Race Recap: First Race of 2012: Redlands Duathlon

Well, it's finally behind me now, the first race of 2012.  It wasn't one that I had actually planned for, and I actually registered the morning of the event.  That's one of the great things about the smaller, local events, they almost never sell out, so you can sign up on an impulse.  At the same time and location, there was a reverse sprint triathlon and a 5k run.

So, this is a duathlon (run, bike, run), and actually only my second one.  The first one I did was in Central Park while on a mini-vacation in NYC.  The distances for the Redlands race were 5k run, then 10 mile bike, then finish up with another 5k run.

After a 45 minute drive from home, I arrived at the race location at 6:30am, with plenty of time to get registered and setup.  Since this wasn't going to be chip timed, I knew registration would be a little easier than normal, and it was.  I ended up with plenty of time to walk and run around to warm up, since the weather was a bit chilly, mid-40s.

5k Run (about 22 min)
I did a horrible job keeping track of this race with my Garmin, so all my splits are are guestimates.  My first three mile times were 7:14, 6:49, 7:15.  The second mile was slightly downhill overall, but honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised with these mile splits.  I've been taking extra care to keep my running to a minimum, since I still have a tinge of pain occasionally.  In addition to a few training tweaks, I was able to send some running videos to fellow Wattie Ink Elite Team member, Lindsay Zucco.  She's a physical therapist in Chicago, but was able to spot some slight issues with my running form, just using iPhone videos.  

10 mile Bike (about 30 minutes)
The bike course was two five mile loops.  There's a gradual climb up into a residential neighborhood, before turning around and heading back to the school.  Some of the corners were covered in gravel, so I didn't press my luck trying to gain a few seconds at the turns.  There was one point on the first lap where I was behind a small pack of three riders, I noticed they missed a left turn, so I let them go.  I heard them talking after the race, and they ended up having to track back to the turnaround point.  The volunteers on the bike course weren't very helpful, and course maps we limited before the race.  Overall, I felt ok on the bike.  I probably averaged close to 20mph.  It's still early in the year, and I wasn't on my tri bike, so again, I'm not too disappointed with this effort.

5k Run (about 23:30ish)
The transition area was a bit of confusion, with runners and cyclists going in and out from every corner of the parking lot.  Hopefully some of this stuff can get worked out next time.  It's a nice little race and I'd like to do it again next year.  Anyway, my splits for the second run were 8:01, 7:06, 7:36. Not too bad considering my lack of running.  Hopefully, as I head into March, I'll be able to run more, and spend more time with speed too.

My total time was 1:14:55.  Technically, I was 2nd in my age group, but with only two people in my age group, it's kind of an empty victory for me.  I had a goal of 1:18, so I'm please to have beaten the goal I set for myself.  I am proud of how I represented both the Orange County Triathlon Club and the Wattie Ink Elite Team.  Also, this was my first race in K-Swiss shoes, and I'm looking forward to a great year of running, with my next pair coming soon.

My first race with the Wattie Ink 'tats'

January Training Wrap-up

Trail run in Yucaipa

January was still a relatively light training month.  I'm slowly building up more volume, which means waking up earlier.  Yeah, that's been the tough part.  Anyway, here's the final tally:

Swimming: 22,050 (12.5 Miles)
I was pretty consistent with 3 days/week of swimming.  As usual, I started the month with an easy mile time trail, which was just over 30 minutes.  This was about 90 seconds faster than last month.  My biggest swim day was 1/22, when I swam 40 x 100s for my birthday.

Cycling: 240.7 miles
I've been mixing my bike time between road and mounting bike, so the mileage is a little low.  Going forward, I'm going to try to do better at tracking time also.

Running: 24.6 miles
My miles are still pretty low.  I don't want to go into 2012 with knee issues, so I'm taking it easy with running.  Much of the time I'd normally spend running, I've been on the elliptical. 

Cross-Training: 4:30
Mostly time spent on the elliptical at my running cadence, but also some time with the rowing machine and a little bit on the Versa Climber.

Weight Training: 1:55
This time is split 50/50 between legs and everything else.  I'm focusing more time on leg exercises to help keep my runner's knee from coming back this year.

