Pushing the Limits

Finding my stroke

2011-04-08T07:28:00.001-07:00

After weeks of easing myself back into swimming (my long swim up to yesterday was 1400m) in a patient effort to avoid injuring my shoulder, last night I finally found my stroke. I ended up swimming the sets the Masters group was swimming, and some of the "breathe every 3, 5, 7 stroke" sets forced me into a much better body rotation. My balance was good, my reach was good, and my stroke felt strong and smooth. I was kicking a little harder for these sets, and that probably helped. I finished with 2000m and no shoulder pain. It's fun to swim well.

Training through the holidays

2010-12-29T14:29:00.000-08:00

After CIM, I wasn't sure if I still wanted to run the Houston Marathon or not. I have already paid to register, but there's not much point in running a marathon if I'm not motivated to do it. After a few weeks of post-CIM recovery, I decided that my weakness at CIM was insufficient training for the hills (and not excessively aggressive pacing, which may or may not be true), since my slow-down was associated with my glutes giving out. I then decided that, assuming I can ramp my training back up effectively, that I still have a chance to PR at Houston. So I'm running Houston.

I eased back into my training plan on the third week after CIM, but missed the tempo workout, then went home to see the family for Christmas (and also missed the tempo workout that week). I ran my long run (intended to be 20 miles) a day after playing two hours of basketball with my family and a group of guys with whom my dad typically plays. The long run ended up being 18 miles of hilly misery. My feet had been aching immediately after the basketball game, and they were pretty painful throughout my long run. In addition to being painful, the run was ridiculously slow (but I didn't worry about it too much, since I didn't have a target pace). Not a confidence builder. I then had 3 full days of inactivity associated with Christmas and traveling, and then jumped on my bike yesterday at lunch. For some reason, I was really weak on the bike, and my heart rate vs. power output was way higher than for the same ride last week. I was pretty frustrated. I went out and ate a heavy lunch of mexican food, then went back to work. After work, I went to run my track workout, and found that I had no motivation to run. I went out on the track and ran my 1 mile warmup. Then I decided I was done for the day- my lunch was not sitting well, and I felt very unmotivated and slow. On my way off the track, I decided that it was silly and a waste of time for me to bail on the workout, and turned around and set off on my first set. About 100m into the set, I decided that, indeed, I would bail. And I did. I'm not sure if I did the right thing or not, but I do know that letting myself bail is a very slippery slope. Discipline is key to success.

Today it is rainy and nasty outside, and I still have a track workout that needs running. Here's hoping I'm man enough to show up.

California International Marathon

2010-12-06T08:14:00.001-08:00

We arrived in Sacramento Friday evening for the Sunday race. A and I met my sister and some friends from Houston at the airport, then crammed into a tiny rental car and headed for our hotels. We dined well on Italian food and went to bed.

Throughout the night we were entertained by the drunkards next door, and were relieved to find in the morning that they would be checking out. We got up, had breakfast, and headed enthusiastically to the expo. There's nothing quite like a race expo, packed with vendors selling running/tri paraphernalia, and with other athletes. It's guaranteed to get you excited for the race!

After the expo, we walked over to Old Sacramento and had lunch overlooking the river. We wandered through the shops, then headed back to the hotel to watch the VT game. At halftime we walked to a nearby brewery, where we ate and watched the end of the VT game. Then we went back to the hotel and got our stuff together for the race.

Race Day: we got up at 4am, grabbed some breakfast downstairs (I had oatmeal), and went to meet the buses departing for Folsom at 5am (the CIM is a point-to-point from Folsom to the Capitol in Sacramento). The day was much warmer than we'd expected (uh-oh), with temps starting in the low 50's (instead of high 30's, as predicted). I spent the 45 minute bus ride with my head on the back of the seat in front of me (just like in school!). We arrived in Folsom, took advantage of the longest line of porta-potties I've ever seen (the race organization was flawless), and lined up for the start. I lined up next to the 3:10 pace group, and planned to run 7:06 pace for as long as I could, with the goal of finishing below 3:10.

I may have gone out a little fast (I was still with the 3:00 pace group after a mile), but I felt pretty good, and resolved to just take what the course gave me. The course was way hillier than I had expected, and judging the pace was very difficult when always running uphill or downhill. I finished the first 6 miles at just over 7:00 pace, and finished the Half at 7:06 pace (a 1/2 Marathon PR... Uh-oh!). So I went out a little fast, and I slowed down a good bit between miles 10 and 13. After the halfway point, I started having issues with my left glute/IT/piriformis (not sure exactly what it is, but it's been bothering me on both sides on and off for the last six weeks (although it's been improving of late). Anyway, the one on the left stopped working, and where I had been effortlessly holding 7:00 pace early on, I was now struggling to keep it under 7:40. I had a surge of energy and another fast mile at mile 19, and then the wheels were completely off, and I was running over 8:00. The day had warmed up considerably, and the sun was out for most of my race, which certainly didn't help (at mile 3, a spectator yelled:"the sun is coming out for you guys!", and I thought: "not for me!!").

I ran the last few miles pushing as hard as I could (but not getting much speed for the effort). Nonetheless, I was passing people by the scores. As I rounded the last corner and the finish line came into view, the guy I was passing decided he didn't want to be passed, and we both accelerated into a wild sprint to the finish (just how I like it!. I'm pretty sure I won by a nose, but will have to await the finish photo to be sure. I finished in 3:13, nit good enough for a PR.

After the finish, I hobbled around cheering for the finishing runners until the rest of my crew trickled in. No one was happy with their race (it's hard to be happy after a marathon), but post-race Mexican food lifted our spirits!

Nov 2 - 14

2010-11-12T17:43:00.001-08:00

Boy, was I sore after that aggressively paced 20 miler on Sunday!
Tuesday: I was having a tough week at work, and I was exhausted (residual jet lag?), and I showed up at the track honestly wanting to just go home without running. I spent most of the warmup mile thinking about skipping the workout, but I didn't let myself off the hook.
Goal: 1 mi wu, 3000m @ 6:45, 2000m @ 6:26, 1000m @ 6:12, 800m @ 5:58, 1 mi cd.
Achieved: I beat my target pace on each interval.
My calves were already sore immediately after the workout.
Thursday:
Goal: 1mi wu, 8mi @ 6:45, 1 mi cd
Achieved: 1 mi wu, 8 mi @ 6:54, 1 mi cd
It was really humid, and thus was a really tough run. It took a lot of focus to stay on pace (more or less), and I wasn't sure I'd be able to hold it. I was pretty proud of myself for sticking with it, even I missed target pace by a little.

November 1 - 7

2010-11-04T15:20:00.001-07:00

Monday: arrived in Pau, France for a training class. I spent the afternoon walking around town and checking out the sights. The town has some monster hills, and I actually got a pretty good workout just walking around.
Tuesday: Goal: mixed intervals, as usual
Actual: I was still running my warmup and looking for a good place to do speedwork, when I came across a group of runners. I followed them for about a mile (not particularly inconspicuously), and ended up talking to the guy leading the pack. It turned out to be the triathlon club of Billere, on their way to do a speed workout. So I joined them. Their workout was a series of "fractionnes" (intervals) on a 330m course. The idea was to run 10x 1 min hard, 1 min rest. The coach told me that the course took about 1 min to complete "if you're good". There were about 15 of us. Needless to say, I went out hard on the first one, and blew everyone away. I finished first on the second one, too. On the next three sets, the coach finished ahead of me, and on all of the sets after that, another guy did, too. I finished each set gasping for breath (and, I dare say, in worse shape than some of the others). After the workout, we did an acceleration up a half mile hill (8-10% grade), which Coach and I finished way ahead of everyone else, and I headed back to my hotel. Total distance: >6 mi.
PS: I checked out their website, and both guys who beat me in the workout turn out to have run 1:15 half marathons this year, and one had finished the London marathon in 2:33. No wonder I got my arse handed to me! PPS: the pace of our 330's turns out to be 4:50 min/mile (the slowest one I ran), slightly faster than my typical target pace.
Wednesday: I am ridiculously sore. Like it hurts to walk. It's mostly calves, but seems to hurt at least a bit everywhere. For some reason, its a different kind of pain than typical lactic acid soreness- it hurts!
Thursday: Goal: 1.5 mi wu, 5.5 mi @ 6:45, 1.5 mi cd.
Achieved: 1 mi wu, 5.25 mi @ ~6:50, .75 mi cd. My legs still really hurt. I wasn't sure if I should still run, but it seemed to get better once I was running (except the left calf, which I felt constantly, but which didn't seem to get worse). I stopped twice during the tempo, and both times getting myself going again was like pulling teeth. My legs are still really sore, and walking to dinner was an ordeal. Hopefully I'll be recovered in time for Sunday's run.

Oct 18 - 24 (Aftermath)

2010-10-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

So... I spent the rest of the weekend recovering from my idiotic pacing during my 19 mile Saturday run. I pulled something in the middle of my right calf, and spent the weekend wearing compression socks to (hopefully) aid recovery. We drove to Austin to cheer on some friends in the Longhorn 1/2 Ironman, so I had plenty of time in the car to unobtrusively wear my silly looking socks (I don't have the sporty looking sleeves; mine look like knee-high black dress socks).
Monday: HRTC Beerathlon (chug a beer, run a mile, chug a beer, run a mile, chug a beer)
Averaged 6:10 min/mi, even counting the beer chug in the middle
My right calf was hurting noticeably afterwards, so I decided to take Tuesday off. Since I had a 1/2 marathon coming up on Sunday, I wanted to give myself some chance at recovery.
Wednesday:
I missed the group ride at work on Tuesday (meeting/injury), so I went out for a ride on my own on Wednesday. I took it relatively easy, but did manage a 15 minute effort at around threshold power. (probably not clever)
Thursday:
Goal: 1mi wu, 6.5mi @ 6:45, 1mi cd.
I made it through about 3.5 mi of my tempo interval (6:48), and suddenly felt something give in my right calf. It hurt. It felt suspiciously less pleasant than the "good" sore-muscle hurt. I slowed up, and the pain wasn't nearly as prominent. I ran about a mile at a slower pace (8:25), then gutted out 1.5 miles at a moderate pace (7:08).
I am now very, very concerned about the calf injury, because it is clear that it has the potential to completely derail my marathon training, which had been proceeding so well. Aaagh!
Rode the bike at lunch with my Thursday group (didn't want to miss riding with friends). I took the ride pretty easy, but still was faced with pretty much constant calf pain.

I spent the rest of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday being nice to my calf. Stretching, compression socks at night, the works.

Sunday: Houston 1/2 Marathon. Goal: 6:50 pace and/or finish without season-ending injury. I went into this race very concerned about how my calf would hold up, and concerned that I would run through any issues that did arise, eliminating my chances of training well in the upcoming weeks.
Result: It was hot and humid (78 deg, 90% humidity), and I started out on pace, but my speed quickly tapered off, and I found myself running consistently above 7 minute pace. At mile 8 I developed a mean side stitch, that dropped my speed dramatically (I averaged 8:25 over a mile, pushing through it). It took a significant emotional toll, as I felt my hopes for a great run completely shattered. Eventually the stitch eased, and I finished out the last 3-4 miles at a 7:26 pace. Result: ~1:36, 7:23 pace avg.

This actually was a PR for me, since I've only run one other half, and I ran it injured. The real bright spot in an otherwise miserable race is that I finished with my legs feeling healthy. This bodes well for the upcoming week of training, and I can't help but feel fortunate to have made it through the race without aggravating the calf injury or injuring something else. I'll take being healthy over having a kick-ass race in this case.

Oct 11 - 17

2010-10-12T20:15:00.001-07:00

Monday: 1000m swim
Tuesday:
20 mile bike at lunch
Run;
Goal: 1mi wu, 2000m @ 6:45, 1600m @ 6:26, 1000m @ 6:12, 800m @ 6:02, 1mi cd
Achieved: 1mi wu, 2000m @ 6:38, 1600m @ 6:16, 1000m @ 5:58, 800m @ 5:48, 1mi cd (7:00)
Felt great. Killed it!
Thursday:
Goal: 1mi wu, 6mi @ 6:45, 1mi cd
Achieved: 1mi wu, 6mi @ 6:48, 1mi cd
Felt good! Huge sense of accomplishment from managing to maintain pace.
Sat:
Goal: 18mi @ 7:40 - 8:20
Achieved: 19mi @ 7:55.
Today I was really, really dumb. First 4.5mi @ 8:48 (with the group), then was feeling pretty good; decided to aim for 7:15 pace, so 4.75mi @ 7:17. Slowed down to 8 min pace for 4 miles to talk with a guy in our group, then ran the last 5.6mi @ 7:35. Ran way too fast for my longest run in months, and regretted it the rest of the weekend.

