VOWS Half-Marathon 3

Third time's a charm??? This morning, I finished my last run before Ironman Longhorn.  Same half-marathon route as the last couple times.  13.1 miles in 1:59:47.  10 seconds slower than last time's PR for this loop.  Not bad at all!

I really didn't know what to expect as my legs were still a little tired from yesterday's long ride.  So I started off the run very slowly, keeping about a 9:30/mi pace.  Here are some of the overall stats from the run:

Looks like I had a 9:19/mi pace at 3.04 miles when I made the U-turn at the end of Park Vista Blvd.  Although it appears that my running speed slowed down for the next 6.59 miles, the time/pace numbers are misleading because as you can see from the chart below, the second "lap" of 3.31 miles included one walk/gel/water break (at time=0:31) and the third "lap" of 3.28 miles included two breaks (at time=0:59 and 1:28).  So my speed actually increased as I went along.

During my last walk break , I figured out that if I really pushed hard, I could break 2 hours for the full 13.1 miles - and so that became my goal.  The pace picked up quite a bit in the final 30 minutes (8:28/mi pace is faster than my half-marathon race PR pace) and I sprinted (well, it felt like sprinting) up the hill to my house and the "finish line" to finish while my watch still said "1:59" on it - unfortunately, no seconds displayed when elapsed activity time is over an hour!

My heart rate was consistently below 160 bpm for the first half of the run, but ratcheted up considerably as my pace and the mileage total increased along the way to the finish.

I am very happy that I completed it in under 2 hours considering Saturday's 79 mile ride in Waco.  I am also very pleased that I started slow and picked up speed throughout the run for a strong finish.  I need to remember to do this for Ironman Longhorn - it appears to be a much better strategy than my standard "start off way too fast, hit a wall, and then slow down & walk continuously in a death-march to the finish" :-P.

Only one week to go until the big race!

Waco Wild West Bike Ride

Discretion is the better part of valor. Similar to Benbrook Half-Marathon when I walked 4.65 miles back to the finish line rather than reaggravating my IT Band Syndrome, I decided to end this ride early rather risk a freak ailment only one week before Ironman Longhorn.

For today's Waco Wild West bike rally, the plan was to ride the 100 mile route with Don T and his friend Scott from Gorilla Multisport (slogan: "[Tri training] is like wrestling a gorilla.  You don't stop when you're tired.  You stop when the gorilla is tired.").

The ride started off a little shakey.  Scott took off in the beginning, but Don felt something "off" with his bike and stopped to tinker with it.  I caught up to Scott a few minutes later to let him know the news.  He told me to go on and we'd catch up at the rest stops.  So I continued on, but just a few minutes later I heard a popping sound and then a rattling.  I stop and looked down at my front wheel - a broken spoke!  And it was the spoke upon which my bike computer's sensor magnet was mounted - so no speedometer.  Oh well, just gotta roll with it - I bent/wrapped the broken spoke around the next nearest good spoke (and I could still see my GPS-based speed on my Garmin Forerunner 305) - and restarted my ride.

After the initial bumps, things went pretty well. I completed the first 57 miles in 2 hours and 54 minutes before stopping at the rest stop in Mother Neff State Park near Whitson, TX.  Because I had such a good pace, this was the first rest area at which I stopped.  In fact, apparently, we rode right by Prairie Chapel Ranch (aka George W Bush's home away from the White House ... http://www.tagzania.com/item/28187) outside of Crawford.  Don T told me about seeing Secret Service vehicles and large antennas around that area, but I was so focused on the hard I don't recall any of that (except maybe for passing one radio/cellular tower).

Anyway, the bad news is that I quit at 79 miles (at 4 hours and 23 minutes) and took the SAG wagon back in because something (dust?/pollen?) was irritating my lungs. I've never had asthma but I imagine I was feeling something similar to an asthma attack.  I think I could have toughed it out and ridden the final 21 miles, but with my big race next Sunday I didn't want to risk getting an infection or something stupid like that.