Weight: 160
Down 3 pounds from the end of December, so I'm headed in the right direction.  I'll probably settle in around 155, and down as low as 150 for Wildflower.

Rock the W

Wow, what a great start to my third season as a 'triathlete.'  I recently found out that I was selected to be part of the Wattie Ink Elite Triathlete Team.  I am one of 50 great team members, spread out across the US. It has only been a week since the team announcement and I can already tell this is going to be a great year.  Expect a lot of new PRs from me this season, as my motivation to do well just got cranked up to 11.

Wattie and HJ at OC Tri Club

I am looking forward to wearing the team kit for that first race.  My first race will likely be the Desert Triathlon in March.  Based on timing, it'll be a close call as to whether the gear will be ready by then.  Aside from a couple other teammates racing that weekend, I look forward to also seeing Team Wattie Ink founder, Sean Watkins and top female pro, Heather Jackson, there too.

There are a couple ways to keep up with the Team this year, including it's new rivalry with Team Rev3/Trakkers:
Wattie Ink Elite Team on Facebook
Wattie Ink Elite Team members on Twitter or use #rocktheW

Maybe by the end of the year, I won't feel strange calling myself a triathlete.

2012 Race Plan

This may change as the year progresses, but here's my A, B and C list races for 2012:

A List:
Wildflower Long Course (5/5/12), Goal time: 5:30
I really enjoyed this race in 2011, and my goal is to improve by 30 minutes.  I know I can do better than 5:45, so I want to start with a solid goal.  As my training gets underway, I'll revisit this.

Ironman Arizona (11/18/12), Goal time: 10:59:59
This is going to be my first Ironman distance race.  After Wildflower, I plan to take a short break and then focus on training for Arizona. I think it would be great to break 11 hours, but that may be tough for my first experience at this distance.

B List:
Desert Triathlon (3/3/12)
I've never done this race, but I'd like to check it out this year.
Big Rock Triathlon (4/12/12), Goal 2:30
I've done this race a few times. This will be a good race to help prepare for Wildflower.
Firecracker 5k/10k (7/4/12) I did the 5k in 2011 (2nd in my AG).  Maybe the 10k?
Orangeman (8/19/12) I missed this race in 2011.  It's hard to pass up a chance to do a 70.3 race in Orange County, plus, the bike course is on Ortega Highway.
Pacific Coast Triathlon (9/9/12) Scenic race along the coast.
Big Rock Triathlon (10/13/12) This will be a good chance to break up the Ironman training.

C List:
Redlands Cycle Classic (3/25/12)
I've never done a road bike race, but I'd like to try this one.
Over the Hump Mountain Bike Series (May through August)
Weekly mountain bike races
Camp Pendleton Sprint (8/4/12)

Any other suggestions?

I'll probably come back and add or remove races as the year progresses, but this should be a great plan for 2012.

December Training Wrap-Up

December was a light training month.  When I'm consistent with tracking my training, I use ActiveTrainer.com.  It's free service and it is relatively basic, but I use it just to keep a record of my training and I like the month view.  The volume is pretty low, and likely what I'll do in a week during my peak Ironman training this year. So, here's the final tally:

Swimming: 8.78 miles
I was pretty consistent with 3 days/week of swimming.  I started the month with a mile time trail, which was 32:27.  My swim time has been split about 50/50 between drills and laps (endurance and intervals).  I start most of my swims with a 200yd warm-up, which has been 3:25 to 3:35 on average.  On 12/30, I swam a 3:16 200yd warm-up to start and felt good.  It seems like my pace is slowly improving.


Cycling: 122.5 miles
I've been mixing my bike time between road and mounting bike, so the mileage is a little low.  Plus, I have intentionally been giving extra time to give my left knee to recover.  In December, I discovered Strava.com.  I eventually figured out how to load all of my Garmin data from 2011.  Strava is great for tracking your rides and runs and comparing your times to other people and your past rides.

Running: 17.75 miles
My miles have been cut way back.  I don't want to go into 2012 with knee issues, so I'm taking some time off from running.  I'm trying to keep the fitness up with other options, like the elliptical. 

