Reflections of 2011

January 1st, 2012 No Comments

It’s that time of the year again, to take a look back on this past year and reflect on my race performances and training. During this year’s training, I traversed a total of:

  • 33,6217 yards or 191 miles of swimming
  • 2,039 miles of cycling
  • 1,023 miles of running

I started the year with three goals. But just to let you know up front, I only achieved one of them. They were:

  1. Complete an Ironman triathlon.
  2. Finish in the top 5 of the Malibu Triathlon.
  3. Qualify for the Boston Marathon.

You might recall I started 2011 with a hip injury I incurred last December during the Tuscon Marathon. So I remember focusing on rehabilitation, strength, and conditioning for the first quarter of the year. With some great physical therapy, I recovered in time to make my running debut at the San Dieguito half marathon. That course was a lot of fun with quite a few rolling hills. Although I quasi-promised my physical therapist that I would run it in two hours, I was very pleased with my time of 1:47.

Easing my way back into running, my buddy and I were shooting for a sub-5 hr time at the Oceanside race. I ended up having a decent race. But for the second year in a row, I suffered with cramps during the run portion of the race after a good bike split. I can’t be too disappointed with my time of 5:27. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the coming year if I expect to have any chance of finishing this tough course in under five hours. This year I plan to do more strength training. I’m hoping that going back to the gym will help mitigate against cramps by building up my muscular strength. I find it difficult not to go too hard while cycling so I can have enough juice for the run. I’m reluctant to ease up on the bike portion since it’s my strongest part of triathlon.

The middle portion of 2011 focused on training for Ironman Coeur d’Alene. When I look back on the training and the race itself, it’s unimaginable that I even did that race. Seriously, I am amazed at how driven I was. Training seemed like having a second job, with 15-18 hrs of training per week in addition to working full time. At this point, I do not plan on doing another Ironman in 2012. I can’t see myself doing that insane training again during the next twelve months.

There aren’t very many people in the world who can claim the moniker of Ironman, so I’ll always be proud of that. After having completed the biggest race of my life, I honestly believe I can do almost anything I put my mind to, with or without diarrhea! You’ll have to read my Ironman race report to understand that one.

Other than the race experience itself, the peak of physical fitness and endurance that I felt the week before the race was an unbelievable feeling. My training certainly prepared for that race because the feeling of power, speed, and strength that I felt is indescribable.

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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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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!

Time Trial Face Plant

March 23rd, 2010 6 Comments

I think it’s an interesting story. Or at least it could be if I tell it right. So, here goes.

Despite my silence  on my blog, I have been very busy in 2010. My new role at work as a project lead is challenging; I’m managing two projects. I’m finishing up my Master’s degree in Educational Technology from SDSU. And I’m fueling my passion for endurance sports by training about 12-15 hours per week. My primary goal this year is to have my peak performances at the long course triathlon distance, or Ironman 70.3. In the midst of all this business, I’ve competed in three races since January, a 5K and two half marathons. In two of these races, I barely missed my personal goals by a margin of about 16 seconds. So I’d say that my running is doing very well. At our recent track time trial, I ran a 6:20 pace over a 2-mile distance.

Even swimming, my nemesis, has improved. I’ve been swimming about 4.5 to 5 miles weekly in the pool for the last three months on my own and as part of a Master’s Swim group with the Escondido Swim Club. My swim pace has steadily dropped. It was about 1:55/100 yards when I first started. And now, I can swim a little faster than 1:38/100 yards. I’ve had my fastest 1.2-mile swim to date at 41:38. The only unknown left to conquer is to find out if I can relax while racing in the ocean and just let the miles of swimming that I’ve been doing take over.

Even though I’m relatively new to serious athletic training, I’ve found my cycling to be my strongest discipline of the three sports. I don’t really have anything to make that determination other than a couple of informal time trial results at Fiesta Island. My fastest prior to this writing was 31 minutes over 20K, which is three large loops around the island, or 12 miles.

Two days ago, one week before my big race (Ironman 70.3 California), I participated in the first time trial of the season with Breakaway Training. Despite being only one week away from the race, Coach Luke said to go for it. My goal: finish the 12 miles in under 30 minutes, which meant that I needed to average greater than 24 mph.

My buddy, Eric and I, started off together. Just as an aside, before the start of the trial, Eric was moaning on and on about how tired he’s been and not feeling well. Just so you know, Eric, I’m on to you buddy! Anyways, I “warmed up” my legs for a hundred yards or so, then Matt took off. And so the chase began. I followed him with the lead group of about five or six others) close behind. For a second or two, I reached speeds of about 29-30 mph to give chase, overtaking the lead for a short time around the first turn where it’s easy to go fast on a slight downhill. The lead group (Matt, Eric, Dave P, Kent, Gary, and one other dude) set the pace, and I followed behind.

I’m not sure if the lead group was forming a paceline. As you know, there’s no drafting in triathlon, but our coaches said drafting was okay for this informal “race”. In any case, I didn’t participate in any rotating off the front, but hung in the back, conserving energy. We rode anywhere from 25-27 mph at any given time. Whenever I thought the group was going too slowly (under 24 mph), I sped up and took the lead. I’m not sure if they liked that or not; the lead group never let me stay too far ahead and always brought me back into the fold.

I like to think that most of the guys (other than the other middle-aged 40-yr old+ athletes) didn’t like some new guy on the block up in the front, especially some 44-year old with gray hair and all, like me. Ha! Most likely, nobody in the group thought about that. I like saying it, though. By the middle of the second lap, I noticed that my buddy Eric had taken a strong position in the lead group.

