Griskus Race Plan: Getting back up

This weekend is the Northeast Regional Champs at the Pat Griskus Race in Connecticut. Regional Champs qualify more people for Nationals. In fact, the top 33% of each age group qualifies. My goal is to requalify for Nationals. I'm using this race as a gauge for how ready I am for Nationals. The race is only 600 competitors, and last year it only had 9 athletes in my age group (12 the year before). So I need to look to be in the top 3 or 4 to meet that goal.

Swim
The swim is a little long for an olympic. It's a mile. My goal pace for oly swims is 1:40 per 100. That would mean my swim goal should be 30 minutes (technically 29:20, but let's give a little leeway). I had a brilliant swim this morning at Walden, that reminded me of the joys of open water swimming. I think I should be able to push it a bit, get into a good rhythm, then shoot for a negative split in the second half.

Bike
The bike promises to be hilly. See the bike course topography below:

They warn people, particularly on that first descent, to take it easy. Not only is it steep, but it's winding. My plan is to go for safety on the downhills. I'm too much of a scaredy pants to go screaming down anyway. Then to try to push it on the uphills. Small gears, high cadence, and making sure that I don't drop power as I near the top of each hill. This course is tougher than Mooseman (the age group winner at Mooseman average 21mph, here it was 19). The 3rd place competitor last year rode it at 18. I think I can give a bit more cushion cause of my swim, so I'm thinking 17mph is a good goal. That would mean a 1 hour 28 minute goal.

Run
The run is two out-and-backs. Should be exactly 6.2 miles. That means I should be shooting for my typical 8 min miles. 50 minutes.

So:
0:30 swim
1:28 bike
0:50 run

plus 4 minutes transition = 2:52 total time. This is not going to be a PR. But hopefully enough to accomplish my goals.

Nutrition
It shouldn't be that hot (60 degrees at 7am, 70 degrees at 10am), so dehydration shouldn't be too much of an issue. Still, I want to try to stay better hydrated than I did at Mooseman, where I got a headache after the race, despite cool temps. Here's the schedule with nutrition.

• 4:30am wake up, clif bar - water (goal of 1 24oz bottle per hour, pre race)
  
• 5am leave for race
• 5:45 register/rack
• 6:10 warm up run
  
• 6:30 transition closes, warm up swim, 1 gu, 3 endurolytes
  
• 7am race starts
• 7:30 bike, gu, 12 oz heed
• 8am bike, 12 oz heed
• 8:30 bike, gu, 12 oz heed
• 9am run, gu, water on course (~6oz)
• 9:30 run, water on course (~6oz)
• 10am FINISH! 6 endurolytes
  

Mooseman Race Report: A Little Rusty

I've been dragging my feet about writing this race report, cause I just didn't know what to say. The race was really tough, mentally more than physically, and I haven't really figured out what went wrong.

I read several tri blogs, and I was reading this race report from the Boise 70.3, and it made me feel a bit better. I have a lot of respect for Ray, the author, and his experience is a good reminder that some races just don't as planned, even for rockstars like Ray.

So what happened? Well, I think it was a combination of things: cold water, lack of taper, and just mentally out of it.

The water was a chilly 58 degrees, and I just didn't feel like I was moving. No gliding, my muscles just didn't feel like they warmed up. I've since done another open water swim, and it reminded me that swimming open water feels slower than pool swimming. Because you can't see the bottom, you don't get the visual feedback on your speed. Swim was still about 3 minutes off where it should have been.

Out on the bike, I continued to be cold, and I just didn't feel like I had anything to give, like wringing a dry towel, nothing coming out. Every time I asked my legs for a little more, they were already maxed out. I think this had to do with the fact that I did a tough kettlebell set a few days before, and my legs hadn't recovered.

I usually think of the swim as setting a good precedence for the race. I can start strong and feel good coming out of the water. Without that, my mindset on the bike was grim. I kept thinking about pulling out of the race. My body wasn't responding the way I wanted it to, and I wasn't sure if that was a time when I should be "listening to my body" or pushing through. In the end I decided that I only get 6 races this season, it would be a shame to not finish one.

In the end, I came 6th in my age group out of 30+ competitors. All things considered, that's not so bad. It's not good enough to qualify for nationals (which had been my benchmark), but not bad for a day when things didn't go to plan.

Probably the highlight of the weekend then, was the following day, when I got to be the biker leading around the first place female runner on the half ironman course. It was inspiring. She held a solid 6:15 pace for the whole half marathon with a 100+ cadence the whole time.

After the race, I was riding my bike back to the cabin and passing people still coming in off the bike course. I got many waves and smiles, as people thought that I had actually won the race. Not this time, folks.

Mooseman Race Plan: Testing the waters

In 24 hours, I'll be putting my gear in transition, but for right now, I'm a bit of a wreck. I usually swim on Friday mornings, but last night at 10:30 as I was still desperately trying to get everything packed for the weekend, I decided a sleep in would be more beneficial to my race. Of course my nerves wouldn't allow for that, so I woke up at 5:45 and decided instead of tossing and turning, I'd put my consciousness to good use and write my race plan.

I can look at this early morning wake up as a good way to keep my body on schedule: it will mean it's easier to get up at 5:30 tomorrow morning. Or I can look at it half empty: I only got 7 hours of sleep. How this sleep schedule will impact my race is yet to be determined.

This seems to be a theme going into this race. My off season has been different this year, and until I race tomorrow, I won't know whether the changes I've made will pay off.

