Wandering, but not Lost

SMW Regional Board

2007-01-26T00:44:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I was selected to be on the South Midwest Regional Board of Directors for USAT. I'm one of 12 board members. I'm pretty excited to help out with the region. Hopefully, I have some good ideas that can be implemented and I won't get swallowed by the politics.

Today I was appointed the Chairperson for Championships in our region. That means I'll be coordinating the selection of the Regional Championship race and National Championship qualifying race for 2008. There are some cool new changes coming down the pipe from USAT with regard to National Championships. Should be fun.

New ride!

2007-01-23T20:47:00.000-06:00

It's finally here. My Kuota Kalibur frame/fork arrived last week just in time for the snow, ice, freezing rain, and freezing temperatures. I haven't been able to ride it outside yet, just the trainer. So I can still stay I've never ridden a carbon bike. Maybe tomorrow.

Anyway, it's cool. I also added a Visiontech base bar and Vision Tech brake levers. The levers are tiny, but very aero, so they were the obvious choice. I'm going to try and run the base bar without bar tape. We'll see how that goes.

Super thanks to Kuota and Steve at Bicycle Store Too in OKC for helping me out.

Running?

2006-11-10T20:36:00.000-06:00

Uh, no.

Well, on further evaluation it appears I don't have ITB issues, but instead I have an inflamed lateral meniscus. Not much I can do except rest, ice, and take Advil. So, with that I swim and bike!

Speaking of swimming. After only 7 years of swimming I finally accepted the fact that I crossover on my hand entry and that this is hindering my speed. On Wednesday I actually found a spot to enter the water that was not crossing over and still doable. After several 25s to give myself some muscle memory of what good was I'm adjusting well to the new sensation. Today using my new found entry I managed an easy 33s 50 and a comfortable, but hard 2:33 200 at the end of the workout. I'm pretty sure those are lifetime bests for both distances. Maybe there is something to this (not) crossing-over thing. Here's hoping.

Cat. 4 baby!

2006-10-27T15:39:00.000-05:00

Woohoo! I upgraded to Cat. 4. This is getting serious now. I am officially no longer part of the "Crash 5" group and I can now do some of the 3/4 races. I also found out I can race Master's so I suspect I'll be doing that a lot since several of my teammates are master's as well. Better keep riding, eh?

ITB!!!

2006-10-27T15:34:00.000-05:00

Phooey! The day after Fall Classic was supposed to be the start of our run focus for the winter. I was really looking forward to this. I really, really want to be a faster runner and we had a plan all mapped out to get there. Unfortunately, it seems I pushed pretty on Sunday at Fall Classic and smoked my quads. The result? My ITB on my right knee flared. I've not had problems with this knee before. Now 11 days later I've haven't been able to run, but things are looking up and I should be good to run on Sunday. In the mean time I put in a couple of good rides, so all is not lost. It's still October. Better now than later. No big deal. This is a good time to be social and we have social "stuff" for the next 5 days/nights.

End of the season? The fun never stops! (OKC Velo)

2006-10-27T15:27:00.000-05:00

Well, you'd think with the end of season things would be winding down, but no, everything seems to be in high gear and I'm energized to train for next season.

One of the highlights of recent weeks was an invite from OKC Velo to ride for their race team. Considering I'm a relative newbie to road racing this is pretty cool. So apparently, I've now joined the "pirates"! With that a real schedule for races is already shaping up and I've put in a few good rides recently in anticipation.

Redman - Ever had a dream?

2006-09-30T20:32:00.000-05:00

I finished the Redman Iron Distance Triathlon in Oklahoma City, OK on Saturday. This was my first Iron Distance race. I’m not going to give a race report exactly. I actually want to tell you about a dream I had before the race. It all started back in early summer. My wife, Chris, is also a triathlete and she would be racing the Redman Half-Ironman. We live about 45 minutes from the race site and our club Tri-OKC is the primary force behind Redman. Most of the race committee are Tri-OKC members. I got to thinking… How cool would it be if my wife and I both won Redman on the same day? A local race, surrounded by friends and family. I mean, how cool would that be? Surely, that would make an interesting article for the local newspaper, wouldn’t it? That WOULD be cool.

Of course I really didn’t have any business thinking such a thing. Let’s do a quick review of my athletic history. I have no background in any of the 3 sports. I’ve never entered an Iron Distance triathlon before. I’ve never won a triathlon of any distance. In fact, I’ve never even led a triathlon before. To top it off the 2005 Redman champion was back to defend his title. Obviously, just a crazy fantasy, but I enjoyed thinking about it. I never told a soul about my little day dream, not even Chris.

It IS crazy to think about, but there were a few small “crumbs” of possibility that I could cling to. Redman is a fabulous race and everyone I talked to after the race had a great time, but this was no Kona qualifier. There would be no washing machine at the start of the swim. There would be no drafting on the bike because with 125 IM racers that sort of thing was just too easy to avoid. All of us were just people with a dream and the desire to do something extraordinary. Also, Chris had been having a great season, winning a few shorter triathlons earlier this season, so hey, maybe at least half of my fantasy was realistic. Still, I was a first-timer. Then again, this was my 6th year of triathlons. In fact, this was my 15th triathlon of the season. I’d finished 5 half-ironmans previously including the Triple T earlier in the year and CATS 1/2IM in August.

About 2 weeks before the race I started day-dreaming about the race. It was a mental race rehearsal. I went through the entire thing from start to finish. In my mind I showed up to the start relaxed. I swam easy, starting out slow and relaxed, then getting out of the water in the top 5-10. I love transitions so I planned to go through T1 just like any other race. Wetsuit off, helmet on, sunglasses on and I was off with shoes clipped to my pedals. Not rushed just simple. I imagined some people would use the changing tents so I would move up a few spots before getting on the bike. Onto the bike and I would get straight down to my target HR of 135-140 bpm. Feeling great, loving my Hed Jet 90 and diskcover in the Oklahoma wind I would start passing people. Early on the bike I imagined myself moving to the front. Keep in mind, I’ve never led a triathlon before, but this was my day-dream and by golly I was enjoying it. Once in the lead I imagined my lead growing as I stuck to my HR targets, staying comfortable, never pushing. I would get off the bike feeling fresh and start the run very, very slow. I wanted to feel like I was crawling the first few miles, but my HR would be right at 150bpm. I won a Timex GPS earlier in the year and I planned to use it on the run for reassurance because I knew from training that I could feel like I was crawling at the beginning and still be running faster than my goal average pace. The run would become an exercise in holding back. I didn’t want to feel like I was pushing for as long as possible. I knew I wasn’t the greatest runner, but I thought if I paced myself right on the swim and bike that at least I could run the whole thing except the aid stations. I admit I even carried my little fantasy right to the finish and there I ran through various scenarios of what I would do when I crossed the finish line. Still in the lead I imagined lots of fist pumping and celebration. I thought about what it would feel like to win an iron distance triathlon. It was a great feeling (in my head), but I enjoyed thinking about it and it made me smile. Again, I never told a soul about my “race rehearsal”.

