Summer sending a clear message to the boys.....don't mess with me fool.
Our eight year old niece, Summer, had a swim meet last weekend and due to a mix up in heat times she was thrown to the wolves in the boys race. So what's a girl to do? I'll tell you what she did........she jumped into the liquid jungle and gave those boys the beat down of their lifetime. She beat her personal best time in the 25yd backstroke and laid the wood to the boys in the process. Now that she's elevated her game in the pool I thought it's about time to give her some instruction on other aspects of her game. The area of focus was her trash talking. I've come up with a three step program specifically designed for 6-10 year old girls to improve their trash talking skills for situations like the one mentioned above.
My program revolves around the BIG THREE: Intimidation, Annihilation, and Humiliation. They all go hand in hand so if your skills are lacking in one it will definitely affect the total package. Below are the specifics that I gave her for her next swim meet:
INTIMIDATION:
The intimidation factor doesn't even have to do with talking at all. It's all about appearance and "the staredown before the beatdown". I suggested that Summer go out and buy some MMA fighting gear for walking up to the starting blocks. Specifically, camo TapouT shorts and t-shirt. I also suggested that she get a tattoo that says "Thug Life" on her stomach for when the warmup clothes come off. To top things off we worked on her "prison look". Basically a real hard looking face that says "don't mess with me fool". The ace in the hole only comes out if someone looks at her funny in which case I've instructed her to bark like a dog with her teeth showing. With that package her competition is sure to be intimidated before the gun goes off.
ANNIHILATION:
For annihilation to work she has to work hard in the pool and with her dry land program. She's got to be willing to do the things that other 8 year old girls just aren't willing to do. I can't list all of the techniques for this but I based the program off of the Navy SEALS BUDS training program so you get the idea. After 6 weeks of that program the last part of annihilation is at the finish line. Basically, we don't finish strong in races. We stick it to the competition and grow a massive lead only to slow down to a near stop at the finish to point out that it was too easy.
HUMILIATION:
Humiliation is the fun part of the program. This is where we use our vocal cords and body language to squash any self confidence left in her competition. The first thing I suggested was to get out of the pool and get dressed before her competition even finishes the race. This way she's got her camo TapouT shorts and shirt on when she gives them any variation of the six shooters or double throat cutter accompanied by an arsinal of verbal badgering.
By following the big three above I think Summer will be on her way to not only dominating the competition but scarring them for life in the process. It's important for her to learn these skills early in life so I figured it's my duty as her uncle to give her a head start on the competition.
James reminds me of Freddie Mercury for some reason
Today was another good day for me in the four-walled court of pain. I put James in the hurt box winning 7 games to none. James hasn't played in about 5 years but I'll take a win (or seven) whenever I can get one. I don't even want to mention that the last 3 games I played left handed and still juiced him up. All joking aside, James is pretty good and fun to play with and once the cob webs get dusted off I think we'll have some really good matches. Until then.....I DOMINATE.....
On a side note, the guy in the court next to us yelled at us for being too loud. I tend to yell when I miss shots and celebrate quite obnoxiously when I win points. He was quite scary looking so we toned it down for the rest of the game. You never know what those handball guys are capable of doing to you.
©2009 Clarke Rodgers/SPORTZFOTO.com
GOALS:
* Top 25 Overall
* Hit my nutrition plan.....especially hydration
* Be aggressive on the swim and bike
* Manage the pain on the run
* 3:53 – 3:57 overall time depending on conditions
* Swim: 25:30
* Bike: 2:10:00
* Run: 1:14:30
ACTUAL:
Place: 64th Pro
Time: 04:41:48
Swim Time/Place: 25:27 / 56th
Bike Time/Place: 2:11:26 / 53rd
Run Time/Place: 1:59:41 / 65th
PRE-RACE:
Five weeks out from this race I had a calf injury that took me away from running for 11 days and never really seemed to heal completely. Before that happened I had the best 10 week training block all time and was in prime shape to have a great race at Clearwater. The calf injury was the focal point for me over the past five weeks and took some of my focus away from race day preparation.
Jen and I left Charlotte, NC on the Sunday before the race and drove to our condo where we met up with Clarke in Clearwater. I like to have ample time to loosen up after traveling to a race and it was nice to have the whole week to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. Throughout the week I did my normal preparations and got to bed by 9:00pm on Friday night after having pasta with chicken for dinner. I woke for the race at 3:15am but laid in bed until 4am and followed my pre-race routine:
* 4:00am: Breakfast: 2 slices toast w/ PB & 2 boca links + 2 bananas
* 4:20am: Shave and shower
* 4:40am: Gather race gear
* 4:50am: Massage, foam roller, TP massage, stretch session
* 5:40am: Run warmup from condo to transition + more stretching
* 5:55am: Set up transition....take 150 cals of EFS Liquid Shot
* 6:10am: Stretch at porto line
* 6:20am: Jog to swim start, put on wetsuit, swim warmup....another 150 cals of EFS Liquid Shot
* 6:53am: Swim Start
SWIM:
Going into this race I expected that I would be surrounded by competitors all day long. I had improved my swim slightly and figured that with 85 pro men entered in the race there would be a stream of swimmers to latch onto throughout the swim. Was I ever wrong!! Since the ITU guys have started to race the 70.3 distance the swims have gotten faster and faster and this swim went out hard and they stayed on the gas the whole way. I had some feet for the first 5 minutes and swam solo from that point on. Not what I was expecting at all. I felt pretty good in the water but am just not at that level quite yet and ended up getting gapped by 3 to 3.5 mins by the main swim pack and didn't really have anyone around me.