This year, I ran more, biked less, did not injure my shin, nursed my knee back to health, caught cold after cold, and added kettlebells to improve my posterior chain and power. And until just now, I thought that translated to many fewer hours, but here's the numbers.

Since December, average hours per week: 5.02
Last month's average hours per week: 5.95
2010 average hours per week: 6.09
May, 2010: 9.01

Here's what this says to me. I did 50% more hours per week in May of last year (remember, I was training for long course), but I have actually trained more consistently this year than last. That's not so bad.

Comparing the breakdown, this month (The crosstrain this past month is kettlebells):

May 2010:
It feels like I've been riding less, because I have been riding less. Even if I count all of my brick time to cycling, I'm not coming close to hours I was putting on the bike last year. Again, long course training and injured shin explain a lot of this difference. But still a lot to wonder about going into race day.

My only indication that this new strategy is going to pay off, was at track last night. My coach asked me to run 6x200 on 37 seconds. This sounded ridiculously fast to me. My last 400TT was 1:22. But I thought, eh, I'll just give it a go, see how close I can come. I ran them consistently between 36 and 38 seconds. Compare this to 4 months ago, running indoor track 200s on 41 seconds. Yeah, that's news I can use.

So, back to this race, here's the schedule:

• 5:30am wake up, eat oatmeal, get ready, check tires
  
• 6:00 head over to transition, get racked, sunscreen
  
• 6:50 go on a 15 minute warm up run
• 7:15 put shoes back in transition
• 7:30 eat a gu, get in the water, have the wind knocked out of me, take a few brave strokes
• 7:46 start racing
• Swim hard out of the gates, then settle into a good temp, take it up again for the last 200
• Do my new mount onto the bike. Use the first 4 miles to spin the legs up. On the first hill drop to small chain, keep cadence up. On devil's hill, small chain again. Gu. Go hard on the bike every stroke - average speed of 19 is the goal. Drop into small chain again for the long hill before turn onto Cass Mill Rd, and for the rollers afterwards. On West Shore Dr, drop a gear or two, spin the legs up. Do my new dismount. (drink the whole bottle of heed)
  
• Get that cadence up on the run immediately. This about the sound of Lauren's feet. Gu. Drink as necessary. At the turn around, take the pace up, one gear.
• Finish strong.
  

Well, that's it. Time to see if all this work is gonna pay off.

The Hills Were Alive...

I went to southern Vermont for a wedding over Memorial Day weekend. We were staying at a ski lodge, and I decided I would try a trail run along and up their mountain for my exercise on Sunday. A few observations follow:


1. It was just a bit muddy out there.

2. This quickly became more of a hike than a run. Although some of the trail was cutting back and forth across the ski runs, at least half of it was just straight up the run, and these were no bunny hills. I ended up covering around 3 miles in around 1 hour. So, yeah, maybe it was mostly hike.

3. I saw a fox, 2 geese and a wild turkey.

4. Running down the mountain (definitely running for this part), I could not get the Sound of Music out of my head. Particularly this part:

To laugh like a brook
When it trips and falls
Over stones on its way

Luckily, I did not follow its suggestion.

Hot new ride

Just a quick update. I bought this bike yesterday off of Craigslist. It's a 1984 Centurion Dave Scott Ironman Expert bike. And it's salmon-colored with yellow tape, steel frame, 12 speed with shifters on the downtube. It's got a few dings, but it's been pretty well-maintained (new cables, new Shimano 105 gears, new brakes, new tires) and hasn't seen many miles in the last few years. With the Boston weather finally cooperating, this will be my traffic-beater bike for my commute to work, and it will allow me to try my hand at doing my own maintenance, if I'm brave.

I love the idea that this was a pretty serious road bike in its day: it has a sticker that proudly claims it was designed in the USA, but made in JAPAN! It may have even done a triathlon in a former life.

And extra bonus: I had a little time to spare before my track workout last night, so I practiced my mounting and dismounting. And I did not fall, not even once. I'm still not totally confident, and the bike got a little wobbly there at times, but it's a start.

Transition training

Last weekend, I organized a transition training session, aka. the Triple Tri, inspired by Coach Mark at the Brisbane Tri Squad. The basic idea is that you do 3 mini-triathlons in a row to simulate race conditions and allow you to practice doing your transitions. As this was the first time hosting a transition session, there were lessons for me, not just about my transitions, but also about the session itself.

1. I had been worried about the prospect of getting back into wet wetsuits after the first round, but it turns out, this was not an issue, since we did not swim. Not something commonly faced in Queensland, both air and water temperatures were in the low 50s, so the decision was made that it was not advisable to swim, then strip down to nothing and ride a bike for 3 miles. Instead the event became the Triple-Du.

2. One consequence of the missing swim was that none of us was particularly warm when we started the bike. In the future, I would recommend an easy run/bike to warm up before trying to push race pace.

3. LVOR kindly offered to come be our bicycle guard and purveyor of homemade granola bars. With this small of a field (just the 4 of us), I think we were all grateful to have some one keep an eye on things, even if it was just to keep the dogs from marking our territory as theirs. Thanks, LVOR!

4. The transition rack that I borrowed from Landry's is awesome. And the fact that they let me borrow a $300 rack for the weekend is even more awesome. It's 2 tripods that lock together. The whole thing folded up and stored in a handy canvas bag that easily fit in the back of the car. Honestly, I sorta want to buy one of these now.

