San Diego Workouts

Crazy work commitments, traveling, and a mobile developers conference (Tuesday through Thursday here in San Diego) have kept me off the workout path since last Saturday's Tour de Goatneck ride.

Yesterday, I said "enough is enough" and squeezed in 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer at the hotel gym between the end of the day's conference sessions and heading out to dinner with the team (we went just one block down the Broadway to Ra, a pretty good sushi restaurant). It was short, but pretty intense, so that was good.

Then this morning, before checking out of the hotel and heading out for the last day of the conference, Derek and I went for a run. (He's tapering before doing the San Francisco Marathon this coming Sunday.) We did about 4.8 miles - ran west down Broadway until we hit the waterfront and then followed Harbor Dr north to the airport - then turned around and went back. Did the out-and-back in 46:40 - only a 9:43/mi pace, but any workout is better than no workout.

On another non-workout-related note, the Marriott Courtyard Downtown San Deigo is a pretty interesting hotel. The building used to be a bank and lots of its details remain - the "front desk" has tellers' windows, the entire lobby/restaurant/bar area is what used to be the bank floor, and the basement is labeled the "Safe Deposit" level on the elevator button panel. The gym is located on the Safe Deposit level and the former vault has been turned into a conference - that's one meeting I wouldn't want to be trapped in! :-) Check out the photos if you're interested.

Too Hot To Handle 2008

Lesson learned: Don't try to run a 15K at a 10K pace. :-P

Overall, my time for this morning's Too Hot To Handle 15K was okay – 1:21:12 – about the same as the Too Cold To Hold 15K (which is on the exact same course, but with cooler weather) back in January. That’s a 8:38/mi GPS-computed pace (the course was 9.38 miles per Garmin). I would have liked to get that down to an 8:15/mi pace for a 15K since I had a PR 8:30/mi pace for the Cowtown Half. Oh well, maybe I'll do better at the Fort Worth Runner's Club Labor Day 15K ...

I was close to my goal pace (8:17/mi) through the 10K mark, but then everything started to fall apart. Probably walked about 4 or 5 times in the last 5K. Sigh ...

Here are my official split times/paces:

• 5K: 196th place, 25:02.95 (8:05/mi pace)
• 10K: 205th, 51:21.05 (26:18.10 ... 8:29/mi pace)
• 15K/Finish: 284th, 1:21:12.10 (29:50.25 ... 9:37/mi pace)

Obviously, I really struggled during that last 5K (as nearly 80 people passed me).

My heart rate was quite high with an average of 175 BPM even including the (heart-rate-lowering) walk breaks. In fact before the 10K mark, I was bumping up against 180+. No wonder I conked out by the 6 mile (50-minute) mark!


Still, I was 38th out of 82 in my age group and 284th out of 1032 total 15K finishers. And a lot of improvement over last year's race, when I placed 573rd out of 789 finishers with a time of 1:40:52. So I’ll take it!

Full results at: http://www.runontexas.com/Results/Summer2008/TooHotToHandle2008/TooHotMenu.htm

Long-Range Goal

I'm putting a stake in the ground today. My long-range (next year) goal is to do the Redman Triathlon, an IronMan-distance race in Oklahoma City to be held in September 2009.

Reasons why I think this is a good plan:

1. It's at the end of the summer so I'll have the entire '09 tri/bike season to prepare for it.
2. It's next year so (hopefully) I'll have run a few marathons by then and have improved my running.
3. It's in Oklahoma City (less than 4 hour drive) so I don't need to ship my bike and the travel logistics will be simplied. (Don actually has family in Oklahoma City so we might even take advantage of free lodging for the trip).
4. It's easy to get registered. Unlike an official Ford Ironman, I won't have to try to sign up a year in advance. In fact, as of today, only about 2 months from this year's Redman (September 20) I could sign up for it and even get an early registration discount.
5. As compared to an official "dot-M", it's a relatively inexpensive race - $275 for the IronMan-distance race. (Scott and Don tell me that a Ford Ironman race is $500+, especially after you get the extra T-shirt and order the DVD :-)

This race looks so interesting that I’d be seriously considering doing the “full aquabike” (2.4mi swim, 112mi bike) this September, if it weren't only 2 weeks before my Ironman Longhorn 70.3 (October 5). :-P

Okay, now all I have to do is train for it. :-)

Working Out When Not Working

Been a crazy week at work. Project deadlines, meetings, blah blah blah. Need my lunchtime spin classes to stay sane.

