Well there are 4 days to go before my first 1/2 Ironman race, the Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon presented by Pizza Hut. On Sunday I did my last long run, an 11 miler at 3PM to try to continue my heat adaptation. It felt pretty good but I was definitely a little tired on Monday, I think that I may be overdue for a rest day...so why not start the taper!
Here's the plan:
Lots of sleep all week!
Monday - swim 1000-1500m easy, focus on just being comfortable in the water and keeping my stroke mechanics solid.
Tuesday - run 7 miles fairly easy (8:15-8:45 pace).
Wednesday - run 5 miles in the AM, swim for 30 min in Lake Michigan in the PM
Thursday - bike 30 miles easy (18 mph) with a couple of sprint intervals or fast climbs, swim 20-30 min easy in Lake Michigan.
Friday - bike 13 miles easy (the Steelhead run course), run 20 min easy with three 1 min race pace intervals, swim 20-30 min easy.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
New York City Triathlon Race Report
7/20/08 New York City Triathlon. 1500 meter swim, 40 kilometer bike, 10 kilometer run.
Where to start with this race...Well on Friday morning I left Ann Arbor with Julie Parrish, my training partner, on a long road trip to NYC. We made pretty good time, despite getting slightly lost (thank goodness for iPhones!!!) and settled into our hotel. Saturday was busy with race preparation, we had the mandatory pre-race meeting, the expo, packet pickup etc. Then we had to take our bikes down to transition and rack them for the night. I got really lucky and happened to have the 2nd best rack position in the entire transition area which I was really excited about. We grabbed some food from a corner grocery store and ate on our way back to the hotel and then promptly went to bed once we arrived since we would be waking at 4:00AM the next morning.
Race day came too early for my liking. But we were up ate a quick breakfast of oatmeal, 1/2 of a Clif bar, a banana, and some Naked juice and then we were headed out of the hotel by 4:45AM. After a long wait for the shuttle bus we finally made it to transition by about 5:30AM which gave us about 15 minutes to get setup before the transition areas closed at 5:45AM. Thankfully I'm a transition minimalist so setup was a breeze and I was out by 5:45 with no problem.
I watched the Pros finish their swim and then walked up the Hudson to swim start. My wave wasn't until 7:03 so I waited around a bit and then put my wetsuit on about 15 minutes before the start. The first surprise of the day for me came the second that I jumped off the barge into the water: the Hudson is brackish. I'm not a fan of sea water so this was an unwelcome development. My second surprise of the day was equally bad, in what is billed as the fastest USAT 1500m swim in the country there was no current at all due to the incoming tide. This was very disappointing to me as I was hoping to finally have a quick swim. The next surprise was even worse, about 500m into the 1500m swim I received my first ever jellyfish sting...right to the face. Being allergic to wasp stings I was justifiably concerned about what might happen so I quickly swam over to one of the rescue kayaks and asked what I should do. I was told to just finish the swim. Well I decided that I would hang onto the kayak for a couple of minutes to make sure that I wasn't going to have an allergic reaction and drown. Once I started swimming again I got stung a few more times including once more to the face. Finally I made it to the end of the swim and made my way out of the water. 30:34 was NOT what I was hoping for. My face was still burning like hell from the jellyfish stings.
There was a bit of a run from the swim exit to T1 but I made the transition to the bike in a very respectable 3:53 which was the 7th fastest in my age group. Then I was out onto the West Side Highway for the bike. The course was a bit more rolling than I was expecting, most of it was hills though none of them were particularly bad, I would say that it was a moderately difficult course. I was feeling really strong and had passed quite a few people in my age group in the first half of the bike course. Then about 1/4 mile from the turn-around at the half-way point my rear tire went flat. I'm still not entirely sure what caused it but I was not happy at all. My wheel cover had slid a bit so I ended up struggling with that for a while to get it realigned with the valve so that I could inflate the tire. Once I had the new tube in and the wheel mounted up 12 minutes had passed (according to my bike computer) which was incredibly frustrating to me because I can usually change a clincher tire in about 3-4 minutes. Once I was back on the bike I was still feeling strong so I pushed pretty hard back to T2. Bike split was 1:25:06, not what I was hoping for but given the flat tire and the amount of time that cost me I can't complain about my performance when I was actually pedaling.
