I thought just to give you a bit more background I would add some of my old race reports to this blog. I decided to just include races from my "breakthrough" 2006 season, in which I set PRs at the half Ironman and marathon distance, just missed my Olympic PR and got my first top-ten overall finish. Enjoy -- or not!
2006 Spirit of Racine Half Ironman
There is an old saying that goes "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." That pretty much sums up my experience at the Spirit of Racine Half Ironman on July 23rd. To say that I "failed" when I did this same race last year (which was my first half Ironman) is probably a bit harsh. I finished the race on a BRUTAL day (with the heat index, it was over 110 degrees), but I missed my goal time by a sizeable margin, mainly due to an awful run.
This year I kicked my training up a couple of notches – for example, I did a long ride and a brick every week, as opposed to every other week last year. I also had a couple of very high mileage cycling weeks (well, at least high mileage for me), as I reasoned that not only would I spend over half of my time during the race on the bike, but I needed to be able to finish 56 miles comfortably, without feeling completely spent. Last but certainly not least, I invested in a professional bike fitting, a used aero front wheel and a rear wheelcover.
O.K., on to the race. The start of the swim was a bit tough – tons of contact, although nothing too terrible. We started swimming away from the beach towards a buoy, followed by a right hand turn. Unfortunately the sun was right in our faces, which made it nearly impossible to see the buoy. I finally got to the buoy and made a right hand turn to swim parallel to the shore line. This was when things took a turn for the worse – I ended up WAY off course! I am a bilateral breather, and after a few minutes noticed that every time I breathed on my left side, I saw no one. Whenever I breathed on my right side, I saw plenty of swimmers – who were at least 50 yards closer to the shore than I was. Damn!
I then started swimming diagonally towards the other swimmers and the line of buoys and sighting much more often, which threw off my already marginal stroke mechanics. Oh, and the water was also incredibly choppy. When I got out of the water, I was not terribly surprised to see that my time was 3:24 slower than last year, when sighting was not an issue. While disappointed, I knew that losing three minutes and change was not going to make much of a difference in a five plus hour day.
After a quick transition (34 seconds faster than last year) I was on the bike. During the first ten miles or so, I passed a ton of riders. While my heart rate was a bit higher than I had planned, I felt fine from a perceived exertion level perspective. I just concentrated on staying in the aero position as much as possible, taking in calories (mainly Gatorade), and riding my own race. After 30 miles or so my butt really started to get sore, which is rare for me. I was also getting passed more often than I was passing other riders.
By 40 miles or so, I decided to get out of the saddle on most hills, just to give my backside a rest. I was still riding at a decent pace (20+ MPH) and keeping my heart rate at a manageable level, but the ride was definitely getting pretty old. In addition, I was having major problems with my aero drink – I use the Profile Design aero drink system and mounting bracket, and did not do a good job of securing the bottle on the bracket. Thus, I constantly had to push my bottle back towards my stem to keep it from falling off my bike. I saw my personal cheering section (my girlfriend and my buddy who takes all the photos) less than a mile from transition, which gave me an nice boost. Finally I made it back to the transition area, having cut 16:23 from my last year bike time.
After another decent transition (just five seconds slower than last year), I was on the run course. My legs actually felt pretty good, and I just concentrated on keeping a nice, steady pace. About a mile or so into the run, I caught up with Lance, a guy that I know from a group organized by my local running store. I asked him if he minded some company on the run, and he said no problem. Lance is a Boston Marathon qualifier, so I knew that we would sustain a decent pace.
Aside from an early bathroom break that I took, Lance and I ran together the entire time, which was great. I hit every single aid station, drinking a bit of water or infinIT, as well as literally pouring cups of ice down my tri jersey to keep cool. Nine miles or so into the run, I was definitely starting to hurt, but having someone running with me definitely helped. I looked at my watch for the first time since the second transition, and realized that sub-5:20 was a definite possibility. At mile 11 I was at 4:58, and knew sub-5:20 was going to happen. Right before the finish line, I looked down at my watch and saw 5:15 – and let out a yell like I had just won the entire race! My run time was 25:21 faster than last year, when I melted in the Wisconsin heat.
