Labor Day Weekend and The Austin Triathlon

First off I just want to say that Austin is awesome if you did not already know and my family cannot get enough.

Disclaimer: 1st half is about our trip to Austin and 2nd half is the Race Report.

Trip:
We arrived late Friday night as we do not make any long road trips now out of town until Pierce has decided its bedtime.  This makes travelling easier except we do not get places till way after my bedtime.

Saturday was a very relaxing day.  We got up and ate at Austin Java which we would do again on Sunday morning..  I highly recommend. Then we were waiting on some friends and Pierce wanted to take a nap so we drove over to Lake Austin and just enjoyed the scenery and looked at homes we cannot afford. How does a $3.3M 6,500sq ft house on Lake Austin sound?  Sounded great to us but again no way to pay that mortgage.

Then it was off to dinner where we tried to go to Moonshine with some friends. It was over an hour wait so we went to to Taverna off 2nd street.  This is our second time to go to this Italian restaurant and it did not disappoint   This is one of my all time favorite Italian places.

Sunday was an early morning as I went out with three friends Greg, David and Jason to ride the course and get in a short run.  Then Off to breakfast with the family plus David and like I mentioned earlier another trip to Austin Java. Lunch was another attempt to go to Moonshine but Sunday after church the wait was 1.5hrs.  So, we ate at a hole in the wall BBQ place that could be forgotten.  Finally for dinner we arrived at Moonshine early enough and got seated right away.  3 trips to this place in less than 24hrs.  3rd time was definitely the charm. Just like Taverna this place was awesome.  I had chicken fried chicken with chipotle cream gravy and a side of their groumet mac n cheese.  Delicious but definitely not something I would suggest a pre-race meal, but worth every bite.

Race Report:
Getting ready in the morning for a race in a hotel room while trying not to wake up your 7month old should be a sport by itself. That being said I would not be very good at it cause I definitely woke him up at like 5am or something.  Good thing was I was basically ready so I could feed him and let Megan sleep a bit more before I had to head to transition.

Since, we had to check our bikes in the day prior transition set up was a breeze and I had plenty of time to go for a short jog and do all the normal morning triathlon duties.  If you race you know what I am talking about.

Swim:
At the Austin Tri their is never a warm up swim as there are too many people and they just do not allow it. It was also non-wetsuit legal as expected with how hot Texas has been.  I did however have my Xterra speedsuit, which was great for getting rid of any drag from my two piece race kit.
The actual swim performance though was really rough.  Now is the part where I make a ton of excuses. 1. It was windy and we had to swim against a current on the way out and on the way back the current wanted to take us at an angle so we were fighting that. 2. Life is not giving me enough pool time. I am swimming at most once every two weeks on average and those count any race day swims.  I also have not put in over 1500m during a swim in a couple of months. 3. I am trying to work in a new swim stroke and I think that wore me out as my body is not used to it.
Enough excuses I am not a great swimmer.

T 1:
T1 was not as good as usual as I was worn out from the swim so my run in transition was definitely a slow jog.  Plus I was frustrated which made things a bit worse. Then once I got my bike and after exiting transition there was a long run to the mount line. At the beginning of the jaunt I got a rock stuck to the bottom of my foot.  Rather than stop and remove it I kept running hoping it would fall off or when I went to mount I would get it off.  The latter happened.  I did not think anything of this at this point but all of that pounding on the sidewalk with a rock stuck to my foot caused a deep bruise that affected me from the first step I took off the bike.

Bike:
The wind was howling and riding 88mm rims on the front and the back meant I was fighting the wind big time. A few of those gust definitely came close to knocking me over.  I know several time I was riding at an angle into the wind to compensate for its force. This course is rather hilly with one big climb that you do 3 times and then a long slight climb you do three times.  I chose to spin up these hills watching my power to make sure I am not pushing way too hard going up and burning up my legs.  I did well on the hills but there were several other parts on the course where I should have pushed much harder and did not. My avg HR was at least 7 bpm lower than it should have been, my avg power was 20watts lower than desired. So, I wussed out a bit on the bike which shower in my avg speed being just south of 21mph.  Should have been 22 at least.

T2:
I did much better in T2 as I was not frustrated coming off the bike and was only like 3 seconds off the fast T2 time in my age group. It was also faster than the top pro males who raced. This is when I noticed though the pain in my foot.

Run:
As soon as I left transition my left foot was hurting soo bad I contemplated pulling out of the race the first half mile or so. I decided as long as I could keep my pace with the pain I would stay in. I was able to keep my pace but then I feel my right hamstring cramping up. At this point I am probably low on sodium as I missed a dose getting off the bike as I dropped my pill container at the beginning of the bike. This caused some irritation but not any pain.  I just could not stretch my legs out or push any harder as I would have really cramped up.  So, 4.5miles to go with a deep bruise on my foot and some hamstring cramping.  To try to keep the cramp at bay I made sure I took in electrolytes at every aid station and I think that saved my race. The other thing that helped is my wife has a knack for finding the best places to watch a race and on this two loop run course she found a place where she could cheer me on like 8 times.  This always helps and my pace always quickens a bit when I am near her cause if not she will let me hear it. On the home stretch last 2.5mins or so I picked up my pace and was running sub 7's.  I went through the finish line hard and as soon as I did that my hamstring went into a softball size cramp and I need assistance getting to medical tent. With proper nutrition and an un bruised foot I should have been able to push the run harder as well.  My avg hr was at least 10bpm too low but probably more like 15.

