Well, well, well...
My rookie race season is finally over. I'm tired.
This past Sunday marked the final race on my schedule for this rookie season: the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. I had some mixed emotions going into Sunday's race. Because of the addition of swimming and biking, my marathon specific training had severely dropped. Add in the fact that this is my final semester of grad school and my wife's first semester of grad school, I've been too busy to really train to do well for this race. I ran more miles on Sunday than I had the previous three weeks combined.
This is my third time going to the Expo. 2008 was a DNF and 2010 was a 6:24... finish. After a year off I decided it was time to get serious about racing, lose weight and do an Ironman. Okay... The Expo was great. I was able to go with Matthew (raced in Racine together) and Ryan and Tim who I have met at the LBS doing rides and throughout the community at other races. It was great to talk to them and draw on their experiences.
4 a.m. race morning- wake up, eat breakfast and get on the road. We arrived in Chicago about 5:30 a.m. and found a perfect parking space. No, I will not tell you where it was- must keep some secrets :) Since we had 2+ hrs till I would start, Adrienne and I made our way into the Congress Hotel, found a couch and camped out there till race time.
8 a.m. HOOONNKK and we were off. Up to this point I had no idea how my body would respond to the high dose of running. I began running with Becca (YFC coworker). I was shocked at how great I felt. The first 8 miles seemed to just fly by. I knew that today was going to be a pretty good day. Mile 13- still felt good. I was shocked. At about mile 14 I began to feel as if I was running out of fuel in the tank. I knew I needed some solid food to avoid BONKing. The next time I would see Adrienne was not until mile 20.5 so I text her and asked her to get me some potato chips.
Still felt decent from mile 14.5-18.5. Once I got to the 18.5 I was empty. I hit the wall, hard. The encouraging thing up to this point is that the only walking I had done was through the aid stations. I was very happy about this. Unfortunately I walked almost the entire way to 20.5 when I could get my chips. I was surprised when I got to that point because not only was Adrienne there, but so were Uncle Mike, Aunt Louann and Leighanna! It was nice to see some smiling faces and eat some greasy potato chips.
Okay, about mile 21.5 the tank seemed like it had been refueled and I was able to run again. The last 4 miles were tough, but I dug deep and ran/walked the last 4 at about 50% to each. There is nothing better than making that last left turn on to Roosevelt and knowing the Finish Line is right there! I finished and beat my St. Louis time by 3+ minutes with significantly less marathon specific training. I was happy with the results.
The great thing about Sunday's race is that I feel like I "learned to race". This was the first time I was able to dial in my nutritional needs and fuel accordingly. I was able to get the right gatorade/water ratio. I was able to tell when I needed gels and when I needed some real food. I also felt like I learned how to dig deep and finish a race. I never had the mental dicouragements about wanting to quit or anything like that.
So thats it! My rookie race season is in the books. I had a lot of fun training and racing over the last year. I also learned a lot of lessons about racing, nutrition and balancing family life with training. If I had to list my favorite races in order they would be:
1. Ironman 70.3 Racine
2. Chicago Olympic Triathlon
3. Chicago Marathon
4. St. Louis Marathon
5. AshleyCan Half Marathon
So, whats on the agenda for next year? Well at this point the only race I have registered for is Ironman Louisville. I may do IM 70.3 Muncie, I may do Illinois Marathon, I may be doing the Madison to Chicago Ragnar Relay. We'll see how time and money plays out. The most important thing on all of these is that I am able to keep the balance of work, family and training. The great thing is that grad school is finished in December, long before any of the long training starts for IM Lou.
With IM Lou being the most important race next year there are several things I need to do in order to be successful: 1. lose another 25 lbs 2. focus on running 3. happy wife, happy life
Well, signing out for now. Keep looking for updates along the way and...
See you at the Finish Line!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Lifetime Chicago Triathlon Race Review
Well, here we are. The day after another big race. Let's see what we can recall from this past weekend's festivities.
