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20 December, 2010
04 December, 2010
This Old Cub Leaves Us
I woke up Friday morning to the news that Ron Santo, former Chicago Cub third baseman and current Cub radio analyst had passed away.
• He was a prolific fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Our son Chis is a Type I diabetic and hopefully, someday will benefit from his work.
• I've been a Cubs fan forever...good old #10 was one of my favorite players. He was part of the legendary Cubs infield of Santo, Kessinger, Beckert and Banks.
• He was the Cubs radio analyst. His passion for the Cubs came through with every groan or "oh no". I loved listening to him with Pat Hughes, the Cubs play by play announcer.
• He was a Type I diabetic and had been since his late teens. He suffered through the typical problems associated with the disease. In the hundreds of hours of Cubs broadcasts and many interviews, I never heard him complain. He wasn't a "woe is me" guy.
I'll miss him.
It hit me hard. Out of the blue hard.
He didn't know it, but he touched my life in a bunch of ways.
• He looked like and was about the same age as my dad when he passed away. Every time I saw Ron Santo, I saw my dad.• He was a prolific fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Our son Chis is a Type I diabetic and hopefully, someday will benefit from his work.
• I've been a Cubs fan forever...good old #10 was one of my favorite players. He was part of the legendary Cubs infield of Santo, Kessinger, Beckert and Banks.
• He was the Cubs radio analyst. His passion for the Cubs came through with every groan or "oh no". I loved listening to him with Pat Hughes, the Cubs play by play announcer.
• He was a Type I diabetic and had been since his late teens. He suffered through the typical problems associated with the disease. In the hundreds of hours of Cubs broadcasts and many interviews, I never heard him complain. He wasn't a "woe is me" guy.
I'll miss him.
06 November, 2010
Honesty is always the best policy....
Well, another season is behind me. I’ve had about three weeks to sort out 2010 and examine my motivations for 2011. One of the thoughts that have been running through my head lately is why I do what I do? Why do I spend the time and money on triathlon?
After about a ten year lay-off, I restarted training on Thanksgiving Day 2004. Even then, my primary goal was to see how fast I could go in a Triathlon. Over the years, nothing has changed. That is still my number on goal in the sport. Is that a healthy motivation.. I’m not sure.
Here’s my attempt to sort out why I do what I do. It is what it is.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I don’t do the sport to maintain a healthy lifestyle, although that’s one of the advantages, it’s not what gets me out the door. I do Triathlon to try and crush the dreams my fellow M50-54 competitors in races.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I like the way Triathlon has changed my body.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I’m probably addicted to working out. If I miss a scheduled workout, I’m crabby. After a good workout, it feels like I’ve just consumed 20oz of Coke Classic…the elated feeling from the rush of caffeine…probably not unlike what a Heroin addict feels like after injecting himself.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I love the competition of a good race and I base my satisfaction on where I placed and who I beat.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I’d talk about my training and racing all day, every day, if I could. Thankfully, Dottie doesn’t let me get away with that.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, my goal is to be the number one ranked triathlete in the country.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I probably don’t have the genetics/skills to be the number one ranked triathlete in the country.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, when I finally realize my competitive ceiling, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Will I refocus my energies on a single sport? Will I quit?
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I don’t think I’ve pushed myself to my physical limits in a race yet. I don’t think I’ve ever “left it all on the course”. I want to, I just don’t think I’ve got whatever it is that will let me do it. I need to figure that out.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I race scared.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I haven’t figured out the recognition thing yet. I like the recognition that comes from winning. I don’t like to beat my own drum.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I did not do a good job coaching myself. Until this year, I was in charge. I used input from a variety of sources, but I was the one who decided what to do, when to do it and how hard to do it. In 2010, I gave up the job to Daniel Bretscher, a pro Triathlete from Greencastle IN. I’m still not 100% sure why, but I was faster this year and never really felt the fatigue I had in previous years. He worked wonders.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I still really, really like the training, the racing, the technology and the people involved with Triathlon.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I’ve over achieved in the marriage game. If it wasn’t for Dot, I’m not kidding when I say this, I’m sure I would have self-destructed long ago. She is the rudder on the USS Gierut and has kept this ship on course.