Oct 4 - 10

2010-10-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

Boy, is it hard to recover from a race!

Wed: ran 3 miles; Goal: <7:00 pace
Achieved: 7:13 pace (and it was s struggle)

Thurs:
Goal: 1mi wu, 5 mi @ 6:26, 1mi cd
Achieved: 1 mi wu, 3.5mi @ 6:42, 1.5mi @ 6:36

This was tough. Somehow towards the end I found my stride (even though my legs were tired!), and running this pace didn't seem so hard. Early on I was working hard but never really found my stride.

Saturday: Long run/recovery run with A (14 miles). We ran the first 8 miles together, averaging 8:30 pace, and I did a pick-up for the last 6 miles (7:06 pace), of which the last 3 were at sub-7 pace. This run was a huge confidence booster, and the cool weather and low humidity definitely helped!

Sunday- cycling at park
Intervals- target power 95% - 105% FTP (213 W)
Achieved: 2 laps (2.36 mi @ 223w), 3 laps (3.5 mi @ 218w), 4 laps (4.7mi @ 216w), 3 laps (3.5mi @ 205w)

I noticed (during cooldown) that changing my hip angle made a difference in the feel of the pedal stroke (it also flattens out my back). I feel like I may be using my calves too much- I can pedal heel-down when I try, but it doesn't feel very natural. I think I need to start getting in more time at threshold power- that will be one of my goals for the weekday rides going forward.

Halfmax Championship

2010-10-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Sept 27 - Oct 3
Race week: I had a massage on Monday (after a short swim). I'm not sure that this was a good idea, as I ended up feeling some strange twinges in my knees and calves during the week. I rode Tuesday and Thursday on my backup bike. The fit of the bike is pretty different, so I did my best to take it easy. I couldn't ride in the aerobars, as that setup is too aggressive to ride comfortably. Both days my left calf felt on the verge of cramping on the most anterior part- worrisome. Tuesday I did 3x 1000m @ 7:15, with 1.5mi wu & cd. Thursday my legs felt achy, and I decided I'd be better off without the run.

The race: We flew into Myrtle Beach around noon the day before the race, and went to the race venue and checked our bikes into transition. I had pasta for dinner, prepped my transition bag, and crashed early (~8?). On race morning, we arrived on site, and I realized that I had mistakenly racked my bike in the wrong section (I was surrounded by 20 girls). Aha! My race number is 105, not 150! So I moved my bike to the appropriate rack and got the last available spot. I got my spot organized (it was pretty roomy, since no one wanted the end), grabbed my wetsuit, and headed for the race start when the announcement was made that the swim would be cancelled due to high concentrations of bacteria (apparently a week of heavy rain had taken its toll on the intracoastal waterway). So... My best event: cancelled. To say I was disappointed would be a massive understatement. The race would now be a bike-run, with a random time trial start. A and I were near the front of the mass of starters, so we started near the beginning of the race.

Bike: It was a windy day (15-20 mph), Which made the bike more of a challenge. Two miles into the bike, I dropped my bottle of nutrition on the road (I used my half-size Performance bottle, which I'm not used to handling). I coasted on a bit, considering abandoning it, but eventually pulled a U-ey and picked it up. My goals for the bike (based on my dry run 2 weeks before) were to keep my power between 165 & 175 W, and my HR between 145 & 150. I started the race a little hot, and my first 12 miles or so my HR was well over 150, but I managed to rein it in. I was strongly hoping to average 21mph or better.

Bike result: 21.1 mph, 179W, HR 149 bpm. Right on target. (I'll have to look up what my pace would've been without the dropped bottle).

Run: I have spent the last several weeks reminding myself how to run fast, and over that time my pace goal for the run has crept downwards from 7:45min/mile to sub 7:30. I ran the first 3-4 miles at a sub 7:30 pace, fighting a side stitch the whole time, and eventually my pace slowed to ~8:15 (by that time the side stitch was gone, but it was hot, and I didn't have much kick). I had a few miles that were slower still between mile 6.5 and mile 10, then managed to pick it up a bit over the last few miles (still >8:00 pace). I finished with an 8:08 avg pace.

All in all, not too bad. With a swim (even a slow swim), I would have PR'd and had a good shot at qualifying. Without the swim, I wasn't even close to qualifying for Worlds.
Next time: Train better- more time running fast would've done me wonders. More runs after long rides. Bike pacing was good. Rode race wheels with latex tubes; no issue. Next time put Teflon tape on spare tube valve for extender. Avoid race week massage.

Sept 20 - 26

2010-09-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

Monday - 2000m swim (No major back or neck pain this time, but did need heating pad to relax back muscles afterwards)

Tuesday -

Bike: 20mi (noon)

Run:

Goal: 1 mi WU, 5x 1000 @ 6:12, 1 mi CD

Achieved: Nailed it. I ran this one at the track. Garmin data was lost, but I was very happy with this run. I started out planning to punk out on the last couple 1000's, and the first 1000m was very tough, and my legs felt like lead. And somehow, they got easier and easier. I ran my mile CD at a comfortable pace, with the first lap at 7:45, and finishing at 7:15. I felt strong. It's amazing the degree to which speedwork reinforces your body's ability to comfortably run fast(er).

Wednesday - 2200m swim. Felt pretty good; didn't overdo it. Swam 10x 100yd on 1:35 (finished each around 1:25).

Thursday

Goal: 1 Mi WU, 5mi @ 6:26, 1mi CD
Achieved: 1mi wu, 5mi @ 6:53, .5mi cd. First 2 miles were @ 6:35; after that the wheels came off. I stopped for water 3 miles in, and finished off the tempo feeling noticeably slower. The effort was there; it was just a tough morning.

Friday: 2200m swim. 10x 100yd on 1:35, finished each at/under 1:25. Felt pretty good.

Saturday
Goal: 13-15 miles @ 7:25-8:25
Achieved: 2mi wu, 11mi @ 7:33, cd. Total: 14.75
This run begins my taper for next week's Halfmax Championship. I wanted to prove to myself that I could sustain sub-7:45 pace (my goal pace for the race). Had a great run- felt great and finished strong! I ran into a guy training to run a 2:30 marathon, and ran a couple of miles with him, chatting it up. It was nice to have some company, and good to get some confidence running comfortably at 7:20 pace.

Long ride- dry run for Halfmax

2010-09-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday, Sept 19.
The ride I planned for today was a 56 mile ride in the hills of Montgomery, in conjunction with an organized ride sponsored by my tri club, HRTC. I had decided to use this race to test the pacing strategy for my upcoming half ironman.
I started out riding with a couple other guys, and I faced the typical group-riding challenges that are generated by my refusal to ride pace-line or draft. I'm found myself out front pulling until we hit an uphill, when I would be passed by the entire pace-line (which I would then re-pass on the next downhill). My goal for the day was to ride at 170-180 W (assuming 213W for my threshold power, which I admittedly haven't tested in half a year), and keeping my HR below 160. I rode the first half of the ride with this goal in mind, but somehow ended up averaging 190W through the first half (avg HR ~155). I made a pit-stop at the halfway point and rode the rest of the ride by myself. I continued the second half with the same goal in mind, but my wattage for the second half was much lower relative to my HR. I struggled a bit through the second half, and my average wattage for this section was closer to 155W. This ride was not really a perfect dry run for my upcoming race, since this ride was quite hilly, and my upcoming race will be flat and windy.
Conclusions: For this distance, I should probably lower my wattage target (165 - 175W) and try to hold it consistently throughout the ride. I definitely should not exceed a HR of 155 in my race (with no hills, there should be no reason for such surges).

Week 2 on the wagon

2010-09-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, Sept 14
Goal: 1mi WU, 4x 1000m @ 6:12, 1mi CD
Achieved: 6:11, 6:15, 6:14, 6:14
Apparently the speed is still there; I just have to use it. I am pumped to come so close to hitting my targets! I've definitely been a little sore after the last week of speedwork, but I'm gratified to find myself coming up to speed so quickly. Hopefully I can find some speed to take with me to the Halfmax Nat'l Championships (1/2 Iron distance) on Oct 2.

Thursday, Sept 16
Goal: 1mi WU, 4.5 mi @ 6:26, 1mi CD
Achieved 1mi WU, 4.5 @ 6:34, walking CD (with friends)
I was pumped to be able to maintain this tempo run through the entire distance. The cooler weather helped, as did the presence of my friend Stuart, who is on the same plan with the same target pace and the same target race (CIM), and who is a machine- he surged ahead of me early, and was my rabbit for the rest of the run

Saturday, Sept 18
Goal: 16 mi @ 7:35-8:25
Achieved: 16 mi @ 7:55
I pushed the pace a little today, and was surprised to find that I had the speed in my legs. I'm can tell that just by expecting my body to run faster, it's responding and I'm pulling it off. It's interesting that the last few months of lowered pace expectations actually resulted in my getting slower, and gratifying that the converse actually works.

Back on the speedwork wagon

2010-09-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

I'm training for the California International Marathon, and have put together a run-training plan culminating in that race. First week back:

Tuesday, September 7
Goal: 1 mi WU, 3x 1000m @ 6:12, 1 mi CD
Achieved: 6:08, 6:24, 6:22, and 800m @ 6:20 (I was confused and thought I was supposed to do 4x 1000m, and I punked out on the last one and only ran 800m, but it turned out I was only supposed to run 3)
I ran these at 8pm in a driving rainstorm (coolest run in Houston in ages), and really struggled to maintain the pace. I could feel, however, the difference in my stride when running fast versus the "base" pace I've been running for the past several months.

Thursday, September 9
Goal: 1 mi WU, 4mi @ 6:26, 1 mi CD
Achieved: I broke the 4mi up into smaller bits: 2mi @ 6:42, 1.5mi @ 6:35, .5mi @ 6:41
This was a tough run. Hopefully next week I'll come closer to hitting my goals

Friday, September 10
Long run in 98 degree heat of afternoon.
13.5mi @ 8:42 pace

Post-Ironman epiphany

2010-09-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

After wallowing in funk for several days, I went for a recovery run after work, and suddenly realized that my Ironman result was directly a product of the training I had done. I had hoped to maintain my speed from the Houston marathon all the way into the Ironman, but found that as the weather got hotter and hotter (and my training volume got higher and higher), it became increasingly difficult to hit my pace targets when doing my run speedwork. At some point (I think it was in June), I stopped doing any structured workout at all, and just did general "tempo" workouts with no pace goal, no obvious progression, and no accountability. This is where I lost my speed. Without realizing it, I slipped into a training complacency where training distance began to trump intensity (this happened to me in 2006, as well, with IM Florida).

The structure and accountability of the run training that I did leading up to the Houston Marathon were directly responsible for the speed gains that I made during that period, and I would definitely want to incorporate that (and stick to it) in training for my next IM.

When I do my next IM, I want to be prepared to race at my goal paces, not to just idly hope that I can hit them. Where I failed in this IM was in my preparation- I was prepared to complete the distance, just not at the pace that I wanted. Next time I'll know better.

Post-Ironman funk

2010-09-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

I spent the first week and a half after the Ironman in kind of a funk. It's really difficult to structure your life around a goal day-in and day-out for a year, and then to suddenly find yourself wandering aimlessly. This post-Ironman funk was maybe a little more pronounced than the others I've experienced, since I was somewhat disappointed in my performance. I'm not sure that this disappointment is reasonable, or rational, but I spent the last year planning (and training) to obliterate my PR, even on a much tougher course. I did execute my race plan flawlessly, but the fact that I didn't blow up on the run has left me wondering if I couldn't/shouldn't have taken more risks and pushed a little harder on the bike.

The funk was exacerbated by the fact that I have gotten so much slower over the last several months. Where I once was running my long runs at paces in the low 7's, a comfortable long run pace for me has turned into a pace in the high 8's and low 9's. Even aggressively paced long runs lately have yielded at best an 8:30 average pace. What the heck?!

