Cary Duathlon - Race Report

On the morning of Saturday April 9th my alarm was set early for the Cary Duathlon.  It was later that evening that I headed across the Atlantic for a two and a half week stint in Europe and I'm only now catching-up with a race report....

I took part in the short course event, which comprised a 2.5 mile run; 17.5 mile bike and a second 2.5 mile run.  Details at:  http://fsseries.com/index.php?action=event&event_id=49

After a breakfast of bagel/cream cheese, a banana, one Ensure and coffee I got to Brooks Park in plenty of time and scored a good parking spot close to the start and transition area.  The morning was significantly chillier than forecast and overcast.  A slight drizzle appeared a couple of times.  I soon had my bike off the car, checked my tires and walked it over to the transition area.  Race number this time was 63 and after checking-in, collecting my "race booty" (a nice shirt and socks included) and allowing the nice lady to write all over me at body marking, I found my appointed rack, set-up my transition area and found myself another warm cup of coffee!

After chatting for a while with some of the folks from IOS Delta Triathlon I was accosted by a very nice lady from USA Triathlon who was there to monitor the event and look for ways of improving things.  I had a really nice chat about getting into triathlon at my age; races I have done; training and all manner of other things.  Later I also ran into Lili Fernandez and her Mom Angie and had another nice chat - Lili went on to smoke her age group and finish a very impressive third overall woman!

Finally it was time to get serious and I found some space to "get my mind in the game" and do the stretching execrises and warm-up prescribed by the Puppeteer and soon after that we were lined-up at the start.

The out-and-back run course ran through Brooks Park and an adjoining neighborhood and featured a few hills.  I felt that my first run went well and I finished it in 20:46.5, which is 8:19 pace and reasonably respectable.   The first transition went well and I was soon wheeling the bike out of the transition area.  Bike shoes were attached to the pedals and the shoes held-up so that they didn't scrape the ground using a rubber band.  I find this by far the easiest way to transition (vs. putting on your shoes; hobbling through the transition area and then clipping-in) and The Puppeteer approves - apparently a lot of much more experienced triathletes don't use this technique.

The bike was a rolling course through western Wake County close to Jordan Lake.   I felt good and passed a few people fairly quickly, but was equally passed by several "speed demons" on a range of fancy triathlon bikes.  Kept things spinning at a good cadence so as not to blow out my legs and finished in 58:48 (18.0 mph average) which, again, I feel was respectable. 

The second transition was also OK (although I very neary started running with my bike helmet still on - realised just in time - phew!  Would have looked pretty stupid!  :-)   ).

The Puppeteer suggested that my second run should be within 45 seconds of my first.  I could tell that it was slower, but was actually surprised to find out how much.  Time was 22:33.5 (9:02 pace) - about 1:45 slower than the first.   I don't feel that I "thrashed" the bike leg, but presumably it was enough to take something out of my legs.

Some kind soul snapped this pic. of me struggling to the finish!

My overall time was  1:43:32.5, which was good enough for 35th overall in the mens division.  Yet again the 50-54 age group was competitive and I was 5th in my age group.   Impressively the top guy in the age group finished second overall in a time of 1:24:38.3 - I still have a lot of work to do!

At the bottom of the post is how I stacked-up vs. the guys who beat me in my age group:

Basically, the good guys were good in all disciplines and in order to compete with the "speedsters" I would have to improve significantly in both run and bike.  The run pace of the guy who finished second overall was 6:21 - difficult to conceive at this point!  That said, my running is improving and I'm very confident that with more "TITS" (time in the saddle) I will be able to push my bike pace up quite considerably.
One minor victory that I hope makes coach proud is my 6th ranking in the first transition - must have been the shoes on the bike!

Overall a nice event and a good warm-up for the events to come.  Next up is the White Lake II Sprint Triathlon on May 15th.

Overall Place	Age	Run 1 Rank	Run 1	T1 Rank	T1	Bike Rank	Bike	T2 Rank	T2	Run 2 Rank	Run	Total Time
2nd	54	5	15:51.6	1	0:27	3	51:10.7	1	0:21	4	15:37.4	1:24:38
7th	51	11	17:37.4	11	0:48	6	51:57.2	10	0:39	13	18:53.2	1:29:54
16th	52	20	18:46.6	29	1:03	14	54.13.6	31	0:59	22	20:09.2	1:35:10
31st	52	23	19:13.7	7	0.39	32	59:28.3	17	0:46	24	20:44.7	1:40:51
Me	51	35	20:46.5	6	0.38	31	58:48.0	19	0:48	36	22:33.5	1:43:32

Weighty Matters....

