Stonebridge Ranch Race

One of these days I will make to the Podium:

All in all it was a good race.  it was my first open water swim race in almost a year.  I should have had an OWS in April in New Orleans but the swim was canceled due to high winds.  With the high winds the safety and rescue craft could not safely be on the water, so the swim had to be canceled.  There are many factors that go into a successful open water swim; positioning yourself at the start, sighting, drafting etc.  They say that nobody wins a triathlon on the swim but you can lose it there.  Ideally you want to be close to the front but not wear yourself out.  Speed wise it was not my best effort.  I should be around 13 and change for the 750 meters.  I got a little lost at the beginning and could not find the lead pack.  I usually try and swim just behind the lead swimmers in my heat.  Looking at the results there were 2 guys that finished the swim in 14:30, they are the ones I should have swam with.  One of the issues could be that I did not wear contacts and I have trouble seeing things quickly.  I think I will go back to using contacts when I race.  I have talked to people who use prescription swim goggles.  I do not think I will go that route unless I have problems with contacts (easy to lose the goggles).

The bike was my best leg!  34 minutes!  My strategy going in was to go really hard on the bike, and I did.  My HR was in Race pace for almost the entire ride.  I think it was my best bike leg ever.  The only problem I had was T1 and getting my shoes on after mounting the bike.  Coming of the bike was really smooth.  I undid my shoes and dismounted without much of a slowdown.

As good as the bike was the run was the polar opposite.  Starting off I forgot my watch.  Without my watch I cannot monitor my HR properly.  Fortunately my Race strategy did not have any absolute goals as far as HR values.  The basic strategy was to run at a comfortable pace to the turn around.  Then after the turn run for 1 minute hard and one minute easy.  Then repeat this cycle until finished.  So I had to estimate 1 minute intervals.  I started off trying to count.  It is pretty hard to count consistently when you are running at different intensities.  So I decided to pick a spot ahead of my and run hard to that spot.  Then pick another spot and run easy, then another spot ahead and run hard to it, and so on.  this seemed a little better.  I also had problems with shoe laces coming undone.  Well better next time.  I really would like to get the 5K under 24 minutes.

Night before Race day

It is the night before race day.  Tomorrow is Stone Bridge Ranch Triathlon.  For me this is the worst time.  Getting the gear together, going through my list to make sure I have everything.  Bike shoes, Run Shoes, gels, towel; it all goes in the bag.  Tomorrow I will eat and get my bike in the car and drive to the race.  Being later in the year it is a later start.  My wave is at 9:10 am.  Some mid summer sprint races I finnish by 9:00 am.

I get nervous about making sure I have everything.  I have already put the wet suit in the car and have my bag packed, but I can never get rid of the feeling that I missed something.  Oh well it is off the bed.

Another week Down

Well I have completed another week.  It was a great week too.  Finished it off with 2 great workouts.  Saturday was a club workout (the club is called PlayTri, http://www.playtri.com/ ).  It consisted of a 2 hour swim workout, followed by a bike/run brick.  The bike workout was a interval type workout one minute hard then 1 minute easy, 2 minutes hard followed by 1 minute easy.  Next 3 minutes hard and 1 minute easy.  Each hard interval increased by 1 minute.  The run was a fast couple of miles then drills and tempo runs.

Sunday was a 30 minute swim followed by a 2 hour bike.  It was difficult finding a place to swim.  My ususal place was closed for cleaning and repairs.  A second option was closed due to a balloon festival.  A third option was clased due to a breakdown.  So option 4 was a local beach.  I did my half hour swim in the beach area.  Then took off on the bike for a 2 hour bike ride.  The 2 hours went by quickly.  It was over before I knew it.

This coming week has me doing a sprint tri on Sunday.  Playtri's Stonebridge Ranch Triathlon.  As a sprint it will be a 750 meter swim and a 20 k bike and a 5k run.  The key goals for the race will be a good technical swim, a hard bike leg, and a run that has me going comfortable for the first have and then the last half will be one minute hard and one minute easier.  the run will continue with one minute alternating hard and easy.  Looking forward to it!

