Unlearn, you must unlearn

Had a TNT swim clinic today. It was nice meeting my teammates and captains for the first time. The group was actually pretty large because this was a combined workout with both the Dallas and Fort Worth TNT Tri teams.

A LOT of swim drills. I am (was) a decent swimmer, but there is much room for improvement. Lengthening my stroke. Keeping my body more horizontal - i.e., keep head down and kick legs more so that hips won't sink. It was a very informative session, but frustrating.

It reminded me of a time a couple years ago when I tried to learn how to snowboard - I'm a decent skiier and "starting over" (and continuously falling on the ground) was no fun. I ended up dropping the snowboard at the bunny slope and going back to skiing blue diamonds, but for this swimming I have to make the effort to unlearn my bad habits and get better the right way. I guess I will be doing a lot of these practice strokes and kicks in the coming months.

We finished up the swim clinic with a relay race and I was the "anchor" for our team. We didn't come in first, but I got to know my teammates better and it let us end on a high note after 90+ minutes of drills!

Team In Training

This is my first official post for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training (TNT).

As you probably already know from reading this blog, I got back on the "workout horse" this spring. Joined a gym, traded Mexican buffets for swimming at lunch-time, and did some biking and running on the weekends. As a matter of fact, it's been going pretty well, and I have really improved my fitness, lost a few pounds, and even completed a few "sprint" triathlons (swimming, biking and running) and local charity bike rides this summer. Up until recently, I was working out and racing mainly for my health and personal enjoyment, but I have decided that I’d like to do something different this fall and winter. I am going to train for next six months for a Half-IronMan length triathlon as a member of TNT.

Derek (who is now my TNT mentor) has done three events with Team In Training and raised over $12,000 for leukemia and lymphoma research. Jarrod and Jonathan each raised over $2,500 for LLS with their participation in the Texas Man Triathlon earlier this month. It is a great cause and a great experience.

A Half-IronMan triathlon will be a big challenge for me, but nothing like the challenge the people affected by leukemia go through on a daily basis. The North Texas (Dallas and Fort Worth) TNT team will be training and volunteering to raise money and increase awareness about these terrible diseases.

Making the decision to join the team and compete in this event was easy; the race – not so much. I will be swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles, and running a half-marathon (13.1 miles) down in Galveston, TX on March 30, 2008. The Half-IronMan distance will take me between 6 and 8 hours to complete. As a member of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s TNT program, we will be swimming, biking, and running to assist the organization in its efforts to battle blood cancers. The team’s goals are to complete the training and the event. Beyond that physical commitment to the program, our most important goal is to raise a minimum of $2,600 each. Over 75% of the money that we raise will go directly back to the Society for research, patient services, advocacy, and education in the battle against leukemia and other blood-related cancers.

I will be training and racing this spring in honor of everyone fighting leukemia each and every day. These “Honored Heroes” do not have a choice in facing this disease, but I do have a choice. My choice is to be out there training hard, raising money for cancer research and making a difference. In order to do that, however, I am asking for your help in contributing the money to meet my fundraising goal. Your tax-deductible donation will fund the research dedicated to finding a cure for leukemia and lymphoma. More that 712,000 Americans have leukemia, Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma or myeloma. Every five minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer and every 10 minutes, someone dies. But thanks to research funded by programs like TNT, the survival rate continues to rise each year. In fact, leukemia research has been the leader for effective treatments of Hodgkins’ disease, lymphomas and other common kinds of cancer, including breast cancer and lung cancer. Leukemia research is considered to be the window to the treatment and cure for ALL cancers.

You can contribute to my fundraising account by making a donation directly to my online account at http://www.active.com/donate/tntntx/Andrien_Wang. Whatever you can contribute matters; however large or small, it all adds up. I greatly appreciate your help and look forward to hearing from you.

Happy Birthday to Me

Turned 37 today. Unfortunately, not old enough to move to the 40-44 age group. :-)

Long Swim

Boo-yah! I did my longest continuous swim ever/yet today: 3,000 yards total. It took quite a while (1 hour and 9.5 minutes with a 50 second Accel Gel & water break in the middle) to complete that distance, but my pace was pretty consistent for the entire effort.

