Lake Mills RR and Some Product Review

First tri of the season has FINALLY happened!  It has been a long winter/spring and the itch to get out and race was greater than ever before.  And it seems the crappy weather is not quite done with WI yet.  Last Sunday morning we were met with strong sustained winds and cold temps.  Race morning felt more appropriate for a St. Patty's day dash than the first summer sprint triathlon.

Race Morning

Early roll call...oof.  As you know most of my weekends are spent helping time/do set up for the many local races Race Day Events is involved with.  We had to be on site early to complete course set up so I was up at 3:15.  Having had an early wake up the previous day for another race and not getting to bed until past 11, I was a bit concerned about not having rested enough.  To preface that, Saturday night before the race I had a slight panic attack.  My tri shorts were no where to be found!  I knew I had packed them, I specifically remembered putting them right next to my Wattie tri top.  After a frantic phone to my roommate Sean, he said he would drive another pair of shorts my way.  Talk about a good friend...thankfully, I found the shorts and he didn't have to make the drive.  They were stuck to a blanket I used to protect my bike for the drive to Lake Mills.

Once on site, I helped my coworker Sam set the run course.  Not that I don't mind the work/race/work that goes along with working and racing the same event, but this was a learning experience for me.  Very stressful to say the least.  Even though I was the first bike racked, I was one of the last people out of transition.  I need to be more effective with my time for future events I'm working/racing.  I got to the swim start with barely enough time to get wet before the gun.

Swim & T1 (5:58 & 1:08)

This was a rough swim.  I don't think it was so much the chop alone, it was the combination that goes along with the thrashing in the elite wave.  Everyone was gunning for the front, which made for another moment of panic.  I took a swift kick to the face which completely knocked my goggles off (a first for me).  That combined with having to swim tarzan style into some really choppy waves made for an unpleasant experience.  I had gulped probably close to a pint of nasty lake water at this point.  Yuck.  I have worked a lot on my swim and its coming along, but I felt like a novice all over again.  Once I got past the first buoy I was able to get into a good rhythm and settle down.  Although this felt like an eternity I managed to swim 12 seconds faster than last yr...an improvement.  I'll take that.  T1 went flawlessly.  I sprinted past a few guys on the way to my bike and my Blueseventy Helix popped off with ease.  I think I had the 3rd fastest T1!  This wetsuit is incredibly comfy and super easy to remove.  So glad they are supporting the W this year! 

Running to T1

Bike & T2 (40:23 & 0:42)

Right off the bat I was feeling strong.  I closed the gap to about 5 riders in front of me by mile 1.  Normally, I would use my adrenaline to ride past them, which is a mistake.  This always ends in me not being to sustain a strong effort throughout.  Instead, I hung back once I caught the group and decided to make a move past the group after I was able to get warmed up.  Once again, I got caught by Mike Wolfgram about half way through the ride.  However, this time I told myself I was going to keep him in my sights.  The wind was howling the entire ride and I started to really hurt after about 25 minutes, but I was able to keep him within eyesight.  I ended up riding the same exact time as last year but in much harder conditions.  Another improvement!  I must say, the Adamo Racing II saddle has made for more comfortable training and racing.  Definitely makes a noticeable difference.  I clocked the 7th fastest ride of the day.  I'm still training/racing without power but have decided I really need to start.  If you or anyone you know is selling a used hub please let me know!

T2 was somewhat quick.  My feet were so numb I had a hard time getting my Kswiss K-Ruuz on because I kept losing balance.  Once I was able to focus, they slipped right on and I was off!  Man these shoes are light, comfortable, and FAST!  I really wanted a good run today, one I could be proud of...so I was bustin it.

Run (17:45)

Finally!  I say that because I knew I had this in my legs.  Last year I kept finding myself getting complacent with my run effort.  I would end up having a decent run, but always ended feeling like I hadn't pushed enough.  Today I completely surpassed the 18's and cracked it by 15 seconds (6th fastest run)!  And the funny thing was I felt fairly comfortable doing it.  My legs never really hurt and my breathing was controlled, so I know I can push more here.  This might be a stretch but I'm publicly stating my goal is to break 17 min in a 5k by the end of the year, hopefully off the bike.  Got to aim high...

