Race Report – Ironman France 2011

Race Report

Ironman France

June 26, 2011

Race Statistics

Introduction

Every Ironman race report that I have ever read (including my own race reports) first apologizes for its length.  I can safely say that I will never apologize for my length.  But I will say that while I do want to give the people that followed me through this entire process adequate detail about the experience, my memory is awful – so this report is as much for me as anything else.

Before I get into the race, the most frequent question I get is about how much I had to train for this and what that was like.  Basically, the official training program I followed was 24 weeks long.  But that was all based on having trained for a solid year just to be ready to train for those 24 weeks.  I had successfully completed a half-Ironman last August and it was at that point I knew I both really wanted to do a full Ironman and that I could finish it.

The 24-week program follows a pretty standard routine. Tough week followed by a recovery week – repeat 12 times.  Within those weeks, it was always the same basic schedule with increasing times and distances throughout (especially on the weekends).  Monday mornings I would do strength training with Olivier (my trainer). Tuesday morning was a swim (typically for 1 to 1.5 hours). Tuesday night I would be on the bike (typically for 1 – 2 hours).  Wednesday morning was a run – usually less than an hour and typically focused on hills or sprints.  Wednesday night was sometimes off, sometimes on the bike for an hour.  Thursday morning was a swim (for 1-1.5 hours) and again on the bike for an hour at night.  Friday morning was a run for 1 hour, or sometimes a “brick workout” which was a combined bike and run workout – those typically lasted a solid 2 hours.  I would also squeeze a swim into Fridays of less than an hour – these were typically time trials of a certain distance of 1 – 2 miles.  Saturday was always the long bike ride day where you really focus on building endurance.  Early in the program these would be 2 hour rides – by the end they were 6-8 hour rides (for me, anyway).  Sundays were long run days.  Early in the program these were an hour, eventually working up to 20 mile runs that would take up to 3 hours or so.  There was some variation in there, but that was my basic routine.  My peak hours of training in a week were around 17 which really wasn’t TOO bad.  There are other programs out there that have you doing well over 20 hours a week (or 30+), so this was very manageable all things considered.  Where it became extremely difficult was when work got busy or stressful and things otherwise got hectic in my personal life (like changing jobs or moving, for instance).  Mary Lynn was very patient through this entire process and dealt with me being overly anal about making sure I hit all my training sessions … and me being grouchy/stressed if I missed one.  I can’t really thank her enough for all the support she provided through the entire process. It was definitely more difficult for her than it was for me.  But she continued to help cook me very large and very healthy meals and was always there supporting me at every race.  Thanks, Mary Lynn.

Pre-Race

June 22 – June 25

We arrived in Nice on Wednesday morning after a long night of flying from Boston through Paris and quickly settled into our apartment just outside of Nice in a town called Saint Laurent du Var.  The rest of the day was fairly uneventful as we got ourselves oriented and downed a bunch of espresso in attempts to stay awake for the day.  The only workout I did was a 20-minute swim with Olivier in the afternoon.  I forgot to put BodyGlide on my neck and got some chaffing from the salt water on the wetsuit – not exactly what I wanted with the race coming up.  But the swim felt easy and really nice to start getting comfortable with the Mediterranean.

Thursday morning was our drive of the bike course.  Olivier, Ryan, Max (a friend of Olivier’s) and I jumped in a car and headed out.  In short, the drive took us almost 5 hours and all I could think was, if this took 5 hours in a car, how in the world was I going to finish in less than 8 hours??  In a car, the course seemed extremely narrow without a single stretch of straight road – very much like a billygoat trail.   Add some psycho French driving by Olivier and I thought I was going to puke by the end.  Once we got back, we headed off to the race expo to pick up our packets. The expo was fun and nice to see that my seemingly crazy-expensive bike is actually cheap compared to the other options out there.  Ryan and I then raced back to the apartment so we could squeeze in a 30-minute run and a quick swim (I actually just soaked my legs while Ryan swam).

Friday was the final day to put my bike together and I finally got that done with some help from Olivier and a local bike shop.  We all then took a quick ride into downtown Nice to test the bikes out and have some adjustments made by the mechanics at the expo.  Ryan and I also got a quick run in.  That afternoon, Ryan, Kim, Dianne, Mary Lynn and I headed off to Monaco and Monte Carlo to check out the scene and just relax a bit.  We saw lots of Ferraris, Lamborghinis and even a Bugatti (has 1,200 horsepower, gets 7 mpg, and costs over $2M).  We had an amazing dinner near an old church and then headed back home.  THAT’s where we had problems… our train didn’t go all the way back to our town, so we got stuck in Nice without a cheap way back. So we jumped on a bus that didn’t take us where we thought it would.  Long story short, we got home close to 2am.  Now, anyone that does these things knows that 2 nights before the race is your most critical night for sleeping.  So much for that plan.

Saturday – day before the race.  I slept until 9:30am and then Mary Lynn and I headed to the only relatively large grocery store in the area to FINALLY find some oatmeal and peanut butter that I could use for my pre-race meal.  This brings up a pretty important point.  My standard meal plan was completely thrown off by being in France.  No oatmeal. No bagels.  No yogurt.  No healthy bowel movements.  I had been suffering from some pretty severe diarrhea for a few months heading to France.  I had been trying to compensate by drinking lots of electrolytes, but I couldn’t help but think I was going to have some serious hydration issues during the race.  So for the last 48 hours, I cut out my multi-vitamins in case that was causing the problem and I focused on eating breads, meats and other binders – no ruffage or milk products.  And as if by some miracle, the god of solid turds graced me with his presence on Saturday night.

On Saturday afternoon we had to place our bikes in the transition area and hand in our transition bags.  Transitions in an Ironman are very different than what most people experience in any shorter races.  You place your bike in the transition the night before (the same is typical of half-ironman distances), but instead of placing your bike and run items next to your bike on a transition mat, you hand in bags with those items the night before.  So, I had to hand in one bag with everything that I would need for the bike (helmet, bike shorts, shoes) and another with everything I would need for the run (running shoes, visor, more socks).  It means transition times are very slow, but it makes the morning of the race SO much less stressful since you just need to bring your wetsuit, goggles and cap.

Later that evening Mary Lynn gave me a gift that was actually an Ironman shirt signed by entire family with messages of good luck and well wishes.  I can’t even express how much it meant to me… and shocking that Mary Lynn pulled off the logistics of it all given that everyone lives all over the country.  Amazing!

Anyway, an early dinner of pasta and chicken and I was in bed by around 10:30 – probably fell to sleep by around 11:30.

