Run, bike, swim...I only swim so I can get to the the biking and running part.

Unlike Air Jordans, these shoes may actually help you play better.

2010-04-01T12:22:00.001-04:00

These are just preliminary notes on these and not a review. Last week I tried on the Specialized BG S-Works road shoes and immediately fell in love with the fit. It was super snug and formed very well to my feet. They fit like socks. Although I initially wasn't a fan of the BOA Lace system, I definitely felt it's benefits once I was on the road. The pressure was equalized around my feet and I didn't feel any of those hot spots I sometimes get. It was also easier "dial" in the adjustments on the move than with a velcro strap or ratchet system like on my old pair of CAT-1 Gavia Carbon road shoes. I also switched to Speedplay pedals and paired with the new shoes, I'm getting a lot more power transfer to the pedals than before. The old CAT-1 shoes were paired with LOOK Kéo style pedals which, compared to the Speedplays, had a larger and bulkier profile. I also feel more power is being transferred since my feet are closer to the pedals now.

As far as transitioning, I took these out this past weekend for it's first trial at a duathlon and since the pedals were new and not yet broken in, I had problems getting in and out of them. This is just a matter of practice and breaking them in though. The shoes don't have a finger hook at the end to assist with putting the shoes on while moving, so this makes it a little difficult at first. After a little practice on the trainer, this really didn't bother me much though. With the shoes being so light, it was pretty easy to manage due to it's weight alone. Getting the tongue to the correct position prior to the mount will be important though as it's difficult to adjust the dials once pedaling on top of the shoes. Again, this will take more practice. Aside from the transition issues, the performance on the road definitely outweighs it in the long run.

A review can be found at cyclingnews.com and a video of the Boa Lacing system can be found on YouTube. I may actually look into my next pair of running shoes to have the Boa Lacing system.

4 Miles and 6x100

2010-03-10T19:16:00.002-05:00

After work run was in 70 degree weather. The rest of the week isn't looking too hot though with some expected rain, but warm weather. The run itself was a bit quicker than I was planning but initially felt good. Started feeling it on the last mile, especially with the headwind. The 6x100 was just to get some stride work in but without sprinting.

Ten days left and I'm starting to feel a bit more confident. I keep watching videos on YouTube to keep me motivated and playing the mental game.

27m 57s

4.00 miles

06m 59s/Mi

Min HR: 141
Avg HR: 165
Max HR: 171

4:44 PM

[Lap data]

[ HR data]

Equipment:

Asics ATS Cool

Threshold run. At least it felt like threshold. It wasn't my 5k pace but the work level was moderate.

After the 4 miles, I did 6x100 stride work. Shins are starting to feel stressed from the intervals.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26656618

4x400, 2x800 and 4x400...I ♥ Intervals

2010-03-09T21:04:00.004-05:00

I'm starting to enjoy intervals. Actually, I think what I'm really enjoying are the results. I can feel the quickness in my legs again, which also means they have finally recovered from the half marathon.

Ran this route after work for the first time. The route was a nice out and back strip along the water. It was a bit windy but I need the added resistance for Shamrock. The Garmin handled the interval timing well and I was able to do a hands off run.

Outside of training, my PC is still down. The hard drive crash was just an additional pain to deal with it. After a reinstall, I'm getting artifacts all over the screen and can't run anything graphic intensive. So I'm led to believe that it's either the motherboard or the video card, neither of which I feel like dealing with right now. I no longer have the passion to rip my PC apart and thoroughly test each component to find out what the problem is. I look at my PC and I just want to kick it but I'm reminded that I have a race in two weeks. At least I can always trust on my BlackBerry, unless I drop it again.

The countdown begins with 14 days until the Shamrock Marathon.

2010-03-07T16:34:00.005-05:00

Well, there's 14 days left until the Shamrock Marathon and this is the last weekend to get any real training in before the tapering starts. It's just a mental game now. The plan was for a 13 mile run today but I really wanted to get on the bike so I made it a brick instead. The canal was packed as usual but I really hate those damn horseback riders that don't clean up their mess. People have to clean up after their dogs.

