July 2014: Training Ramblings......Racing Fun!

July just flew by and there was a bunch of great racing!  After Eagleman 70.3 in June there wasn't really a plan for the rest of the season and intentionally so.  As I have stated many times, this year is all about less pressure on myself and without any major race on the calendar I decided to just jump into a few races here and there. As such July was filled with some fun races.

Frederick Crit - MABRA Cat 3 Championships

Maryland Duathlon - 5th Overall

Endless Summer 6 Hr Race - 7th Overall (and most untanned racer!)

So three races -  a blistering fast criterium race at 27.5mph for an hour, an Olympic Distance Duathlon with a 5th place overall and then the Endless Summer 6 Hr race at Quiet Waters Park (4.1 mile laps). I was in no kind of shape to crush the 6hr race but it turned out to be fun and I squeezed out 37miles for 7th place.

Importantly though I got to ride and run with Sarah a number of times and that is always good times.  We did our longest ride together out to BWI airport and then the following week Sarah went out and crushed 60miles with the ladies for her longest ride ever!

Up to Airport and back...smile for the camera!

July Total: 525.02 Miles / 35 hours 10 minutes

Swim: 1,600 yards / ~0.80 miles / 0 hours 32 minutes

Bike: 451.20 miles / 24 hours 51 minutes

Run: 73.02 miles / 8 hours 56 minutes (doesn't include 6hr race - falls into Aug week)

Dec 7th - Dec 13th: Training Ramblings.....Final Race Weekend of 2013

This weekend of training was fun.....with the final 'cross race of 2013 at Capital Cross on Sunday, I decided to warm-up for that by racing a couple of 5km's on Saturday, yes, a couple of 5km's!

Last year I raced (and won) the Edgewater Fitness Reindeer Run 5km and the Southern High School 5km and they were on consecutive weekends. The way it fell this year they were both on the first Saturday of December...what to do? Why not try and race both as they are close to each other and start an hour apart.  The first one at Edgewater Fitness 5km kicked off at 800am so that was first up and I was able to win that in 16mins 58secs, fortunately being able to cruise the last mile and save some energy.  Apologizing for not being able to stay for the awards I jumped in the car to head off to the Southern HS 5km.  Just a few miles up the road I got there with 20mins to spare, a quick cool-down/warm-up and we were off.  This time I took the first half-mile easier before settling in.  I won that in 16mins 57secs, mission accomplished, two races, two wins. Both times were slower than last year by about 30secs but for two in an hour I'll take that.

Sunday was the final cross race of the season and it's been so much fun, I am already looking forward to 2014.  During the week my upgrade to Cat 3 had been approved so I only raced the Cat 3/4 Masters, four in a weekend would have been too much.  Snow was in the forecast and it didn't disappoint.  As we parked at the race the snow started to fall and it wasn't long before the whole course was covered.....but boy was it cold, sub freezing! A good day to test out all the winter clothing and the Mad Alchemy embro cream!

After a quick "warm-up" lap it was pretty obvious that I didn't have tires man enough for the job of the deep mud that was parts of the course (something to note for next year is another wheelset with a dedicated mud tire).  The snow was still falling as we took the start and with a brief hold at the line we were off and racing in the snow.  Jeez, it was fun! I didn't have the best race, partly due to tires but it was certainly a challenging race and I ended up in 15th out of the 90 starters (yes 90 crazy people turned up in the snow). 

The snow made it fun and challenging

Snow and frozen mud........

So with that being the final cross race of the year, the focus is now solely on triathlon for the 2014 season but as I stated before, I can't wait for the 2014 cross season in the Fall and I might actually train for that one :-)

As far as the week went, it was a very small build over the recovery week. Lots of stuff going on before our travels so training was a little lighter than I wanted.

Total: 85 Miles / 7 hours 03 minutes

Swim: 2,100 yards / ~1.20 miles / 0 hours 38 minutes

Bike: 58 miles / 3 hours 38 minutes

Run: 25 miles /2 hours 47 minutes

Finally Dry - Bunny Hop 3/4

I didn't really know what to expect at Bunny Hop. As this is my first real full season of racing, I don't know many of the courses and just rely on what teammates recount to me. Generally I am not that well suited to criterium races, I don't have much of a kick, jump, sprint, whatever you want to call it, and so jumping out of corners is something I need to work on....how better to do it than on the soaking wet pavement of Suitland, Maryland.

I don't think anyone really likes to race in the rain, certainly not industrial park crits, and that obviously was felt at the start line with only 43 of the 80 riders turning up for the Cat 3/4 race. Fortunately, Steve had brought his tent along so we had a pretty good warm-up on the trainers, and Team Banks (back at full strength with Sarah and my parents) could stay dry during the race.

The race started out pretty fast and I was cruising around close to the back to get the feel of the race and the course. After about 20minutes I was feeling a bit more confident around the course, unfortunately by that time Kyle had been forced to drop out with a mechanical, and so we were down to three Latitude riders, myself, Steve and Mark. Moving up the field I was planning on trying to attack but it seemed that every time I was just about to go, someone went off the front and either the pack would surge or I would try to bridge.

