Ayerd{dot}com :: Triathlon

I just loved this bit of text from the welcome letter for the Eagleman 1/2 Ironman:

WE appreciate your support for EagleMan 2005. WE look forward to renewed friendships and a Fun 4 days of EagleFest 2005. WE expect that you will have the Race of Your Life, so just Be Great!! You handle You and we will Care for the Rest!! This event is all about YOU and your Goal is to Finish and Be Proud of Your accomplishment. The Competition is among the best and deepest in all of the 2005 Half Ironman events across the USA.

"WE expect that you will have the Race of Your Life, so just Be Great!" That just rocks. I'm so psyched for this race. Why can't it be next week, like, now?

As a warm-up to Eagleman, I took a stab at the Belleplain Triathlon this past Sunday. The main goal was to focus on the transition after the nightmare transitions at Columbia. The results this time were much better and it looked like this:

The tri was held at scenic "Lake Nummy" in Woodbine, NJ. Nice park. The water was a little dark, like a somewhat strong tea but otherwise clear. Since I was there for the transitions I went with the wet suit even though the water was warm enough to go without. I started at the back of the pack hoping for an easy swim. Once we got started though it wasn't long until I had worked my way to the front... even at the easy pace.

Out of the water and a quick run to the transition area. Did much better here than at Columbia. Suit was off in a jiffy, on with the socks, shoes, and helmet. Clipped the number on and I was off clopping down the road toward where I could mount the bike.

The bike ride was nice and relaxing. I started out pretty quick and caught up with the guy who left the transition just before me. As soon as I passed him I recalled this was a "C" race and I should hold back so as not to kill the legs. After that I settled into a comfortable 19-20 mph pace for the 15 miles. It was a great day to ride.

T2 was a small problem. The woman who had racked next to me was in her first triathlon and I think her T1 didn't go as smoothly as possible. Water was all over my shoes, towel, and just about every flat surface I could use to chance into the shoes. I had also forgotten to untie the running shoes before the race started and wasted some time undoing the knots. Still, it was a good transition.

Started out on the run and about 5 minutes in realized I had lots of little rocks in the shoes. Wet socks are like magnets for those things. Since it wasn't a big run for me I jumped over to the side, chatted with some spectators and cleaned out the shoes and socks. Once that was complete I took off again on the run. At mile 1, I stopped again to take a leak. When nature calls who am I to deny what needs to be done. The rest of the run was slow, but by my standards practically blazing! 9:30 miles. Hot damn!

The best part is I felt like I could have kept that pace up a lot longer. I was definitely getting stronger as the miles ticked by. Bring on that 1/2 marathon.

This was a great tri on a great day. Well worth getting up stupid early and driving for two hours. I think/hope/pray I've worked out the transition demons and learned to check everything twice before starting out on the course.

Last week I enrolled in the Martin School of Triathlon™ to help me get ready for Florida. Basically, Chris is going to help me focus a bit more on what I need to do to improve my bike and run and finish the big race in less than 17 hours. Cool, huh?

As part of that, this week is a taper week heading into Eagleman. Today was a short-ish swim and a 45 minute tempo run. The swim was nice – 200s and 100s agree with me. The run as a bit of challange. Seems summer remembered that June was it's month to get started and over the weekend we went from 70° days to 90° days. Today it was a humid 88° when I started out for the run. Let me tell you up front, running isn't as much fun in the heat. Never the less, it was good run.

As part of this I've also made some changes to my weekly workout record. I've moved from an HTML format to an Excel format — actually an Open Office file saved as Excal for the non-believers. Added new columns for "Willingness to Work Out", "Muscle soreness", and sleep.

Okay, so the weather this Sunday at Eagleman is starting to freak me out. NOAA is claiming:

A slight chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 9am. Partly cloudy, with a high around 91. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

"High around 91." That falls into the "sucks" category of temperatures to race in. Even more so when you know there is about 1 mile of shade over the 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.

If anyone knows a sure-fire rainy-type dance/voodoo, now would be the time. The heat and humidity will be bad enough. Searing sunshine will only make it worse... I gots to find me a hat!

Eagleman Half-Ironman? Check!

Yes, I finished. It felt so great to cross that finish line, I almost cried right there at the finish. I still get kind of choked up thinking about it.

After a week in Clemson, SC for work I got back into the groove yesterday with a good distance swim. Today was a solid hour on the bike at 140-150 bpm. It was my first ride with a heart rate monitor — at least the first one where I paid attention to it.

It is harder than it looks to get blood moving on a bike than the run. Much harder. I mean, I knew that, but still it was intersting to see it in effect.

I also think I need to head back to Elite for a follow-up fitting. I find I want to scoot back on the seat to flatten my back on in the aero position. That could just be me wanting to drop into a bad position, but then again, it could also be a natural change to my riding?

Finally, if anyone has thoughts on race wheels, don't be shy. I've been hearing okay stuff about Zipp (great wheels, bad customer service if there is a problem) and I've asked a friend who uses them about Reyonlds. Please, don't be shy. If it would be easier, I've turned on the trackback for this entry. (Danke in advance!)

