Go Farther

TBF Racing always puts on a good show. The whole crew is so positive and energetic – I always have a fun race with these guys. Highly recommend any of their races. Before the countdown to the swim, the race organizer announced that this would be the last of the TBF Half-Ironman race. It’s the second year they’ve tried it after a few years off – just hard to find half-iron racers. I suspect those stepping up to this distance either want to do a fun event locally like the Santa Cruz half, or they’re sold on the M-dot Ironman brand races that are over-priced and over-branded. But heck, I’m doing my third Ironman next March because there’s no competition out there…

Plenty of numbers and great competition for their Spring and OLY races.

Pre-Race

Got there in plenty of time, picked an open rack. There were many because this is was a small race. Fewer than 100 total athletes.

Swim

The lake doesn’t allow motorboats and I’ve swam it many times in Sprint in OLY distance races, so I already knew my sighting markers and distances. Once the the race started, I focused on nice, easy, long strokes to warm up and keep down my heart rate. After the first few hundred yards, I realized that there were just a couple of fish way ahead and then I was a trail pack of about 5-6 swimmers.

After the first turn, it seemed like the pack (or me) was swimming crookedly. I did mostly tuck in with the pack to the second buoy before the final 1/4 mile swim to shore. During this last stretch, I definitely swam alone because I thought the other 3-4 swimmers left around me were off course. I would have been better to swim with them if only to take advantage of the drafting because when we got to  shore, I was losing some distance and lost the advantage of any drafting. Sigh.

Out of the water in 0:34:55. Slower than my 0:30:0 goal. After the race, it was explained to me that the last leg was clear against the current developed by the 8-10 mph wind, which explains the time.

Rank: 10th/68 overall, 3rd AG(out of 8)

Swim-to-bike transition
Went smooth. Hit my goals of standing while stripping my wetsuit, moving swiftly to the bike and rolling quickly.  Was very happy to see my HR at 138 as I mounted the bike. A great sign that I keep things mellow in the swim.

Transition time: 3:15

Bike
The goal here was to ride confidently and with just a touch of aggression, with a low goal of averaging 19mph and a high goal of 20mph, though I thought I might be able to hit 21 mph because the course hand little elevation change (expected to be <1000′ in total elevation).

Had a headwind and then a crosswind for the first 15 miles or so, which I expected to be more of a tailwind according to the weather forecast. I was still about to cruise north of 20mph and then gained even more speed once I turned east at mile 15 and caught a straight tailwind. I was >21mph at one point before the steady incline of the course hit. I was able to maintain decent speed, though by mile 22 I felt my first twinge of muscle fatigue.

I pushed through awaiting for the end of the incline which I expected to be around mile 28-30, but did not appear until mile 35. That kind of sucked and took some wind out of my sails. Additionally, the road surface was mostly pretty choppy which also sucks the life of you.

Around mile 35, there’s a long descent that was hard to enjoy because of the road conditions. At the town of Ione there was the last turn towards home around mile 42. This last section is a  road section I’ve ridden before for the aforementioned Sprint and OLY races. Mostly a gradual descent with occasional rollers and risers to get in the way of big progress. By now, I was achy and ready to dispose of the bike. The headwind didn’t help and I had bled down to 19mph on the bike. Still in goal range but I felt a little disappointed after seeing a 21mph average through the first 22 miles of the course.

I did pick up a little speed in the last miles with a hard push and finished the bike at 19.6mph average pace. I saw very few riders on the course – I passed a couple out of transition and in the first 3-4 miles, then was passed by 3 riders early and 1 rider late in the course. Mostly, it was just me, George, the traffic, and the bumpy road. Kind of took the sails out of the race compared to the Sprint races I’d done earlier in the summer where there was always a rabbit out there.

Bike time (w/o transition): 2:52 (12th overall, 3rd AG)

Bike to run transition
Stayed relaxed, changed efficiently, hit the Port-o-John and out of transition without a hiccup.

Transition time: 4:10

Run
The run was all about maintaining an 8:15 pace. I had to really slow myself down in the first mile to stay at an 8:00-8:05 pace. I was raring to go. There are some undulations on this trail run and then a twisting trail for a couple of miles. I mostly felt strong and took the race in three sections – the first 6.5 miles, then the next 3, then the last 3.5 miles. By the turnaround, I knew my pace was slower overall and that I was slower in the most recent miles. The bottoms of my feet were a little sore – feeling blisters develop. I then decided to focus on form and to run strong. I usually have some gas in the tank for a good push at the end where I could make up some time.

