38. BFD.

I had a package on my door step. My father had told me that it had stuff that I would not purchase for myself. This peeked my interest. In the box were all kinds of ironman goodness. It had all things IM Louisville – socks, stickers and bandanas. It was pretty neat stuff; my father was right – I would not have purchased the items myself but I will definitely wear them. In fact the ‘head sweats’ IM thing is simply awesome under my helmet. No more sweat dripping in the eyes!

Jodie got me a new unitard but it was too big. She also got me a lot of stuff for organization. I have been complaining that I want to be more productive and now I have a lot of the tools to make this happen.

38. BFD. - not photoshopped

On the exercise front I sent an email out to the crew to for a cycling Time Trial for Tuesday morning. When I woke up but my legs were dead tired. I looked at the alarm clock and it was already 5:30 AM – I had about 5 minutes to be out the door. Oh yeah, there was also a light drizzle. I did not make the ride. I did however jump on the trainer for a recovery ride. This was an easy 45 minutes while watching yesterdays Tour de France finish.  The legs did not want to go even at the easy pace.  After about 15 minutes they felt better.  I was glad I did the trainer ride.

At lunch I met up with the running crew and did intervals. Even if my legs are tired I can always get them to perform while running. We knocked out 6 quarters, 3 1000’s and 6 200’s. These were all solid.

More contests - golite.com

I ran across this the other day and thought that I would share - 93 days of give aways.  golite.com

I really like this picture - I think the same way in the mornings -

Holiday weekend - running and riding and fireworks

We had a good group for the Saturday ride. We met on 28th and headed out. The weather was cooler than last week. It is funny but it did not feel like Mississippi in July. The temperature was in the high 80’s. It was still humid but not 100 percent. In the first ½ mile JD started yelling. I sounded like he said “I lost my helmet.” I looked back and his helmet was on – we all pulled over to see what was going on. It turned out that he had a wasp in his helmet. He got stung a couple of times but this did not seem to affect his ride any. There are a couple of us that call ourselves the B-Team (because we are not as fast as the A-Team). JD made that joke a couple of times.


The first 25 miles was at a rather sedate pace. We just rolled on. We were hitting hills and looping back and forth through the countryside. About half way the pace picked up. I enjoy being the rabbit and attacking. I am never going to get away but I like to keep the group honest. They always chase me down but we end up getting out average speed up. In these rides, I am not the fastest; I just don’t have that top end like some people (I’m working on it). But I do have a little bit of endurance. I have fuel in the tank after 30 or 40 miles when so people are starting to get tired.

Saturday Group Ride: 50.74 Miles
1579 ft elevation gain
19.0 Ave moving speed

I got up Sunday for a run. I wanted to do 4 miles fast with a warm up and cool down. I had a rough time getting started. I messed around for nearly an hour just trying to get out of the door. I bricked my MP3 player. It got stuck on docked and I could not get it unstuck. I looked up how to reset the device and got a paper click to punch the button. The whole dang button went into the MP3 player. I had to look around and grab the girl’s player. (I am stealing ‘the girl’ idea from DC Rainmaker.) I loaded up some of my music on her player. So after an hour I headed outside. About half a mile into the run I realized that I did not have my heart rate strap. Oh well – I had wanted to see where my heart rate was at the pace I wanted to run – to see if it was above or below my LTHR.

I paced myself out at 7:30 pace then picked up the pace. I wanted 4 miles at 6:30 pace. The weather was still cooler than it has been but not cool by any stretch of the imagination. The miles clicked off easily. I want to be able to run this pace during my next triathlon. I seem to be stuck at 3 miles for this run. I have attempted it several times and always stumble at 3 miles. I do not know where my heart rate was but I made the decision to slow down. I slowed the pace. My fourth mile was at 7:04. My splits were as follows:

7:30
6:28
6:32
6:37
7:04
6:51

I am going to keep trying this workout until I can pull off 4 x 6:30. It should not be that tough. That is right around 20 minute 5k time. I am faster than that. I mean, during the winter I did a 12k (7.45 miles) at 6:39 pace and a half marathon at 6:53 pace. I need to work on the speed. I have the endurance but I need to find that high gear.

Sunday Run: 6.00 Miles
179 ft elevation gain
6:49 Ave moving speed (includes warm up)

The afternoon would be another group ride. There were only about 8 of us on this Independence Day. Several riders from the day before. We headed out to Sumrall and then went north. Once we left the trace the pace picked up. I was not needed as a rabbit – it was just a good fast paced ride. Riding during the afternoon was much hotter than the morning ride the previous day. My legs were a little tired but nothing bad. I was able to do a few pulls. I felt strong the entire ride.

Sunday Group Ride: 57.24 Miles
1085 ft elevation gain
19.5 Ave moving speed

My neighborhood has its own fireworks display. It is put on by Ron who lives just down the street. I guess Ron is just a fireworks aficionado. He has a big BBQ party that culminates with a 45 minute firework show. People drive to my neighborhood to watch! We had some friends over and had the lawn chairs in the front yard. We had food and drink and good company. It has been a fantastic Fourth of July!

Enjoy your Independence!

I took this in Boston a couple of weeks ago - Happy 4th!

Running, Biking, Master's Swimming?

I have been happy to get back into my routine. The travel is fun but consistency is the key. I got back on the mountain bike and the road bike over the weekend.

It looks like a garmin ad - but these are our mountain bike trails!

I also won a cool camera from Jason at Tech-Tri! Jason had a contest and he asked for ideas regarding his taper.  He gave me and a couple other people extra entries for the plans.  I got lucky and won the camera!  I hope some of my suggestions help Jason meet his goals at the Rhode Island 70.3!  Jason is also raising money for make a wish - click here to help out.

Also, make sure you check out his blog and cheer him on!  Last week he did a brick consisting of a 3 hour ride followed by a 2 hour run - I am sure he is going to ROCK IT!

Cool camera from http://tech-tri.blogspot.com/

Speaking of contest - I have added a gadget on my sidebar to list some of the current giveaways! Check it out. 

The Tuesday / Thursday morning group ride has been powerful. This has been a lot of fun. Unfortunately the Wednesday ride (I mean race) was cancelled due to the rain. Also, trace intervals started back up on Thursday. We mixed it up a little bit – 6 x ¼ miles, 2 x ½ mile and then 4 x 200 concentrating on high leg speed. The rain started just as we finished up. We were already soaked from the solid workout!

I also got back in the pool for two really good sessions.  I have been working on breath control.  I hate doing this but I am seeing progress.  Not faster but the same speed with less effort - that is solid improvement!

