Pumpkinman Sprint Triathlon

Race info: Pumpkin Man


Las Vegas, Nevada
United States
BBSC ENDURANCE SPORTS

Triathlon - Sprint
Total Time = 1h 50m
Overall Rank = 66/340
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 11/29

Pre-race routine:

I'd been coming into my recovery phase for the year and my workouts have been lame. Mostly run focused.

Event warmup:

A little stretching and a quick out and back swim.


Swim
Time: 19m 39s - 874.89 yards - Pace: 02m 15s /100 yards
Comments:

All men 34 and under swim start from in the water/waist deep. This was my strongest swim to date. I had a great time, was focused and stayed on course. Sighting was right on, though I almost always had someone somewhat near me so I could double check my path. After I rounded the last buoy I hit it hard. I felt strong and felt like I was cruising! I've never felt so good during a swim... Oly/HIM will be in next years plans!

What would you do differently?:

I still need to work on my swim. While I felt good, I still only had an avg speed of about 2:30's = slow! But I was comfortable for the first several hundred yards in the middle of the pack.


T1
1:37 for the Overall fastest T1 time!!
Comments:

I forgot to put rubber bands on my shoes and I couldn't get a full revolution of my cranks without my shoe dropping down to the ground. I actually had to stop and reposition myself and my shoe to get going. Someone is going to have a terrible T1 exit photo!!

What would you do differently?:

Remember to put my shoes in position! Time was great considering the distance of T1.


Bike
About 14 miles - Pace: 12.8 mph avg
Comments:

Torture and pain! This was great! Such a challenging ride and yet so much fun. I got passed a lot. For a guy in Mid-Michigan heading out the the mountains to do a race with no previous hill/mountain work... I did alright :)

All climbing with minimal rest time... uh, no rest time.

What would you do differently?:

I could have/should have swapped out for my compact crankset, but didn't want to have to mess with the derailleur.


T2
1:22
Comments:

T2 went very well. Easy in/ easy out.

What would you do differently?:

Nothing really. 1500 athletes at this event made for a rather large transition set up.


Run
Time: 23m 14s - 3.11 miles - Pace: 07m 28s/Mi
Comments:

Nice out and back course. Ended up hitting all 3 aid stations for water, but still felt thirsty and warm. It wasn't near my best run, but given the conditions and course I'm happy!

What would you do differently?:

Good run after a brutal ride.


Post race

Warm down:

Lot's of water and Vitamin Water (maybe a beer too)


What limited your ability to perform faster:

Course difficulty (climbs) and heat.


Event comments:

BBSC did an awesome job on this race. Nothing like what I'm used to for event organizations here in Michigan. Plenty of happy volunteers who cheered me as I passed them. Course was very well marked. Website had everything including elevation charts to prep my mind for the oncoming pain.

Sprint, Oly and Half Iron distances. Award ceremonies after each events winners completed the course. Great prizes and cool finishers medal.

By the end of the race my quads were done, I was totally spent. I couldn't have run any faster across that finish line. This is the effort that I now expect for myself in future races. I pushed beyond any race that I've done before.

July 2009

August is here, what's the deal? This month and the next few months, I'm only planning 1 race per month. I'm not saying that I won't race an additional race should it come up, but I'm only planning these last 3 races.

Last month I joined a virtual Tour de France Challenge. I met my 300 mile goal for the 2.5 weeks of the tour. Just after the TdF I did an impromptu 100 mile bike. I really wanted to get past the mental block for distance on the bike. I had fun, did well on nutrition and felt good the following days. Mental was on 100%. I didn't get stuck on the distance, I just went out and followed the route. I was thankfull to have a friend to ride that distance with, I train with her fairly regularly GoTrixie.com I'd like to do it again, but I'm not quite ready to commit to it yet. I think I could do it with a couple of days for prep. I'd like to push the pace next time. So the details of my 100 miler - 5 hours 19 minutes put me at a pace of 19 mph average. Per the GPS I burned more than 6200 calories - which is on track based on my previous rides.

This weekend I'll be racing the Lansing Legislator. I will do better in the swim this year than I did last year. I'm hoping to be at 12 minutes for the swim... we'll see. I'd also like to see my bike split to be above 22 mph and I'd like to break the 20 minute mark on the 5k run.

