Race report, and final post

Well... it's done. It was an amazing experience and I will never forget the struggles that occurred during the time it took me to finish this race. It was so much harder than I had expected. I'm not sure if it was because I expected it to be comparable to the racing I had done in the past, or if it just wasn't my day. Either way, it was a huge learning experience for me. Enough of the excuses, time for the race report, and yes, pictures.

We got to Williamsburg late Friday afternoon, checked into the hotel and went out for dinner. I followed my normal routine and had a nice big dinner, in hopes of waking up with a full tank of calories and energy. What better way to do this than with chicken, spaghetti and some amazing stuff to go on top (goat cheese, spinach, sun dried tomatoes... mmmm). Little did I know, it would take more than anything I could eat the night before to keep me fueled for the next day. It was a fairly early night. I was asleep by 10:45ish... ok 11. The alarm clock was set for 5:30. The anticipation was building.

5:30 never seems early when you're waking up to do something you love. I was up and out of bed in seconds of hearing the alarm clock go off. I packed everything up. Made sure I had all of my belongings and race stuff, and we were off to the race site. We got there with a decent amount of time to spare. It was strange, because I expected myself to be nervous, or somewhat intimidated by the monstrosity I was about to embark on, and I almost felt numb to it all. It felt just like any other race.

I got out into the water for a quick warmup and got out of the water just in time for the pre-race meeting. Once it was over, we all lined up in the water... waiting for the horn to blow. Once it did, it was time to put all these months of training and racing into action. The strangest thing about where we were swimming was how shallow it was. It took a good 100 meters before it was even deep enough to warrant swimming. I think everybody was a little unprepared for this. Some people just started swimming, some ran, some did a mix of both. I swam for a bit then ran, then swam again. Which seemed to work well. Within a minute or so it was finally deep enough to get into a full fledged swim. The first thing I noticed was how much easier it is to float with a wetsuit on. I thought maybe people were just saying these things so they could justify buying an expensive wetsuit, but it really does make a difference. The first 1200 or so meters of the swim was great. I was in my rhythm just gliding through the water as I had hoped. The hard part came when we turned the buoy for the last stretch of the swim. The current pulled almost everyone wayyy out, and because of the sun, it was almost impossible to see the buoys or where we were swimming to on the shore. This section of the swim felt like an eternity. I kept feeling like the shore wasn't getting any closer. But luckily it was and my time was only a minute slower than I had projected it would be, although I didn't know this at the time.

Of course your always sort of disoriented after getting out of the water at a race of this distance. Even at the Olympic race at Lurray, it took a few seconds to get used to being on land again. The run from the water to the transition area was at least a half a mile... wayyyy longer than any other races. Usually it's right there, but for some reason they decided to have it further away. Not so big of a deal because we all had to run the same distance. I got there as fast as I could, with my wetsuit around my waist at this point, and made it to my bike. I wasn't in as much of a rush as I usually am. I guess I figured I'd be out on the course long enough that a few extra seconds making sure I had everything wouldn't hurt. I grabbed my 4 gels, and 2 Cliff Bars, put on my sunglasses and headed out.

The first portion of the bike was fast. Maybe too fast. My legs were feeling great. The course was smooth and I was so excited that I had 56 miles to take care of business. Unfortunately it was pretty hot out on the course so I really had to focus on drinking fluids. I was a little worried that I would take in too much, but I certainly didn't want to be dehydrated. So the big question a lot of you are probably asking is, how did the nutrition go on the bike? Well, it went well. I still don't think I was eating enough, because I could feel my energy starting to lull right before it was time for my next gel or Cliff Bar. Maybe a gel every 20 minutes instead of every 30. It wasn't so bad though that it messed anything up. I will say that it's really hard to scarf down a whole Cliff Bar at 22 mph after 90 minutes in the saddle. I'm not sure how I did it, but somehow or another I managed to get my 300 calories/hour in. I was starting to struggle towards the end of the bike when I came up on my rival from VT. As soon as I passed him I was immediately motivated to keep pushing. By the time I got to T2 I had gained 10 minutes on him. I didn't know I had that much of a lead on him, but I knew I was ahead of him. I was feeling great at this point! It wasn't my best race so far, but it was going smoothly. I managed to keep it in the big chain ring for most of the way and only dropped to the small one for the last 10 miles. Even in the small chain ring I was keeping a consistent 21-22 mph. After the race, comparing my bike computer with other peoples, the bike course was really 58 miles, instead of the advertised 56. Not a big deal, just interesting. I guess this was a 72.3 race, not a 70.3.

