doing... surviving to the end. All said and done, averaged 272w for the 20min... a 13w improvement over my previous best from January, but not quite what I wanted.

So my training zones get tougher, which is good, but I feel I let an opportunity to make my training better slip a little. I need to be more conservative when I start out next time, a good lesson and practice for race day as well. I'll also try to be more rested. But I'm happy with improvement. I am getting strong and the training is working!

When the going got tough in the last 6 minutes or so, I turned to one of my favorite songs to cycle to... Big Sky by The Reverend Horton Heat:

3/16 -- Hi, Foam Roller!

2011-03-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

I woke up Wednesday at 5:00 AM, a little earlier than normal to make sure I gathered everything I needed for lunch, as I had a track workout that evening and I wanted to bring the correct pre-workout foods. So what did I do? Of course. I walked out the door to go swimming without any of the food I wanted to bring. I realized this around lunch time, but too late. ARGH.

Met Michelle at GISC, a pleasant deviation from the norm as she usually swims at her clinic Wednesday evening and I do this swim alone. It was a fairly build-heavy swim for me, with a main set containing 4x50, 300, 3x100, all build, with several drill and pull sets surrounding it. As usual with GISC swims, I focused on form, and I really think, as evidenced by Monday's Ward practice, it's starting to come together. Dirk and I will receive a private lesson Monday afternoon to work more on our strokes. We sure need it, and Coach Ward is really enthusiastic about helping us out.

In the evening, I went to GRC track practice at BCC. For the first time in as long as I can remember, it was LIGHT outside, thanks to daylight savings time. It was nice to see where I was stepping on the warmup run for once. The workout was 2000-1600-1200-800-400, starting with 78s/400 for the 2000 and cutting that number down by 2s/400 for each interval. Todd instructed me to slot into the B group but not lead, in order to keep my legs somewhat fresh, as they were still in recovery mode from the 5k. I felt that... what should have felt like a pretty average/comfortable workout was tougher. I wouldn't say it was a struggle, but it was what I could do to stay with the group, making sure I wasn't pushing too hard. 5:12/mile pace for the 2000, 5:04 for the 1600, 4:56/mile pace for the 1200, 2:24 for the 800, and 67 for the 400. After the 20 and 16, my legs loosened a little, but were clearly still feeling the 5k.

I got home, ate a baked pasta thing, ICE CREAM, and then rolled the heck out of my calves on a cylinder of foam. My screams of pain caused Oscar and Simon to flee. Not QUITE this magnitude of screaming, but the cats probably heard and saw it like this:

3/15 -- Well, at least it's 50 degrees.

2011-03-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

Another Tuesday, another cool, windy and cloudy day with a chance of afternoon rain. Welcome to winter/spring in Germantown.

10 mph winds and chance of rain always equals 20 mph winds and probability of rain at and around the South Germantown Recreation Park. And that's where I often ride... and a ride was on the agenda for today, 75min L2 aerobic. It's a good mix of hills and false flats, fine training grounds indeed. I rode 4.5 big loops, averaging around 220w. Nothing really all that special about this ride. It was nice to be outside, except for having tears ripped out of my eyes every time I angled even slightly toward the Germantown Clipper (the name I'm giving the permanent southerly wind that blows through the area).

I spent part of the evening fiddling around with Sicar, ZeroZeroTwo and CROM (my bicycles). While I was fiddling, I saw Pee-Wee (yes I'm watching a lot of that show suddenly... I'm in a great mood nowadays!) playing with his toys. I love my toys too, Pee-Wee, although mine aren't quite as creepy as yours.

3/14 -- Get up and SWIM

2011-03-15T07:12:00.000-07:00

I woke up early Monday a little stiff from the 5k, but nothing bad. I only had an ache in my shin, but it seems I shook off whatever ached me in my foot. I did some stretches while sitting in on Michelle's swim practice, and I could tell I was in line for some good old DOMS. Sitting at my desk all day (long day at work for me) caused my quads and calves to tighten a little, but after I left the office I walked around the kitchen and dining room, with Simon in close pursuit. He knows what it means to stretch and walk it out. He's an athlete. I've never seen a cat so nimble and agile... and ACTIVE. That guy is never lazy. Never misses a chance to jump and wail on his brother. What that has to do with my legs, I'm not sure, but the point is I stretched the aches out by swim practice, most of them at least.

In the PM Dirk and I roared into Wards masters practice. After about 1.4km of warmup, we started the main set of 5x100 on 1:25, 5x200 on 3:30 descend, 5x100 on 1:20. Sounded really tough, even with the rest on the 200s... Coach Ward wanted us to swim FAST. To complicate things, Dirk and I were stuck with two faster swimmers, particularly Sara C, who has the stamina of a bull. The 100s on 1:25 went fine, a normal interval for me, coming in around 1:12-1:14 for each. To my surprise, I wasn't falling back from Sara... not exactly closing in but at most losing 2-4 seconds per 100. The 200s went very well. I came in at 2:30, 2:27, 2:24, 2:19, 2:20, so while I didn't descend on the last one, I was pretty much at my max. Cool thing is I think that is a PR for 200, the 2:19. That was a fast set for me! And I still wasn't losing too much ground to Deets or Sara. Neat. The last part of the set, the 5x100s on 1:20, went surprisingly well also, coming in at 1:11-1:12 for each 100, and staying right within 6 seconds of Deets. That was a good set... some fast speeds and short intervals mixed together. I think I've overcome the wall I hit for a couple weeks where I couldn't get any faster than 1:15/100y. 1:10/100y pace felt really smooth tonight. Keep it up!

This got me UP for swim practice. I liken it to me and Dirk at practice (the gnarly-ness, not the wiggling and gyrating).... from putting on our wigs (swim caps) to trying to fit in among real pogoers (swimmers, not triathletes!)

3/12 & 3/13 -- Shamrock 5k Race Report

2011-03-14T06:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday I did a long ride on the trainer as I wanted to get it done early in the day (too cold outside). About 110 minutes, averaging 208 watts and 94 rpm. It's nice to see that my sustainable/comfortable wattage is increasing. That was definitely an effort that I could've held for a longer time. I ran for 15 minutes afterward, one loop around my neighborhood trail. I felt springy and strong, and I dug into the hills to test my foot, which had been a little achy the past couple days. No pain, no tightness. Good to go for Shamrock 5k.

Sunday was race day. Dirk and I stormed up to Baltimore, zig-zagging through I-95 in an attempt to keep up with Sam and his car full of teammates. We had to wait around a while for the start because the packet pickup closed at 11:30, with the race starting at 1:15. But we were able to relax and get in a solid warmup. It got really crowded at the start line, so strides (downhill strides at that) weren't easy to come by, but I got in 4 sort-of strides. I had plenty of competition at the line, and I recognized two Falls Road guys (Ed Aramayo and Dustin Meeker). I lined up near PMurph as I wanted to stay close to him, since he ran a strong 15:31 last year in this race. Just before the horn went off, I felt a strange serene calm come over me, which I haven't felt before... helped me focus in that last second before the race began.

Horn went off, even though we were 2 meters behind the start line. As vets of this race said would happen, we were shot out of a cannon, right into a downhill first half mile. I saw Patrick go hard, ahead of Dirk and Sam, and I held back a little, just to make sure I wasn't overdoing it. We reached the bottom of the hill, and I was in the lead pack of 10 or so runners, and caught up to Patrick. We passed a few more and settled into pace. We hit the first mile in 4:45-4:47, and I was pleased to feel strong. I saw Dirk and Sam not too far ahead, as well as Ed and Dustin. Patrick and I approached the turnaround, and I was still feeling good, but now is when the race began. We turned right into the 15mph headwind, and I saw Ed, a little closer than before. I focused on catching up. Hit the 2-mile in 9:50something, and knew then that I could beat my track PR... my road PR was toast, but I REALLY wanted to get under 15:44. So I picked up the effort and caught Ed a quarter mile later. My focus now was to stay ahead of him and try to catch Dustin. I inched closer and closer to Dustin, but I wasn't able to find another gear... probably due to only recently being on the track? Being local guys, I heard lots of cheers for Ed to catch me and telling Dustin I was behind him... so I wasn't going to sneak up on anyone. Hit 3 miles in 15:04 and Joe told me to MOVE. The PR was definitely realistic, but I wanted to get under 15:30 and catch Dustin. Didn't do either as I lacked that GEAR X, but I held off Ed and came in at 15:37, 5th overall! Cooled down for a couple miles, got my age group award (a cup), got a free t-shirt from some local strippers (yeah... about that), and had a great chicken tender lunch.

Pretty happy about it. I accomplished my goals of sub-16 road and my A-goal of besting my track 5k PR. The hills helped me stay strong and I was really focused on the competition and my effort level... not distracted by anything else as I've been in the past. Nice to do also without tapering, and training through it.

Team PRs also, as Mike C and Scott got under 17:00. Patrick was 8th and Dirk ran well, first race back since October, and got 2nd overall. Sam won. Then we got kicked out for accepting t-shirts from strippers (or maybe because Charlie Ban was posing pantsless in the fountain). Overall success!

3/11 -- At least I can dream

2011-03-13T05:29:00.000-07:00

I had a dream during my slumber Thursday night that I was racing in the Shamrock 5k. The race took place inside the Safeway grocery store on MacArthur Boulevard, and there were several other GRCers racing, but I didn't recognize their faces. But it was GREAT, because I came through the 3 mile mark near the checkout lines in 15:00. I apparently took my time getting through the last .1 miles, but I finished in 15:43! A PR! I argued with the first place female who declared that I got a 15:44, but the point is that I actually had a positive dream about racing, for once! All my worst dreams happen before my worst races. Perhaps this dream was a portent of good things to come on race day.

Friday AM I met with Michelle for a swim at GISC. A couple sets of 100s, pulling and easy/fast, and a morsel of 2x300 build, which felt like I swam pretty fast. I didn't look at time, but by feel I was hitting 1:15/100y, maybe under 1:10 on the last 100 of each.

In the afternoon I got to test out my foot which had been bothering me on Thursday. I consulted with Towpath, who told me it may have something to do with my plantar, but didn't seem too concerned. I ran for an hour at my 2.75 mile loop, and felt nothing. No pain, no tightness. I picked up my stride a little and dug into hills to flex my foot a little more, and still nothing. Happy Andy! I stretched the foot afterward and it was indeed still sore when I fully flexed the foot, but much better from Thursday, despite walking and running on it, so it won't affect my race. I'm not wearing my lightest race flats just to be on the safe side... I'll wear my track flats, which are definitely race worthy, just a teensy-weensy bit heavier.

So about that dream... it was a good dream for sure... but not nearly as great as the dream Pee-Wee Herman's brain had:

3/10 -- An easier day

2011-03-12T17:26:00.000-08:00

I woke up Thursday AM with a little fright, as the bottom of my right foot was pretty sore, mainly around the balls of my foot. Not really when I walked or jogged, just when I flexed the foot. No pain to the touch either. I greatly fear injury so this wasn't a nice thing to wake up to. I decided to switch workouts between Thursday and Friday, spinning easy for an hour instead of an hour run. TOWPATH theorizes this is a small plantar issue caused by the 400s I did Wednesday, from pushing off with my toes for the first time in a while. A little rest could do it some good.

I swam during lunch hour, with a main set comprising mainly of drills, some fast 50s and a 400 build, which I did in 5:00, a 1:15/100y clip, not my best, but only 8 seconds off my last race (which was off the blocks). Focused a lot on form this swim.

The hour spin had a focus on RPM, not power, so I was in recovery zone for the ride, focusing on keeping my RPMs between 100 and 115. Felt good to shake out the legs and it gave whatever was bothering me in my foot a chance to rest a bit. Foot felt a lot better by the end of the day, too!

3/9 -- Shamrock 5k Preparations

2011-03-11T04:58:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, just like Monday and Tuesday, had the rare distinction of featuring only one workout for the day... a rarity in my life. The track workout was supposed to be a little more speedy, but mainly a tuneup to get me ready for the Shamrock 5k this weekend. 10x400 @ or around 5k pace with 200 jog recovery.

It went ok, I wanted to hit 75s for each 400 but I generally ran faster when on my own, with Mike C in tow, and right on pace when I was able to latch onto the B group. Splits were 76, 72, 72, 73, 75, 72, 73, 72, 70, 65. So on my own I held 72s, and they felt solid, even with a 15-20mph wind (GOSH DARNIT GO AWAY WIND I'VE HAD ENOUGH). Controlled, smooth, and I felt no pain or agony -- exactly what I was going for in this workout. Not even on the last 65, where I just kicked in with some extra energy that I conserved in the previous 9. And when I ran the 76 and 75 with the group, it felt, well, easy. I take all of this as a good sign that 5:05-5:10 pace should be sustainable at Shamrock... I just need to run smart and stay focused. Sub-16:00 is the goal, as it would be my first road result under 16. I'm really motivated for this race even though I'm not tapering for it and not really training for it specifically. I have a much more positive outlook this year, and I owe it partially to Todd's training.

I'm ready for battle.

