Hazy Lazy Dayz

Sunny days, warm weather, long rides, Olympic Trials & Games, the Tour de France, barbecue dinners with the master cooks and Devereaux garden produce, blueberries ready for picking somewhere up north - July may be my favorite month of the year.

And, the beauty of kicking back in a chilly dark theatre taking in a summer flick after a long day under the July sun. It helps when the movie is good. Tell No One - big thumbs up.

Re the image above, I'm playing around with cut/paste, figuring out how to copy a chart from training log software and turn it into a pic that can be uploaded to a blog post.

The chart shows my weekly (Monday through Sunday) training hours for 2008 , current to today. Line graphs for the total hours each week and for run hours. Bars for the other elements swim, bike, strength. That 16 hr peak a few weeks ago may be the biggest week ever for me, at least since I've started tracking my time consistently.

I'm recovering quite well for the last 6-8 weeks. Not feeling like I'm doing large volume during the bigger weeks. My running mileage/time is relatively low. That may have a lot to do with it. Will see what happens when I up the running.

Hope others are enjoying the summer as it flies by. It should go out with a flurry for me. Family reunion in LV next weekend, mountain riding the next, racing the week after that. Two races in September, along with a trip to NYC. Then a final race in early October. Throw in work and life and my weekends are pretty well booked through late October.

Looking forward to seeing relatives and lots of photos next week. Happy July birthday wishes to Ed and cousins John and Patricia.

Paid $4.15 a gallon for the cheap stuff. Saw lots of $4.19 and up for the same. Spied a $3.91 price at one spot.


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Committed to racing:
8/17 North East Tri (Olympic Distance, small, local MD)
9/14 Nation's Tri (Olympic Distance, huge (3500 yikes!), local DC)
9/21 Savageman Half (Deep Creek, MD)
Yep, returning to take revenge from a rough '07 experience, they've claim to have made the course just a bit tougher. How is that possible? Make the swim uphill?

10/12 Brierman Tri (small, first year, local, MD, "in between" Olympic and Half Iron distance, right up my alley swim 1500m, bike 40mi, run 9.3mi )

Memorial Day Weekend 2009 - American Triple-T (as in triple triathlon, 3 days of racing, OH)

Racing Again. Gen. Smallwood Oly. Yeehah!

Every racer's favorite site.

Raced for the first time since September '07 today.

General Smallwood Oly distance Triathlon
(General Smallwood State Park, Marbury, MD, 70-80min drive)

Raced it hard and came though with no injuries, no knee pain during race. VERY happy about this. Secondary goals were a solid swim and a reasonably quick time overall. Pulled off a 2:24:15, second fastest ever for me at this distance, less than 1min off my PR.

Nice calm swim waters.
Start out of view to the left, swim in the near aspect to the right,
then turn left and head toward the far land along the buoy line.
Hang another left back to the start, then do that lap again.

1500m swim in an inlet of the Potomac ~40mins south of DC.

24.88mi bike on rolling hills

10K run on same

Summary

~296 athletes entered the Oly race, ~30 in men’s 35-39AG.

Up at 4:10, leave ~4:40, arrive at race ~5:50, got a primo parking spot in lot nearest finish and transition.
1 banana, .5 clif bar, coffee, ~90mins prerace
Sipped electrolyte, water, took 2 ecaps, prerace.
Warmups: 7-10min bike, same run, in water early for 2-3 mins swim, then out to wait for wave start.

Oomph short under voler tri shorts. Orca top (not for swim).
Tri shoe on left foot, road on right.

Hazy day turned clear and sunny, humid, hot, mid 80’s at start.

Swim - In water swim start, no wetsuits. Did not get any feet to draft. Did not go hard or sprint at start, sort of a strong steady. Wrestled with seaweed for few hundred yards at end of each of 2 laps, 2 goggle adjust stop moments, otherwise okay and felt good. ~30:30 time. Didn't feel knackered coming out of the water.

Lee from my small Tue/Thur swim group took 2nd in his AG as well. I managed to beat him out of the water by a few seconds. So what if he started in a wave 3mins behind me.

Looooong T1.

Bike - legs felt pretty good. Only a couple guys passed me. Took in entirety of my single bottle of water, 1 clifshot gel (tried a mocha, not tasty), ~80cals, Hed Jet up front, PT wheel no disc cover in back, aero helmet. Lower back aching, tight last half of ride.

T2 pretty quick. Came out at ~1:43:xx total time. Thought I had a shot at breaking 2:30. Didn't really try to do the math, just focused on the moment.

Run - legs not too bad, took water at each of 4 stations. Hot. Hilly. Expect the quads will be feeling the downhills over the next few days. Last mile was mostly downhill on shaded trail.

