Okay, so I've been told a few times (the latest one today) that I need to update my blog. That's true, I do. So, here's the update, short and sweet:
The Backstory
As most of you know, I crashed at the La Primavera II race two weeks ago. Although it didn't seem so bad at the time, the crash really ended up being pretty awful all the way around. I ended up in the ER, and eventually, was admitted to Brackenridge Hospital that evening with a bruised kidney. Apparently, the doctors said my kidney had a small laceration, probably caused by being bumped by a rib or a part of the bike when I fell hard on my left side. In any event, blood had pooled around the kidney and they wanted to observe me overnight. I was discharged the following morning (Monday, March 2), but told to take a couple of days off of work and forbidden from doing any swim/bike/run for a minimum of two weeks. Well, that two weeks is up today, but more about that later.
I say the crash was bad "all the way around" because not only did I have internal injuries that required me to cease my training for two weeks, but I also learned last weekend that the carbon fiber part of my Colnago was cracked as well. That's a $2000.00 bike frame . . . just the frame . . . that is now no longer rideable. I'm checking into seeing if getting it fixed is possible, but I'm not optimistic.
The Fallout
So, today, I got back on the bike for the first time in 2 weeks. Yes, I do have a second road bike . . . my aluminum-framed Motobecane Le Champion. Sounds nice, but it's really pretty basic compared to the Colnago. On the race bike front, I did manage to find a replacement frame . . . a Specialized Tarmac Pro. It's a 2007 model all carbon fiber frame, which I bought for less than half of what a brand new one would cost, so I got a good deal. However, it's a good chunk of change I didn't want to have to spend. Thank goodness we're getting a nice tax refund this year compliments of the exhorbitant amount of money we spent last year on unreimbursable medical expenses associated with our fertility treatment.
Anyhoo . . . the Tarmac should be here mid-week, and then I'll transfer everything from the Colnago to the Specialized and contact a guy about possibly repairing the Colnago. Even if it gets repaired, though, the Colnago's racing days are pretty much over. I'll ride it on nice easy rides, but I don't want to risk a catastrophic failure on a fast descent in a peloton. Plus, I'd have to start acquiring components for it since all the components I have will be transferred over to the new Tarmac.
As for my injuries, I think I'm pretty well healed. Kidney functions were normal when they discharged me and I'm gradually getting back to normal. My left side ribs are still pretty sore, but it feels more like a muscle strain than a bruise. Still, the doctors did say it was possible that I cracked a rib or two. Nothing showed up on the X-rays, but the doctors said that's not unusual.
Anyway, as of today, I can start back with easy workouts, so today I did 20 minutes on the my Motobecane on the rollers. It turned out to be a nice day, but not really until about 5:00 PM, so I just set up the rollers and did a brisk 20 minutes. MY GOODNESS!! I have lost a LOT of fitness in 2 weeks of inactivity! I was pretty winded after 20 minutes. Tomorrow, I plan to go out on the road in the late afternoon for about 45 minutes to 1 hour and see how I do. After the rollers today, I'm a little worried.
As for running, I will be restarting my run build program on Tuesday. The program calls for me to run six days a week, but I run for time, not for distance. Since I was off for 2 weeks, I'm starting over on the program. The plan calls for alternating days of short and medium runs with one day off followed by a long run. I start with short runs of 20 minutes, medium runs of 30 minutes, and a long run of 40 minutes. Each week, I add 5 minutes to each short and medium run and 5 or 10 minutes to each long run. Eventually, about a month before 5430, I'll be doing short runs of 60 minutes, medium runs of 90 minutes, and a long run of 120 minutes. I maintain that for two weeks and then begin the taper. It's an ambitious program, but I should peak at 480 minutes of running per week, which at my run pace, generally equates to about 50 miles per week. If I can do that and get three solid rides and one or two solid swim workouts a week, I'll be more than ready for the 5430. I'm wondering how I'm going to have the time to do it all, but I think with morning runs and lunch time bike rides (and the ATC Taco Ride on Saturdays), I should be able to get most of it in.
So . . . there we go. All caught up on the training scoop! More to come later!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Monday, June 23, 2008
2nd Annual Lake Pflugerville Sprint Triathlon.
Yesterday, I did the 2nd Annual Lake Pflugerville Sprint Triathlon, a short, but "lots o' fun" race that got started last year. I had wanted to do the race last year, too, but it's scheduled on the same day as the Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3, which Steve and I did last June, so I had to opt out of Pflugerville then.
I really wasn't expecting too much out of myself in this race. I have done no run training at all since the middle of March and my bike training has been non-existent since about a week before I had that surgical procedure in Houston almost 3 weeks ago. The last time I swam or ran was the CapTex oly triathlon the day before Memorial Day, and I had only gotten a chance to hop on the bike twice since the surgery. So . . . I was severely undertrained even for this short distance tri.
Given these factors, I was mildly pleased with my results. I say "mildly" because, as you all know, I'm a competitor and I always think I should have done better. So, without further ado, here's the race report:
The Short Scoop:
500 m Swim: 10 min. 6 sec. (2:01 min per 100 meters)
T-1: 52 seconds
14 mile Bike: 37 min. 15 sec. (22.6 mph)
T-2: 44 seconds
3 mile Run: 23 min. 35 sec. (7:52 min. per mile)
Overall: 1 hour 12 min. 35 sec. (25th/366 overall, 6th/52 in M35-39)
The Long Story:
I won't bore you with pre-race details. They virtually never change, regardless of the race I do. Suffice it to say that I got to the race site in plenty of time to get all set up in transition and ready to go.
The Swim:
The swim was a 500 meter point-to-point swim like a big angle. We started a good ways from the transition area and finished up at a dock near the "swim in" run from the water into transition. My swim went okay. Regardless of how far I swim or whether I wear a wetsuit or not, I never seem to do better than 2:00 minutes per 100 meters. This swim was no exception. I didn't go out hard and I tried to stay even in my tempo. All in all, I think I did a pretty good job. I never had to worry about getting too tired and my stroke was even. The only trouble I had was running into the 40-44 women who started ahead of us. I had my stroke broken up a few times by almost running into some of the stragglers from that group. Still, I had a decent swim for me, and was in the top 10 in my age group coming out of the water.
Swim Time: 10 minutes, 6 seconds (2:01 min. per 100 meters)
Overall Place: 50th/366
Age Group Place: 8th/52
Transition 1:
This was a good T-1 for me. I had the fastest time in the age group by a good 12 seconds. I passed at least 3 guys in transition, so when I hit the bike, I was in 5th place in the age group.
T-1 Time: 52 seconds
The Bike:
Overall, not a bad bike segment for me, considering my complete and utter lack of any training since CapTex. I "tied" the second place finisher for fastest split in our age group. Actually, he beat me by 6 seconds, but our per mile averages were both 22.6 mph.
The course was mostly rolling hills. It started great, though, with a nice quarter mile downhill. It was VERY conducive to starting with the shoes on the bike because you didn't have to pedal much with feet on top of shoes in order to get some speed up. I got up to 25 mph on the initial downhill and then quickly slipped my feet in the shoes . . . no problems.
For most of the bike leg, I just tried to make sure I wasn't blowing myself up. I didn't bring any nutrition (gels or food) and only about 10 oz. of Gatorade X-Factor. On these short sprints, there just doesn't seem to be a need to hydrate so much. Unfortunately, the day heated up quickly, and I found myself thirsty before I had expected to be. In retrospect, I should have brought a full bottle, but such is life.
I knew I'd started the bike in the top 10 in my AG, but I didn't know how high, so my strategy for the bike was to stay aero, keep a high cadence, and just try to pick off as many guys as I could without blowing up. I know I passed at least 3 guys in my AG early on the bike. Considering how little training I'd done, I was pleased when about a third of the way through, I caught site of the guy I was looking for . . . an acquaintance who trains regularly with a guy I have trained with on occasion. I made him my rabbit and started trying to reel him in. It was a seesaw game for a while, but by about the 8-mile mark, I passed him. Little did I know that at that point, I was in first place in the AG.
There is a section on the bike course that put us on the access road to one of those new toll roads in Austin. I think it was SH-130. That was the hardest part of the course because it was a very slight false flat with a bit of a headwind. I had to struggle to maintain 20 mph, and it was a good long stretch of road. By the time I turned off onto Pfluger Lane for the home stretch, I knew I'd blown myself up a bit more than I'd intended. My lack of training was probably going to hurt me on the run.
I cruised into T-2 in first place and had a great rolling dismount.
Bike Time: 37 minutes 15 seconds (22.6 mph)
Overall Place: 15th/366
AG Place: 2nd/52
Transition 2:
I had a pretty good T-2 as well. I didn't know I was in first place, but I still moved pretty fast. After dismount, I ran the bike in, racked it, and was into my shoes and gone in 44 seconds, good for 2nd in the AG.
T-2 Time: 44 seconds
The Run:
This is the tired old refrain . . . "it all comes down to my poor run training." In fairness, this was not a "poor" run, really, especially given my lack of run training over the last few months, and especially since I was pretty much unable to train at all in the 3 weeks leading up to the race.
Just before Mile 1, the guy who I passed to move into 1st place passed me back. About 40 seconds later, another guy from the AG passed me. Over the course of the next 1 1/2 miles, I got passed by 3 more guys from my AG. It was frustrating because I didn't feel THAT bad, I just couldn't get my legs to move faster. I definitely pushed too hard on the bike . . . my sense of pacing was certainly off due to the training hiatus. Additionally, the heat was a factor. It was barely 9:30 AM when I started the run, but the humidity was up and it was already in the 90's. I was very glad to finally hit the finish line.
Run Time: 23 minutes, 35 seconds (7:52 per mile)
Overall Run Place: 115th/366
AG Run Place: 19th/52
Postlude:
So, I really enjoyed this triathlon. Although these sprint tris really hurt because you're pushing yourself so hard all the time, I love the fact that they are smaller and less crowded than the big venue long distance races. Plus, most of the big time racers stay away from them so us wannabes get to feel like we're really good! :) Overally, I was pleasantly surprised with my 25th place overall finish and my 6th place AG finish. I would have liked to have had a better run, especially since I know I'm capable of going up to a minute and a half per mile faster than I did. But, now that the surgical stuff is behind me, perhaps I can find a way to get back into a regular run and bike schedule that Lisa and I can both live with! :)
BTW, I highly recommend the Lake Pflugerville Triathlon. It was very well-run and well-organized. It also had a surprisingly high number of big-time sponsors, so everything was first class all the way. The only improvement they could make is to the post-race food. It was pretty limited. Overall, though, it was a terrific venue.
I really wasn't expecting too much out of myself in this race. I have done no run training at all since the middle of March and my bike training has been non-existent since about a week before I had that surgical procedure in Houston almost 3 weeks ago. The last time I swam or ran was the CapTex oly triathlon the day before Memorial Day, and I had only gotten a chance to hop on the bike twice since the surgery. So . . . I was severely undertrained even for this short distance tri.
Given these factors, I was mildly pleased with my results. I say "mildly" because, as you all know, I'm a competitor and I always think I should have done better. So, without further ado, here's the race report:
The Short Scoop:
500 m Swim: 10 min. 6 sec. (2:01 min per 100 meters)
T-1: 52 seconds
14 mile Bike: 37 min. 15 sec. (22.6 mph)
T-2: 44 seconds
3 mile Run: 23 min. 35 sec. (7:52 min. per mile)
Overall: 1 hour 12 min. 35 sec. (25th/366 overall, 6th/52 in M35-39)
The Long Story:
I won't bore you with pre-race details. They virtually never change, regardless of the race I do. Suffice it to say that I got to the race site in plenty of time to get all set up in transition and ready to go.
The Swim:
The swim was a 500 meter point-to-point swim like a big angle. We started a good ways from the transition area and finished up at a dock near the "swim in" run from the water into transition. My swim went okay. Regardless of how far I swim or whether I wear a wetsuit or not, I never seem to do better than 2:00 minutes per 100 meters. This swim was no exception. I didn't go out hard and I tried to stay even in my tempo. All in all, I think I did a pretty good job. I never had to worry about getting too tired and my stroke was even. The only trouble I had was running into the 40-44 women who started ahead of us. I had my stroke broken up a few times by almost running into some of the stragglers from that group. Still, I had a decent swim for me, and was in the top 10 in my age group coming out of the water.
Swim Time: 10 minutes, 6 seconds (2:01 min. per 100 meters)
Overall Place: 50th/366
Age Group Place: 8th/52
Transition 1:
This was a good T-1 for me. I had the fastest time in the age group by a good 12 seconds. I passed at least 3 guys in transition, so when I hit the bike, I was in 5th place in the age group.
T-1 Time: 52 seconds
The Bike:
Overall, not a bad bike segment for me, considering my complete and utter lack of any training since CapTex. I "tied" the second place finisher for fastest split in our age group. Actually, he beat me by 6 seconds, but our per mile averages were both 22.6 mph.
The course was mostly rolling hills. It started great, though, with a nice quarter mile downhill. It was VERY conducive to starting with the shoes on the bike because you didn't have to pedal much with feet on top of shoes in order to get some speed up. I got up to 25 mph on the initial downhill and then quickly slipped my feet in the shoes . . . no problems.
For most of the bike leg, I just tried to make sure I wasn't blowing myself up. I didn't bring any nutrition (gels or food) and only about 10 oz. of Gatorade X-Factor. On these short sprints, there just doesn't seem to be a need to hydrate so much. Unfortunately, the day heated up quickly, and I found myself thirsty before I had expected to be. In retrospect, I should have brought a full bottle, but such is life.
I knew I'd started the bike in the top 10 in my AG, but I didn't know how high, so my strategy for the bike was to stay aero, keep a high cadence, and just try to pick off as many guys as I could without blowing up. I know I passed at least 3 guys in my AG early on the bike. Considering how little training I'd done, I was pleased when about a third of the way through, I caught site of the guy I was looking for . . . an acquaintance who trains regularly with a guy I have trained with on occasion. I made him my rabbit and started trying to reel him in. It was a seesaw game for a while, but by about the 8-mile mark, I passed him. Little did I know that at that point, I was in first place in the AG.
There is a section on the bike course that put us on the access road to one of those new toll roads in Austin. I think it was SH-130. That was the hardest part of the course because it was a very slight false flat with a bit of a headwind. I had to struggle to maintain 20 mph, and it was a good long stretch of road. By the time I turned off onto Pfluger Lane for the home stretch, I knew I'd blown myself up a bit more than I'd intended. My lack of training was probably going to hurt me on the run.
I cruised into T-2 in first place and had a great rolling dismount.
Bike Time: 37 minutes 15 seconds (22.6 mph)
Overall Place: 15th/366
AG Place: 2nd/52
Transition 2:
I had a pretty good T-2 as well. I didn't know I was in first place, but I still moved pretty fast. After dismount, I ran the bike in, racked it, and was into my shoes and gone in 44 seconds, good for 2nd in the AG.
T-2 Time: 44 seconds
The Run:
This is the tired old refrain . . . "it all comes down to my poor run training." In fairness, this was not a "poor" run, really, especially given my lack of run training over the last few months, and especially since I was pretty much unable to train at all in the 3 weeks leading up to the race.
Just before Mile 1, the guy who I passed to move into 1st place passed me back. About 40 seconds later, another guy from the AG passed me. Over the course of the next 1 1/2 miles, I got passed by 3 more guys from my AG. It was frustrating because I didn't feel THAT bad, I just couldn't get my legs to move faster. I definitely pushed too hard on the bike . . . my sense of pacing was certainly off due to the training hiatus. Additionally, the heat was a factor. It was barely 9:30 AM when I started the run, but the humidity was up and it was already in the 90's. I was very glad to finally hit the finish line.
Run Time: 23 minutes, 35 seconds (7:52 per mile)
Overall Run Place: 115th/366
AG Run Place: 19th/52
Postlude:
So, I really enjoyed this triathlon. Although these sprint tris really hurt because you're pushing yourself so hard all the time, I love the fact that they are smaller and less crowded than the big venue long distance races. Plus, most of the big time racers stay away from them so us wannabes get to feel like we're really good! :) Overally, I was pleasantly surprised with my 25th place overall finish and my 6th place AG finish. I would have liked to have had a better run, especially since I know I'm capable of going up to a minute and a half per mile faster than I did. But, now that the surgical stuff is behind me, perhaps I can find a way to get back into a regular run and bike schedule that Lisa and I can both live with! :)
BTW, I highly recommend the Lake Pflugerville Triathlon. It was very well-run and well-organized. It also had a surprisingly high number of big-time sponsors, so everything was first class all the way. The only improvement they could make is to the post-race food. It was pretty limited. Overall, though, it was a terrific venue.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Capital of Texas Triathlon 2008
Yesterday, I competed in the Capital of Texas Triathlon in the olympic distance race. This is a race Steve did with Team in Training back in 2003 or 2004, I believe. In 2006, I did the sprint distance race at CapTex and was going to do it again last year, but the race was canceled because of torrential rainstorms. This year, the race went off without a hitch. The only problems were the horrendous heat and humidity.
