Feeling Fast Again....Kind of

It has been a good start to the week. As I said the other day, I am back at work and I have managed to get back into the groove rather easily. I have also been able to ramp up my training as I had planned....and a bonus is that I have actually seen an increase in my overall speed too! Yes, it is true, I have actually seen a tangible increase in my bike speed since May and I am psyched.

Let me recap the past few days:

Monday
I went to an easy 4.3 mile run at lunch with my friend Bill. It is always a good run with Bill, actually it is always an entertaining run with him. We didn't break any land speed records, but we did go at an easy 8:25 pace and had a good time.

After work, my wife and I headed over to the pool. Me to swim some laps, he to read her new book. I did a very tough 1,250 yards....I was just so friggin' tired for the whole work out. I started out with my first 100 (of a 500 yard warm-up) in 1:38 (very fast for me) and then my times came back to earth (1:46, 1:46, 1:53, 1:48). I then decided to do 10 x 50 yards and I just couldn't get my body going right. I think it was due to all of the diving board activity I engaged in on Saturday and Sunday with my oldest daughter. I guess I just don't realize how much energy it takes to dive, swim and walk over and over again during a three to four hour time span. Anyway, I averaged around 49 seconds for each 50 and then wrapped it up with a very lazy 250 yard cool down. Total time for the swim was 21:51.

Tuesday
I drove into work with my bike packed in my trunk and was prepared for a good ride home. I haven't done this ride in a few weeks and I was looking to make the best of it. I cut out of work around 3:30pm and started to ride south. For the first time in a long while I felt really good on my bike. Let me correct that, I felt great. I stayed in the big ring for probably the first 15 or so miles, cruising on the flats, bombing the downhills and powering up the climbs. I just felt so strong. I managed to do the first ten miles in right around a half an hour. I continued on and was just flying, feeling great. Then around mile 20 I got my first flat on my new bike and I was thankful to have a tire lever, a spare tube and CO2 cartridge. It took me about 10 minutes to change the tire, basically I was taking my time making sure that inspected my tire before putting the tube in. I did mess up a bit by wasting a bit of my CO2 when I didn't have it connected to the valve fully (damn!).

The last eight miles of the ride is a bit of a bear it is about 80% uphill away from the Delaware River. I was able to maintain good power going up the hills and I rolled into my driveway in 1:38:00 and covered 30.5 miles (18.6 MPH). That is a ten minute improvement over the first time I did this ride this year, back in May. I was pretty psyched!

Once home, I ran inside, got changed into my running clothes, grabbed Willie (our dog) and went out for a quick run in hopes of finding my dear wife who was doing a 2 - 3 mile walk. It was after about 1.25 miles that I found her not more than 100 yards from our house. For that 1.25 miles though, I averaged under 8:00/pace, I think it was actually 7:53/mile. Thank God I had finally run a sub-8 min. mile. Damn!

Today
I dragged my tired ass out of bed at 5:05am to get ready for my ride into work. I ate some strawberry Pop-Tarts, drank a quick glass of OJ and I was out the door around 5:30am. My legs were feeling it a bit for the first three or four miles. All in all the ride was uneventful and I felt like I was really going slow for the first ten miles or so. Around mile 20 I was feeling better and decided that I was going to try and pick up the pace. I ended up doing the 30.5 miles in 1:36:00 (19.1 MPH), probably the fastest I have ever ridden that route. Again, I was pretty surprised, especially when I think about how badly I started my ride. I definitely think I can do it un around 1:30.

That is about it for now. I must get some work done and prepare for the first night of soccer practice. I am the head coach of my daughters Under 7 Girls soccer team and tonight is the first practice. It should be fun....me and eight 6 - 7 year old girls...give me strength!

Race Report: Steelman Olympic Triathlon

I have been a competitive athlete for my entire life, well for as long as I can remember. When I was 6 years old playing on an in town soccer team I would cry if we lost. When I played baseball as an 11 year old I would be upset if I got thrown out (I thought I could out run any throw). When I played lacrosse at Rutgers and we lost to Army my senior year, I didn't speak to anyone following the game...for about 6 hours. I don't do well with disappointment. I have gotten better as I have gotten older, but I have to work at it. Sunday was one of those days where I had to struggle to find a ray of sunshine in an otherwise very stormy day (literally).

I awoke at 4:10AM on Sunday morning to the sound of my alarm clock. Then I heard the dreaded sound of rain drops hitting the windows of my bedroom. I figured that it was merely a passing rain shower and that by the time I got to the race site it would stop. I got dressed, ate some Pop-Tarts, drank some Gatorade and then headed out the door. As I drove the 15 miles or so up to Lake Nockamixon the rain continued to fall, sometime lightly, other times very heavily. I stayed positive, thinking to myself that it would surely stop soon.

