Moving to a new home

After three weeks, Blogger finally allowed me to access my blog again after a "false positive" by its spam filter.

Needless to say, three weeks response is terrible customer service, and I've moved to a new provider. So, if anyone is still coming to this site and you want to follow my triathlon escapades from here on out, go here:

http://thewoowilltri.wordpress.com

In "Lighter" News

I'm happy to report that, even though I slogged through 8 miles this morning in a frustratingly slow pace, my efforts are still resulting in some desired weight loss.  And today was a milestone day.

For the first time since sometime in the mid-1990s the first number on the scale when I got on was a 

1

That's right.  I always weigh in in the morning after any workout I have.  I know that it's not a "true" weight as I'm usually down a pound or two of water weight after working out, but I like it that way.  And it still shows trends, which is all I'm after.

And the trend is good.  198.4 this morning.  WOOHOO!

That means I've hit the goal weight I established sometime in February after I hit my last goal weight of 220.  My plan now is to try to remain at 200 lbs. for the remainder of triathlon season so I can compete in the Clydesdale category, and because I think it's a good place for me to be.  But, if my body just decides to keep shedding some pounds, I'll just move into my Age Group category and be happy about it.

Really, I think I'd probably be best served in the 190-195 range, but who knows?  When triathlon season is over, I'm going to be more dedicated to the weight room for the winter, in addition to off-season endurance base and overall fitness needs relative to officiating basketball.  I have no idea what that will mean relative to my weight.

This was a long, self-gratifying post about a relatively meaningless statistic - weight.  But I'm proud and happy about it, as I think I should be.  My focus can now be totally on fitness - what's best from that standpoint regardless of weight.

Slow 8 mile run

I'm going to stop labeling my runs slow pretty soon, as it appears it's just a given.

Frustrated only begins to describe how I'm feeling about my running pace.  Today it was a nice 8 mile run, at about an 11:00 pace.  That included a couple walking breaks to take nutrition and drink, plus about 1:00 waiting at the longest stoplight in the world, but seriously, it's getting ridiculous that I am not getting faster.

I'm sure it has a lot to do with my "long and slow" base-building type workouts, and the complete lack of speed work that I'm doing, but seriously, running an 8:30 or even 9:00 pace when i go out for a 4-5 mile run shouldn't be too much to ask.

I'm still hoping to get through the Greenville Tri and run the 5k there in sub-9:00 pace, aiming for 27:00 total on the 5k, but I'm going to have to get out for some fast runs between now and then if that's going to happen.

Grrr....

Long, Tough Ride

Finally getting back into the groove of riding. Had a couple decent workouts earlier this week, and my foot is feeling better most of the time, though it's still a bit sore after workouts.

Today was a long ride. It turned out to be a great, tough workout. Lots of climbing, some rough road to navigate, and steady rain for about 20 minutes in the middle.

I struggled a bit toward the end - not having a long ride for a while set me back, and my back was getting sore. It felt good to get off. I averaged about 17.5 mph again and came in a bit under 2 hours. I thought about swinging back around for a couple extra miles to get to 2 hours, but it just didn't seem worth it with the way I was feeling.

One thing I've really enjoyed about riding is all the great scenery there is to see. I rode over to Abbeville, up to Hodges, and then back down and around the Northwest side of Greenwood.

Two more entries

I've entered two more triathlons:

• Greenville Triathlon on August 17 - A sprint triathlon with a 400m swim, 15 mile bike, and 5k run.
  
• Hickory Knob International Triathlon on October 11 - International distance triathlon with a 1500m swim, 28 mile bike, and 10k run.

The Hickory Knob Tri is the major goal race for the year.  I plan on using the Greenville Tri to iron out some more wrinkles in transition, hopefully have a faster run, and just generally get more comfortable with the entire experience.

I'd love to find one more sprint tri that makes sense in September, but I don't know if that will happen.  We'll just have to wait and see.

I'll be racing in the Clydesdale division in these two races.  I'm weighing in at just over 200 lbs., and I guess I'll have to keep eating to make sure I stay that way.

Yippee!!!!

Race Report – Asheville Triathlon Summary

We survived! Actually, both HilWoo and I had a great time, learned a lot, and performed fairly well compared to our expectations. It was an incredibly fun experience, we met some very cool people, and hopefully our next triathlons will be even better.

I’m going to post my complete race report below in several parts. It’s quite lengthy, so if you have something better to do with your day, like wash your hair or clean your ears, just read the quick summary and feel free to tend to your ear wax. If you like being bored and want to read about my race, then start at the bottom with the preface and read each part in order!

Summary:
Awesome day, awesome time, awesome friends.

OVERALL OFFICIAL RESULTS:
1:19:30
Male Novice Rank: 2/13
Overall Male Rank: 65/123

Race Report – TrySports Asheville Triathlon – Part 5 – Run and Epilogue

RUN:

After leaving transition, there is a short but steep climb around the parking lot, then down and across the bridge. I felt okay, though I was a little worried after I’d worked a little harder in the bike than planned. My legs were heavy, though I wasn’t hurting at all.

As I was plodding along, I knew I was only running about a 10:00 pace. I wanted to pick that up, as sub 9:00 was my “outstanding day” goal, but no matter how much I willed my legs to move faster, they just didn’t.

I was smiling, having a great time, not winded, heart rate was reasonable in the mid-160s, and I knew I’d have absolutely no problem finishing. I was talking to people who were coming back in. I got passed by a couple fast dudes. No problem there, I was expecting it. Then I got passed by a kid with an 11 on his calf. Yep, he was 11 years old. Damn. And this wasn’t like he crept by me. He blew my doors off.

