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!

Triple Training

August 2nd, 2009 No Comments

3. Three sports. Multi-sport. This is triathlon training.

Swimming: I’ve probably had the three best days of swimming in the last five months that I’ve been training as a triathlete. Last Wednesday’s pool workout was my longest yardage at 2400 yards, but I felt fantastic afterwards. Friday’s cove swim was my fastest time ever for a 1-mile swim in the open ocean at 36 minutes with breaks at the buoys. While that’s not super fast, it does mean that I’m very capable of completing the half Ironman swim distance. The water at the cove was unusually calm and warm. Today’s open water swim at La Jolla Shores was also very good for me (2000 yards). We swam and ran afterwards. Not a single ounce of fatigue.

Running: Saturday I ran 14 miles. Today I ran a little over five miles. I recovered well and felt fantastic today.

Cycling: After the solid swim-run workout this morning, I went for an easy 22-mile bike ride in the afternoon. In the past I would have been exhausted and my legs would have been fatigued. Today, no problem after the ride.

All in all, this has been the best week of training in my young life as a triathlete!

Solana Beach Tri 2009

July 28th, 2009 No Comments

On July 26th I completed my third triathlon, a local event about half an hour away from home in Solana Beach at Fletcher Cove. I call it shark cove because a triathlete was eaten by a shark there last year. It’s a flat-course sprint (1/4-mi swim, 9-mi bike, 3-mi run), which means all out mayhem. Given my current speeds, finishing in under one hour and making the podium in this race would require an out-of-this-world speed that I have not yet attained.

Update: My predictions for getting on the podium were quite a ways off, but the video is pretty cool anyways! Thanks to my friend, Michael Shedd of CurrentDose for filming and editing.

My official results were: Swim (includes T1) = 11:29, Bike (includes T2) = 27:30, Run = 23:31, Overall = 1:02:30. It was good enough for 15th in my AG (out of 64) and 210th overall (out of 1071).

According to my HRM, my T1 time was about 3 minutes, which means I completed the swim between 8 and 9 minutes, even with the huge waves! My T2 time was also about 3 minutes, which means I completed the bike segment in about 24 minutes. Right around my goal time, even though I was exhausted!

The Good:

  • Slept for over five hours the night before the race! Thank you Benadryl
  • One of the first athletes to arrive at the transition area – prime spot @ the end of the Breakaway Training VIP rack
  • No coffee before the race + full hydration (32 ounces) in the morning = five trips to the bathroom
  • No major cramps during the race
  • Did not panic during the start of the swim when there were huge waves
  • Successfully transitioned on / off bike with shoes clipped

Things to Work On:

  • Being more aggressive in the ocean, even when there is active surf
  • Faster getting into shoes while pedaling out of T1
  • Keeping arm motion moving forward, not side-to-side while running when tired
  • Looking over my shoulder while approaching the finish
  • Going like Cavendish to the finish line no matter how tired

The Ugly:

  • Unsportsmanlike conduct #1: Some jerk, not part of Breakaway Training, put his bike in between my handlebars, and ignored me when I said: “I don’t think that’s going to work.”
  • Unsportsmanlike conduct #2: At the end of the bike segment, Bib #2318 cut me off at the dismount line by abruptly stopping his bike directly in front of me when there was plenty of room for him to dismount on my right.

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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 2009

July 1st, 2009 No Comments

The San Diego International Triathlon, held on June 28, 2009, was my second race in triathlon and my first tri in the quasi-Olympic distance. This race was a 1 K (0.9-mile) swim, 30 K (18.64-mile) bike, and 10 K (6.2-mile) run. I’ll start off by reviewing my four goals for the race as I mentioned in my pre-race post:

  1. Swim 1K in 25 minutes or less.
  2. Bike 30K in 50 minutes or less.
  3. Run 10K in under 50 minutes.
  4. Finish the race in under two hours.

My official results were: Swim = 19:09, T1 = 4:09, Bike = 48:48, T2 = 1:59, Run = 52:31, Overall = 2:06:36.

My overall feeling about my performance is mixed. I am very surprised about my swim time being well under 25 minutes. Props to my new coach, Luke Walton, for the swim programs he tortures me with. So in that sense, I feel very good about one thing in the race. But on the other hand, I’m disappointed in myself for not finishing this race in under two hours. I’m disappointed that my body let me down with cramps in both calves after my swim and throughout the rest of the race. And I’m disappointed in my mental outlook that I had before the race as well as during my run. I’ll explain as I report out on the race.

