#25 at Smallwood!

General Smallwood Sprint Triathlon
Race Report #14: September 20th, 2009


Background

I traveled 140 miles south to the town of Marbury, Maryland on the shores of the Potomac to try my hand at this sprint triathlon. I left at 3:45am and found myself on site by 6:15am, which allowed me time to do some recon on the bike and run course. The race was advertised as a 750-meter swim in the river, a 16-mile bike over rolling roads followed by a mixed surface 5k. In practice, the bike turned out to 16.52 miles and the run distance is not know but was certainly significantly longer than 5k.

I wore sweatpants and a sweatshirt as it was only in the high 50s will dawn came. By race time the temp would climb to the low 70s. This combined with brilliant sunshine, low humidity and negligible wind made for perfect sprint racing conditions.

This race was to be my 14th triathlon of the 2009 season and 87th of my career. Notably, I was going for my 25th AG win, which if I achieved it, would mean I had realized one of the long-term triathlon goals I had set for myself some eight years ago. I knew little about my age group competition so tactically; I was at a bit of a competitive disadvantage.

The Swim

The water temp was 71 degrees and I was in my full wetsuit. The swim course was essentially an out and back with an in-water start and a swim finish 50 yards down the shore on a cement boat ramp. Buoys were to the left so I elected to go wide right so I could keep the field in my sight line with my predominantly left-side breathing pattern. My wave was the 3rd and we were off at 9:08 am.
I started fairly hard and then quickly settled into a nice comfortable rhythm. I had none of the issues from last week’s swim and I could see I was up towards the front of the field. I could see a few guys in front of me and I thought I could go harder but this seemed like a good solid effort so I elected not to. I found some feet and drafted for a while.

The water was pretty clear but filled with a lot of “salad”. I hit the turn with little challenges and headed back for home with the sun glaring in my face. My left goggle developed a leak and soon filled with water. My visibility was poor but the course was so simple it really wasn’t a problem. I was passing a few guys in my wave and many from both of the prior waves. It felt like I was having a reasonable swim.

I gained the top of the boat ramp at 12:53 with an average HR of 156. My immediate thought was that this was a decent swim. The HR is surprisingly high, my highest of the season, but is probably an anomaly—I certainly didn’t perceived this to be an exceptionally hard effort. I thought there was a good chance that I had the fastest time in my AG but in fact I was 3rd (out of 9) and overall, I had the 43rd fastest swim out of 230 (81.7 %-tile). This was a decent swim for me. Here is where we stood in the AG competition:

1. Predzin --------
2. Schneider + 0:17
3. Christofferson + 1:10


Transition One

I was blissfully unaware that I was down by over a minute to a pretty decent triathlete as I trekked through a very lengthy T1. We had to climb a hill, run on sidewalks, across some stones, through a parking lot, across some grass, down a hill and finally wind our way into the transition area. I tried to push this effort and I passed quite a few folks who had finished the swim before I.

I quickly found my bike and executed a fairly smooth change into biking stuff and was on my way with an elapsed transition time of 3:06 (average HR of 167). This turned out to be a relatively solid transition as I was 30th OA (87.4 %-tile). In my AG I was one second slower than Predzin but faster than everyone else and in-fact was able to pass Schneider and move into second as we started the bike:

1. Predzin --------
2. Christofferson + 1:11
3. Schneider + 1:58


The Bike

I didn’t see anybody from my AG on this bike. I became increasingly convinced as the ride progressed that I was in first and opening up a sizeable lead. In retrospect, I think Predzin went in the 4th wave (as a Clydesdale) so I was not aware that I was behind him.

In any event, I felt considerably better than I did in last week’s Olympic contest. I could feel that quite a bit of my power had returned—it felt like I was finally recovering from climbing Shasta (4 weeks after doing so!). The bike course had a couple of decent climbs right away and since this was a shortish bike ride I jumped up out of my saddle and put the power well into the high 300s on several occasions. Not the smartest way to ride but it seemed like a fun thing to do.

I was passing a bunch of folks although one 40 year old did pass me—I tried to stay with him but no such luck. I’m pretty confident that the RC of the last two years would not have had such a fate.

The ride was pretty uneventful. I stayed in my 54 the whole way as I had noticed my front derailleur was a little sketchy when I warmed up. I was able to hit the low 40s on several descents so it was a pretty exciting ride. I felt like I was going pretty well, but I just didn’t have the will to really hammer it—I felt like I was dominating my AG as it was.

