After a couple of solid training weeks, I was ready to race. I felt like a bum during my taper this past week as I was doing a lot of nothing. I am reading a great book that I got for Christmas entitled "Unbroken." Anyways, last weekend I decided to compete in a local sprint Tri to get in a solid effort 1 week out from Kansas and I knew it wouldn't take too much out of me. After some difficulties with the course, I did manage to pull out the win but I could definitely tell I needed to rest more as I didn't feel great in either the swim, bike, or run.
This past Thursday, Casey and I hit the road to St. Louis as we stayed with her parents Thursday evening before heading to Lawrence on Friday. Friday we made it to Lawrence and had a fabulous homestay with Marc. He has an amazing home and Casey and I really enjoyed staying with his family. We even got to Karaoke on Saturday for our evening entertainment.
Saturday was a lot of short, easy workouts, eating food, Pro meeting, and just chilling. I watch the Adidas Grand Prix Track meet on TV and rested before heading out to dinner.
Sunday morning came and I was ready to roll. I got everything ready, set up my T2 before heading down to T1 by the water. At 6:15, I had my wetsuit on and was ready to get started. At 6:30, the gun went off. I had a great starting position on the inside and got out pretty good. I found some feet after about 100 - 200 of swimming and I stayed right where I was for the next 600 - 700 meters. I started to fall off pace just a tad but was really fatigued for some reason. This was the warmest water that I've used my wetsuit in many years and I was getting very over heated. My shoulders were a little tired as I didn't swim in my wetsuit very much leading up to the race as I didn't expect to use it, but these are all just excuses. I lost those feet just before the first turn, and also got hit by a big wave right as I took a breath so it took me 6 - 8 strokes to catch my breath. By that time, a 10 meter gap had opened and I was in no man's land for the return trip to shore. This felt like the longest swim ever. The wind was howling and pushing me to the left so I was swimming like a snake trying to fight the current of the water as I came back to shore. I came out off the water with no one in sight and a feeling that I was in dead last. I hopped on my bike and I was off.
I felt terrible for these first 5 miles on the bike, I had trouble getting my feet in my shoes, and also had a direct head wind. I thought about stopping but figured that I had traveled too far to just stop. I put my head down and went after those guys up the road. I kept my eye on my power and pushed the pace. I caught one guy around mile 8, then didn't see anyone else until Zach Ruble flew by me around mile 22. I caught a few others but wasn't really making up much time on the leaders. The wind was brutal for most of the bike and I was not a happy camper. I had a decent wattage average for my bike split but the time was really slow compared to other years here at Kansas. I came into T2 in about 13 or 14th position with a group of guys just 1 minute up the road or so. I knew if I could put together one of my usual runs, I would most likely catch them.
2 miles into the run I felt terrible. My legs were heavy and I felt like I was slogging along. I passed Zach pretty early in the run but everyone else had at least a minute on me. I held pace for the first lap and loosened up a little but never felt great. Around mile 8, I could finally see places 10th and 11th running together. I passed them around mile 9 - 9.5 and put some good time on them. I was happy to be in 10th given how terrible I felt and knew that 8th place still had a good distance on me. I just ran it in and managed to sneek into 9th position thanks to a guy who went a little too hard on the bike. I crossed the line in 9th place and was extremely happy to be finished.
I am really sore as my shoulders, back, legs, hips, knees, and stomach are all making it hard for me to move normally today. I'm thinking a lot of laying around, or hanging out by the pool if the sun comes out, is my plan for the day. I'm racing in the Muncie 70.3 race in a few weeks but I have 2 good weeks of R&R which will be spent at the Lake this week and then at the beach in Florida next week.
Tony
Monday, June 13, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Training Update...
I haven't posted in a couple of weeks so I thought I could give a little update as to how my training is going. I'm currently waiting for my breakfast to settle before I head out the door for a run workout. I woke up starving for some reason so I had to eat a little bit. This past week was the biggest overall training volume week of my life. I hit just over 26 hours total of training. I put in roughly 210 miles on the bike, 57ish on the run, and then somewhere around 32k in the pool. I had several key workouts last week which included hill repeats on both the run and the bike, and then some 70.3 work on both the run and the bike. Some of those 70.3 specific workouts on the bike SUCK!!! They are just mind numbing and hard to find a great place outside to do them without running into a stop sign, traffic, or stop light. I ended up going on the computrainer as it would allow me to control some of the external factors and allow for me to not worry about having to stop during any of my efforts. I had a fantastic run workout Sunday morning that also doubled as my long run for the week so I feel like I have had some great work heading into Kansas 70.3 in less than 2 weeks. But, something that comes with great training is great Recovery days, haha. I slept in yesterday (Memorial Day) as I had toyed around with the idea of doing a local 5k. I woke up and just felt spent. I had a HUGE breakfast and then could not get off of the couch. I then had a decent sized lunch and went to the pool just to hang out. After the pool, I came home only to lay on the couch some more before heading out to dinner with Casey. We topped the night off with a good movie. So, Memorial Day was a success in the fact that I did absolutely nothing productive (other than laundry).