All in all, despite the rain, the race was relatively uneventful, no crashes, nothing really sketchy in the bunch. It was with about 12 laps remaining that my race came alive. Two guys (Coppi and Bike Doctor) went off the front and after some hesitation I went off in pursuit and tried to bridge. I probably either went too late or didn't go hard enough to start with. For the next 8 laps I was off the front charging to get up to the front two. There was a good gap on the field and slowly I was bridging up....I probably got to within a few bike lengths but couldn't quite make the connection.


Photo Courtesy of Rick Bidstrup

With 4 laps to go the bunch swallowed me, but the front two were hanging on for dear life....and hang on they did. The chase over the final two laps almost caught them and 1km further and the bunch would have got them. For me it was definitely a missed opportunity....if only I had tried to bridge sooner or pushed harder for the final few bike lengths, I could have been writing about a top 3 finish! It wasn't to be and will be a lesson for next time. At least I have the confidence that I can do things like that in races and have the strength to be active.

At Last.........

Last Tuesday I went and picked up the new CAAD 9 frame (in Team Latitude/ABRT livery) and the box of parts in the garage could finally be put to good use. Over the course of a couple of evenings I put the bike together and rode it briefly for the first time on Friday night.

At last I turned up for the Davidsonville ride on Saturday without the Fixie and just about managed to remember how to use the brakes and gears :-) After four months of riding the Fixie it was quite an odd sensation to be able to change gears and it took a while to coast rather than pedal the whole time. I know that a new bike always feels great on the first ride, it's still shiny, the drivetrain is clean but I did feel good and I think riding the Fixie has certainly made me stronger! The real test will come once the weeknight Davidsonville ride starts and the hammer really goes down!

After 80 miles on Saturday I jumped into the B race at Tradezone on Sunday....my first road race since Walkersville last year. As such I wasn't expecting any great fireworks but was just hoping that the surges and accelerations wouldn't spit me out the back. I have always found the surges and accelerations relatively hard to handle as training for the long-distance triathlons I don't have much fast-twitch fibers....slowtwitch yes, fast-twitch no! Now that I have the road bike up and running I plan on trying to incorporate sprints into the workouts to simulate race-specific needs.

Anyway the Tradezone race was a great workout and I bagged a pack finish. No fireworks at all from me but it was good to see Kyle flogging himself to death the whole race and hopefully once I get a few more race miles under my belt I can try and help him out a bit (until he upgrades). Hopefully the weather will corporate next week so I can get into Tradezone again. In fact I might try and do both the B and C race to get some more racing in.


Photo Courtesy of Amy Jones

Ah....Is Spring in the Air?

Despite the 8 inches of snow that was dumped on Bowie this past Monday it appears that Spring may be trying to push winter away. The clocks "spring" forward this Sunday, which means more daylight in the evenings and we all know that that means Tuesday and Thursday evening hammerfests!

Other elements of Spring are also beginning to show....

1)The races are opening up for registration and promptly closing about 5 minutes later for the Cat 4 and 5's. So far this week I have signed up for five races if you include Tradezone.

2)Rita's Italian Ice stores are opening their doors this weekend....here's hoping they keep with the coffee flavored custard for 2009 :-)

3)Spring training has started for MLB, which means that the Bowie Baysox season is only a few weeks away.....not much beats a beer and a ballgame.

4)Sarah is buying up summer dresses like there is no tomorrow (I guess that's the trade off for racing and buying bike parts!)

And most importantly the weather this weekend is forecast to hit the high-60's and low 70's. Bit of a contrast to the marathon race conditions of last week....might even get to ride in shorts!

The Weekend Outlook......

No this blog hasn't suddenly changed to The Weather Channel, its just a brief look ahead to this weekend. Although The Weather Channel is a key part of any triathletes training regime, what would we do without checking out the doppler before heading out for long training sessions?



As with most weekends during IM training I try to get at least a 5 hour/100 mile ride in and this Saturday will be no different. I'll head out early for some miles before meeting up with the club for its regular ride to North Beach and back. This normally gets me about 85 miles and so I'll then tag on another 15 miles to get to the century mark. Normally I would then head out for a short 30-minute brick run but this weekend I have decided to jump into the Annapolis Striders Dog Days 8km race on Sunday morning (although I might still fit the brick in on Saturday). Saturday afternoon is still up in the air, we'll see what Sarah fancies doing but a trip to the beach or cinema might be in the plans.

The 8km should be fun, I haven't raced a regular running event since way back in March at the National Marathon and so it will be great to race. Besides, the race is actually classified as a cross-country race and so rather than the regular pavement stomping it will be a mixture of trails, paths and fields.....sounds like fun and should be a nice hard workout with tired legs after Saturday.

After the race, Sarah and I need to do some major chores/errands before we head off to the UK in a couple of weeks and so the Sunday ride will have to wait until later in the day. 2 hours of intervals is the plan but we shall see how the legs feel after the Saturday century and the Sunday race....it might morph into a recovery ride :-)

p.s No updates on the seized seatpost......the bike is currently upside down with what seems like a whole can of liquid wrench trying to work its magic! If nothing gives over the weekend, the hacksaw will probably make an appearance.