Now that I am no longer training for a marathon and am doing a sprint triathlon on March 4, it's back to being a triathlete. What does that mean?
Swimming. Back into the pool for the first time since August. I now have a 50mX25y pool five minutes away from my apartment. Not only does this allow me to have longer workouts but it means I can train more days a week than before, so that is what I have been doing. I am swimming Monday and Friday mornings at 5:30am, and Wednesdays after work. Before, I would have to take off from work and could only get in a 45 minute work and still I'd be gone for two hours. Not very efficient. In just two weeks of this routine I am already stronger. My goal for the race (just four weeks away) is not to just be faster (last year I did the race practically untrained on the swim) but to not be so tired from the swim when I start the bike (a lesson learned from last year's Hansen Dam Tri).
Cycling. The IronBruin is all about hills and turns. Downhills and turns I have down, it's the uphills I have to work on. I am training for that in two ways: riding up hills (duh!) and losing weight. I am actually weighing myself each week and the weight is coming off. I'm not going to get under 200# by race time but I should be lighter than I ever have been at this race.
Running. The run at UCLA is a bit hilly so it is time to face the enemy head-on: hill repeats. I have dropped my mileage down so that my long runs are now 10K and my runs now include hills and some fartlek work (just a little now, hopefully more soon). An added benefit of the speed and hill work (both on the bike and the run) is it aids with fat loss. I feel great on the runs and stronger on the hills (hills are never easy).
From all that marathon training I have a good aerobic base to work with. Let's see if I can speed things up a bit.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Report: Carlsbad Half Marathon
Woke up bright and early at 4:30. Drank a little bit and waited for my stomach to settle down. At about 5 I put some running clothes on and went for a little run outside to shake things up a bit. I was surprised to find that it didn't feel very cold at all. Got back, changed from tights to shorts, packed up, and drove to the race start.
Sat in my car and listened to podcasts for a while when finally, my body decided it needed to use a porta potty. Got out of my car and immediately noticed that it was a lot colder than when I went for my short run. By the time I made it to the porta potties I was shivering. Not that long ago I was feeling smug about my cold weather training preparing me for days like this. Nope. Got back to the car and I had to solve a problem: shorts were not going to cut it at the start of the race (I knew they'd be okay after a few miles but I'd have to stand around the start area for a while and I didn't want to be shivering uncontrollably when the gun went off) so how was I going to get into my tights? The answer: very discreetly in my car. It didn't help that there was a couple in the car next to me but after making sure nobody else was around, I just went for it.
By the time my wave (#3) started, I was still pretty cold but it could have been a lot worse. I settled in behind the 2:00 pace leader and we were off. I would fall back a bit on the uphills but then catch up on the downhills. It wasn't easy but it was do-able. After a couple of miles I did notice that my Garmin and others around me would beep at the same time (at mile intervals--mine was actually set for two) but the course mile markers were a bit farther down the road. Interesting. Anyway, things were okay. The course was hillier than I thought it would be but that's probably because, at over 200#, hills are my enemy more so that most people.
At 6.55 miles in, I checked the Garmin and saw that I was exactly on a 2:00 pace, though I was falling behind the pace leader. Had to pick up the pace to catch up. So many uphills. At the 9.5 mile mark I was facing the longest uphill of the day, I was falling way behind the pace leader, my stomach was complaining that I was going to fast, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it so I started, as they say in cycling, "going backwards". I slowed down and people started passing me left and right. At the 11 mile mark my plantar fasciitis kicked in for real and I was looking at two more miles of painful running. I was just looking to finish.
I ended up with a 2:11:16, which is slower than the half I did the day after riding 100 miles. Ouch. That's okay, though. If you look at my mile 7 split, you can see that I was only just off the 9:09 pace I needed to make two hours. I was on track but then got derailed. Oh, the Garmin showed the course being 1/10 mile longer than 13.1 miles. Don't know what to believe.
The race was the largest I have ever participated in. 8,468 participants for both the full and the half. Starts were staggered by waves based on your predicted time so the race didn't seem all that big. Nice race right by the ocean. You can see video of my straggling to the finish line at about the 15 second mark here. I look awful because I wore my FuelBelt rather than live off the course (they had grape-flavored something and I didn't want to find out if my stomach would be happy with it during the race).