3/8 -- Too many 200s

2011-03-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

Because of plans Monday night, I moved my usual Monday swim to Tuesday PM. I couldn't get to Ward's practice, as I had to stay in the immediate Friendship Heights area, so I went to an earlier practice with Curl Burke masters at AU. Practice was a little shorter (75min opposed to normal 90min with Wards), but it was plenty tough. I was joined in a lane by Jacky, who is about my pace in practice, but is really training for backstroke (broke a couple meet records at a Warrenton meet recently) to earn a swim scholarship.

Main set after a 4-3-2-1 warmup was 300 (descend by 50s 1-3, 4-6) and the tasty morsel, 10x200 (odds easy, evens hard). I wasn't at all thrilled with the interval (3:30) as that's too much rest, but I didn't want to do something different from the rest of the group. I came in on 2:40 (1:20/100y) for the easys, and 2:26 (1:13/100y) for the hards, which is decent for me, I'd say. My last 200 I came in on 2:20, which if it is not a PR for me, it's close, considering it's at the end of a hard set. And that was a hard set, actually. I was still feeling kind of tired from the weekend and a lack of sleep the night before (curse you, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga). I was able to focus on form on the hard intervals, and I'm happy I didn't lose speed as a result. It's starting to come together.

It took me forever to beat this woman, hence my lack of sleep Monday night.

3/7 -- Feeling sluggy

2011-03-08T21:24:00.001-08:00

Monday I woke up and knew it would be a slow day... could barely get out of bed, but not in pain... my legs just felt SLUGGISH. A weekend full of long workouts will do that. The normal Monday PM masters swim was postponed due to a showing of PREDATOR at Towpath's recording studio, so I moved Tuesday's prescribed bike workout to today. SERRRRRRGEEAAAAAAAAAANNTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Workout was 6x4 minutes @ L4, 2min recoveries. Short intervals, but Todd is giving me a slightly easier week this week as promised. So again I assumed this would be an in-and-out workout. No such luck. After a day of dragging myself everywhere, I clambered onto Sicar and began my usual 20min L2 warmup... by not being anywhere NEAR the L2 zone, barely hitting 170 watts at 95 rpm. Whaaaaat? It took a good 10 minutes to get pedaling normally in the 185-200watt range, but it really felt like a struggle. Toward the end of the warmup I was finally feeling OK, but still, muscles weren't firing quickly enough for me. The first interval was a sufferfest. It felt like it should've been my last one. I struggled through it but managed about 249watt average. WHOA that was tough. Fortunately, it got better from there, and each interval got easier and I got more powerful and was able to spin faster (did not change gears either). Finished the last 5 intervals at 251w, 256w, 255w, 262w, 271w, so the last two were into L5... which is OK as long as I don't force the effort. That's when I know my legs were finally responding well.

So yeah... this was pretty tough and I really needed a good cooldown spin. For a short workout (only 24min total of L4), this really floored me, but it wasn't that surprising. It was a relief though that I began to feel fresher as the workout went on.

3/6 -- Saturated gym

2011-03-08T03:42:00.000-08:00

Sunday AM Dirk and I teamed up again to take on Ward's Masters practice. I sure was tired from Saturday's ride, so was a little nervous. I did feel a little shoulder ache in the warmup, mainly from holding only two positions on the bike for 3+ hours (problem with using a TT bike for that kind of ride). But after the warmup, the swim went ok, with a main set of 30x50y (10x50 on :50, 10x50 on :45, 10x50 on :40), 2x300 pull, 3x(4x50 descend 1-4 to fastest 50 pace, 4x25 sprint kick, 200 pull), totaling 5000y for the swim. The 50s went pretty well, had no problem hitting the :40 interval, coming in between :35-:37 for each. Mark noted my flipturns are getting better, so that's neat. For some reason though I found my head not leaving the water completely, so I drank a lot of pool. I guess it had something to do with my neck being weak from the ride, since I've never really had the issue before.

Afternoon, Michelle and I bombed to the gym for a, uh, long treadmill run. Not really the desired location for a long run, but it was raining Oscars and Simons outside. I planned to just run 10-12 at an aerobic pace, 6:50-7:15, while Michelle was to do a progression after 5 miles. I decided to do that as well just to mix things up, but only cut down to her paces so I'm not working as hard (although to make up for it I set the incline at 1% during the cutdowns). Felt pretty good, it was darn hot in there and I ended up losing nearly 4 pounds of water (yikes). I forget the paces I cut down to, but it didn't really matter. Just wanted to get in the miles, a little extra work but not feel depleted when I finished.

Well, I sure did feel depleted, I lost 4 pounds in 70 minutes!!! I made up for it that evening with a giant feast that Popeye would be proud of and hopefully got those pounds back and more.

3/5 -- CTR & ZeroZeroTwo vs. Wind

2011-03-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

Saturday... another day of 15+ mph winds. Come on, really?

I ran about 9 miles easy in the morning, 4 of which were with Brian to help him through his trail marathon, which he did well in. Wasn't sure of pace, but it wasn't too quick, and I ran the other 5 by myself around aerobic pace. So more miles than planned, but not too taxing. The little ache I had on my plantar/base of left big toe from the beginning of Friday's run was gone, so the preventative measure I took last night (golf ball + homemade strasburg sock) appeared to work.

Early afternoon I met Bart and Dirk at Sibley for a long ride to and through Poolesville. Dirk had just done a 4 mile tempo so was a little tired, so he sat in as Bart and I exchanged pulls... good idea. Bart is POWERFUL. I pulled at 210-240w, averaging between 23-25 mph on my pulls... but when Bart led, my power didn't drop enough (only down to maybe 180 behind him, but really around 210w average). Damn, this was going to hurt. No real recovery on this ride for me and a 15-mph headwind through hills. But I remained pretty strong, surprisingly... I wouldn't have been able to keep this power/pacing going last year, especially with a headwind. About 49 miles in, we had been averaging close to 22 mph even with the brutal hills of poolesville, and I kept a good wattage, around 230w. Hit mile 49.5 and I noticed Dirk was hurting a bit, so I waved Bart on and rode it in with Dirk. The last 10-12k segment on MacArthur was a good one, as I pulled it in, staying around 205-210w, even after feeling tired/weak from sticking with Bart + headwind. For the entire ride, 67 miles, 220 watts.

Overall, a tough but really solid ride for me. I can tell Todd's training has made me stronger and smarter as a cyclist. I was in control for this ride and could find the strength I needed to finish the ride strong. Of course, work remains to be done on controlling my effort up hills. Dirk noted and I agree, Andy of 2010 would not have been able to get the job done in the same conditions. Really motivating to keep the training intensity high as it has been, and not rest on my laurels. It's good to see the work paying off. Also fun to do it with ZeroZeroTwo (TT bike). It's been a while.

But for real, wind, come on. Give me a break.

3/4 -- CROM!

2011-03-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

Friday AM swim @ GISC with Michelle. This was a fast workout, with a long warmup and main set of 3x250 (200build, 50hard, 20" recovery), 300 pull, 10x75 (50mod, 25hard, 10" recovery), 200 pull. Again, didn't time myself, but made myself work and focused again on form. It falls apart the faster I go, but I've gotten better at lengthening my stroke and lowering stroke count in the moderate and build sets, which are paces closer to what I want to do in the 1500m.

I ran for an hour in the afternoon. It was really windy AGAIN. Geez, it's like 3-4 days a week now when we get 15-20+ mph winds. Anyway, good reason to stick to my 2.8 mile loop near my neighborhood. Just ran around 6:45 pace, first loop was a little tough and for some reason difficult to get a fluid stride going, but after one of the short trail branches I found my form and enjoyed the run.

That evening I watched Conan the Barbarian twice in a row to feed my need for intensity and might. Here, he prays to Crom for the first time before his greatest battle:

Conan's Prayer to Crom
Uploaded by vrmgi. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

3/3 -- An easier day and lots of apples

2011-03-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

I was happy when Thursday rolled around as it was an easier day on my schedule, with just a bike trainer workout, and not a very tough one at that. A 75 minute ride, with 3x10min builds, starting at tempo/L3 and working up over the 10 minutes. Todd didn't specify a recovery, so I just did 3 minutes in between, making for a 15min warmup and 24min spin cooldown. I stayed in one gear (53/19), working from 91 rpm to 100-105 rpm over the 10min, working from around 218w to the 260s on the first two, and up into the 300s for the last 2 minutes on #3. I wasn't really winded or too pooped by the end of this, so I think it served its purpose for recovery but also working on a little power. It felt good to work a little and mostly spin just under 170w.

Because it was a recovery day, I ate a TON. A breakfast of 2 donuts, 2 apples and a banana. A lunch of a footlong Subway sub (chicken teriyaki w/ pepper jack, extra jalapenos, pickles and southwest sauce), a salad, 2 more apples, another banana, molten hot wing chips, and 2 bottles of water. Dinner consisted of a pizza, baby carrots, tater tots, and ice cream. Maybe not the healthiest day, but I think I can handle it just fine. Apples are the way to go though. They're slowly but surely replacing chips and cookies in my diet, eating upwards of 15-18 a week. Jazz apples. So good. These ones here are PRISTINE. They should have some of that yellow. That's crispiness there.

3/2 -- Time for speed

2011-03-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

Wednesday AM I swam at GISC solo. A pretty basic workout, with a main set featuring a 3x200 drill/swim/pull, 5x100 build and 8x50 sprints. I only timed recoveries, which were 10 seconds for all sets, instead just focusing on form and effort. With all the comments Mark has been making on my form, I am determined to fix it and make my stroke more efficient.

In the evening I had my first full track workout in at least a month and a half. Finally off the hills, I was looking to start running at threshold... no more tempo (or threshold on hills)! The workout seemed daunting, 2 mile @ 78s/400, 1.5 mile @ 76s/400, 1 mile @ 74s/400, .5 mile @ 72s/400. Even though I wasn't sure I could stay with them at this point, I slotted in behind Dickson, Charlie and PMurph. I surprised myself however and ran even and strong with those guys for the whole workout! We actually ran a little fast for each interval:

2mi -- 10:20 (5:10/mi)

1.5 mi -- 7:36 (5:04/mi)

1 mi -- 4:53

.5 mi -- 2:21 (took over the second half)

I'm pretty sure this is one of, if not the best track workout I've ever done, and not just because of the paces (I've never run a sub-5 mile toward the end of a workout) ... what made it so good was that I felt really smooth and comfortable the entire workout. No forcing or dying off. The recoveries were long, however, so that may have affected things. It helped to have a good B group, especially with Dickson and Patrick's encouragement. We have some good workouts ahead of us.

It seems that Todd's training... the hills, building speed on long runs, and even the bike/swim workouts have really helped me get stronger. I really felt it on the 2-mile... that was a 16:00 5k pace, and yet I felt like I could have kept going and sped up for at least another mile. It's making me pretty excited for Shamrock 5k. I'm feeling confidence in my running again, which I hadn't really felt since Columbia 2010.

3/1 -- Oops, no rests

2011-03-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

I woke up pretty tired from Monday's masters practice... Wasn't that hard, but perhaps I need to focus on getting more sleep. I felt a lot better though after a huge breakfast and lots of apples during the workday.

Tuesday PM's bike trainer workout looked kind of easy at first glance: 4x(3min @ L3/L4, 30sec @ 65 rpm biggest gear, 1min L3/L4, 30sec @ 65 rpm biggest gear). But I realized after the warmup that there were NO recoveries for 20 minutes... essentially a zone 4 ride, close to TT. The L3/L4 is the "recovery" which isn't much of a recovery at all! So after the first round, I figured out this wasn't going to be easy! I stuck with it though and maintained some good averages (235-240w for the L3/L4, basically low L4 avg; 310-330w for the low RPM/gear minutes, basically mashing the pedals hard). After the 65 rpm minutes, 240w definitely felt easy, and kept the cadence around 95 rpm. I felt my glutes and other leg muscles being activated in the 65 rpm minutes, which I think was the idea. Overall, a short but intense workout that I definitely felt!

But what's the oops? Turns out I was supposed to take a short recovery after each round! A miscommunication between myself and Todd led to me not knowing. OOPS. But he said the workout looked good even without the recoveries... so it turned out ok! I'm looking forward to a time trial next week so I can see if I've gotten more POWERFUL over the past 2 months. I averaged around 260w (my current FTP) in the 20 minutes, so I imagine with a consistent effort and no shifts, I should be above that in my next test.

2/28 -- Leave me alone, Molten Hot Wing Ruffles

2011-03-01T06:08:00.000-08:00

Monday had to have been one of the most annoying days in the past few weeks. The weather just wouldn't make up it's mind. I was promised "strong storms" and tornado watches sprang up mid-morning. Exciting for a weather fan like me! Alas, we got some wind and rain. As a result, I kept postponing my 45-minute recovery run because an 80% chance of thunderstorms loomed until the sun set... and nothing happened. And neither did my run. D'oh. And because I kept postponing the run, I gave myself more and more excuses to keep eating my current favorite potato chip, Ruffles Molten Hot Wing chips. They are awesome. Not really hot, but a great taste and Ruffles are definitely the best, uh, ruffled chip. Just kept eating and eating until I left work. I guess it's a good thing I didn't end up running because for 2-3 hours after the last chip, I had that yucky acid feeling where you burp and taste the stomach acid mixed with buffalo flavor. And it burns too. Oh it burns.

