Last Hoorah- Genine's Skylands Race Report

A few drops of water didn't dampen the spirit of those who came out to participate in NJ Tri-Fest. The rain did not cut us a break yesterday, but today was glorious and sunny. I spent the day yesterday playing fan, photographer, sherpa and dog-sitter, along with Lara, while Matt and friends raced at Buckman. It's a small local race, so many people from the area to see. Matt, Todd, Ed and Chaz all raced as individuals and Maija filled in as the biker for Team Tonmeister with Kevin and Jeff. Even though a part of me was disappointed not to be racing, I always really enjoy spectating. I was (still am) feeling tired very run down/sick from lack of sleep and a stressful work week. I anticipated not being in shape to bike for Kevin & Jeff, so we called upon Maija to fill in for me. Good call! Everyone raced well and there are many fun tales which I am sure will be told in future race reports. Including the fact that Team Tonmeister, Todd, Ed and Matt all took home trophies for their efforts. Way to go!!

Kevin, Chaz, Matt, Maija, Todd, Me and Ed pre-race.

After the race, we came back to the house with Kevin, Lara and Jeff to clean up and prepare for the party. It was nice to have a few hours to relax and catch up with them before everyone else arrived. The rainy weather turned the evening into a more intimate gathering of 12 or so. It was quite nice to be able to really get to visit with people instead of feeling like you were "making the rounds" as it often does during a big party. We all fit on the back porch, ate like kings and chatted our way into the evening hours. The party broke around 9:30pm as all were tired from racing/spectating (hey! it's hard work, too.) earlier and many of us were anticipating more racing today. Matt ad I cleaned up and were in bed by 11:00pm.

The alarm went off at 5:00 this morning. I promptly hit snooze and slept until 5:30. (Ahh...the joy of a local race that starts later.) I got up and began to get my race stuff together (didn't do it the night before). You would think that only doing 1 leg of a race would be easier to pack for, but it was strangely disorienting. I kept feeling like I was forgetting things! We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise on the ride to the park, arriving around7:05. Got everything settled in transition, then headed down to the water, saw Matt & Maija off on their swim, one last stop in the bathroom and then back to transition to get ready to bike...anxiously waiting to see who would run into transition first!

Finishing the bike - wearing Maija's aero helmet for extra speed!

I was excited to ride this course again. I haven't been on it since last year's race and I was hopeful that I could make some improvements. Here comes Maija!! Struggled a bit getting the chip off her, but then grabbed my bike, told Bob I would see him out there and then ran out to start my ride. As I glanced at my HR on the way out of the park, I saw 170! Ha...this is going to be fun! As expected, Bob caught me around mile 4. I passed him once, then he passed me again as we started the monster climb. My mission was to stay as close behind Bob as I could. I never anticipated beating Bob on the ride. I am a realist. Bob is an awesome biker. He proved it on the ride today. On the killer hill (that lasts FOREVER!!...that many people walk up), I never saw him come out of aero! In true "Bob Style", he effortlessly chugged up, up, up the hill. The last I saw him he was cresting the top and then dropped out of sight. I didn't see him again. The second half of my ride felt great. Strong and fast. I held close with another guy who was relaying as we took turns leading each other all the way back to the park. It's so helpful to have someone to push you through a race! As Maija grabbed the chip to start her run, I saw Bob at the rack. he said I was only a couple minutes behind him ( a tad under 3min, I believe). Nice!! I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that I was that close! Finished in 49:36.... 17.3mph. Even thought we didn't beat Steve Austin, we did manage to defend our title as reigning womens relay champs! KB2's record remains undefeated at 4-0! Woo-Hoo!!

KB2 post race

Welcome to the Gun Show! Yeah...we bad!!

KB2 with the hardware! :-)

Show me the $$$$!!!

This was most likely my last race of the season (possibly a 5k or two in the fall). It felt great to spend it having fun & racing with friends. As I always say, we are so fortunate to enjoy this sport with so many great people! It continues to be an amazing journey. After all, that's what it's all about, Charlie Brown.

TriFest Weekend Results

Full Buckman Triathlon Results can be found here.
Matt's 2008 vs 2009 Buckman Results:

Oall   S/Rank  Swim  S Pace   T1    B/Rank Bike   MPH
47     48    16:28   32:56   2:41   51     56:33 18.0
46     35    14:37   29:13   1:57   50     55:29 18.4

T2    R Rank Run   R/Pace  Total    Div     Gender
1:07   51    24:27  7:54  1:41:14  10/24    38/117  M
1:13   52    23:43  7:39  1:36:56   5/12    43/127  M

Full Skylands Relay Results can be found here.
Our relay team results.

Team Steve Austin 2nd place Male Relay Team.
Matt, Bob and Todd
Oall   S/Rank  Swim  S Pace   T1    B/Rank Bike   MPH
3        7   15:12 30:23    1:49    5      46:40  18.4

T2    R Rank Run   R/Pace  Total    Div
2:04    2    21:52  7:04   1:27:36  2/6    MTEA

Team KB2. 1st Place Female Relay Team.
Maija, Genine, Maija
Oall   S/Rank  Swim  S Pace   T1    B/Rank Bike   MPH
6        4   14:37 29:13    1:29    8      49:36  17.3

T2    R Rank Run   R/Pace  Total    Div
1:48    6    22:34  7:17   1:30:02   1/3    FTEA

I'll write up more of a report later.

Ahhh swimming....

Wednesday night I finally made it to the pool....all clean, with fresh water and newly installed drains (to meet the new safety codes). It was great. I had the pool to myself (I am sure the lifeguard was thrilled when I showed up). Broke out my new equipment, chose my workout, and I was off. The water temp was actually a bit warmer than I expected but not so warm that it hindered the swim. My initial goal = endurance with extended strokes without breathing so often. ( Yeah - I remember Coach Phillip's words about not breathing with every stroke. I remember Judy Kylander (Olympic Trial Competitor - WAHS grad) breathing only once per length....NOT me.) I had to breath on every 4th stroke. Soooo---that's something to work on. Additionally I found that my kick is quite weak. Matt-any thoughts for improving this (drills etc).

Here's what I did
200 WU
2x200 (50 F, 100 Kick, 50 F)
300, 200, 100
100 CD - backstroke
And then time ran out....time to pick up football player #2 and go home and feed both FB#1 and FB#2. (Thank goodness for stirfry!)

All in all---loved the swim. Can't wait to build up more endurance. I simply focused on freestyle. I do want to crank out some butterfly but that can wait. Next time I will be sure to give myself a full hour to complete the entire work out.

Plan for this weekend....3 mile run, Football tomorrow in Erie at 9 am, maybe breakout my new DVD when I get home (P90X), Sunday Football again...run and maybe p90x. I'll let you know how it all works out.

Oh yeah - good news...found a fellow goal oriented individual "competer" who has signed up for Thad's class. She's shooting to do the Tango next year (solo). She said "It ain't pretty (her in Thad's class) but she's doing it and refuses to quit." Sweet...I'll be hooking up with her soon. "Girl Power"

Entire Buckman, Swim at Skylands

Unless they modify the course on Saturday, it will be the first course that I've raced twice. So I'll finally get to compare results. It's also my first sprint distance race of the year. I intend to leave it all out there. I'm guessing relays will be last wave. That means I have to swim through a ton of people. (Yeah because I'm just that fast, ha ha!). It also means they might serve as a good sighting tool. Last year I went way off course on the return trip.

Unless it's raining. I think I might be more aggressive on the bike than I have been in the past. It's a fun race, I may as well try some things out. I have a pacing plan for the entire course in my head. I can't say that I'll actually follow it on race day, sometimes I kind of zone out on the course. Guess we will see.

The run. Well it would be nice if Todd and I start in the same wave so we might have a bit of a foot race on our hands at the end. Although whether he is ahead of me or behind me, I'm going to have to run as hard as I can.

Then on Sunday. It's KB2 vs the guys team "Steve Austin" is the name of the guys team. (Lee Majors not Stone Cold). I'm teamed up with Bob (Bike) and Todd (run).
The trash talking has started. The girls are planning on feeding us drinks all day Saturday at the party. (see they are afraid to race us). I figure it's the perfect setup to set PRs on individual events.

I'll do my best to get results posted. It's going to be a busy weekend but also really fun.

