7 for 7

Tomorrow is July 1, the first day of the seventh month. And this morning I ran 7 miles. Okay, so the connection is a stretch, but it was still a good run nonetheless.

The route was almost identical to last Thursday's Neighborhood 10K, but I added a loop about two thirds of the way through, which extended the previously 6.36-mile route to 7.02 miles. I completed my run in just under an hour (59:33.47) which is an 8:29/mi pace. This is my fastest run of 10K or longer since my Zoo Run 10K PR pace of 7:49/mi ... and definitely one of my faster training runs in the last few months.

I'm very pleased because I was able to keep a good pace despite still feeling some lingering soreness from Saturday's century ride. I think I'll take another rest day tomorrow and probably limit my Wednesday workout to a swim to try to get a full recovery.

2008 Cow Creek Country Classic

I finally completed my first century bike ride today! 100.11 miles in 6 hours, 4 minutes and 34 seconds at the Cow Creek Country Classic. Don and I did this ride last year and I got close to a 100 miles, but ended up taking a short cut and completed 97 miles in about 7 hours. This year, I did the whole route and cut my time by almost an hour! Route Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/CowCreekCountryClassic2008-06-28.kml

Even though thunderstorms had been threatening for Saturday even up through the middle of the week, the forecast got better by Friday and the rain stayed away. It wasn't too warm at the start of the ride, but reached the mid-90s by the time I finished around 1:40 PM. There was some wind (11.2 MPH average) but since it was out of the SSW, it didn't really come into play until about Mile 15 when we turned south in Midlothian. The headwind was tough until we turned north and east at Mile 63 in Merkins. Having the wind at my back (plus there was a rest stop there as well) re-energized me for the last 37 miles.

At Mile 78 in Italy, the 100-mile route merged with the 75-mile route (at least temporarily - they split off again at Mile 83.5 in Forreston until finally rejoining again at Mile 94). It was nice to see the other riders as I was mostly riding by myself since the Mile 49 rest stop. By that point, all of the 100-mile riders had pretty much found their pace - there was very little passing so it was "lonely" except at the rest stops.

As I returned to the Waxahachie High School and the finish line, I noticed that I was still about a mile short of a full century, so I did a lap around the parking and school access road to make it an even 100. Don had done the 46-mile route so he had already showered, changed, and eaten lunch by the time I got off my bike.

The ride was moderately hilly (3,713 ft of elevation gain). The steepest climb was right before the 49-Mile rest stop.


Interestingly, my speed for the second half of the ride was faster than the first half. Two reasons for this: (as shown above) the last fifty miles was more "downhill" than the first fifty and since the wind was out of the SSW (11.2 MPH average), I had a tailwind instead of a headwing for the return leg. Average speed: 17.4 MPH when moving; 16.5 MPH overall. As you can see from my speed, I hit the rest stops at Mile 35, 49, 62, 72, and 82.


My heart rate during the ride was not too bad - 147 BPM average, 166 BPM max. It was definitely my legs and sore back/posterior that were holding me back as the miles piled on. Cardio was doing fine. On this chart you can again see when I hit the rest stops. Toward the end, they became more frequent.


Ride Review (very similar to last year):

• Course: 3/5 - road conditions were okay; some chip-seal; turns were well marked, rest stops were not, some "straight aheads" could have been better marked because other area race road markings made for confusion
• Rest Stops: 3/5 - cookies, bananas/oranges and Gatorade - nothing special except for Pickle Juice; good spacing; need to make them better; nice volunteers
• Logistics: 3/5 - online registration was available; I was able to get registered and pay by credit card on race-day); good starting area at the Waxahachie High School (easy to find, real bathrooms); reasonable entry fee; race route maps were not available :-(
• Overall: 3/5 - will do again next year; not the best course, but not many rides have the century option

Swim, Bike, Brick, and Neighborhood 10K

Monday: A day off. After three consecutive days of hard workouts (long swim, long run, pre-tri), I needed some time to relax and recover.

Tuesday: Solid brick workout. 40 minute spin (avg HR=158 BPM ... fairly high intensity) + 3-mile treadmill run in 23:05 (fast 7:42/mi pace with avg HR=160 BPM).

Wednesday: Spin class + a little extra. A total of 75 minutes on the bike. Still feeling some effects from yesterdays legwork - tried to ride hard, but could only keep an average heart rate at 149 BPM.

