Sweet Victory

Generally speaking, 36-year-old men shouldn’t do more than 1 race per week. Or rather, this one shouldn’t. But since I agreed to help set up for this year’s YWCA Race Against Racism – which meant I’d be at the course on a relatively early Saturday morning, I figured, “Why not?” Going into the race (a 5k), I’d set a goal of sub 21:00, with a stretch goal of 20:45. Hitting this would raise my VDOT to 47, continuing my trend of VDOT improvement of 1/month for the past several months. All of that being said, I knew I needed to be flexible with my goal because a. I’d finished the triathlon six days prior, b. I’d done a hard workout 48 hours prior and c. I’d gotten up a 5am to help set up. Coupled with a 5 wake-up call for the tri last week, I knew I was tired. Truth be told, I had a secondary goal, too for this race. A guy I work with had out-kicked me last time we did a 5k together and I wanted a little revenge. I intended to get it by going out hard because I’ve never had a kick s...

Results are in for the Hempfield Tri for Kids Sake and they confirm what I suspected: I'm a much better runner at this point than triathlete. Overall, I came in 49th, out of 132. Among men in my age group, I came in 14th out of 23, which is so-so. If there's anything to feel alright about, it's that while 13th place was just one second faster, I would've had to shave five minutes off my time for 12th place and there was nooooo way that was happening. And for what it's worth, on my own time clock, I did come in five seconds faster, so if it helps me sleep better at night, I could claim 13th place. It won't, though, so I won't. Split-wise, things were about what I expected: 19/23 on the swim.. can't expect much more with six weeks of swim training, I suppose. On the bike, I finished 18/23... this is probably the most frustrating to me, as I did a good amount of bike training over the winter. However, there were 3 finishers within 90 seconds of me on the ...

So yesterday was my first triathlon, the Hempfield Tri for Kids Sake – a sprint distance tri… 300 meter swim, followed by 16 mi. bike, followed by a 3 mile run. As a little re-cap, when I started getting back into shape ten months ago, I did it with the goal of doing tris, thinking that my knees wouldn’t handle just running anymore. But a few interesting things have happened over the past ten months. 1. ) My knees feel great, particularly since getting orthotics five months ago.. My training has been virtually injury-free. 2.) I’ve steadily climbed up the results in my age-group in running races – generally finishing in the top 25-30%. Due to my experiences in high school and college, I know my ceiling is about top 10% - I just didn’t realize how quickly I could get back to that level. 3.) I don’t really like the specificity of tri training – due to time constraints and facility constraints, certain days I have to do certain workouts and – to be frank – that ann...

So today was my last hard workout, prior to the tri... and it wasn't a monster workout by any stretch, but a hard effort swim workout. And it's done. And I'm happy about that. I think for a triathlete, I make a pretty good runner. But no matter -- I'm looking forward to the race this Sunday. Random notes: 1) I rode the bike course last weekend before the Noreaster came... or at least, I rode most of it and then some. Some roads weren't well marked (though presumably will be on Race Day) and I ended up riding 21 miles instead of the 16 mile course. 2) I saw a lot of other bikers on the course -- many I'm sure we're doing a test ride like myself. One dude - I promise you - will destroy me come Sunday. He had the aero bars, the tear drop helmet and the tights with Italian words on. I had my biking shorts, a windbreaker and my 10 year old Cannondale. And while the purple Cannondale comes in at 20 lbs. and is a fine machine, let's face it -- I've got shif...

Funny thing happens when you're a bad blogger... you write a post about hitting crunch time. Two weeks later, you're writing a post about your taper. In between, mostly radio silence. But all is good... Had a great nine mile run at an 8:00/clip last Friday, with a seven mile run at the same pace yesterday. In between, I had what I think was a good workout on the bike but since it's still on the trainer, who the hell knows how fast I'm really going. At any rate, even though my race is only a sprint tri., I've pretty much decided it's a *key* race for me, so I'm pulling a mini taper going into it, dropping 1 bike workout each of the next two weeks and cutting down on one of my runs next week. Unless something miraculous happens, I'm going to race my butt off on this one and put together a great running program for the summer, culminating in what I hope will be a sub- 3:30 marathon in the fall. As always - all of this is subject to change. But I feel relati...