Okay, so this is where the day went awry. As soon as I got off the bike, the first thing I thought was man it's hot, and I'm really thirsty. Like most people I wasn't in too much of a rush. I hurried a little bit, but I was more concerned with making sure I had my gels, my watch and my visor. So after a minute or so, I headed out, grabbed a cup of water from the first aid station and started the run. I didn't feel so bad at this point. Of course I had the normal concrete legs feeling that you always get after making the transition from the bike to the run, but I was still feeling pretty good about my race at this point. Unfortuneatly, the heat never went anywhere, and my legs never loosened up. I just couldn't do it. Everyone that I have ever talked to, has said that they blew up on the run at their first half Ironman. I told myself, it's not going to happen to me. I'll eat enough on the bike and I'll drink lots of water, and I'll just take the run one mile at a time. It sounds good, but you can't beat the heat, no matter who you are, and if you're thirsty, chances are you're probably already dehydrated.

As soon as I realized my legs weren't going to loosen up the race went from doing really well, to just finishing. It really is a strange feeling, especially when you're used to doing these things to win your age group, or be in the top 10%, to put yourself in the "I just want to finish category". It took me over 6 hours to finish, far longer than I had anticipated or hoped. I was on track to finish in 5:15 after the bike, but just couldn't keep pace on the run. I was disappointed at first, thinking that I really should have done better, but after a little bit of thought, I realized that it was only my first one, and finishing was just fine with me. Even though I blew it on the run, the swim and the bike were great. It's just a matter of changing a few things here and there and being a little more comfortable with the transition from such a long bike to such a long run.

All in all... It was an amazing experience. It has motivated me to train harder, and smarter. Will I was struggling on the run I kept asking myself why I wanted to do something like this. But as soon as I finished, I knew exactly why. I also knew that I'll be back sometime next season to take it on again. I have talked to a lot of other triathletes who have said that their first long distance event is always a tough one. They also say, the second is usually a lot better.

There is a new blog. So you can follow some of the changes I'll be making in my training. Especially now that I won't be training specifically for long distance, a lot of exciting things will be happening. I'll post the link as soon as it's set up. There will be more commentary there about this race since it has turned into a huge learning experience which I will dissect piece by piece.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR READING MY BLOG AND SUPPORTING ME.

I would never be able to do these things with out great friends and family supporting me along the way.

Pre-race Report.. It's finally here!

Well, the day is finally here, almost. In less than 24 hours, the race will be under way and this entire season of training will be put to the test, this blog will be no more, and I will be on my way to accomplishing what I set out to do several months ago. I'm excited, and very confident that all of the preparation will pay off. As the season progressed I became less and less concerned with "just finishing" and more concerned with really putting forth a respectable effort. I think my abilities in all three disciplines (swimming, biking, and running) have really improved by immeasurable amounts since last season. Between this season and last season, I think there is no comparison. This season was serious.

So, the race strategy for tomorrow...

First off, I'm praying that the water is 77.9 or less, because I bought a sweet wetsuit and I really want to wear it. If not, oh well, but man would it be nice. I plan on keeping with my normal strategy of starting off with my head above the water until I get my rhythm (about 50-100 meters in) and then pick it up. I would like to start a little harder than usual, so I don't get used to a slow rhythm. I don't plan on being the first out of the water, far from it in fact. I just want to keep up so I can be in a good position to do some damage on the bike. 1.2 miles is only slightly longer than the 1500 from Lurray. So while it's long, I don't think it's much more than I'm used to.

After I'm out of the water, it's all gravy from there on out. I'm really excited about the bike course. I've heard it's flat with minor hills, and a big chain ring the whole way through. So going back on what I said after the West Creek workout from Monday, I plan on doing the majority of this race in the big chain ring. I'd like to come in to T2 at about 2:30. That would mean an average of just a hair over 22 mph. If the course is flat like everyone has said, I think that's very reasonable.

Now for the real challenge. It even gets it's own section here. Nutrition on the bike is going to be key. As I said before I plan on alternating Cliff Bars and gels. I'll do gels on the half hour, and Cliff Bars on the hour. This will put me at about the 300 calories per hour for solid food, maybe a little under. and the rest will come from sports drink. I've got a bag full of gels, Cliff Bars, and Heed, so everything is going to be good. The make it or break it point for this race, is being able to hold on to the Cliff Bar. The first run through on Monday was not so good. I'll just have to focus harder tomorrow, and eat faster.

