Diamond in the Rough Triathlon - Perryville MD

This was my 4th triathlon in 6 weeks. Needless to say, I'm ready for a break, but I wanted to do this race since it is our annual triclub race and I thought I'd be ok. We headed up at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday to get there by 6:30 a.m. Igda and Emi actually got up this time to come cheer me on. It was great to have them there.


I was a little bummed after finding out that the swim was cancelled due to high bacteria counts in the Susquehanna river. Too much rain with runoff up stream had the water looking pretty murky. Oh well. The race turned into a duathlon with a 5k run substituted for the swim. I was a little dissappointed since I really haven't been doing much running between my other races.

I tried to run the first 5k by keeping my breathing as much under control as possible. I got into a pretty good rythm and finished in fairly good shape. Grabbed my bike and headed out. I bought a new rear race wheel (thanks, Igda) but I made the mistake of waiting too long to glue the tire up and had to leave it at home. Bummer!

I had pretty good bike. I managed to finish with the 17th best split out of 277 men on a pretty challenging course. I headed out for the final 5 mile run and my legs were starting to tighten up. This was going to hurt. I ran the first 2 miles all alone without being passed, but after about 3 miles the herd behind me began catching up. There wasn't much I could do to muster anymore speed. I decided to just keep chugging along. I ended up finishing 47th overall and 13th in my Age Group. I was pretty dissapointed I didn't finish in the top 10 of my age group which was well within reach coming off the bike in the position that I was in. Guess I need to improve my running. It was fun to have Emi run down the finish chute. I was gassed!

Emi's first race

Emi a little over halfway. Running Strong!







Igda & I chilling out









Emi getting his pre-race pep talk



Igda & I heading out for dinner in Downtown Richmond.

Richmond Xterra Race Report

Richmond Xterra Sport Course:
Race Report:

Wow! What a fun race! This was my first off-road tri and I must admit it was a total blast. Rather than bore you with the mundane details, I’ve compiled a list of my experiences from a rookie perspective. Some items are just things I learned from the experience of the day while other items are just pitfalls to avoid the next time and/or general observations.

1. I’m not sure if this is true across the board, but Xterra competitors are generally very friendly people. Lots of hello’s and smiles abound before the race and during. It’s a very cordial lot. I don’t regard myself as a super swimmer, but I actually think swimmer’s got out of the way if they saw me behind them. I think I bumped into 1 person the entire swim and that’s after catching up to the 1st wave. I also think mountain biking causes others to communicate to each other in a much more civilized manner. You see, in order to pass someone on a single-track path, you have to holler out that you’re there (or be hollered out to) and want to pass. So, you do your best to help out because you never know if you’re going to need to pass that same person at a later time. About every time, you get or give a “Thanks, Man!” during this process. How cool is that!

2. Don’t wear dark-tinted sunglasses when the bike course is through the woods where there is NO sunshine. It makes visibility a huge struggle.

3. Xterra racers are TOUGH! I thought I had a few bad spills and even considered bagging the run because my knee took a nice shot on a rock, but one look at the finishers in the med tent made me feel like a total wuss. These people have unrivaled perseverance and nothing is going to stop them from finishing. Not even broken bones or post-race stitches!

4. Do pre-ride the course beforehand. Gaining a grasp of the terrain first hand is a far cry from hopping in the car to drive the course in preparation for the race. I went for a 30 minute ride the day before and told myself, “This isn’t too bad”. Come race day, I was kicking myself because I missed most of the hard stuff and I was astonishingly surprised at how difficult other parts of the course were.

5. Don’t think for a minute that the shorter bike leg makes it a cake walk. 9 miles on a technical mountain bike course felt like 25 miles on the road. You really use your upper body and core muscles to a far greater degree.

6. If you want to feel like a kid again on the bike, race an Xterra. The adrenaline really gets pumping when you look down a steep, twisting descent and let it all hang out. Sure, I had moments of “I think I may die!” But once you’ve done it, you’re like “that was so crazy! I can’t believe I just did that”. Let’s do it again.

7. Ties into # 6: If you want to feel like a kid again running, race an Xterra. Although some of run is on pavement and across bridges, the exhilaration of running where cars can’t go was pretty sweet. I actually looked forward to the run.

8. Don’t get discouraged if you take a spill. I think its part of the initiation into Xterra, but if you happen to fall, pick yourself up, wipe off the dirt and debris and get back into the saddle. You’ll regret it if you don’t. I saw Pro’s that were pretty dirtied up where they clearly had taken a spill along the way.