So that was my crazy, ridiculous dream of how I won my first iron distance triathlon.

I didn’t stop there however. I used my dream to make a plan. I wrote down a very detailed race plan. I wrote down how I would feel in each leg, how I would avoid “racing” early, my HR targets for each segment of the bike. My HR target for the run. What and when I would eat throughout the day. It was all on paper.

Then I really got crazy. I mean what was I thinking here? My parents were in town to watch, so I gave my mom a list of times that I thought I would complete each leg or lap (each leg was two laps) of the race. It started with a 5 minute window and increased to a 15 minute window by the finish. I know this goes totally against conventional wisdom for a first IM, but I did it anyway. When pressed by close friends and family I even threw out a nice round finishing time. It would be wrong to call these goals though. They weren’t goals, they were just times I though were realistic if I followed my plan and executed to the best of my ability.

Then Saturday, race day, arrived and it all went something like this…

I stood ankle deep in the water on the front row waiting for the start. Whitecaps washed across the lake. The sun had just barely creased the skyline. The start gun fired and I started my first IM. The water was rough and I loved it. After the first turn we swam with the waves and I found I was quite good a catching little surfs as each wave passed under me. For the first time ever I took a whiz while swimming. Kind of proud of that. When I exited the water I heard I was the 5th full-distance swimmer out of the water. I felt fresh as a daisy. This was fun so far.

Onto the bike and heading north into the wind, I passed a young guy, then another. My HR was right near my target most of the time. Early on it would get up over 145 occasionally and I would scold myself and get it right down near 135. The miles ticked by and I didn’t see anymore full participants, but it was hard to tell because I was catching the tail end of the half participants. As I approached the turn around at 28 miles I watched the riders going the other direction for signs of any full participants, but no one stood out. When I finished the first 56 mile loop I stopped at special needs, picked up my bottles, took another whiz, and asked the volunteers if any other full people had gone by. They I said I was the first. Heading back out to start the 2nd loop I really started watching the riders finishing the first loop, but there were a lot of half people and it was too hard to tell who was who. On the 2nd loop the wind was stronger. The forecast was for 13-17mph winds with 28 mph gusts. I didn’t mind. It was just like our training days in the spring. For the last 11 miles out to the far turnaround the course heads west and the wind was out of the northwest. My arms started to get tired from countersteering that Jet 90 on the front, but I kept thinking how my wheels were best when the yaw angle was high and soon I’d be at the turnaround and get to head back with the wind to transition. My back, butt, and legs still felt great and my HR was right on target even pushing into the wind. Finally, after the turnaround I was able to see where the other riders were. It was 5 minutes from the turnaround when I saw 2nd place. Because I had a tailwind and I was riding at 28-30mph I figured I was going almost twice as fast as the guy still fighting the wind to the turnaround. That would make the gap almost 15 minutes. After 3 miles the course on the return makes a right turn and uses different roads for awhile so I wouldn’t be seeing anymore oncoming racers. When I made the turn only the one guy had gone by the other direction. The rest of the return was uneventful. I felt fine, but decided to be a little more conservative and keep my HR down at 135 or a little lower.
When I racked my bike at T2 Chris was standing just outside the transition fence. While putting on my shoes and grabbing my race belt I asked her how her race had gone. She was first female in the Half…

Starting the run was the crucial moment for me. I knew I had to stick to my plan. I had to be conservative starting out and I was. My HR immediately settled around 150bpm while my pace was about 30 seconds faster than my goal average pace. Near the first turnaround at 6.55 miles I resisted the urge to pick it up a little. It felt so easy, but my pace was still just under my goal pace. After the turnaround I met 2nd place heading out to the turnaround after about 10 minutes. 3rd place, the 2005 champion was not far behind. Back to transition to finish the first loop my pace was still right near my goal pace and my HR had started to drop just slightly. When I passed by 2nd as I started my second loop the gap was about 17 minutes. As expected the 2nd loop got more difficult, but I just stuck to my plan. Run from aid station to aid station. Walk for a few seconds to drink at each aid station. Wash, rinse, repeat. At the far turnaround the gap was about 11 minutes. 6 miles to go… Run to the next aid station, walk and drink, run again. I was getting slower, but I was still running. Nothing hurt, my stomach was in good shape, just my quads and feet were getting really tired. 1 mile from the finish I looked back for the first time. Nobody. I had a mantra early in the run. It was “you don’t have to run fast, you just have to run”. For the last few miles it became “the faster you run, the sooner you can stop”. I don’t remember thinking much else towards the end. As I approached the finish line I started to celebrate just like I had done in my dream. I raised my arms in the air

and then it hit me… I had just finished my first iron distance triathlon. I had just won my first triathlon. I was the 2006 Redman Iron Distance Champion. Me? My celebration became a simple collapse onto the ground.

Some interesting tidbits from the race:

My splits were 1:07, 5:25, 3:48 = 10:24

I got off the bike 20 minutes ahead of 2nd place and 29 minutes ahead of Lee Hunt, the 2005 Champion. Lee ran an amazing 3:20 to finish only 1 minute and 10 seconds after me.

I’ll be the first to admit my run is weak, but I honestly don’t believe I could have biked easier and made up the time on the run. The reality is I have a 3:33 open marathon PR from 2005 in perfect conditions with good pacing. I averaged only 23 miles of running per week this year and my longest run of the year was 16 miles. Giving up only 15 minutes for my first attempt? I’m pretty happy with that.

http://www.triathloncalculator.com predicted my splits would be 1:04, 5:13, 4:24. Which lends some credence to my claim that I paced the swim and bike well and that I have no business running faster than 3:48 right now.

