2017 Rock Hill Time Trial (April)

I last did the Rock Hill Time Trial race a couple of years ago. I can't really remember if I knew or not, but that year, they actually had a slightly different course as one of the bridges was being repaired.  Anyways, this was back on the 'regular' course.  As I said, I really like this road course TT.  I didn't do it last year at all.  Being that they are all on Wednesday nights, I usually am going to Church.

Also last year, I upgraded my race wheels to full carbon with my FLO 90 and Reynolds Disc.  I was using the aluminum FLO 30's in training.  So to swap them out I had to swap out the brake pads as well.  Honestly it's not a lot of work, but that means I need to change them to carbon on Tuesday night (after riding Tuesday morning).  Then I have to change them back Wednesday night after the race, so I can be ready to ride when I get home from work on Thursday. And you don't really feel like doing after that TT effort.

Signup Here!

So this year I got some full carbon Reynolds Strikes for my training wheels.  I also got my front light setup on a velcro strap, no zip ties.  So it makes it pretty easy to strip everything off (lights and water bottle cages).  Then swapping the wheels takes like one minute since I don't even need to touch the brakes. Honestly taking off the water bottle cages takes the longest.

So basically this all makes it much easier to make a quick decision to get Green Lightning race ready and head on down to Rock Hill South Pointe High on a Wednesday night.  And that's what I did. My wife had a middle school meeting, so I jumped on the opportunity for 20 minutes of pain.

I left the house a little before 5:30 and got there about 10 to 6.  There were already quite a few people warming up.  I parked and went to where Cheryl was signing people up.  It is quite nonchalant.  I put my name on the sheet and mentioned that I hadn't done it in 2 years.  Cheryl was still able to look up my time from then to see where to start me.  They start slowest to fastest.  She did a little bit of finagling as that time was from a different course.  She asked me if I was gonna be faster or slower than that.  I said that since that this was April and the the last time I did it in June, that I would probably be slower. I threw a donation on the jar and headed back to the car.

Then I got my bike pumped up and start getting suited up.  I drank some HiBall energy water to get me ramped up.  I ate a banana and a couple of gels.  I put some water in my BTA, and then I was pretty much ready.  I saw Bernie, who I swim occasionally with. We spoke for a bit. I headed out for a warmup and just went out and back on the beginning of the course.  Did a couple of quick hard spins to try and get everything warmed up.  It's a little difficult in that you really don't know exactly when you are starting.

Elevation and Cadence

The first rider goes off at 6:30 but I knew I would be further back in the starting order.  But you don't know how many people they will have on any given night.  So I moseyed back to the start line after they began starting people.  Another lady was lining people up in the correct order.  I sat in the line for about 10-15 minutes before I made it up to the front.

At the front, you have about 30 seconds. Chris Reinke will hold your bike for you before he participates himself.  Once there, I asked where the actual finish was, since last time it was right here on the alternate course.  Easy enough, it was right on the road up from where we signed in. Cheryl gave the 10 second countdown, Chris gave me a push, and off I went!

Speed and Power

Initially you have a slight downhill, then right away you have to largest hill on the course.  Well it's only a 110 foot climb, but it's not nothing. I pushed hard out of the box and averaged 414 watts in the first minute (just over a half mile).  Once you get over that hill, you really start cruising. I knew I had started fast, as I was gaining on the 2 guys in front of me pretty quickly.

Warmup

I hit my max speed of 43 mph on that first downhill at about the 1.5 mile mark.  I kept the pressure on and was averaging 338 watts through the first 5 minutes (2.4 miles). I caught 2 guys before the first turn at the 4.6 mile mark.  Just my luck that right before the turn I caught the next guy. So I had to go wide around that turn.  Then you make another right less than 2 tenths a mile.  I couldn't get around him, so I had to wait until we were onto Ogden road before I could get past him.

The Map

Then I figured I really needed to get away from him, or he would be annoyed with me, or think I was drafting, or I couldn't ride or something.  So I cranked it up to 489 watts and dropped him.  Now you have about a 4 mile straight stretch back up Ogden road before the next turn.  I wasn't doing too bad. I was just trying to keep my watts above 300.  I hit the 5 mile mark with a 27.4 mph average on 313 watts (cadence: 98).  So I thought, halfway, I can do this.