So my totals for the month of July are:

Bike: 23h 18m 40s - 412.91 Mi
Run: 6h 50m 24s - 38.64 Mi
Swim: 1h 19m 07s - 1746.81 Yd
Strength: 42m
Elliptical Training: 40m
Massage: 1h 00m
Yoga: 30m

Starkermann TT and Du

This past weekend I had the Starkermann 40k Time Trial and Duathlon (5k/30k/5k). I did very well and placed in both races. For the TT I placed 1st in my AG, and in the Du I placed 2nd in my AG.

Race Reports on BeginnerTriathlete.com:
40k Time Trial
Duathlon

This was a lot of fun and challenged me physically and mentally. The hills were shear pain... That's it, pain. Part of the TT involved climbing what is locally called the "Big Nasty" hill, it's part of the Tree Tops Resort ski hills.

During the TT I had more than 1100 ft of climbing and for the bike portion of the Du there was more than 660 ft of climbing. The runs for the DU were the same out and back course that entailed more than 100 ft of climbs.

I did hit 46 mph on my bike during 1 portion (downhill, of course). That was just plain insane!!

All in all I had a good time. I will consider this event in the future. Today I'm pretty sore, so I went for a very easy trail run at Sleepy Hollow State Park (MI). Nice trails and lots of mud. Put in an hour and covered about 4 miles.

Here's a photo of one of the hills, not the 'Big Nasty'


2 weeks out from now is Hawk Island Sprint Triathlon. I'm so excited for this race because I know I'll hit the bike and run hard. I feel very confident that I'll do well. I'm still leary about the swim, but I've spent some good time in the water over the last few months. I need more time in the water and need to practice some open water swims over the next two weeks. But I am expecting good things. My goal will be to finish in under 1 hour. Last year I finished in 1 hour and 9 minutes. Since the course is pretty flat and I've done this before, I should do well.

The Start of May

May has started off strong! I built well last month with some good totals and that puts me ahead early for the season. I have 4 races on tap for this month. My first race was an impromptu 5k run simply to see if I could break the 20 minute mark. While I gave it my all, I fell short by 56 seconds... I'm perfectly OK with this for now, but I had to give it an honest attempt. I finished 58th overall out of 677.

My next races are back to back. I'm competing in two of the four Starkermann Series races in Gaylord, Michigan. My first event will be Saturday night with a 40k Time Trial (bike race). This will push me as I've been riding at that distance for regular training rides. I will then awake early to race in another duathlon. While I do not plan to medal in this race, I do hope to do better than my last du as the distances are the same. (Maybe here I will break the 20 minute 5k)

And my final race for this month is the Hawk Island Triathlon. This was my first triathlon last year. This is a sprint distance race, so the swim is 400 yards, bike ~12 miles, and run 3.1 miles. I'm certain that I'll break my time from last year, but can I break an hour?

From there, the rest of the season is up for whatever comes along. I am considering a few other races that I pooled together early this year. I will also consider a 3 race series that takes place at the Island Lake Rec Area. These would all be sprint distance races, just slightly longer than the Hawk Island Tri; Swims of a half mile, 12.4 mile bike and 3.1 mile runs. And then lastly, I need to decide about an Olympic distance race in August and consider a Half Ironman in November... Hmm. What do you think?

March 2009!

March of 2009 has been a great month for me in the training department. I got my new Cervelo P2 - A carbon triathlon bike. With all of the excitement surrounding my new bike and a biking challenge through the BeginnerTriathlete.com website, I logged more than 279 miles in the month of March.

My total biking mileage for 2009 so far is 451.57 Miles. This is great because that means that I have already surpassed my total mileage for ALL of 2008. Craziness!!

My total running mileage for 2009 so far is 136.19 Miles. This puts me right on the baseline goal for the year. I wanted to have an average of 41 miles per month by the end of 2009.

My swimming total so far is 7700 yards. This is by no means great, hardly even good. However this is almost half of the total distance that I got in 2008. So while I still need more time in the pool, I feel more comfortable.

This year I have already competed in 2 races. The first was an indoor triathlon at a local YMCA. I took first place in my age group. For me personally, the higher achievment in this was that I swam for 20 minutes straight. I had not done that before. In this race I ended up with 975 yds. This gives me hope for the upcoming race season.

I also competed in a 28k Time Trial at Fisk Knob (near Grand Rapids). I placed 61 of 120 Overall. So right in the middle of the pack. That's not bad for my first ever TT. The weather was 38 degrees F and per Weather.com it felt like 27. We had snow flurries mixed with some light misty rain. It was rather miserable weather, but I raced well. I hit my fastest speed on my new bike at 39.6 mph per the Garmin Forrunner 305 gps. The hills were hard, but I feel confident that I will improve my overall biking ability this year.