Speaking of the swim, I recently met the new aquatics coordinator at the Payne Center. This is the fitness center here on campus. This is my base camp. If I did not have this facility I could not run or ride into work. Having a locker to store my work close is fantastic. However, it has made me reluctant to join the master’s swim team at the YMCA. You see, I know that I would benefit from the undertaking but I dread the idea of getting in the car and driving across town.  The coach at the YMCA has a great reputation.

So, I met Jessi Hobart, the new aquatics coordinator at the Payne Center. She recently contacted the running club inquiring about places to ride. We spoke a couple of times on the phone and she has made it out to several of the group rides – she even took a spill last weekend. It happens to the best of them.  A couple of weeks ago I mentioned to her how a master’s swim team would be great on campus.

Well, she did a whole lot of leg work and it looks like it will happen in the fall. This is all unofficial – I am not a decision maker - but it looks like the swim coach at the YMCA will be able to conduct the master’s swim sessions at the Payne Center -  Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings! The travel to the YMCA has been my only hold out to joining the master’s swim team. I know that my swim CAN and WILL improve with direct coaching and competition!

These are preliminary numbers but we need to have 13 people commit to the sessions to keep the cost reasonable ($150 a semester). If we get more people - the cost is even less. I think I know about 8 people already. Let me know if you are interested and I can get you more information.  I bet we can get a great team going!

Back to the heavyweight - How to basal metabolic rate PART 3

Okay, so after a few calculations you now know your resting metabolic rate and how to figure out your activity level. You also know how to add in your exercise.  There are many on line calculators to help tabulate how many calories a given activity burns.   If you missed them - PART 1, PART 2

But let’s go back to the easy routine part.

If you remember, with my sedentary activity factored in I burn about 2000 calories a day. I make sure that I get this amount each and every day. However, I am not a calories counter. I am calorie conscious but I have but up routines to help me better cope with my diet.

I like to eat fairly often – I am not talking 10 meals day or anything more like 4 or 5 meals a day. So I break the 2000 calories into meals. I can have five 400 calorie meals or four 500 calorie meals. I used to make little ‘deal-a-meal’ type index cards. Now I just have these meals in my head.

For breakfast I almost always have a big bowl of oatmeal (300 calories) with a huge heaping tablespoon of natural peanut butter (180 calories). For lunch, well it might be a large bowl of homemade black bean soup – it has squash, black beans, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and jerk Caribbean spices – I call it Jamaican Me Crazy Soup (350 calories) and a hardboiled egg (75 calories). Many times I will have another small bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter for an afternoon snack (250 calories). At dinner I will eat a HUGE salad consisting of spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, sugar snap peas, and a grilled chicken breast topped with a couple of tablespoons of low at ranch dressing (about 500 calories for the entire mix). For an after dinner snack it might be a cup of low fat cottage cheese (150 calories), a cup of vanilla almond milk (90 calories) and a half cup of fiber one cereal (60 calories).

Okay, after I typed that out it does not seem so easy but it really is – my meals are modular and they are all around 400 – 500 calories. I have several to choose from and I can mix and match. The grilled chicken I prepare all at once on the weekends. The Jamaican Me Crazy Soup is also prepared in a weekly batch. Everything is always prepared and you just have to throw it together.

So that handles all of my RMR calories; each and every day. But what about the training calories? Well that is taken care of immediately pre and post workout. Most morning I do not get much to eat before hitting the trail. But I add the calories in protein shakes and extra bowls of oatmeal (complex carbohydrates). So let’s look at last Sunday’s first bike ride. It was an hour of intense cycling. I would guess that it was about 600 – 700 calories. When I got back from the ride I had a scoop of protein power (120 calories) and a large bowl of oatmeal (500 calories). I know that I should not have the fat from the peanut butter but my diet is not perfect.

The take home message is to determine the necessary calories to sustain yourself on a daily basis and then break it up into manageable meals. Next add the extra calories for your training.

Try this out of a couple of weeks. If you want to lose weight then cut out a couple hundred calories. Do the opposite to put weight on. This does not take a lot of math or discipline; it only takes building a habit.

Back to the heavyweight - How to basal metabolic rate PART 2

So now I know my resting metabolic rate - link to PART I. If you remember, your RMR is basically how many calories you expend just sitting on the couch doing nothing.

However, most of us are doing things during the day other than sitting on the couch. We have to go to work, we have chores, and we get to train. We need to add those calories to the RMR to know how many calories to eat in a given day.

So, for me, I make sure I get my RMR calories and then I add a few more for my activities. Unfortunately I have a sedentary desk job. No matter how hard I type on a keyboard I am not expending very many calories. (On a sidebar I do boost my metabolism by doing a few exercises at my desk and I make sure I always take the stairs!) I am always conscious with my weight so I am conservative. I doing the Activity Factor of sedentary of which is RMR x 1.2. My daily calories for just living are 1670 x 1.2 = 2004 calories. This includes walking around, sitting in the car other mundane tasks.

Next is factoring in your training. You have to add more calories back into your diet for the calories that you expend. A good rule of thumb for running is 100 calories per mile regardless of speed. This actually works out to be fairly accurate. And remember, we do not have to be exact; we just need to be close. Monday was a recovery day after a lot of cycling miles over the weekend. I went for an easy 3 mile run at lunch with a friend. It does not matter how long the run took; it only matters how far – 3 miles. I add those 300 calories to my RMR + activity calories and get 2004 + 300. To maintain my weight I need about 2300 calories yesterday.

That works out pretty good. On a side note, I almost always underestimate calories burned. The machines at the gym, the heart rate monitors and almost all other methods lie – they grossly overestimate. Take a look at the treadmill the next time you are on it – it is very, very hard to burn a 1000 calories an hour.

Also, you must remember that while you were exercising you were actually alive. Your RMR has already counted those calories. For me that is 1670 calories a day which is nearly 70 calories per hour. Since it took about 30 minutes to run those 3 easy miles I have to deduct 35 calories from my 2300 calories. That might not seem like much but I know some of you are doing 3 and 4 hour bike rides and bricks and such. Those 70 calories an hour do start to make a difference.

I know it looks like it is hard to manage but it is just habit. Stay tuned, I will show you how.

Back to the heavyweight - How to basal metabolic rate

After my return home from Boston I was scared to set foot on the scale. Lack of exercise and overindulgence on food and drink would nudge the number higher. I have not been following my diet since the Pump and Run. I was a little under weight for that race – for obvious reasons but I rebounded more than I would have liked. Normally I bounce around 159 – 161 pounds. So I got on the scale after the travel and I was 8 pounds over my Pump and Run weight. That is over 5 percent in a month. I weighed 165 pounds which is the most this year!

