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Archive for May, 2010

Rev3 Quassy Bike Course Tips

Monday, May 31st, 2010

There is only one week left until Rev3 Quassy!

I’ve been looking forward to this race since last year. The race was a blast, but the course totally destroyed me. It is by far a PW half and I definitely have something left to prove.

This year I’m coming back with a whole new perspective on my training, a sweet new tri bike and a year of built up adrenaline to prove to myself that I have it in my to rock the course. I’m definitely not hoping for a PR since it is the hardest half I’ve ever done, but I’m at least hoping for a much smoother race day execution.

It is one of my favorite rides and when I heard that the RD made some changes, I must admit I was a little worried. After pre-riding it last week, all my worries were washed away. There are some slight tweaks to the course, but its personality sill remains the same. I’m still very much a happy triathlete.

For all my buddies out there that I’ll see in CT next week, here are some tips for destroying the bike course instead of letting it destroy you.

The first two miles is a nice easy downhill to help get your legs underneath you, but after that it is pretty constant undulation. Don’t bother waiting for that long flat section to hammer it home. It doesn’t exist.
90% of the climbs aren’t all that much of an elevation gain. What makes it challenging is that there are so many of them and they are big enough where you can’t just charge the downhills to let your momentum carry you over so you can easily wear yourself out if you aren’t careful.
While there plenty of fun descents, I can’t think of many (if any at all) that end in a smooth flat section where you can keep that downhill momentum going and just cruise. Almost every descent is immediately followed by a climb of some degree.
On the other end, just about every climb is a little windy. So don’t go charging up hill around a corner, assuming that the road peaks just past your line of sight. It doesn’t.
The pavement is actually pretty smooth. This is New England, so there a few sketchy areas where you’ll have to navigate around some sizable potholes and cracks in the road. That is inevitable. There are also some pretty smooth and freshly paved areas, which make speedy descents A-MAZING.
The bike course isn’t overly technical, but you are gently winding around the course the entire way. There are no straight shots where you can bomb down hills with full sight of the road ahead, but nothing is so sharp that you have to hang on to the brakes for dear life, except for two parts.
My favorite descent is just after you take a right onto Thomaston Road (RT 109) at around mile 17. At first it isn’t a steep drop and slowly sneaks up on you, so it is good to know about ahead of time. The grade slowly increases and before you know it you’ll be winding through gentle turns at close to 40 mph. I love it. Towards the bottom, you pass a big dam on your left and take a 90 degree sweeping right turn. It isn’t so sharp that you have to touch the brakes, so keep that downhill momentum going and USE IT.
At about mile 31 (Camp Dutton Road) and 45 (Hard Hill Road) there are two sharp, downhill left turns that are definitely worth being aware of. Rev3 will have flaggers out making sure that everyone is playing it a little cautious and blocking traffic from the intersections
When you take the Left onto Rt 254 at about mile 23, prepare for a long hard climb until about mile 30. Say your prayers at the church at the bottom and make sure you are ready for some suffering. There are a few false flats and short downhills, but you keep going up-up-up until you turn off of 254 at its very end. At around mile 31, you’ll be at the highest point in the course, but don’t let that get into your head. Just because you are ultimately headed downhill, there is plenty of climbing left. Even the last 5 miles have some serious climbs left to tackle.
Because there is so much undulating terrain, make sure you focus on efficient shifting. You should be shifting a lot to avoid burning your quads out while climbing or missing out on some extra speed coming down the other end of any one of the million climbs.
Personally, I know that I’m pretty bad about being diligent about my hydration on hilly courses. I’m probably better off drinking uphill (instead of coasting a little on the downhills or patiently waiting for that mysterious flat section). Just something that I have to be aware of.
If you did the race last year, the main difference that you’ll notice is that you won’t come back into T2 from the same way you did. Last year you had a quick downhill. This year? Not so much. Enjoy that gentle climb all the way in to the finish.
Oh yeah, the run course is no piece of cake either, but that is a different story entirely.

Here is the Rev3 Quassy bike course map with elevation profile if you want to check it out.

Good luck to everyone racing next weekend! Looking forward to meeting all my bloggy/Twitter friends that will be out there.

Tags: rev3, rev3 ct, rev3 quassy, rev3 quassy bike course | Posted in Triathlon | 5 Comments »

Free Goodies In The Sidebar

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Hey faithful friends and readers.

I’ve got 300 free special gifts to give out (well, currently only 297 since three already got snatched up).

If you want to stay smooth and speedy this race season without razor bumps, this should help get you there. Plus, getting new toys that aren’t available in stores yet is always fun, right? I’m purposefully not mentioning the name in this post so that my regular readers get first crack at it and all the google lurkers don’t snatch them all up, but click on the widget in the sidebar and you’ll figure it out.

I’ll be posting a review later on, but when you get yours in the mail, let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

| Posted in Cycling, Life | 2 Comments »

Saucony Kinvara Review

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Last week I got a surprise in the mail, the latest sweet pair of running shoes from Saucony, the Kinvara.

These things are super sweet and I was pumped to get to review them out before the went on sale to the rest of the world.

Ultimately, what makes the Kinvara more than “just another running shoe” is that it is super minimalist but can still be worn for longer road races. It looks like a futuristic version of an ordinary training shoe, but are only .7 oz heavier than my racing shoes.

My Experiments With Minimalist Running Shoes

Before I get into the shoe itself, It probably makes sense to talk a little about my adventures with running shoes over the past year. For the last two seasons I rocked a few pairs of Asics GT-2140′s. It is one of the best selling running shoes out there, I never had any major problems with them. My main irk that I eventually noticed with the 2140′s is that it was physically hard making the transition away from them to any other shoe. During triathlons I also noticed that they can take on a TON of water if I am water over my head (which is the cast in most races). Running with five pound sponges strapped to each foot for 13.1 miles is NOT fun.

