More Vacation Workouts

On Christmas eve, the whole family went to the Green Bay Y in the morning. Melissa did an elliptical and Trinity and I went swimming. We chatted with the guy in the lane next to us that was wearing a USAT National Championships swim cap and had a swim/bike/run tat on his calf. Nice guy but was talking about the struggle he had with a stress fracture in his sacrum from too much running. 2 months of bed rest.

It was a good swim, but that water was FREEZING! Had to keep moving just to try and stay warm.

Then we took a couple of days off from workouts, drove to Toledo and managed to get another couple of workouts in there. The weather was much warmer, in the 40's-50's. So we did a run one day, and a strength workout at the local YMCA another day.

So I managed to get 4 good workouts in while I was on vacation. It felt good to get them done, and feel like I was actually burning off some of the calories I was consuming.

Vacation Run

Our first night we spent at a hotel since my sister and her large family were also in town and staying with my parents. So this morning we got up and went for a run/walk as my choice cardio. I was actually mentally motivated to run this morning, but my body wasn't interested so it was a bit of slog. Fresh dusting of snow but not slippery.

Ran from the hotel and passed the YMCA as I made a big loop. Paused briefly to look at a map to ensure I didn't get too lost and managed to find my way back to the hotel.

On the way back, there was a pond full of geese.

Now to consume more calories as the eating festivities continue!

Double Workout Day

Today I had a scheduled swim in the morning, and I had a run scheduled for tomorrow. However, we had freezing rain here today so the shoulders of the road and all the sidewalks and parking lots are just an ice rink. Kinda scary walking around tonight. I also don't have time in the morning to drive down to the Y and back due to a work obligation, so I decided to do the run on the track at the Y tonight while the kid was at swim team practice.

I was pretty happy with the run tonight. Everything felt good, no issues with my legs at all. My times seem fast, which makes me question it a bit. But I was trying to go at a faster pace when I was running so maybe I actually succeeded.

But overall it went well. Now time to get packed up as we head out Saturday morning for an 8 day road trip for Christmas.

Continued knee pain

About 2 weeks ago I took the day off (I had vacation to burn before the end of the year) and scheduled a fit update with my bike shop in St. Paul. On the agenda was to discuss my hamstring tightness, my knee pain, and moving my aerobars out where my hand grips.

The aerobar move was small and all I needed for a more comfortable hand rest.

We lowered my seat down by 5mm which will hopefully make a difference with my hamstrings. Lowering it anymore and my knees felt crunched.

We spent a lot of time working my knee issue. I tend to toe in with my left foot compared to my right. We played with adjusting my clete on that shoe to try and straighten me out some. My pedals have a lot of float which is good, but I wasn't centered in the float and I am actually rubbing on the crank. So we did some clete moves and it is amazing how just a little toe movement has a big effect on my knee and hip position.

I rode for a while (20 minutes+) at a hard pace (probably 200+w) to see if I could get my knee to hurt because it generally only hurts when i am pushing it. It did a bit but in a different spot. So we decided to just leave it where we have it now, as it appears to be better than it was.

Now having ridden with the new position for a couple of weeks, I am still limited by knee pain on my left side. Oddly the pain has moved though which I am actually taking as a positive sign. I go back to see the doc after new years, but I will continue to monitor it.

Swim Meet

First swim meet of the season is a short course meters (SCM) meet at the University of Minnesota.

I swam 4 individual events, and 2 relays. I ended up with a 2s PR in 200m Free, 18s PR in the 400m Free, 2s PR in the 100m Back. Feet slipped on my first flip turn on the 100m Free so no PR there.

Overall good meet. I am happy with where I am starting this season because I am basically just as fast as I was last April in the state championship meet, so I haven't lost much in the last 6 months. So with another season of workouts I expect good things by next April!

Indoor Track Run

Late night run on the indoor track at the Y tonight. Work and family stuff meant starting my run after 8pm.

Run went pretty well. Running on a track like that (16 laps/mile) makes it pretty obvious to me how as the workout progresses, my run segments get shorter and my walk segments get longer as I try to keep it in that HR zone.

What starts out as nearly a full lap running and a half lap walking, completely flips by the end of the workout. Probably interesting to see if that changes over time as I improve my run fitness.

Another Green Bay Run

In Green Bay for a football game and the weather was nice so Melissa and I headed to the park for a creekside run, well a walk for her.

Nice paved trail, that was mostly clear. There was some icy spots, so just had to be aware. Nice morning, right around freezing, and protected from the wind.

The run went well, and after my first mile being 10:33 I was thinking that maybe I am getting somewhere with my running. Then I realize I am following the creek downstream so the run is all downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back. Darn, I am still slow. Lol.

More injuries

So since the middle of summer, my left knee has bothered me when riding my bike either hard or for a long period of time. It really was a limiter to what I could do and bothered me quite a bit the last half of my Superiorman race.

I took some time off in September, and then have been easing back into it the last couple of months in hopes that it might just be an overuse injury. But it never really went away. I got fitted for my new tri bike and thought maybe that might change things and in reality I think it is causing me some additional hamstring issues as well.

So I went to the doctor yesterday to see what he thought. He said my knee had some swelling and that it might be some meniscus related degeneration or injury. He also discovered that the external rotator muscles on my hip were pretty weak. He asked if my knee turned inward when I biked. I have no idea, not really sure how to check that.

So I got some exercises to do to strengthen my hip. I am doing my hamstring strengthening exercises as well now. I am going to try to get back to my bike fitter to see if there is something they can do from the fit perspective to help my hamstring pain, along with my knee pain. The hamstrings are on both sides, so I think I have a position issue, or maybe just a severe flexibility problem. I am not sure yet. I don't like where my hands sit on the bars anyway, so I want to get that adjusted. I have some talking to do with the fitter no matter what.

So a frustrating start to my off season training with nagging hamstring and now knee pain.

Gobble Gallop 5k

A chilly morning here but the family was out for a 9:30am start to the Duluth Gobble Gallop 5k. There were nearly 3000 athletes for the 3 events they had (1/4 mile, 1 mile, and 5k).

