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Lobsterman Race Report

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Yesterday I closed out the 2009 triathlon season with the Lobsterman Oly. I know what you are thinking. Didn’t you just tear your legs off during the Ragnar Relay just one week ago? Yeah. About that…

The timing probably wasn’t the best as far as planning for a perfectly executed end of season race, but I just couldn’t turn it down. A teammate had registered for the race but couldn’t go anymore. I jumped up and made sure that his tickets to the lobster bake got put to good use too! I’d hate to see those poor little lobsters die in vain.

The venue was perfect. About 2 hours north of Boston in Freeport, Maine. Gorgeous coastline and nice quiet roads all along the course. It even started late (9:30 am) since we were waiting on the tide to come in.

The thing about an ocean swim in Maine in mid-September is that it is guaranteed to be C-O-L-D. A lot of people spent plenty of time in the water warming up, but I thought they were pretty insane. Especially when the water was still probably warmer than the air was early in the morning, I wasn’t going to join them. I dipped my toes in and that was all. My guess was that it was high 50s or low 60s.

After the pre-race meeting, my wave was called up. We walked down the boat ramp into the water and treaded water by the end of the dock until we heard the signal to go off. As we walked down into the water, each one of us gave a little squeal as the water came up above our waist. It is always entertaining to hear grown men squeal like girls, especially when we were all wearing bright pink caps.

I have to admit, I sang a few lines of “I feel pretty… oh so pretty!” while we were waiting for the gun to go off. Always gotta keep the pre-race nerves in check and make sure I’m not taking myself too seriously.

Not my swim wave, but here is the swim exit.

Pretty gorgeous course, right? It was pretty brutal too. It was probably one of the most aggressive swim starts I’ve ever been in and the waves and current made sighting a constant challenge. Thankfully it was a little warmer farther out in the water than it was close to shore.

The bike course was just as scenic. Beautiful country roads and more than enough rolling hills. There was almost a constant blowing wind from the front and the side. For a lot of the downhills I had to squeeze my legs on to the frame to stay stable. I’m usually really confident on high-speed descents, so that is saying a lot.

My legs felt surprisingly good. When I was pounding up the hills or laying it on to pass someone, I could feel a little extra hurtin’ in my quads. I was a little nervous about how running would feel, but I figured there was no reason to hold back on the last race of the season.

Once I made it to the run course, it was a different story. The first mile was all up hill and beat me up from the start. I was getting passed a lot, but was holding a pretty solid pace that I knew was sustainable. I just held on.

At the turnaround, I figured I was doing just about 8:00/mile. Nothing spectacular, and I knew I could have done a lot faster if I was better recovered, but I was happy with it. I turned up the throttle for the last 3.1 and drove it home, catching a few runners that passed me in the first few miles of the run.

My unofficial time was 1:43:33. It is surprisingly close to a PR for me! I’ll have to double check the official results and dig through my past results, but it was a pretty strong way to close out the 2009 triathlon season!

Me and Sunny comparing times.

And the best part, there was a huge post-race lobster bake and free beer! Me and a few other Wheelworks teammates claimed a spot on the grass, soaked up the sun and stuffed our face full of lobster. I went home smelling like Geary’s, lobster, seaweed and sweat. I call that a good day.

And some pre and post-race video:

Tags: lobsterman triathlon, olympic distance triathlon, triathlon race report | Posted in Race Reports, Triathlon, Videos | 3 Comments »

Ragnar New England – Ultra Relay Race Report

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

I survived. +31 miles. We made it from New haven to Boston. All +190 miles of it.

Here is the team, all decked out in our Brooks gear.

And the obligatory stupid group pose…

I was manning the second car for most of Friday, making sure whoever was out running knew where they were going and had plenty of water and calories. I was last in the rotation so while we started racing at 2pm, I didn’t lace up the shoes and hit the road until 9:30 at night.

I have run at night plenty of times before, but never like this. We were in the woods of eastern Connecticut. For the majority of my first 11 miles there wasn’t a single light anywhere in sight. No houses off in the distance, no street lamps, no head lights from passing traffic, no stars, no moon, just pitch black. With the exception of the tiny little 1 foot wide stretch of road that my head lamp and flash light gave me, it was like running on a treadmill in a dark closet.

I had no idea how steep the hills were ahead of me or where they topped off. I just kept moving forward, doing my best to spot tree branches, frogs and pot holes and jump over them just as they came into sight in front of my feet. It was completely insane/amazing/terrifying/exhilarating. I knew I was going out a little too fast, but I was feeling great so I just went with it. I polished off my first 10.9 miles in 1:28:40 (8:07 min/mile). That is faster than my half marathon PR pace, and I still had 20 more miles to go. GULP.

For almost every leg of the race, it rained. Sometimes it was a light mist, or a little sprinkling, but other times the skies completely opened up and let loose their fury. Some of us got it worse than others, but we all got wet.