Quick Update

2010-09-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

So what's happened since February? Good question! Leading up to Worlds, here were this year's races:
My next "A" race after the Houston Marathon was to be the Cooper River Run 10k, where I wanted to break 40 minutes. I built a run training plan easing me into the tri season, with this goal in mind.
Feb 27: Rodeo Run 10k: I ran this race with A and her mother, and finished in 40:52, well short of my sub-40 goal with one month to go...
Mar 27: Cooper River Bridge Run 10k: I went home to SC to run this race with my family, with the goal of breaking 40 minutes firmly in mind. We got dropped off a little later than usual, and a little further away than usual, so we had to run a mile or so to get into our start corral, and got there just before the start. This had two results; 1) we were nice and warmed up when the race started, and 2) we had a lot more people in front of us than usual. Since this race has 30,000+ participant, even being at the back of a seeded start corral can mean quite a few people to pass at race start. My brother and I started out pretty fast, dodging, bobbing, and weaving around the slower people in front of us, and probably running 20% farther in the process. A mile or so into the race we got separated, and I pounded the mile or so up the bridge, trying to keep from pushing too hard, and surging past all of the people who had overextended themselves. I lost a lot of time off my target pace on the uphill, and heading over the crest I feared my chances of breaking 40 minutes were already gone. Regardless, I pushed the downhill (just like my brother taught me the first year I ran it with him), and my pace went down to a minute or more below target pace. I was flying! A guy pulled in behind me and made a remark about me looking fresh, still running on my toes. I lost track of my time in the second half of the race, but pushed as hard as I could and finished strong. Result: 40:00. That's right- I missed breaking 40 minutes by one second. I still felt pretty good about my finish, since I don't think I left any extra seconds on the course- that was all I had.

Apr 24: Lone Star Olympic Triathlon (Galveston, TX): I was really looking forward to this race, as I thought I had a pretty good chance of placing (and I was excited about my cycling improvements). It was an insanely windy day, and they ended up canceling the swim. My enthusiasm for the race waned somewhat with my best event removed, and I found myself struggling to get any sort of push on the run. I felt like I let up quite a bit from miles 3-5, and then still finished pretty strong. I finished a disappointing 11/92 in my AG, knowing that a swim leg would probably have put me on the podium.
May 16: TexasMan 1/2 Ironman (near Dallas, TX): This race was hilly and hot! A and I drove the course the day before and were amazed at how hilly it was! This was my first race wearing a HR monitor, and I set some target ranges to maintain on the bike (140-145 bpm). I finished the swim 1st in my AG, and headed out on the bike course. I went slower and slower on the bike, but couldn't seem to go slowly enough to get my HR to come down. It stayed over 160bpm for the first 10 miles of the race. The bike was challenging, but went pretty well, and I think I could have pushed a little harder (though the best measure of a good bike leg is in how the run leg goes). I had a good run, and stayed strong despite a hilly run course and blistering conditions. There was no Gatorade on most of the run course, so I used the "emergency" electrolyte tabs that I had tucked in my jersey pocket. I finished strong, in 5:12 (short of the 5:00 to which I had idly aspired), good for 4th place in my AG.

Jun 12: Corporate Track Meet: This was easily my most fun event of the first half of 2010! My company competes with a number of other major companies in the Houston area, and this race was a full-fledged track meet. I'd never run a short distance race, and it was fantastic! This race deserves a post of its own, but I did run a 5:20 mile (good for silver in the Team Mile), and ran about the same time or faster as the mile anchor of a mixed-distance relay, pulling my relay team from 3rd to 1st (GOLD!), and winning by over 30 seconds. I also ran some ridiculously fast 800's in a few other relays, pulling my team from ignominy into contention. Ah, the glory!

I'm back!

2010-09-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

OK, the blog is back after more than a 6 month hiatus. If I don't write race reports for the Long Course World Championships and Ironman Canada now, then I never will (or I'll end up with a cop out report like the one I did for IM Coeur d'Alene last year). There are actually quite a few things that I want to remember, so reporting is back. I'm also going to try to ramp up my reporting on my training progress to re-introduce a measure of accountability, but we'll have to see how that works out.

Vindication

2010-02-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

I just had a fantastic run at the park! This week's run was to be the same as last week's, with an extra mile repeat thrown in (1.5mi WU, 4x 1mi @ 6:26, 1.5mi CD). I wore my heart rate monitor this week, just to compare with last week's punk-out. I had a great run; I nailed my mile repeats (6:22, 6:23, 6:23, 6:19), and they felt smooth and easy. For some reason, tonight I felt like I was running more like a gazelle than like a buffalo. Maybe I'm evolving...

As for the heart rate verdict, my average heart rate on the last mile repeat tonight was 170 bpm, as compared to an average heart rate of 185 over the last .85 miles I ran last week on the treadmill. So... I was definitely running too fast last week, and I was correct to back off when it felt like too much. Yay, me!

This week:

Last week: (pace comes from my Garmin footpod- accuracy unknown)

Punking out

2010-02-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

Last night was the first time I've punked out in a workout in a long, long time. It was cold (low 40's) and monsooning out, so I opted to do my tempo workout indoors on a treadmill (which sucks). The plan was to run 1.5 warmup, 3x 1mile @ 10k pace, and 1.5 mile cooldown. I followed conventional wisdom and set the treadmill at a 1% grade to make the pace more equivalent to running outdoors. For some reason, this workout was tough! I made it through the first mile wondering if I would be able to finish the workout. I made it through mile 2, and my heartrate was way higher than it should have been at 10k pace (I thought- I'm not actually sure what it's supposed to be). On my 3rd mile, I was miserable just starting out, and on a treadmill you don't have the option of slowing down to cheat a bit (without making a conscious decision to do so). I told myself to just run 1/2 a mile, and then if I wanted I could stop (knowing that at that point I would talk myself into going farther). At 1/2 mile, I talked myself into running to 3/4 mile, but I felt like I was on the final sprint of a race! I was gasping; I was dying! At 3/4 mile I knew I was close to the finish, but really didn't think I could go any further, and I ended up pushing another minute or so to 0.85 mile, and then I hit "stop". I hit "stop"! I was dying; I was done; but I was so disappointed in myself for giving in. (I did finish my cool down afterward)

I'm not sure why that workout was so tough. My Garmin footpod said I was running 6:03 min/mile instead of the 6:26 to which I set the treadmill, but which one was accurate? (I'd guess the treadmill) My heart rate when I hit stop was 190, which seems a little high for a training run, but I looked back through my run data from the last couple of months and realized that I haven't really been wearing the monitor for speed work or tempo work, so I have no real basis for comparison. On my long runs at marathon pace, my heart rate topped out around 172, but that's not really a comparable intensity. Maybe I was feeling the effects of accumulated fatigue from workouts earlier in the week? Or maybe it was just a tough workout I was going to have to gut out to make it through.

Anyway... I was pretty disappointed in myself for pulling the plug in the middle of the workout. It sounds like such a minor thing, but in training it's the discipline to do what you set out to do that forces you into improvement.

Launching Triathlon Season

2010-02-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

Well, lots has happened since the Houston Marathon. I spent the first 3 weeks after the marathon mainly focused on avoiding injury (since I've managed to injure myself in the weeks after the Houston Marathon twice in the last several years). At this point in the year, I typically have been in a running-only mode, and after the marathon start to shift into triathlon training mode. I'm usually filled to the brim with both excitement and motivation, and it's pretty easy to write checks my body isn't yet ready to cash (three years ago I went out the weekend after the marathon, and rode 42 miles in hills on Saturday, another 30 miles on Sunday morning, and then ran 10 miles on Sunday afternoon. That was my last run that year until April. I did all of my run training for Ironman Arizona that year in a pool, which distinctly resembles a form of torture, particularly if you find yourself doing 2+ hour runs in an enclosed dungeon of a natatorium while your friends are all running outside in the sun on a beautiful spring morning. Being injured did take a lot of the pressure off for IM Arizona, though, since I didn't really know if I would finish until I crossed the finish line. Anyway...).

So this year, I resolved to be careful in the weeks following the marathon, and, even though it was very tough, I succeeded. It is nearly a month after the marathon, and I am healthy, and have even established a routine of sorts, combining my cycling and run training (I did sneak a couple of swims in there, but it would be a gross exaggeration to imply that I've established any sort of routine on that front). My main goals for the next couple of months are:
a) to improve my cycling threshold power by 20% (my starting point is pretty low)
b) to break 40 min in a 10K

My planned weekly routine looks like this:
Monday: swim, recovery run (optional)
Tuesday: bike trainer workout (am), run track workout (pm)
Wednesday: bike trainer workout
Thursday: run tempo workout, masters swim workout (pm)
Friday: off
Saturday: long run, swim
Sunday: long bike ride

So far I've been doing all of that for the last couple of weeks, except the swimming.

I'm excited about triathlon season! I'm especially excited to be starting this triathlon season healthy! (my first time since 2006). I hope to improve significantly on the bike this season (narrowing the performance gap with my competitors), and to maintain some of my new-found running speed throughout the season.

2010 Houston Marathon

2010-01-17T15:36:00.000-08:00

Houston 2010 will be my 10th marathon since I ran my first marathon at Houston 2006 (not counting 3 Ironmans and 3 50k's), and this will be my 4th time running Houston (I ran the Houston 1/2 marathon in 2009, injured- not a great idea). I like this race.

On Saturday I went to pick up my race packet, and as usual, it was fun to be swept up in the city's collective excitement about the race. There were lots of good deals on running apparel, but I managed to escape without buying anything (running is pretty simple- there's only so much gear you really need). I had toyed with the idea of getting a short "warmup" run in, but I ended up relaxing and watching football. Not a bad thing, really. I went out for a pasta dinner, and the restaurant was packed with people running the marathon (which resulted in a painfully long wait, but that's another story).

Sunday- RACE DAY-
Weather: Perfect!- 45 degrees at race start, warming up to mid 50's by noon.
Woke up at 4:45 am. I had 2 bowls of cereal before leaving the house (breakfast of champions!). Agustina, her mother, and I picked up a friend and headed to the convention center, arriving ~5:30 am. This year was a little different from most years for me- typically all or most of my running crew are running the marathon with me, but due to differing goal races and varying degrees of injury, I had no one to meet up with before the race. So I headed out to the start corrals a little earlier than usual on my own. I easily got to my spot in the corral by 6:30, and took advantage of the time to remove some gravel from my shoes (the mesh in the tops of them tends to allow tiny bits of gravel to enter the shoes when running at Memorial Park, so I often end up taking just a little bit of the trail home with me). I found the 3:10 pace group, and lurked inconspicuously behind them. I don't know if I've elaborated here on my goal for this race, but here it is: I decided when I started running that I wanted to qualify for Boston before I turned 35 (when the qualifying time goes from 3:10 to 3:15), so my goal for this marathon is 3:10. Note: my PR for the Houston marathon after 3 races is 3:31, and my overall marathon PR is 3:18 at St. George (a hilly, but net downhill course). Considering that I struggled in running a 3:39 marathon at Chicago just a few months ago, it's a pretty aggressive goal, but it's what I've been working towards. Anyway, I saw another triathlete from Houston Racing who was aiming for a similar time, and we hung out together until the start. Mayors speech, inspirational prayer, national anthem, and then BANG- and we're off.

I had decided that I wouldn't necessarily stick with the pace group, which I assumed would be running even 7:15 splits the whole race. I wanted to run just a little faster on the early miles to build a little bit of a buffer for my inevitable deceleration late in the race. Interestingly, they stayed right with me through 12 miles or so (they ran two ~7:00 miles early on, and ended up finishing a couple of minutes early at the finish). At some point, I just let them go. I was pretty convinced that if I kept running that aggressively early on, I'd regret it later, so I continued running my own race. I kept a pretty good handle on my pace through mile 15, or so (running at or better than target pace). Mile 15 contains an overpass (the "hill" in this race), and I had a pretty slow split for that mile, and didn't seem to really regain my stride in the subsequent miles (they're headed directly away from the finish, and are pretty mentally tough). At this point, I was running pretty much as fast as I could, and I was only getting 7:30 miles out of my legs. I had my watch set to give me 1/4 mile splits, so I knew every couple of minutes how I was doing, and I knew that I was starting to bleed off a little of the time buffer that I'd built up. I did my best to hold it together, and did manage to pull my pace down between miles 15 and 18, actually getting pretty close to target pace for mile 18. Not coincidentally, during that mile I saw my buddy Greg (who has faithfully made it out to cheer me on in every Houston Marathon I've run), and some of the folks from my running group who weren't running the race. It sure helps to have supporters!