Race Day

Up at 3:30am.  Showered to loosen up the muscles and ate a big bowl of oatmeal, a couple of peanut butter sandwiches on pieces of baguette (as they say, “When in Nice…”), coffee, and electrolyte drink.  We all met in the lobby at 4:45 to head out.  The drive and trying to find parking took a little longer than I expected, so we didn’t get to the transition area until close to 5:30 (race start was 6:30).  I quickly filled up my water aero water bottle, filled up my nutrition bottle of Perpetuem, and found a pump to fill up the tires.  Now it was time to get one last bowel movement in before putting on the wetsuit and getting down to the start line.  The line at the porta-potty was a bit long, but I eventually got the job done only to hear that we had 5 minutes until the transition area would close.  Crap.  My next step was to take my magical Chia Seeds – they were stored in a tube that opened up and promptly dumped all over the ground.  No Chia Seeds.  So I slapped on the wetsuit and headed down to the start… too late for a warm-up.  The walk to the start was incredibly cramped and slow and I started to freak out that I wasn’t going to be able to get there before the gun went off.  And I was definitely not finding Olivier or Ryan before the start.  But I eventually made it down to the rocky beach, found someone to zip me up, and listened to the DJ trying to pump everyone up.  As all 2,500 competitors clapped their hands to the music and got their adrenaline flowing, I stood there peeing into my dry wetsuit.  I would normally do it in the water, but no warm-up means peeing into a dry wetsuit. I can promise you that everyone around me was doing the exact same thing, so I wasn’t worried about it.

T-1 minute until the swim start.

Swim

If anyone has been to Nice, you know that the beaches are hardly made from the smooth sand we are used to here in the US.  The beaches in Nice are all rock, so 2,500 of my closest friends and I were standing on these rock waiting for the official gun to go off for the start.  This was a single wave start, so everyone would be running into the water at the same time.  My first goal was to make it into the water without breaking some toes or falling and breaking my face on the rocks.

The start was organized by expected start times. Corrals were setup with the slowest swimmers on the far sides and the pros in the middle.  I was on the far left, Ryan started on the far right, and Olivier started somewhere near the middle.

Gun goes off and we’re started.  I am standing about 10 deep, so it was about 15 seconds or so before my feet were in the water and I am still standing – success #1.   A few seconds later, I dive in and feel the water seeping into the wetsuit and create a good seal… and I am swimming.  To my surprise, I am not getting kicked, nobody is punching me, and I can actually move my arms. Sure I bump into people, but I have dealt with MUCH worse in MUCH smaller races. So far so good.

The swim course was setup as 2 separate loops with the first being 2.4 km going clockwise.  At that point, you get out of the water to cross a timing mat, then get back in to do a smaller 1.4 km counter clockwise back to the start area.

The first kilometer or so was ridiculously easy and downright pleasant.  Between the saltwater and wetsuit, I felt like the swim was effortless and I was cruising along. After 20 minutes or so I reached the first buoy and ran into a complete cluster of people. The 100m wide starting area all merged into a hard right turn and it was impossible to swim. So I stopped.  I sat up vertical in the water with everyone else and the current caused by all the swimmers in front of us dragged us all (very quickly) around the buoy until I could get going again.  It was really freaky and made me realize just how much drafting you could hang onto in big swims like this. But since everyone was vertical in the water, once we started swimming again, it was every man for himself trying to find some room… I got punched in the face and kicked many times.  But my goggles were still on and I eventually found some space.  A few minutes later we hit another hard right turn and we were heading back towards land.  It was on this stretch that I started to feel a bit sick.  The boats that were monitoring us were kicking out some hefty fumes that I was sucking in and it started to make me nauseated.  I kept burping underwater and I was just waiting for the puke to come out, but nothing… I just couldn’t wait to get to land so I could take a break and breath in some clean air.

When I reached land, I climbed out of the water (ungracefully), thought about resting, but then just decided to go back in and see how I felt.  Surprisingly, I felt fine once I was back in and off I went on the second lap.  Nothing notable on the second lap other than there some long stretches where I found myself completely on my own.  I could see people on either side of me, so I knew I wasn’t off course, but there was nobody real close in front of me. So I wasn’t catching a nice draft.  At one point though, a guy on a canoe did have to tell me I was too far off course, so I guess I probably lost some time from that.

Regardless, I still felt fine as I made the final turn into shore for the last time.  When I finished, I could see that my watch said 1:19 which was exactly what I was shooting for, so I was very happy.  A few feet after exiting the water they had a bunch of showers going so you could rinse off the salt water before heading to the transition area.  I stood there for a bit to enjoy the cold water and I tried to pee while I was there, but nothing was coming – I think the water was just too cold.

T1

Time – 7:30

The first transition went as planned.  I quickly found my T1 bag on the rack and found an empty chair to use for changing.  I was already wearing a tri suit, but I also put on some bike shorts on top to make the long right a bit more comfortable.  I threw on my helmet, socks and shoes and headed out.   My time says 7:30 for the first transition and I am honestly not sure why it says I took that long – it certainly felt much quicker than that.  Actually, I did go to the bathroom real quick before heading out – maybe that’s what slowed me down.

Bike

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/97214468

Going into the race, the bike course was the biggest concern for me.  I knew there were some significant hills and I really didn’t know how I would handle that.  The first 12 miles or so of the bike course is pancake flat.  You start out along the beach for several miles which was a nice way to start adjusting to being on the saddle after the long swim.  I was cruising along over 20mph for many of the first miles of the course which felt great. I was actually trying to take it easy to conserve energy, so I was very happy that my speed was holding where it was.  The biggest thing I noticed as the bike ride started were the names of people I saw on the course.  There was no Steve, Mike, or Brian… they were all Pierre, Sven, Olivier and other names with double-Ls and names I couldn’t pronounce.  Such an international race is very neat.

Then we hit mile 12 and the first and steepest climb of the race.  It was strange because for the first 12 miles, there were relatively few cyclists around me. But once I hit the hill at mile 12, it was a complete cluster.  The hill is a 12% gradient which means most people were out of their saddle and everyone was in their lowest gear possible.  I had switched to a 32 rear cassette a few months before the race and boy was I glad to have it.  I expected to be wowed by the European climbing abilities, but I was cruising past people the entire way up.  The only reason I didn’t pass more was because of how crowded it was.  And because people were moving so slowly, a lot of people were randomly moving left and right to keep their balance – not an easy place to try passing people.  Luckily the hill was only about 500 yards and then it flattened out to a relatively easy climb for the next several miles.

At around mile 30 began the longest climb of the course – a 12 miler up 3,000 feet to the top of the  Col de L’Ecre.  For most of this climb, I felt very good.  The only people that passed me did so very quickly, so I can only assume they were terrible swimmers and phenomenal cyclists – but for the most part, I was doing the passing.  I didn’t stand off the saddle once during this climb and for the most part, stayed in my lowest gears.  The biggest problem I had on the climb was the heat.  It was already in the 80s at that point and because my speed was so slow on the climb, there was no wind to cool me off.  So the sweat was pouring off of me.  There were times that I would adjust my head and streams of water would flow from under my helmet and over my sunglasses – I have never seen so much sweat come off my body. Luckily they had water bottle hand-offs every 20k and I grabbed a bottle at every single one.  When you take into account the bottles that I started with, that means I drank about 13 bottles of water during the bike ride alone.  The scary part is that I didn’t pee once – didn’t even feel the need to.

