Only 4 days to go till the half! I can't wait!
This morning I got up nice and early and headed out to run three miles. I decided I wanted to just run it and see what happened. No plan, no goals, no intervals, nothing. So I set my Garmin to the run cadence screen and hit start and went for my run. I ran my usual three mile route out to the state house and back. When I was done I looked at my watch and I had fallen into a nice 7:15 average pace for the three miler. So apparently my legs are feeling good which is great. I have to say it was so nice to just head out my front door and run. Its been so long since I've done just a run. Not a run on tired legs, or a long run, or a run with intervals in it, or off the bike, or after a swim. Just a run.... out my front door.... with no real plan.... just a three mile goal. It felt GREAT! Afterwards I came home and stretched and did a little yoga which felt really nice too. As much as I LOVE triathlon I am looking forward to going back to a run focus for the marathon. I really enjoy the shorter midweek runs of marathon training and I enjoy the routine I get in with them. I'll often run the short stuff and then come home and lay out my yoga mat and stretch for a long time and do several yoga poses. I'll often put some nice relaxing music on while I do this. Many times I'll light some candles around the buddha statue I have near my yoga mat and then meditate for a bit before starting my day. The combination of run / stretch / yoga / meditate is such an amazing way to start the day. So it was nice to get a small reminder about that today. I really enjoyed it.
Then the workday started which was again stressfull and challenging. Some unique challenges on the project I'm working on now are really starting to frustrate me. I'll get through them though of course, but this is a hard week of work right when I could really use an easy one. But fortunately once 5pm on Friday hits I'm going to not even think about work till Monday AM. The weekend will be 100% race focused. Ok... maybe not 100% as I have a date Friday night I'm really looking forward to as well. Hopefully she is not horrified as I carb load at dinner and eat probably way too much!
Then later today it was time to head out the door for workout number 2. I headed down to Narragansett to get my last real ocean swim in before the race. When I arrived at the sea wall we ran into some other Tri-NE members who had just finished their swim. They reported that it was pretty challenging out there. Worse than the other day when we had all swam together and that was a pretty challenging day. Clearly this was going to be a challenging swim. When my group of 4 reached the far end of the beach where we decided to go into the water it looked really choppy out there. As we started to walk in it was clear it was also really rolling out there. The waves were not tall, but they had some kick and were coming in rapidly. So there were lots of 3-4 foot waves to swim out through. These then turned into constant swells. After a while we gave up trying to swim out far enough to escape them. Once we started swimming down the beach it became clear this was going to be rough going. It was really choppy out there as well as really rolly out there. It seemed like the chop and the rolls were coming from different directions though. In a way the two forces were fighting each other churning up the ocean which made things really rough out there. We were also getting thrown around a lot out there. More so than I ever have been before. What made it worse however and made the day really suck for me was that my goggles fogged up BADLY inside the first few minutes. I couldn't see ten feet in front of me. Add to this the fact that there are no buoys and the only thing to sight for is a building I can't see about a mile away and I was in trouble. So I made the best of it and just tried to stay right next to another swimmer the whole time. I literally stopped sighting as I couldn't see anything and just made sure to keep one of the other swimmers on my right the whole time. Fortunately our group was paced pretty equally so there were three people I could choose to follow. When I would get chucked aside however by the chop and lose contact in the rolls it got kind of hairy a few times. I REALLY didn't want to lose the group and end up alone out there not being able to see properly. This happened a couple of times and I would have to squint through the fog in my goggles and hope I could see an arm move and then head for the movement. So it was not a very fun swim for me as I was focused intently on not losing the group and not at all on my swimming or anything else. Then all of a sudden I hear a yell as I'm swimming and pop my head up to see one of my friends yelling something about being freaked out by the barge. I guess we had swam closer to shore than I though and we ended up right on top of the sunken barge out there. Its very dark and gloomy and freaky to see this shipwreck thats only a few feet below you. Especially when its grey and cloudy out. Its definitely spooky. So we all did our best water polo stroke to get over the barge without looking at it and then kept swimming. When we would regroup I tried a few times to get people to swim in but they wanted to keep going. And I didn't want to swim in by myself when I couldn't see so I stayed with the group. Then I saw some nasty looking thunder clouds in the distance I thought would get us so I was thinking about that too. It just was not a good day for me. The goggles just destroyed my concentration and turned the swim into a survival swim where I was just trying to stay with the group and not end up blind and way too far from shore. I should have just taken the damn goggles off. I probably would have been better off.
Eventually we turned into shore and swam in. I did something weird on the way in and had a nasty cramp in my right calf. Fortunately I was able to shake it off and keep swimming after a little while. That wasn't fun. And finally we were standing on shore. In the end we swam .8 miles today. We got tossed around so much that my stomach has been feeling weird all night. Mostly as I ate a lot today and all that food got seriously tossed around during the swim. But my balance was thrown off a bit too. We ran into some other Tri-NE members about to head in for a swim and I think we scared them a little bit by the looks on our faces and the stories we shared. Sorry guys!
After the swim I met up with a friend and frequent training partner for dinner at my favorite thai place and had a great time catching up as I haven't seen her in a while. All in all though a good day. Tomorrow is just a 45 minute bike ride with 5x30 second sprints in it. Pretty easy. I think I'll get up super early and do that on the bike path as its a nice flat simulation of route 1. Should be a nice ride at that hour too. Time for me to go hit the showers and get off to bed. One other thing first though... it was funny talking to some other friends tapering this week. Were all going a bit crazy, and eating everything in sight, and feeling odd aches and pains. Its nice to know I'm not the only one going through all of this!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
5 Days and Counting....
With only 5 days till race day I'm deep into the taper at this point. This morning started with a thirty minute ride with 5x1 minute intervals. 30 minutes goes by fast on a bike. Too fast in fact. I had no interest in stopping. I started thinking things like ...."hmmm... does a cooldown ride count as part of the thirty minutes?" and other things to convince myself it was ok to ride longer. Instead I put my bike back in the car at the thirty minute mark, stretched for a bit, and then went and got coffee. While stretching I noticed my right calf was really tight. Not sure what thats all about. Fortunately though I knew there would be a fix for that later in the day.