It's been a while since I have posted.  This is in no small part because I have recently returned from an extended overseas trip (both business and pleasure).  One of the challenges of "work travel" is that there's a constant pressure to "eat out", whether it's business related lunches, dinners and, yes, breakfasts or just a lack of good choices when stuck in a hotel room.

I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, to see that I appear to have lost a couple of pounds on this trip.  Losing weight "for vanity" has never been an objective of my oddessy into the crazy world of triathlon, but I certainly recognized at the start of my journey that I needed to lose a few pounds and that this would make me feel better (OK, OK, I'll be happy to look better too, but this really isn't the primary objective!).  I do now keep a reasonable eye on my weight as both my run and bike speed should benefit if I am "carrying less".  I'm by no means obsessive about it and recognize that (a) muscle is heavier than fat and (b) everyone's weight goes up and down naturally over the course of a week or a month (it's therefore pretty crazy to weigh yourself every day - better once a week or month at the same time of day!).

So having said all of this, am I losing weight?   Yes!  I have been tracking my weight using Garmin Connect since the end of 2009.  During this period I "peaked" at somewhere around 210 lbs (I never assume our bathroom scale is any better than plus or minus a pound or two!) and am currently in the vicinity of 193 lbs.  Here's a screen shot:

I'm pleased with this - a nice steady decline since I started getting more serious about training without going crazy.  Hopefully I've also built some muscle over the same period!

I'm 6' 0" tall and reasonably thick set (or shall we just say that I'll never be really skinny!) and think that over time 185 lbs is probably a good target "race weight" for me - we'll see how I do and I'll keep you informed!

In other news, the White Lake II Sprint Triathlon is now just around the corner on May 15th.  My travel and work commitments have made it difficult for The Puppeteer to develop me a solid lead-in training schedule, so I'll be treating it as a "C" race and focus on the more challenging Bandit's Challenge Olympic Distance event in June as my primary short term target. 

Just before I headed out on my trip I did the Cary Duathlon (run - bike - run).   I feel that it went reasonably well and need to write-up a race report when I have a moment.

Finally managed to see The Dominatrix for another TRX session yesterday and was pleased that SWMBO was able to join me.   It really is a great core workout - I think that I'm going to have to invest in a set-up for home.  Tried out the new TRX "rip trainer" as well as the usual strap system.....

Finally, in a somewhat disturbing development, a member of "Team Lias" is boasting on facebook that he/she has seen another member sans clothes more than anyone else......   what's that about?  (you know who you are!)   :-)

St. Timothy's Spring Sprint - Race Report

Yesterday was the St. Timothy's Spring Sprint - a friendly local charity event held at St. Timothy's School in Raleigh.  The Puppeteer suggested I find a local 5k event to do as a "C" event and this one fit the bill.  It was also a fun opportunity to run with the family (She Who Must Be Obeyed and the kids did the one mile fun run) and to spend some time with The Snitch and her family and some other locals.

Thankfully start time for this one was pretty civilized (9:00 am for the mile and 9:30 am for the 5k) and it's not too far from home, so no ridiculously early alarm calls were required for this one!  SWMBO had already picked up the shirts and race numbers, but I still had to collect my timing chip, so we were still relatively early arrivals.  We soon ran into The Snitch and Family and the kids soon found their friends, so we were able to spend some time relaxing and stretching before things got busy.

With the lovely SWMBO (she's scarier than she looks!) :-)

Mr. and Mrs. Snitch

The Crazy Gang



 For a small race the organisation was excellent.  Packet pick-up and timing chips were in the gym; there was a nice vendor area set-up in the school courtyard; a very professional looking finishing corral, complete with balloon arch and, importantly, an excellent public address system.

I went for a mile jog on Six Forks road to warm-up and didn't feel particularly special, but finally started to "feel it" a bit more after some short sprints and warm-up exercises.    Soon enough the milers were called to the start.  The Snitch was running for time, so she headed to the front while the other ladies in our party who were running for fun held back a bit.  It was an out and back course so I stayed at the start line to watch everyone go past on the way back to the finish.   The Snitch soon came back into view running strongly for third overall and first lady.

Go Snitch Go!

The other ladies all appeared in good time with smiles on their faces....

At least someone in tha family has good form!

Once the milers were all over the line and tucking into more breakfast the 5k racers were called to the start.  The race is part of the Second Empire series, so there were some serious runners as well as wannabes like me and many casual runners and walkers.   The course has the reputation of being the toughest in the series because it's unusually hilly for a 5k (I guess they don't call that area North Hills for nothing!).  The course is an out and back - here's the elevation profile for the way out....