9. Don’t forget the Advil.

10. The volunteers and medical staff are incredible!

11. You don’t have to wake up at 4 a.m. to get ready for the race. The Sport race started at 8 a.m. and the Full Distance race started at 10:30 a.m. A few extra hours of zzz’s made it feel like a vacation.

Well, that’s about all I can think of off the top of my head. I’m sure there are things I’m forgetting, but I highly recommend this race if you are looking for a fun, challenging event.

Eagleman 2006 Race Report

(Transition Area)

Eagleman 2006 Race Report:

Date: June 11, 2006

This is going to be my 3^rd time racing Eagleman and I think or hope I’ve learned a few things about myself and my approach to racing this event. My first crack at Eagleman was my first Half-Ironman and I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just trying to squeeze in as much training as possible and read every article posted on the web about Half-Ironman training and racing. My second race was serving as part of my IMFL training and I completely wilted on the run in the heat.

My only real goals were to try and break 5 hours and have a good run. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to see the news in the week leading up to the race that the heat factor was going to be a non-issue. I already knew that the wind factor would be a coin toss. It turned out mother nature wasn’t going to let us off too easy by sparing us the heat, so she drummed up a nice stiff wind just to make sure we were challenged.

I spent much of my taper distracted by work to get in any training, but I figured at least my muscles will be well rested.

This was the first time I arrived plenty early to avoid feeling rushed trying to get my transition area pieced together. I had time to stretch a bit and relax. My first year, right before my wave was called, without noticing I pulled my wetsuit on backwards up to the waist while waiting for the swim start, some nice guy commented that “I think the zipper goes in the back”. No anxiety attacks this time!

Since I’ve done this race twice, I knew I just needed to get around the sailboat and head home following the buoys. I remember hearing Vigo say that the first triangle buoy was where you turn to make your way around the boat. I’m cruising along and I can feel the water starting to get pretty choppy the farther we get out. I sight the triangle buoy and round it, even following a few other guys when to my astonishment I see the guy in the paddle boat about 15 yards in front of me pointing further ahead and to my right. Oh crap, there were 2 triangle buoys. I swim back to the right and round the second buoy knowing that mistake just cost me at least a few minutes. I also think I got entrenched behind a wave of slower swimmers in my AG because I couldn’t find a gap to get around until a little bit after the sailboat when the swells and side current really split everyone up. I just tried to go with the flow and try not to work too hard. I was a little shocked when I looked at my watch running to T1 and it said 39 minutes. Yikes.

I was in and out of transition pretty quick and felt really comfortable on the bike. My plan was to keep my HR around 145 bpm for most of the ride which would be entirely aerobic for me. I wasn’t too concerned with my speed since I was gauging my effort based on my HR. I fully expected a windy day, so it didn’t really surprise or bother me too much. I just kept focusing my effort based on HR. At about mile 30 or so, Michael Flanagan whizzed by me so fast he didn’t even recognize me. He was hauling! Nothing out of the ordinary about my bike. I followed my nutrition plan (2 servings of Perpetuem, 4 Endurolytes/hr, 1 goo, ½ a cliff bar, 1 bottle of Gatorade & around 1 ½ bottles of H20). I got off the bike feeling pretty fresh. Looking back, I think I could have pushed an HR of 150 or so for 10-20 miles in the middle and still felt the same.

I didn’t keep track of my splits during the run, but I realized I would need to do run roughly a 1:40 split to break 5 hours. I just decided to mentally break it down into 4 – 3 mile runs and see what happened. I lost about 2 minutes because I had to pee at the first porto-potty. I thought I timed it right since I saw 2 of them standing by the first aid station and about 50 yards in front of me the guy just entered one of them. Cool, the other should open up by the time I get there or be very close to it. Nope. I had to stand there until the guy I saw go in came out. I should have kept going to the next one, but I just can’t run when I have to go and I probably would have had to wait at the next one anyway.

With that out of the way, I cruised the first 3 miles and kept chugging along. This was the first time I was mentally able to stay focused in the moment. Every now and then the negative thoughts would creep in, like, “man, I’m only at mile 5” or “jeez, I’ve got 5 miles left. This sucks!” Breaking the run into segments seemed to really help me this time. For miles 9-12, I was starting to struggle. I told myself I wasn’t going to walk, no matter how slow I was running. It worked. I still had to walk through the aid stations. I have a real difficult time drinking without stopping. I guess I need to practice this more.

Aaahhhh, the last mile. I still have a little bit in the tank. Mike Boorstein came cruising by me with about ¾ of mile to go, looking strong. He was being trailed by another runner and after they got about 25 yards up on me, I decided to try to keep them in my sights and hang on. I finished fairly strong and felt good about my effort. Finishing time = 5:08:46.

