American Zofingen Duathlon

This past Sunday, I competed in my first duathlon! However, it wasn’t the regular duathlon that would come to mind, rather it was THE American Zofingen duathlon in New Paltz, NY. I have heard a lot of great things about this race!  Two words that I kept hearing over and over again were:

·         Super challenging and hilly

·         Absolutely beautiful

Since I actually enjoy hills (don’t ask why), and hills usually play to my advantage, I went ahead and signed up for the middle distance F1 duathlon, which consisted of 5 mile trail run, 29 mile bike, 5 mile trail run, 29 mile bike, and 5 mile trail, a total of 73 miles! I looked at it as a perfect prep for the supposedly super hilly Rev3 Quassy 70.3 in June, Providence 70.3 in July, and then super hilly Worlds in Vegas! Why not make 2011 the season of hills! J

Being still fairly new to the sport, I think being naïve sometimes helps. I really didn’t look up anything about this race, and I just went with the two words I kept hearing over and over from my friends - beautiful and hilly! Now looking back it, as I sit here 4 days later, barely able to move, I decided to do a bit more research on the race and found the following:

"The American Zofingen refers to the most famous Duathlon of the world, Powerman Zofingen in Switzerland, held since 1989. Zofingen is to the sport of Duathlon what  Hawaii is for Triathlon: Long, demanding, prestigious, one of the races every long distance athlete has to finish at least once in his/her life. The American Zofingen in New York underlines the growing demand of athletes to compete in long distance duathlons. If you finish the "American Zofingen" you are ready for the real Zofingen."

Now this quote talks about the long distance race, which also starts with a 5 mile run, but is followed with 89 miles on the bike (3 x 29 mile loop), followed by 15 mile run (3 run loops) for a total of 109 miles (one more bike loop, and one more run loop than the middle distance). The middle distance is still no joke! I was ready for hills, but I was greeted with some serious mountains! I was ready for trails, but I had no idea what the word “trails” really meant – at least not here in the Catskill Mountains!

The run course was fun in a brutal kind of way, and the fact that it rained only made it that much more difficult. The 5 miles is either uphill or downhill, with barely any flat surface in between. The run course has about 750 feet of elevation over the 5 miles, so by the end of the day, your total run elevation adds up to 2,250 feet. I am actually not really sure if it was the uphills or downhills that were worse!

Run  Elevation Profile

Not ever running any trails, I was in for some fun! Muddy, wet, and wild kind of fun! The run starts with a run across grassy field, at this point very muddy field, and continues up the single track to the summit. While on our way up, we were treated to some hard core single track with lots of rocks of all sizes, roots, and other obstacles such as fallen tree’s that I swear became higher and higher with each 5 mile loop! As if that wasn’t enough, the downhills resembled the uphills, and the very few yards of flatness were covered with wet leaves so you really had no clue what or where you were stepping! And how could I forget the two board plank crossings over swampy terrain, or creeks that were randomly flowing throughout the woods! Despite being covered in mud head to toe from the very first mile onwards, and being soaking wet, this was a very peaceful, beautiful yet very technical course! The peacefulness really set it on the 2^nd and 3^rd run as the field got quiet broken up, and unlike any triathlon race, you were pretty much all alone regardless of your position. It was just me, my own mind, and it would really be easier than ever to just stop and walk when times got tough! I mean, no one would ever know, right? I think this added to the difficulty of the race. There was no one to cheer you on, there was no one to pick you up, there was no one to chase (at least not in your sights)! It was almost like a training day, but it wasn’t! It was RACE TIME, and I had my mind on the prize the whole time!!!!  I have definitely gained some extra mental toughness from this one! The 3^rd loop is when the going got super tough and the peacefulness of the surroundings was over taken by quite a bit of pain. That’s where the REAL fun begun.

