Week 16 Recap / Smithfield RR

Instead of training through the Smithfield Sprint I decided to let my IT Band relax for the week before the race. I did 30 minutes of easy spinning, which brought my total cycling mileage for the year up to an anemic 81 miles. Then I hit the track one day for 800s and 400s to get my 5K pacing set. This brought my total running mileage for the year to 256 miles. My final workout was a quick tune-up at the pool that featured a few intervals with 300 yard recoveries. By Friday I had a hard time trying to keep my legs still. I was ready.

Virginia's beautiful weather in the 70s and 80s turned into low 50s and windy on Saturday. Not exactly what you want to ride your bike in after swimming.

Swim 300 Meters - 5:27 (1:49/100m)
Being my first in-pool start I wasn't sure how this was going to work. I was however optimistic I could pull off a great swim based on the times I do while training. I conservatively seeded myself with 1:40 per 100 meter. It turns out SetupEvents needed a 100 yard time. Regardless, I felt I was in the appropriate time range and wouldn't clog up the lane. Starts were staggered every :15 and ordered by race number (predetermined by submitted swim time). I was 232. The race officially began at 10:00:00 and I hit the water at 11:08:00. It became abundantly clear I was in for a terrible swim when I caught my first swimmer within the first 100 meters. Apparently the mix of my conservative/screwed-up time and other athlete's optimistic times created a traffic jam in the pool. I wasted a good deal of time waiting for the right moments to pass while swimming under lane lines. By the end I passed five swimmers, two of which finished 2:13 and 3:14 after I left the water. Yes, after! This guy even cuts me off after I passed him in the water.



T1 - 2:39
I'll admit my transitions need work. I opted for warmth and decided I'd spend an extra minute drying off and putting on pants and a windbreaker.

10 Mile Bike - 30:58 (19.4mph)
I figure I got what I put into bike training and that wasn't much. The course was relatively flat and windy at a few points where the road opened up to fields. My legs didn't warm up until mile three and I wasn't pushing it. I was still pretty steamed about the swim and began thinking this was going to be a training race, thus lacking the intensity I wanted to bring. Overall I was pleased with the time all things considered. I might reconsider the jacket idea though.



T2 - 1:36
The transition was pretty uneventful. I took an extra moment to take off the windbreaker and throw on my Coastal Racing shirt.

5K Run - 20:32 (6:37/mile)
I approached the run with a moderate effort. My legs were a bit rubbery, as would be expected coming off the bike, so I didn't have a good understanding of my pace. My first mile split of 6:39 felt good so I settled in. I glided into the second mile at 6:51 and capped off the race with a 6:23 mile split plus :39 for a tenth.

Total Time - 1:01:11
This race turned out to be somewhat of a disaster for me. It hurt my pride because I know I am capable of so much more. I'm thinking Smithfield was a good learning experience. And if nothing else, this race has certainly renewed my desire to train hard for Timberman.

Shamrock Half Marathon

If you read my Week 14 Recap you already know I ran the Shamrock Half Marathon 2008. I learned the race photos were now available so I surfed over to check them out. It's interesting to see the difference five miles can make in my mood.

Week 15 Recap

This week was all about recovery from the Shamrock Half. I can't believe I slept close to 22 hours Sunday and Monday combined. I didn't realize my true level of fatigue until I tried running on Wednesday. By Friday I had only logged 2 1/2 hours between running and biking. I attempted a swim session one day but the pool was evacuated for kiddie poop (again) before I even dipped my foot in.

The only excitement of the week was on Monday when I met up with a guy from Final Kick to have my Trek Equinox finally professionally fit. He shortened and lowered the neck to get me in an aggressive position. I also opted to switch out my taint busting saddle for the Adamo, which I'm enjoying.

I took the newly fitted bike on my first outdoor ride of the year on Wednesday. The wind was brutal but the temperature was in the 70s. I'm happy to report I averaged 18 mph without much effort. I'm hoping with a little training I'll be in the 20-21 range in a month. I don't think any of this would have been possible without the great fit I got. Kudos to Dani!

Week 14 Recap / Shamrock RR

The goal of the week was to prepare myself for a tough run at the Shamrock Half Marathon. Given this was my first half marathon race outside of a half-Ironman triathlon I intended on putting forth a good effort despite my minor injuries. I had trained hard this off-season and a good race was going to be my payoff.

When race day arrived the weather took a turn for the worst. The forecast was miserable with temperatures in the 40s and 15-20 mph winds. Luckily the rain ended before the race began. I registered a time of 1:45:00, which I felt would be a great achievement since my PR from the Duke Liver Half triathlon was 1:57:13. This time put me in the first coral with some serious distance runners. I decided not to toe the line with them. Instead I huddled with a mass of individuals that appeared to be more my speed. The plan was to draft off the pack as long as I could before braving the wind alone.

