Ready-ness

June 8th, 2011 No Comments

Ready

-adjective
1. completely prepared or in fit condition for immediate action or use: GdO ready for battle; The athlete is ready.
2. duly equipped, completed, adjusted, or arranged, as for an occasion or purpose: The mechanic called to say that the bike is ready.

With 18 days remaining until race day, I’m entering my last 2.5 weeks of training, which is really more like recovering and tapering. All the hard work and large volume of training were completed last weekend. My body seems to be taking it well. Each day I feel rested, but lately when I start exercising I’ve felt slightly fatigued. Coach says it’s normal. The strange thing is that despite my general tiredness when training, I seem to be performing at a really high level.

Aquatics: Ever since the Encinitas race, I’ve jacked up my swimming intensity by several notches, and I’m pleased to say that my base time for 100 meters has decreased. I can consistently swim it in 1:45. Prior to Encinitas, I swam 1:55/100 meters. Some “fastest” highlights from recent workouts: 100 m in 1:36, 200 m in 3:15, 400 m in 7:03.

Velo-city: I feel most fatigued when cycling, but have not noticed anything negative speed or power wise while riding on the road. Notable highlight: near the end of a recent 114-mile ride, I tore up Torrey Pines.

Ambulation: No hip pains, nothing reminiscent of my injury last December. Running regularly with Eric has helped. Keeping up with Mr. Speed Demon on Tuesday nights and running below my target pace on Wednesdays has helped me to run fast on a consistent basis. At track workouts, I’ve been running the target 90% efforts at sub-6-minute pace.

IMCDA, I am ready.

Epic-ness

May 28th, 2011 No Comments

epicness

-noun
1. the quality or state of being epic

April 22nd (65 days away): It was epic to work out for half an hour at 5:30 AM, then swim in the ocean for 45 minutes, followed by riding 67 miles in 4 hours on my bike, and ending with a 20-minute 2-mile run.

April 30th (57 days away): Then it was epic to swim for an hour in the ocean, followed by a 57-mile ride with hill repeats for 3.5 hours, capped with a 1-hour run 6.5 miles.

May 6th (51 days away): Epicness in magnitude for riding for 100 miles in 5 hours followed by a 2-mile 15-minute run.

May 21st (36 days away): How could it be more epic than riding 110 miles in 6 hours, and then running for 15 minutes?

May 27th (30 days away): The final epic preparation – swim for half an hour, ride for 114 miles in 6.5 hours, and run for 2 miles in 15 minutes.

But truly the most epic moment will be on June 26th when I hear the words:

“Gerry de Ocampo, you … are … an … IRONMAN!”

Thunder Rolls

May 18th, 2011 No Comments

Encinitas Sprint TriathlonIn less than 50 days, I’ll be racing in my first full-distance triathlon at Ironman Coeur d’Alene in Idaho. Stuck in the throes of high volume training weeks was this week with only eight programmed hours of training and one little sprint race as a tune up for the big dance. I raced the Encinitas Sprint Triathlon this past Sunday, May 15th. I’m pleased with how I finished the race 12th in my AG with a time of 1:16:51.8.

Transition Area Setup: Started the morning a little annoyed with the disorganization of the race folks. Missing bike sticker in my race packet, so I made my own. Got chased around by someone asking if I needed an extra sticker. Sorry dude that I was annoyed with you and asked you to leave me alone. I guess I was frustrated that it took me over five minutes to find my AG rack. End of complaining starts here.

Swim (17:48.4): I’ll be honest. The huge waves freaked me out. Nice cross current too. We all took off to the right of the buoys to account for the current. Ran into the surf and when the water level reached my waist, I started doing the dolphin dives. Amazingly, I successfully swam out past three sets of breaking waves without swallowing any ocean water. I was surprised that the breaks weren’t that humongous. Once past the breaks I really thought the water would be much smoother, but the rise and fall of the huge swells as I swam out to the buoy made me so glad I didn’t overeat for breakfast or eat too close to race time. I don’t ever want to know what it feels like to throw up while swimming. As per usual, I felt relieved to make the turn back towards shore. Despite missing all the rough waves on the way out, I got thrashed by one wave and it shoved me down hard underneath the surface. Perhaps it was a foreshadowing of the thunder about to come.

