Moving on to 2010

It's been great enjoying a long end of season "recovery period" - short for slacking off from my training schedule.  Based on everything I'm reading, this is as important as any other training "period".  It is when the muscles rebuild allowing you to consolidate the fitness base built up during the season - creating a higher platform for the following season.  We'll see.
I've been using my free time to do some studying, goal setting and planning for next year.
The big goal is to finish in the top half of my age group at the USAT Age Group Nationals in Tuscaloosa, AL.  The primary limiter in that quest will be building up my power for the cycling leg.  So, my workouts these days are including lots of squats, and other exercises to build strength in my legs.
Since I will need to re qualify for the Nationals (I qualified in 2009, but did not feel I was ready) I've entered several events where that can happen - including a regional special qualifier (Wilkes Barre) where the top 10% get qualified. 
Here's my schedule for 2010 - in case you want to follow along.
(Note: as events approach, check the website for Twitter updates in real time - or follow me on Twitter.)

The big prize

Here's some evidence of the benefits of training for the past 6 months, or so.  This is a belt that I bought last fall.  Perfect fit - center notch in the belt with room to spare in either direction.  Hard to believe that I lost more than 3 inches around the middle.  Amazing.
That's the best "prize" from my first season in the sport of Triathlon!

Welcome to real competition!

Real competition - in a wildly growing sport

If the Nation's Triathlon is any indication of where the sport of Triathlon is going we should all invest.
In last year's event there were 2,400 finishers.  This year - 3,933!  Last year the top time was 2:01:50.  This year - 1:55:55.  So the best time dropped by almost six minutes!  The average time dropped from 3:10:31 to 3:02:40.  WOW!  That is a nearly 8 minute drop in average time.  So, the new guys that showed up brought some game.

In my age group the number of competitors went from a robust field of 68 men to 160!  I'm pretty sure some of them had elite athletic pedigrees.  Two guys in my age group passed me like a freight train on the bike (at least I beat them out of the water) and they were not looking back.  They were playing a game with which I am unfamiliar! The top age group time dropped from 2:21:36 to 2:11:58 - nearly ten minutes. I might be able to find another 10 minutes in this old body of mine, but it's clear that I am probably never going to find 25 (which is what I'd need to take off my time to win, 15 to get on the podium)! 

One happy athlete! 

On the other hand, I'm not discouraged.  Being a top athlete was never the goal.  The goal was to be able to say that I am an "athlete" again - with a straight face.  I think that goal is accomplished.  If you had asked me back in January if I would be happy to be in the top 10-11% of finishers at a premier Olympic distance Triathlon like the Nation's the answer would have been - "Are you nuts?  There's no way!"
This season has exceeded my expectations in a grand way.  I feel great and hope that the effort has inspired someone in some way that makes their life better.  It has certainly improved mine.

Race analysis (17th of 160):

I was quite pleased with my performance at the Nation's Triathlon.  In light of my comments above, I'm pretty satisfied with being 17th in a field of 160 athletes in my age group.  Overall, I was fairly close to the goal I set for the event - time-wise.  All of the splits for swim, bike, run were fairly close or better as a whole:
Swam in 25:56 against a goal of 30:00 (probably cut myself a break on that one).  Still pretty happy with my level of competitiveness in this discipline.  Swimming with the leaders!
Cycled in 1:12:34 against a goal of 1:10:00.  Since I averaged 20.5 mph, I may have miscalculated the goal since my plan was to try and average 19 mph.  Relative to my competition, this is still by far my weakest discipline.  Something to work on over the winter.  I wonder if there is such a thing as "thighroids"?  My legs are just too darn skinny.
Ran in 48:56 against a goal of 49:00.  Slightly faster than my goal.  With a little work my run times could get into the right zone to be competitive. 
Transitioned in a total of 6:26 against a goal of 3:50.  This was my biggest "miss". The fact that they dramatically expanded the size of the transition area (244,000 sf.!) certainly was a factor in that.  Could have probably saved 30-60 seconds if I hadn't got lost finding my bike.  It was a long run from the swim "in" to the bike "out" and then from the bike to the run. 
Overall: 2:34:50 against a goal of 2:32:50.  So, the transition thing really hurt - but it was the same transition for everyone.

Ready for the Nation's Triathlon!

