First Thing Monday Morning - 7 October 2013

"Wow, the weather here is a bit brisk"

Well, the first thing Monday morning, is that it's my mother's birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!  Other than that, we are in a serious cold funk right now (well it feels really cold, but only in the 50's / 60's), with chilly temps this weekend, made for me bailing on my planned bike rides!  That kinda sucked!  But I did get some good runs in and took a few rest days (which are a good thing) and ran well, so you know, I kinda got that going for me!

I really don't like doing the treadmill thing, because, well, it's boring!  But soon, I'll be hitting the pool a bit more frequent than I am now!

On to my stats:

30 Sep - 6 Oct 2013
SWIM: 0 yards! (The streak continues!)
BIKE: 0 Miles (I am weak and afraid of the cold on a bike!)
RUN: 27.8 Miles (Feeling good, ran 5 times this week)

My week ahead
30 Sep - 6 Oct 2013
SWIM: 0 yards
BIKE: 76 Miles
RUN: 33 Miles

I have found that with me going longer and taking a day off (or three this week), my legs are feeling tons better, and coupled with foam rolling (LOVE THAT STUFF) and wearing compression, my legs are feeling good!

Well, I am still looking for races this fall and next year, so when I have a good idea, I'll write a post about my future races (which ALWAYS change!).  Until then, take care everyone!
 

First Thing Monday Morning (FTMM) Sep 30, 2013

So two in a row makes it a streak, right?  Well, this last week was interesting, with cold / flu running rampant in the office (awesome!), but I lysoled / hand sanitizered everything and ate meds like candy (is Tylenol Cold and Flu a performance enhancer?  Eh, it makes be feel better!), and kept running!

I've also started my core workouts again, which I feel work pretty good for me.  I seem to run faster when my core is strong, plus other things (golfing, riding bike, waking up not sore) seem easier.  Right now, it just consists of 100 sit ups in a row each morning.  I think I'll work my way up to hula-hooping a tractor tire later.  Much later.

23-29 SEP 2013
SWIM: 0 yards!
BIKE: 24.0 Miles (Getting really cold here in the mornings now)
RUN: 22.5 Miles (Was a little under the weather last week)

My week ahead
30 Sep - 6 Oct 2013
SWIM: 0 yards
BIKE: 60 Miles
RUN: 33 Miles

As the weather keeps going crazy here in Kansas (this week in the mid-80s, then the weekends, highs of 67!), working out and clothing will continue to be a "what is the temp like right now" game.  But still too early for me to think about indoor workouts, except maybe my off season weigh workouts, which also seem to help out, just have to remember to stay within my limits!

 

I "stole" these pictures from another funny blog, "Steve in a Speedo! Gross!" Right now, he is bummed as he can't run right now, so send him some love and get well soon wishes! 

Well, everyone, back to work now!

First Thing Monday Morning (FTMM)

Well, since I'm now 40 years old, as of this weekend, guess I'd better stick to something, and that something is my weekly training review, First Thing Monday Morning (FTMM).  I hope to get it out each Monday, hence the name (clever, I know!) and roll with that.  Since I have already started to plan next year's racin' (hello New Orleans!) so this ought to be fun!

16-22 SEP 2013
SWIM: 0 yards! (That is easy to track!)
BIKE: 27.4 Miles (Just re-started riding, felt good!)
RUN: 29.8 Miles (Not too bad with weather changes)

My week ahead
23-29 SEP 2013
SWIM: 0 yards
BIKE: 62 Miles
RUN: 40 Miles

As I mentioned, I think I already have the wife talked into going to New Orleans for the IM NOLA 70.3 in mid-April next year, so hope that we hit that, as I think I have to sell races as "destination" races now.

But my legs seem to be feeling better after the big jump in milage, so I hope that I don't fry them too soon and can hold 30-40 miles a week in the "off season".  Only time will tell, just need to make the most of my time, speaking of which, time to go!

Later everyone!

Things I learned...2013 Triathlon Season Review

Well, I have run out of triathlons for the year, so I guess it is time to recap, reflect, and figure out what more to do next year.  Perhaps some folks can learn from my mistakes / errors or what I did right (at least in my mind!)

As far as results go, this year was a great year for that.  I moved up to the Men's 40-44 age group, which is a tough group overall, and my overall races were good.  But my times aren't totally "front of pack" yet, but getting there!  Let's break this down by events:

SWIM:

6/15/13  Topeka Tinman - 400 meters / 0:08:32 (2:08/100m) 8th in AG / 90th overall
6/29/13  Gull Lake Tri - 500 meters / 0:09:13 (1:50/100m) 3rd in AG / 21st overall
8/18/13  Manhattan Tri - 500 meters / 0:09:39 (1:55/100m) 2nd in AG / 12th overall
8/25/13  Salina Sprint - 300 meters / 0:05:12 (1:44/100m) 1st in AG / 8th overall
9/07/13  Splash n Dash - 550 meters / 0:09:23est (1:42/100m) Unknown splits

As far as swimming, I didn't do enough this year.  Period.  Most of the distances were short (no more than 550 meters), but as far as being more comfortable in the water, I was much better (no stoke changes / rolling onto my back and swimming), but need to get into more yardage swimming.  I hope that when I move, there is a master's program there.  That will help me.  My yardage for the year (so far) is only 26,350 yards, and that is from April to early June only.  Ugggh.  Need to work on that.

