5.31.31 Race Wheels and Workouts

I didn't have a chance to post yesterday.  Work is crazy right now combined with trying to get my workouts in.  Yesterday, I ran six miles at a fairly slow pace, half marathon and marthon paced miles.  At this point, I consider half marathon around nine minutes and marathon ten minute miles.  It is hard to force myself into a slower pace on a short run although I know it is the right thing to do.  Jeff wants me to work on training my body to be more efficient in a fat burning mode.  Same thing will occur on Sunday when I am going to be asked to keep my HR in a fat burning zone.  I was able to get home from work in time to get to Bicycles Plus with about 10 minutes before close.  JT saw me pull up in my truck and was ready to get the wheels put on my bike when I walked in the door.  About 3 guys descended on my bike and I walked out the door with a couple of minutes to spare.  I really didn't want them to have to work after close and felt bad about getting there a little late.  I will definitely ride them on Saturday morning and maybe a little this evening.  I had to get to work early today so I headed to the pool a little before 6am.  My workout was 2650 yards, which is slightly longer than the usual workouts for the past few months.  I did not have any issues with the length.  The fatigue is starting to wear off a little bit from the past few weeks so I feel better about that.  I have an optional ride tonight.  I am a little excited about spending some time on the Zipps, so I may go ahead and do an easy ride.  I am doing hills with Jeff tomorrow morning in south Dallas.  It will be interesting to see how the bike performs with the new wheels.  I am considering a new cassette.  I think my Cannondale came with a 12-25 and I am thinking about going with a 11-28.  I get a better fast gear and better gear for climbing on the other end.  Around here, I really never get out of the 3-4 lowest gears but it would be nice to have a better climbing range for Lubbock or the few hills we have around here.  They moved my current cassette over to the new wheels so it may not be apples to apples if I buy the new wheels.  Decisions, decisions...

5.29.13 Thunderstorms

I was able to get my swim in this morning but thunderstorms hit this afternoon and I couldn't get my bike ride in.  Swim was somewhat better than Monday and I felt my strength coming back a little bit.  The next two swims are much longer on Friday and next Monday.  I am thinking about buying race wheels and JT at Bicycles Plus has some Zipp 404s I can use for the weekend for test run.  I will have to see how that goes.

5.28.13 Birthday Track Run

Today was my birthday and I did not feel great this morning.  I don't know if it was something I ate last night but my stomach was a little queasy this morning.  My legs were still feeling the effects from Saturday and Sunday.  I have shorter, lower intensity workouts this week.  Good thing, because I was not feeling it at all for the past two days.  This morning I did a warm up mile, 4x (400 at 5k pace followed by a 400 recovery), cool down mile.  My fast 400s were not great.  They were in the 1:54-1:57 range which equates to a little over mid 7 minute per mile pace.  They were a struggle to maintain.  Probably the hardest 4 mile track workout I have had in quite some time.  I saw Jeff at the track.  I was able to spend a few minutes with him before starting my workout.  Always good to bounce things off of Jeff.  I ate some sour cream chicken enchiladas at Blue Goose tonight and ate some cake.  Work may create some problems for my workouts in the morning.  I'll have to see.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/319334235

5.27.13 Swim

I was able to wake up late today due to the holiday.  The CARC opened later than usual today.  My legs were really tired and sore this morning.  I probably pushed it a little too hard yesterday.  The Monday swim is good for working out soreness but today I don't think anything was going to work.  I fought through the swim.  My body was really tired after a tough weekend.  Jeff sent an easier workout schedule this week so my body can hopefully get a little recovery time.  I hope the track workout in the morning goes ok.

5.26.13 Half Marathon PR

We had rain again last night.  I'm not sure how much but the streets were wet when I woke up this morning.  It was really humid outside (90%) and around 73 degrees.  My plan called for 110 minutes.  I wanted to do the usual trail run out at Northshore this morning but DORBA said the trail was closed.  I decided to do something a little different this morning.  The concrete Campion Trail out of Valley Ranch is smooth and is scenic through the woods along the the Trinity river.  It is fairly flat and I started out doing some easy mid nine minute miles with the intention of going 55 minutes and then turn around.  I saw Joe's neighbor Fred at the 4.5 mile mark.  He trail runs with us sometimes on Sunday.  You never know who you will run into out there.  I stopped for a few minutes to talk to Fred and then took off.  I started feeling stronger as time went by.  Around the 5-6 mile mark, I realized my time was going to be right at a 2 hour half marathon.  I either had to turn around at 55 minutes or go to the 6.55 mark and turn around.  I decided for the latter.  If I couldn't make the time, I could just stop at the 1:50:00 mark and walk it back to the truck.  At the turnaround, I tried to find a good sustainable pace that was less than nine minutes per mile.  I was a shade over an hour at the turnaround and only had to make up about 30 seconds on the return.  At about 9-10 miles, I didn't think I could keep the pace.  I saw Fred coming the other way on his return and it made me feel a little better knowing I didn't have far to go.  Seeing a friendly face was a big motivational lift.  As I started looking at my watch and counting down the miles.  I passed under the 635 bridge and was really close on time.  I passed under the Valley View bridge and was a little ahead.  Once I got to about 2 miles to go, I thought it was possible but I was fading and having a hard time hanging on to the pace.  I got to the levee and had to get over it before finishing.  The end was in sight and I was close.  Once I got over the levee, I could see my truck in the parking lot and kept the pace to the truck.  When my watch hit 13.1 miles, I was at 1:57:46.  It has been sort of an under the table secret goal to bust a 2 hour half marathon.  I took the Skratch Labs drink mix with me today.  I have to say it worked great in warm, humid conditions.  There may be something to that stuff.  Never cramped at all.  I'm pretty stoked about today's run.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/318389860

