Friday, August 28, 2009

Age Group National Championship Recap and More

So I knew I was in over my head but I had no idea. The Age Group National Championships in Tuscaloosa was quite an experience last weekend. I felt like a guy who got to walk around on the field before the Superbowl, the only difference is that I wasn't going to watch the game and drink a beer, I was going race against these guys. As if the competition wasn't intimidating enough the course would be ridiculous. Because of rain, the dam for the Black Warrior River was open. That cause the swim to be very tough since about 2/3rd's of the swim were upriver. You know you are having a bad race when you have a conversation with a guy in a kayak. I was hoping to finish the swim in 30 minutes, 56 minutes later I finally exited the water. I was not only exhausted but I was cramping and realizing that I need to learn how to swim (William has already started teaching me). At this point I was excited about getting on the bike since that is my strength. What I didn't realize is that my calf would cramp up as soon as I got on my bike. After getting off the bike and stretching I figured I could find my groove and pick up some ground. I was wrong. You know you are having a bad race when you spend the entire bike leg going back and forth with a 42-year-old woman. I felt ok off the bike and hit the run. After a mile it felt real hot and then I discovered some of the hills that were randomly thrown into the run course. My 42-year-old woman from the bike leg passed me. You know you are having a bad race when the guy at the water stop asked you what happened to your sunglasses. I was missing a lens and probably had been for quite sometime. The rest of the run was terrible but when I finished I was 83rd out of 86. Not last place. Terrible race, wonderful experience. Three other friends competed with me, I think they had similar experiences except they were all much faster than I was. Despite the tough conditions we all had fun and will no doubt be talking about that swim for years to come.
In other news I've got my 10 year high school reunion this weekend in New Orleans. I'm not sure what to expect from this but I'm hopeful it will be fun. I've also signed up for my first 50k. The Stump Jump 50k in Chattanooga is October 3rd. My friend John talked me into it and I must say I'm excited but nowhere near ready. That's it for now.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Mtn Lakes Race Report and more

Ok, it has been more than a week since my last race in Guntersville, the Mountain Lakes Sprint Triathlon so here is a quick recap. I had what I felt was a great race... lets start from the top.
A good group of friends and I met up at the Dairy Queen at 4:15am. Typically nothing good can ever happen at a Dairy Queen at 4:15am, but in this case it was all good. Team MAS (Mutual Admiration Society) decked out in our new Team MAS shirts (thanks B-RAd!) took a few pictures then loaded up into two cars and drove up to Guntersville. The drive up was uneventful and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. Transition setup was smooth and everyone headed down to the lake to start. The swim was supposed to be 600 yards... it wasn't. I put down a really slow swim time so I was number 588, way behind most of the group I was there with. I was able to see most of the team exit the water and they all looked really good. When I finally hit the water I started passing people immediately. I felt good in the water and settled into a good pace. At the turnaround thngs got a little interesting. The sun was right behind the shore, and at 8 am it made it almost impossible to see. I ran into one buoy, and swam over a couple other swimmers but made it out feeling fresh. I realized mid swim that I had forgotten to start my watch so I would not be able to tell my total time till well after the race. I jumped on the bike and nailed the transition almost perfect until my water bottle fell to the ground. I was going to do the bike leg with no water... that is bad since that is typically the time where you drink the most water. Despite no water I killed the bike, averaged 24.2 mph which was right on my goal. At this point I had noticed that nobody had passed me. I struggled a little bit in the bike to run transition, I turned the wrong way into the transition area, then took a little extra time to drink some water. When I hit the run course the legs felt pretty good. The first mile is the toughest, and once I got my pace I settled in and just kept finding a person up the road to catch and pass. The run was very uneventful, I pushed it the last half mile and really felt like I left a little out there on the course. Final time was 1:17:10. That was slower than my goal, but if you factor in the longer swim distance I was right about on it. Lessons learned are this... Don't sandbag so much on my swim time. It would have been good to have some faster racers near me to help push my pace. Figure out how to keep my water bottle on my freaking bike! And run faster.
Training for the Age Group National Championships has been going well. Did a long ride and then run this weekend with my friend John, he killed me on the run. It is very clear to me that the run is a weakness that I have to improve on soon. I looked up all the competitors for the race this Saturday, out of 84 people, my estimated finish time is 82nd. It will be a struggle to not finish last. I have to keep telling myself that I'm not racing them, I'm racing the course and teh clock and I think I'll be ok.
On another note I signed up for the New Orleans Half Ironman last week. That is in April and will be my 2nd half ironman assuming I am able to finish the Augusta Half Ironman next month. Wish me luck, I'll need it!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Already August!?!?!

Wow, this year has been flying by! It has been 11 months since I quit my job in TV and I feel like I've done more in that time than any other year of my life. The good news is I don't see myself letting up anytime soon because I am very happy right now.
I've got a new marathon training program that I'm actually thinking about following this time. Maybe if I train correctly I can run a better race. As of now there are three marathons on the calendar in the next six months. Atlanta on Thanksgiving, Memphis 10 days later, and then Houston January 17th. The plan is to run Memphis and Houston hard, maybe a Boston QT in Houston. It is a daunting task as I have to run a 7:17 pace, but I've got time to get there and plenty of things to do before then. This weekend is Mountain Lakes Sprint Triathlon, then August 22nd Age Group National Championships in Tuscaloosa, and finally the Augusta Half Ironman September 27th. Why did I sign up for that again? I'm sure I'll post a race report for this weekend, but for now I gotta run!