So after getting settled in my office and catching up on all things tri related online I set about getting some work done. And then at 10:30 this morning a lovely calendar alarm went off saying that I'd better get going as I have a 90 minute massage to get to!
I haven't been to see my massage therapist in a long time. Mostly as all this cross training in triathlon has done wonders for some of the nagging hamstring issues I had in the past that had me visiting my MT often. Mainly I scheduled the appointment as a nice reward for myself to celebrate making it all the way through my training. I went with a 90 minute massage so we could get a whole body workover done. It was heavenly! Turns out that although I've been feeling really good there was still a lot of tension and tightness pretty much everywhere. Mostly in my calves, but to some degree in my quads, and also in my shoulders. Laying there for 90 minutes while someone fixes all of that is pretty awesome. I spent the time in the beginning chit chatting as my legs got worked on, but once I flipped over to get my shoulders and back tweaked I zoned out and went to my happy place. Its amazing how quickly 90 minutes goes by. I was sad when it was all over but I felt really great. Initially though when I walked out of there my right calf where which was worked on a lot today was really sore. However after an afternoon back in compression gear it feels much better.
The rest of today has been pretty crazy work wise. I'm doing my best this week to manage the work stress and try and keep it at a distance. But its tough with everything going on. Worse than all of that though is the fact that my parents are currently out on cape cod vacationing and I don't think I can make it out there. Considering its a two hour drive each way to get out there, plus time to spend with them and its at least a six hour window. I simply don't have one of those this week at a time that makes sense. So I hated to do it but I sent them a message today saying I won't be able to make it. I'll have to try and make it up to them another time.
Next up for tomorrow is going to be a long work day full of conference calls and other such fabulousness and then its off to Narragansett for one last ocean swim and a brief run before heading back home again.
Right... thats it from me. Time for me to get back to work.
So after getting settled in my office and catching up on all things tri related online I set about getting some work done. And then at 10:30 this morning a lovely calendar alarm went off saying that I'd better get going as I have a 90 minute massage to get to!
I haven't been to see my massage therapist in a long time. Mostly as all this cross training in triathlon has done wonders for some of the nagging hamstring issues I had in the past that had me visiting my MT often. Mainly I scheduled the appointment as a nice reward for myself to celebrate making it all the way through my training. I went with a 90 minute massage so we could get a whole body workover done. It was heavenly! Turns out that although I've been feeling really good there was still a lot of tension and tightness pretty much everywhere. Mostly in my calves, but to some degree in my quads, and also in my shoulders. Laying there for 90 minutes while someone fixes all of that is pretty awesome. I spent the time in the beginning chit chatting as my legs got worked on, but once I flipped over to get my shoulders and back tweaked I zoned out and went to my happy place. Its amazing how quickly 90 minutes goes by. I was sad when it was all over but I felt really great. Initially though when I walked out of there my right calf where which was worked on a lot today was really sore. However after an afternoon back in compression gear it feels much better.
The rest of today has been pretty crazy work wise. I'm doing my best this week to manage the work stress and try and keep it at a distance. But its tough with everything going on. Worse than all of that though is the fact that my parents are currently out on cape cod vacationing and I don't think I can make it out there. Considering its a two hour drive each way to get out there, plus time to spend with them and its at least a six hour window. I simply don't have one of those this week at a time that makes sense. So I hated to do it but I sent them a message today saying I won't be able to make it. I'll have to try and make it up to them another time.
Next up for tomorrow is going to be a long work day full of conference calls and other such fabulousness and then its off to Narragansett for one last ocean swim and a brief run before heading back home again.
Right... thats it from me. Time for me to get back to work.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Rest Day... 6 Days to Race Day!
Today marks the beginning of some serious tapering. Last week was technically the first week of the taper, and as much as the volume decreased a bit it was still a good sized training week. This one however is the real taper and where I'm going to have to be very disciplined. Tomorrow calls for just a thirty minute ride with a few intervals in it. Its going to be really hard to stop my ride after thirty minutes. I'm still not even sure where I should ride for that short a period of time. I may have to drive my bike over to the boulevard and do the intervals there. If I ride out my front door I have to spend at least 15 minutes getting any place really safe to ride so I'm probably better off driving somewhere. Maybe even the bike path early in the morning. Anyway... point is its going to be hard to keep to just 30 minutes but I'll do it.
This morning I started my rest day off by sleeping in till 7:30. Which doesn't sound like very late but considering I've been getting up at 5am in order to get ready for early workouts in Narragansett all weekend that is in fact sleeping in. I'm also trying to stay on an early schedule so that the race's 7am start won't be such a shock to my system. I won't say much more about today other than I did some work, and spent a lovely afternoon with a new friend, went for a long walk, and enjoyed some great conversation. Great day. I feel much better and very much recharged after a busy weekend of training. I also feel really optimistic that good things are on the horizon... and not just on the race course.
So this is as good a time as any to put the race plan thats been forming in my head into writing. And with that here it is....
I'll start by saying that I realize that my only goal should be to finish this race. And that is in fact my primary goal. But I am me. Which is to say that there's no way thats going to be my only goal. I'm way too focused and detail oriented to let it be that simple. Don't worry though... no matter what happens I'm going to be excstatic to cross that finish line.
Pre Race:
Eat 400 calories (2xbalance bar) at 3AM right after getting up.
Load up the car and hit the road by 4AM
Sip 20oz of water on the ride down.
Arrive at Transition at 5am. Get marked, setup transition, sip 20oz of Gatorade
Go for very brief, very relaxed warmup swim as late as possible.
Remember the hard work I've put in, know that I've trained damn hard for this, and know I'm going to kick this races ass. Today is just about execution, trust in my training and the rest will follow.