I'm confident with my short distance game but I'm still iffy about hitting the Boston qualifying time for the marathon. I missed out on some long distance runs because of weather and sickness. I'm really more concerned about the kick for the second half to keep the pace going and could have used more time doing tempo runs. I'm going to hang on to that pace group like my life depended on it on race day. Luckily if I don't make the Boston time, registration for the MCM doesn't open until April 7th and I can try again there.

1h 05m 58s

20.00 miles

18.19 Mi/hr

Min HR: 96
Avg HR: 156
Max HR: 180

10:57 AM

[Lap data]

[ HR data]

Equipment:

Fuji Roubaix Pro

Easy push on the bike keeping the speed around 18 mph. A bit windy but good resistance workout. Kept cadence around 90. Felt good coming off the bike for the run.

1h 32m 48s

12.00 miles

07m 44s/Mi

Min HR: 95
Avg HR: 165
Max HR: 176

12:26 PM

[Lap data]

[ HR data]

Equipment:

Asics ATS Cool

Good run after getting off the bike. I didn't take off as fast as I did like the last brick. No cramps although I felt a slight pull on the quads at around mile 7 but went away after shortening my stride.

A new year and a new PR but worked for it.

2010-03-01T13:08:00.001-05:00

The first race for 2010 was the 31st Annual Anheuser-Busch Colonial Half Marathon in Williamsburg, VA on the William and Mary Campus. With the interval training I put in for this year, I was expecting a PR but I didn't realize I was going to have to work for it with this much hills. I knew Williamsburg had hills but the course was relentless. From the start it was up and down, up and down with twists and turns. I was getting concerned at first because I haven't done much hill training except for Spinerval Hill workouts on the bike trainer, but I was surprisingly able to hold the pace. My target was a 7:15-7:20 pace but the field was fast and I went with the hills. I kept seeing the pace of 6:30, 6:45, and 7:00 on my Garmin and couldn't back off. I didn't want to back off. Part of it was because of the hills and part of it was the field of runners. Even on the uphills, I felt great and able to hold the pace. My legs never felt so good on the uphills.

The course was beautiful. It was part woods on tarmac, streets and soft dirt that felt like loose top soil with hay. It was horrible. One of the other runners described it as mulch so I guess that's what it was. My ankles buckled a few times but nothing serious. The course went through an underpass, which we eventually got to run on top of on the way back. It was pretty cool seeing the other runners that way. A wooden bridge took us over a lake that showed off some really nice estates.

After hitting mile 8, it felt like I was comfortably cruising at a 7:19 pace, so I decided I was going to kick it in for the last 2 miles. That never happened. At mile 11.1, I remember looking up a long steady hill. So I held it off but the hills kept coming. The hills and some wind eventually took it's toll on my pace but luckily I banked enough of a buffer early on in the course. I imagine with the way the hills are layed out, it would be difficult for me to get a negative split on a course like this. The finish was great, ending inside the Kaplan Arena of the William and Mary Hall. It reminded me of the Honolulu Marathon when we finished inside the Aloha Stadium.

Aside for some quirks I have with the race organization, the support was great. Although the course was scenic, it would be hard for me to recommend this race to any first time half marathoners. Race information was sparse, a challenging course, and with the lack of sports drinks on the course (only water), it's not as friendly as say the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, but anyone looking for a challenge should do it.

Very happy with my new PR of 1:34:42 (previously 1:38:07), placing 9th in my AG and 100 overall.

The Nation's Triathlon 2009

2009-09-14T08:57:00.007-04:00

So I have decided to go back to Blogger for my race write ups. Found it easier to drop in images and format.

Day 1: Packet Pickup, Expo and Bike Racking.

To go into a little bit of detail on the weekend's flow of events, Saturday was packet pickup, manditory race brief, the expo, bike racking and if you wanted to, a practice swim:

Timeline:
10am-8pm: Packet pickup, race brief, expo.
1pm-4pm: Swim practice on the swim course.
1pm-8pm: Bike racking.

The trip down wasn't bad. It was once we got into D.C. did traffic get packed. Protesters were all lined up on the sidewalks and streets. I won't get into the why, but you can tell by the pictures.

Anyway, once we got to the Hilton, packet pickup was much less of a hassle than I thought it would be. In order to pick up your packet, you had to attend a race brief, get stamped as proof, then pick up your race bib, swim cap, race band and goodie bag. The event shirt was a nice technical tee from Craft.