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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.

First Tri – Spring Sprint

June 21st, 2009 No Comments

Finally, I’m making time to write my race report about my first triathlon, the Spring Sprint in Mission Bay held on May 3, 2009. I raced AG 40-44 in the Super Sprint race: 200-m swim, 6-mile bike, 1.5-mile run.

Seriously, about two weeks before the race I could think of nothing else. While I was at work, I daydreamed about the race. When I was at the gym and training, I imagined myself going through the three routes. My poor wife had to listen to me talk about the race over and over again.

But before I get into the race details, I think it’s important to state up front one important race detail: my race outfit. LOL. For my first race, I decided to wear the MT1000d race singlet in blue by 2XU. And for you newbies like me, that’s pronounced “Two times you” not “2 X U” as I first thought.

I had given a lot of thought to my goals for this race. Honestly, my only goal was to win my age group since only a first place medal would be awarded for the Super Sprint. My personal trainer advised me to forget about that goal because I was setting myself up for disappointment. Maybe so. I knew my wife was worried because I set such a huge goal for my very first race.

I had trained hard for the last 12 weeks specifically for this race. And for the last year or so I’ve been increasing my cardiovascular fitness and physical fitness with weight training. I actually felt good about my chances even without having any prior experience.

So Team De Ocampo (my wife and I) arrived close to 6:00 AM at the South Shores Park Boat Ramp, the swim start site. I confess I was a little agitated when it appeared that race parking was diverted to the side streets across the street. So we went across the street and I struggled against negative thoughts about the race. Sounds stupid, huh? Note to self: For next year, ignore the traffic signs because there was plenty of parking in the main lot for the athletes.

Body Gliding

Body Gliding

I set up my transition area stuff, and then waited for other waves to start. I was in Wave 15. Note to self: Scope out the transition area more to become familiar with the arrows guiding the way from swim to bike and bike to run. This note to self would become very important later on after the race started. And so I put my wetsuit on to get ready.

The swim was not at all what I expected. I had to wait around for Wave 15. That’s when all us old fogies started our race. We started in the water, so I had to tread water while waiting for the official start. I was mixed in with several divisions so there were maybe 40+ people in the water at the same time.

When the gun went off, the water became a mass of splashing feet, arms, legs, and black wetsuits. Everyone was just flailing around jockeying for position. Surprisingly, I was really turned off by this mentally. I really hated all the bumping and thrashing around, even though I started very close to the front of the wave. I also swallowed two huge mouthfuls of gross sea water in the disgusting Mission Bay (sewage bay), which further deteriorated my mental outlook. By the time I rounded the first buoy, I was exhausted. Surprisingly, I reverted to just breathing on one side (my left) even though I practiced bilateral breathing for the last 12 weeks. I also found myself breathing on every stroke; again, not what I had practiced. As I passed the second buoy, I bumped into another person yet again. But finally, I could see the finish line for the swim. And I was exhausted. In my mind, I said “Screw it.” Just breathe every stroke and only your left side. Instead of going really hard at the end of the swim, I decided to slow down and catch my breath a little.

Exhausted, dazed, confused

Exhausted, dazed, confused

I later asked my wife what position I finished the race. And she estimated that I was the 6th person to finish. As I moved into T1, I was totally disoriented, exhausted, and totally on an adrenaline high. I was so discombobulated that I started following the people from other waves going into the run! I ended up in an area out of the race. Needless to say, I was very pissed off. Finally, a race official pointed me in the right direction to the T1 path. I peeled off my wetsuit, put on my helmet, sunglasses, gloves, and cycling shoes. It seemed like an eternity. I was able to put out the anger and negative thoughts about my stupid mistake after the swim. As I headed out to the bike route, all I could think about was setting the course ablaze on two wheels!

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Why Tri

June 17th, 2009 No Comments

When I first started running last October 2008 I attended a Beginner’s Triathlon meeting at B&L Bikes last year. I was so turned off by how anorexically skinny and frail the speaker from the Triathlon Club of San Diego looked that I vowed I would never do triathlon because I don’t want to look like I survived captivity at Auschwitz concentration camp. Also, the idea of swimming in shark-infested waters with a wetsuit was not very appealing. My shark phobia was reinforced by the local Solana Beach man who was eaten by a great white shark a few weeks after this meeting and bled to death.