The start was downhill, so I held back slightly to let the fast guys and some of the more enthusiastic kids take off, but soon found a nice rhythm and focused on high stride turnover rate, especially on the uphill sections, and "light feet".  Things went pretty well - the hills made things interesting but I kept things well controlled on the way out knowing that there were a couple of good hills still to deal with at the finish.  I made one mistake, which was to take a cup of water from one of the scout troops manning the water station.  I didn't need it (it's only 5k after all!) but stupidly took it and managed to get some "go down the wrong way" and had a bit of a coughing fit which gained me some strange looks from fellow competitors and probably cost me a few seconds.

I was soon heading to the finish and dealing with the final hill....

Not pretty, but putting in some effort on the final hill.

I crossed the line in a time of 24 mins 27 seconds, which I was reasonably pleased with given the nature of the course.   Splits for the first three miles were:  7:37, 8:31, 8:22 and overall average pace was 8:10.  I would guesstimate that the hills cost everyone a minute or so, so I'm going to declare victory and call it a pretty reasonable effort!

Overall a nice event and very well organised.

The Team......

So several people (presumably those disinclined to go back and read some of my earlier rants and raves!) have asked me to explain who some of the characters who appear in this blog are.

I'm lucky enough to have a great support team.  Here's a quick recap of the Dramatis personae:

She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO):   My lovely wife who puts up with my foibles and (in general) encorages my participation in Planet Triathlon.

The Puppeteer:   Should really read "The Evil Puppeteer".  My coach, Stacey.  Professional triathlete and fountain of knowledge.  She seems to control my life via her computer and a program called Training Peaks which delivers a never ending stream of workouts and instructions.

The Snitch:  Our friend Lisa who also works with The Puppeteer - it's all he fault for the introduction.  The Snitch is a great cheerleader; a talented triathlete and occasionally rats me out to The Puppeteer if I misbehave.

The Beast:  Holly the masseuse.   The purveyor of deep tissue massage and evil incarnate (she actually loves her nickname because in real life she's pettite, demure, charming and looks as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth!)

The Peddlar:  Matt - the "Cary Cycle Surgeon".   Bike whizz and all round good guy. 

Thanks to every one of them for their support!

So there you go.   Now please try to keep up!  :-)

American Tobacco Trail Half Marathon - Race Report

Sunday March 20th.

The day started early with a rude alarm call at 4:05 am.  I had gone to bed early but, as seems to be usual before a race, had tossed and turned a bit through the night and woke up numerous times to check the clock.  It's the same when I have an early alarm set because of an early flight - some "worry center" deep in your brain seems to prevent you from reaching REM and getting some really good shut eye.

I had picked up my race number (2947) at the race expo. on Friday afternoon and soon had it pinned to my fluorescent green running shirt.  I managed to remember to apply some Body Glide and was soon dressed and eating breakfast.   I had strict instructions from The Puppeteer not to take any solid food within 1.5 to 2 hours of the race start (scheduled for 7:00 am - more on that later) so I needed to eat early.  Breakfast comprised of:   one bagel with cream cheese; one banana; one bottle Ensure; one cup of freshly brewed coffee - aaaaah!   The plan was then to have a GU gel about 20 mins before the start and to sip water pretty much continuously between breakfast and the start - this all seemed to work well.

The Snitch had (very wisely as it happened) purchased a parking pass that allowed her to park near the start, so I had arranged to meet her along with her good looking cheering section (husband and daughter) at their house at 5:15 am to share a ride so that I didn't have to deal with the off-site parking and a shuttle bus to the start.   Last year the transportation logistics were apparently a mess and this year it seemed to be worse!

I was a couple of minutes late arriving at The Snitch's house as I blew past their exit listening to NPR's coverage of world events, but I turned around and still got there in plenty of time - it was still dark when we arrived at our designated parking area at Brook's Park.  After spending a few minutes in the car watching all of the fit looking people arriving, The Snitch and I said goodbye to the cheering section and walked the half mile or so to the start area.  It was cool, but nothing like as chilly as the Outer Banks Half Marathon was back in November, and the forecast was for temps. in the 50s for most of the race - just about perfect!

The staging area was the usual mess of tents, tables, flags, porta-potties and lots and lots of people milling around.  We found a grassy area and did our prescribed stretches before jogging around a parking lot and doing a few sprints to warm-up.