Me looking particulary dopey, but very happy to see Greg at mile 18

At mile 18, we turned back towards the finish, and it was an 8 mile run for home. I knew that I needed to bring my pace down if I was going to finish in my target time, but a side stitch I developed gulping water around 18 lasted for a several miles, and I pushed my pace as hard as I could without making it worse (it's a fine line), and now I was hemorrhaging time. I was pretty confident that I had burned through whatever buffer I had built up, but I had some consolation in knowing that technically the BQ target time is 3:10:59, so I did have 59 seconds more than I had allowed myself to consider. Still, at the rate I was losing time (I didn't really slow down that much- I ran miles 21-25 at 7:30 pace instead of my 7:15 target), it was going to take a heck of a kick at the end to come anywhere close. Encouragingly, I was passing people left and right who had completely blown out instead of just slowing, and I kept pushing, and ran through to the end with everything I had left, running every 1/4 mile as aggressively as I could (but losing time the whole way). On the home stretch I used up whatever may have been left in the tank, running a 6:04 pace over the last half mile. The crowd was cheering, I was dying, and I crossed the finish line in 3:11:53, good for a 7 minute PR over my St George time, and nearly a 20 minute PR over my best Houston time. When I stopped, my legs collapsed, and I toppled backwards like I'd been hit with sledgehammer (stopping after all those hours of running isn't nearly as easy as it sounds), but a friendly medical team caught me, and walked me until I could walk myself. My track coach from my early days in Houston Racing was in the finishing chute, and clapped me on the back and said, "That was a hell of a race". That meant a lot- he's known me since I started running in late 2005, and I've come a long way since then.

I picked up my medal, and ran into some friends, who walked me around until I was better able to move on my own. I was pretty torn between being proud of my PR (It turns out that since at the next Boston Marathon that I could run I'll be 35, all I actually needed to qualify was a 3:15), and being devastatedly disappointed that I'd put in so much training, and put so much out there in this race, only to come up short of my goal. I'm still a little torn on that point, but my friends have been excited for me, so I'm probably more happy than disappointed. And a huge PR is nothing to sneeze at.

Side note- I ran this race (and all of my training for the last several months) in my Newtons, and hopefully I'll find the time to comment on them in an upcoming post.

Here are my splits from the marathon (note the crazy 6:54 pace split at mile 11, run with the crazy pace group):

Official result: 3:11:53- Boston, here I come!

The taper

2010-01-17T14:14:00.001-08:00

Tuesday, Jan 5:
Speedwork on a treadmill. The weather outside wasn't even that bad; I just didn't feel like running on the track alone in the dark (nothing fun about that, really). I took one of the usual segments out of my workout to make it a bit more taper-worthy (to back down the volume a bit, at least).
1 mi easy, 2000m @ 6:45, 1mi @ 6:26, 800 @ 6:00, 1 mi easy (Total ~6 mi)

Thursday, Jan 7:
Tempo run. I backed the mileage at 1/2 marathon pace recommended by my plan (6), and opted for 4 (since I wanted to really enforce the taper this week). I ran at a deserted Memorial Park in frigid temperatures in the rain, and I didn't struggle too much to hit my pace. These actually felt pretty good.
2 mi WU, 4 mi @ 6:45, 1 mi CD

Saturday, Jan 9:
Easy long run. Some of my usual crew showed up for this one, even though it was 28 degrees at the start (in Houston!), but it was a smaller group than usual. On the other hand, since I had no real pace goal for this run, I was able to actually run and chat with my friends, rather than just starting with them and meeting them at water stops, as I've done much of this training season. It was a nice change of pace.
13.4 mi @ 8:48

Tuesday, Jan 12:
Easy run at base pace. 6 mi @ 8:07 pace. Again, a nice run, because I got to run with Augie instead of doing my own thing. I need to appreciate these runs more, since if I expect to improve, I probably will have to do more and more running at my own pace.

Thursday, Jan 14:
I was scheduled for a speed workout on Wednesday, but skipped it to go to a dinner with other marathoners from my company. It was a good choice; I had a good time. Thursday I wanted to remind myself what it feels like to run fast (after all of these "easy" runs), so I went to the park (in the rain and the cold and the dark), and did the following:
1 mi WU, 3 mi @ 7:00, .75 mi CD
This was a good run for visualizing the race, and the 3 miles definitely gave my confidence a needed boost.

That's all I plan to do before the marathon on Sunday, unless I go for a quick 1 mile run on Saturday, TBD.

How do you like them apples?

2010-01-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

I did it! I had a fantastic tempo run and actually managed to hit both the distance and the pace! Finally! I am so pumped!

Thursday:
Plan: 2 mile WU, 8 mile @ 6:45, 2 mile CD
Achieved: 2 mile WU, 8 mile @ 6:47, 2 mile CD
I finally hit my Thursday tempo run! It was one of my toughest runs ever, but I hung in there and tried to run each 1/4 mile in the moment; to focus on my form and pace at the moment and not to think about all of the miles ahead of me or behind me. The turning point in the workout was the halfway point; after that the remaining miles seemed pretty achievable. I was so exhausted by the end, and so happy to have succeeded, that I felt nearly as emotional as I do after a marathon. Weird. I was working pretty hard by the end- my heart rate at the end was around 183. Then- off to a New Year's party!

Friday:
Knees are still pretty sore. It's a ligament (IT band?) on the outside of the knee that mostly hurts when I rotate on my leg (on both legs). I've been icing a good bit.

Saturday:
Plan: 2 mi WU, 12 mi at 7:04, 2 mi CD
Achieved: 2 mi WU, 12 mi at 7:06, 2 mi CD
This was an awfully tough run. I struggled to maintain pace throughout the run, which was pretty frustrating (especially since this was supposed to be marathon pace, and I was only running half of a marathon- should it be that much work?). I even stopped once during the run with no good reason (and was very ashamed of myself for it, too!). This wasn't as confidence-building as I imagine it was supposed to be, but I had a pretty tough workout on Thursday, and there may have been some residual fatigue from that. But... I did get the run in, and I think I even managed to hold pace better than my last "marathon pace" long run. Maybe I was just a little disappointed because I was expecting it to be easy.

My knees still hurt. I'm taking Sunday and Monday off. Hopefully they'll feel better as I enter... Taper Time!

December 28 - January 2

2009-12-30T13:55:00.000-08:00

Monday: I took the day off and watched some football. I spent 4 hours in the airport on Sunday, and then another several hours on the plane, and by the time I disembarked in Houston, one of my knees was hurting quite a bit. I guess running a 22 miler and taking a long flight in the same day is probably not ideal.

Tuesday: It was cold and dark and wet and threatening to rain when I left work, so I decided to eschew my typical track workout for a workout on the treadmill at the gym. My hope, as well, was that this workout would be easier on my knees than running the rather narrow curves of my local track. I think I must have looked like a lunatic in my sodden cotton undershirt (since I hadn't planned to run indoors, I didn't pack a shirt to run in) furiously pounding the treadmill at a 5:52 pace with a look of agony (I'm told that I look pretty intense when I'm running hard, but I tend not to think about it at the time) on my face. Note: a little bit of research before leaving work prompted me to put the treadmill on a 1% grade to compensate for the lack of wind resistance.
Plan: 1 mi easy, 2000m @ 6:45, 1mi 6:26, 1000m @ 6:12, 800 @ 5:58, 1 mi easy
Achieved: (all that, plus probably some entertainment value for the folks on the stairmasters who didn't realize this was a race)

Christmas Week cont'd

2009-12-30T13:43:00.000-08:00

Thursday:
Extended family came to celebrate Christmas a day early! Spent the morning and early afternoon hanging with them, then worked on the rock wall with my dad until dark. As it was getting dark, rain swept in, and I opted against trying to get my tempo run in. I was glad to have worked on the wall during the dry hours of daylight, though, since the rain would preclude any further efforts on the wall. To summarize- No run.
Friday:
Ate a late Christmas lunch (yum), and headed out for my "tempo" run just as it was getting dark. I ended up running half of the run in daylight; the other half in the dark in the country on shoulder-less roads. My lunch was not sitting well (I had probably eaten too much to run so soon), so I was pretty uncomfortable through the first several miles.
Target: 2 mile WU, 8 miles at 6:45 pace, 2 mile CD
Achieved: 2 mile WU, 7.9 miles @ 7:17 pace, 1.6 mile CD
I was pretty disappointed in how fatigued and slow I felt, and in how poorly the run went. It seems that all of my extra-curricular activities of the week have been catching up with me.

Saturday: off (no rock-heaving, no basketball, no mountain climbing, no running). I hooked up my brother's new music composition software to his keyboard, and set up a wireless network in my dad's house (since everyone uses laptops that are far better than the one computer in the house hooked up to the internet).

Sunday: long run
I had a wonderful, glorious 22 mile run. I waited until the sun came up; temperature at start was 28 degF. I had to be careful on a couple of sections early on not to slip on icy patches on the road. It was a sunny, beautiful day, and I ran a nice, extremely hilly route through some quiet neighborhoods (as compared to my Friday run, where I was constantly leaping off the road to avoid being flattened). I felt great. I pushed the pace, even though it was a very hilly route, and was pretty happy with my effort, even though it ended up well short of marathon pace. This was possibly my longest ever solo run, but it was such a beautiful day and I felt so good that I hardly even noticed.
Target: 22 miles @ 7:31-8:20
Achieved: 22 miles @ 7:46

My run Sunday was just what I needed; I'd been getting pretty discouraged about the poor quality of my workouts earlier in the week. I hope the hilliness of my workouts this week will somewhat compensate for the lack of speedwork. I definitely feel like I got a good workout of my hip flexors and glutes (which had been sore on my last "marathon pace" long-ish run), so maybe it was a well-needed change-up for my body.

Building stone walls

2009-12-24T06:59:00.001-08:00

Christmas week

2009-12-24T06:51:00.000-08:00

This is supposed to be my high-mileage; high intensity week, and so far my running is not going according to plan. As soon as I got off the airplane on Sunday I went to work building a rock retaining wall in my dad's front yard. Monday was more of the same, with a 7 mile run at < 8 min/mile pace.

Monday
Plan: 10 mile @ 7:30- 8:20 pace
Achieved: 7 mile @ 8:00

Tuesday
Plan: Speedwork!
Achieved: 8 mile hike in the mountains; no running at all. New plan is to run speedwork on Wednesday morning

Wednesday
Plan: Speedwork!
Achieved: 3.5 hours of shopping, 3 hours of stonework in the yard, 2.5 hours of basketball (Dad, Leland and I dominated Dad's weekly pickup game), 5 mile run (miserably slow and tired) at 9:00 pace

So I've dropped speedwork from the plan. Plan for Thursday is to do tempo workout per the original plan. There's a 22 mile run scheduled for Saturday morning that I'm thinking of pushing to Sunday morning. We'll see how that goes.

I'm a little stressed about dropping some key workouts on a key training week, when I need all of the fitness gains I can get. But... it's fun to be home, and being home means staying busy, which means not everything goes according to plan.

December 19- Recovery week long run

2009-12-19T16:06:00.000-08:00

Over the course of the day Friday, my back gradually felt better, and eventually I was able to take a deep breath without stabbing pain. Saturday morning I woke up with a little twinge in my back and some mysterious cramps in my calves that may or may not have been related to some dancing that occurred at the triathlon club holiday party Friday night. I've felt better for long runs, but it was a beautiful day (46 degrees and sunny), and once I started running I was happy to be out!

Saturday:
Goal: 1.5 mi WU, 13.1 mi @ 7:00, 1.5 mi CD
Actual: 2.0 mi WU, 13.5 mi @ 7:04, .25 mi CD

This was a pretty tough run. I spent pretty much the whole run thinking I wasn't going to be able to hold pace for the entire run, but somehow I did. By the end, my heart rate was through the roof, and my hip flexors and lower back were screaming. Otherwise I felt pretty good. I was pretty proud of myself.