I didn't have a goal time or anything like that heading into this race. I was just going to try and go as fast as I could. As we got underway it was SO CROWDED. I was mixed in with a bunch of walkers so it was nearly impossible to run in a straight line. It was slushy on the sides of the road so most everyone was in the middle making it even more crowded.

Since this was an out and back race, as the lead runners came back we had to all move to the right hand side of the road which didn't help matters much. So the second mile was really tough being squeezed in. Then after the last of the walkers went by the whole road was opened up again.

I was doing a run/walk, but not a specific time. I was looking at my watch and keeping an eye on my HR. I would run with it in the 170's for a bit and then walk until it was back into the 150's and then start running again. My pace was all over the place because of the crowds.

With about 1/3 of a mile to go, I was going to throw one last short walk segment in before I ran the last bit to the finish, but my friend Amy saw me and paced me through to the finish line. That gave me my fastest 400m time ever and also a new max HR record.

Overall time was 29:29. My last open 5k race that I ran, that I can find a record of was 15 years ago and I did it in 31:33. I have gone faster for a 5k both in training, and during my first sprint triathlon. I probably would have gone faster if the crowds were less.

So overall 742/2112, 393/792 men, and 31/69 in my age group. Solid middle of the pack which is what I expect.

It was fun, I didn't get injured, legs felt good, and then we went home to eat turkey, watch the Macy's parade on TV, and have a glass of wine.

Unique People at the YMCA

So snowy weather forced me inside to the YMCA for a brief core workout and run.

As I am doing my core stuff on the gym floor next to the walking track I have one person giggling away to whatever she is listening to on her phone, and another with headphones on who is belting out the "fast gospel songs" she requested from Siri when she entered the track.

An interesting afternoon that's for sure.

New Gear and Run Test

I ended up buying a Nox Vest which is a lighted vest that I can wear when I run. Since it is dark most of the time now, I wanted something more than the reflective vest that I also wear. It was obnoxiously bright, but I think it did the trick because the cars gave me a wide birth.

My training plan called for a 1 mile running test to see how fast I can go. So my plan was to go easy to start my 20 minute warm up, after about 10 minutes I began to add some short sprint segments, just trying to get my cadence up some without getting my HR up too high (thinking about spin ups on the bike), then back to slow before starting my timed mile.

I did most of the warm up time on the road, and then the measured mile on some clear sidewalk. It is a 3/4 mile loop around the school on the sidewalk.

My right hamstring started to tighten up a bit towards the end of my warm up, so I stopped a couple of times to stretch it. Haven't had an issue with either hamstring in a while so it was a bit frustrating.

Began my sprint mile, took 4 short walk breaks in there, just couldn't keep it up continuous. With about a tenth of a mile to go, my right hamstring seized up. I hobbled to the end of the mile.

I stopped my watch at that point, sat on the sidewalk and stretched. Then I walked/limped home.

This SUCKS. I wish I could run and enjoy running like everyone else I know in this sport. But my legs fight me all the time on this.

I don't think my hammy is too serious. I will ice it and stretch it and see how it goes.

Flip Turns

Only 3 of us today for swim class, and coach decided that she was going to work only on flip turns. We had discussed it some last week. There are several people who don't do them at all, and those that do, can use some serious work on it.

So after warmups we just did flip turn drills. Coach even put her suit on and demonstrated the drills, watched us underwater etc. It was really nice.

I joked with her that she is taking away the only advantage I have over others in the class by teaching them flip turns. It is often that the other swimmers catch me during the swim and then I pull ahead after the turn.

But I have a lot I can work on too. I tend to turn too close to the wall, I flip and rotate at the same time, etc. So it was good to reinforce the good habits.

But I didn't get many yards in today, so I may need to go to the pool tonight and get some more in.

I can't say it was an easy day, not a lot of yards, but a different workout thats for sure.

Winter Running

Fresh snow, clear skies and 9.5F this morning. Coldest run I think I have ever done. Still figuring out the layers to wear for different temperatures. I chose pretty well today, as really only my neck was cold.

The roads were plowed but still snow on the ground. Just a couple of slippery spots. In fact I had more of an issue running through the slightly deeper snow, more like sand. But really I could run with confidence for the most part.

Fast 400

Full class of six of us today for Tri-Swim class. After the warm ups, coach divided us up. 2 people in the "fast" group, myself and two others in the "Slower" group, and Katie our new swimmer doing her own thing.

I thought it was odd, that I was placed in the slower group, but whatever.

I wasn't feeling particularly fast today. Not like the last couple of swims. We started with some 200's which were good. Faster than normal but felt good. Then some 300 pulls, which were also fine. 

We finished with a 400 "strong" The 400 strong was meant to be strong as in forceful stroke, not in pace. So from the full reach forward through the pull and a final push out the back lots of power.

The first 150 of that felt great, I was feeling really fast, then as I began to tire the mechanics break down some. My arms were really tired by the last 100. So it was less an aerobic challenge than a muscle endurance one. My HR was up of course, but it was muscle fatigue. I finished it in 6:25, nearly a full lap ahead of the other people in the slow group.

So after the 400, coach says "Tim, I clocked you at 6:25, did you miss a 50?" She was serious too. Ah...nope, I did the full 400. So she says "well then you should be in that group" point to the faster group.

LOL, so I guess I am moving up in the world!

Good swim today. I am actually really happy with where I am starting this swim season. As I train through the winter, I should see some good results.

Tri-Bike Fit

So I have had my new tri-bike for a month now and I have not ridden it or anything. I needed to get a bike fit first. I scheduled my fit for today a few weeks ago. I got a call from Bob the fitter earlier this week asking if I can come at about 1pm as they were a bit short handed in the morning.

My fitter and main bike shop is located in St. Paul which is a 2:10 drive from my house. I have a local bike shop that I trust to do some basic maintenance and tune ups for me, but they don't do much with higher end road or tri bikes.