5.25.13 Long Bike Ride

I texted my neighbor Justin last night and asked if he was thinking about riding today.  He planned to ride with Joel this morning at 5:15am.  The weather was a little crazy last night and there looked to be a hole in the storms this morning so I jumped on.  My plan had me going 4-5 hours today.  Joel is really in good shape for Coeur D'Alene and he was going at least 100 miles today.  I did not intend on going 100 but somewhere in the 70-80 range would work.  We rode over the dam at Lake Grapevine and through Irving back to Coppell.  Justin had to go but Joel moved on and then I decided to go to the whitehouse and back to add another two and a half hours.  It took us about two hours on the first loop so I would be right on track at four and a half.  I have been training around three hours so I felt pretty good up to that time.  The last 90 minutes were a bit of a struggle.  The bottoms of my feet hurt from pushing the pedals and I was tired.  I drank two bottles of Skratch Labs formula and I think that stuff really works.  I had a bottle of Accelerade as well and reloaded it with water.  It was really humid today and there were no cramping problems at all.  I remember getting to 66 miles and thinking how hard 112 must be for a full ironman race.  I guess with proper training, it wouldn't be that bad but it isn't what I have been training for this year.  In the end, I covered 76 miles in four and a half hours.  I think 76 miles is the longest ride I have ever had.  I need a nap but I feel pretty good.  My trail running brothers, Joe and the Matrix, are in Jemez, New Mexico doing a 50 mile trail run race today.  I guess a little suffering and pushing the envelope was in order on their behalf today.  The rain held off which was great.  Getting up at 4am is not fun but it feels good to get everything out of the way early.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/317778019

50th Birthday Thoughts

......so on Tuesday, May 28, I turn 50.  My brain rattles at 100 miles per hour just thinking about it.  In Triathlon terms, I am fine with this.  I aged up and let's face it, the 40-44 and 45-49 age groups are some of the most competitive groups out there so I was happy to say goodbye to those groups.  It was all good this year while I was still 49 and racing in the 50-54 group.  It felt like cheating a little bit.  Now that the reality is upon me, I'm not so sure.  How did this happen to me?  I remember when my Dad turned 50 and we had a big party at the house.  It seemed like a milestone so far away in relation to where I was at the time, yet it seemed like yesterday now.  I don't really feel any different today mentally than I did at 20.  Sure, I am probably more mellow and have better perspective but I'm still as goofy as ever.  I can't see without my glasses now, my wife says I can't hear and there are definitely more wrinkles on my face so things are different even if I don't think so in my brain. 

My family keeps asking me what I want to do for my birthday.  I'm like a deer in the headlights.  I don't know if I want to crawl in a hole and let it pass quietly or find something to do and celebrate the moment.  I have never been very comfortable with being the center of attention since most of my formative years were spent trying not to stick out in the crowd.  Which is impossible when you look at least 3 years younger than everyone around you.  As a late bloomer in the growth department and I mean really late, there were a lot of people who dismissed, ignored, or belittled (no pun intended) me based on perception.   I had a job at Tom Thumb in high school and wanted a promotion to stock groceries.   The manager outright told me no based on my size.   He said I couldn't keep up.   I asked him what the most amount of cases he thought could be worked in one night.  I don't remember the number but I asked for one chance and I beat his number that night.  Having to prove myself to others was a pretty common theme for me and has shaped me to some degree with a most probable out of whack competitive edge.  One thing is for sure, I never conceived this day would come so quickly oh so many moons ago. 

