The Washing Machine

A mass swim start to a triathlon is pretty intense. Everyone is packed in close, vertical in the water...and then the gun goes off. Now everyone tries to get horizontal so they can start swimming. It's at this point that I'm reminded of Someone's Law of Something Physics Related that says 2 solid bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time.  With everyone trying to occupy the same space, people end up on top of, under, next to, and inside (so I've heard) each other. The peaceful serenity of a calm lake turns to old school WWE wrestling in a washing machine at the sound of the gun.

A new triathlete practices their swim, bike, and run. A good triathlete practices their transitions. An awesome triathlete practices... the swim start.

I hear Lubbock is nice in June

So my 3 weekends of back to back to back events are over. It was actually pretty successful and means my training is working. Thank goodness! Because I don't have a coach, I've been trying to research and create a training plan on my own that works around my schedule. The miles have been building up and up and I think I've got a solid base for the next step. I've got Sunday, October 23rd circled on my calendar as my A-race this year (Ironman 70.3 Austin) and want to do well. I'm shooting for a sub 5:30 and know that if I can improve my cycling, I'll be able to get there.

October is a long way away. A little too long for my taste. So today I signed up for Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake.

Buffalo Springs Lake is supposedly one of the harder 70.3 events with tough climbs on the bike and run, but it'll be my first one, so I won't know any better :D

I'm going to use it as a "practice" 70.3 race with the goal of understanding the difference between an endurance event and an Endurance event. For me, the gap between a sprint tri and an olympic tri isn't really that much from a time perspective. It's about 90 minutes. But the gap between an olympic triathlon and half IM is going to be at least 3 hours. That's a lot more biking and running in usually warmer temperatures, not to mention how much more important proper nutrition training will be.

All that being said, even though I'm treating this race like a "practice" run for my A-race, in 10 weeks I'm going to be a real half Ironman. And that makes it worth it.

Big D 1/2 Marathon Race Recap

For as big as Dallas is, there wasn't a lot of pomp and circumstance to the Big D Marathon this past weekend.

While I'm sure it boosted sales, the packet pickups at Run On store locations didn't create the "event" vibe I've come to expect from pre-race expos. In fact, compared to the Rock N Roll Dallas 1/2 marathon expo at the Dallas Convention Center 2 weeks ago with row after row of exhibitors and a circus/Atlantic City boardwalk Brooks Running experience, I felt completely un-pumped up.

The full and half marathons started together at 8am, with the temperature above 70F, humidity above 90%, and a mass start. Kill me now. Actually, it's kind of fun playing Frogger amongst the fast runners, slow walkers, and in betweeners all squashed together going through the maze that is Fair Park. Just don't trip, because I'm pretty sure people will just keep running over you like it's Black Friday and Walmart is selling toasters for $3.99.

By mile 2 I was dripping with sweat. The humidity was unrelenting and I pushed aside my plans to officially match my 1:45 PR I got at RnR Dallas. My heart rate was up about 10bpm more than usual and I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to hang onto an 8:30 pace. I answered my own question 1:50 later when I crossed the finish line.

I've only done 3 Dallas runs (White Rock Marathon, RnR Dallas, and this one), and while I'm a little tired of finishing a race at Fair Park, this one made up for the lack of expo by having a quarter mile finish chute. It's so fun seeing everyone yelling and cheering and totally motivating when you're tired and just want the run to be over. My favorite sign: Go, Complete Stranger, Go!

Click to enlarge

I didn't match my 1:45 PR, but, given the tough conditions of today, finishing 19th out of 128 in my age group is still something to be proud of. A year ago I probably wouldn't have been able to run the whole thing, succumbing to the heat and humidity and unexpected rolling hills. It's always self-motivating to see results when you don't expect them and I'm loving it!

2011 Kemah Triathlon Race Recap

Sunday morning I woke up at 4am, ate a Clif Bar, hopped in the shower and got dressed. For some reason my legs usually feel tired the morning of a race, but today they didnt. Maybe I've finally figured out how to do this whole taper thing. The Passport Inn I was staying at was right next door to the finish line and transition area, so I grabbed my prepacked transition bag and bike and headed out.

It hit me as soon as I opened the door to my hotel room. For someone who's never raced in really humid weather (80%+), I never really appreciated how much it affects the body. I asked myself "If it feels like this at 5am, what's it going to feel like in 4 hours on the run?" Nerves started settling in and I more or less reminded myself I know how to swim, bike, and run. My training program hadn't let me down yet. What was I getting so worked up about?



Chris Lieto's transition area

 The transition area was buzzing at 5am. The boat taking us out to the swim start would be leaving in 30 minutes, so everyone had to get set up quicker than usual. I had a great rack location, 2 rows from the bike in/out and about 20 feet from the pro rack. I walked over to check out Chris Lieto and Terenzo Bozzone's set ups. Right then it was easy to see one of the differences between a pro and a beginning age grouper. Yes, the bike probably costs 5x as much, but what surprised me the most was the lack of "stuff" in a pro's transition. It was practically empty. Mine on the other hand had a towel on the ground, extra towel to wipe off my feet, water bottle, bike shoes, running shoes, hat, race belt, etc. Lesson learned: stick to what you need. Dump the rest.

View from the beach

The boat ride out was about 35 minutes once we got going. Pro men led off first, followed by the pro women, then elite age groupers before the rest of us started our time trial starts. 3x3 we jumped the 5 feet into the murky bay and began our mile swim. We had about 1-11/2ft chop and a slight cross current. The water tasted like a mix of salt water and diesel fuel, and for my first open water swim in about 6 months, I think I handled myself ok. I had forgotten my Body Glide at home, but a trip to Target for some Aquaphor Healing Ointment saved my neck from any wetsuit chafing. I climbed up the ramp and was out of the water in 29:57 with the 2nd fastest swim in my division.