There is a little Sprint Triathlon this weekend in the Louisville area that I'm using as a tune up this coming weekend. Just something to get the competitve juices flowing and get a little speed in before I go races some of the big boys in Lawrence, Kansas.
Tony
There is a little Sprint Triathlon this weekend in the Louisville area that I'm using as a tune up this coming weekend. Just something to get the competitve juices flowing and get a little speed in before I go races some of the big boys in Lawrence, Kansas.
Tony
Friday, May 20, 2011
Rev 3 Knoxville Pics
While we waited for them to let us walk down to the water, Matty Reed makes some small talk with Lisska and I about our wetsuits. Lisska and I both have the new "Marlin" Profile Design wetsuit while Matty already has the Marlin 2 (not yet available). And he told us they have to make a custom suit for him since he's so tall.
Coming back into T2.
This is roughly 1.5 - 2 miles into the run. I got this pic from Competitor.com. They refer to it as the "look back" haha.
This was around 3.5 miles or so into the run and I had just put in a little surge trying to gap myself from Thompson and Richie.
Running out of T1 with my Planet X in hand. Look David Thompson is in yet another race photo with me.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Rev 3 Knoxville RR
This past weekend was the 2nd annual Rev3 Knoxville race. I wasn't in shape to be competitive last year and was upset with myself that I wasn't competing so I made sure to be there this year in good shape. Knoxville is only about 170 miles from Lexington so it makes for a fast trip. It is definitely the closest prize money race (excluding IM Louisville). I headed down on Friday and met up with my team director to get some goodies from the team. I rocked my new US Pro Tri racing kit during the race thanks to Champion System. The uniform was super comfortable and definitely got some attention as I made it in two different photo galleries from the race. I drove to one of my good friends' in-laws' house as that is where I would be staying for the weekend and called it a night. The Cochrans treated me like I was a king and I want to thank them for that. I had a fantastic time staying at their house and was very relaxed the whole weekend. Mrs. Cochran made us rice krispie treats and Strawberry Shortcakes. They were amazing.
Saturday I got my shake out workouts out of the way early, then relaxed for most of the day before we had some great Italian food that evening. Race day rolled around and I was feeling good. After setting up my transition area, I headed down to the race start with my Profile Design Marlin wetsuit since the water temp was below 68. While I was hanging out before the start, Kevin Lisska and I (my teammate) were putting on our wetsuits and Matty Reed came over and gave us a hard time since he already had the Marlin 2 (which I don't believe has been released to the public). At 5 minutes til 7, they walked us down to the water and let us get in. At 7am, we were off.
I got a starting position very close to shore since we would be swimming up stream for the first 500 or so meters. It was great to have some open water and not have to fight with a ton of guys like I did at St. A's. I had a good start and settled into the group around 300 - 400 meters. We hit the turn buoys and were headed back down stream. It was pretty uneventful as I just sat on some feet the whole time back. I ws stuck behind at least 5 - 8 guys all of which seemed like they were swimming side-by-side. I knew it would be stupid to try and get around them so I just enjoyed the ride. We came out of the water and my brother yelled at me that we were the main pack and only 5 guys were in front of us. I had a good T1 and got out with the lead guys from our group. I recognized a few names in our group and knew they were strong cyclists so I knew I would have to go hard to stay with them. I put my head down and forced myself to not let those guys go. I stayed in touch the whole bike ride and was even pushing the pace at several points. We caught 1 guy up the road so when we came back into T2, I was roughly 6th or 7th place as I headed out onto the run. Richie Cunningham and David Thompson both were with me running out of T2. We were 6th - 8th positions. We were chasing after Joe Gambles who was roughly 20 - 30 seconds up the road and we were running away from the other guys that were in our bike group. Thompson pushed the pace for the first mile or so until I took the lead and tried to make a little gap. I was unsuccessful so we just ran hard until we hit the turn around point at around 2.5 miles. About a mile later, we hit a hill and I tried to get away again. Again, I was unsuccessful and we were all still together. Richie took off with about 1.5 miles to go and I couldn't go with him. Thompson responded so they both put about 10 meters on me. It stayed that way to the finish with Richie managing to gap Thompson before the finish line. I crossed in 8th position in a time just over 1:52. I was extremely happy with my performance but it would have been nice to finish 6th instead of 8th. After the race, my dad treated my brother, Kevin, Casey, and myself to Calhoun's on-the-river, which was amazing as always.