Anyway, running up towards the front was a new experience for me and was really fun.  Heading towards mile 1 I caught up with Mike W. and made a quick pass.  I knew he was running strong as well because I could hear him for the rest of the run.  Fellow Wattie Ink teammate Pat Brady caught me shortly after and eventually moved up to 2nd with a monster bike/run.  Also, friend and winner Mark Hering came into view shortly after that.  He had a crazy fast bike/run and also threw down a great swim.  Look out for him!  Unofficially, I ran my way into 4th but ended up 5th because the swim/T1 times were scrapped due to the swim conditions.  After 4 waves everyone was sent out TT style onto the bike.  A little unfair but what else were we to do?  It is what it is.  Fellow friend/athlete Bill Martin also had a great race but got even more screwed because he's a great swimmer.  Still 3rd overall in my book.  Congrats Bill and to everyone else who raced (too many to name).  Many solid races on the day with lots of PR's.

Finish, feeling strong

UPDATE:  bah!  I always mean to include this at the end and then space.  HUGE thanks to coach Will.  Ever since I have started with him I have seen nothing but steady improvement.  He seems to know just what I need to keep improving while keeping it fun.  Thanks Will!  Looking forward to what's still to come : )

Just a couple more shout outs to Wattie Ink Elite Team sponsors:

Powerbar - great training/racing nutrition products!  Had a double caffeinated latte gel beforehand with one of the new energy blends.  Never had a drop in energy from start/finish.

Speedfil A2 - have not raced with this yet but looking forward to it.  Awesome product.  I can rehydrate climbing, descending, whenever I'm on the aero bars.

Fuelbelt Revenge - love this for my long runs.  Fits just enough water/fuel for 2+ hours of running.  And I forget its there, which is the most important thing for me.

Check out the side of my blog for the other great team sponsors!  Next up is Pleasant Prairie oly.  Finally going to meet some other Wattie's!

WI Sprint Championship!

T-minus 4 days will be Lake Mills sprint tri, which will be my first race of the season!  The running joke is that it is the "Wisconsin world sprint championship".  Most local athletes are geared up and primed to race 'the Mill'.  I always look forward to this day because everyone is so excited to get back out and do what we love.  Racing and triathlon.

In all seriousness, this race is almost always stacked with really fast people.  Last year I had my best sprint race by a long shot and (I think) barely cracked the top 15.  It must be all the beer, brats and cheese over the winter months.  All that energy needs to go somewhere...

As for my expectations, I am hoping to just beat my time from last year.  I'm very happy with all 3 disciplines at the moment and should be able to beat last years time by a considerable amount, on paper anyway.  You never know over a sprint distance.  Any mistakes will take me completely out of the pointy end.  Let's hope for some good weather!  Also, I just got the pre-race butterflies typing this up.  That's a good thing : )

If you are looking for a last minute race this weekend sign up here!  Awesome event!

Crazylegs RR

Just a quick update on my latest race - Crazylegs Classic 8k.

This is an awesome early season race that EVERYONE does.  I'm not sure how many runners there are, but its enough to warrant waves reaching ZZ.  Its well north of 10,000 runners.  The run course starts at the capitol building, winds through the UW-Madison campus and ends inside of Camp Randall Stadium, which is where the Badgers football team plays.  The venue is 2nd to none!

I was sort of targeting this race as my first speed test of the season.  Last yr I had a solid run and saw some progression compared to 2011.  This year I was expecting more of the same.  

Pre-race I met up with 2 friends who live near the finish to chat for a bit, get warmed up and figure out post race plans.  I was really excited to see how they did because it was a first running race for both of them!  They caught a ride to the start and did a very casual walk/jog for the 2 mile route to the start.