BIKE:
I got onto the bike and tried to get my HR down to around 160 bpm (LT minus 10 bpm) and time trial the bike course. At this point I knew I wasn't going to reach my goal of top 25 so tried to see what I could do on the bike. The first 20 miles I was passing some of the pro women and a couple of men and at around mile 20 I realized that one of them had latched on. I was a bit frustrated at this point already so wanted to shake him loose. I jumped out of my saddle and put in a strong effort to try and get away and after a minute looked back and he was still there. On my second attempt my chain got stuck between my rear cog and frame because I tried to shift too many gears at once so I had to stop and take my rear wheel off to get the chain unlodged. This cost me 90 seconds and I saw a group of 4 guys go by me. It took me 4 miles to catch the group at 160 bpm and when I caught them I sat in the back for 2 miles and my HR dropped 15 bpm at 26.9 mph so I made a strong move at 29-30 mph and got away from the group. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. I passed some more women but didn't pass any more men. I started to fade a bit towards the last five miles and ended up giving back a decent amount of time.
One thing that I did to speed up my T1 was electric taping my gel flasks and salt tab container to my aero bars. Jen questioned whether they would be easy to take off or not and I disregarded it. Unfortunately, it wasn't the easiest to get my flasks and salt container untaped so I didn't end up taking any additional sodium on top of what is in the EFS Liquid Shots. I typically take an extra 350-700mg of sodium on top of the contents of my gels and I think I ended up low on sodium. My fluid intake of 104 oz was right on but I think I needed more sodium to balance things out. I ended up paying the price on the run with further nutritional mistakes.
On the bike nutrition: 104oz water + 900 cals of EFS Liquid Shot
RUN:
I started off the run feeling very heavy and my legs felt overly fatigued. It felt like I was running 8 min pace but I went through the first mile in 5:40 pace according to my GPS. I was encouraged by that since my HR was at 160 bpm which is LT minus 20 bpm for me. Unfortunately I couldn't seem to get my body to move any faster or even maintain that effort. I made a concious effort to see how my calf felt and it didn't hurt but my calves and hamstrings both felt like they could cramp if I pushed the pace much further. My pace slowly got worse and worse and my legs started to feel some pain. I have no idea what I was thinking but I only took down water for the first 8 miles of the run (no calories or additional sodium). Once I hit the 2nd loop I was in a world of hurt. The age groupers (men and women of all ages) that were out on their first loop were ALL going by me like I was standing still and I had no answer for them. It was a complete meltdown. I think I had diluted my sodium levels and I was starting to feel very out of it on the course. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the finish line at mile 8 and stopped at the next aid station and took down 200 cals of my EFS Liquid Shot and water. I struggled through miles 8 through 13 taking some breaks to walk. I tried to cheer on some of the competitors since my day was done and was only focused on finishing. I thought about how Jen must have been worried about me since I should have finished 45 mins earlier so tried to pick up my pace as much as I could. I crossed the finish line in complete disappointment and embarrassment.
On the run nutrition: Water at every aid station, sponges at every aid station, 450 cals EFS Liquid Shot during 2nd half of run, Coke at one aid station
SUMMARY:
* I have to be able to make the first swim pack to compete at this race. I was 3 to 3.5 mins back from the main pack. The swim was very fast and I have some serious work to do over the next 6-8 months in the pool.
* There were 40+ guys in the main bike pack and they all biked between 1:59-2:03. There is a definitive advantage to being able to sit legally in that 40 man train.
* My new Trek TTX felt awesome and the Speedfil worked great as well. My bike position felt very comfortable and powerful.
* Had I not lodged my chain I would have biked around 2:09+ without the help that others were getting. I've made some gains in the pool and the bike this year.
* Clearwater is more like an olympic distance race than a 70.3 since it is so flat and fast. I won't be going back there until I can swim 22+ mins.
* My run fitness took a hit from getting injured 5 weeks out from race day. Before that it was superb though so I'm in a good place for next season even though these results don't show it.
* I hadn't raced in a while and didn't pay close enough attention to my nutrition.
* Aside from the race......I had a great time in Clearwater and had a great vacation.