I should also point out how my stomach was feeling.  At some point during the climb, I started to feel my stomach ringing some alarm bells.  The amount of sugar I was taking in from my slurry of Perpetuade and the Cliff Bars I was eating started to take its toll… but it wasn’t awful.  I was never at the point where I felt like I had to stop or anything.  Once we reached the top of Col de L’Ecre there was a food stop and our special needs bags.  Special needs bags are bags that you fill with whatever you think you might need halfway through the race.  In mine I had placed some Perpetuade, some Cliff Bars, a Snickers bar and some bread.  When I reached the special needs stop, I grabbed some Cliff Bars (that I never ate) and some bread.  Once I ate the bread, I felt AWESOME.  I also drank some cola-flavored electrolyte drink with caffeine and now also had more energy.

At some point along the climb I saw one of the most amazing things.  It must have been about halfway through that 12-mile climb that I passed a guy with only one leg.  He was pumping away on his bike with one leg which I was completely blown away by.  I can’t imagine doing an Ironman with one leg. I really can’t imagine doing a hilly Ironman with one leg.  I later found out that Mary Lynn saw him climbing out of the water. There were no crutches waiting for him, no walker, no assistant.  Instead, another athlete saw him struggling and helped him all the way from the water exit to his bike.  Gotta love the sportsmanship.  See?  Triathletes are all good people.

I had expected to see Ryan at some point during the climb and was thinking about what smart-ass comment I would make as he passed me.  But that opportunity never came.  I started to really worry that he never made it out of the water.  He had a crash on the bike only a week before the race and a previous fracture in his collarbone had been seriously irritated.  Little did I know that the bastard beat me out of the water.  I am happy with my swim time, so no worries, but I am really glad I didn’t see him early on the bike ride or worse, in the transition area. That would have blown my confidence a bit.  Instead, I spent the entire bike ride thinking I was kicking his ass.  Maybe that’s why I had such a fun bike ride.  I guess I should thank Ryan for beating me on the swim – I was basking in the glory of kicking Ryan’s ass.  I guess you can only kick someone’s ass if they are in front of you.

The rest of the ride after the long climb is a bit of a blur.  There was more climbing and a lot of downhills, but none of it seemed to be killing me.  The coolest part of the ride came somewhere around mile 70 of the course.  We rode through a small village on a road barely wide enough for cars.  As we road through, the locals were hanging out their windows ringing bells, singing, and waving flags at us.  It was without a doubt the coolest thing to experience on that ride and I actually found myself getting pretty emotional at it all.  Very cool.

The last 45 miles of the course were for the most part downhill, and I was feeling awesome. In fact, I actually found myself singing out loud for much of it.  For the life of me, I can’t remember what I was singing – I just know that I was.  I was having the time of my life – by far the most enjoyable bike ride I have ever had and it was during an Ironman.   My Garmin data shows that many of the miles during that stretch averaged in the upper 20s, but I know that my speed was in the 30s for much of it.  Lots of hairpin turns as we traversed down the windy mountain road – it was so much fun.  And surprisingly, I found myself passing tons of people.  I am kind of a wuss when it comes to speed, but I felt so comfortable that I had no problem keeping my speed going during all the turns.

The final 12 miles of the bike course were on the same flat stretch we started on, so this was a good time to just focus on getting ready for the run.  I stopped taking in any nutrition at that point so I wouldn’t have much sloshing around at the beginning of the run and I only sipped on my water.  The biggest issue I had at that point was that my feet were KILLING me.  I honestly felt like both big toes were broken and was a bit concerned about how this would feel on the run.  Not sure what was making that happen – something about the hilly bike course, I suppose.  Both Olivier and Ryan apparently had the same issue, so it must have been that.

T2

Time – 7:26

I jumped off the bike and ran to hand my bike off and get my transition bag.  My toes were still killing me, so I couldn’t wait to change shoes.  I pulled off my bike shorts, changed socks, put on my running shoes, threw on my visor and my race number and I was off.  Again, this transition time was 7:26 and I am not sure why it took so long.  I put on sunscreen which may be what slowed me down? Not sure.

Run

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/97214480

The run course was setup as a 4-loop course of about 6.5 miles per loop.  The good news was that it was pancake flat along the beach. The bad news is that 4 loops means the finish line teased you three times before finishing… very painful.  At the end of each loop they would give you a hair band that you placed around your wrist.  Once you had 3 bands, you were on your final loop and allowed to go into the finisher chute.  The bands would taunt me the entire race.

By the time I started by run, the temperature was sitting at around 31 degrees Celsius which translates to about 88 degrees.  This is not ideal for running a marathon – not even close.  Combine that with absolutely no shade, it meant that the run would be a heat fest.  When I started, I was shocked how great I felt.  My legs felt light, I had lots of energy – I seriously felt great.  My first mile was at a 7:26 pace which I knew was too fast, but I was just going with what felt easy, so no worries.

By mile 2, I started to slow down a bit and started to use the water stops.  There were stops every mile of the course and I quickly settled into a routine at each stop.  Walk, chug 2 cups of water, eat an orange, and walk through the showers.  Every water stop had 4 shower heads that you could go through to cool off.  It was definitely cold water and it would take your breath away each time you went through, but when it’s about 90 degrees out, it was perfect.  Every other mile I would take in a Cliff Shot block and a salt pill.

My goal for the run was to break 4 hours which meant average about a 9-minute mile.  For the most part, I was doing fine for the first 10 miles.  The water stops definitely slowed me down, but I was doing fine to break 4 hours.  I finally saw Ryan and Olivier on my first lap of the run.  Saw Olivier first as he was walking through a water stop on the return side of my first lap. I saw Ryan as he was into his second lap and I was finishing my first lap.  Based on my calculations, Ryan was a little more than 30 minutes ahead of me at that point and he looked to be chugging along nicely.

By the time I got to lap 3, I was starting to feel the pain a bit and it was no longer a matter of running, but a matter of slogging through and making it to the finish. I saw people with their 3 bands around their wrist heading to the finish – maybe I could projectile vomit at them to adequately express my jealousy. Each mile would come… chug 2 cups, eat an orange, walk through the showers… listen to your feet sloshing around in your water logged shoes and hope blisters wouldn’t form.  Very early in lap 3 (around mile 14), the bomb dropped in my stomach and I had to make a stop. The problem was, I hadn’t seen any port-a-johns, so I wasn’t sure where I could stop. I saw some bushes that looked awfully tempting, but this was downtown Nice, so while it might seem private, I knew it wasn’t… this could get ugly.  Around mile 15 I found one.  I approached the potty to find an old man hosing down the inside – what the heck did the person before me do in there to require a hose??  I asked the man to let me in and off I went.  This was the first time I realized I was getting sunburned… as I pulled my suit off, I could feel the burn.  Anyway, I did my business as quickly as I could and went on my way.  I left and the old man promptly entered to wash away the homemade bust of Jabba the Hut that I had left for him.  As I ran away, all I could think was how this was a seriously well run race if they had someone hosing down the toilets after each use.  I mean, anyone that has used a mid-race toilet after someone else knows that things tend to spray everywhere in the rush of doing your business… to go into a clean one was like a miracle.  Soon after that I came across the run special needs area and found my bag. I pulled out some extra salt tablets and some bread… the bread seemed to calm my stomach down again which was a very good thing.

