Taper time

O.k. I did a year of Crossfit endurance followed by a year of LSD. Regardless of what my result will be in a week an a half I can say that the time commitment for the LSD trained ironman will put a strain on your relationships and your career. I tried to balance it all out, but there were a lot of missed opportunities for family time as the training generally won the time slot.

Tapering is just as strange with LSD as it is with CFE. One day you feel great and the next you feel like crap. One day energetic, next day can't get out of bed. The good news is that I did a one hour bike on the Computrainer tonight and my power was way up over Sunday and I was far from straining.

My bike is already on its way to Arizona. I leave the 16th and race is on the 20th. I am trying real hard just to keep a positive attitude and not put any undue pressure on myself, but I do have certain expectations. I fully expect that I can finish in 12:30 and there is a chance I can come in around 12:00. As they always say - it comes down to the run.

So, I have to look forward to next year so I can start setting my goals. It is much easier to keep yourself motivated to stay fit when you have goals you are reaching for. My schedule is not set in stone, but I am planning on starting with Hyannis half marathon in February. I may end the season with the Hartford Marathon - its all the stuff in between I am not sure of yet. I do know that there will not be any 140.6 races for me next year. I promised my wife none for next year and a promise is a promise. I did not, however, promise anything about the 70.3 distance races. There is on in Canada June 24th that looks interesting (Mont Tremblant). Or I may do the Rev 3 Patriot double again. I would also like to do Litchfield Hills again as I have a score to settle with that venue.

I hope to write a very up tone race report in a couple of weeks.

I'm sick

I think I started feeling it Friday, but just thought it was allergies so I didn't slow down. Did a full weekend worth of training and woke up Monday with a headache, congestion and cough. I bagged my morning swim, but rode 50 miles after work (was going to do 60, but was starting to feel it). I figured I might be able to just sweat the virus out of me - WRONG! So I took Tuesday and Wed off and I will reassess tomorrow. I can't wait too long to get back into the game - running out of time.

Epic Ride

Ride is called Biketoberfest. Organized by a fella in Southwick, MA and it is the hilliest 106 mile bike ride I have ever done. 13 brave souls started and finished this ride. I was smart enough to start to steady pace the hills right from the start which really paid off since most everyone was fried by the last hill about 18 miles from the finish. There were a few sections that I had to stand or my bike would have stopped in its tracks. I was fourth or fifth up that hill and I did not ride any harder than any other hill on the ride where I was consistly 10th. I just had more left. The last few miles were flat and fast - got an unbelievably fast pace line going and riders started dropping one by one. In the end there were only three riders left and I was one of them! How cool is that?

Ran four miles after the ride and could not believe how good I felt. Looks like the training and nutrition plans are working.

Had a couple of cold beers after this workout - I think I earned it!

As an aside, I overheard the ride organizer pondering how he might be able to put a few more hills in the ride next year. Oh bother!

Something came up

Well, I'm not doing Branford this weekend. I'm guessing it is going to turn into a Du and even if it does not, I'm not too keen on a $15.00 late entrance fee. I need to go long this weekend and racing Branford would hinder my efforts.

I raced a 10k in Suffield this past Saturday. Results are hard to judge. I was 1:30 slower than last year but gained 14 places. Either the weather slowed me down (hotter than last year and a little humid) or the field was weaker. I suspect that it is a little of both. I felt pretty good running it. I took it out easy but picked it up earlier than I did the prior year. I ran the hill hard and from then on as hard as I could (a little over 2 miles) so pretty much the same game plan as last year.

Ordered a new full sleeve wet suit today - hopefully it will be in in a couple of days so I can practice in it this weekend. Historically the water in AZ has been 68 degrees or colder. A little too cold for a sleeveless. Besides, I understand that the full sleeves are a little faster than the sleeveless. I will take all the help I can get!

Update - It's been a long time

Today was my longest training day ever. I rode 112 miles followed up with a 4 mile run. Over 7 hours of training.

I have not raced much at all this summer. Something has come up for every single race that I had planned to do this summer. I am going to do Hammerfest in Branford CT September 18th. It is in Branford CT so I was concerned it might get cancelled in the wake of Hurricane Irene - Branford got hit hard. I contacted the race director and it is definitely on - they may need to turn it into a duathlon if the water conditions don't improve, but it is on. I would prefer a triathlon, but I am going to go regardless. I am race deprived.

The training is going well. Both my swimming and running have improved. I'm not necessarily a faster runner, but I can keep my pace over a longer period of time (plus I might be a little faster). Swimming - I just feel more comfortable in the water than I have in a long time. I have been doing a lot of open water swimming. As a matter of fact, I think I have only been in a pool twice this summer (not counting my trip to Cancun). I am going to miss the lake as it will be too cold to swim there pretty soon. Plus, all my swim buddies are pretty much done for the year - There are not too many people racing in the Fall. I know a woman doing Kona and a guy doing Florida, but other than swimming we have trouble synching up.

I hope everyone is well!

Race analysis

I won't go into my detailed blow by blow analysis as I generally do. Suffice it to say that I am very happy with the swim - this is my best time for what felt like a "true" distance. I initially felt that the swim was long and heard other athletes say the same thing after the race, but based on my time and the time of others, I would say it that the distance was probably accurate. No HR information on this, but I swam at what I would call a TEMPO pace. I felt good in the water and went with it. Swam a little wide, but not as bad as I have in the past.

The bike - I thought it took me a long time to get my HR under control on the bike. That is the adreneline distorting reality during the race. I actually got my HR under control fairly quick and ended up averaging somewhere around 138 bpm on the bike. Avg speed was 20.4 vs. 21 last year. Last year my HR monitor crapped out on me during the bike so I very well may have overcooked it. This year I would say I rode it perfectly.

Run - I tried to keep my HR around 145 for the first two miles, but it kept creeping up on me. After two miles I just ran at a relaxed pace which was somewhere around 150bpm. I did not push, but did not hold back either. I got to mile eight and still felt o.k. so I started to stretch it out a little. I wonder if I pushed a little too hard at this point - may have wanted to wait another mile or two as the last mile was very painful (or maybe that is how it is supposed to feel). Finished in 2:05 which is a good half marathon for me. My best training comparison is about 2:03for 13 miles even, So I was really close to my pace. I was shooting for 2:00 even, but I knew that was an aggressive goal.

So I finished the whole thing in about 5:33. My goal was 5:30 and my obnoxious goal was 5:20. It is hard to complain about this.

Other notes - last year I had a fueling issue on the run at this race. This year I raced with my fuel belt and fueled with Ironman Perform in a concentrated form. Just had water at the aid stations. I did not take any salt as between the gels and IM Perform there was plenty of sodium. I believe that I did well on my nutrition at this race, but need to concentrate a little more on run fueling for the IM distance.

Patriot race results

Overall time 5:33:36. Swim was about 37 minutes, bike was 2:44:38 and run was 2:05. Very happy with these results - have not analyzed the splits and HR data yet, but I believe I could have done even better if I paced it differently (or perhaps not - need to analyze data). The big news is that I cut 18 minutes off my run from last year. My overall and age group placings improved dramatically. It feels good to be 46 years old and still improving.