Last year while training for ironman I dipped down to right around 155 pounds. I think it would be tough for me to get down there again. I have put on some muscle mass (not just from the pump and run) this year.

A full day of calories for many people!

Simply getting back into my routine has allowed for my body to respond and drop some of the weight. I have dropped 3 pounds in 3 days but that was the water weight. The next few pounds will be harder. It is time to get back on the horse and start the food journal back up. If you want to change something you have to know where you are. I actually have a pretty good understanding of where I am but the practice of documenting will get me on the fast track.

For those that do not know where to start, first you need to know your basal metabolic rate or more accurately their resting metabolic rate. This is the amount of calories you need to just live – nothing more. There are two formulas for calculating your BMR or RMR (for our ball park purposes these terms are interchangeable). The standard formulas are the Harris-Benedict and the Muffin. Where w – weight in kg, h – height in cm, and a = age. Let’s run the numbers for me – weight = 161 lbs = 73 kg, height 5’7” = 170 cm, age = 37.

H-B MEN = (13.75 x w) + (5 x h) – (6.73 x a) + 66 = 1670.74 calories

H-B WOMEN = (9.56 x w) + (1.85 x h) – (4.68 x a) + 655 = 1494.22 calories

Muffin MEN = (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) + 5 = 1612.5 calories

Muffin WOMEN = (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) – 161 = 1446.5 calories

These are all pretty close. This is the amount of calories you expend sitting on the coach, doing nothing. Next you can multiply the RMR by an activity factor.

Activity Factor Category Definition
1.2   Sedentary Little or no exercise and desk job
1.375 Lightly Active Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week
1.55  Moderately Active Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week
1.725 Very Active Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week4
1.9   Extremely Active Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job

So, for example if I take the RMR from the Harris Benedict calculation and I say that I am Very Active then I get – 1670.74 x 1.725 = 2882 calories per day. A Big Mac, large fries and a large regular soda is 1350 calories. Almost half of you daily allowance (if you are indeed VERY ACTIVE). If you are sedentary then you will only need 2004 calories and this meal is nearly 70% of your daily calories.

There have been numerous studies that indicate that it is not that important for the numbers to be extremely accurate; it is enough to see results if the numbers are just close. This is because the average person has no idea the number of calories in the food that they are consuming. Most people will grossly underestimate the number of calories in their food and then grossly overestimate the number of calories that they expend. They will see results if they can just get close to reality.

I remember a few years ago I was talking with a co-worker that was very overweight. She stopped at Hardee’s on the way to work and picked up a 6 pack of their little hamburgers. I think they called them slammers (I don’t think they make them anymore). I told her that the amount of calories and fat were more than she needed for the entire day much less than for lunch. She looked up the nutritional information on the website and said “See there, they are only about 100 calories each.” I took a look at the website and she was reading the chart incorrectly. They only weighed about 100 grams – not calories. The number of calories for each slammer was 280 calories (6 x 280 = 1680 calories). She still did not believe the numbers and was certain that the website was mistaken. Good figure.

Now if you look at that VERY ACTIVE amount of calories (2882) and try to eat only health, nutrient dense foods you will see that it is a whole heck of a lot of food. Do you know how many raw vegetables that is? How many boiled eggs? How about glasses of almond milk? How many pounds of lean chicken breast? When you eat healthy it is hard to eat enough!

Link to a BMR Calc

Back in the saddle

I got back in the swing of thing this weekend. While I was in Boston the temperature was 93 degrees. Now, that is hot but it was nothing compared to Mississippi. As soon as I walked off of the airplane it hit me. Prior to the plane landing I took off my sweater. The gang plank was hot and humid. New Orleans was having that same mid nineties temperature but the humidity was also high. It was sweltering.

Super geeky cycling jersey (I got it last week in Boston)

That did not stop the cycling. I was not able to locate a group ride of Saturday due to a race taking place. There were several people participating. Raland won the Clydesdale division, Chris placed third overall all and Sam won the dang thing. I would say that Hattiesburg was well represented!

So, without the group ride I jumped on the mountain bike. I rode several different trails and racked up nearly an hour of off road adventure. This was only like 6 miles. This mountain bike riding is so much different than road bike riding. This is a poor analogy but for me it is more like swimming. It is all technical based. On the road I can select intensity and just churn out the miles. With the off rode it is constant up and down and speeding up and slowing down. It is intense but the workouts were not focused. I still had a great time. In fact later in the day I had another opportunity to get out after the heat had subsided some and rode another 4 miles. Prior to the plane landing I took off my sweater.

On Sunday I did a good tempo ride on the triathlon bike. I rode just under an hour (20 miles) at a set intensity. I tried to peg my heart rate at my Zone 4 LTHR (164 – 173 BPM). I was able to keep it right in that range. I made sure my heart rate did not drop below 165 and backed off when I approached 170 BPM. It was a solid ride and I was dripping when I finished.

A little later in the day I grabbed the Sunday group ride. I was heading to the trail head and ran into Raland at Jackson Station. We were going to ride together but he noticed he had a slow leak in his front tire. He shot it full of CO2 but it continued to leak. The ride had a gash in it so he had to hurry back home to grab a new tube AND tire. I went to the trail head without him.

There was a large group of rides considering that it was such a hot day. I was talking with some of the guys as we rolled along at an easy pace when we heard the distinctive sound of bikes on bikes. I slowed down and it looked like one of those wrecks you see during a tour. Well, it was not that bad but people were trying to avoid the three bikes on the ground. There were no serious injuries but one helmet had hit rather hard. After the situation was surveyed and it was seen that everyone was okay we started out again. It is fortunate that we were riding of the trace. There were no cars or any kind of traffic to deal with!

After Sumrall we left the trace and hit a few rolling hills. This was a strong group and the pace was fast at times. Raland was back in the group and he made a breakaway. I let a bit of a gap widen before I took off in pursuit. I was able to grab his wheel and we were riding strong. However, it did not take long for some of the others to bridge the gap and reel us in. It was a hard fun ride. I think I consumed 5 bottles of water in the 40 miles. It was hot!

So I rode for about 4 and half hours this past weekend. I made up for a little bit of lost time last week.