After getting back to our vehicle and loading up my bike, I wandered over to the finish area at Indian Springs Park to grab some cold beverages.  I also took a walk over and around the Waco Suspension Bridge and enjoyed the music and cooled off by the misting fans.

I'm a little disappointed at not being able to finish the full century, but I'm still happy with doing nearly 80 miles today. And I got a HUGE box of candy to take home.  The ride was sponsored by M&M/Mars/Skittles and at the end the ride organizers were all but forcing the candy on the departing riders ("Take it all, we have way too much, and we don't want to haul it back"). So I'm all set for trick-or-treaters next month! :-)

My stats for the ride - good speed for the first 57.17 miles, the 10 minute rest stop, and then the final (for me) 21.5 miles ...

Things got painful at the 4-hour mark ...

My heart rate wasn't too bad for such a fast pace.

It's encouraging to know that I had a fast pace even though the first 35 miles was mostly uphill

Ride Review:

• Course: 3.5/5 - a lot of chip-seal, but not too much traffic; route only marked with painted arrows on the road - they were done well, but are no substitute for also having signs; NO traffic control when crossing over some highways - not good :-(
• Rest Stops: 4/5 - decent selection - fruit, cookies, PB&Js, assorted candy and bars, and water/Gatorade
• Logistics: 3.5/5 - online registration available; no issues with race day resistration; only park bathrooms (but was okay since the ride attendance was not huge); lots of parking at nearby mall/businesses; not much post-race refreshment (less stuff than the rest stops) - but tacos for sale
• Overall: 3.5/5 - pretty good ride; will probably do again, but the drive (almost 2 hours) is a bit far

Triathlon Strategy

I read an article in Runners World a few days ago that highlighted "pace groups" in marathons, and one of pacers presented a great strategy to her group - "We're going to run the first 10 miles with our heads, the next 10 miles with our heads and the last 10K with our hearts"

I really liked that quote and I think it applies to triathlons too (with a little adaptation) - "Swim with your head, bike with your legs, run with your heart".

Swim: Nobody wins a tri with the swim.  It's the shortest of the three parts of the race - for my half-Iron I'll (hopefully) do the swim in about 45 minutes, but the bike is 3 hours and the run is 2 hours.  But by going out too fast, getting nervous in the open water, and host of other things, an early meltdown is possible.  We need to think about our training, get a good rhythm and finish the swim strongly to be ready for the (bigger) last two legs of the race.  As legendary Ironman Dave Scott puts it, "swimming is the most inefficient way to get to your bike" :-)

Bike: The longest part of the event, but the one that can be trained for most easily.  So here the amount of spin classes and long bike rides pre-event will really pay off as we use our legs to power to T2.

Run: Unless a triathlete has done the event distance in the past, it is likely they are entering a new "zone" of their fitness training.  Very few people doing an Ironman normally swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run a marathon in a single day (except for perhaps a past Ironman race).  Similarly I hadn't swum/biked/run for 6 hours at "close to max speed/intensity" before the Lone Star Half-Iron in Galveston.  In addition to having the run at the end of the longest workout effort of a racer to date, running is the most stressful on your joints and usually falls at the hottest part of the day (unless the sun has already set at the 14th+ hour of an Ironman!)

These issues "run" doubly true for me since running is my weakest sport of the three triathlon disciplines.  Training definitely helped improve my running ability but in the end there is something "inside" - whether it is completing the race in support of a charity, dedicating it to loved ones, or just personal achievement - that is what gets you across the finish line (or at least get across it with a smile on your face).

Took it easy this week.  Wanted to go harder but still feeling linger effects from the tough weekend.

• Tuesday - 45 min, 153 bpm avg hr + 500 yd swim in 10:38
• Wednesday - 55 min, 148 bpm avg hr + 20 minutes of fast-walking on treadmill (some inclines)
• Thursday - 45 min, 153 bpm avg hr + 500 yd swim in 10:18.5

Taking tomorrow off ... planning to ride 100 miles on Saturday at the Waco Wild West Century bike ride

Texas Man Triathlon 2008

I did the Texas Man Triathlon yesterday at Johnson Branch Park at Lake Ray Roberts.  Derek and Jarrod joined me for the Olympic distance race - a 1,500 yard open-water swim, a 23 mile bike leg, and a 10K (6.2 mile) run.  Lee was there too and did the Sprint distance race.

