First off I would like to thank everyone that posted to my race report. Theme I need to implement "yesterday" would be POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE. Yes Bolder you are correct, I did PR on that race compared to last year, and in my age group AND overall, I did improve.
Last night was an off night. I looked at everyone's blogs, and read alot of people that headed up to Ironman Canada to race, volunteer, and more importantly get numbers for next year's race. Meagan has the ITU world championships this weekend in Switzerland, and I will be getting up just before 2am Eastern Time to watch her race for Team Canada. What, you ask why I am not cheering for team USA??? Well I do not know anyone from team USA, and I read every post that Meagan puts up on her blog since I have been blogging. Might as well root for someone!
I also had all day (through work and home) to think on my race, and what to do for the rest of the year. I think, from people I know, that is about 50% "your year is done", and about 50% "finish with one more triathlon." I think I have decided to race the Emerald Pointe Triathlon on October 8th this year. It is a Sprint Distance Tri, and right now it looks as if there are less than 200 people that have signed up (as of 8-15-06). There have only been 8 men in my age group that have signed up. I thought, "what the heck, if no one else signs up but me, at least I can be 9th place in my age group (last place!)!"
With respect to training for this event, I am beginning tonight with a ride (Sandy Springs), and I am going to attempt to blow it out of the water, since I have been on a taper for the last few weeks. I am going to change my strategy for this small training period, and do three things.
One: Mix it up a bit. I got into a routine (routine part in general is good) but I ended up doing the same thing every week, just varied my distances as well as my intensities. I am going to add in some speed workouts for running/biking, as well as some hills.
Two: Increase my distances. I think one key thing I am missing is that I am training too close to race distances. If I can increase my mileage to 150% or more of race distance then the race should theoritically be easier, since I will have trained for longer distances than the race itself.
Three: Scout and complete a couple of test runs on the actual course. Lake Lanier is not too far away from me, and I have some people who have boats/lake houses up in that area. It should not be too much trouble to get something going up there a few times before the actual event.
I've got six weeks (minus a couple of days). I improved by just less than two minutes from last year. I really want to try and improve more than two minutes, but heck, lets keep things simple. Let us see if I can beat 1 hour 20 minutes!!! I think I can shave off two minutes in the next six weeks.
Any ideas or suggestions on training tips would be great!!!! Anyone who knows about that Fartlek training, please send me some info or a link somewhere, or email me some workouts if you have done any.
Here is Sunday's workout. Actually it was pretty easy for me. I rode with Jackie, and decided this is was a recovery ride for me, so I would just stick with her. The last two miles I just went ahead and finished. I still have her aerobars on, so I used them for about 1/2-2/3's of the ride. I am going to hate giving those back, but I will have to wait until I can afford some.
BIKE
25.12 miles in 1 hour 41 minutes ?? seconds
~14.8 mph
consumed 1 GU and went through 2 bottles of water ~40 ozs
Signing off...
Murtha...
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Tri-Peachtree City 2006 Race Report...
Ok,
So, I did not get a podium finish, and I also did not get a top 10 finish. I also did not finish better than 1 hour 15 minutes. On the good side, I did beat my time from last year. The bad side of that though, was that I beat my time mostly due to decreased transition times, and not increased performance in either the swim/bike/run. So without further ado, here are the times/report.
Swim (.3mi/480meters???) - 12min 32 sec
I think that the swim was longer than .3 miles, but after my debacule with the discrepancies on the Silver Comet Trail distances, I am not going to argue with the race directors measurements for the race. I only feel that way due to the fact that I did not stop at all swimming this year, even though it did not look pretty.
They do a staggered start in twos every 5 seconds and I was the last pair in my group (group 4). For the first 100M, I was doing ok. Then I broke down after that. The swim course was a narrow rectangle and as I approached the first turn bouy, traffic hit. Now you would think with a total number of participants at 739, we would be ok...? How about feeling like you are in a wash cycle and you are the clothes. I got beat to hell from before the first turn bouy till about 50M after the second and final turn bouy. Because of the traffic I had to sight more often and this caused me to get out my rythm big time, which meant two strokes and swim, every once in awhile doing three to switch sides. When I got out of the water, I was not happy with my time at all. If the distances are correct, then I did approximately 160 meters less than last year (they changed the course distances due to a slight relocation for the increased participants), and swam 16 seconds faster than last years time (which means if it would have been .4 mile, then i would have been much slower.) That is why I am questioning the distances.
Long story short, pool is different from lake. And by the way this lake sucked. 4.5 feet deep of muddy water all the way. After the race when I wiped off, all 3 of my towels I brought were brown. Yes, brown.
Transition 1 - 1 min 43 seconds
Ok, so I rocked on this one. Beat my time by just over a minute last year. The transition was much bigger too, but my bike was in the most perfect spot. If the transition and race numbers go in the same locations next year, I want to be race number 125-150!!! I got to my stuff, looked at the towel to wipe my gross, muddy, grass - covered feet, and said "fuck it." Threw my socks on and bike shoes with helmet and GU, and went on my way. Could have jogged faster out of T1, but there were other people in front of me, and the transition lanes were only so wide. Coming out of T1 you had to run about 20 meteres before you could get on the bike, they could have shortened that as well.
Bike (13.2 miles) - 39 min 09 seconds
I have to say that I felt alot better on the bike this year. I borrowed Jackie's aerobars (thanks Jackie) and put them on my bike. I will have to get some of my own after this episode because I felt really good on them. It was really hard to stay three bike lengths behind people due to the fact that lots of people were spead out pretty evenly throughout the entire course. I averaged 20mph, .1mph faster than last year. Although it is only 10 seconds faster than last year, the distance is a half mile longer than last year, so I am relatively happy with my time. I would have thought I was faster, since this course is slightly hilly. I was trying to save myself a bit for the run, I did not want to have a repeat of last year.
I passed alot of people on the bike, and there were probably about a dozen or so people that passed me. The only problem I had on the bike was that there was almost half a mile that was a no pass zone coming into the transition area, as well as on the way out!!! What kind of crap is that??? I mean make the last 100 M no pass or something, not half a mile. Basically everyone had to slow to 11-12 mph, so that everyone lost about 30-45 seconds on the deal.
Transition 2 - 1 min 11 sec
I beat my time by 29 seconds, and this is considering that the transition area is at least twice the size as last year, but alas, my bike race position was about 10 yards away from the run exit!!! I was very happy with this.
Run ( 3.1 miles / 5 Kilometers ) - 28 min 13 seconds
Arrrrgh!!! 39 seconds slower than last year. Run course was in reverse from last year. I started off strong, then between mile one and two I broke down just a bit, due to calf cramping and did not get it picked back up until about 2.2 miles into it. By that time, I knew I was going to be over 25 minutes, but I did not know exactly how much (I had total time on my watch going). Blisters formed on the inside of my feet on the arches, that did not help much either. I was going to put some duct tape there before the race, but I did not have enough time before the pre race meeting began. The girl I finished the race with (#54 from Greenville, SC), passed me with a few tenths of a mile to go (she has been training for a marathon in about 6 weeks, needless to say this was a light jog for her. I finished strong.
Final - 1hr 22min 45 sec
15th/30 finishers in Male 25-29, moved up 6 spots from last year.
157th/739 total finishers (as of this posting, final results should be posted soon), moved up more than 100 from last year (I just don't remember excatly how many spots).
Well to sum it up, at least I finished faster than I did last year. I have much to think on, As I began training in February for this season took two weeks off after my Half Iron race in May, and picked up my training straight through the race yesterday. And look what it got me... 1 minute and sixteen seconds.
Tomorrow is my day off, I am going to keep up my training throughout the week, and I will make up my mind on whether or not I will sign up for the Emerald Pointe Triathlon in October. I think that gives me about 6 weeks to race day today. I am sure that I will have some sort of inspirational post up tomorrow to get me back in gear.
To everyone who had a race this weekend, Congratulations. I have read most of your blogs, and i will catch the rest of them tomorrow. Thanks for all the support from everyone who showed up (Jackie, Matt, Stormy, Katie, Merv, Anne, Andy, and Amanada. I am sure that Charlie and Melissa where there in spirit although they were not able to make it). I will say if there was an award for the biggest crowd, I would have had first place with my support team!
Signing out,
Murtha...
So, I did not get a podium finish, and I also did not get a top 10 finish. I also did not finish better than 1 hour 15 minutes. On the good side, I did beat my time from last year. The bad side of that though, was that I beat my time mostly due to decreased transition times, and not increased performance in either the swim/bike/run. So without further ado, here are the times/report.
Swim (.3mi/480meters???) - 12min 32 sec
I think that the swim was longer than .3 miles, but after my debacule with the discrepancies on the Silver Comet Trail distances, I am not going to argue with the race directors measurements for the race. I only feel that way due to the fact that I did not stop at all swimming this year, even though it did not look pretty.
They do a staggered start in twos every 5 seconds and I was the last pair in my group (group 4). For the first 100M, I was doing ok. Then I broke down after that. The swim course was a narrow rectangle and as I approached the first turn bouy, traffic hit. Now you would think with a total number of participants at 739, we would be ok...? How about feeling like you are in a wash cycle and you are the clothes. I got beat to hell from before the first turn bouy till about 50M after the second and final turn bouy. Because of the traffic I had to sight more often and this caused me to get out my rythm big time, which meant two strokes and swim, every once in awhile doing three to switch sides. When I got out of the water, I was not happy with my time at all. If the distances are correct, then I did approximately 160 meters less than last year (they changed the course distances due to a slight relocation for the increased participants), and swam 16 seconds faster than last years time (which means if it would have been .4 mile, then i would have been much slower.) That is why I am questioning the distances.