Goals for next year. Swim faster. Ride faster. Run faster
If you’re being totally honest with yourself, you’re asking yourself why did I just waste 5 minutes reading this…
Ron
After about a ten year lay-off, I restarted training on Thanksgiving Day 2004. Even then, my primary goal was to see how fast I could go in a Triathlon. Over the years, nothing has changed. That is still my number on goal in the sport. Is that a healthy motivation.. I’m not sure.
Here’s my attempt to sort out why I do what I do. It is what it is.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I don’t do the sport to maintain a healthy lifestyle, although that’s one of the advantages, it’s not what gets me out the door. I do Triathlon to try and crush the dreams my fellow M50-54 competitors in races.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I like the way Triathlon has changed my body.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I’m probably addicted to working out. If I miss a scheduled workout, I’m crabby. After a good workout, it feels like I’ve just consumed 20oz of Coke Classic…the elated feeling from the rush of caffeine…probably not unlike what a Heroin addict feels like after injecting himself.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I love the competition of a good race and I base my satisfaction on where I placed and who I beat.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I’d talk about my training and racing all day, every day, if I could. Thankfully, Dottie doesn’t let me get away with that.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, my goal is to be the number one ranked triathlete in the country.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I probably don’t have the genetics/skills to be the number one ranked triathlete in the country.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, when I finally realize my competitive ceiling, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Will I refocus my energies on a single sport? Will I quit?
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I don’t think I’ve pushed myself to my physical limits in a race yet. I don’t think I’ve ever “left it all on the course”. I want to, I just don’t think I’ve got whatever it is that will let me do it. I need to figure that out.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I race scared.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I haven’t figured out the recognition thing yet. I like the recognition that comes from winning. I don’t like to beat my own drum.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I did not do a good job coaching myself. Until this year, I was in charge. I used input from a variety of sources, but I was the one who decided what to do, when to do it and how hard to do it. In 2010, I gave up the job to Daniel Bretscher, a pro Triathlete from Greencastle IN. I’m still not 100% sure why, but I was faster this year and never really felt the fatigue I had in previous years. He worked wonders.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I still really, really like the training, the racing, the technology and the people involved with Triathlon.
If I’m being totally honest with myself, I’ve over achieved in the marriage game. If it wasn’t for Dot, I’m not kidding when I say this, I’m sure I would have self-destructed long ago. She is the rudder on the USS Gierut and has kept this ship on course.
Goals for next year. Swim faster. Ride faster. Run faster
If you’re being totally honest with yourself, you’re asking yourself why did I just waste 5 minutes reading this…
Ron
18 October, 2010
2010 Des Moines Marathon - "soul crushing, demoralizing pain"
2:58:44
For a variety of reasons, I decided to finish my 2010 season with a marathon.
1. I haven't raced in one in 26 years. My last one was a DNF at the 1984 Chicago marathon.
2. I was intrigued by the distance and I realized that if I was ever going to do an Ironman, I probably should have some idea of what to expect.
3. I seemed to have a pretty good run at USAT Nationals.
4. To quote my coach, Daniel Bretcher, I was probably going to experience.."soul crushing, demoralizing pain". Awesome.
I'd been toying with the idea of running a marathon but didn't want to mess up my tri season so I didn't commit to running the race until the ride home from Tuscaloosa on October 26th. The late start left me with two whole weeks of increased mileage and a taper week.
I challenge you to find a three week marathon training plan...
During the two week build I ran 58 and 54 miles and finished it off with a 40 mile final taper week. My longest run was 19 miles on Tuesday of the the first week.
Mentally, I was into it for the first 10-12 days.
On Wednesday of last week, I showed signs of cracking. I left the house with my bathing suit and towel headed to my masters swim workout. About a half mile from home, I did a u-turn and headed to Dairy Queen to replace the swim workout with a Chocolate Xtreme Blizzard...Not a good sign.
Over the next 10 days, it didn't get much better. I hit all the workout mileage and intensity numbers but I did not do well with my diet. Oh well..it was gonna be what it was gonna be. The lead up to my longest running race in 25 years was going to marginalized by my Dairy Queen and donut cravings.
I also spent the final two weeks trying to figure out how I was going to run the race..run even splits for the race, negative split the race (second half faster) or positive split (run the first half faster to have a little time in the bank in case you slow down. I can honestly say that I didn't know how I was going to run the race until the morning of..I decided to try to negative split the race. The first half was very hilly and I figured to try and run controlled through them and then pick it up the last quarter of the race.