THANKS TO:
* My wife Jen for being supportive and for being the team leader in rounding up the families on race morning and race day.
* My bud Clarke for taking some top notch photos, bringing the XBOX, and protecting our freedom (Happy Veteran's Day).
* Our families for cheering for me at the race site and while watching online.
©2009 Clarke Rodgers/SPORTZFOTO.com
GOALS:
* Top 6 Overall
* Hit my nutrition plan
* Be more conservative on the swim and bike
* Set a higher cadence on the bike
* Have a solid run
* 3:58 – 4:04 overall time depending on conditions
ACTUAL:
Place: 15th
Time: 04:27:45
Swim Time/Place: 26:54 / 14th
Bike Time/Place: 2:31:42 / 16th
Run Time/Place: 1:22:54 / 8th
PRE-RACE:
Going into this race I knew that my fitness and gumption was fading fast and that I needed a mid-season break and a solid rebase period. I was hoping to just hold on for one more race and have a solid result before kicking off the second half of the season but it wasn’t in the cards. Aside from my fading fitness I made some mistakes and had a bit of bad luck that culminated into a major meltdown and a good learning experience.
Jen, Clarke, and I left Charlotte, NC on Friday morning and drove to a hotel about 3 hrs away from the race venue and spent the night. On Friday we arrived at the expo at around 1:30pm to find that my race number was “lucky number 13”. I’m not very superstitious but the number selection is pretty funny after the fact. I had planned on biking and running to check out the course but didn’t have much time left so decided to just drive the run course and head back to the house to spend some time with our families. We had quite the crew in for the weekend and it was great to see everyone: my parents, sister Sarah, and grandma along with Jen’s parents and brother Bert. As I was putting my bike together at the house I realized that I made a very bonehead move…….I brought two rear wheels. Let the games begin. I was a bit panicked as I didn’t have a front wheel to ride on but at the pro meeting I talked with the race director and he put me in touch with Jeff who was nice enough to give me one of his training wheels to ride during the race. It wasn’t my Zipp 808 but you know what they say……beggars can’t be choosers. I got back to the house with my wheel in hand and went for a short bike ride to test everything out. We had a great pasta dinner with our families and hung out before heading to bed at 10pm. For some reason I woke up at 1am and couldn’t fall back asleep so only got 3 hrs of sleep for the night. I think this may have played a role in my lack of motivation later in the day. After the usual morning routine we made it to the race site and I got my transition area together and started my 1 mile trek to the swim start.
SWIM:
The logistics of this race were interesting in that you had to walk one mile on the beach from the transition area to the swim start. I decided to jog the mile instead since I wanted to get my swim warmup in. I got to the swim start with plenty of time and got in a short warmup and came out of the water to stretch before heading back out. When I was putting my goggles back on they broke and I just couldn’t believe it. I went back to the race director and asked for help yet again and he got on the microphone and a very nice older man handed me his spare pair of goggles.
We lined up for the swim start on the beach and we were off. I sprinted to get a good position and dolphin dived my way to a top position as we turned the first buoy. I knew this wouldn’t last but it helps to be able to choose which feet to sit on. Guys were passing me one by one and I couldn’t hang onto anyone’s feet. My right shoulder was overly tight and I didn’t feel like I could apply much power to the water. Eventually I was left to swim by myself as the gaps grew bigger and bigger. Throughout the remainder of the swim I had a very tough time sighting as the sun was directly in our eyes and my goggles were a big fogged up. The doubts were creeping into my head during the swim and this was just the beginning of the mental and physical unraveling. I exited the water in 26:45 but knew that it was not a good swim and that I would need to make up quite a bit of ground on the bike.
BIKE:
I hopped on my bike and tried to settle into a good cadence and rhythm. My HR was static at 170 bpm for the first few miles and I tried to bring it down but realized that I had been passed by the lead woman during the swim and could see her up the road but wasn’t making any ground on her on the bike. I tried to lift my intensity because I knew I should be able to close that gap much faster and my hamstrings, glutes, and lower back started to give me quite a bit of discomfort. I eventually passed the lead woman and could see a rider up the road but again wasn’t closing the gap. We had the wind at our back for the first 10 miles but my splits were about 10 seconds per mile slower than I was expecting. At about mile 15 Bates came by me so I put in an effort to try and salvage this bike ride but my body wasn’t cooperating today. The rest of the ride I just tried to stay fairly comfortable and my pace and HR slowly faded to the point that I was riding recovery effort. I ended up getting passed by the top five women over the last 10 miles which added a bit of salt to the wound. My stomach was giving me some issues in the last 30 mins of the bike so when I entered transition I stopped at the porto to take care of business. I went to rack my bike and talked with Jen and my family a bit since they were concerned about my well being. I told them that I was a bit overcooked and just wanted to finish the race and told them to go enjoy the beach.
