Mar5-11

S: 20,400 yds
B: 6h 41min
R: 5h 14min

Total: 16h 56min

Glad to have that one out of the way! That was probably the hardest week of the year thus far, but I'm still feeling pretty good coming out of it.

Friday I had a last minute change of plans and decided to head out to Decatur, AL to run a relay with some Fleet Feet Racing Team friends at the Delano 12h race. David R, Lisa R, and Lynn C had their 4th member back out at the last minute, so I agreed to fill in. The race is a 12h race, 6a to 6p on a one mile packed dirt/fine gravel loop, but I knew I'd only be good for a long run. So after David and Lisa each ran a few loops, I got going around 7:30a and ended running further and faster than planned.

Data courtesy of the Timex Run Trainer

Although it sounds really boring, it was actually kind of fun. The surface was awesome, and it was great to have so many other people out there. Of course it also didnt hurt that the weather was picturesque. I ended up running 18mi w/ a 10mi progression run in the morning, then another 4 a few hours later for 22mi total. It was more than I had a planned, but nothing compared to most of the crazy people out there. For the day, our team finished with 95mi, a not-so-close second to the stacked team of George H, Tim V, Erik D, and Brad S, who had 117(!)

So basically it was a day of running and hanging out with friends. All in all not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Feb27-Mar4

S: 18,400 yds
B: 5h 59min
R: 5h 46min

16h 59min

Another week, a few more VO2 workouts in the bag. Oh yeah, and then there was that race yesterday, the UAH 10k. I had 10k of faster running to do during the long run, anyway, so Saturday afternoon I pulled the trigger and signed up. This being spring in Huntsville, and the race being in the afternoon, there was a nice 15-20mph wind out of the N-NE which kept things interesting, if nothing else. So not wanting to give anyone a draft, I took off from the gun and ran pretty even splits, breaking the tape in first place in 33:52. Considering the hilly, windy course and the fatigue in my legs from the hard long ride the day before, I was pretty pleased with the result.

Unrelated to training, this race was awesome. I signed up the day before for three (3) dollars. I think day of race mayve been something unseemly like five or ten. On top of that, the race started at 2p! Now sure, there werent any t-shirts and the course was pretty boring, but there was RFID timing, water on the course, and bananas, muffins, doughnuts, peanuts, and other goodies afterward. But seriously.... $3! How awesome is that?!?!?!

Feb20-26

S: 18,800 yds
B: 6h 4min
R: 5h 24min

Total: 16h 48min

Back at it! The week before last was interrupted a bit by my trip up to New York/New Jersey for the annual Timex Multisport Team "Training Camp" aka yearly team kick-off and hangout. It really is a highlight of my year, and each time reminds me how privileged I am to be associated with such an awesome group of people. On that note, I'll have more to come, but for now you can check out the Timex Blog where it was well documented. See Shannon's take, Bo's take, QR presentation from Kyle, and Erin's take #1, and #2. Highlights include new sponsors Quintana Roo bikes and Champion Systems clothing, both of which I'm really excited about. Suffice it to say, workouts were a bit interrupted, but thats just part of the job.

Last week, though, was back to the grind and by Sunday I was toast. Thursday evening I had a really solid VO2 workout on the track, something I hadnt done since probably my junior year of college. After the recent economy phase, though, it really didn't feel all that bad until the last couple of repeats. The next morning, on the other hand, was a different story. I guess thats what happens you get old...

For this week; more of the same. Happy Monday!

Mercedes Half RR

High level summary: I have had better days. Quite a few of them, in fact. Fitness, as far as I can tell, wasn't a problem. Indeed, I actually think it was/is pretty good, and after the first few miles I was looking forward to expressing it. Unfortunately though, my GI system had other plans for the day.

So the executive summary is that my time was 1:14:40, but ~1:40 of that was spent, um, not running and more or less the whole second half of the race my focus was divided at best. I should thank the race organization for the plethora of port-o-johns out on the course; I certainly got my money's worth. If you dont want any more details, you can stop now.