I have had a few days in my life that could have ensured this Tuesday would have been a completely different kind of day.  I certainly barely escaped a very close encounter with the grim reaper about five years ago and that has given me a different perspective.  My near death experience changed how I feel about my mortality and maybe there will be a day when I can write about that but it won't be today.  I do know that making the most of every day is something not to be taken for granted.  Persistence and not giving up matters.  It applies universally, I promise.  Whatever is important to you, do it to the best of your ability and pursue your chosen path with passion.  Enjoy the time you have with your family and your friends because there is an expiration date.  Don't be afraid to try things outside your comfort zone.  Anything is possible when it comes to the human spirit.  I am very lucky to have my wife and kids to enjoy the ride with.  I have great parents and friends in all areas of my life that make each day special.  I am a truly blessed guy.  Going on this adventure that is endurance racing can't be done without the patience and understanding of your family.  They are the most impacted.  Thanks Patty, Meghan and Lance.  Love you all!  Maybe that's all I really need for my birthday and a kick ass cake.  Stay classy, planet earth!

5.23.13 Hill Repeats

When Jeff sent my plan before he went to Houston for Ironman Texas, I thought it was a little odd that today's workout had a specific time of 5:15am in the Guero's parking lot.  The group he trains were all meeting there this morning for the hill repeats in Valley Ranch.  I sort of took my time this morning and didn't get there until a little after 6am.  When I saw everyone coming back to the parking lot, I realized what was going on.  I'm a little upset with myself that I missed out.  Today would have been a good day to have some company.  The west side of Valley Ranch has some nice hills.  The last hill heading south on Ranchview before you get to Ranch Trail has a pretty decent grade to it.  Once I reached this point, the plan was to repeat this hill 2-4 times.  I decided to do four in my infinite wisdom.  It was really hard.  Luckily, I packed a little cooler with my Endurox and some extra water that was cold.  I am capable of a a few moments of clarity early in the morning.  It's still pretty humid outside and I think about 2 pounds disappeared when I weighed myself after the run.  I am very close to making an appearance in the 160s again.  It would be nice to get down to around 165 before Buffalo Springs.  The times for today are obviously a little slower than my normal runs but the degree of difficulty was raised a few notches today.  Despite the fact the McDonalds smelled really good in the parking lot, I did not cave to the Sausage McMuffin craving.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316907358

5.22.13 Wednesday Double

Today is the Wednesday swim/bike double.  I have really been tinkering with my swim stroke and trying to get more power.  Today I was moving pretty good.  I was turning some 1:40 hundreds today.  I wouldn't be able to sustain that pace in a triathlon but it is a step in the right direction.  I covered the 2400 yards in about 50 minutes today.  Doing some of the swim with fins probably accelerated the time to completion.  I was able to turn 1:25 hundreds with the fins.  Too bad you can't sneak them in for a race.  This evening I took the route out to Murrell Park at Lake Grapevine and back.  I can remember a few years ago that would take me almost two hours to complete.  I set another PR out to the lake today.  I made it to the turnaround in a little less than 43 minutes and slightly faster on the way back averaging 18.3mph.  This includes stop signs and lights so that is pretty damn fast for me.  I seem to be breaking through a ceiling lately when it comes to the bike.  I'm kind of excited about that.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316780450

5.21.13 Tough Track Day

I'm back in Dallas and happy about that.  I didn't start my workouts again until Monday.  I decided to stay on plan and pick up where Jeff had me on Monday.  Monday is swimming.  I had 2400 yards and I felt really good.  Maybe it was the rest, I don't know.  I read some suggestions on speed in a USA Triathlon article and it seemed to help a little.  I toyed with a short ride when I got home yesterday but the weather did not look favorable and I packed it in for the night.

Today, Jeff had a very difficult set at the track.  My morning consisted of a 1 mile warm up, 2400m at 5k pace (Zone 4 HR), 2000m at 5k pace (Zone 4 HR), 1600m (Zone 4 HR), 800m as fast as possible, and a one mile cool down.  I took a 4-6 minute recovery between intervals.  I have no way to time that so I just walked a couple hundred meters and stood for a minute or two until my heart rate dropped below 100.  I think I did ok.  I haven't recalibrated my heart rate zones.  They are too low at the present time.  The end of the 2000m and the 1600m intervals were tough.  My cool down mile was really slow but I did some strength exercises during the 100m straights and jogged the curves.  My pacing loosely calculated for the longer intervals were:

2400m - 7:24/mile pace
2000m - 7:41/mile pace
1600m - 7:56/mile pace
 800m - 7:27/mile pace

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316035795

5.18.13

I'm in Minneapolis today and planned to run the Mississippi river this morning.  Unfortunately, the weather was bad.  There were some severe storms here this morning.  My daughter isn't feeling well so I need to stay here and help her.  We moved all of her stuff out of the dorm yesterday so I got a pretty good workout in moving boxes and walking up and down stairs.  I'm not exactly sure how that translates to triathlon training but it was something.  Jeff is racing Ironman Texas today in Houston so I'm taking it easy today and checking in on his progress on-line.  We leave tomorrow afternoon so maybe I can get another crack at the river tomorrow morning.