Afterwards I was tired, but not nearly as wiped out as I was last year. I was actually able to see most of my friends finish (including a friend doing her first half Ironman), which was nice. While it felt great to take 39 minutes off of my time from last year, it also made me realize that I am a short course guy – I will take suffering for less than two and a half hours over slogging through five plus hours any day of the week! Thanks for reading!
Race Splits
Swim: 41:13 (2:09/100 meters)
T1: 1:36
Bike: 2:44:31 (20.4 MPH)
T2: 1:08
Run: 1:46:45 (8:09 per mile)
Overall: 5:15:12
2006 Accenture Triathlon
Like the Rolling Stones famously sang, you can't always get what you want. That song lyric sums up my performance in my last triathlon of 2006, the Olympic distance race at the Accenture Chicago Triathlon on August 27th. Going into Accenture, my goal was to break 2:25. I had done a 2:29 and change at this same race last year, and given my earlier performances this year (first top 10 overall in a small sprint race, 5:15 at Racine Half Ironman), increased training volume, professional bike fitting and improved technology (new aerobars and race wheels), I thought it was a realistic goal.
On race morning I was excited, but not particularly nervous, as this was my fourth straight year doing this race. The swim start was the typical Accenture scrum for the first few hundred meters. This may sound perverse, but I have actually started to enjoy mass swim starts – they are kind of like underwater slam dancing. Once we passed the turnaround buoy, things spread out considerably. I focused on keeping a nice, easy stroke and sighting periodically, given the sighting problems I have had in my earlier races this year. As was the case last year, pretty early into the swim I was passing people from earlier waves, including a fair number of side, breast and backstrokers.
When I checked my watch at the end of the swim, I was shocked – my time was actually two minutes SLOWER than last year. My swimming has definitely taken a step back this year, due to a variety of reasons (i.e., did not take private lessons like last year, less swim volume, torn cartilage in my right shoulder), and I was definitely disappointed. But obviously the show must go on, so I started the long trek to the transition area. After a decent transition, I was on my bike.
I was hoping to make up a fair amount of time from my slower swim split on the bike, but once I got on Lake Shore Drive, I knew that was going to be a challenge. Last year I averaged 21.7 MPH on this same course in literally ideal conditions, and with 15-20 MPH headwinds as I headed north, I knew that I would have a tough time exceeding that effort. I just concentrated on staying aero as much as possible, and passing people without blocking faster riders (given the 3,700+ racers in the race, I was literally passing racers the entire way). My speed was generally around 19-21 MPH heading north, and on the way south I was around 23-25 MPH. I ended up actually beating my bike split from last year by 51 seconds, which I was happy with given the tougher conditions. My only concern was that I had pushed too hard on the bike, and would not have enough left to have a good run.
As I went to rack my bike and change into my running shoes in the transition area, I looked to my right to see fellow Slowtwitcher Jostein, who I had run into before the race. I asked him if he minded some company during the run, but he took off like a bat out of hell out of transition, so I ended up running solo. My legs actually felt pretty fresh coming off the bike – the weekly bricks this season really paid off! I completed the first mile in just under seven minutes, which I was happy with. At that moment, I decided that I was not going to look at my watch at all during the rest of the race. I realized with some degree of sadness that this triathlon season was coming to an end, and I was just going to enjoy the rest of the race, without worrying about mile splits, heart rates, or whether I would beat my time from last year (which I knew was pretty much out of the question anyway).
The rest of the run I just focused on keeping a nice, smooth, efficient stride. Somewhere between miles five and six I started to tire, but was still able to keep up a decent pace. Right before the six mile mark I reminded myself to leave it all on the course, and picked up my pace. As I crossed the finish line, I saw that I had missed my overall time from last year by one minute and one second, even with faster bike and run splits.
