Eagleman 70.3...only 2 months late

Well I figured it was about time to write my race report from June 9th Ironman Eagleman 70.3. It's funny how life always seems to get in the way of some of the most simple tasks. Lately, I've been putting in some big workouts so whenever I do have some downtime, writing and thinking about triathlon is the last thing that I want to do. But I started this blog for a reason so here it goes...

We started the 650 mile trip out to Cambridge on Friday morning. We decided to rent a car because my Jeep is on it's last leg and it also costs an arm and a leg to fill up. Man was that a good decision. Filling up a tank of gas for less than $40 was nothing short of awesome. The drive was pretty standard, rain and traffic the entire time. We arrived on Friday night and joined follow Wattie Inkers Roger Thrall and Jon Miles for a few drinks. For some reason, I like having a beer or two the days leading up to a race, it helps calm my nerves and makes me feel "normal" again.

Saturday was spent at packet pickup and going for a light jog...but that wasn't after going to the pro panel
and meeting Meredith Kessler and Mirinda Carfrae (as well as Greg and Laura Bennett). Both girls have won this race before so Sunday was going to be a shootout. SPOILER ALERT: Neither girl wins, or even finishes! Kessler collided with an AG'er on the bike, knocking her unconscious and Carfrae had cramps on the bike. Nothing else was too exciting about Saturday, it's usually pretty low key and trying to get off my feet as quickly as possible. I spent the evening preparing my water bottles and going through my mental checklist of things to do.


Pre-Race
Well my wave was 2nd to last to go, around 8:30am and unfortunately transition closed around 6:30 so I had to still get there at normal time. The alarm went off at 4:30 and I had my traditional bagel with peanut butter and banana. I also try to get down 1 full water bottle of PowerBar Perform to get my electrolyte levels higher. Eagleman was known for being hot, and it was raining the previous several days so I knew it was also going to be humid.

We got to transition and I went through my regular routine of throwing in my headphones and checking everything 3 times. Although time spent in transition becomes less of a factor the longer the race is, I still want to have everything organized and easily accessible. Once everything was in its proper order, we headed down to the swim start...where I had another hour and a half to wait...and wait...and wait.

Lauren and I watched the pro's go off then headed down to the swim exit to watch a majority of the pro's and AG'ers come in out of the water. This was by far the longest time I had to wait for my wave to go off. We watched most people come out of the water then I headed to the swim start to get a quick warm up in before the 1.2 mile swim.

SWIM
There were about 100 guys in my wave. The gun went off and as usual, I started out at a quicker pace than I wanted in order to get settled in. I found a guys feet and drafted off of him for about 1200 meters. The pace was pretty steady and I was feeling good. At the 1/2 way point, I got smacked upside the head by a guy who didn't know how to stroke but it didn't throw me off that much. We came to the final turn buoy and had about 1000 meters to go. I then saw that several people were standing up and walking...in the water! Because our wave went so late, low tide had approached and we were able to stand in water up to our knees. I stood up, got my bearings, took a few steps forward then went back to swimming. I exited the water at 35:53, good enough for 27th in my age group. Most of the top 10 guys swam 30-31 minutes and after even talking with Andy Potts he said that for whatever reason, the swim at Eagleman was traditionally long. There isn't much I would change about the swim, I felt pretty comfortable the whole time. I just need to get it down to a sub 30 minute swim.

T1
The run to my bike was fairly short which is always nice. I quickly found my bike and off I went. My shoes were already clipped in so it was a quick transition. The 2 days prior to the race it had been raining almost all day. There was about a 25 yard stretch from transition to the bike mount that was completely mud, like ankle deep mud. There was no way around it so I decided to make it into a cyclecross-like event. I couldn't imagine trying to walk through the mud with my cycling shoes on. I glanced at Lauren real quick, said hi and made my way to the mount line. T1 was 2:43





BIKE
The bike felt fairly good the entire time. My goal was to average 22 mph which would put me around 2:30-2:35. The course was incredibly flat, basically as flat as you can get and most of the road was newly paved. I kept thinking to myself "this smooth road has got to end at some point"...but it never did. I found a pack of 3-4 guys and 1 girl that I determined were about my same level. We all didn't say anything to each other, but we kept looking at each other and we knew we were feeding off of one another quite a bit. We kept jockeying back and forth and there might've been a little bit of drafting here and there but when your wave goes last and you pass someone every couple of yards, its difficult not to draft. I did my best though to not make it a habit or stay in the draft zone for too long. I managed to get my average mph to 22 within the first 20 miles so I just had to settle in and enjoy the ride. I kept my nutrition in check and swapped out water bottles at every aid station. I felt good the entire time. I finished the bike in 2:32, 22.1 avg mph.

T2
I did a fly dismount, picked up my bike and through the swampland I went. I got to my rack and my feet were completely caked in mud. I knew I couldn't run like that so I grabbed some random guys water bottle and quickly hosed off my feet. I threw on my K-Swiss Kwicky Blade Light's, grabbed my flask, hat and race belt and off I went. T2 was 2:41.