It's been like August here this week. Ever since Monday, the temps have been running in the mid to upper 90's and the humidity has been like Houston. Still, unless there's a downpour like last year, the event organizers are going to have the race. So . . . we raced! Unfortunately, it was a very disappointing race for me. Unlike the Silverlake last weekend, this one really WAS a disappointment. Here's the skinny:
The Short Story:
1500 meter swim, 40 kilometer bike, 10 kilometer run
Swim: 30 min. 33 sec. (2:02 per 100 meter)
T-1: 2 min. 55 sec.
Bike: 1 hour 4 min, 53 sec. (22.9 mph)
T-2: 1 min. 55 sec.
Run: 1 hour 6 sec.
Total: 2 hours 40 min. 25 sec.
This was my worst Olympic Distance time ever. I knew it wouldn't be good, but I thought I'd be closer to 2:30 than over 2:40. The run was pretty brutal. Aside from the oppressive heat and humidity, I had to contend with a sore back and the fact that my legs just felt heavy all day. As I keep noting, I haven't swum or run much. The swim wasn't too bad, though. It was long, but not unexpectedly so. The run, however, should have been much better. By contrast, at the Toyota U.S. Open last October, I ran the same distance about 12 minutes faster. I was really expecting to run close to 8:30 per mile rather than 9:40. I just didn't have it. Maybe it would have been better if I just would put in the run training. I plan to do that, but I just haven't been consistent, and with the recent bike racing, I've been neglecting it too much.
The Specifics:
I got up at 4:30 AM to get ready. Lisa and I had decided that she would come with me early so that we wouldn't have to have 2 cars stuck down there. Plus, I wasn't sure she'd be able to get parking if she came later. So, I let her sleep until about 5:15 before I woke her. During that time, I got dressed for the race, made sure I had all my stuff, and made breakfast. I had two cups of coffee, a bowl of oatmeal, and a banana.
Lisa and I left the house at about 5:30 AM. Unfortunately, I forgot that the transition area was going to close at 6:30 AM, so that meant we only had one hour to get downtown from Leander, park, walk over to the transition area, and have me get all my stuff set up. Lisa was a real trooper. She was sleepy, but bounced up quickly and got the camera ready right from the beginning. She got lots of great shots of the race.
Here's one she snapped of me as we were walking over to the transition area. Sorry it's a little blurry.
We parked in a parking garage next to Threadgills and walked on over to Transition, which was, as always, set up in the Auditorium Shores area next to to the First Street Bridge. Lisa got a great shot of the bike racks in Transition:
It always amazes me how many bikes they pack into that area. The cluster on the right side is mostly the pros', elites', and other "invitational" competitors' bikes. They do have a few of the first few age group waves' bikes in there, too, though. On the left is where most of the bikes are for the Olympic distance race.
It turns out that the race was running a bit behind schedule, although we didn't know that when we got there, and they didn't act like it with how quickly they were pushing us to get out of the Transition zone. Once I actually got to my bike, it was 6:15 and I only had 15 minutes to get all my stuff together. I wasn't sure I was going to wear my wetsuit because the water temp was 75 degrees. I kept it with me and was going to leave it with Lisa if I decided not to wear it. My wave wasn't set to go until approximately 7:48 AM, so I had some time to kill with Lisa at the swim start. So, we sat by the water and waited.
Here's a shot of the swim course that Lisa got from the First Street Bridge.
As the time wound on, it became clear that the race was running way behind schedule. The pros went off at 7:20, about 20 minutes late. As it turned out, my wave went off almost an hour late, at 8:30 AM.
While we waited, I ran into several Texas Iron folks and we chatted. Everyone seemed to be really concerned about the heat.
I also found my friend, Shelley from work, who was in the Womens' 35-39 age group. Shelley got a complimentary entry into the triathlon because she represented the Governor's protective detail (a branch of the DPS) in a lawsuit recently. Since the Gov was doing the race, he and his protective detail guys got comp'ed entries and had some pull with the organizers. Shelley is so lucky sometimes! Anyhoo, Lisa got a few shots of Shelley as she was lined up waiting for the swim start.
Here's Shelley about 10 minutes before her wave went off. I didn't see her again for the rest of the day. I know that Lisa got a couple of shots of her on the bike at the bike start, but that's it.
So, at about 8:30 AM, it was finally our time to go. Here are a few shots that Lisa got of me waiting for the start:
Here's me, on the way down to the dock to jump in the water. I'm the one in the wetsuit with the green on the shoulders.
Here's me bobbing in the water just before the gun goes off. I'm the top guy on the left.
The Swim:
So, the swim was pretty uneventful. Unlike the Silverlake the week before, I decided to go easy instead of pushing hard at the beginning. This worked out great. I never felt tired or spent, and although that meant a lot of guys got finished well ahead of me, I was determined to race my race. The course took us west in Town Lake (now known as "Lady Bird Lake") under the railroad bridge and half-way between the pedestrian bridge and the Lamar Street Bridge. Then, we turned right, swam about 50-100 meters, and turned again back east toward the First Street Bridge again. The swim exit was at Auditorium Shores, just before the First Street Bridge. After hitting the last turn buoy, it was smoothe sailing until the exit.
Total swim time: 30 minutes, 33 seconds.
T-1:
The CapTex Triathlon has some of the longest transition runs I've ever seen (except for maybe that T-1 at Ironman Wisconsin). After getting out of the water, we had to run up a few steps and then run west along the lake front about 50-75 yards. Well . . . I stumbled going up the stairs and fell. I gashed my foot a little, but it wasn't bad. Just embarassing more than anything. I managed to get my wetsuit off pretty well and got to my bike pretty quickly. Unfortunately, my bike was very close to the swim exit and very FAR from the bike out. I got out of the wetsuit quickly and got my helmet and sunglasses on quickly. I got the bike off the rack and headed out for the bike exit. There's not much I could do to make it faster.
Total T-1 time: 2 minutes, 55 seconds.
The Bike:
The bike course was fairly flat and could have been really fast. The biggest problem was that by the time I got to it, it was VERY crowded. Additionally, there are lots of turns that make it necessary to slow down. There's not much to say about it other than that I was disappointed with my time. I never felt great on the bike, but I didn't feel bad on it, either. I just never felt I got into a real rhythm.
The really good thing about the bike is that in the Olympic distance race, we do four laps, so it's very spectator-friendly. Lisa was able to get lots of good pictures. Here are a few of those shots.
Here's me getting on the bike. The guy who had been in front of me stopped to get on, so I had to stop. Usually, I get on while moving . . . a flying mount. No such dice here.
Here, I'm just going out on my first loop. You can see that my feet aren't in the shoes yet, but I got them in pretty quickly out on the course.
Here's me on my way out on my second loop of the bike. This part is slightly uphill and I'm working on getting up some speed as I've only recently passed the turnaround and had to slow down for it.
This is me coming in on the second loop. Check out the new skyscraper that's gone up in Austin behind me. There's also another going up in the left part of the picture. We're supposed to have 9 new skyscrapers by 2012.
Here I am coming in to the final turn on my last loop. I love this picture because Lisa managed to capture my shark wheel in a really cool position.
Finally, here's the last bike shot Lisa got of me. This is me coming into Transition after the fourth bike loop. I'm reaching down to pull my feet out from the shoes so I can do a flying dismount.
I was a little disappointed with the whole bike leg. Because of the congestion, I found it difficult to maintain a decent speed. Also, since I'd been having back trouble all week, my back started revolting at being in the aero position after about the middle of the third loop. It was hard to keep myself in the aerobars, and I started worrying about how painful the run would be with a bad back. I just never felt comfortable again after that.
My total bike time was 1 hour 4 minutes, 53 seconds for an average speed of 22.9 mph. I expected to be much faster than that.
T-2:
Again, T-2 wasn't too bad, but was just long. I had a long run from the "Bike In" area to my bike rack. Once I got there, I was fast. I was already out of my shoes, so all I had to do was jump in my running shoes, remove my helmet, and grab my cap. Didn't take long, and I was on the road quickly.
Total T-2 time was 1 minute 55 seconds.
The Run:
Well, it always comes down to the run, and I still always melt down there. Most folks would say I go too hard on the bike, but I've played with this a little bit and have found that I often have bad runs regardless of how hard I bike. One thing I could have done better was to be careful on those few "hills" we had on the bike. I think I let them take too much out of me. Still, I don't think that would have changed the run much.
It was just too darn hot and humid. I had to take in a lot of water and for that, I had to slow down at the aid stations. Also, my back was hurting a bit and my quads were spent, so I even walked a bit between aid stations. I hated to do that on just a 10k, but I didn't have much choice.
Lisa did get a few good pics of me on the run. Here are two of them:
Here I am coming by the finish line (it's on the left side by the guy in yellow) after finishing my first lap of the run. I don't look to bad, but I was hurting here a lot.
And, finally, here I am about a mile into my last lap going back by the finish line heading east. The worst part of the run came a few minutes later when I just had to walk.
The long and short of it is that I just have to run more. I was good about that in January and February, but I've fallen off way too much since starting up the bike racing.
Final run time was a dismal 1 hour 6 seconds, which was over 9 minutes 30 seconds per mile.
Total race time: 2 hours, 40 minutes, 25 seconds.
It's been like August here this week. Ever since Monday, the temps have been running in the mid to upper 90's and the humidity has been like Houston. Still, unless there's a downpour like last year, the event organizers are going to have the race. So . . . we raced! Unfortunately, it was a very disappointing race for me. Unlike the Silverlake last weekend, this one really WAS a disappointment. Here's the skinny:
The Short Story:
1500 meter swim, 40 kilometer bike, 10 kilometer run
Swim: 30 min. 33 sec. (2:02 per 100 meter)
T-1: 2 min. 55 sec.
Bike: 1 hour 4 min, 53 sec. (22.9 mph)
T-2: 1 min. 55 sec.
Run: 1 hour 6 sec.
Total: 2 hours 40 min. 25 sec.
This was my worst Olympic Distance time ever. I knew it wouldn't be good, but I thought I'd be closer to 2:30 than over 2:40. The run was pretty brutal. Aside from the oppressive heat and humidity, I had to contend with a sore back and the fact that my legs just felt heavy all day. As I keep noting, I haven't swum or run much. The swim wasn't too bad, though. It was long, but not unexpectedly so. The run, however, should have been much better. By contrast, at the Toyota U.S. Open last October, I ran the same distance about 12 minutes faster. I was really expecting to run close to 8:30 per mile rather than 9:40. I just didn't have it. Maybe it would have been better if I just would put in the run training. I plan to do that, but I just haven't been consistent, and with the recent bike racing, I've been neglecting it too much.
The Specifics:
I got up at 4:30 AM to get ready. Lisa and I had decided that she would come with me early so that we wouldn't have to have 2 cars stuck down there. Plus, I wasn't sure she'd be able to get parking if she came later. So, I let her sleep until about 5:15 before I woke her. During that time, I got dressed for the race, made sure I had all my stuff, and made breakfast. I had two cups of coffee, a bowl of oatmeal, and a banana.
Lisa and I left the house at about 5:30 AM. Unfortunately, I forgot that the transition area was going to close at 6:30 AM, so that meant we only had one hour to get downtown from Leander, park, walk over to the transition area, and have me get all my stuff set up. Lisa was a real trooper. She was sleepy, but bounced up quickly and got the camera ready right from the beginning. She got lots of great shots of the race.
Here's one she snapped of me as we were walking over to the transition area. Sorry it's a little blurry.We parked in a parking garage next to Threadgills and walked on over to Transition, which was, as always, set up in the Auditorium Shores area next to to the First Street Bridge. Lisa got a great shot of the bike racks in Transition:
It always amazes me how many bikes they pack into that area. The cluster on the right side is mostly the pros', elites', and other "invitational" competitors' bikes. They do have a few of the first few age group waves' bikes in there, too, though. On the left is where most of the bikes are for the Olympic distance race.
It turns out that the race was running a bit behind schedule, although we didn't know that when we got there, and they didn't act like it with how quickly they were pushing us to get out of the Transition zone. Once I actually got to my bike, it was 6:15 and I only had 15 minutes to get all my stuff together. I wasn't sure I was going to wear my wetsuit because the water temp was 75 degrees. I kept it with me and was going to leave it with Lisa if I decided not to wear it. My wave wasn't set to go until approximately 7:48 AM, so I had some time to kill with Lisa at the swim start. So, we sat by the water and waited.
Here's a shot of the swim course that Lisa got from the First Street Bridge.As the time wound on, it became clear that the race was running way behind schedule. The pros went off at 7:20, about 20 minutes late. As it turned out, my wave went off almost an hour late, at 8:30 AM.
While we waited, I ran into several Texas Iron folks and we chatted. Everyone seemed to be really concerned about the heat.
I also found my friend, Shelley from work, who was in the Womens' 35-39 age group. Shelley got a complimentary entry into the triathlon because she represented the Governor's protective detail (a branch of the DPS) in a lawsuit recently. Since the Gov was doing the race, he and his protective detail guys got comp'ed entries and had some pull with the organizers. Shelley is so lucky sometimes! Anyhoo, Lisa got a few shots of Shelley as she was lined up waiting for the swim start.
Here's Shelley about 10 minutes before her wave went off. I didn't see her again for the rest of the day. I know that Lisa got a couple of shots of her on the bike at the bike start, but that's it.
So, at about 8:30 AM, it was finally our time to go. Here are a few shots that Lisa got of me waiting for the start:
Here's me, on the way down to the dock to jump in the water. I'm the one in the wetsuit with the green on the shoulders.
Here's me bobbing in the water just before the gun goes off. I'm the top guy on the left.
The Swim:
So, the swim was pretty uneventful. Unlike the Silverlake the week before, I decided to go easy instead of pushing hard at the beginning. This worked out great. I never felt tired or spent, and although that meant a lot of guys got finished well ahead of me, I was determined to race my race. The course took us west in Town Lake (now known as "Lady Bird Lake") under the railroad bridge and half-way between the pedestrian bridge and the Lamar Street Bridge. Then, we turned right, swam about 50-100 meters, and turned again back east toward the First Street Bridge again. The swim exit was at Auditorium Shores, just before the First Street Bridge. After hitting the last turn buoy, it was smoothe sailing until the exit.
Total swim time: 30 minutes, 33 seconds.
T-1:
The CapTex Triathlon has some of the longest transition runs I've ever seen (except for maybe that T-1 at Ironman Wisconsin). After getting out of the water, we had to run up a few steps and then run west along the lake front about 50-75 yards. Well . . . I stumbled going up the stairs and fell. I gashed my foot a little, but it wasn't bad. Just embarassing more than anything. I managed to get my wetsuit off pretty well and got to my bike pretty quickly. Unfortunately, my bike was very close to the swim exit and very FAR from the bike out. I got out of the wetsuit quickly and got my helmet and sunglasses on quickly. I got the bike off the rack and headed out for the bike exit. There's not much I could do to make it faster.
Total T-1 time: 2 minutes, 55 seconds.
The Bike:
The bike course was fairly flat and could have been really fast. The biggest problem was that by the time I got to it, it was VERY crowded. Additionally, there are lots of turns that make it necessary to slow down. There's not much to say about it other than that I was disappointed with my time. I never felt great on the bike, but I didn't feel bad on it, either. I just never felt I got into a real rhythm.
The really good thing about the bike is that in the Olympic distance race, we do four laps, so it's very spectator-friendly. Lisa was able to get lots of good pictures. Here are a few of those shots.
Here's me getting on the bike. The guy who had been in front of me stopped to get on, so I had to stop. Usually, I get on while moving . . . a flying mount. No such dice here.
Here, I'm just going out on my first loop. You can see that my feet aren't in the shoes yet, but I got them in pretty quickly out on the course.
Here's me on my way out on my second loop of the bike. This part is slightly uphill and I'm working on getting up some speed as I've only recently passed the turnaround and had to slow down for it.
This is me coming in on the second loop. Check out the new skyscraper that's gone up in Austin behind me. There's also another going up in the left part of the picture. We're supposed to have 9 new skyscrapers by 2012. 
Here I am coming in to the final turn on my last loop. I love this picture because Lisa managed to capture my shark wheel in a really cool position. 
Finally, here's the last bike shot Lisa got of me. This is me coming into Transition after the fourth bike loop. I'm reaching down to pull my feet out from the shoes so I can do a flying dismount.
I was a little disappointed with the whole bike leg. Because of the congestion, I found it difficult to maintain a decent speed. Also, since I'd been having back trouble all week, my back started revolting at being in the aero position after about the middle of the third loop. It was hard to keep myself in the aerobars, and I started worrying about how painful the run would be with a bad back. I just never felt comfortable again after that.
My total bike time was 1 hour 4 minutes, 53 seconds for an average speed of 22.9 mph. I expected to be much faster than that.
T-2:
Again, T-2 wasn't too bad, but was just long. I had a long run from the "Bike In" area to my bike rack. Once I got there, I was fast. I was already out of my shoes, so all I had to do was jump in my running shoes, remove my helmet, and grab my cap. Didn't take long, and I was on the road quickly.
Total T-2 time was 1 minute 55 seconds.
