Aaron Emig

Strava

2011-10-13T12:30:00.001-07:00

Just started using Strava as a training tool. Pretty intrigued after the first ride. I can be lazy about uploading data from my Garmin, and Strava offers an iPhone app where you hit a "start" button and "stop" button for a ride and it automatically pushes it out to their website. Pretty awesome! I always take my phone with my on rides anyway, just in case.

The software looks great so far. At first I was nervous because the mileage was off when I finished my ride on the Strava app (not sure if it lost a satellite connection or what) but it autocorrected itself and matched almost exactly with my Garmin. It allows you to create "segments" for certain portions of a training ride. I love doing repeats on Berkshire Hill so I'm imaging setting up a "segment" for that to track my results over time. I think I'll be using this a lot!

Clay's Park

2011-06-13T06:41:00.001-07:00

I was happy to get my first every OA win despite two big mistakes - 1) I followed a group of swimmers to the wrong buoy during the swim and 2) I lost my left shoe off of my bike coming out of T1. The swim had one of the fastest starts I've ever been a part of. I thought I got out good but found myself in a pack of flailing arms. Fighting for position I somehow got caught up in a small group that went for the wrong green buoy. I realized this about 20 yards from the buoy and had to turn 90-degrees and head back for the right one. I figure that added about 100 yards to the swim. I was pissed at myself for being a lemming and kicked it into high gear. I think managed to come out of the water 2nd just behind one of the relay teams. T1 was going well until I tried to mount the bike. I've never had a shoe come off during training, but somehow I managed to lose a shoe as I mounted the bike and had to turn around, put it on, and clip back in. Talk about a sloppy first 10 minutes of a race. I knew people were catching me at this point so I tried to hammer at the start of the bike but my legs felt heavy and tired. I put in a lot of miles on the bike this week and I raced last weekend so I think the training caught up with me. My legs were burning the whole ride but I held off a few charging riders and came into T2 in the lead, with another guy about 10 seconds behind and a few more just behind him. I came out of T2 hard trying to put some distance on the guy behind me. The course was a 2-loop out-and-back with an uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back. At the turnaround, the guy behind me was holding strong and I thought he might catch me. I decided to push the downhill a bit and by the time we hit the 2nd loop I had put some distance on him. I tend to run hills well so I surged on the next uphill. By the turnaround I had put more distance on the guy and cruised in for the win. First overall win for me and it felt good despite tired legs. Overall time was 1:01-ish. I was glad this one was a sprint because I don't know if my legs would have taken 2 hours of beatings! It was awesome seeing all of the BAFF folks on the run. It seemed like every other runner was wearing the BAFF kit. A special thanks to Steve for organizing the team cookout after the race! Fun times.

Edinboro Tri Race Report

2011-06-13T06:15:00.001-07:00

Edinboro was my first of the season and my first race on my new P3 so I was anxious to race. Going into the race I hadn't done any open water swimming (thanks to the awesome Spring weather we had) and most of my riding has been steady, distance rides. Seeing Duecker and LaMastra at the start I knew I was going to get smoked in the water. I started off okay but felt like I was zig-zagging the entire swim. I probably added some extra yards but I was happy with how I felt. I came out of the water 5th (pretty much tied with 4th). Swim Time: 15:12 (NOTE: 1200 yards, not 1500).

I came out of T2 with another guy and he passed me a few miles into the bike course. The course was reported at 23.7 miles so I knew going into the race I wanted to be in at around an hour. I was really tight in my glutes in the first half of the ride, which I can't quite figure out. Weird. The bike course had a nice mix of hills, roller, false false, etc. I was hurting on the long, steady climbs by the end. Overall, I'd say my bike was average. I never felt like I had a lot of power but that's how it should feel in the beginning of the season when you're building mileage. Bike Time: 1:00:08.

I came out of T2 feeling a bit disappointed in my ride but my legs felt light. I was told by spectators that there were 2 guys within 2 minutes ahead of me, so that got me moving. I caught both by the two mile mark and was still feeling strong. I knew Jim LaMastra had 6 minutes on me coming out of T2, so that was out of reach. I hit 5:45 - 5:50 pace comfortably for the first 4 miles and was feeling smooth until a side-stitch attacked at mile 4. Not sure what that was about but it was a good one. My form started to suffer as a result and Mile 5 was 6:10. The last mile was downhill and I cruised in for a solid but not ideal run. Run Time: 36:24. Final Time: 1:53:55.