5.16.13 Tempo Run

Yesterday was a lost day.  I had to be at work for a website launch for our company and ended up working until 5pm yesterday afternoon.  Nothing like a 17 hour shift to kill your training for the day.  This morning I was too wiped out to get up and run.  I decided the rest was more important.  We had some strong storms last night and there was a chance of more rain today.  It was warm this afternoon at around 82 degrees and fairly humid.  It was the first real warm run of the year.  I ran six miles today.  One warm up mile, four half marathon paced miles and a cool down mile.  It started out a little rough.  I didn't feel real good again and kind of struggled.  I'm beginning to think my allergies may be causing some fatigue issues but I just don't know.  After about two miles, I settled in and the run went pretty well.  I am going to Minnesota to pack up my daughter from school and bring her home for the summer.  I will get a little break for a few days so I'll see if that helps or not.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/313776903

5.14.13 Poor Track Run Today

Man, I felt like crap today.  I'm not sure why.  I almost felt like I was running a low grade fever when I woke up and it took some time to convince myself to head to the track.  I did not feel great yesterday in the water either and I'm wondering if the past two days are related somehow.  I guess there will be bad days.  Jeff gave me a pretty simple workout.  A warm up mile, 5x (1000m at 5k pace), cool down mile.  I decided to recover during the final 200m so I started in the same spot on the track.  On the first lap of my 5k paced mile I knew this was going to be a problem today.  I just couldn't generate and sustain any speed and I can't say I really cared a whole lot based on the way I was feeling.  All of the 1000m intervals were in the 7:30-7:50 pace range.  Last week, all of my intervals were below 7:00 mile pace.  I really wondered if I was going to finish the workout.  I trudged through and finished.  I still don't feel great today.  As an added bonus, I get to work all night tonight and that will surely mess with my schedule tomorrow.  It just keeps getting better.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/312781703

5.13.13 Swim

Monday is a swim only day.  My legs get a break after long ride and run over the weekend.  I felt particularly sluggish today in the water.  I'm not sure why.  My body just seemed very fatigued.  Possibly a lack of good sleep.  I was up a little late last night and had to get to work early this morning.  We have a potentially big customer coming into the office today.  I will try to get to bed a little early tonight.  My swim was supposed to be 2600 yards but I cut it off at 2400.  I had to get going.  I'll just put this one behind me and move on.  Jeff gave me my plan for two weeks last night.  He forgot I am going to Minnesota to get my daughter moved back home for the summer from college.  I'm hoping to get an updated plan today.  Jeff has Ironman Texas coming up this weekend and he is heading to Houston on Wednesday.  I hope he has time to look at this for me.

5.12.13 Mothers Day Trail Run

It's Mothers Day today so I needed to get my run in early today.  Joe was going to meet me at Murrell Park at 7am and Rich left at 5:30.  We hoped to meet him out on the trail.  I saw Joe running down Simmons to the park.  I went down to the park, found a place to park the truck, and got ready for the run.  Just as Joe and I were about to take off, Rich came flying out of the woods.  Good to get the gang together again.  We ran for about 30 minutes with Rich back to the Hideaway exit.  Joe and I carried on back to Murrell and then added enough time for me to get my 100 minutes in.  Weather could not have been more perfect today.  Right at about 60 degrees, sunny and a light breeze.  You can't get any better than that.  It was such a nice day, you really didn't feel like getting off the trail today.  I was pretty wore down from the ride yesterday but after I was able to get in a rhythm it was all good.  I bought some electrolyte drink supplement from Skratch Labs and I tried that out the past few days.  I felt ok the last few days with no signs of cramping.  I will keep an eye on this stuff.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311609769

We went to go see Ironman 3 today at the theater for Mothers Day.  Really good.  Our living room ceiling fan went out so we put one of those in too.  Good day all around.

5.11.13 Time Trial/Ride

Jeff invited me to do a time trial today with some of the other people he trains this morning at 7am.  This was different and seemed like fun.  He uses it as a baseline and does this every month or so to see where we are. I left the house around 6:40 and headed to Andy Brown East.  Jeff was there waiting and we needed to travel about 4-5 miles to where we were doing the time trial.  It was a nice little 2 mile loop in a warehouse district and we were going to do 3 loops.  I was second in line which was good.  I had someone to chase.  We were leaving at 20 second intervals.  There was enough wind that it was harder going west and north.  I tried to leave a little in the tank for the last lap but really hammered hard.  It was all out on the last lap and I had my best time on that lap.  Overall, I finished with an average of 22.4mph.  It was fun going all out like that and should be great to see if my time improves over the summer.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311190211