And the bike course you ask? THE bike course was a beast! It’s about 3,000 feet of climbing per loop – 29 miles, totaling to 6,000 feet of climbing on the day over the 58 miles! Just as a comparison, I believe the LP bike course has a total elevation of 6,000 feet over 112 miles! I have ridden both, and both are super beautiful, but climbing through the Catskill Mountains was a treat! The bike course starts out with about a quarter mile DIRT/GRAVEL access road to the main road! Oh, and hilly!!!!! Seriously? I need a cross bike for this mess! My DA is meant to stay on the road! Once on the road, the climbing began immediately! Almost a mile climb at an avg. of 8.5% incline right of the bat! Bring on the hills, right? What goes up, must come down, and a nasty, whiny downhill follows, with a 90 degree turn at the bottom of it, which is downright SCARY! Then it’s back to climbing, and I think you consistently climb for good 8 or so miles. The scenery is beautiful, but since it rained and was quite foggy, I didn’t really get to enjoy much of it! I think that means I must come back J.  There are also a bunch of scenic overlook spots but since it was super foggy, and I was on a mission, there wasn’t all that much to see! Yup -  I am really thinking I must go back! J The back end of the course is downhill with a few rollers, and once you get back near transition, the last 5 miles or so keep you very honest again! Nothing like climbing your way back into transition!  J Oh and let’s not forget the last quarter mile trying to get back into transition through the muddy roads mixed in with some deep gravel!

Bike Elevation Profile

To quickly sum it up, even though the weather wasn’t beautiful, and it was wet, a bit cold and muddy, foggy, it was a GREAT experience! I had a great race despite some dark, low moments – like when I thought I was literally going to freeze alive while trying to ride my bike, and thought about quitting right there and then on the first loop of the bike. My coach Jorge gave me a great race plan/nutrition plan, and I was able to stick to it despite couple of girls running away from me during the first run. I was able to mind my own business rather than trying to stay with them right away and it paid off on the last bike/run leg, as I was able to take over both of them during the 2^nd bike (I rode about 3 minutes faster on the 2^nd loop), and I increased my lead on the last run even though I am not so sure the last 5 miles should even be called running.

Here are my splits:

Run 1: 44:29      40:01

T1:0:49     2:08

Bike 1: 1:47:09   1:47:12

T2: 0:51   1:09

Run 2: 44:55  44:03

Bike 2: 1:44:03  1:49:13

T3: 0.36   :59

Run 3: 47:15 47:15

I have never dug as deep as I had to in this race, but I have learned that there is always that extra gear! Yes – it may not always be as fast as you wish it would be, but it is there! I was hurting, but everyone else was too! I had to keep moving, if I wanted to win, and even though I didn’t move very fast, I was still moving faster than the girls behind me! It was fun for once to be chased! J I got my first overall win in a time of 5 hours 51 min, and even made the top 10 overall including guys!!!!! J  (The times in red are the times of the girl that finished 2^nd, and even though she had 4:29 seconds on me after the first run, she went out way too fast, and couldn’t hold on to her initial pace – good thing I raced my own race! J)

Thank you Jorge Martinez (E3 Training Solutions – www.e3ts.com) for believing in me, and pushing my limits, Fast Splits for my super fast Felt DA (Never knew that a TT bike would be suited so well for muddy cyclocross like dirt roads), and PowerBar products (PowerBar perform, and gels) that fueled me to the finish line!  Also huge thanks to the magic hands of Samantha Cail (http://waterhousewellness.com), Joan Howe from Newburyport, MA, and Kate Kelly - http://www.activerecoveryboston.com for helping me stay 100% healthy!  And of course all my family/friends that support and believe in me – you know who you are! Without you all, I would be where I am today. Hard work sure does pay off! J American Zofingen was by far the hardest race I have ever done, and I highly recommend it for those looking for the ultimate endurance challenge without the IM craziness! Registration for 2012 has already opened up, and even though it took me about 5 days to walk pain free, I am already thinking about signing up for next year – maybe even the long distance? J Who is in?

My detailed race report can be found here:

http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=253539

Pics can be found http://www.facebook.com/e3trainingsolutions ... who knew my coach was a photographer as well? :)


Next up – Rev3 Quassy 70.3 in 2 weeks.  

Boston Marathon Weekend!

This past weekend is probably one of my favorite weekends in Boston. This year it was full jam packed with lots of FUN things to do all revolving around sports! How can you not love it! Here goes the list:

·         Boston Red Sox game on Friday night

·         Boston Bruins Game 2 of playoffs on Saturday night

·         Boston Celtics Game 1 of playoffs on Sunday night

·         Boston red Sox game at 11 am and of course the Boston Marathon!!!!!!!!!!

