Tri Ridgefield

I put in my best ever performance to date in a race this morning @ the Tri Ridgefield sprint.

Finished with a 1:16:39 for a .5/13/5K distance. My splits are:
Swim: 14:09
T1: 2:13 (included a long ass transition run)
Bike: 36:30
T2: 0:47
Run: 23:00 (PR)

64/348 overall, or within the top 18.4%
4/10 in my age group, M25-29

Swim: 14:09/1:36 pace, 74 overall
Knew I was going to do a 14 min something in the swim and figured I would finish middle of the pack. Somehow upon finishing the swim there was no one around me and upon entering the bike there was still no one around me. I guess I had a good swim and finished towards the front?

I even passed people on the swim. What!?!?! Yes, I actually passed people on the swim!

Going into the swim was a rush and I was a lot more aggresive in getting past people and swimming over or around them. At the first bouy turn I took a nice kick to the jugular. Ouch! It wasn't that bad afterall.

Awesome swim! The water had to be 70 degrees.

Bike: 36:30/21.36mph average, 70 overall
Got going on the bike and my inner quads were screaming at me! I wasn't picking people off left and right like I usually would because my swim always sucked. I was getting passed every now and then and I wasn't passing anybody. This is a first! Perhaps I did have a good swim afterall?

Speed wise, this was the best speed that I have averaged in a race and it was NOT a flat course either. However, this was not the best bike performace I have ever put in. I averaged 200 watts for the course, which should have been in the 220 range. My legs just didn't feel like they were firing on all cylinders. Coming out of the water and getting onto the bike my legs felt like ice blocks and climbing was excruciatingly painful.

Thats it, for the next race, I'm doing a freaking warmup on the bike! Enough of the "Icy Legs" that have been plaguing me in every tri I have ever done.

Run: 23:00/7:25 pace, 107 overall
My legs were laughing at me for the first mile. I felt SO slow. Must not have been or else when my legs FINALLY opened up at around 1.5 miles I was booking it! Or either the run course was short or I was in fact booking it cuz I broke my 5K PR by 41 seconds. Never ran that fast before!

When I hit the top of the last hill, this spectator right there and then turned on his techno music and started blasting it. It was awesome :)

I did the run without any tape on my feet, but the remnant of my nasty blister never cropped up. So that is almost done healing. Still gonna tape it.

Upon entering the finish area there was a good sized crowd with an even bigger cheer coming from it and that totally inspired me to hit the gas for the finish.

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Overall, a good start to the season. I did my first ever triathlon today last year. I'll say I have improved a LOT.

My swim from last year was 20:12. I destroyed that by 6 mins! The bike is different because it was a different course and longer. I still think I was in better bike shape then than now, but oh well. And I did the run last year in 28:09 and the run courses are similar in elevation. So I took off 5:09 from that.

Stamford Olympic in 4 weeks.

final bike and run and more flying dismounts

The bike is working fine and the gears are changing a lot smoother now that I brought it back into the shop for one last look. I did 2 loops @ Purchase with a couple pick ups.

Then a .8 something short slow run. I'm feeling a little sluggish, but thats fine since I haven't been going fast for the last week.

Then finally I practiced my flying dismounts with a transition to the run. I was worried that my feet would be too sweaty to put socks on. That was NOT the case, fortunately.

So this is it.....its time to actually do what this whole thing is all about.

final swim

Got in 800 easy yards in the pool, since I couldn't get out of work and possible T-storms around the race site up in Ridgefield.

I did:
3 x 200
2 x 50
1 x 100

I finished with a bang on the first 200, but then realized that I should probably same that bang for race day, ya think!?!?

I did the 800 in 15:55 with rests. I am way ahead of this time last year!

taper madness

Did a quick 5K this morning. Weird to not have so much volume this week. I'm hoping to get in another half mile swim tomorrow night.

Then Saturday a 20-ish min easy bike ride to a 10 min run to keep the legs moving.

Then Sunday, the big day!

I'm getting more and more nervous!

the most awesomeness OWS

Did my first OWS of the season up in Ridgefield tonight. I went with a buddy of mine and we just paced off of each other. We ended up doing two half mile loops and averaged 14:30's /880 yards.

14:30!!!! Thats a 1:39 /100 average. WOAH! And we weren't even cooking it at race pace!

