2010 Pine Barrens Spring Triathlon
Race Report #4: 5/23/10
Background
I returned to Atsion Lake to compete in the 10th edition of this old school New Jersey triathlon. This was my 4th triathlon of the 2010 season and 90th of my career. The advertised distances were: 0.5 mile swim, 24 mile bike and a 4 mile trail run. This was the 4th time that I’ve competed in the spring event and I’d also raced on this course twice before in the Olympic distance event held each fall.
I entered the race in very good aerobic condition but struggling with a host of injuries. I have been in Physical Therapy for a variety of hip and leg issues resulting (at least nominally) from a bike crash I suffered about 40 days ago. Additionally, on May 19th I added a painful case of Foot Extensor Tendonitis during a long ride where my left bike shoe was unfortunately cranked down too tight.
I raced at the Devilman Sprint Triathlon 2 weeks prior and did reasonably well with my leg limitations and I was hoping with 2 more weeks of therapy and a little luck I might race stronger today. Competitively, I was focused on Adam Singer, a recently aged-up Wilmington triathlete. Adam beat me both times we raced last year and I was looking to avenge those defeats at this race. This was a tall order because Adam is a strong triathlete and a difficult challenge for me even when I am 100% healthy. I saw Adam before the race and he was visibly surprised to see me, as I had not pre-registered. I could tell he was amped up a bit at seeing me—the game was on!
Race morning dawned with a slight drizzle but with a forecast for clearing conditions around race time. The weather was pleasant—mid 60s and there was a modest (10 mph or so) wind to contend with on the bike. All in all a pretty good day to race so that’s what we did.
The Swim
Shockingly, only 38 triathletes showed up to race. I remember a few years back when 250 would show up for this race. There were some very good triathletes here headlined by Scott Duprex—a sub 9 hour Hawaii IM pro who at the age of 42 can still really bring it. I didn’t think too much about it as I was focused on beating Singer and executing the best race that I could.
In that quest, I felt I needed to beat Adam out of the water. I’ve raced Adam 10 times before and he has always out-swam me. However, I feel that I am a much stronger swimmer in 2010 than I have ever been in my career so I was optimistic that today might be the day I change that statistic.
We lined up in one wave and I went way to the right—right on the buoy line. I decided to get in there and go for it and also staying right allowed me to keep my eyes on the field more easily as I’m a left-side breather for the most part. The lake was calm, murky (a cedar lake) and about 65-67 degrees.
At the gun I hammered hard. After 10 strokes I breathed for the first time and saw to my amazement that there were a good 10+ triathletes even or ahead of me. In-fact, several of them were already pulling strongly ahead of me. I expected this from Duprex but I also thought I recognized Singer moving smartly away from me. This led to a few moments of negative thoughts but I was able to quickly banish them. I told myself that I was strong and that some of these folks would fade and maybe I was wrong—Singer might not be with the lead swimmers.
Three swimmers were well ahead of me at about 250 yards and another was 15 or so yards up. The good news was that everyone else was indeed beginning to fall off the aggressive opening pace and I could see that I was likely to hold onto the 5th spot. I thought some more about the tactical situation and concluded that Singer was not in front of me. I knew Duprex was off the front and the guy swimming right with him could not be Adam. The 3rd place swimmer was a young lady with a Team USA tri-suit and I had a good look at the guy just in front of me. This analysis calmed me a bit. I focused on my breathing and mechanics and tried to stay relaxed, streamlined and as fast as I could. I did indeed hit the turn buoys at the halfway point in 5th with one swimmer sitting on my feet. As we turned back to home he moved out to try to pass me. While, I wasn’t racing him heads-up I did use this challenge to spur me on a bit and I soon found that I was steadily moving away from him.
I swam a strong, controlled (could have gone somewhat faster) race all the way to the finish and hit the beach at 13:58 with an average HR of 155 bpm. I was about 16 seconds ahead of the fellow behind me. Although I did not yet know it, from a competitive perspective I had a great swim as I put almost two minutes on Singer. This was my AG standing after the swim:
1. Christofferson --------
2. Singer +1:55
3. Catalano +3:15
4. Cosaboom +4:45
This is a very significant result for me both in terms of the gap it afforded me over Singer but also from a historical context:
-On average (historically) I’ve been 3.6% slower than Singer on the swim but today was 11.8% faster!
-My OA swim %-tile in this race historically has been:
2004: 50 %
2005: 71
2006: 77
2010: 89
-My historical swim spits have improved (although, take this with a grain of salt as this race is notorious for imprecise swim course measurement):
2004: 19:01
2005: 17:33
2006: 18:12
2010: 13:58
Anyway you look at it this was a very good swim for me and as I ran to the transition zone I knew it. What I didn’t know was were I stood relative to Singer. I was about to find out.
Transition One
I ran in a fast, but controlled manner up to my rack. I looked over at the rack next to mine and saw that Adam’s bike was still hanging there. Sweet—I knew now that I had finally out swum him. I quickly did my thing and exited T1 in 1:55. As it turned out this was 6 seconds faster than Singer (so I left T1 with a 2:01 lead) and a lot faster than the other guys in my AG. As I mounted my bike I looked back and did not see Singer anywhere so I knew I was starting the bike with at least a one-minute lead. This was very good news indeed! I also saw that the guy who was just in front of me on the swim was still in transition so I knew I was out of T1 fourth overall.