Although I wasn’t really sure if Eric was truly on his second lap, I decided to surge forward and pass the whole group when we reached the back side of the island. There was a slight headwind, and our group speed had dropped to about 22-23 mph. I was a little agitated by the slow down, so I yelled out: Let’s go. We’re under 24!” Again the lead group brought me to the back of the fold as we came around for our last lap.

Given the few glances at my speedometer over the course of the trial, I knew that I would easily finish in under half an hour. I was sustaining speeds of over 25 mph for the race. My strategy for the last lap was to hang in the back of the group to conserve energy, and then sprint to the finish when it was in sight. I estimate that the sprint would be about 1.25 km long, maybe 45 seconds to 1 minute. At the back of the group, it was effortless. I love that feeling where your legs are pedaling in almost a free spin. Whenever I look at my speedometer at that point, I’m always amazed by how fast I’m going with such little effort.

At the back of the island there were a couple of cars that were riding to far to the right, which slowed us down to about 22 mph. We had to pass them on the left, which was kind of weird. After navigating around another couple of cars, our speed had dropped to about 21 mph. All of a sudden, I saw Eric take off. Matt and a couple of others gave chase. Dave P and I were in the back of the group. I knew in a few moments, the finish would be visible in the distance.

With the finish line in sight, the group spread out. The sprint was on. Dave P and I maneuvered to the left of the road. I glanced down at my watch. 27.3 mph. I looked at the space. I looked at Dave. For a second I hesitated because I was on the edge of the road, very close to the sand. Neither Dave nor I wanted to yield. In that moment of hesitation, Dave took the space and my bike had no choice, but to go in the sand.

In slow motion, I could feel the bike wobble. And then wham! My front wheel turned left at 90 degrees. I yelled, “Oh sh…!”

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Reflections on 2009

January 17th, 2010 No Comments

This reflective post is long overdue now that we are more than half way into the first month of 2010. When I think back on my athletic adventures of 2009, it really boils down to three phases.

Phase 1  (Jan- Apr) — The Triple Crown: I started out the year with a focus on running, something I had begin in October 2008. My primary goal for the year was to complete the Triple Crown of San Diego half marathons. I clearly remember running my first half marathon (Carlsbad 2009) wondering if I could complete it in under two hours. The finish line never looked so beautiful for that first half marathon. Apparently, my base level of fitness was not as high as I thought it was. After that race, I had cramps in my calves and feet. When I completed it well under two hours with a time of 1:52:10, I knew I was on my way.

Up next in Phase 1 was the La Jolla Half Marathon. I had heard so much hype about this race, about how difficult it would be with “all the hills”. For the most part, I trained near my home by doing hill repeats up a local street near the local community college. Funny, my personal trainer said that I was a “badass” when I showed him the hill. In retrospect, it was more like a bunny slope compared to what was to come later on in the year. I really believe I could have set another PR at the La Jolla Half, but instead I settled for finishing under two hours again and a major lesson learned. Note to self: Do not eat lots of fiber the night before a race.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention that my personal trainer had been whispering “triathlon” in my ear during this time. In February I purchased a book to help me train for my first triathlon in 12 weeks.

Phase 2 (May-Oct) — Triathlon: With a couple of half marathons, 10Ks, and 5Ks under my belt, I focused on my first triathlon, a sport that I vowed that I would never do. And now look at me; I have an entire blog devoted to triathlon. So it’s no secret that I like race bling. For my first triathlon, the Spring Sprint, I raced the Super Sprint race, for which only the winner in each division would receive a medal. My personal trainer told me to put any thought of winning out of my mind. He said people spend years chasing the podium and never get on. Needless to say, I didn’t listen to him. I entered the race with all intentions of winning, and that’s exactly what happened. A key decision I made a few days before the race was to take my training to the next level, and so I decided to sign up with Breakaway Training.

During this phase I focused on my training with Breakaway. My coach, Luke Walton (no, not the lame one from the Lakers), wrote challenging custom workouts for me. The group workouts were humbling at first. I learned that I was not that great compared to some experienced triathletes on the team. Despite my initial discouragement with how much I would have to improve, I forged ahead, working very hard in my training while balancing full-time work and going to school part-time. It’s a wonder I didn’t drive my coach crazy with how impatient I was with myself.

I competed in four other triathlons with varying results. I didn’t get the race results I wanted (i.e. top three spots), but in each one I made improvements in the various aspects involved in doing triathlon. The interesting thing about this time period is that I must have made many small improvements over time because in October I noticed a significant improvement in my cycling and running.

When I traveled to Austin, Texas for the LIVESTRONG Challenge, my cycling and running speeds were significantly faster.

Phase 3 (Nov-Dec) — The Chase: Whatever madness to his methods, my coach was definitely putting together a very successful training program for me. During this phase I finished in the top three spots in all my 10K and 5K races, as well as set a new sub-1:45 half marathon PR. It was during this time that I began to chase the sub-20-minute 5K. With respect to cycling, on our last 20K time trial on Fiesta Island I averaged 25 mph WITHOUT drafting off our top athlete.

In retrospect, 2009 was a banner year. I think I’ve done really well given the eight months of training with Breakaway.

For 2010, I intend to complete a 5K in under 20 minutes, improve my swimming, and focus on the half Ironman triathlon distance as well as complete my first marathon.

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