5. Lauren had us review what worked and didn't work after this practice. This was a great addition to the practice. On one of the runs, I could hear Lauren and her nice, quick cadence catching up to me. I consciously increased my turnover to match hers. It felt hard, but it did the trick. She reminded me afterwards to drop my gear at the end of the bike and spin the legs up.

6. The other thing I struggled with was mounting and dismounting the bike. I've never been one to master the flying-mount (despite many attempts). Right now, my current mount involves, coming to a complete stop, throwing my leg over and stepping onto my shoe. It's not all that slow, but it certainly isn't elegant. I want to learn how to skate with one foot on the shoe and throw the leg over while rolling (and similarly dismount). I accidentally did this type of dismount at Cranberry last year. I was just so caught up in the race, I just did it without even thinking about it. I want to get comfortable with this type of mount, if not for the time advantage, then for the improved confidence and bike-handling skills. Any suggestions for how to get this down?

The rhythm method

Paul and I were watching the NCAA championship swim meet the other day, and those dudes swim the backstroke twice as fast as I do the crawl. Not that being a male NCAA swimmer is my goal, it just put things in perspective: there's always room for improvement.

A bit of background (you can skip the paragraph if you've already heard my Total Immersion soap box), in 2005, I couldn't swim more than 25 yards in a single go. In preparation for my first triathlon, I picked up a copy of Total Immersion at the suggestion of some random guy at the pool. TI breaks the crawl down into a set of drills that don't really feel all that much like swimming (i.e., kicking on your back, kicking on your side, kicking on your side with one arm by your ear). The focus is on getting your body in the right position in the water, so you don't expend a ton of extra energy trying to keep from drowning, and instead you use that energy to propel you forward. TI takes a lot of commitment to going to the pool and not swimming, but if you're willing to put in the time in the drills, it really does clean up your stroke significantly. I recommend it to any one wanting to improve their stroke.

I credit TI with creating my relaxed stroke, but the flipside of a relaxed stroke is that it's sometime hard to swim faster. At the relay a few weeks back, Paul commented on how I didn't look like I was working very hard during the race. A few months ago I read an article (either in Lava or another tri magazine, I can't recall), written by Terry Laughlin, the founder of TI, on using a metronome to slowly speed up your stroke rate, while maintaining your distance per stroke, thus speeding up your swim overall. I was intrigued. Terry's written more about it on his blog.

There are two devices I've found that serve this purpose the Tempo Trainer and the Wetronome (yes, really). But seeing as how I have a waterproof case for my ipod, and I could download some sample tracks from SwimSmooth.com and try it out less than 12 hours later, it seemed the way to go.

First, my options are somewhat limited with the tracks. They offer tracks in 5 beat per minute increments. Turns out my natural pace is somewhere between 55 bpm and 60bpm. 55 just felt slow, and 60 gave me a cramp. Both metronome devices offer finer tempos. For now I think the tracks will suffice, but if you're looking to get me a present in the near future, take note.

Second, I'm never going to be somebody's back-up dancer, but I like to think that my rhythm isn't that bad. I was pleased to find that I don't slow my stroke significantly to breathe. I was a bit afraid that my stroke-stroke-stroke-GASP might be a problem, but it was ok. Still, getting back on tempo at the wall was tough on a few of those turns.

Third, I'm still excited by the potential this tool may have to improve my swim. I'm looking forward to using the metronome to plot out my curve of time per 100 versus strokes per length to find my baseline optimal stroke count, then to try to improve it. Though I'm a little concerned that trying to start my watch, count my strokes and sync up with the beats may be a little challenging. We shall see.

Have you ever tried swimming with a metronome? Any suggested workouts?

Elite Fluid

Geoffrey Mutai set a new course record (and will possibly be recognized for a new World Record) on the Boston Marathon course Monday. And I had his water bottle at 10K. I think I deserve some credit for his win.

OK, ok, he didn't actually take the water bottle from my table. A lot of runners decide not to take their designated bottles, be it, they just don't want a drink, or they are on the far side of the pack from the fluid.

Here's how it works. Every 5K there's an elite fluid stop. Each athlete provides their own bottle of whatever they want to drink in advance of the race. For most of them it's just a few ounces. There are ten tables each with 4 bottles. As an athlete approaches the stop, they know their bottle will be on the 2nd table in the 3rd spot (for example).


Each bottle is different. Some people decorate their bottles so they're easy to spot:

Ryan Hall signs each of his bottles and tosses them to the crowd as a souvenir when he's done.

After the elites have passed through we broke down the tables and signs. By the time the amateur runners start coming through, there's no sign that we were even there. As we were packing up, we realized that the leftover elite bottles (the ones that weren't collected by their athletes) were just going to get tossed, so we did a taste test. They broke down something like this: water, gatoradey and, wait for it, salty. The worst tasted like a cherry-flavored ocean. Blech. (I didn't take note of what Mutai had, he hadn't won the race by this point).

All in all, a spectacular experience. Amazing to be so close to the elites as they sprint by and great to be in a spot to cheer on the amateurs where every one is still just rapt to be there.

Signs of spring

I'm calling it. After all those hours shoveling snow this winter, we're done with snow for the season (and we won't make a full Shaq's worth). I'm ok with that though. It's still cold in Boston, but it's definitely springy. Even those snow banks that seemed they would become permanent structures have receded and disappeared from Cambridge and only left a few shady remainders out in Concord.