SWIM Overall grade: 4 of 10 (lots of room to improve)

T1:

5/04/13  Ft. Leavenworth DU - 0:00:53 / 3rd in AG / 10th overall
6/15/13  Topeka Tinman - 0:01:32 / 2nd in AG / 13th overall
6/29/13  Gull Lake Tri - 0:00:37 / 1st in AG / 1st overall
8/18/13  Manhattan Tri - 0:00:36 / 1st in AG / 11th overall
8/25/13  Salina Sprint - 0:00:30 / 1st in AG / 4th overall
9/07/13  Splash n Dash - 0:00:30est

This was by far the most improved part of my racing season, by far.  Which is a little sad I guess, but T1 is where you can pass folks and get some free time.  With most of the races, the T1 times start at the entrance to T1, but a few also tack the time of the run from water to T1 to the swim (giving you a "longer" swim time.  At Topeka, they stopped your swim time at the edge of the lake (which is a good thing), but your T1 time includes the long uphill run to the T1 (until you leave T1).  I actually like that better, giving me a better idea about my swim fitness vs. my efficiency/running speed to T1 in my timing.  So if I had my pick, I'd rather have a longer T1 time if it meant that I had a more accurate swim time, but that is just me.

As far as my layout for T1, it was K.I.S.S.  I had a small towel to wipe feet of loose rocks, no socks for the bike, sunglasses in helmet and helmet on the aerobars.  My actions in T1 were run to bike, wipe feet while putting on glasses, shoes on, helmet on and buckled, bike off the rack and beat feet to the exit.  Yes I run in my shoes, and it takes a little practice (and replacing my cleats yearly, but you should anyhow!), but I think it is a bit quicker from mounting the bike to getting up to speed and down the road faster.  The more distance you put on chasers out of T1, the better.  And of course, the flying mount!  Remember, run past the mount line and aim to land on your thigh, not your, ummm, junk.  Your junk will thank you later!

 

And just visualizing the T1 in your head helps get you out on the road much quicker.

 

T1 overall grade: 9 of 10 (Just need to sustain!)

 

 

BIKE:

 

5/04/13 Ft. Leavenworth DU - 8.25 miles - 0:24:26 (20.3mph) / 2nd in AG / 5th overall (draft legal)

6/15/13 Topeka Tinman - 13 miles - 0:36:35 (21.3mph) / 3rd in AG / 16th overall
6/29/13 Gull Lake Tri - 10 miles - 0:28:04 (21.4mph) / 2nd in AG / 7th overall
8/18/13 Manhattan Tri - 12.4 miles - 0:34:06 (21.8mph) 2nd in AG / 6th overall
8/25/13 Salina Sprint - 22.5 miles - 1:02:34 (21.6mph) 1st in AG / 7th overall
9/07/13 Splash n Dash - 14.6 miles - 0:41:11 (21.3mph) Unknown splits

This year's bike was not too bad at all, considering I only did mileage and not any kind of workouts (other than the few Strava segments!), but I see this as an area to improve both fitness wise and equipment wise.  If I can get an aero helmet and some aero wheels, I think I can boost my average mph to 23-ish mph, and with better fitness, I can compete up with the "big boys" for fastest overall bike split.  That and getting into some bike races early in the year to get my fitness and mental toughness up there can't hurt either.  But other than finding time to get out and bike, and since I'll be moving south soonish, this will help a ton with my overall speed.  Even with the long bike at Salina, that was my 2nd fastest average all season and it was a brutal, windy ride with some nice rolling hills, which tells me, my fitness got better as the year went along.

I guess just need to get out a lot more and get tons of mileage on the bike next time around as of now, my mileage for the year is only 1,616 miles, and could be north of 2,000 this time next year.  But as of now, still not too bad.

BIKE overall grade: 7 of 10 (More mileage, better equipment)


T2:

5/04/13 Ft. Leavenworth DU - 0:00:57 / 9th in AG / 35th overall
6/15/13 Topeka Tinman - 0:00:59 / 5th in AG / 75th overall
6/29/13 Gull Lake Tri - 0:01:13 / 9th in AG / 30th overall
8/18/13 Manhattan Tri - 0:00:45 / 4th in AG / 62nd overall
8/25/13 Salina Sprint - 0:01:00 / 3rd in AG / 28th overall
9/07/13 Splash n Dash - 0:01:00est

Well this is the tale of two transitions, or could be called "Lost in Transition", but for all the goodness that my T1 was, my T2 sucked!  I am not sure if it is my centering myself off the bike, being dizzy, or what, but only know that I had racking issues twice, but this one should be easy.  Rack bike, helmet off, shoes off, socks on, shoes on, grab belt and Garmin and run!  But I think I stop for tea a few times during those T2s!  I know that I need to learn to run without my socks, but haven't gotten to that point yet.  I think that it'll save me some time, but I think also the Garmin is a culprit too.  Might have to have the wife video tape my T2s to figure it out and shave some more "free time" off.  That an need to practice these a bit more too, considering that I don't practice them at all.  As I move up in distances, T1 and T2 become less important time-wise, but in sprints, every second counts!

T2 overall grade: 2 of 10 (Run sockless, practice these more than once)

RUN:

5/04/13 Ft. Leavenworth DU - 2.25 miles - 0:15:59 (7:06/mile) / 3rd in AG / 9th overall

6/15/13 Topeka Tinman - 3.25 miles - 0:22:09 (6:48/mile) / 2nd in AG / 13th overall
6/29/13 Gull Lake Tri - 3.1 miles - 0:20:03 (6:28/mile) / 1st in AG / 1st overall
8/18/13 Manhattan Tri - 3.1 miles - 0:20:09 (6:30/mile) / 1st in AG / 9th overall
8/25/13 Salina Sprint - 4.5 miles - 0:31:06 (6:54/mile) 1st in AG / 4th overall
9/07/13 Splash n Dash - 4.4 miles - 0:30:33 (6:56/mile) Unknown splits

I am still a good runner off the bike (could it be the big break I take in T2? Hmmmm) but overall, I still want to get those pace per mile into the 19's or dare I say, 18's?  But I need to work on my speed, as this entire year I just ran distances and ran them in a moderately fast pace.  But I didn't incorporate speed work, tempo runs, or any long slow runs into my training, and I think that held me back.  During this entire season, I was passed once, and that was the last race and after I think I might have over-cooked my legs riding, but I don't want to make any excuses.  I by far passed many more people during the run, and coming from a runner background helps this.  I just need to keep my mileage high, and get some speed sessions in there.  That, or get a coach and have a plan laid out for me instead of my just "winging it".