The Run:
Well, it always comes down to the run, and I still always melt down there. Most folks would say I go too hard on the bike, but I've played with this a little bit and have found that I often have bad runs regardless of how hard I bike. One thing I could have done better was to be careful on those few "hills" we had on the bike. I think I let them take too much out of me. Still, I don't think that would have changed the run much.
It was just too darn hot and humid. I had to take in a lot of water and for that, I had to slow down at the aid stations. Also, my back was hurting a bit and my quads were spent, so I even walked a bit between aid stations. I hated to do that on just a 10k, but I didn't have much choice.
Lisa did get a few good pics of me on the run. Here are two of them:
Here I am coming by the finish line (it's on the left side by the guy in yellow) after finishing my first lap of the run. I don't look to bad, but I was hurting here a lot.
And, finally, here I am about a mile into my last lap going back by the finish line heading east. The worst part of the run came a few minutes later when I just had to walk. The long and short of it is that I just have to run more. I was good about that in January and February, but I've fallen off way too much since starting up the bike racing.
Final run time was a dismal 1 hour 6 seconds, which was over 9 minutes 30 seconds per mile.
Total race time: 2 hours, 40 minutes, 25 seconds.
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Silverlake Sprint Triathlon
Yesterday, I competed in my second triathlon of the season, the 3rd annual Silverlake Sprint Triathlon in Pearland, Texas. I did this race last year and had a very good race. This year, I did pretty well, too, but not quite as well as last year. I chalk that up to being a little out of shape and more focused on biking than swimming and running, although, if you compare my times from each individual leg of the race, you'll notice that my running didn't suffer as much as I thought it would. Here's the skinny on the race:
The Short Scoop:
400 meter swim, 10-mile bike, 3-mile run
Swim: 7 min. 37 sec.
T-1: 56 sec.
Bike: 25 min. 12 sec.
T-2: 44 sec.
Run: 20 min. 37 sec.
Total Time: 55 min. 4 sec.
The Long Story:
Lisa and I drove down to Houston on Friday after work. I had ridden my tri bike into work that day so that we wouldn't have to leave a car downtown. It just so happened that Friday was "Bike to Work Day" in Austin, so I had another reason to ride the bike that day, too. Anyway, on the way down, I got a flat tire about 3 miles from the office. The previous two days there had been some VERY severe weather in the Austin area. Lots of trees were down and the bike paths were littered with debris. I apparently hit a thorn and punctured my rear tire. I had an extra tube, but no CO2 canister. Another cyclist stopped and gave me canister, though, so I managed to get to work on time. Thanks for that!
So, after work, Lisa picked me up down at the office and we headed over to Pearland. We had a wonderful visit with Becca and Grant and little Connor that weekend. It was very nice. Friday, we didn't do a whole lot, but just got caught up on happenings since our last visit. My goodness, how Connor has grown so much since we last saw him! Most of the weekend, we just hung around and relaxed, but I had to race on Sunday morning, so I got to bed early Saturday night.
Pre-Race:
I woke up around 4:45 AM and just lounged a bit since I didn't have to get up for a few more minutes. I did get up at 5:00 and started getting things together. After dressing for the race, I made a bowl of oatmeal and drank some water. I didn't feel bad, but something just didn't feel quite right about the morning. I just felt a little sluggish and tired. I forgot to make my coffee and I think that might have been part of the reason I felt a little sluggish all morning.
Becca and Grant live really close to the race start, so at about 5:30 AM, I hopped on my tri bike and rode up to the event. After setting up transition and getting my chip, I did a very short jog up the first few hundred meters of the run course and then came back to stretch before the swim.
The Swim:
The swim was 400 meters long. It consisted of a point-to-point "angle." Basically, we started at one point on the shore, swam out to a buoy, made a right turn, and swam back to another point on the shore closer to the bike racks. The Male 35-39 group (my group) was the first wave to go off. I like that because it meant that there wouldn't be many people on the bike course before I got to it. This was important because there was a "no-passing" zone half-way through and I didn't want to get stuck behind somebody slow. Going first meant that was unlikely to happen.
After the National Anthem and a few pre-race announcements, we M35-39 guys got in the water and got ready to go. The horn sounded and we were off. I knew I was in trouble on the swim when I noticed early on that I was in second place about 100 meters into it. The guy in first (who eventually won our AG) was gone pretty fast, but I went out WAAAAY too hard trying to stay on his toes. By the time we hit the turn around buoy, I had dropped to 3rd and was rapidly losing ground to everyone else. I never felt very good on this swim, but I was happy that it didn't last long. I came out of the water in 11th or 12th place, which I thought was pretty good considering we had 41 guys in our wave.
My final time in the swim was 7 min., 37 sec., which was about 1 minute, 44 seconds per 100 yards. That was about 30 seconds slower than I did last year, but still pretty respectable.
T-1:
There's not much I can say about my first transition. It was pretty fast at 56 seconds. I always start with my bike shoes already clipped in, so all I have to do is run to my bike, but on my helmet and sunglasses and get going.
I'm actually kind of surprised that T-1 took me as long as it did. I must've been running slowly from the swim-out to my bike. I didn't wear a wetsuit, so there were no issues with that. All I had to do was put on the sunglasses, put on the helmet, grab the bike, and go . . . which I did. I think I passed six or seven guys in transition, because when I got on the bike, there were only a couple of guys ahead of me.
T-1 time: 56 seconds.
The Bike:
The bike leg is always my best, and this one was no exception. It's really too bad that the bike leg in Silverlake was only 10 miles. It doesn't give guys like me, with good bike times, a chance to put much time on our good-running and good-swimming competition.
For me, I got into my bike shoes pretty well, but during that times was passed by a couple of guys whom I had passed in transition. It didn't matter because I passed those guys back pretty quickly. The course was very technical, meaning there were lots of sharp turns. This makes getting lots of speed a difficult task. I still managed to get a good turnover going, though, and I began reeling in the competition. By the time I hit the No Passing Zone, I was in third place and the second place guy was only about 50 meters ahead of me. After we got through the zone, I started gaining ground on him and by the time we hit the transition to run, I was about 10 feet behind him. Other than this, the bike was pretty uneventful.
Final bike time: 25 min., 12 sec. which equates to 23.8 mph. Not bad, but I'd have thought it would be better, given my recent focus on bike racing.
T-2:
My second transistion was one of my fastest ever. I was out of my bike shoes on the bike and off the bike pretty fast with a rolling dismount. I crossed the line right behind the second place guy in our division and ran right to my space on the rack. I managed to get in my shoes very quickly, took off my helmet, grabbed my race belt and hat and I was off. I managed to pass the guy who was just ahead of me in transition and headed out on the run in second place.
The Run:
I'm mystified by my run split. I thought for certain that I'd average well over 7 minutes per mile, especially since I hadn't been running much. That was not the case. Although I was close to 7 mins., a 6:52/mile is a good deal better than I expected.
What really surprised me was that I got close to half-way through the run before I got passed. The first guy to pass me was not the guy I passed in transition. It was another guy who was clearly a very good runner.
Here's a pic of me that Lisa snapped just after the first guy passed me:
The next guy passed me at Mile 2 and it was also not the guy I passed in Transition. That guy passed me at about 2.5 miles. After that, I managed to hold off everyon else in my division. I came into the finishing "chute" feeling pretty good, but knowing I had raced a bit slower than last year. I managed to finish in 5th place in my division. Last year, I finished in 4th, but was passed twice only a couple hundred meters from the finish. At least this time, all the passing occurred before I got within sight of the finishing line. All in all, I guess it was a good run, even though I didn't feel great during the whole race.
My final run time was 20 min., 37 sec., which works out to 6 min., 52 sec. per mile. My time was only 3 seconds slower than last year, which surprised me since I was not in as good a running shape as last year. So, that at least was pleasing.
The Wrap-Up:
So, my final finish was 5th place out of 41 men in M35-39 and 18th overall. That is down a bit from last year when I finished 4th in the M35-39 age group and 13th overall. So, although I was disappointed that I didn't finish as well as last year, I was pleased with a good run and a competitive swim. Still, I need to focus more on those two disciplines.
The Short Scoop:
400 meter swim, 10-mile bike, 3-mile run
Swim: 7 min. 37 sec.
T-1: 56 sec.
Bike: 25 min. 12 sec.
T-2: 44 sec.
Run: 20 min. 37 sec.
Total Time: 55 min. 4 sec.
The Long Story:
Lisa and I drove down to Houston on Friday after work. I had ridden my tri bike into work that day so that we wouldn't have to leave a car downtown. It just so happened that Friday was "Bike to Work Day" in Austin, so I had another reason to ride the bike that day, too. Anyway, on the way down, I got a flat tire about 3 miles from the office. The previous two days there had been some VERY severe weather in the Austin area. Lots of trees were down and the bike paths were littered with debris. I apparently hit a thorn and punctured my rear tire. I had an extra tube, but no CO2 canister. Another cyclist stopped and gave me canister, though, so I managed to get to work on time. Thanks for that!
So, after work, Lisa picked me up down at the office and we headed over to Pearland. We had a wonderful visit with Becca and Grant and little Connor that weekend. It was very nice. Friday, we didn't do a whole lot, but just got caught up on happenings since our last visit. My goodness, how Connor has grown so much since we last saw him! Most of the weekend, we just hung around and relaxed, but I had to race on Sunday morning, so I got to bed early Saturday night.
Pre-Race:
I woke up around 4:45 AM and just lounged a bit since I didn't have to get up for a few more minutes. I did get up at 5:00 and started getting things together. After dressing for the race, I made a bowl of oatmeal and drank some water. I didn't feel bad, but something just didn't feel quite right about the morning. I just felt a little sluggish and tired. I forgot to make my coffee and I think that might have been part of the reason I felt a little sluggish all morning.
Becca and Grant live really close to the race start, so at about 5:30 AM, I hopped on my tri bike and rode up to the event. After setting up transition and getting my chip, I did a very short jog up the first few hundred meters of the run course and then came back to stretch before the swim.
The Swim:
The swim was 400 meters long. It consisted of a point-to-point "angle." Basically, we started at one point on the shore, swam out to a buoy, made a right turn, and swam back to another point on the shore closer to the bike racks. The Male 35-39 group (my group) was the first wave to go off. I like that because it meant that there wouldn't be many people on the bike course before I got to it. This was important because there was a "no-passing" zone half-way through and I didn't want to get stuck behind somebody slow. Going first meant that was unlikely to happen.
After the National Anthem and a few pre-race announcements, we M35-39 guys got in the water and got ready to go. The horn sounded and we were off. I knew I was in trouble on the swim when I noticed early on that I was in second place about 100 meters into it. The guy in first (who eventually won our AG) was gone pretty fast, but I went out WAAAAY too hard trying to stay on his toes. By the time we hit the turn around buoy, I had dropped to 3rd and was rapidly losing ground to everyone else. I never felt very good on this swim, but I was happy that it didn't last long. I came out of the water in 11th or 12th place, which I thought was pretty good considering we had 41 guys in our wave.
My final time in the swim was 7 min., 37 sec., which was about 1 minute, 44 seconds per 100 yards. That was about 30 seconds slower than I did last year, but still pretty respectable.
T-1:
There's not much I can say about my first transition. It was pretty fast at 56 seconds. I always start with my bike shoes already clipped in, so all I have to do is run to my bike, but on my helmet and sunglasses and get going.
I'm actually kind of surprised that T-1 took me as long as it did. I must've been running slowly from the swim-out to my bike. I didn't wear a wetsuit, so there were no issues with that. All I had to do was put on the sunglasses, put on the helmet, grab the bike, and go . . . which I did. I think I passed six or seven guys in transition, because when I got on the bike, there were only a couple of guys ahead of me.
T-1 time: 56 seconds.
The Bike:
The bike leg is always my best, and this one was no exception. It's really too bad that the bike leg in Silverlake was only 10 miles. It doesn't give guys like me, with good bike times, a chance to put much time on our good-running and good-swimming competition.
For me, I got into my bike shoes pretty well, but during that times was passed by a couple of guys whom I had passed in transition. It didn't matter because I passed those guys back pretty quickly. The course was very technical, meaning there were lots of sharp turns. This makes getting lots of speed a difficult task. I still managed to get a good turnover going, though, and I began reeling in the competition. By the time I hit the No Passing Zone, I was in third place and the second place guy was only about 50 meters ahead of me. After we got through the zone, I started gaining ground on him and by the time we hit the transition to run, I was about 10 feet behind him. Other than this, the bike was pretty uneventful.
Final bike time: 25 min., 12 sec. which equates to 23.8 mph. Not bad, but I'd have thought it would be better, given my recent focus on bike racing.
T-2:
My second transistion was one of my fastest ever. I was out of my bike shoes on the bike and off the bike pretty fast with a rolling dismount. I crossed the line right behind the second place guy in our division and ran right to my space on the rack. I managed to get in my shoes very quickly, took off my helmet, grabbed my race belt and hat and I was off. I managed to pass the guy who was just ahead of me in transition and headed out on the run in second place.
The Run:
I'm mystified by my run split. I thought for certain that I'd average well over 7 minutes per mile, especially since I hadn't been running much. That was not the case. Although I was close to 7 mins., a 6:52/mile is a good deal better than I expected.
What really surprised me was that I got close to half-way through the run before I got passed. The first guy to pass me was not the guy I passed in transition. It was another guy who was clearly a very good runner.
Here's a pic of me that Lisa snapped just after the first guy passed me:
The next guy passed me at Mile 2 and it was also not the guy I passed in Transition. That guy passed me at about 2.5 miles. After that, I managed to hold off everyon else in my division. I came into the finishing "chute" feeling pretty good, but knowing I had raced a bit slower than last year. I managed to finish in 5th place in my division. Last year, I finished in 4th, but was passed twice only a couple hundred meters from the finish. At least this time, all the passing occurred before I got within sight of the finishing line. All in all, I guess it was a good run, even though I didn't feel great during the whole race.My final run time was 20 min., 37 sec., which works out to 6 min., 52 sec. per mile. My time was only 3 seconds slower than last year, which surprised me since I was not in as good a running shape as last year. So, that at least was pleasing.
The Wrap-Up:
So, my final finish was 5th place out of 41 men in M35-39 and 18th overall. That is down a bit from last year when I finished 4th in the M35-39 age group and 13th overall. So, although I was disappointed that I didn't finish as well as last year, I was pleased with a good run and a competitive swim. Still, I need to focus more on those two disciplines.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Coldspring Road Race
Yesterday was my second foray into bicycle road racing at the Coldspring road race up near Lake Livingston. This was my third mass start race after the two road races at the Fort Davis Hammerfest, and was my most ambitious one to date.
Hao convinced me to sign up for the race for men ages 35+, who are also in either Cat 4 or Cat 5. His logic was reasonable: the Cat 5 (any age) race was only 30 miles long and would have a bunch of younger guys in it, while the 35+ 4/5 race would be 46 miles and have guys in it around our age. The thought was that we could be a bit more competitive with guys our own age. Of course, the down side was that we'd be racing against guys with a bit more experience, who were in Cat 4 (and therefore, probably better than us). Also, there were several other members of Hao's racing team (M7 Racing) who were going to be doing that race, so he wanted to race with his team. Sounded fine to me; I just wanted to get out there. Quite frankly, I figured I'd get dropped pretty quickly.
So, on Friday, I drove to Houston for a hearing and then went over to vist Hao at the Houston Metro in the afternoon. We got in a post-lunch bike ride through downtown (which was nice since I hadn't ridden all week due to work issues). After work, we picked up his boys at their school and went for some Vietnamese food. Then, we headed back to his house to chill and get rested up for the race the next day. I was pretty beat from some long hours at work this week and fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 PM.
We got up at 4:30 AM on Saturday because we had to eat breakfast and then pick up Hao's team mate, Bryan, on the way up to Coldspring. We got Bryan at about 5:20 AM and then made the 70-mile trek up I-45 to Willis, and then over on Highway 150 to Coldspring. We got there about an hour and a half before our race was set to start (8:30 AM). After getting registered and getting our numbers pinned on, we met up with the rest of Hao's team and did a warm-up ride. At 8:25, we lined up with the rest of the field and got ready to ride.
The race was interesting. I'm still a complete novice, but it's not hard to see how different road racing is from triathlon. The group dynamic is omnipresent in road racing. In triathlon, being around other riders is more of a hinderance, but in road racing, it's a necessity. The course we rode was a roughly 15-mile loop. We did that loop 3 times, with the finish at the top of a long, but gentle hill.
The first loop was fast, but not tough. A couple of guys rode off the front a few meters, but there weren't any big break aways. The group stayed together with about 10 guys really doing most of the work at the front. It was a great learning experience because I really found out what pack riding is all about. Those guys are cut-throat! They don't like being in the wind because it drains their energy, so the pack was constantly shifting as we changed directions. I kept finding myself either on the outside edge or the inside edge of the pack and always stuck in the windy parts. I just don't have the experience to know when I'm being shunted into those disadvantageous positions until it's too late. Plus, I don't have the experience to force my way back into the pack when that happens. I'm a bit skittish about the closeness of the pack, but that will change with experience, I'm sure.