Columbia Triathlon

Well I'm already registering for 2010 races. I'm signed up for the Columbia Triathlon. I hope to be healthy this time around so I don't miss it.
This race sells out fairly quickly. A day or so typically. Craig it's just over 3 hours drive for you. From what I understand this is a great race. Check out some of the names and the results from last year. Keep in mind it was hailing on them during the bike. Shawn I think you know the guy from Penn State. He had a decent race. ;-)

I also plan on racing Mooseman and Timberman again.
Tango of course is in there as well. Not sure in what capacity yet. Time will tell there.

Just thought I'd throw this out there. Check it out!

Andy Potts / Chicago Triathlon

I missed this story.

Plantar Faciitis / Pull ups / Push ups... Diet

My left foot definitely has a bit of plantar fasciitis. Last night at the pool we caught up with Grace she told me she hasn't raced all year because of plantar fasciitis. Yikes!! That is a huge bummer. Naturally, I've been digging through triathlon and running forums to find out how other athletes have worked through this problem. One of the posts had a couple interesting statements I thought I'd share here.
First he mentioned that often times PF occurs when something new has entered your world. It could be workout related. Or it could be something like a new chair at work, which makes you place your feet differently for the majority of your day. (As in not flat on the floor).

Second he mentions that the cause is quite simply the lower leg and foot muscles being too tight. So you should work on stretching everything out. Then he adds that these calf stretches should be of the type, which has your foot flat on the floor. Not hanging off the edge of a stair or things like that as this has a tendency to over-stretch (tear) things. (He’s not a doctor but it sounds logical)

So put these 2 comments together and what do you get? Probably the cause of my PF. Back in April when I hurt my right knee, I decided that a good part of that injury could have occurred because of my lack of flexibility in my calves. So I made a point of stretching my calves daily... usually by hanging my foot off of a stair. Also I have been starting my morning by doing 15 minutes of yoga, with a bunch of time spent in Downward Facing Dog. Again, my heels are off of the floor. So perhaps I've found the source of my "overdoing it" for my foot. I'll make some adjustments and hope that it heals up. (Yes I should be doing more of the ice therapy as well)

Enough about that. The pull up plan is still rolling. Although I almost forget to do them every day. So I end up doing them at 9-10 at night. I feel I've placed myself into the right place on the pull up plan. Meaning it's pushing me but I'm getting it done.
The push up plan on the other hand, I think I may have placed myself a bit ahead of where I really am. I'm getting it done. Yet every time I look at the next workout, I realize it's not going to be easy and there is a bit of dread. Ha ha! The payoff is going to be worth it, I already feel a difference, which is surprising given how little time has been spent. Each workout is less than 15 minutes.

Lastly, the diet has been in effect for over a week now. Not sure if I mentioned that I gained about 15 pounds between February and Timberman Weekend. How's that for the opposite of what I wanted to accomplish? I can tell you it's much easier to diet when you aren't doing 2 workouts a day. I definitely have to continue the food tracking. It seems to be the best way to go for me. The fact I can check my Carb/fat/protein intake through the day helps me stay balanced and keeps me from feeling like I "need" to eat. The weight is falling off again and after getting past the first 4 days, I'm back to feeling normal.
I guess the challenge of next season will be to learn how to eat when the workouts increase again. If at first you don't succeed...

Bugs Bugs Everywhere

Headed out for my "newly mapped" 4 mile run. Started at the house, ran the high school hill, down to Prospect, over to Jackson, up Jackson, down Carver, to Pennsylvania, Conewango AND then home (for all familiar with Warren). Lots of hill work...I felt pretty good. I definitely felt better than I did on Saturday.

Jerry ran with me. At least two times during the run we ran smack dab into the middle of a "hatch." Picking bugs out of eyes and spitting them out of our mouths along the run....WHAT FUN!

Tonight I am hoping to swim. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can somehow work in pool time around, football and nightly eating fests (wow-can boys eat a lot!)

2 for 2 is a wonderous thing

Home from my second solid swim workout in a row. Matt & I swam at RVCC pool again tonight. I had picked a workout from my binder, so we were going in with a plan...which is always key for me. Even with my lack of sleep (stress sucks, man), I felt quite good. Our swim friend Grace showed up during the warm-up and she swam the main set with us. We got a bit chatty, as we hadn't seen each other in awhile, so the rest intervals were "extended", but we kept on task and got the entire main set in before pool closing. Total of 2200m. Good stuff!

Since Matt recently purchased a sleeveless top for his DeSoto wetsuit, I too have been looking around for some swimming apparel to enhance my performance. There are many amazing suits and swim skins out there, but I can't help but wonder....what if???

I earned my Cookie!

I did the trail run on Sunday. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The race had 200 pre-registered participants and about another 80 show up that morning. There were some very familiar faces in the crowd. Tango winner - Chris Welch was there. He was the first runner across the line for the 11 mile course. He's amazing. Jeff Dahl and Kelly (Dahl) Mangione ran together. They crossed the finished line looking refreshed (if only....)Everyone said the 11 mile run was great. I suspect this race will occur again next year. If so I hope that some of you give it a try.

Anyway - here's my summary. I ran the 4 mile race (2 miles up hill climb on Morrison Run Road and Back down). Nothing compared to the 11 mile course! We all started at the same time on a narrow dirt road. The walkers were behind the runners. It was somewhat tough to find a place to run given the nature of the gravel road. There was quite a bit of zig/zag positioning for the first mile. Apparently, there's lease gas somewhere in the vicinity as well...the odor was quite strong initially.

For the first 3/4 mile I felt great..wow...my training was paying off. Then the nausea started. I am still not sure if it was due to my heart rate or lack of nutrition (my lungs felt fine). I slowed my pace and at one point started power walking. Nausea wouldn't go away. I was able to run in the ruts of the road thus avoiding the rocks on the road. The only really difficult portion was an obvious mud hole that they'd recently filled with large CHUNKS of rock. How do you runners do it??? I had to walk...no way my ankles would hold up on that surface.

I celebrated at the turnaround....yeah...two miles of uphill climb over....now it's down hill the rest of the way. I told Jerry to please go ahead. It was too hard to have him near me as we kept bumping into each other. So off he ran like an little kid (rrrrr). He joked with many of the people that he passed that he was the first of the 11 mile runners--just finishing up. He's lucky none of them tripped him!

Kathie (yeah "Vash's Kathie" from the Tango) told me that I looked strong coming through the finish line. She's always a great motivator. I didn't meet my goals given that I had to adopt more of a run/walk approach to this race. I did however finish. I will run it again next year and hope to see great improvements in my time.

I think my time was 42 minutes---not great but willing to put it out there so I can reference it next year and say....wow....look how I've improved.

Oh yeah there were dozens of celebratory cookies at the finish line --the best part for me--one of the guys I cyclewith ran the 4 mile course. As he came through the finished line He said quite loudly "Where are the cookies?!" Me--I didn't eat any cookies...just drank water...too nauseous (bummer).

Chasing rabbits....

After a very productive day of outside chores, Matt and I decided to enjoy the beautiful cool, sunny weather today with a bike ride. We set out late in the afternoon around 4:30pm. Decided to start at the Y and ride the course with the good rolling hills up to the library near Bedminster/Far Hills. My legs (hips..of course and quads...surprise) were feeling inten-sati from yesterday in a BIG way. Tiffany had been away the past 2 Saturdays and she was back with a vengeance...but in a good way! So, my ride started out slowly as my legs warmed up and decided to work for me. I had told Matt to check in from time to time, but not to hold up his ride for my turtle-like pace.

We held together (for the most part) until we made the right turn on to Lamington Road where the rolling hills start. It is our typical protocol that Matt leads and I try to keep him in my sights. He waits for me at the turn around point at the library. I was keeping a steady pace, trying to work through the sore muscles. I pulled onto the library road and there was Matt waiting & eating his gu. I said, "hey! I'm going to go around and stretch." as I rolled by down the road to make a loop around the library lot to stretch my hips/ legs. I didn't really think too much of it when he didn't acknowledge me. As I was riding back up the road out of the lot to meet him, I see him start to turn on the road to head back! Why isn't he waiting?? Oh crap! He didn't see or hear me go by and now he thinks I'm flatted out or stuck somewhere! I decided I had to put it into super high gear to try to catch him (yea...right!) or at least keep close. SO...off I went like a bat out of hell! As I would get to the bottom of each hill, I could see Matt cresting the top of it. I figured he was riding hard thinking that he needed to find me. Poor Guy! I was pedaling up hills as I have never done before...like race day adrenaline only stronger. My quads were feeling like cement blocks hardening with every turn of the chain ring! Which at one point I realized I was climbing in my big ring!! I was like a greyhound chasing the rabbit. I knew he would stop at the end of the road where we turn...thank goodness! And he did! I told him what had happened and we both laughed a bit! Turns out I had more juice in me than I thought! Just needed some incentive. We ended up riding a little over 27miles in 1:41.