The final event of my first season in the sport of Triathlon is on Sunday morning!  It will be fun to look back through this blog to remember how far I've come to get to this point.  I'll wrap up the blog with a few thoughts about that, but for now I'm thinking about this event.
My overall objective for Sunday is just to soak in the atmosphere around competing in one of the largest events at what has to be the finest venue in the sport at the Olympic distance. The opportunity to swim from the base of the Lincoln Memorial and then ride and run through our nation's most famous landmarks is really awesome to me.
Competition-wise, I'm feeling like I can really just give it everything I have.  It is my "A" race that I have been shooting for all year.  I know I'm capable of going the distance - so, I'm planning to "lock and load".  There will be no ounce of effort left beyond the finish line.  My goal?  I want to finish in the top 3 for my age group.  Reasonable?  Probably not, given the strength of the field - but why not go for it? 
There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month about how athletes over 50 should really focus more on participating rather than "competing" - keep the heart rate below 120 and all that.  I hope my competition read it.  It talked about how after so many years of competing our bodies are all breaking down and we shouldn't press them so hard.  My secret is that I took the last 30 years off!!  BOO YA!  What a great strategy I've been quietly plotting!  It only seems fair that I have an advantage now after watching my peers get bigger and stronger than me in our teens - I was a late bloomer.

Here's the goals rundown:

Swim - 30 minutes or less.  Not sure what to expect from the current in the Potomac, but hopefully it will help as much as it hinders.
Bike - 1:10 hours.  Where I need to be to be near the leaders.  That might be tough.
Run - 49:00 minutes.  Should be able to go under 8 minute miles.
Transition - 3:50 minutes.  This should be my easiest way to lower the time.  I'm going to try a faster transition technique to the bike that should be worth at least a minute.
Overall - 2:32:50 hours.  That would have been third in 2008.

I will be posting "Tweets" over the weekend that you can see on this blog (top right hand corner).  Stay tuned!  If you are in the DC area and want to find me or Jodie the best place to look is the "transition area" (there will be about 2,000 bikes there - you can't miss it).  Click on the Nation's Triathlon logo above to get more spectator information.

Three down - a podium finish at my first Olympic Tri!

Sunday presented with another excellent morning to compete. The Chesapeake Bay was calm as glass and the atmosphere was electric. Jodie rolled out at 4:30am to get ready for the drive down to North East (that's the name of the town, not the direction - though it is in the northeastern part of MD) for the North East Olympic Triathlon. Thanks Jodie!
As has become the standard practice here at "Tri2 do good" I clearly articulated my goals for the event. The bottom line was that I really had no idea how my body would respond at the full Olympic distance (my first two events were Sprint distance - roughly half Olympic). So, the "prime directive" was to pace myself to make sure I finished. Everything worked out pretty close to plan.

The swim: As the swim approached my feelings included fear. The buoys extended across the Chesapeake Bay and it was quite intimidating. But, having a couple of open water swims under my belt it was relatively easy to relax and just start swimming. Got smacked around a bit (as you always do) at the start - had to empty my goggles once. Goal - 30:00 minutes | Actual - 27:32 Not bad.

The bike: Felt as good as I've ever felt on the bike. The new aerobars I added are great. Not only is my riding position more "aero" they take a LOT of stress off my shoulders. Very comfortable. Also, the bars give me a place to mount a water bottle for easy hydration without having to sit up - just sip through the straw! Sweet! Since I was out of the swim transition pretty early I got passed a lot by the youngsters I smacked down on the swim - but if I was old enough to be their father I just let 'em go! Goal - 1:18:00 hours | Actual - 1:16:36 Averaged 18.4 mph - better than I expected.
The run: Felt good coming off the bike, but it is always hard to get the legs going. Plus, I had a nutrition failure (my "gel" wouldn't come open) that raised some concern that I could run out of fuel. So, until someone my age passed me I decided to focus on the prime directive and maintain a pace I was pretty certain I could maintain to the finish. 6.2 miles seems like a long run after the swim and ride! I plodded along and took plenty of water (none of that yucky "HEED" they were peddling!) - and MAN those iced towels they handed out (it was 90 degrees running on asphalt with little to no shade!) sure felt good. Had enough energy to sprint the last 100 yards just in case those steps I heard behind me were in my age group (turns out it was another 20 something). Goal - 50:00 minutes | Actual - 52:30 Not too far off - definitely room for improvement next time!
Transitions: Goal - 4:45 minutes | Actual - 4:20 Pretty good. Thinking about getting some "sock free" shoes that might save about a minute.
Total time: Goal - 2:42:45 hours | Actual - 2:40:56 So, a bit better than expected overall.
Outcome: Good enough to place 2nd in my age group of 12 competitors between 50 and 55 years old. This was a great confidence builder for my "A" race coming up in September - The Nation's Triathlon in Washington DC. I'm really looking forward to that one - the last of the series I set out to tackle.
To all my friends and family - thanks for your support!
-------------------------
AND - a big congratulations to my niece Angie who competed in the Indy Triathlon on Sunday. She brought home some hardware too with a 3rd in her group - which is a very competitive age group! If you've been following this blog from the beginning you will recall that she is the one who inspired my adventure. Thanks Angie!

