Running Up a Mountain

I'm in Colorado for a holiday vacation with my family and lets just say that the snow conditions are probably the worst that I can ever remember them. Clearly a far cry from the 70+ inches of base that was here last year at the same time. There is likely 4 feet less snow on the mountain and it is painfully apparent. The open groomed runs are getting a little crowded and I have had little interest in going into the trees to figure out what 20 inches of snow looks like...

So instead I have been doing a little mountain running. A couple days ago I ran from the base of the mountain up to the midpoint at the gondola house. I also went on a run to a shorter elevation. Having a little extra time and great warm weather today I decided to venture a little further up the mountain. In total I ran 7.2 miles, the first hour of which was entirely uphill.

Here is a picture of the overall course path that I took.

Here you can see the elevation change overall.

As I was on a mountain I was running in snow. Snow can be great when hard pack and tricky when soft. The soft snow felt as if I was running in sand, except there was no adjacent beach.

I paused to take a picture of the path that I took. You can see at the very top of the picture is the gondola house. That is the first peak on the elevation chart. I was also battling skiers.

The run was great, the constant climb was a great workout, and it was funny to hear all of the comments that people said on my way up the mountain. Some of my favorites were, "It is much easier to go down", "Way to make me feel bad" and "Be honest, how long has this taken you".

The fruit of the run was being able to take the gondola back down to the bottom of the mountain and enjoy a great sunset.

Rock N Roll Half Marathon Race Report

(or getting really really close to a goal….)

This past weekend I flew out to Las Vegas to run in the Rock N Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon. Initially it started out as an excuse to travel to Vegas with several friends and enjoy a weekend away. In the past 2 months my training was really falling into place and I started to think that instead of just coming out here to run and hang out with friends that I was going to really push the envelope and see what sort of time I could throw down on race day.

The race is completely different than every other race that I have ever done. See instead of starting at some ungodly hour of the morning, the race start was at 5:30 pm creating an entirely different approach to eating, sleeping, and overall just getting prepared. The night race also added a new element of excitement which I just couldn’t pass up.

I had thought through every aspect of this race, the weather, the winds, the elevation, nutrition, and thought that I had a good race plan for pacing. I set my Garmin 405 to give me time, distance, and lap pace. I turned off the autolap feature as I figured the buildings, bridges, etc would intermittently interfere with the exact mileage and decided to use the clocks and mile markers instead. I used the vdot calculations which predicted a half marathon pace of 7:30, and then modified a little (SWAG) thinking that those calculated paces were based on shorter 5k, 10k races and not longer distances. Fudged for a goal pace of 7:38 and then +15sec for the first 3 miles and -5 sec for the final 10.1 Additionally, I made a home-made pacing band which gave me the goal paces for each mile as well as the clock time so I could see where I was in the overall timing of the race. The perfect race would have me crossing the line just prior to 1:40. (Note: I didn't notice the typo for mile 9 until I got there, 1:18:56 instead of 1:08:56...)

We were staying around a mile away from the start of the race, left the hotel 2 hours prior to the start, hopped aboard the tram from Excalibur to the Mandalay Bay and then started wandering around looking for the gear check. Luckily there were 40,000 other competitors all trying to do the same thing and we just followed the throngs of people. We wandered through the casino, out the front of the hotel, then around the back, into a parking lot and then finally back into the convention center where the gear check was located. Bag drop off was hastle free and then we found some ground to stretch, relax, and stay warm prior to going back outside. We headed off to the start with around 45 minutes to the start, stopped at the port-o-potties and then fought people, spectators, double wide strollers, other racers all moving in every single direction to get up to the start corrals. We finally met our destination, slid into the rear of the 4^th corral with about 20 minutes to the start and just waited for the gun. All 5 of us were here - Larry, Evan, Michele, and myself....silly me for not taking a picture of any of us or even myself with the strip int he background...I apparently had other things on my mind)

I started the race and the first mile was 7:47 which was timed well and just below my goal of 7:53 for the first 3 miles. I felt good, heart rate was in the low 150’s, legs felt relaxed, and I was honestly pretty excited to hit the time so close to the goal as I had never really tried to pace a race this closely before. Mile 2 was a total of 7:46 and mile 3 was 7:50.