Then about the 7 mile mark I felt like I kinda hit the wall.  300 watts seemed really freaking hard at that point. I was breathing like a freight train. Looking at my power graph, it doesn't look like I dropped off the watts too bad. But at that point I just focused on getting to the next turn. As luck would have it (again) I came up on another rider just as we were hitting the turn.  I took it really wide as I knew the next turn was gonna come quick. You basically hit these 2 turns and it points you straight back to the finish.

The Summary

She yelled at me to turn right. She must have thought that I didn't know about the turn. But I wasn't in aero, so that should've told her.  Anyways I took both turns wide and came across the railroad tracks, then she yelled Go Go Go! So I did. I cranked 420 watts coming out of that turn. At that point I figured just 5 minutes, we can do this.

I just tried to maintain the 300 watts. Then the last half mile, I tried to crank it up.  There is a slight uphill, and I saw my Garmin averaged had dropped to 27.1 and I really wanted to average over 27.  So I just pushed up the hill until I hit the line.

I really kicked some Garmin Segments tonight

I went about 50 yards and pulled over to the side and got off my bike and laid there. Just trying to catch my breath.  Someone offered me some water but I had some.  I eventually got back on the bike and did about a 5 min cooldown to try and work some of the lactate acid out.  My Garmin ended up with 9.89 miles in 21:55 for a 27.1 average on 307 watts and a 97 cadence. I averaged right at 300 watts after the 5 mile mark, so I was pretty happy with that. I was pleased with the 27 average and the 307 watt overall average.

The Results

I got back to the car and threw everything in.  I took the top of my suit off, and put some clothes and shoes on.  I walked over to where Cheryl was compiling the results and stood with Bernie while she compiled.  I apologized to the woman who I came up on at that second set of turns. She seemed to understand that is was just random bad timing.

Just a few minutes later, Cheryl said they had a record 44 riders toe the line tonight.  It was a really pleasant night for a TT.  She started reading the results, slowest to fastest.  I knew my time, but didn't know how I stacked up.  Eventually she said, and here are the top 3, then announced someone else. I thought cool I'm top 2. She said my name and an average of 27.36 mph. obviously that is based on a full 10.00 miles.  She goes, Where is Rick? Here. She's like, you said you would be slower. I'm like it's April, I'm still trying to get in shape.

Then she announced the man, the myth, the John Patterson. Dude broke the course record averaging 29.17 mph, a 20:33 time. At least the guy who beat had to break the course record! I'll fail to mention he destroyed me by over 80 seconds.  Anyways, hopefully I'll make it back this year. It's a good test of pain. It is truly the "Race of Truth". Plus they usually go have some beers at Legal Remedy afterwards. And isn't that what really matters?

2017 Know Your Craft 5K Race Report

If there's one thing that I have learned from consistently training and racing over the last few years is that I'm constantly learning.  Every workout offers new learning opportunities.  Every Race certainly does that as well.  As I get older, I find that many of the things that I "knew", are unfortunately no longer true.  My body reacts differently, and mentally I react differently.  I find that I need more rest after hard weeks.  This old body just doesn't bounce back like it used to. When I started to feel a little under the weather the Monday before the Triple C 5K, I didn't really worry about it much. I usually just feel sick for like a day and a half.

The Jersey

I was going into a recovery week, but I was still going to do some shortened interval workouts.  Well, I felt so tired that I skipped the interval run Monday and the interval ride Tuesday.  I did swim all week, but other than that, just ran 3 miles Thursday morning.  Even that was a struggle.  Honestly, if this had been any other race, or longer than a 5K, I would have stayed in bed.

Lead Vehicle

But this race is so fun.  So many of my swim friends would be there.  You get a free pint glass. And there is free beer.  I wasn't that sick, just felt extremely tired, and wasn't really getting any energy back as the week went along.  Luckily this race isn't until 9am, so you don't have to get up super early.

Nice shirt again this year

Parking this year was a little more difficult than last year.  Many of the apartment buildings that were under construction last year are now finished.  Last year I just parked on Youngblood a block and a half from the Triple C Brewery.  This year I had to park several blocks away at the Wells Fargo bank parking lot at South Blvd and New Bern St.

I parked there and walked over to get my race number at the brewery.  I saw Jeremy helping with packet pickup, and then I talked to Karen for a bit.  I saw Paul and some of the other EPT racers. Then I decided it was time to get changed.  I walked back over to the car and pinned my number onto my race singlet.  Grabbed a gel and drank some water, hid my key and I was off on a warmup.