One day left in the month, but tomorrow could turn out to be a rest day... or not... rest day could be Sunday. Either way, the numbers are pretty much in. Going into it, the goals were: 72 miles running, 12 bikes, and 8 swims.... Survey says: * 87 miles running * 13 bikes (tomorrow - if anything will be a bike day) * 3 swims The lack of swimming can be blamed on a lack of a pool as I decided to join just when ownership was changing hands, so there were ten days when nobody could figure out what to do with me. (Not nearly the first time that's happened.) I'm pleased with the rest of it, though... 87 miles is my second best running month ever (only five miles less than the #1 month which included not a lick of cross training).. finding bike time is tough, because that's evening time, usually. Other things of note: Average run pace: 8:11, down from 8:24 in Feb., and 8:33 in March. I only flat-out missed 1 planned work-out... I'm proud of that. I missed two in Feb. and fiv...

Wow, was last week a bear! My only spring-time tradeshow, coupled with an aggressive travel schedule and an aggressive training schedule. It all started with the 4 Mile Run 4 Luck the weekend before I left. Despite a snow-covered road, I hit my goal, finishing in 27:50. The snowstorm the previous day did a serious number on race entries - I came in 19th overall, and 5th out of 17th in my age group. Only 120 people did the whole race. Maybe because of the light crowd, I ran a really stupid race. A too-fast 6:30 first mile gave way to a too-slow 7:55 second mile, before I righted myself and ran the last two much more even. But it was a good tune-up heading into next month's triathlon. I'd tacked on a little extra work the previous week, not sure of how much I'd get to work out in Chicago. In the end, I did pretty well -- we flew into town Monday morning and set up the booth. Prior to opening with a cocktail party, I snuck into hotel gym for bike ride Monday. Tuesday AM, I did...

That question rolls around in my head a lot these days... While I know my current program is more than adequate for sprint distance and probably close to enough for Olympic distance, I do have Ironman delusions or - at the very least - marathon delusions, and I've thought about how much more training those longer events would require. Stumbling upon this entry by Ray Britt was a real eye-opener for me and has caused me to think that maybe I can go longer without my family forgetting who I am. Don't miss the post, as Britt goes into detail (and includes his logs for all to see), but here's the money quote: I’ve tracked every minute of my training since starting endurance events in 1994. And looking back over the years, here are my benchmarks: • First Real Triathlon season: 5 to 6 hours training hours per week • Seasons as a top 25% or better finisher: 6 to 7 hours training hours per week • Seasons as a top 10% or better finisher: 7 to 8 hours training hours per week

Typing this blog entry on a Mac(!). My PC at work bit the dust and since I like to think of myself as relatively ambidextrous when it comes to computers, I accepted a recently retired G4. While I'm relearning those silly Mac rules, the darn thing is pretty cute and we're getting along well so far... This could end the first time I try to modify a magazine advertisement created on the PC (!), so stay tuned. I didn't need new running shoes, but when the Sports Authority puts the recently discontinued Asics Kayano XII's on sale for 67 bucks, what's a guy to do? These are $135 kicks, mind you, and sale price rarely go lower than 90.... Because I tend to wear out shoes in 2-3 months, I usually buy cheaper ones, but how could I say no to that good deal? So I'm going to rotate them with my other shoes, since I bought them less than a month ago, too. Bonus news? I wasn't planning on running today, but with new shoes, how can I say no? Short 4 miles planned with one ...

Great run over lunch today... for more than a month my tempo workouts have all been around 7:50-7:59 miles... nothing I did could bump them down. However, I did notice that my easy runs had become quicker during the same time frame... from 8:35 down to 8:20. I hoped it was only a matter of time before this translated to better tempo workouts. Finally, today it did, as I did my usual lunch-time 10k at a brisk 7:36/mile. Was actually at 7:30 per mile at the five mile mark before the bear jumped on my back a little. But still, this gives me hope that I can break 28 next weekend. In other news, I got a promotional offer via Active yesterday, offering me a free Enervit RacePack. As a diabetic with a triathlon in a month, this offer couldn't have been more well timed. Though I'll spare you the details, when I went to a local retailer to claim my RacePack, they had no idea what I was talking about and after some phone calls told me that if I called them in three weeks, they might hav...