Alright, first 3 miles done, time to drop to about 7:33 as planned for the remainder of the race. Mile 4 was 7:23, mile 5 7:19.

Then something really interesting happened for which I still don’t have a good explanation. While running mile 6 I was getting my average lap pace to tell me that I was running 7:34 which would have been perfect for the pacing that I was expecting. When I hit the lap button at mile 6 the lap time read out at 7:57. Crap. Where did I lose those 20 seconds? Looking back at the course this section only had a couple of turns that I tried to take as close to a straight line through as I could. I had banked a couple extra seconds in the first couple miles but losing 20 was going to hurt. Oddly enough, I felt like I was funning the same pace. Well I couldn’t go backwards, only forwards.

Mile 7 was 7:25, then I was pretty evenly paced for 8, 9, and 10 at 7:39, 37, and 38. At this point in my pre-race planning I had expected the wind to shift and at this point be blowing at my back, instead I think there was a persistent wind at my face and the subtle uphill combo was starting to wear on me. I knew I was really close to my target time but risking loosing more time so mile 11 I pushed a little more hit 7:29 and was happy. Mile 12 the same thing happened during mile 6 – my lap pace was reading out 7:38 and then at the end of mile 12 it read out as 7:50… Mentally that was tough, but I was still going to push as hard as I could.

Well only so much more I could do, I reached and pushed my silly little legs as hard as I could. Avg pace for mile 13 was 7:24, 13.1 was 7:05. I didn’t know how close I could get to 1:40 but I figured I would push as hard as I could.

I hit the finish line for an official time of 1:40:05. Average overall pace 7:35 for 13.22 per GPS and watch time of 1:40:10. with an avg HR of 160 (max 170 at finish line) and avg cadence of 88.

There are many things about this time that for me are just fantastic. First – this time is a 4:29 PR over my best half marathon time nearly 6 months ago. To essentially drop 20 seconds per mile is fantastic. Second – this race is the first race that I truly set out to pace and finish with a specific time goal in mind. The goal was to break 1:40. Honestly, finishing within 5 seconds of this goal is very exciting. The 1:40 was a pipe dream, and educated pipe dream, but a pipe dream nonetheless. Third – not only did I pace the race according to plan, but I ran a near even race without blowing up or falling apart at the end. Fourth – I had just a little energy in the tank for the final push, but not much. I hit the finish line and I was done. As you can see from the spike in HR at the very end I was redlining the engine and I was hurting. Fifth – despite my focus on my pacing, I was able to look up every now and then and enjoy the awesome chance to run on the Las Vegas strip at night with all of the lights glowing and people on the sidelines. What an awesome experience.

Here is a summary of the overall pacing, my HR and the elevation.

And here are the times:

So as I sit on the plane today heading back home I am quite happy with my race yesterday. The execution worked out almost exactly according to plan and while I didn’t break that magical 1:40 barrier I did have a race completely destroyed a previous PR. I am also thrilled that I met my pacing goals very close to the plan.

I am also thrilled at my overall finish, I’ll take a top 3% overall and top 7% any day of the week.

Then of course the post race festivities were great as well, nothing quite like post race hydration with an open container of beer walking down the Vegas strip on the way to the hotel for a nice warm shower!

One of the things that I enjoy about writing about my races is that it provides me an opportunity to think through what I could do better for the next time. Honestly, there isn’t much, I mean I kept everything together for a while and feel as if I executed the plan well for the duration of the race. I might have been too reliant on the pacing for the miles and I think that I what came to bite me in the end. There were two miles where the pacing said that I was going 20 seconds per mile faster than the time ended up actually being. If either one of those two miles had been matched for pace and actual time my pacing would have really been perfect.

This race also puts the longer distances into a different perspective. I don’t think there would have been any way for me to hold the 7:30 as my recent run tests might have suggested. I’m going to keep training at my current predicted threshold pace to get faster in the meantime as I find that I can hold that speed for the short distances and maybe in time it will translate to the long distances. 9 months to figure out how to incorporate all of this into the Ironman racing strategy.

Today my legs are still screaming and I can only imagine will be tight as well tomorrow. Time to get back into the training and take this great race and continue to build off of it. Next up is a relaxing ride to loosen up my legs and then hopefully back to the regularly scheduled work-outs.

