I'm Back...On The Podium!

Two Sundays ago I competed in my first race in over two years, the New York City Duathlon in Central Park. The following is my race report.

Pre-Race
Going into the race I felt cautiously optimistic. I had been training for months upon months and was really happy with my fitness level. I did have a nagging pain in my left knee, but nothing I was too worried about. Race morning I threw my stuff together, packed up the family, and headed down to the Path station. Once I arrived in New York City I jumped on my bike and headed up to Central Park, stopping at a Duane Reade drug store for pre-race granola bars and Gatorade (this was truly an urban race). I had plenty of time to set up my transition area, practice transitions a bit, hit the bathroom, warm up, stretch, and head to the starting line.

First Run (2 miles)
I seeded myself towards the front of the pack, as I felt pretty good about my run fitness. The course consisted of an out-and-back from 72nd Street to 96th Street. The run began on a fairly long and steep uphill, and I reminded myself to shorten my stride and just grind through it. I would then lengthen my stride on the downhills and try to maintain a steady pace on the rare flat sections. I was passed by a few people in the first half mile or so, but passed most of them and more the rest of the way. One last thing--there is NO DOUBT in my mind the run course was long. When I got back into transition and saw my time I was shocked--hills or no hills, given my perceived effort level, there is no way I ran that slow.

Bike (12 miles)
After a fairly efficient first transition I was on the bike course, which consisted of two loops around Central Park. I must say if there was one portion of my race I was not pleased with, it was the bike. I was passed by several racers, and in just about every case it was like I was standing still. Maybe I am just trying to justify my subpar performance, but I felt like I had brought a knife to a gun fight--just about everyone that raced by me had deep dish aero wheels and/or a rear disk. It may be time for me to seriously consider getting some aero wheels again to fight fire with fire. I also had a very difficult time getting into any sort of rhythm given the myriad hills throughout the park. After what seemed like it took longer than it should have, I was back in the transition area.

Second Run (2 miles)
After a lightning-quick second transition I was back on the run course. My legs definitely felt a bit dead on the initial uphill, but once I got through that I realized I still had a fair amount of gas in the tank. I started to pick up the pace and focus on reeling in some of the guys who smoked me on the bike. I passed one about a half a mile in, and another just past the turnaround point. At that point I could not even see the next runner in front of me, and just focused on "downshifting" my stride on the uphills and "upshifting" on the downhills. When I hit the last downhill I went into a full out sprint. I hit the finish line feeling really good about my race, knowing I had not left much out on the course.

Post-Race
So I decided to stick around with my family (my wife and son were out on the course and I got to see them six times, which was amazing!) for the awards ceremony, as based on the limited number of people in the transition area when I finished I thought I may have podiumed in my age group. Lo and behold I was correct! This is now the fourth straight race in which I have been on or near the podium. I attribute it to my "rate of decline" being much more gradual than other people my age, as I am certainly not getting any faster. More importantly, it was nice to be racing again. That said, it will feel great to take a couple of months off, relax a bit, start lifting weights regularly again, and get my knee right. Thanks for reading!

Race Splits
Run 1: 15:11 (7:35 pace--there is NO WAY the run course was two miles)
Transition 1: 0:42
Bike: 38:08 (18.9 MPH--in a word, BRUTAL)
Transition 2: 0:25
Run 2: 15:48 (7:54 pace, allegedly)
Overall: 1:10:13 (25th overall, 3rd M40-44)

Race Simulation

So today I did my last hard workout before next Sunday's race, a race simulation consisting of two miles on the treadmill at 7:06/mile pace, 12 miles on the spin bike at 22.0 MPH, and two more miles on the treadmill with reverse splits every 1-2 minutes after six minutes at 7:19/mile pace. I have to say the whole thing did not feel all that difficult, which I guess is to be expected given the fact I have been training for over eight months now. I know my actual race will not be as easy as today's workout (for one, I kept the resistance on the spin bike relatively low the entire time, while Central Park has some serious hills), but I must say it really gave me a nice boost of confidence.