Race Report:
For Saturday's dinner, Dottie and I hooked up with Don Hoben and his wife Peggy. Don is a friend from work and lives in Louisville KY. They are 25 states into their quest to run a half-marathon in all 50 states. Both finished on Sunday and can now check off Iowa. Very impressive.
From a weather standpoint, race day in Des Moines was absolutely perfect. Sunny, temps in the high 40's and very little wind. No excuses here.
The race started at 8:00 am. Dottie and I stayed in the host hotel which was on the start line. We were still in our room at 7:30 watching CNN. A one minute commute to the start..that's the way to go. No transitions.. No wetsuits or goggles...no bike. The prep for this race was almost non-existent.
I did a little jog to warm-up, gave Dot a kiss and wished her luck in her race and found the three hour pace group. Ten minutes later, the gun went off and so were we.
For the first three miles both the marathon and half marathon runners were together. At that point, my engine was sputtering. We went out a little fast (6:35-40) but it felt like closer to 6:10-15. I wasn't running smooth or easy and twenty minutes into the race, I figured that the three hour goal I had set for myself was out the door. I just hung in there on the hopes that things would smooth out and I'd soon be hitting on at least 3 of my 4 cylinder engine. At this point in the race, there were probably 12 guys in our little 3 hour pace group. I was surprised there wasn't a lot of conversation or nervous chatter. It seemed like everyone had their game faces on and were just running.
As the race went on, I started to feel better. We entered the hilly part of the course and after one or two hills, the increased effort to climb them seemed to clear out the pipes and my stride and breathing smoothed out. I was hanging off the back of our group and never had any trouble making up distance around corners or coming out of the aid stations. The group was still intact through nine miles and we were already picking up folks who went out faster and couldn't hold their pace. We were averaging 6:50 - 55 minutes per miles through this hilly section and I was in no trouble at all
As the race went on, we hit more and more hills and the group started to thin out. The typical "culling" scenario had a guy start to labor up a hill and you could hear his breathing get ragged. He'd barely hang on and then once we crested the top, he'd gain some momentum to get with the group again. At the next hill, you could hear and feel the guy trying to hang on to the pace but it wasn't meant to be..."snap" goes the rubber band and he was off the back. I tried to guess who would be next to be spit out the back but was never right. As the group went through 13 miles, I started to feel it. Just a little fatigue in the legs and a little pain in my quads. Nothing to be alarmed at. I was still hanging and running smooth. It did cross my mind that we had 13 more miles to go and I had never run this hard for longer than 13 mile... I was definitely in uncharted territory. I took my first shot of goo around this time and there was a definite lift from the calories and caffeine.
As the race went on, the group seemed to stabilize and everyone who couldn't hang was gone by 14 miles. At that point, the race had really strung out. We were running smooth and the crowd was encouraging us as we went by. We stood out because of our pace and the fact that we were running as a pack. It was a very cool sensation. Even though there wasn't any conversation, I definitely felt an energy level coming from the group. We were cruising.
At this point in the race, the course started its downhill run to the flat, last 10 miles or so.. I've always heard that it's not the uphill running that kills your legs, but the downhill sections. That has been confirmed. We hit a section of the course that was downhill for about a mile. I started to feel pain in my quads. At first I thought I was cramping and was worried that I was going to have to eventually stop and stretch them out. But as the miles went on, the sensation went from a cramping sensation to just outright pain. They hurt, but I was relieved as I knew that my quads wouldn't seize up and finish my race.
The course flattened out about mile 15 and the pack was still together. We were not being passed and we were passing a couple of runners every mile or so. We were like PacMen; chewing up runners that had over-cooked themselves. There was only one guy who we picked up that was able hang with us for more that a couple hundred yards. He slid into the group and ran with us till about mile 22 or so. From mile 15 to mile 20 I could feel myself slowly begin to degrade. The pain in my quads was getting worse and it was getting harder to maintain the 6:50 pace that we needed to be at. I was still able to run with the group but it was no longer easy. We went through 20 miles and at that point I let myself believe that I had a shot at breaking three hours. I'd done thousands (well, probably hundreds) of six mile runs and knew how much I needed left in the tank to finish. I though I had what I needed.