I saw HilWoo about 1.25 miles into my run coming in on the bike. She looked great! And I was relieved as well. She’s strong on the bike, but was riding her mountain bike and on those hills I just didn’t know how she’d fare. Needless to say, she was awesome, and had a great bike split. It was fun to see her and get to yell encouraging things!

I hit the turnaround point, and headed for home. If I was going to turn it up in the run it needed to happen now, in the last 1.5 miles. It didn’t. I just couldn’t move these massive legs any faster.

Shortly after the turnaround, I got chicked (triathlon term for when a man gets passed by a woman) for the 2nd time of the day. The first was in the pool, but it sure stung the ego more on the run. That said, I was running SO SLOW that I wasn’t surprised.

This was also the point where a lanky guy running quite fast passed me. He had an “N” on his calf. Argh! He was a novice, and had started behind me in the swim, so I knew now that I was no longer leading the novice group. I still wanted to finish strong, but up to that point I thought I might have a chance of winning the novice category. Oh well.

As I neared the bridge, I picked up the pace every so slightly, and wanted to finish looking strong, even if it was slow. The finish was back up the hill in the parking lot, then down the other side of the pool. The announcer read our names and hometown, and plugged Greenwood as the triathlon mecca of the Southeast, which it is.

I finished with a smile on my face and completely upright – it was an AWESOME feeling.

Official Run Results:
30:41
Male Novice Rank: 11/13
Overall Male Rank: 93/123
Clydesdale Rank: 7/10

End Result: The run was WAY too slow. I’d hoped to run it in around 27:00, and even that is a slow time. I know what I have to work on – getting that run down under 25:00 is the key for future races.

OVERALL OFFICIAL RESULTS:
1:19:30
Male Novice Rank: 2/13
Overall Male Rank: 65/123
Clydesdale Rank: 4/10

EPILOGUE:

It was an incredible day. I can’t describe how much fun I had. The race went well. I had set out some goals before heading to Asheville. My “the race couldn’t go better and there were no hiccups and I surprised myself” time was 1:15:00. My “good effort, nothing crazy special, but solid all the way through” time was 1:25:00. And finally, my “drowned in the pool, hit the wall in mile 1 of the bike, and limped through the 5k” time was 1:35:00.

Considering I hadn’t seen the bike course, and likely would have revised those times upwards some, 1:19:30 was an excellent day. I can shave 30 seconds to a minute off of my total transition time, and I think I could have shaved another :45 to a minute off the bike if it weren’t for the “car in the way” problems.

Finding a way to run faster will definitely improve my overall performance. But, my ultimate goal at this point is running a half-ironman distance race next year, and slow is okay when running a half marathon at the end of a race rather than a 5k.

I’m planning on racing in the Greenville Sprint Traithlon in August, so hopefully I can bring that 5k time down quite a bit by then.

In the end, it was an awesome, awesome day, and I’m so happy I was able to do it – and be there with HilWoo as well. She was incredible, running her race in 1:32:22 and absolutely killing people in the bike while smiling all the way through. She’s awesome that way.

So, I’ll leave a few pictures at the end here just to sum up the day, and if they put up official race photos I’ll link to those later. There is a photo-spread in the Asheville paper here that has some photos, though we're not in any of them. Thanks for reading to the end!

See?  Always Smiling

Finishing Strong

Triathlons - the only place in the world a guy would 

feel out of place NOT wearing spandex...

New friends Carrie (left) and Tracey

Race Report – TrySports Asheville Triathlon – Part 4 – Bike and T2

BIKE:

Wow, was this a doozy. As I said before, when I drove the bike course it seemed fairly tough. And it was. The first 1.5-2 miles all being up a pretty decent grade is a tough way to start any bike race, but I settled in right away, tried to get some speed on the small amount of level grade before starting up the hill and then just told myself to be smooth and fast, and to try to avoid “pedal mashing” as much as possible. Unfortunately, on these hills, some pedal mashing was going to be necessary.

I started passing people right away – always with an encouraging word like “looking strong” or “way to go”, or a “good morning.” Triathlons are fun that way. Everyone seems in it together, and there was lots of encouragement.

As I turned up the big incline, I got out of my saddle and decided to push it fairly hard to the top. I passed about 15 bikers in that first 1.5 miles, and felt good about that. At the top of the hill I got some speed, and then tried to go easy for the next mile to get my heart rate back down (it was in the 170s – way too high on the bike!) and let my legs rest for a bit. Then I started flying. I was passing people left and right, riding hard, enjoying the cool air, and feeling really, really strong.

The only problems I had in the first half of the bike involved traffic. Twice I got behind a car that was following a biker going quite a bit slower than me, but wouldn’t pass without 8 miles of clear road ahead. Both times this happened I came up on the car toward the bottom of a hill, when I had a lot of speed I wanted to carry into the next climb, only to have to get on my brakes and wait for the car to pass the slower bikers, then power my way up the hill. Argh.

It probably didn’t cost me more than 30 seconds total, but it did cost me in terms of energy. Nothing to do about it, though, and I tried not to let it get to me.

Then, in the most beautiful section of the course, came the Hill of the Damned. I still get out of breath thinking about it. As I started around the corner and up the hill, it was carnage. There were at least a dozen people on this ¼ mile hill when I started up, and all but one of them were off their bikes, pushing. I geared way down, and about a quarter of the way up was out of my saddle pedaling hard. As I passed people on cruisers, mountain bikes, and quite a few road bikes, I tried to say something encouraging just to keep myself going. I passed a guy wearing bike shoes, click-clacking his way up the hill, and just thought, “I don’t want to have to walk up this in my bike shoes. NOT COOL.”

Anyway, I made it to the top, and caught the one other person who rode the whole way just over the apex.

It was pretty much all downhill for the last 5 miles at that point, with just a few small climbs that I carried a lot of speed into. I was cruising at 35+mph quite a bit of the time, hoping I saw the corners in time. The last 2.5 miles were flatter, down in a valley, and I also came upon runners at this point.