The times I estimated for my parents? Swim 1:05-1:10. Bike 5:20-5:30. Run 3:45-4:00 and then a general 10:30 overall time. Actuals again were: 1:07, 5:25, 3:48 = 10:24

Remember my first little dream? That crazy, ridiculous dream that I had no business thinking… Sunday morning there was article in The Oklahoman about the race. Here’s the link to the story:

http://www.newsok.com/article/2852946/

I have a bunch of thoughts on why I think my day worked out so well, but I’ll save that for another time. The simple answer is: I had a dream that I used to make a plan and I executed that plan to best of my abilities.

OKC Velo Criterium - End of the Series

2006-08-26T19:12:00.000-05:00

I did the 2nd criterium of my lifetime last night. This was much more exciting than the first. Let me try and set the stage. This was the fourth and last race in the Summer Series. The series champion would be based on best 3 out of 4 races, with 3 races needed to be considered for the series. Going into this race I had 23 points. 11 points for 1st in the first crit, 11 points for 1st in the TT, and 1 point for the circuit race where I finished out of the top 5 (read last!). Points are awarded as follows. 11 points for 1st, 9 pts for 2nd, 7 for 3rd, 5 for 4th, 3 for 5, 1 for everyone else that raced. 2nd place for the series, Greg, had 21 points. He finished 2nd in the first crit. Out of the money for the TT, and 1st in the circuit race. With only 2 points separating us, basically whoever finished in front of the other would win, unless neither of us finished in the top 5, in which case I'd still get the series. Technically, if I finished right behind Greg in the top 5 we would tie, but I didn't know how they would break the tie and really didn't want it to come to that.

So I had exactly 4 strategies that I could use for this race. All were designed to either finish in front of Greg or for both of us to finish out of the top 5. Before the start a guy approached me to let me know that he and his buddies were going to try and break away early and that if I wanted I could join in. I thought that was nice. It meant they were at least on my side for this race, even if our goals were different. I explained that actually I'd be happy if a big group got away as long as Greg wasn't in the breakaway. Strategizing already...

So the race starts. There are 18 of us. Immediately I pull out plan A. Plan A is to sit on Greg's wheel and hope a big group breaks away. I would being doing very little work sitting in the group in case plan A didn't work and I needed my legs for later on. So the laps tick by, a few breaks go and come back. One large break gets away and that leaves Greg at the front of the chase with me on his wheel. He is forced to chase down the break on his own. That is a good thing. He is already working more than he has in previous races and I'm not working at all. In fact, I'm getting rather bored tooling around at the pace of the group, but at least I get to see more of how the group dynamic works in a crit. The race is 30 minutes then 3 laps. We are well into the 20+ minutes and nobody has managed to get away for more than a lap or so. By this time I have totally eliminated Plan B. Plan B was to just sit on Greg until the final sprint and try to come around him at the finish. Ya know, just like Robbie McEwen would do... There is a serious flaw in this plan. First, I'm not Robbie McEwen! I don't really know how to sprint. I can TT pretty well, but I have no sense of timing and I don't really have a sprinter's intensity. Greg on the other hand, is currently a Professional BMX racer. He just raced World's in Columbia a few weeks earlier. His races are typically 30 seconds to 1 minute long. Greg weighs around 200 pounds and has thighs about the size of my waist. After sitting on Greg's wheel and trying to stay on his wheel when he was chasing breakaways in became quite obvious that Plan B was doomed from the beginning. Pretty much we are talking about me trying to out duel a top fuel dragster with a diesel truck, and not a very big diesel at that! Well, on to Plan C then!!!

Plan C, as I had so carefully calculated exactly one week earlier while I laid in bed awake wondering how in the world I was going to beat this guy now that everyone knows who I am and he knows that he is only 2 points behind me for the series, was to breakaway on my own just like I did in the first race. There was one problem with plan C though. First, now in the 4th race of series I was THAT guy. The breakaway guy, the guy that can TT, and the guy that pulled everybody around the Draper Lake loop. Nobody would be letting me go 6" off the front much less a real gap. But I didn't have any options left. Greg was riding exactly like he needed to, to make sure he finished in the top 5 and in front of me. So I start looking for an opportunity to breakaway. I need a point where I could surprise Greg and the group and there it is… Greg starts to reach in his back pocket for a little flask of Enervitene. It's like a gel, but more high powered for a short burst of energy. Just the sort of thing a guy like him would need to crush me in a sprint. :( Is that my opportunity? I hesitate for a moment as I reflect upon the unwritten code of cycling of not attacking while your opponent is "pre-occupied"... Or did I just make that up? What would Lance do? Am I supposed to attack now or not? Crap, I don't know. Oh well, the moment passed. He finished the Enervitene and I was still sitting on his wheel contemplating the universe.

Now I'm getting antsy. I need a little time if I try a breakaway and it doesn't work to then recover for the finish. Then it happens. We come around the corner at the top of the course. We're 27 minutes into the race. I'm on Greg's wheel about 10th spot and-all-of-a-sudden the Red Sea parts and I'm sitting in the middle of the road with 5 riders down the left side of the road and 5 riders down the right side of the road and nothing but clear blue sky right-down-the-middle. I don't think, I just go. Hammering. People start shouting "there he goes". I think half the group had that sitting on their tongue just waiting to say it. Probably, was starting to taste bitter they’d had to wait so long. I just ride as fast as I can through the corners trying to get a gap. I don’t look back, I just ride. I make it through 1 lap and start to check my progress. I see the group way back. 200 maybe 300 feet. A long ways for just one lap. But, there is a front wheel right behind me! I look again… Disaster! It’s Greg. I’ve managed the breakaway. I’m well clear and could probably stay clear for the remainder of the race, but what good would it do me? Greg is just going to sit on my wheel and out sprint me at the finish. Time for Plan C-1… I DON’T HAVE A PLAN C-1!!! How many scenarios could I possibly run through laying in bed based on my wealth of experience from one crit and hours of watching the tour on TV? They don’t even have crits in the Tour! So while I try and whip Plan C-1 out of my butt, I just keep riding hoping that Greg the sprinter will just get tired before I do. I do a few more laps hard and he is still stuck to me like glue. The draft is so significant that he probably isn’t even working very hard. Even though I’ve managed the breakaway, I decide to scrap all variations of Plan C. I ease off. One guy catches on. I ease off some more and just before the group catches us the new guy scampers off the front and goes solo. The group, now down to 6 or 8 riders, catches on.

