GPS

I ran a local 5k last weekend (4th overall, 2nd AG) with several friends and afterwards we were talking about the course. Since everyone these days wears a GPS, we were comparing distances. They all ranged from 3.2 to 3.4 miles. About two miles of the course format was out and back which gave me a good chance to see what my GPS measured.
I uploaded my run and switched the route view to satellite. The scale in the picture is one into to 200 feet. The course is on a paved bike path so the maximum width of the course is eight feet. You can clearly see in two areas where the out and back don't overlay. I try to run the tangents and since going out, I was near the front, there wasn't any problems cutting corners. You can also see where it looks like I'm running off the concrete path and through a field and a parking lot.
A GPS is a great tool for mapping runs and estimating distances but it's only as accurate as it's reception. While this path had very few trees and only on building over two stories, the GPS wasn't perfect and I don't think it's right to expect it to be. It's worn on the wrist so it's pretty small with a small antenna. It has a rechargable battery so it's not very powerful. So if you have GPS, enjoy your ability to measure your runs anywhere you go but remember, it's not perfect.

Chicago - D Minus 17 Days and Counting

There's one way to get into Chicago but two ways to run it. The only way in is to register early before it sells out. The best way to run it is to have a fast qualifying time from another marathon. What's a fast marathon time going to get you? I just received my race brochure with my starting wave and I'm in corral A. Corral A is the third group behind the professionals and the 100 elites. That means there will be about 200 people in front of me and 44,800 people behind me. That means a minimum of swerving and dodging and being able to get into a rhythm right from the start. How cool is that?

Harvest Moon Triathlon

Prologue
Heading to Aurora Reservoir, I see a long line of red tail lights. The early morning fishermen must be wondering who all these people are. It’s time for Harvest Moon the longest running iron distance race in Colorado and the last big triathlon of the Colorado season. This year it’s sold out and it’s being held in conjunction with a duathlon and a new sprint triathlon which add even more competitors. Bruce and Holly are racing the sprint and come out early to cheer me on.
ACT 1 – The Swim – 1.2 Miles – 31:16, 1:43/100
At Boulder Peak I learned not to line up in the middle so this morning I decided to line up in front on the right. I’ve been working on my stroke but today that’s not going to matter, today I’m going to push it and try to make time. The swim at Harvest Moon starts straight at the sun which always makes spotting the buoys fun. I find the first one pretty easily but the next couple I have to rely on my fellow swimmers.
Right from the start I push it and get towards the front of my wave. I pass a couple people from the first wave on the way out and then I’m at the turn and heading back to the beach. The sighting on the return is easier since you can see the watch tower. By keeping my head and staying in the game, I keep moving up through the crowd and only see a couple people from the next wave pass me. Hitting the beach I run towards T1 and there’s Bruce and Holly cheering me on.
T1 – 1:33 including run from swim beach
ACT 2 – The Bike – 56 Miles – 2:26:43, 22.9 mph
As I exit T1, there’s Bruce and Holly again. It’s great having your own cheering section. I pull on my shoes and start out of the reservoir. There was construction on one of the bridges which forced to road to one lane. Fortunately there were sheriffs there to control the traffic and it didn’t have a real impact on the race. When I turn north to Watkins, I pass Kestrel man for the first time. Over the next twenty miles, we trade positions a few times. I’m faster than him up the hills and he’s a little faster going down. As we roll through mile twenty I take a glance at my computer. We’re under an hour so I’m right on target.
After the Bennett turn, I pass Kestrel for the last time on a small uphill. There are four of us strung out and I keep expecting one of them to set tempo up it never happens. At the turn onto Quincy, I take a quick glance back and I don’t see anyone for a good mile. I guess the small rollers finally got to Kestrel. At mile forty-five I take another computer look and I’m just over two hours. The bike is looking good. The final turn occurs and it’s into T2. As I come into T2, someone is counting out the bike finishers and says I’m number 22. I hope the nutrition plan on the bike was right because the temperature is always warm at Harvest Moon.
There’s a new course this year at Harvest Moon. They removed the I-70 stretch to Bennett and now we ride clockwise to Watkins, Bennett, south to Quincy and then back to T2. The new portion on Quincy has some pretty good rollers and after forty miles, they seem even bigger. Although the old bike course was good, I think the changes are good ones and I like the new course.
T2 – 1:19
ACT 3 – The Run – 13.1 Miles – 1:42:38. 7:51/mile
The transition area was moved this year so you don’t have to start the run going up hill which was very nice. As I head out of T2, I glance at my watch. My time so far is three hours which makes the chance of breaking five hours really good. I only need to run a two hour half marathon and I know I can do that. Last year here I ran a 1:37 so sub-2 is a real possibility.
The run was also routed a couple times onto dirt trails which made the run a little more bearable since the rest of the run is concrete. Of course since it is Aurora, there are plenty of rolling hills on the course. A lot of the sprint competitors share the first part of the run course and a lot of them are still on course. I look for Holly and Bruce but I don’t find them. They should have finished a while ago so I’m not surprised that I don’t see them. It’s not until the sprint turn around that I know how lonely four hundred person race can be. I can see one runner ahead but that’s it.
When I pass him, he tells me that there is only one person in my AG ahead of me. After a few more minutes, I see a group of three ahead and focus on catching them. A mile or two later I’ve pulled them in and one of them is in my AG. Could he be the leader in my AG? A few seconds later I see someone going the other way with a bid only one number below mine so I think that must be the AG leader.
As I near the turn around, my right hamstring seizes up and I stop for second to stretch. I’m guessing my sodium is low so I grab for my sport beans and start munching. The whole way back is a battle trying to get the hydration up and keeping moving. As I check my watch at mile ten, I have over forty minutes to finish under five hours. Running aid station to aid station has gotten me this far and it’s the strategy to getting to finish. As I approach the finish line, I hear my name announced and there’s Holly and Bruce cheering again.
Total Time: 4:43:27, 19th overall, 2nd AG M40-44
Epilogue
Wow, thirty minutes off of last year’s time. I picked up time everywhere except the run where I gave up five minutes. I think everything clicked for this race and it all came together. The training, the nutrition, the rest, everything went good. Going into the race, my goal was sub-five. To do that I wanted finish the swim in thirty-five, the bike in 2:40 and the run in 1:40. I gave myself five minutes for both transitions. The swim was under, the bike was way under, the two transitions were under and only the run was over. Overall it was a great effort and a wonderful way to end the season.

