Tag: Running

IRONMAN 70.3 Timberman

Exiting the water.
Exiting the water.

SWIM: TrainingPeaks Data
Target Time: 0:45:00
Race Time: 0:42:54
I was so nerves before this swim that I tore my wetsuit twice trying to put it on.  This was going to be my first group start in a triathlon so I really had no idea what to expect.  Once the race started I started to relax and try getting into a rhythm.  Unfortunately that was not going to happen.  Instead I struggled with the swim the entire time I was in the water.  Overall I felt the swim went terrible, but when I saw my time I was pretty happy.  B+

T1: 0:04:55
Just tried to be steady.  Overall very happy with my time.

Finishing the bike
Finishing the bike

BIKE: TrainingPeaks Data
Target Time: 3:00:00
Race Time: 2:48:13
I had pre-rode the first and last 8 miles of the course on Saturday, so I knew the first 6.5 miles were mostly uphill.  It was never a big climb, just a long rolling climb.  The plan was to just keep it nice and steady for this part and then put in a good effort until the big climb that started around mile 12.  After that climb it was 35-38 miles of just getting into a nice steady grove and try to maintain around 220 watts.  This worked out better than I could have ever hoped for.  I had great legs for the two big climbs on the way back in and just buried myself for the last 6.5 downhill miles into the finish.  A+

T2: 0:05:23
It was looking like rain before the start, so I left my T2 stuff in my transition bag to keep it dry.  This cost me a little time, but at least I didn’t have to worry about having wet stuff to start the run.

The start of the run
The start of the run

RUN: TrainingPeaks Data
Target Time: 2:15:00
Race Time: 2:32:28
Before I was even out of transition I knew that I had no legs for the run.  Instead of killing myself and trying to find something that was not there, I just immediately fell into a run/walk routine that I was sure would get me to the finish.  I really liked the course and wish I could have found some way to run a little more but it was not to be.  D-

Overall: 6:13:53

Summary:
I was using a training plan to get ready for Timberman and was questioning the running volume for the last month before the race.  Unfortunately I decided to trust in the training plan instead of what my body was telling me. I just do not think that I was doing even close to enough miles, so coming off the bike and being a little tired I was doomed.  Going into the half marathon that I ran in April I was doing 25-30 miles a week, but the training plan that I was working with only had me doing 10-15 miles a week.  Oh well, live and learn.

On the bike I wanted to average 220 watts.  When I pulled my data off the Garmin, I found out that I only averaged 190 watts while going under my target time.  I’m not sure if means that I had great legs that day, or that the course really suited me.  I will say that I really liked the course.  I did have on problem on the bike.  I missed my pocked when putting my gel flask away around mile 20 and didn’t find out until the next time I went looking for it.

Based on my result and how I felt after this I have decided that I will go ahead and do a IRONMAN next year.  Not sure if it will be IRONMAN Maryland or Louisville.

Race of Rams Duathlon and The Battle at Burlingame MTB Race

Somehow I let the stupid part of my brain make decisions for the rest of me the weekend before last.  I had planned on doing the Battle of Burlingame 6 Hour MTB race, but I knew I also needed to work on dealing with transitions for the upcoming Half Ironman.  It just happens that there was a duathlon just down the road from me than is known as being good for first timers.  Well the duathlon had a start time of 8:30 am, and the Battle of Burlingame XC race, not the 6 hour event, had a start time of 2:30 pm, so why not do both!

Race of Rams Duathlon (First race of the day)
The race was a 1.5 mile run, 14 mile bike and then a 2 mile.  This was the first duathlon I had ever done, so I was not really sure how to approach it.  

Entering 1st Transition
Entering 1st Transition

I decided to go out easy on the first running leg and was a little surprised at the end when I found out I had run a 10:46.  That was a 7:11 pace and 19th fastest run, which is not something I would have ever expected.

Looking strong coming of the bike
Looking strong coming of the bike

I felt really good on the bike right from the start. so I decided I would push a little on the first lap and see how I felt at the start of the second lap.  I was picking off other riders here and there so I was pretty sure that I had a good ride going.  At the end of the first lap I was still feeling pretty good so I decided to go all in on the second lap and just buried myself.  I was pretty sure that it had been a good ride when I hit the transition and there were only 6 bikes hanging there.  The result was a 43:46.5 bike leg that was good for the 5th fastest bike leg of the day.

