A few extra miles

Yesterday as I was riding home from work I remembered Wednesdays are Greenbelt Training series race days. I don't really think much about the GTS races much since I decided 3 seasons ago road racing maybe wasn't my thing after getting crashed out of one of the Greenbelt B races when a rider went down in the middle of the pack. But, I've been talking to a few people here and there lately and with it being 2 miles from my front door I figured I kind of had to get out and race it at least a few times this year, if nothing else then just for the hard efforts and the extra miles.

So, I stopped by, not expecting to get in last night since I was late and had no cash or license. They took an IOU though and with 5 minutes to spare I was standing on the line in the 6pm C race (no license, no B race and no I'm really not sandbagging here anyway).

I rode somewhat aggressively from the start hoping to keep the pace somewhat high and see what would happen. Didn't really do much though other then wear my already tired legs out. Felt like I was moving around easily in the pack but on the final ramp up to the finish I lost my nerve a couple times while trying to move up gave up a lot of spots well before the park exit road and seeing I was well out of contention soft pedaled in to the finish line. No sense in being the guy sprinting for 15th.

It was definitely fun to be out there and really aside from one especially squirrelly rider it was a pretty good group out there. One guy named Rob on a single speed was especially impressive I thought. Should be pretty strong when he gets his hands on a geared bike.

So, now that I've got the first one under the belt for the year I plan to try and get out as often as possible to my neighborhood crit. As usual a big thank you to Route 1 Velo for putting on such a cool and laid back series.

North Face 50 - PHT section scouting trip

Around 23 miles yesterday on the Potomac Heritage Trail portion of the upcoming North Face 50k trail race. Needed a good long trail run as I've been slacking off a bit lately on long runs and getting out on the trails in general though I have been riding a bit more instead. Also wanted to see what the course will be like which from what I saw yesterday it should be pretty fast!

It looks like it begins with around a mile of paved path (which I skipped yesterday) followed by a mile of crushed gravel path before it hits the single track. That'll make it hard not to go out fast, though also means it'll be a good idea to hit this part fast so as not to get stuck too far back once we hit the single track.

The majority of the PHT section is basically flat with the very distinct possibility of being very muddy should it be wet and rainy leading up to race day. There were 3 or 4 very abrupt and steep sections where the trail was rerouted due to the Potomac river washing away old sections of trail or for other reasons. Should be mostly runable, especially early on but probably will be a good idea not to expend to much energy on these steeps.

Somewhere, likely along the way where I ran the course will leave the PHT though the runner's guide description wasn't clear enough for me to fingure it out so I just stuck to the trail down a bit past the dam near/in Great Falls park.

Slightly disturbingly, my garmin reported just over 650 feet of elevation gain for this 23 mile section of trail while the 50k runners guide states over 3000 feet for the course. Either one of these is way wrong (and the garmin has been known to be well off the mark, though Garmin Connect now has topographical map corrections included) or the 10 or so miles in Great Falls will produce 2500 + feet of elevation gain to really kill us mid-race. Hopefully next weekend I'll manage to get out and check out some of that section to see what that's like.

My 23 miles took around 4.5 hours, though I spent a good bit of time stopped, either taking pictures of/watching wildlife, trying to figure out if I was going the right way based on the course description or just generally putzing along. The goal Matthew and I have set for this race is a sub 5 hour time which based on the sections I ran yesterday and our times at the Seneca Greenway Trail 50k should be well within reach. We just need to average 9:40 for the course which should be doable on this course.

Yesterday my average was just under 12 overall but just over 10:30 "moving time" according to the garmin. That was self supported (aka with backpack filled with water and other stuff) and getting dehydrated after running completely out of water with 5 or 6 miles to go. So, there you have it, a publicly stated time goal. Now its time to live up to it.

Otherwise the run was pretty scenic with a good bit of unexpected wildlife. I caught a bunch in pictures after rigging up my cell phone to my pack strap. Unfortunately I didn't catch the huge red fox (probably 40 or 50 lbs, by far the largest fox I've ever seen), the giant red headed woodpecker, the deer, the lizards or the big turtle that scuttled into the creek as I ran over a bridge. Also should have a grabbed a picture of the guy that nearly punched me when he didn't hear me coming as he stood on the trail talking to his buddy (who saw me and I figured wwould warn his friend). He then proceeded to cuss me out. Nice. He looked like an unhealthy version of Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec so I suppose a heart attack was a real danger there.

Enjoy the rest below!

Baby frogs all over the trail near the golf course and swamp like (though likely man made) area.

A swarm of butterflies that found something tasty.

Great blue herron that was talking to me as I tried to get closer for a picture.

Great North American trailious runnerous in a typical confused pose.

The mighty Potomac River.

A very large black snake (non-poisonous I now know thanks to Matthew) plastered to the side of a big tree along the trail.

A large millipede stuck to the side of a bridge. Took this one for Aimee and I even managed not to step on any of these guys along the trail.