Saturday was packet pick up. Like any true money-making venture, packet-pickup was filled with hundreds of vendors all selling discounted triathlon clothing and gear. And where, of course, was the actual pick up? At the end of the expo after you have walked through all of the vendors. This is much like any other big race in any big city. It was unlike my Ironman experience though because Ironman wants to protect their brand- so they are the only vendors at packet pickup. Overall it was a good Satruday. Had Ben Meils accompany on my trip which made the experience much more enjoyable.
Alright.
Sunday morning- I woke up at 2:50 am- 10 minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off. Crap. Ohh well. Time to get up and go put the spandex on.
Since I had everything loaded in the car Saturday night I was ready to go. So I went. I decided to park at Moody to save money on parking. Bad decision. More about that later. I rode my bike the 2 miles to Transition and began setting everything up. 6 am came it was time for the race to start. Just not my race. My race didn't start until 8:50 am.
Fast forward. Adrienne, Ashley and my parents arrived about 8 am. Okay. Time to race. That morning they said the water temperature was 75.3 degrees- 7+ degrees warmer than my race in Racine. I thought about not wearing the wetsuit to help save time in Transition. I decided to go ahead and wear it. I paid for it, might as well wear it if I'm able to right? Good decision. Jumped into the water and it was cold! HOOONk and we were off. The nice thing about this swim course is that we swam right along the harbor wall so my family was able to walk next to me and watch the entire time I was swimming. This was much different than Racine. After feeling like I was in the water forever I heard what I thought a spectator say "Your almost there! Only 800 more yards!" WHAT! That is like 1/2 mile! That is more than half of the race distance. Adrienne later told me the man said "100 yards". Whew. I got out of the water and started to head into Transition. The crazy part about the Chicago course is that the Swim Finish is about 450 yards from Transition. That means a 1/4 mile run in a westuit just to get to Transition. This was one of the things I did not like about the race.
Well, had a good transition and onto the bike. I took it easy at first to allow my muscles to warm up and get ready to roll. I also took this time to eat a Cliff Bar, something I was unable to do in Racine. Although it was very difficult to do, I got it down and it was time to put the pedal to the metal. Coming into this race I decided it was short enough to really go "balls out" (a steam engine term by the way, not what you're thinking) on this course. I was going to push myself as hard as I could without burning out. And thats what I did. Riding on Lake Shore Drive was nice- except for all the potholes and expansion cracks. It was a two loop course. All along the course I saw people with blown tires being helped by course officials. The bike was pretty uneventful except for seeing one guy down on the ground with bloody head. I wasn't sure what that was all about but this was a time-trial and I had 12 miles left to ride. I let the race officials help him.
I got off the bike in a very good time. I averaged 19.6 mph- about 77 minutes. This was more than 3mph faster than my speed in Racine. Now, it was time to run. This is where the wheels could fall off if I pushed myself to hard on the bike. They didn't fall off but they were fairly deflated. I had an aggressive overall goal for the race meaning I would have to run 10 min miles for the run course. I couldn't do it. I did a solid walk-run pace and averaged 12'12' per mile on the run. Not bad, and again, significantly faster than Racine. Once I got to the half way point of the run I realized I was not going to make my goal of 3hrs or less so I decided to get under 3:20. It was now a race within the race. I pushed myself much harder the second half of the run. When I made the turn to the finishing shoot I saw a number that was equivalent to about 3:21 for me. I missed it. I finished with a net time of 3:21:07.
Overall experience- very good. There were so many people! Transition was huge!
Throughout the day, whenever I felt like slowing down, I thought of my friend Matthew. Matthew started his day 2 hours before I did and was still going 10 hrs after mine finished as he raced for the second time in Ironman Louisville. Every time I wanted to walk or slow down I thought "I've got nothing compared to what he's doing today." I would then say a prayer for him and myself and keep on trucking. Many people ask me why I like to do endurance events like marathons or triathlons. One of the many reasons is the connection and inspiration between people. What those guys do amazes me and inspires me. I, inturn, hope to inspire those around me- like my friends and family- most importantly: my children. I want them to understand the importance of physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle. It's even been cool to see my wife and sister register for their first half marathon, only 2 weeks away, and my cousin running his first marathon!