Anyway, for two laps, the race was pretty uneventful. Near the end of the second lap, two guys from Team Hotel San Jose (in Austin) went off the front by about 40 meters. I had found myself up close to them when they were at the very front of the pack, so when they took off, so did I. The three of us were up ahead for a mile or so, but I didn't work with them. I made them pull me along and that ultimately slowed them down so that the pack caught us pretty quickly. I didn't feel too bad about that because those guys had been blocking other riders through the whole race.
Shortly thereafter, we hit the finish line hill on our second loop. All of a sudden, Hao went zooming past me and broke out of the front. The guys at the front stomped on their pedals and stayed with him. Hao told me later he wasn't trying to break away, but that he was stuck in a bad position in the pack and knew if he didn't get out and get some speed going, he'd falter on the hill and was afraid he'd get dropped. Made sense to me, but in the end, it didn't matter.
About 2 miles after we passed through the finish line hill and started our third lap, one of the two Team Hotel San Jose guys I had been following suddenly slowed up right in the middle of a short steep hill. I was about 2 bike lengths behind at the time, but I was closing the gap quickly. I braked a bit and swerved off to the right (toward the shoulder, not the center line) a little, but the damage appeared to have been done. A few guys behind me and to my left were still accelerating into the hill and had to swerve off to avoid hitting me and this San Jose guy. One of them cut wildly across to his left and plowed into another guy causing a wreck and a resulting pile-up. Neither Hao nor I were caught in it, but we had to slow to avoid some of the people on the hill and as a result, about 20 guys who were ahead of us accelerated away. I took off after them, but Hao didn't have the legs to do it, so he and a teammate just kept riding. I didn't see them again until the finish.
For the next 2 miles, I had these guys in my sight and eventually caught them. But, just as I did, they came to another hill and I was beat from chasing them down. They accelerated away from me again. So, for the next 8 miles, I was trailing, pretty much alone, behind the break away pack anywhere from 50 to 120 meters behind. I just couldn't seem to catch them. Eventually, though, on the backside of the loop, they slowed considerably. I had to work hard, but I eventually caught them about 2-3 miles from the finish. But, the damage was done for me. I was exhausted, and although I had some time to sit in and try to recover, I knew I wasn't going to have much for the sprint finish.
I was right.
About 1000 meters from the finish, at the bottom of the hill, the group surged and some of the guys took off. A couple of them faltered, though, and fell back. The top guys, though, put it into overdrive and just accelerated away from us. Hao's teammate, Bryan, and I finished right next to each other. Another of Hao's teammates ended up winning the race and a fourth one finished in fourth place. I wound up in 16th place, just ahead of Bryan. Both of us were less than 13 seconds behind the winner. Hao finished in 27th place, about 2 1/2 minutes behind me. All in all, it was a good, fun race. I learned a lot and can't wait for my next one!
Here are the official results. Look for the "35+ 4/5" numbers. I'm in there!
Hope to have a picture or two to post shortly.
Hao convinced me to sign up for the race for men ages 35+, who are also in either Cat 4 or Cat 5. His logic was reasonable: the Cat 5 (any age) race was only 30 miles long and would have a bunch of younger guys in it, while the 35+ 4/5 race would be 46 miles and have guys in it around our age. The thought was that we could be a bit more competitive with guys our own age. Of course, the down side was that we'd be racing against guys with a bit more experience, who were in Cat 4 (and therefore, probably better than us). Also, there were several other members of Hao's racing team (M7 Racing) who were going to be doing that race, so he wanted to race with his team. Sounded fine to me; I just wanted to get out there. Quite frankly, I figured I'd get dropped pretty quickly.
So, on Friday, I drove to Houston for a hearing and then went over to vist Hao at the Houston Metro in the afternoon. We got in a post-lunch bike ride through downtown (which was nice since I hadn't ridden all week due to work issues). After work, we picked up his boys at their school and went for some Vietnamese food. Then, we headed back to his house to chill and get rested up for the race the next day. I was pretty beat from some long hours at work this week and fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 PM.
We got up at 4:30 AM on Saturday because we had to eat breakfast and then pick up Hao's team mate, Bryan, on the way up to Coldspring. We got Bryan at about 5:20 AM and then made the 70-mile trek up I-45 to Willis, and then over on Highway 150 to Coldspring. We got there about an hour and a half before our race was set to start (8:30 AM). After getting registered and getting our numbers pinned on, we met up with the rest of Hao's team and did a warm-up ride. At 8:25, we lined up with the rest of the field and got ready to ride.
The race was interesting. I'm still a complete novice, but it's not hard to see how different road racing is from triathlon. The group dynamic is omnipresent in road racing. In triathlon, being around other riders is more of a hinderance, but in road racing, it's a necessity. The course we rode was a roughly 15-mile loop. We did that loop 3 times, with the finish at the top of a long, but gentle hill.
The first loop was fast, but not tough. A couple of guys rode off the front a few meters, but there weren't any big break aways. The group stayed together with about 10 guys really doing most of the work at the front. It was a great learning experience because I really found out what pack riding is all about. Those guys are cut-throat! They don't like being in the wind because it drains their energy, so the pack was constantly shifting as we changed directions. I kept finding myself either on the outside edge or the inside edge of the pack and always stuck in the windy parts. I just don't have the experience to know when I'm being shunted into those disadvantageous positions until it's too late. Plus, I don't have the experience to force my way back into the pack when that happens. I'm a bit skittish about the closeness of the pack, but that will change with experience, I'm sure.
Anyway, for two laps, the race was pretty uneventful. Near the end of the second lap, two guys from Team Hotel San Jose (in Austin) went off the front by about 40 meters. I had found myself up close to them when they were at the very front of the pack, so when they took off, so did I. The three of us were up ahead for a mile or so, but I didn't work with them. I made them pull me along and that ultimately slowed them down so that the pack caught us pretty quickly. I didn't feel too bad about that because those guys had been blocking other riders through the whole race.
Shortly thereafter, we hit the finish line hill on our second loop. All of a sudden, Hao went zooming past me and broke out of the front. The guys at the front stomped on their pedals and stayed with him. Hao told me later he wasn't trying to break away, but that he was stuck in a bad position in the pack and knew if he didn't get out and get some speed going, he'd falter on the hill and was afraid he'd get dropped. Made sense to me, but in the end, it didn't matter.
About 2 miles after we passed through the finish line hill and started our third lap, one of the two Team Hotel San Jose guys I had been following suddenly slowed up right in the middle of a short steep hill. I was about 2 bike lengths behind at the time, but I was closing the gap quickly. I braked a bit and swerved off to the right (toward the shoulder, not the center line) a little, but the damage appeared to have been done. A few guys behind me and to my left were still accelerating into the hill and had to swerve off to avoid hitting me and this San Jose guy. One of them cut wildly across to his left and plowed into another guy causing a wreck and a resulting pile-up. Neither Hao nor I were caught in it, but we had to slow to avoid some of the people on the hill and as a result, about 20 guys who were ahead of us accelerated away. I took off after them, but Hao didn't have the legs to do it, so he and a teammate just kept riding. I didn't see them again until the finish.
For the next 2 miles, I had these guys in my sight and eventually caught them. But, just as I did, they came to another hill and I was beat from chasing them down. They accelerated away from me again. So, for the next 8 miles, I was trailing, pretty much alone, behind the break away pack anywhere from 50 to 120 meters behind. I just couldn't seem to catch them. Eventually, though, on the backside of the loop, they slowed considerably. I had to work hard, but I eventually caught them about 2-3 miles from the finish. But, the damage was done for me. I was exhausted, and although I had some time to sit in and try to recover, I knew I wasn't going to have much for the sprint finish.
I was right.
About 1000 meters from the finish, at the bottom of the hill, the group surged and some of the guys took off. A couple of them faltered, though, and fell back. The top guys, though, put it into overdrive and just accelerated away from us. Hao's teammate, Bryan, and I finished right next to each other. Another of Hao's teammates ended up winning the race and a fourth one finished in fourth place. I wound up in 16th place, just ahead of Bryan. Both of us were less than 13 seconds behind the winner. Hao finished in 27th place, about 2 1/2 minutes behind me. All in all, it was a good, fun race. I learned a lot and can't wait for my next one!
Here are the official results. Look for the "35+ 4/5" numbers. I'm in there!
Hope to have a picture or two to post shortly.
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Fort Davis Hammerfest
This past weekend, I did my first ever bicycle-only race. It was actually my introduction not only to bike racing, but to stage racing (multiple races with cumulative timing) kind of like the Tour de France, but on a MUCH smaller scale. I wish I had some pictures to show on the blog, but unfortunately, the official race photos aren't out yet and I haven't found any posted pictures from the race that would include me.
Anyhoo . . . the race was phenomenal! It was held over two days: Saturday and Sunday, and consisted of three separate races. Before I explain the race, I need to explain how bike racing works, because it's a LOT different from triathlon. In triathlon, we have age group divisions, like Men 35-39 and Women 40-44. In bike racing, if you're not a professional, they have different categories, which are numbered 1-5 for men and 1-4 for women. The lower the number, the better the riders. So, the races are set up so better riders face each other instead of us newbies. At Ft. Davis, they had the Pros, Cat 1's and Cat 2's racing together, and the other categories had their own separate races. (They also have age-graded categories, like Men 35+, Men 45+, etc.). As a new racer, I raced in the Cat 5 group.
First up on Saturday morning was the 16-mile individual time trial. This was basically just like the bike leg of a triathlon. They lined up the riders and sent us out in 30-second intervals. The race took us about 9 miles in a generally uphill direction and then we turned around and went 7 miles back "down" to the finish line.
Here's a shot of me on the time trial course. I love the mountain in the back-ground. It was a beautiful day, but a little chilly, and the wind was blowing flat out cold. I also like the fact that you can see my shark tattoo in the picture. I wish they'd gotten just a bit more of a profile shot so you could get a full view of the shark on the rear wheel cover, too, though. Ah well . . .
Saturday afternoon was the 16-mile "hill climb." Basically, we started at the edge of town and rode Hwy 118 out past the Davis Mountain State Park, past the Prude Ranch, and toward the McDonald Observatory at the top of Mt. Locke. The first 10 miles of the climb are moderate to rolling hills until you get to the foothills of Mt. Locke. Then, it's pretty much constant climbing (a few minor reprieves notwithstanding) until you get to the Visitors' Center for the Observatory. There, you get about a quarter of a mile of gentle sloping to recover on until you hit the base of the mountain and the last 1.2 miles, which seems like it's straight up! It is just over a mile of steep, steep climbing, up to a 17% grade in some parts, with the finish at the very top.
Sunday morning was the "long" road race. The P/1/2 racers and the Cat 3 men rode a 74-mile loop. The Cat 4's and some of the other groups rode a 56-mile course. Us Cat 5 guys did a 34-mile race that encompassed much of the previous day's hill climb (without the last 1.5 miles). Essentially, we rode from the Prude Ranch out through the foothills of Mt. Locke, and then past the Observatory to Madera Canyon, which we descended into and then turned around and climbed back out of the canyon, past the Observatory again, and down the foothills and back to the finish line at the top of "Heartbreak Hill."
What can I say about these races? I had an absolutely awesome time! My results were as follows:
Time Trial: 41 minutes 22.62 seconds - 7th Place
Hill Climb: 1 hour 2 minutes 42 seconds - 12th Place
Road Race: 1 hour 58 minutes 22 seconds - 13th Place
Total (GC): 3 hours 42 minutes 27 seconds - 10th Place.
Here are the official results.
There were originally 51 guys in our Cat 5 race. A couple DNF'ed the time trial (I'm not sure how, but maybe flats or something). By the afternoon, we were down to about 47 guys. The hill climb was where we lost a lot of guys. There was a crash about 7-8 miles in and about 12 guys went down. Some of them got back up and got back in the race, but a few didn't. The last guy to wreck was right in front of me. He flipped over his handlebars and face planted into the pavement. I think he was okay, though. I came to a skidding stop right in front of him. Scary moment!
Anyhoo . . . by the time we got to the road race on Sunday morning, we were down to only about 39 guys in the field. Still, it was a really fun race. My goodness, but it was cold! It must've been only about 35-40 degrees when we started on Sunday morning!
I gotta say, it was a really fun weekend. I wish Lisa could've been there with me. I've never been to the Davis Mountains before, and although it's pretty desolate out there, I really liked Fort Davis. It was a nice town with very nice people. I'm definitely going back next year if I can fit it into my schedule.
Hopefully, I can get some pictures to fill in with this blog entry soon.
Anyhoo . . . the race was phenomenal! It was held over two days: Saturday and Sunday, and consisted of three separate races. Before I explain the race, I need to explain how bike racing works, because it's a LOT different from triathlon. In triathlon, we have age group divisions, like Men 35-39 and Women 40-44. In bike racing, if you're not a professional, they have different categories, which are numbered 1-5 for men and 1-4 for women. The lower the number, the better the riders. So, the races are set up so better riders face each other instead of us newbies. At Ft. Davis, they had the Pros, Cat 1's and Cat 2's racing together, and the other categories had their own separate races. (They also have age-graded categories, like Men 35+, Men 45+, etc.). As a new racer, I raced in the Cat 5 group.
First up on Saturday morning was the 16-mile individual time trial. This was basically just like the bike leg of a triathlon. They lined up the riders and sent us out in 30-second intervals. The race took us about 9 miles in a generally uphill direction and then we turned around and went 7 miles back "down" to the finish line.
Here's a shot of me on the time trial course. I love the mountain in the back-ground. It was a beautiful day, but a little chilly, and the wind was blowing flat out cold. I also like the fact that you can see my shark tattoo in the picture. I wish they'd gotten just a bit more of a profile shot so you could get a full view of the shark on the rear wheel cover, too, though. Ah well . . .Saturday afternoon was the 16-mile "hill climb." Basically, we started at the edge of town and rode Hwy 118 out past the Davis Mountain State Park, past the Prude Ranch, and toward the McDonald Observatory at the top of Mt. Locke. The first 10 miles of the climb are moderate to rolling hills until you get to the foothills of Mt. Locke. Then, it's pretty much constant climbing (a few minor reprieves notwithstanding) until you get to the Visitors' Center for the Observatory. There, you get about a quarter of a mile of gentle sloping to recover on until you hit the base of the mountain and the last 1.2 miles, which seems like it's straight up! It is just over a mile of steep, steep climbing, up to a 17% grade in some parts, with the finish at the very top.
Sunday morning was the "long" road race. The P/1/2 racers and the Cat 3 men rode a 74-mile loop. The Cat 4's and some of the other groups rode a 56-mile course. Us Cat 5 guys did a 34-mile race that encompassed much of the previous day's hill climb (without the last 1.5 miles). Essentially, we rode from the Prude Ranch out through the foothills of Mt. Locke, and then past the Observatory to Madera Canyon, which we descended into and then turned around and climbed back out of the canyon, past the Observatory again, and down the foothills and back to the finish line at the top of "Heartbreak Hill."
What can I say about these races? I had an absolutely awesome time! My results were as follows:
Time Trial: 41 minutes 22.62 seconds - 7th Place
Hill Climb: 1 hour 2 minutes 42 seconds - 12th Place
Road Race: 1 hour 58 minutes 22 seconds - 13th Place
Total (GC): 3 hours 42 minutes 27 seconds - 10th Place.
Here are the official results.
There were originally 51 guys in our Cat 5 race. A couple DNF'ed the time trial (I'm not sure how, but maybe flats or something). By the afternoon, we were down to about 47 guys. The hill climb was where we lost a lot of guys. There was a crash about 7-8 miles in and about 12 guys went down. Some of them got back up and got back in the race, but a few didn't. The last guy to wreck was right in front of me. He flipped over his handlebars and face planted into the pavement. I think he was okay, though. I came to a skidding stop right in front of him. Scary moment!
Anyhoo . . . by the time we got to the road race on Sunday morning, we were down to only about 39 guys in the field. Still, it was a really fun race. My goodness, but it was cold! It must've been only about 35-40 degrees when we started on Sunday morning!
I gotta say, it was a really fun weekend. I wish Lisa could've been there with me. I've never been to the Davis Mountains before, and although it's pretty desolate out there, I really liked Fort Davis. It was a nice town with very nice people. I'm definitely going back next year if I can fit it into my schedule.
Hopefully, I can get some pictures to fill in with this blog entry soon.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Lonestar Triathlon Festival - Half Ironman
Well, by now, most of you interested (and I use that term VERY loosely) in this blog know that I had a rotten race day at the Lonestar yesterday. Below is my abbreviated race report. (It's abbreviated because my race was quite abbreviated!)
Friday, March 28.
Lisa and I caravanned (sp?) down to Pearland on Friday. She drove her car and I drove mine because I had to leave after the race Sunday to drive to Edinburg for my trial that was supposed to start today (more on that later). The drive was pretty uneventful, except that Lisa and I met at the Airport Hilton in Austin because she was coming from home up in Leander and I was coming from the office downtown. It wouldn't have been eventful at all, except that while she was waiting for me at the Hilton, a big tour bus that had been chartered for a wedding party pulled up and blocked the entrance, so that when I got there, I couldn't get in. Not a big deal, she saw me and pulled out, but little did I know that this was an omen of things to come for the weekend. :(
The rest of the drive was very uneventful. We called each other every now and then on the cell phones just to break the monotony. We arrived at Becca and Grant and Connor's house at about 9:00 PM. Connor was still up because he's been having teething issues. My GOODNESS, what a gorgeous baby he is! He was pretty fussy when we got there because he was really tired and his teeth hurt, but he let us (mostly Lisa!) fuss over him a bit before we all turned in for the night.
