First CSA Delivery

Today I got my first delivery from my CSA which I have been eagerly anticipating. Included this week were kale, green onions, English peas, strawberries, broccoli, asparagus, zuchinni, and kohlrabi. Look at all that green! I cant wait figure out what to make with each of the veggies. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to shoot me an email!

LCM with the kids

Well summer is officially here. Memorial Day was last weekend and kids everywhere are out of school. Because of that local swim team now has their hard workouts in the morning. This means that now in addition to the handful of Master's swimmers at the pool in the morning, there are also 15-20 high school kids. The good news? I now have some people to swim with. The bad news? I'm put in the fastest lane and have serious trouble making the interval on the faster stuff. For instance today the main set was

4 x (400 pull on 6:00
4x100 stroke on 1:45
400 on 5:15
4x100 on 1:20)

And oh-by-the-way that is long course meters. Luckily we did get a break between sets and I only did the first two rounds but regardless its going to be a while before I'm actually making 4x100 on 1:20. Thats just not a lot of fun at 5:30 in the morning (or any other time for that matter). Oh well, at least it beats swimming by myself!

Cotton Row Run Race Report

This morning in honor of all those who have given their lives for our country I ran the Cotton Row Run. All in all everything went really well... except for the fact that I ran really slowly. Wait, I'm not sure "really" gets the job done. How about extrodinarily slowly? That works.

Coming into the race I knew I wasnt going to have my best performance ever considering I had just raced FL70.3 the week before but I was still hoping to lay down a decent time. When the cannon was fired we took off and I settled into a comfortable pace. In retrospect this was the problem. The pace was comfortable when it should have been fast! First mile was 5:25 at which time I shouldve picked it up and been able to finish with a good time. Key word there being shouldve as I didnt. Then right around the 3 mile mark there was a really steep hill during which the top two girls decided to go ahead and pass me which was pretty awesome. I ran with them for a while until the eventual winner threw in a hard surge to which I didnt respond. I ended up finishing in 34:56 which is pretty pathetic. So basically it was a nice tempo run...

In retrospect I've come to the realization that I can run 5:25 pace all day but faster than that is a hurt that I have just forgotten about. Because I dont run hard and fast in practice anymore I sadly have lost that feeling. To run a good 5k or 10k you really need to do those VO2 max intervals like 5x 1mile w/ 3min rest at 5k race pace but unfortunately I just cant afford the physiological stress which that imposes. Plus, I dont need to be able to run a fast 5k or 10k, I need to run a fast half marathon after swimming 1.2 miles and biking 56. So thats me rationalizing my otherwise shitty race.

The good news is that it was a great day and David had a great race, running 31:50. After the race I went over to a brunch at the house of a guy with whom I work. There was keish, cheese grits, pastries, bagels, freshly made waffles with walnuts and blueberries, fresh fruit, and of course bloody marries and mimosas.

May19-25

S: 17600 yds
B: 8h 33min (TSS = 501)
R: 3h 40min

Total: 16h 16min

So last week was interesting as I was recovering from FL70.3, trying to get back into training, while also trying to keep in mind that I would be racing a 10K (more on that later...). I had decent ride on Thursday, but the legs didnt quite come around as I wanted by the weekend which (among other things) led to a subpar race this morning. Luckily though, I don't have any other races or trips planned between now and Kansas 70.3 so hopefully I can get in a couple good weeks of training before what will be a loaded field in Lawerence.

Stride Rate

After Florida 70.3 a received quite a few comments about how "great" I looked out on the run. I really appreciated these because in all honesty this was not a stellar run for me. As I mentioned in my race report, for some reason or another my piriformis was really hurting on the bike which caused me to have to hobble out of transition after I racking my bike. As I was making my way out to the course to start the run I honestly wasnt sure if I was going to be able to run.

So the question becomes, how do you look "great" on the run even when you dont feel great? And more importantly what do you do when you are faced with the prospect of having to run 13.1 miles when your leg feels like its going to fall off? The key to this is to be able to still have an OK run without having a terrible run. If you can limit your losses to a minute or two rather than 10, 15, or 30 minutes, that may be the difference between placing in your AG and not.

