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Indoor Time Trial Time

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

This weekend me and two of my Wheelworks Multisport teammates signed up for the indoor computrainer time trial at the Multisport World Expo in Cambridge.

Coach Brett and I decided that this would be a good test of my fitness that I could hopefully use it as a benchmark for how I’m responding to all the training through the rest of the season. It also gave me a good idea of how much I could actually blame on my bike. My road bike isn’t exactly built for speed and it was a great way to get myself on a level playing field with other guys who are rocking carbon tri bikes that cost thousands more than my bike and weigh half as much. This race was all about legs and lungs baby!

But the thing about the indoor time trial is that it isn’t just some spectators, a few other athletes and me sweating our brains out for 10k. It is right in the middle of a huge multisport expo floor! So if you bonk, finish miles behind the rest of the riders in your heat, or make the mistake of wearing that pair of tri shorts that chlorine has eaten all but a few strands of spandex and bare your back side to a few hundred very close new friends, everyone knows. Instantly. All of your data is projected on a big screen for everyone to see. Watts. Speed. Distance behind the next rider. EVERYTHING.

Pic stolen from my Wheelworks team mate Sara. I’m not in this heat, but it at least gives you an idea of the setup.

Normally I’m not all that self conscious and have gotten used to most of my friends seeing me in varying amounts of spandex on a regular basis, but having all my stats broadcast onto the big screen instantly was a bit uncomfortable. But by the time the butterflies came, it was too late to even pay attention to them. I saddled up and before I knew it, we were off.

My feet started flying and I was really pushing the cadence. That was until one of the guys that was running the race came over and let me know that apparently the computrainer works better with a lower cadence around 85. After a few gear shifts and coming down from closer to 105 rpm, I was settled in to a good pace and found myself in fourth place out of eight. I was completely clueless about pacing for such a short race, but decided that for such a short race, if it didn’t hurt at least a little, I probably wasn’t going hard enough.

After some rolling hills and switching up my wattage, I figured anything under 275 didn’t hurt enough, and stuck with that as my target. I tried to only pay attention to that, mainly because there were a billion other numbers on my performance being projected on the screen and I could have gone into overload. Eventually, I realized that I was only a little while back from third place, and had him in my sights. He looked like he was hurting a lot more than I was, so I kept pushing it, took him down and held it through the end.

WOOT WOOT!

I didn’t have any expectations for this race, but just wanted to to give a really hard effort and analyze some of the stats. Given that I got a new max HR and that if the race was a mile longer, I would have thrown up everywhere, it was a good day. Here are my race stats.

Distance: 6.03 miles

Time: 15:56:09

Avg speed: 22.7

Avg watts: 283

Place (overall): 25 (74 overall)

Avg HR: 174

Max HR: 189

While I can’t prove it, I am sure that I wouldn’t be able to finish that strong this time last year. I’m totally psyched to start racing OUTSIDE!

UPDATE: Apparently I beat Karen Smyers by 20 seconds according to the official results. I can only imagine that she wasn’t giving it her all, but either way, it is a nice ego boost. She is pretty hard core.

Tags: computrainer time trial, fast splits indoor time trial, multisport world expo | Posted in Cycling, Race Reports, Training Log, Triathlon | 7 Comments »

Race Report: Hyannis Half Marathon

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

or “Plan the race, race the plan.”

Let the 2009 racing season begin internet people! This morning was the first race of the season and my first stand alone half marathon ever. The weather report was sketchy all week and had me checking a half dozen Web sites several times per day. Reports went back and forth from predicting rain or snow (I was rooting for snow because there are few things worse than mid 30′s and raining). This morning the forecast finally turned to rain, but not until the afternoon. With a 10am start time, it would give me just enough time to cross the line safely before the downpours started. WOOT. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Sam and I drove down to Cape Cod bright and early. I sucked down a GU about 45 minutes before race time and all lights went green. Game On.

Me walking to the starting line. I look pretty angry, but I guess that is what my “Game Face” looks like.

Shivering Hyannis Starting Line

I’m all bundled up and still shivering, but people are still rocking shorts? Seriously?!?

Hyannis adjusting tights

The all important last minute, err.., adjustments.

Since I had already departed from my faithful “play it by ear” race strategy with a mile-by-mile outline of my goal mile splits, I decided to keep with the trend and tape the mile splits to my arm. I covered it in clear tape just in case it started to rain. Since my running fitness has come a LONG way since the last time that I raced, I didn’t have a clear idea yet of what I’m capable of, and I laid out pretty conservative goals, I only planned on using each split as a general estimate and went on perceived exertion more than actual pace.

The Game Plan

As planned, I took the first 6 miles nice and easy, but every time I looked down at my watch I was about 45 seconds faster per mile than I had planned. Instead of 9:30′s, I was hitting around 8:45′s. I second guessed my pace for a while and thought about slowing down to low 9′s but I decided that listening to my body made a lot more sense than sticking to (relatively) arbitrary numbers that I had laid out days ahead of time. I stuck with it and comfortably hit mile after mile in the high 8 min/mile pace range without working myself too hard.

I’m not in this pic, but I really like the blur of the runners. It looks pretty cool.