RUN
My goal before the race started was to finish in 4:45. I started the run in 3:15 so if I wanted to make my goal, I would've had to post a 1:30 half marathon. That was certainly doable, but I knew I had to have an awesome run. My goal for next year is to easily have a 1:30 run split for every race. At mile 3, I saw a teammate, Denise Hiller, who ran up and smacked my ass as I passed. That certainly gave me a little boost of energy so for that...I thank her. The run zig-zags for 3 miles through town then its 3 miles in open marshland to the turnaround. Although I've never done Kona (yet), but there was a part of the run that reminded me of the Energy Lab...no trees or spectators, just open roads and blistering sun. I grabbed water or Perform at every aid station, even though it was sometimes hard to grab because there were only 3-4 volunteers at each stop so there were even points where I had to stop at the table and grab my own water. I know that sounds snobby of me but I just wasn't expecting that. I made it to the turn around knew that 4:45 wasn't going to be attainable so I just wanted to do a sub-5 hour race. Around mile 8 I was about to get chicked so I used her to pace me and we were elbow to elbow for about 3 miles. Long story short...she eventually dropped me. I couldn't quite settle into a comfortable pace for most of the run. I don't think I over-biked but I kept getting nasty side stitches. I'm usually good at working them out but this time I couldn't get over them. I finished the run in 1:44, a 7:59/mile pace. On any given day, that would be an easy stroll for me so I was disappointed with my run. I found the girl I got chicked by (Sylvie Mullins) and thanked her for the extra motivation. I ended up crossing the finish line in 4:57:58. I ended up 26/100 in my age group and 304th overall.

NUTRITION
My morning nutrition consisted of a Red Bull, full bottle of PowerBar Perform and Base Performance Electrolyte Salt. I also had my usual bagel with peanut butter, banana and drizzled with honey. I don't do anything fancy or complicated with my race day nutrition. Before the swim I had a PowerBar Green Apple gel.

Nearly every single triathlete will also say "don't try anything new on raceday" but I decided to roll the dice and try a 2.5 hour nutrition bottle on the bike. I did this because I only have 2 water bottle cages on my bike. I wanted to reduce my bike weight and not have the 2 bottle setup behind my saddle like I did at 70.3 Racine, instead I just have one cage behind my saddle and one cage on my seat tube. In my nutrition bottle, I had 4 scoops of CarboPro, 3 scoops of PowerBar Perform and 3 scoops of Base Performance Electrolyte Salt. I marked my bottle with a permanent marker indicating where the level needed to be so I can easily pace myself and not drink too slow or fast. This actually worked out really well. The potent mix wasn't hard on my stomach and it was easy to pace my nutrition intake. I also took in 2 PowerBar gels at miles 20 and 40 that I had taped to my top tube.

During the run, I also tried something new...using a flask. I get too annoyed with carrying 2 gels in my back pocket and having to tear them open and get sticky gel all over my hands. Carrying a flask turned out to work really well. I put 2 PowerBar Tangerine Gels in my flask along with some Base salt and water. The tangerine isn't the best tasting stuff in the world but it has 2x caffeine for an extra kick. Carrying a flask turned out to be simple and easy and I'll absolutely do that for any future races.

To be honest, I sort-of just wing it with my nutrition. I've been fairly lucky thus far with no major nutritional issues, but when I step up my training for next year, I'll need to treat my nutrition plan like the 4th discipline of triathlon that it is.

THOUGHTS
Although I didn't hit my overall goal, coming in almost 15 minutes late, I'm still overall satisfied with my performance. The swim was very decent, the bike was solid and my run could've been worse. I know it really all came down to my training. My training had some peaks and valleys...nothing too consistent. This winter, I am going to be taking some Computrainer courses as well as putting in some serious gym time to work on getting some more power in my legs. I'm still playing around with some things, but I might be hiring a coach in the Spring. I need more focused training if I want to qualify for 70.3 Worlds (which is the goal for 2014) and I know that an experienced coach will be able to provide me with the focused training I need. I've made some major strides in my performance from this point last year but I know I need to buckle down for next year. Next up on the schedule is Rev. 3 Cedar Point 70.3 then I'm putting the bike and goggles away and focusing on a marathon in the Fall.

I need to thank some people for getting me to where I am today: All our great Wattie Ink sponsors: K-Swiss, PowerBar, ISM Saddles, 454 Tattoo, Blue Seventy, Scott Bikes, FuelBelt and Kask Helmets. I also had some awesome help by Base Performance. All my kick-ass teammates for creating a ton of pressure to get my ass up at 5am to get in the pool and put in some major training sessions. Most importantly I would like to thank my wonderful girlfriend, Lauren. She's put up with so much of my tri-dorkiness, time apart from each other because I was on training rides and me having the ability to fall asleep at night in 30 seconds because I'm so damn tired from working out. She was the most amazing sherpa a guy could ask for and she absolutely contributed to my success. She has been amazing throughout this whole journey and I can't wait to be there for her when she steps up to the longer distance racing that she wants. Any ladies in the 30-34 AG better know that there's a new threat on the horizon!