Saturday, March 29.
I had planned to get up early and head down to Galveston to watch the Lonestar Festival Sprint distance race, but I must confess, after a full week of trial prep work, I was beat. Plus, Lisa and I haven't gotten to see much of each other lately, so I was content to sleep in a bit (until 7:30), and snuggle with her. I made the right choice! I needed the sleep and we needed the snuggle time!
Eventually, I headed out to Galveston at about 11:30 AM. I met Mason at the race site and we hung out until 1:00 PM when we could check in and get our race numbers and schwag bags. While we were waiting, I was approached by this woman who said her name was Mary and she was from Denver and knew Steve. She said that she saw me and thought I was him, but didn't know he was going to be in Texas for the race, so she called him and he told her it was me. Very nice woman, and another one of those freaky "twin things!" That scenario would play out a lot over the weekend as I ran into a few more folks from Steve's past.
Mase and I checked in at 1:00 PM. I got my race number, race packet, and schwag. I was number 113. Thirteen. Another bad omen. After we checked in, Mase and I went to the hotel to check in, and since our room wasn't ready yet, we took the desk girl's recommendation to go over to Papa's Pizza for some pasta. It was very good and very filling.
After Mase and I checked in, we got all of our race stuff ready . . . and that's when I realized I'd forgotten my race belt. They do give you pins for your number, but I don't use those. I wear my tri top under my wetsuit and I just can't pin the number on there before the swim. It would've been shredded. So . . . I drove back to the race site and went to the expo to see if any of the vendors had any race belts left. The guys at the Zoot booth had one, but it was hot pink. Well . . . I bought it anyway!
When I got back to the hotel, Mase told me his friends from St. Louis had called. A guy he rides with regularly has a sister living in Texas and he and his wife and a friend had come down to Port Arthurt to visit her, so they drove over to Galveston to cheer us on for the race. That was pretty cool of them! So, we met up with them and hung out by the pool for a bit. At about 6:30 PM, Mason's friends left to go find a bar and a place to eat and Mason and I went to dinner with my work friend, Shelley and her Team in Training group that was down for the weekend. Mase and I got back to the hotel around 8:00 and did our final prep work for the race. We hit the hay around 9:30 or so.
Sunday, March 30.
We had the alarms (3 of them) set for 5:30 AM, but we were both up a bit earlier than that. My nerves finally started hitting me around 6:00 when we left to drive over to the race site. We parked and walked over to the transition area and got in around 6:20 or so. I ran into Steve's old racing buddy, Rodney Wagner right after I got into transition, so we chatted a bit. Rodney didn't race, but he was there coaching a Team in Training group.
At 7:00, I headed down to the swim start, which was a few hundred yards away from transition. I got half-way there before I remembered that I had never put on my timing chip, so I hoofed it back to transition to get it. That was another bad omen. It was beginning to look like my head wasn't in the game, which is a bit surprising for me. I'm usually pretty focused, but I was forgetting things and just not with it! I finally got to the swim start and found Mason. Apparently the bad luck and inattention was hitting him too. He had stubbed his toe on the way down to the swim start. It was a little bloody, but he seemed to think it was okay. We'd later learn it wasn't, but I'll get to that later.
The Swim:
I think the swim was measured long. It was 1.2 miles, and although I haven't been swimming THAT much, I wasn't too far out of shape. Still, my time was 41 minutes and 17 seconds, by FAR the worst time I've ever had in a swim. I didn't feel slower than I was at Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 last summer, but my time was almost 5 minutes slower, and that was despite having a wetsuit this time and swimming in salt water, both of which are supposed to make you more buoyant, and thus faster. Everyone's times were slow it seemed to me. The swim itself wasn't too bad. For a while there, I thought I wasn't going to make it, but after 10 minutes, I settled into a comfortable pace and seemed to do just fine. I was VERY glad to see the swim exit, though!
Transition 1:
I had a really good T-1. I got out of the water quickly and got my wetsuit down around my waist. Oddly, not many people were using the wetsuit strippers, but I learned my lesson from the Iron Star in 2006. I knew they'd be MUCH faster than I could be, so I lay down and they had the thing off me in about 2 seconds. I got up quickly and was at my bike in no time.
My bike was racked on the "A" rack, which was the closest to the swim exit. That was good and bad. It was good because I got to my bike fast. It was bad because it meant a longer run with the bike. No worries, though, because I had decided to start the bike with my shoes already on the bike. That made running with the bike much faster and easier. I got to the Bike Out line very quickly and was on the bike in no time.
My total time for T-1 was 2 minutes, 5 seconds. That was the 8th fastest time in my age group. Only 3 guys went under 2 minutes, and 2 of those wer3e under 1:40. Impressive.
The Bike:
Well . . . here's where it all went downhill. I got out on the bike pretty fast. Although I had a little trouble getting into my shoes (I hadn't practiced much recently), I managed to get going pretty well. I was averaging over 23 mph and had gone about 5 miles when I noticed on a bump that my back tire felt spongy. After a second bump, I knew it was low, so I pulled over to check it. Yep! It was going flat. A quick check of the tire showed an industrial-sized staple lodged in the tire. I pulled that out and set about replacing the tube.
Keep in mind this is the FIRST time in 3 1/2 years of racing that I'd ever gotten a flat on the bike course. I know how to change tires, and I'm good at it; but, in the middle of a race, when you're just itching to get back on the bike and every second counts, it's VERY easy to get sloppy. I got sloppy. I only had one spare tube, so I ripped out the old one, put the spare in and reset the tire on the rim. Unfortunately, I didn't check carefully enough to make sure that the beading on the tire was snug under the tire rim, and as I started pumping air into the tire from my CO2 cannister, I suddenly saw the tube bulging out from between the tire and the rim. I tried to stop the air flow as quickly as I could, but it was too late. The tube exploded and ripped in half. Done; finished; race over.
I must admit, I got a bit angry. I threw the wheel into the grass and shouted a few curse words at myself for being so careless. All the while, racers a whizzing by me. I sat there for 10 minutes before somebody offered me another tube, but I declined because they couldn't give me a CO2 cannister, too, and I was pretty much out of air. Mason rode by about 10 minutes after that, but I didn't even tell him what happened. I just yelled out that I was done. Turns out he had 2 spare tubes and 2 spare CO2 cannisters. I could've borrowed one from him, but by that time, I was 20 minutes down on my time and just too frustrated. Still, I wish now that I'd had him stop and give them to me.
Anyway . . . it took the SAG (support and gear) wagon 45 minutes to get to me. The guy offered to change my tire, but I told him I was done for the day. Then, I heard those awful words: "I don't have room to give you a ride back to transition." Yay! I got to walk 6 miles with my bike back to Transition! Oh . . . and I had just put new cleats on my shoes, so I didn't want to damage them, so I walked back barefoot. My feet are killing me!
So, anyhoo . . . after getting all my stuff from transition, I called Lisa and met up with her and Becca and Connor so that we could cheer Mason on for the rest of the race.
Wrap-Up:
I wish I'd gotten to do enough of this race to give it an honest assessment. It looks like a fantastic race, and everyone I saw looked like they were having a really good time. The swim was fun, and I was on my way to a very good bike split when the flat happened. It just makes me want to come back next year and get it done!
Friday, March 28.
Lisa and I caravanned (sp?) down to Pearland on Friday. She drove her car and I drove mine because I had to leave after the race Sunday to drive to Edinburg for my trial that was supposed to start today (more on that later). The drive was pretty uneventful, except that Lisa and I met at the Airport Hilton in Austin because she was coming from home up in Leander and I was coming from the office downtown. It wouldn't have been eventful at all, except that while she was waiting for me at the Hilton, a big tour bus that had been chartered for a wedding party pulled up and blocked the entrance, so that when I got there, I couldn't get in. Not a big deal, she saw me and pulled out, but little did I know that this was an omen of things to come for the weekend. :(
The rest of the drive was very uneventful. We called each other every now and then on the cell phones just to break the monotony. We arrived at Becca and Grant and Connor's house at about 9:00 PM. Connor was still up because he's been having teething issues. My GOODNESS, what a gorgeous baby he is! He was pretty fussy when we got there because he was really tired and his teeth hurt, but he let us (mostly Lisa!) fuss over him a bit before we all turned in for the night.
Saturday, March 29.
I had planned to get up early and head down to Galveston to watch the Lonestar Festival Sprint distance race, but I must confess, after a full week of trial prep work, I was beat. Plus, Lisa and I haven't gotten to see much of each other lately, so I was content to sleep in a bit (until 7:30), and snuggle with her. I made the right choice! I needed the sleep and we needed the snuggle time!
Eventually, I headed out to Galveston at about 11:30 AM. I met Mason at the race site and we hung out until 1:00 PM when we could check in and get our race numbers and schwag bags. While we were waiting, I was approached by this woman who said her name was Mary and she was from Denver and knew Steve. She said that she saw me and thought I was him, but didn't know he was going to be in Texas for the race, so she called him and he told her it was me. Very nice woman, and another one of those freaky "twin things!" That scenario would play out a lot over the weekend as I ran into a few more folks from Steve's past.
Mase and I checked in at 1:00 PM. I got my race number, race packet, and schwag. I was number 113. Thirteen. Another bad omen. After we checked in, Mase and I went to the hotel to check in, and since our room wasn't ready yet, we took the desk girl's recommendation to go over to Papa's Pizza for some pasta. It was very good and very filling.
After Mase and I checked in, we got all of our race stuff ready . . . and that's when I realized I'd forgotten my race belt. They do give you pins for your number, but I don't use those. I wear my tri top under my wetsuit and I just can't pin the number on there before the swim. It would've been shredded. So . . . I drove back to the race site and went to the expo to see if any of the vendors had any race belts left. The guys at the Zoot booth had one, but it was hot pink. Well . . . I bought it anyway!
When I got back to the hotel, Mase told me his friends from St. Louis had called. A guy he rides with regularly has a sister living in Texas and he and his wife and a friend had come down to Port Arthurt to visit her, so they drove over to Galveston to cheer us on for the race. That was pretty cool of them! So, we met up with them and hung out by the pool for a bit. At about 6:30 PM, Mason's friends left to go find a bar and a place to eat and Mason and I went to dinner with my work friend, Shelley and her Team in Training group that was down for the weekend. Mase and I got back to the hotel around 8:00 and did our final prep work for the race. We hit the hay around 9:30 or so.
Sunday, March 30.
We had the alarms (3 of them) set for 5:30 AM, but we were both up a bit earlier than that. My nerves finally started hitting me around 6:00 when we left to drive over to the race site. We parked and walked over to the transition area and got in around 6:20 or so. I ran into Steve's old racing buddy, Rodney Wagner right after I got into transition, so we chatted a bit. Rodney didn't race, but he was there coaching a Team in Training group.
At 7:00, I headed down to the swim start, which was a few hundred yards away from transition. I got half-way there before I remembered that I had never put on my timing chip, so I hoofed it back to transition to get it. That was another bad omen. It was beginning to look like my head wasn't in the game, which is a bit surprising for me. I'm usually pretty focused, but I was forgetting things and just not with it! I finally got to the swim start and found Mason. Apparently the bad luck and inattention was hitting him too. He had stubbed his toe on the way down to the swim start. It was a little bloody, but he seemed to think it was okay. We'd later learn it wasn't, but I'll get to that later.
The Swim:
I think the swim was measured long. It was 1.2 miles, and although I haven't been swimming THAT much, I wasn't too far out of shape. Still, my time was 41 minutes and 17 seconds, by FAR the worst time I've ever had in a swim. I didn't feel slower than I was at Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 last summer, but my time was almost 5 minutes slower, and that was despite having a wetsuit this time and swimming in salt water, both of which are supposed to make you more buoyant, and thus faster. Everyone's times were slow it seemed to me. The swim itself wasn't too bad. For a while there, I thought I wasn't going to make it, but after 10 minutes, I settled into a comfortable pace and seemed to do just fine. I was VERY glad to see the swim exit, though!
Transition 1:
I had a really good T-1. I got out of the water quickly and got my wetsuit down around my waist. Oddly, not many people were using the wetsuit strippers, but I learned my lesson from the Iron Star in 2006. I knew they'd be MUCH faster than I could be, so I lay down and they had the thing off me in about 2 seconds. I got up quickly and was at my bike in no time.
My bike was racked on the "A" rack, which was the closest to the swim exit. That was good and bad. It was good because I got to my bike fast. It was bad because it meant a longer run with the bike. No worries, though, because I had decided to start the bike with my shoes already on the bike. That made running with the bike much faster and easier. I got to the Bike Out line very quickly and was on the bike in no time.
My total time for T-1 was 2 minutes, 5 seconds. That was the 8th fastest time in my age group. Only 3 guys went under 2 minutes, and 2 of those wer3e under 1:40. Impressive.
The Bike:
Well . . . here's where it all went downhill. I got out on the bike pretty fast. Although I had a little trouble getting into my shoes (I hadn't practiced much recently), I managed to get going pretty well. I was averaging over 23 mph and had gone about 5 miles when I noticed on a bump that my back tire felt spongy. After a second bump, I knew it was low, so I pulled over to check it. Yep! It was going flat. A quick check of the tire showed an industrial-sized staple lodged in the tire. I pulled that out and set about replacing the tube.
Keep in mind this is the FIRST time in 3 1/2 years of racing that I'd ever gotten a flat on the bike course. I know how to change tires, and I'm good at it; but, in the middle of a race, when you're just itching to get back on the bike and every second counts, it's VERY easy to get sloppy. I got sloppy. I only had one spare tube, so I ripped out the old one, put the spare in and reset the tire on the rim. Unfortunately, I didn't check carefully enough to make sure that the beading on the tire was snug under the tire rim, and as I started pumping air into the tire from my CO2 cannister, I suddenly saw the tube bulging out from between the tire and the rim. I tried to stop the air flow as quickly as I could, but it was too late. The tube exploded and ripped in half. Done; finished; race over.
I must admit, I got a bit angry. I threw the wheel into the grass and shouted a few curse words at myself for being so careless. All the while, racers a whizzing by me. I sat there for 10 minutes before somebody offered me another tube, but I declined because they couldn't give me a CO2 cannister, too, and I was pretty much out of air. Mason rode by about 10 minutes after that, but I didn't even tell him what happened. I just yelled out that I was done. Turns out he had 2 spare tubes and 2 spare CO2 cannisters. I could've borrowed one from him, but by that time, I was 20 minutes down on my time and just too frustrated. Still, I wish now that I'd had him stop and give them to me.
Anyway . . . it took the SAG (support and gear) wagon 45 minutes to get to me. The guy offered to change my tire, but I told him I was done for the day. Then, I heard those awful words: "I don't have room to give you a ride back to transition." Yay! I got to walk 6 miles with my bike back to Transition! Oh . . . and I had just put new cleats on my shoes, so I didn't want to damage them, so I walked back barefoot. My feet are killing me!
So, anyhoo . . . after getting all my stuff from transition, I called Lisa and met up with her and Becca and Connor so that we could cheer Mason on for the rest of the race.
Wrap-Up:
I wish I'd gotten to do enough of this race to give it an honest assessment. It looks like a fantastic race, and everyone I saw looked like they were having a really good time. The swim was fun, and I was on my way to a very good bike split when the flat happened. It just makes me want to come back next year and get it done!
Monday, February 11, 2008
First Two Weeks of February
Here's a re-cap of my workouts for the first two weeks of February:
Jan. 27-Feb. 2:
Sun: Off
Mon: Run 8.02 miles
Tues: Off (work commitments)
Wed: Run 5.03 miles
Thurs: Bike 25.3 miles
Fri: Run 5.04 miles
Sat: Brick (Bike 22.5 miles, Run 2.0 miles)
Totals: Swim, none; Bike, 47.8 miles; Run, 20.09 miles
Feb. 3 - 9:
Sun: Off
Mon: Run 5.1 miles, Swim 1500 yards
Tues: Run 5.1 miles
Wed: Run 5.12 miles
Thurs: Bike 21.2 miles, Run 5.25 miles
Fri: Bike 25.37 miles, Run 5.11 miles
Sat: Bike 50.34 miles
Totals: Swim 1500 yards; Bike 96.91 miles; Run 25.68 miles
Not much to say about the workouts. The bike mileage has been hard. I'm jumping back in quickly with lots of miles, which has tired me out, but I need to get time in the saddle to be ready for the Lone Star Half Iron distance race on March 30. Hopefully, I'll get more swimming in over the next several weeks, too!
