Sunday, June 23, 2013

Rockford Olympic Race Report



Well, where to begin? Last weekend Wyatt and I loaded our stuff into my truck to head north for the Rockford Triathlon & MECTC/MWCTC Conference Challenge. He was excited because it was his first triathlon, and I was excited to try and improve upon my time for the previous year. Now, let me tell you, road trips with me are fun. Since I don’t have an IPod hook up in my truck, you get to listen to CDs or the radio. I usually download some music and randomly put it on a CD and come up with some weird title for it—this trip wasn’t any different. All we had to do was stop by the gas station and we’d be on our way. Well, we had some minor truck trouble at the gas station to set us back a good 15 minutes…a good start to the trip, right?  Anyway, we were meeting our friends Chad and Matt at the park for packet pickup and a quick workout before dinner. Long story short, we all ended up getting to the park at different times, and doing workouts at different times, but hey, it happens.

The only picture I took the whole weekend.

 As we were getting ready to leave the park at 9:30pm to head to dinner, my truck stated acting up again. Wonderful. But, at that time I didn’t care, I just wanted dinner. I don’t even remember the name of the pizza place Erik took us to, all I know is they had pizza by the slice. Good enough for me. We finally made it to Chad’s house a bit after 10:15—just in time to go to bed and wake up at 4:20. Woohoo.

Now I’ll skip all the other fluff and get to the race.

Swim- 28:18 –I was happy with that. It was an in water start this year, and we had a good 5-10 minutes of wating around out in the water before the gun went off. I found a good set of feet to get on and just rode it out. It was a 2 loop swim, and I am kind of awful at sighting, so I decided to follow….after looking back at the Garmin data, apparently the person I was following couldn’t swim a straight line…but I’m sure I wouldn’t have been any better! Haha.

T1- 1:42 I love this race because it has a long T1. Free seconds!

Bike- 1:09:02 –It had started raining during the swim, and it continued on the bike. I was slightly miserable since I really do not like riding in the rain. With a crash, and being hit by a car in the past year, I seem to play it safe on the bike in less than favorable conditions. The wind and rain made for a cautious, but good effort ride It is a simple out and back. Luckily I rode the course the previous weekend, so I knew the spots to watch out for.

T2- :34 Quick and easy. Shoes were soaked.

Run- 34:58. (I forgot to stop my garmin) We rode the run course yesterday and I quickly remembered why run times are slow here…it’s hilly. They had primes for fastest in each discipline, and I was hoping to win the run prime this year. I had some good miles and some okay miles this year. I don’t think I pushed the uphill sections hard enough. It almost felt like a 10k time trial on a hilly course. I would pass a group of 3-5 and then I might not see anybody again for ¾ mile. I just had to run hard and keep pushing, because I never know what could be going on behind me. This race had a few different waves, and we started in wave 1. I never really know who is ahead or behind me. I believe last year I set the run course record @ 37:09, and this year I ran 34:58, but some dude ran 34:57 for the fastest run split and the $50 check! Dang. He also happens to be a DIII All-American in the 10k, so I didn’t feel so bad when I found that out.

Total- 2:14:42 7th OA, 5th Collegiate.


2012
2013
Difference
Swim
31:34
28:18
-3:16
T1
2:11
1:42
-:29
Bike
1:14:43
1:09:07
-5:36
T2
:58.9
:34
-:25
Run
37:09
34:58
- 2:11
Total
2:26:37
2:14:42
-11:55

So, what can I take away from this?
*My swim still needs a lot of work
*I can bike harder
*I need to stay focused on the run when I’m in a gap
*Transitions are key—13 seconds separated 7-10th. They all beat me on the swim and bike, but my run saved me, along with quick transitions.

It was nice to race with the NIU team and see a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while. Thanks to Chad for letting us stay at this house Friday night. And I must say, the pulled pork sandwiches and fruit smoothies after the race were a great touch—I only had 4 of each. Then we made a quick stop by McDonalds after the race for some more goodness. Wyatt introduced me to this chocolate chip coffee something or other, and it was pretty good…okay, really good. It can’t possibly be good for me though!

In other news, I took some underwater swim video, and I think I can see why I’m swimming slow. This was taken from my cooldown, but still…

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

End of Track, Start of Tri!



Well, I have a long overdue update. I’ll keep it short!

5000m at North Central College

Results:
April 27       SLIAC    1500m   2ndConference runner-up
May 4         NCCAA  5k         9th 15:38
May 5         Try-Tri     1st OA (my first OA win)
May 10       NCC       1500m 4:02
May 16-17  NCC       5k 15:42, 1500m 4:02
June 1          Tri-Shark 4th OA, 1st AG/1stnon-elite

Teammates!
SO…what has happened in the last six weeks?
I missed scoring by 1 place at NCCAAs, but Dad still gave me a hug anyway!
- Track ended. It has been a fun 13 years of competitive track!
            *Thank you to all of those who have supported me through the many years. It has been great getting to know everybody. I was lucky to have some great coaches to help shape me into the runner I am today.

Coach P!
-Tri training has picked up…A LOT.
            *Longer bike intervals. More intervals. Longer runs. Different types of runs.



--Weddings! I have 4-5 weddings of friends that I’ve gone to/will be going to this summer, and I am very excited. I love weddings, they are such a happy time.
It is wedding season :) Looks like construction season too!

Favorite Workouts?
-Geneva Group Ride. On Memorial Day we went up to Geneva to for a group ride, and it was nice to workout with guys my own age. I can’t remember the last time I had a group of guys my age to ride with…and of course breakfast with the group after didn’t hurt.
-12x400m. I was doing this at my local high school, and it just so happened to be jr high graduation the same night. I may or may not have started out a little too quick on some of the early 400s, so I was hurting toward the end. There was a group of probably 10 5th graders that came outside and started watching my workout, about 7 400m in. They decided they wanted to cheer me on. Well, on number 10 I was not feeling well at all, and after I finished I stated throwing up. Second time that has ever happened to me from a workout! Well, these kids loved it, and started cheering louder for me as I was losing my lunch than when I was running. I made some new fans that day!

2 shots from run #2 @ Tri-Shark.

Biggest Difference Between Track and Tri?
-More bike. Longer, harder intervals. More time on the bike. With running, I could usually just turn my brain off and run. I could feel pace pretty well, and sometimes I could just go through the motions and still get it done. Now,  I have to make sure I am mentally ready going into every workout, and I really cannot turn my brain off…even on runs. Also, I am learning to still run well on tired legs. I was always scared to push the bike too hard during the track season, because I was afraid my legs would be gone for a track workout. Now, I can ride hard and I realize I am still fine to run.

Look...I'm actually enjoying the bike!

What Am I Most Excited For
-Everything! Training. Racing. It is a new challenge and I really think it is going to be fun!

The sun was very rare to see for a few days!

Rest of the Season?
-Rockford Olympic Tri    June 15
-70.3 Racine                   July 21
-AG Nationals                Aug 10
-70.3 Vegas                    Sept 8
-Rev3 Branson                Sept 22
-70.3 Austin                    October 27


Song of the Week
(I’ll do two since I have missed like 6. Good logic, I know haha)
All Black Everything—Lupe Fiasco
Here Comes the Weekend--Pink