Got her back at the line.
Got her back at the line.

I didn’t want to ruin what was turning into a good race on the last run so I went for it.  The second run was an out and back that was all uphill for the out part.  Almost immediately I had three runners go by me, and at the turn around there were two people right behind me.  I managed to sort of hold them both off to the finish.  Okay one passed me and then I managed to stay with her until the last 100 meters where I passed her back.  Net result for the second run was a 14:41.3 which worked out to a 7:21 pace.

Race of Rams bike leg data
Race of Rams bike leg data

My overall time was a 1:11:37.5.  That was good for 11th overall and 1st in my age group.

Hopefully this was the finish, because I look awful.
Hopefully this was the finish, because I look awful.

The Battle of Burlingame (Second race of the day)
I went out to warm up before the race and was not real impressed with the hill at the start, until I found out that the course was pancake flat.  That pretty much told me that there was nothing left in the legs and it was going to be a real long race.  I put in a good hard effort for about the first 1/2 a lap and then decided that I needed to just back off and try to finish.  On the 3rd lap someone passed me and said he was surprised I was still even out there after racing in the morning.  My only comment to that was that I didn’t really think the pace I was riding at really counted as racing.  That was maybe not the most polite thing to say being that he was just catching me at that point.  After a quick laugh he more or less paced me to the finish.  My finishing time was 1:38:53 which was good for 14th.  I was a little surprised by my lap times.  I figured they would drop off really bad after the first lap.  The second lap was only 2 minutes slower than the first, and the third lap was actually 20 seconds faster than the second lap.

Battle of Burlingame data
Battle of Burlingame data

This may have been a really good race course and I would love to try it again without the dead legs.  Maybe next year if these two events do not fall on the same day.

Willi Whammer 1/2 Marathon

For some reason I decided to register for the IRONMAN Timberman 70.3 later this year.  I’ve never done a triathlon of any length before, so I decided to jump right in and see how things go.  At some point my brain must have switch gears and figured out that I should really put some effort into this, or I was going to be in for a long and most likely not enjoyable day.

One of the first things I wanted to get out of the way was working on the run.  I ran track in high school, but I was a sprinter.  After high school I ran a little and have even done a few 5K races.  Not sure that is the makings of a good half marathon race.  In mid-February I started to train for the Willi Whammer 1/2 Marathon on April 26th.  I started easy and just kept slowly adding distance and managed to get to the point where I was up to 11 miles comfortable.

My Happy face?
My Happy face?

Well race day came around and I was greeted to pouring rain and low 40’s for a temperature.  Basically I could not have asked for better weather, yeah right.  Well I decided to make the best of it and just go out and run.  I had originally been targeting a 2 hour time, but with the weather I figured I was going to slip a little on my target time.  Most of the hills were located in the first 6 miles of the race.  I’m not sure if it was due to the temperature or what, but I really struggled with the down hills.  My shins were killing my ever time the road went down and I was just about walking.  Fortunately I felt strong on the up hills and flats or that first half would have taken forever.  The second half of the run was just a case of keeping a steady pace and try having a little fun, which I’m not really sure that I pulled off that last part.

All in all I was happy with my time even though I missed my target of 2 hours.  I’m not sure when the next half marathon is going to be, but I am going to be lining up at a duathlon the following weekend.

Splits:

  • Mile 4.2: 0:39:24
  • Mile 6.6: 1:02:07
  • Mile 9.7: 1:32:32
  • Finish: 2:04:48
  • Pace: 9:32/Mile

First Race of 2014

Over the weekend I ran in the Courthouse O’ Putnam 5k.  It was the second time I have run this and was hoping to lower my time a little.  Well I ended up 3 seconds slower than last year.  Overall I was still happy with my run.  My first and last miles were close time wise, while my second mile was almost 50 seconds slower.  The second mile is also where all the climbing is during this race.  At the end I felt that I may have held a little too much back and could have easily held the pace I was running for a second 5K.  My time was 25:15, which worked out to 8:08 minute miles.  This is well under what I need to reach my first big goal of the year, a sub two hour half marathon.