The water temp was in the mid to high 60's so there was barely any adjustment needed to get used to the water. Tons of orange bouys to sight off of and just awesome water. Period!

By far the best OWS I have ever done.

I'm so excited for this race!

easy 1650 and done early with a run

Just took it easy in the pool. 1650 yards in ~35 mins. Just cruised along with a few 100's thrown in there with some speed. Think I did the last one on 1:37.

I did:
4 x 100 WU
4 x 100 Descending
100 EZ
2 x 300
3 x 50 cooldown focusing on form

Just trying to preserve myself for a possibly OWS tomorrow night and for next weekend.

Then I got outside @ lunch today for the first time in a long time for a run. I added 5 x 30 sec surges to race pace. Boy my legs are sore from this past weekend! Still ended up with an 8:41 avg despite running up that ginormous half mile @ the end. Good run. And I'm done for today!

easiest ride ever

Did a scheduled recovery ride of 30 mins. I just cruised through my neighborhood doing some house hunting. More houses have popped up on the market lately. If only I had $1M in my back pocket.

I think I rode 7 miles.....prolly doubtfull.

double brick

Went up to SUNY Purchase to do laps for the first time this season. Today called for a double brick, or 2 loops of Purchase, where a loop is a 5K, and take the first loop easy but then gun it on the 2nd loop. Then immediately transition to your running gear and go hard for about 6-7 mins. Rinse and repeat again. Finally, transition back to the bike for a cool down lap....so 5 laps total with 2 short runs thrown in.

On the 2 laps where I gunned it I averaged 21 mph in a few sections, which is solid. I used my wattage meter to either keep my intensity up or keep it down so to not burn myself.

Then during the two runs, I went almost .9 miles on each and averaged a 7:50 min/mile pace. I felt that pace was sustainable for a full 5K.....it would hurt, but it is doable and for a race, its worth it!

almost an olympic without the swim

Went back up to Ridgefield and did 2 loops of the course at sorta a medium pace. Just refamiliarizing myself with the route, which I have memorized now and I have learned the trouble spots where it will be easy to lose speed. I did some intervals on these sections to figure out gearing so that I can maintain my speed over these humps that can gobble you if you don't hit them right.

Then I put on my running shoes and ran 5.8 miles or about 2 loops of the run course. Either my Garmin is way off or that is NOT a 5K route. I was off by .2 miles, and usually my watch is over by .05/4 miles. Who knows. Doesn't really matter actually since its a fast run course. I felt like a monster while running it, putting up an 8:22 average without really going race pace fast.

I think I am ready for this race!....and ready for an Olympic too.

a solid swim and some new PR's

Did 2200 yards @ lunch. I was hitting some faster paces in the water while feeling comfortable and not just splashing around like loose spaghetti.

So I did:
4 x 100 WU
8 x 100 descending, with paces of 1:41, 1:40, 1:39, 1:37 (new PR!), 1:45, 1:42, 1:40, 1:37 (matched PR!).
4 x 200, keep the pace @ 3:35 for all 4, which I did, except for the last one which was a 3:33.5.
4 x 25 EZ
50 HARD
50 CD

So I did a 1:37 on two of my 100's which is a new PR for me. Considering I couldn't do faster than 2:00 or 1:55 a year ago, I like this new speed.

Then on the 4 x 200 on 3:35, I think I found my HIM swim pace, for now. I was going strong, but not so much that I was utterly wasted. I could hold that pace for prolly 37 mins or so, which is my goal time for that swim. I have 13 weeks to improve!

Tomorrow I am doing a super brick on next weekend's race course up in Ridgefield, CT. Prolly 3 loops of the bike course to really get to know it, then a 10K run, or 2 loops of the run course. Basically my schedule calls for a 2 hour ride, and a 1 hour run. I think this will fill it and it will be good practice for my first Olympic of the season which is in 5 weeks.

fast 5K

Not my fastest, but I put up a 24:30! A bunch of us from work did a corporate challenge over in Stamford. I thought about where the office from "The Office" in the Stamford branch would have been, had it actually existed.

The course had a nice hill in the middle of it that took me by surprise. I passed a few people going up it, but then everyone passed me going back down towards the finish.