IMHO, the best way to assure at least a decent run and avoid the "Ironman shuffle" is to focus on proper form and stride rate from the beginning of the run. Back to the FL70.3 example, as soon as I left transition I decided that I was going to focus on making sure I had good turnover (around 90 steps/min) and that my form was good. I wasnt worried about the pace because I knew that as long as I focused on those things, then the pace would come. Sure enough after a slow and rather uncomfortable first mile, I settled in and started feeling better. Consequently had I just let transition slogging along, back bent over and with a slow leg turnover, I'm convinced it wouldve only been downhill from there.

Too often I see people starting a run head down, slogging along and I know they are doomed from the start. So how do you avoid this? Just like all other aspects of endurance training... specificity and repetition. If you expect to be able to run with good form off the bike, you better run with good form in training. This is especially critical during easy runs where your legs are particularly fatigued like during your 50min run on a given Three Workout Saturday or easy run the day after a really hard ride. I highlight easy runs because during fast runs you will naturally have better mechanics because they are required to be able to run faster. However, by focusing on stride rate and correct form during workouts where you feel less than optimal it will be much easier to lock into these good habits when you feel less than stellar after a hard bike ride during a race. This in turn will all but eliminate the massive hemorrhaging of time which is all too frequent in the run portion of long distance triathlons.

CSA

Its official. Today I sent in my check for Doe Run Farms' "Farm to Table" CSA which means starting May 26th I'll be receiving "1/2 a bushel box chocked full of the best vegetables, berries, salad fixins, melons, and fruit that the peak of the summer season offers!"

For those that dont know, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and has become quite popular recently across the US. Basically the way CSA works is that people (consumers) pay up front for a share of the harvest of the crops from a nearby farm. By having consumers pay ahead of time, local farmers can cover up front costs of farming and not worry about losing their shirts with a bad season. Then when harvesting begins consumers are guaranteed a portion of the crop. Typically every week or two pickups or deliveries are made of the crops harvested that week.

The main advantage here is that the consumer gets access to fresh produce throughout the summer at a good price. Additionally, by buying locally the "carbon footprint" from that consumer's produce is greatly reduced. Ever think about how much energy it takes to get strawberries from California or bananas from Ecuador? The downside though is that you get what you get. In other words one week you may get two pounds of kale while the next week you get a couple of heads of cabbage.

Fortunately I live near some pretty fertile farmland so my farm, Doe Run, boasts kale, onions, carrots, lettuce, past tomatoes, okra, summer squash, cauliflower, spinach, purple hull and zipper peas, hot and sweet peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, cantaloupe, watermelon, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, figs, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, and peaches. Additionally they are located very close by in Southern Tennessee and the food is delivered to a pick up location only half a mile from my apartment. They are also Certified Organic, which is a nice bonus.

As I mentioned, you get what you get each week so I'll be looking forward to trying some new dishes as a recipe is provided each week as well. More importantly though I'm really excited about getting some great tasting fruits and veggies while supporting a local farmer.

Friendly wagers...

Lindsey, being the competitive person she is, apparently didnt think her competition would give her enough trouble so she talked me into a couple of little bets. As I'm always up for a little extra motivation I was game.

The first challenge we agreed on was the swim split. Even though Lindsey was a standout swimmer at Maryland and I am just a "skinny runner dude" I was feeling generous (and possibly a little cocky) when I gave her a whole minute on the swim. The loser had to buy the drinks after the race. We made this bet on Friday, before our prerace swim on Saturday. Of course Saturday rolls around and we go up the Y to swim and Lindsey slaughters me in a hard 500. I cant say I was feeling too good...

So to cover myself I proposed a second wager... straight up, better overall finish (w/in gender). This one I felt a bit more confident in but not much. I honestly hadnt looked at the pro women's field but I hoped it was at least decent.