It was gone however by the time swim practice rolled around, thankfully. Wards and Curl Burke merged again for a joint practice. Dirk and I were joined by Jacky and eventually Jason. A good lane. Good thing that Jason doesn't like freestyle, so that he isn't pushing the pace way harder than I can handle. Main set had a NUGGET of 2x (5x100 free on 1:30, 4x50 kick descend 1-4, 8x25 coach's choice). The 5x100s were good and I came in under 1:14 on every one, with the second set averaging 1:12/100y, finishing with a 1:10. It felt very comfortable, which means either I'm in good shape or recovery was too long... I prefer shorter recoveries now so I can see what I can really hold. But as of now, it seems I've made the jump from 1:17 to low 1:teens, and that's pretty nice. The kick sets were hard and Jacky/Jason just brutalized poor Dirk and I, who switched off leading the 5x100s. Overall a good practice, but again I'm looking for shorter recoveries so I can really test that 1:12-1:14/100y average.

2/27 -- Good swim, better run, best movie

2011-02-28T06:12:00.000-08:00

Sunday AM I started out by swimming at Ward's Masters swim practice. Had a good lane of myself, Dirk, Jacky (who qualified for USMS nationals in the 50 and 100 backstroke and trying for the 200 back, 50/100 breast and 100 IM, geez!) and Eileen, our favorite Curl Burke coach who can put Dirk and me to shame easily with her speed (despite being 15-20 years our senior!). Main set was a good one, consisting of 2x(8x100 on 1:35, 4x50 descend). The recovery was a little much, but oh well. I came in consistently at 1:13-1:14, which is a jump for me, as a month or so ago, I'd do the same set but coming in at 1:17-1:18. And I still felt strong for the descending 50s, being able to descend by at least 2 seconds on each. Still got plenty of lecturing on my stroke though. I really need to extend my arms out, especially my left arm, as my breathing can cause it to pull too quickly. I'll be sure to integrate more catchup into my drills to improve on that.

Just after practice I arrived at the Capital Crescent trail for a 10 mile run. My plan was to go out 5 miles on the downhill portion, easy and controlled, at 6:45 pace, and come back on the uphill grade at a faster pace, maybe 6:00 pace. Despite being itchy from chlorine, I ran comfortably at exactly 6:45-:50 pace for the first 5 miles, picking up a little bit to 6:30 over the last half mile to the turnaround. I headed back up, and really picked up the effort. I hovered right at 6:00/mile. The first two miles back were not so easy, but with 5k left to go, my legs suddenly felt lighter and I really was able to cruise in, locked into pace. Finished the run with 6:20/mile overall average pace and a time of 1:03:19... perfect! My pacing was spot on, which was my goal. Not go out too fast, and finish stronger. This was a pretty major confidence booster in my fitness and ability to pace myself over longer miles. Legs felt strong afterward, but I was definitely tired from the 5500y swim followed by a hard run. Thanks to Jacky for keeping me company on the bike!

Later that evening, I watched Commando... a superbly awesome movie. It made me punch things repeatedly. LET OFF SOME STEAM, BENNETT!

2/26 -- PLASMA TRAIL

2011-02-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

Saturday AM I met Michelle for a shorter strength workout at the gym. Mainly focused on core and some arm stuff. I ignored leg weights since we would be riding for 2 hours the same day.

After throwing axes, swords and PLASMA TRAILS at zombies, green bipedal creatures with spears, and mean wolves (Gauntlet on N64) we went to Germantown to ride bikes. When we got there the weather wasn't as friendly as anticipated, still a little chilly with a southerly wind that definitely was not merely 10 mph as the weather report stated. We decided to stay local and do 6 loops around the Germantown rec park and nearby roads, which would bring us close to 40 miles in 2 hours. My main focus was continuing to practice staying in control. There were plenty of hills to practice on, both going up and down. All climbs though went straight into the headwind, so they ended up being a little harder. I focused on staying between 270 and 350 watts on all uphills, maintaining 200-220 on flats and 180-210 on downhills. This seemed much more balanced, and I didn't lose speed upon cresting a hill, when I would normally be quite tired. I gave the last mile an extra push and averaged 262w, so I was feeling pretty good.

The ride went well, with Michelle sticking behind me for the ride, as she can be in zone 2-3 by drafting or riding behind me while I'm hitting my own zone 2-3. Works well! 38 miles total.

2/25 -- Andy vs. 32 mph winds

2011-02-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

Friday AM I swam with Michelle at GISC. 800 warmup, main set of 4x250 hard, 4x100 (50ez/50hard), 4x50 hard, 200 cooldown. Another maintenance swim with short recoveries. It was nice to get away from pulling this time and work on some speed with short recoveries (10sec). I probably was hitting 1:14-:16 pace on my 250s, which I can accept when swimming a workout alone (Michelle swims with me, but doing a different workout... she swam great, hitting some fast 100s on short breaks). It was also nice to keep pace with the Germantown Masters group on my 250s. The flipturns help, but I can really feel some speed and endurance... I never slowed down. I still need to work on my stroke count... a little too high. I need to extend and open my hips up more.

In the afternoon I ran an hour at an easy/aerobic pace... A recovery run from 4 straight days of tough workouts in all 3 sports. Wasn't SO easy though, as I faced off against 30+ mph winds with harder gusts. My little neighborhood half-trail half-road loop is sort of sheltered from it, but not completely. Ran around 6:50-7:00 pace, when I wasn't running into a gust. I felt none of the heaviness that I had Wednesday and Thursday, surprisingly because Thursday's bike workout left me barely able to climb the stairs! Maybe the swim helped me loosen up? Not sure, but I ran smooth and felt light! The body sure can work in strange ways.

2/24 -- Pedaling with Virenque

2011-02-25T05:35:00.000-08:00

Thursday's workout was a ride on the trainer. 20min warmup to L2, followed by 2x (10min L3/tempo, 2min recovery, 4x1min L5+, 1min recoveries). I thought this would be easier than this past Tuesday's threshold workout... But hmm, I was certainly wrong! I had the heavy-ish feeling from Wednesday again during the warmup, but after about 10 minutes I was spinning up to the ideal rpms (around 95-100). The first tempo was fine, staying right within L3 (223w avg, 98 rpm), and the 4x1s at L5 were good also (312, 330, 334, 323w avgs, 100+ rpm). Second set was a little harder, but got around the same for the 10min tempo (229w avg, 100rpm), while I was better on the L5s (330, 334, 348, 339w avgs, 106 rpm). I got stronger and my cadence increased near the end, which is what I really wanted to accomplish, especially in the L5s. It was also nice to average 300+ comfortably in the 4x1s. I seem to be developing more control of my cycling legs and pedaling so I can hold higher wattages longer.

Just like on Tuesday, I had a training partner, sort of. I cycled to the 2003 Tour de France Stage 7, where Richard Virenque broke away from Rolf Aldag about 30km from the finish. He was really pounding the hills but staying relaxed. I'm trying to learn to do that... pace myself better on the hills to be stronger on flats and downhills. Too often I try to sprint up the hills because I know I am strong on hills. I need to be strong up, but also keep that same wattage going down and on flats. If I go up too hard, I'll coast on the downhills and be weaker on flats. That has to change if I want to succeed at Columbia and cycling races.

2/23 -- Heavy but fast?

2011-02-24T05:32:00.000-08:00

Wednesday AM I swam at GISC solo. A pretty pull-heavy workout, as usual for Wednesday swims. The main set contained several 4x100 sets of pull with 10" recovery, with longer swim sets in between. The pulling is helping my form and I feel stronger from it. I suppose that's the idea. I've been getting some good tips from fellow Wards and CB swimmers. I need to lengthen my stroke though... I think I regressed a bit, so I'll keep my focus on form the next few swims.

In the afternoon I hit my hill on Wootton Parkway for another week of repeats. The hill is about .75-.8 miles long, with a half mile marker at the bottom and near the top, so I made the repeats half mile so I could get a time. During my 2-mile warmup, I felt noticeably heavy and

flat. I haven't felt that way since I started Todd's training, and I think it was from Tuesday's threshold bike workout and not running since Saturday (I missed Tuesday's run due to time constraints). The first hill felt just as heavy and slow. About 30 seconds from the half mile mark and without looking at the clock, I thought this would be an AWFUL workout... it could only get worse with the way my body was feeling. When I got to the top, I got quite a shock when the clock read 2:36! Surprised, I jogged back down to start the second repeat... same split. I kept that time for the first 4, slowing up a bit to 2:40 on the 5th and 6th repeat. My body didn't feel that much better, but it definitely didn't feel worse. I did start feeling lighter on the cooldown though.

Considering how flat I felt going in and how last week I was doing all reps in 2:40, when I felt fresher, this seemed strange to me! I'll take it though, obviously. I like to think it shows my legs are ready for speed. It's strong enough to push me to good times on a bad day without too much taxing, so I think all the hill workouts have done me well. This should be my last week of hills. Next week, back to the GRC track workout!

Thanks, Tyler

2011-02-23T09:52:00.001-08:00

That Falcon Punch was so powerful it caused the tomorrow of then to be today. That's the only way I can explain it.

So I haven't posted on this thing for a while and pretty infrequently, causing derision from my peers. Well, here's a post! And I'll admit, that weekly training update was too annoying to do, so I'm going to TRY (or tri, sorry Michelle) to do it EVERY DAY, but just give a shorter write up of that day's workout. Then do something at the end of the week like a total, so I can feel I'm not doing enough. So let's begin with yesterday's workout:

Tuesday's workout was a trainer workout... 4x8 minutes, broken up as 4min @ at least 230w, 4min @ at least 260w. The 230 is high L3/low L4, so not tough, but not easy... 260w is at or a little bit over 40k race pace, so into L5. 2-minute recoveries between each interval. I made it a goal to be at least 94 rpm the entire workout, excluding recoveries and cooldown, so that required me to stay in one gear ratio the entire ride. About 94 rpm average for the 4min @ 230, 100 rpm average for the second 4min.

This got tough. By the end of two intervals, I was sweating quite a bit. I had some good extra motivation, as I had 2003 Tour de France stage 16 playing, where Tyler Hamilton broke away from the pack and held on for the last 30km to Bayonne. I like Tyler Hamilton, so it was a good motivator to ride with him (on TV). It definitely helped me push through the last interval, which was actually my best in terms of average power and RPM, averaging around 279w for the 4 minutes, and I was rocking in the saddle a bit (back and forth, I mean).

FALCON PUUUNCH!!!!!!

2011-02-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

Welcome back. Training update to come tomorrow.

2010 (a long time ago) in review

2011-01-22T17:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, so wow, I've missed a lot of posts. How about this... I go the lazy route, forget about the boatload of training I've done (tons of swimming... tons of hard trainer rides... and 30-40 miles per week plus hills and track workouts) I've done since my last post and now... and start fresh??? That's a great idea. I like it.

I'll make this post a quick review of 2010, a mostly successful racing campaign. Last year, I posted some goals and whether I achieved them or not, and set goals for 2011. I'll run through those and set some new goals first.

RUNNING

1-mile
Goal -- 4:30
Actual -- 4:39
2011 Goal -- Not running a mile race in 2011

5K
Goal -- sub 16:00
Actual -- 15:44
2011 Goal -- 15:35

8K
Goal -- 27:15
Actual -- Did not run an 8k in 2010
2011 Goal -- 26:50

10K
Goal -- 33:30
Actual -- 34:06
2011 Goal -- 33:15

10 mile
Goal -- 00:59:00
Actual -- Did not run a 10-miler in 2010
2011 Goal -- 00:55:00

TRIATHLON/DUATHLON

Goal -- in age group at Columbia and sprint races
Actual -- Won age group at Columbia and DC Triathlon sprint
2011 Goal -- Finish in top 25 overall at Columbia and top 10 overall at Nation's.

Goal -- Win a sprint triathlon
Actual -- Did not, only did one sprint unprepared.
2011 Goal -- No related goal

Goal -- Qualify for Duathlon Worlds
Actual -- Qualified for Duathlon Worlds, did not go.
2011 Goal -- Not trying to qualify for anything specifically, but get as close to Best of the U.S. as I can.

Goal -- Get sub 2:08:00 in Oly distance triathlon
Actual -- Got a 2:07:04 with a 2 minute penalty at Nation's
2011 Goal -- 2:07:59 at Columbia, 2:00:59 at Nation's.