Thanks for reading!

A couple thoughts on the race:

-For a full recap of the good, bad, ugly, and downright shocking go to the rock n roll facebook page here…..

https://www.facebook.com/RnRLasVegas?ref=ts

-Night time running is a different beast, but fun nonetheless

-40,000 people is a lot of people which requires well thought out and organized logistics. I heard a rumor that they might be considering increasing to 60k next year which in my opinion is just way too many people. If this course were to accommodate that many people they need to do a much better job of people movement before and after the race and corral assignments.

-For the life of me I just cannot understand why people would want to start at the front of a race if they are going to walk. It is hazardous to both them as well as everyone behind.

-Running the Las Vegas strip at night is an experience that everyone should consider, but maybe not the best race to shoot for a PR given the number of people and the impact that night running can have.

Sub 45 on a 10k

Today I raced the North Shore 10k Turkey Trot in Highland Park. This was my first time participating in this race, and the first time that I have ever run a "turkey trot". Honestly, for as far as I can remember through residency I have always seemed to work on thanksgiving morning making doing any of these races impossible. Also, I have usually taken the October and November time period off from working out leaving me with little motivation to do any sort of running this weekend. Seeing as I wasn't going to be working this year and was going to be home for thanksgiving I decided to race, figuring it would either be for fun or for a PR.

I have continued on my path of more focused run training. I have been using the interval paces as suggested by my measured vdot of a couple of weeks ago. Also, I have been continuing with the long runs in preparation for the Rock n Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon next weekend. With the continued focus on interval training I have started to feel more comfortable with running faster.

This morning I woke up and felt relatively good. Monday was a day off as prescribed, tuesday was a hard hour ride in the morning and a 45 min run in the afternoon with some threshold mile repeats. Wednesday off as prescribed by the coaching plan. I drove to the race site, parked at my grandfather's apartment exactly 0.2 miles from the finish line (the 6 mile marker was right out his door) kept warm, ate breakfast, enjoyed the company and then left to head down to the start corrals.

I met the requirements to qualify for the A corral and figured that there really won't be that many opportunities to run with the fast people up front so pulled the trigger and signed up to be in the front pack. It was a little chilly this morning, maybe around 40 degrees. I had a hat, gloves, shirts, and tights and felt just about the perfect temperature the entire race.

As the gun went off I was amazed at how quickly I was able to cross the start line and how people spread out pretty quickly and there wasn't much jockeying for space. My suspicion is that they held the remainder of the corrals for a short period to allow a little spacing. The first part of the race is down hill. I think that with the adrenaline surging and the downhill I might have gone out a little too fast. I knew that I was going to be passed by a few of the corral B people, and I didn't want to let it bother me so I just kept running my race and watching the pace on my watch as I went along.

I hit mile 1 at 7:03 which was in line with my 5k run test pacing, but I had a hunch that it probably wouldn't be sustainable for the rest of the race. At the same time, I actually felt really good, I wasn't winded, my legs felt loose, I was having fun. I figured the real pace where I should be running was going to be closer to a 7:15. Somewhere between mile 1 and 2 I was able to look forward and see the front of the pack and quickly turned around and I was the last person before a gap between me and the next group of runners. Thinking as if I was in a pack of animals being chased by the predator, decided I didn't want to be the slowest fast person and picked up the pace a little to catch up to the people in front of me. Regardless of my mind tricks, I was having a lot of fun racing at the pointy end of the field.

The race continued on, I felt pretty good running, tried to hit the corners on the course correctly and was just generally enjoying my day. I knew that if I was able to hold that 7:15 pace for the whole race that I would definitely beat my previous PR from February of this year when I ran a 46:24 10k.

I hit 5 miles still feeling like all cylinder were running and decided to increase the pace a little and push to the finish line. There was one small hill on my way and continued to keep my cadence and pace moving in the right direction.

I hit the finish line at 44:37 which was awesome. I was hoping to break 46 minutes and even though my most recent 5k test of 22:00 min suggested that I might be able to break 45 minutes I hadn't really considered it a true possibility. Eager to better understand my race, I got home and downloaded the data from the Garmin which is below.

HR stayed relatively constant, nothing much to talk about there.