Came into T2 and my beautiful transition spot was occupied by a photographer, he wasn't just in front of it, he was IN it with his camera bag and a huge tripod sitting EXACTLY where I needed to rack my bike. As I ran in I yelled for him to get out of my way and literally had to push my way past him to get to the bike rack. On with the running shoes, grab the visor and race belt and head out onto the race course. T2 took me :56 and would have certainly been faster had the photographer not been in my way. But I can't complain too much as my T2 time was in the top 10 for the entire race (excluding Pros and Elites). Looks like my transition practice is paying off!!!
The run was HOT and HUMID. It really felt awful. The course was a little more difficult than I expected, like the bike course there were almost no flat sections. Very rolling but no really big hills. The heat took a major toll on me and I ended up running an 8:22 pace to finish in 51:59
Overall time for the race: 2:52:26. Not pretty.
Doing the race was a "good" experience for me, and by "good" I mean it probably built character or something. I did NOT have a good experience of the race and I am unlikely to do it again. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes.
Where to start with this race...Well on Friday morning I left Ann Arbor with Julie Parrish, my training partner, on a long road trip to NYC. We made pretty good time, despite getting slightly lost (thank goodness for iPhones!!!) and settled into our hotel. Saturday was busy with race preparation, we had the mandatory pre-race meeting, the expo, packet pickup etc. Then we had to take our bikes down to transition and rack them for the night. I got really lucky and happened to have the 2nd best rack position in the entire transition area which I was really excited about. We grabbed some food from a corner grocery store and ate on our way back to the hotel and then promptly went to bed once we arrived since we would be waking at 4:00AM the next morning.
Race day came too early for my liking. But we were up ate a quick breakfast of oatmeal, 1/2 of a Clif bar, a banana, and some Naked juice and then we were headed out of the hotel by 4:45AM. After a long wait for the shuttle bus we finally made it to transition by about 5:30AM which gave us about 15 minutes to get setup before the transition areas closed at 5:45AM. Thankfully I'm a transition minimalist so setup was a breeze and I was out by 5:45 with no problem.
I watched the Pros finish their swim and then walked up the Hudson to swim start. My wave wasn't until 7:03 so I waited around a bit and then put my wetsuit on about 15 minutes before the start. The first surprise of the day for me came the second that I jumped off the barge into the water: the Hudson is brackish. I'm not a fan of sea water so this was an unwelcome development. My second surprise of the day was equally bad, in what is billed as the fastest USAT 1500m swim in the country there was no current at all due to the incoming tide. This was very disappointing to me as I was hoping to finally have a quick swim. The next surprise was even worse, about 500m into the 1500m swim I received my first ever jellyfish sting...right to the face. Being allergic to wasp stings I was justifiably concerned about what might happen so I quickly swam over to one of the rescue kayaks and asked what I should do. I was told to just finish the swim. Well I decided that I would hang onto the kayak for a couple of minutes to make sure that I wasn't going to have an allergic reaction and drown. Once I started swimming again I got stung a few more times including once more to the face. Finally I made it to the end of the swim and made my way out of the water. 30:34 was NOT what I was hoping for. My face was still burning like hell from the jellyfish stings.
There was a bit of a run from the swim exit to T1 but I made the transition to the bike in a very respectable 3:53 which was the 7th fastest in my age group. Then I was out onto the West Side Highway for the bike. The course was a bit more rolling than I was expecting, most of it was hills though none of them were particularly bad, I would say that it was a moderately difficult course. I was feeling really strong and had passed quite a few people in my age group in the first half of the bike course. Then about 1/4 mile from the turn-around at the half-way point my rear tire went flat. I'm still not entirely sure what caused it but I was not happy at all. My wheel cover had slid a bit so I ended up struggling with that for a while to get it realigned with the valve so that I could inflate the tire. Once I had the new tube in and the wheel mounted up 12 minutes had passed (according to my bike computer) which was incredibly frustrating to me because I can usually change a clincher tire in about 3-4 minutes. Once I was back on the bike I was still feeling strong so I pushed pretty hard back to T2. Bike split was 1:25:06, not what I was hoping for but given the flat tire and the amount of time that cost me I can't complain about my performance when I was actually pedaling.