The Olympic Distance triathlon was a lot of fun. It was the right distance to really push myself to the utter limits of speed. It was not like a half Ironman where you need to conserve your energy.
So, whats next? We have the AshleyCan Half-Marathon in Bourbonnais in two weeks followed by the Chicago Marathon in October and that is it for this year. 2013? Adrienne and I are on a relay team for a run from Madison, WI to Chicago, Il in June. That is all that is on the race schedule... for now.
Will there be an Ironman for me in 2013? You'll just have to wait and see...
See you at the Finish Line!
Saturday was packet pick up. Like any true money-making venture, packet-pickup was filled with hundreds of vendors all selling discounted triathlon clothing and gear. And where, of course, was the actual pick up? At the end of the expo after you have walked through all of the vendors. This is much like any other big race in any big city. It was unlike my Ironman experience though because Ironman wants to protect their brand- so they are the only vendors at packet pickup. Overall it was a good Satruday. Had Ben Meils accompany on my trip which made the experience much more enjoyable.
Alright.
Sunday morning- I woke up at 2:50 am- 10 minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off. Crap. Ohh well. Time to get up and go put the spandex on.
Since I had everything loaded in the car Saturday night I was ready to go. So I went. I decided to park at Moody to save money on parking. Bad decision. More about that later. I rode my bike the 2 miles to Transition and began setting everything up. 6 am came it was time for the race to start. Just not my race. My race didn't start until 8:50 am.
Fast forward. Adrienne, Ashley and my parents arrived about 8 am. Okay. Time to race. That morning they said the water temperature was 75.3 degrees- 7+ degrees warmer than my race in Racine. I thought about not wearing the wetsuit to help save time in Transition. I decided to go ahead and wear it. I paid for it, might as well wear it if I'm able to right? Good decision. Jumped into the water and it was cold! HOOONk and we were off. The nice thing about this swim course is that we swam right along the harbor wall so my family was able to walk next to me and watch the entire time I was swimming. This was much different than Racine. After feeling like I was in the water forever I heard what I thought a spectator say "Your almost there! Only 800 more yards!" WHAT! That is like 1/2 mile! That is more than half of the race distance. Adrienne later told me the man said "100 yards". Whew. I got out of the water and started to head into Transition. The crazy part about the Chicago course is that the Swim Finish is about 450 yards from Transition. That means a 1/4 mile run in a westuit just to get to Transition. This was one of the things I did not like about the race.
Well, had a good transition and onto the bike. I took it easy at first to allow my muscles to warm up and get ready to roll. I also took this time to eat a Cliff Bar, something I was unable to do in Racine. Although it was very difficult to do, I got it down and it was time to put the pedal to the metal. Coming into this race I decided it was short enough to really go "balls out" (a steam engine term by the way, not what you're thinking) on this course. I was going to push myself as hard as I could without burning out. And thats what I did. Riding on Lake Shore Drive was nice- except for all the potholes and expansion cracks. It was a two loop course. All along the course I saw people with blown tires being helped by course officials. The bike was pretty uneventful except for seeing one guy down on the ground with bloody head. I wasn't sure what that was all about but this was a time-trial and I had 12 miles left to ride. I let the race officials help him.
I got off the bike in a very good time. I averaged 19.6 mph- about 77 minutes. This was more than 3mph faster than my speed in Racine. Now, it was time to run. This is where the wheels could fall off if I pushed myself to hard on the bike. They didn't fall off but they were fairly deflated. I had an aggressive overall goal for the race meaning I would have to run 10 min miles for the run course. I couldn't do it. I did a solid walk-run pace and averaged 12'12' per mile on the run. Not bad, and again, significantly faster than Racine. Once I got to the half way point of the run I realized I was not going to make my goal of 3hrs or less so I decided to get under 3:20. It was now a race within the race. I pushed myself much harder the second half of the run. When I made the turn to the finishing shoot I saw a number that was equivalent to about 3:21 for me. I missed it. I finished with a net time of 3:21:07.