When I got to the start I met some more friends who were all in the same wave as me.  We did a bit more warm up and just hung out until the start.  The start of this race is great.  The UW band is playing and the energy is electric.  Maybe this is why the first mile is always so fast?  The first mile was somewhere around 5:40.  Miles 2-3 are always a tad slower because of some hills so this was my plan.  When it came time to dig my legs just didn't have another gear.  Which is fine.  I was coming off of some solid training so this was not a surprise.  I managed to better my time by about 1:20, but was still about 0:30-1:00 short of what I was hoping to do.  Official time was 29:33.  So, it was my first time cracking the 30' barrier for an 8k, and put me at 59th overall (22nd AG).  Not bad for a running race that is absolutely stacked with really quick runners.  Side note: the Powerbar natural fruit blends are delish.  Perfect for a pre race energy boost.  I will absolutely be using these all season long.

Mile 3.8ish.  **Almost** got a good W off.  Poor timing :P

I was really happy with my K-Swiss Ruuz.  Those shoes are light and comfy.  KS also make some great running shorts.  I also opted to wear a Wattie trucker hat on backwards.  Its not the typical race visor, which I love.  Look for more of this at upcoming races.  This is after all about having fun, right?  Notice in the pic how everyone else is not having fun ; )  But seriously, I need to get better at really making myself hurt.  Its cool that I can keep PR'ing and all, but I know I'm not running to my full potential...yet.  Only a few more weeks until the real racing begins!!!  Lots of hard work to put in between now and then.  Peace!

South Shore Half Marathon RR

My first official race of the year!  Here's the recap of the day:

Friend Scott M. and I headed to Milwaukee from the East side of town around 6:30.  Race start wasn't until 9, so we had plenty of time to get there, check in, get warmed up...and take care of the usual business.  I had my standard pre-race breakfast of an english muffin with PB and honey, some tea, and some sports drink.  I later had a banana on the ride to the race site.  Also tried something I recently read about, some chia seeds soaked overnight in water with some honey.  This supposedly helps keep you hydrated.  Didn't seem to hurt so I'll keep tinkering with it : )

Once there, we made sure all of our gear was ready to go.  I also met up with my brother and his girlfriend.  Both of them were running their first race.  13.1 is an aggressive start to running events, but they both finished!  Apparently my brother Tony passed out briefly around mile 11...if you read this, eat something next time!  Ha, but seriously, sounded like low blood sugar.

On to my plan for the race.  My coach Will wanted me to go out conservative for the first 3 miles and build into a solid pace.  Scott was planning to stick with me for as long as possible, so we agreed to start around 6:50-7:00 pace.  The first 3 miles were pretty much right where I wanted to be: 6:55, 6:48; 6:40.  I was feeling really good at this point so I started to build.  My overall goal pace was about 6:30, so I knew I needed to start hitting 6:20 on a consistent basis.  Working towards the turnaround, I was feeling really comfortable and hitting good splits, anywhere in the 6:30 to 6:00 range.

My favorite part of this race was it being the first time I was able to work with a group for an extended period of time.  For the first 40 minutes or so I was slowly gaining on a group of about 7 guys, led by Justin D., the Midwest Newton rep.  Around mile 7 I caught them and decided to stick with them for as long as possible.  Coming back towards the finish was super windy, so this made the final miles a bit easier.  After about 20 min with them I could feel the pace slowing so I decided to push.  Working on my own at this point was tough.  The wind was picking up and I was starting to feel tired.  Luckily, I timed my gels perfectly (20 and 50 mins in) so I was still mentally energized.  At mile 11, 2 guys caught me, so naturally I stuck with them.  With a little more than a mile to go I picked up my pace even more and caught one other guy, who had me worried, because he briefly stuck with me.  I did not want to sprint finish at this point but was prepared to.  He must not have felt as good as I did because I put about 1 min on him during the last half mile.

This is probably the best I have ever felt finishing a running event, so my official time of 1:24:26 had me stoked!  I know I can go faster at this distance with some more speed work.  My watch read 1:24:13, so apparently they didn't do a chip start as stated.  Oh well.  It doesn't change the fact that I had a great race (for me).  This was about a 10 min PR!  WHAT?!  It has been 2yrs since I've run an open 13.1, but I could not be happier with this result.  It was good enough for 5th in my age and 14th OA.  Scott also had a great time with a huge 4 min PR!  Congrats to him!