Long story short, pool is different from lake. And by the way this lake sucked. 4.5 feet deep of muddy water all the way. After the race when I wiped off, all 3 of my towels I brought were brown. Yes, brown.
Transition 1 - 1 min 43 seconds
Ok, so I rocked on this one. Beat my time by just over a minute last year. The transition was much bigger too, but my bike was in the most perfect spot. If the transition and race numbers go in the same locations next year, I want to be race number 125-150!!! I got to my stuff, looked at the towel to wipe my gross, muddy, grass - covered feet, and said "fuck it." Threw my socks on and bike shoes with helmet and GU, and went on my way. Could have jogged faster out of T1, but there were other people in front of me, and the transition lanes were only so wide. Coming out of T1 you had to run about 20 meteres before you could get on the bike, they could have shortened that as well.
Bike (13.2 miles) - 39 min 09 seconds
I have to say that I felt alot better on the bike this year. I borrowed Jackie's aerobars (thanks Jackie) and put them on my bike. I will have to get some of my own after this episode because I felt really good on them. It was really hard to stay three bike lengths behind people due to the fact that lots of people were spead out pretty evenly throughout the entire course. I averaged 20mph, .1mph faster than last year. Although it is only 10 seconds faster than last year, the distance is a half mile longer than last year, so I am relatively happy with my time. I would have thought I was faster, since this course is slightly hilly. I was trying to save myself a bit for the run, I did not want to have a repeat of last year.
I passed alot of people on the bike, and there were probably about a dozen or so people that passed me. The only problem I had on the bike was that there was almost half a mile that was a no pass zone coming into the transition area, as well as on the way out!!! What kind of crap is that??? I mean make the last 100 M no pass or something, not half a mile. Basically everyone had to slow to 11-12 mph, so that everyone lost about 30-45 seconds on the deal.
Transition 2 - 1 min 11 sec
I beat my time by 29 seconds, and this is considering that the transition area is at least twice the size as last year, but alas, my bike race position was about 10 yards away from the run exit!!! I was very happy with this.
Run ( 3.1 miles / 5 Kilometers ) - 28 min 13 seconds
Arrrrgh!!! 39 seconds slower than last year. Run course was in reverse from last year. I started off strong, then between mile one and two I broke down just a bit, due to calf cramping and did not get it picked back up until about 2.2 miles into it. By that time, I knew I was going to be over 25 minutes, but I did not know exactly how much (I had total time on my watch going). Blisters formed on the inside of my feet on the arches, that did not help much either. I was going to put some duct tape there before the race, but I did not have enough time before the pre race meeting began. The girl I finished the race with (#54 from Greenville, SC), passed me with a few tenths of a mile to go (she has been training for a marathon in about 6 weeks, needless to say this was a light jog for her. I finished strong.
Final - 1hr 22min 45 sec
15th/30 finishers in Male 25-29, moved up 6 spots from last year.
157th/739 total finishers (as of this posting, final results should be posted soon), moved up more than 100 from last year (I just don't remember excatly how many spots).
Well to sum it up, at least I finished faster than I did last year. I have much to think on, As I began training in February for this season took two weeks off after my Half Iron race in May, and picked up my training straight through the race yesterday. And look what it got me... 1 minute and sixteen seconds.
Tomorrow is my day off, I am going to keep up my training throughout the week, and I will make up my mind on whether or not I will sign up for the Emerald Pointe Triathlon in October. I think that gives me about 6 weeks to race day today. I am sure that I will have some sort of inspirational post up tomorrow to get me back in gear.
To everyone who had a race this weekend, Congratulations. I have read most of your blogs, and i will catch the rest of them tomorrow. Thanks for all the support from everyone who showed up (Jackie, Matt, Stormy, Katie, Merv, Anne, Andy, and Amanada. I am sure that Charlie and Melissa where there in spirit although they were not able to make it). I will say if there was an award for the biggest crowd, I would have had first place with my support team!
Signing out,
Murtha...
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Getting Close...
Hello Everyone,
Just under 2 days left until race day! Kinda tired today, as I was out late last night at the Brave's game (watching them lose of course). Here is how this week has shaped up so far;
MONDAY
(NONE)
TUESDAY
BIKE
20.37 miles in 1hr 15 min 34 sec
Average 16.1 mph
Sandy Springs Ride (my hilly ride) minus about 5 miles. Did not want to blow up my legs for Saturday. Even though the pavement was wet from rain earlier in afternoon, the group was still blazing as always up hills. I also did double duty on the hills, since I left late, and I doubled back to meet up with them on the first half of the ride. That sucked for me. I got left. Oh well, what else is new. Met two new guys (Woody and Grant(?)). Both triathletes, had some good conversation while I was still with them. They are both doing some local races next month before the end of the season.
WEDNESDAY
SWIM
You would be sooo proud of me (mostly due to motivation for doing both workout and Braves game in same day), I went swimming at 5:30am. Do you guys get up extra early and drink coffee, snack, read paper, etc... before you do your morning workout. I got up and went straight to the pool, and kinda felt like crap. However, if I get up to do a morning routine before my workout, then I will have to get up even EARLIER!!! Oh wait, what was that, you have not been at 5:00am in months and you wonder why you feel like crap??? OK OK. Anyways, I think that either I just kicked butt, or my chronograph on my NICE (nice for me is fossil) watch is off!!! I think it is the latter. My main goal for my workout was my 1st 400M after my warmup, I was treating it as my race. This is what my watch said; 6min 14 sec.....?!?!?!?! Now I was out of breath more than normal (I am attributing that to the time of day that I was swimming, not the effort I put in, even though I tried), but I know that the fastest time I have posted yet was 7:35. So to be fair to myself, I erred on the side of broken watch and added a minute to my time. Hey, I still beat my best time by 21 seconds!!! Anything under a target time of 7:45 for my swim on Saturday is gravy.
50M sides
250M warmup
400M main @ race pace 7min 14sec, new time!
4 x 50M cooldown
Today will be my last workout, running. I am either going to Chastain Park for my usual loop, or I am going to go to the Chattahooche. They even have the trails marked off with quarter mile markers. Boy I wish I had a stopwatch/HRM with lap timers so that the markers would actually be useful.
I will probably do 2 x 5K and negative split and that's it. I am going tonight even if there is rain, I do not care. I have been better with my workouts during my taper than during my regular training time. I wonder if there is any psychological reasoning behind that?
Also I was waiting for friends last night before we met up so I went next door from work to Borders Bookstore, and they had the original(or first?) Total Immersion book there, so I sat down and literally tore through 30-40 pages before they got there. I found it fascinating. I also found it promising, that since I am kind of training myself with respect to swimming, that most (but not all), of the changes I have made to my swim have been improvements after reading some of those pages. I think I am going to actually buy the book, seems like a good investment.
I am off for now, be looking to see my next post be a race report, or at least my times followed up by race report. I might post something later that I was going to talk about last week, but postponed.
Murtha...
Just under 2 days left until race day! Kinda tired today, as I was out late last night at the Brave's game (watching them lose of course). Here is how this week has shaped up so far;
MONDAY
(NONE)
TUESDAY
BIKE
20.37 miles in 1hr 15 min 34 sec
Average 16.1 mph
Sandy Springs Ride (my hilly ride) minus about 5 miles. Did not want to blow up my legs for Saturday. Even though the pavement was wet from rain earlier in afternoon, the group was still blazing as always up hills. I also did double duty on the hills, since I left late, and I doubled back to meet up with them on the first half of the ride. That sucked for me. I got left. Oh well, what else is new. Met two new guys (Woody and Grant(?)). Both triathletes, had some good conversation while I was still with them. They are both doing some local races next month before the end of the season.
WEDNESDAY
SWIM
You would be sooo proud of me (mostly due to motivation for doing both workout and Braves game in same day), I went swimming at 5:30am. Do you guys get up extra early and drink coffee, snack, read paper, etc... before you do your morning workout. I got up and went straight to the pool, and kinda felt like crap. However, if I get up to do a morning routine before my workout, then I will have to get up even EARLIER!!! Oh wait, what was that, you have not been at 5:00am in months and you wonder why you feel like crap??? OK OK. Anyways, I think that either I just kicked butt, or my chronograph on my NICE (nice for me is fossil) watch is off!!! I think it is the latter. My main goal for my workout was my 1st 400M after my warmup, I was treating it as my race. This is what my watch said; 6min 14 sec.....?!?!?!?! Now I was out of breath more than normal (I am attributing that to the time of day that I was swimming, not the effort I put in, even though I tried), but I know that the fastest time I have posted yet was 7:35. So to be fair to myself, I erred on the side of broken watch and added a minute to my time. Hey, I still beat my best time by 21 seconds!!! Anything under a target time of 7:45 for my swim on Saturday is gravy.
50M sides
250M warmup
400M main @ race pace 7min 14sec, new time!
4 x 50M cooldown
Today will be my last workout, running. I am either going to Chastain Park for my usual loop, or I am going to go to the Chattahooche. They even have the trails marked off with quarter mile markers. Boy I wish I had a stopwatch/HRM with lap timers so that the markers would actually be useful.