The results? Well, my swim time was 25:30. Ms. Jerdonek OTOH took 27:20 to complete the 1.2 miles. 25:30 + 1min < 27:20 = Andrew 1, Lindsey 0. The second contest ironically enough ended with a tie as Lindsey had a kick ass race and finished 8th. So to settle the bet Lindsey picked up the tap at our second dinner at Perkins. Our first dinner was at Seasons 52 with my mom and grandmother. FYI Seasons 52 is famous for their fresh, seasonal, healthy diet. And by healthy I mean all of their items are under 475 calories. Now the meal was quite delicious (I had the Mahi Mahi while Lindsey had the Sea Scallops), it just didnt quite do the trick. To remedy this we met a couple of Lindsey's friends out at Perkins for some slightly higher calorie fare and decided on the "Everything Omlette" which came with three pancakes and our choice of potatoe. Fortunately we convinced the waitress to substitute a muffin for the hashbrowns:

Florida 70.3 Race Report

This was my third year doing this race but this year, unlike others, I had a friend to head up to the race site with me. As I mentioned yesterday, Lindsey Jerdonek was down for the race so I had come company to leave my place in Winter Park at 4:15 AM to head down to Disney for the 6:20 AM start time. Upon arrival we were herded into the parking lot and onto the shuttle bus and soon enough we were at the race site.

Because my bike was already there, preparations were minimal and I was nice and relaxed as I was getting ready for the race. Pretty soon I was standing on the beach in the dark with all the other male pros listening to race director and man of many talents Tom Ziebart sing the National Anthem. (BTW, I was much more happy to listen to the anthem standing on the edge of the lake as opposed to having to float in the 55 degree water like we had to do in California...)

The gun was off and we were sprinting into the water. The beach start was a bit of a shock to the system as it seems they are a rarity now. In fact the last time I did a beach start was this race a year ago. Anyway, because of that I felt a bit strange running into the water and it took me a while to remember what I needed to do which probably resulted in a pretty poor starting position. Once we started swimming though I was pretty confident I was in the front pack so that was good enough for me. Because we werent allowed to wear wetsuits, I was in the pointzero3 and it was feeling great. Once again I settled in on some feet and had a relatively uneventful swim. A few times I moved to the outside to make sure the group was staying together but for the most part I was content to stay in the pack as I knew I wouldnt have been able to swim away from anyone.

As we came out of the water I was around 12th at the back of the first pack feeling good. A decent (but looong) transition and I was out on the bike. Right away I had to watch a few guys slowly pull away from me as I knew I wouldnt be able to maintain the power necessary to stay with them for the whole race. So I just settled into my desired wattage and started cranking. A couple miles into the ride Courtney Ogden passed me and I was a bit worried that he would be the first in a line of many. (Surprisingly enough though he was the only guy to pass on the bike!)

Unfortunately about 3 or 4 miles into the ride my left piriformis started hurting and my whole left leg got really numb. It was really weird... anytime I slowed down or stood up my leg would get that feeling like it was "asleep". This made for a painful ride but I just stared at my PT and was determined not to let BIGZACH catch me. I saw him at an out and back just before 25 miles and it gave me some motivation to really focus on the ride and block out the pain and try to hold him off. It worked and as I mentioned before, I finished the ride in the same position that I had started as in addition to being passed by Courtney Ogden, I actually passed TJ Tollakson. (As an aside he mustve been feeling bad as he can certainly destroy me on a good day but he was clearly having some problems and had to withdraw.)

Finally the bike was over and it was time to run. Usually this is a good thing for me but today I was worried as my piriformis was really hurting. After throwing on my shoes, I started to run out of transition and I thought I was going to fall over. The only other time I had felt this bad off the bike was Hawaii... and that was 112 mile ride with my seat too high. Regardless of this as soon as I left transition I was totally focused on just running with good form and stride rate and I decided I would let the speed take care of itself. After a couple of the early out and backs, I realized that as long as I ran nice and easy I could get by with a good-but-not-great run and maintain my position. Additionally, the next guy was so far ahead that even if I did have a great run, it likely would not have helped any. Quite simply, 10-15 sec a mile just wasnt worth the risk of blowing up later in the race.

So after a mile and a half or so I started feeling semi-normal and got into a decent rhythm, running between 5:55 and 6:05 min miles, depending on the terrain. While the uneven ground consisting of roots and sand was quite unfriendly in a few spots, the weather was the best we could have asked for as it was overcast and even sprinkling a few times. Back to the race and I just kept clicking off the miles and got a nice boost when I saw Craig Alexander in a golf being driven back to transition. His dropping out in addition to a pass of a walking Victor Z meant I was now in the 8th place... Thats right, in the money! Finally I was finishing up the longest last 0.1 miles ever and the announcer was proclaiming, "In eight place, Andrew Hodges from Huntsville, AL..." as I came across the line in 4:11. Not a great time, as it turns out the bike and run were both long so the time is a bit irrelevant.

