Now that my race report is out of my head and into my blog, I can concentrate my brain on the rest of the trip to California. In as detailed a report as my memory can muster, I will try to bring you as close to our trip as possible.
I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since we got back from California, and I haven't even posted a blog about it yet! Let me rewind.
Way back last May (2010), one of my friends from college and his girlfriend moved out to San Diego, and it was at their going away party that we promised them we would come out and visit. I mean, who wouldn't make that promise? Southern California? Sign me up. This past fall, I decided to go through on that promise. Now, the way I went about following up that promise isn't a normal way of following up, but it's how I've visited Craig in Colorado, and now Dave and Nikki in California. I looked for a triathlon that would be near their place, in the time frame I was looking at, signed up for it, and then boom, I'm forced to buy place tickets! In this case, it was the Rohto Ironman 70.3 California!
Wednesday, March 30, our flight out of Boston is at 8:00am, so we were up and out of the house (spent the night at my parents so they could drive/pick us up and watch our dog) early enough to be at the airport around 6:30am. This was like my 20th time on a plane, our 2nd time flying together, but either of our 1st time with the new security features of the TSA. We chose to fly on Virgin America this trip, because I was flying out there this time with my bike, rather than renting one when I got out there (I hurt my back last time I did that), and after some researching, I found that Virgin America had the cheapest bike fees around. It was only $50 to check my bike! It was my first time flying Virgin also, and it was pretty cool. I am typically favorable to JetBlue only, as they have some of the best features I've flown with, but Virgin was pretty close! They had personal TVs on the backs of each chair, where you could watch TV, movies, listen to the radio, or play video games. For some reason or another, I had the worst luck with this, though. My TV kept freezing and I couldn't do anything! Luckily I brought along my new Kindle that Laura got me for my birthday, and my PSP. Before landing in San Diego, we had a lay-over in San Francisco, for 3 hours!! That's okay, they had a bar. After a few Long Islands, and then finally taking off again, we finally landed in San Diego around 5:00pm PST (8:00pm EST); 12 hours of traveling!! After getting picked up at the airport, and getting settled into their place, we chatted around their dining area to catch up and drink some beers.
Thursday, March 31, we had plans to head to the most famous part of San Diego, the San Diego Zoo. Dave and Nikki were still planning on working that day, so we worked it out with them that they would carpool for the day, and let us use one of their cars to get around. This worked out great, because I guess it was a bit of a ways too far to get a taxi, and it also allowed me to get up to Oceanside to register for my race on Saturday without taking out time hanging out with them. The zoo itself was amazing, purely incredible. It's everything that is said about it. Laura and I got there about 9:30 in the morning, and we were able to park within a couple hundred yards of the entrance. It was a perfect day weather-wise, 70s, nice breeze, perfect. The zoo had everything both of us wanted to see (lions for her, tigers for me). We stayed until about 2:30, and we didn't stay a tremendous amount of time at each exhibit, just walked around at a nice steady pace enjoying everything, and we still didn't see the whole zoo! It was huge. I highly recommend making this a must-see stop if you are ever in the San Diego area. After leaving the zoo, we went up to Oceanside to check out the race location area, walk around the expo a bit, and then register and pick up my race packet. It was the most organized registration I have ever experienced. Later that day, we met back up with Dave and Nikki, and spent the night grilling dinner at their apartment, and just enjoying the rest of the night.
Friday, April 1, Dave was planning on working a half-day from home, and then taking Laura and I out for a tour of the area. The whole time we were driving around, I felt like I was in a movie. Everything was so perfectly groomed, with palm trees lining almost every street, I thought every street was Beverly Hills! Our first stop was out to this place we call "Seals Beach", and it this cool little beach/cove area that was roped off because there were a ton of seals and sea lions and a bunch of their puppies lounging on the sand. It was incredible. We had lunch at RT Longboards (Boston-based pub) which was fun, because it was the Red Sox opening day and there were people all around wearing Sox gear. After lunch, we headed around to a few other site-seeing places before meeting back up with Nikki after she got out of work. We had plans to stay at her friends house for Friday and Saturday night, so we packed up to head over there. Nikki has recently been employed as an Executive Assistant, and it was at her employers house that we stayed. The house was incredible, it was mansion-esque! Everything you could imagine having in a house, this house had: a sensored gate at the driveway, beautiful landscape, 2 islands in the kitchen, 2 fridges/2 freezers/2dish washers all looked like cabinets, a living room with a grand piano, a full bathroom in every room with trees in the showers, 2 full bathrooms in the master, a really nice pool with a waterfall, 3 outside grilles (all remote controlled), a huge gas fireplace, a guest house, endless places to sit, orange/lemon/avocado trees, a tennis court, not to mention the 6 car garage was filled with a porche, a mercedes benz, an old cadillac, a range rover, and a bright red ferarri... This family was living the life! So jealous. And that is where we stayed for Friday and Saturday night.
Saturday, April 2, was the day of my race, which you can check out here Rohto Ironman 70.3 California. After the race, I was super tired, and super hungry, but I couldn't eat. I tried eating a chimichanga, but it wouldn't go down. So we went back to the house and I napped for a good 2.5 hours. Our friends wanted to go out to some bars that night, and because I felt bad that I took up so much time of the day doing my race, I tried my hardest to be a trooper and rally.
