Race Report of the Brian's Ride Mini-Triahtlon. Slippery Rock, PA. (4/26)

For my first triathlon of the season, I decided to remind myself how much it sucks to work the night before a race.  Getting home at 11:30 after a very busy graduation weekend dinner at the restaurant and finally falling asleep at 12:30 probably isn’t the smartest way to approach race morning.  Luckily, the drive to Slippery Rock and the race itself were both pretty short so I managed to pack in a good four hours of sleep knowing that I wouldn’t really have any fatigue-related obstacles to overcome during the race.

First thing’s first: This race was pretty short.  The swim was only 400 yards and held in the Aquatics facility of SRU.  A little cheesy, I know, but there aren’t that many options in northwestern PA at the end of April for open-water swimming.  The bike was a multi-lap course around campus that featured a good quarter-mile climb on each lap.  It totaled 10.5 miles.  Lastly was a two lap run on the same circuit for about three miles.

Things are a little difficult to organize when you have 200 participants and only room for 12 swimmers at a time.  To make it as fair as possible for everyone, the participants were asked to submit an estimated swim time with their applications.  Racers were numbered accordingly and began the swim based on those numbers so the fastest went first.  Numbers one through nine were the nine teams participating, so individuals really didn’t start until number 10.  I was 25 out of about 200.  This would, however, be a unique opportunity as far as racing goes because it’s almost an individual time trial effort.  Because people are so spread out as far as when they’re starting, you’re not really racing against anyone because you don’t know where you stand on the course.  Sometimes it’s extra motivation to be racing head to head against someone and try to chase them down or hold them off.  This sort of start would take that out of the equation.    

The swim started and I stood in line watching the other swimmers until it was my turn to go.  It probably took about a good ten or fifteen minutes until I jumped in.  I ran over the timing mat and dove headfirst into the pool; something I’ve never actually done before.  And while I don’t think it was a poorly executed dive, it could have gone better.  The left side of my goggles must not have been quite tight enough because it immediately got jarred away from my face, filling with water.  I took a second to pop it back on and started again.

I felt like I was absolutely flying.  Partially because I was actually swimming well and felt very fresh, but partially because I was swimming in a pool that was 25 yards as opposed to the pool that I train in that is 25 meters.  It was a great feeling to have every lap when I would hit the wall so much sooner than I was expecting.  Just for comparison, at my speed, I probably swim 100 yards about 7 seconds faster than 100 meters.  That’s pretty significant, especially when it’s over 400 yards and save 28 seconds.  My swim split was 6:twentysomething in the results, but that was including transition, which took probably took over a minute due to the fact that I started to take the wrong exit out of transition.  I know, I know.

The bike course was fantastically fast aside from the hill every lap.  It’s fun to do these courses that are so short sometimes because you know you can just give it everything the entire race and not worry about it affecting the end of the run or anything.

It was a constant source of motivation to fly by people on the bike all day long, especially in the later laps when more and more people were coming out of the water and on to the bike.  Being such a short circuit, the course could have gotten dangerous with so many people on it, but much to my amazement, there were no complications.  I had to slow down a few times into corners when it got crowded, but it didn’t slow things down more than a few seconds.  I ended the bike in 26:something.  Good for a 24 mile per hour average speed.  Not too bad considering that hill, the corners and the 2nd transition time that the bike split included.  I didn’t know it at the time, but it was actually good enough to be the fastest bike split of the day.  

Around the sixth of seven laps, it was a strange feeling to see people starting the run already.  But because of the start, I had no idea where they actually stood.  Did they start five minutes before me?  Ten?  I didn’t know.

The run started well despite having to grind up the hill right away.  The rest of the course was pretty favorable so it was easy to settle into a rhythm.  About half way through the first lap, I started catching some runners.  On the flatter sections, I repeated a run strategy of running my normal pace for thirty seconds, then going a lot harder for about ten.  The run ended and I felt pretty good, but wondering if I could have pushed things a little harder.  The entire race went by so quickly.

Because of the structure of the race, it was impossible to calculate times on the spot, so I didn’t know where I finished until the results were posted online the next day.  It turns out that I won the race.  Just like that, I won.  I’m pretty happy to have finally taken out my first race after so many top-five finishes last year without a win.  It was a little lackluster in retrospect, though; not having the fanfare as I crossed the line as the winner.  I finished and went home and nobody really knew, save for me.  Hopefully the next one I win this season will be like I want it to.

