Golf/Bike Brick - Superiorman Redemption

I started the morning golfing with some friends and 6 miles walking of walking on a hilly course. I had some lunch and then headed out for a 2 hour bike in the afternoon. It was a fantastic day! Temps around 70 and virtually no wind at all. I chose to ride most of the Superiorman bike course which follows the lake and it was beautiful.

It felt good to get some redemption on 42 miles of the Superiorman course. 21.4mph today vs 17.9 during the race. Just good to prove to myself that I can do it when not affected by asthma.

Running in Indiana

So I am on my way back from Toledo towing a trailer. Decided to spend the night here in Portage Indiana so that I can get through Chicago early on a Sunday morning. I managed to catch a cold earlier this week, coupled with lack of sleep and road trip eating, it's not been a good week. But I had no excuse not to run a bit today, there was a sidewalk near the hotel and google maps said it went for a bit so thats what I did.

Again no expectations or goals just run as I felt. It was sunny but not too warm, actually pretty nice. The road I ran next to was fairly busy and then a convoy of army semis came by. Diesel exhaust yuck.

I stopped was for a photo op, and when approached by a neighborhood dog (he was friendly), so it was a good run and I am happy.

Running Enjoyment

My first scheduled run from my coach last week was to run at my own pace and “just enjoy it.” I had to chuckle at that because I have yet to really enjoy running. Running and I don’t have that kind of relationship. I find it difficult, stressful, and frustrating at the lack of improvement and results.

Although I am middle of the pack in the swim and bike, I am generally dead last in the run. It is really frustrating to see everyone easily run fast. I have had a couple of injuries from running, so we have been taking things really slowly too. I have employed a run/walk strategy measured in seconds or minutes rather than miles or water stations. It’s just been really tough. So I have decided to try and find a way to enjoy running like I enjoy the other sports in triathlon.

So for this first run, I decided to go a totally different route so that I had zero time expectations or experience. I turned off my run/walk timer on my watch, and just set out at a pace I thought I could maintain for a while with the plan to walk when I felt like walking.

My legs were still sore nearly a week after the race so they felt pretty heavy on the run, but again I was just going to take what my body would give me on a nice easy run. I focused mostly on my breathing, and let a nice steady breathing pattern dictate the pace. I only looked at my HR once on my watch. After 15 minutes I turned around and went home.

It was a good run. I wont say I enjoyed it, but I also didn’t hate it.

A few days later I followed it up with another run with the same expectations and basically the same new route. I found a good pace early, steady breathing, HR reasonable and I just kept running at that pace. As I passed the 1 mile mark I was still running, so I figured I would take a quick 1 minute walk break at the halfway point when I turned around at about 15 minutes. Well I stopped to take a picture of a couple of deer so my walk ended up a bit longer than a minute, but thats ok. I am trying to find joy in my running and seeing deer is a good start!

Then I started running the way home. Again basically the same pace, tried to keep my breathing nice and even. Not looking at my watch for most of it. I was feeling good so I figured I might as well try to get a 5k in. So I extended my run a few extra minutes and another .33 miles to get there.

So that has to be the most I have run continuously in a long time almost 14 minutes, and then close to 18 minutes continuous. My observations on that were that it wasn't so bad aerobically, but I was feeling it in my shins and ankles. Somehow the walk breaks that I take give those just enough rest that they don't bother me generally.

Aerobically I felt great. I had fresh legs tonight for this too which helps. Looking at my data my HR was good, pretty steady to just a slow climb, my pace slowed a bit second half but that was pretty steady too.

Now people will laugh when they see the pace of my “run.” I averaged a whopping 10:40/mi on that run. But I am happy with that. I achieved something I haven’t done in a long time, I survived it without being super sore or totally exhausted. So along with the deer sighting, I did prove to myself that I have improved my run fitness over the last two years.

Something to build on!

#TriWifeProblems

Superiorman 70.3 Race Report

Pre-Race

I was up on time, and downtown to the race venue right on schedule at about 4:40am. I was one of the first racers there. I got my bike racked and started setting up my spot. I am glad I brought my headlamp because it was pretty dark. It was a beautiful morning, a little chilly with temps in the mid 50’s, no wind at all. The lake was beautiful.