I think the cadence was just intermittently dropping. Unclear exactly why that was happening unless something weird was happening on the turns as it was basically a straight shot from the start line until mile 2 when we started to make turns on the course. Again after about mile 5.2 it was a straight shot.

I think the biggest area of potential improvement is in my pacing. I started off pacing at 7:03 and increased up to a max of 7:19. While this spread isn't horrible, I was hoping for a little more consistency. I also clearly can see that I went out a little too hard and then was basically holding on the rest of the race.

Next week when I race vegas I am going to have to pay close attention to this pacing issue. Starting out too fast will be hugely problematic. I might intentionally add a few seconds to my goal pace for the first mile to really try and maintain good pacing and if I still feel great after about mile 7 to then start to increase the pace.

Overall summary - I am extremely happy with the race today. I have been thinking about breaking 45 minutes for some time, but hadn't really thought it would a possibility until recently. My time today was good for a top 10 finish in my age group (10/59) and 57/437 for males, and top 7% overall. Also the time today resulted in an increase of my vDot to 45.59 which suggests that my marathon pacing could be 7:51...mmm...next weekend could be interesting as well as the last race of the 2011 calendar year.

I'm looking forward to the Vegas half marathon next weekend.

The training begins....week 1

Well folks, here I am, the training, or at least the "off' season training has officially begun. I have entered into the next 20 week block with a new focus to build up a fast and stronger base on which to build the rest of the season. This week was filled with testing protocols to figure out the power and pacing to be used for the next several weeks of training.

There will be musings of races, paces, power, and leg destruction. Sometimes I might go into bizarre detail dissecting out the power numbers and I am trying to learn how to take advantage of all of these numbers. (translated - it might get technical and boring at times...I think I have avoided most of that this week)

As I mentioned in the post abou the chicago triathlon, one of my biggest goals this year was to learn how to become a stronger runner. This became evident in several venues. The first was cracking the 8min/mile barrier for a half marathon at the northshore half nearly 5 months ago. The second was running 7:44 min/miles for the 10K at the chicago triathlon which was a new PR for a triathlon. This week I had two other breakthrough runs as well. I went out and ran a 5k as a part of one of the testing protocols and hit 22:00 for a pace of 7:06 min/mile which is my fastest ever time and run split. I was simply in shock when I was watching the pace on my watch. Finally, I ran a 15k race yesterday and averaged 7:40 min miles good enough for 159/903 in my age group. After about the 3rd mile I started to negative split the race and ran a 6:59 for the 8th mile. (insert smiley face here) I'm enjoying the fast running and seeing the definite progress that I have made this year. Ultimately, I think there there is some good proof that my decision to hold off of the long distance racing this year and instead focus on becoming a faster runner might have very well paid off. The next step will hopefully be figuring out how to translate the shorter faster running into faster long distance running. While I have no expectation that I will be able to hold those 7min/mile paces for an entire marathon it will definitely help on my quest to build a faster run.

I've gotten back on my bike as well. The first ride was a little rough having not been on my bike for several months but my legs are getting back into the swing of things. I am holding the power (well the computrainer is holding the paces and I am along for the ride) and getting through the workouts. I have found that I seem to enjoy mashing the big gears at a low cadence to generate power. One of the things that I am trying to work on in the next several weeks is keeping a higher cadence 85-90 for me is a higher cadence while maintaining the correct power outputs. Perhaps by "retraining" my muscles to go faster it will be able to translate when I get back outside in the spring. One of the best parts is that I get to mindlessly watch movies and not feel guilty about it. This week's movies included GI Joe - fair movie at best and I am halfway through Transformers Part III - the main action sequences are yet to come.

Some data from the first week:

FTP week 1 - 189

Vdot Week 1 - 44.42

Time to rest before getting into the second week of busting my legs.

I'm registered...IM Wisconsin 2012

Well there wasn't much doubt in my mind about how the weekend might end.

After a day of volunteering and then watching the runners on state street and finally meandering over to the finish line I went from 99% to 100% sure that I needed to be in Madison next year not as a spectator or as a volunteer but as an athlete.

