Sam Places 4th in Heart of The Valley Sprint Triathlon

http://racecenter.com/hotv/

I placed 1st in my Age Group & 4th overall on Monday (out of 238), May 25th, at Heart of the Valley Sprint Triathlon. 750 Meters in a 50 Meter pool & a very hilly and challenging bike leg.


No major complaints on the swim except that I am still a slow swimmer. I could have pushed a little harder here too (lost track of laps and that didn't help either).

A good early season race to remind me of the things I have to learn and improve on! Onwards and upwards. Looking forward to Blue Lake as my next major race. I am also doing a 2000 yard open water race on the 31st (Hagg Lake).

Overall it was an "OK only" race despite the good placement. I had a very poor 1st transition and lost my shoe off the pedal which slowed me down. I got up to the start line and had to run back get my shoe and then put it on my foot, then run back up to the "mount line" and try to get on the bike as best as I could. Not pretty. I finished the swim right behind Steve Murcott -- but after my terrible transition he gained about 300 yards on me (after we got on the bike). I had to push a bit to catch back up to him.

On the bike I was rather "un-smooth" (power wise) and did not push hard enough on the sections that I needed to surge on. Partially it was because I was trying to be strategic and stay behind Steve, however after some time I realized that Steve was going too easy on the uphills due to having too many Starbucks Frappuchino's over the past few months. . Had it been a flat course things would have been different. I was also "spinning out" on the several very hilly down-hill portions. I was somewhat "saving my legs" to push hard on the downhill portion of each hill. Only 1 or 2 (major) down hills allowed me to add significant power due to "lack of proper gearing". Crap! Triathlon is a technical sport! :)

On the run I suffered from stomach cramps again despite a very small breakfast (half a pop tart) and a cup of coffee followed by liquid nutrition over the next 2 hours. I think the larger problem was a EXTREMELY large dinner the night before with 3 pieces of cheesecake as dessert. We had guests over last night and Kacy prepared an amazing Salmon dinner with delicious mashed potatoes, etc (I could keep going on this topic as I love GOOD food). Anyway, lesson learned. I felt like I was going to throw up several times on the run again and was "burping my way along" the run. oh well.


Happy training
~Sam

Spring Training in Sweden

The trip to visit my Grandmother is going well and I am managing to train in the morning, spend time with my Grandmother during the day and put in a regular work-day -- working remotely from here. I can't seem to fall asleep before 3 am anyway..

I feel refreshed and fast again after being a bit over-trained for the Duathlon.
I feel like I am on track to achieve 2:10 this year for the Olympic distance. Getting to my ultimate goal of sub 2 hours is yet a few years away & swimming will be the road-block again. I am confident I can get there with the bike and the run.

This year to reach 2:10 -- The key will be getting a little faster on the swim as I still am very slow at swimming. I feel confident that my running and biking is on-track. I will be sure to put my Daughter into swim school as kids who start swimming early "find" the bio-mechanics effectively/quickly through programs and school. The same is not true for us adults..

Scott is getting ready to hammer me with some run workouts to get my speed to where it should be. I know I am capable of running a 17min 5k (if I schedule a peak and train for it), so I have no idea what happened at the Duathlon. In retrospect I would probably not have looked at my HR monitor except for the bike. The next time I do a sprint Duathlon I will probably just go by "feel". I was pretty excited and this drives my HR WAY up. For me, I believe looking at HR is important the first couple minutes after getting off the bike -- as it feels like you are running SO HARD, when in fact you are barely moving. I am convinced you almost have to take off like a sprinter and run through the pain (in the first 1.5 miles) until the legs loosen up -- just to get up to a decent pace & HR. I don't know what others have found or if I off on this.

Wednesday I start doing some track work (3.3k of swimming also thrown in for good measure):

WU: 15 minutes of easy running followed by 8*40m strides and light stretching. MS: 4*400 r10s at 10k pace then 400 very slow jog, repeat that 3 times. CD: 15-20 minutes easy jogging, stretch afterwards.