Swim: 40 Minutes
Enjoy the Swim! Seriously... I've come to love swimming in the ocean. I know I can handle any conditions the race throws at me. So I just need to enjoy the swim, relax into my pace, find my groove, sight well and often, and get out of the water. Its that simple. Don't race it, don't try and shave two minutes, just get out there and swim like its any other day with the gang in the water.
T1: 1 Minute
Put your socks on, sunglasses on, helmet on, (armwarmers on?) and GO! 1 Minute tops!
Bike: 19mph average / 2:56:00
Pedal out of transition and get my feet in the bike shoes at a nice easy temp. No rushing here. There's no point. Grab a sip of fluids on the way up the slight rise to Old Boston Neck Road and make the turnaround nice and cleanly and with a relaxed demeanor. As soon as I'm coasting down the hill try and take in a GU between then and the tennis courts. Focus on warming up nice and easy between now and Route 1. Once on Route 1 build slowly to a nice even pace in the 19s or wherever my legs want to naturally settle. Try not to even look at the speedo. Just ride and enjoy it. Sip fluids. Take in A GU at mile 15 just before the KFR loop. Ride the KFR loop at a nice steady effort. Don't be a hero. Let people pass me on the hills if they want to and don't be afraid to coast the steeper descents and keep my legs fresh. On the leg that exits KFR start to pick up the pace and take advantage of the slight descent. Exit KFR and get back on route 1 and take in another GU and make sure I've finished at least one bottle and hopefully halfway through number 2. Steady and stronger effort on the bike now towards the turnaround at mile 37. Keep drinking fluids. Just before hitting the turnaround do a fluids check. Do I need to get a water bottle from the aid station? Probably not but grab one if need be or its hotter than expected. Miles 37 to 56 are a straight easy shot back into transition. Go hard and fast but not beyond a steady concentrated effort. I'll be nice and warmed up by now and its time to put the hammer down and crank away some miles. Stay in the seat, stay nice and aero and have at it. Get the last GU down between miles 40-50 and make sure I've consumed all my fluids on the bike. However DO NOT chug fluids to catch up. Steady consumption is the name of the game. When I pull off the highway around mile 50 something be careful on the descent and watch out for the sewer grates. Once through that section and on Narragansett ave switch gears mentally and start to prepare for the run. Ease up on the bike but keep a high cadence. Stretch my legs on the bike. Get my feet out of the shoes with plenty of time before getting to transition and get ready to run!
T2: 1 Minute
Dismount cleanly leaving shoes on the bike. Run into transition, rack your bike, take your helmet off, throw my shoes on, move Garmin over to wrist strap, grab pile of stuff and RUN. On the run get my race belt on, fuel belt on, hat on. Strip arm warmes off if need be.
Run: Average Pace of 8 Minute Miles, 1:44
Get settled and let my legs find their groove. I'll end up starting out the run as always at a 7:30 pace. Its going to be a long haul so relax and catch your breath. Were through transition and now its time to focus on completing the hard work that got us this far. RELAX! Get up the hill and through the turn and street crossing at Old Boston Neck and then try and take in another GU. Keep the fluids coming from my fuel belt. Take in water from the aid stations and don't be shy throwing water over your head earlier rather than later. Don't let myself overheat. Remember to enjoy the experience and welcome the suffering. Sure it may hurt but I've prepared for this. Ignore your mind telling you to ease up and go for it. Do my best to hold a pace between 730's and 8's. Anything in that range is my goal pace. Ideally we run the whole thing with an average of 7:45s to 8s, but anything sub 9 is more than acceptable. If for any reason the pace climbs over 9's its time to re-evaluate my race plan and consider walking the aid stations if need be. Remember that your only goal is to finish. Grind out the miles and focus on looking for people I know on the race course. Remember how many tri-newenglanders will be out there and how many out and back sections there are on the course. I'll see people I know and that will help drive me harder to succeed! Keep your fluids coming in and include water as well along the way. At mile 7 I should have no more than two fuel belt bottles of gatorade left to go. Get those both down by mile 12. Fight your way up those last two hills after finishing the last out and back section. Start to smile... you're almost there. At the mile 12 marker turn up the intensity some. Even if only in my mind. Fight for it. Round that last corner that will bring the beach in view. Get ready to run on some sand. Enjoy the sights, sounds, and sensation. This is your victory lap through the sand. Smile your ass off, fight your way to the finish throw your arms in the air and CELEBRATE! YOU"VE DONE IT!
Total Race Time Estimate 5:24:00
Race Goals... just to finish!!!, Go Sub 5:30 if I'm feeling good, and throw it all out on the line and see what I can do if its going great! Dream race finish is 5:15 but thats a LONG shot! Either way I'm going to have an amazing day with great friends and I'm going to love it!
And that be that... 6 days to go.
This morning I started my rest day off by sleeping in till 7:30. Which doesn't sound like very late but considering I've been getting up at 5am in order to get ready for early workouts in Narragansett all weekend that is in fact sleeping in. I'm also trying to stay on an early schedule so that the race's 7am start won't be such a shock to my system. I won't say much more about today other than I did some work, and spent a lovely afternoon with a new friend, went for a long walk, and enjoyed some great conversation. Great day. I feel much better and very much recharged after a busy weekend of training. I also feel really optimistic that good things are on the horizon... and not just on the race course.
So this is as good a time as any to put the race plan thats been forming in my head into writing. And with that here it is....
I'll start by saying that I realize that my only goal should be to finish this race. And that is in fact my primary goal. But I am me. Which is to say that there's no way thats going to be my only goal. I'm way too focused and detail oriented to let it be that simple. Don't worry though... no matter what happens I'm going to be excstatic to cross that finish line.
Pre Race:
Eat 400 calories (2xbalance bar) at 3AM right after getting up.
Load up the car and hit the road by 4AM
Sip 20oz of water on the ride down.
Arrive at Transition at 5am. Get marked, setup transition, sip 20oz of Gatorade
Go for very brief, very relaxed warmup swim as late as possible.