Muncie Olympic... short and sweet

Well I usually like to write very in-depth race reports, but the Muncie Olympic race doesn't deserve too much of my time or thoughts. The Muncie Olympic race was more-so just a "fitness check" to prepare for Eagleman 70.3 that's now exactly one week away. For non "A" races, I usually sign up for them the week of, but mainly because I'm stingy and don't want to financially commit to a race. The weather was  predicted to be in the 60's with a small chance of rain, so I went ahead and pulled the trigger and signed up.

Swim

The race was delayed 30 minutes because it was drizzling, 45 degrees and miserable. The delay actually really benefited me because I was already running late. The water temp was also 58 degrees, which actually feels really good to me. The start was good, I did a couple of dolphin dives in the shallow water to get going. I've never done dolphin dives in a race before but it actually really helped. The first 500 meters to the first buoy was a madhouse. I was swimming next to a guy who's never heard of a high elbow in swimming, so he literally was smacking the back of my head for several strokes. I quickly decided to drop him. The rest of the swim was decent, I felt ok but nothing exciting. At the exit, there was nothing good to sight towards so I kept having to bring my head way out of the water to see where the heck I was going. It wasn't until I saw the results that saw how bad my swim was. I finished the swim in 25:28, 1:42 average. I was aiming for at worst a 1:30 average.

Bike
THE most miserable bike ride I've ever done. After spending what seemed like 20 minutes getting my wetsuit off, I finally got onto my bike. I knew it would be rough within the first 100 feet of riding. I was only wearing my race kit so being wet and riding in 45 degree air wasn't a good combination, especially for someone who already has bad circulation to their hands and feet (thank my genes for that). It seemed like the only people I was passing were people from the sprint race, which wasn't the biggest confidence booster. At about mile 15 is when I really started to become miserable, I couldn't get my legs to work and my entire body was literally numb. I even contemplated DNFing because I was so miserable, but I just told myself that I would get to T2 and then decide. I knew I would keep going though. When I was approaching T2, I flew by the dismount line because all the volunteers just stood there without directing anybody to where the entrance to T2 was. I was quite pissed. During T2, I was telling Lauren about how miserable I was, I just wanted to get the run over with a get the hell out of Muncie. I finished the bike in 1:15, 20.3 mph average.

Run

I knew I could make up some of my lost time from the bike, on the run. Although, about 1/2 mile in, I felt a weird, dull pain behind my knee that I was forced to stop and attempt to rub out. It never really went away and I still don't know what caused it. When I was rubbing it, a guy passed me which I actually turned out to like. I sometimes feel like Seabiscuit in that I often have my best run splits when I'm chasing someone. I felt very good during the run, but not great. I knew that my pathetic bike hadn't set me up for a good run. I was running side by side with the guy that passed me until I dropped him around mile 4. There wasn't a single person in sight so it made it a little more difficult to push it. Even the finishing chute wasn't well marked so I slowed down a bit during the last 1/8 mile just so I could figure out where the heck I was going. I finished the run in 41:06, 6:38/mile average. I wanted to be around a 6:15/mile average but with a crappy bike and stopping one time, I guess I can't complain.

Recap
Dumb race, it wasn't a complete waste of time but it didn't really do anything to help me gauge my fitness. I knew that I loved my K-Swiss K-Ruzz 1.5's and my PowerBar gels but that wasn't news to me. Almost every time I do any Muncie race, I ask myself why I did it because there isn't really anything about it that I like. That's all, nothing exciting to share. It was a PR from last year but that isn't saying much. It was just a miserable 2/3 of the race.

I want to thank Lauren for coming (even though I literally had to drag her there) and being my little cheerleader for the day. I also wanted to thank my amazing Wattie Ink sponsors ISM Saddles, Powerbar and K-Swiss. Now its time to get my head back into the game and prepare for a solid week of tapering before Ironman Eagleman 70.3.

Carmel Spint Triathlon: Dusting off the cobwebs

Well it's been 3 weeks since the Carmel Sprint Tri and I'm just now getting around to creating a race report. It won't be fun and flashy, especially because it was just a sprint tri and the damn race is over before you even begin to warm up. I was excited for this race because 4 years ago, this was my first ever triathlon, so I was excited to do a pilgrimage to my first race.

The Carmel Sprint Tri is a great race to start the season with: It's a 400 meter pool swim, 10 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. It's just fun because it's often the season opening tri and tons of peoples first tri ever. This was Lauren's (my girlfriend) first tri too. The pool swim is sketchy though because it's a self-seeding swim. Meaning that when you register, you put down your estimated 100m swim time in order to get seeded at the start. That just means that everybody takes their 100m (not their average 100m for 400m, but 100m flat) swim time, and they subtract 15 seconds. So what does that all mean? It means that unless you're in the very front of the pack, you're swimming over people the entire time.