Overall experience- very good. There were so many people! Transition was huge!
Throughout the day, whenever I felt like slowing down, I thought of my friend Matthew. Matthew started his day 2 hours before I did and was still going 10 hrs after mine finished as he raced for the second time in Ironman Louisville. Every time I wanted to walk or slow down I thought "I've got nothing compared to what he's doing today." I would then say a prayer for him and myself and keep on trucking. Many people ask me why I like to do endurance events like marathons or triathlons. One of the many reasons is the connection and inspiration between people. What those guys do amazes me and inspires me. I, inturn, hope to inspire those around me- like my friends and family- most importantly: my children. I want them to understand the importance of physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle. It's even been cool to see my wife and sister register for their first half marathon, only 2 weeks away, and my cousin running his first marathon!
The Olympic Distance triathlon was a lot of fun. It was the right distance to really push myself to the utter limits of speed. It was not like a half Ironman where you need to conserve your energy.
So, whats next? We have the AshleyCan Half-Marathon in Bourbonnais in two weeks followed by the Chicago Marathon in October and that is it for this year. 2013? Adrienne and I are on a relay team for a run from Madison, WI to Chicago, Il in June. That is all that is on the race schedule... for now.
Will there be an Ironman for me in 2013? You'll just have to wait and see...
See you at the Finish Line!
Monday, July 16, 2012
Ironman 70.3 Racine race review
Well well well.... I finally did it. This past weekend I competed in the Ironman 70.3 Racine half Ironman triathlon. There were some high moments and some low moments. I will do my best to describe them for you in the paragraphs to follow.
3:45 am Race Morning- I woke up because I had to go to the bathroom. My alarm wasn't set till 4:30 am. At that point there was no going back to sleep. So, 4:30 came and we got dressed, ate some breakfast we were on the road by 4:50 am. We arrived to Racine about 5:20 am, found a parking spot and headed to transition. We got our transition area set up and headed to the swim start which was 1 mile down the beach.
We arrived to the swim start about 10 minutes to the opening gun. We put our wetsuits on and got in the water for a little warm up and just to get used to the water. Water temp was 68 degrees- chilly, but nice while swimming. We had about 50 minutes till my swim wave started and an over an hour till Matthew's wave started. Before I knew it it was time to make my way to the start. 8 months of training came down to this moment on this day. HOOOONK went the horn and we were off. I stayed to the back of my wave so I would not run into people or vice versa. Initially I did not do well. Within the first 15 seconds I swallowed a hug gulp of water and couldn't breath. I settled my self down by taking more breaths and was fine. After that I felt pretty good, especially as I started to pass the slower people in the wave in front of us. A few minutes later though some discouragement came. The fast people from the wave behind me caught me... and passed me. About 30 minutes later we made it to the final red buoy and turned back toward the beach. I could see the Swim In sign. I had made it. My swim time was 44:19- right where I wanted to be. Overall, the swim was as good as it could have been. It was just how I trained for it.
I got out of the water, saw my time and felt really great. I knew I was right where I wanted to be. I entered the transition area and had my wetsuit stripped by some nice volunteers. Time to use the bathroom, put on bike shoes and go. Adrienne was waiting by the Bike Out tunnel and I shouted "I love you" to which some older man replied "I love you too!" People are funny. That was when the good feelings stopped for the day. The very first thing you do on the bike is clip in and climb a really steep hill at the same time. Well, I couldn't get one of my shoes clipped in on the hill so someone just said "run it up the hill, you'll be faster" so that's what I did. I should have taken this as an omen for the rest of the day. It was all uphill from there.
