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!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
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
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.
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:
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!
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:
- I'm really starting to nail harder efforts on the trainer. Really excited to see how this translates to my outdoor fitness.
- 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.
- I love hot tubs even more now.
- 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.
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!
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| Think warm thoughts : ) |
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Valentines 5k and WCRC CT TT
This past weekend was a blast! Another Winter Cycling Relay Challenge with SBR Coaching is in the books. A quick recap of this event: 24 hours of computrainer riding with 7 teams going head to head. There are 2 courses; flat and hilly; where riders go all out for 55 minutes. Teams are ranked according to total accumulated mileage after the 24 hours.
I always look forward to this weekend. Its a great time with good company, food, beverages and some very strong riders. I was on a newcomer team, Pat's Gym. We took a respectable 4th place amongst some stiff competition. RDE, who has won the lat several of these events came in 3rd, The Competition was 2nd, and StravaJava took back their title. Congrats to them!
Having worked on my cycling legs this winter, I had some high hopes for putting out some respectable power numbers for my 3 pm hilly course. Sadly, things did not go according to plan. I have been training at Speed Cycling with a threshold of 280 watts for workouts and feeling really good, and I suspect that my actual threshold is in the 290-295 range, on a good day. The one time I power tested this winter I averaged 289 with a flat tire...(make sure your tires are good before doing something like this!) So far I have been struggling to find those legs when it matters. I came out at a meager 262 for my hour...that's a number I am not happy with. Granted, I did run a 5k that morning at a relatively solid effort, but I felt like I held back enough to keep my TT effort together (more on that in a bit). For the first 30 minutes I felt relatively good. Unfortunately, when it came time to start pushing, my legs did not want to cooperate. Cramping in my calves started after about 25 minutes and did not stop. I suppose I can't be entirely disappointed with my effort, since I did hold it together enough to not be completely embarrassed. Oh well, there's always next time...
On to the somewhat better news, the Valentines 5k. I had high hopes at cracking the 18:00 min mark, but the weather and pavement conditions did not help here. That morning I was greeted with cold, high winds, freezing rain and a very slick course. The roads were covered in slush, most of the turns had to be taken very cautiously and we had one 0.5 mile stretch that was completely covered in ice and snow. Even with those conditions I finished around 18:23. I'm happy with that. I had a lot left in the tank. Really looking to another crack at it when we get some decent weather in WI and dry pavement! Come on spring! Enough of this awful winter....
Moral learned from this weekend? I need to be less hard on myself sometimes. Its only February, I did not prepare for either of these events as a priority, and serious training does not start until March. I'm still in maintenance mode and have a long season of racing to look forward to. One thing is for sure...I'm seeing improvements in the right areas and expect to make some big gains this season. Keep on keepin' on.
I always look forward to this weekend. Its a great time with good company, food, beverages and some very strong riders. I was on a newcomer team, Pat's Gym. We took a respectable 4th place amongst some stiff competition. RDE, who has won the lat several of these events came in 3rd, The Competition was 2nd, and StravaJava took back their title. Congrats to them!
Having worked on my cycling legs this winter, I had some high hopes for putting out some respectable power numbers for my 3 pm hilly course. Sadly, things did not go according to plan. I have been training at Speed Cycling with a threshold of 280 watts for workouts and feeling really good, and I suspect that my actual threshold is in the 290-295 range, on a good day. The one time I power tested this winter I averaged 289 with a flat tire...(make sure your tires are good before doing something like this!) So far I have been struggling to find those legs when it matters. I came out at a meager 262 for my hour...that's a number I am not happy with. Granted, I did run a 5k that morning at a relatively solid effort, but I felt like I held back enough to keep my TT effort together (more on that in a bit). For the first 30 minutes I felt relatively good. Unfortunately, when it came time to start pushing, my legs did not want to cooperate. Cramping in my calves started after about 25 minutes and did not stop. I suppose I can't be entirely disappointed with my effort, since I did hold it together enough to not be completely embarrassed. Oh well, there's always next time...
On to the somewhat better news, the Valentines 5k. I had high hopes at cracking the 18:00 min mark, but the weather and pavement conditions did not help here. That morning I was greeted with cold, high winds, freezing rain and a very slick course. The roads were covered in slush, most of the turns had to be taken very cautiously and we had one 0.5 mile stretch that was completely covered in ice and snow. Even with those conditions I finished around 18:23. I'm happy with that. I had a lot left in the tank. Really looking to another crack at it when we get some decent weather in WI and dry pavement! Come on spring! Enough of this awful winter....