RUN:
Once I hit the run my legs actually felt okay. I took in a couple of gels in the last 30 mins of the bike so maybe that lit the match again. I started off the run hitting 5:30s and 5:40s and these would eventually slow to around 6:00s. I tried to keep my HR around 170 bpm for as long as I could because I wanted to at least get some race intensity experience in the bank for later races. Over the course of the run my HR would slowly fade from the 170s to the 160s and eventually over the last 4 miles it would drift to the 150s and 140s. The last 2 miles my legs hurt so bad that I could barely get them to move any faster than 8 min miles. I completely fell apart and was in quite a bit of pain while coming down the finishing chute. I was quite disappointed about how the day ended up but you have to fail every once in a while to really appreciate the successes.
"Lucky Number 13" - Not a happy camper at the finish!!
©2009 Clarke Rodgers/SPORTZFOTO.com
SUMMARY:
* My fitness and mental attitude towards racing was fading coming into this race and I knew it. I kept telling Watkins that I couldn’t wait for my 2 week mid season break and rebase period. I didn’t set up a big enough base early in the season to be able to hold onto my race fitness for my three 70.3 races over the course of an 8 week span. I was on the verge of snapping the elastic and it happened on race day.
* Due to the long drive and the race wheel issue I didn’t get a chance to loosen up for the race like I usually do. I think I came into this race a bit dehydrated and with a good bit of muscle tightness. This contributed to my physical and mental breakdown on the race course.
* I didn’t mentally prepare for this race. I think I had already checked out and was looking forward to the break. This was apparent by packing two rear wheels. I’m usually very thorough with my preparations.
* I need a break and then need to rebuild a very solid base for the second half of the season.
* I’m still fairly new to racing in the pro ranks and am allowed to have some bad races here and there. I just have to acknowledge the mistakes and learn from them for the rest of the season.
* Aside from the race we had a great time this weekend. Jen, Clarke, and I had a lot of fun on our travels to and from the race and Jen and I got to spend the weekend with our families…….which doesn’t happen very often.
THANKS TO:
* My wife Jen for being supportive during the rough patches and for being the team leader in rounding up the families on race morning and race day.
* My bud Clarke for driving the whole way to Michigan and the majority of the way back home along with taking top notch photos.
* Our families for making the long trip and making the weekend a blast.
* Race director, Tom Ziebart, for hooking me up with a front wheel to race on as well as finding me a pair of swim goggles.
* Jeff Borah for letting me use his training wheel on race day.
* The participant who gave me his spare goggles minutes before the swim start.
My wife, Jen, support crew extraordinaire and brains behind the operation.
GOALS:
* Top 6 Overall
* Hit my nutrition plan
* Finish the run feeling strong
* Don't lose any positions on the bike
* Keep the gaps in time on SBR to Cunningham and Lovato similar to Eagleman
* 4:00 – 4:06 overall time depending on conditions
ACTUAL:
Place: 5th
Time: 4:03:11
Swim Time/Place: 25:41 / 14th
T1 Time/Place: 1:08
Bike Time/Place: 2:15:04 / 7th
T2 Time/Place: 1:12
Run Time/Place: 1:20:06 / 5th
SWIM:
I made it to the race start a little later than I wanted to due to some closed highway ramps in Providence so was very glad to hear the announcer say that they were pushing the start back 15-20 mins because the strong winds and rough waters moved the buoys out of place. I was also glad to hear that the water was under 68 degrees which made the swim wetsuit legal for the pros. The swim start was a beach running start and I got out in great position by running hard to the front and some quick dolphin dives. Unfortunately, I faded further and further back as the swim went along. The waves were so high that I had a hard time sighting and took in a lot of salt water. I swam solo on the way out and found some feet once we hit the turnaround point. The way out was punishing and the way back was a breeze as the waves pushed us in to the finish. I came out of the water with a pack of 4-5 and had a quick transition to put myself on the bike course ahead of my swim pack.
BIKE:
Ave HR: 166 bpm (LT is 170 bpm)
After getting out quickly in the first couple of miles I rode solo for quite some time. We had a very strong tailwind the first 6 miles or so and then it seemed to have faded once we hit the hills. Martin came up on me at around mile 10-15 and he eventually ended up slowly drifting away from me and I lost contact. I continued to pass some other riders to move my way up but had no idea what place I was in. Eventually Grant and Evoe caught me and I made the decision that I wasn't going to lose contact no matter how hard I had to push. I felt that this is where my race needed to take place since I knew that Evoe was a solid runner as well. Over the next 15-20 miles I would drift back on the climbs and push hard to close the gap on the flats and downhills. For some reason my power numbers have been down since Eagleman and I could feel this on the climbs. After a while we caught Hodges and I knew he could run as well so I was happy to see that he had dropped off a bit after a few more hills. At about 5-10 miles to go someone said that we were in 5th-7th place which is right where I wanted to be to shoot for a top 5 finish. I got off the bike with Grant and Evoe and it was going to be a footrace for 5th place.
