Mar 19 - Mar 25
S: 7,800 yds - 1hr 50min
B: 63.06 mi - 3hr 11min
R: 32.28 mi - 4hr 5min
Total: 9hr 6min
As seen above, this week was pretty awesome in terms of getting to sleep in a couple days towards the end of the week. After ~3 months of pretty hard and consistent training, today marked the season's first race...aka time to really figure out how I'm progressing. Of course I already know how I'm progressing by looking at power files and stuff, but today was a real race atmosphere with rested legs, so I was pretty pumped about laying down a good effort. The Double Oak Duathlon was a 5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run. So basically, a very painful ~60 minute effort. The short story is that I was 2nd overall, a little over a minute back from first and 2-3 min ahead of third. The long story is below.
Run 1 (5k): 18:47
They started the long course and short course racers together, but I knew who to watch out for. Local top amateur Aaron Ainsworth was most likely going to lay down a 17:30, so I knew I had my work cut out for me. Straight from the gun, everyone took off up a ~0.4 mile uphill. I let a couple of people slide in front of me, knowing that I didn't want to blow my legs up in the first 2 minutes. At the crest of the hill followed a good downhill, of which I took advantage of and actually passed a few guys. After hitting the 1 mile in 5:57, things started to thin out. After 2 miles in 12.07, I passed a guy that had gone out way too hard, leaving only 2 guys in front of me. The last mile had a 0.6 mile single track trail section that unfortunately limited speed a little bit, but not too bad. Coming into T2, I had Aaron and 1 other guy in front of me (both in around 17:30).
Bike (20k): 32:53
The bike strategy was to make a game-time decision on what I needed to do in response to how the race was unfolding. Knowing that Aaron was 1:20 up the road, I knew I had to be aggressive in order to give myself a shot. After passing the 2nd place guy a couple minutes into the bike, it was just me and the open road...all by myself. After a couple miles, a volunteer shouted that I was 1:05 down from the leader. At the turnaround, I speculated that I had it at 0:55 down. There isn't much else to say about the ride...other than it was all about trying to do everything perfectly: keep the power up, stay aero, cut the corners of the winding roads, etc, etc. I tried to pick it up even more on the way back, but I was at my max. Coming off the bike I was around 0:40 down.
Run 2 (2.5k): 9:27
This run was...let's just say painful. It was basically a 0.5 mile flat/downhill followed by a 0.6 mile uphill on signle track trail followed by a 0.5 mile flat/downhill finish. Things were hurting bad by then, but the run went by pretty quick. Trail running has a way of doing that; it's like you are focusing on not breaking your ankles and that makes time go by slightly quicker. Once I got back on the paved road for the last 0.5 miles, it was "just close your eyes and go hard till you hear them say your name and then go another 10 seconds".
Total: 1:02:05
So that's pretty much how it ended. 2nd overall with a consolation prize of fastest bike split. Of course I wanted to win, but I gave it all I had and left it all out there, which I'm happy with...and Aaron was the better athlete of the day. But, I'm definitely a way different athlete than last year. Running wise, a 5k under 19:00 last year would be close to an all out effort, but now it has become something that I can bike hard off of. Biking wise, I'm probably 10-15 watts stronger across the board in very general terms, which at this level is pretty significant. I'm pretty excited to see how the rest of the year unfolds...it was a good start to the 2012 season!
3.25.2012
3.18.2012
Big Week and Skipping Spring
Mar 12 - Mar 18
S: 16,400 yds - 3hr 55min
B: 165.28 mi - 9hr 10min
R: 40.18 mi - 5hr 8min
Total: 18hr 13min
Like it says. Another biggest week ever (I think). And just like last year, it looks like we are jumping straight from 40 degree days to 80 degree days.
Training this week was full of adventure. With the time change occurring last week, we now get daylight until roughly 7pm, which is great for biking during the week. What this also means is that the Tuesday Night World Championships (aka "roadie ride") has started up. It's always fun to get to duke it out with some solid Cat 1 and 2 guys, as opposed to just doing solo rides. On Saturday, I headed out on the bike with Hallie and Ed, which has become a tradition of sorts. Hallie usually has some sort of similar set of threshold sets, and Ed is a solid cyclist and is always up for anything...so it works out pretty good. We warm up for an hour or so, and then start our respective sets and then meet up after we are done for the remainder of the ride. We tried a new route and warmed up longer than usual, so when it was time to start a ~45' set I was down to 1 bottle. Well, 3' into the first interval I hit a huge bump and unfortunately ejected my last bottle. It was a 10' interval so I doubled back such that I finished the interval right where I thought I dropped it...but I couldn't find it. From then on, it was another 3 sets of 10' without 1 sip of water...and the pollen was awful...that was probably one of the hardest things that I've done in awhile; not the workout in and of itself, but the fact that I lost my water!
Well, I'm 1 week away from this year's first race. It's a duathlon out at Oak Mountain State Park here in Birmingham, and it will consist of a 5k run, a 20k bike, and then a final run of 2.5k. Total time should be close to an hour, so it will turn out to be pretty painful. I'm ready though. I'm more confident in my biking and running right now than I ever have been. No question. Biking has been going very well lately, and I'm anxious to put all the hard work to the test!
