3 Tri Guys: April 2010

Wrentham Duathlon Race Report – Jason

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Quick report from the first multisport race of the year, the Wrentham Duathlon. It works out that this race is located one town away from my parents which meant I got to have some supporters at the race!

Weather was not ideal – 38 degrees and a steady light rain through the first run and the bike. This was my first ride using the aero helmet and race wheels. The race was an initial run of 3 miles followed by a 11 mile bike and another 2 mile run to conclude.

The race had 317 entrants, and I secured a nice end of rack spot for transition.

Here is a shot of the first run course:

Starting line:

Coming into T1. First run was a little slower than forecasted, averaged 9:10/mile and was shooting for 9:00/mile. As expected, poor showing in my age group with 25th out of 26th time. Overall 270 out of 317. Had some trouble settling into a consistent pace, as you can see from the Garmin data (blue line):

Transition was slowed as a I fumbled with deciding how much clothing to add on for the bike. I was worried about being cold with an air temp of 38. I had run with just an underarmour, short sleeve bike jersey, bike shorts, leg warmers and light gloves. Ultimately I decided to add only the vest for the bike. It ended up being comfortable enough, although my bike shoes were soaked by the end of the ride.

The bike course was by far my best part of the race, even with the relative lack of training so far this year. I passed 122 of the 270 people who beat me on the run – or 38% of the entire field. Literally no one passed me – although at one point one guy tried to, but I re-passed him in the final mile. Bike time was 15th out of 26 in my age group and 110 out of 317 overall. Average speed over 19mph on a rolling course with 2 short climbs – Jordan Road and the hill up Main Street in Norfolk (see brown area for elevation in the chart). Here are some shots in T2:

On to the final run, which was a shortened version of the first run. Here I just tried to keep a steady pace and bring it home as fast as possible in the final half mile. I was only re-passed by 9 people that I passed on the bike which I was happy with. I negative split both the first and second runs, as well as the first and second mile of the last run (see blue line on chart). The first mile I did in 9:03 and the second mile in 8:29, with the final quarter mile at 7:27 pace. This gave me a slight improvement compared to the first run, with my time good enough for 24 out of 26 in my age group and 217 out of 317 overall.

Was pretty happy with the race, as I beat my goal times in all phases. The final time was 24th out of 26th in my age group and 183rd out of 317 overall. I was also happy to have the parents be able to watch. Race photos were taken, but they had issues uploading. They will be on this site when available if you’re interested.

http://www.sportography.com/race/photos/

London Marathon

Monday, April 26, 2010

So after watching both the 2009 & 2010 London Marathon races, i felt inspired. These guys make running sub 5min miles look easy. I started to think well maybe i am just a wimp and i dont push myself hard enough on my runs. Maybe if i just tweak a few things about my form i can gain some free speed?

So today i tried to run pushing harder, I typically train at an 8min mile pace, So i tried to do some intervals,

After a warm up mile, I ran my first interval mile at a 7:30 pace and felt ok. Recovered for a few minutes and the second interval mile at 7:00pace, didn't feel hard until the last quarter mile, again recovered a few minutes; third mile was supposed to me a 6:30 pace but only last 3/4 of a mile. Original plan was to do another mile at 6:00 pace but decided to stop there...

Oh well, after watching the marthon I stupidly thought i would be able to jump on and do 6 min miles lol, i was wrong,

Oh and FYI, I strongly suggest you dont follow my lead on this interval training, this was just false hope that maybe running a 6 something min mile didn' really hurt, well it does, for me anyways...

Jason – Week 10 – Rev3 Olympic Training

Monday – OFF

Tuesday – 1800 yard swim (main set: 5 x 200)

Wednesday – 1 hr bike (main set: 4 x 3 min intervals)

Thursday – 40 min run (main set: 10 x 1 min intervals)

Friday – OFF

Saturday – 1 hr 45 min bike (steady state)

Sunday – OFF

Week Summary

Swim – 1800 yards

Bike – 2 hr 45 min

Run – 40 min

Missed a swim and a running workout this week, but it was a hectic week. I think I may have found a solution to the ongoing running issues with the new shoes.

Still waiting for the race pictures to get uploaded before I post the Wrentham race report.

This coming Sunday is the Greenwich Biathlon where 2 of the 3 Tri Guys will be racing.

"I like to see you suffer, it brings me joy."

Thursday, April 22, 2010

This quote was said to me by my good friend Rico as I was struggling toward the end of the Tuesday night ride.

He said it with a smile on his face.

With friends like that.......

Jason – Week 9 – Rev3 Olympic Training

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Monday – 40 min run (threshold intervals – 18 x 30 seconds)

Tuesday – 1 hr 10 min bike (steady state)

Wednesday – OFF

Thursday – 1 hr 10 min bike (long hills – 3 x 5 min)

Friday – 1850 yard swim (base and lactate threshold intervals – 5 x 100 and 7 x 75)

Saturday – OFF

Sunday – RACE – WRENTHAM DUATHLON – 44 min run, 33 min bike

Week Summary

Swim – 1850 yards

Bike – 3hr 4 min

Run – 1 hr 13 min

Race report to follow for the Wrentham Duathlon. Pretty solid week, but again missed one swim workout and combined second run workout into race to keep miles low while my foot recovers from the injury.

