Cyclocross

I tried another new event: cyclocross. I watched it in person last year and it looked like something I would enjoy. I decided to try it this fall instead of running cross country. I borrowed a friend's bike and raced last weekend. It was very hard anaerobically and technically challenging since I don't have much of a cycling background, but I managed to not crash and finished 23rd out of 71 finishers in the Cat 4 open division. I haven't trained for this yet- in fact- haven't exercised much at all since the Lake Stevens 70.3 4 weeks ago. I did take one intro to cyclocross class where I learned how to properly mount and dismount the bike to get over barriers. I finally got my own bike, a Blue Norcross EX, which I named: Chuck Norris. (People fear him, other bikes want to be him.) My next race is tomorrow at Marymoor Park: Starcrossed. I'm excited and nervous- I still haven't trained, will be on a brand new bike, and should know a few other racers and spectators which is always added pressure. That's ok, I'm doing it for fun and a change, and to work on my bike skills.

Summer Racing

I raced in 4 1/2 ironmans this summer. They all went quite well, though a bit of a medical 'mishap' at the second race...

I started in early May with my first Wildflower. I drove in a small campervan with 2 good friends, Derek and Aaron, from Seattle to southern California. We made it a two day drive. There are no towns near the race, which is at Lake San Antonio- about 2 hours north of San Luis Obispo. Everyone camps for the weekend and they have several races over two days. Luckily, the 1/2 ironman is the first race on Saturday morning so we could then relax and enjoy the relaxed and fun atmosphere for the rest of the time.

I had a very solid race and was 4th in my AG in 4:45. Derek and Aaron raced well and were just a few minutes back. The run course is very challenging with hills, trails, and soft dirt, but made much more enjoyable by the college-aged fans cheering who was preparing to race the olympic distance race on Sunday. Their energy really helped push hard those last 6 miles of the run.

My next race was the Honu 70.3 on the big island. I was having one of my best races ever until mile 8 of the run when I began to feel awful and felt like my heart was racing. I slowed from 6:20/mile to about 9:30/mile and barely finished the race. After a few hours when I still felt like dizzy/lightheaded I had a friend drive me to the closest hospital- they hooked me up and discovered I was in atrial fibrillation. No wonder I was forced to slow down so much. I was still 50th overall in 4:44, but would have liked to know where I would have finished if my heart had not blown up at mile 8....argh. After 2 days in the hospital, they cardioverted "shocked" my heart back to normal rhythm and it has been perfectly fine ever since, knock on wood.

Though my heart had been fine, I admit I was a bit nervous for my next race- the Chelan Man 1/2 iron in July. Luckily, it went well and I had a decent swim, stong bike to move into 5th place, and then a big run to just barely grab 3rd overall in a mad sprint finish. I finished in 4:43:59. Amazing that over 3 very different races my times were all within 1 minute of each other.

My last triathlon of the summer was the Lake Stevens 70.3. Pride was also on the line for this race since it's local and I knew so many other people in the race and on the sidelines. Luckily, it went really well and I was 3rd in my AG in 4:33 and the 9th non-professional and beat quite a few pro's which always feels fantastic.

Now I think I'll give cyclocross a try- have always wanted to and I think I'll really enjoy it.

Early 2010

Tri training started fairly well in January and then we went on an amazing cycling trip to Chile and Argentina for a week in February. (I'm typing on my iPad right now so I can't include pictures but will upload some when I get back to my iMac). The cycling was fantastic and scenery spectacular as we were in the Volcano and Lakes region. Our two days in Argentina were the highlight but the toughest challenge was our last day of cycling back in Chile.

It started as a gently rolling ride leaving Puerto Varas along the largest lake in Chile. We stopped along the lake for lunch after about 35 miles. It was after lunch that the challenge came. One of our guides, a professional mountain biker, invited 3 of us to join him climbing the Osorno Volcano, which is 14 miles with grades of 20-25%. It was by far the hardest thing I've done on a bike. It is incredibly mentally tough because there are stretches early on without switchbacks, just brutal straights of 20+% incline. I would try to make my own little switchbacks on the allowable two-lane road. I had to stand for most of it and it took all my strength to keep the pedals turning. Luckily about 1/2 way up there is a parking lot and scenic viewpoint where our support truck was waiting and the pro had stopped to rest. I took advantage of this to catch my breath, refill my drink bottle and wait for the other two. After several minutes we realized the others would be a while so the pro and I took off for the rest of the climb. The next sections were not quite as steep due to some nice switchbacks until you came to the last long, brutal straightaway. This section was the 25% grade with no switchbacks. It was the toughest test I've had and took all my mental and physical strength to not walk, sit down or cry. Again, I made my own little switchbacks on the road but this just made the climb longer and didn't really lessen the grade. The pro rode a straight line up and steadily pulled away. I didn't care, I just didn't want to walk. The road ends into a level gravel parking lot at the base of the ski hill. My heart was pounding so hard and my panting so strong that I had to keep pedaling into the gravel as I was afraid of stopping suddenly and felt I needed to let my body calm down gradually and keep some muscle action to keep blood moving. I was elated to have made it and be done. After my HR came down I was finally able to appreciate the gorgeous views back toward Puerto Varas and the lake we rode along. Again, I hope to upload some pics soon. Due to the incredible steepness no one bikes back down as it's dangerous and will burn up brake pads. I gladly accepted the van ride down.

