Broad St. Run - Big PR!

This was a breakthrough race. I had no idea I was capable of throwing this kind of time down with the light training I've been doing and lack of sleep due to stress at work and school. I honestly couldn't be happier.

I even got a little coverage on Philly.com (picture #23) which my mom found. She then sent me an email with this as the subject line haha

So a little about the race - I was a little nervous going into it. I didn't sleep much this past week. I only ran 2x before Sunday (a short interval workout on Tuesday morning and 50min steady run on Friday morning) and I did NOTHING else athletic. I had resigned to the fact that I would run a 1:02-1:04, and I was OK with it. Sunday I got up and hopped on the subway. I actually thought the race started at 8am, so I went through my routine a little early and then got in the corral to realize that it started at 8:30 haha. So I went through an abbreviated second warm up (maybe that is the key??). Anyway, I was in the corral right behind the elite runners. A co-coach and friend Darryl was running with them. Despite looking for him, I didn't see him before or after the race.

The first mile is fast and downhill. I didn't feel like I was pushing that hard, I honestly thought I would be around a 6:05pace until I looked up and saw that the clock read 5:25. YIKES! I knew that would come back to bite me. But on the plus side, I only had to hold 9 more 6min miles and I'd reach my goal.  I pumped the brakes a little bit and kept rolling. Mile 2 was 5:40, so much more in control. I was shocked how good I felt. I hit the 3rd mile in 17:07, which is pretty close to my 5k PR pace. I was worried what would happen if I kept it up, but figured why the hell not just lay it out there and hold on... I was hovering right around 5:50 for miles 3-8. Not much excitement, except I saw my mom at mile 6. Mile 9 was tough. I was hanging with the 7th place female runner and she broke away. I knew I couldn't hang with her, so I let up a little bit mentally. There weren't many other runners around, so running behind I slowed to 6:11 for the 9th mile. Seeing that upset me a little because I had been sub 6min pace for the whole race, so I tried to pick it up for stretch. I also saw the Philly Tri Club tent and got some cheers, so that helped me pick it up. A 6:01 final mile put me across the line in 58:30. I did get outkicked by 2 guys right in the last 50meters, but hey - I was WAY ahead of where I thought I would be. My average HR on the day was a mild 194 - I don't know how I don't blow up...

If these results aren't proof that a little speed work goes a LONG way, I don't know what is. Even with a drastic drop off in training volume, I've seen improvement AND almost no loss of endurance... Here is what my training looked like for the 4 weeks leading up to Broad St. - nothing over 8:15/week!

 I have a small 5k in the end of May, but that's the last running race until the fall. For the next 6-8 weeks it's going to be all about the bike.

Tough Mudder done, Broad St. to come!

Just quickly checking in because there has been some action in my racing life. Unfortunately I don't have enough time for a full rundown because it's also finals week at Villanova. This means I'm writing A LOT, running on very little sleep, and I'm still supposed to give classes from 8-3 and coach from 3-530... I am fairly confident I bit off more than I can chew this year. Nevertheless, the updates...

This weekend was a very different kind of race for me. I headed to the Poconos with a couple friends from high school to take on a Tough Mudder. According to the website it's "probably the toughest event on the planet" - I don't know about that, but it was a challenging event. I was more challenged than I thought I would be (I admittedly have a little bit of an Ironman ego), but I had a lot more fun too. The worst part was the cold. It was 32 degrees when the race started, and about 15 minutes in they make you climb into a dumpster full of ice water and make sure you completely submerge yourself. It's very appropriately called the "ice enema." From that moment on I lost most feeling in my hands and was unable to successfully complete some of the obstacles because I could not clench hands to hold on to anything (ie: monkey bars, ropes, walls, etc.). The most feared part of the course was the live electrical wires that we had to crawl though and then run through. They actually weren't as bad as I feared they would be, although they certainly did sting a bit. Overall it was a fun day and I didn't hurt myself, which I was a little fearful of. If I did do it again I would only do it during the summer months, and I would like to try to race it to see how fast I could do it - we went at a pretty leisurely pace.