Speaking of incentive...after the ride I got my chai. MMmmm...so good!

Deals on Bike stuff

I'm on a quest for new bike shoes. As I was looking I found the following on sale until Monday.

These are the pedals I've used for the last 3 years. I'm retiring them.
Crank Brothers Quattro Sl Pedal $20.00

CO2 Pump $10

Maija did you say you needed a new crank for your bike to get rid of the creak? Or new Bottom Bracket?
Ultegra Crankset Double for $80 9 speed (umm. I didn't think the front ring had anything to do with your rear cassette?)

Shimano Ultegra 9 speed Cassette 11-23 $50

I haven't used a mag trainer but this is a pretty good price to try one out.
Nashbar Mag Plus Trainer $99

Once in a Blue Moon...or maybe a full moon

It's not often I get to say that I had a good swim, but...tonight I felt great for my entire swim. It was only about 50mins (since the pool closed at 9), but it was 50 solid minutes. No lolly-gagging after every 25m. I kept every rest interval (by counting "mississippis" - no lap clock at RVCC). I picked a workout from my swim book and did the entire thing without cheating or "altering". It was 2600m with a good mix of drill, pace building, dps and free style. I didn't get out of breath and I felt like I was keeping a good pace while not "working too hard". Not sure of my times, but for now I am more than happy with "feeling good". I think the RVCC pool is a good match for me...or maybe it is the full moon.

Matt said that my reward for keeping on task was a SFV soy chai latte from Starbucks post swim. It was too late by the time we were finished. Guess I will get to cash in over the weekend!

Chicago

Thanks for all the encouragement prior to the race. It was great to hear from from some of you. Maija, it was also great to see you there, I'm glad we got to hang out and get to know each other. It was funny when a buddy of mine from Pittsburgh asked Maija and I how we knew each other and we both had to stop and think about it for a second.

Chicago was a great reminder of how much I have missed the sport of triathlon. It was the first time I had competed in Triathlon in four years and it felt great to be back. I'm not really sure why I took so much time off, I didn't plan on it, it just sort of happened. However, I think it was a good thing because racing in Chicago has recharged my batteries. I couldn't have asked for a better race.

I was very apprehensive about getting started that morning, especially since the water was reportedly so cold. It ended up not being too bad ( I think 65 or so). I felt good in the water and I only went off course twice. The break wall just happened to be on the same side that I breath so that made things a lot easier. I would recommend this triathlon to anyone for the swim venue alone. It was perfect!!

When I got to the bike I put on all my gear and looked for the shot blocks I had set out. It seems that someone had walked off with them. Next time I'm going to implement better security for my stuff including facial recognition technology to identify the perp. I went without any energy replacement with the exception of diluted gatorade. The bike started off well except for the headwind but I kept plugging away because I that eventually that same wind would be at my back. I told my Maija and my friend from Pittsburgh that after we made the turn I felt like I was on an amusement park ride because we were able to go so fast.

The run was flat and fast but seemed to go on for ever. We ran right by Soldier Field and I has visions of Mike Ditka yelling at me to run faster. I literally ran side by side another guy for 5.5 miles of the 6.2 run. I pulled away from him with .5 to go but he found a way to get me at the end. I still thanked him after it was over because had he not been there I'm sure my run would have been slower.

Overall I was happiest with my bike section of the race. I've never had much confidence on the bike because I always seemed to get passed by tons of people right after the swim. I blame Lance Armstrong in part for this because I always read that he practiced a high cadence to conserve energy. I figured that in preparation for this race I would try what felt natural which meant turning a higher gear with a lower cadence. It felt more comfortable and turned out to be much faster. I also didn't feel as tired either. Does anyone know what is recommended for triathletes? I think I'm going to stick with this new strategy. Maybe having an actual tri bike would help even more.

The timing for this race couldn't have been better since I had been apprehensive about next summer's Ironman, but now I feel much better about my decision to go back down that road.

Now its time to relax, do some short runs, even shorter races for a couple months.

new slideshow

I keep meaning to ask if everyone can see the new pictures. It could be I need to change the security on them. There should be 117 pictures.

Let me know.

Buckman bike practice / Otter

You would think that for as often as I've been on that course this summer that it would no longer be a challenge. Sadly that is not the case.
Once I got warmed up, I decided that I should put in race effort for much of the course, just to get an idea of what I can and can't do. It was a tough ride at times. There were a couple sections that I really stunk it up. I underestimated a couple of sections. I'll probably be back out there this weekend to try riding starting from the park which is the race start for the Buckman. Typically we start halfway around the course but with the way the hills are it would be good to take one practice run starting from the right place.
It's really a great ride, I feel if I get so I can kick butt on that course, I'd really improve at the Mooseman course as well.

Here is a cute story about an otter. It's even a triathlon related story.

Gonna Getcha

Last night I dragged my husband along for a run. I was pleased because initially I was running at a faster pace (I've been working on interval training at the Y-treadmill style!). I was pleased. But by the time we hit the bridge it became apparent that my left leg was not going to keep up. Mind you my right leg felt great! So we slowed-drats! We probably ran between 3 and 4 miles. I need to drive it for exact distance. I discovered yet again that I rock on the treadmill BUT my leg continues to swell when running on hard surfaces. Gosh darn DVT! Tonight I think I am going to go for a shorter run, take a baby aspirin before the run and wear a compression sock on the left leg (Suggested by my chiropractor as a possible option).

I should note that so far my neck (which hampered training during the summer) seems to be much better. Thanks in large part to Dr. David Brooke!

On a fun note (or crazy depending on your perspective): at one point later in the run I decided to increase my pace for two blocks. Jerry ran behind me "encouraging" me by saying "I'm gonna getcha." WE laughed at the time BUT I am sure any passerby would have assumed we escaped from the State Hospital.

I always enjoy running with Jerry. We may not be fast BUT we're doing it. As he pointed out last night....none of our parents were doing this when they were 39!

Run is on Sunday (proceeds raised will benefit local hospice group)- 4 mile trail run. I am hopeful that the leg will cooperate given the morning temps and softer surfaces. We'll see.....

Frustrating Left Heel.

So last week 70.3 and the next day I don't have any heel pain in my left foot or problems with my right knee.
I ran 8 miles Sunday morning. At mile 6 my left hip flexor starts to feel like it's been carrying the load. I stop for a few seconds in an attempt to break my stride and try to establish a better more correct one to see if it helps.
When I get home, the heel of my left foot is killing me. I stretch and massage it often through out the day.
Monday, I'm walking funny probably to avoid stepping on the bad heel.
Tuesday, I feel like my foot doesn't hurt as much but my walking stride feels awkward still. So I go to the chiropractor. I definitely had a bit of a hip tilt going on and the electrostim on the lower back always helps relieve any lower back muscle cramps.
I'm feeling better today but I didn't run this morning. I feel like I should give it a bit more time. Also I think I'm going to start running with my Sole inserts in my running shoes. With the big races out of the way, it's time to start figuring this thing out. Next step is a podiatrist I suppose.

Some might argue I'm old and I'm wearing stuff out. Honestly, I think my feet/ankles feel better now than when they did when I was 19 marching with the Crossmen back in '89.

What is different about my swimming this year compared to last year

I’m not incredibly faster this year over last year but I am definitely not working as hard. It’s too bad my HR monitor didn’t work at Timberman. I would have loved to know what my average HR was during that swim. I’ll try again at my next race. Last year at Buckman I think my Swim HR was an average of 170. Yikes! Hyperventilate much? That was typical all of last year.
Anyhow, I just thought I’d list some of the stuff I know that I’ve worked on and changed.

1) bi-lateral breathing: The biggest benefit to this in my opinion is that it keeps me from hyperventilating. Breathing to the same side (every 2) causes you to breathe too often. It seems really difficult at first but eventually it is incredibly relaxing. It also helps you swim straighter and reduces the likelihood of fatiguing one shoulder more than the other. It balances the load.

2) Front Quadrant swimming and balance. Look at the catch up drills and change it to almost catch up to understand what your arms should be doing to swim front quadrant. The big benefit of this change has been balance. It seems to promote downhill swimming for me.