Post reflection: Could I have gone faster? Couldn’t we always! I guess that elusive sub 5 at Eagleman will drive me back for another shot. But no complaints or regrets here. It was a great day and I had fun doing it. I had great supporters out at the race (thanks Igda, Emi, Eric & Jenn). I haven’t said that about my other 2 tries at Eagleman, so things are looking up. Oh, almost forgot. My name was drawn for an IMWI entry in the raffle. I thought I was hallucinating, but it was true! I only entered for giggles, since it didn’t cost anything and I never win the stupid things. One of the rare times I’ve ever won a raffle, so it got the blood flowing again. Only downside to winning the raffle is that I now would have to fork over $435 dineros to claim my prize. It’s great to win a raffle, but it sucks to have to contemplate paying a sizeable sum of money to collect your prize with your wife standing by you with that look of, “You’re not really going to do it, are you?” Needless to say, I had to take a pass, plus I didn’t have my checkbook on me. Thank, heavens! Two long, rushed months of Ironman training didn’t sound too appetizing.

Winner: Chris Legh. Freakishly fast!

May 21, 2006 Columbia Triathlon

Race Report: Columbia Triathlon May 21, 2006

Distance: 1.5k mile swim/41K bike/10K run

Goals for the race: Beat my time from last year, hopefully place in the top 20 of my age group.

This was my second time racing Columbia, last year being the first. Last year I entered this race during the base phase of my IMFL training program and hadn’t done a whole lot of speed work. This year I haven’t had a formalized training program, but I’ve been fairly consistent with my training and tried to work in shorter intensity workouts with added threshold workouts. It’s been tough getting to pool at 5:30 a.m., but isn’t it for everybody. Needless to say, my plan was just to get through the swim as easily as possible without sacrificing too much time.

After setting up my transition area and duck taping over the vents in my tri bike shoes (I hate cold feet), I headed over to the swim start with my wetsuit in tow. Thankfully, I noticed the TriCAT tent set up at the finish was able to put my stuff down and worked in a 10 minute jog to get the blood flowing. Wow, what a beautiful morning! I squeezed into my wetsuit just as my wave was entering the water and jumped into the lake, trying to place myself toward the front as close to the bank as possible. Unlike other races, I wasn’t going to race with my HRM. I was just going to go on feel. I think I get too psyched out by my HR during shorter races and tend to ease up too much.

I remembered from last year that the start was pretty brutal. There’s about 200 swimmers all aiming for the same 1^st buoy and I believe the course somewhat pinches itself during the first 300-500 meters, almost like a funnel, bringing everyone together. I took a pretty good lick to the face in the first 200 meters, almost knocking my goggles off. Thank heaven for the Seal Mask I was wearing. Any other goggle and I think I would have had them permanently implanted into my eye socket. I took one more hand to the side of my face before getting to the first buoy. Things loosened up a bit from there on out and I tried to get into a comfortable groove. I felt like I was crawling along though. I attempted to draft a few times, but the feet I was following were swerving all over the place. Oh well, I guess I’ll go it alone I thought. About 2/3 through the swim I finally felt comfortable and felt that my heart rate was in the aerobic range. I plow up the bank and begin my run to transition. Although I’m usually in state of dazed and confused following my swims, I do hear Eric’s voice holler out, “Ole is about 20 seconds ahead of you!” Wow, I think to myself. I know Ole is a better swimmer than me, so maybe my swim wasn’t as bad as I thought (little did I know that Ole didn’t have his usual strong swim). I never did see Ole in transition, but I must have beaten him out of transition because I didn’t see him until later on the bike when he caught me. Swim time- 00:24:42.

I head out on the bike in a panic, knowing & feeling like I need to make up some time. I don’t drink anything for the first 10 minutes or so since I usually get side stitches if I drink too early from the swim. I feel pretty good. I’m catching people in my age group right off the bat. I give Eduardo and Martin a shout out as I go by. Great to see familiar faces in the crowd! I didn’t do any reconnaissance of the bike course before hand, other than knowing from last year that it’s a pretty steady rolling course. My strategy was to go like mad on the downhills and flats and stay steady on the uphill sections and try not to go too anaerobic. I was a little distraught when I started because my odometer wasn’t working, but after a few miles it kicked in so at least I would know how fast I was going. Note to self: make sure you wipe down the odometer after leaving your bike outside overnight. I think the nodes were just damp and not registering properly. As I was cruising along, a fella passes me. I think to myself, boy he looks familiar. I ride behind him for a bit and then it hits me, it’s Ole. Sweet! This last half will be just like a training ride. I holler hello and its game on. I follow Ole for a good bit and then pass him on a downhill section and then he comes around me for the last 2-3 miles to pull me along. This helped a lot. I did manage to get goo all over my right hand and break lever which distracted me a little bit. Stupid me, I open my goo and kept it my right hand as I’m taking a turn with my hands on the hoods, squeezing the goo all over my break lever and hand. I try to lick my hand and get some of the goo, but finally realize I should just try and clean up a bit and proceed to take in some water and spit it out on my hand, wiping it on my pants. I roll into transition knowing I had a pretty good ride and hope my legs are still good to run. Bike split: 01:13:14