If, however, you're still reading, well, here goes. It was a really cold morning, but for some reason it didnt feel like it was in the mid 20s when we were warming up. Not having any running short-tights, I went with briefs + running shorts (to keep the boys toasty), compression socks (to keep the achilles warm), my uber comfortable Sugoi TIMEX tech shirt, Sugoi TIMEX jersey, Sugoi TIMEX arm warmers, free cotton gloves, and of course the backwards hat. At the start I was cold, but thought I'd warm up and be OK. (In retrospect, I definitely would've bought and worn some half- tights; my quads and hip flexors were really, really cold.)

The gun went off and after the first half mile there seemed to be less depth up front than in years past, as things were already considerably spread out. Also in years past the first mile of this race has been in the neighborhood of 20s fast, so I wasnt sure to be glad or worried about seeing a 5:26 first mile. I figured best case I was right on pace, worst case I was starting a bit too conservatively. Either way, not too bad for a half marathon.

A quarter mile or so later, a long- haired white guy sporting a backwards hat came by me with a Kenyan in tow. I was pretty sure this was Mike Wardian, ultra runner/marathoner extraordinaire. I assumed he was running the marathon, and knew he consistently runs in the mid 2:20s, so I figured he'd be a great person to run with. Even if he was going a bit fast for me and I could only hang for 5-6 miles, it would be well worth it with the wind out on the course.

So I tucked in and focused on not tripping the Kenyan who was running behind Mike, thereby missing the second mile mark. The third mile came and we were through in 16:01 (5:20(!) pace). A bit after this, the fun started.

I've had the urge to use the restroom during races before, but outside of peeing on myself during IMH, I've always been able to keep it under control. So I figured this would be the case today, as well. Little did I know, a minute later, I was scanning for the next available port-a-john. I skipped the first one I saw, telling myself I'd be fine. I was not. The next one I saw, I took a bee-line to the door, hitting my start/split button before entering. I figured 10-15s max and I'd be back running.

After doing my business (#2) during the 40s pit stop, I was back on the course. I put it out of my mind and got back to racing, figuring surely that would be it for the day. While I was stopped, my Good Friend George had passed me, so I think I spooked him a bit when I re-passed him and headed up the road. Wardian and the Kenyan were probably too far ahead to catch, but at least I could keep them in my sight for a while. I missed mile 4, but I was through 5 in 27:26 (under 5:30 pace, including the stop), so I figured I could still have a pretty good race.

Mile 6 was another 5:30, and I was just starting to think about just getting through the uphill miles from 8-10 when it returned. Apparently, my gut had other ideas. Somewhere in middle of mile 7, it happened, again, except this time I had less time to get to the facilities. And then that happened. This second stop was longer, a bit over a minute, and included the loss of a piece of clothing.

I got back out onto the course and tried to get back into the race, but at this point it was an uphill struggle. The loss of the layer of clothing meant quite a bit less warmth, and the wind was biting. I was also still somehow fighting my gut. How there was anything left in it at that point was beyond me, but it seemed pretty insistent on not letting me do much of anything.

Worried about another event, I kept things under control at around 5:45 pace and was oh-so-happy to finally get to the finish.

So I'm still not really sure of the caused. Dinner the night before was at Mellow Mushroom, certainly nothing out of the ordinary. I eat there regularly, and have had quite a few pre-race meals there without issue. Something was up, though, because I'm still having some residual issues the day after the race. I was the only one at our table who ordered a Truck Stop Honey Brown, maybe that was it? Who knows... 

Race schedule!

With the first race of the season coming up this weekend, I suppose its about time to post a race schedule! These are certainly subject to change, especially the out months, but here goes...

