QC Tri Race Report

Wow I've been really horrible about updating my blog, I wish I was a little better about it because I know some day I will enjoy reviewing these later in life, and let's be honest besides the 4 or 5 other people that bless me by reading these posts I'm really doing this for myself. Anyway as the title of this post says this is my QCT race report.

The day started off pretty good, woke up early, enjoyed a cup of coffee and a waffle with peanut butter (pretty much my new favorite pre race/workout food) and then packed up all my gear and made my way out to West Lake. I opted to park at the Church down the road and ride my bike in to avoid the crowds and traffic which turns out wasn't really all that bad, but it served as a little warm up.

Got my timing chip and as I was getting my transition area all set up it started to sprinkle which turned into a steady rain, it wasn't looking so good at that point. The swim and run would be fine, but I was nervous about riding the bike in the rain. I will run in just about any weather shy of a tornado or thunderstorms, but it doesn't take much to get me off the bike and rain is definitely on that list. I did go for a little bit of a warm up ride with Jen Paul who was doing her first Tri and she totally rocked it, ended up taking 3rd overall for the women even though she has done almost no training on the bike or swim, I guess that is what you can do when you are an elite level runner. After the ride I ran a mile warm up with Chad and then it was quickly getting time to put on the wet suit and head down to the beach for the start. Let me tell you what, putting on a wet suit is difficult enough, putting it on when it's wet and your wet is even more difficult. Luckily the rain had all but let up at this point and it was GO TIME!

Swim
The swim was a time trial start, 2 swimmers entered the water every 3 seconds, and we were lined up according to estimated swim time. I put myself in a conservative area of 10-11 min for the swim and lined up accordingly but I'm fairly certain there were more than a few people in front of me that may have over estimated their swim time as I passed quite a few people in the water and even crawled over the backs of some. At the very end I caught up with Jen who had started up front, I didn't even realize she was in front of me until I went over the back of the guy swimming next to her and then dropped my arm right on her head. I realized it was her immediately since she wasn't wearing a wet suit and I could see her Live Uncommon racing top. I actually apologized to her after we got out of the water. All in all the swim went really well, I didn't go out to fast and definitely did not push as hard as I could have, which was my intention but I did end up with the 71st fastest swim for the day.

Bike
My transition to the bike wasn't smooth, I had a difficult time getting out of my wet suit and with the rain I didn't have everything laid out like I would have liked, I had my shoes under my towel which was soaked. I easily could have saved 20-30 seconds but it wasn't a big deal in the end. I knew going into the race I wanted to have a much better bike than I did in Bluff Creek, I was willing to push harder and sacrifice a little on the run later. This ultimately paid off for me as I improved my time on the bike by nearly 3.5 minutes. The course was pretty flat, a couple of small hills.

Run
I got off the bike knowing that if I was going to make up some ground on my division it was going to be in the run my legs felt like jelly at first but after a half mile when we got on to pavement I was ready to roll and I set out trying to find and pass every "C" (for Clydesdale Division) that I could find. As far as big guys go I'm fairly fast, not as fast as my buddy Aaron Maurer who took first in the Clydesdale division and 11th overall, but much faster than most and I ended up passing at least a half dozen guys in my division which helped me move up to 6 out of 28 in the Clydesdale division and 89 out of 583 overall. Even though I didn't finish in the top 3 in my division like at Bluff Creek I am much happier with this finish, first off there was much stiffer competition with only one distance racing and secondly I ran a much better race and finished over a minute faster than Bluff Creek

Thanks to Phil Pancrazio, who actually may have gotten the only photo in history of me running where my feet are off the ground.

.Live Uncommon was well represented at the race with Jeff Paul taking the overall title, Jen Paul taking 3rd in the womens division, Aaron Maurer took the Clydesdale and 11th overall, Jay Gates won his age division and a whole bunch of others where out there doing their thing and representing this great cause. There is still plenty of time to make a donation to the Revolution by clicking here and checking out my fundraising page. Some truly worthing causes like Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Ouch wound research and a whole bunch of others, next race is the Moonlight Chase on July 14th which is also the same day as my next Tri and my first Olympic Distance, yup going for the double that day now that's living uncommon...
Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Monday 2012-04-16

Since I am without contacts currently swimming is out of the program for awhile, which might not be a bad thing in the long run. This week is supposed to be a recovery week and it works perfectly into my racing schedule with the second race of the Revolution Race series on Saturday with the Run for Renewal. Not being able to to swim for a couple of days will allow me to get some extra running in early in the week so I don't have to worry about getting in a long run on Saturday along with racing.

Today I ran outside even though the wind was blowing really hard, the thought of running on the treadmill dreadmill in my basement was not appealing in anyway shape or form. I actually did contemplate going to the Y to run there and then lift weights afterwards but even with the wind it wasn't that cold so I opted for outdoors.