I dash out of transition, ok, it’s more of ramble. I try to keep Ole in my sights for as long as possible, but he’s just too fast for me. I think I’m in a little bit of trouble because the first hill seems much harder than last year. I get into a nice steady pace and I’m following another age grouper about 20 yards in front of me. I think to myself, just stay in contact with this guy the entire run. I think this strategy sort of back fired on me later in the run, because my pacer started to walk up some of the uphill sections around mile 3. Well, I took this as a signal that it was ok for me to take a quick walk as well. Bad strategy now looking back. My legs felt fairly good, but I felt like I could never get my breathing rate down under control. I was redlining up the hills, but then I’d hit the steep downhill portions increasing my speed, never allowing me to get my breathing rate down. Oh well, it’s Columbia, right? After feeling like I was going to puke up the last hill, I realized I didn’t have too much farther to go once I saw the lake. Just hang on! It’s almost over. I managed to pull out a decent kick to the finish, right behind about 2-3 guys in my age group. Run split: 00:47:16

Finishing time: 02:29:21.

I managed to hit my goal for being faster than last year (by a little over a minute), but I fell short of my goal for making the top 20 in my AG (29^th / 199 in AG). I was fairly pleased with my race, but a little disappointed I didn’t suck it up more on the run. Mentally, I know I caved in a bit and didn’t focus well enough to have a stronger run. Guess I’ll have to wait until next year to improve my run.

Thanks for reading….

Checking in

Well, it’s official.  I’ve made a week commuting to work on my bicycle.  It’s roughly 15 miles each way along a nice path.  The weather has cooperated and I haven’t ridden in any rain, yet.  It’s pretty convenient having a shower facility in the building.   I had my first flat tire on the way to my swim session at 5:30 this morning.  Lucky for me it was happened about a ½ mile from the pool, so I just kept going and changed it after my swim. 

 

Kinetic Half Ironman 4-21-2006

First race of the year turned out to be wet one. The forecast was calling for Thunderstorms throughout the day, but luckily it only rained somewhat hard during the bike and stopped by the time I started the run. Igda drove down Friday to Fredericksburg to go to the packet pickup. We stopped in at TGI Friday's for dinner and then headed to the Ramada. Not exactly the best choice of motel but it was ok.

When I signed up for this race I really only had the intention of using it as long training day. Leading up to the race, I encountered a flare up with my IT band in my right leg. I think it had something to do with my move up 3 flights of stairs and racing the 10 mile Cherry Blossom the following morning. So, I didn't know if I was going to have the same problems at this race.

Since I haven't been swimming much since IMFL, I really didn't know how I would hold up on the swim. After the initial jolt from the cold water, I was able to get into a pretty good rythm and managed to end the swim around 34 minutes (which I was really happy with).

Headed out on the bike and totally forgot to adjust my speed/distance sensor to my race wheel, so I ended up riding the entire course without knowing my speed or how far I had gone. Lesson learned. The bike course was very scenic. We cruised around the Lake Anna for two loops. It was a rolling course with some nice flat sections. I felt really pretty good and my back was holding up well for being in the aero position for so long. Stupid me, I pull into the transition area, coming to a complete stop and then realized I didn't unclip from pedals. Yep, I fall over still clipped into my pedals. What a moron! I brush off the debry, and head to the transition.

Now, was going to be the interesting part. How would my legs feel? Would my IT band flare up? To my surprise, I felt pretty strong. The run consist of two 10k loops inside the park. It's pretty much a steady uphill climb out of the park to the entrance and then a gradual decline back to the turnaround/finish line. I had no idea of the pace I was running other than feeling fairly comfortable. After about 5 miles, I decided since I wasn't having any IT pain, I should cut the run short and stop after the first loop. After all, this was a training day, not a race for me.

I packed up my stuff and we headed to Olive Garden for nice lunch. The drive back was pretty miserable due to traffic, but that's life in DC. I probably should have signed up for the Olympic distance, but it was nice to get in a long swim and bike. I guess I'll know in the next 6 weeks if this helped me or not, since Columbia is May 22 and Eagleman is June 12.