Homeward bound - back to the routine

So I have been at a computer conference for the past week. You would think that I would have been able to post often. But, no internet access in the hotel – well, I’m not willing to pay for internet access in the hotel. I also brought my laptop but it is a ‘desktop replacement’ computer which means it is HUGE and weighs a ton. Back to the events of the week.

Airport

I have missed you guys. I am not current on any of the blogs I follow. I have been away from home and my routines all week. I have missed a lot of things.

Patriot

Boston Common

Lunch in Chinatown

Dessert in Chinatown

Harvard Square

Harvard Redline Stop

First, this conference provided almost all of the meals and snacks. I think this is what most people eat everyday – the food was, well, typical. I am only speaking of the types of food not the quality. Breakfast consisted of assorted Danishes, cereals, yogurt, etc. These foods taste great but are all highly refined and full of sugar. I quickly noticed that I was going from a diet of 40 – 50 grams of fiber to a diet which is more typical of the average US population. This means that I was eating less than 5 grams of fiber a day! I am pretty sure that is the typical American diet. I can’t believe this.



Lunch was various sandwiches on white highly refined bread. Lots of meat choices. There was a vegetarian option but it was not ideal. It did have vegetables but they were sautéed in oil. There were also chips and various kinds of cookies and brownies.



Each evening there was ‘happy hour’ - The beer flowed freely. I am not complaining here; the beer was of fine quality – Harp’s, Sam Adams, Magic Hat, etc. They were all very high calorie – and delicious.



For diner it was more of the same – lots of meat and refined grains. I did not realize that my diet, although very simple, varies so much from the mainstream. I know many people that I consider to have extreme diets that require a lot of preparation and expense (raw food diet) – to each his own. But my diet takes very little extra effort or expense and is so much better than mainstream.



Now, on to the exercise front. I knew that I would not be able to doing much of anything except run. I had hoped to be able to explore Boston by foot – I love doing that in new cities. You can really get to the soul of the town. However, I registered late for this conference and I had to stay at a nice hotel – at the airport. To get to any green space I have to take a shuttle to a subway. I could have done this – I should have done this but I did not. In fact I was at these conferences from dawn till dusk. There were so many actives scheduled that I just made it back to the hotel each night and climbed into bed. There was a ‘pub crawl’ scheduled last night – I skipped that!



Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot and had a very good time but I fell off of my diet routine and my exercise routine. I would love to stay that this was a recovery week but with the long hours, bad food and much drink my body is probably less recovered than if I was racking up the miles.

Tri-bike with straight bar

Boston is great but ...

- I walked my legs off yesterday and ran on the treadmill this morning - but - I miss my bikes.

Mountain bikes - when it rains it pours!

Check out the Tech-tri blog .  Jason is giving away a cool Canon camera!

I have been looking for about a year to find a good deal on a mountain bike. The last two bikes that I have bought have been off of eBay and they have been incredible deals. I am willing to wait until I find the right bike for the right price. I also bought some cycling gear.

So, as time sometimes happens – everything falls together at once. My helmet fits me great but the padding is starting to break down badly. Also, you should replace your helmet about every 3 years. I am a helmet proponent! I have crashed and hit my head and walked away with just a little bit of road rash. In fact, just last week one of my friends went down at the end of a group ride. He cracked his helmet through on the temple area. He was not any worse for the wear. I wear a helmet and I replace them when they get long in the tooth.

So, last Thursday I ordered a new helmet. On Friday I bought a 1 year old mountain bike on Craig’s list. Everything was looking cool. However, the more I adjusted and tinkered with the mountain bike the more I realized that it was just too big me. It looked big for me and against my better judgment I went ahead and purchased it. I just wanted a mountain bike that bad. Well, I was bummed out some but I knew that I got such a great deal that I could ride the bike for a few months while I looked for a new bike and still get my purchase price out of it (or at least most of it).

Then on Saturday I got an email from Raland. He was at the Treasure Hunt – the local salvage store. This place is a flea market wonderland. They get stuff from store closing and damaged goods. The stock turns over constantly. Anyway, Raland said that they had the goods from a bike store in Nashville – water damage.

I took a drive down there and I ran into a practical who’s who in the cycling / triathlon Hattiesburg scene. I talked the talked and walked the walked and picked over the stock. I ended up getting a new road helmet (Giro Atmos), a mountain bike helmet, a couple of new race ties, some tube patch kits, some bar tape and another mountain bike. I bought 2 mountain bikes this week!  You don't know me - don't judge!  I am finding homes for two of my bikes - that should help keep the stable to an acceptable number.  There is an old joke - What is the optimum number of bikes.  The answer:  Current + 1.

For exercise this weekend I did a 40+ group road ride, two mountain bike rides and a fast 5 mile tempo run. I will be out of town all this week in Boston for work. I hope to find a few people to run along the emerald necklace.

These trails are a quarter mile from my house!  Time to learn some real bike handling skills!

Big WEEKDAY riding

I got bike heavy this week. On Tuesday, with commute I got about 34 miles. I hit the treadmill at lunch. On Wednesday was a swim at lunch and then I did an after work ride.

This ride is, as Butch puts it, this is a WEAR YOUR BIG BOY PANTS AND KNOW YOU WAY HOME ride. I was a little bit worried. I asked Sam if he had ever done the ride. He said, “What ride – that is a race!” He gave me a little bit of advice and said do not take a pull – just cycle out on the pace line. They will wait and detect when you are tired and BAM – you are dropped.

I rode from campus to Jackson Station. My legs were heavy. I was going to go ahead and ride home but Butch persuaded me to partake – he should be a politician. We headed out at an easy pace. Chewing the fat – easy riding. I still did not jump into the lead. We pulled onto Military Road which is just past Eply Station. Once we crossed 589 the pace picked up. Like I said, I was not going to take any pulls. I just grabbed onto the fastest wheel and hung on. The ride was a challenge and it was GREAT FUN! I think this will become a weekly ride.

I still made the Thursday morning ride and it ended up being a ‘King of the Mountain’ type ride. We headed out from Jackson Station at 5:45AM. There was a little bit of jockeying until we got to Eply Road then it broke open. We had a new rider doing some research here from Purdue. He was a strong rider. I, once again, rode a tactical ride. I only took a pull here or there and really just to break the ride up. I sprinted ahead hard towards the end of the approximately 10.5 mile hilly out and back and forced the peloton to pick up the pace. It was a little dirty to sit in the pack and then sprint at the end but I did capture the KOM for the day.  The KOM portion averaged 23 MPH.

Three weekdays and about 100 miles + the 50 or so from the weekend; this has been a big cycling week for me!

Treadmill Fartleks?