This was the only other time I had trouble with a car – with runners on one side of the road, and some slow bikers, combined with this driver’s not knowing where she wanted to go, I got caught sucking exhaust and did get a bit flustered. I was slowed WAY down waiting for her to pass or turn off. Finally she did and I busted past the next couple bikers, and saw the bridge back to the transition area.

The bike course was definitely a strong part of my race. I have no idea how many people I passed, other than it was definitely more than 30, and I WASN’T PASSED ONCE. Nobody even threatened to pass me.

I got in behind two other bikers coming into transition rather slowly, so took time to loosen my shoes and take one foot out as I came to the dismount area. Unfortunately, my other foot didn’t slip out, so I unclipped and headed into transition with one bare foot and one click-clacking shoe!

Official Bike Results:
37:47
Male Novice Rank: 1/13
Overall Male Rank: 39/123
Clydesdale Rank: 2/10

End Result: Awesome. I think I could have been sub-37:00 without the car issues, but otherwise the bike course was incredible. Looking at overall results, I was fairly competitive with the field, other than the rocket-ship-riding open category professionals that were down around 30-32 minutes.

Rocket ship disguised as a bike

A 35:00 ride would have gotten me in the top 20, so maybe next year that can be a goal.

TRANSITION 2:

After re-racking my bike and slipping off my other bike shoe, I took off my helmet and bandana, threw on my hat and shoes, grabbed my race belt, and headed for the stairs out the other side of the transition area. This was a fairly easy transition, but I wasn’t real fast.

Official T2 Results:
1:15
Male Novice Rank: 10/13
Overall Male Rank: ?
Clydesdale Rank: 5/10

End Result: 10/13 isn’t good, but I can easily shave 20-30 seconds off what I did, and in a race that’s well over an hour long, 20 seconds is hard to get too worked up about. I just need to practice a bit more.

Race Report – TrySports Asheville Triathlon – Part 3 – Swim and T1

SWIM:

I didn’t know what to expect from the swim. The only training I’ve done has been at our complex pool, which is all of 17 meters long, and this was a 50 meter pool, 8 lengths for 400m total swim. I had no doubt at all that the 400m wouldn’t be a problem normally, but with people swimming over each other in lanes, no idea how fast everyone else would be, and the race-start adrenaline that sometimes causes me to go out to fast in the runs I’ve done, I just wasn’t 100% confident.

My plan was simple: be smooth the entire time. When I try to swim fast, I end up getting choppy and don’t really go any faster. So, off I went at 7:30:30…and within 10 yards I was clear of my starting partner, and by the time I reached the first wall at 50 meters I’d passed one of the two who started in the group in front of me.

I felt strong, and actually pretty fast. I was breathing on each full rotation, as I wanted to make sure I got enough oxygen and wasn’t out of breath for times I needed to pass and hold it for an extra rotation or two. That strategy really paid off, as on the second length I passed right between two people (one doing the backstroke) and broke free for a minute.

By 200m, I’d passed in front of all but one of the novice group (6 people had started in front of me). Our new friend Carolyn was a very strong swimmer and had started at the front of the wave and she was out in front – I may have been gaining a bit, but not much. At that point I eased up just a bit as I was starting to feel like I was pushing too hard, and I passed a few stragglers from the wave in front of us. The strange part of that was that they had started a full 3:00 ahead of the first of the novice wave, so they were REALLY slow.

At that point it was pretty smooth sailing and I was able to look behind me and see that our other new friend, Carrie, who also was a strong swimmer, was coming up behind me. She passed me with about 75m to go, and I tried to draft off her. She was very fast.

I finished strong, pushed myself out of the pool, and was off to the transition area.

Official Swim Results:
8:17
Male Novice Rank: 1/13
Overall Male Rank: 38/123
Clydesdale Rank: 3/10*

*I’m including where I would have finished in the Clydesdale group, which is what I would race if I were not in the Novice category. This group is all men over 200 lbs. (and under 39 years old – there is a Masters Clydesdale group for those 40+). The women have a similar group called the Athenas for those over 150 lbs.

End result: Excellent swim. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

TRANSITION 1:

From the swim to the transition area was VERY short – just outside the pool gate. I took my goggles off and jogged over to my bike, stepping on the towel to dry my feet while I put on my sunglasses, Headsweat bandana, and helmet (always put on your helmet and fasten the strap before doing anything else, as you will be DQ’d if you move your bike without fastening your helmet).

Then I quickly (it felt quickly, but I doubt it was) stepped into my bike shoes, pulling the Velcro tight. I have ridden and run both with and without socks, and decided to go without today. I grabbed my bike and jogged it to the mounting area – the first novice out of transition.

Official T1 Results:
1:31
Male Novice Rank: 2nd
Overall Male Rank: ?
Clydesdale Rank: 3rd – though the 2nd and 3rd place men didn’t get their transition time ranking, so it may have been lower

End result: Good for my first ever transition, though definitely a place I can shave 30 seconds or so.

Race Report – TrySports Asheville Triathlon – Part 2 – Pre-Race

We got there early enough that HilWoo could claim a spot on the end of her transition rack, and I got the first spot on my transition rack.

The first thing we did before setting up our transition areas was head to body-marking. I didn’t want to wait in line. The funny thing about triathlons is how many places you wear your number. Obviously we have the race bib number, the helmet sticky number, and the bike number. But that’s not enough, because there’s the swim, so we also got our numbers written on both arms and both thighs. I guess that’s good in case we get lost in the pool they can tell who we are and why we’re stupid.

HilWoo showing her guns:


Also, we both got a giant “N” on one of our calves to let everyone know we were novices. I think this is to make sure someone stops to help us if we’re stopped on the side of the road – everyone should understand our idiocy at this point.