I will probably do 2 x 5K and negative split and that's it. I am going tonight even if there is rain, I do not care. I have been better with my workouts during my taper than during my regular training time. I wonder if there is any psychological reasoning behind that?
Also I was waiting for friends last night before we met up so I went next door from work to Borders Bookstore, and they had the original(or first?) Total Immersion book there, so I sat down and literally tore through 30-40 pages before they got there. I found it fascinating. I also found it promising, that since I am kind of training myself with respect to swimming, that most (but not all), of the changes I have made to my swim have been improvements after reading some of those pages. I think I am going to actually buy the book, seems like a good investment.
I am off for now, be looking to see my next post be a race report, or at least my times followed up by race report. I might post something later that I was going to talk about last week, but postponed.
Murtha...
Monday, August 21, 2006
The Weekend Grind (is over...)
Good Day to you all,
Yes, I have been posting more infrequently as of late. My taper workouts have not been outstanding to note, so I felt that instead of wasting time and blogspace, I would just wait until Monday and do an extensive recap. I finished playing Fable this weekend, took up about 7-8 hours of my time from Friday to Sunday afternoon. Those RPG games are addictive! With a game like NCAA Football 20XX (there are multiple years out), you can play a game within 20 minutes (you can manipulate how short/long the quarters are). This particular game I was playing, if you get into a "quest", then you cannot leave in the middle of it, or else you have to start all over again. However it is "free" entertainment (already paid for, just playing again).
Anyways, back to triathlon stuff. Here is my workouts through yesterday. Today is my off day, to clean the bike, you will see why in a minute.
THURSDAY
BIKE
Mellow Mushroom (Brookhaven) Loop x 2
1 hour 13 min 19 seconds
20.12 miles
Supposed to be like a recovery/easy ride. I finished 2nd behind Pete (new riding friend in Thursday night's group). Not that it was a race. I just picked it up on the second half of the ride. The course was awsome, there were some hills that mimicked the course on Saturday, and there were never any huge hills, just some small rollers, and long low grade hills. The after bike ride was great, pizza and beer at Mellow Mushroom!!!
FRIDAY
SWIM
50M sides
200M warmup (freestyle)
400M @ race pace - 7 min 35 seconds!!!!
50M x 4 cooldown (just below race pace)
I cannot believe it, 7 min 35 seconds! I was having problems in warmup with my goggles, but during the actual swim they were ok.
Question: When you guys count laps, no matter how big the pool, do you count one way a lap, or do you count down and back one lap. I was on a forum the other day posting someting, and I specifically told everyone how I counted laps, and then said I did this many "laps" (I count down and back as a one lap), and then there were a slew of posts where everyone said I was counting wrong and that the distance did not work out for that many laps. Do people not pay attention?!?!? I guess I am the only one who counts that way. For me I equate it to going around a race track. You have to come back to the start/finish line eventually to make it a complete "lap." So it would make sense (at least to me) that in order to complete a lap in a pool, you go down and back to where you began for a "lap."
SATURDAY
RUN
100m warmup
not too much stretching (bad Andy!)
5K run @ race pace - 20min 35 seconds!!!
Again, awsome! I know I have run faster than this in my life (I think the fastest 5K I have ever run, when I was really into running, was 18:30-18:45). I know I did not warm up really well, but I did not have much time that evening, so I could not do a 5k warmup (i.e. negative splits) to simulate activity before the run part of the race. Oh well, I am trying for sub 22 min if I can during the race. I have been training on my "Chastain Loop," so I have been training on a more hilly course than what I will actually be running on.
SUNDAY
BIKE
Silver Comet Trail - 12.5 miles
48 minutes, 16 seconds. I did not go at it full effort, obviously...
Rain...
No fun... Got really wet although it had rained much harder, earlier in the evening. I kept fairly dry, except for my lower body. Soaking wet! Good thing I brought a change of clothes. It was also late in the evening, and got pretty dark out there. Speaking of which, it is beginning to get darker earlier in the evening. I am going to have to put my bike lights back on my bike when I go on my weeknight training rides. Anyone want to get me a trainer for Christmas???
Today is off day, I have some things to do around the apartment, as well as clean my bike from last night's escapades. My light workouts will be Tue, Wed, Thu. I am going to do a couple of transition workouts on Thu/Fri, so I can practice getting down the transition. I am looking to split 1:30/1:00 on T1/T2.
Less than 5 days! I am excitied, not just because my race is coming up, but I have not done anything since May with respect to Triathlon events, and I am craving for another one.
Keep it up on your Ironman training, I know that most of you have either Ironman Wisconson or Ironman Florida coming up. I am thinking of taking a three day weekend (Saturday/Sunday/Monday) so I can come down there and cheer you on, as well as hopefully meet a few of you. It will also be my first race as a spectator, and i think that will be helpful.
Signing off,
Murtha...
Yes, I have been posting more infrequently as of late. My taper workouts have not been outstanding to note, so I felt that instead of wasting time and blogspace, I would just wait until Monday and do an extensive recap. I finished playing Fable this weekend, took up about 7-8 hours of my time from Friday to Sunday afternoon. Those RPG games are addictive! With a game like NCAA Football 20XX (there are multiple years out), you can play a game within 20 minutes (you can manipulate how short/long the quarters are). This particular game I was playing, if you get into a "quest", then you cannot leave in the middle of it, or else you have to start all over again. However it is "free" entertainment (already paid for, just playing again).
Anyways, back to triathlon stuff. Here is my workouts through yesterday. Today is my off day, to clean the bike, you will see why in a minute.
THURSDAY
BIKE
Mellow Mushroom (Brookhaven) Loop x 2
1 hour 13 min 19 seconds
20.12 miles
Supposed to be like a recovery/easy ride. I finished 2nd behind Pete (new riding friend in Thursday night's group). Not that it was a race. I just picked it up on the second half of the ride. The course was awsome, there were some hills that mimicked the course on Saturday, and there were never any huge hills, just some small rollers, and long low grade hills. The after bike ride was great, pizza and beer at Mellow Mushroom!!!
FRIDAY
SWIM
50M sides
200M warmup (freestyle)
400M @ race pace - 7 min 35 seconds!!!!
50M x 4 cooldown (just below race pace)
I cannot believe it, 7 min 35 seconds! I was having problems in warmup with my goggles, but during the actual swim they were ok.
Question: When you guys count laps, no matter how big the pool, do you count one way a lap, or do you count down and back one lap. I was on a forum the other day posting someting, and I specifically told everyone how I counted laps, and then said I did this many "laps" (I count down and back as a one lap), and then there were a slew of posts where everyone said I was counting wrong and that the distance did not work out for that many laps. Do people not pay attention?!?!? I guess I am the only one who counts that way. For me I equate it to going around a race track. You have to come back to the start/finish line eventually to make it a complete "lap." So it would make sense (at least to me) that in order to complete a lap in a pool, you go down and back to where you began for a "lap."
SATURDAY
RUN
100m warmup
not too much stretching (bad Andy!)
5K run @ race pace - 20min 35 seconds!!!
Again, awsome! I know I have run faster than this in my life (I think the fastest 5K I have ever run, when I was really into running, was 18:30-18:45). I know I did not warm up really well, but I did not have much time that evening, so I could not do a 5k warmup (i.e. negative splits) to simulate activity before the run part of the race. Oh well, I am trying for sub 22 min if I can during the race. I have been training on my "Chastain Loop," so I have been training on a more hilly course than what I will actually be running on.
SUNDAY
BIKE
Silver Comet Trail - 12.5 miles
48 minutes, 16 seconds. I did not go at it full effort, obviously...
Rain...
No fun... Got really wet although it had rained much harder, earlier in the evening. I kept fairly dry, except for my lower body. Soaking wet! Good thing I brought a change of clothes. It was also late in the evening, and got pretty dark out there. Speaking of which, it is beginning to get darker earlier in the evening. I am going to have to put my bike lights back on my bike when I go on my weeknight training rides. Anyone want to get me a trainer for Christmas???
Today is off day, I have some things to do around the apartment, as well as clean my bike from last night's escapades. My light workouts will be Tue, Wed, Thu. I am going to do a couple of transition workouts on Thu/Fri, so I can practice getting down the transition. I am looking to split 1:30/1:00 on T1/T2.
Less than 5 days! I am excitied, not just because my race is coming up, but I have not done anything since May with respect to Triathlon events, and I am craving for another one.
Keep it up on your Ironman training, I know that most of you have either Ironman Wisconson or Ironman Florida coming up. I am thinking of taking a three day weekend (Saturday/Sunday/Monday) so I can come down there and cheer you on, as well as hopefully meet a few of you. It will also be my first race as a spectator, and i think that will be helpful.
Signing off,
Murtha...
Friday, August 18, 2006
My New Cheerleading Squad!!!
Hi All,
I thought this should deserve its own post. I will post another one later tonight or early tomrorrow morning. I know it has been a few days since I have posted, but I have been keeping myself busy outside of work, so I have not spent time trying to post to my blog. I did however run through Iron Wil and the Kahuna's podcast as soon as they put it out. And wouldn't you know it, RoboStu was on there as well. It is one of my new forms of crack, along with the Xbox (I started playing Fable again, and logging an average of about an hour a day at least).