Jan. 27-Feb. 2:
Sun: Off
Mon: Run 8.02 miles
Tues: Off (work commitments)
Wed: Run 5.03 miles
Thurs: Bike 25.3 miles
Fri: Run 5.04 miles
Sat: Brick (Bike 22.5 miles, Run 2.0 miles)
Totals: Swim, none; Bike, 47.8 miles; Run, 20.09 miles
Feb. 3 - 9:
Sun: Off
Mon: Run 5.1 miles, Swim 1500 yards
Tues: Run 5.1 miles
Wed: Run 5.12 miles
Thurs: Bike 21.2 miles, Run 5.25 miles
Fri: Bike 25.37 miles, Run 5.11 miles
Sat: Bike 50.34 miles
Totals: Swim 1500 yards; Bike 96.91 miles; Run 25.68 miles
Not much to say about the workouts. The bike mileage has been hard. I'm jumping back in quickly with lots of miles, which has tired me out, but I need to get time in the saddle to be ready for the Lone Star Half Iron distance race on March 30. Hopefully, I'll get more swimming in over the next several weeks, too!
Friday, February 01, 2008
January Training Re-cap
Well . . . I don't know why it's been so hard for me to remember to do my weekly blogs this training season. Maybe it's because most of my training is pretty boring and routine and I don't want to bore friends and family with it. Or maybe it's just that I'm being lazy! Whatever the reason, I've revised my goals a bit to try and do training reports on a bi-weekly or at least monthly basis. So . . . without further ado, here's the recap of January 2008:
January Totals
Here's the total workout regimen for January 2008:
Swim: None
Bike: 7 hrs. 36 min. - 154.8 miles
Run: 14 hrs. 24 min. 56 sec. - 95.8 miles
As you can see, this has been a run-focused month (as February will be). The goal is to get my legs used to the constant pounding so that I'm not dying after 2 miles on every tri with a run longer than 5k. I'm focusing on being prepared for Olympic distance races, which will mean that I will run out of steam a lot on my half iron distance races, and that I'll probably have a lot more in the tank than I need at the end of my sprint races. Still . . . this is where I want to be this year. It's a base-building year to prepare more for another run at an Ironman with Steve in either 2009 or 2010.
On average, in January I ran 4-5 days per week and cycled once per week. That will definitely change in February, as I plan to start out with 4-5 days of running, 1-2 days of swimming, and 3-4 days of cycling per week. By the start of March I will be dropping to 3-4 days of running, increasing to 3 days of swimming, and leveling off at 3-4 days of cycling. At least one day a week in March (probably Saturdays) will be "brick" days (with a bike session followed by a short run). I'm hoping to average the following amounts per week by the start of March:
Swim: 5,000 yards per week
Bike: 100 miles per week
Run: 25 miles per week
Most of this will be at a heart rate pace for Zones 1-3 with intervals of Zone 4-5 for some speed work and for cardiovascular improvement.
Should be fun!
January Totals
Here's the total workout regimen for January 2008:
Swim: None
Bike: 7 hrs. 36 min. - 154.8 miles
Run: 14 hrs. 24 min. 56 sec. - 95.8 miles
As you can see, this has been a run-focused month (as February will be). The goal is to get my legs used to the constant pounding so that I'm not dying after 2 miles on every tri with a run longer than 5k. I'm focusing on being prepared for Olympic distance races, which will mean that I will run out of steam a lot on my half iron distance races, and that I'll probably have a lot more in the tank than I need at the end of my sprint races. Still . . . this is where I want to be this year. It's a base-building year to prepare more for another run at an Ironman with Steve in either 2009 or 2010.
On average, in January I ran 4-5 days per week and cycled once per week. That will definitely change in February, as I plan to start out with 4-5 days of running, 1-2 days of swimming, and 3-4 days of cycling per week. By the start of March I will be dropping to 3-4 days of running, increasing to 3 days of swimming, and leveling off at 3-4 days of cycling. At least one day a week in March (probably Saturdays) will be "brick" days (with a bike session followed by a short run). I'm hoping to average the following amounts per week by the start of March:
Swim: 5,000 yards per week
Bike: 100 miles per week
Run: 25 miles per week
Most of this will be at a heart rate pace for Zones 1-3 with intervals of Zone 4-5 for some speed work and for cardiovascular improvement.
Should be fun!
Sunday, January 06, 2008
The Start of a New Year!
As just about everyone who knows me well knows, the holidays are always a little bit of a downer for me on the exercise and work interest fronts. In fact, I think that I always seem to get a little bit depressed from about the middle of November through New Year's. I don' t know if it's because I have a mild case of seasonal affect disorder, or if it's just because the days grow shorter and the whole country's mood shifts away from working and more toward "taking it easy."
Whatever it is, it's always had an effect on me. I sleep a little harder (not better). My exercise regimen drops off, and I seem to lose interest in a lot of things that previously interested me (like my triathlon stuff!). Anyhoo . . . my training was dropping off steadily after IM Moo in early September. I kept it together long enough to get in one last Olympic distance race at the Toyota U.S. Open in Dallas, but after that, I really fell off. I had work commitments that took some time away . . . I had home life commitments that took some time away . . . and quite frankly, I didn't feel like doing much. So, from about November 1, 2007 through New Year's Day, I probably rode my bike a total of 10 or 11 times. I ran probably about 15 times, and I have totally stopped swimming.
The goal, post-IM, was to ramp down the swimming and cycling just a bit, and ramp UP the running. It is clearly my weakest sport, and I have GOT to get better. Since I plan on doing another Ironman in either 2009 or 2010, I need to get a solid run base down. That means sacrificing my racing, even short distance for a couple of years. I'll still race (mostly shorter distance races) and still go hard, but I'm guessing that I won't compete much for hardware over the next couple of years. My biking will suffer a bit unless I can get my weight back down (I'm up to 215 -- Yikes!!!).
Anyway . . . for anyone still interested in reading, here's how things have been since New Year's Day:
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Morning
Easy treadmill run . . . 2.5 miles (heart rate at 135 or lower)
10 minutes of stretching
15 minutes of abdominal exercises
3 sets of 10 push-ups (easy work to start building shoulder and chest muscles)
Evening
Easy trail run at Town Lake Trail . . . 3.2 miles (HR at 147 or lower)
Total SBR: 5.7 miles running
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Morning
Easy treadmill run . . . 2.5 miles (HR at 135 or lower)
10 minutes of stretching
15 minutes of abdominal exercises
3 sets of 10 push-ups
Evening
One-hour spin class
Total SBR: 2.5 miles running, <>20 miles biking
Friday, January 4, 2008
Morning
Easy treadmill run . . . 3.5 miles (HR at 135 or lower)
10 minutes of stretching
15 minutes of abdominal exercises
3 sets of 10 push-ups
Evening
Easy trail run at Town Lake Trail . . . 3.2 miles (HR at 147 or lower)
Total SBR: 6.7 miles running
Saturday, January 5, 2008
32 mile bike ride at South MoPac (4 loops)
Total SBR: 32 miles biking
Weekly Totals
Swim: None
Bike: <>52 miles
Run: 14.9 miles
Strength/Core: 1 hour 30 minutes
Whatever it is, it's always had an effect on me. I sleep a little harder (not better). My exercise regimen drops off, and I seem to lose interest in a lot of things that previously interested me (like my triathlon stuff!). Anyhoo . . . my training was dropping off steadily after IM Moo in early September. I kept it together long enough to get in one last Olympic distance race at the Toyota U.S. Open in Dallas, but after that, I really fell off. I had work commitments that took some time away . . . I had home life commitments that took some time away . . . and quite frankly, I didn't feel like doing much. So, from about November 1, 2007 through New Year's Day, I probably rode my bike a total of 10 or 11 times. I ran probably about 15 times, and I have totally stopped swimming.
The goal, post-IM, was to ramp down the swimming and cycling just a bit, and ramp UP the running. It is clearly my weakest sport, and I have GOT to get better. Since I plan on doing another Ironman in either 2009 or 2010, I need to get a solid run base down. That means sacrificing my racing, even short distance for a couple of years. I'll still race (mostly shorter distance races) and still go hard, but I'm guessing that I won't compete much for hardware over the next couple of years. My biking will suffer a bit unless I can get my weight back down (I'm up to 215 -- Yikes!!!).
Anyway . . . for anyone still interested in reading, here's how things have been since New Year's Day:
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Morning
Easy treadmill run . . . 2.5 miles (heart rate at 135 or lower)
10 minutes of stretching
15 minutes of abdominal exercises
3 sets of 10 push-ups (easy work to start building shoulder and chest muscles)
Evening
Easy trail run at Town Lake Trail . . . 3.2 miles (HR at 147 or lower)
Total SBR: 5.7 miles running
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Morning
Easy treadmill run . . . 2.5 miles (HR at 135 or lower)
10 minutes of stretching
15 minutes of abdominal exercises
3 sets of 10 push-ups
Evening
One-hour spin class
Total SBR: 2.5 miles running, <>20 miles biking
Friday, January 4, 2008
Morning
Easy treadmill run . . . 3.5 miles (HR at 135 or lower)
10 minutes of stretching
15 minutes of abdominal exercises
3 sets of 10 push-ups
Evening
Easy trail run at Town Lake Trail . . . 3.2 miles (HR at 147 or lower)
Total SBR: 6.7 miles running
Saturday, January 5, 2008
32 mile bike ride at South MoPac (4 loops)
Total SBR: 32 miles biking
Weekly Totals
Swim: None
Bike: <>52 miles
Run: 14.9 miles
Strength/Core: 1 hour 30 minutes
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Ironman Wisconsin Race Report
Well . . . IMoo is in the books, and it was an all around terrific event. Although I didn’t really even come close to hitting my time goal, I had a wonderful time at the race and just loved every minute of it. For those who just want the numbers, here they are:
Swim 1:15:42
T1 9:12
Bike 6:04:17
T2 3:22
Run 5:42:18
Some observations from the course:
1. The swim was just about what I expected. Having a calm day was key.
2. That run up the helix in T1 is not that bad; it’s navigating the sea of people getting their bikes out that caused me the most trouble.
3. The bike course was definitely fun and doable, but damn hard! It took a lot out of your legs.
4. I need to run more. I must point out, however, that I was on pace to finish about 30 minutes earlier, but decided not to worry about it because I’d rather finish with Steve (he was having severe stomach issues when I caught him on the run) and have some good memories than have some arbitrary time that still wasn’t as close to my goal time as I’d wanted to be. So . . . I walked a lot in the last half.
5. Finally, I guess I was never really willing to admit how injured I was before this race. The IT band issues from Buffalo Springs Lake in June took their toll, and my legs never really felt 100% ready for the race. Also, the calf strain 13 days before the race did affect my running a little. It never actually caused me pain, but I was acutely aware of it all during the run.
All-in-all, I thought it was a great event. I was disappointed with my time, but not so much that I let it get me down. I was really happy to finish in a respectable time, despite the injuries and the couple of bad breaks (see more below). Given the perfect racing conditions, it was just an all around enjoyable experience.
Here’s the long report:
Sunday, September 2 through Wednesday, September 5:
I drove up to St. Louis from Austin on the Sunday before the race. I had decided to hang out with Mason (Duchatschek) for a few days to get the benefit of his sage advice and Ironman veteran knowledge before race day. We had a really good time doing some very mild workouts (no running). Went on a few bike rides and swam one day just to keep things moving. Melissa (his wife), and Clayton (his son) were very wonderful hosts. I’m sure it couldn’t have been convenient to have me there for so many days, but they were very gracious and helped keep me at ease with the impending race. I’m so appreciative for everything they did for me. Thanks so much!!
Thursday, September 6:
Mason and I drove up to Madison on Thursday the 6th. We got a bit of a late start, but not too bad. We got in around 4:30 PM and, after wandering around downtown Madison a bit to get our bearings, we got to the hotel and got checked in. Steve got us reservations at the University Inn, which, despite its outdated accommodations, ended up being a great place to stay, primarily because it was right there on State Street, along the IM run course. Plus, it was in the heart of everything, so it was great for people-watching and for getting anything we needed nearby.
Steve and Laura and the twins (Alex and Will) got in around the same time. After we got all our stuff into the rooms and settled down, we decided to go out to Uno’s for some pizza. Then, we came back to the hotel and hung out for a bit before calling it an early night. At some time (I forget when), Steve’s friend, Matt and his wife, Shauna, arrived. I don’t recall if it was before or after us, but they had some other plans and didn’t go to dinner with us.
I forgot to mention that when I left Leander on Sunday, I’d forgotten my wetsuit, so Lisa FedExed it to the hotel. Although I was a bit worried, it DID arrive at about 8:00 PM Thursday night, so I had it for the rest of the week! WHEW!
Friday, September 7:
At 7:00 AM, Steve, Mason, Matt, and I got up and went down to Lake Monona for the Gatorade open water swim. It was a pretty rough day. The winds were fairly high, the clouds were dark and foreboding, and the lake was pretty tumultuous. Regardless, we jumped in our wetsuits and took a short swim (about 600-800 meters) just to get a feel for the water. It was definitely swimable, but I was certainly hoping for a less breezy day on race day.
After the swim, Mason took off to a business meeting and Steve and I stuck around for a pre-race talk that Steve’s coach, Rich Strauss, was giving to his athletes near the swim. It was a very informative talk. Rich and his coaching partner, Patrick, had some great advice for the group. In fact, I actually ended up using some of it in my race. Pretty much everything he said was spot-on. I can see why Steve likes using him as a coach.
After the talk, we headed back to the hotel to clean up, get some breakfast, and pick up Laura and the twins. Then, we headed back over to the Ironman village so that Steve and I could register for the race. That took longer than I’d hoped! By the way, I think their scales are wrong. They weighed me in at 202 lbs, and only 5 days earlier, I’d been under 195. Talk about a blow to the ego!!
Anyhoo . . . I was supposed to pick up my mom at the airport in the early afternoon, but registration ran late and she just took public transportation. Sorry, Mom!!! Glad you made it, though!
After registration, we went back to the hotel to see my mom, and then Matt and Steve and I piled into my car with the bikes so that we could drive the bike course and I get an idea of what I was in store for. We drove the whole length of the course and stopped at the top of Timber Lane so that Steve and I could ride back a couple of miles and then ride up Old Sauk Pass and Timber Lane to get a feel for how it would be race day. I thought they were respectable hills, but not too bad. Matt reminded me that by the time I got to them, I’d have a bunch of hills already under my belt and my legs would be tired. He was VERY right!
Anyway, after riding the course, we went back to the hotel and then met Mom and Laura and the twins for dinner at Za’s, a pasta house kind of place about a block from the hotel. Gotta get that carbo loading!
After visiting for a while, it was back to the hotel so I could get my transition bags and special needs bags packed up properly. Then, it was early to bed so that we could get a few more things done the next day.
Saturday, September 8:
Once again, Mason, Steve, and I went down to the Gatorade swim. Mason walked over with our stuff and Steve and I rode our bikes over, just to get the blood flowing a bit. It was a stark contrast to the day before! The wind was gone; so were the clouds. The water was like glass. We took turns swimming. Steve and I went out about 400 meters and then swam back, just getting a feel for the water and what it would be like swimming out along the shore line. It was nice. Then, Mason went out for a swim and told us to go on back to the hotel to get things ready for bike and bag check-in.
While we were warming up and getting stuff ready for check-in, Mom was heading to Chicago to pick up my wife, Lisa! I just have to say what an incredible trooper she was! Lisa is not a morning person, but to support me at IMoo, she got up at 4:00 AM on Saturday to get to her parents’ house so her dad could drive her to the airport for a 7:00 AM flight to Chicago. Once at Midway Airport, she then hopped on a CTA train to downtown, had to be shuttled by bus to another train stop, and then took a second train from downtown to O’Hare Airport, where my mom picked her up for the 2 hour drive up to Madison! What a heck of a day she had!
Steve and Mason and I dropped off the bags and bikes and then ran a couple of errands. We finally caught up with everyone else at the hotel at about 3:00 PM. We all just hung out and relaxed and then went back to Za’s for dinner. Mom, Lisa, and Laura didn’t eat at Za’s, they had Afghan food later. Steve, Mason, and I hit the hotel room around 8:00 PM, and just hung out and tried to fall asleep. I think I got to sleep around 12:00 AM.
RACE DAY!!
The alarms were set for 5:00 AM, but I was awake at 3:30 AM. I finally got up at 4:15 AM, and then Steve and Mason got up a little later. We did some last minute prepping, ate our breakfast (for me it was peanut butter on two slices of bread), and then headed out the door at about 5:15 AM to meet Matt in the lobby to drive over to the swim start. Mason parked my car about 2 blocks from the race finish line and we walked the rest of the way over to Monona Terrace. Once there, we did our final bike checks, loaded up the nutrition and hydration, checked the air pressure in the tires, and then went back into the Terrace to wait out the swim start.
At about 6:30 AM, Steve and I got into our wetsuits and headed down the helix toward the swim start line. Steve was wearing his Slowtwitch.com “Peaceful Tribe” jersey, and we ran into a few Slowtwitchers in the chute. The two I remember in the swim line were guys whose online handles were “lunchbox” and “cooterbob.” Funny guys; I hope they did well.
