Thursday, August 20, 2009
Half Iron Training
My base training has now started for a Half-iron race. I will need to build up my run speed, continue the progress that I've been making on the bike, and work on swimming form. I will likely start in a formal training plan either 20 weeks or 27 weeks out, but for now, I just need to make it a point to get my workouts in regularly. This may be a task, seeing that I have a very pregnant wife and will have a baby boy either late September or early October. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. After a post-race period of laziness, I completed a 6 mile run Wednesday morning, and another 6-miles this morning. I plan on giving my legs a rest tomorrow and doing some lifting. I do need a more formalized plan even for my endurance building period. I guess that'll give me something to do this evening.
Mountain Lakes Race Results
See results here...my numbers are down in the Male 25-29 category
http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_plain_text.php?race_id=10060
I finished 52/59 in my age category and 440/498 among all the men. Not earth shattering, but I finished my first race, so get off my back.
http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_plain_text.php?race_id=10060
I finished 52/59 in my age category and 440/498 among all the men. Not earth shattering, but I finished my first race, so get off my back.
Mountain Lakes Triathlon Race Report
On August 8th, I finished my first triathlon. While I had competed in a few duathlons and 5k's, I had never entered a swim, bike, run event. I would soon learn that there had been a reason for this.
Alisha and I headed to Guntersville on Friday evening to meet up with two other couples, the Williamsons and the Mortons. We met at the race site to pickup our packets and then to enter a strenuous evening of race preparation. This preparation basically consisted of a dinner of fried seafood at Top of the River on Lake Guntersville, followed by a Dairy Queen run and playing xbox until midnight. We stayed at a house on the lake and had a relatively short trip to the starting line.
We departed early the next morning to setup our transition areas, and get body marking. After checking and rechecking my bike and transition area, I warmed up with a short swim in the lake. Alisha got there just in time to give me a good luck kiss before I entered the chute. My race number was 297, so I was fairly close to the front of our staggered starting line. The first racer hit the water at 7:45am, followed by everyone else in 3 second increments...all 900 of us.
I had not really prepared for the swim as much as the other portions, which I thought would be okay since I'm a decent swimmer. I was, however, unprepared for an open water swim with this number of people. In the pool, I never got kicked in the face or water splashed into my mouth when I came up for a breath. Getting a mouth full of water when trying to breath turned into an issue, and after about 200 yards, I realized that it actually was possible for me to die. I had to stop once and grab a buoy while returning the lake water that had been deposited in my lungs, courtesy of the adjacent swimmer. I finished the swim in 18 minutes; in the pool, I had timed myself at 13 minutes, so this was a big delay.
Upon exiting the water, I realized that I had forgotten to start my watch at the beginning, so I had no idea what my total time would be. T1 was relatively fast and I got off on the bike with no major issues. About 1/2 mile down the road, I did realize that the energy chews that had previously been pressed onto my handlebars were all gone. I later found the only one that hadn't fallen completely off; it was squished into my glove and sticking my hand to the bars. Other than that, the bike ride was smooth. The course had some substantial rolling hills, but I still managed to hold an average speed of 19mph.
I pulled into T2, pulled on my running shoes, and hit the run course. The run course was very flat, but as soon as I hit it, my calves began to cramp. I stopped at every water station to hydrate and stretch. The cramping eased some, but I thought that my delays on the swim and the cramping had thrown me totally off of my goal time, which was 1:45:00. I finally finished the run, fairly winded, and saw that my total time was 1:47:12. Missed my goal by 2:12. The frustrating thing was that I probably could've made this if I had started my watch and known what my time was. Oh well, lesson learned.
I didn't die, and I finished close to my goal. That's a good day in my book. As soon as I crossed the finish, Morty asked me if I was going to do the Half Ironman in Florida next May. Why not, I've got nothing else planned!
Alisha and I headed to Guntersville on Friday evening to meet up with two other couples, the Williamsons and the Mortons. We met at the race site to pickup our packets and then to enter a strenuous evening of race preparation. This preparation basically consisted of a dinner of fried seafood at Top of the River on Lake Guntersville, followed by a Dairy Queen run and playing xbox until midnight. We stayed at a house on the lake and had a relatively short trip to the starting line.
We departed early the next morning to setup our transition areas, and get body marking. After checking and rechecking my bike and transition area, I warmed up with a short swim in the lake. Alisha got there just in time to give me a good luck kiss before I entered the chute. My race number was 297, so I was fairly close to the front of our staggered starting line. The first racer hit the water at 7:45am, followed by everyone else in 3 second increments...all 900 of us.
I had not really prepared for the swim as much as the other portions, which I thought would be okay since I'm a decent swimmer. I was, however, unprepared for an open water swim with this number of people. In the pool, I never got kicked in the face or water splashed into my mouth when I came up for a breath. Getting a mouth full of water when trying to breath turned into an issue, and after about 200 yards, I realized that it actually was possible for me to die. I had to stop once and grab a buoy while returning the lake water that had been deposited in my lungs, courtesy of the adjacent swimmer. I finished the swim in 18 minutes; in the pool, I had timed myself at 13 minutes, so this was a big delay.
Upon exiting the water, I realized that I had forgotten to start my watch at the beginning, so I had no idea what my total time would be. T1 was relatively fast and I got off on the bike with no major issues. About 1/2 mile down the road, I did realize that the energy chews that had previously been pressed onto my handlebars were all gone. I later found the only one that hadn't fallen completely off; it was squished into my glove and sticking my hand to the bars. Other than that, the bike ride was smooth. The course had some substantial rolling hills, but I still managed to hold an average speed of 19mph.
I pulled into T2, pulled on my running shoes, and hit the run course. The run course was very flat, but as soon as I hit it, my calves began to cramp. I stopped at every water station to hydrate and stretch. The cramping eased some, but I thought that my delays on the swim and the cramping had thrown me totally off of my goal time, which was 1:45:00. I finally finished the run, fairly winded, and saw that my total time was 1:47:12. Missed my goal by 2:12. The frustrating thing was that I probably could've made this if I had started my watch and known what my time was. Oh well, lesson learned.
I didn't die, and I finished close to my goal. That's a good day in my book. As soon as I crossed the finish, Morty asked me if I was going to do the Half Ironman in Florida next May. Why not, I've got nothing else planned!
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