Ready, steady, go

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, for surely it tolls for thee.  Except, in my case, a little less ominously as I have been looking forward to this day all week.  Weather at home is 50 degrees farenheit and sunny, while at race site it is currently 45.  The weather channel web site is predicting 52 degrees at race start tomorrow morning, warming up quickly to 71 by 11 am, and reaching a high of 80 on the run with a 20% chance of rain.  The low humidity and cool weather should combine to make this a fast race.

Today I will drive up to Greenwood, checking out the part of the course I have not seen along the way, get my race packet and get everythign prepared for tomorrow!  My goal times are 34:50 on the swim (1:50/100 meter pace), 3:09:10 on the bike (17.76 mph), and 2:11 on the run (10 minutes/mile).  I plan on a 3 minute T1 and 2 minute T2.  The swim should be fairly easy to make if I just keep on course with good sighting.  The bike is 1 mph slower than Orlando because of the moderate hills.  I hope to be able to exceed my run goal, as a 10 minute mile should be fairly easy for me now.  If I meet my goals I will break six hours this time around.  Carrying my arm warmers to stay warm the first hour or so out on the bike, if I need them. 

I have done this and more in training.  I can run tired, I actually run better off the bike, and the swim is very steady.  I feel good and ready.

The most stressful pre-race week yet?!

So I normally try to keep the stress level low the week before a big race.  Lower workout volume so I can feel good about meeting my intensity goals, few commitments outside of athletics so I don’t feel stretched too thin, the usual.  Well, sometimes that just doesn’t quite pan out!  I have five tests (each class!  argh!) and one paper due next week, then another paper due the day after the race!  Haven’t I mentioned all this before?  Yeah, it is really on my mind.

Saturday’s workout went well.  I worked a bit harder on the bike for about 32 miles, although still not as hard as I feel I am capable, and then put together a solid 4.5 mile run.  I am a bit at a loss for how I want to prioritize my training over the off season.  Definitely want to keep improving the run, and also know that I can make a huge jump if I increase my power endurance on the bike so that I run better on the long courses.  Probably going to prioritize the run till I reach a goal pace, then increase on the bike.  Next goal for the run: 8 minute mile pace for 5 miles (can do 3 already).

Ready for wednesday to come and go, so most of this school stress will be gone.  Thanks to everybody who has been involved so far this year and are making plans to stay involved next year!

All these things that I’ve done

Holy rusted metal batman!  There has been a ton of stuff these past few days! 

I felt like I was getting caught up on my school work, but realized that was only becasue I had not noticed a couple of papers that are due within the next two weeks!  Got one of those done, started on the other already.  Gotta stay ahead until the end of October, this will be a busy month! 

Got my workout gear to the printers to get the Stronghold logo put on it.  Turns out Shelly, the owner’s wife, is a photoshop master!  What I thought would be a long project took about twleve clicks and the image was ready to go!

Got invited to see a Panther’s game with my brother on October 8th!  It has been so long since I’ve seen him and my niece and nephew, that would be great to do!

I got my swim and run in today.  40 minutes at a 1:50 per hundred, so about 2200 meters.  Then I ran a 24 minute 5k at a steady pace.  If I could go a ten minute average and still feel good for the last three miles of the half iron, I might see if I can knock out three eight minute miles at the end.  That all depends on how the bike ride goes, though.

Okay, off to shower, and watch a movie (finally!)

SC Half Ironman, here I come!

Another six hour training day in the books.  I did the same amount of running as last week, and did it fifteen minutes faster, and made up the extra time on the bike.  My endurance is definitely where it needs to be to finish the Half IM pretty comfortably, and my running ability is much better than in Orlando’s Half.  The only thing I am concerned about is my bike speed.  Although I have been biking a little slower than race pace effort, and concentrating more on the run, I worry about the two mile an hour decrease in my training times.  I am also riding a different route that does not have some of the flat, fast sections, and instead has some hills that really force me into the lower gears.  I will ride the old course next weekend (or another one I know that mimics the actual race course) and see how it goes.

Greenville Sprint Race Report with Pictures!

Okay guys, this is the race report with pictures now, just a cut-paste of what was in the previous report, so if you read it already just check out the nice pics!

Greenville’s Sprint was a very well put on event.  The guys from Set-Up Inc. lived up to their reputation and managed everything well.  Being a pool swim, starts were staggered by ten seconds, with all of the age groupers being started according to their reported swim time and the novices being started later and in order of swim time. 

The pool swim was 400 meters, switching lanes at each turn.  I had intended to use flip turns, but most of the time I was too close to other competitors at the walls (where most slowed considerably) and the pool was rather shallow for my tall self to comfortably flip in.  Still, I managed to pass four or five people on the swim, and posted the fourth fastest swim in the novice division (out of 45).  Thanks to Coach Marino for that!

This was the first race in which I have worn a one piece tri-suit, the Power Skinsuit by DeSoto sport, and it performed very well (you can now find their link on the links list).  I was able to keep my heart rate monitor on during the swim, although it slipped down a bit, and did not have to don a shirt, which saved on my transition time.  I did make some mistakes when setting up T1, my sunglasses were still in their case (d’oh!) and at the last minute I decided to forego the flying mount in favor of tighter shoes and forgot to leave the closures open!  T1 was still only 1:30, which was the sixth fastest in the division.