Came into T2 and my beautiful transition spot was occupied by a photographer, he wasn't just in front of it, he was IN it with his camera bag and a huge tripod sitting EXACTLY where I needed to rack my bike. As I ran in I yelled for him to get out of my way and literally had to push my way past him to get to the bike rack. On with the running shoes, grab the visor and race belt and head out onto the race course. T2 took me :56 and would have certainly been faster had the photographer not been in my way. But I can't complain too much as my T2 time was in the top 10 for the entire race (excluding Pros and Elites). Looks like my transition practice is paying off!!!
The run was HOT and HUMID. It really felt awful. The course was a little more difficult than I expected, like the bike course there were almost no flat sections. Very rolling but no really big hills. The heat took a major toll on me and I ended up running an 8:22 pace to finish in 51:59
Overall time for the race: 2:52:26. Not pretty.
Doing the race was a "good" experience for me, and by "good" I mean it probably built character or something. I did NOT have a good experience of the race and I am unlikely to do it again. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Really???
Backstory:
During the NYC triathlon this past weekend I started to feel the need to pee. I didn't end up having to go until after the race but the experience got me thinking about Steelhead...If I'm properly hydrating should I have to pee at some point during the race? If I don't have to pee does that mean that I might be getting dehydrated? So naturally I took my question to the internet and posted on the Slowtwitch forum.
Answer:
The overwhelming conclusion was that, yes, I should have to pee at some point during the race or I may be dehydrating myself.
Follow-up:
With that question answered I moved along to the next obvious question along this line of thought and asked: "How and where I should answer the inevitable call of nature?"
Answer:
The collective brain trust at Slowtwitch (men and women alike) advised that I just let loose and pee on myself during the bike and/or run, providing the caveat that I may need to stop pedaling or slow to a walk in order to perform the deed but under no circumstances should I actually stop.
Follow-up #2:
Hmmm...I've not peed on myself since I was toilet training so I'm a bit unfamiliar with the ramifications. Next question: "Supposing I do decide to "take the race seriously" as one respondent put it, and pee on myself as recommended, how do I keep from smelling like urine when I cross the finish line? Particularly, how do I keep my shoes from acquiring this odor?"
Answer(s):
Apparently folks have thought this through: "It's mostly water at that point, the sweat will overwhelm any smell." and "Splash some water on yourself at the aid stations on the run, then the runners behind you won't know what you're doing and it will dilute the urine."
Conclusion:
I can't believe I'm actually considering this...I may have reached a new low.
During the NYC triathlon this past weekend I started to feel the need to pee. I didn't end up having to go until after the race but the experience got me thinking about Steelhead...If I'm properly hydrating should I have to pee at some point during the race? If I don't have to pee does that mean that I might be getting dehydrated? So naturally I took my question to the internet and posted on the Slowtwitch forum.
Answer:
The overwhelming conclusion was that, yes, I should have to pee at some point during the race or I may be dehydrating myself.
Follow-up:
With that question answered I moved along to the next obvious question along this line of thought and asked: "How and where I should answer the inevitable call of nature?"
Answer:
The collective brain trust at Slowtwitch (men and women alike) advised that I just let loose and pee on myself during the bike and/or run, providing the caveat that I may need to stop pedaling or slow to a walk in order to perform the deed but under no circumstances should I actually stop.
Follow-up #2:
Hmmm...I've not peed on myself since I was toilet training so I'm a bit unfamiliar with the ramifications. Next question: "Supposing I do decide to "take the race seriously" as one respondent put it, and pee on myself as recommended, how do I keep from smelling like urine when I cross the finish line? Particularly, how do I keep my shoes from acquiring this odor?"