Bike Safety

I took a bike safety class and after learning the rules of the road and the laws, we went outside to learn new skills. The first skill was how to fall and it's not as easy as it seems.

First, you have to keep your hands on the handle bars. The goal is to keep the hands in and take some of the impact on the bike. You try to drive the bar into the ground.

The second part is to keep your feet on the pedals. With clipless pedals this is pretty easy but with running shoes, there is the temptation to put your foot down.

When the hands stay in and the feet stay put, you take the impact on the hip and shoulder. This should prevent you from breaking or dislocating anything. We practiced by sitting on our bikes next to a tree and then letting go. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to let go when you're just sitting there. Once I fell, it made sense and didn't really hurt. Hopefully I can remember this trick if I ever need it.

Tour of Missouri

The third major US stage race kicked of today in Missouri. I think it's a great day for US cycling to have another week long stage race with some of the UCI Pro teams in attendance. Several teams are here including Discovery in one of their last stage races as a team. I hope this race becomes established and survives next year when Discovery is no more and Chipolte-Slipstream is the major US team.

The web coverage hasn't been as smooth as the Tours of California or Georgia but it's only the first day. Hopefully everything will get worked out.

Fall Frenzy Triathlon

Prologue

With a 10:50 am start time this could have been a long day. I talked to the race director the day before and she said I only had to arrive an hour before my start time. That was a blessing in disguise. I got to sleep in, have breakfast and then go to the race. When I arrived at 10:00, the people who started at 7 were already leaving and I was able to find a close parking slot and get my transition set up without the usual crowd and chaos.

ACT 1 – The Swim – 500 yards pool - 7:45, 1:35/100

Fall Frenzy has an interesting swim format for a pool triathlon. They do the usual seating based upon your predicted swim time with the slower heats going first. One unique thing that Fall Frenzy does it when a lane is emptied, they start another group without waiting for all the lanes in the heat to finish. The swim coordinator gets the next five swimmers, puts them in the empty lane, the timer comes over and the group starts.

The other unique concept is the fast lane. For about an hour, the race has one lane dedicated to swimmers who can do a 500 with flip turns under 7:30. Rather than wait for the last wave where most of these swimmers would start, they can start a few hours earlier. It’s a great way to race if you have a busy day and don’t want to wait until 11:00 to start. How do they keep people out of the fast lane who shouldn’t be there? If you don’t finish in under 7:30 or don’t do flip turns, you get accessed a 5 minute penalty.

When I finally got ready to swim and it was time for my group, there weren’t many people left in my heat. Of the original 7:30 and under thirty people, there were maybe ten left and we were the very last to start. Since we were the last, the race director allowed us to wait an extra minute or two and we were given our own lanes. It was great, like a swim meet where everyone gets a lane.