Happy training all, Sam

Spring Classic Sprint Duathlon - Race report

The race was not my best race, but it was early in the season. Placed 17th overall. http://racecenter.com/results/2009/res_mz09.htm


Lessons learned:

1) Went out too hard the first mile. The goal was to run the first 5k at 6 mins pace. Instead I did the first mile in 5:40 (felt really easy). When I saw the split I backed off to much. One thing that has helped me in the past is to run mile intervals during training...that helps to "dial-in" the pace..now that I am getting coached I neglected to.. It felt like I was holding back during the 1st run (which is good), but generally I was having problems focusing -- and drifted into running too slowly. It didn't help that I ran the first mile too fast either. I think I am tired or over-trained. I also have my parents in town and a lot of other stuff going on. I generally have had an energy problem recently. I was letting my mind wander too much (not in a thinking way -- but a SPACED out way). I am considering taking a few days off and catching up on sleep, etc.

2) Got on the bike well, but was again having problems focusing on a smooth peddle stroke and staying steady. Again, I never really realized I was "choppy" (in terms of output) until I started riding with my friend Steve who has a power-tap (measures wattage). I never really felt like I "pushed" on the bike, but I kept it in the zone I was supposed to...however it felt like I was slowing down quite a bit and speeding up quite a bit (to make up for slowing down when my focus drifted)..having said that I never drifted below the "zone" that Scott had instructed me to stay in -- my HR was just up and down by 3-4 beats at most (and then very briefly). I now realize HR is not very accurate. I would stop focusing and slow down too much, then "mashing" a little too hard to get back up to speed..but again, I never really felt like I was "pushing" too hard. just not "steady and smooth". Anyway..probably something that will get better especially when I am in better racing "mode".

3) Stomach cramps on the last run.. Since I didn't carry any nutrition, I decided to drink a LOT before the race. Bad idea. I drank more than 30 oz after eating oatmeal (over the next hour)..and my stomach just felt bloated. Sure enough..after the bike I had pretty bad cramps on the last run and thought I would "hurl" several times. A bummer, because I felt like this was my chance to "catch" all the folks ahead of me.

4) 2nd Run - Again, just having trouble focusing. I was so "spaced out" that I didn't even realize that it was time to "go"..I had quite a bit left (for the last mile) in the tank..and didn't put it in high-gear for some weird reason. I could easily have crushed the last mile but just didn't..the stomach cramps had cleared up after 2 miles. At that point my stomach wasn't "great" but good enough to "go hard". I had pushed the "split" button on my watch at mile 1, and for some reason didn't realize this (later) -- and thought there was a lot more left in the race. This doesn't excuse the fact that I should have known where I was in the race. The course is very simple. Totally spaced out!

5) Another thing I learned/re-learned is that you just have to "run hard" through the pain after getting off the bike (your legs will eventually clear up). Even though I had quite a bit left in the "tank" -- I "forgot" how crappy it feels getting off the bike (stomach cramps didn't help)......My legs felt pretty miserable -- partially because I rode in the last mile on a flat and was mashing hard on the pedals.. I was also getting calf cramps because of that, etc. So for my next race I will definitely "get mentally ready" to jump into the "pain cave" for the first mile after getting off the bike. It was amazing that after the first mile "I could run again" -- and the pain went away in my legs...but it took a while longer to get through the stomach cramps after that. ** I ended up running WAY too slow after I got off the bike. Christian ran by me and shouted at me..suddenly I woke up (thanks Christian)..and I pushed and got behind him....then at the end I over-took him..but if he had not shouted at me to "GO" I probably would have just continued at a miserable 6:45 pace or something slow like that.. So weird! The "mind" totally fools you..You think you can't deal with the pain, but then you find out that you definitely can run through the pain until the legs loosen up again. It was windy and cold which didn't help my legs.. My HR was pretty low at that point...10bpm under threshold..

So anyway..All in all, a good learning experience..and I guess this is what racing is good for! Thanks again to all for all the support... I will try to learn from my mistakes. I've actually had very few "good races" in general, but I am sure things will get better. The main thing is to stay positive.

Sam

Shamrock 15k Run

So I had a great race a few weeks ago. I ran just over 57 minutes on a hilly course. That is 6:08 pace. It made me realize that running 4 days a week really helps. I also realized that running is something that is natural for me. I just have to figure out how to run "fast off the bike". That is another story! :)

I took the plunge - I now have a coach

After much deliberation I decided that my training would be much more effective if I work with a coach. I think there are several reasons for having a coach in my situation. Besides the knowledge and aid a coach brings I think the collaborative process also yields positive gains. I have learned from the small amount of Triathlon training "knowledge" that I have -- that it isn't how hard you train...it is how well you train consistently without "burn-out". Planning is the most important training element perhaps, and the better you plan the better you train.