New Running Shoes

After continued discomfort with the Adidas Supernovas, I went back to Fleet Feet to check out other options. I tried on several pair and found the Asics Nimbus 12’s to be the most comfortable and least irritating on the top of my foot. I think the major issue is the Adidas toebox was too narrow and slightly too tight for my foot, which became more obvious as the weather warmed and my foot swelled slightly in the heat.

Despite the fact that the Adidas were 4 months old, Fleet Feet took them back no questions asked and credited the full value against the Asics. Really impressive customer service.

I HATE SWIMMING! - end of post.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Captain Slow getting a little faster

This past week was a decent week for me. The Saturday before last I did my longest training run, 8 miles, and i felt pretty good, as of now I don't run with a watch so I am not sure of my pace, I am running on perceived effort just trying to develop a solid base. I also played 2 hours of tennis immediately after so the legs still had some juice which I was happy about.

On Tuesday, Rico and I went to do this group ride in NJ that I used to do every Tuesday and Thursday. I remember the group being fast and convinced Rico that we should stay with the "slow" guys when they broke off into two groups. The ride was about 23 miles, it was about all we could do before it to too dark, we did stay with the "slow" guys, and averaged about 21 mph. I was able to hang and even took two pulls so my legs are starting to come back, this made me very happy.

Yesterday I did what was supposed to be my first half-marathon, it was the first one i signed up for, but thanks to Rico, it was actually my third (he "encouraged" me to do the two prior). I had set three goals for myself for this race:
Goal 1 - Will be disappointed if I don't accomplish - under 2:10:00 finish
Goal 2 - Will be happy if i accomplish - under 2:05;00 finish
Goal 3 - Probably not likely but will be super happy if - under 2:00: finish

Result - 1:58:27 - I am super happy with that result. I felt pretty good right up until the 11 mile mark, the last two miles were hard but I knew if I pushed I could break 2:00:00.

I am hitting the pool today, swimming is now by far my weakest event, I really need some help.

Tomorrow I am going to try and get back to that group ride, I am going to try every Tuesday if I can, Thursday's would be a bonus, its just tough to get out of the city that early.

Jason – Week 8 – Rev 3 Olympic Training

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Monday – 1450 yard swim (base and lactate threshold intervals)

Tuesday – OFF

Wednesday – 1 hr 10 min bike (lactate threshold intervals)

Thursday – OFF

Friday – 1300 yard swim (threshold intervals)

Saturday – 40 min bike (steady state)

Sunday – BRICK – 1 hr 15 min bike and 10 min run (steady state)

Week Summary

Swim – 2750 yards

Bike – 3hr 5 min

Run – 10 min

Halfway thru the program!

This was a scheduled recovery week and had 2 major interruptions to training. Although it was a lighter volume week, the intensity was higher.

After my run last Sunday, which had been my longest and fastest to date at about 6 miles, I developed some top of foot pain on Monday. Enough that it was painful to wear shoes. After researching online, I feared a possible stress fracture. I was able to get an xray on Friday that was negative. I have switched to my old running shoes and have since run without issue. Also on Tuesday I had a bit of oral surgery done. This was more annoying than painful, as the only thing it hampers is the ability to eat normally. I was able to train the next day, although it was slightly uncomfortable. We had some unseasonably warm weather, with temps over 90 degrees. I love the hot weather, so I couldn’t pass up some outdoor training. I also was able to ride the new tri bike outside for the first time this year.

I was really happy with the Sunday brick workout. I was able to get off the bike and hold an 8:00 min/mi pace straight away. Hopefully I will be able to execute the same pace at next weeks race.

Next week will be my first duathlon of the year, near my hometown in MA.

Jason – Week 7 – Rev 3 Olympic Training

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Monday – OFF (traveling back from CA)

Tuesday – 1550 yard swim (fartlek and short sprints)

Wednesday – 30 min run (sprints)

Thursday – 1 hr 5 min bike (short hill repeats)

Friday – 27,000 vertical/50 mile distance snowboarding at Mt Snow

Saturday – 1 hr 45 min bike (steady state) – Rev3 Bike Course Recon

Sunday – 1 hr run (steady state)

Week Summary

Swim – 1550 yards

Bike – 2hr 50 min

Run – 1 hr 30 min

Other – 27k vertical/50 miles snowboarding

Saturday I rode the Rev3 Bike course. As you can see from the profile this is a tough course. The hill up to Mile 14 is brutally steep. Looking forwarding to riding a few more times before race day.

Also had my best run of the year on Sunday. 6 miles at a respectable pace.