Remember the hard work I've put in, know that I've trained damn hard for this, and know I'm going to kick this races ass. Today is just about execution, trust in my training and the rest will follow.
Swim: 40 Minutes
Enjoy the Swim! Seriously... I've come to love swimming in the ocean. I know I can handle any conditions the race throws at me. So I just need to enjoy the swim, relax into my pace, find my groove, sight well and often, and get out of the water. Its that simple. Don't race it, don't try and shave two minutes, just get out there and swim like its any other day with the gang in the water.
T1: 1 Minute
Put your socks on, sunglasses on, helmet on, (armwarmers on?) and GO! 1 Minute tops!
Bike: 19mph average / 2:56:00
Pedal out of transition and get my feet in the bike shoes at a nice easy temp. No rushing here. There's no point. Grab a sip of fluids on the way up the slight rise to Old Boston Neck Road and make the turnaround nice and cleanly and with a relaxed demeanor. As soon as I'm coasting down the hill try and take in a GU between then and the tennis courts. Focus on warming up nice and easy between now and Route 1. Once on Route 1 build slowly to a nice even pace in the 19s or wherever my legs want to naturally settle. Try not to even look at the speedo. Just ride and enjoy it. Sip fluids. Take in A GU at mile 15 just before the KFR loop. Ride the KFR loop at a nice steady effort. Don't be a hero. Let people pass me on the hills if they want to and don't be afraid to coast the steeper descents and keep my legs fresh. On the leg that exits KFR start to pick up the pace and take advantage of the slight descent. Exit KFR and get back on route 1 and take in another GU and make sure I've finished at least one bottle and hopefully halfway through number 2. Steady and stronger effort on the bike now towards the turnaround at mile 37. Keep drinking fluids. Just before hitting the turnaround do a fluids check. Do I need to get a water bottle from the aid station? Probably not but grab one if need be or its hotter than expected. Miles 37 to 56 are a straight easy shot back into transition. Go hard and fast but not beyond a steady concentrated effort. I'll be nice and warmed up by now and its time to put the hammer down and crank away some miles. Stay in the seat, stay nice and aero and have at it. Get the last GU down between miles 40-50 and make sure I've consumed all my fluids on the bike. However DO NOT chug fluids to catch up. Steady consumption is the name of the game. When I pull off the highway around mile 50 something be careful on the descent and watch out for the sewer grates. Once through that section and on Narragansett ave switch gears mentally and start to prepare for the run. Ease up on the bike but keep a high cadence. Stretch my legs on the bike. Get my feet out of the shoes with plenty of time before getting to transition and get ready to run!
T2: 1 Minute
Dismount cleanly leaving shoes on the bike. Run into transition, rack your bike, take your helmet off, throw my shoes on, move Garmin over to wrist strap, grab pile of stuff and RUN. On the run get my race belt on, fuel belt on, hat on. Strip arm warmes off if need be.
Run: Average Pace of 8 Minute Miles, 1:44
Get settled and let my legs find their groove. I'll end up starting out the run as always at a 7:30 pace. Its going to be a long haul so relax and catch your breath. Were through transition and now its time to focus on completing the hard work that got us this far. RELAX! Get up the hill and through the turn and street crossing at Old Boston Neck and then try and take in another GU. Keep the fluids coming from my fuel belt. Take in water from the aid stations and don't be shy throwing water over your head earlier rather than later. Don't let myself overheat. Remember to enjoy the experience and welcome the suffering. Sure it may hurt but I've prepared for this. Ignore your mind telling you to ease up and go for it. Do my best to hold a pace between 730's and 8's. Anything in that range is my goal pace. Ideally we run the whole thing with an average of 7:45s to 8s, but anything sub 9 is more than acceptable. If for any reason the pace climbs over 9's its time to re-evaluate my race plan and consider walking the aid stations if need be. Remember that your only goal is to finish. Grind out the miles and focus on looking for people I know on the race course. Remember how many tri-newenglanders will be out there and how many out and back sections there are on the course. I'll see people I know and that will help drive me harder to succeed! Keep your fluids coming in and include water as well along the way. At mile 7 I should have no more than two fuel belt bottles of gatorade left to go. Get those both down by mile 12. Fight your way up those last two hills after finishing the last out and back section. Start to smile... you're almost there. At the mile 12 marker turn up the intensity some. Even if only in my mind. Fight for it. Round that last corner that will bring the beach in view. Get ready to run on some sand. Enjoy the sights, sounds, and sensation. This is your victory lap through the sand. Smile your ass off, fight your way to the finish throw your arms in the air and CELEBRATE! YOU"VE DONE IT!
Total Race Time Estimate 5:24:00
Race Goals... just to finish!!!, Go Sub 5:30 if I'm feeling good, and throw it all out on the line and see what I can do if its going great! Dream race finish is 5:15 but thats a LONG shot! Either way I'm going to have an amazing day with great friends and I'm going to love it!
And that be that... 6 days to go.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
One Week From Now at This Time.....
I'll be celebrating the completion of my first half ironman length triathlon!
Today was my last big brick on the course and it was a good one. Here's how it went.
I carpooled down to Narragansett with Kevan and we ended up a bit late to the beach. When we got there Fred's open water group was already quite a ways down the beach in front of us. We were all walking to the opposite end of the beach so we could swim the FIRM course today in the same direction it will be on race day. We tried to catch up to them on the walk but they were just too far in front of us. Funnily enough we walked right past the Sunday morning yoga class that a friend of mine was attending. When we passed she was quite focused on her practice so she didn't see me but it was nice to see her there. In fact yoga on the beach looked really awesome. I'll definitely have to do that sometime soon.
When we got down to the end of the beach Fred's group had already entered the water and were quite a ways out, but Jon was there waiting for us as he must have seen us straggling behind everyone. I imagine our two shaved heads must stick out from far away! So the three of us headed into the water. The ocean was pretty rough today. I have to say I really enjoy the fight to get far out from the shore and swimming through and over the top of the waves. Its a blast! Today the waves and rollers extended much further out from shore than usual. Even swimming as far out as we did we didn't really escape them. They just become more roller and less wavelike.