I know this because last weekend, I went on my first ride of the season. We took the short River Runs Through It CRW loop, which is 28 miles. I probably rode this loop a dozen times last summer and knew it by heart. This time around, I realized the turns that stood out were the ones I had missed in the past. Landmarks played tricks on me, everything seemed familiar, but nothing was certain. Here's a house with a stone foundation that I recognize, or an out-of-place modern boxy house from the 60s, or a tiger striped mailbox, or one hanging from a tree. They all start to blur together. Was that on this loop or a different one? We only had to consult the cue sheet once to confirm a turn. Despite that, it was bucolic and bordered on a Disney cartoon: flowers bursting forth, squirrels running along side, birds singing and playing in the trees above our heads. Maybe it's just the excitement of feeling the cold air rush past or the lean and lurch of the bike as I increase the pressure, but this ride was perfect.

Another sure sign of spring, the Boston Marathon takes place this weekend. I'm volunteering once again. This year though we've been upgraded to "Elite Fluid Distribution" at 10K. Thus far though it seems like our responsibilities are to (1) match the labelled bottle with the label on the table (and not to worry to much about it because some one will come by to fix our mistakes) and (2) stay out of the way of the elites. Will let you know how well we achieve these two goals.

Finally, not at all related to spring, I just finished reading my friend Erin Tocknell's book Confederate Streets. It's a fantastic read (and not just because there's a brief mention of my coxing in the final chapter). Erin's attention to detail astounding. Reading her book, seeing Nashville and Pittsburgh through her eyes and experiences made me realize how little of the day to day I appreciate and remember.

Jumping right in

I competed in my first swim race today. It was a 4 x 400 relay with my team at the multisport expo. I don't remember being this nervous for a race since my first half ironman. I was swimming the second leg behind my coach, Christina.

Going in, I started getting worried that all of the other competitors would be former collegiate swimmer, with their diving starts from the blocks, their flip turns, their completely shaved bodies.

Watching the first leg, I felt a little better, there were a variety of levels present, and our lane actually looked pretty competitive. My turn. Oh, I don't dive in. I'm not a swimmer... I'm a triathlete.

This sort of swimming is almost serene relative to tri swimming. No one swimming into me, over me, through me, no one even in my lane. And no one to pace off of. It's hard to see the people in the next lane. I knew there was a girl about a half a length ahead of me from the start, but I quickly lost track of her. No sounds from the pool penetrate, just the sounds of my breathing.

But it goes fast. 4 laps to go, 3, 2. Oh, there's that girl who was half a lap ahead of me. She looks, closer. Last lap, push it. I come into the far wall, just as she's leaving. I'm gaining. Sprint, Sprint, SPRINT! Catch her!... Got her! Right on the wall. Hell, yeah.

I finished in 6:02. That's 1:30s per 100. Faster than my previous 200s pace by 4 seconds. Our team came in 2nd in our heat, and 4th overall, we think. Not bad for our first showing.

Having fun in Vegas without losing (much) money

Paul had a conference in Vegas at the beginning of last week, so we figured, since he already had free flights we might as well make a vacation out of it. I flew out on Wednesday night, and we took the next four days to explore Sin City. Here's what we found.

1. It can be a little overwhelming when it feels like every one is trying to separate you from your money. Not just the gambling, but there are coupons and discounts for shows and meals, constantly pressuring you to buy now and not miss out on a terrific bargain.

2. Despite this we found plenty of things worth spending our money on. We really enjoyed Le Reve, which was like Cirque du Soleil (but not Cirque du Soleil) but in a pool, with synchronized swimming and diving, and trapezes and people being lifted out of the water on trapezes, then diving back in. Pretty spectacular. We also had a few really good meals out at B&B and La Cave.

3. On Friday, we rented a car and drove out to Red Rock Canyon. There, we hiked and climbed and took our only pictures of the trip.

The rocks

Rock striations (do you see the person on the ridge?)

Paul is making these rocks look small, in reality, they are very far behind him, and VERY big

There we are.

Calico rocks.

My new favorite food: lentils

With the new year, Paul and I have been trying to clean up our eating. Let's just say we'd gone a little soft over Christmas break. This time around we're doing the slow-carb diet, which essentially means all of our carbs come from legumes. Mmm, legumes.

Thus, our new favorite food is lentils. We have them every day. We tried out canned lentils for their simplicity, but they are sorta, mushy. We've tried out green lentils, brown lentils, and french lentils. We've got a pretty quick recipe for green lentils. It works for any lentil that doesn't need a soak, or any that does after the soak. It goes like this:

Put the following in a pan:

1 C green lentils

2.5 C water

half an onion, sliced

2-3 cloves of garlic

2 cloves

1 small bay leaf

sprinkle of dried thyme

shake of cumin powder

2t of salt

pepper

Bring pan to a boil, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes depending on how mushy you want them. Remove from heat. Remove cloves and bay leaf. Stir in 1/2 T of butter (cause it's yummy).

Stretch goals

Well there it is. Official. In print. On the web. I'm registered for the US Age Group National Championship Triathlon in August. In seven little months, I'll be competing with the country's best athletes. I hope that's enough time to prepare.

I've got a few goals to get me there. But first, let's look back at last year's races. Here's how my rankings stacked up for each leg.



Clearly the sprints suited me better. The big hill at Mass state took its toll, and the run was my weakest leg (pun intended). And Noosa, well, those Australians are really good swimmers.

First let's work on my run. I've struggled with injury over the last two years, and I've seen my running basically plateau. This off season is all about keeping the shins healthy and working on hills and sprints. Shins, hills, sprints... and data. Here's the results of my first attempt at sprints at the indoor track at Harvard.