I think my pace was a 7:54-ish. Not bad for just winging it.

busy am swim

I get into the pool @ 6:20 am and the entire thing is mine. 15 mins later im circle swimming with 2 others in the pool. Wow did it get busy FAST!

Got 2000 yards in. Not exactly my best swim as of late, but its yardage at least. Im hoping to go long on Friday.

I did:
4 x 100 WU
4 x 200
4 x 25 EZ
50 hard
4 x 25 EZ
50 hard
100 easy
400 medium pace

I wish I could have kept going because I felt my best @ 2000 yards, I was just bored outa my mind after being a ping pong ball following a black line for 55 mins.

10K and a bit lighter

Did a 10K this morning at an easier pace, 9:23. Cold this morning! Gotta look at my watch but I think I negative split it cuz I felt like I was hauling ass on the way back towards the end, although I could just be sore from yesterday's run and bike.

I weighed myself this morning and it said 157. Thats 20 lbs down from Feb '08!

26.5 more miles and flying dismounts!

Did 26.5 miles with intervals tonight. Considering I rode 100 two days ago, my legs felt fast tonight. I was pushing above threshold and close to 300 watts on my favorite straight away on this route. Felt good!

This was my first ever sockless ride. Went fine but a bit breezy in the shoes. Kept my feet cool.

So after the ride I practiced getting out of the shoes while moving and then flying dismounts. Getting out of the shoes the first time was a bit tricky, but I figured it out quickly. By the 4th time I took me shoes off I had it down to a science.

The flying dismounts, on the other hand, took a leap of faith to do. I have done flying dismounts before and they came suprisingly easy. This time though, I thought I was going to tip over and eat it. Finally I took that leap of faith and did it. I did 3 more and each one got more and more comfortable. In fact the final 3 I did perfect "get out of the shoes" followed by confident flying dismounts.

Im going to need to practice more.

One thing that I did NOT have any luck on was getting into the shoes on the bike. I kept putting my toes into the gap between the top of the shoe and inside top flap. I think what I have to do is reach down and grab a tab on the back of the shoe, and hold it up with I get my foot in. Thats gonna take some acrobatics.

I think getting out and doing a flying dismount is a good start.

a new concept of an easy run?

Ok so I went out for my nice and easy 5K this morning. I ended up with 3.42 miles, which is whatever, but I did it in 29:18 or an 8:34 min/mile pace. Huh?

I was supposed to be running 9:30's! I felt AWESOME (and slowish) on the run, and I think that has to do with the fact that I have not been running hard lately.

Looking back at the past two weeks and the low run volume, I think that was actually a good thing in the end. This is because of the blister on my right foot. I have been allowing it to heal! Duuuuhhh!!!!

Everything works out the way its supposed to in the end.

yowie yowie run volume DOWN

Ouch! Since I did the half marathon almost one month ago, my run volume has plummeted WAY down. Did a week of 11.78 miles, then a week of 9.75 miles. Thats not good. Sure that might be maintaining my base (a BIG maybe), but confidence wise, I am getting worried! I don't want to lose that speed that I found this past winter without injuring myself.

I am going to get back into game tomorrow AM with a nice and easy 5K.

lunch time swim

did 1650 today in the pool. My arms and legs felt fine considering I was on the bike for almost 7 hours yesterday. But my overall body felt tired. The 3rd 200 that I did I just felt flat and sluggist.

Started with a 400 WU. Then I did 4 X 200's holding a 1:45 pace. Finally, I did 4 X 100's with a 1:43, 1:43, 1:45, 1:41. That last one felt the most effortless yet it was my fastest.

I like progress!

Century Ride

I haven't done a Century ride in about 2 years, so it was good to put in some long long long mileage again. I did the Montauk Century out on Long Island, so being Long Island, it was pancake flat from start to finish, until you almost get to Montauk and there is a long slow rising hill for about 2-3 miles.

The ride turned out to be a gigantic soap opera. The weather was cold and spitting rain for the first 50 miles, so that kinda sucked. @ the mile 50 rest stop, we were shivering and cold and everyone else had these sucken faces questioning what the heck they were doing out there in this terrible weather. Leading up to that rest stop we witnessed two people go down in front of us. The first one was not so bad and the gal got right back up, dusted herself off and kept going. The seconds crash was not as easy. This guy took a hard fall and was on his back gasping for air with blood coming out of his nose. We had NO idea if he was gonna make it. I think the wind got knocked out of him and he broke his nose. We don't know, but we hope it is NOT serious. I don't think he finished the ride. That crash shook us up a bit.

