rambling man...

The WC run club changed their Saturday morning run to 7am, so I was able to run with them on Saturday, the ride with the bike club at 8:30. I actually DROVE to the run start (only 1.5 miles away!). And I actually rode a shorter distances than the group (40 miles instead of 60).

So now what? Well, I haven't been keeping a training log for a couple of months now. I quit the YMCA. I only have ONE 3.5mile running race planned in October!

So now what?

I pulled out the heavy power tools today and did some fairly serious yard work in 90 degree weather. Then I took a shower and slept and read.

Tomorrow, I plan to ride my bike into work. I 'borrowed' Mini's Garmin, purchasing the cadence / speed sensor that goes with it for my bike. It is all mounted now, but it took some doing - the frame on my bike must be significantly further from the crank than most other bikes, so I had to create a 3/4 inch 'shim'. I read reviews about the cadence sensor and found that I wasn't the only one with this problem. We'll see how it goes.

So now what?

I dunno. I'm thinking I should really do those Tuesday morning (5:30am) track workouts. Maybe I can do a 17minute 5K this summer - or at least a PR... those olympic trials are pretty darn inspirational.

Then there is this idea I've been toying with, where Mini drives me to Blue Marsh and I swim for 90 minutes, then ride 65miles home on back roads. That sounds like a good day. I would be good if I could find someone to do it with.

So now what?

I've been looking longingly at my kayak lately. It looks lonely and sad. I asked Mini if she wanted to join me for a quick paddle - not all that interested. Maybe some quiet time at Marsh Creek one morning.

There is the Wii Fit championship challenge that Mini and I are doing with a friend of hers. Very close contest. We are all getting better (not sure about fitter), but it's fun.

Then there is the whole weight lifting thing - I've started that up a bit.

So now what?

Reading - yeah, I'm reading 3 books right now, 3 monthly publications, daily paper, and of course a buzillion newsfeeds, not to mention the research and technical reviews I do at work. Is my brain getting enough stimulation - maybe, but it doesn't seem like it.

And of course the yard / house work is forever consuming, but I do like it.

The triathlon group has sort of levelled off. Will need a shot of something if I want to keep it going.

So now what?

Philly Tri Adventure

The alarm goes off at 4:05am, but I am already awake - sleep isn't something I do well the night before a race.

In the bathroom I put on my spandex shirt and shorts – no underwear for triathletes.

Packing my gear happened the night before, but I remembered a few odds and ends as I was falling asleep, contributing to a restless night.

At the kitchen island I prepare my secret pre-race breakfast and choke it down while I mix my race day high carb motion-potion with a wee bit of protein.

Leaving the house at 4:40 with the family still sleeping requires a bit of stealth, but I breathe a sigh of relief as I pull onto the road and plug in my iPod and let random play inspire the day.

So many cars – so many bikes – so many nervous people getting ready for the big event – tense spouses and sometimes sleepy children in tow. I’m early – no need to rush – take it all in – relax.

With full backpack, I jump on my trusty steed and coast down Black Road to the transition area. In the process of warming up on my bike, I find an isolated port-o-john away from the crowds on West River Drive – lucky me.

At the transition area, there is a long line for body marking… Number, Age at the end of the Year… these folks are all business – over 1800 head of cattle to mark today. Seriously though, my body-marking-lady was very nice… eye contact and a smile – that’s what I like.

Taking the extra time on my bike warm up costs me a less than perfect spot on the bike rack, but not too bad. My first minor mistake of the day was to use my hands to mount my shoes onto my pedals – I thought I heard a click, but I probably didn’t hear a CLICK. We’ll get to this later.

I head over to the buses, but get a bit confused on what line is for the buses and what line is for the porta-john… I end up cutting to the front of the bus line – oh well – sue me.

The bus takes us to St. Joe’s Boat house and I meet a nice guy named Greg on the bus. He likes to talk about his Triathlon experiences – I like to listen.

At the Swim Start, I have over an hour before I get in the water - wave 10 out of 11. I head over to watch the pros start – amazing group of athletes. Goose shit everywhere, no place to sit down. I see Brandon, a 24 year tri newbie from my TRI-SIG training group – we talk – he’s ready.