Sunday, April 3, was my birthday (happy birthday?). The race was my birthday present to myself, ha-ha. All of us planned on heading to Temecula, which I guess is the Napa Valley of Southern California, for some wine tasting and winery touring. The wineries were all one after another, and it was really cool just looking around and seeing endless grape vines in any direction you looked. We stopped at the first place and had some lunch in the restaurant, and each of us got a flight of wines to try. After that, we drove down the street to Calloway, where we took a tour of the facility (it was huge, so many barrels!), and then had another tasting; we got complimentary wine glasses with this one. Later that day, we drove down to Coronado, walked around the pier for awhile, checked out the Dr. Seuss museum, and then headed to another place for dinner. At this point, I was still not able to eat too much, and I couldn't even finish my beer. My stomach was just not feeling anything yet. I ordered lobster mac 'n cheese, and was so disappointed that I couldn't eat it that night. But I packaged it up and had it for lunch the next day. It was just another great night hanging out together, and that's all I could've asked for on my birthday.
Monday, April 4, was our last full day in San Diego. Dave and Nikki hadn't planned on taking the day off, which was fine, because I was still fairly drained at this point. They left us one of their cars again, and we just relaxed. We took our time getting going, then drove around for awhile enjoying the beautiful weather, before heading back for the last night in. This was the slowest moving day of the trip, but it was much needed at this point. Neither of us wanted to come back from California, needing a vacation.
We flew out early the next morning, said our good byes, and then just enjoyed the memories of the trip the whole flight back to Boston.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
F1 Boston
Last night my lovely girlfriend surprised me by meeting me at work, and taking me out on a date to F1 Boston! She's the best!
The facility is great, and the experience was amazing! They offer the best kart racing I have ever experienced, much unlike the go-kart racing at a local carnival. We reached speeds over 30 mph, and with more skill, I'm sure we could have gone even faster. They provide you with a safety video, and safety equipment (jumpsuit, helmet, and neck guard) and it all makes you feel like you are racing a real race. At the end they print off a performance sheet of each person. I can't wait to go again! By the way, I kicked Laura's butt :)
The facility is great, and the experience was amazing! They offer the best kart racing I have ever experienced, much unlike the go-kart racing at a local carnival. We reached speeds over 30 mph, and with more skill, I'm sure we could have gone even faster. They provide you with a safety video, and safety equipment (jumpsuit, helmet, and neck guard) and it all makes you feel like you are racing a real race. At the end they print off a performance sheet of each person. I can't wait to go again! By the way, I kicked Laura's butt :)
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| Laura's F1 Boston Results |
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| My F1 Boston Results |
Friday, April 8, 2011
Rohto Ironman 70.3 California Race Report
Rohto Ironman 70.3 California
Oceanside, CA, 4/2/2011
HERE WE GO!!! My first 70.3 finally came and went with success, meaning I finished.
The night before the race, I was hanging out with my friends that we were staying with in San Diego, and some of their friends. We all shared dinner that night (some delicious raviolis), and then hung around a campfire that night, drinking (water for me) and playing games. It was a little uncomfortable for me, because in my head I was juggling trying to go to bed early and get the rest I would need for the race the next morning, and hanging out with these people who were so gracious to us in letting us stay with them. But I was able to get to bed by 10pm. Hardly early enough, but earlier than my body is use to, so it's okay? In my mind, yes.
Waking up at 4:30am the next morning, I thought, would be a piece of cake. My thought was that because we were only out there for a few days, that our body clocks would still be set for EST. So waking up at 4:30am PST (7:30am EST) would be alright. It turned out, that waking up at 4:30am PST felt like waking up at 4:30am EST; miserable! Between 4:30 and 5:00am, we (Laura and I), got dressed, packed a few things into Dave's car, and prepared a small breakfast of bananas and oranges. Of which I could not eat. I know I 100% should eat food before a race, but my stomach doesn't agree with that. But I had a plan, and we left the house at 5:00am.
Transition opened up at 4:45am and closed at 6:30am. Because we had gone to Oceanside a few days before to check-in, I was fairly confident that by leaving at 5:00am, we would be able to get to the site location with plenty of time to set-up my transition area, have a small breakfast, and warm-up a bit for the race. We got to one of the parking lots in plenty of time, 5:40-5:45am, unpacked all my gear, and started walking down to the transition area. There was a shuttle bus running people back and forth to transition, and we contemplated having Laura take the shuttle, and I could ride my bike down, but we decided to make the walk. One, because we didn't think it was that far away and two, we saw several other athletes already walking down, so we thought we still had plenty of time. The walk ended up being quite a distance, and took us a lot longer than we anticipated. Once we got down to the transition entrance, there were volunteers separating the athletes from the spectators, because only athletes are allowed in transition. At this point, I told Laura to wait right there, that I was going to go set-up my transition area and then head back out to grab my breakfast and warm-up. I get to my transition spot, drop my things off, went over to the body-markers, then started laying out my things when I hear a megaphone inside transition, "Everyone start heading down to the wave corrals, the transition is closing." I started freaking out. I hadn't eaten breakfast, I hadn't warmed up in the least bit, and I hadn't been able to see Laura since I came into transition. She was probably just as freaked. I squeezed a GU into my mouth to at least have something in me before the start of the race.