So, a few months ago, I thought it would be a good idea to get a few more people to come to the Tri Peachtree City than last year (I got four, which was awsome, but I wanted more). Well I think planning ahead and asking everyone has really paid off. My best friend Matt called me the other day and asked me how many people were coming, since he wanted to have an early post race lunch at the pizza place which is one of the sponsors for the event. **NOTE** I do not eat the pizza from the sponsor since it really, really sucks, so I get a sandwhich or salad from them. I told him I would have to get back to him. After tallying up everyone, it looks like I am going to have between 11-15 people showing up!!! Are you kidding?!?!?!!? I counted twice just to make sure. My little sister and about three other people are in limbo due to work/other obligations, but everyone else is a go! Jackie's parents wanted to come, but she put the kibash on that real quick (yes I just wrote down "kibash"). I think they would have a really great time, but I am not going to aruge with her.
How cool is that?!? It puts me on some kind of high to see that kind of support from friends, family, significant others, co-workers, boss, etc. I have heard rumors of posterboards and t-shirts with my name on it, but they do not have to go that far. I feel a bit of pressure due to the fact that so many people might actually be there, I have to preform like a pro, like there are some kind of expectations or something. Well I have expectations of how I want to do........PODIUM FINISH!!!!!
I am planning on everyone to take lots of pictures (meaning everyone else take pictures for me, since I am still in the dark ages, without a camera). I will be able to post. Hopefully Matt (the best friend I mentioned earlier) took time off so he does not actually have to work the event (he is on the peachtree city police force). One of his other friends, Brad, might actually have to work the event, so he might be there anyways holding up traffic for me on the bike ride.
And of course, I will have all of you thinking about me over the weekend, just like I think about all of you during your race weekends, waiting to hear your race report of what happened.
That's all for now...
Murtha...
I thought this should deserve its own post. I will post another one later tonight or early tomrorrow morning. I know it has been a few days since I have posted, but I have been keeping myself busy outside of work, so I have not spent time trying to post to my blog. I did however run through Iron Wil and the Kahuna's podcast as soon as they put it out. And wouldn't you know it, RoboStu was on there as well. It is one of my new forms of crack, along with the Xbox (I started playing Fable again, and logging an average of about an hour a day at least).
So, a few months ago, I thought it would be a good idea to get a few more people to come to the Tri Peachtree City than last year (I got four, which was awsome, but I wanted more). Well I think planning ahead and asking everyone has really paid off. My best friend Matt called me the other day and asked me how many people were coming, since he wanted to have an early post race lunch at the pizza place which is one of the sponsors for the event. **NOTE** I do not eat the pizza from the sponsor since it really, really sucks, so I get a sandwhich or salad from them. I told him I would have to get back to him. After tallying up everyone, it looks like I am going to have between 11-15 people showing up!!! Are you kidding?!?!?!!? I counted twice just to make sure. My little sister and about three other people are in limbo due to work/other obligations, but everyone else is a go! Jackie's parents wanted to come, but she put the kibash on that real quick (yes I just wrote down "kibash"). I think they would have a really great time, but I am not going to aruge with her.
How cool is that?!? It puts me on some kind of high to see that kind of support from friends, family, significant others, co-workers, boss, etc. I have heard rumors of posterboards and t-shirts with my name on it, but they do not have to go that far. I feel a bit of pressure due to the fact that so many people might actually be there, I have to preform like a pro, like there are some kind of expectations or something. Well I have expectations of how I want to do........PODIUM FINISH!!!!!
I am planning on everyone to take lots of pictures (meaning everyone else take pictures for me, since I am still in the dark ages, without a camera). I will be able to post. Hopefully Matt (the best friend I mentioned earlier) took time off so he does not actually have to work the event (he is on the peachtree city police force). One of his other friends, Brad, might actually have to work the event, so he might be there anyways holding up traffic for me on the bike ride.
And of course, I will have all of you thinking about me over the weekend, just like I think about all of you during your race weekends, waiting to hear your race report of what happened.
That's all for now...
Murtha...
Monday, August 14, 2006
Weekend recap (and about 13 days to go...)
"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood..."
This weekend's weather was awsome. I don't know if it was the same everywhere else, but cloudy, misty Saturday and partly cloudy Sunday were great! Both days were under 90 degrees. Saturday felt like a muggy 75 degrees, and Sunday was around 80 degrees, with a slight breeze (headwind for me of course). Here were the workouts;
SATURDAY
SWIM
none
BIKE
none
RUN
5K x 2 (Chastain Loop), Negative Splits
Lap 1: 26 min 04 sec
Lap 2: 22 min 27 sec
SUNDAY
SWIM
none
BIKE
12.5 miles in 38min 20 sec ?!?!?!?!
RUN
none
I did not complete a brick workout on Sunday, number one, since I did not feel like it, and number two, because of my ride.
I REFUSE to accept the fact that I have only improved my time, on average, by one minute on a "flat course." Everywhere else in my triathlon arena I have improved (even on bike rides with actual elevation changes), but for some reason I am slower on my flat course. I know that I could probably shave about 15-20 seconds off of my ride from last night (my bike computer will not stop until 3.2 seconds after the last pass, so there were a few times where I almost stopped at a bike crossing, just to start pedaling again.), maybe a few more. Other than the slow downs on the crosswalk and between miles 2-4 where there is a slight elevation gain (avg speed closer to 18 during that section), I was averaging closer to 19+ mph. In fact the last four miles, I was doing something between 21-23mph, due to a "slight downhill" on the return (i.e. looks flat, but you can tell since you are going faster). I have never gone that pace for that long of a distance.
This leads me to one conclustion. If the Silver Comet trail is right, and my bike computer is right, then the distance on last year's race has to be off! (Even by just a bit) I understand from the feedback that I received from many of you stated that it is harder to maintain pace on a flat course and that some of you are in the same arena as me (you have improved everywhere but on flat course bike). I just refuse to accept it. Maybe I need to get into a 12 step program to accept my slowness on flat course, I dunno. Isn't denial the first symptom?
I digress. Thu/Fri were slack nights. My little sister Erin (who will always be my little sis) had her wisdom teeth and an adult molar removed on Thursday, so I spent some quality time with her. I also went up to Athens on Saturday night to hang out with the Fraternity, and I spent some time up there with her as well (note: bike ride was on Sunday AFTERNOON).
Taper seems to be going fairly well. This week I have scheduled two off nights with weights. The other nights are easy rides (I promise I will ride easy tuesday night, even if I am the last person to finish), easy runs, and a couple of key swims (one night I have two 400M @ race pace as my workout and the other night is a moderate 800M as my main swim. Not as much distance as the rest of you, but then again I am not training for an Ironman event). No brick this weekend since it will be the weekend prior to the race. Is that a good idea or bad idea? I would like some advice on the matter.
Next week (race week) I am planning to do Mon: off, Tue, Wed Thu: on, but very light, Fri: I am going to try something I read in Triathlete Magazine about nutrition loading... Yes I know, never try anything new, but it is not as if I am trying new nutrition or anything, I am just doing a really quick high intensity run or bike. It is supposed to do something to your body so that you absorb and store your night before nutrition better. I forget the science behind it, you can read it in one of the summer issues of triathlete magazine. Besides that quick 2-4 minute thing, Friday is off.
For some reasone I did not sleep well at all last night, I think it was due to sleeping so much the night before. When I got back from Athens, I slept from about 2:30am-1:00pm. I have not slept in, in so long, it felt great! I guess I did not really need the sleep last night, since I feel pretty good this morning.
I will be reading your blogs a little later...
Murtha...
This weekend's weather was awsome. I don't know if it was the same everywhere else, but cloudy, misty Saturday and partly cloudy Sunday were great! Both days were under 90 degrees. Saturday felt like a muggy 75 degrees, and Sunday was around 80 degrees, with a slight breeze (headwind for me of course). Here were the workouts;
SATURDAY
SWIM
none
BIKE
none
RUN
5K x 2 (Chastain Loop), Negative Splits
Lap 1: 26 min 04 sec
Lap 2: 22 min 27 sec
SUNDAY
SWIM
none
BIKE
12.5 miles in 38min 20 sec ?!?!?!?!
RUN
none
I did not complete a brick workout on Sunday, number one, since I did not feel like it, and number two, because of my ride.
I REFUSE to accept the fact that I have only improved my time, on average, by one minute on a "flat course." Everywhere else in my triathlon arena I have improved (even on bike rides with actual elevation changes), but for some reason I am slower on my flat course. I know that I could probably shave about 15-20 seconds off of my ride from last night (my bike computer will not stop until 3.2 seconds after the last pass, so there were a few times where I almost stopped at a bike crossing, just to start pedaling again.), maybe a few more. Other than the slow downs on the crosswalk and between miles 2-4 where there is a slight elevation gain (avg speed closer to 18 during that section), I was averaging closer to 19+ mph. In fact the last four miles, I was doing something between 21-23mph, due to a "slight downhill" on the return (i.e. looks flat, but you can tell since you are going faster). I have never gone that pace for that long of a distance.
This leads me to one conclustion. If the Silver Comet trail is right, and my bike computer is right, then the distance on last year's race has to be off! (Even by just a bit) I understand from the feedback that I received from many of you stated that it is harder to maintain pace on a flat course and that some of you are in the same arena as me (you have improved everywhere but on flat course bike). I just refuse to accept it. Maybe I need to get into a 12 step program to accept my slowness on flat course, I dunno. Isn't denial the first symptom?
