9-20-07 - 9-25-07

The latest experiments in the ongoing search for the perfect saddle.

Not doing much, filing the race season as done, making it 2-3 weeks essentially off but for some swimming and that will be minimal.

Fri. 9-20
Off

Nat's game with the Youngest Of Six. One of the last baseball games to be played at RFK Stadium, final game is Sun. Very nice night, pretty much perfect. Close to 80F, not very humid. Seats low down in the 500 level looking down on the first base line. Phillies win, 6-3. Hill gave up all 6 runs. Good thing about going to the ball game: if it's a tight game you can get into it, pay rapt attention, if not then it's perfect background for chatting.

Sat. 9-21
Run easy steady 62mins, ~8mi, Beach path.

Dinner at Devereaux with B in town. Another comfy night, dined on the VIP back patio. Excitement for the Ireland trip is building. Lodging reservations may be nailed down soon, esp with travel expert B on the job.

Sun. 9-22
Bike-Run easy
Fuji outdr, knee feeling it after ~50mins, built from there. Was just a flat Beach Dr. cruise, super easy effort, everything controlled. Regardless, no luck with the knee.

Entire workout (153 watts):
Duration: 1:34:17 (1:37:25)
Work: 865 kJ
TSS: 85.5 (intensity factor 0.738)
Norm Power: 170
VI: 1.11
Distance: 27.401 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 421 153 watts
Heart rate: 87 158 132 bpm
Cadence: 21 109 74 rpm
Speed: 2.8 29.8 17.5 mph

Run
Run after bike, knee okay running 50mins, ~6.75mi, mi 5 fast. Run was kind of a venting session, blowing off bike-knee frustration.

Mon. 9-23
Off, extended stretching and roller

Tue. 9-24
Run easy 45mins, ~6mi, left achilles barking at me now and then, not sharp bnut more than just "there", enough so I stopped to massage it twice.
Core 15mins

Recovery week of Mon. 9-17

Savage Mountain levels out. Finally.
Damn knee warmers just would not stay up.

Mon. 9-17 & Tue. 9-18
No exercise. Pretty sore and tight all over, only nasty spot is the left knee on the side, by the top outer corner of the knee and less so for a few inches up from there. Knee spot hurts sharply when stand up from low seated position.

Wed. 9-19
Right out of bed feeling much much better all over, even knee.
Run easy 35mins in eve.

Thur. 9-19
Start coached swim program. Tue. & Thur. 6a-7a. Starting next week would've been better, but the schedule is not under my control, and it's too perfect to pass up, held at a very convenient school pool (G'town Prep). Form drills, some with short swim fins "zoomers" first time I've ever used any fin. Then 4x100 descending, Started at 2min20secs, last one at about 2:17.
Can I get my daily dose of inner peace thru physical exhaustion thing via swimming? Hmmmm.

30min visit to the massage therapist. Worked fairly hard on trouble spots. Thinks could be irritated tendon, tendonitis. Tight connecting muscles/tissue chains (IT Band, thigh, hammies) pull on tendon, tendon resists, pulls back into itself, gets irritated when keeps getting pulled on as in lengthy bike ride. Bent knee is max pull situation. Address this with stretching and self massage (foam roller, etc.), ice, and TLC in general.

Geeky look back at more Savageman race data. I can do this for days, maybe even weeks.
Cals consumed on bike = ~950 = 260cals/hr avg during race

HammerGel: ~450cals
E-Gel: ~140cals
1 banana: ~120cals max
2 water bottles
Perpetuem drink mix: ~150cals
.4 clif bar: ~110 cals

Cals expended on the course.
swim - est'd 400
bike - 2140
Run - 1300
Total - ~3900

Bike Data

Entire workout (165 watts):
Duration: 3:36:15 (3:39:40)
Work: 2139 kJ
TSS: 262.1 (intensity factor 0.853)
Norm Power: 196
VI: 1.19
Distance: 56.357 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 421 165 watts
Heart rate: 84 228 144 bpm
Cadence: 26 102 70 rpm
Speed: 2.3 38.1 15.6 mph

Small moments. As I remember them.

Mature knitter sitting in her oh-so-comfy looking folding chair at the top of the park road hill, cheering in a relaxed fashion and knitting. Told her I expected that purple sweater to be ready for a fitting when I came around on lap 2. She let me down, clearly not a NYC knitter.

Realizing that 12th in my AG would've been 4th in the 30-34.

Tortuous signage along the Savage Mountain bike climb. Provoked some of the darker comments exchanged between bikers. Sour but funny even at the time. Bitter grinners.

Rider 1 struggling up the road, as rider 2 comes up on him - "Whew" (huff) whew (puff) "plenty of damn climbin' eh?,"
Rider 2 puffing, wheezing, bent over putting everything into every pedal stroke head shaking, spits out a single angry syllable "fark!" (or something).

Rider A to anyone in earshot, announcing he's not a fan of the handmade mile markers lovingly posted on the roadside along the climb. "Enough with the f%#@! signs, I don't want to know I've got 4miles to go to the summit at a mother f&%$!@ing 11% grade!"