I ended up with the 7th fastest swim time, but that was including teams.  Among individuals, I think it was about 5th.  My bike split was the fastest.  It’s nice to be able to say that again.  My run was 2nd fastest on the day due to some guy that finished down in 10th or 15th that ran six seconds faster than me.  Oh well.  On to the next one.  

OMG Disc Wheel!

Okay, usually I wouldn't be using such absurd text expressions (textpressions?), but I think that there is a certain level of excitement for everyone that triggers the need to express things unnecessarily quickly.  For me that thing is a disc wheel.

For quite some time, I have been scheming on how to get one.  A Zipp, while nice, has always been out of the question for no other reason than its price tag.  Surely they spend a lot of time and money in the wind tunnel, but I wouldn't be surprised if a very large fraction of their budget is spent on marketing.  Yes, they have dimples.  I have yet to see that dimples actually translate into real-world results.  Yes, they have the sub-9, a wheel that is capable of achieving negative drag; that's right, propulsion.  But I've read plenty of articles by people who know what they're talking about who question both the integrity of the results and the testing protocol that was used.  According to the Hed website, their Jet Disc and Stinger Disc models are both faster than the sub-9, so who is right?  Until an independent third party ponies up the cash for a study of their own, we'll never know.

And speaking of Hed, I've always been a big fan and have been drooling over their Jet Disc for some time.  It's relatively light, manufactured around the same "bulge" principle as Zipp's Sub-9 and Clincher discs and nearly half the price, probably thanks to a lot less of a budget for marketing.  I also like Hed's development of their wide-rim, C2 technology.  Of all the crazy technologies that have recently come out regarding wheels, this one seems to make the most basic sense to me.  Despite playing second fiddle in the number of magazine ads to Zipp, I doubt they perform any worse.  Steve Hed has been an aero pioneer for such a long time.  Although they don't have near the amount of pros riding their stuff, I only have two words:  Lance Armstrong.  If him and his Postal/Disco/Astana squads have been running an H3 since the dawn of time, I'm sure it's for the simple fact that they perform.

Even so, nearly a thousand dollars is hard to plunk down for anything, let alone a single wheel.  Dirty Harry's would be able to get a Jet Disc in for me, no problem, but since they're not a Hed dealer, I would probably only be saving around $200 off of the $1100 MSRP.

So what's on the super-cheap side?  Wheelbuilder.com sells wheel covers that go over a standard spoked wheel to make it perform like a disc for just south of a hundred bucks.  Great deal until you realize that the covers weight 500 grams.  I know that it's a disc wheel in a triathlon so it's not about the weight, but I think that's only so true.  It's true when something weighs just under 1200 grams, but not so much for me when you're talking of a figure more like 1500g.  

Enter Renn Multisport.  They are a company based out of Tennessee that has been making disc wheels for the better part of 25 years or so.  Actually, using the phrase, "they are a company" is a little misleading, as it is actually really only one person making all of the wheels by hand in his workshop.  They are as light as the Jet Disc that I was drooling over at literally half the price.  One look at the company website and you can tell why he can get away with charging so little compared to those other companies.  It's certainly not a pretty website, but I'm sure if he had a polished one like Zipp, the product would be more costly.  Likewise, I have never seen a Renn advertisement.  But once again, I'm sure that if I had, the product would be more expensive.  What I have seen through my extensive research or Renn wheels over the past few months is an overwhelming amount of positive feedback.  Sure all of it is basically anecdotal, but as we have already gone over, you can't really expect Renn to pay for wind tunnel time.  Also, this is feedback from people who have been in the sport longer than I have been alive and have ridden more bikes and different wheels than I have pairs of underwear, so I trust it.  Everyone seems to love them.  Everyone seems to love the customer service.  Lots and lots of people have bought more than one throughout their careers.  Absolutely nobody whose opinion I've read had said negative things about the product.

When you combine all of this information with the simple fact that the difference between different disc shapes (lenticular like Hed and Zipp, versus flat like Renn) and dimples or no dimples is really splitting hairs.  Essentially, once you have a disc, you have the fastest wheel option available.  Playing around with the other specifics barely means anything.  The five seconds I might gain over a 40k TT with a Zipp Sub-9 as opposed to a Renn 575 pale in comparison to the minute and a half that I just gained from having a disc in the first place.  In other words, the only importance that these differences have are realized when you TT against Fabian Cancellara and I would need a lot more than a better wheel racing against him.