Sent in my registration for the Run 4 Luck today - a 4 mile jaunt through the neighborhoods of down-town Lancaster a week from Saturday. Looking forward to the distance - expecting it to be a little less frantic than the typical 5k mob scene. Goalwise, I'm not sure. In previous posts, I'd mentioned improving at a V-Dot click or 1 or 2 per month. That's pretty good, but I was also waaay out of shape when I started. Obviously that type of improvement can't continue. Using my 5k result from last December - 22:37 - gives me a V-Dot of 43. 1.... For a four mile race, that translates to a 29:30. But my V-Dot improvements have been an average or 1-2 per month and the past three months of training have been really strong. I'd like to break 28:00 minutes. It's less than seven minutes per mile and translates to a V-Dot of 45.87 - an improvement of 2.7 in a hair more than three months. We'll have to see how it plays out.

Ripped through my lunch-time 10k at a 7:51 clip today -- the fastest I've done this particular course, though the course had to be somewhat modified because one of the roads is under two feet of water (!). The part that had me most pleased about the workout, though, was that I'm coming off runs the previous two days and a decent ride last night - so this is a sign that I'm getting stronger. It's also been a relatively injury-free month, with aches and pains at the bare minimum. I'm also at the point where I'm done trying to lose weight. When I started running last summer, I knew I wanted to lose five pounds but didn't really plan on it. If you run, you lose weight. Then after I lost those five pounds, I read that while I was at the ideal weight for a man my size, I still wasn't at the ideal weight for a distance runner my size, so I kept the food in check with the new goal weight in mind. I've hit it, so now I need to figure out how to eat more so I ...

As we pass the finish line for February, let's re-cap the month. 1.) This pic is the only pic of me taken by the "pro" at last week's Ugly Mudder. Since I'm walking across the line in this pic, I won't be buying it. Still, I am pleased with the results of the run, coming in 55th out of 132 in my age group . Purty cool. 2.) I ran 69 miles for the month, my 3rd best month ever. 3.) I biked 144 miles for the month, though - my best month to date for biking. 4.) All total, I worked out thirty minutes longer than January, which had been my previous best. Keep in mind, I did this in three fewer days. 5.) Throwing out the Ugly Mudder Trail run, my runs averaged eight seconds per mile faster than January. Goals for March: 1.) Continued pace improvement in running. 2.) 72 miles, minimum, for running. 3.) 12 biking workouts, at a minimum of 60 minutes per. This would be a 25% improvement over this month. 4.) 8 swimming workouts. That's not a lot, but I don't nee...

So yesterday was the 2007 Ugly Mudder . Seven and ¼-ish miles over the steepest, ugliest trails in Reading . That’s how the race always comes. This year, three inches of ice were added to it for good measure. In my head, I always picture these races to be smaller than they are. This time around, I figured a lot of people wouldn’t come because of the impending snow. I think I was wrong, though final figures aren’t in yet….there was a crazy mob of people there. They call this one of the largest trail runs east of the Mississippi and it probably had 700 or so, total. Literally, the entire course was on either hard crusty snow, except the parts that were on hard crusty rocks and a few very short parts over roads. Mud would’ve been welcome, actually. I think I lined up in about the right place… knew the course wouldn’t be ideal for passing. I’d say throughout the entire race I probably didn’t move up or down more than twenty paces. I did a great job moving up miles two to five,...

48 hours from a muddy hell or a slippery heaven - what we see is always dependent on where we stand. Yesterday, I planned on a nice and easy lunchtime 10k, figuring that Sunday will be the day this week that I pound it. Problem was, it was pouring rain and - moreover - my legs felt good. I didn't really feel like taking my time in that crap. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that because Sunday is a trail run, and a brutal one at that, my time's going to be lousy, no matter what. Heck, the course record is over seven minutes per mile, so why bother saving my legs? So, instead of a leisurely 8:40 per mile like I planned, I did the course in a soaking wet 7:58 per mile. Good news is, I don't feel totally trashed and after an easy bike ride tonight and a rest day tomorrow, I think I should be ok in the mud. Diabetes-wise, I picked up a new toy yesterday - a very small blood sugar meter that uses the same strips as my primary meter . This little guy will b...