Goals and Milestones

The other week with my regular, easy run down the mall, around the Lincoln Memorial and back, I cracked 600 miles on the year running. It's not a very big number for a year of running; its downright minuscule when compared to the typical ultra runner but for me it seems like a big milestone.

My weekly running mileage chart here shows my lack of consistency. The last 6 or so months has shown some improvement there.

In 2008 I just cracked 400 miles; beginning my training log in late March and not really running with any focus or races in mind. Consistency was no where to be found and my miles just basically came in small heaps throughout the year. Over the last few months, basically since I decided I wanted to attempt an Ultra and began running trails in June, my mileage has ticked up and my consistency has as well. I still have large variations in my weekly mileage but overall I've managed in the 15 to 20 miles per week on average. While this is still far from "Ultra" mileage, for me, it's a start.

Literally, not a single run in January of this year and less then 20 miles in the entire month of May!

For 2010 I've got my eyes fixed on the Bull Run Run 50 Miler, one of the VHTRC main event races. This means I'll need to keep my mileage up as the new year begins and really start to build into the month of April. I'd like to run a strong race and finish feeling better then I did after the PHT 50k so a solid winter mileage base is a must.

I'll be very happy if I can average a solid 20 to 30 for the first couple of months of the year. For 2010 as a whole I think I should expect to break 1000 miles, with hopefully a couple of Ultras under my belt.

As for my cycling, I'm somewhat stagnant, kicking around 1800 miles for the year. In 2008 I hit 1500 or so, probably mostly invested in my tri training, especially the 1/2 IM. This year my miles consisted more of dirt riding with some pretty limited road mileage. I've just found so much more enjoyment in the dirt all around this year. That, I don't expect to change necessarily for next year.

My cycling goals for next year will revolve around a similar principal as this year's racing with one major addition. I want to make my first attempt at the Shenandoah Mountain 100 (SM 100). This alone will require a large boost in my overall mileage and hopefully I'll be able to work in some much longer dirt rides and some long road rides with my DCMTB teammates this year to make it happen.

Call 2010 the year of the Ultra's for me if you will; thats just where I'm at right now. Short course speed races are fun, but I find myself drawn to the long course absolute tests of endurance that go with Ultra distance racing. There is something rewarding in and of itself when finishing long distance races; something that for me is lacking in the short courses.

At this point I'd say I should be doubling my cycling mileage if I want to have even a remote chance of finishing the SM100 and probably quite a bit more if I expect to perform well. Of course if the weather keeps up this amped winter we've already seen my riding may take a back seat to trail/snow running and shoveling!

Or, maybe its finally time to invest in a trainer and actually start using it...

My heart rate monitor apparently believes I'm super human... or dead.

I've had a Timex Iron Man w/ HR for a few years now, although it's been out of service with a dead chest strap battery for the last year or so. Recently I got a new battery for it and figured I'd start using it for some targeted training. You can set HR zones based on your estimated max HR and then let the watch remind you when you leave that zone. All seems fine and dandy, if it were only so easy.

Today I decided to get in an easy run, the first since my slight muscle strain from Nation's, and set myself up to keep my HR in zone 3 which is 137 to 156 bpm. Generally my normal running puts me in the low to 160's so I'd be going a bit easier then my normal pace. For the first mile it was going alright with me going over occasionally, generally a beat or two per minute. The next thing I know I'm rocking a 215 HR and the darn thing won't shut up. After about a minute of constant beating I gave up on it turned it off and proceeded to finish up my lunch run. Of course that means I ran the rest of my run significantly harder then I planned and my legs are now nice and tired for my ride tonight.

I'm curious as to whether this is just my HR monitor being a piece of junk, or if maybe I should be worried about a heart murmur or something. Maybe of course I really am just a super human with a max of 240 bpm like my monitor is fond of reporting to me but somehow I think that just isn't it. But seriously, is there anything to my fears here or is it really just a piece of &*^@! (horse poop).

The rate, even when seemingly working will jump around quite a bit. Say from 167 to 150 and back and even after telling me I was rolling at 215 for a few minutes, it next said something along the lines of 145. What is this all based on anyway? Beat to beat? The number of beats over the last minute? The last 5?

I guess maybe its time to start thinking a bit more seriously about one of them GPS/HR watches...

How to become an outlier

Joe Friel just read the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Very good book which I highly recommend along with Blink, both of which I recently read. Tipping Point will be up next, once I can actually get my hands on it from the library that is.

Anyway, Joe wrote a post about the book and it's relevance to the general athlete population and does a really good job of summing it up. It shouldn't be and isn't really ground breaking stuff, especially if you've read Gladwell's book, but this last little bit I think sums it up perfectly.

I believe that the key to success in sport is not simply hard workouts but, more importantly, training consistency — practicing your sport day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. Uninterrupted. Athletes who focus on excessively hard workouts on the premise that this will quickly produce exceptional performance eventually find themselves overtrained, burned out, injured or sick. There is nothing that produces race results like years of consistent training. This is not to say there is no place for hard workouts. There is. It’s just a matter of how hard and how often.

