Beagle269’s BodyBlog

Holy Heck, I’ve been so busy with fitness to even update my blog…  So, 4 weeks ago, I traveled up to Penticton Canada, feeling good about my summer of triathlon, I watched Ironman Canada, and signed up for 2009 Ironman Canada!  2.4 Swim, 112 Bike, 26.2 Run!  It was an amazing experience to watch people racing, and competing/ some simply completing an Ironman distance triathlon!  I’m so excited, but gonna have to be more prepared than I have ever been before.  Then 2 weeks ago, I ran in the Mackenzie River 50k trail run.  The run was spectacular, and it kicked my butt.  Finish time in a bit more than 5 hours, and feeling totally wasted, I was happy to have that accomplishment under my belt. (Hey, I left room for improvement right?), and think I wasn’t used to trail running enough, (technical, with rocks and logs).  Then Last week, just finished hiking the Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier, or most of it.  I had a bit of trouble with a sore knee, and still not sure what to do about it.  After the 50k on Saturday, then hiking with a overnight pack about 12-17 miles a day, up and down massive amounts of elevation, I decided to call it due to a sore knee after completing only 70 miles of the trail.  My knee felt like the muscle was tearing away from the knee cap or possibly ligament.  And the pain was minor at first got worse as I worked it too hard.  Though feeling better a few days later now, still a concern of mine.  How do I know if it’s properly healed with enough time?  I feel like I should be training hard right now to re-peak for Clearwater Florida in early November.  hummm, any knee or training suggestions?

So, two weeks ago I had my "planned" peak triathlon of the summer event!  And it was a major success.  I say planned peak, because now I have to re-analyze and re-peak for 70.3 Ironman Clearwater championships in Florida!

My weekend started with my week prior, good planning, good placement of last hard workouts and the light workouts, good taper, and energy levels/blood glucose levels soaring!  Then the day before going to the race breifing. I could feel the pure energy, and adrenaline from everyone in the room.  And the breifing was a packed house, possibly 400 people, anxious and excited about the upcoming race for tomorrow morning.

Then, after checking my bike, I went for a light swim, and what do you know, theres a tracer line, about 6 feet under the buoys for following during the swim, and the water is ohh so smooth and cool.

Ok, ok, race morning, I was up about 4 am, cooking exactly what I had planned, after having a huge 3 meals prior, and a huge breakfast, with full time to digest it. And then to the race area after picking up a few friends who were carpooling/staying the night at my house. The transition area was a zoo, but I had plenty of time to stretch, and get everything perfectly ready.

And  onto swim start. I was the 3rd heat of racers, after the Pro Men, and the Pro women, then my heat 15-29 Men, upon entering the floating dock, it was almost fully submerged because of so many people in my heat, but as people jumped in the water, there was a bit more room, thank you for in the water swim starts!  And soon enough the whistle went off, I felt comfortable in the water, I didn’t start out too fast like everyone else, and after about 10-20 minutes I began passing people who had started out too fast, but shortly thereafter, people from heats behind me began passing me.  Holy cow, some of the top swimmers passing me from other heats as dang good swimmers, pretty much making a wake for me to try and catch!

Then after 40 something minutes, time to exit the water, I did perfect on this one, I usually try and put my feet down way too soon, then have to walk all slow until I can get grip with my feet, but this time I swam until I hands and almost chest were digging in the sand, got up, and jogged lightly into T1.

T1 went well, although it was rather slow, I did it on purpose.  In Moses Lake, my T1 heartrate was so high that it made it difficult to do things smoothly, let alone have a good start on the bike.  So nice and smooth, wetsuit off, bike shoes on, jersey on, helmet on, and onto bike start.

My bike start was perfect, This time I clipped in and strattled first, then jerked acceleration with one leg, while clipping in the other (difficulty with running starts previously)

So, my bike race went fairly well, at least the first half of the lap.  In 2006, I bonked during the run and blamed it on lack of energy/calorie consumption.  So I began eating almost instantly on the bike, consumed 2 Gu’s and a cliff bar gel.  Drank Zip fizz mixed with gatorade which was ok, and I had a bagel strapped to my handlebars, after 1/2 the bagel I felt ok, but after the 2nd half, I realized that it was going to cause a problem.