Monday: Recovery day from Disco Tri.

Tuesday: 45-minute spin class + 1,000 yards of swimming. 152 BPM average HR on the bike, but I hit a max of 180 BPM! Something got into Don and he really pushed it for the last 5 minutes of the class and he took me right along with him. The swim splits were decent as well: 9:57 for the first 500 yds, and 9:50 for the second set.

Wednesday: Picked up my Too Hot To Handle packet (and Brooks running singlet and running hat - SWEET) at RunOn! in Coppell. Wilhe is signed up for the 15K with me, and Don A plans to do the 5K. Scott & Jarrod may join us as well.

Thursday: A tough 45-minute spin class at LA Fitness in Irving - 155 bpm average HR. Not sure if I've written about our new Thursday spin instructor or not - she's almost six months pregnant and still kicks our tails on the bike! She was telling us a story last week (or was it the week before? - man, I am losing my mind) about growing up in Utah and cycling competitively. She did a Utah to Jackson Hole, WY race - over 200 miles of mountain climbs -and completed it in 10 hours and change. Hard. Core. Just what I need to improve my cycling. :-)

Afterwords, I did a brick run with Charlie and his friend/coworker Jay. For some reason, I thought he always did outdoor brick runs so we kinda got confused about heading upstairs to the treadmills vs. hitting the heat. In the end, we did a 1.88 mile loop from the gym in 15:42. That's an 8:21/mi pace - not too shabby considering that it was 95+ degrees outside.

Friday: Planning to do some light swimming. Will rest up my legs for Saturday's 15K!

Disco Triathlon

Well, today, I finished my third Olympic-distance triathlon - the Disco Triathlon. The course was the same as last September's Texas Man Tri consisted of a 1,500 yard open-water swim in Lake Ray Roberts, a 23 mile bike leg, and a 10K (6.2 mile) run.

My goal was to finish in under 2:30 and I (kind of) made it - crossing the finish line in 2 hr and 28 minutes and 49 seconds. I say "kind of" because I think the run course was a little shorter because one of the little out-and-back loops was not done on the return leg of the run and I think that shortened the run by 0.2 miles My Garmin 305 said my run distance totaled 6.02 miles.

Anyway, my time was still more than 10 minutes faster than the Texas Man Tri. I finished 20th out of 41 in the men's 35-39 age group ... and 114th out of 277 overall. Here were my splits:

• Swim: 26:53 (133rd place)
• T1: 2:12
• Bike: 1:03:38 - 21.7 MPH (54th place)
• T2: 1:10
• Run: 54:59 - 8:52/mi pace (151st place)
• TOTAL: 2:28:49

Full results at http://www.doitsports.com/results/page.tcl?id=195688

The open-water swim went smoothly. Not too much damage done in the "human washing machine". Unlike the Texas Man which had a standing start in waist-deep water, the Disco was a beach start and I jogged into the water with the rest of my wave. There was a little bit of congestion for the first 200 yards, but I had a nice buffer and got into a comfortable stroke for the swim. Soon after the turn at the first buoy, I was catching up to the wave ahead of us (Men 30-34).