• 1st 500 yds: 11:14
• 2nd 500 yds: 11:28
• 3rd 500 yds: 11:27
• 4th 500 yds: 11:22
• 5th 500 yds: 11:26
• 6th 500 yds: 11:39

In fact, I was very happy with my speed - the pace was actually faster than what I usually do for shorter swims. I tried something new today - I (mostly) only breathed for every other stroke - and this really helped increase my stroke cadence.

Note: one bad thing about swimming for over an hour - you get some pretty stubborn "goggle lines" around your eyes. I looked like a raccoon until about 2:30 or 3:00 (I swam at lunch-time). The hazards of tri training ... :-)

Tour Des Fleurs

The Tour Des Fleurs (which I believe is French for "tour of flowers") race was held at the Dallas Arboretum this morning. I ran in and completed the 20K (12.4 miles) route. The route went around White Rock Lake with a extra loop just before the dam/spillway.

The weather was pretty nice. Not too hot and the course was at least partially shaded. I tried to keep my pace slow so that I wouldn't burn out and I think overall I was successful as my 5K splits were fairly consistent:

• 5K split: 28:01 (9:02/mi pace)
• 10K split: 27:47 (8:58/mi pace)
• 15K split: 27:41 (8:56/mi pace)
• 20K split: 28:48 (9:17/mi pace)

Here are the full splits (by mile):

and my (ridiculously high) heart rate during the run:


As you can see from the chart, I only slowed down (for a significant time) twice - at 6 miles to walk and suck down an Accel Gel and at 11 miles because of a nasty hill that I just didn't feel like running up!

The beginning portion of the course felt very familiar since it was following the same path and direction as the Too Hot To Handle 15K from July. There were over 2,000 people running the race so it was quite congested until the 3 mile mark, when about half the people split off for the 10K route.

The middle portion of the run was uneventful - which is a good thing. My pace stayed consistent and I only stopped briefly at the water stations (except for the 6-mile one) to drink water/PowerAde and dump a cup or two of water on my head to cool off.

Just as I crossed the 15K marker, I heard a few people saying "Hi, Andy!" and saw Derek and Mike & Simone, who were at White Rock Lake riding their bikes. It was a nice surprise (I knew they planned to be there, but didn't expect to see them at all) and definitely gave a life to my spirits for the final 3.1 miles.

Anyway, the race went well and I placed 425th out of 1084 finishers of the 20K route. Top 40% is not bad for my first 20K and my longest run to date!

My total time was 1 hour, 52 minutes, and 19 seconds (for an overall pace of 9:03/mi). If I can keep this pace for another 0.7 miles, I should be able to (barely) finish a half-marathon in 2 hours. So this will be my goal for the Dallas Running Club Half-Marathon in November.

Race results - due to a lost entry form, I am (currently) listed as "Unknown Particip. 2742":
http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/142514_173433_2007.html

MotionBased workout info: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4019743

Recovery

I didn't feel too bad the day after the Texas Man tri. "Everything" was sore - back/shoulders/chest from swimming, glutes from biking, quadshamstrings/calves from running - but it wasn't a super painful soreness ... more like my body just saying "hey, you had a hard workout yesterday - just thought you should know."

I'm thinking the overall good news was due to (1) adequate training for the event, (2) some stretching and muscle massage that afternoon, and (3) good post-race recovery nutrition. Regarding the latter, I (of course) partook of the free pizza at the race site, but the race also had a lot of Accelerade (which has the recommended 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein) available at the finish line and I drank at least 32 ounces of it. After I got home, I had some pasta with chicken and a protein shake (chocolate whey powder mixed with caffeine-free Diet Coke - not bad tasting and quite refreshing).