My normal goal would have been to try to finish faster than the Disco Tri since that is my PR for this course, but with my legs and feet (toes especially) still sore from yesterday's long run, I would be happy just to finish "upright".  The race went much better than expected and I ended up crossing the finish line in 2 hours and 34 minutes.

My time is 8 minutes faster than last year, but 5 1/2 minutes slower than July's Disco Tri - not bad at all. I finished 15th out of 29 in the men's 35-39 age group ... and 77th out of 142 finishers. Here are my splits (with my Disco Tri times in [square brackets]):

• Swim: 27:17 (76th place) [26:53]
• T1: 2:43 [2:12]
• Bike: 1:07:00 - 20.6 MPH (29th place) [1:03:38]
• T2: 1:22 [1:10]
• Run: 55:45 - 9:00/mi pace (108th place) [54:59]
• TOTAL: 2:34:07 [2:28:49]

Full results at http://www.monstertriathlon.com/results.htm

Not quite as many participants for this tri compared to last year (when there was a Half-Iron distance option) or the Disco Tri two months ago.  The rescheduling due to Hurricane Ike probably resulted in a lot of people who couldn't make the new date.  My bike rack was half-empty - a welcome change but I'm sure a little depressing to the race organizers.

Swim: The sun had barely risen as we gathered at the beach.  Good news!  With some morning haze/clouds, the east-bound start of the swim wouldn't be met with a bright sun.  As Jarrod and I wandered the beach (while waiting for Derek who was still in line to get his timing chip), I met up with Lee who had run the 20K with me yesterday (well, not "with" me - he finished 24 minutes before I did!) and said hello to Coach Todd who was helping to run the swim starts.

While doing a quick warm-up swim, I immediately noticed that the wind was making the water a lot more choppy than normal.  It also made me realize that I had forgotten to take my meclizine tablet - between the waves and lifting my head up and down to sight I had a good chance of getting dizzy.  So a quick jog back to the transition area to gulp down a pill ... I got back to the beach just as the first wave of sprint racers took off.

About 12 minutes later, it was time for the Men 30-39 age groups to go - so away I went.  Jarrod was swimming next to me and I saw him for the first few minutes whenever I turned to my left side.  Eventually, things got a little more spread out and I slipped into a comfortable stroke.

About a third of the way into the course, I looked up and saw some racers standing/walking(!) in the middle of the lake.  As I approached them, I looked down and could tell that there was a sandbar only 6 inches from my fingertips (normally you can't see anything in the lake unless the water is shallow).  But I wasn't going to cheat and take a break - and swimming is faster than trudging through knee-to-waist-deep water anyway - so I veered away from the shallow water and kept pushing towards the first turn buoy.

The water temperature was good, but the choppiness did push me off-course the entire time.  In the end, I would have thought that my swim split would have been more than just 24 seconds slower than my Disco swim ... maybe the swim course was short.

T1: I took my time in T1.  Took some extra time to put on my Garmin heart strap (I wanted to capture the data) and also took an Accel Gel and two SaltSticks.  Even though the weather was cooler than last year's Texas Man, I knew that my electrolytes were still probably on the low side - depleted from the previous day's run.

Bike: Had some trouble clipping in - first time on the bike in more than 2 weeks!  (I should have practiced a little yesterday.)  Tired legs.  First half of the ride was not bad.  Felt pretty smooth and I passed a few people.  Shortly after make a U-turn at the 8.5 mile turn-around, I saw Derek and then Jarrod.  The second half of the ride was definitely slower - partly because of the aforementioned wind coming from the south, partly because the road was a little rougher with chip-seal and patches, and partly because I was getting tired!  Still a 20.5 MPH average speed (20.9 MPH per GPS for the 23.33 mile course) is not too shabby - even though I obviously lost the most time (almost 3 1/2 minutes) during the bike vs. my Disco PR.  Looking at the Garmin stats, my average heart rate was 152 BPM (about the same as most spin classes) and the elevation change was 922 feet (not flat, but definitely not as hilly as some of the other rides I've done).