Overall I was really pleased with the result. Mentally the race had been quite difficult as it was basically a time trial from the time I started the bike and my piriformis had been killing me so I was really happy to finish with a good placing.

In addition to the money, I also found out at the awards that I got a Clearwater spot as none of the guys ahead of me claimed theirs. Additionally, I may also be on the team for ITU LD worlds in Holland at the end of August as the top 2 Americans at this race were supposed to have qualified. However I still need to hear back from USAT so we'll see what the situation is with that. I'd be really excited to go as it is 4k-120k-30k which is great because it favors swimmers and runners a bit more.

Official results can be found here: http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/florida70.3?show=tracker

BTW... Lindsey in her first half IM had a totally kick ass race, finishing 8th overall... including pros! In fact she was the next amateur was over 8 minutes behind her!! Great job, Lindsey!

O-town

I arrived in Orlando yesterday and because I was on a small plane we had a short walk on the tarmac from the plane into the terminal. Upon stepping off the plane I was greeted with the familiar hot, thick air with which I grew up. Ahh... welcome to Florida!

Today is shaping up to be a pretty standard pre-race day. Lindsey Jerdonek came down and is staying with me at my parent's place this weekend so after a swim at the Y this morning, we came back to my place and made some cinnamon walnut pancakes. I'm not sure why but they were really good. Like scary good. Maybe it was because I have been making the whole wheat variety and today I used the regular flour but either way, they were incredibly delicious.

Now its time to head down to Disney for all the pre race nonsense. Luckily, Lindsey used TriBike Transport so her bike is already there. Then tonight some of my friends from UF are coming over for dinner which promises to be a good time. After that there wont be much time left before the stupily early 6:20 AM start time.

The drive home...

First of all, a big "thank you" goes out to Wide World of Andrew reader Jose Fuentes for hooking me up with a pool pass. While I was finally able to get in the pool, yesterday's swim was less than stellar chances are things wouldnt have been any better today. However Jose, who lives in Macon, was kind enough to give me a pass to his gym, the Northfield Welness Center. So after finishing up with the conference I stopped in for an afternoon swim and it felt great.

Unfortunately then I still had a 5h drive ahead of me which wasnt helped at all by rain and Atlanta rush hour traffic. Hopefully these two trips in the last three weeks (especially the one this past week) won't hurt affect the race this weekend but you never know. The biggest problem with traveling right before a race isnt so much getting the workouts in as it is being thrown off your normal diet.

Either way, I'm excited to be heading down to Orlando tomorrow. Its always good to be able to see friends and family and this year I'm also looking foward to hanging out with Shawn and Tracy as Tracy was supposed to be racing but now it looks like she'll be sitting this one out. Get better Tracy!!

Swimming (or not) near Perry

Because I've been traveling quite a bit lately, Swimmer's Guide has become a blessing. Planning a trip goes something like buy plane ticket, book hotel, find pool, reserve car. Although there are multiple warnings on the site, it has so far not disapointed. This time however was different.

I usually try to find a couple pools just in case one doesnt work out although I've never had to use my back up option. For this trip though, the closest pool was about 25 miles away and the next one after that was another 10 miles. The website indicated Masters swim from 6:30-8. A little late, but it would work. I could make the swim, eat in the car, and make it to the conference. I showed up this morning at about 6:25 but sadly, no one was in sight. So I waited. And waited. Maybe these swimmers are slackers. Waited some more. Finally, 6:45 rolled around and I realized no one was coming.

It was an outdoor pool and for a moment I considered breaking in but I realized that probably wasnt the best idea. First, swimming by yourself really isnt safe. More importantly though, the fence had barbed wire on top so that pretty much sealed the deal...

So instead of swimming, I drove back to the hotel, had my free all you can eat breakfast, and decided to try again later. There had been a number on the pool which I called and which went to a message after two rings. It informed me that swim practice was at 5.