What would I have done differently. Need to get serious about losing weight. Need to stop avoiding hills and start working them. Need to back off the mileage and fix this plantar fasciitis. Oh, and find a really flat half, and I think I have.
Sat in my car and listened to podcasts for a while when finally, my body decided it needed to use a porta potty. Got out of my car and immediately noticed that it was a lot colder than when I went for my short run. By the time I made it to the porta potties I was shivering. Not that long ago I was feeling smug about my cold weather training preparing me for days like this. Nope. Got back to the car and I had to solve a problem: shorts were not going to cut it at the start of the race (I knew they'd be okay after a few miles but I'd have to stand around the start area for a while and I didn't want to be shivering uncontrollably when the gun went off) so how was I going to get into my tights? The answer: very discreetly in my car. It didn't help that there was a couple in the car next to me but after making sure nobody else was around, I just went for it.
By the time my wave (#3) started, I was still pretty cold but it could have been a lot worse. I settled in behind the 2:00 pace leader and we were off. I would fall back a bit on the uphills but then catch up on the downhills. It wasn't easy but it was do-able. After a couple of miles I did notice that my Garmin and others around me would beep at the same time (at mile intervals--mine was actually set for two) but the course mile markers were a bit farther down the road. Interesting. Anyway, things were okay. The course was hillier than I thought it would be but that's probably because, at over 200#, hills are my enemy more so that most people.
At 6.55 miles in, I checked the Garmin and saw that I was exactly on a 2:00 pace, though I was falling behind the pace leader. Had to pick up the pace to catch up. So many uphills. At the 9.5 mile mark I was facing the longest uphill of the day, I was falling way behind the pace leader, my stomach was complaining that I was going to fast, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it so I started, as they say in cycling, "going backwards". I slowed down and people started passing me left and right. At the 11 mile mark my plantar fasciitis kicked in for real and I was looking at two more miles of painful running. I was just looking to finish.
I ended up with a 2:11:16, which is slower than the half I did the day after riding 100 miles. Ouch. That's okay, though. If you look at my mile 7 split, you can see that I was only just off the 9:09 pace I needed to make two hours. I was on track but then got derailed. Oh, the Garmin showed the course being 1/10 mile longer than 13.1 miles. Don't know what to believe.
The race was the largest I have ever participated in. 8,468 participants for both the full and the half. Starts were staggered by waves based on your predicted time so the race didn't seem all that big. Nice race right by the ocean. You can see video of my straggling to the finish line at about the 15 second mark here. I look awful because I wore my FuelBelt rather than live off the course (they had grape-flavored something and I didn't want to find out if my stomach would be happy with it during the race).
What would I have done differently. Need to get serious about losing weight. Need to stop avoiding hills and start working them. Need to back off the mileage and fix this plantar fasciitis. Oh, and find a really flat half, and I think I have.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Plan: Carlsbad Half Marathon
The plan is really simple: hang with the 2:00 pace group (with a bit of an acceleration during the last mile if there is anything left in the tank) or blow up spectacularly.
This is right on the edge of what I'm capable of so I truly have no idea what the outcome will be. I'll report back after tomorrow's race.
P.S. If you want to see how I'm doing, click here and enter my bib #, 5167. They'll have at least the halfway split, from the looks of it.
This is right on the edge of what I'm capable of so I truly have no idea what the outcome will be. I'll report back after tomorrow's race.
P.S. If you want to see how I'm doing, click here and enter my bib #, 5167. They'll have at least the halfway split, from the looks of it.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
No L.A. Marathon This Year
The good news is that training for the L.A. Marathon has been going well. I have been doing my morning runs in thirtysomething degree weather, my long runs on the weekend, and even including some interval training in the form of Yasso 800s. My body has responded and, while I'm not convinced I would have made my secret goal time (yes, I know you're not supposed to have a goal time for your first marathon), I do believe I would have completed it. The bad news is that I also have quite a case of plantar fasciitis and last Saturday's planned run of 18 miles pretty much told me that my heels aren't going to let me run a full marathon in March.