Lap 3 was done and I saw Mary Lynn… just 1 lap to go – theoretically in an hour.  I was still in good spirits and even able to smile and pose for some pictures (unheard of in my past races). But I quickly lost that pep and was facing the fact that I was slogging away at 10-minute miles and only getting slower.  2 cups of water… eat an orange… take a salt tablet… go through the showers… catch my breath… run again for a mile and repeat.  At this point, the course had lost all the really good Ironman competitors and it was only the rest of us left.  People were literally falling over. People were puking their guts out.  People were being carried off in stretchers.  I would say more than half the people I saw were walking and those that were running were slower than me, so it was pretty much like going through the land of the living dead.  The heat was simply too much and was really taking its toll.  But I carried on.  By mile 24 a bomb dropped in my stomach again and I was approaching the same toilets and the same old man hosing them down.  Should I do my business or struggle through to the end?  I actually thought about pushing through, but memories of being 14 and shitting myself at the end of Fritzbees 10k came to mind, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to evacuate and entered the nice “clean” toilet. Now my stomach was so empty that it was cramping and made it very difficult to stand up straight.  Mile 25 and I found Mary Lynn waiting for me.  Mary Lynn has had 3 surgeries in the last year including ACL reconstruction and fixing a torn labrum in her hip.  She decided to run next to me to help me along and was keeping up with me… that tells you something.  The weird thing was that I was able to have a completely normal conversation – I would have expected to only grunt at that point.  I told her to stop running since I knew it wasn’t good for her. She told me she would run as long as I was slower than her.  So I pushed a bit and got in front of her.  Eat my dust!

Finish line was now in site and I could hear the “You’re an Ironman” screams on the loudspeaker (most in French, however).  I entered the final chute (which was surprisingly narrow) lined with blue carpet. Hundreds of people lined the walls and there were cheerleaders waving hands at me when I went by.  Another racer was in front of me running with his wife and two kids.  I thought about trying to sprint in front of him so he wouldn’t screw up my finisher photo, but I just couldn’t do it.  I trotted up the ramp the finish line and I was done.  I placed my hands on my head and quickly got completely overwhelmed and started crying like a baby.  If you look at my finisher photo (taken on the other side of the ramp when I was out of the way of the family), you can see that I look a bit funny… it’s because I was crying.  I think it also made my teeth look yellow.

Post-Race

As I wandered on the other side of the finish line, I was pretty confused about what I should be doing and where.  I saw Mary Lynn and I quickly realized that I just needed to sit… I was feeling like crap.  I knew I needed some food in me, but I was starting to shiver which just didn’t seem right to me when it was so hot out.  After about 10 minutes of sitting, I told Mary Lynn that I was heading to the medical tent for some help.  I went in to find about 40 people getting IVs and otherwise looking like death.  They took my blood pressure and temperature… I was totally fine.  So I got a thermal blanket and headed out to get my street clothes and some soup.  I was apparently supposed to check out of the medical tent first – who knew?  As a result, Mary Lynn had no idea I had left… and neither did the medical tent.  For 3 hours, Mary Lynn was looking for me in the medical tent.  For 2.5 hours, I was sitting about 20 feet away waiting for her.  It made for a long and slightly distressing time for Mary Lynn and ironically gave me a good chance to pace around and make sure I didn’t tighten up.  When we finally found each other it was about 11pm. We paid about $75 for a cab ride home and said hello to Olivier and his wife, Marie.  Fortunately, they had some spare chicken, so I had some of that and baguette with jam… not enough food, but it’s all we had.

The next morning was all about getting packed up, picking up a rental car, and making our way to Lyon to start our real vacation.

The amazing part of my recovery is that I felt totally fine.  The next day, I was tight, but my muscles weren’t sore. I had random cuts and sores (2 weeks later, I still do?), but no blisters or anything that made getting around difficult.  I wasn’t particularly tired, but I was very hungry.

Since I finished, I have had some time to reflect.  Now that I am back in Boston, the concept of training like I was seems a distant memory.  I am so incredibly proud that I overcame my nagging leg injuries, learned how to swim, made it through a year and a half of training without an injury more serious than a blister or two, started a new job 2 months before the race, moved to Boston a month before the race, and travelled to France for my first Ironman and STILL finished 30 minutes under my goal time.  If I could go back about 18 months ago when I started training for this, there is absolutely no way I would give myself much hope of doing what I did if I knew all that ahead of time.  I do hope to keep competing in triathlons – I have made too much progress to let it all go now. But the fact is that training in Boston is completely different than training in North Carolina.  Not just different… but much more difficult.  But I will figure out a way.  My focus for the next year or so will most likely be on getting better at running so I can hopefully break 3 hours in the marathon – ideally at the 2012 Boston.  But I will join a master’s swim program, so hopefully my swimming will continue to improve.  I just don’t know about the bike.  Mary Lynn will be biking soon, so I am sure I will get out of the city to bike with her once she builds up to it.

Thanks again to everyone that supported me.  And thanks for reading this.

Tags: athlete, bike course, bike ride, bike shorts, Boston, Bottles, Chia Seeds, cliff bar. , cliff bars, cold water, complete cluster, Cycling, dry wetsuit, empty chair, Energy, enjoyable bike ride, entire bike ride, entire process, Finish Line, food, food stop, france, fun bike ride, hard right, Hospitality Recreation, Ironman 70.3, Ironman France, Ironman race report, Lamborghini, long bike ride, Lots, lowest gears, Lyon, Marie, Mary Lynn, medical tent, Mediterranean, Mile, milk products, Monaco, Multisport, no assistant, North Carolina, old man, olivier, pancake flat, Paris, peanut butter, race report, Race Report Ironman, racer, racing, rental car, Ryan, saint laurent du var, salt pill, salt water, shoes, shot block, special needs, special needs bags, Sports, swim bike run, Swimming, T-1, training, transition area, transition bag, transition time, triathlon, USD, walker, water bottle, water stop, wetsuit
Category Race Reports |

Weekly Training Log – 06/06/2011

It’s been 2 weeks since I update my blog.  Slacking, I know.  But the move has turned out to be much more difficult than I expected, so I just haven’t had the time.  BUT, I have more or less continued with my training without too much impact. 

Monday – Day off. Moving in day…

Tuesday – I went to my “new” gym and did 3,200. It was good just to be back working out again since I had 2 unintended days off.  I wanted to ride that night, but the unpacking was killing me.