When I took my shoe off after the race my foot was covered in blood. I went to the medical tent and apparently I had stepped on glass at some point before T1. So that's been a bummer this week as I've only run once since the race and have been nursing it. I think Jeanne's disaster magnetism is contagious.

I thought I finished 2nd overall, but Kevin Park, who started 3 minutes after me with the older age group, got me by 26 seconds...and unfortunately his T1 was 31 seconds faster. Whoops. Oh well. I was pleased with this race overall and I took away a few things to work on: T1, cycling (still) and swimming straight lines. I was also pleased that I seemed to recover better from this race than I did for races last season, so hopefully that says something about my fitness.

CompuTrainer

2011-01-18T04:40:00.001-08:00

Well, for once in my life I had luck in my favor. I looked into purchasing a CompuTrainer this winter but ultimately decided to just get a PowerTap come Spring for cost reasons. I was randomly searching for an "around town" bike on Craiglist and happened upon a used CompuTrainer for a really good price. I called the guy and he offered to hold it for me while I verified through CompuTrainer that the device was functional and not an obsolete model. When I got confirmation, I snatched it up. The guy was even nice enough to hold it for me even though several others called him about it and asked to buy it.

I've ridden it a few times and already see that it's going to help me train smarter. I'm even considering doing one training session on it during the summer. I have a lot to work on when it comes to cycling so anything to help deliver improvement is up for consideration at this point. Given the circumstances, I feel like my procurement of the CompuTrainer was meant to be. Hopefully I'll be sharing some workouts and progress as the winter progresses.

Winter

2011-01-03T18:16:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on the Winter progress so far. I took a few weeks of active rest after Tuscaloosa and spent most of October/November doing singles. My big focus of the winter is cycling. I cleaned up my dirty, unfinished basement and set up a TV with surround sound and have been jamming away down there more than any winter prior. I've almost exhausted all of the good movies from the Cleveland Heights library so I'm digging into Adriane's collection.

I spent a lot of time in the pool last winter and while my yardage is nowhere near last year's, I still feel pretty strong in the pool. Right now I'm doing 3 swims, 3-4 rides, and 3-4 runs per week. Last week was 7 hours on the trainer, 35 miles running, and 3 hours in the pool (shortened pool schedules due to holidays screwed up my schedule a bit). I also picked up Sheila Taormina's "Call the Suit" and have been focusing on my swimming technique. It's an easy read and I'm definitely noticing that I'm getting stronger and have a better feel for the water. I highly recommend it. On the running front, I've not done anything too hard. My long runs have been consistently between 12 and 14 miles for the last 2 months and I have a great group for long runs on Saturday mornings. So I guess the last 4th quarter of 2010 was consistent but not strenuous. Now that we're entering the first quarter of 2011, it's ready to ramp things up and really hit the training hard.

Tuscaloosa Olympic AG Nationals

2010-11-13T13:25:00.001-08:00

Leading up to this race my compulsion switched from training (thank you, taper) to watching the weather. Early forecasts were calling for temps in the mid 90's and my only other race in extreme heat (Racine 70.3) had been a huge failure. Not that one can do anything about the weather, but there are measures a person can take to better prepare himself or herself for certain conditions. With the projected temps I started adding more salt to my diet in the 5 days leading up to the race and made sure I stayed hydrated

The race was on Saturday and I flew into Birmingham on Thursday night. The day before a race always flies by. I drove the course in the morning, did a little swim in the river, checked in, prepped the bike, did a little spin/run, and somehow managed to waste several hours in between. Temps were in the mid 90's so I was indoors all day.

Race morning was the typical routine. Two slices of bread with peanut butter and jelly, a banana, and a cup of coffee. I've only ever used an aero bottle for an Olympic Distance but I decided to take an additional bottle of water given the heat. This turned out to be one of my best decisions of the season!

Before the race I ran into Kim Shaheen and we sat and talked after transition closed and before I warmed up. It was great to have a teammate there to chat and calm the nerves. The pre race warmup went smoothly and I found Adam Kuncel in the bullpen before the start. I got in a short warmup swim between waves and squeezed my way into the dock for the water start. I got out nicely at the start and had a good line to the first buoy. I decided not to let my heart rate get too high during the swim due to the temps, especially with a water temp at 84 degrees (i.e. not wetsuit legal, but I was able to pick up a swim skin from Fleet Feet the day before i left). The swim was a J-shape with a long backstretch. I got into some violent episodes along the backstretch, particularly with one guy who was grabbing my ankles and apparently trying to pull himself over me. I managed a few good kicks into him and he eventually backed off. Came out of the water a little further back than expected but I felt stronger going into T1 than usual, so I was fine with that.