I expected to do the swim in about 15-16 minutes, so I was a little disappointed with the time. Looking back at this race in hindsight, I have to admit that I didn’t swim as hard I could have. And that kind of pisses me off. I’ll make no excuses for myself. I let the fear of the waves and the ocean get the best of me. Just as an aside, in my first pool swim after the race, I decided to let loose and swim with extra umpf for the entire workout. I’m hoping the next time I put that wetsuit on– that I’ll take the confidence I felt in the pool swimming hard–to  swim like I know I can during a race. And maybe, just maybe my bike ride will be more about building a lead rather than trying to catch up.

T1 (2:57.4): The run up to T1 was pretty long and steep, but I liked it. I was stoked to remove my wetsuit without difficulty. I had been practicing stepping on the legs portion of the suit to get it down low. Then I sat down and removed the suit from my ankles with my hands. Yes! Something good. And I know I can get even better and faster at removing that suit in future sprint races.

Bike (33:38.9): I always feel extremely confident on my bike rides. They’ve been the most natural part of this sport for me. Granted, this 20K ride was no time trial on Fiesta Island, but nevertheless I hit it pretty hard, averaging 305 watts and 22.2 mph, definitely within my Zone 4 effort/power level. I really like this bike course along Coast Highway. Eric and I have ridden this particular stretch of road many times in our training rides.

Other than having to yell at a few other athletes to announce my intentions to pass on their left side, there were no real challenges on this bike ride. There was one dude (#55) who blocked my pass. I guess he didn’t hear me when I asked him to move over the first time. So when he was blocking me, I yelled: “Dude, you’re not allowed to block my path!”. As I passed this guy yells: “Just say so.” Whatever dude.

So as I get close to the transition area completing the first loop, #55 passes me. And this dude starts talking trash as he passes me: “Way to beat me! Nice riding.” Are you serious? Saying nothing as we rounded the turn to start the second loop, he started to pull away. Whatever dude. The only thought going through my head was:

You have no idea what I am about to unleash on you.

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Control What You Can

April 3rd, 2011 1 Comment

Despite the best well-laid plans, there can still be a few things out of one’s control on race day. That’s what happened to me yesterday at IM 70.3 California. Despite a couple of things I could not control, I’m pleased with my race results and time with my third 70.3 race, 5:27:29. Though it’s not a 70.3 PR, it’s close to my PR, which I set on a much easier course at Vineman 70.3. For this race, I was very well-prepared to execute my race plan 0:35 swim, 2:30 bike, and 1:40-1:45 run.

Setup: As usual I woke up early and was one of the first people in line to enter Transition. I claimed the end spot on my rack, set my stuff up, talked with other Breakaway athletes, and hung out with Eric. I ate a second breakfast at 5:30 AM for more calories since my first meal was at 3:30 AM. I used the porta-potty four times. I even had to pee right before the swim, and peed in my wetsuit while waiting in the swim corral. I’m sure the woman next to me knew that was my pee on the ground, but the transition area was closed and I didn’t feel like undoing my wetsuit to pee in the porta-potties inside the corral. Oh well, hopefully she didn’t step in the puddle of pee I left behind.

Finishing the swim

Finishing the swim

 

Swim (0:38:45): Water temperature was 62°F, much warmer than last year’s 54°. I didn’t wear my thermal cap underneath my white race cap. Other than the 10 minute ocean swim Eric and I did a few days ago, this would be my first long ocean swim of the season. I dreaded it. I met up with Maria and friends at the dock as my wave entered the water. I dunked myself underneath the water and allowed the water to fill my suit. As the wave before me left, my wave then swam out to the start buoys where we waited for our 7:36 AM wave start.

As per my plan, I started mid-pack and to the right. I’d let the ambitious swimmers fight for position near the front while I’m content to find my own space and avoid the initial bump and grind. When it was all said and done, I took two minutes off my swim time as compared to last year’s race.

If there was one thing I would have liked to change about the swim it would be my attitude. All I could think about was: “I can’t wait for this swim to be over.” The swim out to the turn around point seemed to take forever, which only aggravated me even more. The highlight of the swim was when I bopped some woman in the head with my right arm/hand. I kept swimming and she stopped. “Nice!”, she said. I wish I could have stopped to laugh out loud, but all I wanted to do was get this swim over with and on to the good stuff. In my mind, I thought: “Get over it, lady. Swim faster next time so later waves won’t catch you.”