So this year I was quite a bit more successful in multisport than running. I attribute this to focusing on cycling and swimming and less on running after the spring season. I'll keep the focus on triathlon in 2011, while hoping for some smaller PRs in running. I'm most proud of my 5k, Columbia and Nation's performances. Aside from the penalty at Nation's, everything seemed to go pretty well in that race. I want to improve on my non-penalty time by 5 minutes and attack the 2 hour barrier. Columbia is all about placement, but I'd like to get close to my 2010 Nation's time. That would mean some big improvements in the swim, while not giving up much on the bike and run. I've been training my butt off in the pool and we'll see how that plays out on race day. I'm going to add some new goals to 2011, to include some cycling goals:

Goal -- Go under 21 minutes in a 1500m swim in a triathlon

Goal -- Break 61 minutes in a 40k time trial, stand-alone or in a triathlon

Goal -- 34:30 10k in a triathlon

Goal -- Earn my cat 4 cycling license (need 6 or 7 more races)

That should be sufficient for goals. I'm pleased with my progress in 2010, but I do consider 2010 as more of a progress year. I achieved some cool things, but I'm not close to where I want to be yet. I'm training more and harder than most people I know... and that's a fact I am sure of! I believe I am capable of achieving the goals I've set out for, thanks to some great training partners (Michelle and Dirk), a new coach (Todd Wiley), and an overall improved outlook on racing and training... a powermeter and intense masters swim program don't hurt either! I know much more about each sport than I did before, and I aim to continue being a student of swimming, cycling and running, to become a complete triathlete.

REALLY looking forward to 2011. Let the cowboys ride!

A New Hope, er, T-pace

2010-12-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

I've recently taken to watching Star Wars during my trainer rides, specifically Star Wars IV: A New Hope. I am captivated by the Battle of Yavin sequence, when the Rebel fleet attempts to destroy the Death Star. It's fast-paced, which is helpful for trainer rides that go over an hour. I mention T-pace because in my most recent 800y time trial, I set a landmark PR and have a new training pace, almost 5 seconds per 100y faster than my previous time. That definitely is in large part thanks to swimming with Michelle, Dirk and the masters practices. Basically, yards equal success! Also, since I've been running more for miles than speed, I've come to enjoy running more and feel better as a whole. I hope to keep up the 40-50 mile per week average I've been doing.

This is a little late due to being pretty busy at work... and looking for videos of Red Squadron:

Monday, Dec. 6 - Monday, Dec. 13 (6 swims, 6 rides, 6 runs)

Swimming: 19,800 yards

Tuesday -- Endurance swim at GISC w/ Michelle. Main set of 2x300 (1:20/100y pace, :15 RI), 4x50 (drill/build, :15 RI), 2x250 (1:20/100y pace, :15 RI), 4x50 (drill/build, :15 RI), 2x200 (1:20/100y, :15 RI), 200 kick, 2950y total. Swam alone at GISC around lunchtime, putting in 6x500 to give me 6000y total for the day.

Thursday -- TIME TRIAL! Michelle and I split the lane to add some competitive fire to the TT. It didn't start out well for me... my goggles filled up with water about 75y in, so I had to stop briefly at the 100 to empty them, losing about 5 seconds. However, after that it was SMOOTH swimming. I kept a constant pace and didn't feel tired until the last 50y, where inexplicably I forgot to sprint to the finish. Not at all sure why I forgot, but I hit the wall in 10:22, 1:17/100y average! That is a PR for me. Most importantly, I could have kept going at that pace... I was tired, but not done, totaling 1600y with warmup and cooldown. Another promising sign for the coming months! Michelle averaged about 1:41/100y, down from 1:45/100y a little over a month before. Huge improvements for both of us! In the afternoon I did 2000y of long pull sets for recovery.

Friday -- Recovery swim @ GISC w/ Michelle. Just swam long, easy sets with a 10x100 set (on 1:45) thrown on at the end, totaling 3200y.

Saturday -- CUBU masters swim @ AU w/ Dirk. The coach didn't show up so we had to alternate coaching with other swimmers. Put in 4x300 among other easier sets, with one of the 300s in 3:45, which Dirk proclaims is the fastest swum between us. Take that, Beastman! 3000y total.

Sunday -- Endurance swim @ GISC w/ Dirk. This was near the end of a long weekend and we agreed to take it easy on this swim. Main "set" was 4x300 around 1:20/100y pace, but I can't remember anything else we did. Still totaled 4000y.

Biking: 110 miles

Monday -- ILT on the trainer. 8 minutes on each leg in 30-second intervals. Felt fine, averaging around 180 watts per leg.

Wednesday -- Easy spin on the trainer, 45 minutes. Didn't want to do anything tough before Thursday's swim TT.

Thursday -- Easy spin on the trainer, 35 minutes. Was tired from the TT and a long day of swimming, so took it easy.

Friday -- Spin-ups on the trainer, 45 minutes total over 7 sets of spin-ups. Unfortunately I lost my Powertap info, so no power data!

Saturday -- Columbia ride with Dirk. We rode the Columbia course after a 30 minute jog, and I forgot how tough the course is! Inexplicably, I agreed to do it a second time... I got about 13k into the second go-round and decided to turn back. Too tough of a course to "just do" when you're not in the best bike shape, not to mention "just doing" it twice! Still, totaled 40 miles on a tough course, 213 watt average.

Sunday -- Long trainer ride w/ Dirk. We took it (er, I did, at least) easy on this ride after the Columbia challenge. Totaled 26 miles over 90 minutes, 145 watt average.

Running: 40 miles

Monday -- Trail run w/ tha boys. 8 miles.

Tuesday -- Solo run in neighborhood. 5 miles.

Wednesday -- Easy run around the track. 8 miles.

Saturday -- Columbia course run w/ Dirk. Took it easy with long bike ride ahead. Ran first and last 2 miles of the course. 4 miles.

Sunday -- Solo trail run. 6 miles.

Monday -- Trail run w/ tha boys. Ran some long hills. 9 miles.

Hooray for chlorine

2010-12-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

I swam the most this week that I ever have in one week. No wonder I always smell chlorine wherever I go. Good thing chlorine has a... er... bearable smell. But back to the yardage... it was a lot. Some days I felt really good, some days I felt like a sponge. But even when I felt spongy, I was able to put in some good times. That has me getting pretty confident about my swimming! I finally feel like I'm back in good bike shape after a couple weeks of drill rides and zone 2 rides. Now I can finally get to work on starting to get some speed back, or at least establish a good tempo pace. I also got in 35 miles running, which isn't bad. I'm excited to just run easy. I've had enough of fast running for a while.

Saturday, Nov. 27 - Sunday, Dec. 5 (9 swims, 5 rides, 4 runs)

SWIMMING: 27,946 yards

Saturday -- Endurance swim @ Wilson w/ Dirk. 50m pool. Main set of 2x400, 3x300, 3x200, 3x100 (neg. split first two, pull third), 4046y total. This was really tough and I was tired going into it. Paces were around 1:27/100m, which is pretty decent for me. Dirk was stronger on this day though.

Sunday -- @ GISC w/ Lucas McCollum and Michelle. Main set of 5x200 (on 3:00, 1:20/100y pace), 1x300 neg. split, 5x100 (on 1:30, 1:15/100y pace), 16x25 (on :30, 1:00/100y pace!), 3200y total. This was one of my best practices. Splitting the lane with Lucas helped. Fast triathlete, that I was able to keep up with him means he's either out of shape or I am really improving!

Monday -- CUBU Masters @ Prep w/ Dirk. Main set of 2x(2x300, 2x100, 2x50, 2x25, 1:20/100y pace), 6x75 kick (easy-fast-easy), 5x100 (on 1:40), 2x100 (on 1:30), 4000y total. I felt pretty bad in this swim. Went out too fast in the first part of the set and paid for it!

Tuesday -- Solo @ GISC. Main set of 3x(200 pull, 3x50 descend), 1x800(odds easy, evens build, finished just under 11:30), 3500y total. Did this during lunch break. Felt better than Monday, but I took it easy for half of the workout. The 800 was pleasantly comfortable and fast, for half of it being easy.

Wednesday -- Solo @ GISC. Main set of 8x400 pull, 3200y total. Simple! I just wanted to FLUSH OUT THE JUNK!

Thursday -- Solo @ GISC. Main set of 12x50 (dist./stroke odds, build evens), 5x(150, 100, 50, 1:20/100y pace), 4000y total. Another solo swim... thanks to a fanged deer that nearly killed Michelle. Swimming alone is tough but I did fine the past 3 days. Felt good!

Friday -- Force swim @ GISC w/ a scabby Michelle. Main set of 2x300 pull, 6x50 fast, 2x300 pull, 6x50 fast, 2x300 pull, 3600y total. The fast 50s were around 1:12/100y pace for each. Good to have Michelle back.

Saturday -- Snapple clinic @ W&L pool. Mainly drills, around 1200y total. Later in PM, swam @ GISC, 5x300 pull to get some yards in, 2700y on the day. I learned a few important but easily applicable improvements from Chip Berry, who had the fastest swim split at Nation's a couple years ago.

Sunday -- Muscular endurance @ GISC w/ Lucas and Michelle. Main set of 6x100 (:20 RI, 1:15/100y pace), 6x75 (:20 RI, 1:13/100y pace), 6x50 (: 20 RI, 1:10/100y pace), 6x25 (:20 RI, 1:00/100y pace), 3200y total. This was an AWESOME swim! Splitting the lane with Lucas again helped. We were able to really pick up the pace in each interval. 1:15 felt really good... felt tempo-like!

BIKING: ~100 miles total

Saturday -- Hilly 22.5 mile ride w/ Dirk on his Beach Drive hill loop. It was very cold and windy, and was pretty darn tired from ILT the day before and the swim at Wilson prior to this. Averaged 190 watts.

Monday -- ILT on the trainer, 9 minutes on each leg. Day off on from cycling on Sunday helped, I felt better.

Wednesday -- 15-mile zone 2 ride on the trainer. Felt average. 166 watt average.

Friday -- 15-mile zone 2 ride on the trainer. Same as Wednesday. 165 watt average.

Sunday -- 36-mile zone 1-2 recovery ride on the trainer. Felt a little weak for the first hour, was able to pick it up for the second half. 162 watt average.

Running: 35 miles

Wednesday -- 8 mile run on the Wootton track. I can't say I took it easy, averaged around 6:30/mile for 6 miles.

Friday -- 6 mile easy run around neighborhood trails after my trainer ride.

Saturday -- 15 mile trail run with Scott and Steve. Run ended up being quite a bit longer than planned, but it felt just fine. Only issue was my right hip which began to ache a little with all the hill climbing.

Sunday -- 6 mile easy run after my long trainer ride around neighborhood trails.

Farewell for now, running!

2010-11-26T10:15:00.000-08:00

With Veteran's Day behind me, I have no more peak races or anything immediate that I am training for. That means I can ease off the running and really work on continuing to progress in my swimming and biking. My running schedule for the next month or so will look something like 1-2 recovery runs, .5-1 track workout, 1 long run (10+ miles). The half track workout will accommodate Wednesday PM masters swim practice. This should hold through the end of December, when I still start incorporating more tempo/fartlek work.

I'm inspired by Dirk's new method of workout logging...

Friday, Nov. 19 - Friday, Nov. 26 (20.5k yards swim, 150km cycle, 16 miles run)

SWIMMING: 20,500y total

Saturday -- Endurance solo, main set of 2x200 tempo, 100 sprint, 2x300 tempo, 100 sprint, 2x400 tempo, 100 sprint (1:15-1:20 pace between sprints tempo), 3400y total.

Sunday -- Endurance w/ Michelle, main set of 8x150 2-2-2-2 descend, 8x100 2-2-2-2 descend, 8x50 2-2-2-2 descend (1:25/1:19, 1:25/1:18, 1:19/1:14 paces), 3200y total.

Monday -- Masters w/ Dirk, main set of 6x (100 on 1:20 {1:12 avg. pace}, 50 kick on 1:20 {:50 avg}), 500 (50 easy, 75 build), 3600y total.

Tuesday -- Endurance (form) w/ Michelle, main set of 4x50 R/L arms, 1x300 neg. split, 4x50 fingertip, 1x300 neg. split, 4x50 catchup, 2x300 neg. split, 3400y total.

Wednesday -- Masters w/ Dirk, main set of 500 all out (1:13 avg. pace), 200 easy, 400 all out (1:12 avg. pace), 200 easy, 300 all out (1:10 avg. pace), 200 easy, 200 all out (1:08 avg. pace!!), 3400y total. This was probably the toughest and fastest workout I've ever done. Dirk and I really pushed each other hard in this workout and swam some fast times between us.

Friday -- Endurance w/ Michelle, main set of 4x150 easy (1:26 pace), 200 kick fast, 4x150 moderate (1:22 pace), 200 kick moderate, 4x150 fast (1:18 pace), 200 kick easy, 3500y total.

Biking: 150km total

Friday -- Power test on the trainer. I averaged 240 watts over 30 minutes. Not great, but it's a good starting point, considering I wasn't in great bike shape at this point. Needed a guide for my training, though.

Saturday -- 40k with Dirk on the MacArthur loop. Was tired from power test and relaxed. Didn't keep track of time.

Sunday -- 24 miles with Dirk on Beach Drive. Was supposed to be an easy ride, but me on road bike, Dirk on TT bike, add in a challenger in full racing gear along the way, and that easy ride turned into a tempo ride. 216 watt avg, including a 700 watt surge up a hill.