Congrats to Matty Reed for pulling out the win and Cam Dye for finishing 2nd. They were really flying out on the road. Thanks again to the Cochrans for letting me stay at their house. Thanks to my dad, brother, and girlfriend for traveling down to Knoxville to watch me race as I'm always excited to have support at races.
I now have a 3 weekend break from racing and next up is Kansas 70.3 on the 12th of June.
Thanks for reading.
T-Bird
Check out these 2 sites for some photos from the race. The photo albums are both entitled "Rev 3 Knoxville"
www.triathlon.competitor.com
www.lavamagazine.com
Saturday I got my shake out workouts out of the way early, then relaxed for most of the day before we had some great Italian food that evening. Race day rolled around and I was feeling good. After setting up my transition area, I headed down to the race start with my Profile Design Marlin wetsuit since the water temp was below 68. While I was hanging out before the start, Kevin Lisska and I (my teammate) were putting on our wetsuits and Matty Reed came over and gave us a hard time since he already had the Marlin 2 (which I don't believe has been released to the public). At 5 minutes til 7, they walked us down to the water and let us get in. At 7am, we were off.
I got a starting position very close to shore since we would be swimming up stream for the first 500 or so meters. It was great to have some open water and not have to fight with a ton of guys like I did at St. A's. I had a good start and settled into the group around 300 - 400 meters. We hit the turn buoys and were headed back down stream. It was pretty uneventful as I just sat on some feet the whole time back. I ws stuck behind at least 5 - 8 guys all of which seemed like they were swimming side-by-side. I knew it would be stupid to try and get around them so I just enjoyed the ride. We came out of the water and my brother yelled at me that we were the main pack and only 5 guys were in front of us. I had a good T1 and got out with the lead guys from our group. I recognized a few names in our group and knew they were strong cyclists so I knew I would have to go hard to stay with them. I put my head down and forced myself to not let those guys go. I stayed in touch the whole bike ride and was even pushing the pace at several points. We caught 1 guy up the road so when we came back into T2, I was roughly 6th or 7th place as I headed out onto the run. Richie Cunningham and David Thompson both were with me running out of T2. We were 6th - 8th positions. We were chasing after Joe Gambles who was roughly 20 - 30 seconds up the road and we were running away from the other guys that were in our bike group. Thompson pushed the pace for the first mile or so until I took the lead and tried to make a little gap. I was unsuccessful so we just ran hard until we hit the turn around point at around 2.5 miles. About a mile later, we hit a hill and I tried to get away again. Again, I was unsuccessful and we were all still together. Richie took off with about 1.5 miles to go and I couldn't go with him. Thompson responded so they both put about 10 meters on me. It stayed that way to the finish with Richie managing to gap Thompson before the finish line. I crossed in 8th position in a time just over 1:52. I was extremely happy with my performance but it would have been nice to finish 6th instead of 8th. After the race, my dad treated my brother, Kevin, Casey, and myself to Calhoun's on-the-river, which was amazing as always.
Congrats to Matty Reed for pulling out the win and Cam Dye for finishing 2nd. They were really flying out on the road. Thanks again to the Cochrans for letting me stay at their house. Thanks to my dad, brother, and girlfriend for traveling down to Knoxville to watch me race as I'm always excited to have support at races.
I now have a 3 weekend break from racing and next up is Kansas 70.3 on the 12th of June.
Thanks for reading.
T-Bird
Check out these 2 sites for some photos from the race. The photo albums are both entitled "Rev 3 Knoxville"
www.triathlon.competitor.com
www.lavamagazine.com
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
St. A's RR
And another race is in the books. This is my 4th race of the year and it is just barely May. I am pumped to be racing this early, but get frustrated when I'm not finishing like I want to. I have to keep reminding myself that I have experimented with some "off" distances and that it is still VERY early in the year.