I drove down to the store and they were eating lunch when I arrived. So it worked out pretty good that I was able to change clothes, and get set up while they finished lunch. Bob and I discussed how a tri-bike fit is very different, what to expect, and what to look for. It was a very informative discussion.

Then we got underway. They use a GURU bike fit system which allows for computer control of the location of the various parts of the bike. So moving seats and bars and such up and down forward and back. The position is VERY different but our whole goal was to try and get a position that is aerodynamic, but more importantly comfortable. If I can't stay in that aerodynamic position because it isn't comfortable then the advantage is lost.

At times it kinda felt like the eye doctor. We would be in one position and he would ask if I like the first one...then move the seat....or this one? "One...or two....? 😃

It took about 2 hours from when I got there to go through the fitting. I even spent about 15 minutes just riding the fitting machine to ensure that the position was good. The whole experience was very positive, and I seemed to fall into a very normal category for fitting.

Then they needed to modify my bike to the fitting measurements. They were also going to clean up some of the cables which were dangling. They were going to try and get it all done before they closed, but they were not sure. I was prepared to spend the night if needed as I knew this was a possibility.

So I drove to the mall and walked around for a couple of hours doing a bit of shopping. Then I got the call from the mechanic that he was done. It wasn't nearly as bad as they thought it was going to be to clean up my bike and get all the stuff on it.

So now my bike is all set to go and it will go on the trainer tomorrow for a 90 minute ride.

New Swim Coach

So during one of my pool swims last week I noticed a sign saying that the Tri-Swim class was starting up again with a new coach. Anne, who was one of the regulars from the class before asked me about it and we both were going to sign up again.

Today was the first day with the new coach Lindsey. She had sent us all an email over the weekend asking us for our swimming history and any issues we had. I of course mentioned the neck pain I was feeling.

So she watched me swim today and after class we chatted about my neck. She said that I was definitely “throwing my head”. Well, now that’s a term I have not heard before. Basically she noticed that my head is completely submerged when I am swimming and that I have to pick my head up and then turn it to breathe. I do this all in one motion which gives the appearance of “throwing my head.”

  

This confirms what I was thinking that my head is tucked too close to my chest. So I have indeed been focusing on the right things the last couple of swims. Letting my head relax more, untuck my chin and rotate my head with my body to breathe. I can do that pretty easily when I am swimming slow, it will be more difficult to train myself to do that when I am swimming fast/hard.

But with someone on the deck watching me it will be easier for her to remind me if I fall back into old habits.

Makes me wonder how I got into that habit in the first place. I wonder if it started with the open water swimming. Over compensating for looking forward to sight by tucking my chin more when I wasn't sighting. It truly started later in the summer. Anyway, now that I know what to look for and do, I will focus on it.

HR based runs

I have mentioned that my coach wants me to do more specific paced runs which I struggle with doing. I don't know how fast I am going. So on my run today I experimented with some HR based running. My coach had mentioned that on my runs he wanted me around 145bpm for my HR. So using my watch and HR monitor I did my run today running until I hit 150bpm, then walking until I hit 140bpm. Repeat for the whole run.

It worked great, mean short run segments, but actually a pace that I was pretty happy with. So we will continue with that. I gotta see if I can get my watch to give me an alarm so I am not always looking at it.

Swimming and Neck Pain

So at some point in the summer I started having some neck pain with my swimming. It started as some soreness after a swim, and it got worse the more I swam. I was swimming some longer distances and open water too so I just thought it might be some overuse injury.

After the season I took a couple of weeks off from swimming. I was actually kinda sick of it and needed a break. I also hoped that it would help my neck too.

Then when I swam last week in Las Vegas I noticed that my right shoulder had a irritated spot on it where my scruffy beard was rubbing. This made me think that perhaps I have a technique problem.

So now I am starting this week with 2x/week swimming again. I will have to see how things go.

Not in Vegas Anymore

An easy 30 minute run on the schedule today and I wake up to snow and wind! Sigh, I guess I am not in Vegas anymore. It wasn't slippery or too cold, so just threw on my thermals and off I went. The one thing I wish I had was glasses, the blowing snow made it difficult to see at times.

I guess this is what I have to look forward to now that winter is coming quickly.

Vegas "triathlon" Complete

So with the swim on Friday, a bike ride on Sunday (strength workout in between), today was time for a run. Weather is around 70 and windy. Nice. Locals in jackets and long pants, makes me laugh. I am in t-shirt and shorts.

I did a nice two loop run in Sunset Park. 3 miles exactly at a nice easy pace. Good to get out and get some exercise to burn off the calories I am eating here.

Spin Class

So before I left on this trip, I looked into potentially going to one of the cycling studios in Las Vegas. After a bit of research I found one that was in the strip mall adjacent to the resort I was staying at. So I went over and checked it out and signed up for a class.

I attended the 9:45am class today. 13 of us in the class, one other guy. Basically like 40 spin bikes in a dark room with loud music. Instructor was energetic and did a great job.

The bikes had a power meter and RPM display, and they had shoes to use that clipped into the pedals. I had no issues with my feet today during this ride.

The class was basically done around the beat of the music which for me is WAY TOO SLOW. I like my 80-90 rpm and much of this class was 70 rpm or less unless we were doing a "sprint."

They also did much of the class out of the saddle which is something else I just never do. So I did most of it in the saddle and stood up for the "hill climb" part of the class.

There was also a 5 minute part of the class where we were just pedaling on low resistance and using a weighted bar to do some arm exercises. That was tough after my strength workout yesterday.

My power meter was reading somewhere between 179-190 during the easy part and 220ish for the medium resistance and 270+ for the hill climb part.

I was a total puddle of sweat after this class.

I think it is a decent option to get an aerobic bike ride in while on vacation or something.

Afterwards they email you the stats for the class. Average rpm was 74, average power was 203, max of 387.

Most importantly, class rank #1!!!