The race itself, so far, was very organized. By far the most organized race I have done. The check-in itself, which usually takes 30 seconds of me going up to a fold-up table and telling a person there my name and them giving me a packet with my race number, took 15 minutes of an organized walk-through of an auditorium picking up things from different tables. Heading to the swim, I just follow the flow of wet suit cladded people, and then I hear a gun shot. My throat dropped, because I knew that was the start of the elites wave, and I knew that my wave started 19 minutes after theirs, and it hit me that this was it. I head through the corrals or colored swim caps, towards the group of purple, which signified my wave. I was wave #7 out of 16 or 17. All the corrals were along the edge of the water, so we could all see the action that was playing out at the start of the swim. In an attempt to calm my nerves, I didn't watch the swimmers at all, I just looked around at the spectators and the volunteers and thought about what it would be like to be watching this right now or working it. It worked for awhile until they called my swim wave, and we started heading down to the water. You can see I was getting pretty nervous in the video below (I was rubbing my eyelids). So we walk down the boat ramp, dive into the water, and swim the 25 yards across the bay to the start buoys.
I was afraid the water would be way too chilly, because they said it was going to be 55-60°F, but it actually wasn't bad at all. I wore 2 swim caps, my purple one for the race, and another one underneath it. I wasn't uncomfortable at all with the water temperature, and felt like I would be okay swimming the 1.2 miles. The swim was an in-water start, meaning we had to tread water for the few minutes until our gun went off. It sounds tiring, but between the buoyancy of the wet suits, and the extra density of salt water, I just bobbed in the water like one of the buoys! My main thought going into the swim, was to start real slowwww. Because this was my first 70.3, and longest straight swim to date, I didn't know how it would affect me later on in the race. So I planned on swimming a lot slower than I could, and saving my energy for the bike and the run. Swimming started out great, the bay was real calm, and there were no turns in the first few minutes which usually causes clusters. I started in the back of my wave, took off like a turtle at the start of the gun, and just rhythm-ed my way along the buoys. I was very surprised to pass people in the wave before me in the first few minutes, and I just felt bad for them because I knew they were in for a much longer day than I was. The water in the bay was very calm, it was great. Then came the turn buoy that meant I would be swimming out of the bay and straight out into the ocean. The sea swells came rolling in, I started getting pretty sea sick, and all I could see when I was siting was buoy after buoy after buoy with no end in site. My thoughts in the next few moments were:
Transition 1 started with a run up the entire side of transition. There were about almost 3,000 athletes, so it was a fairly long run. With that many people in the race, it was very important for me (in the little time I had before the race), to find something I could site with coming into transition to tell me where my stuff was. If I have more time before a race, I typically will simulate the run out of the water into transition, and count my steps until my row. I didn't have that luxury today, but I was able to notice that my stuff was parked right next to one of those big traveling dumpsters, perfect! So I find the dumpster, take off my wet suit, put on my socks (not getting blisters on this long of a race!), grab some food to put in my pockets (doing this all in no absolute rush either), and start heading out of transition with my bike.
I was especially excited about this bike leg because I had bought my first tri bike a few months before (see picture below). I hadn't been able to ride it much, mostly because the weather in New England in the winter makes it fairly difficult to do fun training. (See Off-season Training in New England). I was excited to see what I could do. The first half of the race went great. I was following my nutrition plan of having a GU every 30 minutes, drinking a few sips of gatorade frequently, and eating pretzels/saltines (bad idea on the saltines) every 20 minutes. I was cruising along, not worrying about people that are flying by me, and just concentrating on my cadence. I started out real slow the first few miles, which typically happens to me. Probably because I have trouble getting rid of the sea legs. But then once I got a few miles out, I was able to get into a good rhythm and was right around averaging 20mph for the first 25 miles. My goal for the ride was to break 3 hrs, and at the 28 mile mark, I was at 1 hr and 24 mins, right on mark. Almost immediately after checking that time, I look up (and up and up and up) and see this monster of a hill (mountain!). It was still a good distance away, but I could see large groups of people all together. You usually don't see large groups of people together in a race like this, unless they are cheating and drafting off each other, or they are going super slow because of a steep incline. Getting to the start of that climb was like hitting a brick wall. The gradient increased almost immediately, and it was a struggle for a few seconds until I was able to get my gears all the way down. I just put my head down, and cranked away up the climb. I feel I am a pretty decent climber if I want to be, so although it wasn't the most difficult part of the race for me, it's still less fun than cruising downhill or over flat roads. There were many people who were off their bikes, walking them up, and even several that ended up going so slow that they just tipped over on their bikes. I'm not sure how long it took my to climb, but it was around 7-8 mins I think, and was way less than a mile climb. It seems short, but it sure didn't feel like it! The next 20ish miles had several more of these steep climbs, and also had a major headwind that we had to deal with. It was so strong, that on some of the downhill decents, I felt like I had to pedal or I would be pushed back up! The whole second half of the ride was very difficult for me. I wasn't struggling per say, but my time wasn't what I was expecting. After that half-way point, I felt like my legs couldn't produce the kind of power they were producing in the first 28 miles. The ride was through commercial areas for the first and last few miles, but was mostly through different areas of Camp Pendleton Marine Base. It was very cool because there were a lot of marines out on the course cheering us all on; there were some that were blocking the road and directing traffic for us; and there were others that were doing drills and different exercises in the fields as we passed. Bike time for the 56 miles = 3:16:44.