S: 16,400 yds - 3hr 55min
B: 165.28 mi - 9hr 10min
R: 40.18 mi - 5hr 8min
Total: 18hr 13min
Like it says. Another biggest week ever (I think). And just like last year, it looks like we are jumping straight from 40 degree days to 80 degree days.
Training this week was full of adventure. With the time change occurring last week, we now get daylight until roughly 7pm, which is great for biking during the week. What this also means is that the Tuesday Night World Championships (aka "roadie ride") has started up. It's always fun to get to duke it out with some solid Cat 1 and 2 guys, as opposed to just doing solo rides. On Saturday, I headed out on the bike with Hallie and Ed, which has become a tradition of sorts. Hallie usually has some sort of similar set of threshold sets, and Ed is a solid cyclist and is always up for anything...so it works out pretty good. We warm up for an hour or so, and then start our respective sets and then meet up after we are done for the remainder of the ride. We tried a new route and warmed up longer than usual, so when it was time to start a ~45' set I was down to 1 bottle. Well, 3' into the first interval I hit a huge bump and unfortunately ejected my last bottle. It was a 10' interval so I doubled back such that I finished the interval right where I thought I dropped it...but I couldn't find it. From then on, it was another 3 sets of 10' without 1 sip of water...and the pollen was awful...that was probably one of the hardest things that I've done in awhile; not the workout in and of itself, but the fact that I lost my water!
Well, I'm 1 week away from this year's first race. It's a duathlon out at Oak Mountain State Park here in Birmingham, and it will consist of a 5k run, a 20k bike, and then a final run of 2.5k. Total time should be close to an hour, so it will turn out to be pretty painful. I'm ready though. I'm more confident in my biking and running right now than I ever have been. No question. Biking has been going very well lately, and I'm anxious to put all the hard work to the test!
3.11.2012
Spring's Here
Mar 5 - Mar 11
S: 14,300 yds - 3hr 27min
B: 112.07 mi - 6hr 17min
R: 39.69 mi - 5hr 2min
Total: 14hr 46min
Not much to say here, except that Spring is here because I'm now riding in shorts/short sleeve kits. Boom. Gone are the days of taking 10 minutes to kit up in layers to go ride in the cold. Of course this also means that I need to either bring Gatorade on my rides or some salt tablets...I did neither of these today (and forgot my credit card), so the end of the ride really sucked. This week was lower total volume due to Tuesday being a "sleep in and catch up on laundry" day...which was AWESOME...but the weekend made up for it with back to back days of some tough sets on the bike. Annnnnd, I finally got back on the TT bike this week...figured it might be a good idea since 2012's first race is in 2 weeks!
S: 14,300 yds - 3hr 27min
B: 112.07 mi - 6hr 17min
R: 39.69 mi - 5hr 2min
Total: 14hr 46min
Not much to say here, except that Spring is here because I'm now riding in shorts/short sleeve kits. Boom. Gone are the days of taking 10 minutes to kit up in layers to go ride in the cold. Of course this also means that I need to either bring Gatorade on my rides or some salt tablets...I did neither of these today (and forgot my credit card), so the end of the ride really sucked. This week was lower total volume due to Tuesday being a "sleep in and catch up on laundry" day...which was AWESOME...but the weekend made up for it with back to back days of some tough sets on the bike. Annnnnd, I finally got back on the TT bike this week...figured it might be a good idea since 2012's first race is in 2 weeks!
3.05.2012
Big Week
Feb 27 - Mar 4
S: 16,950 yds - 4hr 4min
B: 150.04 mi - 8hr 30min
R: 42.65 mi - 5hr 26min
Total: 18hr 0min
I'm not quite sure, but I think this might have been my biggest (hours) week of training ever. If not, it's up there. But that doesn't really matter in and of itself. What really matters is the 10 weeks of consistent volume as of late, and better yet the 10 weeks of consistent volume in each of the 3 disciplines. That is the key.
On Sunday, I had a pretty tough set to do on the bike, and I figured I might as well treat myself to one of my favorite out and back routes out to the bustling metropolis of Vandiver, AL! Of course my usual riders were all busy, so this one was solo. This picture of my heart pretty much sums it up:
S: 16,950 yds - 4hr 4min
B: 150.04 mi - 8hr 30min
R: 42.65 mi - 5hr 26min
Total: 18hr 0min
I'm not quite sure, but I think this might have been my biggest (hours) week of training ever. If not, it's up there. But that doesn't really matter in and of itself. What really matters is the 10 weeks of consistent volume as of late, and better yet the 10 weeks of consistent volume in each of the 3 disciplines. That is the key.
On Sunday, I had a pretty tough set to do on the bike, and I figured I might as well treat myself to one of my favorite out and back routes out to the bustling metropolis of Vandiver, AL! Of course my usual riders were all busy, so this one was solo. This picture of my heart pretty much sums it up:
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