Feeling positive

The long awaited leap to the Olympic distance (from Sprint) will happen early tomorrow morning. My training sessions have been good, with increased duration and intensity. So, I'm feeling positive about at least finishing and maybe even being competitive in the over 50 age group.

Goals for tomorrow:

1. Finish; Still not sure what will happen physically at the full distance. As long as I don't have an injury or major mechanical on the bike I should finish.
2. Swim; It will be a close call regarding wet suits tomorrow. If the water is over 78 degrees they won't be legal for folks that are wanting to be included in the official results. It would be nice to have the comfort of extra flotation, but I should be better off than a lot of others who aren't strong swimmers. At 1,500 meters, I am hoping to finish in about 30 minutes. Based on the results from the same event last year, that would be in the top three "out of the water" - but, since cycling is my weak suit I better capitalize on the swim. Goal: 30:00 minutes
   
3. Bike; My goal will be to maintain an average speed on 18 mph for the bike. That would be consistent with my speed at the Sprint distance, but I have worked pretty hard on the cycling. Hopefully, the work will pay off. The course is "rolling hills" which means it will be tougher than the Philly course - which was basically flat along the river. Goal: 1 hour and 18:00 minutes
   
4. Run; It's hard to say how I'll be feeling at this point. 6.2 miles after the swim and bike will be interesting. If my body is willing, I'll try to maintain a pace of around 8 minutes per mile. Goal: 50:00 minutes
   
5. Transition; If there are no wet suits, the T1 should be fairly straight forward. I'll use my actual from the Philly tri as the goal here. Goal: 4:45 minutes
6. Total Goal; 2 hours 42:45 minutes. Phew!

If I can achieve these goals the result should be a solid upper "middle of the pack" finish.
I will post an analysis of the actual results by Monday morning. In the meantime, you can check back to this blog and watch "Twitter Updates" (upper right hand corner of the page) for developments before and after the event. Or, follow me on Twitter for live updates (bradkingrec)

Some brutal facts

It was a lot of fun, and very encouraging, to get an age-group third in the PhilyTri Sprint event. One interesting outcome of that finish is that it qualifies me to enter the USAT National Championships in Tuscaloosa, AL. Jodie encouraged me to give it a go - but, let's just get some perspective:

• As well as I did on the swim, if I were to extrapolate my pace over the Olympic distance event I would not even have been in the top ten swim times of my age group. That is a pretty clear indication that, given a choice, the better athletes will go the Olympic distance. So, the competition is much stiffer at that distance.
• If we go ahead and extrapolate pace for distance at last year's USAT Nationals (which go the Olympic distance) I would have finished at the top of the bottom third of the field. And, who's to say I could maintain the same pace at that distance? Unlikely, I think.

So, while I'm still encouraged by the PhillyTri results it is clear that I have no claim to any unusual prowess in the sport of Triathlon (or any other sport for that matter). On August 16 I will take on my first Olympic distance triathlon at North East, MD. Since the distance is roughly double any event that I've entered so far it would probably be a good idea to start thinking "middle of the pack" again - as far as finish position goals go. Better yet, let's just get a "finish" and try to achieve some respectable times from a "personal record" (PR) perspective.
If I surprise myself at the Olympic distance I can think about Nationals next year. If not, I'd be happy to become a "Sprint" distance specialist. Then, I could just settle into a reasonable training routine and avoid a lot of complicated logistics around nutrition (which becomes an important consideration at the longer distance).
Something I could do for a lifetime - and enjoy it.
What do you think?

My first "podium" finish!!

