Race Reports and Early Season Update

I’ve had several things up in the air recently and hadn’t really dialed in my schedule.  I was planning on doing Oceanside and St. George, but I have had some shoulder issues and was not able to do either.  On top of that, I am in the midst of planning a cross-country move, so racing an Ironman was probably a little ambitious in hindsight.  Since I wasn’t able to do either of these races, I changed up my schedule a bit to accommodate.  I decided to do a bike race in March and a half-marathon in April as some early season events, just to keep things interesting and keep me motivated.

The road race was a new experience and I definitely learned a lot!  It came in the middle of March and I had been biking quite a bit in the early season via my previous St. George training and the Endurance Corner camp in Tucson.  My TSS/day was up to ~108, but I had tapered some for the race and was down to about ~95 for the event. 

PMC chart --- decent fitness for early season due to faux-St.George training, Tucson camp, and quitting work.

However, it turns out steady-state bike fitness doesn’t necessarily equate to success in bike racing.  The race was a CAT5 road race consisting of 3 10-mile laps; the route was mostly flat, but it did have one “hill” which we encountered on each lap.  It wasn’t much of a hill, but was enough to play into the tactics/dynamics of the race.  The wind would also be a factor.  I was warned that the CAT5 guys would essentially go “full gas” from the beginning; I think largely out of inexperience (although maybe that’s just my rationalization).  Shortly after we started we turned straight into the wind  so I just hid in the pack as much as possible and tried to stay with my teammates. 

We actually had 4 people in the race, but it didn't work out as planned and Cesar was the only one who made the front group.

However, the 2nd turn took us onto a frontage road with a gnarly cross-wind.  Not much of a draft and we got strung out big time – I barely hung on to the front group and we split the pack.  The next few miles were fast and furious.  Around the back side of the 10 mile loop was the lone hill on the route and the front guys really put the pedal to the metal up the hill.  I was able to hang on and stay with the group, but barely.  Through the 1st lap I averaged 304 watts with a norm of 321.

First lap of Bariani race - avg 304 norm 321.  Ouch.  And to think, some people ride an entire Ironman at this effort!

The frontage road on the 2nd lap really cracked me and I couldn’t hang on, getting yo-yo’d off the back at ~400 watts.  I was simply not prepared for the short, high-intensity efforts, in spite of my fitness level.  I got dropped like a hot-potato and spent most of the 2nd lap and part of the 3rd on my own, bummed that I was not able to help Cesar at all (not that he needed it).  Towards the back of the 3rd lap, I regrouped with 3 other guys and worked with them a little bit up the back side of the loop.  However, I didn’t want a sprint finish for something close to 27th place, so when we got to the hill, I attacked and took off.  Fortunately, none of them went with me.  Then I just kept the effort high until the finish. It was a 90 minute effort with an average of 275 watts and norm of 290, probably just a little below threshold, really stretching me for an hour and a half.

Nice action shot.

It was a fun experience and I definitely need to work on some short, high-intensity riding to hang in a road race.  Even though my power-to-weight ratio at threshold is respectable, I am definitely more of a steady-state athlete on the bike.

After the bike race, I had resigned from my job (in preparation for our move) and did a couple of ~20 hour weeks in a row just because I had the time and wanted to see how I felt doing several solid weeks in a row and got the CTL up to 114, but then started tapering some and just focusing on quality run work to prepare for my 2nd early season event, a half-marathon.  I was still planning on resting my shoulder through about the end of April, so I gave up some work on the bike, continued my swim-hiatus, and focused a bit on some quality run work.  I hit the track a few times and did some quality tempo at just below half-marathon pace.  I was interested to see where my run fitness was at this point and though I might be able to PR.  Last year, I did a 1:22:05 at Davis Stampede and thought that would be within reach.

But before I would run myself, perhaps the best thing about my season so far was another trip to Boston for the marathon!  Emily crushed it at CIM in 2010 doing a 3:29, so she registered for Boston for 2012 when registration first opened.  We had a great trip to Boston, catching up with old friends, seeing the Aquarium, surviving the heat on race day, walking the Freedom trail, catching a game at Fenway, and visiting the Children’s museum.

Here are some pictures/highlights of our adventures…

Emily and our kids as we entered the expo and packet pickup.

Sending Emily off to wait in Hopkinton.