I waited this morning in the volunteer line and as the line moved quickly it started to feel like I was going to an amusement park and just waiting and waiting and waiting to finally get to the front of the line. Once at the front of the line the people around me commented that there was still time to escape. For me, there was no escape, there is no alternative, registration for 2012 was going to happen.

After a couple of keystrokes, this appeared in my email.

And so, the journey back to the starting line for Ironman #3 begins.

Weekend in Madison @ IMMOO

While there were many reasons to come up to madison this weekend, the most obvious was the event besides the football game that took over the town.

I arrived in Madison on Friday evening and could sense that Ironman was in town. The barricades were starting to go up, the tape was on the street to mark the course, and people were walking around state street with their participant wrist bands. As I was walking up state street I started reminiscing about the last time that I was moving up the street headed towards the capital.

Nearly 2 years ago I was in the exact same spot, trying to muster up the last bits of energy that I had left to get across the finish line after a rather brutal marathon. In the time span of that marathon I experienced the full spectrum of emotions. I started running and felt great and thought that I might be able to absolutely fly through the marathon. Less than a mile later my hopes were dashed and I was frustrated and ready to quit. Somewhere around mile 18 I sat down for a little bit hoping that I would magically just get to the finish line. I kept moving my body through forcing small amounts of fluids and grapes until I could finally get to the end.

Finally, after over 5 hours of a death march I finally reached state street and again became overjoyed that I was finally going to finish. There was something comforting about seeing the dome of the capitol building lit up as the sky was turning darker shades of blue.

I decided that I was going to take a year or so off from Ironman to give my body a break, to give my mind a break, and to figure out when or if the long distance races would return back to my schedule. In the past 2 years I have spent some more time working on my running, figuring out how to train smarter, and take care of some professional obligations as well.

On Saturday I rode the loop of the bike course. I started out feeling great and I remembered every turn on the course. I remembered most of the technical aspects of the ride including the climbs after turns (and staying in low gears) the downhills (and tight turns at the end), and the never ending false flats. There were some parts of the course that initially didn't trigger immediate recollections but after some time fit right in.

Most of my mental markers on the course hadn't changed. The sign for blue mound which indicates the start of the never ending climbs into Mt. Horeb (which I think is the second most irritating climb on the course-only behind Witte Rd) was still there and I got the gearing just right. I had fun climbing the "3 Bitches" - old sauk pass rd, timber lane, and midtown rd, and was interested to watch my power as I pushed up the climb.

For having only done about 1 ride over 60 miles this summer and minimal hills, I was rather pleased that my legs help up during the ride. I averaged 18.0 mph for the loop which was quite interesting. It was about 20 minutes faster than I rode the course the first time 4 years ago, as well as when I rode the course in June of 09 in preparation for the last IM that I did here. 2 years ago when I raced the IM I averaged 18.67 MPH for the entire course. Overall, not too far off and better than expected. Overall, I was rather excited when I was able to look at the data in comparison.

Several months ago I decided that I was going to volunteer for the race for several reasons. #1 - I thought that it would be fun to volunteer on the bike course, #2 - I wanted to come and ride the course, #3 - it is a way to get a guaranteed entry into the race the following year.

On Sunday morning I woke up at 5:30, got in my car and drove off to the cross plaines aid station. I picked this spot because it is the aid station right before the 3 climbs described above and I figured it would be fun to motivate people at this point.

The moral of the entire story below, setting up and running an aid station is difficult work, and everyone at some point who races in triathlons should volunteer at an aid station.

Immediately after arriving I went to work, we started unloading the truck filled with water, ironman perform, food, and the works. Honestly it was quite depressing to see an entire truck filled with pallets of water, sports drink, and everything else. the sad part is that they went onto the truck with a fork lift...but we didn't have a fork lift to unload the trucks.

It took quite a while to unload everything, get all of the water bottles and sports drinks ready to go and nearly 3 hours after starting everything was set up and we awaited the first competitors.

The first pro athlete came blazing into the aid station and barely slowed for his hydration. I was the lucky person to be the first in line to hand off water to the first pro athlete. It was kind of a rush and then it only got busier from there. The day was absolutely fantastic. I met some really nice people, and it just felt great to help the athletes on a journey that I know from previous experience can be rather mentally challenging at times. I am thrilled that I had a chance to volunteer and should the timing be right in the future is definitely something that I would consider again.