It was about a quarter mile run from the beach to transition and I ran past the wetsuit strippers. T1 time was longer than I'd like at 4:06 probably because I took my time catching my breath, putting on my socks and shoes, grabbing a drink, and making sure I wasn't forgetting anything. Eh, this will improve with practice.

The bike ride was nice and flat with a couple out and back sections. The outs tended to be into a headwind and the backs were rewarded with a strong tailwind. It took me a little bit to settle into a comfortable cadence but I started passing people from the waves that took off before me. On the last 6 mile stretch with the wind at my back I got up to the fastest I'd ever gone on a flat road before. I'm still not 100% comfortable with my road handling ability at high(ish) speeds, but I felt good getting up to 27.5mph. It's all about achieving small goals. I dropped into a smaller gear about 5 minutes from the bike finish just to get my legs ready to run, had an uneventful dismount, and finished my bike 3rd in my division with a 1:14:52. My average pace over the 24.85 mile course was 19.9mph.

T2 was short and sweet. Drop the bike and helmet, switch out the shoes, pick up the hat and race number and run out. I was out in 49 seconds including 5 seconds of running the wrong way because I didnt check earlier where the Run Out gate was located. Another newbie mistake.

I've always had a pace/heart rate monitor when I ran, but I didnt bring it with me for some reason this race. Instead I just wore my trusty timex digital watch and ran the stopwatch function beginning at mile marker 1. Right out of transition I felt tired. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe I pushed too hard on the bike. Maybe I didnt hydrate enough earlier in the race. Whatever the reason, I eased up a little and found a perceived effort that I could sustain. As the miles ticked by, I checked the lap function on my watch and was usually around the 9:00 mark. It was a little upsetting considering I was running 7:30's a couple weeks earlier, but if I tried to run that at this point, I never would've finished.



Kemah bridge



Around mile 4, we had to go over a 10% grade bridge. Slow and steady, I picked out guys ahead of me that were walking and challenged myself to beat them to the top. Eased down the other side, turned around at the bottom and went right back up picking off more walkers. Nothing helps you forget your own pains more than out-toughing the guy next to you. Mental toughness is a key aspect in triathlon training and it shows itself at the end of every race.  

At the bottom of the bridge I knew I had less than a quarter mile left so I kicked into a higher gear and pushed as much as I could. Making the final turn into the finish chute, I saw that it was about 100 yards long and there was a guy about halfway down ahead of me. I am going to beat this guy. I used whatever I had left, probably even borrowing some from the crowd as they started cheering for me, and outsprinted him to the finish. When I looked at my run splits later, the last 0.2 miles was run at a 6:00 pace and I've never gone that fast before. Totally pumped and exhausted and covered in sweat, my race was over in 2:44:05. Beat my goal of 2:45:00, so I considered today a success no matter how the results ended up.

I grabbed a bottle of water and some HoneyMilk (which is now my favorite protein drink) and headed next door to my hotel for a shower before checking out the results. With a time trial start, you don't really know how you finish until more people cross the line, so I was in no hurry. When I got back, I looked at the board...Clydesdales Under 40...2nd place. Wait...WHAT?!? There were 16 guys racing in my division. Surely my slow T1 time, my inexperience on the bike, or my slow run had me finishing in the middle of the pack. I had to check this out. Ran over to the awards table and found out there was a timing mistake in my category. Oh, ok...that makes sense. And then:

"Sir, you're 3rd place. Here's your award."

To see the race from the eyes of the pros, Terenzo Bozzone (2nd place) posted this vid:

Preview: Kemah Triathlon - International distance

I'm heading down to Kemah, TX for an international distance triathlon this weekend. Like a lot of Texas cities, I didn't know Kemah existed until I signed up for this event. Here's what I know: 1) It's just southwest of Houston, and with the Final Four in town, I'm sure it will make for some fun traffic. That's all.

The main reason I signed up for this event was that the international distance race, also called an olympic distance, is a qualifier for the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in San Francisco this summer. I had heard of the Alcatraz tri when I was younger living and living in Orange County, but always thought those people were crazy. I mean who'd want to do that? Turns out, I do.

I'm racing in the Clydesdale division for what I hope is the last time. I'm sitting right now at 204lbs and have been dropping about 1-2 pounds per week with all the training I've been doing since the end of January.

The swim course is kind of interesting. Instead of a beach start or rectangle course, the race organizers herd all of us onto a paddleboat, cruise a mile out into Galveston Bay, drop anchor, and then we jump off. From there, it's a straight line into shore. Kind of boring without any turns, but hey...free boat ride!

The bike course is pretty flat 25 miles and consists of 3 out and backs with turns, so there's plenty of opportunities to see your competition. I hear it gets windy because of how close it is to the water, and with the bike being my weakest discipline, I'm not really looking forward to it. We'll see.

The 6.2 mile run winds through a Kemah neighborhood before sending us past the roller coaster and games on the boardwalk, and finally over and back on a 10% grade bridge. With the bridge sitting at miles 4-6, this could be mentally challenging.

I've raced the International distance once before, so at least I have something to compare it to.  My goal is to beat 2 hrs 45 mins with a 30 min swim, 1 hr 20 min bike, and 50 min run. I'm a little concerned with the heat and humidity. It's supposed to be 80F and 85% humidity at the race start. Yuck.

Also of note, is the fact that there are several pro triathletes competing with me. There's no better way to measure your abilities than seeing how you stack up with Ironman winners and world champions. They'll probably be starting their run by the time I finish my swim, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing these guys, if only in transition before the race starts.