I know for a fact my legs are going to feel terrible after 56 miles of cycling. I'm not even going to try to sugar coat it. It's going to be rough. No matter what, that first mile just has to happen at a decent pace. I need to get my legs awake and moving, and if I start out slow, I know I'll stay that way. Once the first mile is done, it'll will get a little easier, probably until mile 8. I have a feeling the last 5 miles will be hell, but I'm trying not to think about that. I plan on doing a gel every 30 on the run. So that's 3- 4 gels, depending on what kind of pace I can keep. 8 min/mile would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath. At Lurray I kept a 7:14 mile for 6 miles after the wildly hilly course. So I think 8:00 pace for 13 miles is reasonable goal to shoot for after a 56 mile bike. We'll see.

Predictions... I hate predictions. You should just get out there and do what you can do. If you make predictions or set goals that "acceptable", then you will live only to meet those guidelines. For this reason I always set my sights high. If you ever reach your ultimate goal, then you didn't set your limits high enough. Online tri calculator says I should do a 4:30. I on the other hand have made a few of my own calculations.

Swim- 35 minutes (I hope)
T1 - 2 minutes (We'll assume it's a long run)
Bike - 2:30
T2 - 2 minutes (Maybe my shoes don't go on straight)
Run - 1:41-1:51

Total Time - 4 hours 50 min - 5 hours

I think this is reasonable. Lets just see how close I come. I hope I'm way off in the lower direction, and if I'm over, only by a few minutes. I really don't like making such a prediction, but it's a very very rough prediction, and I won't hold myself to it.

Ladies and gentleman, I am ready to take on this race, which will be the greatest physical challenge I have ever encountered, and I couldn't be more excited. The time has come, and I am ready.

When I'm done... Oh dear when I'm done I will feel so good. I plan to take it easy for at least a week. Minimal training. Then it's time to start mixing things up a little bit. I'd like to make some changes to my training routine and diet. Nothing major at first. Just small changes. Because, just like this season was on another level compared to last season, next Spring, it's going to be totally different. There will be no "top 10%", it's going to be "top 10 overall". There will be a new blog, and you will be able to read allll about it.

There will be pictures. Unfortunately I don't think anybody will be there to see me finish, but I'll have plenty of pictures until my lady friend has to leave. Sort of disappointing to know that there won't be anyone there to celebrate with, but oh well. I will feel great on the inside knowing that I just went 70.3 miles and did it as fast as I could. The next post you will see will be a race recap, and pictures. There will also be a link to the new blog so you can follow the new stage of my triathlon career that will begin in the coming weeks.

Thank you for reading. I hope none of this has been too boring. To all who have read, come to my races, or even just made that wierd face when you heard what I was doing, your support and time has been greatly appreciated.

God bless.

Reset

Wow. I went to bed last night at 11, nearly dead, and woke up this morning totally recharged. I'm sore, really sore but I feel great. One of the benefits of a massive workout like yesterdays is waking up the next morning. There's nothing you can't do, only because it would never live up to what you did the day before. Time to get stuff together. Just figured I'd slide in an update. Peace out yall!

Listening to: Tony Bennet

Feeling: Great

Oh my

As I said yesterday, the plan for today was to get in a good brick workout. Which I did, but there's more to it than that. Last night I had to go into work to setup a few experiments and shut off a machine that had been running one of our samples all weekend. One of my pals called and asked if I'd be up for some racquet ball. I figured sure, why not. It's racquet ball. How hard is it? While we were on the way to the gym he casually mentioned to me that he read online that it burns roughly 500 calories per hour if played competitively. I was still underestimating the workout I'd get. Keep in mind that this was after my 6 mile run yesterday. We played for 2 hours and I was drenched in sweat when we were done. It wasn't that I couldn't keep up for the whole 2 hours, it was just that it was stop and go and short fast efforts. Something I'm defineatly not used to. Awesome workout.

