It's All About the Bike

I've heard people say that triathlons are all about the run.  You know, "Bike for Show, Run for Dough".  Many races are won on the run.  Of course some of that is due to the fact that the run is last.  Similarly as the swim is first, I've heard "You can't win it in the swim, but you sure can lose it".  Probably just an old golf expression when talking about the first round of a four round tournament.

But in this Olympic year, ITU style draft-legal racing has gotten a lot of attention. Those races always come down to the run.  But I believe it was Javier Gomez (2012 Olympic Silver Medalist in the Triathlon) who said you have to be really strong on the bike so you can maintain the pace with everyone else, and then still be able to kill it on the run.  Bike hard (or harder) than everyone else, but still have gas in the tank to have a good/great run.  Plus, you can train like an idiot on the bike and not get injured all the time.

So obviously in the past 2 week training block, I've gotten a lot of miles in on the bike:

Swim
16,100 yards, 6 swims, 6:21
Some good, some bad.  Endurance is there, just slower than molasses.

Bike
417.9 miles, 8 rides, 19:05, 21.9 average
Pretty evenly split between the weeks 208/210M.  Got some great rides in the first week.  Averaged 22.1 mph for the entire week.  61M on Tuesday night and then a 35M tempo ride on my FLO's at a 24.3 mph avg.  The second week, my hill workout was a bit of a bust on Tuesday, but the Friday night tempo ride on the FLO's again did not disappoint as I did 36M at a 24.2 avg with a 15M block at 25.5 mph avg. Then I did a 90M ride on Saturday at 21.7 avg.  Sunday's 50 miler was tough, but slugged out a 21.2 avg on that.

Run
47 miles, 6 runs, 5:23
The first week I only managed 15 miles.  Four miles into my 13 miler on Tuesday, my right upper thigh pain came back.  First flared up while doing 16M run in the mountains.  I think I strained it as there was 1,800 feet of elevation gain on that run.  So I took a few days off, but ran 8 that Saturday and felt ok.  Saw Dr. Kahn the following Monday and he didn't think anything was too bad.  So the second week I did the 13 miler, then some intervals on Thursday.  I had a good short brick run after my 90 mile ride on Saturday.  Just 3 miles at 6:19 avg pace.  Sunday afternoons tempo run finally went well.  I didn't try and kill it in the first mile.  I did two miles warmup at 6:50's then did 6 miles of tempo.  First mile was a little fast (6:02) but felt good.  Ran through Baxter so there were hills.  Still had gas left in the tank at the end as the final 2 miles were 6:15 and 6:05.  Averaged 6:15's for the 6 miles, which was my goal.

Lift
6 Lifts, 2:00

Totals
474 miles, 20 SBR workouts, 32:49

Now we have a rest week.  I won't ride much as we'll be gone over Labor Day.  Starting to feel ready.  Starting to get some more confidence in my run.  I better, though.  5 weeks to Augusta

Stumpy Creek Race Report

I kind of threw in this race late for me.  Didn't really have it on the schedule, but since I hadn't raced since the third week in June and Augusta isn't until the end of September, a good Oly distance race the first weekend in August was perfect.  Especially since it was just an hour away in Mooresville, NC.

I did this race last year and felt it was kind of a breakout race for me.  I wasn't dead last for an OWS for the first time in that race last year.  Quite a feat for me!  So I had high hopes for this non-wetsuit swim in 90 deg water, especially coming off my 32 min time trial last weekend.

So Stumpy Creek Park is in Mooresville, NC along the shores of Lake Norman in a cove in the northeast part.  Ample parking and one transition area make it a pretty simple logistical race.  This year they had Friday night packet pickup at IOS in Charlotte, so I didn't have to fight I-77 traffic on a Friday night to get my packet.  I like getting my packet early, I guess.

Setup was pretty easy.  I had a bagel, a banana and some fig newtons.  Put my shoes on my bike with the rubber bands.  I hadn't done that in quite some time, but thought I would try it again.  Grabbed my goggles and cap (and nose plug) and did a short warmup swim.