Lastly, I was really hoping to be rocking some Wattie gear for this race, but it should be here for Crazy Legs.  Still, I was able to rep some Powerbar and K-Swiss gear.  Here's to the 2013 season!

Mango Coconut Milk Icecream

I just realized I have been doing a completely horrid job of putting anything food related in this blog!  My apologies (I'll do better).  For now, I give you this:

Necessities

• 1 can full fat coconut milk (don't skimp on the fat...its good for you)
• 2 mangoes, chopped up
• Cinnamon
• Half a lime
• Half a lemon
•  Cayenne pepper
• High quality honey (optional)

Steep the mangoes...mangoes, that's a funny looking word.  Oh look, a bird!  Excuse my ADD.  So, steep the mangoes, lemon/lime (without rind), and a pinch of cinnamon.  You could also use cinnamon sticks instead.  Once all the flavors are getting along, use an immersion blender (or regular, just make sure its cooled if using a normal one) to smooth it out.  Pop it in the freezer (or ice cream machine if you're lucky) and stir occasionally until its to the desired consistency.  Finish it with the tiniest amount of cayenne pepper and honey if you wish.  SO GOOD!  This is also incredible as a warm soup.  My good friend Kory and I have made this twice now.  The first time none of it survived and never even got cold enough to be considered ice cream.  Its that good.  

Winter Training in the Midwest and Looking Ahead

Today marks the first day of Spring! ...at least on the calendar.  Wisconsin, and much of the Midwest/Northeast is continuing to get mid-winter like conditions.  Last year at this time, we were seeing temps in the 70's and even 80's, and are now well below normal temps.  But if memory serves me correctly, April and May had some pretty awful weather.  Maybe this year will be different?

Recently, I had gotten close to the point of a mental breakdown (not really).  Extended periods of time spent running on treadmills and riding on trainers is not my cup of tea (I prefer green).  However, this extended cold weather has allowed me to focus my energy on some positives:

1.  I'm really starting to nail harder efforts on the trainer.  Really excited to see how this translates to my outdoor fitness.
2. As much as I dislike running on treadmills, the controlled environment is making it much easier to focus on specific zone work prescribed by my coach.
3. I love hot tubs even more now.
4. Last year at this time I was dealing with some nagging foot/lower leg injuries.  Since I'm forced inside because of the cold (mainly right after training sessions), I've been spending A LOT more time foam rolling and getting quality stretching in.  This is key to remaining injury free.

LOOKING AHEAD!

My first "real" race of the season is coming up in about 2.5 weeks.  Its a small 13.1 in Milwaukee called the South Shore half-marathon.  I haven't been putting in a ton of mileage to really perform to my potential for this distance.  My hope is that my overall fitness (and lots of hill running) will translate to some decent speed.  I'm in my 3rd week of picking back up with my coach Will Smith.  I have 100% percent faith that he will get me to the start in a good place physically and mentally.  This will also (hopefully) be my first race rocking some awesome Wattie Ink Team Elite gear and K-Swiss kicks.  Now I just need to pray to the weather Gods that I'm not running on ice!

Think warm thoughts : )

Spring Is Just Around the Corner...

Or so we thought...

 

Madison is in the midst of yet another snow storm.  I was really hoping to get outside on my bike this coming weekend, but that looks to be postponed as of right now.  However, things are looking up.  Temps are supposed to get into the 40's soon enough, which means clear roads cannot be too far off.  My training is really starting to come together and I'm just itching to get outside!  I can only take being stuck on the trainer so much...I think the tipping point is close!  Haha, not really, I just need to embrace what time I have left indoors because I know it will be so worth it once I get some fresh air and sunlight out on the roads.  Talk about natures own drug...

Hope everyone in the colder climates is hanging in there, soon enough my friends.   As far as upcoming races go, I'm looking at possibly doing a 5 or 10k on St. Patty's day if the weather is nice, if not, the next one will be a 13.1 on April 7th.  I don't want to sound like a fair weather fan, but I already did one icy 5k this winter.  No bueno.  Racing is just not that fun when you have things to worry about other than yourself.