I got on the bike feeling good and immediately passed one guy. Note that this is extremely rare for me. The bike course was a 2 loop course with a long climb on the way out and downhill on the way back. I tend to climb well so I was relieved that the course wasn't flat. As typical, I caught a lot of people on the climbs and got passed back on the way down. Anyone with any tips on descending faster should email me ASAP. I drank my aero bottle dry by about the 15 mile mark so I was happy to have that extra bottle of water on the bike. I pushed the uphill on the 2nd lap and cruised the last part of the downhill before T2 to let my legs rest. By now the sun was beating down and it was getting hot. I knew I needed to save some energy for the run and I thought someone would pass me as I popped a few endurolytes for the run but no one did. I ended up averaging 23.5 mph for the ride, which I was happy with given the topography of the course.

I always know in the first mile whether I have my run that day, and today I had it. I got out of T2 feeling light and quick but knowing it would be a death march in the heat. The run was mostly exposed with a few climbs in the first half of the run and a steady descent over the last 2 miles. The aid stations had half-filled dixie cups and I was a little pissed that I was only getting 2 ounces per cup. I usually grabbed 2 or 3 cups, one to drink and more to splash on my face. My dad was at mile 1 and yelled that there were 10 guys in my age group within 90 seconds. I passed a lot of people who looked to be in survival mode from the heat but I was still feeling strong, which gave me more confidence. Over the next several miles I passed about 12 guys in my age group. With 1 mile to go I spotted a guy (Luke Holman) who I became friends with 3 weeks prior at Duathlon Worlds in Scotland and he was moving pretty good. I managed to get around him and passed him assertively so he couldn't respond. With 400 meters to go I saw another guy within catching distance and started really moving. At 50 yards to go I was in full sprint mode and managed to catch him with about 10 yards to go. I always wanted to get someone at the line and finally managed it. Total time: 2:05:21.

After the race I quickly downed 4 bottle of water and a gatorade. After a long cool down with Luke I came back to find out that I finished 14th in my AG and 9th in the 30-34 AG for 2011, which secured a sport for Worlds in Beijing next year (the age up rule means that I had to qualify in the 30-34 AG for 2011 since I'll be 30 at the end of 2011). I haven't decided if I'll go yet, but I'm considering it.

All told I was very happy with this race. While the time wasn't anything spectacular, I raced smart and it came down to a tactical race due to the heat. I needed something positive after Racine and I got it.

Maumee Bay: A bad ending to an otherwise good day

2010-06-24T05:52:00.001-07:00

My first triathlon test was at Maumee Bay this past Sunday. It's a flat Olympic distance race with the swim in a man-made lake next to Lake Erie. Adriane and I drove over Saturday afternoon and I picked up my packet and drove the bike course the night before. We checked into the hotel and grabbed some dinner. Teammate Frank Dejulius and Stacey Kaiser stayed at the same hotel and we met up for a bit when they got in. It's always fun to see teammates and friends at a race. Triathlon is a pretty independent sport but I think the popularity of teams growing, as the camaraderie of sports is motivating and adds enjoyment in my opinion.

On race day I grabbed an english muffin and banana at the hotel's continental breakfast. The weather was perfect as the wind had died down from the day before. After setting up transition, Frank and I did a 10 minute jog warm-up with some stretching. We got in the water about 15 minutes for the race and did some swimming to get warmed up. As with all HFP races, heats went off every 3 minutes. The sprint waves were first. Our heat went off at 8:15. The swim was a 2-loop course with a beach start. I got out decent at the start and Frank and I were side-by-side for the first 200. Once we hit the stragglers from previous waves, it was all bets off for trying to get on the toes of a faster swimmer. At that point it was a matter of dodging other swimmers for the first loop. It was totally congested but I managed to get through pretty easily. The 2nd loop was much less crowded and I could tell I was in the top 10. I feel I've lost a little swim fitness since February, but I was feeling pretty relaxed and comfortable. I had a great rhythm going - three strokes breathe left, three strokes breathe right, two strokes spot the buoy. Swim time: 22:26.

