Triathlon for TK

Race Report: Santa Cruz Triathlon (Olympic)

2009-09-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad I decided to register and race the Santa Cruz Triathlon as part of SVTC's push to win the Southwest Club Championship again (we won). It was great to end the season with a PR at the international distance.

I wasn't sure just how well I'd do, given all my jet lag issues and lack of training the week leading up (I was on a business trip to Kenya from Sept 10 to Sept 17 and only did three 5km runs around the hotel property in Kenya in the "taper" leading up to the race). Hell, I wasn't sure I'd be able to break the 3:00 mark as I was hoping after seeing my progress during the club's training day on the Santa Cruz course back at the end of August.

No better way to find out than just doing the damn thing, so here's how it went down:

Woke up super early after about 5 hours sleep and made the drive down to the transition area across from the Dream Inn and got there just as it opened. Great spot near the bike out/in, just where I wanted it. Over the next hour, TONS of SVTC folks showed up for the day, so was in good company.

Lucky me, I'd done all my packing the night before, so I wasn't missing anything on my transition mat (unlike forgetting my Gu for Vineman). Got my wetsuit on and walked down to the beach with the 1000 other folks. We started waaaay off down the beach toward the roller coaster in a "swim pen" which I think shortened the course a little (?) but then they had buoys we had to stay outside away from the pier which probably made up for the off-angled start.

The water was smooth and the visibility was good (no fog). I was in the fifth wave, taking off at 8:20am, twenty minutes after the clock started. I felt good swimming in the pack, and it wasn't long before we were all strung out with lots of room between us. Yet, I couldn't quite repeat the form of the training day, and I kept drifting to the left, which meant I was drifting away from the pier, adding distance to the swim.

Nevertheless, I rounded the end of the pier faster than I expected to get there (took it wide, tho) and before I knew it, I was stripping off the top of my wetsuit running up the hill to transition. Seemed like I was in the back of my wave, but hadn't been overtaken by too many folks in the wave following, so felt ok going into T1.

My swim time was 34:19 (ugh!) ranking me in the bottom quartile of the race

T1 went smoothly (only 3:55 including the run up the hill) and I hopped on the bike and hammered through town, knowing this was my time to shine. I wanted to at least average 19mph to set me up with a cushion on the run should my wheels fall off from fatigue. As usual, I passed many more on the bike than I got passed by, and the 20 or so who passed me were all on tricked-out tri bikes, so I felt good at my pace/progress. By the time I got back to T2, I'd only spent 1:11:19 on the bike, for a pace of 20.8mph! (305th overall on the bike).

I made it through T2 as quick as I could (putting on socks this time!) but still managed to lose 3:08 in transition and then it was on to the run.

Unlike the weather on training day which started off with a foggy swim and then a hot run, the clouds never lifted during the race, so it was nice and cool the whole time, and was I grateful for that on the run.

My goal: don't get caught on someone else's faster pace on the way out. Then don't stop, don't walk: just push through. And with the exception of pausing to slam down gatorade and water at the aid stations, I didn't stop! Mind over matter brought me in with a 56:16 run time (9:04 pace).

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to approach the finish line at a sprint seeing that I could nip the race clock before it clicked over to 3:09:00 and I caught it just before it did, finishing in 2:48:57! (77th in my AG, 397th male, 500th overall)

Totally smoked my goal of 3 hours and couldn't be happier with the outcome. I'm already looking at where I can gain time next year. I'm pretty sure I can take at least 4 minutes off the swim, another 3 minutes off the bike and 3 minutes off the run.

And if I can recapture a minute from the transitions, I'll be breaking 2:40 next year :)

Garmin Forerunner 310XT swim accuracy

2009-09-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

I've owned my Garmin Forerunner 310XT for just over a month now, and the thing that has frustrated me most has been the accuracy of the 310XT on the swim.

See, I'd owned the Garmin Forerunner 305 for a year and really enjoyed using it to track my on-land legs of triathlon training and racing.

So when I saw the 310XT coming out, I knew I had to have it, even though the 305 was still functioning just fin. Imagine, I thought, with the 310XT I could track just how much I drifted off-line in the open water swims!

So, imagine my dismay when I wore my 310XT for the whole race in a sprint triathlon, and the map at right is how the 400m swim looked when uploaded to Garmin Connect. (click it to get to the activity details on GC)

Say what? I know for a fact I didn't do any loop-dee-loops on the swim course, and while my sighting is bad at times, there's no way I'm that jagged in a swim. And a half mile course? I don't think so.

Ugh.

So I gave the 310XT another try on an open water swim training over in Redwood Shores that I knew to be one mile long. As you see in the map at left, the jaggies were back, and while the time was good (just over 30 minutes), the distance was incorrectly logged at 2.15 miles. Again, click the map to get the activity details on GC.

Grrr!

So, before participating in the Silicon Valley Tri Club's practice session for the upcoming Santa Cruz Triathlon, I decided to consult the internet to see how to make the 310XT more reliable on the swim.

The verdict? Tuck the 310XT under your swim cap. Not at the top of your head, but at the back of your head, so when you're looking down in the water, the GPS unit is facing up. And lo and behold, it works!

Take a look at the map on the right, and you'll see just how smooth the path is (yes, I'm proud of my sight lines) and the distance accuracy is so very close to perfect as well! (with 10% which is a great improvement over the +100% accuracy of wearing it on my wrist).

By tucking the 310XT under your cap, the timing of the distance is a little longer than it should be what with turning it on before putting your cap on, but the accuracy of both distance and path can't be beat.

I'm now pleased as punch that I can more accurately track my sighting abilities on my open water swims using the 310XT.

Next thing to conquer? Getting the damn thing to pair to my Garmin Heart Rate Monitor that I've been using with my 305. Always something to tinker with!

Racing and sweating: the sunscreen details

2009-07-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

As a second-year triathlete, I'm now used to dealing with pain and discomfort as part of the training and racing process. But while my muscles are recovering more quickly the better shape I get into, I'm starting to feel the pain in other ways.

Specifically, I'm unable to avoid getting a bad sun burn on race day.

When I was doing sprints, I wasn't so bothered by the sun because I wasn't out in the sunshine more than an hour and a half.

But now that I'm racing longer distances, I'm spending a lot more time in the hot sun. And my sunscreen just doesn't seem to last me through the end of the run.

When do a long bike or long run in training, I use the same kind and amount of sunscreen (Bull Frog 30 SPF) as on race day, yet I don't get burned when training in the hot sun. Granted, I'm not wearing a tri top when training, but I'm exposed on my arms and legs and face the same way as when I race.