I digress. Thu/Fri were slack nights. My little sister Erin (who will always be my little sis) had her wisdom teeth and an adult molar removed on Thursday, so I spent some quality time with her. I also went up to Athens on Saturday night to hang out with the Fraternity, and I spent some time up there with her as well (note: bike ride was on Sunday AFTERNOON).
Taper seems to be going fairly well. This week I have scheduled two off nights with weights. The other nights are easy rides (I promise I will ride easy tuesday night, even if I am the last person to finish), easy runs, and a couple of key swims (one night I have two 400M @ race pace as my workout and the other night is a moderate 800M as my main swim. Not as much distance as the rest of you, but then again I am not training for an Ironman event). No brick this weekend since it will be the weekend prior to the race. Is that a good idea or bad idea? I would like some advice on the matter.
Next week (race week) I am planning to do Mon: off, Tue, Wed Thu: on, but very light, Fri: I am going to try something I read in Triathlete Magazine about nutrition loading... Yes I know, never try anything new, but it is not as if I am trying new nutrition or anything, I am just doing a really quick high intensity run or bike. It is supposed to do something to your body so that you absorb and store your night before nutrition better. I forget the science behind it, you can read it in one of the summer issues of triathlete magazine. Besides that quick 2-4 minute thing, Friday is off.
For some reasone I did not sleep well at all last night, I think it was due to sleeping so much the night before. When I got back from Athens, I slept from about 2:30am-1:00pm. I have not slept in, in so long, it felt great! I guess I did not really need the sleep last night, since I feel pretty good this morning.
I will be reading your blogs a little later...
Murtha...
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Eyes and Chlorine pool water do not mix...
Having trouble reading computer screen, eyes are bloodshot, I need to go to Kroger and get some Visine.
So, last night I am pumped about my swim workout. The total distance is not that long, about 1600M, but I am focusing on improving my speed and technique for my upcoming race. I get to LA Fitness, and while walking by the pool to the locker room, I see that there are two lanes open at 7:45p in the evening!!! Even Better. Get to the pool, "Wait, am I forgetting something? Oh S#!t, I forgot my goggles (and cap). I knew that if I went home, I would not come back, so I decided to swim 50M intervals until my eyes could not take it anymore. I was there for about 15-20 minutes and I just could not stand it, I could barely see (I think that they have been putting too much chlorine in it lately, I do not seem to be the only one that is complaining at the gym).
Went home cursing myself. I think I did at least 600M in the pool, but I am not sure. I was focusing too much on only trying to open my eyes every so often to make sure I was not wavering in the lane, and to make sure I was not going to hit the wall.
My little sister has been over at the apartment for the last two days. We are taking care of her since she got her wisdom teeth pulled yesterday. I remember when I got mine taken out. I popped a couple of pain pills the doctor gave me, and went to the movie theater that night looking like a chipmunk. I feel bad for her, but she will get better real soon. They sutured her gums up, so there should not be as much of a problem with dry rot or anything of the sort, and the sutures will eventually dissolve anyways. It was nice to see her though.
The rest of the week is up for grabs. I think I am going to run earlier this afternoon, and then I might go back to the pool tonight, since my workout last night sucked. I might be going out of town this weekend, so I might have to double up Friday's workout as well. We shall see. Thanks for the feedback the last couple of days. I will post to you guys later, and see what you have to say!
Murtha...
So, last night I am pumped about my swim workout. The total distance is not that long, about 1600M, but I am focusing on improving my speed and technique for my upcoming race. I get to LA Fitness, and while walking by the pool to the locker room, I see that there are two lanes open at 7:45p in the evening!!! Even Better. Get to the pool, "Wait, am I forgetting something? Oh S#!t, I forgot my goggles (and cap). I knew that if I went home, I would not come back, so I decided to swim 50M intervals until my eyes could not take it anymore. I was there for about 15-20 minutes and I just could not stand it, I could barely see (I think that they have been putting too much chlorine in it lately, I do not seem to be the only one that is complaining at the gym).
Went home cursing myself. I think I did at least 600M in the pool, but I am not sure. I was focusing too much on only trying to open my eyes every so often to make sure I was not wavering in the lane, and to make sure I was not going to hit the wall.
My little sister has been over at the apartment for the last two days. We are taking care of her since she got her wisdom teeth pulled yesterday. I remember when I got mine taken out. I popped a couple of pain pills the doctor gave me, and went to the movie theater that night looking like a chipmunk. I feel bad for her, but she will get better real soon. They sutured her gums up, so there should not be as much of a problem with dry rot or anything of the sort, and the sutures will eventually dissolve anyways. It was nice to see her though.
The rest of the week is up for grabs. I think I am going to run earlier this afternoon, and then I might go back to the pool tonight, since my workout last night sucked. I might be going out of town this weekend, so I might have to double up Friday's workout as well. We shall see. Thanks for the feedback the last couple of days. I will post to you guys later, and see what you have to say!
Murtha...
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Taper is, is taper does...
So,
Monday night was of course rest day. Nothing special occured, except that I picked up the Xbox and started playing some again in my free time. What can I say, I have already paid for the games, so all I am really paying for in the way of entertainment costs is electricity.
Tuesday night I decided once again to head out on the Sandy Springs ride. It still felt hot last night on the ride, but It was closer to 90 degrees than 100 degrees. Watching the news this morning it seems that some of you out there in the tri blog land are getting some repreive from your training and events, although not much.
Since I am officially in my taper I decided to take it easy, which meant riding like I did last year (except that last year I would have been busting my ass to get the same time I did last night). Of the three girls that I had met earlier this summer, two of them had returned (I don't know if I had ever posted it, but the three of them are in Team in Training for cycling only). Kim and Alicia(?). We talked again for about fifteen minutes after our ride, and they rode with me during the ride, so I got to see how their Team in Training event at Tahoe was, and I told them how my Gulf Coast Triathlon went. We all have a couple of events left for the year, and we recapped them.
I will not lie, it felt awsome being able to hang out for a few minutes after riding and being able to speak with someone about my interests. Usually I just pack up and leave, while the rest of them catch up on the week and then go out to get drinks, etc. I tried hanging out with a few of them last week in the parking lot during the deluge that occured, but they did not really open up to me as a new person. Don't get me wrong I have a few people that I already speak with my interests with (parents, friends, Jackie, Charlie, etc...), but after awhile it gets kinda lonely when you go out for a run/ride/swim, and you are ALWAYS by yourself. It is also nice you have you guys out there in blogland for support and feedback on what is going on in my tri life.
TUESDAY
BIKE
23.49 miles in 1hr 28min ???sec, I forgot I am not near my bike computer right now. Not my best, but I am tapering, remember?
Bike computer works great!!! Thanks for the advice!!! Great investment.
We had to cut off about a mile and a half due to a downed power line. I thought we might actually get lost but where were turned to detour, but all of the sudden we came to the intersection that is at the top of our long hill climb (not that steep, just long). Alicia calls this section "mini Schooner." When she was out at Tahoe for her TinTraining event, she said there was a "hill" (that is what they call the smaller mountains out West I guess) that had a climb 9 miles long. The locals out there call it the "Schooner." and our little rendition on the Sandy Springs ride reminds her of it.
I am kind of worried that I might not get my brick in this weekend, due to the fact that I might be taking a little mini road trip on Saturday for a fraternity event. I do not know 100 percent if I am going or not, but it will cut off my Saturday and Sunday training, since I would be driving back on Sunday. We shall see what happens. Who knows, I might just take my bike down there and make a brick workout on St. Charles Avenue (oops did I give away the location?)
Thanks for all the race reports and question polls that all you posted this weekend, they were great to read. I truly love this sport, and I love it when there is new content for me to take in (i.e. new tri book, Triathlete magazine, your blogs, websites, etc...). I heard Peter Reid was cranking out a new book that is due to come out soon.
Talk to "y'all" later!
Murtha...
Monday night was of course rest day. Nothing special occured, except that I picked up the Xbox and started playing some again in my free time. What can I say, I have already paid for the games, so all I am really paying for in the way of entertainment costs is electricity.
Tuesday night I decided once again to head out on the Sandy Springs ride. It still felt hot last night on the ride, but It was closer to 90 degrees than 100 degrees. Watching the news this morning it seems that some of you out there in the tri blog land are getting some repreive from your training and events, although not much.
Since I am officially in my taper I decided to take it easy, which meant riding like I did last year (except that last year I would have been busting my ass to get the same time I did last night). Of the three girls that I had met earlier this summer, two of them had returned (I don't know if I had ever posted it, but the three of them are in Team in Training for cycling only). Kim and Alicia(?). We talked again for about fifteen minutes after our ride, and they rode with me during the ride, so I got to see how their Team in Training event at Tahoe was, and I told them how my Gulf Coast Triathlon went. We all have a couple of events left for the year, and we recapped them.
I will not lie, it felt awsome being able to hang out for a few minutes after riding and being able to speak with someone about my interests. Usually I just pack up and leave, while the rest of them catch up on the week and then go out to get drinks, etc. I tried hanging out with a few of them last week in the parking lot during the deluge that occured, but they did not really open up to me as a new person. Don't get me wrong I have a few people that I already speak with my interests with (parents, friends, Jackie, Charlie, etc...), but after awhile it gets kinda lonely when you go out for a run/ride/swim, and you are ALWAYS by yourself. It is also nice you have you guys out there in blogland for support and feedback on what is going on in my tri life.
