A Return to Racing

I'm not sure a 10k even warrants a race report/blog entry, but since this is the first event I have actually raced in over a year, it's going to get one.  I participated in Racine 70.3 a few weeks ago, but in reality I was no where near "racing" there.  The swim was terrible even for my low standards, and I spent the majority of the bike riding well below my ability while telling myself I was really saving my legs for the run, intermingled with a mental dialogue where I blamed the less-than-ideal road conditions for not riding well.  Once on the run, I jogged/shuffled my way through 13.1 miles while working to convince myself that I was really thankful to be on the run course of a 70.3 and injury free for the first time in over a year.  Definitely something to be thankful for but not the mindset I needed to be in to be racing hard. 

Analyzing the race afterwards, I knew that I hadn't put out an effort anywhere close to what I was trained for.  Physically I had a lot more to give, but mentally I knew I had completely forgotten what it takes to push through pain and adversity in a race.  It's really not that hard in training. Typically you're only training one sport at a time, and it's not that hard to keep running till the end of the prescribed time or pedaling through the last interval because you know you be done after, or get a break before, going hard again.  There are no breaks in racing, and I seemed to have forgotten how to handle that. 

Realizing this, coupled with the fact that I was forced to make a dramatic change to my season's race plans and pull out of IMMT due to some family issues, I decided that the rest of my season will be shorter events where I can focus on going hard all the time and re-learning how to push through the pain that is racing.  I'll be doing a few road triathlons, a couple Xterra races, and mixing in some road and trail running races as well.

Which brings me back to the Leadville 10k.  A 10k at 10k+ feet of elevation sounded exactly like the kind of race where there would be some guaranteed suffering.  The course is an out and back, with the first 3.1 miles dropping down roughly 400 ft in elevation down to the turnaround then reversing course back up to the finish line.  It wasn't a straight drop, but it had several rollers and one longer climb about a quarter mile into the race. 

I ran down from the start line and up the climb in the pic above for a warm up and knew the race was going to hurt like hell when an easy jog up the incline was already making me feel like I was in oxygen debt.

Standing at the start line was a wonderful feeling.  It's been far too long since I've competed, and even though I didn't have any expectations of placing, I couldn't wait to run hard with zero worry about the injuries of the past year.  With the first section downhill, it was a fast start.  I settled in by the time we hit the first climb but ignored the watch since I didn't want to know what pace I was running.  It's probably not a good sign, though, when you're a quarter mile into the race and your lungs feel like they are going to explode and you're trying make your breathing sound more normal so no one around you thinks you are getting ready to die.  To make me feel even better I was passed by a tall blonde on the first hill who was carrying on an easy conversation about the weather with another runner as they cruised past.  The first mile flew by pretty quickly at a 6 min pace as the front of the race started to stretch out.  About 1.5 miles in I heard footsteps behind me and a man and another woman started to pass me.  I'm in nowhere even decent running shape and haven't run a 6 min mile in well over a year but I had to see if I could go with them -- even more so because they were both at least 50.  So 50 isn't close to being an age where you start to slow down, but I couldn't let myself be blown off the road again.  At least they were breathing hard.

I hung in with them for another half mile before I started to let a bit of doubt creep into my head that I couldn't keep holding 6 min miles and be able to run the last half without completely blowing up.  Doubt is the biggest enemy in racing and something I've got to learn again how to block out.  So I got dropped by the 50-year-olds.  I looked them up post race and apparently they are pretty legit.  I still got my ass kicked my someone almost twice my age though, which is awesome.

They both killed me and she ended up beating him by a few seconds and almost catching the lead female who had passed me earlier.

The next couple miles went by at a fairly hard pace but not all-out like I should have been.  Passed a few people and was passed by a few more.  At about mile 4.5 I was faced with my second chance at not losing an in-race battle.  I had completely failed at beating up on the 50+ year olds so when that fails the next logical choice is...

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Children!

With all his Newton gear, he's obviously an 11-year-old sponsored superstar, so I shouldn't feel bad about the fact it took me 4.5 miles to even get him in sight.  Angie saw him warming up before the race and in typical supportive fashion noted that he was most likely going to beat me. 

I was gaining on him, but slowly, and it probably took me another quarter mile to get close enough to pass.  Passes need to be decisive to make the other athlete think there is no way they can go with you so I went hard by and heard the footsteps start to fade back....and then start catching up.  Shit.  Why isn't he dropping back?  I'm going to get re-passed by an 11 year old.  So much for blowing him away.  He ran back up next to me and pulled around in front. At this point I'm faced with two options:  a) stop and walk; We're about a mile from the finish and there are cameras at the finish, including Angie's, and there is no way in hell I can allow the possibility of losing a sprint battle at the finish with this wunderkind to be caught on film, or b)  run harder. 