I actually didn't feel that bad on the warmup.  I mean it was at a 8 min pace, which is what usually do. After the warmup, I did some pickups back behind the start line to stretch out my legs and get used to the pace.  I was feeling OK when I toed the start line.  It was a nice morning, about 50 degrees. Really perfect for a 5K.  We listened to Emily's incredible rendition of the National Anthem. They gave us a countdown, and we were off.

I knew the first mile was fast from last year.  Especially the first part. I split a 5:20 opening mile last year.  So I was pushing really good.  It really felt bad.  And not like normal bad.  Like my whole body just ached. I was kinda hoping it would settle in, but I came through the first mile and split a 5:33.  Right then I knew I was pretty much off my game.  I mean (what seemed like) more effort for a slower split.

Then after the first mile you start coming up to the turn off of Tryon Street.  Then at a slight hill, I was just like ooof.  This is getting bad.  I started getting passed.  I tried to push and it felt like I was, but the pace was just not coming.  More pain in the second mile coming back on the light rail trail.  I split a 6:25. So now I'm like running a slower pace than I averaged for the ENTIRE half marathon at Corporate Cup a few weeks ago.

Now in the last mile, I'm like, is this thing over yet?  As I come down near the end of the rail trail, Laurent passes me. Great.  Then as we make the turn at New Bern Station, I see Jen yelling at me.  We start to make the weave around back to the brewery and CA is there as well cheering people on. I tried to push to the end and catch someone. Anyone. But the body would just not have it.

Speed (haha) and Cadence

Laurent almost took a wrong turn, but alas someone yelled at him and he was able to finish comfortably ahead of me.  I sauntered in with a 19:26. Full Results Here.

After I came across, I grabbed some water and just sat on a rock for a few minutes.  I was pretty tired. I grabbed a banana and some more water.  I obviously didn't win Masters again, but I was able to win my age group.  But then again, this race is less about place than it is about friends.

Eventually I found the Epoch/Performance Therapy Team people and we all got in line for our free beer.  The beer actually tasted pretty good at that point.  I do like me some Golden Boy. So we hung out for a bit until the awards, and walked over there.  Many (most?) of the EPT crew got awards.  I got a really nice pair of Balega socks and a $20 gift card to Omega Sports (are they still open?).  After that everyone pretty much started to head out.  I walked back to the car and headed home myself.

Still got got Stuff!

At home I laid in the recliner and watched TV for the rest of the day. Not really moving much.  I didn't do anything on Sunday either.  But by Monday I was feeling much better and was able to resume training.  So in summary: Racing Sick Stinks.  Hopefully I will never do it again!

Me with the EPT Crew!

2017 Corporate Cup Half Marathon Race Report

The Corporate Cup race has been around for a long time. 37 years the website says.  I had always heard of it but never ran it. This year, after the Sunbelt Meet, I just kinda felt like doing it. I usually do a early spring half marathon.  I didn't last year, so this year I felt like it would help with a little bit of the winter training motivation.

The race starts and finishes in downtown Charlotte. It is basically the Thunder Road (now Charlotte Marathon) half course.  So I had kinda done it before.  I picked up my race packet on Thursday since it was at that Run for Your Life over on Kings Street.  Friday packet pick was downtown, and I didn't want to have to deal the parking downtown and Friday traffic.

I've done some packet pickups before at this RFYL. Kinda on my way home, although the traffic afterward is not good.  Basically fight the traffic back up Morehead so I can fight the traffic on I-77. Hardly anyone was in there so it took like 2 minutes to get the packet and get out of there. More time to fight traffic.

Race morning, I fixed a bagel with cream cheese and I headed out around 6:30am.  It was nice not to have to fight traffic on I-77 for once.  Found the parking deck easy enough. Just took College up and then left onto 2nd street (well MLK Blvd now).  The parking deal for this race is pretty sweet.  Free parking in the Two Wells Fargo deck.  It's like a 1/2 block from the starting line. I parked on the first ramp so it just took me a second to get out and onto the street. But I didn't leave right away, I just hung out in the car.  I had a banana and a gel and chilled for a bit.