I haven't blogged much about Floyd Landis , lately. Floyd and I share the same hometown and I was one of the people who went nuts after Floyd's amazing ride last year, and was totally bummed days later when Tour officials said he failed a drug test. Not bummed because I thought for a minute Floyd was guilty - a. he's not the type and b. if he were, that drug wouldn't have helped him and c. if he were the type to take a drug that wouldn't have helped him it wouldn't have been in his system just that one day - but bummed because, given his age and the political climate, he'll probably never get back what he deserves: the glory, respect and riches that a Tour winner deserves. At any rate, for a great update on just how political the Tour scene is, check out Martin Dugard's latest post on the subject : I'm not saying I can prove he was set up, but it certainly is beginning to look as if a concerted effort was made to sabotage the 2006 Tour de France by h...

After a decent seven mile run at eight minute pace Sunday, I took off yesterday and just came back from a lunch-time 10k at 8:30 pace. To sum, I'm way tireder than I should be. Whether that's because it's been too long between races that my motivation needs a little boost or Sunday's run was a bit brisker than it should've been or I'm just getting cagey about next Sunday is hard to say, but I'm eager to get some fire back in my belly. Good news is, I know it's coming. Sunday's race will leave me feeling good, as will the one after that and the one after that . My fitness level isn't anywhere near top-of-my age-group yet, but there's something about the race experience that serves to fire me up, and it's been two months since I raced. As a "diabetic triathlete," I should blog more about diabetes, but truth is, recent weeks have been easy. The diabetes is on autopilot for hour long workouts: I have a small 5o gram meal an hour ...

The kids had a sleep-over last night - no need for emphasis on the "sleep," but praise God, because it's finally "over." Actually, they were all good, though they were good at different times... The boys went to sleep early (very good) and the girls didn't (not so good). Then the boys woke up quite early (not so good) and the girl didn't (good). Which meant - through much of this - there wasn't much rest to be had. Fortunately, I did six miles over lunch in the slush yesterday and since I helped co-chaperone last night's escapade, I got enough weekend cleaning done that I might go for a run/ride tonight, assuming I don't fall asleep, which is truly possible. Sent in my registration for the Ugly Mudder and am hoping the bad weather is gone next week. I don't mind running in crappy weather and I don't really mind driving in crappy weather. However, driving in crappy weather to run in crappy weather seems a bit tedious. In other news, we...

The past two days, I've been in the basement on the trainer. Last weekend, I was in the basement on the trainer. My last run was last Friday. I can't take it anymore -- I'm going out over lunch. The weather's been 75% to blame. 10% of it has been the fact that my plan calls for me to ride more this month and the other 15% of it was that I had an ugly cold that made the 5 degree weather seem that much worse. But in twenty minutes, me, my tights, my pants, my shirt, my sweatshirt vest and assorted accessories are hitting the roads, for better or for worse. Interesting - I ride my bike on my trainer in the basement, which is different than a spinning class. But I never realized how it was different until I read this article . A sampling: So in conclusion, there is a high degree of muscular and physiological specificity between the two modes of cycling. The best of both worlds would be to teach your legs to achieve a high cadence without the use of the flywheel.

Next on the agenda is the Ugly Mudder Trail Run , one of the largest trail runs on the east coast. I'm in good shape for it and it sounds like a lot of fun. So why don't I feel 100% into it? Actually, it's a stupid reason. The course is unbelievably difficult - course record is about a 7:00 pace - so I know my result won't easily compute into my log. I won't be able to use it to update my VDOT progress, either. In short, aside from my age-group finish, it won't serve the purpose that most of my races do: to tell me how the heck I'm doing relative to my other races. But still, barring a snowstorm (it's 90 minutes away), I'm in. Streams, mud, branches and beer. If that ain't fun, I'm doing this stuff for the wrong reasons.