Well the day started pretty typical, the race started at 8:40 so we woke up at 6am. Most races have me getting up at 4am so the extra sleep was nice. I had my typical bagel with peanut butter and banana slices and almost an entire water bottle of PowerBar Perform. The race was going to be less than an hour so I wasn't too concerned with my nutritioin. Lauren and I had everything in the car the night before so we just woke up and left.

We drove to Carmel  High School to transiton to get set up. I did a simple walk through with Lauren about how to set everything up then I did my own. Nothing's too complicated about my transition setup. Once we got everything set up, it was picture time...

We then headed to the Gym to wait for our wave to be called. I seeded myself in the 1:25/100m group so I was the first wave. Quick good luck kiss goodbye and I headed to the pool, leaving Lauren behind. I was super nervous for her but she's a competitor at heart so I knew she'd do great.

The swim was sub-par. It's fairly difficult to pass people before the wall so I only passed 1 person. I was aiming for a 6 minute swim but exited the water at 6:30. When I came out of the water I knew that I had sandbagged the swim. I know I'm capable of a 5:45 400m race swim but oh well, it was my first race in almost 8 months.

T1 went well. Although, I was running with my bike towards the mount line and the volunteers didn't direct me to the right area because it wasn't marked. I only lost 2-3 seconds but it was a mental derail. I did a fly-mount for the first time in a race and almost bit it because there was a sharp turn as soon as I hopped on. I was passed by my friend Noah when I was slipping into my shoes. He's a stronger cyclist than I am so I just looked at him like a 'Rabbit': Someone to chase the whole 10 miles.

The bike was pretty uneventful. The course was new from 4 years ago and there were a lot of turns so it was hard to really get into a groove. I kept Noah in my sights the entire time and picked off 3 people. Around mile 7 I was passed once. The guy was on the bigger side so I wasn't surprised he was a good cyclist, I knew I would catch him on the run though. By this time, I could barely see Noah.

I pulled into T2 after doing a fly-dismount. Of course there was another voluteer who wasn't watching where he was walking and I had to swerve out of the way to avoid him. I'm always thankful for the volunteers but there should be a screening involved.

I threw on my K-Swiss Kruuz 1.5's, grabbed my race belt and off I went. I was careful to put on bodyglide on the lip of my shoe to avoid any chafing because I would be going sockless. Sprints are the only distance I go sockless. The 2 seconds it takes to throw on socks for an Olympic distance race are worth it.

I had a lot of time to make up for my sub-par swim but not a lot of real estate. It's difficult to catch people in a sprint race when you're in the first wave because it's only 3 miles and your pace per mile usually isn't much more blazing fast than theirs. I wanted to have sub-6 minute miles for the entire 5k. I quickly knew that wouldn't happen though. I started to have side-stitches and stopped about 3 minutes into the run to rub it out. I was pretty pissed because I usually don't get them in races. I was passed by some young kid. After massaging it for 10 seconds, and feeling 100% better, I continued on. I knew I was a faster runner than Noah so that became my goal, to catch him.

 

By that time I was up to my normal 5k pace, pushing 5:45 splits, I knew it was too late to hit my sub-18 minute goal. For the remaining 2.5 miles, I was all alone. Nobody to chase, or at least thats what I thought. At a point where the course splits, I saw that Noah wasn't too far ahead. I started booking it and I knew I was rapidly gaining on him, but I was quickly running out of road. I was about 20 feet behind him when he crossed the finish line. Sucks to know that if I didn't have to stop in the beginning that I would've easily caught him. I finished in 54:33.

My splits were 6:35 swim/26 min bike/19:17 run.

I finished 20th overall and 5th in my AG. I was 15 seconds off of a podium finish so that was a kick in the nuts. I guess I was happy with how I finished, but knew I could've gone much faster. My training had been going well, but not great so to finish how I did was satisfying.

At the finish line, I found Laurens parents and waited for her to finish. Her wave didn't leave until 45 minutes after mine so I knew I would've been waiting a while. She crossed the finish line in 1:03:59,which was good enough for 4th in her AG! Not bad for a soccer player turned triathlete. Overall I was happy with the race. I've never been a huge fan of Sprint tri's because they don't necessarily favor the runner, which is where I make up the most time.

The two biggest things I was excited for were to see Lauren complete her first offical tri and also to race in my new Wattie Ink kit. The past several months of being on the team have been the most exciting of all my 4 years of doing tris, combined. I've never met a better group of people to support, encourage, make fun of and badger in my life. Sean Watkins has done an amazing job of hooking us up with the best sponsors in the industry to put us in a place to make it a very realistic goal to make it to the top of each podium.

 

After the Carmel Tri, I'm stoked to see how far I can push  my body and see what sort of goals I can crush this year.

 

 

 



2013 Schedule

I've been putting this post off for a while now, partly because I'm busier now more than ever and eating dinner was more important than writing a blog, but also because I wanted to see if I made the 2013 Wattie Ink. Elite Triathlon team. Well I did...if you didn't already know! I'm waiting to write that blog until I know more details.