Route Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=6827923

T2: Felt good as I rolled into the bike-to-run transition.  Nothing interesting to report.  Everything went smoothly (downed another Accel Gel and two more SaltSticks) as I headed to the now very familiar entrance to the run course to start the final 6.2 miles.

Run: Not as painful as I thought it was going to be ... maybe because I had realistic expectations.  I tried to keep my pace between 8:45 and 9:00.  I had an 8:53 pace at the first mile marker.  Then I messed up and hit "STOP" instead of "LAP" on my watch - and didn't realize it until just before Mile 2.  So my Garmin stats are missing almost one mile of data.  Sigh ... one of these days I'll get it right.

The weather got hotter, but the temperature was still bearable at 9:30 AM.  I only walked briefly at the rest stops - along with grabbing needed fluids (one cup of water - gulp, one cup of Accelerade - gulp, another cup of water - drink half & dump the rest on my head).  High-fived Derek just after the 3.1-mile turnaround and then greeted Jarrod just as I passed Mile 4. The second half of the run definitely went more smoothly than the first half because it had an overall downhill grade.  As I passed Mile 5 and did the last stretch towards the water, I tried to pick up my speed a little bit.  A final burst as I entered the beach to finish the 10K and cross the finish line!  Lee was waiting for me at the finish - having completed the sprint race about an hour earlier.

My average heart rate for the run was about 160 BPM and average pace of 9.07/mi for the 5.16 miles that I tracked with the Garmin.  Since my heart rate wasn't that high, it is apparent that my legs were definitely the limiting factor for both the bike and the run.  So this is good news - I had aerobic capacity to spare.  I'll definitely need it for the Ironman Longhorn 70.3 - now less than 2 weeks away!

Full race results at: http://www.doitsports.com/results/page.tcl?id=195704

Tour Des Fleurs 2008

I finished the Tour Des Fleurs 20K race this morning and had my best running outing since the Cowtown Half Marathon.  I finished the 12.4 mile course (12.5 miles per GPS) in 1:46:16.  I placed 48th out of 104 in my age group, 254th out of 610 men, and 259th out of 1279 total.

My time made for an 8:30/mi pace - which is just shy of my Cowtown pace (8:29/mi), better than my 15K PR pace for the Fort Worth Runner's Club Labor Day run (8:32/mi), and overall 6 minutes faster than last year.

I'm sure the cooler weather (70 and clear - a gorgeous day!) and my awesome running partners helped with my time.  For a race where none of my coworkers attended, I ended up running into quite a few people that I knew.  An hour before the start, as I was listening to pre-race music from the Dallas Arboretum stage, I saw Jeff from our LA Fitness spin class stretching.  He had mentioned on Thursday that he was planning to be here and it was nice to actually see a familiar face.  I also saw Lee about 30 minutes before the start and said hello and wished him luck, but didn't expect to see him much on the course since he is much stronger runner than me (he ended up 22nd overall with a time of 1 hour, 22 minutes, and change).

I then headed down to the path next to White Rock Lake to get a short warmup in.  While heading north I ran into Cy from TNT who was headed the opposite direction (and not running in the race) to meet up with his TNT training group on the west side of the lake.  So I turned around and we chatted/ran for about half a mile during which I saw Kim from the Fort Worth Runners Club - didn't know she was doing this "short" race since she is training for the Chicago Marathon.

Anyway, Jeff, Kim (who was recovering from illness and wanted to run "slow and easy" - "You want to run 8:30 miles, I'm your man!") and I ran together for just about the entire run.  Having their company really helped me keep a fairly consistent pace - though I definitely slowed down near the end, especially at the last big hill at Mile 11.5.

From my split times and running speed profile, it looks like I slowed down at Miles 9-10 and Miles 11-12. 