Next stop- Broad St. I did this run back in 2010 and I'll say it was my first break through race. I didn't do anything extraordinary, but it was first time holding a sub 7min pace (I ran a 1:07.xx). Based on the half marathon on April 1, I should be down under 1:02, which I'd be very happy about. I would LOVE to see 59:59 on the clock when I cross, but I don't know if that is a real possibility just yet. I have been slacking a little with my workouts and I haven't been sleeping much because of all the work I have for Villanova. It's nice to know that going sub 1:00 is within my grasp even if it doesn't happen this weekend. My more realistic goal is to be under 1:02, which would be an improvement on my half marathon pace. We'll see though. I really don't know how it will go. I'm going to start near the front and go out hard and just hope I can hold on.

Come Tuesday of next week all my finals and papers will be finished, so it's all about the BIKE! And maybe I'll start swimming again too haha.

Move over volume, it's time for intensity

Talking with a good friend, David, today, he pointed out an interesting fact - I'm not training for any long course races this year. So why am I spending so much time going long and slow?? Example - today I went out on my long run. I have Broad St. coming up, which is a 10mile race, but I ran 18 today... A great run, and I feel great about it, but I don't need to put in that sort of mileage training for a 10 miler and then some shorter races this summer. The longest run as part of a race that I have planned after Broad St. is a 10k. I've only been doing 1 interval workout/week for the past couple months. I think it's time to step it up. I understand that building a strong aerobic base is important, but right now I want to go fast. I need to build my top end speed to be more competitive. So, I need to get the wheels spinning!

I'm not going to change anything for the next 2 weeks, but I am going to try to bump up to 3 intervals workouts/week after May 6. I'm thinking 2 will be on the bike, and I'll keep my 1 on the run. Then I'll see how my body responds. I think I have enough of a base under me right now that I'll be able to hold off injury even with the added stress of high intensity training.

Another suggestion he made that I am looking into is switching crank length on my bike. I currently ride with 175mm length crank arms. From what I can gather, shortening to 167.5 or 165 should let me raise my seat a bit, giving me a more flat back and aero positioning, and it should also open up my hip angle a bit while I'm down in the aero position allowing me to breathe a little better and without requiring such a large range of motion with my legs - and I am quite inflexible, so this should help me quite a bit. The downside to shorter cranks is said to be a little less torque/power, however, from what I've read on slowtwitch (and I even saw an interview with Lance Armstrong), I think the marginal decrease in torque is outweighed by the comfort and breathing, so there is actually no net loss of power. Lance said he rides a 172.5 on his roadie and a 167.5 on his TT bike. If he's doing it, it must be right, right?

OK- the busy week shall begin with a little less sleep than I wanted. Maddy was down in Miami for a bachelorette party this weekend, and her plane got delayed, so she won't be in until 1:30am. No biggie though. We'll make it work.

Thanks for reading.

As suspected...

Work needs to be done on the bike. I did a 7.6mile TT this morning, and it did not go very well. I guess I kind of knew my bike was not very strong right now, but it still hurt to see the results of me pushing. 7.6miles in 20:30, which is about a 22.3mph average. It was flat, very little wind, and perfect temperature. YIKES! I did ride 2x yesterday, a short morning ride and a longer evening ride, but I don't think it was fatigue from lack of recovery that was holding me back today. The fact is, I need to work on speed/power on the bike. This was a wake-up call. I will not be the rider that I want to be if this keeps up. Starting May 7 (the day after the Broad St. Run) my focus switches to the bike. I'm still thinking about how I want to attack it (ie: how I will restructure my week to directly focus on the bike), but I'll write about that some time in the near future, I'm sure. I've got to do some reading on cycling...

Running continues to move along. I had a good interval run on Tuesday morning - 12x400 all between 1:17-1:13 on 45 sec rest. It was tough, but it was good. Long run tomorrow, shorter interval set Tuesday, moderate Friday, and then Saturday 4/28 is the Tough Mudder. Not exactly the ideal plan for a taper before an important race, Broad St., but it should be fun. I'm doing it with a group of buddies from high school and we have a house in the Poconos for the weekend. It's not going to be a race to compete, but just to have fun and get it done.

Swimming...yeah...ummm...not a whole lot happening there.