The Expo wasn't as big as I would thought it would be, but that may have been because of the lack of space. You can only put so many vendors into a hotel. It's not like the expos you see here at the Pavilion at the Oceanfront but we did get to see a LOOK tri bike for about $13k.

After packet pickup, Kathy and I tried to get to the swim practice but in between hunger and me inputting the wrong streets into the GPS, we got lost. Parking in some random area, we found a little shopping center and decided to eat. I also found a small bike shop, called "The Bike Shop". I threw off my adjustments from my front derailleur the night before and was going to suck it up since I didn't think I would need my small ring but decided to see if these guys could do a quick look since it looked like from the outside they weren't very busy. The mechanic had two bikes on his stand and after I told him about the race on Sunday, he was cool enough to take one of the bikes he was working on off the stand and fix my gears...something I couldn't get one of our local national chain bike shops to do here, just from stopping by. Well after a few minutes, the gear was fixed and we had lunch in the same plaza. By the time we finished lunch, it was too late for the swim practice, so we went to the hotel to check in.

The hotel I booked was the State Plaza Hotel. It was only about a 15 minute walk to the race site. So we checked in and had the hotel park my truck overnight ($30). I grabbed my bike and we walked down to the transition area for the bike racking. The walk was straight down 23rd Street, passing the Lincoln Memorial. If I was to this again next year, I would use the same hotel. One of my favorite spots, Cafe Asia, was 3 blocks away as well.

Bike racking was straight forward. At first, the idea of leaving my bike overnight on a rack exposed to the elements didn't sit right with me, but some people suggested bringing plastic bags to cover parts of the bike. It was also not a good idea to set up your area the night prior. Who knows who might "borrow" your gear by morning time, so I just left my bike on the rack and put my cyclometer in my bento box.

By the end of the day, all the walking around can take a toll on your legs muscles but luckily I had my compression socks on to help it out. Have to thank Don for the info on compression socks.

Day 2: Race Day

Wake up was at 4am. I never have problems walking up on race day. I have more problems sleeping the night prior but thanks to all the walking around that wasn't a problem. Transition opened up at 5am and I wanted to get in as soon as possible to pick up my chip and set up my area. I downed a Clif Bar and Gatorade for my pre-race fuel.

TA set up was a breeze. My neighbor on the rack was a no-show so I had a little more room with my gear. For the bike set up, I went with an aero bottle for hydration (Cytomax) and left my bottle racks on my seat empty for tools, like the CO2 cartridge. I filled my bento box with Clif Shot Bloks and small pieces of a Clif Bar to fuel up during the ride for the run.

Swim:
1500 meters
49:31

I'll be honest and say that I was a little apprehensive of the swim. This is my weakest discipline and after my DNF at the Tavern Tri, I didn't know what to expect. Luckily wetsuits were legal and no rain came down Saturday. They changed the initial plan of launching two waves at the same time, going in opposite directions, to only one wave all in the same direction due to safety concerns. The wave releases were fast at 3 minutes apart. I had more problems trying to move through the swim pen to get to the water for my start than I did with the swim itself. The swim was awesome. The chops weren't bad at all and it looked worse than it felt. At the start, I stayed off to the side, closer to shore and away from the pack. There were still 2 other waves from my age group to start behind me but after them would be the 25-29 AG and that only allowed me 9 minutes of a lead. There were only a few bumps with other swimmers though and from staying on the outside, I was able to avoid the pack and swim at my own pace. This caused me to take a longer swim route but my goal today was to finish the swim.

I will say this, practicing bilateral breathing in the pool helped out greatly on the buoy turns. I swim breathing on my right side but can breathe on my left for a short distance and with the turn buoys on my left, I was able to switch sides and circle around the turn buoys with no problems keeping them in sight.

The exit out of the water was a little shaky. My legs were a bit wobbly and my body was still trying to adjust after rolling side to side for 49 minutes but after a few strides, my balance was back. Getting out of that water gave me a huge boost of confidence and at that point, the race no longer became a race for me and as far as I was concerned, my goal was reached and the bike/run course were just training opportunities for Augusta.