I seriously contemplated "a" for about 5 seconds before ramping up the turnover and passing again.  For at least a minute the footsteps stayed right with me while I considered the fact that pictures of me barely beating this kid weren't much better then pictures of me losing.  Fortunately the sounds behind me slowly faded away, and I could bask in the knowledge that even if I can't outrun old people, I'm still better than the 8-13 age group. 

I managed to hold off one more late charge at the line by another runner to finish is the top 30 overall.  It hurt but it was racing again, and I wouldn't have wanted to be doing anything else.  I've got to remember to block out the doubt next time and stop thinking so much, but this was a good start back.  This weekend it's up to Steamboat Springs for the olympic distance state championship triathlon.  Been a long time since I've had a crack at this distance as well, so looking forward to 2+ hours of racing hard.
 

Last half mile.

                                                                 

Finally a downhill.

Bonaire 2013 Dive Trip

Since there have been zero races to talk about this season I figured I'd at least do a dive trip re-cap so this blog gets some small amount of use.  My last dive trip had been in 2008.  Far too long ago so I knew I really wanted to make one happen this year.  The 2008 trip had been to Bonaire and since it had been awhile since I had dove I figured it would be good to go back to somewhere I was familiar with.  For reference, Bonaire is off the coast of Venezuela and somewhat near Aruba.  It is world class diving with a pristine reef and abundant sea life. 

The trip was Saturday to Saturday with a red eye flight down on Friday night.  2.5 hours to Houston with a 3 hour layover that was spent at the bar then 4.5 hours to Bonaire.  Landed at about 5:30 local time have slept a total of about 15 minutes the entire night.  Something about having an open air breakfast overlooking perfect blue water wakes you up though and I ended up feeling pretty good. 

The patio above the beach was the place for breakfast every day and literally steps from the room.

The plan for the first day was to get in one dive at the reel off the resort then sleep all afternoon.  The first dive went terrible though.  Could not equalize and spent the rest of the day stressing that my ears were jacked up and wouldn't be able to dive.  Fortunately zero issues getting down the next day and everything came back like I hadn't had a layoff from diving at all.

Bonaire is renowned for it's shore diving.  At the resort you get a small truck with your room and can drive to any site on the island and enter right off the shore.  The coral usually starts at about 15-20 feet with the reef dropping down in a wall to 100+ in most places.  Most of the sea life is around 30-40 so a typical dive profile was to go down the wall to around 80 into the current the come back at around 30-40.  The resort also had boats, something I hadn't taken advantage of in the prior trip so I had a good mix of boat/shore dives.  Most days were 2-4 dives with the rest of the day spent eating and relaxing. 

The sea life in Bonaire is incredible.  There isn't a moment you are underwater where the reef isn't full of fish.  We also saw sea turtle, rays, moray eels, spotted eels and octopus.  The pics below are a small taste of what we were surrounded by on every dive.  Some of these are mine and some are credited to Brian Pierce.  

Planning 2013

This last season was supposed to be the year I finally moved up to the IM distance.  I was registered for IMTX but decided to pull out after a winter of dealing with nagging run injuries.  Probably a smart decision although that thinking did not carry over to the rest of my season as I continued to race, and try and fail to train, through the ankle problems.  Finally healthy again I'm looking forward to making the jump up in distance in 2013.  Since I had already registered for IMTX but couldn't pass up the chance to race on what is apparently an amazing course in Mont Tremblant I have 2 on the schedule for 2013. 

April 21 - New Orleans 70.3
May 18 - Ironman Texas
July 20 - Xterra Mountain Championships
July 28 - Calgary 70.3
August 18 - Ironman Mont Tremblant

Not as many races as I normally do in a season but this schedule will allow me to focus instead of racing too often.  I might throw in a few local events as the season gets closer and will wait to decide late season races depending on results at the the above events. 

Harvest Moon Half Distance Triathlon

Like I tweeted after this race, this was one of the events where I woke up, knew I shouldn't race and went anyway.  I think after the the hell that was the start of the Boise race I've decided to always ignore the excuses my mind throws out to stop me from doing something and push through as I will rarely regret it.  That's fine in the face of shitty weather conditions but when it's an injury that has you doubting yourself its probably good to listen every now and  then.  It's not a full-blown injury, although I may have turned it into one, but more of a nagging problem with my ankle that has dragged on all summer.  It had flared up again the week going into Harvest Moon and although I was trying to ignore it I knew in the back of my head that the run was going to be a problem. 