I arrived in parking lot around 5:00AM, unloaded my gear and made my way to transition. By this point it was pouring out; I made a point of bringing my umbrella with me. To quickly sum up the next hour or so, I racked my bike, put my bad in a garbage bag and put my umbrella over my bike and bag. I then went back to my car to stay dry and warm until around 6:15AM. It was then time to face the fact that it wasn't going to stop raining.

Swim - 1,500M
The water temp was 78.4F, just a bit too warm for wetsuits. This made me very sad. I waded into the water, did a quick 200 yd warm up and then waited for the gun to sound. After getting pushed, poked and prodded for the first 300 yds or so, I managed to get into a bit of a rhythm where I felt pretty good. I made it to the first turn (the course was a long rectangle, swam counter-clockwise) and was feeling alright. Around 500 meters in, the second wave began to catch up to me and hoped I wouldn't be beaten up by too many other racers. It was about this point that I started to feel a bit sore in my legs, which is odd since I usually don't kick all that much during a race except to try to stay as horizontal as possible. I didn't think much of it and just kept plugging along. Well, it seemed like forever that I was swimming when I finally came to the last buoy and made the turn for the home stretch. It was here that I was sucker punched in the right shoulder and took on a bit of water. I spit it out and just tried to make to dry land. I made my way up the ramp to the timing mat I hit the split button on my watch and it read 38:14. What the hell? I couldn't believe that I swam that slowly. After the race I talked with some of my rack mates and they all thought that the swim was long, possibly by as much as 250 meters. After looking at the fasted times from last year as compared to last year, I think they were right. 38:14 - OA - 245/345

T1
I hustled as best as I could and made it out of there relatively quickly. I would have like to have done it in around one minute, but it was tough running over the pavement. 1:25

Bike - 40K
My goal for the bike was to average around 20MPH and I thought that it was a very realistic goal based on how I have been riding lately. The climb out of transition to the main road is a pain in the ass. The fact that it was simply pouring at this point didn't make it any easier. My quads were sore, my left groin muscle that I hurt a couple months ago was screaming and I was just flat out beat from the swim. Once at the top it is a nice long gradual down hill where I was able to grab some time back and get my legs moving. The next hour plus of the ride was miserable. It rained the entire ride...actually it poured the entire ride. I was able to really fly on the flat and the down hills but I didn't having anything on the climbs. My quads were just shot. I definitely passed more than passed me, and I actually felt OK with my ride but know I could have ridden faster. 1:18:06 (18.9MPH) - OA - 131/345

T2
This is where I always lose time. I should be able to get out of here in less than one minute, but I just couldn't. I had to put on socks because of some blisters on my feet and I just seemed to be stumbling around. 1:19

Run - 10K
I think I was in transition when the rain finally stopped. Yippee! Anyway, I trotted out of transition and tried to get my legs moving, but it just wasn't happening. I was hoping to run the 10K in under 8:00/mile pace, really closer to 7:45. It just wasn't going to happen, my legs felt like they had sand bags handing off of them. No matter how hard I tried to pick up the pace my legs and lungs weren't going to allow it. It was at this point that I came to the realization that it just wasn't my day and that my goal was to just finish strong and to not get passed by too many people. I also figured that I would see if I could find anyone I might know. I saw my daughters friends mom (she did the Sprint), and we chatted for all of 20 seconds before she blew by me. I saw blogger from NJ Yasi running the other way...she had no clue who I was until the second time I saw her (I think).

The only real bright spot of my run was about 40 yards from the finish when I saw a fellow age grouper in front of me and I decided that I would pass him before the finish. With a last burst of speed, my hamstrings stretched to their limit, I flew past him. It was great to hear the crowd cheering us on as we both sprinted for the finish line. 50:55 (8:13/mile) - OA - 175/345

Post-Race Analysis
Swim (500m) – 38:14 - 245th Overall
T1 – 1:25
Bike (40K) – 1:18:06 (18.9 mph), 131st Overall
T2 – 1:30
Run (3.1 mi.) – 50:55 (8:13/mile), 175th Overall

Total Time: 2:49:57
Overall: 159 out of 345
Age Group (35–39): 19/29
Gender (Men): 128/226

I was pretty disappointed with my race. I don't know why I felt so off through out the race. It was like the wheels fell off in swim and from there I just couldn't get it back. I did read a blog entry from Chrissie Wellington yesterday in which she talks about a bad race she had back in May 2009 at the Columbia Triathlon. It went south for her in the swim and she just couldn't get it back. I guess where I am going with this is that even some of the best athletes in the world have off days. And despite the experience they are able to learn something from it; turning a negative into a positive. As Chrissie says, "The world won’t stop turning just because I have a bad race. If anything it will make me even more determined to improve. So I will learn, bank it, move on…with even more fire in my belly!"

Next race: Tentatively the Skylands Triathon, September 13th.