I decided to make this a shorter trip so that I could stick to my usual routine for a little bit longer. A lot of the races that I've competed in this year has been a 5+ day trip. On Thursday, I got everything packed while getting in my normal workouts for the day. I drove to Corbin that evening and prepared to leave for Tampa first thing Friday morning. Friday was pretty uneventful. Just drove the 700+ miles down to St. Petersburg from Corbin and actually made really good time. I got to my homestay's house around 4pm and went out for a little shake out jog. I should mention that Jeff was an amazing homestay and I don't think I could have had a better place to stay. He provided me with everything that I needed, and was a great host. He only lived a few miles from the race site as well, so it made for very easy travel. He took me to the "Mad Dogs" (the St. Pete Tri Club) cookout Friday night and got to meet several other pros and local triathletes while enjoying some great food. I recognized a few guys, but the club asked all of the pros to stand and there were about 20 of us there, most of which I didn't recognize. I found out that a lot of these guys were from Europe, Australia, or New Zealand and were visiting the US for the first time.
After the cookout, Jeff took me to a chill, little bar in downtown St. Pete to try some of the local brews and listen to a little live music. We only hung out for about an hour as I had had a long day and was ready for bed. Saturday morning I slept in, went for a little bike ride with Jeff, grabbed a snack and went over to the swim course to get in an open water swim. A few years ago I swam in the Gulf as that was where my hotel was and it was as smooth as glass when the Bay was rough and choppy. I figured I better swim the actual swim course this time to get used to the chop and rough conditions. The swim was good, then went back to shower at the house, and made it back just in time for the Pro meeting at the Pier. This is, BY FAR, my favorite pro meeting as they provide us with plenty of great food. Philip LaHaye does an amazing job with the race and treats every pro like they are the returning champ. He really emphasized to make sure that no one was drafting and that the swim course may change due to the predicted wind directions/speed. He had a "Plan B" which most races do not plan for and had everything ready to roll on race morning as the wind was as expected and he had to go to plan B. After the meeting I just went back to the house and hung out before we dropped off Jeff's bike in transitions and found a good place to eat. After stopping at the grocery on the way home, I was lounging on the couch watching the Penn Relays and enjoying just doing nothing by 8pm.
Race morning rolled around which meant a very early wake up call. I drove just down the road to get some McDonald's coffee (as was my only close option) and then came back to the house to get everything ready. At 5:15, I left the house and rode my bike down to the race as it was only 4 or 5 miles. I got everything set up, and was ready to race. They did move the swim to "Plan B" and it is only a 1000 meter swim but it was still a swim. Most races either cancel the swim or make it a duathlon so I wasn't displeased with the decision. Around 7 am, the gun went off and we sprinted into the water. It was a long run on the beach at the start as I'm used to starting very close to the water line and this was roughly 60 - 80 meters until we hit the water. I took the outside as it was only 100 meters or so to the turn buoy which made for a crazy turn since we all hit it at the same time. I learned my lesson from Clermont and went a little wide this time. I only got dunked twice in that first minute or so. I found some feet and swam. We made the final turn and I lost those feet. We had a 150 degree turn to the next buoy and I turned to go to that swim buoy. Everyone else made a 90 degree turn and swam straight to the beach as it was closer. I took a breath to the left and saw guys running down the beach as I was still swimming. I immediately turned and swam straight to shore and then ran the rest of the way down the beach to the "swim exit." I lost a little time during that last 2 - 3 minutes of the swim course by not sticking with the group and going straight over to the beach. We had a long run to T1 and I was out on my bike.
This was my first race on my new Planet X w/ a Quarq Powermeter so I was able to see what kind of power I was putting out during this race but was definitely not letting it restrict me as I needed to catch guys up the road. Before the 5 mile mark, I caught a pack or 4-5 guys and passed them. I caught another guy around mile 10 and the rest of the way was lonely riding. I never really pulled away from the pack so I saw 1 - 2 of those guys towards the end of the ride and we went into T2 together. I had a good transition and was off and running. Two guys ran by me before the 1st mile mark so I thought I was running slow until I saw a 5:15 for my first mile. I tried to maintain this pace as best as possible. I managed to settle into pace and clicked off a few 5:30 miles for the next couple of miles. I got to the turn around point just over 17 minutes and there were a couple of guys that hit the turn around right before me so I was chasing a few guys down. The last 3 miles were pretty uneventful as I did manage to catch a few guys and held 5:30 pace until the finish line. I ran just over 34 minutes which was a PR for me off of the bike. I had no idea where I finished but I knew I wasn't close to the top 10. I cooled down, grabbed some food, got a massage, talked with a bunch of buddies that I haven't seen in a while, and then got my bike. My homestay finished right as I finished all of these things so I talked with him for a few minutes before riding back to the house and packing up the car to hit the road.