Rider X - "I was hunched over the bars and sucking wind so hard up that thing I think my tongue about caught in the front spokes."

Me knocking out the 7.1mi climb in 40mins 48scs for a 10.3mph avg speed and 24th fastest ascent out of 158.

The pics are courtesy of a triathlete who puts his pro grade pics out free for personal use by racers (aaronpics.com). Enjoy.

Mile 5 of the bike. Cold!

One lap down, one to go.
That's my Clint Eastwood squint.

Savageman Tri & Another Home Media Experiment

Action Cam.
Hold it in hand, mount it on something stationary, or, moving. Watch out Scorcese.

Apologies if I am testing the download capabilities of your system and/or your patience. I don't really know what I'm doing at all, if you haven't picked up on that yet. Feedback on the content, the format or tech stuff, ways to make it less cumbersome on the user - all welcome and appreciated.

Nevertheless, for the investment of a little time and, so far, about $170 in equipment (voice recorder, action cam, batteries) I can now burden unsuspecting clickers with still pics, audio of my voice, and now... home video. It's aim and shoot with the vid cam, no viewfinder. A weak microphone. Not sure if I'll keep the thing.

The Half Iron distance race yesterday was at least as tough as I suspected. Rather sore all over today. The race was cold and hilly in a nutshell. Hilly enough that it may indeed be the hardest half iron distance tri in the world. According to tri veterans on hand "The World's Toughest Half" in Oregon may have been dethroned.

Hills, hills, hills and then a few more hills. Cold. Race day temp spread was hi 30's early and peaking in hi 50's. Made for some teeth chattering and shivering on the bike when I wasn't working hard on an uphill. Sunny most of the day, little wind. The most significant data of the day - water temp was pretty warm, maybe near 70, thankfully.

I'm about ready to divorce my left knee, drafting the papers as we speak. We argued ever more bitterly and loudly over the the final 2hrs of the 3hr40m I spent on the 56mi bike. I pleaded for peace, babied it, went easy, telling myself it'd leave more fuel in my tank for the run anyway. Once I got off the bike, I had no knee issues for the entire 1hr58mins of my 13.1mi run time.

Dif in water v air temp made for lake surface fog early in the morn on Sun. A pic of fog and no fog swim start area below.

Day before the race, the swim start area in the afternoon.

Lots of dour looks at the Sat. race info meeting when I took the pic above. It was mid 40's gray and windy at the time, sure kept the meeting moving along.

Race morning.
Swim start area ~90mins before the 8a.m. gun.
Those boats are bass fishermen, great timing for their tournament, eh?

It was an in-water start. Line between the orange buoys, one in the pic and one another 50 yards off shore, then swim to the upper left .6 mile, turn around and swim back. Fog was thick enough that I could not see more than 20 yards in any direction. Made sighting the buoys fun, er, impossible.

Took my time drying off and donning lots of layers before rolling out on the bike.

The choice end-of-the-rack transition set spot.
My bike and race gear pile, pre-race.

Mayor Fenty was #64, with me #63 we were rack neighbors. He beat me out of the water, no achievement there, ha. I caught him at mi 40 of the bike. Found out he dnf'd. Letting down the District, tsk, tsk. Not sure if he attempted any of the run. My guess is he packed it in after the bike.

He was not alone. Only 101 individual racers (non-relay team folks) finished. There were a lot of people forced to dismount and walk their bikes up the steep hills, others resorted to doing the paperboy weave back and forth across the road to slowly get to the top. Likewise, lots of walking going on during the run. Not to mention some dry heavers and full out chunk blowers on both courses as well. Makes you feel studly when you roll past vomit trails. As stories start to emerge, it seems many pros and elites really "raced" the course like a typical Half, and paid the price: dnf-ing, doing a finish line bonk - thanks, don't mind me, I'm just gonna curl up over here on this open patch of parking lot pavement.

There was a unique award for the quickest ascent of the 7.1mi Savage Mountain climb that gets the real bike fun started around 18miles into the course. I managed 24th out of 158 total riders who made it up the climb. 40min48secs, 10.29mph.

Otherwise, pretty middlin race in terms of placement.
37th out of 101 finishers.
31 out of 85 men (Note - I got chicked by 6 ladies!!)
12th out of 17 finishers in my 35-39yr old AG (21 started, 4 dnf)

Swim 47:29 (94th out of 101 finishers; 17th out of 17 in my AG)
T1 11:26
Bike 3:39:52 (10th out of 17 finishers in AG)
T2 3:06
Run 1:57:40 (20th overall of 101 solo racers; 17th among 85 men; 6th out of 17 in AG) (about a 9min mi pace)
Total - 6hr 39mins 33secs.

Meanwhile, back in Rock Creek Park near the beltway, Dublin-man threw down a 1:52 half mary (8:36 pace avg) in a prep race for the target marathon. Well done! Let's hope I got a few of those genes.

The audio below is 4mins 13 secs recorded on my drive home Sun.
The video experiment is roughly 30 secs, shows race start area including me stepping in and taking the above fog pic. No relationship btwn the audio and video.