Turned out to be a pretty good run, started off the first 2.5  miles running with Lucky even though I had to stop after each of the first 2 miles to let him rest. I have gotten considerably faster on my shorter runs and he isn't able to hold the pace for too long. After dropping him back off at the house I headed out for 2.5 more miles. The wind was starting to blow a lot harder and at one point I turned right into a big gust that nearly stopped me in my tracks. Even with the wind I was able to clock mile splits of 8:40, 8:25, 8:13, 7:59 and 7:49 for a total of 5 miles in 41:08. I was pretty happy with this run today and just how easy running this faster pace felt. I'm really starting to see an improvement in my running which is great after my early set back with my knee problems.

Will try to get 20 miles in on the bike tonight then an easy run to the Y (weather permitting) weights and easy run home tomorrow morning. I like the idea of running or biking to the gym as opposed to driving, more environmentally responsible.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

St. Patrick's Day Race

Today was the first race of the year for me and it was the first race of the Live Uncommon Revolution Race Series. Started the day off with a warm up run before we headed down to the race, the boys were running the 1/4 mile tot trot and they were both super excited. Caden wanted me to run along side him and I was happy to join him. When the race started Casey took off and me and Caden started weeding our way through the crowd, it was so funny when ever we would hit an open patch Caden would take off like a rocket and I was struggling to keep up with him while dodging little kids and trying to keep an eye on Casey who was doing awesome. We made the turn around and it opened up a bit and both boys were off and running, it was so awesome to see them having such a great time running and doing such a great job.

My race went much better than expected, I had planned on starting out slow which wasn't too much of a problem since I started out in the back of the pack. After weeding my way through the joggers and walkers and turning the corner I was able to open it up. I was really surprised to look down at my watch and see I was hitting a 7:30/min mile. I was hoping to get under 24 minutes so anything under 8 min miles was awesome. I decided after the first mile to let it go and keep pushing. I was happy to finish 1 min off my 5k PR from last year so early in the year and with little to no real speed training so far this year, my unofficial time was 22:26.

After the race we hung around for the parade and met up with some friends to watch and then grabbed some lunch with them afterwards. It was a great day and really embodied the spirit of the LU Revolution, Family, Fun, Friends and a chance to give back to CASI doing something we all enjoyed. Awesome event, awesome race, awesome LU support!!!

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Tuesday Night Trail Run

Hit my favorite place to run when I stay in Ames, nice little flat trail at the park. Weather was amazing, first time I've run outside in just shorts and a t-shirt in a long time. Still having my issues with running at night, tried eating a little more later in the afternoon today but still got that exausted fatigued feeling half way through the run, wanted to shoot for 5 miles but called it after the second loop because I was getting dizzy. Maybe I just run better on a fasted state first thing in the morning, oh well at least my knee wasn't hurting before or after. I was concerned with running on the uneven terrain that it might flare up, but no issues to speak off.

First Live Uncommon RevoLUtion Race is this Saturday and I'm still looking for donations, big thank you for those who have already stepped up and made a donation, I really appreciate it. If you would like to make a donation to the cause you can access my page here.

Thank you for reading...

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Training Week # 10 - Monday morning run and swim

Woke up this morning at 4:10, 5 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off, not sure I feel about this. On the one hand I'm glad I'm becoming so accustomed to waking so early that I'm getting up before my alarm, but on the other hand I feel robbed of a little bit of sleep, even if it was only 5 minutes.

Seeing as how I woke up so early (I usually hit the snooze a couple of times) I took my time getting ready for my run and really allowed myself to wake up, and it showed in my run. I started out fast, faster than I normally want to but quickly settled into a nice rhythm. It was a great morning to run, cool and crisp with hardly any wind. The streets and sidewalks were a little slick in some spots from the snow yesterday afternoon/evening which made for some interesting moments, I almost bit it once turning a corner, did not see the patch of ice. All in all another good run, and no knee pain which is hopefully all in the rear view mirror.

After finishing up my run I headed out to the Y for my swim workout, I was not looking forward to this workout. My arms, chest and back were still sore and tight from lifting weights on Saturday and I was dreading having to do 50 yd repeats. I went through my warm ups and kind of loosened up a bit and got started on my main set of repeats. The first 8 went by with some struggles, I ended up taking a minute break half way through to catch my breath and let my heart rate drop. After that I was able to pick it up a bit, plus its always easier when you know the majority of the workout is behind you are almost done. I finished up strong, did my cool down and ended the workout feeling good about what I had accomplished. I could have very easily skipped this swim or cut it back but I stuck with the plan and made my way through which is always reassuring.

Thanks everyone for reading and don't forget to check out my Revolution Race Team Page and consider making a charitable donation.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.