After a solid T1, I jumped on my bike for the 23 mile course. Since I had done the Disco pre-tri (as well as last year's Texas Man and its pre-tri workout) the course was familiar and I already knew where the hills would be. Also, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they had actually fixed Hemming Road so that part of the course was a lot better than Texas Man. I passed quite a few people on the bike - although some of them may have been doing the sprint race (which had started about 6-20 minutes depending on the wave) - and my 21.7 MPH average was satisfying. My fastest race average bike speed to date, and it was even for an Olympic distance (not a sprint)!

My run wasn't quite as good - maybe I was tired from the fast bike. I had to slow down about a mile into it. It wasn't a terrible run. I only walked a few times (at the aid stations) but my average pace was definitely not as fast as I would have liked. Oh well ...

For reference, here are my times from the Texas Man (where I placed 18th out of 27 in the men's 35-39 age group and 78th out of 179 overall - note: the Texas Man had a half-Iron distance so there were fewer "hard core" triathletes doing the Olympic distance)

• 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

Good improvement in every category, but I definitely need to work on my running/bricks (and maybe my swimming too). Even though my official run pace is listed as 8:52/mi, my Garmin says 9:07/mi for the actual distance of 6.02 miles. Not bad, but worse than my 8:37/mi (per GPS) pace for the PlayTri Festival Olympic tri back in April. Of course, my Disco swim and bike times were faster than those for the PlayTri so maybe it is a matter of pacing instead of just deterioration of running performance. I have some running events coming up - Too Hot To Handle 15K, FWRC Labor Day 15K, and Tour Des Fleurs 20K - so I'll be able to see if I have improvement or degradation compared with last year's performances.

Don, Jarrod, and Matt were also at the event and did the sprint distance race. In fact, Matt finished 8th in the under 40 Clydesdale division. He would have gotten an award for being in the Top 10! Great job for his first season of tris.

And because their race started before mine (and was shorter), I had a small cheering section as I crossed the finish line. Always a good feeling ...

After the race, Jarrod and Matt had to leave fairly quickly (of course, they had already been waiting around for about 45 minutes while I was doing the 10K) for other weekend commitments. Don and I (we had carpooled) listened to the live disco band and then refueled with some pizza and Vitamin Water before packing up the bikes for the long drive back to the metroplex.

Getting Ready To Disco!

Monday: Recovering from Sunday's Pioneer Power Sprint, even though it was a short race. Did about 30 minutes on my elliptical trainer, but it was quite tough. Felt a little tired. I guess a recovery day wouldn't have hurt.

Tuesday & Wednesday: Hour-long spin classes both days. Average/Max heart rates: 159/176 & 154/170 for the two days. After each spin session, 1,000 yds of swimming (Monday splits: 10:00 & 9:54, Tuesday: N/A - I forgot my watch :-P)

Thursday: Planning to do one more spin class (three in a row!) followed by a brick run.

Friday: Planning to do some swimming - hopefully 3,000 yards, but we'll see how I feel.

Saturday: A quick run in the morning just to keep the legs loose.

Sunday: Disco Triathlon (Olympic Distance)!

2008 Pioneer Power Sprint Tri

Don, Jarrod, and I completed the Second Annual Pioneer Power Sprint Tri at Texas Woman's University this morning. The race gets its name from the "Pioneer Hall" athletic building which houses the pool for the tri's first part. Pretty good turnout and the field was a little larger than last year – 280 finishers vs. 204 last year – despite that the event was held during the holiday weekend.

I had a time of 1:15:49, which got me 49th place out of 280 finishers and 11th out of 25 in the Men 35-39 age group. Jarrod finished in 1:24:40 and Don rolled in with 1:34:44. We had nice weather for the race though it was getting warm after we had finished (and were munching on bagels and bananas).

Here were my official splits:

• Swim (300m): 5:39 (1:53/100m pace, 67th place)
• T1: 2:17
• Bike (20K): 37:55 (19.6 mph average, 33rd place)
• T2: 0:44
• Run (3.3mi): 29:12 (8:51/mi pace, 87th place)
• TOTAL: 1:15:49

Note: Per my Garmin 305 GPS watch, the bike course was actually 12.54 miles, and the run distance was actually 3.48 miles; so the tallied bike speed and run pace are quite a bit slower than actual – e.g., 19.8 MPH vs. 19.6 MPH and 8:22/mi vs. 8:51/mi for me.