So when we decided we were far out enough we turned right and started to swim down the shore. For the first half of the swim the three of us stayed together nicely. It was hard to stay close though in all the chop and the rollers meant that people kept dissapearing on the other side of them when you would pop up to look for them. Somewhere around halfway through the swim something went horribly wrong and very right all at the same time. Amongst all the chop I found my groove. I was having a great swim and felt really strong and happy. I'm getting much better at fighting my way through the chop and learning to rotate a bit more to get a breath without swallowing a ton of salt water as it smacks me in the face. So in that regard it was a great swim. However I got waaaayyyyyy off track somehow out there and ended up VERY far from shore. Apparently I wanted to swim to Block Island. By the time I realized how far out from shore I was and that I'd lost Kevan and Jon I couldn't even find them. I waited to rise to the top of a swell to look for them and I still couldn't see anyone. So I switched my path to a more diagonal route to keep going forwards but also head closer into shore at the same time. I had a moment of mild panic out there when I wondered if I was caught in a current or something that had taken me out. It felt like I wasn't getting any closer to shore at all that was a tiny bit scary. But I calmed myself down and just kept swimming. Eventually I popped up on a swell and I saw Kevan and Jon's swim caps a LONG way away! Yikes! I was WAY off course. So I really focused on swimming as hard as I could to catch up to them. They were both further along the beach from me as well as much closer to shore than I was. The next time I popped up to see where they were I noticed they were looking for me too. So I waved back at them signalling that I was aware how far away I was and they waved back. The great thing about having such good people to train with is that they keep an eye on you. So they slowed down a bit to let me catch back up to them. After what seemed like an exhausting swim and a huge amount of time I eventually caught back up to them. I was beat! We then swam the rest of the length of the beach and then all three of us started to head into shore.
I was keeping an eye on our progress towards the beach in anticipation of being prepared for the point when the waves start to break. I also was paying attention to surfers and other folks out there too. Clearly Kevan and Jon were doing the same thing. The funny thing though is that from that direction that low in the water you can't see where the waves break. You feel the swells getting larger but it seems like the shore is still so far away you can't possibly be at the point where the waves starts to break and then BAM! The wave breaks and throws Kevan, Jon and I through the washing machine. We all popped up after we recovered laughing. We were so caught off guard and not expecting the wave to break then that it was hilarious. I think we all swallowed some water on that one. We swam/walked the rest of the way in and had a good chuckle and then got ready to head out on the bikes.
For the bike portion it was me, Kevan, Mona, Leslie, Jon, and Davis. We all agreed to stay together and ride a nice easy pace. Jon also talked some sense into me and suggested that we cut the course short by skipping the first three mile out and back as well as the KFR loop. So that trimmed the ride down to about 40 miles. As soon as we got on Route 1 around mile 3 or so it became clear that the next 17 miles were going to be a battle into a pretty serious headwind. The winds were tearing right at us. As much as we wanted to take it easy we all ended up working pretty hard on the way out. The winds were so strong at some points that you could hear laughter, chuckles, groans, Wows and all sorts of other silliness when it would gust to the point you felt like you weren't going forwards. That was also the first time I've ridden in winds that high with my deeper wheelset. So my front tire was pretty tough to keep pointed straight ahead a few times which made things interesting. Good practice though! When we finally reached the turnaround point our average speed was only 16mph. Those were some pretty strong winds consider the course is really flat!
However....
When we turned around we were flying! With the wind now at our backs we had a nice fast ride back to the start area. At this point our group had split up a bit in a pack or 4 and one of 2. So my group of 4 rode side by side chatting away on the way back easily managing 22-25mph in spots. We were crusing!
Once we made it back to the cars we headed out for a quick ten minutes out, ten minutes back run. We kept the pace under control on the way out although I seem to only have one speed off the bike which is 7'30s for me. But we slowed it to 8's pretty quickly and then on the way back we somewhat progressively picked it up to get some quickie intervals in, the fastest of which was a quick sprint at the end of 6'30s. Good fun!
So I had a really great workout today with some great friends. Great day! Now the taper craziness is really going to kick in. All of my workouts from here on out are pretty short easy efforts with a couple of intervals in them. Here's my plan....
Monday OFF! Sleep in, no workouts, no nothing! Just some work during the day, and then some fun social stuff later on.
Tuesday: wake up early, do a 30 minute bike ride with 5x1min all out intervals and then go see my massage therapist for a 90 minute pre race full body tune up! Thats going to be awesome!
Wednesday: Ocean Swim in Narragansett with Fred's group. I'll keep my distance down to 1.2 miles MAX though regardless of what their plan is. After the swim I'll run 3 miles at easy pace with 3 x 1 minute race pace intervals.
Thursday: Bike at Easy to Moderate pace for 45 minutes max.
Friday: GVP Swim in the morning. 1/2 Mile swim MAX. Focus on form, relaxing, and being excited for the race! Easy two mile run afterwards. Then... Carbo load, carbo load, carbo load! This is the day I'll eat the most!
Saturday: 10/10/10 workout. Swim for ten minutes, bike for ten minutes, run for ten minutes. Pick up my race packet! Thats it! Then its off to a lunch that a club member is hosting for those racing the FIRM. Then its early to bed!
Sunday: Race Day! Wooohoooo!
So thats the plan for the week. Tomorrow on my off day I'll ramble on and on about my race plan.
Hope everyone had fantastic workouts this weekend! Its been great weather for it!
Today was my last big brick on the course and it was a good one. Here's how it went.
I carpooled down to Narragansett with Kevan and we ended up a bit late to the beach. When we got there Fred's open water group was already quite a ways down the beach in front of us. We were all walking to the opposite end of the beach so we could swim the FIRM course today in the same direction it will be on race day. We tried to catch up to them on the walk but they were just too far in front of us. Funnily enough we walked right past the Sunday morning yoga class that a friend of mine was attending. When we passed she was quite focused on her practice so she didn't see me but it was nice to see her there. In fact yoga on the beach looked really awesome. I'll definitely have to do that sometime soon.