Answer(s):
Apparently folks have thought this through: "It's mostly water at that point, the sweat will overwhelm any smell." and "Splash some water on yourself at the aid stations on the run, then the runners behind you won't know what you're doing and it will dilute the urine."
Conclusion:
I can't believe I'm actually considering this...I may have reached a new low.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Kensington Valley Triathlon Series #2 Race Report
Kensington Triathlon Series #2 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 4 mile run.
This race was part of a series being sponsored by Cadence Cycle which is my local bike shop and a sponsor of the Ann Arbor Tri Club. Jon Sherman, the owner of Cadence, had lent me his personal set of Pro-Lite race wheels to use for the race since he would not be racing, which I thought was super nice of him to do. The night before the race I mounted the wheels and went for a test ride to make sure everything was adjusted right and also to test the new Spiuk Chronos aero helmet that I got for my birthday. The next morning it started raining just as I arrived at the race. Obviously the rain wouldn't be a factor in the swim and I actually really enjoy running in the rain, but I was a bit worried about the bike leg. As usual I was in the first wave of swimmers to head out, the swim went alright and I was able to find someone to draft again just as I had done at Flag City. I came out of the water at 20:27 (rank 103/179) which I can't complain about as it is 2 minutes faster than I swam at Lake Macatawa. T1 took me 1:18 and then I was out on the bike. The course was mostly rolling hills with a couple of bigger climbs. At mile 1 I had to stop to adjust my rear wheel because apparently the set screws that keep the wheel from rubbing the seat tube had vibrated in which allowed the tire to rub the frame. I would have to stop to pull the wheel back from the frame 2 more times during the course of the race, this probably cost me about 2-3 minutes altogether on the bike. The rain was also an issue as the road seemed a little slick. As I mentioned before I was on borrowed wheels which felt a bit unfamiliar and I could feel the breeze pushing me around a little bit with the rear disk wheel I was using. The wheels were nice and fast though and despite the rain, rubbing rear tire, and wind I was able to finish the bike course in 45:34 (rank 59/179) for an average pace of about 20 mph which is significantly better than the 18.2 mph that I did on the course, in much better conditions, last fall during the Great Pumpkin Duathlon. T2 went well and I was out on the run after only :46. My legs felt great going out for the run and the rain was really refreshing at this point. I managed to pass a number of people while only being passed by one person myself so that felt pretty good. By mile 2 my right Achilles was nagging at me again but with only 2 miles to go I just pushed through and it didn't really slow me down. I completed the run in 28:03 (rank 32/179) for about a 7:01/M pace. It was fun to note that nobody that finished after me ran faster than me, which tells me that I need to speed it up on the swim and bike portions of the race. I was able to get 2nd in my age group, but even more exciting to me was the fact that my time was good enough to have gotten me 3rd in the much larger 25-29 age group...I guess there is hope for me next year after all!