The only thing I can think is that my wetsuit is rubbing the sunscreen off? I'd hate to have to think I need to spend time in T1 and/or T2 re-applying sunscreen, but I also don't want to get in great shape only to succumb to melanoma.

What's your workaround?

Report from the Scene of the Tree Fall of 2009 Vineman 70.3

2009-07-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: I'm glad to read the cyclists injured during Vineman 70.3 when an oak tree toppled over on them are doing much better today. When I first arrived at the scene, I though things could have been a lot worse.

Thanks to the confluence of a variety of events (my swim time, my T1 time, my pace on the bike), I was amongst the first to arrive at the scene of the freak accident where the tree fell across the bicycle course at mile 6.55 of the Vineman 70.3 race.

Here's my story, culled out separately from my race report:

I'd come off a good swim for me (middle of the pack overall), and over the first five miles of the bike from Johnson's Beach down River Road I was averaging over 23 mph, getting ready to turn off onto Sunset Ave and then onto the rollers of Westside Road.

I turned off River Rd and made the initial steep climb onto Westside. I was about a mile and a half into the twisty rollers, and that's when it happened.

I was about to crest a slightly uphill blind right curve when I heard what sounded like a a trash truck dropping an empty dumpster on the ground around the bend.

When I crested the curve, I could see there was a tree down by the side of the road. Wait, no, it was down in the other lane. Wait, no it was ACROSS THE WHOLE FRICKIN' ROAD! I slammed on my brakes and came to a stop. There were three cyclists stopped in front of me just staring at this tree down, and that's when we heard the screams of someone who must've been trapped under the tree.

I quickly dismounted as did the other triathletes around me and ran up to the tree blocking the road to see there were two cyclists caught underneath. I shouted at one of the triathletes who was still on his bike to run back to the crest of the hill to warn the long line of cyclists coming up behind us to prepare to stop. And then I ran into the tree to see what had happened.

One of the downed triathletes (cyclist 1: the guy moaning/screaming) had take the full brunt of a big branch across his body and bike. The other one (cyclist 2) looked like he'd been lucky and was knocked over in the relative void between the two thick trunks of the tree. Smaller branches were broken all around him, but he didn't have anything heavy directly on top of him like cyclist 1 did.

I and two other triathletes made a beeline for cyclist 1 as he was making a lot of noise and had to be badly injured. He was scraped up pretty badly, and there was a good sized trickle of blood coming out from under him onto the pavement. We picked away the branches from on top of him and from around him and then the two guys with me started attending to his injuries right away.

I then jumped into the middle of the downed tree to help clear the branches from around cyclist 2. He was ambulatory and seemed to have his wits about him, but you could tell his day was over.

I then got back out of the tree to see there were about 15 triathletes gathered around wanting to do something to help but also wanting to race on. I saw one of them whip out a cell phone and tried to reach 911 (limited cell coverage out there), so I knew help was coming.

I also noticed that there were many triathletes who'd found a 5-foot-tall break around the left side of the felled tree where they could squeeze through and get back on their bikes. The only problem? The break was caused by a line (power? telephone? cable?) that was keeping that side of the tree from crashing to the ground. Some folks were simply clipping out to push their way through while others were dismounting fully, so I decided it was time to play traffic cop.

The last thing we needed was 100s of triathletes bunched up at the tree, so I thought the best thing to do was to help guide folks around the blockade.

The guy at the crest of the hill continued to warn people to slow down, and as they got to me at the tree, I told them to dismount and pass through the opening but DO NOT TOUCH THE WIRE! (later found out it was just a telephone wire). I could see a lot of the triathletes were shocked at the scene (nothing can prepare you for something like this), and they seemed grateful to be able to get around and keep going.

As I was directing people around the scene, cyclist 2 climbed out of the tree debris and came up to me asking how his shoulder looked. I looked at his shoulder muscle, above his race number, and only noticed some scratches and told him so, and he said "no, I mean did the collarbone pop?" It did look large, but I asked to see his other one to compare. Yup, sure enough, he'd broken his collarbone. His day was done.

I went back to directing traffic and not too long after, a fellow triathlete in a UK flag jersey told me he'd take over and let me ride on. I don't know how long I'd been there already (my Garmin would later show I'd spent 5 minutes at the crash site) but I was relieved to get back on the road. I grabbed my bike off the ground, ducked under wire and paused as I saw that cyclist 1 appeared to be doing better (he was no longer moaning) and he'd been cleared from under the tree.

I proceeded to mount up and pedaled quickly away, realizing that if I'd only been a few seconds faster on the swim or in T1 or hadn't sat up to take in some liquid in the first 5 miles, that could've been me.

The newspapers report there was a third man who broke his collarbone when he crashed into the felled tree, but I only saw the two. Maybe the third guy came in too hot after I'd left? There was a cyclist about two miles up the road (beyond) from the felled tree who was stretched out in the middle of the road next to his bike. He was clutching his shoulder as two other cyclists stood over him, waving us on.

As I rode the rest of the course, I felt a comraderie with the other triathletes who'd stopped to tend our fellow triathletes. I wish I'd remembered their numbers to give them shoutouts here. It's good to know we've got each others' backs.

Sure, we can compete against each other, but when you're going 70.3 miles as an age grouper, you're in it together to make it to the finish line.

That's what being a triathlete is all about.

Vineman 70.3 race report

2009-07-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

Just 24 hours ago, I was finishing the hottest half marathon I've ever run. Hell, it was my hottest run, period. Yet, I persevered the 90+ degree heat, and made it to the end to complete my first ever Ironman 70.3!

My race plan had a target of six hours to finish my first half Ironman: I'd do the 1.2 mile swim in about 45 minutes, the 56 mile bike in 3 hours and the 13.1 mile run in 2 hours. That'd leave me with 15 minutes for transition times and for leaks on the run pace and still bring me in under six hours.

The week leading up to the race was an unintentionally severe taper. I had two big work projects land on the same week, which had me sleeping less than 5 hours a night from Monday through Thursday, and a flourish of 28 hours at the keyboard Thursday and Friday alone. I kept assuring myself I'd get my frustrations out on the course, and sure enough, that was a help come race day.

The Swim
My wave (men 40-44) took off at 6:38am in a warm (75 degree) Russian River. Compared to my previous tri, the Escape from Alcatraz, where the water was just 58 degrees, the river felt positively balmy. Didn't stop me from wearing my wetsuit, though, so I could take advantage of the extra buoyancy.