Thoughts: The fact that I'm extending the distance for which I can maintain this pace is pretty exciting! The fact that I'll have to run twice that distance at that pace (or slightly slower) in a month is pretty daunting. I'm torn between being excited and being anxious. I know that I will eventually get myself in shape to run a 3:10 marathon, but I'm not sure that I'll be ready at the end of January. The prospect of going for it and failing is a little scary, too, because it would be a heck of a crash and burn (and I can still remember pretty vividly some of the spectacular crashes and burns of the past). No guts, no glory, though, right?

December 13 - 19: Recovery Week!

2009-12-17T15:10:00.000-08:00

Sunday:
Still terribly jet-lagged, I got up at 5am to play in a company golf tournament. I had a couple of great shots (but many, many not-great shots). It was fun.

Monday:
Raining, ate Mexican food with Greg.

Tuesday:
Tuesday:
1 mi easy, 2000m @ 6:45, 1mi @ 6:26, 1000m @ 6:12, 800 @ 5:58, 1 mi easy (Total 6.08 mi, avg 7:30 pace)
Track workout as usual. For some reason, today's workout felt really easy. Maybe it's related to not running at all for the previous two days. Or maybe I'm getting faster!!

Wednesday:
Woke up with my back messed up, like it was after I wrecked my bike. Not the spine- kind of a scapula/lat pinching/tightness that prevents me from turning or bending in certain directions, or from arching my back at all. It may have been due to the golf (finally catching up to me- once every 2 years is not enough to stay in shape), or I may have slept wrong (before I went to bed I turned onto my permanently separated shoulder and felt a 'pop'- not painful, but something definitely moved).

It hurt pretty much all day, then I went for a 6 mile run with Agustina- apparently not a good idea. I was pretty much immobilized with pain for the rest of the night.

Thursday:
Worked from home (bed) in the morning, then felt like I could walk and went into the office. No run planned for tonight (maybe I'll squeeze in some time on the bike trainer if it doesn't hurt too badly).

It's a good thing this is a recovery week! Needless to say, my inability to get a key workout in tonight is giving my confidence a bit of a hit in terms of feeling ready for the Houston Marathon. I guess all I can do is get my back better and see how it goes from there.

December 6-12 cont'd

2009-12-17T14:57:00.000-08:00

Friday: (Paris time)
6.5 miles @ 7:52
I ran from the hotel in Montparnasse down to my favorite park (across from where I used to live), Parc Montsouris. I managed not to get flattened by traffic en route, and then ran some pretty serious hills once there. This park stayed open later, so I got to run there as much as I wanted (which wasn't that much, as can be seen by my mileage).

Saturday:
Long flight back, then:
20 miles @ 8:28
This run was cool because I had friends show up to run with me, despite the inconvenient start time (3:30 pm). Randy and Cory ran with me for the first 10 (8:20 avg pace), and Randy and Agustina ran with me for the 2nd 10 (8:45 avg pace). It was cool and wet, and I felt pretty good.

Weekly mileage total: 45.8- longest of the year!

December 6-12

2009-12-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a tough week, since I fly to Paris tomorrow afternoon. I have a couple "favorite" running spots in Paris where I typically run, but since I'm traveling with colleagues, I don't know how well I'll be able to get away to train.
Sunday:
Bike: 10 min WU, 20 min Time Trial, 10 min CD

Monday:
Plan: 1.5 mi WU/CD, 6 mi @ 6:45
Actual 1.5mi WU/CD, 6 mi @ 6:49
Holy cow, what a tough run! Probably not the best plan for the day after my TT on the bike, but I needed to get something in, and right before I get on the plane tomorrow didn't sound like a good idea.
Here's a chart:

You can see by the fact that my heart rate is skyrocketing over the course of the run (184 bpm at the end) that this pace would not have been sustainable for much longer, but I'm pretty happy to have held it for as long as I did.

Wednesday (Paris time)
10.3 mile run. Avg pace 8:04 (including lots of stops for pedestrians and cross traffic), with some pickups in rain and mud. Three miles of the run were within the Jardin du Luxembourg, until they closed it (sundown before 5pm?). Ran with a colleague who is training to run sub-3 at Boston, which helped inspire me to keep the pace up when there were few enough obstacles to do so. Managed to not get flattened by traffic, to not slip and fall on some very slippery sidewalk surfaces, and to not run over any innocent school children, so consider it a success!

Hopefully I can get in one more run before I fly back; plan is for 20 mile run in Houston on Saturday afternoon.

Thanksgiving week

2009-12-07T03:20:00.000-08:00

Monday:
4.4 mi @ 8:41 (recovery run)

Tuesday:
1 mi easy, 2000m @ 6:45, 1mi 6:26, 1000m @ 6:12, 800 @ 5:58, 1 mi easy (Total 6.47 mi, avg 7:29 pace)

Wednesday:
5.7 mi @ 8:29 (recovery run)

Thursday (Thanksgiving!)-8k Turkey Trot in S.C.:
5.17 mi @ 6:30. (target pace 6:26)
I was extremely pleased with this performance. The course was very hilly, and this was the furthest I've run at this pace. One more mile and I would've shattered my 10K PR...

Saturday:
18 miles @ ~8:05 pace
I didn't wear my Garmin, and so don't have any details on pacing. Very hilly, very aggressive run on a beautiful S.C. day. I was accompanied by various members of my family through the first 9 miles, so it was altogether a pretty great run.

New 2009 weekly distance record: 40.63 mi

November 29 - December 5

2009-12-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

Monday
8.03 mi @ 7:26

Tuesday- MONSOON

Wednesday- Tuesday's workout
1 mi easy, 2000m @ 6:45, 1mi 6:26, 1000m @ 6:12, 800 @ 5:58, 1 mi easy

Thursday- Christmas lights run in Sugar Land
5 mi @ 9:26

Friday- was going to run 1.5 mi WU/CD, 6.5 mi @ 6:45, but nixed it due to really nasty weather. Probably still could have gotten it in indoors, but can't seem to muster the motivation to get on a treadmill.

Saturday Long Run
Goal: 2 mile easy, 8 mile @ 7:04, 2 mile easy
Achieved: 2 mile easy, 8.75 @ 7:07, 2.25 mile easy

November 15-21

2009-11-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

Tuesday:
1.5 mi @ 8:30
5x 1000m @ 6:12 (actual: 6:12, 6:10, 6:00, 6:02, 6:02)
1.5 mi @ 8:54
These were harder than I expected, but the weather was fantastic (60 degrees).

November 8-14

2009-11-14T09:31:00.000-08:00

Monday:
3.11 mi @ 7:38, 90 spm

Tuesday: (got to the park late and had to change the plan)
4.07 mi @ 7:39, 90 spm

Wednesday:
.75 mi @ 7:43
12x 400m @ 5:44 w/ 400m active recovery
1 mi @ 8:20

Friday:
1 mi @ 8:05
4x 1 mi @ 6:26 (actual: 6:29, 6:29, 6:32, 6:29)
1 mi @ 8:30

Saturday:
15 mi @ 8:25, last mile at 7:14
Avg cadence: 92
(I was supposed to run the last mile at 6:45, but forgot. Still, I had a pretty good run, particularly after a hard workout the day before)

November 1-7

2009-11-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

Highest weekly mileage total of the year: 30.5 miles!

Monday:
2.7 miles @ 8:23

Tuesday
1.5 mile @ 8:20
10x 400m @ 5:44
1.5 mile @ 7:40

Thursday
1.5 mile @ 8:30
3x 1mile @ 6:26 (actual: 6:30, 6:28, 6:29)
1.25 mile @ 8:20

Friday
13 mile @ 8:29
Avg Cadence: 92 strides per minute

Week 1 of training with a plan

2009-11-12T15:03:00.000-08:00

I took two weeks completely off after the Chicago Marathon (during which my plantar fasciitis completely blew up at mile 22), and started back running this week. This time I'm actually training with a plan. (as my buddy TK's guardian angel on the Atlanta MARTA told him: "a man without a plan just ain't a man")

Tuesday:

1 mile @ 8:20

8x 400m @ 5:44 w/ 400m active recovery

1 mile @ 8:20

(I missed the pace on two of the 400's by a couple of seconds)

Thursday:

1 mile @ 8:20
3x 1 mile @ 6:26 (actual: 6:27, 6:36, NONE)
1 mile @ 8:20
I punked out in the middle of my first mile and decided that a third mile wasn't possible. Probably not the best time to evaluate, but I'll do better at sticking to the plan next time.

Saturday:
13 miles @ 8:43

BQ Bound

2009-11-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

I resolved when I ran my first marathon (Houston, 2006) that I would qualify for Boston before I aged up and it got easier (qualifying time for M30-34 is 3:10, for M35-39 is 3:15). I've had lots of different goals and different races since 2006, but I now find myself 5 months away from turning 35 (and aging up), and still a pretty good ways away from being fast enough to qualify.

I know that this sounds desperate and completely out of character, but I've decided to follow a training plan. I don't have time to do the whole plan between now and the Houston Marathon '10, so I'm cutting out the first 7 weeks, and modifying it a bit to accommodate. We'll see how that goes. If I don't feel ready by Houston in January, my backup plan is to qualify at New Orleans in February '10.

Wish me luck!

Qualifier!!

2009-10-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

I earned a spot on Team USA for the 2010 Long Course Triathlon World Championships in Immenstadt, Germany. I'm pretty stoked. Also, I'm pretty motivated to get my butt back in training.

Redman Half Ironman Mini-Report

2009-10-29T13:44:00.000-07:00

The Redman 1/2 was a crazy race. I haven't had a good 1/2 Ironman since my first one in 2005, so I agonized quite a bit going into the race over how to pace myself for the various events and over what kind of times I could expect. Despite having spent a ridiculous amount of time analyzing my past results, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I did know that the lingering shoulder injury and the resulting time away from swimming weren't going to do any wonders for my swim time. I decided to play the swim completely by ear, ride the bike more moderately than I did at Gulf Coast (where I wasn't planning to run at all), and then try to hold 8min/mile pace on the run (which my running leading into the race led me to believe was possible).

The day of the race, just after setting up my transition, the bottom fell out of the sky and we were hit with a veritable monsoon. There was 6" of water in the transition area, stuff was floating around, and it was cold! Some parts of the bike course were impassable due to flooding, so the race directors postponed the start to decide whether or not to cancel the race. There was a full IM distance race being run concurrently with the HIM, and the HIM was the national championship, so the gravity of this decision was not lost on anyone. Eventually they decided to start the race, with a mandatory dismount through one portion of the bike course. At this point, I was pretty much numb with cold, which may have had an impact on my swim leg.

I had a great swim. I don't understand how, or why, but I finished with a better swim time than at Gulf Coast, and was one of the first in my age group out of the water. My shoulder didn't hurt. All day. Not at any point. I am beyond mystified.

On to the bike. I had a terrible bike leg. I'm not sure why. I don't know if I was subconsciously saving too much for the run, or what. I did find an inch or so of water in my rear disc wheel after the race (that probably resulted from pushing my bike through the water hazard instead of carrying it over it), and that may have sapped a little energy, but overall I didn't feel strong at all. And I got passed by lots of people.

I had a good transition, and then was off on the run. The run was fun, because much of it was through puddles hundreds of feet long, and it felt way more adventurous than your average triathlon. I had struggled a bit with my choice of shoes for the 1/2 marathon- wear the heavy long distance shoes, or the light Newtons with no cushioning or support. I had opted for the Newtons, which meant that I was carrying about 6 pounds less water than I would have if I'd chosen the other pair. Lucky choice. I held an 8 minute pace throughout the run, and finished strong.

I ended up with a 21 minute PR. Overall, a pretty good race, though I almost certainly could have done better. My shoulder mysteriously didn't bother me all day, or the day after. The day after that, however, it was clear that I had set back my recovery pretty significantly (pain galore- well deserved), but I was glad I had eked out one last good race (triathlon) for the season.

Tapering

2009-09-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

I am officially tapering for the upcoming weekend's Half Ironman! For my long run on Saturday, I ran 16 miles, and on Sunday my long ride consisted of 30 easy miles at the park. My run felt pretty good (though a little slow), and I had a reasonable pick-up at the end, finishing at a sub-8-min/mile pace. For some reason, on my ride I felt really fatigued and frustratingly slow (which is consistent with how painfully slow I'd felt during my tempo runs at the end of last week), but I'm trying not to be discouraged. I'm going to stick to the plan of using this week to heal up and recharge. I took yesterday off completely, and I've gotten a couple of good nights' sleep in a row. Let's see if I can keep it up through the end of the week, and hopefully head into Saturday's race healthy, energized, and ridiculously, blisteringly fast.