RUN overall grade: 7 of 10 (More speedwork, coaching?)

Here are a few miscellaneous things that I can't really categorize in the above categories:

Shaving your legs:  Before you go "ewww", I tried it, and I think that it works.  During the bike and the swim I "felt" faster.  I know the wife doesn't like it, hence keeping it for only the season.  Shaving three to four times a week sucks, but I think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages (lots of hair to cut, nicks, cost of razors, etc).  I endorse this.

Wetsuit:  This is the first year I did not use a wetsuit for any swims (all swims are short / pool swims) and I think in the shorter swims, the time gained from the use of a wetsuit / swimskin, you lose in taking it off.  For longer / colder races, I'll suit up, but for a sprint, no dice.  That leads me to the next item...

Trisuit:  I decided to try a trisuit this year, and in a word, love it.  I seem to glide thru the water, and doesn't bother me too much.  I had early year issues with a little saddle sore issues, but it seemed to work itself out.  I tried my old tri kit, and umm, it was too big for me (at least the top.  Anyone need to buy a medium DeSoto top? Call me!)  But I will look at getting a new trisuit for next year, but I love my $30 2XU trisuit (thanks ebay!).  I am thinking of looking at getting a nice Sugoi kit next year!

Garmin 305:  I love my Garmin, but it is getting old and doesn't sync with the computer the first time around, and usually requires about 10 minutes of attempting to get it to sync.  So I hope that I get a new one here soon.

USAT Nationals / Hyvee Championships:  I just looked up my ranking from USAT rankings for the year and I am 770th out of 2200 in my age group.  The next time I qualify for nationals, I am going to go.  Enough of the "I wonders" and would like to see how I stack up.  But I need to be ready for that too.

Goals for next year:  I am going to move up to doing Olympic distances next year and want to qualify for the Nationals, give an Xterra race or two a whirl, maybe get a coach (for cheap!), do at least a half ironman, and apply for both the All Army triathlon team and the US Military Elite Triathlon team.  And look to get some sponsorships / partnerships to help bring the cost of racing down a bit.  But those are my hopes and dreams for next year, so better get cracking now if I want to bring them to life!

Thanks for reading and hope this helps someone out with their training / racing!

 

Splash n Dash Race Report

 Well ,like all good things, they must come to an end.  And this was the end of the triathlon season for me, so where else to end it at but the "home" course.  Again, this was going to be my 3rd tri in about a month, and my 3rd "odd" distance race as well, but that is ok, since next year going to concentrate on the Olympic length races.  The Fort Riley Splash and Dash was a nice low cost, low frills race here on Fort Riley and I was hoping that none of the "studs" from Manhattan would show up, but I know that just won't come to be!

Since this was so close to my house, my wife and I rode our bikes over to the race site and luckily we did, as I went to pick up my packet, I overheard one of the volunteers ask if someone didn't have a helmet, if they could race, and since my wife wore her helmet, I let the nice lady borrow it so she could race.  So I hope I got good karma points for that.

I got my bike inspected, body marked and heading into transition to rack my bike and set up my area.  That being done, I headed out for my warm up ride and ended up giving directions for a few folks.

With the warmup complete, I headed to the pool and I was in luck, the pool was 10 lanes, which meant one way lanes.  I hate going down and back in the same lane, too much possibility for head on collisions! 

Me in my swimcap about to push off!

 



SWIM: 09:32 (estimated) (1:44/100m) 550 meters

We all got into numeric order based off of our estimated swim times and I guessed about right for me, but as I looked around me, there looked like a lot of fast swimmers, so I let them know just to tap my feet if they wanted by.  I hopped into the cool water, and after my 20 second countdown, I was off, and feeling fine!  I felt strong the entire swim and passed one person during the swim.  I know with more practice and pool time, I'll get faster, but I felt good the entire swim.

Gotta suck that gut in!  I think it was the light effect!

T1: 0:30 (estimated)

Again, this was estimated and this was a weird transition setup.  You exited the pool but had to run to the far end of transition and enter through the middle.  I understand why, to make it fair for folks who racked in the back, but still just odd.

Flying mount: NAILED IT!!!

 

BIKE: 41:11 (21.3 mph) 14.6 miles

 

I did have my Garmin for this, since the race did not have but one split, so at least I know my own data.  The bike felt great and since I have ridden the course more than once, I knew where to push and where to relax, but it seemed like I cooked myself a little bit too much on the bike, but I did pick off 7 riders ahead of me, mainly on the climbs.  I could tell many were not ready for the hills on the bike course as a few of them were "paperboying" (weaving side to side up the hill) as I maintained a nice steady uphill roll.  It was nice to go all out on the bike on this course, but again, I think I might have pushed it a little bit too much, but oh well, it was the last race of the year!

 



Heading in to T2 with a guy on my tail.

 

T2: 01:00 (estimated)

 

Again, with the fairness for the race, you had to hit the dismount line, run to the far end (for me, that is in shoes still) and back up the middle.  Ugggh, I think I might have underestimated my T1 and T2 times, but oh well.  It seemed like it took me forever to get out of T2, but I got my shoes and socks on, grabbed my Garmin and rocketed out of T2 like I was chasing someone down (which I was).

 

 





Heading out of T2 in chase mode.

 

RUN: 30:33 (6:59 ave) 4.3 miles

 

 

Another longer run, almost like Salina's run, but with WAY more hills.  Like a ton more.  But I chased down the guy who I beat into T2 only a few meters out of the chute and poured on the speed (6:28 first mile!! Yikes!!) maybe a bit much.  But I made sure I hit each water point to at least dump some water on my head, which helped.  The 2nd mile brought the hills and just prior to hitting the 3 mile mark, I was caught from behind.  This was the first race all year that someone passed me on the run that I hadn't passed.  Bummer, but come to find out, not only was he not in my AG, but was almost half as young as me!  But still, I had getting passed.  I maintained a visual on him until we hit the twisty 3rd mile area, and lost contact, but I knew with the TT swim start, I still might get him at the line, even though he was ahead of me.  So I maintained a hard pace and kept cruising and got my butt across the line as fast as I could and I was spent!