:-)

Vegas Swim

I am in Las Vegas this weekend for a work convention for 3 days and then 3 days of vacation afterwards. While here, I have workouts scheduled every day. Today was a swim. They have a 2 lane lap pool here at the Green Valley Ranch Resort so I was able to get a good 2900 yard swim in today. I am not sure if it is a full 25 yard pool but it is close. Lucky to have it so close to my room.

Updating the Pain Cave

So I mentioned in an earlier post that my two fan situation when on the trainer was not ideal. We were also running out of padded space for workouts and the elliptical and bike were kind of angled from the TV.

So I ordered up some more foam mats, straightened out the bike and elliptical, rearranged a few of the items to give us more space and a pretty nice pain cave now.

Bling for my Feet

When I went to the physical therapist a while back, she recommended that I get some Hoka shoes for running. I hadn't had a chance to get to the store until last weekend. Then I was finally able to try some on and found a pair that I liked.

I also added some bling to the shoes in the form of a running foot pod. I have had this device for quite a while but never installed it on my shoe.

So I ran with these shoes and the foot pod a couple of times this week including 6.5 miles today and no issues with foot pain, though I did end up with a hot spot on the bottom of my foot that I didn't notice until later. The foot pod works well and seems to be calibrated pretty well. It will be nice to have that when I have to move indoors this winter.

Cooling off and getting dark

I went out for a 1 hour ride tonight and I had to wear my bike jacket as the weather was now in the low 50's. It also gets dark earlier too. My days of after dinner rides are nearly over.

Off Season Training Begins

So after a couple of weeks off from structured workouts, we started back into it this week. Had a good phone call with my coach a couple of weeks ago, discussed the season, and some off season goals. So now my Training Peaks calendar is again full of workouts.

We also stopped at the bike store yesterday and got my budding triathlete a pair of bike shorts and a helmet that actually fits. She was pretty excited about the bright yellow helmet. We also looked at entry level road bikes. They didn't have any in her size in the store, but at least now I know what I am looking for.

A Run because I want to

I am in Green Bay visiting my parents and will be going to the Packer game later tonight, but this morning I decided to go for a run. This spring, Trinity and I found a place to go for a hike by a creek near where I grew up. We found they had a nice paved run/bike trail there. So thats where I headed today.

My goal was a nice easy 3 mile run, an out and back on the trail. It indeed was beautiful, with trees and a creek nearby, the weather was perfect. A fun run.

A Budding Triathlete?

Well after our bike ride on Thursday Trinity has expressed an interest in maybe doing a triathlon next year. She can definitely swim, but she is totally afraid of the open water, so it will need to be a pool swim for now. So we are setting our sights on the Barron WI triathlon that I did in April. They have a Super-sprint distance with a 200y pool swim, a 5 mile bike and a 1 mile run.

With that in mind, we went out for another bike ride. This time I had her work on her gears a bit. She never changes gears at all. So on a nice long relatively flat road, she shifted into some bigger gears and I watched the speed climb! She's got some power in those legs. We averaged 12mph on that hour long bike ride, and she hit 18+ mph for a good portion of it.

She is riding her mom's 20 year old hybrid bike. It has slick tires, but it is big and heavy and probably not the right size for her. We may have to stop by the bike shop in a couple of weeks when we are back down in Minneapolis. This could get expensive.

We also went for a couple of 1 mile run/walks. Like her father, running does not come naturally, but we got through both of them successfully.

Biking with the Kid

Trinity has had swim practice every day for the last couple of weeks prior to school starting next week. She wanted to ride her bike there one day. We had planning on her doing it on Friday but the weather was forecasted to be yucky. So on Thursday her and I rode for about 10 miles. Basically halfway to the pool and back. With an average speed of 8.9mph and 49w of power, this was a super easy spin on the bike for me (it felt good by the way).

Trinity enjoyed her ride though her butt was sore after and I was able to just ride my bike for fun and not training. I hooked her up with her own Strava account too.

Day After Swim

I knew that my friends at the pool would want to know how I did at Superiorman so I got up early and headed down to the Y for an easy swim. I chatted with my friends there, told stories and then did a nice easy swim.

It felt good to both socialize and stretch out the muscles in a low impact sort of way.

Superiorman 41.5 Race Report

Pre-Race

Got up at 4:20, took a shower and I ate my bagel in the car on the drive downtown to transition. We arrived about 5:20am and it was still dark. A flashlight/headlamp is not on my packing list, and I hadn’t needed it until now. I managed well enough with the light from my phone. I found a spot on a bike rack and there wasn’t anyone near me. Temps were nice, in the 60’s and no wind. There was a threat of rain, but so far nothing seemed to be materializing. I turned my running shoes upside down as a precaution and had a spare pair of socks in a zippy bag.

It was too dark to get a swim in before I had to walk over to catch my boat. So I kinda figured I would really need to execute my intended plan when I did get into the water. Melissa and I walked the ¼ mile from transition to the boat launch. We talked to Erik who is a local guy that I did a bunch of open water swims with, and ran into Richard a friend from Masters swimming that was one of the guys that talked me into this whole triathlon thing.

We boarded the boat on time to head out for the swim start.

Swim

The swim begins by jumping off a local sightseeing boat. There were 3 waves of us on the boat. First wave was fast long course athletes, then my wave of slow short course athletes. When I filled out the registration back in February it asked what my predicted swim time and bike pace would be. I had no idea what my bike pace would be so I put what it was the last time I rode outside. However I am 2-3mph faster now. Oops. I spent most the wait on the boat talking with a guy I knew from swimming at the Y. He is a runner that was taking up swimming and this was his first triathlon.

So it was finally our turn. Jumping off from both sides of the boat. It was indeed quite a jump. Probably 4 feet into the water. My goggles immediately filled with water when I got in. I was expecting that because I don’t keep my goggles very tight in OWS. It was also shockingly cold, which I was also expecting. I could feel the panic starting again.

But my plan had me prepared for this. I just kicked a bit away from the boat so nobody would jump on me. I cleared my goggles, got some water down my suit, and just put my face in the water and blew some bubbles while doing a bit of kicking. Then I took a few strokes focusing on my breathing. Stopped, surveyed the area as I was now pretty much the last pink cap by the boat and then headed out for my swim. No issues after that.

