Muncie Endurathon Race Report

This was my last 70.3 before focusing all of my attention to IML. I had set two goals for this race - 1) to finish and 2) break the 5 hour barrier.

I arrived in Muncie on Friday afternoon and picked up my race packet at the convention center. I then checked into the student hotel on the campus of Ball State U. I unpacked my stuff and headed off for a 30 minute bike ride to loosen up the legs. I then met some friends for dinner. I got back to the hotel around 10:00. I drank 2 bottles of water before going to bed at 11:00. I finally fell asleep around 2:00 a.m. !@#@! This seems to be a problem I have before every race...

Race morning: I got up at 5:00 and arrived at the Endurathon at 6:00. Race conditions were breezy with lots of humidity. When I arrived to the race site, I learned that the race was wetsuit legal. I decided not to wear mine since I was not going to be able to wear one at Louisville; however, I did wear my swimskin. I knew I was going to give up approximately 5-minutes in the swim because of this, but it was okay since this race was just preparation for Louisville.

My swim wave started at 7:18. The swim was pretty uneventful - there was the usual elbow to the face and hand on my back. I was able to settle into a pretty solid rhythm after about 200 meters. There were two occasions when I got slightly off course because I was trying to avoid some of the slower swimmers. When I finished the swim, I headed off to T1 which was about a quarter mile up hill. All the way up the hill, I kept telling myself to take off the swimskin so I could avoid the debacle that occurred in Michigan. Luckily this worked - no swimskin on the bike this time.

I got on the bike and took in some fluids and a gel pack. As I headed off out of the park, I had about 10 people pass me who were hammering out of the park. I never liked to be passed on the bike, but I knew that I would probably pass them later on the bike course. I felt great on the bike and there were plenty of water stops. This race had better support than the Ford Ironman 70.3 in Florida!!!! I was surprised on the bike that I only took in 3 bottles of water - apparently this would haunt me on the run. I assume I took in little water on the bike since the temps were on the cooler side. The bike course was uneventful until the monsoons hit around the 40 mile marker. The rain felt like pins and needles on my face and shoulders. Around mile 52 the rain stopped and it appeared the sun was going to come out. I passed about 25 people on the bike including 8 of the 10 individuals in my age group who passed me in the first mile. When I headed to T2 the rain started again.

I hate running in the rain!!!! I hate running in wet shoes!!!! After I put on my wet socks and wet shoes, I headed out to the run course. Of course the rain started to come down harder and the roads were flooded. I had to run in the middle of the road to avoid the 3 inches of rain on the sides of the road. I felt great on the run for the first 5 miles - I think I was averaging 7:50 min miles according to my Garmin (this is good for me). At the turn around, I got to see where all of my competition was. I was happy that I had at least a mile on some of the other guys in my age group. Then around mile marker 8 the wheels came off. My left calf started cramping up. I have never experienced this before. I began to think what could have caused this - then I realized that I did not take in enough water on the bike and I was dehydrated. So at every water stop I took in a cup of Gatorade and a cup of water, but I think this was too much too late. Not only was I cramping, but now I had a full belly with liquids sloshing around. At mile 10 I had to stop and stretch and WALK - ouch!!!!! That's when about 20 people caught me and passed me. Around mile 11 I was able to pick up the pace again and blocked the pain in my calf. Finally, when I passed mile marker 13 I knew I only had .1 miles to go - UP HILL!!!! That's when my friend squirrel passed me and beat me by a few seconds!!!

Results:

Swim Time: 37:35 (2 minutes slower than my average without a wetsuit)
Bike Time: 2:34 (on par with my average)
Run Time: 1:54 (!@#$%$#@!)
Total Time: 5:09

I still did not break the 5 hour mark - but I had fun and I am excited about IML! Only 7 more weeks to go.

Lessons learned:

1. Drink on the bike even if it's cold and rainy
2. Running with wet shoes and socks is not that bad
3. I still have plenty of time to break 5 hours

Racing for Recovery - Race Report

It's been a long time since I have updated my training blog. A lot of things have happend since my last post:

1. lots of training
2. Completed Florida 70.3 in 5 hours and 14 minutes (35 min swim, 2:35 bike, 2:01 run)
3. Racing for Recovery: http://www.racingforrecovery.com/

I highly recommend this half ironman distance triathlon to anyone looking for a low key, well organized, flat course, close to home - with all proceeds going to a very good cause.

I first arrived in Monroe, MI (Sterling State Park) on Saturday night. My first stop was the beach to check out the swim. When I arrived, I noticed lots of the dead fish along the beach. See below for a example of what I saw:

After surveying the beach and waves (must have been 2 foot waves with white caps!!!!). I noticed the nuclear power plant about 1/2 mile away from the beach - which is probably the reason why the water so warm and there were dead fish along the beach (look at the picture carefully and you can see the stacks in the background):

After checking out the swim, I headed back to my hotel which was just 1/4 mile away from the state park. I went to bed around 10:00 but just laid there until 1:00 - I guess I was nervous about the big waves and the nuclear power plant. My alarm went off at 5:00 - I got up and packed up my stuff and headed to the park.

I picked up my registration packet at 6:00 and the race director announced that it was going to be a great day and that the thunderstorms had just missed us. I then proceeded to set up my transition area and had everything laid out.