I got all set up, did a warm-up stretch routine, put my wet suit on to my waist and then headed out to wait for the bus to the boat. The bus came and we got on and took the short ride over to the boat. I talked with a guy from Omaha Nebraska. We started boarding the boat as soon as we arrived.

The boat left and went under the lift bridge, and we tied off on a couple of anchor buoys they had in the lake. Then it was time to start. Temps near the lift bridge were reported to be 58 degrees, but that the water got colder as we went away from there. Probably to the low 50’s.

So at the athlete meeting on Friday they mentioned that the swim was going to be shortened some because of the water temp. Officially the course was 0.93 miles.

It was a dead calm morning. No waves at all which was a big concern for me. Because of the temps, it was wetsuit mandatory, but they also required everyone to use a swim buoy as well. That turned out to be a lifesaver for me.

Swim

That swim was f'n ridiculous.

So I jump off the boat and immediately my hands and feet go numb from the cold. I get water in my suit and that’s ok, I try to put my face in the water and just blow bubbles but its no use at all. Immediately I have trouble breathing. I try to swim a bit but my breaths are shallow and I just can't do it. I managed to get the 200 yards to the first turn buoy (L shaped course) using a variation of kicking, swimming and current.

Once past the buoy I seriously considered dropping out. There was no way I was going to swim another 1400+ yards like this. I looked at the rescue boats and almost waved one down.

Then someone swam by me doing the backstroke. So I flipped onto my back and tried that. I could breath my shallow breaths and make progress. So I decided to see how that went for me. I don’t know who that guy was or how long he did backstroke, but if it weren’t for him giving me the idea, I would have DNF.

It's pretty difficult to swim open water backstroke. Nothing to guide you to go straight. So I was zigging all over the place. My swim buoy either loosened up or something but it kept sliding off which was a pain in the ass.

Eventually EVERYONE else except the amputee had finished the swim. I got to the rocky swim exit and I was super dizzy when I tried to stand up. The volunteers were amazing and helped me up. Then we had to climb a dirt/mud path up to transition.

I was just spent. I was really dizzy, my feet and hands were numb, and I felt like I was going to puke.

I got into transition and just sat down to take my stuff off and change my shoes and shirt. A photographer came by to take some pictures. Not of me, but of my bike. He thought it looked cool.

Eventually I made it out of transition and onto my bike.

I will NEVER do this race again with a lake side swim.

Bike

So, this asthma thing that I was experiencing basically didn't allow me to take in deep breaths. Only shallow breathing. So, it had the effect of severely limiting my output on the bike. I couldn't go hard at all without getting out of breath very easily and having a really hard time catching it.

Therefor my HR plan went out the window and I just took what my body would give me on the bike today.

A few miles in I stopped to say hi to one of the volunteers. He was the guy that gave me the entry due to his injury. Surprisingly I didn’t curse him too badly today.

The bike went ok. I used a different pair of try shorts for this bike ride and I didn't have the sore sit bones like I did the last race. I was a bit sore after 3 hours, but nothing at all like last week where I had trouble sitting at home afterwards.

There was no wind, nice and sunny day. A beautiful day for a bike ride. I did pass a bunch of people on the bike even at this low speed. I drank my tailwind and had a gel.

85% of the bike course is good road and it was fun. I was frustrated that I had to go into my small gear so much today, I don't normally have to do that on this road. But as I said, I took what my body could give me.

T2 went fine. I put on some additional sunscreen and was off for the run.

Run

I had hoped for a 3 hour run and that’s exactly what I got! I knew I could walk the whole thing and finish in time so I actually really enjoyed the run.

My breathing problems continued, so I tested how much I could reasonably run and it was about 45 seconds. I was prepared for this and did :45/1:15 as much as I could. I walked through aid stations and up hills as well.

The first few miles were a struggle, I felt better in miles 3-7, then I just started to lose steam. I went to a run/walk/walk type of effort. My walk pace was about 14:30 which helped me keep things in the 13-14/mile range with limited running.

My wife and daughter camped out on the run course so that I would see them 4 times. It was good to see them and hear their cowbells when I came up the hill towards them.