T1 (0:5:24): The run from swim in back to T1 is long. So I started peeling the top part of my wetsuit off while running back to T1. My struggles with removing the wetsuit from my ankles continue. I think I wasted about 40 seconds struggling with it. Finally with the wetsuit off, I put on my race number, helmet, and shoes and headed out for my 56-mile adventure.

Bike (2:43:15): I was eager to get out on the bike course, my obvious strength. Equipped with a PowerTap wheel I rented from Race Day Wheels, My goal was to sustain an average power output of 235 watts and a time of 2:30. I would need to average 22.4 mph. I did okay for the first 28 miles, averaging about 23 mph. Unfortunately, I spent too much energy sustaining that speed because my average power for the first half was 245 watts.

When I reached the steep first climb, I really wanted to attack that hill and climb hard. But I was really surprised that the right side of the road was blocked. In their infinite wisdom the race officials decided that the athletes would use the narrow left side of the road. I was pretty annoyed. About half way up, I said “Screw it” and rode on the right side of road with other athletes who were fed up.

After the first tough climb, I noticed my average speed was much lower. I knew some fatigue had set in, but not enough to slow me down that much. After a mile or so, I realized that I was riding into some tough headwinds, which made the bike ride that much slower. After the third hill, I rode about 24 mph average back to transition. When all was said and done, my bike time was about the same as last year’s ride. I think the headwinds basically ruined my race plan. My average speed for the ride dropped to 20.6 mph and average power dropped to 214 watts. Despite my best preparations for the ride of my life, I had no control over the wind. I would have to deal with the extra 10 minutes I had not planned on.

Hit <Esc> to skip the following rant…

<rant>I spent pretty much the whole bike course riding on the left side of other athletes, passing them. The course seemed really crowded to me. On one part near the campgrounds by Camp Pendleton there were three riders across the road blocking my way. The one on the farthest left was some jackass woman lollygagging. I yelled out at her: “Pass if you’re gonna pass.” I heard her yell something unintelligible to me as I passed her. I wanted to give her the California Condor, but I was too busy going 28 mph while she was probably going 17 mph.</rant>

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Ohhh! Ching-Chong-Ling-Long-Ting-Tong

March 30th, 2011 No Comments

Sorry, if you were looking for commentary about that blond girl going wild on Asians in Powell Library at UCLA, then you found the wrong article.

It seems like forever since my last post, and it also seems like a lot has happened. In the last month, I moved up an age group to the 45-49 AG when I turned 45. And while you youngsters out there think that we more venerable athletes are slowing down, I’m actually finding that the athletes at the top of the older age groups seem to get faster and/or retain their speed from their youth. I’m both nervous and excited about competing in the new AG. Why nervous? Well, it seems like it just gets tougher and tougher every year. And this AG is no exception. There are some fast, tough, badass people in my new AG. Excited? Heck yea! I have made huge gains in my nutrition and training this past month, so I am stoked to put these gains to the test in my first triathlon of the season this weekend at IM 70.3 California.

I’ve recently become a huge fan of Ben Greenfield’s podcast of http://bengreenfieldfitness.com. Ben is a nutrition expert, exercise physiologist, elite triathlete, and renowned fitness coach. I highly recommend you subscribe to his fitness podcasts unless of course you and I are in the same age group. If you and I are in the same age group, don’t listen to the podcasts because they suck and will be a huge waste  of your time.

From Mr. Greenfield I learned about the importance of supplementing my diet with essential amino acids and branch chain amino acids (BCAAs). And it’s not about eating enough protein, fool. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a total carnivore. Well at least, as an omnivore I enjoy a good share of lean meats in my daily diet. From personal experience, I can validate that consumption of amino acids before, during, and after exercise have enabled me to have increased stamina and endurance. I can ride harder, longer. I can run faster and farther, extending the time out when my body begins to fatigue. I won’t bore you with my regimen and products, but contact me if you’re interested. Or you can just listen to the aforementioned podcasts.

Case in point. On February 19th I did a bike course preview of the IM 70.3 California on a Computrainer. My volume of training that week was a little more than 13 hours, and by the time that I did the course, I was exhausted. At the time I was just supplementing my diet with my regular sport drinks, Infinit and VITALYTE. I completed the 56-mile course utterly fatigued in a time of 2:51 and an average power output of 209 watts. I started my new amino acid regimen shortly after that.