After the time trial, we decided to ride out to the whitehouse and back.  My legs were fried after the TT.  It was really hard to accelerate up hills or on flatter sections.  Jeff had a friend riding with us named Doug who was really fast.  We added another 42 miles after the TT and it was good to turnaround at the whitehouse and enjoy the tailwind on the way home.  I'm really tired and hope my legs will respond well tomorrow for my trail run.  I bought an all natural electrolyte drink from Skratch Labs.  Pretty good stuff.  I don't know if it is better than my Accelerade but it was different.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311190250

5.10.13 Swim/Run

Right about the time I was going to bed last night, work called and I had to join a bridge until 1am.  I couldn't decide if I was going to sleep in or get up and swim.  I ended up waking up at 5am without an alarm because that's what I do every day.  I decided to go ahead and head to the pool this morning.  I had a shorter workout today at 2300 yards.  Wasn't feeling exceptionally great today.  It may have been the lack of sleep but things did get better as time went along in the water.  My plan called for a 40-50 minute slow run this afternoon.  I was a little late getting home from work but decided to take off for a slow run.  I covered 4.75 miles in about 44 minutes averaging around 9:10 pace.  I need some sleep tonight.  I'm a little behind this week.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/310800682

5.9.13 Tempo Run

Kind of a tough few days for training.  I was able to swim on Wednesday morning and was supposed to ride my bike and brick a small run.  That didn't happen.  On Tuesday night, I took my bike in to get new tires.  The rubber was shredded on my rear tire after the race in Austin.  As much as I would like to think this was due to my incredible speed, it is more likely the 3000 miles or so on these tires.  Anyway, the guys at the bike shop found some adjustments they wanted to make and decided to keep my bike.  The arm rests kept falling every couple of weeks and Profile Design has a fix but it required new hardware.  The bike shop comped the fix for me.  Good guys at the Bicycles Plus.  My bike was ready on Wednesday afternoon but by the time I got over there, picked up my bike and made it back to the house it was too late to ride.

So this morning, it was the Thursday tempo run.  Jeff had 8 miles for me today.  1 mile warm up, 2x (1 mile at half marathon pace, 1 mile at 10k pace, 1 mile at 5k pace), cool down mile.  I think he knew my legs would be tired so he told me to try and keep a steady, fast pace for the 5k and not worry if I couldn't get down to the normal speed.  It was tough today.  My longer 8 mile route has some hills worked in so it is really tough for the first 4 miles.  My times in order were 10:05, 9:21, 8:52, 7:55, 9:09, 8:52, 8:20, 9:45. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/310170934

I was definitely having problems hanging on for the last four miles.  At the end of my run, there was an ugly incident close to the house.  It looked like a kid going to school on a bike was hit by a car coming out of an alley.  There were a bunch of fire trucks, ambulances and police.  From what I could tell, everyone looked ok.  The kid was sitting up in the grass and appeared to be fine.  You really have to pay attention in certain areas.  People just don't pay attention.

5.7.13 Track Run, Happy Birthday Meghan

Today is my daughter's birthday.  She is at Hamline University and is a freshman there.  It's the first year she has been away from home on her birthday.  It doesn't seem right to not have her at home this year. 

Jeff sent me a plan for the week last night.  We are going to do alot more running this week and will tap into some bike work next week.  I'm going to have to get faster to have a chance in some of these races in the next few months.  The workout was complicated and I actually had to write it on a piece of paper and take it with me to the track this morning.  It went like this:

1 warm up mile
400 @ 5k pace -16 seconds
60-90 second rest
800 @ 5k pace -10 seconds
60-90 second rest
1200 @ 5k pace
400 recovery jog
1600 @ 5K pace
400 recovery jog
800 @ 5k pace -10 seconds
60-90 seconds rest
1 mile cool down

I had to find a starting point for all of this.  At the race this weekend, the winner of my group ran under 7 minute miles.  So today, I was going to start the 400 out fast and see where it went from there.  I can't say my original goal was to all of the intervals at less than 7 minute pace, but as things progressed it was time to start pushing the envelope a little bit.  I ended up running these times:

400 - 1:44 (6:14 pace)

800 - 3:40 (6:56 pace)

1200 - 5:20 (6:37 pace)

1600 - 6:57

800 - 3:35 (6:43 pace)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/309152692

I was very happy with this outcome.  I was fast or at least fast for me.  I have never really run like this before.  The bottoms of my feet are still a little sore today as is the rest of my body from the race.  After I got going, it was no problem.  I sent Jeff an email about how I did today when I got home.  I need to keep this up.  This was one of my best days running this year by a long shot. 

Rookie Triathlon - Walter Long Park Austin, Texas

Not to give too much away but I was third behind Roger Myers and another guy who didn't show for awards.  Roger and his Mohawk were a big crowd favorite.

As mentioned before, I am doing the Texas Tri Series and this is the first race of the series.  Three races are sprints, two olympics and a half iron distance.  This particular race is geared more towards people getting an introduction into the sport but there is plenty of good competition for those participating in the series or warming up for other events.