Who knew that flat, warm, Pepsi would taste SOOO GOOD!!! I basically subsisted on that stuff for 2/3 of the run.

I ran downhill into the finish line, arms up and a smile on my face!

I did it!

I finished this race with a lot of adversity. I did not have the the time result I would have hoped for, nor was I feeling the greatest, but I kept going and finished. I am SUPER happy with my effort today, and proud of my accomplishment.

As a bonus, they give out these really nice Epicurian cutting boards rather than a finisher medal. So now I can remember this epic race every time I cut food!

Overall Result: 7:16:45, 83/91 Overall, 60/63 Men, 9/9 age group

Post Race: 

I ended up taking myself to urgent care to have them take a listen to my lungs. I was indeed wheezing. They gave me a nebulizer treatment to help with that and it did. The PA diagnosed me with "extrinsic or exercise induced asthma." She gave me a script for an albuterol inhaler and told me to use it before exercising in the future. She also said I should go see my primary care doc and see what he thinks.

I have had these attacks before but very rarely. I remember my first one was on a hike in Colorado probably 20 years ago, just came on suddenly, very scary. I haven't seen it in training, only in races. Something about the water sets it off.

Ready for the Race?

I had a good week of workouts this week and finished with an easy bike and run this morning. I ran into a bit of a hiccup on Monday. I headed out early for an easy ride and about a mile into my ride I got a flat rear tire. I called my wife to come and get me so I could just sit and change my tube at home.

For the life of me, I could not manage to get the tire off the rim. I couldn't break the bead. So I threw the bike on the trainer and did my recovery ride that way. I then brought my wheel to the local bike shop along with my spare tube and asked to watch how he did it. I just wasn't using enough force to break the bead.

But its a good thing I did this, because I found out that the tube I had didn't work. I needed a longer stem on the tube in order to get through the deeper rim on my wheel. So he swapped tubes with me and I ordered up some new tubes to keep on hand and on my bike.

Today was packet pick up and athlete meeting. The water temps for this race are going to be cold, in the low to mid 50's. Because of that they are going to shorten the swim some. The weather looks good with calm winds so I shouldn't have to worry about the waves.

I guess I am as ready as I am going to be for this.

Post Race Dinner

After the race, my wife and daughter who had come to watch left so the daughter could get dropped off at horse camp. When my wife got home we decided to get some natural protein and carbohydrates with a sushi dinner.

Brewhouse Olympic Race Report

I was up on time, gathered all my stuff and finished packing up the car. Then I headed downtown to pick up Amy. I loaded up her bike and we were off to the venue. We got there in plenty of time and had a relaxing set up. I talked to a few people that I knew and a few that I didn’t. The Olympic distance swim was the last to go after the sprinters so we had a bit of a wait. My friend Amy was also doing the Olympic distance and we agreed in the car, that she would beat me in the swim, I would pass her on the bike and she would pass me on the run.

Swim

The water was reported to be about 76 degrees and as I donned my wetsuit and headed into the water, it felt about that warm. So I knew I was going to have the same feeling of being too warm that I had at Trinona. I did a brief swim just to get used to it and then waited for the start. While waiting I ran into Elaine Nelson. She was in one of my early tri-swim classes at the Y. That was before I knew she was one of the top female triathletes in the state. She asked why I haven’t been swimming with the group on Fridays. Hopefully I will get back with the group this fall. She is faster than me in the pool, but not by much so it will be good to keep pushing me.

Then it was time to start. My first wave start race. There was only about 20 guys in my wave and we had a nice wide area so basically we were 1 deep. At the start, I just kinda let people go a bit so I could sort out how I was going to get through. Soon I settled into a rhythm and we were off.

I took a quick look at my watch as I made the turn for home about 1000 yards in, and saw 14 minutes so I figured I was doing pretty well. I was hot in my wetsuit again. Mostly my arms were hot. I might need to invest in a sleeveless wetsuit for these warmer but wetsuit legal races.

The swim was pretty spread out pretty quickly so I didn't have any issues with people. When I stood up in the water at the end of the swim my watch read 24 and change. It took a bit to get out of the water and then there is a HUGE hill you have to climb to get up to transition. So I took that pretty slow.