Oceanside, CA, 4/2/2011
HERE WE GO!!! My first 70.3 finally came and went with success, meaning I finished.
The night before the race, I was hanging out with my friends that we were staying with in San Diego, and some of their friends. We all shared dinner that night (some delicious raviolis), and then hung around a campfire that night, drinking (water for me) and playing games. It was a little uncomfortable for me, because in my head I was juggling trying to go to bed early and get the rest I would need for the race the next morning, and hanging out with these people who were so gracious to us in letting us stay with them. But I was able to get to bed by 10pm. Hardly early enough, but earlier than my body is use to, so it's okay? In my mind, yes.
Waking up at 4:30am the next morning, I thought, would be a piece of cake. My thought was that because we were only out there for a few days, that our body clocks would still be set for EST. So waking up at 4:30am PST (7:30am EST) would be alright. It turned out, that waking up at 4:30am PST felt like waking up at 4:30am EST; miserable! Between 4:30 and 5:00am, we (Laura and I), got dressed, packed a few things into Dave's car, and prepared a small breakfast of bananas and oranges. Of which I could not eat. I know I 100% should eat food before a race, but my stomach doesn't agree with that. But I had a plan, and we left the house at 5:00am.
Transition opened up at 4:45am and closed at 6:30am. Because we had gone to Oceanside a few days before to check-in, I was fairly confident that by leaving at 5:00am, we would be able to get to the site location with plenty of time to set-up my transition area, have a small breakfast, and warm-up a bit for the race. We got to one of the parking lots in plenty of time, 5:40-5:45am, unpacked all my gear, and started walking down to the transition area. There was a shuttle bus running people back and forth to transition, and we contemplated having Laura take the shuttle, and I could ride my bike down, but we decided to make the walk. One, because we didn't think it was that far away and two, we saw several other athletes already walking down, so we thought we still had plenty of time. The walk ended up being quite a distance, and took us a lot longer than we anticipated. Once we got down to the transition entrance, there were volunteers separating the athletes from the spectators, because only athletes are allowed in transition. At this point, I told Laura to wait right there, that I was going to go set-up my transition area and then head back out to grab my breakfast and warm-up. I get to my transition spot, drop my things off, went over to the body-markers, then started laying out my things when I hear a megaphone inside transition, "Everyone start heading down to the wave corrals, the transition is closing." I started freaking out. I hadn't eaten breakfast, I hadn't warmed up in the least bit, and I hadn't been able to see Laura since I came into transition. She was probably just as freaked. I squeezed a GU into my mouth to at least have something in me before the start of the race.
The race itself, so far, was very organized. By far the most organized race I have done. The check-in itself, which usually takes 30 seconds of me going up to a fold-up table and telling a person there my name and them giving me a packet with my race number, took 15 minutes of an organized walk-through of an auditorium picking up things from different tables. Heading to the swim, I just follow the flow of wet suit cladded people, and then I hear a gun shot. My throat dropped, because I knew that was the start of the elites wave, and I knew that my wave started 19 minutes after theirs, and it hit me that this was it. I head through the corrals or colored swim caps, towards the group of purple, which signified my wave. I was wave #7 out of 16 or 17. All the corrals were along the edge of the water, so we could all see the action that was playing out at the start of the swim. In an attempt to calm my nerves, I didn't watch the swimmers at all, I just looked around at the spectators and the volunteers and thought about what it would be like to be watching this right now or working it. It worked for awhile until they called my swim wave, and we started heading down to the water. You can see I was getting pretty nervous in the video below (I was rubbing my eyelids). So we walk down the boat ramp, dive into the water, and swim the 25 yards across the bay to the start buoys.
I was afraid the water would be way too chilly, because they said it was going to be 55-60°F, but it actually wasn't bad at all. I wore 2 swim caps, my purple one for the race, and another one underneath it. I wasn't uncomfortable at all with the water temperature, and felt like I would be okay swimming the 1.2 miles. The swim was an in-water start, meaning we had to tread water for the few minutes until our gun went off. It sounds tiring, but between the buoyancy of the wet suits, and the extra density of salt water, I just bobbed in the water like one of the buoys! My main thought going into the swim, was to start real slowwww. Because this was my first 70.3, and longest straight swim to date, I didn't know how it would affect me later on in the race. So I planned on swimming a lot slower than I could, and saving my energy for the bike and the run. Swimming started out great, the bay was real calm, and there were no turns in the first few minutes which usually causes clusters. I started in the back of my wave, took off like a turtle at the start of the gun, and just rhythm-ed my way along the buoys. I was very surprised to pass people in the wave before me in the first few minutes, and I just felt bad for them because I knew they were in for a much longer day than I was. The water in the bay was very calm, it was great. Then came the turn buoy that meant I would be swimming out of the bay and straight out into the ocean. The sea swells came rolling in, I started getting pretty sea sick, and all I could see when I was siting was buoy after buoy after buoy with no end in site. My thoughts in the next few moments were:
"Oh man this is awful, I feel like I'm going to throw up that GU."