Date - Race, Location
2/13 - Mercedes Half Marathon, Birmingham, AL
4/7 - Scholarship Fund Run 8k, Huntsville, AL
4/8 - Alpha Delta Piathlon, Murfeesboro, TN
4/22 - New Orleans 70.3, New Orleans, LA
5/20 - Florida 70.3, Haines City, FL
5/28 - Cotton Row Run 10k, Huntsville, AL
6/10 - Kansas 70.3, Lawrence, KS
7/1 - Muncie 70.3, Muncie, IN
7/8 - Chattanooga Waterfront Tri, Chatanooga, TN
7/24 - Music City Triathlon, Nashville, TN
8/5 - Washington DC 70.3, Washington, DC
8/26 - IM Louisville, Louisville, KY
8/27 - Who knows.

How about? Whats race(s) do you have targeted for this season?

Jan30-Feb5

S: 23,800 yds
B: 5h 23min
R: 4h 18min

Total: 16h 6min

Back at it! Another week of FAST swimming, biking, and running. Well, trying to be fast, at least. If nothing else the short, fast stuff is fun, but it does leave a much more acute soreness than the longer tempo paced efforts.

While having fun this is still training, which means there is still (or at least should be) an actual race at some point. So why not start this weekend? The Mercedes Marathon and Half Marathon are this weekend down in Birmingham, so I'm headed down to race the half. I've done this race the past few years, so it should give me a good indication of where I am relative to where I was last year.

Goals? As usual, cautious optimism is the way to go. One on hand, I'm trying to be cautious after missing so much time last year and so far this year not doing much half marathon specific training. On the other hand, I've been feeling good, running injury free, and lets face it... running fast is just a lot more fun.

Jan23-29

S: 20,200 yds
B: 5h
R: 3h 24min

Total: 13h 58min

Fun times, indeed, last week. This was a "recovery" week, which meant no hard Tuesday brick or Thursday track workout, so it was a nice break. But never fear, I still got to the track on Sunday morning for the conclusion of the long run. This being the winter and HHS not having any lights on its track, it has been rather dark out there, so it was nice to get out to the track in the sunshine. Equally nice was finishing the long run fast.

Jan16-22

S: 29,300 yds
B: 5h 46min
R: 4h 54min

Total: 18h 55min

BOOM. I had a great week of training, but did learn some things, the most important being that I'm old and slow. Well, I had suspicions about both, but the the slow part was reaffirmed by way of the track on Thursday. After all, as we all know, the track doesn't lie. The workout de jour included some fast 400s with plenty of rest but despite my best efforts I couldn't even run faster for one than I could for four in a row in HS. Looking on the bright side, I dont plan on racing any 400s anytime soon. Or 1600s, for that matter. But hopefully the short and fast stuff will, later in the season, help with the long and not-quite-as-fast stuff. In the meantime, I have to admit that it is kind of fun going out and sprinting around the track and doing every thing you can to hold it together for that last 100 of a fast 400.

Jan9-15

S: 28,600 yds
B: 5h 11min
R: 4h 18min

Total: 17h 8min

Whew! I'm definitely starting to feel the grind of training, but I'm also adapting pretty well, as I wasnt nearly as sore after the track workout this week as I was after last week's. These short, fast efforts are fun, but they definitely leave me sore.

Jan2-8

S: 28,900 yds
B: 4h 40min
R: 3h 51min

Total: 15h 50min

Well, the first week of hard training is in the books, although its not so much "hard" as it is "FAST". Really fast. Fast enough that I'm just now getting over some residual soreness from the track workout last THURSDAY. Hopefully though, soreness now will lead to positive adaptations and fast times later.

Dec26-Jan1

S: 22,800 yds
B: 4h 24min
R: 3h 38min

Total: 12h 50min

Happy New Year! After spending a week down in Orlando, its back to the grind here in the 'ville, but not before one more day of vacation! I did get in a few solid workouts with Triathlon Squad All-Star Kevin Collington which rounded out my initial prep training for the upcoming season. So with the boring stuff out of the way, this week starts a bit of Economy work, which should set me up nicely for some longer, harder stuff later in the season.

Dec19-25

S: 24,700 yds
B: 5h 18min
R: 3h 24min

Total: 15h 15min

Merry Christmas!