The course was the same as last year - so for comparision, here's how I did in 2007:

• Swim (300m): 6:31.2 (2:10.4/100m pace)
• T1: 2:29.6
• Bike (20K): 39:50.5 (18.7 mph average)
• T2: 1:01
• Run (3.3mi): 35:34.2 (10:47/mi pace)
• TOTAL: 1:25:26.7

As you can see, I improved in every category and shaved almost 10 minutes off my time overall! Quite an improvement.

Compared with my sprint tri PR time/pace for the Old College Tri (splits listed below), my times were consistent (overall slower, but with some caveats):

• Swim: 5:43 (1:55/100m pace)
• T1: 1:38
• Bike: 34:38 (20.8 mph average)
• T2: 1:37
• Run: 25:09 (8:07/mi pace)
• TOTAL: 1:08:42

As I went near the edge of the pool about ready to start, I got my watch reset and prepared to jump into the water (diving is not allowed, but jumping in feet-first is okay). Then the timer volunteer (actually the race director's wife) helpfully asked, "you're planning to wear your googles for the swim, right?" Oops.

My TWU swim was faster than OCT and could have been faster still if I wasn't hampered by the layout of the TWU pool. Since each length was only 25 meters, the middle five lanes were bi-directional, which made it very difficult to pass. I passed about five people in the pool, swimming along the center line like an action hero in a movie weaving in and out of traffic to catch the bad guy - but a lot less fun.

My T1 time was a bit slower than my OCT T1, but that was mainly because it is such a long run between the pool exit and the transition area - about an 1/8 mile of running to get there. I did do a fast sprint from the pool to the transition area and shaved 12 seconds from last year's T1 time despite taking time to eat two SaltStick pills and gulp down an AccelGel.

My bike speed was more about 1 MPH slower than OCT and I think that was mostly due to the rough roads. I had a hard time even getting to 20 MPH on a downhill section due to the bumpiness. The race director said in the previous meeting that the roads wouldn't be a problem and was similar to a rough chip-seal country road. I have to disagree. That section of the road was extremely jarring - much more so than any chip-seal that I have ever ridden.

As you can see from the elevation profile below, the course was mostly downhill until the U-turn. I was averaging close to 22 MPH for the first half of the course, but got slowed down as I came back in to the transition area.


Bike course: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/PioneerPowerSprint-Bike2008-07-0612m.kml

My T2 was fast. The transition area was smaller than OCT and I was able to fly through the process.

The run was tough for me. I thought about walking a few times, but I was able to push through it. As you can see below, the course was not flat.


Run course: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/PioneerPowerSprint-Run2008-07-063mi2.kml

Each lap of the two-loop run course, started down the hill on Bell Avenue. So I was able to have a good brick transition from bike to run. The backside of the course was mostly uphill and so I had a physical and mental battle to fight as I tried to keep a fast pace.

On my second lap, I came up to Don (he had started the swim about 4 minutes after me) who was walking about 2/3 of the way through his first lap. We jogged together for about 100 yards but then I took off to "git 'er done."

At the finish line, I greeted Jarrod and Don as they finished the race. A job well done.

Race Review: As mentioned above, the middle five bi-directional lanes in the pool swim were a whip. And the construction on FM428 made for about 1.5 miles of hellacious riding (I feel I need to pay someone for the massage my hand/arms/butt received from the vibrations via the ground-up pavement). But aside from that, it was a good race. I still need to work on my running - that is the main thing holding me back.

I'll do this race again next year because it's close, it's at a nice venue (except for that darn pool), and it's at a good time of year.