Quick note - there is a great sunscreen give away over at MISSZIPPY.  Check it out.

Monday was back in the pool. I did 250 yard repeats and was out pretty quick. The legs were tired from the weekend. The hills from the bike on Saturday and the hard (but not fast) effort on the super hot Sunday run took a little bit out of me. Plus, I probably did not recover as well as I could have. I went to a World Cup party on Saturday and a Beer Club meeting on Sunday – not excessive but I am sure it did not help the recovery.

Tuesday brought another morning group ride. There were a couple of guys that wanted to do the 22 mile out and back solo at a solid tempo pace. I simply can’t recover from so many hard efforts so I grabbed the fastest wheels and held on. This was a good strategy for me. I got a good workout and I never pushed it into the red. The 'group ride' portion - me hanging off a wheel - averaged over 23 MPH for the 22 miles.  The total miles with commute checked in at about 28 miles.

For lunch I was planning on using some of my new LTHR numbers to push the tempo pace. It is still blistering here in Mississippi so I opted for the treadmill. I actually enjoy the treadmill for heart rate workouts. The machine can take out all of the guess work - I just have to run. I did an easy 10 minute warm up at 10 minutes per mile. In the past I did not use any warm ups and when I did they were too fast. I have found with the treadmill that the warm up is beneficial for both me and the machine.

After the ten minutes I pushed the pace to a comfortably hard level. These numbers are not really comparable to the real world but I punched the treadmill up to 9.5 MPH (6:18 pace). This was too easy for the first 10 minutes or so but my heart rate slow increased to the prescribed range. If you remember, my Zone 4 heart rate range for running is now 175 – 184. I actually think this range is a little high – I am going to have to push hard to get into this range. I have experienced, in training, that my hard heart rate number is right at 172 BPM. If I push much harder I get into the red zone. I have some workouts planned that should help increase my LTHR – like 5 minutes at 172 followed by a couple of minutes at 175 and then back to 172 – repeat as necessary – but those workout are for another day.

Today’s work out was going to be 10 minutes x 3 at ~170 BPM with 3 minutes recovery at an easy pace. With warm up and cool down it would be 56 minutes (10 + 10 + 3 + 10 + 3 + 10 + 10). Now this is where self coaching fails. I was feeling great at the 10 minute mark and decided to change the workout on the fly. Why? I don’t know. I was feeling strong.  Anyway I decided to do 15 minutes x 2 with a short recovery. This is where the workout fell apart. However, it was not my fault this time!

At just about 13 minutes the treadmill gave up the ghost. I was running along at my comfortably hard pace feeling good – which means, yeah I wanted to stop but I did not have to stop. So the treadmill just starts slowing down. I have crippled one of these before (they are getting long in the tooth – almost 4 years old). So I hit the emergency stop button because I know it will shut down the machine and reset quicker. I lost maybe 30 – 40 seconds and I was back at my full speed again. I just did not know how long this ‘interval’ would last.

It lasted about 6 minutes. I went through the emergency shutdown procedure again and fired it back up. The next one lasted nearly 8 minutes. It kind of became a game – I did not know how long each segment would last. I just knew that I was not going to fail before the machine stopped. It was like a coach was there watching you run and they would tell you when to stop. It made the treadmill work out interesting - almost exciting.

So the workout was not what I had prescribed for myself but it was a victory. All in all it was a good day ‘at the office.’ 28 on the bike in the morning, 45 minutes (about 33 of it at effort) on the run and another 6 home on the bike.

On a side note -
I had a couple of great comments recently asking about what training plans I follow. I have adapted several training plans that I have gleaned from books and the internet.  I generally end up writing my own or altering them greatly.  I so the annual training plan and then write the works a month at a time for periodization.  I also change them up all the time - not the smartest thing to do but - go figure.

Last year was all about volume – ironman training will do that for you. After Louisville I switched gears and decided to train for a Boston Qualifying marathon run (this would be my first marathon).  I completely changed my training from lots of volume and started to include a lot of hard runs done completely by pace. These hard runs were actually a number of races of increasing length.  I used these races adjust my paces at increasingly longer distances. I had worked up to many long runs in my ironman training I just did not do any of them fast.

I checked a book out from the library and I remember starting the FIRST training plan from Run Less, Run Fasterand thinking that I could not even complete the first day of the program. Well that program brought me though the marathon and then some.  I started with the basic 3 day a week training program for a 3:20 marathon and then altered the program quite a bit.  I ended up running the Mardi Gras Marathon in a 3:08:44 - and evenly split it to boot (1:34:00 / 1:34:44).  However, training for the marathon I neglected the bike and the swim.

Now I am working on increasing my LTHR on the run and the bike. I am still attempting to play off of this big ironman base from last year. I do plan on posting about the workouts that I will use the achieve this. Stay tuned

Trading Volume for Intensity

It is that time of year where I have traded volume for intensity. There are not many LSD (Long Slow Distance) rides or runs. The weekend of intensity started early with the first time trial of the season. Sure, I was a few seconds off of my best time but it was a solid effort. In fact it was easily my best ride of the year. I gave a good hard effort for the entire ride (30:43). I analyzed my ride and I should have pushed harder for the last mile or so – that is what I did last year and that would have allowed me to post a PR. Still, I was pleased with the effort.

I followed up the cycling TT with a longer swimming TT at lunch. Although my swimming has quickened in the last few months this is where my endurance is suffering. Last year, while training for Ironman Louisville my shortest swim would be 3000 yards with several in the 4000 yard range. This year I have been calling it quits at about 1500 yards with my longest year to date being 2500 yards. I still stuck to the intensity over volume for this time trial and just did a hard effort 1500 yard effort. Swimming is not my strong suit and I did not push this TT as hard as I could. It seems like in the swim the difference between an all out effort and an easy swim is just a couple of seconds. I finished up the 1500 yard time trial in 23:30 – not fast by many standards but pretty quick for me. I will take a 1:34 100 yard average for that distance. When doing 100 yard repeats my average times have dropped to 1:30 give or take a second. These are good swim times for me.

Friday I knew that I had a work commitment for lunch so I needed to get a good workout in before work. I planned ahead so that I could run into work. This is a 6 mile run along the trace right to campus. It was warm and humid and I had an aggressive game plan. I wanted to run the 6 miles in 39 minutes – a 6:30 pace. This would be challenging but not too far out of reach. But I blew it. I started out a little fast and then picked up the pace. I was feeling strong but it was not sustainable. I ran the first 3 miles in just under 19 minutes (6:23, 6:11, 6:22). It was that second mile that blew me up. The next 3 miles were just trying to recover. They all clocked in at just over 7 minutes per mile. I finished the 6 mile run in 40:42 – way off of my goal pace. I need to work on my pacing.