At about 6:40 am the half marathoners were called to the starting corral (the full marathoners were scheduled to start 15 minutes behind us).  I quickly ran into my friend Dan Phillips and chatted for a while before wishing The Snitch good luck (she's much faster than me) and heading further back in the corral to find a spot close to the "2:00" pace runners who were wearing bright yellow shirts and carrying yellow balloons.

This is where race organisation started to fall apart a little!   Apparently they were having huge traffic and logistical problems at the parking area and there were still many people waiting for the shuttle even as we were already lined-up and ready to start!   To make things worse, the public address system was awful, so those of us further back had absolutely no idea what was going on.  7:00 am came and went....   7:15 came and went....   we could hear the busses on the other side of a hedge and see harried runners rushing to their preferred start position, so we worked out what was going on, but it was frustrating.  Soon there were a wide assortment of people of both sexes, who I'm sure are usually modest folks, jumping out of line to pee in the bushes - quite a spectacle!   The 30 minute wait for the start gun was pretty annoying and at one point a chant of "start this race! start this race!" went up from the disgruntled masses!   The only good thing was that I found myself next to my friend Chantal, so we were able to enjoy some friendly banter while we were waiting.

Finally, long after the scheduled time, the gun went off and we were underway!

My previously fastest half marathon time (of the two that I have done recently!) was 2:05 and some seconds.  After chatting with the Puppeteer I decided that breaking two hours may be possible and that this would be my goal, so my plan was to stay with the 2:00 pace group for the first few miles and then take it from there.   The first mile was the usual consfused mess as we ran through Brooks Park and there was a lot less room available "side to side" than in the Outer Banks Half.   Why, oh why, do people who are running slowly (and by that, I mean even slower than me!) feel the need to line up near the front?

Eventually we got out on to the real road and were able to start looking for a rhythm.  I felt pretty good and stayed with the pace group, as planned for the first couple of miles.  Without really trying I found myself running with a group of people slightly in front of the pace group somewhere around mile three.   I checked over my shoulder a few times and felt good about seeing those yellow balloons continously about 100 yards behind.  As we turned onto the American Tobacco Trail itself (http://www.triangletrails.org/ATT.HTM) I was feeling comfortable and moving pretty well.  I had a GU gel (with caffeine) at around mile 4.5 and took a little water at most water stations.

The course took us north on the trail to a turn around point at somewhere around mile 8.  I was concerned that the trail might be a bit "tight" with runners going in both directions, but for the most part it was fine.  On my way to the turn I didn't see The Snitch going in the other direction, but was happy to see both Dan and Chantal running well.  I also saw my friend Nas absolutely bombing it - she ultimately finished with a personal best of somewhere around 1:36 - that's freakin' fast!

Here are my splits for the first 9 miles (Avg. Moving Time):

9:09   8:36   8:46   9:16   9:03   8:44   8:51   9:18   8:59

Required split for a sub 2:00 time is somewhere around 9:09, so at this point I was feeling pretty good.  Then came......  the grade!......

I was aware that I had been running on a slight downhill gradient for a while, but it wasn't until a little after the turn that I started to realise for how long.   Going in the other direction on legs that were starting to tire was noticably tougher.  This is by no means a steep gardient, but it was long and steady (2 miles plus) and, in the end, it was this that dashed my hopes of a sub 2:00 time.   My splits for miles 10, 11 and 12 were:

9:26   9:34   9:46.......   a significant drop-off

By the time we turned off the trail and back onto paved road those darned yellow balloons were right behind me and soon sailed past.  I tried a bit of a kick to keep up, but my legs just didn't have it.  Then, frustratingly, they stayed in eye shot for the rest of the race as my final two splits were:

9:46   9:14

As I neared the finish I was feeling pretty tired but was happy to hear the cow bell and "quacker" being enthusiastically employed by the support team and to see The Snitch with them, having already finished in a great sub 1:45 time!   Soon I was passing the line with a final time of 2:02:10.

While this was a new personal best (at least in recent years!) I have to admit that I was a little disappointed not to have been able to push to keep up with those bloody yellow balloons!  Now I keep asking myself - was it my legs or was it mental toughness?  I'm not sure if I know the answer, but I can say with complete certainty that I gave it a good shot and my legs are still a little sore two days later!

I soon met-up with The Snitch and family and got to meet Martha, who is another one of The Puppeteer's "victims".  I was pleased to hear that both The Snitch and Dan achieved their target of going sub 1:45 and especially proud of Chantal for going sub 2:00 for the first time - way to go!   :-)

Close but no cigar for me.   No more halfs scheduled for this year (unless you count the last leg of the Beach-to-Battleship Half Ironman distance race in October) but I will break that 2:00 barrier soon!