ON THE BIKE NUTRITION: 88 fl oz H2O (39 oz/hr) + 675 total cals of EGel (1/2 flask per 30 mins) + 2 Lava Salts per hour
RUN:
Ave HR: 168 bpm (LT is 180 bpm)
I had the slowest transition out of the 3 of us and slowly worked my way back to them. I was surprised to feel no side stitches like at Eagleman and my right arch seemed to be feeling healthy. I opened a small gap on the first big hill but that didn't last long as I had to stop to massage out a cramping hamstring at the top. Evoe and Grant passed me and gave me kind words but I was back in business after a short stop and caught back up to them after about a mile. Evoe and I ran together for a bit and after a couple of miles I pulled away slightly. At the turnaround I could see that Evoe and Hodges were stalking me and it looked like Hodges was coming up pretty fast. On the second loop I took the big hill really easy to try to fend off another cramping situation and heard footsteps at the top of the hill. I picked up the pace a bit to keep the gap open and at around mile 8 Hodges caught me. I decided to put in a little surge to see how he was feeling and he didn't come with so I continued at that pace until I couldn't hear footsteps anymore. Then at mile 10 I was surprised to see that Evoe had made his way back to me. When he caught me he seemed to have picked up the pace so I went with him and as the pace slowed down I surged a bit and opened up a 10-15 second gap over the next mile or so. I was able to hold this gap for the last couple of miles while periodically checking back to ensure Evoe wasn't creeping back up on me. As I passed the finish line I was very sore and tired but also extremely happy to have held on in a tactical race for 5th place.
SPLITS: 6:14 (166 bpm ave) HILL, 5:56 (163), 5:56 (167), 6:01 (165), 5:43 (167), 6:07 (168), 6:05 (167), 6:46 (166) HILL, 6:05 (168), 6:02 (169), 5:58 (171), 6:21 (174), 6:04 (172)
ON THE RUN NUTRITION: 3-4oz H2O at every aid station + 200 total cals of EGel + 6 total Lava Salts + sponges on head every aid station
SUMMARY:
* I reached all of my goals for this race. I was a bit concerned about how I might feel on race day because my recovery from Eagleman took longer than I expected and I ended up forming a foot problem in the two weeks leading up to this race.
* My swim, bike and run splits were about the same distance apart from Cunningham and Lovato as they were at Eagleman. Swim: C-3:16, L-1:39; Bike: C-2:12, L-4:34; Run: C-2:20, L: 2:00.
* I really enjoy the 70.3 distance. I enjoy doing the pre-race recon on the pro field ahead of time to figure out my race strategy and where I may need to put my effort. I also enjoy the tactics that are involved on race day.
* Due to my hamstring cramping in the first mile of the run I was a bit more cautious and didn't really open things up until I felt like I really needed to.
THANKS TO:
* My amazing wife, Jen, for driving the majority of the way to Rhode Island from Charlotte (15.5 hrs). This allowed me to stretch, massage, and nap/relax in the back of the Element. I also want to thank her for being so supportive as always, giving me intel on my competition on race day, and being a top notch cheerleader.
* Mike Elkins @ Blue Ocean Somatic Institute (704-527-4799) for massaging out my foot pain five days before the race when I was uncertain whether or not I'd be able to run on it.
* Inside Out Sports for keeping my bike race tuned and ensuring that I've got all my race needs taken care of.
©2009 Clarke Rodgers/SPORTZFOTO.com
GOALS:
* Stay within 2 1/2 mins from the main PACK of swimmers
* Sub 2:14 bike while still conserving some energy for the run
* Sub 1:15 run split
* Top 8 overall
* 3:57 – 4:03 overall time depending on conditions
ACTUAL:
Place: 6th
Time: 4:02:03
Swim Time/Place: 27:29 / 9th
T1 Time/Place: 1:14 / 9th
Bike Time/Place: 2:13:02 / 6th
T2 Time/Place: 1:36 / 9th
Run Time/Place: 1:18:46 / 6th
Complete Results
SWIM:
After they introduced the 2008 world champ (Torenzo Bozzone), 2008 Eagleman champ (Paul Amey), and Ritchie Cunningham, they had us all enter the water and immediately said “40 seconds to the start”. We had to swim out the start line and some people were already there while some of us weren’t and the race director said “Go”. It caught most of us off guard and some people were well ahead before we even got to the start line. I didn’t concern myself with this and just went as hard as I could go for the first couple of minutes and eventually settled in behind Chris McDonald and Paul Fritzsche for the remainder of the swim. I was able to settle in and feel pretty relaxed about half way through the swim but they stepped up the intensity when we turned the last buoy heading to the swim finish and I nearly fell off. I came out of the water with a group of five which was right where I wanted to be.