While I am a bit disappointed, the path for next year is as clear as day – I need to become a better swimmer. It is as simple as that. I can make all the excuses I want (i.e., I have no formal swimming background, it is a pain to get up early for masters classes, it is the shortest part of the race, I like running and biking so much more, etc.) but that's all they are – excuses. These races are called TRIATHLONS, not duathlons, and unless I can improve my swimming, I will never reach my full potential – whatever that may be. Anyway, there's no rest for the weary – I now need to start concentrating on my training for the Chicago Marathon in late October! Thanks for reading!
Race Splits
Swim: 34:08 (includes quarter mile plus run to the transition area)
T1: 2:13
Bike: 1:09:04 (22.0 MPH)
T2: 1:25
Run: 43:24 (7:00 per mile)
Overall: 2:30:17 (top 6% overall, top 8% in 35-39 age group)
2006 Chicago Marathon
There is an old saying that pain is temporary, victory is forever. I can not say that I won anything at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 22nd, but I can say with absolute certainty that I was in plenty of pain afterwards!
Going into race day, I felt pretty confident. My training had gone well, and with the exception of a bad ankle sprain three weeks before race day, I was relatively injury-free. My only major concern was the weather. It was forecasted to be about 38 degrees at the start of the race, with highs for the day in the mid 40s. I dressed appropriately, with a long sleeve running top, tights, gloves and a light jacket that I later handed off to a friend early in the race.
The first few miles of the race went pretty well. Unlike two years ago, I did not have to do much bobbing and weaving to get around other runners. I kept my pace nice and easy, hitting the first mile in just under eight minutes before settling into 7:15-7:30 per mile pace. I was determined to not be a "first half marathon hero, second half zero" by blowing myself up early in the race. I also concentrated on taking in some Gatorade at every aid station to prevent the leg cramps that hit me in the last few miles of my 2004 marathon.
As mile after mile ticked off, I took a physical and mental inventory. My legs felt pretty fresh and I was not breathing particularly hard. I was running within myself and staying completely focused on the race. I made a conscious decision not to draw off of the energy of the crowds, as I knew that later in the race they would be much sparser. I was happy, however, to get cheered on by familiar faces along the course, including Brian and his wife, triathlon training partners Liza and Kim, my girlfriend's mother and my "personal photographer" Chad. I also ran into Jostein, a fellow triathlete who had smoked me in a couple of races earlier in the year, who was also doing the race.
I hit the half marathon mark in 1:37:18, which was a bit slower than what I had planned, but given how good I felt, I was not terribly concerned. I churned out a few more miles in the 7:25-7:40 range before slowing down to around 7:45 per mile pace for miles 17-20 and 8:00 per mile for miles 21-23. I was definitely starting to tire, and it felt like the mile markers were getting further and further apart. As I had warned him beforehand, I pulled my Chicago Area Runner's Association (CARA) pace group leader Flip out of the crowd to run the final three miles with me, which definitely helped.
Right after hitting mile 24, things started to get really tough. I had not hit the dreaded "wall" exactly, but I just did not have much left in the tank. My legs felt like they were on fire, and the every block felt like a 10K race. I walked through two aid stations and took a couple of short walk breaks along the way. I struggled up the only major hill on the course before turning onto the home stretch and crossing the finish line in 3:22:14. Afterwards I hobbled to the massage tent where I spent about a half an hour getting treated and warming up before meeting up with Chad and Kim, my girlfriend (who completed her first marathon that day) and her family.
In the final analysis, I beat my time from 2004 (my only other marathon) by three minutes and 38 seconds, but did come up a bit short of my goal of 3:15-3:20. Did the cold weather and winds affect me? Maybe. But at the end of the day, I honestly felt like I did the best that I could given my training and the conditions. I would like to thank my CARA training partners, my pace group leader Flip, and all my friends and family who have given me so much support and encouragement throughout my 2006 racing season. Thanks for reading!