Race morning was like any other.  Get the gear set up and wait for the start.  Swim was a direct out and back with the first half straight into the sun.  As usual I got off course going out and lost time.  As much as I complain about this issue every race I obviously need to do something about it.  Probably too late in the year with only one race left but there will be a concerted effort next year to work on the sighting issues.  Honestly the only good thing about this race was T1.  I finally nailed the whole standing and stripping the wetsuit off your legs with no hands while putting your helmet and race belt on.  Probably my fastest wetsuit swim transition ever. 

The bike was a boring, rolling square course with some punchy climbs and questionable pavement in places.  The wind was gusting all day so for the first half of the bike it was a tailwind and a crosswind with the second half headwind and crosswind.  The crosswind felt fine although I should have realized the headwind was going to be awful when I hit 28 miles in 1:02 on 195 watts.  Once the turn was made into the head wind it got pretty tough.  Speed dropped dramatically and I finished up with a low 2:20 something bike split.  Coming back in I was thinking about pulling out after the bike and not risking hurting my ankle more with Leadman coming up but judging from the bikes in T2 I was at least in the top 10 overall if not higher so I decided to keep going.

First 2 miles of the run felt fine but the ache started up shortly after and progressively got worse.  This was an out and back run so once you made it halfway out the only option to get home was to finish the race.  By time I had hit the turnaround the pain was bad and affecting my stride.  If this were Leadman I likely would have said fuck it and kept going but with the increasing pain I was worried about further damage with Leadman coming up in 2 weeks.  With the decision made to call it a day the only option left was to walk/light jog the remaining 6+ miles back.  Not a position I've ever been in before and it sucked being passed non-stop the entire way back but it was the right decision.  Final time on the half marathon was 2:23 something and 5:21 overall.  My slowest race ever for both counts.  Learned a lesson on knowing when to do the smart thing for your longterm race plans.  Fortunately as of today the pain seems to be subsiding although I still can't run without pain so Leadman looks like it will be fine.  Run will probably suck but since it's the last race of the year it won't be the ankle slowing me down, probably just the 140 miles on the bike that proceeded it. 

Boulder 70.3

I meant to get a post up about Boulder 70.3 right after the race and never did.  Time passed and I decided it was too late but changed my mind again and decided to put something together anyways.

I had a couple of things going against me coming into the race and a couple for me.  On the negative's side I really hadn't been swimming much at all.  I was coming off a not so great swim at Boulder Sprint and an absolutely horrible swim at Boulder Peak and swimming motivation was at an all time low.  So I hadn't been doing it.  Secondly an ankle injury had kept me from running almost the entire month leading up to the race.  My ankle felt pretty solid the week leading up to the race after a session of graston and dry needling so I had managed to get in one 45 min run mid week and a couple 20 min runs.  One a positive note I had been riding a ton and spent a large percentage of that riding on the Boulder 70.3 course.  Knowing every aspect of a bike course is so nice going into race day.  Even being able to ride it once makes a huge difference. 

Given my complete lack of perceived swim fitness I decided that I was going to take the swim extremely easy.  Usually I start at the front and try to go out as hard as possible.  This time I started a few rows back and just eased my way into the swim.  Swam steady and felt good the entire time.  One benefit to the swim lazy strategy I noticed was that I felt way more fresh then normal coming out of the water.  The past two races I had done on much the same course with definite sub par swim results.  I had swam harder, had a terrible split and spent the first 4 or so miles on the bike feeling like complete shit.  This time around the bike felt great right off the start even with a 4+ mile gradual climb to start out.  Swim split ended up being 33:46.  Not great but I think it shows me that swimming smart within your abilities can lead to at least a decent time.  If I actually put some time in the pool in and get some swim fitness I believe that strategy can pay off with some solid swim splits. 

The bike was pretty much what I had expected.  Rode steady and made sure to not have any crazy wattage spikes. Based on training I felt I should be able to ride around a 2:12 and I got close with a 2:14:08.  I was about 10 watts below what I needed to be hitting the last 6-10 miles and that coupled with a bit of a headwind coming in cost me a some of time.  On the nutrition side of things I switched back to First Endurance Liquid Shot for this race.  800 calories worth of it mixed with water in a bottle on the downtube was plenty for the ride.  Didn't go through all of it but it was there if I felt like I ever needed it.  Also way easier to work with then gels taped to the top tube both in terms of staying down in aero and no mess.  Water between the bars in a Torhans 30 got me through 50+ miles before running out so didn't even need to hit an aid station which was nice since they were a complete cluster everytime I came through.