BIKE:
I got out of transition with McDonald, Fritzsche, Kozub, and LaMontagne. After the first couple of miles we lost Kozub and LaMontagne and my legs felt good even though my heart rate was having troubles getting under 170 bpm. I averaged 168 bpm for the first 15 miles of the bike and it started to settle down from there. After the first 6 miles McDonald threw in some surges for 3-4 miles at a time at 27+ mph and I just decided that I was going to go until I blow. He continued to do this for the first 30 miles or so. I took a few pulls at the front but after a while decided that it wasn’t in my best interest to do so since I had confidence in my run. I felt really comfortable at around 25.5-25.7 mph but when things got above 26+ for sustained efforts my lower back started to bother me. I would stand every once in a while to relieve the pressure and then catch back up to the group. Later in the ride with about 10 miles to go Caiazzo caught us and then started pushing the pace. We eventually caught up to everyone except Torenzo, Ritchie, and Lovato and it was going to be a footrace for 4th-8th place. Out of that group I knew that Amey and Caiazzo could both throw down sub 1:15 run splits but I felt I could do the same if my legs were there. I was very happy to be able to bike with a strong guy like McDonald, especially with the 5 bike length rule. I could tell that my watts have been increasing over the last couple of months due to my benchmarking workouts and this just let me know what I can do in competition.
RUN:
I had a slow transition and was about 15 meters behind a group of 6 guys all battling for the money (4th-8th). This was exciting because I was certain I could run 5:35-5:45 pace based on my recent benchmarking. I got out on the run and instantly felt massive cramps in my stomach. I think that it was from overworking my hip flexors on the bike and probably due to not taking in enough fluids. I went out in 5:34 pace holding my stomach and then saw Amey drop out so I knew I was now in 8th place. I didn’t think there were any really fast runners behind me so I decided to slow the pace for a while to see if the cramping would pass. I stopped for a second to walk and rub my stomach out to see if it would relieve some pressure and after a 6:24 and 6:05 mile I was back in business. At this point I was a bit behind and put in a 5:38 mile and it felt comfortable. I was making ground on McDonald and after the next 5:50 I passed him and was now in 7th. After making the pass my left hamstring cramped to the point where I thought my day was over. I stopped to walk and rub out my hamstring and knew that I need to take in more water and sodium to finish the race. I started running again and a half mile later my right hamstring cramped so I stopped again to repeat the process. This mile took 6:50 and put me further behind. I made it to the aid station and sucked down fluids and took a few salt tabs and made my way down the road. I passed McDonald again at mile 6-7 and saw Kevin Lisska up ahead. I clocked him at about 45 seconds ahead at mile 8 so put in a 5:44 mile to narrow the gap and passed him at around 9-10 miles and went by quickly to try and deter him from coming with me since I knew I could fold at any second. I got a 30 second lead on him and saw that Fritzsche was 40 seconds up the road and decided to play it safe and not shoot for 5th place. I was happy with 6th place and knew that if I pushed it I could seize at any moment so backed off and ran 6:13, 6:27, and 6:12 for the last few miles. This was the first time that I won any prize money in a pro field and even though I didn’t break 4 hrs I was very happy to have finished as well as I did with the troubles that I had on the run. I know I’ve got a much better race within me in the near future.
In the process I also got a Clearwater slot which I was very happy about because now I don’t have to worry about getting that the rest of the season.
SUMMARY:
* My run is good right now. I think I can run sub 1:15 off the bike in one of my upcoming 70.3s. The Eagleman run was basically a worst case scenario run for me and was still in the 1:18s. I’d like to run 1:13 at Clearwater in November.
* I like the 70.3 distance much better than the Ironman distance. It actually seems like racing vs. pacing.
©2009 Clarke Rodgers/SPORTZFOTO.com
GOALS:
* Get in a good open water swim
* Get a guage for fitness
* Win
ACTUAL TIMES:
Overall Place: 1st
Full Results
SWIM:
Dolphin dived a couple of times and noticed my goggle was full of water so decided to drain it because I didn't feel like going through the whole swim like that. Lost a few guys due to that and swam solo the rest of the way. I went off in the 2nd wave so had to swim through quite a bit of traffic. Felt comfortable the whole time. I wore my skinsuit even though it was wetsuit legal because I knew I'd have to wear it in all of my other races anyway. Water temp was nice and chilly.
BIKE:
This course was rolling with a couple of decent climbs. I rode the 808 front and disk rear and it seemed to work out fine. I didn't have speed or HR so I just pushed to the point of being a bit uncomfortable. Felt like it would have been about LT minus 5-10 beats. After taking out the first and last miles for mounting and dismounting my average on my Garmin was 25.3 mph which I didn't think was bad for that course. Nice day.
RUN:
I wore the Newtons again to give them another chance and I simply don't like them. I didn't expect my swim or run to be anything stellar today due to my past 5 weeks of training and they weren't. The run felt slow and I didn't feel like pushing much harder. I felt like I could have held this pace for 10-13 miles but didn't feel like I could have gone much faster for 3 miles today. Oh well.....working the swim and run over the next 5 weeks.