Enjoy all and keep on riding.

Pre-Crash Saturday

I know, I said I wouldn't talk about it but... oh well. My body still hurts so I did anyway.

A shot from last week when it got warm. We got Cassie a couple of chances to swim while it was in the 70's. The water was still a bit chilly but she was having a good time none the less.

Friday night I went out to dinner with Aimee and her folks at the new National Harbor for her father's birthday. I won't go into my thoughts on the area, aside from pointing out how inaccessible it is and how badly I think that hurts it's chances of succeeding. After dinner we went to a sports bar to watch the Duquesne vs Dayton game. Very exciting with a GREAT outcome. Saturday's game not quite as great but still an awesome season for the Dukes. They will still likely make the NIT tournament which is a big deal considering their record four seasons ago was 3 and 24. See more fun Duquesne men's bball facts here.

Anyway, Saturday morning came early and saw me a bit groggy after a couple too many beers but I managed to drag myself out of bed before 7 anyway. I made my way down to Hains Point for the first DC Tri training duathlon of the year. The temps were just under 40 for the start at 8 and the group that showed up was surprisingly large.

I started off the opening 5k along with the front group of about 10 with a few guys tearing off the front of the group. For the first 2 miles or so I was feeling pretty descent and was sticking right with another guy who was running very smoothly. He eventually pulled away and continued to do so for the remainder of the run. I found myself somewhere around 1.5 and 2 miles losing my form and efficiency so there is definitely some work to be done there.

In the first transition I moved quickly and managed to make up some time on the guy I'd been chasing in the run. In the first few hundred meters I caught him, commended his run performance and then settled in for the 16.8 mile bike. I didn't feel great on the bike but also wasn't doing terrible. The glutes were feeling tight right away and stayed that way through about half of the bike section and in the end I averaged somewhere between 20 and 21 mph, with no serious head/tail winds for the ride. I believe I should be aiming for somewhere closer 23 in those conditions and on that course but at this point in the season I'll gladly take my result.

The second run was as usual a bit of a shock to the system. The calfs started to cramp initially but quickly loosened up. For the first brick of the season I feel pretty good about the post ride pace though hopefully later in the season I'll be able to hold a faster turnover on the run. One thing that needs some work which will assist in that and a better and more comfortable bike portion are my flexibility. Core strength also needs some work.

In the end I was passed by one guy at the end of the bike and otherwise sat in the same position from the early bike portion through the finish. Not sure my eventual placement but it was either 7th or 9th based on updates from one of the volunteers during the ride.

Total time was around 1:30.
My first run time was 19:40 (my first sub 20 5k I believe) a pace of 6:21/mile.
The bike portion was around 50 minutes, 20 point something mph.
The second bike 22:40, a pace of around 7:20/mile.

Another workout another lesson

Today was another easy run for the CB10M training plan which I completed over lunch. I focused pretty hard on taking it easy which is something I'm terrible at. Generally I settle in to a still easy and very comfortable 7:30 minute mile. Today the warm up was closer to 10 and I threw in a couple of fartleks each about 1/3 of a mile long. Not planning on that but I kept seeing a "goal" and having to "meet" them (read other runners and a pedicab and I had to beat them). I'm "that guy", a very close relative to the infamous BikeTrailGuy.

Since my last run on Friday my legs have stayed pretty sore; though that was likely assisted by the day of house work on Saturday. The delayed muscle soreness was expected after not running since December though it was lasting way too long and didn't seem like it should be so bad considering the amount of "cross" training I've been doing on the bike. Well today while running I think I figured it out.

Lately with my schedule being a bit hectic and eating in with Aimee I've been slacking on the protein intake. Lots of pasta and beans though as usual, late food intake after lunch runs and no protein to speak of leads to poor post workout muscle recover. After my run today I dropped over to the snack bar quickly and grabbed some yogurt and unshelled peanuts and scarffed down a few dozen grams of protein (surprisingly poor protein selection at the snack bar).

A few hours later and I was actually feeling like the muscles were recovering better after this one. As I often like to suddenly realize, again; it's amazing what good nutrition can do for a body.

GamJams Reviews: Winter Training Tires - Specialized Armadillo Tires

GamJams.net is taking up a new product review feature involving the ambassadors program. Mike announced it a bit back to the ambassadors and today is the first installment. I’ll take part in as many of these as I can, starting with today’s “winter training tire” review. If you like this feature, please make sure to drop Mike at GJ a note to let him know so he can decide whether it is worthwhile and so he can pitch it out to prospective GJ sponsors as he builds the network. Also, make sure you drop by the rest of the participating ambassador sites to see what they may have to say.