It's amazing how less sore you are when you race for less than 1/2 of my usual distance and when you actually cool down after a race. I was pleased with my effort as I got some good numbers from my Quarq about my bike split, and ran a solid 10k off the bike. I need to fight more in the first few 100 yards of the swim but 70.3 swims are nothing like these ITU style swims where everyone is capable of swimming a fast 1.5k.
Thanks again to Jeff for a spectacular homestay and to Philip for putting on a great race. I may just have to go back next year.
Next up: Rev 3 Knoxville - May 15th.
Tony
I decided to make this a shorter trip so that I could stick to my usual routine for a little bit longer. A lot of the races that I've competed in this year has been a 5+ day trip. On Thursday, I got everything packed while getting in my normal workouts for the day. I drove to Corbin that evening and prepared to leave for Tampa first thing Friday morning. Friday was pretty uneventful. Just drove the 700+ miles down to St. Petersburg from Corbin and actually made really good time. I got to my homestay's house around 4pm and went out for a little shake out jog. I should mention that Jeff was an amazing homestay and I don't think I could have had a better place to stay. He provided me with everything that I needed, and was a great host. He only lived a few miles from the race site as well, so it made for very easy travel. He took me to the "Mad Dogs" (the St. Pete Tri Club) cookout Friday night and got to meet several other pros and local triathletes while enjoying some great food. I recognized a few guys, but the club asked all of the pros to stand and there were about 20 of us there, most of which I didn't recognize. I found out that a lot of these guys were from Europe, Australia, or New Zealand and were visiting the US for the first time.
After the cookout, Jeff took me to a chill, little bar in downtown St. Pete to try some of the local brews and listen to a little live music. We only hung out for about an hour as I had had a long day and was ready for bed. Saturday morning I slept in, went for a little bike ride with Jeff, grabbed a snack and went over to the swim course to get in an open water swim. A few years ago I swam in the Gulf as that was where my hotel was and it was as smooth as glass when the Bay was rough and choppy. I figured I better swim the actual swim course this time to get used to the chop and rough conditions. The swim was good, then went back to shower at the house, and made it back just in time for the Pro meeting at the Pier. This is, BY FAR, my favorite pro meeting as they provide us with plenty of great food. Philip LaHaye does an amazing job with the race and treats every pro like they are the returning champ. He really emphasized to make sure that no one was drafting and that the swim course may change due to the predicted wind directions/speed. He had a "Plan B" which most races do not plan for and had everything ready to roll on race morning as the wind was as expected and he had to go to plan B. After the meeting I just went back to the house and hung out before we dropped off Jeff's bike in transitions and found a good place to eat. After stopping at the grocery on the way home, I was lounging on the couch watching the Penn Relays and enjoying just doing nothing by 8pm.
Race morning rolled around which meant a very early wake up call. I drove just down the road to get some McDonald's coffee (as was my only close option) and then came back to the house to get everything ready. At 5:15, I left the house and rode my bike down to the race as it was only 4 or 5 miles. I got everything set up, and was ready to race. They did move the swim to "Plan B" and it is only a 1000 meter swim but it was still a swim. Most races either cancel the swim or make it a duathlon so I wasn't displeased with the decision. Around 7 am, the gun went off and we sprinted into the water. It was a long run on the beach at the start as I'm used to starting very close to the water line and this was roughly 60 - 80 meters until we hit the water. I took the outside as it was only 100 meters or so to the turn buoy which made for a crazy turn since we all hit it at the same time. I learned my lesson from Clermont and went a little wide this time. I only got dunked twice in that first minute or so. I found some feet and swam. We made the final turn and I lost those feet. We had a 150 degree turn to the next buoy and I turned to go to that swim buoy. Everyone else made a 90 degree turn and swam straight to the beach as it was closer. I took a breath to the left and saw guys running down the beach as I was still swimming. I immediately turned and swam straight to shore and then ran the rest of the way down the beach to the "swim exit." I lost a little time during that last 2 - 3 minutes of the swim course by not sticking with the group and going straight over to the beach. We had a long run to T1 and I was out on my bike.