Swim
Officially 36:03, 37/55 AG, 172/255 OA

I was in the second wave at 7:05am with basically men 30-44, so there was about 109 of us starting.  I started out hard for the first 200 and then relaxed.  I felt pretty good, I felt like I was holding a good pace.  My sighting was OK, as there were a few times I couldn't really see where I was headed.  I got off heading a little before the first turn, but other than that seemed ok.  So I was quite deflated when I got out of the water and looked at my Garmin:  35:39.  Same as last year, well officially 4 seconds slower than last year.  I had a heard a rumor from the previous year that this course was long.  My Garmin had 1.14 miles.  I can expect about a tenth of a mile long due to not swimming straight, but this course is still long.  Regardless, my swim rankings tell me all I need to know: I stink at swimming.

  

 -

T1

Officially 0:55, 6/55 AG, 41/255 OA

Pretty quick due to no wetsuit and shoes on the bike.  No issues.

Bike 27.1M

Officially 1:07:19, 1/54 AG, 4/250 OA

Actually tied for 3rd overall bike split, averaged 24.2 mph.  First race with my new FLO 60 front and 90 rear.  I've only gotten about 65 miles on them previously (still kinda scared to ride them with the potential for rain!).  From last year's race I know the first 10 miles were a little hilly (where 10 to 20 you had a chance to make some time).  So I tried to push as much as I could in the first 5 miles and was happy with a 22.7 average.  The FLO's rode great.  They really increased my top end speed and handled flawlessly.  No wind to speak of but there were some rough roads that the Michelin's did well on.  On the 10 mile stretch from 10 to 20M, I averaged 26.0 mph.  Dominated my AG as second place in the bike was 4:20 behind me.  I saw a lot of expensive bikes and wheels out there today, and only 2 of them rode faster than me!

T2

Officially 1:06, 14/53, 62/249 OA

Always a little slow in T2 as I put on socks, but still only 25 seconds behind the tops in my AG.

Run 6.1M

Officially 39:39, 1/53 AG, 8/249 OA

A little disappointed here as I just "didn't have it".  Wanted to run 6:15's but ended up in 6:29's.  Maybe the bike took a little out of me?  Nahhh!  Hills are still getting me, but not as bad.  Overall times were a little slower this year (I was 2:00 slower) I think due to the humidity being higher.  It wasn't really that hot.  A little surprised to have the fastest time in my AG by 2:10.

Finish

Officially 2:25:00, 1/55 AG, 19/255 OA

Good finish on the run to seal the AG win by 0:42.  Top 20 finish overall after my horrible swim definitely says something about my bike/run.  I was down by 7:19 after the swim to the eventual 2nd place finisher in my AG. See Overall results here.

Need to get faster in the water, but honestly it won't affect me as much at Augusta with the downstream wetsuit swim.  Rev3 FL may be a different matter, but I'm not really worried about that.  Seven weeks to Augusta.  My bike will be there, just need to start getting some quality runs in.  Time to put the head down and grind out 5 hard weeks of training before getting ready for the big one.

HammerFest 2K12

Welcome to HammerFest 2K12!   One week where I try and work out as much as possible.  Total hammertime for the entire week.  It has to be a week where the boys are up with my parents.  I got lucky this year that I didn't have any customers at work.  The weather cooperated pretty well.  Only had a few hiccups in the schedule, but came pretty close to all my goals.

Swim
11,000 yards, 4 swims, 4:19
Swam Mon, Wed, Fri, and Sat.  Swims went pretty well.  Did a 1,650 time trial on Sat they went well (for me).  Hit it in 32:19, or 1:57's.  Felt pretty pleased about that

Bike
266.2 miles, 5 rides, 12:22
Biked Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, and Sun.  Didn't get rained out, though I did get rained on.  Got home late on Wed, so rode about 10M short.  Made up for that on Fri and Sun.  Saturday's long ride got cut short because my rear derailleur cable broke about 50M in.  I got in 70M but was hoping for 85M.  Pretty pleased with the week.  Overall average of 21.5 for the week.  Fri tempo was 22.2 oal (20M in 23.8).  Long ride Saturday was 21.4.  Even Sunday didn't feel like I was dying.