Even though hitting my goal time was unlikely, it does give training a bit more focus and adds some speed to my pokey pace. So I was hitting my goal training pace (not race pace) through 12 miles or so when I took a little break. I wasn't too tired but all that running does tend to pound joints and muscles so, like with a century ride, I took a break. My feet were getting sore, though. I started back up again and the rest of me actually felt okay. I was really dropping my pace after a mile so I shut off my Garmin's pace alert and slowed down. My feet (specifically: my heels) were really getting tender and after some walking and running, I finally pulled the plug on the run and walked the few miles back home...which was not fun. The damage had been done and whether I was walking or running on them, my feet hurt. The walk, in addition to providing a nice cool down, gave me some time to think. The entry fee for the marathon goes up on the 16th and I couldn't say for sure that I would be ready for it in March. I knew my legs could get me through it but you're only as strong as your weakest link and, right now, that was my heels. I had to face up to the fact that the rest my feet needed was not compatible with the training mileage I still needed to get me through the marathon. Not this year. I did not want to be one of those people who enters a marathon to walk it. I wanted to run the whole thing (with, perhaps, the occasional stop at a water station).
I can't remember exactly when the plantar fasciitis reared its ugly head but it was sometime in the last year. In some ways it has gotten better (walking around the apartment doesn't always hurt) but in one important way it has gotten worse: long runs. Age, weight, and increased run mileage all conspired against me. Truth be told, I have a bit of an ankle thing hurting me right now, too, so the layoff will do me good.
How does that change 2012 for me? The main goal for the year is still a half iron-distance triathlon in the fall. Maybe I'll add the Santa Clarita Century to my calendar in early April (it really is my hometown ride now). Then there's the very tiny possibility that I will be in such good shape for my fall triathlon that I will run a marathon in November or December. I am not planning on that happening, though. The plan is to do the 2013 L.A. Marathon.
As far as training goes, I still have the Carlsbad Half Marathon in a couple of weeks. I have already entered so no sense in wasting the money. I can make it. After that I will take a week off running, then back into it but my long runs will stay in the 9-12 mile zone for a while. I will also be paying more attention to my weight, which is likely a major factor in the plantar fasciitis. I need to get a scale and make sure the fat is coming off (I put on a few pounds during my summer layoff). I need to be more methodical in my approach to weight loss because being disorganized about it only works for so long and I have passed that point.
Still no swimming until May or June. I just can't deal with swimming right now. :-)
Even though hitting my goal time was unlikely, it does give training a bit more focus and adds some speed to my pokey pace. So I was hitting my goal training pace (not race pace) through 12 miles or so when I took a little break. I wasn't too tired but all that running does tend to pound joints and muscles so, like with a century ride, I took a break. My feet were getting sore, though. I started back up again and the rest of me actually felt okay. I was really dropping my pace after a mile so I shut off my Garmin's pace alert and slowed down. My feet (specifically: my heels) were really getting tender and after some walking and running, I finally pulled the plug on the run and walked the few miles back home...which was not fun. The damage had been done and whether I was walking or running on them, my feet hurt. The walk, in addition to providing a nice cool down, gave me some time to think. The entry fee for the marathon goes up on the 16th and I couldn't say for sure that I would be ready for it in March. I knew my legs could get me through it but you're only as strong as your weakest link and, right now, that was my heels. I had to face up to the fact that the rest my feet needed was not compatible with the training mileage I still needed to get me through the marathon. Not this year. I did not want to be one of those people who enters a marathon to walk it. I wanted to run the whole thing (with, perhaps, the occasional stop at a water station).
I can't remember exactly when the plantar fasciitis reared its ugly head but it was sometime in the last year. In some ways it has gotten better (walking around the apartment doesn't always hurt) but in one important way it has gotten worse: long runs. Age, weight, and increased run mileage all conspired against me. Truth be told, I have a bit of an ankle thing hurting me right now, too, so the layoff will do me good.