The Bike
I know this 24-mile bike loop well. It’s a good place for me to gauge and compare my fitness to past versions of me. It’s a pretty fast course, very flat, but with a lot of bad pavement.
My plan, before the middle of this week, was to come out and really go for it on this ride. My foot tendonitis threw a loop in my plans, as I was not sure I could really mash it for 24 miles. That said, I decided to head out at 250 watts (versus 244 two weeks ago) and see what happened.
The wind was from the North and East, which was very good for me competitively (the course went predominantly South and West for the first half and then back into the prevailing winds) but would lead to relatively slow bike splits. I felt OK out of T1 but not super.
In short order I passed the young lady who had out-swam me and so I found myself in 3rd out on the road. This is normally a very good thing, as I tend to run down folks on the bike—especially a 24-mile bike. As I passed her I looked (a long way) up the road and could not see anyone. I kept hammering away at around 250 watts (generally 26 mph with the favorable wind) for the first eight miles when a young stud came blasting past me. Hmmm—this usually never happens—a direct reflection of my improving swim and (currently) shaky bike.
At around 15 miles my foot began to ache so I loosened my shoe straps and basically started pedaling with just my right leg. Besides that, the rest of the bike was basically uneventful. At about 16 miles, another stronger cyclist passed me, and when I looked back at about 19 miles I could not see another soul. Over the last 4 miles I really picked up my effort and rolled into T2 with a bike split of 62:58. My HR averaged 158 bpm. I managed to deliver 251 watts with an average cadence of 83 rpm—both improvements over Devilman, but frankly quite a bit less than what I expect of myself.
As you might expect, I did a bit of analysis to see how this effort compared to prior benchmarks: I’ve ridden this bike course five times prior—here is the history:
2004 sprint 62:05
2004 olympic 60:25
2005 sprint 60:05
2006 sprint 61:44
2009 olympic 64:43
2010 sprint 62:58
So relative to most prior efforts, I’m not getting it done like I used to. I know some of this is my current injury issue but maybe there is a broader fitness thing going on (bummer!). The good news is that I was a lot faster than last September (I should be!) and my watts were up from 230 (last year) to 251 today—so maybe there is more upside ahead.
Competitively, I was able to put 3:45 on Adam (versus 1:57 last year) and I entered T2 in a pretty favorable position:
Christofferson --------
Singer +5:39
Catalano +7:56
Transition Two
I dismounted and executed a 0:45 T2. I grabbed my race belt and visor and sprinted past the timing mat knowing that I probably had a nice lead and hoping it would be enough.
The Run
I felt a lot better than two weeks prior at Devilman—the PT was definitely helping! That said, I had a ton of trouble moving my left leg and I found that I just couldn’t get my HR up much above 165bpm. I had more aerobically but my hip problems were really limiting me.
I had no idea how far back that Adam was but I was committed to trying to win this thing—I was running as hard as I could. A couple of younger guys passed me (so I knew I was 7th) at around 2 miles but after that I was alone. At a little past three miles the course loops around and I finally saw Adam and I knew that he was more than 2 minutes behind me. I was pumped—I was going to get this thing done!
I pushed on through to a 31:23 finish with an average HR of 167bpm. I’m happy with this as my per mile splits are now once again below 8 (but obviously a long way from where they need to be—sub 7). Compared to prior sprint races here this is how this effort stacks up:
2004 32:18
2005 28:25
2006 30:57
2010 31:23
I lost 3+ minutes to Adam but ended up comfortably in first in my AG:
Christofferson --------
Singer +1:55
Catalano +9:17
This was my 25th AG victory in my career (which was one of my long-term goals!) I finished 7th OA and generally felt very good about the race:
- I definitely progressed from Devilman (two weeks prior).
- My swim is better than ever
- My bike is arcing upward and probably within 10% of my potential
- My run has a long way to go but was decidedly better than Devilman
- I was able to “avenge” a couple of defeats from the prior year
- I was able to race “hard” (in my view) for the first time this year
- I’m getting stronger as I head towards IM Germany!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Two Steps Forward, One back
News from the front:
Stats from last week:
8070 yds swimming
271 miles biking
19 miles running
22.2 hours training time
Good week of training stat wise. I have been hitting it on the bike and it's beginning to show in my fitness. The run number looks low but that is due to the race yesterday and putting off my long run until mid week this week.
I had a fantastic race yesterday. I'll file a race report by mid to late week. Good progress on both the bike and run and my swim seems to go from strength to strength. I had a challenging competitive situation and really laid it on the line and was successful! More latter.
Unfortunately, as i get fitter I also seem to get less healthy. My new issue is a case of extensor tendonitis in the top outer part of my left foot which I seemed to create when I cranked my bike shoe down too tight last Wednesday on my long ride. this is disconcerting and I'm treating with ice, ibruprofen and Voltaren cream. I need to get this under control or else I'll face an extended downtime. I've decided to back off cycling this week (this is killing me so close to an IM) to try to let it heal....
Stats from last week:
8070 yds swimming
271 miles biking
19 miles running
22.2 hours training time
Good week of training stat wise. I have been hitting it on the bike and it's beginning to show in my fitness. The run number looks low but that is due to the race yesterday and putting off my long run until mid week this week.
I had a fantastic race yesterday. I'll file a race report by mid to late week. Good progress on both the bike and run and my swim seems to go from strength to strength. I had a challenging competitive situation and really laid it on the line and was successful! More latter.