As we waited in the deep water for the horn to sound, I got a chance to admire the scenery, looking upriver to the two bridges we'd swim under. The sun hadn't yet come up over the hills, and there was a beautiful mist rising from the surface of the river providing a little blanket of fog for us to swim through.

Then the horn sounded and all enjoyment of the scenery ended abruptly when two minutes into the swim I got a foot to the face knocking my goggles off, I stopped to readjust them and got bumped into/run over by a couple guys from behind (totally expected) and when I finally slipped into a nice steady rhythm, I noticed just how narrow the swim course was. It was impossible to get more than a couple feet away from anyone at any time, unless you wanted to fall way off the back.

About a third of the way up the out-and-back course, we passed under the second bridge, and shortly thereafter got into about 3.5 feet of water. As I was swimming along in half-foggy goggles, I was startled to see shapes looming above me before realizing it was some of my fellow age-groupers actually wading through the water! I tentatively put my feet down on the rocky river bank and waded alongside them (was this legal? was this smart? was this tiring my legs prematurely? was this dangerous?) before dropping back into my freestyle for the remainder of the swim.

The turnaround for the swim was just over half-way, and while the current of the river was negligible thanks to the dam at Johnson's Beach where we started, I could swear my swimming was faster coming back to the beach. I touched down at the swim out and quickly scampered to my bike, making it out of T1 just 46:06 after the race started. My race plan was holding!

The Bike
After a short steep climb away from the beach, the first five miles of the ride is nice and flat. I was feeling good about the swim and my legs felt strong for the bike, I just knew I had to keep some in reserve for the run at the end. I'd broken the bike course into thirds and knew if I could hit my targets on the hour, I'd stick to the race plan.

Over the first five miles, thanks to my aero bars, I averaged over 23 mph, giving me some ground to lose on the rollers of Westside Road. We turned off River Rd and began the initial climb onto Westside and about a mile and a half into the twisty rollers, that's when it happened: just seconds ahead of me, an oak tree fell across the road, pinning two triathletes underneath it.

You can read my separate post on being one of the first on the scene of the tree fall, but for this race report, suffice to say I spent about 5 minutes at the crash scene before things look like they'd stabilized and I was relieved by a fellow triathlete so I could push on.

I proceeded to mount up and pedaled quickly away, realizing that if I'd only been a few seconds faster on the swim or in T1 or hadn't sat up to take in some liquid in the first 5 miles, that could've been me under the tree. Of course, thinking like that will quickly make you crazy, so I continued to push on. At about mile 9, I came across the first spectators since the crash scene and I stopped to tell them there was a tree across the road pinning two cyclists at milepost 1.5 of Westside and please call 911. Whether or not they did, I'm not sure, but by the time I got to mile 17, a CHP car was flying the other direction with it's lights flashing. The calvary was on its way.

Adrenaline must've been on my side after the crash, because I made my target of 19 miles in the first hour of riding, and then I made it to the 38-mile mark in 1:45. The steep climb on Chalk Hill Road at the 45-mile mark, which seemed so big back in April when I recon'd the route, was relatively easy and from there it was a quick downhill to T2. Even though I'd forgotten my gels in the hotel room (DUH!) and only managed to choke down half a Clif bar on the ride to supplement my energy drinks, I was feeling pretty good.

After all, I'd finished the ride in 2:54:53, still on track for my race plan!

The Run
Ugh, the run. My legs felt wobbly coming off the bike into transition, and when I got to my transition spot, I could already feel the heat was going to suck. How I managed to piddle away 5:48 in T2 is a mystery, but poof! there went some of my cushion for a six-hour finish.

I pushed out onto the run course and the first two miles seemed to go pretty well. I was averaging 8:30 pace, but I knew it was unsustainable given the heat and how my reserves felt.

I slowed to a walk on the first big uphill and resolved to run wherever the road was flat or downhill. If I could just manage a 10-minute mile over the course, I could make my goal!

But I could feel my legs start to tighten, and I spent more time walking than running as I tried to coax as much out of my quads and calves as I could without seizing them up.

A highlight for me was seeing my friend Dan at the aid station at mile 4 (and mile 9). He's done several Ironmans and was/is an inspiration to me as I've started doing triathlons. He checked in with me as he handed me Gatorade and water, walked with me through the aid station and told me to pace myself (unlike the yahoos on the side of the road screaming "push it!").

Another highlight was seeing all the other SVTC club members out on the course and giving/getting encouragement and high-fives as we passed each other. I'm so glad I got the SVTC tri top to wear in competition to stand out from all the other age-groupers sloughing along.

The turnaround loop at La Crema winery was beautiful what with the ponds and vines, if only there'd been some shade out there! And the run back was more of a fast-walk/slow-jog. More encouragement from Dan at mile 9. A fellow SVTCer passed me at mile 9.5 with a "less than 4 miles to go, let's run it in!"

I was melting on the run, yet thankful my day had started at 6:38 so I could avoid the heat that the last waves would be enduring two hours later (at my pace). I pushed myself as hard as I could, knowing my two race buddies, Neil and Thom, were behind me, trying to catch me.

By mile 10, I knew I wouldn't make my six hour goal. I was averaging 11 minutes per mile in my combined run/walk approach. My quads and calves and hamstrings were thisclose to seizing up on me. I was gulping down water and gaterade and cola and gels at each station to try and fuel me to the finish.

I managed to run the last mile in, cheered on by the crowds and their cowbells. And when I made it to the finish chute, I knew there was nothing to stop me from making it to the end of my first Ironman 70.3

The Finish
When I heard the announcer say my name halfway down the chute, I couldn't help but crack a huge smile at the achievement. I crossed the line, arms outstretched, sweating to beat the band with just shy of 6:21 showing on the race clock.

I'd strung together a 2:26 run to finish my first half ironman in a time of 6:12:58

I've already started going through the if-onlys in analyzing this race, and to me that's a sign I'll be doing more of them. (maybe even a full Ironman?)

But for now I'm trying to simply savor the accomplishment. I've got the mettle to do it, and the medal to prove it.

Final Vineman 70.3 Stats

Swim + T1= 46:06
Bike = 2:54:53
T2 = 5:48
Run = 2:26:09
Total = 6:12:58

Rankings:
Overall 1040 of 2286
Men 779 of 1517
Age Group (40-44) 158 of 320

Follow me @TriTweetGroup

2009-05-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

Not much blogging going on recently, I know. I've been spending my triathlon-related efforts on training for my marquee races (Wildflower done, Escape from Alcatraz next and peaking for Vineman 70.3).

But I've also been spending my time tweeting updates, links to advice and resources and sharing inspirational bits 140 characters at a time as @TriTweetGroup.