Friday 9-14-07 Resting & Recording

Benny Vansteelant RIP

No workout today. Drive to Deep Creek tomorrow for Savageman this Sunday. Will do a short bike-run at race site tomorrow to verify bike is in good order and move the legs a bit.

Getting amped up, will be the most challenging course I've ever raced, and probably the longest day.
Along Savage River, over Savage Mtn. It's a savage course and it may come packaged with savage weather. Appropriate, eh? 40's at start, maybe up to 60 by the end. But no precip predicted.

The few lbs I've put on with decreased training over the last 3 weeks may come in handy as insulation. Knee complaints forced a more extreme taper than I would've preferred. Good chance I'll be DFL out of the water, as I'm in the last of 3 race start waves.

The tough course makes race planning simple. No point in heart rate zones and caps, bike power targets, or run pacing goals. Just eat and drink when possible, to the tune of at least 1000 cals while riding and a few hundred on the run.

Indulge a philosophical moment… from triathlon racing and training as a hobby/lifestyle, to blogging, to distractions of the inner - living an examined, introspective life, becoming "self aware" and similar mental gyrations… These all seem luxuries only possible when one is not consumed with surviving. Gift of birth - in the developed world to good parents.

One Last serious tangent, an amazing athlete is no longer.
Benny Vansteelant, Belgian duathlete extraordinaire died this week at age 30.
Tiger Woods has nothing on this guy.

• World Championship Duathlon (short distance):
• Winner (4): 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004
• World Championship Duathlon (long distance):
• Winner (4): 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006
• European Championship Duathlon:
• Winner (5): 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007

This audio below: me talking to to myself as I ride my bike, recorded in Rock Creek Park, mostly tri talk, a favorite topic for the immediate audience - me. Listen at your leisure and your own risk, it's 14+mins you'll never get back. High lights include a challenge to the Mayor and leaf blower rant. Surf the net, cook, clean, fold clothes, herd cats. Put it in the background and do something productive.

Wed. 9-12-07
Run-Swim-Run

Run 22mins to pool, ~2.7mi.
Swim 36mins steady start with catchup, then free, split laps breathing right side then left, final few laps all right side.
Run 22mins home, ~2.7mi

Thur. 9-13-07
Bike EZ & Swim EZ
Fuji outdoors in Rock Creek, talking to myself and pedaling easy. ~77, sunny, low humidity.

Entire workout (132 watts):
Duration: 1:18:58 (1:22:03)
Work: 626 kJ
TSS: 54.7 (intensity factor 0.645)
Norm Power: 148
VI: 1.12
Distance: 21.688 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 439 132 watts
Heart rate: 73 147 124 bpm
Cadence: 27 95 75 rpm
Speed: 2.5 26.5 16.5 mph

Swim 20mins easy.

Audio test

Below is a link to a fairly cheesy and boring test recording to see if I can put some audio on my blog. It's a little over 1 min.

Clicking on the icon below will take you to my just created public media account on twango.com, a media hosting web page, where you can click on a similar icon to play the recording. This will cause your pc to open it with whatever media software you have, such as QuickTime.

This is a TEST people, future audio content can only get better. Listen to this cheese if you wish, it may not be around long. Delete is a beautiful thing.

Yes, you may hear some low electronica tunes in the background - that's down home engineering for ya.

Tuesday Run-Bike short

Tue. 9-11 Run-Bike
Run steady, tad frisky, 40mins, ~5.4mi.
Hi 70's, gray almost foggy, humid, had rained earlier, no wind, nice run weather. Would be a good night to catch some night crawlers I bet.

Bike
QR trainer ride after ~4min trans from run.
Easy ride, stayed seated almost entire time, a few stretches of steady+ riding at 190-210w. Tired to generate some feeling of lactic acid and get the LA clearing process opened up and flowing.
No achilles noise. Knee itb quad spot pretty much silent as well.

Entire workout (169 watts):
Duration: 50:54
Work: 515 kJ
TSS: 49.5 (intensity factor 0.764)
Norm Power: 176
VI: 1.04
Distance: 16.722 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 286 169 watts
Heart rate: 96 156 137 bpm
Cadence: 25 94 87 rpm
Speed: 3.2 23.2 19.7 mph

Swimmin' with the fish

Mon. 9-10-07
Day off for the legs.
Swim 45mins, Core 10mins.
Catchup and steady free. Got a spot in one of 2 lanes available, other 10 lanes in use for swim team practice. Had to be 60-75 kids in there whipping up a small chop. That along with the 3 aging sharks sharing my lane (politely lapping me again and again) combined for a bit of an open water race day sim effect.

Weekend of 9-8 & 9-9

Saturday 9-8 Bike & Swim
Bike - Fuji outdr out to Seneca store and back via River. High 80’s, humid and sunny. Pretty comfortable on the bike tho, not feeling “hot.” Steady effort at most. Knee: bad but not terrible.

Good ride as a reminder to eat/drink more. MORE!! Dropped 3+lbs in only 2.5hrs. Didn’t feel bonky or anything, but, how many times must I relearn this lesson.
Chronic discrete amnesia. Sounds almost scientific.