After a few more wave starts, I head over to dump off my bag of stuff that I can’t bring on the swim with me – glasses, sandals, sunscreen, towel. I’ll be picking this stuff up much later. I see Christiane dropping off her sandals – she is happy as always. Even when they tell her that they can’t put her sandals in the bag she dropped off earlier, she doesn’t seem to worry too much about it.

At 7:40 I jump in the waters of the Schuylkill river and do a very short warm up and swim to the start, jostling for position. My wave… 45-49 year old men and 15-24 young women. Who thought that one up?

5,4,3,2,1 and we are off – I like this part if my goggles don’t fill with water - fortunately, no goggle problems today. I haven’t been swimming much and decided to try to increase my stroke rate for this swim to see if it makes a difference. I have a bit of a harder time going straight, but otherwise, I’m ok.

About ¾ through the swim we pass under a bridge and this is where I catch up with the slower swimmers from the earlier wave. This is a difficult challenge, but I eventually navigate through it without too much trouble.

On land again I try to run, but it is a narrow sand trail with a lot of walkers and worse - those that start to run, then change their mind right in front of you.

At my bike, I put on my sun glasses and helmet, then notice another guy putting on his race number –hmm – no time to think – I put on mine too – dumb ass.

Next it is time to run with my bike through transition – as I run, I think to myself ‘this is waaay easier than a bike loaded with bottles for a long course’. As I dodge yet another walker (isn’t this a race?!), my pre-mounted bike shoe hits a bag in the lane (someone should get a penalty for putting their bag in the lane). Fortunately someone calls out that I lost my bike shoe and just as fortunate, I hear them. I lean my bike on a rack, run back, get my shoe, run back to my bike and head out, shoe in hand.

At the bike mount I put one shoe on my foot, and leave the other one in the pedal – something I assure you I have never practiced. All goes off without a hitch, except for odd looks from race volunteers. Ah, my race wheels feel sooo good – so much easier to go fast with high compression tires and light, aero wheels.

About ¼ mile into the bike I realize that I forgot to turn on my bike computer (same as last year, but fortunately sooner) – click that puppy on. I pick up speed just in time for the first climb – I hammer it and pass oh so many people. Now I am in my element and I put the hammer down. At the top of the first climb they are passing out water – I realize that 2 bottles full is too much and I half empty my water bottle – good move.

It feels great at top speed – no regrets. Pass, pass, pass – another one bites the dust, dah, dah, and another one down, another one down, another one bites the dust… I often sing this song in my head on the tri bike course. I get a lot of mileage out of it because I’m such a crappy swimmer… but in this case it was also because I was in wave 10. I save my excitement however for when I pass people in my age group.

On my second trip up lemon hill I have to hit the brakes when someone cuts me off – I hate to hit the brakes on the uphills!

Passing the Art Museum the second time, I actually get passed – first time all day – so I keep this 24 year old with wheels that I can’t afford in my sights and attack on the last hill – I don’t pass him, but I shorten the gap. On the last downhill of the day I fly right him – nice.

I get to the bike rack and I notice only one bike in the rack – and the racer who owns the bike hasn’t left transition yet. Who knows, right?
The run starts off slow for me, then gets worse. My entire core cramps up on me – like a side stitch, but everywhere – I should have done more brick workouts. Stay tough – you may be in second place in your age group – don’t wimp out. I can hardly breath and people start to pass me. Stick with it, get through the first mile. No watch and no idea what my speed is, but old ladies are passing me – not a good sign. After about 1.25 miles I start to loosen up and each mile I pick up speed. By the time I get to mile 5, I am going full stride, trying to stay in control. I pass lots of people, but no one in my age group.

The finish clock says 3:06 and change when I finish, but I wasn’t wearing a watch, so do a rough calculation to figure out my time – turns out to be 2:16 – I call Mini (my wife) and she looks up last year’s winning time for my age group – this time would have beat last year’s time… hmm.

I decide to get my crap to the car and come back down. Much confusion follows as I try to get some nutrition, fix a flat tire on my bike (not sure when it happened, just glad it was after the race), and find out my finish place next to loud speakers blaring Sly and the Family Stone – great music for race day btw. Eventually I find out that I was in 4th place, not bad considering my training for this race.

What’s next? Who knows? Do this one again? – hard to say – I like the race, but too many logistics to pull the day together. Hey, at least I finished this year!!

a hobby or an obsession?