You'll note that the average pace for the 800s is very similar to the average pace for the 400s. This is something to work on. What should my goal pace be if I want to be running 45 min 10Ks?

On to swimming.


There are a couple of workouts here: a time trial and 2 different days of swimming. I'm really happy with the way the paces are shaking out. I'm swimming my 500s at the same pace as my 300s (which was the goal of that workout), and that's still about 11 seconds slower than my 100 TT (1:33). I'd love to see that long distance pace under 1:40 in time for the season.

I don't have any pretty graphs for cycling, cause I don't have any great data for cycling. I'm cutting my winter cycling from 3 session to 2 per week. Last year, I believe I was overdoing my training. I've got a time trial coming up, so we'll see how that stacks up.

Other goals: treat my stretching like it's a workout. No skipping. And get the sleep and water that I need. Hopefully that will get me to August.

Do as I say...

The following is a shameless plug to get an extra entry in a contest to win a Garmin 310XT.

Please don't enter too, as then I will have a lower chance of winning said watch.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/01/garmin-forerunner-310xt-giveawayjanuary.html

Year in Race T-Shirts

With today's 5K, the 2010 race season is officially over. Looking back over the past year, there have been some pretty great races, but of course a race shouldn't be judged on course, organization, weather and personal performance alone, no, a race should be judged by its t-shirt.

What makes a good t-shirt? First and foremost, size. It doesn't matter what the t looks like, if it's too big, too long or just funny looking, I'm not going to wear it. Extra points for races that offer extra smalls or women's sized shirts.

Second, design. The reality is I'm only going to wear this shirt to train in or on weekends, so it doesn't need to be a work of art, but something that isn't completely ridiculous (see below) is needed.

Finally, material. Generally, I prefer the the synthetic ts cause I prefer to train in them, but I don't mind a nice cotton shirt (especially for longer races where I feel I've earned bragging rights).

Here's this year's favorite shirt:

There are so many good things happening here: women's fit, extra small, synthetic, long-sleeved, simple design. Well done, BAA.

The most improved from last year (which is a little unfair, since I only did a few races last year) is timberman.

2009:

2010:

It's a little hard to tell from the picts, but despite being a small, I had to cut off both the sleeves and the tail of the 2009 shirt to make it approximately fit. In 2010, timberman was bought by mdot, and they left their mark on the shirts. Not only did they offer women's shirts, they also offered extra smalls. Unfortunately, the combination of those two changes led to a shirt that actually fit my friend's three year old better than my friend, but points for improvement, and I'll know next year to get a small or maybe even medium.

Finally, the worst shirt of the year:

Why is santa parachuting in under a giant turd? Why is Somerville pictured as an industrial park? What's up with the giant popcorn, and the random words on them, and why is one of them unmarked?

More cooking!

So it's been a few weeks, and the cooking continues. I've learned a few things along the way:

1. Tarragon tastes like licorice. Who knew?
2. Topping stew with sour cream is always a good idea.
3. You can still dry out salmon by poaching it.
   
4. Scallops are really hard to make.

So we've made baked pork chops, hungarian beef stew, poached salmon, and seared-ish scallops. All were pretty good. But really, why are scallops so hard to make? I use plenty of very hot oil, but they stick to the pan, and they don't really sear. And they make a mess. And they burned my finger.

But, damn them, they're so tasty.

New adventures in cooking

Maybe it's because it's getting cold outside and curling up on the couch with a hot bowl of soup that's been stewing for hours sounds so inviting, or maybe just because I've gotten bored with our staple meals, I've decided it was time to dust off the old cookbooks (aka, epicurious) and get cooking.

A few notes:

• So far I've made 3 trips to whole foods, and 4 meals. Hopefully, I'll get more efficient with my shopping as I go.
• With each meal, I'm learning more about the foods that Paul like and dislikes (Likes: snow peas! Dislikes: Cumin, Ginger, Sesame Oil :-( )
• I broke down and bought the online subscription to America's Test Kitchen. I used to have a paper subscription to Cooks' Illustrated, which I loved, but honestly, it just wasn't all that convenient when you wanted, say, a pork chop recipe ("Was that in May or March of 2007?"). The online subscription is easily searchable and cheaper than the original, but lacks the same beautiful illustrations. Already, I've used it to suss out curry powder, french onion soup and kitchen timers.

[not my picture]

Meal 1: Beef, Shiitake and Snow Pea Stirfry
I'd give this one a 4 out of 5. Paul felt like there was something sorta missing. I marinated the beef for a few hours in the hoisin and chili (but I followed the advice of some of the reviewers and replaced some hoisin with soy - I will not do this next time and hopefully that will address Paul's concern). This was really easy. I'll definitely make it again.

[my pictures - taken with iphone :(]

Meal 2: Hawaiian Pork with Stirfried Cabbage
This one was probably a 3 out of 5. The pork was way too salty (and this coming from a self-proclaimed savory person) and the cabbage was bland. The plus side was that braising the pork made it delicious and tender even for really lean cuts. I think I'll make this again, but with low-sodium broth and maybe adding dark rum or pineapple to add a little deeper flavor.

Meal 3: French Onion Soup
For this one, I went to ATK. I feel like for classics like this, I trust that they have scoured all the recipes I'd find on epicurious, tested them all and come up with this, the perfect French Onion Soup. And honestly, yes, this was definitely the best French Onion Soup I've ever had (and I've been to France!). And it was relatively easy. They recommend caramelizing the onions in the oven, which, if time-consuming, is low maintenance. And I bought the gruyere they recommended too. Really, this soup was awesome. 5 out of 5!