TUESDAY
BIKE
23.49 miles in 1hr 28min ???sec, I forgot I am not near my bike computer right now. Not my best, but I am tapering, remember?
Bike computer works great!!! Thanks for the advice!!! Great investment.
We had to cut off about a mile and a half due to a downed power line. I thought we might actually get lost but where were turned to detour, but all of the sudden we came to the intersection that is at the top of our long hill climb (not that steep, just long). Alicia calls this section "mini Schooner." When she was out at Tahoe for her TinTraining event, she said there was a "hill" (that is what they call the smaller mountains out West I guess) that had a climb 9 miles long. The locals out there call it the "Schooner." and our little rendition on the Sandy Springs ride reminds her of it.
I am kind of worried that I might not get my brick in this weekend, due to the fact that I might be taking a little mini road trip on Saturday for a fraternity event. I do not know 100 percent if I am going or not, but it will cut off my Saturday and Sunday training, since I would be driving back on Sunday. We shall see what happens. Who knows, I might just take my bike down there and make a brick workout on St. Charles Avenue (oops did I give away the location?)
Thanks for all the race reports and question polls that all you posted this weekend, they were great to read. I truly love this sport, and I love it when there is new content for me to take in (i.e. new tri book, Triathlete magazine, your blogs, websites, etc...). I heard Peter Reid was cranking out a new book that is due to come out soon.
Talk to "y'all" later!
Murtha...
Monday, August 07, 2006
Weekend Recap (Sunday), and yes, I do suck!
Hello All,
Well Sunday was pretty interesting, more so by the fact that I was in bed at 10:00p on Sunday night. Maybe I am growing out of my college aged antics. Ummm, nope. So I got up finally around 9:00a on Sunday morning, and then decided that I would get on with my ride. At first I thought I was going to do a brick, but by the time I got ready, drove to the Silver Comet Trail, and got ready to ride, it was too hot to brick, so I just biked.
This is now about the part about how crappy I am. I rode the ride in 37min 17 seconds, which is ALMOST two minutes better than my previous time in last year's race. I think that I will do better in the race when I have someone to lock onto and catchup, rather than just riding solo. I did, however, find out a few things on Sunday.
1. The slight elevation change that I mentioned about the course happens mostly on the way out on the ride (West) and then on the way back (East) comes slightly downhill for the ride. This was confirmed by the average speed of my new bike computer I was telling you guys about a week and a half ago.
2. The other thing was that I finally got the rolling distance calculated on my bike computer, and when I measured the distance of the course versus the signs, it was exact. I mean exact to the bike as it was passing each distance sign. So to answer my post from a few weeks ago, nope, it is me, not the signs that are screwed up, so I suck. The only thing that I can do is just get out there and bust my ass every day that I am supposed to be on the bike.
This is what I feel is going to happen to me during the race at this point. During the swim, I am going to pull out an 8:00min 400 or faster (7:45 tops) which will shave at least 4:48 off of last year's swim time. T1 I should be able to cut it down to about 1:20-2:00min, which will take off about 1-1:30min off of T1. The bike right now is what I am worried about, since I think at this point i will only improve my time from last year about 2-3 minutes. The only way to counter act this is to make a race against people instead of the clock, and reel in every person I see, or find a person that will go fast enough in front of me to keep my avg speed above 18-19mph. I really need an aero bar to help this out, but cannot afford one right now. The run now is the big question. I have been able to run some sub 22 min 5K's lately, but that is without doing anything before hand. Otherwise we are talking about 2-3 minute decrease, again trying to reel people in game to keep my speed up. Oh and T2, take a minute off of that from last year. This will leave me with a time somewhere in...
1hr 12-13min. Does this best my time last year? Yes. Does it get me in the top ten? It should compared to last years numbers. Does it get me on the podium? Probably not. But that is what I want. Is there anything I can do about it? Not taper maybe, and then take a 2-3 day break before the race. Might I do that? Yes. Is it a good idea? Probably not. We shall see what I do.
Let's just say that if I can somehow pull off a sub 1:10:00.00 performance, I will probably be throwing up gatorade on the kid that takes my championchip off after the race. Hey I don't mind, after last year when they almost took my leg off like rabid dogs after a crippled animal, and fell on them, I will be happy to oblige with some recycled gatorade if they attempt to take my leg off again.
I will say that due to the number of entrants this year, they are moving the transition are to somewhere closer to the start so that it is more of a loop that a point to point on the swim. So that will basically reduce the time for running (I had to run about 75-100 yards last time to get in the area, then another 20yards to my bike) to my transition area for the bike and the run. Am I thinking about the upcoming race too much? Of course! Don't we all. I mean I am only 18days 11hours and 22 minutes away from the race as of posting this............
Murtha...
Well Sunday was pretty interesting, more so by the fact that I was in bed at 10:00p on Sunday night. Maybe I am growing out of my college aged antics. Ummm, nope. So I got up finally around 9:00a on Sunday morning, and then decided that I would get on with my ride. At first I thought I was going to do a brick, but by the time I got ready, drove to the Silver Comet Trail, and got ready to ride, it was too hot to brick, so I just biked.
This is now about the part about how crappy I am. I rode the ride in 37min 17 seconds, which is ALMOST two minutes better than my previous time in last year's race. I think that I will do better in the race when I have someone to lock onto and catchup, rather than just riding solo. I did, however, find out a few things on Sunday.
1. The slight elevation change that I mentioned about the course happens mostly on the way out on the ride (West) and then on the way back (East) comes slightly downhill for the ride. This was confirmed by the average speed of my new bike computer I was telling you guys about a week and a half ago.
2. The other thing was that I finally got the rolling distance calculated on my bike computer, and when I measured the distance of the course versus the signs, it was exact. I mean exact to the bike as it was passing each distance sign. So to answer my post from a few weeks ago, nope, it is me, not the signs that are screwed up, so I suck. The only thing that I can do is just get out there and bust my ass every day that I am supposed to be on the bike.
This is what I feel is going to happen to me during the race at this point. During the swim, I am going to pull out an 8:00min 400 or faster (7:45 tops) which will shave at least 4:48 off of last year's swim time. T1 I should be able to cut it down to about 1:20-2:00min, which will take off about 1-1:30min off of T1. The bike right now is what I am worried about, since I think at this point i will only improve my time from last year about 2-3 minutes. The only way to counter act this is to make a race against people instead of the clock, and reel in every person I see, or find a person that will go fast enough in front of me to keep my avg speed above 18-19mph. I really need an aero bar to help this out, but cannot afford one right now. The run now is the big question. I have been able to run some sub 22 min 5K's lately, but that is without doing anything before hand. Otherwise we are talking about 2-3 minute decrease, again trying to reel people in game to keep my speed up. Oh and T2, take a minute off of that from last year. This will leave me with a time somewhere in...
1hr 12-13min. Does this best my time last year? Yes. Does it get me in the top ten? It should compared to last years numbers. Does it get me on the podium? Probably not. But that is what I want. Is there anything I can do about it? Not taper maybe, and then take a 2-3 day break before the race. Might I do that? Yes. Is it a good idea? Probably not. We shall see what I do.
Let's just say that if I can somehow pull off a sub 1:10:00.00 performance, I will probably be throwing up gatorade on the kid that takes my championchip off after the race. Hey I don't mind, after last year when they almost took my leg off like rabid dogs after a crippled animal, and fell on them, I will be happy to oblige with some recycled gatorade if they attempt to take my leg off again.
I will say that due to the number of entrants this year, they are moving the transition are to somewhere closer to the start so that it is more of a loop that a point to point on the swim. So that will basically reduce the time for running (I had to run about 75-100 yards last time to get in the area, then another 20yards to my bike) to my transition area for the bike and the run. Am I thinking about the upcoming race too much? Of course! Don't we all. I mean I am only 18days 11hours and 22 minutes away from the race as of posting this............
Murtha...
Saturday, August 05, 2006
One Down, One to go... (Weekend Grind)
Hi Everyone,
Friday night was pretty cool. We ate at a place called Einstein's in Midtown Atlanta, how about that hit to my bank account! Anyways, that was probably actually worth it, considering how that was the best pork tenderloin that I have ever had in my life. Went to work this morning, and then came home to get some stuff done. Was about to head out to Athens, when I saw that NBC was reairing the 2005 Ironman World Championships. I never caught it when it came out the first time on TV, so I had to stay home and watch it. When that was over with I started packing so I could go to Athens tomorrow (Go DAWGS!!!). Now it is about 8pm, and I just called my sister to tell her that I am not coming tonight, I am going to head up after my ride tomorrow. I do not feel like taking all my tri gear plus bike, change of clothes, plus the housing stuff as well. Besides I really don't need to be spending any money on entertainment, especially after last night's escapades.
So here was my workout this afternoon. My shoulder is about 90% better (trapezius area) and it did not hurt at all when swimming tonight. I did not try to do that stupid thing where I come out of the water a bit then pull down along my body (which is what got me the muscle strain in the first place). By the way, do any of you have to share lanes from time to time at your gym/pool? I had to tonight, and this guy just decides that he is going to do the backstroke and weave into my lane and stay there. I was swimming properly so I did not notice until my hands got kicked by him. I told him that I did not have a problem with him sharing lanes, but to watch what in the hell he was doing before someone got hurt.