The 2140′s were essentially like two big comfy couches for my feet. They felt great, but soaked up so much of the impact from each foot strike that they dumbed down my foot/ankle/calf strength. Hence the difficulty in switching away from them to any other shoe. I’m definitely not a fan of having my fitness dependent on my gear. It is like the equivalent of training all winter on a spin bike, but having just a fraction of that fitness translate into bike speed out on the road.

Since I started to have some issues with my Asics, I did some experimenting with Vibram Five Fingers (which is just about as minimal as you can get), race shoes and trainers with a little less support and have been slowly building back my foot/ankle/calf strength and am noticing huge gains in my running.

So when the Kinvara came out, it wasn’t just a sweet new piece of running gear to test out, but another step for me on my minimal(er) running journey.

Kinvara Review

The first impression is that these things look freaking awesome. Sam even loved the futuristic styling.

While they don’t look super light and “minimal” as soon as you put them on you can tell just how light and smooth these things are. The upper has just enough material to keep my feet centered and is super breathable. There are no stiff plastic pieces anywhere in the shoe and they feel like comfy slippers when you put them on.

The main thing that isn’t obvious at first glance is that the thickness of the sole in the forefoot is really close to the thickness of the sole in the heel. (This is a similar construction philosophy to that other heel-striking preventing shoe, the Newton). Most traditional shoes have a lot more heel cushioning. Keeping the sole thickness more even promotes mid/fore-foot strike, which is more efficient and quicker than heel striking, but that is an entirely different conversation. Google it.

Test Runs. They feel just as quick as my Fastwitch race shoes, just with practically zero stability. I noticed the lower heel height right away, mainly because my calf was a little more sore than usual after the first run, but probably because it was stretched out a little further with each foot strike. Just a little bit of growing aches I guess, but it wasn’t anything bad enough to still be lingering the next morning. After that first run, my calfs weren’t any more sore than usual after a run.

Conclusion. I’ve brought ‘em out for the run of my half iron race simulation last weekend, hill repeats and a tempo run and they’ve performed great for all of it. Since the sole is thinner than my other shoes, I can feel every rock that I step on. They definitely won’t be hitting the trail any time soon, but that isn’t what they are made for.

To cut down on weight, they reduced the hard rubber sole and it is extra thin, so I’ll be tracking my mileage in them to see how long they hold up and see if they wear out any faster than my other shoes.

My initial hopes were to wear them for the marathon of my ironman in September. I’m not sure if the benefits of a lighter shoe will outweigh the risk of going with something with such little stability, but they will definitely play a big role in my training. I’m guessing that their sweet spot will probably be around the half marathon distance, but I’ll reevaluate that as I get used to this whole minimalist running thing. Unlike my race flats that I only use in training for track and hill workouts, I’ll probably end up spreading my Kinvara use across all of my workouts.

Overall Saucony did a really good job with these shoes. Most importantly, they didn’t just make a minimalist running shoe for the sake of being minimalist. They designed it so that it is still a usable shoe that doesn’t require you to completely re-learn to run. I can definitely see why Runner’s World gave it their “Best Debut” award this year. If you are looking for a “pseudo-barefoot” shoe that has a little cushioning and encourages you to keep that efficient mid-foot stride, I’d definitely try this out.

My old super supportive and cushion-y shoes simply ALLOWED me to be a faster runner as a result of my training. My hope is that the Kinvaras will HELP me to be a faster runner (or at least that is what the theory is). Only (race) times will tell…

If you’ve made the jump and tried out the Kinvaras, let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: Saucony provided me with these shoes for free, but did not contribute to the content of this review. My triathlon team, Trakkers GPS, is also sponsored by Saucony, but if I didn’t honestly love these shoes, I wouldn’t be writing this post.

Tags: foot strike, kinvara, minimalist running shoe, product review, Saucony | Posted in Reviews, Running | 3 Comments »

Half Ironman Race Simulation

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

Today I did an epic workout. Not because it was ridiculously long or hard, but just because I tore my own legs off for five solid hours.

I want to get some final tweaks in my half iron nutrition/pacing/hydration before Rev3 Quassy next month. What better way to test out your fitness than to replicate a 56 mile bike and 13 mile run back to back?

If you like shaky videos with lots of wind noise, this explains my whole day.

If not, here is the quick synopsis.

The bike went great. I was rocking it. The best long bike ride of my life, then I cramped up at around mile 40. My legs still felt pretty good, but my stomach was all bloated and unhappy.

56 miles later, I rolled back to my car, downed some water in hopes that it would help reset my gut and jetted off on the first of five loops for the run.

I pushed it hard for the first 5 or 6 miles of the run. I got into a rhythm pretty quick and was feeling good, but then totally bonked. I kept on pushing through, tossing water over my head and alternated sucking down EFS and straight water. Nothing was really doing the trick, but I eventually made it through.

Once I got home, I realized what the problem was on the run. All that water I sucked down went right through my system and didn’t get absorbed at all. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but at least it helped me figure out what was happening to me.

So here are the lessons from today’s epic race simulation.

I have a lot juice on the bike than I thought.

Sucking down tons of sports drink is great, but I’ve gotta mix that with plenty of water to keep things flowing.

“Emptying the tank” before a race and pre-hydrating is just as important as hydrating durring the race.

The more I learn about how my body works at race pace, the better I’ll be able to rock it once Ironman race day comes around. I’m slowly getting there…

Tags: BRick workout, runners diarrhea, self supported triathlon | Posted in Cycling, Nutrition, Running, Training Log, Triathlon, Videos | 2 Comments »