Now, in my dreams the group catches up and somebody fresh hits it hard, there are only a few laps left, Greg is now too tired to chase and is unable to sprint into the top 5. Did I mention that was a dream? Inexplicably the group just files in behind us. So here we are with 3 laps to go, right back where started. I’ve executed Plan A, B, C, even C-1 as well as I was able and here we were setting up for the dreaded sprint finish with maybe 8 guys, some who are just barely hanging on. Time for some verbal encouragement to the group. I start yelling to the group (nicely) to GO! I tell them he (Greg) will kill them in a sprint so if they want any chance of finishing up front they need to go NOW! There were two realities taking place at that moment. One, we were riding at roughly the pace of a 5-year old on a big wheel. Two, the guys were wiped out. Gone, done, finished… They were trying to go, but they had no go left.

The bell lap. One .75 mile loop around the course is all that is left between me and 2^nd place for the series. Remember one guy is still off the front. Doesn’t really matter. I’m not trying to win the race, just win the series. As we cross the line for the last lap I’m 3^rd wheel behind Greg who is behind one of the group that managed to drag himself to the front for one last gasp. We are approaching the first turn and in a moment of perfect opportunity I invoke Plan D! Yes, as matter of fact, I did have a Plan D and by golly I was going to use it before this race was over! 50 feet from the corner I hit it. Full tilt boogie, white knuckle, into the corner. I was easily going 5 mph faster through the corner than the lead guy, maybe more. See the plan was to hammer into the corner at the last minute and fly through the corner. Greg by the time he realized what I was doing and following another guy would be unable to accelerate before the corner, he’d end up going slowly through the corner and then have to accelerate after the corner. By that time I’d have a gap and then there is another corner only 200 feet further. Hopefully, I’d be able to carry my speed through the second corner and arrive at the back straightaway with enough of a gap that it would just be a long top speed drag race around to the finish. Of course, the folly of this plan is that the distance remaining was pretty much exactly the time and distance of the typical BMX race! Rut ro! So I fly through the 2^nd corner. My tires are actually chattering slightly as I fight to maintain grip on the road. I’m going much, much faster than any of the previous passes through the corner. Did I mention it rained approximately 1 hour before this race? Did I mention there were still puddles in this corner? Did I mention someone crashed in this corner during the A race? Well, all of the above are true, but not particularly relevant before now. So I squeak through the corner, starting flying down the back straight like my ass is on fire and I take a peek back to see if my efforts amounted to anything more than a leadout for Greg. Just as I look back I see Greg jumping the curb, flying up onto the grass, with one foot out the pedals. Sketchy corner + 200 pound dude + trying to catch up do not a smooth corner make. Now at this point you probably think I just cruised around to the finish for my 2^nd place on the day. Not exactly. I kept the pedal to the metal just in case Greg saved the corner and managed to get back on the road without losing too much time. So I’m almost to the last corner, pretty tired by now, thinking more about the people than the road and I run straight into this huge pothole that I’d gone around every lap before. My bike makes a sickening crack and for a moment I thought I’d broken my fork or destroyed a wheel. Still upright, I gingerly navigate the last corner, bike still beneath me and soft pedal to the finish to take 2^nd place for the day. Holy cow! That clinched the series and yes I admit I pumped my fist when I crossed the line! I could be wrong, but I think that is what crits are all about…

Chris ended up taking 3^rd for the series thanks to her outstanding TT. I think the loud crack I heard was just the bars rotating in the stem when I hit the edge of the hole.

Fun stuff!

CATS 1/2IM

2006-08-21T19:13:00.000-05:00

Arkadelphia, AR
1.2 mile swim / 56 mile bike / 12.75 mile run

5:05:35 - a PR barely

So close, but not quite...

Had a solid swim (33:14). For a non-wetsuit swim that is pretty good for me. The bike starts out mostly uphill for 6 miles or so. It was very hard to keep the HR between 150-155 per plan and I ended up riding a good deal of that section above 160. Probably dug my hole right there. I got out of the water in 20th, by the time I reached the top of the climb I was around 10th. I was definitely gaining a lot of time at the bottom of any descents as I pushed to keep my speed up as long as possible. Once on the flats my HR did settle in nicely between 150 and 155 and by the turnaround I was in 4th. The way back was fairly uneventful as I played tag with another guy that did the first half at a similar pace. Still my HR was mostly near 155 and not 150. Ended up with the 4th fastest bike split, but my average HR for the bike was 157. Just a little too high. Swim average was 170 which seems really high, almost unbelievable. This the first time I've ever hit the split on the swim, so I am curious to see if that continues. I only drank 2 bottles of Infinit plus a little water from the course. This was another mistake. Next time I'd like 3 bottles of Infinit plus 3 gels. That would get me almost 1500 calories for the ride and should set me up nicely for the run. Bike split was 2:25:08. I'm thinking I was 2-3 minutes too fast. The run started out fine. I had my cold fuel belt and felt okay with the heat. The fine part lasted about 5 miles and then I really started to feel everything. My HR was stuck over 170, I was hot as hell (high of 102 on the day), and my breathing was completely whacked as "asthma" kicked in mid-way through the loop. I finished the first loop in 5th and Steve passed me shortly after, but I knew as I was finishing the loop that I was done for. The hill starting the 2nd loop was just too much and I guess I gave up. Too hard on the bike, not enough nutrition, heat, high HR, and breathing issues all conspired to effectively end my race. I ended walking half the 2nd lap with a pathetic 2:05:03 run on a short course. Not what I was hoping for, but I learned a lot. Now hopefully by writing this down I won't make the same mistake again. We are definitely looking for a cooler 1/2IM to do next time. Ralph's 70.3 sounds like a good option. I'd like to get a solid run split in a 1/2 for a change.

Rivercities Triathlon

2006-08-07T18:16:00.000-05:00

1/2 mile swim, 18.2 mile bike, 3.1 mile run

What a great race! Norman had told us about this race back in the Spring. I have admit I was a little skeptical, but the goodie bag did sound fun and I'm partial to these slightly bigger races. Sometime back in June we signed up. Registration opened at 6am. By 9am the whole thing was sold out with 1400 participants! There must be something attractive about this race.