Run
40 miles, 4 runs, 4:38
Ran Tues, Thu, Sat, and Sun.  Got a good 15M run in on Tues under 7's.  Thur Tempo was disappointing due to the heat.  Sat intervals went well even in the heat.  Sundays 6M brick run was good at 6:45's.  Got some good heat training in.  Good mileage and my hip felt good.

Lift Weights
3 Lifts, 1:00
Managed to get all my lifts in!

Total
312.4 miles, 13 SBR workouts, 22:20 total
Quite the time total!  Feel great about the week even with cutting my long ride 15M short.  Pretty tired on Sunday afternoon to say the least.  Now time to rest for Stumpy Creek Oly next weekend!

Christmas in July!!!!

So I was on vacation the entire week of July 4th.  I did have internet access, so I could check my email (which I did every day, plus my work email, but let's not get into that).  So on Monday July 2nd I got the email that my FLO wheels had shipped!  They were coming USPS and it said expected delivery on July 11th, a Wednesday.  I ordered back in February as I posted on it here.

So I was quite excited to say the least.  I followed the USPS tracking all week.  Well if you ever tracked anything with a USPS number, as opposed to a UPS number, you will know that it really doesn't give you much information.  So basically it was put on a truck in Las Vegas and slowly made its way to the Carolinas.  Not really any update until like Sunday when suddenly it said they would be delivered the next day, which was a couple of days early.  So when I got home, this was on my doorstep:

Oh the excitement!  It literally felt like Christmas morning when you were a kid!  I basically couldn't do anything else until I opened the boxes.   

Two boxes and one weighs more than the other.  Must be a 60 and a 90!

 

The Brothers mentioned that there was a delay from the Factory in Taiwan and that they had shipped via Air to save a couple of weeks.  I guess they weren't lying!

So I popped open the the first box:

And it was beautiful!

So as you can see, a Front 60 and a Rear 90.  Plus they also sent skewers and rim tape.  But it wasn't really rim tape, it was basically a round elastic band that fit around the rim with an opening for the valve.  That was really nice.  I think it works a lot better than rim tape.  You just have to work the hole around to the right spot because it moves as you are putting it on.

Front FLO 60

Rear Flo 90

Now if that doesn't make Green Lightning look like a BAMF, nothing will.  I used Vittoria Latex tubes with 51mm stems.  I put a 30mm Tufo extender on the front and a 60mm Tufo extender on the rear.  The tires are Michellin Pro 3 Race "Flash Yellow".  I thought the flash yellow would be closer to lime green, but that didn't quite work out.  Luckily the green on the FLO is a pretty close match to my B16.  I also got a Ultegra 11-25 cassette that I put on there so I can swap the wheels out pretty quickly

I can literally swap out the set in about 5 minutes.  The brakes are easy to adjust.  The rear I just have to open all the way and the front I just have to adjust about 3/4 of the way out.  So no clearance issues at all (thankfully!)

I got thunderstormed out on my first planned ride on Friday night, which I was ultra bummed out about.  Especially since on Saturday morning I had a long ride planned, so I didn't ride them then.  So Sunday morning I finally put them on for a 50M ride.

They ride so smooth and clean.  You can accelerate almost instantly on a flat or slight downgrade.  I wasn't super fast in them as my legs were pretty tired from the 80M ride the previous morning and a tempo run in the afternoon.  I do like the sound.  It's not overwhelming, but it is definitely distinct.  I do have a little trouble getting into the 11 gear sometimes.  If I stop pedaling for split second and start back up again it seems to pop in.  I'll have to look into that.

I plan on hammering them on a tempo ride next Friday night to really put them to the test.  Can't wait for that.  Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't show off my father's day present: Bike Stickers!

