Try Tri (Week 3)

First, this week we remember the husband of a Team Honey Badger member who lost a tough and courageous battle with cancer last week.  We had team members at marathons, half marathons, and triathlons, with everyone racing for Sasha and Joel.  Joel touched the lives of many people.  I was honored to have met him a few times, and we are all so glad that Sasha joined our group last year.  Click here to learn more about Joel.





This week’s workouts:

Mon:  Rest

Tue:  Swim 1,300 yards (main set = 12x25 sprints); bike 40 min/10 miles (main set = 10x20-sec sprints)

Wed:  Run 5 miles (easy pace – 10:00/mile)

Thu:  Swim 1,350 yards (main set = 6x100); bike 11.65 miles (easy pace)

Fri:  Run 4.5 miles (w/8x20-sec relaxed sprints)

Sat:  Swim 1,650 yards (endurance swim)

Sun:  Try Tri (300 yard swim, 20 mile bike, 4 mile run)

Weekly total:  58.18 miles

My "aqua pain cave" - The Lodge, Des Peres, MO

(eventually I'll take the GoPro for a swim)

Training during the work week was solid, but uneventful.  I deviated from my training calendar this week because I intended to race the long course at the Try Tri event in at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville on Sunday.  I did my long swim, wrote off my 35-mile long bike, and skipped my 8-mile long run as well.  That turned out to be a good decision.

 With a backpack, tri-bucket, and my bike, I packed "light" for this race.  Packing for Louisville may require a trailer.

No One Fights Alone - in honor of Sasha and Joel

Try Tri is a fairly small race put on by RaceMaker Productions who has a reputation of putting on quality events with great swag (this one had a water bottle, swim cap, and hoodie).  The 300 yard swim was held in the rec center pool and featured full laps in each of the 6, 25-yard lanes.  This meant people swimming on both sides of the lane and the potential for people passing which would result in a 3-4 people trying to squeeze through the lane. 

Our swim venue

This race featured some strong swimmers

The swim was self-seeded, and it seems that most people did well in realistically estimating their time.  My plan was to stay within my 3-stroke breathing pattern that I intend to use in Louisville.  I estimated a 6:15-6:30 swim, so I seemed to be in the right spot according to the people around me.  Once I got into the water, I was pre-occupied with making sure I wasn’t holding anyone up, so after the first 100 yards, I had to bail on my 3-stroke pattern and go with the 2-stroke pattern.  I did get passed by the swimmer behind me (I waited for a moment at the wall so that she could pass easily), and I later passed the swimmer who started before me the same way.  I managed to swim a 6:05 (although the race website says it was 7 minutes plus, but that is because their timing mat was located on the trip from the pool to transition, not at the pool exit). 

My transition area ready to go - note the handlebar rack because my seat is higher than the racking bar

My swim-bike transition wasn’t the greatest, but I really wasn’t too concerned with it.  I knew the winds were going to be an issue, so my plan was to push the 10-mile out portion of the course.  I was averaging about 24mph on this stretch and could feel the wind coming at me sideways.  My tri bike is great, but I definitely feel side winds more than I did on my road bike.   At the 10-mile turnaround, the wind just smacked you in the face.  There was little protection or relief during the return back to transition.  Add to that a decent climb at mile 19.5, and I was really working to get into T2 and off the bike.  My bike wasn’t spectacular, but I was happy given the conditions (I passed a number of riders, but was only overtaken by 2 other bikes).  My goal was to maintain at least a 20mph average, but I ended up at 19 due to the wind.

My T-2 was a bit slower than ideal, because I had to stop and tie my running shoes (I haven’t gotten speed laces yet this year).  I put my shoes on while sitting on my bucket, and realized to my horror that I stashed a Gu packet in my right shoe (that was now tied on my right foot).  I took my shoe off expecting to see something reminiscent of a crime scene, but luckily the packet hadn’t opened.

