2011 Schedule

Last night I decided against the L'Étape du California and chose which marathon will be my first, and with that my race/ride schedule for 2011 has been finalized:

• Hanford Half-Marathon - February 13, 2011
  
• IronBruin Triathlon - March 6, 2011
  
• Santa Clarita Century - April 2, 2011
  
• California Classic Weekend - May 21 - 22, 2011
  
• LA Tri Series, Championship Event 3 - June 11, 2011
  
• GranFondo Los Angeles - June 26, 2011
  
• Hansen Dam Triathlon - August 21, 2011
  
• Magic Mountain Man Triathlon (Long Course) - October 9, 2011
  
• Two Cities Marathon - November 6, 2011
  

No Merced Triathlon this year since the Magic Mountain Man (M3) will be right around the same time. I'm not doing the whole L.A. Tri Series this year but the third race is a Olympic distance and it will probably be hot so it will be a good chance to race a longer race and see how much I have improved since last year before M3, which is my big race for the year. Well, that and the marathon. This will be my third year for the IronBruin, Santa Clarita Century, and Hansen Dam. Should be a fun year!

Report: Inaugural Hanford Half-Marathon

Total Time = 2:02:34
Overall Rank = 73/175
Age Group Rank = 4/7

Pre-race routine

Last meal was lunch the day before. Just water and Gatorade after that. Woke up, eventually got dressed, and drove out to the race.

Event warmup

Did a short run about 20 minutes before start time.

Run

I have really been improving my run the past couple of months so I did some calculations and figured that a good stretch goal was to come in under two hours. I set the pace alarms on my Garmin to 8:00/mile and 9:20/mile so I would stay in the 9:09 neighborhood for the whole race.. I was able to hold this pace somewhat comfortably for the first half of the race. Once I hit mile seven, though, things took a turn. My slow pace alert kept going off and I wasn't able to get back in my target zone without really pushing it. I knew I wouldn't be able to sustain that so I slowed down for the next two miles, hoping that would give me enough rest to pick the pace up again.

Once I did pick the pace up, though, I couldn't hold it in the zone for long. I watched as my average pace dropped to 9:12 and kept getting slower. It was obvious that I wasn't going to go under two hours so I came up with a new goal: to finish the race without dying. I was not feeling good the last miles of this race. Ugh.

Then a funny thing happened: in the last few hundred yards of the race I heard footsteps behind me. Whatever, because I was too tired to care (or so I thought). However, those footsteps finally caught and passed me with 50 yards to go. Really? Oh no you don't! I tracked the runner and with about 20 or 30 yards to go, I accelerated. She matched and we ended up in a full sprint for the finish line! Fun but exhausting. What was I thinking? I did finish ahead of her.

What would you do differently?

First, I should have tried negative splitting the race. Set my pace alarms to, say, 8:15 and 9:45. Then pick it up after seven or eight miles. I'm just not fast enough to hold that pace yet. Next year for sure!

Second, I left my FuelBelt at home. That turned out to be a mistake because the Gatorade on the course was watered down and served in cups that couldn't be folded over (styrofoam or clear plastic). I had to slow down a lot to drink and didn't really get enough. I probably could have used a gel, too.

Warm down

Much walking around. I didn't do this at my last half and I was punished for it with fluid buildup in my lower left leg. I am typing this the day after and, so far, no problems. They gave out an electrolyte drink mix (pour it in the water bottle they gave you) after finishing and it wasn't too bad. What was too bad was that there was no way to tell what it was in case I wanted to buy some later! Too bad for THAT company.

What limited your ability to perform faster?

I'm doubt that having Gatorade and a gel on a FuelBelt would have ended up helping out much. Then again, it may have.

Hey, I finished this race 29 minutes faster than last November's half so I performed plenty fast for me.

Event comments

All my training happens on hilly courses so having a flat one was a treat! Nice small-town race. I look forward to doing it again next year.

Oh, and I just missed out on the podium for my age group but since first place in that group was the overall first place, I have no complaints. :-)

Countdown to Hanford

I ran thirteen miles for the first time at my first half-marathon last November. It was a gently rolling course and my only goal was to finish without stopping, which I did in a time of 2:31 and change. A lot has happened with my running in the last three months and the Hanford Half Marathon's course is much different than Santa Clarita's:

• My recent long training runs are being done at a pace nearly two minutes/mile faster than my training runs in October.
  
• The Hanford course is flat, flat, flat.
  
• My training runs are not, not, not.
  

These things really get the mind working: What pace do I think I can hold? Remember, it's flat. If I think I can hold that pace, do I think I can go faster?

First my goal was to finish with a time of 2:25. Then it was 2:15. Then it was 2:11.