Wawasee Flotilla Road Race Report

Every year my family spends the Fourth of July at my parents' summer place in Syracuse, Indiana.  It's somewhat of a tradition.  They have a local road race sometime that week.  It's typically on a Saturday, so sometimes we miss it as we are traveling.

This year they had it on the day of the Fourth, so we were in town for it.  They have a 3.3 mile and an 8 mile race.  3.3 is just basically due to the logistics of the course.  This is the cheapest, most stripped down race you can possibly run nowadays.  $12 early entry and $15 on race day.  No timing chips.  Not even race numbers.  They give you a card with your overall finish at the end and then it is up to you to fill out your name, sex and age so they can figure out all the places.  Now that's Old School, baby!

Its a lot of fun.  I've done both the 3.3 and the 8 over the years.  The 3.3 course is the same as the triathlon run course that I did last August.  The 8 mile follows the 3.3 and then goes out to a park, loops around and then back the same way you came.  That 8M course is new for me as they changed it the last couple of years.

I haven't done a running race since the Charlotte Marathon.  So I thought it would be pretty good test.  Plus if nothing else it would be a great tempo run workout.  I set my goal at 50 minutes (6:15's).

It was quite humid on race morning, but not too hot.  My sister made up t-shirts for everyone to wear.  Everyone in the family that was at the cabin (my parent's place) participated.  Everyone else did the 3.3M run/walk.  So we had 11 family members on the course.  I was especially proud of my wife and kids.  My wife really ran hard as the elliptical training has been paying off.  Her legs have been sore for days now.  My boys completed the 3.3 mile course all by themselves.  Very impressive.

Everyone started together.  The first mile was relatively flat and you always have a bunch of people going out too hard.  Plus you have a lot of people just running 3.3 miles.  My Garmin kept telling me I was going too fast.  I tried to reel it in a bit, but came through the first mile in 5:55.  Good show of leg speed, but not exactly on pace.  2nd mile was better, right at 6:12.

All of mile 3 goes along the north shore of Lake Syracuse.  It has the only real hills on the course, and my time reflected that in a 6:26.  At this point with the heat and how tired I felt already, I thought maybe I was going to blow up and start running 7's or 7:30's.  I really didn't think about the hills and how maybe that had slowed me some.  But past the mile 3 marker it gets pretty flat.  So the next 3 miles I reeled off in 6:17, 6:18, and 6:20.  So at mile 6, I was pretty much right on pace for 6:15's.

During mile 7 I lost some time (maybe focus?) and ran a 6:26.  I recovered some in the last mile and put in a 6:14 to come home officially in 50:15.  Garmin had 8.02 miles and had me at 50:09.5 for 8.00 miles.  Pretty close to my goal.  Not perfect splits, but at the end of the day I will take it.

I came in 7th overall and won my age group.  I didn't feel too sore, but was quite tired the rest of the day.  Not too bad though, as we left that night after the fireworks around 11pm for the 660 mile trek back home.

Baxter Y Tri Race Report

The Tri @ Baxter was the first Triathlon I ever did back in 2010.  It's also the only tri I have done more than once.  So here we are ready for the third time.  It a small low key race that is part the Upstate South Carolina YMCA Series.  There is only about 100 to 120 people total counting relays and duathletes.  Its known for its very hilly bike course, an actual (long) loop run course, and this year: the Slide.

The Baxter YMCA has an outdoor water park with four slides.  Two of which dump into the main outdoor pool (the blue and red).  Last year they joked about starting on the slide, but this year, they actually did!

Yes.  They did.  They put the timing clock at the top of the slide and had people go off every 15 seconds.  Now we got to choose whether you wanted to take the blue slide or the red slide.  Most people opted for the blue slide since it came out on the side where you needed to start swimming.

I took the blue slide.  I only saw a couple people go head first.  Although I will say that those people executed it perfectly.  I did make the mistake of waiting until I got to the water to start my watch.  It didn't start, so I didn't get that segment recorded. Bummer.

People snaked around the pool and up the ladder waiting to start.