"I guess throwing up in the ocean would be okay, it would all get washed off me pretty quick."
"Ew, then some poor guy behind me will be swimming through my puke."
"I wonder if I have ever swam through someone else's puke?"
"Probably, just keep swimming."After making all the necessary turns, coming back into the bay was great. I could hear the loudspeaker, I could see the boat ramp, and I knew I was almost done. Getting out of the water was another new thing for me, because there was a line of people in wet suits who started grabbing at me as I was running up the ramp! I was so confused at what was going on, until I realized that my wet suit was starting to come off. They were pulling down the zipper of our wet suits, and helping us take them off, it was cool, but I didn't need the help. I took off my goggles, put it in my swim caps, and was about to take off my sleeve of my wet suit (leaving my goggles and swim cap in the sleeve) when I noticed my goggles weren't in my cap anymore. I had dropped them in the water coming up the ramp. Looking around for them real quick was useless. The water was waist-high coming up the ramp where I dropped them, and the water was dark, and there were people rushing up the ramp. It was like looking for an acorn amongst a stampede of rubber wildebeests. So I gave up and ran into transition. Swim time for the 1.2 miles = 44:01.
Transition 1 started with a run up the entire side of transition. There were about almost 3,000 athletes, so it was a fairly long run. With that many people in the race, it was very important for me (in the little time I had before the race), to find something I could site with coming into transition to tell me where my stuff was. If I have more time before a race, I typically will simulate the run out of the water into transition, and count my steps until my row. I didn't have that luxury today, but I was able to notice that my stuff was parked right next to one of those big traveling dumpsters, perfect! So I find the dumpster, take off my wet suit, put on my socks (not getting blisters on this long of a race!), grab some food to put in my pockets (doing this all in no absolute rush either), and start heading out of transition with my bike.
I was especially excited about this bike leg because I had bought my first tri bike a few months before (see picture below). I hadn't been able to ride it much, mostly because the weather in New England in the winter makes it fairly difficult to do fun training. (See Off-season Training in New England). I was excited to see what I could do. The first half of the race went great. I was following my nutrition plan of having a GU every 30 minutes, drinking a few sips of gatorade frequently, and eating pretzels/saltines (bad idea on the saltines) every 20 minutes. I was cruising along, not worrying about people that are flying by me, and just concentrating on my cadence. I started out real slow the first few miles, which typically happens to me. Probably because I have trouble getting rid of the sea legs. But then once I got a few miles out, I was able to get into a good rhythm and was right around averaging 20mph for the first 25 miles. My goal for the ride was to break 3 hrs, and at the 28 mile mark, I was at 1 hr and 24 mins, right on mark. Almost immediately after checking that time, I look up (and up and up and up) and see this monster of a hill (mountain!). It was still a good distance away, but I could see large groups of people all together. You usually don't see large groups of people together in a race like this, unless they are cheating and drafting off each other, or they are going super slow because of a steep incline. Getting to the start of that climb was like hitting a brick wall. The gradient increased almost immediately, and it was a struggle for a few seconds until I was able to get my gears all the way down. I just put my head down, and cranked away up the climb. I feel I am a pretty decent climber if I want to be, so although it wasn't the most difficult part of the race for me, it's still less fun than cruising downhill or over flat roads. There were many people who were off their bikes, walking them up, and even several that ended up going so slow that they just tipped over on their bikes. I'm not sure how long it took my to climb, but it was around 7-8 mins I think, and was way less than a mile climb. It seems short, but it sure didn't feel like it! The next 20ish miles had several more of these steep climbs, and also had a major headwind that we had to deal with. It was so strong, that on some of the downhill decents, I felt like I had to pedal or I would be pushed back up! The whole second half of the ride was very difficult for me. I wasn't struggling per say, but my time wasn't what I was expecting. After that half-way point, I felt like my legs couldn't produce the kind of power they were producing in the first 28 miles. The ride was through commercial areas for the first and last few miles, but was mostly through different areas of Camp Pendleton Marine Base. It was very cool because there were a lot of marines out on the course cheering us all on; there were some that were blocking the road and directing traffic for us; and there were others that were doing drills and different exercises in the fields as we passed. Bike time for the 56 miles = 3:16:44.
Coming off the bike, I was feeling tired, but not drained, and I felt confident of completing this race. The transition was easy, but I knew I was going to be awhile on the run, so I took my time again. Found the dumpster, changed my shoes, threw out my trash from the bike, and then headed out for the final leg.
The start of the run was really cool for me. As I left the transition, the announcer was getting all excited, and I could see Mirinda Carfrae coming down the road in the opposite direction. Mirinda is a pro who ended up winning the women's race, and I was able to see her finish the run with several girls right behind her. She was flying! The announcer was saying how she was 4.5 minutes back at the start of the run, and how she was still 30 seconds behind 1st place with 1 mile to go, and obviously she crushed that last mile to win by 10 seconds. That excitement was a huge boost, and helped me shake out my biking legs, until the end of the first mile...