At the bottom of the line, near the water’s edge, I finally saw Mom and Lisa. They were in the stands waving to us. Laura and the twins didn’t make it to the start. The boys were a little sick, and I think Laura was exhausted from caring for them. She did an awesome job shuttling those guys around. It couldn’t have been easy for her. After waving to Lisa and Mom for a bit, Steve and I were off and into the water at about 6:55 AM, just after the pros started off. We treaded water for about 5 minutes, said our “good lucks,” and then at 7:00 AM, the cannon went off and we started swimming.
The Swim:
It wasn’t as bad as I’d been afraid it would be. The lake was like glass; no wind. Steve and I lined up behind the ski ramp and to the outside a bit to
avoid the scrum. It worked well. We had pretty smooth sailing throughout the first part of the swim (toward the first turn buoy). I felt like I was swimming okay. I never really got punched or kicked, and I really enjoyed most of it. I did get slapped on the legs a bit, but if it went on more than twice, I just started kicking hard and the person would back off.
I lost Steve immediately. I figured that would happen, so I just stuck to my race and kept swimming. I was amazed at how quickly the time passed. I took Steve’s coach’s advice and counted my strokes. It made the time go by even faster, and before I knew it, I was rounding the last buoy for the second time and heading toward shore.
When I got to my feet, the clock read 1:15. That was about exactly where I thought I’d finish. I learned later that Steve finished in about 1:12.
T1:
The first transition was LONG!! After I got out of the water, I got to the wetsuit peelers and got out of my wetsuit pretty fast. The problem was, though, that we had to run from the water’s edge up the helix, into Monona Terrace, and then into the bag room. Running up that helix was hard at first because I didn’t have my land legs back. About a third of the way up, I finally felt stable and picked up the pace.
Once in the bag room, I got my T1 bag handed to me and ran into the changing room. There was no place to sit, and I knew there wouldn’t be, so I planned accordingly. I had worn my tri top under the wetsuit, so I didn’t have any changing to do. I just stuffed my Gu’s into my shorts pockets, put on my helmet and sunglasses, grabbed my shoes, and ran out. I got to my bike, put my shoes on, and then started running way down the corridor of bike racks to the “Bike Out” arch. It was a LONG way to run. People kept popping out of the racks in front of me slowing me down. I expected this, but it was still frustrating. Anyway, I finally got to the bike out line, jumped on my bike, and headed down the helix to John Nolen Drive.
The Bike:
The bike course can only be described as tough! We biked down John Nolen Drive, along Lake Monona for a bit, then up on the bike path, under John Nolen Drive, and out into God-Knows-Where!!! There were so many turns on the bike course, I couldn’t have told you where I was at any given time. The long and short of it is this: The first 15 miles don’t give you any clue what you’re in store for later.
I cruised along nicely at the beginning. Doesn’t everyone? I’m glad I drove the course with Steve and Matt, though, because the first 15 miles doesn’t give you a clue as to how hard the bike course is. It was flat and fast (somewhat) in the beginning. I was a little anxious, though, because I couldn’t really get things going as fast as I wanted due to the sheer number of bikes out there. That turned out to be a good thing, though, because if I’d pushed harder, I probably would have burned up my legs really quickly.
At about Mile 25, I had my first big set back. I think the volume of travel and amount of time I spent sleeping in hotels and other beds over the last few weeks finally got me because my back, which had been a bit tight the week before the race, finally seized up on me and made it virtually impossible to stay aero for very long. I had no problems staying aero if I didn’t have to pedal, but I could only hold the position for 30 seconds to 1 minute if I had to pedal, so I spent the majority of the ride on the base bar and resting my hands on the arm pads trying to stretch out my back. I know this cost me a few minutes over the course of 90 miles. Still, I did tuck in on the descents to minimize the time loss.
The first loop of the course was just awesome. There were scattered spectators here and there, but when we hit the hill up into Mount Horeb, the crowd got thicker. The crowd right after the water stop at the Mount Horeb high school was loud and they were a lot like a mini version of Verona. It gave me a good adrenaline charge to go through there.
The first climb up Old Sauk Pass was not that bad. I knew it was coming due to my reconnaissance a couple of days earlier, so I spun easy until I got to it. I saw Matt in his bright orange shirt about 2/3 of the way up. He was very encouraging and told me Steve was only about 4 minutes ahead. I picked up the pace a bit, but my inability to stay aero really cost me some speed. I knew Steve had to be putting time on me because I had only been 3 minutes behind coming out of the water.
Just after Old Sauk Pass was Timber Lane. This was the steepest climb, but very short. Based on its grade and length, it reminded me of the climb on Highway 360 in Austin just before Bee Caves Road when you’re heading back towards town. Timber Lane was just a bit shorter than that hill. It was tons of fun, though. The crowd was packed in tight with a very narrow lane for the cyclists to get through. We all had to grind up the hill, so we were slow, and the crowd was like the Tour de France crowd cheering us up the hill. It was just awesome!
Once over Timber Lane, we had a nice general descent until Midtown Road, which was the last climb before Verona. On the first loop, I made a turn onto one of the roads between Midtown and Verona and then dropped my head as I coasted a bit. I wasn’t paying attention and almost rolled off the road onto the dirt shoulder. I had to ride the lip of the pavement for about 10 yards before I coaxed myself back onto the road. Two guys passed me just after that and both of them complemented me on the “nice save.” It could have been ugly if I’d rolled into that thick dirt!
Going through Verona was probably the most exhilarating part of the ride. The main drag was closed to traffic and there were barriers put up making it a narrow lane, only a bit wider than the path up Timber Lane. There were thousands of people lining the street cheering wildly. Plus, Verona was pretty flat, so we could fly down that lane looking good for the crowd. I saw Lisa holding a sign that said “I love my Danno!” That was a HUGE pick-me-up. Only a few short miles later, I was turning right to start my second loop.
There wasn’t much different about the second loop. I was a bit slower because of the toll that all the rollers had taken on my legs, but I wasn’t THAT much slower. My back was still bothering me a bit, but not so bad that I entertained any serious thoughts about quitting. I knew I’d have to keep my pace backed off a bit or else my back might really bother me on the run. When I saw Matt again at Old Sauk Pass, he told me Steve was now 12 minutes up on me. I knew then that I wouldn’t catch him on the bike. In fact, I figured that I wouldn’t see him again except maybe as he passed by in the opposite direction a few times on the run.
I completed the second loop and headed back into Madison toward T2. I thought I might have a shot at going under 6 hours, but as I checked my watch at the 100-mile mark, I knew I wouldn’t make that. No sweat, though, I raced my race and kept it steady and even, so I knew I’d have something on the run. I preferred to race smart rather than kill it on the bike out of some crazy misguided pride issue.
I was never so happy to see Monona Terrace as I was at about 2:15 PM on Sunday! I rolled up the helix, had a perfect dismount, and hopped off the bike at right about 2:25 PM for a 6:04 bike split.
T2:
My bike to run transition was much better than I’d expected. I was budgeting 5-6 minutes, but I did it in 3:22. I had a great dismount, leaving the shoes on the pedals. My running legs actually worked pretty well, and I got into the bag room and the changing room very quickly. Rolled my socks on, put on the shoes, stuffed my helmet in the bag and took off.
The Run:
As I said before, the run is always my weak spot. I didn’t put in nearly enough run training this year, and I knew breaking 5 hours would be hard. If I had been completely healthy, I think I could have done it, but it would have been tight. My goals had been to do 5:45 on the bike and 4:45 on the run so that I could do 1:15 on the swim and have 15 minutes of transition time to hit that 12 hour goal. My back trouble on the bike and the fact that my leg muscles just weren’t loose enough to give me comfort left me in a 20-minute deficit for my 12-hour goal. I knew when I left T-2 that I was probably not going to make that 12-hour goal. I would need to run faster than 4:30 on the marathon, and given my calf troubles, IT band issues, and general stiffness, I figured that was next to impossible. In fact, even if I’d been completely healthy, I don’t think I put in enough run training to do a 4:20 marathon anyway. I figured the best I could do would be to hit 5 hours even and get somewhere between 12:30 and 12:50 overall.
Alas, if I’d had any lingering hopes of blistering the run, they were dashed early on. At Mile 3, I started getting an upset stomach. I was a little surprised because my bike nutrition/hydration had been spot-on. I dumped my water bottle and Gatorade bottle at each alternating hydration station on the bike, so I always had cold water/Gatorade. I didn’t drink or eat too much and I varied the nutrition I ate so I wasn’t relying only on gels. Still, Mile 3 hit me like a ton of bricks; my heart rate was up and the water and Gatorade I’d had at the first two stations just sat there like a lump in my stomach. So I stopped and walked from Mile 3 to Mile 5. That helped a lot, and I ran Miles 5 and 6. However, at Mile 7, it returned, so I walked Miles 7, 8, and part of 9.
At Mile 9, I was caught by a guy named Bruce in the M40-45 group who had been just a few minutes behind me on the swim and bike. He was walking the aid stations and running in
between them. That had been my plan, but my GI issues were putting a crimp in that. He was going at a very easy pace, so I ran with him at Mile 9. We passed the time chatting and alternating our walking/running, and before we knew it, we hit the turn-around and were headed back on the last 13.1 miles. I was telling Bruce about running after Steve and that I was disappointed I probably wouldn’t catch him.
Just after Mile 16, Bruce and I were chatting about how I wouldn’t see Steve again for the rest of the day. Not 5 minutes later, I saw Steve up ahead walking. Apparently, the GI monster got him at Mile 14, and he’d been walking ever since. Bruce and I caught him about 20 meters before the Mile 17 aid station. We passed him and I invited him to come along, but he was hurting and declined.
I guess it was fortuitous that we caught him right before the aid station, because Bruce and I stopped and walked the station, and it was just a little bit before Observatory Hill, which we intended to walk also. Steve was back behind us just a bit and I invited him to come walk with us, which he did. By the time we got up Observatory Hill, Steve was able to walk/run with Bruce and me for a few more miles. So, we walked and ran together, all 3 of us, until Mile 21.
At Mile 21, Steve and I both had to use the porto-potties. We told Bruce to go on ahead and we’d try to catch up. After we got out of the can, Steve said he just couldn’t run anymore. He was still having GI problems when he ran and just needed to walk. I made the decision there to let Bruce go on alone and I’d stay with Steve. I figured that I could have finished about 20-35 minutes faster if I’d caught up with Bruce, but two things held me back. First, Steve didn’t look great and I was worried about him. I knew he’d be okay because of the great support at the race, but he looked like he needed some company to help keep him going. Second, and more importantly, I’d already determined I wouldn’t make my time goal, and rather than get “the fastest time I could,” I wanted to enjoy the experience. I figured that crossing the finish line with Steve would be more fun, more memorable, and more rewarding than crossing with an arbitrary time that was slower than I had wanted. I didn’t want my first Ironman experience to be me second-guessing everything about why I didn’t quite make my time goal. So, I chucked the “fastest time” and decided to walk with Steve. I’m glad I did. We had a fun finish.
We saw Mason at Mile 24 and told him we were going to carry Steve’s twin boys across the line with us, so he called ahead to Laura and had her waiting near the finish line with the boys. When we got there, Steve got Will and I got Alex, and we crossed the line together holding his boys. It was very memorable and a lot of fun. I wouldn’t have done it any other way!
My total run time was 5:42 or so, for a final finishing time of 13 hours, 14 minutes and 49 seconds. Steve actually crossed the line a second after me. It was awesome!
Wrap up:
In closing, let me say that this race was a really incredible experience. The crowd support was better than I remembered it being when I was there supporting Steve in 2004. They were loud, encouraging, helpful, kind, and just so great! The volunteers were simply amazing! I tried to thank as many people as I could, but there were so many of them! They made the race so much easier for us by being there. The city of Madison was great, too. The policemen controlling the intersections were polite and helpful. They did a great job, and I didn’t hear about any serious problems in race execution. All-in-all, it was just a glorious day out there.
Big thanks to Mason Duchatschek for sherpa-ing things for me. He was a great source of information and help. Also, he was all over the course, so it was cool having that inspiration everywhere! Thanks, Mase.
I have to give special thanks to my wife, Lisa. I already mentioned what a trooper she was just in getting to the race, but it went FAR beyond that. She was very patient with me during all my training (which admittedly wasn’t as oppressive as it could and probably should have been) and never complained once. She took on more than her share of the household duties and doggie care duties so that I could get in my long rides/runs. Frankly, I don’t know how she put up with it.
Most amazingly, however, she did all this in a summer that was filled with chaos. Her mother had neck surgery early in the summer, and Lisa had to help shuttle her around to appointments, help care for her, and do a lot of work that her mother simply couldn’t do because of the surgery. She also made the last few plans for and pulled off (almost flawlessly) our wedding in July. In fact, she was patient with me even though by the time IMoo rolled around, we’d been married less than 8 weeks, and I’d been gone for various reasons (work or IM sherpa duties) for just over two of those 8 weeks.
To top it all off, despite the weeks without me around, the early morning on Saturday, and all of the summer chaos, she managed to be just about everywhere on the bike and run courses to see me in action. I don’t know how she had the energy, but it was such a huge pick-me-up every time I saw her.
Then, if THAT wasn’t enough, she drove with me the entire trip home from Madison to Austin. I gotta tell you, I have the greatest wife in the world!
Anyhoo . . . That’s my Ironman Wisconsin report. It was a truly awesome experience. I can’t wait to do the next one!
Swim 1:15:42
T1 9:12
Bike 6:04:17
T2 3:22
Run 5:42:18
Some observations from the course:
1. The swim was just about what I expected. Having a calm day was key.
2. That run up the helix in T1 is not that bad; it’s navigating the sea of people getting their bikes out that caused me the most trouble.
3. The bike course was definitely fun and doable, but damn hard! It took a lot out of your legs.
4. I need to run more. I must point out, however, that I was on pace to finish about 30 minutes earlier, but decided not to worry about it because I’d rather finish with Steve (he was having severe stomach issues when I caught him on the run) and have some good memories than have some arbitrary time that still wasn’t as close to my goal time as I’d wanted to be. So . . . I walked a lot in the last half.
5. Finally, I guess I was never really willing to admit how injured I was before this race. The IT band issues from Buffalo Springs Lake in June took their toll, and my legs never really felt 100% ready for the race. Also, the calf strain 13 days before the race did affect my running a little. It never actually caused me pain, but I was acutely aware of it all during the run.
All-in-all, I thought it was a great event. I was disappointed with my time, but not so much that I let it get me down. I was really happy to finish in a respectable time, despite the injuries and the couple of bad breaks (see more below). Given the perfect racing conditions, it was just an all around enjoyable experience.
Here’s the long report:
Sunday, September 2 through Wednesday, September 5:
I drove up to St. Louis from Austin on the Sunday before the race. I had decided to hang out with Mason (Duchatschek) for a few days to get the benefit of his sage advice and Ironman veteran knowledge before race day. We had a really good time doing some very mild workouts (no running). Went on a few bike rides and swam one day just to keep things moving. Melissa (his wife), and Clayton (his son) were very wonderful hosts. I’m sure it couldn’t have been convenient to have me there for so many days, but they were very gracious and helped keep me at ease with the impending race. I’m so appreciative for everything they did for me. Thanks so much!!
Thursday, September 6:
Mason and I drove up to Madison on Thursday the 6th. We got a bit of a late start, but not too bad. We got in around 4:30 PM and, after wandering around downtown Madison a bit to get our bearings, we got to the hotel and got checked in. Steve got us reservations at the University Inn, which, despite its outdated accommodations, ended up being a great place to stay, primarily because it was right there on State Street, along the IM run course. Plus, it was in the heart of everything, so it was great for people-watching and for getting anything we needed nearby.
Steve and Laura and the twins (Alex and Will) got in around the same time. After we got all our stuff into the rooms and settled down, we decided to go out to Uno’s for some pizza. Then, we came back to the hotel and hung out for a bit before calling it an early night. At some time (I forget when), Steve’s friend, Matt and his wife, Shauna, arrived. I don’t recall if it was before or after us, but they had some other plans and didn’t go to dinner with us.
I forgot to mention that when I left Leander on Sunday, I’d forgotten my wetsuit, so Lisa FedExed it to the hotel. Although I was a bit worried, it DID arrive at about 8:00 PM Thursday night, so I had it for the rest of the week! WHEW!
Friday, September 7:
At 7:00 AM, Steve, Mason, Matt, and I got up and went down to Lake Monona for the Gatorade open water swim. It was a pretty rough day. The winds were fairly high, the clouds were dark and foreboding, and the lake was pretty tumultuous. Regardless, we jumped in our wetsuits and took a short swim (about 600-800 meters) just to get a feel for the water. It was definitely swimable, but I was certainly hoping for a less breezy day on race day.
After the swim, Mason took off to a business meeting and Steve and I stuck around for a pre-race talk that Steve’s coach, Rich Strauss, was giving to his athletes near the swim. It was a very informative talk. Rich and his coaching partner, Patrick, had some great advice for the group. In fact, I actually ended up using some of it in my race. Pretty much everything he said was spot-on. I can see why Steve likes using him as a coach.