I highly recommend cycling in that part of the world if able. We concluded our trip with 3 days in Santiago and had fun exploring
the capitol including a little bike tour of the city. It was tough to return home to Seattle in February after the hot sun of the South American summer.

2009 summary

I think FB has kept me from thinking to keep up my blog, but I realize it's not the same. I try to keep my FB posts brief, funny, or relative. I don't like to discuss my athletic "feats of strength" on it so I'm coming back to my blog finally.

I only raced one triathlon in 2009: Ironman 70.3 California, in Oceanside. I was 100th overall in 4:39, and 16th in my AG. Then my plan was to switch back to full-time running to get ready for the World Outagames in Copenhagen. I think the deep sand portion of the triathlon took a toll on my calves and in my first hard running workout my calves seized and cramped. I couldn't run for weeks. I gradually started some slow, easy runs but no speed work. The pool at my gym doesn't have a deep end so I had to wait until the lake warmed up to do some deep water running. Finally in late June I was able to do a couple of faster workouts but on the July 4th weekend I felt my calf start to tear again so I had to take it easy again and only go fast in the lake.

In late July we (along with Justin and my Mom) flew to Europe. I was signed up for an ambitious week of track events. I decided to wear my racing flats instead of track spikes to reduce the strain to my calves. Day one of track for me was the 800 meter qualifying round followed an hour later by the 5000m final. I stayed fairly relaxed in my 800 heat and ran 2:14 I think and qualified for the final which would be the following day. I really felt my lack of fitness in the 5000 m but still managed 2nd in my AG, and a silver medal. Luckily, my calves felt completely fine for both races.

I was nervous for the 800 m final the next day but also excited as it seemed to be the most competitive race of the meet. My heart was pounding as the gun went off. After the first turn we broke for the inside and I was fairly well positioned in 3rd. The pace was solid but not crazy. I think we went through the 400 m in 2:04 but I can't remember exactly. The leader was then slowing down and no one wanted to take the lead. We also hit a big headwind on the final backstretch with 300 m to go. A Dutchman then made a hard move into the lead and my teammate, Steven, and I went after him. The pace kept increasing and I stayed right on the shoulders of the first two guys leading into the last turn. As the turn became the homestretch I drove my arms hard, lifted my knees and gave it everything I had hoping my calves would hold and my top speed was better than everyone else's. It turned out to be enough and I got my first gold of the games, again with no calf pain. Adrenaline is a wonder drug.

The third and last day of track included the 1500 m and the 4x400 relay for me. The 1500 m was a good effort and I beat a guy who was running his 4th or 5th event and was getting tired. I took the lead at 600 m and held on until the end. 2nd gold. With just one event left, I decided to finally wear my spikes. It felt so good to to do warm up strides in them- even though my legs were getting tired, I love th feeling of track spikes: light but with great traction. Several age groups were combined into the first, fast heat. Our first three legs ran great but we were about 8 seconds down on the top team. I made up a little ground but a 55 sec anchor wasn't enough.

I was thrilled I was able to run all my events and we had a blast visiting Denmark. It was a great week and fun to see Mom revisit 20 years after she and her Mom traveled to Copenhagen.

After returning home I tried to get ready for cross country but I only ran one or two races and I was fairly slow. We had a couple trips planned that would conflict with other races so I decided to end my season.

We had great little trips to San Diego for an early Thanksgiving, Vancouver for the actual holiday, and then a long weekend in NYC. As well as a few weekends in Whistler for a beautiful fall.

In December I gradually started triathlon training again. This was interrupted slightly as our big kitchen/basement remodel started and we moved into a little condo on December.