Thursday -- Didn't cycle after Sunday because of fatigue from busy weekend and trying to get into some sort of shape for Turkey Chase 10k. Just cycled 53 minutes on the trainer at zone 2, 142 watt avg.

Running: 16 miles total

Tuesday -- Trails w/ Scott. Easy, around 8 miles, a sort of tuneup for Turkey Chase since I hadn't run since the previous Wednesday's track workout.

Thursday -- Turkey Chase 10k. 21st place, 34:48. Race report coming.

Belated: Veteran's Day 10k race report

2010-11-25T11:17:00.000-08:00

This is VERY late, but I finally brought myself to writing a race report for what I expected to be my grand finale of a solid/breakthrough year of racing.

Well, that didn't happen! I came in with a goal of sub-33:00, and thanks to RED FOX Jake T. Klim (the T stands for "The), I had developed some good speed that should have translated to a sub-33. I felt pretty good on race morning, and on the warmup my legs felt pretty fresh! I had tapered a little for this, so I thought I was good to go.

The race started and I stuck around Chris Sloane, who is in better shape than me, but was going for a similar goal... sub-33, but a little faster. I felt great for the first 3.15 miles, right on 16:30 pace, right where I wanted to be.

Then quickly, VERY quickly, things fell apart. I felt a strong ache suddenly in my back going through the turnaround, and suddenly I had trouble breathing. I felt a big knot form in my upper-left back and it hurt like heck! I had to adjust my stride and arm movement to make up for it, and couldn't find a comfortable way to stand... I sort of arched my back and held my head back, but that got painful too, and was reduced to wiggling my body in different ways to try and

find the most comfortable position. The breathing was the worst part, as I started wheezing and only taking in half-lungfuls of air. My time started slipping, as each mile got slower and my per-mile average fell to 5:29 by the 6 mile marker.

Nothing I could do... I felt pretty helpless. My legs begged to go FASTER but my lungs and upper body wanted none of it. I essentially tempoed to the finish in 34:06, a second SLOWER than my PR, which I achieved on the same course last year.

I was pretty dejected for some time after this race. I trained hard and the training went well. The back problem is no longer bothering me, as I found the way I sit up at work may be behind it (I had similar but less painful aches at work in the same area leading up to the race). But I feel I wasted weeks of good training, and missed my chance at a 10k PR in 2011.

2 weeks later, I've been able to put it into perspective and realize that it's JUST a PR. I put in the work and was on the right track. I just need to re-rail myself and focus on my training. I've been swimming a lot and it's going very well, same with biking. I'll just keep that up and focus on the future... namely Cherry Blossom 10-miler and Columbia!

GRRR!!!

Ouch! When is this over?

Photos courtesy of Charlie Ban, who has a sweet bike.

Cardinal 5k and Weekend

2010-11-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

I ran the Cardinal 5k as a tuneup for this Sunday's race, and it went all right. I went out a bit fast, 4:50, as it was downhill and flat for the whole first mile. It felt fine then, but it was too fast. I died off a bit on the hills for the second half and lost my 3rd place position to Jason Dwyer, a former GRCer, late in the race. I felt like I had plenty left in the tank... but this wasn't the time to utilize those resources. Finished 4th overall, 16:32. Time wasn't pretty, but I've run slower on flat courses and this was actually quite a bit hillier than I expected. Most of all, I left the race without soreness or fatigue... I felt like I put in a workout and realized again my thirst for competition. I also ended up beating a guy by 15 seconds who is a mid-15 road 5ker and a low-33 10ker. I think that indicates my fitness is not an issue! I just need to be smart on race day and BE CONTROLLED!!! As Jake said, the best times at Hain's Point come to those who go out conservative. That'll be the name of the game on Sunday... go out in 16:30 or 16:35 and work hard the second 5k for a sub-33.

Later in the day I rode with Michelle for about 21.5 miles, half easy, half tempo effort (with a tough hilly portion). It was cold but the hills warmed us up.

Sunday I swam 2000y with Michelle at GISC with a 1000 @ tempo effort, followed by some drills and easy strokes. I headed to Silver Spring to meet up with Dirk for a ride, but a broken spoke and fear of cold (kidding!) was enough for Dirk to suggest we watch the NY Marathon instead. After watching my favorite, Tatyana Pushkareva, fall back, I stopped really caring. After the leaders finished, we went to Wilson, where I swam 3200m (1000m total warmup, 10x100 (1:40), 5x100 (1:35), 700 total cooldown). My arms felt tired and sore afterward, but I can attribute that to taking a break between swims that was probably too short. Or maybe it's from swimming about 5000m on the day....

This week is about tapering. Last real race of the year for me and one I've been waiting for since December 13th of last year, so I'll be sure to be rested.

The cookies are in the jar (corn in the silo too...) and it's time to eat.

Focusing on running

2010-11-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the Cardinal 5K, and I'll be racing in it. I'm viewing it as a tune-up race that I have a chance to win. I'll of course go for a PR if possible, but I'm not sure what I can do at this point on a hilly 5k... so my focus will be going hard but NOT emptying the tanks. That time will come next weekend. For now I'll just enjoy the race and competition and get my mind in the right place for Veteran's Day 10k. My left hamstring is a little TENDER so I'll listen to it carefully.

Training the past 2 weeks haven't been much to write home (or blog) about, as it's mainly maintaining swim fitness while trying to get faster for the 10k next weekend. Biking has taken a backsaddle and is mostly consists of isolated leg, spinups and 60-90 minute easy (one tempo) rides with Michelle mainly as a recovery mechanism for my running. But yeah, it's been mainly about the run. I've done a long run every weekend for the past 4 weeks, a Wednesday track attack and a Friday hill or tempo/progression run. These are my last couple of weeks of hard run training before I back off a la Dirk and pound the bike and swim for the coming several months.

My track workouts have been awesome. I have to thank Jake for coming out to each workout just to shout out times and go over strategy with me, that kind of help can't be appreciated enough. And except for my first workout in early October (4xmile), my workouts have gone nearly flawlessly. So his workouts + encouragement have helped me reach a pretty good level of fitness that I think will push me to a sub-33 10k. I'm confident in that!

Last week I did 6x1200, negative splits (cutting from 3:56 down to 3:48, all under my expected 10k pace), and it felt solid. This week I did 12x400 (:75, :74, :73, :72, :71, :71, :70, :70, :69, :68, :66, :67), starting at 5:00 pace and ending around 4:24 pace. It's nice to see I have speed... that'll help me when I need to pick up the pace or am getting tired.

I guess most of all, I'm finding that my pacing is really coming along well. I can race smart, but I often go out too fast, both in races and workouts, as Dirk is quick to remind me. But the past several track workouts I've started out slower and ended up with negative splits. That's really encouraging to me! It's how I want to race. Jake's wisdom plus being able to get back out there with the team at B-CC has been a key to my most recent growth spurt as a runner. Now I just need to show what I've learned on race day.

Chicken Tender vs. Beastman

2010-10-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

Workouts since Friday:

Friday 10/22 -- Hill workout at Black Hills Regional park with Michelle. Long winding uphills, about .21 miles long, something like that. Ran around 10k pace for each, and it was really hard. By the last one, my legs were wobbling like bowling pins that were struck lightly by a heavy ball.

Saturday 10/23 -- Swam with Michelle and Dirk, around 3000y with a main set of 4x300 descend (4:25, 4:18, 4:10, 4:05), didn't feel great but it got better as the swim progressed. Michelle had her longest swim since starting up again. Biked with Dirk afterward for about 40k in the hilly farmy-lands, shakeout ride with some hill power climbs.

Sunday 10/24 -- Ran long in the morning with Michelle at a very memorable place for me... Greenway trail heading south after Riffleford Road. Way back when, I ran a marathon (28.5 miles) on this trail, after a month of "training". I finished the dang thing and got 9th, but that's a testament to the lack of competition more than anything else! Anyway, in this portion of trail, my good pal Scotty Koonce tore away from me as I struggled to keep up. That's where I met that flannel-wearing goon. And had the most sufferfestacular run/race of my life. Ah, memories. And a primary reason I am boycotting marathon racing. For a long time. Michelle and I ran there, 90 minutes, and it went much better this time. She fell down like 503 times though. In the afternoon I rode a 40k MacArthur/Falls/Oaklyn route with Dirk, going hard and heavy, averaging nearly 23.5 mph, while outputting around 250 watts average during each lead (paceline with alternating 2 mile leads, the usual). I was a little tired at first but woke up halfway through and averaged over 25 mph for the last 10k. We reminisced on how just earlier this year, I was amazed that I could average 22 mph barely hanging onto Dirk's wheel. It's nice to improve.

Monday 10/25 -- Lifted some weights and biked nice and easy with Michelle. Had a good Columbia chat. Met Dirk later for a Prep CUBU masters swim. Main sets of 8x125 and a block of 4x100 on 1:35, 4x100 descend (starting at 1:20) and 2x100 VO2 max effort. We did the descends in under 1:16 for the last 3. On the 2x100, I hit 1:09 and 1:09!! That must be my fastest 100y swim ever. No blocks or flipturns either. Not bad. Dirk hit 1:12 and 1:12 for both, leading to disappointment on his part for not beating me and my colorful swim suit -- maybe next time, Beastman. We both swam pretty darn fast though (for us). Total of 3700y or so.

Our battle in the water. I was Godzilla this time. Dirk was the crab. Accurate representation.

MEGADETH

2010-10-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

I just discovered Megadeth and I wonder why I never discovered it before. I remember renting an album from the library when I was a mere Nugget but wasn't pleased. I don't know why. But I by chance listened to Symphony of Destruction this morning, and I was thoroughly impressed. I started listening to it and I instantly thought of my next workout, hills this afternoon. Any song that brings out the fury or makes me look forward to PAIN is what I put on my music player. Welcome, Megadeth.

I had a good track workout Wednesday evening... one that a wise Fox assigned to me, 6x1600 (4 at 10k pace, 2 at cutdown). It sounded tough and boy, wow, it was. I ran with new teammate Ryan Hanson, who is getting back into the swing of things (and blast it, another guy whose "getting back into it" pace is my race pace... BLAST!!), and he hung onto my shoulder for the miles. I was supposed to start cutting down at mile 5, but my legs weren't listening... I cut down by 3 seconds on #3. I wasn't thinking of it... just letting my legs do the work. They wanted to go faster and I couldn't stop them! Thanks to that I was pretty tired after #5, so Jake had me barrel through the last one as an 800, starting with a 70-second 400. Splits were 5:17, 5:16, 5:13, 5:11, 5:09, 2:22.

I'm happy enough with those splits, and pleased I stuck to pace for the first two. I felt after the first one that if I had not stopped, I could have kept that pace for a long time. 6.2 miles? Maybe! It felt good though and I hit it on the first try, which is what I need to master. Nice to see I could cut down to 5:09 at mile 5, and put in 71s for the last 800 (that seemed to simulate the pain I'll feel at mile 6).

Wow, I really like swimming

2010-10-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I do. I look forward to both masters workouts with Dirk and GISC swims with Michelle. It's better to be able to swim with friends/training partners, but I'm finding a ton of enjoyment in swimming in general. I view it as a sport by itself now, not just a part of a triathlon... I now want to become a good swimmer, not simply a good triathlete. That can only help my triathlon training and racing... respecting each leg as an individual sport, and putting them together on race day.

Past few swim workouts have been indicators of my swimming fitness. At the last masters workout on Monday, Dirk and I without fail broke 1:20/100y pace on every rep. On a set of 10x125s with me leading, we hit 1:18-1:20, with Dirk getting 1:16 and faster on the last couple. When Dirk led a later set with 100s, we again went sub 1:20, with me hitting 1:16s toward the end. To be able to do this consistently is huge. That used to be my fastest pace, 1:20.

That's a sub-22 1500m pace. If I can hit 21:30 or better at Columbia, it'll put me in a great position to keep with the leaders on the bike, setting me up nicely for a run that favors a hill lover like myself. I'm keeping this scenario in mind as I swim. I'd really like to make it happen.

My top-end speed is getting up there too, as I sprinted sub-:35 on a 6x50 set for all 6 (hit :32 on the last one) on Tuesday, 10 hours after the aforementioned Masters swim.

I'm a little surprised at my development, because I stalled for several months in my development over the late spring and summer. Getting one little hint about my form however seemed to make a GIGANTIC difference, as my stroke count has dropped by 4+ strokes per 25y, thanks to Frank with Curl Burke. Since then my times have dropped and swimming suddenly is fun and RELAXING, even when I'm pushing hard.

800s and more 800s

2010-10-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

I checked my Krazy for Kittens calendar (that I'm using for my 10k training schedule) yesterday morning and I saw something I sort of dreaded. 10x800 w/ 300m recoveries as the track workout for Wednesday evening. That dastardly Red Fox was either trying to kill me or committed an act of running genius. I decided to accept both as reasons why he scheduled me to do this workout, he has mentioned before he wants to beat me up and he has extended help in trying to get me to 32:45 for Vet's Day 10k. Workout called for a cutdown, with the first 5 800s at 10k pace or so (2:38-40) and cut down the last 5. Start easier, get faster. 300m recoveries, which is a change from my usual 400m.