I finished the bike in 45:23 with an average HR of 163. This indicates that I wasn’t quite “on the rivet” and the average speed of 21.8 mph reflects the challenging nature of the hills on the course. My average power was 247 watts, which is a nice rebound from last week. Not up to my recent standards but part of this reflects the coasting and soft-pedaling inherent in a course with a lot of descents. I am reasonably pleased with this number considering everything. My average cadence of 76 rpm also reflects the impact of the hills.

Competitively, I had the 6th fastest bike split (97.8 %-tile), which is a pretty descent result for me as I am not generally know for my climbing/descending ability. This result dominated my AG. I put 5+ minutes on everybody but Predzin but even with him I was 3:36 faster. Here is where we stood after the bike:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Predzin + 2:25
3. Schneider + 6:15


Transition Two

I executed a solid T2 in 52 seconds with a HR of 159. Overall I had the 41st fastest transition (82.6 %-tile) and the second fastest in my AG. As I headed out of transition for the run, I felt I was in complete command of the AG race. While, my tactical understanding was a little flawed, this viewpoint turned out to be correct. Here is where we stood at the start of the run:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Predzin + 2:17
3. Schneider + 8:06


The Run

The first part of the bike and run where on the same road course so before the race I clocked the first mile at 1.19 miles. While I wasn’t able to measure the rest of the course as it headed into the rods on stone and dirt paths, I do know that only 2 of the 230 runners were able to get under 21 minutes. I know a fellow who is a mid 18 5k guy and he ended up doing 21:40 so it’s clear this course was longer than 5k. It was a tough run with several pretty long, steepish climbs so that was a factor for sure as well. In any event, my guess is that the course was around 3-4 minutes slower than a flattish, true 5k run.

I felt pretty good quickly into the run. I was passed by a few folks I had smoked on the bike (they always seem compelled to tell me I had a great bike, which is another way of commenting on my run speed.) I glanced at my HR monitor and I could tell there and by how I felt that I was just cruising. I honestly didn’t feel the need to really hammer it just so I could be another 30 seconds faster at the end.

There was a little turnaround on the road just before we entered the woods and I saw there was a huge gap behind me and no dinosaurs in sight. I decided to just cruise the run and enjoy myself. I was pleased that my knee felt ok, as it had really hurt after a 10-mile run I had done earlier in the week. I had to skip running for 5 days and apply a lot of ice.

Anyways, on this beautiful morning I encountered no problems and truly enjoyed a beautiful run in the woods. I crossed a cool arched wooden bridge across a bay and made the final turn and ran up the hill to the finish in 26:58 with an average HR of 165. Again I think this is the equivalent of a 23-24 minute 5k and I definitely felt I could have gone faster if need be—my HR confirms this. OA, my run was the 67th fastest (71.3 %-tile). However, I did turn in the fastest run in my AG—whoo-hoo!

I ended up beating Predzin by 2:21. Technically, he was counted in the Clydesdale competition so the final official AG standings were:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Podolin + 8:52
3. Dighe +12:23

My overall time of 1:29:12 was good enough for 20th OA (91.7 %-tile). I’ll certainly take it! Especially given the somewhat easy nature of my effort.

This could be my last triathlon of the season. If so, it’s been a good one. In my 14 races I have 8 firsts, 5 seconds and 1 third—in the money on all of them. Over my last 18 short-course races I have 12 wins. This also represents an important milestone as it represents my 25th career win.

Next week is the World Duathlon Championship in North Carolina, which I’m approaching as a fun effort. Extreme Bocce is the weekend following and then maybe, just maybe I’ll try one last Tri before calling it a season.

General smallwood Sprint Triathlon "Flash"

Raced this morning down in Maryland--14th of the year and 87 of the career. Good, solid effort yielded my 8th win of the year and perhaps more importantly, career win number 25. I set a series of career goals 8 years ago and winning 25 times at the AG level was one of them.

Race report in a couple of days....

very nice!!!!

Pine Barrens Race Report

Pine Barrens Olympic Triathlon
Race Report #13: September 12th, 2009


Background

After a three-week hiatus, post the summit of Mount Shasta, I finally felt like I might be able to race again. The prior Sunday I had used the Tim Kerr 7-Mile Island Run as a training effort and was struck by how “shredded” my legs, especially my quads still were. Further, my back went-out and only in the day or so before the race did it begin to feel somewhat serviceable (lots of muscle relaxers!). During my Shasta recovery period I hadn’t been able to train much so my expectations about my performance in this race were quite low.

None-the-less, the season was drawing to a close and I only had a few more opportunities to race so I really wanted to get this race in. This was to be my longest race of the season—an “Olympic Distance” race. The swim was to be somewhere around a mile, the bike just a hair over 24 miles and the run I clocked at 6.35 miles. More on the course latter. Race morning was dreary with a light rain but otherwise pleasant conditions.