Uggh!  I feel exactly like I look!

 

 

OVERALL 1:22:37 (4th overall, 2nd in 30-40 age group[odd breakout for ages])

 

I ended up missing the guy who passed me by about 5 seconds for third, and both Ric Rosenthal and Marek Dvorak (the two aforementioned studs from Manhattan) took 1 and 2, just like at the Apple Tri.  Overall, I think I let up on my training towards the end of this month, but I gave it my all and after a short break, I am going to get back on it with more run focused training.  I enjoyed this season, had a few missed opportunities (Nationals, Kansas 70.3, Branson), but I am going to step up my game next year for the longer distances, get a bit better equipment, and keep working towards racing well.

 

In the next few days, I will post my post-season observations for all to read and hope that the reflections will help me and you readers with your next races!  See you soon and thanks for reading!

 

 

Andrew

 



Changing Gears

Well as the triathlon season winds down (just have the Fort Riley Splash 'n Dash left), thoughts are on to cooler weather (currently over 100 for the third day), football, and the fall running "season".

I started to ramp up my run-centric training and all I can say is, ow!  But as I keep it up, it'll come a bit easier.  Later this nice long weekend I'll post my monthly roll up and some tips that I learned the hard way (so you don't have to!), because it is always good to learn from others mistakes.

Everyone have a great Labor Day weekend, and check out my Salina Race Report, I found some more pictures!

Take care all and leave some feedback on what you'd like to see here!

Salina "Sprint" Triathlon Race Report

Sorry all, not going to have any pictures for this one, the wife slept in and I made the hour trip west to Salina for this one!  Folks always ask me why I do triathlons and I just enjoy competing I guess.

Well, the reason I decided to race Salina just a week after my Manhattan race, was that due to timing and moving issues coming up, I wouldn't be able to dedicate the time I'd wanted to race the REV3 Branson 70.3 race, so instead of shelling out $275 bucks, plus travel, and not really being satisfied with my results, I'd save the money, continue to train until next year and ramp up with some Olys to get ready for this task next year.  So I'd decided to race local and get some more fitness under my belt for next year.

Well anyway, I got up for the second straight Sunday at the butt-crack of dawn (well, it was still dark until after I got to the race site), loaded up and headed out, rocking out with the road clear and loud music.  I arrived about an hour later, picked up my packet, got all marked up, set up the transition (which has been a nice change this year, they have been fast), and headed out in search of the potty.  This is always the thing that happens when I get set up, part of my routine, so I do it!

As it turns out, this was going to be a small race, since school had started, so no kids in the race, as well as this was the first year in a new spot.  The fact that the distance was very odd (300 yard swim, 22.5 mile bike, 4.5 mile run) placed it in the pseudo-sprint / short Olympic race, but I didn't mind too much.  This distance played a bit towards my strengths.

Whaaaaat!? Andrew can swim?

 Guess they had some photos of me!  Me getting ready to get wet

SWIM: 5:12 (1st in AG, 8th overall)

We started in a self-seeding, time trial start, and I think I nailed my seeding as I was about 15 people back, never got close to the guy in front of me and not letting the lady behind me catch up to me (I got a little scared in the middle of the swim!), but I think that I was thinking I would be about 5:30-6:00 for the swim, but again, there was a nice 200 meter run to the T1, so for all I know, I could have been about in the high 4:00, but either way, with minimal swimming, I am respectable at least and only loss about a minute to the top swimmer, so not shabby.

T1:  0:30 (1st in AG, 4th OA)

I have been hitting my transitions very well this year, and I think it helps keep my momentum going for the race.  I have been keeping it simple this entire year, and I think I can cut my T2 times down, I can make a little more bank.  But right now, I am happy with the T1

BIKE: 1:20:34 (1st in AG, 7th OA)

This was a lot longer than my usual bikes, but I had a good plan going into it.  Hammer the upwind portion, take it easy in the side / headwind, and on the last stretch, keep going hard.  Well it took me a bit to get going on the bike and picked off a few riders, and once we hit the northbound leg, it was with the wind and slightly down hill.  But since this was a nice long block route, you get the wind from all angles, but in the group that was all close together, about 5 of us that were within eyesight of each other, we all were about the same speed.  I was much better than 3 of them on the climbs and made up ground, only to give it away on the flats.  But I caught and lead the group of 5 for about half the race and I didn't see anyone else in front of me for the longest time, and I started to think that I might be in the lead.  I pushed that from my mind as I started to eat a bit on the bike and the 4 others caught back up with me and passed me, I hit a little lull, then picked it back up to chase mode, to try to get back in striking distance to them.  As we got back into town, I passed one other guy and the other three were just ahead of me as we rolled into T2 very closely packed.  I was happy to see that despite how close we all were on the bike course, I didn't see any drafting when I was towards the back, it was nicely spaced out.  But my legs felt a little toasted in the middle of the ride, but I knew the first 100 yards out of T2 would tell me how my legs were.

T2: 1:00 (3rd in AG, 28th OA)

As usual, my T2 has been ugly and this time was no different.  I had a little issue with socks (note to self, get a pair of sockless shoes for next year), and I racked my bike backwards, so I had to rack it right because in a bigger race, I might get a penalty for that, so practice makes perfect.  But I got all my gear, and got out in 60 seconds, but it was still slow as three guys I was with on the bike, exited before me, so I went into chase mode right away.