When we got down to the end of the beach Fred's group had already entered the water and were quite a ways out, but Jon was there waiting for us as he must have seen us straggling behind everyone. I imagine our two shaved heads must stick out from far away! So the three of us headed into the water. The ocean was pretty rough today. I have to say I really enjoy the fight to get far out from the shore and swimming through and over the top of the waves. Its a blast! Today the waves and rollers extended much further out from shore than usual. Even swimming as far out as we did we didn't really escape them. They just become more roller and less wavelike.
So when we decided we were far out enough we turned right and started to swim down the shore. For the first half of the swim the three of us stayed together nicely. It was hard to stay close though in all the chop and the rollers meant that people kept dissapearing on the other side of them when you would pop up to look for them. Somewhere around halfway through the swim something went horribly wrong and very right all at the same time. Amongst all the chop I found my groove. I was having a great swim and felt really strong and happy. I'm getting much better at fighting my way through the chop and learning to rotate a bit more to get a breath without swallowing a ton of salt water as it smacks me in the face. So in that regard it was a great swim. However I got waaaayyyyyy off track somehow out there and ended up VERY far from shore. Apparently I wanted to swim to Block Island. By the time I realized how far out from shore I was and that I'd lost Kevan and Jon I couldn't even find them. I waited to rise to the top of a swell to look for them and I still couldn't see anyone. So I switched my path to a more diagonal route to keep going forwards but also head closer into shore at the same time. I had a moment of mild panic out there when I wondered if I was caught in a current or something that had taken me out. It felt like I wasn't getting any closer to shore at all that was a tiny bit scary. But I calmed myself down and just kept swimming. Eventually I popped up on a swell and I saw Kevan and Jon's swim caps a LONG way away! Yikes! I was WAY off course. So I really focused on swimming as hard as I could to catch up to them. They were both further along the beach from me as well as much closer to shore than I was. The next time I popped up to see where they were I noticed they were looking for me too. So I waved back at them signalling that I was aware how far away I was and they waved back. The great thing about having such good people to train with is that they keep an eye on you. So they slowed down a bit to let me catch back up to them. After what seemed like an exhausting swim and a huge amount of time I eventually caught back up to them. I was beat! We then swam the rest of the length of the beach and then all three of us started to head into shore.
I was keeping an eye on our progress towards the beach in anticipation of being prepared for the point when the waves start to break. I also was paying attention to surfers and other folks out there too. Clearly Kevan and Jon were doing the same thing. The funny thing though is that from that direction that low in the water you can't see where the waves break. You feel the swells getting larger but it seems like the shore is still so far away you can't possibly be at the point where the waves starts to break and then BAM! The wave breaks and throws Kevan, Jon and I through the washing machine. We all popped up after we recovered laughing. We were so caught off guard and not expecting the wave to break then that it was hilarious. I think we all swallowed some water on that one. We swam/walked the rest of the way in and had a good chuckle and then got ready to head out on the bikes.
For the bike portion it was me, Kevan, Mona, Leslie, Jon, and Davis. We all agreed to stay together and ride a nice easy pace. Jon also talked some sense into me and suggested that we cut the course short by skipping the first three mile out and back as well as the KFR loop. So that trimmed the ride down to about 40 miles. As soon as we got on Route 1 around mile 3 or so it became clear that the next 17 miles were going to be a battle into a pretty serious headwind. The winds were tearing right at us. As much as we wanted to take it easy we all ended up working pretty hard on the way out. The winds were so strong at some points that you could hear laughter, chuckles, groans, Wows and all sorts of other silliness when it would gust to the point you felt like you weren't going forwards. That was also the first time I've ridden in winds that high with my deeper wheelset. So my front tire was pretty tough to keep pointed straight ahead a few times which made things interesting. Good practice though! When we finally reached the turnaround point our average speed was only 16mph. Those were some pretty strong winds consider the course is really flat!
However....
When we turned around we were flying! With the wind now at our backs we had a nice fast ride back to the start area. At this point our group had split up a bit in a pack or 4 and one of 2. So my group of 4 rode side by side chatting away on the way back easily managing 22-25mph in spots. We were crusing!
Once we made it back to the cars we headed out for a quick ten minutes out, ten minutes back run. We kept the pace under control on the way out although I seem to only have one speed off the bike which is 7'30s for me. But we slowed it to 8's pretty quickly and then on the way back we somewhat progressively picked it up to get some quickie intervals in, the fastest of which was a quick sprint at the end of 6'30s. Good fun!
So I had a really great workout today with some great friends. Great day! Now the taper craziness is really going to kick in. All of my workouts from here on out are pretty short easy efforts with a couple of intervals in them. Here's my plan....
Monday OFF! Sleep in, no workouts, no nothing! Just some work during the day, and then some fun social stuff later on.
Tuesday: wake up early, do a 30 minute bike ride with 5x1min all out intervals and then go see my massage therapist for a 90 minute pre race full body tune up! Thats going to be awesome!
Wednesday: Ocean Swim in Narragansett with Fred's group. I'll keep my distance down to 1.2 miles MAX though regardless of what their plan is. After the swim I'll run 3 miles at easy pace with 3 x 1 minute race pace intervals.
Thursday: Bike at Easy to Moderate pace for 45 minutes max.
Friday: GVP Swim in the morning. 1/2 Mile swim MAX. Focus on form, relaxing, and being excited for the race! Easy two mile run afterwards. Then... Carbo load, carbo load, carbo load! This is the day I'll eat the most!
Saturday: 10/10/10 workout. Swim for ten minutes, bike for ten minutes, run for ten minutes. Pick up my race packet! Thats it! Then its off to a lunch that a club member is hosting for those racing the FIRM. Then its early to bed!
Sunday: Race Day! Wooohoooo!
So thats the plan for the week. Tomorrow on my off day I'll ramble on and on about my race plan.