Unfortunately, as i get fitter I also seem to get less healthy. My new issue is a case of extensor tendonitis in the top outer part of my left foot which I seemed to create when I cranked my bike shoe down too tight last Wednesday on my long ride. this is disconcerting and I'm treating with ice, ibruprofen and Voltaren cream. I need to get this under control or else I'll face an extended downtime. I've decided to back off cycling this week (this is killing me so close to an IM) to try to let it heal....
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Devilman Sprint Race Report
2010 Devilman Sprint Triathlon
Race Report #3: 5/8/10
Background
My 3rd triathlon of the 2010 season and the 89th of my career, this was to be my 4th “Devilman” triathlon. The first two were half-Ironman distance races and last year, as with this year, was a longish sprint.
I opened up the 2010 season with a couple of IM70.3s—Oceanside and New Orleans. There was good and bad news in these races but I did secure a Kona slot at Oceanside and that fact now must be a strong driver of all of my decisions regarding the 2010 season going forward. My prior race, IMNOLA70.3—20 days prior—was a bit of a setback for me. I discovered that I had indeed suffered some important injuries in my bike crash (just prior to NOLA) and during the race my bike and run were significantly impaired. Since NOLA, I have been involved in a rigorous (3X/week) PT program to try to regain my former fitness. As the DM race dawned I thought I was well on the road to recovery but still significantly off of my “A” game.
As I looked over the entrants for this race it was clear that it was going to be a 2-man race—that is if I could go at close to my capabilities. Robert Hartman, a very strong triathlete and cyclist was entered and even if I were 100% I would have my hands full. I was none-the-less excited to race as Rudy gave me the go-ahead and I needed to get a good read on my progress and whether I could ramp up my training again to get ready for IM Germany.
Race morning dawned with a pleasant but a breezy and overcast sky. The forecast called for significant winds, increasing temps and potentially some thunder boomers—interesting racing conditions for sure! Bring it on!
The Swim
I was in the 2nd wave with all of the other over 40 male swimmers. The wind was pumping—probably 20-25+ mph and there were literally waves on the smallish lake we were to swim in. The swim course was definitely much longer than last year—which was comically short—it looked pretty much like it’s advertised 0.4 miles. I was pumped as I have tremendous confidence in my swim this year and I knew I actually needed to open up a lead on the swim if I was to have a chance at staying with Hartman.
I lined up to the right—away from the buoy line—not really for a lack of confidence—but rather for the tactical advantage it gave me as a predominately left side breather. At the gun I surged ahead and felt fantastic right away. After 10 or so strokes I looked left and right and could see that I was leading the group. I looked back and could see that I was already 5+ yards ahead of the people around me. Wow—I was kicking it!
I backed off a bit and noticed a couple of guys separating from the pack to my left. I decided to vector left and to try to jump in on their (the leader’s) feet by the first turn buoy. This is what I did and I hit the first turn buoy, 3rd in the wave (with a guy next to me) and feeling really comfortable. I knew that I had more to give but decided there that it was unlikely that Hartman was one of the two guys in front of me and that I might as well just cruise the swim comfortably. In retrospect, this may have been a bad call.
So I cruised and exited the swim feeling calm and great with an elapsed time of 11:55 and an average HR of 156 bpm. This compares with last year when I did 8:20 with an average HR of 154. However, as I mentioned the swim course was substantially longer this year as the following comparative stats illustrate:
2010 2009
Swim split 11:55 8:20
OA finish 38/226 44/112
OA %-tile 83.6% 61.6%
AG finish 1/13 1/3
AG %-tile 100% 100%
From an AG competitive perspective, here is where we stood after the swim:
1. Christofferson --------
2. Hartman +1:10
3. Varley +1:30
4. Hutchinson +1:50
5. Ellsworth +3:21
In reality, given that the swim split was taken after a very lengthy run after the swim, my advantage was even greater than indicated above. As we will see, I lost quite a bit in T1 during the long run as my hip flexibility already was exhibiting itself as a significant limiting factor.
All in all, I’m extremely pleased with where my swim is. I could have gone quite a bit harder (and placed much higher OA) but even with my “easy” pace, I had more than enough to open up a competitively relevant gap in my AG.
Transition One
As indicated above, the T1 at DM is a very long run out to a transition area in the middle of a near-by baseball field. My hip definitely slowed me down but I did reasonably fine given that limitation. I took 4:01 with an average HR of 169 bpm to execute T1 today. Last year I did the same transition in 3:52. I had the 5th fastest of the 13 in my AG and even though I dropped 20 seconds to Hartman in T1, I still headed out on the bike with a sizeable 50-second lead.
The Bike
This 21-mile bike leg (as clocked by my SRM) was one of the main reasons I chose to race while still rehabbing from my hip/leg injuries. At NOLA70.3 I was unable to hold an aero position after mile 15-20 due to the tightness and pain. I was eager to find out if the PT had addressed enough of my issues to allow me to hammer a 21-mile bike leg. Rudy, my therapist gave me the go-ahead to test it out.
I knew that Hartman was a very strong cyclist—close to me when I’m on my game and I knew that today would be a real challenge. To beat him, I’d probably have to get off the bike at least 90-120 seconds in front of him. With my hip, this seemed unlikely. I decided the better course was to ride my race and hope that I got lucky competitively.
I was a little gun-shy in the early going, as I didn’t know if my hip would hold up for the whole race. I was a bit conservative and was content to keep my watts around 230—probably a good 20-30 below what I thought I could really do.