Can you say acromioclavicular separation?

2009-09-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

So, several weeks after my injury, an update:
Shoulder pain has diminished significantly, but I still have a bony bump consistent with an acromioclavicular separation. It is probable that this bump will be permanent, but in any case I have been treating the injury appropriately (with the possible exception of the swimming- more on that later).
Though the shoulder has been feeling better, I've been dealing with upper back pain that borders on incapacitating and has even been impairing my sleep. I've actually gotten this "snapping scapula" syndrome a number of times from swimming, usually from swimming excessively hard at the end of a workout when I'm not completely back in swimming shape. Usually it requires at least a full week off from swimming for the pain to subside. It's essentially due to inflammation in the bursa(e) that separate the scapula from the rib cage.

Now for the confession: I started swimming again two weeks ago, just after my first weekend back on the bike. The first couple of swims I did entirely one-armed. I did 1000m for the first one, and 1600m for the second. Recognizing that my last scheduled triathlon of the season is imminent, and feeling that being able to actually swim would be critical, I then started trying out the injured shoulder. I found that I could reproduce the motion of swimming with that arm without substantial pain in the shoulder (barely pulling with that arm), but swimming was definitely not helping the scapula pain. Interestingly, my body alignment is off a bit; I don't seem to swim completely straight. My next 2 swims were very deliberate workouts (2000 and 2500m), in which I was extremely careful of the injured arm. I could feel the injured arm getting better and better (though the scapula pain was not, of course, improving). So, last Thursday I swam for real. I swam 3000m, forcing myself to fully extend the injured arm (but still being careful on the pull). Afterwards, it was clear that my shoulder had been adversely affected by the workout. For the first time in quite awhile, my shoulder was noticeably more painful that it had been the day before. When continued symptoms over the next few days made it clear that I had regressed, I decided not to swim again in the 8 days remaining before the race, and to see what value "healing up" might bring. At this point, I can't really add any fitness before the race, so I might as well try to go into the race as healthy as possible.

Back in the saddle

2009-08-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a pretty good weekend! I ran 20 miles on Saturday and actually felt pretty good! Since I hadn't run long the previous weekend, I started the run with no intentions whatsoever of running 20; I was going to be happy with anything greater than 15 miles. However, the company was good, the temperature was fairly moderate, and my feet felt better than they have (running long) in months. I'm not sure exactly to what to attribute the last factor: to the two weeks off I'd taken nearly completely off from running, or to a last-minute shoe substitution I made nearly immediately after putting on my usual "long-run" shoes. I was prescribed these shoes when I went to buy a new pair of Newtons, and came away with a pair of shoes that promised to "correct" my form (I'm convinced that my form over the last many months has been subtly altered to try to minimize the pain associated with plantar fasciitis, and does not necessarily represent my natural body mechanics). Anyway, I'd been running my long runs in those and all of my weekly runs in the Newtons, still focusing in both pairs on mid/forefoot striking. When I put my "long run" shoes on early Saturday morning, the near instant plantar pain I felt caused me to rip those off and to don a pair of neutral trainers (the model I'd been running in for the past 3 years), which in this case I'd been using for my "walking around" shoes. Anyway, I ran 20, had a solid kick at the end over the last 4 or 5 miles, and finished the run feeling pretty great!

On Sunday, I went to Galveston for a 100 mile bicycle ride organized by Houston Racing. I've been trying out a behind-the-saddle water bottle holder on my bike ever since the retainer nuts on my downtube broke (that's what I get for removing my water bottle holder to improve aerodynamics for a sprint race), and these holders are notorious for ejecting bottles when riding on bumpy roads. True to form, my bottle of Infinit was ejected at about mile 5 of the ride, and I was left to complete the ride with a Camelbak full of water, and no nutrition or electrolytes. I got through the first 3 hours of the ride with a couple of emergency Gu's I had stuck in my jersey, and then tried to make up the difference with Gatorade purchased from a local store. At around mile 75 I crashed completely. It was ridiculously hot out, and I was out of calories to burn, and subsequently out of will to continue. I wasn't excessively fatigued, but I couldn't think and I completely stopped caring. I just wanted to pull over and curl up in some shade. I tried to get myself to sing a song to take my mind off of things (this is typically a pretty effective trick), but couldn't think of any songs. I somehow persevered to the gas station at mile 88, where I downed a Mountain Dew (nectar of the gods!) and a couple of bottles of Gatorade. It was a much longer stop than I would have preferred, but when I got back on the bike I had gotten my spirit back, and I finished the ride feeling relatively peppy. I was pretty much destroyed for the rest of the day, but I was pretty satisfied with my weekend of training.

Back on the run

2009-08-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

I ran two loops of Memorial Park last night (~6 miles). I kept my arm pretty stiff, so that there was virtually no shoulder rotation on my recovering shoulder. I still have a painful cramp (or stitch, or something) in my back that delivers stabbing pain when I take a full breath or cough or sneeze, and last night by the time I went to bed it was nearly immobilizing. I get this from time to time from overdoing a swim (I think it's due to excessive tightness in my right "lat"), but the stretch I usually do to get rid of it involves a shoulder contortion I'm not able to do in my current condition. Anyway...

The run was slow. I took the first loop easy, but I ran the second loop pretty hard (as hard as I could without really pumping my arms), and that loop still took me 20:40. That's disappointingly slower than the times I'd been hitting a couple of weeks ago, but maybe a little more recovery time will get me back where I need to be.

At least I can run. :)

National Championship Qualifier!!

2009-08-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

I realized today that I have qualified for the Halfmax National Championship (half-iron distance), and, fortuitously enough, I was already entered in the Redman 1/2 Ironman. It's the same race, but the "qualifiers" are competing for spots on the national team. So on September 19, I will be in Oklahoma City competing for a spot on Team USA to compete in the 2010 Long Course Triathlon World Championships in Immenstadt, Germany. I don't have any crazy aspirations of actually going to the World Championships, or any corresponding delusions of being that good, but just competing for a spot will be pretty cool! Hopefully by then my shoulder will be working...

Crash

2009-08-26T15:05:00.001-07:00

I had a relatively eventful week last week, highlighted by running my bike into a tree at 24 mph Tuesday evening at Memorial Park. I was trying to squeeze in a quick bike ride before swim practice, so I only had 30 minutes to ride, and since I had an olympic-distance triathlon scheduled for Saturday, this had to be my last hard ride of the week. I was determined to make the most of it, and really hammer (for the half hour I was out there). I was having a fantastic ride, averaging well over 23 mph, and I was feeling pretty excited about the weekend's upcoming race. I was heading into a 90 degree turn at 24 mph (it could be argued that that's a reckless speed for a turn), when a cyclist in front of me abruptly slowed from about my speed to nearly a stop. I slammed on the rear brake, and my rear wheel immediately locked and started to slide, so I released the brake, realized that there was no way I was going to make the turn, and looked for somewhere else to go. The turn was lined with vertical pylons that would have mangled me and my bike if I'd gone down, so I aimed between two pylons and managed to successfully exit the pavement before ramming my right shoulder directly into a tree.
I lay on my back in shock for a couple of minutes, then got back on my bike (the front end was mangled, but there was no other visible damage) and rode back to my car. My shoulder was really swollen and virtually non-functional, but a quick trip to the ER (yep, I was lucky) confirmed that I had no broken bones (lucky again), so I spent the rest of the week (and this) with my arm in a sling hoping that my shoulder will start functioning again soon. I'm extremely lucky to have hit the tree with my shoulder and not my head (I was in aero position, so I charged into the tree head-first), and not to have broken any bones.
Friday night I spent about an hour trying to see if I could still ride my bike with my bum shoulder, but a little experimentation proved that it would be unwise, so I attended Saturday's triathlon as a spectator. It was great to see all of my friends, but it was really tough to miss out on a race I had been anticipating so much.
Today I got my bike back from the shop (the front end repair required special parts that I don't carry in my personal shop), so now I'm ready to get back on the horse as soon as my body will let me. I did a little one-armed swimming on Monday, and one bright spot is that I definitely have an opportunity to strengthen up my weak side while my dominant arm is out of commission.

Update

2009-08-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

Well, since my last post I...

rode 15 miles at the picnic loop at a PR 22.5 mph pace...

and then went on vacation for a week in NC, where I ran only twice, not fast, swam once in the ocean (enough to get massive armpit chafing and to not want to do it again), and did basically nothing else (training-related). No long run, nothing.

On Sunday, back in Houston, I rode 56 miles in hills, and had some weird quad soreness and felt generally fatigued. I was pretty disappointed with how slow I was until the last 15 miles of the ride, when I somehow found another gear and actually attacked the hills. I finished up the ride actually pretty happy with myself for persevering and managing to eke out some speed.

This week I've been trying to get back into some sort of routine, lest my fitness go spiraling down the drain. I managed to go to a masters swim practice on Tuesday for the first time in a long time, and I ran 6 hard miles at the park yesterday. It had been a tough week at the office, and I was running angry- I'm pretty sure I ran a 5K PR on the last half of that run. This morning I (barely) resisted the urge to sleep in and did a brick at the park, at which my legs were generally pretty fatigued and uncooperative. I'm looking forward to getting back that sense of satisfaction that comes with pushing hard and being fast...

Just another manic Monday...

2009-07-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting run at the park tonight. It was supposed to be a recovery day after a couple of long workouts over the weekend (allow me to digress).
Saturday morning I went out for my typical "long run" with the usual crew. We had one member of the group who has been running with us for a few runs, but who hasn't been around long enough to know all of our routes like the back of his hand. We also had a couple of slower runners who were good to hang with our average pace, but who were unlikely to hang if we pushed the pace. The plan for the run was a 15 miler, with a 2-3 mile pickup starting around mile 9. The first part of the run was fairly moderately paced, and the group held together nicely. Since the pickup was scheduled to take place in the River Oaks neighborhood (where it's pretty easy to get disoriented and turned around), I told the slower runners that we'd wait for them at any turns. So four of us picked up the pace a good bit, eventually dropping the new guy by a couple of hundred yards. At the first real turn, I doubled back to make sure the slower folks caught the turn, and, as I passed the new guy, told him to take the turn that was coming up. I went back about a mile, and never found the slower folks (they apparently had found a porta-potty on a construction site), so turned back around to catch up with the group. I continued on the agreed-upon route, and then fortuitously ran into the slower folks running in the opposite (wrong) direction (they had managed to miss a turn and get turned around). We ran to the next water stop where the rest of the crew was waiting... except the new guy. Apparently the guys in front had neglected to wait for him at the next turn, and he was somewhere off in the neighborhood. What to do? We were on foot. We eventually designated one guy to run around the neighborhood for an hour (we had about an hour left to run) while the rest of us ran back to the cars. When we got back, the new guy's car was gone. Apparently he had cleverly realized that he didn't know where he was going and had retraced the route. So I drove back to call off the search party. Overall a fun day (minus the drama and confusion), and I ended up with 17 miles at around an 8:30 average. My feet were killing me afterwards, and for most of the rest of the day.
On Sunday I did a 55 mile bike ride. I stopped to help one guy fix a flat (a good thing, too- his inflator didn't work), and ended up pushing pretty hard for the rest of the ride to catch up with my group. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful route, and I finished happy to have had the opportunity to push myself a bit (since the IM I've been long-riding a lot more socially rather than trying to see how close I can come to destroying myself. Both are fun; just in different ways). Afterwards I felt a nice burn in the quads when ascending or descending stairs, which is a sign of a good workout.
So, back to tonight... :)

Usually after the long workouts of the weekend, Monday is a recovery day. Somtime between the ride on Sunday and Monday morning my feet ended up feeling much better. I went to the park to run 6 miles, not really intending to run easy (I've been having too much fun lately running hard), but not really intending to kill it, either. I finished the first loop of the park in 20:35 (not too terrible, but a full 30 seconds slower than in my run last week), and then, noticeably disgusted at myself for my laxity (although, to be fair, I fully intended to run at least the first loop easier than last week), proceeded to run the second loop in 19:32, which is ~6:40 pace. The latter time may well be a PR for me for that loop (it helped that it was cooling down a bit from the 94 degree heat in which I started). I don't know whether to be impressed with myself (for the speed) or disappointed (in the lack of self-discipline). Either way, it was fun! So my total time for two loops ended up very nearly matching my total time from last week. It's time to set some goals for these hard runs. How about...
Before the Chicago Marathon (Oct 9), I will run one loop in sub 19 minutes (sub 6:30 pace), and I will keep my average for all of these two-loop runs to sub 7 min pace. Since I'm aiming for a marathon at 7:15 pace in October, I need to do something to get my speed where it needs to be...