This race was part of a series being sponsored by Cadence Cycle which is my local bike shop and a sponsor of the Ann Arbor Tri Club. Jon Sherman, the owner of Cadence, had lent me his personal set of Pro-Lite race wheels to use for the race since he would not be racing, which I thought was super nice of him to do. The night before the race I mounted the wheels and went for a test ride to make sure everything was adjusted right and also to test the new Spiuk Chronos aero helmet that I got for my birthday. The next morning it started raining just as I arrived at the race. Obviously the rain wouldn't be a factor in the swim and I actually really enjoy running in the rain, but I was a bit worried about the bike leg. As usual I was in the first wave of swimmers to head out, the swim went alright and I was able to find someone to draft again just as I had done at Flag City. I came out of the water at 20:27 (rank 103/179) which I can't complain about as it is 2 minutes faster than I swam at Lake Macatawa. T1 took me 1:18 and then I was out on the bike. The course was mostly rolling hills with a couple of bigger climbs. At mile 1 I had to stop to adjust my rear wheel because apparently the set screws that keep the wheel from rubbing the seat tube had vibrated in which allowed the tire to rub the frame. I would have to stop to pull the wheel back from the frame 2 more times during the course of the race, this probably cost me about 2-3 minutes altogether on the bike. The rain was also an issue as the road seemed a little slick. As I mentioned before I was on borrowed wheels which felt a bit unfamiliar and I could feel the breeze pushing me around a little bit with the rear disk wheel I was using. The wheels were nice and fast though and despite the rain, rubbing rear tire, and wind I was able to finish the bike course in 45:34 (rank 59/179) for an average pace of about 20 mph which is significantly better than the 18.2 mph that I did on the course, in much better conditions, last fall during the Great Pumpkin Duathlon. T2 went well and I was out on the run after only :46. My legs felt great going out for the run and the rain was really refreshing at this point. I managed to pass a number of people while only being passed by one person myself so that felt pretty good. By mile 2 my right Achilles was nagging at me again but with only 2 miles to go I just pushed through and it didn't really slow me down. I completed the run in 28:03 (rank 32/179) for about a 7:01/M pace. It was fun to note that nobody that finished after me ran faster than me, which tells me that I need to speed it up on the swim and bike portions of the race. I was able to get 2nd in my age group, but even more exciting to me was the fact that my time was good enough to have gotten me 3rd in the much larger 25-29 age group...I guess there is hope for me next year after all!
Flag City Triathlon Race Report
6/14/08 Flag City Olympic Triathlon 1500m swim, 22 mile bike, 10k run.
Well this was my first Olympic distance triathlon. I went with the Ann Arbor Tri Club travel team (of which I am a member) that is working to win us the USA Triathlon (USAT) Mideast Region Championship Race Series (MERCRS) for clubs which are endorsed by USAT. Going into the race I was most worried about the swim, particularly given my abysmal time at Lake Macatawa the previous week. The setup of this race was a little unique in that the transition areas were in two different locations, about a mile apart, unfortunately this proved disastrous for my training partner and teammate Julie Parrish. While carrying her wetsuit on her bike over to T1 where the swim start would be held, her wetsuit got sucked into her front wheel and fork flipping her onto her head and shoulder instantly. She had a fairly major concussion, a dislocated shoulder resulting in a torn rotator cuff, and a variety of other bumps, bruises, and road rash. Anyway, back to the race. I went out with the first wave for the 1500m swim, it was two rectangular laps. After the first lap I checked my watch and was surprised to see that I had completed it in 16:00 minutes, this boosted my confidence and kept me motivated through the second half. During the second lap I found someone that I could draft behind which kept my pace from degrading too far and got me out of the water in a total time of 32:43. The swim clearly went much better than I was expecting but it also left me feeling much more tired than I typically am coming out of the water. T1 was pretty quick and soon I was out on the bike course. Jon Sherman the owner of my bike shop, Cadence Cycle, was doing the race and was a vendor as well and he happened to have an extra disk wheel in his trailer that he wanted to lend to someone so before the race we had put that onto my bike for me to demo, so I was pretty excited about that. The course was fairly flat, mostly closed to traffic, and otherwise fairly unremarkable...except for the railroad tracks which caused my water bottle to eject early on in the race. This proved to be bad for me. No Gatorade, no water, bright sun, steadily climbing temperatures and me on a bike is not a recipe for success. The bike went okay, but it could have been better, I finished in 1:11:19 for an average speed of 18.5 mph. Not what I was hoping for with a flat course, especially when I was testing a disk wheel that should have saved me a few seconds. Anyway, the lack of Gatorade on the bike didn't bother me too much while I was actually biking, where it came back to bite me was on the run. By time I was off the bike I was really really thirsty so I drained Julie's aerodrink bottle of whatever it was she had in there as I was putting my shoes on and then I headed out for the run. It was two laps of a 5k course. I grabbed some water at each aid station to try to get rehydrated. But it was too little, too late, and I paid for it with an added minute on my run pace and with a nagging injury to my right Achilles. The 10k run took me 52:17 for an 8:26/M pace. My overall time was 2:36:19 and I placed 40/59 overall. Not a good race for me. I'm still paying for the dehydration with an irritated and sore right achilles tendon which I will likely have to baby until the NYC Triathlon and Steelhead.