Pre-Race:  I slept pretty good actually.  I woke up around 1am and went back to sleep.  This time I woke up at around 4:45am which was perfect timing.  I took a shower, got dressed and packed up my gear.  My wife decided to go with me but my son stayed behind to sleep in.  It was 52 degrees outside and was going to be a little chilly for standing around waiting for me to finish.  I ate a honey stinger protein bar and filled my water bottle with Accelerade and ice.  All my numbers were attached to my bike, helmet and race belt the night before.  I was ready to roll.  We took off from the hotel a little before 6am if I remember correctly.  I was going on memory driving to Walter Long park.  We had been there in the fall for Ironman Austin and I briefly looked at the directions the day before on the internet.  We made it to the race site in about 20 minutes without issue.  I started unloading and aired up my tires in the bed of the truck.  Any grass area in the park is completely covered with stickers in the grass.  They will grab anything including tires and will poke a hole in your tubes if your not careful.  You could instantly tell who had been there before and who had not based on who was carrying their bike over the grass.  I grabbed my headlamp and went to transition.  The racks were laid out goofy and I had a hard time finding my rack.  The bike out was on the west side of transition and run out was on the east.  It looks like they started with the open group, followed by the veterans and then the rookie group.  The veterans rack for my age group was mixed in with the rookies close to the run out on the east side of transition.  Some of the bikes I racked next to were very impressive and a little intimidating.  Here I am trying to be competitive with my little Cannondale Slice and I was racked next to these $10k rocket ship looking rides with sweet wheels and aero helmets all around.  I was beginning to think I was out of my league but needed to stay in the moment.  Hit the portolets on the way back to the truck.  We sat in the truck where it was warm until it was time to head to the lake.  I put my wet suit on by the truck.  It's warm in the wet suit and that felt good.  Even though the sun came up at 6am it continued to get cooler for the next hour and a half.  When we got down to the water, I stuck my hand in to test the temp.  It seemed ok but it's hard to tell.  I dipped my goggles and hat in the water to make them easier to put on.  The waves started at 8am and I was due to start at 8:16.  Right before they called my wave, I put my ear plugs, goggles and cap on.  Said goodbye to my wife and got ready to go.

Swim:  As soon as I entered the water, I got a very uneasy feeling.  Alot of people were going without a wet suit.  In my estimation, that was a terrible mistake.  They announced the water was in the 70s but I can tell you it was not.  I checked some area lake reported temps and they were in the mid 60s.  When the water started to fill in my wet suit, it was cold and made it hard to breathe.  Just like you feel if you have ever jumped into a cold lake or pool and you can't really breathe.  They put us into the water 2 minutes before the start.  I did everything I could to get my head acclimated to the temperature.  It just wasn't working.  I wasn't really nervous yet and was actually calm.  It was 300 meters.  What could possibly be that bad?  I positioned myself close to the front and when they said go I buried my head and took off.  There were about 5-10 of us that immediately broke from the pack and I was with them.  The water was cold and it was getting tougher to breathe, to the point where I was semi-hyperventilating and it was raising my heart rate.  I was fast for probably the first 75 meters or so.  I looked up and had to catch my breath and tried to swim again.  My body was not happy and did not want to go.  I started breast stroking to keep moving and calm down a little.  Every so often I would try to swim but would never make it more than a handful of strokes.  People were hanging on canoes and buoys.  It never dawned on me at the time how this was affecting everyone else.  My wave was for 50 and over men.  I knew there were several people ahead of me and I saw the race crumbling before my very eyes which led to more internal mental chaos.  Despite what I considered a very slow pace for me, I was catching people in the wave that left ahead of us and didn't have a lot of traffic around me.  I didn't really process this information well.  My heart rate was high, my breathing was not good, I was swallowing water due to the chop.  The wind was blowing waves right at us from across the lake.  I breathe to the right and everytime I lifted my head I was taking on water.  A confluence of very bad things was unfolding before me.  All my mind could think about is a mental image of everyone in my age group leaving me behind and my chance to do well and place was gone.  I swam about half of the last 100 meters and had the strippers pull the wet suit off of me.  It was stuck on my timing chip on the ankle and my garmin watch on my wrist.  This was getting more disaterous by the second.  The move to transition electronically did not occur officially until I crossed the mat after getting my wet suit off.  I looked at my watch and it was at almost 7 minutes.  I was crushed.  Spotting the field almost two minutes in a race that will take an hour was not great.  I was seriously pissed off.

T1:  I was angry when I got to my rack in T1.  The really cool bikes on my row were gone.  That meant all of the fast people were ahead of me.  I didn't do a mental count on who was there and who was not but I knew there was ground that had to be made up.  I went as fast as I could and I did well getting all my gear on.  In fact, I was 25 seconds faster than the guy who won my group.  On the bad side, I forgot to wipe my feet off before I put them in my bike shoes.  I didn't really feel anything in transition but it would haunt me later.

