Just breathe into the brown paper bag…

This week was race week for the Pigman Sprint Triathlon – my first triathlon of the season.   I had a plan in place for how I would approach my training this week, but that plan was quickly scrapped.  In short, I stripped a hex bolt on my rear brake while changing wheels which forced me to find a bike shop open on Memorial Day.  They had to drill out the bolt and replace it.  This wasted 2 days of bike training!  I’m no bike mechanic, but seriously, I should be able to adjust my brakes.  Oh well, onto the race…

 

Walking through the transition area and then standing on the beach before the start of the race, you get a pretty good idea of how the other racers are feeling.  This was a pretty big race in terms of participants – close to 900 people signed up for this one.  And in general, everyone looks happy pre-race.  There’s a lot of talking, laughing, people waving down friends they didn’t know would be there.   Then there’s me… I’m the one not talking, not smiling, not really looking at anyone.  I have my wife and kids with me, but they know I’m freaking out on the inside.  It’s because of the swim, it’s in my head!  I don’t know why.  I’ve never had a near-death swimming experience or anything like that, but I could…right?  This lasts, in total, about 20 minutes.  My wave is getting close, so I zip up my wetsuit and go warm up in the lake by swimming for about 5 minutes.  That helped.  Getting in and getting wet sort of flips a switch.  I know I’m not fast in the water, but I’m not worried about not coming out of it anymore.  I line up in my wave; I’m ready to go.

Wow do I love a wetsuit!  I might lose time in transition taking it off, but as soon as I got in the water I could feel the extra float it gives me.  This really helped me mentally.  I got in, got into a rhythm and just started going.  Despite the high number of participants, the time-trial start and multiple waves really does help with congestion in the water.  I was able to get a good line and never had to fight with people for space.  Really the only complaint I had was that I could taste a little gas/oil in the water from the motors on the rescue boats nearby.  As soon as I could touch bottom, I put my feet down and started taking off my wetsuit as I ran to transition.  Swim distance 0.5 K; time 9:03; 1:35/100 yards avg. pace; 135^th fastest swim split.

I had a little trouble finding my bike, and even more trouble getting off my wetsuit and putting on socks.  Once I was on my bike though, I was feeling good.  Completing the swim always gets me pumped up and it showed right away on the bike.  My legs felt really good and I decided early on to just go as hard as I could.  Since the bike portion was only 25 K (15.5 miles), I thought I could go hard the whole way and so that’s exactly what I did.  I focused on each person in front of me, concentrating on catching and passing each person one by one.  I took a few risks with passing that may not have been wise (squeezing in between cars if needed), but I really didn’t want to let up.  Looking at my bike computer I was seeing speeds I’ve never done before – no way was I letting up if I didn’t have to.  Coming into transition, I felt confident with only the run to go.  Bike distance 40K; time 38:17; 24.4 mph avg. speed; 11^th fastest bike split.

I didn’t wear my GPS for the run.  This was the first time that I haven’t worn it during a race. I didn’t want to waste time putting it on, especially since it takes a moment to acquire the satellites anyway.  I felt strong to start.  Actually I felt strong until the halfway point of the race and then I started to feel myself slowing down.  I kept looking at my wrist to check my pace and distance even though I knew my GPS wasn’t there.  I guess I just wanted the security of knowing I was getting closer to the finish line.  Finally I could see the last turn and I knew I was only a couple minutes from the end.  That knowledge goes a long way.  I turned the corner and didn’t hold anything back.  Run distance 5 K; time 18:08; 5:50/mile avg. pace; 10^th fastest run split.

Total time was 1:08:47 which put me 14^th overall, 13^th male and 1^st in my age group of 35 – 39.  Full race results can be found at the following link.

Overall I was really excited.  Outperformed my goal and what I thought I was able to do.  My wife always comes to my races and brings the kids.  It’s so fun seeing them cheering for me out on the course.  Someday I hope they do one of these races with me, it would be a lot of fun. 

Lake MacBride Duathlon

Originally written on May 12, 2014

The Lake MacBride duathlon is the first race in a series of 3 duathlons sponsored by Scheels.  Last year, this series was my first venture into multisport racing after several years of just running.  Not only did I really enjoy it, but I actually was fairly competitive and took 3^rd in 2 of the 3 races.

Race morning started normal – with me being nervous as hell.  I wasn’t confident in the training I had done since it was mostly indoors, but that is the same for most people at this point in the season.  There were two guys I could never beat last year (one is a professional triathlete) and I knew ahead of time that both were competing in this race.  As we lined up to start the race I heard about a 2^nd pro triathlete in the field as well…this did not help my nerves or my confidence.

 

Run 1 (2.43 miles)

The first run began with a fairly steep downhill section before heading into some off-road trails through the park.  I tried not to start out too fast – especially with the downhill, but nonetheless I was getting a little nervous when at the bottom of the hill I was in 7^th place.  It was way too early to panic but not too early to start thinking about panicking!  Fortunately once I hit level ground I was able to get into a good rhythm and settle into a goal pace of about 5:45 per mile.  Staying at this pace quickly paid off as I had moved up into a tie for 3^rd at the halfway point of the run.  By the time I reached the transition area, I was only 1 second behind the current race leader.  Run time 14:09; pace 5:49.  2nd fastest split.

Bike (18.09 miles)

I mounted my bike relatively well for the first time ever in a race!  In each of the duathlons last year, I lost at least 10 seconds just trying to get onto my bike after leaving transition, however today was much better.  While still not fast, I didn’t lose too much time and I was able to start pedaling right away.