There are a couple of things that I saw which really made me happy as a volunteer:

1. When the athlete called out what they wanted and pointed directly at me, I was able to get the water into their hand every single time. The only time I missed a hand-off today was when some lady stuck her hand out at the last minute and magically expected that I would be able to read her mind.
2. When riders slowed (at little, not to a grinding halt, but a just a little) as it made the hand off much easier.
3. Of course when athletes said thanks, or my favorite of the day, "awesome technique" after I had run up with one of the riders to ensure a good hand-off.

After nearly 10 hours in the sun we packed up the aid station and I returned back to Madison. Walking on state street is always a fun time with all of the runners. It was kind of neat that I could recognize some of the faces that I saw out on the bike course at various points on the run. After dinner I strolled over to the finish line and watched for a little while.

Needless to say, the finish line is always an exciting place to be and thinking about racing in another ironman definitely made the entire situation all the more exciting. Soon it will be my turn again.

Chicago Triathlon 2011

Well, this blog has been dormant for quite some time and I figured that there would be no better way to resurrect the site than with a report of my most recent race this past weekend - the Chicago Triathlon.

The morning started off as all others have in years past with an excessively early alarm at 3:45 to get to the transition zone before the crack of dawn. I arrived at the transition area and amid all of the hustle and bustle of people arriving.

I got my transition area set-up and was chatting with a couple of people around me. Most were participating in one of their first couple of triathlons and doing several in a summer was a foreign concept to them. I just soaked in the surroundings and let them take care of some of their nervous energy. I saw one of them again just prior to getting in the water and then again during the first transition. At 5:45 when transition closed I made my way over to the start and found a nice piece of grass to relax on for the next 2.5 hours.

The day was shaping up to be perfect, temperature forecast was perfect in the mid 70's but the wind was picking up from the north and was starting to kick up the water. It was much nicer to wait for the race to start with cool temps than the hot weather from the prior years.

Finally after waiting for the time to start I was finally able to line up in the corral and join the other masses of people getting ready to start the race. Wetsuit and swim cap on, and then off into the water.

Here is wave 38 getting ready for the gun to go off. It doesn't really look like that many people, but apparently there were around 150 people treading water with yellow caps on just waiting. As more and more people jumped into the water a current developed and pulled everyone towards the buoy. I tried to find some room and waited.

Shortly after getting in the water the gun fired and the race began. I'm somewhere back a couple of rows behind the front. A couple of seconds after this shot I got a foot to the face that partially dislodged my goggles, a quick readjustment and I was off again.

The swim south towards the turn around was great, between the current generated by all of the swimmers and the north wind propelling us southwards we were flying. I reached the buoy much faster than I can ever remember. However, as soon as I turned around and started to head north I could feel the north wind. From the buoy all the way north to the exit it was a battle against the wind and people. I can't remember seeing so many people brutalized by the wind and the water. Evan caught a great picture of the wind kicking up the water as I was swimming through trying to battle the current and the waves.

Honestly, while the swim took a little extra effort and was a little longer than expected, the swim wasn't really that bad. I have been swimming in open water all summer in all sorts of conditions and a little extra current and waves didn't really bother me at all in terms of comfort. It just goes to show that training and practice really can make a big difference. Finally after around 32 minutes I finally was out of the water, with a long run to transition my time for the swim was 34:11 good for 545/3321 for the international distance.

As I headed out on the bike I knew that I was going to be in for a special treat on the bike. The wind was blowing hard from the north and as soon as I made my way up to lake short drive I could feel the wind howling and blasting at us. I battled the wind all the way up to the north turn around at Foster and noticed that I was close to holding around 20mph the entire way up but it took a while for my HR to settle. I turned south and then took advantage of the wind at my back. At times I was moving around 28 MPH and really enjoying the time out on the bike. Below is a shot of my pacing on the bike, its evident the areas where I was going north fighting the wind and south with the wind at my back.