The need for speed

2009-07-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

Going fast is fun!

Two nights ago I rode my typical 15 miles at the picnic loop in a 22.3 avg pace (no race wheels), not too far off of my PR. It was downright exhilarating. I'm pretty happy with that- if I could get two workouts a week in at that intensity, I'd be faster in no time.

Last night I ran two loops of the park; the first loop in 20:03, and the second in 20:06. The park loop is slightly less than 3 miles, so I figure my pace to have been around 6:50 min/mile. Not too shabby! We'll see what a couple of weeks of speed work will do...

Work has been pretty stressful this week, and I think having a massive need to burn off some steam has probably helped my performance. On the other hand, generating intensity has never really been my problem.

This week I've been sacrificing swimming for a little bit extra in the run and bike department. The plan is to shift into maintenance mode on the swimming (which should involve more than the zero swimming I've done this week), and to focus on getting my speed back (and then some) on the bike and run.

Health status update: the knee is OK (nothing like an Ironman to try it out). The plantar fasciitis is still bothersome, but isn't stopping me at this point. I stretch between 6 and 10 minutes a day these days (focusing on calves and hamstrings), pretty religiously, and I think that that helps. I'm also alternating shoes- Newton's for my shorter weekday runs, and a pair of Asics (more cushioning, better arch support) for the weekend long run (currently ~13 miles).

Jeff & Brede's Intergalactic Triathlon

2009-07-16T17:50:00.001-07:00

I just competed in Jeff & Brede's Intergalactic Triathlon (a sprint tri), 3 weeks after the Ironman. For fun! I had been recovering pretty well, and so wasn't too worried about injuring myself. I have a particular affinity for this race, since it's the race in which I got my first age group place (and win) two years ago. The race is also put on my my triathlon club (Houston Racing), so the race competitors and volunteers are all friends and acquaintances.

It had been a long time since I'd done any cycling or running for speed, so I knew I wasn't going to be setting any records, but I also knew that it would be fun to compete and fun to hang out with the triathlon community.

My swim was pretty bad, though my time was pretty much identical to the last two years. I had some really awful turns, and was reminded that I really need to start doing turns in practice. After all of those years of water polo and open water swimming (neither of which require turns), the flip turn is not exactly second nature. True, the first couple always go OK, but once I'm tired everything devolves pretty quickly. On this day, that started around 200m into the swim, and I'm pretty sure the last couple of turns would have been much faster if I'd opted for an open turn instead of the tired, awkward, floundering, wall-missing, bottom-scraping monstrosities I was throwing in towards the end.
Swim: 4:35 for 300m, 1:32 pace

I had a flawless transition, and headed out on the bike. For some reason, I felt really slow. My speedometer showed between 22 and 23 mph for the whole ride, but I wasn't able to dig out any more speed, and was pretty actively frustrated by it. One guy in my age group, whom I had beaten in IMCDA, passed me about halfway through the bike, and seemed to be going easily 2mph faster than me (he's a better cyclist than me, but it shouldn't look that easy!). I made it back into transition wondering just how awful my run was going to be, very cognizant of how little actual running I've done in the last 8 months, not to mention even less speedwork.
Bike: 33:40 for 12 miles, 21.3 avg (all of the race results showed lower avg's than we actually raced, but this was still disappointing)

I had a flawless dismount, another great transition, and was out on the run. I had a great run! It took me about a mile to get enough breath to start getting my speed up, but I eventually did, and my last 2 miles felt pretty fast, and pretty good. I had a very strong finish (as always!). I would estimate that I ran the first mile at around 8 min/mile pace, and the last mile at around 6 min/mile pace. I had a pretty good kick, for not having run fast in such a ridiculously long time.
Run: 20:27 for 3 miles, 6:49 pace
Overall: 1:00:28, 5th place in age group (only 30 seconds slower than the year I won my AG)

Thoughts:
1) I need to start doing flip turns.
2) I need to continue to get stronger on the bike. I'm even or better with my competitors on the swim and the run, but tend to fall way short on the bike.
3) I need to get in some bricks. Somehow I need to improve my run speed coming out of transition; going 1 - 1.5 miles before I start feeling OK really slows me down.
4) It'll be fun to get back into doing some speedwork!
5) I have a couple more races this year against some of the same guys. Let's see who improves the most between now and then... :)

Ironman Coeur d'Alene

2009-07-16T17:40:00.001-07:00

This is a placeholder for when I get time to actually write a race report. I hate to just half-arse it and not do it justice...

This is a pretty cool highlight video (my buddy William gets interviewed about 6 minutes in):

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a couple-thousand word race report:

Results of Houston Racing Triathlon Club participants in Ironman Coeur d'Alene, as posted on the HRTC forum during the race (click to see a legible version):

Yup- that's me in first.

It was kind of neat to go back and see the results as they were being posted on the forum; it kind of gives little snapshots of my race, showing who passed whom and when:

Gulf Coast 1/2 Ironman

2009-07-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

It seems a little silly to write a race report so egregiously ex post facto, but I'm afraid this year's chronology will suffer without it, so here it is:

On the weekend of May 9, a bunch of friends from Houston and I drove down to Panama City, Florida for the Gulf Coast 1/2 Ironman. I had signed up for the event some time in advance, hoping to be healthy, and, though I definitely was in no shape to run in a 1/2 Ironman (or run at all, for that matter), I couldn't stand the idea of missing out on all the fun, so I went anyway, resolved to do sort of an Aquabike. I had decided before the race that I wouldn't run (or that I'd run just a few easy miles out of transition), to minimize the risk of a setback so close to the Ironman, and, knowing that I wouldn't have to run afterwards, I resolved to really hammer the bike.

The conditions for the swim were pretty rough, and I had a good swim, but nothing exceptional. I came out on the water 10th in my age group, and then went out on the bike, and absolutely KILLED it.

I came out of the water 10th in my age group, and finished the bike still 10th in my age group. Read that again. (that never happens- at IMFL in 2006, I got passed by more than 900 people on the bike)

So, I didn't get passed too much on the bike, and passing other people was lots of fun! I finished with an average of 22.1 mph for the 56 miles, which is definitely a PR. I was pretty pumped coming into transition off of the bike, so I made sure to piddle around and waste time in transition so as to not be tempted to race the run. I took off my chip, and left it in transition (I was only going to run a couple of miles, anyway), and headed out on the run. Barely out on the course, I turned around and went back for my chip- who knows; maybe I would be able to finish. So I headed out on the run again. I ran very slowly and deliberately the whole time, focusing on the placement of my leg with every step. I decided to run until my knee hurt, and then to turn around and walk it in. At about mile 3, I decided that I wanted to finish. I couldn't stand the idea of my friends being out on the course suffering in the hot sun, with me having given up, relaxing in the shade. And I wanted a finisher's medal. So I decided that I'd run as far as I could, and planned to walk in the rest. I made it to the halfway point in the park still running, with no pain (but still running extremely slowly and deliberately), and I kept on going. I ran the whole race very focused, slow (10:40 pace average), and deliberate. Until the end. About a half mile from the finish a guy in my age group passed me (just as countless others had on the run), and I let him go (just as I had countless others). About two hundred yards from the finish, the guy was a hundred yards ahead of me, and I decided to give him a run for his money. So I broke into an all-out sprint, heading in to the finish at about twice the speed of the guy ahead of me (I was going fast, like the last 50m of a track workout). As I charged in towards the finish, a roar erupted from the crowd, and with 20m or so to go, the guy realized I was coming and accelerated into a sprint. But I caught him. With the crowd going absolutely crazy around us, we sprinted side by side the last 20m to the finish. It was fantastic! I finished with a huge smile on my face! I grabbed some ice for my knee, and settled in to watch my friends finish.

My overall time still wasn't that bad, even with my slow run; I came in under 5:30, which was good enough for first out of my group of friends. And I somehow ran the whole run, despite having entered the race with a 3 mile run having been the longest of the previous month. I was elated at my finish, but even happier not to have injured myself and jeopardized the upcoming Ironman.

A good weekend

2009-04-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

So I had a good weekend. I got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and went for a run in the pool. I haven't done that since I was preparing for IM Arizona (because it's mind-numbingly boring, and no sane person would do it unless they were desperate to rehabilitate on an extremely tight timeline), and I was a little nervous, since I wasn't sure how my knee would hold up. The knee seemed OK, so I ran for two hours (without even losing my mind!). I figure that's equivalent to a 13 mile run at 9 min/mile pace (I actually kept my intensity pretty high, even though I was actually running at a 240 min/mile pace). I was pretty excited when I had finished, because I think I've found (rediscovered, really) a non-destructive way to train for the marathon at the end of my IM. I won't be fast, but maybe I can go into it uninjured, and with a chance of finishing (which is actually what I did at IM Arizona last year- I did no actual running (only pool running) in the two months leading up to the race (though I did run a 10K with my family the week before), and IM Arizona actually went really well. My run was slow, but I finished. It's such a joy to discover a light at the end of the tunnel, or in my case, a way to harness my motivation without tearing myself apart.

After my "run" I drove down to a spring-fed lake south of town and swam about 1800m in my wetsuit, and managed to identify a couple of the issues (even if I haven't totally addressed them yet) that plagued me in my swim at the Lone Star Tri a couple of weeks ago. So I managed to spend 3+ hours of my day immersed in water. After that, I went home and spent a couple of hours fixing some of the piping associated with my pool pump, without which the pool had turned a delightful algal shade of green. Perfect for frogs, but a bit off-putting to sunbathers and houseguests. It is now a beautiful crystalline blue, so my hard work definitely paid off.

Sunday morning I roused myself once again at the crack of dawn, and met some Houston Racing friends for a bike ride. Most were riding 44 miles or less, but a number of us (those training for IMCDA) did more. I ended up riding 85 miles in 25-30 mph winds. It was brutal. Really brutal. At some points, I was in my lowest gear and yet decelerating, wondering how I was going to get back to my car if I couldn't get my bike to go forward. It was great mental-toughness training! The tough part was riding as hard with the wind at my back as I did with the wind to my face, but I did a pretty good job of keeping my intensity high, and finished with an average pace of 18.3 mph, which isn't too shabby for 8 weeks out from the IM.

After my ride, I went back to the lake (with a friend who missed the Saturday swim) and got in another, shorter wetsuit swim. It was a beautiful day, and I had a fantastic weekend! I didn't really put myself to bed at a reasonable hour last night (sometimes it's hard to remember how much more sleep I need with higher training volumes), and today I am groggy and pretty much useless. Note to self: Get some sleep, dummy!

Motivation

2009-04-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

While my running is on hold (indefinitely, it seems), I find that I have some golden opportunities to improve my swimming and cycling. The 1/4 Ironman three weeks ago was a pretty good wake-up call- being 10 minutes slower than last year pretty effectively demonstrates that I have a ways to go to get my fitness level up to where it was for last year's Ironman. So I came out of that race pretty motivated (as illustrated by the relentless destruction I imposed on my knee). The weekend after I did an 80 mile ride in the Texas Hill Country, but was a bit frustrated by not being able to hang with my usual group of friends. Last weekend I rode an 80 mile leg of the MS150 (the first day was canceled), and had a great, challenging ride, but again didn't really hang with my friends. I'm not sure this time if it's that I wouldn't have been able to, or if it's more due to my recently developed aversion to drafting. I just don't draft anymore- it's dangerous and saps that mental edge you need riding alone in triathlons. Needless to say, I've lately been frustrated by my present slowness and apparent loss of fitness, but somehow have just been accepting being slow. All that frustration has been building up and then this week I remembered...

I'm a badass.

And after that everything changed. I've spent the whole year nursing injury and getting back into two sports that I dropped completely last year, and haven't really had my usual outlook on training. I've been letting my lack of fitness be an excuse for a lack of intensity in my training (with the exception of my ill-fated week of crazy running following the 1/4 Ironman). I only really enjoy training when I'm pushing myself, or otherwise impressing myself, and lately I haven't been all that impressive. But I can control that.