Beneficial flipside of CDA? facilitate taking on tough physical challenges, maybe even essential for the killer events like marathons and mountain climbing, the stuff that typically hurts enough that you don't go back until the pain file is sufficiently deleted. Maybe elite athletes are super-amnesiacs, endure and forget. And on another level all together, any woman who goes through childbirth more than once. (!) Or, maybe it's all just selective deletion.

Entire workout (165 watts):
Duration: 2:30:52 (2:31:10)
Work: 1493 kJ
TSS: 159.1 (intensity factor 0.796)
Norm Power: 183
VI: 1.11
Distance: 45.978 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 369 165 watts
Heart rate: 81 165 140 bpm
Cadence: 27 100 75 rpm
Speed: 2.2 40.1 18.3 mph

Swim
Easy recovery swim ~1hr after bike.
Got out when arches started getting touchy, cramps coming on.

Sunday 9-9
Run - 1hr20mins, ~10.7mi, from home out and back on rock creek path along beach dr. High 80's, humid, no wind to speak of. Highish avg HR - attribute to warm conditions, up-tempo pace/effort for miles7-8-9.
No achilles noise. A little left knee/itb/quad area hum but background at most when it was there. Side of knee and lower spot was feeling funky, strained, tight, maybe out of wack, last night and a bit of same out of bed today but faded over day. Did not run until 4:30.

mi 7 - 7:03/157HR
mi 8 - 6:56/160HR
mi 9 - 6:44/161 (not sure this mi marker is accurate, mfelt more like 6:50-55 pace at best)

Opt out of swim after 6 consec days. Used the time to clean house, dishes, laundry, groceries, taking a feng shui run at shuffling some furniture around.

Friday 9-7-07 Run-Swim-Run

Fri. 9-7-07
Run-Swim-Run

Run 45mins steady to pool, ~6mi, no achilles noise, left itb/quad/knee area "there" now and then in the background. Hi 80's and humid. No oomph but not heavy legs either.

Swim 40mins after 5min trans from run.
Catchup 10-15mins; steady free with 4 x (50 hard/50 easy); 1x 100 hard.
50's were 1:07-1:13.

Five consec days of swimming. Keepin' it rolling.

Run 22mins home from pool after 5 min trans from swim, ~2.8mi.
Front of ankles full/tight after swim, not used to being stretched out like a fin/paddle as happens when swimming.

30sec clip of a gal giving it her all trying to get up the first steep pitch at the start of the 7+ mile climb on the Savageman bike course. This clip shows the final stretch of 5 blocks uphill through a hillside neighborhood in Westernport, MD. The top block is permanently closed to vehicles, known as the "Westernport Wall."

45sec clip of a successful attempt. There is hope! :)

This 25-30% grade stretch is a doozy of a way to start 45 mins of pedalling uphill. Neither of these vids really does it justice. I am looking forward to it and I'm not sure I want to know why.

Thursday 9-6-07 Bike-Swim

Thur. 9-6
Bike-Swim
Bike QR trainer, easy spin, no standing, all sitting up, just getting the legs moving and praying for no knee discomfort.
Fortune shined, left knee ITB/quad spot was just barely there at end of ride. No sharp chirps. Me happy.

Entire workout (157 watts):
Duration: 55:04
Work: 518 kJ
TSS: 45.9 (intensity factor 0.707)
Norm Power: 163
VI: 1.04
Distance: 17.615 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 218 157 watts
Heart rate: 76 138 126 bpm
Cadence: 34 94 85 rpm
Speed: 2.9 21.3 19.2 mph

Swim

Project Prune continues. Day 4.

~33mins easy-steady session after bike.
Catchup, free. Some sighting practice, high elbow focus.

Wednesday 9-5 Run-Swim-Run

More album/poster art.

Wed. 9-5

Swim binge day 3. Goal is at least ten swims before 9/15, no consecutive days without a swim, ideally no dry days at all.

Run 35 mins steady to pool, ~4.6mi, no zip in the legs, but not feeling weak or fatigued either. No left knee/ITB/quad spot noise. Left achilles "there" now and then toward end of run.

Swim 36mins, ~15mins catchup, 20mins free, just steady swim, nearly all right breathing, no groove happening yet. Trying to roll evenly, keep elbows high to surface and forward of palms. Not really succeeding on either front there.

Run 20mins, ~2.6mi home from pool, legs felt fine all over, lower legs a bit sluggish at first, ankles a bit wooden at first as well.

May try a short trainer bike tomorrow with a swim after. Fri. is probably a swim only day.

Tuesday 9-4-07

Classic album art

Tue. 9-4
Swim & Core

Swim 46mins at the MAC, catchup w/2-3 stroke breathing, free fist drill, free steady, 2x100yds, 4x50, cool.
Intervals - slow! 1:10-15 for the 50's!!
Two weeks closed for maintenance and the pool had a bit of cloudiness to it. Did get a lane to myself starting at 7:15.
10mins core at home.

Labor Day weekend

Sat. 9-1
Run 46mins, ~6mi. Very easy effort, started very slow with much trepidation, and eased into it. No Achilles trouble. Phew! And, yeah! Maybe I will be able to manage my way to a relatively healthy status by 9/16.