Meal 4: Curried Lamb and Lentil Stew
You'd think after that last review, I would never go back to epicurious, but somehow, I'd already picked this one out, and I did go to ATK to determine what curry powder to get (Penzey's, which I made a special trip for). Alas, this recipe failed on many levels. It was one note (even a good one note of the Penzey's curry powder didn't make up for it), the cook times were completely wrong - it needed a minimum of 2 hours to make the lamb and lentils tender, the balance between lamb and lentils was off. I tried to salvage by adding some maple syrup to add some sweetness, which helped, but this just wasn't the meaty stew I was hoping for. 1 out of 5.

Tonight, we're trying out Tuna Tacos ala East Coast Grill, one of our favorite local eateries. I'm hopeful that this will be delicious, but I'll let you know tomorrow.

Noosa Race Report: Back to Oz

I went back to Australia for the first time 2 weeks ago. I had gotten an entry into the Noosa triathlon, so I planned a holiday around it. I went to Canberra, the Gold Coast, Brisbane and finally Noosa. It was fantastic to see old friends everywhere I went. It took several days to get acclimated to driving on the left, referring to my "mum" and thinking in metric, but it all came back pretty quick.

I did a terrible job taking pictures on this trip, but a great job catching up with people and making new memories. Lauren and I went to Question Time in Australian Parliament which was quite the experience, we hiked Mt. Ainslee with Kimberley and Hamish, I met Joslyn's new man Matt and shared a coffee with her overlooking the Brisbane River from the Powerhouse, I had lunch at Jamie's new cafe, had morning tea (and tim tams) with the ITIG guys, went shopping with Julie, shared homecooked meals with Julie & Jonathon, celebrated Jawad's birthday and finally headed up the coast to race.

[seriously, I can't figure out how to get this picture to rotate]

I went up with Vanessa Friday afternoon and met her elite brother and his elite girlfriend (who won the women's race after coming second at Kona 3 weeks earlier) and her parents. There were over 3300 individual competitors at the race. We registered at the massive bays:


And checked out the expo. Asics makes their own Noosa tri running shoe:


And we checked out the gorgeous sunset:

The race itself was not something I've been training for. Good races at the end of the season in the US had made me confident that I could have a good race at Noosa, especially relative to my last showing at Noosa in 2008. 2:48 was the time to beat.

Not sure exactly what happened on the swim. I got smashed in the left eye early on, and I couldn't open it for the rest of the swim cause my goggle was on so tight, so maybe I wasn't swimming straight with only one eye, but I came out of the water in 32 minutes and thought "sweet, oh, wait, this wasn't a half ironman distance. Suck." I expected at most a 28 minutes swim. Oh well. 3 minutes slower than 2 years ago.

On to the bike. The bike felt good, despite not being on my own bike. Heading out to the turn around, I was flying with the tailwind. I felt strong going up the hill, and cranked coming back home. My knee was a little cranky at about the 30K mark cause the seat wasn't high enough, but otherwise, everything felt good. 1:22 in the end. But I was watching my time and still shooting for sub 1:48, that meant I needed to do the run in 54 minutes, which seemed very doable.

Finally, the run. Two years ago, I had a terrible run. This year, I felt good. Ran it in 52. Sweet. End time was 1:47, so one minute better than 2 years ago, on no training and a bit of jetlag.

And on to the 4th leg. I went to the official Noosa after party at the surf club for the first time. It was fantastic. Every one was into it.

It was great having a chance to come back and see every one and even better to get to race in the 3rd largest race in the world. I'm thinking I might make a tradition out of it, and try to go back for Mooloolaba 2012. That will be another 18 months. Though having an extra week down there would definitely be in order.

BAA Half Race Report: it's better with friends

Since the Duxbury race, I've definitely been in my off season. Sure I did a half marathon last weekend, and I've got an olympic distance race in Australia next weekend, but I've been treating it like the off season. Which means I've cut back to about 3 - 6 hours of exercise per week, and I've upped my ice cream intake significantly.

I showed up to the BAA Half Marathon last weekend with relatively low expectations. The Pumpkinman run gave me some confidence that I could do a pretty good time in this race, but I haven't done a half mara on its own since this race last year, so I was a little anxious, but not nervous going in.

Rachel and I did some pre-race warm ups, then headed to the line for the porta potties. This was my one complaint about the race. They did not have enough bathrooms. We waited for about 15 minutes in a line and still weren't even close. Rachel gave up and headed for the bushes, and I should have followed suit, but I thought, eh, I'll be fine.

About 2 miles in, I hear from behind me "Hey, I thought I recognized that ponytail." It's Nathaniel, Paul's roommate from Notre Dame. Nathaniel is faster than me. He runs marathons, but he had told me he was planning on running 8:30s, but now, apparently, he's feeling good. So we start running together and we're holding 7:55 - 8. In the back of my mind I'm thinking, I've never broken 50 minutes for a 10K before, if we keep this pace up... And there's the 10K mark, we've just run it in 49:14. Killer! But I hope that doesn't mean that I'll blow up for the full distance.

Now I start thinking about a sub-1:50. That would be pretty spectacular given that my fastest time was a 1:53:10. The second half of the course is a lot more uphill though, so I try not to get ahead of myself. Still we're pulling in low 8s: 8:04, 7:59, 8:02. We hit the 10 mile mark with a sub-1:20 time. Nathaniel turns to me and says, "if you've got 10 min miles left in you, you're gonna break 1:50!"