To top that all off, we also had the marathon expo going on with lots of good stuff to sample from gels, bars, recovery drinks, to head phones that are guaranteed to NOT fall out of your year (ummm WRONG) to recovery products such as the Zoot recovery tights, socks, 2XU, Skins, and of course every apparel company you can think of had their own booth! I LOVE walking around checking out new stuff!

I started off my weekend with a long run on Friday afternoon – my longest run to date – 14.1 miles through the Newton hills! It’s this time of the year I always wish I was running the Boston marathon! I had a great run, and as tired and sleep deprived I was, I felt the best I ever felt on any long run. Minus the part, where I didn’t bring gloves thinking it was warm enough, and literally had thoughts of losing my hands in the last few miles! Ouch!

Saturday, I was supposed to ride with few peeps and do my 2:45 long ride. Last minute cancellation, combined with freezing temps, and howling winds, I switched my Saturday and Sunday workouts and did a 1:30 ride, 30 min run BRICK. Turns out 1:30 on the bike are all my frozen feet had in them anyways. I felt like I was running on ice blocks the entire duration of my run! Exactly the same feeling I had last year back in December. It’s April people!

After the ride/run, I cleaned up and headed to the expo! This year I actually even bought something! The new Zoot Sports CompressRx Recovery Sock J 

They are suppose to be just as good as the full tights that I own and wear after most hard workouts, and yes, I do notice a difference in the speed of recovery. There are times however, when in the middle of the summer, it’s simply way too hot to put those on, so I added a pair of fashionable high socks to my assortment. I will now definitely fit in and continue to promote the triathlon fashion of short tights and long socks! :) Buckle up peeps! In the buying process I have actually found out that my calves are size “Medium”! Oh oh, only on size up, and they won’t have a recovery sock for my mega calves! Hello cycling legs! No wonder it took me almost a year to find a pair of skinny jeans that would fit my calves.

I also tried a very cool and super light pair of Saucony racing flats the A4! Very comfy shoe, but I got some work to do before I can run in those I think.

I also tried on bunch of headphones that are supposedly NOT going to fall out of my ear when I run, but I am still not sold. Ear buds are just not for me.

Few hours went by, and I am pretty sure I visit just about every single expo booth, felt more recovered than ever since I just sampled about 100 different recovery bars/drinks, and I was ready for some REAL food! J California Pizza Kitchen here I come! Yum!

Sunday was supposed to be a wash out but it actually turned out pretty nice! Sleep won over my 2:45 bike ride, and I made the decision with the help of my buddy Rod to ride the Boston marathon course on Monday morning instead! What a great choice! I did at least get in the pool and swam 4,000 yards on Sunday … J

Marathon Monday was here before I knew it. Early am wake up call, and off I was. Met up with a few friends, and come 6:45 we were off riding towards the start line in Hopkinton. It sure was WINDY!!!!!!! The headwinds were crazy at times, which meant a great tail wind for everyone on the way back, and of course good for the runners! The sun was coming out, and even though it was actually pretty chilly, I think I managed to get a bit of sun on my face! The first 26 miles to Hopkinton was stop and go due to traffic, but I still managed to pick up couple of rude wheel suckers along the route! I am glad I could be the shield for you two unknown dudes! The motorcycles at Hopkinton were ready! However when some of those guys proceeded to attempt to turn around, we had to move out of the way as one cop told us:"Some of these guys are not that good at riding on these" ... Hmmm .. Sweet? :)

The way back was smooth sailing! Roads closed to traffic, and no one but bunch of us cyclist! Only if roads were like this ALL the time! The tail wind was for real, and actually quite strong and scary especially when it turned into side winds! Myself or my bike nor wheels are made for cross winds! Yikes!  My death grip was in full effect! With the exception of couple cops who tried telling us that roads were closed, I was able to ride all the way to the finish line flying by the countless water stops, volunteers and fans who were getting ready to cheer everyone on! Definitely an awesome,awesome atmosphere and that was at least a good hour before anyone was going to run by these people! They were claiming their first row, and best seats in the house bright and early! J

Now that I can say I rode the course, I definitely want to run it one of these days. It’s just about finding a qualifying race, qualifying, and fitting it into my schedule!

I was back home, and ready to go back to cheer everyone on, and of course watch the pro men and women fly by mile 23 by 11 am.

The leading guys absolutely flying by mile 23!

The leading women again flying by mile 23!

