Finally the shoes can go

You may have just heard a round of applause......that was Sarah celebrating as I threw out my latest pair of running shoes. Yes, after about 15 weeks they were in such a sorry state that they had to go and a new pair made their way out of the box in pristine condition. It's hard to describe the abuse that my running shoes go through in their lifespan, particularly during the Mid-Atlantic summer where humidity and heat are a runners enemy.

In general my road running shoes last about 380 miles or until I begin to feel some knee pain, which is a sure sign that the shoes are wearing out. This year that mileage has taken me about 15 weeks as I have been covering approximately 30 miles a week (including mileage in my trail running shoes).

At the end of their time though, my shoes are desperately in need of replacement as racing especially just crushes them. If my shoes were on "This is your Life" this would be a quick synopsis........

1) Week 1 - Brand new, still white and nicely cushioned.

2) Week 2 to 3 - Only weeks of training along the roads of PG County.

3) Week 5 - First triathlon, get drenched through aid stations and stay soggy for the entire journey home.....doesn't like this racing lark.

4) Week 6-8 - Still trying to get over the shock of the race experience but still being pounded through regular training. No longer in pristine condition and are an off-white color.

5) Week 9 - Oh no, another race......begins to be less than enthusiastic about water, energy drink and globules of Carbboom being dropped over it. An even longer soggy journey home and abandoned to the dark garage to dry and think about what its done.

6) Week 10-12 - Back to the regular grind and a distinct feeling of being unwanted. Rumors are flying that a new shoe may be on the way.

7) Week 13-15 - Hanging on for dear life now and just keeping the trash bin at laces length. The smell has meant a permanent home in the garage and a daily berating from Sarah that the "stink" gets into the house.

8) Week 16 - Unless a race is due (never race in new shoes) the life of the old shoe is curtailed and they find themselves curbside on a Monday morning looking longingly at the smug new white shoe being brought out of the box....if only they knew what was in store.




And on that note I have a 5km race this weekend with 3 week old shoes, still sparkly white and ready for a PR!

Next Up.....

After last week which turned out to be my biggest training week of the year at over 14 hours, I had a day off on Saturday as we spent the day with Matt and Natalie in Dover, DE getting our yearly NASCAR fix at Dover International Speedway. On Sunday I was back out training and got in a good 4 hours on the bike.

With the official start of Fall a few days ago, that can mean only one thing....the beginning of the 5km and 10km running season. So to start the season off I have planned a 5km race in College Park this weekend and that will serve as good speedwork in preparation for the coming duathlon's and triathlon's. Having not done a short race for a while (the 2006 edition of the Run For Kathy was my last 5km) it will be interesting as to how I do but I aim to just go pedal to the metal and try and get a PR which would put me under 17 minutes. My current PR is 17:01. In recent weeks I have been doing a bit more speedwork and so we can see if that has made any impact yet. With the race being at 9am, I plan to ride home afterwards and get a 2-3 hour ride in.

I must also mention the stellar performance of Kerri Robbins (team-mate at ABRT) at the 70.3M race this past weekend in Cancun where she placed second (4hrs 52mins) in her age-group and 11th overall female (70th race overall). It hasn't been confirmed as of yet but no doubt that performance qualified her for the 70.3M World Championships in Clearwater. I believe Ashley Halsey (another ABRT team-mate) also qualified by finishing 3rd in age group (5hrs 31mins).......I'll see you there.

What a difference a few days can make

My last post was put up on Friday and was all about how tired I was feeling and that some motivation had been lost as the racing and training had probably caught up with me. Some 5 days later I have had a complete reversal and this week training has been real strong and I have been feeling great. It's quite weird really.

On Friday due to the weather I did some intervals for 50mins on the treadmill at the gym and felt much stronger than earlier in the week.

I then did a club ride on Saturday morning and put in my longest bike ride for about 2 months (70miles). As I expected I was strong for the first 2.5 hours but tailed off after that and noticeably lost power in the last 45mins hour. A few more long rides and the power/endurance should be there for a longer period and will help out for the late season races.

With a nice long ride to start the training week (I do my weeks Sat-Fri) I felt good to go out for just under 3 hours on the bike on Sunday morning and followed that up with a 20 minute "brick" run. The bike was just a plain and simple ride, no intervals or hard work, just a constant pace. I could feel in the legs the ride from the day before and so the constant speed didn't put too much stress on them.