Dec12-18

S: 22,000 yds
B: 5h 3min
R: 3h 4min

Total: 13h 7min

Week number two is in the books, and so far, so good. The volume is still pretty low, but I had a really solid bike workout on Tuesday, and felt great on some tempo efforts while running on Thursday. Now if we could just keep the weekends a bit warmer, I wouldn't have to worry about not being able to feel my feet at the end of a ride...

Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude

So I might as well cut to the chase. The "big change" I alluded to in my previous post involves coaching. Paulo and I are parting ways, and this season I'm looking forward to working with Eric Bean of Fast Forward Triathlon.

I've been coached by Paulo since 2005 when I, after having only done two half IMs, decided it would be cool to go over to Hawaii and race in the Big Dance. Realizing I had no idea what I was getting myself into, I sought council (through the Internet, duh) and was fortunate enough that Paulo agreed to coach me. Less than a month after we started working together, I got a stress reaction and was not allowed to run any of August and September.  As we all know, Kona is in the middle October, so although I was cleared to run, I certainly wasnt ready for what would be my longest run ever.

Regardless, I got through the race in a respectable time thanks to Paulo's guidance. It was at this point that I was ready to go from a "runner who does triathlons" to a triathlete.

In 2006, Paulo and I decided that aiming for the newly created 70.3 World Championships would be a good idea. I got better at swimming and biking, and in August had a solid race at Steelhead 70.3, finishing second. My season culminated in November in Clearwater at the 70.3 World Champs, where I was the top amateur (and 12th overall). Needless to say, racing Clearwater was a good decision, and I couldn't have been happier with my performance.

2007 was my first year racing as an Elite and since then I've been focusing on 70.3s, competing in multiple races around the country. All in all I've been pleased with the consistency Paulo's training brought me. However, towards the end of 2010 and through 2011 completing workouts became more and more mentally taxing, likely compounded by frustrating stagnation. This, along with constant nagging injuries, made me take a step back and reevaluate triathlon and, more specifically, my coaching situation. I knew I loved racing, but it was a lot less fun when I wasn't getting faster. I also knew I shouldn't have to hate training. So, I realized it was time for a change.

As a member of the cross country and swim teams at the University of Virginia and the triathlon team at Stanford, Eric has been around some very knowledgeable coaches. I've also had numerous personal conversations with him regarding training, and have full belief in his approach and abilities as a coach. Although I contacted a few other candidates, I ultimately decided he would be a great choice.

I'm certainly incredibly grateful for all I've learned from Paulo and I would still strongly recommend him to Elites looking to pursue the sport as a full time profession, as he really knows his stuff and is passionate about triathlon. But I really enjoy going to work everyday at The Boeing Company where I get to design materials and processing solutions for the Space Launch System. Because of that, I realize I have no reason to be hating life because of triathlon. Certainly training won't always be fun, but the good days should far exceed the bad, and the net sum should be very much tilted to the positive, especially when racing is considered.

With all that having been said, lets bring on 2012!

Dec5-11

S: 16,600 yds
B: 4h 32min
R: 4h 50min

Total: 12h 41min

Welcome to 2012! After the annual hiatus, its back to real training.

2011 was, admittedly, a tough year.  I started off with a little injury which kept me from New Orleans 70.3. Then, when I thought things were coming together through Florida 70.3 and the Rock & Roll Half, I was  ignoring another injury. Continuing on, I raced a couple more 70.3s which only worsened the situation to the point where I couldn't bike or run without pain. 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas was out of the question, as I was barely able to return to running by then, and therefore certainly wasnt in shape to race. By October I was finally back to running consistently without pain, but by then the tri season was all but over, and, well, that was that. I "raced" a couple of local running races for fun, but didn't have the time to get in the training required to get back to top form.

So, here we are. 2011 was disappointing, but that only makes me want to make up for it that much more in 2012. So in an effort to shake things up, I've got a pretty big change on the way, but that will have to wait for another post.....