T1 went okay. Had some trouble getting my right shoe on but that'll happen. I wanted to push the bike hard which I felt I accomplished. I'm used to getting passed by about 10 guys or more on the bike and I was determined to go with whoever passed me. I only let one guy go during the ride and he was moving pretty good. Two other guys passed me at about mile 10 and I matched their pace. We swapped places for the rest of the ride and eventually one of them fell off with about 3 miles to go. The wind picked up during the ride and I felt like I was getting blow around a lot when we'd head west or north. I tried to stay aero and keep pace. I thought my bike was faster than my time indicated, but oh well. Bike time: 1:03:54 (was hoping more for 1:02 or so).

T2 was good. I came out with the guy who entered transition with me and immediately dropped him. I asked my parents and Adriane my place and they said 7th. I wanted to be top 5 and knew I had some work to do. I quickly passed 2 more guys within the first mile and clipped 5:45's for the first 2 miles. I started to hurt as the wind was fairly strong on the way out and the sun was belting down at this point. The run was an out and back with an additional loop around the lake. I passed another guy just after the 2 mile mark. At this point the duathletes were mixed in with the triathletes so I couldn't tell how many other guys were in my race. I was in 4th but pretty far out of 3rd. At the turnaround there were a ton of guys within 5 minutes behind me. I was hurting pretty bad with a mile to go and kind of shut it down. Turns out the guy in 3rd was hurting more because I gained a lot on him the last 2 miles. I probably couldn't have caught him but I should have pushed harder. Run Time: 37:38.

My final time was 2:05:43 and I was 4th overall in the elite race. That's my fastest Oly race so I can't be disappointed. I know I can cut some time off of the swim. I need to do some more hard, sustained rides. And I'd like to be under 37:00 on the run.

After the race Frank and I cooled down and went to get our stuff in transition. I couldn't find my wetsuit and I think someone stole it. I found out later that Rob Thompson had one stolen last year at an HFP race. When we went to transition, the workers had torn down most of the fencing and no one was checking people's numbers. Anyone could have walked in and taken stuff. I brought this up to 2 officials and they blew me off saying "don't have such a negative attitude, it'll show up. triathletes are good natured people and they don't steal stuff on purpose. someone accidentally took it." One of the guys told me I had to take personal responsibility and that I should get my stuff sooner. I know it's just a "thing," but it's not a cheap thing and their comments really pissed me off. I'll only do an HFP race if it's a last result option and I need a race. I emailed two of the workers at HFP and I finally got a response 4 days later from one of them saying "sorry, we'll let you know if it turns up." This experience really reflects poorly on their company, especially since I know someone else that had a wetsuit stolen at one of their races. A bad end to an otherwise good day.

Blossom Time Run Race Recap

2010-06-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day Weekend I ran the Blossom Time Run 5.25 mile road race. I did this race last year and was happy with my 29:17. I remember feeling fresh and strong. Not this year. I felt tired and sluggish the whole week leading up to the race. I did a 7 miler on Thursday with friend Ofer Barniv and it felt like a death march. Every step was labored and heavy. I lined up on Sunday feeling confident in my fitness but not fresh. Ofer Barniv and James Sjostrom were in the race along with perennial winner and local legend Fred Kieser. The first mile is uphill and I went through with Ofer and James in about 5:35. We were 5-10 seconds of the lead group but it felt pretty relaxed. I started feeling the hurt in mile 2 and knew it'd be a long race. Mile 2 is mostly uphill and we hit 5:40. Ofer, James and I were throwing surges at each other for the next mile and they decided to drop the pace down a bit. I went through mile 3 in about 5:30. Mile 4 I was along and really feeling it. Just trying to hold on at this point I still managed at sub-5:40. With about about a half mile to go I got passed and had absolutely no response. At this point I only cared about finishing. Mile 5 was another 5:35 and I finished in 28:50. I was about 30 seconds better than last year, which I'll take. I was hoping to be at least a minute faster than last year but I know it wasn't my best effort so I'm not too worried about it.

Since the race, I've gotten in some good training sessions including a 14 mile run on Saturday (followed by an afternoon swim); 60 miles of hilly riding on Sunday (after watching Quassy online in the morning, I was motivated to do some hills); a long swim Monday; and a long brick on Tuesday (1:30 ride followed by intervals(2 mile, 1 mile, 1 mile, 2 mile)). Feeling pretty good after this block.