The wind was impressive! Steady at 20+ mph with a lot of gusts in the 30-40 mph range. The bike leg cuts across the flat, marshy area in the lower SW corner of New Jersey and there were ample opportunities for it to rip. It would funnel between houses, trees and other obstacles and suddenly and repeatedly change the force vectors on my bike. Despite this challenging environment, I had chosen to ride a 1080/sub-nine disc set-up both because of it’s inherent speed and because I figured the practice would be good as I looked down the road to my date in Kona. The wind was predominantly a side-wind, which really made bike control a challenge but was favorable speed wise vs. a more tail-wind/head-wind configuration. That said, the ride back to transition was more head-windish and quite challenging for sure.
Enough of the wind as in the end I was able to deal with it just fine. Competitively I was surprised when Hartman came chugging by at 70 rpm and a huge gear around 9-10 miles or so into the race. I was really stunned by this and realized that I was most likely destined for second (at best) in the AG. I let him get 40-50 yards up the road and then decided to try to hold the spacing constant as we made the turn to head back to transition. My watts came up to 250+ and I felt pretty comfortable tracking him for a couple of miles.
He began to pull away a bit and I was content to stay around 250 watts and see what happened. About 14 miles in I saw him sitting up and stretching and generally appearing uncomfortable so I made a quick decision to see if maybe I could reel him back in. To my surprise I was able to do so in relatively short order. I began to get excited as my old competitive bike juices began to flow.
Soon I had erased the gap and I decided to “reintroduce” myself to him. I pulled up next to him and said his name and told him who I was and that he did not need to worry about my run—I was just going to push him on the bike. He completely ignored me and it seemed to me that something strange was going on. I decided that he was probably just an overly competitive jerk (consider the source here) and I got a bit riled up and decided to hammer it.
To my surprise I felt stronger as the bike went on and I kept pushing all the way to the dismount line. I hit the end of a bike leg with an elapsed time of 55:14 and an average HR of 162 bpm. My average power came in at 244 watts, which I’m not displeased with given my hip. Comparatively, last year I did a 55:19 with an identical 244-watts/162 bpm HR. That said, it’s clear to me that despite my early conservatism, this was a much stronger ride given the conditions (why my watts don’t reflect this is a mystery to me). (Also, my average cadence was 82 rpm, which is approaching my target of 85). The reason for my positive judgment is the competitive data below.
As I dismounted and began to run to the timing mat, Hartman immediately came running by at a much faster clip. Hmmmm. It sure seemed like he was very close behind me despite my higher power output down the stretch. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and just assume he picked it up as a competitive response to my challenge. In any event he hit the timing mat 7 seconds in front of me (my hip was very stiff and I could barely jog slowly—I almost had to walk my bike into transition).
I ended up with the 2nd fastest bike split in the AG and the 11th OA (95.6%-tile which compares favorably with the 88.4 %-tile level I posted last year). I can’t help but think that if I was 100% recovered from my bike crash that I’d been 1-2 minutes faster today but I’ll take it. I was able to hold my aero position and it’s clear that the PT is beginning to kick in. Here is where we stood after the bike:
1. Hartman --------
2. Christofferson +0:07
3. Hutchinson +3:46
4. Ellsworth +8:14
5. McMahon +8:37
Transition Two
I stiffly slogged back to my rack spot. Soon Hartman ran by and I called out to him and complimented him on his bike leg. Again he ignored me and it seemed that he wasn’t even aware that I was even there. OK, whatever, be that way! My very stiff left hip led to a 5th fastest T2 in the AG. I didn’t punch my lap button so I can only guess what the transition was but my guess is it was around 2:20 or so (versus 1:56 last year). I dropped another 20 seconds to Hartman in transition (officially, although I actually lost more time than that prior to the timing mat). In any event I left T2 trailing by 27 seconds.
The Run
I stiffly headed out of transition and began the 4.1-mile run. My running over the last few weeks had been severely limited (10-15 mpw) by my hip/leg and so my expectations for the run were quite modest. I was moving slowly and could see Hartman up ahead. He was pulling away from me but not very quickly—darn, if I were 100% then this race would have played out very different (easy for me to say I know).
My first mile was around 9 minutes or so with my average HR at around 163 bpm. These are estimates since as I mentioned I did not push my watch lap button correctly after T1. I did not know what my actual time was out on the course so it was a little difficult to know exactly how fast (slow!) I was running at mile 1.
We were running into the very strong wind so despite the sun and humidity it didn’t feel super warm—though the wind was clearly slowing things down a bit. I hit mile 2 and saw that I had an 8:54 second mile (166 bpm HR). I knew I was going to be slow but this was ridiculous. My loss of fitness combined with my limited hip flexor flexibility was really taking a toll on my running capability.
I tried to pick it up a bit and slogged through an 8:42 3rd mile (169 bpm). I was frustrated but resigned to my fate. It was heating up on the course as well and I began to feel a bit dehydrated. I could see that I was going to be way off of 1st but a long ways in front of the 3rd place guy. I salvaged a last mile of 8:13 (171 bpm) so I’m hopeful, with continued PT that, over the 6-7 weeks before IM Germany, I can recover a lot of my prior run fitness—we’ll see.
In any event, I ended up with a 35:07 (9:03/mile) run split, which was 4th (76.9 %-tile) in my AG and 63rd OA (72.6 %-tile). Interestingly, last year I was only 59th %-tile OA so clearly the conditions were far more challenging for today’s run than last year. Oh well, it is what it!