I finished Philly Tri today - 4th in my age group. My finishing time this year would have won my age group last year... it just goes to show you - it all depends on who turns up on the day and how ready they are.

This year is supposed to be my easy year, and I've sort of been going through the motions, but my heart hasn't been in it.

Today's race was lots of fun, but my training leading up to the race was a bit scrambled - I just didn't want to put in the time to set up a training schedule and adhere to the schedule. So I'm pretty happy with the result given the effort I put in (believe me, I've trained far harder and achieved less favorable results).

Philly is a a big race and brings in some serious competition.... it also plays to my strengths - swim with the current, hilly & flat bike, and flat run. This race was a Nationals qualifier, and having finished in the top 5, I am now qualified to go to Nationals in Oregon in September. I doubt I'll go.

So that brings me to the main point of the blog. I do this because I like it, but I know in my heart of hearts that if I really want to be at the top of my division, I will have to change a few things. My conundrum is that if I change these things, it will cost me time and $$, and it will turn into less of a hobby that is just fun and into something more of an obsession.

The three things I would have to change to get to that next level is to hire a general coach, invest in even more equipment (esp. new wheels), get a swim coach and spend a lot more time in the pool and even do some competitive swimming. Of course first I will have to get through my current injuries (yes, my knee is still sore and my plantar fasciitis persists).

I really don't think I'm ready to commit the time or the $$ to get to this next level. There are far too many other things that I want to do (life is too short!) - here is a list...
- hone my AR skills
- dabble in Xterra racing
- more kayaking (maybe even learn to Eskimo roll!)
- of course I'll do my road bike rides on the weekends and to/from work - that is just fun
- I'd like to boost my short course (5K) running speed
- oh so many things around the house
- more travel
- more camping and hiking
- and yes, I would like to become a better swimmer over time

So, that's it - I'll jump into these races because it is fun (today's race was sooo much fun), but I won't worry 'too much' about the results - after all, I suspect the guys that beat me are way obsessed with this sport and I'm just not there.

JP Morgan Race

Getting up to NYC after work on a Wednesday to run a 3.5 mile race a 7pm then home again with a team of 7 is, hmm... logistically challenging. We got there and back ok, but I felt pretty loopy after the race, LEFT MY PRESRIPTION GLASSES IN CENTRAL PARK, and was bumping into walls all the way home.

I figured this would be a small race - it turns out to be 15,000 people on Wednesday, then another 15,000 on Thursday. Holy crap that is a lot of people to run a 3.5 mile race.

Fortunately I was with people who have done this before, so getting to the starting line wasn't too bad. We were right up front at the start.

... and then came the rain... just as we started!

It was a hilly course and I managed around a 5:55 pace, but should have been much faster - just wasn't feeling it.

I've got to work on my down hill running! Two of my team mates were faster, one was the third place female finisher - she was about 20 seconds in front of me.

So we qualified for the October race, which isn't all that hard to do to be honest. I will have to get much faster though if we want to kick-some-ass.

But before I can think about that, I'll have to focus on the Philly Tri this weekend!

so what did I learn from my last race

- gotta train with my racing team before the race to get a better sense of pace

- train will full equipment before the race - this will save loads of time on the details leading up to the race

- keep the little things simple and focus on the big picture - i.e. race strategy, adaptation to changes in venue, as much sleep as possible

- be ready for any weather - get better wet weather gear (dry bag, rain jacket, etc.)

- pay closer attention to my teammates - how they are feeling, signals they are sending

- think a lot more about time and distances - have a plan on where you expect to be when - tweak the plan if you don't make your targets

- visualize how we will feel at certain points in the race - be mentally prepared for the down times - plan breaks

- be decisive - once a good team decision is made, execute

- pay more attention to body pains, especially early in the race - take a break and fix the problem (my poor toe!)

- put ice on my toe sooner (if this ever happens again!) so I don't loose my toe nail

- keep having fun!

The Heart of a Lion

Another great adventure!

Prologue:

I was already tired when we arrived at the race site at 7:15pm after a 5 hour drive. We got our maps, marked our control points and headed to the cabin about 30mins away. We spent a few more hours determining our route and preparing our equipment for the race ahead – into bed by 12:30am for 5.5 hours of interrupted sleep.