This were already looking up when we went to packet up Saturday afternoon. Talk about organized. We were treated like people, instead of cattle. No line, but lots of volunteers handing us cool stuff. We also scored some new racing shoes. I had thought our old shoes had been discontinued, but it turns out instead of going from 833 to 834 they went to 825. Anyway, we stumbled upon the 825s and my toes are happy again as these shoes have no seams on the inside. Perfect for sockless racing.

I was hoping this race would be a bit of turnaround from Nationals which was really a bit disappointing. I swam terribly, biked softly, and ran average and without any endurance. I also think I was a bit intimidated by the competition. So during the few weeks since we had really worked hard to get our swimming back on track and upped the bike and run volume to reestablish some endurance. It seemed to have worked!

Swim was much better. Top 10 in AG and right behind several guys. I knew things were going much better when Chris Hunt was running up to his bike as I was leaving with my bike. I haven't gotten out of the water ahead of Chris in either of our earlier non-wetsuit races.

The bike course was really nice. The roads were smooth and immediately I was in catch'em and pass'em mode as I moved through the two waves that started ahead of me. After the first mile I only saw 2 guys in my age group and it took a few miles to get separated from them, otherwise I was passing a lot of younger guys from the earlier waves. My intention was to push the bike harder than previous races and see how my run worked out, so I rode the first half between 170 and 175 then settled in around 170 for the 2nd half. I eased off a bit more for the last mile or so and felt great coming into transitions. Ended up with a 25.4 mph average and 8th fastest bike split on the day. Pretty happy with that. My new Hed Jet 90 really felt good and I think it is making a small, but noticeable difference.

The run wasn't bad. I did get passed by the two guys I passed on the bike. Turns out that put me in 3rd in my AG out of 99. I was actually first in my AG off the bike! It's a start!

I ended up 9th overall. Percentage wise that is my best finish ever and I think this was probably my best race of the year. I also finished ahead of Chris Hunt for the first time in 6 races this year. Not that it matters.... ;)

Average HR for the race: 170

First Criterium

2006-08-03T18:11:00.000-05:00

Chris and I raced our first crit last night. It was part of the Wednesday night series, out by the airport on a totally flat .75 mile "triangle". Really windy, but hey we're all used to that now aren't we? The "B" group had about 18 riders. Cat 4/5's and females. I think there were 3 females. The race was 30 minutes and then 3 laps.

My plan was to stay near the front, work the corners well, get a good workout, and not crash. 100 yards into the ride a guy from Pro Bike goes off the front with a teammate. I give a lazy chase up to the 2nd guys wheel. Starting the 2nd lap I can see team tactics already at work. The 2nd guy is at the front of the group and he starts easing off into the wind, letting his teammate go. Well, I wasn't going to have any of that, so I pulled around and chased the first guy going downwind and sat on his wheel going upwind. Now here we are all the way to the start of the 3rd lap and two more guys attack. Again I give a lazy chase. I didn't feel any reason to let these early breaks get up the road, so I just kept pace with them without expending any more energy than necessary. Going downwind and one of the guys drops off and a guy on a yellow Giant and I get a small gap. I'm thinking this is way too early to try to breakaway so I just sit on his wheel, occassionally taking easy pulls into the wind for a bit. To my surprise we get a pretty good gap and we hold this for a few laps. He tries to encourage me to take more pulls, but I tell him it is too early. Eventually a 3rd guy that I recognize from the Norman rides catches up to us, but the group is still 10 seconds back. Once the 3rd guy joins I feel like we might have a better chance so I start cooperating a little more and we all take pulls. Of course it was a cat and mouse game. Everybody wanted to pull downwind so they could "do their part" and then pull off right when started back upwind. We rode a few laps like this, each guy trying to avoid pulling into the wind. 10 minutes into the race and we now had a 15 second or so gap on the group. We'd gone around the corners enough times that I knew the good line and I could pedal all the way through two of the corners and just about pedal all the through the 3rd. I noticed I could get through the corners a little better than the other two, so I took my pull downwind before the two fastest corners, and then put a little more pressure going into the two corners, especially coming back out into the wind where I normally had been easing off. Within 50 feet of the corner I had a 2 bike length gap. I felt comfortable so I continued to push the entire leg into the wind. At this point we were 11 minutes into race. I ONLY had to hang on for about 25 more minutes! The next couple of laps my gap slowly grew until it was more than 100 feet. I was pushing hard, but no harder than I could sustain for the remainder of the race. I wasn't redlined, just in high gear. After a few laps, to my surprise, the 2 chasers dropped back to the group. So everytime I rounded the bottom corner before heading back into the wind I would check the position of the group coming down the downwind leg about 30 seconds behind me. Each lap the gap was growing ever so slightly. I think mostly I was gaining on the corners and the upwind leg. As soon as I came out of the corner into the wind I'd move by hands in, scoot up to the nose of my saddle, and put my head down and just TT to the top of the course. Then I'd sit up, grab a drink, and try to push a big gear easy downwind letting the wind build my speed. Wash, rinse, repeat. Nearing the 30 minute mark the gap was about 45 seconds and holding pretty steady. I kept expecting the group to make a charge, but that never happened, so I eased up a bit and just monitored their progress each lap to make sure they weren't gaining. With 3 laps to go I could feel I was getting more cautious in the corners. I wasn't sure why. I wasn't tired, but the bike just didn't feel as solid. Kept it steady to the line, maintaining the gap. Crossed the line and sure enough my front tire was half flat. Doh! Good thing it wasn't a longer race. I couldn't even ride a cool down lap!

So, it wasn't really a crit for me. More of a warmup and then a 25 minute TT. I accomplished my goals of staying near the front (never further back than 3rd), working the corners, getting a good workout, and not crashing. The two teammates from Pro Bike that hit it hard on the first lap? I lapped them... twice...

Next Wednesday is the time trial and I get to use my Hed Jet 90 front wheel for the first time there. You get 10 points for winning a race in the series and you need 3 races to be eligible for the series awards. You get one point for finishing. Last month 11 points was good enough for 3rd. :)

Pretty fun stuff for my first crit.

Our Epic Race Summer

2006-07-11T08:25:00.000-05:00

Chris and I just finished off what I’m calling our Epic Race Summer. Everybody needs to do something Epic in their life, right? I hope you don’t mind me sharing.