Avg Pace: 7:17/mi

Total Time: 2:32

Summary
Overall I am ok with my performance and glad that I did not quit during the run.  I am really upset with myself for the fact that I did not push as hard as I should have and did not properly display my fitness but this performance showed me where I am and was great for that. So, not perfect but a lot of stuff I can take with me to help me at the Houston Tri oly in a few weeks.

Plus how can you be upset when you get a greeting like this from your son after your race.

Bridgeland Triathlon - Race Week

This event is the best sprint only race in Houston.

With that being said the best racers in Houston make it out for this race and the competition is tough. Last year I raced my tail off and only ended up top 10.

I have been using my races so far this year to test things. So, far through my three tests I am still not satisfied with the results. So, Bridgeland is going to be another one test.  My goal going in is the swim my normal swim and then bike with the higher avg/normalized power than my last two races and see where that leaves me on the run.

The run so far this season was good two races ago but I did not bike hard enough and last race I had a bike PR but ran terribly.  I think my terrible run was more a factor of lack of sleep than it was fitness or my bike effort.  This is why I am trying to bike hard again.

Main focuses this week are to hydrate enough and get some medium duration and intensity workouts in to keep the legs ready for the effort on Sunday.

Saturday I will go out and ride and run the course not hard but again just to keep the legs moving and to scope out the course again.

Fingers are crossed for a good test.

Shadow Creek Triathlon - Race Report

I want to start off by thanking my wife for putting up with this triathlon addiction. This past weekend was our 5 year anniversary and she was awesome enough to let me race.

We went out Saturday night while my parents did the babysitting and I got in bed a little after midnight.

Then I woke up at 3:30am ate my blueberry muffin and went back to sleep for another hour. I did this so that my stomach would be empty prior to the race by giving myself 3 hours to digest all food.

Swim: The swim was a 500m straight point to point swim in a neighborhood lake. The first 100-200m or so was definitely crowded with no clear water but then people started to fall off as I am sure they hit a wall and remembered they could not swim that fast.

I could have swore according to my data I had the swim I was expecting just under 2min/100m as I have only been swimming 1-2 times per month with my schedule being crazy but they timed me at 7:26 for the 500m swim. That pace is ridiculous to me and put me in 3rd coming out of the water.

T1:My transition spot could not have been in a worse location. Most of the times a transition spot will balance out during the race because of different entries and exits. This race swim entrance was the same as run exit and bike exit and entrance was in the middle. My spot happened to be on the last row against the fence farthest from the swim entrance and run exit.

With that being true it is a good thing I am decent at transitions.
I had the 3rd ranked T1 time and was a second away from 1st.

Bike:This was my first race on my new custom Apex Endurance bike and second race using power. After learning not to put a top end power during the race from my last experience I rode much better this time. I averaged right where I wanted to ride and had a PR on the bike at 22.7 mph. It was a flat course but had lots of 90 degree turns and 3 u-turns I believe. This race I watched my power, HR, cadence and speed to make sure I was working hard and smart enough. I avg a 179bpm and 92rpms. Even though I thought I killed the bike and I did for me there were some good riders and I ranked 5th on the bike. This dropped me to 4th place which is where I would stay.

T2:Again, I would be affected by my bad transition spot but I managed to kill the field and rank 1st in T2, with 2nd place being almost 9sec back. I even mad a small mistake racking my bike.

Run:Well I started the run great in the low to mid 6's but that did not last long. By mile one my fatigue hit me hard. My HR was up around 190bpm which is where it should be but my speed for that effort was not there. So, I just managed my effort according to HR and tried the best I could but that was not good enough to catch anyone as it shouldn't have been. Finished the run with the 4th best run but it was about 40sec/min slower than it should have been. Oh well.

Final Result 4th place. Crazy part is I was second during awards on race day and got the belt buckle for it but according to online results I am 4th.

Good race overall and I know now I definitely need more sleep and I am going to start working more short race pace brick runs in after bike workouts. I guess even though they say my swim was good I need to swim more and goal is to swim 2x's a week.

Next race is www.bridgelandtri.com the first weekend of August. This is a super popular race here in Houston and I will be lucky to get a top 10.

Race Nutrition:
I am trying very hard to get my body away from using/needing carbs to workout and race. So, the only carbs I got were at 3:30 with my muffin. Pre-Race I had a couple Hammer Race-Supreme caps and 3 Endurolytes.
On the bike I took in another 3 Endurolytes fairly early and another 3 just before getting off.
For liquid I used www.gozym.com catapult tablet in my water. During the run I drank some water and swished cytomax.  Did not swallow.

My goal is the get my body more efficient using fat stores because our bodies have a lot more of that than they do glycogen.  Plus our body stores about 90mins worth of glycogen so you can get through a sprint without any.