It started out as a way to experiment with the group feature of a new Twitter client called ginx, but it's grown into something bigger for me.

In just three short months, I've picked up over 700 followers to @TriTweetGroup, and it's great to see all these triathletes and other endurance athletes sharing their own race achievements and training goals and heartaches and high-fives.

If you'd like to try out the ginx Twitter client and join the @TriTweetGroup, simply use invitation code "C4A8E2311563" (without the quotes) at http://ginx.com

fixing leaks: venous closure and phlebectomy post-op report

2009-03-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

My surgery to close and remove the defective veins in my left calf went well yesterday (as well as could be expected). Interesting to note that if not for my tri training, I'd have gotten DQ'd prior to surgery as my pulse was a measly 43 bpm at check-in. As it was, the anesthetist attributed my slow heart rate to my being in great shape and gave the thumbs up.

The pretty picture to the right shows some of the nicks in my leg. The purple lines are pre-op markers of the veins to remove; the yellow is the iodine cleaner they neglected to cleanup afterward (don't know how I'm going to get it off).

Surgery prep involved shaving my left leg from mid-thigh down (what a luxury!). I couldn't persuade the nurse to shave the other leg while she was at it, so I'll either look like a half-shaved beast during recovery or I'll bite the bullet and clear the field of hair from my right leg, too.

The anesthetist did a great job of things, and shortly after I was wheeled into the operating room I was out before I knew it. I woke up two hours later to find that surgery had taken a bit longer than expected... they had to shave the inside of my thigh all the way up to my waist (yep, there too, just the left side) to get at the top of the vein that runs from your groin to your toe. The doc made 26 incisions, each about half a centimeter long, all over my thigh and calf to strip out the now-useless pieces of vein and leg wrapped tight to staunch the bleeding. Bonus to the small size of incision: no stitches!

Tylenol kept the pain at bay yesterday. No sharp pains involved, it just felt like someone used my calf as a punching bag. I took Tylenol when I woke up this morning but haven't taken any since, as I figure I'm past the worst of it.

I just took off the bandages (thus the picture above) for my first survey of the damage: lots of cuts and bruising, but all in all, I am on the mend. The picture to the left shows my leg pre-op with all its pretty popped-out failed veins (it's not just because I'm flexing).

I have to stay off my feet and keep my leg elevated until I go in for the followup ultrasound Monday morning. The standard instructions say no strenuous activity for two weeks (huh?!) which conflicts with the doc's earlier indication that I'd only be out a week.

I really hope I can get back to swimming/biking/running soon. Our practice weekend for Wildflower is April 4-5 and I'd like to get some significant hours of training in before then.

The trick to the next few days is to keep cabin fever away. Wish me luck!

Race Report: Woodside King's Mountain Half Marathon

2009-03-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, the skies cleared up long enough here in the Bay Area for me to run the EnviroSports Woodside Kings Mountain Half Marathon without wearing a rain jacket.

My official finish time was 2:10:16, which I'm rather pleased about. Why? Just look at the elevation profile to the right (graphic links to my motionbased entry). Yes, that's just shy of 3400 feet of elevation gain over the course of the race.

In addition to this being just my second half marathon, it was my first true trail run, so the sweat (and tears) I shed completing the race were well expended.

I have to hand it to the EnviroSports crew, too, for putting on such a fun race. There were just 183 of us running the half marathon (and another couple hundred there to do the 5-miler), and it seemed much more like an intimate jog through Huddart Park than some big organized race.

The trail was very well marked to the top of the hill and back, and given all the rain we've gotten recently, I was surprised there was but a single stretch of shoe-sucking mud on the whole course. The fact it was just a couple hundred yards shy of the turnaround didn't help much, but you take what you get, no?

Truth be told, I walked more than I wanted to on the way up the hill. But I was proud at how much I ran up that same incline. See, I'd spent the week prior doing nothing but coping my way through recovering from a cold, so the fact that I was out in the wind and cool and wet was a victory in and of itself.

The course wasn't a true half marathon in length (more like 12.6 miles) and the canopy of trees meant my GPS signal was weak throughout and throwing off bad data. But I rather enjoyed having to pay close attention to where my feet were landing and taking a few moments here and there to enjoy the nature around me. With so few people on the course, I spent much of the run down the hill with only one other person in sight. Now that's my idea of a fun run.

Next up: vascular surgery on my left calf (see prior post on my varicose veins) and a week of recovery before hopping right back on the training wagon. After all, I've got a practice Wildflower olympic tri to run in a month. Wish me (and the surgeon) luck!

I'm doing the 2009 Escape from Alcatraz!

2009-02-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

Got a wonderful email this morning:

Dear THOMAS,

Congratulations on securing an entry into the 2009 Escape from Alcatraz. If you accept the challenge On June 14, you will get to jump off a perfectly good boat into the frigid water of the San Francisco Bay, swim with 2000 of your best friends from Alcatraz to Little Marina Green. You will climb out of the water and run (with or without shoes) one half mile to the transition area, jump on your bike and ride 18 miles (most people say that it is all up hill) and then run 8 miles under the Golden Gate Bridge, through the sands of Baker Beach, up the infamous sand ladder and back to Marina Green to the finish line. What a great way to spend the day!

Whew, I didn't think I was going to make the cut this time around. Have gotten messages from a bunch of folks telling me to prepare for an epic race.

See the rest of the lottery winners on the Escape from Alcatraz lottery winner page.

I think this'll be a great warmup race on my way to the Vineman 70.3 in July!

training, not blogging

2009-01-26T23:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, where has the last month gone?

Thankfully, I've been doing a lot more training than blogging about it this year, thanks to the Silicon Valley Triathlon Club.

Over the last two weeks alone, I've been on a 45 mile bike ride (including a 1400 foot climb up Old La Honda Road), done a 12-mile run, an 11-mile run and then an Olympic-distance brick (almost) of 25 mile ride/5 mile run. And I'm feeling good about it, too.

My next event is the Woodside Kings Mountain half marathon on Feb 28 which should be a challenge considering there's 1500 feet of climbing up the hill to get to the half-way point of the race.

While a year ago I'd have denied my ability to do a half marathon on such short notice (I only signed up a ten days ago), let alone one with that much climbing, I'm already in good enough shape and running far enough on my long runs to easily complete this.

Besides, I'll be having surgery on my calf just five days later. But that's another post entirely...

should you exercise with a cold, redux

2008-12-30T11:43:00.000-08:00

Last winter, as I was training for my first triathlon, I got a cold and wondered if it was smart to exercise while sick. At first, my web research said no, so I laid off. Then I got sick again and did more research and found evidence that said yes.