So, I finished the Philytri Sprint event and felt great. I had achieved my goals (ok, i was off 27 seconds on the run). Had my gear packed up and was starting to the car with Jodie - my support "crew" today. Figured, I could just check the final results online later.
Why not just check the results posting before we leave? What? I came in 3rd in my age group? I think we better hang around!
Honestly, I was so surprised by this outcome that I got pretty choked up. That was not in the plan!
So, what happened?
Bottom line - I kicked it on the bike. The road course was sweet! Nice and smooth new pavement and a beautiful day. My goal was 55:00 on the bike portion. My actual - 48:39! The rest of my goals v. actual were right in line:

• Swim goal: 14:30 - Actual: 14:25. Perfect! I'm getting better at this goal setting.
• Bike goal: 55:00 - Actual: 48:39. Awesome! I guess this goal is going to be tougher to achieve in the future!
• Run goal: 23:30 - Actual: 23:57. Pretty close. Sort of balances with the swim. I was pretty tired from busting my butt on the bike.
• Transitions goal: 5:00 total - Actual: 4:45. Skippy!
• Overall goal: 1:38:00 - Actual: 1:31:47. Wow.
  

My position at the finish was entirely unexpected. Here's how I rated:

• Overall: 123 out of 1,436 participants. Top ten percent. Nice. 75th on Swim, 282 on bike, 214 on run. (Which means the swim leg is pretty darn important to the outcome, for me.)
  
• Overall males: 106 out of how many, I'm unsure. But I imagine 60-70% were male. So definitely better than "middle of the pack".
• Age 50-55: 3 out of 44. Amazing.

Thanks and love to Jodie for supporting this effort! Thanks Angie for inspiring me to "tri". I am totally surprised and grateful for the opportunity to have taken on the challenge of this sport.

(p.s. remember, I am trying to raise some money for "Serving at the Crossroads" through this blog. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation through the link at the lower right hand corner of this page. If you've already done so, Thanks - the new clinic is under construction and lives are being saved and the community is being improved!!!!)

Setting my goals for Saturday

The Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon - Sprint is on Saturday morning. So, I thought it might be a good idea to start stating my goals in advance so I don't get any trash about making them up after the race. Of course, now I'll get trash about missing my goals... so, I better make them achievable... sounds just like being a CEO!
This race is a little different from the "Black Bear". The swim is longer (900m v. 750m), which helps me relative to the competition since that is my stronger event. The bike portion is shorter (24K - a little less than 15 miles v. 18 miles) and the course is relatively flat - so, I'm expecting a higher average speed on that. Then the run is about the same at 3.1 miles (5k).

My goals for Saturday:

• Swim; 14:30 - a shade faster pace than the Black Bear swim but I was pretty tight for that. Hopefully the experience will keep my heart rate from going out of sight again. I'm a little concerned that they have my wave starting last (old farts in the rear!) so I need to be prepared to swim around stragglers from the earlier waves.
  
• Bike; 55:00 - based on my Black Bear pace this would be more like 58:00, but I'm thinking it will be faster on the flat. And, since it is shorter I'll try to kick it a little harder.
• Run; 23:30 - about half way between the pace of the "Black Bear" run and the "Media 5 Mile".
  
• Transistions; 5:00 total - about a one minute improvement over "Black Bear". However, this could vary quite a bit based on how they have the transition area set up. At BB the transition was a long way from the bike mount area - so, that added a lot of time to the Swim to Bike transition time.
  
• Total; 1:38:00 - we'll see....

Check back here to see the results sometime on Saturday afternoon. If you are following me on Twitter, you will get an update soonest.
(On Twitter - bradkingsr)

A surprising outcome

I may have mentioned signing up for the Media 5 Mile Race, here in our hometown. It was the race's 30th anniversary and Jodie picked up the brochure - so, I figured it would be a good Friday evening workout - but, had very low expectations for my performance since I had never run in a competitive running event before.
When we showed up, I was a little intimidated by all of the "studs" (Jodie's word) hanging around. But, it was a beautiful evening and I figured I'd just have a nice run then have dinner downtown with our good friends the Andersons.
There were 1,200 entrants, so the start was a bit like the "running of the bulls". After about a half mile or so the crowd started to sort itself out - a nice little hill helped the process. Then, I discovered that the running coach at my Triathlon boot camp was right - most people use a lot of energy slowing themselves down on the down hill portions of the course. By just "free wheeling" down the hills and letting gravity do most of the work I started passing a lot of people - then holding them off on the uphills. By the half way point (two 2.5 mi. loops) I was clearly in the middle of the pack. Seeing Jodie there cheering me on was great encouragement.
By about mile 4 it seemed like I was running all alone - in front of the main "pack", but a fair bit behind the front "pack" (and WAY behind the "elite" runners). Over the last mile I was able to close that gap and work my way up to what I felt was a pretty respectable finish - at 37:10 minutes, well below my goal of 40 minutes.
Jodie noticed that she hadn't seen many if any of folks in my "age group" (50-54) finishing before me. Hmmm....
We had a great dinner at the Fellini Cafe. On Saturday I checked out the official results and I was shocked to see that I had finished 3rd of 61 runners in my age group! I was 161st of the roughly 1,150 finishers. Surprising.