The slowdown at these points make sense since at Miles 8.5-9.5 was uphill and there was the steep hill at Mile 11.5.  Also just before Mile 12, my Patt Straps were getting loose so I stopped to take them off and stow them in my Fuel Belt pocket. 

You can see my heart rate spiked just before Mile 9 due to the hill climbs - hence the slower pace for Mile 9-10.

After the race, I grabbed some refreshments from the various booths and met back up with Lee who introduced me to Jack from the Grapevine Runners and Walkers and afterwards Lee and I talked about doing some open-water swim practices in the area.  Over by the Stampede Light tent, I ran into Randy from the Keller Running Club and Roberto from the FWRC.  Had some good conversations on upcoming marathons and then I headed back home to enjoy the rest of my Saturday.

Route Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=6804896

Full Results: http://www.mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=3361

One race down and one to go!

Big Weekend

Another day off in preparation for a two-event weekend - the Tour Des Fleurs 20K tomorrow and the Texas Man Olympic Triathlon on Sunday.

The standard spin-centric workouts the last few days ...

Tuesday: 45 minutes of spin class (avg hr: 159 bpm) + 2.5 mile treadmill run in 21:17 (8:31/mi pace, avg hr: 165 bpm ... first mile at 5% incline)

Wednesday: 2.5 mile treadmill run in 19:38 (7:51/mi pace, avg hr: 164 bpm ... first mile at varying 2.5-5% incline) + 60 minutes of spin class (avg hr: 158 bpm) 

Thursday: 61 minutes of spin class (avg hr: 155 bpm) + 500 yd swim in 8:52(!)

I have most of my stuff packed up for tomorrow mornning's run.  Since parking will be a hassle - I will have to park at least half a mile away from the venue (the Dallas Arboretum) - I'll be wearing my Fuel Belt during the race, not for hydration on the run, but instead because I have put my glutamine and Accelerade powder in the flasks to make 32 ounces of recovery drink (just add water) right after I cross the finish line (hopefully in about 1 hour and 45 minutes :-).

Hey, Rest Is Good

I guess those two days off really recharged my batteries.  I swam 3,000 yards at lunch today and had a new PR - 1 hour, 1 minute, and 50 seconds (more than 30 seconds faster than August 19's previous record). 

My 500 yd splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:10
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:15.5
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:23
• Water/AccelGel break: 0:32
• 4th 500 yds: 10:01
• 5th 500 yds: 10:17
• 6th 500 yds: 10:11.5

It's interesting that the second half of the swim was faster than the first half!

Overall, that workout felt great.  I need to take days off more often! :-)

Three Weeks To Go

Less than three weeks to go until the Ironman Longhorn 70.3 race down in Austin.  Am I ready?  I guess I am not "unready".

Hurricane Ike (tropical storm by the time it got to the D/FW metroplex) caused my race today to be postponed until next week.  It was quite humid, rainy, and windy yesterday so an outdoor workout was out of the question.  So all I did was pick up my packet for next week's Texas Man Triathlon.  Today, I should have worked out, but was just feeling lazy.  So instead I went out to brunch with my family, did some shopping, and worked on my "honeydew" list - in other words, all the stuff I would normally be doing if it weren't for the triathlon training craziness. :-)

Morning Run

Because I have commitments today at lunchtime and this afternoon, I had to get my workout in during the morning.  So I decided to go for a run.

I wanted to do another half-marathon distance but I got started a little too late - still have to work! - and although the temperature wasn't bad it was quite humid.

Ended up doing 8.35 miles in 1 hour and 19 minutes for an overall pace of 9:28/mi and an average heart rate of 159 BPM.  This doesn't really tell the entire story, though.

What really happened was that I did a 6.53 mile run at 9:07/mi pace (161 BPM avg hr) and then a long 6-minute walk/water/gel break and then 1.47 miles back to my house at a 9:03/mi pace (167 BPM avg hr).

Speed, Heart Rate, and Elevation profiles below:

Texas Man Tri Postponed

Hurricane Ike is coming to town.  Even though we'll probably just get wind and rain, it still would make for a miserable race, so I am very happy that the race organizers decided to delay the Texas Man Triathlon by one week - to Sunday, September 21.