This was about the 28th running of this particular triathlon—making it one of the oldest in the country. I had done this course once before with a 2:21 and change as the result. The race has fallen on somewhat hard times with only 70 triathletes pre-registered and I suspected with the persistently rainy weather that had preceded this race that probably less than that would actually race (in fact just 59 started).




The Swim

The swim is contested in Lake Attison, which is a pleasant, though very dark, cedar lake. In fact, visibility in the water is at best a foot or two, especially given the overcast conditions. I had been swimming very well in my prior few triathlons, especially given my reduced training load, so I was still optimistic about this swim despite having been in the water only four times in the three plus weeks prior to this race.

The water was quite cool (maybe 64 degrees) from all the recent rain but I decided to use my long-john (short sleeves) since I had been doing well with them in the recent past. Also, I had a new one that I wanted to try out.

We split into two waves with all the men going first. I decided to start to the left away from the buoy line, as it was just a simple out and back. This race, and its sprint cousin, is notorious for crude estimated swim distances so I had no real expectations for my time. I thought it could be anywhere from 0.75 to 1.25 miles in length.

Off we went and I tried to sprint out hard to catch clean water initially and then to catch a faster swimmer’s draft. However, my lack of recent wet time caught up with me as that and the coldness of the lake quickly led to hyperventilation and a racing heart for yours truly. I felt a bit of panic rising down in the primitive parts of my brain but I tried to remind the many internal voices that I had done 85 prior triathlons, had experienced this phenom before, and had always been able to slay the demons. I’d like to say that I got it quickly under control but I did not. I had to really focus for a good 5-8 minutes while simultaneously backing off the pace before I was finally able to get on top of it and find an equilibrium.

When I did calm down a quick recon of the tactical situation told me that I was well off the lead pace and that maybe as much as half of the field was out in front of me. I settled in and focused on my stroke (nice and long with lots of body torque) and I begin to address some of the early damage. Slowly but surely I began passing folks and as we hit the turnaround I could see 14 minutes on the clock. Since I think I’m in 25-27 minute mile shape right now it occurred to me that the swim probably was pretty close to a true mile. The rest of the swim was uneventful as I picked off a few more guys in front of me.

I hit the shore in 27:14 with an average HR of 151 bpm. The latter, being a little below average was probably a reflection of my earlier adventures. This turned out to be the 15th fastest swim overall which was only good enough for 76.2 %-tile, a big drop off from recent races. As for my AG competitors, I really only knew about one of them and he was racked right next to me. As I saw his bike still there I knew I was in good shape. In fact I would have the top swim in my AG and enjoy over a 2 and a half-minute lead going into T1.

Transition One

I completed transition one in 1:37 with an average HR of 160. This was 7th best OA and easily best in my AG.

The Bike

I like this bike course. It’s pretty flat but not particularly fast. It has rough roads and is susceptible to wind—factors I noted this morning. I’ve ridden this bike course 4-5 times before having gone as fast as just over 60 minutes. I thought that maybe today, given the recent past, I might be able to do 63 minutes or so. I could soon see that this was likely to be a fantasy as my SRM was showing power in the 230s (versus 260s in my prior races). Man, I had lost a lot of fitness on Shasta and in the ensuing weeks!

I soldiered on and soon began passing a lot of bikes—I counted 10 or 11 in the first 6 miles. I admonished a certain well know triathlete for drafting (seems to be the summer for it!) and pushed on.

After mile 6 I saw no one else until the very end when I could just make out another triathlete in the distance. I had no spunk but just focused on trying to be consistent. I finished the bike in 64:43, which is objectively pretty slow, but it was all I had today. This works out to only 22.3 mph (Ironman pace!) and my average HR was only 158—probably 5-8 beets low—clearly I was limited by the power in my legs due to de-training. My power averaged only 230 watts and I had an average cadence of 77—probably my weakest ride of the season.

Still I had managed the 3rd best bike split OA and had moved into 4th OA. My AG competitors were now well behind me and ready to fall even further behind in the run.

Transition Two

I had a solid T2 of 43 seconds (157 bpm) which was 9th best OA and again tops in my AG and I raced out of T1 to see if I might be able to move up—I knew I was in 4th because I counted 3 bikes in transition.

The Run

I had low expectations for my run given the race the prior week and my mediocre bike but I was pleasantly surprised to feel pretty good early on in the run. Normally this run is back in the Pine Barrens on sandy trails but these were flooded with all the rain so we were all out on 206 for a road out and back. As I left the park and turned right on 206 I could see the 3rd place guy about a minute or so in front of me. It was tantalizing to look up and see him so close and know I had a lot of room to run him down but Tuckahoe and Pinchot had taught me that the people I was racing were really behind me, not in front. This is another way of saying I’m a slow runner!