I made it!

So, I a made it through my first Triathlon! It was a wonderful morning in the Pocono mountains. The best news is that I exceeded my expectations and beat all of my split goals.

• The actual swim was 12:01 minutes v. a goal of 15-20.
• The actual bike was 1:07:52 hours v. a goal of 1:15
• The actual run was 24:18 minutes v. a goal of 30:00
• The actual overall time was 1:49:51 hours v. a goal of roughly 2:15 (with transitions)

(note: in the picture to above you will see that along with my age group, they started the "Clydesdale" class. Sort of like swimming with water buffalo - but, really nice chaps!)

Hmm.... maybe I should set tougher goals...
Anyway, that all resulted in a finish in my age group (50-55) of 11th out of 31 competitors. Overall, I was 151st out of 331. So, in the top "third'ish" in my age group - exceeding my goal of "middle of the pack". With a baseline of wondering if I could even do this 6 months ago, I'm pretty pleased.
I am also happy to report that I see plenty of room for improvement:

• The swim sort of freaked me out since it was my first experience in the "open water". With that said, I came out near the top of my "wave" and was 58th of 337 overall. I know I can improve on that by relaxing and being more prepared for overtaking "slowpokes" from the wave in front.
• My swim to bike transition was really slow because I was pretty winded by the swim, so some room for improvement there - possible 1.5 minutes, easy.
• The bike met my expectations as being my "weakest link". My overall position on the bike portion was 186th overall. Plenty of room to improve on the climbing portions - need to work on my leg strength. I was pretty speedy on the descents - maxing out at around 42 mph at one point - woo hoo!
• The run was fairly wobbly at first - I blame that on never having put all three of these sports together (should have done some "brick" workouts in my training!). I finished 142 overall in the run - slightly better than my overall for the whole shooting match.

This was a great experience and I really enjoyed having Brad II there to cheer me on - and to snap a few pictures for this blog.

Looking forward to the next event in Philly: June 27
I know what to work on! And - I now know it is possible.

p.s. if you "mouse click" on the pictures they will "blow up" in your browser with pretty nice resolution - so, be careful!

Tomorrow

Well, tomorrow is my first Triathlon. I believe that I am ready - to at least finish.
Brad Jr. and I drove up this afternoon for the registration and a pre-race meeting. This venue is beautiful - a lovely lake surrounded by trees. The state park has excellent facilities with bath houses, a nice sandy beach and boat launches. Definitely need to get back here with the sailboat.
The start is at 7:45am. So, I'm figuring a swim time of somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 minutes (750 meters), a bike time of an hour and 15 minutes or so (17.6 miles) followed by a run under a half hour (I hope - 3.1 miles). All in - expecting a time in the neighborhood of 2-2.5 hours. Not exactly lightning fast, but a reasonable goal.
Tune in tomorrow evening for the actual results!

Almost ready!

I haven't posted anything for a while. Mainly because I didn't think anyone would be all that interested in a "blow by blow" on my training.
Here's a summary:
Things have gone pretty well. I've been pretty diligent about 6 workouts a week (2 swim, 2 bike, 2 run). Some of the changes in my body have been pretty encouraging: my aches and pains are diminished, lower back pain is rare (and it was a constant before I started this program), and my weight is down nicely. When I started I was hovering in the 190-195lb range, which is fairly reasonable for my height (6'2"). Today, I am right at 171. Nice.
The actual workouts are pretty wimpy by "Ironman" standards, but that's not my goal -

• At the outset, a "long" run was 4 miles and my normal was around 3. Now, my normal runs are between 5 and 8 miles, depending on how much time I have and what I did the day before.
  
• My first swim workouts were around 20-25 laps (1,000 to 1,250 meters). Now the workouts are more constrained by the time available and are usually 40-45 laps. That includes a fairly long extended swim, some intervals (sprints), and some drills ("catch up", sighting, etc.)
  
• My first rides on the new bike were 10 miles at a pretty low average speed. Last week I had two 30 mile rides on our hilly roads at a much improved average speed.
  