This was my first race on my new Planet X w/ a Quarq Powermeter so I was able to see what kind of power I was putting out during this race but was definitely not letting it restrict me as I needed to catch guys up the road. Before the 5 mile mark, I caught a pack or 4-5 guys and passed them. I caught another guy around mile 10 and the rest of the way was lonely riding. I never really pulled away from the pack so I saw 1 - 2 of those guys towards the end of the ride and we went into T2 together. I had a good transition and was off and running. Two guys ran by me before the 1st mile mark so I thought I was running slow until I saw a 5:15 for my first mile. I tried to maintain this pace as best as possible. I managed to settle into pace and clicked off a few 5:30 miles for the next couple of miles. I got to the turn around point just over 17 minutes and there were a couple of guys that hit the turn around right before me so I was chasing a few guys down. The last 3 miles were pretty uneventful as I did manage to catch a few guys and held 5:30 pace until the finish line. I ran just over 34 minutes which was a PR for me off of the bike. I had no idea where I finished but I knew I wasn't close to the top 10. I cooled down, grabbed some food, got a massage, talked with a bunch of buddies that I haven't seen in a while, and then got my bike. My homestay finished right as I finished all of these things so I talked with him for a few minutes before riding back to the house and packing up the car to hit the road.
It's amazing how less sore you are when you race for less than 1/2 of my usual distance and when you actually cool down after a race. I was pleased with my effort as I got some good numbers from my Quarq about my bike split, and ran a solid 10k off the bike. I need to fight more in the first few 100 yards of the swim but 70.3 swims are nothing like these ITU style swims where everyone is capable of swimming a fast 1.5k.
Thanks again to Jeff for a spectacular homestay and to Philip for putting on a great race. I may just have to go back next year.
Next up: Rev 3 Knoxville - May 15th.
Tony
Thursday, April 21, 2011
NOLA 70.3 RR
Sorry for the delayed posting, but I am back in Lexington and back in full swing with training and work. This past weekend I traveled down to New Orleans with a big crew from Lexington to compete in the 70.3 race there. We left Lexington on Thursday morning in a 15 passenger van which had 4 passengers and 6 bikes along with lots of race bags and suit cases. We made it work and had a pretty good trip down. Once we got there I went for a little shake out jog through downtown New Orleans and then we went on a journey to find some good creole. We were successful but it was expensive.
Friday and Saturday were much of the same as we were getting in a few short workouts, fighting the wind in the process, and then looking for places to eat that wouldn't break the bank. I did get a great breakfast Saturday morning at the host hotel. I had a crawfish omelette, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and some french toast which was amazing. I did get in the lake that we would be swimming in Saturday afternoon and it was very choppy. It was some of the worst water conditions that I've swam in so it made me wonder about the race the next day.
Sunday morning rolled around and it was still kind of windy. We made it down to transition and started to get everything set up when Tom Z. came by to let me know they decided to cancel the swim. Then a few minutes later, they announced it over the loudspeaker that the swim was cancelled. I understood the decision, but was a little frustrated considering my current swim fitness. They decided to start the Pro's in a TT format with :30 between each person. This was the best decision as they considered to make us run a 1/2 mile run before the bike which would have done nothing to break up the Pros.
Anyways, I was number 33 so I was probably 7th or 8th from last of the men's pro field to start with all of the "top" guys seeded 1 - 10. So I would be starting at least 5 - 10 minutes behind some of the faster guys that I could pace off of. The start was built up and then much of a let down as only 1 guy started at a time and it really wasn't that exciting, haha. About 15 minutes after the first guy took off, I started. The first 3 miles were with the whipping wind, I averaged over 29 mph for this section AND THEN I turned into the wind. Mile 3 - 16 were directly into the wind. I caught 1 guy up the road but had 2 - 3 guys catch me during this section. We got a break for about 2 - 3 miles after a right hand turn but then turned back into a head wind before the 20 mile mark and stayed in this direction until the 28th mile. That U turn was my favorite of the whole race, haha. We turned around and immediately my current speed went from 21ish to 29ish mph. I stayed about where I was for the remainder of the bike as I did catch a few guys but also had 1 or 2 more guys catch me. I came into transition feeling like I was close to last place as I had roughly 4 - 5 guys pass me and I was one of the last pro's to start.
I ran through T2 (BTW, I wore socks since we didn't have to swim) and got to my rack position. I slipped my first shoe on and felt something in my shoe. I looked at my other sock and realized I had roughly 80 burs (those little tiny spikey things that stick to your clothes) on the bottom of my foot and it would have taken forever to remove them so I just put my shoes on and took off on the run.
All I could think about for that first mile or so was all of those little burs on my feet, but I started to fatigue a little after that so I stopped focusing on my feet. I passed 3 - 4 guys in the first 2 - 3 miles of the run and was trying to catch a few others. Even if I was running faster than some of the guys in front of me, I wouldn't know it because they started so far in front of me. I was holding a decent pace and I kept pushing. I knew there were valuable WC 70.3 points on the line and I need to get all that I can. I managed not to fall off too bad towards the end of the race and I caught one last guy before I made it to the finish line. I had no idea what my finishing place was or what my time was but I didn't care at the moment.