Now if I can just have half of a kick that Ryan Hall has, I’ll be flying like Chrissie Wellington. I guess you have to kick your own ass with each step when you run sub 5 min miles, sub 4:45 miles most of the way.

And here is Ryan’s garmin file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/80065732 ... talk about consistency!

 After I spent some time at mile 23, we headed to the finish line! It was a FUN, FUN, FUN day! This is the mayhem of runners trying to meet up with their families! Pure chaos!

Congrats to ALL who crossed the finish line yesterday! Your hard work and countless hours of running in the snow have paid off! J It sure has been a loooong looong winter at least for us locals!

My day ended at 9 pm after some quality time spent with some great company. Marathon Monday is and always will be a super special day in Boston! Can’t wait till next year! J

If you are like me, and are thinking about running Boston, check out E3 Training Solutions(http://www.e3ts.com/) and coach Jorge Martinez (http://coachjorgem.blogspot.com/) who may just help you get to the finish line! This year, he was also the coach for the "Run for Research" team with 240+ runners, helping runners of ALL levels achive the dream of crossing that famous finish line! For you speedsters - the fastest guy from the team crossed the finish line in a blazing fast sub 2:30!!!!! Sign me up! :) Oh wait - we are already working on it! :)

My European Adventures - Part 1

This is part 1 of my 10 day business trip to Europe with a brief 3 day stop to my homeland of the Czech Republic. I visited 3 countries – Germany, Czech Republic, and Sweden, completed 7 different flights, and ran 48.61 miles in the process hoping that running will help me keep most of my biking/swimming fitness.

I left Boston on Sunday night - March 20^th, and arrived in Munich Monday morning after a brief pit stop at the London Heathrow Int’l airport. The days of sleeping on the plane are gone! The little sleep I got was when dinner was served! Booooo! The flight itself was pretty uneventful. However, once we arrived in Munich, the action picked up a bit thanks to our driver a.k.a Mr. Mullet!  Up first was Ingolstadt, Germany!

Day 1:

Mr. Mullet not only had the best mullet I have seen in a long time (I was too tired to even take a picture, but it looked something like this), but he also thought that he was driving a F1 instead of a 8 passenger minivan with luggage stacked up to the ceiling.

We honestly made it to our hotel in Ingolstadt in about 20 min, when it really should have taken more like 45 min! We were absolutely flying like there were no other cars on the highway. We were going about 200 km/h the entire time! Let’s just say that I am glad we are all still alive. Monday was an arrival day, set up day for our sales meeting presentations the next two days, and we were able to get in the tour of AUDI facility, which was the highlight of the day! I had planned on getting a run in when we got to the hotel, but instead I laid down to take a quick 15 min nap, that turned into a 2 hour one! Oops!  The AUDI tour was awesome! It was a 2 hour tour, that really took us through most of the facility and we were able to witness how AUDI’s are made from scratch! Some quick facts before you are all bored:

·         Around 32,000 employees at the AUDI facility that work around the clock 6 days a week!

·         They make around 2,400 cars EVERY day!

·         Majority of the process is done by robots! Robots that will eat you alive if you bring your cell phone or a camera on the tour hence I don’t have any pictures to show you! They love the wave links! J … and they are HUGE!

·         There is a small grocery store on site that besides food also sells beer! Lots of it!

·         Workers can drink on the job! And they can drink however much they want, but since everyone knows who is responsible for what part on what car, and each car gets put through hell before reaching our hands, I don’t have to tell you what happens when mistakes happen and/or are repeated!

·         Each car travels through the process with a small box attached to the bottom of the car that gives the robots/employees info about what needs to happen at each of their stations in terms of special/custom features etc.

·         The middle console including the radio, gps navigator, cup holders etc. consists of about 150 various pieces, and one person puts it all together in a matter of minutes! It’s  a Lego Land!

·         The car literally gets put through hell, consistent rain, downpour, bumps,ice,  you name it, it probably goes through it,  before it gets into our hands – I would NOT want to be the driver doing the testing in this one tiny room! I am guessing he doesn’t drink much beer on his job! J

·         All employees get asked once a year about their ideas on the overall process improvement/cost savings etc. Couple of years ago, an idea of one of the employees was implemented, which saved AUDI millions! The person was awarded a brand new AUDI of his choice as a sign of appreciation!

·         You can order your own car, travel to Audi, watch them make it, and then drive away in it!