After experiencing amazing results for four weeks, I completed the Computrainer course again on March 19th. That week my training volume was a little longer at almost 15 hours. And by the end of the week I felt fantastic, not tired. During the ride I purposely stayed in 2nd for the first part of the course behind my buddy, Eric, for 30 miles. My strategy was to follow closely behind until we reached the first hill. I climbed hard and waited to see what would happen. Then I climbed the next two hills and amazingly I had lots of energy remaining. I finished the course in 2:37 (average 237 watts), and apparently, I was only the third person in the history of that gym to finish in under 2 hours 40 minutes. The best part of the ride was that I had no cramps afterward, and was able to run well for 20 minutes. NOTE: For this particular workout I also supplemented my amino acid-laced drinks with SaltStick capsules, one every half hour.

With regards to training, you may remember that just a few months ago I was sidelined with an injury to my hip flexors. I’ve been going to physical therapy to deal with that and finished my final session last week. My legs and hips seem stronger than ever thanks to the workout regimen my evil therapist prescribed to me each week. The one old “new” thing I’ve reintroduced into my training regimen is doing strength training three times a week. Prior to triathlon I used to be a gym rat, but when I started training seriously for tris, I stopped strength training. I won’t repeat myself too much since I already wrote a blog about this topic, but I will never give up strength training again. I feel great and for sure, it has been my key to rehabilitating and preventing injury. Strength training, stretching, dynamic warm-ups, foam rolling. Just do it.

Short of jinxing myself this Saturday at the race, here are my goals. Finish the swim in 35 min, bike in 2:30, and run 1:40-ish (if I can avoid cramps). What time do I want? You do the math. But keep it to yourself. I don’t want to get jinxed!

 

The Comeback (Badass) Kid

February 16th, 2011 No Comments

I feel young even though I’m moving up an age group this year. So what the heck, yes, I am a comeback kid.

At the San Dieguito Half Marathon this past Sunday, I completed my first running race of 2011 exactly eight weeks since my injury successfully making my comeback to racing. I really enjoyed my first time doing this race. Both the atmosphere and the course were fun and fantastic. The course starts at San Dieguito Park near the Del Mar Fairgrounds and winds through the rolling hills of Rancho Santa Fe and loops back to the park.

As prescribed by my physical therapist, I completed a pre-(race) workout warm-up with some stretching. My right hip and glute are especially prone to tightness, so I’ve been fairly fanatical about my warm-up routine. I planned to run just under the 2-hour mark (a little less than 9:09/mile) with my CSUSM MBA friend, Daniel Rio. We even lined up in the back with all the “slower” people. {Big shout out to my good friend, Craig Durham, who completed his first half marathon.}

As it turns out, I ran most of the race faster than I expected. Daniel kept up with me for about 10K. We were running well under 9:00/mile, most of the time at about 8:30/mile. I typically slowed down to about 9:00/mile when going uphill. My legs felt great throughout, no pain or tightness.

After the halfway point, I started to get a little bored. And since I was feeling so good, I thought I would just kick it up a notch for the second 10K of the race. Somewhere up a long incline, I dropped Daniel. Of the last six or so miles of the race, I ran four miles at a sub-7:30/mile pace. Although there were still a few hills here and there, the back half of this course seemed like an overall slight decline. I knew I would get a great negative split for this race.

Finishing strong at the San Dieguito Half Marathon

Finishing Strong at the San Dieguito Half Marathon

My final time was 1:47:54 (thanks to Race Central for correcting my time – a lot of times were screwed up, even with the digital timing chip we used). I’m very happy with the result. It’s not a PR by about 12 minutes, but with only a handful of short training runs under my belt in 2011, I think this time was pretty awesome for a comeback race.

I credit my comeback to the regular, intense strength training with the physical therapist. And because of the obvious results, I’ve committed three hours of strength training to my weekly regimen as well as daily stretching and foam rolling. It’s been tough training on some days with two or three workouts in one day on top of working at a  full-time career. Some days I am just physically tired. Most other days I feel like I am on top of the world, dripping with sweat chasing a gym workout with a 4000-meter swim, run, or a bike ride.

So yea, not only am I the comeback kid, but I’m also a badass.

The Phantom Injury or Not

February 15th, 2011 No Comments

Darth Maul: (To Lord Sidious) At last we shall reveal ourselves to the Jedi, at last we shall have our revenge.

You’re probably wondering right about now: ”What does Star Wars have to do with your training?”. Absolutely nothing.