Overall super happy with my swim. Right where I wanted to be. As a side note, my friend Amy had the fastest overall swim time, and she started in the wave in front of me. She also leaves for Korea to swim in the FINA Masters World Championships in a few days.

27:18, 27/70 overall, 19/43 men, 4/7 age group

T1

There was a big hill to climb up before hitting the timing mats to I took that slow and then jogged through transition. My wetsuit came off pretty easily this time! I put on my shoes and socks grabbed my helmet and I was off. My wife yelled “go catch Amy!”

3:00 57/70 overall, 33/43 men, 6/7 age group

Bike

The weather for biking was darn near perfect. Temps were in the upper 70’s but basically no wind, so this was going to be a fast day. I didn’t have a power meter on my bike today so I was going by HR only and wanting to keep that in the 160’s as that should be a hard effort.

The bike went about as good as I could hope. The biggest problem I had was that I just couldn't catch my breath. It started on the swim. I just felt a bit constricted in my breathing during the swim. Not panicking, just not quite right. Then on the bike I was breathing really hard, and really shallow the whole time. I tried going a bit slower at the start but it just didn't do anything at all. I tried taking in deeper breaths but that wasn't working either so I just went with it.

I passed a bunch of people on the bike, and according to Strava I set PR's in all the segments on the course :-)  But I didn't think I was doing that well because I was breathing so hard to do it. I kept a pretty steady RPE, and my HR which started in the upper 160's pretty much stayed there the whole time.

I passed Amy at mile 8 and took a big lead against her into the run.

I tried eating a cliff bar on the bike and nearly choked. It turns out I can't eat solid food when I am breathing that fast.

By the end of the bike my butt/legs were hurting from the seat. I haven't ridden with my tri-suit on since my fitting and it is mighty painful. The KNEE was GREAT! No issues all with the knee but 1 hour on the bike was it for my ass.

I am SUPER happy with the result. 15th fastest guy on the bike today (out of 43), but only 4/7 in my age group. I HATE my age group. These guys are just too good.

1:09:36, 16/70 overall, 15/43 men, 4/7 age group

T2

My butt hurt so bad from the bike, and I was still breathing hard so I ended up walking my bike through transition just to try and calm my breathing down some. I racked my bike, swapped my shoes, grabbed my race belt and then took a swig of water from a bottle I had in transition. YUCK! It was SUPER warm water from sitting in the sun all day. LOL, lesson learned.

2:40 67/70 overall, 40/43 men, 7/7 age group

Run

So I have a great swim, and a great bike and then I get to the run.

I start out the run and my breathing is still a big struggle, so after about a minute or so of running I started walking. My HR wasn't bad at all, just in the 160's but it was my breathing. After about a minute of walking I finally got my breathing under control.

Whew!

So then I started to run again, and I basically just timed my walks around my breathing pattern. When my breathing got to the point where I couldn't hold a conversation then I would walk for a bit.

The run segments were incredible slow, and it was HOT!!! It was over 80F on the run course. There was some shade, which helped. Water over my head, down my back and drinking some too at each aid station. Everyone that passed me (and that was A LOT of people) were great and encouraging. At one point at the very end I got passed by a woman and as she passed me she said “good job sir, you are almost done!” She called me “sir” on the race course?

I saw Amy after I had already made the turnaround, and she passed me with about a mile to go. She was struggling with the heat too. Overall she ended up beating me by just 23 seconds.

I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face and a PA announcer who knew me and is a part time comedian. My family was there to cheer me on too so it was a good day.

1:14:14, 67/70 overall, 40/43 men, 7/7 age group

Overall Results

2:56:46, 48/70 overall, 35/43 men, 6/7 age group

Final Thoughts

I am SO disappointed with my running. It makes the whole thing so frustrating. Makes me wonder why I do all this training only to just totally suck at running come race day.

My age group is so ridiculously competitive. All I want is to be the middle of the pack and I would have to shave off 25 minutes from this time to finish 4^th in my age group. That means a crazy fast run for me, and it might just never be in the cards.

Overall I didn't meet my time goal but came close. I did come close to my stretch goals in the swim and bike and would have crushed my overall time goal if my run had been a bit better.

I always remember where I came from 2 years ago, and I am proud of my accomplishments.