Around 7:00 the clouds started to roll in and the thunder, lighting, and big rain drops started. The race director made an announcement for everyone to head for their cars. I packed up all of my stuff and unloaded it into my car. We waited about 15 minutes and the race director announced that we could all return to the transition area. I got all of my stuff out of the car and unloaded back into the transition area. The race director then said that the weather radar indicated clear sky for the rest of the day. 5 minutes later it started pouring and lighting again. The race director then announced for everyone to head back to their cars until further notice. I packed my stuff up again so it wouldn't get wet and headed for my car. After 15 minutes the race director announced that the race was going to be delayed by 30 minutes due to the passing thunderstorms.

At 8:00 the announcement was made that is was safe to return to the transition area. I unpacked and set up my transition area for the third time. After the thunderstorms had passed, the winds started to pick up.

At 8:30 the race started - I was using this event as a hard training day to work on my speed. When I started the swim, I was shocked to see how high the waves were. In fact they were so high, I could not see the buoys - on several occasions I had to stop and tread water so I could orient myself. I noticed that people were all over the place... After about 1000 meters I became comfortable out in the choppy water - well this was a mistake because I apparently got off course and a lifeguard started chasing me down in her ocean kayak. I did not notice this until I hit the front of my head with the front of her kayak. I stopped and yelled d*mn! She said sorry - and proceeded to say that the water was so choppy it was hard for her to control her kayak. After that moment, I was pretty much dazed and confused for the rest of the swim.

T1 - finally the swim was over and I headed for my bike. I quickly put on my helmet and shoes and took off. It was my plan to ride as hard as I could for the 56 mile ride. For the first 15 miles I was cruising around 23 mph, when I noticed that my legs were going numb. That is when I realized that I forgot to take my skin suit off. At that point, I began to panic. What was I going to do - my legs are going numb and I had my skin suit on. Believe it or not, I thought about turning around so I could take my skin suit off. After about 10 minutes, I decided to keep trucking on. After about 30 miles my aero bar came loose and I could no longer get into the aero position and I couldn't shift. At this point, I decided to call it a day, so I sat up and started cruising around 16 mph. Lots of people passed me and asked if I was OK, and I told them that I had a mechanical problem. Someone then told me that there was a mechanic on the course and they could fix my bike. When I finally reached the mechanic on the course, I decided to peel off the skin suit and sit down and think about why I was out there. The mechanic grabbed his torque wrench and said that it was not uncommon for carbon aero bars to come loose (apparently you do not want to crank down on the bolts or you might crack the carbon). I then asked the mechanic if I should continue and he said just wrap your skin suit around your aero bars and finish the race. After wasting 10 minutes with the mechanic, I decided to finish the bike course as hard as I could. The course was super flat and fast. I completed the final 20 miles averaging 22.5 mph.

T2 - When I finished the bike course, I put on my socks, shoes, and visor. I hit the run course. I told myself that I wanted to beat my run time in Florida. I took off slow and built up speed. Luckily I finished the run 11 minutes faster then Florida. What started out to be a bad day turned out to be a good day for me. I was super happy with the run and with all of my bad luck I still managed to finish 3 minutes faster than Florida.

I still have Muncie to beat the 5 hour mark in July...

Summary:

Swim: 35:21

Bike: 2:43:17 (20.6 average)

Run: 1:50:10 (8:25 average)

Total Time: 5:11:24

Even with all of my bad luck I learned a lot of lessons:

1. be prepared for the unexpected

2. don't let a few mishaps ruin your day - it's a long day and what's a few minutes

3. there are more races in the future

4. IML is the goal!!!!

Blogging and Training - Training and Blogging

Blogging and Training -

I had no idea how much time it takes to blog... I promise to update my blog on a regular basis and post more pictures from my training sessions.

In my last post - I mentioned that I am trying to keep my heart rate below 150. My coach now wants me to keep my heart rate below 135. I am basically at a snails crawl - this requires lots of patience on my part, which I am severely lacking. This past week I ran a total of 30 miles and biked 4 hours on the trainer at an average heart rate of 134. I understand that this base training is going to pay off in the long run, but it very difficult for me to see the tunnel at the end of the road.

If anyone has any advice on good movies to watch on the bike trainer - please send them my way!!!!

Base Training for Ironman Louisville

I have been following several IML blogs for several months now, so I decided to get mine up and running. For the past 2 months, I have been on a rigorous base training plan. My plan consists of running and cycling at a heart rate of 150-155 beats per minute (running 3x per week, cycling 3x per week and swimming 3x per week). Training at this level has been very difficult for me since I am used to training at a much higher intensity. For example, I generally run 7 minute miles, and now I am running 9 minute miles to keep my heart rate down. According to Mark Allen at: http://www.markallenonline.com/heartrate.asp - this type of training should pay off in the long run and I should be able to get back to a 7 minute mile while keeping my heart rate down.

It has been 2 months and counting and I still have not seen any major improvements. The only thing that I have noticed is that my endurance has improved, but my speed has not improved without increasing my heart rate above 155 beats per minute. Right now my motto is "slow and steady" in about 1 more month I am going back to my old mantra of "Fast and FASTER."

On another note - I highly recommend the Garmin 305 to anyone who needs to track their heart rate, distance, pace, etc... while running and cycling. I was very lucky to pick one up from Amazon.com for $149!!!!

Here is my race schedule for 2009:

-Miami University Triathlon - April 18th
-Flying Pig Marathon - May 3rd
-Florida 70.3 - May 17th
-Endurathon 70.3 - July 11th
-Ironman Louisville - August 30th (I have already booked my hotel at Spring Hill Suites)