Bike:  I was still feeling angry when I got on the bike.  Transition was no solice for me.  Plenty of bikes were gone and I had work to do.  I was soaking wet, cold as hell, and fighting little demons in my mind.  The darker side said to pack it in and cruise the rest of the race.  The competitive side of me said damn the torpedos and crush it with all you have.  I listen to the competitive part of my brain most of the time.  It's what happened at Grasslands in the hail and rain and it was happening now.  I couldn't give up.  The first half of the race was almost directly into a pretty stiff north wind.  I was really hammering as hard as I could.  I was passing lots of people but nobody in my wave.  There were guys in their 40's, 30s, and even some 20s but I never saw anyone in the 50s.  I could not figure this out.  It was really starting to work on me and then I felt the first rock under my foot.  Then some more and maybe a sticker or two were lodged in there.  I forgot to wipe my feet.  I couldn't stop so I tried to work the objects the best I could in my shoes and carried on.  It hurt.  I mean it hurt alot.  I never looked at my watch while I was riding into the wind.  I didn't want to know.  Once we turned back with the wind, it was awesome.  I never really got out of my max gear and was flying.  Speed eases the pain to some degree.  My legs were crying though.  I was taxing them heavily.  I finally caught a guy that was 57 years old.  Wrong age group but that's ok.  He was pretty fast.  We kind of pulled each other along for a while.  He would pass me and then I would pass him.  It was good incentive to keep the pace up.  Early on, I did get passed by a guy in my age group.  He was pulling away slowly and probably got me by a minute or two in the end.  I think he probably finished second in my group.  At the halfway point, I remember passing one guy in my age group.  I was still stunned by not seeing hardly anyone in my swim wave for the most part.  Maybe some of them were wearing compression socks and I couldn't see their age.  I don't really know but it was freaking me out to some degree because I was passing people in the earlier swim wave groups in chunks.  When I got to the very end of the ride, a guy in my wave passed me.  There was a hill right before the mount line and I didn't know it was there.  Unfortunately, I started pulling my feet out of my shoes and looked up to see a hill.  I couldn't get my feet on top of my shoes which meant I couldn't drive the pedals.  It cost me some time and several people went flying by me at the end.  My legs were burning but I was happy with the effort.  I had a few bouts of why am I working so hard when I don't seem to be catching anyone but that passed.  Since the series is cummulative time for all six races, there was incentive to not give up.  I hoped the work did not trash my legs and translate to a bad run.

T2:  Once at the mount line, my feet were very happy and I was too.  I was out of the bike shoes and on to the run.  I ran with the bike to my rack spot which was closer to the run exit and put my feet into my running shoes after wiping the bottom this time.  I was very quick in transition and took off down the shoot.  My mind set was a little better now.  My anger had subsided and I was back into a healthier mode of delivering a solid performance on the run.

Run:  I really didn't know what to expect from the posted route.  I had been here for Ironman Austin but couldn't really tell where this path was taking us.  Once I left transition, it was almost like they mowed a field and then put you on a wood chip path through some cypress bushy looking areas before catching a little concrete up a hill to the finish line.  When I started the run, I continued to pass guys in other groups but did not see anyone in mine.  At this point, although I didn't know it at the time, I can only assume I was in fourth place based on my finish.  The first two finishers in my group were about 4:30 ahead of me.  I didn't know that but I would never have contact with them and I didn't know what they looked like either.  I know who one of them is now.  The first mile was down a hill and then up the hill to the turn around coming back the same way.  You take a left from there and run along a fence line.  The trail turns from mowed field to the wood chip trail at that point.  I don't know what my speed was but I tried to maintain a 85%-90% type effort for the first mile.  Once I hit the wood chips, I spotted the guy who was actually in third place, he had a 54 on his calf and I needed to get him.  He was breathing hard and seemed to be laboring a bit.  It was the guy who passed me at the mount line on the bike.  When I went by him, I wanted it to be fast and make him feel broken.  I knew he would see my age on my calf and would have to stay with me.  We were headed up a long slow hill when I passed him.  He was breathing hard enough that I knew where he was without looking based on sound.  After about 200 yards the sound of his breathing started to fade and finally after a quarter mile, I did not hear him at all.  I never looked back.  I just kept on going.  Once the finish line was in sight, I poured it on and finished as fast as possible.  My miles were a 7:22 average which is really good considering the surface.  I am very happy with that.  I saw the guy I passed for third place after the finish line.  Really good guy.  He said he saw me passing him and tried to hang in there but just couldn't.  He said I got about 50-100 yards ahead of him and he couldn't close the gap.  I think there were two guys behind me that finished within 20 seconds of me.  The fifth place guy was running 7:10 miles so he was on the way.  In the end, I finished officially in 1:00:01.  Roger led the way at 55:10 so I am 4:51 seconds from first place.  Gotta get to work.