Saturday morning I met the group for a long ride just south of town. This would include a few hills that you just do not get while riding on the trace. There were a few solid hills that I tried to attack and some good long breakaways. It was an eventful ride. We had a broken spoke, a flat and later a crash. I was able to break away from the group in the later miles. It was a good effort but JD wanted to make sure that I mentioned that I was chased down by him (the Diesel) and Butch. It was a hot fast ride. I had a blast. Unfortunately Jason had a tip over about 10 feet from the end of the ride. I saw him walking his bike and he had a shiner near his right eye. I gave him a towel and noticed that his helmet was cracked. Wow. That is why you wear helmets!

Sunday I wanted to redeem myself for the botched run on Friday. I was going to attempt the 6 miles in 39 minutes. This run did not work out either. Although I hit the trace in the morning the heat and humidity was unbearable. The conditions zapped any speed that I might have had. On top of the heat my legs were feeling the ride the previous day. Six miles fast turned into 2 miles fast with a struggle just to get home. I 86’d the run. I finished with 4 miles in 29 minutes instead of 6 miles in 39 minutes. When I got home I submerged myself in a cold bath to release some of the heat.

Not every workout was successful but the weekend as a whole was solid.

LTHR Training Zones - Cycling

So we have been talking about heart rate training zones. I prefer the field testing method to determine heart rate training zones.

One interesting aspect regarding setting your heart rate training zones using LTHR is that they will vary by sport. How is that?

Well, I have been using the term LTHR very loosely. Other terms are anaerobic threshold, aerobic threshold, and maximal lactate steady state. I am simply trying to find the heart rate that can be maintained for an extended amount of time without dipping into the red – without blowing up. This heart rate is difficult to maintain. However, once this has been determined you can train at this level. The goal is to increase your LTHR or get faster at your LTHR or hopefully both.

So I just happened to do a cycling time trial yesterday morning. It was an impromptu challenge that was scheduled the night before. There were 5 of us who would do the ‘race of truth.’ I looked up my best TT from last year and this would be my mark.

I wanted to race a good solid hard effort to determine my cycling LTHR. The time trial consists of an 11.83 mile out and back. I had the data from last year. My average heart rate for the entire 30:40 was 172 BPM at 23.0869 MPH. (Well, looking back through my blog – that is why I write this dang thing – I’m wrong. My PB for the TT was June of last year (before I used the gps watch) with a total time of 30:26 – furthermore my blog states that my average heart rate was 162 – something is fishy here – I will have to pull up the data and take a look).

Anyway, during yesterday’s effort I clicked the lap button on the gps watch 10 minutes into the TT and kept pushing hard. I finished the TT 3 seconds slower than last year – the one from July. The average heart rate for the entire time trial was 171 BPM but the average for the second 20 minutes was 174 BPM. Using this value I can now determine my heart rate training zones for cycling (notice that the percentage values are slightly different from the values used to calculate the running heart rate zones.

Zone 1: Overdistance, strength = 113 - 139
65% - 80% LTHR

Zone 2: Endurance, strength = 140 - 155
81% - 89% LTHR

Zone 3: Endurance, strength = 156 - 163
90% - 93% LTHR

Zone 4: Intervals, hills, race/pace = 164 - 173
94% - 99% LTHR

Zone 5: Racing, speed = 174 - 185
100% - > 106% LTHR

So, my Zone 4 heart rate training range for the RUN is 175 – 184 and for the BIKE it is 164 – 173. These are my tempo zones for my hard efforts. These areas are challenging. Funny how the old rule of thumb is that biking heart rates will be about 10 BPM less than running heart rates at the same intensity.

These calculations are mostly based off of The Cyclist's Training Bibleand The Triathlete's Training Bibleby Joe Friel.

I also found this great excel spreadsheet at sisu-multisport.com - download here.

LTHR Training Zones - Running

Another method used to determine your heart rate training zones is based off of your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR). LTHR is the intensity that lactic acid starts to accumulate in the blood stream. Exercise below this threshold and lactic acid is flushed from the blood stream.

Your LTHR can be measured in the lab by taking blood samples as exercise intensity increases. This is an intrusive test and not readily available to everyone. However, your LTHR can be estimated with a field test. You can test this value with swimming, biking or running.

The test consists of a warm up followed by the fastest pace that can be maintained for 30 minutes. This is a time trial and it is all out. These tests are very difficult and take a lot of mental and physical stamina. At 10 minutes into the 30 minute session hit the lap button on your heart rate monitor. Continue to push hard until 30 minutes has elapsed. At that point end the session. You should feel very relieved that the session is complete. Your estimated LTHR is your average heart rate for the last 20 minutes of the session.

You may need to do multiple LTHR tests (separated by several weeks) in order to get your best results. There is a skill to performing well at time trials. With this LTHR value you can determine your training zones. Although I have not done an all out 30 minute LTHR test I do have the value from the pump and run race. In that race I averaged 185 BPM. Using this value I get the following heart rate zones. The numbers in parenthesis are from the MHR (max heart rate) calculations yesterday (using the Karvonen method).

Zone 1: Overdistance, strength = (136 – 152) 139 - 157
75% - 85% LTHR

Zone 2: Endurance, strength = (153 – 160) 157 - 165
85% - 89% LTHR

Zone 3: Endurance, strength = (161 – 168) 166 - 174
90% - 94% LTHR

Zone 4: Intervals, hills, race/pace = (169 – 184) 175 - 184
95% - 99% LTHR

Zone 5: Racing, speed = (185 – 200) 185 - 196
100% - > 106% LTHR

These are different methods to determine heart rate training zones. As you can see, in the lower and upper heart rate zones the numbers are fairly close. However, zone 3 and zone 4 numbers diverge. For example, Zone 4 is where the LTHR is supposed to take place. There is an enormous difference between the lower ends of this zone (169 BPM compared to 175 BPM). For me, running at 169 BPH is much easier than running at 175 BPM.

I guess after all of the math you still need to use feel to determine where you should be training.

NOTE:  One quick proviso – these zones might be a little high considering that this was a 20 minute all out effort and not the average of the last 20 minutes of a 30 minute all out effort.