Specialized Armadillos



First off I’ve got to admit, I do not have these tires on my Cannondale; actually I’ve still got the Michelin Race Pro 3’s from the season on there. I have however been running the All Condition Armadillos on my Fixed Gear for the past two plus years. In that time I’ve had 1 flat, after about 2 years on the tires, which was actually due to an unavoidable puncture at the hands of some of the neighborhood trouble makers. The rear wheel, which is covered with skid marks (fixed gear) is worn through to the inner red surface and should have blown a solid year ago, but it still rolls along no problem. To me that’s a sign of a truly tough tire (and a truly cheap rider).

While they may not be the lightest or cheapest tire out on the market, I’ll swear by the armadillos for general riding/training miles for their durability, smoothness and traction. Like I said before the armadillos are tough, lasting two + years on my fixed gear through all riding conditions, a few car on bike incidents and more then their fair share of skid stops. The durability alone proves these tires capabilities to me as high mileage training tires beyond any doubt.

As for the issue of comfort, I’d once again rate the armadillos as champs. Riding the fixed gear can be a bit hard on the body, obviously since coasting is not an option. While on a freewheel you can stand and coast over tough and bumpy road conditions on a fixed gear you still have to pedal. While standing is an option it’s not always as physically easy (especially at higher speeds/cadences) or easy to remember throughout a ride. The armadillos don’t punish you over rough terrain and in my experience the tougher tires leave open the option of relatively lower tire pressure for added comfort. On the other hand, when run at high pressure you can really get these tires moving quickly and comfortably in group, or traffic settings.

My fixed gear is essentially my beater bike so when the weather turns bad the fixed gear gets the call to duty. With armadillos on it I’ve never felt sketched out by wet and oily road conditions. It sticks to the roads in tight corners and I’ve never felt like I was going to wash out on them. I think traction like this in a sketchy crit race corner like the Reston Town Center Crit would be very, very comforting.

While I’ve never tried the Elite or All Condition Elite tires, I’ve got a strong feeling they’d be just as solid. And, while the price tag on these seems fairly high, I think the 2+ year use you can expect should alleviate some of the sticker shock associated with them. As specific winter training tires I think you could really stretch your dollar on these for a few years (assuming you don’t “NEED” new gear every year). They won’t leave you stranded with a flat 40 miles from civilization on your long winter training rides and you can feel good rounding sharp bends on them in your Saturday morning “training”/ass handing rides with local hammers. If I manage to get my hands on the Elite tires, I’ll let you know for sure if I think they’d make good race tires though, for now I’d go ahead and bet that unless you’re racing for Michelin or Continental, they’d do the trick just fine.

Day one marathon training

Finally hit the pavement again yesterday after about a month of not running. I'd like to say my foot was hurting and needed a break but really I was just not feeling like running... or swimming... or working out at all, unless of course it was on a mountain bike (news on that too come). So, finally yesterday on my late lunch I got in a nice 4 miler on the Mall.

Aside from cramping up a little during the third mile I felt pretty good. A bit heavy and tight in general but nothing too bad. Tonight I'm going to get the pup out for another 4 or 5 miler; the training program calls for 4 hill repeats but it also called for a 10 miler on last Saturday so I'm going to spend a week or two just putting my base back together before I really hit the program hard.

If I stick to my program fairly well I should be looking at around 600 miles logged by the end of March with close to 250 miles by the end of the year. That's a lot of miles, though I'll likely see the mid-training blues kicking in sometime there and likely a bit more cross training mixed in there then the program calls for.

Back to the grind stone

Last night I talked to a buddy I hadn't heard from in a couple of months; I told him all I felt like doing these days is sleeping and eating. Aside from the once or twice weekly commute from Greenbelt and some mountain biking (until 2 weeks ago) I've pretty much been completely slacking since Jerseyman... Ouch. I'm officially feeling like a out of shape slob. I've run 1 time since, haven't touched a pool or weights and have barely spun the pedals. Mix that with the amount of food and candy I've been shoveling in my face lately I think the description really works.

Ok, so my goal is to run the National Marathon at the end of March. Looks like it's time to start my training! A couple years ago I used the training program supplied by the folks with the Shamrock Faestival Marathon down in VA Beach which worked well so I'll be keying off it again. This time though I'm using the 20 week advanced program which coincidentally started last week. Looks like I'm supposed to be doing 10 miles this weekend... I think I'll ease in to this one a little bit.



Took the day off Tuesday (best day for a day off ever, except maybe a Wednesday) to hike Sugarloaf Mountain with Brain and the dogs. Did a nice 6.5 miles over steady up and down terrain with some fairly intense little sections along the Orange trail from the East side lot. I highly suggest the Northern Peaks Trail for a solid hiking effort and if you don't mind a little scrambling take the Orange Trail from the East view parking lot to the meet up with the red then blue. Very fun and some nice views included.

Instead of writing a long boring post with a bunch of random stuff in it like usual I'm breaking this one down a bit.

Last year I remember hanging around my house one February weekend morning and suddenly hearing and seeing a steady stream of people running down the center of Ridge Rd. I had no idea what was going on but just figured it was running group... with a LOT of people, and spread out at some highly variable paces but still a running group.