Moral learned from this weekend? I need to be less hard on myself sometimes. Its only February, I did not prepare for either of these events as a priority, and serious training does not start until March. I'm still in maintenance mode and have a long season of racing to look forward to. One thing is for sure...I'm seeing improvements in the right areas and expect to make some big gains this season. Keep on keepin' on.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
100 x 100 Swim and Chipotle - A Perfect Match
What did you do last Sunday? I bet it wasn't swimming a 10k set in the pool. Well, that's exactly what I did. Call me crazy, but it was actually a lot of fun! I'd highly recommend doing this with a fun group of friends, plenty of snacks, cookies and bacon (yes, we had BACON). Unless of course you are a swimmer, then this shouldn't be such a big deal...
We met at the Middleton high school pool at 11 am to start this epic swim. The swim was broken up as follows, more or less:
10x100 swim w/u
5x100 drill/swim
5x100 band
10x100 kick w/ fins
10x 100 pull
- 5x pads only
- 5x 100 pads + buoy
10x 100 "pyramid of stroke"
- 100 free
- 75 free/25 stroke
- 50 free/ 50 stroke
- 75 free/ 25 stroke
- 100 stroke
- 100 stroke
- 75 stroke/ 25 free
- 50 stroke/ 50 free
- 25 stroke/ 25 free
- 100 free
*** snack break ***
5x100 IM
5x100 pull buoy
5x100 free
10x100 kick w/ fins
5x100 drill
5x100 drills
5x100 pull buoy only
6x100 free descend (1:45)
4x100 c/d
NOTE: I don't have fins so the kick sets were brutal and I don't how to butterfly (yet), so I substituted in 1 arm drills instead. Also, everything was done at a casual pace.
Surprisingly, I didn't really start to feel tired until about 7k in. At that point my triceps and shoulders were very tired. The first 50 of each 100 felt relatively good, but by the time we were coming back in on the 2nd lap I felt completely spent. At one point I did feel like dropping out because my lungs hurt so bad. From time to time I get exercise induced asthma. I'm not sure if I was experiencing that or dry drowning? During the 2nd kick set I took in a large amount of water and after that I had some difficulty getting in full breaths. Instead of calling it on the spot I settled down a bit and focused on getting in full, relaxed breaths. In hindsight, I should have just stopped, but I'm stubborn and was committed to finishing the workout. Good thing I'm not a young child eh? I only say that because dry drowning seems to be an issue with the young ones...
Anyway, I was able to come around and finish strong. The group in my lane was coming in around 1:26-1:27 for the final 100's. Some of the group decided they wanted to finish off with 100 sprints off the blocks. Crazy. Finishing off the day with Chipotle burritos was just what the doctor ordered.
 |
| Bacon motivation! |
We met at the Middleton high school pool at 11 am to start this epic swim. The swim was broken up as follows, more or less:
10x100 swim w/u
5x100 drill/swim
5x100 band
10x100 kick w/ fins
10x 100 pull
- 5x pads only
- 5x 100 pads + buoy
10x 100 "pyramid of stroke"
- 100 free
- 75 free/25 stroke
- 50 free/ 50 stroke
- 75 free/ 25 stroke
- 100 stroke
- 100 stroke
- 75 stroke/ 25 free
- 50 stroke/ 50 free
- 25 stroke/ 25 free
- 100 free
*** snack break ***
5x100 IM
5x100 pull buoy
5x100 free
10x100 kick w/ fins
5x100 drill
5x100 drills
5x100 pull buoy only
6x100 free descend (1:45)
4x100 c/d
NOTE: I don't have fins so the kick sets were brutal and I don't how to butterfly (yet), so I substituted in 1 arm drills instead. Also, everything was done at a casual pace.
 |
| Mid swim break. Morale is still high : ) |
Anyway, I was able to come around and finish strong. The group in my lane was coming in around 1:26-1:27 for the final 100's. Some of the group decided they wanted to finish off with 100 sprints off the blocks. Crazy. Finishing off the day with Chipotle burritos was just what the doctor ordered.
 |
| The group post swim. Spent, yet happy. |
 |
| Burritos! |
Monday, February 4, 2013
Indoor Triathlons - Surprisingly Fun!
Last Friday (Feb. 1st), I took part in my first indoor triathlon. These are put on by a local company, Race Day Events, LLC. I will say, for being a 40 min. Friday night workout, it was tons of fun. Who would think swimming indoors, riding on those awful indoor spin bikes, and running on the dreadmill could be so much fun. Not this guy...