Miles 20 - 23 were long ones. The group was still together and we were holding 6:50's but I was continuing to have to work a little harder to stay with them. It was definitely doable but not comfortable. At we got closer to the finish, I was becoming more and more confident in my ability to finish the race under 3 hours. My average pace for the race was 6:48 and it wasn't' going up.
At mile 23, I decided to leave the group and push the pace. It was a "game time" decision. I never set mile 23 as my go time. It just felt right. It didn't feel good, it felt right. Two guys had left the group a half mile sooner and they had put about 100 yards on us. I set my sights on them and began to push the pace. My breathing started to get labored and my form began to fall apart but I had moved the pace to about 6:35-40. I went through mile 23 holding the increased pace but my quads were going into a full scale revolt. I went by the two guys who left early at about mile 24. At this point, outside of an accident or complete implosion, I knew I was going to finish under three hours. As I went through mile 25 I could feel my stride shorten and my pace begin to fall off. I could tell it was the slowest I was running all day. My quads were absolutely shot at this point..I've never felt physical pain like that exercising before. It wasn't the "soul crushing, demoralizing pain" Daniel warned me about so I just kept plugging. I passed one guy at about mile 25.5 and made the turn to the finish line. The crowd really gave me a shot of adrenaline and I was able to finish with a smile on my face.
The smile lasted until the guy who was taking of my chip asked me to stop for a sec. The quads went into full shutdown mode and are still as I write this about 30 hours post finish.
Final time: 2:58:44
Overall place 32nd out of about 1635
Division place: 1st M50-54
Nutrition: A mouthful of water at each aid station and five Gu packs(one every other mile from 13 - 23)
My final thoughts on the race center around my preparation..I guess there's a lot to be said for months of consistent mileage versus lots of long runs. (I've averaged 38 miles a week to this point) My quads probably wouldn't agree with that but I was able maintain a consistent pace for 25 out of 26.2 miles. Also the fact that the last 10 days of my prep for this race were not good. I was not able to control my diet and I'm sure I gained some weight. I was unsure of how that would affect my race and I'm sure it did, but not as much as I thought it would. I guess I gave myself a margin of error from all the running miles I've logged over the past year.
Thanks for reading this. I'll try to be more regular with my future postings...Over the next couple of weeks, I'll try and summarize my 2010 season.
Over the next 10 days, it didn't get much better. I hit all the workout mileage and intensity numbers but I did not do well with my diet. Oh well..it was gonna be what it was gonna be. The lead up to my longest running race in 25 years was going to marginalized by my Dairy Queen and donut cravings.
I also spent the final two weeks trying to figure out how I was going to run the race..run even splits for the race, negative split the race (second half faster) or positive split (run the first half faster to have a little time in the bank in case you slow down. I can honestly say that I didn't know how I was going to run the race until the morning of..I decided to try to negative split the race. The first half was very hilly and I figured to try and run controlled through them and then pick it up the last quarter of the race.
Race Report:
For Saturday's dinner, Dottie and I hooked up with Don Hoben and his wife Peggy. Don is a friend from work and lives in Louisville KY. They are 25 states into their quest to run a half-marathon in all 50 states. Both finished on Sunday and can now check off Iowa. Very impressive.
From a weather standpoint, race day in Des Moines was absolutely perfect. Sunny, temps in the high 40's and very little wind. No excuses here.
The race started at 8:00 am. Dottie and I stayed in the host hotel which was on the start line. We were still in our room at 7:30 watching CNN. A one minute commute to the start..that's the way to go. No transitions.. No wetsuits or goggles...no bike. The prep for this race was almost non-existent.
I did a little jog to warm-up, gave Dot a kiss and wished her luck in her race and found the three hour pace group. Ten minutes later, the gun went off and so were we.
For the first three miles both the marathon and half marathon runners were together. At that point, my engine was sputtering. We went out a little fast (6:35-40) but it felt like closer to 6:10-15. I wasn't running smooth or easy and twenty minutes into the race, I figured that the three hour goal I had set for myself was out the door. I just hung in there on the hopes that things would smooth out and I'd soon be hitting on at least 3 of my 4 cylinder engine. At this point in the race, there were probably 12 guys in our little 3 hour pace group. I was surprised there wasn't a lot of conversation or nervous chatter. It seemed like everyone had their game faces on and were just running.