There's a lot of stress coming in the next 2 weeks also with the end of the semester. I was pretty sleep deprived this week, and the real pressure hasn't even begun yet. I hope I can stay organized, stay focused, and DO GREAT WORK!

Thanks for checking in.

Learning to suffer on the bike

Is something I need to work on if I want to see some improvements this season. I did a short bike workout Saturday and it HURT! I don't know what the difference is between hard run intervals vs hard bike intervals, but for whatever reason I can handle (and actually almost sickly enjoy) the run intervals, but bike intervals are physically uncomfortable and mentally difficult to get through for me. I want to quit after only a short amount of time. That is one reason I hate the trainer so much - I don't have the mental fortitude to push through. I suppose only maturation and repetition will help me with this, so I'll be making a point of incorporating more high intensity on the bike over the next 2 months.

It was a pretty easy workout too, which bugs me. I did 4x1min single leg (per leg) with 30sec recover. Then 2x5min at a pretty hard effort (didn't wear HRM and don't have power, but it was on the upper end of my potential), then did 2x2min hill climbs.

Climbing has always been "easy" for me, but pushing in a big gear is much harder. I think I have a pretty strong base, which is why I typically race any distance between 20-22mph, but I also think my max speeds is about 23mph haha. Hopefully I will be able to bring that max speed up a bit before I race this summer. I'd love to see 24+mph average in an Olympic distance race AND the legs to run afterward. One day I'll get there (hopefully soon!).

Looking forward to the summer. This weather makes me feel like it's already here - it's supposed to hit 88 today! Also, I got a job at an outdoor pool this summer. If that doesn't encourage me to swim everyday I don't know what will. It's also about 14 miles from my apartment, so I'll be commuting by bike daily. This summer should bring lots of fitness, which will hopefully translate into some results!

First 100(ish) days in 2012 analysis

OK, I know it's only been 97, but I was trying to come up with a creative title and I thought about the 'first 100 days in office' thing...

I've been pleasantly surprised at some improvements and successes so far this year despite a less than ideal training volume. My focus so far this year has been on grad school and living life much more so than training and triathlon, however, I've still been getting some work done, and I've been really enjoying all my workouts, which I can't say was true last year...

So let's see what I've been doing since Jan 1 and compare that to 2011:

swim: 9hrs (35hrs in 2011) - 75% decrease
bike: 31hrs (52hrs) - 40% decrease
run: 30hrs (32hrs) - 6% decrease
strength: 6hrs (2.5hrs) - 140% increase!
total: 76hrs (112.5hrs) - 33% decrease
average/week: 5.8hrs (8.7hrs) - 33% decrease

There's been a huge drop off in my swim and bike training. I barely spend any time at the pool now a days. I know I said a big goal of mine is to improve my swim and to do so I need to get in the water, but it's tough to find time because of my pool's limited hours of operation, and frankly, I just haven't made it a priority... This summer I will be working at a pool, so I should be able to get something in 5days/week.

The bike is coming along... My goal for the year is to work on some top end speed, which I haven't tested yet, but I imagine it is below where I would like it. Next weekend starts weekly time trials along West River Drive in Philly, so I'm going to try to make it a priority to get out there and see how my speed comes along throughout the season.

My run is strong. I have been very pleasantly surprised at how well it has come along with the lack of overall training hours... I think the use of specific workouts really helps as opposed to just getting out there and running (I realize this might be a "no shit, Sherlock" comment, but bear with me). I really believe you need to do 3 different workouts to become a good runner. The first is a long easy run. The second is an interval workout run with spurts of high intensity. And the third is a steady state run, somewhere between the other 2 in terms of speed and effort. I also believe complementing the run with 3 similar workouts on the bike is extremely beneficial. My legs get pretty beat up from high run mileage, but I respond well to moderate run volume with well planned, moderate-high bike volume.

With the Broad St. 10 miler coming up in just 4 weeks, I will continue my run focused training. I know things are going to get busy the week before the race because I have a final exam, a presentation, and 2 final papers to write... But I'll do my best to hold it together. After that I'm switching gears to bike focus (ha! see what I did there? "switching gears"...). I'm going to try to really focus on the same 3 workouts I use running on the bike (long/easy, interval/speed, steady-state) in varying forms. Then come mid-June I'll start working in the swim while trying to continue a bike focus. My "A race" of the season is Aug. 8 as of now, so I should be good to go by then. It'll be back to running in the fall with another XC season.