Happy finishers:  The Snitch; yours truly; Martha

I wasn't going to get lost in that shirt!

Fast ladies!

Baby's Got New Shoes....

No, not these.....

or these.....

but these......

and these.....

I met with The Puppeteer on Tuesday and she took one look at my running shoes before essentially calling me a frickin' moron and telling me to replace them!

When I statred this endurance sports oddessy I bought myself some Nike shoes that were comfortable enough but seemed to wear really quickly on the outside of each heel.  I had a feeling that they might have been contributing to some knee discomfort that I was having, so I went to Bull City Running in Durham http://www.bullcityrunning.com/ to get properly fitted.  The guys there did a great job - measured my (wide) feet, examined my running style and watched me run in numerous pairs of shoes before we finally settled on my trusty New Balance 769s.  They have been great and have seen me through two half marathons and a lot of training but, as The Puppeteer quickly realised, they have now seen better days and are also showing wear in the same place that my Nikes used to, so after my 12 miler on Tuesday I headed back to Bull City Running with two objectives...

1.   Get a pair of general utility shoes to replace the New Balance 769s.
2.  Find an additional pair of lighter shoes (as recommended by The Puppeteer) to use for shorter races.

Objective number one was pretty easy to achieve as I used the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra and went for the latest New Balance equivalent of the 769s - the 760 ST (in blue in place of yellow).  Basically a very similar shoe that immediately felt very comfortable.  Cha-ching!  Ring 'em up!

For the lighter shoe I was specifically instructed not to get racing flats.  I tried on a lot of different shoes, including Mizunos, Nikes, Sauconys etc. before finally settling on a natty orange and blue pair of Brooks Racer ST 5s.   The ultimate deciding criteria was comfort for my "big old wide" feet.  Jason Page ( the owner) at Bull City Running was meticulous and in the end the rounder toe of the Brooks shoe won the day.

Will these shoes make me faster?   Probably not.  But will they help reduce injuries and keep me healthy?  Absolutely!

Here are a few shots showing the wear on the old New Balances and comparison vs. the new ones......

 Old 769s.  Note the significant wear on the outside of the heel....

New 760 on the left, vs. worn 769 on the right.....

New 760 on the left and worn 769 on the right....

Looking forward to putting some miles on these babies!  Now all that is left is to donate the old ones to the charity box at BCR for donation - a great cause!

Chicked!

To anyone who has seen me ride this won't come as a great surprise, but I thought that I would share my experiences from last Saturday morning.

Several athletes who work with The Puppeteer were scheduled to meet and do a run through of the Cary Duathlon course.   Run short course and bike long course (31 miles).  We met up at 8 am in the parking lot at the baseball fields at Brooks Park in Cary and it pretty soon became obvious that it was going to be a small group and that, yet again, I was going to be the only guy.  

My work out buddies were Maggie Rougier-Chapman, Caroline Kratz and Lili Fernandez.  I had already been warned not to try to keep up with Maggie and having riden with Caroline previously I knew that she was no slouch either!  She was also trying out her sleek new tri bike for the first time, and I had a feeling that she might be ready to put it through its paces!

The first run was uneventful - a nice easy 8:30 pace.  Then back to the parking lot and on to the bike.....

31 mile course around Jordan Lake with some rolling hills, but nothing too bad.  Maggie took on pace duties and I was primarily at the rear yelling "car back" when someone came up from behind the group in something motorised.  For a change the drivers seemed cautious and considerate!

Things were fine for the first 13 or 14 miles.  A nice steady pace and we stayed nicely grouped.  Things were about to change, however, when we turned off Route 64 and Caroline (who is comfortably over 6 ft. and a former international oarswoman) took over "the pull".   Holy Crap!  I stayed in touch for about another mile but couldn't hang any longer.   Lili (who is only 16) was struggling too, so she and I stuck together and let the other two go.

I triathon circles there's a phrase for when a guy gets beaten by a lady..... he has been "chicked" and I was completely, totally and utterly "chicked" on Saturday.  I'm not feeling bad though - I'm completely in awe of how fast these ladies are!  It's a privilege to watch them ride.  They may be 15 or so years younger than me and I was struggling a bit with allergies, but I could have been 20 years younger with 110% of my normal lung function and I would still have been completely, totally and utterly "chicked"!  Awesome!

Lili and I finished the 31 plus miles together at an average moving speed of a little over 18.5 mph.  That's not altogether embarassing, but I'm pretty sure that my new heroines were probably somewhere well over 20 mph moving average.  Gives me motivation to work harder on the bike!

More my speed at the moment........