Now, I'm afraid I won't be happy if I come in over 2:00. Which is nuts, I know. Hey, it's not much of a goal if you know for sure that you can achieve it.

Today I Am A (Slow) Runner

Triathlon. Swim, bike, run. I swam in high school and before that so becoming a swimmer again was easy. I'm not sure when I became a cyclist but I suppose it was when I rode my first century. Becoming a runner, though, has been a bit more elusive.

Running has not been fun. In the swim you have the water to float on. On the bike you have gears to downshift into. On the run, though, it's nothing but you vs. gravity and, as a big guy (but getting smaller), I have a lot of gravity. Though things have been getting easier in the past month or two I still didn't consider myself a runner. Not even after my first bloody top on a long run. That changed today. Two weekends from now is the Hanford Half Marathon and this coming weekend I had planned a 6 mile run to wind down before the race. I just changed that plan to a 9 mile run because 9 miles has become so easy. It was after I did that that I realized I had finally become a runner. 9 miles? Easy? Really? Yep. Slow (even when I'm going fast) but easy.

The Next Year...Or Two

Haven't posted anything in a few months. Stuff has come up. Life, mostly. But I've been training all along and am seeing some good progress lately on the run. And even though we're barely into the new year, I find myself with just over a month to go before my next half-marathon and less than two months before my next triathlon.

So what's the plan for the coming year? To answer that, I have to tell you the plan for the coming two years. The plan is simple, really:

1. Magic Mountain Man (M3)Half-Ironman-Distance Race this October.
   
2. Marathon a month or two after that (I have three to choose from and haven't made up my mind yet).
   
3. Ironman Arizona in November 2012.
   

Simple, right? Just train for a marathon later this year, which will get me ready for the run portion of the M3. Ride the M3 bike course during the year (it's really tough). That will get me through this year.

I can do that. I can get through a half-Ironman. I can even get through a marathon. Just keep training and it will come together. I won't be fast, of course, but my goal isn't to win or even place but to finish respectably. I can do that. An Ironman race, though, is another matter.

The goal for a first Ironman isn't necessarily to finish but to survive. Can I really run a marathon after 112 miles on the bike? All kinds of things can go wrong but the big worry is nutrition. Don't want to crash, either. I know I can reach this year's goals. However, an Ironman is a whole different beastie and a real question mark. That's the goal, though, and to get there I have the 2011 goals as intermediate goals to get me to 2012.

Report: Merced Gateway Triathlon 2010

Total Time: 2:49:17
Overall Rank: 26/34
Age Group Rank: 2/3

Pre-race routine

Started the day before by staying hydrated. When it was time for my usual 5 o'clock Subway sandwich, I could only finish half of the foot-long.

Then the fun began. See, the night before the race was my high school class's 30-year reunion. I didn't want to eat anything but I did keep up with drinking water. However, I was quite the dancing fool. You only have one 30-year reunion so race be damned, I was going to boogie, and boogie I did.

Naturally, having that good of a time left me wired. Even though we left a bit early, I couldn't settle down and sleep until well after 1 am. At 4:05 I woke up wide-awake and I knew that I wouldn't be getting back to sleep. I made some toast with Nutella and drank a little water. Experience has shown me that I do not want to be over-hydrated going into an oly race lest I have to take a bathroom break during the run.

I sat listening to the rain coming down until it was time to bike to the race, around 7. Got to the venue, got a nice spot in transition, and set up.

Event warmup

They opened the pool up about 15 minutes before start time so I got in and swam 100 meters.

Note that all split times will be approximate as they (STILL) don't use timing chips in this race. Lame, I know. No, I don't know why they're so lame about them.

Swim

I didn't much care for the swim this year. It seemed like the traffic was much worse. Then again, last year I was coming off a shoulder dislocation so maybe I was just lucky that people were passing me but this year I had to do the passing. Anyway, I never felt great during the swim so it was just a matter of getting through it.

What would you do differently?

Get faster.

T1

There was no mount line so once you cleared the racks you hopped on your bike. Everything went like clockwork. Tossed my goggles down (no cap), put gels in my back pocket, glasses, helmet, go! I left everybody I entered transition with behind me, and passed another guy as I was hopping on the bike. There was another guy right in front of me and I used him to pace getting in my shoes. I got up to speed and when I could I would slip my feet into my shoes and get them fastened. As long as I stayed with the guy in front of me (not drafting, of course), I knew I wasn't losing time. Once my shoes were all set, I passed him.

What would you do differently?

Nothing

Bike

I was really happy with the pace I was setting. However, at six or seven miles in I flatted. I wasn't happy but I tried to, as calmly as I could under race conditions, change the flat. I'm not the fastest flat-changer in the world but I am thorough so I did find what caused the flat and got it out of the tire. I'm guessing that I lost five minutes.