This weekend was the Philly Triathlon. That meant lots of trips to and from Philly. Like, three of them.

Friday Night was a party hosted by Elite and Red Bull. The party was at this over-priced, too-hip for me club, The Denim Lounge. I think the best part of the whole night was finding out that DJ Jazzy Jeff will be there for a post Live8 gig. You won't catch me dead there, but it was nice to know.

Saturday it was drive to Philly to score the race packet.

Sunday, was the race. Up early to get to (back, yet again) to Philly. Hot and humid day for sure, but since this race was so close to Eagleman I was going to skip the race. Instead I got talked into a relay, just the swim. The swim was in the Schuylkill River which I thought, for sure, was a death trap. Instead, the swim was very, very nice. Before the race we saw a turtle or two do turtle-approve activities near the start dock. The water was little warm, but not too hot. The swim was with the current. I completed it in a very average 22.10. Not slow, but I was hoping for just a bit faster.

Doing just the swim (or bike, or run) in a tri is a strange expierence. Setting up was weird. No bike to set up. No Gu to measure out. No sneakers to get ready. No nothing. I almost felt I wasn't really in the race.

After the swim I passed the chip over the Drew who took off on the bike. Then I got to hang out to watch the race unfold. Coach-type person Chris Martin was on fire. This was his third race in three weeks. First up in his three-week race was Eagleman. He was 12th overall with a time of 4:16. Last week was the Escape from Ft. Deleware Olympic race where he came in 1st overall. Then we got talked into doing Philly by Dave at Elite. Result? Yea, first place. His first sub-2-hour race. That is just not right. I'm very impressed. Just doing that well any one of those races would be amazing, doing that well in all three is... words fail me. Many props to Chris.

I also realized I need to swim just a bit more in practice. People I used to be way faster than are starting to catch up. That could have been me not doing well, but I like to think it is them getting better. Only thing for me to do it get moving in the water.

Saw Drew come back on the bike and Deborah took off on her very first 10K, ever. She was all nervous, but did just fine. Overall, it was a very good race for our little relay.

The big event for me this Sunday was talking to Chis about upcoming events. We've been talking about good ways to get ready for Florida and that another fairly long race some time between now and then would be a Good Thing. As a result, I find myself talked into another half-Ironman. It was down to Timberman or Musselman. Musselman would have the advantage of lots of people I know doing it. Timberman falls on a better date in terms of prep for Florida. I was weak and signed up for Timberman. Supposed to be a great, great course but I'm really going to miss hanging out with the gang before/during Musselman.

I also realized that I must be getting better at some parts of this. The half-Ironman now seems pretty reasonable. Maybe not getting faster, but getting better. I just hope I can manage another 6-hour or less event. I think not having the heat and humity in Maryland will be worth 15 or more minutes! Average temp in New Hampshire in August: 65°. Sweet.

Many thanks for the info on race wheels. Now I just need to talk the wife into spending beacoupe dollars on wheels... how hard can that be?

Update

Forgot to mention that Loving Wife™ completed her first Olympic Triathlon at Philly. After two false starts in Columbia (bike mechanical led to DNF) and Lobsterman (bad race day, withdrew on on bike leg) she worked through her bicycle demons and completed the course in 4:03:34. Yea!

Good: 130 days to Ironman Florida. Bad: 2nd Florida shark attack in two days. Worse: 2nd victim taken to Panama City Hospital. That's about 2 mintues from Panama City Beach... where I need to swim 2.4 miles in 130 days.

Sure there is a better chance of getting whacked on, say a 5-hour bike ride (like the one scheduled for this Sunday) and there has never been a triathlete-shark related attack but if people panic or 3/4 more people get noshed you know those race directors will think about doing away with the swim.

I can't do a run-bike-run Ironman. I just can't. At least I now have something new to worry about. It was getting a bit stale always freaking out about the run after the 112 mile bike. Perhaps this will be refreshing change?

Got in a nice, long swim this morning: 6,000 yards. I just wanted to add that, wow, 500-400-300-200-100 sets on a 1:20 pace dull the mind. It was harder to keep track of what lap I was on than keep the pace up.

Speaking of long distance swims, this Saturday is the Atlantic City Aquatic Club 5K Bridge to Bridge Swim. It should be a great day for a long swim... two swims actually. Yes, I'm planning on doing the 5K and the 1.3 mile swims. I'll be real close to the 90-minute 5K cut off to make the 1.3 mile, but should cruise in with a few minutes to spare.

I Google'ed a great view of the course. The two bridges are to the left and right of that fork looking thing at the center of the map. You can zoom in pretty close. If you're familiar with the area, a little to the north (scroll right 3-4 times) is Brigantine and you get a good look at the course for Brigantine Triathlon that is coming up in August.

I've also been inspired by the Kahuna and his awesome race photos to sign up for the Alcatraz: Swim or Die aquathon next year. Going to be a challange to get to CA next June, but hell yea I'm going to try.