Core stuff for 15mins.

Sun. 9-2 Bike and Run
Gorgeous day. ~80F, low humidity, scattered clouds, light winds.

Bike Fuji down Beach, left knee spot squawked sharp 15mins in, 2-3 times thereafter, gen ache in the area built over ride. Sharp was at top fwd of pedal stroke, so seemed. Just cruised easy. Barely worked the legs. Gotta manage this knee thing into some sort of decent status before 9/16 race, doesn’t bode well for having decent bike legs on race day.

Then again, some people end up with PRs after having an unplanned layoff. A little positive spin mental mojo, eh?

Entire workout (150 watts):
Duration: 1:26:56 (1:29:56)
Work: 782 kJ
TSS: 74.7 (intensity factor 0.718)
Norm Power: 165
VI: 1.1
Distance: 25.385 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 345 150 watts
Heart rate: 74 155 126 bpm
Cadence: 35 96 73 rpm
Speed: 2.5 30.2 17.5 mph

Run
Run 53mins, ~7.2mi, no knee or achilles noise, knee went quiet as soon as got off bike, run after 10min trans from bike. Miles 5-6 at 6:50 pace. Felt some rust from low activity week. ~75F low humidity no wind Beach path.

Mon. 9-3 Labor Day
Swim & Run
Local pool still closed. Made the drive to the old stomping ground in Greenbelt. Took run gear and did a leisurely swim-run.

Swim
Swim 43 mins (47mins minus bathrom break)
Catchup w/some 3 stroke breathing mixed in; free with mix of left/right breath every 2 stroke; focus on high elbow, head/spine alignment, even roll to both sides, esp non breathing side.

15mins stretching after swim before run, 15 again after run.

Run 86mins, ~11-11.5mi, steady effort, nothing frisky. Knee fine, left Achilles fine. Right Achilles a bit tight. Stopped and massaged it a couple times. Every niggle is a worry just now. Upper 70’s-low 80’s, low humidity, no wind, few clouds.

Drove home, 20mins in the recovery chamber, aka “cold/ice bath”.

Tue. 8/28 - Sat. 9/1

Fellow psychos from the Savage course ride 8-25. Mile 35ish at Howe's Store and Gas Stop.
Me, Craig, Susan, Don, Reid and Sean. I think.
Pic courtesy of Joe Howe.

Tue. 8-28
Argh! Headed out for an easy run. Left Achilles barked sharply for a few strides about 2miles/15mins in. Stopped, walked, cursed, prayed. Eased into walking, running again. Okay for another 10-15mins, then again with the sharp twinge. Walked home. No discomfort from the achilles other than those handful of strides with the sharp twinges.

15mins of core stuff.

Wed. 8-29
Dentist visit. No exercise. Notice here that swimming is conspicuously absent from the log, despite my desire to do a heavy swim block. The pool is closed for cleaning 8/19-9/4. Timing couldn’t be worse.

No complaints from the Achilles, felt fine walking around. Worried I may have to bag the race in 2 ½ week if this thing doesn’t play nice. So, I’ll baby it along with the knee now.

The sky is not falling, the sky is not falling…

Thur. 8-30
Previously scheduled visit to the massage therapist. 30mins of ART work.

I let Lara do as she wished after giving her the exec summary of my last 2 weeks of training and explaining how the left Achilles and knee area have really reared up. In her opinion, not a tear or discrete injury. More like a strain given that it is not a constant thing. Her instinct was to go to town on the trouble spots, standard breaking up of adhesions and such, both legs. Yeeowza.

I’m generally leery of attacking a spot that hurts. Scared silly actually. Any time something has fired up on me, esp in anything resembling an acute fashion, I’ve put the cuffs on her - go easy on the area. I'm particularly fearful of hard work on the Achilles. It is such a skittish area even when completely healthy. Hell, I stay away from even stretching that damn thing, 'cause I've tweaked it that way. So, as I say, I’m hesitant to set her loose on any precise spot that is hurting. Anything that might make conceivably, 1 in a million chance, make a problem worse, well, no thanks.

I mustered the courage, relinquished control, closed my eyes and hoped for the best. I survived the session. We’ll see what the deep work does for me.

$2.54 for the cheap petrol in Annandale, VA. (compare to $2.80-85 in Rockville)

Fri. 8-31
Great weather, low humidity, sunny, 70’s. No knee or Achilles trouble walking around. Some soreness where Lara went deep. Nothing unusual.

Quelled the urge to run. Reach a mental compromise and get on the trainer for an indoor bike session, that way I can hop off at any time, no risk of something going funky on me miles from home. Been off the bike since Sat., it should be ready for a little activity.

Went very easy. Some knee ache came on 45mins in, pulled the plug at 60mins.
Not thrilled. The downside of the sporting life. Oh well.

On a positive note, had a very nice visit out to Devereaux. Great evening hanging in the backyard enclave with Jim, Cindy, Mom and Dad. Pretty solid crowd, all looking healthy and happy. And oh, the stories I heard. The dirt… the gossip… the (perhaps) embellished tales…

Thur. 8/23 thru Tue. 8/28 - Perspective

Drove a few hrs up to Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland last Thursday. Purpose was dual - to check out the country road race course for the first annual Savageman triathlon (9/16) and rendezvous with some of my old gang for a night of poker.