Hope everyone had fantastic workouts this weekend! Its been great weather for it!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
One Last Long One!
Today was my last long run before the FIRM. The next time I run 13 miles will be on race day! I met up with Kevan this morning to run the actual course of the race. I wanted to see how the hills were if any, where they were, and just get a feel for the course so I know how to pace it on race day. We both decided we wanted to take the pace easy today and that we would do the run no faster than nine minute miles. Ideally 9'30's. We can both do that distance running 7'30's so running it on fairly fresh legs its hard to slow down to 9's. But we forced ourselves and thanks to our Garmins we kept true to that pace. I had my Garmin set with the course route in it so we could just follow that and Kevan kept an eye on our pace. I was actually the worse pace offender today but Kevan was good at slowing me down anytime I'd absent mindedly pick it up. In the end we ran the whole course at an 8:56/mile average. So we stayed right on target pretty much.
I'm happy to say the course looks fairly easy with a few exceptions to easy. There are some very small hills and inclines on the course. On a day when all I was doing was running a 13 mile race on the course I wouldn't really pay them much attention. However after swimming 1.2 miles and biking 56 some of them will prove to be challenging depending on how I'm feeling at the moment. There were two that stuck out in my mind. Both of these hills are after mile 9 or 10 which is right when my legs will be screaming for mercy. One of them is short and steep and the one I think will be really interesting to charge up is at mile 12. In fact that last mile is going to be a good challenge. Theres the hill heading back to the beach (again, not a big one, but after all that racing it will come into play) and then once you get to the beach you have to race the last 1/3 of a mile or so on the sand! Thats not going to be easy either!
I'm glad I checked out the course today. I've been meaning to for weeks but for one reason or another I've always had a reason to run somwhere else. Mostly to do my long run with some company, but in one instance it was pouring cats and dogs and I just didn't feel like running in that kind of heavy heavy rain. I feel like I now have a really good handle on the course. I've swam it twice, biked it 4 times, and ran it once. Which is more than enough. Tomorrow I'll swim it again, bike it again, and then do a quick three mile run with some race pace intervals in it. Its likely I'll swim it again on Wednesday too. But thats it for course workouts coming up.
So after our run today Kevan and I decided we needed to be sure and carefully recover. So we started by heading to the beach for a bit to soak our legs in the cool ocean, and then layed around there for a bit and capped it off with a couple of drinks and some lunch on the rooftop deck of the coast guard house. Now thats the way to end a workout! Great day!
Next up tomorrow....
One last S/B/R brick on the course!
I'm happy to say the course looks fairly easy with a few exceptions to easy. There are some very small hills and inclines on the course. On a day when all I was doing was running a 13 mile race on the course I wouldn't really pay them much attention. However after swimming 1.2 miles and biking 56 some of them will prove to be challenging depending on how I'm feeling at the moment. There were two that stuck out in my mind. Both of these hills are after mile 9 or 10 which is right when my legs will be screaming for mercy. One of them is short and steep and the one I think will be really interesting to charge up is at mile 12. In fact that last mile is going to be a good challenge. Theres the hill heading back to the beach (again, not a big one, but after all that racing it will come into play) and then once you get to the beach you have to race the last 1/3 of a mile or so on the sand! Thats not going to be easy either!
I'm glad I checked out the course today. I've been meaning to for weeks but for one reason or another I've always had a reason to run somwhere else. Mostly to do my long run with some company, but in one instance it was pouring cats and dogs and I just didn't feel like running in that kind of heavy heavy rain. I feel like I now have a really good handle on the course. I've swam it twice, biked it 4 times, and ran it once. Which is more than enough. Tomorrow I'll swim it again, bike it again, and then do a quick three mile run with some race pace intervals in it. Its likely I'll swim it again on Wednesday too. But thats it for course workouts coming up.
So after our run today Kevan and I decided we needed to be sure and carefully recover. So we started by heading to the beach for a bit to soak our legs in the cool ocean, and then layed around there for a bit and capped it off with a couple of drinks and some lunch on the rooftop deck of the coast guard house. Now thats the way to end a workout! Great day!
Next up tomorrow....
One last S/B/R brick on the course!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Balance
I started the day off nicely with a swim at GVP. My plan this morning was to set my garmin to alert me as soon as I'd swam .6 miles at which point I'd turn around and swim back to shore for a 1.2 mile time trial. I figure this swim can be a good benchmark for next year. I'll do the same thing after a winter in the pool and see if I can better my time and keep an eye on my progress.
Also along for the swim today was my friend Chris. My evil plan to draw him into the world of triathlon seems to have succeeded! Chris did his first open water swim at GVP the other day. I think he swam about a quarter mile that day. Chris was a competitive swimmer in high school so he has a strong swimming background, but only one other day of open water time. We chatted about our plans for distances and he mentioned he would follow me out and turn back in when he got tired thinking he would only do a 1/2 mile or so.
So I started the timer and headed out. Around halfway to the turnaround point I noticed that Chris was still swimming alongside me. Good for him I thought. I wonder when he'll turn around. When I was swimming past the dock I felt fingertips at my feet. Somebody's drafting me! And when my garmin vibrated on top of my head to signal I'd reached the .6 mile point there he was right next to me. So I said "Ok! Time to turn around" and we started to swim back. My sighting on the way back was not all that great. Chris mentioned I was weaving a lot too. Not terribly efficient! Sometimes I get bored and my mind wanders and I just sort of swim. This is when I start to drift off course. I was absent mindedly following the shore line and I ended up in one of the little cove areas instead of the straight line back to the beach. Oops! Time to focus on the swim and stop thinking about pleasant distractions.