Oddly enough on Monday I didn't feel too tired and my hour swim in the evening was one of the best swim workouts I have had all year. In the space of four days I had gone from feeling real tired to feeling strong and raring to go.

Tuesday is the "fast" club ride from the Park 'n' Ride and for the first time in a few weeks I had managed to stay strong for the entire ride (45miles from door to door) and then put in a 45min brick run afterwards.

So far this week with three days left I have already surpassed my training time from last week and am on my way to the biggest week of the year....so much for feeling tired and unmotivated.

Tired......

Perhaps three races in three weeks, which included a 1/2 Ironman Triathlon was a bit too much especially when I had a cold during the middle portion of those weeks. This week after the race on Sunday I have been butt tired and have felt drained and particularly unmotivated. It is a sure sign that the season is coming to an end and that racing/training is taking its toll. However, with two major races remaining I think that an easier week next week will be good enough to spark the interest again particularly with the quest to go under 4hrs 30mins at Clearwater. Last year I experienced a similar feeling prior to IMFL, which after a hard summer of training in the heat and humidity of the mid-atlantic, proved difficult to get up early on the increasingly dark and chilly Fall mornings. With such a major event such as IMFL it wasn't difficult to get going again and I'm sure that will motivate me again this year.

Racing so late in the year makes these feelings inevitable especially when the season starts in March/April but at least it means that I can generally relax and recover during December (and most importantly over the Thanksgiving and Xmas period). I should also think of myself lucky that I get to race at such events as the Duathlon World Championships and the 70.3M World Championships, it certainly makes the training and "suffering" worth it.

Also at this time of year you start to think about the next season and what the goals and objectives will be.....I'll leave that for next time but I can assure you that the words "Ironman" and "Big Island" will definitely be in there somewhere as objectives.

Diamondman 1/2 Ironman Triathlon Race Report

This past weekend was the finale of the trifecta of races that I have done over the past three weeks. A week removed from my cold/virus etc, I was feeling better but not necessarily on top form. The Delaware Diamondman is a race that I have done for the past two years and was the first 1/2 Ironman triathlon that I did back in 2005. It's a cool race in that it comes towards the end of the "normal" season, I say normal as most people are beginning to end their seasons now. It is really only those who are doing the World Championships in Hawaii/Clearwater or IM Florida that are continuing on into October and November. For me it serves as a good training race prior to the WC in October and November.

Having done the race the past two years, we have got comfortable with the whole race layout and stay in the same hotel and eat at the same italian etc etc. Oddly enough every single time we have raced there, the University of Delaware have a home football game and so the town center is empty and everyone is at the game....good for getting a table on the veranda!

Race morning was surprisingly warm and the water temperature was 'convientently' at 78 degrees meaning that wetsuits were legal. I don't know what it is about the swim at this race but I never do particularly well and came out of the water in a touch under 33 minutes.

It was then off for the 0.4 mile trek to transition. They even have a mini transition area where you can place shoes for the run up to T1, at this point I decided to take the wetsuit off and so once in T1 I wouldn't have to worry about it.
With the extended journey it makes the T1 a lengthy process and 4 minutes after getting out the water I was eventually onto the bike.

With having got my disc wheel only about three weeks ago I was looking forward to seeing how much of a difference it would make over a 56 mile bike leg. This was still only the 2nd time I had ridden the disc in anger but at least had some times from the previous years to compare with this year. Now here is my disclaimer.....the 56 mile bike leg one way or another was actually my longest bike ride since July 9th. For some reason I haven't been able to get any serious bike riding in over the last two months and have rarely gone over 2 hours. Anyway for the first 8 miles I felt good and was cruising along at 24MPH...this disc wheel is the Nutts I thought.

It was at about mile 20 just after the mile long climb over the Delaware River bridge that my power seemed to be waning and also my stomach decided to feel distinctly not right.....It was almost identical to last year in the same race that my stomach shut down on the bike and I could only take in water until part way through the run. It was definately a feeling of deja vu...what do they put in the Lums Pond water! The next 25 miles seemed to be a struggle and I felt as though I was certainly putting in more effort than I should be just to maintain a decent pace. During that period I was only taking on water rather than energy drink or Carbboom and I was hoping that once onto the run I would be able to refuel quickly.