I passed A LOT of people on the swim. I got run over by a super fast long course swimmer so I just moved a bit further away from the buoys. My watch buzzes every 500 yards so when I wasn’t even to the first turn buoy and it buzzed I thought it was odd. Then I got a second buzz on the return and I thought that this is REALLY weird. I have a long way to go yet, but I am past 1000 yards in this ½ mile swim? A third buzz while in the boat slip the led to the swim exit. The exit was a boat ramp that had a bunch of rocks and then a slippery concrete/slime surface. I fell down, then just crawled up the ramp to the carpet and then was able to run to transition. My goal time was 17 minutes but I got out and glanced at my watch and it was 24 minutes. So something was up. After the race, I saw that it was a 1600 yard “1/2 mile” swim and I did it in 27 minutes for a 1:40 pace. I was super happy during the swim and the results made me happier after.

Swim time 26:51 35/88 overall, 4/8 in my age group

Melissa said that I was one of the first pink caps out of the water.

T1

I was able to run quickly into transition. Sat down on the ground to take my wetsuit off and put on my socks and shoes. Grabbed my bike and off I went. Time 2:31

Bike

The bike course was a bit shorter this year due to some local construction, but it still started out with some weird twists and turns over the first 3 miles or so. That included some short but super steep hills which I had to get out of the saddle to get up. My goal was to get my heart rate back down to a reasonable level during these early miles and then when we finally got out on London road I would put the hammer down and that’s what I did.

The outbound ride was on the wide shoulder of an expressway. There were big cracks with grass growing out of them and they were really bumpy. My hands were super slippery which I realized a bit later on the bike was probably from the boat ramp. At one point I was drinking my nutrition bottle, hit a bump and bottle fell right out of my hand. Good thing it was nearly empty.

It was also about this point that I realized that I forgot to put my gel in my racing kit. I had tucked the gels in a side pocket of my bag but never took them out during transition. I thought of it while on the boat and hoped I would remember, but nope. So, I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade at the bike aid station.

I made the turn at the halfway point on homestead road and then another on the scenic highway to head back towards transition. My power was a bit below where I wanted it, so I knew I had to pick it up now. I passed quite a few people on the outbound ride, but I passed one guy on the inbound ride and then I didn’t see ANYONE for like 10 miles. I got passed by someone about 2 miles from the end of the bike. It was just weird.

My daughter and mother in law were waiting about 3 miles from the bike finish with signs to cheer me on. I gave a big wave as I rode by.

My goal was to average 20mph and finish in 1:45 and I did that. My legs were really feeling it at the end.

Bike time 1:44:42 20/88 overall, 3/8 in age group

I found out later, that I was the 3^rd bike in overall. The first bike belonged to Erik my ows partner.

T2

Other than the fact that my legs did NOT want to move when I got off the bike this transition went quite well. Just a quick change of shoes, throw the hat on and put my number belt on as I ran out of transition. Time 1:24

Run

The run was “interesting”. My watch was set to 1:45/0:45 and my goal was to do that pace for at least 3 miles. I ended up doing it the entire way. The first mile was fine, just getting the legs all working again. It takes you past the finish line where they announced my name as starting the run course. I saw my masters swim coach who had volunteered that morning and got a high five from him.

The second mile was run partially on a “carriage trail” where horses pull carriages. It was loose sand/gravel and I tried to run off to the side for better footing. At the end of that second mile was a big hill. So mile 2 was a suffer fest.

Mile 3 I seemed to fall into a groove finally. I saw my kid and MIL again on the run course which was nice. I was able to give a high five to the guy manning the turnaround cone. He was everyone’s favorite person that morning. Mile 4 was more of the same. I had settled into a grove and was feeling ok. I took some water and a couple of Gatorades during the run as well.

My legs were tight and my hamstring was sore too but nothing bad enough to slow down (any more than I was) or stop. Mile 5 looped back around transition before heading to the finish line. Ignoring the watch now I just continued my run all the way through the finish.

Run time 57:58 61/88 overall, 3/8 age group?!?! (apparently my age group had a lot of bad runners)

Final time 3:13:24 which was 36/88 overall, 22/48 of men, and 3/8 in age group! I actually podiumed in a triathlon race?!?!?

Unfortunately, they only gave out awards to the top finisher in each age group.

Final Thoughts

I actually really enjoyed this race. I felt very prepared, I went in with a race plan and I executed it perfectly. The swim was long, but I just kept it smooth and steady the whole time. The bike was the suffering that I expected it to be, but had already experienced in training a couple of times. I had family and friends there cheering me on both on the course and at the finish.

I have these thoughts of doing a full IM at some point, and then I do this race and during the run I am saying to myself “why the **** would I want to do that?” Right now I am liking this Olympic type distance, and this race in particular suits my biking strength.

Pre-Race

I got my bike in for a tune up earlier this week and it is smooth, quiet and fast.

Everything is packed up, I head to packet pick up shortly and a good spaghetti dinner planned for tonight

I will have a cheering section tomorrow at the race. Melissa will be my sherpa in transition, and my daughter and mother in law will be watching for me on the bike and run after breakfast.

The weather looked like potential rain tomorrow all week, but the forecast today is looking promising. Hopefully we will have good weather.

Emotions

For the last week or so I have been experiencing a variety of emotions. I am super excited for my A race, I am sad that the season is over, I am tired and I want a break and yet I have goals for the off season.

Good lord, what is wrong with me?

Writing a Race Plan

So my coach asked me to write a race plan for Superiorman. I have never done this before. I have always had some goals in mind but never wrote out what I wanted to do. It was to include logistics, fueling and hydration, pacing and mental strategies to keep me going. Wow! I really haven't given all this much thought.

So I put one together that had important times, especially because there was a walk from transition to the boat to start the race. I discussed my swim start and swim thoughts since I didn't want a repeat of NewBriTri. Then my plans for the bike and run.