To lessen the financial strain the club lets me (and others ) work packet pick up in return for a free race entry (sweet deal).

The first week finished.

The way it works is that I send my coach a spreadsheet listing my availability for the week.  For example I may have 1 hour before work and 2 hours after work on any given weekday.  On Wednesday's I usually work late in an after hours computer lab, Saturdays I am pretty much available all day.  My coach takes this info and produces a training plan for the week.  There are 4 basic types of workouts.  Three of the types are pretty obvious: swim, bike and run workouts.  The fourth is weights.  On any particular day I could be assigned no workouts (rest days) or up to 3 workouts in a day.

Well this past week I did not do a great job at estimating my time.  I was teaching a new class and this usually leads to extra prep work each day.  I was able to get my workouts in but it was tough.  this coming week I do not have as full a work load at work and I will be more deliberate about allocating time.  Saturday was nice though.  I had a 2.5 hour brick workout.  A brick is one workout after another.  This Saturday's brick was a 2 hour bike ride and a half hour run.  The run workout was speed intervals.  I must say, I love the brick workouts.

I also started logging my food intake.  It is amazing what you learn when you log your food.  I believe that I have decent basic eating habits.  I eat a variety of foods meats, grains, fruits and vegetables, but I also enjoy a good cheese burger too!  The first thing that stood out was a deficiency of protiens.  The total calories and carb and fat amounts are ok (they will need adjustment) but I am way low on protiens.  I have been looking for foods that are high in protien and low in fats and carbohydrates.  The two best ones are foods that I quite like; egg whites and tuna.  I am open for any suggestions any of you all may have.

All and all a good start

Blackland Sprint tri

I have spent the last couple days in Virginia visiting my daughter and grandson.  A bit of a last minute trip.  My daughter and son in-law are Marines stationed at Quantico Va..  Presently my son  in-law is attending school on the west coast and found out at the last minute that he could not fly back to Va for the long weekend.  Such is life in the military.  So I was able to get a cheap flight if I left Friday early in the morning and returned Sunday.  I had a great visit and was happy to help my daughter around the house.  Saturday we got to go to the Nationals game in Washington.  Taking my grandson to his first baseball game was a real treat.

Since the last post:

1.) It was not a great month for sales were i work so the money thing to rear its ugly head.  I have completed the initial testing signed up for the ironman Louisville,  both of which involve an investment of funds.  As i posted earlier I have the financial means to do this as long as I stay gainfully employed.  So i was thinking that it would figure that as soon as I commited my self to this endeavor that a big part of supporting it would disappear.  hard to keep these negative thoughts out of your head.

2.) Working on detailed goals for 2011 - 2012 season.  It is helpful to have these.  It gives direction and focus.  Without them I would want to do every race and workout constantly.  Usually ending in injury.  Without going into the gory details my main goal is weight loss.  I need to shed about 30 lbs to get to an ideal ironman weight.  This should also make me faster as well.

3.)Competed today in the Blackland sprint tri.  It is one of the best local races in the North Texas area.  The pool is a 50 meter with wide lanes.  My main goal was to kick all the way on the swim.  I did great on that my time for the 300 meters was 5:39  (unofficial).  It was a beautiful day in the area cool and breezy.  My bike was ok except I dropped my water bottle and had to double back for it.  This added about 2 minutes to the second loop.  My wife noticed the drop off in time.  On the run I held it together for about a 28 minute 5k.

Blackland Tri results

swim 5:39.4            4th in age group
bike  46:48:41         7th in age group (should have been at least 5th without the dropped bottle)
run    29:32:39        14th in age group

finnish 8th in age group

Def shows I need to work on the run.  All in all not a bad outing for a "fun" race.