Training Mini Duathlon

Happy Independence Day, everyone! As far as I could tell, the City of Denton didn't run their Liberty 5K that I had done last year. So I had to make up my own workout. As it turns out it was a tough (but very good) one.

I decided to practice my transitions and do some brick work by having a mini duathlon right in my neighborhood. A 1.1 mile run around the block, a fairly long (for a "mini duathlon") 12.4 mile bike ride throughout my neighborhood streets, and the same 1.1 mile run again. Here are my stats:

My first run was pretty fast, but I couldn't seem to hold my speed going up hills on the bike. The streets were almost completely empty at 7:30 AM on a holiday, but I still had to slow down to navigate some of the turns (and I almost wiped out turning near the end of my ride because of some sprinkler run-off on the street - whew, that could have been disasterous), but the main reason for just an 18.6 MPH average speed was that my legs just felt tired. I won't be doing any more hard workouts until Sunday's race so hopefully they will be well-rested.

The second run started off almost as fast as the second one, but I got really tired as I hit the uphill part near the end of the run and I even had to walk for about 30 seconds to get my heart rate down. My pace was still a respectable 8:08/mi for the second lap, but the short distance obviously allowed me to hold out until the finish line back at my house.

The transition times were very short - the time it took to open/close my garage door to grab and retrieve my bike being a major factor. :-)


My heart rate was pretty high during the runs, but due to my tired legs I couldn't push myself as hard I would have like during the bike. Still this was a very solid hour-long workout and I'm sure I got more out of this than I would have if I had run a 5K. And plus I didn't even have to go anywhere.

Enjoy the long holiday weekend!

Preparing to Sprint

Getting in my last few workouts before I rest up for Sunday morning's Pioneer Power Sprint tri in at Texas Women's University in Denton.

As promised (to myself) I went to spin class today after two days of slacking off. I was a little late, so I only got in about 35 minutes of cycling, but that's still pretty good. Average heart rate was a solid 156 BPM with a few spikes to the 169 BPM max

We had a new substitute instructor who was very demanding (good) but also insisted on doing very short "jump" intervals (in the saddle for 4 seconds, up out of the saddle for 4 seconds, repeat ad nauseum). DENIED. I really don't know what is the purpose of that move. It just screws up my cadence and hurts my knees. Hillwork is good and flat sprints are good. Not sure why the two need to be mixed with such frequency.

Between spin and the pool, I met another guy at LA Fitness who is also doing the Austin Ironman Longhorn 70.3 in October. Cool. Maybe someone else to join our tri training group.

For the swim, I started with a fast 300 yard swim (about what I'll need to do for Sunday's race) which I completed in 5:15. Not my fastest, but still very good. Afterwards, another 500 yd in 9:18. Again, a solid pace even though it was 20+ seconds off my PR for a set.

Work + Sciatica + Broken Pool = No Workouts

Tuesday: Experiencing some mild tingling in my leg. Looks like sciatica - compression/irritation of the large sciatic nerve that runs from the back down the legs. Mostly like caused by overtraining/ramping up running miles too quickly ("Damnit, body, please try to keep up with me!").

At least this injury has a cool name - "ITBS" just sounds sad. (How can you take a condition seriously when it has "BS" in the name?)

Remedies: Need to be even more vigilant in my pre-and post-run stretching and lay off runnning for a week. So no running until this Sunday's Pioneer Power Sprint Tri (and that is just 3.3 miles so hopefully it will be okay). Swimming not possible - the pool at LA Fitness is closed for repairs.

Wednesday: Planned swim at lunch (called ahead - the whirlpool is still closed, but the pool has reopened - yay). Unfortunately, no dice - back-to-back conference calls scheduled. Tried to swim after work - didn't get off until almost 6:30 - too hungry :-P. Oh well, I needed another day off anyway.

Tomorrow (Thursday): Definitely going to go to spin class and swim. It's a "moral imperative"!