SUMMARY:
Overall it was a good effort. The lack of training over the past five weeks has taken it's toll but the fitness will come back.
©2009 Clarke Rodgers/SPORTZFOTO.com
500yd Pool Swim - 20K Bike - 5K Run
GOALS:
* Finish
* Win
* Stay w/in 30 seconds of Lisska on the swim
* Have fastest bike split
* Have fastest run split
ACTUAL TIMES:
Overall Place: 1st
Overall Time: 53:25
Overall Ave HR: 174 bpm
Swim Time: 5:48 + 14s run to the mat (6:02)...9th
T1: 0:42
Bike Time: 30:34....2nd
T2: 0:36
Run Time: 15:32 (I think this is short)....1st
Complete Results
SWIM:
I seeded myself for the swim so that I'd be close to the main competition. I ended up getting the 3rd seed and going 20 seconds behind Lisska. It's not much fun to race when you can't see your competition so that was my motive for doing so even though I knew I'd get passed by a couple of guys in the pool. I wore my blue seventy skinsuit because it takes less time to take it off than the time I would have lost due to the drag of wearing my race jersey w/ pockets. During the first 100 of the swim I tried to stay within myself and thought I did a decent job. Murray passed me within the first 150yds and I tried to get on his feet but that only lasted about 25yds. I did an okay job with the flip turns but hit my head on a couple of lane lines. The effort felt tiring towards the end and just before the last turn Soko caught me and roughed me up quite a bit as we took the turn at the same time. I can't blame him as I shouldn't have been in front of him in the first place. Got out of the pool and tried to hurry through transition as every second counts in a sprint.
BIKE:
I got on the bike just behind Murray and Soko. I passed Murray within the first 1/2 mile and Soko within the first mile. The wind was in our face for most of the first half of the ride and at our back for a good part of the second half. Wind was 16-17 mph and was moving me on the bike. I could see that Lisska was a ways up the road and I didn't gain ground on him until we turned onto McCoy. I tried to work the section with the wind at our back and started to slowly bring him in from 50 secs to 10 secs as we entered the business park. When we hit the wind at our face again he put a little more time on me before heading into transition. I could also tell that Lance wasn't very far behind.
RUN:
When we hit the run course I was about 17 seconds behind Kevin. When I started out I didn't have any legs and for the first mile I didn't make up any ground. I started to close the gap on the second mile and eventually went into the lead in the last mile.
SPLITS:
Mile 1: 5:23 (173 bpm ave)
Mile 2: 5:16 (176 bpm)
Mile 3: 5:16 pace (178 bpm) .... was only .92 miles (4:51) according to my gps.
SUMMARY:
I was able to reach all goals except for having the fastest bike split. From this race I've learned that my swim is coming along nicely. If I continue to knock out the workouts that Brad is giving me then I should be right where I want to be by June/July. My bike and run didn't feel comfortable at the HR and effort level that I was racing at. Probably because I've done a decent bit of steady work @ 160 bpm (bike) and 170 bpm (run) but haven't done much work at LT (170 bike & 180 run). Getting close to that phase though. The good news is that I felt like I could have gone a lot longer on the bike and the run.....just couldn't go any faster.
4 mile run - 30 mile bike - 4 mile run
GOALS:
* Get in a good effort
* Get a guage for bike fitness
* Win
ACTUAL TIMES:
Overall Place/Time: 1st / 2:01:47
1st Run Place: 1st / 22:23
Bike Place: 1st / 1:14:54
2nd Run Place: 1st / 23:23
Overall Ave HR: 175 bpm
Full Results
RUN 1:
My goal for the first run was to keep things under control and get a decent lead on the cyclists so I would be out of sight. My LT on the run is around 180 bpm so I wanted to keep things in the low to mid 170s. At McAlpine that would have been around mid to upper 5:20s but this course had a couple of hills and was a bit sloppy due to the rain so it ended up being 10-15s slower than that. I took the first mile out feeling comfortable in 5:10 but my HR saw 180 bpm at times so I backed it off a little after putting a few seconds on Haas and opening up a gap on g-man and Olson. I felt comfortable and smooth throughout the first run and came into T1 w/ a 10s lead on Haas and 1:25 on g-man.
SPLITS:
5:10 (172 ave)
5:34 (176 ave)
5:32 (177 ave)
5:48 (176 ave)
BIKE:
I took my time in transition and Haas ended up catching me out of the WWC parking lot. I eased into the ride and was glad that I was warm wearing only a long sleeve, jersey, shorts, & socks. The body temp rises quite a bit on the run....nice thing about duathlon. I rode my pace for the first 12 miles with Haas locked in on me and between 12 miles and 17 miles we swapped the lead a couple of times going up and down hills. The course was quite hilly which helped me out because I have only ridden the aero position two times so far this year. My lower back started to get weak and tight so it helped to sit up on the hills and stretch it out. At 17 miles I put in a little effort over the top of a climb and when I looked back Haas was a ways back so I decided to apply some pressure to get out of sight. I kept it going until I got to T2 and was surprised that neither g-man or Olson caught me on the bike. I was pretty certain they would outsplit me by a couple of minutes. Surprisingly though I ended up outsplitting them by 2:30+ mins. I guess my bike fitness is better than I thought right now.