How does that change 2012 for me? The main goal for the year is still a half iron-distance triathlon in the fall. Maybe I'll add the Santa Clarita Century to my calendar in early April (it really is my hometown ride now). Then there's the very tiny possibility that I will be in such good shape for my fall triathlon that I will run a marathon in November or December. I am not planning on that happening, though. The plan is to do the 2013 L.A. Marathon.
As far as training goes, I still have the Carlsbad Half Marathon in a couple of weeks. I have already entered so no sense in wasting the money. I can make it. After that I will take a week off running, then back into it but my long runs will stay in the 9-12 mile zone for a while. I will also be paying more attention to my weight, which is likely a major factor in the plantar fasciitis. I need to get a scale and make sure the fat is coming off (I put on a few pounds during my summer layoff). I need to be more methodical in my approach to weight loss because being disorganized about it only works for so long and I have passed that point.
Still no swimming until May or June. I just can't deal with swimming right now. :-)
Monday, November 28, 2011
When the Wheels Come Off
This past Sunday I had scheduled a 14-mile long run, part of my ramping up to a 20-mile long run before the L.A. Marathon in March. I might have gone out a teensy bit too fast the first several miles, but that didn't explain what happened around the halfway point.
I made it halfway and took an unplanned break. This run included both Gatorade (every two miles) and gels (every six miles). I haven't used gels on the run in several months so wanted to get my stomach used to them again. During the break I felt a bit tired but figured it was because of going out too fast. After walking for a few minutes I started heading back. I noticed my pace was slower than it had been but, hey, it's a 14-mile run, right? It didn't take long, though, to realize something was not right. By mile eight I started taking short walking breaks. By mile 11.5, I was walking. I thought I would start running again by mile 12, and I did, but I could tell it wasn't happening, saw my pace on the Garmin, and figured why even run if I felt bad going that slow.
What do I mean by "bad"? I don't mean bonking. I don't mean nauseous. I don't even mean tired. I mean heavy legs, sore feet, and just not feeling like running anymore. I just felt bad. On the bright side, walking the last 2.5 miles meant that I walked the fatigue and soreness out of my legs. I actually didn't feel tired when I finally made it home.
So, I could just plop down and chalk it up to not being my day or I could figure out what went wrong. The previous weekend I ran nine miles like it was nothing. I did the whole thing forefoot striking, too. What could have happened in the past week to make the wheels come off like that? Maybe having nachos as my sole meal the day before was a bad idea? Maybe only doing one morning run (a nice 4-miler on Friday) last week messed up my fitness? Maybe that Friday run was too close to Sunday's run? Maybe using gels for the first time in a while screwed up my body? However, a trip to the bathroom provided me the clue I needed to figure it all out: dehydration. Not during the run but before it. The day before I returned home from a trip to visit family. In an effort to keep from stopping the car every hour for bathroom breaks, I didn't drink as much as I usually do and when we arrived home, I didn't drink water to make up for it. Consequently, I started my run a little dehydrated. Add to that the day was warmer than usual for late November and my usual fluid intake during a run was not enough to make up for it. Dehydration.
So the point of this whole story is that when you have a really bad training session, don't just chalk it up to having a bad day or "one of those things". Try and figure it out to see if you made some mistake so you don't make it again in the future.
I made it halfway and took an unplanned break. This run included both Gatorade (every two miles) and gels (every six miles). I haven't used gels on the run in several months so wanted to get my stomach used to them again. During the break I felt a bit tired but figured it was because of going out too fast. After walking for a few minutes I started heading back. I noticed my pace was slower than it had been but, hey, it's a 14-mile run, right? It didn't take long, though, to realize something was not right. By mile eight I started taking short walking breaks. By mile 11.5, I was walking. I thought I would start running again by mile 12, and I did, but I could tell it wasn't happening, saw my pace on the Garmin, and figured why even run if I felt bad going that slow.
What do I mean by "bad"? I don't mean bonking. I don't mean nauseous. I don't even mean tired. I mean heavy legs, sore feet, and just not feeling like running anymore. I just felt bad. On the bright side, walking the last 2.5 miles meant that I walked the fatigue and soreness out of my legs. I actually didn't feel tired when I finally made it home.