Well this was my first Olympic distance triathlon. I went with the Ann Arbor Tri Club travel team (of which I am a member) that is working to win us the USA Triathlon (USAT) Mideast Region Championship Race Series (MERCRS) for clubs which are endorsed by USAT. Going into the race I was most worried about the swim, particularly given my abysmal time at Lake Macatawa the previous week. The setup of this race was a little unique in that the transition areas were in two different locations, about a mile apart, unfortunately this proved disastrous for my training partner and teammate Julie Parrish. While carrying her wetsuit on her bike over to T1 where the swim start would be held, her wetsuit got sucked into her front wheel and fork flipping her onto her head and shoulder instantly. She had a fairly major concussion, a dislocated shoulder resulting in a torn rotator cuff, and a variety of other bumps, bruises, and road rash. Anyway, back to the race. I went out with the first wave for the 1500m swim, it was two rectangular laps. After the first lap I checked my watch and was surprised to see that I had completed it in 16:00 minutes, this boosted my confidence and kept me motivated through the second half. During the second lap I found someone that I could draft behind which kept my pace from degrading too far and got me out of the water in a total time of 32:43. The swim clearly went much better than I was expecting but it also left me feeling much more tired than I typically am coming out of the water. T1 was pretty quick and soon I was out on the bike course. Jon Sherman the owner of my bike shop, Cadence Cycle, was doing the race and was a vendor as well and he happened to have an extra disk wheel in his trailer that he wanted to lend to someone so before the race we had put that onto my bike for me to demo, so I was pretty excited about that. The course was fairly flat, mostly closed to traffic, and otherwise fairly unremarkable...except for the railroad tracks which caused my water bottle to eject early on in the race. This proved to be bad for me. No Gatorade, no water, bright sun, steadily climbing temperatures and me on a bike is not a recipe for success. The bike went okay, but it could have been better, I finished in 1:11:19 for an average speed of 18.5 mph. Not what I was hoping for with a flat course, especially when I was testing a disk wheel that should have saved me a few seconds. Anyway, the lack of Gatorade on the bike didn't bother me too much while I was actually biking, where it came back to bite me was on the run. By time I was off the bike I was really really thirsty so I drained Julie's aerodrink bottle of whatever it was she had in there as I was putting my shoes on and then I headed out for the run. It was two laps of a 5k course. I grabbed some water at each aid station to try to get rehydrated. But it was too little, too late, and I paid for it with an added minute on my run pace and with a nagging injury to my right Achilles. The 10k run took me 52:17 for an 8:26/M pace. My overall time was 2:36:19 and I placed 40/59 overall. Not a good race for me. I'm still paying for the dehydration with an irritated and sore right achilles tendon which I will likely have to baby until the NYC Triathlon and Steelhead.
Lake Macatawa Triathlon Race Report
6/7/08 Lake Macatawa Triathlon 1/2 mile swim, 22.8 mile bike, 4.8 mile run.
This was a memorial race for Rachel's cousin Ryan Los who tragically passed away earlier this spring. There was a wonderful turnout of family and friends there to show their support, many of us wearing white t-shirts with Ryan's #43 on them which was his number last year when he did this race. My family was there as well as Rachel's family and many of her relatives on the Los side, this made for an interesting experience on my part as I have never had that many people out cheering for me at a race, it was fun. The swim was predictably bad, my typical glacial pace was evident in my 22:06 time (rank 114/168) and I was dodging dead/disintigrating Carp along the way which was kinda gross. T1 went fine and I was quickly out on the bike and back to having fun. Unfortunately I'm still adjusting to my new Cervelo P2C and still dialing in my position to maximize my power and comfort in the aero position so my time was quite a bit slower than I had hoped. The bike leg took me 1:06:51 for an average of 20.5 mph (rank 43/168). After a quick T2 I was out on the run and ready to make up some time. As usual it took about a mile for me to get my legs under me and get up to pace but I was feeling great and ended up running negative splits for each mile of the race. The run took me 35:03 for a 7:18/M pace (rank 40/168), and I'm pretty sure that my last mile was a bit closer to 6:45/M as I was able to put out a really strong kick to catch a guy that I thought was in my age group. The whole race took me 2:04:02 which I was fairly happy with, I knew that I had spent more time in the water and on the bike than I needed to but for my first tri of the season I couldn't complain too much. I was alone in my age group so I took home a really cool set of little Dutch wooden shoes for 1st place in the 20-24 age group. My overall place was 54/168.