On Monday, I did a "light" swim of 2,000 yards. Note: I have given up on doing the lap conversions into meters at LA Fitness - i.e., no more 11 laps for approximately 500 meters, it's now just 10 laps for exactly 500 yards - I like round numbers. (Sorry, metric system, you lose again :-P). My plan is to work my way up to 3,000 or 4,000 yards over the next couple months. As for Monday's swim, my 500 yard splits were decent: 10:55, 11:46, 11:40, 11:51. The total time was 47:31 with about a 1:19 water break in between the first and last 1,000 yards.

On Tuesday, I wasn't able to make it to the gym so I just did 60 minutes on the elliptical trainer at home. ("2.06 miles" at the highest incline and resistence levels). Almost like running and no pounding of the joints.

Today, I did a 60-minute spin class and then followed that up with a treadmill run where about half the time it was at the 5 degree incline setting (the rest of the time it was flat - zero degrees incline). The results:

• Time: 44:44
• Distance: 4.5 miles
• Vertical climb: 604 feet

Tomorrow, I plan to do another (shorter, 45-minute) spin class and then do a weight training session. Friday will be an off day to rest up for Saturday's Tour Des Fleurs 20K run.

Texas Man Olympic Tri

Woo-hoo, I have completed my first Olympic-distance triathlon! Double the distance, double the fun.

The Dave Scott Texas Man Olympic Tri consisted of a 1,500 yard open-water swim in Lake Ray Roberts (Valley View, TX), a 23 mile bike leg, and a 10K (6.2 mile) run. I finished it in 2 hr and 42 minutes for 18th out of 27 in the men's 35-39 age group ... and 78th out of 179 overall. Pretty good performance for my first time at this longer distance! My goal was to finish the race in under 3 hours and I was able to meet that by a decent margin.

• Swim: 27:04 (75th place)
• T1: 2:41
• Bike: 1:10:40 - 19.5 MPH (51st place)
• T2: 1:21
• Run: 1:00:33 - 9:46/mi pace (114th place)
• TOTAL: 2:42:17

Full results at http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventID=1534234&pubID=3

The water temperature in the lake was good - not too hot and not too cold - but there were actually some waves as we moved to the first turn buoy (about 450 yds from shore). Open-water swimming is still frustrating with all the swimmers packed in like sardines and running into each other. I emerged relatively unscathed, though - sticking to the outside "lane" helped. Remembering swim exit info from the pre-tri, I swam nearly up onto the sand - only stopping when my hand hit the ground on the downstroke - before jumping up and high-stepping in the shallow water towards the transition area. As I exited the water, I saw Jonathan (the Sprint tri didn't start until about an hour later) and Yvette, his TNT mentor, and gave them a thumbs-up.
The bike was exactly as I expected since I had already ridden the course at the pre-tri. Despite having just swam 0.85 miles my average speed was almost 1 1/2 MPH faster than the week before. Adrenaline had kicked in. I looked for Jarrod and Derek (who did the Olympic tri with me) on the out-and-back part of the course but I never saw them - Jarrod said he saw me, but I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention.

The run actually wasn't that bad. I was worried that my legs would be shot after biking over 23 miles, but after some initial wobbly steps I was ready to go. (I guess those brick workouts really helped.) It was still pretty early (just after 9:00 AM) so the sun wasn't too hot yet. With my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS strapped on - yep, I was the geek running with two watches on his left wrist - I managed to maintain my pace between 10:30/mi and 9:15/mi for the entire run.

The first part of the run took us out of the park and the terrain was generally uphill until reaching the entrance. Then it was mostly flat for the mile on the road outside of the park. After looping back and about to reenter the park, I heard a "Go, Andy" from Don (not "Cycling Teammate Don", but another Verizon coworker that I'd talked to a few times at the North Lake College pool) who was doing the Half-IronMan distance and was just starting the second lap of the bike course. I waved as he whizzed by.

Coming down the hill back into the park, I (almost literally) ran into Jarrod. I was definitely very focused on the run because I barely noticed him until we passed and I never saw Derek at all even though I had to run right past him on the out-and-back course! Definitely in the "running zone".