2006 Spirit of Racine Half Ironman
There is an old saying that goes "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." That pretty much sums up my experience at the Spirit of Racine Half Ironman on July 23rd. To say that I "failed" when I did this same race last year (which was my first half Ironman) is probably a bit harsh. I finished the race on a BRUTAL day (with the heat index, it was over 110 degrees), but I missed my goal time by a sizeable margin, mainly due to an awful run.
This year I kicked my training up a couple of notches – for example, I did a long ride and a brick every week, as opposed to every other week last year. I also had a couple of very high mileage cycling weeks (well, at least high mileage for me), as I reasoned that not only would I spend over half of my time during the race on the bike, but I needed to be able to finish 56 miles comfortably, without feeling completely spent. Last but certainly not least, I invested in a professional bike fitting, a used aero front wheel and a rear wheelcover.
O.K., on to the race. The start of the swim was a bit tough – tons of contact, although nothing too terrible. We started swimming away from the beach towards a buoy, followed by a right hand turn. Unfortunately the sun was right in our faces, which made it nearly impossible to see the buoy. I finally got to the buoy and made a right hand turn to swim parallel to the shore line. This was when things took a turn for the worse – I ended up WAY off course! I am a bilateral breather, and after a few minutes noticed that every time I breathed on my left side, I saw no one. Whenever I breathed on my right side, I saw plenty of swimmers – who were at least 50 yards closer to the shore than I was. Damn!
I then started swimming diagonally towards the other swimmers and the line of buoys and sighting much more often, which threw off my already marginal stroke mechanics. Oh, and the water was also incredibly choppy. When I got out of the water, I was not terribly surprised to see that my time was 3:24 slower than last year, when sighting was not an issue. While disappointed, I knew that losing three minutes and change was not going to make much of a difference in a five plus hour day.
After a quick transition (34 seconds faster than last year) I was on the bike. During the first ten miles or so, I passed a ton of riders. While my heart rate was a bit higher than I had planned, I felt fine from a perceived exertion level perspective. I just concentrated on staying in the aero position as much as possible, taking in calories (mainly Gatorade), and riding my own race. After 30 miles or so my butt really started to get sore, which is rare for me. I was also getting passed more often than I was passing other riders.
By 40 miles or so, I decided to get out of the saddle on most hills, just to give my backside a rest. I was still riding at a decent pace (20+ MPH) and keeping my heart rate at a manageable level, but the ride was definitely getting pretty old. In addition, I was having major problems with my aero drink – I use the Profile Design aero drink system and mounting bracket, and did not do a good job of securing the bottle on the bracket. Thus, I constantly had to push my bottle back towards my stem to keep it from falling off my bike. I saw my personal cheering section (my girlfriend and my buddy who takes all the photos) less than a mile from transition, which gave me an nice boost. Finally I made it back to the transition area, having cut 16:23 from my last year bike time.
After another decent transition (just five seconds slower than last year), I was on the run course. My legs actually felt pretty good, and I just concentrated on keeping a nice, steady pace. About a mile or so into the run, I caught up with Lance, a guy that I know from a group organized by my local running store. I asked him if he minded some company on the run, and he said no problem. Lance is a Boston Marathon qualifier, so I knew that we would sustain a decent pace.
Aside from an early bathroom break that I took, Lance and I ran together the entire time, which was great. I hit every single aid station, drinking a bit of water or infinIT, as well as literally pouring cups of ice down my tri jersey to keep cool. Nine miles or so into the run, I was definitely starting to hurt, but having someone running with me definitely helped. I looked at my watch for the first time since the second transition, and realized that sub-5:20 was a definite possibility. At mile 11 I was at 4:58, and knew sub-5:20 was going to happen. Right before the finish line, I looked down at my watch and saw 5:15 – and let out a yell like I had just won the entire race! My run time was 25:21 faster than last year, when I melted in the Wisconsin heat.