We then set up our transition areas.


My transition towel is the black-and-white striped towel I got at an officiating camp. Perfect for identifying my spot!



If you don’t know about the transition area, it’s the place where you come after the swim to get your bike and everything you need for the bike race. Then, it’s also the place you return with your bike, take off your bike stuff and grab your run stuff and run from.

Mine had:

-My bike, obviously
-My helmet was on my aerobars on my bike. It had my sunglasses and my Headsweats bandana in it. It was the first thing I put on – glasses, headsweat, helmet.
-The towel, which marked my spot and provided me something to wipe my feet with after the swim.
-My bike shoes
-My race belt
-My running hat
-My running shoes
-Bottle of “just in case” Gatorade
-Pair of “just in case” socks

After getting set up, we visited with some people around us. We met some really great people including Carrie, a student at Clemson who was next to me in the rack, and Tracey and Carolyn who both work at Clemson. The five of us formed a formidable friend group. We were ready to dominate the novices. We all also felt a little out of our element, I think!

At that point it was just time to attempt to relax, use the restroom (twice!), and get ready. At about 5 minutes until 7:00, we took our sweats off and grabbed our goggles and headed for the pool deck to wait for our starting time. My start was at 7:30:30, while HilWoo started at 7:31:20.

Good luck to us!

Race Report – TrySports Asheville Triathlon – Part 1 – Preface

Here are the events leading up to the race.

First, HilWoo wanted a picture of our racing outfits. We both wore tri shorts and tri tops. It makes things quite easy, as you swim, bike and run in them and avoid the hassle of trying to put on/take off any clothing other than shoes and headwear. Here they are, mine is the left outfit, if you couldn’t tell:



HilWoo at some point during this exercise came to the realization that Orca, the well-known triathlon, running, and wetsuit gear company, is also the name of a whale. So she’s now concerned about running in a bright pink, form-fitting top that screams “WHALE.” Hehehe.

Also an important note about something done before leaving for Asheville…I decided that if I were going to REALLY experience this thing, and dive headfirst into triathlon racing, then I needed to go all the way. And that meant:



Yes, that’s right, I am now smoooooth. My chest, my back, and my legs – in addition to my already bald head – are now hair-free. What an experience. It’s really quite spiritual. Okay, maybe that’s taking it too far, but I do actually kind of like the feeling.

The rationale for shaving amongst triathletes is two-fold. The first makes no difference to me: the argument that shaved skin is faster than hairy skin in the pool, and to a much lesser extent more aerodynamic on the bike. I’m slow and not extremely hairy to begin with, so no amount of shaving is going to make me faster. The second I totally buy: if you bike a lot, the inevitable road rash you will someday experience is much easier to clean and treat if you don’t have to get the hair out of it first.

In the end, I just wanted to experience the whole thing, so off came the hair. HilWoo helped by running the balding clippers I have used on my head from time to time on my back and chest, and I took care of the legs. Then it was into the shower, where I carefully shaved my chest and legs with a brand new Mach 3. Only one nick and it was a tiny one. I do that on my head most days.

Wow. I had no idea it was this nice. The sensation of putting on pants, or getting in between the sheets in bed, is something else after you have shaved. I now highly recommend all men try this at some point.

Moving on.

We packed up and headed for Asheville. The drive is quite enjoyable and beautiful. We live just below the Appalachian foothills, so we get to experience driving into them for the last half of the two-hour trip. HilWoo was working the camera on the way:



In honor of The Dark Knight which released in the theaters this weekend: “To the Bat Cave, Robin!”



And this is what a car full of triathlon stuff looks like:


We arrived in Asheville and drove right into the area of town where the race was to be held. The first thing we did was drive the 11.8 mile bike course.

Holy &*%$.

The description did no justice to what we were going to face. I’d looked at the elevation map a couple times on MapMyRun, and determined there were a couple decent hills, but you just don’t know until you’re there.

The first mile and a half was up, up, up hill with a monster incline of about a ¼ mile at the end of that gradual climb. Then it was up and down and around corners. Absolutely beautiful, but a bit intimidating when 30 mph feels fast in the Durango, and that’s what I’d be doing on my bike. We got out of town in a hurry, and the course felt very rural as it wound through the valley below a mountain range. Just gorgeous. I just wasn’t sure I’d be able to enjoy it on the bike.

Then we came to the monster of all hills. I had to stop and put the Durango in 4-wheel drive to get up it. Okay, not actually, but the engine definitely had to work to pull us up. HilWoo looked worried, I lied and told her it would be fine.

Then it was pretty much downhill, with a few pretty technical turns, all the way back to the transition area.

Whew.

At this point we headed to check into the motel and rest for a bit before heading to pick up our packets and go to the pre-race meeting.


We stayed at an awesome Days Inn.

Then we headed for check in and the meeting:

First look at the pool

Because this is a TrySports Development Series race, it’s geared toward first-timers and everyone is very helpful. It was exciting to pick up our packets and we got filled in at the meeting on all the little things like how the swim start would work, etiquette for passing in the pool and how to pass on the bike, how the transition area worked in the morning, etc.

A lot of this was pretty obvious, but I’ve done a lot of research and I’m sure for some people this was all new. I’m really glad we went as there was some pretty good information on traffic on the bike route, how the mount/dismount area was laid out, and where we queued for the swim that I would have had to figure out on the fly if I hadn’t been there.

After the meeting, the Woos grabbed a good dinner and headed back to the motel to get ready.

We had some cool stuff and some necessary stuff in our bags:



As you can see, there was quite a bit in our bags, though the important things were the numbers at the right. There’s the square one that’s just like any race number you’d get at a running race that you would pin to your shirt. Most triathletes use a race belt, which is just an elastic belt that you pin your number to that’s easy to get on for the run portion of the race. We both had a race belt.