So, I could just plop down and chalk it up to not being my day or I could figure out what went wrong. The previous weekend I ran nine miles like it was nothing. I did the whole thing forefoot striking, too. What could have happened in the past week to make the wheels come off like that? Maybe having nachos as my sole meal the day before was a bad idea? Maybe only doing one morning run (a nice 4-miler on Friday) last week messed up my fitness? Maybe that Friday run was too close to Sunday's run? Maybe using gels for the first time in a while screwed up my body? However, a trip to the bathroom provided me the clue I needed to figure it all out: dehydration. Not during the run but before it. The day before I returned home from a trip to visit family. In an effort to keep from stopping the car every hour for bathroom breaks, I didn't drink as much as I usually do and when we arrived home, I didn't drink water to make up for it. Consequently, I started my run a little dehydrated. Add to that the day was warmer than usual for late November and my usual fluid intake during a run was not enough to make up for it. Dehydration.
So the point of this whole story is that when you have a really bad training session, don't just chalk it up to having a bad day or "one of those things". Try and figure it out to see if you made some mistake so you don't make it again in the future.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Life Is What Happens While You're Busy Making Training Plans
John Lennon never raced a triathlon but if he had, he might have written the title to this entry. I had a lot of life happen this summer. Divorce (still not finalized--sigh). Moved myself into an apartment. Visitation time with my children rather than seeing them every day. A new girlfriend (and roommate). Figuring out what to do with all my stuff. All that "life" messes up my well-laid plans for racing and training. That and my new outlook on racing in hills. Oh, and my age. Maybe it's all just a matter of getting a fresh perspective on things.
First to affect my training plans was the lack of training. How long did I take off? One month? Two months? I forget. I only did two weeks--four sessions--of swim training before the Hansen Dam Triathlon. The result was that my times were slower in all legs (except T2, a small victory ;-). If I'm not even in shape to decently race a sprint triathlon, then I am not in shape enough to tackle my first marathon in November, as I had planned. And I, of course, can't do a half-iron-distance race in October, either. Or even a shorter triathlon, instead. And if I can't do a half-iron this year, I suppose I should put off a full-iron until the year after next. Stuff like that.
Then there is the issue of recovery. My approach to training has been a bit willy-nilly. Still is, I suppose. However, I have come to the realization that I need to pay more attention to recovery. I will turn 49 in a couple of months and these long runs and rides take a lot out of me. So not only do I need to make sure that I am planning recovery days better, I am going to be more focused in my training. For instance, I want to run the Los Angeles Marathon next March. That will likely be two weeks after my beloved IronBruin Triathlon. What to do? Simple: forget the tri and focus on the marathon. More runs, no swimming, and keep the very long bike rides to a minimum until after the race. After than is the Soma Triathlon in Arizona next October. I may be doing a few events before then (Hansen Dam in August for sure) but the focus is on Soma. If I am going to do my first marathon and half-ironman in the same year, I need to focus on those pretty big goals. My thinking is that life may continue to derail me here and there but focus should help get me back on track.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Rethinking the Bike
I had a bit of a revelation during last weekend's inaugural Gran Fondo Los Angeles. Not that I suck at hills. I already knew that. Well, it had something to do with that. Anyway, I was finally out of the hills and heading east on San Vicente Blvd in the last few miles of the ride. I was waiting at a stoplight when some other guys from the ride pulled up with me and said we should ride back together. Cool! The light turned green and we were off. Even though my legs were trashed from the climbing, meaning I was no good up even the smallest hill, in the flats I was doing okay. I figured I'd stay in front and pull the guys along and I could rotate back when I got tired. I glanced at the Garmin and saw I was doing a respectable 21.something mph. I had to go around a parallel parking-car so I looked back to check the traffic and I saw that those guys were gone. They hadn't just fallen behind, they were nowhere to be seen. Okay, I'm not the fastest guy in the world so how could I drop four guys when my legs were as tired as they were?