The only part that felt good on the bike was the first 5 miles. The next 51 were absolutely miserable. The big difference between Wisconsin and Illinois- hills. And these weren't even hills- they were mountains :(. What hurt the most during the bike was not my back or my legs- it was my feet. At mile 25 I had to stop and pull out the "shims" my bike guy put in my shoes a few weeks back. I think a combination of shoes and putting so much pressure on my feet from climbing is what made my feet hurt so bad. At one point they actually fell asleep. I was about mile 30 where I really saw my speed beginning to dip down below my training speed. This is where a lot of the discouragement set in. I was doing the math and there was no way I was going to be able to finish the bike in the 3 hrs I was hoping and training for. The only thing that could have gone worse on the bike was a flat tire. Unfortunately, I saw one lady changing a flat with only 2 miles left to go on the bike. I finished the bike in 3:21:33- 21:33 slower than my desired time, and that was really discouraging. The one area where I felt I was really solid and had put in the most time training was on the bike. To have a split like that was very discouraging. But it is what it is. There's nothing I can do about race day circumstances or mountains (well, really big hills) on the course. I can only train my hardest with the roads I have available to me and hope that it is good enough and that's what I did.
So, I entered transition, changed my shoes and was off. I saw Adrienne as I was leaving transition. A quick kiss and I was off... until I realized I had no more energy left. The tank was empty. The Ironman company did a great job with aid stations along the run route. They had water, ice, cola and gatorade. They also offered pretzels and chips and fruit. I ate and drank as I could and ran as I could. I saw Matthew on my way back for the second loop and he was on his way out. He caught me as we were starting the second loop. This is the point where the race people are just mean. Right where the second loop starts is the finish line. I was 100 yards from the finish line and yet 6.5 more miles to go. It was at this time I was Adrienne and she walked and talked with me a little while. Finishing was never in doubt- the time just became a major factor and somewhat of a disapointment.
As we made the second loop I met Dave. Dave is a Psychologist from Park Ridge. The two of us walked and ran together the rest of the way. We talked about our families and our jobs and pretty much anything to keep our minds off the fact we had 6+ miles to go. Then we met Rema who was from Downers Grove and walked and ran with her for all the way to the Finish Line. As we approached we could hear everyone's name being called. I encouraged Dave and Rema to go ahead of me. I wanted a few minutes by myself to take it all in and reflect on what I had accomplished.
My run time was slower than a Sunday stroll. I "ran" a half marathon in 3:34:43 with an overall time of 7:51:33. Am I disapointed in my time- yeah, probably. Am I going to let that overshadow the accomplishment- going to try not to. Look, some days you start out and know its going to be a great day. Others you know its going to be rough. An example of this is Craig Alexander, the reigning Ironman World Champion who also raced in Racine on Sunday. He did not win. He finished 9th. It wasn't his day. It's days like these where you learn so much about yourself. You push yourself to the utter limit and then say "go farther".
The entire experience has been so tremendous. Whether its getting up at 5:30am to train or staying out till 10pm swimming at the Y. I've lost 25 lbs, ran a marathon and completed a half Ironman triathlon in the last 8 months. At this point there's only one question remaining.
Am I going to do it again?
Absolutely.
3:45 am Race Morning- I woke up because I had to go to the bathroom. My alarm wasn't set till 4:30 am. At that point there was no going back to sleep. So, 4:30 came and we got dressed, ate some breakfast we were on the road by 4:50 am. We arrived to Racine about 5:20 am, found a parking spot and headed to transition. We got our transition area set up and headed to the swim start which was 1 mile down the beach.
We arrived to the swim start about 10 minutes to the opening gun. We put our wetsuits on and got in the water for a little warm up and just to get used to the water. Water temp was 68 degrees- chilly, but nice while swimming. We had about 50 minutes till my swim wave started and an over an hour till Matthew's wave started. Before I knew it it was time to make my way to the start. 8 months of training came down to this moment on this day. HOOOONK went the horn and we were off. I stayed to the back of my wave so I would not run into people or vice versa. Initially I did not do well. Within the first 15 seconds I swallowed a hug gulp of water and couldn't breath. I settled my self down by taking more breaths and was fine. After that I felt pretty good, especially as I started to pass the slower people in the wave in front of us. A few minutes later though some discouragement came. The fast people from the wave behind me caught me... and passed me. About 30 minutes later we made it to the final red buoy and turned back toward the beach. I could see the Swim In sign. I had made it. My swim time was 44:19- right where I wanted to be. Overall, the swim was as good as it could have been. It was just how I trained for it.