The placard with two numbers folds over and is fastened to your bike.

The little tiny number goes on the front of our bike helmet.

So we got all of that set up for the next day and packed our backpacks that we’d take to the transition area.

Oh, the shirt wasn’t too bad, either. It’s made of technical fabric and the logo is kinda cool:


I tried to touch up my shaving, but with the disposable razor I had to work with, all I managed to do was irritate my chest. You can tell the middle of my chest here isn’t very happy:



We fell asleep somewhere between 11:00 and midnight, and were up a bit before 5:00 to head for the race site.

More to come in Part 2.

Race Week - Asheville Triathlon

It's race week! Asheville Triathlon, here we come!!!

Training this week is going to be fairly light. I'm traveling for the next couple days, so that is contributing to it, plus it's a recovery week in my overall plan, and with the race on Sunday now is the time to rest, with just a few nice and easy workouts to keep things working.

HilWoo and I are excited, and I've started planning all we'll need for the trip, to have at our transition areas, and how I'd like the weekend to progress. It's really a pretty straightforward and simple process, but I want the day to go well for our first triathlon experience. Can't wait!

Officiating Camp

Officiating camp was great - but WOW! am I sore. Four high school regulation-length games each day (in two different doubleheaders format), only there was only 1 minute for halftime and 5 minutes between games. All that stopping and starting was not good for my legs.

It was a really good week - and a really good workout - but a reminder that I've done basically zero speed work this summer. My hammys are especially tight. I've never been a sprinter, and it is making itself apparent in the way I feel.

That said, I survived just fine, and actually had a really solid week of officiating. In fact, I was fortunate to be observed by a supervisor for one of the D-II conferences around here, and it looks like I'll have an opportunity to call some games for him this upcoming season. I'm completely and totally pumped about that. Best case scenario for me coming out of this camp is to get hired to work some D-II games in this conference, and build from there.

Woohoo!

The fact that my crew tossed a coach on quick back-to-back technicals didn't even have an impact! That guy was a bit crazy...

Workouts

Several good workouts since my last post:

Tuesday's make-shift triathlon - Worked out with Hilary the day after my long run by swimming 800m easy, biking 12 miles easy, and then running one mile easy.  Lots of easy, but a good workout.  I was just going to swim and then hit the easy 45 minute ride, but the run-off at the end seemed like a good idea at the time.  Unfortunately, it was probably a bit much after my long run the day before, and Wednesday's off-day was much needed.

Thursday's long run - another 7. 5 miles, but it was painful.  It included tempo workouts - 3 minutes at "race pace" followed by two minutes recovery jogging for the middle 35 minutes of the run.  I really struggled at times, but had a good workout in the end and am glad to have gotten it in.

Friday was another easy ride with Hilary of 16 miles in just under an hour.  I was supposed to swim, but just didn't get it done, other than the swimming in the pool and Guinness we did at a friend's house for a July 4 party!

Saturday was my long bike, and I hit 35 miles in just under two hours for a 17.6 mph average.  Loved it.  It was long.  For some reason MapMyRun indicates it's only about 33.5 miles, but my bike computer odometer gave me 35.  I'm sticking with that for now.

I've figured out that 90 minutes is currently all my butt is rated for on the bike saddle.  I spent a good portion of the last 30 minutes up out of the saddle, stretching my legs, trying to look cool while grimacing, etc.

Today was an off day, and for the next three I'm in Atlanta at a basketball officiating camp.  I'll have four games a day, so I'm looking forward to treating it as a speed workout!

Is that Ammonia?

After my last three long workouts - 7.5 mile run Monday, 7.5 mile run Thursday, and 35 mile bike ride Saturday - when I got home it smelled like Hilary had been cleaning with some sort of super-duper cleaner.  She hadn't, though.

Turns out it was me!  I actually smelled like ammonia.  Not enough that anyone else could smell it, but the smell was definitely present in my nose.

The reason is actually pretty simple.  When the body runs out of its glucose stores - which come from carbs - it begins to break down amino acids.  In order to convert the amino acid to glucose for energy, the body strips the nitrogen atoms and uses the remaining molecule.  Then, the nitrogen atoms are excreted - usually through urine - but when there is too much nitrogen for the kidneys to process, it is secreted as ammonia through sweat.

Bleh.

It's not a terrible thing at all, but it is an indication I need to do a better job fueling my body with good carbs, especially in the days leading up to long workouts.  That, and better hydration, will keep the stink away!

Asheville, Here We Come - Sprinting!

HilWoo and I have officially entered our first triathlon - the first annual Asheville Sprint Tri on July 20.  It's part of a series of triathlons in North Carolina geared to newcomers to the sport.  I think it'll be the perfect start to our triathlon careers.

The swim is only 400m, in a 50m pool.  Everyone starts with their own start time, grouped with other swimmers of similar times, and we will zig-zag our way up and down 8 lanes to finish the 400m.

Then on to an 11.6 mile bike ride that looks semi-challenging.  About 900 feet of climbing, which is a decent amount over 11 miles, but looking at the elevation chart, there appears to be just one big, steep hill.  All the other climbing is pretty much rolling hills.

Finally, a flat, fast 5k run course awaits at the end.  Wish us luck!

Two good workouts this week

Long run on Monday - 7.5 miles.  I'm pretty sure that's the longest I've ever run at one time.  In my life.

It was good and solid, but not spectacular.  Right at 10:00 pace, which was my goal.  The long runs are to be done at a very easy, conversational pace, and for me that's 10:00.  I think I could actually have survived the run at 9:00, but it would have left me totally wiped out.