Du Nats

2010-05-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

Back on April 25th, I competed in the Duathlon National Championships in Richmond. I did this race last year and it went pretty terribly, so I had high hopes of a big improvement.

The distance was 5k-38k-5k (last year the lead off run was 10k) and I knew a fast pace would be set as the first mile was downhill and funneled into a relatively narrow concrete bike path after a mile. In preparation, I had done some decent workouts on the track to get the speed back into my legs.

The weather called for rain on race day. The rain came overnight, leaving the course wet and slippery. The 25-29 AG started with the 20-24 AG so it was a decent size field. I started in the 2nd row and got out fast. I went through mile 1 in about 20th place with a 4:58 split. Mile 2 was flat and I came through the 2 mile mark in 10:20. I started picking people off at this point as the last mile was all uphill and I wanted some space for T1. Fortunately I had a good transition spot and got through smoothly. On the bike, I got past by a few guy off the back who decided to start riding as a pack. A bunch of these guys were racing for the U.S. Army, and they were teaming up to ride together. I saw them working together all over the course and was a bit shocked that they would do that in their team kits with everyone watching. Not surprisingly, no one in my age group got a drafting penalty. Alas. The course was 3 loops of a fairly technical course with one long, steepening hill on the back side. The course was still wet so I was cautious on the turns for the first loop but was letting it rip by the 3rd. I caught a lot of guys on the hills but would get past on the flats. Though this has been a trend throughout my racing, it was better in this race than past races. I felt like I was staying withing a reasonable distance of the faster cyclists.

I got off the bike after averaging 22 mph and felt solid. I took off on the run and probably hit a 5:20 first mile. I started cramping on mile 2 but was able to stay relaxed and push through. I kept a hard pace and picked off a few guys. With a little under a mile to go, there is a hairpin turn and I saw two of the Army guys who were drafting on the bike about 50 yards ahead of me. There was no way I was going to let them beat me, so I picked up the pace and surged past them with about a half mile to go. The last quarter mile is uphill and hurt like crazy. Coming down the shoot I past a kid that was about 12 years old competing with his dad and I started yelling at him to sprint with me to the finish. I helped him push to another gear and gave him a big high five when he crossed the line.

I finished 6th in my Age Group and closed out the final 5k in 16:58. I'm pretty happy with the result given that most of my training was base work and I have a lot of potential for improvement. Some more strength riding on the bike and some more speed workouts and I'll be good to go.

Really looking forward to this season.

Compression Socks

2010-05-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

I have to begin this post with the disclaimer that I laughed the first time I heard about compression socks. I thought, "that's a gimmicky trick to get people to pay for something that they don't need." I believe in cooling down and stretching and drinking a recovery drink after hard sessions. That should be all the recovery one needs.

But I slowly came around to the idea and bought a pair of CEP's about 2 months ago (thanks Jody Herzog at Fleet Feet Northfield). I've always had calf tightness and decided to give them a shot, but only in the comfort and secrecy of my house. I figured with the hard blocks I was planning I would need all the recovery I could get, and after the first night wearing them I was sold. Wearing them after hard sessions seemed to reduce swelling and improve recovery. But the doubter and analytical side prevailed and I decided to do an A|B test on them. After all, maybe I was just getting stronger and recovering better. The last 2 weeks I planned a training block of 15 hours and 16 hours, respectively. The first week I decided not to wear compressions socks at all for the first four days. I did 16x400 on Monday on the track followed by a 2 hour ride on Tuesday. Wednesday's run went terribly. I was struggling to hold 7:15's for 7 miles and was planning to do 9. The weekend long efforts were forced and I wasn't pleased with my paces. Hmmm...

By Sunday I was back to wearing the compression socks. Monday was 4 x 2,400 on grass with 30 seconds recovery. It was one of my best efforts so far this year and hit 8:28 - 8:31 for all of them (5:45 pace), and it felt smooth and controlled. I did 1.5 hours riding on Tuesday and came back on Wednesday with a 1 hour swim, 1 hour bike and 1 hour run after work. I averaged 6:45 on the run with some slow early miles. Thursday was another medium long ride, and Saturday I did a 14.5 mile run at 6:45 pace and Sunday was a 3 hour ride zig-zagging across the Chagrin Valley.