After the conference, I headed back up to the pool. When I got there, I was relieved to see people there. I proceeded inside and at first the young coach didnt want to let me swim. I think part of the problem was I introduced myself as a triathlete. I totally shouldve just said I was a swimmer. Anyway, I eventually convinced him to let me jump in. I got in about 1000 before the kids finally jumped in. Unfortunately though I had been relegated to the slow lane so I didnt really get much of a workout after the warm up. But thats OK, something is better than nothing!

Welcome to Perry

Well, its official... Perry, GA is in the middle of nowhere. Of course the good news about this is that it was really easy to go biking. Just a couple minutes from my hotel and I was riding through horse farms, peach farms, walnut farms, pecan farms... you get the idea. There is quite a bit of agriculture in the area. Another indicator of this being a small southern town... I saw pig feel for sale in one of the local grocery stores. Thats right, pigs feet. I might just have to go back with my camera...

One benefit though of staying in a small town is that you usually get a bit more value from the hotel. I'm currently staying in a Holiday Inn and while it isnt the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at, they do have a complimentary breakfast buffett. And this isnt one of those have-ass oatmeal and stale bagel continental breakfast buffetts. We are talking pancakes, eggs, grits, homefries, sausage, bacon, fruit, cereal, bread, bagels, and buscuits and gravy! Needless to say, I'm looking forward to some pancakes again tomorrow morning :)

Speaking of food, because there is no good way to get from Huntsville to Perry, the quickest way to get here is actually go up to Chatanooga and then down through Atlanta. While I did find it a pain to have to go through Atlanta, it wasnt all that bad as I just happened to stop for dinner here. I swear, I just happened to get off at the right exit and drive 3/4 of a mile. Its not like I checked ahead online or anything...

May5-11

S: 24,300 yds
B: 9h 43min (TSS = 609)
R: 6h 13min

Total: 22h

After being out of town the week before last, it was nice to get a good solid week in the books. Next Sunday is Florida 70.3 and because of that I only had to ride 2.5h today rather than the 3.5 which I had to ride last week. This made my day and I felt great on the ride even though it was really windy. Hopefully this will carry over to next Sunday in the race.

Before I get to head down to Orlando, though, I have to go down to Perry, GA for work next week. What is there you ask? Good question... I dont think anything at all to speak of but apparently someone thought it would be a good idea to hold an Air Force corrosion conference there so off I go. The one bright spot is that I have to drive through Atlanta which means I get to stop at... CHIPOTLE!!!

One more RSRM pic...

Just to give everyone a better idea of the actual size of the RSRM, here is a group shot of us next to the motor. Now just imagine another one of these, the Orbiter, and the External Tank and you've got the Space Shuttle...

Friday night track fun

Even though I've been pretty busy at work this week training has gone pretty well. Last night I had the 7x1mile Zn4 running workout and I was really satisfied with how it went. The first six were all 5:25 or 5:24 while the last one was 5:22. Best of all, even though it was a hard workout, I never felt like I was pushing too hard. I just focused on staying relaxed and in control throughout. Sadly though I do kind of miss running fast on the track. There is just nothing like going out to the track and blowing out a nice 'I' pace workout during which you want to vomit and after which your calves in particular are totally shredded. But unfortunately I dont run fast in races anymore so those workouts are a thing of the past...

Anyway, the real reason I mention the workout though is that my buddy David was kind enough to join me for part of it. The only problem is that David is faster than me and running 7x1mile in 5:25 with a minute rest is a little too pedestrian for him. So he decided to only run 4 of them but instead of resting for a minute, he sprinted a 400 in 67-68 sec. This left him with a nice little tempo run of 8k in 26:08. Not a bad little workout for him and I was more than greatful for the company (even if he did quit after four). Hopefully that will help him in a couple weeks at the Cotton Row Run where I'm sure he'll have to respond to some attacks by Kenyans up some of the hills on the course.

LC awesomeness!!

I arrived at the pool this morning for what I thought was just going to be another early morning at the office and what did I find? Thats right... they had switched the pool to long course! I was pretty excited about this because first off all it was something different but more importantly LCM is just so much better than SCY, especially for those of us who suck at flip turns. Really though I just like long course better because it is so much easier to get into a good rhythm and really lengthen out my stroke. And because I swim by myself, anything that gets me going faster is more than welcome. Because of this awesomeness the swim this morning went by a lot quicker than usual and I actually had a couple of fast 400s. This was especially pleasing because I've been in a bit of a rut in the pool as the intensity just hasnt been there lately.