Heading in to the finish line in my old kit

RUN: 31:06 (1st in AG, 4th OA)

I did chat with a guy as he passed me, stating that I couldn't wait for the run, and boy was I right.  The first few steps, my legs felt great and fresh and ready to race this different distance.  4.5 miles is border-line for me right now with my run fitness (endurance, not speed) and it would be redline the entire way!  It took me about 2/3 of a mile to catch the guy I thought was in first out of transition, and he jokingly asked if I wanted to run with him, but I wanted to get some distance in case I was in first and just go until I blow!  So I clocked my first mile in 6:22, so yeah I was feeling good.  We turned on to a nice long stretch down a levee, and it was hot.  I ended up skipping the first two (of three) waterpoints, which was a mistake as the temperature rose.  I continued to look ahead to see if anyone else was there, and there wasn't, so I began thinking I might actually win this thing, which was nice to keep my mind off of my legs and the heat.  But I maintained a nice pace the rest of the way, and caught a second wind and finished semi-hard, not close to puking.  I walked around and checked the results (Oz Endurance has an up-to-the-minute results tracker that scrolls, and is VERY cool) and that is when I noticed that I was third.  Those time trial starts always get me, but the winner beat me by almost 9 minutes and I missed 2nd by a minute, but overall, I was happy with my race, at an odd distance, but I think that it might be time to move up in distances.

Finishing it up at the line

OVERALL: 1:40:20 (1st in AG, 3rd OA)

I was happy for my results and my effort, but still in looking at the overall winner, I still have a bit of a ways to go.  But one more triathlon in this season for me, the Fort Riley Splash and Dash, where I hope that I'll have the home field advantage over the field.  But we will see I guess!  I guess I'd better get back to training then!

2013 Manhattan "Apple" Triathlon Race Report

It is NEVER a good sign when vultures are waiting in the trees before a race!  But that's what they were doing around the River Pond at Tuttle Creek State Park for Sunday's 2nd Annual Manhattan Apple Tri.

I was deployed last year so this will be my first time here, and since it was almost two months without a race, it felt like the start of the season all over again.  I was planning on using this for a "speed" day of training and not worry too much about the results, as long as I was Top-15 or so, which I think was doable.

Well I rolled out of bed at 0500 in the morning and let the dog out, ate a piece of cold pizza, banana and some water and gatorade and got on the road with my lovely wife, Jen, who hates early morning races (sorry, most all of them are!).  We got out the door at about 0545, and made the quick trip to Manhattan, the Little Apple, which is home of K-State (EMAW!) and lot's of good restaurants (why I haven't gained 20 pounds is beyond me!).  The course was at the Tuttle Creek State Park, just below the Tuttle Creek Reservoir at the campgrounds.  The park is below the dam, by about 200 feet or so, which means, you get to climb out of the park on the bike!  Nice.

I picked up my packet yesterday, so all I had to do is roll in and set up transition, which was getting packed more and more by the minute, so got my body marked, and headed on in.  Found a good rack on the main aisle headed towards the "bike out" (tip: I try to situate myself close to the bike out/bike in "gate" as it is easier to just run without the bike than with it).  It was nice in transition with about half or so of many first or second timers to tris.  They were asking questions and both myself and a nice guy I racked next to, Steve Klappa, were answering questions and chatting up with everyone, so all in all a good time.  I enjoy helping newer folks to tri with things, because I was once there and nice folks helped me out, so it's always great to return the favor.  The only thing I would say was this wasn't a good bike course for first timers (with a nice 3/4 mile hill right off the bat), but looks like many survived that.

Note the "barrier" in the water.  Had to negotiate that twice!

 

Just before the start of the swim, the race organizers change the start to a time trial start instead of a wave start (time trial went off every 3 seconds) because of the swim area barrier could not be removed, so you had to go over, under, or in some cases, through it.  Twice.  Luckily it was in shallow water for the first crossing, and a bit deeper for the 2nd.  While I swam, I almost slammed in to it, then went under it.  It was kind of fun watching the people go over or around it in different ways, one guy even went all "western roll" on it, high jumper style!  Lots of "oohs" and "ahhhs" from shore.

Me heading to the water

 

Swim: 9:39 (12th overall) 500 meters

 

Well I seeded myself poorly, it seemed as I passed three people in front of me in the first 25-50 yards of the swim.  The swim was a bit tough as I was good sighting the whole way, even after the first turn buoy, which then went right in to the sun, and I wore clear goggles, oops!  But I was nice and straight in my lines, but a few times I got swam over, at a 90 degree angle.  Not sure where they were going but it wasn't the way I was.  It really didn't bother me at all, but with the time trial start, I really didn't find any feet to draft off of, but despite not swimming for almost two months, didn't really affect me much.  I think my time would have been very good out of the water, but there was a long 200 meter run on hard sand and gravel to transition. Ouch!

Passed 2 guys at the mount line, the other guy was like "Wow, that was a cool mount!"

T1: 0:36 (11th overall)

T1 was nice and quick, could have been a bit better as I had to wipe the gravel off my feet from the long run in.  I did pass two guys who stopped at the mount line to get on the bike, but I did my "flying squirrel" mount and was off and rolling, picking up two spots with less work.

 

Passed 2 guys at the mount line, the other guy was like "Wow, that was a cool mount!"

 

Bike: 34:06 (21.8 mph / 6th overall) 12.4 miles

 

As I stated, the first 1.4 miles of the route was uphill to get out of the park proper, with a little 200 foot of climbing, right off the bat.  Luckily, I could climb and I ended up passing about 7 folks on that first climb, including my buddy, Trevor Woods, who I ride with on post a few times.  It was a long way to the top (if you want to rock n' roll!  Sorry had to slide in some AC/DC in there), but once you turned onto Hwy 13, it was on like donkey kong, jack!  Nice flat and semi smooth road with a slight uphill towards the turn around point.  About a mile and a half later after passing him, Trevor blows back by me (on his way to 3rd fastest bike split, he may not climb well, but on the flats, watch out!).  The top 6 splits were between 31:48 and my 34:06, then the times started to drop off quick, but I know if I want to contend better, need to put more speed on the bike.  Might mean upgrades like wheels and a helmet.  Will have to see. 

Coming in for my "landing".  "Call the ball, Mav!"