Once I got home I decided that I really wanted to get up early (8ish, hey it's a holiday), and get out while it was still a reasonable temperature for this brick workout that I'd been dreaming of. Well... I slept in until 9:30. Sometimes when you're tired, you're tired and there's nothing you can do about it. No worries. I hung around, still a little tired from yesterday's athletic theme, ate a piece of ciabatta bread, drank some Gatorade, and took my time getting out the door. I figured why rush? I figured I'd do it right and head out to WestCreek for the workout. I packed up plenty of fluids. Plenty of Cliff Bars and headed in that direction around noon. I got a little ambitious when I got there and told myself I was going to do 54 on the bike and 10 miles on the run. Well, I'll tell you right now the 10 mile run didn't happen.

My goal on the bike was to practice some nutrition and see how it went trying to eat a cliff bar half way through and drinking fluids on a regular interval. I wanted to average above 20. It's going to be tough pacing myself on the bike. Not necessarily because of muscular or cardiovascular fatigue but mainly because 56 miles at 95% leaves you with nothing left in the tank no matter how much you eat on the bike. You, well I, just can't put that much back in and maintain a reasonable pace. I figured I'd start out the ride in the small chain ring. Get my legs warmed up before I did anything crazy. Well, to my delightful surprise I was able to maintain 21-22 mph with ease. After the first 6 miles, once I was warmed up, I figured why not keep it here and see what happens. I kept a decent pace for the entire ride. My average was 20.7, but West Creek is a bit hillier than the Patriot's course will be so hopefully it will be a bit higher than that next Saturday. I will say on the flats I maintained 23-24 easily. I noticed a few things during the ride today that stood out to me:

1.) My heart rate was much lower pushing the same speeds in the small chain ring as it would be if I was in the big chain ring.
2.) I was able to maintain competitive speeds for long periods of time on the flats. When the hills came I didn't have to change 9 million gears, just shift down a few times (i.e. - more appropriate for any hills that may arise).
3.) On the downhills, I only hit 28-30 where I'd usually hit 35-38. This is something important to consider. While it was slower, it's a reasonable trade off to be a bit slower on the down hills and maintain a faster pace with less effort on the flats.
4.) When I did change to the big chain ring about half way through the ride it was smoother and felt easier on my legs. So if the time comes that I need a bigger gear, it's there.

As girly as it may be. I may use the small chain ring for a lot of the race. I'm telling you, I was turning over the pedals with almost zero effort. My heart rate was low, and I could keep it at fast pace for a long period of time. The huge fluctuations in speed caused by any false climbs or hills were almost eliminated because I was within reach of some climbing gears. In the big chain ring sometimes you have to do a lot of adjusting when things change and it really screws up your rhythm. I'm thinking what I'll do is keep it in the small chain ring for the first 20 miles. See how I'm feeling. Judge the terrain, see how variable it is (of course I'll do this by car the night before but it's always different on the bike), and go from there. If it's flat, and my legs are feeling good, I'll hit up the big chain ring and power through the last 36 miles.

The nutrition plan for today was a gel every 15 miles, liquid every 6 (and with gels) and a Cliff Bar in place of a gel at mile 30. This was not enough. It was really hot out. At least it felt like it on the bike, and when I was done I was a little drained. I think I'll probably do a gel every 10 miles. So 5 total. I'll substitute the 2nd and 4th gel with Cliff bars. This will put me at 700 calories for the duration of the ride. The sports drink will account for the remaining calories. The rule is 300 calories per hour (from what I've read), and I'd like to do that, and hopefully surpass that a little bit. There are 2 water trades on the bike so I think the fluids situation will be good. I need to find the straw extender for my aero bottle to make it effective. At this point I'm just leaning down to reach the straw and it's throwing me off my rhythm. And the key to putting in the calories on Saturday will be to NOT DROP MY STUPID CLIFF BAR!!!!!!!!! I opened it up, and took a bite, and I'm not lying when I say that a Cliff Bar has never tasted so good. I thought, well, while I'm enjoying this wonderful snack, I'll take a drink. I leaned down and I almost thought for a minute that I was on my couch at home enjoying a Cliff Bar and some Gatorade. Well, you don't hit bumps on a couch that cause you to drop your snack. I hadn't even eaten half of it. Whatever, I'm not going to practice eating a Cliff Bar and riding a bike at the same time. I'm just going to expect myself to be competent enough to do it on Saturday.