Wednesday – 1 Hour run around the Esplanade here in Boston.  Pancake flat and I managed to maintain a pace at just over 7:00.  I felt really good, actually. Maybe  the few days off did me good.  That night I got on the bike for an hour and spun while staring at the Charles River from my window.

Thursday – I swam 3,200 again at the new gym and then got on the trainer for an hour.

Friday – Morning brick workout to make up for the ride I missed the night before. So I rode for 1.5 hours and ran for 30 minutes.

Saturday – This was the cornerstone of this week’s workout.  I did 94 miles in the Berkshires and ended up climbing about 10,500 feet.  It was brutal. The first 30 miles had me climbing almost 6,000 feet – it took me 3 hours… to go 30 miles!  I was not feel particularly fast.  But there some absolutely ridiculous hills on this route.  At one point, there was a mile stretch where I had to stand in my 32 gear in order to power enough momentum just to keep moving. There was no way I was moving sitting on the saddle.  It was so steep that my rear wheel kept losing traction. This was a normal paved road and I kept skidding.  After that hill, I had a little break before climbing to the top of Greylock Mountain. It was a great ride up through the woods. Long, but not too unpleasant.  The next set of hills came around mile 60.  It was steep, but not awful… but the ride down truly was awful.   A narrow road full of potholes and covered in dirt and gravel… all remnants of a brutal New England winter.  I amde it down, but I had to go slow and I lost a water bottle while going over some bumps.

Sunday – 2:40 run.  I started off the first 6 miles going around 7:30/mi and was feeling pretty darn good, but as the run went on, my legs were feeling the ride from the day before.  I really wanted to go 20 miles, but I finished my loop at 18 and just didn’t have it in me to continue.

This upcoming week is my last hard week and then it’s all about tapering.  Do I feel ready?  I am not feeling good about my swim – I just haven’t done enough and simply not enough open water swimming.  But I am feeling very good about my bike and run.  The ride I did this past weekend was much harder than what we’ll face in Nice and I felt great at the end… so, I am good there.  I am hoping to get out for an open water swim in the ocean this upcoming weekend. If I can get 2.4 miles in ocean under my belt, I will feel a whole lot better.

Ok. Tired. Must sleep.

Tags: 30 minutes, Berkshires, Bike Run Strength, blog, Boston, boston pancake, brick, brutal new england, bumps, Charles River, climbing, climbing to the top, cornerstone, esplanade, few days, Friday morning, gravel, great ride, Greylock Mountain, Horse jumping obstacles, Hospitality Recreation, Hour run, hrs total distance, little break, Mile, mile stretch, momentum, Morning brick workout, narrow road, New England, new gym, normal paved road, ocean, open water, open water swim, Open water swimming, pace, Pancake, past weekend, potholes, rear wheel, ridiculous hills, Slacking, staring, swam, swim bike run, time 2, Total Time, training, training log, triathlon, unintended, unpacking, upcoming weekend, update, water bottle, Weekly Training Log, wheel, workout
Category Featured, Weekly Training Logs |

Weekly Training Log – 05/22/2011

This was my heaviest week so far – 18 hours of training.  I missed about 30 minutes of running, so I guess it could have been worse, but I had some blister issues that I had to let settle down.  But this was my second to last heavy week… a recovery week coming up and then one last hard one after we move to Boston.  Oh yeah – we move to Boston next weekend.

Monday – Morning strength session with Olivier was fairly relaxed as I was still recovering from the half-ironman last weekend.  That night, I jumped on the trainer for :45 to start working the tightness out of the legs.

Tuesday – Morning swim with the group.  Nothing major to note – I did 2,900.  Tuesday night was 50 minutes on the trainer.  After, I finally biked up my bike from the shop – it needed repairs from when I broke my cable during the race the previous weekend.  It also turns out a screw had fallen out of my rear dropouts which is why I struggled to keep my real wheel aligned. That’s now fixed. Phew.

Wednesday – I decided to move my long run from the weekend to a mid-week run.  Ryan and I did 18 miles through Umstead – it would have been fine, but about 9 miles into it, the blister on my right foot that had formed during the race on Saturday decided to get bigger and then explode.  Wow, did that hurt.  So, the rest of the run was extremely painful.  By the end, my sock was covered in blood and the top of my shoe was bright red. Ouch.

Thursday – Morning swim with the group – swam 2,900.  Took the evening off.

Friday – Because I missed the evening bike ride on Thursday, I got up super early and was on the trainer by 5:15 and rode it for 2.5 hours.  I then swam for 30 minutes at lunch.

Saturday – Long ride.  113 miles in 5:57.  No land speed records, but it was 19mph average.  It was a memorable ride for a lot of reasons. First, it was the longest ride of my life. Second, it went far enough out of town that we were just on completely empty, very smooth roads riding through the hills of NC.  But the best part came about halfway where we stopped to pee … and a big black dog came out to greet us. His big tail was wagging and his ears were back, so we knew he was safe.  So we said goodbye and started to ride off… and then the dog was in the grass running next to us. We were soon going 21mph and the dog was STILL next to us. After a mile, he got distracted by something in woods and darted off to chase something.  10 seconds later – he was back next to us.  For 2 miles, he was running by our side – over 20mph the entire time.  It was really crazy.  Seriously – not sure why I was so taken by this, but I can’t stop telling people about it.

Sunday – Since I did my long run on Wednesday, this was only an hour for me.  I ran 8 miles from my house.

Tags: 26 miles, 30 minutes, big black dog, big tail, bike ride, Bike Run Strength, blister, blister issues, Boston, bright red, cable, crazy, Cycling, dropouts, ears, empty, entire time, evening bike ride. , grass, group, half ironman, Hospitality Recreation, hr 18 hrs, hrs 10, Ironman 70.3, land speed records, legs, long ride, long run, longest ride, lunch, memorable ride, Mile, Monday morning, Morning strength session, morning swim, North Carolina, Oh yeah, ouch, painful, previous weekend, real wheel, rear dropouts, repairs, right foot, Ryan, safe, screw, Shoe, smooth roads, Sock, Sports, swam, swim bike run, Thursday morning, time 3, Total Distance, Total Time, training, training log, triathlon, tuesday morning, Tuesday night, umstead, weekend, Weekly Training Log, wheel, Workweek and weekend
Category Featured, Weekly Training Logs |

Weekly Training Log – 05/01/2011

This was a recovery week and it’s safe to say that I didn’t go above and beyond what the plan suggested.  We were travelling up in Boston for the week to look for apartments and I then I was in Cincinnati on Thursday which meant my training schedule was completely off.  But I was able to get at least one workout in a day, so I can’t really complain too much…  I definitely didn’t lose ground.

Monday – Day Off.

Tuesday – I rode for an hour on a stationary bike and then ran for 15 minutes on the treadmill.  Nothing more to say than that. It was ridiculously hot and my clothes were disgusting – it was an unventilated basement workout room.

Wednesday – Ran around the esplanade in Boston for 8 miles in the morning and it was so nice.  I just focused on running and didn’t do any speed workout or anything. 