Mile warmup, started out behind Jordan to get in the 10k pace. We ran the first one a little slow, in the low 2:40s, and I broke off as I had shorter recoveries than the group. I ran pretty balanced, considering I was doing it alone!

My splits were 2:42, 2:35, 2:36, 2:37, 2:36, 2:32, 2:33, 2:30, 2:30, 2:28. So I stayed right on target, more or less, with the first 5 and cut down well with the last 5. I probably went a little fast on the last one, but I had to cut down... not cut up!

Anyway, a big confidence builder, as I felt very strong, and the last 3, although my stomach felt a little funny, did not feel forced. It felt almost as if my legs were carrying me to those times. I just went with it, and it turned out all right! A 32:45 at Vet's Day doesn't seem too unfathomable now.

Cape Henlopen Duathlon

2010-10-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

Michelle and I bombed laterally to Lewes, DE to compete in both of our last multisport race of the year, the Cape Henlopen Duathlon. I did the triathlon last year with typical 2009 results... mediocre swim, mediocre bike, satisfactory run. What would a 2010 foray at Cape Henlopen bring?!?! Well, I hope better results!

Note, night before Michelle and I stayed at the house of one of the most powerful cyclists I know, Paul, and we had quite possibly the best pre-race meal ever: A huge steaming pot of slop. It had brown rice, potatoes, chicken, different kinds of beans, spinach and mushrooms, and probably more stuff that I don't remember. It was an awesome meal.

Race morning, good weather, a little chilly, which is good for a duathlon. Don't want to get too hot, right? Right. Porta-potty evacuation went well, except for the one potty that everyone avoided because someone went all over the seat. Come on, people. I lined up with Michelle and Erik Reitinger, who finished a spot in front of me at that weird Doylestown Duathlon. Pleasantries exchanged and memories conjured, it was time to race!

Run 1 had me out in front, running 5:15 average for 1.5 miles, and it felt comfortable. Had Erik and James Braconnier right behind me, but I took an extra step to get into T1 first and have the fastest Run 1 on the day.

I also had the fastest T1, so I was out on the bike first. That didn't last. Erik, a far superior biker, charged ahead and I fumbled with my shoes on the bike. I let him get about 50 metersahead and that was a mistake. I ended up getting further and further behind as the ride went on. However, I was getting further and further AHEAD of everyone else. From 2 miles in, I never saw anyone behind me. I did see Erik in front of me until the last 3 miles, when he built up his 2 minute lead into T2. I averaged 23.5 mph and 4th fastest split, decent pace considering I was alone and there was a noticeable headwind. Racked 002 and started the run.

However, it was a weird run. Erik was 2 minutes ahead of me, and I knew he wasn't much slower than me... at the same time I was at least 90 seconds ahead of the guy behind me. I decided to put in a hard run but not kill myself and risk injury... I'd have to kill myself to catch Erik, so I put in 5:45 pace for 5k and finished 2nd overall (fastest 5k run time also)! In the money too, $100, my first multisport cash prize. Cool!

Michelle flatted out of T1 and took way too long to change her tire, but she put in a mighty 22 mph (effortless, she says) and passed Leslie Randall, who was leading thanks to Michelle's bike mishap, at mile 1 of the run... and CRUSHED her, along with many male souls as she cruised past them on the run to put in the 4th best run split in the race, coming in at an (inaccurate) 18th overall... if she had those 5-7 minutes back she'd be top 6. Scary. 1st female and $150 to the lady with the pigtails.

I think that was a great way to end the season for both of us. For me, I am incredibly anxious to pound away on the bike this winter and not get bashed on the bike anymore as I was by Erik at this race. I'm looking to make 24.5-25 mph a reality during this offseason.

FURIOUS FIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One more race

2010-10-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend is my last multisport race of the year and a venue I raced at last year, at Cape Henlopen in Delaware. I did the triathlon last year but I'm doing the duathlon this year, as I didn't really like the way the tri is set up and I just want to get in one last duathlon before the year is over.

So Saturday, Michelle and I will BOMB down to Lewes and attempt to go for the double win. I'll have stiff competition in Erik Reitinger, who beat me at Doylestown. This time though I'll make it a closer race by NOT falling off my bike (yeah... that wasn't pretty). It'll be a fun and quick race, and hopefully I'll come out with a win or podium! We accept the challenge!!!!!!!

Good luck to my teammates at Chicago. They've been working really hard for this and I'm sure they'll all be able to really show the fruits of their training.

It'll be a weekend of storming the roads of Lewes and Chicago. Sort of like this:

Time to run!

2010-10-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

I made a return to the track for my first hard running workout since a week out from Nation's in early September. For those who've had to hear my complaining, my running has NOT been in form for a little while now. On all my easy runs I've felt stiff and overall not relaxed. I've been running like Godzilla:

I do fine after tapering, but unlike my biking and swimming, my running just hasn't been great. I want to consistently feel happy with my running. However, last night on a run with THA BOYZ, I felt amazingly loose and limber... I haven't felt that good in a while. I hoped it would continue into the workout tonight, 4x1600 at MCRRC's practice.

My goal was cutting down, 5:20, 5:17, 5:14, 5:10 -- my first step toward my goal of 32:45 at Veteran's Day 10k in November. Jordan and the rest were doing 10x400, so I was pretty much alone, save for one lap with them each rep.

I ended up having one of my best mile repeat workouts ever!! I didn't quite follow the cutdown plan as I ran 5:10, 5:15, 5:07, 5:05! I wish I had been a little more consistent and didn't drop to 5:15 on the second, but I had no one in front of me for any of that one. Still, finishing sub-5:10 on the last two and still feeling VERY strong, definitely made me feel pretty good. I don't think I've run that well, being in that much control, in a good while.

I felt neither stiff nor tired. Just the opposite. I'm feeling in surprisingly great running shape, and the confidence in my running has returned. I'm ready to push my limits again in my quest for 32:45.

Myrtle Beach race report

2010-10-04T07:26:00.000-07:00

My 2nd racing season of 2010 is coming to a close... a strong success at Nation's, a more-or-less fail at Philly (which reminds me, I'm way overdue with a race report), what would Myrtle Beach bring?

Not much, actually. Turned out to be a really weird race. The water was FULL of E. Coli so the race director cancelled the swim on race morning, replacing it with a 100m dash from the swim exit to transition, with racers starting randomly in line 5 seconds apart. I was really mad about the swim being cancelled. I've gotten faster and really wanted to show it.

So it became... hmm... not a duathlon... er.... uh, I don't know what to call it. It was a bike and run in time trial style. For now, until USAT decides on a name for this kind of race, we'll just call it a TTathlon.

Uh oh, time trial. My last time trial at Church Creek was a disaster. Hopefully I can produce something better on the bike this time around. Myself, Dirk, Andy Blatecky and Patrick Serfass started together near the back of the line so that we could try to stick together on the bike. I got out there with Blatecky and Serfass caught up soon after and they started riding away from

me. Where's Dirk? Turns out he had a minor problem and had to delay his bike leg for 15 seconds to repair the headset on his bike. I only saw him at turn-arounds, meaning that I was pretty much alone for the duration of the bike. Too bad, I bet both Dirk and I could have gone faster if we were riding side by side.

It was a tough ride. 12-15 mph headwind with gusts, along highway with very few hills, but a ton of false flats. Not ideal for a non-power cyclist like myself. The tailwinds were on the slight downhills and the headwinds were on the slight ups, which isn't ideal either. Still, I sallied forth, passing a ton of people who started in front of me, and didn't get passed, save by Blatecky and Serfass at the beginning. I decided early on I needed to really pedal hard to keep up and at the same time I wanted to see what kind of speed I could produce on a difficult course like that, so I went for it. Averaged 24.2 mph, 8th overall bike, only 3 seconds slower than Dirk, which is a benchmark for me.

I hopped off the bike in transition and CRAP, my legs were tired. Too much exerted on the bike. I struggled through the first 2 miles and wasn't able to take down water... I could have if I aimed the cups toward my mouth. Oops. Dehydration set in... and my pace slowed. 4 miles in I was suffering. I managed to pick up the pace for the last mile, but too little, too slow, too late. I put forth a MISERABLE time averaging over 6:30/mile, and the 5th overall run split. Ugh. How shameful!

I came in 5th overall, 4th male. Cool thing is that Dirk won and DC Tri swept the podium... Dirk 1st, Serfass 2nd, Blatecky 3rd, myself 4th! Great day for the club. Not sure who that girl is who beat me, but she was a force on the bike. I'm still shocked about that. I've never seen a female be that powerful in those conditions. It was something else.

What do I take from this race? Well I'm REALLY happy with my bike. I felt pretty good and my speed was great in the conditions... being on the same level as Dirk has been a goal of mine. I just need to work on my muscular endurance this winter and make that speed feel easier for the run. My run was awful, but I can fix that with more bricks and biking. This wasn't my peak race, but I expect better of myself on the run. A lot better.

But I'm done with TTathlons. No more, please.

This weekend is Cape Henlopen duathlon. A good fun race to end the season. Then it's back to training for Columbia.

Nation's Race Report

2010-09-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

The day had finally arrived! Nations Triathlon. It was a rainy and cool Sunday morning... early, too. My father kindly drove Dirk and myself to transition around 5:30. My day got off to an auspicious start as upon leaving the car I realized I forgot my aero drink bottle at home. Crap. Now I have no means of hydrating as I took the frame cage off the day before. Luckily Robbie had an extra cage for me... I had a bottle with me that I was using to transfer HEED to the aero bottle. So I dodged a bullet there. Besides, it probably helped Robbie to shave 20 ounces off his bike... as you'll find out later!

After soaking in the rain and evacuating at the porta-potty, it was race time! I met up with Derek Stone, the guy who beat me at the Washington, DC sprint triathlon in June. It was good to see him again. I could try to get a little revenge because he CRUSHED me at the June race. Ihad some extra incentive now.

The swim was ROUGH. I got right into a crowd by mistake and was kicked in the face and pulled under several times. It made it hard to keep momentum or a good consistent stroke. I eventually found a straightaway for about 400 yards when I went untouched... came in at 23:12,

a 44-second PR and 122nd best swim, but not as fast as I hoped.

A long run through transition and I grabbed 002 and headed out. Hopped

onto my pre-clipped in shoes and had a startling revelation... my shoes were on the wrong pedals!! OH NO! I carelessly put my right shoe into the left pedal and left shoe into the right pedal! DANG! But nothing I could do. I had to keep going. I strapped my feet in and though it felt awkward, I started pedaling and began to get used to it. I rode with a good group of 3-4 and picked up some cyclists along the way. It was a lot of fun! It was wet but FAST. Ended up putting in the best bike split of my life... 62 minute 40k, right about 24 mph, 72nd overall bike, exceeding my goal of 63-64 minutes. A huge confidence boost mid-race. Hopped off 002 and it was time to RUN!

I got out of transition brimming with confidence. It was time to catch my rivals. I hadn't seen the DC Tri racers all race because of my slower swim... but around mile 1 I saw Blatecky, Serfass and Schmidt. I gave some words of support but deep down I told them I was going to try to catch them. Around mile 2 however, after putting in a couple 5:40s, I tired a bit. I was alone for a stretch and started to get hot. I pulled down my tri top and felt a little better. Around the turn at Hain's Point I caught sight of Blatecky... it was time to catch him. I pulled within 10 meters and did something stupid. I told myself to be patient... I was going to catch him. I wasn't thinking ahead. I was only thinking of Blatecky. When I finally moved past him, I noticed Serfass and Schmidt were further ahead than I anticipated. I felt I could catch them still, but I needed more speed now... I felt invigorated and picked my pace up to 5:35s. I drew closer and closer, crossing the bridge out of Hains Point. But I was running out of road. The finish line was much closer than I thought it would be. Serfass glanced back at me and gave it what he had left... and I couldn't finish the job, finishing 6 seconds off of him. Still, an excellent run for me, an in-triathlon PR of 35:22 and the 12th best run on the day!

Final time: 2:05:04!! A 10 minute PR! And 12th elite.... until I found I was docked for a 2:00 penalty for "blocking". Apparently I stuck to the left side of the road for a little too long. Stupid penalty. So I got reduced to a 2:07:04, 26th overall. Still, that was my goal for the day and my placement goal was exceeded (I wanted top 40, got top 30!). I ended up beating some of my targeted competition (including Derek, who admittedly though wasn't in the best shape for biking or swimming... dude is a sub 4:10 miler!).

I am very happy about this race. Everything went right except for the shoes and penalty. The training paid off big time... special thanks to Michelle and Dirk for being awesome training partners through it all! Huge motivation boost going into the offseason. And I'm very grateful to Dean Pierson, who lent me his rear Zipp 404... that's a fast wheel and I bet it helped on those flat roads (he did well for himself, 2nd in his age group and under 2:15:00!) Shout out to Robbie, who WON the race and Dirk, who placed 7th overall and swam very very well. Well done guys!

Up next, Philly Distance Run!

