Week in Review - April 27th 2014: Solid Week

This was a solid week of training.

I exceeded my swimming goals and met my biking and running goals. What's better,  I logged a few rides and runs at a faster clip than I've been training for a while. Additionally, I managed to incorporate a modified running gait that resulted in an increased cadence. 

Swimming

As a said earlier, this was a good week. In fact, the best I've had in a year. My speeds improved, I got in a lot of yards, and my confidence is coming back. 

I had to work two extra days this week so I was near the pool every day but Saturday. This allowed me to get in five swims. I primarily focused on my stroke and used a pull buoy quite a bit. I managed to drop my 100 yard time by about 10 seconds. While this isn't where I want to be in the long run, it is a good start. 

I also tried out a snorkel for one swim. I was surprised to see that me speed was reduced and I didn't like the fact that I could breathe whenever I felt like. I took it off after a short while due to concerns that it would have a negative impact on my breathing while not having a great impact on my stroke. 

Total Distance: 7500 yards

Biking

I made the 10 mile trek back and forth to work Monday - Thursday with a ride home on Friday. One of the days I was happy to post an average speed of 22.4mph on my ride to work. This was a personal best for me and felt good because I wasn't aided by wind at my back.

On Sunday I rode 20 miles before work and felt quite sluggish. I chalk it up to the 10K run that I ran on Saturday where I pushed pretty hard. 

Total Distance: 112.4 miles

Running

I managed to squeeze in 3 medium distance runs, one of which was right before bed (don't think I'll do that again as it messed up my sleep). 

I focused on keeping my feet low and my cadence high. I think I was pretty successful as my two 10K runs clocked at an average pace of 7:38/mile and 7:23/mile respectively, and my 8 mile run average d 7:53/mile. 

The 10K runs were a bit faster than I had been running in months and it felt good to get in some decent times. 

My last run at 7:23/mile had an average cadence of 182 steps per minute while the same distance last month at a 7:42/mile my average cadence was 169. That is a great improvement and should help improve fatigue on my long runs and following the bike leg in a race.

Total Distance: 20.5 miles

Training Details

Monday: 1500 yard swim, 11 mile ride, 6.3 mile run
Tuesday: 1500 yard swim, 2x10 mile ride
Wednesday: 8 mile run, 2x10 mile ride
Thursday: 1500 yard swim, 2x10 mile ride
Friday: 1500 yard swim, 10 mile ride
Saturday: 6.2 mile run
Sunday: 1500 yard swim, 20 mile ride, 10 mile ride

Week in Review - April 20th 2014: So So Week

This week of training was so, so.

Monday I took the day off due to some time constraints and to recover a bit from the race the day before.

I managed to squeeze in a couple of short swims on Tuesday and Wednesday, during which I had an epiphany that I hope will bear fruit on my swimming speed. I realized that my hand placement in the water was not nearly as effective as it should be after watching video from this website: http://www.swimsmooth.com. I hope that I can fine tune this movement over the next few weeks for the upcoming Tempe International Triathlon.

Thursday morning I went out for a 13 mile run with the plan to do an easy pace for the entire distance. I was feeling a little sluggish for the first six miles when I started to feel pain in my right knee. I pressed on for another mile and stopped for a moment to consider my options. At this point I was 6 miles from home with no convenient way to get back in time for an upcoming appointment. I decided I would change my running gait by reducing my knee lift and see how it felt. It felt pretty good! I was able to make it the rest of the way home with a tolerable amount of pain.

After getting home I reviewed the data from my run and found that my running dynamics were significantly improved during the last portion of the run when I changed my gait. Another epiphany! I look forward to duplicating the gait this week without leg pain. I believe this gait should reduce impact and fatigue.

On Friday I headed out for a 25 mile ride. Uugh. My legs felt really tired and I was glad when it was over.

Saturday wasn't much different. I rode another 45 miles and while my legs were a bit better I still didn't have my normal power. My average speed was 19mph where it would normally be ~21mph for that distance.

I was surprised by how tired I was on Friday and Saturday and assume it was from Thursdays run. Thirteen miles usually doesn't have that much impact for me.

On Sunday I had intended to do a long swim during my lunch break but work was extremely busy and I couldn't get away. Oh well, sometimes work gets in the way of training :-).

Training Details:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 1000 yard swim
Wednesday: 1000 yard swim
Thursday: 13 mile run
Friday: 25 mile bike
Saturday: 45 mile bike
Sunday: Rest

Race Report - 4/13/2014 - Lifetime Tri Marquee

Location: Tempe, AZ
Race Type: Triathlon
Distance: 1500 meter swim, 28 mile bike, 6.2 mile run
Participants: 418
Overall Place: 144th
Age Group Place: 21st
Time: 2:53:32.  Swim: 39:30, T1: 2:04, Bike: 1:21:56, T2: 1:24, Run: 48:37

This is the first race in a series put on by Lifetime Fitness. The next race is also an Olympic distance on 9/21 followed by a half ironman on 10/19. I am signed up for all three. 