I had two goals this race. The first was to beat the friend I came to the race with. He passed me on the side of the road as I was putting my back wheel on. After a few miles I passed him. However, on the way back there is a long, gradual hill. Nothing to get exhausted over but hills are the enemy of a clydesdale so he passed me again. I didn't panic and stuck to my game plan. It took me ten miles but I did re-pass him.

It was sprinkling a bit during the bike so it wasn't too wet but it was damp enough that I couldn't take the few corners on the course as fast as possible.

What would you do differently?

I was thinking about getting some Open Corsa Evo CX race tires but decided not to. I wonder if they would have prevented the flat. Other than that, keep losing weight so I can go up those hills faster.

T2

I was a bit cautious coming into transition because of the wet ground but that would have only cost me a second so no big deal. Everything, including putting the shoes on, went really smoothly here.

What would you do differently?

Nothing.

Run

I decided to take the Garmin with me on the run to help me with my pace. Immediately it told me that I was going out way too fast so I dialed it back to a reasonable pace. I was in or just over my target pace for most of the race but at mile four the wheels started coming off. I think at that point a heart rate monitor would have been helpful. My pace slowed down a lot and I felt really tired. The sun was out by this point but it didn't feel very hot at all. I tried walking tiny bits and that seemed to help. Finally, I decided to shut off the pace alerts and slow way down and that got me through the rest of the run. By the last half-mile I felt better and was able to finish strong-ish.

What would you do differently?

Do more race-distance runs at my goal pace. Especially bricks.

Post race

Warm down

By the time I started walking after the finish line, sweat was just pouring off me. I downed three sports drinks pretty quickly. When I saw white things were getting too white, I recognized that as I sign I was going to get a little light-headed soon so I downed one of my gels and sat down. That passed and things were good. Very tired afterwards.

What limited your ability to perform faster

If I want to get faster in the swim I'm going to need to swim more than two days per week. That's not going to happen anytime soon, though, and I'm okay with that.

I've lost a bunch of weight but I'm still a big guy so any inclines on the bike slow me way down. The weight is coming off so that's getting better.

I'm still slow on the run but way faster than last year. I'm fairly pleased with my performance there. However, I do need to do more 10k runs at more of a race pace than at a slower pace. My lunchtime runs lately have been four miles and that was where I was strongest. After four miles is where things started going bad so I need to up those lunchtime runs to six miles.

Event comments

Timing chips, timing chips, timing chips.

I think the organizers should consider a time trial start for the swim. Up and down each lane, then turn under the lane lines and do the next lane. That would give us 800 yards. It's better than jamming us all in lanes at the same time.

Countdown to Merced

With my high school class's 30-year reunion happening the night before, obviously the Merced Gateway Triathlon isn't my big "A" race of the season. However, I'm not so elite that I'm hoping to podium in my "A" races so it all comes out in the wash. The weather forecast says it should be perfect racing weather Sunday morning and I'm looking forward to the race.

The Swim

800 meter swim in a 50-meter pool so I don't have to worry about wetsuits, freezing, or overheating. Ideally I'll be swimming at a 1:40/100 yd pace but, really, I'll be swimming at a 1:50/100 yd pace. Prediction: 15:00. Note that last year they didn't have timing chips so I'll be taking the Garmin along on the bike and run and derive my swim and T1 time from that and my overall time.

The Bike

24 miles of flat and rollers on country roads. I recall one significant roller but nothing steep. The race is also draft-legal so I hope I can do some wheel-sucking. Ideally I'd average 20mph but, really, I'd be happy to have a 19mph average. Drafting could really help this, though. Prediction: 1:15.

The Run

Six miles on a pretty flat course through neighborhoods and on a neighborhood jogging trail. Since the run is much flatter than San Dimas I am not going to save my legs so much on the bike. That could be a wise calculation or a disaster. Only one way to find out. Ideally I'd like to do this in under an hour but, really, I'll be happy to hit an hour. Prediction: 1:01.

The Race

Adding those times up plus throwing in two minutes for transitions and we end up with an overall race time prediction of 2:33. My race predictions tend to end up being really optimistic because I always neglect to take into account the cumulative effect of a triathlon so take them with a huge grain of salt...especially since that time would have won second place in my age group last year. I don't think so.

I do have two goals and one wish for the race:

Goal #1: Beat my friend Von. It's his second tri in ten years so this seriously needs to happen.

Goal #2: Beat my friend Lisa to the turnaround on the run. She can pass me after that. This might actually be do-able. I worry that I'll fry myself on the run trying to do it but sometimes you need to do that.

Wish: Come in 30 minutes faster than last year's time of 3:01:22. This one I'm really curious about. I doubt I'll hit that but my time should still be a huge improvement over last year.

It's good to have wishes. It's one of the things that separates us from chimps.