·         Start saving your $$$$$$$$ now! J

And in the end, this is what you get! Apparently this is the up and coming most popular color on the market right now! Think chocolate! Yum!

Day 2:

I wasn’t going to let another day go by without moving, which meant an early am wakeup call! Ingolstadt isn’t exactly a very runner friendly town, and I really wanted to get in a good workout, and work up a great sweat rather then having to stop every 10 yards for lights, cars etc. Our hotel gym didn’t have a treadmill, but we found this!  24 hour McFit gym!  (pic. 39)

I wonder when McDonalds will start opening McFit’s in the U.S! It was more or so a planet fitness type setting, but what we didn’t know that no one works the front desk. We waited around for a bit, and since no one showed up, 3 of us “broke in” to McFit! I didn’t get up at 5:45 am to not get my run in! The rest of the day was spent in meetings, and ended with a quick trip to overpriced German outlet malls, another dinner out, and a few drinks! Come 2 am, I was finally back in bed – phew! What a looooooooong day! 

Day 3:

Another early morning wake up call! This time we decided to run outside! As I suspected, Ingolstadt really wasn’t runner friendly, and this run involved bunch of stopping and going due to traffic etc. , but it was better than nothing! More meetings followed, and in the pm was my flight from Munich to Prague! Czech Republic here I come!  To say that I was excited was an understatement!!!!!!! At this point, I have consumed more alcohol than I had in the past year, and I couldn’t wait to get home to see my family whom I haven’t seen in about 2.5 years! 

Overall, Germany was alright. Sales meeting went great, but  I wasn’t really a fan of Ingolstadt I really wouldn’t care to come back here except if it was to pick my custom made Audi! J

Next up – MY HOME – CZECH REPUBLIC! J

  

How NOT to pace a TT!

Fast Splits Time Trial at the Multisport Expo at MIT

I did this time trial last year as my first ever time trial. I really had no idea about power or what I was getting myself into at that time, but somehow pretty much exactly one year later, I felt like a super rookie again! Maybe because coach Jorge signed me up to go in the same heat as the elite/pro girls - the likes of Karen Smyers, Kristen Gohr - local pro cyclist, and Crystal Anthony who is training for the TT worlds this year!  Perhaps I should be a bit intimidated by these big names!

I really had a busy Saturday. I was leaving for 11 day trip to Europe the next day and I was only half way packed! I really didn’t have much time to think about this event, but I made my way over to the expo couple of hours before race start, and got my head in the game. Coach Jorge couldn’t be there, but I sure saw many familiar faces, and it was great to catch up with everyone! J

It was finally my turn to go. I got in a great 20 min + warm up with some pickups, and was ready for the show to get started or I should say for the pain to begin! I know by now what these all out efforts are all about! They sure can be extremely rewarding, or humbling! The power meter doesn’t lie! You either have it or you don’t! These tests or time trials are all about even pacing, and I have learned the hard way to not go out too hard because sustaining the super high power for 20 min is near impossible. My best results from the past resulted from a very even pacing or power that would increase as time went on and NOT the other way around.

This was a 6.03 mile time trial so I knew it will take a sub 20 min effort to make it happen. The goal was to try to stick around 240 watts as last time I tested I was around 232 watts. All was great, until we actually got hooked up to the computrainers, and the gun went off.  I honestly lost all senses and started to hammer! I felt great, I felt awesome, and I was hanging in with the big girlz! NOOOOOOT the best idea! As much as I knew I was shooting for around 240 Watts and a nice steady 6.03 mile trip through the hills of Central Park, I was keepin up with the pro’s! Now you can all try to guess without reading any further how long that lasted.

I hung with them for about the first 5 min or 2 or so miles, and then it all went downhill from there! And I mean downhill, straight into the pain cave! I was clearly NOT thinking, and got lost in the heat of the moment – NEVER again do I want to do that! I most definitely had some bad thoughts going through my head knowing I still had 3 or so miles left of this! Ouch! Here are some numbers to show you how “stupid” I was!