The course started out with a short downhill around the beach before heading back up a hill and out of the park toward the town of Solon.  At this time I still was near the lead, maybe only 15 seconds back with no one in sight behind me – and my legs were feeling really good.  Unfortunately my version of feeling good is not the same as others.  Within the next two miles not only did I lose sight of the race leader, but the other professional triathlete in the field had blown past me as if I was out for a trail ride with me kids. “OK, I’m still in 3^rd place” I told myself.  Just before the halfway point of the bike course I was passed again.  Seriously people, I’m riding the fastest I’ve ever done and I’m still getting passed?  Over the next 8 miles I went back and forth between 3^rd and 4^th place until finally towards the end of the ride I was able to put a little distance between myself and the current athlete holding 4^th place and come into transition with a solid 3^rd place.  Bike time 45:01; average speed 24.1 mph.  4^th fastest split.

Run 2 (3.5 miles)

I was really excited about reclaiming 3^rd place.  My wife yelled to me that I was actually only about 1 minute behind 2^nd place.  For the next few moments I was doing all kinds of math in my head.  “Just make up 20 seconds/mile and you can take over 2^nd place” which was followed by “if you lose 10 seconds/mile you’ll drop to 4^th!”  Like I said, this only lasted a few moments because I started heading up a pretty steep climb and then all I could think about was “just don’t give up”.  Once up the hill and onto another gravel trail through the woods, I just wanted to find a nice rhythm but it never showed itself.  I could feel myself tiring and my GPS confirmed it.  I passed what I thought should be the turnaround point, however it wasn’t there nor had I seen the leaders by this point.  Did I go off course – it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done that.  Soon after I could see the leaders start coming back after turning around. It turns out the turnaround point was just moved.  Fine, I hit the turnaround still about a minute back of 2^nd but I had increased my lead on 4^th which was big because I was running out of gas.  Run time 21:01; pace 6:00.  2nd fastest split.

Finish line

Total finish time was 1:20:56 in 3^rd place about 1 minute out of 2^nd and almost 2:40 ahead of 4^th.  Congratulations to everyone who competed and finished, whether in the front or the back.  Final results can be found at this link.  And a big thank you to all of the mothers, especially my wife, for allowing me to hijack the morning of Mother’s Day so I could race (while she tried to cheer and entertain the kids).  Really good race put on by Just Go Faster and sponsored by Scheels.

Next race in 3 weeks: Pigman Sprint Triathlon in Palo, IA, June 1^st…crap, that means I need to swim.

Time to lay off the pepperoni stick...

When I was a kid, every year for Christmas my mom would buy me a 2-foot long "stick" of pepperoni.  It was one of my favorite traditions.  But instead of slicing it up and putting it on homemade pizza like I assume most do, I would just gnaw on it for a couple days until I had eaten the whole thing.  Yes, I was a healthy one!

I was what my mother would call husky - and she was being polite.  I was active enough that it didn't get too out of control but once I finished college and started grad school, I quickly put on a lot of weight.  By the time I finished school and accepted my first "real" job in Texas, I was up to 220 pounds at only 5'8".  I had just moved into a really nice apartment complex in Dallas and it occurred to me I was embarrassed to take my shirt off at the pool.  I had to do something.

I started small.  I would run a mile or two a couple times a week.  It sucked.  But for some reason, I really felt I had to do it and so I stuck with it.  After a while it didn't quite suck as much anymore. I actually started to enjoy it!  Within a few months I was even disappointed if I missed a run.  Is this what I've heard people refer to as a "runners high"?  I don't know...I honestly have no idea what that even is after all of this time.  Running just became a part of my mornings; going for a run would give me a chance to clear my head, enjoy being outside and really just set me up in a good mood to start the day.

Soon I wanted more out of running – I wanted to run races.  I really wanted to see how far I could push myself, so the first race I signed up for was a marathon.  It was hard, it hurt and I cried afterwards, but I finished it!  I was hooked now.  I wanted to do another one, only this time, I wanted to do it better.

That was almost 10 years ago that I started running.  It’s been great; I’ve loved most of it but I’ve hated a lot of it too.  In trying to improve each race, I would push myself too far at times and end up hurt.  And that’s the thing about running, when you can’t run, what are you supposed to do?  So when I moved back to Iowa, I decided to buy a bike and give that a try to get a break from all of the running.  It was fun, but there was something missing.  I would never ride more than 15 miles or so simply because I wasn’t motivated to.  That’s when I decided to try something new – I wanted to do a triathlon.

Just the idea of doing one sounded awesome.  I’d seen a few of them on TV and it was always motivating to watch, however I could never get myself to the point of actually signing up for one.  It was the swim – I was a “self-taught” swimmer and I'm more than a little afraid of what's in the water.  But last year I finally decided it was something I really wanted to do.  I signed up for a local triathlon and spent the whole year trying to become a triathlete.  It ended up being the most fun year I’ve had since I decided to get into this whole “healthy” lifestyle.  Now I’m back for my second year doing multi-sports and that brings us to why I’m now writing this blog. I’m hoping that by me sharing my positive experiences as well as negative ones, I’ll hear back if people have similar thoughts, fears or how others handle the same things.  Who knows, maybe someone can even help me with my open water anxiety.  So that's it. With any luck, some of you reading this may turn into a triathlon junkie just like me!

Thanks,

Tim