Being on the team, there's certain racing criteria that I have to meet. One of them is that I have to do at least 5 races and 2 of them have to be of the Ironman or Rev brand. So below is my tentative race schedule and goals...

Race	Location	Date	Goal
Carmel Sprint Tri	Carmel, IN	4/14/2013	<1:00/Top 3 AG
Carmel ½ Marathon	Carmel, IN	4/20/2013	1:25/Top 5 AG
Muncie May Olympic	Muncie, IN	5/11/2013	<2:22
Geist ½ Marathon	Lawrence, IN	5/18/2013	<1:25
Leons Worlds Fastest Tri	Hammond, IN	6/2/2013	<2:20
Ironman Eagleman 70.3	Cambridge, MD	6/9/2013	4:48/Top 15 AG/Vegas Qual.
Eagle Creek Sprint Tri	Indianapolis, IN	7/20/2013	<00:58/Top 5 AG
Rev. 3 Cedar Point 1/2	Sandusky, OH	9/7/2013	<4:40
Monumental ½ Marathon	Indianapolis, IN	11/3/2013	<1:30

Off Season Schmoff Season

Well the 2012 racing season has been in the books for about a month now, with the conclusion of the Chicago Marathon, and what a season it was! I did my first 1/2 Ironman and my first full marathon, both of which I will do many, many more times. Well...many more Ironman events than marathons at least. I took about a month off from any structured workouts, which was amazing. I was swapping 4:45 alarm clocks with 2 more hours of sleep, I got home from work and actually watched TV and I ate a little more of this:


Applebees Chicken Fajita roll-up with a $5 bottle of wine. Klassy with a K

It was awesome to not have a strict workout schedule and sleep in a little bit more...but boy did I miss racing, sweating and pushing my body. Nothing feels better than to wake up the day after a race or workout and barely be able to walk because you pushed your body to the limit. Now, in the past, I would barely workout until January or so. I might run a bit, or hop in the pool once a week, but most of that was due to simple boredom. I treated the "off-season" too literally. Nothing is particularly wrong with that, but it won't make you faster and it sure as hell won't make you stronger. I knew that if I wanted to progress my fitness level and get closer to the podium, I would have to start training earlier, much earlier.

 

I just submitted my application to Rock the W in 2013 with the Wattie Ink Elite Triathlon Team. You can read all about them on their website, but they are (in my opinion) the best tri team in the country. It's a group of 50 (in 2013 it will be 100) elite level triathletes from all walks of life who have one passion: racing. They span the country hogging the podium from sprint tri's to 1/2 Ironman to marathons and cyclecross races. The Wattie Ink team members are all 100% dedicated to getting faster, and that's what I need to surround myself with. And although none of them are in Indianapolis, the Twitter and Facebook following amongst everyone is second to none. That is my goal. They race hard and play hard and will blow by you in whatever challenge they face. The 2013 team will be announced on December 7th and I don't know if I'll sleep until that day.

 

Well I won't go into too much detail as to what I'm doing during the winter months because I can't reveal ALL of my racing secrets; but its something like this

 

Monday: Swim/Core

Tuesday: Leg strength at gym/30-45 min on indoor trainer or 30-45 min run

Wednesday: Swim

Thursday: Leg strength at gym/30-45 min on indoor trainer or 30-45 min run

Friday: Swim/Core

Saturday: Swim

Sunday: Ride 20-30 miles outside or 1 hour on indoor trainer

 

As you can see, its nothing intense. I'm simply maintaining a base fitness level so when Spring comes around, I can start to transition to more intense workouts and work on getting faster in all 3 diciplines. I'm also starting to attend a Yoga class at Life Time Fitness to improve flexibility, which is non-existent now and I'm putting a larger focus on strength workouts in my lower body. I've battled some injuries throughout the years and strenthing my legs and joints will help prevent those nagging injuries. While I'm still training 7 days a week during the winter months, if something comes up and I have to skip a workout for whatever reason, I don't get my panties in a bunch. I still have to enjoy life outside of working out involving many ice cream drumsticks and bottles of wine.

Lucy and I both prefer drumsticks with a caramel center

Although Indy got their first snow yesterday (0.2 inches), there's still about a month until we can expect regular snowfall. That means breaking out the warm cycling gear and enjoying the outdoors while I can.

Come Spring, I'm going to make regular trips to Fort Benjamin Harrison. This place is beautiful with awesome trails and some killer hills to put some power in my legs.

Well thats it for now. This weekend I'll post my 2013 race schedule and disect what my goals are for those races. I'm excited for next year to officially get started, but until then...theres still a lot of work to be done.

Another notch on the belt

Well...I can now officially slap one of those stupid "26.2" stickers on my bumper... but you'll never catch me dead with one of those (sorry if I just offended you). This past weekend was the final chapter of the past 3 months of training. The 2012 Chicago Marathon is finally over and boy was it an adventure.