My total race time was 1:48:24, which left me 2:35 behind Hartman—had I been able to even run 8:20/mile I would have easily placed first today. As it was, I was 5:25 in front of the 3rd place finisher. I was 20th OA (91.6%-tile), which compares favorably with last year’s 82.1 %-tile.
Another way of looking at this race compared to last year is to compare people who raced both races. I took the average of Buckson, Tsouloufas, Saunders, Yanacek and Keefe (five triathletes who finished towards the front in both years) and found that their 2010 times were on average 7.7% slower than 2009 (longer swim, wind, heat, etc.). In contrast my time was 5.1% slower. Relative to my competitors I was 2.6% better in 2010 than 2009 which is encouraging and why my %-tile finish was so much higher.
All-in-all a good race that shows that my PT is beginning to work and that I am on the way back to full fitness. I do have along ways to go yet but the path ahead seems more manageable after today.
And one last thing, the reason Hartman ignored me on the course is that he is completely deaf! I take back my earlier observations! Live and learn.
Race Report #3: 5/8/10
Background
My 3rd triathlon of the 2010 season and the 89th of my career, this was to be my 4th “Devilman” triathlon. The first two were half-Ironman distance races and last year, as with this year, was a longish sprint.
I opened up the 2010 season with a couple of IM70.3s—Oceanside and New Orleans. There was good and bad news in these races but I did secure a Kona slot at Oceanside and that fact now must be a strong driver of all of my decisions regarding the 2010 season going forward. My prior race, IMNOLA70.3—20 days prior—was a bit of a setback for me. I discovered that I had indeed suffered some important injuries in my bike crash (just prior to NOLA) and during the race my bike and run were significantly impaired. Since NOLA, I have been involved in a rigorous (3X/week) PT program to try to regain my former fitness. As the DM race dawned I thought I was well on the road to recovery but still significantly off of my “A” game.
As I looked over the entrants for this race it was clear that it was going to be a 2-man race—that is if I could go at close to my capabilities. Robert Hartman, a very strong triathlete and cyclist was entered and even if I were 100% I would have my hands full. I was none-the-less excited to race as Rudy gave me the go-ahead and I needed to get a good read on my progress and whether I could ramp up my training again to get ready for IM Germany.
Race morning dawned with a pleasant but a breezy and overcast sky. The forecast called for significant winds, increasing temps and potentially some thunder boomers—interesting racing conditions for sure! Bring it on!
The Swim
I was in the 2nd wave with all of the other over 40 male swimmers. The wind was pumping—probably 20-25+ mph and there were literally waves on the smallish lake we were to swim in. The swim course was definitely much longer than last year—which was comically short—it looked pretty much like it’s advertised 0.4 miles. I was pumped as I have tremendous confidence in my swim this year and I knew I actually needed to open up a lead on the swim if I was to have a chance at staying with Hartman.
I lined up to the right—away from the buoy line—not really for a lack of confidence—but rather for the tactical advantage it gave me as a predominately left side breather. At the gun I surged ahead and felt fantastic right away. After 10 or so strokes I looked left and right and could see that I was leading the group. I looked back and could see that I was already 5+ yards ahead of the people around me. Wow—I was kicking it!
I backed off a bit and noticed a couple of guys separating from the pack to my left. I decided to vector left and to try to jump in on their (the leader’s) feet by the first turn buoy. This is what I did and I hit the first turn buoy, 3rd in the wave (with a guy next to me) and feeling really comfortable. I knew that I had more to give but decided there that it was unlikely that Hartman was one of the two guys in front of me and that I might as well just cruise the swim comfortably. In retrospect, this may have been a bad call.
So I cruised and exited the swim feeling calm and great with an elapsed time of 11:55 and an average HR of 156 bpm. This compares with last year when I did 8:20 with an average HR of 154. However, as I mentioned the swim course was substantially longer this year as the following comparative stats illustrate:
2010 2009
Swim split 11:55 8:20
OA finish 38/226 44/112
OA %-tile 83.6% 61.6%
AG finish 1/13 1/3
AG %-tile 100% 100%
From an AG competitive perspective, here is where we stood after the swim:
1. Christofferson --------
2. Hartman +1:10
3. Varley +1:30
4. Hutchinson +1:50
5. Ellsworth +3:21
In reality, given that the swim split was taken after a very lengthy run after the swim, my advantage was even greater than indicated above. As we will see, I lost quite a bit in T1 during the long run as my hip flexibility already was exhibiting itself as a significant limiting factor.
All in all, I’m extremely pleased with where my swim is. I could have gone quite a bit harder (and placed much higher OA) but even with my “easy” pace, I had more than enough to open up a competitively relevant gap in my AG.
Transition One
As indicated above, the T1 at DM is a very long run out to a transition area in the middle of a near-by baseball field. My hip definitely slowed me down but I did reasonably fine given that limitation. I took 4:01 with an average HR of 169 bpm to execute T1 today. Last year I did the same transition in 3:52. I had the 5th fastest of the 13 in my AG and even though I dropped 20 seconds to Hartman in T1, I still headed out on the bike with a sizeable 50-second lead.
The Bike
This 21-mile bike leg (as clocked by my SRM) was one of the main reasons I chose to race while still rehabbing from my hip/leg injuries. At NOLA70.3 I was unable to hold an aero position after mile 15-20 due to the tightness and pain. I was eager to find out if the PT had addressed enough of my issues to allow me to hammer a 21-mile bike leg. Rudy, my therapist gave me the go-ahead to test it out.