Despite being a little cold at the start, I warmed right up once I settled in to a good pace. The course was really nice too. It was SUPER flat and made a few twists and turns through little residential neighborhoods, with only one section along a busy street that was a little sketchy. There were rumors that there were some easy rollers throughout the course, which ended up being all lies, but it was a nice course nonetheless. At a few points we passed by the shore so we got a nice view of the ocean and got a really nice sea breeze to keep us moving on. It is strange how the smell of stinky sea weed and fish can some how make me associate with happy thoughts. I can’t wait until summer comes and I can go hang out on the beach on Cape Cod when it isn’t 30 degrees outside. Again, I digress…

Right after mile 6, I caught up with one of my Wheelworks teammates and chatted it up a bit. At that point I was just starting to pick up the pace and increase my turnover. We traded game plans and while she wasn’t planning to go all out until the last 3.1 miles, she eventually came with me and we traded places with each other throughout the rest of the race. We had never raced together, but it was great to have that carrot dangling in front of me to keep my pace up if I started to slow down.

Right at about mile 10, I passed Team Hoyt and gave a little cheer as I chugged along. If you haven’t read or seen any videos about Dick and Rick Hoyt, check out this one. They have an amazing story and it was a huge inspiration to see them on the same course as me (and 4,000 other runners) letting it all out

The last two miles were pretty brutal. It was rough just to keep my form together, but my pace still held up pretty strong and I was able to knock down runner after runner with no problem at all. Granted, a good chuck of them were probably finishing the first loop of the full marathon, but the plan was definitely working and I was able to really knock out a solid pace while everyone else was struggling just to hang on.

Hyannis half marathon finish 2009

“I crown thee: Half Marathoner”

I’m in there somewhere I think I’m completely covered by that guy in the blue shirt.

Looking like a hot mess just after the finish line, but totally psyched to have rocked the race plan.

According to my watch I clocked in at 1:50:30 (8:26 min/mile avg), safely under my goal for the race. I’d post my mile splits, but I don’t remember them. My avg HR was 159 and maxed at 180.

Overall the commute/warmup/race plan worked pretty well. Looking back, my paces needed some tweaking, but it is always nice to surprise yourself by going faster than expected instead of slower. 2009 is going to be an awesome year. I smell PRs in the air. Stay tuned internet people.

Tags: half marathon, hyannis half marathon | Posted in Race Reports, Running | 17 Comments »

Cyclocross Crash: A Photo Essay

Friday, November 21st, 2008

Remember when I mentioned trying to power through the mud pit and taking a face-first dive in front of a photographer at my cyclocross race last weekend? Here is the proof.

It actually makes for a pretty funny little photo essay.

Here I am attempting to power through the mud, hoping I can just somehow skim across the top and make it back to dry land ASAP. Instead I bounce off of a mud covered tree root, and it all goes to hell after that.

Something tells me my wheel isn’t supposed to be pointed sideways.

Yeah. This definitely isn’t looking good. Foot planted, bike flying up from under me.

“Oh Crap!”

Wait, where did Jamie go?

Face first in the Mud.

Another hot picture of my ass.

No time to play in the mud! Up and running with a big smile on my face. Thankfully I didn’t even get a scrape on me. Time to RUN!

Despite the blurry ass shots, the photographer is actually really good and got some pics of other racers looking way faster and more bad-ass than I do lying in the mud. Check out his pics at these links:

http://flickr.com/photos/beastgp/

http://picasaweb.google.com/beastgp

Tags: crash, cyclocross, mud | Posted in Cycling, Race Reports | No Comments »

Cyclocross Mudfest

Monday, November 17th, 2008

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.

Better quality version of the video is here.

I gave my second shot at cyclocross this weekend. It had rained on and off for the past few days and I was prepared for a complete mudfest and even caught up with local tri blogger Elaine (TriGrilPink) during my warmup lap and chatted for a bit.

Thankfully the men’s Cat 4 race was first, so the course wasn’t going to be nearly as beat up as it would be later in the day for the faster guys.

I did a hell of a better staying with the pack when the gun went off, but DAMN. Even in the Cat 4 race, these guys are fast. I’m still getting used to ramping up to top speed so quickly. When I pounded it up the first of two run/ride ups, I even got to a new max HR on the bike! 187 bpm baby! That is the highest I’ve gotten it on the bike recently, maybe ever. (I can already hear Brett yelling at me for not sticking to easy base workouts, shhhh!) Needless to say I did better than last time about making sure I didn’t have as much left in the tank when I crossed the finish line.

The whole course was pretty muddy and technical, but this one 75 meter stretch turned out to be the great equalizer. Ankle deep mud hid big roots and extra deep trenches that sucked you down and stole whatever momentum you were able to muster up. Even being able to stay on your bike and not having to run through the mud was an accomplishment.

During the first lap through the huge mud pit, I got stuck in a rut had to dismount to run the rest of the way through. The second lap, I had a new plan. Get a ton of speed and just force my way through.

That didn’t workout so well when my front tire hit a root hidden under a few inches of mud and my extra speed threw my bike off to the right as my body slammed down to the left and I went face first into the mud. It was actually really funny, especially as I looked up there was a guy with a camera who got a series of shots telling a pretty funny story about my mud bath. I found him after and he said he would post his pictures online. If i find them, I’ll post them later.

UPDATE: Check HERE for the all of the pics.

And now, for evidence of the mud fest that was the Boston Road Club Cyclocross Race…