Once the horn sounded the pack separated rather quickly and I chose to stay with two particular guys. I had spoke to them pre-race and knew they were shooting for 1:40ish. When I reached the first mile marker I was surprised to see 6:57 appear. The pace felt good, almost unchallenging, so I decided to keep it although it was out of my planned range. Before the second mile marker, the small pack began to separate when someone blew past. I thought we had slowed down too much so I made a move. My second mile came in at 6:51, which was much faster than I wanted to go, but I was feeling great. I continued to click off 7:00 or so miles to the halfway mark. I thought once I had the wind at my back I could ease up and coast home at the same pace.

At mile eight I began to feel my hip tightening and my IT band soon followed. I noticed I had begun to lean forward from exhaustion. The poor form not only hurt my legs but my back as well. I had to concentrate on my posture for the remainder of the race. Once I reached eleven miles I was ready to walk but didn’t want to ruin a good race. I had somehow managed to run a 7:00 pace for eleven miles so another two and change was nothing. A guy noticed me laboring and tried to coax me to break 1:30 but I wasn’t having any of it. I didn’t want to blow out my knee on the first race of the season.

I ended up finishing with a PR of 1:31:33 (7:00 pace). I placed 25th out of 380 in my age group. Not bad for my first half marathon. My splits were as follows: 6:57, 6:51, 6:59, 7:00, 7:05, 6:55, 6:59, 7:00, 6:59, 6:55, 6:59, 7:55

By the end of the week I logged 4100 yards swimming, 6 miles biking, and 17.1 miles of running in 3 1/2 hours. If I can manage to get my biking up to par I should be good for the Smithfield Sprint in two weeks.

Coastal Racing Club

I've basically trained for a whole year now and learned a wealth of information in that time, much from my NC triathlon connection (thanks Scott). I can honestly say 98% of my training has been done alone. I initially thought this was a good thing since nobody will be there on race day to draft off of. To me, triathlons are about you and the course. There didn't seem to be a need for anyone else.

On Monday I made a great decision to join the Coastal Racing Club in Virginia Beach, VA. It's a bit of a drive for a Newport News resident such as myself but I think it's worth it to hangout and learn from like-minded athletes. Triathlon is not only a sport, it's a lifestyle. It will be nice to chat with people who feel the same way.

I look forward to making new friends and participating in all of our planned group trips, training seminars, meetings, and socials. It feels great to be part of a team again.

Week 13 Recap

Another solid running week in the books. And now just a little closer to the Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA on March 16. It's nice to think I won't have to swim or bike before I race on Sunday, although the ocean is right there...

There's plenty else to worry about before the race, namely my newest injury, the dreaded iliotibial band. I've suffered through this moderate pain several times in my career as a high school/college runner and never though twice about where it came from. Until a few days ago I didn't even know there was a name for it, which is ITBS. In the past I kept running and the pain would eventually disappear. However this time the pain has remained. It probably has something to do with my recent increase in run intensity and poor bike positioning. Prolonged efforts in both disciplines induce acute pain on the outside of my right knee. I foresee a week of rest, ice, compression, and elevation in my future.

Week 13 was, for all intents and purposes, a taper week so my volumes were down to 6100 yards swimming, 10 miles biking, and 13 miles running. That equates to just over 4 hours of work.

The toughest workout session of the week was four hill repeats on the same 1/2 mile stretch of hill used in Week 4 and 10. Much like the previous workout I forgot to check my times for the course before heading out. After an easy mile warm-up I struggled to run 2:55, 3:00, 2:59, and 2:58. These times were exactly on pace with Week 10's efforts so it wasn't too bad considering I recently went close to two weeks without serious training.

Early in the week I tried getting in some much needed biking on my trainer. Yet for some reason, both 20 minute sessions seemed extremely difficult. I began to wonder how much damage I had done to my biking abilities by neglecting it for months. A few days later I decided to do a little maintenance on the bike and noticed my rear brake had been knocked into the tire. It had been continually rubbing for who knows how long. I heard this happened to Lance Armstrong during his 5th Tour de France victory.

Week 12 Recap

As promised in my last blog I returned to solid training on February 25th. My breathing still wasn't quite right but I figured running would help clean out the remainder of the phlegm in my lungs. It did. On the other hand, I felt like I was training at altitude because I became light-headed easily. I guess I wasn't getting the proper oxygen absorption due to the bronchitis.

The week's workout plan featured another trip to the track for Yasso 800s. Since I was a bit under the weather I kept it down to six repeats. I certainly didn't set any PRs that day but I managed to keep all of them under 3:00. I can't wait to run my first 5k at the Smithfield Sprint.

Although my swim times have been steadily declining, especially now that I do more kick drills, I've decided to use a new plan structured by Chuck Burr. He maintains a thread at the US Masters Swim Forum. I've linked to it on the right. If you're not a swimmer, you'll have to decipher the swim lingo before using the workouts. I still ask a collegiate swimmer friend of mine what everything means. So far the training has been tough but manageable.

It was a good week coming off an illness. I logged another 6 1/2 hour effort covering 6900 yards swimming, 5 miles biking, and 30 miles running.

On a semi-sad note I played my last rec soccer game this past weekend. I've retired. The constant injuries from flagrant fouls have worn me out. Now I can concentrate fully on triathlons. I can also ease my mind and legs each Saturday because I'll not be taking a beating from some hack.