Muddy Buddy RR

Muddy Buddy! Last year I was a spectator with a broken thumb and no partner. But this year I conned Ryan to saddle up and get muddy. Thus Team Hammer was born. Most teams dress up so I made Hammer t-shirts for the race.

Some background info - Muddy Buddy Richmond is an eight-mile bike/run course through Pocahontas State Park. Team members share a mountain bike by leap-frogging each other along the way. Between each bike swap teammates complete obstacles like a balance beam, climbing wall, and cargo net. The grand finale is a low crawl through a mud pit.

The course was a little damp from all the rain we've been getting so you had to hold back on the bike a bit. However, we gave it hell through the woods, a river, and dodged a deer, to speed home for an age group win. And as you've seen above the race lived up to its name.

We had a mix-up when I stepped over the start line after the race. The computer system thought we started the race again and deleted our time from the results. After a few anxious minutes before the awards things got straighted out. I have to wait for the online results to see how we placed overall.

Rumpass In Bumpass Sprint RR

I opened my triathlon race season at the Rumpass in Bumpass Sprint yesterday. Since this was my first triathlon of the year I wasn't expecting anything amazing. In the back of my mind I hoped for a new PR on the course, even without a taper.

750 Meter Swim - 13:55 (1:51/100m)
Brrr... The water was 62 degrees when the horn sounded. I'm not sure how much this affected my performance but my breathing and my ability to reach/extend my body was limited. The mass in-water start was larger than usual because the director grouped the elites with men 34 and under. There was a real battle in the first 200 meters that never truly sorted itself out, at least not around me. A little over halfway I got punched in the face out of nowhere by someone possibly trying to swim back on course. I swallowed water and had to adjust my goggles. As I rounded the last buoy I got kicked in the face.

T1 - 1:48
I had some difficulty with my wetsuit and a long run to the bike mount line.

12 Mile Bike - 35:29 (20.3mph)
The bike course was reversed from last October's Giant Acorn (and I guess shortened?). I welcomed the change because I felt it was faster in the way you approach the hills. However, this wasn't reflected in my bike split.

T2 - 1:15
I finally remembered to put my race belt on while running from transition.

5K Run - 20:08 (6:30/mile)
If there was a real gripe to have about the race course it would have to be the changes done to the run. In an effort to keep the bikers away from the runners the new course was routed through 300 feet of wooded trail and then 200 feet of gravel before reaching the road. The trail was ridiculously littered with roots and potholes. There literally was not a flat spot to step on.

Total Time - 1:12:34
I was hoping to break 1:10:00 but I don't think I've put in enough training to do that yet. Between the subtle changes in the course and my fatigue from the week's workouts I think it is safe to say I haven't lost anything over the winter. Also, another bright spot was my swim, which was somewhat competitive (36th vs 68th OA).

No Motivation

It has been two weeks since the Shamrock Half Marathon and I'm sad to say my training has been less then spectacular. In all honesty it has been sporadic at best. I've tried to get a fair amount of cycling in to ensure I don't have the same hatred for the bike portion of White Lake Half as I did in 2007. I'm wondering if my lack of motivation is due to the cumulative effect of these factors:

Fatigue - The week following Shamrock you could not find a muscle in my legs that wasn't sore. Even as I write this I can still feel some residual tendonitis in my right knee. I've taken the time off to rest and stretch my hips in hopes to release the tension.

Allergies - When I began solid/lengthy triathlon training about two years ago I noticed long workouts would leave me short of breath in the evenings. It was as if I had irritated my lungs. I couldn't breathe deeply without triggering a cough. I did research last year and uncovered I might be suffering from exercise-induced asthma. This year I began suffering from the same symptoms without long training sessions or weeks. But the coughing coincided with the height of DC's much hyped Cherry Blossoms, which is a wonderful world of pollen. About two weeks ago I performed a 10-day trial of Claritin Allergy. I noticed my breathing was corrected, my itchy eyes were no more, and I did not randomly sneeze. However, I lacked serious motivation and spent most of the week resting on the couch after work.

Work - I've had a rough go the past few weeks dealing with residents, contractors, and projects. All of which is usually spread out over time but came together in a perfect storm that tested my mental toughness. This probably didn't help the whole allergy issue either. Each day was leaving me mentally drained by quitting time.

Life - March had some turmoil in terms of living arrangements. I moved again (but still in Arlington) and had to reinvent where I workout and when. I haven't figured it all out yet. There is still unfinished business concerning my past living arrangement that will probably require more of my free time.

With all these factors I'm concerned about my performance at Rumpass in Bumpass Sprint on Sunday. Top that with this being my first triathlon without a taper and you can't expect much as far as setting a new PR. I hope to benchmark myself given this is the same course as the Giant Acorn Sprint I raced last October. The major difference will be this race's water temperature is 60 vs the mid-70s of October.

