Blaine Triathlon - Sprint

Saturday (5-19) was my first official race of the year.  It was in Blaine and is a Sprint distance (.3 mile swim, 16.7 bike and 3.5 run).

So FIRST race of the year.  SECOND race EVERY.  FIRST time in the open water all year.  FIRST time swimming in my wetsuit.  Oh yeah, might as well just go for it huh.

Christine and I drove up on Friday to pick up my packet and drive the course.  Saturday I drove up by myself (and forgot a skewer for my rear wheel) and Christine brought the girls up (not an easy task)

Just before I was about to go out, I saw my cheering section and was able to catch a quick picture.

The water was incredibly cold.  It literally took my breathe away when I went out for a practice swim.  We all line up on the beach and jockeyed for position.  It's funny both races so far have had some pretty funny guys talking before we go.  You can hear stuff like "I'm not going first" or "I'm slow, you go ahead of me" or even last year it was "How many of you guys are doing this on a dare?".  Funny stuff.

I was able find my way to the far left when we took off.

It's always so amazing how far the swim looks when you are standing on shore.  Doing longer races will put it into a different perspective...but for now, man it seems like a long way.

The swim was tough.  It was pretty windy and there seemed to be a lot of current.  I felt pretty crappy getting out of the water.  I ran into two major issues.  First off, my goal was to hang back and just follow a group out (so I didn't have to spend so much time spotting - looking where I was going).  That failed miserably because the group of three guys I was swimming behind were swimming way off course.  Lesson learned.  The second bummer was that I had to mix in some breaststroke for about 1/2 the time.

The area from the swim exit to the entering of the Transition area (called T-1 when it's getting your bike and T-2 when you are dropping off your bike) was pretty far away.  After getting harassed last year for not running, I tried to jog this year...

I was pretty quick in T-1 and felt good going out on the bike.  It's always kind of a reality check going into T-1 because you are around people in your wave and you can quickly judge how the swim was by how many bike are there (or gone).

It was a windy day so I knew I had my work cut out for me.

Coming in from the bike into T-2 I felt pretty good still.  I think I went out semi hard and left a little left out on the bike.  I was tentative on my speed because I didn't want to fry myself before the run.

I felt really strong coming out of T-2 and was ready for the run.  There is always time for a quick smile or hello before the run kicks in.

Christine got a great picture at the finish line.  Getting at that point is pretty cool.  It's a relief that it's over because there isn't much left in the tank,  the pride for the accomplishment of a goal and pushing yourself, the joy that training seemed to be worth it and the self criticism that I should have done better.  You kind of have a bit of a high for about and hour and then it all kind of hits you and tiredness sets in.

Fun stats.
Swim
- 9/27 in my age group.
- Time 10:10 (1:56/100yds)
- AVG HR = 154 (zone3)
Bike
-  59:02 (17 mph)
- AVG HR = 158 (zone4a)
Run
- 38:14 (10:56/mile) - all neg splits too! 
- AVG HR = 162 (zone 4b)
I know it's not that impressive...but compared to last fall: Faster in swim by :40/100 yds, bike 3.28 mph and run 2:00/mile.

It seemed like a great event overall.  Tons of stuff for the girls to do and stay busy and for me, there was a ton of support during the run through the nice neighborhood.  Garages were open, music was playing and kids were out spraying the athletes.

So all in all a great race, a great start to the 'season'

Century Ride

Yep...I know I'm a bit behind.  I'm going to try and get all my races updated this week.

I did my first Century ride on 5/6.  It took about 7hrs 15mins to complete.  That does include about 45 minutes of stopping/resting time, so actual time in the saddle was about 6.5 hours.

It rained a ton on Saturday night and miraculously cleared up for Sunday.  Riding along you could see all the branches that got knocked down and every stream we passed by was flowing hard.

We knew going in that the weather could be a bit chilly so Christine, the girls and I made a pit stop at Erik's and got some leg warmers, arm warmers, wind jacket  and a hat to wear under my helmet.   They helped a ton.

We also met up with two of the people that will be doing the Ironman in Cozumel with me.  It was nice to meet them and they actually let me tag along with them on the ride. 