At mile 11, Nathaniel decides he's gonna see how much he's got left. I thank him for the pacing, and immediately drop back to an 8:33 mile. Hmm, that's ok, I've got buffer, it's just so much harder to push the pace when you're not trying to keep up with some one. Mile 12, only 1.1 to go. Geez, I've got to pee. But, it's only 1 more mile, you can hold it. 20 more paces, Ack! I can't hold it! I run behind a tree for a quick pit stop. So that added 30 seconds to my time.

Back to the race, and I'm ready for this thing to be over. We run around the grand stands and finally into the stadium where we finish off with half a lap. 1:46:26. Sweet!

I grab water, food, and t-shirt and look around for Nathaniel to no avail. I head back in to watch Jeff and Rachel finish their races. Rachel all smiles with an 8 minute PR!

Two big takeaways from this race:
1. I run better with friends, and I need to learn how to push myself like that on my own.

2. Make sure you pee right before the start of the race.

Stay tuned, next post will be from oz!

From worst to first

I read a fair few triathlon blogs. They're right over there to the right. There are two styles of these blogs: people who are triathletes and people who do triathlons. Of course those are not the same thing. It takes a more than just your first triathlon to feel like you really belong in the sport.

Recently I noticed that I've crossed the divide. I'm no longer trying to become a triathlete, I am one. I'm no longer just "participating" in races, I'm racing. I came across this photo from my first race in Australia a few weeks ago.


That was a tough race. I didn't come DFL there (turns out I beat one kid and one grandma), but I did at others.

Contrast that to this weekend's Duxbury sprint.

It was my last race of the Boston season and a big team race with 14 of us racing for BPC. It's a sprint and given that it was only 6 days after the half ironman, I didn't have high expectations for it. Go out, have fun, then a big team end of season bbq as a reward. I haven't even done much since the half, I took Monday and Tuesday off from training, easy, drill-focused swim on Wednesday, strength on Thursday and rest day Friday. Didn't do a race plan. Riding over to the course the legs didn't feel like they had much in them, so I decide that those 5 miles to the course are actually enough of a warm up, even if they were 2 hours before the race.

We register and they don't mark our calves with our ages, which means out on the course, I can't tell whom I'm really racing. My coach remarks, that just means I have to be faster than everyone.

The swim has got to be the best spectator swim anywhere. We started on the main shore, and swam, along a bridge to the far shore. Spectators could just follow along, walking up the bridge. About 150 yards from shore, you could hear people cheering, it was great. Pushed it out to the shore. I saw a few pink caps ahead of me, but still felt like a solid swim.

Onto the bike, and of course the first thing you do is ride across that same bridge. It's a wooden bridge and about half a mile long, so not an ideal surface for putting on one's bike shoes. The ride was out and back. Not too far in, I get passed by a girl, I try to keep her in my sights. Three miles in, I see one of our coaches, Vic, on his way back in, looking fast. It's fantastic to see my teammates going so well. Just about to the turn around, I see another teammate Jeff, heading back. I wonder if I can catch him. At the turn around, I get passed by another girl, who is really fast. On the way back, I catch back up to the first girl, and she and I and 3 other cyclists, ride back together. Average speed 20 mph, on the nose.

The run is also out across the bridge, which seems to take forever this time around. I focus on picking people off, this includes my teammate Jeff, and pretty soon, I'm heading back toward the bridge. I get passed by one more girl on the run who's pace I just can't match. Strong sprint home, and it's all done.

My coach asks how it went, and I tell her it was ok, I felt pretty good, but that I got passed both on the bike and on the run, but can't know if they were in my age group or not. We head over and check out the boards for results. Nothing, I'm not on there. Oh, wait, they're posting updated results. There's Lauren, there's Christina, there's... me. Oh. My. God. It says I came first. Wait, go look at that again, am I reading that right? I get Patty to look at it with me. Yes, that's right 1st place in the 30-34 year old age group! Woo hoo! Hugs and high fives all around. Plus we've got more podiums on the team, Vic took first, Robyn took first, Christina took second and Jeff took second. Seriously solid showing. We all hang around for the award ceremony, which is painfully disorganized. Christina and Jeff both receive hideous water bottles instead of medals.


First time on the podium and first place out of 26! Looking at the official results, I had the 4th fastest swim, but passed 2 girls in transition. My bike was the second fastest in the age group, but because of the solid swim and transition, I was already in first coming in off the bike. 5th fastest run, but again, I'd put enough of a gap in, that I maintain my first place position. Oh, and, because this race is so late in the season, it qualifies me for age group national champs next year in Vermont. That was my goal for next season, so I'm gonna have to start thinking about not just going, but having a good showing there.

Pumpkinman Race Report: All that hard work

Don't know how else to say this. I rocked this race. Not perfect, there's always room for improvement, but still this race far exceeded expectations!

First check out the venue. How gorgeous is that?

[special thanks to Carrie for the picts and to all the BTTers for all the support on the course]

I wasn't much worried about the swim. It was a little seaweedy at first, but you know, extra fiber never hurt. I've been swimming well and enjoying it, so I got in near the front and didn't get too fussed about going fast. Turned out it was a pretty good swim. Second fastest in my age group (of 23), and average of 1:31 per 100. My goal for the season was to swim 1:40s for an olympic distance swim. Crushed it.