Fortunately after mile 50, things brighened up. The rain stopped and it got a little bit warmer. The wind also calmed down. It was still cloudy and a bit cold, but that fact that we could dry out and not be cut in 2 by the wind helped out the most. Then soon after that we made out way into the Hamptons were the grand houses were all lined with perfectly cut 12 foot tall hedges. I thought I was riding through a magazine article. That also helped brighten us up.

By about 75 miles in, we were ready to finish.

THEN! At mile 99, yes, mile 99!! One of my riding partners flatted. It had to happen to finish off the day. It would not have been a complete day without someone flatting. Actually, within the first 10 miles of the ride I witnessed about 20 people off to the side fixing flats. I think I saw about 50+ total people with flats along the course of the route.

As for my legs, that was the easiest 100 I have ever ridden. I was riding with two other rides on their first Century rides every, so I stayed at their pace. We did a 15 mph average, which was fine because it gave me 100 miles and didn't totally waste me for my first sprint tri which is coming up in 2 weekends.

short easy ride

spun my legs out tonight under some superb weather in anticipation for my century ride this sunday.

Haven't done a century in 2 seasons. I think this past Tuesday's hilly 60 miler was the last little bit of punishment to make this century easy(er). Its still gonna hurt, but hopefully not as bad :)

16 seconds faster

I did another 800 yard time trial today in the pool. I went 16 seconds faster than last time with a time of 14:05. That pace is a 1:46/100 pace, or a 2 seconds/100 faster than last time. I will take that as progress!

I also felt like a monster in the pool. It was recommended that I start out easy and build. Without trying I naturally built and was flying by the end of it. That was the strongest 800 I have EVER swam.

Ended up with only 2100 yards this time. I was feeling kinda cooked by the end of it.

So now I need to start transitioning to a 1650 straight swim. I think a good goal to shoot for would be 30 mins or faster?

2400 yards

did what felt like my easiest 2400 yards i have ever done. I think last week's uber punishment has finally paid off.


300 WU
4 X 200
4 X 25 EZ
50 sprint
4 X 25 EZ
50 sprint
100 EZ
3 X 300 descending

i could have kept going....just ran outa time.

60/.75

Did a hilly 60 miles this morning followed by a quick 7 min 0.75 mile run. That run was the best feeling brick I have ever felt. I'll upload more data once I can download it. Im ruffing it up here in NH.

2600 yarder

My longest swim EVER was accomplished today, thanks in part to a 6 X 350 yard set. OUCH!

I mean OUCH!

I was completely out of breath by the 3rd and wanted to crawl under a rock because I was trying to book it. Then on the 4th it was recommended that I go nice and slooooooow, which I did. The 5th and 6th hurt too, but not as bad. Those were muscle pain and not out of breath pain. Takes me a bit to get warmed up!

So basically I have 5 more swims of getting the crap beat out of me before I taper for my first tri on May 31st. Considering that I did 2100 yards during that one set alone (which is 12 yards short of the HIM swim), I am feeling pretty confident about that half mile swim.

easy ride

feeling a LOT more comfortable on the TT bike. I am climbing MUCH better on it now. I guess I just needed to ride it more and more and more.

Did 23 easy miles tonight. There is just enough light outside to ride until 8PM. So I can put in 2 hour rides at night now. Sweet!

hard 100's

Did 10 X 100's on 2:00 descending. Wow, I can speak swimming lingo finally!

So I did 100 easy, 100 medium, 100 hard, then rinsed and repeated 3x total for 900 yards, and a 100 easy cool down from the set. That 100 cool down was one of the hardest 100's I have EVER swam because coming off of that last hard 100, I was dying! My arms felt like spaghetti. My fastest 100 was 1:37, my slowest was 1:50.

Then I did a 350 at medium intensity. No idea what my time was, but I felt strong.

Then I started to learn how to do flips in the water to lead up to doing flip turns. Doing a somersault with no momentum is a LOT harder than flipping with momentum.

recovery-ish week

This week is a recovery week. I did an easy easy 3.58 this morning at a blistering 9:50 min/mile pace. Yee haw!