As the race went on, I started to feel better. We entered the hilly part of the course and after one or two hills, the increased effort to climb them seemed to clear out the pipes and my stride and breathing smoothed out. I was hanging off the back of our group and never had any trouble making up distance around corners or coming out of the aid stations. The group was still intact through nine miles and we were already picking up folks who went out faster and couldn't hold their pace. We were averaging 6:50 - 55 minutes per miles through this hilly section and I was in no trouble at all
As the race went on, we hit more and more hills and the group started to thin out. The typical "culling" scenario had a guy start to labor up a hill and you could hear his breathing get ragged. He'd barely hang on and then once we crested the top, he'd gain some momentum to get with the group again. At the next hill, you could hear and feel the guy trying to hang on to the pace but it wasn't meant to be..."snap" goes the rubber band and he was off the back. I tried to guess who would be next to be spit out the back but was never right. As the group went through 13 miles, I started to feel it. Just a little fatigue in the legs and a little pain in my quads. Nothing to be alarmed at. I was still hanging and running smooth. It did cross my mind that we had 13 more miles to go and I had never run this hard for longer than 13 mile... I was definitely in uncharted territory. I took my first shot of goo around this time and there was a definite lift from the calories and caffeine.
As the race went on, the group seemed to stabilize and everyone who couldn't hang was gone by 14 miles. At that point, the race had really strung out. We were running smooth and the crowd was encouraging us as we went by. We stood out because of our pace and the fact that we were running as a pack. It was a very cool sensation. Even though there wasn't any conversation, I definitely felt an energy level coming from the group. We were cruising.
At this point in the race, the course started its downhill run to the flat, last 10 miles or so.. I've always heard that it's not the uphill running that kills your legs, but the downhill sections. That has been confirmed. We hit a section of the course that was downhill for about a mile. I started to feel pain in my quads. At first I thought I was cramping and was worried that I was going to have to eventually stop and stretch them out. But as the miles went on, the sensation went from a cramping sensation to just outright pain. They hurt, but I was relieved as I knew that my quads wouldn't seize up and finish my race.
The course flattened out about mile 15 and the pack was still together. We were not being passed and we were passing a couple of runners every mile or so. We were like PacMen; chewing up runners that had over-cooked themselves. There was only one guy who we picked up that was able hang with us for more that a couple hundred yards. He slid into the group and ran with us till about mile 22 or so. From mile 15 to mile 20 I could feel myself slowly begin to degrade. The pain in my quads was getting worse and it was getting harder to maintain the 6:50 pace that we needed to be at. I was still able to run with the group but it was no longer easy. We went through 20 miles and at that point I let myself believe that I had a shot at breaking three hours. I'd done thousands (well, probably hundreds) of six mile runs and knew how much I needed left in the tank to finish. I though I had what I needed.
Miles 20 - 23 were long ones. The group was still together and we were holding 6:50's but I was continuing to have to work a little harder to stay with them. It was definitely doable but not comfortable. At we got closer to the finish, I was becoming more and more confident in my ability to finish the race under 3 hours. My average pace for the race was 6:48 and it wasn't' going up.
At mile 23, I decided to leave the group and push the pace. It was a "game time" decision. I never set mile 23 as my go time. It just felt right. It didn't feel good, it felt right. Two guys had left the group a half mile sooner and they had put about 100 yards on us. I set my sights on them and began to push the pace. My breathing started to get labored and my form began to fall apart but I had moved the pace to about 6:35-40. I went through mile 23 holding the increased pace but my quads were going into a full scale revolt. I went by the two guys who left early at about mile 24. At this point, outside of an accident or complete implosion, I knew I was going to finish under three hours. As I went through mile 25 I could feel my stride shorten and my pace begin to fall off. I could tell it was the slowest I was running all day. My quads were absolutely shot at this point..I've never felt physical pain like that exercising before. It wasn't the "soul crushing, demoralizing pain" Daniel warned me about so I just kept plugging. I passed one guy at about mile 25.5 and made the turn to the finish line. The crowd really gave me a shot of adrenaline and I was able to finish with a smile on my face.
The smile lasted until the guy who was taking of my chip asked me to stop for a sec. The quads went into full shutdown mode and are still as I write this about 30 hours post finish.