Upon passing the 10 mile marker, (before the bagel) I realized I was having an amazing bike, even with the hills, my heartrate was in control.  I passed mile 10 in 28 minutes.  Thats excess of 21 mph average, and feeling ok.  After the first lap, 29 miles my average bike pace was 19.8!  I was passing so many people on the up hills, I train on uphills and I am awesome at them!  I was riding my bike like a madman, but still felt in control of my energy level and heartrate. But then the stomach problems, I could feel a knot in my stomach from the density of the bagel, mixed with the intensity of my riding, (although still in heartrate "planned" range)  So, I decided to slow it up a bunch and try to get my bagel to digest, feeling a nasty knot in my stomach for the 2nd half of bike I finished with an average speed of 18.9 mph bike, (still good, but had to slow up a lot)

And into T2, went perfectly as planned, bike shoes off, running shoes on, Hammer gel, and then onto bike.

At first my legs felt heavy, even like wiggly wires hanging from my torso.  But after a mile or two, I felt better, I had a very fun run.  Talking to people is my favorite,  such a distraction, see how "un winded" I can be when talking to them, after the first double lap, I felt like I had extra energy, my sideaches went away that I was feeling from the extra intensity, and I was onto lap two.  Lap two went great, for the first few miles, then, I began to feel the craziness of the race.  Without too much slowing I finished to the last mile without too much problems.  Overall passing very many people, and very few passing me.  On the last mile, I picked up my pace, and stretched out my stride, and the last 800m a guy in my age group passed me, and he was going fast too.  I tailed him for 400 meters, then tried a pull past him.  He knew he was my age group, and he tried to pull away even faster.  In the last 200 meters, we were full on sprint to the race around the last 2 bends, and everyone was cheering.  I pulled away from him and finished a few seconds ahead!  What an accomplishment.  Looking at my time on the reader board I realized my time was very good, but borderline on my goals.  Then upon realizing it, my actual race time was like 6 minutes less that what read on the reader because the reader was the time for the "Pro" heat!

Final stats 5:37:58  swim, 44:21, T1, 2:56, Bike, 3:00:56, T2, 1:30, Run 1:48:18

Finishing in 337 place overall   34/69 age group, 280/580 men!

So, I was hanging out, meeting people chatting, whatever, and the awards cermony includes handing out and distributing the world qualifier Clearwater spots to be alloted.  And in my age group, there was 6 spots be given out.  And people went home before the awards ceromony, and because he got to like 15th place and still no one to take the last 2 spots, the announcer decided to save my age group until last.  So, after another hour of awards and such, he came back to my age group, he had 2 spots available, and what do you know, theres is only 4 people waiting in my age group for a spot, and I was the fastest out of the 4, so I automatically got a spot!  yay!  going to florida, so excited in November.  Gotta get travel plans, a bike box, maybe even a new time trial bike??  Would be cool.  Anyways, will type about my Seattle to Portland experience soon.

Finish time of 2:37:52, placing 94, swim time 32:48, Bike 1:15:00, Run 49:25

So, this weekend I traveled to Eastern Washington to compete in the Moses Lake olympic distance triathlon.  The drive was good, and we were able to get some rest at my uncle’s house in Ephrata, only 30 minutes away. However, for 2 days prior I was not feeling well.  With some stomach cramps, aching muscles, and cold sweats at night, I was worried about my upcoming race performance. Not to mention the loss of fluids and difficulty hydrating that I was noticing.  But regardless race morning arrived, still not feeling 100%.

We arrived with only an hour to check in, unload our bikes, figure out the course and  stretch, or I mean forget to stretch! =)

With only 10 minutes to start I was finally ready, my gear organized and numbered, I was racing with my friend, and it was his first triathlon ever, so we were both taking in the pure adrenaline and energy of the event.  With little time left I entered the water, so cold, a few yards to loosen up, get used to the water, and get a feel for the race water.