Last time I tested back in January my 5 min power was 262 Watts. Today, 1st 5 min of the TT, my power was 266 Watts! 4 watts higher! Now, that’s awesome if this was a 5 min test, but I wasn’t done yet.  I had another 4 miles (13 minutes)  to go! Ooooops! No wonder anything from the 2.5 mile mark onwards felt like eternity.  I was hurting! I managed to hang on to some power, even though it was as hard as ever - burning legs, and screaming lungs would be an understatement. The 6.03 mile mark couldn’t come fast enough! I ended up with average power of 242 Watts for my 17 min and 13 second effort. 10 watts higher than my last test, and on the way to 250, so I am pretty happy about that, but I am not so happy with going out so hard and making myself suffer for good majority of the TT. Lesson learned! After talking with Jorge, he said if I didn’t go nuts the first 5 min, I could have probably gone 245 – 250 watts! I’ll take his word for it!

Coming out of this TT, I also want a new toy! I want to get the computrainer! J  Since ALL winter – and this winter was, or should I say is so super freaking LONG, I am very much used to riding in one or two gears only, and pushing a steady pace not having to worry about shifting at all. The downhills on this course KILLED me! The thought of riding different courses, and once I may be racing on sounds oh so very appealing!

In the end, I had a blast, and I didn’t come in last – Karen Smyers beat me by about 25 seconds and Crystal A. by 10 seconds .. dammit! It is times like this when I wonder what my power could be if I was strictly concentrating on cycling. I learned a lot from this TT! I am now more confident than ever that 250 watts will be coming my way soon … :) … just have to pace it right!!!!!!!! … and perhaps not take 10 day work trips to Europe? Getting on my bike next week will sure be interesting! J

Final Results in numbers: TT - 6.03 miles – 17:10 min – 242 avg. watts (4.2 watts/kg) – my max power – 535 Watts in the opening seconds … OOPS! I can feel the matches burning now! :)

The blog about my European adventure is up next, and with that bunch of work, not much sleep, and bunch of running, which allowed me to czech out some very cool cities, and re-visit some childhood memories! 

BUSY BEE!!!!!!!!!!

The word “busy” is an understatement.  My days begin with a 4:55 am wake up call, and on most days I I get home between 7 pm at the earliest, and as late as 10 pm if I work out after work  as well.  Somehow manage to fit all my training in, but what is suffering is my sleep and really any other type of quality/chill time. There is just not enough hours in a day!

With that said, I am really enjoying my new job! I like the job itself, I get the flexibility I need, and I really like the people I work with.  I also get to travel quite a bit, which is awesome! I am going to Europe – Germany, Czech Republic, and Sweden next week, and I’ll be there for a total of 11 days. I’ll get to see my family while I am there, which ROCKS!  It really can’t get much better than that.  While I am super excited, I am also a bit uneasy about my training or the lack there of while I will be gone. I will make sure I get my running in, I do plan on swimming at least while I am at home (I should be able to squeeze in 3 swims), but I will NOT have my bike with me, and that freaks me out! My power is just getting to the point of where it was towards the end of the season a year ago, and I am ready to take it beyond that! BUT – 11 days of no bike?  What is going to happen when I get back?  I am not ready to take steps back, but would obviously rather move forward!  Duh! J I really just don’t want to lose the fitness I have gained so far!

There is also a lot more that has happened in the little triathlon world of mine. I will blog about all these in more detail as soon as I get a chance – maybe on the plane to Europe next week?  But for now this is what you have to look forward to:

·         I got a new toy – new super awesome, and super fast bike!  I can’t wait to take it outside! Name is still TBD, and I am taking suggestions …

·         My coach chased me to back to back personal bests in the pool – 1:23 and 1:26 for 100 yards! I know – slow for some of you but super fast for me and especially due to my recent struggles in the pool … my previous pb was 1:29 from back in November …

·         Aaaaaaand I am switching triathlon teams. I have been working with coach Jorge since June last year and have seen tremendous improvements across all three sports. My endurance has come a long way, and it still has a long way to go.  I am sticking with coach Jorge as he is launching his very own triathlon team – E3 Training Solutions.  For more details about the team, Czech out Jorge’s post:

http://jorgepbmcoaching.blogspot.com/

There will be a lot more to come about E3, but here is your chance to jump on board with one of the best! J

·         Non triathlon related – I will also be moving and leaving the city life behind me! It’s been fun, but it’s time to move on. It’s time to move closer to my work so that I can actually have time to sleep and pay attention to other things besides work/triathlon.  I currently spend anywhere around 3+ hours a day commuting, and I don’ t like it! My ass doesn’t like it! I really HATE it! Move should be finalized shortly, and I”ll share pics and info with all of you so you can come visit! I plan on setting up a nice training cave! J

Thanks for reading, and I hope to update you all with some more detail very soon. That plane trip is only 7 days away – just a day after the triathlon expo time trial, where I’ll test my power (bike power) against the best – the likes of Karen Smyers and the list goes on ....