Thursday – Another hour on a stationary bike (this time in Cincinnati). Boring. Sweaty.

Friday – Finally back home!  Friday morning I got in the pool for the first time that week (not good!) and did 2,200m.    In the afternoon, I ran 45 minutesin Umstead – it was an awful, painful run.  I don’t think I ever have a good run in the evening; probably because I have been sitting all day at work and my legs are ridiculously tight. 

Saturday – Long brick workout day. We went 2:30 (50 miles) on the bike a followed by an 8-mile run.  The bike was awesome.  I actually felt like I was able to keep up with Ryan… he still beat me, but there were plenty of sections where I was able to properly draft.  Towards the end of the ride, there are 4 large hills that we climb and for 2 of them, I destroyed Ryan.  I mean, really destroyed him.  I drafted him up to the point where the hill started and then I jumped off the saddle and pumped as hard as humanly possible. I got to the top, pushed for about a hundred yards and the jumped off the saddle again for the next hill.  By the time I got to the top, I was about a minute ahead of Ryan and promptly filled my mouth with vomit… then spit it out.  I red-lined it, but damnit it was worth it.

Sunday – We ran 10 miles of single track through Umstead.  These were some new trails for me, most of which were covered in pine needles, which made the run very soft and easy.  Still lots of sections where we were dealing with big rocks and roots, but overall not a very technical run which was nice.  In the afternoon, Mary Lynn and I went to Sandling Beach at Falls Lake about 20 minutes from our house.  We spent some time playing paddle ball and soaking in the southern culture… including large women in all-to-small Conferderate flag bikinis. One woman in particular decided to avoid tan lines on her back and removed her top.  Unfortunately, she forgot not to look up – Mary Lynn and I got an eyeful of sagging nip.  Not good.  So I promptly got in the very very cold water and swam a mile.

Next week is a tough week and potentially a trip out to the mountains for a long ride.  We’ll see!

Tags: 10 miles, 15 minutes, all-to-small conferderate flag, apartments, basement, big rocks, Bike Run Strength, boring, Boston, brick, cincinnati, clothes, cold water, Cycling, damnit, disgusting, esplanade, Falls Lake, Friday morning, good run, Hospitality Recreation, hrs .5 hr, large hills, large women, legs, Long brick workout, long ride, Mary Lynn, Mile, Mile run world record progression, minutesin umstead, new trails, paddle ball, painful, Physical exercise, pine needles, pool, room, Ryan, safe, Sandling, Sandling Beach, single track, southern culture, speed workout, spit, sport, Stationary bicycle, stationary bike, swam, sweaty, swim bike run, tan lines, technical run, Time 1.5 hrs, training log, training schedule, treadmill, trip, unventilated basement workout, vomit, Weekly Training Log, workout, workout room
Category Featured, Weekly Training Logs |

Weekly Training Log – 04/24/2011

I am a little late getting this weekly update out; we are up in Boston looking for apartments, so the last few days have been crazy.  That combined with the fact that last week was a tough week (but I somehow made it not as tough as it should have been)… I have just been too tired to squeeze in getting this update out.  But here I am – sitting in a Starbucks near South Station, furiously typing to satisfy my 4 readers. Thanks Mary Lynn and Mom!

Monday – This is typically a day off from any run/bike/swim, but because of the race last Saturday, I took Sunday off and worked out on Monday.  I ran 50 minutes at a “normal” pace and then worked out with Olivier in the evening.

Tuesday – Long swim with the group. We did a little over 3,000m.  That night, I got out for 1:15 on the bike.

Wednesday – 50 minute run in the morning where the focus was on doing 4×3 minute VO2 max intervals.  I did this in Umstead which mean that those 3 minutes covered lots of rolling hills which made trying to go fast very hard… or, looking at it differently, very easy to hit VO2 max.  I took Wednesday evening off.

Thursday – Long swim with the group… but only around 2,500m.  That night, I was absolutely exhausted and skipped the bike…

Friday – Morning brick workout – I worked on the bike trainer for an hour and a half and then ran for 50 minutes.  Considering I biked inside, it was an awesome workout.

Saturday – I set out at 7am for my first century ride ever… by myself.  It was about 60 degrees and misty out, so it was actually a little chilly in my shorts and shortsleeves. The ride was fairly uneventful.  My focus for the ride was to maintain an average pace of over 18mph for the entire ride and feel good in the end.  I did that.  Basically, my average was 18.7 mph for the 101 miles and I really did feel like I could have run afterwards. Could I have done a marathon?  I think I could have… not happily, but I could have.  My elevation gain throughout the ride was about 3,000ft which is about half of what I will climb in France.  But still, I am happy.  My other focus was on nutrition.  I used the strategy I used a few weeks ago with some subtle modifications and it really worked out great.  I basically made 6 hours worth of slurry and then cut up 4 cliff bars into 4 equal pieces each.  On the ride, I ate or drank calories every 20 minutes and my energy maintained the entire way.  Very happy with that.  So, I think I successfully proved out my method for France. I am sticking with it.

Sunday – The plan called for 2:30 of running which I was hoping would get us close to 20 miles.  It did not.  Ryan (who also did 100 miles on the bike on Saturday) and I slogged through a hot morning in Umstead for about 17 miles.  It was long and painful… mostly because my legs were heavy and like I said, it was hot.  First morning approaching 80 in NC this year, so it was great timing for a run!

That’s it.  This week is a “recovery” week which is good since I am travelling.

Tags: 15.5hrs total distance, apartments, Average pace, awesome workout, bike friday, Bike Run Strength, bike trainer, Boston, brick, calories, century ride, cliff bars, Cycling, elevation gain, Energy, entire ride, entire way, equal pieces, few days, First morning, france, Friday morning, great timing, group, Happy, Hospitality Recreation, hot morning, hour and a half, hrs 1.5 hr, intervals, last saturday, long swim, Mary Lynn, max intervals, Mile, misty, mom, Morning brick workout, North Carolina, olivier, pace, painful, rolling hills, run bike, Ryan, Shorts, South Station, starbucks, strategy, subtle modifications, swim bike run, Thanks Mary Lynn, time 2, Time 2.5 hrs, training log, typing, umstead, update, vo2 max, wednesday evening, Weekly Training Log, workout
Category Featured, Weekly Training Logs |

Windy the Clown Is In Charge While I’m Away

Dear Readers,

Along with most of the Runner's World staff, I will be away from the office today for a Very Serious and Important all-day off-site meeting.

Regular RW Daily blogging will resume tomorrow. Meantime, Windy the Magic Helium Dispenser Clown* is in charge.

Do whatever he says. Even if it's something evil.

Which it probably will be.

* About Windy: Readers in Boston, and visitors to that city, may find Windy the Magic Helium Dispenser Clown familiar. That is because he lives in a bar called The Pour House Bar & Grille on Boylston Street, which serves a mean breakfast, where your blogger ate multiple times last weekend, under Windy's watchful eye.