The race course:
Buh.
Roo.
Tull.

Quad shattering climbs on the bike route. Long and steep, a lovely combo. My perspective on "hilly" is greatly expanded. A 6 mile climb that goes over the continental divide (according to the race site) is one of the highlights. Much sterner stuff than I'd ever experienced. I loved it. I need to get my swim in gear so I come out of the water relatively fresh going into the bike and run. The legs will certainly not object to a swim emphasis and less bike/run for a bit.



Arrived at about 3p Thur. and got in a solo ride of the 56mi course. Enjoyed about 8 "bonus" miles thanks to a wrong turn.

Friday I did a short swim in the lake near the race area and ran one loop of the 2 loop run course. The middle 4-5 miles of the 6.6 mi course are on hiking trails. Technical and hilly. More long stretches of steep uphill... If the legs aren't screamin' after the bike, they will be not long into the run.

Friday night was poker. The one night the boys would all be in town at once, a gathering motivated as a final get together before 2 of the moved to Fla. and New Mexico 9/1.
Up to about 5 years ago we'd get a house on the lake for a week every summer. These days it's an event if we see each other once a year on our home turf.

This time around only a few fellas maintained the beer and boating and water skiing tradition during the day. But all posted for the poker. I won early and lost late. Oh well. The cards were really just an excuse to hang out.

Saturday I rode the bike course again, this time with six other racers in to check out the route. This time the hills did not seem quite as nasty. They hurt. A lot, the way cycling can. But the mind blowing aspect was not as severe. Wide range of age and abilities in our group. One of the group is part of the race organizing outfit. The elder statesman, Don, is a retired state trooper who has been doing tris for a few years. Ironman USA in Lake Placid is on his schedule for next year.

The first real climb, the 6miler, split up the group explosively. There's no slowing down to stay together on these things. You crawl into your own little cave. It's a matter of get in the easiest gear you've got, find a tempo if you can and try to keep moving enough not to fall over. It's that steep at times. Don and 2-3 others fell back, resorting to the "paperboy" tactic of weaving back and forth across the road.

As we waited to regroup at the top, I found out that Don was shot in the chest as a trooper and was left with one lung. Jeezus this! and Holy that! was the head shaking refrain. He's doing this on one @#!*&% lung! Yeah. Perspective again, on a few levels.

A misc image to close out on a light note...

I didn't see this guy
but he looks like a mountain man.

A competitor in Ironman Kentucky (Louisville) held this past Sunday.
He finished. Cut off jeans all the way I hear.

Oh, hold on. I drove back to Rockville after the group ride on Sat.
1 hr (flat!) run on Sun.
Easy 40min run Mon. 8/27. Left knee and achilles barking at me since Thur. Bark, but no bite so far. Not pleased with the punishment they took in the mountains.

$2.79 for the cheap stuff in Deep Creek.

Mon. & Tue. August 21 & 22; Aeros on the Road Bike

From the big bin of unused bike stuff.
Every once in awhile the hording pays off.

Tue. 8-21 Run-Bike

Run 34 mins easy, ~4.5mi, 70F mist overcast
6min trans to bike

Bike Fuji indoor trainer with clipons, trying ‘em out before going to Deep Creek to pre ride Savageman course, played with clip on bars while riding, def am stretched out even with bars all the way back, at least on the trainer. No arm rests, just taped some padding on top bar, worked all right, albeit for the short ride.

Entire workout (163 watts):
Duration: 59:48 (59:57)
Work: 584 kJ
TSS: 56 (intensity factor 0.75)
Norm Power: 172
VI: 1.06
Distance: 19.187 mi

Min Max Avg
Power: 0 255 163 watts
Heart rate: 82 145 126 bpm
Cadence: 39 94 83 rpm
Speed: 2.4 22.4 19.3 mph

Wed. 8-22
Bike-Run

Fuji outdr Rock Creek, ~70F, overcast, no wind.
Easy, ride-as-you like day. Rare weekday outdoor ride.
Put Deda arm rests on to go with the Deda Black Clip clip ons, also QR seat pad. Felt okay, surprisingly, not significantly stretched out.

Entire workout (162 watts):
Duration: 1:29:05 (1:30:28)
Work: 862 kJ
TSS: 86.7 (intensity factor 0.765)
Norm Power: 176
VI: 1.09
Distance: 26.528 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 344 162 watts
Heart rate: 76 148 126 bpm
Cadence: 28 108 77 rpm
Speed: 2.4 31.5 17.9 mph

Run 30mins, ~4mi, regular steady run, 6min trans from bike, nice cool night.

Taking it easy so far this week, aiming to recover completely from the Sunday race and be ready to go for the Savageman course pre ride/run this weekend.