Turns out it was the 47th Annual Washington's Birthday Marathon which start in Greenbelt and does a few loops around the Beltsville Ag Center and heads back into Greenbelt for the finish. I found that out when I headed out for my own run a bit later and accidentally "won" the marathon in a time of about 2:20 or something... They weren't too pleased when I threw my hands up in a "what is going on here" motion coming upon the finish... Sorry guys, that's my normal running route!

Anyway, I'm hoping they hold the race again this year because now I really want to run it. For one, it's in my backyard, and I train on the very roads it follows. My long run yesterday as a matter of fact I saw this morning was essentially a loop of the marathon coarse. In reading some reviews of the race a lot of people mention how tough the course is with the rollers around the Ag center and the "killer" hill at mile 25 which is where i do most of my hill work so I've got a definite home field advantage on that one.

Because of the fitness level I'm at right now I was recently considering grabbing up a transfer for the Marine Corp Marathon and running that though when I mentioned it to Aimee the additional training time didn't sit too well plus I don't need to pay out another $100+ to jump into another race. So, instead I'll have this to keep myself motivated, give myself plenty of recovery time after the 1/2 IM and most importantly spend some serious time on running specific speed work and endurance so I can really give it my all come February.

Here's to George Washington! Well, and a race start I can run to in under 5 minutes from my doorstep! :)

Been a while on the postings, but right now I'm waiting hours for a few application updates to complete on my historic computer here so I figure now is a decent time to post something. Training has been going very well over the last few weeks/months. Basically since I started using a laid out "plan" with day to day workouts. I like the structure and knowing what to do, not just making something up as I feel like it. Better yet I'm seeing results; my running is improving dramatically while I can see steady improvement in my swimming as well.

Sunday I did probably my longest ride of the year at about 60 miles, an easy spin over the Brian's down through Rock Creek and back and felt great. Wasn't too sure how I was going to fare since my longest rides lately have been in the 30 mile range but I felt great throughout the ride. Pace was pretty steady though I picked it up substantially for the last 20 miles and didn't feel overly tired or anything.

Last night I did my longest run of the year as well, and earlier this week my 3000+ swim was probably my longest as well while we're on the trend. This is my heaviest week training time wise so it makes sense. The run was 14 plus miles easy in about 2 hours and felt really good up until about the last 10 or 20 minutes when I just wanted to be finished. I think it was more mental then physical since when I finished I was heading to Aimee's and I haven't seen her for over a week while she'd been out of town.

All of my long workouts though felt great and lead me to believe I'm in a pretty solid spot for my upcoming races. Next Sunday I'm running the Larry Noel 15k which starts and runs through my backyard aka the Beltsville Ag Center. After that Brian and I head up to our folks' place in the Pocono's for some R&R/concentrated training time before Jenny and Aimee meet us mid week. The Nation's Tri the weekend after we come back and 2 weeks later its on to Jerseyman 1/2 Iron, my season goal!

Final results for the August Training Tri

The final results for the DCTri training triathlon were posted today and first off I did manage to run the time I was hoping to pull in. 20:58 for the 3.2 mile run, just barely under my 21 minute goal. Overall I came in 10th, though who knows on the age group/gender bit. I do believe I can do better then that though with how thrashed my legs were on Sunday and even Monday I'm not surprised or disappointed with the final results.

My swim pace was about 15 to 20 seconds off what I probably should be swimming, maybe more which I was excuse simply based on my seeding issues. I'm thinking I could easily have pulled in a 6 to 6:30 swim as opposed to my 7+. T1 was as suspected dreadfully slow at over 2 minutes but that doesn't necessarily bother me too much. I know I can manage a sub-one minute transition there when I want to.

The bike I think got windier as the race went on so an earlier start and faster swim might have given an advantage along with fresh legs. T2 was significantly faster at something like 48 seconds which was a nice surprise, while as I mention before my run was within my initial goal time (barely) of 21 minutes. Once again fresh legs and a little more motivation I feel fairly confident I could pull off a sub-20 minute 3.2 miles, much less my first sub-20 minute 5k.

So, there it is.

In other news I think I need to adjust my cockpit and seat hight on the CAAD9. While I am very comfortable in my aero bars I am probably not in a sufficient enough aero position to garner all the benefits of having them. I also feel, especially on the aero bars in TT mode when I slide forward on my seat a bit I have plenty of play (maybe too much) with my leg extension as it seems my knee is beyond slightly bent. I'll try some things out hopefully this week and next week to see if I can get things dialed in better. Still four and a half weeks to the Nations Tri to get things set correctly.

Exhaustion

Friday I decided to make up for my missed 90 minute run from Thursday as well as complete my long swim scheduled for Friday. The day was perfect for a run and after staying home sick (more of a mental health day) I got out for my run around 1. The workout called for 75 minutes at an easy pace (perceived exertion around a 3) and the final 15 minutes bumped up to about a 5.