In terms of creepiness, Windy runs a close second to Mollie the Most Incredibly Lifelike Orangutan Toddler Ever.

Tags: all-day off-site meeting, blogger, blogging, Boston, Boylston Street, clown, Dear, dear readers, evil, helium, Helium Dispenser Clown*, Hospitality Recreation, Kenya, Lifelike Orangutan Toddler, Lisa Rainsberger, Magic Helium Dispenser, mean breakfast, mollie, multiple times, office today, orangutan, Pour House Bar, Regular RW, resume, Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, Runner, Runners World, something evil, The Pour House Bar, tomorrow, Wakako Tsuchida, watchful eye, Windy, World Staff
Category Running |

Meantime, at London…

Yes! Okay!

Now that Boston is behind us — the good, bad, and ugly — join me, won't you, in turning our attention to a little race across the pond called the London Marathon.

London happened this past Sunday and, I'm afraid, was largely overshadowed by coverage of Boston, which of course happened Monday. This is a shame, because the London Marathon has a lot going for it.

I'm talking, of course, about runners in wacky get-ups.

London is sort of the Shangri-La of costumed marathoners — an incubator of cutting-edge imagination where running attire is concerned. How it got this way, I have no idea. I just know I love it.

And while Emmanuel "No Relation to Geoffrey" Mutai won the race in a course-record 2:04:40, a few other records fell that day.

For instance:

• Fastest marathon in superhero costume (male): 2:42:46
• Fastest marathon in animal costume (male) (ostrich), 3:04:00
• Fastest marathon dressed as a book character (male) (Dennis the Menace): 3:02:30
• Fastest marathon dressed as a cartoon character (Fred Flintstone): 2:46:59
• Fastest marathon dressed as a jester: 3:11:57
• Fastest marathon dressed as a fairy (male): 3:10:56
• Fastest marathon dressed as a fairy (female): 3:20:52

Those are all real records, folks. And the list goes on: Fastest marathon dressed as Captain Kirk, in an animal costume (female), in a wedding dress, wearing a gas mask, in a police uniform, dressed as a Roman soldier…

And on: lifeguard, Viking, vegetable (female), astronaut, bottle (male), gingerbread man, Mr. Potato Head, sailor, nun…

What could possibly be left? Not much, I'm sorry to report. After an exhaustive search and cross-referencing all existing databases of marathon world records, I have determined that there is only a single new record left to tackle:

Fastest Marathon Dressed as Fred Grandy

Either Fred "Gopher" Grandy or Fred "Former GOP Congressman" Grandy is acceptable.

Go ahead, readers. Set a course for adventure!

Tags: animal costume, astronaut, attire, book character, Boston, bottle, Captain, Captain Kirk, cartoon character, Character (arts), Congressman, cross-referencing, cutting-edge imagination, Dennis, dennis the menace, Emmanuel, exhaustive search, fairy, fastest marathon, female astronaut, Former GOP Congressman, fred flintstone, Fred Grandy, Fred Grandy Either Fred, gas mask, gingerbread, Gopher, Hospitality Recreation, Human Interest, jester, Kirk, lifeguard, little race, London, london marathon, male ostrich, Marathon, marathon london, marathon world, marathon world records, marathoners, Menace, Mr. Potato Head, mutai, ostrich, past sunday, police uniform, pond, Potato, Potato Head, real records, Republican Party, roman soldier, Runners World, Running, running attire, sailor, Shangri-La, single new record, Sports, superhero costume, ugly, ups, vegetable, Viking, wacky get-ups, wedding dress
Category Running |

Weekly Training Log – 04/17/2011

Recovery week for me this week with a race thrown in at the end which made for a very strange week (or I thought so, anyway)… especially because I had a race last weekend too.

Monday – Strength workout with Olivier.  We focused on upper body and core to give my legs a break, but overall not a real tough session.

Tuesday – 3,200 meters in the pool in the morning … we alternated 400m of swimming with 400m of kick which makes for a long tiring session.  Tuesday night was an hour on the bike trainer doing intervals.

Wednesday – 50 minute run with 12×1 minute VO2 max intervals.  These workouts are tough, but I do love them.   That night I rode outside for 25 miles from our house to the bottom of Baileywick road… which means a hilly ride.  I felt awesome, but for some reason my average moving speed was 18.5… I would swear I was around 20mph.  Oh well.

Thursday – 2,800 meters in the pool in the morning followed by another hour on the bike trainer that night.  Nothing crazy that day… more or less taking it easy in preparation for the race on Saturday.

Friday – Ran 7 miles in the morning in Umstead.  It was a good run and my legs were feeling a little heavy throughout the rest of the day as a result.  I didn’t swim that day since I would be doing a swim on Saturday.

Saturday – Beaverdam Olympic Triathlon.  I will writeup a race report on this, but I did reasonably well.  The distances were 1,500m swim, 26.5 mile bike, 6.2 mile run.  I finished in 2:26 … splits were :27/1:14/:42.  I was a little disappointed in my swim time, but happy with my bike time that averaged 21.5 mph and my run which averaged 6:53 minute miles.   I placed 14th overall and 2nd in my age group, so no complaints there.  The water was cold (just over 60 degrees), but with my wetsuit and neoprene hat, it was actually not too bad.  It also rained… so a lot of people just didn’t show up.

Sunday – Day off!

Next week will be a tough week since I will be doing an extra run on Monday to make up for today (Sunday).  It’s also a tough weekend next weekend with an uber long bike ride and a long run on Sunday.  After that, we head up to Boston to look for apartments – we move in about a month.

Tags: 200 meters, 400m, 800 meters, age group, Anyway, apartments, Baileywick road, beaverdam, Beaverdam Olympic Triathlon, Bike Run Strength, bike time. , bike trainer, Boston, crazy, distances, extra, good run, Happy, hilly ride, Hospitality Recreation, intervals, legs, long run, long tiring session, Mile, mile bike, Mile run world record progression, Multisport, Neoprene, neoprene hat, olivier, olympic, olympic games, Race (classification of humans), race report, rained, real tough session, rest of the day, splits, sport, strange week, strength workout, swim bike run, swim time, time 3, Time 3 hrs, tough weekend, training log, triathlon, Tuesday night, uber long bike, umstead, upper body, vo2 max, weekend, Weekly Training Log, wetsuit, workouts, writeup
Category Featured, Weekly Training Logs |

Weekly Training Log – 04/03/2011

Recovery week this week and I took full advantage.  Not that I did nothing, but I definitely didn’t follow the plan entirely. 

Monday started with strength training – Olivier had me doing some painful sets of plyometric exercises and I was feeling it for days. I honestly don’t even know what the heck to call what I was doing… it involved a lot of jumping over tall blocks forwards, backwards, and sideways… then crawling all around the floor… doing lots of pushups… and sprinting forwards and backwards.  My legs felt fine, but I couldn’t move my arms for 3 days.

Tuesday was 2,200m in the pool and the realization in the afternoon that the previous day’s workout was killing me, so I decided to take that night off and not ride the bike.