Swim 5:07 official, 25/52 OA, 5/13 AG

The swim here is pretty difficult as you go up and back in the same lane.  The course is advertised at 300 yards, but is actually 275 yards plus the slide.  So not sure how that figures out for my time per hundred yards.  All's I know is that it was not good.  After I got out of the pool and realized my watch hadn't started, I started it for a little bit so as not to mess up the auto multisport that I had programmed.  I did manage to get that part right to record my transitions and bike/run legs.

The transition are was setup differently this year (its been different every year).  I kinda like this variation better as its a long thin transition basically on the driveway.  Its located more between the pool and the bike start.

 Setup and ready to go.  Had a little issue gettin my chinstrap on, but that was about it.

Bike 39:46 Official, 3/52 OA, 1/13 AG

Pretty much anaerobic from the get go.  I wanted to really hammer the bike and break 40 minutes.  The hills are pretty good and there is a long slow hill about 3M from the finish.  Almost made a wrong turn at the beginning and locked the back tire up.  Then at the turnaround there was no cone so I went the wrong (long) way around the police car.  But other than that, happy with my time and place (only 7 seconds back of #2).  Garmin had 15.74 miles so only about 23.7 average (would have liked to see 24).

Run 21:36 Official, 3/52 OA, 1/13 AG

Run was about a minute slower than I had hoped.  Although I do think now it was a little longer than last year.  I had 3.46 miles on my Garmin for a 6:16 average.  I knew going in I had to go 6 flats on the run to crack the top 3 overall. 

Coming down to the . . .

Finish 1:08:30 Official 5/52 OA, 1/13 AG.

So I missed the podium by 42 seconds.  Like I said, needed 6 flats on the run.  3rd on the bike and the run, but 5th overall.  How bad is my swim/transitions?  Wow.  Anyways I do this race because its so close to the house and the bike course goes right in front of my neighborhood.  Won my age group again this year, but like I said, not a big race. 

Its a fun race.  I see a lot of people I know, so its fun to hang out after the race.  I'm sure I'll do it again next year unless some bigger race interferes.  Full results here.

200 Miles

200 miles sounds cool.  It just does.  Biking 200 miles in one week is something I had never done before.  My previous highest mileage week was 183 miles last year.   When the Memorial Day Weekend presented itself, we decided to go camping, so no rides on Saturday or Sunday.   So I was fresh and ready to go on Monday, Memorial Day. 

That week I did 50.5 on Mon, 32.4 on Fri, 52.2 on Sat, and then 66.6 on Sun for 201.8 miles (21.7 avg).  I was pretty pleased, but then thought that it really had an asterisk next to it because I only did 30M the week before and was pretty rested coming in.

So the second week, it was earned.  50.3 on Tues, 31 on Fri, 53 on Sat, and then 70.7 on Sun for 205 miles (21.4 avg).  Highest mileage week ever, and longest single ride ever.  Legs def felt it at the end of the 70M ride as I averaged 21.4 for that ride as well.

I surely was tired all day Monday.  407 miles in the past 2 weeks can do that.  But now its time for a little rest as the Baxter Tri is less than 2 weeks away.

Last 2 Week Training Block
Swim
14,150 yards, 5:39, 6 swims
Finally had some good workouts.  Last one in this block was 12x100's where I averaged 1:47's.  Pretty good for me.  I'm taking 60 sec rest so I can do them hard and work on speed (Thanks Tigerchik)

Bike
406.8 miles, 18:51, 8 rides, 21.6 mph average
Doing intervals once a week.  Still keeping every ride over 21mph.  Memorial Day 50 miler was at 22.2 mph.

Run
52 miles, 5:55, 6 runs
Got some good 3:00 min intervals in.  Basically a 6x 1/2 mile repeats with 2min rest as I did them right at or under 6:00 pace.  Did that workout last 2 Saturdays.  Feel pretty good, but need to start working in some tempo runs.

Other
2:40, 6 lifts
On to 3 lifts a week and exercises 4x a week.