All this to say, I ordered a Renn 575 last night.  I'm not sure what the turn around time will be on it, but hopefully I'll have it soon.  A few weeks ago, I emailed the man behind the wheels to ask him how long of a wait there was due to other orders.  He said about a week.  Hopefully that hasn't changed much.  Either way, I'm excited.

Race Review of the SLIM Project Malawi 5k. South Park, Pa. 4/4/09

Okay, I know I'm writing a race report for a 5k (who does that?), but it was the first actual race of the season and it went unexpectedly better than I thought it would.

The race was actually being put on by an organization based out of the University of Pittsburgh whose purpose is to raise funds and awareness for Malawi.  Check them out here.

In the spirit of being conscious of worldly matters, they also pulled through and offered shuttles to and from the race site.  Since there were so many Pitt students competing, they ran the shuttles from the Pitt Union.  All in all, I believe 5 full buses were taken to the race site.  Awesome.

I wanted to take the shuttle, but my good friend Mappleton was driving.  I tried to get him to take the shuttle with me, but he wasn't having it, so I hitched a ride with him.

The 10-day weather forecast for the entire week was saying that the weather would be beautifully sunny and about 50 degrees by the time the race started at 10.  However, the night before the race, Mapple called and said that they changed the forecast to 30 degrees and a wintry mix for the morning.  Great.  I had a feeling I wasn't going to be happy in the sleeveless under armour and running shorts that I packed, but I was already at Kayla's for the night and didn't feel like going all way home just to get something else.  After all, it would only be a 17 or 18 minute race; maybe it would make me run faster.

The morning came and it turned out to be pretty mellow.  The sun was shining when I was picked up at a quarter after 8.  It was pretty chilly, but not like the thirty degrees that was threatening the night before.  It looked as though it would be acceptably warm by 10, but the hard, brisk wind that was blowing would not die down.

We got to the race site and milled around for an hour, watched the 10k start and took to the line ourselves.  The air was warm, the sun was nice and we had stayed out of the wind for the most part by standing behind an ambulance parked at the start line.  It was a strange feeling standing there, April already and about to start the first race of the season; the start of what I am still hoping will be a year to change all years.

Gun.

We all started to grind up the uphill grade that was the first quarter mile of the race.  After seeing so many serious-looking people getting ready before the race, I was fully expecting that there would be a handful of 15-something 5k runners in the field.  I was going to wait for them to come by at the start and see if I could hang on to any of them.  But as I was running in the first line of people, I actually ended up holding back for a second, noticing that nobody was coming around me or taking charge.  Apparently all those serious-looking people were just that:  Serious-looking.

So since nobody else was going to, I went for it to see what would happen.  What happened was me leading the race for the first two miles.  I heard the patter of footsteps slowly but surely dropping away.  Starting with the whole field, then to a dozen or so, then to maybe just a handful and finally just the single pair of feet, banging out a rhythm in synch with my own.  I could feel him hanging there for maybe ten minutes or so, breathing down my neck and waiting for me to fail.

I was feeling good for the first two thirds of the race.  Really good.  But it was evident after trying a little surge here and there that my shadow was hanging on at least somewhat comfortably, obviously feeling good as well.  I tried to pick up any sign of discomfort from his audible breathing.  It was hard breathing for sure, just like my own, but not yet heavily labored.

After about two miles, he came around me.  I hung on his heels for maybe a hundred yards until my breathing started to take on a familiar heaving quality that I knew indicated that I was at the limit.  It was a little psychological blow to me to see his seemingly effortless stride in contrast with how heavy and inefficient mine was starting to feel.  He slowly began to float away from me.

I was gone.  Just sitting on what I could manage and hoping to see some familiar landmark that would signal the impending end to the race.  With about a quarter-mile left, another runner slipped past me, but with much less gusto than the leader.  I'm not sure where he had come from, as I didn't remember seeing anyone else behind me besides the now-leader a few minutes before.  

I realized now that we were on the trail coming up to the finish.  Second place wasn't very far in front so I tried to conserve what I could for the last effort and maybe come around him.  I went for it and so did he.  It was immediately obvious that he had more kick left than I did and that regaining second place wasn't going to happen.