I just thought of that quote as I pondered my racing goals for 2011. I’m anticipating a banner year with lofty goals like:

  • Qualifying for Boston (not possible due to anticipated qualifying race occurring after new registration period closes as of 2/16/11)
  • Completing my first Ironman triathlon
  • Breaking 5 hours in a 70.3 race
  • Getting on the podium in a triathlon

Yep. These will be difficult to attain. But as Coach John Wooden said: “Goals should be difficult to achieve because those achieved with little effort  are seldom appreciated, give little personal satisfaction, and  are often not very worthwhile.”

Since the beginning of 2011 all my goals have been in jeopardy. Because of my hip flexors injury I sustained during the Tucson Marathon last December I’ve had to drop out of my first three races of 2011. The toughest one to drop out of was the Carlsbad Marathon where I thought I would have had my best early shot at qualifying for Boston. Since the injury where I had to stop running at mile 20 after 2 hours 30 minutes, I’ve run unsuccessfully with sharp pain occuring after:

  • 11 miles in 1.5 hours two weeks after the injury
  • 0.3 miles in 5 minutes four weeks after the injury
  • 1.5 miles in 20 minutes six weeks after the injury

But fear not. I’ve been very proactive about my recovery, visiting my doctor, getting massages, and *suffering* during physical therapy. After the third week of physical therapy (six weeks after the injury), I visited my doctor again because I was most displeased with my apparent lack of progress.

I’m glad I saw him again because he conducted an experiment with trigger point injections on me. Using a 1% xylocain solution, a local anaethetic, he injected directly into the pain trigger point on my right leg, below my right pelvic bone at the hip. The anaesthesia is temporary, lasting only 30 minutes. In addition to the temporary numbing I felt no pain when my doctor pressed on my hip flexors right on the point that had severe pain over the last few weeks. The hypothesis of this experiment was that my injury had already healed (soft tissue strains usually heal within 1 to 12 weeks) and the nerves were incorrectly sending pain signals to the brain while running. If the hypothesis was correct, then by the next day I should feel no pain and be able to run. If the hypothesis was incorrect, then by the next day the pain should return when the trigger point is depressed and especially while running.

Results: The experimental hypothesis was correct! Amazingly, I have been pain free since the injection. And the doctor and physical therapist have cleared me to resume my regular running training regimen.

Physical therapy has been the best part of my recovery. So far I’ve completed seven weeks of physical therapy for a total of 13 sessions. Each one-hour session consists of some stretching and intense strength training. By the end of the sessions I am dripping with sweat. I regret having stopped strength training a long time ago as I got busy with triathlon training because all the exercises that I’m doing in physical therapy are the same or similar to the exercises I did when I used to regularly lift weights at the gym. As a result of the physical therapy strength training and conditioning, I can feel my legs and core getting stronger.

Another lesson I’ve learned the hard way during my recovery time is the importance of doing pre- and post-workout warm-ups and stretching. Since I’ve been involved in this sport I’ve been pretty lazy with regards to properly warming up and stretching before and after workouts, especially running. My physical therpist has “mandated” warming up/stretching before and after workouts. I have to admit it’s kind of a hassle, adding on an extra 30 minutes before track workouts and runs as well as an additional 15 minutes afterwards. But if it keeps me performing at a high athletic level, then I don’t mind doing the extra time. At my age, you find that the muscles don’t recover as quickly anymore as well not being as elastic as they once were during my youth.

The number one non-negotiable exercise that I do at least once a day is using a stiff foam roller to massage my legs, hips, and glutes. It was extremely painful at first, but I’ve gotten used to it. It makes my sore, tired legs feel like new. Unfortunately, that’s another half hour of time. I typically just do it while winding down for the evening in front of the television, which minimizes the time impact.

Since my return to running, I’ve completed two track workouts at full intensity, a long run (about 10 miles for 90 minutes), and a half marathon race!

P.S. My physical therapist is the bomb. He’s a former collegiate basketball player with a doctorate in physical therapy. His name is Ryan Monagle and he practices at Personally Fit.