Thursday: Neighborhood 10K. 6.36 miles in 56:01 ... 8:48/mi pace. Average heart rate = 156 BPM. No stops (walk breaks) at all. My running is definitely improving - compare this to other recent runs. Route Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/Neighborhood10K.kml

Friday: Taking another day off. On Saturday, I plan to ride 100 miles in the Cow Creek Country Classic in Waxahachie, TX!

Disco Pre-Tri Workout

I picked up Jarrod early this morning and then we met Derek (along with about 75 other traithletes) at Johnson Branch Park at Lake Ray Roberts in Valley View, TX for a "pre-tri workout" for the Disco Triathlon (coming up in three weeks). This workout, put on by Dallas Athletes/Dallas Sports University (the organization running the Disco Tri), gave us an opportunity to practice open-water swimming, as well as to experience the bike and run courses of the event.

Open-Water Swim: First, two separate loops of the "triangle" buoyed course that they had set up - about 8 minutes each. The loops were about 400-450 meters in distance (not quite as long as the Sprint swim). Then a final swim (Jarrod's idea) - out to the first buoy, turn and swim to second buoy, back to first buoy and again to the second buoy, and then back to shore - which took me about 15 minutes. So the total swim time for me was around 32 minutes - I'm guessing that I got in at least 1,600 meters of swimming.

Bike: Official route we were supposed to ride was the 17.6 mile Sprint Course. To get a little more distance, we added an extra 3-mile out-and-back by heading east on FM-922 (which was part of last year's TexasMan Half-Iron bike course). I also did some hills twice for a total of 25.73 miles in 1:24:30 (18.3 MPH pace).

Our Route: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/DiscoPre-Tri2008-06-22-Bike.kml

Run: Jarrod and Derek ran the 5K Sprint run course. I did the same, but added an extra half-mile or so past the water stop at the half-way point. Final stats: 4.23 miles in 38:27 - a 9:05/mi pace. I would like to approach or beat my 8:37/mi 10K pace from the PlayTri Festival Olympic distance race. However, it's not too bad - especially considering that I just did a long run yesterday morning.

My Route: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/DiscoPre-Tri2008-06-22-Run.kml

So except for the run (which was short by 2 miles), I pretty much did an Olympic-distance tri today - albeit in about 4 hours with all the breaks. :-)

Long(ish) Run

This morning I did my longest run since my half-Ironman tri nearly three months ago. 11.45 miles in 1:51:49 for an overall pace of 9:45/mi.

Route Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/VOWSRun2008-06-21.kml

Not very fast, due in part because I had to walk for about 12-13 minutes - without those stretches, my pace would have been 9:00-9:15/mi.

I actually kept up a decent pace (probably averaging 8:30/mi) until Mile 5. However, from that point on, my overall speed slowed down and I had to start taking the walk breaks:


Since I live at the top of a hill, no matter which direction I run, I have to run uphill at the end :-( ...


Heart rate for the run. Not to bad overall - big rise at the end as I hurried (up the hill) to get home.

I still have a long ways to go to get my "running groove" back on. However, it is comforting to know that I could run a 20K or half-marathon now (albeit slowly) if I wanted to - that was definitely not a given a few weeks ago!

Long Swim

I swam today at lunch ... 3,000 yards non-stop - no breaks!

Total time: 1 hour and 4 minutes and 4 seconds ... not bad for slacking off for my workouts this week.

Times for the 500 yd splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:24
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:41.5
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:47
• 4th 500 yds: 10:36
• 5th 500 yds: 10:42
• 6th 500 yds: 10:53

Going to do some running tomorrow and then the Disco Triathlon "Pre-Tri" workout on Sunday. Hopefully, the rain will stay away this weekend!

5150

I'm stuck at Newark Liberty International Airport - flight back home is delayed - so a quick blog entry ...

5150 is not only the first "Van Hagar" album but also my time (51 minutes and 50 seconds) for a 5.5 mile treadmill run this morning at my hotel fitness center. That works out to a quite slow 9:26/mi pace, but about half of the run was at a 5% incline so that definitely made it tougher.

Considering that I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night (another delayed flight coming into New Jersey) I'm quite happy that I was able to get in a solid workout at all.

SCORE!

Got a great deal on some PowerGels today. For some reason they were on clearance. (No, they're not expired - I checked that!)


$1.50 for 6 gels - that's about 80% off - no complaints here! (Actually, my one complaint is that there was only one box for me to buy :-P)

Father's Day Bike Ride

One of my Father's Day gifts was the gift of time - to be able to do a Sunday morning bike ride with Don and Wilhe. Derek was going to join us too but he did a long (14-miles!) run yesterday at White Rock Lake for his San Francisco Marathon training and his legs weren't up to it.