That weekend really got me thinking. I'm never going to be good at hills. Let me repeat that: I am never going to be good at hills. The skinniest I could ever hope to get is 170 lbs., which is what I weighed when I was a skinny high school senior. I am not going to get down that far in weight but that's the lowest I figure I could get. If you're a professional cyclist, 170 lbs. is huge and those guys are either sprinters or time triallists and they're pretty terrible at hills (I know it sounds weird to compare myself to pros but consider that they are way stronger than I would be at that weight). No matter how much hill work I do, I am going to get faster and stronger but I will always suck compared to others. Heck, the Gran Fondo had a timed climb, 5 miles with 1650 feet of climbing, and I placed 550 out of 609 people. Suck. But I still had enough power to drop those guys without even trying. Hmm.
What to do? Well, the first thing I did was re-think my planned entry into October's Magic Mountain Man as my debut half-iron-distance triathlon. Lots and lots of tough hills. Why ruin my race time because of something that I know is my weakness (and always will be my weakness)? Off the schedule it went. I found a new, flatter triathlon in the Soma Triathlon. Doing that race, though, meant that I need to pick a new debut marathon since the Two Cities Marathon is only two weeks after Soma. Sorry, Fresno. Some other year. Next I took all the very hilly rides and races (except, maybe, the Solvang Century...someday) from my planned calendar (I plan these things years in advance). Goodbye Death Ride. Goodbye Ironman St. George. All that stuff, gone.
Where to go from here? Remember where I wrote that big cyclists are either sprinters or time triallists? They can also be track cyclists so I want to check out track cycling. There is a beginner clinic at the Encino Velodrome in a few weeks that I might be able to attend (things are pretty hectic right now so that might have to wait a month or two). I also need to find some flatter training routes. I will still hit the hills (you really can't avoid them in Southern California), which will continue to build my strength and improve my descending skills, but I am going to be looking to avoid the really gnarly climbs, like that Cat 1 Piuma Road Climb last weekend. No, I don't need to do those anymore. I can still feel it in my legs a week later!
Then maybe someday I can get a time trial bike.
That weekend really got me thinking. I'm never going to be good at hills. Let me repeat that: I am never going to be good at hills. The skinniest I could ever hope to get is 170 lbs., which is what I weighed when I was a skinny high school senior. I am not going to get down that far in weight but that's the lowest I figure I could get. If you're a professional cyclist, 170 lbs. is huge and those guys are either sprinters or time triallists and they're pretty terrible at hills (I know it sounds weird to compare myself to pros but consider that they are way stronger than I would be at that weight). No matter how much hill work I do, I am going to get faster and stronger but I will always suck compared to others. Heck, the Gran Fondo had a timed climb, 5 miles with 1650 feet of climbing, and I placed 550 out of 609 people. Suck. But I still had enough power to drop those guys without even trying. Hmm.
What to do? Well, the first thing I did was re-think my planned entry into October's Magic Mountain Man as my debut half-iron-distance triathlon. Lots and lots of tough hills. Why ruin my race time because of something that I know is my weakness (and always will be my weakness)? Off the schedule it went. I found a new, flatter triathlon in the Soma Triathlon. Doing that race, though, meant that I need to pick a new debut marathon since the Two Cities Marathon is only two weeks after Soma. Sorry, Fresno. Some other year. Next I took all the very hilly rides and races (except, maybe, the Solvang Century...someday) from my planned calendar (I plan these things years in advance). Goodbye Death Ride. Goodbye Ironman St. George. All that stuff, gone.
Where to go from here? Remember where I wrote that big cyclists are either sprinters or time triallists? They can also be track cyclists so I want to check out track cycling. There is a beginner clinic at the Encino Velodrome in a few weeks that I might be able to attend (things are pretty hectic right now so that might have to wait a month or two). I also need to find some flatter training routes. I will still hit the hills (you really can't avoid them in Southern California), which will continue to build my strength and improve my descending skills, but I am going to be looking to avoid the really gnarly climbs, like that Cat 1 Piuma Road Climb last weekend. No, I don't need to do those anymore. I can still feel it in my legs a week later!
Then maybe someday I can get a time trial bike.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