Chance to Win a Triathlon Transition Bag by Yankz

The T2 Yankz! TriathlonBAG is a great multisport backpack with great shoulder straps to help make carrying the bag that much more comfortable. It unzips to lay flat in the transition area. The team at Yankz thought of everything and this bag has a place for all your endurance gear.  Instead of a huge cavern of a bag like I have now.  With this bag you know where everything is and there is no more searching for your goggles or HRM. There are special areas for your helmet, each pair of shoes, and a great removable mesh bag to hold your dry/wet wetsuit (and a wet towel). There’s also a key ring and separate cell-phone holder. The bag also comes with a free Yankz lacing system so you won’t have to tie your shoes losing precious seconds in T-2.  

To enter this contest, please comment here. The contest winner will be chosen at random on Friday, July 8, 2011. Please provide a legitimate e-mail address so I can get a hold of you should you win. Contest limited to the USA and Canada.

We need more comments to be able to give this bag away.  So, please tell your friends to read and comment as well.

Kemah Triathlon 2012

The Kemah Tri was my first tri of the year and my first try as a new dad.

Things did not go off without a hitch of course. First, I forgot my Garmin on the charger at home so I had zero technology for the entire race.  This is not a bad thing if you are used to racing/training that way but I am not and have become a tech junkie.

Swim: The swim was in the bay so we did have to deal with some chop but it was not terrible. However, I could not keep water out of my goggles which really hurt my time.  I cam out of the water in 9th place.

T1: I had the fastest T1 time on my group and that definitely made up for a portion of the swim

Bike: Well on to the bike not know what my cadence, hr, speed or power was during the ride.  The only thing I had to gauge how I was biking was others on the course and perceived effort. I pretty much ignored perceived effort and just tried to stay with a few other bikers who seemed to be doing well. After the race I talked to the bikers I stayed with and we averaged right at 23mph for the bike. They combined my bike and T2 time together and I was 5th in my group.

Run: This is where I normally catch some people and it started pretty much the same but I had a hard time pushing myself because of not knowing how hard I was running. I usually really rely on the Garmin to tell me I need to go faster on the run. All for not though because as I was in 3rd place with less than a mile to go on the run I developed a massive hamstring cramp that stopped me dead in my tracks. I tried really quick to get rid of it so I could finish but I couldn't even walk for several minutes. With that I decided I would just cut through the course hobbling and turn in my chip.  My first DNF. Oh well I learned a lot from the race about my capabilities and limitations.

If I had to do it over I would follow my own directions to my athletes and hydrate better leading up to and the morning of raceday.

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Trying to Find a Workout Schedule

Well last night I moved the bike and trainer into the living room hoping to be able to do my ride with the family while watching TV after dinner.

This was a big failure as it was too hot without the fan blowing in my face and too loud for the wife and baby. So, I took my gear back to the garage to complete my 90min ride.

With this latest failure and the fact that I did not feel right getting up and leaving the house to go swimming after being in the garage for most of the night last night I am at the point of trying something new with my workout schedule.

The new plan is to bike at like 4:15am on Tuesday and Thursday.  This will get me off the bike around 5:45am or so and I will be awake and free to help with Pierce in the morning. This of course is not ideal for sleep but at this point I am happy to give up some sleep to work around my wife and son's schedule. They put up with this triathlon stuff enough.

Now, that leaves swimming to plan for. Things will get much easier around the house when my wife is done with Step 3 as she will have much less stress on her. For now I think I will have to try to break away on the weekend only. Then maybe at sometime get a swim in after work once things calm down a bit.

Again, I have learned that plans do not work well with kids but not having a plan wouldn't work either. I have hope for this plan. Question is will I be able to stay awake at work.

Don't Stress Over Spilled Milk

Well yesterday and today did not go as planned for my workouts.

I had a lift and bike planned yesterday and none of which happened.  I had a swim planned for this morning that also did not happen.

It is really hard I am finding out to make everyone happy and seriously train for triathlons. There was a lot of stress in my house yesterday when I got home so I knew then that the evening bike ride was not going to happen.  Good thing is my body probably needed the break as I was still a little sore and have not been sleeping well anyway, which has hindered my recovery.

Today is big because I am going to the Orthopedist at Athletic Orthopedic and Knee to have my knee problems examined and I hope to have some kind of diagnosis today.  I guarantee they say rest it but I have been basically doing that since Dec 15th and can do that no longer. Update to come on what the Dr. Says.

Big lesson though is to not worry about missing a workout here or there. Triathlons are supposed to be fun for me and not something that rules my life or my family's.

Long Weekend - 2.28.11

Another weekend down and a long one it was.

I was able to get my 90min bike http://tpks.ws/xaKj and 1hr run http://tpks.ws/tdaV in which was great.

Also, got to have some BBQ this weekend with the parents, wife and Pierce.

The only downside is my knee is now sore from the run this weekend which of course worries me.  I am now having doubts about my Ironman next year and if my knee can handle to load that comes with an Ironman.

I am also thinking now should I jsut focus on some road racing this year and forget triathlons altogether.

Kind of a down moment right now.

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