I got out of transition and started working to find a comfortable running pace.  The first mile was a bit rough as my legs were making the bike/run switch.  I walked for just a second to grab water at mile 1, and started running again.  At the 2-mile mark, I decided I would stick with my Louisville plan and run intervals (briskly walk 1 minute at each mile marker).  After the first interval, I immediately felt my running get better.  I continued to feel stronger at after each interval.  My mile splits were in the neighborhood of 8:50’s, but it felt effortless.  My last quarter mile was in the 7’s, and I still felt loose and comfortable crossing the finish line.

After the race, I quickly grabbed some food, loaded my gear, and headed home, so I really can’t report on the post-race activities.

I ended up 6^th out of 15 in my age group (M40-44) and was 5^th in both the bike and run leg.  Overall I was 41 out of 96 on the long course with bike and run ranks of 31 and 51, respectively.  So, this tells me what I already know – my bike is slightly above average, and my run is average at best.

Race #1 of 2014 - check

Take-aways:

* I remembered to wear my timing band on my LEFT ankle instead of the right as I did last year in Muncie.  For those new racers out there – remember this.  A chip on your right ankle has a much greater chance to get caught up in the front chain ring of your bike.  I don’t speak from experience, thankfully.

* I’m glad that I didn’t become a slave to my schedule and I wrote off my long bike/run this weekend.  Without doing that, I would have not been able to actually race.

*Although I drank 2 bottles on the bike, it probably wasn’t enough

*Need to go get zip laces, a number belt, and find a better place to store my Gu!

Hey look - new Tri Club tent!

Week 2

Week 2 workouts:

Mon:  Rest

Tue:   Swim 1,200 yards (main set = 8x50 sprints); Bike 40 min (main set = 8x20 sprints)

Wed:  Run 5 miles – easy pace (9:38/mi)

Thu:   Swim 1,200 yards (main set = 5x100 intervals); Bike 45 min (easy pace)

Fri:     Run 40 min with 8x20 intervals (averaged 9:37/mi. including recovery intervals)

Sat:    Run 7.1 miles (long run pace – 10:13/mi); Swim 1,400  yards

Sun:   Ride 33.3 miles

Total for the week = 75.45 miles

Barely made it through dinner Sunday - the end of a long week

Week two is done, which means that I am now 10% through my training schedule.  As I sit here to write on Monday (rest day), I must say that I am feeling much better than I did at this time last week.  I'm getting used to the sleep schedule and I’m acclimating to the rigors of the training calendar.  Physically I feel good despite a few twinges on the bike from my right foot and a sore right shoulder from some of the swim drills I did on Saturday.  I was anticipating some stiffness in my neck, shoulders, and back from getting used to the aero position on my tri bike, but I’ve been adjusting well and feel more comfortable in aero than I do upright.

A few highlights from this week:

My easy run on Wednesday felt effortless.  These runs have been few and far between lately, so I’ll savor it when it happens.  I went out around 6PM on a cool evening with no humidity and ran a route from home to Grant’s Trail and back which features a good mix of hills and flats.  I managed my pace well, relaxing as much as possible.  Hopefully there will be more of these to come.

On Saturday I met up with one of the Honey Badgers for a 4-mile warm-up run and then the Hops 5K at Forest Park to get my 7 miles in.  This was the first year for this race which featured some on-course obstacles, water/craft beer stations, and finished up with breakfast and more craft beer.  The obstacles consisted of jumping over some mini hurdles, hopping between hula hoops, and running around a tree with a few beer cans and tossing them into a bin.  The last few feet of the race were to be done by bouncing on a big ball, however after 7 miles, I’m not bouncing on anything!

The post-race breakfast was good – I had the spinach and egg casserole and a Hoppy Trail IPA from Ridgebrook Brewery in Godfrey, IL.  I would highly recommend this race next year.  Some scenes from Saturday:

 

The tulips in front of the Jewel Box are in full bloom 

On Sunday, five of us headed out for a 33 mile group ride on the MCT trails starting in Collinsville, IL.  It was a beautiful day to ride and we made it through with no mechanical issues, which is always a plus.  I used this ride to continue to get acclimated to the Profile Design aero water bottle, my custom fluid mix from Infinit Nutrition, and my bike in general.  The aero position has become much more comfortable in the last week and things are going well.  Here is some video and data from the ride.