It was a little disheartening to yet again come in third or some other position so close to the win, to literally watch the winner finish just in front of me.  But more important than winning or losing the race was the time that I was looking for.  Going into the race, I was hoping for a 17:30 or so.  Approaching the line, I was shocked to see a time starting with 16!  I stopped the clock at 16:53, 14 seconds behind the winner.  I could have finished in 50th place and been happy with that time.

As I mentioned before, I think I can say that this dramatic speed improvement is courtesy of approaching this season with a short-course focus.  Putting shorter, but harder efforts more often than what I was doing when preparing for a 70.3-focused season has definitely made a difference.

Training Update.

Awesome metric century ride on Sunday and some stretch cords.  Felt really great, but dead tired later in the day and today as well.  Though I have off from work, usually a great time to put in some quality sessions, I'm taking off today.  I don't think I've had a real off-day in about a week and a half.

P.S.  The car is awesome and I think the disc wheel is pending.

Cheers!

Fun in the Sun (or the rain) With the Top Down

Greetings from blogland!

Well, today's not an off day, but I'm not sure when the next one will happen.  I was really shelled last Sunday, but still did some Yoga and didn't really have a lot of time to write.  Therefore, I don't really have a proper off day planned for this week.

So at the moment, I'm in Panera having some coffee and waiting for the rain to stop so I can go run.  I know, I know, harden up and run in the rain anyway.  I would if not for the fact that it's slowing and supposed to stop soon.  That and I have the day off from work; I essentially have all the time in the world.

Flashbackblog

Started the week with a darn good swim session on Monday.  I've been throwing some work with the pull paddles back into my routine to get a little bit more strength.  I remember back to this time last year when I first got them and how strong I started to feel because of them.  Not sure why I stopped using them, but it's strange how you do something that is met with positive results and let it fall to the wayside.  I feel like this happens to a lot of people in the never-ending quest for more speed, strength, efficiency or whatever.  No matter the improvements of their current practices, they abandon them in the search for even greater gains.

I also threw in some back stroke for the first time in quite a while and it felt pretty good.  Not sure why, but I was definitely flying after not having done it for months.  Swim session number 2 for the week is hopefully today, but that might not materialize.  Because of a post title related bit of news that I'll get to later.

Yesterday was the first bike/run brick of the season!  I put in about 35 miles on the bike between the track and Highland Park (where I ran into Steph again) and then did one of my usual 5k brick run routes and pulled it off with a 6:40/mile average pace.  I was pretty pleased with how fresh I still felt on the run.  I think I was still feeling the effects of the speedwork at the track from the week before.

Also in the news department:

If you've been keeping track of the blog, you will have noticed that there is a race on the schedule for '09.  It's a small 5k this weekend in South Park, just outside of the city.  I'm not nervous about it (it's just a 5k for Pete's sake) but I still want to do well, of course.  I'd like to go around 17:30.  The course seems pretty favorable after a slight uphill grade at the beginning, so it might be possible.

5:28 mile x 3 = 16:30 (I know, not really.  I'm just rounding) that's a minute less than 17:30 and that mile was run in pretty much the opposite of race conditions with the taper, motivation and people to chase, etc.

Regardless, this has put me in a bit of a pickle concerning what to do with my training for the rest of the week.  I figure that I'll probably just swim on Saturday, though that means that I'll have to ride tomorrow and Friday to get in three bike sessions for the week.  This is fine aside from the fact that there would be no weekend rides in which to enjoy the lack of typical weekday traffic.  Though I suppose I could ride on Sunday after the race; it's a 5k after all.  But now my dilemma is my running for the rest of the week.  I ran yesterday as part of the brick and I'll run a longer tempo run today.  My track run last week gave me so much that I'd enjoy doing one this week, but I don't want to do it any later than Thursday in consideration for the race.  Perhaps I could get it in before work Thursday morning and ride my bike after work.  Hmmm...decisions decisions.  

The last bit of news in regards to the title of today's post is that Kayla and I are getting the car today!  We're both pretty excited and nervous about it, but I'm so relieved that I'll be able to go to whatever races I want this season.  But that might stop me from being able to get in a swim today because I'm not sure what time I'll end up getting back from that.  If I leave it too late, the swim is out because we'll be leaving for Trivia night at 7.

That and I might be ordering a disc wheel at the end of this week.

Cars, races, bricks, disc wheels.  Could be a big week.

Do it.