Sunday approaches

2010-09-08T15:36:00.001-07:00

As my hairless legs cut through the days of the current week, I have found myself thinking of the past and future, to remove myself from the present. I'm waiting for Nation's Triathlon, this Sunday. But the days leading up to a key race are often dull and full of anxiety. Am I ready? Have I trained enough and to the proper capacity? Taper week isn't easy. I can barely train as any training I do will have no real positive impact on race day.

So I find myself thinking about every workout since Columbia. I remember the successes... the bricks where I biked at least 24 mph and ran 17-minute 5ks (on 10k pace). The intervals and time trials where I pushed new speed records. The track workouts where I consistently ran faster than I ever have before. The swims where I improved by a second or two over 100 yards. Those encourage me. There are the failures too. Last Tuesday's brick, where I couldn't find the energy to run. The Church Creek TT, where I suffered badly. The Midsummer's Mile. Worst part about those were they were races. It troubles me... what if I just can't perform under pressure on race day?

I did well at Columbia though... and I had similar feelings going into it... and despite factors I couldn't help (rain, flat tire), I had a breakthrough race. I've improved significantly in all three sports since then. I should be confident, right? I am... but I am pretty nervous too. Church Creek still weighs heavily on me even though Michelle and Dirk will point out that I was hurt, dehydrated, etc. I'm just worried I'll feel the same pain I felt at Church Creek and collapse. I can't have that happen!

Anyway, my week has been going according to plan despite my uneasiness. I rode and swam yesterday. Biked 4x90 seconds @ race pace, and put in some fast 26+ mph speeds with a strong headwind. Good... I'm resting up! The swim was hard right after the bike, but I still put in 16x50 at 40 seconds with a 400 warmup. Tomorrow I sharpen my run and guide Michelle through a progression run on my bike.

The base goal: Sub 2:08 (23:00 1.5k swim, 1:03:30 40k bike, 36:00 10k run) More to come as race day approaches. Nations, you are next!

Leg shave

2010-09-07T04:50:00.001-07:00

UPDATED:

Right leg has been shaven.

Left leg has been shaven.

Return to B-CC

2010-08-26T05:05:00.001-07:00

The last time I ran with the team at B-CC HS track... it was cold outside. That was a long time ago! Training has not really allowed me to go back to B-CC, but now that I'm back up to speed, running-wise, it's just not really fun or helpful to run by more or less by myself at MCRRC. Getting back to the group where I'm among the slowest is what will really help me progress further.

I proposed the workout and fortunately people agreed! 4x800 @5k pace followed by 1x3200 @ 10k pace. I was looking to hit 2:30s for the 800s for a 5:00 pace, and 5:17-27 for the 3200 to match my desired 10k pace. I ran mainly with a group comprised of PMurph, Dirk, Jimmy, Mike C and at times Ian... the faster group of Charlie, Dickson and Karl were moving a little too hot for me... I just need to establish my known paces, not push it too much.

I ran 2:26, 2:25, 2:29, 2:26 for the 800s and around 10:30 for the 2 mile, all a little fast but not too far off from my desired paces. I'd say the 2 mile felt the best... just as it should. I should be able to hold that for 10k, and while I definitely can't hold that pace in a triathlon, it's a good indicator that I'll be in good shape come Veteran's Day in November.

Anyway, it was good to be back out with the team and run some good splits!

Welcome back, hamstrings

2010-08-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

So Saturday I pulled something in my right hammy and planned to take it easy for the following several days. But today I felt strangely fresh. No pain or tightness in either hamstring and legs felt flexible. I had a brick scheduled for today, and I now had no excuse not to do it! Hour ride with 3-4 5k race efforts, followed by a 5k run at 10k pace.

The ride started out tough... it was hard to get my cadence up right away, and my legs felt sort of fatigued from Saturday's race. The pickups though felt better and better with each 5k. I had a 10-12 mph headwind and variable sprinkles so I was slowed up a little bit trying to take turns carefully and fighting off the wind. Legs weren't as quick to react to climbs either, but I still put in some good speeds for 4x5k (23.9, 23.2, 23.9, 23.7 mph), totalling an hour for the ride. Most importantly, NO hamstring pulling or tightness. On the contrary, I loosened up as the ride went on.

I stuffed 002 into the car, put on socks and my trainers and set off for the run on a downhill out/uphill back 5k. I felt amazingly strong, considering how little I've run recently and my hamstring issues (which again, were not apparent!). I put in the first 2 miles, downhill and flat in 5:23 and 5:27, which would be a little faster than my planned 10k pace at Nation's. The last mile was uphill and didn't slow down dramatically, 5:46, finishing around 17:10 for 5k! And I felt GREAT. Like I had another 5k in me... Exactly how I had hoped.

In all, one of my best bricks of the year. Funny how the body works. 2 days ago I left myself for dead... and then I put in one of my better workouts, as if I had been fully recovered leading up to it.

Oh, I swam yesterday, 3x1300, steady state swim, and felt smooth and powerful. My strokes were long and relaxed. 1:23/100y pace. It's all coming together nicely.

Hamstrung!

2010-08-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

It doesn't really pain me to write this post as my hamstring really doesn't hurt anymore, but it sure did yesterday at a crucial time.

I raced in the Church Creek time trial, a flat 40k near Cambridge, MD. I came in hoping for an average speed of over 24 mph, which was a reasonable goal considering I achieved a speed of 24.1 mph on a hilly 20k time trial a few weeks ago and a 23.9 mph at tempo pace on a half hilly/flat course last weekend. What could an all flat course mean for me? I felt decent enough going into the race except for a tight pair of hamstrings brought about by wearing decrepit shoes on a 60 minute run (followed by 2 miles @ 5:40 pace). They didn't hurt much, but they were a bit sensitive to intense activity. I didn't feel anything during Tuesday's 6-minute all-out TT except for a little pull at the end. I thought I was clear for Church Creek.

About 18k into the TT, almost halfway, I was doing well... averaging a little over 24 mph with a headwind... when suddenly (and fortunately not LITERALLY) the wheels fell off. I felt an instant pull in my right hammy and a dull pain followed. Almost immediately I started losing power from that leg as a natural reaction to feeling pain. My speedometer sank from around 24 mph to 22-23. I knew this was bad... on a flat road there are no chances to recover... you have to keep pedaling. My average speed over the next several miles dropped. Once I hit the "turnaround", where the loop course changes direction and goes with the wind, my speed increased... but not as much as it should have under the conditions (flat road + tailwind = 25-26 mph!)... I got up to 24 on the speedometer, but that didn't last long as dehydration set in... goshdang!!

I started struggling again and the hammy pain didn't go away. I started pedaling with one leg... just like I do in my training for dominant-leg workouts. BAAAD sign. I got passed by someone and normally I would LOVE the challenge and fight back, but I didn't have the power to do so. I just wanted to get to the finish at this point. I used the last of my HEED 6 miles from the finish and I started panting from the lack of hydration. I struggled some more and FINALLY reached the finish line in 1:04:18, an average speed of 23.2 mph.

Well, it sucked. I hated the ride from 18km to 40km. Still, somehow, I PR'ed for 40k. Not sure how, but I guess it's an indication of my improvement over last year. So I'm happy that even on my worst ride, I still can average over 23 mph. That's a good way to look at it, huh? On another positive note, my hamstring doesn't hurt anymore. But I'm going to be careful over the next few days.

The performance of maybe the year goes to Michelle, whose blog is linked here (and in my blog list), she utterly crushed souls (and nearly mine) there, rocketing to a 1:04:35 and a 23.1 mph average placing second in her category and beating plenty of guys and gals at higher levels. She was healthy and went ALL OUT to get an epic time. This coming from a part-time duathlete and a cyclist with only duathlon/triathlon bike training experience. Looking forward to seeing her beat down on some roadies and make a strong return to duathlons.

TT Tuesday -- speed record

2010-08-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today I did a staple of my recovery week - a 6-minute all out time trial on the bike. Every time I do this, I improve. Last time I rode 25.8 mph, which was my record at that point.

I was massively inspired by Michelle's foray into 24 mph land during her 6-minute TT on Monday, same as I was to do today.

If Michelle can obliterate a speed record, why can't I?

I felt strange during the day... for the first time in as long as I can remember, I had NO stiffness or soreness in my legs. Every time I got up from my chair at work, nothing. Just loose and limber joints and limbs (limber limbs, get it?? hahahaha!). This had to be a good omen!

I got out to the Gtown loop and warmed up, probably a little too much and too fast, but seeing Michelle do some warmup sprints before her TT, made me think that it could help me too. Wind was pretty calm also, 3-5 mph from the south. I got underway and my first lap I averaged 27.3 mph! Holy cow. I kept the cadence high but my pace was slipping a little into the final hill. I surged up it to hit six minutes... and a speed average of 26.8 mph!!! Boomshakalaka!

A new speed record set, a whole mph faster than 3-4 weeks ago. Church Creek, here I come.

Rodan reaches speeds of roughly Mach 1. Maybe I can too one day?

On a roll

2010-08-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

Mere weeks remain until Nation's, and I seem to be peaking at just the right time.

My swim is as good as it's ever been. My top speed may not be quite as great as earlier in the winter, but my endurance at a 1:20/ 100y clip is far greater than before. The steady state swims, 3x1300 with the last being at race pace, have really helped, as well as having two hard-working training partners, Dirk and Robbie, who seem to be improving at as fast a rate as I. We feed off each other. Those masters workouts at AU really help supplement speed to my endurance training. I was thinking on the way to AU today... I no longer fear the swim. I look forward to it. No longer do 300 yard and longer sets frighten me. I go to swims more than 3 days a week. I'm averaging close to 15,000 yards a week, up from only 7-9k during the early summer and before. Rather, I am excited for the swim at Nation's. I am certain I won't be far behind this time around.

What will be most exciting is to see who gets out of the water first between me, Dirk and Robbie. Anyone want to place bets?

I biked this weekend with Robbie, and found my speed, even after a tough swim workout, has really improved from the spring. I put in a 30:50 20k, which is about 23.9 mph. Pretty fast for me. Part of the course is a mile downhill and flat, but the first third is pretty darn hilly, so I'm happy with the speed. Can't wait to see what I do on a flat 40k... both at Church Creek TT Saturday and Nation's in a few weeks. My goals are sub-61 at Church Creek, and around 62 at Nation's. Those seem reasonable.

Most of all, I'm totally happy with my swim. Again, it's peaking at the right time. I feel extremely confident in the water. I want the lead at practice now. I used to be pretty bashful... but now I want to set the tone. I think this improved attitude will help me in my racing.

Oh, a shout out to Michelle, she biked over 24 mph for the first time during a 6 minute all-out TT today. That is epic.

Tour of Page County

2010-08-08T18:34:00.001-07:00

Yeah, haven't updated in over a week. Google doesn't work on my computer at work because of a virus and I usually do my blog entries there. So, I apologize to myself. And to anyone who reads this.

Pleasantries exchanged. Onto the good stuff!

Yesterday I raced in my second bike race of my young cycling career, the Tour of Page County cat 5 race in Stanley, VA, just south of Luray. Hills, hills and more hills were how Matias described the race to me. There was a 1.5 mile hill and a half miler with the finish line at the top of that. A competitive cat 5 field too. These all seemed like excellent reasons for me to enter this race. After my performance at Giro di Coppi, I was ready to try and win this race. I was strong, although a little tired from a hard week of training. I took Thursday and Friday easy, swimming and spinning to keep my legs moving and rested.

Race day... Sicar and I arrived at the race site and I met a fellow from the DC Tri Club who was racing also, Ron Benedict. Nice guy. I prepared Sicar for the battle that lay ahead. Warmed up, signed up, met Team Snapple (which I just joined) team member Zack Desmond at the starting line and then we were off! Zack and I lined up in the middle to rear of the pack, which is fine, we would benefit from the draft and thus an easier start to the race. We rolled in neutral for about 1.5 miles from the staging area and then the hammerfest began!

And, wow, did we hammer it. Zack immediately noted how hard we were going so early on... and it never let up. Giro di Coppi was much different, we didn't really pick it up until halfway through the last lap. We weren't even 3 miles into our first lap and we were cooking! I made a couple moves to get closer to the front, but it was tough to do... I started a little too far back. Finally the first mega hill came up... a 1.5 mile ascent that starts more as a false flat and builds into a pretty steep climb. I made my move here and stuck myself into the top 10. Zack joined me and we stayed here for the rest of the first lap into the second lap.

Then things got dicey. I lost the group I was with at the top of the half mile hill, just at the end of the second lap. I made it to the top with them, but they accelerated very quickly down the other side and I wasn't able to keep up... I got dropped! I pedaled hard to try and latch back onto the group (5 of us... we were chasing the lead group of 3-4 riders), pushing speeds of 28 mph by myself on a flat for about 2-3 miles. The group gained 30 seconds on me and I thought it was over for me. Then a pack of 4 riders caught up to me. Slightly embarrassed, I grabbed the wheel of one of the riders.... and we started pacelining. It was time to work together to catch up the group ahead of us! We switched leads until the 1.5 mile hill. We started climbing slowly, I was two riders off of the lead. I knew we wouldn't catch the group ahead at that rate. So I took off. I knew with my stamina and climbing, I could catch or get closer to them if I was leading. So for nearly 1.5 miles I led my group... and whaddya know! I caught the group that had dropped me earlier, much to the surprise of those riders. My group thanked me for the push and we made our way to the last hill.