3) Stroke mechanics. This is the stuff that doesn’t seem to be mentioned often enough. For someone without a swim background, this is not obvious.
A) Arms should not travel under your body. Think of paddling a surfboard and your body is the surfboard. Keep those arms wide.
B) At the catch your hand needs to be even with or slightly below your shoulder. Otherwise the first motion you make with that hand is pushing water down towards the bottom of the pool, which will lift your upper body out of the water and provides no forward propulsion. When you are driving your hand forward to the catch, think about sending your hands to 8 o’clock and 4 o’clock, 9 and 3 would be would be even with your shoulders. Also allow your hands to drift to the outside rather than closer to your body line as you drive your hand forward.
C) Arm and Hand path during the stroke. Think about pushing water towards your feet at all times. This means you have to bend your wrist. I was pushing water up towards the top of the pool at the end of my stroke. This pushing water up towards the surface would push my legs down, which messed up my balance and didn't move me forward.

4) Tempo Trainer: This tool was huge for me. I have been told many times that I need to slow down my stroke. That has not been easy for me. Largely I think it was because of the stroke mechanic problems listed above. Without those fixes, I only felt balanced in the water when I was pulling and it was a false sense of balance. With those fixes in place, my balance improved to the point where I could actually balance without pulling. I could finally glide.
Back to the Tempo Trainer, using this metronome I was able to try out different swim cadences to determine which is the most efficient. I had/have a tendency to overstroke. I would be at 60 or more strokes per minute. As it turns out, currently I’m just as fast swimming at 50 strokes per minute. I get to save 10 strokes for the same speed! A huge energy savings in terms of effort. Of course the next goal is to be able to stroke at 60 and actually be faster. A matter of maintaining my distance per stroke at the higher cadence.

There you have it. It's just that simple ;-)

Didn't want to steal his thunder

But....
Great Race Chris! Can't wait to hear about it.

Things you will most likely care less about

...yet I feel compelled to share with you. The pool we swim at regularly is closed for 2 weeks to be drained and repainted...FINALLY!! It is so long overdue! In the interim, we have to chose a different pool to swim at while the SVY pool is closed. Let me first say, that I am thankful that we have at least 2-3 other pools to chose from that are very close by. Tonight Matt & I swam at the Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) Pool. It is part of our local YMCA group of pools. While Matt has had his swimming lessons there before, this was my first visit.

Here's my report of semi useless info about my experience:
1. LOVE this pool water sooooo much better than SVY! I felt like I was swimming in water instead of a vat of chemicals. It was a nice temperature, clear and clean. I didn't even see 1 hairball at the bottom of the pool! Dare I say that I actually enjoyed swimming tonight...this could be a good thing!
2. The atmosphere was rather peaceful and subdued with nice acoustical panels on the ceiling. No screaming children in the pool or locker room.
3. I didn't feel like I was going to get a foot fungus by walking on the pool deck or locker room floor (I did still wear my flip flops to be on the safe side). No hair or wet garbage on the locker room floor.

In all fairness, I did miss a couple things about SVY tonight.
1.RVCC doesn't have a digital clock at the pool to time laps. As a matter of fact, there was not a lap timer at all.
2. The showers at SVY, while gross & dirty most of the time, are big enough to have room to move without fear of touching the slimy shower curtain and there is a shelf for my shampoo bottle. RVCC had neither of these.

But, I did feel right at home tonight at RVCC when I turned on the water in the shower and it was cold.

Not every workout is going to be good.

Went to the pool tonight. I thought I was going to get in and just swim for 50 min straight with hand paddles. Didn't happen. Couldn't make myself suck it up and get it done. Ah well.

When I got home. I knocked out my 5 sets of the 6 weeks to 100 pushups plan. Yesterday I started the 20 pullups plan from week one again. Too much time off with Timberman in there.
Then I see the 200 squats plan on there. I'll let you know if I get that on the schedule.
Feel free to join in ;-)

What does a new baby cost you?

Sprint Splash Spin Results

Levi Picture

Levi Again

Eleanor with me Helping

I am not sure of the monetary figure to raise a child to 22 years or so, but I do know it cost me about six minutes.

I got an early starting heat because of last years time (1:04:15), 8:00 AM. So, none of the family came to see me off. Tamara had to work and the kids spent the day at Grandmas. So all by my lonesome I went to the Tri. Of course I know lots of people who do this race so alone is a relative concept. I got marked upped and set up in transition. I was in a heat with 8 guys from Romney, WV and a local guy I shared a lane with last year. They were fun guys. When the numbers get called to enter the pool they don’t call my number with this group. I walk in anyways, they inform me I was bumped and will start at 8:10. So I say farewell to my new friends. As the 7:50 group is finishing, they realize they only have 9 in the 8:00 am group, so I am back in. Funny note is all the other nine guys had black shorts on, I had blue.

Mark, set, go. I feel good for the first four lengths. Then I started to die. My lack of swimming is really showing up. I decide to push to stay close to my previous years time. In retrospect this was probably a mistake. About 10 seconds slower than last year.

I jump out of the pool and into transition. No socks, shirt on, helmet on and shoes on the bike. I jump on bike and go, feet on top of shoes. I should have practiced this fatigued a couple times; I rode for almost a mile before getting my feet into the shoes. I tried three times unsuccessfully to get them in. This probably cost me a minute somewhere. Finally going. This course is flat, but when I did the turn around I hit a head wind and started to really die. Three guys pass me in my heat. My lane mate and two guys from Romney. The Romney fellows are definitely drafting. I was thinking, good luck with that. Hope you get a penalty. They get a little ways in front of me, did I mention it was wet from rain even though it never rained during the race. The guy in the rear goes to take a drink from a water bottle, his rear tire drops off the tarmac into grass, he jerks back up on the trail. His rear tire goes sideways. He held it for a long time, then down he goes, he is sliding down the rail trail and bike off into the weeds. I have plenty of time to avoid him, but I sit up and quit pedaling “You all right”, “Yeah, I can handle it”. Off I go. I did chuckle a little bit, “Serves you right for drafting”. I did check on him at the end, he was Ok. I didn’t mention the drafting to him, but I did emphasize it to his teammates. Feet out of shoes last quarter mile, came to a stop before dismounting. Legs just couldn’t handle the flying dismount. 34:29 (almost 3 minutes slower than last year)

At this point I realize I am not going to match last years time, but am shooting for my goal of 1:07 or 1:08. Once again no socks, slide on shoes and take a big drink of water, out I run. After the first mile, which was a 9:30 or so, I realize no way am I going to get a 1:08, just hold on for the best time I can. My next mile was under 9 mins, about 8:45. Then my legs finally felt good, I went under 8 mins on the last mile. This was the only time I caught someone in my heat. I did pass about 5 others from previous heats, but they were just out to finish. No one passed me. My run was 26:56 (over 3 mins slower than last year) I am satisfied.

My training was dismal coming into this race. I was disappointed in the bike, I think I underestimated how much not swimming on a regular basis was going to affect the other legs. I over did it in the swim, which caused me to try to compensate on the bike, which blew me on the run. Again, I am satisfied, I wouldn’t trade playing catch with a baseball, playing Bocce in the backyard, going to Idlewild Amusement Park, or holding a baby while Tamara gets done things that she had to put off for the six minutes I lost.

Couple of fun notes – I was 15 seconds faster in my transitions, from last year.

Friend Noah Brak took 8th overall (Matt knows him) with a 55:57. Four hours later he ran for the WVU triathlon team and ran an 18:33 5k (two seconds faster than the 5k he ran in his individual tri), he had hoped to be closer to 17 he told me before he ran.

New SSS champion Derek Clark. Only champion other than Vinnie Monseau (who didn’t compete). Derek trains with Vinnie and I think was four time runner up prior to his victory, he did a 50:47, and like Vinnie won by over two minutes. Derek is a nice guy, met him last year, talked to him at the kids race, and when I started the run he was standing there cheering for me by name, not that he waited for me, but it just reminded me how great triathletes are at encouraging each other. On the run, I couldn’t remember one person coming towards me that didn’t say some word of encouragement. It was good to race, I hope to do more.

Sprint Splash Spin73/238 Overall 13th age group Total 1:10:17

Swim 330 Yds 6:52

T1 0:54

Bike 11 mile 34:29

T2 1:06

5K Run 26:56

Rude Awakenings and Rainy Rides

You know, it's funny how most people would think that you would feel better and stronger at the end of the season. That isn't the case for me. While I have had race performances that I am proud of and show my improvement over the summer, I have been feeling tired and sometimes uninspired recently. The clincher came yesterday morning when I finally decided to step on the scale. Yikes! While it was "only" 8lbs, it was the incentive that I needed to stop all of my random eating and get back to tracking my foods. I am heading into the busiest time of year for me at work. I know that if I do not get a handle on this situation now, it could spiral into a bad place...especially as my workout schedule has the potential to take a back seat to my work schedule, or at least become"modifed" due to many more hours spent at work. (sigh....) So, back to Fitday and tracking foods & workouts. Honestly, it feels good to be back on a plan. The next step is creating a workout schedule for the fall season. I tend to be an "all or nothing" type person, so I need to learn that something is better than nothing... and not resent my work schedule. Easier said than done. One more race weekend coming up next month and my first season will be complete. It's been awesome! But I find myself thinking ahead.