Shamrock Half Marathon RR

My 2009 race season started this past weekend at the Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA. In my last blog I was concerned about how I would perform on race day. And much like last year, my knee was tender leading up to the race. When I tried to push the pace over 7:00/mile in long training runs it would act up. The day before the race I was still debating what my target tempo should be.

Race morning I figured I would give it hell and try maintaining 6:30/mile for a few miles and see how I felt. If things were okay I would then try to negative split the race and finish under 1:25:00. This would be a nice PR from last year's 1:31:33.

Unlike last year the weather was decent with a light breeze and in the high 30s at the sound of the gun. I went with my warm gear, which has no pockets. For some reason I believed there was a power gel station at Mile 8 so I went without nutrition.

At the start line I saw Joel Bell from Coastal Racing. After discussing pacing I figured I would hang with him until the mid-point and then he would probably take off. For the first mile we ran with a few guys and came in at 6:07 with relative ease. I was a bit confused with my speed so I decided to play it safe and slow down. I took the next slightly uphill four miles at 6:18, 6:19, 6:24, 6:30. With five miles down I was feeling tired but with minimal knee pain. Since I was well above my pre-race pace I backed off again for fear of aggravating the knee. The next five miles were 6:40, 6:38, 6:45, 6:45, 6:45. When I passed the Mile 8 water station I searched for gel without success. I had been craving the extra energy the entire mile before only to be letdown. After Mile 11 I began to feel the effects of no nutrition. My pace for the remaining three and some miles slowed to 6:45, 7:00, 7:08, 0:50. This adds up to 1:26:54 (6:38 pace).

While I am happy to set a new PR I am disappointed I made such a stupid mistake with the gel. Apparently I missed the gel stop at Mile 10. That might have helped me cover the last few miles a bit faster. As far as pacing goes, I ran a really stupid race. I got excited with my first mile and changed my race plan on the fly. I should have stuck with the plan.

Running Less. Biking More.

The Shamrock Half Marathon is roughly three weeks away and I'm starting to worry about the training I've done this off-season. I've experienced knee tendinitis, a painful IT Band, and falling down a flight of stairs. But besides the lingering effects of the injuries I guess I'm more worried about not running enough to achieve my goal of breaking last year's time. If all goes well before the race I'll have ran approximately 290 miles from November to March. In comparison, this is only slightly less than 2008's log of 318 miles. The reduction in mileage is due to running three days a week verses five. But there is more to consider...

Biking has been my weakest discipline over the past two years so I decided to dedicate myself to spinning at least three times a week and reducing my running frequency. With my history of injuries due to cycling too much and maintaining an aggressive running schedule I decided to keep my off-season workouts mildly easy at best. I followed a strict rule of increasing volume by no more than 10% in all disciplines. I also moved to a two-week "growth", one-week "recovery" routine. With this I still experienced the VMO and hamstring pain of seasons past but it was manageable.

I've now hit the peak phase of my running plan for Shamrock and I'm disappointed with the intensity I've displayed doing Yasso 800s. This is likely due to my complete lack of tempo and hill work. Last year I put one or two of those workouts in each week. This year I substituted it with spinning.

Hopefully by the end of my taper my legs will rebound from all the abuse and I'll be pleasantly surprised with my race results. One could argue I sacrificed my running for cycling but I haven't seen appreciable results in either to say I've gained anything in my off-season training. I can say I haven't lost anything though.

Steep Stairs

Seven months ago I moved to Arlington, VA for a new job. I lucked out and found a three-story home. My first impression about the home was, "Damn that's tall!" And what else goes with a big home? Plenty of stairs. Somewhere around thirty of them. Last Saturday after a run I became intimate with eight or so of those stairs.

It had been a long day of training and I was exhausted, laying in bed, relaxing on the third flood. The doorbell rang so I gingerly got up (I was quite sore) and began my descension to the second floor. I carried with me in my left hand; a snack. In my right; a glass of water. A few steps into things I lost traction in my socks and fell backwards solely on my right butt cheek. I then slid down the stairs on my lower back, racking each vertebrae on eight or so stairs. Before I could figure out what was happening I was in a crumpled mess against the decorative railing at the landing. My water glass was still in hand but completely empty. My snack managed to make the turn in the stairs and land several feet away.

Needless to say I was and still am in pain. My lower back suffered a few scratches and deep bruising. It has recently turned a nice shade of green. My right heel is also bruised from where I can only guess I was trying to stop myself. And lastly, my butt is bruised to the bone on the right side. All of this makes sitting straight up and driving a painful task. And who could forget my triathlon training has been turned in with minimal effort. But I'm blaming that on the ice storm we had.

Vermont Vacation

There hasn't been much to report except I took some time off to hit the slopes of Vermont for New Years. I thought I might find a place to run but who cares... it was too cold.