The sign for mile 1 came up, and then that signaled my legs to die. I had run the Hyannis Half-Marathon a few weeks prior, and knew how difficult it was going to be for me to run this distance after enduring everything else before. But I didn't fly out all that way, spend all that money for nothing. I just focused all my thoughts on the small picture. I looked at buildings coming up, or looked at people playing volleyball on the beach, or ran towards overhead lights. Anything small to get me over this distance would be great. The run was an out-and-back half-marathon along the Oceanside beach for awhile, and then taking a few turns to run up and down a residential street. They said the run was "flat" and for the most part it was. There was just a few gradual hills that seemed like huge steep mountains with how my legs felt. I walked at every water station, drinking water or coke, eating an orange slice, and putting a wet sponge on the back of my neck to cool me off. I walked up these gradual hills. I ran what I could in between. Mile after mile came and went, I made the turnaround and knew I was going to be slower than I wanted, but at this point, I was very proud of myself for my mental state. Although I was walking, it was more so that I would be able to finish at the finish line rather than at a medical tent than being mentally weak. I felt strong mentally, and I was happy for that.
Turning that last corner, coming down the road with all the screaming people (and cowbells), and running through that finishing chute was amazing, and I couldn't help but think about doing the next one. Even though I was on the ground right after, trying to shove a cookie down my throat so I wouldn't pass out. I couldn't talk for a few minutes, and I felt like I was going to collapse if I didn't find a seat somewhere, but I held onto that finishing medal with great pride. Run time for the 13.1 miles = 2:32:41.
Overall, it was a great experience for me. Now many days later, I feel like so much stronger than I did before the race. I feel like any distance under 70.3 will be a breeze, and that's a great feeling. I learned that I really need to get to races earlier, so I have plenty of time to warm-up and get ready, and not have to worry about anything; I learned that I need to run A LOT MORE than I am doing now; and I learned that I need to learn about riding into the wind (if that is possible). After it is all said and done, I would definitely do this race again, if it were all free for me next time.
Swim: 1.2 miles, 44:01, 2:17 min/100yd avg
T1: 4:20
Bike: 56 miles, 3:16:44, 17.1 mph avg
T2: 3:20
Run: 13.1 miles, 2:32:41, 11:40 min/mile avg
Total: 70.3 miles, 6:41:06
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Multisport Expo
MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA, 3/19/2011
One of the most exciting things for any triathlete is spending money. We spend money on all the best gear; we spend money on all the best supplements; we spend money on all the best trainings/coaches; and we think it all actually makes a difference. The place where this can all happen at the same location was at the Multisport Expo at MIT.
Here, athletes were able to enjoy walking around to all the different vendor booths (and there were a lot!). There were a ton of booths that were selling products, from gear to drinks to clothing to whatever you could need in the multisport world, and almost all of them at really reduced pricing. Many booths were giving away samples of their products, which was really cool. The first 1,000 people to register for the expo got a "swag bag" for you to carry around and put flyers, or different samples into. But there was no list of people registered, so if you just said that you were in the first 1,000 to register, then you got one, ha-ha. There was also a lot of groups and organizations that had information on events they were putting on later this year, either for charities or other causes, and gave people the opportunity to sign up for those if they wanted to.
Another cool thing they did this year was put on a team challenge. It consisted of a 5km run on the track/campus of MIT, a 10km indoor time trial (ITT) on computrainers, and a 1600m-relay swim in the MIT pool. Teams could register 4-12 people for the challenge, but could only have 4 people do each event (the same 4 people can do each event). In the run, the times of all 4 members of the team are added up, with the lowest combined time being the winner. The same was for the ITT. While for the swim, each person swam 400m. The run was 2 laps around the MIT track, then 2 laps around campus, and then finished with another 2 laps around the track. The ride on the computrainers was my first time on one, and it was tough! The computrainers simulate an actual ride, increasing the resistance on the bike when we were going uphill. Although, it was sort of unrealistic because you had to pedal going downhill. There was no coasting! MIT has the NICEST pool I have ever swam in. The pool was so clean, I couldn't taste an ounce of chlorine or any other chemicals while I was swimming. I felt like I could've drank the water if I wanted to. It was also the perfect temperature for swimming in. It was chilly, but not cold enough to shiver. I wanted to swim all day long.
Overall, it was a great day, one that I am looking forward to repeating next time the expo is in town. It was a great event for all athletes. I recommend going to this event to anyone that does or is interested in anything multisport: triathlon, duathlon, aquathon, running, cycling, swimming, walking, whatever. There was something for everyone (almost everyone).
One of the most exciting things for any triathlete is spending money. We spend money on all the best gear; we spend money on all the best supplements; we spend money on all the best trainings/coaches; and we think it all actually makes a difference. The place where this can all happen at the same location was at the Multisport Expo at MIT.
Here, athletes were able to enjoy walking around to all the different vendor booths (and there were a lot!). There were a ton of booths that were selling products, from gear to drinks to clothing to whatever you could need in the multisport world, and almost all of them at really reduced pricing. Many booths were giving away samples of their products, which was really cool. The first 1,000 people to register for the expo got a "swag bag" for you to carry around and put flyers, or different samples into. But there was no list of people registered, so if you just said that you were in the first 1,000 to register, then you got one, ha-ha. There was also a lot of groups and organizations that had information on events they were putting on later this year, either for charities or other causes, and gave people the opportunity to sign up for those if they wanted to.