To give everyone an accurate start time, there were three timers with PDAs who started every swimmer. They typed in your bib number, tapped the screen and said go. The PDAs were later downloaded to the timing system. As I made my first turn, I realized that in all the excitement to race, I forgot to start my watch. Oh well, I guess my swim time gets to include the run to transition. The 500 passed pretty quickly and the lap counter was nice enough to stick a kick board in the pool with 50 to go so I knew when to get out.

The run to T1 was a little long but it wasn’t longer than any others I’ve done this year. By the time I got to T1, most of the bikes were gone, either the racers had left or were still on the course. I suspect most had left since it was over four hours since the first people started. The first thing I noticed as I ran to my bike was my helmet was gone. A quick look around and I saw it on the ground by another bike. I guess it must have been bumped. Strapping on my helmet and grabbing my sunglasses, I dashed out of T1.

T1 - 1:48 including run from pool to transition

ACT 2 – The Bike – 13 Miles - 33:01, 23.6 mph

Part of the bike course was held on the Cherry Creek Trail and another portion on the E470 Trail. I’ve ridden both sections a lot so I knew what to expect. The new bike performed great. I was a little wobbly in a couple sections but I think I was pushing too hard and not relaxing. At first on the bike, I didn’t see any other competitors but that was because I was one of the last three people to start. After a couple miles, I started to catch up to people which helped my follow the course. There were a couple long climbs but I kept the pressure on the cranks and kept myself right on the red line.

When I arrived back at T2, there were even fewer bikes than before. Of course the race had now been going on for five hours so you can’t blame people for leaving early. Plus it was the first weekend of football season and you know how Bronco fans are. I pulled on my running shoes, grabbed my hat and race number and ran through the rows to the run start. Another advantage of so many bikes being gone, I ran straight to the exit instead of down the row and then out.

T2 - 43.4

ACT 3 – The Run – 3 Miles - 19:09, 6:11/mile

The run was held on the Cherry Creek Trail going south while the bike route went north. There was a slight downhill at the start which meant an uphill finish. I took off running and it didn’t feel right. It felt rushed and choppy and I never did establish a good rhythm. Maybe it was because I pushed so hard on the bike or maybe it was just because it was a sprint and I was trying to sprint. As I approached the turn around, I saw one of the other late starting swimmers and set my sights on him. I caught him as we started a short climb and I pushed hard over the hill. I figured if I dropped him on the ascent, he would have a hard time latching on. From there it was a fly to the finish. As I neared the line, I heard footsteps and put on a final burst of speed. It turns out the high school kid I just passed was trying to get me at the line.

Total Time: 1:02:27

Epilogue

After the race, I had a chance to talk with some of the guys I started the swim with. We were all around 1:02 – 1:04 so it was going to be close for the win. While waiting for the results, I went back to the transition to pack up my gear. When I got to the transition area there were maybe thirty bikes left. The crew was even starting to pack up the racks. I packed up, put everything in the car and hit the showers. I figured being at a recreation center meant good showers and a chance to relax. Another benefit of finishing near the end is that instead of half a burrito, I got a whole burrito. Overall I placed third overall, edging out fellow Amino Vital racer Greg by a few seconds. Not bad for a race I wasn’t planning on doing.
Perhaps the best part of the day occurred on the way home. I called my brother after the race since it was his slot and entry fee. Turns out during the swim he was talking to the race director and the RD was talking up two of the competitors. The RD was saying that these two guys were going to compete for the win and my brother said to watch for the guy swimming in lane one which was me. He said I was fast and would be right there at the end. How cool is that.

Opportunity

Originally my brother and I talked about doing this race. My brother was enthusiastic about the race but I wasn't that excited so my brother registered and I kept thinking about it. When I finally decided to do the race, it had sold out.

This morning, opportunity came knocking in the form of an email from my brother. He had been under the weather for the last couple weeks and didn't think he could complete the race. Since the race had a transfer policy, he was offering me his slot.

I thought about it all day and since I'm already racing the next two weekends, I decided I would pass on the opportunity and stay home. So what happens when I get home? My wife told me she was invited to go on a trail ride on Sunday and would be gone all morning. I guess when opportunity knocks this hard you should just race.

Week 2

I've ridden five times on the new P2SL and it's still going great. I'm starting to get used to the handling and I'm becoming more comfortable on descents. I spent the morning at Interlocken going down and up the hills to practice descending. It's nice there early on the weekends since there isn't a lot of car traffic. The hills are pretty good and they bend and curve which I think is important. Going straight down is easy, going down into a curve takes practice.