Quick update and Hyannis 1/2 marathon

It sure has been a while since I last blogged! One main reason being, I now have a job again! The days when I could just fit in 3 workouts a day and still be able to sleep 8+ hours are over! My life of a pro triathlete wanna be is done – at least for now. My mission however continues! J

My new routine that I am trying to get into ROCKS!!!!! Or maybe not so much as 4:55 am alarm clock every morning comes way too fast! I get in either my bike or swim workouts done before I leave for work around 7 am. My commute to and from work can be anywhere from an hour and 15 min to 2 hours depending on the traffic! My bum hurts and my eyes cringe as I am typing the word “traffic”.  Then if I can’t squeeze my run in at lunch, I end up running when I get home which is usually after 7 pm, and the rest is history. Pack the bags for the next day, and do it all over again. Then there are days like today, when you just want to scream!!!!!!! I really just wanted to get to work on time but the idiot with the blue camry had other plans!

Needles to say, I made it to work an hour late after the lady behind me left!

Few things I learned today:

·         Meter maids in Boston only work when they want to! They give tickets 10 minutes after midnight for a registration that just expired on previous day, they will write you a ticket if you are 30 seconds after your meter expired, but when over 50% of the car is parked on a side walk all night and morning, they do not care!

·         A car even though illegally parked cannot be towed without a ticket or else whoever calls to tow the car has to pay $75!!!!!

·         It takes Boston police at least an hour to switch shifts, so if you are up to no good, anytime between 7 am and 8am is the time to do it! Just Czech your nearest Dunking Donuts!

·         Next time – I may not be as patient!!!!!!

·         And finally, I would really LOVE to meet the dumbass that “moved” my car into the SUV behind me even though I had my parking brake on, and then proceeded to back their car into me but still ended up being parked half way on the sidewalk! What was the rational behind their move?

Needles to say, weekends can’t come fast enough, which finally brings me to the Hyannis Half Marathon I ran this past weekend!

It was my first open half marathon ever, and even though I should have been excited to test my running fitness, I really wasn’t all that into it. The timing really just couldn’t be any worse. I had just started my new job 2 weeks ago, travelled much of the 1^st week, and spend the rest of the time trying to go to bed at a normal hour so that the 4:55 am (not 5:00 am) wake up call, doesn’t scare the crap out of me too much. I had just finally gotten rid of a cold, and so my energy levels weren’t exactly there. I mean what should I expect after 2 weeks of consistently getting anywhere between 5-6 hours of sleep. The weather forecast wasn’t exactly favorable, and all I wanted to do was sleep in! Not this Sunday.

Good thing was, the 7 am wakeup call actually felt like sleeping in! The weather condition however made me want to go back to bed! It wouldn’t be winter 2011 if we didn’t have another snow storm! In any case, I had my usual breakfast – bagel with almond butter and jelly roughly about 3 hours before the race start and then drove down to the Cape with my friend Rod. We got to Hyannis about an hour before the race, but the last stretch proved to be deadly! We ended up parking almost a mile away from the start so we could even make it to the start line on time. The start was about a mile away.  Minor glitch was – we didn’t have our numbers yet! My friend Jim picked them up for us but we didn’t find him till about 5 min before the race started! Being a rookie, I kept wondering, where the timing chip was, and since I thought they didn’t give us one, I started to think more and more that this race is just going to turn into a training run.

The race had close to 4,500 participants between the 10K, ½ marathon, and full marathon so the start was quite crowded. The weather itself really couldn’t be any better – you guessed it. It snowed, rained, and snowed on and off again pretty much the entire time except for the last 3 or so miles.  You gotta love running with soaking wet feet!!!! Is it spring yet?