Another cool thing they did this year was put on a team challenge. It consisted of a 5km run on the track/campus of MIT, a 10km indoor time trial (ITT) on computrainers, and a 1600m-relay swim in the MIT pool. Teams could register 4-12 people for the challenge, but could only have 4 people do each event (the same 4 people can do each event). In the run, the times of all 4 members of the team are added up, with the lowest combined time being the winner. The same was for the ITT. While for the swim, each person swam 400m. The run was 2 laps around the MIT track, then 2 laps around campus, and then finished with another 2 laps around the track. The ride on the computrainers was my first time on one, and it was tough! The computrainers simulate an actual ride, increasing the resistance on the bike when we were going uphill. Although, it was sort of unrealistic because you had to pedal going downhill. There was no coasting! MIT has the NICEST pool I have ever swam in. The pool was so clean, I couldn't taste an ounce of chlorine or any other chemicals while I was swimming. I felt like I could've drank the water if I wanted to. It was also the perfect temperature for swimming in. It was chilly, but not cold enough to shiver. I wanted to swim all day long.
Overall, it was a great day, one that I am looking forward to repeating next time the expo is in town. It was a great event for all athletes. I recommend going to this event to anyone that does or is interested in anything multisport: triathlon, duathlon, aquathon, running, cycling, swimming, walking, whatever. There was something for everyone (almost everyone).
Off-season Training in New England
Since I decided to step up my game, and race the Ironman 70.3 California, I really tried to stay focused with the training. My last race was on Halloween 2010, and I took a few weeks off from the sport before picking up my training again. Again, I chose not to invest in a coach mainly because they cost a lot of money, and to me personally, some days I prefer to just do my own thing and have fun doing what I want to do, and I wouldn't get out of a coach what I should, and I would be wasting their time.
December came, and I really started picking up my training; mostly in swimming and running. Once the new year rolled around, I really stepped up my biking game. The off-season training mostly consisted of 3 workouts a week, per sport. Mondays and Wednesdays consisted of a swim workout at my local Y; Tuesdays included an interval bike workout on the trainer followed by a tempo run either outside or on the treadmill if it were too bad outside (and a lot of times it was); Thursdays were my tempo rides on the trainer; Fridays I went on the treadmill again for a nice hard interval run and an easy ride on my trainer if time allowed; Saturdays mornings I woke up early to swim at the Y, then came back to put a really long movie in the DVD player and rode on my trainer for several hours; and Sundays were spent endlessly trotting on the treadmill for my long runs. Pool, trainer, treadmill, pool, treadmill, trainer, treadmill, pool, treadmill, trainer, poooool, treadmillllllll, trainerrrrrrrrrrrrrr. What an endless amount of boredom there is training in the winter in New England! I drew the picture below out of frustration of this boredom.
I really don't think I will race again as early as April 2, because I can't stand training to that intensity indoors. Maybe I should move somewhere warm?
December came, and I really started picking up my training; mostly in swimming and running. Once the new year rolled around, I really stepped up my biking game. The off-season training mostly consisted of 3 workouts a week, per sport. Mondays and Wednesdays consisted of a swim workout at my local Y; Tuesdays included an interval bike workout on the trainer followed by a tempo run either outside or on the treadmill if it were too bad outside (and a lot of times it was); Thursdays were my tempo rides on the trainer; Fridays I went on the treadmill again for a nice hard interval run and an easy ride on my trainer if time allowed; Saturdays mornings I woke up early to swim at the Y, then came back to put a really long movie in the DVD player and rode on my trainer for several hours; and Sundays were spent endlessly trotting on the treadmill for my long runs. Pool, trainer, treadmill, pool, treadmill, trainer, treadmill, pool, treadmill, trainer, poooool, treadmillllllll, trainerrrrrrrrrrrrrr. What an endless amount of boredom there is training in the winter in New England! I drew the picture below out of frustration of this boredom.
I really don't think I will race again as early as April 2, because I can't stand training to that intensity indoors. Maybe I should move somewhere warm?
Loveland Lake to Lake Race Report
Loveland, CO, 6/26/2010
Pre-race: I was worried about making this race on time, and because of it, I hardly got any sleep the night before. Craig and I were camped about 30-40 mins away from the race site, on top of a mountain with little reception. I think I checked and rechecked whether my phone alarm worked with no reception at least 10 times before I went to bed. We got up early, I forget what time now, and packed up real quick. It didn't take too long, because we didn't set-up an extensive camp. On the way Craig needed to stop at Starbucks. Stopping on my way to a race is not something I am usually keen on doing, but this guy got up super early on a non-work day to take me to my race and then spend hours standing around waiting for me, so of course I was okay with it! When we got to the race site, at Loveland High School, there was a giant line around the building. Time crept away, and it was soon to be race start time, and I was no where close to being ready. What made me feel better, though, was that I was in line with everyone else in the race, so I knew they wouldn't start the race until this line died down, whatever it was for. By the time I got to the front of the line, I realized it was the line into transition, where they had 1 person checking your bike out, and body-marking you. HUGE race organization fail! You need to split that job up, and have several people doing each. Once I get into transition, I realize the lack of organization didn't stop at the entrance. The bike racks were not numbered at all, and it was a free-for-all on finding a spot for your bike. This was the first race I had done that didn't have race-number specified bike racks. Oh well, found a spot and set-up my gear and headed down to the lake.