The first 75 was great, I did the beaver dam to springfield to powder mill back in on research and down and around greenbelt lake which got me to about my 75 minute spot and for the final 15 I trucked it a bit through old greenbelt and down northway and around the softball fields and back. I managed right at about 12 miles for the run, probably harder then I should have been going though I want to turn up the training a bit from the plan I'm following so I'm not too worried about it. All in all it was a very good run at a pace of about 7:30. Once again not race winning but solid for me.

The swim went well too, 800 in warm up followed by two 900's at an RPE 3 and a 200 cool down. I swam more like an RPE 5 or 6 for the first and cooled it down for the second more. Unfortunately sometimes if someone is swimming beside me I end to turn things up a bit. Friday night wasn't bad since I feel I got some solid work in and didn't crush myself but I still swam faster then I needed to. I used my new lap counter Aimee got me for the second 900 and was pleasantly surprised by my lap consistency. My fastest and slowest laps were separated by less then 6 seconds and the fastest was lap 1 and slowest was lap 9 (of 18) which I think is pretty promising.

Went to bed Friday night feeling pretty good about the workouts for the day tired but feeling ready for Saturday mornings' DCTri training triathlon...

5:15 came early! The training tri at Haines Point went pretty well. I seeded myself along with the guy in front of me way to low and ended up having to make my way past at least 4 people during the swim. Self timed my swim at about a 7:41 for the 400 meters. Probably could've done a lot better had I been seeded correctly for the start. As it was I'd probably put myself at least a minute behind where I should have been. Out of the pool and to t1 was alright. I felt like I was slow on both transitions but I wasn't too worried about the transitions anyway.

The bike went well but not great. Coming back the far side of the point and especially heading down all the way to the turn around near Independence (?) was extremely windy, especially the second and third laps. I fought hard into the wind but I'm sure it broke my spirit a bit. I passed a bunch of people which is always helpful for the psyche but the ride was tough no matter what. I didn't keep specific bike time, I think I basically had from the end of the swim to the start of the run times which came out to something like 49 minutes. I'm guessing somewhere around 45 minutes for the 16.8 mile bike at an average of about 22 mph.

T2 and out for the run. My legs started to give the tell tale signs of coming cramps in the calves so I started out easy trying to just get a good turnover going without really pushing it too hard. The feelings passed and I worked on staying focused and running a bit out of my comfort level. I think I did alright in that regard as I kept myself pushing a little as opposed to settling into a comfortable pace for the majority of the run. Crossing the line I was a bit disappointed with my run time as I was hoping for at least sub-21 if not a sub-20 but I ended with a 21:21 run time for the 3.2 mile loop at a 6:41 pace.

Can't say I'm too disappointed with my performance considering though at the time I didn't quite see it that way. Afterwards I came home and passed out for a while before helping my brother in law finish his wood flooring. Needless to say I slept well last night and my legs are pretty thrashed today. Luckily today is a rest day, though I do really need to get some lawn work in...

Training Post - Milestone broken

Back in middle school, a couple of times every year the gym coach would get his truck out and drive around the fields back behind the school using the tachometer to measure one mile and placing cones along the route in the grass. No one every really enjoyed these days but I never really hated them since I'd taken up running with my father occasionally starting in elementary school. I knew I could run the distance and even run it fairly quickly compared to everyone else. There were certainly the exceptions, like Michael Della-Russo (who now plays on an MLS developmental team in texas) who ran 6 minute miles in 6th grade, but for the rest of us 7 minutes was FAST.

That was probably the last time I'd ever tested myself in the mile so for the majority of the past 10 or so years I've believed I was a seven minute miler. No longer fast at all and certainly no where near a race winning speed. Recently I've started clocking sub-seven minute miles in some 5k's so now I know I'm faster then I believed for the longest time. A lot of that extra speed I'm positive has been developed just over the past year or so as I've upped mileage and actually started some running speed drills and such.

Last night I was supposed to get out for a long run but after dropping Aimee off at the airport and sitting in traffic getting home for an hour I'd pretty much be running in the pitch black which didn't support a 90 minute run considering the routes I like to run around here. So instead I found the local high school track just a mere 1.2 miles from my front door and then decided to do a mile test. I got about a mile and half warm up then picked it up for my mile. Took it pretty easy the first lap just kept a quick but steady cadence and not trying to kill myself still believing I'd try to do the full 90 minute run. lap 3 I still felt pretty good so I started picking it up a bit and by lap four I'd really turned it up. Held through and gave the rest of what I had for the final 75 or so meters and stopped the clock with my first sub six minute mile.

I know it's no Olympic record breaking speed but going from believing I ran 7 minute miles to below 6 I feel pretty damn good about things. It's also a great baseline to test myself with in the coming months/years as I continue to train. I really feel like had I known that would be my goal for the run I could have given a bit more earlier in the piece which I'm thinking would be another 10 to 20 seconds off but my time last night was 5:54.