Specifically, it was Joe Friel's "neck check" to help decide to train while sick or not:

If you have above-the-neck symptoms, such as a runny nose or scratchy throat, start your workout, but reduce the intensity and duration. you may begin to feel better once you're warmend up, but if not, stop. If the symptoms are below the neck -- such as a sore throat, chest cold, chills, coughing up matter, achy muscles, or a fever -- don't even start. These are often the symptoms of a virus. Exercising will make it worse.

Now, Gina Kolata writes in the the NYTimes Personal Best section that studies have shown that exercise actually helps you down the road to recovery. Based on the results, this winter I'll keep pushing through when feeling ill (within reason).

Back to the proof: the decade-old studies asked two questions, 1) does a cold affect your ability to exercise, and 2) Does exercising when you have a cold affect your symptoms and recovery time?

Regarding one's ability to exercise:

At the start of the study, the investigators tested all of the subjects, assessing their lung functions and exercise capacity. Then a cold virus was dropped into the noses of 45 of the subjects, and all caught head colds. Two days later, when their cold symptoms were at their worst, the subjects exercised by running on treadmills at moderate and intense levels. The researchers reported that having a cold had no effect on either lung function or exercise capacity.
“I was surprised their lung function wasn’t impaired,” Dr. Kaminsky said. “I was surprised their overall exercise performance wasn’t impaired, even though they were reporting feeling fatigued.”

And in response to how exercise affects recovery time:

The investigators found no difference in symptoms between the group that exercised and the one that rested. And there was no difference in the time it took to recover from the colds. But when the exercisers assessed their symptoms, Dr. Kaminsky said, “people said they felt O.K. and, in some cases, they actually felt better.”

So, if you feel a cold coming on, do the neck check and keep going if it's all in your head. As Kolata points out at the end of her article, "too often taking time off because of a cold is the start of falling away from the program entirely."

vascular surgeon says remove varicose veins

2008-12-20T07:09:00.000-08:00

Last July, I went to my primary care physician to ask about the varicose veins that are popping out all over my left calf (seen clearly in this picture to the right). I was concerned they might be affecting my training and leading to the calf cramping earlier than it should (or worse: creating a clot that would break free and do some damage).

My insurance company wouldn't pay for a vascular surgeon back then, but since they've gotten worse, I finally got the referral to Dr. Singh yesterday to have a look-see.

As suspected, he said I have a text-book case of superficial varicose veins where the valves are just continuing to fail further and further down the vein network away from the original injury (behind my knee).

His concern is that during races and hard training, the combination of dehydration and the field of failed valves will be a breeding ground for blood clots, so the best course of action is to remove them.

The best news? It's an out-patient procedure that takes about an hour. Up until the surgery, I can train as normal and within a week of the procedure, I'll be able to be back training at normal intensity.

Details of the procedure to come in a future post (tales of phlebectomy and vein stripping and cauterization, oh my). Next stop: the ultrasound to identify the location of the "last good valve" is on January 9.

Personal goals for 2009

2008-12-14T01:30:00.000-08:00

This is what I'll accomplish by the end of the 2009 season:

1. Finish my first Ironman 70.3 (Vineman 70.3)
2. Finish my first marathon in under four hours (Silicon Valley Marathon)
3. Improve my 10K PR to <47 minutes (is now at 51:53) (various)

Now to put together the training program to make it happen.

Stay tuned!

prepping for 2009 race season

2008-12-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

Although I haven't been blogging it, I've been busy getting ready for the 2009 race season over the last few weeks.

Since my last race, I've accomplished the following:

participated in the weekly Silicon Valley Triathlon Club track workouts at De Anza College (Tuesday nights at 6:30 if you'd like to try one) to work on my running speed
Joined the USA Triathlon club. I figure I'll make the money back on race entry savings... am already half way there because I...
Signed up for two "highlight" triathlons: 2009 Vineman 70.3 and 2009 Wildflower Olympic
Worked with my good friend Thom and Neil to come up with a comprehensive list of over 40 potential running races/triathlons/centuries/swims to do in 2009 (we won't do all, just the ones that make sense)
Finally got a referral to a vascular surgeon to get the varicose veins in my left calf examined. I found as the season went on, my left calf was the first to cramp and I'm hoping we can do something about it that won't sideline me too long. Appointment is Dec 19. Keep your fingers crossed for me
Got my Felt Z35 professionally fitted to me (wow!) AND gotten a serious bug to get a mountain bike so I can take advantage of all the non-paved roads around here for cross-training

Lots more to do. I'm taking it easy with just a couple workouts a week through Christmas and then I'll ratchet things back up again to hit my goals for 2009 (coming in my next post).

The best thing? I'm still having fun with all this, and I really like being in shape like I am.

Screaming deal on Garmin Forerunner 305 thru 12/15

2008-12-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

My lovely wife got me a Garmin Forerunner 305 as an early Father's Day present this year, and it is, hands down, my favorite gadget, and it really helped me to measure my progress over the year as I put in the miles and picked up speed.

Likes:

Customizable display
Alarms (distance/pace/HR)
Great tracking through multiple satellites
Quick-release system (sold separately) to use in running/biking bricks or races
Motionbased.com interface for online tracking and sharing of workouts (see my free motionbased account)

Dislikes

Form factor: it's a little bulky, but you get used to it
It's not waterproof so you can't wear it during the swim (doh!)
The mac interface isn't so grand, but this should affect you PC owners

Costco's got a deal on them for just $159.99 through December 15. (Back when I got mine, they were retailing for $250).

If you've been holding out on getting one, I highly recommend you get off the fence and go buy your Garmin Forerunner 305 now.

BTW, I have nothing to gain from this promotion other than to know others are enjoying the same cool technology I am.

2008 Silicon Valley Turkey Trot race report

2008-11-30T23:38:00.000-08:00

This past Thursday, it took me 51:55 to finish the 2008 Silicon Valley Turkey Trot in downtown San Jose. (see full race results)

This year's race was a good check-in for me to see how much I'd improved since last year's Turkey Trot which I finished in 1:03:48. You see, last year's race was the first race I signed up for in my quest to do a triathlon (and only my second 10K, the first one being back in 2000). A year ago, I still weighed 200 pounds, down from my high of 222, and my cardio was nowhere near how good it is now.

Flash forward to this year, and I managed to come in 495th of 2,413 runners (last year I didn't crack the top 1,000) and I was 124th in my age group. In fact, I missed posting a PR in the 10K by a measly 12 seconds (back in 2000, when I was but 31 years old, I ran the 10K in 51:42).