The run was going to be ugly I knew.  I debated not even having my watch running but decided to just so I could look back at splits.  Didn't look at the the whole time though.  I tried to concentrate on cadence and high turnover which served me well looking back at the splits.  Low to mid 7's through the first half was much better then I had expected.  It probably helped that I was shoveling caffeine in as fast as possible the entire time too.  I usually carry a Fuel Belt flask with 1 scoop of First Endurance Pre Race in it on the run for 180 mg of caffeine.  For this race I put 2 scoops plus a bit extra.  Probably the only thing that got me through the run.  I was out by miles 8 and and to switch to as much coke as I could grab at each aid station.  I think I was pretty much faking my body out at this point.  Each time I took some in I'd get a barely perceptable energy rush that would last for a few minutes before crashing again.  The last few miles there wasn't much turnover going on but I knew there was a Kompetitive Edge athlete in my AG coming hard behind me that I wanted to beat so that, along with not wanting to waste a solid bike split, kept me motivated.  In the end I got him by 10 sec so it was a very close thing.  Final run split ended up being 1:42:09.  A definite regression from some of my run splits earlier in the season but about what I expected.  My total time of 4:33:13 was a few seconds fast then my previous PR at Austin 70.3 so a result I'm pretty pleased with despite the issues.  Finally feel like altitude wasn't an issue at all and looking forward to what I can do at sea level.

Big thanks to Wattie for all his support, was great hanging out with him and Heather a bit pre race, and to Kompetitive Edge on the local front for letting me crash in their tent post race out of the sun.  Up next is Harvest Moon Half on Sept 9th and then the big one, Leadman 250, on Sept 22nd. 

Thoughts on Texas 70.3

Texas 70.3 was on of those events that requires a bit of time to think on.  Not because you have to analyze the mistakes and issues but because you know exactly what went wrong and you have to decide to face it. 

Texas was the opening race of the season.  The one that I have been looking forward to through all the long hours of offseason training.  With the level of competition at the race I didn't have any expectations going in as who I was going to beat but I did have a level of performance I expected of myself.  Not really a time expectation, there are far too many variables with conditions, but a performance where I knew that I had given my best effort and at this I failed miserably. 

Race morning was as relaxed as its been in a long time.  With my wave being 2nd to last there was 1:30 between the pro start and our start so no need to rush through anything.  In training it always seems like one of the three sports isn't going as well as the other two and for me lately its been the swim.  I wasn't overly stressed about it.  It was a wetsuit swim and coming down from altitude I anticiapated being at or around my swim times from previous years on the course.  Looking back I don't feel too upset about my swim time of 35 min.  Obviously its not good but I can acknowledge the fact the my swim fitness isn't exactly where it needs to be right now and I had some sighting issues that pulled me off the line I wanted.  Both are easily fixed with hours in the pool and more open water practice now that its starting to warm up.  T1 wasn't exactly up to par for me but that's mainly due to the fact that I had hell getting off my wetsuit.  Another issue that is easily fixable. 

The first issue of the day cropped up quickly on the bike when I went to get my Garmin started and found that the face was full of water and non-functioning.  So it looked like the ride was going to be old school style with no wattage, HR or pace.  The plan going in was to ride based on a fairly conservative wattage range for me so I tried to complete the ride at a comfortable effort level instead.  I definitely went with a too comfortable level though.  Looking back on how I felt there wasn't really ever a moment when I felt any significant fatigue or pushed out of the comfort zone.  I was getting a bit uncomfortable towards the end but that had more to do with holding aero for 2+ hours.  Finished up with a 2:26 ride.  Not great for me but wouldn't have been an issue if I had executed the rest of the race.

Out on the run it was blind pacing again with no splits or pace from the Garmin.  The first lap felt really slow but looking back at the paces online with was in line with what I would have wanted at around a 7 min pace.  The 2nd lap is where the wheels started to come off.  Not physically but mentally.  What's even worse is that physically I felt great.  Exactly like I should have after that relatively easy ride.  Instead I let myself begin to make excuses for what was going wrong with the day.  Mostly based on the fairly tough weather conditions and how I wasn't prepared for them.  Instead of concentrating on my performance I focused on what was wrong with the day and  mentally shut down.  The mental shut down allowed me to lapse on my nutrition and by the end of the run I was in pretty lousy shape.  Evidenced by the 1:46 run split.