Last night Hilary and I cranked out 800m in the pool, a nice 45 minute recovery bike ride, and then a 10-minute, 1 mile run-off afterwards.  It wasn't really our plan going out to do all three - we were going to just do the swim and a nice easy bike - but we decided the run-off at the end would be a nice way to get all three elements in and see how we felt.  And the verdict was - surprisingly good!

Today is an off day according to my plan, but I'm headed to Atlanta for a college basketball camp next Sunday through Wednesday, so I may move some things around to get in my needed work.

Decision Made - Olympic Time!

I've been debating for the last month whether to attempt the South Carolina Half Triathlon at the end of September, or downgrade my expectations to one of a couple international distance triathlons this fall.  After quite a bit of thought, and the experience of trying to manage the training schedule, I'm officially putting off the South Carolina Half until next year, and planning on racing at least one, if not two, international - or Olympic - distance triathlons this fall.

Considering how much I love the Summer Olympics, and that they are coming soon, it seems fitting.

I really wanted to race the Half, but the amount of training necessary for a 7-8 hour, 70.3 mile race is huge, and to be ready I would need to have an absolutely perfect training schedule between now and then.  Knowing that I have quite a bit of travel and other commitments planned over the next two months, it simply isn't going to happen.

That said, I'm going to continue a scaled-down version of the Half training plan while racing a couple Sprint-distance and then the International distance races this summer and fall. 

The "best-intentions" plan would be to return to Kansas next June for the second annual Ironman 70.3 Kansas in Lawrence - providing a great excuse to see family and friends - and then race the South Carolina Half in September.  We'll have to see if we can fit that into the schedule.

Lazy Blogger

Finally back.  I've been a lazy blogger, and a bit of a lazy worker-outer, as well.  Had basketball officiating camp the end of last week through the weekend, and then have been busy with work the last few days.

Officiating camp was lots of fun, and provided a good workout every day.  If nothing else, officiating is a good interval/speed workout, and I was calling 3 games a day.  Good times.

Back at it this week with an easy 4-mile run on Tuesday, and my long bike today.  I decided to move my Sunday long bike to today, and move my long run from today to Sunday, because we're heading to Myrtle Beach for the weekend.

So, two hours and 33 miles on the bike today.  Great workout, though I faded toward the end.  I went out with the goal to keep my heart rate under 150 except when climbing.  That worked for about the first half, and then it just kept increasing and I was constantly above 150 for the last half of the ride.  I just have to keep getting endurance rides in to move that heart rate down.  I also have to work on keeping my effort easy and not falling into the trap of pushing hard early on.

My pace was just below 17 mph for the 2 hours.  I was at 18.2 at the hour mark, so obviously my pace fell off quite a bit in the second hour.  Some of that was due to the layout of my ride - some pretty serious climbs in the second half today, and I was beat.

Have to keep working on my nutrition as well - I wasn't anywhere near where I need to be with what I ate this morning (breakfast burritos, come on!) and the lack of eating anything while on the ride.  On the ride, I had only most of a Gatorade G2 and a quick stop for a cup of lemonade from a road-side stand.  At least the lemonade was great. :)

Long Bike Ride

I decided to do my long ride lat this morning rather than waiting for tomorrow.  Today was supposed to be my off day, but since I ran the 5k, that wasn't going to happen, so I figured I'd hit the bike today for 90 minutes, and then rest tomorrow - maybe do a 30 minute easy ride to stretch the muscles, but nothing to speak of tomorrow.

So, off I went on yet-to-be-named bike wearing real live biking shorts and my tri top (both of which were part of the purchase package at Carolina Triathlon).  There is no room for modesty in bike shorts and a tri top, by the way.

It was hot and I had a bottle of water and a bottle of Gatorade, plus a Clif bar, to keep me happy.

This is a shot of my route:

More importantly this is the elevation chart:

As you can see, there is one long descent between miles 7ish and 12.  And then the fun starts.  Or lack of fun, depending on your perspective.  The real challenge with this ride was trying to take advantage of the descents, as the road was not very good and I found myself fighting it a lot rather than enjoying the ride.  And then really battling some tough climbs.

It was a really good lesson in gearing, and I used them all today.

Needless to say, I finished in under 90 minutes, averaging just over 17 mph.  It was a hot, tough ride after a tough run this morning, and was pretty satisfying.

I was definitely ready to be done when it was over, though...

Festival of Flowers Fun Run Race Report

I hit the Greenwood Festival of Flowers 5k fun run this morning.  Great turnout, with a solid crew of high school/college cross country types.  I stayed well back of them at the starting line.

I was by myself as Hil had to work.  The course was a true cross country course, with just a little bit of paved running, and a lot of tree running which presented the challenges of running over and around roots, holes, etc.  It actually brought back some pretty good high school memories.

With no starting gun, we were to go on a blast from a bugler.

Unfortunately, rather than a trumpeting bugle, it came out as more of a "phhtttt..."  So people started, and then they called us back.  And then they did it again, with a more pronounced "phhtttt...." and we just ran.  Sweet.

I was out in a first mile of 7:40.  I was both excited and terrified.  That's a pretty fast mile for me at this point, but I knew I'd probably pay for it.  And I did.  Big time.

We didn't have another split at any point through the race, but I knew I was struggling to keep my pace.  I had originally wanted to try to maintain an 8:00 pace, but couldn't after going out that fast, and I was passed by a few people.  

With about a quarter mile to go, I knew my 25:00 goal was out the window when we hit the only major hill on the course - and straight up we went.  The nice part was nobody else was ready for the hill, and I was able to pass several of those who had passed me earlier.  Then with about 250 yards to go I was able to stride it out and finish strong in 26:30.

Not a great time, but good effort and lots of fun.  I'm definitely glad I went and it gave me a good feel for where my speed level is right now - slow, but not as slow as a month ago.