2010 Year in Review

January 25th, 2011 No Comments

Guess I better reflect on 2010 before too much of 2011 has elapsed! Though I would have liked to have more age group podium finishes in 2010, in many ways it was a banner year for me as I complete a little more than half of my second year of training and competing in triathlon. So here’s a little summary of the year by the numbers:

  • Competed in 17 races … finished eight races in the top 10 of my age group
  • Two age group podium finishes, both 2nd place in 5K races
  • 6 PRs
  • Top 250 in Carlsbad 5000
  • Finished in top 10 age group in all three sprint triathlons entered
  • Ran under four hours in my first marathon
  • Ran sub-20-minute 5K
  • Ran sub-1:40 half marathon
  • Swam a total of 356,004 yards or 202 miles
  • Biked an approximate total of 2,348 miles
  • Ran a total of 1,140 miles

Some of my most memorable races include the following great and not so great memories:

Ironman 70.3 California

  • First 70.3 distance triathlon
  • Cramps during the entire half marathon
  • Spent previous weekend in the emergency room due to a cycling accident on Fiesta Island

Carlsbad 5000

  • First time to finish in top 250 and earn a top 250 medal

La Jolla Half Marathon

  • First negative split race
  • After reaching the top of Torrey Pines, my body felt like the race just started

Spring Sprint Triathlon

  • First top 10 age group finish in a triathlon
  • Spent most of my time on the bike course yelling at other athletes to get out of my way since the single lane on Fiesta Island was split into two

Nautica Malibu Classic Triathlon

  • Finished top 10 age group at a major venue
  • Disappointed with my 8th place finish because I raced most of the course “alone” thinking I was easily in the top 5

Big Rock Sprint Triathlon

  • Finished 14th overall
  • Missed 3rd place age group by 2.3 seconds

The end of 2010 was pretty exciting. In October, I finished out the triathlon season with the Big Rock Sprint Tri. I was a little tired on the run but managed to finish 14th overall. Unfortunately, I missed a 3rd place age group finish by a mere 2.3 seconds. Still, I felt good about my race and believed it was just the beginning of a great finish to 2010.

I rode a PR wave in November. I finally broke through the sub-20-minute 5K barrier at my 3rd time running the Shelter Island 5K. With four seconds to spare, I took 2nd place in my age group. The prize was a free dinner at one of the resort hotels. By about five minutes, I crushed the the sub-100 minute half marathon barrier at the Silver Strand half. I even set a new 10K PR by almost one minute. All of this was building to a crescendo of preparing for a Boston qualifying attempt at the Tucson Marathon in December.

At Tucson, I planned to run 3:25, which would give me five minutes to spare and qualify me for the Boston classic. The course was primarily downhill with a slight decline overall. The course was deceivingly tougher than it appeared on paper. With a mere 10K remaining, I had one hour to go. After 20 miles I silently celebrated the thought that I just needed to run 9:00/mile to qualify for Boston.

Unfortunately, in an instant, everything changed. I felt sharp pains below my hips, right above my quads. I could barely move at that point, and I had to just shuffle the remaining 6 miles to the finish, missing Boston qualification by 20 minutes.

And so that leaves me at the start of 2011 with injuries to my hip flexors. Currently, I’m in physical therapy and not running very much. I had to drop out of the Resolution Run 15K and Carlsbad Marathon in January. Through my experience so far with physical therapy, I’ve learned a couple of things that I will be incorporating from now on.

All of the exercises I’m doing in therapy are exercises I had done during strength training in the gym prior to my triathlon days. As a result, I have incorporated three hours of strength training into my regimen to make sure that my main muscles and supporting muscles are strengthened to endure the long hours of training and racing. Also, I plan on never skipping a warm-up, stretching, or cool down for run workouts ever again. I cannot afford to be lazy especially when this injury is preventing me from achieving my goals.

And that’s a wrap on 2010. I am looking forward to my training and races in 2011!

17 Seconds

November 25th, 2010 No Comments

Run for the Hungry 10KThanksgiving, 2010: Run for the Hungry 10K — I’m happy with the result of my last “tune-up” race before the Tuscon Marathon in two weeks. Official time: 43:29, 4th AG out of 63, 84th Overall out of 1,359. This is a new 10k PR for me.

Though it is slightly disappointing to miss a podium finish by 17 seconds, I know that the real prize is yet to be obtained.

Crushing the Strand

November 14th, 2010 No Comments

Silver Strand Half Marathon logoSilver Strand Half Marathon, November 14, 2010:

I love winter running season. I wish I had as much success in triathlon as I have had in running the past couple of years. But I’m sure in time with the excellent coaching/training I’m getting, I’ll get the podium results I want. But I digress. This post is about half marathon running.