There were three distances available, sprint, ~olympic, and ~half ironman (Leadman) totaling almost 1000 people. 

I had not competed in a Lifetime event before so wasn't sure what to expect. My first impressions, nice job.

Packet Pickup

Packet pickup and bike drop off had to be done on Saturday between 12 and 5pm. Additionally, there was a mandatory race meeting at 2 and 4pm. I arrived around 1:30 and received my packet and goodies. This went quickly as there was a separate line for the people who had signed up for the entire series. 

I didn't have time to find my transition area before the meeting so I put the bike on a temporary rack and listened to the race spiel. After about 30 minutes I decided that I'd had enough and headed to transition. 

I was told to rack my bike wherever I could find a spot in the first 6 rows by the bike in/out. Another series perk... Having got rid of the bike I headed to another Lifetime tent to pick up my included series jacket.

Pretty painless packet pickup.

Pre-Race 

This race had a wave start. Being in a large age group I was in the second wave behind the pro's and 20-29 group. This put my start time at 8:03. To be honest, this felt like a luxury to be starting a race so late. I was able to sleep in until almost 6am and still had plenty of time to set up my transition area. 

After laying everything out I headed to the bike tent and had them top off my tires. This was the largest triathlon event I've attended to date so I had to snap a few pictures.

My transition rack is back there somewhere

Lots of bikes around here

I headed out of transition with my swim gear and discovered a set of porta-johns with no line. Nice!

After that I found the swim/bike transition entry and then watched the Leadman distance triathletes coming in on the swim. 

Ten minutes before the start I found another AZ Tri Club member. For those of you who don't know I recently joined a local triathlon group, AZ Tri Club. I was sporting their kit for this race and one of the the other non-participating members was out taking group photos. Hopefully I can add these later. For now, here's a picture from the official photo company. 

And here are a couple pictures with the AZ Tri Club before the race...

The Swim

I'll preface the swim with the statement that I haven't been swimming enough. It certainly shows by my time and placement in the pack. Of the 418 participants I came in 356th on the swim. I can't blame it on issues, nerves, kicking, or whatever. Simply lack of training for this leg. This is a wake up call, I need to hit the pool at least three days a week.

That said, Lifetime had plenty of buoys out there and I feel that I sighted well and didn't go drastically off course at any point. This being my least favorite leg I just took my time and got through it slowly but surely. Of course I was kicked and hit a number of times but no more than any other swim. No cramps, no loss of goggles, not bad.

Course Map

My Results

Transition 1

It was a bit of a jog from the swim to my bike rack. Nothing exciting to report here. Stripped the wetsuit, tossed on socks, shoes, glasses, and helmet, grabbed the bike and headed to the mount area. 

The Bike

I really don't like the bike courses around Tempe Town Lake. There are so many turns and I feel like I can't get into a good rhythm. There really aren't a whole lot of local options in open water though so I just have to suck it up. 

Ignoring all the turns, the bike leg was pretty enjoyable. The course was 14 miles long and had to be repeated twice. I spent the entire time passing all the faster swimmers. All told, about 200 people. Throw in the sprint distance and Leadman distance triathletes and there was quite a bit of congestion at times. 

My pace was slower than planned but I didn't mind. My heart rate had started high, around 170, but over the first 30 minutes dropped into a reasonable 155 or so. I decided not to push it hard at any point and save my legs for the run. 

My stats were certainly better for this leg, 105th of 418.

Course Map

My Results

Transition 2

My rack was only five deep from the bike/run transition. I swapped shoes, tossed on a hat and headed out. Unfortunately I left my Gatorade behind though. 

The Run

The run was a single loop. I ran past another AZ Tri Club member at the beginning of the course and chatted briefly. 

Shortly after I glanced at my watch and noticed that it was still recording the swim, or something. What I knew for sure was that I must have hit the wrong button at some point and it wasn't logging data as planned. I cancelled the current event on the watch and started it up again as a run only. Bummer. Luckily it looked like it had captured the swim and I had another GPS going on the bike so I didn't think that I'd lost much data. 

After the next mile I started to get in my running groove but it was also getting pretty hot. I decided that I would walk through the aid stations and drink a cup of water and dump a cup of ice down my back. This worked well.

Over the course of the run I passed another AZ Tri Club member and another dozen runners. Nobody passed me. 