I immediately pulled my shoes off and got rid of my socks as they were still covered with all of the burs. I was smart about my "swim bag" as I put my jacket in it and also my phone, so I was able to get my bag from the bag check and look up the results on ironman live. I found out that I had finished 15th, which I was hoping for a better finish, but I knew that there were some really fast guys that I was racing, and also some guys that were really strong cyclists/runners that can't swim. I am confident that my placing would have been better if the swim would not have been cancelled.
After the race I waited around for my fellow racers from Lexington while I talked amongst the Pros about their races. I grabbed a little food and we took the shuttle back to the transition area to get our bikes.
That evening I was able to walk down Bourbon St. and find some good Creole food. I tried some boiled Crawfish, raw Oysters, and then a few PoBoys to catch up on my caloric deficit from earlier in the day. And of course I had to try the beignets from Cafe du Monde. They were very good but I think I prefer regular donuts from Krispie Kreme or Dunkin' Donuts.
Next up: St. Anthony's Tri on May 1st.
Tony
Friday and Saturday were much of the same as we were getting in a few short workouts, fighting the wind in the process, and then looking for places to eat that wouldn't break the bank. I did get a great breakfast Saturday morning at the host hotel. I had a crawfish omelette, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and some french toast which was amazing. I did get in the lake that we would be swimming in Saturday afternoon and it was very choppy. It was some of the worst water conditions that I've swam in so it made me wonder about the race the next day.
Sunday morning rolled around and it was still kind of windy. We made it down to transition and started to get everything set up when Tom Z. came by to let me know they decided to cancel the swim. Then a few minutes later, they announced it over the loudspeaker that the swim was cancelled. I understood the decision, but was a little frustrated considering my current swim fitness. They decided to start the Pro's in a TT format with :30 between each person. This was the best decision as they considered to make us run a 1/2 mile run before the bike which would have done nothing to break up the Pros.
Anyways, I was number 33 so I was probably 7th or 8th from last of the men's pro field to start with all of the "top" guys seeded 1 - 10. So I would be starting at least 5 - 10 minutes behind some of the faster guys that I could pace off of. The start was built up and then much of a let down as only 1 guy started at a time and it really wasn't that exciting, haha. About 15 minutes after the first guy took off, I started. The first 3 miles were with the whipping wind, I averaged over 29 mph for this section AND THEN I turned into the wind. Mile 3 - 16 were directly into the wind. I caught 1 guy up the road but had 2 - 3 guys catch me during this section. We got a break for about 2 - 3 miles after a right hand turn but then turned back into a head wind before the 20 mile mark and stayed in this direction until the 28th mile. That U turn was my favorite of the whole race, haha. We turned around and immediately my current speed went from 21ish to 29ish mph. I stayed about where I was for the remainder of the bike as I did catch a few guys but also had 1 or 2 more guys catch me. I came into transition feeling like I was close to last place as I had roughly 4 - 5 guys pass me and I was one of the last pro's to start.
I ran through T2 (BTW, I wore socks since we didn't have to swim) and got to my rack position. I slipped my first shoe on and felt something in my shoe. I looked at my other sock and realized I had roughly 80 burs (those little tiny spikey things that stick to your clothes) on the bottom of my foot and it would have taken forever to remove them so I just put my shoes on and took off on the run.
All I could think about for that first mile or so was all of those little burs on my feet, but I started to fatigue a little after that so I stopped focusing on my feet. I passed 3 - 4 guys in the first 2 - 3 miles of the run and was trying to catch a few others. Even if I was running faster than some of the guys in front of me, I wouldn't know it because they started so far in front of me. I was holding a decent pace and I kept pushing. I knew there were valuable WC 70.3 points on the line and I need to get all that I can. I managed not to fall off too bad towards the end of the race and I caught one last guy before I made it to the finish line. I had no idea what my finishing place was or what my time was but I didn't care at the moment.
I immediately pulled my shoes off and got rid of my socks as they were still covered with all of the burs. I was smart about my "swim bag" as I put my jacket in it and also my phone, so I was able to get my bag from the bag check and look up the results on ironman live. I found out that I had finished 15th, which I was hoping for a better finish, but I knew that there were some really fast guys that I was racing, and also some guys that were really strong cyclists/runners that can't swim. I am confident that my placing would have been better if the swim would not have been cancelled.