I was out on the bike course in the middle of the day and it was crowded. I was passing people many of whom couldn't quite figure out that if they weren't the fastest people out there that they needed to stay to the left. Anyway it made for some interesting passes and tight areas on the course. After 1:11:28 and averaging 21.1 mph on the bike I was done finishing 355/3321

I quickly moved through T2 realizing that my initial goal of breaking 2:30 wasn't going to happen because of the battle with the wind but I still had great aspirations. Over the past year I had been training with a power meter. While on the bike I was watching my HR, my speed, and my power with a general idea of where I should be in order to give myself a chance for a good run. One of the biggest battles that I have fought ever since starting triathlons was figuring out how to be a runner and how to not totally implode during the run. I have thrown together great starts to races with a great swim, a fantastic ride only to have everything completely fall apart on the run. Take last year's chicago triathlon for example, a great ride of 109:22 and then a complete disaster of a run. This year I wanted to see if things would work out a little differently.

I started the run and felt great, my legs felt fresh and I was moving, quickly out of transition and I started to pass people. Just over a mile and I made the turn around the Shedd Aquarium and Evan captured this great picture of me running with the Chicago skyline in the background.

I continued my journey south and my legs still felt great. Of course I knew that I had a nice wind pushing me as I headed south to the turn around at 3.5 miles. My first 3 mile splits were 7:41, 7:38, and 7:45. After the north winds started to have their impact the splits slowed a little.

I came back to the Shedd, where evan caught another picture of me and made the final push to the finish line averaging 7:00 min/mile for the last .2 miles of the run to finish in 48:02 with a 7:44 min/mile pace and finishing 387/3321 finishers. The run turned out to by my fastest 10K split in a triathlon. It has taken me several years of racing in all distances but the extra running this year has clearly made a difference and I feel as if I raced from start to finish and put together a great race without any regrets.

With an overall time of 2:40:12 it was good enough for a 49/403 place in my age group and 304/3321 of all finishers for the international distance which is good for a finish in the top 9.2% of all competitors.

Despite not meeting my original ideal time goal, I was extremely excited with my overall performance, especially the run. Compared to last year, when my run pacing was nearly 2 min/mile slower and finished 1100/3859 I was very pleased to have such a strong run that felt really good.

So with that race, the 2011 triathlon season comes to a close. The main goal of the season this year was to get faster on the run and I think that I have accomplished that task. In July, I was able to average 7:57 for the 10K and now for this race I took another 13 seconds per mile off for a pace of 7:44 min/mile. Next up a short rest and recovery before the training continues for the 3rd half marathon of the year - the Las Vegas half marathon in December. The goal is to continue the run training and continue to build upon what I have been able to do this year.

Until next time, hopefully it won't be so long.

First outdoor ride of 2011

Well, a combination of the lack-luster weather in Chicago for the past month with my challenging work schedule has resulted in an inability to get my bike off of the trainer. Finally my schedule aligned and I was able to get outside and enjoy a nice spring day on the lake front. The wind was present but not too strong out of the south west and for the most part was overcast.

The weather was also beautiful over the weekend and I was able to go for a nice relaxing 8 mile run on the lake front path. I ran south from downtown and while there might have not been as many people to look at, it was nice to see a different part of the city as opposed to the typical Belmont to North ave run.

Today was also the first time that I was able to ride outside with my new power meter.

The cool part is that when I get back from the ride, I plug in my Gamin 500 to the computer and all of the data immediately downloads to my computer. I can then look at all of the squiggly lines. The truth is that I am still trying to figure out how to interpret any of this data.

Here is the first screen shot with HR, power, speed and cadence....

I can also just look at the time that I spent in different zones. I was hoping to spend the majority of my time in zone 4. I was creeping into zone 5 for a little and dropping into zone 3 as well. The truth is that I was just looking to see what might happen. I also hit some high watts a couple of times on the ride as I was trying to see what I could do sprinting up some hills. It becomes apparent though that those efforts were very short-lived.

One thing that I have quickly learned is that if I am going to go out and ride based on power I will need to pay much closer attending to what is going on instead of just riding based on feel. It is also really difficult to maintain a specific wattage for any extended length of time as there are always things on the path that interfere (crosswalks, people, construction, wind gusts, etc).

I'm going to keep reading the Training with a Power meter book that I have been trying to read. Maybe I'll go back to the beginning of the book and see what I can learn with more data in hand and try to figure out how to better plan outdoor work outs now that I can't just set the watts on the computrainer.