I told myself I would not do the thing where I check out last year's race results and try to project where I will finish based on them, but I have to admit I did sneak a peek recently. The results seemed kind of weird--the run splits were kind of slow, especially in relation to the bike ones. I figure if I can run the way I am capable of and hold my own on the bike, I could be looking at a relatively high placing. Time to start tapering and obsessing over the upcoming race--joy!

Big Training Week Recap

I capped off my big training week on Saturday by lifting weights (back, biceps, and legs) and getting in one final bike ride. I rode up to and over the George Washington Bridge before heading south on the West Side Highway Bike Path all the way down to the World Trade Center Path Station. This is a ride I have wanted to do for quite a long time, and I definitely enjoyed it.

I was planning to take it pretty easy (especially when I got to New York, as I had always heard the bike path traffic was awful), but ended up getting a pretty good workout in. Part of that was due to my ridiculously competitive nature, as I sort of "raced" with a roadie along the bike path for several miles. I decided to just ride on my bull horns to make it a fair fight, and was pleasantly surprised by the power I was able to generate considering the fact I was not in my aerobars (and yes, I "won").

Finally, my big training week came to an end. I actually got in nine workouts in seven days, including four bike rides (~85 miles), four runs (including one as part of a brick, ~15 miles), and two weightlifting sessions (~1.5 hours). I am definitely happy with my biggest training week in I don't know how long. With the family back in town, it will likely be quite some time before I am able to get in that type of volume again...

Siamese Dreams

So this morning I cranked out another 20-mile ride before work. I headed out a half hour later than I usually do (5:30 A.M.), which actually made a surprising difference in terms of vehicular traffic; it was still not much, but significantly more than usual on my morning rides. All in all it was a fairly uneventful ride--I felt really strong on both the out and back, and just really enjoyed being back on The Black Knight again.

The one noteworthy thing is I rode with my iPod for the first time in a while, and decided to forgo my playlists and listen to an entire album--specifically, Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins, which were one of my favorite bands 15 or so years ago. I had forgotten how much I love that album--there is literally not a bad song on there. I am going to have to start doing that more often...

Big Week Training Update

As I mentioned in my last blog post, this is a big training week for me with the better half and my son out of town. I started it off with my first Central Park ride in a long while--three loops around the park. Unfortunately I made the mistake of heading over there at 2 P.M. on a beautiful Sunday, and the loop was jam packed (particularly the southern part). I was still able to get some pretty decent riding in, and I always find dodging runners/bikers/walkers/etc. to be some pretty good bike handling training. Oh, and I was smoking roadies the entire way--although to be fair any serious ones probably got their workouts in well before the crowds began to gather.

Yesterday I did a four mile run before heading into the office, followed by a weightlifting session (chest, triceps, and legs) after work. This morning I did a 15 mile ride/two mile run brick, which felt really easy (particularly the run). I am planning to get in one more bike ride, two runs, and maybe another weightlifting session this week. It seems crazy to me that this is the most I have trained in a week in I don't know how long--and it will still be a lot fewer hours than I used to put in when I was training for half Ironmans in 2005 and 2006. That is all I know right now--will post another update later this week.

Back-To-Back Bricks

So I traveled early this week to the West Coast for a couple of days, and while I was able to get a couple of good workouts in out there I was too tired/busy to train on Wednesday. Thus, I ended up doing back-to-back brick workouts yesterday and this morning. Both times I hit the exercise bike at the gym for 40 minutes, followed immediately by a two mile treadmill run. The Black Knight is actually in the bike shop once again, as I hit a pothole late last week on a ride and broke a spoke (which was a first for me).

While neither of the bricks was terribly difficult, I felt good about the fact I was focused and disciplined enough to make up for the workout that I missed. Next week the family is out of town, so I am really going to hit the training hard, including possibly working out a day or two with Hoboken's Gold Coast Triathlon Club, which I plan to join. That is the update for today--not terribly exciting I know, but at least you did not have to wait months for it like the last one!