End of 2008

I'm such a lousy blogger. Wish I could be better, but oh well. The xc season had its ups and downs. After the last race I mentioned here, I ran a poor race up in Bellingham- a 10k hosted by WWU. My calf felt really tight for most of the race, not sure why, and I was pretty slow and my calf stayed sore for a few days. I took it really easy because I was headed back to Penn State for their home meet to run on an alumni team. That race was October 17th and I actually ran decent there. It was really fun to be back in State College and see good friends plus I got a ticket to the PSU-Michigan football game where we finally beat them for the first time in 9 years.
Then, November 2nd, was the PNTF xc championships in Seattle. I was fighting a cold and had a tough time on the hilly 10k course, but did manage to beat some guys that had beaten me earlier in the year. However, a bunch of new fast guys came out and ran for Seattle Running Club and I just missed making the top 8 to go to Nationals. So my xc season was over. We'll see how 2009 shakes out and if I can be stronger next fall.
But now I switch gears and as of December 1st, I began formal triathlon training again. The big race for me will be Ironman 70.3 Oceanside on April 4th. I've done this race in 2006 and watched it in 2005 and 2008. I know the course fairly well and I'm excited to go back and race there again. Its well organized and very competitive.
My training got a small hiccup from the big snow storm in Seattle before xmas so I only ran once in about 10 days and didn't swim at all, but I did a lot of spinning which is good. Now, we're in Sunriver, OR, for a week with family. There is a lot of snow here but I did run twice, xc once, and finally snowboarded today. I love the snow and I need to enjoy it since I heard it all melted in Seattle.

Officical results

Here are the race results- wow, I was 11th overall. Very happy!


http://www.goseattleu.com/pdf5/144898.pdf?ATCLID=1596613&SPID=10770&DB_OEM_ID=18200&SPSID=89885

Emerald City Classic

My second xc race of the season went much better. This was on a much tougher course than 2 weeks ago and I actually ran faster. Everyone was perplexed-- I guess I didn't run very well 2 weeks ago, plus I'm just getting a little stronger every week. This race was 8km and consisted of 4-2km loops. It had rained most of the last 24 hours but the course handled it quite well. I wore spikes just to be safe and think it helped on the sharp turns and down hills. This race was smaller and more low-key than Sundodger which was good and bad. It was good because I thought I might beat more people, but had a fear that I would be alone for a lot of the race as can happen in small races. Luckily, I had people to run with for most of the race. Early on, I spotted a friend from my running group, Mike Bailey, and tried to keep him in sight. He is always very consistent and runs with the fast guys in our workouts. I haven't raced him in a long time but he is definitely faster in recent workouts. I was actually nervous after the first lap that I was running near him thinking I may have gone out too fast. At 1/2 way though I felt him start to slow a bit and I pulled up next to him. I was nervous to pass as there was still a lot of racing to go and I didn't want to die. But I was feeling ok so I decided to go by and saw a teammate and another friend from the running group, Ben Haber, not too far ahead. I set my sights on him and tried to bridge the gap steadily so I wasn't stuck running alone. I still felt good when I caught him and then saw Bobby, who was in first place for our team, Seattle Running Club. I again tried to bridge the gap. This took a little while but finally made contact at about 5km, 1/2 way through lap 3. We ran together for a few minutes and then I saw another pack of 3 guys ahead that looked like they might be slowing just a bit. This gap was tougher to close. I was actually alone for the rest of lap 3 and the start of lap 4. But those guys were in sight which helped plus I knew Bobby, Ben, and Mike were all still close behind and fighting hard so I couldn't slow at all. I inched toward the next guy, and Eastside Running Club member, and finally caught him at 7km. We ran together and we both passed a guy who stopped on the side and looked like he was about to lose his breakfast. Around one of the sharp turns I had looked back and saw a new face making up ground and by the cheers from people on the sidelines I figured it was a runner from Seattle University. As I pulled away from the Eastside runner, this new Seattle Univ. runner caught me with about 500 m to go. He got ahead of me but I stuck right on his back to try to see how much he really had left. As we crested the last little hill and turned into the last 150 m I got on my toes and started to kick and pulled up next to him, he responded and we were both in a dead sprint for the finish line. I think it was a photo finish but I might have gotten him with a lean and the officials put me ahead of him in the finish shoot. Due to the mad sprint finish, I didn't stop my watch for several seconds so I'm not sure yet what my official time was. I was able to get each lap split and I was really happy with how even my splits were. And I managed to be the top guy for Seattle Running Club. I'm not sure how the qualifying for nationals works on our team, but hopefully that helps me make top 8 to represent our club in Spokane in December. We'll see, we had a lot of good runners not race today and Ben and Bobby were within 15-20 seconds of me so anything can happen. It was just fun to have a solid race and compete with people and actually out-kick a college kid. :-)
2km: 6:56
2nd 2km: 7:06
3rd 2km: 7:04
last 2km: 7:10?
Total: 28:17?
Next Saturday is a meet in Bellingham, WA, hosted by Western Washington University. We should have a bigger team there. And I think it is a 10k race which will be another challenge.