None less my competitive drive and adrenalin took over, and off I went. The 1st mile was a mess of dodging people, and puddles! The plan was to run 7:30s or so for the first 3 miles, then drop it down and settle into race pace at 7:15s, and the last 3 miles bring it home! My running inexperience showed through very quickly! In triathlon by the time you get to the run, people are scattered all over the place and you are not being crowded. You don’t have to negotiate your route, or worry about getting tripped or tripping people. You don’t hear other people’s breath trying to either keep up with you or pass you. Since my first mile ended up being an easy 7:40, I decided to speed up … to hell with 7:30’s why not sub 7:10s!!!! Miles 2 through 7 were awesome! I wasn't really pushing the pace (okay – maybe a little bit), I was feeling great and I was running just below my targeted 7:15s. I only looked at my watch when I heard the beep! I kept seeing sub 7:10s and I was still feeling great.  I felt AWESOME and began to have thoughts of actually running sub 1:35!  

Then Mile 8 came, and my legs just decided to quit! I was in the hurt locker for the rest of the day. I was just trying to hold on! When I saw mile 8 click of at 7:30 pace, my positive attitude took turn for the worse! I started to play mind games with myself, and I tried to focus on the positive. I “tried” to follow a girl that went by me or at least keep her in my sights, but that didn’t last long! There were few rollers on the back end of this course – nothing major at all, but those bumps hurt! And no – you really can’t even call them hills! The mind games continued … It was at about mile 11 or so when we went by the BTT tent again, and that is where coach Jorge was! It was the last 3 miles when it was time to suck it up and as he put it go "nuts". He ran with me for a few yards, and yes – that actually gave me a bit of energy to try to go faster, but unfortunately that didn’t last long.  I went "nuts" but my splits didn't quite show it! No excuses, just a statement here – at this point my feet were soaking wet, and frozen, and my legs were hurting! My right quad and left calf felt like they were both about to cramp up, and I really couldn't wait to be done. I tried to keep telling myself that I feel GREAT, but my legs just didn't want to listen. I was pushing hard, but my damn legs were not moving. Totally 100% my fault and looking back at it now – STUPID, STUPID, STUPID mistake, I didn’t take in any nutrition at all. I was running out of energy fast! I was going to take a gel at about the 1 hour mark which is what I normally do on long training runs, but I didn't do my homework and had no idea where the water stops where. The idea of actually spilling any water on my frozen self was enough to make me run the entire race without taking any fuel in! Just call me STUPID!!!!! I could have used the extra kick for the last 3 miles to say the least.

I went through 13.1 miles at 1:35:45, but my official time is 1:36:20 (13.2 miles from my garmin) so roughly around 7:18, 7:17 pace.

Overall, as much as I was dragging the race, and it wasn’t the greatest timing, I am very glad I did it. I learned a few things, and I will never NOT fuel again! I mean I held on to that freaking gel long enough!!!!

I spent the winter really just building up my mileage while running at an EZ (7:45 – 8:00) pace. I have yet to do any speedwork, and last time I ran remotely close to my avg. pace was back in November in Clearwater. I believe as I keep running more and build my mileage, I should be able to keep the sub 7:10 pace for the entire race and one day I will be running sub 7s – I know it!  There is more work to be done folks and I am ready to take my running to the next level. J

As far as my splits go you can see, I hit a wall at mile 8 - gigantic wall, but I am happy that I let my pace slip to 7:20s and 7:30s and not any further. You can also see I kept trying to pick up the pace, but really wasn’t able to hold it for very long hence the toggle between 7:30s and 7:20s. Like I said – I was trying to speed up.

  

Mile 1: 7:40

Mile 2: 7:10

Mile 3: 7:04

Mile 4: 7:10

Mile 5: 7:09

Mile 6: 7:08

Mile 7: 7:06

Mile 8: 7:30

Mile 9: 7:22

Mile 10: 7:24

Mile 11: 7:30

Mile 12: 7:20

Mile 13: 7:32

Mile 14: 6:32

And how did I compare to the rest of the peeps?

Overall:             246^th place out of 2,689 (Top9%)

Females:           60^th out of 1,156 (Top 5%)

Females 30-39:  19^th out of 456 (Top 4.5%)

And if we went by the triathlon age groups:

Females 30-34: 11^th out of 245 (Top 4%)

And because I can, there were 54 30 year old chicks competing and I came in 3^rd! J

Sub 1:30 I am gunning for you! For now, I pretend like my legs are fine, when I can barely straighten them! My quads and hammies are garbage and I strongly dislike the foam roller or really anything else that is suppose to help speed up the recovery proces! I am living in the my awesome Zoot Recovery Tights!  Till next time! J