I know I didn't control for diet, sleep, etc., but I'm convinced the compression socks played a roll in my improvement the 2nd week. I often sleep in them at night and I wore them during my drive to Richmond for Du Nationals and felt great. In this sport, the compounding effects of training can take a sever toll on one's body. I'm constantly fighting the balance between quality and quantity. I want to get in the long weeks but is it worthwhile if I'm fighting my body and dragging my arms and legs through workouts? Are those workouts doing more harm than good if tomorrow is going to be the same thing? The compression socks appear to allow me to get in the type of quantity I want while maintaining the quality. And for that reason I think they're one of the best investments I've made.

2010 Schedule

2010-02-24T09:53:00.000-08:00

This blog's been neglected of late. Since my last update I've ramped up training significantly sans a 7-day bout with bronchitis. I've been up to 17,000 yards per week in the pool, been throwing in actual workouts on the trainer (a foreign concept to me until this winter), and getting in some decent long runs. And I did my first speed workout on KSU's indoor track on Monday - 3 x 1 mile with 150 jog rest at a comfortable 5:35 average effort. Mostly a progress check to make sure I'm on track for my first race April 24th.

Last weekend I signed up for my first two races of the 2010 calendar. The first isn't so much a race as it is a progress check. It's a 1650 swim at CMU on February 28th. My sister lives in Pittsburgh and she's a pretty good ex-collegiate swimmer, so she convinced me to do it. Should be interesting and fun, although I've never gone off the blocks before. I'm thinking of cannonballing in to avoid losing my goggles, but we'll see. Ha.

The second and more serious race is the National Duathlon Championships in Richmond on April 24th. I did this last year and contemplated skipping it, but it's a good way to get into an early season race to check my fitness level. The distance has changed since last year to a 5k-40k-5k (from 10k-40k-5k), but I should still be able to gauge my fitness over last year on the bike. That's the key for me this year.

Otherwise, my calendar for the year is as follows:

April 22: Duathlon Nationals
June 19: Michigan Qualifier for USAT Olympic Age Group Nationals
July 18: Racine, WI 70.3
Aug 8: Greater Cleveland Triathlon
August 29: Chicago Triathlon - Elite Amateur Race
September 25: USAT Olympic Age Group Nationals in Tuscaloosa, AL (if I qualify)

I might fill in the gaps with a few local races but these are my focus races. I'm of the opinion that an athlete can't focus on more than 6-8 races in a season without blowing up. I think I have some good ones and can't tell you how anxious I am to pull on a wetsuit.

New Year, Still Having Fun

2010-01-05T19:19:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't do this sport if I didn't enjoy it.
I enjoy the variety that running never provided. I enjoy pushing the limits in each sport. And I enjoy seeing myself improve. Right now, I feel very focused but I'm still having as much fun as ever.

I swam Masters for the first time last week. I made it 3 mornings and felt pretty good. I haven't committed to which days I want to swim Masters in the future, but with my long commute and early mornings I was exhausted by the end of the week. I was probably the most boring New Years partier after I skiied on New Years Ever after Masters. I keep reminding myself that the season is early, so I think I'll stick with 1- 2 days per week for Masters and swim the remaining days at KSU. The difference between waking at 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. is huge when you don't get home until 9:00 or 10:00 during the week and don't get to bed until 11:00...and work/train in the hours between. I need the sleep if I want quality workouts, so the key for me is balance. I've been able to do quality swims on my own, so I'm not worried about sacrificing quality by swimming alone instead of Masters.

Back to the topic of fun, I've been trying to mix up the trainer workouts for variety. I watched the Orange Bowl tonight while biking and I decided to make a game of it. I would spin hard for 2 minutes for each touchdown; 1 minute for each field goal; and 30 seconds for each first down. It offered some variety and randomness to the ride and I really enjoyed it. I'm going to create variations on this for fun. I do a similar workout on the treadmill (I call it "power hour") where I increase my speed 0.1 mph every 2-4 minutes. Here's to more fun base training this winter.

Training Update

2009-12-27T17:17:00.001-08:00

I'm long overdue for an update, so here we go.
I took 8 days off completely after Clearwater. I spent my time catching up with friends I hadn't seen for a while and generally being lazy. It's amazing how irritable I became without any exercise. I was constantly on edge and frankly didn't like it. But that's okay. My body needed it. The next two weeks were spent piddling around with workouts and just doing day-to-day singles. I only ran once, as my quads were still not cooperating after Clearwater.