Roughly 9 months ago I (for some reason I'm still trying to figure out) signed up to put my body through hell, to push it further than I had before and to see what it was capable of. I've put my body through a half-ironman and tons of other endurance events, but this was different. At least with triathlon, if you have a bad swim, you can make up for it on the bike, or if you get off the bike in a bad position you can just run down your competition. Running a marathon was different. Pacing myself and keeping on top of my goal pace was even more important than ever before, because of the dreaded "wall". The "wall" usually occurs between miles 18-22 for most runners. Its where your body shuts down, you've depleted it of any more calories to burn and it gives up. This is where most runners will turn to walking, or run/walking at best. Although, if you train properly and pace yourself properly then you can avoid the wall completely. I feel like I brushed up against the wall but never actually "hit the wall". I'll get into that later. Now onto the actual report...

Lauren and I drove up on Saturday morning and went straight to the expo. Now most expos are pretty much the same; they all have energy bar vendors giving out free samples, clothing companies competing for the most obnoxious colors in hoodies or Nike, Saucony or other shoe dealers in house to showcase the "best new minimalist shoe with the ideal heal-to-toe ratio and innovative lacework thats guaranteed to shed 3 minutes off of your mile time because its .1 ounces lighter than the same version that came out 2 months earlier" shoe. After tooling around the expo for a bit we headed to my friends new place, which just happened to be a 10 minute walk from the start line...blessing #1. 

After settling in, we went for a quick, 5 mile jog along the lake shore and Navy pier. I threw in a couple of 30 second strides to help remind my legs that they still knew how to go fast because the past week of tapering has made them feel inadequate. I was a little nervous because my knee started to flair up and running up a few steps was excruciating to them, although nothing that I haven't felt before. I just got back to the apartment and made sure to ice it.

It was at this point that I decided to wear my new K-Swiss Quickie Blade Lights instead of my New Balance 1400's that I had been training with the past 4 months. I was having some foot "tweaks" as I like to call them and figured I'd try out the K-Swiss' just for the heck of it. I bought them 2 weeks before the race, ran a total of 20 miles on them and absolutely loved them. Any pain went away. I wouldn't recommend switching shoes that close to the race but I made a gamble.

After relaxing for a bit we went to Lou Malnati's to get in some final carb loading. For those of you who don't know what this little slice of heaven is, its a famous Chicago deep-dish pizza place. I've found that pizza works best for me before a big race. Most people prefer pasta because its simple and pizza has a negative reputation, but pizza, especially deep-dish pizza, is packed with carbs and protein, often more than pasta. 

TIP: NEVER try anything new on race day or the days leading up to it, especially food. I've used pizza in the past to carb-load before a race so I know how my body reacts to it. Try anything new before a training day so if your body rejects it then it doesn't necessarily hurt anything. 

After we had some amazing pizza, we made our way back to the apartment to get some rest, I had a big day in the morning. 

Race morning I woke up around 5:30. My wave didn't go off until 8am and I wanted to get into my corral by 7 in order to get a good place. I was in corral F, which was for people who estimated their finishing time be around 4 hours. I didn't submit an official half-marathon time to be placed into a better corral so I new I had to get to the front to avoid any traffic. Once I woke up I had my staple meal, an entire bagel with peanut butter topped with banana slices and a sports drink. I have this before any race, big or small. I also brought along a red bull to sip on throughout the morning. Again, DO NOT drink caffeine on the morning of race day if you haven't done so in training. 

The temperature at the start of the race was around 40 degrees so it was going to be a bit nippy. I still decided to only wear my singlet, shorts and arm warmers though. I would rather be a bit cold than a bit warm. The only thing that really made me nervous were my hands. I got my moms genes where I have bad circulation to my hands and feet and I forgot to bring gloves so I knew it might be an issue. Well we walked around Grant Park a bit, looking at all the nervous faces and judging every single one of them based upon their attire. You can usually tell if this is someones first race or how they might do during the race based upon their shoe choices, clothing choices and general demeanor before the race. "Analyzing" all these runners helped keep my mind off of things.

After walking around for a bit I decided I needed to use the bathroom one last time but I didn't want to use the port-o-pottie, I decided on the Congress Hotel across the street. While walking in, we passed a gift shop and Lauren thought they might have gloves. While I wouldn't think they would, I decided to give it a try and by an act of God they DID! I slipped those bad boys on and felt a lot more confident in everything because I knew my cold hands might've become an issue.

The next part of the morning went like this: Bathroom, dynamic stretches and strides while sipping my Red Bull, bathroom, enter corral. Nothing too exciting.

While waiting in my corral in the very front tons of things were going through my head: How was my pacing going to go? Am I wearing enough clothes? Do I have to pee again? But all of that quickly went away when I looked to my left and saw a guy peeing into a Gatorade bottle right next to me! That was a little odd. While in the corral I also took in 3 blocks of Clif Shot Bloks. I was a bit worried about stomach issues because I was feeling a bit full. You should NEVER feel full at the beginning of a race, this will only lead to GI problems. I thought I took in too many fluids before the race so I was a bit worried, it turned out fine though as I didn't have any cramps at all throughout the entire race. Well 8:00 rolled around and the gun went off...