This was a memorial race for Rachel's cousin Ryan Los who tragically passed away earlier this spring. There was a wonderful turnout of family and friends there to show their support, many of us wearing white t-shirts with Ryan's #43 on them which was his number last year when he did this race. My family was there as well as Rachel's family and many of her relatives on the Los side, this made for an interesting experience on my part as I have never had that many people out cheering for me at a race, it was fun. The swim was predictably bad, my typical glacial pace was evident in my 22:06 time (rank 114/168) and I was dodging dead/disintigrating Carp along the way which was kinda gross. T1 went fine and I was quickly out on the bike and back to having fun. Unfortunately I'm still adjusting to my new Cervelo P2C and still dialing in my position to maximize my power and comfort in the aero position so my time was quite a bit slower than I had hoped. The bike leg took me 1:06:51 for an average of 20.5 mph (rank 43/168). After a quick T2 I was out on the run and ready to make up some time. As usual it took about a mile for me to get my legs under me and get up to pace but I was feeling great and ended up running negative splits for each mile of the race. The run took me 35:03 for a 7:18/M pace (rank 40/168), and I'm pretty sure that my last mile was a bit closer to 6:45/M as I was able to put out a really strong kick to catch a guy that I thought was in my age group. The whole race took me 2:04:02 which I was fairly happy with, I knew that I had spent more time in the water and on the bike than I needed to but for my first tri of the season I couldn't complain too much. I was alone in my age group so I took home a really cool set of little Dutch wooden shoes for 1st place in the 20-24 age group. My overall place was 54/168.
Dexter-Ann Arbor Run 1/2 Marathon Race Report
6/1/08 Dexter-Ann Arbor Run 1/2 Marathon (13.1 miles)
This was a really fun race. I'd never done a half-marathon before so I was a little nervous but I had trained plenty for it so I wasn't really concerned about not being able to finish, it was just a matter of how long it would take me. With the Steelhead 70.3 race coming up in August I figured that it would be a good idea to have race 13.1 miles before doing it at the end of a Half-Ironman. The morning was perfect, just a touch on the cool side at the start and just a little warm at the finish, the course was beautiful, safe, and very well accomodated. A couple of my friends, Brian Dorsey and Heather Huggins (they are married), ran this race with me which really made it a ton of fun. As usual Heather was off like a bat out of hell as soon as the gun went off at the start and she was not to be seen again until the turn-around 11 miles later. This was a pretty big race with about 2500 competitors so the course was pretty packed, but the road was closed to traffic so we had plenty of space. The best part about this race for me was the fact that Brian and I ran stride for stride the exact same pace for the entire thing, including the sprint to the finish. Brian and I have raced before and train together regularly with the Ann Arbor Track Club and historically neither of us has had any qualms about leaving the other behind in a race if possible, so had either one of us been able to run away from the other I'm sure that it would have happened. But on this day we ran exactly together. Brian had a printed pace chart bracelet to keep us at our goal pace of 7:45/M and we kept to it almost exactly. At the finish I initiated the sprint, hearing a muttered "damn you Dave!" from Brian as I did. We both hit the timing mats at exactly 1:41:25, though the pictures at the finish line show my toe slightly ahead of Brian's. :) I took 29/89 in my age group and Brian took 48/188 in his, we both finished in the top 400 racers overall. It was a great race and I felt great afterward which was a real confidence booster as I prepare for Steelhead.