I got out of the water, saw my time and felt really great. I knew I was right where I wanted to be. I entered the transition area and had my wetsuit stripped by some nice volunteers. Time to use the bathroom, put on bike shoes and go. Adrienne was waiting by the Bike Out tunnel and I shouted "I love you" to which some older man replied "I love you too!" People are funny. That was when the good feelings stopped for the day. The very first thing you do on the bike is clip in and climb a really steep hill at the same time. Well, I couldn't get one of my shoes clipped in on the hill so someone just said "run it up the hill, you'll be faster" so that's what I did. I should have taken this as an omen for the rest of the day. It was all uphill from there.
The only part that felt good on the bike was the first 5 miles. The next 51 were absolutely miserable. The big difference between Wisconsin and Illinois- hills. And these weren't even hills- they were mountains :(. What hurt the most during the bike was not my back or my legs- it was my feet. At mile 25 I had to stop and pull out the "shims" my bike guy put in my shoes a few weeks back. I think a combination of shoes and putting so much pressure on my feet from climbing is what made my feet hurt so bad. At one point they actually fell asleep. I was about mile 30 where I really saw my speed beginning to dip down below my training speed. This is where a lot of the discouragement set in. I was doing the math and there was no way I was going to be able to finish the bike in the 3 hrs I was hoping and training for. The only thing that could have gone worse on the bike was a flat tire. Unfortunately, I saw one lady changing a flat with only 2 miles left to go on the bike. I finished the bike in 3:21:33- 21:33 slower than my desired time, and that was really discouraging. The one area where I felt I was really solid and had put in the most time training was on the bike. To have a split like that was very discouraging. But it is what it is. There's nothing I can do about race day circumstances or mountains (well, really big hills) on the course. I can only train my hardest with the roads I have available to me and hope that it is good enough and that's what I did.
So, I entered transition, changed my shoes and was off. I saw Adrienne as I was leaving transition. A quick kiss and I was off... until I realized I had no more energy left. The tank was empty. The Ironman company did a great job with aid stations along the run route. They had water, ice, cola and gatorade. They also offered pretzels and chips and fruit. I ate and drank as I could and ran as I could. I saw Matthew on my way back for the second loop and he was on his way out. He caught me as we were starting the second loop. This is the point where the race people are just mean. Right where the second loop starts is the finish line. I was 100 yards from the finish line and yet 6.5 more miles to go. It was at this time I was Adrienne and she walked and talked with me a little while. Finishing was never in doubt- the time just became a major factor and somewhat of a disapointment.
As we made the second loop I met Dave. Dave is a Psychologist from Park Ridge. The two of us walked and ran together the rest of the way. We talked about our families and our jobs and pretty much anything to keep our minds off the fact we had 6+ miles to go. Then we met Rema who was from Downers Grove and walked and ran with her for all the way to the Finish Line. As we approached we could hear everyone's name being called. I encouraged Dave and Rema to go ahead of me. I wanted a few minutes by myself to take it all in and reflect on what I had accomplished.
My run time was slower than a Sunday stroll. I "ran" a half marathon in 3:34:43 with an overall time of 7:51:33. Am I disapointed in my time- yeah, probably. Am I going to let that overshadow the accomplishment- going to try not to. Look, some days you start out and know its going to be a great day. Others you know its going to be rough. An example of this is Craig Alexander, the reigning Ironman World Champion who also raced in Racine on Sunday. He did not win. He finished 9th. It wasn't his day. It's days like these where you learn so much about yourself. You push yourself to the utter limit and then say "go farther".
The entire experience has been so tremendous. Whether its getting up at 5:30am to train or staying out till 10pm swimming at the Y. I've lost 25 lbs, ran a marathon and completed a half Ironman triathlon in the last 8 months. At this point there's only one question remaining.
Am I going to do it again?
Absolutely.
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