Pushing 30mph on the MCT Nature Trail

This week is another building week on the training calendar which means some longer distances.  I am racing the Try Tri Long Sprint on Sunday (300m pool swim, 20 mile bike, 4 mile run), so I’ll have to figure out what to swap in/out of my weekend training schedule.  It will be good to get some racing in.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

124 days to go

Week 1

*Disclaimer - this is my training journal.  It is something I hope to look back on during and after this journey.  Some of this might be extremely boring for you - sorry about that!

This week's workouts (first full week of training):

Mon:  Rest
Tue:  1,000 yard swim (main set = 8x25yd sprints); Bike 40 min (w/6x20-sec sprints)
Wed:  Run 5 miles - easy pace
Thu:  Swim 1,000 yards (main set = 4x100 yards); Bike 40 min.
Fri:  Run 40 min w/6x20-sec relaxed sprints
Sat:  Run 6 miles
Sun:  Bike 25 miles; Swim 1,000 yards (endurance swim)

Week Total = 64 miles

Training week 1 is in the books!  As I sit down to write this, it's 7:45pm and I'm hoping to get this done quickly so that I can go to bed.  Gone are the days of staying up until 11:30 and waking up at 7:00.  Now I'm in bed by 9, hopefully asleep by 9:30 or 10:00, and up at 4:45 on weekdays to hit the pool or the road.  By the end of this journey, I just might become a morning person.

This week's workouts were really just about getting back into the full-time training routine.  The swims were nothing remarkable.  The first bike workout was on the trainer, but I took advantage of some great weather and decided to do my second bike workout outside.

I changed a flat earlier in the week in advance of my Thursday night ride, but when I started, I noticed some rubbing when I applied the rear brake.  I stopped after a quarter mile to check and found that the tire wasn't seated correctly on the rim - I'm kind of surprised it didn't blow out!  I stopped, fixed the issue, and used a CO2 cartridge to fill the tire.  If you haven't used one of these before, it's a crazy experience.  The cartridge discharges very quickly, the tire inflates immediately, and the metal parts get covered in frost.  You have one shot to get this right - there are no do-overs.

Use of the first cartridge didn't completely go as planned - not all of the cannister discharged in the tire, but I felt like I had enough pressure to go on.  By the time I got to mile 2 of the ride, I was feeling the rim bottom out when I hit a bump, so I decided to let all of the air out, and refill with another CO2 cartridge.  This time I managed to bend the valve stem when filling the tire, so I had about 30PSI on board (I ride between 90-100PSI).  At that point I was toast - time to call the pit crew (Amy) for a pickup, and I did another 30 minutes on the trainer (my road bike is set up on the trainer right now).  More to come on the bike later.

On Saturday I did my long run, and began to use the intervals I play to employ in Louisville.  Right now I'm training at a 10:1 interval (run 10 minutes, walk 1 - basically I walk at each mile marker).  The walk interval gives your heart rate a chance to come down and it gives your legs a short rest.  I find that when I use the intervals, my per-mile pace stays relatively unchanged from my normal running pace.  I may back this down to a 7:1 or 8:1 interval - we'll see how it goes.

Running is something I've been doing consistently since 2008, so there's not going to be much of a learning curve here, and thus I'm probably won't write much about the runs in this journal.  However, the one remarkable thing about this run was that in the past few days, the trees and flowers exploded in St. Louis.  Finally the miserable gray of winter was replaced with this!  (Of course I'm choosing to ignore the fact that it's snowing outside right now.)

After the run on Saturday, I spent some time working on my bike to get better with this whole CO2 situation.  I'm happy to report that I think we've come to an understanding.  I put a new tube on the tire (which I'm now getting done in about 3-5 minutes), and I successfully inflated with a CO2 cartridge to 100PSI and repeated the process again with the hand pump that I've attached to my tri bike during the training season (I'll take it off for races).

New tube and successful inflation with CO2

I ended Saturday with Adam's baseball double-header in the warm temperatures and hot sun.  We stopped to pick up a pizza on the way home, and he used the waiting time for a nap.  I was struggling not to join him.