I had my running belt and Hammer drink but it wasn’t going down too smoothly so I focused on water at each aid station and Electrolyte pills every 30 mins or so as planned.

Once I hit the twisting trail on the way back from the second lap, I started picking up the pace and hit the last 2.5 miles pretty hard. At this last aid station, I knew it would be close even with a good push to make it under my run time goal of 1:45. The last mile was strong and I finished at 1:44:56 – just under.  My mile-by-mile run times were almost perfectly symmetrical:

1     8:03.5    1.00    8:04
2    8:02.5    1.00    8:03
3    8:09.4    1.00    8:09
4    8:29.4    1.00    8:29
5    8:22.8    1.00    8:23
6    8:30.4    1.00    8:30
7    8:26.7    1.00    8:27
8    8:27.6    1.00    8:28
9    8:27.6    1.00    8:28
10    8:29.8    1.00    8:30
11    8:11.7    1.00    8:12
12    8:02.0    1.00    8:02
13    5:12.9    0.74    7:01

Run time: 1:44:55 (6th overall, 1st AG)

Total Time: 5:20 (10th overall, 3rd AG)

Final thoughts
– Met my time goals
– Didn’t get hurt
– My running was strong and I felt good after (no calf injuries than have persisted)
– Bike is getting better and plenty of room for improvement
– Swim was comfortable

This was my race plan for the TBFRacing Half-Ironman triathlon on Saturday, August 25th.

Raced yesterday in TBFRacing’s Tri for Fun at Rancho Seco Park. These are outstanding local races, extremely well-run with lots of solid competition from the Sacramento valley area.

Many thanks to TBF Racing for the dedicated rack space for the Mad Cows. We love your races and the support of our team.

This year has been all about speed work for me. Having registered for the Ironman-Asia Pacific next March with the time goal of a sub 11-hour, I need to slash some serious time off both my bike and run. If I can get down to a 6-hour bike and run a 3:40 marathon while keeping my swim at 1:10 or better all while maintaining my personal sanity and enjoyment of the training, I’m there. The sanity part is always the toughest. I mean, why does it really matter? An Ironman is an Ironman and who really cares other than me about my time? I’m not even in the same galaxy as Hawaii qualifiers and I’m quite sure my races times will be unnoticeably absent from my epitaph. And if they are there, then I’m really missed something. Dude – relax and have fun. Sigh…

In the mean time, I’m racing locally to see if the speed work is paying off. As motivation, I promised myself I’d find my way onto the Age Group podium at least once this year. A month ago, I raced in the Tri for Run June race and missed by two minutes. I went there fully expecting to place and once again learned that you can’t cheat when it comes to training. I wasn’t ready to podium last month as I was especially unprepared and for the swim, and worse, over-confident about this preparation.

Pre-Race & Prep:

Diet – Over the last week, I focused on more than just normal stuff like avoiding refined sugars, but really focusing on lots of leafy vegetables (kale, mustard greens, collard greens), proteins, and grazing throughout the day instead of big meals (carrots, hummus, and nuts – woohoo!). I’ve even got a small refrigerator in my office under my desk.

Stretching & Flexibility – I took a few Crossfit classes earlier this Spring. I haven’t been attending lately, but have been implementing several hip stretches and squat exercises into my weekly routine. They are definitely making a difference – so much so that I’m ready to shed my compact crank and move back up to a standard. Most riders go in the other direction.

More Riding – I took my road bike to work and I’ve worked in a few extra rides towards Lake Natomas and Folsom. Nice to have a few rollers here and there compared to the dead pan flat here in Davis. Even nicer to have a shower available at work.

The Race:

Swim – I again proved myself to be a horrendously awful planner. My age group was the second swim wave scheduled for an 8:05am start. I was in the bathroom for a final time as the first wave went off at 8:00am. I ran down to the beach at 8:03am, had a random dude zip up my wet suit, jumped in the water to check my goggles just in time to hear the ten second countdown. Foolish. Simply foolish.

At last month’s Tri for Fun, where I started out way too quickly on the swim, then my goggles leaked, I was completely out of sorts for most of the swim. This time, I promised myself smooth, long strokes  and trusting that the hard swim workouts I put in over the last two weeks would pay off. They did.