Post Race:  I had mixed emotions.  I thought the swim was horrible and it was.  I think it was horrible for everyone.  The guy that finished fourth had to hang on to a canoe to get his head right during the swim.  The top 2 were faster than me in the water by a couple of minutes which is to be expected since I had problems.  In the water, I know I am on par there with the second place guy and the first place guy looks to be faster than me.  I am close on the bike.  The first two were just over 20mph and I was 19.2.  The dismount line problem caused a few problems for me and cost me some seconds.  I am really close.  The top guy ran 6:57 miles and second place ran 7:19 miles.  I am in the ball park but not sure if I can crank out 6:57.  That's fast.  On the right day, maybe the stars would align.  I saw a few others wandering around the finish line and were looking at numbers.  I think everyone was wondering who the hell I was.  It seemed like they all knew each other and everyone was trying to figure out who the mystery guest was.  I stuck around for awards because I wanted to get a look at who was ahead of me and also to get an award.  This getting an award for placing in a race is all new to me.  When everyone else got introduced, it was to big cheers.  Pretty quiet for me, but I'll take that as a compliment.  When Roger Myers was introduced, he was treated like a cult hero.  He has a mohawk and everyone knows who he is.  It is now my mission to take out Roger, a lofty goal to be sure because that dude is fast.  It was fun and should be fun as the series goes along.  I hope everyone there sticks with it and does all of the races.  After leaving the race site we stopped at the Oasis for Cinco De Mayo before heading home.  Great day for sitting on the cliff overlooking Lake Travis.

5.4.13 Taper Bike

It has been a few days so I will ease into the race report.  I missed Saturday so I will keep it as a separate post.  I slept in a little on Saturday morning because I usually do not sleep well on race night.  Jeff had a 90-120 minute ride planned at an easy pace.  We planned to leave for Austin around noon so I wasn't in a hurry and the weather was a little cold on Saturday morning.  At aroun 9:30 I left the house and decided to take the same route as Wednesday morning to the lake and back.  I took it very easy and tried not to get on the gas.  The wind was light but felt like no matter which way I went, it was fighting me a little bit.  I made it there and back in about 105 minutes.  Really concentrated on holding back and enjoying the ride.  We loaded the truck and left around 1pm.  We didn't have any traffic to speak of and made it to the hotel by 3:45.  Checked in and then went to Jack and Adams to pick up my packet on Barton Springs.  The Chuy's is right there so we ate dinner while we were downtown.  I paid for an upgrade on my room but didn't get it so I asked the front desk.  They gave me the Heisman so I had to call hotels.com.  They fixed the problem and moved us up to the 7th floor with apologies from the manager complete with two things I couldn't use.  Free breakfast coupons and free drink coupons.  I would be gone before breakfast and didn't plan on drinking until after the race.  I'll hold on to them for some other time.  I got to bed early at around 9:30 or 10, which is good.

5.2.13 Tempo Run

It was 80 degrees last night for my bike workout and 52 this morning with a wind chill in the mid 40s with a light drizzle.  What the hell is going on this year?  Back to a long sleeve running pullover this morning.  Cold, windy, and wet is not a great combination for my joints.  The plan for today was a warm up mile, half marathon pace mile, 10k pace mile, half marathon pace mile, cool down mile.  My legs were really tired after the bike workout last night.  My pace was pretty good considering how I felt.  The five miles were 9:58, 9:09, 8:16, 8:54, 9:11.  I am a little concerned about going too hard early in the week but Jeff told me the workouts would be structured like this so I will put my trust in him.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/306708163

5.1.13 Swim/Bike

It's the first day of May and good training weather is upon us.  I swam this morning at the CARC.  2400 yards this morning in 55 minutes.  I got there earlier than usual and it wasn't very crowded.  I tried to keep the pace up today and maintain speed through the longer sets.  I'm feeling pretty good in the water and feel like I am in a good place right now.

Rode the bike outside tonight.  Jeff's plan had a lot of hard efforts in it.  I decided to just go fast since I was outside and the hard efforts would take care of themselves when I hit the hills.  I took the route to the end of Murrell Park at Lake Grapevine tonight and back home.  It's anywhere from 45-55 minutes to the lake.  The plan called for 75-100 minutes so the lake route should have been perfect.  My legs were really good tonight.  I set a PR out to the lake and got there in 43:30 or something like that.  Really fast tonight.  I hope the run tomorrow goes well.  The wind was against me on the way home but I was really fast coming home as well.  The weather is supposed to be cold in Austin for the race on Sunday.  If there is no wind, I should be really fast.  I guess we will have to wait and see.  Good night tonight.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/306443885