Quick recap of the week

This week was kind of strange...kind of a mish-mash of workouts with a little traveling and an addition to the triathlon training gear.

First of all, had a pretty decent week of workouts after my long ride Monday.  Only in the pool once, but it was a very good 1200 yards.  My runs were strong - not necessarily fast, but strong.  I just felt good when I was out this week, even on my long run (6 miles in 60 minutes) on Thursday.

On Wednesday I was in Greenville, and made the big purchase - I upgraded to a road bike.  Bessie the Bike just isn't going to cut it for any sort of real training, and a good week of work led me to feel it was time to take the plunge.

I have mentioned bessie before, but this is a stock photo of a bike like Bessie:

She's a great mountain bike.  As much as I'd ever need, and she's a blast to ride on the trails in the forests and hills of South Carolina.  I look forward to many, many more years of great fun riding over rocks, around trees and through creeks.

That said, it's time to introduce the new addition to the triathlon training family, the as yet unnamed Felt z100:

Just a stock photo, but you get the idea

My new bike is very "entry-level."  In a sport where you could spend $5-10,000 on a rocket ship of a triathlon bike, I wanted to spend less than a tenth of that and get myself a reasonable road bike.  So, after doing some research I visited the excellent Carolina Triathlon store in Greenville and made the purchase.  

It's been great.

After you've spent all your training mashing the pedals on a 400 pound mountain bike, getting on a true, quality road bike has been like moving from a 1996 Bronco to a 2008 Toyota Camry.  Maybe someday we'll talk about upgrading to the Porsche equivalent, but that's a long ways - and quite a few triathlons - off.

So, my bike workouts have gotten much, much better in the last couple days.  Yippee!!!

Long Bike Ride

Pushed my Sunday long-bike back to Monday, so Hilary and I got up early Monday morning to head out.  90 minutes is by no means an exceptionally difficult distance from a muscle fatigue point of view, but from a butt-fatigue point of view, it's where I get pretty uncomfortable.

Anyway, we rode on the back roads up to Hodges, then turned around and came back by home.  It was about an hour ride round-trip, just short of 15 miles.  I peeled off and rode another 8.5 miles in 30 minutes and completed my ride.  It was around 8:00 when I was back, and it was getting hot.  Gonna be that way this summer, I think.

Very good ride - steady effort, and I'm really getting better at gearing and being smart in how I climb and how I ride the few consistent level areas around here.  It was a nice, easy pace and allowed me simply to work on pedal efficiency and form.  Good day!

FIJI 5k Race Report

The race was a blast.  First actual race of any kind I'd entered since high school, and Hilary's first race EVER.  Combined with the fact that it was to be my off day for training, it was a fun way to run a charity 5k together on our 5 year wedding anniversary in Savannah.  Savannah is, by the way, one of the greatest coastal cities to visit I've ever seen.  Go there sometime.  Seriously.

Anyway, we headed out from our hotel just a shade after 7:00 for the 8:00 race.  It took about 20 minutes to get out to the race site, which was a community recreation center on Wilmington Island.  It was quite marshy.  Not a hint of breeze, temperatures at 7:30 already above 80, and I'd guess humidity in the same range.  I was sweaty.  Dripping off my fingertips sweaty.

Before the Race.  I'm already glistening.

We did a little jogging warmup and got ready to run.  Per Hilary's wishes (and plain good sense) we started in the "middle back" of the pack.  Somewhere behind the fit-looking people, but ahead of those with strollers.  Hilary seemed a bit nervous, but holding it together.  She just didn't want to finish last.

I shared some wisdom - mainly don't go out in a sprint for the first 1/2 mile and don't elbow your way past anyone under 12 years old.  We took off and right away I could tell we were at a good place in the pack, especially for Hilary's first race.  After the initial shake-out, we started picking people off bit by bit.  There were some Clydesdales and some oxen who went out a little strong, and they were being decimated after the first 1/2 mile by the Woo Crew's slow-but-steady pace.

First mile came in at 9:15, and also turned us away from the sun, which was nice.  We hit the aid station at half-way, and slowed down just enough to grab a shot of water and get back on pace.  During this second mile, we started picking out people for Hilary to tail and then pass.  First the woman in pink.  She was passed.  Then the woman in brown who was the only one to pass us after the first quarter mile - she got passed back.

We hit the second mile marker in about 19:00, which wasn't great - we were slow in the middle, though I'm not sure how accurate the mile markers actually were.  I wanted to make sure we maintained a sub 10:00 pace to get Hilary in under her 30:00 goal.

A bit later, we passed a guy walking, who then started running with us.  Very nice guy, and he had a Garmin heart rate monitor/pace watch.  It knew we'd gone 2.4 miles.  It also knew he'd fallen way off his 9:00 goal pace and was beeping at him incessantly.  This went right along with Hilary's heart rate monitor beeping at her that her heart rate was too high.  It was a chorus of beeps.

At that point, we identified the last person for Hilary to focus on - the girl ahead who had on three layers of shorts and had been walking as we neared her, but now was running again.  She was still 25ish yards ahead, but I thought Hilary could catch her if we just stayed steady.

As we made the last turn and had about 100 yards into the finish, I told her to stride it out and catch that girl.  Our new friend started pushing her to catch her, too!  Between the two of us, Hil had little choice but to turn it on and pick up the pace.  Unfortunately, weird shorts girl noticed, and also turned it up.  So there they were:  two girls racing hard to beat each other to the finish line at a charity 5k fun run in under 30:00.  The crowd loved it, even though shorts girl held Hilary off.

So, official time of 29:26 and 29:27 for us, smack in the middle of the pack.

Post-race.  More sweaty.

Very proud of #16.

Blah workout today

I need to get in the pool today, but I'm just not sure that's going to happen.

