Not really sure how I should act. Finished the last race of the season last weekend and have been free of a regimented training schedule. Went back to the Thursday night workout and feel like getting back into it.
On the other hand, I'm kinda liking not being so beat down by training that my thighs burn on a single set of stairs. Read an article about this that described as "whackdaptation". Your body becomes adapted to being in a constant state of overtraining such that it feels weird to not hurt yourself, to not being whacked out. I haven't been in a dehydrated and glycogen depleted state for several days... Actually, doesn't feel too bad. I've been making up for the missed calories in beer.
Tonight's run was good. Jamie linked me with Carla, an Atlanta transplant who is getting into the tri scene in Austin to meet people and get back to active. She ran track in college and I think she swam in college. She showed up for the first time to a swim-run workout and laid the smack down pretty well. She's been sick for a couple weeks, and since I'm throttling back for a couple weeks, Jamie paired us up. We ran together for about half an hour on the Town Lake Trail and chatted. She's a nice girl and she'll fit in with Texas Iron nicely. I was telling her about the club and how it's a great environment, if you don't mind falling in with bad influences and doing an Ironman every so often...
Everyone else is wrapping up the tri season in the next couple weeks, many going to Florida soon, and some going to the 70.3 World Championships. Then again, others are ramping up for marathon season... This is a sick bunch of people I hang out with.
Tony and Janelle gave birth today to a baby boy and we're waiting to see pics and read the recap. In spite of all the stuff they must have going on, we still got an anniversary card from these guys, if you can believe that!
Looking forward to a half day tomorrow. I have to stick around the house and work and hope FedEx makes it hear with Darlene's anniv present before noon. We might even leave earlier to test a SmartCar, which DD has some unreal need to test drive for some reason. Then off to Brenham for a Blue Bell factory tour and a B&B weekend in Washington-on-the-Brazos. Should be fun.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Last Race of the Season
I'm not sure what the hell I'm going to do with myself now that the season is over, but I now have a couple weeks of not training before I start the base phase for my Ironman preparation. I wanted to get one last race in to set the tone. Longhorn two weeks ago was so tough and I felt so bad that I wanted to get in a good race to set the tone.
This was definitely that race. I swam a 21:00, although I didn't feel like I was setting the surface afire. The guy who won the whole thing swam an 18:00 and it was quickly apparent I wasn't going to hold on to his feet, so I swam my own and was third out of the water.
The bike course was actually closer to 27 miles rather than the 24.8 for a true Olympic. I knew the bike course had a tough climb at mile 7, then another at mile 10, followed by a fast roller section. I hit those hard enough not to lose too much time, but I didn't press on the rollers. I knew the last 11 miles to be predominantly uphill, and theorized that I could gain a lot of time if I really drilled that section. I figured a lot of people would pour it on for the hills then not have much left. I hit 50 on the downhill and then hammered the last 11 and I think I picked up some good time. I came off the bike in second place.
I also had to control my pace on the run because I have a tendency to go out too hard, then really pay the price in the last couple miles. I was also trying to take very small strides and up the turnover as my coaches have been trying to get me to do for months. I went out at 6:30 for the first mile, so knew I had to back off a little. The second mile has the big hill on it, so I slowed to 8:00 for mile two, then hit 7:00 for mile three through Start / Finish and on to lap two. That was the pace I was trying to maintain. My quads were starting to cramp a little from the hills and the short strides, but I felt a lot fresher than I did. Mile four was a 7:40 so I tried to up the tempo a little and did 7:45 for the hilly mile again, then took it home with another 7:00 to finish strong.
Good enough to win my age group by a decent margin and get fifth overall. Felt like it was a good final effort although the run could have been faster. I'm happy I was able to control the pace, although I'd like to minimize the big swings. I start training full time with Jamie Cleveland next month, so I'm hoping he can make a runner out of me en route to a solid Ironman. Until next month though, lots of unstructured training.
Age group and overall results: http://www.seidelproductions.com/Events/TXTri/10_20_2007_individual.htm
This was definitely that race. I swam a 21:00, although I didn't feel like I was setting the surface afire. The guy who won the whole thing swam an 18:00 and it was quickly apparent I wasn't going to hold on to his feet, so I swam my own and was third out of the water.
The bike course was actually closer to 27 miles rather than the 24.8 for a true Olympic. I knew the bike course had a tough climb at mile 7, then another at mile 10, followed by a fast roller section. I hit those hard enough not to lose too much time, but I didn't press on the rollers. I knew the last 11 miles to be predominantly uphill, and theorized that I could gain a lot of time if I really drilled that section. I figured a lot of people would pour it on for the hills then not have much left. I hit 50 on the downhill and then hammered the last 11 and I think I picked up some good time. I came off the bike in second place.
I also had to control my pace on the run because I have a tendency to go out too hard, then really pay the price in the last couple miles. I was also trying to take very small strides and up the turnover as my coaches have been trying to get me to do for months. I went out at 6:30 for the first mile, so knew I had to back off a little. The second mile has the big hill on it, so I slowed to 8:00 for mile two, then hit 7:00 for mile three through Start / Finish and on to lap two. That was the pace I was trying to maintain. My quads were starting to cramp a little from the hills and the short strides, but I felt a lot fresher than I did. Mile four was a 7:40 so I tried to up the tempo a little and did 7:45 for the hilly mile again, then took it home with another 7:00 to finish strong.
Good enough to win my age group by a decent margin and get fifth overall. Felt like it was a good final effort although the run could have been faster. I'm happy I was able to control the pace, although I'd like to minimize the big swings. I start training full time with Jamie Cleveland next month, so I'm hoping he can make a runner out of me en route to a solid Ironman. Until next month though, lots of unstructured training.
Age group and overall results: http://www.seidelproductions.com/Events/TXTri/10_20_2007_individual.htm
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Longhorn Triathlon Race Photos
Lots of pics! Many with the typical zombie "I'm in pain" expression I'm famous for, but there are a few good ones in here. Just go to http://www.kreutzphotography.com/ and enter "north" or "62" and you'll see the thumbnails.
Overall results at: http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/181030_215073_2007.html
Age Group results at: http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/181030_215074_2007.html
Overall results at: http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/181030_215073_2007.html
Age Group results at: http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/181030_215074_2007.html
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