I am happy to report we survived racing 10 triathlons in the last 8 weeks, and 17 races in the last 11 weeks. The racing started the last week in April with a half marathon and ended 2.5 months later at Age Group Nationals in Kansas City this weekend. Here’s the breakdown on what we did:

1 Half Marathon

4 Time Trials

1 Circuit Race

1 Duathlon

1 Super Sprint

1 long Sprint

1 Sprint Off-Road

6 Olympics

1 Half Ironman

So the schedule was all centered around the Desoto American Triple T (4 triathlons over 3 days). We decided that was going to be our big race for the first half of the year and Chris and I would race as a co-ed team. We live in Oklahoma and the Triple T is in Ohio. It’s a pretty long drive… My grandparents live in Memphis, so we decided to do Memphis in May the week before Triple T on the way to Ohio. Well, Memphis in May had an off-road tri the day before the big race. We’ve done a few Xterras and they had some cash awards for the best combined times, so we decided to do that too. Hmmm… 6 triathlons in 8 days? Oh, we were just getting warmed up. The week before Memphis was a local duathlon on Sunday. At first we weren’t going to do that, but then my Dad decided he was going to race (at age 62 this is his first season), so we would be going to watch anyway and well, this was the biggest points duathlon in the south-midwest region, so we signed up for the duathlon. On Saturday the day before the duathlon was a local 8.4 mile time trial. This was the first race of a series with a nice payout for the fastest combined times. I had to work, but Chris was keen to race the series so she went solo on Saturday before the duathlon at the time trial. The week before the duathlon was a 26 mile time trial just down the road from our house. I work Saturdays and the race was on a Saturday, but I was working nights that week, so if I got off work Saturday morning at 3:30am I could get a solid 3.5 hours of sleep before the time trial. J This is first season of racing the local time trials for us, they are a bunch of fun, so… we signed up for that as well. The week before the time trial was the OKC Memorial half-marathon. This is a big deal race for our area (OKC bombing), my company sponsored our entries, and we thought it would be good to run a half before the Triple T to gauge where are run fitness was so… we were in for that one as well. That gave us 5 weekends of racing in row… After the Triple T it would seem like a good opportunity to take a break, right? Trouble was the weekend after the Triple T was the Route 66 Triathlon, the Oklahoma State Championships, only 30 minutes from our house. It was also the Best of US qualifier for Oklahoma. The timing was terrible, but this would also be the first race in 6 years of triathlon that we would get to do for the 2^nd time (we’ve moved a lot). How could we pass that up? We couldn’t! The weekend after was an Oly in Tulsa. This was a really fun race last year. At this point we had races on the schedule for the previous 6 weekends, so why not do a 7^th? Also, the last time trial in the local series was Saturday before Tulsa. Chris did well at the first race in the series, so she completed the series on Saturday before Tulsa. Finally, in the 8^th week there were no races we could even consider doing. Interestingly, there was an Xterra triathlon just 5 miles from our house the previous year on this weekend, but in 2006 it was not held. It was the first tri Chris had ever won overall in 2005 so we would have done that race had it happened. Actually, it wasn’t quite true there were no races in week 8. There was a Wednesday night Circuit Race that week. It was our first ever road race, having just put together road bikes the month before. In week 9 was Ozark Valley Triathlon in Arkansas. This race happens to be 30 minutes from my parents so it was a nice opportunity to see the folks and for them to watch us race. It is also one the nicest races in the region and Chris would be the defending female champ. Once again, hard to pass up so… we signed up. With some earlier success in time trials there was a 9 mile TT the Wednesday night following Ozark so we decided to do that race too.

Originally, that was going to be the end of our Epic Race Summer, but then we actually started racing back in late May and the early results convinced us to add on one more race in July. The half-marathon went well, we both PR’d by several minutes. The time trial was a good opportunity to get an LT HR on the bike. The duathlon was fun. It was a formula one du – run/bike/run/bike/run. Great for practicing transitions. It is also one of the hillier courses around here and we tacked on another 25 miles after the race in preparation for the hilly Triple T. The off-road tri in Memphis didn’t take too much out of us and then there was the Memphis in May Oly. Both of us had really good races, but Chris just had an outstanding race. She ended up first overall amateur female! Totally unexpected. This year was a real breakthrough for her and you could just see the progression since early January when we changed our swim and bike training. With her win at Memphis we decided to tack on one more race – AG Nationals in Kansas City. That would be the capper on our Epic Race Summer. Hopefully it would go out with a bang and not a fizzle.

I won’t bore you too much with my races. I’m just a front of the middle of the pack age grouper that has fun, tries to get faster, and races hard against some of the local guys. I did manage to win both the time trials and finished up with a 5^th OA, a 6^th OA, and a 7^th OA at 3 of the local races. I was really happy with my Memphis in May race. Getting 6^th in 35-39 AG was a good showing for me. The Triple T was just awesome. Chris and I are the perfect team and I feel sorry for any other coed teams. ;) We swim and run almost the same speed (actually Chris has gotten slightly faster than me in both) and she has no trouble holding my wheel on the bike. Since teams can draft in the last two races of the Triple T we were really a match made in heaven for this race. We did take the co-ed division and finished as the 7^th OA team behind some amazing triathletes. It was very satisfying and we’re already planning for that race next year. Not surprisingly only one week after the Triple T, Route 66 turned into a disaster for me. The swim was fine, the bike started out fine, but 20 miles into it I was just blown. I was done, cooked, toasted. I ended up walking a good chunk of the run and just wiped that race from my memory. Too soon after Triple T. Not to be repeated again. By Tulsa 2 weeks later, I was back on track and had a solid race. Ozark was slightly better as well. Nationals was just about what I expected. I had aspirations of cracking the top 16 and qualifying for Worlds, but I had no intention of taking the slot. I ended up 3 minutes out of 16th, but pretty close to my expected time. My swim was mostly awful and we’ve got to do some exploring there. Our swim yardage is way up this year and all our earlier races I’ve been FOP on the swim. At Nationals I was horrible. The bike was better than expected though. On this hilly course with no flat sections I had almost the same avg. pace as Memphis in May (corrected for actual distance in both races) which is almost perfectly flat. It was my first race with a HED Jet 90 on the front and while I can’t quantify the effect, it certainly didn’t seem to slow me down. My run was slightly better than Memphis, but I’m still off the back on the run. In the end I felt like I pretty much used my fitness to the best of my ability, but by the time we got to Nationals it was apparent that our training was far less than ideal for that race. With so many weekends racing in the 2 months leading up to Nationals we’d been unable to do hardly any long runs or long rides. The same long runs and rides that I’m sure helped us PR the half-marathon, do well in the time trials, and do well at Memphis and Triple T back in May. Lesson learned, but in the end Nationals wasn’t our focus. It was a late addition. Triple T was our focus and for that we prepared for and executed really well. Okay, that was longer than I expected, but with 17 races, even sound bite race reports take time!