As the 10K run rejoined the 5K, I got a surge of energy as I realized that I was less than a mile and half from the finish. This part of the course was also mostly shaded so that was a relief. I drank lemonade-flavored Accelerade and dumped some water on my head at the last two rest stops and tried to pick up the pace. After final turn, I sprinted to the giant "Finish" arch that inflated and set up right on the beach where I had started a few hours earlier.

A lot of support for our little tri group at the finish line. I met Jarrod's friend, Jimmy (who lost over 100 pounds this year and was doing his first tri) who had finished the Sprint distance (with a great time for his first outing) and his family, Jarrod's family, Jonathan & Alexis (with the video camera :-), and I had met Derek's family (sister and brother-in-law visiting) before the race.

After finishing, I had a recovery meal of pizza and more Accelerade and watched the other finishers. I saw and said hello to Archie, who I had met at the TWU Sprint Tri and Denton July 4th 5K and ran with at the pre-tri. I also wandered by the Team-In-Training tent and met Leah, the Dallas TNT tri coordinator. (TNT will be an upcoming post.) Then, we all packed up our bikes and gear back at the transition area, and Jimmy's wife snapped a few photos of us - the happy triathletes.

I love this sport.

Going "Easy"

Need to keep reminding myself, "This is supposed to be a TAPER week" ...

Got on the old StairMaster today - 20 minutes at "level 10" for "2.31 miles" or "110 floors". Again, not really sure what any of those numbers mean, but when I first started using this machine, it took me almost 30 minutes to do the same distance, so the intensity is definitely increased.

Afterward, I swam 1,500 yards - the distance I will need to do on Sunday - in 34:02. Not too bad, and the pace increased during the swim ...

• First 500 yds: 11:31
• Next 500 yds: 11:25
• Final 500 yds: 11:06

Tomorrow: spin class and a short treadmill run. Friday afternoon: open water swim clinic. Then just vegging out until Sunday morning.

Uphill, both ways, in the rain ...

Did four miles on the treadmill at the gym today. 4 miles in 39:49 ... which is "only" a 9:57/mi pace.

BUT ... I did all four miles with a 5 degree incline set. 1050 feet of elevation gain! :-)

My heart rate at that pace/incline leveled off around 160 bpm, which seems like would be a manageable rate for the 10K of the Olympic tri distance.

Fun stuff ...

Texas Man Pre-Tri

Had a very good workout this morning at Johnson Branch State Park at Ray Roberts Lake. This was the "pre-tri" practice/workout for next week's Texas Man Triathlon.

It started off with an open-water swim clinic. Even though I have already completed a tri with open-water swim (the Metroplex Sprint), I still picked up a few good pointers in terms of pacing (don't start off too fast - heart rate increases too much), sighting (don't pull head completely out of the water too often - will make your body "go vertical" and tire you out), and exiting the water (swim as close to shore as you can because running in the water is difficult, will tire you out, raise your heart rate, and make you look like a dork). After that I did about 900 meters of open water swimming: one lap around the dropped buoys (approx 700 meters) and another out-and-back of 100 meters each way. The open water swim also gave me a good reminder about the visibility in the water of lake swimming - i.e., NONE.

Following that, there was a transition clinic. Again, since I have never attended a formal clinic, I gained some good info. Most was common sense, but it was still useful to hear it. Nuggets that I got:

(1) make sure everything is "open" - helmet upside-down with straps laid out, sunglasses opened not folded, socks laid out
(2) water bottles should be screwed tight and the tops pulled up/open - not as applicable to me since I use the AeroDrink
(3) pump up tires the night before so flats/slow leaks can be discovered before the race rather than at T1
(4) put needed items in "reverse chronological order" from front to back of transition area - i.e., bike stuff in the front, run stuff in the back; as portions of the tri are completed, put those items in the back - i.e., at T1, put goggles and swim cap in the back.
(5) similarly, place items "bottom up" since you usually put/change the stuff on your feet first (socks and shoes on top, race belt & hat on bottom; sunglasses go inside helmet)
(6) make sure your bike helmet is put on and strapped before taking bike off rack and after put bike back on rack
(7) miscellaneous stuff about looking for landmark so it is easy to identify your transition area and having a bright towel and/or putting objects on the end of the rack to help as well.