So who did I pick? I went with Scott McMillan who has a company called Factor 9 training: http://triathlonfever.com . Why did I pick Scott? I think the attractive factors were that he does coaching as his full time job, that he cares about detail, and he really cares about his athletes (and their goals and aspirations).

Why all this fuss about Triathlon? Some people think it is a little silly for people to do what we amateur triathletes do. Why work 45+ hours a week then workout for another 12+ hours on a regular basis (peaking well over 15 hours for some)?? What do we call these non-triathletes (who ask these logical questions)? Maybe they are the "regular people" (this is a cultish term I know)..and are we non-regular? I think serious athletes are somewhat "non-normal" but it seems very few of us have any "excuses". Being a pro is more socially acceptable though (and fewer questions asked), especially if the lifestyle has a shot at paying for "itself". This is probably because we grew-up watching the Olympics or other competitions. Collegiate sports are also pretty much not "questioned". Those college athletes seem less "nutty" to society.

So what are some theories for us "aging & full-time working" Triathletes? We do it because we "need to do it" and "that's that". No more explanation needed. We aren't always sure why "we need to do it" even. Perhaps it is the focus, the regularity that we achieve when transcending our limits each and every day -- the feeling that we get when we get yet another workout done? Perhaps we didn't like "everything" in our lives before we started down this path? Not sure, there are only a lot of questions...but one thing is for sure.. The addicted triathletes stopped asking these questions of themselves at some point and just accept that they have a "lifestyle" choice. Perhaps we are just coming out of the closet. Perhaps we always had some sort of addictive tendency and we need to find out where we can focus our energy?

Anyway, enough "belly button study". Maybe I told our little secret too openly. :)
So how is my training going? Well! It isn't easy, but I feel even more focused and I am learning so much. I don't have any crazy near-term goals, but I do have some rather irrational long-term goals. I want to give myself about 10 years to achieve them. I will work on shaving off a few minutes every year and build a healthy life-style rather than try to achieve too much too soon and not have fun (burn-out). Where do I want to be 5 years from now? I would love to go under sub 2 hours for the Olympic distance one day. Am I crazy? Maybe!

Sam

Training with an Olympic Medalist! Fun!

I had a chance to do a trail run on Saturday with the Bejing 2008 Triathlon Silver Medalist! Simon (in the middle) won the Gold Medal at Sydney in 2000.


What fun! It was part of the grand opening of the new Athlete's Lounge store in NW Portland (26th/Vaughn). I also had a chance to ask him some trianing questions. The guy is amazing and such a good sport. He had amazing energy and focus. Shaking his hand and chatting with him made me realize that his entire life is based on a razor focus and determination (not to mention discipline).

It really gave me some inspiration to keep training hard.

Here is a photo of me wearing his Olympic Gold medal:
























Last week I managed 12 workouts in one week, but this week I'm sick unfortunately. Let's hope I bounce back quickly before Christmas and can gain some more fitness.

My ultimate goal is to get into the pool by 6am at least 3 times a week and start swimming about 4-5 hours a week. I think this is what I need to get stronger and faster. I also realize I need to do one anarobic swim (all out) once a week. Jeff Henderson has been giving me some good tips on swimming. I respect his advice as he swims 1.5k in 18 minutes in the open water during an Olympic Distance triathlon. He is as fast as a pro in that discipline. Training with a faster group would also help instead of always swimming slow on my own.

Off-season training update

Well, I'm getting back into it..after some down-time I'm slowly starting to work-out again.. I try to do something every day, even if its just getting my body used to less sleep and dragging myself somewhere at 6am in the morning. So far I don't think I'm gaining much fitness, but I'm getting back into a routine.

I did Kevin's cup 8km, crazy cross country race last Saturday. Over logs, down 20% mud banks, and jumping over streams. No serious injuries this year. It was a lot of fun. I biked to and from the race in the rain. Portland rain! Well, there might be a little sun this weekend.