Catching up on a few race reports
It's been a while since I have posted a race report to the forums (or anything at all).
Between selling a house, moving once, buying a house, moving again, fixing up a new house, entertaining a two year old, taking on more responsibility are work, hiring some new employees, and then some other unfortunate situations, life has gotten in the way of triathlon a little.
I have spent significantly less time online and barely been on EN, ST, facebook, twitter etc. At first I I tried to stick to getting every workout in but I quickly learned that high levels of stress, plus an average of 5 hours of sleep a night does not allow me to recover from multiple V02 and LT workouts a week. So many workouts became just warm up and see how the body feels. Some days I had great workouts and even hit new PBs and other days just holding easy intensities were hard so I learned to listen to my body and only go hard when I felt up to it. Amazingly, I probably only missed about 10 total workouts this year (which still bugs me as it is more than I have missed in the last few years combined).
I managed to do most of the races I signed up for, but missed the 2 that I looked forward to the most due to a closing and a funeral (Wildflower and American Zofingen).
Anyway, work is slowly getting a little more manageable and we are close to settled in the new house so I will try to be around more going forward.
BTW, I knew the beginning of this year would be crazy with moving so I purposely planned a season around late A races. Therefore I’ve really just been having fun up until now and will start to get serious in July.
To quickly catch up:
OS: no new lifetime high FTP or VDOT for me, however I was able to get back within 5 watts of my highest ever FTP and 2 vdot points from my peak. I did see some big improvement in the pool though as I starting swimming 15k per week in November and held that for about 4 months before things got crazy. I managed to do multiple 10 x 100 SCY leaving on the 1:20 and even got 3-5 seconds rest on all 10. I know that is nothing for a swimmer, but it is huge for me.
Races:
Lifetime Fitness Indoor Tri – I do this race every year. I expected to PR in the swim but I wasn’t sure what to expect on the bike and run. To my surprise I felt awesome and PR’ed all 3 sports and had the best score in all three. I managed to swim 687.5 M in 10:00 (1:27/100) and run 3.7 miles in 20:00.
March Madness Half Marathon – with no long runs over an hour since Austin 70.3 in Oct, I was a bit worried about this one. Turns out that was a blessing, as I started out pretty conservative and was in maybe 25th place in the early miles. It was really hot for March and people started to fade year and I just ran steady and slowly moved up the field. Around mile 11 I started to suffer as well but I was able to hang on. I ended up 7th OA and ran 1:18:13. It’s a super hilly race and my PR there is 1:17:4X, so I was pretty pleased to be within 30 seconds.
Chase Corporate Challenge – the company I work for does this race every year and I usually do not participate because of my race schedule, but since I missed my two races planned for May, I decided I might as well run. It’s a 3.5 mile run and was super windy, hot and humid. I ended up going 19:53 which was good enough for 31st out of 23,000. More importantly though my team won the co-ed team race.
Leon’s Tri – this was actually another team race and I was doing it because Zoot sponsors the event. I raced in the Elite wave and new there were a number of much faster swimmers than me there so I stayed to the far right and out of the fight in this one. I had an awesome swim for me and was a full minute faster than last year at this race. I started the bike somewhere around 15th overall. The bike was long again but at least this time it was only 25.3 miles instead of 27.8 (last year). I held 3 watts less than last year and went slightly slower and road 1:00:04 (of course if it was really 24.8 miles I would have been 58 minutes). I had moved up to 7th overall at T2 and was out the run. Last year I had a serious blow up on this course and fell apart. This year I felt great and was totally in control on the run. Unfortunately my legs felt like they weighed 100 pounds and I had no kick at all. No matter what I did I couldn’t speed up and I just keep moving along. Luckily I only slipped back to 10th overall. My total time was 2:00:01, setting a new Olympic PR. Ironically I felt awesome at the finish and went for a run with my daughter right after. I felt like I could have run all day at the pace I held in the race but I just couldn’t pick it up.
Team Time Trial – A Zoot teammate of mine really wanted to do this Team TT so I agreed. I did it a few years ago with EN teammate StinkyHelmet and I still remember how cold, wet and sore I was after a 40k TT in 35 degree temps, 30mph wind and rain. It was 70s and humid when we started and out of now where storms moved in again this year but we finished before it actually rained. Anyways, the first 15 minutes was uneventful and then I took 45 second or so pull approaching a turn, he went in front right at the turn and I feel off the back a bit and instead of yelling I hammered to catch him, then he pulled over and I took another 45 second pull, then when we switch again I realized I had been at 350+ watts for over 2 minutes with no break. I could feel right away I did some damage, and then I nailed a bump and the saddle clamp on my seatpost came lose and saddle nose was free to move up and down. I’ll just say things went downhill quickly from there and hovering over the saddle without putting any weight on it for 40 minutes hurts really bad. Thanks to my teammate taking 2/3s of the pulls for the rest of the race we still finished strong and pulled off a 55:01 and won the open division. Not being able to really sit down killed me though as my legs were sore for 3 days after the race.