 

 

T2: 0:45 (62nd overall)

 

 

Well T2 bit me in the butt again, because I put on socks, then shoes and apparently take a coffee break, but overall, it isn't a bad time, but can be better.

 

Rolling out of T2, looking to track down a few folks.

 



Run: 20:09 (9th overall) 5 km

On to my bread and butter, the run.  Again, I have been so bike focused lately, my run I thought would be really bad, but coming out of T2, I felt good and fresh, ready to chase down a few folks.  My legs felt great and I really have been running good off the bike this year, and that is what it is all about.  I did have some technical difficulties with the Garmin, as you can see below:

"Come on you stupid thing, start already!"

 

Since the bike was drafting clean and I wasn't mad at anyone, I didn't "run angry" like at Gull Lake, but I still ran strong.  The course was a nice flat-ish "lollipop" out and back course, and you could see all the folks in front of you and chasing (once you turned around).  Didn't have too much problems on the run, didn't need any water as it was still nice and cool, felt like fall to me.  I did catch and pass about 5 guys or so, with no one passing me and really brought it on home to the finish.  No gasping for air, wanting to puke or anything, a nice metered effort.  I was just behind Trevor and he crossed before me and we got our medals and some gatorade and chatted for a bit.  Then, I was told results were already up, which was very fast, so I headed over to the trailer and sure enough, they had a print out with your swim split, and a monitor (flat screen TV) with a scrolling list of finishers, in real time!  That is so very cool!  I have never seen that in a race yet, but the guys at Oz Endurance Timing really have there stuff wired tight!  The only downside is then I started to monitor watch, since we started in a time trial, you really didn't know where you stood, because a really fast guy could have started towards the back, but my 4th place and 1st military placing held up.

Trucking towards the line, pirate style!

 

 

Overall: 1:05:14 (4th overall, 1st in AG)

 

I went and cleaned up a bit and cleaned up my transition area, and waited on the awards.  I just missed getting on the overall podium by about 50 seconds, but I left a bit of time out on the course, but I met my goal of making it a good training race, and got a top-5 finish to boot!  And I'm glad they pull the top 3 out, since the winner was the 2012 USAT Sprint National Championship runner-up for my age group.  Yikes!!!  I was about 7 minutes back, powered by his 17:12 run split, I really need to get some speed work in to compete with that!

Me and my 1st AG win! (I liked the finisher medal better!)

 

 

Well, I have more training the next few weeks, with another race coming up, the Fort Riley Splash 'n Dash, which I am hoping to have a good showing at as it is my "hometown" race and would LOVE to win it, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, as there are a lot of fast folks who could pop in.  But I can always dream!  And as far as doing this race again, I would do another Oz Endurance race again, with the timing being up so quick and the overall results posted the same day, doesn't get much better than that!

 

Thanks for reading!



Gull Lake Triathlon Race Report

Ah another trip down memory lane with this race.  if you remember from my 2011 RR on Gull Lake, this was my first ever triathlon, back in 1993!  Wow, that was some time ago, but since it is about as close to a "hometown" race as I can, so either way, it is always great to get back and race it.  Just too bad I wasn't in shape enough for the Olympic distance, but next year I will make sure I am rip roaring ready for it, since I have a wedding for my wife's twin sister to go to, just hope the dates are good!

Well won't have any race pictures since I can't figure out how to download the ones from the race photographer (and I AM too cheap to pay for them too!), so I'll have to use "other" photos.  But I promise, they'll be entertaining!

I got up at 0500 to head over from Paw Paw to Gull Lake, about a 30 minute drive or so in order to get their early and get my warmup and transition set up all nice (and get a choice spot too!), so I skipped the standard hot shower and got out the door at 0515, and headed out.  Nothing like no traffic that early in the morning.  I rolled in and found a nice parking spot, got my gear, and rode the 1/4 mile back to the race site.

Got into the transition area, and found that all the good spots were gone.  Bummer!  But I found a spot in the middle, on a post that would work, I set up my area in minimalist fashion (my T times are getting really good, so I'll keep the K.I.S.S. from now on), moved my bag out of the way next to the fence and headed over to pick up my chip and packet.  I ran into the race director (RD), Jim Mishler, who I have chatted with in emails and on the forums at Slowtwitch, so I stopped and chatted with him a little bit, but let him go, since I knew he was a busy guy.  But it was great to chat with him and meet him in person.

After I got my goodies, I headed back to transition, and headed out on my bike to warm up and get ready.  I have been finding that warming up is a key part to getting ready, so I will continue to do that as well.  Nice uneventful ride, and got back and got myself ready.  Headed to the lake to check the water, and it wasn't too bad, so decided to skip the wetsuit this race as well, since it takes me a while to get it off, so no worries.

Well time was about ready to get this thing going, so got my warm up swim in and felt pretty good, so felt like a top-10 kind of day, so figured I'll find out in a bit.

The swim was an in-water start and of course the buoys were past where I could stand up in so I was towards the middle left and we took the countdown and we were off.  I put myself in the 40 and over wave, even though my bib said 39 and under (more on this later), and I could see that I was hanging in there with these guys.  My sighting was pretty bad, but just like in the Topeka Tinman, I was actually passing people in the water.  This is a new thing for me, so I worked to keep on peoples toes until someone faster went by, then jump to them.  So this is how you are supposed to swim!  It felt good not to get blown out of the water.  I stayed in the pack and we actually caught the under 40 crowd a bit (they had a 3 minute headstart) and I poured it on after the final turn buoy and came out of the water with my "death-warmed over" look, and ran up the hill to transition.

Swim - 9:13 (including a long run up to T1), good for 21st overall

I shot thru transition and turned in a blazing :37 sec T1 time!  Again, I kept it nice and simple, shoes on, glasses on, helmet on and bike and gone!  That was good for fastest T1 all day!  Passed a bunch of folks working on their wetsuits there.