SWIM
2 x 25M sides (once on each side)
100M warmup
2 x 400M @ just above race pace
1st set: 8:10
2nd set: 7:48!!! (loving it, I need to keep taking time off, I am seeming to do better!)
1 x 100M @ race pace, 1:45
100M cooldown
Tomorrow is my brick day, but I think I will just bike instead. My blisters have finally quit draining (I think I have lanced and drained both of them about 6 times each). Now they just sting since the area is irritated and the skin I left on there is rubbing against it underneath.
I am going to warmup good tomorrow, I want to hit at least a sub 35 min ride, even though I am solo with no pace line. Might as well have no pace line, since I will not be allowed to draft during the race. Next weekend I will take the rear bottle cages off, so that I can begin really mimicing race conditions.
Looking forward to the race, it seems that I have the swim down pat for the time I want, I can probably get the sub 23 run I am looking for if I push it at the end of the race. I just need to work on getting my bike time down. I also have the computer on there, and it will be the first time since I purchased it. I will be able to see how fast I am really going and how accurate the distance is from what the posted distance shows on the ride. Does anyone know how long blisters take to heal when you actually let them heal the right way. I dont want to screw my run up, but I usually just pick the top layer of skin off (a big no no) and within 2-3 days I can run on my feet again. I also really, really need to get at least one more brick workout in before the race. It is not going to happen if it takes a week or more to heal these blisters. Plus I would have to go back to wearing old shoes if i do not get these new ones broken in fast enough before race day.
There were thunderstorms tonight in Atlanta, so the weather has cooled down just a bit, hopefully it will be in the low 70's when I get up and ride tomorrow morning.
Enjoy the weekend, and good luck to all of you that are in races today/tomorrow!!!
Murtha...
Friday night was pretty cool. We ate at a place called Einstein's in Midtown Atlanta, how about that hit to my bank account! Anyways, that was probably actually worth it, considering how that was the best pork tenderloin that I have ever had in my life. Went to work this morning, and then came home to get some stuff done. Was about to head out to Athens, when I saw that NBC was reairing the 2005 Ironman World Championships. I never caught it when it came out the first time on TV, so I had to stay home and watch it. When that was over with I started packing so I could go to Athens tomorrow (Go DAWGS!!!). Now it is about 8pm, and I just called my sister to tell her that I am not coming tonight, I am going to head up after my ride tomorrow. I do not feel like taking all my tri gear plus bike, change of clothes, plus the housing stuff as well. Besides I really don't need to be spending any money on entertainment, especially after last night's escapades.
So here was my workout this afternoon. My shoulder is about 90% better (trapezius area) and it did not hurt at all when swimming tonight. I did not try to do that stupid thing where I come out of the water a bit then pull down along my body (which is what got me the muscle strain in the first place). By the way, do any of you have to share lanes from time to time at your gym/pool? I had to tonight, and this guy just decides that he is going to do the backstroke and weave into my lane and stay there. I was swimming properly so I did not notice until my hands got kicked by him. I told him that I did not have a problem with him sharing lanes, but to watch what in the hell he was doing before someone got hurt.
SWIM
2 x 25M sides (once on each side)
100M warmup
2 x 400M @ just above race pace
1st set: 8:10
2nd set: 7:48!!! (loving it, I need to keep taking time off, I am seeming to do better!)
1 x 100M @ race pace, 1:45
100M cooldown
Tomorrow is my brick day, but I think I will just bike instead. My blisters have finally quit draining (I think I have lanced and drained both of them about 6 times each). Now they just sting since the area is irritated and the skin I left on there is rubbing against it underneath.
I am going to warmup good tomorrow, I want to hit at least a sub 35 min ride, even though I am solo with no pace line. Might as well have no pace line, since I will not be allowed to draft during the race. Next weekend I will take the rear bottle cages off, so that I can begin really mimicing race conditions.
Looking forward to the race, it seems that I have the swim down pat for the time I want, I can probably get the sub 23 run I am looking for if I push it at the end of the race. I just need to work on getting my bike time down. I also have the computer on there, and it will be the first time since I purchased it. I will be able to see how fast I am really going and how accurate the distance is from what the posted distance shows on the ride. Does anyone know how long blisters take to heal when you actually let them heal the right way. I dont want to screw my run up, but I usually just pick the top layer of skin off (a big no no) and within 2-3 days I can run on my feet again. I also really, really need to get at least one more brick workout in before the race. It is not going to happen if it takes a week or more to heal these blisters. Plus I would have to go back to wearing old shoes if i do not get these new ones broken in fast enough before race day.
There were thunderstorms tonight in Atlanta, so the weather has cooled down just a bit, hopefully it will be in the low 70's when I get up and ride tomorrow morning.
Enjoy the weekend, and good luck to all of you that are in races today/tomorrow!!!
Murtha...
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Three Days OFF!!! Bad Andy!!!...Wait, a min...
Hello All,
It seems that everyone kind of had a posting hiatus this weekend when I was "blowsing" (short for blog browsing, pronounced like browsing, just with a "bl"at the beginning).
So, here is how my week has gone so far...
MONDAY
(rest day)
TUESDAY
Supposed to bike on Tuesday night Sandy Springs ride (26 mile ride), but if you look at previous post, you will see that the weather got pissed off at Atlanta.
WEDNESDAY
Lazy Ass, needed a nap from lack of sleep on Tuesday night, and decided I needed to do laundry or else start turning underwear inside out.........................................Laundry was done.
THURSDAY
SWIM
(none)
BIKE
(none)
RUN
2 5K's (Chastain Loop)
1st Loop: 21MIN 14SEC!!!!!
2nd Loop: 27min 54sec
How in the hell did that first loop happen. Well I was wearing my new kicks (Asics GT2110, see Tuesday's post), which did give me blisters on the inside of my feet, but I also tried a few different things with three days rest. For some reason I decided to get Runner's World and Running Times today, and Running Times had this great article about the number of strides and stride length that professional runners versus amaetur athletes complete while running. Tried increasing my stride rate, and it seemed to help a bit, I just need to work on my breathing technique some more.
Oh and it was only 93-94 degrees outside with about 50-60% humidity this evening while running. I am sure that most of you have felt the same way out there in blogland with your workouts. I really need to get on the morning kick. Maybe I should just get one of you guys on the east coast to call me @ 5:00am when you get up and harass me until I get out of bed.
Tomorrow I have to workout in the morning, so that I can go out in the evening with Jackie's friends. Actually, they are my friends too now. One of the other girls is setting up someone on a blind date with one of her co-workers. We are trying to make it a group event to help things along.
I really like some of the posts this week, the funniest being TriGeek's two days of the problems men and women face with their more "sensitive parts" while competing in/training for triathlons. Here are his posts.
Post 1
Post 2
Murtha...
It seems that everyone kind of had a posting hiatus this weekend when I was "blowsing" (short for blog browsing, pronounced like browsing, just with a "bl"at the beginning).
So, here is how my week has gone so far...
MONDAY
(rest day)
TUESDAY
Supposed to bike on Tuesday night Sandy Springs ride (26 mile ride), but if you look at previous post, you will see that the weather got pissed off at Atlanta.
WEDNESDAY
Lazy Ass, needed a nap from lack of sleep on Tuesday night, and decided I needed to do laundry or else start turning underwear inside out.........................................Laundry was done.
THURSDAY
SWIM
(none)
BIKE
(none)
RUN
2 5K's (Chastain Loop)
1st Loop: 21MIN 14SEC!!!!!
2nd Loop: 27min 54sec
How in the hell did that first loop happen. Well I was wearing my new kicks (Asics GT2110, see Tuesday's post), which did give me blisters on the inside of my feet, but I also tried a few different things with three days rest. For some reason I decided to get Runner's World and Running Times today, and Running Times had this great article about the number of strides and stride length that professional runners versus amaetur athletes complete while running. Tried increasing my stride rate, and it seemed to help a bit, I just need to work on my breathing technique some more.
Oh and it was only 93-94 degrees outside with about 50-60% humidity this evening while running. I am sure that most of you have felt the same way out there in blogland with your workouts. I really need to get on the morning kick. Maybe I should just get one of you guys on the east coast to call me @ 5:00am when you get up and harass me until I get out of bed.
Tomorrow I have to workout in the morning, so that I can go out in the evening with Jackie's friends. Actually, they are my friends too now. One of the other girls is setting up someone on a blind date with one of her co-workers. We are trying to make it a group event to help things along.
I really like some of the posts this week, the funniest being TriGeek's two days of the problems men and women face with their more "sensitive parts" while competing in/training for triathlons. Here are his posts.
Post 1
Post 2
Murtha...
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
The Sky is falling, The Sky is falling!!!
Sometimes in life, when you ask for it, you get it.
Fortunately for me, I posted to 3Sports' blog yesterday, and asked if she could send some of the water out West our way. I think she sent the rain gods or something, because here is what happened.