TA 1:
4:51

After finishing the swim, I no longer looked at the clock. I relaxed and took my time getting out of my wetsuit, but that was difficult regardless. All of the body glide that I had around my heels were gone.

Bike:
25 miles
1:14:50

The bike was fun and scary. It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be but it was crowded enough that you were with someone or a group the whole time. Drafting was unavoidable at times. Hills were abundant but nothing too severe. Just some that were grinds at gradual inclines. One downhill got me to 33 mph. I would say that the road conditions were horrible. With the amount of bikers on the road and at some of the speeds we were hitting, it was even dangerous. I had never seen so many water bottles, bento boxes and gear on the ground before. Aero bottles even were knocked off the bikes. There were man holes on the road that were sunk in at least an inch deep. There were breaks in the streets that had 4 inch gaps, bumps that were high enough to launch your front wheel. For riders in the aero position, putting weight onto their bars, this was dangerous. Passing was also chaotic. Proper race etiquette requires you to pass on the left, verbally announcing your passing but with riders all over the roads, passing was wherever you could fit through. I was passing one guy on his left and as I came up side by side with him I hear "passing center" from another rider behind me then he slices through right in between us. One downhill spiraled down with blind turns and a safety had to be positioned to notify the racers to slow down with a megaphone because at the bottom was a nice surprise bump. The bottom was also littered with gear, either from gear getting knocked off the bikes after the bump or maybe from a crash. Although I still enjoyed the bike course, I was glad to get back into the TA.

TA 2:
4:49
Decided to make a pit stop and stretch my legs out.

Run:
10k
48:46

My strongest discipline but it's still difficult to transition into if you're not efficient on the bike. Fueling on the bike and raising my seat up more to offload some work from my quads and calves helped out as well. I fought side stitches the entire time and kept having to massage my abdominal area to keep the pain manageable. This is one thing I still have problems with. I no longer have cramping/fueling problems with the run but the side stitches continue to hinder me. My legs really wanted to open up but the pain was sometimes too much and I didn't want to stop. I just kept massaging my abs, sides and stomach area as the pain became too much and just cruised with the pace. I'm hoping this doesn't haunt me for Augusta.

Total Time: 3:02:45

This was a new PR for me. I had given myself around 3:30:00, since this was the time of my previous OLY at the Bumpass Triathlon back in April.

All in all, the race was definitely worth it, for anyone. There were plenty of beginners out there, even with mountain bikes and commuters. With the flat run profile, this would be a great race for any beginner, just be careful on the bike ride. With a September date, that's also plenty of time to train up for during the year. I will more than likely do this again next year but would be great to do with a group of friends. The support crew was great and even tourists were getting into it.

The mayor of D.C. though is a beast, Mayor Adrian Fenty. He finished at 2:21:28 and competed in the elite category.

Adrian Fenty By Dave Ungrady

The race summary:

Number of Finishers:	3,933
Number of Females:	1,453
Number of Males:	2,480
Average Time:	3:02:40

At the end of the day, 4,400 triathletes from 855 cities, 46 states and 7 countries helped to raise $2.4 million for blood cancer research through the event's sponsor, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Hopefully I can convince some other friends to participate next year.

Fat Tire Duathlon - Race Results

2009-01-18T20:26:00.004-05:00

This race was a good warm up to start the year off. This was my first MTB duathlon so I didn't know how I would do. I think I got a little too laid back with the training as I completely neglected any MTB training rides and hoped on my road biking to pick up the slack, but this was apparently not the case. I'll just post the race details as I entered it in beginnertriathlete.com:

Fat Tire Duathlon
2009-01-18
Virginia Beach, Virginia
United States
Kale Running and Team Tri Power
37F / 3C
Overcast

Duathlon - Other
Total Time = 1h 44m 25s
Overall Rank = 40/62
Age Group = 35 - 39
Age Group Rank = 9/12

Pre-race routine:

Ate an energy bar and drank Gatorade.

There was not much training for this one. I've been running here and there for about 4 miles and mostly road biking. I only rode my mountain bike once within the last 3 months, hoping the road biking would pick up some of the slack. This was not the case.

Event warmup:

Light stretching and running.

Run

Comments:

I put the pace at where I wanted it to be. Being it a XC run and that I still had the MTB and another 5k coming up, I didn't push too hard.