After the clinic, I joined the "Alpha" group of riders who were doing the half-Iron/Olympic bike course. The speed was advertised as 20+ mph, but bike computer said that they were averaging close to 25 mph (at least while I could keep up with them) so I had to drop back after about 6 or 7 miles. (I'm sure riding 60 miles yesterday also played a role in my slowness). I ended up riding 23.83 miles in 1:15 ... good enough for a 19.064 mph pace. I was surprised/disappointed by rough roads (lots of chip-seal) for about 4 miles of the course.

This was the longest distance I have ridden with just my tri shorts. Not sure if it was the rough roads, the need to further recover from yesterday's 60+ miles, or both, but my posterior is a little sore from the ride. Oh well, not a big enough problem for me to want to get a new seat and/or use time to put bike shorts on during T1 for the tri.

After the bike, I did a 3.19 mile run. I wanted to do the 5K course but it wasn't very well marked so I missed an out-and-back and only had gone 1.2 miles when I hit the turn around. However, using the Garmin I found another path that allowed me to add enough mileage to get a little over the desired distance. I finished run in 28:44 - almost exactly a 9:00/mile pace.

It was a cloudy day, but the rain held off until the run. About 1/2 mile into it, a welcome drizzle started coming down. Unfortunately, the rain became a downpour by the end of the run, so I didn't stay for the scheduled nutrition clinic (and I don't even know if they held it). In fact, when driving home, I had to stop on the shoulder of I-35 twice until the torrential rains let up enough to allow at least a little bit of visibility.

All-in-all, though, it was a great workout and I am looking forward to next Sunday's tri.

Cowtown Classic

Don and I completed the Cowtown Classic bike ride in south Fort Worth today. Don rode the "42 mile" route (which would have been 47 miles) and I did an extra out-and-back loop in Godley for the "56-mile route" (which would have been 54 miles). However, due to inadequate course markings, a large (really large - 100+ riders) group of us missed a turn and went about three miles off course. So Don did about 53 miles and I did a little over 60. This was Don's first ride after recovering from his broken clavicle and it ended up being more than half a century. Amazing!

According to the Garmin Forerunner 305, I traveled 60.33 miles in 3 hours and 55 minutes - for an average speed of 15.4 miles per hour. The ride time was 3:34 - for an average ride speed of 16.9 mph. I was able to ride with Don for most of the ride, I sped up after the 19.5-mile rest stop (which I left quickly) and then did the extra 6 mile out-and-back and met back up with Don at the shared 26.5/33.5-mile rest stop right at that intersection. During the second half of the ride, I tried to add some hillwork by "redoing" three of the big hills of the ride - which probably added less than a mile of distance, but definitely injected some increased heart rates and additional leg work.

MotionBased link: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=3906322

Ride Review:

• Course: 2.5/5 - fast concrete roads near the start/finish but all country roads after that; some of the roads were narrow, rough, and with lots of tight/blind turns; course markings need improvement as noted above - there should always be signs/volunteers whenever the course turns from a major road onto a smaller one; very bad/rude traffic at Highway 171 -the speed limit on that road is 65 mph - an alternate route should be sought; lack of traffic control (or the police officers themselves) caused big packs of riders to have to stop at several intersections.
• Rest Stops: 3/5 - very limited selection - some fruit, cookies, and water/Gatorade - nothing to write home about. One stops not easy to see and not well marked - I completely missed Rest Stop #4 - I didn't need it, but others may have.
• Logistics: 3.5/5 - online registration available; no issues with race day packet pick-up; lots of porta-potties and indoor bathrooms in the high school were available; good parking at North Crowley High School; not much post-race refreshment variety (same fruit/drinks/cookies as rest stops and free Pickle Juice samples); post-race showers available - NICE!; staggered start with marching band playing; finish line passed by packet pickup tent so high-school volunteers cheered on the finishers
• Overall: 3/5 - pretty good ride but the course needs to be improved and have better traffic control/buy-in

Tired

Not much to report today. Did a spin class with Don. It was pretty tough considering that it's only 45 minutes (versus the 60-minute class on Wednesday).