My friend, Eric, and I were targeting this race as the last tune up before the big dance at the Tucson Marathon in December. My Boston Marathon qualifying time is 3:30, and my projected half marathon target time is 1:40, a time that I have already achieved. So for me, this was more about beating the 1:40 half marathon time that has eluded me for the last several half marathon races I have done. Both Eric and I had planned to complete this race in 1:35; I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to do that. So honestly, I was ready to

silverstrandpaceband2010

Modified Warm-up Strategy - 1:35

fall back to my goal of 1:39:59. To assist us in our endeavor we purchased pace bands from Races2Remember.com. We planned to use the Modified Warm-up Strategy as shown on the right.

I felt a little intimidated by this goal pace of 7:14/mile, especially given that during my last few races I have struggled to make the 1:40 time. While I still had a little doubt, I also had a lot of confidence coming off of my first sub-20-minute 5k last week at Shelter Island. Also, my training has been coming together nicely; I’ve noticed huge gains in speed and endurance.

Eric and I ran the first mile together at 7:12. Then he took off. I was a little irritated. He kept talking about passing up Coaches Luke and Felipe. I told him to just forget them and stick to the plan. But he blazed on ahead. I let him go because I was not going to spend my energy going at a sub-7:00/mile pace just so I could say that I kept up with the Breakaway coaches for a little bit. I settled into my own pace and mentally geared up for executing my race strategy. [You can check out my Lap Paces here. They are located in the bottom left corner. Using the drop-down menu, change Duration to Pace.]

The part of the race that worried me were the six miles that I had to do at 7:09/mile. Could I sustain that pace for 40+ minutes? In past races, I’ve started to feel tired at mile 7. So I was concerned about sustaining that pace. In past races, cramps in my calves have been a problem, so that was looming in the back of my mind. So I figured that after the first three miles of “warm-up,” I would just take it one mile at a time and see if my legs could carry me at that pace. Basically, the heart of this race for me was just a 10k at 7:09/mile. Mile 7 came and went; there were no cramps and I was not physically tired. I just kept telling myself: one mile down, one more coming up. P.S. I saw Eric stop at a porta-potty and I passed him up. Later I would learn that he sped up at the beginning of the race so that he could build up a minute lead to have time to go to the bathroom and run the rest of the race with me. Eric and I ran miles 8 through 10 together.

By the time I reached mile 10, I knew I would make my goal of going under 1:40. That thought wreaked havoc on my mental state. I started to “feel” out of breath. Still, I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t just more mental than physical. I told Eric: “Go ahead. I’m gonna easily go under 1:40.” Although, I verbally and mentally gave up the 1:35 time, for some reason I didn’t stay too far behind Eric during mile 11. He stayed within one minute ahead of me during that mile.

At the end of mile 11, as I made a U-turn to head to the Imperial Beach Pier for the finish, I found a second wind (miles 10 through 12 were on the Naval Outlying Field Imperial Beach). For some reason, the out-of-breath feeling went away. I found a renewed energy and my breathing became controlled and purposeful, rather than labored and heavy. After I passed the mile 12 marker, my Garmin elapsed time indicated 1:32. I thought 1:35 was probably out of reach and that 1:36 or 1:37 was more realistic. So I kind of put 1:35 out of my mind and focused on the finish sprint and seeing if I could beat Eric. In front of me I could see that I was gaining ground on him. I exited the airfield at about 12.25 miles where the final aid station was located. Eric was maybe 25 yards in front of me, and he went slowly through the aid station, taking a long drink. To my surprise he stopped for a second, which allowed me to draw even with him. I knew the final stretch to the finish line was just around the corner, so I said to him: “C’mon, let’s go!”.

Eric was out of gas. I could hear his labored breathing. As we made the last left turn, I saw the finish line and said: “There it is.” And then I took off. It was a little early for a final sprint with about three-quarters mile remaining, but I thought sprinting early would make it a contest to see who had enough gas remaining for a longer sprint. I passed about three or four people in front of me, including two women. I never looked back and sprinted faster as the finish line got closer. I kept expecting to hear Eric’s breathing behind me.

To my surprise, I crossed the line with an official time of 1:35:16. I crushed my goal! It turns out I also finished in the top 10 in my age group with 9th place. For the first time, I finished in the top 100 finishers in a semi-large race field (93rd out of 2,882 runners). I am pretty ecstatic! Eric finished in 1:35:38. We both ran a very good race. And I am well within my target to qualify for the Boston Marathon in December when I race the Tucson Marathon. I sure hope I have a good race day like today.

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