In any event, two folks passed me in the first mile and I was hopeful that I could maybe hold on for my 3rd top 10 of the season. After about 15 minutes of running I turned and saw a fellow just 40-50 yards behind me but a big gap behind him. Maybe I could hold onto 7th?!?

I hit the turnaround in under 25 minutes, which I knew was OK for the longer than regulation course. My pursuer was just 5 yards behind me. I headed for home and saw that I had a huge gap back to the rest of the field—hey this is fun! Strangely enough I began to feel pretty good and actually began to push it. It felt to me like I was running better than any other tri this year.

After a while I turned and looked, wondering why I hadn’t been passed and saw that I had opened up a very impressive gap—I was running away from him—this is really fun! I knew I would be able to cruise to 6th OA, which I did! My run split was 49:16 (7:46/mile) with an average HR of 166. Well, I’ll certainly take that! I had the top run in my AG making this the first race where I was 1st in my AG in all five splits. I was 11th OA in the run: 83.0 %-tile. The joys of a small race!

Mt final time was a 2:23:23. I’m happy with it. My 7th win of the year (along with five seconds and one third) and my 24th of my career—just one short of my career objective set eight years ago. A good day indeed!

Back in the saddle

Well I finally seem to be emerging from my post Shasta body malaise. I can feel power returning to my legs on both my bike and run. That said, I am definitely less fit (race-wise) than I was before Shasta as yesterday's race indicates.

I raced at Pine Barrens in my first Olympic distance Triathlon in quite a while. On my bike, I averaged 235 watts which is about 9.5% below what I've averaged in the last few races(260 watts). Granted the Olympic Distance is a little longer but call my drop in racing fitness something like 7-8% or so. I averaged 7:36/mile on the run which in an absolute sense sucks, but in a recent relative sense is quite encouraging. I actually felt reasonably good during the 6.35 mile run yesterday.

Competitively, I had a very satisfying race. I finished 6th overall (not sure how many people in it but probably 75 or so) and easily won my AG. This was my 7th AG win of the year (out of 13 races) and my 11th win in my last 17 short-course triathlons...a nice little run for sure.

Trying to figure how much more racing to do before I shut her down for the season. I'm racing in 2 weeks at World Duathlon Championships in North Carolina and the following week I'm once again competing in the World Extreme Bocce Championships. That leaves next weekend and 3 weekends hence as my last two opportunities to race a tri. Of course, I could end it here and finish with a winning record for the season. :). Or I could go for another win and secure my 25th career win which would knock off one of my long-term career goals which I set 8 years ago. Decisions, decisions.

I've started the first of my 4 training meso-cycles building to next year's IMFL. This phase is focused on getting in the range (165-170 pounds) of my target race weight (163 pounds) and trying to get my 5k time down to 20 minutes. I've started my monk diet thing and am hitting the track mid-week with Sparty.

I must say I am very eager to get focused again--not that I didn't enjoy this past season of decadence!

Rest

Opted to pass on marlton. My legs are still just toast. I think the climb at shasta has hit them almost as hard as an Ironman. I ran 4 miles yestertday and even that proved difficult....hopefully my body will bounce back soon....

Triathlon late season and then looking ahead

Getting into the last 4-5 weeks or so of triathlon season. I've raced 12 triathlons and would like to add 3-5 more.

I'm signed up for the Marlton Sprint this weekend but am 50/50 on it. My legs this morning, some 11 days after Shasta, feel almost normal--I know I've lost a lot of fitness not being able to train since shasta--in the last two weeks I've run 6 miles and swam 3000 yards.....

Looking ahead I hope to race the next two weekends--races TBD and then I'll head down to North Carolina for the Duathlon World championships.

I'll probably get one more tri after that and 2009 will be a wrap.

2010 will be my return to Ironman racing with IMFL in November as the "A" race.

I envision four meso-cycles between Labor day 2009 and race day:

Labor Day-New Year's 2009: Focus on diet to body weight/composition to IM level (165 pounds) and run focus to get 5K run time to 20 minutes

Jan-Mar 2010: Swim focus--try to develop 60 minute IM swim speed: 20,000+ yds/week

Apr-Jun 2010: Bike focus--develop sub 5 hour IM bike capability: 400+ miles/week

July-Oct 2010: IM specific build

Looking forward to the focus, clarity and discipline again...

Mountaineering videos

I've posted two Mountaineering Vids to You Tube--the URLs are:

Mount Rainier: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb1azyFc-UI

Mount Shasta: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjDj4ArBa5U