I did my 45 minute bike ride this morning.  Beautiful morning, though it got pretty warm by 8:00 when I was finishing up.  It wasn't to be an incredibly difficult ride - if I had a trainer that would have been preferable, just for consistency - but it was to be a start slow with a ramp up to "middle effort" with intervals of light effort, and then a cool down the last 7-10 minutes.  That's easy to do on a trainer - hard to do on the hills of South Carolina.

So, I had no consistency at all in my effort, but it wasn't a bad workout.  Just a little "Blah."  

Plus, I stopped three times to work on my rear brake.  I just replaced the pads, and for some reason the left pad was rubbing off and on after the first 5-10 minutes or so.  Riding up and down hills is hard enough without having to pedal through intermittent soft braking.  So that slowed me down quite a big - I did finally get the rubbing stopped, but something still isn't right when I brake.  I may need different pads than I got...I need to get to the bike shop in Greenville next time I'm there.

We're off to Savannah for the weekend - Hilary's birthday today, our anniversary tomorrow.  And we're running a 5k there tomorrow morning - first actual race for me since high school cross country!

By the way...

Just to let you know, my official weigh in this morning (as I do every "normal" morning when I'm home) had me at 203.4.  Just in the last couple weeks the weight is moving again.  Very nice.

It puts me at a cool place - 1.4 pounds from hitting the 50 pound mark since Thanksgiving, and officially beyond 40 pounds since I started tracking closely in late December.

Woohoo!

How my plan works

My training plan is pretty straightforward.  As you may have noticed from my posts, the running and biking workouts (at least for now) aren't given as particular distances, but rather durations, to prepare my body for endurance.  The whole idea with this plan is to get me in shape to finish in well under the 8 hour time limit.  But nothing more fancy than that, and frankly, I'm fine with 7:59:59 if that's what happens.  Hell, even if I don't make that I'll have reason to be proud - disappointed but not crushed - as long as I make it to the starting line.

The swimming is in distance, if only to give a realistic awareness of how far I will have to swim and to provide some structure to the workouts.  A lot of it is done in interval workouts.

By July I hope to have a handle on whether the Half is a do-able distance for me.  I very much want to do that, but I need to be realistic, too.  Six months ago, getting off the couch to walk to the ice cream store across the street was a lot to ask.  If it's just going to be too aggressive, there are half-Ironmans next year and the Olympic this October that is definitely within my abilities.

Until then...just keep plugging!

Hot...Very, Very Hot

So...people have said that South Carolina is hot.  I tell them it doesn't seem any hotter than Kansas.  "I mean, have you ever been in a hair dryer?" I ask.  "That's Kansas."

Apparently, though, they were telling the truth.  South Carolina is less like a hair dryer and more like a steamer.  Gross.  I find myself just wishing for a breeze.  This is the first week it's been pretty hot.  The heat index will top 100 this afternoon.  I feel sorry for the people participating in the Greenwood Festival of Flowers Olympic Distance Triathlon this weekend.  It will be scorching.

Hilary and I, meanwhile, will be sweating it up at 8 am in Savannah running the FIJI 5k with projected high of a spring-like 93.

I just can't wait until it gets REALLY hot.

Anyway, I had a 60-minute run on my training plan today.  My goal was to simply go out and run at an easy pace, hydrating as often as needed, walking early as needed to ward off being completely wiped at the end, and to enjoy myself.  And that's pretty much what happened.  I walked a couple times to drink some Gatorade and get my heart rate back down to a manageable level.  Climbing the hills around here really drives my heart rate up to unsustainable levels, and I'm still building the kind of fitness that will allow me to get it back under control while running.

So, I didn't quite make my goal of 6 miles, but 5.5 will have to do for today.  For my first long run of the year, combined with the heat and a pretty tough route, I'm not at all disappointed.  Just aware that I have much to do.

And thank God for air conditioning.

Glug-a-glug-glug...

I knew it would be this way, but that doesn't make it any less unpleasant.  Swimming is going to be my limiter.  However far I can go in the swim will dictate the distance of triathlon I can compete in.  At least, that's how it feels today.

Had my first ever dedicated swim workout today.  I've always been a decent-to-good swimmer.  I was fast in the water as a kid - probably not the fastest my age but always above average.  Good swimming lessons as a kid from the fabulous Money sisters I'm sure is where the credit lies.

So today was pretty straightforward, but long for a guy who doesn't have a swimming base to speak of:  after a warmup, swim 1000 meters.  I broke the 1000 up by swimming 1 x 300, 1 x 200, and then 5 x 100 with a brief rest in between.  

This was hard for me.  Not because of muscle fatigue, nor did my heart rate get too elevated and push my body into an anaerobic state.  On the contrary, my heart rate never got close to the top end of my aerobic range (up to about 165 bpm for me).

It was hard because I am bad at the breathing part, apparently.  I found myself really struggling to maintain any sort of rhythm and breathing a lot of water early on.  This shouldn't have been this hard, but when you realize that you've never tried to swim for any period of time while breathing hard, it makes sense.  

Aqualung describes me.

I worked hard to focus on my form, and tried to implement what little I know about the "Total Immersion" method of the freestyle stroke that seems all the rage among triathletes.  About 600 meters in I started to figure a few things out, and it got a bit easier.  It turns out that I was not completely clearing my lungs under water, meaning I had to both finish my exhale and inhale when I came up.  Not very efficient.  My stroke pace was also too fast, so when I slowed down and tried to glide through the water, taking plenty of time to roll and breathe, things got a TON easier.

Needless to say, I have a lot of work to do here.  However, my progress should be fairly rapid early on as I get used to working out in the water and become more and more efficient.

Oh, and I've got to get a better pair of goggles.  Leaky, leaky, leaky...