Silver Strand 2009 Pre-race

November 14th, 2009 No Comments

“So how do you feel?”, my coach (Luke Walton, no not that lame one on the Lakers) asked me at the race expo.

“I feel great!”, I responded sincerely. Didn’t even hesitate one second with that response.

Despite a crazy work and school schedule this fall, I believe I’m prepared and as ready as I’ll ever be for my fourth half marathon tomorrow.

My training volume has been a little lower than what I would normally do, but I’ve got a little bit of business to take care of before 2009 is over. So the decreased volume is fine. I still feel sharp, and I do my best when my legs are fresh.

For tomorrow’s race, I just have one goal: get my time in the 1:30s. So that would put me at 1:39:59. I need to run a max pace of 7:37. I’m getting a feel for running at this faster pace, but it’s still a little strange to me. I’d like to stay within a pace range of 7:14 – 7:37. If I’m successful in doing this, my finish time should be between 1:35:00 and 1:39:59.

At the expo, I spoke with Luke about my 2010 race schedule. I’m excited to focus on the 70.3 half-Iron distance. I’ve signed up for two A races so far, Ironman 70.3 California in Oceanside and Vineman Ironman 70.3 in Sonoma. Depending on what happens with my Kona lottery bid, I may or may not do the Longhorn Ironman 70.3 in Austin, Texas. In discussing the possibility of doing the Kona Ironman, Luke advised not to race a marathon since it would be close in proximity to the Vineman race. Instead, we would just be increasing my runs to get ready in the event that I get the Kona slot.

Mentally, I feel elevated by my swim in the gym pool yesterday. I swam 1.2 miles continuously, and felt more comfortable than ever before with the flip turns. It feels good to notice improvement in my swimming, especially not feeling so tired. Yes, I do have more work to do in the pool to get totally comfortable with the turns and to attain a minimum fitness level that would give me confidence in my ability to complete and compete at a swim distance of 1.2 miles. I guess coach was right, just a little patience and hard work is needed. So glad to be seeing results in the water.

Looking forward to reporting about this race. Over and out to do a little 20-minute jog.

Mission Bay Pre-race

October 3rd, 2009 No Comments

It’s 7:30 PM and I’m getting ready for bed. Brushed teeth, washed face, drank vitamins, and took two Benadryl to help me sleep. Tomorrow I’m racing in my fifth triathlon, a sprint, the same distances as Surftown last month:

500-m (about 0.3 miles) swim, 15K (about 9.3 miles) bike, 5K (3.1  miles) run.

This is my last chance until next spring to get my time under one hour at the sprint distance. So once again my goal for the race is 0:59:59.

I plan to go all out on the swim, something I’ve never done before. In all my other races, I’ve always reserved some energy. I hope with all-out sprinting, I can get my swim time to 10 minutes or under. I feel very confident on my bike. On this morning’s ride, I tested my legs for just a little bit and I was able to go about 25-28 mph almost effortlessly in a high Zone 2, low Zone 3. My run needs to be close to 20 minutes, something I’ve not been able to do ever. But I’ve been working hard at my running, and with the ample rest I’ve had this week, I hope I have my fastest 5k time. My goal is to spend no more than two or two and one-half minutes in transition. All in all, I need to have a perfect race to go under an hour.

I feel a little more relaxed than usual, definitely not wound up or uptight.

This week I had light workouts. I went easy on the brick run on Tuesday night. I did an easy four-mile run on Thursday morning and skipped the track workout. Friday I skipped swimming at the Cove and swimming altogether. And today, I did an easy 45-minute ride followed by a 15-minute run, about 10-miles and 1.5 miles, respectively. I got my bike tuned up this past week, and it is running smoothly, thanks to Matt Simpson of Rivet Cyclesport in Oceanside.

After picking up my stuff at the race expo, I bought a new tire at B&L to replace the one damaged by the metal shard a couple of weeks ago. My race bag was packed hours ago, and it’s already sitting in the passenger of my car.

Wish me luck!

The Quest for Ironman Begins

August 20th, 2009 No Comments

Now that I’ve achieved my goal of the Triple Crown in 2009, I’m shifting my focus to 2010 and beyond.

In the long term, I would like to complete an Ironman race in 2011. I’m thinking of one of these:

  • Ironman Cozumel (November 2011)
  • Ironman Florida (November 2011)
  • Ironman Hawaii (if I get in through the lottery, October 2011)

The Ironman race is 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run (full marathon) for a total of 140.6 miles. Sounds crazy? It is.

During the year that I do my first Ironman, I definitely want to do Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, as well as run a couple of full marathons (like Carlsbad in January 2011 and maybe the NYC Marathon in November 2011).

In the near term, I plan to have only two or three A races in 2010, all focused on the half-Ironman distance:

As the name implies, the half-Ironman race is 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1-mile run (half marathon) for a total 0f 70.3 miles.

If my training is going well, I may do:

  • Wildflower (long course), April 30 – May 2, 2010
  • Ironman 70.3 Hawaii (in Kona), June 5, 2010

Bring it!

Surftown Pre-race

August 20th, 2009 No Comments

This Sunday, just one week after my blazing AFC Half Marathon, I’m racing in my fourth triathlon, a sprint:

500-m (about 0.3 miles) swim, 15K (about 9.3 miles) bike, 5K (3.1  miles) run.