Final time: 2:58:44
Overall place 32nd out of about 1635
Division place: 1st M50-54
Nutrition: A mouthful of water at each aid station and five Gu packs(one every other mile from 13 - 23)
My final thoughts on the race center around my preparation..I guess there's a lot to be said for months of consistent mileage versus lots of long runs. (I've averaged 38 miles a week to this point) My quads probably wouldn't agree with that but I was able maintain a consistent pace for 25 out of 26.2 miles. Also the fact that the last 10 days of my prep for this race were not good. I was not able to control my diet and I'm sure I gained some weight. I was unsure of how that would affect my race and I'm sure it did, but not as much as I thought it would. I guess I gave myself a margin of error from all the running miles I've logged over the past year.
Thanks for reading this. I'll try to be more regular with my future postings...Over the next couple of weeks, I'll try and summarize my 2010 season.
27 September, 2010
USAT National Age Group Championships 2010
On Saturday, I competed in the 2010 version of the USAT National Championships...
Here's the accompanying race report.
Background:
I was really looking forward to this race. I've never competed at a national meet and wanted to see how I would stack up against the best 50-54 year old athletes in the country.
This was my third "A" race this season. Memphis in May and Boise 70.3 in June were the first two. I had a build phase and taper for each of the first two. Needless to say, I wasn't sure how my body would respond to the third go round. Those worries were unfounded. It seemed to handle it just fine. I had three of my four biggest volume weeks of the year (20+ hours of training) in this final build and a two week reduction in volume and taper period.
Pre-race:
Dottie and I traveled down to Tuscaloosa Alabama with Daniela Williams, a friend and awesome triathlete in the 30-34 age group. The ride down was uneventful and ended with dinner at a great BBQ joint close to the hotel. Please note, this is the last time in this report you'll see the word "uneventful".
We woke up early and drove to the race venue to take care of our prerace workouts and course recon. As I was loading the bikes up afterward, I placed my aero helmet on bumper and reminded myself to not forget to pick it up and put it in the car...well, as you've already surmised, that didn't happen. We got back to the hotel and crap...no aero helmet. I went back and retraced our steps but it was gone..my guess is if you check the Tuscaloosa Craigslist today, it'll be there.
So, we went to Plan B....the race expo would surely have at least one brand on sale...nope. Nothing. On to Plan C..check out the local bike shops and pick one up....nope. There wasn't one for sale in the entire city.. The guys at the shop said I was the second person that day to come in an try to buy an aero helmet...the first guy ended up driving over an hour away to Birmingham Alabama. I wasn't driving to Birmingham so we went to Plan D...D for Duct Tape. I bought the cheapest helmet I could find and a roll of duct tape..here is the result. It's ugly...the helmet that is...and it was hotter than hell wearing it but the I 'think" it was faster than a typical helmet...Here's the end result.
Race Day:
We arrived on site early and went through the usual prerace prep and set up. The first glitch had to do with the race officials not letting me bring my trainer into the transition area. We weren't able to take the bikes out and get in a warm-up so I brought my trainer in take care of that....even though it was mentioned in the pre-race webinar we could, they wouldn't let us...no worries though. No one else was warming up either. At this time, I notice my hear rate monitor wasn't working...shit. I use heart rate to monitor my effort and as a whip to make sure I'm working as hard as I can. This race was going to be run with zero technology and exclusively by feel. I've read that a "low arousal" rate is important when racing..I kept that in mind and just went about my business and knew that I'd be fine
Swim:
The swim course was in the Black Warrior river. It was not wet suit legal and the current that plagued the event last year was not in play this year. My swim this year has been up and down. I hoped today it would be up. I needed to have a good one so I wouldn't have to dig myself out of too big a hole. At a race of this caliber, everyone can bike and run so the chances of me coming out of the water back in pack and doing well were slim. Thankfully, I felt pretty strong today. I was really focused on my stroke and felt like I was moving through the water pretty well. It was as good as I could do with my present stroke
Division place: 8th
Time: 25:44
Bike:
The bike course was a two loop affair with two substantial hills on each loop. It was tough but fair. Even though it didn't suite my riding style and strengths, I liked it. Because of my present wt of 160, I'm not a good climber but the descents were awesome. I hit 42mph on one of them.