After some more sherpa-ing, Chris, Greg and I (three not so small gentlemen) cuddled up and managed to get a few winks of sleep in my tiny little Mazda. At the very most, I managed an hour and a half of sleep. I felt surprisingly good when I woke up and the sun peaked through my windshield. The only problem was when my legs stretched out and my hips practically creaked and cracked. From being awkwardly curled up in my drivers seat while catching some Zs, my hips and gluts were killing!

I was already limping a little and I wasn’t even on to my second leg. Double gulp!

I bulldozed through my second leg, another 11 miles, taking a 1 minute walk break every 10-15 minutes. Uphills were nightmares, but downhills felt great and I could really open up my stride. I pushed through with 10 minute miles. Not nearly as impressive as my first leg, but I was happy with it.

Last leg. 9 miles = pain. My legs finally eased up so I could walk without limping (before I started) and I felt good keeping a nice even pace. The first 5 miles: I survived. The last 4: I was constantly on the verge of a emotional and physical breakdown. And THEN, the skies opened up and let loose on me. Quickly I got to the point where my clothes just couldn’t hold any more water and it didn’t matter anymore. Knowing that people were following me online and waiting for us to arrive in Boston was a huge motivator.

As I crossed the Charles River and turned the corner towards Harvard, I saw Sam (my girlfriend, personal photographer and number one cheerleader) standing in the rain by herself with an umbrella. I slowed down for a quick kiss and then the rest of my team came out to help run me in. We all ran through the puddles and drenching rain and through the finish line. It was one of the greatest finish lines ever. My team rocks the most.

Not only are the medals also kick-ass bottle openers, but team 5 guys, 1 girl, 140 Characters sponsored by @brooksrunning WON THE ULTRA CATEGORY! 27:10:17 is the time to beat for the inaugural Ragnar Ultra Marathon Relay!

Video clips from the race:

From Chris

My Video Clips:

Tags: ragnar race report, ultra marathon relay | Posted in Race Reports, Running, Videos | 3 Comments »

Timberman 70.3 Race Report

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Leading up to the race, I was in a very strange zen calm.

I normally get jittery butterflies throughout the week leading up to race morning, but not this time. I was as cool as a cucumber. It was a little odd even. I knew I wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked to be. (I may never meet the standards I set for myself, but that is a different conversation. As long as I get closer and closer each time). I was totally at peace with it and had a great game plan to compensate and take everything in stride. I was happy. I was confident. I was ready to roll.

I woke up early on Saturday to watch the sprint and cheer on some other team mates. It was nuts watching people that normally crush 70.3′s and IMs to battle it out in sprints. A lot of the guys that first came in off the bike looked like they barely touched the brakes before they came flying in to T2, dismounted, and kept on sprinting. Wicked cool to watch.

Packet pickup, racked the bike, and did all the final preps. Still no butterflies. Just a happy calm. I couldn’t explain it, but I liked it. I want to figure out how to repeat that pre-race mood.

All day I focused on hydration and eating well. I think that was my major flaw in preparing for Rev3 earlier this year, so I wanted to knock that problem off right away. Nothing crazy to throw my stomach off, just gatorade, fruits, veggies, and a subway sandwich. I woke up at 3:30 on race morning to release some fluids, so I knew I was on the right track.

After finally getting to the race start, I could just feel the little flip-flap of a few mini butterflies. Nothing major, but enough to not make me want to eat. I knew that I would need some calories in me before the swim, so I sucked down a GU. I think GUs as pre-race nutrition are totally under rated. I can normally barely chew anything without feeling like I’m going to vomit on race day, but the GU slid right down the pipe into my belly. I was a happy camper.

Leading up to the race, I was able to keep my HR pretty low too. All under 80 (usually around 50 on a normal day, 90-100 on other pre-race days), so I was happy.

After waiting what seemed like forever for my wave to start, we got called up. This big beautiful blond was there in the water to greet us. (S)he even let me get a little squeeze of those honkers. I did ask first. I’m a gentleman after all.

The announcer counted down, called out GO GO GOGOGOGO and we were off on the swim. I kept waiting for the zen-calm to wash away, but it stuck with me. I drafted off of a lot of people’s feet and held a pretty tight line to the buoys. As I leapfrogged passed slower swimmers in earlier waves, I felt really good. Definitely not the fastest swim of my life, but best as far as pushing it just enough and staying mentally focused on the next 69.1 miles.

Time: 38:25 (~2:00 min/100m)

T1 was fine (once I found my bike). Even with lettered rows, the huge transition area was a little tough to navigate. Once I got there it was: sock, sock, shoe, shoe, glasses, food, helmet GO!