I had been wanting to do one of these for awhile. Since I work part time for RDE, I thought now would be as good a time as any, plus it would be a good indicator of where my fitness is currently at.
My plan for the swim was to just cruise...wait, before I get into that I should probably outline how these events are structured. Its basically a timed leg for each discipline (swim, bike and of course run). The person who goes the furthest distance in each leg, sets the curve and gets 100 points. Your score is based on the highest distance with points rewarded accordingly. The legs are broken down as follows: 10 min swim, 20 min spin, 10 min run. You get about 10 min in between each leg to change etc...
I digress...so the swim. I started off at a steady cruise pace and built into a good rhythm. I managed to get in 14 laps (700 yards) for the 10 minutes. This came out to ~1:25/100, which I was happy with. I came out of the pool feeling great. The spin portion is another story. If you've ever ridden one of those spin class bikes you know what I'm talking about. The seats are huge and squishy, the adjust-ability is 'meh' at best, and everyone is stuck with the same resistance. This means it becomes a spin fest. Since I was hoping to set the curve for this one I knew I had to spin really fast for the 20 min, but didn't know how fast. I hit 130-135 rpm's and held it there. This sucked. It was incredibly uncomfortable, mainly because the set up was so different from my actual bikes. I also noticed that if I hit 140 the computer would shut off, so I had to keep backing off. On a positive note, my legs felt fine from a muscular stand point and I did have the highest spin distance : )
Total distance on bike was 12.7 km, whatever that means. Not sure how to compare that to an actual outdoor ride.
Knowing that the run was only 10 min, I planned on running it relatively hard, but not doing anything too crazy. Once I was warmed up, I set the incline to 1% and started out at 9.5 mph (~6:20 pace). Each minute I bumped the speed up a tad until I was around a 5:52. This still felt pretty comfortable so by the end I was holding about a 5:07 pace for the last 2 minutes. I ended up running 1.67 miles in the 10 min, which was also the highest run of the night. If there was one thing I would do differently here I would just start around a pace of 5:40 and hold it for the 10 min.
All in all it was a solid workout. I may start doing something similar to this to get a good benchmark on a semi regular basis. The beautiful thing is this is something anyone can do, on their schedule, at whatever effort level they feel like. Try it out sometime!
I had been wanting to do one of these for awhile. Since I work part time for RDE, I thought now would be as good a time as any, plus it would be a good indicator of where my fitness is currently at.
My plan for the swim was to just cruise...wait, before I get into that I should probably outline how these events are structured. Its basically a timed leg for each discipline (swim, bike and of course run). The person who goes the furthest distance in each leg, sets the curve and gets 100 points. Your score is based on the highest distance with points rewarded accordingly. The legs are broken down as follows: 10 min swim, 20 min spin, 10 min run. You get about 10 min in between each leg to change etc...
I digress...so the swim. I started off at a steady cruise pace and built into a good rhythm. I managed to get in 14 laps (700 yards) for the 10 minutes. This came out to ~1:25/100, which I was happy with. I came out of the pool feeling great. The spin portion is another story. If you've ever ridden one of those spin class bikes you know what I'm talking about. The seats are huge and squishy, the adjust-ability is 'meh' at best, and everyone is stuck with the same resistance. This means it becomes a spin fest. Since I was hoping to set the curve for this one I knew I had to spin really fast for the 20 min, but didn't know how fast. I hit 130-135 rpm's and held it there. This sucked. It was incredibly uncomfortable, mainly because the set up was so different from my actual bikes. I also noticed that if I hit 140 the computer would shut off, so I had to keep backing off. On a positive note, my legs felt fine from a muscular stand point and I did have the highest spin distance : )
Total distance on bike was 12.7 km, whatever that means. Not sure how to compare that to an actual outdoor ride.
Knowing that the run was only 10 min, I planned on running it relatively hard, but not doing anything too crazy. Once I was warmed up, I set the incline to 1% and started out at 9.5 mph (~6:20 pace). Each minute I bumped the speed up a tad until I was around a 5:52. This still felt pretty comfortable so by the end I was holding about a 5:07 pace for the last 2 minutes. I ended up running 1.67 miles in the 10 min, which was also the highest run of the night. If there was one thing I would do differently here I would just start around a pace of 5:40 and hold it for the 10 min.
All in all it was a solid workout. I may start doing something similar to this to get a good benchmark on a semi regular basis. The beautiful thing is this is something anyone can do, on their schedule, at whatever effort level they feel like. Try it out sometime!
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