And next thing you know, the race begins, I started about 1/2 back in the pack, in the first heat of male swimmers, and quickly receeded to about 3/4 back in the pack.  But shortly after start, the swimming became a problem.  Taking water in the mouth, and inability to get my rythem going is a huge problem with arms, legs, elbows and knees flailing around you from 100 or so other people!  But after only a difficult quarter mile, the people spread out and I was able to find my rythem, the course was a 2 lap swim around buoys, and end at the shore, on the laps I kept drifting toward the center (trying to aim straight for the next bouy, so it became a problem nearly hitting others who were from a different heat going a different direction.  Finally 2 laps completed, and on the final stretch, I swam strong and hard to the shoreline, where we were emerging at a boat launch, and come to find out, the boat launch was very slippery, I put my feet down once I could touch at waist deep and I couldn’t propel forward because it was too slippery, I had to swim 3 more strokes before I could try and run out of the water. Swim time 33:27 for the one mile swim.
Into T1, I tried to take my wetsuit off as fast as possible,  With much difficulty, I had the suit off, jersey on, socks on, and finally difficulty with my bike shoes, I forgot to unstrap them and have them ready.  ok, finally on and ready to go, grabbed my watch handoff from my father while exiting T1 and onto my bike. Bike start was less than marginal, with difficulty clipping in my pedals for a few strokes, and not the best gear for a start.
I felt good for the most part during the bike, although my heart rate was through the roof during the first 2 or 3 miles from adrenaline and the difficult swim/difficult T1. My hands and feet were feeling numb, possibly from the cold swim, possibly from the peaked heartrate and socks not on perfect.  ohh well, continue on, after a few miles and upon exiting some tree areas there became to be a very heavy head wind.  I’m good at hill climbs, but don’t have aero bars, and this proved a problem. The headwind slowed my pace to what felt like a crawl, (14.5 mph for the first half of the bike average), very slow, and getting passed by 3 people during the bike.  But finally turnaround, and coming back was a snap, (25.8mph average with a peak speed of 39.2mph down a very small hill)  So, very good tailwind made for a very fast 2nd half of bike. (1:15:00 bike 26 miles)
Then into T2, and what do you know, my friend Chad and just getting his wetsuit on, (His sprint tri started a bit after mine) so, while changing my shoes he said some encouraging words, and onto the run.

Onto the run, and on with the bicycle/jello legs, and what do you know, my stomach is cramping, and my feet feel like 2×4’s, they are still numb from the cold water I think, ohh well, lets not worry about it.  My run went great, for the 6.xx miles I passed several people, some who were winded, and others who I felt like I should have beat on the bike.  And soon enough, across the finish line.  Feeling good about my accomplishments.

I feel like I had a great swim, could’ve exited the water better, and could’ve had my T1 better.  Then I felt like my bike portion was much less than perfect. I could’ve biked harder, and could’ve tucked into the wind more, still wonder about my bike fit, maybe it’s not perfect.  T2 was good, and my run was very good except the cold/numb feet. I think I excelled today at my running and overall endurance skills where I had more energy, when others did not.  I feet like I could have went twice the distance (upcoming Lake Stevens distance) but it would have been difficult.  My friend Chad won a free V02 max testing, and I’m thinking that I would like to get mine tested as well, for a training reference point.  Looking forward to Lake Stevens as my next race in only 4 short weeks.

so, last weekend I went to visit my brother in Eugene Oregon, just hanging out, doing some work on crossfit technique.  Then his friend mentions a 20k trail run.  And we look into it, and what do you know, it’s the next day!  Lets do it.  So, we go to sign up, and all entries are full, they’ve been full for a long time!  But somehow, thanks to a pushy girl in front of us, we get entered by using people’s no-show entries!

So, the start of the race, I’m talking to this guy, like at the front of the starting line, and we start, and I’m in front of all these fast runners, and nowhere to let them pass, so, yeah, kinda a mental takedown, (them all passing me the first few miles where the trail widens).