It was an interesting exercise, we will see how it all plays out.

Bike Intervals Outside

Well that was the first time I attempted to do  an interval type of workout outside. Not as easy as it looks. I have about 6-8 miles of relatively flat roads that I just went back and forth on.

It is hard to go easy, my bike just wants to go fast. But it was fun and better than being in my basement on a nice day like today.

I wore a new tri kit today on the bike. I wore in when I swam in Hawaii. Not as comfortable on the bike. Oh well.

Feet

My hamstring has been pretty good this summer. I say it is 90%, but it is not completely healed. I talked to my doctor about it and he suggested some more intense hamstring strengthening exercises so I made a couple of PT appointments to ensure I was doing them right.

During that second PT meeting, I mentioned to her that my feet hurt when I run more than 5 miles. Anything up to 5 miles I am fine. I have only run more than that a few times but it is noticeable. She said that she is not a foot specialist but recommended I go back to the PT that I saw for my running analysis back in January. She would be able to tell me if my running gait has changed or if there was more I should be doing.

So I had that appointment this morning with Robin. She won her age group at the Chisago half iron a few weeks ago btw so she probably knows what I am going through. It worked out good that I had a long run yesterday as I was able to describe exactly what I was feeling. She said it was quite common and diagnosed it as metatarsalgia. 

She watched me run on the treadmill and liked what I was doing with my shorter stride, staying on the front of my foot and slight lean forward. So my running form was much better than when I saw her in January and her only comment was to keep focusing on shorter strides. We experimented with a pad under my foot just behind the balls of my feet to add more cushion. I am going to try that. But she said that Hoka shoes is really her best suggestion.

So I will probably do some shoe shopping here. I will try out the pads on my short run Saturday and my easy run next week, but they feel kinda weird I am hesitant to change anything prior to the race. I certainly wont be running in new shoes on race day, and would be saving that for after the race. I can certainly do the race distance without a problem without any pads. It is not debilitating, just annoying.

Another steady pace run

Another attempt at a steady pace run yesterday, this time for a planned 1:10.

Did this workout in the evening. I traveled down and back to Chicago today, so I spent basically from 6am until 5pm sitting. Then I got home, drank some water and went for a run.

So my plan was to do a big loop today but the road was completely shut down and dug up so I couldn't get through. So I went about halfway around the block and then came back the way I came. My goal was to run to the 35 minute mark or to 3.1 miles whichever was further and then turn around. I wanted to complete 10k. Mental milestones.

I hit the 35 minute mark at 3.3 miles so I turned around. I was a bit slower on the way back. Plenty of elevation change on this run too.

I kept the same run/walk paces as last time, and again I was a bit faster than the desired for a few miles, but as time wore on, I got closer to that time as I tired.

Oh, and longest distance at 6.6 miles (and time at 1:12) run to date.

Oh and even doing these paces, I was still faster than the best open 10k race time I had done 20 years ago.

Biking with Adam

So on Saturday night we had a BBQ with some friends and I got talking about biking with Adam. He asked when my next ride was and I said I was supposed to do hills on Tuesday morning. He said he wanted to join me. I kinda thought it was the alcohol talking, but sure enough he texts me on Monday and we set it up to meet at a spot near my house and go from there.

I chose the road that has quite a bit of rolling hills that had kicked my butt on some of my longer rides. So we did an out and back of a planned 28 miles.

The first couple of miles I kept it quite easy and Adam stayed tucked on my wheel. Relatively flat in that section. Next 3 miles had some hills and I looked back and he had fallen behind. I waited for him at the turn.

Then we headed out on Arnold road. This would be the bulk of the hills. It starts with a fairly long steep climb. It turns out that this would be the only time I went into my small gear the whole ride. That's a first for much of this route!

I pushed hard on the hills and ended up stopping every couple of miles and waiting for my friend to catch up. So my legs got some rest there.

The last 2 miles were super easy as well. Served as a nice cool down.

Adam did awesome especially since he wasn't even riding a road bike but rather was on a heavier gravel bike. It was a fun morning.

Swim with Max

So my previous swim coach texted and said he was looking for a swim workout and was going to meet us on Monday morning for a swim. So there were 3 of us bright and early this morning for a swim.

We made up a swim workout on the spot this morning, a mix of 50's, 100's and 200's. I am in no way competitive with Max, and in fact I was just trying to ignore him as the consistently lapped me in the next lane. On top of that I just wasn't feeling it this morning either. Probably still tired from my brick session on Saturday.

But it sure is nice to have some social aspect to the training and just chat in the pool a bit.

Simulated Race

Today my training plan called for a bike/run brick with the bike done at race pace for 1:30 followed by a short run and to set up a transition area in my driveway.

So I grabbed my gear and laid it out on the grass next to the driveway, and leaned my bike against a sawhorse. Melissa suggested that I put my wetsuit on and then get into the hot tub but I decided against that. Instead I ran barefoot from the back yard dodging the dog turds on the way to my transition area and then headed out for my bike.

Miles 15-27 of my bike ride were super hilly and kicked my butt too.  In the end I just tried to push as much as I could in the hills.

Finally on the last 2 mile segment that I was trying to go fast yesterday on, today I wasn't really thinking about it too much, more about transitioning to running at that point, but it was the 2nd fastest ever time on that leg. Go figure.

Then it was time to transition to the run....

OMG that was tough. The legs just.....did....not....want....to....move.

Just shuffling along the best I could trying to get the legs to start moving. I ran down the street for ~7.5 minutes and then turned around. All the while I am thinking about how nice an aquabike race would be. :-)

It took over a mile before my legs were doing anything like a normal feeling stride. On top of it all it was really warm by the time I started running. I am actually quite happy with the run in the end.

70.3 Dream

I had a dream last night that I got an email from my coach saying that I should switch my Superiorman entry from the 41.5 distance to the 70.3 distance because I needed an extra challenge!

What a bizzare dream.