I never felt smooth on the ride. I just felt average today. I'm not sure why....I just wasn't sharp. Because of no heart rate monitor, I couldn't really quantify how much work I was doing. I was just riding as hard as I could. On the first lap I yo-yoed back and forth with a guy in my age group. He'd dance by me going up the hills and then I'd fly by him on the descents. I wasn't working at my limit that early in the race, so I kinda figured that I'd put him behind me eventually. That happened about 3/4's of the way through the first lap and I never saw him again. Apparently, I passed another guy somewhere on the course but I never saw him. Today was the first time I left T1 with my shoes clipped in. I had them suspended by rubber bands and was able to slip my feet in after the mount line. I practice it over the last couple of weeks and it worked great. My transition time was one of the better ones today...
Bike nutrition: 20oz Gatorade
Division place: 5th
Bike time and pace: 1:03:54/23.7mph
Run:
The run course was one loop with two pretty tough hills. I've had some pretty good training runs over the last month and was pretty confident that I'd do well. That turned out to be true. As I left T2, I felt heavy and the snap wasn't there..yet. As the race went on, I felt stronger and stronger. I'm pretty sure my last mile was the fastest. It was my best 10K run off a bike ever. That is exciting to see as I've been running for years and didn't think I'd ever PR again. On of my triathlon goals was to run a sub 40 10K and today it happened.
Division place: 2
Run Time and pace: 39:37/6:23
Post-race:
Overall Division place: 2
Overall Race time: 2:10:30
First things first... I need to do a shout out to my wife....Dottie has been my biggest supporter and I would not be where I'm at without her support and love. I am blessed to have her as my partner. In the marriage arena, I have truly "overachieved".
I'd grade today's race at an 8 out of 10.
I swam to my capabilities.
I biked below my capabilities.
I transitioned to my capabilities.
I exceeded my capabilities on the run.
I was happy with today’s results and one of these days I'm going to have a complete race..today was close, but not quite. I'm sure the jiggered aero helmet and not having heart rate #'s cost me some time on the bike.
As I look at my results and assess what my strengths and weaknesses are, this is what I see.
• My swim absolutely is holding me back from being a complete athlete. I will never be able to truly excel at this sport until I can consistently come out of the water in the first group. I'm not sure what I'll do this winter to improve, but I have to do something.
• I need to continue to work hard on the bike. I've gained ground this past year and with the addition of a power meter this winter, I think I'll be able to continue to improve.
• I love to run. I'll continue to do what I've been doing and hopefully stay injury free.
Thanks for reading this……It's been a great year of results...2011 will be fun
Here's the accompanying race report.
Background:
I was really looking forward to this race. I've never competed at a national meet and wanted to see how I would stack up against the best 50-54 year old athletes in the country.
This was my third "A" race this season. Memphis in May and Boise 70.3 in June were the first two. I had a build phase and taper for each of the first two. Needless to say, I wasn't sure how my body would respond to the third go round. Those worries were unfounded. It seemed to handle it just fine. I had three of my four biggest volume weeks of the year (20+ hours of training) in this final build and a two week reduction in volume and taper period.
Pre-race:
Dottie and I traveled down to Tuscaloosa Alabama with Daniela Williams, a friend and awesome triathlete in the 30-34 age group. The ride down was uneventful and ended with dinner at a great BBQ joint close to the hotel. Please note, this is the last time in this report you'll see the word "uneventful".
We woke up early and drove to the race venue to take care of our prerace workouts and course recon. As I was loading the bikes up afterward, I placed my aero helmet on bumper and reminded myself to not forget to pick it up and put it in the car...well, as you've already surmised, that didn't happen. We got back to the hotel and crap...no aero helmet. I went back and retraced our steps but it was gone..my guess is if you check the Tuscaloosa Craigslist today, it'll be there.
So, we went to Plan B....the race expo would surely have at least one brand on sale...nope. Nothing. On to Plan C..check out the local bike shops and pick one up....nope. There wasn't one for sale in the entire city.. The guys at the shop said I was the second person that day to come in an try to buy an aero helmet...the first guy ended up driving over an hour away to Birmingham Alabama. I wasn't driving to Birmingham so we went to Plan D...D for Duct Tape. I bought the cheapest helmet I could find and a roll of duct tape..here is the result. It's ugly...the helmet that is...and it was hotter than hell wearing it but the I 'think" it was faster than a typical helmet...Here's the end result.