This was a really fun race. I'd never done a half-marathon before so I was a little nervous but I had trained plenty for it so I wasn't really concerned about not being able to finish, it was just a matter of how long it would take me. With the Steelhead 70.3 race coming up in August I figured that it would be a good idea to have race 13.1 miles before doing it at the end of a Half-Ironman. The morning was perfect, just a touch on the cool side at the start and just a little warm at the finish, the course was beautiful, safe, and very well accomodated. A couple of my friends, Brian Dorsey and Heather Huggins (they are married), ran this race with me which really made it a ton of fun. As usual Heather was off like a bat out of hell as soon as the gun went off at the start and she was not to be seen again until the turn-around 11 miles later. This was a pretty big race with about 2500 competitors so the course was pretty packed, but the road was closed to traffic so we had plenty of space. The best part about this race for me was the fact that Brian and I ran stride for stride the exact same pace for the entire thing, including the sprint to the finish. Brian and I have raced before and train together regularly with the Ann Arbor Track Club and historically neither of us has had any qualms about leaving the other behind in a race if possible, so had either one of us been able to run away from the other I'm sure that it would have happened. But on this day we ran exactly together. Brian had a printed pace chart bracelet to keep us at our goal pace of 7:45/M and we kept to it almost exactly. At the finish I initiated the sprint, hearing a muttered "damn you Dave!" from Brian as I did. We both hit the timing mats at exactly 1:41:25, though the pictures at the finish line show my toe slightly ahead of Brian's. :) I took 29/89 in my age group and Brian took 48/188 in his, we both finished in the top 400 racers overall. It was a great race and I felt great afterward which was a real confidence booster as I prepare for Steelhead.
Buffalo Trails Race Report
5/24/08 Buffalo Trails Triathlon (AKA the Ann Arbor Triathlon Club's Great Kentucky Adventure). 1/2 mile swim, 22 mile bike, 3.05 mile run.
This was to be my first tri of the year and we had a good group of people from the Ann Arbor Tri Club make the long trek down to Maysville, KY. It was not a good race for me. The swim was canceled due the the bacteria levels in the Ohio River being 6x higher than is safe for swimming. The swim was replaced by a .5 mile run to spread people out going into T1. I actually enjoyed the little sprint to T1, coming in at 2:38, I made it out of T1 in :39 seconds and that was the high point of the race for me. 8 miles into the bike leg I was feeling great, biking strong and I had the race leaders in sight. Then I got the first of 3 flats that I would get during the course of the race. After the second flat I wasn't really 'racing' anymore and was just planning to finish the race to get a few MERCERS points for the club. The 22 mile bike leg took me 1:41:09 instead of the <1:05:00 time that I was planning on. So I eventually made it to T2 and set out on the run which went fine, I wasn't really mentally racing anymore so my time wasn't blazing but I put out a respectable (for me) 22:21 and managed to pass a few people along the way. My total time was 2:07:22 which I hope to never see again for a sprint of that distance!
This was to be my first tri of the year and we had a good group of people from the Ann Arbor Tri Club make the long trek down to Maysville, KY. It was not a good race for me. The swim was canceled due the the bacteria levels in the Ohio River being 6x higher than is safe for swimming. The swim was replaced by a .5 mile run to spread people out going into T1. I actually enjoyed the little sprint to T1, coming in at 2:38, I made it out of T1 in :39 seconds and that was the high point of the race for me. 8 miles into the bike leg I was feeling great, biking strong and I had the race leaders in sight. Then I got the first of 3 flats that I would get during the course of the race. After the second flat I wasn't really 'racing' anymore and was just planning to finish the race to get a few MERCERS points for the club. The 22 mile bike leg took me 1:41:09 instead of the <1:05:00 time that I was planning on. So I eventually made it to T2 and set out on the run which went fine, I wasn't really mentally racing anymore so my time wasn't blazing but I put out a respectable (for me) 22:21 and managed to pass a few people along the way. My total time was 2:07:22 which I hope to never see again for a sprint of that distance!
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