However, as I continued to improve my running and cycling, the idea of triathlon kept popping into my mind. Even my personal trainer at LA|FITNESS, Murray, kept talking it up. Another triathlete at the gym, Darren, was telling me I should give it a whirl. So at the beginning of February 2009 armed with a Beginner’s Training Guide from Triathlon magazine, I began my 12-week training regimen in preparation for the Spring Spring Triathlon on May 3rd. I planned to race in the Super Sprint event, AG 40-44: 200-m swim, 6-mi bike, 1.5 mi run.

I really loved the training regimen: the variety, frequency, and intensity. I began working out twice a day: usually weights or running in the AM with swimming and cycling in the PM and weekends. Waking up at 4:00 or 4:30 AM to get to the gym by 5:00 AM so that I could be at work at a decent time just motivated me even more. It fueled the discpline inside of me.

But I have to confess the number one driving force behind all the work was the promise of one shiny gold medal for the first place finisher in the Super Sprint race. Unlike most other triathlons where typically three or five medals are awarded to the top five finishers in each age group, the Super Sprint only puts one person on the podium, the first place finisher. As I trained day in and day out, I daydreamed of that medal around my neck. I envisioned myself crossing the finish line ahead of all the others. That’s what kept me going every day for twelve weeks, training while working full-time, and operating on 4-5 hours of sleep every night.

The story of what happened on race day is for another time.

From Fat to Freedom

October 11th, 2008 No Comments

***** Adapted from “About Me” originally posted on October 11, 2008 in the IntoFitness section of whatsbruin.net *****

In the summer of 2007 I decided to step on a scale just for the heck of it. The number I saw shocked me out of my sedentary life of obesity that was leading me down the road of cardiovascular disease and an early death. On August 30, 2007 I purchased a personal training membership at LA|FITNESS and have never looked back.

About 14 months into fitness

About 14 months into fitness

Before - circa June 2006

Before - circa June 2006

My name is Gerry, and I have been overweight most of my life, except for maybe 16 years (ages 0-6, 14-24). Those years were when I was a young child and when I was a competitive tennis player. But even during those lean years, food and overeating, as well as a yo-yo pattern of gaining and losing weight, were the physical issues that plagued me for as far back as I can remember.

At the age of 34 in May of 2000, I was denied a lower premium on my life insurance policy so I decided to get a physical to find out why. The routine physical showed no sign of disease; however, the blood work forecasted a grim future:

  • Glucose = 92 {normal 70-110}
  • Triglycerides = 1084 {normal < 200}
  • Cholesterol = 257 {normal 100-200}
  • HDL = 21 {normal = 35-60}
  • Other cholesterol ratios were too high to be calculated.

My doctor said:

Gerry, if you don’t make a change in your life, you will contract Type II diabetes, and will most likely have to be on high blood pressure medication for the rest of your life. This will lead to cardiovascular disease and wide array of medications. You will die of either a heart attack, stroke, or complications from diabetes.

The fear of that conversation produced a change in my diet and exercise for about a month. My subsequent blood work improved over the next five months. But eventually the fear wore off, and I went back to my old habits of overeating and not being active. My doctor suggested follow up blood work and regular physicals, and had scheduled another round of blood tests for me, but after seven years, I still had not gone back for those tests or physicals.

Before - circa July 2007

Before - circa July 2007

In July of 2007 at the age of 41, my father-in-law underwent heart surgery. While we were visiting him in the hospital I noticed that the other cardiac patients were of varying ages. One in particular was in his 30s and extremely obese. Upon my return from that visit, I vowed never to end up in the cardiac ward. I was tired of that nagging pain in my knees as I walked up the stairs. I was weary of the pain in my ankles as I walked the short distance from my bed to the bathroom every morning.

So that’s when I decided to weigh myself.

My stats that summer were:

  • Weight = 250+ pounds
  • BMI = 37
  • Body fat = 33.4%
  • Waist = 44 inches
  • Pants = size 44 (tight)

The brand new LA|FITNESS gym in my neighborhood was having its Grand Opening event. I wanted to get a free t-shirt, which was the only reason I planned on going on August 30, 2007. But during the evening ofAugust 29th, I had a very vivid dream that I was working with a personal trainer, and I was really fit and buff. I took the dream to be an omen, and the next day I listened to a sales pitch about the benefits of personal training. I bought a membership because I knew I needed to lose almost 80 pounds… and yes, I did get my free XL t-shirt, which barely fit.

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