Back To Blogging (And Bricking)

Once again months have lapsed since my last blog entry. I wish I had some worthwhile reason to give for the lack of entries, but unfortunately sheer laziness will have to suffice. The good news is since I have not blogged in so long, theoretically I should have something somewhat interesting to report. So let's get to it, in a numbered list:

1. My training is going quite well. I have been pretty consistently running twice a week, riding twice a week, and lifting weights once a week. I was on vacation last week and was only able to get a couple of runs in, but that was to be expected.
2. I started riding outside about a month ago, my first rides on my bike in two years. I forgot how much I enjoy riding my bike. I also once again discovered that spin bike rides are actually really good at base building--I felt very powerful from the first time I got back on my bike, and am easily able to hold 18-20 MPH on my 15-20 mile rides.
3. I have also done a few bricks (15 mile bike, two mile run) and am THRILLED with how good my legs feel coming off the bike. This morning I nearly broke 14:00 for my run, and have consistently been in the low 7:00/mile range.
4. I have signed up for the New York City Duathlon on September 16th (which incidentally is my birthday). This race will represent coming full circle for me--my first multi-sport race was in Central Park many years ago.
5. I am still keeping my weight below 180 lbs., although it has drifted up a bit over the last several weeks. I have recently cut back on the Starbucks every work day morning, which predictably has worked wonders.
6. I recently read two triathlon-related books recently on my Kindle: A Life Without Limits: A World Champion's Journey by Chrissie Wellington and Can't Swim, Can't Ride, Can't Run: From Common Man to Ironman by Andy Holgate. Without going into full book reports, I recommend the former, not so much the latter. And no, reading them did not stoke my fire to do an Ironman one day (quite the opposite, in fact).

So that is the update--more to come later!

Another Training Update

O.K., I promise to make this a more substanative training update this time. All is well--I am training consistently and am lighter than I have been in a long, long time. Basically I am running a couple days a week, hitting the spin bike one day a week, and either doing a bit more cardio (usually the Stairmaster or elliptical machine) or lifting weights one day a week. Yesterday I did my first brick workout in a long, long time, consisting of 30 minutes on the spin bike followed by a 10-minute treadmill run. It just felt so EASY--almost too easy. I really think being lighter (consistently in the low-170 lb. range, and sometimes in the high 160s, like this morning) is making a huge difference.

So how did I finally lose the weight? First off, I added breakfast to my daily routine, which supposedly helps speed up your metabolism. I then have a large lunch and a fairly light dinner (sometimes no dinner at all--it can be tough having a 17-month-old going through a bad sleeping phase). I still struggle with the sweets, but keep them in moderation during the week and rarely eat them on weekends. Add it all up, and I am nearly 20 lbs lighter than I was less than a year ago, when I was seriously beginning to worry that my weight could begin to start with a two in the near future.

O.K., back to training stuff. I definitely need to add another workout into my week. Ideally I would like to do two runs, two bike rides (including a brick), and one weightlifting workout every week starting soon. Work travel is about to ramp up which could throw a wrench in my plans, but I will do the best I can. Will post again soon with updated racing plans for this year. Thanks for reading!

Decisions, Decisions...

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2012! Yes, I am back and plan to start blogging a bit more regularly. I am starting off the New Year fit (175 lbs.), in good running shape (logged a ton of miles in 2011, despite not racing at all), and ready to reenter the competitive racing world in 2012. I am still formulating my race schedule, but have two somewhat noteworthy developments to report:

1. I will NOT be participating in the Illinois River To River Relay in April. While it definitely sounds like a "once-in-a-lifetime, bucket list" type of experience, I just decided it is too much travel (likely with the whole family) for a race in which I would only run nine miles. Maybe some other year, but definitely not 2012.

2. I WILL be competing in the Bank Of America Chicago Marathon as originally planned, but will be running the entire race with my wife. Thus, the Boston Marathon qualifying attempt is out the window. On the one hand I am kind of bummed because I think I had a pretty decent shot at it, but on the other hand it will really be special for the two of us to cross that finish line together--and as I get older, I realize more and more how much more important family is than "individual glory."

O.K., that is it for now--much more to come later!