Rode 41.6 miles in 3 hours and 10 minutes. The first 30 miles were done in about 2 hours (about a 15 MPH average - which is not bad considering my heart rate probably averaged 120 bpm) ... then a few long breaks for the next 5 miles.

Ride Route: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/DFWLoop2008-06-15.kml

This was Wilhe's first "real" ride on the bike. He did great - about 35 miles (on a mountain bike!) and still smiling at the end.

I ended up riding the last 6 or so miles by myself and tried to push the pace - about 19-20 MPH for that final stretch. Felt great to complete the ride because it was very hot today - around 99 degrees when I finished at almost 12:00 noon.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

Neighborhood Run

Since I had a prior engagement at lunchtime, I couldn't do a long bike ride this morning, so I ran instead. 8.05 miles around my community. The weather was hot (despite starting at 6:45 AM) and my pace was slow. In fact, because of numerous walk-breaks, it took nearly an hour and 21 minutes to finish my run - a 10:01/mile pace. :-P

Hopefully over the next few months I'll be able to get back into running shape ...

This week's workout regimen was unremarkable after Monday's swim:

• Tuesday: 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer
• Wednesday: 45 minutes of an hour-long spin class (yeah, I was late) and then a 1,000 yard swim in 21:39 (splits: 10:52, 10:47)
• Thursday: 33-minutes of a 45-minute spin class (late again) and then another 1,000 yard swim in 21:34 (splits: 10:52, 10:42)

Legs Sore - Time To Swim

My legs are still a little sore from yesterday's run. I'm definitely a little out of practice in that discipline. On the plus side, no soreness at all in my knees - I'm a little leery in that area because of my past IT band problems. On the minus side, I had a little tenderness in my Achilles tendon. Nothing major, but I think I will stay away from running until Thursday at the earliest.

To give my legs a rest, I did a long swim today instead. 3,000 yards in 1:04:22.

Times for the 500 yd splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:22
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:31
• 3rd 500 yds: 10::41
• Gatorade break: 0:26
• 4th 500 yds: 10:32.5
• 5th 500 yds: 10:57
• 6th 500 yds: 10:52

Not quite as fast as the last outing, but still a decent swim - completing three hard workouts in as many days.

Slow Painful Run

First, the whining: I was tired from getting up early two days in a row, it was windy this morning, my legs are still recovering from yesterday's ride, blah blah blah.

Okay, now that I have that (and my heart rate monitor strap) off my chest, I will return to my normal positive outlook and philosophy - a slow run is still better than no run.

Ran 4.75 miles this morning - just a jog around my neighborhood. Took 44:07 for a 9:17/mi pace. However, I don't think I was really "taking it easy" because my average heart rate was a respectable 158 BPM. So even though my run was pretty slow because of the excuses listed above - and I even had to walk for about 2 minutes after 3 1/2 miles - it still felt good to get in some running.

The training continues.

Serious Training Ahead!

Definitely doing better this week.

It started off slow. Very busy at work so I couldn't make it to the gym on Monday or Tuesday. Settled for 30 minutes on the home elliptical trainer early Tuesday morning before I headed into the office.

Wednesday: 55-minutes spin class (Avg HR: 156 BPM) + swimming 1,500 yds in 32:23 (just a tad faster than two weeks ago). Splits: 10:48.5, 10:51.5, 10:43

Thursday: 55-minutes spin class (Avg HR: 157 BPM) + 2.5 miles treadmill run (Avg HR: 168 BPM) in 18:50 for an average pace of 7:32/mi. Solid brick.

On Saturday, I will be doing the 100K route of the Mesquite Rodeo Bike Ride. I may also run a little on Sunday morning.

In other news, I am officially signed up for the following upcoming triathlon races:

• July 6: Ironhead Pioneer Power Sprint (Denton – TWU) - http://www.ironheadrp.com/pioneerPowerSprint
• July 13: Disco Triathlon – Olympic Distance (Lake Ray Roberts) – http://www.discotriathlon.com/
• August 17: PlayTri Take On The Heat (The Colony) - http://www.playtri.com/toth2007_race.php
• September 14: Texas Man Tri – Olympic Distance (Lake Ray Roberts) – http://www.texasmantriathlon.com/

So it's a Good Thing (TM) that I'm getting serious about my training again.