I'm looking forward to continued focus on my running thru the fall months and maybe schedule in 1 or 2 5k races to track my progress. I am also ready for long weekend bike rides soaking in the beautiful views of colorful leaves in the crisp fall air. In terms of awesome cross training, I am super excited to incorporate more "Tiffany time" into my week...inten-sati, yoga, kickboxing, strength-sati, and aerobic dance moves (yes, that's right, I said dance. Ha! Stay tuned on that one folks!) My favorite part about Tiffany's classes is they not only work the body (in a BIG way) but they also allow me to refocus my mind on me and to most of all HAVE FUN!
And speaking of fun, Matt and I got soaked on our bike ride yesterday. We rode the Buckman course. Good practice in case it's raining in 2 weeks!

So now that I have rambled on about pretty much nothing, I have to go run.

PS: You'll notice that neglected to mention anything about fall swimming. don't worry...it will happen when it happens. I'm waiting for the snow to fly before I focus on that! :-)

A bit more Timberman

Genine and I went out biking today. We got soaked. I got to wear the bike jersey she bought me.


Yup. I like it a lot.

Anyhow, so when I pulled the bike computer out of my bag it still had all my Timberman info on it. It had my finish time as 3:00:36. The timer stops if the wheels aren't moving, so it has some transition time in there as well perhaps. No big surprise there. What did surprise me was this. The downhill on 107 is crazy fast. The guy behind me said he hit 49mph on the way down. I wasn't going to take my eyes off the road to see my speed. Well I finally looked today. I hit 46mph. I believe I now own the in house downhill bomb record. Genine has had it since last year's Skylands Race when she hit 45mph. I just edged her out. :-)

That's it. Just thought I'd throw that out there. I'm wondering what Shawn hit on that hill!

What I learned from doing Timberman 70.3

Timberman was a learning experience. I figure I had better list everything before I forget about them.

The Swim: Is being in the mix at the beginning worth it? Or is it always better to be to the outside away from the mess?

At our practice swim a few days before the race I felt really good swimming in my wetsuit. Then I took it off and just did a few shorter intervals. I was stunned at how much easier my arm recovery felt without the wetsuit on. I think I’ll be buying a sleeveless “DeSoto Speed Vest” to wear at warmer swims. Also I guess I need to time myself just wearing the bib john without a top. I have a feeling there would be more drag and that this would be slower, but it would be good to know for certain.

Biking the flats: As I was being passed by the awesome bikers, I felt that what they were doing differently was this. Bigger gear, lower cadence. It looked like the right thing to be doing and I was very tempted to try this out. I didn’t. I’m sure I wouldn’t have had the leg strength to pull it off. It definitely made me feel like I need to join a group ride so I could learn more about biking and my capabilities. I’m definitely having to err on the side of caution during the bike because of my lack of experience.

Shawn has bar tape on his aerobars. There were moments during my ride that I thought I also needed to do this. Then I realized I felt the same way in the drops or hoods as well. I think that I’ve decided for a 56 mile bike, it’s worth taking the time to put on my bike gloves.

I also had better add that I am a fool for not applying some sort of anti-chaffing product before the start of my day.

Running: I’m undecided about what causes the cramping. Was I under-trained for this distance race? Or is it really just a matter of learning how to use the Electrolyte pills? Or mixture of both? At the very least, I need to start using the electrolytes more often so that I know how they affect my stomach. I couldn’t bring myself to take them on the run because I didn’t know what they would do to me. Also I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say they give instant or quick relief anyhow. Either way, not trying this out before this long of a race was a mistake.

Transitions: These bigger races have large transition areas. I need to start practicing leaving my shoes on the bike all the time. It would shave a few seconds off for sure.
I guess I don’t practice this because I figure I have bigger issues to deal with. That is no reason not to take care of something easy like this.

I need to add spare contacts to my transition bag. It’s only a matter of time before I lose one during the swim or bike.

The extra set of goggles is handy if you happen to have someone that can keep them around for you before the swim start

Racking the bike in Transition. The official walking through transition was saying the tire on the ground had to be on the same side as your number on the rack. I did this but it was my rear wheel. Someone changed my bike for me while I was gone so that it was my front wheel down on my side of the rack. Is this the “accepted” method everyone expects to be followed? Do you place your gear on the down tire side? Do you rack the exact same way when you return from the bike.?
None of this really seemed to matter but it would seem that being uniform would make it easier for everyone.

Abs were sore post race: I mentioned this to Tiffany at yoga last night and said that I think I need to do more abdominal work. She disagreed. She brings up my lower cross imbalance. She thinks there is a good chance my abs are sore because they are doing all the work.
If I’d strengthen my lower back and glutes, my abs would probably be able to relax.
Then she threw in the fact I could stand to work on my upper cross problem as well. I have to admit, it makes a ton of sense. So all my abs work is going to be stabilization poses for a while and my weight training will focus on removing this imbalance. I didn’t ask how long she thought it would take. Until I start doing the homework, there is no point to asking this question.

Bike fit: I am plagued by my lower back/hip on my right side during a long bike with hard effort. Part of me doubts that it is a fit issue. I figure it is a weakness and posture problem. Problem is until I find someone that is “The” Bike Fitting Guy. I really can’t see spending any money on another fit. I have to do some searching and find someone.

Gear improvements: I’m currently using crank brothers for my pedals. I think I’m going to switch to Delta Clips like Genine, Maija and Shawn. (Craig too?). I thought about the speed play but I think it just makes sense to have the same as Genine. This way if for some reason we have an issue on race day, we might be able to swap equipment.

Unless I can find some way to remove the nasty smell from my shoes, I’ll be buying new shoes as well.

I’m still riding the stock saddle that came with my bike. It’s time I do some homework here as well. I would prefer to find a local bike shop with a decent selection of saddles that would let me test ride a bunch of them. I know of at least one that would let me sit on a trainer in the shop to do this but their selection wasn’t very good.
I haven’t a clue as to will work for me, so I feel I want to go through a wide variety. I’ve seen places online that will send you a bunch and you can return all but the one you want. It’s just that I think you have to buy all of them initially, then get credited back once they are returned. Kind of a pain.

Edit: I'm going to toss in something I learned from the DC Tri back in June. Use some electrical tape to secure your bike number to your bike. In DC my number started to come off and I ended up trying to fix that problem as I was riding. So at Timberman I taped the number at the top tube and on the seams. It worked well, I think it helped keep it from flapping into my legs too.

Well that’s the list. It might be more useful than my race report. Hope it helps somebody and I really hope it helps me!

Sprint splash spin

Looking forward to what would be my first tri of the year this Saturday. Kids are all signed up for the kids version Friday night. I am very apprehensive about setting a goal. I went 1:04:20 last year. I did a little test the other day on 10.5 mile bike and 2.6 mile run brick. I went hard. I seem to be closer to doing a 1:07 if you add last years swim and assume I kept my paces. As a goal I would like to be around 1:06. Just haven't had enough swim to feel comfortable any faster than this.

Vinnie's name not on the list, so no matter what I do this year I will have a better time than him, this year. There is a longer tri south of here, but Vinnie's wife will be at the Sprint Splash & Spin, so it will be weird not seeing him there.

Need a Track Workout

Genine, Maija, or Matt-

Would one of you guys be willing to provide a basic (remember I was a thrower) track workout for me? Apparently I can sneak up to the high school track. Guidance from anyone appreciated.

Thanks!

Ready Craig?

How are you feeling? Any goals for your race this weekend? Do you plan on giving Vinnie Monseau a run for the title?
Let's hear some news from WV!!

Genine's Timberman Sprint Race Report

This is the first race of my season that I felt really confident and prepared going into. The swim distance of .33miles was my shortest swim so far (10mins and out I kept telling myself). The bike was 15miles that I knew I could knock down. The run was where I was hoping that my recent track training would pay off. This time I had set an expectation for myself of an 8:45pace for the 5k. I was hopeful, but still not solid with how my hip/hamstring would respond after the bike. It was a long weekend with a lot of back & forth travels between the house & the race site, as Matt noted in his report. A gigantic thank you to Shawn, Amy and Fiona for getting up early (yet again) to make the trip to see my race!! It was such a lift to hear you guys cheering for me!