Afterwards I was tired, but not nearly as wiped out as I was last year. I was actually able to see most of my friends finish (including a friend doing her first half Ironman), which was nice. While it felt great to take 39 minutes off of my time from last year, it also made me realize that I am a short course guy – I will take suffering for less than two and a half hours over slogging through five plus hours any day of the week! Thanks for reading!
Race Splits
Swim: 41:13 (2:09/100 meters)
T1: 1:36
Bike: 2:44:31 (20.4 MPH)
T2: 1:08
Run: 1:46:45 (8:09 per mile)
Overall: 5:15:12
2006 Accenture Triathlon
Like the Rolling Stones famously sang, you can't always get what you want. That song lyric sums up my performance in my last triathlon of 2006, the Olympic distance race at the Accenture Chicago Triathlon on August 27th. Going into Accenture, my goal was to break 2:25. I had done a 2:29 and change at this same race last year, and given my earlier performances this year (first top 10 overall in a small sprint race, 5:15 at Racine Half Ironman), increased training volume, professional bike fitting and improved technology (new aerobars and race wheels), I thought it was a realistic goal.
On race morning I was excited, but not particularly nervous, as this was my fourth straight year doing this race. The swim start was the typical Accenture scrum for the first few hundred meters. This may sound perverse, but I have actually started to enjoy mass swim starts – they are kind of like underwater slam dancing. Once we passed the turnaround buoy, things spread out considerably. I focused on keeping a nice, easy stroke and sighting periodically, given the sighting problems I have had in my earlier races this year. As was the case last year, pretty early into the swim I was passing people from earlier waves, including a fair number of side, breast and backstrokers.
When I checked my watch at the end of the swim, I was shocked – my time was actually two minutes SLOWER than last year. My swimming has definitely taken a step back this year, due to a variety of reasons (i.e., did not take private lessons like last year, less swim volume, torn cartilage in my right shoulder), and I was definitely disappointed. But obviously the show must go on, so I started the long trek to the transition area. After a decent transition, I was on my bike.
I was hoping to make up a fair amount of time from my slower swim split on the bike, but once I got on Lake Shore Drive, I knew that was going to be a challenge. Last year I averaged 21.7 MPH on this same course in literally ideal conditions, and with 15-20 MPH headwinds as I headed north, I knew that I would have a tough time exceeding that effort. I just concentrated on staying aero as much as possible, and passing people without blocking faster riders (given the 3,700+ racers in the race, I was literally passing racers the entire way). My speed was generally around 19-21 MPH heading north, and on the way south I was around 23-25 MPH. I ended up actually beating my bike split from last year by 51 seconds, which I was happy with given the tougher conditions. My only concern was that I had pushed too hard on the bike, and would not have enough left to have a good run.
As I went to rack my bike and change into my running shoes in the transition area, I looked to my right to see fellow Slowtwitcher Jostein, who I had run into before the race. I asked him if he minded some company during the run, but he took off like a bat out of hell out of transition, so I ended up running solo. My legs actually felt pretty fresh coming off the bike – the weekly bricks this season really paid off! I completed the first mile in just under seven minutes, which I was happy with. At that moment, I decided that I was not going to look at my watch at all during the rest of the race. I realized with some degree of sadness that this triathlon season was coming to an end, and I was just going to enjoy the rest of the race, without worrying about mile splits, heart rates, or whether I would beat my time from last year (which I knew was pretty much out of the question anyway).
The rest of the run I just focused on keeping a nice, smooth, efficient stride. Somewhere between miles five and six I started to tire, but was still able to keep up a decent pace. Right before the six mile mark I reminded myself to leave it all on the course, and picked up my pace. As I crossed the finish line, I saw that I had missed my overall time from last year by one minute and one second, even with faster bike and run splits.