As I was swimming into the beach it occured to me I hadn't seen Chris in a while. I stopped very briefly to look around and couldn't see him. Crap! Did he get get tired somewhere and he's clinging to a tree branch on the side of the pond somewhere? (there aren't a lot of spots to exit the water at GVP as its pretty well tree lined). I decided there was nothing I could do about it until I was on shore so I kept swimming. I popped up again to look and thought I might have seen some spray way in front of me at the beach that could be his kick. But I couldn't make it out so I just kept swimming again thinking I couldn't do anything until I was out of the water. I knew Chris was a strong swimmer so I wasn't worried that he was in trouble, just that he might have run out of gas before making it back to shore. Chris was a short distance swimmer and I get the impression he's adjusting to longer more evenly paced efforts. Anyway... apparently he adjusts quickly. As I exited the water there he is sitting comfortably on the wall waiting for me to get out. He had beaten me back to shore by quite a margin and was patiently waiting for me. Once Chris gets a little more used to open water he is going to CRUSH the swim portion. With a little more time on the bike / run too he'll do quite well.
So in the end my time for the 1.2 mile time trial was an even 39 minutes. Not bad... but not great. I was hoping for less than that by a minute or two. Still though I can't not be pleased with it considering the progress I've made in a very short span of time. But I need to keep at it and keep shaving time off my swim in the offseason and then I'll do the same swim time trial again next year and see what happens.
So that was the good part of the day.....
Again today a bunch of work stuff seems to continue to go horribly wrong and is really stressing me out. Theres just a lot on my plate workwise lately. The stress of it is making me want to resent it. I really do think 2011 will be the year of a career change for me. I was talking about this with another club member the other day. About how nice it would be to find a career where you can leave the job at the office when you walk out the door. I'm not saying I don't want to be passionate about my job, or care about it. But I don't want to have to think and stress about it on my own time. I want to do a fantastic focused job on it while I'm at work and then shift gears the second I walk out the door and focus on friends and loved ones and LIFE! Not stress and deadlines and the constant need for forced creativity. Artists create on their own timelines. I create on other people's timelines. Its quite stressfull when your staring at a blank CAD file on the computer knowing you have to turn a bunch of lines into a visually pleasing design that will make your client happy. And its due in a week. Forced creativity... or creativity under duress. I've just lost that loving feeling for it. Maybe I need to find some more creatively rewarding work such as designing lighting for dance again, or some theater work. Really though I think I just need to change things up. Its time.
For the first time today I revealed that thought to a client and longtime friend of mine. He wasn't thrilled about it but mentioned that he has noticed the trend in my priorities and can understand how I want to shift the balance of things around in my life.
Balance... sounds so simple a concept and yet lately it seems so unreachable. The further out it is the more it frustrates me. The more it frustrates me the more I want to dissapear into my training. The more I dissapear into my training the less I'm facing the issues. And the less I face the issues the harder it becomes to find balance. Balance will not find itself. No other force in the world is going to move the pieces of my life around until they come into harmony. I need to take charge of these things myself and act on them. However this is much easier said than done. And for now I need to put my head down and plow through the grueling months of work ahead until mid November when I'll have my window to change things up once my work season ends.
For now I take solace in a few thoughts...
-In just over a weeks time I'll cross the finish line of my first half ironman. And I'm going to be FAST!
-In a day or two after crossing the finish line I'll start allowing myself to think about a full Ironman length race for 2011
-That I just need to make it to the end of November and then I can really focus on restoring the balance in my life.
-That my life is closer to being in balance now than it has been in the last 20 years.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Quickie Update... 10 Days to the 1/2!
So this morning after consulting my training plan I headed out for a one hour ride with 8x1 minute intervals at max intensity. I have to say the fact it was only an hour long was dissapointing. But I must stay true to my taper plan. So I did the usual warmup ride through downtown over to Blackstone Boulevard and then did all my intervals on the boulevard. Half of them on the side that starts with a climb and then rolls over to a slight descent and on the other half that starts with a descent and ends with a slight climb. Good stuff.
After that I took Dale over to Providence Bicyle to see if we could get to the bottom of the chain skipping issue. Since buying a new wheelset and putting a new cassette on the bike the chain has been skipping. It wasn't until I lent my bike to a friend of mine for the weekend while I was away that we were able to figure out what was doing it. We thought it was a derailer tweaking issue. Turns out it was skipping everytime the master link on the stock chain was coming in contact with the cassette. So today Dale went back to PB for the third time to see if we could get to the bottom of it. I have to say the guys at PB seemed to be just as motivated to fix it as I was. And a new chain was the last step in the process of chasing it down. I'm very happy to say that the chain did the trick! No more skipping, smooth crisp shifting! Good stuff! Thanks to Providence Bicycle, Sean and Kevan for helping me get to the bottom of this! Much appreciated! So Dale is now all better and ready to rock the half! Its going to be a great day!
Ok... conference call time and busy workday ahead. After that its dinner with Chris to chat about all things tri related as he gears up for his first sprint tri and then tomorrow morning will be an easy GVP swim weather permitting. The weekend will have an easy paced big brick on Saturday and then running the FIRM course on Sunday regardless of weather.
After that I took Dale over to Providence Bicyle to see if we could get to the bottom of the chain skipping issue. Since buying a new wheelset and putting a new cassette on the bike the chain has been skipping. It wasn't until I lent my bike to a friend of mine for the weekend while I was away that we were able to figure out what was doing it. We thought it was a derailer tweaking issue. Turns out it was skipping everytime the master link on the stock chain was coming in contact with the cassette. So today Dale went back to PB for the third time to see if we could get to the bottom of it. I have to say the guys at PB seemed to be just as motivated to fix it as I was. And a new chain was the last step in the process of chasing it down. I'm very happy to say that the chain did the trick! No more skipping, smooth crisp shifting! Good stuff! Thanks to Providence Bicycle, Sean and Kevan for helping me get to the bottom of this! Much appreciated! So Dale is now all better and ready to rock the half! Its going to be a great day!
Ok... conference call time and busy workday ahead. After that its dinner with Chris to chat about all things tri related as he gears up for his first sprint tri and then tomorrow morning will be an easy GVP swim weather permitting. The weekend will have an easy paced big brick on Saturday and then running the FIRM course on Sunday regardless of weather.
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