Im glad I stopped when I did, because my blister was starting to fire itself up again. Go away blister!

2000 hard fought yards

My swimming coworker told me that things will get "uncomfortable" in the pool once the yardage picks up. We got "uncomfortable" today. He had us do 8 X 200 yards on 3:30 with 30 seconds rest.

Oh man oh man oh man! I sure surprised myself today!

After the 2nd or 3rd 200, I thought I was roasted pork! After the 4th I thought my arms were going to fall off. Then he gave us an extra 30 seconds rest and I was able to turn the heat up. I went slightly faster by about 1 -2 seconds (max 4 seconds faster the 6th 200) but I was finishing not feeling so wasted and my form was more consistent and my stroke count was more consistent as well. So I basically did 1600 yards at a 1:45 or faster per 100 pace! Sweet!

One thing that helped out on the last 4 200's was that I timing my turns better and not getting all fuddled up, which would throw my breathing and arm rhythm off which would slow me way down. I am going to try to learn flip turns on Wednesday.

This was probably the best swim I have EVER done!

Finished with a total of 2000 yards for today.

pissed off a blister, but put in 8.2

I put in a 8.2 mile run this morning, and my legs felt pretty good, despite yesterday's long ride. So this run was a huge confidence boost in the status of my overall endurance. I did it in 1:15:00 flat, or a 9:09 min/mile average.

Unfortunately around mile 6 my blister started to get aggravated and I added a little bit to it. Doh! I taped it up really well and it felt fine. Oh well. Maybe mile 6 is when my feel started to sweat a lot more? It was healing rather quickly until now. I'll just keep my eye on it.

This past weekend was a tough one, but one of those weekends where gains are made. I think last weekend's half marathon helped out today 8.2 miler a LOT.

Timberman bike course preview

I am up in NH this weekend and I previewed the Timberman bike course this morning. This is a much different sort of ride. I am used to lots of windy back roads with a lot of turns.

Timberman's course is about 10 miles of stuff like that, but then 36 miles out on Route 106 that is a wide shouldered main road that is pretty flat. Felt like riding on the highway for 2 hours. It was kinda boring in those portions actually....

So from the beginning, it starts uphill, but its not too long, then the road goes into that wide shouldered flat road where you can just big ring it. Eventually after a few curvy roads you hit the largest hill @ ~mile 10. This hill took me by surpise and actually had a good pitch to it. I was glad to get it overwith. After a descent (which I climbed on the way back) I hit route 106, which is the 36 mile portion. You descend gradually for 18 miles with a tailwind, then you turn around and head back up for another 18, only this time you have a headwind the whole way. My ears started to hurt by the end of it!

When I hit those same hills by the end of the ride, my legs were starting to feel it. Fortunately by taking a little bit of food, I felt a lot better.

Nutrition wise, I only took 2 GUs and 1 chocolate peanut butter balance bar. I think I drank 2.5 bottles of liquid, one being  pure water, the other a 50/50 mix of gatorade and water, the other half was an even more depleted mix of gatorade and water. Was that enough? I am not sure. I wasn't hungry by the end of the ride or thirsty and I didn't feel bloated.

I even did a quick 5 min jog to see how my legs and stomach felt. My stomach felt fine, but my legs felt like spaghetti. After the run, my legs were adjusting and felt better than I started. I have no idea how I will run 13.1 miles after a ride like that. I have about 15 weeks left!!!

Good ride, I did an extra mile because I missed a turn before asking for directions. So I did 57 miles in 3:13:00 or about a 17.78 mph average. I wasn't at race pace, so I am seeing that speed average as a good sign of my conditioning, considering the lack of biking that I have been doing!

another flat tire, but another good swim

My rear tire was flat again. It was due to a bad replacement tube, which is good because if the tube popped or leaked in the same place as the blown out tube, it would possibly mean my wheel was bad or damaged. That is NOT the case, fortunately. The latest tube that I installed still has pressure.

I am off to NH this weekend to preview the Timberman bike course.

Today @ lunch we did a great swim workout.

250 warmup
800 time trial, which I did in 14:21, or a 1:48/100 pace. I finished strong. I am feeling ever MORE confident about my first tri's swim this time around.

Then we did some drills and some 50 yard sprints. I did the first in 40 seconds, and the second in 41 seconds.