The fun, exciting, proud part of this whole post is right here. Yeah, we did a bunch of races, and it was a hoot. We met a whole bunch of cool people all over the area, but the really satisfying part was watching my wife’s races unfold. We’ve been training together on the swim, bike, and run for more than 6 years now. We’ve both had good races and we’ve gotten faster over the years, but this year something just clicked for my wife. She just took off. She started killing me in the pool. In January she was getting dropped on the rides and would apologize profusely at the end of the rides for holding us up. By May, she was taking pulls. I can remember doing long runs with Chris a few years ago where she would force me to talk on the run to slow me down and to keep her mind off the suffering. Now I just try to stay on her shoulder and I’m usually not very successful. As a husband and a friend I am nothing but proud of the work she has put into the season and results she achieved. So here are her results from the last 11 weeks:

4/30 OKC Half-Marathon – 5th OA female

5/6 Tribbey TT – 1^st OA female

5/13 Spring Series TT #1 – 1^st OA female

5/14 Lazy E Duathlon – 1^st OA female

5/20 MIM Mtn. Bike Tri – 1^st OA female

5/21 Memphis in May – 1^st OA amateur female (1^st female in Amateur Challenge obviously)

5/26 Triple T Prologue – 1^st OA female

5/27 Triple T Oly – 2^nd OA female (by 3 seconds!)

5/28 Triple T – 1^st co-ed team, 7^th OA team

6/4 Route 66 – 1^st OA amateur female, qualified for Best of US

6/10 Spring Series TT #2 – 1^st OA female (1^st OA female for the series as well)

6/11 Tulsa – DNF (she flatted at mile 15 while leading, fixed the tire, and the 2 CO2 cartridges blew up – wrong type for head)

6/25 Ozark Valley – 1^st OA female

6/28 Summer Series TT – 1^st OA female

7/8 AG Nationals – 15^th OA female, 7^th in 30-34 AG

Okay, I’m the husband, I can brag about my wife… If you were counting, that is 14 1^st OA awards in 2 months!!! H-O-L-Y C-O-W!

Summary, lessons learned, thoughts:
Obviously we love to race. The original plan was not to see how many races we could do. It just sort of turned out that way. Starting with the Triple T, then every race around that weekend had a purpose or a special meaning, or was just too hard to pass up.

I don’t recommend this sort of plan if your goal is to do well at Nationals. Chris was awfully consistent weekend after weekend, but by Nationals it was obvious that our endurance was suffering even for an Oly. We were getting tired, having to rest more during the week, and mentally it just became hard to dig deep. On the run this weekend my legs felt great, my breathing was great, my HR was right where it should have been, but mentally I just couldn’t push anymore. I could feel that I’d been pushing week after week after week and I just didn’t have it anymore. My HR dropped through the run in KC. Probably normal for an IM, but not what you’d expect for an Oly.

We got damn good at transitions, at setting up for races, at executing our races, following a plan, and racing smart.

In the end, I’m really glad we did what we did. It was our own little Epic “something” that we’ll remember for a very long time. We won’t do it again next year though. Next year we are going to focus on just 3 or 4 races. Memphis in May and Triple T again, Nationals (cuz it’s in Oregon and we are from the Northwest), and something late season.

It might have crossed your mind by this time. Holy shit! How much did two people have to spend on entry fees to do all those races. I added it up: $1520.00 About 3 big IM’s worth for 1 person, eh? Happily, thanks to my company covering the half-marathon entry, the payout for the time trials, the Amateur Challenge, the Triple T award gift certificate, and the Ozark Valley award gift certificate, we more than covered our registration costs. Not bad for a couple of amateurs!

Just for fun I added up the race mileage: We each swam 13,550 yards, biked 322 miles, and ran 78 miles. Just about 3 IMs worth of racing in 2.5 months. At least we got more than our monies worth (in IM dollars)!

Finally, I have to say, being able to do all of this and share every step of it with my wonderful wife is… well I’m just the luckiest guy in the world, really!

Thanks for reading and SEE YOU AT THE RACES!

Ozark Valley Triathlon

2006-06-27T14:56:00.000-05:00

1. I think this was my best executed race this year, except perhaps the OKC 1/2 marathon

2. My swim was a disappointment again. This was the first non-wetsuit swim of the year I definitely am not as good of a swimmer without a wetsuit. I don't mind it, but I'm just not as fast. Two guys I beat in the swim by over a minute at Route 66 were 45 and 60 seconds ahead of me here in a shorter swim. I think I need to do more intervals in the pool and work on my body position. Sadly, my swim was exactly the same as last year, to the second. How is that possible, considering I've already swum more this year than all of last year.

3. The bike went really well. I decided to low 90's cadence instead of high 90's. My plan was to keep the HR between 165 and 168, but it ended up averaging closer to 160 with periods below 160. Still my time was about 40 seconds faster than last year, plus approximately 30 seconds due to the extra mount/dismount out the transition area. That's good...

4. The run was definitely my best of the year. I started out strong, had good form and felt in control up the first hill. The hills still kill me, but I was alright. It wasn't until the end of the first loop that I started feeling on the slight climb at the end. The second climb was hard slow, but I'm sure everybody was feeling it by then. I did use my inhaler at the start of the run and at the start of 2nd lap. It certainly didn't hurt, but I started to pop on the last climb anyway.

So I was 7th OA this year, but almost 2 minutes faster than last year. My average HR was 166, which seems pretty low for this distance. It wasn't very hot, so that might have contributed.

Some good signs for Nationals in 2 weeks.

Tulsa Triathlon

2006-06-15T23:32:00.000-05:00

This is sort of neat. Finally in 6 years of triathlon we are actually starting to do the same races for the 2nd time. A little home course advantage never hurts. Ended up 5th OA. The 3rd time I'm been 5th. Never been higher...