800m to go, I was about 5 riders back from the front of our new combined pack. I waited... and then I saw the feedzone, marking 250m from the finish. It was now or never. I stood up and started POUNDING the pedals. I took the lead and focused on the finish line. 50m to go I hear breathing behind me, the fight was on. A guy from Whole Wheel Velo shot past me in a burst of power, but I held off a rider who was coming on hard to beat him by 1/5th of a wheel at the line... photo finish!

6th place! I was elated. It was a major comeback for me. I thought it was over... but I didn't give up. I may not have gotten podium this time, but this race meant a lot more to me than Giro di Coppi. I felt I learned some valuable lessons about road racing... the race is never over until you cross the finish line, unlike in running. And I learned the value of staying with a group. Not only will you go faster, but you can team up with your competition to help everyone do better, including yourself.

All in all, a great day and a great race. Two top 10s in two races... things are really looking good for me now.

Check out this news story from the race. Matias is the center of attention around the :52 mark (who got engaged earlier this week... congrats dude!)

25.8 mph and 1:14/100y!

2010-07-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

After Giro di Coppi and a 17 hour week, I was due for a recovery week. As usual though, full of time trials.

I had a crappy 15 minute TT (should've been 30 minutes) on Tuesday. Lack of nutrition and tired legs from GdC left me depleted. I averaged 24 mph for 14 minutes, and suddenly lost my legs and couldn't speed up on flats. This told me that I was done. I met back with Michelle for a spin and CHICK-FIL-A. Their new spicy chicken sandwich has good taste. Not much hotness, but a spicy taste. Good.

I had a pathetic track workout Wednesday, same problems as on Tuesday. 2k cutdown that was a little too fast, and 2x800 at 2:24 and 2:26... maybe a little fast, but it didn't feel bad. Overall I felt dehydrated and didn't want to push it. I had my mind set on the Crystal City 5k, but this workout gave me doubts. Funk dat.

Thursday I felt awesome. I had recovered from GdC finally and ate well during the day. This set me up for a 6-minute all-out TT. My previous best was 25.4 mph. This time around, I churned the pedals to a personal best 25.8 mph for 6-minutes! On a rolling course too! I love watching my strength increase on the bike. It's really motivating. The hard work is paying off each month.

I swam a tough 3050 yards with Dirk at the CUBU masters workout that evening, including 10x100 at 1:14/100!! That too is at or close to personal best.

Had simpler recovery workouts on Friday and Saturday (including a 2400m open water swim with Dirk at Sandy Point) and decided not to race at the 5k. It was brutally hot, I wasn't tapered enough and knew I wouldn't set a PR, the reason for initially running in it. Turns out that besides one guy who ran a 14:03 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), only half of the amount of people who ran sub-16 in 2009 achieved that time this year.

Sunday, rode with Dirk in 90+ degree weather. It was very tough... ranks among the most atrocious (in Dirk's words) rides we've each had. Hey, it builds character... I guess.

Looking forward to really cranking up the effort and miles in anticipation of Nation's and Philly Distance. The intense training starts this coming week. I accept the challenge, as always!

Giro di Coppi -- Sicar's Maiden Voyage

2010-07-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I raced in the Giro di Coppi, my first road bike race ever. I was pretty nervous. Friends and foes warned me of close quarters, unexpected sprints and 45+ mph descents. I knew road bikers to be a pretty intense and serious bunch. I want to become the best biker I can be however, and the best way to do it is to embrace road biking and become an all-around better biker... not just a time trialist! Matias, Robbie and Dirk especially urged me to just jump in and get the experience.

Being a new cyclist, I raced in the 37.5 mile cat 5 race. My initial hope was to stick with the peloton and hang in there. I didn't expect much. Friends said that I had better speed than most of the guys there... I should go for the win. I decided that I'd hang in the middle of the pack and then attack at the end or on uphills.

Let the cowboys ride! The race started fast. As soon as we cleared the first hill, speeds were in excess of 25 mph, faster than I do at triathlons by myself. That's what happens in a group. I tucked into the middle of the pack and completed the first 12.5 mile loop. Huh, I wasn't tired... I decided to push it harder, moving into the front third of the pack. I made some more moves on the uphills and held my own on the downhills. By the end of the second loop I was well within the top 10. Could this be for real? Am I among the leaders? Crazy, but I felt like I had been doing this for a while and that I could really hang in there. I just kept it going... tuck in and draft on the flats and attack hard on the climbs.

By halfway through the final loop, I was in 2nd place! I decided to give the pack a stir and do something I definitely had not planned on... I surged on a flat! A NCVC guy decided to go at the same time, so we worked together. That was a rare moment of the race where I worked with someone. I was one of the few unattached riders, so teams were constantly trying to edge me out of the paceline to help teammates out. This made me pretty mad! I had to show them up. The pack eventually caught us, but the tempo of the race had increased, making it more competitive and exciting. I was totally into it.

My hill climbing advantage was huge here... it was a really hilly course, with the finish line resting atop a steep 200m climb. With 1k to go, I remembered this. Despite being in 3rd at that point, I decided to drop back a little and let some of the bigger guys go. It was my intention to draft off them and then break out as soon as I saw the "200 meters to go" sign. It worked to perfection. As soon as I saw the sign, I punched it (not the sign). I passed 6 guys almost instantly as I barrelled up the hill toward #3, who started strong but was really struggling at the crest. 10 meters to go, I was right on his wheel but starting to tire out. I then remembered I had 3 gears left to shift to! He did not! I shifted up one cog and that provided me with a burst of speed that got me past him within 5 meters of the line.

3rd place overall! Not too bad for my first road bike race. My strategy worked great. And Sicar, the bike, felt awesome under me. What a strong climber. Speed averaged somewhere between 22.5 and 25 mph... hit a max of 48 mph! Good showing by Matias too, finishing 6th in the 3/4 race, pacing the pack much of the way and staying strong. The next morning, Robbie won the NYC Triathlon elite age group division, and 6th among pros. Beast.

Several days later, I'm still really pumped from this. Sure, it was a cat 5 race, but I went into this race with no great expectations... an empty head. It's how I need to go into all my races. As I told Michelle the other day I took what the race gave me... I did not try to predict the outcome of the race before I got to the finish. It worked here. Why can't it work in a triathlon?

Pictures coming tonight

It's your turn, Sicar!

2010-07-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend is my first road race (biking), at the Giro di Coppi. I'm doing the cat. 5 (beginners) race, one spot away on the waitlist. Hopefully one person doesn't show up Saturday so I can get out there and ride! 37.5 miles, well within my limit, but it'll still be tough. I'm really looking forward to it. It's pretty much my next step into the sport of cycling, going past simply doing TT-style racing as in triathlons. It's my hope that road bike racing will help my triathlon biking as well as further my relationship with cycling. I have no expectations of winning this race or even getting top 5, my goal is to learn, and if the opportunity presents itself, win. I have an advantage on uphills, so I'll be sure to unleash on those. Otherwise, I won't let myself take the lead until the end, if I am in reach.

This is also the introduction to the racing scene for the newest addition to my household... my road bike, the Dolan Hercules, whom I affectionately nicknamed Sicar after my cats (it has the speed, agility and climbing ability of Simon... and the black nose of Oscar). It's been used for the past month and a half or so as a training ride, especially on longer rides or hill workouts... but this is a racing bike at heart! It WANTS to be pounded, it WANTS to suffer along with me in a race. It's jealous that ZeroZeroTwo does all the racing and time trials.

I don't have a good picture of my Hercules (will post after the race), so here's a photo from my dealer so you get an idea of what it looks like! I have SRAM Rival groupset, black handlebars, cheaper wheels (I WISH I had those Navigator carbons!).

Sicar looks better!!!!!

DC Tri Club training triathlon -- Redemption!

2010-07-14T06:20:00.001-07:00

So I was pretty down on my running after the mile. Sure, I had improved in every distance and was much better off physically than in July of last year, but I thought at least I would finish a second FASTER, not a second slower than last year. But I've put it in perspective and realized that the mile just is not my race at this time. Probably will never be, I'm training for triathlons and 5k-1/2 marathon... nothing longer, nothing shorter! Let's leave it at that!

I was encouraged by Hendrik de Heer to participate in the DC Tri Club's 2nd training triathlon on Sunday. I thought, just like he, why not? I don't have a race for a while and I had a TT-style brick scheduled for that day. Why not make it fun with some light competition? The distances were 400m pool swim, snaking around the 50m Hain's Point pool; a 17 mile bike, thrice around the large HP loop; a 5k+ run, once around the short loop. Main competition for me was Dirk and his new DOLAN STRYKE and a DC Tri Club Elite team member, Andy Blatecky.

Dirk and I had fine swims, about 6:15 or so for 400m, not bad, I think I beat him by 2 seconds, so I still have a slight advantage in the water!!

The bike was odd... I had some stupid (on my part) mechanical issues that caused the rear wheel to rub against the frame, causing me to have to stand up and really struggle to accelerate and keep a decent speed. It was tough. I still somehow managed just around 23 mph average! That's encouraging, at least! Remember during the winter when I pined for the days when I could average 23 mph on my best day?

Dirk had an awesome ride on his new bike. I'm upset I couldn't stay with him this time!

Run was great. I brought in a sub 16:50 for the 5K, which ranks among my best post-bike runs ever. And I felt controlled and relaxed. I passed Blatecky about 1.5 miles in and I just held the effort steady the rest of the way. This is a good sign for Crystal City 5k, as well as my post-bike 10k prospects at Nations (I want a 36 or faster!).

So the tri definitely washed away any grief I had about the mile. I'm doing well at what I'm training for, and that is the most important thing now.

OOOH. Look what's coming to my house today! My new front wheel!

Rats for me, Hot Diggity for Michelle!

2010-07-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

Shoot, that was a disappointment! I ran the mile at the Midsummer's Mile last night, expecting that maybe I would get a 4:30, despite not really training for that distance or tapering at all during the week. Well, yeah, didn't work out that way! Instead I suffered through one of my most embarrassing runs ever! Ended up with a 4:40, not quite reflective of the effort I put in, and goshdarnit, it's quite a discouraging time! I was 2 seconds faster in the mile last year! I was in better shape for shorter stuff then and wasn't really into triathlons at the time, but heck, I at least wanted to better that time.

Made several mistakes, such as trying to make up for lost time after a slow start... before I even got halfway through the race! Bush-league! Oh well, live and learn. I lived and I think I've learned. So that's good. 2nd overall though. Must have been poor competition or the heat. I think the former!

Michelle Miller ran a 4:56, thus accomplishing her 2010 goal of sub-5 for the mile. Way to go Michelle! She's worked so hard at it, suffered through heat exhaustion and plenty of hard workouts to get there. Through disappointments and mistakes she learned how to run the mile the right way and showed the world what she had! Very inspiring! I'll have to follow her example. And she ran smart last night, even after going out slow she maintained her composure, unlike myself, and ran consistently. I felt sorry for the males who looked at her at the start, thought to themselves "Oh geez, a girl, I better make sure I'm in lane 1 because she definitely won't beat my superior male-ness". She beat all but a few of them. Excellent.

AAACHOOOO!

2010-07-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

Man, I can't stop sneezing. Ever since the move, I spend at least 3 total solid minutes out of my day sneezing. That doesn't sound like much, but one sneeze takes about 5 total seconds to prepare, release and recover. That is... um... 36 sneezes a day! Think about it. That's a lot. I don't know if that's exact, but it's close.

My training has been good so far this week. Good news from all 3 sports!

Swimming -- I've been attending the Curl Burke Masters swims at American University and they've been SOLID. I swim with Dirk, surrounded by cocky swimmers far faster than The Beastman or I. I've been getting in 3000+ yard swims each time. My totals for the week are over 12k yards, which is more than I've ever done. Not quite as much as Dirk's 20k+ swimming weeks, but I'm doing more... and am getting faster. That's the most important thing.

Biking -- Still improving! I did an early AM superthreshold interval set, 5x3 minutes, averaging 24.3, 24.7, 24.7, 23.8, 24.3 mph, at the rolling GTown rec loop. It's heartening to see I'm regularly touching 24+ mph in my intervals... not to mention last week's 40k time trial. I got a hill workout tomorrow and long rides this weekend.

Running -- Haven't done quite as much as in the past, but I put in a SOLID track workout last night:

4x800 @ 5 sec/400m faster than 5k pace (4:50 mile pace)

1x3200 @ 10k race pace (5:20 mile pace)

I hit all my paces (a little faster on the 800s, averaged 4:41 pace) and felt great at the end of the 2 mile (right on with a 5:20 average). I'm excited to see what my 10k time will be at the end of the year (sub 32:50?). If I can do sub-36 minutes at Nation's I'll be very happy.