That's all good because my first event - the Black Bear Triathlon - is just two weeks away. I'm starting to get excited. I've heard that this event is tough because it is very hilly and most events are relatively flat. So, I'm glad I've been training on similar terrain. I'm trying to treat the event as just a tough workout day (it is a sprint distance triathlon), so I won't be "tapering" for the event. However, I am going with Brad II to see my Dad down in Texas next weekend and so I will probably miss a couple of "long" workouts that I usually do on weekends. That should leave me pretty rested for the event.
Even though I know that I should be primarily focused on just finishing rather than on where I finish, it is hard to not think about trying to do well - at least in my age group. I think middle of the pack would be a pretty decent goal.
Watch this space for results!

The right way

A new way

The other day I got a copy of the swim stroke analysis video that they used at the Triathlon Boot Camp to analyze my stroke. Unfortunately, there is no "after" video to show the results of the coaching that they provided - which was excellent.
Back in "the day" we were taught to try and keep our elbows pretty low to the water and to swim with our heads tilted ahead and with the waterline roughly across our foreheads. The new way teaches a stroke that gets the elbows very high for a steeper angle on the reach with the head facing straight down with the waterline roughly perpendicular to the top of the head. This allows a much fuller "roll" from one side to the other. The theory is that the stroke is strengthened by engaging and getting power from the hips and the "core". This seems to work very well. If you check out some Olympic swim video and pay attention to this you will be amazed at how full their body turn is - and how high their elbows get out of the water.
The coaches pointed out that while I have a pretty good reach and glide in my stroke there would be a big benefit to getting my forearm set in a more powerful position (bent at the elbow) earlier in the stroke. That makes sense and I've been working on that - along with the other stuff.
I was pretty critical of the fact that my rear end seems to be "dragging" through the water - but, I guess that is a bit of a reflection of the fact that the "Endless Pool" machine tends to move water at the surface only which makes it harder to keep the legs up.
The "vortex" of bubbles from the stroke look pretty cool.

My mom

Well, today is the one year anniversary of my Mom's passing. "Shirley-Mae" was an incredible mother. She often dreamed bigger dreams for me than I could imagine. Her support, and unconditional love, was always something I cherished - even if I couldn't admit it. So, today was a day for thought.
The relevance of all this to the "tri2dogood" theme is the fact that the whole training thing provided an interesting new way to reflect. This morning I took a couple of calls and worked through some correspondence. Then, about 10am, I got on my bike and took off for a 25 mile ride. We live in a beautiful area. I rode down along the Brandywine River for several miles, then explored some new roads and saw some beautiful country. And, I thought about Mom.
We all have our own ways to listen to that still quiet voice that comforts us. Today, for me, it was riding my bike. For my sister Julie, it was to escape to the spa! Both are excellent.
I spoke to my Dad this evening, and I am so delighted that he has continued to do good (he spent HIS day volunteering at a thrift shop that supports a youth ranch down in Texas - something he did with Mom for years) and has stayed active socially. I'm sure he's had a few emotional moments today - but, he has made the only rational choice - to live!
I love my Dad. I want to be like him.

A good idea

Often on the way out the door for a ride or a run I will grab a business card - so they can identify the body. It's sort of a joke, but how would someone identify me and contact my family if I had an accident? Then I heard about a comfortable wrist band called "Road ID".
I just ordered one. This seems like a good idea.
If you want to get one for yourself, here's the web address: www.RoadID.com

Goals

As I mentioned in my post about "Boot Camp", it caused me to set some new goals. Ready?
Ok. Instead of just two "sprint" distance triathlons, I am going to try to do those as preparation for two full "Olympic" distance triathlons. As you may know, the Olympic distance is 1.5/40/10 km (roughly .9/24.8/6.2 miles) of swim/bike/run. The Sprint distance is half that.

Here's the schedule:

1. May 31 - Sprint; Black Bear Triathlon in the PA Pocono mountains
   
2. June 27 - Sprint; Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon
   
3. August 16 - Olympic; North East Triathlon in North East Maryland
4. September 13 - Olympic; The Nation's Triathlon in Washington DC

My plan is to use the first two sprint events as part of my training plan to get up to the Olympic distance. Then, the North East will be a shake down to make sure I can go the distance - culminating in a grand finale in our nation's capital.
I hope you will share the adventure with me. If you would consider making a pledge to support SATC, that would provide some great motivation for me to hang in there. It doesn't need to be much. My suggestion would be to pick a number per event (say $5), then pledge that amount for each event that I complete. If I can complete all 4 events, consider doubling the total. That would mean that if I completed all 4 events, the total donation would be $40. In order to keep things easy, you can just wait until September and fulfill your pledge directly with SATC. If you would be interested in participating in this way, just post a comment (I won't "publish" these comments) or send me an email with your number. Then I will share the total amount of pledges with everyone.