After the race I waited around for my fellow racers from Lexington while I talked amongst the Pros about their races. I grabbed a little food and we took the shuttle back to the transition area to get our bikes.
That evening I was able to walk down Bourbon St. and find some good Creole food. I tried some boiled Crawfish, raw Oysters, and then a few PoBoys to catch up on my caloric deficit from earlier in the day. And of course I had to try the beignets from Cafe du Monde. They were very good but I think I prefer regular donuts from Krispie Kreme or Dunkin' Donuts.
Next up: St. Anthony's Tri on May 1st.
Tony
Monday, April 4, 2011
Swimming - Part 2
So, after Augusta, I decided I was going to swim more and do harder workouts. Swimming is the easiest of the 3 sports for me to talk myself out of a hard workout. I may go to the pool thinking about maybe doing 6 x 400 HBA, or 20 x 100 on a hard interval and once I get in the water, it just sounds better to do the Master's workout of the day as it was easier, or to throw on some paddles because I LOVE to swim with paddles. I had 1.5 months before Clearwater 70.3 and I needed to be with the main pack out of the water if I wanted a chance to finish well. I committed myself for the following month to at least be in the water 4 days a week swimming. I was doing some really challenging bike / run workouts so adding in yardage in the pool was a challenge. I did successfully add in harder workouts in the water, but my yardage stayed about the same as it had been before. I was only hitting around 20,000 yards because I was only swimming 4ish days a week, but was feeling better in the water because of the threshold workouts. I went into Clearwater and had a decent swim but nothing spectacular. I came out of the water with some strong cyclists, but had an average T1 and was left in the dust. At least at Augusta I was able to pace off of Chris Legh when he passed me early in the bike to help catch some of the other guys. At Clearwater, Legh and a few others beat me out of T1 so I had no one to pace off of and the few guys that I was catching were slightly weaker cyclists than me, so we were not making up ground on the main pack. I ended up in no man's land and had a pretty average race. After Clearwater, I took it easy for a few weeks, then hit it hard in December. I got my yardage up to over 20,000 yards a week and continued to build from there. I swam over 100,000 yards for January and February, and then March was really close to 100,000 and that included 2 taper weeks for 2 separate races. I have felt a large improvement in my swimming as of late, and I was only 1:05 behind Kahn and O'Donnell at San Juan 70.3. I feel like the only reason I wasn't in the pack was because of the guy in front of me stopping about 1200 into the swim thus opening a small gap from us to the end of the front pack. This is the closest I've been to the leaders in a big race like that and has given me some confidence about my swimming. There are a few small changes I've made in my swimming that have enabled me to do this. 1. Swimming main sets of at least 2400 yards, preferably longer. For distance swimmers I've read it needs to be 3k or more. 2. Lots of drills, and emphasis on 1 arm swimming with the opposite arm at your side. 3. Swimming w/ a pull buoy between your ankles. 4. Cutting back on the # of yards I swim w/ paddles. These three things have helped A TON. I rely a lot on my kick, even when I pull w/ paddles and a buoy, I still unconsciously kick. When I put the buoy between my ankles, it doesn't allow me to kick at all and makes me focus on rotating my body. It also makes me think about keeping balance without using my kick to stabalize myself. I feel like this has given me a better feel for the water. Also, since I'm actually swimming more and not pulling w/ paddles, this also has allowed me to "feel" the water better. The 1 arm drill is incredibly hard when you don't have good body balance in the water. This has been a great drill for me and allowed me to focus on my body rotation and position in the water. The #1 step was swimming longer main sets. On most days, I would swim 4 - 5k but do this by swimming 1.5k warmup, and then 2 sets of around 1,500, whether they were swim, kick, pull, drill, etc. So my usual swim set was only about a mile in length and then 2,500 on super long days. Once the new year came around, I have tried to do a longer main set even on the easier days, but just swimming slower than usual. If on a harder day I'm holding 1:05 pace per 100, the easier days I'm going over 1:10 pace. And I try to include a lot of backstroke on the recovery swim days just to mix it up and not get burnt out on freestyle. Harder days I'll either have fast intervals and have a goal of just finishing the main set, or focus more on pace and take :10 - :20 rest between intervals while trying to hold the pace. And on the harder days, I'll incorporate a long cool down just to help loosen up and get in a few extra yards. I am still working on my swimming as it is something that I will always be working on, but I swam 21,000 yards last week and that was with a recovery day and a skipped swim workout so I'm pretty pleased with where I have progressed to from just November of last year. Tony
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