I finished the bike averaging 20.7. I was pretty happy. It was hot out and I was sure that I was slightly sun burned at this point and we all know what kind of damage the sun can do on a good training session. I got off the bike, sprayed myself with water which felt amazing, put on my running shoes and iPod and was off. I brought a water bottle with me to hopefully keep myself hydrated for the run. It was absolute torture. I don't even want to know what my average pace was. I just pushed my way through 5 miles and prayed that I didn't crack totally. It was hot on the bike, and felt even hotter trying to keep a respectable pace on the run. My plan for running 10 miles was quickly out the window. When I was done I was covered in salt crystals and sweat and my head hurt (clear sign of not enough fluid). It was a disaster, but a good one, because I learned a lot about my nutrition plan. You can't drink enough and it pays to eat even when you don't think you need to. Because by the time you start to feel empty, it's already over. There are other factors that can play out in such a painful run, but my plan is to minimize as many of these as possible. I'm going to go ahead and come up with the most reasonable explanations for the run today being so rough:

1.) It was hot (can't do anything about that).
2.) I didn't get enough calories on the bike (eat more).
3.) 31 miles on the bike and golf on Saturday, 6 mile run and racquet ball yesterday (get lots of rest in the days leading up).
4.) Not so much to eat the day before (eat a nice dinner and lots of carbs in the days coming up).

I'm not making excuses. But I plan on being fully rested for Saturday. I will have no explanation for cracking on the run, because it won't happen. I'm going to be liberal on the calorie intake and drink as many fluids as possible. I will also follow my usual routine and eat a nice big dinner the night before. Morning of, as usual, bagel, banana, Gatorade. It's going to be the trick. I'm getting excited just talking about it. As soon as the gun goes off and the battle in the water begins it's only a matter of time before I cross the finish line. The preparation has been painful and long, but I think that it's only because it's the first time. The next time it'll be a matter of cleaning things up and refining.

My hips and legs hurt. Time to eat something small so I don't wake up with a headache. HRM said 3300 calories for today. Jeez. It feels like it though so I'm not going to argue with it. Goodnight yall!

Great workout today even though it was grueling. I will remember it for a long time. We all learn from these things.

Listening to: Dexter Gordon

Feeling: Destroyed

No surrender

The race (yes... THE race) is less than a week away. Oh man! It's wild to think that this season has come this far and has been so much fun. I'm looking forward to next Saturday. It's going to be a grueling, but awesome 4:30 min (hopefully, haha). So this next week is going to be key. The last thing I want is my legs to get stale, but I certainly don't want to wake up Saturday sore from a crazy workout. Tomorrow, I'm going to get in one last massive brick. I'm going to do a long short workout. I'm either going to go for a long bike and a short run, or a shorter bike and a long run. I'm leaning towards the long run only because that's what I'm most worried about. I'm guessing for the rest of the week I'll probably run once or twice, go for at least one easy bike ride and swim once. This has worked for every race so far this season, so I don't see why it would fail me now. I'm just riding out the season and maintaining my fitness from now until October. The time to make major changes to anything is long gone. That's what the off season is for. Thursday morning... I'm done until Saturday at 8. I'm getting hyped just thinking about it.

So I had a plan. Scary, I know. My plan was to do an easy bike ride on Saturday, easy run today, and then a massive brick on Monday. The bike ride yesterday was awesome. It felt so good to get out on the bike. It was a little warm, but it was a great day for a ride. I averaged just over 20 on the road bike over 31.7 miles. I was pretty happy. I wasn't trying to kill myself, just get an easy ride to get my legs feeling good. Not much else to say about that.

This morning I was downtown by 9:30 to pick up my tri uniform which is awesome. I was so happy to have it. The top is a little short, but who cares. It fits everywhere else. It's motivation for me not to slouch on the run and burn off a little bit of chub. I wanted to run between 8 and 10 miles this morning. You know, get some good distance. But it's damn near impossible to do this without water stations or gels. I was on empty by mile 6.5. It's ok though. Because considering there will be water stations along the run and the bike and I'll be sucking down gels like candy everything will be cool. I felt fine after the 6 miles in Lurray so it's a defineate plus having the gels and water.

Tomorrow. Big brick. Fast, and intense. Gels, cliff bar, water. It's going to be good.

Rest of today. Laundry.

Sorry if my writing has been sub par lately. I either write here right after a workout when I'm totally wiped or before I go to bed.. when I'm totally wiped. Thanks for readin yall!

Listening to: Bone Thugs - No Surrender

Feeling: Tired