We returned to the race site the next morning at 7am and started setting up in the sometimes TORRENTIAL RAIN. At 8:30 we found out that the race was going to be delayed due to TORNADO WARNINGS. After 2 FALSE STARTING TIMES, we finally got going at 10:45.

The Course ahead: 16 MILES OF MOUNTAIN RUNNING (3 control points), 9 MILES OF PADDLING (1 control point), a 100 FOOT RAPPEL (1 control point), the rest of the course was ROGAINE format with 45 miles of SERIOUS MOUNTAIN BIKING (lots of control points) and 9 MILES OF NIGHT TIME ORIENTEERING (6 control points).

We were tired, but we were ready – right?

The Race:

Chris and I talked about 2 things the day before – do the first hour nice and easy – and we should be able to stay with the leaders. Hmm. As we climbed the side of the mountain, I somehow forgot the first bit. Sure I was holding back, but not enough.

Rain, Mud, Climbs, and Painful Descents. On the down hills my toes starting hurting (new shoes – dumb ass) slamming against the front of the shoe. At mile 9 (check point 1!!) I was in pain on EVERY down hill step I took. We now had to run 3 miles or so to the bottom of this mountain – OUCH my poor toes! My quads were also pretty well shot at this point.

Eventually we got to flat ground and headed to the boat launch 4 miles away. We were already exhausted and couldn’t believe how slow we were moving this early in the race. The leaders were long gone and we were in with the second group of racers.

The Whitewater section was awesome! At times I felt like the captain in that scene in Forrest Gump on the ocean during the hurricane. The cold water felt great at first, but after 9 miles and wind, I was shivering when we neared the end. I could barely walk when we got out and had to carry our boats up to the top of a hill, then run (walk) to CP4.

Donning our harness we preceded to rappel 100 feet off the side of bridge and scramble up a very steep climb back to our bikes. Way fun!

It felt good to be on the bikes – so good that we rode right by our first turn and decided to do our course backward – which meant doing the easy part first and the hard part last – hmm.

The first bit was a looong flat ride along the river – we got to our next control point easily, but it took a while. Then a monstrous climb up a fairly open gravel trail – no breaks, just straight up for at least 2 miles. I was feeling pretty good, but there were sections that were so long and steep we had to walk our bikes.

We got to the next couple of control points, but only after some serious climbs and lots of mud. The Rock Garden was cool – the CP was hidden in this monstrous Rock / Cave formation. It took about 10-15 minutes of searching to find it. We took a short break, then started up again, missing a turn that was not well marked on the map. As we back tracked, we tried to warn several other teams that this was the wrong way.

This poorly marked area took a long time and required us to stop several times. I felt ok if we kept moving, but I was getting sick everytime we stopped. Chris seemed to have the opposite challenge - not a good combination. We started down a 4WD trail, but lost the trail in the dusk twillight - it was now getting dark.

We decide to bushwhack with our bikes down the side of the mountain in the dark. We were attacked by sticker bushes that refused to allow us through – we fought back and eventually won the battle with plenty of battle scars. Fortunately we passed through a couple of downhill meadows on our way to the bottom and were eventually rewarded with a relatively flat trail along the river.

We are now at the furthest point from our transition area. It is 10:00 at night, Chris has lost his headlamp and tail light, and he looks exhausted. I’m ready to puke and can’t get any fuel in. We stop, rest, regroup, reassess. We decide to get the next control point, then go off-map to try to find a flat way back instead of trying to hit more control points which would be a lot more climbing.

We end up in a little town with a couple of bars. We ask one of the patrons if we can get to the rail trail from there – this guy was 3 sheets to the wind, but gave us precise directions that got us exact on the rail trail.

We rode hard back to the transition in a complete mental fog, eventually getting to transition after midnight. We decided that was the end of the race for us – we would sleep until 6am, head to one more checkpoint, which would take us 18 miles of flat riding.

Sitting here with a very messed up ankle and toe, that was clearly the right decision. I don’t think I could have done 9 miles of night time orienteering on a mountainside even if we were able to eventually get to the orienteering course on our mountain bikes.

So we finished the mandatory first 5 control points, plus another 5, which gave us a fairly low score, but considering the struggles we had, not bad.

It was a great time, with lots of cool memories.