Timberman transition at 5am...oh so dark.

Matt & I got up at 3:15am Saturday, left the house by 4:00am and arrived at the race site at 4:45am. Got stuff out of the car, bike unloaded and headed to get marked and transition. I took my time laying everything out in my spot and then covered it with plastic bags as the sky was not looking too favorable. Then the waiting game, "gotta go" porta-potty time started. Somehow my timing was such that I missed every line for the potties! Not sure how that happened, but thank goodness for little things! I grabbed everything I needed out of transition as it closed at 6:30am. I decided to remove the plastic bags covering my bike & run stuff. I didn't want to have to fumble with it in transition & I was hoping the rain would hold off. My wave started 7:24am and I didn't want to put my wetsuit on any sooner than necessary because of the high humidity...ugh. Matt & I walked over to the swim start and I put the bottom half of my wetsuit on. Then I had to go...again. I didn't want to race yet another race in "agony" and luckily there were a few porta-potties on the beach at the swim start, so I took advantage of them. Good call! Now I am ready to race!

Focused and ready to swim!

As my wave walked into the water, I lined up in the back outside left of the group. I tend to pull right and this also kept me out of the churn of the start. worked like a charm! As we started, many women were walking thru the shallow water. (probably could have walked almost to the first buoy because it was so shallow). Not me...I started to swim....and passed people!! This was a rather new swim scenario for me...NO DOG PADDLE!! I was totally focused and determined to remain calm as I swam. The water was nice, not as clear as Newfound Lake, but beautiful. I swam as far in as I could at the end and got out of the water feeling good. Into transition and ready to bike!

Finishing up my soggy ride....

I think my favorite part of the race is riding my bike out of transition and on to the start of the bike course. Mostly because the swim is over :-), but it is the one part of the race the I get truly excited about my performance. The course starts with a climb out of the park. As I neared the top of this hill, the rain started....a steady rain that lasted the entire ride. I just told myself to keep pushing and ride hard. I knew the course from riding it with Matt in July, so I knew what to expect and when. Since I started in the first wave of women, this was by far the most crowded bike course I have ridden on to date. But everyone was respectful to their fellow racers. I have to say, it was kind of fun passing all of the slow guys from the waves before mine! There were some awesome women out there. I managed to keep myself in with 3 of them for the majority of the ride. We were playing the pass and catch-up game on all of the hills. I think by the end of the bike I was #2 out of 4 of the "group". Not too shabby!

As I racked my bike, took off my bike shoes and went to grab my running shoes, it was then I remembered "oh yeah...it's been raining for an hour"...as I had to turn my run shoes over to dump the water out of them! Ah well...my feet were already wet! and I wasn't going to put on dry socks...so wet shoes it was! Next time I bike barefoot and keep dry socks & run shoes under the plastic in rainy situations. I think my blistered feet would agree!

Starting my run....

I started the run immediately feeling tightness in my hips/hamstrings...grrrrr. "That's ok, just work it out", I thought to myself. When I looked at my watch the pace read 9:41...no good. So, I started to think - fast feet - speed up my cadence. this seemed to help a bit(9:00pace), but as I started the gradual incline that was the first half of the run loop, and I tried to go faster, my hips got tighter. I stopped at the aid station at the turn around to stretch for about 30seconds. Not a noticeable improvement...ah well. Go, go ,go.... The second half of the run was a gradual down hill. This worked to my advantage as I let gravity help to speed me up. I was able to maintain an 8:30ish pace for the last 1.5miles. I finished the run with an 8:53pace. Didn't make my goal pace of 8:45, BUT was able to make my secondary goal of keeping it under a 9:00pace.

I ended the race feeling quite good. I didn't experience any of the "stomach issues" I felt at Mooseman & Tango after my final push to the finish. That was encouraging. All in all, it was a good race for me. It boosted my confidence in my swim, validated my bike training and it gave me hope for faster run times. As I am nearing the end of my first official race season, I thought it would be fun to go back to my first race in May (Jerseyman) to compare times. Even though both races were sprints, the distances for the swim & bike were slightly different, so I figured out my pace for each race as a comparison. Here they are:

Swim Pace:
JM (.5mi swim)- 38:35 mile pace
TM (.33mi swim)- 31:46 mile pace

Bike Pace:
JM (19.5mi bike)- 16.4mph
TM (15mi bike) - 17.6mph

Run Pace:
JM (5k)- 9:44 pace
TM (5k)- 8:53 pace

Matt’s Timberman Half Iron Race Report

What a crazy busy weekend!!

Race site is 45 minutes from our house. We drive over Friday for packet pickup.

We get to the race site at 4:45AM Saturday morning for Genine’s sprint race. Which she rocked. Check her race report for those details. We head home for about 3 hours. Then drive back to the race site to rack our bikes and then up to Gunstock for the 5:30 70.3 race meeting. Drive back to the house eat a bit more and go to bed sometime about 8PM.

Sunday: Wake up at 2:30 leave for the race site at 3:20. Arrive just after 4AM. We get a parking spot at the race site and we all fall asleep in the car for the next hour. (all being Matt, Genine, Shawn, Amy and Fiona).

5:15 Time to start putting transition together. Fortunately I hit the lines for the portajohn early. The next time I walk past it’s gotta be a 30 minute line. I walk between the car and transition a couple times. On my final trip back, I find the person beside me decided to rack my bike differently for me. I had kind of figured this would happen, but we were never there at the same time to talk about what was going to work out the best. Not a big deal to me. I’m just glad I saw that it happened and readjusted how my bike gear was hanging off of my bike.

We head to the swim start early. On the way over we hear them announce they are going to delay the start by 15-20 minutes because of a car accident that is out on the bike course. I hadn’t put my wetsuit on yet, nor had I eaten my pre race food. So all was good.
It was really very peaceful at the swim start. They hadn’t turned on the music or anything yet and everyone was just doing their thing. Genine had fun snapping pictures of the pros that were waiting for their start.

Chrissie Wellington

Some people actually swam over to them and started chatting with them, which didn’t seem to bother them. They all seemed pretty relaxed and cool about everything.

Once it looked like things were going to get rolling. I got into the wetsuit and started to swim a bit. My goggles kept fogging up. Fortunately, I gave Genine my 2nd pair and I changed to those and they were good. (I wouldn’t have had a 2nd pair had someone not been panicked the day before when their goggles broke, I thought, I would be at a loss as well)
I will admit that I have looked at all of my friends results when they raced 2 years ago. Of course conditions are always different, so it’s not a direct comparison but…. I am going into this race with the hope of having the “Title” for one of the splits. Realistically the swim is my best chance. I have to beat 35:13. Maija’s time from two years ago.
I line up near the front to the right side. (I tend to track left) Course is a clockwise 3 sided rectangle. This worked well for me at Mooseman… Not so awesome today. It was a tight start with a ton of contact.

This doesn’t bother me other than I’m sure it’s not the fastest way to go. I figure I just need hold my pace and the pack will thin out on it’s own. I didn’t use the tempo trainer. Instead I had my list of songs which would give me the right tempo. The Chili Peppers “Aeroplane” turned out to be the easiest song for me to groove to. I was cruising along about 50 strokes per minute until I got to the last turn towards the swim finish. At this point I still felt as if I had put very little effort into the swim, so I figured I should try to pick up the pace. It would seem when I try to pick up the pace I really track left. I was so far to the left a kayaker cut me off. I wonder how much time that added to my swim? The lake is quite shallow and many people were standing up and walking their way in. No way! I’m not standing up until they show they can run faster than I can swim! I felt like I passed quite a few people by swimming as far as possible. It’s a long run to transition, so I take the time to check my split on my watch. 33:27! Wahoo! Next decision, wetsuit stripper or not? I prepare as if I’m going to use them. When I get there 2 kids and 1 adult are free. I point at the adult and in a matter of seconds I’m running into transition. Now how about the sand on my feet? I was planning on walking through someone else’s water tray if I had to. It wasn’t necessary, just past the wetsuit strippers they had trays of water setup for us.


T1: 2:48 not bad. To improve this number I need to learn to put my shoes on the bike. I also think I may have considered sunblock for a moment or two. I went without.