Upcoming races that I am already registered for:

4/05 Martian Half Mary
4/26 Steelcase Duathlon
5/16 Starker-Mann 40k TT
5/17 Starker-Mann Duathlon
5/31 Hawk Island Triathlon

That completes the first half of the race season for me. I hope to race 1 to 2 races per month. We'll see how these first few races go and then I'll complete my schedule for the rest of this year.

I'm excited about some new opportunities. This year has great potential!

Thank you all for your encouragement and support! I look forward to racing this year. Give me a call and let's ride sometime.

2008

2008 has come and now gone. As many of you know, this year has proved to have moments of extreme joy and a few moments of sadness. It's hard to believe that my mother passed away almost a year ago. A friend once told me that the days never get easier; however, each day you find a new way to get by. I have found the joy of life displayed through laughter, hugs and kisses of my daughter; love of my wife; the never ending love from my family and the support of my friends.

This past year I accomplished fitness goals that I set for myself over a year ago. A few goals I even exceeded. My first goal for this year was to complete a triathlon, and that meant that I had to learn how to swim. I also planned to train harder than I ever have before by increasing my endurance and speed in running and biking. I hoped to be in the best shape of my life by my 30th birthday.

I completed 2 sprint distance triathlons in 2008. I finished just above mid-pack in both of those races. I also ran a half marathon and set a new personal best for the 5k distance run. I placed first in a 10k race and also took medals in two 5k races.

My annual goal for running in 2008 was to complete an overall average of 1 mile per day, totaling 366 miles: My final total was just over 400 miles running.

2009 brings new challenges and while I haven't set any specific goals for training, I do plan to complete with the RACING GREYHOUNDS. I was accepted onto the team this past week. I'll compete in 5 races / events that include cycling as per my contract. Ideally I will race in the same 2 triathlons that I completed this year and then I will also add another tri and enter into a couple of cycling events.

This month my family will grow with the birth of our second child. I will need to learn to balance my family with work and training. This may be my single most difficult goal of this year. I am excited to see what the future holds for my family.

As always, thank you all for your support. I look forward to this coming race season, meeting new people and learning more about the sport of triathlon.

USMC 5X BT Challenge

November starts a new BT Challenge for me. The Challenge - 5X USMC Challenge

This challenge was started by a US Marine / Triathlete. As the Marines recently changed their workout / PT requirements from 3 days a week to 5 days a week. Our challenge is a basic match of that change - Workout at least 30 minutes a day with a minimum of 5 days a week for the month of November.

Here are the rules:

• A PT session must be at minimum 30 minutes per day, but what you do for PT is up to you as long as it hold training value. (A massage does not count as PT)
• Basically if it is cardio, strength training, or athletic sports it is fair game.
  
• For each PT session completed you will get a point. It is a hit or miss system, so only one point allow per day and only if you get the 30 minutes required for that day.
  
• With a little room for those overachievers there will be a max of 22 points allowed for the month. That is based on a M-F schedule that the Marine Corps Follows which is 20 days in Nov plus a 10% extra. The most points allowed during a week will be 6 points and that is only allowed twice.
• Team with the highest average of % Completion wins.
  

Time Periods: The cut offs for the time periods will be Nov 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 30th.

I'm In! I'm a glutton for punishment. Plus this gives me more motivation to improve my workouts on the new trainer.

What's Next?

The Beginner Triathlete October Run Challenge! The most miles I've ever logged for a month is 47 (August of this year). So my goal for October is 50 miles. This should also push me way ahead for my annual goal of a mile per day for the year.

Currently I'm at mile 288 and we are at the 277th day of the year.

Today I ran 6 miles. This was my first run since the half marathon on Sunday. I felt good, but I had to stretch out twice. I still got in my miles in less than an hour.

Other good news: Today is Anna's first day at pre-school! Becky and I dropped her off this morning and she took off playing with the other girls (she was looking for the boys when we walked in - none were there yet... uh-ohh). She said goodbye to Becky and I was we left and ran back to playing without even thinking about waving 'bye-bye' I'll be heading back to pick her up soon.

What a day!

(For those considering the triathlon thing - Sign up on the website NOW! BeginnerTriathlete.com Join the October Run Challenge, set and complete a goal it this month! You'll make new friends and find new motivation - stop slacking!)