I was hoping (against hope?) for a sub-50 minute race, but it wasn't in the cards this year.

I think I went out too hard at the start, as I was on a 7:50 pace for the first two miles and felt good about having banked 20 seconds for the latter part of the race, even with all the traffic to weave through on the course. However, at the halfway mark, I'd slowed to an even 8:00 mile and only got slower from there to finally finish up averaging 8:16/mile (small victory: I never walked!)

I do have to say, the folks who set up the course did a LOUSY job of intermingling the 5K walkers and the 10K runners for the last 1.2 miles of the course. They had us sharing a paved trail, hoping the 5Kers would stay to the right and let us 10Kers run on the left.

Wishful thinking: I had to keep yelling out "5Kers to the RIGHT!" as they spilled over to our side and gummed up our trying to keep up our pace on the run.

But it's all for charity, and so I should be pleased I was able to shave so much time off in a single year. I know I'll never make that kind of year-over-year progress again. But that's not going to stop me from aiming for a sub-45 minute 10K next time.

I've got a year to train for it, and I know I can do it, no matter how the course is laid out.

1st track workout: Silicon Valley Tri Club

2008-11-18T23:10:00.001-08:00

At last I was able to get a Tuesday free of work and family obligations to be able to take part in one of the regular Tuesday night track workouts put on by Coach Sherry for the Silicon Valley Triathlon Club (SVTC).

Since the workout is way down at De Anza College and begins at 6:30pm (you're supposed to warm up on your own beforehand), it's not the most convenient workout session to attend for me as I have to drive 20 miles in rush hour traffic to get there.

Despite all that, I made it tonight and given how much fun it was, I'll be sure to make it back again.

The workout itself was posted ahead of time to the SVTC mailing list (as they all are). I was a little nervous to attend because this was my first ever group track workout. Would I be fast enough? Would I stand out in my basic ignorance of all the lingo? (ABCs and IT bands and VDOTs, oh my).

I needn't have worried. I've got a strong enough base fitness that I was able to keep up fine and even enjoyed myself more than I thought I was going to. There were about 30 of us in all, and we split into two groups: the fast folks (not me) and the rest (including me).

Our workout (all running counter-clockwise around the track):

1 x 1600 @ T pace
Rest interval is core circuit #1
1 x 1200 @ T pace
Rest interval is core circuit #2
1 x 800 @ T pace
Rest interval is core circuit #3
1 x 400 @ T pace
Rest interval is core circuit #4
1 x 200 @ T pace
Rest interval is core circuit #5

Slow recovery x 800 (clockwise, to unwind) and stretch to end.

For me, T pace = 7:40 per mile and the core circuits were all variations on a set of situps/crunches, a set of lunges/squats and a set of planks/pushups.

The hour went by really quickly, and unlike when I run around the neighborhood on my own, I got a chance to work on speed AND get a core workout, too.

Even if I can't make the trip down to De Anza College on future Tuesdays, I'll be running the workouts down the street at Sequoia High School. I have a feeling this is how I'm going to bump up my speed on race days.

San Francisco Triathlon (olympic) race report

2008-11-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

I concluded my 2008 race season by competing in the Olympic distance 2008 San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island today.

In all, given the fact that for the last month I've been sick with the cold and flu more than I've been healthy, I'm rather pleased at my 3:11:50 finish time (the picture shows the overall time... I started 30 minutes after the first wave)

My splits (as seen on the full SFTri results list):

1.5km swim: 37:43
T1: 4:20
40km bike: 1:23:41
T2: 3:24
10km run: 1:02:41 (yes, I walked stretches of it)

And this meant I placed 265 out of 333 men who raced today and 60/71 in my age group M35-39. Definitely not the fastest in the bunch (the winning time was 2:04:49), but I was racing to finish this thing, my longest race yet, not to place.

THE SETUP
The skies were overcast this morning, with a fog hanging over the city of San Francisco, but not covering Treasure Island itself. Temperatures were cool (mid 50s?), ideal for spending multiple hours on the course. The sun was trying to peak through the clouds, but without much success.

Thom and I had picked up our race packets the night before, so we were able to go directly to the Transition area to rack our bikes, set up our gear and get marked with our race numbers. The transition area was plenty big enough, and the racks actually were marked with our race numbers, so there wasn't any jockeying to be had for the spots closest to bike in/out (thankfully).

As an aside, I couldn't believe how nervous/anxious/tight I felt before the start of the race today. While I thought I was pretty calm, my stomach was doing flip-flops and I felt tight all over. Very unlike me to get so worked up over a race like that, but then again, this was my first season racing and my longest one yet. I swallowed the butterflies and pressed on.

THE SWIM LEG
Then it was down to the waterfront to start the swim. Two waves went off before us, so we were able to see how they swam the triangle course (two laps) and listen to the announcer chide the swimmers for swimming outside the midway markers in addition to the corner markers (you just have to stay outside the corners).

The swim start is a "bobbing" start which means instead of leaping from a platform or running into the water, you just swim out to the designated buoy line and float there until the horn sounds marking the start of your wave. Having learned my lesson from prior triathlons, I made sure I started from the far edge of the wave so there was a minimum of swimming on top of others or getting clobbered by others. The water temperature was a chilly 58 degrees, but with my wet suit and neoprene cap I was actually quite warm and with my open water swim practices at SF Aquatic Park (closer to the Golden Gate) in colder water this felt quite nice.

With only 71 guys in our wave and 1.5km to swim, it actually felt like I was swimming alone for all but a few pinch points rounding the markers. Once I was making my way past the final marker and heading for the steps out to transition, I got a shot of adrenaline with the knowledge my most feared part of the triathlon was almost over!

Once I made the stairs it was time to try to engage my legs again, which was no easy feat. All I can say is thank goodness there were plenty of volunteers on the stairs to help us swimmers out of the water. If not for them, I'd have tumbled backwards into the water as I lost my footing on the second step. But, they pushed me in the right direction and before you knew it, I was trotting through the transition area to my spot to get ready for the bike.

THE BIKE LEG
It didn't seem like I spent that much time in transition (but it was 4+ minutes), and then I was running my bike to the mount line before saddling up to set out on the first of six laps around the island. Talking with one of the elite racers the night before, I'd gotten the advice to keep track of laps by tearing off six bits of Power Bar (you know how sticky they are) and affixing them to your handlebars. Then, as you complete a lap, you peel off one of the Power Bar bits and eat it and know how many laps are left.