Boink!

According to Wikipedia, "the bonk" is when "in endurance sports, particularly cycling and running, hitting the wall or the bonk describes the condition when an athlete suddenly loses energy and becomes fatigued, the result of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles becoming depleted".
This is a condition that can be extremely serious. So, I'm adopting a new term - "the boink".
Last evening I joined a group that goes for a 15-20 mile ride every Tuesday and Thursday evening from a location near our home. I've ridden with this group before and really enjoyed it. My expectations of really keeping up and having a great ride were high after the "Boot Camp" experience.
We got off to a great start and I was feeling great. Then, about 5 miles in I "boinked". It did not seem to be serious but I felt like my bike was glued to the ground. Rather than stop, I rested a few minutes, drank some water, cut off a few miles and took it easy getting back to the car - probably went only about 14 miles. That was a disappointment, but I'm trying to listen to my body. This whole thing gets stupid if I go into cardiac arrest.
When the rest of the pack got back, they reassured me that it happens to everyone and that my long ride over the weekend had probably taken more out of me than I realized. They encouraged me to keep at it. And I will. A little dose of reality.

I survived Boot Camp! (and, I'm glad I went)

Today I completed the Triathlon Boot Camp that I had been stressing about. Happily, I came away very confident that my goal of completing a Sprint event in May is well within reach. The event not only helped from a skills perspective, but eliminated many of the question marks and concerns that had been haunting me.
My cycling skills improved a lot, and I've got some great drills that should make me a safer and fitter cyclist. I went with the intent of participating in the planned 20 mile ride (after a 5k - 3.1mi run, to warm up) . Since things were feeling pretty good, I went ahead and took off with the 30 mile group. At a brief rest stop, we caught up with the 40 mile group that had been on the same route to that point. Feeling strong, I chatted with the leader and took off with them. So, I surprised myself and completed the 40 mile ride! It was a blast, and I was very encouraged by riding with some of the better cyclists.
Swimming, it seems, is a "full contact" sport in the triathlon! We practiced mass starts, buoy sighting and got our stroke analyzed by the head swim coach from Villanova and a couple of nationally ranked swimmers. It is interesting that the fundamentals of swimming have changed so much since I was swimming competitively in the 70's. It all makes sense, and it was very helpful.
This morning, we had the option to run 3, 5, 8 or 10 miles. Now, after two runs, a 40 mile ride, a killer "spinning class" (where we determined our "lactate threshold") along with the swimming and everything else, I was feeling like 0 miles might be better. But, I bucked up and went for the 5 mile run. The camp director encouraged the 8 miler, but I felt I might hurt myself. After completing the run (and worrying about my heart rate), it was clear that I made the right decision! We had our "gait" analyzed by a professional running and fitness coach that had been a world class 1500 meter competitor. The good news was that my weaknesses are simple and addressable - just need to strengthen my core and bring in my elbows to put more power to the pavement.
I'm really glad that I participated in the Boot Camp. I made some new friends (as in most sports, everyone was really nice and fun to be around), increased my confidence, created a great new training plan (more on that later), and set some new goals (also, more later).

Boot camp

By now you may have figured out that I really don't know what I'm doing.
In a desperate attempt to solve that problem, I signed up for a "Triathlon Boot Camp" - and it starts on Friday. If you want to check out the itinerary, just click on the logo.
Now, I was feeling pretty good about this program. They promised that beginners would be treated kindly. Then, today I received an email with the four - yes 4! - liability release forms that I need to sign. Hmmm....
I am really looking forward to the swim, "gait" (running), and cycling analysis + coaching. This will be a mix of coaching, classroom stuff and training. The options for the group bike rides are 20, 40 and 60 miles. I'm thinkin' 20!
I'll keep you posted on my survival.
I'll be fine... really!
Glad my mom's not worrying anymore.