The past 2 weeks have been pretty solid. I'm gradually increasing my training. My philosophy is one of patience right now. I don't feel the need to bump up my training too far beyond levels I've seen in the past. That's for late January and February. My swimming yardage is increasing and I've been getting in 4 swims per week. I'm hoping to bump that up to 5 in January. I'd like to do 3-4 runs and 2-3 days on the trainer. The volume will increase gradually.

This week I'm at 15,000 yards in the pool, 3 hours on the trainer, and 32 miles of running. Not a good cycling week, but I was at home for the holidays Wed-Sat and didn't have my trainer. Last week I did a 1500 time trial swim just over 20:00. I'm happy to report that my running legs are coming back. And most importantly, I'm where I want to be mentally.

Clearwater

2009-11-19T17:11:00.000-08:00

I set up this blog months ago during the peak of my summer training, but I never took the time to post any post-race information. Now I seem to have all the time in the world and I'm getting bored of being bored in the evenings, so I figured it'd be a smart time to start blogging about my races. My racing season started in April 25 in Richmond, VA at the USAT National Duathlon Championships. That race went terribly, but I learned that I was extremely weak on the bike. Learning is good. I did the Blossom Time Run in Chagrin Falls and was pleasantly surprised with my time and how I felt. The pace felt like a fast but steady conversation pace. I hadn't done much speedwork so I didn't feel particulary quick, but I felt strong. I did the 5.25 course in 29:17, or 5:35 pace.

I raced 4 Olympic Distance events this season. The Dam Tri was a learning experience and my first elite race. Not pretty. I didn't have a wetsuit yet and I got smoked from the start of the swim. My weakness on the bike was really apparent on this hilly course, but I had a pretty decent run. The MiltonMan Triathlon was the first race in which I felt I raced to my potential. I finished 3rd overall. This is the first race in which I had a wetsuit, and I think this helped put me in the mix from the start. I really pushed the bike on this course, too, although I still got smoked by a lot of the guys out there. My run felt strong and I picked people off the entire race. It was hot but I was feeling pretty good. The next Olympic Distance of the season was the Vermilion Triathlon, which I wasn't particuarly happy with. The bike course was fairly technical, which I wasn't prepared for, and I blew up on the run because of 90 degree temperatures. Not very happy with this one. The final race was the Chicago Triathlon, another break-through race for me. I borrowed my roommate's Flashpoint 40 wheels, and these seemed to help take my bike to the next level. I was in one of the last waves of the day and I think all of the slow swimmers were in this wave because I was out front from the gun. I passed a lot of people from other waves during the swim and came out feeling strong. After a half mile trek through the crowded transition area, I was able to hammer pretty hard on the bike. Again, the bike was pretty congested along Lake Shore and I had a few near crashes, including when I locked handle bars with some guy who thought he could sneak over without checking. The wind was howling from the north, so the trip back into the transition area was FAST. I felt great on the run and was able to catch quite a few people despite the congestion and barriers on the sides of the run course. I finished 2nd in my age group and felt like I could have gone faster.

The day of the registration deadline for Augusta, 70.3, I caved to my curiosity of the 70.3 event and signed up. Not knowing if I had the base for this distance, I tried to sneak in some longer training sessions in 6 weeks before the event. My only real test was a 40 mile bike/8 mile run brick in which I averaged 22 mph on the bike and 6:20 on the run 3 weeks before the event. This gave me some confidence in my endurance, but I knew the extra 16 miles on the bike would be a test. Going into the race I had a goal of sub-4:45 in the back of my mind, but I didn't put too much pressure on myself. Times are always dictated by the course, and fortunately the Augusta course catered to my strengths. The swim was down-river and raced more like an Olympic distance event than a half. The bike included mostly rolling hills with 2 or 3 steeps. Since many of the competitors were from down south, I was able to pass some folks back on the uphills that were passing me on the flats. Coming off the bike I felt scary good. I was trying to keep it conservative at 6:40 pace, but mile 1 was 6:18 and I felt like I was crawling. The next few miles were so smooth and comfortable that I thought my Garmin was off. I checked the mile markers and they agreed with the Garmin. I felt like my heartrate was at about 90 beats/min. About mile 6, things changed and my quads started cramping. My lungs felt fine, but my legs started cramping. I had to stop and work out a hamstring cramp at mile 9 that almost put me on the ground. After that, I started jogging at 7:30 pace and SLOWLY dropped the pace until I got back to around 6:45. This seemed like my legs' limits so I kept it here for the remainder of the run. After finishing, I got some updates on my phone that I was in contention for a Clearwater spot. Sure enough, I finished 5th in my age group and picked up the 3rd of 3 Clearwater spots at the awards ceremony.