My goal for the race is 0:59:59. I really want to get the Sprint distance under the 1-hour.

It will be very challenging given that I’m still tired from the half marathon. Today I worked late, and didn’t leave the office until 5:30 PM, leaving me only half an hour to get to La Jolla High School for the track workout. I decided to go home instead and do an equivalent 2.5-mile run in my neighborhood. During the run, my legs felt heavy. I felt tired and a little out of breath. In any case, feeling tired before this Sunday’s triathlon is well worth the PR I set at last Sunday’s half marathon.

I basically have the same goals as the Solana Beach race. I have two more chances this summer to get my sprint tri time under the hour mark.

Wish me luck!

AFC Pre-race

August 5th, 2009 No Comments

I said AFC, not KFC. America’s Finest City Half Marathon. 11 days from now.

Last October 2008 I started running and set a goal to complete the Triple Crown. I didn’t know what I was capable of back then as a novice runner, but surprisingly I completed the first two races in under two hours. As the third race approaches, it’s a given that I must complete the final half marathon in under two hours, but I hope to set a new PR.

I’d like to finish the race in under 1:45, which means I have to run an average of 7.5 mph or an 8:00 pace for the entire race.

I’m pretty confident that I can sustain an 8-8.5 mph speed for the race, so it seems like a done deal. Fatigue and the course itself look like the only barriers to setting a new PR.

I hear the course has some hills the last four miles with lots of downhill at the beginning of the race. My strategy is to go as fast as I can early on to have a buffer of time to attack the late hills towards the end of the course in order to finish under my time goal.

I look forward to setting a new PR in honor of Team Tuma, my dedication for all of this summer’s races.

Solana Beach Tri Pre-race

July 14th, 2009 No Comments

A lot people from Breakaway are heading out to Vineman 70.3 this weekend, which got me thinking about finalizing my goals for my next race at the end of July, the Solana Beach Triathlon. It will be my first sprint. Technically, it’s probably my second sprint since my very first ever tri was the Super Sprint last May. This one is a tad longer in distance: 0.25-mi swim (0.4K), 9-mi bike (14.5K), and 3-mi run (4.8K).

After looking at the 2008 results in my age group for this race, the podium times are in the following ranges: swim = 7-9 min, bike = 25 min, run = 18-19 min, overall = 50-52 min. The transition times are not broken out, but are sandwiched into the swim and bike times. I’m thinking I should just go all out for all three legs in this sprint with maybe a little conservation on the swim since it is my weakest leg.

Forecast:

Swim – Most likely my fastest swim time for a quarter mile would be just about 7 minutes, so with transition I would like to get on to the bike segment in under 9 minutes.

Bike – For the bike leg I think the course is flat, so I’d like to go at least 24 mph, which is about 22.5 minutes. So let’s say I do it in under 24 minutes.

Run – By the time I get to the run, I know I’ll be tired, but I’d like to run at least 8 mph. So that means I should shoot for a 24-min run.

Overall – 57 minutes. I guess I’ll be happy if I finish the race in under an hour. But I’d have to have a superhuman swim and run to shave 10 minutes off to get my overall time down to 50 minutes.

Definitely, I’m going to be thinking about this race a lot more in the next two weeks. Time for some good visualization and daydreaming!

SDIT Pre-race

June 24th, 2009 No Comments

I’ll be racing in my second tri this coming Sunday, The San Diego International Triathlon. In my heart and mind, I know I’m ready. For me, this will be a significantly longer race as compared to my first tri, which was a Super Sprint. This race is a 1 K (0.9-mile) swim, 30 K (18.64-mile) bike, and 10 K (6.2-mile) run.

I just have something nagging in the back of my mind, the fact that it’s very unlikely I will finish in a medal position. I looked at last year’s winner in AG 40-44, and he finished his swim in a little over 12 minutes. I’ll be lucky if I can do it in under 30 minutes. Trust me, it’s not that I’m used to winning at athletic events. Far from it. Here’s the deal: I’m used to doing well in everything I do. Yes, the key word is well. The problem is with how I define well.

I’m trying to think about the long term, about racing for many years to come, which means having a long period of time to improve. It’s hard to be satisfied with that, especially when I really love to win.

So here are the facts:

1 – At my swim race pace, I can swim an 800 in about 3:40. If I were to do 6 x 800, it would equal a little more than the distance of the swim on Sunday. Assuming that I did not fatigue during the swim, it means I would finish in 22 minutes. Add maybe a minute or two of slowing down, and I think I might be able to finish the swim in about 25 minutes.

2 – I estimate that I could probably finish the bike route in under an hour. I’ve ridden the course two times. It’s uphill for most of the way up, so downhill for almost all the way down. Let’s say 50 minutes.

3 – By the time I get to the run, I know I’ll be very tired. I hope to run at a speed of at least 7.5 mph. I’d like to do the run in under 50 minutes.

So with some extra padding allotted, I’d really like to finish the race in under two hours. And that is most definitely not good enough to get anywhere near the podium because the people who win this event are finishing it well under two hours (like 1:45). When I say I want to finish in under two hours, I’m mean like I hope to barely squeak across the finish line in under two hours. That’s a huge gap between my goal and a winning time, almost 15 minutes.

So between now and Sunday, instead of daydreaming about medals all day long, I’d like to solidify in my mind that the definition of well for the race would be to finish it in under two hours.