For now things are coming along very well! I hope I continue to see improvements. It's hard to compare to previous seasons/races because just about every race I do is a "new" distance, but I know I'm improving.

Just looking at running races:
2009 marathon - 3:52 (8:51min/mile pace)
2010 broad st 10 mile - 1:07 (6:42pace)
2010 5k - 18:55 (6:06pace)
2010 marathon - 3:00 (6:52pace)
2011 5k - 17:36 (5:39pace)
2012 half marathon - 1:21 (6:13pace)

I know that part/most of my improvements come from still being new to the world of swimming, biking, and running, but I'll take it! One of the things that keeps this so exciting for me is seeing the improvements, so keep 'em comin'!

Thanks for reading.

What a race weekend!

Let's not beat around the bush here - I had a great race on Sunday! My goal was to be in the 1:22-25 range, and I didn't even know if that was possible because I had been under the weather and I just haven't been training a ton. I also had a little mishap in the morning and forgot the shoes I wanted to run in, whoops! Luckily I had a pair of trainers, which did just fine. As you can see below, I was able to do significantly better than I thought I would.

So here's the rundown- woke up at 4:45 Sunday morning ready and raring to go! I packed my bags the night before, so all I had to go was make a pb&j for breakfast, grab a banana and my bags, grab a coffee at 7-11, and hit the road. I was pretty sick at the beginning of the week and passed along my bug to Maddy, so she was pretty under the weather. My Dad decided to join me for the ride down to AC though to watch and support me in the race. Everything was going perfectly. We got down to packet pick up with no problems and in plenty of time. Then I realized I only brought one of the two bags I packed... And the bag I left behind was the one with my racing flats in it. Luckily I had another pair of shoes, but they were my trainers that I bought to walk around in. I had actually never worn them to run, and they kind of hurt my feet because they have some lateral support, which I don't need. Oh well!

The race got under way and I headed out with the front group. By mile one the leaders were out of sight. The guy who won ran a 1:05 and second place was 1:09...

Here is my race by time and heart rate.
1 - 6:04 (174)
2 - 6:17 (178)
3 - 6:11 (177)
4 - 6:14 (180)
5 - 6:12 (181)
6 - 6:14 (181)
7 - 6:16 (185)
8 - 6:14 (187)
9 - 6:21 (184)
10 - 6:12 (184)
11 - 6:14 (190)
12 - 6:07 (192)
13 - 6:19 (191)
.1 - :39 (191)
Total: 1:21:36 (184)

Like I said, I'm stoked. Despite a shoe mishap and being a little under the weather/under trained, my body came through. I'm always shocked at how high my HR gets and how I don't bonk... I was going to put a HR cap on myself to keep things in check, but honestly I'm glad I didn't. My HR has always run high during races/fitness tests, so I haven't really come to understand it yet. My max HR "should be" (according to the 220-age formula) 193. I hit 196 during the race, and I've recorded as high as 205 in a 5k... But I don't have time to figure this thing out right now.

Some areas to improve - I did get caught by a guy, actually a friend and the president of the Philly Tri Club at mile 12. I hung with him for about 800m and then had to fall off. He was strong! Perhaps I went out a little hard. I would love to have a kick some day...

Moving forward - the Broad St. 10 miler is the next race on the schedule in a little over a month. With this performance at a 13.1, I'd REALLY love to get as close to 59:59 as possible... This week will be a little recovery, then it's back to work next week, so we'll see what happens. I'll be updating my training program over the next couple days if you want to have a look.

Other notes - my Rudy Project shades are awesome. I ordered the Genetyks, and they rock. Light weight, nice lens, comfortable, durable, and they look boss.

The Oceanside 70.3 and Galveston 70.3 were awesome races as well this weekend. I love Andy Potts, and the field at Galveston was ridiculous. I used to think breaking 4 hours was impressive for a pro. Now a days a 3:59 won't get you on the podium apparently... I am very tempted to get into a 70.3 this year, but I will hold off.

Sorry for the rant!
Thanks for reading.