I just wanted to make sure I was parked.  I left the car around 7am and checked out the situation.  I found the start and then walked back over to the atrium where most of the people were hanging out since it was in the 30's.  I found Justin and Amanda and hung out with them for a while. I really didn't see anyone else.  Eventually I took another gel and headed out for a warmup.

Staying Warm

I just did a mile to get the body a little warm.  I did do some pickups and sprints to get the feel of the quicker pace.  I had grabbed an old long sleeve shirt out of my bike cleaning pile to keep me warm. I did run into my buddy Nathan and Matt, and their friend Christian.  They just kinda take this race as a training day and have some fun with it. Nathan asked me if I was going to race hard. I said, I don't know how else to race.  So I stood near the front, second row.  They played the national anthem and then I threw off my shirt, and we were ready to go.

At the gun, everyone went out pretty smoothly and quickly.  I didn't want to start out way too fast, like the 5:30 opening mile I put down at Charlotte Racefest a couple of years ago.  So I glanced down at my watch to make sure I was over a 6 min pace.  Honestly the first couple of miles were pretty flat and the pace of the first couple of miles felt relatively easy as I came through in 12:14 at the 2 mile mark.

The next couple of miles however, seemed a LOT tougher.  My breathing got a little out of control and I started thinking I would not be able to hold this pace.  By mile 4 you get out of downtown and start heading down the longer stretches.  I split over a 6:30 mile in mile 5, but started feeling a little better. I was still averaging 6:15's at that point.

By mile 6 I started to settle in a bit.  I would struggle going up the hills, but then make up some time on the downhills and flats.  I kept going back and forth with a guy who was really good at climbing the hills, but my pace on the flats was faster.  We went back and forth like this all day long.

I fell into a pretty good rythm after 5 miles. I got my breathing under control.  The hills were taking it out of me. However, as I crested them, I was able to push and catch back up.  I had brought 2 gels with me and had planned to take them at 4 miles and 8 miles.  I never really felt hungry, so then I didn't eat either gel.  I did take water at about 5 or 6 aid stations.  I eventually warmed and took my gloves off, and then later my head band. I had the intention earlier of throwing the gloves away.  Then I thought I may need them again if I make a turn and suddenly the wind was at my face.

Over the next 6 miles I averaged 6:22.5/mile to bring me to mile 11 and an overall average pace of 6:19.2/mile.  Now: The Morehead Climb.  It took a little bit, but the guy racing me finally caught me again and started to put some real distance between us.

So over the last 2 miles, when I should have been dropping the hammer, I slugged up the hill.  I mean, I didn't blow up or anything. It took me 13:07 to go from mile 11 to mile 13.  My racing buddy kept his 6:22 pace, but my 6:33 pace per mile put me 20 seconds behind him at the finish.  And of course he was in my age group. So I walked away with the "First Loser" award.

I came across the finish line pretty spent.  I shook hands with the guy who beat me, grabbed some bananas and water and then found a place to sit.  I sat there for a few minutes, not getting cold, even though the temps were still in the lower 40's.  A guy walked up and introduced himself to me.  He recognized me from my Big Sexy Singlet.  We talked about tri for a while.  Then I was ready to head back to the car.

Cooldown

I was finally starting to get cold, so I put on some warmer clothes and did a cooldown run.  That felt pretty ugly.  I just did a mile to try and loosen things up.   I then wandered around back toward the finish line to see if I saw anyone else I knew coming through.  I did see Heidi (from swim) but that was about it.  So then I just went to the atrium to see what kind of place I came in.  They had the little kiosks setup so you can punch in your bib number.  So then I saw I was second.  The awards ceremony was just for first place finishers.  For 2nd and 3rd placers you just picked up your award at the kiosk.  That sped things up quite a bit.

What is this thing?

I grabbed my 'glass' and just headed out.  It was nice to have a really close parking spot.  The attendant was just letting everyone drive right out, not even checking if they had bib numbers or not. So I was home relatively quickly.

Overall pretty happy with being able to hold the pace. I mean I didn't run super fast, but for the first week of March, not too bad.  My overall Garmin average pace was 6:20.5, but my slowest mile was only 6:34, so I never really died so that was good.  Official Results Here.  Those hills just get me.  It seems no matter how much I do hill repeats, in my old age those things just zap me.  We'll definitely have to work on that in the coming months.  But we'll get there.