Taking tomorrow off. My Texas Man training plan originally called for some swimming, but I think I am experiencing workout/training burnout. I think this will also better prepare me for this weekend's activities - the Cowtown Classic bike ride and Texas Man Pre-Tri workout session (at the tri site!)

Another LA Fitness Brick

Similar to what I did last Thursday, but longer. A 1 hour spin class (instead of 45 minutes) and then 5 miles (instead of a 5K) of running. The cycling was pretty tough - my legs felt more sore today than yesterday (the Labor Day 15K catching up to me). The instructor motivated the class well but I had trouble pushing myself as hard as last week. Wimp!

After the spin class, I did some running on the treadmill. My goal was to do a 10K, but I didn't quite make it and settled for/stopped at 5 miles. I did the first 2 miles at 6 mph, the next 1.5 miles at 7.5 mph, the next 1.25 miles back down to 6 mph again and a "sprint" for the last .25 miles at 7.5 mph again. Which evens out to 9:13/mi or 6.11 mph

Naturally, the heart rates followed the pace: 150-155 bpm for 10-minute miles; 165-170 for the 8-minute miles.

I think I could have done the entire 10K if I would have stuck to a 10:00/mi pace. So that should be my target speed for the Texas Man Tri unless I get a burst of energy half-way into the run. Possible, but I'm not counting on it!

Distance Swim

My legs don't feel too bad from yesterday's Fort Worth Runners Club 15K, but I wanted to let them recover some more so I did a swim workout today.

I did 2,200 yards (44 25-yd pool laps; approx 2,000 meters) at LA Fitness. Note: this is 1.2 miles, the swim distance for the half-Ironman triathlon distance!

Here are the splits:

• First 500 m: 13:08
• Second 500 m: 13:25
• Third 500 m: 13:29
• Final 500 m: 13:20

The total time (including water breaks) for the 2,200 yds was 54:49. At this pace, I should be able to do the 1,500 meters of the Texas Man Olympic in about 37 1/2 minutes. Of course this is just an estimate - there are many factors that will make the time faster (will be wearing tri shorts instead of "parachute" baggy swim trunks, drafting off other swimmers, adrenaline for the race) and/or slower (open water current/turbulence, other swimmers getting in the way, have to save energy for the bike and run) - will just have to play it by ear.

FWRC Labor Day 15K

Woke up early on my day off for a 15K run in Fort Worth. The 9.3 mile out-and-back course wound mostly along the Trinity River going through Trinity Park, Heritage Park, and almost reaching Rockwood Park, then a U-turn back through the first two parks (in reverse order) and then a quick pass near Forest Park before ending at the University Park Center (where it started).

Derek was going to run this race with me, but hurt his leg/hip yesterday (note to self: water-skiing can be dangerous) so he ended up walking the 5K instead. The weather was mostly cloudy but the rain stayed away. If it wasn't so humid, it would have been almost perfect weather.

I finished the run in 1 hour and 23 minutes for an overall pace of 8:53/mi. This was good enough for 176th place out of 340 runners, and 18th out of 29 for the 35-39 Men's age group. Full results at http://www.runtimeracingservices.com/Results2.aspx?RaceID=499

I was pretty happy with my performance/improvement. For reference, the 8:53/mi pace for today's 15K was faster than the 9:00/mi pace for the Denton Independence Day 5K just two months ago. Additionally, I ran this 15K almost 18 minutes faster than I ran the "Too Hot To Handle" race at White Rock back on July 21st. Sweet.
Here are my mile splits. It gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling as the Garmin GPS mileage numbers matched the mile markers on the course (yep, I'm a nerd). As you can see, my pace started out pretty fast (maybe too fast?) for the first 5-6 miles. I started taking walk breaks after that - one break at around 6.5 miles and the other at around 8 miles - so my pace dropped accordingly.

The course was fairly flat - about the same as White Rock Lake - but it was definitely more uphill between mile 5.5 and mile 8.5. That incline - in addition to burning out too quickly - probably contributed to my slowing run pace.