Twin Lakes Sprint – Another local race that I did once in the past and won and I wanted to give it a shot again. I decided to swim in my speedsuit to practice for vegas. I had an awesome warmup. My stroke was effortless and my catch felt rock solid. I was only going to swim a couple hundred yards but I felt so good I swam the full 700M course super easy and held a 1:33/100 M pace (10:40). I felt really ready for this swim so I lined up right in front and was in the first wave with all the fast swimmers. Well with 25 M, I was getting crushed and swam over. I slowly moved to the outside and got some clean water but by then I lost the lead few and was behind a pack of about 5. I tried to go around them once and did but then realized that there was no way I was closing the gap to the next few swimmers, so I settled back in and stuck with the group. I actually ended up swimming 30 seconds slower than I did in this race two years ago and only 19 seconds faster than my easy solo warmup. Lessons learned and re-learned: don’t settle in during a sprint as every second counts, and a wetsuit is always faster. I passed 3 people in t1 and had my fastest t1 ever and was off on the bike. Within the first mile I based 3 more and then had open rode, but there was no lead car so I figured at least one other person was in front of me. The course has way to many turns and it’s really hard to keep steady power. T2 was my faster T2 ever and I was told I was about 2 minutes down on the leader. Like Leon’s I felt great, in total control, no cramps, heart rate was good, but legs had nothing. The first mile was slow, but then my legs started to feel a little better. Around mile 3 I got some snap in them and was finally able to really run. The last mile was my best and I had closed the gap close enough that I could see the leader and was getting closer every step…. And then the finish line came. I closed the gap from just under two minutes down to 34 seconds but it wasn’t good enough. I did set a 30 second PR and once again ever second of the race was totally under control with no stupid mistakes or issues.
Overall, I think it is an outstanding start to the seaons considering all the other noise I had for a while, and I'm feeling super fresh and eager to start the hard training for my A races.
Coming up next I’m going to do an Olympic distance race in early July. Then get serious and do a block of training and drop a few pounds for Vegas 70.3. After that a quick recovery week or so and then I’ll start getting ready for an IM.
As usual I’m glad to share anything anyway wants to hear about from my races.
Comments
Matt ... I've missed your posts and am glad that you've got most of those life events behind you. It sure doesn't like it hurt you in any way given the strength of your early season. I look forward to meeting you at Vegas.
Ironman plans for 2013?
@Robin - not sure what 2013 will bring yet. I have a lot of things floating around in my head that I have to sort through. I will be at IMAZ this year.
AmZof was magic and you would love it. Which oly are you thinking of doing?
Matt - congrats on the Oly PR on a long course! Carry the speed into the HIM this fall, then build from there.
Even though I'm doing 2 IMs this year, I still see myself in a re-building phase, on a 2-3 year training cycle to be as fit as I can come 2014, when I age up again. I'm finding the older we get, the faster we slow down, so 64 compared to 60 is not the same as 59 compared to 55, etc.
You, of course, still have 5-10 years to keep building to a peak in this sport
What speedsuit did you use? I remember discussing with you last year that Zoot's was being redone because the version they made wasn't up to par. Is the one on their website a newer, better one? The one I currently have isn't WTC legal, and I've considered getting the Xterra's as that's the brand I have now (USAT legal).
You said that your bike and run are below previous numbers. Why do you think you were able to PR at the Twin Lakes Sprint? Have you since gained back the lost watts in the OS? This is my first year where all of my disciplines are slower than they have been in the past. My training has really lacked. Very limited weekend training as I'd rather be working in our garden, so most weekend 'training' has come from races. Trying to mentally get back in the game after last summer's long training for IMWI. I worry that I will never get that speed back. Reading that you have, and about Patrick's racing this year, has me optimistic for next year. I've given up on obtaining any PR'S this year, but I am having fun.
I will see you at IMAZ- just at the start. Then you will be gone and maybe I will see you when I cross many hours after you!
Looking forward to living vicariously through a fast dude like you!
Daniela - I've been swimming in the current production model that was released in Kona last year (and available to some athletes in Vegas). It is the same one that is available on the website now. They are making minor tweaks to have a new version next year, but it's only minor adjustments to the sizing, the zipper, and possibly the neck line, however the material is staying the exact same.
Regarding twin lakes, the thing is that my numbers fluctuate very little year to year and within the year. For example, when I'm at my peak my FTP is approaching 290 and when I'm at my low it is around 275. The biggest difference is I had no cramping or any other issues to slow me down. That said, by the numbers, my PR was mainly the transitions as I was about 10 seconds faster in each and my PR was a about 30 seconds.
You have the right attitude, just stick with it and constancy over time will pay off. Also, I find it is much easier to get back speed you once had then to get it the first time.
@Al and Michele - looking forward to seeing you guys are AZ.
Cool. See you in arizona.