Wednesday was cold and rainy, so I did my run indoors and got onto the bike that evening for an hour of intervals.

Thursday was 2,000m in the pool starting at 5:30 in the morning so I could finish and take my wife to the doctor.  Thursday night I was simply too tired to do anything, so I took another night off.

Friday morning called for a quick 40 minute run, but I turned it into a 1 hr/:40 brick to make up for some previously missed bike time.  I then got in my 1.2 mile time trial swim which felt great… I actually finished in 32 minutes which I was happy about. 4 minutes faster than my time in the half-ironman.

Saturday called for a 1:30/:30 brick, but Ryan was in the same boat as me, so we added some time to it.  The problem with Saturday though was that Olivier decided to join us so he could try out his new bike.  We went out planning to ride somewhere between 2-3 hours.  At some point, we ran into a guy named Ricardo that swims with us. This guy has qualified for Kona several times and is just  a very good triathlete… and his brand new P4 is a bit intimidating!  So he starts riding with us… Ryan and Olivier keep up with him and they are flying.  Me?  I am going freakin’ 27 mph and I am nowhere near them. And it wasn’t just a quick instant where I was going 27… it was 27 for about 5 minutes until I started to slow down to my usual 20 or so and they were nowhere to be found.   Anyway – the rest of ride was frustrating. I simply couldn’t stay with the group, even when they were slowing down to be nice.  But I felt good – I was starving – but I felt like I was maintaining a decent speed (even when the nasty head wind kicked in).  We ended up going 55 miles.  Once done, we jumped off and did a 4 mile run.  That hunger I was feeling on the bike translated into me having absolutely nothing on the run.  Olivier and Ryan took off and I was left floundering behind them.  Long story short – I finished, but it was painful.  So the day was somewhat disappointing for me. I realize I train with people that are much better than me in different ways, but I can typically beat them on the run (or at least keep up).  But I was so far behind on the bike and struggled so badly on the run that I just felt a bit demoralized.

Sunday was our run in Umstead.  We did “ze big loop” (9.4 miles).  Ryan wasn’t there, but Nathan joined us and proved to be an ass-kicker.  I still wasn’t feeling it for some reason and just couldn’t keep up for the first 4 miles or so – Olivier and Nathan were just too fast.   But luckily they had to empty their bladders and I did not… so I took advantage and went on ahead, assuming they’d catch up.  At about mile 6, Nathan did, but no sign of Olivier.  One thing I forgot to mention is that the Umstead 100-mile race was going on (some people had been going for 27 hours at that point).  I guess Olivier passed someone he knew in the race and stopped to chat – she had 4-miles left to go.  So Nathan and I finished and my average pace was 7:16.  Considering how bad I felt, I was very happy with that.

So why did I have such a rough weekend (mentally, if not physically)?  I have 2 reasons.  1) Pollen.  Allergies are killing me.   2) Work.  I accepted a new job on Friday and will be moving back to Boston… a month before the race!

Tags: 2-3 hours.  At, absolutely nothing, Anyway, Average pace, Big Loop, Bike Run Strength, bike time. , boat, Boston, brand new p4, brick, decent speed, different ways, disappointing, Events, Felt, fine, floor, floundering, freakin, Friday morning, good triathlete, group, half ironman, Happy, honestly, Hospitality Recreation, hunger, intervals, Kona, legs, Long story, luckily, Mile, Mile run world record progression, mile run. , mile time trial, nasty head wind, Nathan, new bike, new job, olivier, One thing, p4, painful sets, pence, planning, plyometric exercises, Pollen.  Allergies, pool, pushups, quick instant, realization, rough weekend, run indoors, Running, Ryan, several times, speed, sport, Sprinting, starving, strength training, swim bike run, tall blocks, Thursday night, time 2, Time 2.5 hrs, training log, triathlete, Umstead 100-mile race, Weekly Training Log, what the heck, workout
Category Featured, Weekly Training Logs |

Weekly Training Log – 02/27/2011

Week #7 is done and this is the first week where I am sitting here feeling beat up.  The weekend was tough for me not just because of the increased distance, but  it’s allergy season and I am getting killed. But more on that in a bit…

This was another logistically-challenged week.  I traveled up to Boston on Thursday which really put a wrench into my standard routine, but I was able to make it work (more or less).  Monday was my normal workout with Olivier where he took my frustration with the bike ride last weekend to heart and blasted my legs.   Tuesday was a long swim followed by a tough Spinerval workout that night.  Wednesday was 45-minute run with a bunch of 30 second sprints thrown in… then I did a bunch of squats and lunges that I was feeling until Friday. Wednesday night was another Spinerval workout followed by some time on the Total Gym.  Thursday was a day off from workouts, but I was up at 3:30 and didn’t get home until 11 or so, so it was a very long day.  Then trying to get up for a 6am spin class (and 30-minute run) the next morning made me very tired.

So Saturday comes along we were supposed to go 3:30 on the bike.  But I started from my house and it take about 15 minutes to get to Ryan’s, so I ended up doing 4 hours (duration… take out our random stops and it ended up being a little over 3:30).  Anyway, the ride was fine.  I felt a little stronger this week, but I still got my ass kicked.  Maybe not quite so bad this time, but it was pretty bad.  The only good part (I think) was that Matt joined up with us about 30 minutes into the ride and there were a few points that I was able to beat him pretty easily.  That said, he was able to hang with Ryan for much of the ride where I couldn’t.  Anyway – Matt did Ironman Arizona recently, so I was pretty happy to do better than him on some of the hills.   By the end of the ride, I was spent.  And after the ride was over, I could really feel my allergies kicking in… maybe that was my problem.  Probably not. I am just not that strong on the bike.  Maybe my blog should really be called SuckyCyclistEvenThoughIHaveAnExpensiveBike.com.

Sunday called for a 1:40 run.  Ryan, Olivier and I ended up going about 1:50 and went just under 14-miles through the horse trails in Umstead.  I had an awful sleep the night before because allergies were just killing me. So congested and my throat scratchy… and the Zyrtec and Benadryl didn’t do squat.  But the run ended up being better than I expected given how terrible I felt going into it… and I was again spent by the end and just ready for bed.

And so here I am. Tired and generally feeling awful. But not because of the training… that’s the good news.

Tags: 15 minutes, 30-minute run, 45-minute run, allergies, Allergy, allergy season, Anyway, awful sleep, Benadryl, bike ride, Bike Run Strength, blasted, Boston, bunch, Cycling, fine, good news, Happy, Hospitality Recreation, hr 13.5 hrs, Ironman Arizona, kicking, long day, long swim, Matt, Mile, miles week, normal workout, Physical exercise, random stops, Ryan, spin class, Spinerval workout, Sports, standard routine, throat scratchy, Total Gym, Total Time, tough spinerval workout, trails, training, training log, United States, Wednesday night, weekend, Weekly Training Log, workouts, wrench, Zyrtec
Category Featured, Weekly Training Logs |