While I am a bit disappointed, the path for next year is as clear as day – I need to become a better swimmer. It is as simple as that. I can make all the excuses I want (i.e., I have no formal swimming background, it is a pain to get up early for masters classes, it is the shortest part of the race, I like running and biking so much more, etc.) but that's all they are – excuses. These races are called TRIATHLONS, not duathlons, and unless I can improve my swimming, I will never reach my full potential – whatever that may be. Anyway, there's no rest for the weary – I now need to start concentrating on my training for the Chicago Marathon in late October! Thanks for reading!
Race Splits
Swim: 34:08 (includes quarter mile plus run to the transition area)
T1: 2:13
Bike: 1:09:04 (22.0 MPH)
T2: 1:25
Run: 43:24 (7:00 per mile)
Overall: 2:30:17 (top 6% overall, top 8% in 35-39 age group)
2006 Chicago Marathon
There is an old saying that pain is temporary, victory is forever. I can not say that I won anything at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 22nd, but I can say with absolute certainty that I was in plenty of pain afterwards!
Going into race day, I felt pretty confident. My training had gone well, and with the exception of a bad ankle sprain three weeks before race day, I was relatively injury-free. My only major concern was the weather. It was forecasted to be about 38 degrees at the start of the race, with highs for the day in the mid 40s. I dressed appropriately, with a long sleeve running top, tights, gloves and a light jacket that I later handed off to a friend early in the race.
The first few miles of the race went pretty well. Unlike two years ago, I did not have to do much bobbing and weaving to get around other runners. I kept my pace nice and easy, hitting the first mile in just under eight minutes before settling into 7:15-7:30 per mile pace. I was determined to not be a "first half marathon hero, second half zero" by blowing myself up early in the race. I also concentrated on taking in some Gatorade at every aid station to prevent the leg cramps that hit me in the last few miles of my 2004 marathon.
As mile after mile ticked off, I took a physical and mental inventory. My legs felt pretty fresh and I was not breathing particularly hard. I was running within myself and staying completely focused on the race. I made a conscious decision not to draw off of the energy of the crowds, as I knew that later in the race they would be much sparser. I was happy, however, to get cheered on by familiar faces along the course, including Brian and his wife, triathlon training partners Liza and Kim, my girlfriend's mother and my "personal photographer" Chad. I also ran into Jostein, a fellow triathlete who had smoked me in a couple of races earlier in the year, who was also doing the race.
I hit the half marathon mark in 1:37:18, which was a bit slower than what I had planned, but given how good I felt, I was not terribly concerned. I churned out a few more miles in the 7:25-7:40 range before slowing down to around 7:45 per mile pace for miles 17-20 and 8:00 per mile for miles 21-23. I was definitely starting to tire, and it felt like the mile markers were getting further and further apart. As I had warned him beforehand, I pulled my Chicago Area Runner's Association (CARA) pace group leader Flip out of the crowd to run the final three miles with me, which definitely helped.
Right after hitting mile 24, things started to get really tough. I had not hit the dreaded "wall" exactly, but I just did not have much left in the tank. My legs felt like they were on fire, and the every block felt like a 10K race. I walked through two aid stations and took a couple of short walk breaks along the way. I struggled up the only major hill on the course before turning onto the home stretch and crossing the finish line in 3:22:14. Afterwards I hobbled to the massage tent where I spent about a half an hour getting treated and warming up before meeting up with Chad and Kim, my girlfriend (who completed her first marathon that day) and her family.
In the final analysis, I beat my time from 2004 (my only other marathon) by three minutes and 38 seconds, but did come up a bit short of my goal of 3:15-3:20. Did the cold weather and winds affect me? Maybe. But at the end of the day, I honestly felt like I did the best that I could given my training and the conditions. I would like to thank my CARA training partners, my pace group leader Flip, and all my friends and family who have given me so much support and encouragement throughout my 2006 racing season. Thanks for reading!
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