The kids did great walking around the city and handling the heat.

We visted "Make Way for Ducklings" and the Swan Boats as we made our way over to the race!

Proud Husband at the finish ;-)

 We hung around for a few days after the race....

Starting the Freedom Trail at Boston Common.

Fenway Park with Lance!

100 Years Old.

Boston Children's Museum

 

With respect to the actual race, Emily did a great job, staying strong in tough heat.  It was not the hottest Boston Marathon ever, but it did approach 90 degrees, topping out around 88 I think --- really tough to run in, particularly for a race that doesn't start until 10 AM.  Emily started in the wave at 10:20 and would be running until around 2 or even after, so she really had to manage her pace and effort level.  I was really proud of her and the way she approached the race, knowing it was not a day for a PR.  She enjoyed the experience and soaked it all in.  Perhaps one day we’ll go back and do it again; it’s an incredible race and we love visiting Boston.  I got in a few good runs in Boston along the Charles.  It’s a great place to run and we had really good weather most of the time there.  Early morning runs in big cities are hard to beat!

Early AM run along the Charles.

When I got home, I started dialing it back and tapering for the half-marathon.  One of the things I wanted to work on was my mental strategy for racing.  An open half-marathon provides a great opportunity for this as I can get just below my “red-line” and stay there --- in a place that is sufficiently uncomfortable that I have to manage my head.  My strategy was to compartmentalize the race into 3 “laps” plus 1 hard last mile, running 25 minutes at a time right around a 6:15/mile pace.  With that plan, I should have about 1.1 miles to go and ~7 minutes to a PR.  My Garmin over-estimates speed just a touch, so I knew I would need to monitor the mile markers, too.  I had 3 mantras to use for each of the 3 laps, the first 2 were a couple I have used before, but the last lap, I focused on one to keep my form at the front of my mind – “strong core, floppy feet, forward lean.”  I wanted to stay relaxed, but strong and focus on turning the legs over. 

When they sent us off, I started near the front and stayed with some guys for a short time.  However, it was clear pretty quick that I was not going to run with the front or even the chase group.  I ended up in “no-man’s” land for the first 5-6 miles, running somewhere in the top 15.  I was fine with that and just stuck to my mental strategy.  It was basically an out-and-back course and just after the turnaround, one guy caught me.  I ran with him for about 2 miles, but then, when I hit the end of my 2nd lap and switched to my 3rd, I started pulling away from him and just kept rolling.  I could also see 2 guys up the road and just kept chasing.  It definitely got harder and harder and I did have a few fleeting negative thoughts towards the finish and just wishing to be done, but then I’d bring it right back to my mantra.  It hurt, but I did my best to stick with it.  The last 2-3 miles were tough and I did let my pace drop some, but I was working quite hard.  My average HR for the 2nd half of the race was 174, which is probably right at threshold.

Parkway Half Marathon - you can see the pacing was not spot on (see slight downward trend of blue line)  and I declined in the 2nd half, running it ~36 seconds slower than the first half of the race.

With about 1.5 miles to go, I caught another guy and just flew right by him.  That felt good.  It wasn't so much that I was a speed demon at that point --- he had definitely popped.  Then with about a half-mile to go, I caught another guy.  When I passed him, he tried to stay with me, but I kept the effort up (and it was also slightly uphill), and I could hear him really breathing hard and slowly fall back.  I approached the finish and saw the clock around 1:21:45 and knew it was going to be close!  I gave it all I had (new max HR of 185) and got across the line with a 3-second PR at 1:22:02.  Turns out it was 11th overall and 2nd AG.  I had managed my head fairly well and was satisfied with the effort.  I’ll have more work to do to see if I can keep getting closer to 1:20, but this wasn’t bad considering the race was not in my original plan and I only did about 3 weeks of “real” run training.  I had built a decent amount of fitness in the early season (mostly on the bike) and even though I haven’t been able to swim, it was good to “use” the fitness a little bit --- you can never take a PR for granted!

I’ve had fun so far this season with a training camp, a bike race, spectating at the Boston Marathon, and running my own half-marathon.  Up next is a cross-country move; then I’ll have to tackle some races in the Midwest, hopefully of the triathlon variety.  I will miss the local triathlon scene in California, but am also looking forward to experiencing some new events.