Cycling

Cycling is definitely my weakest link. Sure, I rode a bike a lot when I was a kid. But this is different.
First - I'm not a kid. The first time I spent a half hour on a spinning bike at the "Y" I could barely get off. My lower back was SO sore! Then, I went to a spinning class and got introduced to a concept called "adjusting the bike" to fit your body. MUCH BETTER! But, the 60 minute spin class nearly did me in!
Second - Technology. When I was a kid my bike had one "speed" (gear ratio). This new thing has 20 gearing options. The sweet part is that shifting is super easy now (no more levers where you have to "feel" your way to the next gear). Just "click" "boom". It takes some getting used to, but after riding about 100 miles on the new bike it started to be more natural. Now I have to learn to go straight - 'cause getting hit by a car would be a real drag.
Today, I was cruising down a nice wide shoulder on Rt 1 at about 35 mph and suddenly learned that the shoulder did not extend onto the bridge at the bottom of the hill. Yikes! I managed to avoid the bridge abutment and the cars in the lane I had to "crowd" into. I will NEVER go that route again! At least I didn't need to pee anymore.
I had my longest ride, so far, today - 18 miles. The event will require 13, so I better bump that up to 20-30 over the next few weeks. I'm not sure what the right distance is for training, but I imagine it's way more than 18. My legs hurt!
Last Thursday evening, I met up with some really nice chaps who led me up and down the hills around here (there are NO flat roads! We're not in Kansas anymore!) and I was exhausted. Then, the guy says "give me your phone number and we'll take you on one of our weekend rides." How far are those? "Oh, 40-50 miles." Heaven help me!

Training - Swimming

Okay, I've talked about why. The toys are fun. Doing good is a plus. But, don't you eventually have to sweat a bit to get ready for a triathlon?
The answer is yes. When I started this process earlier in the year, I literally did not know if my body would handle the stress of more intense training. The good news is that I am cautiously optimistic - so far, so good.
Swimming; "Back in the day" (circa 1975) I could go two practices a day and cover roughly 10,000 meters - every day. The sprint distance is only about 750 meters. So, how hard can this be?
Well, let me tell ya'. My first "workout" I started to get really tight after about, oh, 100 meters! I did a few flip turns but pretty soon I'm too out of breath and my "turns" were getting a bit sticky (meaning I was cheating and hanging on to catch my breath). I made it 15 laps - or, about 375 meters. The good news is, my speed is coming back and my endurance is improving at a decent pace. My work out on Sunday morning (before Church) was 2,000 meters (that's 40 laps) and I felt strong - and no hanging on the wall! Watch out!

Now the "good" part

I have to admit that I'm feeling a little uncomfortable with the toy thing. In this economy, I should just be delighted to have an income and the love of my family. What if I could do some good with this?
My goal is to raise at least as much money for good causes through my efforts as I am spending. If you watch this site, you will soon see an easy way to make donations to one of my favorite causes: Serving at the Crossroads. It is a great group of people that are supporting a local NGO in Honduras. Jodie has been on the Board of Directors for a couple of years now. Miracles are happening there and it is a really efficient way to help poor people - over 95% of what we give goes directly to serve these folks that have so little.
So, if you have an interest in helping out it would be great if you would make a donation for each event that I enter. That will give me some great motivation to keep training and looking forward to getting to the finish line.

Toys, toys, toys....

The coolest thing I've learned about this triathlon adventure so far is that it requires the acquisition of several very cool toys. The coolest is shopping for a road bike. This whole process spread out over about a month before I found a crazy good deal on a bike that I did not expect I would be able to afford (I probably still shouldn't have "afforded" it - in this economy).
Then I put some money down on it - to figure out how to convince Jodie that it would be a great "investment". (I don't think I convinced her, but she's really sweet that way). I waited another month and then... I sprang for it.
Here's a picture.
I have it set up on a spiffy "Cycle Ops" trainer (another "toy" that you absolutely NEED to do this triathlon thing) to work out and to get used to the shifting and stuff. My rear end is getting used to it.
Of course, I had to buy pedals separately. Then, there were the shoes. And the spiffy bike computer for speed, cadence, heart rate, altitude, heart rate, etc.
Is this a great sport, or what!?
Now I need some cycling shorts, a groovy jersey, a special "Tri" swim/bike/run suit ... I'm in toy heaven!

How did this start?

I have this awesome niece who recently graduated from medical school and has a very inspiring blog (you should check it out). Well . . . she trained for and entered the Tri Indy triathlon last summer and did very well. So, I thought - "hey, maybe I could do that". I'm in reasonably good condition - for my age. Back in the day I was a pretty fair swimmer - and most folks find that to be the most difficult stage of the triathlon. I can run 5k pretty easily and, riding a bike should be - well, you know . . .
So, the next thing I know I've signed up for my first event. Okay, I just signed up for the "sprint" distance (roughly half the Olympic distance) but that seemed like a prudent move 'cause I'd hate to pop a valve in my first race. That would sort of defeat the purpose of wanting to get fit so I can be around to meet my grandkids!
So that's how it started.
I hope I don't hurt myself.