So I had a new strategy for this race. Take the bike out real easy (160 avg. HR) and see how close to my stand alone run time I can get. I paced the bike exactly according to plan. I am little disappointed though, because my split was 50 seconds slower than last year and with better fitness, better position, aero helmet, and a disk... Well, I did go easier, so there is that, but perhaps I still wasn't recovered from Triple T. I certainly didn't feel sharp. Anyway, the strategy did help I think, because even with tired and very undertrained run legs I still managed to run 1:40 faster than last year. So I was 50 seconds faster net. I guess I can't complain. I think starting out near 160 and building to 165 might be a reasonable strategy, although until my run time gets closer to my open time, maybe not.

Feeling much better this week after the race, putting in good volume and my body feels much more able to absorb the training. I definitely need to get back to the speedwork though, my times this morning in good conditions were 5-10 seconds slower over 1/2 mile. Hopefully, that will come back quickly with a few good sessions.

I do think I use my quads too much when I run. I noticed when I stood up straighter and bent my knee less that I used my hamstrings more and felt my quads less. Something to try as that might help explain my falloff on the run after biking.

I also want to try using my inhaler during a race at Ozark Valley. Even though I started out with a really low HR at Tulsa my breathing still went crazy within a few minutes. I didn't even feel like I was pushing, but I just couldn't breathe. Rather frustrating actually.

Route 66 Triathlon

2006-06-06T17:34:00.000-05:00

Again I'm a bit disappointed with my swim. Where did all my improvement from the spring go? Maybe I was still tired from the Triple T? Hard to say.

I totally blew this bike. Worst pacing of my life. Didn't help that my HR monitor strap was on backwards, so I was flying blind, but still I learned a really good lesson here. I blew at about mile 20. The run was a nightmare.

Next race I want to try biking very easy. Right around 160 and see what I can do on the run. I've got to get my run under control or I'm just wasting my swim and bike fitness.

DeSoto American Triple T Tour

2006-05-30T17:24:00.000-05:00

What a great race. I keep reading about how shelled people were Sunday morning. We must have done something right, because I never felt shelled. I had some stomach issues, but otherwise I was feeling good in the races.

Prologue - Nothing special. Hard, but not too hard. Just right.

Saturday Oly - Around 150 on the bike and 160 on the run. That felt so nice and easy, but my time was reasonable. I wouldn't change anything there either.

Saturday Afternoon Oly - I don't think I ate enough in between races, nor did I drink enough on the bike. Bike was good, between 150 and 155. I definitely bonked on the run though. Maybe I should have been a little more conservative on the bike, but mostly I think I needed for fuel for such a long day. I ended up taking 3 gels and a lot of water on the run. Probably too much water as I chucked most of it back up after the race. Hydrate more before the race and during the bike.

Sunday 1/2IM - Swim was good. On the bike I started to feel tired at the end of the first lap and my HR dropped from the mid-140s to the high 120s for the 2nd lap with Chris pulling more. Next time it would be better if Chris pulled more the first lap I think. Overall, pretty good pacing though and I felt great at the end, better than I've ever felt after a 1/2IM bike. The run started out around 160 and stayed there or a little lower. Pretty good pacing, but I struggled with the hills on the last lap. Not sure what to do there. Took 3 gels and a lot of water, plus 12 oz. of eFuel. Next time I think I should have more eFuel, fewer gels, and less water. Again the water just sat there and I chucked it all back up. With the Infinit and all the water and ice I think I was doing fine keeping cool and getting enough sodium. I don't think I needed the salt tabs. Maybe before the start of a hot 1/2IM? I did have 3 bottle of Infinit on the bike and I think that was the right amount. Next time I'd like to get more sports drink on the run and less water.

Overall pacing was pretty darn good. I don't think I would change that. Compared to others we had pretty good 1/2IM times. Perhaps a slightly easier first lap would give a better run though.

Memphis in May Triathlon

2006-05-22T17:20:00.000-05:00

So I'm not real happy with my swim at this race. I was a minute slower than Chris. I think I was partially slowed by constantly having to sight other swimmers with the TT format. Other than that, I'm not sure what happened. The bike was just outstanding. I got my HR down and stuck to the plan keeping it near 165 and even a little below late in the ride. The run started out okay, but I never got rolling. A couple of possibilities. Maybe still a few beats too hard on the bike. I don't think I did a good job of staying cool on the run, although I'm definitely handling the heat better this year. I also may have started out a little too fast (over 170). I want another chance to bike a little easier and see if I can get that run split near my open time. That is the new goal. Run close to my open times!!! I'm going to bike as easy as it takes to make that happen.

Memphis in May MTB Triathlon

2006-05-21T17:18:00.000-05:00

All in all, this was a good race. My first open water swim of the year went well. I was very close to Chris in a wetsuit. I'm pretty sure I biked just a little too hard though as my legs felt dead on the run. My plan was to keep the HR below 170 on the bike, but I'm sure I saw 175 a few times. Still accomplished the goal of putting down a good time for the Amateur Challenge.

Lazy E Duathlon

2006-05-15T17:16:00.000-05:00

You know, I think I blew this one. I had a decent race, but I pushed too hard on the first run trying to stay with Carter and too hard again on the 1st bike. I paid for it on the 2nd run. I should not have had my HR above 170 for this race, but there were times when I'm sure I was near 180. Will I ever learn?

Tribbey TT

2006-05-08T17:14:00.000-05:00

Considering how hilly this race was I'm pretty pleased with my time. My HR average was 172 and I think that would be a good number for my LT on the bike.

OKC Memorial 1/2 Marathon

2006-05-01T17:09:00.000-05:00

I've done a bunch of races recently, so I figured I better start writing down what I learned. This seems like as good a place as any.

This was a near perfect race for me. I started out just trying to keep my HR under 170. After the halfway point I picked it up just a bit and let my HR ride just about 170. That seems like the magic spot for me in a half marathon and I would be silly to try to go any harder (note to self). Finished with a nice PR of 1:28:45

The first words are hard...

2006-04-21T19:28:00.000-05:00

Do I want to say something about myself? Talk about my life, my plans, my values, my opinions, training, my family? Where to start?

I guess I have to wonder what will become of this? This blog... Will I look over it someday and reminsce? Will this be what others use to understand me? Maybe it will just be my little sounding board and not much else. Begs the question: If I type it, but nobody reads it...

Ever wanted to be a writer? Yeah, me too.

By the way you can view my previous "wandering" here:

www.geocities.com/svearendil