Fortunately over the final 10 miles of the bike I was feeling more comfortable and could feel more power as the speed increased. My final bike split was 2hrs 24mins 52secs, a 23.2 MPH average and an improvement of 6 mins over last year at this race. I had planned to try and go under 4hrs 30mins at this race but with the run to come I needed to run the half-marathon in 1hr 26mins.....my previous best for a 1/2 iron run was 1hr 29min in May.

With that in mind I set off for the run knowing that a) I needed to refuel after taking on very little on the bike and b) I needed my best run split to get close to my goal. The run at Diamondman is always brutal as after the first 1.5 miles there is no shade or breeze until you come back to the finish. The majority of the run is along a gravel towpath of the Delaware Canal and isn't the best surface for a quick run split. I went through the first few miles at a good pace but the mileage markers seemed to be placed at "rough" intervals meaning that some miles were short and some long....at least there was an aid station at each mile. I was able to fuel with some Carbboom but was beginning to tire after probably having put too much into the bike leg. Through mile 6 I knew that 4hrs 30mins wasn't on the cards and so concentrated on dealing with the heat (92 degrees) and trying to reel in some of the people in front. Overall on the run I did 1hr 34mins, good enough for the 7th fastest run split and overtook five people in front after the bike leg.

My overall time was 4hrs 37mins, which put me in 9th place overall and 1st in age group.
Although I am slightly disappointed with my overall time, it wasn't so bad what with the long T1 distance and the fact that the cold of the previous week really did take a lot out of me. I was also only 19mins behind the overall winner, which highlights that Diamondman never really gets super quick times. I know what I have to work on prior to the Duathlon World's and the 70.3M World's (longer bike rides at threshold) and I have two months before the 70.3M WC in Clearwater where I really want to end the season by going under 4hrs 30mins.

Larry Noel 15km and 3km Race Report

I'm afraid that this is only short report as we are trying to get to the beach as soon as possible for a long weekend at Bethany Beach and then the now annual Delaware Diamondman 1/2 Ironman Triathlon on Sunday.

The Larry Noel 15km race takes place in Greenbelt every year over the Labor Day weekend and is slightly different in the fact that it starts late in the day at 5pm! Oddly enough about the hottest part of the day here in Maryland. At the same time they also do a 3km race and Sarah had chosen that to enter as her first race for a number of years.

Against my better judgement I stepped up the start line and was wondering how much my cold of the previous few days would affect me. The course was a challenging one with significant hills throughout including a major one in the final 2km. I started off strong and led the field through 1km and came to the 1st mile in 5mins 48secs. I then dropped back to 3rd feeling that I would be able to hold that pace.

Through 5km at 18mins 24secs I was still 3rd but had 4th on my heels and a distinct feeling that my legs and lungs were feeling the effects of the cold. At 6km I dropped to 4th and just tried to keep a constant pace that would get me home in a decent time.

I went through 10km and more hills in 38mins 12secs (only 16 secs quicker than my 10km time from last weeks Olympic Triathlon) and was struggling big time. I wanted to go under the hour but knew that the big leg buster of a climb back up to the start was still to come. At about 12km I dropped to 5th and knew I had a bit of a gap back to 6th. Before the race Sarah had said that she would settle for nothing less than a top 5 finish from me, cold or not, and so I had to try and keep that place. Fortunately I think the last big climb sapped everyone else just as it did me and I crossed the line in 59mins 28secs still in 5th and 1st in Age Group.

In hindsight I should probably not have raced and just rested up (or at least not have ridden 30 miles in the morning), but there you go, at least I got a nice beer tankard for my efforts.

Sarah, on the other hand, was fully rested and in full-on race shape. Unfortunately due to the overlap of the races I couldn't see Sarah race but from her race report to me she did a great job of pacing herself and overtook a few who had started out too fast. At 16mins 23secs she came across the line and took 8th overall and 2nd place female, a great effort considering that she only recently started running consistently. Next up for Sarah is the Run For Kathy 5km, which a Bowie Fall tradition.

Next up for me is the Diamondman 1/2 Ironman, which is the finale of three weeks consecutive racing.