Cross-Training: 3:00
Mostly time spent on the elliptical, but also some time with the rowing machine and a little bit on the Versa Climber.

Weight Training: 2:40
This time is split 50/50 between legs and everything else.

Weight: 163
I'm 10 lbs over my Wildflower weight from 4/30/11, but I'm still 27 lbs off my all-time high of 190.  It's time to get the diet back in order...

Tempe Road Trip: Arizona Ironman 2012

Arizona Ironman Finish Line

So, I have officially, well at least mentally, committed to my first Ironman distance triathlon, Ironman Arizona 2012.  Because of the demand for most Ironman events, the only way to guarantee that I can have the 'privilege' of competing is to volunteer at the previous year's event.  So, that's what I did.  My friend Jason and I decided to make the road trip out to Tempe, Arizona and work as a volunteer at the 2011 race.

We signed up for our volunteer spots a couple months ago.  I suggest doing this, since you'll have a better selection of volunteer options.  There's about one volunteer per racer at a large event like this.  Jason and I chose a shift at one of the run aid stations.  We were able to get an early shift, and a short one too.  More on that later.

As Jason likes to say, "to make a long story longer", here goes...My daughters were staying with Grandma, so I was all set.  We drove out Friday night, and were staying at a budget motel, a couple miles away from the race area.  The volunteer meeting was 9am on Saturday morning, so we headed over a little early to check out the expo area.  You could feel the energy in the air around the expo area.  The athletes were checking in their gear, and they had one last chance to get in a practice swim at Tempe Brown..er..um...Town Lake.

Before the swim start

After the volunteer meeting, Jason and I hung around the expo area for a while, running in to a few friends, and then off to lunch, Fatburger.  What? I'm not racing this year.  This was my first visit to downtown Tempe, and I really like the Mill St. area.  Later in the evening we met some friends for dinner, three of the four of them were racing Sunday morning.  The Mill St. area was super busy with everyone in town for the Ironman race and that night was the ASU/Arizona football game.  We made it an early night, since the plan was to get up and watch the start of the race.

Aid Station set-up

Race morning, we made our way to one of the bridges over the water.  As the crowd grew, we realized we were on the 'wrong' bridge.  Since we didn't have time to get over to the 'right' bridge, we watched the start from where we were.  If you haven't seen a mass swim start of a large event like this, it's pretty amazing.  2,500 people all swimming together, to the same location.  I suggest going to YouTube and search for "Ironman Arizona swim start."

Bike coral, pre-race

Next, we headed to the swim exit to watch the pros and lead AGers come out of the water.  Somewhere around 70-75 minutes after the AGers start, the transition area starts to get hectic.  The volunteers handing out the T1 bags and the bikes can't keep up with the flow of people.  From there, we moved over to watch the bikers as they headed out on the three loop bike course.  We began to make our way over towards where our run aid station was, but we still had some time to kill so we stood along the bike course and cheered on the racers as they went out on their 112 mile journey.  We had time to wait for the pros to finish their first lap and see them as they come back into Tempe towards 'hot corner.'  Hot corner is a spot on the course where you can sit and watch the bikes as well as the runners.  This is probably the most spectator friendly race I've been too, which is one of the reasons I chose it for my first full 140.6 race.

Keep going Frank

From there, we made our way to our aid station.  Our shift was the first shift, which basically meant that we were there to unload the truck and set up the aid station for the long day ahead.  This aid station was mostly filled with volunteers from a local college women's rowing team.  Our shift was done even before the pros came through, so we decided to stay and work a little longer.  Ultimately, we ended up staying for an extra four hours.  This gave us a chance to see the top pros go by on each of the three loops, and we had a chance to see all of our friends come through.

After dinner, we headed over to the finish line to watch some of the finishers come through.  This is a very inspirational part of the race.  You're seeing people that have just raced for 8 to 17 hours continuously.  The bulk of the top AGers come through between 9 and 11 hours.  One of the great traditions of Ironman races is for the top pros to come back to the finish line to cheer on the racers coming through at the final hour, hours 16 to 17.