Mile 1-5: I knew I was going faster than my goal pace; I was doing 6:50-7:15 splits for the first few miles. I knew this would happen though, especially since I was in the very front of my corral and knew there were 20,000+ people chasing me. I felt great though, the crowd support was awesome but I knew I had a long way to go. I skipped the first aid station around mile 2 because I knew I had to go to the bathroom again and wanted to make up some time. I took a pee around mile 4, but it only shaved about 90 seconds off my time, I could live with that. TIP: Go pee the moment you think you have to or else it will be the only thing you think about. I also saw Lauren around mile 2.5 so that was a bit of a boost.

Mile 6-12: Still feeling good, my feet didn't have any pain in them at all and my knees were feeling great. I continued to take in fluids at every aid station but tried to stick to Gatorade. I had been using BASE Performance Electrolyte Salt for the past week so I wanted to keep my electrolyte intake consistent. I think I only took in 2-3 cups of water for the entire race. This is where I took in my first of 3 Honey Stinger Gels.

Mile 13-15: I was starting to feel a little worn and I couldn't figure out why. I passed the halfway point at 1:39:36 which was about where I wanted to be but I was feeling like I had ran 15-17 miles at that point. I wasn't hurting but wasn't feeling like I was anticipating. I kept the same pace though and stuck to my plan. I passed Lauren again and got another little burst of energy.

Mile 13
 

Mile 16-19: These miles were the worst for me. I had dipped down to an 8:20 pace and my feet started to hurt. I suspect it was simply because my shoes hadn't been broken in like they should've been because they never hurt this bad in training. My left Achilles tendon was also a little inflamed as well, which I've never felt in the past either. I even stopped for 10 seconds to stretch it out, that did squat to help it. I kept going though and took in another gel at mile 18. My goal was to get to mile 20 because for some reason I felt like it was all downhill from there. The crown support continued to rage, especially through Chinatown where they were blasting "Gangham Style". Somehow Lauren spotted me at miles 16 and 20 as well. I sacrificed a few seconds by running over and kissing her, I knew I could use a little distraction from the pain. Around mile 18 I started doing some calculations in my head. I figured if I maintained an 8 min pace then I would have about 6 minutes to spare in case of cramping, bathroom or I wanted to walk an aid station. Knowing I had that buffer didn't slow me down but gave me more confidence in my ability to make my goal time of 3:30.

Mile 20-23: Ok now its hurting, I tried my hardest to keep good form and not walk through any aid stations because I knew that the moment I stopped my legs would lock up and I'd be done for. At mile 20 I also mentally told myself that I only had 2 5K's to complete, so basically a Sunday stroll. Even though I was hurting I actually picked up my pace in the last 6 miles. I knew I could make my goal time and I was literally saying out loud "3:30, keep going, you'll do this". People probably thought I was crazy but isn't running a marathon crazy in itself?!

Mile 24-25: This part was the final straightaway until the final turn. I felt like I was flying at this point, but by "flying" I mean doing 8:00 splits.

Mile 26-26.2: When you came off the last long straightaway, you got onto Roosevelt Road which was a .1 mile monster of a hill, and my monster I mean it was a slight incline, smaller than a wheelchair ramp but when you've just ran 26 flat miles any hill is a monster. I turned the corner and saw the finish line. I usually pick up the pace to make it appear like I was going that fast throughout the entire race, but I had nothing left in the tank. I was completely deprived of any more muscle fibers or energy left. I finally crossed the finish line after running for 3 hours and 26 minutes. SUCCESS!!

Splits

Split	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/mile	miles/h
05K	08:22:20AM	00:22:18	22:18	07:11	8.37
10K	08:46:47AM	00:46:45	24:27	07:53	7.62
15K	09:10:04AM	01:10:02	23:17	07:30	8.01
20K	09:34:09AM	01:34:07	24:05	07:46	7.74
HALF	09:39:38AM	01:39:36	05:29	08:04	7.45
25K	09:59:25AM	01:59:23	19:47	08:10	7.36
30K	10:25:16AM	02:25:14	25:51	08:20	7.21
35K	10:50:41AM	02:50:39	25:25	08:11	7.34
40K	11:16:25AM	03:16:23	25:44	08:17	7.25
Finish	11:26:59AM	03:26:57	10:34	07:45	7.75

 

Afterwards: The MOMENT I stopped running and walked my legs tightened up and I started walking like I just sat on a football, naked. I had carried my remaining 2 Clif Shot Bloks in my hand the entire time. I didn't want to eat them because I don't like chewing during races and I didn't wanna throw them away for who knows what reason. I guess I wouldn't felt off balance or something. Well I dropped those and couldn't even bend down to get them, I had to pathetically ask a volunteer to grab them for me. I hobbled for what seemed like a mile to get out of the finishing chute and found Lauren. We sat on the grass for a bit while she listened to me complain about my chaffed arms and butt cheeks and my toes that I couldn't feel. It was a surreal moment.