On Sunday, the plan was to meet up with some friends for our scheduled long ride of 25 miles, however the weather didn't cooperate and I was stuck on the trainer in the basement.  Again.  As you can see, I was thrilled.  But, I got it done, and got some time in the saddle, which is all that matters.

I finished up the day and the week with a swim before dinner, and officially called it a week with a game of horse with the kids and an awesome dinner of chicken schawarma, couscous, and beer (yay for Beer Sunday!) prepared by my Iron Crew (Amy & Emily).  A great way to tie things up.



On the nutrition front, I am focusing on eating as much "real" (i.e. not processed) food as possible.  I'm keeping a detailed journal and will meet with my sports dietitian in a few weeks to go over the log.  I am sure she'll enjoy my notes from Sunday - "Starving.  Ready to eat everything in sight, including the siding on the house."  I'm looking forward to her input so I can figure out how to fuel correctly for the stupid amount of miles coming up.

With that, I'm going to bed.  Thanks for reading!

19 training weeks to go.  131 days until I hit the Ohio River.

And So It Begins

The official training calendar for Ironman Louisville began today...with a rest day (nailed it!).  With that, my journey has begun.  A total of 138 days until I hit the inviting waters of the Ohio River (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it).

My decision to Tri had been brewing for some time, but was made after watching a fellow St. Louis Triathlon Club member, Tiffany Dill, finish Ironman Louisville last August (see below).  I had been tracking her throughout the day, and watched the live stream as she finished the race.  That was it - I wanted to experience the feeling that she had as she ran through the chute.  I told my wife as I walked upstairs to go to bed that night that I wanted to do it.



Over the next day or two, my training partner Kelly and I must have exchanged about 500 texts and Facebook messages.  Should we?  Are you?  This is crazy.  Okay, I'm in!

A few months ago, we added another Honey Badger (Dale) to our crazy group.  I have no idea what challenges and adventures lie ahead, but I couldn't ask for two better people to experience this with, and a better pit crew in Amy, Emily, Adam, and the rest of Team Honey Badger.

Let's go!

Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon

Last Week’s Workouts:

Mon:       Walked 2 miles

Tue-Fri:   Nothing

Sat:          Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon

Sun:         Recovery

Last week was a tough one, schedule-wise.  We had a number of important things to take care of at home which took precedence over a workout.

On Friday, I traveled with a few of the Honey Badgers to Springfield IL (my home from 1995-2007) to participate in my 5^th installment of the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon (18th overall) and to close out my offseason. 

If you haven’t run this race, you owe it to yourself to check it out!  It's a small race with 2,100 participants, and it features a moderately challenging course with tons of Lincoln history.  Runners travel by Abe's law office, home, tomb, and the Old State Capitol - site of Lincoln's "House Divided" speech.  The race is very organized thanks to the work of Brian Reardon (my former coworker) and his great team.

THB ready to roll

One of the highlights for me is the pre-race speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln (Michael Krebs).  I've heard a version of it five times now, but it's always great - featuring the line "things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle."  I found a video of this year's speech on Youtube:

As for my race, the plan was to settle into a groove and hold that pace throughout, with a goal time of 2:00-2:05.  After weaving through traffic in the first 2 miles, I settled into a nice place, averaging 8:57/mile through the first half of the race.  Around mile 6.5, I worked on changing the battery on my GoPro while running which for some reason took forever - a good quarter mile or so.  Then I ran into a Fleet Feet STL training friend and chatted for a few minutes, and then I saw one of the Honey Badgers and chatted for yet another minute.  When it was time to get back up to pace, I just could not make myself to run faster.  I have no idea why.  Miles 6.5-12 were at a fairly consistent 9:30-ish pace, and my last mile was 9:00 giving me a finish time of 2:04.

Regardless of how the race went, I am thankful any time I finish.

I mentioned that I had my GoPro with me.  Here are the "Paul's eye view" highlights of the race.

After cleaning up and checking out of the hotel, we continued our post-race tradition of a cold beer and a horseshoe.  We went to the Dublin Pub again this year, mostly because Darcy's is tough to get into on a Saturday afternoon.