Duct Tape Man.....Pathetic
Race Day:
We arrived on site early and went through the usual prerace prep and set up. The first glitch had to do with the race officials not letting me bring my trainer into the transition area. We weren't able to take the bikes out and get in a warm-up so I brought my trainer in take care of that....even though it was mentioned in the pre-race webinar we could, they wouldn't let us...no worries though. No one else was warming up either. At this time, I notice my hear rate monitor wasn't working...shit. I use heart rate to monitor my effort and as a whip to make sure I'm working as hard as I can. This race was going to be run with zero technology and exclusively by feel. I've read that a "low arousal" rate is important when racing..I kept that in mind and just went about my business and knew that I'd be fine
Swim:
The swim course was in the Black Warrior river. It was not wet suit legal and the current that plagued the event last year was not in play this year. My swim this year has been up and down. I hoped today it would be up. I needed to have a good one so I wouldn't have to dig myself out of too big a hole. At a race of this caliber, everyone can bike and run so the chances of me coming out of the water back in pack and doing well were slim. Thankfully, I felt pretty strong today. I was really focused on my stroke and felt like I was moving through the water pretty well. It was as good as I could do with my present stroke
Division place: 8th
Time: 25:44
Bike:
The bike course was a two loop affair with two substantial hills on each loop. It was tough but fair. Even though it didn't suite my riding style and strengths, I liked it. Because of my present wt of 160, I'm not a good climber but the descents were awesome. I hit 42mph on one of them.
I never felt smooth on the ride. I just felt average today. I'm not sure why....I just wasn't sharp. Because of no heart rate monitor, I couldn't really quantify how much work I was doing. I was just riding as hard as I could. On the first lap I yo-yoed back and forth with a guy in my age group. He'd dance by me going up the hills and then I'd fly by him on the descents. I wasn't working at my limit that early in the race, so I kinda figured that I'd put him behind me eventually. That happened about 3/4's of the way through the first lap and I never saw him again. Apparently, I passed another guy somewhere on the course but I never saw him. Today was the first time I left T1 with my shoes clipped in. I had them suspended by rubber bands and was able to slip my feet in after the mount line. I practice it over the last couple of weeks and it worked great. My transition time was one of the better ones today...
Division place: 5th
Bike time and pace: 1:03:54/23.7mph
Run:
The run course was one loop with two pretty tough hills. I've had some pretty good training runs over the last month and was pretty confident that I'd do well. That turned out to be true. As I left T2, I felt heavy and the snap wasn't there..yet. As the race went on, I felt stronger and stronger. I'm pretty sure my last mile was the fastest. It was my best 10K run off a bike ever. That is exciting to see as I've been running for years and didn't think I'd ever PR again. On of my triathlon goals was to run a sub 40 10K and today it happened.
Run nutriton: two Powergels and a half cup of water at each aid station..probably about 16 oz total.Division place: 2
Run Time and pace: 39:37/6:23
Post-race:
Overall Division place: 2
Overall Race time: 2:10:30
First things first... I need to do a shout out to my wife....Dottie has been my biggest supporter and I would not be where I'm at without her support and love. I am blessed to have her as my partner. In the marriage arena, I have truly "overachieved".
I'd grade today's race at an 8 out of 10.
I swam to my capabilities.
I biked below my capabilities.
I transitioned to my capabilities.
I exceeded my capabilities on the run.
I was happy with today’s results and one of these days I'm going to have a complete race..today was close, but not quite. I'm sure the jiggered aero helmet and not having heart rate #'s cost me some time on the bike.
As I look at my results and assess what my strengths and weaknesses are, this is what I see.
• My swim absolutely is holding me back from being a complete athlete. I will never be able to truly excel at this sport until I can consistently come out of the water in the first group. I'm not sure what I'll do this winter to improve, but I have to do something.
• I need to continue to work hard on the bike. I've gained ground this past year and with the addition of a power meter this winter, I think I'll be able to continue to improve.
• I love to run. I'll continue to do what I've been doing and hopefully stay injury free.
Thanks for reading this……It's been a great year of results...2011 will be fun
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