Training for Clearwater proved extremely difficult after returning from Augusta. My legs didn't want to recover from the previous race, and the cold, wet weather and decreasing daylight in Ohio didn't help. I only felt like I got in two quality workouts between Augusta and Clearwater (a 2.5 hour ride followed by a 5 mile run at decent paces, and a 16-mile tempo run at 6:18 pace on the towpath), and I had trouble recovering from both of those workouts after the fact. I went into Clearwater unconfident but extremely excited to be racing. The weather was awful when we arrived, as Hurricane Ida was still dumping rain and wind on Clearwater. I didn't do much in the days before the race given the waves in the water and wind blowing me around on the bike. The day before the race I did a short ride and run and my heart was pounding like crazy. I decided that it was just the nerves and adrenaline, and decided at that point that I wasn't going to get nervous before the race. 70.3 miles is a long way to race and I didn't need to psyche myself out mentally. I just needed to relax and tell myself that I wasn't in contention to win anything and to just enjoy the experience. On race day, I was focused but feeling extremely relaxed. They opted to move the swim course from the Gulf to the Bay across from Transition. I was happy about this given my lack of experience in ocean swims. They opted for a time trial swim start, which I expected to slow the start and push back my anticipated 8:00 start time. However, they started rushing through the waves and putting 2-3 people in the water at a time. I quickly realized that I needed to get into my wave so I could start off toward the front. Given my bike weakness, I needed as big of a head start as I could get! I did a short job, threw on my wetsuit, and did a short swim to get a feel for the water. After the warmup, I got into the bullpen and slowly worked my way to the front of my wave. I kept my nerves in control and even found myself dancing to the German techno music they were playing at the swim start. I knew I needed to laugh and stay relaxed. At the swim start, I immediately felt awesome. My strokes were long and smooth and I seemed to be pulling lots of water. I've had trouble finding a person to latch on this season, and I was determined to find someone in this race. The course was mostly rectangular with a small add-on at the end of the first straightaway. As we were approaching this add-on, I noticed two packs forming, one splitting to the let and one to the right. I decided to stay on the inside of the right pack and though the left pack would have to make a sharp turn to make the add-on. Well, the left group never made the turn and as we turned for the add-on I saw them going straight. They were cutting the course. I was slightly pissed, but what could I do? At least I knew I was racing fair. Coming around the turn I decided to go out and around to the right of a small group of swimmers that seemed to be slowing down. Then, I felt someone clipping my feet. I knew this guy didn't want to have to go out and around me since I was already pretty far to the right, but I wasn't moving. Eventually, after I passed the pack I started heading in to the left to take a straight line to the buoy marking the last turn. When I went inside, the guy on my feet started passing me. I could tell he was tall and he seemed to be pulling pretty hard. I knew it'd be hard to hang on, but I told myself to pick up the pace and try to stay on his feet. We made the turn together and it was a long straightaway to the finish with approximately 750 yards to go. I picked up the pace and latched onto him and stayed right on his toes. I was quickly able to match his speed and hang in his wake. We swam together along the right side of the course passing people throughout the course. Coming out of the water, I knew I had a good swim and was excited for the bike. I ended up around 100th overall in the swim. The excitement quickly broke on the bike course when packs of 3-6 riders started passing me. I thought it was just because of early race bunching out of the water, but the packs got worse as the ride went on. At one point, I saw a peloton of at least 80 riders clipping along. I knew I was having a good ride for me doing all of the work myself, but I also knew I was no match for a peloton. I averaged 23 mph, a full mph faster than Augusta, but I had one of the 10 slowest rides in my age group. I was a bit frustrated going into the run, but I kept telling myself to run my own race. I started off just under 6:30 pace and while I didn't feel as good as Augusta, I still felt strong. As I made the turn for lap 2, I knew I'd be struggling by the end. The heat was becoming more apparent and my quads were burning. I started cramping at mile 10 and suffered through cramps the last 3 miles. I averaged just under 7:00 pace for the run. Not great, but I'll take it. Overall, I was happy with my swim and bike times. I know what I need to work on for next season, and I have to be happy with the experience of racing Clearwater, especially given my training and original plans and expectations for this season.