 The two that are going are Jim (bald guy on my right) and Howie (on my left).  Really nice guys.  Should make for a fun trip.

They were pretty fast compared to me and all rode together really well.  They passed me in a blaze and waited for me at the rest stop.  Oh well...maybe next year I can hang.


Some 'fun stats' from the ride...
Total time - 6:26::21
Total distance - 98.5 miles (my watch was a bit off because GPS wasnt set)
Avg Speed -  15.3 mph
Max Speed - 38.41mph (I like to pedal hard down the hills!)
Avg Cadence - 74 rpm
Avg HR - 139 (mid z2)

To put those in an Ironman perspective...
- Total Time - I would really like to do the Ironman in 6:26:21.
- That race is 112 miles.
- Avg Speed - I would like to do 17-18 mph for the race (lots of work to do)
- Avg Cadence - 80-85 rpm is my goal
- Avg HR -  Mid z2 would be awesome.  Chances are it will be higher so that makes it tougher.

Sh*t Triathletes Say

I think this is pretty funny...a year ago I didn't know any of what he was talking about.  Now I know about 99% of it and say about 50% of it

Race Season is HERE

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but there has been nothing exciting going on in training land.  It's been base building these past few weeks and I'm just chugging through the miles.

The exciting news is that race season is actually here.  On Saturday I ran my first half marathon (13.1 miles) in Nisswa.  

Here I am coming down the final stretch.  this was probably the longest stride I had all day!!!  HAHAHA

Even though it was officially a race, it was really a training run for me with a few goals from coach.

1.  Run the whole race (which I did!)
2.  Run a negative split - think finish strong and the 2nd half should be faster than first half (which I did - 2nd half was 18 minutes faster than the first and I ran the last 5k in 35:57)
3.  Practice nutrition - running through aid stations, when to eat and how much etc (which I did).  I had to stop at the port-a-potty at the first two stations so I kind of eased up on water, I should have stuck with it.  Lesson learned.
4.  Feel good after the race (so far so good).  I did a 1.5 hr bike on Sunday night and a 50 minute swim on Monday morning. 

With my watch I was able to upload my HR(red) and pace(blue) throughout the race.  I was definitely in a steady groove the first 4.5 miles.  As my HR started to climb, you can see I had more variations in my pace because I was trying to control the HR by slowing down a bit.  The spike around mile 10 is where I saw everyone in the van cheering...it was a big pick me up!!! The HR was pretty much a lost cause after that point and I was determined to just grind through it.


The downside is that I did get lapped by one person (the guy who won the marathon finished about 3 minutes in front of me).  Going in I knew it could happen, just was hoping it wouldn't.

I'm feeling good going into the Ironman Bike Ride on Sunday.  My first 100 mile ride.  I hope to whip that bad boy out in about 6 hours...yawza!

Coach Bob

It's official, I have a coach, Coach Bob.  

He is a friend and coach of Angie Schmidt and I think she talked him into having an opening for me.  He's been a coach for over 30 years and specializes in training cyclists and triathletes.  He's certified through USA Triathlon and USA Cycling and also the the Head Cycling coach for Life Time Fitness. 
I just learned today that he has worked with some of the best coaches in the industry including Joe Friel (who wrote a bunch of books; including Going Long - see first post).  It's funny how small of a world it really is.  I feel very fortunate to be working with him.

So what does he do?  
The bulk of his job is to create my training/workout schedule. We use a website called TrainingPeaks as our main point of contact.  We each have an account and he is linked as my coach so he posts workouts on my calendar with directions/instructions.  After I complete them, I upload the data from my watch (or update manually - BORING) and then type in comments on how it went and answer any questions he had.  After I complete my part; he gets an email that it has been updated and then he usually sends me an email with some kudos.  
He is also there to answer any questions I may have. I will have some on race day nutrition that he will be able to answer.
Bob also is the one that leads the rides that I have gone to on Thursday nights.   


What does it look like? 
This is what last weeks schedule looked like.  He usually only does 2 days out at a time.  I don't know what my workout for Saturday or Sunday of this week is yet!



Here is a shot of what the workout instructions were like on Monday.  I just fill in the post activity comments and the completed info on the left.


All pretty cool stuff.  I'll get into a TrainingPeaks post another day.