Bike: Genine and I rode this course last month. She remembers it taking us 3.5 hours. My goal time is 3 hours. She was somewhat surprised when I told her this to help her plan when I should be arriving back to transition. Honestly, this is only the 2nd time I’ve biked 56 miles so I may be kidding myself.
I’m in an early wave, many awesome bikers will pass me during this race. I can’t allow myself to try and keep up. The hills are at the beginning and end of this course. I’ve practiced hills. I know how to climb without burning myself out. I’m not crazy fast but I should be alright.
There are some long climbs and the problem I was having was deciding when to pass the person in front of me. Often they would be pacing along fine, then just drop speed to a much slower pace. Which doesn’t sound like a problem other than the fact the “bikers” with the disc wheels and such were climbing by us quite quickly. I had to be careful not to block or to cut someone off, causing a crash. So on the outbound hills, I definitely felt like I lost some time. I’m sure it was marginal.
The eating plan was simple. Once I got to the “flat” part of the ride on 106, I start eating cliff bars. I figure I’ll probably manage to eat 2 or 3 of them. I also have 3 Gu taped onto the bike and 2 in my jersey, I also have 2 bottles of Endurance Formula Gatorade. All was going well. I was on the new pavement in front of the NH Speedway when I decide to get another chunk of cliff bar. I take my eyes off the road long enough to hit what felt to be something the size of a rubik's cube. I almost crashed. I was immediately stunned that I didn’t have a flat because of the impact. Less than 2 minutes later, I was flat. So with the sound of Nascar engines racing in the background. I went into pit crew mode to see how quickly I could change out this flat. I hit the lap counter on my watch and got to it. I was back rolling in 6.5 minutes. My only concern is the fact that my front tire is now very soft. I used the CO2 cartridge and it worked perfectly but what pressure are those things supposed to get my tire to?
So I’m back rolling again. Typically on my long rides, if I take a break like that, my right hip pain is relieved and I can get back to hammering. No such luck this time. My right side has been giving me grief and it didn’t give up.
My concern going into the bike leg was that by the turn around, I’d have nobody left to pass and I’d just be passed for the remaining 28 miles. That flat just fixed that problem. I was surprised when I actually started to catch up to people I had passed not long ago. Shortly after the turn around, I was in a line of 3 people. I had passed these 2 people no fewer than 3 times already but they kept getting back in front of me somehow. No big deal, I guess we are fairly evenly matched. Next thing I know, I hear a motorcycle pull up to my left just behind me. The 2 guys in front of me stop pedaling!! So of course I’m immediately in their draft zone and now I’ve got to jump up and make the pass or get a penalty. I was annoyed mostly because I don’t know why they both stopped pedaling when they did. I didn’t get a penalty and they passed me again shortly after the motorcycle left.
Once I got back to the hills, I knew I’d find out if I had paced properly. It turns out my legs were fine. I was still being passed by the awesome bikers but holding my own with the rest of pack. I just had no ability to take it up a notch and get through that pack. There was one girl that was very easy to spot because of her clothing. I’m guessing she was within my sight for the final 10 miles of the ride.
When I finished the bike, I hit my lap timer but because of the flat it didn’t give me my full bike split. So I finished without knowing that I had finished basically right on goal. 3:06:36. (Less the 6:30 for the flat….)


T2: 3:00. Again, I need to learn to leave my shoes on the bike and not on my feet.

13.1 mile run: The start of my run felt better than I had expected. I think I was energized somewhat just because I was off the bike. I couldn’t have been half a mile into the run when I caught up to the girl I could not catch on the bike. She was walking. Her name was on her back with her number. So as I went by I called out her name and told her that she was one heck of a biker, that I couldn’t catch her. She responded that she wished that she were now able to run. I said give it a mile and you might be surprised. I looked up her results. She finished not too far behind me. So she must have found her run legs.
Shortly after that Chrissie Wellington runs by going the other direction smiling ear to ear. She’s nearly finished. I said to the person beside me. “She makes it look way too easy”. She responded kind of gruffly “You aren’t kidding”.
When I got to the first aid station, I decided that I was going to walk through them. I wanted to make sure I got Gatorade and water into my system and keep cool. At this stage of the race it seemed that the majority of people were doing this.
I finished the first lap in 59 minutes. I had planned 1 hour. Right on time. As I’m running back out I hear Genine, Amy and Fiona cheering. Genine shouts out how are you feeling? To which I responded “So So”. I could feel that things were starting to get tight. I didn’t want her to be worried if I didn’t finish on schedule.

Not half a mile later, my calves start to grab. I instantly changed to a fast walk for 50 paces and then return to running. This worked very well for me. Although I can’t even guess how many times I ended up walking.
The best aid station of the day goes to the Laconia Hockey Team. They had a pile of snow and they were handing out snowballs. I took one, smashed it on my head and put my hat on over it. It lasted for 4 miles. There were a couple times I was almost shivering and I couldn’t figure out why, until I’d check and realize the snowball hadn’t melted yet.
At the turn around, I checked my watch and thought to myself it’s about 5K left to go. If I could just run the rest of the way in, I would be very close to my goal time. I’d just have to run through the cramping if it happened. I guess I was prepared for my calves to cramp up, but instead my right hamstring grabbed hold. I stopped dead in my tracks. I’m in the middle of the run lane and I’m a statue. I try to move off to the side but as soon as I relax even a little bit, the hamstring just grabs and causes me to grimace in pain. Oddly enough the Fire Department EMT in a 4 wheeler vehicle is heading down the road towards me. I can’t move out of their way. They didn’t stop to check on me, they just drove around me and kept going! Ha! After about 3 minutes the cramping gives up and I start walking up the hill. I realize I’m going to get to the finish when I get there. I can’t just tough it out and make it happen. I go back to run walking.
Once I got within listening distance of the finish line, I became somewhat frustrated. I wanted to be running. Fortunately, once I got into the crowds, I think some adrenaline kicked in and I was able to run it in without locking up in a cramp. Kids were sticking their hands out for high fives, so I decided to just high five the entire way down the chute.

2nd lap about 1:11:00. I thought it was so much worse than that. But I was done in under 6 hours and I was glad about that.
13.1 miles 2:09:54
Total race time 5:55:44

I’ll admit that for a while I was a bit disappointed about my finish time. I didn’t realize that I had actually hit all my goal times other than the final run loop. (If you take out the 6:30 for my flat.) I only missed my prediction by about 10 minutes. Over a 6 hour race? Yeah, I can’t complain about anything.

Genine had bought me a Timberman Bike Jersey at the Expo. I think that’s going to be my favorite bike jersey for quite awhile. Thanks!!!

Matt and Genine,

Good job at the Timberman! I feel like I'm ready for the Chicago Tri but I'm just a little unsure as to my taper. I never know if I'm doing it right or not. Matt, I wanted to ask you if you ride a tri specific bike and if so are you happy with it? I'm thinking about getting one and I just wanted to know if it makes that much of a difference. Thanks.

Trail Run to Benefit Hospice

I don't know if anyone is planning on coming to Warren over labor day but there is a trail run (proceeds to benefit Warren's Hospice Group)that looks quite interesting. I am compelled to run as it is in memory of "Cookie" Wiggers. I had the pleasure of working with her. She lost her battle against cancer on 9/6/08. She was a wonderful person.

Anyway - if anyone is looking for something to do on Sunday Sept 6...Warren has a trail run to offer.

Link to newspaper article:

http://www.timesobserver.com/page/content.detail/id/520936.html?nav=5010

Chicago Triathlon

Hey Chris, how are you feeling about your race this weekend?
Good Luck out there!

My race report is still in progress... I should be able to finish on the train ride home tonight.

Timberman Picutres

Here is the link to our photos.
In the next couple days we will post the photos of the Pros and other athletes.

We drive back to NJ today.

Timberman Half Iron Results

Timberman Half Iron Results Link

The short version from Matt. (this doesn't happen often...)
I was happy with the swim. I could have done better. Easiest swim I've done in terms of feel/effort.
Bike: 1:13 minutes in I got a flat. Took 6.5 minutes to change (yes, I hit my lap timer). My Bike Goal was 3 hours. with no flat I make it by about 6 seconds.
Run: 2nd lap was all about muscle cramps and I lose my chance at being closer to 5:30:00
Still very pleased with it overall. Now I know what it's all about.