Spending my plane ride back home mentally reviewing the race it would be easy to blame issues like the garmin not working or a lack of heat training.  That would just be more excuses though.  I've done enough of these races and put in enough hours of training to know what a race effort feels like and I shouldn't need numbers on a watch to tell me how I'm doing.  And even though the conditions were hot and humid they were the same for everyone.  Its not like the entire field had been training in a sauna in preparation for this event.  The real issue is that I allowed myself to fail.  I chose to dwell on the negatives instead of racing in the moment to the best of my abilities. 

In many ways my life revolves around this sport and for me to achieve the success that I aim for its time to face the fact that far too often when faced with a race that may not be unfolding as planned I allow myself to give in to the negativity.  Texas 70.3 is where this ends.  I have complete confidence in my coach's plan to get me to the starting line in shape to perform and now it is up to me to perform at the level we have prepared for.  Its not about performing to a certain time goal or wattage/pace number.  It's about giving the best effort that I have to give on that day.  Its doesn't mean "pushing myself to the max" or "going so hard I puke" but being able to walk away from a race knowing I have no regrets about my effort.  Every race won't be perfect and there will still be failures but it won't be because I am forced to acknowledge that I have failed in giving the most of myself.  That is my committment.

I (Sorta) Feel Like a Runner Again

I like to race.  A lot.  Its possible that I race to much but I really don't care.  With this in mind I started scoping out potentail races as soon as I got to Colorado in December.  Since I have to work Saturday mornings through March it somewhat limited my options to Sunday morning races.  I hate 5k's, see my last blog post, so I wanted anything 10k and up.  The only race that really seemed to fit in January was the Frost Giant 10k in Estes Park so I signed up, blindly unawares that this race took place at an elevation of 7500 ft. 

After my terrible 5k race from the week previous I was kinda dreading the 10k and doubting my run fitness.  The 10k started at noon which was both good and bad.  Good cause I got to sleep in but bad since I really can't sleep much past 7 and then spent the morning pacing around the house waiting to leave.  I really should have got an hour or so in on the bike. 

Driving to Estes Park from Denver I started to get a sense of what the elevation was going to be like as we started to drive up the mountains before dropping down into the city.  I started getting a headache and generally felt like crap.  Coming back down the mountain I started feeling better though and the view driving in made it all worth it.

The race had a very low key vibe which fit in great with the town and how I was feeling.  There was a 5k that had started at 11 so I watched the winners come in and realized based on their times that the course was likely pretty tough.  Not a large field of racers by any means but there were definitely some very talented ones in attendence.  Looking up some of the names later on they included top 5 finishers at Western States 100 and winners of some major trail races in Colorado.  They're fairly easy to spot as they all have big beards.

I had no clue what the course was going to be like so I figured I'd just take the start easy and see what the leaders were doing.  The pace started out really chill.  Surprisingly so until we made a quick turn and I saw what would be a mile+ climb out of town.  I ran 2nd pack for most of it until everything started to break up at the top of the climb before a steep downhill into the offroad section. 

Once we hit the offroad section things really started to unravel.  We were running cross country on what could only loosely be considered a trail.  Every little ascent seemed to take my last bit of evergy and I felt like I was shuffling up them.  What was once 5th place turned into 7th or 8th quickly on the climbs.  I'd run my way back into the group on each downhill but there were decidedly far fewer of those and I steadly faded out of the top 10.  Looking back at my garmin splits I was barely holding it below an 8:00 min pace throught here.

The main portion of the race was offroad with the last mile a straight shot to the finish and back on pavement.  Once I hit the pavement it seemed like a found a 2nd gear.  Or maybe 3rd based on the paces I had been running.  I didn't look back but I could sense that there was a little pack right behind me.  There wasn't anyone ahead of me that it looked like I could catch so for me the race was now about holding off anyone else.  The female leader pulled up next to me and that was all the motivation I needed to open it up.  Other than her and one other runner I managed to put almost a minute into the other couple runners that were with me at the end of the offroad section. I obviously need to work on my climbing and offroad skills as I lost a ton of time in the middle miles.  The end was a sprint to the finish with both me and the female leader crossing together.  Without chip timing its a tossup as to who crossed first. 

Looking back this is probably one of my favorite running race I've participated in.  The course was without a doubt the toughest I've done but that makes it all the better.  We apparently topped out at 7800 ft which probably didn't do me any favors but at least it seems like I'm getting a little more used to the altitude.  Definite improvement from my previous race. 

Coming into the finish.

I'm opening up a gap you'd think I'd be able to hold.  Apparently I need to work a bit on my finishing kick.

Yes my face and possibly hat is covered in saliva. Wait till there are post triathlon pics where I've been chugging First Endurance PreRace the whole run and my face is covered in yellow slime. Its hot.