T1 - :37, 1st overall

Now on to the bike, one of my favorite events, which helps set the table for a good run most days.  Well I ran past the mount line and conducted the flying squirrel mount and stuck the landing again (one day, I'll miss, and that might not be a good day for me!), but I got going and up to speed and started to hunt down other swimmers ahead of me.  I picked off a few guys ahead of me in the first 2 miles, when I felt a disturbance in the force.  Some guy had pulled up to me and sat on my wheel.  As you know, drafting is a big time no-no and against most every rule book (except when it is an ITU or other race that let's you, written, in the rules).  Most drafters in triathlons are looked at in the same breath as dopers and course-cutters, I think they are the lowest form of pondscum.  Guys who let others do 100% of the work to save their energy for later.

Usually most folks I know will pee while riding, covering the drafter in, um, nasty stuff, but I couldn't (I couldn't pee and never tried it while riding), so I just put in a nice surge to try to shake him off my wheel, which was difficult to do, since he was a bit fresher than me, since he was riding my draft for a mile already or so.  Well that didn't happen, so I just kept up my pace and tried to leave him behind.  Well, guess he got the hint and passed me, so I dropped back the 21-ish feet and kept working hard, while his "surge" must had pooped him out since riding out front is hard work. 

Well I passed him back and bang, there he is again on my wheel!  I wasn't going to let him mess with my ride so I just kept cranking and praying for a pothole to take him out!  But he just hung with me until about a mile from the turn around, and I just let him go.  About that time, the lead sprint racers were passing me, and as I saw, not that many were ahead of me.  NICE!  I didn't really see who was who, since there were two waves of sprinters, so I knew I was top 15 or so, so I put in another push and caught up with, and passed the DB (not douchebag, but draftboy!  But either works for me!)  I outbraked and out turned him and put in one more good surge to try to open the gap up a bit and that worked, for about a mile.  After he passed me with about 2 miles to go, I asked him if he was going to sit on my wheel all day or actually do some work of his own!  I might have tossed in a "cheater" and "asshole" too, but I ended up passing him on the last hill and rode into T2 with 20 seconds on him.

Bike - 28:04 (21.4 mph), 7th overall

Well, I am not sure what happened in T2, since I really gave away a bunch of time there.  My socks took a while to get on (gotta learn to run sockless), my shoes took a while to get off (might try dismounting without being in shoes, ouch!), and getting my running shoes on was slow (I have to run in shoes at least!).  But my T2 was just ugly!

T2 - 1:12 (could have been dead last for all I know, leader went out in :25, uggh!)

Well, my little friend DB headed out of T2 ahead of me and for me, that was game on (cue the video of the kangaroo with the ball!)  So, despite taking my time in T2 (tea and crumpets take time, ok?), I was out of T2 and starting to chase down folks like they owed me money!

The 5K run was an out and back route, which was good since you can keep track of everyone out there.  I caught a few folks in the first half mile and was really feeling good today, so I was just rolling on the power and catching people.  I came up on my little buddy, DB, and was going to ask him if he wanted to draft me on the run as well, but decided against it and just blew his doors off passing him.  I wanted him to know it was me and I was not just "ambling" bye him.  And I carried that effort past the first water stop where I let the volunteers know I was good and thanked them.  Up ahead, I counted only a few more folks and was surprised to see I was in the top 7 overall, with both waves included.  Wow, and the race leader (and overall winner) shot me a thumbs up as he was headed back in and I tossed a shaka his, letting him know I was nice and strong.  After the turn around I just put my head down and kept the legs turning over, and got only one other person before the line, but had a bunch more just ahead of me.  I finished up strong, didn't hurl and got my chip off, and waited for DB.

Run - 20:03, 1st overall (NICE!)

After he came in, I asked him why the need to draft me almost the entire bike leg, and he told me that it was draft legal today.  I let him know to the contrary and that drafting is weak sauce, and unless the rules specifically state it is draft legal, it isn't.  I told him to do his own work on the bike next time and left it at that.  I headed back and chatted with 1st place guy for a bit (he was in town visiting his parents in the area) and headed down to the water to clean up, cool off and change.  Wow the water was a lot colder the second time around!

After changing and feeling a bit more refreashed I went over and looked at the preliminary results, and looked in the 40-44 and didn't see my name.  I thought that weird til I looked at the top and saw that I was the Master's Champion.  Holy cow!  Ended up 2nd overall, thanks to a good run off the bike.  On the downside, I still haven't won my AG, but I'll still take a trophy anyday!

Overall, I was going into the race with a "I can make Top-10" and came away with a 2nd overall.  In addition to that, I found out that I qualified for the AG Nationals this August in Milwaukee, but I won't be able to go (getting ready to move and overall REALLY busy), but again, I will be working next year towards qualifying for the Nationals in the Oly and doing it in an Olympic race.

I have a nice long layoff till my next race (middle of August), so I guess it is time to get back to training!  I'll try to find some photos if I can.

Topeka Tinman Short Course Triathlon Race Report

Well I ended up having a pretty good day at the races this last Saturday, despite my best attempts not too!  On Thursday before the race, I went and explored the area where I am coordinating a mountain bike trail on Fort Riley and came back with a tick or two!  Awesome!  Then on my training ride, I was descending a large twisty hill and had a rear wheel hop and went into a tree at about 20 mph, which hurt!  But after I got cleaned up, the crash wasn't too bad, some minor scrapes and bruising, nothing too bad.  Even the bike wasn't too bad, just a flat front tire.  But that was a heck of a way to "tune up" for my first tri of the season!

Ended up getting up at the butt crack of dawn for the race, which wasn't too bad, despite the wife was coming with me so she was a little sleepy to say the least.  Got the car loaded and we hit the road for the about 60 minute trip to Topeka and Lake Shawnee, the home for the last 33 years for the Tinman Triathlon.  We got there pretty well without getting lost much and got into the park nice and early.  Got my chip, packet, and shirt all without a wait (benefits of getting there early) headed to transition and got to my rack, and got the "pole position" on the aisle, which was a bonus.  After setting up transition, headed back to get Jen and drop off my extra stuff I didn't need, came back and went for a warmup ride to get to know a little of the course.