I was very motivated yesterday. Rear bottle cage mount assembled this weekend (training with it, not going to use it during the race), as well as my new TOPEAK Comp 150 Wireless computer. I got to the parking lot for Tuesday night's Sandy Springs ride with Cycleworks, and the sky decided to fall. And we are not just talking huge raindrops (and lots of them too, I actually felt like I was swimming in the parking lot), lightning and thunder as well. There were about 15 of us who stayed and tried to ride the weather out and it did not let up until 7:15p. It was sooo dark that we could not even go out and do half the ride and be back before 8:00p, it would have been pitch black outside due to the sky. I felt like a woman who gets all dressed up to go out on a date with a guy she really likes, and then gets stood up after waiting for an hour at the meeting location.
When I drove back to the apartment I went in the back entrance, as usual, and the maintenance worker was trying to unclog the storm drain near the trash compactor (water was knee deep in that area, my tires submerged. When I got done gawking at that I turned forward and there was a damn tree block almost the entire drive, except where they had chainsawed. Damn thing got split in half by lightning. I went around and then passed a fire engine, and thought, "what now, could it get any worse?" I could not go any further, due to the fact that power lines went down and they had blocked the area off until GA power could come out (did not come out until first thing this morning, I believe that it was a power line that was not critical to the grid or something). So I went back out the way I came and went in the front entrance to drive around. Debris everywhere, and two trees that got hit by lightning exploded and sent some of the branches flying off of the trees. Not pretty. Looked like a war zone or something in my apartment complex. Cable and Internet out, but electricity was on. Good. Air Conditioning work. Andy like.
Did not go to the gym (bad me!), and did not have any dinner, other than the PBJ I had at 5:30p, so my stomach thinks that my throat has been cut (Quoted from the movie Quigley Down Under).
Did not sleep well last night, two hours only.
Need a nap after work today.
Forecast is for afternoon thunderstorms the rest of the week, due to the heat and humidity.
Murtha out... (mentally as well)
Fortunately for me, I posted to 3Sports' blog yesterday, and asked if she could send some of the water out West our way. I think she sent the rain gods or something, because here is what happened.
I was very motivated yesterday. Rear bottle cage mount assembled this weekend (training with it, not going to use it during the race), as well as my new TOPEAK Comp 150 Wireless computer. I got to the parking lot for Tuesday night's Sandy Springs ride with Cycleworks, and the sky decided to fall. And we are not just talking huge raindrops (and lots of them too, I actually felt like I was swimming in the parking lot), lightning and thunder as well. There were about 15 of us who stayed and tried to ride the weather out and it did not let up until 7:15p. It was sooo dark that we could not even go out and do half the ride and be back before 8:00p, it would have been pitch black outside due to the sky. I felt like a woman who gets all dressed up to go out on a date with a guy she really likes, and then gets stood up after waiting for an hour at the meeting location.
When I drove back to the apartment I went in the back entrance, as usual, and the maintenance worker was trying to unclog the storm drain near the trash compactor (water was knee deep in that area, my tires submerged. When I got done gawking at that I turned forward and there was a damn tree block almost the entire drive, except where they had chainsawed. Damn thing got split in half by lightning. I went around and then passed a fire engine, and thought, "what now, could it get any worse?" I could not go any further, due to the fact that power lines went down and they had blocked the area off until GA power could come out (did not come out until first thing this morning, I believe that it was a power line that was not critical to the grid or something). So I went back out the way I came and went in the front entrance to drive around. Debris everywhere, and two trees that got hit by lightning exploded and sent some of the branches flying off of the trees. Not pretty. Looked like a war zone or something in my apartment complex. Cable and Internet out, but electricity was on. Good. Air Conditioning work. Andy like.
Did not go to the gym (bad me!), and did not have any dinner, other than the PBJ I had at 5:30p, so my stomach thinks that my throat has been cut (Quoted from the movie Quigley Down Under).
Did not sleep well last night, two hours only.
Need a nap after work today.
Forecast is for afternoon thunderstorms the rest of the week, due to the heat and humidity.
Murtha out... (mentally as well)
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
(Small) Shopping Spree and THE QUESTION POLL!
Good morning,
Monday's Workout(s)
NONE
If you have been reading enough of my posts, then you know that Mondays are my day off for the week. Some Mondays I still do some light training (or weight training), but all in all, I felt like doing nothing yesterday. I got some laundry done, and then decided to go on a little tri shopping spree, following the rear bottle cage purchase @ All3Sports (for training and races equal to or longer than HIM distace). I went to Fleet Feet Sports, a specialty sport shoe dealer that has 3 locations in Georgia, one of which is 3 miles away from me. They ONLY do running shoes! I think that is great! **Note**; I have not bought running shoes in over a year, so you can guess that my feet are yelling at me when I am running.
The girl that assisted me was very helpful (she is on the Princeton track and field/cross country team, home for the summer). I knew just enough to tell her how my foot strikes, and that I tend to run on the outside of my feet (over-pronation I think). She asked me if I had tried anything besides New Balance (my brand of choice for about 6 years, not due to the fact that I was in a fraternity in college), and I told her no, and that I would not be opposed to trying different brands. She had me try out a New Balance 9?? and 1060, Asics 2110, and Saucony ?. I ended going with the Asics 2110, since I felt better in them, and they seemed to have the most support on the outside of my feet, correcting my running on the outside of my feet. If I was to go back and buy a different brand (i.e. 2nd choice), I would probably choose the New Balance 1060, although they were more expensive. I got out of there in just under $100!!! I have never spent more than $60 on running shoes, but then again, I have never been this serious about a sport before in my life.
I then decided while I was at it, I would go over to REI and see what they had to offer in the way of cycling computers. I got a TOPEAK Comp 150 Wireless. About $45.00. By the way, Jackie if you are reading this, then you can thank me later when you see that I used your REI membership number for my purchase, so you can get a bigger dividend at the end of the year. It does not have cadence, but tt has everything else. After purchasing and installing the sensor last night, I thought to myself, "Andy, do your really need the high end Polar models? I mean, you just bought a realitvely cheap bike computer, and why do you need a high end polar to go with it?" I have been debating this issue ever since that point last night. Now that I have the bike function, all I need is the heart rate monitor for total time during my races, heart rate, calorie burning, VO2 max, etc... Do I really need all the extras of a 625X or a 720i at this point in my life? My bank account says I don't, and I feel that if I can get away having all the effective data without spending 300-400 dollars, that would be great in my book.
Now onto the question poll...............
I was going to save this for another post entitled, "To use a wetsuit, or not to use a wetsuit, that is the question."
Anyways, that is my question. I have raced in Sprint and Half Ironman events, and the only thing I could think of to use a wetsuit for is for cold water (i.e. up north (IM Wisconson), or anything on the west coast (pacific ocean)). Does it really help with bouancy and speed that much to have one, other than staying warm in cold water?
I could use some feedback on this one.
Murtha...
Monday's Workout(s)
NONE
If you have been reading enough of my posts, then you know that Mondays are my day off for the week. Some Mondays I still do some light training (or weight training), but all in all, I felt like doing nothing yesterday. I got some laundry done, and then decided to go on a little tri shopping spree, following the rear bottle cage purchase @ All3Sports (for training and races equal to or longer than HIM distace). I went to Fleet Feet Sports, a specialty sport shoe dealer that has 3 locations in Georgia, one of which is 3 miles away from me. They ONLY do running shoes! I think that is great! **Note**; I have not bought running shoes in over a year, so you can guess that my feet are yelling at me when I am running.
The girl that assisted me was very helpful (she is on the Princeton track and field/cross country team, home for the summer). I knew just enough to tell her how my foot strikes, and that I tend to run on the outside of my feet (over-pronation I think). She asked me if I had tried anything besides New Balance (my brand of choice for about 6 years, not due to the fact that I was in a fraternity in college), and I told her no, and that I would not be opposed to trying different brands. She had me try out a New Balance 9?? and 1060, Asics 2110, and Saucony ?. I ended going with the Asics 2110, since I felt better in them, and they seemed to have the most support on the outside of my feet, correcting my running on the outside of my feet. If I was to go back and buy a different brand (i.e. 2nd choice), I would probably choose the New Balance 1060, although they were more expensive. I got out of there in just under $100!!! I have never spent more than $60 on running shoes, but then again, I have never been this serious about a sport before in my life.
I then decided while I was at it, I would go over to REI and see what they had to offer in the way of cycling computers. I got a TOPEAK Comp 150 Wireless. About $45.00. By the way, Jackie if you are reading this, then you can thank me later when you see that I used your REI membership number for my purchase, so you can get a bigger dividend at the end of the year. It does not have cadence, but tt has everything else. After purchasing and installing the sensor last night, I thought to myself, "Andy, do your really need the high end Polar models? I mean, you just bought a realitvely cheap bike computer, and why do you need a high end polar to go with it?" I have been debating this issue ever since that point last night. Now that I have the bike function, all I need is the heart rate monitor for total time during my races, heart rate, calorie burning, VO2 max, etc... Do I really need all the extras of a 625X or a 720i at this point in my life? My bank account says I don't, and I feel that if I can get away having all the effective data without spending 300-400 dollars, that would be great in my book.
Now onto the question poll...............
I was going to save this for another post entitled, "To use a wetsuit, or not to use a wetsuit, that is the question."
Anyways, that is my question. I have raced in Sprint and Half Ironman events, and the only thing I could think of to use a wetsuit for is for cold water (i.e. up north (IM Wisconson), or anything on the west coast (pacific ocean)). Does it really help with bouancy and speed that much to have one, other than staying warm in cold water?
I could use some feedback on this one.
Murtha...
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