I was at the front of the pack throughout the swim. For the first few hundred yards, I was able to draft a little, then felt someone drafting me for most of the rest of the swim (despite by deliberate kicks to shake him). Jogging up to transition, I could see the swim leaders just unracking their bikes and heading out so I wasn’t more than a minute or two behind.

My transition was a little slow. Had a hard time getting my socks and Garmin in place, but once I was out, I was cruising. I can snip :30 here next time.

Bike – I treated the 15 mile course as a time trial. I was passed only once on the bike about a quarter mile out of out of transition by the eventual race winner. This same guy passed me at about the same spot last race.

There are a couple of ascents but kept on the big ring and mostly aero except for a time or two to stretch. On the way out, I passed several riders and began counting those coming back from the turn.

18 people ahead – which included a handful of duathletes and younger males in the first wave. On the way back, I picked off three riders pretty quickly and one more with 4 miles to go, then two more that had mechanicals. There was one more rider in sight that was my last rabbit. As we turned for the last two miles back to transition, I just couldn’t catch him. But I saw him in transition and I was much quicker and he had to turn back because he forget his race belt (required by race officials).

Was feeling very happy with the bike and felt that I maxed effort on the course. I smiled a little when I noticed that there were virtually no other bikes in transition. That was a good sign. (I also did a much better job at transition compared to last month’s race where I came in from the ride and couldn’t find my rack.)

Run – Last month, I was out of transition and running 6:45/miles which startled me at the time. This race, I expected it. I put in a hard run earlier in the week where I did 7:11s over a 5.5 mile run so I was sure I could run 6:45s again race day. I had cut down on running the last two weeks as a calf problem emerged, causing me to skip a 50k run I planned to do last weekend, but felt recovered and ready.

The run course was empty. The other racers ahead of me were well out of sight. There was only one racer in view. I did catch him just before the mile 1 marker and saw he was a 16-year old from his calf marking, then he caught me back and we ran together with him a few paces ahead. After the turnaround, I counted 3 racers 100-200 yards behind me that looked like my age group which freaked me out about getting caught on the run. The run is my strongest of the three sports and I depend on a strong run at every race to help me catch up for my below average cycling.

At the mile 2 marker, we were keeping a 6:40ish pace and I said – “C’mon man, let’s get each other in.” He didn’t say anything back but we took turns leading the pace. With about a 1/3 mile to go, he took the lead and we both kicked. I peeked behind and saw we were well clear of any other racers. He had more than me and finished three seconds ahead, but of course, he started five minutes before me so really I finished 4:57 ahead. :–)

I crossed the line at 1:17:57, which beat my PR on this course by more than four minutes and I got my podium.

Next

I’m looking at the TBF Racing Tri for Real (Olympic distance) in early August, then either the TBF HIT half-ironman at the end of August or the Big Kahuna Half-Ironman in Santa Cruz in September. The Big Kahuna will be a good practice race for the Ironman because of the ocean swim and flat bike. There’s usually a few fellow Mad Cows that do this race and it’s always fun to have company when racing.

Congratulations to the other Mad Cows racers that raced too. Lots of podiums for the crew and a few first-timers racing in their first triathlon.

My race report for yesterday’s “Tri for Fun” organized by the wonderful people at TBF Racing. They run an excellent show. Well-staffed, friendly, local, and great value for your racing dollar. Thought I’d do a little Q&A with myself on this report for a change.

Why such a short race?

Hey, wait minute. First of all, every race is a hard race. Second, I’m not doing any crazy long triathlon racing this year. This year is dedicated to increasing speed and overall fitness in preparation for the Ironman-Melbourne in March 2013. My goal is a sub-11:00 race, which means I need to drop another hour off of my 2012 Ironman-Couer D’Alene time. Right now, that means dropping 40-45 minutes on the bike and 15-30 on the run.

Thirdly, I’ve been training higher intensity, shorter distances on the bike and swim this Spring as cross-training for a 50k trail running slated for the end of June. This included a few trainer sessions and more recently, a bunch of personal time trials from Davis to Winters, a flat 25-mile stretch.

And most importantly, this was our Mad Cows Racing team race.  I’ve been lax in my involvement with the team over the last year. The race was a great chance for me to get rolling with the team again.

Any objectives for the race?