I got out on the bike and started working a bit above my comfort zone.  Unfortunately something caused my computer to register nothing but my heart rate!  There was a long downhill section where I was able to just sit on my aero bars and drink away, although it was not long enough!  The bike course was overall a very hilly course, with a wide array of gradual, steady, and somewhat severe climbs.  I was able to hold a better pace on the long and steady climbs than those around me, and only on the short but steep hills did I notice any major deficiency.  I threw the chain trying to downshift both the front and rear at once, but managed to fix that rather quickly.  I did notice that my pedal stroke could be more efficient, as I caught my legs fighting each other at times and with focus could even out the stroke.  I finished in 46.04, the 12^th fastest ride in the division.  Having my time I now know that I averaged about 19.5 mph, which is better than Cheraw on a more difficult course!  The newfound speed makes me think about getting a set of race wheels, nah, can’t afford it.

T2 was respectable, also the 6^th fastest turnover rate (how that could get faster, I don’t know, run through the TA quicker?) with 56 seconds.

The run was, well, the run.  No excuses here, my run needs a lot of work.  After coming through T2 only 3:16 back from the eventual leader (so close, minutes!) I posted a horrible run of 32:19.  That was the 35^th fastest run out of 45 in the division, and 245^th out of 280 in the overall male category, ouch!  But that’s okay, it just means I have a place where I can shave off 12 minutes with some work. 

I posted a final time of 1:28:17, good enough for 18^th in the division.  It was a fun race, where my limitations were again showcased well, giving me something to work on.  Run training, here I come!

Six hours, and it still doesn’t feel like work!

Saturday was a six hour bike/run combination workout, and I swear I felt better after the third run than I did the first!  That is a major improvement for me, as I had previously “hit the wall” at about the four hour mark.  Even at my best, in Orlando, it was about 4:30-4:45 when I crashed, so going comfortably for six hours in training is a great feeling!  My previous longest before Orlando had been a three hour bike session, and a four hour last weekend was my longest before this, so I am really feeling confident now about finishing both events this October (The SC Half Ironman and the Marine Corps Marathon).  Also having done the Half Iron distance before, I feel more prepared for racing now.

Next plan is another six hour day next weekend, which could leave me really psyched up for the race if it goes well again!  Two more weeks, two pace days, one distance day, then I start my taper for the race.  This is going to be fun!

Some days you feel like…

a nut.  Some days you don’t.

Went for my intervals on Tuesday, and the percieved exertion was really high.  I managed to make it through half of the workout, doing six 400 meters instead of the twelve I had planned.  I was definitely still feeling the effects of Saturday’s four hour workout, so I took yesterday (wednesday) off.  Then I went today and did some race-pace work, and totally exceeded my own expectations!  I ran three seven minute miles, running two, stretching, then running the third faster than the first!  I really found my stride on the third mile, as it seemed almost effortless.  Then I did some very light lifting, just to start getting my muscles used to doing the movements.

I am really enjoying the long workout (well, enjoying the benefits), now that I am alternating ride/run, and want to keep pushing my endurance out further with that workout, but I may need an easier day to allow for recovery.  My track days are fun, as was today’s three mile race-pace run.  I forsee some alternating in the future, with only one speed/pace day per week until I get the long day out to where I want it (six hours).

Other than that, school is going well.  This is an interesting semester.  I call some classes workload classes, the ones that are mostly survey courses where it will cover a huge amount of material but not go very in depth and thus require a lot of reading.  These are distinct from the smaller workload but very difficult classes.  I have a good mix this semester, between community health, interviewing/counseling, anatomy and physiology (plus lab), and pharmacology.  Pharmacology will be my most difficult, by far.  It is one of those where we will cover a lot of material, and be expected to memorize a lot of details.  I hate memorization classes, even though I know that it is necessary to have some familiarity now to quicken the real learning rate later when I am using the material daily.

That’s it, have a wonderful day!

Long day, and some great news!

Today was my long day.  I did about four hours, and can tell I still have not shed all of the “rust” from my month off.  I did a brick format, bike-run-bike-run-bike, which is more of the whole house than a brick, but you do what you must to keep the interest up on the long days.  I biked about two and a half hours of that, first two bikes being an hour long and the last being thirty minutes.  The two runs were 46 and 52 minutes, both being 4.2 miles.  I was taking it easy on my bike, and averaged about sixteen miles an hour, although talking with Sean down at the bike shop has me wanting to make sure my computer is still set up.  I was looking for a new battery, and opened the case, which he mentioned might reset some of the numbers, oops.

Now for the really good news!  For those of you who don’t know, I am now a sponsored athlete!  That’s right, consistency and love of the sport has definitely paid off!  My first official sponsor is Stronghold Athletic Club!  I changed the Sponsors section at the top, and there is a whole write up in there about them, which is really my actual opinion after having worked out there or known the staff for a while (I think three to five years or more.)

Oh, additional note, the Greenville pictures are not in yet, when they do come in, I will bump the page up to the top so it will be obvious.