So I shared that with my coach and he replied Ha ha, funny thing is I had a dream a while back, you emailed me telling me you switched to the 70.3. I woke up the next morning and checked TP thinking I better start adding more volume on the bike and run 😂😉. 

Too funny.

We are staying with the 41.5 distance despite what our dreams tell us.

New Fan

So I had a really difficult bike workout on the trainer today, but it was made a bit nicer by the addition of a 2nd fan. I have been riding on the trainer with a single fan that was sitting on a table on my left side next to the iPad. What this meant is that my left side would be dry and my right arm would be dripping in sweat.

I bought another nearly identical fan to put on my right side. However, I didn't have a place to put it. So I improvised with a 2 step paint ladder straddling part of the elliptical. This worked ok for this workout but it is not a good long term solution. We are going to have to do some rearranging here for the off season.

Steady Pace Running

Today my training plan called for a steady state running pace. This is something I have never done before. I have done specific run/walk intervals but never tried to run a specific pace over an amount of time. The whole concept was foreign to me.

So like any good engineer, I did some math and figured that a 1:00/1:30 pace would work for the warm up and a 1:30/1:00 pace would work for the main set.

Well that didn't quite work out the way I had hoped. I ended up being faster than I was supposed to be using those numbers.

Interestingly, I read that when you run it should be at a "conversational pace", or a pace in which you could have a conversation with someone. I have no idea what that is, every run I have ever done I am out of breath and can't talk to anyone. Today was a different story, my heart rate was lower and could have definitely talked to someone today. So maybe there is something to this steady pace thing.

2 Hour Ride

My training plan called for a 2 hour ride. So I scoped out the area to try and find a ride that was roughly 38 miles long. I finally made one that was 37.5 which was perfect.

My plan was to get up at 6am, eat a bagel and be on the road by 7am as I was playing in a charity golf tournament at 10am.

Everything goes according to plan, I eat, put my bottles on my bike and go to top off my bike tires and my front tire is flat. I put air in it and I can hear it coming out. So that takes me 15 minutes (not good at this yet) to change the tire, so now I am quite a bit behind schedule.

I ended up cutting out about 2 miles of the planned route because I was running really late. (I made it just in time to the golf tournament).

The weather for the ride was pretty lousy. It was very wet for the first 20 minutes, then it was totally dry for the next 20 minutes, then it was VERY foggy for the next hour. Like a few hundred feet visibility foggy. I couldn't see the next hill until I was on it. Then it was dry with better visibility again by the time I got close to home.

I had a lot of issues with my glasses. They got wet, then they fogged up and I couldn't keep them clear enough to see very well. I stopped a few times to take them off and wipe them down. I ended up just taking them off for the last 10 miles.

I did not feel like the ride went very well at all. The first hour went good. There are a couple of short but steep hills on that first part and I thought I did those pretty quickly (Strava says a PR on one of them).

When I made the turn back to the south on Arnold road thats where the trouble began. That is a new road to me and it is VERY hilly. It felt entirely uphill without much of a break. My legs were toast by about 3/4 down this road. Part of it was not being able to see the hills until I was actually on them. It was a mental strain.

Then it was just a matter of getting home. The rest of the ride went ok.

Hawaii Workouts

Well I managed to get 5 legit workouts in while on vacation in Hawaii! That is kinda crazy for me. I NEVER exercise on vacation, or at least very rarely. I had hoped to get a bike ride in while there too, but it just never happened, so I settled for 3 swims and 2 runs.

The first two swims were open water swims at Ala Moana Beach in Waikiki. It is a perfect beach for open water swims and paddle boarding. There is a breakwater which keeps the waves out and it is nice calm. There are buoys that mark a line across the beach. Out and back was 2400 yards. A perfect 45 minute swim. I don't particularly like salt water, but I am getting used to it.

The last swim was in the lagoon at Disney's Aulani Resort (we were there for a wedding). Early morning swim the day we left to come home. Beautiful view. The lagoon is pretty short, only about 200 yards wide, so it was just a lot of back and forth. Not a long swim, only about 1500 yards, but got a bit of exercise to try and burn off all these calories I am consuming.

The first run was around Kapiolani Park in Waikiki. It was a recommended run on sidewalks and with a lot of shade from some tall trees. It was actually really nice with views of Diamond Head too. It was HOT! 82 degrees at 7am and the humidity was through the roof. I wasn't shooting for any sort of speed records today. 3 laps around the park was enough for 4.6 miles and I called it a day.

The second run was from the Aulani Resort. Went past the 4 lagoons, through a parking lot of the yacht club and then through a residential neighborhood and around a local golf course before returning to the hotel. Again it was ridiculously hot and humid early in the morning.

After a week in Hawaii I am convinced that if I ever won some sort of lottery to race Kona this northern boy would die from the heat and humidity.

Pre-Vacation Aqua-Bike Workout

We leave later today for a 11 day trip to Hawaii. So the local tri-group here decided to do a Olympic sized aqua-bike morning workout.So 3 of us met up at Island Lake for a long open water swim. We got a bit of a late start so I had to shorten my bike to a more "sprint-like" distance of 16 miles. It was a good way to end my week before we head out to Hawaii.

Timberman Race Report

My first Olympic distance race!

Night Before

Trinity spent the night at a friend’s house, so after we dropped her off, we got the car packed up and drove to the race site which was about 1.5 hours away. I picked my packet and goodies then we stayed for the pasta dinner that they were offering. The food was good and just what we both needed. We stayed at a hotel in Grand Rapids about 20 minutes away. There were several other racers there too and they had a nice welcome Timberman racers sign on the desk. After an ice cream sandwich for dessert, we went to bed early.

Pre-Race

We got up about 5:15, showered, and I ate my bagel in the car. We arrived at the race about 630am and we got the last spot in the close by gravel lot. Grabbed our stuff and headed down to transition. I found a spot on the bike racks and I had nobody by me at all. After body marking and getting all set up we just relaxed a bit. I talked to a few people I knew before the race as well. While we were waiting two float planes landed on the lake and taxied through the swim buoys and parked near the starting line. I don’t think they were racers, but it would be a fun way to arrive.