This week I've had two fantastic swim workouts, and last night I had my best ride at the park of the year. My metric for cycling fitness has always been my average speed for 15 miles at the picnic loop, dating back to when I first got into triathlon several years ago. My best ever is 22.5 mph with no drafting. This year my averages (that I've bothered to check) have been: 19.8, 20.3, and 20.8.

Last night I remembered who I am. I remembered why I do this. I remembered that there's no reason anyone should pass me. Certainly no reason that I should let them. I averaged 22.2 mph (no drafting). Not so far off of my PR. Maybe the fitness situation isn't so dire, after all. Maybe there is hope.

I am pleased to announce:
I am BACK. It is ON. (and all I need is for my knee to heal before the Ironman)

Status update

2009-04-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

OK, a lot has happened since my last post, even aside from the massive passage of time. I ran about three 3-6 mile runs every week up until about three weeks ago. I did a pretty good job of getting consistently better cadence, although it continues to take some effort. My calves got progressively better adapted to the Newtons, to the point that I wasn't really noticing them at all. I've been doing a good job of regularly stretching my calves, and my feet have been getting progressively better. So...

I went home to S.C. three weeks ago to run the Cooper River Bridge Run 10K, a race I run with my family every year. I was pretty sure I'd be slow, and was somewhat anxious about how my feet would hold up, so I went into the race with some trepidation. I ended up having a great race- I kept my turnover high, my feet held up nicely, and I only had my worst 10K time ever by about 2 minutes (which isn't so bad, considering how much time off I've taken). A couple of hours after the race, I jumped on a plane back to Houston and got all of my tri stuff together for a quarter-Ironman triathlon the following day in Galveston (probably not the smartest plan, but it was the first big race of the year, and I had lots of friends going, and I couldn't resist). I had a great race! Slow (10 minutes slower than last year), but fun and satisfying. Everything went about as well as could be hoped, and since last year's race was 2 weeks before Ironman Arizona, I didn't expect to be in as good a shape, and didn't feel too bad about this year's performance. I hung out and helped man an aid station, and by the time I headed home I was utterly exhausted (but happy) :).

So I was a little excited. So I followed up my weekend of two raced 10K's (one in the tri) with a week of three 6 mile runs and an 8 miler, on an increasingly painful knee (but my feet weren't hurting a bit!), when my max weekly mileage to that point had been between 9 and 12. So the knee wasn't (and still isn't) happy, and I don't feel very smart. I've taken about a week and half completely off from running (aside from playing softball, which I am loath to give up).

The knee is feeling less painful (I can now walk stairs without visible limping), but still feels a little awkward, so I know I need to rest it. But... I have a 1/2-Ironman in Panama City in two and a half weeks, and an Ironman in eight weeks. So... the plan is to do pool runs for the next week (through next Wednesday), which is what I did leading up to IM Arizona, and which served me well, and then make a game-time decision for the 1/2-Ironman whether or not to run (recognizing that the real goal is the Ironman, and I need to stay/get healthy for that).

Running Cadence

2009-03-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

I managed to go nearly a week between runs, from track last Wednesday to late Monday night. I intended to run Saturday, but ended up running errands and changing out the cockpit on bike #2 (still a work in progress). On Sunday, I rode 100 miles from Houston to Livingston to support the first leg of the Brick for Women, in which a guy is cycling from Houston to Little Rock, AR, and then running the Little Rock Marathon to raise money and awareness for women's support centers. (that's me leading the pack)

On Monday I had a Houston Racing meeting, and I was pretty bummed because it looked like I was going to end up going a week between runs (not a good idea), but I got home and my cadence sensor had come in, so I went for a run in my neighborhood at 11:15 pm. My default cadence is somewhere between 165 and 170 steps/min, but I managed to maintain 176 or so throughout my run, mainly by focusing on pumping my arms. The run was pretty tough on my calves; I don't think all of the time off was particularly good for me. I focused on shortening and quickening my stride, and was surprised by how tough it was. Monday night run: painful, frustrating, slow.
Wednesday night I went to track practice and found that forefoot running is a lot easier when I'm running fast. Nonetheless, I felt pretty darned slow. My fastest mile was in the 6:48 range, and it was tough! I did manage to maintain a cadence around 180 from the start until my cadence sensor died (hopefully it's just a dead battery).
This morning I got up and did a brick at the park. I rode about 13 miles, easy, and then ran 2 miles. The 2 mile run was actually pretty effortless and relatively pain-free.
The feet are at about 85%. They seem to be getting better since the tennis playing mistake a few weeks ago, and night-time icing definitely seems to help.

Still running...

2009-03-05T15:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I've had some ups and downs since my last post. I've been running 2-3 miles in my Newtons every other day since then (with the exception of last night, which I'll get to). My feet still hurt. Unfortunately, when they started to feel better I stopped taking care of them quite as fastidiously, or maybe it's the continued running that's aggravating the plantar fasciitis. Essentially, anything I do that tightens my calves will aggravate my feet, so I have a renewed focus on stretching copiously and often.

As for the Newtons... my calves got used to running in them after 10 days or so. They occasionally hurt the balls of my feet if I don't have my foot positioned in them just right. Increasing my running cadence enough to forefoot strike (which the Newtons essentially require) is hard. I've been running around my neighborhood, and had a terrible run Monday night, in which I ran as fast as I could and barely broke 8 min/mile pace. I was pretty frustrated.

...which leads to last night. I went to track practice for the first time in awhile, and started out running pretty conservatively. I eventually got annoyed with not being the fastest person there, and did a couple of miles running fast (or what passes for fast for me these days). I did my first mile repeat at a 7:10 pace, and then ran my next two at 6:40. I'm not sure that I could hold that pace for a 10k at this point, but it felt good, my feet felt fine, and most of all, it was exhilarating! This was my longest run in a couple of months: 5 miles. It's been so tough and mentally taxing for the last couple of months having to rein myself in and to hold a constant awareness of my pain levels, and letting go was just fun. I can't wait for next week!

So, I'm going to start ramping up my mileage (still stretching like a fool in hopes of getting rid of this foot pain), with a focus on increasing my turnover rate (my cadence is around 160 strides/min, and needs to be around 180) to become more of a forefoot striker (and to improve my efficiency). To that end, today I ordered an accessory footpod for my Garmin that will give me my running cadence in real time (it's really hard to count steps for any length of time).

It's the shoes

2009-02-24T06:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I bought a pair of Newtons on Saturday. They're supposed to promote forefoot striking (as opposed to heel striking, which I do, and which is a contributor to my plantar fasciitis), so I thought I'd give them a try. If you're not used to forefoot running, you're supposed to ease into running with these, to give your body a chance to adapt. I ran 2 miles in them on Saturday (my first run in a month or so), and my calves were insanely sore (but my feet didn't hurt at all). I'm pretty excited to be back running, but am determined to ease back into it. I got up early this morning and met some friends for a garage run (up and down 12 stories of a parking garage), and got in about 3 miles. My calves are pretty sore, and my feet hurt a bit (but that's probably from playing tennis for two hours yesterday. Bad idea, I know, but I'm in a tournament, and I couldn't exactly drop out), but it was great to see some of my triathlon friends, and great to feel like... I'm back. I plan to restrict my runs to 3 miles or less for this week (every other day, or so), and after that, we'll see!

Thursday ride at the park- just like old times

2009-02-20T06:57:00.000-08:00

I made it out to the park for a ride last night for the first time in... a year? This involved leaving work at a reasonable time (5:15), also a first in a really long time. It was a beautiful afternoon, and I met my roommate Greg and a couple of Houston Racing folks at the picnic loop at Memorial Park. It's a fun loop to ride (for awhile- then it gets boring), and it's great to get out and ride surrounded by so many other cyclists (and no cars). Yesterday's ride was a bit humbling- I got passed several times (which I don't remember happening too much in the past), and my average speed was a couple of mph short of my best for that course. So... I have plenty of room for improvement! I'm looking forward to getting my cycling back to where it was at this time last year- getting better is always fun!

Revamping the swim

2009-02-09T11:37:00.000-08:00

While on hiatus from running, I'm determined to emerge a stronger swimmer and cyclist. I've been swimming nearly every other day, with a focus on form, rather than speed or distance. Form, though, is a pretty nebulous concept. For the moment, I give myself a million little reminders of things to pay attention to (kind of like a golf swing), concentrating mainly on maintaining a balanced position in the water.
After years of playing water polo, constantly swimming with my head up, I finally realized this year that I have terrible form (and that I have some significant potential for improvement (speed, efficiency) by addressing it). This realization should have come to me long before, such as when a pretty experienced fellow triathlete commented at an open-water swim last spring: "I've never seen anyone swim so fast with their head so high". Somehow my mental reaction to this was: "Yup, I'm pretty awesome" instead of: "Hmm. If my form is so unconventional, maybe I could improve it."
After swimming two Ironman swim legs a year and a half apart in virtually the same time, I was more than a little disappointed by the lack of improvement (over the same time period my bike and run times improved by 10%). The ensuing frustration forced me to the realization that if I'm going to improve my swim, it's not going to be by swimming harder, but by swimming better. I've always considered myself a strong swimmer, so admitting to myself that I need work was not an easy thing, but here I am- back at the drawing board.
I feel like a kid learning to swim for the first time, swimming 50 and 100m at a time instead of cranking out 500's, with a constant focus on swimming well rather than swimming hard. I'm much better at the latter than the former. Occasionally I get it right, and the feeling is fantastic. I'm excited just to have found an avenue to improvement, and am looking forward to seeing some results in the upcoming season.

Track practice

2009-02-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

Track practice resumed last night, and I went for the first time in months. There was a pretty good turnout, I really enjoyed running fast, and today my feet hurt a lot. I think I'm going to take more time off from running (maybe another month), and not start back until my feet don't hurt at all. I guess it's time to become a bad-ass cyclist.

New sunglasses rock!

2009-02-04T07:47:00.001-08:00

I tried out my new sunglasses last weekend on my first ride of the year (22 miles at George Bush park- windy and freezing!), and they are awesome!

The cool thing about these sunglasses is the lenses are tall enough that I can actually look through (rather than over) them when down in my aerobars. I've never had a pair of sunglasses that actually worked in my aerobars. The fact that there's no frame over the top of the lens helps, too, since there's not a big chunk of plastic there to obscure the view.

The ride was great, too. It was cold and windy, but nice to be on the bike. A herd of deer crossed the path in front of me, and I rode within 20 feet of them before they scampered off.

Update on the footsies

2009-02-04T07:14:00.000-08:00

It's been a couple of weeks, and I've officially decided that running the 1/2 was a bad idea. My feet hurt. A lot. And they don't seem to be getting better. Here's what I'm doing about it:

Not running.
Bought new, more comfortable shoes for work
Never go barefoot
Calf stretches every night before bed

Here's what I'm not doing, but should be doing:

More stretching. Much more.
Ice?
Massage?

Here's what I'm doing, but maybe shouldn't be doing:

Played tennis twice (I'm in a tournament at work; it's not like I can just give up)
Riding my bike every other day. In theory, this shouldn't hurt, since there's no foot flexion, and no pounding, but I do end up with tight calves, which, of course are a major contributor to plantar fasciitis and achilles tendinitis.
Swimming every other day. Somehow my calves end up tight after this, too. Maybe I should focus on pushing off of the walls less hard?

2009 Houston 1/2 Marathon

2009-01-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I ran the Houston 1/2 Marathon. I've been struggling with a painful issue in my feet (plantar fasciitis) since the Sunmart 50K that makes it painful just to stand. Hoping to heal up for the marathon, I'd run only 3 times in the previous 4 weeks. Taking some time off did seem to improve the plantar issue, but it didn't help at all with my performance on Sunday. Since I had signed up for the full marathon, I started at the full marathon start, but I wisely ran the 1/2 marathon course. My race felt slow, painful, and frustrating, but just being out and part of the event was awesome!

Corralled at the start with 14,000 marathoners, it's hard to imagine a greater concentration of determination in a single spot. It was a beautiful sunny day (a little warmer than ideal for the full marathoners), and I walked back along the course cheering on the marathon finishers for four hours or so, until the marathon cutoff. I remember plenty of races where the encouragement of someone along the sidelines made a huge difference for me, and I was determined to buoy as many people as I could. Afterwards, I met up with some friends for lunch, and we sat outside, enjoying the sun, eating and trading racing stories. All in all, a great day!