I think the biggest boost this will give me is completely mental; I've been wishing lately I could post a sun 20 minute 5k but so far I haven't been able to, and thinking I could just barely break 7 minute miles it didn't seem like I'd officially be able to. but now with the mental edge of knowing I really can I should be able to convince myself otherwise during a race. According to the Runners World pace calculator I should be able to run it in just over 19 minutes which I should clock a marathon in a bit over 3 hours... My only attempt at a marathon was 3:48 though I was running with buddies and we weren't racing as much as we were bs'ing. I know I can only take so much from that but the mental aspect of my running I'm sure holds me back more then any other part. Saturday will be my first test of this hopefully helpful mentality when I do the DCTri Club practice sprint triathlon. We'll see how it goes.

The Greenbelt Testorone Crit, er Training Race

Finally made it out to Greenbelt Park last night for the training race. I wasn't really sure what to expect of my own performance and quite frankly I didn't think I was going to be able to hang with the pack and finish the race. Maybe the race just picks up a lot towards the end of the season but at the end of the season last year I was having a much harder time hanging in there. I was also spending my time towards the front of the pack and attempting things while last night I spent the majority of my time in the middle-back and only once was on the very front of the pack.

Anyway, I feel like I handled the accelerations and and herky jerky of pack riding pretty well considering all of the riding I have done lately has been solo time trial stuff. The fitness level I have from everything, biking, running and swimming obviously helped tremendously since the amount of riding I've done lately is pretty minuscule. Glad to see I can get out and at least hang in there.

Overall I was satisfied with the ride, I'll start trying to do more as the weeks go by; beginning with putting myself in a better position towards the front of the pack and working to stay there. Going into the finishing sprint I was in the back and had no shot of moving my way up so I just sat up to watch Chris who was riding at about 3rd wheel. If he could sprint as strong as he can drill he would be unstoppable, especially this year. I think yesterday he ended up around 5th or 6th but they missed him in the results...

I felt pretty fresh at the end and definitely would have liked to have a better opportunity to mix it up in the sprint. But, there is always next week, and with my season pass for the B race I see myself having plenty of opportunities to roll the dice.

There was definitely some testosterone sulking in the pack last night as I suppose is the norm. Some bumping and shouting, maybe a little shove here or there. Folks need to remember it is a training race, there are no real prizes... oh and we're amateurs racing a B training race. Have fun and try not kill anyone.

Awaiting unofficial officials...

Sunday morning I woke up relatively early (for a Sunday morning at least) and headed down to Haines Point to try my hand at the final DC Tri Training Duathlon. I've never done a duathlon, and I've only ever done one real brick workout which was over a year ago when I was training for the Pittsburgh Triathlon. So, needless to say I had no idea what to expect; though I do know I've gotten a lot faster, at least on foot over the past year.

There was a good group of folks out; I'd guess at least 30 started though don't quote me on that. We all basically leaned our bikes up against trees and benches, pulled on the running shoes and lined up at the exit of the bus parking area near the point. I lined up about mid pack but quickly made my way out and around the majority of the crew once we started. I figured I might be going out to hard but I wanted to push things a little bit and soon I was solidly in 4th overall with 1 and 2 setting a blistering pace and trailing third by just a few steps.

I continued to pace off of the runner in third until I was gradually passed by another guy who then moved on to pass the guy in front of me. This got me a bit more motivated toat least keep my fourth place spot and I picked it up, passing the one and then trailing, with a slightly widening gap the new third place the remainder of the first run. This was probably one of my better 5k runs with a pace of what I'm guessing will be just over 6 minutes per mile.

The transition to the bike was ok, though I didn't really press to hard to be fast. I kept the intensity pretty high and kept my eye on the guy ahead of me. We did the long loop, all the way down to Independence and back around the point three times so I got to see how far behind the leaders I was each lap. The top two again were flying, though I think I kept them at a somewhat consistent gap for the majority of the bike. I felt pretty good, though the feeling of the run then bike is definitely a bit different then the swim then bike. The glutes were certainly feeling the brunt of the additional pain. The gap between myself and third remained fairly constant, though I don't believe I made up any ground.

The final run started pretty poorly with more calf cramping. I need to figure something out to deal with that since for the second time in a row I had to stop and message a leg so it wouldn't seize up. Once I got it worked out I cruised along the rest of the way, making sure no one was catching me but also knowing I wouldn't catch anyone ahead of me either. I definitely could have given the second run more had there been some motivation but still it was a good run.

Overall I'm very pleased with the result for the day. I've got some serious work to do before I can hang with the leaders out there but I gave a solid effort and I feel like I produced a good result against some veteran competition. I'm eagerly (read: obsessively) awaiting the final results which should be posted on the dc tri site soon so until then I won't know exactly how things went by the numbers. Will post up some data bling (sorry, no powertap here) as soon as it is available.

Training Log

For as long as I can remember my father has been getting up at the crack of dawn to go out and run three or four days a week. Like me my father rowed in college which I'm sure helped build the early bird mentality for him as well. The running I think was just a way for him to extend that feeling of a solid workout before most others have rolled out of bed to face the day. As he aged it also became something to fight off the effects of aging and weight gain. I'm sure also his fear of an early death from a massive heart attack like his brother and father has never strayed too far from his mind, though I doubt he'd ever really admit that.

