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