The only downside is now I have to (get to? :-) run the Tour Des Fleurs 20K next Saturday and then do the Texas Man Olympic tri on Sunday.  Oh well, this will still be less of a workout than a Half-Ironman and plus I get a chance to really see if this glutamine stuff actually does what it's supposed to with respect to speedy recoveries.

The Week's Workouts

Monday: 2,000 yard swim in 41:43. My 500 yd splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:31
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:50.5
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:18
• 4th 500 yds: 10:03

25 seconds slower than Friday, but still not bad.

Tuesday: 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer (avg hr: 137 bpm)

Wednesday: 75 minutes of spin (avg hr: 152 bpm) + quick 1,000 yd swim (splits: 9:52, 9:37)

Thursday: 45 minutes of spin (avg hr: 150 bpm) + 15-minute 1.5-mile treadmill run at varying inclines (5%-10%, avg hr: 157 bpm)

Glutamine

Got some Body Fortress Glutamine today.  Supposedly, taking one dose before a hard workout and another afterwards should slow muscle breakdown and speed recovery.  

Reviews on the web are mixed - example: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=171886 - however, most of these articles and reviews come from body building forums as opposed to ones focused on hard aerobic & performance training.

We shall see ...

VOWS Half-Marathon #2

Longest run ever in my neighborhood!  My goal was to do the half-marathon distance in under 2 hours and I just made it - 13.1 Miles in 1:59:37. :-)

Accidental warm-up.  Made it about a block from my house when I realized that (1) I had forgotten my SaltStick pills and (2) I needed to use the bathroom.  Two strikes ... and I didn't want to have a third.  So I headed back to my house after a short loop.  Ended up doing 0.55 miles in 4:53 before the main run.

Unlike last week where I started off too hard, had my pace steadily drop as the miles piled on, and totally died with about 2.5 miles to go, today was a much better run.  Even pace.  Took SaltStick pills before starting and about 1 hour into the run.  AccelGels at 30, 60, and 90 minutes.  Water and Gatorade (about 16 fl oz of each) for hydration - with stops approximately every mile to bring the heart rate down and work out the lactic acid from the legs.

My pace was fairly constant for the entire run.

My average heart rate was a respectable 158 BPM - although it climbed steadily throughout the run (except for the walk breaks)

For completeness, here is the elevation profile:

Route Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=6707445

Now that I have this route down, I try to improve on my "half-marathon" time.

Cowtown Classic 2008

I did a 100K bike ride today at the Cowtown Classic in Crowley, TX with Don T and Derek.  Don A joined us for the first 16 miles before splitting off to do the 40 mile route.  I finished 61.55 miles in 4:04:18 for a 15.1 MPH average speed (3:37:55 riding time -17 MPH average speed)

Don planned to (and did) ride the 40 mile route after completing the 100K route so he kept the pace fairly tame and I was happy to join him.  My heart rate stayed mostly aerobic with a 132 BPM average for the ride.

The routes were completely different from last year's ride.  Overall, there wasn't much traffic so it was a pretty nice ride.  However, some of the roads had a lot of loose gravel.  In fact, while splitting off from Don A at the Mile 16 fork, I hit a patch of gravel and wiped out at the super fast speed of about 2 MPH!  Thankfully, I escaped major injury and suffered just an abrasion and a long scratch on my arm and a small "rock puncture wound" on my palm.  The bike also escaped any real damage.  So after a few minutes of getting settled, Derek and I said our parting wishes to Don A as he headed left and we headed right to continue on our ride (and catch up to Don T)

Derek and I rode about a quarter of a mile before I realized that my aerobars had lost their bar end plugs - I guess the impact was a little more severe than I had thought.  Since it would have been dangerous to ride with exposed bar ends (you can't ride in a triathlon if they're missing) I went back and lo-and-behold they were sitting there in the pile of gravel.