One thing I used to always enjoy was hearing him at the end of a year telling us how many miles he ran that year. I was always so amazed that my own old man had run 2000+ miles or whatever his latest log showed. Unfortunately I've never been very good at keeping up a running or training log. For the few months before my first season as a lightweight in crew while I was packing on the pounds in the gym before cutting down to weight I probably kept the best training log of my life, and the results from that period were definitely notable. I gained about 25 pounds of muscle mass, going from about 150 to 175 before cutting back down to 160 for racing season.

I never was able to recreate that result, or even dedication to my off season training regiment and I think I could partly blame that on my lack of an attempt at keeping a training log. Not that the one I kept was very technical or advanced or anything, but I knew before I went to the gym what I was going to do and I went and did exactly that. The training log kept me honest and when I wanted to allowed me to look back and see all the progress I'd made.

I recently came across the training logs available through runnersworld.com and I've now got my own training log online there. It's pretty cool and hopefully will be a great tool to help keep me motivated and honest to myself about what I've been doing. I can enter my runs, bikes, swims and other activities and see on a weekly basis my totals. I can also display my training log on my blog though I need to check into that as it doesn't appear to be working at the moment. So far I've kept it up for 3 weeks, hopefully I'll manage to keep it up for longer.

I'm not religious so I'll just call it Happy Friday

Damn, I wish I was watching to Drake vs Western Kentucky game right now. I've got high hopes for Drake being first timers and all that jazz. They've just stormed back to force OT after being down 9 at the half. Even with something like 3 minutes to go it looked like they had no shot... Go Drake!

Got a good swim in this morning; feeling pretty confident I'll be able to finish the swim portion of the tri without too much of an issue and might even not be last out of the water! At lunch I did a nice easy 5 mile run down the mall; fighting hard against my impulses to chase the many other runners out there today and chewing down my pride when passed up a couple of times by some others.

I did still have to beat an old guy I was running step for step with down near the Lincoln Memorial and then also had to pick up the pace for the last two sections of the mall before the Capital reflecting pool. The frickin' tourists on the other hand were unbearable. I liken them to swarms of mosquitoes in swamp land; only bigger, louder, more obnoxious and unlike the tiny blood sucking pests, they have no idea you're there.

On another note, does anyone know anything about the Wednesday evening ride leaving from somewhere around the Greenbelt Metro? I heard something about it last year but never got out for it. I really need to get in some group riding and training before I get out racing this season. The Pittsburgh trip is off after deciding the $100 + in gas money isn't really worth it for a short weekend and a short race. Plus, I can only imagine how much I'd spend at the bars the night before considering I'd be staying with college buddies...

Local kid runs fastest slow time of his (self) documented running career

Recently while reading headlines on CNN I suddenly realized I was reading headlines on CNN and not from The Onion. Either that says I'm completely out of touch with reality, or this is a truly messed up world we live in where real news headlines have started to sound like gag stories out a parody newspaper; or both.

Today I did a bit of a speed test during lunch. I've never really gone out and tested how fast I can handle a few miles aside from a handful of short races where timing was very unofficial and results were approximate at best. So, this test was just to sort of gauge where i stand as a runner and within my current fitness level in general. What I found out is good and bad.

First the good. I ran a faster pace then I'd previously posted and am happy that I'm relatively faster then maybe I've previously believed. I actually appear to have sped up during the second half of the run which is exactly the opposite of what I'd thought during the run. Though on the other hand I ran into a bit of a headwind during the majority of the first half of the run with an occasional tail in the second half.

And the bad. I'm slow. Guys like Terry are fast guys like him run 2:15 (and lower) marathons whereas my only marathon to date was a 3:50. So, expectations should be somewhat low for me. Also, I felt like shit when I finished; though I still know I had more I could have given (I know that could be a plus also but I'm choosing to highlight my inability to harness that extra ability as my harping point.)

Disclaimers* I felt like crap from the start of the run. Not physically like sick, but my stride wasn't clicking and felt choppy and erratic the whole way through. Not sure if that was the higher pace. It most certainly didn't help either that I didn't warm up whatsoever before beginning my timed piece, was in shorts and a t-shirt and it was overcast, slightly breezy and about 45 degrees out either.

Alright excuses over; a few other notables. Light stoppage time was right at a minute and a half. I'm not sure what to think about the four lights I had to stop for with regards to my overall time. On one hand I slowed coming to a light hoping it'd change and I'd keep some momentum going into it. On the other the rest gained during a longer stop of about 40 seconds seemed to allow me to pick back up into a faster pace. Though after that wore off I felt worse then before and felt like I slowed; whether from the sudden burst from a stand still or from tightening muscles I don't really know.

Anyway, here's to my new 5k unofficial "official" PR. And here's hoping to many more to come... preferably 4 1/2 weeks from now in my first triathlon run...