Race Report: So Close!

400 yard swim, 10 mile bike, 3.1 mile run.
Final time was 54:01. 2 overall to Ben Hoffman who was 50:45 and got second at the Desert Du and went 8:24 at IM AZ. so out of the 3:15 down I lost 2:15 on the swim, 15 seconds on the bike and the rest, 45 seconds on the run. The course was tough with 3 turnarounds at the bottom of hills and a 90 degree turn at the bottom of a hill. I was stoked to be so close to Ben. I beat another Pro who has a 70.3 PR of 4:09 as well. Granted they had had a big week though. 26:07 for the bike on the garmin for 22.9 mph as well.

I would have scored the course record so I will now claim the Amateur Course Record. I also missed a $100 dollar gift cert and only got the $20 buck and I have to buy shoes. Oh well. There was a lot of talk about Bens overall time not being legit so I feel a little better. I broke 18 on the run without being able to use my feet the first 1/4 so a good score there. I was either 17:54 or 17:24 bc of the timing and I messed up my garmin. The second half of the run was a 8:34 but I was much slower on the first 1/4 and the second 1/4 was downhill so the finish was the best finish of any race I have ever had. This race has me really pumped for the rest of the season.

More Utah training:
Did Kolob Canyon into the wind in 26:16 for 5.1 miles but no elav data this time. This is a perfect killer climb with everything and a little decent after about 17 min in. Made it 46 miles total and pulled the stroller in the main canyon for 2:45 of riding. Also been playing tennis (Normann Stadler style) to mix things up.

Good stroller workout 5x800

Had to take 4 of the last 5 days off due to stomach cramps and then coming back too hard with 2 hours 40 minutes the 4th day. Hit masters for 2300 yards this morning so I was a little tired for my run about 90 minutes later. Did 9.1 miles in the Vibrams and hit 5x800 in 2:56, 2:53, 2:54, 2:48, 2:50. I was aiming for at least 3:00 or at least doing them all or with a higher goal of 2:55's. This is by far the best stroller workout I have had. When I started I was up in the 3:20's this past summer. Need to really come up with a plan to get in race shape in a week two with trying to fit in non stroller workouts and hit the speed then.
Since I know the stroller running translates to decent biking I just need to get the time in the TT position and work on the footspeed in the 5:40 range. First race in only 8 days away and we are moving in 4. Pretty exciting times. It will be nice to get to do a sprint so I can gauge how I am coming along since I can "fake" a sprint and still do well I can really push it and fight for the finish.

Officially signed up for TWO races!

I am doing the Sprint SHAC Triathlon in St George UT on Apr 3. Ben Hoffman (second at Desert Du and Calgary 70.3) is signed up so there is at least podium spot gone. The distances are 400 yard pool swim (25yard pool), 10 mile bike (2 loop so three 180 turns) and then 5K. I want 6 minutes, 25 minutes, 18 minutes.

The second race is May 15 in St. George and is an Oly. There I would like 24, 1:03 (tough course), and 38.

There are my predictions and I can't believe I am signed up bc I have not completed a triathlon (over 40 minutes) since June 2007 (same course as the May 15 Oly). Pretty crazy since I call myself a triathlete.

3 Swim PR's and some sweet 800 intervals.

Masters workout today at 9:00. Set a Pr in the 100 at 1:14 only to break it later down to a 1:13. I was pretty stoked. Then I hit a 34 for a 50 and it didn't feel too bad. The rest of the swim was also good for 2300 yards.

Then a Noontime 10 mile bike pulling the trailer in 50 minutes.

Then the evening intervals. 2 mile warm up in 13:46. Then 4x5min Zone 2 really high resistance into an 800. The splits were 2:42, 2:39, 2:40, 2:39. This is blazing fast and all but the last couple laps of the last one felt controlled and there were about twice as many people on the track at that point.

I need to get some more time on the Tri bike for racing and I should be set. Since biking is always my fall back I should be good to go for some races coming up.

Foiled Again!

Things have been getting in the way this week but I pretty much keep coming back when in the past I would have missed at least 4 workouts. Only 1 was less then ideal. Today was the first day that I could do a 40k/10k brick bc of the weather.

Had a good warm-up and then hit the throttle. Made it through the turnaround at 20K in 29:10 (the 180 was already completed and back up to speed, hate those) and was gonna hit 22-23 mph on the way back BUT I flatted by one of the rock slides that always has a lot of rocks and I just couldn't miss them all today and hit a small but sharp one. I cooled way down and only had a 28-32 tube so I took my time trying to get it in perfect so I couldn't get back up and running fast. I pretty much 56x12ed it home and took a break. I am 99.999% sure I would have hit home between 1:01 and 1:03 and I was aiming for a 1:04:59/39:59 split. Gonna try that one again next Sat hopefully.

After a week like this I was toast mentally and took an hour break before heading out in the Vibrams to push the stroller. Did 9.1 miles in 1:11 and the middle 7 were about a 7:35 pace so pretty happy there. I had blood squishing out the vibrams bc I have some hot spots and started too fast in them inside on a high friction track and just have not let them heal so I had to throw them in the wash tonight.

Gonna be getting some good numbers for March and gonna stick with it.

New 500 yard PR by 26 seconds!

Got my time down to 7:23 during masters today. Trying this post from my phone so I will keep it short. I am charged about swimming though. Masters is the bomb.

Masters and Killer Brick/track workout

Lots been happening lately. Did Masters for the fist time today. It was fast (I missed the long warmup and will NOT do that again). First 100 in the set was 1:20 and then I slowly got slower and then crashed at the end. 2300 yards total but much much faster then I am used to going. On thurs we are doing a 500 TT so that should be good and get me in the right lane. Today I got a small miracle bc there was only one other in my lane. About 40 minutes total.

The track workout was 2 mile warm up (13:50) then 4x(5 min Z4 with very fast trans into an 800) The Z4 bike intervals today felt like I was at a 9 on the wall chart they have in the gym which states "So hard I cannot go any more" That thought ran through my head on sets 2-4 the entire time. The first 2/3 of the 800's were not bad the the ends were rough. Had about 5-7 minutes total in between sets. Before going in I was wanting to run McMillan steady state intervals at least which is a 3:08 bc this workout tears me up mentally. I ended with 2:44, 2:47, 2:48, 2:48. I am going to keep the intensity down the rest of the week except for the 500 TT and try to up the volume some. Like I said a lot has been happening but my race calendar is falling apart. We will see how that goes. Total time was 45 on the bike and 25 min running. Solid day.