It was starting to get warm already. No clouds, no wind. I was drinking some tailwind and nearly finished a bottle so I got some water too. Hydration would be key I think. I waited as long as I could before putting my wetsuit on because once it was on, I began to get really hot. So quickly into the water to get acclimated. I used the same routine I have been using for all my recent open water swims. The difference today was that the water temp was rather warm at 74 degrees. So a brief swim and then waited for my wave to start.

Swim

I was in the second wave (long course athletes over 40) and soon we were off. Per my plan, I started off to the side, and took my time getting into the swimming. The water was VERY shallow, could actually walk 1/3 of it. I didn’t want to run into people and I just wanted to get into a rhythm so there would be no panic repeat. That went all according to plan. No issues on the swim. I was just in cruising mode in the water, good strokes, steady breathing.

At the halfway point I actually looked at my watch and it said 13 minutes. I was super happy with that. It means I should beat the 30 minute goal I had. The swim was basically and out and back and on the way back to the beach the sun was off my right side. I am a right side only breather, so each breath was looking straight into the sun. Even with tinted goggles it was crazy bright. So I ended up just closing my eyes except to sight. I sight every 3 breaths so that worked out ok for the second half of the swim.

As we approached the beach the water got quite shallow and I was actually digging my hands into the sand/rocks on the bottom as long as I could before standing up and getting out of the water. A quick glance at my watch and 26 minutes! Zero issues with the swim this time.

Swim time 27:41 59/84 overall, 40/53 gender, 8/8 in age group.

This actually surprised me that I was that slow in my age group. Geesh.

T1

Into transition and I found my spot. I got my wetsuit off fairly quickly this time, but I found that I needed to sit down to get my socks and bike shoes on. I was a bit unsteady on my feet. Got all of that, a quick drink of water from my transition bottle and off on the bike I went. Time 3:08

Bike

Once I got going, I noticed that my heart rate was rather high for the start of the bike. So the first couple of miles were about just taking some deep breaths, getting my HR under control so that I could really put the effort in when I needed to. The bike course was two loops, the first was 15 miles, the second was 10 miles and it had one big hill climb that we did twice. We drove the bike course the night before so I knew what I was up against. The rest of the course was a bunch of rolling hills. There would be lots of gear switching today.

The first 8 miles of the bike it was really crowded. Lots of passing, jockeying for position, riding 3-4 wide on the road. It was a mad house. I had not experienced that before. I found my happy place, and eventually things spread out by the time we got to the big hill.

I wasn’t really paying much attention to my power meter, just trying to go as fast as I could. My goal was 1:15 which was 20mph average so I was trying to mentally average out the times I was going less than that with times I was going faster than that. The first loop felt great. I was drinking my nutrition, doing well on the hills. The big hill (200ft in about a mile) was a grind and the only time I was in my small gear the whole race. The first time it went quite well, I was happy with my first 15 miles and I did that in 45 minutes, so I was right on schedule.

The second loop went pretty well too. I took in a gel, finished my nutrition and switched to water which is how I have done these rides in the past. At one point, someone passed me and when he was alongside he said “nice work, you are beating people younger than you.”

When we got to the big hill again, I got passed right as the hill got started and then they slowed down just a bit. So I had to fall in line because I didn’t have the legs to power past them and go the speed I wanted to go on the hill. So I probably lost a minute or so on that uphill. I ended up passing them on the downhill. (According to the data, it cost me 14 seconds actually, but felt like more.)

After the downhill, we finally return to the road to transition. Melissa was there with her cowbell cheering me on, just as she was when I finished the first loop. Overall, I am happy with the bike. I might have been a little easy on it, but overall I am good with it. Solid middle of the pack on the bike!

Time 1:17:16 43/83 overall, 33/53 gender, 5/8 age group. I gotta get 2mph faster to crack top half of my age group.

T2

Made the quick change of shoes, finished the water from my bike and was off on the run. 1:54 time in T2

Run

My goal was to be a slave to the watch and stick to the 2:45/0:45 run/walk schedule I have been using in training for the last several weeks. By this time it was HOT. Around 80 degrees, no shade, no wind, high humidity so I knew this was going to be a struggle.

Off I went and I stuck to the run/walk schedule with the addition of walking through all the aid stations as well. 3 cups of water at each aid station. One down the back, one over the head and drinking one. I was definitely not going very fast. I may be able to do 9:30 miles in training, but this was going to be a 10-11:00 mile kind of day.

But I stuck to it. Even when those 45 seconds had to be wrong when they felt like 10 seconds, I started running. I passed a couple of people, got passed by a dozen or so on the run. Actually fewer than I thought. Being an out and back run, I get to see everyone. I even managed to get pissed off at a group of people who obviously were the winners when they came running out on the course AGAIN, laughing, and making it look easy.

My feet started to hurt in mile 6. I may need to look into that because that is happening on longer runs.

Finally into the finish chute and I am done. Run time 1:05:14 69/83 overall, 45/53 gender, 7/8 age group.

2:55:15 was my final time. 53/84 overall, 38/53 gender, 7/8 in age group

Final Thoughts

That was hard. Not as hard as I thought it was going to be, but it was hard. The heat and humidity took its toll on me on the run. It took me a while to recover after the race. They had someone with a hose and that felt wonderful. I sat in the shade, had water, Gatorade, banana and a cookie and started to feel better.

I had a lot of things go right for me today. The swim went great. No panic at all. Now with that under my belt, I can work on going faster which I know I am capable of. I am still not sure how hard I can go on a bike ride. My NP was down a bit in this race, but it was also double the length that I have done in a race. However I feel like I didn’t give it everything. It became obvious to me that I have much to learn, like learning how to pass, and some of the technical aspects of biking. That will come with experience. The run….well I got a ways to go.

This race has a really nice swim and bike. The run is nothing special. I would definitely do the race again. I am looking forward to my next race at the end of August.