Special note - Shower tent/canopy set for races only yards after the finish was HUGE. Really great. Nice cold shady shower to stand under and lower the body temp. First ever for any race I've done.

Hot was the word of the day. Not quite as awful as the Blackwater Du in July 2007 in Columbia, MD, but damn hot and humid. Any finisher who was out on the course for 3, 4, 4.5 hrs has my sincere respect.

Total - 2:24:15.

2^nd in 35-39 AG. Love the small local races.

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Bike DATA for the trigeeks.

Bike leg, 1 bottle water, 1 clifshot gel (mocha- yuck) no stops. mid-hi 80's very little wind.

Entire ride (204 watts):
Duration: 1:07:27
Work: 823 kJ
TSS: 94.9 (intensity factor 0.919)
Norm Power: 211

VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: 2.9%
Pa:HR: -9.24%
Distance: 24.605 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 423 204 watts
Heart Rate: 137 173 158 bpm
Cadence: 41 114 89 rpm
Speed: 2.3 36 21.9 mph

Peak 1min 283
Peak 2mins 248
Peak 5mins 228
Peak 10mins 218
Peak 20mins 215
Peak 30mins 212
Peak 60mins 209

View from the shade.
Blue canopy left of the arch is the amazing cooling shower.
That's my maroon transport on the right. Early bird parking.

Training Update & Race Radar '08

RUNNING
Long run recently up to 50mins with no knee trouble. Still no real flow to my roll, a real absence of running mojo. It will take time to get my form back near where it was 12/07. Stomach bug setback doesn't help. Anyway, running every other day. Started at 10mins six weeks ago and added a few mins each time. Slowed the progression when I reached 30mins, stayed at 30 for a few, then bumped to 35 for a few, then 40, then 45, now 50. Thinking I'll keep it here and vary 'em between 40-55mins for awhile, maybe try some 35-40min runs on back-to-back days.

The 1979 Raleigh, spruced up.

RACING
Officially pulled out of the Memorial Day weekend of triathlon madness known as the American Triple T - 4 triathlons in 3 days. The race organizers agreed I can transfer my entry to the 2009 race.

Currently entered in just one race for 2008. The Nation's Tri here in DC in Sept. 14 (Olympic distance: swim 1500meters, bike 24.8miles, run 6.2mi). Couldn't resist. Registered at the last minute just as it was filling up. Only a few years old, and the only tri in DC, it's grown to 3,500 racers. This is huge for a tri. Hay-yoooj. I can only guess how many waves of swimmers this will be broken down into for the start, maybe 40? 50? More?

Meanwhile, the priority for me is to get healthy so as to really train and enjoy the summer, and to really race in Sept. Plan to enter some small fitness-tester races for fun along the way. These races are not likely to fill, so I can do last minute entry. Everything will be short distances until September. If I'm feeling good at that point I may go longer (my preferred distance) to finish the season.

All together, currently on my 2008 race radar:

• June 29 - General Smallwood Oly distance race in Indianhead, MD. Have raced here a couple times years ago. Really like the rolling course.
• July 12 - Diamond in the Rough Oly distance race in Perryville, MD. Did this a few years ago as well. Hilly bike, flat run.
• August 16 - Cheat Mountain Challenge. Cycling only. Snowshoe, WV. 105mi and 68mi options. Mountainous terrain. This would be a decent fun training day in prep for the Sept. 27 Aqua Velo. In 2006, 93 finishers, 20 DNF for the long ride, most finished in 7-9hrs, first finisher just under 6hrs, last ~10.
• August 17 - Northeast Oly distance race - North East, MD.
• September 7 - Annapolis Oly distance race.
• September 7 - Delaware Diamondman Half Iron race (swim 1.2mi, bike 56mi, run 13.1mi). Bear, DE. Pancake flat. Raced here many times. If healthy, I'll be tempted to go for a PR here and forget about a true peak effort or AG competitive race in DC Sept. 14.
• September 21 - Savageman Half Iron distance race. Perhaps return to Deep Creek, MD seeking some vengeance for a tough day there last year.
• September 27 - ChesapeakeMan Aqua Velo. An interesting option here, the Ironman without the run - swim 2.4mi, (super flat) bike 112mi. Would be a great opportunity to get a taste of the Ironman experience, get a notion of swimming and biking for 8hrs and contemplating a run of 26.2 after.
• October 12 - Brierman Half Iron race, Boonsboro, MD. Race day driveable.
• October 12 - American Zofingen long distance duathlon, New Paltz, NY (5mi trail run, very hilly 84mi road bike, 15mi trail run). Maybe this will be the year to cross AmZof off the life to do list.