Swim (1.5 km): Craig and I swam a bit in the lake the day before the race, after I checked in. The beach is nice, but it was kind of crowded, so we walked to the far end of the beach, and it was real mucky! Gunk mixed with gunk, over mud, was all we could walk on. "Good thing the swim tomorrow starts/ends on the beach!" was all I could think.The water was nice, a little warmer than is ideal for swimming in a race, but good enough anyways. For me, this swim was very important, because it was my second Olympic distance swim after my disaster swim. My first try at this distance was at the Age Group Nationals the previous year, and I was totally unprepared for it. With my poor swimming skills, and the fact that the gates on an upstream dam were released before the race, I had no chance and finished that swim in almost an hour and a half, but that's another story! So this race I was hoping to get this sour taste out of my mouth, and gain some swimming momentum. The first buoy was about 50 yards from the beach, and so I decided I would take this start to get into a rhythm and just swam nice and slow to find it. Once I got around the buoy, I maintained my rhythm and just picked up my pace a little bit. The swim went great, I was able to maintain my rhythm the entire time, stroke-stroke-breathe-stroke-stroke-breathe, and I didn't stop the entire time. The only time I lifted my head out of the water, was to site and make sure I was going in the right direction. This gave me huge confidence, and also made me feel stronger going into the next leg of the race. Getting out of the water, there was at least a 1/4 mile run from the beach to the transition area, and this added time was included in my swim time.
Swim Result - 33:44 (2:03 min/100 yards), 382nd overall
Transition 1: My transitioning seems to be getting more consistent, and I didn't have any trouble switching between my wet suit and my biking shoes. Although, I hardly burned a blazing trail.
T1 Result - 1:52
Bike (30 miles): Leaving the transition area and heading out on my bike, I was completely expecting on having an awful bike ride. I hadn't tried riding at elevation before, and the race was a couple thousand feet above sea level, so I was thinking that this was going to really affect my race. That coupled with the race distance (the longest I've raced to date), I wasn't expecting much. The first 10 miles were mostly through neighborhoods, which made it difficult because of the constant turning from street to street. I couldn't get into any great spinning rhythm. Then the Rocky Mountains showed up. Huge massive mountains! For climbing sections of the race, I just dropped my gears down real low, and focused on just spinning my legs until I was at the top of the climb, not worrying about other people. To date, my fastest mile ever biked included the decent of one of these climbs, at 1:52 for the mile (31.9 mph average), I was flying! The bike leg finished with a long straight section of rollers, which I was able to keep a really good pace at. People were cranking on this part, flying down the rollers and powering up the other end, so I just kept pace. This is what really helped me pick up lost time on the first part of the leg.
Bike Result - 1:33:29 (19.3 mph average), 338th overall
Transition 2: With the confidence gained from my swim, and the confidence I gained on the last section of the bike, I was feeling excellent going into transition. There were so many volunteers and spectators surrounding the transition, that my adrenaline starting pumping so hard, and I bolted out like a rocket...
T2 Result - 1:32
Run (10 km): ...bad idea. As soon as I left the safety blanket of cheers from the crowds of spectators and volunteers, my spirits died, along with my lungs. At this point, the elevation was taking a noticeable toll on my running, and I knew I was in for a long one. Since graduating college, I haven't been as good a runner as I once was, and the longer the distance, the worse I get. A 10k run for me, was very difficult at this point, and I walked far more than I would have liked. The run was an out-and-back, taking the competitors around Loveland Lake. The last half-mile before the turn-around was great, because it was along a very nice path along the lakes edge, and it gave great views of the lake and the mountains in the backdrop. On the way back to the finish, I ran with another guy that seemed to be having as much a hard time as me. We chit-chatted about how much we were hurting, how we hated ourselves for doing the race, and for doing triathlons. Then the most amazing music came upon our ears, the finish line music! I love hearing the DJ at the finish, because it always gives me a new sense of confidence. So I pushed myself hard to the finish, and sighed a relief when I crossed the line.
Run Result - 1:01:47 (9:53 min/mile pace), 518th overall
Post-race: After crossing the line, leaning on the edge of the fence for a moment, grabbing a water, I found Craig waiting nearby. I was half-expecting him to have a bored expression on his face, but he seemed rather excited, and told me that he actually enjoyed being at the race and watching. I might have converted another person to the triathlon lifestyle after all! We chilled out on the grass for a bit longer, watched a little bit of the awards, then headed inside to grab a bite to eat. FREE FOOD! The best part of doing a race. Food this time was breakfast foods that you could make into a burrito: eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, peppers, etc. It was pretty delicious, and I think Craig even went up for seconds. It wouldn't surprise me.
Final Result - 3:12:25, 16th in my age group, 407th overall (56th percentile)
Overall, I was super excited about my time, but knew I would be able to improve all my legs at future races. My swimming confidence gained was tremendous, and I felt really good about how I was able to have the bike leg that I had.
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