The bike course was beautiful and just as described. Hilly first and last 10 miles, but nice and smooth flat roads all the way through the middle. Beautiful scenery too. It was hard, but nowhere near as challenging as the Rev3 course. I felt strong all the way through and especially loved powering across the flat and freshly paved sections in the aero bars, which is still a really new feeling for me. Timberman is worth doing just for the bike course alone. It was a blast. I felt like I was playing a video game. I want to do it again right now!

Oh and yes, the new Cervelo is AWESOME to race on. Speedier. Smoother. And Sexier. (But I still love you Fuji. You will always hold a special place in my heart, especially when cyclocross season comes around.)

Time: 3:01:33 (18.5 mph)

I just missed breaking the 3 hour mark! Oh well. There is always next year.

Jumped off the bike and felt pretty good. The hips weren’t bothering me, and I just kept moving. It took me about a mile to really get my legs under me, but after that I felt pretty good.

I didn’t even realize how hot it had gotten until I pored some water on my head and realized how good it felt. I played it save and walked every aid station to grab a sponge and 2-3 cups of water. One for my head. One for my belly. And another to fill up any empty fuel belt bottles (just in case). I didn’t want to repeat any pounding dehydration headaches from Rev3, so went a little overkill on carrying the water. I would have rather finished with a completely full fuel belt than with I had something to drink between aid stations.

By the 6 mile mark my shoes were drenched. 10 pounds each and squishing with every step. It made me with I had those special tri shoes with the drainage holes in them. (As if I need another excuse to buy more gear…)

My pace was far from t anything spectacular, but I was able to keep running all the way between water stops, so that counted as a win for me. My run was definitely the weak point going in to the race, so I was just hoping for the best. I felt good after the first 10k, but then it started to hit me. The hockey team that was handing out snowballs from the pile of ice they had on the side of the road were my saviors. I was baking out there but dumping a hand full of ice down my top felt A-Mazing.

Time: 2:25:14 (11:06 min/mile)

My half marathon time alone was pretty sad, but considering everything, it wasn’t half bad. It even brought me to beat my old PR by 9 minutes! Still not quite at that sub-6 level, but I have it in my sights and hopefully will nail it next time around.

Overall Time: 6:11:24

And the best part is that (other than some more training) there probably isn’t too much I would change about the whole weekend. It was perfect and want to do it all over again!

Now I’ve had two easy days before coach starts busting my ass again. Tomorrow is tempo run time to get my butt in shape for my Ragnar Ultra Marathon Relay! More news on that coming soon. Sit tight.

Tags: 70.3, half ironman, Race Reports, timberman | Posted in Ironman, Race Reports, Triathlon | 10 Comments »

Final Tune Up

Monday, May 25th, 2009

This weekend was my last minute tuneup before starting to taper for Rev3. I found out that some of my friends were planning on doing a road race down on Cape Cod, and since I was already planning on getting a long run in, I figured I might as well join and have some company while I run.

There was a 5k, 7.2 miler and a half marathon all on the same morning. One college buddy was doing the 5k, and two others were doing the 7.2 miler. I was left doing the half all by myself, but at least I had some familiar faces to run through the pre-race routine with and I had a guaranteed cheering section once I came through the finish line, so I was happy.

Since it was a last minute addition to the training plan, I got some advice from coach to help with my race day game plan. Much to my dismay, he nixed the idea of tapering, but I at least had a few mental touch points to run through in my head while racing.

Don’t taper for it. Just treat it like a regular run. Definitely enjoy yourself, pay attention to nutrition, and especially pay attention to the ups and downs you feel as the race goes on. Notice how after a down, there’s an up. You must train yourself to not give in to the downs and to not go too hard during the ups. Don’t get caught up in the moment and pay attention to yourself. Do this and you’ll have an amazing run “experience” no matter how it goes and you’ll learn a lot about how you run.

It was pretty cloudy and cool, but was perfect weather for a run. The wind kicked up and almost blew me backwards as we ran along the beach during 4 or 5 times along the course, but otherwise it was a perfect day to race. I stuck almost exactly to an 8:50 pace all the way through mile 5 and gently cranked up the pace all the way to the finish.

Minus some cramping around mile 10 (which was helped out after I gumped down some water at the next aid station), everything went amazingly smooth. My favorite part about taking the first part of the race a little easy is all the people that you get to pass during the second half of the race! I made a point of cheering on anyone who looked like they were bonking and were walking, but every other person was my rabbit. I picked out anyone with a bright colored shirt (or crazy purple/animal print skirt in once case) off in the distance and slowly tried to reel them in.

And once again, the race plan worked like a charm! I crossed the finish line in 1:48:43 (unofficial). That averages to a 8:17 pace. That is almost two minutes faster than pretty much the same course in February, and without a taper. Sa-WEEEEEEEEEET!

And the best thing about this race? I topped it off with a nice dip in the ocean to cool off the legs and some cold beers.