Actually, after recovering from the crash (and taking some time at the Mile 22 and Mile 42 rest stops), the rest of the ride was actually quite enjoyable.  However, I took the turns (and the route had many of them) a little slower than normal and was constantly on the lookout for more gravel  - and annoyingly many of the intersections actually had more of that evil stuff.

I tried to push hard after the Mile 51 rest stop and ended up doing the final 9.96 miles at a 19.9 MPH pace.  My heart rate still only averaged about 141 BPM (158 BPM max) so I still felt fresh even as I crossed the finish line at North Crowley High School.

Ride Route: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=6700651

Ride Review:

• Course: 2.5/5 - fast concrete roads near the start/finish with all country roads after that; some of the roads were narrow, rough, and with lots of tight/blind turns; course markings were improved from last year, but I still did almost miss one turn; Major Problem: loose gravel at turns (most was marked but it's still dangerous) and that horrible gravel road.
• Rest Stops: 3/5 - very limited selection - some fruit, cookies, and water/Gatorade - nothing to write home about
• 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; lots of parking at North Crowley High School; not much post-race refreshment variety (same fruit/drinks/cookies as rest stops); post-race showers available; nice T-shirt design this year
• Overall: 3/5 - pretty good ride just wish the gravel wasn't there!

Starting a Weekend Half-IronMan

After several solid workouts during the week ...

• Tue - 45-minute spin class (HR: 142 avg, 166 max) + 500 yd swim (9:25.77)
• Wed - 60-minute spin class (HR: 145 avg, 172 max)
• Thu - Indoor Reverse Tri: 2 mile treadmill run in 14:30, 52-minute spin class (HR: 152 avg, 174 max) + 1,000 yd swim (splits: 10:37 & 9:47 with a 1 minute water break between sets)

... today I kicked off my "Half-IronMan Tri over a weekend" with a 2,000 yd swim, completing it in 41:18.  Here are my 500 yd splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:04
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:30
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:24.5
• 4th 500 yds: 10:19

I think the 41:48 might be a PR for the 2,000 yard swim (EDIT: Nope, I did 41:20.5 on August 22) - I haven't been keeping track since it's a "shorter" distance.  For the record, my current PRs for 3,000 and 4,000 yards are 1:02:21 and 1:24:22, respectively.

Tomorrow, I will be doing the Cowtown Classic bike ride (100K distance) and then I plan to run 13.1 miles on Sunday to complete my "Half-IronMan".

Only four weeks to go until the real thing!

13th Annual FWRC Labor Day Runs

Another day, another race. This morning the race du jour was the Fort Worth Runners Club's Labor Day 15K. I finished the 9.32 mi route in 1:19:49 for a 8:32/mi pace. Good enough for 15th out of 35 in my age group, 106th out of 220 men, and 154th out of 420 overall.

This is about about 3 minutes faster than last year and also a new PR for me for the 15K distance. However, this PR is somewhat misleading since I completed this past February's Cowtown Half-Marathon at a 8:29 pace and that race was almost 4 miles longer. I've run five 15Ks so far - four during the heat of the summer (Too Hot To Handle in July and the FWRC Labor Day Runs) and the other one (Too Cold To Hold in January) was during my bout with ITBS. I hope to improve my 15K time over the winter running season - just gotta stay injury free. :-P

After a fast start with the masses, I settled into a 8:15/mi pace, which is my current 15K goal pace. Just after the Mile 2 mark, my friend Ellie caught up to me and we ran together and kept a fairly even (8:25-8:30/mi) pace for the next 6 miles. 

Unfortunately, around Mile 8 I started to run out of gas and took a one-minute walk break to get my heart rate down (Ellie sprinted on for the last mile or so and ended up winning her age group!).  After the break I was re-energized and made a strong final push for the finish line.

Speed (7.0 MPH average) and Heart Rate (169 BPM average) charts below (both are slightly messed up at the end because I stopped my Garmin Forerunner 305 about a minute after actually finishing) ...

I'm pretty happy with my performance, but I'm still looking forward to becoming even more consistent with my pace. Hopefully, I'll get that as I ramp up my running - distance & frequency.

Route Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=6660013

Full Results: http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventID=1632221&pubID=3