This wasn't the fastest time I was capable of but I didn't have the drive to push harder today. Instead I simply enjoyed the run and the feeling of accomplishing another triathlon. I came in 84th on this leg. 

Course Map

My Results

Finish Video

Race Recap

I enjoyed doing this race. I didn't go into it with lofty goals or the intention of putting it all out there. I feel that this gave me the ability to relax a bit and appreciate the event, the participants, and the volunteers. 

Lifetime did a great job with the course and the post race activities. There was free rice and chicken bowls for participants, free beer, and plenty of non-alcoholic liquids. I couldn't ask for anything more. 

Almost forgot, and I'll have to add a picture later, the finishers medal serves a dual purpose. The neckband is velco and can be removed so that the medal can be used as a bottle opener. There is even a magnet on the back so that you can stick it to your refrigerator. I like it!

Week in Review - April 6th 2014: Another Solid Week

I went into the week with the realization that I had a 70 mile bike race on Saturday so I didn't want to push myself too hard. At the same time I didn't want to miss out on training for the triathlon the following week. I considered the bike race to be more of a "fun" event and didn't want to taper my workouts aggressively going into it. 

With that in mind, I pushed pretty hard on Monday and Tuesday and took it easy on Wednesday through Friday. All my biking for the week was performed on the road bike so that I could re-familiarize myself with this equipment. The race went well and I didn't push myself to my limits. That left my legs with enough left over to do a 10 mile run on Sunday without feeling like I overdid it. 

Next Sunday I will compete in an Olympic distance triathlon, the Lifetime Tempe Triathlon. While I also do not plan on doing a full taper for this event I will give it my all while I'm there. I'll let you know how it goes next week...

Training Details:
Monday: 10 mile ride to work, 1000 yard swim and 5k run during lunch, 10 mile ride home
Tuesday: 10 mile ride to work, 7 mile run, and 10 mile ride home
Wednesday: 10 mile ride to work
Thursday: 12 mile bike ride
Friday: 1000 yard swim
Saturday: 70 mile bike race
Sunday: 10 mile run, 10 mile ride home

Race Report - 4/5/2014 - El Tour de Mesa

Location: Mesa, AZ
Race Type: Road Cycling
Distance: 70 miles
Participants: 1017
Overall Place: 266th
Time: 3:12:21
Avg. Speed: 21.6mph

El Tour de Mesa is a cycling event that is now in its 24th year. The turnout is pretty good and the support is great. It begins in downtown Mesa, at 6:15 a.m., and winds through some of the most beautiful desert in the area. There are very few turns and a minimal amount of climbing; about 2700 feet.

. 
The course followed the same route as last year and I went into the race with the belief that I could improve upon last years time of 3:14:27 That said, I was a bit nervous as I hadn't been riding with groups consistently for about 7 months. There is a skill set with group/team riding that I was never fantastic at and was certainty weaker at now. I did believe my overall strength and endurance had improved from last year so I was excited to test this out. 

My plan for the ride was to stick at the back of a pack of riders so that my lack of groups skills wouldn't impact anyone and I could reap the benefits of drafting. 

Like last year, the start of the race was fast with riders jockeying for position. The first few miles are always the most dangerous with everyone packed together, bottles flying, and people working into their pace. I found myself between the 1st and 2nd pack of riders and I attempted to catch up to the lead pack. After a few minutes I gave up with the knowledge that even if I did catch them I would likely not be able to hold on for the entire race. 

As the second pack passed me I latched onto the back. They were keeping a steady pace of ~23mph and this felt very comfortable for me. Being in the back does have one downside; there are ebbs and flows that can speed and slow the pace as people rotate through the front. 

About half way through the ride our group was still averaging 22.5mph with me jumping up in the group during the climbs and then dropping back again on the flats to relax. 

I was happy in the knowledge that there were only about 15 more miles of mixed climbing and then the last 20 miles would mostly be downhill. There was even a decent chance to finish the race in <3 hours. 

Well, that didn't happen. On one of the descents coming into the last big climb I started to lose control of my bike. The front wheel felt wobbly and I had a hard time turning. I chalked this up to my lack of downhill experience and pressed on. A short time later while ascending the last climb I realized that my front tire was mostly flat. Uugh.

I executed a relatively quick tire change, about 3.5 minutes, with the knowledge that I had lost my pack. Unfortunately, there were no other large groups to ride with the last 23 miles of the race.

I picked up a couple of people and we occasionally worked together but I lost a lot of time due to headwinds. 

I finally came into the finish with a time ~ 2 minutes faster than last year. No too shabby. This was a fun race for me and other than the descent with a flat tire there were no times when I felt uncomfortable with the ride.  

I look forward to doing this one again next year and hope that I can make that sub three hour mark.