827   583 70.3  Matthew Carlson 39 M  

1.2 mile Swim
409 Overall   33:27     27:53 mile pace 

T1 2:48

56 mile bike
1177 3:06:36  18.0   

T 2 3:00 

13.1 mile run
756 2:09:54  9:55        

5:55:44 147/262  M35-39  651/1246 M

1839  2400 70.3  Shawn Vashaw 40 M 1273   

1.2 mile swim
40:45 33:58   

T1 5:40

56 mile bike
1800 3:50:16  14.6 

T2 6:38                                    

He did finish. Results just aren't updated for some reason
47/48   CLYDES  1228/1246 M

Genine's Timberman Results

Timberman 2009 Sprint Results

419 Overall  Bib#5637 SPRINT  Genine Carlson

500m Swim
347th Overall Swim   10:29   31:46 Mile Pace
 
T1 3:01

15 Mile Bike
372nd overall   51:01  17.6 mph   

T2 1:46 

5K Run
653rd Overall   26:39  8:53 min/mile pace
      
1:32:53  Final Time
27/111  F35-39 
127/553  F 

Reviewing the rules

Drafting. Here is a graphical representation of this rule.

I'm reviewing this so I can avoid the Penalty Tent. Or at the very least be amazed at how many people should be penalized. Actually, a 4 minute break before going back to the final set of hills at Timberman might be kind of nice.

If you are in a rule violation, the official will call out your number. Notify you that you have received either a Red Card or a Yellow Card by showing you the corresponding colored card.
Instruct you to report to the next penalty tent on the course.
They will take your picture for verification that you were penalized. :-)

You report to the penalty tent tell them if you received a red (Drafting) or yellow card
register via the sign in sheet
Your race number will be marked with a Red Slash or a P.
If you are marked with a P resume the race immediately. Otherwise you remain in the tent for 4 minutes for the drafting penalty.

Failure to report to the next penalty tent will result in Disqualification.

Swim Lesson Leading into Timberman

I went into my lesson with some key questions this week.
1) As the distance gets longer, I feel that my form falls apart and I become very inefficient.
2) The tempo trainer / Swim metronome. I've been working with this for a couple weeks now and it's a very effective tool for me. I asked him to help me dial in my settings to maximize speed and efficiency.
3) I mention that with a pull buoy / wetsuit. I always feel I can be much more efficient. My cardio isn't taxed as much with a pull buoy or wetsuit. Should I up my cadence?

He must not have liked what he saw during my warmup. Because before we did any of this, he swam beside me and then had me adjust my catch position and the speed of my recovery stroke. This helped a bunch and I felt like I was swimming well within a few laps of this adjustment.

1) He has me swim 500yd and he's timing my splits. I'm working very hard to hold the slower cadence I had been finding so comfortable lately. When I finish he tells me the following.
I need to establish my breathing rhythm immediately. Once I start losing my breath, that's when I start to lift my head differently and pull differently as well in order to lift my head.
As a result of that other nonsense, my stroke count increases as does my cadence.
None of this is surprising to me but it's good to hear what the source of the problem is. I'm not sure I would have put that together. Always best to fix the source of a problem right?

2) Time to break out the metronome. He had timed my cadence during my 500 and gave me the beeper. I look at the setting and tell him that it's considerably quicker than the pace I've found on my own. He's surprised by this, seeing how my 500 time was fairly good and he figured it might be my natural rhythm. So....
200yd swimming the cadence from the 500, followed by 200 using "my" slower setting.
I was slower using my setting but only one second slower. So obviously using the lower cadence is more efficient.

3) Now with the pull buoy. Same result, only less taxing on my cardio. So he had me mix it up breaking away from the metronome pace for a 25 sprint, then fall back onto the metronome. From this we find that I need to catch much more water on my sprints and a 20 stroke sprint would be a decent count to start with when trying to break away from a pack.

Next he checks out my sighting technique and then has me close my eyes and try to swim a length. I knew what the result of this would be. I go to the left. He was amused by the fact I was pefectly straight for about 6 strokes. Then within 3 strokes of that I was into the lane line. So his suggestion here was not to learn how to swim straight in less than a week. It was to visulize the bouy being off to the right of where it really is. Good plan. I hope I remember to do this on Sunday.

So it was a solid lesson. Only one thing remains. He believes that the metronome is legal for triathlon. I'd like to know for sure before being Disqualified at Timberman. So I contacted the USAT head official. Here was his response.
"It is legal only if it is not worn under your swimcap or on your head."

Well that presents a challenge which I hope to find a solution to later today at the lake. Obviously if I can't use it, it's not the end of the world. Just checking out my options.

More later!

New Pics from Tango

To all interested parties, the Tango website (www.kinzuacountrytango.com) has a link to pic sets from the 2009 race. We are seen throughout. They included the pics of Bart and Vash at the finish line (Thanks Kathie).

Sprint Splash Spin

Sprint, Splash & Spin, Morgantown, WV August 29, 2009.

Not sure I want to post this based on the overwhelming lack of training I'm getting in, but I have been hard on Shawn and feel I can take if I don't do well. Of course everyone, including me are so supportive after it is over.

Tapering

Yesterday I went to the chiropractor. I really wish I would have done that a couple weeks ago. I walked out of there feeling like I was walking straight. I didn't think I was that far out when I went in. So I guess that was the bonus for the week and I'm glad that I do this leading into a race.

Last night I started my 2nd week of the pull up challenge. I guess it's not surprising that after 2 days off, they seemed much easier. I'm still doubtful that 20 is possible in 6 weeks, but that's not the goal anyhow.
After the pull ups we went to the pool and got some good work done in less than an hour. It's so hot out, really swimming was the best thing I could have done. It was quite refreshing. I think the longest set I did was 600m. It felt great. (I didn't look at the time).
I'm looking to stay out of the crowd at Timberman during the swim. The DC race was like bumper cars for me and I felt like I was working harder than I should have been. I don't practice my sighting enough (at all). I'll have to remember to do a bit once we get to NH.

I went for a 4 mile run this morning. I think it was 67 degrees but the humidity was still high. This could be race day temperture and humidity. I was soaked by the end of the run. It was a good run. My legs weren't complaining and I could turn it up without any trouble.
I got home, did some stretching then took a long shower trying to get the core temp down. A good way to start the day.
I will end the day with a swim lesson. I've got a few things lined up that I'm hoping he might have answers for. If he does, it would be another bonus leading into the race. More on that once it happens.

We drive to NH tomorrow. Wahoo!
Hope everyone is doing well!

Race List

I need to update our event list on the sidebar.
Post up your planned races. I'll get the countdowns going!

Exercise as a means of Weight Control?

Jim wrote a great response in the Warren Times Observing regarding the issue of whether exercise is an effective means for weight control. I am posting it here for anyone who might be interested in reading his letter (hope you don't mind Jim). Well written Jim. I am sure many of us here can attest to its value (weight loss aside)...how it brings people together, builds self esteem...the list goes on.

++++++++

Dear editor:

Recently, an article in Time magazine has raised an important health question: Is exercise really an effective means for weight loss?

As a member and certified professional of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and a health and exercise professional, I can affirm that the answer is a resounding yes! A vast amount of research has definitively proven that exercise, when combined with a healthy diet, results in both weight loss and maintenance of a healthy weight. ACSM just released an updated, evidence-based scientific position stand in early 2009 that proves these exact points.

Further, there is little evidence to the claim that exercising produces hunger so uncontrollable that it leads to weight gain. In fact, a recent study from the University of Pittsburgh proved just the opposite: overweight and obese women didn't eat any more food after 40 minutes of exercise than they normally would when sedentary.

Exercise does require effort, and it does require self-control. But when these are combined to form a healthy lifestyle, the rewards are beyond substantial. Economically, expenditures are reduced (the recent Weight of the Nation conference reported that obesity accounts for some $147 billion in health care costs per year); and people lead more enjoyable, more energetic and happier lives.

Even for the non-overweight, exercise provides benefits that no single pill or prescription ever could. It treats and prevents numerous chronic conditions, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type II diabetes, and even depression.

Exercise is a health tool we all need, regardless of our weight, and it is my sincere hope that the public takes its importance seriously. Further, advice about weight loss should come courtesy of a qualified health or fitness professional, instead of irresponsible articles that may not showcase the full realm of scientific facts surrounding the issue.

Sincerely,

Jim Roberts, Ph.D., HFS-ACSM

Warren

Member/Certified professional, American College of Sports Medicine

Good Luck

This your newest member, Chris Johnson.  I just wanted to thank you for the invite, and wish everyone who is doing the Timberman good luck.  I'll be looking forward to seeing the resutls.  

Sunday's Ride

I had better have better bike legs next Sunday. We biked the Round Valley course, 17 miles. I was not awesome. If there was a hill, I crawled up it. We finished it but it sure wasn't an inspired ride for me. Genine rocked it tho'. She should have a good race on Saturday. Hope it's a good day for taking pictures.