On each lap, there were 26 corners to navigate (21 of them 90 degree turns and one 180 degree turnaround) which made for quite a technical course. All but a quarter mile of the course was flat, but there was a nasty bit of a hill leading to the turnaround and it seemed to get steeper with each lap completed. Throw in the fact that the condition of the pavement itself wasn't too grand and some of the corners were surprisingly dirty with rocks and sand and you had quite the recipe for a challenging course.

My pace was significantly slower than prior races where I'd easily stayed above 20mph. This time around, I averaged slightly less than 18mph, and I attribute that to the fact I took the corners cautiously given the conditions and didn't do a good job of accelerating out of the corners anyway.

I was more than happy to climb the hill for the last time and then bomb on down to the entrance to the transition area to start the run.

THE RUN LEG
My T2 was a minute faster than T1 and aside from having some troubles transferring my Garmin from the bike to my wrist, it was rather smooth.

I hit the pavement knowing I had three laps of out-and-back flat running along the eastern shore of Treasure Island. Thanks to my training for the half marathon, I actually felt a lot better running than I thought I was going to after the previous two legs of the race.

The first lap went pretty quickly although I could feel my energy plummet as I worked through the second mile. When it came time to do the turnaround closest to the finish, I got confused and almost turned to early. If not for the helpful cry of a spectator saying NO!NO!NO!NO! I'd have failed to know to keep running through the gates by the finish line so as to cross the mat at the turnaround. When I emerged from the gates I gave her a running ovation as thanks for the help.

As I neared mile three, I could feel my calves start to tighten up, so I slowed to a fast walk for a bit and tried to zen my way back to relaxation. I took on quite a bit of endurance drink to try to help the situation. It helped marginally but for the first time ever in a race, I worried that I might cramp up so bad that I couldn't finish.

Nevertheless, I pressed on in my running with a few walking spells and made it to mile five before my quads joined the about-to-cramp party. At that point, the finish wasn't too far away, so I picked a hare in front of me and closed the gap to beat him by six seconds at the line.

THE FINISH
I can't recall having been so happy to finish a race as I was today. Yes, the half marathon was an accomplishment, but that was only two hours out on the circuit. I'd just put in three-plus hours at race pace and I could feel it. I had no blisters or anything like that, it was just my leg muscles were so spent and my body was tired.

The apres-finish setup was good with lots of yummy food, plenty of water and Joint Juice and, the best part: free 10-minute massages! While I was on the massage table getting my legs worked over, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

The Tri-California folks put on a great event, well administered and staffed with plenty of volunteers. My only complaint was about the condition of the pavement on the bike ride, but I think that's a bit beyond their realm of responsibility.

LESSONS LEARNED:

Accelerate out of the corners on the bike
Feed/hydrate consistently throughout the bike and run legs
Relax and enjoy the entire experience

And with that, my first triathlon season comes to an end.

If you'd asked me a year ago whether I'd be doing a triathlon in SF Bay in November, let alone an olympic distrance tri, I'd have denied I'd be crazy enough to do such a thing.

I'm glad I was crazy enough to do it. It was a ton of fun and feels like a real milestone in my getting in shape via extreme sports.

Another open water swim in SF Bay

2008-10-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

This morning I took my brand new BlueSeventy Synergie wetsuit out on its maiden swim in the San Francisco Bay up at Aquatic Park by Fisherman's Wharf.

Even though I am battling a cold, I had to get in the water with the San Francisco International Triathlon at Treasure Island just three weeks away.

My friend Thom and I drove up to the city at 7am, and you could see the marine layer was pretty thick at that hour. No sunny swim for us. When we arrived at Aquatic Park and met up with our third swimmer, Warren, the air temperature was only about 56 degrees F which made changing into our wetsuits on the stairs quite a chilly procedure.

Swimming a loop around the buoy line at Aquatic Park covers .35 miles. The swim distance for the upcoming tri is 1.5km (.96 miles), or just shy of three laps around the buoy line. With the water in the Bay is all of 62 degrees, and my feeling out of sorts anyway, I set out from shore with designs on doing one and a half laps. I just wanted to get accustomed to swimming in my new wetsuit and being out in the chilly water and try to gain a little confidence in my open water swim abilities.

It took about 400 meters for my face to finally numb up enough that it no longer hurt having it in the water. And wouldn't you know that I was actually enjoying myself by that point, too!

Without the walls of the pool to necessitate turns, I was able to really focus on my form. Believe it or not, I found I actually could relax as I swam along, watching my arms pul through the water below me and feeling the crown of my head pierce the water line as I moved along.

Before long, I was finishing up my second lap of the buoys and decided I'd go the full 1.5km before climbing out.

I don't know if it was the new wetsuit or the refined technique or just the pure enjoyment of being in the water looking up at Russian Hill early on a Saturday, but I really had fun out there today. And when I climbed up onto the beach, I still had gas in the tank and know I could've gone for a run or a bike ride if I'd had my equipment with me.

Moreover, I've got all kinds of confidence in my swimming abilities now. Considering it's my weakest leg of the three triathlon disciplines, that's a major accomplishment for me.

I can't wait to finish the racing season out on Treasure Island in three weeks.

Split times for my half marathon

2008-10-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

At last, the split times have been posted for the San Jose Rock n Roll Half Marathon. Considering they are all PRs for me, I'm glad to be able to claim them again:

5km: 26:16 (8:28 pace)
10km: 52:23 (8:26 pace)
10mi: 1:26:29 (8:39 pace)
finish: 1:55:49 (8:51 pace)

A little weird to see I picked up the pace in the second 5km. Not surprising to see I blew up in the last 3 miles. I could definitely feel it in the race.

Looking forward to seeing all these PRs fall in the next year!

San Jose Rock n Roll half marathon race report

2008-10-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful day for a half marathon: clear skies, 60 degrees at the gun and no breeze at all in San Jose, CA. By 10am, I'd completed my longest run ever, beaten my goal of two hours by a comfortable margin and had my first ever medal around my neck for finishing a race.

I woke up before my alarm, was out of bed and dressed by 6am in time to gulp down a chocolate Ensure, a banana and half a PowerBar. Since my last few races have all been triathlons, it was nice to only have to walk out the door with my shoes, shorts and shirt and not a big bag of stuff for all the transitions.

I left the house in plenty of time to make it down to park in the HP Pavilion parking lot and walk over to the very crowded starting area in downtown. It was only 53 degrees (F) when I shut off the car, and I almost wished I'd worn my long sleeve shirt. By the end of the race, though, I was plenty glad I'd gone with short sleeves, as I was warm by the time I'd gone 10 miles.