This race was a pivotal race in my athletic endeavors. I had no idea who to expect out of the race nor my body. I knew I had put in the right amount of training, and had a very clear pacing and nutrition plan, but I was anticipating SOMETHING going wrong at some point. But nothing did. Besides a few tweaks in my Achilles and knee and the obvious muscle soreness during the race, I felt great the entire time. It hurt like hell but I was anticipating it all. I stuck to my plans almost to a T and wasn't tempted to stray away from them.

In my half-ironman debut in Racine, my goal was 5:30 and my finishing time was 5:30. I figured half of that success was just luck. But once I met my goal (actually beating it) for Chicago I knew I was onto something. I was finally beginning to figure out my body's strengths, weaknesses and abilities. I am 100% confident that I left everything out on the course on Sunday, I had nothing left to give. I knew I could physically finish in 3:30 but figured there would be some sort of curve ball that would derail me and I would either hit the wall, cramp, injure myself or something like that.

To me, this was the perfect race. I made a plan, stuck to the plan, had a few lucky breaks along the way and had the perfect finish. I made my 3:30 goal time almost 6 months ago and trained to meet it. Sure I could've done some more speed work or intervals and possibly lowered my finishing time, but I just wanted to get the marathon monkey off my back. Now that it's off my back and I know what I'm capable of, I can now aim higher. After seeing my performance in my first marathon, I think Boston is in the cards. I have no idea when I'll do another marathon, but I will.

It's always funny to think back and during the race, you tell yourself "this is miserable, I hate this and I'll never do this again" but once you cross the finish line and the initial pains go away, you start planning your next race. All endurance athletes go through that cycle; its like a drug, they need that feeling again, the feeling of overcoming odds and pain and sacrificing temporary pleasure for long term bragging rights. All those long days of running when all I wanna do is watch tv or stay up late or whatever were worth it. You learn a lot about yourself before, during and after any endurance sports event. Thats why we do it. We do it to challenge our minds and bodies, to push ourselves to the point of collapsing because at that point, you find yourself. You find out what you're capable of and what you're able to accomplish. Thats the beauty of endurance sports, its like a religion, teacher, mentor, sibling, parent and magic-8 ball wrapped into a 3 hour and 26 minute hell-on-Earth event.

Another day Another mile

Well the final long run of my marathon training plan has come to an end, it actually came to an end a couple of days ago but a little thing called life got in the way. I must say, I might actually miss running 20-21 miles a time. There's just something very therapeutic about being outside for 2 1/2 hours and the only thing you hear is the pounding of your feet on the pavement or the shuffling of rocks under every step along a gravel path; and how can I forget the sounds of the Broad Ripple homeless people yelling at one another or 2 Butler girls speed-walking with their Chanel sunglasses and talking about the upcoming Sigma Chi party. I finally got my Chicago Marathon Confirmation Ticket in the mail yesterday and thats when it all kinda hit me, my race is less than 3 weeks away! I'm feeling damn good about it though. While I didn't follow the plan to a "T" nor did I get in the number of long runs that I should've, after Sundays run, I'm more confident than ever that I will hit my goal in Chicago.

Lauren and I were both supposed to get 20 miles in so we figured we'd do it together and get it over with. The first 10 miles felt great for both of us, we were doing 7:30 splits and were feeling good. Although at the halfway point Lauren said she still hadn't found her "groove". For the 2nd half of the run we slowed the pace to about an 8:15 mile. Althought I would prefer to do the oppsite, go slow then pick up the pace, I wanted to simply get in the miles and feel great afterwards. It certainly did work though, around mile 18 I realized I felt as good as I did at mile 5. Although we did take several quick walking breaks, I feel like I would've felt great regardless, especially after what I was feeling the past few days. The days leading up to the race, my legs were completely shot. Between running a 6:40 split for 9 miles on Friday afternoon, followed by the Jason Mraz concert, standing up at work all day on Saturday then going to the Indy Jazz Fest afterwards, my feet were killing me. I thought the run would've been brutal. But for whatever reason it wasn't. After my 20 mile run last week, I was shot. I got home and wanted to do nothing more than lay my sweaty, salty ass on the floor. This time, I had no problem hopping in the shower to head to my friends for the Colts game.

Although I could probably say that I do love running now, I'm still not 100% convinced that the marathon is for me. I'm obviously still going to do Chicago and most likely other marathons in the future, but every ounce of me missed juggling swimming, biking and running. True, getting up at 4:45 to go swim is one of the worst thing in the world but getting to work at 8 am and knowing that you're already done with your morning workout is an awesome feeling. I like to look at it as squeezing 25 hours into a day because it's so frecking early that once you're done swimming, THEN you can start your day. It probably doesn't make sense but training for triathlons doesn't make sense either. I won't get into why I do triathlon too much though, I'll save that for another day.

Until now, I'm hanging up the hat on this entry...running 20 miles was easier than writing this damn thing. Maybe I'll come back and write some more...probably not though.