I knew that Hartman was a very strong cyclist—close to me when I’m on my game and I knew that today would be a real challenge. To beat him, I’d probably have to get off the bike at least 90-120 seconds in front of him. With my hip, this seemed unlikely. I decided the better course was to ride my race and hope that I got lucky competitively.
I was a little gun-shy in the early going, as I didn’t know if my hip would hold up for the whole race. I was a bit conservative and was content to keep my watts around 230—probably a good 20-30 below what I thought I could really do.
The wind was impressive! Steady at 20+ mph with a lot of gusts in the 30-40 mph range. The bike leg cuts across the flat, marshy area in the lower SW corner of New Jersey and there were ample opportunities for it to rip. It would funnel between houses, trees and other obstacles and suddenly and repeatedly change the force vectors on my bike. Despite this challenging environment, I had chosen to ride a 1080/sub-nine disc set-up both because of it’s inherent speed and because I figured the practice would be good as I looked down the road to my date in Kona. The wind was predominantly a side-wind, which really made bike control a challenge but was favorable speed wise vs. a more tail-wind/head-wind configuration. That said, the ride back to transition was more head-windish and quite challenging for sure.
Enough of the wind as in the end I was able to deal with it just fine. Competitively I was surprised when Hartman came chugging by at 70 rpm and a huge gear around 9-10 miles or so into the race. I was really stunned by this and realized that I was most likely destined for second (at best) in the AG. I let him get 40-50 yards up the road and then decided to try to hold the spacing constant as we made the turn to head back to transition. My watts came up to 250+ and I felt pretty comfortable tracking him for a couple of miles.
He began to pull away a bit and I was content to stay around 250 watts and see what happened. About 14 miles in I saw him sitting up and stretching and generally appearing uncomfortable so I made a quick decision to see if maybe I could reel him back in. To my surprise I was able to do so in relatively short order. I began to get excited as my old competitive bike juices began to flow.
Soon I had erased the gap and I decided to “reintroduce” myself to him. I pulled up next to him and said his name and told him who I was and that he did not need to worry about my run—I was just going to push him on the bike. He completely ignored me and it seemed to me that something strange was going on. I decided that he was probably just an overly competitive jerk (consider the source here) and I got a bit riled up and decided to hammer it.
To my surprise I felt stronger as the bike went on and I kept pushing all the way to the dismount line. I hit the end of a bike leg with an elapsed time of 55:14 and an average HR of 162 bpm. My average power came in at 244 watts, which I’m not displeased with given my hip. Comparatively, last year I did a 55:19 with an identical 244-watts/162 bpm HR. That said, it’s clear to me that despite my early conservatism, this was a much stronger ride given the conditions (why my watts don’t reflect this is a mystery to me). (Also, my average cadence was 82 rpm, which is approaching my target of 85). The reason for my positive judgment is the competitive data below.
As I dismounted and began to run to the timing mat, Hartman immediately came running by at a much faster clip. Hmmmm. It sure seemed like he was very close behind me despite my higher power output down the stretch. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and just assume he picked it up as a competitive response to my challenge. In any event he hit the timing mat 7 seconds in front of me (my hip was very stiff and I could barely jog slowly—I almost had to walk my bike into transition).
I ended up with the 2nd fastest bike split in the AG and the 11th OA (95.6%-tile which compares favorably with the 88.4 %-tile level I posted last year). I can’t help but think that if I was 100% recovered from my bike crash that I’d been 1-2 minutes faster today but I’ll take it. I was able to hold my aero position and it’s clear that the PT is beginning to kick in. Here is where we stood after the bike:
1. Hartman --------
2. Christofferson +0:07
3. Hutchinson +3:46
4. Ellsworth +8:14
5. McMahon +8:37
Transition Two
I stiffly slogged back to my rack spot. Soon Hartman ran by and I called out to him and complimented him on his bike leg. Again he ignored me and it seemed that he wasn’t even aware that I was even there. OK, whatever, be that way! My very stiff left hip led to a 5th fastest T2 in the AG. I didn’t punch my lap button so I can only guess what the transition was but my guess is it was around 2:20 or so (versus 1:56 last year). I dropped another 20 seconds to Hartman in transition (officially, although I actually lost more time than that prior to the timing mat). In any event I left T2 trailing by 27 seconds.
The Run
I stiffly headed out of transition and began the 4.1-mile run. My running over the last few weeks had been severely limited (10-15 mpw) by my hip/leg and so my expectations for the run were quite modest. I was moving slowly and could see Hartman up ahead. He was pulling away from me but not very quickly—darn, if I were 100% then this race would have played out very different (easy for me to say I know).
My first mile was around 9 minutes or so with my average HR at around 163 bpm. These are estimates since as I mentioned I did not push my watch lap button correctly after T1. I did not know what my actual time was out on the course so it was a little difficult to know exactly how fast (slow!) I was running at mile 1.
We were running into the very strong wind so despite the sun and humidity it didn’t feel super warm—though the wind was clearly slowing things down a bit. I hit mile 2 and saw that I had an 8:54 second mile (166 bpm HR). I knew I was going to be slow but this was ridiculous. My loss of fitness combined with my limited hip flexor flexibility was really taking a toll on my running capability.