But, I get into this trailrun, which I haven’t been training for at all, and come to find out, the elevation gains are pretty hefty for this run, my watch shows 3 hill climbs of 1000 feet upon completion!  With elevation loss in between which was tearing up my legs, thank goodness for soft trail running dirt!

I finished good, shouldn’t have startout out so fast, but finished 6th out of 12 in my age group, and 30th out of estimated 140, with a pace of 8:17.  So overall a good run.

Making me wonder about my Machenzie river trail 50k run in September, but need to focus on Triathlon first.

Moses Lake olympic distance next weekend! Lake Stevens 70.3 coming a few weeks after that one!

My official results came in for my Weekend race and I am ever impressed with myself.

The internet site shows that I placed 170th out of a total 8900 runners

147th out of 3898 Male runners

30/619 for age group 26-29!  Wheeeewww!  Average pace of 6:21, impressive, but improvable.  Perhaps most runners weren’t too serious and more casual joggers, but still impressive!

I finished in the St. Patricks day run in Seattle this weekend, finishing the 3.49 mile course in 22:09 with a 6:21 mile pace.  I felt like it was a good race, though I could have trained better, I regarded this race as a race to do for fun.  I think there was more than 15,500 people that raced in 3 heats, making it impossible to start fast.  But also a more social type of fun run.  I enjoyed that the raced ran through the Battery Street tunnel (about 3/4 mile long) and across the Alaskan Way Viaduct (both pretty much a closed off freeway)

Well, once again, and this time sooner than ever, I’ve upped my workout level to incorperate commuting to work on my bicycle.  I have a new bike this year, a Specialized Tarmac.  (gonna post pics soon)  But I am even more excited about saving gas money, enjoying my commute, and getting a grinding workout before and after work.  In addition to anything else I do after I get home.  I am a bit concerned about getting my new bike all dirty when it rains around here since I do live in Washington, and it’s a little nice for a commuter bike, but hey, it sure is nice to ride!  People think I’m weird because I like riding the 18 miles each way, with substantial hills.  But I think they are weird, because they sit in Seattle traffic.  Or in my case, Hwy 9!

Hey all, I’m getting really excited about this upcoming season of my life and fitness program.  I have several triathlons, bike rides, and runs.  The soonest races of mine are an early bike ride in May, with my peak races being in July being the Lake Stevens 70.3 Ironman, and the Seattle to Portland bicycle race.  My question for you is, that I am thinking about signing up for an early April Marathon race to jumpstart my training.  But I really want to peak for the Lake Stevens 70.3 in July.  In August I am doing another marathon, and in September I am going to try and run a 50k (Mackenzie River run).  Is this too much racing for a season?  Will my peak be all screwed up?

Well, the last few weeks have been hit and miss on the consistency of my workouts.  The recent raquet ball playing doesn’t get me a good enough workout, and I’ve been counting it. =) The last 3 days I had good workouts on my indoor bike trainer, and I am feeling good about it.  With the temps outside dropping into the 20’s, everyone around me is coming to work sick with all different symptoms.  I really don’t want this sickness, it looks terrible.  I need to up the healthy food, up the vitamins, and up the cardio fitness level.

This weekend I competed in a winter run/race event.  It was a 5.4 mile run about an hour north of where I live in Burlington.  I felt like my performance didn’t go as well as hoped, but it is the middle of winter, so what more could I expect.  I guess my numbers look better then how I felt during the race.  I finished 9th place overall, and first for my age group.  My average mile time was 6:55, with a total time of 37:03.  I felt like I was too cold while running, it was only 40 degrees out, and I wore my shorts and long sleeve running jersey (Cold legs).  I also felt like my swim the night before didn’t help too much.  For about the first mile, we were running into a strong headwind, which seemed to sap a lot of energy out of me.  Anyhow, I attended a local concert in Ballard at the Sunset Tavern to see a local band named the "Cops".  Whilest moshing in the crowd I could feel my legs and tell that I had ran pretty hard that morning.  -Travis Stecker