New Heart Rate Zones

So my MHR (maximum heart rate) is higher than I thought it was – so what? Well, my heart rate training zones are now off by a fair amount. It is time to recalculate them. On a side note, there are other ways to determine your training zones that do not employ your MHR but that it for another time. The formulas that I am going to take a look at each require an accurate MHR. You can obtain your MHR from testing, observation or by estimating. Like I mentioned earlier I have recently seen a new MHR from the pump and run race a couple of weeks ago. FYI – resting heart rate is your heart rate taken early in the morning before you get out of bed. This value can be one parameter in quantifing fitness.

I am going to use the following values for the calculations: MHR (max heart rate) = 200, RHR (resting heart rate) = 40, HRR (heart rate reserve = MHR – RHR) = 160, Age = 47.

I was going to go into detail and list several different ways to calculate heart rate zones based on MHR, however, I have decided to only list the method that I prefer – the Karvonen method. This method uses your RHR to help determine your fitness level. Since most athletes have lower resting heart rates the zones are calculated higher. The formula is as follows:

Zone 1: Overdistance, strength = 136 - 152
Lower Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .60 + Resting Heart Rate
Upper Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .70 + Resting Heart Rate

Zone 2: Endurance, strength = 153 - 160
Lower Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .71 + Resting Heart Rate
Upper Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .75 + Resting Heart Rate

Zone 3: Endurance, strength = 161 - 168
Lower Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .76 + Resting Heart Rate
Upper Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .80 + Resting Heart Rate

Zone 4: Intervals, hills, race/pace = 169 - 184
Lower Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .81 + Resting Heart Rate
Upper Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .90 + Resting Heart Rate

Zone 5: Racing, speed = 185 - 200
Lower Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .91 + Resting Heart Rate
Upper Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * 1.0 + Resting Heart Rate

So what does this mean? One of the main training zones that I use is Zone 4. Previously this was calculated with a MHR of 194 and gave the spread as 163 – 178 BPM – about 5 beats per minute less than the new calculation 169 – 184 BPM.
This zone is where I like to do tempo runs, most of my triathlon runs and my half marathon runs. This is my hard effort. Over the past year I have noticed that I am able to run hard at or around 172 but if I let my heart rate drift up around 175 or higher the effort is greatly intensified. I can only manage a few miles when my heart rate drifts much higher in this level. I think the zones calculated with the new MHR make since. I had already adjusted my paces northward but the math reinforces my observations.

New Max Heart Rate?

There are several formulas for determining your maximum heart rate. Most are so generic that sometimes they are not even in the ball park. They are generalized for the entire population.

Let’s run through a few with my numbers (these are from wikipedia) – Age = 37 (MHR = Max Heart Rate)

MHR = 220 - AGE -> 183

MHR = 206.3 – (0.711 * AGE) -> 180.4

MHR = 217 – (0.85 * AGE) -> 180.0

MHR = 208 – (0.7 * AGE) -> 182.1

The following are from Sally Edwardsand for me seem to be the most accurate - (although a few years old her Heart Zone Trainingbook is very good).

Males: MHR = 210 – (AGE * .5) – (WEIGHT * .05) + 4 -> 187.5

Females: MHR = 210 – (AGE * .5) – (WEIGHT * .01) + 0

Max heart rates vary substantially from individual to individual. I have known blazing fast runners whose heart rates never got out of the 150’s and I have also known people with sky high heart rates. Also, maximum heart rates do not vary much over time. This is a genetic determined value. In addition, as long as you are fit your maximum heart rate will not decline as you age.

Furthermore, maximum heart rates are sports specific.  I cannont come close to my running max heart rate while biking.  There is about a 10 BPM difference.

Also from Sally Edwards:

Max HR is genetically determined; in other words, you're born with it.
Max HR does not reflect your level of fitness
Max HR is a fixed number, unless you become unfit.
Max HR cannot be increased by training.
Max HR does not decline with age.
Max HR only declines with age in sedentary individuals.
Max HR tends to be higher in women than men.
Max HRs that are high do not predict better athletic performance.
Max HRs that are low do not predict worse athletic performance.
Max HR has great variability among people of the same age.
Max HR does not vary from day to day, but it is test-day sensitive.
Max HR testing requires the person to be fully rested.
Max HR testing needs to be done multiple times to determine the exact number.

I have observed 194 BPM several times at the end of all out efforts. These were always race situations with an all out sprint to the finish. If you remember, my last 5k race (the Pump and Run) ended in a no holds barred straight away slug fest with Board Shorts. This was the hardest that I have ever sprinted – period. Further examination of the race data shows that my maximum heart rate is actually higher than the value that I have been using. The reading towards the end of that race showed 200 BPM (on garmin connect and 199 on sporttracks - either way it is about 5 beats per minute higher than I have ever seen).

I believe it – there were no power lines or other means of interference. On top of that I had to sit down at the end of that race. I guess that I had just not been in a situation to really push to the limit. Now I need to reevaluate my training zones.

Pump and Run Heart Rate profile

FYI - DC Rainmaker is giving away a really cool scale!

Heat Wave 2010 - Race Report

First, I don’t have any pictures. I don’t really want to remember much about this race. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time, but I did not have a good race. I do not like being slower than last year! I don’t like the feeling of going backwards.

Pre-Race

I rode up to Ridgeland (Jackson, MS) with Chris. We stopped at package pickup at Indian Cycles which is a really nice bike shop. They always do it well with cheese and wine and beer and finger foods. It was fun to swap race stories with all of your friends while you touch and feel all of the latest and greatest bikes. I noticed that when I was here a few years ago I could not imagine spending that kind of money for a bike. This weekend I was thinking of all the great deals to be had. Funny how perspectives change. I did not buy anything.

There was a group that met up at Ted’s house for a wonderful dinner and camaraderie. We had a good time catching up for the last year. I was better this year and did not eat too much. This is only a near Olympic race. No need to carbo load as they say.

We all got up early and I drank some coffee and had a cliff bar. The temperature was supposed to be very hot. I drank a large bottle of sports drink. I filled up another bottle with just water.

We arrived with plenty of time to set everything up. I grabbed my transition place; got body marked, hydrated and used the bathroom. I still had about 45 minutes to do a practice swim and ‘get into the zone’. The temperature was less than we expected – it had rained most of the night and it was still overcast.

There was a chop on the water but after the half ironman in New Orleans I was not fazed. I jumped in the reservoir and swan a few hundred yards. I felt strong in my stroke. I was swimming well. I had a great swim at this race the previous year and I was excited about doing well. I took a gel.