Go fast. As fast as I could. I thought that if I had a perfect race, I could sneak onto the podium in my age group. As the end of last season, I did a sprint distance race and finished 7th in the 35-39 age group without almost no swim training at the end of the summer, just some general running, and riding on my old steel frame Diamondback. The first race of the year is always competitive, but I’ve been working consistently at high intensity and thought I could do it.

How was the 0.5 mile swim?

Inauspicious. I arrived at the swim start about four minutes before my wave and had a complete stranger zip up my wetsuit. Once in the water, I donned my goggles and wait for the start. After 10 strokes, my right eye was leaking so I stopped to fix it. It didn’t fix. Had to try again 10 strokes later. Turns out that using the goggles I found at the bottom of my wetsuit bag instead of the brand new ones sitting at home I wasn’t such a hot idea. (Tip: Test your goggles the day before race day before you commit to them on race day.)

Of course, I went out too fast, then after the leaky goggles, tried to catch up with the lead pack. It took until the first turn that I allowed myself to just be happy racing.

Swim time: 14:45

What about T1?

Happily uneventful. Jogged up the grass to transition, stripped, found my bike, changed pretty quickly, and off I went.

Any particular strategy on the bike?

Ride hard. Really hard. As hard as I could for as long as possible. I wanted to make up for a mediocre swim and also wanted to see if the high intensity bike work was paying off. I purposely left my heart rate monitor at home so I wouldn’t freak myself out seeing 160+bpm during the bike. I’m so used to focusing on a low HR, that it would have been a hindrance to have it.

So, how’d the 16 mile bike go?

Well… I averaged 23.2 mph to the turn and 20.3 on the second half. There’s a downslope for the first 2 miles coming out of transition, which is then a 100 foot upslope coming back to T2. I was definitely feeling it in my legs wrapping up the bike segment and could have paced a little more in the first hand. On the other hand, my objective was to hammer, and hammer I did.

I passed 3-4 in my age group on the bike, and about 10-12 more from the earlier wave while only being passed once. I tried to keep track of riders I saw coming back after the turn so I could estimate where I was positioned as an overall racer. I figured if I could stay in the top 15-20, then I might be able to pick up a couple of racers on the run and hit my podium goal. Ambitious, but why not?

Would you like to explain what the heck happened in T2?

I’m a doofus, that’s what happened. I dismounted and was a little disoriented as to the exact location of my rack space. I knew I was in the second row of the first aisle, but when I clicked over there, my running gear was no where in sight. I started running up and down the aisle, then in and out of rows looking for my pink towel to no avail. I finally leaned my bike against a tree and a volunteer came over to help. Turns out I was looking too far into the row on my rack and walked right by my gear 2-3 times. (Tip: Walk over to the bike dismount area before the race to develop a visual of where your rack space is relative to the dismount.)

That cost me a good 45 seconds. Other than that, T2 was very smooth… :–)

So now you’re out of the gate and on the 3 mile run course.  How’d that go?

My legs felt like they were turning over really quickly. About 200 yards out of transition, my Garmin showed I was running a 6:45 pace, which is way too fast for me. I figured on 7:30s or maybe 7:15s based on recent run training.

Then the course has a gentle downslope before persistent 10-25 foot rollers. I kept my speed on the downslope for some reason, couldn’t really pull back. With it only being a 3 mile run, I figured I’d go as long as I could at this pace until I had to stop. The field was pretty well spread out. One racer was about 100 yards ahead of me and the nearest one behind was 100-150 yards behind. The one behind wasn’t keeping my run pace so I focused on the guy ahead as my rabbit. No luck there. We both picked off a couple of runners before the turnaround, but I couldn’t catch him.  On the way back, I passed 1-2 more runners and sprinted to the finish for a time of 1:23 and change. My run pace came to 6:43/mile with the last mile at 5:59. Very, very, very happy with my run.

Where’d you finish?

7th in my age group (35-39) and 18th overall. My time would have placed me 3rd in the 30-34 age group and 3rd in the 40-44 age group. I did beat every 20-29 year old out there. I need to either get younger or older.

Any thoughts for next race?

This is the type of day that proves you just can’t fake preparation. Had I really worked on my swim, I could have had a 13 minute swim, which would have pushed my up to a top 15 finish.

The bike definitely improved, so that’s just more work in progress. I’m happy with my speed and see room to be faster very soon.

My pathetic T2 transition should never happen to me after all of the weirdness I’ve experienced at various races.

All in all, there were 2-3 minutes in there where I can improve at this fitness level, which would put me on the podium next time around.