I tried to pick it up a bit and slogged through an 8:42 3rd mile (169 bpm). I was frustrated but resigned to my fate. It was heating up on the course as well and I began to feel a bit dehydrated. I could see that I was going to be way off of 1st but a long ways in front of the 3rd place guy. I salvaged a last mile of 8:13 (171 bpm) so I’m hopeful, with continued PT that, over the 6-7 weeks before IM Germany, I can recover a lot of my prior run fitness—we’ll see.
In any event, I ended up with a 35:07 (9:03/mile) run split, which was 4th (76.9 %-tile) in my AG and 63rd OA (72.6 %-tile). Interestingly, last year I was only 59th %-tile OA so clearly the conditions were far more challenging for today’s run than last year. Oh well, it is what it!
My total race time was 1:48:24, which left me 2:35 behind Hartman—had I been able to even run 8:20/mile I would have easily placed first today. As it was, I was 5:25 in front of the 3rd place finisher. I was 20th OA (91.6%-tile), which compares favorably with last year’s 82.1 %-tile.
Another way of looking at this race compared to last year is to compare people who raced both races. I took the average of Buckson, Tsouloufas, Saunders, Yanacek and Keefe (five triathletes who finished towards the front in both years) and found that their 2010 times were on average 7.7% slower than 2009 (longer swim, wind, heat, etc.). In contrast my time was 5.1% slower. Relative to my competitors I was 2.6% better in 2010 than 2009 which is encouraging and why my %-tile finish was so much higher.
All-in-all a good race that shows that my PT is beginning to work and that I am on the way back to full fitness. I do have along ways to go yet but the path ahead seems more manageable after today.
And one last thing, the reason Hartman ignored me on the course is that he is completely deaf! I take back my earlier observations! Live and learn.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
19:14 5K!!! and other tales from the PT world
So I'll have the Devilman race report up in the next day or so. sorry for the delay but we've been focused on Jenny's graduation which was a truly great event this past weekend.
I'm in a very weird place where I'm 45 days out from IM Germany--and doing IM specific training while still recovering from a pretty significant hip/leg problem that in part stems from my bike crash of 4-5 weeks ago. I've had a lot of problems on both the bike and the run and my training volume had been negatively impacted for sure. That said, I've been pursuing very aggressive PT treatment while training hard (and even racing) and it all seems to be working (at least I think).
I banged out a 114+ mile ride last week and again today (13 minutes and 5 watts better). Last Saturday i was able to run pretty well for 14 miles. I did an Alter-G workout yesterday where i ran for 30 minutes at 7:00/mile and then cruised through a 19:14 5K (at 70% of my body weight--lol). My hip and leg are definitely getting better but I'm probably still several weeks away from being "normal".
The PT is intense, very painful and one of my least favorite things. Rudy thinks I need another month at least which will bring me right up to my taper for IM Germany--jeez!
Maybe there is a silver lining here--I'm definitely improving fitness wise and I won't be past my peak as I have often been for IMs in the past. I just hope I can get fit enough--we'll see.
I'm in a very weird place where I'm 45 days out from IM Germany--and doing IM specific training while still recovering from a pretty significant hip/leg problem that in part stems from my bike crash of 4-5 weeks ago. I've had a lot of problems on both the bike and the run and my training volume had been negatively impacted for sure. That said, I've been pursuing very aggressive PT treatment while training hard (and even racing) and it all seems to be working (at least I think).
I banged out a 114+ mile ride last week and again today (13 minutes and 5 watts better). Last Saturday i was able to run pretty well for 14 miles. I did an Alter-G workout yesterday where i ran for 30 minutes at 7:00/mile and then cruised through a 19:14 5K (at 70% of my body weight--lol). My hip and leg are definitely getting better but I'm probably still several weeks away from being "normal".
The PT is intense, very painful and one of my least favorite things. Rudy thinks I need another month at least which will bring me right up to my taper for IM Germany--jeez!
Maybe there is a silver lining here--I'm definitely improving fitness wise and I won't be past my peak as I have often been for IMs in the past. I just hope I can get fit enough--we'll see.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Update Again
sorry to be off my game post wise....Jenny graduated from Gettysburg this weekend, my big business deal closed, we had both sets of parents visiting, I had to work on my parents' wills/trusts, etc. etc.
I'll post the Devilman race report shortly.
I'll also update you on the (intensive) PT I have going down--bottom line is at it is beginning to work....
Stats from the past week:
7000 yds swim
263 miles bike (including a 115 mile long ride)
34 miles running (inclusing a 14 mile long run)
23.6 hours training
more to come shortly
I'll post the Devilman race report shortly.
I'll also update you on the (intensive) PT I have going down--bottom line is at it is beginning to work....
Stats from the past week:
7000 yds swim
263 miles bike (including a 115 mile long ride)
34 miles running (inclusing a 14 mile long run)
23.6 hours training
more to come shortly
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Last week totals
Swim: 7130 yds
Bike: 209 miles
Run: 15 miles
Time: 17.5 hours
Still in recovery/PT mode--expecting a big rebound this week!
Bike: 209 miles
Run: 15 miles
Time: 17.5 hours
Still in recovery/PT mode--expecting a big rebound this week!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Quick Post--more to follow
Decent week last week given injuries. I did race Devilman Sprint and did reasonably well--better than last year despite not being able to really run. Best news was post race the left hip felt pretty good. Today i decided to hammer it and see whre I was at--at least on the bike. i rode for 6:47 and while my left hip is definitely very stiff it did not seem to suffer for the effort. so I've concluded that as far as the swim and bike go I'm primed for a heavy IM push over the next 6 weeks to try to tweak up my fitness for Germany.