RUN 2:
I didn't realize how cold my feet and calves were until I slipped on my running shoes again and took my first step. They were frozen and I was worried that my right calf was going to cramp at any moment. I took the 2nd run more conservative since I knew I had a good lead and was concerned about cramping. The course was pretty sloppy by this point as well so there was no need to push things. It was nice to be able to watch the rest of the race unfold and cheer on the rest of the CLT guys. Everyone did well for how early it is in the season.
SPLITS:
5:47 (163 ave)
5:48 (168 ave)
5:39 (170 ave)
6:00 (170 ave) includes finish (+10s)
SUMMARY:
* My run base is good right now and my bike fitness is better than I thought for this time of year.
* This was my first test for the lower back on the bike and it looks like I still have some work to do.
PRE-RACE:
I woke up at 4am and made some oatmeal w/ raisins and peanut butter + one banana. After that I got showered up and got everything together. Just before we left for the race site I rolled on the TP massage ball a bit on my glutes to try and open them up. We left the house at around 5am and got to transition by 5:15am with a race start of 6:45am. Once in transition I got body marked and started setting up the rack. While setting up my bike I heard Cunningham talking about how the swim was no longer wetsuit legal for the pros even though the race director told us that it was under 78 degrees the night before at the meeting. I guess the rules were changed about 6 months ago so the pros can't wear wetsuits over 72 degrees for 70.3 and IM distance races. This was bad news for me because I didn't bring my skinsuit so I had to make a decision to either wear my jersey in the water or go shirtless and try to put my dry jersey on my wet body in transition. I should have done the latter but instead I wore the jersey and was the only one doing so. After finding out this news I went for a warmup run for 15 minutes and got a slight side stitch. Afterwards I stretched and rolled on the foam ball to try and loosen up. At about 6:35am I made my way down to the swim start.
ACTUAL TIMES:
DNF
SWIM:
I jogged down to the water and when I got there I noticed that I was the only one wearing my jersey.....everyone else either had a skinsuit or no shirt on. I guess I made the wrong decision. They gave us a little time to warm up in the water and then lined us up and everyone kept on inching up past the start line. Then when they started counting down 5-4-3 and all of the sudden Rhodes says "Awe come on let's just go" and he jumped in and everyone else followed. Funny thing is that Leigh made a comment about what happens if someone jumps the gun on the swim making reference to him in the meeting the night before.
The swim got underway and I just didn't feel it. The main pack was already gone and I was hanging on to the back of the pack and it didn't feel right. I felt like I had a hard time keeping my feet at the surface of the water and am wondering if it's due to wearing my jersey. More of the same as more people passed me throughout the swim and finally I hung on to a pack and came in with them. I was a bit surprised to see 31 mins on my watch.
BIKE:
I didn't have the quickest of transitions and lost a couple of guys that I came out of the water with. My heart rate when I jumped on the bike was only in the 160s so my effort in the water wasn't very hard compared to normal (170-180s). When I got on the bike I focused on working my way into it to try to fend off back issues that I've been having. About 30 mins into the ride I could feel my right lower back was giving some numbness so I stood a little to relieve it. Shortly after I was having a hard time holding my effort at 160 bpm so I clicked it down to the biggest gearing and mashed at 55-60 rpms and my pace went up to the mid 25 mphs again......for a while.....and then my left glute basically shot pain at me. I slowed down and spun for a minute to try to relieve it and then stood and rubbed it against the nose of my seat and started to ride again. Once I got in the aero position my glute fired up in pain. I could feel the exact muscle that was flared up but couldn't do anything about it. After a while it even started to hurt when I would just sit on the seat so I stood for a good part of the rest of the ride knowing that my race was over. I rode at sub 15 mph back in because that's all my glute would handle. I finally made it into transition in 2:51 and saw Jen and she was again concerned that something happened to me on the course because I should have been in 40 mins earlier. I told her that I wasn't going out on the run course because I have to heal my body and running 13 miles in the dead of heat isn't going to put me on the right track to getting healthy. I had already decided on the bike that I had to scratch Lake Placid off of the race schedule to take care of my muscular imbalances that have been hindering me for the good part of this season. So my rehabilitation starts today. Sometimes it takes an event like this to happen to open your eyes to a real weakness that will make you much stronger in the long run. My new focus will be the Florida Ironman in November with a couple of races in between.
RUN:
No run today...
SUMMARY:
* I need to take some more down time to rehab my lower back issues.