The Elite Racing folks put on a well-organized race, and it was nice to see 10,000 runners out and about early on a Sunday morning in Silicon Valley. The bands every mile or so were a nice touch, but you could only hear a snippet of 40 seconds or so of any given band, so next time around I think I'll be wearing my iPod to help with my pacing.

When I registered for the race, I guessed I'd be able to finish the race in 2:05, and for that I was assigned bib #6089 (corral #6). When I picked up my race packet, though, I knew I'd be faster so I moved up in the pack to corral #4. I'm glad I did so, as there were fewer folks to pass as the race went on. Thanks to the disposable RFID chips we'd each been issued with our bibs, our timing was tracked in real time (and not gun time) from start to the 5K, 10K, 10-mile and finish lines.

After checking my gear bag with 20 minutes to the starting gun, we crowded into our corrals. It was nice to have all the bodies packed around if for no other reason than the warmth of the group. With 2 minutes to go, the gun went off to release the wheel chair racers and When the air horn went off, we began walking towards the start line, and I finally crossed the start line a good 90 seconds after the horn went off and got up to a decent pace by about half a mile into the race.

While I've been getting some good training runs in, I didn't expect to fall into the pack with a sub-eight pace quite so quickly. I was aiming for sub-nine to hit my 2 hour mark, and sub-eight was aggressive, so I had to force myself to slow down a bit for fear of sputtering later on in the race.

As we passed the two-mile mark, I realized I needed to pee. Cripes. Not a gotta-go-now-alarm, but a gotta-go-soon feeling.

Since there were plenty of porta-potties along the route, it wasn't for lack of opportunity to go, but how much time it'd take to go. I figured if I could hold on until the 10K mark, the crowd would be thinned a bit and it wouldn't be too hard to work my way back up. For every minute I spent off course, I was giving up five seconds per mile pace. I decided not to risk it and just keep running.

I crossed the 10K mark in PB time (52:27) and probably should've taken that as a sign I was running too fast. By the time I got to the 10 mile mark at ~1:26, I was well within a sub-two-hour pace and unless I blew up with three miles to go, I was going to make my goal.

Miles 10, 11 and 12 were tough for me, and I wound up walking at the water/Cytomax tables, and my pace slowed to around 9:30+ over the last 3km.

However, I got my adrenaline kick in the last half mile and picked things back up. With just 100m to go, the relief and happiness washed over me. I heard my wife and kids call out to me and new that they were just as happy as I was.

After finishing the race, I rushed through the refueling station in search of a restroom and you could hear my sigh of relief from a mile away.

My first half marathon's in the bag. Next time I'll be sure to empty the bladder before stepping into the corral.

I can't believe I'm going to be doing another half marathon after swimming 1.2 miles and riding another 56 on the bike.

Live Results from San Jose Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon

2008-10-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

My good friend Matt points out this cool tool where you can follow any race participant's progress in real time:

http://www.liveraceresults.com/LiveElite/Default.aspx

My bib number is 6089

My first half marathon: how I've trained

2008-10-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

By this time tomorrow morning, just twenty four hours from now, I'll be walking around the finish area of the San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon as a newly minted half marathoner.

I'm excited to run, and only a little bit nervous about it, if only because I think I've done a good job training for the race by following my six-week plan to about 90% compliance.

I learned over the summer that unless I actually write down on my calendar the exact training session for the day, I'll get lazy and decide not to decide what to do (run? bike? swim? both? all?) and the day will get away from me.

Prior to signing up for the half marathon, the farthest I'd ever run in one go was 7.1 miles. Knowing that my goal for 2009 is to complete a half Ironman (or as the marketers now call it: an Ironman 70.3), I decided to end my 2008 season with a half marathon just to prove to myself I could do the distance. I signed up seven weeks in advance, so that gave me time to plot out my schedule to slowly increase my weekly long runs from 7 miles up to the 12 mile run I completed last Sunday in advance of tomorrow's 13.1 race.

My training routine has been to run four days a week:

Tuesday: 4- or 5- mile intervals
Thursday: 3-mile intervals
Saturday: 4-mile pace runs
Sundays: long run, adding one mile to distance each week

My results are that by taking it easy in the training, I stayed relatively injury free. I'm now capable of running my half marathon below the 2:00 mark I'd dreamed of when I started (and I think I might get to 1:50 if all goes well).

As I've built up my base level of fitness (a year ago, I couldn't even do a 10k without having to walk chunks of it), I've now been able to start concentrating on technique, and that's really helped me keep from getting bored out on the road.

And I've learned the power of ice baths to keep the pain down on the day after my long runs, too. Last weekend's 12-miler was a great reminder that I have to make sure to fuel up on Saturday (I ran slow because I hadn't eaten enough day before) and ice down on Sunday (I was sore Monday morning).

So, today I'm taking it easy, watching what I eat and that I eat enough, and already looking ahead to my final event of the season: the olympic-distance SF Triathlon at Treasure Island on November 8.

Come Tuesday, it'll be time to get back in the pool and replace long Sunday runs with open water swims in the Bay.

Registered for the SF Triathlon at Treasure Island

2008-09-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, that does it. I'm officially registered to end my racing season on November 8 by doing an Olympic distance tri (1.5km/40km/10km) on Treasure Island. (See the race details here)

Hard to believe it's just over six weeks away. My first half-marathon is just 10 days away, so then I'll have to turn my training focus back to swimming (and biking) and get a wet suit for the race.

I'm nervous about the swim, yet confident I can finish race. It's just a matter of how long it'll take me to do so.

Anyone else going to be there?

finish season with an olympic distance tri?

2008-09-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling good about my training for the Rock n Roll San Jose Half Marathon next month, but I have to admit the run-run-run training schedule is rather monotonous compared to the multi-disciplinary approach to triathlons. On top of that, I can sense a certain degree of complacency already (overconfidence?) about my being able to finish the distance, so I'm finding my motivation is lagging these days.

I feel like I need a bigger challenge that's closer in than next year's Vineman Ironman 70.3, so I'm seriously considering signing up for the San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island which takes place on November 8.

It's an olympic distance tri (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10k run), so it would be my longest race ever, unless I completely blow up on the half marathon.

I've done all the sport distances in isolation many times, so it'd be a matter of stringing it all together in one long event. Yes, I'd be racing to finish, not to place.

And it seems a more fitting end to this first season of fitness to end with a triathlon instead of a half marathon.

I think I've just talked myself into it... now to double-check I've got the training time before plunking down the $150 reg fee. Will post later to let you know I've done it.