Swim –

The race starts in 4 waves – first - < 35 second 35 – 44 third > 45 fourth women. I was in the second wave. The buoys would be to my right which is my strong side in the swim. I started way right and towards the front of the swim. The horn went off and I started swimming. I still felt pretty good. Even though there were a lot of swimmers in my wave I was able to pick Robin out to my right. He was a distinctive swim stroke. I tried to pace off of him for the race so that I would not have to sight much. We were swimming at the same speed. The swim was going well. I decided that I was going to move behind him to catch the draft and just have a nice fast easy swim. Robin always is a little faster than me in the swim so why not just take a ride. Before I could get over there I ran into a pocket of swimmers that just were not moving well. There was a good chop in the water. It was more pronounced after we left the protection of the cove. The faster swimmers were plowing ahead but the less proficient were struggling. I lost Robin at the point and I had to make a major course correction. Getting in this mix up was the first time that I took on water. I missed a breath and then took a mouth of water on the next. It seems that once my rhythm is altered my swim quickly digresses. I recovered soon enough and rounded the first buoy. I had struggled a little bit and was not having the best swim. I remember this being a really hard swim for me but looking back to yesterday I am not sure why. Yes, the water was rough and I am sure that my heart rate was much higher than it should be but I have been in worse. I drank a lot of water and did not swim strong. I was very happy to be done with this swim. I finished a few seconds faster than last year – the course was long last year so go figure.

T1

I ran to my bike and noticed how many in my wave were gone. My friend Dan was in transition and heading out. I wished him luck. My transition was quick – no problems.

BIKE

Dan was a few seconds ahead of me out of transition and I never saw him on the bike. I felt okay during the ride and took it out comfortable hard. I still have a fear of blowing up in these shorter races. I need to just kill the damn thing and pick up the pieces at the end. My gps watch was beeping that my heart rate was too high. This alarm was still set from the half ironman in New Orleans – the alarm was set too low for this race. I would normally not have a heart rate alarm at all. Fortunately it was windy and I could not hear the alarm much. I just ignored it for the most part. However, mistakenly, I did stay right around that heart rate level. Chris, who started in a wave just after me passed me with authority at mile 3 on the bike. However, I passed him at mile five like he was standing still. Oh, he was standing still with a flat on the side of the road. I saw a lot of flats on the course this year. I am not sure why. It took out a couple of the faster bikers. Sam had a flat on the way back on the bike, Chris ended up having 2 flats and Mica also went down. It was windy out on the trace in several areas. I could really feel the wind. I did not push the bike hard enough – not nearly hard enough. I later learned that I got passed by Lance around mile 10 – I never saw him. Regarding drafting, I am not sure what was different but the race was much cleaner this year – good job Ben (he was the head official). I think the rough swim separated the racers more than in the past. I pulled into T2 a couple of minutes slower than last year.

T2

I was not feeling strong as I dismounted the bike. It would be okay; my legs would come along quickly on the run. I was ready to make up some time. I planned on taking a caffeine gel just before the run. It did not seem appetizing. I exited T2 in a respectable time.

RUN

I immediately noticed that I left my gps watch on my bike. Damn, I have grown to rely on this for my pacing. It has become a crutch. I do not know how hard I can push without it. I need to learn to race by feel rather than by instrumentation. I just started pacing off of someone that was running well. I do not know how fast it was. After only a half a mile I started to feel sick. My stomach was in knots. My belly was sloshing around. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN TO ME! I thought about walking back and not finishing. It hurt that bad. Once again - THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN TO ME!

I have often joked about having a cast iron stomach. I ran through the first water station. I did not want anything in my system. Right around mile one I saw Lance. He asked me how I was doing and I said not well – I was hurting. I ran past him but before long I had to stop on the side of the trail. I was making those puking noises and starting to gag a little. I bent over and a stream of hot brown liquid ejected from my mouth. It was short and sweet. I jumped back on the trail as I apologized to the racers around me. They just said do what you have to do. I caught back up to Lance and passed him again. I was able to run fast when I felt well but my stomach was like a time bomb. It felt like seconds were ticking down to another incident. At the mile two station I grabbed a cup of water and swished out my mouth. Once I had cleared the station I pulled over to the side again. This was a repeat of round one. I immediately felt better and ran a comfortably hard pace. There was a good hill up to the turn around. I was feeling better and my pace was increasing. The slow bike and run had really spared my legs. I was getting stronger. Just past the turnaround point I came up on Dan. He was struggling a little bit. I pushed past him. Sometime in the next mile that time bomb started to ring again. I was looking for some cover and found a large tree just off of the trail. I went behind it and the column of filth that ejected from my mouth was spectacular! Later I would get comments on the drama and the noise that was erupting. Once again I immediately felt better. At the next water station I grabbed two cups of water and swished out my mouth and took a drink. It felt good. I started to drink the next cup of water but it was sports drink. My stomach turned again. I quickly discarded this cup.

With only 2 miles to go I was ready to race. About time! I picked up the pace. I felt fresh. I ran with authority. People were telling me to “go get’em”; telling me that I was looking strong. I don’t think they realized that they had probably passed me several times. In the last mile I came up on Raland. He was running strong. I told him to not let me pass him (I had forgotten that he had started in a wave prior to me). I ran past him (he would end up with third place Clydesdale – Lance got fourth by a few seconds).

I was now running like I know I can run. I was running hard and feeling strong. I finished very strong – after all I had only really run the last 2 miles of the race. I was glad the race was over. I finished and grabbed a bottle of water.

FINISH

After the finish I was able to wander away from the crowd and find some seclusion. I was able to purge the rest of this vileness from my system. It is hard to throw up fast during a race. It seemed like another gallon came up. I later looked at my one water bottle on my bike. I had drunk maybe 10 ounces of water during the bike and so very little during the run. I am having trouble believing that I swallowed that quantity of water during the swim. It boggles the mind. I would have liked to know what my paces were for the 10k run. Sure, my total run time was longer than last year but I finished strong.

RESULTS

Overall of was 4 minutes slower than last year. My swim was slightly faster. My bike was off by 3 full minutes (23.1 MPH compared to 22.0 MPH). My run was off by 90 seconds (7:27 pace compared to 7:42 – I must have been running pretty fast WHEN I was running). I don’t know how this happened but compared to my age group I was 8 places better than last year in the swim, the same for the bike and I improved by 1 on the run.

Overall I placed 4 better than last year in my age group (but that is not saying much because I was not stellar last year either). This could have been a strong race for me but it just did not happen.

For triathlon, for me to get better on the run I definitely need to get better on the swim. I have often said, “I will not win the race on the swim but I sure can lose it!”