This race was unique cause it had a massive hill climb out of the swim to transition. Looks like I liked it:
Then to the bike. This ride was all about conserving. I set a goal of averaging 18 mph. It was tough, there were times, when girls in my age group passed me that I wanted to go faster. I wanted to stay with them. But I stuck to my plan. Let them go and stayed focused on my own race.

I had borrowed my friend Noah's aero bar bottle to stay hydrated. Major advantage of this bottle is that it's refillable while you're riding. On the first loop every time I hit a bump the bottle would splash me. At just about any other race this would have been great. But when it's 60 degrees out, you just want to stay dry. After the first loop, I had drunk the full bottle and I had to pee. Good sign. I found a stretch of road with woods and hopped off the bike for a pit stop. I just couldn't bring myself to pee on my bike. I get to the water stop, and this time when I go to fill the bottle, I knock the valve right into the bottle. I guess I hadn't quite gotten it in right when I filled it that morning, so I stop again and fix out. The last 10 miles, I ease up the pressure and up the cadence. I feel good, if a little cold coming in off the bike, average 18.1mph.

And then I miss my rack... Too many friends cheering me on from the relay section. Oops.

To the run. I focus on one foot in front of the next, I focus on tempo. I start thinking about my friend Simone, doing the Ironman in Australia. Some one referred to her as "metronome" she just doesn't stop. I start singing to myself "Simone, the metronome" and it works pretty well. First two miles at an 8:45 pace. Great. The course is an out and back and out and back route. It was great, I kept seeing friends, high fiving all along the way. At about mile 10, I realized that my secret goal of hitting 5:45 was not just achievable, it was crushable.

Pure race bliss!

In the end, I crossed the finish line 5 hours and 40 minutes after the start. I held solid sub-9 minute miles on the run the whole way. 7th place in my age group.

I've been planning on spending next year focused on getting faster at the shorter distances and moving on from the halves, but with a solid half under my belt, I might just be tempted to do another.

Pumpkinman Race Plan: Third time's the charm

One week from my 3rd half ironman, and I have to say, I'm not all that excited. My last two races at Timberman and Cranberry were just fantastic. I loved getting back into shorter distances and going fast. Now contemplating the 6 hour event I'm entered into next week, it's hard to get pumped about it. In my first half, I hit the wall on the run and had to drag myself through the finish. At the Patriot this year, I got wicked dehydrated and struggled through most of the run. So now on my third and final half ironman for the season, I'd really like to just make it to the finish with a smile on my face.

The Pumpkinman is a unique race. It's a two loop swim, in a small pond, with a run back onto the beach between loops. Then there's there king of the mountain challenge with 250m sprint uphill to the transition. The bike is a lollipop course, with two loops around the lolli. Finally the run is 2 lap out and back course.

I'm not going to set an overall time goal. Instead, my plan is to swim strong and hold 18mph on the bike (actually 18, not at least 18) for the first 45 miles. The last 10 miles, I'm gonna take it down a bit, maybe 17.5. Goal being to save something in the legs for the run. I think I've got the hydration worked out (hello, camelback) and I tested my nutrition out today on the actual ride course. So here goes nothing. Check back next week for the smiling finish line photo.

Cranberry Race Report: Knocking on the door

[me, Head Coach Ali, Assistant Coach Christina pre swim]

I did it. I finally broke my PR of 2:43:49. My new PR is now 2:43:05. So 44 seconds improvement, which sounds sorta piddly after 18 months of training. Here's the thing: I went all out on this race. I pushed the swim, I owned the bike and I struggled through the run. I left absolutely nothing left in the tank, so I will take those 44 seconds with pride. (I will also remember that this course is technically 1.2 miles longer on the bike than my previous PR).

The swim was .8 miles around a cute little pond. The start was messy. I got out to start in the front, and still got pretty thoroughly pounded out to the first buoy. Then things eased a bit. Every 12 strokes I'd look to my right and I'd see another girl in my wave and I'd think, "ok, push it on this one and drop her" 12 strokes later, I'd look right again and see her, no further behind me, but importantly no further ahead. This girl paced with me the entire swim. And it was great to have some one right there. I definitely pushed harder because of it.

[yay 7th]

I came out of the water in 7th place in my age group, right behind the girl who paced with me and one other. I got out of transition ahead of those 2, so I was 5th starting out on the bike. As I've said, I rocked this bike. Just focused on picking people off and drinking plenty of fluids. I even held my coach off until the last few miles. I passed two girls in my age group, putting me in 3rd until the very end when I got passed just before the chute. Maybe it was getting passed at the end, but somehow, I just wasn't thinking when I was dismounting. I'm not the most graceful at getting off my bike: generally, I take my feet out of shoes while riding, then put weight on the right shoe, come to a stop, put my left on the ground, and swing the right leg over. Somehow this time around, I attempted a different dismount. I tried putting my weight on the left, and swinging the right leg over before coming to a stop. I didn't fall, but I did lose my left shoe in the process.

[just about to attempt an entirely new dismount]

I passed the girl who passed me at the end of the bike at the beginning of the run. Then it was just trying to hang on. It was a long, hot slog, not all that different from the half ironman run. I got passed about halfway through by another girl in my age group, just pushing me out of the top 3. I grimaced my way through the last 3 miles, but never got passed again.

[out on the run]

Finally, I've gotta give a shout out to the awesome spectators who get up when it's dark out just to come out and cheer. It was great to see other BPC and BTT athletes out, snapping pictures and cheering us on despite the pain, and of course, Paul and his parents coming out for it.

[post race cool down]