Again, my heart rates were extremely high - averaging in the high 170s for most of the run; and I reached 184 bpm(!) during the final sprint. From this chart, it is pretty obvious when I took my two walk breaks. :-)

Afterwards, Derek and I grabbed some refreshments: Panera breadsticks, hot dogs, drinks (water, "Amino Vital" recovery drink (I like my Accelerade better), sodas, yogurt smoothies), and sample Clif Bars. I gotta say, the amount of food and other goodies at running races put the bike rides to shame!

The Fort Worth Runners Club also gave away a bunch (probably 50+) of door prizes, but I didn't win anything. Oh well, running a 15K without injury is already lucky enough. :-)

Overall, a great run. I know I still have more training to do so I can keep my pace up, but the progress is very encouraging.

Map and online stats at http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3847689

Happy Labor Day!

Burleson Honey Tour

Just got back from the Burleson Honey Tour bike ride. This was supposed to be my second ride back in May, but it got rained out. Big kudos to the organizers for rescheduling and letting every who paid back in May ride this one without additional fee!

I did the 100KM/62 mile route and my bike computer confirms that distance. Since I was doing this ride by myself (most of the team had vacation or other commitments due to the Labor Day weekend) I tried to keep the rest stops to a minimum and get in a faster ride. I completed the route in 3 hrs and 37 mins, with 3 hrs and 27 mins of ride time - for an overall pace of 17.14 mph (17.97 mph not counting the breaks). So it was a pretty decent workout.

The course wasn't flat - it was hillier than last week's HHH - but still not too bad. Looking at the Garmin splits, I averaged almost 20 mph for the first 20 miles and about 19 mph for the next 10 miles, but the speeds were closer to 16 mph for the second half of the ride. The Garmin's altitude sensor is not the best (uses GPS instead of barometric pressure) but its elevation stats correlate well with the speeds (overall climb from 30 miles onward). [Note: Garmin distance axis is messed up because I accidentally stopped the timer/GPS for about 8 minutes/2.5 miles at one hour mark - hit "start/stop" instead of "lap" - d'oh!]

This ride didn't seem crowded - this is partly perception after last weekend's 10,000+ riders at HHH, but I also think the turnout wasn't spectacular since it was Labor Day weekend. I saw a lot of extra/leftover T-shirts (both rider and volunteer flavors). I rode by myself for a good chunk of the second half of the ride (after leaving the 30 mile rest stop).


Ride Review:

• Course: 3/5 - fast concrete roads in Burleson, decent conditions on country roads - some chip seal; rolling hills; course markings need improvement - a big pack of riders missed a turn very early in the race, near the end there were several intersections that were only marked by faded arrows painted on the road, there were volunteers directing traffic and riders at many/most of the key intersections so a thumbs-up for that; at least two major intersections had no traffic control and riders had to wait for a traffic light cycle with cars and trucks; there were 10, 25, 55, and 62 mile routes - I would think instead of 55 miles should be something more midway between 25 and 62 for the intermediate riders.
• Rest Stops: 4/5 - good refreshments and drinks - no complaints. I stopped at the 30-mile and had cold water and Gatorade, fruit, and Soy Joy bars and crackers. I wasn't planning on stopping any more, but there was a train at around 50 miles with a line of cars and bikes waiting for it to pass - luckily, there was a rest-stop right there so it was perfect(ly planned?) - more of the same with pickles as well. Rest stops were not marked on the map - not a huge deal for me, but could be for others.
• Logistics: 3.5/5 - again, big kudos for being able to reschedule the rainout!; no online registration; very reasonable entry fee; decent parking around Kerr Middle School; decent post-race refreshments (hot dog, chips, fruit, drinks); some post-race entertainment with a band, but I missed it (not sure if I was too early or too late); starting line not marked (riders rode around confused from 7:30-7:55 until a volunteer got on the PA system; riders could have been better staged (100K-ers were "suggested" to be in the front) - a staggered start would have been safer.
• Overall: 3.5/5 - pretty good ride; the organizers just need to focus on the route and related logistics a bit more