As for the run--still a work in progress. On the alter-G at 6am tomorrow morning and another PT session on Friday--if all goes well I'll try to run 2 hours on sunday and see how it goes...realistically, I'm still 1-2 weeks away from really being able to run train....
As for the run--still a work in progress. On the alter-G at 6am tomorrow morning and another PT session on Friday--if all goes well I'll try to run 2 hours on sunday and see how it goes...realistically, I'm still 1-2 weeks away from really being able to run train....
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Belated Update
Sorry about the extended period of radio silence--much going on since the last post and I have been quite busy with it all. Hopefully this update will fill in the gaps.
Physical Therapy--upon further review
I've had 3 sessions and my PT now believes that I suffered a small tear in my left hamstring when I had my bike accident a few weeks back. Since then, during racing and training, my body has been compensating trying to protect the hammie. As a result, I have a whole host of interrelated muscle flexibility, lessions, strength issues--these are concentrated in and around my upper left leg. The most glaring of which is in my hip flexors. I also have issues in my Psoas muscle which runs very near to where one normally gets a hernia--which thankfully I don't have.
Anyways, rudy is otimistic that he can make things right over the next few weeks and I have begun to feel some progress. The therapy itself is quite painful and I have quite a great deal of brusing on the front, outside and back of my upper left leg. My biking seems to be improving as I have been able to do a couple of longish rides where I didn't have the trouble staying aero that I had in new Orleans. I hope to return to normal IM bike training next week and plan on getting a ride in of at least 100 miles. My run volume is way down (only 12 miles last week) and probably will continue to be so for a couple of more weeks. I have begun training on the Alter G, which is an anti-gravity treadmill--very cool. I'll tell you more about it later but I did a run yesterday where I cruised at 9-9.5 mph for close to an hour--albeit, at only 70% of my body weight.
My elbow, shoulder and swimming all seem fine. I do have quite a bit of swelling still from the broken bursa and will probably need to get it drained again next week--but this is not interfering with any of my training--I just have a very big elbow.
Last month
Here are the stats from last month--you can see the impact of my accident, New Orleans and my trip to amangiri on my run and swim volume--I did do a pretty good job of keeping the biking volume up:
Swim: 26,000 yards
Bike: 920 miles
Run: 91 miles
Time: 87 hours
Amangiri
Went with Judy for five days to SW Utah for a lot of trekking in around the Amangiri resort. A big highlight was a long trek through Bryce Canyon. We had a great time and it was nice to stay physically active but not in the tradional SBR way.
Racing
I had to strike a 5k from my schdeule due to the hip problem but am hopeful to race this weekend in a longish, local sprint. I just want to see how much I've lost due to this little set-back and also see if i can stay aero and produce reasonable amounts of power over 20+ miles. It would also be nice to race a SC race after opening with to two 70.3s.
Personal
Lots going on. Jen graduating. Kara moving to new apartment. Jen moving home and then needing to look for a new apartment. Lots of (successful) work going on...all good but leading to an overly full life--oh well, I suppose better than the alternative!
Physical Therapy--upon further review
I've had 3 sessions and my PT now believes that I suffered a small tear in my left hamstring when I had my bike accident a few weeks back. Since then, during racing and training, my body has been compensating trying to protect the hammie. As a result, I have a whole host of interrelated muscle flexibility, lessions, strength issues--these are concentrated in and around my upper left leg. The most glaring of which is in my hip flexors. I also have issues in my Psoas muscle which runs very near to where one normally gets a hernia--which thankfully I don't have.
Anyways, rudy is otimistic that he can make things right over the next few weeks and I have begun to feel some progress. The therapy itself is quite painful and I have quite a great deal of brusing on the front, outside and back of my upper left leg. My biking seems to be improving as I have been able to do a couple of longish rides where I didn't have the trouble staying aero that I had in new Orleans. I hope to return to normal IM bike training next week and plan on getting a ride in of at least 100 miles. My run volume is way down (only 12 miles last week) and probably will continue to be so for a couple of more weeks. I have begun training on the Alter G, which is an anti-gravity treadmill--very cool. I'll tell you more about it later but I did a run yesterday where I cruised at 9-9.5 mph for close to an hour--albeit, at only 70% of my body weight.
My elbow, shoulder and swimming all seem fine. I do have quite a bit of swelling still from the broken bursa and will probably need to get it drained again next week--but this is not interfering with any of my training--I just have a very big elbow.
Last month
Here are the stats from last month--you can see the impact of my accident, New Orleans and my trip to amangiri on my run and swim volume--I did do a pretty good job of keeping the biking volume up:
Swim: 26,000 yards
Bike: 920 miles
Run: 91 miles
Time: 87 hours
Amangiri
Went with Judy for five days to SW Utah for a lot of trekking in around the Amangiri resort. A big highlight was a long trek through Bryce Canyon. We had a great time and it was nice to stay physically active but not in the tradional SBR way.
Racing
I had to strike a 5k from my schdeule due to the hip problem but am hopeful to race this weekend in a longish, local sprint. I just want to see how much I've lost due to this little set-back and also see if i can stay aero and produce reasonable amounts of power over 20+ miles. It would also be nice to race a SC race after opening with to two 70.3s.
Personal
Lots going on. Jen graduating. Kara moving to new apartment. Jen moving home and then needing to look for a new apartment. Lots of (successful) work going on...all good but leading to an overly full life--oh well, I suppose better than the alternative!
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