After the talk, we headed back to the hotel to clean up, get some breakfast, and pick up Laura and the twins. Then, we headed back over to the Ironman village so that Steve and I could register for the race. That took longer than I’d hoped! By the way, I think their scales are wrong. They weighed me in at 202 lbs, and only 5 days earlier, I’d been under 195. Talk about a blow to the ego!!
Anyhoo . . . I was supposed to pick up my mom at the airport in the early afternoon, but registration ran late and she just took public transportation. Sorry, Mom!!! Glad you made it, though!
After registration, we went back to the hotel to see my mom, and then Matt and Steve and I piled into my car with the bikes so that we could drive the bike course and I get an idea of what I was in store for. We drove the whole length of the course and stopped at the top of Timber Lane so that Steve and I could ride back a couple of miles and then ride up Old Sauk Pass and Timber Lane to get a feel for how it would be race day. I thought they were respectable hills, but not too bad. Matt reminded me that by the time I got to them, I’d have a bunch of hills already under my belt and my legs would be tired. He was VERY right!
Anyway, after riding the course, we went back to the hotel and then met Mom and Laura and the twins for dinner at Za’s, a pasta house kind of place about a block from the hotel. Gotta get that carbo loading!
After visiting for a while, it was back to the hotel so I could get my transition bags and special needs bags packed up properly. Then, it was early to bed so that we could get a few more things done the next day.
Saturday, September 8:
Once again, Mason, Steve, and I went down to the Gatorade swim. Mason walked over with our stuff and Steve and I rode our bikes over, just to get the blood flowing a bit. It was a stark contrast to the day before! The wind was gone; so were the clouds. The water was like glass. We took turns swimming. Steve and I went out about 400 meters and then swam back, just getting a feel for the water and what it would be like swimming out along the shore line. It was nice. Then, Mason went out for a swim and told us to go on back to the hotel to get things ready for bike and bag check-in.
While we were warming up and getting stuff ready for check-in, Mom was heading to Chicago to pick up my wife, Lisa! I just have to say what an incredible trooper she was! Lisa is not a morning person, but to support me at IMoo, she got up at 4:00 AM on Saturday to get to her parents’ house so her dad could drive her to the airport for a 7:00 AM flight to Chicago. Once at Midway Airport, she then hopped on a CTA train to downtown, had to be shuttled by bus to another train stop, and then took a second train from downtown to O’Hare Airport, where my mom picked her up for the 2 hour drive up to Madison! What a heck of a day she had!
Steve and Mason and I dropped off the bags and bikes and then ran a couple of errands. We finally caught up with everyone else at the hotel at about 3:00 PM. We all just hung out and relaxed and then went back to Za’s for dinner. Mom, Lisa, and Laura didn’t eat at Za’s, they had Afghan food later. Steve, Mason, and I hit the hotel room around 8:00 PM, and just hung out and tried to fall asleep. I think I got to sleep around 12:00 AM.
RACE DAY!!
The alarms were set for 5:00 AM, but I was awake at 3:30 AM. I finally got up at 4:15 AM, and then Steve and Mason got up a little later. We did some last minute prepping, ate our breakfast (for me it was peanut butter on two slices of bread), and then headed out the door at about 5:15 AM to meet Matt in the lobby to drive over to the swim start. Mason parked my car about 2 blocks from the race finish line and we walked the rest of the way over to Monona Terrace. Once there, we did our final bike checks, loaded up the nutrition and hydration, checked the air pressure in the tires, and then went back into the Terrace to wait out the swim start.
At about 6:30 AM, Steve and I got into our wetsuits and headed down the helix toward the swim start line. Steve was wearing his Slowtwitch.com “Peaceful Tribe” jersey, and we ran into a few Slowtwitchers in the chute. The two I remember in the swim line were guys whose online handles were “lunchbox” and “cooterbob.” Funny guys; I hope they did well.
At the bottom of the line, near the water’s edge, I finally saw Mom and Lisa. They were in the stands waving to us. Laura and the twins didn’t make it to the start. The boys were a little sick, and I think Laura was exhausted from caring for them. She did an awesome job shuttling those guys around. It couldn’t have been easy for her. After waving to Lisa and Mom for a bit, Steve and I were off and into the water at about 6:55 AM, just after the pros started off. We treaded water for about 5 minutes, said our “good lucks,” and then at 7:00 AM, the cannon went off and we started swimming.
The Swim:
It wasn’t as bad as I’d been afraid it would be. The lake was like glass; no wind. Steve and I lined up behind the ski ramp and to the outside a bit to
avoid the scrum. It worked well. We had pretty smooth sailing throughout the first part of the swim (toward the first turn buoy). I felt like I was swimming okay. I never really got punched or kicked, and I really enjoyed most of it. I did get slapped on the legs a bit, but if it went on more than twice, I just started kicking hard and the person would back off.I lost Steve immediately. I figured that would happen, so I just stuck to my race and kept swimming. I was amazed at how quickly the time passed. I took Steve’s coach’s advice and counted my strokes. It made the time go by even faster, and before I knew it, I was rounding the last buoy for the second time and heading toward shore.
When I got to my feet, the clock read 1:15. That was about exactly where I thought I’d finish. I learned later that Steve finished in about 1:12.
T1:
The first transition was LONG!! After I got out of the water, I got to the wetsuit peelers and got out of my wetsuit pretty fast. The problem was, though, that we had to run from the water’s edge up the helix, into Monona Terrace, and then into the bag room. Running up that helix was hard at first because I didn’t have my land legs back. About a third of the way up, I finally felt stable and picked up the pace.
Once in the bag room, I got my T1 bag handed to me and ran into the changing room. There was no place to sit, and I knew there wouldn’t be, so I planned accordingly. I had worn my tri top under the wetsuit, so I didn’t have any changing to do. I just stuffed my Gu’s into my shorts pockets, put on my helmet and sunglasses, grabbed my shoes, and ran out. I got to my bike, put my shoes on, and then started running way down the corridor of bike racks to the “Bike Out” arch. It was a LONG way to run. People kept popping out of the racks in front of me slowing me down. I expected this, but it was still frustrating. Anyway, I finally got to the bike out line, jumped on my bike, and headed down the helix to John Nolen Drive.
The Bike:
The bike course can only be described as tough! We biked down John Nolen Drive, along Lake Monona for a bit, then up on the bike path, under John Nolen Drive, and out into God-Knows-Where!!! There were so many turns on the bike course, I couldn’t have told you where I was at any given time. The long and short of it is this: The first 15 miles don’t give you any clue what you’re in store for later.
I cruised along nicely at the beginning. Doesn’t everyone? I’m glad I drove the course with Steve and Matt, though, because the first 15 miles doesn’t give you a clue as to how hard the bike course is. It was flat and fast (somewhat) in the beginning. I was a little anxious, though, because I couldn’t really get things going as fast as I wanted due to the sheer number of bikes out there. That turned out to be a good thing, though, because if I’d pushed harder, I probably would have burned up my legs really quickly.
At about Mile 25, I had my first big set back. I think the volume of travel and amount of time I spent sleeping in hotels and other beds over the last few weeks finally got me because my back, which had been a bit tight the week before the race, finally seized up on me and made it virtually impossible to stay aero for very long. I had no problems staying aero if I didn’t have to pedal, but I could only hold the position for 30 seconds to 1 minute if I had to pedal, so I spent the majority of the ride on the base bar and resting my hands on the arm pads trying to stretch out my back. I know this cost me a few minutes over the course of 90 miles. Still, I did tuck in on the descents to minimize the time loss.
The first loop of the course was just awesome. There were scattered spectators here and there, but when we hit the hill up into Mount Horeb, the crowd got thicker. The crowd right after the water stop at the Mount Horeb high school was loud and they were a lot like a mini version of Verona. It gave me a good adrenaline charge to go through there.
The first climb up Old Sauk Pass was not that bad. I knew it was coming due to my reconnaissance a couple of days earlier, so I spun easy until I got to it. I saw Matt in his bright orange shirt about 2/3 of the way up. He was very encouraging and told me Steve was only about 4 minutes ahead. I picked up the pace a bit, but my inability to stay aero really cost me some speed. I knew Steve had to be putting time on me because I had only been 3 minutes behind coming out of the water.
Just after Old Sauk Pass was Timber Lane. This was the steepest climb, but very short. Based on its grade and length, it reminded me of the climb on Highway 360 in Austin just before Bee Caves Road when you’re heading back towards town. Timber Lane was just a bit shorter than that hill. It was tons of fun, though. The crowd was packed in tight with a very narrow lane for the cyclists to get through. We all had to grind up the hill, so we were slow, and the crowd was like the Tour de France crowd cheering us up the hill. It was just awesome!
Once over Timber Lane, we had a nice general descent until Midtown Road, which was the last climb before Verona. On the first loop, I made a turn onto one of the roads between Midtown and Verona and then dropped my head as I coasted a bit. I wasn’t paying attention and almost rolled off the road onto the dirt shoulder. I had to ride the lip of the pavement for about 10 yards before I coaxed myself back onto the road. Two guys passed me just after that and both of them complemented me on the “nice save.” It could have been ugly if I’d rolled into that thick dirt!
Going through Verona was probably the most exhilarating part of the ride. The main drag was closed to traffic and there were barriers put up making it a narrow lane, only a bit wider than the path up Timber Lane. There were thousands of people lining the street cheering wildly. Plus, Verona was pretty flat, so we could fly down that lane looking good for the crowd. I saw Lisa holding a sign that said “I love my Danno!” That was a HUGE pick-me-up. Only a few short miles later, I was turning right to start my second loop.
There wasn’t much different about the second loop. I was a bit slower because of the toll that all the rollers had taken on my legs, but I wasn’t THAT much slower. My back was still bothering me a bit, but not so bad that I entertained any serious thoughts about quitting. I knew I’d have to keep my pace backed off a bit or else my back might really bother me on the run. When I saw Matt again at Old Sauk Pass, he told me Steve was now 12 minutes up on me. I knew then that I wouldn’t catch him on the bike. In fact, I figured that I wouldn’t see him again except maybe as he passed by in the opposite direction a few times on the run.
I completed the second loop and headed back into Madison toward T2. I thought I might have a shot at going under 6 hours, but as I checked my watch at the 100-mile mark, I knew I wouldn’t make that. No sweat, though, I raced my race and kept it steady and even, so I knew I’d have something on the run. I preferred to race smart rather than kill it on the bike out of some crazy misguided pride issue.
I was never so happy to see Monona Terrace as I was at about 2:15 PM on Sunday! I rolled up the helix, had a perfect dismount, and hopped off the bike at right about 2:25 PM for a 6:04 bike split.
T2:
My bike to run transition was much better than I’d expected. I was budgeting 5-6 minutes, but I did it in 3:22. I had a great dismount, leaving the shoes on the pedals. My running legs actually worked pretty well, and I got into the bag room and the changing room very quickly. Rolled my socks on, put on the shoes, stuffed my helmet in the bag and took off.
The Run:
As I said before, the run is always my weak spot. I didn’t put in nearly enough run training this year, and I knew breaking 5 hours would be hard. If I had been completely healthy, I think I could have done it, but it would have been tight. My goals had been to do 5:45 on the bike and 4:45 on the run so that I could do 1:15 on the swim and have 15 minutes of transition time to hit that 12 hour goal. My back trouble on the bike and the fact that my leg muscles just weren’t loose enough to give me comfort left me in a 20-minute deficit for my 12-hour goal. I knew when I left T-2 that I was probably not going to make that 12-hour goal. I would need to run faster than 4:30 on the marathon, and given my calf troubles, IT band issues, and general stiffness, I figured that was next to impossible. In fact, even if I’d been completely healthy, I don’t think I put in enough run training to do a 4:20 marathon anyway. I figured the best I could do would be to hit 5 hours even and get somewhere between 12:30 and 12:50 overall.
Alas, if I’d had any lingering hopes of blistering the run, they were dashed early on. At Mile 3, I started getting an upset stomach. I was a little surprised because my bike nutrition/hydration had been spot-on. I dumped my water bottle and Gatorade bottle at each alternating hydration station on the bike, so I always had cold water/Gatorade. I didn’t drink or eat too much and I varied the nutrition I ate so I wasn’t relying only on gels. Still, Mile 3 hit me like a ton of bricks; my heart rate was up and the water and Gatorade I’d had at the first two stations just sat there like a lump in my stomach. So I stopped and walked from Mile 3 to Mile 5. That helped a lot, and I ran Miles 5 and 6. However, at Mile 7, it returned, so I walked Miles 7, 8, and part of 9.
At Mile 9, I was caught by a guy named Bruce in the M40-45 group who had been just a few minutes behind me on the swim and bike. He was walking the aid stations and running in
between them. That had been my plan, but my GI issues were putting a crimp in that. He was going at a very easy pace, so I ran with him at Mile 9. We passed the time chatting and alternating our walking/running, and before we knew it, we hit the turn-around and were headed back on the last 13.1 miles. I was telling Bruce about running after Steve and that I was disappointed I probably wouldn’t catch him.Just after Mile 16, Bruce and I were chatting about how I wouldn’t see Steve again for the rest of the day. Not 5 minutes later, I saw Steve up ahead walking. Apparently, the GI monster got him at Mile 14, and he’d been walking ever since. Bruce and I caught him about 20 meters before the Mile 17 aid station. We passed him and I invited him to come along, but he was hurting and declined.
I guess it was fortuitous that we caught him right before the aid station, because Bruce and I stopped and walked the station, and it was just a little bit before Observatory Hill, which we intended to walk also. Steve was back behind us just a bit and I invited him to come walk with us, which he did. By the time we got up Observatory Hill, Steve was able to walk/run with Bruce and me for a few more miles. So, we walked and ran together, all 3 of us, until Mile 21.At Mile 21, Steve and I both had to use the porto-potties. We told Bruce to go on ahead and we’d try to catch up. After we got out of the can, Steve said he just couldn’t run anymore. He was still having GI problems when he ran and just needed to walk. I made the decision there to let Bruce go on alone and I’d stay with Steve. I figured that I could have finished about 20-35 minutes faster if I’d caught up with Bruce, but two things held me back. First, Steve didn’t look great and I was worried about him. I knew he’d be okay because of the great support at the race, but he looked like he needed some company to help keep him going. Second, and more importantly, I’d already determined I wouldn’t make my time goal, and rather than get “the fastest time I could,” I wanted to enjoy the experience. I figured that crossing the finish line with Steve would be more fun, more memorable, and more rewarding than crossing with an arbitrary time that was slower than I had wanted. I didn’t want my first Ironman experience to be me second-guessing everything about why I didn’t quite make my time goal. So, I chucked the “fastest time” and decided to walk with Steve. I’m glad I did. We had a fun finish.
We saw Mason at Mile 24 and told him we were going to carry Steve’s twin boys across the line with us, so he called ahead to Laura and had her waiting near the finish line with the boys. When we got there, Steve got Will and I got Alex, and we crossed the line together holding his boys. It was very memorable and a lot of fun. I wouldn’t have done it any other way!
My total run time was 5:42 or so, for a final finishing time of 13 hours, 14 minutes and 49 seconds. Steve actually crossed the line a second after me. It was awesome!
Wrap up:In closing, let me say that this race was a really incredible experience. The crowd support was better than I remembered it being when I was there supporting Steve in 2004. They were loud, encouraging, helpful, kind, and just so great! The volunteers were simply amazing! I tried to thank as many people as I could, but there were so many of them! They made the race so much easier for us by being there. The city of Madison was great, too. The policemen controlling the intersections were polite and helpful. They did a great job, and I didn’t hear about any serious problems in race execution. All-in-all, it was just a glorious day out there.
Big thanks to Mason Duchatschek for sherpa-ing things for me. He was a great source of information and help. Also, he was all over the course, so it was cool having that inspiration everywhere! Thanks, Mase.
I have to give special thanks to my wife, Lisa. I already mentioned what a trooper she was just in getting to the race, but it went FAR beyond that. She was very patient with me during all my training (which admittedly wasn’t as oppressive as it could and probably should have been) and never complained once. She took on more than her share of the household duties and doggie care duties so that I could get in my long rides/runs. Frankly, I don’t know how she put up with it.Most amazingly, however, she did all this in a summer that was filled with chaos. Her mother had neck surgery early in the summer, and Lisa had to help shuttle her around to appointments, help care for her, and do a lot of work that her mother simply couldn’t do because of the surgery. She also made the last few plans for and pulled off (almost flawlessly) our wedding in July. In fact, she was patient with me even though by the time IMoo rolled around, we’d been married less than 8 weeks, and I’d been gone for various reasons (work or IM sherpa duties) for just over two of those 8 weeks.
To top it all off, despite the weeks without me around, the early morning on Saturday, and all of the summer chaos, she managed to be just about everywhere on the bike and run courses to see me in action. I don’t know how she had the energy, but it was such a huge pick-me-up every time I saw her.
Then, if THAT wasn’t enough, she drove with me the entire trip home from Madison to Austin. I gotta tell you, I have the greatest wife in the world!
Anyhoo . . . That’s my Ironman Wisconsin report. It was a truly awesome experience. I can’t wait to do the next one!
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