Mon. 8-20 Do Nothing, Talk Big

Day off. Feeling pretty good, upper quads a bit sore. Slept 9+ hrs.
Reeeeeeeally hit the carbo lounger hard last night. But, no carb hangover. No injury, well, a touchy spot on me butt bone if I sit just right (here's to you nancy newbie, despite the rubber tires bikes are not like bumper cars). Mentally, feeling much dif than after the swampy Cambridge du debacle 6 weeks ago. So.... feeling (over) ambitious for the final few races, esp duathlons, I'll ramble along those lines tonight.

Currently, I'm registered for one more race, a tri on 9/16. Savageman Half Iron distance in Deep Creek, MD. "Savage" due to the mountainous bike course and tough run.

Now, I'm adding 2 fall duathlons (commit mentally now, with my wallet closer to race day). Barring the unforeseen, I will head to the rolling hills of Malabar Farm State Park in Mansfield, OH for the Powerman Ohio duathlon held 9/30 (5mi-36mi-5mi). The competition will be as tough as it gets in the U.S., at least as strong as the Lums Pond field was weak. The top 6 amateur finishers in each age group qualify to race the world long distance champs in Richmond 10/21. Yes, I can dream. Here is a one-page article/review of the race going into the 2006 running.

Two weeks should be enough to recover from Savageman, but enough to get the full snap back in the legs? Taking a thrashing in OH wouldn't be the worst thing. Can't place if you don't race and all that.

Savageman (9/16) - a challenge race but not quite a gotta do once in my life race - a big training day, tough-is- fun session two weeks out from...
Powerman (9/30) - push the envelope, let it ALL hang out, do it smart, race for the place - top 5 in AG.

And then... I'm dangerously close to entering a race that's been calling out to me since inception.
American Zofingen (10/14) - a "gotta do this race at least once," serious challenge.

"AmZof" is a long distance duathlon, named after the notoriously hilly and long-standing premier du in Europe, Powerman Zofingen (Switzerland). Held in New Paltz, NY a couple hrs north of NYC it's been in around just a couple years. B - prepare your escape clause, if I do this race I'll probably try to swing into the city for a visit.

It's the duathlon version of an ultra distance trail run. The 5 and 15mile runs are on hilly off road trails, and, the list of entrants/finishers is short (fewer than 50 in 2006). After the 5 and before the 15 is the bike, an 85 mile road course with 8K feet of climbing (gulp). The distance and duration would be new territory for me. I'd look forward to again feeling that mix of fear and excitement, going into the unknown. Rough guess, it'd be an 8-10hr day. Cheaper entry fee than a measley 5-6hr Half IM - that's $ worth, eh?

Well, it's nice to have the health and the time for these [insert your descriptive word] endeavours.

Sunday 8-19-07 Short Race, Long Report

Transition area post race

Thoughts are with my Olean Memmott cousins and all of the Sheridans this weekend. I did not spend a lot of time with her, nevertheless I somehow have a firm impression of Mrs. S- smart, well defined sense of right and wrong, smart (again), and maybe a little feisty. I imagine those who knew her well are fortunate.

Sun. 8-19
Lums Pond Sprint Du

2mi run-19.5mi Bike - 3.1mi run
Lums Pond State Park
Bear, Delaware
Flat course. Sprint distance triathlon is held concurrently, the sharing bike and run course.
About 100 folks in the du, maybe 250-300 in the tri.
~70F, gray, occassional sprinkles, no wind.
Pretty much ideal conditions.
Full aero wheels setup and aero helmet. No skin tight top, but a not too floppy sleeveless shirt.

Made good time driving up 105mi. Banana and cliff bar and small bit of choc spelt donut (healthy donut?), left ~3:45, sipped coffee and water in the drive. Arrived 5:30a, first one in the lot, avoided the 20min backup that others suffered later. Also avoided bathroom lines (no lines first two visits, short line last time) having to park in a distant lot and having to scurry frantically about to get set up, stretch, warm up. Another banana, sip or two of coffee about 1:15 pre-race.

However, I did have some unusual prerace drama - collided with another rider prerace on my warmup ride. Head on. Two young ladies (jus using that phrase means I'm officially getting old) riding into the park from a satellite lot, me riding out. Outbound lane was closed to cars. I was in that lane following the white line, staying to my right as is the rule. I dodged the first gal who was meandering at me along the white line (!) but gal #2 was just off the white line, perfectly positioned for a direct hit if she didn't move over. She didn't. We had a rude introduction.

Not going too fast thankfully. Probably looked good, I think I heard a couple "oh my god!"s and "holy s--t"s from the grid locked cars in the inbound lane. Can't say who got the worst of it. She had a bloody knee but was eager to untangle the bikes and get to the start area. I took my time, inventoried the body and the bike. No physical or mechanical trouble riding back to the start area. Had to adjust one arm pad and one aero bar, the seat nose had rammed into my rear end (ouch) and not moved a millimeter (hence the ouch), and a few knuckles got scraped. Probably will sport a bruise and some band aids this week. Very lucky overall. Nothing that a small serving of HTFU won't overcome.

The early arrival paid off here, allowing time to make the adjustments and tape up my scrapes, and still get in some warm up running. Gear shifting was slightly off during the race, jumping cogs on the rear cassette a bit but no big deal.

Late race start, 8a, not 7:45.