Well despite reports that the course was flat, the opening area in the park was a little hilly, nothing major, but enough to get the gears shifting a bit, so rode out 2 miles and came back, so at least I knew those miles for the ride.  After I got back, I racked the bike, and headed to the water to see how cold it was.  The lake wasn't bad at all, a nice 75 degrees, so I would get to go without the wetsuit, and race in my new 2XU Project X trisuit. Swam a little bit, and got out to get ready to roll.

This year, I aged up to the tough M40-44 AG, so wasn't sure how tough it would be, but was nice to have a slightly smaller wave to go off with, so that was good.  Turns out the race winner was a M40-44, as was 4th overall.  Yikes, got some fastys here!

I ran as far as I could in my "onesie"!

 

Waited for my wave, wave 5 and lined up towards the back right, as the course was a trapezoid shaped course with all left hand turns.  Too bad my goggles kept fogging up with the humid air, but oh well, I was going to find toes and draft, which I did and then something happened that doesn't happen all the time; I passed people.  Lots of people.  Not that I was that fast, just that I was less slow.  So instead of getting run into, I was running into people (thanks goggles), but nothing too bad, and no panic attacks in the water either.  Just a bit slow, but I moved my way thru the crowd pretty well, only had to "otter" over to catch my breath two or three times, which is a big improvement!

Wet and a little tired, but still moving fast!

 

But I came out of the water about 17th in my wave, and mixed with the other 4 waves, so I was tired, but not tired enough to walk the hill to transition like a few in my wave were.  Hey, T1 is free speed and time in my book. But hey, if they want to walk, no problem, I'll run it and pick up places!

 

Swim - 8:32 / 400meters (17th in wave / 90th overall)

T1 - 1:32 (13th fastest overall) - This was my Achilles heel before!

 

Now with the non-fun stuff out of the way, now I can get to one of my strengths, the bike!  I have been working harder on the bike this year, which has seemed to carryover to the run and a little bit to the swim, which is great.  As I ran from transition, I ended up passing 3 folks who stopped at the mount line and mounted their bikes.  I chose not to do that and did the flying squirrel mount and stuck the landing (nailed it!) and started to motor.  With 4 waves ahead of me, the traffic was mighty thick and I was saying "On your left" a whole lot, so that I didn't cross the centerline.  But I started to put the hammer down early in the park, knowing I would have to power through the wind on the outbound leg of the "lolly pop" shaped course, and could get the tailwind on the way back in.  I was making sure that I was putting in a good, metered effort and tried to look a little more fresh when I passed guys in my AG who were fast in the swim than me.  I ended up passing 4 from my wave in T1 and was hopping to make more ground up on the bike, which I only caught another 4 on the bike, the rest were from the other waves, since I passed a TON of people out there (hmmm, now if I can get some aero wheels and helmet that would mean more fast! LOL), but still was moving up until I got to one guy who was in the 45-49 AG and we passed and re-passed each other.  Got a little annoying as he got me on the hills, but the downhills and flats I outpowered him.  After a few of the "cat and mouse" games I decided to put up a big effort to get hime away from me (don't think he was drafting me, but again, I don't look behind me when I race).

Sorry for the language, but this is funny!

 

So after we made the turn back on to the "stick", I put in a nice hard effort (around 27-28mph) for about a mile or so.  That seemed to do the trick, but I really had to pay attention to the road because most other folks were slower and objects in your Oakley's are closer than they appear!  Yikes, it was like in those video games when you hit the "turbo" button, you catch up to things a lot quicker!

Nice and low, getting ready for the dismount

 

I figured I was done with the dude, but just towards the end , he caught me and passed me, but I was going into power-down mode to get the legs ready for the run, so I figured I'd see him soon in T2 or the run.  I don't completely stop riding hard for the last two miles, I just stop the low RPMs, and get a higher cadence to get the legs ready, which translates to a few MPH slower, but worth it to have "good" legs versus "dead" legs.

 

Bike - 36:35 (21.3 MPH) 16th fastest bike split - not bad, could be better

T2 - :59 (still scrolling, still scrolling, ah 75th overall, ugggh, still not too bad)

Heading back in from the run.

Ah, on to my meat and potatoes, the run.  I wasn't sure how I would do after running the 10 miler this week and with the heat, but I was going to give it my best effort for the first race of the year (at least for triathlons).  But after a semi-quick transition (need to go sockless for the run), I was out and running and started to pick off folks right out of the gate.  I even found Mr. Cat-and-Mouse and passed him and just kept the pace up and keep my splits in the low to mid 6:00s, but the heat was a factor in that.  At least it was an even player out there and factored in to everyone's runs as well.  Despite the black trisuit, I was still in good shape and managed the heat well enough not to die, so I kept going and passing folks.  I did get passed by the eventual female winner, she came out of no where and passed me, which woke me up and I pressed hard the last 1.25 miles (the run was about .15 long, but still had a good run), and overall had a good run.

Thinking about icecream, icebergs, Ice Cube, Ice T, anything cool at this point!

 

Run - 22:09 (13th overall) and not too bad for a little long and a lot hot!

Overall - 1:09:44 (2nd in AG, 16th Overall)

 

Overall, not a bad day, I did get to move up to 2nd in my AG, since the race winner was in the AG (and 7 minutes ahead of me!), but this is a good measuring stick for the rest of the season I hope.  Incidentally, if I was still in the M35-39, I would have won by over 4 minutes, so woulda, coulda, shoulda, but that is ok.  I know that I have to work on my swim, or switch to a duathlon, but right now I am good with my first of the season, but know I can improve on a few things.

 

Next race up is the Gull Lake Triathlon, and hopefully cooler weather up in Michigan.  I get to vacation up there for a few weeks and going to sneak in two races (GL and a 5 Miler on the 4th!), so I will have to keep the mileage up and lay off the cake and ice cream!  Thanks for reading!