Fast forward to this afternoon and it was another beautiful spring evening in northern Alabama. The weather here has been awesome lately (highs in the mid to low 70s, cool at night and in the morning) and I was feeling great out on the long run. Of course I did get the requisite "Run, Forrest, Run" which is apparently never going to get old even though I've been hearing it since high school. However, I also got a nice "OOWWWWW!!!" from a couple of girls so that almost made up for the Forest Gump comment.



(BTW, yes, I do realize that it is pathetic that I get excited about a different pool configuration. But hey, its all about the simple things....)

RSRM class pics!!

I had to start with this one. The second night I was there after grabbing some dinner, I roamed around downtown Ogden and came across this local ice cream shop and the place was packed... on a Monday night! Pretty impressive. Apparently they are so popular that in addition to people waiting outside, they had a "Take A Number" dispenser like you see at the deli. So this picture is about 8 on Monday night and they were serving number 43. When I took a number, it was 71. Wow.

While I did take more pictures, the rest of the pics are courtesy of David Greene, one of the other guys from Huntsville who attended the class. David has a bad ass camera and knows how to use it so I'm going to post some of his shots.

Here is us at the fancy ATK "conference center" where we were treated to dinner on Tuesday night. It was an open bar and appetizers included salmon and steak kabobs while the main course was made up of a chicken dish, lobster, prime rib, asparagus, mixed steemed veggies, rice, and some rolls. It was, needless to say, pretty awesome.

Next, are some pictures from the highlight of the week: the static test. This is where ATK straps a rocket down and shoots it off. And you thought you had some big fireworks at your Fourth of July party. So here we are, awaiting the test:

The countdown:

Now remember how I said David has a super fancy camera? Well, these next 8 shots were taken only 1/8 of a sec apart. Without the camera, there is no way you can see the explosion of the plume like that in the first second of ignition. In fact, the rocket is up to about 95% of full thrust 0.6 sec after ignition.

Incidentally, at the point (1 sec into the test) we still couldnt hear the motor. It wasnt until about 7 seconds in that we could hear and feel what we had already been watching. Just a nice reminder of the orders of magnitude differences between the speed of light and sound.

The next photo was taken later in the test. The RSRM is designed to be fired for 123 sec during a shuttle mission so this test lasted about 125 sec.

Apr28-May4

S: 24,400 yds
B: 7h 55min (TSS = 490)
R: 6h 25min

Total: 20h 11min

Not a great week but OK considering I had to go out to Utah for work. That meant 4 days without biking which is of course the reason for the lower TSS. However I had a pretty solid weekend which included a good ride on Sunday so hopefully I can keep it up this coming week as I'm racing FL70.3 on the 18th which less than two weeks away!

Finally back in the 'ville and the lovely humidity. I really dont know how people live out west. If I cant taste the air, there must be something wrong with it...

Now that I was finally home I went out and saw Ironman last night with some friends. It was a pretty good movie although I had to cringe at some of the materials references like the "titanium-gold alloy" which the suit was supposedly made of as a titanium-gold alloy would be nonsense. Regardless, there were some really cool action scenes and there was actually some pretty legit engineering work which was cool to see.

Today was the last day of RSRM camp which meant it was finally time for the static test!! A static test is, well, pretty self explanatory. Basically ATK straps a rocket to the ground and lights it up. So for two minutes you get to see a huge flame and feel a few vibrations. They claim they get all kinds of data from it, but I just think they like to burn stuff... A few guys in our group had so pretty bad ass cameras, so hopefully I'll have some pics up next week. Isnt that exciting??

So of course the other good thing about the end of the course is that I'll finally get to head back home. (I cant believe I'm saying this but...) As much as I've enjoyed the break it will be nice to be able to get back on the bike and keep putting the work in. I'm also looking foward to actually being able to eay some veggies as we have been given donuts for breakfast and sandwiches, chips, and cookies for lunch everyday. A couple of days is OK, but by day four of no fiber, I'm ready for a salad. Additionally it will be nice to get back to a pool with a reasonable temperature.