Run starts and finishes on grass,
a little bit x-country

Held back at the very start, then started leaning on the gas gradually, but never fully stepped on it. Went fairly fast over the 2nd mile, hoping to limit the gap to the front folks. These guys really shot out of the blocks, and I didn’t see most of them again until the finish. Probably let 1-2 guys get away that I might have stayed with on the bike. Maybe.

Felt pretty good on the bike. No knee or ITB problems going hard. Aimed to keep the cadence high, 90+ with some dips into the 80’s.

Nice, spread out riders for first half of the ride. Slowly chased down a few lone riders. Yippee! Passed 4-5 guys. A little pack with a couple of these guys caught me with 7-8 miles to go. Myself and one other guy got a little vocal about the bunching up. People were neither falling back nor going hard enough to pull away. Hard to know whether it was intentional or guys who were strong enough to hang on but not make a successful pass yet refused to fall back out of the draft.

I was determined to ride legally. After falling back out of the draft I decided to dig in and pass the whole crew, and try to get away off the front – to drop them. Got away briefly thought I made it far enough to snap the rubberband, but was only a few mins before the guys came up on me again.

Tried once more before the final turn back into the park. Same result. Fine. let them get off the bike just ahead of me - just have to run them down. I succeeded.

The short distance stuff is fun, in a hurt-so-good way I guess, easier to push the personal pain envelope - c'mon wuss, you can dig deeper, just a few more minutes. Part of the fun of the short stuff, let it all hang out if you want. Esp when the conditions are cooperative.

Finished in 1:20:36 unofficially.
1st out of 11 in my AG. Top o' the Podium, woohoo!!
Of course, that does not include a 39er who finished 3rd overall.
10th overall out of about 93 finishers.

Run1 11:01 (11^th overall out of 93 - 11^th%)
(2006 - 10:03 (5:35 pace?) 25^th out of 156 - 16^th%)

T1 0:54
(2006 - 0:50)

Bike 51:18 (15^th overall, 16^th%) 22.8mph
(2006 - 50:48; 23mph, 29^th out of 156 (18^th%)

T2 0:51
(2006 - 1:00)

Run2 16:33 (5:21 pace?) (6^th overall, 6^th%)
(2006 - 17:34 (5:40 pace?) 13^th out of 156 (8^th%)

Finish 1:20:36 (10^th out of 93, 10^th%)
(2006 - 1:20:13, 27^th out of 156, 17^th %)

A 20 something DC HS track/x-country coach I sometimes ride with finished 2nd overall. May see him again at Powerman, OH 9-30-07.

Note - the run distances are never spot on at this race, and, unfortunately they may not even be consistent in the inaccuracy year to year. Will be interesting to see how the official chip splits compare to prior years.

A little lonely at the finish line for the BOPers

Note - did not wear HR monitor, it was acting funky prerace.

Bananas, water, clif bar post race waiting for results and awards. More bananas, water and Gatorade on the drive home as I listened to the cspan rebroadcast of the Dem debate. The alleged front runners seemed to get significantly more time and attention than everyone else. All sounded a little slicker and better at getting their message out ina smooth fashion even as it failed to provide an answer to the question.

Scene

Entire workout (218 watts):
Duration: 50:16
Work: 658 kJ
TSS: 78.6 (intensity factor 0.969)
Norm Power: 223
VI: 1.02
Distance: 18.906 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 353 218 watts
Cadence: 39 124 88 rpm
Speed: 4 27.4 22.6 mph

2006 Lums Bike leg:
Entire workout (214 watts):
Duration: 50:42
Work: 649 kJ
TSS: 77.2 (intensity factor 0.956)
Norm Power: 220
VI: 1.03
Distance: 19.402 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 400 214 watts
Heart rate: 139 166 156 bpm
Cadence: 37 100 86 rpm
Speed: 3 28.3 23.0 mph

T-Shirt AND a paperweight

Saturday 8-18

Sat. 8-18
Run and swim
Run 54mins easyish ~7.25mi, neighborhood rollers, ~81F sunny, low humidity.

Swim easy/steady 35mins about 40mins after run, usual catchup w/3rd stroke breathing into free with mixed 2nd-3rd stroke breathing.

Racing Lums Pond Sprint Duathlon tomorrow in Delaware. 2mi run-19.5mi bike-3.1mi run. super flat.

Low priority training race, intensity session.
Legs should be fairly fresh at the end of a light/recovery volume week.

Friday 8-17 Run-Bike

Fri. 8-17

Run - Bike
Run 60mins, ~8mi+, 143 avg HR. Down Rock Creek/Beach to Cedar and up hill, turn around at Saul Rd.
Mile 7 pace was ~7:12
~4-5mins trans to bike

Bike
QR trainer after run.
Easy-steady, some brief standing.
Left ITB/Quad spot okay.

Entire workout (165 watts):
Duration: 55:49
Work: 551 kJ
TSS: 51.7 (intensity factor 0.745)
Norm Power: 171
VI: 1.04
Distance: 18.649 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 253 165 watts
Heart rate: 85 158 142 bpm
Cadence: 32 94 86 rpm
Speed: 2.5 23.9 20.0 mph