Monday morning was the main reason I was there, to sign up for next year.  The volunteer registration opened up at 8am, which is when I got in line.  Well, almost three hours later, I made it to the registration tent, and I did it, I signed up for Arizona Ironman 2012.  I later heard that the online registration sold out in 10 minutes, so I'm glad I made the trip.  Jason promised he'll be out there to volunteer again next year, and of course, sign up for 2013.  I'll make sure he doesn't forget.

And so it begins, my journey to complete my first Ironman race...

Me and Tim O'donnell

Lindsey Corbin

Eneke Llanos

Race Recap: Big Rock Olympic (10/15/11)

There are quite a few things I enjoy about this race.  First, it's not too far from home, so I can sleep in my own bed.  Next, it's relatively inexpensive.  The water temperature is usually pretty good, I almost consider going without a wetsuit, almost.  There's also two times to race during the year, April and October, so it's a good fitness test for the beginning and ending of the 'season.'

This is the third time at this race for me, so I'm pretty comfortable and relaxed going into the weekend, maybe too relaxed, because my training has already slid into off-season mode.  This is partly because I still have lingering soreness from Runner's Knee.  Going into the race, I had no expectations for a fast race, considering that I haven't run longer than 4 miles since Wildflower (4/30/11).

With my wife out of town, I dropped my daughters off at Grandma and Grandpa's house the night before.  They're not old enough yet to be left alone at the race venue while I'm out swimming, biking and running.  So, home alone, I got the transition bag and bike all set up the night before.  My morning breakfast was a Clif bar, banana and water.

It was a nice morning, and I set up my transition area near my friend Jason.  This is his third race and first time at this distance.  As I walked to the water, I had a caffeine free GU pack.  I don't need any extra jitters that caffeine may cause before starting the swim.

The Swim (28.42 @ 1:54/100 pace)

This is slower than the last time I did this race (1 minute), probably due to my sighting.  The swim is two loops in Lake Perris, and the first loop felt good.  Several times I caught myself drifting away from the buoys and having to correct my direction.  The second loop felt good, but the fogged rolled in.  The combination of fog on the water and foggy goggles, really didn't help my zigzag swimming.

T1 (4:46)

Yes, that's a long transition time, but it's a long run up from the water the the transition area.  First, you run up the sand, then across the grass, then onto the asphalt to get your gear.  I decided to take off my wetsuit as I got to the grass.  Really, it was just an experiment to see how it worked out.  I actually sat to pull the wetsuit over my feet.  In the past, I've cramped trying to get my feet out.  Socks on, shoes on, helmet on, Garmin on, go.

The Bike (1:13.48 @ 20.21mph)

This is a two loop bike course with one hill out of the transition area, and another steep hill heading back into the Lake Perris entrance.  Overall, this was two minutes slower than my April race.  I'm pleased that I broke 20mph again, maybe next time I can break 21.  On the bike, I had another GU pack, and drank maybe 16 ounces of my diluted Gatorade.

T2 (1:04)

Darn! Almost broke one minute. Next time.  I took a small swig of diluted Gatorade, then changed my shoes, grabbed by race belt, visor and glasses, and I was off running.

The Run from Hell (54:09 @8:42/mi pace)

On races that don't require you to wear your race bib on the bike, I like to put it on as I start out of the transition area.  My race belt (SPI Belt) has a pouch for another GU Roctane, pineapple.  Yes, it was the run from hell, not because of the course, but because of the stomach cramps that I had from the first mile, all the way through the finish line. The last time I ran this course, my pace was 8:01/mi..  I took a little water at each aid station, and waited until about mile 4 for the GU Roctane.  By that time, it was anything I could do to convince myself to keep running.  I've never had stomach cramps  like this from running.  The occasional side stitch maybe, but nothing like this.  Looking back, I don't know what caused it, possibly not enough training in the aero position and not enough brick workouts.

Final (2:42:31)

10th out of 15 in 35-39AG, and 45th overall

My worst race in terms of how I performed against my age group, but hopefully some fuel for doing better next year.